Men stupid and foolish that they may the better Lord it over them as besotted Vassals It cannot invite or ingage any to its Side by â—arnal allurements and provisions made for â—he lusts of Men. The making of such Provisions would extinguish its life and power and bring forth a spurious carnal Brood that always with deadly hatred pursues its true Proâ—essors It cannot lift up it self by serving the deâ—â—gns and lusts of earthly Potentates though it â—ives them their due honour to the full yet it â—empts them not by flattery to think of themselves above what they are nor doth it proâ—itute its Sacred Rules to patronize any enorâ—ities in their Conversations or political Adâ—inistrations It cannot subdue a People and hold them unâ—er by armed violence and usurpation for his were to subvert it self and undermine its â—wn foundation which is truth meekness and â—â—ghteousness It seeks not by any irregular motions to perâ—rb a settled State though adverse and injurious to it It cannot enter into the recesses 〈◊〉 wicked Policy its principles will not bear 〈◊〉 out in the cunning and close ways of dishonâ—… sty It abhors such ingagements as draw oâ—… necessity of proceeding in unrighteous or daâ—… gerous Counsels and especially such iniquiâ—… as would not pass away in a transient action but would hold up a lasting usurpation or iâ—… jury to its perpetual reproach and repugnanâ—… to it self It neither hath nor in human judgment 〈◊〉 like to have the sufficiency of an arm of Flesâ—… or worldly Puissance for its intrinsick and aâ—… biding strength untill it comes in a more exâ—… tensive power and more ample victory that hath been yet manifested in the World Thâ—… mutable Advantages of certain times and occaâ—… sions are but loose and hollow ground and nâ—… settled foundation for it to build upon It is not furthered by a course of subtilties and of intricate and cloudy projects which be get suspition of evil but by an openess an frankness of dealing in all certainty and clearness For in it self it is clear as the Sun anâ—… regular and certain as the ordinances of Heâ—… ven or the Motions of the Celestial Bodies Whatsoever degree of obliquity or uncertainty happeneth to it is only extrinsical proceeding from Mens corruptions and frailties who neâ—… ther are can be here absolutely exact and perfect in it It rejects the fury of passion bitterness clamours wrath tumult and all outrage In a word it can admit nothing that is inconsistent with intire honesty And it is not weakened by this strictness For Truth is great and powerfull and by a weak and gentle yet sound and solid manifestation of it self it maintains a conquest answerable to its own condition in this present World CHAP. XVIII The Interest of true Religion lies much in its venerable Estimation among Men. A Corrupt state of Religion nourishing Pride and Sensuality and yielding it self managable to the designs of Men after the course of the World is commonly upheld by an arm of Secular power which by ways of its own it can make sure to it self But pure Religion abhorring base compliances and residing in the hitherto lesser number that walk in the narrow way is not so well suted for a settled and continued potency in that kind Wherefore by how much the more it fails of an assurance of worldly Power and Greatness by so much the more it needs the advantage of venerable estimation for its own intrinsick excellence A desire of vain glory and an ambitious catching at the praise of Men is opposite to this interest and destroys the ends thereof But because things that appear not are of the same reason with things that are not in regard of influence upon the minds of Men Christianity should be made appear to be what it is indeed that it is not a meer Idea in the imagination or intellect but a wisdom and power that may be practiced and its glory is displaid in a Life of integrity purity and charity by the brightness of which graces in the primitive Times it became illustrious and was exalted over all the learning and vertue and potency of the Heathen World in such an Age as had all civil disciplines in their perfection and it is never so much indangered as when the sanctity of its Professors is fallen or exposed to scandal Eminent Holiness is after miracles the next great testimony to the truth and is now in the room of Miracles and its influence is very powerfull Wheresoever it is it invigorates others of this Fellowship that are near it and it commands aw and reverence from all Men. T is a great happiness when Persons indued herewith are in proportionable number fixed like stars of the first magnitude throughout the firmament of the Church when there are Men of strong Parts much prudence active spirits firm resolution who are filled with the Holy Spirit inflamed with love to God and devoted to seek the things that are Christs and fitted thereunto by real mortification and self-denial also when Persons of a lower sphere for the perfections of Nature or Learning have attained to a large measure of the primitive Spirit of Faith love meekness brotherly kindness and charity whereby