till by repentance and amendment they render'd themselves capable of being restored to peace and pardon The Spirit of God in the Second of the Revelation sends his Instructions to the Angels that is to the Bishops of those seven Churches in Asia whose Office it was to Preach repentance to them and by their authority to reform abuses but gives them no command to cease the publick Administrations or to advise the unpolluted part to separate from the rest nay altho' those Candlesticks were very foul yet was our Lord pleas'd still to bear with them and to walk in the midst of them and certainly so long as Christ affords his presence in a Church none of its Members ought to withdraw theirs 3. From our Saviour's own example who notwithstanding the Church of the Jews in his time was a most corrupt Church and the Members of it very leud and vicious yet kept in communion with it and commanded his Disciples so to do We read that the Scribes and Pharisees who rul'd the Ecclesiastical Chair at that time had perverted the law corrupted the worship of God were blind guides devoured widows houses were hypocrites and such as only had a form of godliness yet did not our Saviour separate from their Communion but was made under the Law freely subjected himself to all the Rites and Ceremonies of it he was circumcis'd on the eighth day redeem'd by a certain price being a Son and a First-born observ'd their Passover and other Feasts enjoin'd by their Law yea and that of the dedication too tho' but of humane institution was baptiz'd amongst them preach'd in their Temples and Synagogues reason'd with them about Religion exhorted his Disciples to hear their Doctrine tho' not to follow their Practice What greater cause on the account of corruption in manners could be given to separate from a Church than was here yet how careful was our Saviour both by his Example and Precept to forbid and discountenance it They sit in Moses 's chair hear them 4. From the Apostle's express command to hold communion with the Church of Corinth notwithstanding the many and great immoralities that were amongst the Members of it There were Schisms and contentions amongst them strifes and envyings fornication and incest eating at the Idols table and coming not so soberly as became them to the table of our Lord yet does the Apostle not only not command them to separate but approves their meeting together and exhorts them to continue it But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup In which words the Apostle plainly solves the Case I am discoursing on and shews what private Christians in whose power it is not judicially to correct Vice are to do when they see so many vicious Members intruding to the blessed Sacrament viz. not to abstain from it but by preparation and examination of themselves to take care that they be not of their number If to separate had been the way the Apostle would then have manag'd his Discourse after this manner There are many Schisms and Strifes in the Church there is an incestuous person not cast out many proud contemners of their Brethren men of strange opinions of untam'd appetites and unbridled passions and therefore I advise you not to come amongst them nor to partake of the holy Sacrament with them lest you be infected with their Sores and partake of their Judgments But advising men to examine themselves and then to come he plainly intimates that 't was their duty to continue in the Communion of the Church notwithstanding these as if he had said I do not mention the foul Enormities of some that come to this holy Table to discourage you from coming lest ye should be polluted by their sins but to excite you to a due care and examination of your selves that you be not polluted by any sinful acts and compliances of your own and then there 's no danger of being defil'd by theirs But as clear and satisfactory as this Proposition seems to be it yet suffers very much from the Exceptions of some weak understandings who meeting often in Scripture with such Commands and Exhortations as these to separate to come out not to touch to have no fellowship with and the like presently without staying to examine the sense of the Texts conclude that it is the duty and character of good men to be always separating and tho' wherever those places of Scripture are found they are for the most part to be understood with relation to Idolaters and Idolatrous Practices either amongst Jews or Gentiles yet will they have them extended to every thing and person that either really is or they think fit to call a corruption or a corrupt Member in the Church of God Many Texts of Scripture are misunderstood and misappli'd by them to this purpose I shall instance only in two as the chief and hope in rescuing them from the false glosses they labour under to give a deliverance to all the rest The first is Obj. 1. Those words of the Apostle Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing Ans This being the main place to which they fly upon all occasions as their strongest hold I shall give it a more particular consideration and that by shewing these three things 1. The occasion of this Apostolical admonition 2. What were the persons the converted Corinthians were to separate from 3. What was the unclean thing they were not to touch 1. What was the occasion of this Apostolical Exhortation To this purpose you must know that the converted Corinthians liv'd in civil Society amongst the unbelieving Gentiles by whom many of them being their kinsfolk and friends after the flesh were often invited to their Idol-feasts to which some of them did not scruple to go and eat of the things sacrific'd to Idols even in the Idol's Temple thinking it not unlawful to do so so long as they knew that an Idol was nothing and did not intentionally go and eat in any honour to the Idol Now from this Practice the Apostle dissuades them by these two Arguments 1. Upon the account of scandal to their weak brethren telling them that tho' they that were strong knew that an Idol was nothing in the World and that there was but one God and so could not be suppos'd to worship the Idol when they eat of the Idol's sacrifice yet some other weak Christians and new Converts might not know so much and consequently by their practice might be drawn into sin not only to go to those Feasts but to do it in honour to the Idol 2. As harmless an action as they esteem'd it that 't was plain Idolatry Be not ye Idolaters as were some of them as it is written they sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play that is they
is not only for the more solemn Worship of God and the publick profession of Religion but also for the more effectual edification and salvation of mens souls By Baptism we were admitted into the Church incorporated into that Divine Society and entitled to all the Priviledges of the Gospel to the end that in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God we might come to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ But how this is to be attain'd without being admitted to all the Acts and Offices of Communion with the Church to the Communion of Prayers and Sacraments and the Word and all other Priviledges and Duties is not easily to be understood hence we may observe that edification in Scripture is usually applied to the Church and tho' the edification of the Church consists in the edification of the particular Members of it yet because that is not to be had but in the Unity and Communion of the Church 't is usually stiled the edifying of the Church and the edifying the body of Christ hence Faith is said to come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Hence we are said to be born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever The same is exprest in those words of our Saviour's Prayer for his Disciples Sanctifie them through thy truth thy Word is truth God's Church is his Family which he especially takes care of and provides for he that is of it is under the Schechina the wing of the Divine Majesty and his special grace and