disuse it is no wonder if in such Churches where these Evils are inveterate and Remediless Particular Persons do peaceably provide for their own Edification by joyning themselves unto such Societies as wherein the Rule of the Gospel is more practically attended unto It is taken for granted that the Church is not corrupted by the wicked Persons that are of its Communion nor its Administrations defiled by their Presence and Communication in them nor the Edification of others prejudiced thereby because it hath been so said by some of the Ancients though whether suitably unto the Doctrine of the Apostles or no is very questionable But suppose this should be so yet where wicked Persons are admitted without Distinction or Discrimination unto the Communion of the Church where they are tollerated therein without any procedure with them or against them contrary to express Rules of the Scripture given to that purpose so that those who are really Pious among them can by no means prevail for the Reformation of the whole they may not only without breach of Charity impairing of Faith or Love or without the least suspition of the Guilt of Schism forsake the Communion of such a Congregation to joyn unto another where there is more Care of Piety Purity and Holiness but if they have any Care of their own Edification and a due Care of their Salvation they will understand it to be their Duty so to do And we may a little touch hereon once for all The General End of the Institution of Churches as such is the visible mannagement of the Enmity on the part of the seed of the Woman Christ the Head and the Members of his Body mystical against the Serpent and his Seed In the pursuit of this End God ever had a Church in the world separate from persons openly profane doing the work of the Devil their Father And there is nothing in any Church Constitution which tends unto or is compliant with the mixing and reconciling these distinct seeds whilst they are such and visibly appear so to be And therefore as the Types Prophecies and Promises of the Old Testament did declare that when all things were actually brought unto an Head in Christ Jesus the Churches and all things that belong unto it should be Holy that is visibly so so the Description generally and uniformally given us of the Churches of the New Testament when actually called and erected is that they consisted of Persons called sanctified justified ingrafted into Christ or Saints Believers faithful ones purified and separate unto God Such they professed themselves to be such they were judged to be by them that were concerned in their Communion and as such they ingage themselves to walk in their Conversation By what Authority so great a Change should be now wrought in the Nature and Constitution of Churches that it should be altogether indifferent of what sort of persons they do consist we know not Yea to speak plainly we greatly fear that both the Worship and Worshipers are defiled where open impenitent sinners are freely admitted unto all sacred Administrations without controul And we are sure that as God complaineth that his Sanctuary is polluted when there are brought into it strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh so the true Members of the Church are warned of the Evil and dangers of such defiling mixtures and charged to watch against them We might yet further insist on the great evil it would be in us if we should give a seeming outward Approbation unto those things and their use which we cannot but condemn and desire to have removed out of the Worship of God And moreover there is as we believe an Obligation upon us to give a Testimony unto the Truth about the Worship of God in his Church and not absolutely to hide the Light we have received therein under a Bushel Nor would we render the Reformation of the Church absolutely hopeless by our professed compliance with the Things that ought to be reform'd But what hath been pleaded already is sufficient to manifest that there neither is nor can be a Guilt of Schism charged either on Ministers or People who with-hold themselves from the Communion of that Church or those Churches whereof the things mentioned are made Conditions necessary and indispensible and wherein they must be denyed the Liberty of performing many Duties made necessary unto them by the Command of Jesus Christ. And as the rigid Imposition of unscriptural Conditions of Communion is the principal Cause of all the Schisms and Divisions that are among us so let them be removed and taken out of the way and we doubt not but that among all that sincerely profess the Gospel there may be that peace and such an Agreement obtained as in observance whereof they may all exercise those Duties of Love which the strictest Union doth require These we profess our selves ready for so far as God shall be pleased to help us in the Discharge of our Duty as also to renounce every Principle or Opinion whereof we may be convinced that they are in the least opposite unto or inconsistent with the Royal Law of Love and the due exercise thereof If men will continue to charge accuse or revile us either out of a causeless distast against our persons or Misunderstanding of our Principles and wayes or upon uncertain Reports or meerly prompted thereunto through a vain elation of mind arising from the Distance wherein through their Secular Advantages they look upon us to stand from them as we cannot help it so we shall endeavour not to be greatly moved at it For it is known that this hath been the Lot and Portion of those who have gone before us in the Profession of the Gospel and sincere endeavors to vindicate the Worship of God from the Disorders and Abuses that have been introduced into it and probably will be theirs who shall come after us But the whole of our care is that in godly simplicity and sincerity we may have our conversation in the World not corrupting the Word of God nor using our Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as becomes the Servants of God But perhaps it will yet be pleaded that this is not the whole which we are charged withall For it is said that we do not only withdraw our selves from the communion of the Church of of England but also that we assemble in separate Congregations for the Celebration of the whole Worship of God whereby we evidently make a Division in the Church and contract unto our selves the guilt of Schism For what can there be more required thereunto But what would those who make use of this Objection have us to do would they have us starve our souls by a wilful neglect of the means appointed for their nourishment Or would they have us live in a constant omission of all the Commands of Christ By them or those
Spirit which is savingly communicated unto the Church in this sense alone a greater number of Persons belonging thereunto than in any One Nation or Church under Heaven The charge therefore of some against us that we Paganize the Nation by reason of some different Apprehensions from others concerning the regular Constitution of particular Churches for the Celebration of Gospel Worship is wondrous vain and ungrounded But we know that men use such severe Expressions and Reflections out of a discomposed habit of Mind which they have accustomed themselves unto and not from a sedate Judgment and consideration of the things themselves And hence they will labour to convince others of that whereof if they would put it unto a serious Tryal they would never be able to convince themselves This then is that Church which on the account of their Sincere faith and Obedience shall be saved and out of which on the account of their Profession there is no salvation to be obtained which things are weakly and arrogantly appropriated unto any Particular Church or Churches in the World For it is possible that men may be Members of it and yet not belong or relate unto any particular Church on the Earth and so it often falleth out as we could manifest by instances did that work now lie before us This is the Church which the Lord Christ loved and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that he might present it unto himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And we must acknowledge that in all things this is the Church unto which we have our first and Principal regard as being the spring from which all other considerations of the Church do flow Within the virge and compass of it do we indeavour to be found the End of the Dispensation of the Gospel unto Men being that they should do so Neither would we to save our Lives which for the Members of this Church and their good we are bound to lay down when justly called thereunto wilfully live in the neglect of that Love towards them or any of them which we hope God hath planted in our hearts and made natural unto us by that one and self-same Spirit by whom the whole Mystical Body of Christ is animated We do confess that because the best of Men in this Life do know but in part that all the Members of this Church are in many things liable to Error mistakes and Miscarriages And hence it is that although they are all internally acted and guided by the same Spirit in all things absolutely necessary to their Eternal salvation and do all attend unto the same Rule of the Word according as they apprehend the mind of God in it and concerning it have all for the Nature and Substance of it the same Divine Faith and Love and are all equally united unto their Head yet in the Profession which they make of the conceptions and perswasions of their minds about the things revealed in the Scripture there are and always have been many Differences among them Neither is it morally possible it should be otherwise whilst in their Judgment and Profession they are left unto the Ability of their own Minds and Liberty of their Wills under that great variety of the Means of Light and Truth with other Circumstances whereinto they are disposed by the Holy Wise Providence of God Nor hath the Lord Christ absolutely Promised that it shall be otherwise with them but securing them all by his Spirit in the foundations of eternal Salvation he leaves them in other things to the exercise of mutual Love and forbearance with a charge of Duty after a continual endeavour to grow up unto a perfect Union by the improvement of the blessed Aids and Assistances which he is pleased to afford unto them And those who by ways of Force would drive them into any other Union or Agreement than their own Light and Duty will lead them into do what in them lies to oppose the whole Design of the Lord Christ towards them and his Rule over them In the mean time it is granted that they may fall into Divisions and Schisms and mutual Exasperations among themselves through the Remainders of Darkness in their minds and the Infirmity of the flesh And in such Cases mutual judgings and despisings are apt to ensue and that to the Prejudice and great Disadvantages of that Common faith which they do profess And yet notwithstanding all this such cross intangled wheels are there in the course of our Nature they all of them really value and esteem the things wherein they agree incomparably above those wherein they differ But their valuation of the matter of their Union and Agreement is purely spiritual whereas their Differences are usually influenced by Carnal and Secular Considerations which have for the most part a sensible Impression on the Minds of poor Mortals But so far as their Divisions and Differences are unto them unavoidable the Remedy of farther Evils proceeding from them is plainly and frequently expressed in the Scripture It is Love Meckness forbearance bowels of Compassion with those other Graces of the Spirit wherein our Conformity unto Christ doth consist with a true understanding and due valuation of the Vnity of faith and the common Hope of Believers which are the ways prescribed unto us for the prevention of those Evils which without them our unavoidable Differences will occasion And this excellent way of the Gospel together with a Rejection of evil surmises and a watchfulness over our selves against irregular judging and censuring of others together with a peaceable walking in consent and Unity so far as we have attained is so fully and clearly proposed unto us therein that they must have their Eyes blinded by Prejudices and Carnal Interests or some effectual working of the God of this world on their minds into whose understandings the Light of it doth not shine with uncontroulable Evidence and Conviction That the Sons or Children of this Church of Jerusalem which is above and is the Mother of us all should on the account of their various Apprehensions of some things relating to Religion or the worship of God unavoidably attending their frail and imperfect condition in this world yea or of any Schisms or Divisions ensuing thereon proceeding from Corrupt and not throughly mortified Affections be warranted to hate judge despise or contemn one another much more to strive by external force to coerce punish or destroy them that differ from them is as forreign to the Gospel as that we should believe in Mahomet and not in Jesus Christ. Whatever share therefore we are forced to bare in Differences with or Divisions from the Members of this Church that is any who declare and evidence themselves so to be by a visible and regular Profession of faith and Obedience as it is
since the Reformation to be as sound and healthful a part of the Catholick Church as any in the world For we know no Place nor Nation where the Gospel for so long a season hath been preached with more Diligence Power and Evidence for Conviction nor where it hath obtained a greater Success or Acceptation Those therefore who perish amongst us do not do so for want of Truth and a right belief or Miscarriages in Sacred worship but for their own Personal Infidelity and Disobedience For according to the Rules before laid down we do not judge that there are any such Errors publickly admitted among them nor any such Miscarriages in Sacred Administration as should directly or absolutely hinder their eternal Salvation That they be not any of them through the Ignorance or Negligence of those who take upon them the conduct of their Souls encouraged in a State or way of Sin or deprived of due Advantages to farther their spiritual Good or are lead into Practices in Religion neither acceptable unto God nor tending to their own Edification whereby they may be betrayed into Eternal Ruine is greatly incumbent on themselves to consider Unto this Catholick Church we owe all Christian Love and are obliged to exercise all the Effects of it both towards the whole and every Particular Member as we have Advantage and Occasion And not only so but it is our Duty to live in constant Communion with it This we can no otherwise do but by a Profession of that Faith whereby it becomes the Church of Christ in the notion under Consideration For any failure herein we are not that we know of charged by any Persons of Modesty or Sobriety The Reflections that have been made of late by some on the Doctrines we teach or own do fall as severely on the Generality of the Church of England at least until within a few years last past as they do on us And we shall not need to owne any especial Concernment in them until they are publickly discountenanced by others Such are the Doctrines concerning Gods Eternal Decrees Justification by Faith the Loss of Original Grace and the Corruption of Nature the Nature of Regeneration the Power and Efficacy of Grace in the Conversion of Sinners that we say not of the Trinity and satisfaction of Christ. But we do not think that the Doctrines publickly taught and owned among us ever since the Reformation will receive any great dammage by the impotent assaults of some few especially considering their mannagement of those assaults by tales railing and ralliery to the lasting reproach of the Religion which themselves profess be it what it will Thirdly The Church of Christ or the visible Professors of the Gospel in the world may be considered as they are disposed of by Providence or their own choyce in Particular Churches These at present are of many sorts or are esteemed so to be For whereas the Lord Christ hath instituted sundry solemn Ordinances of Divine Worship to be observed joyntly by his Disciples unto his honour and their edification this could not be done but in such Societies Communities or Assemblies of them to that purpose And as none of them can be duly performed but in and by such Societies so some of them do either express the Union Love and common Hope that is among them or do consist in the means of their preservation Of this latter sort are all the wayes whereby the Power of Christ is acted in the Discipline of the Churches Wherefore we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ as the King Ruler and Lawgiver of his Church hath ordained that all his Disciples all persons belonging unto his Church in the former notions of it should be gathered into distinct Societies and become as Flocks of Sheep in several Folds under the eye of their Great Shepherd and the respective Conducts of those employed under him And this conjunction of Professors in and unto particular Churches for the celebration of the Ordinances of sacred Worship appointed by Christ and the participation of his Institutions for their edification is not a matter of accident or meerly under the disposal of common Providence but is to be an act in them of choice and voluntary obedience unto the commands of Christ. By some this Duty is more expresly attended unto than by others and by some it is totally neglected For neither antecedently nor consequentially unto such their Conjunction do they consider what is their duty unto the Lord Christ therein nor what is most meet for their own edification They go in these things with others according to the custome of the Times and Places wherein they live confounding their Civil and spiritual Relations And these we cannot but judge to walk irregularly through ignorance mistakes or prejudices Neither will they in their least secular concernments behave themselves with so much regardlesness ot negligence For however their Lot previously unto their own choyce may be cast into any place or Society they will make an after-judgment whether it be to their advantage according to the Rules of prudence and by that judgment either abide in their first station or otherwise dispose of themselves But a Liberty of this nature regulated by the Gospel to be exercised in and about the great concernments of mens souls is by many denyed and by most neglected Hence it is come to pass that the Societies of Christians are for the most part meer effects of their Political Distributions by Civil Lawes aiming principally at other ends and purposes It is not denyed but that Civil Distributions of Professors of the Gospel may be subservient unto the ends of Religious Societies and Assemblies But when they are made a means to take off the minds of men from all regard to the Authority of the Lord Christ instituting and appointing such Societies they are of no small disadvantage unto true Church-Communion and Love The Institution of these Churches and the Rules for their disposal and Government throughout the world are the same stable and unalterable And hence there was in the first Churches planted by the Apostles and those who next succeeded them in the care of that work great Peace Vnion and Agreement For they were all gathered and planted alike according unto the Institution of Christ all regulated and ordered by the same common Rule Men had not yet found out those things which were the Causes of Differences in after-Ages and which yet continue so to be Where there was any difference it was for the most part on the account of some noysom foolish Phantastical Opinions vented by Impostors in direct opposition to the Scripture which the generality of Christians did with one consent abhor But on various occasions and by sundry degrees there came to be great variety in the conceptions of men about these Particular Churches appointed for the Seat and Subject of all Gospel Ordinances and wherein they were authoritatively to be administred in the Name of Jesus Christ For
to make use of their Assemblies in all Acts of Religion unto our Edification as occasion shall require But where the Authority of Christ in the things of sacred worship doth intervene all other considerations must be discarded and a compliance therewith will secure us from all irregular Events It must be acknowledged that many of these Churches have wofully degenerated and that any of them may so do both from their Primitive Institution and also the sole Rule of their worship And this they may do and have done in such various Degrees and ways as necessarily requires a great variety in our Judgments concerning them and our Communion with them The whole Christian world gives us Instances hereof at this Day yea we have it confirmed unto us in what is recorded concerning sundry Churches mentioned in the Scripture its self They were newly planted by the Apostles themselves and had Rules given by them to attend unto for their Direction And besides they were obliged in all Emergencies to enquire after and receive those Command and Directions which they were inabled infallibly to give unto them And yet notwithstanding these great Advantages we fâ—nd that sundry of them were suddenly fallen into siâ—ful neglects disorders and miscarriages both in Doctrine Discipline and worship Some of these were reproved and reformed by the Great Apostle in his Epistles written unto them for that End And some of them were rebuked and threatned by the Lord Christ himself immediately from Heaven That in process of Time they have increased in their Degeneracy waxing worse and worse their present state and Condition in the world or the Remembrance of them which are now not at all with the severe dealings of God with them in his Holy wise Providence do sufficiently manifest Yea some of them though yet continuing under other Forms and shapes have by their Superstition false worship and Express Idolatry joyned with wickedness of Life and Persecution of the true worshipers of Christ as also by casting themselves into a new worldly Constitution utterly forreign unto what is appointed in the Gospel abandoned their Interest in the State and Rights of Churches of Christ. So are sundry faithful Citties become Harlots and where Righteousness inhabited there dwells Persâ—câ—ting Murderers Such Churches were planted of Christ wholly noble vines but are degenerated into those that are bitter and wild Whatever our Judgment may be concerning the Personal condition of the Members of such apostatized Churches or of any of them all Communion with them as they would be esteemed the Seat of Gospel Ordinances and in their pretended Administrations of them is unlawful for us and it is our indispensible Duty to separate from them For whatever Indifferency many may be growing into in matter of outward worship which ariseth from ignorance of the Respect that is between the Grace and Institutions of Christ as that from an Apprehension that all internal Religion consists in Moral Honesty only yet we know not any other way whereby we may approve our selves faithful in our Profession but in the Observance of all whatever Christ hath commanded and to abstain from what he condemns For both our Faith and Love whatever we pretend will be found vain if we endeavour not to keep his Commandments Such was the state of things in the Church of Israel of old after the Defection uâ—der Jeroboam It was no more a true Church nor any Church at all by vertue of positive Institution For they had neither Priests nor Sacrifices nor any Ordinances of Publiâ—k worship that God approved of Hence it was the Duty of all that feared God in the Ten Tribes not to joyn with the Leaders and Body of the People in their worship as also to observe those Sacred Institutions of the Law which were forbidden by them in the Order that they should not go up to Jerusalem but attend unto all their Sacred Solemnities in the Places where the Calves were set up Accordingly many of the most Zealous Professors among them with the Priests and Levites and with a great Multitude of the People openly seperated from the Rest and joyned themselves unto Judah in the worship of God continued therein Others amongst them secretly in the worst of times preserved themselves from the Abominations of the whole People In like manner under the new Testament when some have deserved the Title of Babylon because of their Idolatry false worship and Persecution we are commanded to come out from among them in an open visible professed Seperation that we be not Partakers of their Sins and Plagues But this Judgment we are not to make nor do make concerning any but such as among whom Idolatry spreads its self over the Face of all their Solemn Assemblies and who joyn thereunto the Persecution of them who desire to worship God in Spirit and in Truth The Constitution of such Churches as to their being acceptable Assemblies of worshipers before God is lost and dissolved Neither is it Lawful for any Disciple of Christ to partake with them in their Sacred Administrations For so to do is plainly to disowne the Authority of Christ or to set up that of wicked and Corrupt men above it Yet all this hinders not but that there may in such Apostatical Churches remain a profession of the fundamental Truths of the Gospel And by vertue hereof as they maintain the interest of Christ's visible Kingdome in the world so we no way doubt but that there may be many amongst them who by a saving faith in the Truths they do profess do really belong to the Mistical Church of Christ. An instituted Church therefore may by the Crimes and wickedness of its Rulers and the generality of its Members and their Idolatrous Administrations in holy things utterly destroy their Instituted Estate and yet not presently all of them cease to belong unto the Kingdome of Christ. For we cannot say that those things which will certainly annul Church Administrations and render them abominable will absolutely destroy the salvation of all individual persons who partake in them and many may secretly preserve themselves from being defiled with such abominations So in the height of the Degeneracy and Apostacy of the Israelitish Church there were seven thousand who kept themselves pure from Baalish Idolatry of whom none were known to Elijah And therefore did God still continue a respect unto them as his people because of those secret ones and because the Token of his Covenant was yet in their flesh affording unto them an extraordinary Ministry by his Prophets when the ordinary by Priests and Levites was utterly ceased This we are to hope concerning every place where there is any Profession made of the Name of Christ seeing it was the Passion of Elijah which caused him to oversee so great a Remnant as God had left unto himself in the Kingdome of Israel And from his example we may learn that good men may somtimes be more
