own Sphere But forasmuch as the Supream Magistrate is intrusted of God with the care of Religion within his Dominions and hath a Civil Supremacy in Eclesiastical affairs and a great concern in the orderly management of publick Assemblies he is authorized of God to oversee the determinations and actings of Ecclesiastical Persons and may assume to himself the determination of the aforesaid circumstantials for the honour of God the Churches edification and the publick Peace keeping within the general rules prescribed in Gods Word For the maintaining of Church-Unity that is according to Gods word it is the part of Subjects to submit to what their Governours have determined so far as their submission is allowable by the said rule and it is the part of Governours to consider well the warrantableness of their determinations More especially their wisdom and care is much required in settling the right bounds of Unity In this regard the terms of admission to the Communion and Ministery of the Church must be no other than what the declared will of God hath made the terms of those priviledges and which will shut out none whom God hath qualified for and called to the same The setting of other boundaries besides the iniquity thereof will inevitably cause divisions The Apostles Elders and Brethren assembled at Jerusalem Acts 15. 28. writing to the blieving Gentiles declare It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things From which it is evidently inferred that the burden of things unnecessary ought not to be laid on the Churches The things injoyned by that Assembly were antecedently to their Decree either necessary in themselves or in their consequents according to the state of things in those times and places And whatsoever is made the matter of a strict injunction especially a condition of Church Communion and Priviledges ought to have some kind of necessity in it antecedent to its imposition Symbolical Rites or Ceremonies instituted by man to signifie Grace or Duty are none of those things which being necessary in general are left to human determination for this or that kind thereof They have no necessary Subserviency to Divine institutions they are no parts of that necessary decency and order in Divine Worship without which the Service would be undecent And indeed they are not necessary to be instituted or rigidly urged in any time or place whatsoever The being and well being of any rightly constituted Church of Christ may stand without them St. Paul resolves upon the cases of using or refusing of meats and the observance or non-observance of days which God had neither commanded nor forbidden and of eating of those meats which had been offered in Sacrifice to Idols Rom. 14. and 1 Cor. 8. That no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way The Command here given extends to Pastors and Governours as well as to other Christians and is to be observed in acts of Governments as well as in other acts St. Paul was a Church Governour and of high authority yet he would not use his own liberty in eating Flesh much less would he impose in things unnecessary to make his Brother to offend In the cases aforementioned there was a greater appearance of reason for despising censuring or offending others than there can be for some impositions now in question among us viz. on the one side a fear of partaking in Idolatry or of eating meats that God had forbidden or of neglecting days that God had commanded as they thought on the other side a fear of being driven from the Christian Liberty and of restoring the Ceremonial Law Nevertheless the Apostle gives a severe charge against censuring despising or offending others of different Persuasions in those cases And if it were a Sin to censure or despise one another much more is it a Sin to shut out of the Communion or Ministery of the Church for such matters The word of God which is the Rule of Church-Unity evidently shews that the unity of external order must always be Subservient to Faith and Holiness and may be required no further than is consistent with the Churches Peace and Edification The Churches true Interest lies in the increase of regenerate Christians who are her true and living Members and in their mutual love peace and concord in receiving one another upon those terms which Christ hath made the bond of this Union The true Church Unity is comprized by the Apostle in these following Unities One Body one Spirit one Hope One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God But there is nothing said of one ritual or set Form of Sacred Offices one policy or model of Rules and Orders that are but circumstantial and accidental in a Church state and very various and alterable while the Church abides the same CHAP. III. Of Schism truly so called HEre I lay down general positions about Schism without making application thereof Whether these positions be right or wrong Gods Word will shew and who are or are not concerned in them the state of things will shew Schism is a violation of the Unity of the Spirit or of that Church-Unity which is of Gods making or approving This Definition I ground on the afore-cited Text Mark them that cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine that ye have learned Separation and Schism are not of equal extent There may be a Separation or Secession where there is no Schism For Schism is always a Sin but Separation may be a Duty as the Separation of the Protestants from the Church of Rome Moreover there may be Schism where there is no Separation The violation of Unity or the causing of Divisions may be not only by withdrawing but by any causing of others to withdraw from the Communion of the Church or by the undue casting or keeping of others out of the Church or by making of any breaches in Religion contrary to the Unity of the Spirit By looking back to the nature and rule and requisites of true Church-Unity we shall understand the true nature and the several kinds and degrees of Schism As holy love is the life and Soul of Church-Unity so that aversation and opposition which is contrary to love is that which animates the sin of Schism and is as it were the heart root of it Whosoever maintains love and makes no breach therein and whose dissenting or withdrawing from a Church is no other than what may stand with love in its extent is no Schismatick The Unity of the Spirit being primarily that of the Church as mystically the breach thereof lies primarily in being destitute of the Spirit and Life Spiritual much more in being opposite thereunto under the shew of Christianity also in the languishing or lessening of Spiritual Life especially of the acts of holy love The Unity of the Spirit being secondarily that of the Church as visible in its external state and the first and
chiefest point thereof being in the essentials and weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life the highest violation thereof and the chiefest point of Schism lies in denying or enormously violating the said essentials or weighty matters And it is directly a violation of the Unity of the Catholick Church and not of particular Churches only Not only particular Persons but Churches yea a large combination of Churches bearing the Christian name may in their Doctrine Worship and other avowed Practice greatly violate the essentials or very weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life and be found guilty of the most enormous breach of Unity It is no Schism to withdraw or depart from any the largest combination or collective body of Churches though for their amplitude they presume to stile their combination the Catholick Church that maintain and avow any Doctrine or Practice which directly or by near and palpable consequence overthrows the said essentials The next point of external Unity being about the essentials and integrals of Church state the Sacraments and other publick Worship the Ministery and Discipline of the Church considered as of Christs institution the next chief point of Schism is the breach hereof And this may be either against the Catholick or a particular Church Of such Schism against the state of the Catholick Church there are these instances 1. When any one part of professed Christians how numerous soever combined by any other terms of Catholick Unity than what Christ hath made account themselves the only Catholick Church excluding all Persons and Churches that are not of their combination 2. When a false Catholick Unity is devised or contended for viz. a devised Unity of Government for the Catholick Church under one terrene Head