providence It cannot but be of mighty advantage towards our growth and improvement in all Christian graces and virtues to have therein dispens't to us the lively Oracles of God and provision made for a constant succession of dispensers of the Bread of Life to fit it to all needs and all capacities Not to be left to the deceits and whispers of a private spirit to personal conjectures or secret insinuations but to have the publick Doctrine of the Church to be our Guide and Leader to have our Devotions mingled with the concurrent Prayers of all God's people and so by their joynt forces after an humble but powerful manner to besiege and beleaguer Heaven to have before our eyes all the great Examples in God's Church to have our Faith strengthen'd our Repentance heighten'd our Love inflam'd our Hopes and our Comforts rais'd by the Holy Communion Will not the flame of others kindle our zeal and affections and will it not put us into a transport of devotion to see therein Christ crucified before our eyes pouring out his Blood for us bowing his Head as it were to kiss and stretching out his Arms as it were to embrace all that are penitent and return to him These are some of the great Blessings and Advantages that cannot be had but in Church-Communion To which if we shall add that our improvement in holiness and virtue is more to be ascrib'd to the internal operations of God's spirit than any virtue or efficacy there can be in those external administrations that God is pleas'd to promise his spirit to believers only as they are Members of his Church and no otherwise than by the use and ministry of his Word and Sacraments we shall farther see the necessity of mens holding actual Communion with the Church in order to their sanctification and salvation We are not now discoursing what God can or will do in some extraordinary cases when Communion with a true visible Church cannot be had as in a general Apostacy of the Church or Persecution for Religion or unjust Excommunication but what is God's ordinary method and means of bringing men to salvation and that he himself tells us is by adding them to the Church and the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved To this purpose we may observe not only in general that whatever Christ did and suffered for Mankind 't was for them as incorporated into a Church Christ loved his Church and gave himselffor it Christ redeem'd his Church with his ownblood Christ is the saviour of the body that is the Church But also in particular that the Apostle confines the influences and operations of the spirit to the unity of the Church there is one body and one spirit Upon this account viz. the efficacy of the means afforded in Christ's Church and the necessity of keeping in communion with it in order to salvation was it that the Primitive Christians lookt upon it as so dreadful a thing to be shut or cast out of it as laughing a matter as some now adays make it as much as they slight the priviledge and benefit to be of Christ's Church and count it their glory and saintship voluntarily to cut off themselves from it I am sure the Primitive Christians had a far different opinion of it with them to be cast out of the Church and to be deliver'd up to Satan signified the same thing and the one accounted full as dreadful a doom as the other hence was it that this sentence was rarely past against an offender but with grief and sorrow in him that was forc'd to do it and that those against whom it was past us'd the most ardent importunities and were willing to undergo the severest penances in order to be restored into the bosom of it you might have beheld them kissing the chains of imprison'd Martyrs washing the feet of Lazars wallowing at the Temple-doors on their knees begging the Prayers of Saints you might have seen them stript and naked their hair neglected their bodies wither'd their eyes dejected and sometimes crying out in the words of David as the great Theodosius in the state of penance My soul cleaveth to the dust quicken thou me O Lord according to thy Word Thus much seems to be enough to be said on the Second Proposition but that our passage to the Third may be the clearer I shall add a little by way of Answer to an Objection or two that lies in our way And the first is Obj. Do not all the Members of Christ's Church that come to the blessed Sacrament having not the power of Godliness as well as the Form come unworthily and to their own great sin and danger no less than being guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ and eating and drinking their own damnation And can they have a right to that they are so unworthy of In doing which they sin so hainously and for doing which they shall be punished so severely Answ I Answer these two things 1. All even the best men in a strict legal sense are unworthy and that even of common mercies from God much more of this prime Duty and Priviledge of Christianity Every man in his best estate is altogethervanity We are all an unclean thing and
from Vice as it is her Constitution from Corruption But let those that stand take heed lest they fall and be sure to sweep their own door clean who are so apt to throw dirt in the faces of their Fellow-Christians St. Paul's advice is that every man should examine himself and I am much mistaken if spiritual pride a rash and censorious judging of our Brethren be not as great a crime as some of those that are lookt upon to be of so polluting and infectious a nature in other men I need not say how directly opposite this Pharisaical humour is to that humility meekness and self-denial that the Gospel of our Saviour injoyns how unsuitable to the temper of all good men who are more apt to suspect and accuse themselves than others who the more holy they are the more sensible of their own imperfections How contrary to the example of our blessed Lord who balkt not at any time the society of Publicans and sinners who when he knew what was in man and who it was that should betray him yet admitted Judas into the number of his Disciples and familiarly converst with him And yet how fully it answers to the Spirit and Genius of those ancient Schismaticks the Novatians and the Donatists Might I stay to run the parallel both those Schisms and this amongst us would be found to begin on the same Principles slackness of Discipline in the Church and corruption in Manners To be carried on by the same pretences zeal for purity and fear of pollution to spring from the same bitter fountain pride and arrogance But I speak not this to excuse our selves or to recriminate them My hearty Prayer to God is that all Israel may be saved that they who dissent from us would now at last lay aside all passion and prejudice all groundless scruples and pretences and come in and joyn their forces with our Church against the common Adversary And that we who profess our selves Members of the Church of England would be extremely careful for the honour of our Religion for the preservation of our Church for the recovery of our straying Brethren for whose sakes in some cases we are bound to lay down our lives to lay down our sins and instead of blocking up the way against any by scandalous living invite and allure them all in by exemplary Holiness and Purity and this I am sure how short soever my Discourse comes of it would be a full Answer to and a perfect Confutation of this Objection FINIS Books Printed by FINCHAM GARDINER A Continuation and Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleets Unreasonableness of Separation in Answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob c. Considerations of present use considering the Danger Resulting from the Change of our Church-Government 1. A Perswasion to Communion with the Church of England 2. A Resolution of some Cases of Conscience which Respect church-Church-Communion 3. The Case of indifferent things used in the Worship of God Proposed and Stated by considering these Questions c. 4. A Discourse about Edification 5. The Resolution of this Case of Conscience Whether the Church of England's Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it Unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England 6. A Letter to Anonymus in Answer to his Three Letters to Dr. Sherlock about Church-Communion 7. Certain Cases of Conscience resolved concerning the Lawfulness of Joyning with Forms of Prayer in Publick Worship The first Part. Psalm 89. 