good opinion of them and of the innocency and goodness of their intention in what they desire and seek Whereas the other tends to exasperate and provoke and to beget an ill opinion of them and a jealousie of their designs in the minds of those from whom they expect ease and relief in what is mattet of grievance to them And that which does that is no good way of obtaining from them Solomon's wise advice is If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences Eccles 10.4 QUERY XIII WHerein may Catholick Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserved To clear our way in this Inquiry it will be convenient to take notice of the difference that is between the Vnion of the Catholick Church and the Communion of it The Union of the Catholick Church consists in the same Relation which all the Members of that one Body bear to Christ the Head of it and to one another as fellow-members But the Communion of this spiritual Corporation consists in a mutual performance of those Christian Duties and Offices to which they are engaged by virtue of that relation By that Relation in which their Union consists they come to have a greater interest in one another than they had before their incorporation into that body and by it they come under new duties to one another to which they were not obliged before But their Communion consists much in a mutual discharge of those duties towards one another and in an improvement of that interest for the benefit of one another and the good of the whole by their mutual intercourse in spiritual affairs The Union of the whole which is made by one Baptism or the Baptismal Covenant respects the being of the Church But Catholick Communion respects its well-being by its increase in wisdom goodness and comfort There is indeed a Catholick Church Vnity by Communion as well as there is another which comes by Relation but this Unity of Communion slows from that which is made by a Relation common to the whole Having thus briefly considered how Catholick Communion differs from Catholick Union I shall now proceed to shew a little more particularly wherein or in what Catholick Commumunion doth consist And we may best know what it is and wherein it doth consist by the account we have of it as practised in the Catholick Church when it first became Christian And this account we have in these words Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers By which description we see it consisted in their consent and agreement in three things Faith Worship Fellowship 1. In their agreeing in the same Faith they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine that is in the belief of it in attendance to it and practice of it From the same faith being common to all Christians it is called the common faith Tit. 1.4 the one faith Eph. 4.5 and their agreement in it is stiled Vnity in the faith Eph. 4.13 2. In their agreement in the same Worship breaking of bread and prayers This Catholick Church in its beginning is said to have continued with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And on the day of Penticost they were all with one accord in one place when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them And when their number so increased that they could not all perform this Publick Worship together in one place but in several distinct Assemblies called particular Churches yet their agreement in the same Worship made their Communion in it but one Communion tho performed in several Assemblies For altho these Assemblies be never so far distant from one another yet so long as they all agree in the same Worship the distance of place can no more hinder their Communion from being one than their being baptized in several distant places can hinder the Relation to one another contracted thereby from being one when it is common to all the Members We account all those to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome at the same time and in the same acts in which they hold their Local Commumunion in several distant Nations so long as they all agree in the same corrupt Worship And there is the same reason for the Unity of the Communion in Worship of all Orthodox Assemblies in all Nations So that I take this for an unquestionable truth That it is mens agreement in the same Principles of Communion be they good or bad that makes their Communion but one tho the particular acts of it are performed by them in many thousand distant places And now it is by the Union of Relation by the Baptismal Covenant and the Unity of Communion by agreement in the Principles of the Worship wherein they have Communion that all Orthodox Christians make one great House or Temple of God in the world in which he is openly worshipped and publickly acknowledged to be what he is the one only true God Father Son and Holy Ghost in opposition to all false Gods Ephes 2.21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. This is that house which is called Christs own house Heb. 3.6 and that House of God over which Christ is said to be High Priest Heb. 10.21 And particular Churches in reference to this one house are but as several Apartments in it which all together make up one great house of God And in this house of his God dwells and therein manifesteth himself to his People after a more special manner than he does to the world 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people Here Almighty God meets with them and communes with them and receives their addresses and here he entertains them with the fatness of his house the Ordinances of the Gospel and the benign influences and comfortable presence of his Spirit in the use of them In this way the whole Church in their several Assemblies have Communion with their Head Christ Jesus and one with another by partaking in common of the spiritual benefits communicated by the Lord and in assisting in common in the Worship Adoration and Thanksgiving which the Church renders him for the glory and transcendent perfections of his nature and being and returns him for all the blessings and benefits they receive from him And the more all Christians are agreed in their worshipping of God and in their Communion with him the more they honour him and the more they please him and make themselves the more capable of receiving all good things from him in the greater abundance If the agreement but of two of them touching any thing they shall ask hath his promise of granting it Mat. 18.19 what might not be expected from him
inclination it s far enough from putting a man into a justified state And when ever the will is brought to comply with the assent and judgement of the mind in this great matter yet it is then ordinarily a work of time and the fruit of many thoughts and considerations for want of which tho' men do believe their Faith will languish and bring forth no fruit to perfection as we are taught in the Parable by the seed which did so for want of much Earth which answers to the want of many thoughts and considerations All these things consider'd then that since a Faith which hath not Regenerated those in whom it is falls short of a Justifying Faith and since Faith in its beginning and lowest pitch is ordinarily so weak and inoperative to effect so great a change as Regeneration signifies untill by many thoughts and considerations it has gathered some strength and since for it to do so is a work of time and since the Apostles from whose writings these things are collected baptised those upon their first believing or beginning to believe who had untill then lived in the darkness of Paganism I say these things considered make it very improbable that the Apostles Baptised none but upon supposition and probable presumption that they all had a justifying Faith before they Baptised them If any shall say it was upon a charitable perswasion in the Apostles that those whom they Baptised had such a Faith as by which they either were already regenerated and justified or would be in time that they Baptised them I shall not oppose them herein But the saying thus does suppose and grant that the Apostles did not account such a Faith as by which men were already before Baptism regenerate and justified necessary to qualifie them for Baptism if they had but such a Faith which gave them ground to hope that it might in time be improved so as to become a justifying Faith which concession is every whit as much as I plead for 2. It is not probable that the Apostles received none into the visible Church by Baptism but such as they esteemed to be of the Church as invisible by a Justifying Faith because they could not but know that many are really and truly of the visible Church and are so esteemed by God who yet are not of the Church as invisible by such a Faith That such are of the visible Church in the account of the Scriptures both of the Old Testament and of the New I have I suppose sufficiently proved in some of the following Enquiries And if this was and is the currant doctrine of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and of those written by the Apostles we cannot suppose them to be ignorant of it And if they were not it is not reasonable to suppose they would reckon more necessary to qualifie men for their enterance into the visible Church than was necessary to their being of it 3. The Apostles had Commission to Baptise Disciples and Believers without limitation or exception and those who had but the initial Faith which I before described are in Scripture said to have believed and to have been disciples as is shew'd in the following Papers and therefore the Apostles Commission to Baptise must needs extend to the Baptising of such And it is no ways likely that the Apostles would make exception in reference to the Baptising of persons where their Commission made none but that they Baptised all that were at all disciples as such without discrimination or making a difference between believers