great way to the Cure of the sad Divisions that are among us And that I may discourse with more clearness and more evidence I shall deliver what I have to say in this matter by way of Propositions taking my Rise from the first Principle of Church-Society and so regularly ascending The first Proposition I lay down is this That every Christian upon the very account of his being so is a Member of the Church of Christ and is bound to joyn in External Communion with it where it can be had For the clearing of this you may be pleased to consider that the Primary Design and Intention of our Saviour in his undertaking for us was not to save particular persons without respect to a Society but to gather to himself a Church out of Mankind to erect and form a Body Politick of which himself was the Head and particular Christians the Members and in this method through Obedience to his Laws and Government to bring men to Salvation And this is no more than what is the Sense and Language of the Holy Scriptures wherein whatever Christ is said to have done or suffered for Mankind he is said to have done for them not as Scattered Individuals but as Incorporated into a Church Thus Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it Christ redeemed the Church with his own Bloud Christ is the Saviour of his Body that is to say the Church with many passages of the like importance The plain Consequence from hence is that every person so far as he is a Christian so far he is a Member of the Church and by virtue of that Relation to the Church it is that he hath any relation to Christ or any Title to the Privileges of the Gospel And agreeably to this Notion it is very plain that Baptism which is by all acknowledged to be the Ceremony of Initiating us into Christianity is in Scripture declared to be the Rite whereby we are entred and admitted into the Church Thus St. Paul expresly tells us that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body And again that Christ hath sanctified that is to say separated his Church by the washing of Water and the Word Now then it being thus evident that every Christian as a Christian is a Member of that Body of Christ which we call the Church there will be little need of taking pains to prove that every such person is obliged to joyn in External Communion with the Church where he can do so for the very nature of this Church-membership doth imply it Without this neither the Ends of Church-Society nor the Benefits accruing to us therefrom can be attained First not the Ends of it The Ends of Church-Society are the more Solemn Worship of God and the Publick Profession of our Religion and the Mutual Edification one of another Now how these can be in any measure attained without associating together in Publick Assemblies and mutual Offices and other Acts of External Communion with one another cannot any ways be imagined And as little in the second place can it be conceived how without this we can be made partakers of the Benefits and Privileges that Christ hath made over to the Members of his Church For we are to consider that God hath so ordered the matter and without doubt for this very reason to unite us the more firmly in Society that the Privileges of the Gospel such as Pardon of Sin and the Grace of the Holy Spirit are not ordinarily conveyed to us so immediately by God but that there must intervene the Ministry of Men. Gods holy Word and Sacraments are the Channels in which they are derived to us and Those to whom he hath committed the Ministry of Reconciliation and the Power of the Keyes are the Hands that must dispence them We have no promise of Spiritual Graces but by these means so that in order to the partaking of them there is an absolute necessity laid upon us of joyning and communicating with the Church It is true indeed God doth not so tie himself up to these means but that he can and will in some cases confer the Benefits of them without them as in case of a General Apostacy of the Church or of Persecution for Religion or of an unjust Excommunication or any other case where Communion with a true Visible Church is denied to us But though God doth act extraordinarily in extraordinary cases where these means cannot be had yet this doth not at all diminish much less take away the necessity of making use of them when they can be had From what hath been discoursed on this first Proposition we may by the way gather these two things I only name them First how untrue their Position is that maintain that all our Obligation to Church Communion doth arise from a voluntary admission of our selves into some Particular Congregation and an explicit Promise or Ingagement to joyn with it in Church Ordinances 2. How wildly and extravagantly they discourse that talk of a Christianity at large without relation to a Church or communion with any Society of Christians The second Proposition is That every one is bound to joyn in Communion with the established National Church to which he belongs supposing there be nothing in the Terms of its Communion that renders it unlawful for him so to do For if we are bound to maintain Communion with the Catholick Church as I have before proved it is plain that we are bound to maintain Communion with that part of it within whose Verge the Divine Providence has cast us For we cannot communicate with the Catholick Church but by communicating with some Part of it and there is no communicating with any Part of it but That under which we live or where we have our Residence Well but it may be said that there may be several Distinct Churches in the Place where we live There may be the fixed Regular Assemblies of the National Church and there may be Separate Congregations both which are or pretend to be Parts of the Catholick Church so that it may be all one as to our communicating with that which of these we joyn with supposing we joyn but with one of them and consequently there is no necessity from that Principle that we should hold Communion with the Publick Assemblies of the National Church But as to this I desire it may be considered that That that lays an Obligation upon us to joyn in Communion with the Church to wit our being Members of that one Body of Christ doth also lay an Obligation upon us as much as in us lies to preserve the Unity of that Body for this both the Fundamental Laws of Society and the express Precepts of Christianity do require of every Member But now to make a Rent in or separate from any Part of the Body of Christ with which we may lawfully communicate and such we now suppose the Established Assemblies of the Nation
