their measure use it by the vertue of his authority who said whose sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins ye retain they are retained Whereupon we may collect that as the power of the keyes is originally in Christ the Churches universal head and was by him given to the heads of Churches onely so it can be in the whole Church or in its subordinate members no otherwise then as received from their head according to that of Saint Paul When ye are met together and my Spirit c. And therefore to make it farther evident that the heads of Churches are to be understood in the direction of tell it to the Church we are to denote that the power of the keyes in the next verse was directed to the Apostles in the word ye when it was said Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven for unto them was most of this chapter directed the which was the reason of Saint Peters interogating him presently hereupon How oft shall my brother offend c. This power comonly called the power of the keyes and by the Romanists appropriate to the chief of that Sea only is that divine obsignation of Christian authority and precept whereby those laws and edicts of him that sitteth in the seat of judgment as the head of each Church that were but civilly or morally criminal in their own nature and obnoxious to temporal wrath onely for their breach come now to be sinful and damnable as being violations against God and the heavenly thrown it self by whom they are impowred and whose authority they do represent according to that sentence to be given at the last day inasmuch as ye have or have not done it c. Upon which grounds we may know what to conceive of that article of our Creed I believe the holy Catholike Church which some would wrest and make use of to draw mens obedience which way they pleased by proposing unto us what they pleased for Catholike doctrine But we are to conceive that this primitive form of profession of Christian faith therefore called the Apostles Creed was offered to and taken by such as were to be admitted into the Christian Church to shew and state their beliefe before their admittance and not to direct their obedience afterwards For although to believe in God in Christ in the holy Ghost do together with the acknowledgement of their deity draw on obedience by just consequence yet was this form of profession of faith therefore called the Creed made but to denote their beliefe of their true existence by which means being received into the Church their obedience was thence to be learnt For strange it had been for the Church to have proposed to men the matter of obedience to any of whom as yet they had no beliefe in And therefore when I profess to believe the holy Catholike Church the word holy will make it unconceiveable how it should directly import my profession of obedience and that not onely because the Catholike Church or Christs universal body cannot as before noted be ever comprehended under one notion and conception so as to be definitive to me concerning their determinations but also because I can never rightly say of the present or past militant Church to whom I seek for direction that they are all holy nor can men that live in a particular Church be ordinarily able to know what is and what is not Catholike doctrine besides that which is proposeth Whereupon understanding our belief in or of the holy Catholike Church to import our beliefe that Christ hath a true sanctified body which being so made by means of the holy Ghost in the article foregoing comes through their union in Christ and his Spirit to be of one communion from the rest of the world and so to be the Communion of Saints as in the article following So that then although the Creed as a Creed cannot of it self oblige to obedience yet since the beliefe of the articles thereof do by consequent bring men to Christs Church and out of desire to attain that Communion of Saints doth also farther prompt me to acts of obedience to that Church to whom I made this profession it will therefore follow that that obedience which I cannot give to the Catholick Church as such must be to this end given to that part of it under which I live since that I cannot otherwise obey the Catholike then by obeying the particular All which will be cleared by one instance of Saint Pauls who as the present head of that Church gives liberty to the Corinthians in eating of things offered to Idols notwithstanding that the then Catholike representative Church at Jerusalem and he himself amongst them had decreed otherwise Clearly evincing that the power of binding and loosing was to reside in each Churches own head and that they were to perform their obedience to the same party by whom they had learned their Creed who had been their spiritual father and begotten them in Christ. And that this power of the keyes was not given to the Apostles onely as a collective body of Church heads and so to the Catholike Church onely but was also conferred upon the particular heads of the Churches appears in that it was upon occasion particularly given to Saint Peter so that whatsoever head or chief governour should like him acknowledge Christ to be the true spiritual foundation and rock he should from Christ have power also to be herein a rock to others and to bind and loose And both places must contradistinguish the persons binding from those that shall be so bound and the persons telling and complaining to the Church from those that are to hear and have power of redress And as they were in one place spoken to Saint Peter alone to