which conquers the World and purifies the Heart by no means But 't is to believe that the Church of Rome is the True Church and the Pope Christ's Vicar and the Visible Head of that Church So as that Self denyal which relates to our Wills and Affections in a corrupt State they apply to the Use of our Understanding about Religion as if it were the same thing to deny that which we understand and know to be Evil which is the Christian Self denyal and to deny that very Knowledge and Understanding which is God's Gift and our Honour Whereas Religion and Reason are so Consistent as that Religion can neither be understood nor maintain'd without Reason For if this must be laid aside I am so far from being Infallibly assured of my Salvation that I am not capable of any Measure of Good from Evil Truth from Falshood Why I have no understanding or use of any which is the same All the Disadvantage the Protestant is under in this is that of his greater Modesty and that be submits his Belief to be tryed which the other refuses under the Pretence of unaccountable Infallibility to that Authority Reason decides So that whereas some people excuse their embracing of that Religion by urging the Certainty that is in it I do say 'T is nothing but Presumption For a man can never be Certain of that about which he has not the Liberty of Examining Understanding or Judging Confident I confess he may be but that 's quite another thing than being Certain Yet I must never deny but that every Christian ought to believe as the Church believes provided the Church be true but the Question is Which is that true Church And when that is answered as a Man may Unlawfully Execute a Lawful Sentence so he may falsly believe as the True Church believes for if I believe what she believes only because she believes it and not because I am convinced in my Understanding and Conscience of the Truth of what she believeth my Faith is false though hers be true I say it is not true to me I have no Evidence of it What is this Church or Congregation rather as worthy Tindal every where translates it but a Company of People agreed together in the sincere Profession and Obedience of the Gospel of Christ Now look what Inducement they severally had to believe and embrace the Gospel that we must have to joyn with them for as they made not one another an infallible Authority to one another upon which they first embrac'd the Gospel neither are we to ground our Belief thereof upon their Authority joyntly but as they had a Rule to believe and commune so must we have the same Rule to embrace their Communion So that that Church cannot be the Rule of my Faith that have the same Faith and Object for my Faith that she has I argue thus I must believe as the Church believes that is I must have the same Faith the Church has then I must have the same Rule because the Church can be no more the Rule of that Faith then she can be that Faith of which some would make her the Rule If then the Church has Faith and that Faith a Rule and that she can no more be the Rule of her own Faith then she can be that Faith it self it follows she cannot be the Rule of the Faith of her Members because those Members have the same Faith and that they in Society are this Church For that which is the Rule of the Congregation's Faith in general must reasonably be the Rule of every Member's Faith that makes up that Congregation and consequently of every Member that may hereafter adhere to it So that to talk of believing as the Church believes to flowrish upon that Self-denyal and Humility which takes all upon Trust and revile those with the bitterest Invectives that are modestly scrupulous and act the BEREANS for their Souls who think that Easiness of Nature and Condescention might be better bestowed and in this occasion ill-tim'd and dangerous is to put the Knife to the Throat of Protestancy and what in them lies to socrifice it to implicit Faith and blind Obedience For it cannot be denyed but that the great Foundation of our Protestant Religion is the Divine Authority of the Scriptures from without us and the Testimony and Illumination of the Holy Spirit within us Upon this foot the first Reformers stood and made and maintain'd their Separation from Rome and freely offered up their innocent Lives in Confirmation With good Cause therefore it is the general Consent of all found Protestant Writers That neither Traditions Councils nor Canons of any visible Church much less the Edicts of any Civil Session or Jurisdiction but the Scriptures only interpeted by the Holy Spirit in us give the final Determination in Matters of Religion and that only in the Conscience of every Christian TO HIMSELF Which Protestation made by the first publick Reformers against the Imperial Edicts of Charles the fifth imposing Church Traditions without Scripture Authority gave first beginning to the Name of Protestant and with that Name hath ever been received this Doctrine which prefers the divine Authority of the Scripture and Spirit to that of the Church and her Traditions And if the Church is not sufficient implicitly to be believed as we hold it is not what can there else be named of more force with us but the Divine Illumination in the Conscience or Conscience in the best Sense of the Word then which God only is greater But if any man shall pretend that the Scripture judges according to his Conceptions or Conscience for other men and that they must take their Religious Measures by the Line of his Direction such a person makes himself greater then either Church Scripture or Conscience And pray let us consider if in any thing the Pope is by our Protestant Divinity so justly resembled to Antichrist as in assuming Infallibility over Conscience and Scripture to determine as he thinks fit and so in effect to give God Scripture Magistrates and Conscience the Law To this they have without scruple applyed that to the Thessalonians Sitting in the Temple of God exalting himself above all that is caled God To check this exorbitancy the Apostle Paul demands Who art thou that judgest anothers Servant to his own Lord he stands or falls which sheweth with great Evidence that Christians of all sizes great and small are but Brethren and consequently all superiority Lordship and Imposition are excluded But if there be a Difference 't is in this that as Christ taught He that is greatest is to be Servant to the rest but what is more opposite to a Servant then a Lord and to Service then Injunction and Imposition and that on Penalties too Here it is that Christ is only Lord and Lawgiver who is only King of this inward Kingdom of the Soul And 't is to be noted that the Apostle
