unto May any make a Judgment but themselves who impose them when the number of such things grows to a blameable excess If others may judge at least for themselves their own practice and so of what is lawful or not it is all that is desired If themselves are the the only Judges the case seems very hard and our secession from the Church of Rome scarcely warrantable And who sees not what endless Contests and Differences will ensue on these Suppositions if the whole Liberty of mens Judgments and all apprehensions of Duty in Professors be not swallowed up in the Gulph of Atheistical Indifferency as to all the Concerns of outward worship The whole of what hath been pleaded on this Head might be confirmed with the testimony of many of the Learned writers of the Church of England in the defence of our Secession from that of Rome But we shall not here produce them in particular The sum of what is pleaded by them is That the Being of the Catholick Church lies in Essentials that for a particular Church to disagree from all other particular Churches in some extrinsecal and accidental things is not to separate from the Catholick Church so as to cease to be a Church but still whatever Church makes such extrinsecal things the necessary conditions of Communion so as to cast men out of the Church who yield not to them is Schismatical in its so doing and the Separation from it is so far from being Schisme that being cast out of that Church on those terms only returns them unto the Communion of the Catholick Church And nothing can be more unreasonable than that the Society imposing such conditions of communion should be Judge whether those conditions be just and equitable or no. To this purpose do they generally plead our common Cause Wherefore from what hath been discoursed we doubt not but to affirm that where unscriptural conditions of communion indispensibly to be submitted unto and observed are by any Church imposed on those whom they expect or require to joyn in their Fellowship Communion and Order if they on whom they are so imposed do thereon with-hold or withdraw themselves from the communion of that Church especially in the Acts Duties and Parts of Worship wherein a submission unto these conditions is exdressed either verbally or virtually they are not thereon to be esteemed guilty of Schisme but the whole fault of the Divisions which ensue thereon is to be charged on them who insist on the necessity of their Imposition That this is the condition of things with us at present especially such as are Ministers of the Gospel with reference unto the Church of England as it is known in its self so it may be evidenced unto all by an enumeration of the Particulars that are required of us if we will be comprehended in the Communion and Fellowship thereof For 1. It is indispensibly enjoyned that we give a solemn Attestation unto the Liturgy and all contained in it by the subscription or declaration of our Assent and Consent thereunto which must be accompanied with the constant use of it in the whole Worship of God As was before observed we dispute not now about the Lawfulness of the use of Liturgies in the publick Service of the Church nor of that in particular which is established among us by the Laws of the Land Were it only proposed or recommended unto Ministers for the use of it in whole or in part according as it should be found needful unto the edification of their people there would be a great Alteration in the case under consideration And if it be pretended that such a Liberty would produce great diversity yea and confusion in the Worship of God we can only say that it did not so of old when the Pastors of Churches were left wholly to the exercise of their own Gifts and Abilities in all Sacred Administrations But it is the making of an Assent and Consent unto it with the constant use of it or attendance unto it a necessary condition of all Communion with the Church which at present is called into question It will not we suppose be denied but that it is so made unto us all both Ministers and People and that by such Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical as are sufficiently severe in their Penalties For we have Rules and Measures of Church-communion assigned unto us by Laws meerly Civil Were there any colour or pretence of denying this to be so we should proceed no farther in this Instance but things are evidently and openly with us as here laid down Now this condition of communion is unscriptural and the making of it to be such a condition is without warranty or countenance from the word of God or the practice of the Apostolical and Primitive Churches That there are no footsteps of any Liturgy or prescribed Forms for the administration of all Church-Ordinances to be imposed on the the Disciples of Christ in their Assemblies to be found in the Scripture no intimation of any such thing no direction about it no command for it will we suppose be acknowledged Commanded indeed we are to make Prayers and supplications for all sorts of men in our Assemblies to instruct lead guide and feed the Flock of Christ to administer the holy Ordinances instituted by him and to do all these things decently and in order The Apostles also describing the work of the Ministry in their own attendance unto it affirm that they would give themselves continually unto Prayer and the Ministry of the Word But that all these things should be done the Preaching of the word only excepted in and by the use or reading of a Liturgy and the prescribed Forms of it without variation or receding from the Words and Syllables of it in any thing that the Scripture is utterly silent of If any one be otherwise minded it is incumbent on him to produce Instances unto his purpose But withall he must remember that in this case it is required not only to produce a warranty from the Scripture for the use of such Forms or Liturgies but also that Rules are given therein enabling Churches to make the constant attendance unto them to be a necessary condition of their communion If this be not done nothing is offered unto the Case as at present stated And whatever confidence may be made use of herein we know that nothing unto this purpose can be thence produced It is pleaded indeed that our Saviour himself composed a Form of Prayer and prescribed it unto his Disciples But it is not proved that he enjoyned them the constant use of it in their Assemblies nor that they did so use it nor that the repetition of it should be a condition of communion in them though the owning of it as by him proposed and for the Ends by him designed may justly be made so least of all is it or can it be proved that any Rule or just encouragement
interest in his present condition and circumstances And as this being once admitted will give the minds of men an Indifferency as unto the several Religions that are in the world so it will quickly produce in them a Contempt of them all And from an entertainment of or an indifferency of mind about these and the like noysome opinions it is come to pass that the Gospel after a continued Triumph for sixteen hundred years over Hell and the world doth at this day in the midst of Christendome hardly with multitudes maintain the reputation of its truth and Divinity and is by many living in a kind of outward conformity unto the Institutes of Christian Religion despised laughed to scorn But the proud and foolish Atheistical Opiniators of our dayes whose sole design is to fortifie themselves by the darkness of their minds against the charges of their own consciences upon their wicked and debauched conversations do but expose themselves to the scorn of all sober and rational Persons For what are a few obscure and for the most part vitious Renegadoes in comparison of those great wise numerous and sober persons whom the Gospel in its first setting forth in the world by the evidence of its truth and the efficacy of its Power subdued and conquered Are they as learned as the renowned Philosophers of those dayes who advantaged by the endeavours and fruits of all the great Wits of former Ages had advanced solid rational Literature to the greatest height that ever it attained in this world or possibly ever will do so the minds of men having now somthing more excellent and noble to entertain themselves-withall Are they to be equalled in wisdome and experience with those glorious Emperors Senators and Princes who then swayed the Scepters and affairs of the world Can they produce any thing to oppose unto the Gospel that is likely to influence the minds of men in any degree comparably to the Religion of these great learned wise and mighty Personages which having received by their Fathers from dayes immemorial was visibly attended with all Earthly Gloryes and Prosperities which were accounted as the reward of their due observance of it And yet whereas there was a Conspiracy of all those persons and this influenced by the craft of infernal Powers and managed with all that wisdome subtlety power and cruelty that the nature of man is capable to exercise on purpose to oppose the Gospel and keep it from taking Root in the world yet by the glorious evidence of its divine extract and original wherewith it is accompanied by the efficacy and power which God gave the Doctrine of it in and over the minds of men all mannaged by the spiritual weapons of its Preachers which were mighty through God to the pulling down of those strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God it prevailed against them all and subdued the world unto an acknowledgment of its truth with the divine power and authority of its Author Certainly there is nothing more contemptible than that the Indulgence of some inconsiderable Persons unto their lusts and vices who are void of all those excellencies in notion and practise which have already been triumphed over by the Gospel when set up in competition with it or opposition unto it should be once imagined to bring it into question or to cast any disreputation upon it But to treat of these things is not our present design we have only mentioned them occasionally in the account which it was necessary we should give concerning our Love to all men in general with the grounds we proceed upon in the exercise of it CHAP. III. Nature of the Catholick Church The first and principal Object of Christian Love Differences among the Members of this Church of what nature and how to be managed Of the Church Catholick as visibly professing The extent of it or who belongs unto it Of Vnion and Love in this Church-state of the Church of England with respect hereunto Of particular Churches Their institution Corruption of that Institution Of Churches Diocesan c. Of separation from corrupt particular Churches The just Causes thereof c. IN the second sort of Mankind before mentioned consists the visible Kingdome of Christ in this woâ—ld This being grounded in his Death and Resurrection and conspicuously settled by his sending of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension he hath ever since preserved in the world against all the contrivances of Satan or oppositions of the Gates of Hell and will do so unto the consummation of all things For he â—â—â—st reign until all his enemies are made his Footsâ—ool Towards these on all accounts our Love ought to be intense and fervent as that which is the immediate Bond of our Relation unto them and Union with them And this Kingdome