they are made ready to every good work and provoke others thereunto As the eminent piety of some so the approâ—ed piety of the generality of serious Professors imports exceedingly to the reputation and reverence of true Religion The spiritual Man discerneth the excellency of the Divine life and the beauty of Holiness and the natural Man also can discern humility chastity temâ—erance patience charity integrity as things morally good and profitable to Men and by â—…ese things the truth is vindicated and mainâ—…ined To defile the purity of this Professiâ—… is to stain its glory and to stain iâ—s glory is 〈◊〉 render it weak and despicable None thereâ—…re may pass for the allowed Disciples of this â—ay but such as keep themselves pure from 〈◊〉 foul sins of Sensuality and from all palpaâ—… dishonesty Howbeit the lawfull favour â—…d assistance of any others may with due cauâ—… be admitted in its concernments A harmless life if barren and unprofitable is of little value in it self and also of little force to advance any Profession Nay a fruitless life is scandalous and unchristian They are the words of Christ herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples The root of such fruitfulness in good works is love out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned to which belong those praises that it is the end of the Commandment and the fulfilling of the Law Now because they that walk circumspectly are often censured by the looser Sort to be uncharitable it doth the more concern them really to shew forth the laudible fruits of Charity and to maintain all good works before Men though not to be seen of Men and to hate narrowness of Soul and base selfishness What do ye more
trifle with holy things he shuns vanity and curiosity and doth not ramble into impertinences and cares not to utter any thing for ostentation He hath in his eye the end of his Ministry and the usefulness and importance of what he hath to communicate that as it said of the Scripture from whence he takes it it may be profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for instruction in Righteousness that it may come home to the hearts and lives of men and be fit to raise their attention by their own concernment in it He considers withall what the hearers can best receive that is not what the flesh can well digest for then the most necessary truths must be forborn but that which carries its own evidence to that it must be owned or the gain-sayers must be self-condemned And this is to prepare mens minds and to make way for such harder sayings and stricter precepts as must be manifested in due season Moreover the Dispensation of the word of God should be as the word it self is quick and powerfull and in all reason that is to be most esteemed such which is most apt to be effectual to the end for which God hath ordained it which is to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that be sanctified through faith in Christ. That kind of preaching that hath most tendency to convince direct and move toward this end is without controversie the most powerfull The pressing of Doctrines with solid and cogent reason provided they be made plain and obvious to the capacity of the hearers appertains to this manner of preaching and in a chief point therein Strong reason may be so delivered as to be too hard and strong for plain people to receive and digest it Here Condescention is a great Duty and perspicuity a great Gift But the bare evidence of reason doth not all For to gain the Will which is the man besides the judgment the fancy and affections had need be gained We find it the condescention of God himself in his word to deal very much with these lower faculties which belonging not to brutes only but to men also it is not brutish but human to be moved by them in subordination to the judgment Even the most learned and prudent men are found to take no small impression from them and therefore the most proper ways of soliciting and exciting them are not to be neglected much less contemned Now dry reason though strong enough is not so fit to take the affections or raise the fancy Wherefore some other helps among which there are comparatively little things are herein used as familiar expressions apt similitudes expostulations lively representations and such like to which may be added a voluble tongue a moving tone and taking gesture And though much noise and action make not a powerfull Preacher yet earnestness of speech and elevation of the voice is not of little force and especially with vulgar hearers who being the greatest number in most Auditories are very regarnable And truly the weight of the business requires due fervour Should the matters of life and death eternal be delivered without feeling as by men half asleep And people's drowsiness doth no less require it Yea possibly the apprehensions and affections of the common people may better be roused up by a somewhat boysterous way of excitation which for this reason should not displease the learned or most judicious sort who are in this case to consider not what would most affect