regard Quest But still how can the Church be called a Congregation seeing that â—â—â—aks it always actually Congregated but those very Members that in regard of nearness one to another are at due seasons Congregated cannot yet be always Congregated Answ The Twelve Tribes of Israel that is the Church in its several Members always united always ready to the Instant serving God Day and Night are beheld and seen by him as in a perpetual actual Congregation Quest Why do you call the Church The Congregation Answ Even as Holy Writing is The Scripture and The Bible or Book so the Church is The Congregation by way of Eminency the only Excellent Assembly or Congregation in the World And indeed upon a true account there is no other Religious Congregation but either a rude Multitude or a Conspiracy and Faction against God Quest Why is the Church said to be a Congregation called by the Word Answ Because Humane Nature uncall'd lies in the Lapse of Separation from God in Private and False Religion and in those Assemblies justly branded as before till it be recalled by him into the Church united again to him So that a Church is not a Natural but a Supernatural Assembly yet it is ready to embrace all true Nature and the Associations of it into it self Quest Why is the Church describ'd to be One Catholick Congregation when both Scripture and daily Observation assure us there have been and are so many Particular Congregations very Regular Churches and duely so styled Answ Because the Church is of the Nature of those Things that are distinguished only by the several Accidental Receptions they find and yet still remain One the Catholick Church and a Particular Church differ no otherwise than as a Beam of Light differs from the whole Globe of Light or a Stream of Water from the Ocean Even the most Particular Church is in this regard Catholick that it is united to God and Christ that indeed give both the Name and Nature of Catholick from themselves Particular Churches yea even Particular Persons truly of the Church have every one the whole Character Title Promise and Privilege of the Catholick Church so far as they can need or receive them even as Heaven is Entire Heaven to every single Glorified Soul Every Lively Member of the Church touches the Head and Corner stone and so in him the whole General Assembly and Church of the First-born both in Heaven and Earth and is at last consummate with them to Eternity Quest How is this Church Congregated Answ It was begun and hath always increased by Particular Persons converted and brought home to God according to his Word in several Ages and Successions For the Church as it is a Church is not a Society formed by a common Consent of Men or by their Will but its several Parts are added by God so that it consists of all that are inwardly and truly of that Catholick Religion in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ by the Eternal Spirit all the World over and in which meet all that have been are or shall be thus converted by the Word of God as the Church is and shall be triumphant in Glory Quest The Call then that makes this Congregation is first to God and Christ and not to the Church it self Answ It is evidently so All true Converts first give themselves to God and Christ and by vertue of That to the Church The Apostles were not sollicitous of any other Conjoyning Men to the Church than what most necessarily followed upon their receiving the Gospel and were afraid of their fixing upon them that were but Ministers and Servants We preach Jesus to be the Lord and our selves Servants for Jesus sake The Corinthians heading themselves under Paul or Apollo or Cephas was very mischievous and therefore the Apostle knowing the Union ought to be only to Christ directs himself so vehemently against it as also against any fanciful Distinction of themselves under Christ as an ordinary Chief of a Party and not as the Divine Head of the whole Body in the Catholick Truth Even as he erred that vulgarly called Christ Good not knowing him to be God the Supremely Solely Good Quest Are they all true Converts that are of the Church Answ All that are indeed the Church are so but all that may appertain to the Church are not so as all that were of Israel were not Israel There is a visible Profession that is too often not sincere yet this makes Men Of or belonging to the Church but not truly The Church Many are so called that are not chosen But all that are truly The Church are also truly called and truly Converts not only outwardly and visibly the Church but inwardly and invisibly so too whose praise is not of Men but of God In the mean time they that are onely of the Visible Church have the Means of Grace and are not thrown out of that Register of God's People till the Final Judgment cuts them off A very great Benefit in it self Quest Is not the Church then so Catholick or General as the Profession of the True Religion is Answ The Catholickness of the Church as hath been often inculcated is its Union to God and Christ and that in sincerity As to the general Profession though the number of it be as the Sand of the Sea a Remnant only shall be saved For God will finish the Account and cut it short in Righteousness for a short work will the Lord make in the Visible Church There shall be an often eating or brousing it off a retrenching of it again and again it shall cast the Leaves of its meer Professors as the Teyle-tree or Oak when yet their Substance is in them the Holy Seed are the Substance of it Isa 6. ult not losing them it loses nothing Quest In what sense is it then said The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church Answ It is undoubted none can fail while they are the Church while united to Truth to the God of Truth to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life It is also certain from this high Declaration there always shall be a Church in the World so united Hades or Mortality shall not prevail over it and how much farther it assures the Perseverance of those that are once truly the Church I leave the thing it self to speak It is said They that overcome ar Pillars that never go out of it and They that go out of it were not of it for if they had been indeed of it they would no doubt have continued with it And how the Church it self shall always continue if any True Member of it may perish is not easie to conceive Quest How is the Church ordained by God to actuate Scripture as it is the Secord of Catholick Religion Answ The Apostle in his Noble Description of the Church hath laid the Foundations of our Instruction herein in those three Honourable Titles he hath given
