Exercise of Religion Then the Church shews like an army with banners For the Church triumphant no body doubts but 't is so but this is spoken of the Church militant it should be so a well ordered and disciplined body of men Without discipline and good order and uniformity of Exercise it may be a tumult a mutiny a crowd or throng of men but not an Army or if an Army 't is but a broken routed one and needs rally and recruit And such an Army must I call our Church with her broken Ranks when so many flye daily from her Banners and repair to other Standards when some are so hardy to make themselves Commission-officers and appoint Rendez-vous and make Musters in private corners indeed in publick Assemblies to the defiance of the Church and Civil Authority at once Truth is Our divisions have made Religion a ridiculous thing whilst every Party priding it self in the glare of its own spiritual knowledge looks upon the rest with contempt The Sects wonder at us that we stick where we do and not come up after them we as much wonder at their unkindness in leaving us and their confidence in going so far And the wonder goes round for they all admire and pity one anothers ignorance All of them see a great light in the way they walk in and conclude they are got into Goshen when all the rest of the world as they fancy are still sitting in Egyptian darkness Thus we censure one another and when we have hoodwinkt our selves with our own form think our selves the only seeing people and all else that are not as we are blind-fold to the merriment of by-standers but withal to some peril lest from these giddy reflections we make upon one another they conclude we have no light at all amongst us in the English Church but that we are now in Egypt more then ever we were What pastime and advantage our divisions give Atheists and Papists I shewed before I am now speaking of us amongst our selves Nor do these differences only stir the spleen but the choler too and fill all Parties as with spiritual disdain of one anothers ways so with zealous passion too against one anothers persons The Sectaries are scandalized at Church-musick and look upon our decent Rites and Ceremonies as trumpery and reckon our Solemnities of Worship contemptible things The Orthodox on the other hand are justly offended at their slovenly familiarities with sacred things and indeed with God himself So that 't is clear by dividing from one another Religion has lost all its awe amongst us every sort of it being lookt on as mean and despicable by all those that are of any other sort Nor must the National Religion think to find better treatment then the rest but rather worse as lying under this peculiar disadvantage that those who adhere to that though never so conscientiously lay themselves open to a general censure of all dissenters that they in that they side with the Government are pleasers of men and time-servers Besides this is that they all in strict judgment account to be to them Antichrist that which holds back and hinders that no one of them can get up in to absolute power And certainly they must be so good-natur'd as to pity the Governour himself if his conscience be not of their model I and should he be but half so severe in the maintenance of his way as they are zealous in theirs perhaps hate him too at least have but little kindness for him who as they fancy keeps Christ out of his Throne Thus we see if Religion be not tyed up to rules if it grow lawless it will quickly become awless too loose all its respects and not be able to assist the Government in the protection of our brethren and companions whose concerns lie bound up in the Churches peace Nor Secondly Will Religion avail in its second property which is to Vnite unless God's worship amongst us be uniformly exercised Religio à religando Religion has its name from binding up men not only in themselves binding up their spirits so as to restrain them from publick disorders but as to one another too binding their hearts together in mutual offices of love and kindness And thus when we can walk together as brethren and companions to the house of God and there take sweet counsel together this is a kindly Vnion when all the members of the civil society are guided and governed by the same spirit of the mystical body and hold the faith in unity of spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life This is the true cement which conjoins neighbours and friends closer then any legal priviledges and obligations can do Without this you build your City with untemper'd mortar nor will it well bear the weather when the flouds shall beat unless it be thus compacted together and be at unity in it self And how can it rationally be expected that Religion should bind us together if it self be left loose and tyed to no rules and orders I confess the Vnity of the Catholick Church may consist without the uniformity of particular Churches among themselves and thus notwithstanding some differences they have in ordering their own affairs prudently to their best convenience and accommodating themselves to the necessities of time and place still holding to the Analogy of Faith and sound Doctrine and the rule of God's Word I say notwithstanding these differences in externals we do own the communion of Saints as an Article of