is necessary for our sound and entire comfort with the Lord our God that our Obedience be entire in respect of all his Holy Commandments which we do or can discern to be such and to concern us according to that of the Man of God Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Psal 119.6 That so we may have our part in the Testimony given by the Holy Ghost of Zachary and Elizabeth which was that they were Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1.5 6. That is both in the Moral Precepts and Sacred Ceremonies and Institutions of the Lord. Whose Examples we in our Place and Times are to follow not balking with the Lord in any thing great or small nor seeking starting-holes whereby to escape from him in his Word which is holy good and pure Good as coming from our good God good in it self and good for us if we converse therein as we ought in good Conscience towards God Zeal for his Ordinances Modesty in our Selves and Charity towards other Men specially towards them with whom God hath joined us in the most and best things taking heed lest by any uncharitable either judgment of or withdrawing from their Persons for such humane Frailties as unto which into one kind or other all Adam's sinful Posterity are subject we sin not more by our course held against them than they by theirs in them which God forbid To conclude For my self thus I believe with my Heart before God and profess with my Tongue and have before the World that I have one and the same Faith Hope Spirit Baptism and Lord which I had in the Church of England and none other that I esteem so many in that Church of what state or order soever as are truly partakers of that Faith as I account many thousands to be for my Christian Brethren and my self a Fellow member with them of that one Mystical Body of Christ scattered far and wide throughout the World that I have always in Spirit and Affection all Christian Fellowship and communion with them and am most ready in all outward Actions and Exercises of Religion lawful and lawfully done to express the same and withal that I am perswaded the heating of the Word of God there preached in the manner and upon the grounds formerly mentioned both lawful and upon occasion necessary for me and all true Christians withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Ministry and the appearances thereof and uniting in the Order and Ordinances instituted by Christ the only King and Lord of his Church and by all his Disciples to be observed And lastly That I cannot communicate with or submit unto the said Church-Order and Ordinances there established either in State or Act without being condemned of mine own Heart and therein proâ—oking God who is greater than my Heart to condemn me much more And for my Failings which may easily be too many one way or other of Ignorance herein and so for all my other Sins I most humbly crave pardon first and most at the Hands of God And so of all Men whom therein I offend or have offended any manner of way even as they desire and look that God should pardon their Offences Thus far Mr. Robinson ADDENDA The Judgment of several other Independent Ministers as well Ancient as Modern concerning this Matter MR. Henry Jacob a strict Independent in his printed Declaration 1612 annexed to his Book called The Divine Beginning and Institution of Christ's True Visible Church he hath this Assertion pag. 6. For my part I never was nor am separated from all publick Communion with the Congregations of England I acknowledg therefore that in England are true visible Churches and Ministers tho accidentally yet such as I refuse not to communicate with and those of the Separation in some Matters are streighter than I wish they were And the Brownists in their Confession of Faith printed 1616 they declare That a Minister receiving Prelatical Ordination if he be a Parish Minister it makes not a nullity of the Ministry of him in every respect besides That is it makes not void all truness of Ministry in him as a believing Congregation assenteth to hear him and useth him for their Minister when on some weighty occasion they joyn only to that which is true in the said Minister and testify in the best manner they can that they do so orrdinarily leaving the Parish Congregation and Ministry for their Error With all professing publishing and practising freely and constantly the simple Truth therein with our selves this quitteth us from all Evil and appearance of Evil in this Matter it being no Evil nor appearance of Evil to join with the Parish-Congregation and Ministry in such respects and so far forth as is aforesaid we ought sometimes on weighty Occasions so to join and we sin if we do not And though we do not think every form of Prayer sinful and absolutely unlawful yet we think it not so profitable and to some hurtful Mr. Norton of New-England upon those words of our Blessed Saviour The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all things that they say unto you that observe and do Which saith he not only permits but requires and implieth full Communion The five dissenting Brethren viz. Dr Goodwin Mr. Bridg. Mr. Ny Mr. Greenhill and Mr. Sydr Simpson in their Apologetical Narrative pag. 6. they say We have always professed and that in those times when the Churches of England were the most either actually overspread with Defilements or in the greatest danger thereof that we both did and would hold a Communion with them as the Churches of Christ Mr. Firmin argues about this Matter pag. 29. Suppose there should be some humane Mixtures are all the Ordinances of God polluted Why do you not communicate with them in those Ordinances which are pure And in his Separation Examined pag. 40. says Corrupt Members there were enough in the Jewish Church and so in the Christian Church soon after and in the Apostles Times but you have no Example of separating from them Dr. Thomas Goodwin on the Ephesians pag. 487 488 489. His Judgment concerning Parish Churches Ministry and Communion In my last Discourse I handled what was meant by the word Church There was a necessity that lay upon me to open that distinction of Church Universal and Particular I gave you two Cautions about two Errors concerning each of these both toward the Church Universal and toward Particular Churches Concerning which I must necessarily say something to take away some Mistakes and Misapprehensions of my meaning for I walk by this Rule to give no offence to Jew or Gentile or to the Churches of God as the Apostle speaks The first Error I told you was of the Donatists of old who denied the Church Catholock and restrained it to one part of the World and yet the imputation of this Error lieth