personal or collective assuming a proper governing power over all Christians upon the face of the whole Earth 3. When there is an utter disowning of most of the true visible Churches in the World as having no true Church state no not the essentials thereof and an utter breaking off from communion with them accordingly Of Schism against a particular Church in point of its Church state there be these instances 1. The renouncing of a true Church as no Church although it be much corrupted much more if it be a purer Church though somewhat faulty 2. An utter refusing of all acts of communion with a true Church when we may have communion with it either in whole or in part without our personal sin of commission or omission 3. The causing of any Divisions or Distempers in the state or frame of a true Church contrary to the Unity of the Spirit But it is no Schism to disown a corrupt frame of Polity supervenient to the essentials and integrals of Church state in any particular Church or combination of Churches like a leprosie in the Body that doth grosly deprave them and in great part frustrate the ends of their constitution The last and lowest point of external Unity lying in the accidental modes of Religion and matters of meer order extrinsick to the essentials and integrals of Church-State the violation thereof is the least and lowest point of Schism I mean in it self considered and not in such aggravating circumstances as it may be in Those accidental Forms and Orders of Religion which are necessary in genere but left in specie to human determination are allowed of God when they are determined according to prudence and charity for Peace and Edification and accordingly they are to be submitted to Consequently it is one point of Schism to make a Division from or in a Church upon the accountal of accident Forms and Orders so determined according to Gods allowance But if any of the accidentals be unlawfull and the maintaining or practicing thereof be imposed upon us as the terms of our communion it is no Schism but Duty to abstain from communion in that case For explicitly and personally to own errors and corruptions even in smaller points is evil in it self which must not be committed that good may come In this case not he that withdraws but he that imposes causeth the Division And this holds of things sinfull either in themselves or by just consequence And herein he that is to act is to discern and judge for his own practice whether the things imposed be such For Gods Law supposeth us rational creatures able to discern its meaning and to apply it for the regulating of our own actions else the Law were given us in vain Submission and reverence towards Superiors obligeth no man to resign his understanding to their determinations or in compliance with them to violate his own conscience Persons meek humble peaceable and throughly conscientious and of competent judgment may not be able by their diligent and impartial search to see the lawfulness of things injoyned and t is a hard case if they should thereupon be declared contumacious Seeing there be several points of Unity the valuation whereof is to be made according to their different value mens judgment and estimation of Unity and Schism is very preposterous who lay the greatest stress on those points that are of least moment and raise things of the lowest rank to the highest in their valuation and set light by things of the greatest moment and highest value as indeed they do who set light by soundness of Faith and holiness of Life and consciencious observance of Divine institutions where there is not also unanimity and uniformity in unscriptural Doctrines and human ceremonies And they that make such an estimate of things and deal with Ministers accordingly do therein little advance the Unity of the Spirit or indeavour to keep it in the bond of Peace Seeing the word of God is the rule of Church Unity a breach is made upon it when other bounds thereof are set than this rule allows An instance hereof is the devising of other terms of Church-communion and Ministerial liberty than God hath commanded or allowed in his Word to be made the terms thereof Also any casting or keeping out of the Church or Ministery such as Gods Word doth not exclude from either but signifies to be qualified and called thereunto God doth not allow on the part of the Imposer such tearms of Church communion or Ministerial station as are neither Scriptural nor necessary to Peace and Edification nor are any part of that necessary order and decency without which the Service of God would be undecent nor are in any regard so necessary but that they may be dispensed with for a greater benefit and the avoiding of a greater mischief And they are found guilty of Schism that urge such unscriptural and unnecessary things unto a breach in the Church Such Imposers are not only an occasion of the breach that follows but a culpable cause thereof because they impose without and against Christs warrant who will not have his Church to be burdened nor the consciences of his Servants intangled with things unnecessary Nevertheless such unscriptural or
knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they shall be alike good Whatsoever scornfull or careless Men conceit hereof the Divine Wisdom hath made it praise-worthy and precious The tongue of the just is as choice silver and the lips of the righteous feed many And to good Hearts this Practice will not be burdensom for they will recreate their Minds herewith as an holy divertisement and serious Pastime while others spend their leasure in that mirth and laughter which the Wise Man calls madness CHAP. IX The Prevalence of Religion or real Godliness in the Civil Government of a Nation IN Christian States and Kingdoms Religion being Gods interest ought to have the preeminence in all things And its Preeminence is no incroachment upon the Rights of the Higher Powers but their Establishment God alone hath an underived and unlimited Empire over Man his creature The People are primarily Gods Subjects and then are subject to Princes as to his Vicegerents and obedience to him is the grand interest both of Prince and People None can doubt that God hath made his own Glory and mans Salvation the supreme ends of government and subjection And consequently that is the best Policy which gives these ends the highest place and makes temporal advantages and the wellfare of the outward Man subordinate thereunto And this requires that the Constitution give the highest regards to Gods Laws and maintain their Authority and that the whole publick Administration tend to the promoting of Righteousness and true Holiness and to the suppressing of all unrighteous and impious Practice As it is the Church's duty and honour to teach and command her Children to do whatsoever Christ hath commanded so it is the proper work and chiefest glory of the Magistrate who is Gods Minister to defend the Faith and uphold the Ordinances of the Gospel and to further the most lively and powerfull Dispensation of them and to incourage and command obedience to the Divine Law written in Nature or Scripture In subserviency hereunto his Power is to determine such things as are requisit in general but in particular are left undetermined of God and therefore called indifferent and are to be ordered by human Prudence according to the general Rules of Gods word And for these ends the chief Magistrate hath a Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil and Ecclesiastical But it is no diminution of his Authority to remove from it things unnecessary unprofitablē and offensive in their use and for their doubtfull nature apt to perplex the Subjects conscience And he is the general Bishop of his Dominions in a political sense without any incroachment upon that Authority wherewith Christ the King of the Church hath invested spiritual Pastors As he is such an Officer it is worthy of his chiefest care to provide and send forth able and faithfull Dispensers of the Word that may teach the People the good knowledge of God after the example of the good King Jehoshaphat and to see that every one who hath the Cure of Souls be resident with his Flock and constantly instruct them by preaching the Word and Catechizing them in the Principles of Religion and not to suffer Pluralists to seise upon several Congregations as a prey to fleece but not to feed them to incourage laborious Ministers that watch for the Peoples Souls as those that must give an account and strictly to injoyn the Sanctification of the Lords Day which was sanctified to the publick Worship