of their several Countries whereby their Civil Liberties and Advantages were confirmed unto them And if at any time it take place or prevail amongst Persons of more Light and Knowledge who are able to compare it or the practice of it with the Iâ—stitutions of Christ in the Gospel and the manner of the Admistration therein also directed it greatly alienates the minds of men from the Communion of such Churches Especially it doth so if set up unto an exclusion of that benigne kind spiritual and every way useful Discipline that Christ hath appointed to be exercised in his Church When Corruptions and Abuses were come to the height in the Papacy in this matter we know what ensued thereon Divines indeed and sundry other Persons Learned and Godly did principally insist on the Errors and Heresies which prevailed in the Church of Rome with the Defilements and Abominations of their Worship But that which alienated the minds of Princes Magistrates and whole Nations from them was the Ecclesiastical Domination which they had craftily erectsd and cunningly mannaged unto the ends of their own Ambition Power and Avarice under the name of Church-Rule and Discipline And where-ever any thing of the same kind is continued that a Rule under the same Pretence is erected and exercised in any Church after the nature of Secular Courts by force and power put forth in Legal Citations Penalties Pecuniary Mulcts without an open evidence of mens being acted in what they do herein by Love Charity Compassion towards the Souls of men Zeel for the Glory of God and Honour of Christ with a Design for the Purity Holiness and Reformation of the Members of it that Church may not expect Unity and Peace any longer than the terrour of its Proceedings doth over-ballance other Thoughts and Desires proceeding from a sense of Duty in all that belong unto it Yea whatever is or is to be the manner of the Administration of Discipline in the Church about which there may be doubtful Disputations which men of an ordinary capacity may not be able clearly to determine yet if the avowed end of it be not the Purity and Holiness of the Church and if the Effects of it in a tendency unto that End be not manifest it is hard to find out whence our Obligation to a compliance with it should arise And where an outward Conformity unto some Church-Order is aimed at alone in the room of all other things it will quickly prove it self to be nothing or of no value in the sight of Christ. And these things do alienate the minds of many from an acquiescencie in their Stations or Relations to such Churches For the principal Enforcements of mens Obedience and Reverence unto the Rulers of the Church is because they watch diligently for the good of their Souls as those that must give an Account And if they see such set over them as give no evidence of any such watchful Care acting its self according to those Scripture-Directions which are continually read unto them but rather rule them with force and rigour seeking theirs not them they grow weary of the Yoke and sometimes regularly sometimes irregularly contrive their own Freedom and Deliverance It may not here be amiss to enquire into the Reasons and Occasions that have seduced Churches and their Rulers into the Miscarriages insisted on Now these are chiefly some Principles with their Application that they have trusted unto but which indeed have really deceived them and will yet continue so to do And the first of these is that whereas they are true Churches and thereon intrusted with all Church-Power and Priviledges they need not further concern themselves to seek for Grounds or Warranty to keep up all their Members unto their Communion For be they otherwise what they will so long as they are True Churches it is their duty to abide in their Peace and Order If any call their Church-state into question they take no consideration of them but how they may be punished it may be destroyed as perverse Schismaticks And they are ready to suppose that upon an acknowledgment that they are True Churches every dissent from them in any thing must needs be criminal As if it were all one to be a True Church and to be in the Truth and Right in all things a supposition whereof includes a Nullity in the state of those Churches which in the least differ from them than which there is no more uncharitable nor Schismatical Principle in the world But in the common Definition of Schism that it is a causeless Separation from a true Church that term of causless is very little considered or weighed by them whose Interest it is to lay the Charge of it on others And hence it is come to pass that where-ever there have been complaints of Faults Miscarriages Errors Defections of Churches in late Ages their Counsels have only been how to destroy the Complainers not in the least how they should reform themselves as though in Church-Affairs Truth Right and Equity were entailed on Power and Possession How the Complaints concerning the Church of Rome quickned by the Outcries of so many Provinces of Europe and Evidence in matter of Fact were eluded and frustrated in the Councel of Trent leaving all tfiings to be tried out by Interest and force is full well known For they know that no Reformation can be attempted and accomplished but it will be a business of great Labour Care and Trouble things not delightful unto the minds of men at ease Besides as it may possibly ruffle or discompose some of the Chiefs in their present ways or enjoyments so it will as they fear tend to their Disreputation as though they had formerly been out of the way or neglective of their Duty And this as they suppose would draw after it another Inconvenience by reflecting on them and their Practices as the Occasions of former Disorders and Divisions They chuse therefore generally to flatter themselves under the Name and Authority of the Church and lay up their Defence and Security against an humble painful Reformation in a Plea that they need it not So was it with the Church of Laodicea of old who in the height of her decaying condition flattered her self That she was rich and encreased in Goods and had need of nothing and knew not or would not acknowledge that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now it cannot but seem exceeding strange unto men who wisely consider these things that whereas the Churches which were planted and watered by the Apostles themselves and enjoyed for some good season the presence and advantage of their infallible Guidance to preserve them in their original purity and order did within a few years many of them so degenerate and stand in need of Reformation that our Lord Jesus Christ threatned from Heaven to cast them off and destroy them unless they did speedily reform themselves according to his mind that those now
intestine Differences and Schismes do but reproach them that they have not been able in an hundred years to rectifie all those Abuses and remove all those Disorders which they were inventing and did introduce in a thousand There is one thing only of this Nature or that owes it self unto this Original which we shall instance in as an occasion of much Disorder in the present Churches and of great Divisions that ensue thereon It is known none were admitted unto the fellowship of the Church in the Dayes of the Apostles but upon their Repentance Faith and turning unto God The plain Story of their Preaching the Success which they had therein and their Proceedings to gather and plant Churches thereon puts this out of the reach of all sober Contradiction None will say that they gathered Churches of Jews and Gentiles that is whilst they continued such nor of open Sinners continuing to live in their sins An evidence therefore and Confession of Conversion to God was unavoidably necessary to the Admission of Members in the first Churches Neither will we ever contend with such importune Prejudices as under any pretences capable of a wrangling Countenance shall set up against this evidence Hence in the judgment of Charity all the Members of those Churches were looked on as persons really justified and sanctified as effectually converted unto God and as such were they saluted and treated by the Apostles As such we say they were looked on and owned and as such upon their Confession it was the duty of all men even of the Apostles themselves to look on them and own them though absolutely in the sight of God who alone is the Searcher of the hearts of men some among them were Hypocrites and some proved Apostates But this Profession of Conversion unto God by the Ministry of the Word and the mutual acknowledgment of each other as so converted unto God in a way of Duty was the foundation of holy spiritual Love and Unity among them And although this did not nor could preserve all the first Churches absolutely free from Schismes and Divisions yet was it the most Soveraign Antidote against that Infection and the most effectual means for the reduction of Unity after that by the violent interposition of mens Corruptions and Temptations it had been lost for a season Afterwards in the Primitive times when many more took on them the profession of Christian Religion who had not such eminent and visible Conversions unto God as most of those had who were changed by the Ministry of the Apostles that persons unfit and unqualified for that state and condition of being Members of Churches might not be admitted into them unto the disturbance of their Order and disreputation of their Holy Conversation they were for some good season kept in the condition of Expectants and called Catechumens or persons that attended the Church for Instruction In this state they were taught the Mysteries of Religion and trial was made of their Faith Holiness and Constancy before their Admission And by this means was the preservation of the Churches in Purity Peace and Order provided for Especially were they so in conjunction with that severe Discipline which was then exercised towards all the Members of them But after that the Multitudes of the Gentile world in the times of the first Christian Emperors pressed into the Church and were admitted on much easier terms than those before mentioned whole Nations came to claim successively the priviledge of Church-Membership without any personal duty performed or profession made unto that purpose on their part And so do they continue to do in many places to this day Men generally trouble themselves no farther about a Title to Church-Membership and Priviledges but rest in the prepossession of their Ancestors and their own Nativity in such or such places For whatever may be owned or acknowledged concerning the necessity of a visible Profession of Faith and Repentance and that credible as to the sincerity of it in the judgment of Charity it is certain for the most part no such thing is required of any nor performed by them And they do but ill consult for the edification of the Church or the good of the Souls of men who would teach them to rest in an outward formal Representation of things instead of the reality of Duties and the power of Internal Grace And no small part of the present ruine of Christian Religion owes it self unto this corrupt Principle For whereas the things of it which consist in Powers Internal and effectual Operations of Grace have outward Representations of them which from their Relation unto what they represent are called by the same names with them many take up with and rest in these external things as though Christianity consisted in them although they are but a dead Carcass where the quickning life and Soul of internal Grace is wanting Thus it is in this matter where there is a shadow and appearance of Church-Order when the truth and substance of it is far away Men come together unto all the Ends of Church-Assemblies where unto they are admitted but on no other grounds with no other hearts nor designes but on and with what they partake in any Civil Society or joyntly engage in any other worldly Concern And this Fundamental Errour in the Constitution of many Churches is the occasion as of other Evils so in particular of Divisions among professed Christians Hence originally was the Discipline of the Church accommodated by various degrees to the Rule and Government of such persons as understood little or were little sensible of the Nature Power and Efficacy of that spiritual Discipline which is instituted in the Gospel which thereby at last degenerated into the outward way of Force and Power before described For the Churches began to be composed of such as could no otherwise be ruled And instead of reducing them to their Primitive Temper and Condition where unto the Evangelical Rule was suited there was invented a way of Government accommodate unto that state whereinto they were lapsed which those concerned found to be the far easier work of the two Hence did sincere mutual Love with all the fruits of it begin to decay among Church-Members seeing they could not have that tollerable perswasion of that Truth of Profession in each other which is necessary to preserve it without Dissimulation and to provoke it unto a due Exercise Hence did private spiritual Communion fail amongst them the most being strangers unto all the ways and means of it yea despising and contemning it in all the instances of its exercise which will yet be found to be as the Life and Soul of all useful Church-communion And where publick Communion is only attended unto with a neglect hereof it will quickly wither and come to nothing For on this occasion do all duties of Watchfulness Exhortations and Admonitions proceeding from mutual Love and Care of each others condition so frequently recommended unto us in the Scripture
shall always walk blameless according unto the Evangelical Rule of obedience without giving offence unto others The state of the Church is not like to be so blessed in this World that all who belong unto it should be constantly and perpetually inoffensive This indeed is the Duty of all but it will fall out otherwise It did so amongst the Primitive Churches of old and is not therefore otherwise to be expected amongst us on whom the ends of the world are come and who are even pressed with the Decayes and Ruines of it Many Hypocrites may obtain an admission into Church Societies by the strictest Rules that any can proceed upon therein And these after they have known and professed the wayes of Righteousness may and often do turn aside from the holy Commandment delivered unto them and fall again into the Polutions of the world Many good men and really sincere Believers may through the power of Temptations be surprized into faults and sins scandalous to the Gospel and offensive to the whole Congregation whereof they are Members Hath the Lord Christ appointed no Relief in and for his Churches in such Cases no way whereby they may clear themselves from a participation in such impieties or deliver themselves from being looked on as those who give countenance unto them as they who continue in this Communion may and ought to be no Power whereby they may put forth from among them the old Leaven which would otherwise infect the whole no way to discharge themselves and their Societies of such Persons as are impenitent in their Sins No Means for the awakening conviction Humiliation and Recovery of them that have offended no way to declare his Mind and Judgment in such Cases with the Sentence that he denounceth in Heaven against them that are impenitent If he hath done none of these things it is evident that no Churches in this world can possibly be preserved from disorder and Confusion Nor can they by Love and the Fruits of an holy Communiou be kept in such a condition as wherein he can be pleased with them or continue to walk amongst them For let men please themselves whilst they will with the Name of the Church it is no otherwise with them where Persons Obstinately and impenitently wicked and whose Lives are wholly discrepant from the Rule of the Gospel are suffered to abide without controll But if he hath made the Provision enquired after in this Case as it is evident that he hath both the Authority he hath granted unto his Church for these Ends his Commands to exercise it with Care and Watchfulness with the Rules given them to proceed by with the known End of all Instituted Churches for the Promotion of Holiness being all open and plain in the Scripture it must then be enquired unto whom this Trust is firstly committed and of whom these Duties are principally required For Private Members of the Church what is their Duty and the way how they may regularly attend unto the Discharge of it according to the Mind of Christ in case of scandalous Sins and Offences among them they are so plainly and particularly laid down and directed as that setting aside the Difficulties that are cast on the Rule herein by the extreamly forced and unproveable exceptions of some interested Persons that none can be ignorant of what is required of them Mat. 18. v. 15 16 17 18 19 20. And a Liberty to discharge their Duty herein they are bound by the Law of Christ in due Order to provide for If they are abridged hereof and deprived thereby of so great a Means of their own Edification as also of the usefulness required in them towards the Church whereof they are Members it is a spiritual Oppression that they suffer under And where it is voluntarily neglected by them not only the Guilt of their own but of other Mens sins also lies upon them Neither is their own Guilt small herein For suffering sin to abide on a Brother without reproof is a fruit of hatred in the Interpretation of the Law and this hatred is a sin of an heynous Nature in the sense of the Gospel The Duty also of the whole Church in such Cases is no less evidently declared For from such Persons as walk disorderly and refuse to reform on due Admonition they are to withdraw and to put from amongst them such obstinate Offenders as also previously thereunto to watch diligently least any root of bitterness spring up among them whereby they might be defiled And hereunto also are subservient all the Commands that are given them to exhort and admonish one another that the whole Church may be preserved in Purity Order Holiness and Faithfulness But the chief enquiry is with whom rests the Principal Care and Power according to the Mind of Christ to see the Discipline of the Church in Particular Congregations exercised and to exercise it accordingly If this should be found to be in the Ministers and through their neglect in the Administration of it Offenders be left in their sins and Impenitency without a due Application of the means for their Healing and Recovery if the Church its self come to be corrupted thereby and to fall under the Displeasure of Jesus Christ as these things in one Degree or other more or less will ensue on that neglect it will not turn unto their Comfortable Account at the great Day That this is their Duty that this Authority and Inspection is committed unto them the Reasons before insisted on in the Case of Admission do undeniably evince And if those Ministers who do Conscientiously attend unto the Discharge of their Ministerial Office towards particular Flocks would but examine their own hearts by the Light of open and plain Scripture Testimonies with the Nature of their Office and of the work they are ingaged in there would need little arguing to convince them of what Trust is committed unto them or what is required from them If the Consciences of others are not concerned in these things if they have no Light into the Duty which seems to be incumbent on them their Principles and Practices or as we think mistakes and neglects can be no Rule unto us What we may be forbidden what we may be hindred in is of another Consideration But for us voluntarily to ingage unto the Omission of that Duty which we cannot but believe that it will be required of us is an Evil which we are every way obliged to avoid There are also sundry Particular Duties relating unto these that are more general which in like manner on the Terms of Communion proposed unto us must be foregone and omitted And where by these means or neglects some of the Principal ways of Exercising Church Communion are cast out of the Church some of the means of the Edification of its Members are wholly lost and sundry Duties incumbent on them are virtually prohibited unto them untill they are utterly grown into