themselves but the greater multitude who stand in greatest need of help and whose souls are not less precious nor redeemed with a lesser price than the souls of the greatest Scholars and Sages of this world Indeed much judgment and and circumspection is here called for that all rudeness and homeliness of expression all curiosity levity and loathsom affectation and all manner of undecency be avoided and that what is comely and congruous and apt to convince and move be used and that nothing be overstrained And in this matter self-distrust if not too excessive will do better than Self-confidence and conceitedness Here it should be considered that very worthy men may have some indecencies in voice and gesture which they cannot well remedy and others who are very usefull and whose Service in Gods Church could not be well spared may be liable to some lesser mistakes and incongruities in expression which critical hearers may discern yet they hinder not the efficacy of the word And withall let it be considered whose work they do that aggravate such weaknesses to make sport for themselves and others to the contempt of Gods ordinance And for them that pour out scorn upon the most Pious Serious Solid and profitable kind of Preaching and make ridiculous representations of it to the world because it suits not their seeming wisdom I am rather inclined to lament their folly then to emulate their Wit or envy their Applause with some men We read that the wise Preacher sought out acceptable words that is words pleasing to edification that would reach home and were piercing as goads and nails The Preachers inward feeling of what he speaks hath a secret force to cause his words to be felt by others and what comes from the heart is aptest to go to the heart by a Sympathy in the Spirits of men And that any should speak of Seeing and Feeling in some sort the things that are written in Gods word will not seem strange to them who have tasted that the Lord is gracious The powerfull dispensing of the word depends chiefly on the assistance of the Holy Spirit though both natural and acquired parts and the industrious exercise thereof be likewise necessary For which cause the spiritual man hath unspeakable advantage of the meerly natural man in this Service The special presence of the Spirit with him and the grace of God in him causeth him to speak in a strain more apposite and sutable to the forming of the new creature Yea such illumination and conviction and tast of heavenly things as proceeds from a more common or less than regenerating grace will do more in this business with less abilities of art and nature than far greater abilities in those kinds can do by themselves alone The common Sense of the faithfull is a witness to the truth hereof And it must needs be so that he who hath some savour of the things of God should speak more Savorily of them then he can to whom they are tastless or unsavory Wherefore there is a Spiritual kind of preaching not indeed opposite to rational nor taken so to be by any that talk of it with understanding though the Assertors of it have been abusively personated as holding such a dotage They do not say that the Spirit shews any thing about the sense of Scripture or divine matters which is
rash with their mouths and hasty to utter any thing before God that is unmeet they are subject to the discipline of the Church to be censured for their errour Moreover heightened affections inlarge the heart and open the mouth and do not make a man at a stand for want of words Indeed astonishing affection or an extasie of Spirit may put one to such a stand but that rarely takes hold of any in a pubick performance But a calm admiration and reverence of God and seriousness and earnestness of address to him doth not hinder but further apâ—expressions For the use of one constant Form it hath been pleaded that a stranger may thereby the better know how we Worship God and that the people better understand and remember that to which they are continually used But on the other hand variety and newness of matter and words are more apt to quicken the affection and perfect the understanding also especially of the attentive whenas under the constant rehersal of one thing the faculties grow flat and dull Besides in the use of this liberty and variety the Prayer being ordinarily the same for substance in the main the vulgar apprehension and memory is help'd by the sameness of the main substance and scope and the affections are raised and the understanding further edified by that which is new in the frame and method and particular matter and the peoples more particular variable concernments are provided for by a more peculiar accommodation and respect thereto as occasions vary And by the received doctrine of Faith a stranger may be sufficiently ascertain'd of the substance of the Worship to be celebrated For a Doctrine of a Church governs its Worship and it is well known that one the same tenor thereof will pass through the several congregations of a nation that are not confined to a stinted Form yet combined in the same faith and