congregation when that Church is dissolved are no more baptized and as Pastors cannot exercise pastoral acts but to their own Church neither can they act as baptized professors in another Church baptizing being a Citizens solemn incorporation to the Church and by this way to the Church independent only as a man that is only a free Citizen in Norwich cannot for that be a free Citizen in York or perform the acts of a free Citizen in all free Cities in England as he can perform them in Norwich And suppose that Norwich lose its freedom the man is a Citizen of no free City of England for as he is made solemnly by admittance into the Church into which he is baptized a visible member incorporated by Baptism as by his Burges Writ or Burges Ticket when the City is dissolved and no free City either his Burges Ticket to be a member of that City is null or then by his Burges Ticket he was made a member of all other congregations Iohn Baptist and the Apostles Act. 8. Ioh. 3. after a confession never asked for their conversion but baptized for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straightway without delay even in the night for so the word noteth Matth. 21. 19. Luke 4 39. 5. 25. 8. 44. The Jaylor and his house Act. 16. Cornelius and his house Act. 10. the Eunuch the multitude of Iohn Baptists hearers were baptized members of the universal Church 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. where there was no particular congregation to receive admit them as members as Mr. Richard Baxter solidly observes nor is it worthy the refuting that the Apostles by an extraordinary power might baptize them though to no certain Church but Pastors now have not that power for the Apostles baptizing and preaching and administring the other seal differ not in species and nature from the ordinary pastoral acts of an ordinary Minister they speak with tongues work miracles as Apostles but they preach and baptize hic nunc as ordinary Officers And as to the other part the calling of a Minister so must be up and down as he officiates to his own Church he acts as a Pastor as to these of another flock he tenders the Lords Supper as a gifted man 5. Though a congregation be of Divine right and Paul be assigned to teach the Gentiles Peter the Circumcision Gal. 2. by an ordinance of God yet it follows not that Peter acts not as a Pastor when he baptizes Gentiles or that Paul acts not as either Apostle or Pastor when he baptizeth the Jews and that Paul was ten hundred times a Pastor and again no Pastor as God called him to act pastorally in ten hundred congregations and went from them for the call of Gods divine leading where to preach and where not in Macedonia not in Bithynia Act. 16. but the local division of congregations and provinces as the second General Councel defines and that the provinces that belonged to Ephesus were added to Constantinople as Socrates saith was from custom When the Bishop of Spalato defending the Supremacy of the Pope saith that he thus differs from other Bishops that he is universal Bishop of all the Churches on earth but other Bishops are Pastors of their own particular Diocesses and Chu-ches D. Ioan. Crakanthorp Chaplain to King Iames wrot a learned book in which he proves that all Pastors are Pastors of the Church Universal habitu actu primo as well as the Bishop of Rome especially because in General Councels 2. and without them they are to care for all the Churches on earth 2. That the particular designation of single congregations is by no divine right assigned by Christ but by the prudence of the Church 1. For if it were not so there could be no transporting of Ministers from one Church to another 2. Because Churches then could not be enlarged nor diminished nor changed which we see may be done Cyprian as most sound in many things so in this is to be considered we are saith he Many Pastors but we feed one flock We saw how Mr. H. was pleased to fall upon me because I said that every Pastor is a Pastor to the Church-universal by exhorting in Word and Writ yea by ruling in Councels and is not tyed as a Pastor to employ his labours to one single flock only we therefore condemn in our Brethren 1 That the care pastoral of any Church but of one congregation of which the man is Pastor Iure divino quasi glob◠affixus is perished since the Apostles died 2. That they distinguish not between a Pastor as he is a Pastor to all Churches as the Lord in providence shall call and between the same pastor as tyed to his single Church rather than to another by no divine right but the prudence of the Church which is not infallible 3. That it is utterly unlawful to transplant Pastors upon any necessity of the greater good of the Church against the law of nature Mr. H. 2 Arg. It s in the power of the Church and Fraternity to admit members Ergo to cast them out as appears in the admitting of officers Ans. 1. Observe the circular probation between this and the former Argument as is said 2. Give us one Scripture or jot where the Fraternity is either called the Redeemed Church for so women are not Redeemed or the governing Church for the officers are not Rulers or let Mr. H. give us a third Church 3. That the Fraternity onely and no women gave their tacit consent to the chusing of Matthias Act. 1. of the Deacons Act. 6. of the Elders Act. 14. 23. since their consciences were concerned and they are parts of the fed and redeemed Church as well as men can never be proved and who can deny women to be of the plebs people and fraternity as Cyprian speaks and of the brethren that Paul Iames and the Apostles wrote unto Doth not Cyprian divide the Church in stantes la psos were there not women that both yielded to the Persecutors and denied the truth and stood to the truth and suffered Reade Cyprian cited by Mr. Cotton and in other places M. H. 3 Arg. Either the people have a causal virtue in judging or onely a consent the latter cannot be To consent to evil is sin to dissent from a just sentence makes them to hinder the execution of a just sentence Ans. This is already answered and hath not the weight of the some of the water Elders have either a causal virtue in judging or onely a consent the former I see not how they have Mr. H. Mr. Tho Goodwyn and Mr. Philip Nye give them onely an authoritative directing power such as Parents have in the marriage of their daughter which is an authority extrinsecal which the Magistrate and Pastor in their kinde have but the Virgin hath the onely formal and intrinsecal power to consent and so to make the marriage and to