our Faith But to say that every particular person or party in the same Church has by vertue of his Christianity a liberty to disobey the publick orders of that Church whereof he is a member and to serve God as shall notwithstanding those orders seem good to that party or person for as the party breaks it will come to persons at last to take liberty in this notion is to make it but another name for confusion Wherefore what they say is not true being applyed to fellow-members of the same particular Church that according to our Christian liberty and that latitude God has left things in if the Church would leave them so too and not bind where he has not bound this would prove the best expedient of peace and unity for the way would be wide enough for every one to walk in we should not need justle one another but though we used not all one form in our serving of God we might be all of one mind as to our civil concerns at least It were well if dissents in judgment could be so managed as not to beget distances of affection but this is a thing rather to be wished then hoped for For whilest every party thinks it self obliged in conscience to advance it self even to the prejudice and ruine of the rest Conscience being a principle of that violence that right or wrong it acts like nature ad extremum virium to the utmost of its strength
liberty they talk of and that light which so dazzles their eyes that they cannot see their way is quite mistaken by them That light was indeed design'd to lead them out of the shadow but not to lead them into the fire for of that nature all Schism and division is and that liberty as it releas'd them from the bondage of the Ceremonial Law so it doth not at all disoblige them from the Moral Law but rather engages them to it with faster ties of gratitude Now as I take it the Fifth Commandment which enjoyns obedience to the Magistrate was never lookt upon as a part of the Ceremonial Law but always accounted to have a Moral and a perpetual indispensible obligation in it And I must assure them that disobedience to a lawful Governour in things not simply in their own nature unlawful as most of them confess our Liturgy and Rites to be is a great sin and of dangerous consequence to their own Souls as well as to the Peace of the Church So that that answer they make the Magistrate in this case is not proper that they are not free to obey him for they are by all Laws both of God and Man Free nay more obliged and bound to obey Only let them I advise take heed of making that Liberty they pretend to a Cloak of Maliciousness Again as to what they say that the Iews had a peremptory command from God himself for their Vniformity but we can produce no such for ours I grant them nor am I so fond to say we have an express command set down in God's Word for every rite and usage our Church has thought fit for Decency and good Order to retain Nor is it at all necessary it should be so No neither had they for all theirs as appears by David's and Solomon's ordering the Quire of the Temple in the course of the Singers making forms of devotion and prescribing them for publick use and instituting several other things as occasion required in that service And the like may be said of Asa and Iosias their Reformations And this those godly and wise Governours thought they might with a safe Conscience do even in that service which God himself had appointed and that Church was never in a more flourishing condition then it was then And are they able now to produce any reason why we should not believe the Governours of our Church of whom we own the King as Supreme to have the same power now as they had then upon the like occasions and that the People stand equally obliged to accept the Proposals of publick Authority in things of the same nature that concern the Worship of God Especially since Christ at his promulgation of the Gospel in his own person took care only for the weightier things and left those of lesser alloy which tend only to the convenience and beauty of the Church not to the Essence of Religion to the care and prudence of the Apostles and so from them to others their Successors Governours of the Church to order the Affairs of each Church as would be most expedient for the necessities of each Church in its Plantation And some of these Apostles sure if I understand any thing have left not only commands but Examples behind them too which reach our case For what means that which is said of the Primitive Christians that they continued together and were all of one mind They were not sure met some in one place and some in another in different forms to exercise their Religion one part kneeling another standing a third sitting at the breaking of the bread Let not such unhandsom thoughts enter into our hearts What means the Apostle when he chides some that sunk and withdrew from the Publick Assemblies as the manner of some was but that he would have them keep close to an uniform Worship and not separate and set up for themselves in new fangle ways of their own Indeed what mean those many vehement perswasions to like-mindedness and brotherly love which we meet with every where in the Apostles writings but agreement in Religion Since that love can be no way so well exprest as in such an agreement and upon tryal 't will be found