inclination it s far enough from putting a man into a justified state And when ever the will is brought to comply with the assent and judgement of the mind in this great matter yet it is then ordinarily a work of time and the fruit of many thoughts and considerations for want of which tho' men do believe their Faith will languish and bring forth no fruit to perfection as we are taught in the Parable by the seed which did so for want of much Earth which answers to the want of many thoughts and considerations All these things consider'd then that since a Faith which hath not Regenerated those in whom it is falls short of a Justifying Faith and since Faith in its beginning and lowest pitch is ordinarily so weak and inoperative to effect so great a change as Regeneration signifies untill by many thoughts and considerations it has gathered some strength and since for it to do so is a work of time and since the Apostles from whose writings these things are collected baptised those upon their first believing or beginning to believe who had untill then lived in the darkness of Paganism I say these things considered make it very improbable that the Apostles Baptised none but upon supposition and probable presumption that they all had a justifying Faith before they Baptised them If any shall say it was upon a charitable perswasion in the Apostles that those whom they Baptised had such a Faith as by which they either were already regenerated and justified or would be in time that they Baptised them I shall not oppose them herein But the saying thus does suppose and grant that the Apostles did not account such a Faith as by which men were already before Baptism regenerate and justified necessary to qualifie them for Baptism if they had but such a Faith which gave them ground to hope that it might in time be improved so as to become a justifying Faith which concession is every whit as much as I plead for 2. It is not probable that the Apostles received none into the visible Church by Baptism but such as they esteemed to be of the Church as invisible by a Justifying Faith because they could not but know that many are really and truly of the visible Church and are so esteemed by God who yet are not of the Church as invisible by such a Faith That such are of the visible Church in the account of the Scriptures both of the Old Testament and of the New I have I suppose sufficiently proved in some of the following Enquiries And if this was and is the currant doctrine of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and of those written by the Apostles we cannot suppose them to be ignorant of it And if they were not it is not reasonable to suppose they would reckon more necessary to qualifie men for their enterance into the visible Church than was necessary to their being of it 3. The Apostles had Commission to Baptise Disciples and Believers without limitation or exception and those who had but the initial Faith which I before described are in Scripture said to have believed and to have been disciples as is shew'd in the following Papers and therefore the Apostles Commission to Baptise must needs extend to the Baptising of such And it is no ways likely that the Apostles would make exception in reference to the Baptising of persons where their Commission made none but that they Baptised all that were at all disciples as such without discrimination or making a difference between believers and believers or disciples and disciples in reference to their Baptising of such Nor does it all appear by any the least hint in Scripture that they did Indeed our Saviour in Commissionating his Apostles seems to make a difference between teaching men so as to make them disciples capable of Baptism and the teaching them afterwards how to live a truly Christian Life he seems to have directed them to bring them first to believe Christ to be the Son of God the Messiah the Saviour the great Prophet that brought to men the way of Salvation and to engage them to become disciples unto him and his Religion and to baptize them into it and then afterwards to instruct them in the particulars of their duty And this the double teaching mentioned in their Commission Mat. 28.19 20. seems to imply and their baptising men so suddenly and upon so little Teaching as they did does likewise infer I have also given same account in the Tenth Enquiry how agreeable it is to the Wisdom and Goodness of God towards men in several respects to admit such as have but common grace into the Church as visible and if it be so then they act cross to Gods gracious design who labour to keep them out of it Another mistake upon which Separation from parochial Communion is founded is an opinion that our blessed Saviour has been more particular then indeed he has in determining the external manner and circumstances of Gods publick worship For the promoters of Separation were wont heretofore to suggest to us from those words concerning Christ Heb. 3.2 That he was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was faithful in all his House That Christ had given direction in particular about the worship of God and the orders to be observed in his House now under the Gospel as Moses had done under the Law And accordingly they often urged that care should be taken that all things be done according to the Pattern in the Mount By which many people became disaffected to the worship of God by the use of a Liturgy in as much as they could not find our Saviour to have given any precept or direction for the worshiping God in such a way or after such manner Whereas the faithfulness of Christ to him that had appointed him