or Church of Christ on the earth may be and is generally by all considered under a threefold notion 1. First as therein and among the Members of it is comprized that real living and spiritual body of his which is firstly peculiarly and properly the Catholick Church militant in this world These are his Elect Redeemed justified and sanctified ones who are savingly united unto their Head by the same quickning and sanctifying Spirit dwelling in him in all fulness and communicated unto them by him aâ—cording to his Promise This is that Catholick Church which we profess to believe which being hid from the eyes of men and absolutely invisible in its Mystical Form or spiritual saving Relation unto the Lord Christ and its Unity with him is yet more or less alwayes visible by that Profession of Faith in him and obedience unto him which it maketh in the world and is alwayes obliged so to do For With the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And this Church we believe to be so disposed over the whole world that where-ever there are any Societies or Numbers of men who ordinarily profess the Gospel and subjection to the Kingly Rule of Christ thereby with an hope of eternal blessedness by his Mediation we no way doubt but that there are among them some who really belong thereunto In and by them doth the Lord Christ continually fulfil and accomplish the Promise of his Presence by his Spirit with them that believe in his name who are thereby Interested in all the Priviledges of the Gospel and Authorized unto the Administration and Participation of all the Holy Ordinances thereof And were it not that we ought not to boast our selves against others Especially such as have not had the Spiritual Advantages that the Inhabitants of these Nations have been intrusted withal and who have been exposed unto more violent Temptations than they we should not fear to say that among those of all sorts who in these Nations hold the Head there is probably according unto a Judgment to be made by the fruits of that
severe in their censures for God than he will be for himself Moreover such as were baptized in those Churches were not baptized into them as particular Churches nor initiated into them thereby But the Relation which ensued unto them thereon was unto the Catholick Church visible together with a seperation from the Infidel world lying wholly in darkness and evil by a dedication unto the Name of Christ. Upon a personal avowment of that Faith whereinto they were baptized they became compleat Members of that Church Whatever state they are hereby admitted into whatever benefit or priviledge they are personally interested in they lose them not by the miscarriage of that particular Church whereunto they do relate Yea losing the whole advantage of an Instituted Church-state they may still retain whatever belongs unto their Faith and Profession Were Baptisme only an Initiation into a Particular Church upon the failure of that Church Baptism as to all its benefits and Priviledges must cease also We do therefore own that amongst those whose Assemblies are rejected by Christ because of their false worship and wickedness there may be persons truly belonging to the Mystical Church of God and that also by their Profession are a portion of his Visible Kingdome in the World How far they do consent unto the Abominations of the Churches whereunto they do belong how far they have Light against them how far they do bewaile them how far they repent of them what God will bear withall in them we know not nor are called to judge Our Love is to be towards them as persons relating unto Jesus Christ in the capacity mentioned but all Communion with them in the Acts of false Worship is forbidden unto us By vertue also of that Relation which they still continue unto Christ and his Church as believers they have Power and are warranted as it is their Duty to reform themselves and to joyn together anew in Church Order for the due celebration of Gospel Ordinances unto the Glory of Christ and their own edification For it is fond to imagine that by the sins of others any Disciples of Christ in any place of the world should be deprived of a Right to perform their Duty towards him when it is discovered unto them And these are our thoughts concerning such Churches as are openly and visibly Apostatical Again There are Corruptions that may befall or enter into Churches that are not of so heinous a nature as those before insisted on Especially if as it often falls out the whole Lump be not leavened if the whole Body be not infected but only some Part or Parts of it which others more sound do resist and give their Testimony against And these may have none of the pernicious consequences before mentioned Thus many Errours in Doctrines Disorders and Miscarriages in sacred Administrations irregular walking in conversation with neglect or abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches which yet may be so far from evacuating their Church state as that they give no sufficient Warrant unto any person immediately to leave their Communion or to seperate from them The Instances that may be given of the failings of some of the Primitive Churches in all these things with the consideration of the Apostolical Directions given unto them on such Occasions render this Assertion evident and incontroulable Nor do we in the least approve of their practise if any such there be that are considerable who upon every failing in these things in any Church think themselves sufficiently warranted immediately of their own minds to depart from its Communion Much more do we condemn them who suffer themselves in these things to be guided by their own surmises and misapprehensions For such there may be as make their own hasty conceptions to be the Rule of all Church Administrations and Communion who unless they are in all things pleased can be quiet no where Wherefore when any Church whereof a man is by his own consent antecedently a Member doth fall in part or in whole from any of those Truths which it hath professed or when it is overtaken with a neglect of Discipline or irregularities in its administration such a one is to consider that he is placed in his present state by divine Providence that he may orderly therein endeavour to put a stop unto such Defections and to exercise his charity Love and Forbearance towards the persons of them whose Miscarriages at present he cannot Remedy In such cases there is a large and spacious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most perverse Imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church-disorders All the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit bestowed on Church-Members to be exercised in their several stations at such a season all Instructions given for their due improvement unto the good of the whole the Nature Rules and Laws of all Societies declare that all other Remedies possible and lawful are to be attempted before a Church be finally deserted But these Rules are to be observed provided alwayes that it be judged unlawful for any Persons either for the sake of Peace or Order or Concord or on any other consideration to join actually in any thing that is sinful or to profess any Opinion which is contrary to Sound Doctrine or the form of wholesome words which we are bound to hold fast on all Emergencies And farther if we may suppose as sure enough we may that such a Church so corrupted shall obstinately persist in its Errors Miscarriages Neglects and Mal-administrations that it shall refuse to be warned or admonished or being so by any means shall wilfully reject and despise all Intruction that it will not bear with them that are yet sound in it whether Elders or Members in peaceable Endeavors to reduce it unto the order of the Gospel but shall rather hurt persecute and seek their trouble for so doing whereby their Edification comes continually to be obstructed and their Souls to be hazarded through the loss of Truth and Peace we no way doubt but that it is lawful for such persons to withdraw themselves from the Communion of such Churches and that without any apprehension that they have absolutely lost their Church-state or are totally rejected by Jesus Christ. For the means appointed unto any end are to be measured and regulated according unto their usefulness unto that end Aud let mens present Apprehensions be what they will it will one day appear that the end of all Church-Order Rule Communion and Administrations is not the Grandeur or secular Advantages of some few not outward Peace and Quietness unto whose preservation the Civil Power is ordained but the Edification of the Souls of men in Faith Love and Gospel-Obedience Where therefore these things are so disposed of and mannaged as that they do not regularly further and promote that End but rather obstruct it if they will not be reduced unto their due Order and Tendency
of their several Countries whereby their Civil Liberties and Advantages were confirmed unto them And if at any time it take place or prevail amongst Persons of more Light and Knowledge who are able to compare it or the practice of it with the Iâ—stitutions of Christ in the Gospel and the manner of the Admistration therein also directed it greatly alienates the minds of men from the Communion of such Churches Especially it doth so if set up unto an exclusion of that benigne kind spiritual and every way useful Discipline that Christ hath appointed to be exercised in his Church When Corruptions and Abuses were come to the height in the Papacy in this matter we know what ensued thereon Divines indeed and sundry other Persons Learned and Godly did principally insist on the Errors and Heresies which prevailed in the Church of Rome with the Defilements and Abominations of their Worship But that which alienated the minds of Princes Magistrates and whole Nations from them was the Ecclesiastical Domination which they had craftily erectsd and cunningly mannaged unto the ends of their own Ambition Power and Avarice under the name of Church-Rule and Discipline And where-ever any thing of the same kind is continued that a Rule under the same Pretence is erected and exercised in any Church after the nature of Secular Courts by force and power put forth in Legal Citations Penalties Pecuniary Mulcts without an open evidence of mens being acted in what they do herein by Love Charity Compassion towards the Souls of men Zeel for the Glory of God and Honour of Christ with a Design for the Purity Holiness and Reformation of the Members of it that Church may not expect Unity and Peace any longer than the terrour of its Proceedings doth over-ballance other Thoughts and Desires proceeding from a sense of Duty in all that belong unto it Yea whatever is or is to be the manner of the Administration of Discipline in the Church about which there may be doubtful Disputations which men of an ordinary capacity may not be able clearly to determine yet if the avowed end of it be not the Purity and Holiness of the Church and if the Effects of it in a tendency unto that End be not manifest it is hard to find out whence our Obligation to a compliance with it should arise And where an outward Conformity unto some Church-Order is aimed at alone in the room of all other things it will quickly prove it self to be nothing or of no value in the sight of Christ. And these things do alienate the minds of many from an acquiescencie in