the Peace and quiet of the Nation and not from any Scripture or Religious Rules And were these Prohibitions only temporary or occasional suited unto such Emergencies as may give countenance unto their necessity there might be a proportionable compliance with them But whereas they respect all times alike it is no doubt incumbent on them who act any thing contrary unto such Prohibitions to secure their own Consciences that they no way interfere with the Intention and End of the Law by giving the least countenance or occasion unto civil disturbances and others also by their peaceable deportment in all they do But whereas they have received a Talent from the Lord Christ to trade withal have accepted of his Terms and engaged into his Service without any condition of exception in case of such Prohibitions it is not possible they should satisfie their Consciences in desisting from their work on such Occurrences any farther than in what they must yield unto outward force and necessity It is pretended by some that if such a Legal Prohibition were given unto all the Ministers of the Gopel it would not be obligatory unto them For if it should be so esteemed it were in the power of any Supream Magistrate lawfully to forbid the whole work of Preaching the Gospel unto his Subjects which is contrary to the Grant made by God the Father unto Jesus Christ that all Nations should be his Inheritance and the Commission he gave thereon unto his Apostles to teach all Nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven But it being some only that are concerned in this Prohibition it is their duty for Peace sake to acquiesce in the will of their Superiors therein whilst there are others sufficient to carry on the same work That Peace is or may be secur'd on other Terms hath been already declared But that one mans Liberty to attend unto his Duty and his doing it accordingly should excuse another from that which is personally incumbent on himself is a matter not easily apprehended nor can be readily digested Besides what is pretended of the sufficient number of Preachers without any contribution of aid from the Non-conformists is indeed but pretended For if all that are found in the Faith gifted and called to the work of the Ministry in these Nations were equally encouraged unto and in their work yet would they not be able to answer the necessities of the Souls of men requiring an attendance unto it in a due measure and manner And those who have exercised themselves unto compassionate thoughts towards the multitudes of poor Sinners in these Nations will not be otherwise minded Wherefore these things being premised we shall shut up these Discourses with a brief Answer unto the foregoing Objection which was the occasion of them And we say 1. That Schism being the Name of a Sin or somewhat that is evil it can in no Circumstances be any maes Duty But we have manifested as satisfactorily unto our own Consciences so we hope unto the minds of unprejudiced persons that in our present condition our Assemblies for the Worship of God are our express Duty and so can have no Affinity with any sin or evil And those who intend to charge us with Schisme in or for our Assemblies must first prove them not to be our Duty 2. Notwithstanding them or any thing by us performed in them we do preserve our communion entire with the Church of England that is all the visible Professors of the Gospel in this Nation as it is a part of the Catholick Church in the Unity of the Faith owned therein provided it be not measured by the present Opinions of some who have evidently departed from it Our Non-admittance of the present Government and Discipline of the Church as apprehended National and as it is in the hands of meerly Ecclesiastical persons or such as are pretended so to be we have accounted for before But we are One with the whole Body of the Professors of the Protestant Religion in a publick avowment of the same Faith 3. Into Particular Churches we neither are nor can be admitted but on those terms and conditions which not only we may justly but which we are bound in a way of Duty to refuse And this also hath been pleaded before Besides no man is so obliged unto communion with any Particular or Parochial Church in this Nation but that it is in his own power at any time to relinquish it and to secure himself also from all Laws which may respect that communion by the removal of his Habitation It is therefore evident that we never had any relation unto any Parochial Church but what is Civil and Arbitrary a relinquishment whereof is practised at pleasure every day by all sorts of men Continuing therefore in the constant Profession of the same Faith with all other Protestants in the Nation and the whole Body thereof as united in the Profession of it under one Civil or Political Head and having antecedently no Evangelical Obligation upon us unto Local communion in the same Ordinances of Worship numerically with any particular or Parochial Church and being prohibited from any such communion by the Terms Conditions and Customes indispensibly annexed unto it by the Laws of the Land and the Church which are not lawful for us to observe being Christs Freemen It being moreover our duty to assemble our selves in Societies for the Celebration of the Worship of God in Christ as that which is expresly commanded we are abundantly satisfied that however we may be censured judged or condemned by men in and for what we do yet that he doth both accept us here and will acquit us hereafter whom we serve and seek in all things to obey Wherefore we are not convinced that any Principle or practice which we own or allow is in any thing contrary to that Love Peace and Unity which the Lord Christ requireth to be kept and preserved among his Disciples or those that profess Faith in him and Obedience unto him according to the Gospel We know not any thing in them but what is consistent and compliant with that Evangelical Vnion which ought to be in and among the Churches of Christ the terms whereof we are ready to hold and observe even with them that in sundry things differ from us as we shall endeavour also to exercise all Duties of the same Love Peaceableness and Gentleness towards them by whom we are hated and reviled FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. line 21. read from him p. 5. l. 9. r. train of l. 12. for seriousness r. fierceness p. 16 l. 26. for security r. severity l. 33 of it add which we have hitherto professed p. 19. l 23. r. searcher p. 31. l. 23. r. 18. p. 32. l. 29 r. principles p. 38. l. 9. r. Church state p. 49. l. 1. r. in this p. 66. l. 4. r. lost us p. 87. l. 19. for particularities r. particular Rites p 98. l. 12. for this r. their p. 100 l 10 for according r. avoiding p. 116. l. 2. r. could p. 130. 17. r. Ascadius p. 152. l. 20. for your r. their p. 155. l. 6. r. gender p. 156. l. 16. r. occasions p. 159. l. 12. r. this p. 167. l. 21. r. their 186. l. 2. for erected r. enacted p. 190. l. 28. r. Easter was p. 198. l. 13. r. indeseazable p. 202. l. 20. r. expressed Judges 5. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 41 42 43. 2 Sam. 16. 4. 2 Chron. 20. 23. Heyl. Hist of Presb. Phil. 2. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Heb. 12. 14. Rom. 11. 13. Ephes. 2. 12 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Acts 12. Mark 16. 15. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 16. Luk. â— 18. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 1 2 3. Ch. 4. 18. Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Joh. 3. 15 36. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. Act. 4. 12 1 Cor. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 29 30. Rom. 10. 13 14 15 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Rom. 10 10. Ephes â— 26 27. 1 Joh. 3 16. Rom. 14. 3. John 15. 18 19 25. Ps. 35. 19 Acts. 18. 9 10 11. Mat. 24. 14. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Jam. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 15. Act. 14 23. Chap. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Act. 15. 2 Phil. 1. 1. Rev. 2. 3. Mat. 28. 20. John 15. 10 14. 2 Chron. 11. Chap. 13. 1 Kings 12. Chap. 13. Rev. 18. 4. Ephes. 4. 3 4. John 17. 21 22. Eph. 5. 30 2 Pet. 1. 4 Gen. 5 2. 3 1 Cor. 12 12 13. Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19 Rom. 14. 5. Phil. 3. 15 1 Cor. 10. 12. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 15 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Mat. 28. 19 20. Ephes. 4. 8 9 10 11 12 13. John 17. 20 21 22. 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 16. Heb. 13. 27. Rev. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Acts 20. 18 19 20 21 31. Lnk. 22. 24 25. 26. 2 Thes. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 1. 11. Chap. 3. 3. 1 Thess. 4. 11. Mat. 6. 1. 2. Luke 6. 37. Rom. 14. 3. 4. 10. Jam. 4. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Rom. 12 3. 1 Cor. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 10 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. Mat. 28. 19 20. Gal. 6. 1. â—ct 6. 4. Sâ—crat Hâ—st lib. 5. Acts 15. 1 Cor. 11. 23. 3. Joh. 9 10. Ro. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15. He. 5. 12 13 14. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Acts 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Act. 6. 4. Acts 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Heb. 5. 17. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Acts 9. 26 27 28. Ro. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 1 6 7. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 18. 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rev. 2 2. Lev. 19. 17. 1 Joh. 2. 9 10. â— 15. 1 Cor. 5. 6 9 10. 2 Thess. 3. 6. Isa. 26. 2. Ezek. 43. 12. Chap. 44. 9. Levit. 11. 44. Rom. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 1 2. Chap. 12. 13. Phil 1. 4 Col. 2. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 22. Ezek 44. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 6. Heb. 12. 15 16.
Empire under himself by their common consent In the mean time by the Original Divisions of the Empire and the Revolutions that happened afterwards amongst the Nations of the World the greatest number of Christians were wholly inconcerned in this new Church Soveraignty which was erected in the Western Provinces of that Empire So was the Mystery of Iniquity consummated for whereas the Pope to secure his new Acquisitions endeavoured to empale the Title and Priviledges of the Catholick Church unto those Christians which professed Obedience unto himself unto an exclusion of a greater number there ensued such a confusion of the Catholick and a particular Church as that both of them were almost utterly lost Concerning these several sorts of conceited particular Churches it is evident that some of them as to their nature and kind have no Institution in nor warrant from the Scripture but were Prudential Contrivances of the men of the Dayes wherein they were first formed which they effected by various degrees under the conduct of an Apprehension that they tended unto the increase of Concord and Order among Christians Whether really and effectually they have attained that end the event hath long since manifested And it will be one day acknowledged that no Religious Vnion or Order among Christians will be lasting and of spiritual use or advantage unto them but what is appointed and designed for them by Jesus Christ. The truth is the mutual intestine Differences and Contests among them who first possessed the Rule of such Churches about their Dignities Pre-eminences Priviledges and Jurisdictions which first apparently let in Pride Ambition Revenge and Hatred into the Minds and Lives of Church-Guides lost in the peace of Christendome and the degeneracy of theâ—r Successors more and more into a secular Interest and worldly frame of Spirit is one great means of continuing us at a loss for its retrival How far any man may be obliged in Conscience unto communion with these Churches in those things wherein they are such and as such behave themselves in all their Rule and Administrations may be enquired into by them who are concerned What respect we have unto them or what Duty we may owe them as they may in any place be established by the Civil Laws of the Supream Magistrate is not of our present consideration But whereas in their Original and Rise they have no other warrant but the Prudential contrivance of some men who unquestionably might be variously influenced by corrupt Preâ—udâ—ces and Affections in the finding out and mannagement of their Inventions what ground there is for holding a Religious communion with them and wherein such communion may consist is not easie to be declared For the notion that the Church-communion of the generality of Christians and Ministers consists only in a quiet subjection unto them who by any means may pretend to be set over them and claim a right to rule them is fond and impious In the mean time we wholly deny that the Mistakes or Disorders of Christians in complying with or joyning themselves unto such Churches as have no warrantable institution ought to be any cause of the diminishing of our Love towards them or of withdrawing it from them For notwithstanding their Errors and Wanderings from the Paths of Truth in this Matter they do or may continue interested in all that Love which is due from us unto the Church of Christ upon the double account before insisted on For they may be yet persons born of God united unto Christ made partakers of his Spirit and so belong to the Church Catholick Mystical which is the first principal Object of all Christian Love and Charity The Errors wherewith they are supposed to be overtaken may befal any persons under those Qualifications the admittance of them though culpable being not inconsistent with a state of Grace and acceptation with God And they may also by a due profession of the fundamental Truths of the Gospel evince themselves to be professed Subjects of the visible Kingdom of Christ in the world and so belong to the Church Catholick vâ—sibly professing under which notion the Disciples of Christ are in the next place commended unto our Love And it is the fondest imagination in the world that we must of necessity want Love towards all those with whom we cannot join in all acts of Religious Worship or that there need be any Schisme between them and us on the sole account thereof taking Schisme in the common received notion of it If we bear unkindness towards them in our minds and hearts if we desire or seek their hurt if we persecute them or put them to trouble in the world for their Profession if we pray not for them if we pity them not in all their Temptations Errors or Sufferings if we say unto any of them when naked be thou cloathed and when hungry be thou fed but relieve them not according unto our abilities and opportunities if we have an aversation to their Persons or judge them any otherwise than as they cast themselves openly and visibly under the sentence of Natural Reason or Scripture-Rule we may be justly thought to fail in our Love towards them But if our Hearts condemn us not in these things it is not the difference that is or may be between them and us about Church-Constitutions or Order that ought be a cause or can be an evidence of any want of Love on our parts There will indeed be a distinct and separate practice in the things wherein the difference lies which in it self and without other avoidable evils need not on either side to be Schismatical If by censures or any kind of power such Churches or Persons would force us to submit unto or comply with such things or ways in Religious Worship as are contrary unto our Light and which they have no Authority from the Lord Christ to impose upon us the whole state of the Case is changed as we shall see afterwards As for those Particular Churches which in any part of the world consist of Persons assembling together for the worship of God in Christ under the Guidance of their own Lawful Pastors and Teachers we have only to say that we are full well assured that where-ever two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ there he is present with them and farther than this there are very few concerning whom we are called to pass any other Censure or Judgment So we hope it is with them and so we pray that it may be And therefore we esteem it our Duty to hold that Communion with all these Assemblies when called thereunto which is required of any Christians in the like cases and Circumstances Unless we are convinced that with respect unto such or such Instances it is the Mind of Christ that neither among our selves nor in Conjunction with others nor for the sake of present Communion with them we should observe them in his worship we judge our selves under an Obligation
severe in their censures for God than he will be for himself Moreover such as were baptized in those Churches were not baptized into them as particular Churches nor initiated into them thereby But the Relation which ensued unto them thereon was unto the Catholick Church visible together with a seperation from the Infidel world lying wholly in darkness and evil by a dedication unto the Name of Christ. Upon a personal avowment of that Faith whereinto they were baptized they became compleat Members of that Church Whatever state they are hereby admitted into whatever benefit or priviledge they are personally interested in they lose them not by the miscarriage of that particular Church whereunto they do relate Yea losing the whole advantage of an Instituted Church-state they may still retain whatever belongs unto their Faith and Profession Were Baptisme only an Initiation into a Particular Church upon the failure of that Church Baptism as to all its benefits and Priviledges must cease also We do therefore own that amongst those whose Assemblies are rejected by Christ because of their false worship and wickedness there may be persons truly belonging to the Mystical Church of God and that also by their Profession are a portion of his Visible Kingdome in the World How far they do consent unto the Abominations of the Churches whereunto they do belong how far they have Light against them how far they do bewaile them how far they repent of them what God will bear withall in them we know not nor are called to judge Our Love is to be towards them as persons relating unto Jesus Christ in the capacity mentioned but all Communion with them in the Acts of false Worship is forbidden unto us By vertue also of that Relation which they still continue unto Christ and his Church as believers they have Power and are warranted as it is their Duty to reform themselves and to joyn together anew in Church Order for the due celebration of Gospel Ordinances unto the Glory of Christ and their own edification For it is fond to imagine that by the sins of others any Disciples of Christ in any place of the world should be deprived of a Right to perform their Duty towards him when it is discovered unto them And these are our thoughts concerning such Churches as are openly and visibly Apostatical Again There are Corruptions that may befall or enter into Churches that are not of so heinous a nature as those before insisted on Especially if as it often falls out the whole Lump be not leavened if the whole Body be not infected but only some Part or Parts of it which others more sound do resist and give their Testimony against And these may have none of the pernicious consequences before mentioned Thus many Errours in Doctrines Disorders and Miscarriages in sacred Administrations irregular walking in conversation with neglect or abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches which yet may be so far from evacuating their Church state as that they give no sufficient Warrant unto any person immediately to leave their Communion or to seperate from them The Instances that may be given of the failings of some of the Primitive Churches in all these things with the consideration of the Apostolical Directions given unto them on such Occasions render this Assertion evident and incontroulable Nor do we in the least approve of their practise if any such there be that are considerable who upon every failing in these things in any Church think themselves sufficiently warranted immediately of their own minds to depart from its Communion Much more do we condemn them who suffer themselves in these things to be guided by their own surmises and misapprehensions For such there may be as make their own hasty conceptions to be the Rule of all Church Administrations and Communion who unless they are in all things pleased can be quiet no where Wherefore when any Church whereof a man is by his own consent antecedently a Member doth fall in part or in whole from any of those Truths which it hath professed or when it is overtaken with a neglect of Discipline or irregularities in its administration such a one is to consider that he is placed in his present state by divine Providence that he may orderly therein endeavour to put a stop unto such Defections and to exercise his charity Love and Forbearance towards the persons of them whose Miscarriages at present he cannot Remedy In such cases there is a large and spacious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most perverse Imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church-disorders All the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit bestowed on Church-Members to be exercised in their several stations at such a season all Instructions given for their due improvement unto the good of the whole the Nature Rules and Laws of all Societies declare that all other Remedies possible and lawful are to be attempted before a Church be finally deserted But these Rules are to be observed provided alwayes that it be judged unlawful for any Persons either for the sake of Peace or Order or Concord or on any other consideration to join actually in any thing that is sinful or to profess any Opinion which is contrary to Sound Doctrine or the form of wholesome words which we are bound to hold fast on all Emergencies And farther if we may suppose as sure enough we may that such a Church so corrupted shall obstinately persist in its Errors Miscarriages Neglects and Mal-administrations that it shall refuse to be warned or admonished or being so by any means shall wilfully reject and despise all Intruction that it will not bear with them that are yet sound in it whether Elders or Members in peaceable Endeavors to reduce it unto the order of the Gospel but shall rather hurt persecute and seek their trouble for so doing whereby their Edification comes continually to be obstructed and their Souls to be hazarded through the loss of Truth and Peace we no way doubt but that it is lawful for such persons to withdraw themselves from the Communion of such Churches and that without any apprehension that they have absolutely lost their Church-state or are totally rejected by Jesus Christ. For the means appointed unto any end are to be measured and regulated according unto their usefulness unto that end Aud let mens present Apprehensions be what they will it will one day appear that the end of all Church-Order Rule Communion and Administrations is not the Grandeur or secular Advantages of some few not outward Peace and Quietness unto whose preservation the Civil Power is ordained but the Edification of the Souls of men in Faith Love and Gospel-Obedience Where therefore these things are so disposed of and mannaged as that they do not regularly further and promote that End but rather obstruct it if they will not be reduced unto their due Order and Tendency
they may be laid aside and made use of in another way Much more may any refuse the communion of such Churches if they impose on them their Corruptions Errors Failings and Mistakes as the coudition of their Communion For hereby they directly make themselves Lords over the Faith and Worship of the Disciples of Christ and are void of all Authority from him in what they so do or impose And it is so far that any mens withdrawing of themselves from the communion of such Churches and entring into a way of Reformation for their own good in obedience to the Laws of Christ should infer in them a want of Love and Peaceableness or a Spirit of Division that to do otherwise were to divide from Christ and to cast out all true Christian Love embracing a Cloud of slothful negligence and carelesness in the great concernments of the Glory of God and their own Souls in the room thereof We are neither the Authors nor the Guides of our own Love He who implants and worketh it in us hath given us Rules how it must be exercised and that on all emergencies It may work as regularly by sharp cutting Rebukes as by the most silken and compliant expressions by manifesting an aversation from all that is evil as by embracing and approving of what is good In all things and cases it is to be directed by the Word And when under the pretence of it we leave that Rule and go off from any Duty which we owe immediately unto God it is Will Pride and Self-conceit in us and not Love And among all the Exhortations that are given us in the Scripture unto Unity and Concord as the Fruits of Love there is not one that we should agree or comply with any in their sins or evil practices But as we are commanded in our selves to obtain from all appearance of evil so are we forbidden a participation in the sins of other men and all fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness Our Love towards such Churches is to work by Pity Compassion Prayer Instructions which are due means for their healing and recovery not by consent unto them or communion with them whereby they may be hardned in the Error of their way and our own Souls be subverted For if we have not a due respect unto the Lord Christ and his Authority all that we have or may pretend to have unto any Church is of no value Neither ought we to take into consideration any terms of Communion whose foundation is not laid in a regard thereunto Moreover as hath been declared there is no such society of Christians in the world whose Assemblies as to Instituted Worship are rejected by Christ so that they have a Bill of Divorce given unto them by the Declaration of the Will of the Lord Jesus to that purpose in the Scripture but that until they are utterly also as it were extirpate by the Providence of God as are many of the Primitive Plantations we are perswaded of them that there are yet some secret hidden ones among them that belong unto the purpose of Gods Grace For we do judge that where-ever the Name of Jesus Christ is called upon there is salvation to be obtained however the wayes of it may be obstructed unto the most by their own Sins and Errors They may also retain that Profession which distinguisheth them from the Infidel world In these things we are still to hold communion with them and on these accounts is our Love to be continued unto them Some kind of communion we may hold with them that that are of no Instituted or Particular Churches or whose Church-State is rejected even as a person excommunicated is to be admonished as a Brother And some kind of communion we may lawfully refuse with some true Churches Instances whereof shall be given afterwards There is therefore no necessity that any should deny all them to be true Churches from whom they may have just reason to withdraw their communion For such as are so may require such things thereunto as it is not lawful for them to accept of or submit unto What Assemblies of Christians we behold visibly worshiping God in Christ we take for granted to be true visible Churches And when we judge of our own communion with them it is not upon this Question whether they are true Churches or no as though the determination of our practice did depend solely thereon For as we are not called to judge of the being of their Constitution as to the substance of it unless they are openly judged in the Scripture as in the case of Idolatry and Persecution persisted in so a determination of the Truth of their constitution or that they are true Churches will not presently resolve us in our Duty as to communion with them for the Reasons before given But in such a cà se two things are by us principally to be considered 1. That nothing sinful in it self or unto us be required of us as the condition of communion 2. That we may in such Churches obtain the immediate end of their Institution and our Conjunction with them which is our Edification in Faith Love and Obedience And the things whereof we have discoursed comprize our Thoughts concerning those Societies of Christians whose degeneracy from their primitive Rule and Institution is most manifest and notorious Whilst there is any Profession of the Gospel any subjection of Souls unto Jesus Christ avowed or any expectation of help from him continued among them we cannot but hope that there are in all of them at least some few Names that are written in the Lambs Book of Life and which shall be saved eternally For as a Relation unto a particular visible Church walking according to the Order and Rule of the Gospel is the Duty of every Believer to give himself up unto as that which is a means appointed and sanctified to the furtherance of his Edification and Salvation so where it cannot be obtained through invincible outward Impediments or is omitted through ignorance of Duty or is on just Causes refused where opportunities make a tender of it or where the being and benefit of it is lost through the Apostasie of those Churches whereunto any persons did belong the utter want of it and that alwayes is not such as necessarily infers the eternal loss of their Souls who suffer under it Other Churches there are in the world which are not evidently guilty of the Enormities in Doctrine Worship and Discipline before discoursed of These all we judge to be true Churches of Christ and do hope that his promised presence is with them in their Assemblies Answerable hereunto is our Judgment concerning their Officers or Rulers and all their Sacred Administrations It becomes us to think and believe that the one have Authority from Christ and that the other are accepted with him For it is most unwarrantable rashness and presumption yea an evident fruit of Ignorance or want of Love or secular private Interest