did not stand in being as particular as Moses was in his directions touching the worship of God and orders of his House but in doing and teaching so much and all that the Father had appointed him as Moses also had done And since we find that our Saviour has not been so particular in his directions touching these matters as Moses was we thereby know that the Father did not appoint him to be so because he was faithful in observing all that was appointed him Now that our Saviour has not been so particular in his directions touching the external manner of Gods worship as Moses was will quickly appear if we do but compare what was done by him in this kind and what was done by Moses Vnder the Law God did not only prescribe the matter and substance of his worship as the several sorts of Sacrifices and Oblations but also the particular circumstances relating to them as the place where the Sacrifice should be killed and on which side the Altar and how it should be dressed and about the Fire of the Altar and the orderly laying of the Wood upon it and how
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
of their being already qualified with the other It is true men by Baptism it self are brought into a new state externally they are brought into a new relation to God to Christ and to the Church his body and to new enjoyments also in the Church And it is to be noted our Saviour calls Baptism a being born of Water as a birth distinct from that of being born of the Spirit Our Saviour in that discourse of his with Nicodemus about Baptism and being born again seems to allude to the Jews custom of receiving Proselytes by Baptism as well as by Circumcision who did reckon they were thereby born again as it were and brought into a new state of life as is well known by the tenour of the writings of the Jewish Doctors And altho by being born of Water men may be said to be born of the Spirit in one sence for they are Baptized into the Name of the Holy Ghost as well as into the Name of the Father and the Son and by one spirit we are all Baptized into one body as the Apostle faith 1 Cor. 12.13 Yet in a higher and more emphatical sence all that are born of the Spirit are not so born when they are Baptized but most of them afterwards as the experience of the Church doth abundantly manifest Again another Scripture is Act. 2.38 Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins Now it may be some will argue hence that since Baptism is enjoyned in order to the obtaining of remission of sins and since Baptism alone without Repentance here required with it will not avail for the obtaining such remission that therefore a being Baptized for the remission of sins always supposes Repentance in him that is Baptized Answer The most that can be inferred hence is that Baptism as well as Repentance and Repentance as well as Baptism are directed to and enjoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sins but not that such Repentance as is available to this end is enjoyned as the condition of being Baptized and by that to be received into the Church Tho I deny not but that in the adult a profession of sorrow for sin past and a promise of amendment for time to come was always required before Baptism but sorrow for sin alone avails not to the obtaining of remission of sin and what the promise of amendment for the future would prove was uncertain to those who received Persons into the Church by Baptism The Apostles we may well suppose received such raw Disciples to Baptism as those were to whom this counsel was here given upon like terms that John the Baptist received the multitudes that flock'd to him for Baptism and they were Baptized confessing their sins They confessed themselves such sinners as needed amendment and professed sorrow for what was past and by receiving Baptism engaged themselves to amend for time to come and accordingly he is said to Baptize them unto Repentance Mat. 3.11 But very many of them fell short afterwards of performing their engagement John 5.35 Baptism and Repentance as saving are not inseparable in point of time in reference to the obtaining Remission of sin If a man do effectually repent tho it be not till long after he is Baptized yet his Baptism and Repentance will be effectual for the obtaining Remission of sins And if so then such Repentance as is saving is not of necessity before Baptism to the obtaining of Remission of sins But the truth is if we will infer any thing from the Text under consideration in reference to our present enquiry it may be that which is so far from proving mens Visible Church-Membership to depend upon the credibility and reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible as that it will much rather prove the direct contrary viz. That the credibility of mens being of the Church as Invisible depends upon their being of the Church as Visible For it tends to prove that men living under the Gospel and others I meddle not with in this matter cannot approve themselves to be Members of the Invisible Church until they are first made Members of the Visible by Baptism For we see men are as well to be Baptized for the Remission of sin as to repent to obtain it As the promise of being saved is elsewhere made unto a being Baptized as well as it is to believing He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 And if so then a man cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state that through his own default is not Baptized by which he should be made of the Visible Church and if he cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state without this then he cannot be duly reputed to be in the