of God by the Apostles of our Lord who were guided by an infallible Spirit in setling this as all other Ordinances pertaining to Christs Kingdom and was observed by the Apostolick Churches and so hath continued in all Ages and in all places of Christianity and is conveyed down to us by as unquestionable Tradition as the Scripture it self It is not of little moment to suppress or at least to bring into disgrace whatsoever customs serve for nought but to feed inordinate Sensuality and to make those that use them profane vicious and licentious There are frequented shews and pastimes well known that increase unto all ungodliness and may be called the Devils ordinances Those that wish well to Piety have an ill part to act when they take upon them to defend some exercises from which an extreem abuse is inseperable and which are made a trade of gain arising from the impurity and profaness of them and therefore are incorrigible and can admit no reformation The Piety of any Nation is not to be measured by formalities and opinions and uniformity in little things but by substantial Devotion by solid zeal in the weighty matters of the Law and main concerns of Religion by righteousness of life by sobriety purity modesty by peace and concord with mutual forbearance in those differences that should not and need not make breaches among Brethren by dutifulness in all relations by industry frugality and by abounding Charity that is full of good Works Happy is that State where religious influence is predominant where the pious and prudent bear sway not by intrusion but by lawfull Admission also where it ariseth to that strength as to carry along with it the affection and interest of a Nation not by setting up the Faction of a few but by making the generality or at least the greater number of considerable men some of them truly regenerate Christians and the rest orderly and well affected One would think it were out of question that it were more desirable that Religiousness should be in fashion than open dissoluteness and profaness For uncontrolled profaness will run down all Religion But when those that reach not the Power of Godliness indeed come so far as to take up an outward garb thereof it is a great external advantage to true Religion and shews its prevalent Influence on the publick State If any should demur upon this Assertion by making it a question whether Phariseim or Profaness be the worser evil let him know first that profane and dissolute Christians are notorious Hypocrites for professing to know God when in works they deny him Besides Phariseism is not simple insincerity but a compound hypocrisie wherein malignity and enmity against the Power of Godliness is the chief ingredient it is a kind of strict externalness that seeks to destroy the inward life and spirit of that Religion which it pretends to own I have no list to say that such malignity is less mischievous than filthy lewdness or debauchery But the garb of strict Profession here mentioned is of another nature and serviceable to the Churches good though we must continually and strictly charge all Men to beware of resting in it to the ruine of their own Souls CHAP. X. Christian Unity and Concord ALl faithfull Christians are Members of one mystical Body having all one Spirit one Lord and Head one Faith one Baptism and one God and Father of them all one Hope of their Calling and one Heaven to receive them all
number distinguished from the world by his own mark which is no other than his own image in righteousness and true Holiness To discern a laborious lively faithfull Ministery from that which is lazy lifeless and deceitfull and to regard the one and the other accordingly to note the ignorant foolish profane and scandalous of that Function to contemn a vile person and to honor them that fear the Lord to take notice of the Serpentine Seed and to turn away from such to abhor impiety and to have no fellowship with the wicked in their evil deeds provokes an evil Generation that are hereby reproved and judged and they raise an outcry against the Godly as Factious unsociable despisers of Government makers of Parties and enemies to Peace To examin the doctrines precepts traditions and customs of Men by Gods Word to use all just means to discern his Will and to choose to obey God rather than Men when their commands are contrary to his is reviled for proud perverseness contempt of ancient Customs and the authority of Superiors disobedience to Kings and Laws To be zealous for Gods honour and the purity of Religion to be earnest and active in stopping the course of Sin and promoting Piety and the means of Salvation and to be concerned for Gods Interest in the World more than the common Sort are make the Religious to seem pragmatical turbulent and unpeaceable Not to run into the common excess of Riot nor to comply with mad Mirth and Jollity offensive Gallantry or any Extravagancy that is in Fashion is accounted Stoical Superciliousness and Morosity Strictness of Profession seriousness and necessary preciseness of Conversation seems to many to be the same thing with Phariseism wherewith the most conscientious are commonly most reproached and so the hatefull name of Christs worst enemies is cast upon his true and faithfull Followers Wherefore it is worth the while to note who and what they were It is evident from the Gospel-History that the Pharisees were a strict Sect and in great reputation for seeming-Holiness no Separatists from the Jewish Church but of chiefest sway therein and of great esteem among the Rulers They little cared for the ordering and government of the Heart and placed Perfection in outward works and in Rituals more than Morals and chiefly in the Ceremonies of their own devising and the Traditions of the Elders and in zeal for the Corban or the Churches Treasure and to these things they made the weightiest duties of the Law give place They wore broad Phylacteries and affected a proud reservedness and formal gravity Those Fastings Prayers and Alms-deeds that should have been done in secret they made a shew of openly to be seen of Men. They would be counted Rabbies and owned for absolute teaching Masters and Leaders of the People and would have all subject to their dictates And they were Maligners and Opposers of the power of Godliness and Persecutors of the true Israelites to maintain their own institutes and interest Now for our part we have no need nor mind to vindicate the true off-spring of such Forefathers It concerns all Christians as Christ warn'd the Disciples to beware of this leaven But the truth is something of Phariseism may be found among some of all Parties as self-confidence vain-glory self-praise censoriousness arrogance partiality perverseness of conscience or straining at gnats and swallowing of camels And peradventure those that most object it to others may be most deeply infected with it themselves but however it concerns all Sorts to beware of it and do as much as is possible to purge it out from among them and every Christian should strive to keep himself from any smatch of it seeing it was so unsavoury to Christ. It is thus very discernable from the manifold misapprehensions of the way it self how Godliness falls under the hard thoughts and speeches of the mistaken World But wisdom is justified of her Children And if Godliness it self by misapprehension become a rock of offence no wonder the World is scandalized at the hypocrisie of false Pretenders and at the real faults and weaknesses of sincere Professors But Christ hath said Blessed is he that is not offended in me Undoubtedly the making of an higher Profession doth not exempt any from a just conviction and reproof That Hypocrites should be detected and the scandalous faults even of sincere Christians noted is the interest of true piety And charity both towards them that give offence and towards them that take it to their hurt requireth such discovery The Godly lay to heart no evils more than the scandals of Professors and they know they are most concerned to take heed lest any root of bitterness bearing gall or wormwood should spring up among them And those that sin before all their discipline is to rebuke before all that others may fear But the great mischief is that some so speak and write of Hypocrites and offences as to reproach Godliness it self and bring the Profession of it into disgrace When they take notice of any thing amiss in Men professing Godliness whether the matter of fact be true or false or the scandal be in reality or appearance only they presently say these are your Professors