18. Amos 8. 7. Psalm 89. 35. 1 Sam. 2. 2. Levit. 20. 24. Deut. 9. 12. Deut. 9. 7. Deut. 32. 5. Deut. 7. 6. Psal 135. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5. 25. Acts 8. 27. Matth. 28. 19. John 4. 2. Acts 1. 15. Acts 2. 41. Acts 4. 34. Acts 5. 1 2 3. Acts 8. 12 Acts 8. 20. ver 13. 2 Tim. 4. 10. 1 Tim. 1. 19. Mat. 13 24 25. ver 47. Matth. 3. 12. John 15. 1. 2 Tim. 2. 20. Matth. 25. St. Hier. dial con Lucifer Arca Noae Ecclesiae typus Rom. 9 6. 1 Cor. 15. 34. ver 12. 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. 1 Cor. 7. Gal. 3. 7 10 11. Rev. 3. 1 4. 2 Cor. 4. 7. 2 Cor. 13. 14. 1 Cor. 5. 11. ver 10. ver 13. ver 4 5. 2 Cor. 6. 61. Exod. 23. 14 17. Exod. 12. 44. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 10 17. Eph. 4. 13. Eph. 4. 12. Rom. 10. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 23. John 17. 17. Coimus in caetum ad Deum quasi manufact a precationibus ambiamus orantes Tertul. Acts 2. 47. Eph. 5. 25. Acts 26. 28. Eph. 5. 23. Eph. 4. 4. Nam judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos c. Tert. Apol. 1 Cor. 5. 2. Nazian 12. Or. Theod. H. Eccl. 5. c. 15. 1 Cor. 11. 27 29. Psal 39. 5. Isa 39. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysost 1 Cor. 11. 27. Dr. Lightf in loc 18 21 22 ver Heb. 6. 6. Heb. 10. 16. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 10. 24. Lev. 19. 17. Gal. 6. 1. Ezek. 9. 4. Phil. 3. 18. 2 Thess 3. 14. Matth. 18. 17. Rubr. before the Commun Preface to the Comminat Tit. 3. last 1 Cor. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 11. ver 7. 2 Cor. 30. 18. Numb 19. 13 20. Jer. 15. 10. Ezek. 22. 26. Tit. 1. 15. 1 Sam. 2. 17 24. 1 King 18. 39. Rev. 2. 1. Mat. 15. 6 7 8. Luke 2. 22. Matth. 26. John 17. 37. John 10. 24. Mat. 10. 6 7. Mat. 6. 7. 1 Cor. 1. 12 13. 1 Cor. 3. 3. 1 Cor. 5. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 18. 2 Cor. 6. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 27. 1 Cor. 8. 10. 1 Cor. 8. 4. 1 Cor. 8. 7. 1 Cor. 10. 14. Exod. 32. 6. 1 Cor. 10. 18. ver 16. ver 20. 2 Cor. 6. 14. ver 15. ver 16. ver 17. Eph. 4. 11. Ezek. 18. 20. 18. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
THE CASE OF Mixt Communion Whether it be lawful to Separate from a Church upon the Account of promiscuous Congregations and mixt Communions They are not all Israel that are of Israel Rom. 9. 6. Many are call'd but few chosen Matth. 20. 16. LONDON Printed for T. Basset at the George in Fleet-street B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard and F. Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. THE CASE OF Mixt Communion Whether it be lawful to Separate from a Church upon the Account of promiscuous Congregations and mixt Communions THE Foundation of this Pretence seems to be the great mistake of some men concerning the matter whereof the Church of Christ is to be composed which they will have to be only real Saints and persons endowed with inherent and substantial holiness Accordingly finding in the Communion of our Church many corrupt Members who lived not answerably to their Holy Vocation they for that reason amongst some others alledg'd by them cry her down as no true Church or which is all one deal by her as if she was so totally separating from her Communion and setting up Churches of their own consisting wholly of persons in their judgment far more pure that is really holy and sanctified Into this most false and dangerous conceit concerning the matter of the Christian Church I cannot tell what it is that should mislead them unless it be The not rightly understanding the notion of that holiness that so often in Scripture is applied to the visible Church of God There is a twofold holiness in Scripture Inherent and Relative Inherent holiness and that can be in none properly but God Angels and Men In God essentially and originally as he is the most perfect Being in whom all excellencies do possess infinite perfection As it 's applied to God it does not only signifie a perfect freedom in him from all those sinful impurities wherewith the sons of men are tainted but all the excellencies of the divine nature as wisdom goodness and power and a super-eminent and incommunicable greatness in them all hence he is call'd the holy One of Israel the excellency of Jacob said to swear by his holiness that is by himself and there is none holy as the Lord said Hannah for there is none besides thee none holy besides thee as the Septuagint renders it none comparable to thee in the heighth and greatness of all thy excellencies In Angels and men by way of participation and as far as their natures are capable hence there are holy Angels and holy men Relative holiness which when it 's applied to persons may be more properly call'd foederal and this is founded in the relation persons and things have to God and the nature of it consists in a separation of them from common uses and in appropriating of them to the peculiar use and service of God hence the Sabbath is call'd an holy Day Judea an holy Land Jerusalem an holy City and the Church and People of God an holy Church that is a Body or Society of men call'd and separated from the rest of the World to God to worship him in a way distinguish'd from the rest of the World having Laws and Promises and Rites of Worship peculiar and appropriate to themselves This account God himself gives of it I have separated you says he to the Israelites from other people that you should be mine and ye shall be an holy people unto me For the same reason do we find the whole Church of the Jews even then when its members had generally very much corrupted themselves were a rebellious people a crooked generation yet upon the account of their being separated to God and in covenant with him stil'd by Moses and other inspir'd men his saints his holy people his peculiar treasure For the same reason also did the Apostles dignifie those Churches to whom they wrote with those great and glorious titles of saints the sanctified the call'd and chosen in Christ Jesus because they as of old the Jews had entertain'd the profession of a Religion distinct from others of the World whereby they might be excited to the attainment of those excellencies which in the object of their Worship they did admire and adore and those Names being of as large a meaning as that of Christian shew rather what they ought to have been than assure us what they really were for amongst those Saints were found strange immoralities altogether contradictory to the sacredness of their Vocation But does not the Apostle say Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish I answer Holiness in this place must be confest to be meant a real and inward holiness but then by Church is not to be understood the whole complex Body of the universal Church in this World but either that part of it that in this World is really tho' imperfectly holy and is every day pressing forwards to higher degrees of it or else that Church which shall be in the future state when all the corrupt and unsound Members shall be by death and the final decision of God for ever excommunicated out of it and all the Members that remain in it only such as were in some acceptable degrees holy here and shall then be perfected in holiness Neither is this to make two Churches of Christ as the Donatists objected one in which good and bad are mingled together and another in which there are good alone but only to assign two different states of the same Church the one in this World compos'd of good and bad externally holy in respect of all by vocation and internally holy in respect of some in it by sanctification the other in the next World where there shall be a separation made betwixt the Sheep and the Goats and all remaining in the Church such as shall at once be perfectly holy and compleatly happy This is that Church which Christ shall present to himself glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without blemish This being suppos'd all that will be needful to say in answer to this Question may be comprehended under these three Propositions 1. That an external Profession of the Christian Faith is enough to qualifie a person to be admitted a Member of Christ's Church 2. That every such Member has a right to all the external Priviledges of the Church till by his continuance in some notorious and scandalous sins he has forfeited that right and by the just censures of the Church he be for such behaviour actually excluded from those Priviledges 3. That some corrupt and scandalous Members remaining in the Communion through the want of the due exercise of discipline in it or