THE LAVVFULNES OF Hearing the Publick Ministers OF THE Church of England PROVED By Mr. PHILIP NYE AND Mr. JOHN ROBINSON Two Eminent Congregational Divines Together with the Judgment of Dr. Goodwin Dr. Owen and other INDEPENDENTS as well Ancient as Modern concerning Forms of Prayer Parish-Churches and Communion with them And the Judgment of other Nonconformists about Kneeling at the Sacrament Published as well to satisfy those that yet scruple Communion with the Church as to vindicate those that have complied from the uncharitable Censures of those that vilify them as Temporizers or that they have done so to qualify themselves for an Office to serve a Turn or to save themselves from the Penal Laws LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1683. TO THE READER THe design of these Sheets is to satisfy the Consciences of those Dissenters that hold Communion with the Church of England unlawful beseeching them seriously to consider what is here said in order to the Church's Peace and to prevent their designed ruin by Learned and Holy Men that are of the Separation commonly called Independents I have quoted none of the Presbyterian Perswasion only in the business of kneeling at the Sacrament because it would be an endless work they generally both Ancient and Modern having asserted the lawfulness of at least lay-Lay-Communion with the Church of England And besides I perceive their Arguments will not prevail with Independents who deny a National Church I know there are many that are convinced it is lawful to Hear Sermons but not the Liturgy as an imposed Form They may find here what the Reverend and Learned Dr. Owen says concerning Forms of Prayer in the latter end of these Sheets And whereas they complain the Church-Prayers are empty Forms I wish they would come and fill them with Spirit and Zeal But the greatest Scruple that hinders them is kneeling at the Sacrament and that which pinches them most is that this Gesture is said to be Adoration given to the Elements but they should consider what the Church says concerning that Gesture which me thinks should remove that Scruple and satisfy every reasonable Man in that particular which for their satisfaction I here quote at large Viz. Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lord's Supper that the Communicants should receive the same Kneeling which Order is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the Benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers and for the avoiding of such prophanation and disorder in the Holy Communion as might otherwise ensue Yet lest the same Kneeling should by any Persons either out of ignorance and infirmity or out of malice and obstinacy be misconstrued and depraved It is here declared that thereby no adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remains still in their very natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to be at one time in more places than one This Caution which wholly denies Transubstantiation together with that Prayer about the Gunpowder-Treason being now incorporated in our Liturgie do as Dr. Goodwin told a Reverend Doctor of the Church of England now living make it impossible there should be any Reconciliation with the Church of Rome The Reverend and Learned Mr. Perkins an old Puritan says to this effect That that Adoration used in the Sacrament is not terminated in the Elements but a token of Godly Reverence to Christ himself sitting in Glory c. Mr. Cartwright says also That a Man must not refuse to receive the Sacrament kneeling when he cannot have it otherwise Mr. Fenner speaks to the same purpose And the Learned Mr. Vines says That Gestures at Receiving are Moveables and not of the Free-hold of this Ordinance In short whether Men are satisfied in whole or in part I wish they would consider seriously what that excellent Man Mr. Jer. Burroughs a Congregational Divine says in his Irenicon pag. 182. viz. That one great dividing Practice hath been this That because Men cannot join in all things with others they will join in nothing Mr. PHILIP NY's Resolution of this Case of Conscience Viz. Whether we may lawfully hear the Now Conforming Ministers who are Re-ordained and have renounced the Covenant and some of them supposed to be scandalous in their Lives Answer FOr the Resolution of this Case there is a three-fold Consideration pertinent Consideration I. About the Duty it self Hearing the Word There are four ways by which at this Day the Great God conveyeth the knowledg of himself and his Mind unto sinful Man 1. His Works of Creation and Providence Psalm 19.2 2. The suggest of Conscience even the remainder of God's Image in us 3. The Word or Law of God written expounded or applyed in ordinary Preaching 4. The Church which is the Ground and Pillar of Truth the Knowledg of God and his Mind is more especially there held forth by the Gifts given and Offices therein appointed by Christ These are distinct Ways and Methods of God by which he is pleased to make known himself and we are obliged even by the Law of Nature to attend when God doth speak it is therefore an undoubted moral Duty to attend the speaking of God in whatsoever way by Providence brought unto us The Scripture with the Interpretation and Application thereof commonly termed Prophesying or Preaching is one of the forementioned Means by which God makes known himself to us this is a National Gift according as God in his Providence shall dispose Psal 147.19 20. Such National or Publick Preachers may be said to have their Call from Christ he having a hand in ordering the Motions of Providence for the Good of his Church John 5.17 And particularly in this Providential sending of Ministers Mat. 9.38 and this is the calling and sending mentioned Rom. 10.15 The Lord in these Administrations by Preachers thus sent according to the good Pleasure of his Will finds out a People before they seek him This is a dispensation of God to Men as his Creatures For Application to the Case The Word of God interpreted and apply'd by preaching in this providential way is a choice Mercy and Gift wherewith God hath blessed this Nation for many Years to the Conversion and Edification of many thousands The Governors thereof have successively according to their Light made divers good Laws and Statutes for improving this Mercy for the best advantage of the Nation as appears in that 1. There are Schools and Universities maintained for the bringing up of Persons in Learning also there is a constant setled Maintenance
