Vindication with all impartial Men declare what are our thoughts and Judgments what are our Principles ways and Practices in and about the great concerns of Christian Love Unity and Peace referring the final decision of all differences unto him who hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in Rightcousness by the Man whom he hath ordained This being our present Design none may expect that we should attempt to justifie or excuse any of those miscarriages or failings that are charged on some or all of those Professors of the Gospel who at this Day come not up unto full Communion with the Church of England For we know that no man liveth and sinneth not yea that in many things we all offend We all know but in part and are liable to manifold Temptations even all such as are common unto Men. Those only we have no esteem of who through the feaver of Pride have lost the Understanding of their own weak frail and sinful condition And we do acknowledge that there are amongst us Sins against the Lord our God for which he might not only give us up unto the Reproaches and Wrath of Men in this World but himself also cast us off utterly and for ever We shall not therefore in the least complain of those who have most industriously represented unto the publick view of the world the weakness miscarriages that have really fallen out amongst some or more of them whose Cause we plead and discovered those corrupt Affections from whence helped on with variety of Temptations they might probably proceed Nor shall we use any Reflections on them who have severely and we fear Maliciously laid to their charge things which they know not as hoping that by the former the Guilty may learn what to amend now they are taught with such thorns and briers as are the scorns and reproaches of the World and by the latter the Innocent may know what to avoid Such charges and Accusations therefore we shall wholly pass over with our hearty prayers that the same or worse evils may never be found amongst them by whom they are accused Much less shall we concern our selves in those Reflections on them which are raised from the Words Expressions or Actions of particular Persons as they have been reported and tossed up and down in the Lips of talkers The debate of such things tends only to mutual exasperations and endless strife It may be also that for the most part they are false or misreported inviduously or misapplyed and true or false have been sufficiently avenged by severe retortions And in such Altercations few men understand the sharpness of their own words Their Edge is towards them whom they oppose But when a return of the like Expressions is made unto themselves they are sensible how they pierce So are provocations heightened and the first intendment of reducing Love ends in mutual defamatory contentions All things therefore of this nature we shall pass over and help to bury by our Silence The principal charge against us and that whereinto all other are resolved is our Non-conformity unto the present Constitutions of the Church of England For hence are we accused to be guilty of the want of Christian Love and peaceableness of Schism and an inclination to all sorts of Divisions contrary to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel Now we think it not unreasonable to desire that those who pass such censures on us would attend unto the common known Rule whereby alone a right Judgment in these cases may be made For it is not equal that we should be concluded by other Mens particular Measures as though by them we were to be regulated in the exercise of Love and observance of Peace And as we doubt not but that they fix those measures unto themselves in sincerity according unto their own Light and Apprehension of things so we are sure it will be no impeachment of their Wisdom or Holiness to judge that others who differ from them do with an equal integrity indeavour the direction and determination of their Consciences in what they believe and Practise Yea if they have not pregnant evidence to the contrary it is their duty so to judge A defect hereof is the spring of all that want of Love whereof so great a Complaint is made And rationally they are to be thought most sincere and scrupulous herein who take up with determinations that are greatly to their outward disadvantage For unless it be from a conviction of present Duty with respect unto God and their own eternal Good men are not easily induced to close with a judgment about sacred things and religious Worship which will not only certainly prejudice them but endanger their ruine in things Temporal It is ordinarily outward secular Advantages wherewith the Minds of Men are generally too much affected that give an easie admission unto Perswasions and Practices in Religion By these are Men turned and changed every day from what before they professed when we hear of no turnings unto a suffering profession but what arise from strong unavoidable convictions Moreover should we indeavour to accommodate our selves to the Lines of other Men it may make some change of the Persons with whom we have to doe but would not in the least relieve us against the charges of guilt of Schism and want of Love which we suffer under Some would prescribe this Measure unto us that we should occasionally joyn with Parish Assemblies as now stated in all their worship and sacred Administrations but will not require of us that we should absolutely forbear all other ways and means of our own Edification Will this Measure satisfie all amongst us will it free us from the imputation we suffer under shall we not be said any more to want Christian Love to be factious or guilty of Schism It is known unto all how little it will conduce unto these Ends and how little the most will grant that Church Peace is preserved thereby Yea the Difficulty will be increased upon us beyond what an ordinary Ability can solve though we doubt not but that it may be done For if we can do so much we may expect justly to be pressed severely to answer why we do no more For others say immediately that our Attendance on the publick Worship must be constant with a forbearance of all other ways of Religious worship beyond that of a Family yet this they would have us so to doe as in the mean time studiously to indeavour the Reformation of what is judged amiss in the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of the Church This is the measure which is prescribed unto us by some and we know not how many censures are passed upon us for a nonconformity thereunto Will therefore a complyance unto this length better our condition will it deliver us from the severest Reflections of being Persons unpeaceable and intolerable shall we live in a perpetual dissimulation of our Judgments as to what needeth Reformation
as yet openly to oppose Such are the Causes and such are the Occasions of the Differences and Divisions in and about Religious Concerns that are among us by such means have they been fomented and encreased Heightned they have been by the personal faults and miscarriages of many of all sorts and parties And as the reproof of their sinful failings is in its proper season a necessary duty so no Reformation or Amendment of persons will give a full relief nor free us from the evil of our Divisions until the Principles and ways which occasion them be taken out of the way CHAP. V. Grounds and Reasons of Non-Conformity HAving briefly declared our Sense concerning the general Causes and Occasions of our Differences and that present want of Christian Love which is complained of by many we shall now return to give some more particular account concerning our Inconformity unto and Non-compliance with the Observances and Constitutions of the Church of England It is acknowledged that we do in sundry things dissent from them that we do not that we cannot come up unto a joint Practice with others in them It is also confessed that hereon there doth ensue an appearance of Schisme between them and us according as the common notion of it is received in the world And because in this distance and difference the Dissent unto Compliance is on our parts there is a semblance of a voluntary relinquishment of your Communion And this we know exposeth us in Vulgar Judgments and Apprehensions unto the Charge of Schisme and necessitateth us unto self-defence as though the only matter in question were whether we are guilty of this evil or no. For that advantage have all Churches which have had an opportunity to fix terms of Communion right or wrong just or unequal the Differences which ensue thereon they will try out on no other terms but only whether those that dissent from them are Schismaticks or not Thus they make themselves Actors oft-times in this Cause who ought in the first place to be charged with Inâ—ury and a Trial is made meerly at the hazard of the Reputation of those who are causelesly put upon their Purgation and Defence Yea with many a kind of Possession and Multitude do render Dissenters unquestionably Schismatical so that it is esteemed an unreasonable Confidence in them to deny themselves so to be So deals the Church of Rome with those that are Reformed An open Schisme there is between them and if they cannot sufficiently fix the Guilt of it on the Reformed by confidence and clamours with the advantage of Prepossession yet as if they they were perfectly innocent themselves they will allow of no other Enquiry in this Matter but what consists in calling the Truth and Reputation of the other Party into question It being our present condition to lie under this Charge from many whose Interest it is to have us thought guilty thereof we do deny that there is any culpable secession made by us from the Communion of any that profess the Gospel in these Nations or that the blame of the appearing Schisme that is among us can duly or justly be reflected on us which in the Remainder of our Discourse we shall make to appear What are our Thoughts and Judgments concerning the Church-state and Interest of the Professors of the Gospel in this Nation we have before declared And we hope they are such that in the Judgment of persons sober and impartial we shall be relieved from those clamorous Accusations which are without number or measure by some cast upon us Our Prayers are also continually unto the God of Love and Peace for the taking away of all Divisions and their Causes from among us Nor is the satisfaction which ariseth from our sincerity herein in the least taken off or rent from us by the uncharitable Endeavours of some to rake up pretences to the contrary And should those in whose power it is think meet to imitate the Pastors and Guides of the Churches of old and to follow them in any of the wayes which they used for the Restauration of Vnity and Agreement unto Christians when lost or endangered we should not decline the contribution of any assistance by Counsel or Fraternal Compliance which God should be pleased to supply us withal But whilst some whose advantages render them considerable in these matters seem to entertain no other Thoughts concerning us but what issue in Violence and Oppression the principal duty incumbent on us is quietly to approve our Consciences unto God that in sincerity of heart we desire in all things to please him and to conform our Lives Principles and Practises to his Will so far as he is graciously pleased to make it known unto us And as for men we hope so to discharge the Duty required of us as that none may justly charge us with any Disorders Vnpeaceableness or other evils For we do not apprehend that we are either the cause or culpable occasion of those Inconveniences and Troubles which some have put themselves unto by their endeavours for our disturbance impoverishing and ruine Let none imagine but that we have considered the Evils and evil Consequents of the Schismes and Divisions that are among us and those who do so do it upon the forfeiture of their Charity We know how much the great work of Preaching the Gospel unto the Conversion of the Souls of men is impeded thereby as also what prejudice ariseth thence against the Truth wherein we are all agreed with what Temptations and mutual exasperations to the loss of Love and the occasioning of many sinful Miscarriages in persons of all sorts do hereon ensue But we deny that it is in our power to remove them or take them out of the way nor are we conscious unto our selves of any Sin or Evil in what we do or in what we do not do by our not doing of it in the Worship of God It is Duty alone unto Jesus Christ whereunto in these things we attend and wherein we ought so to do And where Matters of this nature are so circumstanced as that Duty will contribute nothing towards Unity we are at a loss for any progress towards it The Sum of what is objected unto us as hath been observed is our Non-Conformity or our forbearance of actual personal Communion with the present Church-Constitutions in the Modes Rites and Ceremonies of its Worship Hence the Schisme complained of doth ensue Unless this Communion be total constant without endeavour of any Alteration or Reformation we cannot in the judgment of some be freed from the guilt hereof This we deny and are perswaded that it is to be charged elsewhere For First All the Conditions of absolute and compleat Communion with the Church of England which are proposed unto us and indispensibly required of us especially as we are Ministers are Vnscriptural such as the Word of God doth neither warrant mention nor intimate especially not under any such consideration