impossible it should be maintained and preserved amongst us otherwise In a word if that general Rule the Apostle doth authoritatively set down have not in it the force and purport of a Command I am to seek what a Command is Let every thing be done decently and in order And how in the same Church every one might have liberty of his own Methods to serve God by and yet the Decorum of Religion and the good Order of the Church be nevertheless kept up I must confess I am still further to seek for my understanding In a word let them talk of Christian liberty as they please that cannot reasonably by pretended to justifie publick disorders in any Christian State This may be rational to suppose that the several Churches according to the nature of their several constitutions in several Countries were left to a liberty upon prudential reasons to order their own affairs to their own convenience in things indifferent whether in matters of Government or Worship or Discipline keeping still to the Analogy of faith and sound doctrine and to the Rule of Gods Word And hereupon it was that the English Church when it threw off the tyrannous yoke of Popery as it did with prudent Zeal and by publick Authority reform the abuses and corruptions of Doctrine and abolish all superstitious and idle Ceremonies so of them what were found not contrary to Scripture-rule and agreeable to primitive practice it thought fit to retain for decency and good order in her Liturgie and Publick Service And though some were even then discontented that no more was done and called for a farther Reformation yet this was but according to the British Proverb which tells us that the Saissons so they call us never know when a thing is well but will be mending still till they mar all as our late times plainly shew when under pretence of reforming Religion we had put our selves into the ready way of losing it quite and had scarce the face of a Church left amongst us Upon this ground Calvin himself as judicious Mr. Hooker tells us erected his Model at Geneva applying himself to the exigents of that time and those people he had to do with though others since besides his first intention have with violent zeal endeavoured to impose that Form upon other Churches also as matter of Conscience which was designed by him meerly out of prudence and convenience And no question but Calvin might look upon Government though he had for his own part as much Authority as ever Bishop of Geneva had and Presbytery it self is little else then a multiplied Episcopacy setting up in every Parish a Diocesan I say he might probably look upon Church-government as an indifferent thing as well as he did
to your purpose in Psal. 127. he tells you Except the Lord build your houses they labour in vain that build them If God be not the Master-builder the great Undertaker of the Work you do but aedificare in ruinam build up your ruines to farther ruines And then too unless he keep the City when 't is built the watchman waketh but in vain May he build your houses for you to be habitations of peace and preserve your City make it beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole Land may God be well known in her Palaces for a Refuge may he love her Gates and may the most High establish her and raise up his own Tabernacle in the midst of her may he make it the City of God and the Mountain of his Holiness God does that I may with reverence speak it by the very inclinations of his own nature peculiarly affect man and then further he that said It is not good for man to be alone he has a more then ordinary care and regard for societies of men Well govern'd Cities and well order'd States are the special objects of Almighty Gods singular providence And as he has this care for our good in community so it must be our care to keep up his honour in publick since which is our next 2. The setting up Gods honour amongst us in publick is the only means of procuring and ascertaining his favour The condition of his covenant with all Nations as well as his own people is I will be their God and they shall be my People when we cease to be his people we must not hope that he will continue to be our God All just governments are influenced and supported by him but if we abuse those influences and neglect those supports 't is just for him in displeasure to withdraw the light of his countenance and the saving strength of his right hand and to leave us in the dark to the weakness of our own counsels and undertakings He will honour them that honour him 't was a pitiful request of Saul to desire to be honour'd before the people when he himself had dishonour'd God before them When Governours are like God and act all to his glory as he himself does then blessings are showr'd down upon them and from them to the whole community This was Christ's own case Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Psalm 45. 7. 