and for the truth S.T. TRUTH VINDICATED From the false Accusations of those of the Independent Society c. 1. THat the Church of England is a true Church of Christ for the cleering of this I will shew First the divers acceptations of the word Church 2. In what sence the Church of England is said to bee a true Church of Christ 3. I will lay downe arguments grounded upon the word of God whereby it doth appeare that the Church of England is a true Church of Christ For the first the word Church is put first for all those that shall be saved Heb. 12.23 To the generall assembly and Church of the first born that are written in heaven Colos 1.18 And he is the head of the body the Church Secondly it is put for the faithfull of a family we reade of the Church in Priscillaes and Aquilaes house Rom. 16.5 1 Cor. 16.19 of the Church in Nymphas house Colos 4.15 And of the Church in Philemons house Philemon verse 2. Thirdly it is put for the houses or places where the faithfull do meete together to preach the word of God and to administer the Sacraments as appeares if you compare 1 Cor. 11.18 verse with the 20 verse In the 18 verse he saith when ye come together in the Church and in the 20. verse when ye come together in one place Fourthly it is put for the professors of Christ scattered throughout severall Regions Acts 8.13 Acts. 12.1 The Apostle Peter writing to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia in the 1 Peter 1.1 he calleth them in the second Chapter of that Epistle and the 5 verse lively stones built up to a spirituall house that is a Church of God Fiftly it is put for every congregation gathered together to worship God 1 Cor. 14.23 If therefore the whole Church be come together into some place 1 Cor. 4.17 As I teach every where in every Church Sixtly it is put for the representative Church that is those who have the government of the Church in their hands and are to provide for the order peace and discipline of it Mat. 18.17 And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church that is to the Ministers or Governors of the Church who have power to cast him out as a heathen man and a publican not every particular member of the Church as appeares by the Apostle 2 Cor. 2.6 sufficient to such a man is this punishment or censure which was inflicted by many he would not have restrained it to many if it had been done by all Seventhly and lastly by Church in Scripture is understood a Kingdome or Nation Province County or City enjoying the word and ordinances of God and professing faith in God Such a Church was the Church of the Jewes to whom were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 And from whom should proceed the word by which God worketh salvation Isay 2.3 By which word they were distinguished from all other Nations in the World Psal 147.19.20 and became the peculier people of God Deut. 7.6 And thus the Kingdome of Israel became the Kingdome of God or Church of God Our Saviour Christ speaking of the rejection of the Iewes from being his people and Church over whom he raigned by his Word and Spirit saith Mat. 21.43 the Kingdome of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof intimating that whatsoever Nation received and believed the word of God did become the Church and people of God as the Nation of the Jewes was before they were rejected The Prophet Isay prophesying of the conversion of the Gentiles saith Isay 55.5 behold thou shall call a Nation thou knewest not and Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee by which it appeareth that whole Nations shall become the Church and people of God according to that promise Isay 52.15 he shall sprinkle many Nations And thus ye have the divers acceptations of the word Church 2. I come now in the second place to shew in what sense the Church of England is said to be a true Church of God And that is according to the last acceptation of the word Church which is when a Nation joyne themselves to the Lord by receiving professing believing and practising the word of God to salvation by which God becomes their God dwelling in the midst of them and they become his people Psal 33.12 according to that in Zach. 2.11 and many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of them which was practised Jerem. 50.5 Come let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant that shall not be forgotten And it was most exactly performed in this Nation Deut. 26.17.18 by our late Nationall Covenant made with God We read of a Covenant between God and his people consisting of mutuall conditions on the peoples part the conditions are faith whereby they embrace him and rely upon him as their God and obedience to his commands as their Lawmaker and Governour verse 17. and on Gods part the conditions are to take them for his people which imployeth both his protection of them and provision for them both for this life and the next in this 18 verse the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his people and in the 9 verse of the next Chapter this day thou art become the people of the Lord. Not that they were not Gods Church and people before for we find it expressed they were so Deut 7.6.7 Deut. 14.2 But hereby it is yet further confirmed to them they were Gods Church and people And thus and in this sence the Church of England is a true Church of God And this leads me to The third thing propounded to lay downe arguments grounded upon the word of God by which it cleerly appeares that the Church of England is a true Church of God Our Saviour Christ when he would prove to the woman of Samaria that the Church of the Jewes was the true Church of God he doth it thus Iohn 4.22 Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jewes Whence I infer this first argument 1. That Church in which salvation is obtained and God is worshipped according to the knowledge of his will revealed in his word is the true Church of God but in the Church of England salvation is obtained and God is worshipped according to his will revealed in his word Therefore the Church of England is the true Church of God A second argument may be made which is necessarily implied in the text thus 2. Salvation is not ordinarily obtained out of the true Church of God but salvation is ordinarily obtained by the preaching of the word in the Church of England therfore the Church of England is the true Church of God An other argument may be grounded upon that by which the