order And when all is said that management and performance of this Service is the best that is most effectual to make the Comers thereunto more perfect in knowledge more devout and zealous towards God more pious and blameless in their conversation and every way more perfect in the divine life and it will be so acknowledged by them that are discerning and serious in the things of God But to conciliate the minds of men diversly affected in this matter and to prevent the inconveniencies and to obtain the good of either way a prescribed Form and a free Prayer will do best together in reference to the Churches peace and edification CHAP. VI. The right Administration of Ecclesiastical discipline THe Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God are Pastors of the Church and Pastoral authority includes both teaching and ruling and implies the peoples subjection in the Lord to their Doctrine and discipline To bereave the Church of discipline is to leave it unfurnished of that means which is necessary to the preservation of all orderly Socities of mankind It is to turn the Garden of the Lord by plucking up the fence thereof into a Common or Wilderness The power intrinsecal to this Office is not secular and coercive by temporal penalties but purely Spiritual which is in the name of Christ and by authority from him the chief Pastor to watch over the Flock to encourage them that live conformably to the Gospel by the consolations thereof and to warn them that walk disorderly and if any continue obstinate therein to declare them unworthy of Church-Communion and Christian converse and to require the faithful to have no fellowship with them to the intent that they may be humbled and reformed As the Discipline of all Societies is to be regulated by their true interest and and chief scope so is this of the Church of God Now the Christian Church looks mainly to the honour of Christ and the glory of Gods grace in him and to the Salvation of men for which ends it was ordained And consequently its true interest lies in the conservation and augmentation of true Christianity or the power of godliness but that Church interest which is elsewhere fixed and levelled to an other mark appertains to a carnal and worldly State set up in the room and pretence of this Spiritual Society The Churches true and proper excellency lies not in worldly splendor opulency and power nor in outward rites and formal unity nor in the stability and amplitude of a meer external State but in the inward light and life in the unfained faith and love in the purity and Spiritual unity of believers and in the security and advancement of this internal State and of the external State in order to the internal Wherefore the right end of discipline is not to promote temporal glory and opinions and formalities thereunto subservient but the Apostolick faith and worship and the regeneration of the professors thereof and their sincere devotion Godly unity Sobriety Righteousness Brotherly-kindness and common Charity and all the vital parts of Christianity and to keep and cast out Heresie Superstition Profaness Unrighteousness and all wicked error and practice that tends to frustrate the designs of Christs Gospel as also to prevent and remedy the causless tearing and renting of Churches and those alienations and animosities among Christians that proceed only from the wills and lusts of men And the management hereof to this right end is of far greater consequence than any scrupulosity or preciseness about its external form and order Nay if an external order could be proved to be primitive and Apostolical and were perverted and abused to inforce corrupt doctrines scandalous and insnaring inventions and impositions and in a Ceremonial strictness to indulge real profaness and discourage true Godliness it were no other then the mystery of a carnal state under a Spiritual name having a form of godliness but denying and suppressing the power thereof The right end of Discipline being such as hath been declared it follows that its proper work is to incourage Godliness and to disgrace open sin Accordingly being rightly managed it admonisheth the unruly casts out the obstinate and restores the penitent About these things it is active watchfull and vigorous What severity it hath it exerciseth in correcting real scandals and gross breaches of Gods Law and in maintaining the Churches peace against those that cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have received that is the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles But it careth little for those matters wherein the life and power of Religion and the Churches peace and edification is unconcerned Much less doth it seek to quench godly zeal and to hinder the necessary means of the increase of true godliness or to afflict peaceable and pious Christians by any needless rigors CHAP. VII Religious Family-government IN the time of the Law the solemn Dedication of houses was in use the Solemnity expressing that holy exercises should be performed in it and that the houshold should be
