THE WAY TO HEAVEN MOST CLEARLY DISCOVERED AND The manner how to walk in this Way exactly described With a brief Vindication of the Church of England Against all her Enemies By Nicholas Philips late Chaplain to His Majesty's Garrison in the Isles of Silly Isa 30.21 This is the way walk in it LONDON Printed for T. Brown 1681. To my Dear Mother The Church of England Dearest Mother I Esteemed it a great happiness that I had the honour to have my New Birth from thy Womb and to be suckled up from my Cradle with the sweet Milk of thy syncere Doctrine And if thou be not ashamed of such a Son next to my Christianity I esteem it my greatest glory to have had such a Mother But I esteem it a greater happiness that I had the Grace given me to stick to thee in thy adversity and not to leave thee nor to turn from following after thee when thou wert turn'd from a Naomy into a Marah and all thy beauty and pleasantness was changed into deformity and sorrow But O I esteem it my greatest happiness that upon the turning of thy Captivity and the recovering of thy pristine Beauty and Splendour thou hast not cockered me with thy Smiles and Favours Prosperity being of all estates the most dangerous Enemy unto Piety but kept me under with thy Frowns and Censures the Furnance of Affliction always causing the Fire of Piety to burn the brighter And though the unkindness of Friends wound deeper than do the Swords of Enemies yet as no opposition of Foe could so no unkindness of Friend shall divorce me from thee And I am as unseparably devoted to thee as Ruth was unto her Naomy The Lord do so to me and more also if ought but Death part thee and me And I am immutably Thy Dutiful and Obedient Though Unworthy Son Nich. Philips The Way to Heaven clearly Discovered c. Acts 2. 47. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved THese words are the conclusion of the History which St. Luke gives us of the first gathering of the Holy Catholick Church by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour immediately upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven and the gracious Descension of the Holy Ghost upon them at Jerusalem upon the day of Pentecost Christs Church like a grain of Mustard Seed unto which he compares it in the Gospel from a small Seed grew up by dâ—grees into so great a tree that it was able in a short time to afford shelter and protection to the Fouls of the Air unto such as from all parts of the world unto which the Air lies open should repair unto it And according to the prediction of the Gospel Prophet Esay ch 60. ult his little one soon became a thousand and his small one a great Nation Christ at the first Gathering of his Church called only the twelve Apostles Mat. 10. Afterward he enlarged their number by adding to them the 70 Disciples Luke 10. After his glorious Ascension into Heaven and when the Church was met together for the chusing of an Apostle into the room of the Traitor Judas we find them increased to the number of an hundred and twenty Acts 1.15 But upon the gracious Descension of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles at Jerusalem upon the day of Pentecost we find it to grow up so fast that on that very day as is testifyed here v. 41. no less than 3000 Souls were added unto it And these 3000 being by the Apostles miraculous speaking of all Languages gathered from out of all Nations under Heaven were Primitiae Ecclesiae Catholicea The First Fruits of the Holy Catholick Church Hitherto the Church had been national and singular confined within the limits of the Jewish Nation with whom God dealt better than with other people gave his word unto Jacob his Statutes and Ordinances unto to Israel Psal 147.19 But from henceforth it grew to be Catholick and Universal extending it self into all Lands and consisting of the Faithful in all Nations who though divided in body are united in Soul knit together by Faith as the Members of a Natural Body are by joynts and sinews in one Communion and Fellowship in the Mystical Body of Christ having all one Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4.5 And that there is no salvation to be obtained by any one of what people nation or Language of what Age Sex or Condition soever that is not added unto and made a Member of this Holy Catholick Church The sacredly-inspired penman of the Holy Ghost St. Luke here assures us by telling us That the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved In handling of which sacred Maxim and Position I shall Grace assisting me shew you 1. What the Church is 2. That Salvation is not to be obtained any other way than by being added unto it 3. That the principal Agent in this work of Salvation is Almighty God and that it is the Lord that daily adds men unto the Church 4. The means and instruments which God ordinarily makes use of in this great work of Mans Salvation 5. And lastly the means which men who are put into the state of Salvation and added to the