their hands to guard them in all their ways that they may not dâ—â—h their foot aginst any of the stones of Scandal They are Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister for them that shall be Heirs of Salvation Those greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven humble themselves as Little Ones to serve the Little Ones of God and Christ And as their Angels they always behold in Heaven the Father of our Lord and of all that believe in him that whoever despises them even to Scandal must be sure to have it remonstrated against them 2. He exemplifies the care of them in himself The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost and the Argument is raised to the height as it is exemplified in the Father of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth named after Christ whose will it is not that so much as one and yet when one only is in the danger of Scandal Who does not look upon him as a Singularist especially if one of the least too and reject him should perish but is pleased in the preservation of one such even as the joy of one Sheep that is lost out of a hundred exceeds sensibly the joy of the ninety nine that were not in hazard But now lest the great charge against Scandalising and Despising should seem to introduce a Lawless state in Christianity and increase Petulancy and Licentiousness in those who would be looked upon as at least Little Ones in Christianity or make the care of not Scandalising of endless scruple or burden Our Lord prescribes a Method for preventing so ill Consequences very certain to its End yet very far from Scandal or Despising A Method that allows no sin and yet deserts none till they deserve to be accounted but as Heathens or Publicans to whom yet a due measure of Christian Charity is to be preserved Which Method it is not my business now to enter into the Controversal part of but to observe as of great moment that the Doubting of the lawful use of Indifferent Things in Religion falls not into the account of any of those Trespasses the Lord speaks of and that as if it were on purpose lest the thing should be mistaken a most different Method is in that Case commanded by the Apostle of the Lord. Here therefore give me liberty to compare in some things which I have omitted in the body of the Discourse the Sermon of our Lord and his Apostle First He that doubts in Indifferent Things and cannot conform to what others do and would be conformed to in is not commanded by the Apostle to hear the one or the two or three nor the Church it self Nor is it said by the Apostle they that will not hear on such accounts should be as Heathen-men or Publicans or as we speak Excommunicate both which are very notorious in the Evangelists Records in the Case of the Trespasses there spoken of which assures us they are of another Nature Nor doth the Apostle urge as from our Saviour that what is in these Cases bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven or what is loosed on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven that there shall be any obligation on the doubting Conscience by the Churches Canons or any such discharge of it before God or it self by obeying them But every Man in this Case is to hear his own Conscience there every thing of this nature is bound and loosed there every word or matter is heard and established On the other side there is no Injunction of telling the fault of Non-Conformity if any be aggrieved at it in that gradation from one to more and so to the Church But the Apostle's command is First Not to Judge or Despise if that may keep Indifferents to their Equipoise if not the Command is not so much as by Example to Scandalise or draw any that Doubt to act against or over their Doubt in Indifferent Things because they are but Indifferent for that is to sin against the Brethren the weak Brethren as at the least we esteem them Now in these Cases to sin against the Brethren is to sin against Christ in his Law against Scandal Now in that all things are of so diverse a frame and aspect in the Lords Prescriptions concerning Trespasses and the Apostle's Directions in cases of various apprehensions in things of Indifferency wherein one great part may be guilty yet of great weakness and mistake and that none of the Methods ordered in the one is so much as mentioned in the other or once intimated it argues very evidently that variety and as various practices in indifferent Things though joined with such mistake and weakness are none of the Trespasses our Saviour had regard to And since the Apostle puts all under the notion of Scandal wherein the weaker part is either drawn into sin enfeebled in the vigour disquieted in the true peace of Conscience or so much as despised by being incompassionately neglected in his Doubt the whole Case is brought under the force of our Saviour's Sermon against Scandal that none looking upon themselves on any accounts as Great in the Kingdom of God in the Church or in the Christian Profession let those Accounts be whatever they can be presumed to be should by any sort of