declare against consistorial parity so were they elsewhere given joyntly to all the Apostles the then visible heads of Churches to abate Popish usurpation For they were not to be commanding one another out of their Churches as they might those within them which was forbidden them in the persons of Zebedees Children But in those equalities they were in love to serve one another and in this their parity obeying the precept of submit your selves one to another he that should do it most and thereupon become a Minister and Servant to his fellows will even thereby make himselfe chief among them By which means being converted and become as little Children they shall then be greatest in the kingdome of heaven or have great and kingly power in the Church from the power of Christ that hath taken them into the arms of his acknowledgement From whence it will again follow that Who so shall receive one such little Child in my name receiveth me that is in hearing and obeying him he shal hear and obey me but Who so
so we again having no other direct outward precept from God or Christ himself are through faith and by our ready obedience to him actually performed to his Church in his stead as having the word of reconciliation committed unto them acquitted in all we do but if done otherwise we forfeit thereby the whole condition and as again obliged and culpable for the breach of the whole law nothing but read mission into the Covenant of Innonency by repentance can secure us from damnation CHAP. IV. Of each particular Church and its power HAving hitherto spoken of the Reason and Foundation of the Church in general and of the necessity of our participation of her communion so now again it will be necessary to speak of each particular Church and its jurisdiction For since we cannot otherwise attain to be members of this Catholick body then as being first members of some particular Church it will therefore follow that as the necessary observation of the law of providence which we could not explicitely and perfectly do upon our owne abilities was the cause Christ became obedient to God for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him so there lies upon each member a duty of conformity and obedience to their particular Churches that thereby being made conformable to the image of his Son they may also be restored to the image of God And therefore although the Catholick Church cannot be aggregate or represented der any single head or rule but of Christ himself yet since it is integrated and by parts made up of particular Churches and in these Christs power being to be represented by other Christs or anointeds under him it will follow that our obedience to this Church and the head thereof must have of us all that obedience which unto the other we cannot give else would that precept of obedience to the Church come to nothing as indeed for the most part is intended by such as would have the Writers of their owne mind to be held for the Catholick Church onely Therefore now being to consider the Christian Church as an assembly of Believers separate from other for Gods more immediate honour and worship we cannot well appropriate this phrase to that part of the Catholick which is past and unconversant with men nor for the present to that part of it which is yet to suceeed although both the one and the other have done or are to do their personal parts herein but must interpret that notion of Catholick Church used either when those duties are in general given which are fit for the Church to observe in obedience to Christ or when againe given for her members to observe to her to intend that part of Christs body which shall be successively militant on earth to whom alone these instructions can be necessary and useful in both kinds But then again as this general duly of praising God before men can onely be performed by the visible Church because she hath onely power and opportunity therein yet since this power here on earth is subsistant by the separate jurisdiction of those particular Churches which constitute her Catholick body and she can in no other sence be termed Catholick with reference to any other head then of Christ himself it must be therefore granted that all those precepts for general obedience to the Church must be meant of every Church in particular as having onely use of jurisdiction to this purpose And as having besides according to the several inclinations of their owne people and the known affections of those of the world amongst whom they live the best and onely ability to know and command what is fittest to be done for advancing Gods glory according to the exigence of their particulars which otherwise in the strange mixture of Christianity with other religions throughout the world were not possible to be comprised under one certain or equal rule or to be known and executed by one single persons power And that the Church and civil jurisdiction of each place signifie the same and that by obedience to the Church obedience to the particular Church is ment will appear by that of our Saviour Mat. 18. where controversies are if not decideable by umperage to be told to the Church Under which name must be comprehended the present particular authority of that place because else how shall they go to it And it must be the civil as well as ecclesiastical authority also as having them conjoined because it determines particular personal injuries where brother offends against brother and one servant takes another by the throate saying pay what thou owest as the parable denotes But