Church many more were call'd and admitted into it by Baptism than what were sanctified by his Spirit or should be admitted into his Heaven 4. The many corrupt and vicious Members in the Churches which the Apostles themselves had planted is another proof of this The number whereof in all likelihood could not have been so great had they been so cautious and scrupulous as to admit none into them but whom in their judgments they thought to be really holy In the Church of Corinth there were many that had not the knowledge of God that denied the Resurrection of the Dead that came drunk to the Lord's Table that were Fornicators unclean and contentious Persons In the Church of Galatia there were many that nauseated the Bread of Life and made it their choice to pick and eat the rubbish of the partition wall which Christ had demolisht The Rites of the Law which expired at the death of Christ they attempted to pull out of their graves and to give a resurrection to them They were so much gone off from the Doctrine of Christianity to weak and beggarly Rudiments observing days and months and times and years that by reason of this their superstition St. Paul signifi'd his fears of quite losing them and that his labour was bestowed upon them in vain Amongst all the seven Churches in Asia there was not one but what had receiv'd such Members into it that were either very cold and lukewarm in their Religion or by their vicious lives proved a reproach and scandal to it The Church of Sardis so swarm'd with these that St. John tells us that there were but a few names in Sardis that had not defil'd their garments Now if the Apostles of our Lord who had the extraordinary assistances of the Holy Ghost for the discerning of Spirits at that time and were thereby enabl'd far beyond what any of their Successors can pretend to to distinguish betwixt the good and the bad did notwithstanding admit many meer formal Professors into the Church of Christ we may conclude that they apprehended that 't was the will of Christ it should be so 5. No other rule in admitting persons into the Church is practicable Whether Persons are really holy and truly regenerate or no the Officers of Christ who know not the hearts of men cannot make a certain judgment of they may through want of judgment be deceiv'd through the subtilty of hypocrites be impos'd upon through humane frailty passion or prejudice be misguided and by this means many times the door may be open'd to the bad and shut against the good Now that cannot be suppos'd to be a rule of Christ's appointment which is either impossible to be observ'd or in observing which the Governours of his Church cannot be secur'd from acting wrongfully and injuriously to men In sum Christ hath entrusted the power of the Keys into the hands of an Order of Men whom he hath set over his Church and who under him are to manage the Affairs of it but these being but earthen vessels of short and fallible understandings he has not left the execution of their Office to be manag'd solely by their own prudence and discretion but hath given them a certain publick Rule to go by both in admitting persons into his Church and in excluding them out of it for the one the Rule is open and solemn profession of the Christian Faith for the other open and scandalous Offences prov'd by witnesses 2. The second Proposition is That every such Member has a right to all the external Priviledges of the Church till by his continuance in some notorious and scandalous sins he forfeits that right and by the just censures of the Church for such behaviour he be actually excluded from those Priviledges For the explanation and proof of this Proposition these three particulars are to be done 1. What 's meant by external Priviledges 2. What kind of Offenders those are that forfeit their right to them and ought by the Censures of the Church to be excluded from them 3. Upon what the right of those Members that have not so offended is grounded 1. What 's meant by external Priviledges As there are two sorts of Members in Christ's visible Church so there are two sorts of Priviledges that belong to them each sort having those that are proper and peculiar to it according to the nature of that relation they bear to the Head and their fellow Members 1. There are Members only by foederal or covenant-holiness such as are only born of water when by Baptism they were united to Christ and the Church and took upon them the Profession and Practice of the Christian Religion Now the Priviledges that belong to these are of the same make with their Church-membership external and consisting only in an outward and publick Communion with the Church in the Word and Ordinances 2. There are Members by real and inherent holiness such as are not only born of Water but of the Spirit also when by the inward operations of the Holy Ghost their Souls are renew'd after the Image of God and made partakers of a Divine Nature And the Priviledges that belong to these are not only the forementioned ones but together with them others that are sutable to their more spiritual relation inward and such as consist in the especial and particular care and protection of God the pardon and remission of their sins by the Blood of Christ and the gracious influences and comforts of the Holy Ghost All comprehended in that Prayer of the Apostle for his Corinthians The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen Now 't is of the first sort of Members and that sort of Priviledges that belong to them that the Proposition is to be understood 2. What kind of Offenders those are that have forfeited their right to and ought by the Censures of the Church to be excluded from those Priviledges This the Apostle hath plainly told us and our own Church in its Exhortation to the Sacrament fairly intimates I have wrote unto you says St. Paul not to keep company if any man that is call'd a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner no not to eat Not only as much as can be to have no familiar conversation with him in civil matters tho' some must be had whilst we are in this World but also and more especially to avoid communion with him in religious exercises and how that is to be done the Apostle tells us viz. not by forsaking the Church our selves but by doing our utmost endeavours to have him cast out of it So it follows Therefore put away from among your selves that wicked person And In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ
to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be sav'd in the day of the Lord Jesus Agreeable hereunto are the words of the Exhortation If any of you be a blasphemer of God a hinderer and slanderer of his Word an Adulterer or be in malice or envy or in any other grievous crime repent you of your sins or come not to that holy Table Such sinners as these have in a manner undone and made void what was done in their behalf in Baptism They by not performing what was then promis'd for them but living directly contrary to it do virtually renounce that Covenant they then entred into with God in Christ and fall back again into the state of Pagans and Infidels Their Sureties engag'd for them that they should believe the Christian Faith keep God's Commandments and renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil But such habitual notorious Offenders as these say by their practice what had they to do to undertake such things for us we will stand to no such engagements but we will be at large to believe what we please and to practice what we fancy and to worship whom we think fit And thus as it were breaking off from being in Covenant with God and virtually renouncing their Church-membership they at the same time lose all right and title to those Blessings and Priviledges that were due to them upon the account thereof and in this sad state and condition did the Primitive Christians reckon all that had highly and notoriously sinn'd amongst whom especially were the lapsed that had offer'd Sacrifice they staid not for a formal Sentence to be pronounc'd against them by the Church but lookt upon them as ipso facto excommunicate and tho' till that was past they could not actually be shut out yet they began before to avoid their company and to forbear all religious commerce towards them But so long as men keep in covenant with God and abide in his Church which may be done by holding that profession of Faith that they made at their first entrance into it their right to the external franchises of it remains inviolable and their title without question As may appear from these particulars 1. From the Tenour of that Covenant they in their Baptism enter'd into with God which consists of Promises on God's part as well as Conditions on mans The Promises on God's part are exprest in these general words I will be their God The Conditions on mans in those and they shall be my People Now so far as men perform the Conditions so far will God make good his Promises In what sense they are People to God in the same he 'll be a God unto them If a bare faederal holiness can give men a relation to God and God upon that account owns them to be a people unto him the same gives them some kind of interest in God and a claim to the blessings that belong to that relation Not that such Members as these are to expect those special and particular favours that are the portion of those that are more nearly and by a kind of spiritual consanguinity allied to God in Christ but yet being of God's houshold are to be allowed the liberty to partake of those external blessings which he in common bestows upon the whole family 2. From the nature of Church-membership Church-membership necessarily implies church-Church-Communion or else it signifies nothing for to be admitted a Member of the Church and not to have a right in common with the rest to Church-Priviledges is to be taken in with one hand and to be thrown out with the other 't is to be put back into the state of those that are no Members and virtually to be cut off from the Body by being denied all communications with it Should a man be admitted a Member of any City or Corporation and yet at the same time be denied the priviledge of his freedom and not be permitted to set up a Trade to give a Vote or to act in any other case as other Members do what would be the difference betwixt him and a Foreigner unless it be that his condition is the worse by being mock'd and abus'd and cheated with the Name whilst he has nothing of the Priviledges of a Freeman 3. We have the Practice of the Church of God in the Old Testament for this The whole Nation of the Jews were not only permittted but commanded by God except in cases of legal uncleanness and those notorious crimes for which they were to be cast out of the Congregation to observe his Ordinances and to joyn in the celebration of his publick Worship and we know they were not all Israel that were of Israel Three times a year were all their males to appear before the Lord to keep three solemn appointed feasts unto him many of which it is to be fear'd had no other qualification than what they were beholden to their birth and the loss of their fore-skin for Again All the congregation of Israel were to keep the passover none were denied it but foreigners and hired servants and they too no longer but till they were circumcis'd and thereby admitted into covenant with God which shews that meer circumcision was enough to put a man into a capacity of communicating with the Jewish Church in its most solemn and sacred Mysteries 4. This was also the Practice of the Christian Church in the Apostolick Age as is plainly intimated unto us from many Scriptures St. Paul tells us by one spirit we are all baptiz'd into one body whether Jews or Gentiles bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit To drink into one spirit particularly relates to the Cup in the Lord's Supper and by a figure of the part for the whole it 's put to signifie the whole Communion but the thing here especially to be taken notice of is that the Apostle makes the number of those that receiv'd the Lord's Supper to be as comprehensive and universal as that of those that were receiv'd into the Church by Baptism As by one spirit all were baptiz'd into one body so all were made to drink into one spirit The Apostle speaks the same thing again in another place alluding to the other part of the Sacrament We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of one bread all the members that conspired to make up the one body did partake of the one bread But if any thing yet can be clearer 't is that account St. Luke gives us of the practice of the first Christian Church at Jerusalem where it 's said of the three thousand that gladly receiv'd St. Peter's words and were by Baptism added to the Church they all the three thousand Ananias and Saphira being of the number continued in the Apostles doctrine and in breaking of bread and in prayers 5. From the end of Church-membership which
our righteousness is as filthy rags The meaning is all men are sinners and their best services imperfect and impure But then the right they have to this Priviledge does not depend on their own merit and worth but as was said before on the promise of God when they enter'd at first into covenant with him whereby he was pleas'd to oblige himself to be their God so far and so long as they continued to be his people 2. Those Members that we have asserted to have a right to the external Priviledges of Christ's Church are not guilty of that unworthiness St. Paul speaks of the sin and danger whereof is so great and this will appear by the description he gives of those unworthy Communicants 1. They discern'd not the Lord's body he that eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of Christ how not discerning the Lord's body It may be they did eat it still as a part of the Jewish Passover they understood not the nature of it what it did represent or for what end it was instituted being ignorant of the infinite value and merit of Christ's blood not at all affected with the greatness of his love nor wrought upon by the infiniteness of his mercy and altogether as void of any sincere affection and gratitude to Christ for that mighty redemption he wrought for mankind as the Jew and Pagan that neither know nor believe in him 2. They were open and scandalous sinners The Apostle charges them with Schisms and Divisions pride and contempt of their brethren sensuality and drunkenness In those early days of Christianity the Lord's Supper was usually usher'd in with a Love-feast that was eaten just before it but so unchristian were these Corinthians that every one took before other his own Supper they run into parties and tho' they had not yet left the place they refus'd to communicate at the same time with their brethren The rich despis'd and excluded the poor that came not so well provided as they from their feast and that which was yet an higher aggravation of their sin the poor were hungry whilst the rich fed and pamper'd their bodies to excess and luxury When ye come together says he this is not to eat the Lord's Supper this is no fit preparation for it