is not sufficient to hold them together in their more particular associations Thus these two Grand Principles then of the Natural and Divine Law have led men to the practise of these Unities mention'd and so have accordingly dictated and approv'd of this Ecclesiastical Uniformity And if men have oppos'd it at any time where it hath been just and lawful it hath been either from their weaknesses or corruptions as hath been mentioned it hath been either from their ignorance or Ambition or Intemperate desire of Liberty or the like when men have considered themselves in an absolute notion and not as members of a Society of a Christian or other Church Incorporate into a State XI We come next then these things being said to assigne the Practises of men also in this matter The practises of Societies also Assign'd And they will be evident from the principal Instances mentioned to be given in it And for the assignation of them we will take into consideration 1. The Ecclesiastical Synods and Councels held in the Christian Church apart by themselves 2. The several Civil Lawes and Constitutions both of it and of other Ages and Countries And the consideration of these things will evidence the consent of Nations also in this matter XII In the first place then for the Councels First from the determination of Councels held in the Christian Church Acts 15.6 c. and these we shall find to have been very frequent in the injunction of these matters of an Ecclesiastical Uniformity We will begin with the first Councel held by the Apostles themselves and mentioned in the Scripture and in it they upon a Contest arising prescrib'd a Body of Doctrines proportionable to the present occasions for Profession of assent and consequent practise to be yeilded to Vers 20.29 viz. That the converted Gentile should abstaine from Pollutions of Idols and from Blood Vid. Canon 38. Apud Carranzam in summâ Concil Vid. Can. 15. apud Carranzam in summâ Concil Vid. Can. 20. De flectendo Genua vid. Socrat. Hyst Ecclesiast lib. 1. cap. 5. ibid. vid. Vid. Can. 2 3 5 20 c. Apud Justell Codin Canon Vid. Concil Laod. Can. 18. Afric Can. 103. Concil Carthag 3. Can. 23. Concil Milev 2. Can. 12. vid. Concil Tolet. 4. Can. 2. Vid. Concil Tolet 6. Can. 3. Concil Constantinop 6. Can. 62. Vid. etiam Concil Nicaen 2. Actionem 7. sub fine Et ejusdem Synod Can. 9. Et Lateran Concil Can. 3. c. apud Carranz De Pace inter Evangel procurand c. 1637 in princi See the Confession of Faith c. And the Act of the General Assembly c. prefac'd to it And the Directory and the Advice of c. concerning Church Government c. annex'd to it and from things strangled and from Fornication Let us pass on from hence to the Canons called the Apostles The thirty eighth Canon appoints Councels to be Celebrated in those first times of the Christian Church twice every yeare ut Dogmata Pietatis explorent emergentes Ecclesiasticas contentiones amoveant That they might search into the Doctrines of Piety and more emergent Ecclesiastical Contentions We will go unto the first Nicene Councel when the Christian Church began to be National under Famous Constantine And there we have Seditions and Tumults and perturbations in the Church forbidden by a Disciplinary Canon There we have also one Uniforme Posture of Body commanded in Prayer to be observed by all the Churches There we have also the so well known Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proposed and enjoyn'd for all to profess assent to and the Famous Nicene Creed or Confession of Faith to be subscrib'd to We will go on further to the Councel of Antioch The first Canon of it is for the Uniforme Observation of Easter And several of the following Canons were shap'd for the cutting off occasions of Contentions in that Church Let us go on to other the like Councels We shall find in several Forms of Liturgies appointed to be approv'd of by those Councels and to be propos'd and enjoyn'd to the Churches Let us go on to others We shall find one forme of singing of Praying of using other Customes and Ceremonies and that throughout all the Churches of one and the same Nation and that also because the Congregations and Churches contained in the Nation were all of the same National Religion We shall find also those of divers Professions ordained to be prohibited and the Feasts and Rites of the Gentiles not to be tolerated and many other the like Canons in many particulars tending all to the uniting men to one Profession and to the cutting off occasions of contests in matters of Religion as might be more particularly mention'd And thus then the Christian Church as it grew in Age and Settlement in divers places grew on also to further degrees of Uniformity Finally as it hath been of Old so of late All Pacificators would have some kind of Uniformity or other The Scotch Ministers themselves in their Advice mention'd to Arch Bishop Spotswood for the procuring Peace in the Church would have an Uniformity And in England the very