Invisible Church-state because there are none in that Church-state but what are pardoned If any should alledge the words of St. Paul If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 and infer that none are by Baptism or otherwise in Christ but what are new Creatures the answer to them is this If by any mans being in Christ be understood of such a being in him as is saving then he is indeed a new Creature and truly Regenerate But then that is such a being in Christ as is not visible to men and therefore does not belong to our present inquiry But if you read the words according to the Margent If any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature then this Text does not infer that if men be in Christ they are new Creatures but that they ought to be so according to their Covenant-ingagement when they were planted into him by Baptism Act. 2.37 It is likewise urged to prove that a true saving faith such as makes men Members of the Church as Invisible is requied as necessary to qualifie them for Baptism and Visible Church-Membership For when the Eunuch said to Philip Here is Water what doth hinder me to be Baptized Philip said unto him If thou believest with all thine heart thou maiest And he answered and said I believe that Christ is the Son of God Here Philip seems to make a believing with all the heart to be the condition of admitting the Eunuch to Baptism and what less can a believing with all the heart be than a true saving faith To which I answer thus That the Apostles and Evangelists such as Philip was did indeed suppose and expect a faith in Christ in all adult Persons whom they Baptized into him is not to be doubted Nor is is it to be doubted but that they press'd and persuaded them to be very hearty and serious in their undertaking the Christian profession when they Baptized them into it and so did Philip here But yet we see that for all that Philip Baptized this Eunuch upon his bare professing that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God tho he did not say that
they had been in the Church for some time seems to intimate that the Apostles themselves had no other apprehensions of those Conversions or many of them For we find them earnestly perswading those Christians to put away such practices the retaining of which could not well consist with a thorow and sound conversion Which argues that at least many of them had not yet put them off tho they had been for some time in the Church Thus Col 3.8 9. But now ye also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth Lie not one to another seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds That is they had engaged to do so in Baptism See the like again Ephes 5.3 And 1 Pet. 2.1 Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid What know ye not that he that is joyned to an harlot is one body Chap. 10.21 22. Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of devils Ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie Are we stronger than he Chap. 15.33 34. Be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame 2 Cor. 6.16 17. What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Chap. 12.20 21. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults and lest when I come again my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleaness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed Phil. 2.22 All seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ So by the general Epistle which St. James wrote not to any particular Church but to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad it appears that he was very jealous and suspicious that the faith which very many of the Christians had was but a dead and unavailable faith and such as would neither justifie nor save them because it was but a barren and unfruitful faith such as did neither purifie the heart nor reform the life being hearers of the Word and not doers For for all their knowledge and their faith it seems by the tenour of his writing that their lusts remained still lusty and strong that warred in their members The love of pleasure their unworthy compliances to keep friendship with the World pride envy and grudging one against another strife and contention and uncharitable judging and condemning one another and provoking one another with their unruly Tongues and cursing and swearing and such like distempers it seems did abound among them And St. James by this Epistle to them endeavours their thorow Conversion and encourageth the sincere among them to endeavour it likewise saying If any see his brother err and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins And when we likewise find that there were but a few names in Sardis but what had defiled their Garments having indeed a name to live but were dead and nothing which our Saviour could commend in all the Church of Laodicea I say when we find this and consider all these things and more of like nature in the Apostles Writings we have great reason to think that many of those whom the Apostles baptized were not thorowly converted till after they were brought into the Church and yet many such were so after And indeed I do not know what other reason can be given why the Apostles made such haste as they did to baptize persons after they had once gained their consent to turn Christians without staying for any farther trial but that they thought their thorow Conversion was more likely to be effected within the Church than without It is one thing to be converted from a false Religion to a bare or notitional belief of the true and another thing to be converted from that to a right practical belief of it There were