the conclusion is that the supream jurisdiction whilst it is Christian is the very Church we are to submit unto And those that will not hear the Church are to be unto us as Heathens and Publicans that is such as have renounced Christ by this their renoucing the Image of his authority the Christian Church whose definition and power be the thing of never so civil nature makes the breach of it a sin as on the contrary our obedience to them acquits us of guilt For it is from Christ they have this power that Whatsoever is bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever they shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven So that Christ having now blotted out that hand writing of Iewish Ordinances which was against us and released them from their litteral strictness to the extent of rational and natural laws and having also answered to God for the large morallity of the whole rule of providence leaving Christians at large in all things wherein their reason or Christian precept is not transgressed and lastly having left the charge for custody and enforcing these Christian precepts to every Christian Church who are thereupon to answer to him for the faults of the people the advantage that Christians have of living in a state of innocence is unquestionable and immoveable while they contiune obedient And therefore Christs Gospel might well be called Glad tytings and we may find that our Saviour made his general encouragement to the entertainment of him and his doctrine because his yoke was easy and his burthen light Insomuch that when he came in particlar to be asked what it was he answered in one command for both Tables thou shalt love c. including under the precept of love to God and our Neighbour all the law and the Prophets that is all things of faith and charity or of faith and obedience which is charities support First for our faith and its fundamental object life eternal is to know God and Iesus whom he hath sent he is the way the truth and the life the Authour and finisher of our faith on whom whosoever believeth hath everlasting life and on him that believeth not the wrath of God abideth Which one article comes therefore to be eminently necessary
faith is of a more spiritual allay then that former Covenant of works so is their promises of a higher nature also Insomuch as we shall not find any where in the Gospel that there is warrant given to make these things the object of our aims or hopes as to the Jews was usually done but rather to the contrary Whereupon we may say that however a Church or particular members may as additional blessings to the righteousness of the kingdom of God expect these blessings to follow yet have they no such particular right as for gain sake onely to dispossess the greatest infidel And much less can particular Christians under colour of distinctions by themselves made have right against one another and so make God the Author of Peace to be the Author of Confusion and Civil war And as the Scriptures and their meaning are thus difficult and subject to misinterpretation in regard of the temporal promises made in the Old-Testament so are the more spiritual promises of the Gospel and New-Testament for want of due regard to alteration of times and difference of persons made the occasions of much abuse and disquiet also through mens hasty and partial interpretations of all things as relating to their particulars and to their own benefits onely To avoid which we are to observe a difference of persons and to know that whereas our Saviour usually addressed his speech to his Disciples as those he chiefly intended to teach because they should teach others so many of those speeches concerned them as present Teachers and Guides chiefly and not their successors as that place fear not little flock c. and the directions following it sell what ye have and give Alms c. Some again concerned their successors and not them as those places before mentioned of taking the swords and making friendship with Mammon Some things again concerned both them and their successors as the power of the keys whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and the power of Mission and Instruction as he that heareth you heareth me c. thereby making a necessary difference between such as should teach and govern and such as should learn and obey Which distinction hath been of late so little considered of in the world or rather so preposterously practiced that those that should be by their places obeyed as Governors and Teachers are now made the only objects of Discipline and Instruction For there is not the meanest Subject or Artisan but are daring to censure and direct both Prince and Priest in performance of their duties as if these Texts Do all things without murmuring and disputing c. and obey them that have the guide over you c. had been purposely spoken to Kings and Preachers that thereby they might learn submission and attention to their Subjects and and Auditors Some things were spoken that concerned other Christians also but themselves in the first place as whosoever will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me c. And lastly some things are generally set down as concerning all men as the Doctrines of Faith Love Humility Patience Obedience c. although men may differently be concerned in the outward exercise of them as heretofore related As concerning such Promises and Precepts as had different regard to Christians through alteration of times we shall finde some that concerned the primitive Believers and not those that followed