disuse it is no wonder if in such Churches where these Evils are inveterate and Remediless Particular Persons do peaceably provide for their own Edification by joyning themselves unto such Societies as wherein the Rule of the Gospel is more practically attended unto It is taken for granted that the Church is not corrupted by the wicked Persons that are of its Communion nor its Administrations defiled by their Presence and Communication in them nor the Edification of others prejudiced thereby because it hath been so said by some of the Ancients though whether suitably unto the Doctrine of the Apostles or no is very questionable But suppose this should be so yet where wicked Persons are admitted without Distinction or Discrimination unto the Communion of the Church where they are tollerated therein without any procedure with them or against them contrary to express Rules of the Scripture given to that purpose so that those who are really Pious among them can by no means prevail for the Reformation of the whole they may not only without breach of Charity impairing of Faith or Love or without the least suspition of the Guilt of Schism forsake the Communion of such a Congregation to joyn unto another where there is more Care of Piety Purity and Holiness but if they have any Care of their own Edification and a due Care of their Salvation they will understand it to be their Duty so to do And we may a little touch hereon once for all The General End of the Institution of Churches as such is the visible mannagement of the Enmity on the part of the seed of the Woman Christ the Head and the Members of his Body mystical against the Serpent and his Seed In the pursuit of this End God ever had a Church in the world separate from persons openly profane doing the work of the Devil their Father And there is nothing in any Church Constitution which tends unto or is compliant with the mixing and reconciling these distinct seeds whilst they are such and visibly appear so to be And therefore as the Types Prophecies and Promises of the Old Testament did declare that when all things were actually brought unto an Head in Christ Jesus the Churches and all things that belong unto it should be Holy that is visibly so so the Description generally and uniformally given us of the Churches of the New Testament when actually called and erected is that they consisted of Persons called sanctified justified ingrafted into Christ or Saints Believers faithful ones purified and separate unto God Such they professed themselves to be such they were judged to be by them that were concerned in their Communion and as such they ingage themselves to walk in their Conversation By what Authority so great a Change should be now wrought in the Nature and Constitution of Churches that it should be altogether indifferent of what sort of persons they do consist we know not Yea to speak plainly we greatly fear that both the Worship and Worshipers are defiled where open impenitent sinners are freely admitted unto all sacred Administrations without controul And we are sure that as God complaineth that his Sanctuary is polluted when there are brought into it strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh so the true Members of the Church are warned of the Evil and dangers of such defiling mixtures and charged to watch against them We might yet further insist on the great evil it would be in us if we should give a seeming outward Approbation unto those things and their use which we cannot but condemn and desire to have removed out of the Worship of God And moreover there is as we believe an Obligation upon us to give a Testimony unto the Truth about the Worship of God in his Church and not absolutely to hide the Light we have received therein under a Bushel Nor would we render the Reformation of the Church absolutely hopeless by our professed compliance with the Things that ought to be reform'd But what hath been pleaded already is sufficient to manifest that there neither is nor can be a Guilt of Schism charged either on Ministers or People who with-hold themselves from the Communion of that Church or those Churches whereof the things mentioned are made Conditions necessary and indispensible and wherein they must be denyed the Liberty of performing many Duties made necessary unto them by the Command of Jesus Christ. And as the rigid Imposition of unscriptural Conditions of Communion is the principal Cause of all the Schisms and Divisions that are among us so let them be removed and taken out of the way and we doubt not but that among all that sincerely profess the Gospel there may be that peace and such an Agreement obtained as in observance whereof they may all exercise those Duties of Love which the strictest Union doth require These we profess our selves ready for so far as God shall be pleased to help us in the Discharge of our Duty as also to renounce every Principle or Opinion whereof we may be convinced that they are in the least opposite unto or inconsistent with the Royal Law of Love and the due exercise thereof If men will continue to charge accuse or revile us either out of a causeless distast against our persons or Misunderstanding of our Principles and wayes or upon uncertain Reports or meerly prompted thereunto through a vain elation of mind arising from the Distance wherein through their Secular Advantages they look upon us to stand from them as we cannot help it so we shall endeavour not to be greatly moved at it For it is known that this hath been the Lot and Portion of those who have gone before us in the Profession of the Gospel and sincere endeavors to vindicate the Worship of God from the Disorders and Abuses that have been introduced into it and probably will be theirs who shall come after us But the whole of our care is that in godly simplicity and sincerity we may have our conversation in the World not corrupting the Word of God nor using our Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as becomes the Servants of God But perhaps it will yet be pleaded that this is not the whole which we are charged withall For it is said that we do not only withdraw our selves from the communion of the Church of of England but also that we assemble in separate Congregations for the Celebration of the whole Worship of God whereby we evidently make a Division in the Church and contract unto our selves the guilt of Schism For what can there be more required thereunto But what would those who make use of this Objection have us to do would they have us starve our souls by a wilful neglect of the means appointed for their nourishment Or would they have us live in a constant omission of all the Commands of Christ By them or those
the Peace and quiet of the Nation and not from any Scripture or Religious Rules And were these Prohibitions only temporary or occasional suited unto such Emergencies as may give countenance unto their necessity there might be a proportionable compliance with them But whereas they respect all times alike it is no doubt incumbent on them who act any thing contrary unto such Prohibitions to secure their own Consciences that they no way interfere with the Intention and End of the Law by giving the least countenance or occasion unto civil disturbances and others also by their peaceable deportment in all they do But whereas they have received a Talent from the Lord Christ to trade withal have accepted of his Terms and engaged into his Service without any condition of exception in case of such Prohibitions it is not possible they should satisfie their Consciences in desisting from their work on such Occurrences any farther than in what they must yield unto outward force and necessity It is pretended by some that if such a Legal Prohibition were given unto all the Ministers of the Gopel it would not be obligatory unto them For if it should be so esteemed it were in the power of any Supream Magistrate lawfully to forbid the whole work of Preaching the Gospel unto his Subjects which is contrary to the Grant made by God the Father unto Jesus Christ that all Nations should be his Inheritance and the Commission he gave thereon unto his Apostles to teach all Nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven But it being some only that are concerned in this Prohibition it is their duty for Peace sake to acquiesce in the will of their Superiors therein whilst there are others sufficient to carry on the same work That Peace is or may be secur'd on other Terms hath been already declared But that one mans Liberty to attend unto his Duty and his doing it accordingly should excuse another from that which is personally incumbent on himself is a matter not easily apprehended nor can be readily digested Besides what is pretended of the sufficient number of Preachers without any contribution of aid from the Non-conformists is indeed but pretended For if all that are found in the Faith gifted and called to the work of the Ministry in these Nations were equally encouraged unto and in their work yet would they not be able to answer the necessities of the Souls of men requiring an attendance unto it in a due measure and manner And those who have exercised themselves unto compassionate thoughts towards the multitudes of poor Sinners in these Nations will not be otherwise minded Wherefore these things being premised we shall shut up these Discourses with a brief Answer unto the foregoing Objection which was the occasion of them And we say 1. That Schism being the Name of a Sin or somewhat that is evil it can in no Circumstances be any maes Duty But we have manifested as satisfactorily unto our own Consciences so we hope unto the minds of unprejudiced persons that in our present condition our Assemblies for the Worship of God are our express Duty and so can have no Affinity with any sin or evil And those who intend to charge us with Schisme in or for our Assemblies must first prove them not to be our Duty 2. Notwithstanding them or any thing by us performed in them we do preserve our communion entire with the Church of England that is all the visible Professors of the Gospel in this Nation as it is a part of the Catholick Church in the Unity of the Faith owned therein provided it be not measured by the present Opinions of some who have evidently departed from it Our Non-admittance of the present Government and Discipline of the Church as apprehended National and as it is in the hands of meerly Ecclesiastical persons or such as are pretended so to be we have accounted for before But we are One with the whole Body of the Professors of the Protestant Religion in a publick avowment of the same Faith 3. Into Particular Churches we neither are nor can be admitted but on those terms and conditions which not only we may justly but which we are bound in a way of Duty to refuse And this also hath been pleaded before Besides no man is so obliged unto communion with any Particular or Parochial Church in this Nation but that it is in his own power at any time to relinquish it and to secure himself also from all Laws which may respect that communion by the removal of his Habitation It is therefore evident that we never had any relation unto any Parochial Church but what is Civil and Arbitrary a relinquishment whereof is practised at pleasure every day by all sorts of men Continuing therefore in the constant Profession of the same Faith with all other Protestants in the Nation and the whole Body thereof as united in the Profession of it under one Civil or Political Head and having antecedently no Evangelical Obligation upon us unto Local communion in the same Ordinances of Worship numerically with any particular or Parochial Church and being prohibited from any such communion by the Terms Conditions and Customes indispensibly annexed unto it by the Laws of the Land and the Church which are not lawful for us to observe being Christs Freemen It being moreover our duty to assemble our selves in Societies for the Celebration of the Worship of God in Christ as that which is expresly commanded we are abundantly satisfied that however we may be censured judged or condemned by men in and for what we do yet that he doth both accept us here and will acquit us hereafter whom we serve and seek in all things to obey Wherefore we are not convinced that any Principle or practice which we own or allow is in any thing contrary to that Love Peace and Unity which the Lord Christ requireth to be kept and preserved among his Disciples or those that profess Faith in him and Obedience unto him according to the Gospel We know not any thing in them but what is consistent and compliant with that Evangelical Vnion which ought to be in and among the Churches of Christ the terms whereof we are ready to hold and observe even with them that in sundry things differ from us as we shall endeavour also to exercise all Duties of the same Love Peaceableness and Gentleness towards them by whom we are hated and reviled FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. line 21. read from him p. 5. l. 9. r. train of l. 12. for seriousness r. fierceness p. 16 l. 26. for security r. severity l. 33 of it add which we have hitherto professed p. 19. l 23. r. searcher p. 31. l. 23. r. 18. p. 32. l. 29 r. principles p. 38. l. 9. r. Church state p. 49. l. 1. r. in this p. 66. l. 4. r. lost us p. 87. l. 19. for particularities r. particular Rites p 98. l. 12. for this r. their p. 100 l 10 for according r. avoiding p. 116. l. 2. r. could p. 130. 17. r. Ascadius p. 152. l. 20. for your r. their p. 155. l. 6. r. gender p. 156. l. 16. r. occasions p. 159. l. 12. r. this p. 167. l. 21. r. their 186. l. 2. for erected r. enacted p. 190. l. 28. r. Easter was p. 198. l. 13. r. indeseazable p. 202. l. 20. r. expressed Judges 5. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 41 42 43. 2 Sam. 16. 4. 2 Chron. 20. 23. Heyl. Hist of Presb. Phil. 2. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Heb. 12. 14. Rom. 11. 13. Ephes. 2. 12 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Acts 12. Mark 16. 15. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 16. Luk. â— 18. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 1 2 3. Ch. 4. 18. Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Joh. 3. 15 36. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. Act. 4. 12 1 Cor. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 29 30. Rom. 10. 13 14 15 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Rom. 10 10. Ephes â— 26 27. 1 Joh. 3 16. Rom. 14. 3. John 15. 18 19 25. Ps. 35. 19 Acts. 18. 9 10 11. Mat. 24. 14. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Jam. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 15. Act. 14 23. Chap. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Act. 15. 2 Phil. 1. 1. Rev. 2. 3. Mat. 28. 20. John 15. 10 14. 2 Chron. 11. Chap. 13. 1 Kings 12. Chap. 13. Rev. 18. 4. Ephes. 4. 3 4. John 17. 21 22. Eph. 5. 30 2 Pet. 1. 4 Gen. 5 2. 3 1 Cor. 12 12 13. Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19 Rom. 14. 5. Phil. 3. 15 1 Cor. 10. 12. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 15 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Mat. 28. 19 20. Ephes. 4. 8 9 10 11 12 13. John 17. 20 21 22. 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 16. Heb. 13. 27. Rev. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Acts 20. 18 19 20 21 31. Lnk. 22. 24 25. 26. 2 Thes. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 1. 11. Chap. 3. 3. 1 Thess. 4. 11. Mat. 6. 1. 2. Luke 6. 37. Rom. 14. 3. 4. 10. Jam. 4. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Rom. 12 3. 1 Cor. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 10 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. Mat. 28. 19 20. Gal. 6. 1. â—ct 6. 4. Sâ—crat Hâ—st lib. 5. Acts 15. 1 Cor. 11. 23. 3. Joh. 9 10. Ro. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15. He. 5. 12 13 14. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Acts 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Act. 6. 4. Acts 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Heb. 5. 17. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Acts 9. 26 27 28. Ro. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 1 6 7. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 18. 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rev. 2 2. Lev. 19. 17. 1 Joh. 2. 9 10. â— 15. 1 Cor. 5. 6 9 10. 2 Thess. 3. 6. Isa. 26. 2. Ezek. 43. 12. Chap. 44. 9. Levit. 11. 44. Rom. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 1 2. Chap. 12. 13. Phil 1. 4 Col. 2. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 22. Ezek 44. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 6. Heb. 12. 15 16.