some who did believe in the former sense through the power of conviction and could do no otherwise who yet had no mind to become obedient to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel in all things Such were those Joh. 2.23 and those Joh. 12.42 43. and such was Simon Magus and such were those of whom St. James speaks that had but a dead faith And thus it is with many that are of the Visible Church in these days who have no other faith for some time and yet afterward are converted to a lively practical belief of the Christian Religion And it is probable that the faith of most of the Apostles Converts went little or nothing farther than to a general belief of the truth of the Apostles Doctrine until after they were baptized they having so little time of learning before as generally they had but were carried on further to a more particular distinct and practical belief by after-teaching when they were in the Church And this is not disagreeable to what I have formerly noted from the words of our Saviours Commission to his Apostles touching a double teaching the one to make men become Disciples which went before Baptism the other to direct them how to live as Christians which followed after it Mat. 28.19 20. But however whatever thorow and effectual Conversions the Apostles might in an extraordinary way effect in men while they were without the Church for the first founding of the Christian Church yet we are sure that since that extraordinary way of Conversion has been discontinued abundantly more have been converted by their being in the Church and by advantage of the means of conversion which they have there enjoyed than have been among those without the Church And this is the first reason assigned why others should be admitted into the Visible Church than such as are of the Invisible or than are reputed to be so before such admission 2. Another reason why we may conceive Almighty God allows many others to be of the Visible Church than are of the Invisible is because so to do is more useful for the propagating and spreading of the Christian Religion in the World than the limiting and restraining the
good opinion of them and of the innocency and goodness of their intention in what they desire and seek Whereas the other tends to exasperate and provoke and to beget an ill opinion of them and a jealousie of their designs in the minds of those from whom they expect ease and relief in what is mattet of grievance to them And that which does that is no good way of obtaining from them Solomon's wise advice is If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences Eccles 10.4 QUERY XIII WHerein may Catholick Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserved To clear our way in this Inquiry it will be convenient to take notice of the difference that is between the Vnion of the Catholick Church and the Communion of it The Union of the Catholick Church consists in the same Relation which all the Members of that one Body bear to Christ the Head of it and to one another as fellow-members But the Communion of this spiritual Corporation consists in a mutual performance of those Christian Duties and Offices to which they are engaged by virtue of that relation By that Relation in which their Union consists they come to have a greater interest in one another than they had before their incorporation into that body and by it they come under new duties to one another to which they were not obliged before But their Communion consists much in a mutual discharge of those duties towards one another and in an improvement of that interest for the benefit of one another and the good of the whole by their mutual intercourse in spiritual affairs The Union of the whole which is made by one Baptism or the Baptismal Covenant respects the being of the Church But Catholick Communion respects its well-being by its increase in wisdom goodness and comfort There is indeed a Catholick Church Vnity by Communion as well as there is another which comes by Relation but this Unity of Communion slows from that which is made by a Relation common to the whole Having thus briefly considered how Catholick Communion differs from Catholick Union I shall now proceed to shew a little more particularly wherein or in what Catholick Commumunion doth consist And we may best know what it is and wherein it doth consist by the account we have of it as practised in the Catholick Church when it first became Christian And this account we have in these words Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers By which description we see it consisted in their consent and agreement in three things Faith Worship Fellowship 1. In their agreeing in the same Faith they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine that is in the belief of it in attendance to it and practice of it From the same faith being common to all Christians it is called the common faith Tit. 1.4 the one faith Eph. 4.5 and their agreement in it is stiled Vnity in the faith Eph. 4.13 2. In their agreement in the same Worship breaking of bread and prayers This Catholick Church in its beginning is said to have continued with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And on the day of Penticost they were all with one accord in one place when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them And when their number so increased that they could not all perform this Publick Worship together in one place but in several distinct Assemblies called particular Churches yet their agreement in the same Worship made their Communion in it but one Communion tho performed in several Assemblies For altho these