Silver or other materials So doth not the Church make any Man's Sin to become his Sin which it was not before but only suffers the Sin that was But to strain the strings of this imagined proportion to make them meet and to suppose the Church in a sense to be as the Altar yet this only follows thereupon that as he who partakes with the Altar in the upholding of the Offering partakes with the Offering So he that partakes with the Church in the upholding of any Evil hath his part in the Evil also And this I grant willingly but deny as a most vain imagination that every one that partakes with a Church in things lawful joyns with it in upholding the things unlawful to be found in it Christ our Lord joyned with the Jewish Church in things lawful and yet upheld nothing unlawful in it Object 3. But this course of Hearing will offend weak Brethren not perswaded of the lawfulness of it Answ 1. It will offend more and many of them weaker and that more grievously if it be not performed 2. It is an Offence taken and not given seeing the thing is in it self good in its kind commanded by God and in that particular by Men in Authority and directly tending to my Edification and not like unto eating of Flesh or drinking of Wine or the like things of indifferent nature and left to my free liberty to use or not to use And these are the principal Objections upon the former Grounds They upon the latter follow There is in the hands of many a Treatise published by a Man of Note containing certain Reasons to prove it unlawful to hear or have Spiritual Communion with the present Ministry of the Church of England This hath been answered but indeed sophistically and in passion Neither hath the Answerer much regarded what he said or unsaid so he might gainsay his Adversary With that Answer was joyned another directed to my self and the same doubled pretending to prove Publick Communion upon Private but not pressing at all in the body of the Discourse that Consequence but proceeding upon other Grounds and in truth consisting of a continued Equivocation in the terms Publick Licence Government Ministry and the like drawn to another sense than either I intended them or than the matter in question will permit Whereas he that will refute another should religiously take and hold to his Adversaries meaning And if in any particular it be not so plainly set down should spell it as it were out of his words But it is no new thing even for Learned and Godly Men to take more than lawful Liberty in dealing with them against whom they have the Advantage of the Times favouring them like the Wind on their Backs But God forbid I should follow them herein I will on the contrary use all plainness and simplicity as in the sight of God that so I may make the naked Truth appear as it is to the Christian Reader 's Eye what in me lieth And for the Treatise mentioned it must be observed how both in the Title and body of the Book the Author confounds as one hearing of and having Spiritual Communion with the Ministery c. Which as it is true of such as stand in spiritual and political Church-Union with a Church and the Ministry thereof who accordingly have church-Church-Communion in the publick Acts and Exercises of that Church so is it not true of others which are not Members of nor in Ecclesiastical Union and Combination with the said Church For the better clearing of things let us in a few words consider distinctly of Religious Actions according to the several Ranks in which they may rightly and orderly be set Some such Actions are Religious only as they are performed by Religious Persons And of this sort is Hearing and so Reading of God's Word The Scriptures teach and all confess that Hearing of the Word of God goes before Faith For Faith comes by Hearing as by an outward means Rom. 10.7 Hearing then being before Faith and Faith before all other Acts of Religion inward or outward it must needs follow that Hearing is not simply or of it self a work of Religion and so not of Religious Communion Hearing is properly and of it self a natural Action though it be the hearing the very Word of God And I call it a natural Action in it self in a double respect First for that the Light of Nature teacheth every Man to hear and listen to another that can and will teach and inform him in any thing for his good divine or humane Secondly for that a meer natural Man Jew Turk Infidel or Idolater lawfully may yea necessarily ought to hear God's Word that so of natural he may become spiritual In the second rank I place Preaching and Prayer which are properly Acts religious and spiritual as being to be performed the one by a Gift the other by a Grace of God's Spirit Psal 50.16 17. Prov. 15.8 John 9.31 Of a third sort is the Paricipation in the Sacraments which ordinarily at least requires a Membership in some particular and Misterial Church in the Participant they being publick Church-Ordinances In a fourth Order I set the Power of Suffrage and Voice-giving in electing of Officers and cesuring of Offenders for which there is requisite an Interest of the Person so voting in that particular Church as a Member thereof Of the last sort is the Ministration of Sacraments which requires with the rest fore-mentioned a publick State of Ministry in the Person administring them Now for Preaching by some and Hearing by others which two always go together they may be and oft are performed without any Religious or Spiritual Communion at all passing between the Persons Preaching or Hearing When Paul preached to the superstitious Athenians shall we conceive he had Spiritual Communion with that Heathenish Assembly How much less had they Spiritual and Religious Communion with him who performed not so much as a Religious Work in their hearing As God gave any of them to believe they came into invisible or inwardly Spiritual Personal Communion with him as they came to make Personal Manifestation and Declaration of their Faith they came into outward Personal Communion with him Lastly as they came to joyn in or unto some particular Church into church-Church-Communion with him else not So when there comes into the Church-Assembly Vnbelievers Heathens Turks Jews Atheists Excommunicates Men of all Religions Men of none at all and there hear what spiritual Communion have they with the Church or State of the Teacher or one with another either in regard of the nature of the Act done or by God's Ordination and Institution Hearing simply is not appointed of God to be a Mark and Note either of Union in the same Faith or Order amongst all that hear or of differencing of Christians from no Christians or of Members from no Members of the Church as the Sacraments are Notes of both in the Participants The hearing