to be is directly contrary to the preserving the Unity of that Body And therefore certainly such a Rent or Separation must be unlawful And if so then it must be unlawful also to joyn with any Congregation of men among us that have made such a Rent or Separation So that let our Pretences be what they will so long as the Fixed Regular Assemblies of the Nation wherein we live do truly belong to the Catholick Church and we can lawfully joyn with them it is certain we are bound so to do and not to joyn with those Congregations that have withdrawn themselves from them for to do this would be to joyn in Society with Separatists would be a partaking with their Sin and a breach of the Apostles Precept of Avoiding those that cause Divisions The third Proposition is That the being a Member of any Church doth oblige a man to submit to all the Laws and Constitutions of that Church This Proposition is in the General so unquestionable that no sober man will deny it And indeed it is the Basis upon which all Societies are founded and by which they do subsist For to suppose a Society and yet to suppose the Members of it not under an Obligation to obey its Laws and Government is to make Ropes of Sand to suppose a Body without Sinews and Ligaments to hold its parts together So that all the question here is concerning the nature and extent of the Churches Power over her Members How far and in what instances she hath Authority to oblige them Which is a question not difficult to be answered if men would come to it without passion and prejudice For it must be acknowledged in the first place that the Church must as all other Societies be entrusted with at least so much power over her Subjects as is necessary for the securing her own Welfare and Preservation For to think otherwise is to suppose God to have founded a Church and intended the Well-being and Continuance of it which are things that every one must grant And yet to suppose that he hath denied her the use of the Means without which that Well-being and Continuance cannot be attained which is monstrous and contradictious Furthermore it must be granted that the Welfare and Preservation of the Church cannot be secured but upon these two Suppositions First That Provision be made for the due and orderly performance of the Worship of God Secondly That there be means of maintaining Peace and Unity among its Members This latter is necessary to the Welfare and Preservation of a Church as a Society the former is necessary to it as a Religious Society Now then this being admitted it follows in the general that what ever Power over her Subjects is necessary in order to either of these things all that at least must be supposed to be lodged in the Church that is to say in Those that have the Government of it So that from hence it is plain in the first place that the Church hath power so far to restrain the exercise of her Subjects Liberty as to oblige them to all such Laws Rules Orders and Ceremonies as She shall establish for the more Solemn Regular Decent and Convenient Administration of Religious Affairs And if it be questioned whether her Appointments do indeed conduce to that end of that She her self is to be the Judge Her Members being no farther concern'd therein than onely before they obey her Impositions to see that they be not repugnant to the known Laws of God This Power the Church must be supposed to have otherwise She will not be enabled to make Provision for the first thing whereon her Welfare doth depend viz. the Performance of Gods Worship and Service in a due and orderly manner Secondly from hence also it is plain that the Church must be furnished with a Power to end and determine Controversies of Religion that arise among its Members that is to say to give such an Authoritative decision of them as that all Parties are bound to acquiesce in it for without this she would be defective in the second thing required to her Welfare and Preservation viz. Maintaining her self in Peace and Unity But here it may be taken notice that this Power of Ending Controversies which we ascribe to the Church doth not imply any Authority over our Judgments or that in vertue thereof she can oblige us to give an inward assent to her Determinations any further than she gives us evidence for the Truth of them which is that extravagant Power the Church of Rome doth challenge to her self but onely an Authority over our Practices that she can oblige us to submit so far to her Definitions as not to act any thing contrary to them A Power in the former sense is not necessary to the Churches peace and the reason is because our Judgments and Opinions so long as we keep them to our selves cannot possibly cause any disturbance in or do any injury to Society But a Power in the latter sense is absolutely necessary for if men may be allowed to vent and publish what ever fancies come into their heads and the Church have no Authority to impose silence upon them it cannot be avoided but she will be overrun with Heresies and embroiled in infinite Quarrels and Controversies to the destruction of her Publick Peace The fourth Proposition is That we can have no just cause of with-drawing our Communion from the Church whereof we are Members but when we cannot communicate with it without the Commission of a Sin For if we are bound to Communicate with the Church when we can lawfully do so as hath been before proved it is plain we are bound so long to continue our Communion with the Church till it be unlawful to continue in it any longer But it cannot be unlawful to continue in her Communion till she require something as a Condition of her Communion that is a Sin So that there are but Two cases wherein it can be lawful to withdraw our Communion from a Church because there are but two cases wherein Communion with her can be sinful One is when the Church requires of us as a Condition of her Communion an Acknowledgment and Profession of that for a Truth which we know to be an Error The other is when the Church requires of us as a Condition of her Communion the joyning with her in some Practises which we know to be against the Laws of God In these two Cases to withdraw our Obedience to the Church is so far from being a Sin that it is a necessary Duty because we have an obligation to the Laws of God antecedent to that we have to those of the Church and we are bound to obey these no further than they are consonant or agreeable to those But now from this discourse it will appear how insufficient those Causes how unwarrantable those Grounds are upon which many among us have proceeded to Separation from our Church