Assemblies be never so far distant from one another yet so long as they all agree in the same Worship the distance of place can no more hinder their Communion from being one than their being baptized in several distant places can hinder the Relation to one another contracted thereby from being one when it is common to all the Members We account all those to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome at the same time and in the same acts in which they hold their Local Commumunion in several distant Nations so long as they all agree in the same corrupt Worship And there is the same reason for the Unity of the Communion in Worship of all Orthodox Assemblies in all Nations So that I take this for an unquestionable truth That it is mens agreement in the same Principles of Communion be they good or bad that makes their Communion but one tho the particular acts of it are performed by them in many thousand distant places And now it is by the Union of Relation by the Baptismal Covenant and the Unity of Communion by agreement in the Principles of the Worship wherein they have Communion that all Orthodox Christians make one great House or Temple of God in the world in which he is openly worshipped and publickly acknowledged to be what he is the one only true God Father Son and Holy Ghost in opposition to all false Gods Ephes 2.21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. This is that house which is called Christs own house Heb. 3.6 and that House of God over which Christ is said to be High Priest Heb. 10.21 And particular Churches in reference to this one house are but as several Apartments in it which all together make up one great house of God And in this house of his God dwells and therein manifesteth himself to his People after a more special manner than he does to the world 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people Here Almighty God meets with them and communes with them and receives their addresses and here he entertains them with the fatness of his house the Ordinances of the Gospel and the benign influences and comfortable presence of his Spirit in the use of them In this way the whole Church in their several Assemblies have Communion with their Head Christ Jesus and one with another by partaking in common of the spiritual benefits communicated by the Lord and in assisting in common in the Worship Adoration and Thanksgiving which the Church renders him for the glory and transcendent perfections of his nature and being and returns him for all the blessings and benefits they receive from him And the more all Christians are agreed in their worshipping of God and in their Communion with him the more they honour him and the more they please him and make themselves the more capable of receiving all good things from him in the greater abundance If the agreement but of two of them touching any thing they shall ask hath his promise of granting it Mat. 18.19 what might not be expected from him
one they are strictly bound up by particular determination in the other they are left more at large to govern themselves to the best of their understanding by general Rules And the different Circumstances under which Christians are in several Nations will necessitate them to use some difference in practice even while they govern themselves by the same general Rules Do all things to edifying Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which ye are called in one body are two general Rules and Christians are to have respect to the one as well as the other in ordering their practice The same Circumstances of Worship will not tend both to edification and to peace also at one time and in one place which will do so at another These Rules touching Edification and Peace would lead a man to do otherwise in his Communion in Publick Worship with the Churches in France in Geneva in Holland if he should sojourn in these places than he does while he is here in England and observes the usages of this National Church For it would not tend to peace and edification for such an one to make a disturbance by labouring to set on foot among them all the same Circumstances of Worship he had been accustomed to here because he likes them better And the same is true of such as come from those forein Churches to sojourn here or in any other Reformed Church The right way of maintaining true Catholick Communion is to refuse Communion with no Church in any Country that is Orthodox in the Faith and in the Essence of Worship and is not Schismatical notwithstanding any difference there may be in the degrees of usefulness in the external manner of Worship between one Church and another so long as they are all useful to their end in some good measure and agreeable to general Rules in that case I cannot take him for a right Catholick Christian that can have no Communion with any Church where he comes but where the external Mode of Worship agrees with that which he most affects When I am at Rome I fast on Saturdays when I am here at Milan I do not said St. Ambrose to St. Austin 5. One external Mode of Worship is not therefore useless because another is more useful For a greater degree of usefulness herein does not exclude a less but only excel it The gesture of Kneeling in Prayer is better and more sutable to the nature of the duty than that of standing yet that does not make it unlawful to pray standing One Version of the Psalms is more useful to its end than another yet that does not make it unlawful to joyn with those who use that which is less useful Nay I will say more than this That Mode of Worship which is best under some Circumstances is not so