Imperiousness whether Command rigorous Treaty or Example that despises all that do not follow it impose upon the Little Ones To all which let me have the Readers patience to add this one Observation That the Evangelist Mark makes the occasion of this or a like Discourse of the Lords upon Scandal That the Disciples were much displeased that one did cast out Devils in Christs name that did not follow them that did not seem and indeed was not of their way in the appearance of Things But our Lord with great Compassion accepts him so far as he was come For saith he He that is not against us is on our part He that although in a different Company or Mode does the same things we do and does nothing in opposition to our Great Design is on our side And so he proceeds into a similar Discourse of Kindness to or Scandal against his Disciples though Little Ones And if we suppose it the same Discourse as in St. Matthew and that this Evangelist had not an accurate regard to the occasion yet in that he connected it with such an occasion and that by the Divine Wisdom it teaches us how much such a Discourse is adjusted to such an occasion for guided by the Holy Spirit the things are so laid together Now that the Apostle had his Eye upon these so famous Discourses besides the Reasons I have given on this Head in its due place it is evident to me further he had so by his Representation of himself in a Figure all along the ninth Chap. of his First Epistle to the Corinths in the very heart of a Discourse concerning Scandal as that Person that humbles himself as a Little Child in
all parts of the true Church Whose sins ye remit are remitted c. viz by solemn Declarations out of and according to the Laws of Christ even to the utmost distance wherein any rational possibility of extending such Remonstrances and Declarations with success and effect can be found there is not only power but an incumbent duty to do it This Union now is of uncontroulable Divine Right Thus much of National Religion a National Church can by no means be denied to a Christian Nation seeing to be thus of the Church is absolutely necessary to salvation Every man that shall be saved being certainly added to this Church the entrances into which in deed and in truth are by the saving Graces of the Spirit of God and in the judgment of Charity by a serious profession And this is that Catholick Church that compreheâ—ds all lesser Unions but excludes or denies none much less can be excluded by any As therefore every one must be of the Church Catholick and Nations ought to be Christian Nations and protect that profession So this very Catholick Church in every Nation where it is truly found carries with it the name of a Church and as a Nation is by it self and its own Civil Union denominated a Nation so the union of Christians must be the Church in that Nation for it is the Catholick Church in its universal diffusion running through this or that particular Nation and all the vertues and duties of the Catholick Church ought to be exercised in it and if any one denies this he denies the Catholick Church of greater moment than any particular Church can be 2. All the closest and most constant exercises of Christian Religion that Christians are to exercise one with another that cannot be exercised but in Society of this kind are all parts of the publick worship of God Prayer Preaching Sacraments which are indeed or ought to be the same for nature throughout the whole Christian Church but must be actually perform'd in particular Societies Now these Churches may be solemnly erected and constituted by agreement but they are also founded and even grow out of the very nature of the thing for the close Neighbourhood of Christians one with another they having continual knowledg of and acquaintance one with another and thereby daily opportunities of agreeing in that publick worship of God and their common profession all these ingage and also incline them to unite whether in greater Families as the Apostle speaks of Churches in the Families of Christians or in Villages or in greater Congregations of Cities one or more still the obligation is unavoidable The necessity of Duty that lyes upon Christians to perform these Acts of Worship in Society and the Law that is upon all Society and Societies must needs grow out of this frequent conversation to dedicate it self to God make it absolutely necessary that from the neighbourhood of Christians should arise particular Churches And who then can deny but that there may be an Union and further that there ought to be an Union of a Nation agreeing with it self as in the same Government Laws National Constitutions and commerce in a more frequent and free conversation one with another so in Religion when the parts of it profess the same true Religion and desire to worship God in the most publique way they can or who can deny that a Nation may give name to a Church seeing the very Cities give name to Churches where there was a number of Christians acting together according to the Laws of Christ given to his Church The obligation to true