can hence be taken for other men who are neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles but weak and fallible as our selves to compose entire Liturgies and impose the necessary use of them in all the worship of the Church Neither is there the least countenance to be obtained unto such Impositions from the practise or example of the first Churches Liturgies themselves were an Invention of after-Ages and the use of them now enquired after of a much later date For those which pretend unto Apostolical antiquity have long since been convicted to be spurious and feigned Nor is there scarce any Learned man who hath the confidence to assert them to be genuine And on a supposition that so they are no tollerable reason can be given why the use of them should be neglected and such others taken up as are of a most uncertain Original The first condition therefore of communion proposed unto us is not only unscriptural which is sufficient unto our present Argument but also destitute of any ancient Example or Usuage among the Churches of Christ to give countenance unto it This if we admit not of if we attend not unto we are not only refused communion in other things but also excommunicated or cast out of the whole communion of the Church as many are at this day yea some are so not only for refusing compliance with the whole of it in general but for not observing every particular Direction belonging unto it as might be manifested in Instances of no great importance If therefore any Divisions or Schismes do ensue among us on this account that some indispensibly require an Assent and Consent unto the Liturgy and all things contained in it as the condition of compleat Church-communion or a necessary attendance on the whole Religious worship thereby performed and therein prescribed which others refuse to admit of as such and thereon forbear the communion proposed unto them it is evident from the Rules laid down where the guilt of them is to be charged And we do not discourse of what any may do among themselves judging it meet for their edification nor of what a Civil Law may constitute with respect unto publick places Employments and Preferments but only where lies the lin and evil that attends Divisions arising on these Impositions and which by their removal would be taken away And there seems to be an aggravation of this Disorder in that not only all men are refused communion who will not submit unto these Terms of it but also they are sought out and exposed unto severe Penalties if they will not admit of them though expresly contrary to their Consciences and Perswasions 2. Canonical Submission unto the present Ecclesiastical Government of the Church and the Administration of the Discipline thereof in their hands by whom the Power of it is possessed with an Acquiescency therein are to the same purpose required of us and expected from us Who these are and what are the Wayes and Means of their Administrations we shall not repeat as unwilling to give offence unto any We cannot but know how and in what sense these things are proposed unto us and what is expected from us thereon Neither dare we give another sense of them in our minds than what we judge to be the sense and intention of them who require our submission and obedience unto them It is not certainly their design nor mind that we should look on the Offices of the Church as unwarrantable and on their Rule as inconvenient so as to endeavour a Reformation in the one and of the other It is such a conformity they intend as whereby we do virtually at least declare our approbation of all these things in the Church and our acquiescency in them Neither can we be admitted to put in any Exception nor discharge our Consciences by a plain Declaration of what we dislike or dissent from or in what sense we can submit unto any of these things We take it therefore for granted that in the conformity required of us we must cordially and sincerely approve the pâ—esent Ecclesiastical Government and the Administration of Church-Discipline thereby For it is the profession of our Acceptance of it as proposed unto us and if we acquiesce not therein but express an uneasiness under it we do it at the hazard of the Reputation of our Sincerity and Honesty in conforming Now this condition of communion with the Church of England is also unscriptural and consequently unlawful to be made so This is by many now plainly acknowledged For they say there is no Government determined in the Scripture But this now in force amongst us is erected by the Authority of the Magistrate who hath supream power in things Ecclesiastical And on that ground a lawful Government they plead it to be and lawful to be exercised and so also by others to be submitted to But we have now sundry times declared that this is not our present Question We enquire not whether it be Lawful or no or on what account it may be so esteemed or how far it may be submitted unto or wherein But we say the professed acknowledging of it with submission unto it as the Government of the Church is required of us as a necessary condition of our communion If they are not so give us liberty to declare our sense concerning it without prejudice And if it be so then may we refuse this condition as unscrptural For in the case of Conformity there is not only a submission to the Government required but expresly as was said an approbation of it that it is such as it ought to be For in Religious things our practise declares a cordial approbation as being a part of our Profession wherein we ought to be sincere Some again make some Pleas that Bishops and some Government by them are appointed by the Apostles and therefore a submission unto them may be justly required as a condition of communion For we will not now dispute but that whatever is so appointed may be so required although we believe that every particular Instance of this nature is not rigidly to be insisted on if it belong not unto the Essentials of the Church and it be dubious to some whether it be so appointed or no. But yet neither doth an admittance of this Plea give us any relief in this matter For suppose it should or might be proved that there ought to be according to the mind of Christ in all Churches Bishops with a preeminence above Presbyters in Order or Degree and that the Rule of the Church doth principally belong unto them that are so yet will not this Concession bear an application to the present Question so as to afford us any Relief For the granting of things so dubious and questionable can never give them such an evidence of Truth and firmitude in the Church as to warrant the making of them necessary conditions of communion unto all Christians Neither doth it follow from any thing that
pretendeth to fall under Scripture-proof that such Bishops should be Diocesan that they should depend on Archbishops over them that they should assume the whole power of Church-Rule and Discipline into their hands that they should administer it by Chancellors Archdeacons Commissaries and the like that this should be done by Presentments or Indictments Citations Processes Litigious Pleadings after the manner of Secular or Civil Courts to the Exclusion of that Rule and Discipline which the Gospel directs unto with the management of it in Love and Brotherly compassion in the Name and by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. But these things we shall not in particular insist upon for the Reason before given This we must say that take the whole of the Government and the Administration thereof together which by the conformity required of us we must testifie our Approbation of and Acquiescence in or we deal hypocritically with them that require it of us and we know it to be so far unscriptural as that an acknowledgment of it and submission unto it cannot duly and justly be made a necessary condition of communion unto us It may be it will be said that submission unto the Government of the Church is not so much a condition of communion with it as it is that wherein our communion it self with it doth consist and it is but a Fancy to think of communion with a Church without it But this is otherwise as appears in those Churches where all Rule and Government being left in the hand of the Civil Magistrate there communion is meerly spiritual in the Administration of Evangelical Ordinances And might but that be admitted which Nature Reason the Law of the Christian Faith and Gospel-Obedience do require namely that Church-fellowship and Communion be built upon mens own Judgment and Choyce and this would go a great way towards the pacification of our Differences But if this be so and that all Church-communion consists in submission to the Government of it or at least that it doth so principally it becomes them by whom it is owned and avowed so to do to take care that that Government be derived from the Authority of Christ and administred according to his Mind or all Church Communion properly so called will be overthrown Thirdly We are required to use and observe the Ceremonies in Worship which the present Church hath appointed or doth use and observe This also is made a necessary condition of Communion unto us For many are at this day actually cast out of all Communion for not observing of them Some are so proceeded against for not observing of Holy dayes some for not Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper some for not using the Sign of the Cross in Baptism and what would become of Ministers that should neglect or omit to wear the Surplice in Sacred Administrations is easie to conjecture But these things are all of them unwritten and unscriptural Great and many indeed have been the Disputes of learned men to prove that although they have no Divine Institution nor yet example of Apostolical or Primitive practise yet that they may be Lawfully used for Decency and Order in the Worship of God Whether they have evinced what they aimed at is as yet undetermined But supposing in this Case all to be as they would pretend and plead that it should be yet because they are all granted to be Arbitrary inventions of men and very few of those who make use of them are agreed what is their proper use and signification or whether they have any or no they are altogether unmeet to be made a necessary condition of Communion For enquiry may be made on what Warranty or by what Rule they may be appointed so to be Those who preside in and over the Churches of Christ do so in his Name and by his Authority And therefore they can impose nothing on them as a Condition of their Communion together but what his Name is upon or what they have his Authority for And it will be dangerous to set his Seal unto our own Appointments For what men think meet to do themselves in the matters of the House of God and his Worship it may be measured and accepted with him according to their Light and Design But for what they impose on others and that under no less penalty than the deprivation of the outward Administration of all the Priviledges procured for them by Jesus Christ they ought to have his Warrant and Authority for And their Zeal is to be bewailed who not only cast men out of all Church Communion so far as in them lyeth for a refusal to observe those voluntarily imposed Ceremonies in sacred Worship but also prosecute them with outward force to the Ruine of them and their Families and we cannot but wonder that any should as yet think meet to make use of Prisons and the destruction of men thereby as an Appendix of their Ecclesiastical Discipline exercised in the highest severity on no greater Occasions than the omission of the observance of these Ceremonies Whether such proceedings are measured by present Inteâ—est or the due consideration of what will be pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ at the last day is not difficult to determine Fourthly As we are Ministers there is in some cases required of us under the same penalty an Oath of Canonical obedience We need not labour to prove this to be unscriptural nor to avoid provocations shall at present declare the Rise Nature and Use of it with the fierce Digladiations that have formerly been about it We can look upon it no otherwise but as that which is contrary to the Liberty and unworthy of the Office of a Minister of the Gospel We know not any thing else which is required of us unto the end mentioned unless it be of some a Subscription unto the Articles of Religion And this because the Scripture enjoyns unto all a Consent unto sound Doctrine and a Form of wholsome words may be admitted so far as those Articles concern only Points of Faith But whereas there is annexed unto them and enjoyned with other things an Approbation of all those Instances of Conditions of Communion before insisted on a Subscription unto the whole becomes of the same Nature with the things themselves therein approved of These are the Conditions of Communion with the Church of England which are proposed unto us and which we are indispensibly to submit unto if we intend to be partakers thereof and these are all which we know of that nature That any of these are in particular prescribed in the Word of God much less that they can derive any Warranty from thence to be made necessary conditions of Church-Communion will not we suppose be pretended by any If therefore any Divisions do ensue on the refusal of some to admit of these Conditions the Guilt of them cannot by any Rule of Scripture or from any example of the first Churches be charged on them