'T is not the Crown and Scepter the Purple and the Mace that distinguish the Magistrate from a common man but the oil of gladness the divine benediction upon his doing righteous things Then all his Garments smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia out of his ivory palaces when the fragrancy of publick example commands at once the veneration and imitation of all that are about them whereas upon wicked Nations that forget God and such families as call not upon his name he pours out his severest indignation This the very Poet could observe to his Countrymen the Romans Dîs te minorem quòd geris imperas Says he that they ow'd their success to their piety and were made commanders of the world for their obedience to their Gods Nor is it strange that God should even in false Religions bless people with outward prosperity and temporal success for that honour they did him under wrong names and mis-apprehensions since at bottom of all their vain conceits and idolatrous practises there lay metus numinis the awe and reverence of a supreme infinite power wherein the notion of Religion in general consists And he goes on and tells them that all their miscarriages and all the calamities that had of late befaln that City and State were to be imputed to their neglect of Religion How much more happy should we be that have the truth of Religion amongst us if we would but be true to it our selves And if a pretended zeal for God's honour has in our remembrance made Vsurpation thrive and heap'd Palms and Laurels upon an unrighteous Cause what advantage would real devotion do to the establishing of a just Government And on the other hand how much more miserable and improsperous must we expect to be then any wicked Heathens or backsliding pretenders if we having such advantages and such reasons both of advancing God's honour amongst us fail in our duty and do not as we ought to do for our brethren and companions sake with one common consent and mutual agreement praise God for his mercies and fear him for his judgments which he hath shewn in the midst of us That 's the last thing of this head 3. That our agreement in God's service is the only way of keeping-up his publick honour amongst us When Cities and Societies here below look like the Sedes beatorum the blessed company of Saints and Angels above wherewith the Heavenly Throne is inviron'd all serving God the same way in perfect harmony of worship This is doing that the Apostle bids us having our conversation in Heaven by bringing Heaven down to us and being all of one mind as we shall be there For brethren thus to dwell together in the unity of profession and practice is as the Psalmist compares it like the consecrating oyl upon Aaron 's head that ran down to the skirts of his garment that is all over from the head to the foot the meanest person of the Nation equally sharing with the highest in the advantages of the Priesthood and one common service This is that dew of Sion the Church where God commanded the blessing the blessing of peace and plenty A Church as ours now is without this unanimity is but like the Ship where Ionas was toss'd and tumbled with winds of doctrine and waves of faction till at the upshot of all when they all apply themselves to their several gods in their several ways of Worship the Ionas the only true Religion amongst them is to be flung over-board God is a God of order and peace and accounts himself highly dishonoured by our confusions 'T was Baal that delighted to be served with loud crys and furious slashings It was the Devil with his forked foot first brought in Heresie and Schism that by multiplying Religions he might make the world believe there was no such thing and if there were that people might not trouble themselves about a thing where it would be so difficult not to mistake in the choice Thus when this enemy of God and man saw that the crucifying Christ would not be sufficient for the disgracing of Religion he fell presently even in the Apostles times to divide him for the puzzling of it It has been observed that Travellers that have been abroad and seen Religion in its various dresses and forms in the several Countries where they have been and in what different manners they serve God are apt at last to turn Scepticks arrive at a quiet indifference and think it a
from their own writings and practices and others there are that do in effect loosen the bands of all Society by excusing that duty Servants owe to their Masters Children to their Parents Wives to their Husbands under a pretence of seeking God justifie disobedience by the Corban of Religion and for any command of their Superiors they like not have a ready answer that they are to obey God rather than man whereas on the contrary there is no one thing that the English Church does in her Doctrine more positively affirm or in her Offices more zealously express then obedience to Governors and her duty to her Soveraign To draw to an end in this Argument some there are that fear not to charge the Church it self with Sacriledge and truly I must grant that Church-men may be guilty by imbezilling and mis-imploying Church-revenue which sure enough was mainly design'd for Pious Uses but may not a man that faithfully serves the Publick in his place have some regard to himself too in fair provisions for his own Family The Apostle tells us that he that does not is worse then an Infidel To shut up all and to drive this nail to the head I do freely acknowledge that the Church never flourish'd more under Pagan Governments then when it was in the poorest condition for it's temporals when it lay under Pressures and Afflictions and had the Heathen-State its Enemy But shall any Christian Magistrate