Man the second Adam with his Holy Life and Works so shall the Fruits of his Spirit shine through us which are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Patience Gentleness Faith Meekness Temperance for they that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts They hear his Voice that leads them out of the Concupiscencies of this Vile World and they follow him and he gives unto them Eternal Life and a Stranger they will not follow The World the Flesh and the Devil make up this Stranger and those that are carried away by this Stranger are in an Unreconciled State to God and so dying must inevitably perish VVell then will be true Christians Have we Faith then let us take the Advice of that good man Peter Let us add to our Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly-Kindness and to Brotherly-Kindness Charity For says he if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his Old Sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The Fourth Great Ecclesiastical Evil is Preferring HUMANE AUTHORITY above Reason and Truth This the next Evil which is the Last now to be considered to wit Propagation of Faith by Force Religion by Arms are the Two Legs upon which the false Church hath in all Ages under this degeneracy we find the Jewish Church at Christ's coming and he complains of it Ye teach for Doctrines the Traditions of men ye seek to kill me a man that has told you the Truth But I challenge the whole Account of Time and Records of the World which are come to the hands of this Age to tell me When where and by whom these Principles have been receiv'd improv'd and us'd with any sort of Proportion or Comparison with the Practice of that Church which has long prided her self with the Name of Catholick and Christian And yet I could wish nothing of these Two Ill Principles had found any place amongst us that call our selves Protestants for to them are properly owing most of that Ignorance Superstition Idolatry Animosity Persecution and Blood-shed that have been among Christians since the Christian Profession hath grown to any Power in the World I shall consider them severally respecting us and in their due Order with as much Brevity as well I can That Humane Authority hath been preferred above Reason and Truth that is That the Apprehensions Interpretations Conclusions and Injunctions of Men have been reputed the great Necessaries or Essentials to Salvation and Christian Commâ—ion insomuch as a Sober and Reasonable Dissent hath been too often over-rul'd not by VVeight of Argument or Evidence of Truth but by the Power and Numbers of Men in Ecclesiastical Office and Dignity is that I may say Modestly in some Degree true among us The First Church Evil reprehended in this Discourse may begin the Proof and give the first Witness upon this part of the Charge viz. That OPINIONS have been maâ—â— ARTICLES of Faith that is the CONSTRUCTIONS and CONCLUSIONS of MEN from Sacred VVrit and not the TEXT it self have been injoyn'd impos'd as ESSENTIAL to Eternal Salvation and External Christian Communion Insomuch as no Reason Scripture or purest Antiquity have suffer'd to prevail against such Determinations and too often not enough to excuse those that have pleaded for a Conscientious Dissent from them the Authors of them either resting upon the Authority of their own Judgments or conforming themselves to the Example of Ages less pure and clear I Conscientiously refuse to name Parties because I am tender of giving the least Offence but upon a Just Observance of those Revolutions of Protestancy that have been amongst us we may see with what Stiffness not to say Obstinacy several Models of Religion and Draughts of Creeds have been contended for I would beseech every Party in Christ's Name to look into it self for I don 't because such are best able if they will be Impartial and put no Cheat upon themselves to make the Application However I will name those Points about which the Authority of Man as it seems to me has been so Positive of God as to his Prescience and Predetermination Of Christ as to his Natures and Personality and the Extent of his Death and Intercession Of Free Will and Grace Of Faith and Works Of Perseverance and Falling away Of the Nature of the Church And Lastly of the Dignity and Power of the Clergy And if men please but to lay their Hands upon their Hearts and cast their Eyes upon the Scriptures if they will but use the Light that God has afforded them and bring such Debates and Results to the Test of that Light and the Sound Form of Words the Holy Ghost hath preserv'd amongst us I need not take the Employment upon me of pointing to Humane Authority among the several Parties of Protestants as to these points nothing will be clearer For it is about the Meaning of this and the Intention of that place of Scripture the Contest hath been and is and how to maintain and propagate those Conceits So that the falling out is in the Wood of our own Opinions and