Covenant Synod at Westminster and they also as by their Covenant they say they were bound and in Conjunction with the General Assembly of Scotch Divines at Edenburgh were for an Uniformity And they intended their Printed Confession of Faith and their Directory for Publick Worship and their Advice concerning Church Government to the then Lords and Commons sitting in the Houses of Parliament for the effecting that very thing Thus then hath this Uniformity been the common vote of the Divinity Chaire throughout all Ages in the Christian Church And he that will see further Vid. lib. 1. Const 6. and lib. 2. cap. 54.56 and lib. 2. cap. 1 2. and lib. 7. cap. 34 35 c. Secondly from the Civil and Ecclesiastical Lawes of Countries may look into the Apostolical Constitutions of Clemens Romanus and many other Ecclesiastical Records and Monuments that bear witness in this matter XIII Let us come also to the Civil Lawes and Constitutions of Countries in the same matter And we will begin first with those of Israel in their unparalell'd Theocracy And God himself appointed in it his several forms both of Doctrine and Worship as hath been mention'd Nay Miracles themselves were not to be believ'd against them and the establishment of them Hic supra modo §. 10. Lib. 1. cap. 2. §. 14. vid. as was above mentioned upon another occasion And they had also their ordinary Ecclesiastical Conventions and Synods for the determination of emergent Controversies concerning these things and the chief Magistrate making use of them to that End and many more particulars might be mention'd After Israel follow the Civil and Ecclesiastical Lawes and Constitutions of all Nations in like manner and so far forth as there are Records left concerning them In the Assyrian and Persian
from the Poets the other from the Philosophers and the other from the Princes of Cities And all these were still sayd to be from Divine Revelation The Poets were of old looked upon as Inspired from Heaven De furore Poetico in Princip So Plato Testifies concerning those of Greece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they uttered their excellent Poems not at all from any thing of Art but from Divine Inspiration and that they drew Wine and Milk from the fountains and hills of the Muses Vid. etiam in Phaedro circa princip Et de legib Dial. 2. Et de Repub. Dial. 10. Et de legib Dial. 3. as Bees did honey from flowers And were the Interpreters of the Gods and the like in many other places So the Latine Poets also had the same reputation in their times and Countries Est Deus in nobis agitante ealescimus illo c. That there was a God in them and that they grew warm by his motion And the like is to be said of the Philosophical and City Divinity The Philosophers and Senates just as the Sanedrim amongst the Jewes concerning Prophets did not receive any thing in either but what they judged to be from Divine Revelation Suetonius in Tiber. Tertul. Apolog. c. 3. Euseb Hist Ecclesiast lib. 2. cap. 3. The Story is known concerning Jesus Christ in Tiberius his time whom the Senate would not receive into the number of their Gods because he had been worshipped before they had approved of him And as this is said concerning the Religion of the Greeks Vid Ovid de Fast Dii quoque Tristitiam poni per sua festa jubent Et Hora Carm. lib. 1. Ode 16. Non Dyndimaene non adytis quatit Mentem Sacerdotum incola Pythius Non Liber aequè Et Vid. Hospinian de Orig. Festorum c. So the Christian Prescript was derived from the same Authority with that of Moses Matth 23. In Apologia Socratis Acts 5.29 Rev. 22.18 19. Mahomet's Prescript dated also from God and Romans and other Heathens in the general So the like also might be said concerning all the particular parts of it Their Festivals were dated from their Gods The Priests at their Oracles said to be Inspired by their Gods and the like in other things So that thus was the Heathen Religion received totally upon the account of Divine Authority and we may be sure upon none other account at all for else to what purpose was it that these Oracles and several other wayes of Divine Revelation mentioned were held in such repute amongst them for that end viz. That they might thus receive their prescripts of Religion from them VI. The Christian Religion which proceeded from God indeed may well be expected then to proceed upon these only rational grounds The commands of God and men are alwayes oppos'd as to matters of Faith in the New Testament We are bid to call no man Master upon Earth and that which Divine Plato also taught in express termes To obey God rather then men And they are cursed and devoted who adde to the Canon of the New Testament And the like things obvious to consideration might be farther said but they need not be here recited VII And lastly The like we shall find also concerning Mahumet That as we said the Heathens feigned the Divine Original of their Religion and derived many Rites of it from Moses as to the