for in eating every one takes before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken such Swine as these ought not indeed to come to the Holy Table of our Lord and such as these as I said in the beginning of my Discourse on this Proposition have forfeited their right to it and ought by the Censures of the Church to be excluded This indeed is to be unworthy with a witness to be guilty of the body and blood of Christ or as St. Paul sometimes words it in the case of Apostacy and other hainous sins to crucifie afresh the Lord of life to tread under foot the Son of God and to count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing that is in an high degree to despise and vilifie the person and sufferings of the most holy Jesus his person as one not worthy to be obeyed and followed his blood as a thing of no value and merit And what could such persons expect but that God would vindicate the honour of his own Son and the infinitely wise contrivance of the redemption of the World by his great undertaking in some remarkable way upon them either in this World by Temporal Judgments for this cause many are weak and sickly amongst you and many sleep or in the next without repentance by their Eternal Damnation Obj. But the Members of Christ's Body that come to this blessed Sacrament and are destitute of saving grace tho' they make a fair profession and are free from scandalous sins are yet in an unconverted condition and this Sacrament is not a converting but a confirming Ordinance Answ Conversion may be taken in a two-fold sense 1. For turning men from a state of open infidelity to the profession of the Christian Faith and indeed till men are in this sense converted they are not to be admitted to the Sacrament neither Jews nor Turks nor any others in a state of Gentilism till by Baptism they are receiv'd into Christ's Church and make profession of his Name can come to it 2. Taking conversion for the turning of those who are already baptiz'd and do profess Christ's Religion from the evil of their ways to a serious and hearty practice of holiness and virtue and so this Sacrament is a converting Ordinance And indeed I do not know any more forceable Arguments to an holy life than what are therein represented to us What can more work upon ingenuous spirits than the discovery of such undeserv'd love and kindness Is it not enough to melt the most frozen heart into floods of tears and joy to behold therein the blessed Jesus shedding his blood to reconcile sinners unto God What can more powerfully captivate the most rebellious spirits into obedience than the assurance of a pardon of their past transgressions by that full propitiatory Sacrifice of the Son of God What can more effectually fright men from sin and folly than the infinite displeasure of God declared therein against all iniquity How accursed a thing is sin will the considering Communicant say that the blessed Jesus who did but take sin upon him was made a Curse for it What a mighty evil must sin needs be when nothing could be sufficient to expiate it but the Blood of God! What an unspeakable malignity must sin have in it when it laid on the shoulders of Omnipotency such a load of wrath as made him complain and sweat and grone and die Again Here we repeat our baptismal Vow to God solemnly engage our selves afresh to be his faithful servants and bind our selves by a new Oath to be true to the Covenant we have made with him and certainly that man must have a mighty love for Sin and Death that can break through all these Bonds and Obligations to come at it 3. The third Proposition That some corrupt and scandalous Members remaining in the Communion of the Church through the want of the due exercise of Discipline in it or the negligence and connivance of the Pastors and Governours of it gives no just Cause for any to separate from her Gives no just Cause That which is chiefly pretended is That the viciousness of those Members do derive a stain and defilement on the whole Assembly and pollute the Worship of God to others as well as to themselves Here therefore I shall shew what is to be done by us that we be no way accessary to others sins and then upon that condition that we cannot be polluted by their sinful company Now many things are to be done by good men who are to joyn in mixt Assemblies that the Communion receive no prejudice by the corruption
of some of its Members They are frequently to exhort and advise them for this end are we plac'd in the communion of Saints and tho' to instruct the Flock God hath appointed a whole Order of Men on purpose yet is it also the Duty of every private Christian in his place and calling to exhort one another daily whilst it is call'd to day to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works They are prudently and with much affection to admonish and reprove them we must not be so rudely civil as to suffer sin to lie upon them without disturbance so runs the Precept Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart but thou shalt rebuke thy Brother and not suffer sin to be upon him and if any man be overtaken in a fault says the Apostle ye that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering that thou also may'st be tempted They are to bewail their sins and to pray for their reformation this is the true spirit and temper of a good man he cannot see God dishonour'd his Laws trampled upon his Brother wilfully undoing himself but he must be deeply touch'd and affected with it Rivers of water run down my eyes says the Psalmist because men keep not thy law And when in Ezekiel's time the Jewish Church both Priests and People were very much corrupted the Holy Ghost gives it as the particular mark of the faithful and upright not that they separated but sighed and cryed for all the abominations that were done in her Of the same holy frame and disposition of mind was St. Paul he could not mention those in the Church at Philippi who whilst they profest Christianity shew'd themselves by their sensuality and earthly-mindedness to be enemies to the Cross of Christ without sorrow and tears Of whom says he I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are enemies to the Cross of Christ whose God is their belly c. They are to avoid as much as they can their company especially all familiarity with them and tho' in order to their conviction and reformation and in such cases where necessary business requires it and the publick Worship of God can't be perform'd but in conjunction with such persons I may be in their company without blame yet in all other cases I am to shew my dislike and abhorrence of their sins by shunning their society If any man obey not our Word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be asham'd Again says the same Apostle I wrote to you in an Epistle not to keep company if any man be a fornicator or an idolater or c. with such an one no not to eat If private and often repeated Admonitions by himself or before one or two more will not do they are then to tell the Church of them that by its more publick Reproofs the scandalous Member may be reclaim'd or by its just Censures be cut off from the Communion If he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church Our Church hath given every Minister of a Parish power to refuse all scandalous and notorious sinners from the Lord's Supper and as slack and as much disus'd as Discipline is amongst us were such persons more generally inform'd against and complain'd of they would not find it so easie a matter to continue in their offences and the Church together You see by what means the Church may either be clear'd in some measure of such publick Offenders or the Members of it together with the Ordinances of God secur'd from infection by their fellowship By this did the Primitive Christians shew their Zeal for their Religion as well as by suffering for it They were infinitely careful to keep the honour of their Religion unspotted and the Communion of the Church as much out of danger as they could from the malignant influence