and believers or disciples and disciples in reference to their Baptising of such Nor does it all appear by any the least hint in Scripture that they did Indeed our Saviour in Commissionating his Apostles seems to make a difference between teaching men so as to make them disciples capable of Baptism and the teaching them afterwards how to live a truly Christian Life he seems to have directed them to bring them first to believe Christ to be the Son of God the Messiah the Saviour the great Prophet that brought to men the way of Salvation and to engage them to become disciples unto him and his Religion and to baptize them into it and then afterwards to instruct them in the particulars of their duty And this the double teaching mentioned in their Commission Mat. 28.19 20. seems to imply and their baptising men so suddenly and upon so little Teaching as they did does likewise infer I have also given same account in the Tenth Enquiry how agreeable it is to the Wisdom and Goodness of God towards men in several respects to admit such as have but common grace into the Church as visible and if it be so then they act cross to Gods gracious design who labour to keep them out of it Another mistake upon which Separation from parochial Communion is founded is an opinion that our blessed Saviour has been more particular then indeed he has in determining the external manner and circumstances of Gods publick worship For the promoters of Separation were wont heretofore to suggest to us from those words concerning Christ Heb. 3.2 That he was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was faithful in all his House That Christ had given direction in particular about the worship of God and the orders to be observed in his House now under the Gospel as Moses had done under the Law And accordingly they often urged that care should be taken that all things be done according to the Pattern in the Mount By which many people became disaffected to the worship of God by the use of a Liturgy in as much as they could not find our Saviour to have given any precept or direction for the worshiping God in such a way or after such manner Whereas the faithfulness of Christ to him that had appointed him did not stand in being as particular as Moses was in his directions touching the worship of God and orders of his House but in doing and teaching so much and all that the Father had appointed him as Moses also had done And since we find that our Saviour has not been so particular in his directions touching these matters as Moses was we thereby know that the Father did not appoint him to be so because he was faithful in observing all that was appointed him Now that our Saviour has not been so particular in his directions touching the external manner of Gods worship as Moses was will quickly appear if we do but compare what was done by him in this kind and what was done by Moses Vnder the Law God did not only prescribe the matter and substance of his worship as the several sorts of Sacrifices and Oblations but also the particular circumstances relating to them as the place where the Sacrifice should be killed and on which side the Altar and how it should be dressed and about the Fire of the Altar and the orderly laying of the Wood upon it and how
the God of love and peace shall be with you saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 13.11 While the Catholick Church is of one mind in the great things of Christian Religion and being so do live in peace and not unpeaceably contend fall out and divide about lesser things such as for which God perhaps doth neither esteem or disesteem men he who is the God of love and peace will be with them to bless them with his presence with spiritual blessings especially And as the presence of the soul in the body enlivens it with natural life by virtue whereof the several Members perform their several functions proper to each of them respectively even so the presence of the holy Spirit in the body of Christ the Church does animate it with spiritual life and does so influence and actuate the several Members of it as that by virtue thereof they all perform their several Christian offices proper to each for the common good of the whole But then this vital power of acting spiritually is conveyed by the Spirit to each of the Members as they are in Vnion and communion with the whole and so as one Member is made a Channel of this conveyance to another and each enabled to contribute its part to the common good of the whole Thus Col. 2.19 where St. Paul mentioning the Head of the Church saith from which all the body by joynts and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God This spiritual nourishment of the body flows from Christ the Head we see as having obtained it by his Mediation but then it is the great Office-work of the holy Spirit to apply the benesits obtained by Christ to the several members of his body by working and increasing grace and comfort in them He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you saith our Saviour speaking of the Holy Ghost Joh. 16.14 And this conveyance of nourishment from the Head to the Members by the Holy Spirit is made by the union of the parts as knit together by joynts and bands by which Union one member is made a Channel of conveyance of nourishment to another and in this way the whole body increaseth with the increase of God This being so a disunion of the parts or members must needs obstruct this spiritual nourishment and hinder the growth of the body To the same effect is that parallel place Ephes 4.15 16. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working of the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love This increase of the body to the edifying it self in love is made we see both by the parts of the body being joyned together and also by that which every joynt supplyeth being so compacted Thus we see how the increase of the Church in spiritual strength depends upon Gods special presence and assistance and how the enjoyment of that presence depends upon the peaceable agreement and mutual love of the parts of which the Church doth consist And if so then unpeaceableness discord and strife contention and dividing into Parties in the Church must necessarily tend to deprive her of that special presence and divine assistance of the holy Spirit without which Christians cannot thrive and increase in true goodness and for want of which they will rather decline and go backward Tho the God of peace and of love will be with his People while they are so of one mind in the Essentials of Christianity as upon that account to live in peace and Christian Communion one with another notwithstanding their differing in some lesser things which will always be found in the best estate of the Church which can be expected here on earth yet there is no reason to expect he will be so with them when they do not so live in peace tho they should otherwise be of one mind in the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and all the substantial parts of Worship The holy Spirit may indeed dispense gifts of Knowledge and Utterance and the like which are common to bad men as well as good such as these he may bestow upon Christians even while they are in disorder and unpeaceable division But as for those fruits of the Spirit which constitute men truly good such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness and meekness Gal. 5.22 the having of these and mens being of an unpeaceable temper and in a state of discord and division are I fear inconsistent for these are contrary one to another Tho St. Paul acknowledged those of the Church of Corinth to be enriched with all utterance and all knowledge Chap. 1 5. yet in Chap. 3.1 he tells them that he could not speak unto them as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as to babes in Christ and for this reason as it follows in ver 3. because there was among them envying strife and division Ye are yet carnal saith he for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men that is as other men which were no Christians They might indeed know and believe and talk otherwise and better than those that were out of the Church but their walking and living was but as theirs while envying strife and division was found with them For these are of those works of the flesh of which St. Paul saith that those which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 21. And if Christians would but examine and judge of themselves by these Scripture measures it would make them on all hands one side as well as another to be as much afraid to do any thing to disturb the peace of the Church or to be guilty of envying strife and division in it as they would be to find themselves but in a carnal state and of being shut out of the Kingdom of heaven And as for those who are guilty of these things in these sad times wherein envying strife and division do abound it is hugely necessary that as they love their own souls they would without delay repent and get out of such a state and not flatter and deceive themselves with an opinion of their good and safe condition upon account of their being otherwise Orthodox and Religious so long as they indulge themselves in such a state QUERY XIV What is the nature of Schism From what hath been discoursed touching the nature of Catholick Communion and the means of preserving it we may be able to make a judgment of the nature of Schism what it is and who are guilty of it For if Catholick Communion stands in the Unity of the Spirit or Christians Unity in their Communion in the Doctrine of Faith in things necessary to Salvation and in the