they are all such and the whole pack affords no better The real or seeming hypocrisie pride covetousness unrighteousness uncharitableness selfishness of some is cast upon all From some instances of aberration they argue against a godly tenor of Conversation and deny sincerity where they see a falling short of Perfection They disparage a serious and circumspect course of Life by pretending it may be but a meer guise or shew there may be lurking vices and they who have scaped gross Sensuality may be guilty of spiritual sins as pride and envy and so they ground their detraction upon suppositions and surmises of what may be though not appearing They inveigh against hypocrisie in that manner which hardens the vicious in their deâ—auchery and they incourage Libertines in â—dleness and excess of vanity by telling them that the Precisians may do worse Those godly exercises that lie out of the common road as to instance in Holy conference they bring into contempt by objecting an unseasonable and preposterous use thereof or the impertinency and weakness of some therein They censure inordinate transports of zeal and whimsies in Religion more bitterly than lewdnesses outrages gross impieties and daring wickedness of dissolute Persons They will burden the sober-minded that are zealous for their God with the inexcusable madness of some intemperate Zealots The failings of the Religious they aggravate above measure and particularly some passionate disorders that are commonly complexional and have less of the will and consequently of sinfull malignity in them than many sins that make lesser noise and raise less clamour and they magnifie the eveness moderation mildness and other humanities of loose or lukewarm Persons for the true Christian Spirit They upbraid the Godly with their solemn confessions and
than Others saith the Author of our Profession When the Religious apparently excell the choicest part of unregenerate Men then is Wisdom apparently justified of her Children Natural men may have some amiable vertues by which they aim to commend themselves both to God and the World yet in other matters of no less manifest and necessary concernment they are licentious and remiss But the true Christian make it his business to fulfill all Righteousness And as the principle of true Piety causeth an intireneâ—… in all the parts of good Life so being duly improved and stirred up it will cause them that have it not only to acquit themselves in whatsoever things are acceptable and praise-worthy among the meerly vertuous part of Men but also to perform those things that are far above them and both a wonder and a reproof unto them Religion hath a good savour among all Men by the due observance of all relative duties and nothing renders it more unsavoury than the violating of those bonds and the non-performance of those dues which arise from natural or civil relations For these things are our proper sphere our dayly walk and constant business wherein we are most accountable to God and usefull to men Industry and providence in the affairs of this Life conduceth to reputation but idleness and improvidence is very scandalous Upon this account Godliness is sometimes reproached by occasion of some idle Pretenders and others that are Pious but inconsiderate and imprudent Religious exercises must be attended seasonably and in due order Idle and careless Persons that wander from their callings how full soever of good words must be numbred among those that walk disorderly When the Rules of Christianity are so agreeable to the temporal well being and so indulgent to the present necessities of mankind it is a great shame to expose it to contempt and prejudice by such perversness or improvidence as if it were inconsistent with industry and prudence in the necessary concernment of this World In like manner a discreet and moderate use of riches a generous frugality and frugal liberality avoiding fordid covetousness on the one hand and vain ostentation and deliciousness on the other is of good report and gains esteem but to live either too narrowly or too profusely taints a mans reputation and derogates from the honour of his Profession To be constant or always the same is a noble property and is had in much honour And hereunto true Christianity gives the greatest adnantage It s main principles are evident and unchangable with the allowance of prudential accommodations according to time and place in things indifferent It is a chief point of Wisdom to bring our might and main to the great weighty things of the Law and to watch with jealousie against every devise of man that would undermine them but to be more cautious and sparing in points of less importance yet the occasions of much contest among them that own the same Doctrine of faith We are ill advised if we lay our main stock where our main interest is not touched Several matters touching Religion have been carried in a vicissitude according to the change of times and yet the substance of Religion not altered It is not safe to fix a necessity upon such things from which the urgency of after-times may inforce us to drawback unless we will desert our Stations before we have a discharge from our Master in Heaven The espousing of some controverted Forms and Doctrines may end in a divorce dishonourable enough although it be conscientious And the reproach hereof may be aggravated by the pretended constancy of others in erroneous ways when it is indeed no other than the pertinacy of a selfish mind or an adhering to a worldly interest When there is a liberty some Forms may be safely chosen as most advantageous and yet not asserted to be the only necessary and again some others may be laid aside as inconvenient and yet not damned as impious or simply evil The parent of true constancy is Godly Wisdom having the sure foundation of evident and unchangable Truths with a just latitude in things not determined by the positive Laws of God And so there may ordinarily happen to the same man some diversity of practice at different times that deserves not the brand of time serving which is often too rashly objected For the same fixed principle of knowledge and integrity will direct to this way or method of a sacred Action at one time and at another time to that which is far different yea and when it cannot be avoided to a submitting to what hath sometime been rejected I mean rejected not as in it self unlawfull but as inconvenient or less profitable When we are at liberty we are obliged to take the best way but when confined we must do as well as we may in that state And the submission signifies an acknowledgment of the simple lawfulness but not of the comparative goodness or desirableness of the thing imposed Since our blessed Saviour hath given his Church a legacy of Peace in Him with tribulation in the World to suffer with reputation is not of little moment It sometimes comes to pass and that inevitably that the Godly suffer much in such cases which the looser sort account niceties and needless scruples in which cases their sufferings are precious in the sight of God who highly values the jots and tittles of his Law but they are not so honourable in the sight of men But when their cause is so unquestionable that all sober Spirits of Orthodox belief must needs regard it their suffering hath much more glory and all the faithfull will be more constant and uniform in adhering to such a cause Howbeit if they suffer for conscience sake in such things as the World accounts niceties yet an upright and prudent walking with a peaceable Spirit submissive in things clearly indifferent and bearing with others intolerable differences will be an ample defence unto them and gain respect and peradventure mollifie those that do the injury Furthermore let it be here noted that to the Sufferer it is no less honourable to suffer for the Life and Power of Christianity in opposition to the immorality malignity and hypocrisie of carnal Christians than in the defence of the Christian Faith or any Article thereof in opposition to Infidels Hereticks or Blasphemers For the Christian life and practice is the end of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and therefore cannot be of less regard Yet this kind of Suffering is more dishonourable to Christ in respect of the Persecutors who are his professed Servants and therefore in this respect it is more grievous to the persecuted than if they Suffered from those that disown his name or are his more avowed Enemies CHAP. XIX The most ample diffusion of the Light of knowledge is a sure means of promoting true Religion FAlse and corrupt ways bear sway by a Peoples ignorance but Religion in its right and sound