when upon lesser Differences men judge Churches to be no true Churches and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and consequently all their Administrations to be invalid So do some judge of Churches because they have 〈◊〉 Bishops and so do more of others because they have none But the Validity or Invalidity of the Ordinances of Christ which are the Means of Union and Communion with him unto all his Disciples depend not on the determination of things highly disputable in their Notion and not inconsistent with true Gospel-Obedience in their Practice And we are unduly charged with other Apprehensions God forbid that any such thought should ever enter into our heorts as though the Churches constituted in all things according unto our Light and the Rules we apprehend appointed in the Scripture for that purpose should be the only true Churches in the world They do but out of design endeavour to expose us to popular envy and hatred who invent and publish such things concerning us or any of us But whatever be the Judgment of others concerning us we intend not to take from thence any such provocation as might corrupt our Judgments concerning them nor to relieve our selves by returning the like censures unto them as we receive from them Scripture Rule and Duty must in these matters regulate our thoughts on all occasions And whilst we judge others to be true Churches we shall not be much moved with their judgment that we are none because we differ from them We stand to the judgment of Christ and his Word We cannot but judge indeed that many Churches have missed and do miss in some things the precise Rules of their due constitution and walking that many of them have added useless superfluous Rites to the Worship of God among them that there is in many of them a sinful neglect of Evangelical Discipline or a carnal Rule erected in the stead of it that Errors in Doctrines of importance and danger are prevalent in sundry of them that their Rulers are much influenced by a spirit of bitterness and envy against such as plead for Reformation beyond their measure or interest yet that hereupon they should all or any of them immediately forfeit their Church-State so as to have no lawful Ministers nor acceptable sacred Administrations is in it self a false Imagination and such as was never by us entertained In particular as to those Churches in Europe which are commonly called Reformed we have the same thoughts of them the same Love towards them the same readiness for communion with them as we would desire any Disciples of Christ in the world to have bear or exercise towards our selves If we are found negligent in any Office of Love towards them or any of their Members in compassion help or assistance or such supplies in outward or inward things as we have opportunity or ability for we are willing to bear the guilt of it as our Sin and the reproach of it as our shame And herein we desire to fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The same we say concerning all the Churches in England of the same mould and constitution with them especially if it be true which some say that Parochial Churches are under a force and power whereby they are enjoyned the practice of sundry things and forbidden the performance of others wherein the compliance of some is not over-voluntary nor pleasing to themselves Neither is there a Nullity or Invalidity in the Ordinances administred in them any otherwise than as some render them ineffectual unto themselves by their unbelief And this is the Paganizing of England which some of us are traduced for We believe that among the visible professors in this Nation there is as great a number of sincere Believers as in any Nation under Heaven so that in it are treasured up a considerable portion of the invisible Mystical Church of Christ. We believe that the Generality of the Inhabitants of this Nation are by their Profession constituted an eminent part of the Kingdome of Christ in this world And we judge not we condemn not those who walking according to their Light and Understanding in Particularities do practise such things in the Worship of God as we cannot comply withal For we do not think that the things wherein they fail wherein they miss or out go the Rule are in their own nature absolutely destructive of their particular Church-state And what more can reasonably be required of us or expected from us in this matter we know not The causes of the Distance that doth remain between us them shall be afterwards enquired into For our Duty in particular presential communion at the celebration of the same individual Ordinances with such Churches as are remote from us in Asia or Africa we shall we hope be directed to determine aright concerning it when we are called thereunto In the mean time what are our Thoughts concerning them hath been before declared To love them as Subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the world to pray for them that they may have all needful supplies of Grace and the Holy Spirit from above that God would send out his Light and Truth to guide them in their Worship and Obedience and to help them in things spiritual and temporal as we have opportunity is the Sum of the Duty which is required in us towards them Those we are more concerned in who are within the Lines of our ordinary Communication among whom we walk and converse in the world Unto any of these it is in the Liberty and power of every Believer to join himself by his own consent And no more is required hereunto in the present constitution of Churches among our selves but that a man remove his habitation to comply with his own desires herein And this choice is to be regulated by a judgment how a man may best improve and promote his own Edification We see not therefore how any man with the least pretence of Sobriety or Modesty can charge us with the want of an esteem and valuation of Evangelical Vnity For we embrace it on all the Grounds that it is in the Gospel recommended unto us And we do know within what narrow bounds the Charity and Vnity of some are confined who yet advantage themselves by a noise of their pretence But that we do not in the least disturb break or dissent from the Catholick Church either as it is invisible in its internal form by Faith and the Renovation of the Holy Ghost or as visibly professing necessary Fundamental Truths of the Gospel we have sufficiently evinced And the Principles laid down concerning particular Churches Congregations Assemblies or Parishes have not as yet been detected by any to spring from want of Love or to be obstructive of the exercise of it Having therefore thus briefly given some account of what we conceive to be our duty in relation unto the whole Church of
God we can with confidence and much assurance of mind own as dear a valuation of Love Unity and Peaceableness in the Profession of the Gospel as any sort of Professors whatever And we are perswaded that our Principles do as much tend and and conduce unto the improvement of them as any that are or can be proposed unto that end For we either do or are in a readiness to embrace every thing or way that the Lord Christ hath appointed or doth bless thereunto We doubt not as hath been before acknowledged but that there have been many failings and sinful miscarriages among all sorts of Professors who separate or are rather driven from the present Publick worship There is no question but that in them all there are some remainders of the bitter Root of corrupt affections which under the various temptations and provocations they have been exposed unto hath brought forth fruit of an unpleasant relish It is no new thing that irregular prejudices should be found acting themselves in Professors of the Gospel It hath been so among them from the Beginning And we hope that where there is or hath been any guilt of this nature that the Reproofs which have been publickly given unto it with what Spirit or Intention soever mannaged may be useful to the amendment of them who have offended But for our own Parts we must bear this Testimony unto our sincerity that we not only condemn but abhor all evil surmises among Professors all rash and uncharitable censures all causless aversations of Mind and Affections all strife wrath anger and debate upon the account of different apprehensions and practises in and about the concerns of Religious worship Much more do we cast out all thoughts of judging mens eternal state and condition with respect unto such differences nor do we nor dare we give countenance unto any thing that is in the least really opposite to love Peace Unity or Concord amongst the Disciples of Christ. And as we shall not excuse any of those Extravagancies and intemperate Heats in words or otherwise which some it may be have been guilty of who until their Repentance must bear their own Judgment so we will not make a recharge on others who differ in Perswasion from us of the same or the like crimes nor indeed need we so to do their Principles and Practises contrary unto all Christian Love and Charity being written as with the beams of the Sun And we do not complain of our Lot in the world that the appearance of such things iu any of us would be esteemed a scandalous crime which others that condemn them in us indulg in themselves without the least check or controul The Law of this condition is put upon us by the Profession which we do avow Only we are not willing that any should make advantage against us by their Pleas for Love Unity and Concord as if indeed they were for Peace but that we make our selves ready for warr Could they convince us that we come behind them in the valuation and secking after these things by all ways and means blessed by Christ to that purpose we should judge our selves with a severity at least commensurate to the utmost they are able to exercise against us whilst free from malice and evil designs Only we must adde that there is no true measure of Love to be taken by the Accessions that men can make towards them who depart from Truth If it were so those must be judged to abound most with it who can most comply with the practises of the Church of Rome But we are perswaded that such Discourses with the application of them unto those who differ from their Authors do proceed from sincerity in them only as we fear somwhat leavened with an apprehension that their Judgments and Practices being according unto truth ought to be the Standard and Measure of other mens perhaps no less sincere and confident of the Truth than themselves though differing from them And hence it is unhappily fallen out that in the Reproofs which some do mannage on the foundations mentioned and in the way of their mannagement many do suppose that there is as great an appearance if not evidence of evil surmises ungrounded temerarious censures of self-conceit and elation of mind of hard thoughts of undue charges on and the contempt of others and in all of a want of real love condescention and compassion as in any things that are true and to be really found among Professors blamed by them For these things both as charged and recharged have a double appearance Those from whom they proceed look on them in the light of that sincerity and integrity which they are conscious of to themselves wherein they seem amiable useful and free from all offence whereas others that are concerned viewing of them in the disordered Reflections of their opposition unto them and the disadvantage which they undergo by them do apprehend them quite of another nature And it is a matter of trouble unto us to find that when some are severely handled for those Principles and ways wherein they can and do commend their Consciences unto God and thereby apprehending that their Intentions Purposes Principles and Affections are injuriously traduced and perverted they fall with an equal severity on them by whom they are reproved though their Reproofs proceed from an equal Sincerity unto what themselves profess and expect to be believed in Especially are such mutual Reflections grievous and irksome unto Men when they apprehend that in them or by them Professed Friends do industriously expose them to the contempt and wrath of Professed Adversaries CHAP. IV. Want of Love and Vnity among Christians justly complained of Causes of Divisions and Schisms 1. Misapprehensions of Evangelical Vnity Wherein it doth truly consist The ways and means whereby it may be obtained and preserved Mistakes about both 2. Neglect in Churches to attend unto known gospel-Gospel-Duty Of preaching unto Conversion and Edification Care of those that are really Godly Of Discipline How neglected how corrupted Principles seducing Churches and their Rulers into miscarriages 1. Confidence of their place 2. Contempt of the people 3. Trust unto worldly Grandeur Other causes of Divisions Remainders of corruption from the General Apostacy Weakness and Ignorance Of Readiness to take offences Remedies hereof Pride False Teachers UPon the whole matter it is generally acknowledged that there is a great Decay of Love a great want of Peace and Unity among Professors of the Gospel in the world And it is no less evident nor less acknowledged that these things are frequently commanded and enjoyned unto them in the Scripture Might they be obtained it would greatly further the Ends of the Gospel and answer the mind of Christ And their Loss is obstructive unto the one and no less dishonourable unto that Profession which is made of the Name of the other For the Divisions of Christians occasioned chiefly by false notions of Unity and undue means
from him Instead hereof some have invented bonds of Ecclesiastical Vnity which may outwardly bind men together in some appearance of order whilst in the mean time they live in envy wrath and malice biting and devouring one another or if there be any thing of Love among them it is that which is meerly natural or carnal and sensual working by a joynt consent in delights and pleasure or at best in Civil things belonging unto their conversation in this world The love that is among such persons in this world is of the world and will perish with the world But it is a far easier thing to satisfie Conscience with a pretence of preserving Church Unity by an acquiescency in some outward Rules and Constitutions wherein mens minds are little concerned than to attend diligently unto the due exercise of this Grace of Love against all Oppositions and Temptations unto the contrary For indeed the exercise of this Love requires a sedulous and painful labour Heb. 6. 10. But yet this is that alone which is the Bond of Perfection unto the Disciples of Christ and without which all other pretences or appearances of Unity are of no value with him Secondly This Love acts it self by forbearance and condescention towards the Infirmities mistakes and faults of others wherein of what singular use it is for the Preservation of Church Peace and Order the Apostle at large declares 1 Cor. 13. Fourthly The Lord Christ by his Kingly Authority hath instituted Orders for Rule and Ordinances for Worship to be observed in all his Churches That they be attended unto and celebrated in a due manner belongs unto the unity which he requires among his Disciples To this end he communicates supplyes of spiritual ability and wisdome or the Gifts of his Spirit unto the Guides and Rulers of his Churches for their administration unto edification And hereon if a submission unto his Authority be accompanyed with a due attendance unto the Rule of the Word no such variety or difference will ensue as shall impeach that Unity which is the Duty of them all to attend unto In these things doth consist that Evangelical Church Vnity which the Gospel recommends unto us and which the Lord Christ prayed for with respect unto all that should believe on his Name One Spirit one Faith one Love one Lord there ought to be in and unto them all In the possession of this Vnity and no other were the first Churches left by the Apostle And had they in succeeding Generations continued according to their Duty in the preservation and liberty of it all those scandalous Divisions which afterwards fell out among them on the account of Pre-eminences Jurisdictions Liturgies Rites Ceremonies violently or fraudulently obtruded on their Communion had been prevented The ways and means whereby this Vnity may be obtained and preserved amongst Christians are evident from the Nature of it For whereas it is Spiritual none other are suited thereunto nor hath the Lord Christ appointed any other but his Spirit and his Word For to this end doth he promise the presence of his Spirit among them that believe unto the consummation of all things And this he doth both as to lead and guide them into all Truth necessary unto the Ends mentioned so to assist and help them in the orderly performances of their Duties in and about them His Word also as the Rule which they are to attend unto he hath committed unto them and other ways and means for the compassing of this end besides the due improvement of spiritual Assistances in a compliance with the holy Rule he hath not designed or appointed This is that Gospel-Vnity which we are to labour after and these are the means whereby we may do so But now through the mistake of the minds of men with the strong influence which carnal and corrupt Interests have upon them we know how it hath been despised and what hath been set up in the room thereof and what have been the means whereby it hath been pursued and promoted We may take an Instance in those of the Church of Rome No sort of Christians in the world as we have already observed do at this day more pretend unto Vnity or more press the necessity of it or more fiercely judge oppose and destroy others for the breach of it which they charge upon them nor more prevail or advantage themselves by the pretence of it than do they But yet notwithstanding all their Pretenâ—es it will not be denied but that the Vnity which they so make their boast of and press upon others is a thing utterly forreign to the Gospel and destructive of that Peace Union and Concord among Christians which it doth require They know how highly Unity is commended in the Scripture how much it is to be prized and valued by all true Believers how acceptable it is to Jesus Christ and how severely they are condemned who break it or despise it These things they press and plead and make their advantage by But when we come to enquire what it is that they intend by Church-Vnity they tell us long Stories of Subjection unto the Pope to the Church in its Dictates and Resolutions without farther examination meerly because they are theirs Now these things are not only of another nature and kind than the Unity and Concord commended unto us by Jesus Christ but perfectly inconsistent with them and destructive of them And as they would impose upon us a corrupt confederacy for their own secular Advantage in the room of the spiritual Unity of the Gospel so it was necessary that they should find out means sutable unto its Accomplishment and Preservation as distant from the means appointed by Christ for the attaining of Gospel-Vnion as their carnal Confederacy is from the thing its self And they have done accordingly For the enforcing men by all wayes of deceit and outward violence unto a compliance with and submission unto their Orders is the great Expedient for the establishment and preservation of their perverse Union that they have fixed on Now that this Fictitious Vnity and corrupt carnal pursuit of it have been the greatest occasion and causes of begetting fomenting and continuing the Divisions that are among Christians in the world hath been indeniably proved by Learned men of all sorts And so it will fall out where-ever any reject the Union of Christs Institutions and substitute in the room thereof an Agreement of their own Invention as his will be utterly lost so they will not be able to retain their own Thus others also not content with those bounds and measures which the Gospel hath fixed unto the Vnity of Christians and Churches will have it to consist almost wholly in an outward Conformity unto certain Rites Orders Ceremonies and Modes of Sacred Administrations which themselves have either invented and found out or do observe and approve Whoever dissents from them in these things must immediately be branded as a