Church must be careful to use if they will keep themselves in the Unity and Community of the Church and in the state of Salvation And First Of the Church Church is a word of various signification and in several senses shall we find it used in holy Scripture but chiefly it signifies and mostly it is there used for the whole number of the Elect that ever were or ever shall be in the world in what place soever either in Heaven or Earth they are dispersed So that this Holy Catholick Church consists of two principal parts 1. Of the Triumphant part in Heaven where the departed Saints and such as are loosed from the burthen of the flesh are rejoycing for the Conquest which they have gotten over the World the Flesh and the Devil a singing continually of Hallelujahs of Songs and Psalms and Thanksgivings unto God for giving them the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Of the Militant part of Earth where the living Saints are still a fighting against the World the Flesh and the Devil a sighing for their manifold frailties and fleshly corruptions and a longing to be dissolved and to be with Christ Now though this Militant Church of Christ be but one body and Christ saith of his Dove his undefiled one That she is but one the onely one of her Mother Cant. 6.9 Yet as the vast Ocean which is but one and the same Concourse of Waters hath divers Appellations changeth its Name and is distinguished by the several Regions on which it borders and there is the Spanish Ocean the British Ocean the German Ocean and which make but one and the same Sea so the Holy Catholick Church which is but one body hath divers names and is distinguished by the several Countries
having respect unto the Apostolical Canon 1 Cor. 14. ult she ordered all things in the publick worship of God to be done decently and in order The Ceremonies used in our Church are not many and burdensom but few and significant such as tend to Edification and instruction are not Popish and Superstitious but Pious and Primitive have their grounds in the Scripture the Approbation and Practice of Antiquity and the Church of Christ in all Ages Come come be not more nice than wise my over precise and scrupulous Bretheren but become ye now at length wise unto Salvation There is a better way sure to fly from one extream than to run into the other even to embrace the golden means that lye between What the Church of Rome as Popish hath innovated and is in her Erroneous and Superstitious reject with us and forsake But what the Church of Rome as it was Christian and a Depository of the Sacred Truth hath received from the Sacred Scriptures and Reverend Antiquity and is in her Pious and Primitive embrace with us and practise And let us become one joyn hearts and hands as well in practising the Vertues we find in the Church of Rome as in opposing the vices and errours which we find in it Surely they who for such things as are of an indifferent nature and which every particular Church hath power to alter and change to impose or abrogate separate from our National Church of England which I have proved to be a true Member of the Holy Catholick Church expose their Salvation to a great hazard for out of the Church as saith my second position there is no salvation to be obtained the Lord adding unto the Church daily such as shall be saved That the Church is Via Regia the King of Kings High-Way to Heaven and that there is no way for any one to obtain Salvation but by being added to it is most plainly demonstrated unto us by that which St. Peter 1 Ep. 3.20 calls the Type and Figure of it Noah's Ark For as all the People that inhabited the Old World excepting only those Eight Persons that entered into the Ark perished in the Flood of Waters which God brought on the Earth So all the people of the New World who enter not into the true Ark the Church shall be consumed in that dreadful fire wherewith God will one day burn up both the Heaven and the Earth And therefore Baptism which is the Sacrament of initiation the door whereby we enter into the Church is by St. Peter Ib. v. 21. said to save us as the Ark did those of the Old World that entered into it Illustrated also is this Truth unto us in Scripture by divers apt Similitudes and Comparisons Called is the Church Col. 1.18 A Body of which Christ is the Head and every true Believer a Member in particular Now as the Head doth not impart his influences and perform the Office of a Head to any Member that is separated and divided from it So Christ will not impart the Divine Influences of his Saving Grace and perform the Office of a Saviour unto any one but only unto such as are united and added to his Body the Church Compared is the Church to a Houshold and called Eph. 2.19 The Houshold of God now as the Pater Familias and Master of a Houshold though he may out of charity sometimes give unto others yet makes provision only for those of his own Family so though God out of his immense bounty and gracious