receiving to which they are sent by them And so I profess I hear them as the Ministers of the Bishop's sending and of the Parishes sent to but not as my Ministers either sending or sent to except I be of those Parishes or at least in Ecclesiastical Union with them Every one whether of a false Church or no Church or excommunicated from the Church that hears me hears me as the Pastor of the Church which I serve but not as his Pastor I suppose nor in way of any his spiritual Communion with mine Office of Pastorship Secondly By hearing and receiving there Christ's means properly the hearking to believing and obeying the Doctrine taught by the Apostles which many despised unto whom he opposeth the former that heard it Now the Ministers in the Parishes have not the Doctrines of the Gospel from the Bishops as they have their Office but from God in his Word and so far forth as a Man hears that is hearkens to and receives them by receiving it he so far hearkens to and receives Christ Object 5. Yet such as hear them have Communion with their Office of Ministry what in them lies Answ That is they have no Communion at all with it if it lie not in them to have any as it doth not If I hold up my Hand as high as I can I touch Heaven with my Finger what in me lies Do I therefore at all touch it If such think to have any such Communion it is their Error and Ignorance but makes not the thing to be the more than if they thought not so Object 6. Is there then no Communion at all between the Teacher and taught What Profit then comes there by such Hearing Answ The Church-Officer feeds the Flock and Church over which he is set as the Object of his Ministry such as come in being not in Church-Union therewith hear him so doing and as a Stander-by hearing me talk to or dispute with another tho I speak not a word to him may reap as much and more Fruit by my Speech than he to whom I direct it so may and doth it often come to pass with him that hears the Minister feed the Flock whose Minister he is tho he be no part of it He may reap Fruit by hearing him feed his Flock or seeing him minister Baptism to any Member thereof Here is Communion only in the effects of the Truths taught It were Usurpation in any to partake in a Church-Priviledg which the Office of Ministry is that were not in a Church-State first and so if hearing simply imported church-Church-Communion none but church-Church-Members might lawfully hear Object 7. In the true Church indeed is Order that the Church-Covenant go before church-Church-Communion but not so in the false Answ In the true Church there may be unlawful church-Church-Communion without a preceeding Church-Covenant as well as in the other to wit if an Act of Communion properly pass between the Church and him that is no church-Church-Member as for Example Participation in the Sacraments but hearing being not properly an Act of Communion cannot import Communion necessarily with the one or other not otherwise then according to a fore-going Church-Union whereas to partake in the Lord's Supper imports Communion in both lawful in him that is a lawful church-Church-Member and unlawful in him that is not in such a Church-State Object 8. But it is the Order of the Church of England that all that hear are and so are reputed Members of that Church Answ I deny that there is any such Order let the Law or Canon either be shewed that so orders things Excommunicates are permitted to hear Sermons tho not Divine Service as they call it 2. What if there were such an Order It no more either made or declared me to be a Member there than doth my dwelling in such or such a Parish make me a Member of that Parish-Church which latter is indeed the Law and Order there If the Church with me should make a Law Canon or Order that all that come in and hear me preach should thereby become Members of it we were the more foolish in making such an Order but they never a whit the nearer either for Membership or Communion Object 9. He that hears appears to have Communion with the Church and Ministry and all Appearance of Evil is to be avoided 1 Thess 5.22 Answ The Scripture is not to be understood of all that appears Evil to Others out of an erroneous and deceived Judgment for then we must abstain from almost all Good seeing there are some to whom almost all Good seems Evil but it is meant either of the Doctrine in Prophesy of which I have some probable Suspicion of which the Apostle seems properly to speak or of that which appears Evil to a rightly discerning eye By this imagined Exposition I might not hire a House in a Parish where I were not known seeing thereby I appear a Parish-member Object 10. None can hear without a Preacher nor Preach except he be sent Rom. 10.14 15. Therefore I cannot lawfully hear him that hath nat a lawful sending Answ That conclusion is neither in Text nor sound I may lawfully hear him that hath no lawful Calling as I have formerly shewed 2. The Apostle's meaning there is not to shew what is unlawful but what is impossible It is impossible to believe without hearing and impossible to hear without preaching and impossible to preach without the sending there intended that is without God's gracious work of Providence in raising up of Men by enabling and disopsing them to preach for the effectual calling of the Elect of God of which he there speaks If any make a Question Whether Faith come by the hearing of the Preachers there It is more questionable whether they themselves want not Faith which are so barren of Charity in which true Faith is fruitful If Faith come by the Preaching in England to any it follows thereupon that such Preachers are sent in the Apostle's sense Object 11. The Sheep of Christ hear his Voice but strangers they will not hear John 10.3 8 27. Answ Christ does not there speak of the outward Hearing but of the hearkning unto that is as he expounds himself ver 3 4 5 14 15 16 17. of the knowing and beieving of his Voice and following it So Chap. 9. I told you before and ye did not hear that is not believe ver 27. And God hears not Sinners ver 31. that is approves not of them and their Prayers So Chap. 11. I know that thou hearest me always and a thousand times in the Scriptures The drift of Christ in the place is without question to shew the difference between such as were his Sheep and such as were not his Sheep His Sheep heard his Vioce and they which were not his Sheep heard not his Voice But they which were not his Sheep nor heard his Voice as there he speaks heard him preach outwardly as well as the rest which were his Sheep
upon those whom you call Brownists to this day this I cleared them from and it is as great a clearning as can be The second Error was of those who hold Particular Churches those you call Parish-Churches to be no true Churches of Christ and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and upon that ground forbear all Church-Communion with them in Hearing or in any other Ordinance And as I acquitted these from that other Error so I acquitted my self from this and my Brethren in the Ministry I would not now have touched upon it again but as I said to clear not my self so much as some mistakes about it The first is this It was understood as if I said that all Parish-Churches and Ministers generally were Churches and Ministers of Christ such as with whom Communion might be held I said not so I was wary in my Expressions I will only say this unto you about it There is no Man that desireth Reformation in this Kingdom as the generality of all Godly People do but will acknowledg and say that multitude of Parishes where Ignorance and Prophaness overwhelmeth the generality Scandalousness and Simony the Ministers themselves that these are