Catholicism Or Several ENQUIRIES TOVCHING Visible Church-membership Church-Communion The Nature of Schism And the Vsefulness of National Constitutions For the furtherance of RELIGION By W. A. LONDON Printed by M. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. THE PREFACE TO THE READER ONE would think any thing should be acceptable to dissenting Brethren which has a true tendency to deliver them from those mistaken notions of things which do expose them to much trouble from Men and from the Laws themselves and by means of which they are an occasion of trouble and danger to the Nation And it is but reasonable to expect that things of this nature should be consider'd by them now at such a time as this tho' neglected during the time in which those Opinions put them to no trouble The hope of which and the sorrow to see Christian Brethren to suffer great inconveniencies to themselves needlesly has been a motive to me to make these sheets publick at this time as not doubting but that if judiciously and impartially weighed they with other writings of like nature may be of good use to discover to them their mistakes Their Separation from parochial Communion which does expose them to trouble does proceed principally from their mistakes as I conceive them to be either about that which makes men members of the visible Church or that which gives them Right to the external Priviledges thereof or about the external manner of publick worship There are many of the Dissenters whose notion of the visible Church and of Mens Right to Communion in the external Priviledge of it seems much narrower than the Scriptures represent those things to be They make that to be necessary to visible Church-member-ship and Communion which is but necessary to Invisible Church-Communion And then they make this qualification necessary not only by way of Duty but of Condition also without which in humane judgement persons ought not to be admitted into Church fellowship or unto Communion in the external priviledges of the Church Which notion and correspondent practice of theirs I have endeavored to discover to be plainly contrary to the whole current of the Scriptures touching these matters both of the Old Testament and of the New both as to doctrine and matters of fact That which hath betrayed them into this mistake seems to have been the want of distinguishing between the internal and external state of the Church for want of which they confound them and make that which is but necessary to the Being of the Church as invisible to be so likewise to the Being of it as it is visible The Church being described in Scripture but as a little flock and that as our Saviour says there are but few which find the narrow way which leads to Life and enter in at the strait gate and because the qualification of those of the invisible Church who shall be saved as described in Scripture seems to agree but to a few of those who profess the Christian Religion and because the Church is but One hereupon they come to be persuaded that none are really and truly of the Church but such whose qualification agrees with their description to whom Salvation is indeed promised But as for others they esteem them no more to be true and real Members of the Church than wooden Legs and glass Eyes are Members of the Body of a Man But then there are Scriptures which must be considered likewise which have foretold of the coming of many whole Nations into the Church both Kings and their People and of the numerous increase of it when a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation when the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill the wole Earth when for number they shall say the place is too strait for me give place to me that I may dwell and the like for there are many such Predictions in Scripture Now unless they will say that whole Nations and those vast numbers forementioned are all of the Church as invisible which is more then they will or can say they must of necessity admit of a distinction of a two-fold state of one and the same Catholick Church the one external and visible the other internal and invisible And if this distinction be admitted then these Predictions concerning the vast extent of the Church will be fairly reconcileable to those other Scriptures which speak of it in a more contracted and limited sense without which they seem irreconcileable For what some Scriptures speak touching the paucity or fewness of Church-members and what others say touching a far greater number of which the Church doth and will consist are both true in different respects the one in respect of the Internal and Invisible state of the Church the other in respect of that which is external and visible And this distinction is fairly justified by what our blessed Saviour hath said more than once to wit that many are called but few are chosen And if any should fancie that this twofold state of Church-members implies two Churches the one visible the other invisible there is no ground for it since those who are of the Church as invisible are the same Persons which are in external and visible Vnion and Communion with those who are of the Church only as visible and so make one Church with them But we cannot say they make one Church with these and another by themselves for then there would be two Churches indeed and yet of the same persons for a considerable part Considering then this twofold state of the Church it will not be difficult at all to conceive how and why a participation in the external priviledges of the Church does belong to all that are externally and visibly of it when yet a participation in the internal and invisible priviledges of it belongs only to those who are of the Church in respect of its invisible as well as visible state As there are different qualifications of persons of the same Church so there are different priviledges which belong to them accordingly external ones to them who are only externally qualified and both external and internal ones to them who are qualified for both Now this different state of the Church being so apparent as it is in Scripture as also that those who have but common grace and yet Baptized are really and truly of the visible Church I say the consideration of these things hath enclined me to touch upon several things which seem to render it very improbable at least that the Apostles should admit none into the Church by Baptism but such as they judged to believe so effectually as to be thereby Regenerate before they would Baptize them To what is said in my inquiries into these matters I shall here add a little more for our better Vnderstanding that case or question The question is whether it be probable that the Apostles admitted none into
but he required this Covenanting with him to this end that they might truly fear and love him and cleave to him only as a means to such an end No man will say that Almighty God did fore-know when he commanded all those fore-mentioned to enter into Covenant with him that in doing it they would all of them be qualified with such regenerating Grace and spiritual Life as all those are who are of the Church as Invisible which yet they must say or suppose if they will say that the lawfulness of Covenanting with God does depend upon their being Regenerate when they do it unless they will say that God commanded such of them as were not so qualified to do a thing which in its own nature was sinful and unlawful which I presume none will dare to say By all which it appears with full evidence as I apprehend that it is not unlawful for some such as are not of the Church as invisible to enter into Covenant with God to be his People And that the lawfulness of such Covenanting does not depend upon mens being qualified with Regenerating Grace And if so then the lawfulness of mens being admitted into the Visible Church by Covenanting with God by Baptism does not depend upon their being reputed Members of the Church as Invisible or such as are Regenerate 2. My next reason or argument I draw from our Saviours Commission to his Apostles directing them who or what manner of Persons they should Baptize and by Baptism receive into his Visible Church viz. such as were made Disciples The words of the Commission run thus Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Or Disciple all Nations or make Disciples in all Nations so others render it The Apostles then according to their Commission were to Baptize all those who first were made Disciples and by the Baptismal Covenant to enter them into the Church Mens being made Disciples then was the rule given by our Saviour by which the Apostles were to govern themselves touching who and what manner of Persons they were to receive into the Church by Baptism And those were Disciples who did attend upon the teaching of Christian Teachers with a desire to learn their doctrine whether they had attained to Regeneration thereby or no. And such the Apostles had in Commission to Baptize From this Commission of Christ then I argue thus If our Lord Jesus commanded his Apostles to Baptize all that were Disciples and thereby to bring them into the Church as he did then he commanded or authorised more to be brought into the Visible Church by the Baptismal Covenant than were truly Regenerate For men might be Disciples in an inferior sence and were so who yet were not Regenerate Such Disciples had our Saviour himself Such were those who upon the sight of his Miracles believed on him with whom yet he would not trust himself because he knew what was in them John 2.23 24. And such were those John 6.66 of whom it is said From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And such an Unregerate Disciple was Judas And such perhaps were Ananias and Sapphira and such was Simon Magus and many other unprofitable branches that by Baptism had been planted into Christ the true Vine And that our Saviour by Commissionating the Apostles to Baptize Disciples intended no less but that they should Baptize all such as were made or became Disciples as such whether Regenerate or not and that they could understand his Commission no otherwise our Saviours own practice and example will infer it For tho he knew all men and what was in them and had declared in their hearing that some of his Disciples did not righty believe John 6.64 yet did not reject those as no Disciples whom he knew to be Unregenerate so long as they followed him as Disciples but caused them to be Baptized as well as those he knew to be better as those words imply John 4.1 2. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and Baptized more Disciples than John tho Jesus himself Baptized not but his Disciples c. These words imply both that he caused as many to be Baptized as were made Disciples and that there were great numbers famed to be so made and Baptized And yet so far as appears there were but few of them that firmly cleaved to our Saviour till the last For we read of but about an hundred and twenty Men and Women that appeared as his avowed Disciples after our Saviours Resurrection till the day of Pentecost Act. 1. From all which we may observe these two things 1. That it was not disagreeable to our Saviours mind that more should enter into Covenant with God by Baptism and thereby be brought into the Visible Church than were truly Regenerate which is a further confirmation of our former argument 2. That if the Apostles had known as our Saviour did those Disciples that offered themselves to Baptism being Unregenerate to be so yet that would not have made it unlawful to admit them to Baptism and into the Church no more than what our Saviour caused to be done in like case did All this shews that men were received by the Apostles into the Church upon other terms than the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible before they were so received 3. My next Argument to prove that they were and that our Saviour would have his Apostles to understand that they were to be received upon larger terms I gather from our Saviours instructing his Apostles so thorowly and so frequently as he did that his Church would consist of bad as well as good which is also an argument that he did account such to be a part and Members of his Visible Church Which we cannot think he would have done without cautioning them to look to it and to take heed of letting such into his Church much less would he on the contrary have bid them compel men to come in that his House might be full if he had designed that the Apostles should keep all out of the Church but such of whose effectual conversion to God they were well satisfied Our Saviour by many Parables did thorowly inform his Apostles that his Church would consist of a mixture of bad as well as good of foolish as well as wise Thus he told them that the Kingdom of Heaven should be likened unto ten Virgins whereof five Wise and five Foolish Mat. 25.1 2. By the Kingdom of Heaven our Saviour in his Parables and so in this means the Kingdom of the Messias here on Earth which is his Visible Church in which he Reigns and Rules by his Gospel as the Law of that Kingdom And those are the People or Subjects of this Kingdom who own him for their King and his Gospel for the Law of his Kingdom And the different effects which this Gospel was to have in the lives and behaviour of
such as should receive it was accordingly foretold by our Saviour and resembled by various Parables as it is here by the Wise and Foolish Virgins Thus we have it again in another Parable concerning the Marriage of a Kings Son to which both good bad were invited and did come and the Wedding was furnished with such guests Mat. 22. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares that sprang up amongst it The Parable of the Draw-net that being cast into the Sea gathered of every kind bad as well as good are of the same import And so is the Parable of the Sower and his Seed Wherein four sorts of Hearers or Professors of the Gospel are resembled by four sorts of ground into which the Seed fell of which there is but one thorowly good Mat. 13. Add unto this that our Saviour did not only fore-tell his Apostles by these Parables what different success the Preaching of the Gospel would meet with even among those that would receive it and how his Church would be filled with many bad as well as good but also told them plainly without a Parable That many would be called and yet but sew chosen Mat. 20.16 Wherefore and for what reason may we conceive did our Saviour thus instruct his Disciples touching what the state and condition of his Church would be which should be gathered by the Preaching of the Gospel but that they might not be disappointed in their expectations nor be offended when afterwards they should find it to consist of such a mixture or ever expect tho they should observe his rules for the purging his Church to find it otherwise until the end of the world the time appointed for a total gathering out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity And that the Apostles did not understand otherwise by our Saviours Parables and Doctrine but that the worser as well as the better Christians were of this Kingdom of Heaven the Visible Church their Epistles to such Churches in which there was such a mixture shew for they counted them and treated them as Christian Brethren in so much as St. Paul would not have such as deserved Church-censure and in some sort were under it to be counted as Enemies but admonished as Brethren 2 Thes 3.14 15. The Apostles then being thus thorowly instructed by our Saviour afore-hand touching the constitution of his Church of bad as well as good it is no ways likely that they would receive none into the Church but under the notion of such as were truly Regenerate 4. There are some circumstances relating to the Apostles receiving Persons into the Visible Church by Baptism which render it incredible that they did not so receive any but upon the reputation and esteem they had of being of the Church as Invisible First one thing was the doctrine by which they most prevailed with men to become Disciples Which doctrine was the Preaching that pardon of sin and the happiness of Eternal Life are to be had by Christs suffering for Sinners if they believe in him and the Preaching to the People that this Jesus rose from the Dead after his Enemies had put him to death and confirming the truth of what they said by astonishing miracles It 's true they did together with this Preach the necessity of Repentance also But the glad tidings of Pardon and Salvation by a Saviour so extraordinarily confirmed as it was being new and never heard of before especially among the Gentiles and being so hugely comfortable as it was did so strongly affect the People as made them instontly turn Disciples and to promise no doubt a reformation of life with an intent to perform while they were thus filled with joy But many of them after this transport of affection and newness of joy was over tho they held fast the comfortable part of their profession of faith in Christ and in his Death yet proved partial and defective in reforming their lives which rendred the work of Regeneration in them very doubtful at least or rather worse than so And the Apostles were fore-warned and pre-instructed by our Saviour that upon their Preaching the joyful news which the Gospel brings many would be so taken with it as readily and joyfully to become Disciples and turn Christian in profession who yet would afterwards when times of tryal came either Apostotize and fall off or foully faulter in retaining that profession by carnal shifts to secure themselves from Persecution For our Saviour had told them this by opening to them who or what manner of hearers he meant by those resembled in the Parable to the stony ground on which the Seed fell and said they were such as when they heard the word would immediately receive it with gladness but afterwards in time of temptation would be offended as not having root in themselves Mar. 4.16 All which considered it was no ways probable that the Apostles received all they Baptized under the notion of Persons already truly Regenerate but as Disciples only according to the tenour of their Commission Secondly another circumstance is the great hast the Apostles made to Baptize Persons when once they had prevailed with them to consent to it The same day of Pentecost they Preached to those mentioned Act. 2. they Baptized about three thousand of them And so Philip Baptized the Eunuch presently upon the Road after once Preaching to him And the Jaylor and all his were Baptized straight-way and in the same hour of the night in which Paul and Silas first Preached to them Act. 16.33 I think there can no instance be given of their delaying so much as four and twenty hours to Baptize any after they were willing to be Baptized This is another thing which renders it very incredible that the Apostles Baptized none but upon account of their being esteemed Regenerate or that they did Baptize Persons ordinarily by any other rule than that contained in the letter of their Commission which was to Baptize those that were Disciples as such If they had thought it necessary to Baptize none but whom they could prudently esteem to be of the Invisible Church they would in all likelihood have suspended the Baptizing of many at least until they had had some tryal of the constancy of their resolution and experience of their reformation And so much the rather because it is hard to make any good judgment of mens sincerity by what they do on a sudden under some transport of affection and before they have had some time in cooler thoughts to deliberate upon what they engage to do Thirdly their refusing none that were willing to be Baptized argues that they did not think none were to be Baptized before they were Regenerate or did seem to be so They refused none so far as appears that were willing to be Baptized and to come into the Church how notoriously bad soever they had been before Simon Magus is a famous instance of this nature And some were