under others As when it cannot be used without causing such a division in the Church as will produce most pernicious effects in reference to the Church it self and to Religion Upon which account the Dissenters ought to esteem it better to joyn in the Worship performed by the Liturgy than in that performed in their Assemblies under the ill Circumstances which do attend it tho they esteem theirs to be better abstractedly considered 6. If a less degree of usefulness in the external manner of Worship should be allowed to be a sufficient ground of Separation from Communion in it where it is used our Church divisions would be irrepairable and beyond all remedy in whose hands soever the ordering the external Circumstances and manner of Worship may fall be they the Dissenters themselves or any other For when they shall have done the best they can therein there will be others who will find out some Circumstantial defects in it that will in their judgment and perhaps according to truth too render it less useful than it was capable of being made There is such a difference in the thoughts and apprehensions of wise and good men themselves and much more in those that are weaker that it is impossible unless they were all divinely inspired that they should all agree to a Circumstance in such a thing as the external manner of Worship but that some will think this and others will think that might have been better done than it is There is a necessity therefore unless we resolve to perpetuate division and separation to take up with the best external way and manner of Publick Worship we can obtain from the wisdom of the Nation so long as it is competently useful to its end and not to divide and separate upon account of our esteeming it less useful than we desire For otherwise it is not to be expected that the best wisdom that is to be found in the Nation should ever be able to find out any way or means of curing our Church divisions and to put an end to our unchristian-like separations And to give liberty for every one to do that which he esteemeth best is farthest of all from working such a Rule Object But it may be it will be said and indeed is alledged by some That since every man is to worship and serve God in the best manner he can it follows that therefore if there be one way of Publick Worship which he esteems better than another he is to make use of that when he has opportunity of doing so And by this those that do esteem the external manner of Worship used in separate Assemblies to be better than that performed by the Liturgy in Parochial Congregations do labour to defend their separation To this several things are to be said 1. In ordering the Mode or manner of Publick Worship respect is to be had not to what is most acceptable to one sort of men only but to what is useful and profitable for the whole Community as well those who are of a lower capacity as those of a higher as well those who desire a Liturgy as those that do not and to what is most likely to preserve peace among them And when the Government to this end hath ordered that part of the Publick Worship shall be performed by the Liturgy and has allowed a liberty of performing part of it without by Pulpit Prayer provision is thereby made to accommodate both the one and the other in the external manner of Worship And Christian ingenuity and Charity which seeketh not her own will teach men to be content that others should be accommodated as well as themselves in things wherein they may rather than to make a division in the Church because all things are not ordered just as they would have them And of this truly Christian strain was St. Paul which made him say I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved 1 Cor. 10.33 And that it has been the judgment of the Church from Age to Age that it is best for the Church all things considered that the
the Church by Baptism but upon Supposition that they had a true justifying saving faith before such admission And hereby faith in this question is not meant faith objectively but subjectively considered For it is agreed that a profession of a belief of the same truth doctrinally considered is necessary to visible Church-membership by Baptism in the adult which if believed as it ought to be will be sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and such is the Belief That Jesus Christ is the Son of God John 20.31 Acts 8.37 But the question is whether a less degree of belief of saving doctrine be not sufficient to visible Church-membership than is sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and whether it is not probable that the Apostles did admit some into the Church by Baptism upon the appearance and probable evidence of such a Faith And in order to the making a due judgement in this case it is necessary to know what this Faith is and wherein it differs from justifying and saving Faith The one for distinction sake we call a Faith initial or inchoate the other a Faith consummate or complete The initial Faith stands in such a lower degree of assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel concerning Christ his being the Son of God or Saviour of Sinners as has not yet thorow its power over the Will renewed the whole man so as to become Regenerate or a new creature But the Faith consummate or complete lies in such a firm assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel as by which through frequent consideration of the things assented to the Will is changed and renewed in its inclinations motions and affections in reference both to Sin and Duty This difference between Faith and Faith is fairly set out in the Scriptures