their Stations or Relations to such Churches For the principal Enforcements of mens Obedience and Reverence unto the Rulers of the Church is because they watch diligently for the good of their Souls as those that must give an Account And if they see such set over them as give no evidence of any such watchful Care acting its self according to those Scripture-Directions which are continually read unto them but rather rule them with force and rigour seeking theirs not them they grow weary of the Yoke and sometimes regularly sometimes irregularly contrive their own Freedom and Deliverance It may not here be amiss to enquire into the Reasons and Occasions that have seduced Churches and their Rulers into the Miscarriages insisted on Now these are chiefly some Principles with their Application that they have trusted unto but which indeed have really deceived them and will yet continue so to do And the first of these is that whereas they are true Churches and thereon intrusted with all Church-Power and Priviledges they need not further concern themselves to seek for Grounds or Warranty to keep up all their Members unto their Communion For be they otherwise what they will so long as they are True Churches it is their duty to abide in their Peace and Order If any call their Church-state into question they take no consideration of them but how they may be punished it may be destroyed as perverse Schismaticks And they are ready to suppose that upon an acknowledgment that they are True Churches every dissent from them in any thing must needs be criminal As if it were all one to be a True Church and to be in the Truth and Right in all things a supposition whereof includes a Nullity in the state of those Churches which in the least differ from them than which there is no more uncharitable nor Schismatical Principle in the world But in the common Definition of Schism that it is a causeless Separation from a true Church that term of causless is very little considered or weighed by them whose Interest it is to lay the Charge of it on others And hence it is come to pass that where-ever there have been complaints of Faults Miscarriages Errors Defections of Churches in late Ages their Counsels have only been how to destroy the Complainers not in the least how they should reform themselves as though in Church-Affairs Truth Right and Equity were entailed on Power and Possession How the Complaints concerning the Church of Rome quickned by the Outcries of so many Provinces of Europe and Evidence in matter of Fact were eluded and frustrated in the Councel of Trent leaving all tfiings to be tried out by Interest and force is full well known For they know that no Reformation can be attempted and accomplished but it will be a business of great Labour Care and Trouble things not delightful unto the minds of men at ease Besides as it may possibly ruffle or discompose some of the Chiefs in their present ways or enjoyments so it will as they fear tend to their Disreputation as though they had formerly been out of the way or neglective of their Duty And this as they suppose would draw after it another Inconvenience by reflecting on them and their Practices as the Occasions of former Disorders and Divisions They chuse therefore generally to flatter themselves under the Name and Authority of the Church and lay up their Defence and Security against an humble painful Reformation in a Plea that they need it not So was it with the Church of Laodicea of old who in the height of her decaying condition flattered her self That she was rich and encreased in Goods and had need of nothing and knew not or would not acknowledge that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now it cannot but seem exceeding strange unto men who wisely consider these things that whereas the Churches which were planted and watered by the Apostles themselves and enjoyed for some good season the presence and advantage of their infallible Guidance to preserve them in their original purity and order did within a few years many of them so degenerate and stand in need of Reformation that our Lord Jesus Christ threatned from Heaven to cast them off and destroy them unless they did speedily reform themselves according to his mind that those now
will that answer our Duty or give us peace in our latter End Shall we profess the perswasions of our minds in these things and indeavour by all Lawful means to accomplish what we desire shall we then escape the severest censures as of Persons inclined to Schisms and Divisions Yea many great and wise Men of the Church of England doe look on this as the most pernicious Principle and Practice that any can betake themselves unto And in reporting the Memorials of former times some of them have charged all the calamities and Miseries that have befallen their Church to have proceeded from Men of this Principle endeavouring Reformation according unto Models of their own without Seperation And could we conscientiously betake our selves to the pursuit of the same Design we should not especially under present jealousies and exasperations escape the same condemnation that others before us have undergone And so it is fallen out with some which might teach them that their measures are not authentick and they might learn Moderation towards them who cannot come up unto them by the security they meet withall from those that do out go them Shall we therefore which alone seems to remain proceed yet farther and making a Renunciation of all those Principles concerning the Constitution Rule and Discipline of the Church with the ways and manner of the Worship of God to be observed in the Assemblies of it come over unto a full Conformity unto the present Constitutions of the Church of England and all the proceedings of its Rulers thereon Yea this is that say some which is required of you and that which would put an End unto all our Differences and Divisions We know indeed that an Agreement in any thing or way right or wrong true or false will promise so to do and appear so to do for a season But it is Truth alone that will make such Agreements durable or useful And we are not ingaged in an inquiry meerly after Peace but after Peace with Truth Yea to lay aside the Consideration of Truth in a disquisition after Peace and Agreement in and about spiritual things is to exclude a regard unto God and his Authority and to provide only for our selves And what it is which at present lays a Prohibition on our Consciences against the compliance proposed shall be afterwards declared neither will we here insist upon the discouragements that are given us from the present state of the Church it self which yet are not a few Only we must say that there doth not appear unto us in many that steadiness in the profession of the Truth owned amongst us upon and since the Reformation nor that consent upon the Grounds and Reasons of the Government and Discipline in it that we are required to submit unto which were necessary to invite any dissentors to a through Conformity unto it That there are daily inrodes made upon the ancient Doctrine of this Church and that without the least controle from them who pretend to be the sole Conservators of it untill if not the whole yet the principal parts of it are laid waste is sufficiently evident and may be easily proved And we fear not to own that we cannot conform to Armianism Socinianism on the one hand or Popery on the other with what new or specious pretences soever they may be blended And for the Ecclesiastical Government as in the hands of meer ecclesiastical Persons when it is agreed among themselves whether it be from Heaven or of Men we shall know the better how to judge of it But suppose we should wave all such considerations and come up to a full Conformity unto all that is or shall or may be required of us will this give us an universally pleadable acquitment from the charges of the Guilt of want of Love Schism and Divisions We should indeed possibly be delivered from the noyse and clamour of a few crying out Sectaries Phanaticks Schismaticks Church-Dividers but withal should continue under the censures of the great and at present thriving Church of Rome for the same supposed Crimes And sure enough we are that a compliance with them who have been the real causes and occasions of all the Schisms and Divisions that are amoâ—gst Christians almost in the whole world would yield us no solid relief in the change of our condition Yet without this no Men can free themselves from the loudest outcries against them on the account of Schism And this sufficiently manifests how little indeed they are to be valued seeing for the most part they are nothing but the steam of Interest and Party It is therefore apparent that the Accommodations of our Judgments and Practices to the measures of other men will afford us no real advantage as to the imputations we suffer under nor will give satisfaction unto all Professors of Christianity that we pursue Love and Peace in a due manner For what one sort requireth of us anonother will instantly disallow and condemn And it is well if the Judgment of the Major Part of all sorts be not influenced by Custome prejudices and secular Advantages We have therefore no way left but that which indeed ought to be the only way of Christians in these things namely to seek in sincerity the satisfaction of our own Consciences and the approving of our hearts unto the search of them in a dilligent attendance unto our own especial Duty according to that Rule which will neither deceive us nor fail us And an Account of what we do herein we shall now render unto them that follow Truth with Peace CHAP. II. Commendations of Love and Vnity Their proper objects with their geniral Rules and measures Of Love toward all mankind in geneâ—al Allows not salvation unto any without faith in Christ Jesus Of the differences in Religion as to outward Worship THe Foundation of our discourse might be laid in the commendation of Christian Love and Unity and thereon we might easily enlarge as also abound in a collection of Testimonies confirming our Assertions But the old reply in such a Case by whom ever were they discommended evidenceth a labour therein to be needless and superfluous We shall therefore only say that they are greatly mistaken who from the Condition whereunto at present we are driven and necessitated do suppose that we value not these things at as high a Rate as themselves or any other Professors of Christian Religion in the world A greater noyse about them may be made possibly by such as have accommodated their name and notion to their own Interâ—sts and who point their Pleas about them and their pretences of them to their own secular Advantage But as for a real valuation of the things themselves as they are required of us and prescribed unto us in the Gospel we shall not willingly be found to come behind any that own the name of Christ in the world We know that God hath stiled himself the God of Love Peace and Order in the