Apostle proves the Ephesians to be the true Church or houshold of God Ephe. 2.19.20.21 now therefore yee are no more strangers and foraigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himselfe being the corner stone c. whence I frame this argument 3. They that build upon the Apostles and Prophets making Christ the corner stone are no strangers but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Church or houshold of God but the Church of England is sound in Doctrine building upon the Apostles and Prophets making Christ Jesus the corner stone Therefore it is the true Church of God A fourth argument may be gathered from that text 1 Tim. 3.15 But if I tary long that thou maist know how thou oughtest to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the piller and ground of truth by which text it appears that truth is the signe whereby the Church of God is knowne and from whence I thus reason 4. Every Church that as on a piller hold forth the truth of God is the house of God the Church of the living God But the Church of England doe hold forth the word of truth Iohn 17.17 which is the Gospel of Christ that bringeth salvation Rom. 1.16 Therefore the Church of England is the true Church of God I take these arguments for granted and therefore I doe not prove all these things to be found in the Church of England because they are so cleerly manifest that I thinke none will deny them but if any should I desire to know it and I doubt not but to satisfie them therein There is one objection made by them that deny the Church of England to be a true Church which I desire to answer It is this the true Church of Christ consist of none but visible Saints but the Church of England is a mixt company of ignorant wicked and prophane persons Therefore they are not the true Church of God To which I answer That the true Church of Christ ought to consist of none but visible Saints for the well being thereof is a truth But that a Church ceases to be a true Church because they are not all visible Saints but some are ignorant wicked and prophane persons this is false The Church of Corinth was a true Church yet some of them were ignorant and had not the knowledge of God 1 Cor. 15.34 some denyed the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.12 some were wicked and prophane for they were drunke when they came to the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.21 Therefore not all visible Saints yet a true Church In the Church of Galatia some erred in the great point of justification against which errour Saint Paul opposed his Epistle written to them and yet they were a true Church In the Church in Pergamos some held the doctrine of Balam and of the Nicholaitans teaching to eate things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication Rev. 2.14 surely therefore not all visible Saints and yet a true Church of God In the Church there are vessels of wood and earth as well as of gold and silver 2 Tim. 2.20 And thus it appeares that notwithstanding there are ignorant wicked and prophane persons in the Church of England yet it is the true Church of God And so I come to the second proposition 2. That it is a sin to seperate from the true Church We ought not to depart from a Church in which God dwels and abides lest we be found departers from God But God walketh in the midst of his Church Revel 2.1 yea he desireth to dwell there Psal 132.13 14. and he promiseth to walke amongst them Levit. 26.12 therefore it cannot but be a sin to seperate and walke from them Our Saviour Christ did not seperate from the Church of the Jews although it was exceedingly corrupted in worship doctrine and discipline they saying well but doing ill yet he was circumcised Luke 2.21 and baptised in it Luke 3.21 holding communion with it In the Apologeticall Narration pag. 6. they professe before God and all the world that multitudes of the Assemblies and parochiall Congregations of the Church of England are the true Church and body of Christ and the Ministery thereof a true Ministery And when the Churches of England were the most either actually overspread with desilements or in the greatest danger thereof they then both did and would hold a communion with them as the Churches of Christ If this was their judgement then certainely now that wee are cleansed from those defilements and a further Reformation is dayly intended and endeavoured they cannot but acknowledge it to be a great sin to seperate from our parochiall Churches renouncing them as false Churches and utterly denying to hold communion with them I shall not need further to cleere this All acknowledge it to be a sin to seperate from the true Church They in the Apologeticall Narration do acknowledge our parochiall Churches to bee the true Churches and body of Christ Therefore I proceed to the third thing propounded 3. That the Independent Society in the City of Norwich is no true Church of Christ I shall do it by these following arguments the first is this They that seperate from the true Church of Christ are Schismaticks And a company of Schismaticks being joyned in society together make a society of Schismaticks but not a true Church of Christ But the Independent Society doe seperate from the Church of England which as hath beene proved is the true Church of Christ Therefore the Independent Society is no true Church of Christ The Major proposition is cleered to mee by that text in 1 Iohn 2.19 where it appeares that they that seperate from the Church cannot be members of the Church Doctor Ames in his fourth book of Conscience pag. 141. In his answer to this question Whether or no Schismaticks are members of the true Church saith If an obstinate seperation be made from all true Churches or from any one for a case common to all then such Schismaticks although it may be retaining the faith they continue members of the Church Catholike they cannot be esteemed as visible members of the Church And for the Minor proposition themselves cannot deny but they were converted in the Church of England And it is a strange Paradox to me that they should be converted in a false Church and so made fit members for a true Church Certainely that Church in which they had their spirituall fathers to beget them to God that Church is their spirituall Mother The Apostle saith the Church of Corinth had ten thousand instructors in Christ yet not many fathers 1 Cor. 4.15 but blessed be God in the Church of England there are and have beene many spirituall fathers who through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ have and doe daily beget many to Christ and they are the Ministers of God by