there the Contention is kindled that consumes all about our Ears O that we would be but impartial and see our over-plus to the Scriptures and retrench that redancy or keep it modestly for 't is an horrid thing that we Protestants should assume a Power of ranging our apprehensions with the Text and injoining our Imaginations for Indispensible Articles of Faith and Christian Communion But the next proof of the prevalency of Humane Authority amongst us Protestants is The great Power and Sway of the Clergy and the Peoples Reliance upon them for the Knowledge of Religion and the Way of Life and Salvation This is such plain Fact that almost every Parish proves it Is not Prophecy once the Church's now engrost by them and wholly in their hands Who dare publickly preach or pray that is not of that Class or Order Have not they only the Keys in keeping May any body else pretend to the Power of Absolution or Excommunication muchless to constitute Ministers Are not all Church Rites and Priviledges in their Custody don 't they make it their proper Inheritance Nay so much larger is their Empire then Caesars that only they begin with Births and end with Burials Men must pay them for Coming in and Going out of the World To pay for dying is hard Thus their Profits run to the Grave and that which is
the Hypostatical Union in fine the Athanasian Creed and other Articles of Faith or Rites of your Church not so clearly express'd in Scriptures and not easie to be apprehended or assented to will not this poor Creature be look'd upon either as Infidel or Heretick renounced all share in Christ and Christian Fellowship because his Weakness or Understanding will not allow him to come up to the full Inventory of Articles believed and imposed by you Certainly you must either be partial and give him that Liberty you deny to Persons of equâ—l Tenderness or else you mustafter your present streightness conclude him Infidel or Heretick But I would beseech you that we may consider if this bears any Proportion with the Wisdom and Love of God in sending Christ into the World to save you and me The Apostle became All unto all to win some but this is becoming All unto none to force all he thereby recommends the Utmost Condescention that can be lawful but this use of Humane Authority about Faith seems to make it unlawful to Condescend As if Force were better than Love and Conformity how ever it become at it than Christian Condescention The Blessed Apostle had his Eye to the Good Intention and Sober Life of the Weak and used an holy sort of Guile to catch them he seems as if he â—…ssembled the Knowledge of those Averse Opinions which they held or the necessity of their embracing those Doctrines which as yet they might not believe He fell not to Debate and Canvass Points in Difference between them which instead of Union would have enflam'd the Difference and rais'd Contention No no He became all unto all that is He stoop'd to all Capacities and humbled himself to those Degrees of Knowledge that men had and valued that which was good in all and with this Sweetness he practised upon them to their further proficiency in the School of Christ These Allurements were all his Injunctions nay in this Case he makes it an Injunction to use no other Let us therefore says he as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be OTHERWISE minded God shall reveal even this unto you You shall not be impos'd upon stigmatiz'd or excommunicated for Want of Full Satisfaction or because you do not Consent before Conviction for God shall REVEAL it to you you shall see and know what you do and to God you shall owe your Knowledge and Conformity and not to Humane Authority and Imposition your Faith shall not be implicit nor your Obedience blind the Reason of your Hope shall be in you Pray let us compare this with the Language of our own Times where People cannot come up to the Prescriptions of men but plead the Liberty of Dissent though with never so much Sobriety and true Tenderness of Conscience they are upbraided after this manner Are you Wiser than your Superiours Were our Fore-Fathers out of the Way Did no body know the Truth till you came Are you Wiser than all our Ministers and Bishops and your Mother the Church Can't it content you to believe as she believes Is not this Pride and Presumption in you a Design to make and head Sects and Parties with the like Entertainment Now this is that which you your selves at least in the Persons of your Ancestors have stiled POPERY yea POPERY in the abstract the Sum-Total of that Mystery its great Master piece to wit IMPLICIT FAITH and BLIND OBEDIENCE If so then say I let us also have a care of Popâ—ry in Protestant guise for that Popery is likely to do us most Injury that is least suspected I beg you by the Love of God and Truth and as you would lay a sure Foundation Piece here and eternal Comfort to your own Souls that you would consider the Tendency of upbraiding and violently over ruling the Dissent of Conscientious and Peaceable People For if you will Rob me once of the Liberty of my Choice the Use of my Understanding the Distinction of my Judgment no Religion comes amiss indeâ—d it leads to No Religion 'T was the Saying of the Old King to the then Prince of Wales and our present King Make the Religion of your Education the Religion of your Judgment which to me is of the Nature of an Appeal from his Education to his Judgment about the Truth of his Religion And that Religion which is too tender to be examin'd is unsound Prove all things and hold fast that which is good lies an Impeachment against Imposition deliver'd upon Record by the Apostle Paul in the Name of the Holy Ghâ—st 'T was the same Apostle that commended the Bereans of Old for that they diligently searched the Scriptures whethâ—r those things delivered by