a continual sorrow and trouble unto us so we acknowledge it to be our Duty and shall be willing to undergo any blame where we are found defective in the Discharge of it unto the utmost of our Power to endeavour after the strictest Communion with them in all Spiritual things that the Gospel doth require or whereof our condition in this world is capable In the mean time until this can be attained it is our desire to mannage the Profession of our own Light and Apprehensions without Anger Bitterness Clamours Evil speaking or any other thing that may be irregular in our selves or give just cause of offence unto others Our Prayers are also continually for the spiritual Prosperity of this Church for its increase in Faith and Holiness and especially for the healing of all breaches that are among them that belong thereunto throughout the World And were we not satisfied that the Principles which we own about the right Constitution of the Churches of Christ and the Worship of God to be observed in them are singularly suited to the furtherance and Preservation of Vnion and due Order among all the members of this Church we should not need to be excited by any unto their Renunciation But our main design in all these things is that both they and we with them may enjoy that peace which the Lord Christ hath bequeathed unto us and walk in the way which he hath prescribed for us And these things we mention neither to boast of nor yet to justifie our selves but only to acknowledge what is our conviction concerning our Duty in this matter And might there any sedate peaceable unprejudicate endeavours be countenanced and encouraged for the allaying of all occasional distempers and the composing of all differences among them who belong to this Church of Christ so as that they might all of them at least in these Nations not only keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace but also agree and consent in all wayes and Acts of Religious Communion we doubt not but to manifest that no rigid adherence unto the practise of any conceptions of our own in things wherein the Gospel alloweth a condescention and forbearance no delight in singularity no prejudice against persons or things should obstruct us in the promotion of it to the utmost of our power and ability Upon the whole matter we own it as our duty to follow and seek after peace unity consent and agreement in holy worship with all the members of this Church or those who by a regular profession manifest themselves so to be and will with all readiness and alacrity renounce every principle or practise that is either inconsistent with such communion or directly or indirectly is in its self obstructive of it Secondly The Church of Christ may be considered with respect unto its outward Profession as constitutive of its Being and the formal Reason of its denomination And this is the Church Catholick visible whereunto they all universally belong who profess the invocation of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours under the limitations that shall be mentioned afterwards And this is the visible Kingdome of Christ which on the account of its profession and thereby is distinguished from that world which lyeth in evil and is absolutely under the power of Satan And so in common use the Church and the world are contradistinguished Yet on other accounts many who belong unto this Church by reason of some kind of profession that they make may justly be esteemed to be the world or of it So our Lord Jesus Christ called the generality of the professing Church in his time The world saith he hateth me And that we may know that he thereby intended the Church of the Jewes besides that the circumstances of the place evince it he puts it out of question by the Testimony which he produceth in the confirmation of his Assertion concerning their unjust and causless hatred namely It is written in their Law they have hated me without a cause which being taken out of the Psalms was part of the Law or Rule of the Judaical Church only Now he thus terms them because the generality of them especially their Rulers although they professed to know God and to worship him according to his Word and the Tradition of their Fathers yet were not only corrupt and wicked in their Lives but also persecuted him and his Disciples in whom the Power and Truth of God were manifested beyond what they were able to bear And hence a General Rule is established that what Profession soever any men do make of the Knowledge and Worship of God to what Church soever they do or may be thought to belong yet if they are wicked or ungodly in their Lives and Persecuters of such as are better than themselves they are really of the World and with it will perish without Repentance These are they who receiving on them a Form or Delineation of Godliness do yet deny the Power of it from whom we are commanded to turn away But yet we acknowledge that there is a real difference to be made between them who in any way or manner make profession of the Name of Christ with subjection unto him and that Infidel world by whom the Gospel is totally rejected or to whom it was never tendred In the Catholick visible Church as comprehensive of all who throughout the world outwardly own the Gospel there is an acknowledgment of one Lord one Faith one Baptism which are a sufficient Foundation of that Love Union and Communion among them which they are capable of or are required of them For in the joynt Profession of the same Lord Faith and Baptism consists the Union of the Church under this consideration that is as Catholick and visibly professing and in nothing else And hereunto also is required as the principle animating that Communion and rendring it acceptable mutual Love with its occasional Exercise as a fruit of that Love which we have unto Jesus Christ who is the Object of our Common Profession And setting aside the consideration of them who openly reject the Principal Fundamentals of Christian Religion as denying the Lord Christ to be the Eternal Son of God with the use and efficacy of his death as also the Personal subsistence and Deity of the Holy Spirit and there is no known Community of these Professors in the world but they own so much of the Truths concerning one Lord one Faith and one baptism as are sufficient to guide them unto Life and Salvation And hereon we no way doubt but that among them all there are some really belonging to the Purpose of Gods Election who by the means that they do enjoy shall at length be brought unto everlasting Glory For we do not think that God by his Providence would maintain the Dispensation of the Gospel in any Place or among any People among whom there are none whom he hath designed to bring
unto the Enjoyment of Himself For that is the Rule of his sending and continuing of it whereon he enjoyned the Apostle Paul to stay in such places where he had much People whom he would have to be converted He would not continue from Generation to Generation to scatter his Pearls where there were none but rending Swine nor send Fishers unto waters wherein he knew there were nothing but Serpents and Vipers It is true the Gospel as preached unto many is only a Testimony against them leaving them without excuse and proves unto them a Savour of Death unto Death But the first direct and principal Design of the Dispensation of it being the Conversion of Souls and their eternal salvation it will not probably be continued in any Place nor is so where this Design is not pursued nor accomplished towards any Neither will God make use of it any where meerly for the Aggravation of Mens Sins and Condemnation nor would his so doing consist with the Honour of the Gospel its self or the Glory of that Love and Grace which it professeth to declare Where it is indeed openly rejected there that shall be the Condemnation of Men but where it finds any admittance there is hath somewhat of its genuine and proper work to effect And the Gospel is esteemed to be in all Places dispensed and admitted where the Scripture being received as the word of God Men are from the Light Truth and Doctrine contained therein by any means so far instructed as to take upon them the profession of subjecting their Souls to Jesus Christ and of observing the Religious Duties by him prescribed in opposition to all false Religions in the World Amongst all these the Foundations of saving Faith are at this day preserved For they universally receive the whole Canonical Scripture and acknowledge it to be the word of God on such motives as prevail with them to do so sincerely Herein they give a tacit consent unto the whole Truth contained in it for they receive it as from God without exception or limitation And this they cannot do without a General Renunciation of all the falsities and Evils that it doth condemn Where these things concur men will not believe nor practise any thing in Religion but what they think God requires of them and will accept from them And we find it also in the Event that all the Persons spoken of where-ever they are do universally profess that they believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in his only and Eternal Son They all look also for Salvation by him and profess obedience unto him believing that God raised him from the Dead They believe in like manner that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son with many other sacred Truths of the same importance as also that without Holiness no Man shall see God However therefore they are differenced and divided among themselves however they are mutually esteemed Hereticks and Schismaticks however through the Subtlety of Satan they are excited and provoked to Curse and Persecute one another with wonderful Folly and by an open contradiction unto other Principles which they profess yet are they all Subjects of the Visible Kingdom of Christ and belong all of them to the Catholik Church making profession of the name of Christ in the World in which there is Salvation to be obtained and out of which there is none We take not any consideration at present of that absurd foolish and uncharitable Error which would confine the Catholick Church of Christ unto a particular Church of one single Denomination or indeed rather unto a combination of some Persons in an outward mode of Religious Rule and Worship where of the Scripture is as silent as of things that never were nor ever shall be Yea we look upon it as intollerable Presumption and the utmost height of Vncharitableness for any to judge that the constant Profession of the name of Christ made by Multitudes of Christians with the lasting miseries and frequent Martyrdomes which for his sake they undergo should turn unto no advantage either of the Glory of God or their own Eternal Blessedness because in some things they differ from them Yet such is the Judgment of those of the Church of Rome and so are they bound to judge by the fundamental Princiciples and Laws of their Church Communion But men ought to fear least they should meet with Judgment without Mercy who have shewed no Mercy Had we ever entertained a thought uncharitable to such a Prodigie of insolence had we ever excluded any sort of Christians absolutely from an interest in the Love of God or Grace of Jesus Christ or hopes of Salvation because they do not or will not comply with those ways and terms of outward Church Communion which we approve of we should judg our selves as highly criminal in want of Christian Love as any can desire to have us esteemed so to be It is then the universal Collective Body of them that profess the Gospel throughout the world which we own as the Catholick Church of Christ. How far the Errors in Judgment or miscarriages in sacred worship which any of them have superadded unto the Foundations of Truth which they do profess may be of so pernicious a nature as to hinder them from an Interest in the Covenant of God and so prejudice their Eternal Salvation God only knows But those Notices which we have concerning the Nature and will of God in the Scripture as also of the Love Care and Compassion of Jesus Christ with the Ends of his Mediation do perswade us to believe that where Men in sincerity do improve the Abilities and Means of the Knowledg of Divine Truth where with they are intrusted endeavouring withall to answer their Light and Convictions with a suitable Obedience there are but few Errors of the Mind of so malignant a nature as absolutely to exclude such Persons from an Interest in Eternal Mercy And we doubt not but that men out of a Zeal to the Glory of God real or pretended have imprisoned banished killed burned others for such Errors as it hath been the Glory of God to pardon in them and which he hath done accordingly But this we must grant and do that those whose Lives and Conversations are no way influenced by the Power of the Gospel so as to be brought to some Conformity thereunto or who under the Covert of a Christian Profession do give themselves up unto Idolatry and Persecution of the true Worshipers of God are no otherwise to be esteemed but as Enemies to the Cross of Christ. For as without Holiness no Man shall see God so no Idolater or Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him With respect unto these things we look upon the Church of England or the Generality of the Nation professing Christian Religion measuring them by the Doctrine that hath been preached unto them and received by them