of bad examples for this reason they watch'd over one another told them privately of their faults and when that would not do brought them before the cognizance of the Church And tho' lapsing into Idolatry in times of persecution was the common sin that for some Ages chiefly exerciz'd the Discipline of the Church yet all Offences against the Christian Law all Vices and Immoralities that were either publick in themselves or made known and prov'd to the Church came also under the Ecclesiastical Rod and were put to open shame and pennance this was that Discipline that preserv'd their Manners so uncorrupt and made their Religion so renown'd and triumphant in the World and how happy would it be for us in this loose and degenerate Age as our own Church expresses her wishes and desires were it again in its due force and vigour restored and resettled amongst us But if after all imaginable care and endeavour by private Christians some scandalous Members through the defects of Power in the Discipline or of Care and Watchfulness in Governours should remain in the Church whatever pollution those whose Office it is to rebuke with all Authority may draw on themselves by suffering it private Members that are no way neither by consent nor councel nor excuse accessary to their sin can receive none for sin no otherwise pollutes than as it is in the will not as it is in the understanding as it 's chose embrac'd and not as it 's known I may know Adultery and yet be chast see Strife and Debate in the City and yet be peaceable hear Oaths and Curses and yet tremble at God's Name Noah was a good Man in an evil World Lot a righteous person amongst the conversation of the wicked neither is there any more fear of pollution from wicked men in Sacred than in Civil Society Our Saviour and his Apostles were not the least defil'd by that society they had with Scribes and Pharisees nor by that familiarity they had with the accursed Judas tho' he eat the Passover with them and they kept him company after they knew him to be a Traytor What pollution did Abel receive from Cain when they sacrific'd together Or Elkanah and Hannah from Eli's debauch'd Sons when at Shilo they worshipt together The good and bad indeed communicate together but in what not in sin but in their common duty and tho' to communicate with sin is sin yet to communicate with a sinner in that which is not sin can be none Communion is a common union many partaking of one thing wherein they do agree now the common union of the good and bad in the Church is not in evil but in hearing of the Word in receiving of the Sacrament and in other holy Ordinances and Exercises when therefore some do evil the communion in spiritual things is not polluted because evil is no part of the union in common one with another but the error of man by himself out of the Communion which he
himself and they only that have been partakers with him in it shall answer for Obj. But does not the Apostle say A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump Ans This is a proverbial speech and shews only that sin like leaven is of a very spreading and diffusive nature not that it actually defiles where it is not admitted A People in one Assembly are as a lump and a wicked person amongst them is as leaven but now altho' the leaven is apt to conveigh it self through the whole lump yet only are those parts actually leaven'd with it that take the leaven so it is with the Church the sinner by his bad example is apt to spread the infection through the whole body but only such as allow or any way communicate with him in his sin are actually infected such as Chloe that reprove the offender and present him doing their utmost endeavour in their place to reform him remain in spight of its malignity unpolluted Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees says our Saviour he adviseth not his Disciples to leave their Assemblies but to beware that they take no leaven of them shewing thereby that a good man that stands upon his guard may be where leaven is and yet not be leaven'd The incestuous person was not cast out of the Church of Corinth and yet the Apostle says at least of some of them ye are unleaven'd And why may not the joynt Prayers of the Church and the Examples of Pious and Devout Men in the Communion be as sovereign an antidote against the infection as the bare company of wicked men is of power to convey it Why should not the holy Ordinances of God and the presence of holy men at them be of as much virtue and efficacy to purge and sanctifie the whole body as the impurities of the bad are to stain and pollute it especially considering that the sins of the wicked shall never be imputed to the righteous but the Prayers of the righteous have obtain'd pardon for the wicked Obj. But were not the pollutions of sin typified by the legal uncleannesses And was not every thing that the unclean person touch'd made unclean Ans Those legal and ceremonial pollutions concern not us under the Gospel we may touch a grave a dead person a leper and not at all be the less clean it 's not any outward uncleanness but the corruption and depravity of the inner man that incapacitates men for the Worship of God and Communion with him 2. Those legal pollutions did not defile the whole communion but only those particular persons whom the unclean person touch'd for 1. there was no sacrifice appointed for any such pollution as came upon all for the sin of some few 2. Tho' the Prophets many times reproved the Priests for not separating the clean from the unclean the precious from the vile the holy from the prophane yet did they never teach that because the unclean came into the Congregation through the neglect of their duty the whole Communion was polluted by it but as many as touch'd the unclean person were unclean so as many as have fellowship with the wicked in their sins are polluted by it to partake with men in their sins in a moral sense answers to the legal touching an unclean thing 3. When it 's said that the unclean person that did not purifie himself defil'd the Tabernacle and polluted the Sanctuary the meaning is that he did so to himself but not to others so does a wicked man the Ordinances of God in respect of himself but not of others The Prayers of the wicked tho' join'd with those of the Church are an abomination unto God whilst at the same time the Prayers of good men go up as a sweet smelling savour and are accepted by him The person that comes unworthily to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper eats and drinks judgment to himself but that hinders not but that those who at the same time come better prepared may do it to their own eternal comfort and salvation To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defil'd and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defil'd The weakness of this suggestion that the whole Communion and the Ordinances of God are polluted by the wicked mans company at and among them being laid open The truth of the Proposition may be sarther evinc'd from these particulars 1. From the example of God's People in the Church of the Jews We do not find that the sins either of the Priests or the People became at any time an occasion of separation to them What sins could be greater than those of Eli ' s Sons What higher aggravations could there be of sin Whether we consider the quality of the persons that sinn'd being the High-Priests Sons or the publick scandal and impudence of the sin Lying with the women before the door of the Tabernacle yet did not the People of God not Elkanah and Hannah by name refrain to come up to Shilo and to joyn with them in the publick Worship nay they are said to transgress who refus'd to come tho' they refus'd out of abhorrence and detestation to the wickedness of those men They abhorr'd the sacrifices of the Lord ye make the Lord's people to transgress In Ahab's time when almost all Israel were Idolaters and halted betwixt God and Baal yet then did the Prophet Elijah summon all Israel to appear on Mount Carmel and held