common remisness in this matter is deplorable Sometimes the manner of opposition against Seducers is unadvised and prejudicial To contend for truth by wrath and clamour and contumelious language and usage inhanceth the price of Error and adds to its reputation But the surest way is to converse much with our plain hearted People and to season them with right principles and to detect the subtile methods of deceitfull workers and the dangerous issues of their allurements and by honest and inoffensive applications to prepossess those holds of which deceivers seek to possess themselves And here it is of chief importance that the influence of the Pastors and other prudent and able Persons upon the common multitude of professors be more prevailing than the influence of the common multitude upon the Pastors and other prudent Leaders Servile temporizing with vulgar fancies degrades the Authority and Wisdom of prudent Guides and lifts up a vulgar Spirit and will bring it to that pass that the weakest and most inconsiderate shall sway the Churches Interest Let Persons of approved worth be more faithful and noble than by such servility and treachery to raise to themselves a power in the hearts of the weaker sort Let them rather commend themselves by their known Integrity Wisdom and Goodness and by being ready also in all condescention to serve and please them to their Edification And such faithfulness is the surest means to gain them love and honour Let the Religious beware of seeking to be admired and magnified among one another or of overprizing each others esteem This latter seems to be the cause that drew Peter to a fit of dissimulation and separation from the believing Gentiles while he sought too much to please them that were of the Circumcision Sometimes we know not our own Spirits It is good to beware of provocations like to be given or taken Upon a supposed affront or injury men of parts have been hurried into dangerous contests and to make head against petty passionate opposition they have run beyond their own thoughts and wrought strange confusion Discretion and charity seeks to convince and satisfie and not to exasperate an offended Brother It is well observed that no turbulent Opinion or Party doth usually arise in the Church but by the Church's neglect of some truth or duty Wherefore if an evil spirit seek an occasion of mischief reform the abuse and so prevent his working upon the simple And forasmuch as some of upright hearts being deceived with a fancy of a more sublime and perfect way may pass into the tents of Sectaries so far as conceâ—ns Church Order and external Worship a compassionate regard must be had of such as walk honestly and retain those fundamental Truths that may be a ground-work for saving Faith and godly Life Now towards such the greatest charity is exercised in labouring to remove the stumbling-block of their error and to make it plain before them that the Faithfull whose Communion they forsake contend for the Perfection of holy Scripture and the explicit Knowledge of the doctrine of Salvation and the reasonable service of God according to his Word and spiritual Worship sutable to the Gospel Dispensation and the lively use of holy Ordinances in opposition to unwritten Traditions Mens inventions implicit Faith ignorant devotion and meer formality That they declare by word and deed against the iniquity and impiety of this evil World and therefore the world hates them that they insist upon no forms or usages in Religion but what are commanded by the positive Laws of Christ or are necessary in their general reason by the law of Nature that they seek no worldly advantages or advancements in the Church but what are necessary for the support of the Truth according to Gods ordinary Providence and lastly that human infirmities must not be thought strange in them that have not obtained Angelical perfection These and the like things should be laid open before honest People that have been seduced into Sectarian error CHAP. XXV The advancement of the sound State of Religion by making it National and the settled interest of Nation CHrists little Flock cannot go out of the World nor retire within themselves alone from the Nations of the Earth but they must needs remain a part of Kingdoms Commonwealths with the World in general They must take themselves to be concerned in the civil Powers for the Powers that are will take themselves to be concerned in them and their ways For which cause their aims and actions as far as their Sacred Rule allows must be fitted to the capacity of the civil Government and directed unto the generall peace and quietness of the nation whereof they are in which they enjoy their civil rights By this means religions interest may incorporate with the general interest of a nation run in the same channel That pure Religion may take root and spread and prosper it is necessary to bring its external frame to the consistency of a National settlement The just â—aâ—aude hereof is laid in the doctrine of Faith and substantials of Divine Worship and things necessary to Church unity and order but it goes not beyond these And being fixed in this extent it is in a way to gain besides the support and power of the Law the Nations unstrained compliance and approbation As on the one hand Ecclesiastical tyranny is a root of bitterness always bearing gall and wormwood so on the other hand unfixedness and unlimited liberty consists not with that stability wherein all prudent Governors would settle their own affairs as also with that general tranquillity and repose which is the health of any People If one were raised to empire by a meer Fanatick Party he cannot settle himself nor stand upon firm ground till he wind his interest out of their hands and turn himself to the way of general satisfaction To the same intent and purpose it is of great importance so to fix the terms of Church Communion as not to set a perpetual bar against the main body of the People A Church state so barr'd though it were asserted with a veterane Army and could inclose all preferments both of honor and profit within it self to be at its disposal yet it is hard to see how it could ever obtain a firm establishment For a Christian Nation in general being shut out of the Church or barr'd of such Privileges as are supposed to belong to them as Christians are inraged and likely to be ingaged as one Man to oppose that which they take for intolerable oppression Or if they care not to be admitted they will turn to a contrary interest and Party in Religion or to infidelity Barbarism Atheism or some destructive way or other Now the intention here propounded may take effect if the Constitution shut out none from Sacred and Spiritual Priviledges but such as make not Profession of true Christianity or be destitute of that knowledge which is absolutely necessary to true
Faith in Christ or to the profitable use of those Ordinances whereof they would partake or by publick tryal can be evicted in their deeds to deny Christ to whom they profess subjection or be guilty of such scandalous enormity or disobedience as is reproachfull to the Christian Name It is likewise to be considered that Discipline is a work of time and that People are to be brought on by degrees when they have lain long undisciplined For a Nation is not born in a day Right Ecclesiastical Discipline grates hard upon Mens corruptions and stirs up many nemies Likewise the civil Powers are often jealous of it lest it should move excentrick to their motions Therefore being a tender point it requires so much caution as nothing more Cogent reason persuades those that are herein concern'd most willingly to put themselves under the regulation of the civil Magistrate and to contain themselves within all tolerable limitations prescribed by him I mean such as defeat not the ends of Discipline and by clear and moderate actings within their own sphere to render their Office less invidious CHAP. XXVI Of Submission to things imposed by lawfull Authority WHosoever duly prizeth the publick peace of his own liberty for publick service will consider the utmost lawfull boundary of Submission to things imposed by lawfull Authority that nothing possible to be done be left undone But what is sinfull â—…s in a moral sense impossible We may not â—…ie for God Nothing erroneous may be asserâ—ed nothing simply evil may be admitted in our own practice But in an established Church not infected with Heresie or Idolatry nor