not Churches and Ministers fit to be held Communion with Only this The Ordinances that have been administred by them so far we must acknowledg them that they are not to be recalled or repeated again But here lieth the Question my Brethren and my Meaning Whereas now in some of the Parishes in this Kingdom there are many Godly Men that do constantly give themselves up to the Worship of God in publick and meet together in one Place to that end in a constant way under a Godly Minister whom they themselves have chosen to cleave to tho they did not chuse him at first These notwithstanding their mixture and want of Discipline I never thought for my part but that they were true Churches of Christ and Sister Churches and so ought to be acknowledged And the contrary was the Error that I spake against Secondly For holding Communion with them I say as Sister-Churches occasionally as Strangers Men might hold Communion with them And it is acknowledged by all Divines that there is not that Obligation lying upon a Stranger that is not a Member of a sister-Sister-Church to find fault in that Church or in a Member of it as doth on the Church it self to which one belongeth I will give you my Reasons that moved me to speak so much It was not simply to vent my own Judgment or simply to clear my self from that Error but the Reasons or rather the Motives and Considerations that stirred me in it were these First If we should not acknowledg these Churches thus stated to be true Churches of Christ and their Ministers true Ministers and their Order such and hold Communion with them too in the sense spoken of we must acknowledg no Church in all the Reformed Churches none of all the Churches in Scotland nor in Holland nor in Germany for they are all as full of mixture as ours And to deny that to our own Churches which we do not to the Churches abroad nothing can be more absurd And it will be very hard to think that there hath been no Church since the Reformation Secondly I know nothing tendeth more to the peaceable Reformation amongst us than to break down this Partition Wall for there is nothing provokes more than this doth to deny such Churches to be true Churches of Christ For do but think with your selves and I will give you a familiar Example You come to a Man whom you think to be a Godly Man you tell him he hath these and these Sins in him and they are great ones it is as much as he can bear though you tell him he is a Saint and acknowledg him so But if you come to him and say besides this You are a Limb of the Devil and you have no Grace in you this provokes all in a Man when there is any ground in himself to think so or in another to judg him so So it is here Come to Churches and say You have these Defects among you and these Things to be reformed but if you will come and say Your Churches and your Ministers are Antichristian and come from Babylon there is nothing provokes more Therefore if there be a Truth in it as I believe there is Men should be zealous to express it for this is the great Partition Wall that hindreth of twain making one Then again This is that which I consider and it is a great Consideration also I know that Jesus Christ hath given his People Light in matters of this nature by degrees Thousands of good Souls that have been bred up and born in our Assemblies and enjoy the Ordinances of God and have done it comfortably cannot suddenly take in other Principles you must wait upon Christ to do it In this Case Men are not to be wrought off by Falshoods God hath no need of them No rather till Men do take in Light you should give them all that is comfortable in the condition they are in we should acknowledg every good Thing in every Man in every Church in every Thing and that is a way to work upon Men and to prevail with them as it is Philem. vers 6. That the Communication of thy Faith may become effectual by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus It is that which buildeth men up by acknowledgment of every good thing that is in them Lastly The last Inconvenience is this It doth deprive men of all those Gifts that are found amongst our Ministers and in this Kingdom that they cannot hold any Communion or Fellowship with them So that I profess my self as zealous in this Point as in any other I know And for my part this I say and I say it with much integrity I never yet took up Religion by Parties in the lump I have found by trial of things that there is some Truth on all sides I have found Holiness where you would little think it and so likewise Truth and I have learned this Principle which I hope I shall never lay down till I am swallowed up of Immortality and that is that which I said before To acknowledg every good Thing and hold Communion with it in Men in Churches or whatsoever else I learn this from Paul I learn this from Jesus Christ himself he filleth all in all he is in the Hearts of his People and filleth them in his Ordinances to this day and where Jesus Christ filleth why should we deny an acknowledgment and a right hand of Fellowship and Communion My Brethren this Rule that I have now mentioned which I profess I have lived by and shall do while I live I know I shall never please Men in it Why it is plain For this is the nature and condition of all Mankind if a Man dissents from others in one thing he
Apostle evil is present with me I cannot hear or read or pray and the rest but with a mixture of Sin yet upon this account I may not cease from or neglect a known Duty not though materially considered the evil accompanying being greater than the good As in meditation when blasphemous thoughts arise c. To omit a known Duty is a sin of wilfulness the evil from me in it is but infirmity only The least wilful Sin is greater and more provoking than the greatest Sin of Infirmity For Application to the Case 1. Governors otherwise pious and zealous yet not so knowing in matters of Church-Orders may possibly in the discharging of their Duty and doing this good Work occasion a mixture of evil with it Being perswaded that Preachers and Preaching will be accepted with more reverence and become more effectual if by Persons ordained as well as examined and tried for their fitness and if accompanied also with set and solemn Forms of Prayer and other Vniformities they therefore by their Laws establish and enjoyn these things The Persons also appointed to this Work though not approving all that is imposed through infirmity yield and submit rather than let so good a Work fall 2. The things therefore objected as Evils by which some are deterred from hearing are the Infirmities of others mixed with the Duty I say Infirmities for so in charity we ought to judg Now if I may not omit a Duty in respect to the Evil mixed with it which is my own much less may I thus leave an Ordinance for the Evil that is another Man's no way mine or to be charged upon me This were to make another Man's Sins