the Apostles concerning the Messiah were true Nay Christ himself to whom all power was given in Heaven and in Earth submitted himself to the Test he did not require them to believe him because he would be believed he refers them to the Witness that God bore to him If I bear Witness of my self my Witness is not true He also sends them to the Scriptures pleads the Truth of his Authority from that of his Doctrine and Miracles If I had not done among them the Works which none other Man did And finally challenges them to convince him but of one Sin Which of you convinceth me of Sin and if I say the Truth why do ye not believe me He offers to reason the Matter and submit himself to Truth and well he might who was Truth it self But an IMPOSING CHURCH bears Witness of her self and will be both Party and Judge it requires Assent without Evidence and Faith without Proof therefore false Christian Religion ought to be carried on only by that way by which it was introduced which was PERSWASâ—ON If any man will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me and this is the Glory of it that it does not destroy but fairly conquer the Understanding I am not unacquainted with the Pretences of Romanists to Abâ—egation to a Mortified and Self denying Life and I do freely acknowledge that the Author of the German Theology Taulerus and Thomas a Kempis and others of that sort of Men in their Communion have written Excellent Practical Things but there is scarcely any thing of this Violent Popery in those Tracts On the contrary the very Nature and Tendency of them is Diametrically Opposit to the present Constitution of that Church and all others that practise Imposition in Religion And as it is one great Mark of the False Church to pervert the right End of True Doctrine so hath she excelled in the Abuse of that Excellent Word SELF-DENYAL For she hath translated it from Life to Understanding from Morals to Faith Subjugare intellectum in Obsequium fidei to subject the Understanding to the Obedience of Faith is the perpetual Burden of their Song and Conclusion of their Conferences But what is this Faith that
those that Persecute for Religion are Irreligious 2dly The next Cause of Persecution is the gross but general Mistake which People are under concerning the Nature of the Church Kingdom of Christ for the lamentable Worldliness of mens minds hath put them upon those Carnal Constructions which have made way for all the external Coertion and Violence used by bad and suffer'd by good Men on the score of Religion from the beginning And no wonder if ordinary Persons tumble upon this Construction when the Disciples of Jesus shew'd themselves so ill read in the Mysteries of his Kingdom that after all the Intimacy they had had with him they resrain'd not to ask When shall the Kingdom be restored to Israel They look't abroad had a Worldly Idea in their minds Jew like they waited for external Deliverance from the Power of the Romans rather then an Internal Salvation from the Dominion of Satan and interpreted that to Worldly loss and freedom which did relate to the loss and Redemption of the Soul but Jesus taught them better things yet so as not to deny or flatly discourage and rebuke them that though true might have been more then they could have borâ— therefore he winds off with them upon the Time and the Season of the thing knowing that the Time was at hand that they should be better taught and satisfied of the nature of his Kingdom unto which he referred them When the Spirit of Truth comes it shall lead you into all Truth c. That the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World has been before observed and the Reason is so great that all men of common Sense must allow it upon Christ's Principle for says he then would my Servants fight for me truly implying that because the Kingdoms of this World are evidently set up and maintained by Worldly Force and that he will have no Worldly Force used in the Business of his Kingdom therefore it is not of this World Consequently those that attempt to set up his Kingdom by Worldly Force or make that their Pretence to use it are none of his Servants they are truly but Men of this World such as seek an Earthly and not an Heavenly Kingdom themselves and not Christ Jesus Where by the way let me observe That though the Jews to engage Pilate the more easily to their side impeach't Christ of being an Eâ—â—e my to Casar they were Enemies and He a Friend to Caesar for he came to reform the Lives of Men to make them better Subjects to obey Caesar not for Fear but for Conscience sake so would Caesar's Provinec have been easie and safe But the Jews would have had him Caesar's Enemy one that should have forcibly rescued them from Caesar's Power they waited for a Captain General to begin the Revolt and with an high Hand to over bear and captive Caesar as he had done them and 't is more than probable that his Appearance being to another End they therefore rejected him their Heart being set upon this But to return Christ told his Disciples that he had chosen them out of the World how not to converse or live bodily in it no such matter but he had chosen or singled them from the Nature Spirit Glory Policy and Pomp of this World How Persons so qualified can make a Worldly Church or Kingdom unless they desert Christ's Doctrine is past my Skill to tell So that the Capacity that Christians stand in to Christ is Spiritual and not Worldly or Carnal and therefore not Carnal or Worldly but Spiritual Methods and Weapons only are to be used to inform or reclaim such as are Ignorant or DisobediÌ„ent And if we will give Antient Story credit we shall find that Worldly Weapons were never employed by the Christian Church till the became Worldly and so ceast to be truly Christian But why should I say the