If these forreign Churches of which he is no member as Mr. H. saith may and do as well discern Mr. H. his Marks of a visible Saint as his own Church to wit after trading among them divers years to them he savours as if he had been with Iesus p. 14 15. he abstains from all known sins p 24. then have they as good right to tender the Lords Supper to him as his own Church and he may have a desire and the same right both real and visible that he hath to the Ordinances in his own Congregation then as the Eunuch said Here is water so here is a â—able and Christ in eating what should hinder him to eat Is not Christ walking beside the golden Candlesticks here as at home 4. If Providence necessitate him as he is chased by persecution to one City and is banished out of that that he must fly to another and from that to another and from that to a third and is providentially necessitated to have no certain dwelling as was Abraham and the Saints case Heb. 11. 37 38. 1 Cor. 4. 11. so was Christs case Matth. 8. 20. he must either live by the Rule of the Gospel all his life without Church-Ordinances or as he cometh to ten sundry Churches visible he must be ten times twenty times married unto and divorced from the Church have and lose Church-right to a communion with Christ in his body and blood and to the Head Christ and to all the edifying comforts of Church-Ordinances CHAP. XX. The Arguments of Mr. H. for a Church-Covenant considered and removed MR. H. Every spiritual and Ecclesiastical incorporation receives its being from a spiritual Combination So Cities and Towns have their Charter granted them from King and State to meet for such ends it is the Sement that sodders all 2. Polished hewen stones give not being to a house except they be conjoined c. But every particular Church is a City Heb. 12. 22. A house 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Body of Christ Eph. 4. 13 14. 1 Cor. 12. 27 28. And all these are particular visible Churches where Pastors and Teachers are set and Members kâ—it together So Mr. R. Lib. 2. pag. 302. A Church in an Island is a little City a little Kingdom of Iesus Christ. Answ. Mr. H. in the title saith 3. The reasons of the Covenant and concludes nothing for a Covenant but only tells us Saints are the Matter like scattered stones union makes the form but Union is the result the Covenant goes before The proposition is Every Corporation receives its being from Combination This shall prove no more but the Congregation is a Congregation from Union of Members this is no conclusion debated by us and proves as well that a National Church a larger Kingdom of Christ as Rev. 11. 15. Isa. 2. 2. Egypt and Assyria are made the Lords people visibly considerated Isa. 19. 25. and that by one Union one Lord one Faith one Baptism by the Covenant of Grace so professed yea the invisible Catholike Body the Bride the Lambs Wife Rev. 21. is a spiritual corporation by such an Union 2. The thing in question is never proved to wit that every single Congregation is made a visible Body within it self by such a Covenant as the Members are engaged to watch over only one another of that society have a Church right to Ordinancâ—s Word Seals censures only with the Members of that one society that meet within the walls in one house and with no other all the earth over 3. The comparison of a City to a State holds not See Mr. Cawdry Cities 1. have different Charters and Priviledges in measures trading selling 2. Different publick Rents Burrough-Lands 3. Different Governments some by Major and Aldermen as royal Burghs some far otherwise And so 4. Free Citizens in London not free Citizens in York and here is some specifical difference as it were in Laws and Freedomâ— But it is a poor begging of the question without probation to say that single Congregations have these four differences for all Congregations visible have 1. The same Charter the Covenant of Grace one Faith and Doctrine of the Gospel 2 One inheritance and hope of glory Eph. 4. 3. One and the same visible Head Christ. 4. The same Baptism and are all visible brethren and members having the same right to the Seals all the world over without any new Church Covenant Phoebe Iustus Epaphroditus Rom. 15. 1. Col. 4. 10. Eph. 6. 