unto them and let us all labour to stir up those Gracious Principles of Love and Peace which ought to guide us in the use of our Liberty and will enable us to preserve Gospel-Unity and there will be a greater Progress made towards Peace Reconciliation and Concord amongst all sorts of Christians than the spoiling of the Goods or imprisoning of the Persons of Dissenters will ever effect But it may be such things are required here unto as the world is yet scarce able to comply withal For whilst men do hardly believe that there is an efficacy and power accompanying the Institutions of Christ for the compassing of that whole end which he aimeth at and intendeth whilst they are unwilling to be brought unto the constant exercise of that spiritual Diligence Patience Meekness Condescention Self-Denial Renunciation of the world and Conformity thereunto which are indispensibly necessary in Church-Guides and Church-Members according to their measure unto the attaining and preservation of Gopel-Unity but do satisfie themselves in the disposal of an Ecclesiastical Vnion into a subordination unto their own secular Interests by external force and power we have very small expectation of success in the way proposed In the mean time we are herewith satisfied Take the Churches of Christ in the world that are not infected with Idolatry or Persecution and restore their Vnity unto the Terms and Conditions left unto them by Christ and his Apostles and if in any thing we are found uncompliant therewithal we shall without repining bear the reproach of it and hasten an amendment Another Cause of the evil Effects and Consequents mentioned is the great neglect that hath been in Churches and Church-Rulers in the pursuance of the open direct Ends of the Gospel both as to the Doctrine and Discipline of it This hath been such and so evident in the world that it is altogether in vain for any to deny it or to attempt an Excuse of it And men have no reason to flatter themselves that whilst they live in an open neglect of their own Duty others will always according to their wills or Desires attend with diligence unto what they prescribe unto them If Churches or their Rulers would excuse or justifie their Members in all the evils that may befal them through their Miscarriages and Mal-administrations it might justly be expected that they should go along with them under their conduct whither-ever they should lead them But if it can never be obliterated out of the Minds and Consciences of men that they must every one live by his own Faith and every one give an account of himself unto God and that every one notwithstanding the interposition of the help of Churches and their Rulers is obliged immediately in his own person to take care of his whole Duty towards God it cannot be but that in such cases they will judge for themselves and what is meet for them to do In case therefore that they find the Churches whereunto they do relate under the guilt of the neglect mentioned it is probable that they will provide for themselves and their own safety In this state of things it is morally impossible but that Differences and Divisions will fall out which might all of them have been prevented had there been a due attendance unto the Work Doctrine Order and Discipline of the Gospel in the Churches that were in possession of the Care and Administration of them For it is hard for men to believe that by the Will and Command of Christ they are inevitably shut up under spiritual disadvantages seeing it is certain that he hath ordered all things in the Church for their Edification But the consideration of some particular Instances will render this Cause of our Divisions more evident and manifest The first End of Preaching the Gospel is the Conversion of the Souls of men unto God Acts 26. 17 18. This we suppose will not be questioned nor denied That the work hereof in all Churches ought to be attended and pursued with Zeal Diligence Labour and Care all accompanied with constant and fervent Prayers for success in and by the Ministers and Rulers of them 1 Tim. 5. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. is a Truth also that will not admit of any Controversie among them that believe the Gospel Herein principally do men in Office in the Church exercise and manifest their Zeal for the Glory of God their compassion towards the Souls of men and acquit themselves faithfully in the Trust committed unto them by the great Shepherd of the Sheep Christ Jesus If now in any Assembly or other Societies professing themselves to be Churches of Christ and claiming the Right and Power of Churches towards all persons living within the bounds or limits which they have prescribed unto themselves this work be either totally neglected or carelesly perfunctorily attended unto if those on whom it is immediately incumbent do either suppose themselves free from any Obligation thereunto upon the pretence of other Engagements or do so dispose of themselves in their relation unto many Charges or Employments as that it is impossible they should duly attend unto it or are unable and insufficient for it so that indeed there is not in such Churches a due representation of the Love Care and Kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ towards the Souls of men which he hath ordained the Administrations of his Gospel to testifie it cannot be but that great thoughts of heart and no small disorder of mind will be occasioned in them who understand aright how much the principal end of constituting Churches in this world is neglected among them And although it is their duty for a season patiently to bear with and quietly seek the Reformation of this Evil in the Churches whereunto they do belong yet when they find themselves excluded it may be by the very Constitution of the Church its self it may be by the iniquity of them that prevail therein from the performance of any thing that tends thereunto it will increase their disquietment And whereas men do not joyn themselves nor are by any other ways joyned unto Churches for any Civil or Secular Ends or Purposes but meerly for the promotion of Gods Glory and the Edification of their own Souls in Faith and Gospel-Obedience it is altogether vain for any to endeavour a satisfaction of their Consciences that it is sin to withdraw from such Churches wherein these ends are not pursued nor attainable And yet a confidence hereof is that which hath countenanced sundry Church-Guides into that neglect of Duty which many complain of and groan under at this day The second end of the Dispensation of the Gospel in the Assemblies of the Churches of Christ by the Ministers of them is the Edification of them that are converted unto God and do believe Herein consists that feeding of his Sheep and Lambs that the Lord Christ hath committed unto them And it is mentioned as the principal end for which the Ministry
was ordained or for which Pastors and Teacher's are granted unto the Church Eph. 4. 8 9 10 11 12. And the Scripture abounds in the Declaration of what skill and knowledge in the Mystery of the Gospel what Attendance unto the Word and Prayer what Care watchfulness and diligent Labour in the Word and Doctaine are required unto a due discharge of the Ministerial Duty Where it is omitted or neglected where it is carelessly attended unto where those on whom it is incumbent to act more like Hirelings than true Shepherds where they want skill to divide the Word aright or wisdom and knowledge to declare from it the whole Counsel of God or diligence to be urgent continually in the Application of it there the principal end of all Church-Communion is ruined and utterly lost And where it so falls out let any man judge what thoughts they are like to be exercised withal who make Conscience of the performance of their own Duty and understand the necessity of enjoying the Means that Christ hath appointed for their edification And it is certain that such Churches will in vain or at least unjustly expect that Professors of the Gospel should abide in their particular communion when they cannot or do not provide food for their Souls whereby they may live to God Unless all the Members of such Churches are equally asleep in security Divisions among them will in this case ensue Will any Disciple of Christ esteem himself obliged to starve his own Soul for the sake of communion with them who have sinfully destroyed the principal end of all Church-communion Is there any Law of Christ or any Rule of the Gospel or any Duty of Love that require them so to do The sole immediate end of mens joyning in Churches being their own edification and usefulness unto others can they be bound in Conscience alwayes to abide there or in the communion of those Churches where it is not to be attained where the means of it are utterly cast aside This may become such as know not their duty nor care to be instructed in it and are willing to perish in and for the company of others But for them which in such Cases shall provide according to the Rules of the Gospel for themselves and their own safety they may be censured judged and severely treated by them whose Interest and Advantage it is so to do they may be despised by Riotous Persons who sport themselves with their own Deceivings but with the Lord Christ the Judge of all they will be accepted And they do but encrease the dread of their own Account who under pretence of Church-Power and Order would forcibly shut up Christians in such a condition as wherein they are kept short of all the true ends of the Institution of Churches To suppose therefore that every voluntary departure from the constant Communion of such Churches made with a design of joyning unto those where the Word is dispensed with more diligence and Efficacy is a Schisme from the Church of Christ is to suppose that which neither the Scripture nor Reason will give the least Countenance unto And it would better become such Churches to return industriously unto a faithful Discharge of their Duty whereby this occasion of Divisions may be removed out of the way than to attempt their own Justification by the severe prosecution of such as depart from them Thirdly In pursuit of the Doctrine of the Gospel so improved and applyed it is the known and open Duty of Churches in their Guides or Ministers by all means to countenance and promote the Growth of Light Knowledge Godliness strictness and fruitfulness of Conversation in those Members of them in whom they may be found or do appear in an especial manner Such are they to own encourage and make their companions and endeavour that others may become like unto them For unless men in their ordinary and common conversation in their affections and the interest which they have in the Administration of Discipline do uniformly answer the Doctrine of Truth which they preach it cannot be avoided but that it will be matter of offence upto others and of Reproach to themselves Much more will it be so if instead of these things those who Preside in the Churches shall beat their fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken But by all wayes it is their duty to separate the precious from the vile if they intend to be as the Mouth of the Lord even in their Judgments Affections and Conversations And herein what Wisdome Patience Diligence Love Condescention and Forbearance are required they alone know and they full well know who for any season have in their places conscientiously endeavoured the Discharge of their Duty But whatever be the Labour which is to be undergone therein and the trouble wherewith it is attended it is that which by the appointment of Christ all Ministers of the Gospel are obliged to attend unto They are not by contrary actings to make sad the hearts of them whom God would not have made sad nor to strengthen the hands of them whom God would not have encouraged as they will answer it at their peril The hearts of Church Guides and of those who in an especial manner fear God thriving in Knowledge and Grace under the Dispensation of the Word ought to be knit together in all holy affections that they may together grow up into him who is the Head For where there is the greatest evidence manifestation of the power and presence of Christ in any there ought their Affections to be most intense For as such persons are the Crown the Joy and rejoycing of their Guides and will appear to be so in the Day of the Lord so they do know or may easily do so what Obligations are on them to honour and pay all due respects unto their Teachers how much on all accounts they owe unto them whereby their mutual Love may be confirmed And where there is this Vniformity between the Doctrine of the Gospel as Preached and the Duties of it as practised then are they both beautiful in the eyes of all Believers and effectual unto their proper ends But where things in Churches through their negligence or corruption or that of their Guides are quite otherwise it is easie to conjecture what will ensue thereon If those who are forwardest in Profession who give the greatest evidence that they have received the power of that Religion which is taught and owned among them who have apparently attained a growth in spirituol Light and Knowledge above others shall be so far from being peculiarly cherished and regarded from being loved liked or associated withal as that on the other side they shall be marked observed reproached and it may be on every slight provocation put even to outward trouble whilst men of worldly and prophane Conversations ignorant perhaps riotous and debauched shall be the delight and companions of Church Guides and Rulers it cannot be that
such Churches should long continue in peace nor is that peace wherein they continue much to be valued An Agreement in such wayes and practises is rather to be esteemed a Conspiracy against Christ and Holiness than Church Order or Concord And when men once find themselves hated and it may be Persecuted for no other cause as they believe but because they labour in their Lives and Professions to express the power of that Truth wherein they have been instructed they can hardly avoyd the entertainment of severe thoughts concerning them from whom they had just reason to expect other usage as also to provide for their own more peaceable encouragement and edification Fourthly Hereunto also belongeth the due exercise of Gospel Discipline according to the mind of Christ. It is indeed by some called into question whether there be any Rule or Discipline appointed by Christ to be exercised in his Churches But this doubt must respect such outward forms and modes of the Administration of these things which are supposed but not proved necessary For whether the Lord Christ hath appointed some to Rule and some to be ruled whether he hath prescribed Lawes or Rules whereby the One should govern and the other obey whether he hath determined the Matter Manner and End of this Rule and Government cannot well be called into Controversie by such as profess to believe the Gospel Of what nature or kind these Governours or Rulers are to be what is their Office how they are to be invested therewith and by what Authority how they are to behave themselves in the Administration of the Laws of the Church are things determined by him in the Word And for the Matters about which they are to be conversant it is evidently declared of what nature they are how they are to be mannaged and to what end The Qualifications and Duties of those who are to be admitted into the Church their deportment in it their removal from it are all expressed in the Lawes and Directions given unto the same end In particular it is ordained That those who are unruly or disorderly who walk contrary unto the Rules and wayes of holiness prescribed unto the Church shall be rebuked admonished instructed and if after all means used for their amendment they abide in impenitency that they be ejected out of Communion For the Church as visible is a Society gathered and erected to express and declare the Holiness of Christ and the power of his Grace in his Person and Doctrine And where this is not done no Church is of any advantage unto the interests of his Glory in this World The Preservation therefore of Holiness in them whereof the Discipline mentioned is an effectual means is as necessary and of the same importance with the preservation of their Being The Lord Christ hath also expressly ordained That in case Offences should arise in and among his Churches that in and by them they should be composed according to the Rules of the Word and his own Lawes and in particular that in sinful miscarriages causing offence or scandal there be a regular proceeding according unto an especial Law and Constitution of his for the removal of the offence and recovery of the offendor as also that those who in other cases have fallen by the power of temptation should be restored by a spirit of meekness and not to instance in more Particulars that the whole Flock be continually watched over exhorted warned instructed comforted as the necessities or occasions of the whole or the several Members of it do require Now supposing these and the like Laws Rules and Directions to be given and enjoyned by the Authority of Christ which gives Warranty for their Execution unto men prudent for the ordering of affairs according to their necessary circumstances and Believers of the Gospel doing all things in obedience unto him we judg that a compleat Rule or Government is erected thereby in the Church However we know that the exercise of Discipline in every Church so far as the Laws and Rules of it are expressed in the Scripture and the Ends of it directed unto is as necessary as any Duty enjoyned unto us in the whole course of our Gospel Obedience And where this is neglected it is in vain for any Churches to expect Peace and Vnity in their Communion seeing it self neglecteth the principal means of them It is pleaded that the mixture of those that are wicked and ungodly in the sacred Administrations of the Church doth neither defile the Administrations themselves nor render them unuseful unto those who are rightly interested in them and duly prepared for the participation of them Hence that no Church ought to be forsaken nor its Communion withdrawn from meerly on that account many of old and of late have pleaded Nor do we say that this solely of its self is sufficient to justifie a separation from any Church But when a Church shall tolerate in its Communion not only evil men but their evils and absolutely refuse to use the Discipline of Christ for the Reformation of the One and the taking away of the other there is great danger least the whole Lump be leavened and the edification of particular persons be obstructed beyond what the Lord Christ requires of them to submit unto and to acquiesce in Neither will things have any better success where the Discipline degenerates into an outward forcible Jurisdiction and Power The things of Christ are to be administred with the Spirit of Christ. Such a frame of heart and mind as was in him is required of all that act under him and in his Name Wherefore Charity Pity Compassion Condescention Meekness and Forbearance with those other Graces which were so glorious and conspicuous in him and in all that he did are to bear sway in the minds of them who exercise this Care and Duty for him in the Church To set up such a Form of the Administration of Discipline or to commit the exercise of it unto such persons as whereby or by whom the Lord Christ in his Rule of the Church would be represented as furious captious proud covetous oppressive is not the way to honour him in the world nor to preserve the peace of the Churches And indeed some while they boast of the Imitation of Christ and his Example in opposition to his Grace do in their Lives and Practises make unco the world a Representation of the Devil But an account of this Degeneracy is given so distinctly by Peitro Suave the Author of the History of the Council of Trent lib. 4 ad Ann. 1551. that we think it not unmeet to express it in his own words He saith therefore that Christ having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments he left also unto them in the person of all the faithful this principal precept to love one another charging them to make peace between those that dissented and for the last Remedy giving the care thereof to the
in the world ordered at first by persons fallible and who in many things were actually deceived should so continue in their purity and holiness from Age to Age as to stand in need of no Reformation or Amendment Well will it be if it prove so at the great Day of Visitation In the mean time it becomes the Guides of all the Churches in the world to take care that there do not such Decays of Truth Holiness and Purity in Worship fall out under their hand in the Churches wherein they preside as that for them they should be rejected by our Lord Jesus Christ as he threatens to deal with those who are guilty of such defections For the state of the Generality of Churches is such at this day in the world as he who thinks them not to stand in need of any Reformation may justly be looked on as a part of their sinful Degeneracy We are not ignorant what is usually pleaded in Barr unto all endeavours after Church-Reformation For they say if upon the Clamours of a few humorous discontented Persons whom nothing will please and who perhaps are not agreed among themselves a Reformation must instantly be made or attempted there will be nothing stable firm or sacred left in the Church Things once well established are not to be called into question upon every ones Exceptions And these things are vehemently pleaded and urged to the exclusion of all thoughts of changing any thing though evidently for the better But long continued complaints and Petitions of Multitudes whose Sincerity hath received as great an attestation as Humane Nature or Christian Religion can give it may be deserve not to be so despised However the Jealousie which Churches and their Rulers ought to have over themselves their state and condition and the presence of the Glory of Christ amongst them or its departure from them especially considering the fearful example of the Defection and Apostacy of many Churches which is continually before their Eyes seems to require a readiness in them on every Intimation or Remembrance to search into their state and condition and to redress what they find amiss For suppose they should be in the Right and blameless as to those Orders and Constitutions wherein others dissent from them yet there may be such Defects and Declensions in Doctrine Holiness and the Fruits of them in the world as the most strict observation of outward Order will neither countenance nor compensate For to think to preserve a Church by Outward Order when its internal Principles of Faith and Holiness are decayed is but to do like him who endeavouring to set a Dead Body upright but failing in his Attempt concluded that there was somewhat wanting within Another Principle of the same importance and applied unto the same purpose is that the people are neither able nor fit to judge for themselves but ought in all things to give themselves up unto the conduct of their Guides and to rest satisfied in what they purpose and prescribe unto them The imbibing of this Apprehension which is exceedingly well suited to be made a Covering to the Pride and Ignorance of those unto whose Interests it is accommodated makes them impatient of hearing any thing concerning the Liberty of Christians in common to judge of what is their Duty what they are to do and what they are not to do in things Sacred and Religious Only it is acknowledged there is so much Ingenuity in the management of this Principle and its Application that it is seldom extended by any beyond their own Concernments For whereas the Church of Rome hath no way to maintain its self in its Doctrine and Essential Parts of its Constitution but by an implicit Faith and Obedience in its Subâ—ects seeing the animating Principles of its Profession will endure no kind of impartial Test or Trial they extend it unto all things as well in Matters of Faith as of Worship and Discipline But those who are secure that the Faith which they profess will endure an examination by the Scripture as being founded therein and thence educed they will allow unto the people at least a Judgment of discerning Truth from Falshood to be exercised about the Doctrines which they teach But as for the things which concern the Worship of God and Rule of the Church wherein they have an especial Interest and Concern there they betake themselves for relief unto this Principle Now as there is more Honesty and Safety in this latter way than in the former so it cannot be denied but that there is less of ingenuity and self-consistency For if you will allow the people to make a judgment in and about any thing that is Sacred or Religious you will never know how to hit a Joint aright to make a separation among such things so as to say with any pretence of Reason about these things they may judge for themselves but not about those And it is a little too open to say that they may exercise a Judgment about what God hath appointed but none about what we appoint our selves But without offence be it spoken this Apprehension in its whole Latitude and under its restrictions is so weak and ridiculous that it must be thought to proceed from an excess of prejudice if any man of Learning should undertake to patronize it Those who speak in these things out of Custom and Interest without a due examination of the Grounds and Reasons of what they affirm or deny as many do are of no consideration And it is not amiss for them to keep their distance and stand upon their Guard lest many of those whom they exclude from judging for themselves should be found more compeâ—ent Judges in those Matters than themselves And let Churches and Church-Rulers do what they please every man at last will be determined in what is meet for him to do by his own Reason and Judgment Churches may inform the minds of men they cannot enforce them And if those that adhere unto any Church do not do so because they judge that it is their duty and best for them so to do they therein differ not much from an Herd of Creatures that are called by another name And yet a secret Apprehension in some that the Disposal of the Concernments of the Worship of God is so left and confined unto themselves as that nothing is left unto the people but the Glory of Obedience without any sedulous enquiry after what is their own duty with respect unto that account which every one must give of himself unto God doth greatly influence them into the neglects insisted on And when any of the people come to know their own Liberty and Duty in these things as they cannot but know it if at all they apply their minds unto the consideration of them they are ready to be alienated from those who will neither permit them to judge for themselves nor are able to answer for them if they should be misled For if the