it 1. That it is the House of the Living God 2. That it is the Pillar of Truth 3. That it is the Ground of Truth Quest Before the Explanation of each of these Titles in the first place I desire it may be determined whether these things are spoken of the Catholick or of a Particular Church the Particular Church of Ephesus Answ Although I have already affirmed That the Catholick Church differs from a Particular True Church only in the Compass and Comprehensiveness of it yet I very willingly represent it over again in this Instance These things are truly applied to the Catholick Church to the Particular Church of Ephesus to every Particular Church nay it reaches down to every single living Member of the Church so far that God makes his abode with him dwells in him he is a Pillar in the House of God the Truth rests and dwells in him and shall be with him for ever so that he is a Ground of Truth and hath more of the Church in him than greater seeming Portions of it that erre from the Truth Quest If you please now to proceed in the Explanation of these Titles and first What is the Importance of the Churches being the House of God for the actuating the Scripture Answ God the most High Possessour and Owner of Heaven and Earth places his Court Family and particular Residence where he pleases and he hath chosen the Church to be this to him This is my Rest here will I dwell for ever for I have desired it Heaven is my Throne Earth is my Footstool where is the House you will build me To this Man will I look that trembles at my Word And where God dwells there he manifests himself As a Master of a Family makes known in his House and Family his Nature Will Laws and Government so God does in his Church In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel In his Church he shews the Light of his Countenance expects and rewards Services as a Great Master and makes known his Dislikes and Displeasure This is brought to pass in the Church by those many Ways that God hath of bringing his Word to any Places or Persons giving it Reception among them and then stirring up his Children and Servants to hear his Voice to search his Mind and Will and to understand it so that it is as a Voice continually behind them In his Temple therefore in his House every one must needs speak of his Glory His Word cannot lie still for all are concerned to meditate ponder inquire and discourse of it and are by Supreme Management excited so to do and so much as this Exercise in his Word is by any means depressed so far God is withdrawn and the Excellency of the Church-state lost Now of the Church being the House of God there was this great Type God dwelt in the Temple at Jerusalem as in a Palace there was such a Diet of Shew-bread changed every day of Sacrifices of all sorts such Perfumes of Incense and Odours such Officers and Servants attending continually such Resorts of the whole Body of the People to the Court of this Great King and Princely Housholder Together with this State runs along in a mighty Stream Gods shewing his Word to Jacob his Statutes and Judgments to Israel In the New Testament the Pomp and Ceremonial Part is wholly transferred into Spirituality but Spirituality is not lower but higher in the Substance of all that could be figured by these things and the substantial part of that State the Communication of the Word of God is much exalted in the true Christian Church that the Light of One Day is now as much as the Light of Seven was before Thus the Church as the Family of God cannot but actuate his Word Quest What is the meaning of the Church being the Pillar of Truth Does the Church support Truth Answ Not so for it self is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone Quest How then is it said to be the Pillar of Truth And of what Importance is that to the Actuating Scripture Answ As the Laws and Ordinances of Courts and Governments are publickly fixed that every one may know and take notice of them so the Church in all its Members but especially by Deputed Ministers giving themselves wholly to it proclaims preaches and makes offer of the most Publick Notice of the Word of Truth within it self that all the Children and Servants of the Family may be continually catechiz'd and built up therein and Strangers have opportunity to know if they would apply themselves to it Thus it is a Famous City set on an Hill that cannot be hid and therefore its Laws Constitutions Manners cannot but in all reason be inquired of by all that do so much as pass by it It is a Candlestick bearing the lofty Torch of Divine Truth Of this the Pillars of the Temple at Jerusalem and the affixing to them the Rolls of Divine Revelation was an eminent Type and alluded to by the Apostle As therefore from a Prince come forth Edicts Proclamations Manifesto's and Declarations according to Laws which are fastned to Publick Pillars of the Court it self and all open and conspicuous Places of Concourse so are there in the Church the most advantagious Publications of the Divine Truth and Word to all both the Natives and Free-born of the Church it self and Ingenuous Strangers that would hearken out the most Reasonable Proposals of Truth or whom God is pleased to Naturalize to himself Quest What is the meaning of the Church being the Ground of Truth And how does this actuate Scripture Answ It means nothing but the Perpetuity and Continuation of Truth with the Church establishing it self by all that Firmness of Divine Evidence and Reason and on those very Securities taking Possession of the Church as the Ark of its Strength where it self or the God that is Truth it self places the Soles of his Feet as on his unmovable Footstool for ever Of which the Ark in the Holiest was a Type the Footstool of the Throne of Mercy the secure Repository of the Tables of the Covenant the Ark of Testimony over which the Shecinah or Glory appeared as inthron'd attended with Cherubims and setting its Feet upon it the place of my Throne and the place of the Soles of my Feet Ezek. 43. 7. For thus the True Church against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail is the unchangeable Rest of Truth It adheres to Truth it buys the Truth and never sells it Truth dwells with it for ever God never suffers it to apostatize from Truth but by the constant holding of the Judgment and retaining the Love and Zeal of the Affections of those that are indeed his Church he hath setled his Word in his Church on Earth even as it is for ever settled in Heaven The Church therefore actuates Scripture by finding out Reasons debating enforcing defending by
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
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
A. Catholick Catechism SHEWING THE IMPOSSIBILITY THE CATHOLICK RELIGION Should be varied to the Degree of a Thought from the Measures left Sealed by the Apostles WITHOUT THE LOSS of TRUTH And therefore The Impossibility POPERY or whatever else is not found in Scripture should be CATHOLICK Composed to the Capacity of the Meanest that will but Consider that they may know and be ready upon unmovable Reasons to give an Apologie or Defensive Answer for the Catholick Religion if they are indeed of it and be secured from Temptation in Times of Danger 2 Pet. 1. 12. The Present Truth Prov. 22. 21. That I might make thee know the Certainty of the Words of Truth that thou mightest answer the Words of Truth to them that send unto thee LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst and Will. Miller at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and the Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard 1683. THE PREFACE TO THE READER I Call this A Catechism because I design it a Familiar Instruction in Fundamental Truths Resounding the same Thing from Question to Answer the easiest way of Conveying Truth and Imprinting it upon the Minds of those that are even of the meanest Capacity But especially because the Principles of it are to be daily so Meditated upon Pondered and Applyed to use as to be a perpetual sound in our Ears and so to be properly stiled Catechism For Things of such great weight as Principles are must have as the most Advantageous Admâ—ssion as the most Deep and therefore Leisurely Insinuation as the most Resolved Adherence when found True and Right which is Buying the Truth and not Selling it so they must have the most Easy and Ready Application to all their Uses and Ends They must therefore be bound continually about our Neck that when we go they may lead us that when we sâ—eep they may keep us that when we wake they may talk with us Prov. 6. 