extinguish flames of this nature hath but increased and diffused them when perhaps if left alone their fewel would have failed and themselves expired Besides a peaceable practice especially if accompanyed with a quiet baring of injuries gives a greater conviction to unprejudiced minds of peaceable principles and inclinations than any verbal declaration whose sincerity is continually obnoxious to the blast of evil Surmises In a Resolution therefore to the same purpose we had still continued had we not so openly and frequently been called on either to vindicate our Innocency or to confess and acknowledge our Evil. One of these we hope is the aim and tendency of all those charges or Accusations for want of Love peaceableness and due compliance with others of being the Authors and somentors of Schisms and divisions that have been published against us on the account of our dissent from some Constitutions of the Church of England For we do not think that any good men can please themselves in meerly accusing their Brethren whereby they add to the weight of their present troubles and evidently expose them unto more For every charge of Guilt on those who are already under sufferings gives new incouragement and fierceness to the minds of them from whom they suffer And as no greater incouragement can be given unto men to proceed in any way wherein they are ingaged then by their Justification in what they have already done so the only justification of those who have stirred up Persecution against others consists in charging Guilt on them that are Persecuted As therefore we shall readily acknowledge any Evil in our Persons Principles or ways which we are or may be convinced of So the sober vindication of Truth and Innocency that none of the ways of God be evil spoken of by reason of us is a Duty in the care whereof we are no less concerned Yea did we design and directly indeavour our own Justification we should do no more than the prime dictates of the Law of Nature and the Example of some of the best of Men will give us a sufficient warrant for Besides the clearing of Private Persons especially if they are many from undue charges and false accusations belongs unto publick Good that those who have the Administration of it committed unto them may not be misled to make a wrong Judgment concerning what they have to do as David was in the Case of Mephibosheth upon the false suggestions of Ziba Neither could we be justly blamed should we be more than ordinarily urgent herein considering how prone the Ears of Men are to receive calumnious Accusations concerning such as from whom they expect neither Profit nor Advantage and how slow in giving admittance to an address of the most modest defensative But this is the least part of our present Design Our onely aim is to declare those Principles concerning mutual Love and Unity among Christians and Practices in the Worship of God wherein our own Consciences do find Rest and Peace and others have so much misjudged us about This therefore we shall briefly do and that without such Reflexions or Recriminations as may any way exasperate the Spirits of others or in the least impede that Reintroduction of Love and Concord which it is the Duty of us all to labour in Wherefore we shall herein have no regard unto the Revilings Reproaches and threatnings of them who seem to have had no regard to Truth or Modesty or Sobriety indeed to God or Man in the mannagement of them With such it is our Duty not to strive but to commit our cause to him that Judgeth Righteously especially with respect unto those impure outrages which goe before unto Judgment Furious Persons animated by their secular Interests or desire of Revenge unacquainted with the Spirit of the Gospel and the true nature of the Religion revealed by Jesus Christ incompassionate towards the Infirmitics of the minds of Men whereof yet none in the world give greater Instances than themselves who have no thoughts but to trample under foot and destroy all that differ from them we shall rather pitty and pray for then either contend withal or hope to convince Such they are as if outward prevalency were added to their Principles and desires they would render all Christians like the Moabites Ammonites and Edomites who came out to fight against Judah The two greater Parties upon some difference or distaste conspire at first to destroy the Inhabitants of Seir not doubting but that when they had dispatched them out of the way they should accord well enough among themselves But the Event deceived their Expectation their Rage ceased not untill issued in the mutual destruction of them all No otherwise would it be with those who want nothing but force or opportunity to exterminate their next dissenters in matters of Religion For when they had accomplished that design the same Principle and Rage would arm them to the wasting of the residue of Christians or their own For a conceit of the Lawfulness hereof is raised from a desire of enlarging power and dominion which is boundless Especially is it so where an Empire over the Reason Faith and Consciences of men is affected which first produced the fatal Engine of Papal Infallibility that nothing also could have strained the wit of man to invent and nothing less can support Unto such as these we shall not so much as tender satisfaction untill they are capable of receiving the advice of the Apostle Eph. 4. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and Evil speaking be put away from you with all Malice For untill this be done men are to be esteemed but as raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame whom it is to no purpose to seek to pacifie much less to contend withall It is for the Sake of them alone who really value and esteem Love Peace and Unity among Christians for themselves that we here tender an account of our thoughts and Principles concerning them For even of them there are some who unduely charge us with owning of Principles destructive unto Christian Love and Condescention and suited to perpetuate the Schisms and Divisions that are amongst us Whether this hath been occasioned by an over-valuation of their own Apprehensions conceiting that their judgments ought to give Rule and measure to other mens or whether they have been it may be insensibly unto themselves byassed by Provocations as they suppose unjustly given them we are not out of hopes but that they may be convinced of their mistakes Upon their Indications we have searched our Consciences Principles and Practices to find whether there be any such way of perverseness in them as we are charged withall and may with confidence say that we have a Discharge from thence where we are principally concerned Having therefore satisfied that Duty which on this occasion was in the first place incumbent on us we shall now for their Satisfaction and our own
will that answer our Duty or give us peace in our latter End Shall we profess the perswasions of our minds in these things and indeavour by all Lawful means to accomplish what we desire shall we then escape the severest censures as of Persons inclined to Schisms and Divisions Yea many great and wise Men of the Church of England doe look on this as the most pernicious Principle and Practice that any can betake themselves unto And in reporting the Memorials of former times some of them have charged all the calamities and Miseries that have befallen their Church to have proceeded from Men of this Principle endeavouring Reformation according unto Models of their own without Seperation And could we conscientiously betake our selves to the pursuit of the same Design we should not especially under present jealousies and exasperations escape the same condemnation that others before us have undergone And so it is fallen out with some which might teach them that their measures are not authentick and they might learn Moderation towards them who cannot come up unto them by the security they meet withall from those that do out go them Shall we therefore which alone seems to remain proceed yet farther and making a Renunciation of all those Principles concerning the Constitution Rule and Discipline of the Church with the ways and manner of the Worship of God to be observed in the Assemblies of it come over unto a full Conformity unto the present Constitutions of the Church of England and all the proceedings of its Rulers thereon Yea this is that say some which is required of you and that which would put an End unto all our Differences and Divisions We know indeed that an Agreement in any thing or way right or wrong true or false will promise so to do and appear so to do for a season But it is Truth alone that will make such Agreements durable or useful And we are not ingaged in an inquiry meerly after Peace but after Peace with Truth Yea to lay aside the Consideration of Truth in a disquisition after Peace and Agreement in and about spiritual things is to exclude a regard unto God and his Authority and to provide only for our selves And what it is which at present lays a Prohibition on our Consciences against the compliance proposed shall be afterwards declared neither will we here insist upon the discouragements that are given us from the present state of the Church it self which yet are not a few Only we must say that there doth not appear unto us in many that steadiness in the profession of the Truth owned amongst us upon and since the Reformation nor that consent upon the Grounds and Reasons of the Government and Discipline in it that we are required to submit unto which were necessary to invite any dissentors to a through Conformity unto it That there are daily inrodes made upon the ancient Doctrine of this Church and that without the least controle from them who pretend to be the sole Conservators of it untill if not the whole yet the principal parts of it are laid waste is sufficiently evident and may be easily proved And we fear not to own that we cannot conform to Armianism Socinianism on the one hand or Popery on the other with what new or specious pretences soever they may be blended And for the Ecclesiastical Government as in the hands of meer ecclesiastical Persons when it is agreed among themselves whether it be from Heaven or of Men we shall know the better how to judge of it But suppose we should wave all such considerations and come up to a full Conformity unto all that is or shall or may be required of us will this give us an universally pleadable acquitment from the charges of the Guilt of want of Love Schism and Divisions We should indeed possibly be delivered from the noyse and clamour of a few crying out Sectaries Phanaticks Schismaticks Church-Dividers but withal should continue under the censures of the great and at present thriving Church of Rome for the same supposed Crimes And sure enough we are that a compliance with them who have been the real causes and occasions of all the Schisms and Divisions that are amoâ—gst Christians almost in the whole world would yield us no solid relief in the change of our condition Yet without this no Men can free themselves from the loudest outcries against them on the account of Schism And this sufficiently manifests how little indeed they are to be valued seeing for the most part they are nothing but the steam of Interest and Party It is therefore apparent that the Accommodations of our Judgments and Practices to the measures of other men will afford us no real advantage as to the imputations we suffer under nor will give satisfaction unto all Professors of Christianity that we pursue Love and Peace in a due manner For what one sort requireth of us anonother will instantly disallow and condemn And it is well if the Judgment of the Major Part of all sorts be not influenced by Custome prejudices and secular Advantages We have therefore no way left but that which indeed ought to be the only way of Christians in these things namely to seek in sincerity the satisfaction of our own Consciences and the approving of our hearts unto the search of them in a dilligent attendance unto our own especial Duty according to that Rule which will neither deceive us nor fail us And an Account of what we do herein we shall now render unto them that follow Truth with Peace CHAP. II. Commendations of Love and Vnity Their proper objects with their geniral Rules and measures Of Love toward all mankind in geneâ—al Allows not salvation unto any without faith in Christ Jesus Of the differences in Religion as to outward Worship THe Foundation of our discourse might be laid in the commendation of Christian Love and Unity and thereon we might easily enlarge as also abound in a collection of Testimonies confirming our Assertions But the old reply in such a Case by whom ever were they discommended evidenceth a labour therein to be needless and superfluous We shall therefore only say that they are greatly mistaken who from the Condition whereunto at present we are driven and necessitated do suppose that we value not these things at as high a Rate as themselves or any other Professors of Christian Religion in the world A greater noyse about them may be made possibly by such as have accommodated their name and notion to their own Interâ—sts and who point their Pleas about them and their pretences of them to their own secular Advantage But as for a real valuation of the things themselves as they are required of us and prescribed unto us in the Gospel we shall not willingly be found to come behind any that own the name of Christ in the world We know that God hath stiled himself the God of Love Peace and Order in the
Apostle Ephes. 2. 12. And in sundry other places wherein he allows them no possibility of obtaining eternal blessedness Neither do we in this matter consider what God can do or what he hath done to the communicating of grace and faith in Jesus Christ unto any particular persons at any time or in any place in an extraordinary manner We are not called to make a judgment thereof nor can any Rule be hence collected to regulate the exercise of our love Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our children that we may do his will When and where such grace and faith do manifest themselves by their effects we ought readily to own and embrace them But the only inquiry in this matter is What those that are utterly destitute of the Revelation of Jesus Christ either as made originally in the promise or as explained in the Gospel may under the meer conduct of the Light of Nature as consisting in the innate principles of Reason with their improvement or as increased by the consideration of the effects of divine power and Providence by the strength and exercise of their own moral principles attain unto as unto their present acceptance with God and future eternal salvation That they may be saved in every Sect who live exactly according to the Light of Nature is a Doctrine anathematized by the Church of England Artic. 