than Others saith the Author of our Profession When the Religious apparently excell the choicest part of unregenerate Men then is Wisdom apparently justified of her Children Natural men may have some amiable vertues by which they aim to commend themselves both to God and the World yet in other matters of no less manifest and necessary concernment they are licentious and remiss But the true Christian make it his business to fulfill all Righteousness And as the principle of true Piety causeth an intireneâ—… in all the parts of good Life so being duly improved and stirred up it will cause them that have it not only to acquit themselves in whatsoever things are acceptable and praise-worthy among the meerly vertuous part of Men but also to perform those things that are far above them and both a wonder and a reproof unto them Religion hath a good savour among all Men by the due observance of all relative duties and nothing renders it more unsavoury than the violating of those bonds and the non-performance of those dues which arise from natural or civil relations For these things are our proper sphere our dayly walk and constant business wherein we are most accountable to God and usefull to men Industry and providence in the affairs of this Life conduceth to reputation but idleness and improvidence is very scandalous Upon this account Godliness is sometimes reproached by occasion of some idle Pretenders and others that are Pious but inconsiderate and imprudent Religious exercises must be attended seasonably and in due order Idle and careless Persons that wander from their callings how full soever of good words must be numbred among those that walk disorderly When the Rules of Christianity are so agreeable to the temporal well being and so indulgent to the present necessities of mankind it is a great shame to expose it to contempt and prejudice by such perversness or improvidence as if it were inconsistent with industry and prudence in the necessary concernment of this World In like manner a discreet and moderate use of riches a generous frugality and frugal liberality avoiding fordid covetousness on the one hand and vain ostentation and deliciousness on the other is of good report and gains esteem but to live either too narrowly or too profusely taints a mans reputation and derogates from the honour of his Profession To be constant or always the same is a noble property and is had in much honour And hereunto true Christianity gives the greatest adnantage It s main principles are evident and unchangable with the allowance of prudential accommodations according to time and place in things indifferent It is a chief point of Wisdom to bring our might and main to the great weighty things of the Law and to watch with jealousie against every devise of man that would undermine them but to be more cautious and sparing in points of less importance yet the occasions of much contest among them that own the same Doctrine of faith We are ill advised if we lay our main stock where our main interest is not touched Several matters touching Religion have been carried in a vicissitude according to the change of times and yet the substance of Religion not altered It is not safe to fix a necessity upon such things from which the urgency of after-times may inforce us to drawback unless we will desert our Stations before we have a discharge from our Master in Heaven The espousing of some controverted Forms and Doctrines may end in a divorce dishonourable enough although it be conscientious And the reproach hereof may be aggravated by the pretended constancy of others in erroneous ways when it is indeed no other than the pertinacy of a selfish mind or an adhering to a worldly interest When there is a liberty some Forms may be safely chosen as most advantageous and yet not asserted to be the only necessary and again some others may be laid aside as inconvenient and yet not damned as impious or simply evil The parent of true constancy is Godly Wisdom having the sure foundation of evident and unchangable Truths with a just latitude in things not determined by the positive Laws of God And so there may ordinarily happen to the same man some diversity of practice at different times that deserves not the brand of time serving which is often too rashly objected For the same fixed principle of knowledge and integrity will direct to this way or method of a sacred Action at one time and at another time to that which is far different yea and when it cannot be avoided to a submitting to what hath sometime been rejected I mean rejected not as in it self unlawfull but as inconvenient or less profitable When we are at liberty we are obliged to take the best way but when confined we must do as well as we may in that state And the submission signifies an acknowledgment of the simple lawfulness but not of the comparative goodness or desirableness of the thing imposed Since our blessed Saviour hath given his Church a legacy of Peace in Him with tribulation in the World to suffer with reputation is not of little moment It sometimes comes to pass and that inevitably that the Godly suffer