21. Are brethren visible professors the distinction of saluting brethren and of Church-brethren must not be taken up on our brethrens word having right by Letters of Recommendation to Seals as Mr. Cotton teacheth now Letters of Recommendation as I prove and Mr. H. never lets on him that he did read it yea nor do men or Angels give but only declare right that brethren Pastors had before in all Churches to Baptism to partake of the Seals otherwise they cannot eat the Lords Supper in another congregation contrary to both the truth and Mr. Cotton and the way of the Churches of N. E. except they swear or engage themselves members to all the Churches about where they should and ought occasionally to receive the Seals and partake of Church-comforts But this Mr. H. flatly contradicteth let them agree among themselves now such an engaging being a binding of themselves to impossibilities that they shall discharge duties of watching over all as over their door-neighbours of the same flock is unpossible and so unlawful no authority on earth can take saith or the holy and blameless visible profession thereof from a visible professor and to whatever Table of the Lord he comes or ordinances of ministerially preached promises they are his by his faith visibly professed Mr. H. must shew one inhibition of Christ to debar any visible son from the fathers bread if then the argument be drawn from civil Corporations as they cry out against this argument in us for Provincial and National Churches it must be this as every incompleat Corporation or Lane in London consenting to receive such a man an Inhabitant and Member of that Lane doth not make the man so received a free Citizen of London for that he was before they received him when he was a member of another Lane and every City admitting a man to be a free Citizen of London does not make him a subject of the Kingdom of England for that he was before he was a Citizen so neither does every single Church receiving a member make him for that a member of the visible Church for 1. he was before we suppose baptized and both a real and a visible Saint and had Church right to partake of the Lord Jesus and the bread not as a seal of our communion with the Memberâ— of his own church only but of all the Churches of the Saints saith the Church of N. E. The argument is not unlike this Whatever constitutes Socrates a single
2 Cor. 11. 28. command Schismatick Churches 2 Cor. 10. 8. plant and lay the foundation of Churches as wise Master-builders Acts 16. 12. 13 14 15 16. 18. 7 8 9 10 1 Cor. 3. 6. 11. appoint new offices in the Church Acts 6. 6. Now if God have seated the Apostles in such a way in every congregation as ordinary Teachers are then the Apostles proper place must be onely to water and confirm visible converts and members of a fixed and framed congregation where then are the Apostles Letters Patents to build to plant to lay the foundation 3. When it s said as it must be or it comes not home the King hath placed in England the whole integral body of the Kingdom of England the Lord Keeper the Lord chief Justice the Constable as he hath placed in the Church Apostles and Teachers in the whole integral Church These extraordinary and ordinary officers it cannot be meant the King hath placed a Lord Keeper and a Lord chief Justice in every Town and City of England so neither hath the Lord placed an Apostle in every congregation upon the same account and he who is an Apostle in one congregation can no more be an Apostle in another than a Major of one City can be a Major in another and it must run so The State hath placed a General Colonels Captains in their Armies i. e. in every particular society of the Armies and so every company must have a General therefore hath the State set Generals Colonels Captains in their Armies in the plural number Now the State hath set but one General over all the Army as the Church is but one 4. If the Argument run thus As the Major of Norwich may not rule as Major of York so neither may a pastor in one congregation teach rule as a pastor in another congregation This is utterly false and it s an Argument like this As God hath confined Rulers to one society onely in the civil State so hath he confined the officers of his Sons House one word of Scripture to prove this should silence Mr. R. It s not lawful to devise parallels between the Civil State and Christs Kingdome Suppose all the Majors Rulers Citizens of all the Cities and Towns in England had the same divine right to command in all the Cities and Towns in England and that these Majors were Rulers equally and in common to all those Towns and that it were a matter of providential Order not of Divine Jurisdiction that A. B. should be fixed Major of Norwich and C. D. fixed Major of York and so forth then if C. D. by providence should be at Norwich he might rule as a Major at Norwich or any Town or City of England as well as at York and so is here the matter a called pastor is a pastor and may act pastorally and dispense the Seal of the Lords Supper to those of another congregation say our Brethren and so to another whole congregation for there is the same reason in both So all visible professors have the same divine Church-right to the same Christ the Head 2. To the same Gospel and Covenant of grace for dâ—stinct Church-covenants are mens lawless inventions as used by our Brethren 3. To the same Lords Supper 1 Cor. 10. 17. 4. To the same eternal life So Mr. H. shall gain nothing by this but lose for there is no such right civil common to civil Rulers and civil Citizens One Town hath City priviledges that no other Town in the Kingdom hath Mr. H. Right of Iurisdiction flowing from office-call a Pastor hath not save in his own congregation Ans. There must be one call or other for a Pastor to exercise his office but a new office or new right of jurisdiction other then pastoral which he received in ordination is not requisite for a pastor to act as a pastor Yea he sins against his office-charge and talent if in all congregations he do not preach the word be instant in season and out of season not at Ephesus only for an Evangelist such as Timothy was not an ordinary fixed Teacher if he do not reprove rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. The danger of perishing of souls or the absence or removal of the Pastors by death is a fit call of God though the greater part of Sardis love not to be rebuked Mr. H. God hath set in his Church i. e. in the congregation existing in its particulars Apostles c. and therefore all congregations are here intended Ans. 1. By this God hath set Apostles Miracles in the single congregation whether as Apostles or as Pastors if the former speaking with Tongues working of Miracles which are for unbeleevers and heathen 1 Cor. 14. 