a religious communion with them in Preaching and Praying and offering a miraculous Sacrifice neither did the seven thousand that had kept themselves upright and not bowed their knee to Baal absent themselves because of the Idolatry of the rest but they all came and join'd in that publick Worship perform'd by the Prophet All the people fell on their faces saying the Lord he is God the Lord he is God All along the Old Testament when both Prince and Priests and People were very much deprav'd and debauch'd in their manners we do not find that the Prophets at any time exhorted the faithful and sincere to separate or that they themselves set up any separate meetings but continued in communion with the Church preaching to them and exhorting them to repentance 2. From the example of God's People in the New Testament In the Apostolick Churches of Corinth Galatia and the seven Churches in Asia many of the Members were grown very bad and scandalous yet do we not read of the example of any good man separating from the Church or any such Precept from the Apostles so to do They do not tell them that the whole body was polluted by those filthy Members and that if they would be safe themselves they must withdraw from their communion but exhort them to use all means to reclaim them and if neither private nor publick Admonitions and Reproofs would do then to suspend them from the Communion of the Church
eat of those Sacrifices that had been offer'd up to the golden Calf and that this Action was idolatrous he proves by an Analogy it bears to a Rite of the same nature both amongst Jews and Christians for as the Jews when they feasted on the Sacrifices did it in honour to God to whom the Sacrifices were offer'd and as the Christians when they partake of the Lord's Supper do it in honour to Christ whose Death and Passion is therein commemorated so when they did eat of the Idols Sacrifices they must have been thought to do it in honour to the Idol because to the Idol was the Sacrifice offer'd But blessed be God we have not the like occasion for such an Exhortation we live not in a civil society with Idolaters but under a Christian Prince and with a People professing the Christian Religion Here are no publick Idols set up nor any Feasts kept in honour of them Had the Case been thus with us we had been as much concern'd in the Text as the Corinthians were but being far otherwise not the least aid can be fetcht from hence to defend Separation from our Publick Assemblies 2. Who were the persons the Christian Corinthians were requir'd to separate from They were no better than Vnbelievers than Infidels than Idolaters What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness And what communion hath light with darkness And what concord hath Christ with Belial Or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidel And what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols And then it follows wherefore come out from amongst them c. But now because Christians by the Apostles command were to separate from the Assemblies of Heathen Idolaters does it therefore follow that they must separate from the Assemblies of Christians because some who while they profess Christ do not live like Christians afford their presence at them Is there no difference betwixt a Pagan and an Infidel that denies Christ and worships Devils and an immoral Christian who yet outwardly owns Christ and worships the true God Betwixt a Church wholly made up of Heathens and Idolaters and a Church made up of a mixture of good and bad Christians together 3. What is the unclean thing they are not to touch viz. the unclean and abominable Practices that were us'd by the Heathens in the Worship of their Gods It 's call'd by the Apostle in another place the unfruitful works of darkness and again thus describ'd by him it 's a shame to speak of those things that are done of them in secret These they were not to touch to have no followship with them in but rather to reprove them that is in judgment to condemn them by words to reprove them in conversation to avoid them But now because Christians are not to communicate with Heathens in their filthy mysteries nor to partake with any sort of wicked men in any action that 's immoral does it therefore follow that they must not do their duty because sometimes it cannot be done but in their company Must they abstain from the Publick Worship of God and their Lord's Table to which they are commanded because evil men who till they repent have nothing to do there rudely intrude themselves May they not joyn with bad men in some cases where it cannot be well avoided in doing a good action because they must in no case and on no account joyn with them in doing a sinful one Because they have omitted their duty must I neglect mine Because they sin in coming unpreparedly must I sin in not coming at all Will their sin be any plea or excuse for mine If I communicate with them will their unworthiness be laid at my door If I separate because of that shall they answer for my contempt as well as for their own prophanation of it No surely every man shall bear his own burden The soul that sinneth it shall die The second is that Text Obj. 2. In the Revelation Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Answ This place is most certainly to be understood of Idolaters and according to most Interpreters of the Roman Idolatrous Polity and is a command to all Christians to forsake the Communion of that Church lest they endanger their own salvation by communicating with her in Masses and other idolatrous Worship And if this be the true sense of the words it abundantly justifies our Separation from the Roman Church but affords not the least plea for Dissenters to separate from ours unless any of them are so hardy as to say that there is none or but little difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England But blessed be God we have a Church reform'd from all her Superstitions that retains nothing of hers but what she retains of the Gospel and the Primitive Church Here 's no drowning Religion in shadow and formality nor burying her under a load of ritual and ceremonial Rubbish no dressing up Religion in a flanting pomp to set her off or a gaudy garb to recommend her much less in such fantastical Rites such antick Vestments and Gesticulations that may justly render her ridiculous and contemptible but her Ceremonies are few and decent countenanc'd by Primitive Antiquity and very much becoming the gravity and sobriety of Religion Here are no Half-Communions no more Sacraments thrust upon us than our Lord himself instituted and yet those left whole and entire for our use and comfort that he did no Prayers in an unknown Tongue which the votary neither minds nor understands no praying to Saints or Angels no adoring Images Pictures and Reliques no worshipping the Creature besides or more than the Creator which they do who in all their publick Offices of Devotion for one Prayer to God have order'd ten to be made to the blessed Virgin Here 's no Doctrine obtruded on our Faith that 's contrary to reason nay to sense to all our senses no Practices allowed that are forbidden by God no Pardons to be bought no Indulgences to be purchas'd no expunging any one Commandment out of the Decalogue or contriving arts and devices to make void the rest but as her Devotions are pure and spiritual having God and him only for their object so her Doctrine is sound and orthodox having Christ for its Corner-stone and the Prophets and Apostles for its Foundation A Church that needs no counterfeit Legends no incredible Miracles no ridiculous Fables to promote her veneration whose security lies not in the Peoples ignorance but in their inlightned understandings that can defend it self without the help of spurious Authors or corrupting the words and sense of Authentick ones a Church that dares to be understood and is sure the more she 's lookt into the more to be embrac'd and admir'd And I would to God 't was as easie a matter to clear every one of her Members