blind lead the blind as well he that is led as he that leads will into the Ditch Add hereunto the thoughts of some that Secular Grandeur and outward Pomp with a Distance and Reservedness from the Conversation of ordinary men are necessary in Ecclesiasticks to raise and preserve that popular veneration which they suppose to be their due Without this it is thought Government will not be carried on nor the minds of men awed unto Obedience Certain it is that this was not the Judgment of the Apostles of old nor of the Bishops or Pastors of the Primitive Churches It is certain also that no Direction is given for it in any of the Sacred or ancient Ecclesiastical Writings And yet they all of them abound with Instructions how the Guides of the Church should preserve that respect which is their due The sum of what they teach us to this purpose is Readiness to take up the Cross in Labours Kindness Compassion and Zeal in the exercise of all the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit they should excel and go before the Flock as their Example This way of procuring veneration unto Church Guides by worldly State Greatness seeming Domination or Power was as far as we can find an utter stranger unto the primitive times Yea not only so but it seems to be expressly prohibited in that Direction of our Saviour unto them for avoiding Conformity in these things unto the Rulers of the world But those times they say are past and gone There remains not that piety and Devotion in Christians as to reverence their Pastors for their Humility Graces Labours and Gifts The good things of this world are now given them to be used and it is but a Popular Levelling Spirit that envies the Dignities and Exaltation of the Clergy Be it so therefore that in any place they are justly and usefully at least as unto themselves possessed of Dignities and Revenues and far be it from us or any of us to envy them their Enjoyments or to endeavour their deprivation of them But we must crave leave to say that the use of them to the End mentioned is vain and wholly frustrate And if it be so indeed that Christians or professors of the Gospel will not pay the Respect and Duty which they owe unto their Pastors and Guides upon the account of their Office with their work and labour therein it is an open evidence how great a necessity there is for all men to endeavour the reduction of primitive Light Truth Holiness and Obedience into Churches For this is that which hath endangered their Ruine and will effect it if continued namely an Accommodation of Church-Order and Discipline with the State and Deportment of Rulers unto the Decayes and Irreligion of the people which should have been corrected and removed by their Reformation But we hope better things of many Christians whose Faith and Obedience are rather to be imitated than the corrupt Degeneracy of others to be complied with or provided for However it is evident that this corrupt perswasion hath in most Ages since the days of Paulus Samosatenus let out and given countenance unto the Pride Covetousness Ambition and Vain-glory of several Ecclesiasticks For how can it be otherwise with them who being possessed of the Secular Advantages which some Churches have obtained in the world are otherwise utterly destitute of those Qualifications which tue Names of the places they possess do require And yet all this while it will be impossible to give one single Instance where that Respect and Estimation which the Scripture tequires in the people towards their Spiritual Guides were ever ingenerated or improved by that worldly Grandeur Pomp and Domination which some pretend to be so useful unto that end and purpose For that Awe which is put thereby on the Spirits of the common fort of men that Terror which these things strike into the minds of any who may be obnoxious unto Trouble and Disadvantage from them that outward Observance which is by some done unto persons vested with them with the Admission which they have thereby into an equality of Society with great men in the world are things quite of another Nature And those who satisfie and please themselves herewith instead of that Regard which is due unto the Officers or Guides of the Churches of Christ from the people that belong unto them do but help on their Defection from their Duty incumbent on them Neither were it difficult to manifest what innumerable scandalous offences proceeding from the Pride and Elation of Mind that is found among many who being perhaps Young and Ignorant it may be corrupt in their Conversations having nothing to bear up themselves withal but an Interest in Dignities and worldly Riches have been occasioned by this corrupt Perswasion And it is not hard to judge how much is lost hereby from the true Glory and Beauty of the Church The people are quietly suffered to decay in that Love and Respect towards their Pastors which is their Grace and Duty whilst they will pay that outward Veneration which worldly Grandeur doth acquire and Pastors satisfying themselves therewith grow neglective of that exemplary Humility and Holiness of that Laborious Diligence in the dispensation of the Word and care for the Soules of the Flock which should procure them that Holy Respect which is due unto their Office by the Appointment of Jesus Christ. But these things are here mention'd only on the occasion of what was before discoursed of Another great Occasion of Schismes and Divisions among Christians ariseth from the Remainders of that Confusion which was brought upon the Churches of Europe by that general Apostacy from Gospel-Truth Purity and Order whereiu they were for sundry Ages involved Few Churches in the world have yet totally freed themselves from being influenced by the Relicks of its Disorders That such an Apostacy did befall these Churches we shall not need to prove A supposition of it is the foundation of the present Church-state of England That things should so fall out among them was of old foretold by the Holy Ghost That many Churches have received a signal Deliverance from the principal Evils of that Apostasie in the Reformation we all acknowledge For therein by several ways and in several degrees of success a return unto their pristine Faith and Order was sincerely endeavoured And so far was there a Blessing accompanying of their endeavours as that they were all of them delivered from things in themselves pernitious and destructive to the Souls of men Nevertheless it cannot be denied but that there do yet continue among them sundry Remainders of those Disorders which under their fatal Declension they were cast into Nor doth there need any further proof hereof than the incurable Differences and Divisions that are found among them For had they all attained their primitive condition such Divisions with all their Causes had been prevented And the Papists upbraiding Protestants with their
cannot be but that Divisions and Schisms will ensue thereon so it will not be difficult for an indifferent by-stander to judge on whether side the occasion and guilt of them doth remain Secondly We have the Practise of the Apostles in the pursuance of the Direction and Command of their Lord and ours for our Guide in this Case And it may be well and safely thought that this should give a certain Rule unto the proceedings and actings of all Church-Guides in future Ages Now they did never make any thing unscriptural or what they had not received by divine Revelation to be a condition of Communion in Religious Worship Church Order among Christians For as they testified of themselves that they would coâ—tinually give themselves unto prayer and the Ministry of the word so it was of old observed concerning them that their constant labour was for the good of the souls of men in their conversion unto God and edification in faith and holiness but as for the Institution of Festivals or Fasts of Rites or Ceremonies to be observed in the Worship of the Churches they intermedled with no such things And thence it came to pass that in the first entrance and admission of Observances about such things there was a great and endless variety in them both as to the things themselves observed and as to the manner of their observation And this was gradually increased unto such an height and excess as that the burden of them became intolerable unto Christendome Nor indeed could any better success be expected in a relinquishment and departure from the Pattern of Church Order given us in their example and practise Neither is the Plea from hence built meerly on this consideration that no man alive either from their Writings or the approved Records of those Times can manifest that they ever prescribed unto the Churches or imposed on them the observance of any uninstituted Ritâ— to be observed as a measure and Rule of their Communion but also it so fell out in the good providence of God that the Case under debate was proposed unto them and joyntly determined by them For being called unto advice and counsel in the case of the difference that was between the Jewish and Gentile Converts and Professors wherein the former laboured to impose on the latter the observation of Moses Institutions as the condition of their joynt Communion as was mentioned even now they not only determine against any such Imposition but also expresly declare that nothing but necessary things that is such as are so from other Reasons antecedently unto their Prescriptions and Appointments ought to be required of any Christians in the Communion or Worship of the Church And as they neither did nor would on that great occasion in that Solemn Assembly appoynt any one thing to be observed by the Disciples and Churches which the Lord Christ had not commanded so in their Direction given unto the Gentile Believers for a temporary abstinence from the use of their Liberty in one or two Instances whereunto it did extend they plainly intimate that it was the avoydance of a present Scandal which might have greatly retarded the progress of the Gospel that was the reason of that Direction And in such Cases it is granted that we may in many things for a season forgo the use of our Liberty This was their way and Practise this the Example which they left unto all that should follow them in the Rule and Guidance of the Church Whence it is come to pass in After-Ages that men should think themselves wiser than they or more careful to provide for the peace and unity of the Church we know not But let the bounds and measures of Church Communion fixed in and by their Example stand unmoved and many causes of our present Divisions will be taken away But it may be it will be offered that the Present state of things in the World requires some alteration in or variation from the precise Example of the Apostles in this matter The due observation of the Institutions of Christ in such manner as the nature of of them required was then sufficient unto the Peace and Unity of the Churches But Primitive Simplicity is now decayed amongst the most so that a multiplication of Rules and Observances is needful for the same ends But we have shewed before that the Accommodation of Church Rule and Communion to the Degeneracy of Christians or Churches or their Secular Engagements is no way advantagious unto Religion Let them whose Duty it is endeavour to reduce Professors and Profession to the Primitive Standard of Light Humility and Holiness and they may be ordered in all Church concerns according to the Apostolical Pattern Wherefore when Christians unto the former Plea of their readiness to observe and do whatsoever Christ hath commanded them do also adde their willingness to comply with whatever the Apostles of Christ have either by Precept or Example in their own practise commended unto them or did do or require in the first Churches and cannot be convinced of failing to make good their Profession we do not know whence any can derive a Warranty enabling them to impose any other conditions of communion on them The Institution therefore of the Lord Christ and the Practise of the Apostles lye directly against the imposing of the conditions enquired about And first to invent them then to impose them making them necessary to be observed and then to judg and censure them as Schismaticks as enemies to Love and Peace who do not submit unto them looks not unlike the exercise of an unwarrantable Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of the Disciples of Christ. Thirdly not only by their Example and Practice but they have also Doctrinally declared what is the Duty of Churches and what is the Liberty of Christians in this matter The Apostle Paul discourseth at large hereon Rom. 14. 15. Chap. The attentive Reading of those two Chapters is sufficient to determine this Cause among all uninterested and unprejudiced Persons He supposeth in them and it is the Case which he exemplifies in sundry Instances that there were among Christians and Churches at that time different Apprehensions and Observances about some things appertaining unto the worship of God And these things were such as had some seeming Countenance of a Sacred and Divine Authority for such was their Original Institution Some in the consideration hereof judged that they were still to be observed and their Consciences had been long exercised in an holy subjection unto the Authority of God in the Observance of them Nor was there yet any express and Positive Law erected for their Abrogation but the ceasing of any Obligation unto their Observance from their Primitive Institution was to be gathered from the nature of Gods Oeconomy towards his Church Many therefore continued to observe them esteeming it their Duty so to do Others were perswaded and satisfied that they were freed from any Obligation
unto the owning and observance of them And whereas this Liberty was given them by Jesus Christ in the Gospel they were resolved to make use of it and not to comply with the other sort who pressed Conformity upon them in their Ceremonies and Modes of Divine worship So it may fall out in other Instances Some may be perswaded that such or such things may be Lawful for them to observe in the worship of God they may be so unto them and as is supposed in their own Nature On the Consideration of some Circumstances they may judg that it is convenient or expedient to attend unto their Observance Lastly all Coincidencies weighed that it is necessary that so they should do and that others also that walk with them in the Profession of the Gospel should conform themselves unto their Order and Practice On the other hand some there are who because the things of the joynt-practice required are not appointed by Jesus Christ nor doth it appear unto them that he hath given Power unto any others to appoint them do not judg it expedient nor yet all Circumstances considered Lawful to observe them Now whereas this Case answers unto that before proposed the Determination thereof given by the Apostle may safely be applyed unto this also What Rule therefore doth he give therein which he would have attended unto as the means for the Preservation of Love Peace and Unity among them Is it that the former sort of Persons provided they be the most or have the most Power ought to impose the Practice of those things which they esteem Lawful and Convenient on those who judg them not so when it is out of Question that they are not appointed by Christ only it is pretended that they are not forbidden by him Where indeed the Question was about the Institutions of Christ he binds up the Churches precisely unto what he had received from him But in cases of this nature wherein a direct command of Christ cannot be pleaded nor is pretended he absolutely rejects and condemns all thoughts of such a procedure But supposing that Differences in Judgment and Practice were and would be among Christians the Sum of his Advice is that all Offences and Scandals ought to be diligently avoided that censuring judging and despisings on the account of such Differences be cast out that tenderness be used towards them that are weak and nothing severely prest on them that Doubt and for their different Apprehensions and Ways they should all walk in Peace condescending unto and bearing with one another Nothing can more evidently determine the unlawfulness of imposing on Christians unscriptural Conditions of Communion than do the Discourses of that Great Apostle to this Purpose Yea better it is and more agreeable unto the mind of Christ that Persons and particular Churches should be left unto different Observations in sundry things relating unto Sacred worship wherein they cannot joyn with each other nor communicate together endeavouring in the mean time to keep the Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace than that they should be inforced unto an Vniformity in the Practice of things that have not the immediate Authority of Christ enstamped on them Accordingly it so fell out among them unto whom the Apostle gave these Directions and that suitably unto his Intention in them For the Dissenting Parties agreeing in the common Faith and Profession of the Gospel did yet constantly meet in distinct Assemblies or Churches for the Celebration of Holy worship because of the different Rites wherein they did not agree And in this Posture were Peace and Love continued among them untill in process of Time their Differences through mutual forbearance being extinguished they Coalesced into one Church state and Order And the former Peace which they had in their Distances was deemed sufficient whilst things were not measured nor regulated by secular Interest or Advantages But it is a part of our present unhappiness that such a Peace among Christians and particular Churches is mistaken to have an ill Aspect upon the concerns of some belonging unto the Church in Power Honour and Revenue But as we apprehend there is as things are now stated among us a plain mistake in this surmize so if the Glory of God and the Honour of the Gospel were chief in our Consultations about Church Affairs it would be with us of no such consideration as to hinder us from committing quietly the success and events of duty unto the Providence of God Fourthly There was also a signal Vindication of the Truth pleaded for in an Instance of Fact among the Primitive Churches There was an opinion which prevailed very early among them about the necessary observation of Easter in the room of the Jewish Passeover for the solemn commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour And it was taken for granted by most of them that the observance hereof was countenanced if not rendred necessary unto them by the example of the Apostles For they generally believed that by them it was observed and that it was their Duty to accommodate themselves unto their practise only there was a difference about the precise Time or Day which they were to solemnize as the Head and Rule of their Festival as every undue presumption hath one Lameness or other accompanying it It is Truth alone which is square and steady Some therefore pleaded the example of John the Apostle and Evangelist who as it was strongly asserted and testified by multitudes kept his Easter at such a time and by such a Rule whom they thought meet to follow and imitate Others not inferiour unto them in number or Authority opposed unto their Time the example of Peter whom they affirmed on what grounds and Reasons they know best for they are now lost to have observed his Easter at another Time and according unto a different Rule And it is scarcely imaginable how the Contests hereabouts troubled the Churches both of Europe and Asia who certainly had things more material to have exercised themselves about The Church of Rome embraced that Opinion which at length prevailed over the other and obtained a kind of Catholicisme against that which was countenanced only by the Authority of St. John as that Church was alwayes wondrous happy in reducing other Churches unto an acquiescency in its sentiments as seldom wanting desire or skill dexterously to improve its manifold advantages Now this was that Easter to be celebrated on the Lords Day only and not by the Rule of the Jewish Passover on the 14 day of the first month what day of the week soever it fell out upon Hereon Victor the Bishop of that Church being confident that the Truth was on his side namely that Easter was to be observed on the Lords Day resolved to make it a Condition of Communion unto all the Churches for otherwise he saw not how there could be either Union Peace or Uniformity among them He did not question but that he
make his choice of the Measure he will comply withal at least if he will make the choice of his habitation subservient unto his Edification Hereby the Peace and Duty both of Churches and private Persons are secured And this Rule of Church Admission and Communion furnished Christians with Peace Love and Unity for many Ages setting aside the Ruffle given them in the rashness of Victor before mentioned It was also rendred practicable and easie by vertue of their Communion as Churches among themselves For from thence Commendatory Letters supplyed the Room of actual Profession in thâ—m who having been admitted into one Church did desire the same Priviledge in any other And on this Rule were Persons to be received though weak in the Faith thought it may be in some things otherwise minded than the generality of the Church though babes and unskilful as to degrees in the word of Truth But this Rule was alwayes attended with a Proviso that men did not contradict or destroy their own Profession by an unholy Conversation For such Persons never were nor ever are to be admitted unto the especial Ordinances of the Church and a neglect of due Attendance hereunto is that which principally hath cast us into all our Confusions and rendred the Institutions of Christ ineffectual And if this warranty which the Lord Christ hath given unto his Disciples of claiming a Participation in all the Priviledges of his Churches and an Admission unto a joynt-performance of all the Duties required in them may upon the supposition of a Power left to impose other Conditions of Communion on them be rejected and rendred useless all Church Communion is absolutely resolved into the variable wills of Men. The Church no doubt may judge and determine upon the Laws of Christ and their due Application unto particular Occasions as whether such Persons may according to them be admitted into their Fellowship To deprive Churches of this Litberty is to take away their Principal Use and service But to make Laws of their own the subject matter whereof shall be things not commanded by Christ to make them the Rule of admitting professed Christians unto their Communion is an Assumption that cannot be justified And it is certain that the assuming of an Authority by some Churches for such like Impositions is that which hath principally occasioned many to deny them so to be so at once to overthrow the foundation of all that Authority which in so many Instances they find to be abused And although the Church of Rome may prevail on weak and credulous Persons by proposing unto them an absolute Acquiescency in their Dictates and Determinations as the best readiest and most facile means of satisfaction yet there is nothing that doth more alienate wise and conscientious persons from them than doth that unreasonable Proposal Moreover it is highly probable that endless Disputes will arise on this supposition about what is meet and convenient and what not to be added unto the Scripture-Rules of Communion They have done so in the Ages past and continue yet so to do Nor can any man on this Principle know or probably conjecture when he hath a firm station in the Church or an indefensable interest in the Priviledges thereof For supposing that he hath concocted the Impositions of one Church on the first removal of his habitation he may have new conditions of communion prescribed unto him And from this perplexity nothing can relieve him but a resolution to do in every place whereunto he may come according to the manner of the place beit good or bad right or wrong But neither hath the Lord Christ left his Disciples at this Vncertainty which the Case supposeth nor will accept of that Indifferency which is in the Remedy suggested They therefore who regulate their Communion with any Churches by the firm stated Law of their Right and Priviledge if they are not received thereon do not by their abstinence from it contract the Guilt of Schisme or any blameable Division Moreover upon a supposition of such a Liberty and Power to prescribe and impose unwritten conditions of Church-communion on Christians who or what Law doth or shall prescribe bounds unto men that they do not proceed in their Prescriptions beyond what is useful unto edification or unto what will be really burdensome and intolerable unto Churches To say that those who claim this Power may be securely trusted with it for they will be sure not to fall into any such Excesses will scarcely give satisfaction For besides that such a kind of Power is exceedingly apt to swell and extend it self unmeasurably the common Experience of Christendom lies against this Suggestion Was not an Excess of this kind complained of by Austin of old when yet the observation of Ecclesiastical Customes was much more voluntary than in after Ages neither were they made absolutely conditions of communion unless among a very few Do not all Protestants grant and plead that the Papal Church hath exceeded all bounds of moderation and Sobriety herein so that from thence they take the principal warranty of their secession from it Do not other Churches mutually charge one another on the same account Hath not a charge of this Exâ—â—ss been the Ball of Contention in this Nation ever since the Reformation If then there be such a Power in any either the exercise of it is confined unto certain Instances by some power superior unto them or it is left absolutely as unto all Particulars whereunto it may be extended unto their own Prudence and Discretion The first will not be asserted nor can be so unless the Instances intended can be recounted and the confirming power be declared If the latter be affirmed then let them run into what Excesses they please unless they judge themselves that so they do which is morally impossible that they should none ought ever to complain of what they do For there is no failure in them who attend unto their Rule which in this case is supposed to be mens own Prudence and Discretion And this was directly the state of things in the Church of Rome whence they thought it alwayes exceedingly unequal that any of their Ecclesiastical Laws should be called in question since they made them according to their own Judgment the sole Rule of exercising their Authority in such things Where is the certainty and stability of this Rule Is it probable that the communion and peace of all Churches and all Christians are left to be regulated by it And who will give assurance that no one Condition directly unlawful in it self shall be prescribed and imposed by persons enjoying this pretended power Or who can undertake that the number of such Conditions as may be countenanced by a Plea of being things in their own nature indifferent shall not be increased until they come to be such a burden and yoke as are too heavy for the Disciples of Christ to bear and unlawful for them to submit themselves