22. shall be officers or gifts ordained for visible Saints converted By what Scripture 2. Though the Church exclude not the congregations but in some respects include them yet it is a body called Christ mystical v. 12. to which Christ is head by influence of his spirit and brings no small consolation to us as Beza Calvin Pet. Martyr who make this the Catholick Church 3. Whereas Mr. H. his single congregation of Magus and Iudas can hardly stand under the weight of that denomination Nor 4 can it well be said that great Apostles Prophets workers of Miracles such as speak with Tongues are eyes and ears fixed in single congregations for this is such an organical body v. 12 13 14 15 16 17. Never Interpreter neither Occumenius nor Augustine nor Beza Calvin Martyr Pareus nor judicious Papists Victorinus Carthusian Estius Cajetanus expound it as Mr. H. of a single congregation but of the Catholick Church saith Martyr of men of all nations saith Pareus though they dwell in divers places of the earth saith Pareus this is the mystical body saith Estius membra autem omnes fideles the members are all the faithful He proves saith Cajetanus omnes Christianos esse unum corpus Christi all Christians behold the Catholick Church to be the one body of Christ because they are all begotten into one Spirit by Baptism 4. The Church here is the Church all baptized into one body whether Iews or Gentiles whether Bond or Free which all drink the same drink in the Lords Supper Mr. H. In all these congregations are comprehended both Iewes and Gentiles for the whole nature of the General is comprehended in the Particulars Well and the Spirit that is in all the body must be one Genere and the drink in the Lords Supper must be one Genere and so must the Christ of which we partake be one Genere Hence there being many species and kinds of congregations different in nature there must be many Christs different in nature many Spirits many Bodies many Lords Suppers different in species and nature of which we partake Who ever heard in the Church of Christ many Christs many Baptismes Yet Mr. H. makes many congregations so
for while as he watches over one he must neglect fourscore of hundreds and above 2. What liberty and power a man hath in one particular congregation as a member he hath the same in all because he is a member every where Then he hath power in choosing the Officers and in maintaining them and these Officers must be sought in casting him out Ans. What liberty and power a man hath jure habitu actu primo by the right as a visible professor in one congregation as a member that same moral right of Saintship taken in a right sense he carries about to all congregations on earth whithersoever he comes as is clear by Letters of Recommendation which I said and its never answered onely declare but give no new right to Church priviledges which our Brethren give to members by which they have right to the seals in other congregations But it follows not what liberty and power a man as a fixed nearer and proper member hath in his own congregation that same liberty and power he hath actu secundo and that he may actually exercise in all congregations for to the actual exercise of it is required the actual knowledge of him and his right and qualification that they with him and he with them may act in a Church-way in other congregations and forreign Churches And also he cannot act with that power in all congregations as in his own not because he hath not the power in habit and actu primo but both he cannot orderly exercise it and without scandal of usurpation until he first evidence he hath such power and also because he cannot physically be in many places at once as a Citizen of London hath power and liberty to do the duties of a Subject of England such as to save the life of a Subject and to apprehend a publick Robber that waftes the countrey in all cities and places in England but its impossible that he can be physically present in all places of England where his help may be useful for the performing of these duties 2. Nor will it follow that he should give hire to any but to his own personal feeders from whom he receiveth the benefit of feeding Gal. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 9. 1 Tim. 5. 17 18. 3. It is also an untoward consequence Therefore be cannot be cast out of one congregation unless the Officers of all others did cast him out for that is physically impossible God will have the Catholick integral Church to purge it self in its parts and it s no more necessary nor convenient that the whole integral Church should or possibly can pass an actual sentence for the casting out of every person than all England can convene in Parliament for the passing sentence upon every English Subject guilty of Felony Murther Sodomy Blasphemy Drunkenness Swearing c. and all guilty of these faults are both Members of either Cities Counties or Shires and also Subjects of the Kingdome of England and the Argument is as strong in the one as in the other even suppose Great-Britain were but one Kingdome Nor 4. Will it follow that a guilty person can require the convening of the whole integral Catholick Church to judge his cause for he can have no moral right but such as all in case of scandal have why he should more decline the Churches judging than their feeding by the Word Now since such a convening of all Officers to judge every scandal is physically unpossible it is not to be thought that Christ hath given a moral liberty to all delinquents without