21 22. I know the Things I have written cannot be duely received without much Thinking and without that they will be in danger of a Censorious rejection from the most or of a superficial unintelligent Acceptance in the Kinder which is as bad as the other and therefore I present it as a Catechism to those that shall at all approve it that they may be throughly versed in it and the Sense of it grow Domestick to them I call it a Catholick Catechism only with Relation to the Great Subjects it Treats of the Catholick Religion and the Catholick Church in those things wherein they are Catholick or in which their Catholickness consist That is that they are of God and that the whole Society of Holy and Happy Spirits is by that Catholickness united and closely banded with it self Catholick as the Epistles called Catholick that is after some Doubt Asserted to be Divine of the Publick Spirit of God and giving that Publick Doctrine in which the General Assembly is one I have endeavoured to contrive the Questions and Answers so that the Answers may be an Apology or Defensive Answer of that Catholick Truth giving a Reason or a Rational Account to any Demand that can be made upon it And it is the Apology of that Truth it self the Apology it gives and furnishes us with for other can no Man give Truth can need no other than its Native Apology for it self no other will it accept To give this and to be always ready to give it to keep it within us and to have it fitted to our Lips is the proper Fruit of such a Catechetical Instruction and the Apostle assures us it is the great Duty of Christianity and the greatest Honour we can do to God First to Sanctifie him in our Hearts by a full acknowledgment of him in his Divine Truth by a Plerophory or full Assurance of Vnderstanding in the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ For a Devotion to the True God without knowing him to be the True God cannot thus Sanctifie or Honour him There is nothing we should be more Rational in than in the True Religion the Account of which and of its whole Content ought to be so certain to us that nothing of a Diverse Spirit from it can be added to it nor any thing of its Integral or Essential Nature taken from it but we may plainly see it would change the Account and so we need not make a Traverse over all Falsehood to know Truth but by having a Right understanding in and Just Contemplation of Truth the most even thing in the whole World we come to know it self by it self and to be assured of it although there were no other False Religion in the World to compare it with and set it off by and withal to descry every false way offered to us and to hate it Yea we observe every thing that is but doubtfully Proposed and stay it its due time of Examination and so either accept or reject it or if we see full reason for neither still suspend It is not the Laws of our Country our Church our being Baptiz'd or Educated in it that will justifie our Religion to be the True It is not the High Reverence of it the Devotion we use in it our hating of those that speak Blasphemously of it will make good our Religion what Religion in the World may not be justified upon such Topicks It is not that we find many great Principles of Truth in a Religion that will justifie it There is no Religion that can be called Religion that does not espouse many True Principles And in Christian Religion Antichristianism vies with Christianity it self upon the Fundamental Creeds which it self Confesses with True Christianity but hath Built upon them New Creeds of its own and so Corrupted all For what is so pure and perfect as True Religion is must needs be Corrupted by any Addition All that is Pure and True is already its own who then can add to it and not be found a Lyar Nothing therefore as I have already intimated can be our security for True Religion but the Just Divine Measure the Common Faith the True Catholick Standard which in all things necessary to the main End is most evident and in entertaining nothing that is not so evident till it becomes so upon this Great Test this is our Security For it is very plain there is less danger when our Understandings are not yet extended to the breadth of Divine Truth if none of the Vital Principles are unknown to us unsensed by us which are so exceedingly plain that we cannot be except willfully ignorant of them for no Injury is done to Truth that we do not understand its whole Compass nor to our selves if we do not hate knowledge offering it self to our notices but in adding to Truth seeing we can have nothing to add but what is of no worth we must needs defile it in having only Truth though we have not all Truth we yet are under the Influence of Truth only
but when we add we enslave our selves to Lying Vanities Now hereunto have I levelled the whole ensuing Catechism or Discourse against which I know many prejudices will lie except full Consideration be allowed I know too many things raise a Detestation at the first which being Examined and Weighed by their Reason gain not only the Discharge of these Angry Passions but much Acceptance and Assent And I must take the Confidence to say in relation to any such Doubt upon the ensuing Apology for Catholick Truth that it is settled upon such unmoveable Reason and Weigh'd out by such exact attendance to it that I may write upon it without Immodesty Loe this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good for good in the Quiet and most Peaceable Course of Christianity wherein to know the True Grounds upon which it rests alone makes the Soul both Wise and Good and determines it to the Square and Just Rules of that Holy Religion for Good in times of Temptation to a False Religion especially that which calls it self Catholick For the truly Instructed Christian in that which is indeed Catholick is even Impregnable against that Delusion of Catholick falsely so called Lastly for good in the midst of great Differences and Diversities of Opinion and Practice in relation to lesser things pertaining more Circumstantially or Doubtfully to True Religion wherein the Rational Christian carrying it as Inoffensively and Communicatively as he can with all centers in that which is Catholick as to his Faith Love Inward Esteem and Practice and unmoveably fixes there detesting all Animosity and much more rigour or severity towards others in Relation to such differences than which nothing can be more ungenerous more unchristian more irreligious more unworthy THE CONTENTS CAP. I. OF the Perfect and First State of Humane Nature with relation to Catholick or Publick Religion page 1 CAP. II. Of the Violation of this Catholick Order of Religion and the Means provided by God to restore it 7 CAP. III. Of the Vncontroversible Laws of Natural Religion 10 CAP. IV. Of Revelation and the Reasons of so great Miscarriages against both the Light of Nature and Revelation with the Means of Cure 14 CAP. V. Of the Publick or Divine Original of Sacred Writing or Scripture 23 CAP. VI. Of the Proof of Scripture That it is of God and that the Proof also is Publick and Divine 27 CAP. VII Of the Publick Interpretation of Scripture pag. 36 CAP. VIII Of Tradition and Antiquity 52 CAP. IX Of the Church Catholick 65 CAP. X. Of the Officers appointed by Christ in his Church 82 CAP. XI Of every Man's Obligation to be wise for himself to Salvation 89 CAP. XII Of Schism and Scandal 93 CAP. XIII Of the Anti-Church and its Opposition in every thing to the True Church 