since the Reformation to be as sound and healthful a part of the Catholick Church as any in the world For we know no Place nor Nation where the Gospel for so long a season hath been preached with more Diligence Power and Evidence for Conviction nor where it hath obtained a greater Success or Acceptation Those therefore who perish amongst us do not do so for want of Truth and a right belief or Miscarriages in Sacred worship but for their own Personal Infidelity and Disobedience For according to the Rules before laid down we do not judge that there are any such Errors publickly admitted among them nor any such Miscarriages in Sacred Administration as should directly or absolutely hinder their eternal Salvation That they be not any of them through the Ignorance or Negligence of those who take upon them the conduct of their Souls encouraged in a State or way of Sin or deprived of due Advantages to farther their spiritual Good or are lead into Practices in Religion neither acceptable unto God nor tending to their own Edification whereby they may be betrayed into Eternal Ruine is greatly incumbent on themselves to consider Unto this Catholick Church we owe all Christian Love and are obliged to exercise all the Effects of it both towards the whole and every Particular Member as we have Advantage and Occasion And not only so but it is our Duty to live in constant Communion with it This we can no otherwise do but by a Profession of that Faith whereby it becomes the Church of Christ in the notion under Consideration For any failure herein we are not that we know of charged by any Persons of Modesty or Sobriety The Reflections that have been made of late by some on the Doctrines we teach or own do fall as severely on the Generality of the Church of England at least until within a few years last past as they do on us And we shall not need to owne any especial Concernment in them until they are publickly discountenanced by others Such are the Doctrines concerning Gods Eternal Decrees Justification by Faith the Loss of Original Grace and the Corruption of Nature the Nature of Regeneration the Power and Efficacy of Grace in the Conversion of Sinners that we say not of the Trinity and satisfaction of Christ. But we do not think that the Doctrines publickly taught and owned among us ever since the Reformation will receive any great dammage by the impotent assaults of some few especially considering their mannagement of those assaults by tales railing and ralliery to the lasting reproach of the Religion which themselves profess be it what it will Thirdly The Church of Christ or the visible Professors of the Gospel in the world may be considered as they are disposed of by Providence or their own choyce in Particular Churches These at present are of many sorts or are esteemed so to be For whereas the Lord Christ hath instituted sundry solemn Ordinances of Divine Worship to be observed joyntly by his Disciples unto his honour and their edification this could not be done but in such Societies Communities or Assemblies of them to that purpose And as none of them can be duly performed but in and by such Societies so some of them do either express the Union Love and common Hope that is among them or do consist in the means of their preservation Of this latter sort are all the wayes whereby the Power of Christ is acted in the Discipline of the Churches Wherefore we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ as the King Ruler and Lawgiver of his Church hath ordained that all his Disciples all persons belonging unto his Church in the former notions of it should be gathered into distinct Societies and become as Flocks of Sheep in several Folds under the eye of their Great Shepherd and the respective Conducts of those employed under him And this conjunction of Professors in and unto particular Churches for the celebration of the Ordinances of sacred Worship appointed by Christ and the participation of his Institutions for their edification is not a matter of accident or meerly under the disposal of common Providence but is to be an act in them of choice and voluntary obedience unto the commands of Christ. By some this Duty is more expresly attended unto than by others and by some it is totally neglected For neither antecedently nor consequentially unto such their Conjunction do they consider what is their duty unto the Lord Christ therein nor what is most meet for their own edification They go in these things with others according to the custome of the Times and Places wherein they live confounding their Civil and spiritual Relations And these we cannot but judge to walk irregularly through ignorance mistakes or prejudices Neither will they in their least secular concernments behave themselves with so much regardlesness ot negligence For however their Lot previously unto their own choyce may be cast into any place or Society they will make an after-judgment whether it be to their advantage according to the Rules of prudence and by that judgment either abide in their first station or otherwise dispose of themselves But a Liberty of this nature regulated by the Gospel to be exercised in and about the great concernments of mens souls is by many denyed and by most neglected Hence it is come to pass that the Societies of Christians are for the most part meer effects of their Political Distributions by Civil Lawes aiming principally at other ends and purposes It is not denyed but that Civil Distributions of Professors of the Gospel may be subservient unto the ends of Religious Societies and Assemblies But when they are made a means to take off the minds of men from all regard to the Authority of the Lord Christ instituting and appointing such Societies they are of no small disadvantage unto true Church-Communion and Love The Institution of these Churches and the Rules for their disposal and Government throughout the world are the same stable and unalterable And hence there was in the first Churches planted by the Apostles and those who next succeeded them in the care of that work great Peace Vnion and Agreement For they were all gathered and planted alike according unto the Institution of Christ all regulated and ordered by the same common Rule Men had not yet found out those things which were the Causes of Differences in after-Ages and which yet continue so to be Where there was any difference it was for the most part on the account of some noysom foolish Phantastical Opinions vented by Impostors in direct opposition to the Scripture which the generality of Christians did with one consent abhor But on various occasions and by sundry degrees there came to be great variety in the conceptions of men about these Particular Churches appointed for the Seat and Subject of all Gospel Ordinances and wherein they were authoritatively to be administred in the Name of Jesus Christ For
the Church in neither of the former notions is capable of such administrations Some therefore rested in particular Assemblies or such Societies who did or might meet together under the guidance and inspection of their own Elders Overseers Guides or Bishops And hereunto they added the occasional meetings of those Elders and others to advise and determine in common about the especial necessities of any particular Church or the general concernments of more of them as the matter might require These in name and some kind of resemblance are continued throughout the World in Parochial Assemblies Others suppose a particular Church to be such a one as is now called Diocesan though that name in its first use and application to Church Affairs was of a larger extent than what it is now applyed unto for it was of old the name of a Patriarchal Church And herein the sole Rule Guidance and Authoritative inspection of many perhaps a multitude of particular Churches assembling for sacred Worship and the Administration of Gospel Ordinances distinctly is committed unto one man whom in contradistinction from others they call the Bishop For the joyning of others with him or their subordination unto him in the exercise of Jurisdiction hinders not but that the sole Ecclesiastical Power of the Diocess may be thought to reside in him alone For those others do either act in his name or by power derived from him or have no pretence unto any Authority meerly Ecclesiastical however in common use what they exercised may be so termed But the nature of such Churches with the Rule and Discipline exercised in them and over them is too well known to be here insisted on Some rest not here but unto these Diocesan adde Metropolitical Churches which also are esteemed particular Churches though it be uncertain by what warrant or on what grounds In these one person hath in some kind of Resemblance a respect unto and over the Diocesan Bishops like that which they have over the Ministers of Particular Assemblies But these things being animated and regulated by certain Arbitrary Rules and Canons or Civil Laws of the Nations the due bounds and extent of their power cannot be taken from any Nature or Constitution peculiar unto them And therefore are there where-ever they are admitted various Degrees in their Elevation But how much or little the Gospel is concerned in these things is easie for any one to judge Neither is it by wise men pretended to be so any further than that as they suppose it hath left such things to be ordered by humane wisdome for an expediency unto some certain ends One or more of these Metropolitical Churches have been required in latter Ages to constitute a Church National Though the truth is that Apellation had originally another occasion whereunto the invention of these Metropolitical Churches was accommodated For it arose not from any respect unto Ecclesiastical Order or Rule but unto the supream Political Power whereunto the Inhabitants of such a Nation as