much in such cases which the looser sort account niceties and needless scruples in which cases their sufferings are precious in the sight of God who highly values the jots and tittles of his Law but they are not so honourable in the sight of men But when their cause is so unquestionable that all sober Spirits of Orthodox belief must needs regard it their suffering hath much more glory and all the faithfull will be more constant and uniform in adhering to such a cause Howbeit if they suffer for conscience sake in such things as the World accounts niceties yet an upright and prudent walking with a peaceable Spirit submissive in things clearly indifferent and bearing with others intolerable differences will be an ample defence unto them and gain respect and peradventure mollifie those that do the injury Furthermore let it be here noted that to the Sufferer it is no less honourable to suffer for the Life and Power of Christianity in opposition to the immorality malignity and hypocrisie of carnal Christians than in the defence of the Christian Faith or any Article thereof in opposition to Infidels Hereticks or Blasphemers For the Christian life and practice is the end of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and therefore cannot be of less regard Yet this kind of Suffering is more dishonourable to Christ in respect of the Persecutors who are his professed Servants and therefore in this respect it is more grievous to the persecuted than if they Suffered from those that disown his name or are his more avowed Enemies CHAP. XIX The most ample diffusion of the Light of knowledge is a sure means of promoting true Religion FAlse and corrupt ways bear sway by a Peoples ignorance but Religion in its right and sound
unnecessary things if they be not in themselves unlawfull nor of mischievous consequence may be of Gods allowing as to the submitters Thereupon they are guilty of Schism who meerly for the sake of those unnecessary things yet lawfull as to their use though wrongfully urged upon them forsake the communion of the Church or their Ministerial station where things are well settled as to the substantials of Religion and the ends of Church order and when they themselves are not required to justifie the imposing of such unnecessaries Here I speak of contumacious refusers who will rather make a breach than yield But refusers out of conscience believing or with appearance of reason suspecting the said lawfull things to be unlawfull are either accquitted from Schism or guilty but in a low degree and much less culpable than the Imposers who might well forbear to impose Be it here noted that when Superiors sin in commanding a thing exempt from their authority it may be the Subjects duty to observe the thing commanded In this case the said observance is not an act of obedience for that can arise only from the Rulers authority to command But it is an act of prudence equity and charity and it is good and necessary for the ends sake and in that regard t is an act of obedience though not to the Earthly Ruler yet to God who commands us to follow Peace and maintain Unity in all lawfull ways and means In the judgment of the Apostle it is no slight matter to act against conscience rationally doubting or suspecting a breach of Gods Law Rom. 14. 5. Let every man be fully persuaded in his mind v. 14. To him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean ver 23. He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin The command of Rulers is no good security for acting against a rational doubting conscience When I am in doubt touching the lawfulness of the thing injoyned I have no certainty of being on the safer side by complying with Rulers For though in general obedience to Rulers be a certain Duty yet in the particular doubted case I cannot be certain that my compliance is right and warrantable obedience and not a breach of Gods Law Is it plain that I ought to obey the commands of Rulers in things that have Gods allowance so t is as plain that I ought not to obey their commands in things which God hath forbidden Moreover it is as plain that I ought not to act against my own conscience which as being the discerner of the will of God concerning me is of right the immediate director of my actions Indeed my conscience cannot alter Gods Law or make that which God hath made my duty to be not my duty yet it will not suffer me to act in disconformity to its directions Seeing the Unity of the Spirit is always in conjunction with Faith and Holiness to which the Unity of external order is always to be subservient it follows that when Unity of external order doth not tend to advance but hinder sound Faith and true Holiness then a false Unity is set up and the true Unity is abandoned and divisions and offences are caused And it is no Schism but a duty not to adhere to a Unity of external order so set and urged as that it tends to the destruction or notable detriment of Faith and Holiness which are the end of all Church Order The means are good in reference to their end and must never be used in a way destructive to it Of