For first if what I have laid down be true it cannot be true that Unscriptural Impositions can be a warrantable cause of separation from a Church supposing that by Unscriptural be meant no more than onely what is neither Commanded nor Forbid in the Scriptures For the Actions required by these Unscriptural Impositions are either in themselves lawful to be done or not lawful to be done If they be in themselves unlawful to be done then they do not fall under that notion of Unscriptural we here speak of they are down-right Sins and so either particularly or in the general forbid in the Scripture If they be in themselves lawful to be done then it cannot be imagined how their being commanded can make them unlawful So that in this case there is no sin in yielding obedience to the Church and consequently no cause of withdrawing our Communion from it Nor secondly can it be true that the Church requiring from us any doubtful or suspected practices as Conditions of her Communion is a just cause of Separation for we must have at least as much certainty of the unlawfulness of the actions enjoyned as we have of our Obligation to the Authority that enjoyns them before we withdraw our Obedience to it otherwise we do not proceed upon safe grounds but now we are absolutely certain that God hath commanded us to obey them that have the rule over us but we are not certain that the actions we here speak of are any where forbid by him for if we were they would be no longer doubtful or suspected they would be certain sins so that if we will follow the surer side as all Christians in these cases are bound to do we must continue our Obedience to the Church notwithstanding we suspect or doubt of the lawfulness of her Commands Neither thirdly can it be true that Errors in a Church as to matter of Doctrins or Corruptions as to matter of Practice so long as those Errors and Corruptions are onely suffered but not imposed can be a sufficient cause of Separation the reason is because these things are not sins in us so long as we do not joyn with the Church in them So that so long as we can Communicate with a Church without either professing her Errors or partaking in her sinful Practices as in the present case it is supposed we may do so long we are bound upon the Principle before laid down not to separate from her Neither in the fourth and last place is the enjoying a more profitable Ministry or living under a more pure Discipline in another Church a just cause of forsaking the Communion of that whereof we are now Members The reason is because we are not to commit the least crime for the attaining the greatest good in the World Now it is a crime to forsake the Communion of the Church whereof we are Members so long as her Communion is not sinful But the enjoyment of a less profitable Ministry or a less pure Discipline doth not make her Communion sinful therefore the enjoyment of a more profitable Ministry or a more pure Discipline cannot make a Separation from her lawful The fifth and last Proposition is That though we have a just cause to refuse Communion with the Church whereof we are Members in some instances yet we are not therefore to proceed to so total a Separation from it as to erect New Churches in contradistinction to it or to joyn with those that do The reason is clear from the foregoing Principles viz. because we are bound to obey as far as we can and where we cannot to suffer but at no hand to disturb the Peace or break the Unity of the Church Though we cannot comply with all that the Church requires of us yet still we must joyn with Her in those other things where we lawfully can Nay though the Church should require those things as Conditions of her Communion so that unless we conform to them we cannot at all communicate with her yet still there is a Passive Obedience due from us We must sit still and suffer and not make a Rent in the Church by setting up one Altar against another This is like the setting up a new and a distinct Government in the Bowels of the State Nothing can justify such a degree of departure as this but onely one thing to wit so great and general a Corruption of the Church both in Doctrin and Practice that the Salvation of all that communicate with her is thereby endangered Which though it be the condition of the Members of the present Church of Rome yet I dare say few among us will affirm to be the case of them that communicate with the Church of England Thus have I as briefly as I could represented to you the Particulars of that Duty we owe to our common Mother in the preservation of her Unity and Communion And I hope I have not been so zealous for Peace as to have been at all injurious to Truth I am confident I have said nothing but what is very agreeable to Scripture and Reason and the sense of the Best and Ancientest Christians And I am certain I have not intrenched upon any of those Grounds upon which our Ancestors proceeded to the Reformation of Religion among us And for most of the things here delivered we have also the suffrage of several and those the most learned and moderate of our dissenting Brethren And now if after this any one be offended as indeed these kind of discourses are seldom very acceptable all I can say is this That the Truths here delivered are really of so great importance to Religion and the Public Peace that they ought not to be dissembled or suppressed for any bad reception they may meet with from some men but as for the manner of delivering them I have taken all the care I could not to give offence to any I now pass on to the second part of my Task upon this Head which is to consider the Duty recommended in the Text with relation to particular Christians our Brethren And here my business is to direct you to the Pursuit of those things that make for Peace as Peace signifies mutual Love and Charity in opposition to Strife and Bitterness and Contentions The things that make for Peace in this sense are more especially these that follow which I shall deliver by way of Rules and Advices The first Rule is to distinguish carefully between matters of Faith and matters of Opinion and as to these latter to be willing that every one should enjoy the liberty of judging for himself This is one thing that would help very much to the extinguishing of those unnatural Heats and Animosities which have long been the Reproach of Christians If men would set no greater value upon their Notions and Opinions than they do deserve if they would make a difference between necessary points and those that are not so and in those things that are not