in the latter age as in those glorious signes promised to accompany Believers to cast out devils to speak with tongues to heal the sick c. The which and other miraculous assistances and ways of inspiration and illumination heretofore promised and granted to such as should ask in Christs name and had but Faith to the quantity of a grain of Mustard-seed some in these latter times have been vainly boasting of whilst others have as disconsolately expected and for want of them been ready to think they must want Faith also Not rightly weighing how necessary these miraculous signes and wonders were to be then shown for the honoring Christs name from above which was as yet had in so little repute here below Insomuch as for that very cause we shall finde the gift of miracles granted to him that cast out devils in his name who for ought we finde pretended neither to follow nor at all to believe on him Nay to shew these extraordinary endowments were not sure signes of Faith we shall finde our Saviour condemning them that had them But when his name should be the most glorious of any and his Church should have attained that degree of strength and learning as to be able to provide for its own safety and illumination in an ordinary way then came the time again when upon the contrary reason these endowments to private persons ceasing we are to construe some admonitions as chiefly proper to Christians in the last times and to happen when his service shall be an honor as are these Admonitions to beware of pretenders to new lights such as shall say Lo here is Christ and loe there is Christ c. And having hitherto so largely endeavoured to prove our Assertions out of the Texts of the holy Scriptures and having done it with such strength of evidence as to me seemeth of value to convince any that hath real and firm belief that they are truely proceeding from God or that rather there is indeed any God at all it seems lastly necessary for conviction of both these sorts of men that is open Athiests and such secret ones that confessing a God and the Authority of Scripture the better to serve their own turns thereby do yet in their works deny him to say something for conviction of Deity and the daily exercise of divine Providence amongst us The which shall serve by way of addition to our first enterprize therein at the beginning of this work which for haste to other things was but cursorily there handled CHAP. XIV Of Athiesm AS the Nature of all kinde of vertue is to be operative so by the degree and extent of operation is the proportion and extent of the vertue to be measured For neither to do by help is so powerful as to act alone nor to do one or few things as many or all Again as extent of ability is best measured by extent of operation in the objects it undertakes so is the proportion of vigor by distance in execution even as that loadstone that can attract at greatest distance is best and that fire that can heat or burn farthest of is so also And as potency and vigour are to be thus measured by distance between Agent and Patient so much more when that distance shall be so encreased as the presence of the Agent shall not sensibly appear as to the present work but a weak or unlike thing having of it self no effectualness thereunto shâ—â—l by its power be made the Author of his proper
his dominions from God and he thereupon called King of such or such a Countrey so are all lands held or to be held again of the Soveraign after one tenure or other nor can any alienation though never so independent exclude his power from making use thereof upon publike occasion whereby to answer his great trust to God in respect of his service or for general benefit of his people nor from his own occasions leading that way also The which was well proved by our Saviours example who sending for another mans Ass bad his Disciples bring him away without other legal satisfaction or answer to any for their so doing Then that the Lord hath need of him Which speech of our Saviours will the more directly prove each Kings indisputable propriety if we consider the time and occasion whereupon he useth it to wit that he never used it but upon occasion of expressing himself in his Kingly right and Office in his riding in state to Jerusalem and there exercising kingly power Plainly declaring that as no private possession can disimpropriate the publike Lord so may this grand proprietor redemand the same not only to answer the more publike charges of the Commonwealth but upon occasion of his own Royal support also In pursuance of which Original Right and Claim or of doing what he will with his own as we find God during the Theocrity making Laws of restraint both for the use and bequest of mens proprieties so may we observe it still to remain of unquestionable right to his supreme Deputy to do the like by their Laws and Edicts in the disposal of such part of that kingdoms property which particular subjects by Laws under him hold in their hands From whence we may call property That share of the Commonwealth which by the Law is held in severalty to the possessor free from the dispose of any but the law-maker himself Which thing as it is by them done by power from God because the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof so cannot he lose the hold and claim of general right but the Subject must loose his right of particular propriety also which is derived from him by vertue thereof But for a plainer example of Gods claiming his propriety and particularly of power to impose tribute in acknowledgment thereof