exception to appeal to all the Officers on earth for the infinite wisedome of God gives not moral power to physical impossibilities that are physically destructive to edification Mr. H. If he that is the member of one Congregation be a member of all I cannot see but of necessity it must follow that one particular Congregation must be another Ephesus must be Smyrna and Smyrna must be Thyatira for where there be the same individual members there be the same whole integral body and the ground is undeniable from received Rules Integrum est totum cui partes sunt essentiales Therefore the same members carry the same essence to the whole I assume there be the same individual members of all the particular Congregations For if one particular professor be a member of every particular Congregation then all particular professors must be so and so all of them members of one particular Congregation and so of every one Hence there being the same members of every particular Congregation every particular Congregation is the same and thence it will follow that Ephesus is Smyrna and Smyrna to be Thyatira Hence when Smyrna is destroyed yet Smyrna remains Ans. It s a pity to black paper with such Wind-mills Where there be the same individual members there must be the same individual whole or totum integrale All the individual members of a mans body either similar parts flesh and blood and bones or the Organs eyes ears feet hand and all the rest taken together as united are the whole organical body of man and so all the Congregations on earth taken together are and make up the whole integral Catholick visible Church existing in all the Kingdomes and States of the earth But what follows therefore the hand is the foot where there be the same proper and nearer fixed members the thumb and the little finger of the hand and also the same common and remoter members the same thumb little finger of the whole organical body there is the same individual integral whole so as the one member is affirmed of another the thumb is the little finger and the little finger is the thumb for all the organs are members proper the eyes ears nose of the head the fingers of the hand the toes of the feet and all the rest arms legs belly shoulders and all these same members are common and remote members of the whole body Just as Peter is a fixed and near member of this Congregation and also a common and remoter member of the whole integral Catholick Church And as all the Citizens of London are fixed and near members of London and proper parts thereof and yet common and remote members and Subjects of England Hence by Mr. H. his own Argument Where there be the same individual members thereof necessity must be the same whole integral So I assume saith he But there be the same individual members of all the particular Congregations I assume also Iohn Richard Thomas Citizens of London of York are all in their very individual natures individual Subjects of England Ergo London must be York and York must be London and Iohn Citizen of London must be Richard Citizen of Yoâ—k And contrary Again I assume the same individual thumb and individual little finger and toes and individual eyes and ears are all members of the hand or congregation of fingers of the feet and society of toes
the complete object of Christs intent 2. The complete and adequate matter of his work and soul-travel on his incarnation dying rising ascending interceding giving of the holy Spirit Luke 19. 10. 2. 10. 1 Ioh. 2. 2. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Rev. 1. 5 6. Heb. 7. 25. Ioh. 16. 7. Isa. 53. 11. 3. The onely complete recipient and principal subject of all the gracious and saving actings of Christ of Church-callings of the Promises Covenant preached 5. By this the congregational body may say I have no need of thee Obj. Yea I have materially need of thee for counsel rebuke Ans. But is Body-need Organ-need and Church-need that Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 12. 26. Peters body hath no Organ-need of Pauls feet to walk for he hath two feet of his own but he may have physical need of another kinde So the Congregation hath need of Heathens to rebuke them but this is no Church-need 6. Paul 1 Cor. 12. would have no schism in the body but would have the Churches to have the same Church-care one of another and not to be divided in one Faith one Baptism one Church-head one Church-Gospel c. which must be if I be not a member of all congregations 7. We are to suffer one with another rejoyce one with another but no Church-feeling is required of me if I and those of another congregation be not of the same visible body by vertue of the fellow-feeling between the members the Apostle cannot speak of a natural compassion for humanity will teach Christians to mourn at the destruction of Heathens but they are not for that of the same body of Christ with us But as all these prove that there is a visible body of mâ—â—y congregations and so that there is a Catholick integral visible body So we thus argue If the Church-actings and sufferings and rejoycing condition of those of associated Churches be visible and audible to us no less than the Church-actings and sufferings and rejoycing condition of the single congregation whereof I am a member then must the one be a visible Body and Church as well as the other But the latter is true The Proposition is clear for if the properties and accidents be visible the subject is visible because this is the formal reason why a congregation is visible for we see not the spirits and faith in the hearts of the single congregation but we see their profession in single persons and their meetings in one place for hearing praying praising and partaking of the seals Now all these we see in three or four or