109 CAP. XIV Of the Power of Magistrates in Religion and of National Religion 128 A Catholick Catechism CAP. I. Of the Perfect and First State of Humane Nature with relation to Catholick or Publick Religion Quest WHAT is the most distinguishing Excellency and Perfection of Humane Nature Answ Catholick or truly Publick Religion for it is the All the Whole or Universal Man Whoever therefore hath vanquished the sense of that hath put off Man and degraded himself into worse than a Brute Quest What do you mean by Religion Answ By Religion I mean a close Binding or Uniting our selves to and with God the Supreme Being in the Worship of him according to his Excellent Nature and Attributes in keeping his Commandments and seeking his Grace and Favour according to all his Divine Manifestations of himself and in so doing we are joined and join our selves as far as we can with one another in the same Religious Services performed by all Quest Why do you call it Catholick or truly Publick Religion Answ Because God to whom we properly and first Unite in Religion is the most Publick and Universal Being in whom all holy Spirits unite one with another and from whom whoever separates separates also from all good Spirits and so falls into the only dangerous Schism 2. Because the One God and Jesus Christ his Son our Lord the One Mediator would have all come to the Knowledge of this as the Catholick Truth that they might be saved and hath therefore reconciled and recapitulated all in Heaven and Earth into one Catholick Body in himself the Catholick Head 3. Because Gods Manifestations of himself are the only true Publick Authentick Records of this Religion and all other not derived from hence are private and false and the Meetings set up to celebrate any other Religion than thus manifested are indeed the close Schismatical Conventicles For none can be Publick Assemblies where God the supremely Publick and all holy Spirits withdrawn with him are not And all are Publick though but of two or three where God the Publick it self and in whom the whole Assembly of Saints meets is in the midst of them Quest Whence do you take occasion to call that Publick or Catholick that is Divine Answ From the Apostle Peter who when he is asserting concerning the certainty of the Scripture Prophecy affirms it a Principle absolutely necessary to be known that it is not of any Private Interpretation and that he may demonstrate it cannot be Private he avows the Original to be Divine Now the plain Opposite to Private is Publick in that therefore the Apostle does not oppose Publick but Divine to Private it is plain in his sense Divine is the only Publick and whatever is truly Publick is Divine and all else Private Quest How therefore are we to understand Private to oppose it to Publick or Divine Answ Idiotick or Private is applyed to persons whose Knowledge is very narrow and strait and they have cognisance of nothing beyond their little own 2. To those that have no Publick Character of Office or Magistracy And lastly to such whose care interest and concern is confined to themselves and their own Even thus Private is justly affixed to all except only to God and Religion as derived from him No created Knowledge either Angelick or Humane is comprehensive enough to be the Fountain no Power or Authority is supreme or vast enough to Enact nor is any care or concern for the world of Souls large or receptive enough to Ordain a Catholick Religion leading to a Common Salvation but his who is the Father of the whole Family of Spirits in Heaven and Earth Quest What Evidence of this is there Answ It is so much the Result of Reason that whoever considers it cannot deny it and upon this account all who have pretended to found a Religion have pretended some way or other to derive and receive it from God For who can know all that is necessary to be known but the Divine Mind and Spirit that knows and searches it self the Spring of all things and so first to be known Or what Authority can prescribe without
Sense and that with Clamour and too often with rude Force Quest What are the Instances of the Mischief of making Defection from this Publick Catholik Divine Truth for Private Sense Answ The Angels Fall from Heaven was certainly upon Private Sense and Interest Adam's from Innocency and Paradise upon the same the Jews Fall from being the Church and People of God was upon the Idiotism of having Religion for their own All Idolatry and Superstitions of Heathens have risen from hence All the Heresies in the Church have come from an over love to Private Opinion This is the most damnable Antichristianism of Rome to make its Private Catholick All Persecutions of Heathens Romes Inquisition and Massacres have been inflam'd in this Furnace the love of making Private Publick And in lesser and more unfundamental Points Private Interpretation enforc'd as if it were Publick hath discompos'd the Peace of the Purest and best reformed Churches and not only disturb'd their Peace but stain'd their Purity Quest I seem to my self in all this unhappy Babelism or Confusion of Religion to be very apprehensive for the Glory of God and Religion Answ It is most necessary to be zealous for Divine Glory and for the Honour of Religion that Rivers of Tears should run down our Eyes because of the Injuries done by Men to the Divine Law But yet to be so concern'd as to be scandalised is to forget that God is infinitely more the Publick than we are and therefore to be offended at his Disposes is to make our Private the Publick We must then consider that if God does not miraculously interpose it must needs be so it is no other than the Necessity of the Case Men moving with so great Disadvantages as the Active Soul of Man does in so great a Concern as Religion is in our highest Interest and as thereupon Men will make use of it in the present World it must needs be so There must be Heresies in Religion But that this Mormo or dreadful Apparition may vanish we must remember 1. That to the Soul humble and fearing God all that is of Grand Interest in Faith Worship and Practice is so Publick and evidently Divine that no Man need be ever learning and never come to the Knowledge of the Truth After this God hath given this Employment to those that through Office or Desire set themselves to seek and intermeddle with all Knowledge to travel with advantage to themselves and others in their Inquiries into the whole Compass of Divine Knowledge whatever Difficulty can be supposed to be in things of higher Advance to Salvation is resolv'd to them that do the Will of God as a Reward of their Obedience They shall know the Doctrines that are of God that rise higher towards Heaven than others The due and diligent Search after Wisdom is a Test upon the truly Sincere and well-resolv'd in Religion that have in them another Spirit as Caleb to follow God fully and do not as the Israelites bring up an ill Report on this good Land as if the Difficulties were unconquerable and the Entertainment Hungry and Barren through the many Disputes and Differences in Religion Hereby lastly the Conduct of the Free Spirit is seen leading into all Truth and the Unction of the Holy One by which the True Christian knows all things necessary to him to be known appears most desirable and necessary Thus the Wise and Holy Government of God who brings Light out of these Clouds and Darkness is made manifest and it is to be ascribed to the Infinite Perfection of Light with the Father of Lights who is without any variation or shadow of turning Quest What Rule is then to be observed