we may observe the same fully set down in the 31 Chap. of Numb In which God as their present King imposing such a leavy and tribute upon the people both of persons and goods as he saw fit did thereupon become a plain and warrantable president for his succeeding Deputies to take the like from their subjects also even as his Ministers attending for this very thing that is to receive Gods due in acknowledgement of that propriety and protection they by Gods blessing enjoy under them In which Chapter we shall finde the tribute owned by God six several times as the Lords tribute although it were given away to others even to the Levites his then immediate Ministers for receit thereof And as this maxim that God and the Prince are proprietors of all things is in it self most true so if people would rightly consider it it is by God upon good ground established for their benefit because as every one is most careful of his own so the Prince looking upon the possessions of the whole subjects and of every one in particular as his will be more circumspect to encrease and preserve them then when they aim to recover or possess any propriety or power more fully shall set him at strife within his own Dominions For Princes as such should have nothing in the dispose of subjects exempt from their Power but Honor. For this he can never have by force and without their consents or the most or best of them and therefore he will study by Complacency Justice and meritorious deeds towards them to be daily acquiring this so precious a Jewel And they will finde that whilst he is to make his sole imployment after the search of this onely that their common and respective benfits will be necessarily sought whereas by putting him to struggle for other things which they cannot keep justly from him his care will be neglected and the mischief of Civil disturbance inevitably will follow And when all is done men are but abused by an affectionate conceit of the word For propriety can never be in that degree they fancy and if it be not at the dispose of one Prince it must be of more For since Laws are but the will and sentence of the Lawmakers and since proprieties are also but the sentence of Law it will follow that proprieties of particulars are but the proprieties of the publike person that is in soveraignty and power though not in present act yet so as that soveraign may reduce his power to act as he shall see fit And hence it is namely to debar Princes from occasion of seeking farther that such large revenews are allowed in all kinds that through their power of interpreting law the judge of propriety they need not covet beyond what they have to their own use already For to allow those that have the particular proprieties aright to judge the rule of propriety is not only partial but to themselves prejudicial opening by that gap to soveraignty an occasion to perpetual Civil war For since every particular propriety is but parcel of the publike that is of the general propriety of that particular kingdom if that publike have not a person of whole equal interest herein thereby of whole and equal in the particulars hereof how can the whole be duly regarded since particular proprietors can have no aim but what is respective to themselves But let us enquire a little farther into these things make them plain by instance and consideration of some sorts of publike good and of the manner how particular subjects come to have their proprieties therein That stock of honor which each kingdom hath one in respect of another no man doubts but the same is at the Prince his dispose onely that is who shall be more honorable then others and so also for matter of Offices and of power and command over one another For if these things should not all be appropriated to subjects as from him the general proprietor how should they proceed with Justice or agree in sharing them to themselves would not each one to encrease his particular propriety be so covetously contentious as to destroy thereby the stock of the whole propriety But the reason why Princes cannot be in the particular propriety of riches such immediate dispensors as in Honors Offices c. but must refer them to divers other Magistrates to be managed according to his general pleasure signified by Law is for that land and the fruit thereof riches being continually necessary for each subject in particular to have the business of continual allotment thereof would be so great that one person could
not arbitrarily dispose of it according to the occasion and proportions of that food apparel c. which should generally and to each one be necessary and which cannot to any one at any time be wanting Whereas Honor Command Power c. being necessary but to few doth both afford him ability personally to act and time to consult in each particular So then wealth riches c. are from their general use and possession to be guided by common rule or law but honors are still manageable by particular rule or prerogative law And indeed as this necessary and general use of food c. makes that kind or possession that is more immediate in acquiring it to be called and take on it the general name of Propriety so is it in a maner the whole subject of law it self And therefore we may say the Prince hath no more right to disimpropriate any one contrary to law then any man hath to take back from another any thing that by his general appointment was given to him which is unjust without other circumstances to authorize it And therefore it will be considerable whether this gift were absolute and without all