8. And the Reason given hereof is because the Scriptures propose the Name of Jesus Christ alone whereby we may be saved And if we do believe that description which is given in the Scripture of men their moral abilities and their works as they lye in the common state of Mankind since the entrance of sin with respect unto God and salvation we shall not be able to be of another mind For they are said to be blind yea to be darkness to be dead in trespasses and sins not to receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness unto them and their minds to be enmity against God himself That there may be any just expectation concerning such persons that they will work out their salvation with fear and trembling we are not convinced Neither do we think that God will accept of a more imperfect obedience in them that know not Jesus Christ than he requires of them who do believe in him for then should he prove a disadvantage unto them Beside all their best works are severely reflected on in the Scripture and represented as unprofitable For whereas in themselves they are compared to evil Trees Thorns and Briars we are assured they neither do nor can bring forth good grapes or Figgs Besides in the Scripture the whole business of salvation in the first place turns upon the Hinge of Faith supernatural and divine for without faith it is impossible to please Gid and He that believeth not shall be damned He that believeth not in the name of the Son of God is condemned already for neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith that worketh by love And it is by faith that the just shall live That this Faith may be educed out of the obediential Principle of Nature 't was indeed the opinion of Pelagius of old but 't will not now we hope be openly asserted by any Moreover this Faith is in the Scripture if not limited and determined yet directed unto Jesus Christ as its necessary peculiar Object For this is Life eternal that we may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent It seems therefore that the knowledge of the only true God is not sufficient to attain eternal life unless the knowledge of Jesus Christ also do accompany it For this is the record of Heaven that God hath given unto us eternal Life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life Which is enough to determine the controversie And those Assertions that there is no other Name given amongst men whereby they may be saved and that other foundation can no man lay save what is laid that is Jesus Christ are of the same importance and it were needless to multiply the Testimonies that are given us to that purpose elsewhere Neither can it be made to appear that the concatenation of the saving means whereby men that are adult are brought unto glory is not absolutely universal And amongst them there is Vocation or an effectual Calling to the knowledg of Christ by the Gospel Neither will the same Apostle allow a saving invocation of the Name of God to any but those that are brought to believe by hearing the Word preached It is said that God may by wayes secret and unknown to us reveal Jesus Christ to them and so by faith in him sanctifie their natures and endow them with his Spirit which things it is granted we suppose are indispensibly necessary unto salvation Those whom God thus deals withall are not Pagans but Christians concerning whom none ever doubted but they might be saâ—ed It is also granted that men may learn much of the power wisdome and goodness of God which both require and teach many Duties to be performed towards him but withall we believe that without the internal sanctification of the Spirit communicated by and with the knowledg of Jesus Christ no man can be saved But we intend not here to dispute about these things Instead of an effect of Love and Charity it is manifest that the Opinion which grants salvation unto the Heathen or any of them upon the due improvement of their Rational Faculties and moral Principles ariseth from a want of due consideration of the true nature of Sin and Grace of the Fall of Man and his Recovery of the Law and Gospel and of the Wisdome and Love of God in sending Jesus Christ to make attonement for sinners and to bring in everlasting Righteousness And not only so but it evidently Prepares the way unto those noxious Opinions which at this day among many infest and corrupt Christian Religion and foment those Seeds of Atheism which spring up so fast as to threaten the overspreading of the whole Field of Christianity For hence it will follow by an easie deduction that every one may be saved or attain unto his utmost happiness in his own Religion be it what it will whilst under any notion or conception he acknowledgeth a Divine Being and his own dependance thereon And seeing that on this supposition it must be confessed that Religion consists solely in moral Honesty and a fancied internal Piety of mind towards the Deity for in nothing else can a centring of all Religions in the world unto a certain end be imagined it follows that there is no outward Profession of it indispensibly necessary but that every one may take up and make use of that which is best suited unto his
interest in his present condition and circumstances And as this being once admitted will give the minds of men an Indifferency as unto the several Religions that are in the world so it will quickly produce in them a Contempt of them all And from an entertainment of or an indifferency of mind about these and the like noysome opinions it is come to pass that the Gospel after a continued Triumph for sixteen hundred years over Hell and the world doth at this day in the midst of Christendome hardly with multitudes maintain the reputation of its truth and Divinity and is by many living in a kind of outward conformity unto the Institutes of Christian Religion despised laughed to scorn But the proud and foolish Atheistical Opiniators of our dayes whose sole design is to fortifie themselves by the darkness of their minds against the charges of their own consciences upon their wicked and debauched conversations do but expose themselves to the scorn of all sober and rational Persons For what are a few obscure and for the most part vitious Renegadoes in comparison of those great wise numerous and sober persons whom the Gospel in its first setting forth in the world by the evidence of its truth and the efficacy of its Power subdued and conquered Are they as learned as the renowned Philosophers of those dayes who advantaged by the endeavours and fruits of all the great Wits of former Ages had advanced solid rational Literature to the greatest height that ever it attained in this world or possibly ever will do so the minds of men having now somthing more excellent and noble to entertain themselves-withall Are they to be equalled in wisdome and experience with those glorious Emperors Senators and Princes who then swayed the Scepters and affairs of the world Can they produce any thing to oppose unto the Gospel that is likely to influence the minds of men in any degree comparably to the Religion of these great learned wise and mighty Personages which having received by their Fathers from dayes immemorial was visibly attended with all Earthly Gloryes and Prosperities which were accounted as the reward of their due observance of it And yet whereas there was a Conspiracy of all those persons and this influenced by the craft of infernal Powers and managed with all that wisdome subtlety power and cruelty that the nature of man is capable to exercise on purpose to oppose the Gospel and keep it from taking Root in the world yet by the glorious evidence of its divine extract and original wherewith it is accompanied by the efficacy and power which God gave the Doctrine of it in and over the minds of men all mannaged by the spiritual weapons of its Preachers which were mighty through God to the pulling down of those strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God it prevailed against them all and subdued the world unto an acknowledgment of its truth with the divine power and authority of its Author Certainly there is nothing more contemptible than that the Indulgence of some inconsiderable Persons unto their lusts and vices who are void of all those excellencies in notion and practise which have already been triumphed over by the Gospel when set up in competition with it or opposition unto it should be once imagined to bring it into question or to cast any disreputation upon it But to treat of these things is not our present design we have only mentioned them occasionally in the account which it was necessary we should give concerning our Love to all men in general with the grounds we proceed upon in the exercise of it CHAP. III. Nature of the Catholick Church The first and principal Object of Christian Love Differences among the Members of this Church of what nature and how to be managed Of the Church Catholick as visibly professing The extent of it or who belongs unto it Of Vnion and Love in this Church-state of the Church of England with respect hereunto Of particular Churches Their institution Corruption of that Institution Of Churches Diocesan c. Of separation from corrupt particular Churches The just Causes thereof c. IN the second sort of Mankind before mentioned consists the visible Kingdome of Christ in this woâ—ld This being grounded in his Death and Resurrection and conspicuously settled by his sending of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension he hath ever since preserved in the world against all the contrivances of Satan or oppositions of the Gates of Hell and will do so unto the consummation of all things For he â—â—â—st reign until all his enemies are made his Footsâ—ool Towards these on all accounts our Love ought to be intense and fervent as that which is the immediate Bond of our Relation unto them and Union with them And this Kingdome or Church of Christ on the earth may be and is generally by all considered under a threefold notion 1. First as therein and among the Members of it is comprized that real living and spiritual body of his which is firstly peculiarly and properly the Catholick Church militant in this world These are his Elect Redeemed justified and sanctified ones who are savingly united unto their Head by the same quickning and sanctifying Spirit dwelling in him in all fulness and communicated unto them by him aâ—cording to his Promise This is that Catholick Church which we profess to believe which being hid from the eyes of men and absolutely invisible in its Mystical Form or spiritual saving Relation unto the Lord Christ and its Unity with him is yet more or less alwayes visible by that Profession of Faith in him and obedience unto him which it maketh in the world and is alwayes obliged so to do For With the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And this Church we believe to be so disposed over the whole world that where-ever there are any Societies or Numbers of men who ordinarily profess the Gospel and subjection to the Kingly Rule of Christ thereby with an hope of eternal blessedness by his Mediation we no way doubt but that there are among them some who really belong thereunto In and by them doth the Lord Christ continually fulfil and accomplish the Promise of his Presence by his Spirit with them that believe in his name who are thereby Interested in all the Priviledges of the Gospel and Authorized unto the Administration and Participation of all the Holy Ordinances thereof And were it not that we ought not to boast our selves against others Especially such as have not had the Spiritual Advantages that the Inhabitants of these Nations have been intrusted withal and who have been exposed unto more violent Temptations than they we should not fear to say that among those of all sorts who in these Nations hold the Head there is probably according unto a Judgment to be made by the fruits of that
unto the Enjoyment of Himself For that is the Rule of his sending and continuing of it whereon he enjoyned the Apostle Paul to stay in such places where he had much People whom he would have to be converted He would not continue from Generation to Generation to scatter his Pearls where there were none but rending Swine nor send Fishers unto waters wherein he knew there were nothing but Serpents and Vipers It is true the Gospel as preached unto many is only a Testimony against them leaving them without excuse and proves unto them a Savour of Death unto Death But the first direct and principal Design of the Dispensation of it being the Conversion of Souls and their eternal salvation it will not probably be continued in any Place nor is so where this Design is not pursued nor accomplished towards any Neither will God make use of it any where meerly for the Aggravation of Mens Sins and Condemnation nor would his so doing consist with the Honour of the Gospel its self or the Glory of that Love and Grace which it professeth to declare Where it is indeed openly rejected there that shall be the Condemnation of Men but where it finds any admittance there is hath somewhat of its genuine and proper work to effect And the Gospel is esteemed to be in all Places dispensed and admitted where the Scripture being received as the word of God Men are from the Light Truth and Doctrine contained therein by any means so far instructed as to take upon them the profession of subjecting their Souls to Jesus Christ and of observing the Religious Duties by him prescribed in opposition to all false Religions in the World Amongst all these the Foundations of saving Faith are at this day preserved For they universally receive the whole Canonical Scripture and acknowledge it to be the word of God on such motives as prevail with them to do so sincerely Herein they give a tacit consent unto the whole Truth contained in it for they receive it as from God without exception or limitation And this they cannot do without a General Renunciation of all the falsities and Evils that it doth condemn Where these things concur men will not believe nor practise any thing in Religion but what they think God requires of them and will accept from them And we find it also in the Event that all the Persons spoken of where-ever they are do universally profess that they believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in his only and Eternal Son They all look also for Salvation by him and profess obedience unto him believing that God raised him from the Dead They believe in like manner that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son with many other sacred Truths of the same importance as also that without Holiness no Man shall see God However therefore they are differenced and divided among themselves however they are mutually esteemed Hereticks and Schismaticks however through the Subtlety of Satan they are excited and provoked to Curse and Persecute one another with wonderful Folly and by an open contradiction unto other Principles which they profess yet are they all Subjects of the Visible Kingdom of Christ and belong all of them to the Catholik Church making profession of the name of Christ in the World in which there is Salvation to be obtained and out of which there is none We take not any consideration at present of that absurd foolish and uncharitable Error which would confine the Catholick Church of Christ unto a particular Church of one single Denomination or indeed rather unto a combination of some Persons in an outward mode of Religious Rule and