unto May any make a Judgment but themselves who impose them when the number of such things grows to a blameable excess If others may judge at least for themselves their own practice and so of what is lawful or not it is all that is desired If themselves are the the only Judges the case seems very hard and our secession from the Church of Rome scarcely warrantable And who sees not what endless Contests and Differences will ensue on these Suppositions if the whole Liberty of mens Judgments and all apprehensions of Duty in Professors be not swallowed up in the Gulph of Atheistical Indifferency as to all the Concerns of outward worship The whole of what hath been pleaded on this Head might be confirmed with the testimony of many of the Learned writers of the Church of England in the defence of our Secession from that of Rome But we shall not here produce them in particular The sum of what is pleaded by them is That the Being of the Catholick Church lies in Essentials that for a particular Church to disagree from all other particular Churches in some extrinsecal and accidental things is not to separate from the Catholick Church so as to cease to be a Church but still whatever Church makes such extrinsecal things the necessary conditions of Communion so as to cast men out of the Church who yield not to them is Schismatical in its so doing and the Separation from it is so far from being Schisme that being cast out of that Church on those terms only returns them unto the Communion of the Catholick Church And nothing can be more unreasonable than that the Society imposing such conditions of communion should be Judge whether those conditions be just and equitable or no. To this purpose do they generally plead our common Cause Wherefore from what hath been discoursed we doubt not but to affirm that where unscriptural conditions of communion indispensibly to be submitted unto and observed are by any Church imposed on those whom they expect or require to joyn in their Fellowship Communion and Order if they on whom they are so imposed do thereon with-hold or withdraw themselves from the communion of that Church especially in the Acts Duties and Parts of Worship wherein a submission unto these conditions is exdressed either verbally or virtually they are not thereon to be esteemed guilty of Schisme but the whole fault of the Divisions which ensue thereon is to be charged on them who insist on the necessity of their Imposition That this is the condition of things with us at present especially such as are Ministers of the Gospel with reference unto the Church of England as it is known in its self so it may be evidenced unto all by an enumeration of the Particulars that are required of us if we will be comprehended in the Communion and Fellowship thereof For 1. It is indispensibly enjoyned that we give a solemn Attestation unto the Liturgy and all contained in it by the subscription or declaration of our Assent and Consent thereunto which must be accompanied with the constant use of it in the whole Worship of God As was before observed we dispute not now about the Lawfulness of the use of Liturgies in the publick Service of the Church nor of that in particular which is established among us by the Laws of the Land Were it only proposed or recommended unto Ministers for the use of it in whole or in part according as it should be found needful unto the edification of their people there would be a great Alteration in the case under consideration And if it be pretended that such a Liberty would produce great diversity yea and confusion in the Worship of God we can only say that it did not so of old when the Pastors of Churches were left wholly to the exercise of their own Gifts and Abilities in all Sacred Administrations But it is the making of an Assent and Consent unto it with the constant use of it or attendance unto it a necessary condition of all Communion with the Church which at present is called into question It will not we suppose be denied but that it is so made unto us all both Ministers and People and that by such Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical as are sufficiently severe in their Penalties For we have Rules and Measures of Church-communion assigned unto us by Laws meerly Civil Were there any colour or pretence of denying this to be so we should proceed no farther in this Instance but things are evidently and openly with us as here laid down Now this condition of communion is unscriptural and the making of it to be such a condition is without warranty or countenance from the word of God or the practice of the Apostolical and Primitive Churches That there are no footsteps of any Liturgy or prescribed Forms for the administration of all Church-Ordinances to be imposed on the the Disciples of Christ in their Assemblies to be found in the Scripture no intimation of any such thing no direction about it no command for it will we suppose be acknowledged Commanded indeed we are to make Prayers and supplications for all sorts of men in our Assemblies to instruct lead guide and feed the Flock of Christ to administer the holy Ordinances instituted by him and to do all these things decently and in order The Apostles also describing the work of the Ministry in their own attendance unto it affirm that they would give themselves continually unto Prayer and the Ministry of the Word But that all these things should be done the Preaching of the word only excepted in and by the use or reading of a Liturgy and the prescribed Forms of it without variation or receding from the Words and Syllables of it in any thing that the Scripture is utterly silent of If any one be otherwise minded it is incumbent on him to produce Instances unto his purpose But withall he must remember that in this case it is required not only to produce a warranty from the Scripture for the use of such Forms or Liturgies but also that Rules are given therein enabling Churches to make the constant attendance unto them to be a necessary condition of their communion If this be not done nothing is offered unto the Case as at present stated And whatever confidence may be made use of herein we know that nothing unto this purpose can be thence produced It is pleaded indeed that our Saviour himself composed a Form of Prayer and prescribed it unto his Disciples But it is not proved that he enjoyned them the constant use of it in their Assemblies nor that they did so use it nor that the repetition of it should be a condition of communion in them though the owning of it as by him proposed and for the Ends by him designed may justly be made so least of all is it or can it be proved that any Rule or just encouragement
who make that refusal Other groundless Accusations and Charges we value not for this is but Mans Day the Judgment whereof we neither stand nor fall unto Yea we esteem our selves obliged in all peaceableness and sobriety to bear witness against such impositions and unto that Liberty wherewith the Lord Christ hath made his Churches and Disciples free And if once things were come unto that state that men would assign no other Terms of Church Communion than what Christ hath appointed it would quickly appear where the guilt of our Divisions would remain if any such Divisions would yet remain But so long as there is a desire to make the Wills and Wisdomes of some men fallible even as others the Rule and measure of obedidience in spiritual things an end of strife and contention among Christians will be expected in vain And this we say with hearts in some measure sensible and pained to see the Body of Christ torn in pieces by the lusts passions and carnal interests of men Could we contribute any thing to the healing of the Wounds and Ruptures that are amongst Christians provided it may have a consistency with the mind of Christ aud the Duty we owe unto him as indeed nothing else will really contribute any thing thereunto we should with all readiness and faithfulness give up our best endeavours therein And where we can do nothing else we hope we shall bear with Patience those disdainful Reproaches which the Pride of men blown up by a confluence of secular perishing advantages prompts them to pour out upon us for our non-compliance with their Impositions Secondly By the Conformity required of us we must consent unto the Omission of sundry Duties which are made so unto us by the Command and Appointment of Jesus Christ. If we are at any time hindred in the discharge of any necessary Duty by others we have somwhat to plead in our own excuse But if we our selves voluntarily consent to the neglect or omission of them we cannot avoyd the guilt of sin And the worst way whereby such a consent may be expressed is by compact and agreement with others as though it were in our Power to bargain with other men what Duties we will observe aâ—d what we will omit in the Worship of God Now in the Conformity required of us we are to give this consent and that as it were by Compact and Agreement which deprives us of all pretence of excuse in our omissions It is no time afterward to plead that we would discharge such Duties were we not hindred or forbidden We have our selves antecedently and voluntarily renounced a concern in such forbidden Duties For no man can honestly conform but it is with a declared Resolution to accept of all the Terms and Consequents of it with an Approbation of them Under this Notion it is that we look on Conformity and what others apprehend thereby or understand therein who seem to press men to conform unto what they do not approve we know not If then there be any omission of known Duties inseparably accompanying our Conformity that thereby we solemnly consent unto This therefore we are obliged to refuse because without sin in the voluntary neglect and omission of Duty we cannot comply with it which therefore can be no Schism in us nor what might in any way render us blameable The Lord Christ hath prescribed no such Law of Vnity and Peace unto his Churches as that his Disciples should be bound constantly to neglect any known Duty which they owe to himself for their sakes Nor do his Institutions interfere that the observance of any one should exclude a due attendance unto another Neither doth he by his commands bring any one into a necessity of doing that which is evil or of omitting any thing that is required of him in the way of Duty However therefore we value Church-Peace and Union we dare not purchase it by an Abrenunciation of any Duty we owe to Jesus Christ nor would an Agreement procured on such Terms be of any use unto us or of advantage to the Church its self Wherefore that complyance in Church communion which would be obstructive of any necessary Dutyes is not by the Lord Christ enjoyned us and therefore its omission cannot be culpable in us but it would its self be our sin Especially would it be thus where the Duties so to be omitted are such as are incumbent on us by virtue of especial Office wherein we are peculiarly required to be faithful It remaineth therefore only that we declare wherein we should by conformity engage unto the omission of such Duties as are indispensibly required of us And this we shall do in some few Instances 1 Every Minister of the Gospel hath by the Appointment of Jesus Christ the whole immediate Care of the Flock whereof he is Overseer committed unto him That no part hereof which belongs unto their Edification is exempted from him the Charge that is given unto him and the Account which will be expected from him do sufficiently evidence For as Ministers are called Overseers Rulers Guides Pastors and the like so are they commanded to feed the Flock to take the Oversight of it and to Rule the House of God a discharge of all which must come into their Account Nor is there any word spoken in the whole Scripture relating to the Rule and Government of the Church which is not spoken principally with respect unto them Nor is there the least Intimation of an Exemption of any Part of the Discipline of the Gospel from their Office or Care If it be pretended that there is let the Places be produced wherein such an Exemption is made or any Instances of it among the first Churches and they shall be considered for hitherto no such thing hath been attempted that we know of Nor is it at all concluded from the Plea that some are appointed unto a Superior Degree above others in the Rule of the Church For a man may have the whole Rule of his Flock committed unto him although he should be obliged to give an Account unto others of his Discharge thereof It is therefore the Duty of all Ministers of the Gospel not only to to Teach Instruct and Preach to their Flocks but to go before them also in Rule and Government and in the Exercise of the Spiritual Discipline appointed in the Gospel in the Order wherein it is appointed for their Edification The keys of the Kingdome of Heaven are committed unto them or they are not If they are not by what Authority do they take upon them to open and shut in the House of God in Ministerial teaching and authoritative Administration of sacred Ordinances For these things belong unto the Authority which is given by Christ under the Metaphorical Expression of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven the Reason of the Allusion and its Application being obvious And if these are not received by any they are Usurpers if they
made for them and allows unto them in due season so also to keep off those from partaking in them who without his Masters Order and Warrant would intrude themselves into his Family and unjustly possess themselves of the Priviledges of it In these things doth the Faithfulness of a Steward consist And the same is required in Ministers of the Gospel with respect unto the Houshold of their Lord and Master and the Provision that he hath made for it These therefore being undeniably parts of of the duty of faithful Pastors or Ministers it is evident how many of them we must solemnly renounce a concernment in upon a compliance with the conformity in matter and manner required of us Neither are these Duties such as are of light importance or such as may be omitted without any detriment unto the Souls of men The Glory of Christ the Honour of the Gospel the Purity of the Church and its Edification are greatly concerned in them And they in whose minds a neglect of these things is countenanced by their attendance unto some outward Forms and Appearances of Order have scarcely considered him aright with whom they have to do Some therefore of these Duties we shall instance in First It is the Duty of all faithful Ministers of the Gospel to consider aright who are so admitted into the Church as to obtain a Right thereby unto a Participation of all its Holy Ordinances Take care they must that none who have that Right granted them by the Law of Christ be discouraged or excluded nor any altogether unworthy admitted And hereunto as it is generally acknowledged a credible Profession of Repentance Faith and Obedience that is of those which are sincere and saving is required To neglect an Enquiry after these things in those that are to be admitted unto the Table of the Lord is to prostitute the Holy Ordinances of the Gospel unto contempt and abuse and to run cross to the constant practice of the Church in all Ages even under its greatest degeneracy And the Right Discharge of this Duty if we may be allowed to be in earnest in spiritual things if it be believed that it is internal Grace and Holiness for the sake whereof all outward Administrations are instituted and celebrated is of great weight and importance to the Souls of men For on the part of persons to be admitted if they are openly and visibly unworthy what do we thereby but what lies in us to destroy their Souls It cannot be but that their hardning and impenitency in sin will be hazarded thereby For whereas they have granted unto them the most Solemn Pledge of the Lord Christ's Acceptance of them and of his Approbation of their state towards God that the Church is authorized to give what reason have they to think that their condition is not secure or to attend unto the Doctrine of the Church â—ressing them to look after a change and relinquishment of it For although the administration of the Sealing Ordinances doth not absolutely set the Approbation of Christ unto every individual person made partaker of them yet it doth absolutely do so to the Profession which they make They witness in the Name of Christ his Approbation of it and therewithal of all persons according to their real Interest in it and answering of it But those who in no considerable Instances do answer this Profession can obtain nothing unto themselves but an occasion of hardning and rendring them secure in a state of Impenitency For tell men whilst you please of the necessity of Conversion to God of Reformation and a holy Life yet if in the course of their Vnholiness you confirm unto them the Love of Christ and give them Pledges of their salvation by him they will not much regard your other Exhortations And thence it is come to pass in the world that the conformity worth that we contend about ten thousand times over which ought to be between the Preaching of the Word the Adninistration of the Sacraments and the Lives of them who are Partakers of them is for the most part lost The Word still declares that without Regeneration without saving Faith Repentance and Obedience none can enter into the Kingdom of God In the Adninistration of the Other Ordinances there is an abatement made of this rigorous determination and men have their salvation assured unto them without a credible profession yea or a pretence of these Qualifications And the Lives of the most who live in the enjoyment of these things seem to declare that they neither believe the one nor much regard the other In the mean time the Church it self as to its Purity and the holiness of its communion is dammaged by the neglect of a careful inspection into this Duty For it cannot be but that Ignorance Worldliness and Prophaneness will spread themselves as a Leprosie over such a Church whence their communion will be of very little use and advantage unto Believers And hereby do Churches which should be the Glory of Christ by their expression of the Purity Holiness and excellency of his Person and Doctrine become the principal Means and Occasions of his Dishonour in the world and he that shall read that Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that he might present it unto him self a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish will be much to seek after the Effects of this Design of Christ in his Love and Death if he measure them by what appears in Churches under the power and influence of this neglect Nor do those who plead for the continuance of things in such a state without Reformation sufficiently consider the Representation that the Lord Christ made of himself when he was about to deal with his Churches some of which were overtaken with carelesness and negligence in this matter And yet hath he therein laid down a Rule as to what kind of proceedings Particular Churches are to expect from him in all Generations And it is a matter of no small Amazement that any Churches dare approve and applaud themselves in such a state of impurity and defection as is evidently condemned by him in those primitive patterns Do men think he is changed or that he will approve in them what he judged and condemned in others Or do they suppose he minds these things no more and because he is unseen that he seeth not But we shall all find at length that he is the same yesterday to day and for ever and that as the Judge of all he stands at the door Now this Duty by conformity we renounce a concernment in so as to attend unto it by virtue of Ministerial Authority whence the guilt of all the evil consequents thereof before mentioned must fall on us For it is known that a meer shadow of the work of this