Church the most abused word in the World her Leaders have taught her to eâ—â— and that of believing as the Church believes is so far from being true in point of Faith as well as Reason that the Church her self his ever believed as the Clergy that is the Priests believed since that sort of Men have practised Distinction from and Superiority upon the Laity He that will peruse the Ecclesiastical Story delivered us by Eusebius Pamphili Secrates Scholasticns Evagrius Ruffinus Sozomen c. will find but too many and sad Instances of the Truth of this In short Peoples apprehending the Church and Kingdom of Christ to be Visible and Worldly like other Societies and Government have thought it not only to be Lawful but Necessary to use the Arts and Force of this World to support that Church and Kingdom especially since this Interest of Religion hath been embodied with that of the Civil Magistrate for from that time he hath been made Custos utriusque tabulae and such as offend though about Church Matters have been reputed Transgressors against the State and consequently the State interested in punishing the Offence Whereas had Christians remain'd in their primitive Simplicity and Purity in the Self-denying Patient and Suffering Doctrine of Christ Christianity had stood in Holy Living not in Worldly Regiment and its Compulsion would have been Love its Arms Reason and Truth and its utmost Rigour even to obstinate Enemies or Apostates but Renouncing of their Communion and that not till much Forbearance had been used to them To sum up all The Kingdoms of this World stand in outward Bodily and Civil Matters and here the Laws and Power of Men reich and are effectual But the Kingdom and Church of Christ that is chosen out of the World stands not in Bodily Exercise which the Apostle says profits little nor in Times nor Places but in Faith and that Worship which Christ tells us is in Spirit and in Truth to this no Worldly Compulsion can bring or force men 't is only the Power of that King of Righteousness whose Kingdom is in the Minds and Souls of the Just and he rules by the Law of his own free Spirit which like the Wind Bloweth where it listeth And as without this Spirit of Regeneration no man can be made a Member of Christs Church or Kingdom so neither is it in the Power of Man to command or give it and consequently all Worldly force employ'd to make men Members of Christs Church and Kingdom is unnatural and ineffectual I could be very large upon this point for 't is very fruitful and so much the cause of Persecution that if there were never another to be assign'd this were enough for upon due consideration it must needs meet with every mans Judgment and Experience I will here add the sense of memorable Hales of Eaton upon this subject When our Saviour in the Acts after his Resurrection was Discoursing to his Disciples concerning the Kingdom of God they presently brake forth into this Question Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom unto Israel Certainly this Question betrays their
between Arminius and Episcopius c. for the Remonstrants and Gomarus Sibrandus c. for the Predestinarians distracted Holland not a little and had an ill Influence upon the Affairs of England at least so far as concern'd the Church But the Mournfullest part of that History is the Ill Usage Martinius Crâ—cius the Bishop of Landaff and others had who though they were acknowledg'd to be Sound in the Faith of those Times which generally followed the Judgment of Calvin as to the mean points controverted yet if at any time they appear'd moderate in their Behaviour gentle in their Words and for Accommodation in some particulars with the Remonstrators or Free willers Gomarus and his Followers not observing that Gravity of the Assembly the Rules of Debate and least of all the Meekness of Christian Communion fell foul of their Brethren reproach'd their Tenderness and began to fix Treachery upon their Sober Endeavours of Accommodation as if they intended to execute as well as maintain their Reprobation and blow up their Friends rather than not destroy their Adversaries But if we will yet rise higher in our Enquiry and view the Mischiefs of Earlier Times the Fourth and Fifth Centuries after Christ will furnish us with Instances enough We cannot possibly forget the Heavy Life some men made about the Observation of Easter Day as if their Eternal Happiness had been in Jeopardy for so far were they degenerated from the Love and Meekness of Christianity that about keeping of a Day which perhaps was no part but to be sure no Essential part of the Christian Religion they fell to pieces reproach'd revil'd and hated one another A Day was more than Christ who was the Lord and End of Days and Victory over Brethren better than the Peace and Concord of the Church the Great Command of Jesus But the Remarkable and Tragical Story of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and Arius his Priest in their known Debate about the Nature and Existence of the Son of God with the lamentable Consequences thereof as all Writers upon that Subject have related witnesseth to the truth of what I say The Bishop's Curiosity the Niceness of Arius the Presumption of the one to expound beyond the Evidence and Simplicity of the Text and the Captious Humor of the other that would not bate the Bishop any thing for his Age or the Rank he held in the Church but Logically exacted the Utmost Farthing of the Reckoning began the â—ray Which as it became the Perplexity of Church and State some Ages so it raged to Blood and those that had been persecuted like Sheep by the Heathen not long before turn'd Wolves now to each other and made sport for the Infidel doing their work Nay so much more Christian was Themistius the Philosopher that in his Oration called CONSUL he commended