or Infirmities more mine than my own Objections Answered Object 1. We cannot judg such Imposition and submitting to these Infirmities especially after so much Light and Reformation Answ 1. If the known Integrity and Piety of some of them who have Conformed is such that there is ground to hope what they have done herein is through want of Light Misapprehension or the like Infirmity we may then conclude that the grosness wilfulness or whatsoever may make those Actions more than an Infirmity in any other Conformist must arise only from the internal frame or badness of the Mind and Intentions for externally they are the same If so then it is nothing at all to us to them it is Prov. 21.27 for in respect of the lawfulness of our joyning with the administration or unlawfulness whether it be done with a better or worse mind is not observable by us outward and visible Sins only pollute others that be in relation If Envy Pride Hypocrisy or the like Evils of the Mind did so we should be constantly guilty of other Men's Sins and without Remedy Answ 2. What-ever Sins are in the Person as to himself they are to me but as Sins of Infirmity that is such Evils adhering to the Worship as I have no power to prevent I may and ought to mourn for such mixtures as for my own Infirmities but avoid them I cannot without I avoid the Duty Object 2. There is much Error mingled with the few Truths they preach as Popery Arminianism c. There are also invective Reflections yea railings against the People of God Answ 1. What is morally Good will bear the mixture of a great deal of Evil and yet retain its Goodness still the Goodness being from God who is a greater Good than Satan or Sin is an Evil. Answ 2. We cannot expect from Men of ordinary Gifts that Truth be preached without the mixture of Errors more or less We know but in part therefore are to prove all things and hold fast that which is good Heb. 5.14 A Saint as other Creatures though weak and newly born hath a taste of what is Food suitable and what sincere Answ 3. As for those intemperate Expressions and Reflections on the People of God I confess it is sad but were there not such against Paul and his Party Phil. 1.15 yet notwithstanding they are to be heard even by the same Persons they enveighed against for the Truth 's sake Object 3. The Lives of most of our Conformists are vile and abominable full of Pride Covetousness Luxury Drunkenness How can we expect a Blessing on their Labours though they preach Truth and good Things Answ 1. The mixtures in Sermons are nearest the Irregularities of their Calling the next the Sins of their Conversations farthest from their Doctrine and therefore have less efficacy at such a distance to prejudice it Answ 2. It 's God's Word and not their own they preach Truth is blessed from the Lord for its own sake and his whose it is When Christ blessed his Disciple with the promise of his presence Mat. 28.20 Lo I am with you always even to the end of the World it is to be applyed rather to their Doctrine than Persons for they were sometimes left to humane Infirmities in their lives and they lived not to the end of the World If it be not Truth though an Angel from Heaven bring it no Blessing will come with it but if it be Christ that is preached whoever is the Instrument there is matter of hope and rejoicing Phil. 1.15 c. Some preached Christ who were not sincere though at the same time others who were blameless preached the same Truths What then saith Paul vers 18. Notwithstanding every way Christ is preached and therein do I rejoice and will rejoice Those Peter mentions they sed the Flock the Flock then heard them and were instructed by them yet we are told those Ministers were Covetous Ambitious took up their Ministry for filthy Lucres-sake and were Lords over God's Heritage More cannot be objected against our Ministers that Conform than might against the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time either in respect of their Doctrine which was loaden with Traditions their Standing which was not according to Law their lives which were vicious yet Christ not only permits but requires us to attend the Truths they deliver Consideration III. About partaking with another Man's sins This ariseth from some special relation as a moral touch which is either in respect to the Person transgressing or the Sin it self 1. Our Relation to Persons may either be 1. Transient or Occasional For a Man becomes guilty with him that sinneth by applanding approving or encouraging him in his Sin John 2.10 11. Rom. 1.32 and in some cases by silence being present when some gross Sin is openly commited Or 2. our Relation may be set and stated either Civil as between Parents and Children Masters and Servants c. This will not be much to our purpose or Sacred viz. that setled Relation that ariseth from gospel-Gospel-Communion as in particular Churches between Officers and Members and one Member with another By virtue of this Relation Sins are transmitted from one to another with the greatest celerity and efficacy A little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump The Evil of another and that
People in his holy Ordinances and half imagining that they draw near enough to God if they can withdraw far enough from other Men. Great Zeal they have against the false Church Ministry and Worship so being or by them conceived so to be and against any appearing evil in the true but little for that which is true and good as their practice manifests But Evil is as contrary to Evil as Good is to Evil and so is that Zeal plainly carnal which carries a Man further against Evil than for Good seeing no Evil is so evil as Good is good Fourthly There are some to be found so sowred with moodiness and discontentment as they become unsociable and almost Lukanthropoi Werewolfs as they speak if they see nothing lamentable they are ready to lament if they take contentment in any it is in them alone whom they find discontented if they reade any Books they are only Invectives especially against Publick States and their Governours All things tending to accord and union any manner of way are unwelcome unto them They have their Portion in Ishmael's Blessing Gen. 16.12 Lastly There want not some who as Jehu in his fierce marching covered his Ambition Cruelty and Zeal for his own House under pretext of Zeal for God's think to cover and palliate their both grosser and more proper and personal Corruptions under a furious March not only against the Failings but the Persons also failing of Infirmity in matters of Church-Order and Ordinances Who if they were well acquainted and duly affected with their own both more voluntary and greater Sins would slack their Jehu's Peace yea turn their Course tho not to walk with others in Evil which God forbid yet to apply and accommodate themselves unto them in that which is good so far as possibly they could observe any way by