kind of reservation or no or whether the Prince proceed herein according to interest and increase of his particular propriety or no For if private propriety have encroached on that which should have remained as yet publike and common and that without leave or if there be any conditionate reservation of rent taxes or of repossession at a certain time or upon such or such default or the like by the same general law and rule set down the Prince may with better right by his Magistrates recover his own then his subjects could dispossess him And as thus to himself and his own use so although no reservation be expressed but where the proprieties seem most high and absolute the Prince as aforesaid may for the publike occasion make a publike leavy as he shall think good For since all private proprieties will in themselves increase and be more as that publike whereof their parts is more and doth increase and so on the contrary it will follow as a thing of great equity that private proprietors should contribute to this purpose and that according to such degree of exigence as he that is publike proprietor shall finde fitting that is for the ways for increasing it by invention of Arts of all sorts by foraign invasion with Armies Navies c. or by maintenance of it by Religion publike persons buildings works foraign traffick agriculture or such like c. To keep it from decay by the same or like means For the necessity of having these things to each subject in particular making it necessary that there should be one to judge and take care thereof in general must also imply a necessity in the means that is publike maintenance aswel as of the end which is publike good But now although few doubt that either there should be care or allowance for publike advantage or to resist publike detriment there are many do yet actually and by consequent interrupt and deny it by putting such exceptions and restraints on Princes herein as whilst they would disable him from taking more then is fit they disable him from taking what truely is so thereby also from doing that good which they ought as experience too often shew us How Princes should guide themselvs in their own particular revenues and collection and managery of publike charges is a proper discourse for hereafter In the mean time I shall answer in general that since all these kinds of trusts as also all others that are in mens managery will be subject to abuse therefore if it should happen that the Prince should in these things exceed publike regard the damage and dishonor is not so great to the people to be by him over-reached as by others of less note and concern in the publike For he as the publike Minister ought to be by them maintained and the more his honor the more theirs but to be cozened by their fellows and to have them thereby made rich above them which in all Republikes must come to pass will neither gain them thanks nor credit And again the more the Prince shall gain by frugallity in the managery of those publike imployments and trusts so much less need have they to add to his maintenance and Royal support Which as it is their duty to do as subjects so though the same should be done in a manner more plentifully then ordinarily yet could not the whole kingdom be therein a loser seeing it is spent upon its members and within the bounds thereof For the Prince himself can eat or wear but the share of another man and what would have been eaten by others if he had not been and having nothing of the rest but the beholding it with his eyes it is eaten and enjoyed by their fellow subjects for such even those are that are more particularly waiting on him and called his servants All which well considered together with what was formerly spoken of the reason and beginning of property namely common improvement by private managery as it will on the one hand shew it to be the duty of Kings that none of those talents should be hid by them or lye idle in their own use without necessity whereby publike benefit might be hindred so on the other hand how heavy will it make the offence of Subjects that instead of Tenants shall make themselves such absolute and unconditionate proprietors as to withstand or deny publike occasions For if they after the manner of the husbandmen in the Gospel should seek to make the inheritance their own and by way of association and Covenant amongst themselves seek to kill or dispossess the true heir what think we shall the great Lord at his coming say to such husbandmen Therefore as private mens judgements must submit to publike sentence so their property to publike use and as all mens proprieties are settled by Law so upon occasion of preservation of that Law they may be disposed of that according to the judgement of the King the Maker Keeper and Interpreter of these Laws For the Soveraigns office being to protect his subjects liberties properties against all others he cannot do it against himself no more then he can binde his own hands It cannot be done by another because on earth he hath none equal or Superior in his own Dominions And if it could be Government would not be because our persons and estates are the onely objects of Government And the same rule is in a Family that is independent for in both all is to be supposed at the proper disposal of the Prince and Master And upon the same ground that the sojourner in the Family and Ambassador or stranger in the Commonwealth have their freedom in persons or estates that is because unsubjected those that are subjected may be justly made lyable And as these Reasons