goodness imparts his general Mercies unto all creatures preserveth both Man and Beasts causeth his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall on good and bad just and unjust yet his special favours and singular graces he reserves only for those of his own Family the Church He is good to Israel but chiefly unto those in Israel who are of a pure heart saith the Prophet Psalm 73.1 He is the Saviour of all men but especially of those that believe saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 4.10 Likened is the Church to a City and called Heb. 12.22 The City of the Living God Now as a man cannot be protected by the strength of a City and partake of the priviledges and immunities thereof unless he put himself within the Walls and become a Citizen So a Man cannot be protected by that strong City which hath Salvation appointed for its Walls and Bulwarks but only such a one as is admitted into the New Jerusalem and become a Fellow Citizen with the Saints Compared is the Church to a Mother and called Gal. 4.26 The Mother of all True Believers Now as no one can live a natural life without a Mother to conceive bring forth suckle and nourish him so no man can live a spiritual life the life of grace here and of glory hereafter who is not begotten of the immortal seed of the Word of his Mother the Church regenerated and new-born who is not fed and nourished up in sound Doctrine by the sincere Milk which issueth forth of her two Breasts the Books of the Old and New Testament And in this sence it is a trite and common saying among the Ancient Fathers That he shall not have God for his Father who hath not the Church for his Mother Likened is the Church by our Saviour John 15.1 to a Vine of which as he there tells us he is the heart his Elect the Branches now as that Branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the Vine no more can ye saith he to his Disciples there v. 4. except ye abide in me intimating thereby most plainly that unless we be ingrasted into Christ the true Vine and added to his Church we can have no true hopes of obtaining Life and Salvation through him Since it is confirmed then unto us by such a cloud of Witnesses that out of the Church there is no Salvation to be obtained 1. Gross and absur'd is the opinion of those Libertines who think a man may be saved in any Religion So he live an outward moral civil Life The Jew in his Judiasm The Turk in his Mahometism The Heathen in his Paganism They may as well say that a man might be saved in the Flood out of the Ark by climbing up to the top of some House or Tree or Mountain That a man being separated from the body may live a branch Cut off from a Tree bear fruit 2. Fearful and dangerous is the estate of those Athiests and sensual worldlings who neither regard any Church nor think on any religion at all but live like beasts always grazing in the earth and never so much as lift up their hearts or eyes to heaven Ravenous Ravens may I grant find pleasure and present relief out of the Ark. And profane Esauites may think themselves happy enough in having plenty of belly chear and temporal blessings But the innocent spotless Dove when out of the Ark can find no place any where to set the sole of her feet
rely on unwritten Traditions nor on unwarranted Revelations but must make that bright shining and unerring light Gods holy Word his onely Director and Guide must neither add to it nor diminish from it must neither turn to the right hand and do more nor to the left hand and do less than is enjoyned him in the holy Scriptures And accursed be he yea though he be an Angel from Heaven that shall presume to preach any other Doctrine contrary to that which the holy Apostles have delivered unto us saith S. Paul Gal. 1.8 A Treasury full of all manner of precious Stones is Gods holy Word and there is no one of what condition or quality sex or age soever but hath his particular Rule given him in the Scripture and may if he come to the hearing or reading of Gods holy Word with an heart humbled and willing to be instructed find what he in his particular vocation and calling must especially do and perform what he must especially shun and avoid And 't is indeed the Reformation of those Abuses which we commit in our particular Callings wherein the power of Grace and Religion doth most especially appear Religion Religion my Brethren is not a thing merely of publick and common profession it dwells not onely in Churches and Temples no it hath a principal respect to the well ordering of our particular and personal Callings it saith to us as Christ did to the man in the Gospel whom he dispossessed of a Legion of Devils Go home to thy House and let thy behaviour and carriage there evidence and shew forth the truth and sincerity of thy Religion We read Deut. 11.20 that the Jews were commanded to write Gods Law not onely on the Doors of their Temples but also on the Doors of their Houses that so they might meditate