now design the Perscution and Ruine of the Church therefore This were to Argue with the Apostate Iulian to strip Bishops and Priests of their lively-hood and to turn them out of all they have that they may be poor in imitation of their master's Example and in obdedience to his command may learn to contemn the World But thanked be God we live not now under Heathen Emperours and Pagan Governours though if we did it were our duty to pray for them and to thank God for then too and to obey them in all lawful commands and where we can not safely obey chearfully suffer for a good Conscience Neither is nor ought the Church to be so now as it was in the Primitive times before it was setled under Christian Magistrates though then too there was fair liberal allowance and there 's no Minister we have but would be contented to Preach at the Primitive rates were our Auditors as free and open-handed as they were then In the close of all these sacred Morsels though they may seem sweet yet leave gravel behind them and this I dare boldly say that the decay of the Church and the disrepute of Religion amongst any people is a certain token and an infallible character of that People's approaching Ruine Sic profanatis sacris Peritura Troja perdidit primùm Deos. So that from the complication of Church and State and the extreme hazard each of them runs in the other's perils we stand obliged upon a meer Civil account for our Brethren and Companion sakes to wish the Churches prosperity and welfare in our mutual Agreement among our selves Before I make an end I think it necessary to take notice of an Objection or two which may seem to overthrow the purpose and design of this whole Discourse For though it hath already been clear'd out of the Context that by Ierusalem here must be meant the Church and that the Churches Peace which for his Brethren and Companions sakes David resolves to wish and endeavour did consist in that People's uniform Worship of God as appears further by that Churches sad experience when Ieroboam drew off the Ten Tribes from their Allegiance and which is reckon'd his great sin which he made the Children of Israel to sin had by setting up new forms of Worship made their return as well to the Thrones of David at Ierusalem as to the Temple impossible and by a subtle contrivance of an establish'd Schism to render his Rebellion perpetually successful divided them from their brethren in Religion and made the breach irreconcileable then by degrees the poor Samaritans fell off into all kinds of Superstitions and Idolatries the Statutes of Omri and Ahab and I know not what else gallymawfreys of Religion and all this grounded on the fair pretence of that Precise Sect the Karaei who would admit of nothing in the Worship of God but what they found expresly commanded in the Law of Moses I say though thus it stood with the Iewish Church I foresee an Objection may be made that our case is much different from theirs for first Theirs was but a Typical Ceremonial Service which in the Gospel state has no place since our Worship now must be in Spirit and in Truth and then again for these very Types and Ceremonies they had a Divine Command and were by strict precept oblig'd to that uniform attendance upon the Temple whereas such a precept or command now we have none to tye us up in like manner to any one form of Worship To the first part of the Objection that that was a Typical Service in the Iewish Church but that the Holy Iesus has to the Christian Church brought Grace and Truth which do not tye us up to such severe observances in external things but have instated us into a Liberty wherein we are commanded to stand fast and therefore we are not to part with it upon any terms I answer that though the Ceremonies of that Religion be abolished yet the substance of it remains still in the Christian Church for the shadow and the truth were to answer one another and those Types and representations are therefore now to be made out answerably by us in real performances so that the Vniformity of Worship is as agreeable and perhaps more necessary now to the Substance as 't was then to the Shadow and the obligation proportionably the same upon us as upon them For though God did by the death of his Son rent the vail of the Temple and break down the Partition-wall and so has brought us Gentiles into the Fellowship of the Church it was that we should in the same orderly manner serve him in substance as they did in Germony and in suitable methods accomplish their Types with the Truth of our services They brought their Calves and their Lambs to the Priest and had them by his hand offered in the Temple Christian Religion has for their Priests and Levites distinct orders likewise of Bishops Priests and Deacons and instead of a Temple Churches where the People by the Ministration of the Priesthood are to offer up their Prayers and their Praises which are our morning and evening Sacrifices And thus for their Temple their Sacrifices their Sabbaths their Priesthood and almost all considerable Instances of their Worship there is a perpetual uniform Analegy throughout betwixt them and us Only their Worship was perform'd in the shadow of the Law ours in the light of the Gospel and if this light proves to us darkness how great will our darkness be For alas that