Duty and not so much as a shadow of Authority for it would be left unto us For what is allowed in case of a sudden emergency upon an Offence taken by the whole Congregation at the wickedness of any which is instructed beforehand that this ought to be no matter of offence unto them as it may be it cannot be proved ever to have been observed in any one Instance so the allowed exercise of it would yield no relief in this case And if any one should extend the Rule beyond the interpretation that is put upon it by the present current administration of Church-Discipline there is no great question to be made what entertainment he would meet withal for his so doing And it is to no purpose to come into the Church as it were on purpose to go out again And if instead of dealing with the Souls and Consciences of men in the Name and Authority of Christ as Stewards of his Mysteries any can content themselves to be Informers of Crimes unto others we desire their pardon if we cannot comply with them therein And this is the Sum of what at present we are pleading about It is the duty of Ministers of particular Churches to judge and take care concerning the fitness of them according unto the Rules of the Gospel and the Nature of the Duty required of them who are to be admitted into the Fellowship of the Church and thereby unto a participation of all the holy Ordinances thereof This Charge the Lord Christ hath committed unto them and hereof will require an Account from them Upon the neglect or right discharge of this Duty Consequents of great moment do depend yea the due attendance unto it hath a great Influence into the Preservation of the Being of the Church and is the Hinge whereon the well-being of it doth turn But the power of exercising Ministerial Authority in a just attendance unto this Duty we must renounce in our conformity if we should submit thereunto For we have shewed before that after we have conformed we can pretend no excuse from what is enjoyned us or forbidden unto us by virtue thereof all being founded in our own voluntary act and consent Hence the guilt of this Omission must wholly fall on us which we are not willing to undergo There are we know many Objections raised against the committing of this Power and Trust unto the Ministers of particular Congregations Great Inconveniences are pretended as the consequents of it The Ignorance and Unfitness of most Ministers for the discharge of such a Trust if it should be committed unto them the Arbitrariness and partiality which probably others will exercise therein the Yoke that will be brought on the people thereby and disorder in the whole are usually pleaded to this purpose and insisted on But 1. This Trust is committed unto some or other by Christ himself and it is necessary that so it should be Never did he appoint nor is it meet nor was it ever practised in the Primitive Church that every one should at his pleasure on his own presumptions intrude himself into a participation of the holy things of the House of God The consideration of Mens Habitations with their Age and the like are of no consideration with respect unto any Rule of the Gospel Either therefore it must be left unto the pleasure and will of every man be he never so ignorant wicked or profligate to impose himself on the communion of any Church of Christ or there must be a Judgment in the Church concerning them who are to be admitted unto their communion 2. From the first planting of Christian Religion those who preached the Gospel unto the conversion of the Souls of men were principally intrusted with this Power and it was their duty to gather them who were so converted into that Church-Order and Fellowship wherein they might partake of the Sacred Mysteries or solemn Ordinances of the Christian Worship And this course of proceeding continued uninterrupted with some little variation in the manner of the exercise of this Power and Duty until Corruption had spread it self over the face of the whole professing Church in the world But still a shadow and resemblance of it was retained and in the Papal Church it self to this day particular Confessors are esteemed competent Judges of the meetness of their Penitents for an admission unto the Sacraments of their Church And who shall now be esteemed more meet for the discharge of this duty than those who succeed in the Office and Work of Preaching the Word whereby men are prepared for Church-Society And as it is a thing utterly unheard of in Antiquity that those who dispensed the Word unto the Illumination and Conversion of men should not have the power of their disposal as to their being added to the Church or suspended for a time as there was occasion so it is as uncouth that those who now sustain the same Place and Office unto the several Congregations attending on their Ministry should be deprived of it 3. If there be that Ignorance and Disability in Ministers as is pretended the blame of it reflects on them by whom they are made And we are not obliged to accommodate any of the Wayes or Truths of Christ unto the Sins and Ignorance of men And if they are insufficient for this work how come they to be so sufficient for that which is greater namely to divide the Word aright unto all their Hearers But we speak of such Ministers as are competently qualified according to the Rule of the Gospel for the discharge of their Office and no other ought there to be And such there are blessed be God through the watchful care of our Lord Jesus Christ over his Church and his Supplies of the Gifts of his Spirit unto them And such as these know it is their Duty to study meditate pray ask Counsel and advice of others perhaps of more Wisdom and Experience than themselves that they may know how in all things to behave themselves in the House of God Nor will God be wanting unto them who in sincerity seek direction from him for the discharge of any Duty which he calls them unto Other security of regular orderly and useful proceedings in this matter Christ hath not given us nor do we need For the due Observance of his Appointments will not fail the attaining of his Ends which ought to be ours also 4. The Judgment and acting of the Church-Officers in the Admission of persons into the compleat Society of the Faithful is not arbitrary as is pretended They have the Rule of the Scripture which they are diligently to attend unto This is the entire Rule which the Lord Christ hath left unto his Church both for their Doctrine and Discipline Whatever is beyond this or beside it is not his nor owned by him What is not done according to this Rule is of no force in the Consciences of men though it may stand until lawfully recalled
for the preservation of outward Order And whatever Arbitrariness may be supposed in making a judgment upon the Rule of the Word or in the Application of its rule unto the present Case it must abide in some or other And who shall be thought more meet or able to make a right determination thereon than those whose Duty it is and who have the advantage to be acquainted with all Circumstances belonging to the Case proposed Besides there is the Judgment of the Church or the Congregation it self which is greatly to be regarded Even in the Church of England a suspension of any from the Lords Supper is allowed unto the Curate upon the Offence of the Congregation which is a sufficient evidence that a Judgment in this Case is owned to be their due For none can take Offence but upon a Judgment of the Matter at which he is offended nor in this case without a right to determine that some Offences ought to debar Persons from a participation of the holy Ordinances as also what those Offences are This therefore is to be considered as an Aid and Assistance unto Ministers in the discharge of their Duty It is the Church into whose communion persons are to be admitted And although it be no way necessary that determinations in this Case should be always made by Suffrage or a Plurality of Votes in the Body of the Church yet if the Sense or Mind of the Congregation may be known or is so upon the Enquiry that ought to be made unto that purpose that any persons are unmeet for their communion it is not convenient they should be received nor will their Admission in this case be of any advantage to themselves or the Church The Light of Reason and the Fundamental constitutive Principles of all Free Societies such as the Church is ascribe this Liberty unto it and the Primitive Church practised accordingly So also is the judgment and Desire of the Congregation to be considered in the admission of any if they are made known to the Guides of it For it is expected from them they should confirm their Love unto them without dissimulation as Members of the same Body and therefore in their approbation of what is done their Rulers have Light and Encouragement in their own Duty Besides there is appointed and ought to be preserved a communion among Churches themselves By virtue hereof they are not only to make use of mutual Aid Advice and Counsel antecedently unto a actings of Importance but each particular Church is upon just demand to give an account unto other Churches of what they do in the Administration of the Ordinances of the Gospel among them and if in any thing it hath mistaken or miscarried to rectifie them upon their Advice and Judgment And it were easie to manifest how through these Means and Advantages the Edification of the Church and the Liberty of Christians is sufficiently secured in that discharge of Duty which is required in the Pastors of the Churches about the Admission of persons unto a Participation of holy ordinances in them 5. This Duty therefore must either be wholly neglected which will unavoidably tend to the corrupting and debauching of all Churches and in the end unto their Ruine or it must be attended unto by each particular Church under the conduct of their Guides and Rulers or some others must take it upon themselves What hath been the issue of a Supposal that it may be discharged in the latter way is too well known to be insisted on For whilst those who undertake the Exercise of Church-Power are such as do not dispense the Word or preach it unto them towards whom it is to be exercised but are strangers unto their spiritual state and all the Circumstances of it whilst they have no way to act or exercise their presumed Authority but by Citations Processes Informations and Penalties according to the manner of Secular Courts of Judicature in Causes Civil and Criminal and whilst the Administration of it is committed unto men utterly unacquainted with and inconcerned in the Discipline of the Gospel or the preservation of the Church of Christ in Purity and Order and whilst herein many the most or all of them who are so employed have thereby outward Emoluments and Advantages which they do principally regard the due and proper care of the right Order of the Churches unto the Glory of Christ and their own Edification is utterly omitted and lost It is true many think this the only decent useful and expedient way for the Government of the Church and think it wondrous unreasonable that others will not submit thereunto and acquiesce therein But what would they have us do or what is it that they would perswade us unto Is it that this kind of Rule in and over the Church hath Institution given it in the Scripture or countenance from Apostolieal Practice Both they and we know that no pretence of any such Plea can be made Is it that the first Churches after the Apostles or the Primitive Church did find such a kind of Rule to be necessary and therefore erected it among themselves There is nothing more remote from Truth Would they perswade us that as Ministers of the Gospel and such as have or may have the care of particular Churches committed unto us that we have no such concernment in these things but what we may solemnly renounce and leave them wholly to the mannagement of others We are not able to believe them The Charge that is given unto us the Account that will be required of us the nature of the Office we are called unto continually testifie other things unto us Wherefore we dare not voluntarily engage into the neglect or omission of this Duty which Christ requireth at our hands and of whose neglect we see so many sad Consequents and Effects The Lord Christ we know hath the same Thoughts and makes the same Judgment of his Churches as he did of old when he made a solemn Revelation and Declaration of them And then we find that he charged the Failings Neglects and Miscarriages of the Churches principally upon the Angels or Ministers of them And we would not willingly by our neglect render our selves obnoxious unto his Displeasure nor betray the Churches whereunto we do relate unto his just indignation for their declension from the Purity of his Institutions and the vigour of that Faith and Love which they had professed We should moreover by the Conformity required of us and according to the Terms on which it is proposed engage our selves against the exercise of our Ministerial Office and Power with respect unto them who are already Members of Particular Churches For this we carry along with us that by Conforming we voluntarily consent unto the whole state of Conformity and unto all that we are to do or not to do by the Law thereof Now it is not to be expected that all who are duly initiated or joyned unto any Church
a continual sorrow and trouble unto us so we acknowledge it to be our Duty and shall be willing to undergo any blame where we are found defective in the Discharge of it unto the utmost of our Power to endeavour after the strictest Communion with them in all Spiritual things that the Gospel doth require or whereof our condition in this world is capable In the mean time until this can be attained it is our desire to mannage the Profession of our own Light and Apprehensions without Anger Bitterness Clamours Evil speaking or any other thing that may be irregular in our selves or give just cause of offence unto others Our Prayers are also continually for the spiritual Prosperity of this Church for its increase in Faith and Holiness and especially for the healing of all breaches that are among them that belong thereunto throughout the World And were we not satisfied that the Principles which we own about the right Constitution of the Churches of Christ and the Worship of God to be observed in them are singularly suited to the furtherance and Preservation of Vnion and due Order among all the members of this Church we should not need to be excited by any unto their Renunciation But our main design in all these things is that both they and we with them may enjoy that peace which the Lord Christ hath bequeathed unto us and walk in the way which he hath prescribed for us And these things we mention neither to boast of nor yet to justifie our selves but only to acknowledge what is our conviction concerning our Duty in this matter And might there any sedate peaceable unprejudicate endeavours be countenanced and encouraged for the allaying of all occasional distempers and the composing of all differences among them who belong to this Church of Christ so as that they might all of them at least in these Nations not only keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace but also agree and consent in all wayes and Acts of Religious Communion we doubt not but to manifest that no rigid adherence unto the practise of any conceptions of our own in things wherein the Gospel alloweth a condescention and forbearance no delight in singularity no prejudice against persons or things should obstruct us in the promotion of it to the utmost of our power and ability Upon the whole matter we own it as our duty to follow and seek after peace unity consent and agreement in holy worship with all the members of this Church or those who by a regular profession manifest themselves so to be and will with all readiness and alacrity renounce every principle or practise that is either inconsistent with such communion or directly or indirectly is in its self obstructive of it Secondly The Church of Christ may be considered with respect unto its outward Profession as constitutive of its Being and the formal Reason of its denomination And this is the Church Catholick visible whereunto they all universally belong who profess the invocation of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours under the limitations that shall be mentioned afterwards And this is the visible Kingdome of Christ which on the account of its profession and thereby is distinguished from that world which lyeth in evil and is absolutely under the power of Satan And so in common use the Church and the world are contradistinguished Yet on other accounts many who belong unto this Church by reason of some kind of profession that they make may justly be esteemed to be the world or of it So our Lord Jesus Christ called the generality of the professing Church in his time The world saith he hateth me And that we may know that he thereby intended the Church of the Jewes besides that the circumstances of the place evince it he puts it out of question by the Testimony which he produceth in the confirmation of his Assertion concerning their unjust and causless hatred namely It is written in their Law they have hated me without a cause which being taken out of the Psalms was part of the Law or Rule of the Judaical Church only Now he thus terms them because the generality of them especially their Rulers although they professed to know God and to worship him according to his Word and the Tradition of their Fathers yet were not only corrupt and wicked in their Lives but also persecuted him and his Disciples in whom the Power and Truth of God were manifested beyond what they were able to bear And hence a General Rule is established that what Profession soever any men do make of the Knowledge and Worship of God to what Church soever they do or may be thought to belong yet if they are wicked or ungodly in their Lives and Persecuters of such as are better than themselves they are really of the World and with it will perish without Repentance These are they who receiving on them a Form or Delineation of Godliness do yet deny the Power of it from whom we are commanded to turn away But yet we acknowledge that there is a real difference to be made between them who in any way or manner make profession of the Name of Christ with subjection unto him and that Infidel world by whom the Gospel is totally rejected or to whom it was never tendred In the Catholick visible Church as comprehensive of all who throughout the world outwardly own the Gospel there is an acknowledgment of one Lord one Faith one Baptism which are a sufficient Foundation of that Love Union and Communion among them which they are capable of or are required of them For in the joynt Profession of the same Lord Faith and Baptism consists the Union of the Church under this consideration that is as Catholick and visibly professing and in nothing else And hereunto also is required as the principle animating that Communion and rendring it acceptable mutual Love with its occasional Exercise as a fruit of that Love which we have unto Jesus Christ who is the Object of our Common Profession And setting aside the consideration of them who openly reject the Principal Fundamentals of Christian Religion as denying the Lord Christ to be the Eternal Son of God with the use and efficacy of his death as also the Personal subsistence and Deity of the Holy Spirit and there is no known Community of these Professors in the world but they own so much of the Truths concerning one Lord one Faith and one baptism as are sufficient to guide them unto Life and Salvation And hereon we no way doubt but that among them all there are some really belonging to the Purpose of Gods Election who by the means that they do enjoy shall at length be brought unto everlasting Glory For we do not think that God by his Providence would maintain the Dispensation of the Gospel in any Place or among any People among whom there are none whom he hath designed to bring
had a good Foundation to build upon For that Easter was to be observed byvertue of Apostolical Tradition was generally granted by all And he took it as unquestionable upon a current and prevalent Rumor that the observation of it was confined to the Lords day by the example of St. Peter Hereupon he refused the Communion of all that would not conform unto his resolution for the observation of Easter on the Lords day and cast out of Communion all those Persons and Churches who would observe any other day which proved to be the condition of the principal Churches of Asia amongst whom the Apostle John did longest conâ—erse Here was our present case directly exemplified or represented so long before hand the Success onely of this fact of his remaineth to be enquired into Now it is known unto all what entertainment this his new Rule of Communion found among the Churches of Christ. The Reproof of his Precipitancy and irregular fixing new bounds unto Church Communion was famous in those days Especially the Râ—buke given unto him and his practise by one of the most Holy and Learned Persons then living is eminently celebrated as consonant to Truth and Peace by those who have transmitted unto us the Reports of those Times He who himself first condemned others rashly was for his so doing generally condemned by all Suppose now that any Persons living at Rome and there called into Communion with the Church should have had the condition thereof proposed unto them namely that they should assent and declare that the observation of Easter by Apostolical Tradition was to be on the Lords day only and upon their refusal so to do should be excluded from Communion or on their own accords should refrain from it where should the Guilt of this Disorder and Schism be charged And thus it fell out not only with those who came out of Asia to Rome who were not received by that Diotrephes but also with sundry in that Church its self as Blastus and others as what great Divisions were occasioned hereby between the Saxons and Brittains hath been by many declared But in the Judgment of the primitive Churches the Guilt of these Schisms was to be charged on them that coyned and imposed these new Rules and Conditions of Communion And had they not been judged by any the pernicious consequences of this temerarious Attempt are sufficient to reflect no inconsiderable Guilt upon it Neither could the whole Observance its self from first to last ever compensate that loss of Love and Peace among Christians and Churches which was occasioned thereby Nor hath the Introduction of such things ever obtained any better success in the Church of God How free the Churches were untill that time after they were once delivered from the Attempt of the Circumcised Professors to impose upon them the Ceremonies of Moses from any appearance of unwritten Conditions of Communion is manifest unto all who have looked into the Monuments which remain of those times It is very true that sundry Christians took upon them very early the Observation of sundry Rites and Usages in Religion whereunto they had no Guidance or Direction by the word of God For as the corrupted Nature of Man is prone to the Invention and use of sensible present things in Religion especially where Persons are not able to find satisfaction in those that are purely spiritual requiring great intention of mind and Affections in their Exercise so were they many of them easily infected by that Tincture which remained in them from the Judaisme or Gentilism from which they were converted But these observances were free and taken up by Men of their own accord not only every Church but every Person in the most of them as far as it appears being left unto their own Liberty Some Ages it was before such things were turned into Laws and Canons and that perhaps first by Hereticks or at least under such a Degeneracy as our minds and Consciences cannot be regulated by The Judgment therefore and Practice of the first Churches are manifest against such Impositions Fifthly upon a supposition that it should be Lawful for any Persons or Churches to assign unscriptural Conditions of their Communion it will follow that there is no certain Rule of Communion amongst Christians fixed and determined by Christ. That this is otherwise we have before declared and shall now only manifest the evil Consequences of such a Supposition For if it be so no Man can claim an Admission into the Society or Communion of any Church or a Participation in the Ordinances of the Gospel with them by vertue of the Authority of Jesus Christ. For notwithstanding all his Pleas of submission to his Institutions and the Observation of his Commands every Church may propose something yea many things unto him that he hath not appointed without an admission whereof aâ—d subjection thereunto he may be justly excluded from all Church Priviledges among them Now this seems not consonant unto the Authority that Christ hath over the Church nor that Honour which ought to be given unto him therein Nor on the same supposition are his Laws sufficient to rule and quiet the Consciences or to provide for the Edification of his Disciples Now if Diotrephes is blamed for not receiving the Brethren who were recommended unto the Church by the Apostle probably because they would not submit to that pre-eminence which he had obtained among them they will scarcely escape without reproof who refuse those whom the Lord Christ commends unto them by the Rules of the Gospel because they will not submit unto such new Impositions as by vertue of their Pre-eminence they would put upon them And what endless Perplexities they must be cast into who have learned in these things to call him only Lord and Master is apparent unto all Baptism with a voluntary credible Profession of Faith Repentance and Obedience unto the Lord Christ in his Commands and Institutions is all the warranty which he hath given unto any of his Disciples to claim their Admission into his Churches which are instituted and appointed to receive them and to build them up in their Faith And if any Person who produceth this warranty and thereon desireth according to order the Communion of any Church if he may be excluded from it or forbidden an entrance into it unless it be on grounds sufficient in the Judgment of Charity to evince the falseness and hypocrisie of his Profession little regard is had to the Authority of Christ and too much unto Mens own Churches indeed may more or less insist upon the Explicitness of this Profession and the Evidences of its sincerity as they find it tend to their Peace and Edification with a due Attendance unto the Rule and Example left unto them in this matter in the Gospel And that the exercise of this Power in any Churches may not turn to the Prejudice of any every Professor is allowed with reference unto particular Assemblies to