gives Denomination to the Church are Civilly subject Hence that which was Provincial at the first Erection of this Fabrick which was in the Romish Empire whilst the whole was under the power of one Monarch became National when the several Provinces were turned into Kingdomes with absolute Soveraign power among themselves wholly independent of any other And he who in his own Person and Authority would erect an Ecclesiastical Image of that demolished Empire will allow of such Provincial Churches as have a dependance upon himself but cares not to hear of such National Churches as in their first notion include a Soveraign Power unto all intents and purposes within themselves So the Church of England became National in the dayes of King Henry the Eighth which before was but Provincial Moreover the consent of many had prevailed that there should be Patriarchal Churches comprehending under their Inspection and Jurisdiction many of these Metropolitical and Provincial Churches And these also were looked on as Particular for from their first invention there having been four or five of them no one of them could be imagined to comprize the Catholick Church although those who presided in them according to the pride and vanity of the declining Ages of the Church stiled themselves Oecumenical and Catholick Things being carried thus far about the Fifth and Sixth Century of years after Christ One owned as Principal or chief of this latter sort set up for a Church denominated Papal from a Title he had appropriated unto himself For by Artifices innumerable he ceased not from endeavouring to subject all those other Churches and their Rulers unto himself And by the advantage of his Pre-eminence over the other Patriarks as theirs over Metropolitans and so downwards whereby all Christians were imagined to be comprized within the Precincts of some of them he fell into a claim of a Soveraignty over the whole Body of Christianity and every particular member thereunto belonging This he could have had no pretence for but that he thought them cast into such an Order as that he might possess them on the same grounds on which that Order it self was framed For had not Diocesan Metropolitical and Patriarchal Churches made way for it the thought of a Church Papal comprehensive of all believers had never befallen the minds of mind For it is known that the prodigious Empire which the Pope claimed and had obtained over Christianity was an emergency of the contests that fell out among the Leaders of the greater sorts of Churches about the Rights Titles and Pre-eminences among themselves with some other occasional and intestine Distempers Only he had one singular advantage for the promotion of his Pretense and desire For whereas this whole contiguation of Churchts into all these Storyes in the top whereof he emerged and lifted up himself was nothing but an accommodation of the Church and its Affairs unto the Government of the Roman Empire or the setting up of an Ecclesiastical Image and Representation of its Secular Power and Rule the centring therein of all subordinate Powers and Orders in one Monarch inclined the minds of men to comply with his Design as very reasonable Hence the principal Plea for that Power over the whole Church which at present he claims lyes in this that the Government of it ought to be Monarchial And therein consists a chief part of the mystery of this whole work that whereas this Fabrick of Church Rule was erected in imitation of and complyance with the Roman Empire that he could never effect his Soveraignty whilst that Empire stood in its strength and union under the command of one or more Emperours by consent yet when that Empire was destroyed and the Provinces thereof became parcelled out unto several Nations who erected absolute independent Soveraignties among themselves he was able by the Reputation he had before obtained so to improve all emergencies and advantages as to gather all these new Kingdomes into one Religious
Empire under himself by their common consent In the mean time by the Original Divisions of the Empire and the Revolutions that happened afterwards amongst the Nations of the World the greatest number of Christians were wholly inconcerned in this new Church Soveraignty which was erected in the Western Provinces of that Empire So was the Mystery of Iniquity consummated for whereas the Pope to secure his new Acquisitions endeavoured to empale the Title and Priviledges of the Catholick Church unto those Christians which professed Obedience unto himself unto an exclusion of a greater number there ensued such a confusion of the Catholick and a particular Church as that both of them were almost utterly lost Concerning these several sorts of conceited particular Churches it is evident that some of them as to their nature and kind have no Institution in nor warrant from the Scripture but were Prudential Contrivances of the men of the Dayes wherein they were first formed which they effected by various degrees under the conduct of an Apprehension that they tended unto the increase of Concord and Order among Christians Whether really and effectually they have attained that end the event hath long since manifested And it will be one day acknowledged that no Religious Vnion or Order among Christians will be lasting and of spiritual use or advantage unto them but what is appointed and designed for them by Jesus Christ. The truth is the mutual intestine Differences and Contests among them who first possessed the Rule of such Churches about their Dignities Pre-eminences Priviledges and Jurisdictions which first apparently let in Pride Ambition Revenge and Hatred into the Minds and Lives of Church-Guides lost in the peace of Christendome and the degeneracy of theâ—r Successors more and more into a secular Interest and worldly frame of Spirit is one great means of continuing us at a loss for its retrival How far any man may be obliged in Conscience unto communion with these Churches in those things wherein they are such and as such behave themselves in all their Rule and Administrations may be enquired into by them who are concerned What respect we have unto them or what Duty we may owe them as they may in any place be established by the Civil Laws of the Supream Magistrate is not of our present consideration But whereas in their Original and Rise they have no other warrant but the Prudential contrivance of some men who unquestionably might be variously influenced by corrupt Preâ—udâ—ces and Affections in the finding out and mannagement of their Inventions what ground there is for holding a Religious communion with them and wherein such communion may consist is not easie to be declared For the notion that the Church-communion of the generality of Christians and Ministers consists only in a quiet subjection unto them who by any means may pretend to be set over them and claim a right to rule them is fond and impious In the mean time we wholly deny that the Mistakes or Disorders of Christians in complying with or joyning themselves unto such Churches as have no warrantable institution ought to be any cause of the diminishing of our Love towards them or of withdrawing it from them For notwithstanding their Errors and Wanderings from the Paths of Truth in this Matter they do or may continue interested in all that Love which is due from us unto the Church of Christ upon the double account before insisted on For they may be yet persons born of God united unto Christ made partakers of his Spirit and so belong to the Church Catholick Mystical which is the first principal Object of all Christian Love and Charity The Errors wherewith they are supposed to be overtaken may befal any persons under those Qualifications the admittance of them though culpable being not inconsistent with a state of Grace and acceptation with God And they may also by a due profession of the fundamental Truths of the Gospel evince themselves to be professed Subjects of the visible Kingdom of Christ in the world and so belong to the Church Catholick vâ—sibly professing under which notion the Disciples of Christ are in the next place commended unto our Love And it is the fondest imagination in the world that we must of necessity want Love towards all those with whom we cannot join in all acts of Religious Worship or that there need be any Schisme between them and us on the sole account thereof taking Schisme in the common received notion of it If we bear unkindness towards them in our minds and hearts if we desire or seek their hurt if we persecute them or put them to trouble in the world for their Profession if we pray not for them if we pity them not in all their Temptations Errors or Sufferings if we say unto any of them when naked be thou cloathed and when hungry be thou fed but relieve them not according unto our abilities and opportunities if we have an aversation to their Persons or judge them any otherwise than as they cast themselves openly and visibly under the sentence of Natural Reason or Scripture-Rule we may be justly thought to fail in our Love towards them But if our Hearts condemn us not in these things it is not the difference that is or may be between them and us about Church-Constitutions or Order that ought be a cause or can be an evidence of any want of Love on our parts There will indeed be a distinct and separate practice in the things wherein the difference lies which in it self and without other avoidable evils need not on either side to be Schismatical If by censures or any kind of power such Churches or Persons would force us to submit unto or comply with such things or ways in Religious Worship as are contrary unto our Light and which they have no Authority from the Lord Christ to impose upon us the whole state of the Case is changed as we shall see afterwards As for those Particular Churches which in any part of the world consist of Persons assembling together for the worship of God in Christ under the Guidance of their own Lawful Pastors and Teachers we have only to say that we are full well assured that where-ever two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ there he is present with them and farther than this there are very few concerning whom we are called to pass any other Censure or Judgment So we hope it is with them and so we pray that it may be And therefore we esteem it our Duty to hold that Communion with all these Assemblies when called thereunto which is required of any Christians in the like cases and Circumstances Unless we are convinced that with respect unto such or such Instances it is the Mind of Christ that neither among our selves nor in Conjunction with others nor for the sake of present Communion with them we should observe them in his worship we judge our selves under an Obligation