and advised the Emperour Jovianus to Exercise Moderation and to give that Liberty of Conscience which profest Christians refused to do to each other who seem'd to think they never did God better Service than in Sacrificing one another for Religion Did we duly reflect upon the Unnatural Heats Divisions and Excommunications among them the many Councils that were called the strong and tedious Debates held the Translations of Sees the Anathemas the Banishments Wars Sackings Fires and Blood-shed that followed this Unnatural Division that sprang from so nice a Controversie one would verily believe no less than that Religion it self had been in Utmost Hazard that Judaism or Paganism were over-running Christianity and not that all this Stir had been made about an Iota For the whole Question was whether HOMOUSIA or HOMOIUSIA should be received for Faith in which the difference is but the single Letter 1 Certainly we must do Violence to our Understanding if we can think that these men were Followers of that Jesus that Lov'd his Enemies gave his Blood for the World who hated their Brethren and shed one anothers Blood for OPINIONS The Heathen-Philosophers never were so Barbarous in their Differences But how easily might all these Confusions have been prevented if their Faith about Christ had been deliver'd in the words of Scripture since all sides pretend to believe the Text and why should any man presume to be Wiser than the Holy Ghost 'T is strange that God and Christ should be wanting to express or discover their own mind or that the words used by the Holy Ghost should have that Shortness Ambiguity or Obliquity in them that our frail Capacities should be needed to make them more Easie Proper and Intelligible But that we should scarcely deliver any one Article of Faith in Scripture-Terms and yet make such Acts the Rule and Bond of Christian Communion is in my Judgment an Offence hainous against God and Holy Scripture and very Injurious to Christian Charity and Fellowship Who can express any Man's mind so fully as himself and shall we allow that Liberty to our selves and refuse it to God The Scriptures came not in Old time said the Apostle Peter by the will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Who can speak better or express the Mind of the holy Ghost plainer than the holy Ghost the Scripture is the Great Record of Truth that which all these Parties in Controversie agree to be the Declared Mind and Will of God they Unanimously say It ought to be believ'd and profest as such If this be true in what Language can we so safely and properly declare our Belief of the Truths therein contain'd orexpress those Truths as in the very Language of the Scripture And I cannot see how those Persons can be excused in the Day of God's Judgment who make men Heterâ—dox or Heretical for refusing to subscribe their Articles of Faith that are not in Scripture-Terms who at the same time offer to declare their Belief of God Christ Spirit Man's Laps or Fall Repentance Sanctification Justification Salvation Resurrection and Eternal Recompence in the Language of Holy Scripture 'T is preposterous and a Contradiction that those who desire to deliver their Faith of Truth in the Language of Truth should not be reputed True Believers nor their Faith admitted for this were to say that therefore their Faith is not to be received because it is declared in the Language of that very Truth which is the Object of that Faith for which it ought to be received and which is on all hands concluded to be our Duty to believe It seems then we must not express our Belief of God in his Words but our own nor is the Scripture a Creed plain or proper enough to declare a True Believer or an Orthodox Christian Are not things come to a sad pass that to refuse any other Terms than those the Holy Ghost has given us and which are confest to be the Rule or Form of sound Words is to expose a Man to the Censure of being Unsound in the Faith unfit for Christian-Communion Will
Things that made Rome so hateful and her Yoke Intolerable to our Predecessors Pretended Deductions from Scripture put in the Room of Scripture with a Supersedeas to all Dissent upon never so Just a Ground of Dissatisfaction I beseech you Protestants by the Mercies of God and Love of Jesus Christ ratified to you in his most-precious Blood FLY ROME AT HOME Look to the Enemies of your own House Have a care of this Presumption carry it not too high lay not Stress where God has laid none neither use his Royal Stamp to Authorize your Apprehensions in the Name of his Institutions I do not say that men are never to Express their Minds upon any place of Scripture to Edification there is a Christian Liberty not to be denyed but never to Articles of Faith that ever ought to be in the Very Language of Holy Writ Ye see how the Contrary hath been the great Make-bate in all Ages and the Impositions of such Opinions the Priviledge of Hypocrites but the Snare of many honest Minds to be sure the sad Occasion of Feuds and miserable Divisions It was plainly seen that by the many Disputes that rise from hence Mens Wits were confounded with their matters Truth was lost Brotherhood destroyed thus the Devil acted the Part both of Opponent and Defendant and managed the Passions of both Parties to his End which was DISCORD And but too many were ready to perswade themselves from the Miscarriages on both sides that nothing certain could be concluded about Religion for it so fell out that whilst men were perpetually wrangling and brawling about some one Opinion of Religion the most Important Points of Faith and Life were little regarded So that a Godly Man was distinguish'd from an Ungodly by this one thing let his Life have been almost what it would that he seem'd To maintain the Opinions in Vogue and to abhor that