six meetings or conventions of the Churches associated which shall but make one numerous congregation of ten thousand as the dissenting Brethren said of the Church of Ierusalem and we see them severally meet as we see the Church of our own single congregation As for their poverty sickness imprisonment and the sufferings of these of the same congregation of which we are members we see not these in Church meetings but in single members and these must be visible in many congregations as the famine in Iudea for which Paul made a collection as well as in one From all this its clear that it is false which Mr. H. saith That all particular Churches are all the members that the Church visible hath For Apostles godly sojourners dissolved members are not members of congregations not are they congregations themselves and yet they are members of the visible integral Catholick Church CHAP. XXVI Other Arguments against the Church-Covenant are vindicated Mr. H. Mr. R. plainly affirms That when one enters a member of such a Congregation under the Ministery of A. B. he cometh under a new relative state by an implicitâ— or virtual covenant pag. 95. which is cross to that which was affirmed pag. 92. Ans. Mr. H. cites not my words to the full I deny not but he that enters a fixt member of a congregation comes under a new relative state of a virtual covenant and so does he that enters a member of a Christian Army of a Family of a Society in a Ship But the state of the question is not touched for the state of the question is not Whether this new Covenant make the adjoyner a member of the visible Church where as he was no visible member before that is whether a born Englishman by being made a citizen of London was made an Englishman and a born Subject of England whereas he was not a born Subject before 2. Whether doth this New-covenant give him right and claim to Church-ordinances and seals of the Covenant of grace so as without it the man hath no right at all to Ordinances Sure it s a great sin to lay more weight on either the Temple or the Ark than God hath laid on them But this Covenant so used is a fancy Mr. H. A Church newly erected becomes a sister-Church with others yet she needs not a new Covenant saith Mr. R. to accomplish it Ans. No certain our Covenant once entred all the relations that depend thereupon are included in the first Covenant A woman once being married all duties to the husbands kindred results from the Marriage-covenant there is no need of a new Covenant Ans. Yea but a Church newly erected becomes as really a part of a Synodical body that is really obliged to engage for association saith Mr. H. and it s both lawful and useful as a person becomes a member of the single congregation And officers are no less married to Synodical duties by the light of nature and right reason saith the same Mr. H. than single persons are married to congregational duties therefore a covenant is as necessary in the one as in the other magis minus non variant speciem if there be a marriage here officers are more married to the associated Churches in general as to the complete correlate than to the single and inadequate correlate the bit of a single congregation 2. A man born in the Covenant of grace and baptized is engaged in all duties Mr. H. The Apologie said It s not the Rule of the Word touching Man and Wife Magistrate and Subject that makes people in such a state but the Covenant thus stands unanswered by Mr. R. Ans. This is for me but he being born in the Gospel-covenant and baptized to all Churches he is a son a married member to all congregations 2. Mr. R. constantly denied the naked comparison as blasphemous and Popish the Church is Spouse to no sinful man Pope or any other Enaristus The Councel of Carthage of Sardis of Antioch so judge That the Bishop is the Husband the Church his Wife Innocentius the III. As Almighty God hath left the Marriage-covenant to be dissolved by his own judgement onely so let not the Bishop leave his Church But Calvin and Luther say The Lord is the Husband of the Church So Bullinger Musculus Gualther 2. It makes communion between the Pastor and those of
to thee I will give the keys not to the 〈◊〉 Ergo Peter represents the people Believers only 〈◊〉 est the male-Church of the redeemed I would not buy such Logick for a Not for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a collective and represents many for the Keys of the Kingdom noteth the Keys of jurisdiction of preaching the word c. Now see he gives the keys of knowledge principally and firstly to the people and secondarily to the Elders who labour not in the word and doctrine in so far as they concur to make the word effectual Nor can the Lord have given the Key of only ruling to the preaching Elders and therefore he speaks to Peter as representing two subjects 3. It is neither dagger nor weapon of blood that the Catholick visible Church of the first-born including rulers and ruled be the first subject of free redemption of all power of the Keyes in their saving fruit of all styles the Spouse Body Love c. the saving priviledges of special note that one promised in the covenant of grace the new heart remission of sins perseverance ruling in the visible kingdom by binding and loosing and that your particular congregation and society share of all these at the second hand And Mr. H. must be content that we look upon it as weak Divinity that Christ gave himselfe for the Catholick Church and bestows all upon her firstly and that this be the first natural recipient subject of all these as the element of fire not this or that fraction or fragment of that Element is the first adequate natural recipient subject of heat as is above explained Mr. H. Prop. 4. The power of the keys take it in the complete nature