Râ—ligion to publique Religion is undeniable The opportunity of agreement is the same and may be transacted in the same mannner all other National agreements are And what is a Church but a Society agreeing in all Acts of true Religion according to the Laws allowed by Christ having no other Form but that of the Catholick Church distinguished by the particular Societies or places where they reside I acknowledg Two things are necessary to particular by the nature of particular Societies and the places where they resided Churches 1. Consciousness or mutual knowledg of persons and their worship 2. Consent This our Saviour teaches in that expression if Two of you shall agree Mat. 18. and indeed not only in particular Churches but even in the Catholick Church it self these things have their resemblance but with this difference In the Catholick Church the Divine Spirit running through all knows them all that truly belong to it and every one of them one for another and by their true Faith they all are united in closest consent in all things necessary to salvation one with another which Faith is kept from failing by the same spirit in them all that are truly of it But because there must be yet a more particular understanding that Christians have one with another that they may joyn in the same Religious Acts and mutually assist one another in them therefore the union of the Catholick Church upon Earth though it be the greatest the most Religious Society the most strongly banded and cemented yet is not sufficient because there is not that consciousness or mutual knowledge of and consent in one anothers Faith and Worship in distant parts of the World that is necessary to the Glorifying God and Christ in particular Churches This is one great reason too why the Church-Triumphant though inseparably united with the Church-Militant and every part of it though more acceptable and prevalent in all its Adorations yet cannot be communicated with actually and explicitly we may not sollicit such a communion with it here on Earth because we are not conscious or knowing of any such particularities in their State or Action as should ground it nor are we assur'd that they are conscious of any of our particularities Abraham the Prophets and Apostles are for ought we know wholly ignorant who we are when we pray or are exercis'd Religiously There is a thick and dark Vail drawn betwixt the Church in Heaven and Earth as to such particular Communion The Father the Son the Holy Spirit are only certainly and particularly known to us in that Higher Region of them we are only assur'd They know us and all our actions To ascribe the Honour to any other of the Invisible Church is to Idolize them as well as to thrust into things we have not seen or known Thus freely I acknowledg the closeness and easiness of Society of mutual understanding and consent with one another is the Foundation of particular Churches Those Duties of mutual Exhortation Assistances Counsels and when it is necessary Reproof one of another besides the constant meeting in publick worship That necessary severity of disowning in cases of great or incorrigible offence such persons as walk in practises contrary to the Rules of Christianity not being possible but in the nearest conjunction one with another that the State of mankind allows at the same time to be as
them Captive with the rest though in different Baskets as the Prophet Jeremy represents Quest How do they survive in the time of the displac'd and dejected Candlestick Answ They are either called out to a Zealous Appearance and Suffering for Truth or sometimes retired into Corners like the Seven thousand in Israel or the Church in the Wilderness that they cannot appear like a Church offering those Publick Notices of Divine Truth a Church is designed for Quest How is a Visible Profession lost from Particular Persons Answ It is too often thrown up by Apostasie or Profaneness or dwindled into a very Spiritless Form but very often a Profession without the Power being not inconsistent with the working of Iniquity it may pass out of this World like a Lamp burning but being found to burn only in a small Temporary Light without Oyl in the Vessel a Plenitude of Grace in the Heart shutting out every Lust it becomes a Lamp put out in utter Darkness Quest What is to be inferred from all this Answ That there is no Trust but in the Lord himself the Truth it self by which at all times the Church that is indeed the Pillar and Ground of Truth and wherein it is so will be known to us and in uniting to Truth we are united to That Quest There remains one thing yet to be understood in the Description of the Church which is its Power of Governing even as it is Governed by the Word of God Vnder what Notions I beseech you is that Government expressed in Scripture Answ That Power is by our Saviour represented under the Mataphor of Keys and the Use of those Keys in opening and shutting or in Binding and Losing Quest What is the meaning hereof Answ The meaning is plainly this When the Church of Christ hath by the Key of Knowledge