the hinderance of the said ends there be these following instances Here laid down in general without intendment of particular application to any Churches now in being which are left to be tryed and judged by that rule by which all must stand or fall 1. When a Church or Churches a Congregation or Congregations have an establishment of external Polity and an ordained Ministery and a Form of Divine Worship but are destitute of such Ministers as are qualified to feed the Flock and are burdened with such as are altogether unfit to have the charge of Souls committed to them who are either unable to teach or teach corruptly either teaching corrupt Doctrine or abusing mishandling and misapplying sound Doctrine to encourage the Ungodly and discourage the Godly 2. Where there are some Ministers able and apt to teach and duly qualified but their number is in no wise proportionable to the number of the People and there be multitudes that cannot have the benefit of their Ministery so that if they have no more placed among them than those few they have in effect none 3. Where sincere Christians or credible Professors of Christianity are cast out of an established Church by wrong sentence or are debarred from its communion by unlawfull terms injoyned them or unnecessary terms which are to them unlawfull by real doubts of conscience and which Christ hath not authorized Rulers to injoyn as terms of Church communion 4. When Ministers whom Christ hath furnished and called are driven out of their publick station by unlawfull terms injoyned or by terms unnecessary and to them unlawfull by real doubts of conscience and which Christ hath not authorized Rulers to injoyn as terms of the publick Ministery Upon the cases here mentioned I inquire whether the said Ministers and People may not draw together into new congregations Let it be considered whether the determinations of men may be a perpetual bar to true visible Christians it may be to multitudes of them against the injoyment of those most important priviledges to which God hath given them right Yea suppose their consciences were culpably weak in scrupling things imposed yet they may suffer wrong by such an excess of punishment as so great a deprivation And Christ doth not reject them for such weaknesses Let it be also considered whether such injured as Christians are wrongfully excluded from Gods Ordinances and such neglected Souls as are left destitute of the necessary means of Salvation may lawfully be deserted by Christs Ministers Should not the Stewards of the mysteries of God indeavour to supply what is lacking to such by reason of the rigourousness or negligence of others If it be said we may not do evil that good may come nor break the laws of Unity for such respects the answer is that this is not to do evil but a good work and a necessary duty and here is no breach of Unity that is of Gods making or allowing The necessary means of saving Souls are incomparably more pretious than uniformity in external accidental order especially when t is unwarrantably injoyned and attended with such evil consequents If within any local bounds assigned for the Pastoral charge of any Ecclesiastick the People be left destitude of competent provision for their Souls it is no intrusion or breach of Unity if an other Pastor perform the work of the Ministery within
Unity THe confused noise about Schism and the unjust imputation thereof that is commonly made hath greatly disordered the minds of many Some have been thereby swaid to an absolute compliance with the most numerous or the most prevailing Parties Others discerning the abuse of this name but forgetting that there is something truly so called have made light of the thing it self which is indeed of a heinous nature I have been engaged in this Disquisition by a deep sense of the evil of Schism and an earnest care of keeping my self from the real guilt thereof and what is here written I willingly submit to a grave and just examination Errare possum Haereticus Schismaticus esse nolo I am liable to Errour as others are but I am sure I am no wilfull Schismatick It is commonly given to men to pass a severe judgment upon every dissent from their own Opinions and Orders Whereupon as that hath had the character of Schism stamped upon it which is not such indeed so that which is Schism in a low and tolerable degree hath been aggravated to the highest and prosecuted against all rules of prudence and charity To make an equal judgment of the guilt of Schism in Persons or Parties the degree of the Schism is duly to be considered Our Saviour teacheth that reviling language contemptuous words and rash anger are breaches of the Sixth Commandment yet in degree of guilt they are vastly different from the act of wilfull Murther And indeed in the kind of delinquency here treated of there are as great differences of degrees as of any other kind The case of those that are necessitated to a non-compliance in some lawfull things by them held unlawfull yet seeking union would gladly embrace a reasonable accomodation is much different from theirs who upon choice