Worship where of the Scripture is as silent as of things that never were nor ever shall be Yea we look upon it as intollerable Presumption and the utmost height of Vncharitableness for any to judge that the constant Profession of the name of Christ made by Multitudes of Christians with the lasting miseries and frequent Martyrdomes which for his sake they undergo should turn unto no advantage either of the Glory of God or their own Eternal Blessedness because in some things they differ from them Yet such is the Judgment of those of the Church of Rome and so are they bound to judge by the fundamental Princiciples and Laws of their Church Communion But men ought to fear least they should meet with Judgment without Mercy who have shewed no Mercy Had we ever entertained a thought uncharitable to such a Prodigie of insolence had we ever excluded any sort of Christians absolutely from an interest in the Love of God or Grace of Jesus Christ or hopes of Salvation because they do not or will not comply with those ways and terms of outward Church Communion which we approve of we should judg our selves as highly criminal in want of Christian Love as any can desire to have us esteemed so to be It is then the universal Collective Body of them that profess the Gospel throughout the world which we own as the Catholick Church of Christ. How far the Errors in Judgment or miscarriages in sacred worship which any of them have superadded unto the Foundations of Truth which they do profess may be of so pernicious a nature as to hinder them from an Interest in the Covenant of God and so prejudice their Eternal Salvation God only knows But those Notices which we have concerning the Nature and will of God in the Scripture as also of the Love Care and Compassion of Jesus Christ with the Ends of his Mediation do perswade us to believe that where Men in sincerity do improve the Abilities and Means of the Knowledg of Divine Truth where with they are intrusted endeavouring withall to answer their Light and Convictions with a suitable Obedience there are but few Errors of the Mind of so malignant a nature as absolutely to exclude such Persons from an Interest in Eternal Mercy And we doubt not but that men out of a Zeal to the Glory of God real or pretended have imprisoned banished killed burned others for such Errors as it hath been the Glory of God to pardon in them and which he hath done accordingly But this we must grant and do that those whose Lives and Conversations are no way influenced by the Power of the Gospel so as to be brought to some Conformity thereunto or who under the Covert of a Christian Profession do give themselves up unto Idolatry and Persecution of the true Worshipers of God are no otherwise to be esteemed but as Enemies to the Cross of Christ. For as without Holiness no Man shall see God so no Idolater or Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him With respect unto these things we look upon the Church of England or the Generality of the Nation professing Christian Religion measuring them by the Doctrine that hath been preached unto them and received by them
since the Reformation to be as sound and healthful a part of the Catholick Church as any in the world For we know no Place nor Nation where the Gospel for so long a season hath been preached with more Diligence Power and Evidence for Conviction nor where it hath obtained a greater Success or Acceptation Those therefore who perish amongst us do not do so for want of Truth and a right belief or Miscarriages in Sacred worship but for their own Personal Infidelity and Disobedience For according to the Rules before laid down we do not judge that there are any such Errors publickly admitted among them nor any such Miscarriages in Sacred Administration as should directly or absolutely hinder their eternal Salvation That they be not any of them through the Ignorance or Negligence of those who take upon them the conduct of their Souls encouraged in a State or way of Sin or deprived of due Advantages to farther their spiritual Good or are lead into Practices in Religion neither acceptable unto God nor tending to their own Edification whereby they may be betrayed into Eternal Ruine is greatly incumbent on themselves to consider Unto this Catholick Church we owe all Christian Love and are obliged to exercise all the Effects of it both towards the whole and every Particular Member as we have Advantage and Occasion And not only so but it is our Duty to live in constant Communion with it This we can no otherwise do but by a Profession of that Faith whereby it becomes the Church of Christ in the notion under Consideration For any failure herein we are not that we know of charged by any Persons of Modesty or Sobriety The Reflections that have been made of late by some on the Doctrines we teach or own do fall as severely on the Generality of the Church of England at least until within a few years last past as they do on us And we shall not need to owne any especial Concernment in them until they are publickly discountenanced by others Such are the Doctrines concerning Gods Eternal Decrees Justification by Faith the Loss of Original Grace and the Corruption of Nature the Nature of Regeneration the Power and Efficacy of Grace in the Conversion of Sinners that we say not of the Trinity and satisfaction of Christ. But we do not think that the Doctrines publickly taught and owned among us ever since the Reformation will receive any great dammage by the impotent assaults of some few especially considering their mannagement of those assaults by tales railing and ralliery to the lasting reproach of the Religion which themselves profess be it what it will Thirdly The Church of Christ or the visible Professors of the Gospel in the world may be considered as they are disposed of by Providence or their own choyce in Particular Churches These at present are of many sorts or are esteemed so to be For whereas the Lord Christ hath instituted sundry solemn Ordinances of Divine Worship to be observed joyntly by his Disciples unto his honour and their edification this could not be done but in such Societies Communities or Assemblies of them to that purpose And as none of them can be duly performed but in and by such Societies so some of them do either express the Union Love and common Hope that is among them or do consist in the means of their preservation Of this latter sort are all the wayes whereby the Power of Christ is acted in the Discipline of the Churches Wherefore we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ as the King Ruler and Lawgiver of his Church hath ordained that all his Disciples all persons belonging unto his Church in the former notions of it should be gathered into distinct Societies and become as Flocks of Sheep in several Folds under the eye of their Great Shepherd and the respective Conducts of those employed under him And this conjunction of Professors in and unto particular Churches for the celebration of the Ordinances of sacred Worship appointed by Christ and the participation of his Institutions for their edification is not a matter of accident or meerly under the disposal of common Providence but is to be an act in them of choice and voluntary obedience unto the commands of Christ. By some this Duty is more expresly attended unto than by others and by some it is totally neglected For neither antecedently nor consequentially unto such their Conjunction do they consider what is their duty unto the Lord Christ therein nor what is most meet for their own edification They go in these things with others according to the custome of the Times and Places wherein they live confounding their Civil and spiritual Relations And these we cannot but judge to walk irregularly through ignorance mistakes or prejudices Neither will they in their least secular concernments behave themselves with so much regardlesness ot negligence For however their Lot previously unto their own choyce may be cast into any place or Society they will make an after-judgment whether it be to their advantage according to the Rules of prudence and by that judgment either abide in their first station or otherwise dispose of themselves But a Liberty of this nature regulated by the Gospel to be exercised in and about the great concernments of mens souls is by many denyed and by most neglected Hence it is come to pass that the Societies of Christians are for the most part meer effects of their Political Distributions by Civil Lawes aiming principally at other ends and purposes It is not denyed but that Civil Distributions of Professors of the Gospel may be subservient unto the ends of Religious Societies and Assemblies But when they are made a means to take off the minds of men from all regard to the Authority of the Lord Christ instituting and appointing such Societies they are of no small disadvantage unto true Church-Communion and Love The Institution of these Churches and the Rules for their disposal and Government throughout the world are the same stable and unalterable And hence there was in the first Churches planted by the Apostles and those who next succeeded them in the care of that work great Peace Vnion and Agreement For they were all gathered and planted alike according unto the Institution of Christ all regulated and ordered by the same common Rule Men had not yet found out those things which were the Causes of Differences in after-Ages and which yet continue so to be Where there was any difference it was for the most part on the account of some noysom foolish Phantastical Opinions vented by Impostors in direct opposition to the Scripture which the generality of Christians did with one consent abhor But on various occasions and by sundry degrees there came to be great variety in the conceptions of men about these Particular Churches appointed for the Seat and Subject of all Gospel Ordinances and wherein they were authoritatively to be administred in the Name of Jesus Christ For
the Church in neither of the former notions is capable of such administrations Some therefore rested in particular Assemblies or such Societies who did or might meet together under the guidance and inspection of their own Elders Overseers Guides or Bishops And hereunto they added the occasional meetings of those Elders and others to advise and determine in common about the especial necessities of any particular Church or the general concernments of more of them as the matter might require These in name and some kind of resemblance are continued throughout the World in Parochial Assemblies Others suppose a particular Church to be such a one as is now called Diocesan though that name in its first use and application to Church Affairs was of a larger extent than what it is now applyed unto for it was of old the name of a Patriarchal Church And herein the sole Rule Guidance and Authoritative inspection of many perhaps a multitude of particular Churches assembling for sacred Worship and the Administration of Gospel Ordinances distinctly is committed unto one man whom in contradistinction from others they call the Bishop For the joyning of others with him or their subordination unto him in the exercise of Jurisdiction hinders not but that the sole Ecclesiastical Power of the Diocess may be thought to reside in him alone For those others do either act in his name or by power derived from him or have no pretence unto any Authority meerly Ecclesiastical however in common use what they exercised may be so termed But the nature of such Churches with the Rule and Discipline exercised in them and over them is too well known to be here insisted on Some rest not here but unto these Diocesan adde Metropolitical Churches which also are esteemed particular Churches though it be uncertain by what warrant or on what grounds In these one person hath in some kind of Resemblance a respect unto and over the Diocesan Bishops like that which they have over the Ministers of Particular Assemblies But these things being animated and regulated by certain Arbitrary Rules and Canons or Civil Laws of the Nations the due bounds and extent of their power cannot be taken from any Nature or Constitution peculiar unto them And therefore are there where-ever they are admitted various Degrees in their Elevation But how much or little the Gospel is concerned in these things is easie for any one to judge Neither is it by wise men pretended to be so any further than that as they suppose it hath left such things to be ordered by humane wisdome for an expediency unto some certain ends One or more of these Metropolitical Churches have been required in latter Ages to constitute a Church National Though the truth is that Apellation had originally another occasion whereunto the invention of these Metropolitical Churches was accommodated For it arose not from any respect unto Ecclesiastical Order or Rule but unto the supream Political Power whereunto the Inhabitants of such a Nation as gives Denomination to the Church are Civilly subject Hence that which was Provincial at the first Erection of this Fabrick which was in the Romish Empire whilst the whole was under the power of one Monarch became National when the several Provinces were turned into Kingdomes with absolute Soveraign power among themselves wholly independent of any other And he who in his own Person and Authority would erect an Ecclesiastical Image of that demolished Empire will allow of such Provincial Churches as have a dependance upon himself but cares not to hear of such National Churches as in their first notion include a Soveraign Power unto all intents and purposes within themselves So the Church of England became National in the dayes of King Henry the Eighth which before was but Provincial Moreover the consent of many had prevailed that there should be Patriarchal Churches comprehending under their Inspection and Jurisdiction many of these Metropolitical and Provincial Churches And these also were looked on as Particular for from their first invention there having been four or five of them no one of them could be imagined to comprize the Catholick Church although those who presided in them according to the pride and vanity of the declining Ages of the Church stiled themselves Oecumenical and Catholick Things being carried thus far about the Fifth and Sixth Century of years after Christ One owned as Principal or chief of this latter sort set up for a Church denominated Papal from a Title he had appropriated unto himself For by Artifices innumerable he ceased not from endeavouring to subject all those other Churches and their Rulers unto himself And by the advantage of