his Ordinances and have the form of godliness tho otherwise destitute of the power of it yet as they are thus far a People unto God so God so far owns them as a People unto him separated unto him from the Idolatrous and Infidel world and accordingly allows them an interest and share in the external priviledges of his People of which communion in his Word and Ordinances is the chief Only where God himself hath put a bar to this enjoyment there the Visible Church ought to do so too as in those cases wherein deprivation by Church-censures is enjoyned Right to the priviledges of the Church comes in by mens relation to it as parts or members of it and so long as the relation continues so long a right to the external priviledges continues except in the case before excepted Those that are related to the Church both as Visible and Invisible have a right from God to Church priviledges both external internal and eternal but those who are related to the Church only externally as it is Visible have right only to the external priviledges of it Thus far we have argued from the nature and reason of the subject under consideration Come we now to enquire what the usage of the Church has been as to point of 〈◊〉 in this matter as we have it recorded in Scripture And as for the Old Testament Church the whole Nation of the Jews that entred into Covenant with God to be his People were allowed their part and share in the Ordinances of publick worship and not only so but were commanâ—◠〈…〉 them save in some exâ—◠〈…〉 as while they were unâ—◠〈…〉 legal uncleanness and in thâ—â—e particular cases of guilt for which they were to be deprived of their lives as well as communion and to be cut off from among the People Three times in the year were all their Males to appear before the Lord to keep three solemn Feasts appointed and yet I think no body will imagine them to be all without exception of the Church as Invisible And when any Strangers from among the Gentiles had a mind to turn Proselytes to the Jews Religion all that was required of them to make them capable of communion in the Passover was but to Circumcise all their Males by which they entred into Covenant with God Exod. 12.48 And since it was thus in the old Testament Church it is not to be imagined that the terms of external communion should be more rigorous and severe in the new since our Saviours yoke is casie and his burden light in comparison of that among the Jews which was a yoke as St. Peter speaks which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear All the same adult Persons which were received into the Church by Baptism were admitted to communion of the Church in the Ordinances of worship Thus it was in the first Christian Church which was a pattern to all that followed Act. 2.41 42. When the three thousand were added to the Church by Baptism They continued in the Apostles Doctrine and in breaking of bread and prayer Acts 2.42 And St. Paul saith By one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether Jews or Gentiles bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit The same all we see were made to drink into one spirit which were baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 By drinking into one spirit is meant Communion in the Lords Supper according to the sense of all Interpreters that I have met with Again he had said thus Chap. 10.17 We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of one bread Here again the same all that made one body were partakers of one bread So that the extent of the Communion of the parts equallized the union of the whole Nor indeed is there any one instance in Scripture that I can find of any one person that has been refused Communion with a Christian Church when he has desired it who has been before received into the Church by Baptism except such as have been under Censure of the Church for some Capital Offence And such indeed are to be excluded until brought to repentance by the Ecclesiastical Government under which they live And St. Paul has given direction in what manner of Cases and for what manner of Offences men are to be proceeded against by Church Censure greater or lesser after due admonition otherwise used But now saith he I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such an one no not to eat 1 Cor. 5.11 For these and such like Crimes a Church may and ought in her governing capacity to deny her Communion with persons guilty of them after due admonition And accordingly our Church has ordered publick admonition frequently to be made in these words with many other If any of you be a blasphemer of God a hinderer or slanderer of his Word an Adulterer or be in malice or envy or in any other grievous crime Repent you of your sins or else come not to that holy Table lest after the taking of that holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he did into Judas and fill you full of all iniquities and bring you to destruction both of body and soul And further If any that desire to communicate be an open and notorious evil Liver or have done any wrong to his Neighbour by word or deed so that the Congregation be thereby offended the Curate having knowledge thereof shall call him and advertise him that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lords Table until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life that the Congregation may thereby be satisfied which before were offended The same order shall the Curate use with those betwixt whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign not suffering them to be partakers of the Lords Table until he know them to be reconciled I know there are several things wont to be alledged against admitting such to the Lords Supper who have not saving Grace as 1. That such will but increase their sin and further their Damnation by partaking of it so long as they are unregenerate To which it may be Answered 1. That such would no less sin by neglecting to Obey Christs Command Do this in remembrance of me and in neglecting to prepare themselves for it than they do when they come to this Supper of our Lord unprepared but rather indeed more For by not coming they make themselves guilty of a double Disobedience the one in not doing what Christ has Commanded to be done in remembrance of him the other in not preparing to do it after a right manner whereas by coming unprepared they make themselves guilty but of one of them 2. For the same reason Men should not
hunger when at the same time they made themselves guilty of intemperance and excess one is hungry another is drunk despise ye the Church of God and shame them which have not These also were such unworthy Acts as Christians by common grace may easily keep themselves from being guilty of the like Now all these outward Acts of unworthiness proceeded from their not rightly discerning the Lords Body as we may well conceive either as not understanding the nature of the Ordinance or as not being duly affected with what was represented and commemorated by it And therefore for remedy for time to come he puts them upon examining themselves concerning the apprehensions the sense and affection which Christians ought to have touching those things when they go to the Table of the Lord. I shall not proceed to shew how each of these external Acts of unworthy communicating proceeded from their not discerning the Lords Body which yet might easily be done Upon the whole matter I think we may conclude that if men by examination find themselves in a capacity and disposition to answer our Lords end in this his institution by eating and drinking at his Table in a grateful remembrance of him that then they are not altogether unfit and unworthy to be Communicants of it For men receive the Sacrament worthily or unworthily according as they do or do not thereby answer the end and design of it in remembring our blessed Saviour QUERY X. WHy and for what reason may it be conceived does Almighty God own and allow others to be of the Church as Visible than only such as are of the Church as Invisible There are several things offer themselves to our consideration which seem to render it fit and reasonable and well-becoming the wisdom and goodness of God that it should be so and such as render it highly useful and beneficial unto men As 1. Because it tends more abundantly to increase the number of Invisible Church Members than it would if none should be admitted into the Visible Church until they were of the Invisible or worthily reputed to be so That it has this tendency needs no better proof than the Experience the Church of God has had of the happy effect of this way and method of converting men above what has been produced in the other way Experience has made it manifest that abundant more thorow and sound conversions in men have been made in the Visible Church than out of it and after they have been baptized than before More in the Church of God have been made good and that by means of their being in it than have been made so before they were admitted into it How rarely have any thorow and sound conversions been wrought in men while out of the Church since Miracles ceased How seldom do we see or hear of any Jews or profest Infidels become really holy and good men tho they live among Christians and where they have the opportunity of hearing the Gospel if they had any mind to it When as thanks be to God we have known or heard of multitudes of Conversions of this nature that have been wrought in men after they have been in the Church If the Apostles in their time did by vertue of their Ministry convert many so as of bad to make them really holy and good before they were received into the Church Yet as their Calling was extraordinary so was their Ministry by which those Conversions were wrought their Mission and Doctrine being attested to come from heaven by multitudes of miraculous operations and marvelous gifts And