defective in any vital part of Religion it is duty to bear with much that we conceive to be amiss in others practice to which we make not our selves accessary by neglecting any means of redress within our Power and Calling Yea being constrained by others rigor we may stoop to the use of some things which profit little if they be not simply evil nor by an evil consequent destructive to the main Service to which they are superadded The yoke of such subjection may cause grief of heart but doth not wound the conscience Indifferent things are not made unlawfull meerly by being injoyned and it is necessary that some things indifferent in specie should be determined for orders sake But forasmuch as things not in themselves unlawfull may some times be so pernicious in their consequents aâ— by a vehement appearance of evil to draw others into sin and by a strong tendency to evil to lead and settle them in a way that is not good I dare not say that the latitude of conformity to things in their own nature indifferent is unlimited Rulers have received their power of Injoyning and subjects their liberty of conforming for edification and not for destruction In a case of this nature we are led on to consider whether the scandal of compliance with things indifferent in themselves but of harmfull consequence be not of lesser moment than the scandal and misery that may follow upon non-compliance Though of things simply evil neither may be chosen yet of things evil only in their consequents either the one or the other inevitably coming upon us that must be chosen upon which the lesser evil follows Peradventure the scandal of Submission may be overballanced by the apparent consequence of a more important good by which also it may in time be quite removed The wisdom of the Prudent must herein direct their way Though the Ruler be judge of what rules he is to prescribe yet the conscience of every Subject is to judge with a judgment of discretion whether those rules be agreeable to the Word of God or not and so whether his Conformity thereto be lawfull or unlawfull Otherwise he must act upon blind obedience and might be excused in doing things either simply evil or pernicious in their consequents A general certainty that Rulers must be obeyed in lawfull things is no security to the conscience for Obedience to this or that Injunction when we doubt of the Lawfulness of the thing injoyned For we cannot be sure that obedience in this case is a duty and not a sin because we are sure it is a sin to obey in things unlawfull and such the thing now in question is or may be for ought that we discern and our ignorance cannot change Gods Law Therefore the doubtfulness of the thing it self makes the obligation to Obedience likewise doubtfull And perhaps the danger may be greater on the part of obeying than refusing For possibly the injunction of an heinous sin may be the matter of the uncertainty and in this strait we apprehend it more unsafe and less excusable to choose the greater before the lesser sin on which side soever it be though indeed it be lawfull to choose neither Indeed it is much easier for Rulers to relax the strictness of many injunctions about matters of supposed convenience than for Subjects to be inlarged from the strictness of their judgment And blessed are they that consider Conscience and load it not with needless burdens but seek to relieve it iâ— its distresses And as this forbearance and tenderness iâ— Superiors is the praise of their Government and advanceth peace and concord so doth moderation and a submissive disposition commend Inferiors and much advantage their godly zeal For it stops the mouths of clamourous Men it obviates the ensnaring designs of adversaries and it gives greater boldness in contending for weightier matters Howbeit sometimes that submission which all circumstances considered both Prudencâ— and upright Conscience declareth necessary may be liable to a reproach as a matter of temporizing The truth is a Ministers reputation is of great moment to the ends of his Ministery and he is not to be blamed that is loth it should suffer shipwrack and an appearance or suspition of time-serving doth greatly indanger it If a man should forbear some compliances which he clearly foresees will bring him into a vehement suspition thereof in Charity it should be taken not for an undue valuation of his own credit but for a tender regard to the honor of the Gospel When an exalted Party shall set themselves to profligate the credit of those that are brought under by constraining them to such Compliances they have more regard to their own particular triumph than to the honor of the common Faith and all true Religion which is by this means exposed to the contempt of the irriligious as if it were meer hypocrisie and matter of interest on all sides As for Inferiors in this case they are in a strait between â—wo and which way can they turn themselves â—o avoid-all inconveniences For the same â—ersons that reproach them as temporizing would in case of non-submission clamour against them as humorous and factious Herein I shall offer the aptest remedy I know â—amely neither in word nor deed to abandon or disown the Truth and in these burdensom yet not unlawfull compliances
there is a real hazard of a greater mischief and in hasty attempts of changes things may be carried on beyond the commendable end designed even to its utter ruin For commonly men are not Masters of what they get in such precipitate ways CHAP. XXVIII Considerations tending to a due inlargement and unity in Church-communion AN unhappy kind of controversies about Forms of Divine Worship Ecclesiastical Government and qualification of Church Members hath been the calamity of our times The differences in these points have made a sad breach upon Church unity and divided Brethren of the same Reformed Profession both in affection and interest and have been the occasion of much misery In regard whereof some things that make for an amicable condescention among Brethren and for humble submission to Superiors are here propounded for consideration but not as peremptory resolves Though many or most of them seem to me to carry their own evidence Yet it becomes one who is sensible of human weakness and of his own meaness to write modestly in these points about which there is so great a variety of apprehensions The Communion of Saints is the Communion of the Catholick Church and of particular Christians and Churches one with another as Members thereof and therefore we may not restrain our fellowship to any particular Church or Churches so as to with-hold it from the rest of the Catholick Church Our Communion with the Catholick Church is as well in Religious Worship as in Christian Faith and Life As there is one Faith so one Baptism and one Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and we being many are one Bread and one Body Though we cannot at once locally communicate with the whole Church in external Worship because it cannot possibly meet in one place yet according to our capacity and opportunity we are so to communicate with the several parts thereof and not unwarrantably withdraw from any and this is a vertual communicating with the whole Church Discipline and Government as to the particular Form thereof hath much more obscurity than the Doctrine of Christian Faith and Life and is much more controverted among the Godly Learned And in more dark and doubtfull points humility charity and good discretion teacheth mutual forbearance In Ecclesiastical Regiment all Church Members are not so concern'd as Church Guides and Pastors are Christ hath not left the affairs of his Kingdom in so loose a posture as to give a liberty of leaving or chusing the Communion of a Church according to our own affections without regard to order A particular visible Church being a Body politick cannot subsist without rules of stable Policy Her censures and judgments ought to be clear certain and uniform or of the same tenor and therefore may not proceed upon such a kind of Evidence as at the most is but conjectural and of variable apprehension Our arbitrary conjecture of an others Regeneration is but an uncertain way of admission to sacred Priviledges wherein no uniform judgment can be held between several Churches nor the several Members of the same Church nor by the same Person with himself at several times For mens apprehensions about the Spiritual Estate of others are exceeding different and inconstant But whether a Person make a credible profession or be competently knowing or grosly ignorant whether he be