thereof is in the Church of Believers as in the first subject but in the manner and order of ruling that Christ appointed in the parts Ans. Mr. H. speaks not distinctly and should have told us what the power of the keys is in its complete nature and what in its incomplete and half nature it is 2. When he sayes the Church-congregational and the male-Church of Believers so consederate is the first subject of the Keys he saith an untruth like to this this particular fragment of the Element of fire is the first subject of heat And Sir what say you of the rest of the quarters of the Element of fire must they I pray you be the subjâ—ct of heat secondary and by way of participation So you may say London is the first subject of the power of government in England yea or Norwich now the first subject by you is omne and solum and so doth Mr. Cotton go before you it is like England would take it evil and judge that Norwich did not logically distinguish Our Brethren must be content no Congregation is any other but an integral part as D. Ames grants of the Catholick visible Church And Christs design of Love was that the whole by order of nature as the first subject should partake of all the speciall priviledges 1. Grace 2. Redemption 3. Covenant blessings c. power of binding loosing seals in their blessed fruit for the whole Nor can I say Amen to that of Mr. Cotton A particular Church or Congregation professing the faith taken indefinitly for any Church one as well as another is the first subject of all the Church Officers with all their spiritual gifts and power whether it be Paul or Apollo or Cephas all are yours speaking of the Church of Corinth 1 Cor 3. 22. Ans. 1. Mr. Cotton must prove that Paul there speaks of a particular Church that comes all together into one place as he speaks citing 1 Cor. 14. 23. and that formally as a single congregation meeting in one It were a most comfortless Doctrine to limit that soul delighting priviledge 1 Cor. 3. 21. all things are yours then Christ and Grace and Glory are yours And vers 23. ye are Christs onely to Saints as they are a Church-meeting in one place What is this but by the scope of that place you have right to Christ and Salvation and Covenant-promises as the first subject only under the reduplication of a congregation meeting in one place as an organized Church Ah! and shall not Christ and all things be theirs who are in no Church-state like that of Corinth but wander in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caveâ— of the Earth Heb. 11. 38 and have no certain dwelling house nor fixed Church congregational 1 Cor. 4. 11 2. What agrees to Believers as Christians and Believers to believing women aged children servants and to the scattered Saints Now in no such Church state as Mr. Cotton imagines the Corinthians to be in and to Iohn in the Isle of Pathmes and to the Apostles as believing Apostles that cannot agree to a congregation as the first subject which reciprocally and only receiveth this power But such is this Revel 21. 7. He that overcomes shall inherit all things all are yours death in the sweet fruit of it belongs to women and to Christians as Christians though in no congregational state Ergo women and the whole Catholick Church whether in such a Church-state or not must be the first subject of the Keyes And it is wretched Logick Paul saith all things are yours and ye are Christs to a congregation that meets in one place Ergo such a promise is made to a congregation as to the first subject and as to a congregation then may I infer the promise to eat of the Tree of Life to receive the hidden Manna and the â—…ning Star and to sit in a Throne with Christ is made to such as overcome in the congregation as our Brethren say of Ephesus of Pergamos of Thyatira c. Rev. 2. 3. therefore these promises are made to the Church of a congregation as to the first subject upon the same ground all the congregational Church must be the first subject and so the only subject of all priviledges of the congregational Church of Corinth of being justified sanctified Temples of the Holy Ghost redeemed and bought with a price c. And if so these priviledges must agree to the congregation firstly and to all other for the congregation as that agrees first to the fire and then to iron to water for the fire 3. Paul saying all are yours whether Paul c. he cannot mean Paul as an Apostle is proper to you as a congregation in all his Apostolick travels for that is false nor can the meaning be Paul as a fixed Pastor is yours for he was no fixed Pastor to them tyed to that congregation only Then the meaning must be Paul and by a Synechdoche all the Apostles and Pastors and the World and Life and Death in their labours must be for you and the Catholick Church and all the Saints all the earth over whom they must gather in and perfect as Christs body and parts of his body Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. and