therefore those Conversions which were wrought by such extraordinary means must be looked upon as extraordinary Conversions And to argue from things extraordinarily done to a necessity of having the like done in ordinary cases and under ordinary means is so absurd and such a piece of unreasonableness as those we call Seekers are guilty of who can find as they think no true Churches extant or visible because not called by men qualified with like extraordinary gifts as those or many of those in the Apostles days were by whom Churches were then gathered And indeed had not the means by which the Apostles converted those whom they did convert been extraordinary it would have been in a manner impossible for them to have succeeded in their undertaking as they did considering that they were to convert them from other Religions in which they had been educated and brought up and which they had received from their Fathers and Fore-fathers unto a new Religion the Christian Religion which was so greatly different from theirs as it was especially from that of Paganism from which most of their Conversions probably were made But when the Apostles had in this extraordinary way gathered our Saviour a Church all over the known World and settled particular Churches it was not necessary as the Event shews that this extraordinary way of converting men should be continued For when by this extraordinary means of converting men way was made for converting them in an ordinary way then that which was extratraordinary ceased Like as the giving the Israelites Manna from heaven ceased when they came into Canaan and had opportunity of being supplied with food in an ordinary way And from that time forward there have been but few Conversions made in those without the Church but most of those that have been made in bringing men to the power of godliness have been made upon those within the Visible Church For tho God is pleased I doubt not to plant true saving grace in some in their early days by the benefit of godly Education yet there are very many others who having been received into the Church by Baptism in their Infancy have little or nothing more than a form of godliness if so much found in them when grown up But among these there are many who in time are brought on or converted to the Power of Godliness by means of their being in the Church and under those Ordinances of God there administred by which he is wont to work saving grace in men This is Gods ordinary way of Conversion since that which was extraordinary ceased And ever since that time almost all the Conversions that have been made in men to a saving Christian faith and to a faithful practice and the Power of Christianity have been made upon persons baptized and within the Church And altho the Conversion of men to Christianity by the Ministry of the Apostles was extraordinary because wrought in an extraordinary way and by extraordinary means as I have shewed yet we have great reason to think that those Conversions or many of them that proved effectual at last were but only beginnings and preparatory to a second and thorow Conversion of them while they were yet without the visible Church and were carried quite through and made effectual after they were brought into the Church by Baptism And the manner of the Apostles writing to the Christians after
Visible Church only to those who are of the Invisible also can be For it cannot be denied but that such gifts and such common grace as will not be sufficient unto a mans own Salvation may yet be very useful for the maintaining and defending the Christian Doctrine against Adversaries and for the instructing others in it and for the persuading them to believe it and to live according to it Which was the reason I suppose why St. Paul said that he rejoyced and would rejoyce that Christ was preached tho it were but insincerely by some as well as for being preached in truth by others Phil. 1.18 For the more men of Parts and Learning and of Interest among men the Christian Religion and sound Doctrine has to assert and defend it and the more there are of others to abet and encourage them in it though many of them shall be supposed to be mainly influenced therein by motives of secular honour and interest the more credit in general and the more reputation it will have in the World and the further it will spread As we see on the contrary the more Popery has had men of parts and learning and of interest otherwise to promote and propagate it the more and the farther it hath spread and prevailed in the World And the same is true of other Errors and Heresies as that of Arianism when time was There is no question but the more good men are backt in their promulging sound and saving Doctrine by men of great interest in the World that agree with them in Doctrine and substance of Worship tho they should not in all respects be so hearty and sincere as the other are the more Christian Religion gains among men And if all such as these should be made enemies to the Church by being denied to be of it the Churches power of propagating the Christian Religion would quickly be thereby exceedingly weakened and the propagation thereof greatly obstructed We have not now Miracles the extraordinary means by which Christianity was at first propagated without which it is not probable the unbelieving and blind world would have been reconciled to it upon account of its own intrinsick excellency and goodness And therefore there is now the more need of the help of all Christians to propagate the Christian Religion Not only of such as are of the Invisible Church and Visible likewise but also of those who are but only of the Visible The success in propagating the Christian Religion does not wholly depend upon the moral goodness of the Instrruments by whom it is done but so much upon its own goodness that if that be but sufficiently discovered tho but by men defective in their Morals it is yet able to commend it self very much unto the choice of men If they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words then they should have turned them from their evil ways saith God concerning the false Prophets Jer. 23.22 It is no small matter upon this account to be born within the Pale of the Visible Church of Christian Parents and to be educated in the Christian Religion though by Parents too much strangers to the power of it And of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Psal 87.5 6. How many worthy Children has the Church had and of great use in it who yet have been born of Parents of but small account for Religion So that such mens being of the Church is of great use for the propagating of truly religious men and by them the Christian Religion But if such men as these had been deprived of Chureh education by their Parents being deprived of Membership in the Visible Church the Church in all probability would have been deprived of such useful Members as these prove to be for the propagating of the true Christian Religion 3. Another reason may be because to take others into the Visible Church than such as are or are credibly reputed to be of the Invisible tends much more to the security of the Invisible Church in the world than the excluding all such would do For were it not for those of the Church as Visible over and besides such as are of it as Invisible those which are of the Church as Invisible would be in much more danger than now they are of being devoured by those numerous enemies which they have in the world Christs Flock is but a little flock comparatively and there are but few that find the narrow way that leads to life as he hath told us And so he hath told us also in the Parable of the Sower that of four sorts of hearers of the Gospel there is but one that brings forth fruit And in another place that among the many that are called there are but few chosen Now then if when with the help of those of the Visible Church which are not of the Invisible which yet according to the Scriptures seem to be far the greater number those of the Invisible Church have enough to do to subsist in the world without being rooted out of it by the Enemies of Christianity as we see they have what can we think would become of them but ruine without a standing Miracle to secure them if those who are but only of the Visible Church were made Enemies also to those of the Invisible as doubtless they would if they should all be rejected by them as none of Christs Church on earth How unable would they be to defend themselves against the Popish Party in the world if they were not assisted by those who are but of the Church as Visible Or how unable would they be to defend themselves against all those that are Enemies to Christianity both name and thing if the bulk and body of men which are Christians only in outward Form and Profession did not stand as a screen between them and those enemies Our Saviour hath declared that the Wheat would be in great danger of being rooted up if the Tares should for the present be gathered out of it and for that reason would have both to grow together till the harvest Mat. 13. Our Saviour did not intend hereby no more do I by what I have said to put a bar against purging the Church of Capital Offenders by Discipline and therefore by Tares its probable he meant carnal Gospellers that yet are not obnoxious to Excommunication such as the thorny-ground hearers in whom the Cares of this world and the deceitfulness of Riches and Pleafures of this Life choak the Word which they have received and which they profess so that it brings forth in them no fruit to perfection But before I proceed any farther I must remove an Objection which otherwise lies against the use which I here make of this Parable of our Saviour And the Objection is this That this Parable makes nothing against gathering