Doctrine which in some one or two Points might be reputed Heretical O! that we could but see how many and how great Defeats Satan hath given to the Work of God in the hearts of men what Desolations he hath made by this one Evil CONTROVERSIE begot of Opinion and used for it and how few have Contended for the Faith as it was once deliver'd to the Saints he must be a Man of Brass that could not chuse to weep at these Calamities And truly I must desire to take leave sometimes to bewail this broken Condition of Christendom and to bestow my Tears in secret upon these Common Ruins And I beseech God Almighty with a Soul sensibly touch't with the Mischiefs that naturally flow from this Practice to Awaken you to a most-Speedy and Serious Consideration your Present Standing and AMENDMENT of that Miscarriage in this and all other points that may concern your Good and his Glory Put away Wrath away with Clamors away with Arrogance and Impatience Let that Holy Spirit of God which we in common profess to be the Christians Guide have the Ordering of our Understandings in Spiritual things lest Ignorance should mistake Interest wrest or Prejudice pervert the Sense of God's Book For as too many are Ignorant of the Divine Truth through their own Concupiscence and vile Affections that carry them away to the Desire of other things and therefore easily mistake about Nice or Obscure Matters so there are not a few who come to search the Scriptures as with Pre-possess'd Minds that are sorry to meet with a Contradiction to their own Judgment instead of being glad to find the Truth and use their Wits to Rack out another Sense than that which is genuine which sort of men use the Scripture for its Authority not its Sense or Truth All this while the Head is set at work not the Heart that which Christ most insisted upon is least concerned in this sort of Faith and Chrisâ—tanity and that is KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS For 't is Opinion not Obedience Notion and not Regeneration that such men pursue This Kind of Religion leaveth them as bad as it finds them and worse for they have something more to be proud of Here is a Creed indeed but of what the Conclusions of men and what to do to prove they believe in Christ that it seems never made them It had been happy for the World that there had been no other Creeds than what he and his Apostles made and left And it is not the least Argument against their being needful to Christian Communion that Christ and his Apostles did not think so who was not wanting to declare the WHOLE COUNSEL of GOD to the Church To Conclude if ye desire Peace love Truth seek Piety and hate Hypocrisie Discord all those things called Articles of Faith and Canons of the Church that are not to be found in Express Terms in Scripture or so plainly Authorized by Scripture as may with ease be discerned by every Honest and Conscientious Person And in the Room of those Numerous and Disputed Opinions made the Bond of External Communion let some Plain General Necessary Truths be laid down in Scripture Terms and let them be few which leads me to the Next point and that is FAITH generally mistaken in the very Nature of it The Second Mischief that is amongst us is the Misunderstanding of the Nature of FAITH Whence it comes to pass that men take that for Faith which is not and sit down in a Security pernicious to their Eternal Happiness I shall briefly say something of What is not Faith before I speak of that which appears to me to be Truly and Scripturally such The Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only not believing mens Opinions and Determinations from the Sacred Text of which I have so freely deliver'd my self but it is not meerly the Belief even of the things contain'd in Scripture to be True For this the Devils Hypocrites do and yet very Bad Believers they refuse not the Authority of Scripture The Devil made Use of it to Christ himself but he would have the Explaining and Applying of it and since he could not hinder the Divine Inspiration if he may but be allow'd the Exposition he hopes to secure his Kingdom Since then the Verity Authority of both History and Doctrine may be believ'd by the Devil and Hypocrites that are false to their own Faith and Knowledge we cannot without great Injustice to the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which is the Faith of all his Followers allow That a meer Belief of the Verity and Authority of the History and Doctrine of Scripture is that true and precious Faith Faith then in the Sense of the holy Ghost is by the holy Ghost thus defined viz. The Evidence of things not seen and the Substance of things hoped for This is General and runs through all Ages but I shall express it thus True Faith in God is entirely believing and trusting in God confiding in his Goodness resigning up to his Will obeying his Law and
relying upon his Conduct dâ—an Mercies respecting this Life and that to come This is in Scripture called the Gift of God and well it may for it is Supernatural It crosses the Pride Confidence and Lust of man It grows out of the Seed of Love sown by God in the Heart at least it works by Love and this distinguishes it from the Faith of Ill Men and Devils that though they do believe they don't Love God above all but something else instead of God and are full of Pride Anger Cruelty and all manner of Wickedness But this Faith that works by Love that Divine Love which God plants in the Heart it inclines Man and gives him Power to forsake all that displeaseth God and every such Believer becomes an Enoch Translated that is Changed from the Fashion of this World the Earthly Image the Corrupt Nature and is renewed in the Likeness of the Son of God and walks with God The Just shall live by Faith they have in all Ages liv'd by this Faith