his Pre-eminence over the other Patriarks as theirs over Metropolitans and so downwards whereby all Christians were imagined to be comprized within the Precincts of some of them he fell into a claim of a Soveraignty over the whole Body of Christianity and every particular member thereunto belonging This he could have had no pretence for but that he thought them cast into such an Order as that he might possess them on the same grounds on which that Order it self was framed For had not Diocesan Metropolitical and Patriarchal Churches made way for it the thought of a Church Papal comprehensive of all believers had never befallen the minds of mind For it is known that the prodigious Empire which the Pope claimed and had obtained over Christianity was an emergency of the contests that fell out among the Leaders of the greater sorts of Churches about the Rights Titles and Pre-eminences among themselves with some other occasional and intestine Distempers Only he had one singular advantage for the promotion of his Pretense and desire For whereas this whole contiguation of Churchts into all these Storyes in the top whereof he emerged and lifted up himself was nothing but an accommodation of the Church and its Affairs unto the Government of the Roman Empire or the setting up of an Ecclesiastical Image and Representation of its Secular Power and Rule the centring therein of all subordinate Powers and Orders in one Monarch inclined the minds of men to comply with his Design as very reasonable Hence the principal Plea for that Power over the whole Church which at present he claims lyes in this that the Government of it ought to be Monarchial And therein consists a chief part of the mystery of this whole work that whereas this Fabrick of Church Rule was erected in imitation of and complyance with the Roman Empire that he could never effect his Soveraignty whilst that Empire stood in its strength and union under the command of one or more Emperours by consent yet when that Empire was destroyed and the Provinces thereof became parcelled out unto several Nations who erected absolute independent Soveraignties among themselves he was able by the Reputation he had before obtained so to improve all emergencies and advantages as to gather all these new Kingdomes into one Religious
when upon lesser Differences men judge Churches to be no true Churches and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and consequently all their Administrations to be invalid So do some judge of Churches because they have 〈◊〉 Bishops and so do more of others because they have none But the Validity or Invalidity of the Ordinances of Christ which are the Means of Union and Communion with him unto all his Disciples depend not on the determination of things highly disputable in their Notion and not inconsistent with true Gospel-Obedience in their Practice And we are unduly charged with other Apprehensions God forbid that any such thought should ever enter into our heorts as though the Churches constituted in all things according unto our Light and the Rules we apprehend appointed in the Scripture for that purpose should be the only true Churches in the world They do but out of design endeavour to expose us to popular envy and hatred who invent and publish such things concerning us or any of us But whatever be the Judgment of others concerning us we intend not to take from thence any such provocation as might corrupt our Judgments concerning them nor to relieve our selves by returning the like censures unto them as we receive from them Scripture Rule and Duty must in these matters regulate our thoughts on all occasions And whilst we judge others to be true Churches we shall not be much moved with their judgment that we are none because we differ from them We stand to the judgment of Christ and his Word We cannot but judge indeed that many Churches have missed and do miss in some things the precise Rules of their due constitution and walking that many of them have added useless superfluous Rites to the Worship of God among them that there is in many of them a sinful neglect of Evangelical Discipline or a carnal Rule erected in the stead of it that Errors in Doctrines of importance and danger are prevalent in sundry of them that their Rulers are much influenced by a spirit of bitterness and envy against such as plead for Reformation beyond their measure or interest yet that hereupon they should all or any of them immediately forfeit their Church-State so as to have no lawful Ministers nor acceptable sacred Administrations is in it self a false Imagination and such as was never by us entertained In particular as to those Churches in Europe which are commonly called Reformed we have the same thoughts of them the same Love towards them the same readiness for communion with them as we would desire any Disciples of Christ in the world to have bear or exercise towards our selves If we are found negligent in any Office of Love towards them or any of their Members in compassion help or assistance or such supplies in outward or inward things as we have opportunity or ability for we are willing to bear the guilt of it as our Sin and the reproach of it as our shame And herein we desire to fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The same we say concerning all the Churches in England of the same mould and constitution with them especially if it be true which some say that Parochial Churches are under a force and power whereby they are enjoyned the practice of sundry things and forbidden the performance of others wherein the compliance of some is not over-voluntary nor pleasing to themselves Neither is there a Nullity or Invalidity in the Ordinances administred in them any otherwise than as some render them ineffectual unto themselves by their unbelief And this is the Paganizing of England which some of us are traduced for We believe that among the visible professors in this Nation there is as great a number of sincere Believers as in any Nation under Heaven so that in it are treasured up a considerable portion of the invisible Mystical Church of Christ. We believe that the Generality of the Inhabitants of this Nation are by their Profession constituted an eminent part of the Kingdome of Christ in this world And we judge not we condemn not those who walking according to their Light and Understanding in Particularities do practise such things in the Worship of God as we cannot comply withal For we do not think that the things wherein they fail wherein they miss or out go the Rule are in their own nature absolutely destructive of their particular Church-state And what more can reasonably be required of us or expected from us in this matter we know not The causes of the Distance that doth remain between us them shall be afterwards enquired into For our Duty in particular presential communion at the celebration of the same individual Ordinances with such Churches as are remote from us in Asia or Africa we shall we hope be directed to determine aright concerning it when we are called thereunto In the mean time what are our Thoughts concerning them hath been before declared To love them as Subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the world to pray for them that they may have all needful supplies of Grace and the Holy Spirit from above that God would send out his Light and Truth to guide them in their Worship and Obedience and to help them in things spiritual and temporal as we have opportunity is the Sum of the Duty which is required in us towards them Those we are more concerned in who are within the Lines of our ordinary Communication among whom we walk and converse in the world Unto any of these it is in the Liberty and power of every Believer to join himself by his own consent And no more is required hereunto in the present constitution of Churches among our selves but that a man remove his habitation to comply with his own desires herein And this choice is to be regulated by a judgment how a man may best improve and promote his own Edification We see not therefore how any man with the least pretence of Sobriety or Modesty can charge us with the want of an esteem and valuation of Evangelical Vnity For we embrace it on all the Grounds that it is in the Gospel recommended unto us And we do know within what narrow bounds the Charity and Vnity of some are confined who yet advantage themselves by a noise of their pretence But that we do not in the least disturb break or dissent from the Catholick Church either as it is invisible in its internal form by Faith and the Renovation of the Holy Ghost or as visibly professing necessary Fundamental Truths of the Gospel we have sufficiently evinced And the Principles laid down concerning particular Churches Congregations Assemblies or Parishes have not as yet been detected by any to spring from want of Love or to be obstructive of the exercise of it Having therefore thus briefly given some account of what we conceive to be our duty in relation unto the whole Church of
blind lead the blind as well he that is led as he that leads will into the Ditch Add hereunto the thoughts of some that Secular Grandeur and outward Pomp with a Distance and Reservedness from the Conversation of ordinary men are necessary in Ecclesiasticks to raise and preserve that popular veneration which they suppose to be their due Without this it is thought Government will not be carried on nor the minds of men awed unto Obedience Certain it is that this was not the Judgment of the Apostles of old nor of the Bishops or Pastors of the Primitive Churches It is certain also that no Direction is given for it in any of the Sacred or ancient Ecclesiastical Writings And yet they all of them abound with Instructions how the Guides of the Church should preserve that respect which is their due The sum of what they teach us to this purpose is Readiness to take up the Cross in Labours Kindness Compassion and Zeal in the exercise of all the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit they should excel and go before the Flock as their Example This way of procuring veneration unto Church Guides by worldly State Greatness seeming Domination or Power was as far as we can find an utter stranger unto the primitive times Yea not only so but it seems to be expressly prohibited in that Direction of our Saviour unto them for avoiding Conformity in these things unto the Rulers of the world But those times they say are past and gone There remains not that piety and Devotion in Christians as to reverence their Pastors for their Humility Graces Labours and Gifts The good things of this world are now given them to be used and it is but a Popular Levelling Spirit that envies the Dignities and Exaltation of the Clergy Be it so therefore that in any place they are justly and usefully at least as unto themselves possessed of Dignities and Revenues and far be it from us or any of us to envy them their Enjoyments or to endeavour their deprivation of them But we must crave leave to say that the use of them to the End mentioned is vain and wholly frustrate And if it be so indeed that Christians or professors of the Gospel will not pay the Respect and Duty which they owe unto their Pastors and Guides upon the account of their Office with their work and labour therein it is an open evidence how great a necessity there is for all men to endeavour the reduction of primitive Light Truth Holiness and Obedience into Churches For this is that which hath endangered their Ruine and will effect it if continued namely an Accommodation of Church-Order and Discipline with the State and Deportment of Rulers unto the Decayes and Irreligion of the people which should have been corrected and removed by their Reformation But we hope better things of many Christians whose Faith and Obedience are rather to be imitated than the corrupt Degeneracy of others to be complied with or provided for However it is evident that this corrupt perswasion hath in most Ages since the days of Paulus Samosatenus let out and given countenance unto the Pride Covetousness Ambition and Vain-glory of several Ecclesiasticks For how can it be otherwise with them who being possessed of the Secular Advantages which some Churches have obtained in the world are otherwise utterly destitute of those Qualifications which tue Names of the places they possess do require And yet all this while it will be impossible to give one single Instance where that Respect and Estimation which the Scripture tequires in the people towards their Spiritual Guides were ever ingenerated or improved by that worldly Grandeur Pomp and Domination which some pretend to be so useful unto that end and purpose For that Awe which is put thereby on the Spirits of the common fort of men that Terror which these things strike into the minds of any who may be obnoxious unto Trouble and Disadvantage from them that outward Observance which is by some done unto persons vested with them with the Admission which they have thereby into an equality of Society with great men in the world are things quite of another Nature And those who satisfie and please themselves herewith instead of that Regard which is due unto the Officers or Guides of the Churches of Christ from the people that belong unto them do but help on their Defection from their Duty incumbent on them Neither were it difficult to manifest what innumerable scandalous offences proceeding from the Pride and Elation of Mind that is found among many who being perhaps Young and Ignorant it may be corrupt in their Conversations having nothing to bear up themselves withal but an Interest in Dignities and worldly Riches have been occasioned by this corrupt Perswasion And it is not hard to judge how much is lost hereby from the true Glory and Beauty of the Church The people are quietly suffered to decay in that Love and Respect towards their Pastors which is their Grace and Duty whilst they will pay that outward Veneration which worldly Grandeur doth acquire and Pastors satisfying themselves therewith grow neglective of that exemplary Humility and Holiness of that Laborious Diligence in the dispensation of the Word and care for the Soules of the Flock which should procure them that Holy Respect which is due unto their Office by the Appointment of Jesus Christ. But these things are here mention'd only on the occasion of what was before discoursed of Another great Occasion of Schismes and Divisions among Christians ariseth from the Remainders of that Confusion which was brought upon the Churches of Europe by that general Apostacy from Gospel-Truth Purity and Order whereiu they were for sundry Ages involved Few Churches in the world have yet totally freed themselves from being influenced by the Relicks of its Disorders That such an Apostacy did befall these Churches we shall not need to prove A supposition of it is the foundation of the present Church-state of England That things should so fall out among them was of old foretold by the Holy Ghost That many Churches have received a signal Deliverance from the principal Evils of that Apostasie in the Reformation we all acknowledge For therein by several ways and in several degrees of success a return unto their pristine Faith and Order was sincerely endeavoured And so far was there a Blessing accompanying of their endeavours as that they were all of them delivered from things in themselves pernitious and destructive to the Souls of men Nevertheless it cannot be denied but that there do yet continue among them sundry Remainders of those Disorders which under their fatal Declension they were cast into Nor doth there need any further proof hereof than the incurable Differences and Divisions that are found among them For had they all attained their primitive condition such Divisions with all their Causes had been prevented And the Papists upbraiding Protestants with their