in the great Diversities of Men in Religion that may most abound to the Honour of Catholick Religion Answ To own and embrace any thing we find in any Man or Society of Men that is truly Catholick if it be but according to the Light of Natural Religion to joyn with them in the Performance of any of such Services so far as they will admit it and keep to the Simplicity and Sincerity of them according to the Instances before-named of Jonah and St. Paul And much more should we do this when True Revealed Religion is joyned with Natural if nothing be requir'd of us that corrupts and defiles it No Man's Errour in which we are not forced to communicate should drive us from Truth or any part of it And upon these Foundations we should endeavour to win further and further upon all to bring them home to God wherein they wander We should make Allowances to every Man differing in smaller things receiving him without conditioning him to subscribe to us in things of Doubtful that is Private Disputation If any one erre from the Truth and one convert him by Evidences of that Truth let him know that he that converts a Sinner from the errour of his way shall save a Soul from Death and hide a Multitude of Sins But if we cannot be admitted to such Communions with those that are so enslav'd to False or would bring us under the power of Private or will have nothing to do with us nor admit us to them we must not yet desert our Catholick Respect to all that is True and Good among them but acknowledging what is so value and praise it desire the Divine Acceptance for them in any Good thing so as to bring them out of the Errours they have adjoyned to it and as you have opportunity reason them out of the one by the Evidence of the other CAP. V. Of the Publick or Divine Original of Sacred Writing or Scripture Quest SEeing Scripture is the only Publick Record of True Pure Natural Religion and more eminently of Revealed it is most necessary to be fully informed in all Points concerning it And first What Care God hath been pleased to take that his Word and purely that should be committed to Writing Answ God held the Hands and Pens of Holy Men by an efficacious overshadowing their Minds and conducting all their Motions that they could not erre In some things he so fully possessed their Understandings and Affections with a full Knowledge and Sense of what they were to reveal that they could not so much as muse any thing Strange or Diverse from what they were so carried and born by the Divine Spirit in even as Elijah in his Body In other things wherein they could not look round about them nor fully comprehend what the Spirit in them did signifie though they convey'd it to After-times yet they were by Almighty Impressions upon all their Faculties necessary to that Service held in stronger than Adamantine Confinements that they could not extravagate from Divine Truths Even Balaam thus overpower'd against his will could not go beyond the Word of the Lord to speak either Good or Evil upon the greatest Reward much less Holy Men whose Wills were perfectly resigned to the Divine Will Quest But was not there a
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
Answ They are all hereby Established for they are the Ordination of God to this very purpose to make Men see to bring them Light to clear things to them that by the awakening their Judgments the summoning and collecting their Principles they may see with their own Eyes the ways of God and Religion the Holy Spirit graciously adjoyning it self to their Ministry They have no Dominion over their Faith but are helpers of their Joy that is they facilitate and make pleasant the knowledge and assurances of Religion and they Rule by Exhorting Admonishing Rebuking Comforting and even Commanding in the Evidences of Divine Authority on Account of which they are to be obey'd and highly esteemed for their Works sake Notwithstanding all this no Man is excluded from his own Office to himself for every particular Christian is in some Sense a Congregation and Preacher to himself as Solomon his Conscience hath the Keys binds and looses within it self nay Christians are not excluded from Rule in the Church when they have the Word of God on their side they may plead and reason with their Mother Hos 2. 2. When they have more understanding than their Teachers or the Rulers Rule not according to the Word of God they that speak according to the Law and the Testimony even Rule their Rulers and prove the more noble Organs of the Church when those that should Rule it are as the Idols Eyes that see not Ears that hear not or as the Idol Shepherd a Blâ—st is upon their Right hand and Right-eye that their Arm is clean dried up and their Eye utterly darkened the most naked unfurnished Christian with outward Accomplishments that yet knows the Word of God is among the Prophets in such a time of necesity CAP. XII Of Schism and Scandal Quest FRom the precedent Discourse of the Church I conceive the truest Notion of Schism may be deduced I desire you therefore to Explain what the true Nâ—ture of Schism is Answ The Question concerning the Nature of Schism follows very pertinently upon the right settlement of the Nature of the Church now the whole Being of the Church consisting in its Union to God and Christ in Love according to the Truth of his Word and that it receives all its Members into Union with it self by their being first united as it self is Schism which is Division must needs in its strictest and most formal Notion be a Division from that Truth wherein the whole Church is one and so from the Love consequent upon such an Union Quest What is that Truth of the Word of God in which the Church is One Answ The Truth of the Doctrine of God or the Unity of the Faith of the Son of God in things to be believed and the Truth of his Law and Commands in things to be done Quest How is the Love of the Church Vnited in these Answ It is a Love in the Truth and hereby we know we Love the Brethren when we Love God and keep his Commandments John Epist 2. No Love how great soever is Christian-love nor Union how close soever Christian-union if it be not in the Truth and Commandments of God From whence it necessarily follows the Schism that is a Schism from the Church must be a Disunion from the Faith of the Scriptures and the Love springing from that Faith and there is no danger of any other Schism from the Church as it is a Church Quest How does Schism differ from Heresie Answ Heresie in the highest Sense and worst Sense of it is a Disunion from Truth in some Fundamental and Grand Concernment of Religion either in the Doctrine or Commands of God so that a Man is subverted and sinneth and must needs be Condemned of a Separation from the Assembly of Truth both by himself and the Thing it self and that both as to Faith and Christian-love he is so separated Schism is a Disunion in some less momentous parts of this Truth under an apprehension of a greater moment than there is indeed in the Causes of such a Disunion and a proportionable abatement of Christian Love arising from it All Heresie therefore includes Schism but all Schism does not rise up to Heresie Quest Are these the Scripture Notions of Schism and Heresie according to its use of those Words Answ They are most agreeable with the Sense of it but the words were not so set solemn and formal in Scripture as afterwards in Ecclesiastick Writers for Dichostasyes or Division into two or more Parties and Contentions are by the Apostle used to the same Sense as Schism and Heresie sâ—metimes signifies no more than