congregation no Eldership Many suffered under Nero many under Maximinus So Euseb. l. 6. c. 28. under Valerian an 259. who killed Pastors and Professors as Eusebius l. 7. c. 10 11 12. especially godly Cyprian Now sure the Lord had as sweet and comfortable a providence suiting with the glorifying of his Name and advancing his Gospel by the death of so many Witnesses as if he had suffered them to meet in congregations to meet peaceably none desiring to take away their life or land as in Israels day for their meeting to serve God in congregations And it s an overturning of the Ordinances of God in the New Testament in which there is not given a land flowing with milk and honey and a promise of a temporal typical providence that they shall be free of persecution in following Church-duties and publick Worship congregational which is not existent in all ages Nor saith Mr. Ruthurfurd that Ministers are given to Ministers primarily but as they are members of the Body visible and chosen of God Ephes. 4. CHAP. V. Whether the Congregation as the Congregation doth excommunicate a delinquent or is it the Catholick visible Church which excommunicates MR. R. his meaning is that the congregation excommunicateth not as a congregation by a power which by order of nature is first in it self but by a power which by nature is first in the whole Eldership but yet not by an act coming from the privity knowledge and conscience of all the whole Catholick Body of Officers all the world over And so I grant that the Catholick visible Church doth not anteced ntly excommunicate leading witnesses and summoning and accusing and sentencing the person before the congregation as when Norwich puts a Traitor to death the State of England by the Law common to all England in and by Norwich putteth the man to death Nor doth Norwich as a single Corporation though neither simply as a Representative but acting as a part of the Body of England And the whole State doth this antecedently 1. Because the City doth this by the same power of Law common to all England quae sunt communiâ—ra sunt priora 2. Norwich puts this Traitor to death not as an enemy to that single Corporation onely but as a common enemy to the whole Kingdom 3. The City doth this by an innate power as an integral part of England for the peace and safety of the whole Kingdom yet doth not the whole Kingdom knowingly exercise an act of deliberate judicial authority in this for the man is put to death without the privity and knowledge of the whole Kingdom I used the comparison to cousen the inconsiderate Reader saith Mr. H. I hate cousening The left hand cuts off the finger of the right hand lest it infect with a Gangrene the whole body acted by the natural instinct and innate desire of self safety which is in the whole man But saith Mr. H. the chief officers are not at the mind and will and the other Churches as the whole man but the rest of the brethren are as the whole man who have an intrinsical power for the safety of the whole congregation to cut off an an infectious member Ans. Nor is the comparison to be strained I shall onely desire it to be taken as Mr. H. saith It s true the left hand doth not cut off the contagious finger but the whole man deliberate will and reason consenting thereunto and the finger is cut off not by the power of the left hand onely but the intrinsecal power of the body And it is so exactly in a particular congregation the chief officers as the mind and will and the rest of the Brethren as the whole have an intrinsecal power from Christ to remove an infectious member Ans. They have a power to remove him saith Mr. R. in his comparison not from that congregation onely but from the whole Catholick Body As the left hand cuts off the contagious finger not from the right hand onely but from the whole body It wrongeth Christ to say he hath given so selfie and narrow a power to liberate onely a body of 10 or 20 Independent members from the contagion of scandal but not to free five thousand and the associate bodies round about Let them perish Christ hath given no Organick or Church-care to the congregation toward them all saith Mr. H. 2. The comparison is not exact When the fraternity excommunicates all their officers where is the mind and will then for they excommunicate their own minde and will 3. Mr. R. never meant the comparison should hold in this That the Catholick Church as mind and will should put forth acts of deliberate reason antecedently to cite accuse sentence every delinquent in an Oecumenick Councel or some Catholick Judicature and to excommunicate all Delinquents before ever the congregation cite them With divers arguments he refutes an antecedent excommunication as if I held any such thing So Mr. H. loves to prove strongly what Mr. R. never denied But Mr. H. speaks nothing to my Argument if the mâ—n be cast out and bound on earth he must be bound only on that tract of earth where twenty Independents are But 1. Church binding in heaven and the guiltiness of the scandal is alike in all places and often more infectious to others if it be a taking heresie then to their own congregation 2. Who shall perswade that our Saviours sense is so hampered Let him be to thee as an heathen Mat. 18. 17. as thee only who art a member of the congregation whereof he is a member yea as touching Church binding neither is he a known guiltless visible Saint to all Churches on earth It is nothing but a naked evasion to say he is consequently cut off from right to ordinances in all other congregations for because one species of corporations hath condemned a man saith Mr. H. page 236. it follows not that therefore all have condemned him to imprisonment perpetual or the like Ans. Yea what one City doth in punishing a Malefactor by Law power common to all England that same all England doth in law for twenty Sons have by the same Law and Authority of the Fathers right of twenty Tables of twenty Families of the Father One is for sedition against his Father cast out of one Family whereof he is a fixed member the other nineteen though they know nothing of the fact and doe never actually cite him yet do legally and by the Law and the same very wil of the Father that ruleth them all cast him antecedently out or concomitanter or then another Law must appoint the other nineteen Families to cast him out So the same right idem numero that Peter hath to Christ and Ordinances in one Church he hath it in all and that same act of the Keyes administred according to the rule of the Word in one Church removing that right removes it from him all the World over 3. Visible Saints by this