the Lord opened unto them I could instance in and name divers particular Persons monstrously grown out of kind this way But that Course I leave unto them who rather desire the disgracing than the bettering of them against whom they deal Or perhaps conceive in their leavened Hearts that there is no other way of bettering specially Persons of mean Condition than by disgracing them But let not my Soul come in their Secret in whose Habitations are such Instruments of Cruelty Gen. 49.5 6. These things thus premised the Objections follow which I have either heard from others or can conceive of my self most colourable against the Practice by me propounded And they are of two sorts Some of them are framed upon Supposition that the Ministers in that Church are in themselves lawful and of God but now yet to be heard by reason of the Abuses and Evils to be found in their Ministrations Others withdraw herein and those the more upon the contrary Supposition To wit that the very Order and Constitution of that Church and Ministry is Papal and unlawful Now the Examination of the Grounds of the one or other I will not in this place meddle with but though both cannot be true will for the satisfying of the with-drawers on both Parts grant for the present to either Part their Ground and so examine distinctly what Exceptions they can or do build thereupon But first for the former Supposing a Church and the Ministry thereof essentially lawful it cannot but be lawful for the Members of other Churches in general Union and Association with it to communicate therewith in things lawful and lawfully done seeing the end of Union is Communion God hath in vain united Persons and States together if they may in nothing communicate together But he who would have us receive the weak in Faith whom God hath received would not have us refuse the Fellowship of Churches in that which is good for any Weakness in them of one sort or other And this we have so plainly and plentifully commended unto us both by the Prophets yea by Christ himself in the Jewish Church and Apostles and Apostolical Men in the first Christian Churches in which many Errors and Evils of all kinds were more than manifest and the same oft-times both so far spread and deeply rooted as the reforming of them was rather to be wished than hoped for As that no place is left for doubting in that case by any who desire to follow their holy Steps in Faith towards God and Charity towards Men and effectual Desire of their own Edification The Objections of the former sort follow Object 1. There is danger of being seduced and misled by the Errors taught in the Assemblies Answ 1. We must not lose the Benefit of many main Truths taught for danger of some few Errors specially in lesser matters This were to fear the Devil more than to trust God 2. There were in the Jewish Church in Christ's time and in divers of the Apostolical Churches afterwards more and greater Errors taught than are in any or all the Churches in England of which also there are not a few which if their Ministers did as fully and faithfully teach and practise all Truths as they keep themselves carefully from Errors might compare in this Business with any reformed Church in Europe 3. This Exception hath its weight against the hearing of Priests and Jesuits specially by the weaker sort and less able to discern of things that differ But not against many Ministers of the Church of England Object 2. He that in any thing partakes with that Church in which Sins known are suffered unreformed partakes in all the Sins of that Church as he that swears by the Altar swears by the Offerings upon it which it sanctifies Mat. 23.19 20. Answ I partake not in the Sins of any how great or manifest soever the Sins be or how near unto me soever the Persons be except the same Sins either be committed or remain unreformed by my Fault Otherwise Christ our Lord had been inwrapped in the Guilt of a world of Sins in the Jewish Church with which Church he communicated in God's Ordinances living and dying a Member thereof If my Brother sin a scandalous Sin and I by just order make Complaint thereof to the Church I have done my Duty It appertains to the Church to excommunicate him if he repent not but not to me except Pope-like I would make my self the Church I am guilty of the Evil in the Commonwealth and Family for redressing whereof I do not my duty in my place which if I do in the Church as I can I am free from the Sins done and suffered there which Sins and Evils I can no more be said to suffer wanting power to reform them than to suffer it to blow or rain because I hinder it not But the proof of the Assertion from Mat. 13. is of admirable device How doth the Church sanctify the Sin of the Sinner as the Altar doth the Offering of the Offerer The Altar makes that to become actually an Offering or holy Gift which before was not an Offering actually but only Gold
loseth them in all the rest and therefore if a Man do take what is good of all sides he is apt to lose them all but he pleaseth Christ by it and so will I for this particular Dr. Owen pag. 177. of Evangelical Love saith That it is pleaded indeed the Substance of the Worship of God ought to be no other than what Jesus Christ hath appointed yet the Manner and Mode of performance of what he doth command with other Rites and Ceremonies for Order and Decency may lawfully be instituted by the Rulers of the Church let it therefore at present be granted says he that so they may be by them who are perswaded of the lawfulness of those Modes and of the things wherein they consist Indeed he very much condemns Communion with such Apostatical Churches who are guilty of Idolatry and require unscriptural Terms of Communion but what Churches those are remains to be proved I am sure he asserts that many Errors in Doctrine Disorders in Sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-State or give sufficient warrant for any Person to leave their Communion and to separate from them Pag. 76. Evang. Love And pag. 176. We wholly deny that the Mistakes of Christians in joining themselves unto such Churches as have no warrantable Institution ought to be any cause of the diminishing of our Love towards them for they may be Persons born of God united to Christ partakers of the Spirit and belong to the Church Catholick Mystical which is the first principal Object of all Christian Love and Charity notwithstanding their Errors and Wandrings from the Truth in this Matter And the said Dr. Owen who in his Discourse of the Work of the Spirit in Prayer writes against the making or composing of Forms of Prayer for our selves to be used privately desires the Reader p. 200. to observe that he doth not argue against Forms of Prayer as unlawful to be used And pag. 222. he grants that Men or Churches may agree upon a prescribed Form by common consent as judging and avowing it best for their own Edification