a Sect or Division though that is remarkably used in its worst Sense by both the Apostles Paul and Peter Quest Is every different Apprehension and Practice ensuing upon it though distant from Truth immediately to be Condemned of Schism Answ By no means if it be a Modest and Humble Distrust and Suspension concerning the Truth and Command of God in some things of smaller moment and doubtful yea though it comes to a positive Determination so far as a Man's judgment and yet erroneous can at the present discern it cannot be branded as Schism if there be no stress laid upon the Thing beyond its desert if the Union in the greatest and clearest Truths and Commands remains firm and the Love due to such an Union with the Church of God be sincere and fervent yea even Dissent in greater points thus qualified and free from ill practice hath not been rigidly censur'd for Heresie Quest Is there no danger then of running into Schism if there be an Vnion with Truth Answ In this Sense only when the weakness or misapprehension of others are rated against them beyond their Merit and without regard to the greater Truths they agree in and the Love due to them upon Union in those greater Truths is withdrawn or the Spirit of meekness in endeavouring to restore the Erring Christian denied This may be justly esteem'd like Schism as it recedes from the just value of Great Truths and from the Charity of Christians upon Union in them but no Man is to espouse any Mans Erroâ—s or to receive even Truth by an implicit Faith for fear of Schism in things that carry not a broad Evidence of Divine Truth there is great scope for Modest Suspensions and even Dissents without Imputation of Schism for Truths of magnitude either in Doctrine Worship Practice or Diâ—cipline are too bright to be refused by sincere and honest Minds after due admonition Quest Wherein lies then the great Evil of Schism Answ That Schism and the Evil of it may better be understood I will set before you the several Instances of Schism in Scripture and the Evils noted by the Apostle in each of them 1. The first sort of Schism is the Disunion in the sincere Doctrine of the Gospel and bringing in upon it the necessity of the Judaique Rites to concur with it This the Apostle to the Romans Rom.
by God and Christ if there be that Value and Love for one another in those things wherein they unite and agree a desire of Interest in and benefit by one anothers Prayers and a Joy in the Gifts Graces and Spiritual Abilities one of another a care mutually to impart and receive the benefit of them as far as may be such an Union in things Commanded by God shall over-rule the little distances in indifferences and no more divide than Worshiping God in different Congregations by reason of Distance of place or the Church of God using differing Circumstances of Worship in different Countries and Places Quest But what if besides these meer and simple Dissocations of themselves and use or non-use of these Indifferences there be Anger Strife Emulation Bitter Zeal in one against another as is generally and usually seen do not these sowre Passions beget Schism Answ Wherever these are found they must needs amount to that kind of Schism That Christians do not love Christians in the Truth and in keeping the Commandments of God Since it is supposed that each part are united in the Fundamentals of Faith and Divine Commands upon which ought to flow from the Love every sincere Christian hath to God and Christ in these love to one another also For Faith worketh or is effectual by Love and this is Love that we keep his Commands This Love therefore must needs to all united in these mighty things wherein True Christians are united surmount the disaffection that arises in the Disunion about Tything Mint or Cummin or else we must value our Confidence in small things or our Doubts about them above the clear and undoubted Truths and Commands of God which must indeed needs be Schismatical in both parts or on whatever part is be found Quest But seeing these Contentions are so hard to be avoided in the midst of different Judgments and especially divers Practices of Christians and in so distinct Congregations and that in the Eye of one another and further that the Assemblies of Christians together ought to be as Vniversal Numerous or at least as Free and Mutual as is possible in regard of nearness of place one to another for that it is most for the Honour of Christianity they should be so and most advantageous to the imparting Spiritual Gifts and Graces between all the Pastors and People seeing all this is so undeniable how can separation from the Assembly of one another do less than carry the guilt of Schism Answ There can be no Schism in keeping close to the Doctrine and Commands of Christ without adding or diminishing turning to the Right-hand or to the Left for therein as hath been often said is the Bond of the Churches Union therein alone is the Church a Church and the Peace lies infolded in the Truth the more than the Considerations forenamed are pressed and they deserve very earnestly to be pressed the more absolutely necessary it is to stay in the Doctrine of God and the Commands of Christ or which are as truely the Commands of God the Dictates of Nature Nay it is better to allow Men a Suspension of their assent to some Truths and of their Compliance with some Commands that are but upon the outward skirts and marches of Christianity and so not so evidently revealed than rush them upon a precipitate belief of a blind obedience the plainest things and those are always the most necessary being the safest to pitch Christian Communion severely upon Quest But may it not be reasonably supposed that according to the Constitution of Church Governours by Christ they have a Power in things neither Commanded nor Forbidden by God to interpose their Authority and to determine them this way or that way and that Obedience cannot be refused without Schism Answ There are very great Reasons against any such Supposal 1. The Apostles the Highest Authority under Christ as will be easily acknowledged had Commission only to teach the Observation of things Commanded them by the Lord himself 2. There is a constant Disclaimer in the Gospel of any Despotick or Lord-like Power in Church-Rulers Christ expresly Compares the Power he gave with Civil Powers and Resolves it shall not be so among his Disciples as was among them He saies the Chief among them shall be Ministers and Servants delivering the Will of their Lord and not Lords themselves they must have no Will of their own to promulge They profess they Preach Jesus the Lord and themselves Servants for Jesus sake Servants of those they Preach to as they Minister to them the Divine Will not Lords over Gods Heritage but ensamples of the Flock Embassadours delivering only the Messages of their Master and beseeching Men But if the whole scope of Indifferent Things were given them for a Dominion how great would it be 3. These Circumstances in Religion may grow so bulky and cumbersome and make such a Medly in it that no one would know what Religion it self is 4. The Free Votes and Suffrages of Christians in all things they receive as most con-decent and convenient is that more abundant Honour God hath given to the meanest Members of his Church Thus the whole Affair in that Council Acts 11. was managed by not only the Apostles the Elders but the Brethren also each according to their Station and Situation in the Body the Church For that there may be no Despotique Power what is Commanded by Christ must be so represented