house is done by their Confederation and Covenant as the Cement by which the Christians were united and combined in one particular Church fitly framed together as the phrase is Ephes 2. But St. Peter is not here speaking to any one particular Church as such when he says ye are built up a spiritual house but to the strangers scattered abroad throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bethynia as appears Chap. 1.1 And no one surely can think that these Christians thus scattered and at this distance could become one particular Church by such a mutual Confederation as these hold necessary for the forming a particular Church And if not it must be by vertue of somewhat else than such a particular Church Covenant as these dissenting Brethren thought to find here by which Christians in so many distant parts of the world as aforesaid were built up one spiritual house And that doubtless must be the same thing by which all Christians in the world become one spiritual house of God for so they are For when Christ is said to be High Priest over the house of God Heb. 10.21 And to be faithful as a Sen over his own house Heb. 3.6 House in these places cannot signifie less than the Universal Christian Church who are called the houshold of faith And how do all these Christians become the house of God but by being joyned and devoted to him by the Baptismal Covenant and thereby to one another among whom he dwells and is Worshipped as in his holy Temple For by this they all become one body which is but another Metaphor under which to express the same thing Ephes 2.21 22. 1 Cor. 12.13 It is the same thing which makes persons Members of the Church Universal that qualifies them for particular Church Membership and that is the Baptismal Covenant And to make any other Covenant besides this so necessary to qualifie men for particular Church Membership and Communion as to make this of Gods own appointment insufficient for that end is a great impeachment of it and contains in it such consequences as the Abetters of it would be ashamed to countenance if they were aware of it For so long as it is asserted to be of divine appointment the formal cause of a particular Church and essential to its being and is made the Condition of Communion when God has no where appointed or required it so long it may be charged with these evils 1. With a teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men a piece of vain Worship condemned by our Saviour Mat. 15.9 which is the same thing with adding to Gods Word or a saying he saith when he hath not said it 2. It is in some sort and in part a making void the Command or Institution of God that men might establish their own Tradition For whereas the Baptismal Covenant qualifies men for particular Church Membership by bringing them into the Universal Church this Opinion denies the Baptismal Covenant to be sufficient to this end and sets up this other confederating in its room 3. It contains in it the Unchurching of all those Gospel Churches that are or ever have been in the world that have not been thus united by Church Covenanting For to say this is the Form of a particular Church or the formal cause of it is in effect to say that none are really Churches without it for Matter and Form are essential to the being of Churches as well as they are of other things Now to Unchurch all Churches that have not been thus confederate is a great thing indeed if we consider how few years it is since such Covenanting was heard of in any Christian Church in the world and by how inconsiderable a number of Congregations it has been used since it has been heard of These things considered it is matter of a very venturous and daring nature As for the other part of our Enquiry touching that which makes the difference between one particular Church and another we may conceive of it thus 1. It consists partly in that which does distinguish one Town from another or one great Neighbourhood from another and that is the bounds of Habitation And this distinction is as well convenient yea necessary for Ecclesiastical Order and peaceable Government as it is for Civil and does as well accommodate the ends of the one as of the other and without this a peaceable and orderly Government in the whole Church would be impracticable even as it would be in an Universal Empire And thus the Churches planted by the Apostles are differenced and distinguished one from another that at Rome from that at Corinth and that at Ephesus from that at Philippi yea that at Cenchrea from that at Corinth which yet bordered upon Corinth and so of the rest And indeed that difference which is made between Church and Church by Vicinity of Neighbourhood and Cohabitation does best answer the ends of particular Church Association such as is assembling together for Publick Worship and mutual assistances in all Christian offices of Brotherly love and friendship But this alone does not constitute Christians dwelling together in the same place a particular Christian Church tho by their being of the Church Universal they are as fit matter qualified for it But 2. That which does constitute such to be a particular Church as that signifies a company of Christians in Local Communion in Divine Worship consisting in the participation of Gospel Ordinances is the placing over them one or more Church-Officers to minister to them therein By which Officers as well as by the place where they dwell and where they assemble for Worship they are distinguished from other like Churches under the Conduct of other Church-Officers of the same kind For by such their joynt Local Communion in the Worship administred by their spiritual Guide or Pastor they are united with him and among themselves as one Worshipping Congregation by which Union also they are distinguished from other particular Churches as other particular Churches in like manner are from them Those of the Independent Church-way do indeed hold particular Churches as such to be Antecedent to any Church-Officers over them Which is the reason which Dr. Owen in his Inquiry concerning Churches does alledge to prove the Power of the Keys to be given to the Church And to prove particular Churches to be Antecedent to Church Officers he quotes Acts 14.23 where it is said of Paul and Barnabas And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church c. As for this proof of his Assertion I shall consider it by and by but shall first examine and try what is in the Assertion it self which I am inclined to think will be found full of mistake and that the contrary will be found true viz. that the Evangelical Ministry is and always has been Antecedent to the existence of Christian Churches and indeed an instrumental cause of their being And this is true not only of particular Churches but also
if the whole Church were of one heart and one soul as they were at the first in matters of their Communion 3. Catholick Communion consisteth also in the mutual assistances which Christians give to and receive one from another couched in that one word Fellowship in the description of Catholick Communion Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship c. The same word which in our Version is here translated Fellowship is by the Dutch in their Version translated Communion And according to Dr. Hammond it signifies both to communicate and to participate to distribute and to receive So that according to the nature of Christian Communion every Member of the whole Church is or ought to be useful and serviceable to the whole Community of Christians in general and to every Christian in particular so far as they can in the place and rank in which the Providence of God hath set them The which if duly observed by all as it ought to be the same persons that thus communicate and contribute assistance to others would be receiving back again from the whole and from every Member in particular the like succour service and assistance as opportunity serves as they themselves had contributed to them As a Christian is to serve every fellow-Christian so according to the same Law every one is to serve him This is that the Apostle means when he says By love serve one another Gal. 5.13 And this giving and receiving assistance the same Apostle calls communicating with him Phil. 4.15 If this Catholick Communion were but duly maintained among all Christians how like a heaven upon earth would the Catholick Church be And how happy would they be even now for the present that are of it And how would the Inhabitants of the world that are not of it then flow into it And yet for Christians thus to exchange Offices of love with one another is nothing more than what we are all obliged to by the Royal Law of Love Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self For if I am hereby bound to love every Neighbour as my self so is every Neighbout obliged by it to love me as they love themselves And how delightful a commerce would this be if the Christian Church were but so happy as to hit on it The particular duties and offices of love in which this part of Christian Communion does consist are such as these the instructing and exhorting one another the watching over and admonishing one another the strengthening the feeble minded the visiting and comforting the afflicted the relieving one anothers wants the bearing on anothers burdens the having the same care one for another and the like Together with these we may reckon the yielding and allowing to every one the liberty of sharing in the common priviledge of enjoying Communion in Gospel-Ordinances and Worship so long as they have not made themselves uncapable of it by drawing on themselves deservedly the Censures of the Church nor are otherwise naturally uncapable of the end and use for which those Ordinances or any of them were ordained as little Children seem to be in reference to the Lords Supper THus much briefly touching the nature of Catholick Commumunion Come we now to enquire how and by what means it may best be preserved