Again pag. 228. Whether they are approved or disapproved of God whether they are lawful or unlawful we do not consider but only whether they are for Spiritual Benefit and Advantage for the good of our own Souls and the Edification of others as set up in competition with the Gift before described So that it seems the Doctor doth not judg such Forms of Prayer unlawful which are for the good of our own Souls and the Edification of others and which are not in competition with the Gift before described And therefore p. 231 232. supposing that those who make use of and plead for Forms of Prayer especially in Publick do in a due manner prepare themselves for it by holy meditation with an endeavour to bring their Souls into a holy frame of Fear delight and reverence of God let it also be supposed that they have a good End and Design in the Worship they address themselves unto namely the Glory of God and their own Spiritual Advantage the Prayers themselves tho they should be in some things irregular may give occasion to exercise those Acts of Grace which they were otherwise prepared for And I say yet further that whilst these Forms of Prayer are cloathed with the general Notions of Prayer that is are esteemed as such in the minds of them that use them are accompanied in their use with the Motives and Ends of Prayer express no Matter unlawful to be insisted on in Prayer directing the Souls of Men to none but lawful Objects of Divine Worship and Prayer the Father Son and Holy Spirit and whilst Men make use of them with the true design of Prayer looking after due assistance unto Prayer I do not judg there is any such Evil in them as that God will not communicate his Spirit to any in the use of them so as that they should have no holy Communion with him in and under them Much less will I say that God never therein regards their Persons or rejects their praying as unlawful For the Persons and Duties of Men may be accepted with God when they walk and act in sincerity according to their Light tho in many things and those of no small importance sundry Irregularities are found both in what they do and in the manner of doing it Where Persons walk before God in their Integrity and practise nothing contrary to their Light and Conviction in his Worship God is merciful unto them altho they order not every thing according to the Rule and Measure of the Word So was it with them who came to the Passover in the days of Hezekiah They had not cleansed themselves but did eat the Passover otherwise than it was written 2 Chron. 30.18 And p. 235. he grants That such Forms of Prayer have not any intrinsecal Evil in the composition of them but argues against the setting up and prescribing such Forms of Prayer universally in opposition and unto the exclusion of free Prayer And p. 236. If they appear not contrary unto or inconsistent with or are not used in a way exclusive of that Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer which we have described from the Scripture nor are reducible to any Divine Prohibition I shall not contend with any about them Much more might have been collected even out of the Writings of the Congregational Ministers concerning these weighty Matters but this is sufficient I know the Reader will be sollicitous to know their Judgment about the Lord's Supper and kneeling thereat but I must confess at present I cannot find they say any thing particularly about it only the practice of some of them in receiving the Sacrament according to the manner of the Church of England does evince that all of them do not deny the lawfulness of it but that they may sometimes communicate there tho ordinarily they do with their own particular Churches for better-Edification as they judg Mr. Tombs a learned Minister and a great Anabaptist wrote a Book to prove it lawful both to Hear and Communicate with the Church of England and his practice at Salisbury was conformable thereunto Indeed the Nonconformists that are called Presbyterians both Ancient and Modern do generally allow the lawfulness of Communicating with the Church of England tho at the same Time they held the Ceremonies to be burthen some and therefore would avoid them if they could but if they could not have the Sacrament otherwise they took it as they could have it Thus says Mr. Baxter in his Christian Directory pag. 859. First Edition Had I my choice I would receive the Lord's Supper sitting but where I have not I will use the Gesture which the Church useth And it is to be noted that the Church of England requireth the Communicants only to receive it kneeling but not to eat and drink it kneeling when they have received it And his Resolution of this Case ought to be considered viz. Quest May the Communion-Tables be turned Altar-wise and railed in And is it lawful to come up to the Rails to Communicate Answ 1. God hath given us no particular Command or Prohibition about these Circumstances but the general Rules for Unity Edification Order and Decency Whether the Table should stand this way or that way here or there c. he hath not particularly determined 2. They that turn the Table Altar-wise and rail it in out of a design to draw Men to Popery or in a scandalous way which will encourage Men to or in Popery do sin 3. So do they that rail in the Table to signify that the Vulgar or Lay-Christians must not come to it but be kept at a distance when Christ in his Personal Presence admitted his Disciples to communicate at the Table with himself 4. But where there are no such Ends but only to imitate the Ancients that did thus and to shew reverence to the Table on the account of the Sacrament by keeping away Dogs keeping Boys from sitting on it c. The professed Doctrine of the Church condemneth Transubstantiation the real Corporal Presence c. as ours doth In this Case Christians should take these for such as they are indifferent things and not censure or condemn each other for them nor should any inforce them on any that think them unlawful 5. And to Communicate is not only lawful in this Case where we cannot prove that the Minister sinneth but even when we suspect an evil Design in him which we cannot prove yea or when we can prove that his personal Interpretation of the Place Name Situation and Rails is unsound for we assemble there to communicate in and according to the professed Doctrine of Christianity and the Churches and our own open Profession and not after every private Opinion and Error of the Minister As I may receive from an Anabaptist or Separatist notwithstanding his Personal Errors so may I from another Mans whose Error destroyeth not his Ministry nor the Ordinance as long as I consent not to it yea and with the Church profess my dissent 6. Yet caeteris paribus every free Man that hath his choice should chuse to Communicate rather where there is most Purity and least Error than with those that swerve more from regular Exactness FINIS