that the Evidences it is so Commanded must be duly Represented and the Divine Authority sufficiently remonstrated what is of Advice and Conveniency must be carried by free Suffrage and Consent Quest But still the Church being a Society and the best of Societies it must be Subject to the Laws of Nature concerning Society and what is carried by the Votes of People being always subject to Turbulency and Confusion have we not great Assurance seeing Christ reversed nothing Natural but confirmed it that there are many things not written in Scripture but left to their necessity and expediency according to Natures Laws and so what is nearest to Monarchick being farthest from Confusion the Rulers of the Church and among them the Bishops ought to determine all things neither Commanded nor Forbidden by God Answ There is in the Church the perfect and absolute Monarchy of Christ in his Word and besides this there is no other nor can the Laws of Nature dictate any other there is one Lawgiver who is able to save or destroy and there need not any more Masters for more would certainly breed Confusion whatever therefore is clearly according to the Word of God or to be made out to be so whatever is the evident Dictate of Nature as distinction of Sexes 1 Cor. 11. 3. in their publick appearance in Religious Assemblies administration of Divine Services in a known Language 1 Cor. 14. v. 5. the speaking of one Prophet only at once and not in a Confusion of Voices v. 31. All such Natural
Order and Decency or whatever is of Indisputable Decency according to the Manners and Custom of our Native Country these are the utmost Bounds of Prescription All things else are to be Comprimiz'd by Agreement and Suffrage and even these necessary things are to be Managed by Doctrine Rational Convicton Exhortation Admonition Rebuke and even Charge and Command with all Authority in the Evidences of the Divine Word and Will and no otherwise For this I say again is the more abundant Honour the Rulers or more Honourable Members of the Church are to invest the lowest with to Circulate with them the Life and Spirits of Truth by transfusing the Advantages of all the Light and Knowledge they have that they as Living Wise and Intellectual Members also may judge what is Commanded them by God and not be as Fools or Lifeless Members For what Blood Spirits and Life are in the Body that is Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding in the Will of God in the Church And in all Indifferent things the very same Freedom the Foot hath to represent to the higher Powers of Nature what offends it and is immedately heard the very same Power the lowest Member of the Church hath to remonstrate to the Higher what Scandalizes it in the accepting this or that Indifferent Ceremony and it ought as feelingly as immediately to be heard For as the same Soul is present to all parts of the Natural Body so the same Spirit of the Head of the Church animates his whole Body the Church which is the Fulness or Complement the Receptacle of his Fulness the Fulness in which he will appear Full and Compleat who fills all in all As therefore the Head it self feels by this Spiritual Union so are the Eyes and Ears the Higher Members of this Body to do And if they do not so feel it argues an Interruption between them and the Head it self for that most concernfully reciprocates with the whole Body and the extreamest part of it and so does every part inliven'd by him also if there be no Intercision nor Obstruction betwixt it and the Head Quest Is there yet any further Reason against a Power in the Rulers of the Church for imposing in things of indifferency under the Names of Decency and Order Answ There is the great Reason of the Mischief of Scandal to be added to all that hath been spoken Quest What is to be understood by Scandal Answ Scandal is a Subject of Discourse of too large a Compass for the present purpose but as it is strictly to be adjusted to it it may be thus understood Scandal is that Hurt and Grief a Man receives in Submitting either to Humane Example or Imposition in things of themselves neither Commanded nor Forbidden by God when the Conscience is in doubt whether that which is required to be done be not displeasing to God and forbidden by him or that which is required to be omitted or not done is not pleasing to God and Commanded by him and yet submits it self to be led by that Example or Commanded by such Impositions and so falls into Sin and under a wound of Conscience Quest When the thing is indeed neither Commanded nor Forbidden by God how can it be changed by the Conscience being in Doubt concerning it Answ Because the Conscience is that complex or congregated Power of the Soul wherein are preserved all the Doctrines to be believed and Rules of Action to the end that it may observe and direct how the Soul is to Govern it self and square all its Actions to the Will of God and that it may comfort or check the Soul in doing Well or Ill according to those Doctrines or Rules Wherein then Conscience is mistaken and misjudges either way against that which is Commanded by God or for that which is forbidden by him there is nothing to be done but to reduce Conscience to its Right Rules which is the Will of God in every thing revealed in his Word But in things neither Commanded nor Forbidden if Conscience be apprehensive of danger any way this is the Honour and Dignity that God hath conferred upon Conscience as his immediate Vicegerent in the Soul and carrying his Authority by always presenting it in his Word and Command that a Man should suspend his Action wherein Conscience is not satisfied and at rest concerning the Goodness of the Action and this is the Honour which those that are above either in their Authority in the Church or the strength of their Understanding Gifts or Graces should bestow upon those that are below that they should not either by their Authority Influence or Example Scandalise the little ones or the weak that are so either in regard of their low Station or the weakness of their Gifts and Graces that is draw them into the Sin of doing any thing of which Conscience hath a mistrust of displeasing God in so doing in regard that it both weakens and disables Conscience in the discharge of that Trust reposed in it for the carrying on the Soul in a Christian Course its Authority being violated and prostrated in the reverence due to it and disturbs the Peace and Comfort it ought to Minister to the Soul in that Course For by this sort of Scandal the Apostle Witnesses the Weak Christian falls into Sin his Conscience is defiled is wounded is grieved is made weak All the mischief of which the value of indifferent things is not such as that it can answer and make recompense for and so to sin thus against the weak is to destroy them for whom Christ died and therefore to sin against Christ which is the reason of those weighty Discourses of our Saviour against Scandal Mark 18. and of the Apostle Rom. 4. and 1 Cor. c. 8. and cap. 10. which being compared give great light one to another Quest But it seems that a Conscience only in doubt might be setled by the Advice Example and Authority of those that are the Elders or Eminent Members of the Church for when Doubt supposes the Conscience inclining neither this way nor that way in it self but standing between both or sometimes moving to one side and then to the other the coming in of those Considerations taken from the Example and Authority forenamed should give an over-weight to that side on which they fall Answ Yet on purpose to shew the great Dignity of Conscience and its Government without which approving and directing accordingly even Obedience to the Divine Commands wants the just Complement of a Good Action and also to shew of how little moment in Christianity all things are not under a Divine Sanction the whole weight of the Apostles Discourse is hung upon a doubting Conseience a Conscience in doubt concerning things indifferent when urg'd either way Quest But are not all Sinnews of Government hereby cut and dissolv'd even of Civil Government for Conscience may be in relation to such Commands disatisfied Answ As Scripture every where supposes the whole Government