St. James chap. 2. treats of a Faith that will not avail to Justification and Salvation and of that also which will The one is the Faith which is alone or by it self verse 15. which has not yet purified the heart from earthly affections and fleshly lusts nor brought forth the fruit of the Spirit but is dead and remains barren But the other Faith which will avail to Justification is operative and vigorous producing internal and external acts of Christian Obedience by which it s made perfect ver 22. that is it is thereby made to attain its end in the Justification of the person that hath it This Faith worketh by Love and is thereby consummate or made perfect Gal. 5. For the Greek word according to learned Authors is in the middle voice and may be taken actively or passively or rather both it working by Love is thereby consummate or made perfect Dr. Hammond understands it in a passive sence and reads it thus Faith which is consummate by Love When St. Paul saith I could not write to you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ because of the envy strife and division they lived in 1 Cor. 3.1 his words seem to intimate that men might be babes in Christ by such a Faith as fell short of purifying the heart and working by love and which left them in a carnal state And when S. Peter saith Add to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1.5 he supposeth it very possible for some Christians to have a faith without the addition of those Christian virtues there enumerated and to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as it follows Vers 8 9. And we read of some who believed in Christ when they saw his Miracles to whom yet he would not commit himself Joh. 2.23 and of others who believed on him but would not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue and because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God John 12.42 And it s said of Magus that Simon himself also believed Act. 8.13 This may suffice to shew what that Faith is which falls short of that which is Justifying and wherein it differs from it I shall now improve this to shew how unlikely a thing it is that the Apostles should receive none into the Church by Baptism but such as they esteem'd to have a Justifying Faith 1. It is no ways probable that those who had lived in the darkness of Paganism should ordinarily if at all in their first beginning to believe believe unto Justification but that there was some space of time between their first believing and their believing unto Justification and if so then it cannot be probable that the Apostles who Baptised men presently and when they first began to believe would Baptize them under the notion of their having already believed unto Justification Now the reason why it is not probable that such men when they first began to believe did then believe unto Justification is this because men do not believe unto Justification untill their Faith hath wrought such a change in the whole man as by which they become Regenerate as I have shew'd for we cannot say God justifies unregenerate men while they are such Now such a change as this is not ordinarily if at all wrought in an instant and as soon as men begin to believe For the word of God by believing of which this change is wrought does not effect it physically but morally by causing such thoughts and considerations to rise in the mind as do by degrees alter and change the moral frame and constitution of the Soul For tho' the Spirit of God is the principal Agent and the word of God his Instrument in this work yet he causeth this change by working upon mens thoughts and by bringing them seriously to consider the things they believe whereunto they tend and how they were concern'd in them And mens discerning things of this nature and consequently their thoughts and considerations about them are brought on but by degrees as light comes in being confusedly and indistinctly discerned at first And the assent of the mind to the truth of things to be believed cannot exceed the minds discerning the credibility of the evidence upon which they are to be believed but so long as the one is weak the other will be weak also And so far as the assent of the mind is but weak so far its operation upon the will to alter and change it will be but weak likewise as the one is wrought gradually so is the other Men may be forced to believe whether they will or no thro' the strength of conviction as that signifies the assent of the mind when yet the will is not thereby prevailed upon to consent and yield to the dictates of the mind for some considerable time and sometimes never And let a mans faith or belief be what it will yet untill it prevails over the will which is the great wheel in the Soul that gives motion both to a mans affections and actions to alter and change it as to its prevailing bent and
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