scandalous or walk orderly is capable of certain evidence and of constant regular proceeding thereupon Let it be considered whether of these two either to proceed with men according to our private hopes and fears about their internal state or according to stated Rules and certain Evidence be the surer way to preserve the Church in Peace and to propagate true Piety Also whether Persons passable by such publick Rules can in Ecclesiastical Tryal be judged to be ungodly or to make a false profession whatsoever our private fears are concerning them And if their Profession be not proved false whether it be not to pass for credible in that Tryal Human Laws and publick Judgments presume them to be good that are not evicted to be bad Private familiarity is at every ones choice but our Church-communion being a publick matter must be Governed by publick and common Rules and not by private will If a Church impose such Laws of her Communion as infer a necessity of doing that which is unlawfull there is a necessity of abstaining from her Communion so far as those unlawfull terms extend Churches mentioned in Scripture had their corruptions in Doctrine Worship and Manners yet the Godly did not separate from them for those corruptions nor were commanded so to do Indeed they are commanded to come out of Babylon which is no other than to separate from Idolatrous Heretical Antichristian Societies Yet in suggesting this I do not encourage to a stated Communion in such Churches as have no other Ministers placed in them than such as are altogether unfit to have the charge of Souls commited to them that is who are unable to teach or teach corruptly either teaching pernicious Doctrine or abusing mishandling and misapplying sound Doctrine to encourage the Ungodly and discourage the Godly For the Scripture bids us beware of blind Guides and false Prophets By continuing in Church-communion we partake not of the Sins of others which we have no power to redress nor are we made guilty by their leaven if it doth not infect us and profane Persons are no more countenanced by our presence than those lewd Priests the Sons of Eli were by the Peoples coming to sacrifice In communicating in holy things we have internal Communion only with the faithfull and as for the meer external Communion it is with those that have as yet an outward standing in Christ till they are cut off by the hand of God or due order of Discipline When a Minister hath done his part to keep off the unworthy in the dspensing of the Sacrament to such he is in a moral sense meerly passive so that their unworthy participation cannot be imputed to him Nor in such an Administration is a practical lie or any falshood uttered For the Sacrament seals the mercy of the Covenant not irrespectively but conditionally and the words of the application must be so understood If we have not power to separate an obstinate scandalous offender from the Church yet the withdrawing of our selves from him is an Excommunication in some degree and the effect thereof is hereby in part obtained When Ministers and People do their duties in their Places without usurpation of further Power than they have warrant for then all will be though not so well as it might yet as it can be at present Of several modes and methods of publick Action Prudence makes choice not always of what is simply best but of that which is most passable if it be not so disorderly as to marr the substance or frustrate the end of an Administration In sacred Adminstrations we may yield without sin to others sinfull weaknesses
Subordination in the several parts thereof either in way of proper authority or of mutual agreement And the Associated Churches and particular Members therein are naturally bound to maintain the orderly state of the whole Association and to comply with the Rules thereof when they are not repugnant to the Word of God A Bishop or Pastor and the People adhering to him are not declared to be the only true Church and Pastor within such a Precinct by their conjunction with the largest Combination of Bishops or Pastors and their Churches For the greater number of Bishops may in such manner err in their Constitutions as to make rightly informed Persons uncapable of their Combination A National Church is not a particular Church properly so called but a Combination or Coagmentation of particular Churches united under one Civil Supream either Personal as in a Monarchy or Collective as in a Republick And the true notion thereof lies not in any Combination purely Ecclesiastical and Intrinsecal but Civil and Extrinsecal as of so many Churches that are collected under one that hath the Civil Supremacy over them The National Church of England truly denotes all the Churches in England united under one Supream Civil Church-Governour the Kings Majesty Civil Magistrates as such are no Constitutive parts of the Church The Christian Church stood for several Centuries without the support of their authority But Supream Magistrates have a Civil Supremacy in all Ecclesiastical matters and a political extrinsecal Episcopacy over all the Pastors of the Churches in their Dominions and may compell them to the performance of their Duties and punish them for negligence and mal-Administration and they may reform the Churches when they stand in need of Reformation The possession of the Tithes and Temples doth not of it self declare the true Pastor and Church nor doth the Privation thereof declare no Pastor and no Church For these are disposed of by the secular power which of it self can neither make nor make void a Pastor or Church A Diocess is a collective body of many Parishes under the Government of one Diocesan If the several Parishes be so many particular Churces and if their proper and immediate Presbyters be of the same order with those which in Scripture are mentioned by that name and were no other than Bishops or Pastors then a Diocess is not a particular Church but a Combination of Churches and the Diocesan is a Bishop of Bishops or a Governour over many Churches and their immediate Bishops If the Parishes be not acknowledged to be Churches nor their Presbyters to be realy Bishops or Pastors but the Diocess be held to be the lowest Political Church and the Diocesan to be a Bishop of the lowest rank and the sole Bishop or Pastor of all the included Parishes I confess I have no knowledge of the Divine right of such a Church or Bishop or of any precept or precedent thereof in Scripture For every particular Church mentioned in Scripture was but one distinct stated Society having its own proper and immediate Bishop or Bishops Elder or Elders Pastor or Pastors who did Personally and immediately Superintend over the whole Flock which ordinarily held either at once together or by turns Personal present Communion with each other in Gods Worship But a Diocess consists of several stated Societies to wit the Parishes which are Constituted severally of a proper and immediate Presbyter or Elder having cure of Souls and commonly called a Rector and the People which are his proper and â—…rge or cure And the People of thâ—… not live under the Personal and inâ—…rsight of their Diocesan but under â—…legates and Substitutes Nor do they oâ—…ly hold Personal present Communion with each other in Gods Worship either at once together or by turns Nevertheless which way soever a Diocess be considered I have nothing to object against submission to the Government of the Diocesan as an Ecclesiastical Officer established by the Law of the Land under the Kings Supremacy There is nothing in the nature of the Office of Presbyterate which according to the Scripture is a Pastoral Office that shewe it ought to be exercised no otherwise than in Subordination to a Diocesan Bishop Christ who is the Author and only proper giver of all Spiritual Authority in the Church hath not so limited the said Office and men cannot by any act of theirs enlarge or lessen it as to its nature or essential state or define it otherwise than it is stated of Christ in his word No power Ecclesiastical or Civil can discharge any Minister of Christ from the exercise of his Ministery in those circumstances wherein Christ commands him to exercise it nor any Christians from those duties of Religion to which the Command of Christ obligeth them As the Magistrate is to judge what Laws touching Religion are fit for him to enact and execute so the Ministers of Christ are to use a judgment of discretion about their own Pastoral acts and all Christians are to do the same about their own acts of Church-Communion The too common abuse of the judgment of discretion cannot abrogate the right use thereof it being so necessary that without it men cannot act as men nor offer to God a reasonable Service CHAP. II. Of true Church-Unity WHen the names of Unity and Schism are by partiality and selfishness commonly and grosly abused and misapplied the nature of the things to which those names do of right belong ought to be diligently inquired into and clearly and distinctly laid open For a groundwork in this inquiry I fix upon two very noted texts of Scripture The one is Eph. 4. 3. Indeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace The other is Rom. 16. 17. Mark them that cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine that ye have learned and avoid them The former guides us to the knowledge of true Church-unity and the latter shews us the true nature of Schism By the former of these Texts all Christians are obliged to maintain that Spiritual Unity which they have one with another under Christ their Head by the Holy Ghost in all due acts of holy Communion in Peace and Concord Several important things are here to be taken notice of 1. There is a Spiritual unity between all Christians in the form of one mystical Body as there is a natural unity between all the members of the natural Body The members being many are one body and members one of another 2. This Unity is under Christ as the Head of it What the head is to the natural Body that is Christ and much more to his mystical Body the Church 3. This Unity of Christians one with another under Christ is by the Holy Ghost and therefore called the Unity of the Spirit The Spirit of Christ the Head doth seize upon and reside in all the Faithfull by which they become Christs mystical Body and are joyned one to another as fellow-members 4. This Unity of
the Spirit among Christians is witnessed maintained and strengthened by their holy communion of Love and Peace one with another but is darkened weakened and lessened by their uncharitable Dissentions Hence it is evident that the Unity here commended is primarily that of the Church in its internal and invisible State or the Union and Communion of Saints having in themselves the Spirit and Life and Power of Christianity T is the unity of the Spirit we are charged to keep in the bond of Peace But concord in any external order with a vital Union with Christ and holy Souls his living members is not the unity of the Spirit which is to partake of the same new Nature and Divine Life Secondarily it is the Unity of the Church in its external and visible State which is consequent and subservient to the internal and stands in the profession and appearance of it in the professed observation of the duties arising from it Where there is not a credible Profession of Faith unfeigned and true Holiness there is not so much as the external and visible Unity of the Spirit Therefore a sensual Earthly generation of men who are apparently lead by the Spirit of the World and not by the Spirit that is of God have little cause to glory in their adhering to an external Church order whatsoever it be Holy love which is unselfed and impartial is the Life and Soul of this unity without which it is but a dead thing as the Body without the Soul is dead And this love is the bond of perfectness that Cement that holds altogether in this mystical Society For this being seated in the several members disposeth them to look not to their own things but also to the things of others and not to the undue advancement of a Party but to the common good of the whole Body Whosoever wants this love hath no vital Union with Christ and the Church and no part in the Communion of Saints The Church is much more ennobled strengthened and every way blessed by the Communion of holy love among all its living members or real Christians than by an outside uniformity in the minute circumstances or accidental modes of Religion By this love it is more beautifull and lovely in the eyes of all intelligent beholders than by outward pomp and ornament or any worldly splendor The Unity of the Church as visible whether Catholick or particular may be considered in a three-fold respect or in three very different points The first and chief point thereof is in the essentials and all weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life The second and next in account is in the essentials and integrals of Church state that is in the Christian Church-Worship Ministery and Discipline considered as of Christs institution and abstracted from all things superadded by men The third and lowest point is in those extrinsecal and accidental Forms and Orders of Religion which are necessary in genere but left in specie to human determination Of these several points of Unity there is to be a different valuation according to their different value Our first and chief regard is due to the first and chief point which respects Christian Faith and Life The next regard is due to that which is next in value that which respects the very constitution or frame of a Church And regard is to be had of that also which respects the accidentals of Religion yet in its due place and not before things of greater weight and worth Things are of a very different nature and importance to the Churches good Estate and a greater or lesser stress must be laid upon Unity in them as the things themselves are of greater or lesser moment The Rule or Law of Church Unity is not the will of man but the will of God Whosoever keeps that Unity which hath Gods word for its Rule keeps the Unity of the Spirit And whosoever boasts of a Unity that is not squared by this Rule his boasting is but vain An Hypothesis that nothing in the Service of God is lawfull but what is expresly prescribed in Scripture is by some falsly ascribed to a sort of men who earnestly contend for the Scriptures sufficiency and perfection for the regulating of Divine Worship and the whole state of Religion God in his Word hath prescribed all those parts of his Worship that are necessary to be performed to him He hath likewise therein instituted those Officers that are to be the Administrators of his publick Worship in Church Assemblies and hath defined the authority and duty of those Officers and all the essentials and integrals of Church state As for the circumstantials and accidentals belonging to all the things aforesaid he hath laid down general Rules for the regulation thereof the particulars being both needless and impossible to be enumerated and defined In this point God hath declared his mind Deut. 4. 2. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it Deut. 12. 32. What soever thing I command you observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it The prohibition is not meerly of altering the Rule Gods written Word by addition or diminution but of doing more or less than the Rule required as the precept is not of preserving the Rule but of observing what is commanded in it Such human institutions in Divine Worship as be in meer subserviency to Divine institutions for the necessary and convenient modifying and ordering thereof are not properly additions to Gods commandments For they are of things which are not of the same nature end and use with the things which God hath commanded but of meer circumstantials and accidentals belonging to those things And these circumstantials are in genere necessary to the performance of Divine Institutions and are generally commanded in the Word though not in particular but are to be determined in specie by those to whom the power of such determination belongs They that assert and stand to this only Rule provide best for the Unity of Religion and the Peace of the Church For they are ready to reject whatsoever they find contrary to this Rule they are more easily kept within the bounds of acceptable Worship and all warrantable obedience they lay the greatest weight on things of the greatest worth and moment they carefully regard all Divine institutions and whatsoever God hath commanded and they maintain Love and Peace and mutual forbearance towards one another in the more inconsiderable diversities of Opinion and Practice Those things that are left to human determination the Pastors Bishops or Elders did anciently determine for their own particular Churches And indeed it is very reasonable and naturally convenient that they who are the Administrators of Divine institutions and have the conduct of the People in Divine Worship and know best what is most expedient for their own Society should be intrusted with the determination of necessary circumstances within their