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-Church a Mock-Christianity that is an Antichurch and 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-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
Offered by the Eternal Spirit which certainly makes the comers thereunto perfect On the other side this Liberty lays not open the Inclosures of a Holy Life nor removes the Barriers of Justice against Sin if not satisfied and attoned by Faith in the Blood of Christ 4. Lastly That which answers to each of these Characters of True Religion is that it hath no Secular Interest no Interest of this present World that it looks not upon the things that are seen that are but for a Moment but on the things that are not seen that are Eternal such is the Godliness such is the Sacrifice such the Christian Liberty that their Uses and Ends are too great and large to center in Earthly things and though themselves are the True Interest of the present state yet they no way make it or the Grandeur of it an Interest but seek a Heavenly Country and City even as the Lord of this Religion said My Kingdom is not of this World Now as this measures each of the other Characters so each of them measures it such a Transcendant Holiness and Purity can alone see God in Eternal Habitations such a Sacrifice alone can have its Blood enter into the Holy Place made without Hands having obtained an Eternal Inheritance such a Blood speaks alone in the Heavens better things than the Blood of Abel a Conscience so free so perfected hath boldness to enter into the Holiest and none else These are all fitted and Consecrated to Eternity and Eternity to them Light and trivial Holiness Insignificant Ceremonies and Rites of Purgation a cumber of External Observations invented by Men can never enter within the Vail nor endure for ever And on the other side by such Divine Things to grasp at this World and a Patrimony on Earth is as gross and out of Square so that these things exactly measure one another and square together Quest How is the Four-Square City or the True Church adjusted to these Dimensions Answ In all these things I before mentioned in having these and these only in its Doctrine its Worship its Practice and Obedience its Discipline or Government Quest How is the False Church out of Square to all these Answ In that retaining the Profession of the Christian Religion constituted according to these and pretending an Imitation of them and the Miracles attesting them it hath been most extravagant from them by its Traditional Additions and Counterfeits of them every of which are a Violation and Irregularity from one or all of these Characters or equal Sides of True Religion a great Lie upon them with which they can never be brought to agree being not only an endless Variation from but a flat Opposition to them and a despiting them with themselves so strangely so monstrously mis-shapen and that in so great numbers that as in mockage to the many excellent things our Saviour did and taught so many that if they were all written the World it self could not contain the Books that would be written even so if all the numerous and prodigious excursions of the Antichristian Church and Antichrist the Head of it from Christian Religion by its indeterminable swarm of New pieces of Antichristianism should be written the whole World it self would not be able to contain the Volumes that would be written Quest But does not the Profession of so much of the Christian Religion in such an Eminence like the City upon the Hill that cannot be hid give it the Reputation of a most Famous Church if not the Catholick as it calls it self Answ Christianity so abused as in the Popish Religion is infinitely the more dishonoured for the Eminence of the Antichurch that so exposes it and it is only the Eminence of Antichrist sitting in the Temple of God and the exalting himself above all that is indeed and truly God in his Church and shewing himself that he is God in his Oracles Wonders and Miracles but they are all but one great Lie of this Son of the Father of Lies the Image of the God of this World the Son of his falshood and perdition contrary to Christ the Son of the Father in Truth and Love But if any one receiving Christianity or the Scriptures from the Antichurch and measuring them in and by themselves separates True Christianity from the Antichristianism and retains it Pure it is but like the Service God received from the False Prophet Baalam when he Prophefied Truth into whose Place and Office Antichrist succeeds and is therefore styled the False Prophet Revel 16. 13. Quest What then can this pretended Catholick Church be in relation to the True Catholick Publick Religion Answ It can be no other upon strict account than the Synagogue of Satan the Pseudocatholick Antichurch in a Damnable Heresie from and hatred to the General Assemby and Church of the First Born written in Heaven united with the God of Truth and Love and the Son of the Father in Truth and Love in a Hellish Schism and Separation from the Apostolick Catholick Church of which God and Christ are the Head Quest How can it be believed that so great a Lie upon Christianity should be received by so large a proportion of the Christian World or that Persons of so vast Abilities and Comprehensions should so deceive others or be themselves deceived Answ Scripture has taken all the care possible to Arm us against this Objection which is indeed very great It calls this Apostacy a Mystery of Iniquity and to assure us the Apostle Paul and the Divine Person in the Revelation point to the same Thing upon the Forehead of this Adulterous Church is written Mystery Now a Mystery if it were presently understood and all easie and plain were no Mystery It hath the Energy of Delusion in causing Men to believe a Lie it is the whole Deceit of unrighteousness it sets up a great Stage of Counterfeit Miracles that it vaunts upon and that it might have that Reverend Face of Antiquity to deceive with and say it comes from a far-off Ages It was a Mystery that was then at work in the Apostles time Lastly It hath its effect upon them that may be Christians and receive Truth but not the chaste unprostitute Love of Truth alone Quest But it seems imposible that any parts of the Christian World that have been once disabused should return any more under so great a Delusion Answ There are very great hopes that God who hath Commanded his Light to shine out of this Darkness will interpose by the perpetual Brightness of his own appearance and by that Divine Breath of his Mouth in his Word against the return of so great a Darkness This set aside there are so many Reasons of fear and such possibilities of laying a Train of Causes reaching to such an Effect that there can be no place for Security but in the Almighty Providence and yet what Degrees of that deadly Scourge may fall on the Protestant World God only knows we know our Sins