the God of love and peace shall be with you saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 13.11 While the Catholick Church is of one mind in the great things of Christian Religion and being so do live in peace and not unpeaceably contend fall out and divide about lesser things such as for which God perhaps doth neither esteem or disesteem men he who is the God of love and peace will be with them to bless them with his presence with spiritual blessings especially And as the presence of the soul in the body enlivens it with natural life by virtue whereof the several Members perform their several functions proper to each of them respectively even so the presence of the holy Spirit in the body of Christ the Church does animate it with spiritual life and does so influence and actuate the several Members of it as that by virtue thereof they all perform their several Christian offices proper to each for the common good of the whole But then this vital power of acting spiritually is conveyed by the Spirit to each of the Members as they are in Vnion and communion with the whole and so as one Member is made a Channel of this conveyance to another and each enabled to contribute its part to the common good of the whole Thus Col. 2.19 where St. Paul mentioning the Head of the Church saith from which all the body by joynts and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God This spiritual nourishment of the body flows from Christ the Head we see as having obtained it by his Mediation but then it is the great Office-work of the holy Spirit to apply the benesits obtained by Christ to the several members of his body by working and increasing grace and comfort in them He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you saith our Saviour speaking of the Holy Ghost Joh. 16.14 And this conveyance of nourishment from the Head to the Members by the Holy Spirit is made by the union of the parts as knit together by joynts and bands by which Union one member is made a Channel of conveyance of nourishment to another and in this way the whole body increaseth with the increase of God This being so a disunion of the parts or members must needs obstruct this spiritual nourishment and hinder the growth of the body To the same effect is that parallel place Ephes 4.15 16. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working of the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love This increase of the body to the edifying it self in love is made we see both by the parts of the body being joyned together and also by that which every joynt supplyeth being so compacted Thus we see how the increase of the Church in spiritual strength depends upon Gods special presence and assistance and how the enjoyment of that presence depends upon the peaceable agreement and mutual love of the parts of which the Church doth consist And if so then unpeaceableness discord and strife contention and dividing into Parties in the Church must necessarily tend to deprive her of that special presence and divine assistance of the holy Spirit without which Christians cannot thrive and increase in true goodness and for want of which they will rather decline and go backward Tho the God of peace and of love will be with his People while they are so of one mind in the Essentials of Christianity as upon that account to live in peace and Christian Communion one with another notwithstanding their differing in some lesser things which will always be found in the best estate of the Church which can be expected here on earth yet there is no reason to expect he will be so with them when they do not so live in peace tho they should otherwise be of one mind in the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and all the substantial parts of Worship The holy Spirit may indeed dispense gifts of Knowledge and Utterance and the like which are common to bad men as well as good such as these he may bestow upon Christians even while they are in disorder and unpeaceable division But as for those fruits of the Spirit which constitute men truly good such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness and meekness Gal. 5.22 the having of these and mens being of an unpeaceable temper and in a state of discord and division are I fear inconsistent for these are contrary one to another Tho St. Paul acknowledged those of the Church of Corinth to be enriched with all utterance and all knowledge Chap. 1 5. yet in Chap. 3.1 he tells them that he could not speak unto them as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as to babes in Christ and for this reason as it follows in ver 3. because there was among them envying strife and division Ye are yet carnal saith he for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men that is as other men which were no Christians They might indeed know and believe and talk otherwise and better than those that were out of the Church but their walking and living was but as theirs while envying strife and division was found with them For these are of those works of the flesh of which St. Paul saith that those which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 21. And if Christians would but examine and judge of themselves by these Scripture measures it would make them on all hands one side as well as another to be as much afraid to do any thing to disturb the peace of the Church or to be guilty of envying strife and division in it as they would be to find themselves but in a carnal state and of being shut out of the Kingdom of heaven And as for those who are guilty of these things in these sad times wherein envying strife and division do abound it is hugely necessary that as they love their own souls they would without delay repent and get out of such a state and not flatter and deceive themselves with an opinion of their good and safe condition upon account of their being otherwise Orthodox and Religious so long as they indulge themselves in such a state QUERY XIV What is the nature of Schism From what hath been discoursed touching the nature of Catholick Communion and the means of preserving it we may be able to make a judgment of the nature of Schism what it is and who are guilty of it For if Catholick Communion stands in the Unity of the Spirit or Christians Unity in their Communion in the Doctrine of Faith in things necessary to Salvation and in the