unto May any make a Judgment but themselves who impose them when the number of such things grows to a blameable excess If others may judge at least for themselves their own practice and so of what is lawful or not it is all that is desired If themselves are the the only Judges the case seems very hard and our secession from the Church of Rome scarcely warrantable And who sees not what endless Contests and Differences will ensue on these Suppositions if the whole Liberty of mens Judgments and all apprehensions of Duty in Professors be not swallowed up in the Gulph of Atheistical Indifferency as to all the Concerns of outward worship The whole of what hath been pleaded on this Head might be confirmed with the testimony of many of the Learned writers of the Church of England in the defence of our Secession from that of Rome But we shall not here produce them in particular The sum of what is pleaded by them is That the Being of the Catholick Church lies in Essentials that for a particular Church to disagree from all other particular Churches in some extrinsecal and accidental things is not to separate from the Catholick Church so as to cease to be a Church but still whatever Church makes such extrinsecal things the necessary conditions of Communion so as to cast men out of the Church who yield not to them is Schismatical in its so doing and the Separation from it is so far from being Schisme that being cast out of that Church on those terms only returns them unto the Communion of the Catholick Church And nothing can be more unreasonable than that the Society imposing such conditions of communion should be Judge whether those conditions be just and equitable or no. To this purpose do they generally plead our common Cause Wherefore from what hath been discoursed we doubt not but to affirm that where unscriptural conditions of communion indispensibly to be submitted unto and observed are by any Church imposed on those whom they expect or require to joyn in their Fellowship Communion and Order if they on whom they are so imposed do thereon with-hold or withdraw themselves from the communion of that Church especially in the Acts Duties and Parts of Worship wherein a submission unto these conditions is exdressed either verbally or virtually they are not thereon to be esteemed guilty of Schisme but the whole fault of the Divisions which ensue thereon is to be charged on them who insist on the necessity of their Imposition That this is the condition of things with us at present especially such as are Ministers of the Gospel with reference unto the Church of England as it is known in its self so it may be evidenced unto all by an enumeration of the Particulars that are required of us if we will be comprehended in the Communion and Fellowship thereof For 1. It is indispensibly enjoyned that we give a solemn Attestation unto the Liturgy and all contained in it by the subscription or declaration of our Assent and Consent thereunto which must be accompanied with the constant use of it in the whole Worship of God As was before observed we dispute not now about the Lawfulness of the use of Liturgies in the publick Service of the Church nor of that in particular which is established among us by the Laws of the Land Were it only proposed or recommended unto Ministers for the use of it in whole or in part according as it should be found needful unto the edification of their people there would be a great Alteration in the case under consideration And if it be pretended that such a Liberty would produce great diversity yea and confusion in the Worship of God we can only say that it did not so of old when the Pastors of Churches were left wholly to the exercise of their own Gifts and Abilities in all Sacred Administrations But it is the making of an Assent and Consent unto it with the constant use of it or attendance unto it a necessary condition of all Communion with the Church which at present is called into question It will not we suppose be denied but that it is so made unto us all both Ministers and People and that by such Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical as are sufficiently severe in their Penalties For we have Rules and Measures of Church-communion assigned unto us by Laws meerly Civil Were there any colour or pretence of denying this to be so we should proceed no farther in this Instance but things are evidently and openly with us as here laid down Now this condition of communion is unscriptural and the making of it to be such a condition is without warranty or countenance from the word of God or the practice of the Apostolical and Primitive Churches That there are no footsteps of any Liturgy or prescribed Forms for the administration of all Church-Ordinances to be imposed on the the Disciples of Christ in their Assemblies to be found in the Scripture no intimation of any such thing no direction about it no command for it will we suppose be acknowledged Commanded indeed we are to make Prayers and supplications for all sorts of men in our Assemblies to instruct lead guide and feed the Flock of Christ to administer the holy Ordinances instituted by him and to do all these things decently and in order The Apostles also describing the work of the Ministry in their own attendance unto it affirm that they would give themselves continually unto Prayer and the Ministry of the Word But that all these things should be done the Preaching of the word only excepted in and by the use or reading of a Liturgy and the prescribed Forms of it without variation or receding from the Words and Syllables of it in any thing that the Scripture is utterly silent of If any one be otherwise minded it is incumbent on him to produce Instances unto his purpose But withall he must remember that in this case it is required not only to produce a warranty from the Scripture for the use of such Forms or Liturgies but also that Rules are given therein enabling Churches to make the constant attendance unto them to be a necessary condition of their communion If this be not done nothing is offered unto the Case as at present stated And whatever confidence may be made use of herein we know that nothing unto this purpose can be thence produced It is pleaded indeed that our Saviour himself composed a Form of Prayer and prescribed it unto his Disciples But it is not proved that he enjoyned them the constant use of it in their Assemblies nor that they did so use it nor that the repetition of it should be a condition of communion in them though the owning of it as by him proposed and for the Ends by him designed may justly be made so least of all is it or can it be proved that any Rule or just encouragement
for the preservation of outward Order And whatever Arbitrariness may be supposed in making a judgment upon the Rule of the Word or in the Application of its rule unto the present Case it must abide in some or other And who shall be thought more meet or able to make a right determination thereon than those whose Duty it is and who have the advantage to be acquainted with all Circumstances belonging to the Case proposed Besides there is the Judgment of the Church or the Congregation it self which is greatly to be regarded Even in the Church of England a suspension of any from the Lords Supper is allowed unto the Curate upon the Offence of the Congregation which is a sufficient evidence that a Judgment in this Case is owned to be their due For none can take Offence but upon a Judgment of the Matter at which he is offended nor in this case without a right to determine that some Offences ought to debar Persons from a participation of the holy Ordinances as also what those Offences are This therefore is to be considered as an Aid and Assistance unto Ministers in the discharge of their Duty It is the Church into whose communion persons are to be admitted And although it be no way necessary that determinations in this Case should be always made by Suffrage or a Plurality of Votes in the Body of the Church yet if the Sense or Mind of the Congregation may be known or is so upon the Enquiry that ought to be made unto that purpose that any persons are unmeet for their communion it is not convenient they should be received nor will their Admission in this case be of any advantage to themselves or the Church The Light of Reason and the Fundamental constitutive Principles of all Free Societies such as the Church is ascribe this Liberty unto it and the Primitive Church practised accordingly So also is the judgment and Desire of the Congregation to be considered in the admission of any if they are made known to the Guides of it For it is expected from them they should confirm their Love unto them without dissimulation as Members of the same Body and therefore in their approbation of what is done their Rulers have Light and Encouragement in their own Duty Besides there is appointed and ought to be preserved a communion among Churches themselves By virtue hereof they are not only to make use of mutual Aid Advice and Counsel antecedently unto a actings of Importance but each particular Church is upon just demand to give an account unto other Churches of what they do in the Administration of the Ordinances of the Gospel among them and if in any thing it hath mistaken or miscarried to rectifie them upon their Advice and Judgment And it were easie to manifest how through these Means and Advantages the Edification of the Church and the Liberty of Christians is sufficiently secured in that discharge of Duty which is required in the Pastors of the Churches about the Admission of persons unto a Participation of holy ordinances in them 5. This Duty therefore must either be wholly neglected which will unavoidably tend to the corrupting and debauching of all Churches and in the end unto their Ruine or it must be attended unto by each particular Church under the conduct of their Guides and Rulers or some others must take it upon themselves What hath been the issue of a Supposal that it may be discharged in the latter way is too well known to be insisted on For whilst those who undertake the Exercise of Church-Power are such as do not dispense the Word or preach it unto them towards whom it is to be exercised but are strangers unto their spiritual state and all the Circumstances of it whilst they have no way to act or exercise their presumed Authority but by Citations Processes Informations and Penalties according to the manner of Secular Courts of Judicature in Causes Civil and Criminal and whilst the Administration of it is committed unto men utterly unacquainted with and inconcerned in the Discipline of the Gospel or the preservation of the Church of Christ in Purity and Order and whilst herein many the most or all of them who are so employed have thereby outward Emoluments and Advantages which they do principally regard the due and proper care of the right Order of the Churches unto the Glory of Christ and their own Edification is utterly omitted and lost It is true many think this the only decent useful and expedient way for the Government of the Church and think it wondrous unreasonable that others will not submit thereunto and acquiesce therein But what would they have us do or what is it that they would perswade us unto Is it that this kind of Rule in and over the Church hath Institution given it in the Scripture or countenance from Apostolieal Practice Both they and we know that no pretence of any such Plea can be made Is it that the first Churches after the Apostles or the Primitive Church did find such a kind of Rule to be necessary and therefore erected it among themselves There is nothing more remote from Truth Would they perswade us that as Ministers of the Gospel and such as have or may have the care of particular Churches committed unto us that we have no such concernment in these things but what we may solemnly renounce and leave them wholly to the mannagement of others We are not able to believe them The Charge that is given unto us the Account that will be required of us the nature of the Office we are called unto continually testifie other things unto us Wherefore we dare not voluntarily engage into the neglect or omission of this Duty which Christ requireth at our hands and of whose neglect we see so many sad Consequents and Effects The Lord Christ we know hath the same Thoughts and makes the same Judgment of his Churches as he did of old when he made a solemn Revelation and Declaration of them And then we find that he charged the Failings Neglects and Miscarriages of the Churches principally upon the Angels or Ministers of them And we would not willingly by our neglect render our selves obnoxious unto his Displeasure nor betray the Churches whereunto we do relate unto his just indignation for their declension from the Purity of his Institutions and the vigour of that Faith and Love which they had professed We should moreover by the Conformity required of us and according to the Terms on which it is proposed engage our selves against the exercise of our Ministerial Office and Power with respect unto them who are already Members of Particular Churches For this we carry along with us that by Conforming we voluntarily consent unto the whole state of Conformity and unto all that we are to do or not to do by the Law thereof Now it is not to be expected that all who are duly initiated or joyned unto any Church