whom wee beleeve 1 Cor. 3.5 And yet these Ministers are slighted if not despised and counted no Ministers of God And the Church in which they were converted and brought home to God is rejected and counted no Church of God and can such a Society be the true Church of Christ surely no. A second and third argument to prove them to be no Church I gather from their owne tenents In describing of a true Church they did affirme at a meeting for dispute that it was absolutely necessary for the being of a Church that there should be forme as well as matter and they said forme was a Church Covenant without which a Church did cease to be a true Church But I my selfe have seene members received into their Society without a Covenant which one of the chiefe of them told me was to shew they did not absolutely require it Therefore according to their owne rule they did then cease to be a true Church Againe some of them have affirmed that the forme of a Church is government or Church discipline which I take to be the forme of a true Church rather then the other but if so then their Society cannot be a true Church For they have never a Church Officer therefore cannot execute Church discipline It is the Elders of the Church that are to rule the Church 1 Tim. 5.17 Heb. 13.17 But that Society have never an Elder nor other Church Officers therefore they want forme or government and therefore according to their owne argument they are no Church Fourthly how can that be a true Church that take in members when in their esteeme they are good when they have no power to cast them out though they should prove never so bad certainely in such a Church as this all things cannot be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 but for want of power to punish the disordered nothing but confusion will in time bee found in such a Church And certainly God is not the Author of such a Church in which there is nothing but confusion and no meanes to prevent it Gods Church is his building 1 Cor. 3.9 his house 2 Tim. 2.20 1 Tim. 3.15 1 Pet. 4.17 Fiftly framed Ephes 2.21 and formed by himselfe for himselfe Esay 43.21 hee having appointed in it Stewards 1 Cor. 4.1 Luke 12.42 and all other Officers for the well ordering of it But a Society gathered together without Rulers over them to see peace and order continued amongst them will in a short time be a Babell for confusion Gen. 11.9 but cannot be the true Church of Christ For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace as in all the Churches of the Saints 1. Cor. 14.33 And thus you see that the Independent Society in the City of Norwich is no Church I come now to the fourth and last thing propounded 4. To lay downe divers reasons and arguments to perswade men not useperate from the Church of England and joyne to the Independent society shewing the unlawfullnesse of so doing First because it is a direct violation of our oath made with our hands lift up to the most high God in our solemne League and Covenant In the first Article thereof we covenanted to endeavour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdomes to the neerest conjunction and vniformity in Religion confession of faith forme of Church government directory for worship and catechizing And in the second Article we covenanted to endeavour the extirpation of Schisme c. lest we be partakers in other mens sins but how doe those take this Covenant with a true intent to performe it as is expressed in the latter part of the Covenant who deny the Churches of the three Kingdoms to be true Churches and set up a new Church as they call it against and contrary to the government established or about to be established in the Churches of the three Kingdoms Is this to endeavour the uniformity of Church government and the extirpation of Schisme that the Lord may be one and his name one in the three Kingdoms Or is it not a retarding of the worke of Reformation and the setling of Church government And the spreading of herisies schismes factions and divisions amongst us We are commanded to keepe our vowes Deut. 23.21 Ecle 5.4 And Covenant breakers are reckoned amongst those that are given up to a reprobate minde Rom. 1.13 And God hath threatned the sword to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant Levit. 26.25 therefore it is a greivous sin to breake Covenant And whether or no the Independents keepe or breake their Covenant let the world judge 2. Secondly to joyne in fellowship with the Independent society doth hinder men from walking with God in such a way wherein they may most honour him in the use of all his Ordinances in performing of all those mutuall duties that God requires of his children one towards another For first they deprive themselves of the cheife ministeriall Ordinances of God as the preaching of the word of God and the administration of the Sacraments For as they looke upon the Church of England as no Church so also upon our Ministers as no Ministers And therefore they prefer their owne private meetings before our publique preaching And amongst themselves they have no Church Officer to performe any of these ministeriall acts And therefore they cannot honour God in the use of those Ordinances as they might have done if they had continued in that Church of God in which they did injoy them Secondly they cannot honour God in the performing of all those mutuall duties that God requires of his children one towards another for seperating from the Church of England as a false Church they looke upon all the members of it as without the pale of the Church and they cannot otherwise doe while they are of that judgement And because they are so they thus reason as for those with whom we have entred into Covenant and are members of our Church we are bound to but for others they are without and what have we to doe with those that are without say they Whereas we know it is Christs command that all the faithfull should love one another Iohn 13.34 and they ought also to have fellowship one with another 1 Iohn 13. and by love to serve one another Gal. 5.13 and to let brotherly love continue Heb. 13.1 constantly provoking one another to love and to good workes Heb 10.24 exhorting and instructing the ignorant Heb. 3.13 Dan. 11.33 incouraging and strengthning the weake 1 Thes 5.14 Iob 4.3.4 but all these duties are neglected by them that seperate and walke at a distance from other Christians whereby they rob them of that spirituall good that charity requires and formerly they have done to others and deprive themselves also of that edification they might receive and have formerly received by their communion with them therefore it is a sin to joyne with such a society as thus hinder men from performing