matter of them so hath he also feigned the same Original of his and derived many Rites of it both from the Heathens and Moses and Christ He feigned converses with God and his Angel Gabriel Vide passim in Alcorano and the holy Ghost in the form of a Pigeon dictating into his Ear the Law of his Alcoran He pretended the amendment and restauration of many Doctrines both of Moses and Christ which he said Vide ibid. Azoara 9. since their times had been corrupted He pitch'd upon many things as being Media Licita and indifferent in their own nature and which were controverted amongst Christians and partly practised and partly tolerated by Moses his Law and by the Greeks D. De Petitione haereditatis L. Ancillarum etiam ¶ Sed inquit Vlpianus Non in multorum honestiorum praediis Lupanaria exercentur c. Et vid. Plat. De Rep. De Legib. c. Et Alcoran ib. Azo 9. and the old Civil Law of the Romans such as Polygamy Circumcision choice of meates and other Doctrines and Sacred Rites and Ceremonies And in these he pretended his reduction to the Primitive appointment of God as if many of these things had been altered and corrupted and otherwise constituted by Moses and Christ in their times Thus then the universal consent of Nations and all Divine and Humane Lawes have established it That all Precepts and prescripts of Religion are to be expected only from God and his divine Authority But because the Divine Original of Religion in the general and under it's different Notions is not only to be asserted in relation to the treating of an Ecclesiastical Uniformity and the Rights belonging to it but also that a more special respect is to be had to the true Religion both by all mixtly that they may take heed of violating the consistency of it with Government and also by the chief Magistrate in particular and eminently that he may take care for the settling of it as the National Religion in his Society And because we shall have many occasions hereafter in our following discourse of referring to the distinction of Religion into true and false Therefore we will here proceed a little farther in relation to these things and lay down the general grounds of all Religions and compare them Two only sorts of Precepts of Religion VIII There are then two only sorts of Precepts of which any Religion can consist 1. Natural 2. Positive For this is a compleat distribution of the Divine Laws into these two sorts 1. The Natural it must needs consist of because God the Author of Humane Nature is supposed to approve of the dictates of it And the Law of Nature in the General is implanted in all Creatures for their good and that they might be governed by it And so Vlpian describes it D. De Justit jure L. Hujus ¶ Jus naturale Jus Naturale est quod natura omnia animalia docuit Nam jus istud non solum humano generi proprium est sed omnium animalium quae in terra aut in Mari nascuntur That the Natural Law is that which nature hath taught all living Creatures for that Law is not only proper to mankind but is the Law of all living Creatures which are generated and bred either in the Earth or in the Sea And therefore for man not to be governed by it would be against the whole order of the Creation and it should be planted by God in him in vaine 2. The positive Divine Laws
these been in respect to these things the Scorn and Sport of Impostors VI. The Persons ordinarily guilty then of voluntary Offences The Persons ordinarily guilty of the Faults of Malice and the faults of malice against the publick charge of the Magistrate are the other sort of men viz. wicked and cunning men Demagogues Heresiarks in matters of Religion and Ring-leaders of Sedition in matters Civil And these ordinarily such who are partly Prophane either to lesser or greater degrees of Prophaness and partly Atheists and down-right Contemners of a Deity and so have no sence of Conscience or Duty upon them either towards God or Man The Prophane Persons some of them are such to such a degree that they deserve the name of Practical Atheists And the others are speculative Atheists and that such there are and alwayes have been in all Societies it is abundantly evident The Practises of men and such as we shall here forthwith mention Polit. lib. 5. cap. 4. §. 