when upon lesser Differences men judge Churches to be no true Churches and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and consequently all their Administrations to be invalid So do some judge of Churches because they have 〈◊〉 Bishops and so do more of others because they have none But the Validity or Invalidity of the Ordinances of Christ which are the Means of Union and Communion with him unto all his Disciples depend not on the determination of things highly disputable in their Notion and not inconsistent with true Gospel-Obedience in their Practice And we are unduly charged with other Apprehensions God forbid that any such thought should ever enter into our heorts as though the Churches constituted in all things according unto our Light and the Rules we apprehend appointed in the Scripture for that purpose should be the only true Churches in the world They do but out of design endeavour to expose us to popular envy and hatred who invent and publish such things concerning us or any of us But whatever be the Judgment of others concerning us we intend not to take from thence any such provocation as might corrupt our Judgments concerning them nor to relieve our selves by returning the like censures unto them as we receive from them Scripture Rule and Duty must in these matters regulate our thoughts on all occasions And whilst we judge others to be true Churches we shall not be much moved with their judgment that we are none because we differ from them We stand to the judgment of Christ and his Word We cannot but judge indeed that many Churches have missed and do miss in some things the precise Rules of their due constitution and walking that many of them have added useless superfluous Rites to the Worship of God among them that there is in many of them a sinful neglect of Evangelical Discipline or a carnal Rule erected in the stead of it that Errors in Doctrines of importance and danger are prevalent in sundry of them that their Rulers are much influenced by a spirit of bitterness and envy against such as plead for Reformation beyond their measure or interest yet that hereupon they should all or any of them immediately forfeit their Church-State so as to have no lawful Ministers nor acceptable sacred Administrations is in it self a false Imagination and such as was never by us entertained In particular as to those Churches in Europe which are commonly called Reformed we have the same thoughts of them the same Love towards them the same readiness for communion with them as we would desire any Disciples of Christ in the world to have bear or exercise towards our selves If we are found negligent in any Office of Love towards them or any of their Members in compassion help or assistance or such supplies in outward or inward things as we have opportunity or ability for we are willing to bear the guilt of it as our Sin and the reproach of it as our shame And herein we desire to fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The same we say concerning all the Churches in England of the same mould and constitution with them especially if it be true which some say that Parochial Churches are under a force and power whereby they are enjoyned the practice of sundry things and forbidden the performance of others wherein the compliance of some is not over-voluntary nor pleasing to themselves Neither is there a Nullity or Invalidity in the Ordinances administred in them any otherwise than as some render them ineffectual unto themselves by their unbelief And this is the Paganizing of England which some of us are traduced for We believe that among the visible professors in this Nation there is as great a number of sincere Believers as in any Nation under Heaven so that in it are treasured up a considerable portion of the invisible Mystical Church of Christ. We believe that the Generality of the Inhabitants of this Nation are by their Profession constituted an eminent part of the Kingdome of Christ in this world And we judge not we condemn not those who walking according to their Light and Understanding in Particularities do practise such things in the Worship of God as we cannot comply withal For we do not think that the things wherein they fail wherein they miss or out go the Rule are in their own nature absolutely destructive of their particular Church-state And what more can reasonably be required of us or expected from us in this matter we know not The causes of the Distance that doth remain between us them shall be afterwards enquired into For our Duty in particular presential communion at the celebration of the same individual Ordinances with such Churches as are remote from us in Asia or Africa we shall we hope be directed to determine aright concerning it when we are called thereunto In the mean time what are our Thoughts concerning them hath been before declared To love them as Subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the world to pray for them that they may have all needful supplies of Grace and the Holy Spirit from above that God would send out his Light and Truth to guide them in their Worship and Obedience and to help them in things spiritual and temporal as we have opportunity is the Sum of the Duty which is required in us towards them Those we are more concerned in who are within the Lines of our ordinary Communication among whom we walk and converse in the world Unto any of these it is in the Liberty and power of every Believer to join himself by his own consent And no more is required hereunto in the present constitution of Churches among our selves but that a man remove his habitation to comply with his own desires herein And this choice is to be regulated by a judgment how a man may best improve and promote his own Edification We see not therefore how any man with the least pretence of Sobriety or Modesty can charge us with the want of an esteem and valuation of Evangelical Vnity For we embrace it on all the Grounds that it is in the Gospel recommended unto us And we do know within what narrow bounds the Charity and Vnity of some are confined who yet advantage themselves by a noise of their pretence But that we do not in the least disturb break or dissent from the Catholick Church either as it is invisible in its internal form by Faith and the Renovation of the Holy Ghost or as visibly professing necessary Fundamental Truths of the Gospel we have sufficiently evinced And the Principles laid down concerning particular Churches Congregations Assemblies or Parishes have not as yet been detected by any to spring from want of Love or to be obstructive of the exercise of it Having therefore thus briefly given some account of what we conceive to be our duty in relation unto the whole Church of
such Churches should long continue in peace nor is that peace wherein they continue much to be valued An Agreement in such wayes and practises is rather to be esteemed a Conspiracy against Christ and Holiness than Church Order or Concord And when men once find themselves hated and it may be Persecuted for no other cause as they believe but because they labour in their Lives and Professions to express the power of that Truth wherein they have been instructed they can hardly avoyd the entertainment of severe thoughts concerning them from whom they had just reason to expect other usage as also to provide for their own more peaceable encouragement and edification Fourthly Hereunto also belongeth the due exercise of Gospel Discipline according to the mind of Christ. It is indeed by some called into question whether there be any Rule or Discipline appointed by Christ to be exercised in his Churches But this doubt must respect such outward forms and modes of the Administration of these things which are supposed but not proved necessary For whether the Lord Christ hath appointed some to Rule and some to be ruled whether he hath prescribed Lawes or Rules whereby the One should govern and the other obey whether he hath determined the Matter Manner and End of this Rule and Government cannot well be called into Controversie by such as profess to believe the Gospel Of what nature or kind these Governours or Rulers are to be what is their Office how they are to be invested therewith and by what Authority how they are to behave themselves in the Administration of the Laws of the Church are things determined by him in the Word And for the Matters about which they are to be conversant it is evidently declared of what nature they are how they are to be mannaged and to what end The Qualifications and Duties of those who are to be admitted into the Church their deportment in it their removal from it are all expressed in the Lawes and Directions given unto the same end In particular it is ordained That those who are unruly or disorderly who walk contrary unto the Rules and wayes of holiness prescribed unto the Church shall be rebuked admonished instructed and if after all means used for their amendment they abide in impenitency that they be ejected out of Communion For the Church as visible is a Society gathered and erected to express and declare the Holiness of Christ and the power of his Grace in his Person and Doctrine And where this is not done no Church is of any advantage unto the interests of his Glory in this World The Preservation therefore of Holiness in them whereof the Discipline mentioned is an effectual means is as necessary and of the same importance with the preservation of their Being The Lord Christ hath also expressly ordained That in case Offences should arise in and among his Churches that in and by them they should be composed according to the Rules of the Word and his own Lawes and in particular that in sinful miscarriages causing offence or scandal there be a regular proceeding according unto an especial Law and Constitution of his for the removal of the offence and recovery of the offendor as also that those who in other cases have fallen by the power of temptation should be restored by a spirit of meekness and not to instance in more Particulars that the whole Flock be continually watched over exhorted warned instructed comforted as the necessities or occasions of the whole or the several Members of it do require Now supposing these and the like Laws Rules and Directions to be given and enjoyned by the Authority of Christ which gives Warranty for their Execution unto men prudent for the ordering of affairs according to their necessary circumstances and Believers of the Gospel doing all things in obedience unto him we judg that a compleat Rule or Government is erected thereby in the Church However we know that the exercise of Discipline in every Church so far as the Laws and Rules of it are expressed in the Scripture and the Ends of it directed unto is as necessary as any Duty enjoyned unto us in the whole course of our Gospel Obedience And where this is neglected it is in vain for any Churches to expect Peace and Vnity in their Communion seeing it self neglecteth the principal means of them It is pleaded that the mixture of those that are wicked and ungodly in the sacred Administrations of the Church doth neither defile the Administrations themselves nor render them unuseful unto those who are rightly interested in them and duly prepared for the participation of them Hence that no Church ought to be forsaken nor its Communion withdrawn from meerly on that account many of old and of late have pleaded Nor do we say that this solely of its self is sufficient to justifie a separation from any Church But when a Church shall tolerate in its Communion not only evil men but their evils and absolutely refuse to use the Discipline of Christ for the Reformation of the One and the taking away of the other there is great danger least the whole Lump be leavened and the edification of particular persons be obstructed beyond what the Lord Christ requires of them to submit unto and to acquiesce in Neither will things have any better success where the Discipline degenerates into an outward forcible Jurisdiction and Power The things of Christ are to be administred with the Spirit of Christ. Such a frame of heart and mind as was in him is required of all that act under him and in his Name Wherefore Charity Pity Compassion Condescention Meekness and Forbearance with those other Graces which were so glorious and conspicuous in him and in all that he did are to bear sway in the minds of them who exercise this Care and Duty for him in the Church To set up such a Form of the Administration of Discipline or to commit the exercise of it unto such persons as whereby or by whom the Lord Christ in his Rule of the Church would be represented as furious captious proud covetous oppressive is not the way to honour him in the world nor to preserve the peace of the Churches And indeed some while they boast of the Imitation of Christ and his Example in opposition to his Grace do in their Lives and Practises make unco the world a Representation of the Devil But an account of this Degeneracy is given so distinctly by Peitro Suave the Author of the History of the Council of Trent lib. 4 ad Ann. 1551. that we think it not unmeet to express it in his own words He saith therefore that Christ having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments he left also unto them in the person of all the faithful this principal precept to love one another charging them to make peace between those that dissented and for the last Remedy giving the care thereof to the