inquir'd into all the Divine and Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel and Word of God it hath in and according to that Word and only so a Power of Application of that Doctrine to Particular Cases binding Men under the Sense of Guilt and fear of Damnation in such or such Sins and an impenitent Continuance in them or of Absolving and assuring Men of the Divine Favour and Acceptance in a holy course of Life and Obedience to God and of Pardon upon Repentance after Falls into Sin and Disobedience and so of Declaring and Pronouncing upon Men as to their present State in the Church by Excommunication or Absolution all these are the Power of Binding and Loosing according to what our Saviour speaks in parallel Words Whose Sins you remit they are remitted whose Sins you retain they are retained meaning still according to his Word the Pole-Star by which they are to direct all their Motions who claim any such Power For only where it is declard according to the Word is it that what is bound on Earth is also bound in Heaven and what is loosed on Earth is loosed in Heaven there being an Invariable Agreement between what is Published from Heaven in the Word of God concerning the State and Actions of Men on Earth and the Transactions in Heaven in relation to them He then that pronounces agreeably with that word pronounces as Heaven does and will pronounce Heaven binds what he binds and looses what he looses because he speaks the Voice of Heaven in both Cases But that there should be any Binding or Loosing except in the Power of this Word and according to it in its Vertue in its Truth nothing can be more contrary to the Ends to the Glory to the Soveraignty of Christ To bind any single Christian by Excommunication and not according to this Word is as much a Brutum Fulmen a Thunder to no purpose a causeless Curse that shall not come as for the Pope to Excommunicate whole Protestant Churches Quest What is a Particular Church Answ It is the Catholick Church in a Neighbourhood or number of Christians Communicating one with another ordinarily even as the whole Cotholick Church would if it were possible Communicate with it self in the Ordinances and Worship of Christ exactly according the to Rules of his Word wherein this is the distinguishing Character of the True Church that its Communion is not with it self primarily but its Communion is so with it self as to be with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ principally as the Fountain-Head Center and Rule of the Communion and therein it holds out and invites to its Communion CAP. X. Of the Officers appointed by Christ in his Church Quest CAn there be either an Orderly or an Effectual Actuation of the Truth by the Church as a Congregation without distinct and separate Offices and Officers that may attend continually on this very thing Answ It is imposible for an Assembly without Order would cease to be an Assembly and fall into a Confusion or Rude Multitude All Wise and Prudent Assemblies have always had Elders to preside over them and our Lord hath ordained such to moderate throughout his Congregation or Church to conduct all the Publick Services of Religion For all things therein are actually administred by the Ministers of Christ the Noblest Organical Parts of the Church like those Senses that attend upon the Understanding most immediately Seeing Eyes and Hearing Ears so these upon the Word of Christ And that they may be most fitted ingaged and provoked hereunto they are even according to the very Laws of Nature separated to their Offices and unto all Preparations for them by Reading and Meditation as to their Proper Calling and Business of Life seeing they do not pretend to Immediate and Extraordinary Inablements or Excitations to their Service Quest What Titles or Characters does the New Testament place upon these Officers Answ Those that we have especial Respect to for in the Deacons if strictly taken we are less concerned receive Denominations either from their Work and Service or from that Honour and Estimation due to the Faithful Discharge of such a Service From their Work they are stiled Apostles Evangelists Pastors Teachers Ministers Servants of God and Christ and in a just sense of the Church also From the Estimation and Honour due to the Discharge of their Work and the Authority it ought to carry in the Hearts and Consciences of Christians they are styled Bishops Elders Rulers Guides and Ensamples as also Embassadours And the Work and the Honour do so enclose one another that they ought not to be separated and are in their Institution the Measure one of another extending both to Obedience and Support of them in their Work and the Titles are so prepared by the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost that they ought not to be changed for any other nor the Scripture Language herein to be altered for any Words not importing the same proper Sense Quest How shall the True Ministers of Christ be known that there may be that Obedience and Submission paid to them that is commanded Answ There can be no other Means to