and wilfully sever themselves because they love to be severed In like manner the case of those who desire and seek the conformity of others and would gladly have fellowship with them yet through misguided zeal are approvers of such unnecessary impositions as hinder the conforming of many is much different from theirs who designing the extrusion of others contrive the intangling of them by needless rigors Many other instances might be given to express the great disparity of cases in point of Schism all which may teach us in the estimate that we are to make thereof to put a difference between honest minds that by mistake are drawn into Division and those that out of their corrupt minds and evill designs do wilfully cause Division In many things we offend all and therefore it behoves us to consider one another as subject to the like errours and passions We should not judge too severely as we would not be so judged There be many examples of Schismatical animosities and perversnesses into which in the ancient times such Persons have fallen as were otherwise worthily esteemed in the Church Cyril with the greater number of Bishops in the Ephesine Council too rashly deposed John of Antioch and his Party of Bishops upon a quarrel that arose between them And John with his Adherents returning to Antioch did more rashly depose Cyril and his Party and yet both Parties were Orthodox and in the issue joyned in the Condemnation of Nestorius But the most remarkable instance in this kind is the disorderly and injurious proceeding of so venerable a Person as Epiphanius against so worthy a Person as Chrysostom to which he was stirred up by the instigation of that incendiary Theophilus of Alexandria The said Epiphanius goes to Constantinople and in the Church without the City held a sacred Communion and Ordained a Deacon and when he had entred the City in a publick Church he read the Decree made by himself and some others in the condemnation of Origens Books and excommunicated Dioscurus and his Brethren called the long Monks worthy and Orthodox men persecuted by the Anthromorphites And all this he did without and against the consent of Chrysostom the Bishop of the Place and in contempt of him I may further instance in the long continued division between Paulinus and Meletius with their Parties at Antioch though both of them were of the Nicene Faith likewise in the long continued Separation made from the Church of Constantinople by the followers of Chrysostom after his banishment because they were exasperated by the injuries done to their worthy Patriarch These weaknesses in good men of old times I observe not to dishonour them but that we may be thereby warned to be more charitable and less censorious towards one another in case of the like weaknesses and disorders and to be sollicitous to maintain Peace and to prevent discord among all those that are united in the substantials of Christian Faith and Practice and for this end to be more carefull in avoiding unreasonable oppositions unwarrantable impositions and all causless exasperations True Holiness is the basis of true Unity For by it the Faithfull cleave to God and one to another in him and for him and are inclined to receive one another on those terms on which God hath received them all And by it they are turned from that dividing selfishness which draws men into several or opposite ways according to their several or opposite ends Let not a carnal wordly Interest in a Church state be set up against Holiness and Unity Let the increase and peace of the Church visible be sought in order to the increase and peace of the mystical Let no one Party be lifted up against the common Peace of sound Believers and let not any part of the legitimate Children of Christs Family be ejected or harassed upon the instigation of others but let the Stewards in the Family carry it equally and so gratifie one part in their desired Orders that the other part be not oppressed Let not them be still vexed who would be glad of tolerable terms with their Brethren In Church-Governours let the power of doing good be enlarged and the power of doing hurt restrained as much as will stand with the necessary ends of Government Let the Discipline of the Church commend it self to the consciences of men Let the edge of it be turned the right way and its vigor be put forth not about little formalities but the great and weighty matters of Religion Zeal in substantials and charitable forbearance in circumstantials is the way to gain upon the hearts of those that understand the true ends of Church-government and what it is to be Religious indeed Let the occasions of stumbling and snares of division be taken out of the way and let controverted unnecessaries be left at liberty Discord will be inevitable where the terms of concord remain a difficulty insuperable The Conscientious that are willing to bid high for Peace cannot resign their consciences to the wills of men and humility and soberness doth not oblige them to act contrary to their own judgments out of reverence to their Superiors they cannot help themselves