There are two Bonds which the Scripture mentions by which Christians are bound and knit together in one Communion the bond of Charity and the bond of Peace 1 The bond of Charity Above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 Charity is a bond which knits and unites mens hearts together and makes them one in affection knit together in love as as it is exprest Col. 2.2 and while they be so it can hardly be but that they will be one in Communion This was that which made the Catholick Church in its beginning to be all of one heart and one soul as it is said the multitude of them that believed were Acts 4.32 And that was the reason doubtless why they continued stedfastly in their Communion in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayer Charity we see is called the bond of perfectness for the Church is in a kind of perfect state in her Communion so long as the Parts and Members of it are knit together in one Communion by love made perfect in one as our Saviour expresseth it Joh. 17.23 And the Union in Communion which is made by love is Union in its perfection nothing unites Christians so entirely and firmly as love does If Christians love one another in the truth and for the truth sake which dwelleth in them as St. John speaks this Love and Union by Love will last there will be no failure in the oneness of Communion until there be first a failure in love Charity must needs unite and knit Christians together in one Communion because it is the Principle from which the particular acts of Christian Fellowship fore-mentioned do spring a great part of the acts of Christian Communion are nothing else but offices of brotherly love and by these Christians take fast hold one of another Charity in its own nature is communicative of the good it has and the good it can do and by that it does attract and draw others to a nearer conjunction with those in whom it dwells Charity is the Arms of the Christians inner man by which they imbrace one another though absent Love is of a winning nature it gains upon others that stand at a distance If a Principle of love be in the heart it will season a mans speech and enable him to speak the truth in love according to St. Pauls direction And the truth spoken in love will sooner reconcile than the strongest Arguments when mixt with bitterness of Spirit A tongue of love is Solomons tongue of health it will heal wounds when another tongue does but make them And therefore with great reason did St. Paul call upon the Church of Corinth to do all their things with Charity and spent a whole Chapter upon them to persuade them to it as an effectual means to cure the divisions into which they were unhappily fallen Again Charity covereth a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 and by that means among other it keeps Christians from flying asunder and dividing in their Communion which many times takes its first rise from very small matters when they meet with an evil mind that will aggravate and make the worst of things and seek out matter to make the breach wider But Charity is not apt to spie faults or to pick quarrels nor to aggravate and make the worst of things nor to harbour jealousies or evil surmises out of which breaches are wont to grow but it will over-look mens weakness mistakes and inadvertencies as believing they do not proceed from an evil mind And if any thing be amiss love will take notice of all the extenuating circumstances in the
substance of Worship and in their fellowship or mutual love as I have shew'd it does then their being divided in these or any one of these or in any lesser things if the Vnity of their Communion be thereby destroyed that undoubtedly is Schism When any thing which before was but one comes to be divided it ceaseth to be one any longer unless there be a re-union and thus it is in reference to Church Communion Altho Christians do agree in the Christian Faith and in the substance of Worship also yet if upon account of any lesser things they be so divided as that Christian Fellowship or Brotherly love be thereby destroyed their Vnity of Communion is thereby destroyed also I do not say that all their Communion in those things wherein they are agreed is destroyed by uncharitable division but this I say that the Vnity of their Communion is thereby destroyed For Brotherly love is an essential part of Cotholick Communion so that if that be destroyed by any division tho but about lesser matters the Vnity of the Communion is destroyed and the guilt of Schism contracted yea and their Communion it self in Faith and Worship wherein they are agreed is greatly damnified also For their Communion in Faith and Worship is rendred unacceptable to God and unprofitable to themselves for want of Communion in Brotherly love though I had all Faith and have not Charity I am nothing And for Worship If thou bringest thy gift to the Altar and rememberest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Shewing how little God regardeth devotional Communion in Worship when void of true Charity The Schism we enquire after then lies in division in the Church as that is opposite to and destructive of Christian Vnity in Faith or in Worship or in Love And all Church division tends more or less to the destruction of Christian Unity in these in whole or in part That it lies in division appears in that it receives its name from that for the word Schism signifies division or a rent And the Translators of our English Bible when they have put the word division in the line reading they have put Schism in the Margin 1 Cor 10.10 and 11.18 and when Schism in the line division in the Margin 1 Cor. 12.25 and this they have done to explain the one by the other Since then Schism consists in Church division it follows that by how much the greater the division is at any time by so much the greater is the Schism and the less the one is the less is the other also We must therefore distinguish of Schism There are several sorts or degrees of Division and so of Schism which are sometimes found among Christians I. A different persuasion in Christians touching some things indifferent in their own nature some holding them unlawful others lawful some accounting them necessary when others are otherwise persuaded This difference fell out between the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles touching some meats the observation of days and the use of Circumcision And a difference much like to this in some respects has fallen our among some Christians in our days and in our Nation Now a difference of this nature tho it be in some sort a division yet it is capable of being so managed as that the effects of sinful Schism shall scarcely at all follow upon it As thus First if those who are scrupulous and yet under a mistake shall be modest and humble in their dissenting and desirous to be as little troublesom and offensive to their Brethren from whom they differ as possibly they can and as tender of disturbing the peace of the Church as their case will permit and ready to hear and impartially to consider any thing offered by their brethren to remove their scruples and reconcile them in judgment Secondly if they be not averse to comply with their Brethren in all things so far as they can and to hold Communion with them so far as they have attained and are agreed according to the Apostles Exhortation in that case when he says Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.16 For these words were used in reference to those Christians mentioned in the Verse before of whom he had said If in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you And indeed this compliance is necessary in all like cases to prevent Schism upon a double account 1. Otherwise such do not what they can to preserve Peace and prevent Schism and so must be guilty of it if it follow for want of such compliance That to do thus is their undoubted duty is clear from that of the Apostle Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men how much more with fellow Christians If Christian compliance than be the way to live peaceably with Christian Brethren then it follows that if they do not comply as much as in them lies and as far as they can when the preserving of peace requires it they do not what they ought to do and if Schism or a breach of peace follows they must needs be accessary to it and guilty of it 2. Because if they do not comply so far as they can they give occasion of suspicion that their non-compliance in that wherein their differing from their Brethren professedly lies proceeds not so much from scruple of conscience as from some worse Principle such as humour self will a spirit of opposition and contradiction or a personal prejudice against the men from whom they differ or the like For it will be thought that if Conscience to God were the only reason why they differ with their Brethren in any thing that then Conscience would engage them to go along with their Brethren in that wherein they do not differ and to be tender and scrupulous of making the difference or breach between them wider than needs must and of multiplying occasion of offence causelesly Men cannot be confident when they see such men are not tender of Conscience in the one that they are so in the other but will be apt to suspect that their differing proceeds chiefly from some worse cause tho the parties themselves perhaps are not aware of it but think it proceeds from the goodness of their Conscience when there is no such matter And when this occasion of suspicion is given by not complying in what they can the natural effect of it will be to weaken mens esteem of them and affection to them and to prepare the way to farther difference Whereas a compliance as far as possibly they can would maintain a good opinion of them in mens minds procure them fair quarter from them that differ from them prevent the differenee from growing up into a