27. shew it daily And Aristotle sayes Itaque viri boni virtute praestantes Seditionem non faciunt cum multis enim improbis comparati valde pauci fuerint Therefore good men and such as excel in virtue are not those who make a Sedition seeing that it will be found that they are but very few if they may be compar'd with wicked men And Plato in his books of Lawes tax'd the Atheists of old Dial. 10. That they were wont to say scoffingly amongst the Heathens that not the Sun Moon and Stars who were worship'd but that the Earth and Stones were the Gods And Ibid. Quomodo non commotus Deos esse aliquis disserat How can a man dispute against such Persons sayes he but with anger Vid. Suetonium Incaligula c. Juv. Satyr 3. Some of the Roman Emperours in their times laugh'd at Religion And the Acute Satyrist describes the Tenents of such men Sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponunt Et nullo credunt mundum rectore moveri Natura volvente vices Lucis Anni Atque ideo intrepidi quaecunque Altaria tangunt There are those now who attribute all to Chance and Fortune And do believe the World to be mov'd by no Guide Nature turning about the Course both of the Dayes and Year And therefore they approach to any Altars without any fear or respect to them VII The things that excite and stir up these Persons also to the Commission of such faults against the Charge of the Magistrate are their several Lusts and Corruptions The Causes exciting them to the Commission of such Faults viz. Those which have Temporal interests and the adored things of this World for their Proper Objects And those vicious Passions and Corruptions are either such as respect the things and Affairs according as they are diversly valued or else the Persons of men The things of this world ordinarily valued by men in the first place are Riches And the wise man gives the reason of it Eccles 10.19 because they answer all things And the particular Lust in men the proper object of which they are is Covetousness The things valued in the second place accordingly are Honours and Reputation esteem a name and the like And they are the proper Objects of the Lusts of Pride and Ambition And these two sorts of Corruptions are the principal of these causes exciting men to the Commission of such faults against the Magistrates charge mention'd At vero fraudes prope modum omnes atque injuriae quae quidem Consilio voluntate susceptae sint ab Ambitione Avaritia proficiscuntur Polit. lib. 2. Cap. 7. §. 5. sayes Aristotle That indeed for the most part all Deceipts and Injuries which are undertaken by Consultation and voluntarily do proceed from Ambition and Avarice And then the things valued in the third and last place are Pleasures and they are the proper Objects of voluptuousness according as it is variously diversified But yet several men have these evil passions more or less severally ruling in them according to their several Tempers Occasions given for the acting of them and the like The second sort of Lusts and such as respect the Persons of Men are Envy Anger Malice Revenge and other such which do use to vomit forth their Rage and Poison against others as is more generally hinted above Lib. 1. Cap. 3. §. 2. in fine The impetuousness and violence of these exciting causes 1 Thes 4.5 Apud Sueton. in Nerone VIII The impetuousness and violence of these corruptions is famously known in the World The Word of God calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the passionateness of Lust And the writings of all men and the Experiences of all Ages have attested the same Occidat modo imperet said Nero's mother of her Son That he should kill her if he would so that he might but be Emperour And hoc est illud minimum Punctulum sayes Seneca of the Earth quod ferro igne dividitur That it is that very little point which is divided by Fire and Sword amongst men And therefore Temporal Interests are by Elegant Causin rightly call'd Holy Court Tom. 4. Trent 1. §. 3. Certain Doctrines in the Christian Religion made use of by these Persons for the Promotion of their several ends The fift Gospel of men in this World IX There are certain Doctrines in the Christian Religion which are indeed of great moment as to the spiritual man but are disputed variously by the several subdivided Professions in the Christian Church and those are the Doctrines of Special Grace Spiritual blindness the enmity of the natural man and the like And these are those which have been principally made use of in all Ages by the several Heresiarks and Ring leaders of Sedition for the promoting of their several ends in the Christian Societies They have as serted and reputed their parties only to have had special Grace and others to have been Carnal men And if those others have not seen any reason for their wayes they have said it hath been because they were spiritually blind and have been ready to apply that of the Apostle to their Case if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost And if those others have made any opposition against them they have said it was from their natural enmity to Godliness And hence it is that the way concerning these Doctrines amongst us now vulgarily called Arminian hath been by some Christian Churches countenanced and asserted or at least not much discountenanced nor contradicted The Church of Rome hath solemnly professed it and the main of it And the Church of England amongst others called reformed hath in the Rubricks of her present Liturgy asserted universal Grace to be bestowed in Baptisme See the Order for the Administration of Publick Baptisme In Rubrica ad fin And hath not in Terminis contradicted the Arminian way in her Publick Canon of Doctrines And