and think on it to do it not onely on the Sabbath and holy Solemnities when they were called upon to go up into the House of the Lord but all the days of their life and as oft as they went in and out at their own Doors that so they might learn to regulate their personal Imployments and the works of their particular Callings according to those Directions which are given by God in his holy Law And 't is indeed according to the ordering of our selves in our particular Callings that God will proceed with us at the last day and when summoned to appear before his dreadful Tribunal we shall not be called to give an account of other mens Stewardships but of our own and how we have demeaned our selves in that state of life wherein he hath been pleased to place us Surely Brethren if we who have the Gospel printed amongst us bibles at home in our Houses and I hope read therein every day If we who have the Gospel preached amongst us and may if we be not sloathful and negligent on every Lords day hear it expounded and applied in our Churches and Synagogues would instead of curiously inquiring out of it with S. Peter what is other mens duty and required of them set our selves with S. Paul to inquire out of it what is our duty and required of us in that station wherein God hath placed us and set our selves sincerely about the doing of it we should most clearly manifest our selves to be true Members of his Militant Church on earth and should not fail in due time to be made glorious Members of his Church Triumphant in Heaven The second thing which you must learn of those primitive Christians if after you have been added to the Church you will continue and preserve your selves in the Church is to continue stedfastly in the Apostles Fellowship By Fellowship with the Apostles is here signified conformity unto them in those laudable and decent Rites and Ceremonies Customs and Orders that were practised by them in their Church Assemblies and publick Meetings In which whosoever refuseth to have Community and Fellowship with that Church into which he is admitted by Baptism and of which he is made a Member is void not onely of all Religion but even of all Reason and common Civility The actions of Religion and Divine Worship are twofold either Essential and ordinate or circumstantial and subordinate 1. The essential and ordinate parts of divine Worship are Faith and Holiness of Life and our Rule for this must be Gods Holy Word and we must receive nothing as an Article of Faith a thing absolutely necessary unto salvation which cannot be immediately deduced out of it 2. The circumstantial and subordinate Actions of Religion are the time the place the vesture the gesture which are required to be observed in our performance of Church Duties and these things being not absolutely determined of God in his Holy Word are left to the determination of the Church And God in that general warrant which he has given the Church 1 Cor. 14. ult Let all things be done decently and in order hath impowred her to cut out and shape each particular decency and order as will best suit with the condition the comliness and the edification of every particular National Church and it is no more necessary that all Churches should observe one and the same Rites and Ceremonies than it is that all Nations should wear one and the same kind of cloaths Surely these Orders and Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies which by our lawful Superiors we are enjoyned to observe in our Church meetings and Assemblies though they cannot immediately be deduced out of Gods Holy Word yet if they be not contrary unto it but serve for decency and comliness in the service of God are part of those Ordinances of men unto which we are commanded by St Peter 1 Ephes 2.13 to submit for the Lords sake And therefore though pride or arrogancy contempt or neglect to violate and break the established Order of the Church is to be guilty of no less crime than Disobedience to the Commands of God Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators here render Fellowship is the very word which St. Paul in the 1 Cor. 16.3 useth to fignify the Collections and Comributions which were made for the poor and that in this sense it is to be taken here is the opinion of the incomparable judicious Dr. Hammond in his Annotations on that place Piously indeed with great praise to themselves and much comfort to the afflicted Members of Christ were Collections for the poor ordained by the Apostles to be used in their Church meetings As I have given order unto the Church of Galatia Even so do yee saith St. Paul to his Corinthians 1 Cor. 16.1 on the first day of the week Let every one lay by of his store as God hath prospered him for the poor And though the practice of this Apostolical Primitive and most Christian duty be strictly injoyned in our Liturgy to be used on every Lords day and solemn Festival and after the Sermon is ended the Priest is required to