the Peace and quiet of the Nation and not from any Scripture or Religious Rules And were these Prohibitions only temporary or occasional suited unto such Emergencies as may give countenance unto their necessity there might be a proportionable compliance with them But whereas they respect all times alike it is no doubt incumbent on them who act any thing contrary unto such Prohibitions to secure their own Consciences that they no way interfere with the Intention and End of the Law by giving the least countenance or occasion unto civil disturbances and others also by their peaceable deportment in all they do But whereas they have received a Talent from the Lord Christ to trade withal have accepted of his Terms and engaged into his Service without any condition of exception in case of such Prohibitions it is not possible they should satisfie their Consciences in desisting from their work on such Occurrences any farther than in what they must yield unto outward force and necessity It is pretended by some that if such a Legal Prohibition were given unto all the Ministers of the Gopel it would not be obligatory unto them For if it should be so esteemed it were in the power of any Supream Magistrate lawfully to forbid the whole work of Preaching the Gospel unto his Subjects which is contrary to the Grant made by God the Father unto Jesus Christ that all Nations should be his Inheritance and the Commission he gave thereon unto his Apostles to teach all Nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven But it being some only that are concerned in this Prohibition it is their duty for Peace sake to acquiesce in the will of their Superiors therein whilst there are others sufficient to carry on the same work That Peace is or may be secur'd on other Terms hath been already declared But that one mans Liberty to attend unto his Duty and his doing it accordingly should excuse another from that which is personally incumbent on himself is a matter not easily apprehended nor can be readily digested Besides what is pretended of the sufficient number of Preachers without any contribution of aid from the Non-conformists is indeed but pretended For if all that are found in the Faith gifted and called to the work of the Ministry in these Nations were equally encouraged unto and in their work yet would they not be able to answer the necessities of the Souls of men requiring an attendance unto it in a due measure and manner And those who have exercised themselves unto compassionate thoughts towards the multitudes of poor Sinners in these Nations will not be otherwise minded Wherefore these things being premised we shall shut up these Discourses with a brief Answer unto the foregoing Objection which was the occasion of them And we say 1. That Schism being the Name of a Sin or somewhat that is evil it can in no Circumstances be any maes Duty But we have manifested as satisfactorily unto our own Consciences so we hope unto the minds of unprejudiced persons that in our present condition our Assemblies for the Worship of God are our express Duty and so can have no Affinity with any sin or evil And those who intend to charge us with Schisme in or for our Assemblies must first prove them not to be our Duty 2. Notwithstanding them or any thing by us performed in them we do preserve our communion entire with the Church of England that is all the visible Professors of the Gospel in this Nation as it is a part of the Catholick Church in the Unity of the Faith owned therein provided it be not measured by the present Opinions of some who have evidently departed from it Our Non-admittance of the present Government and Discipline of the Church as apprehended National and as it is in the hands of meerly Ecclesiastical persons or such as are pretended so to be we have accounted for before But we are One with the whole Body of the Professors of the Protestant Religion in a publick avowment of the same Faith 3. Into Particular Churches we neither are nor can be admitted but on those terms and conditions which not only we may justly but which we are bound in a way of Duty to refuse And this also hath been pleaded before Besides no man is so obliged unto communion with any Particular or Parochial Church in this Nation but that it is in his own power at any time to relinquish it and to secure himself also from all Laws which may respect that communion by the removal of his Habitation It is therefore evident that we never had any relation unto any Parochial Church but what is Civil and Arbitrary a relinquishment whereof is practised at pleasure every day by all sorts of men Continuing therefore in the constant Profession of the same Faith with all other Protestants in the Nation and the whole Body thereof as united in the Profession of it under one Civil or Political Head and having antecedently no Evangelical Obligation upon us unto Local communion in the same Ordinances of Worship numerically with any particular or Parochial Church and being prohibited from any such communion by the Terms Conditions and Customes indispensibly annexed unto it by the Laws of the Land and the Church which are not lawful for us to observe being Christs Freemen It being moreover our duty to assemble our selves in Societies for the Celebration of the Worship of God in Christ as that which is expresly commanded we are abundantly satisfied that however we may be censured judged or condemned by men in and for what we do yet that he doth both accept us here and will acquit us hereafter whom we serve and seek in all things to obey Wherefore we are not convinced that any Principle or practice which we own or allow is in any thing contrary to that Love Peace and Unity which the Lord Christ requireth to be kept and preserved among his Disciples or those that profess Faith in him and Obedience unto him according to the Gospel We know not any thing in them but what is consistent and compliant with that Evangelical Vnion which ought to be in and among the Churches of Christ the terms whereof we are ready to hold and observe even with them that in sundry things differ from us as we shall endeavour also to exercise all Duties of the same Love Peaceableness and Gentleness towards them by whom we are hated and reviled FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. line 21. read from him p. 5. l. 9. r. train of l. 12. for seriousness r. fierceness p. 16 l. 26. for security r. severity l. 33 of it add which we have hitherto professed p. 19. l 23. r. searcher p. 31. l. 23. r. 18. p. 32. l. 29 r. principles p. 38. l. 9. r. Church state p. 49. l. 1. r. in this p. 66. l. 4. r. lost us p. 87. l. 19. for particularities r. particular Rites p 98. l. 12. for this r. their p. 100 l 10 for according r. avoiding p. 116. l. 2. r. could p. 130. 17. r. Ascadius p. 152. l. 20. for your r. their p. 155. l. 6. r. gender p. 156. l. 16. r. occasions p. 159. l. 12. r. this p. 167. l. 21. r. their 186. l. 2. for erected r. enacted p. 190. l. 28. r. Easter was p. 198. l. 13. r. indeseazable p. 202. l. 20. r. expressed Judges 5. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 41 42 43. 2 Sam. 16. 4. 2 Chron. 20. 23. Heyl. Hist of Presb. Phil. 2. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Heb. 12. 14. Rom. 11. 13. Ephes. 2. 12 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Acts 12. Mark 16. 15. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 16. Luk. â— 18. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 1 2 3. Ch. 4. 18. Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Joh. 3. 15 36. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. Act. 4. 12 1 Cor. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 29 30. Rom. 10. 13 14 15 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Rom. 10 10. Ephes â— 26 27. 1 Joh. 3 16. Rom. 14. 3. John 15. 18 19 25. Ps. 35. 19 Acts. 18. 9 10 11. Mat. 24. 14. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Jam. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 15. Act. 14 23. Chap. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Act. 15. 2 Phil. 1. 1. Rev. 2. 3. Mat. 28. 20. John 15. 10 14. 2 Chron. 11. Chap. 13. 1 Kings 12. Chap. 13. Rev. 18. 4. Ephes. 4. 3 4. John 17. 21 22. Eph. 5. 30 2 Pet. 1. 4 Gen. 5 2. 3 1 Cor. 12 12 13. Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19 Rom. 14. 5. Phil. 3. 15 1 Cor. 10. 12. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 15 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Mat. 28. 19 20. Ephes. 4. 8 9 10 11 12 13. John 17. 20 21 22. 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 16. Heb. 13. 27. Rev. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Acts 20. 18 19 20 21 31. Lnk. 22. 24 25. 26. 2 Thes. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 1. 11. Chap. 3. 3. 1 Thess. 4. 11. Mat. 6. 1. 2. Luke 6. 37. Rom. 14. 3. 4. 10. Jam. 4. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Rom. 12 3. 1 Cor. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 10 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. Mat. 28. 19 20. Gal. 6. 1. â—ct 6. 4. Sâ—crat Hâ—st lib. 5. Acts 15. 1 Cor. 11. 23. 3. Joh. 9 10. Ro. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15. He. 5. 12 13 14. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Acts 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Act. 6. 4. Acts 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Heb. 5. 17. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Acts 9. 26 27 28. Ro. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 1 6 7. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 18. 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rev. 2 2. Lev. 19. 17. 1 Joh. 2. 9 10. â— 15. 1 Cor. 5. 6 9 10. 2 Thess. 3. 6. Isa. 26. 2. Ezek. 43. 12. Chap. 44. 9. Levit. 11. 44. Rom. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 1 2. Chap. 12. 13. Phil 1. 4 Col. 2. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 22. Ezek 44. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 6. Heb. 12. 15 16.