that is been sustain'd supported preserved the Devil within nor the World without could never conquer them They walked not by Sight but by Faith they had regard to the Eternal Recompense No Visible things prevailed with them to depart from the Invisible God to quench their Love or slacken their Obedience to him the Great Testimony of their Faith in him This Holy Faith excludes no Age of the World the Just Men thâ— Cornelius's in every Generation have had some degree of it 't was more especially the Faith of the Simpler Ages of the World such as those in whom the Patriarchs lived who having not an Outward Law became a Law to themselves and did the things contained in the Law for they believed in God and through Faith obtained a good Report But because that it hath pleased God in Order to Man's Recovery from that grievous Laps Disobedience had cast him into at sundry times and in divers manners to appear to the Sons of men first by his Prophets and last of all by his Son that these several Manifestations have had something peculiar to them very remarkable in them so that they claim a place in our Creed It will not be amiss that we briefly consider them The first was that of the Prophets in which Moses preceded by whom the Law came to the Jews but Grace and Truth to mankind by Jesus Christ The first brought Condemnation the last Salvation the one Judgment the other Mercy which was glad Tidings indeed The one did fore-run the other as in Order of Time so in Nature of Dispensations the Law was the Gospel begun the Gospel the Law fulfilled or finisht They cannot be parted The Decalogue or Ten Commandments were little more than what had been known and practised before for it seem'd but an Epitome and Transcript of the Law writ in Man's heart by the Finger of God This is confest on all hands and in all Ages since This therefore must needs be a Part of our Creed for it relates to that Righteousness which is Indispensible and Immutable The other part of their Constitution that was peculiar to their Politic Typical and Mutable the Gospel is either Unconcerned in it or else ended it by the bringing in of a more Enduring Substance But Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Grace is opposed to the Condemnation of the Law and Truth to Shadows This is the most-Excellent Dispensation it is ours and it becomes us to weigh well our Interest in it God who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son For God so loved the World that after all the World's Provocations by Omissions and Commissions he gave his Only Begotten Son into the World that the World through him might be saved And here Two Things present themselves to our Consideration First the Person who he was what his Authority Secondly his Message his Doctrine what he Taught which though never so Reasonable in it self depended very much in its Entertainment among the People upon the Truth of his Mission and Authority that he was no Impostor but came from God the Promised Messiah This was done Two Ways by Revelation and by Miracles By Revelation to such as were as well prepared and inclined as honest Peter the Woman of Samaria and those that were mov'd to believe him from the Authority in which he spake so Unlike that of the Formal Scribes By Miracles to those that being blinded by Ignorance or Prejudice needed to have their senses struckwith such Supernatural Evidences from many of whom this Witness came that he was the MESSIAH the Christ and SON of GOD. In fine all was done within the Compass of People among whom he daily conversed that was needful to prove he was from God and had God's Message to declare to the World Insomuch that when some of his Disciples were not so firm in their Belief of his Authority as he deserved at their hands he calls his own Works to prove his Commission and convict them of Infidelity If ye will not believe that the Father is in me that he doth these Works by me believe me for the very Works sake Thus he argued with the Jews Say ye of him the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World thou Blasphèmest because I said I am the Son of God if I do not the Works of my Father believe me not this is reasonable he that will Judge the World offers to be Tryed himself he goes on But if I do though ye believe not me believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me And he laid the Sin of the Jews upon this Foot viz. That they rejected him after he had made proof of his Divine Mission by such Extraordinary Works As no men among them all could do which to give them their Due they do not deny but shamefully pervert and foolishly abuse by attributing them to the Power of the Devil To which Malice and Slander he returned this Inconfutable Answer A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand What! cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils 't is a Contradition very Madness it self I have nothing to do now with Atheists or those that call themselves Theists but such as own themselves Christians and shall therefore keep to my Task namely What of the Christian Dispensation is so Peculiar and Important as to challenge of Right the Name of Articles of Faith I say then That the Belief of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Promis'd Messiah the Son and Christ of God sent to restore and save Mankind is the first and was then the Only requisite Article of Faith without any Large Confessions or an Heap of Principles or Opinions resolv'd upon after Curious and Tedious Debates by Councils or Synods and this may be proved both by Example and Doctrine It
is evident from Example as in the Case of Peter who for having believed in his heart and confest with his Mouth That JESUS was the Christ and SON of GOD obtained that Signal Blessing Mat. 16. This made Nathaniel a Disciple Rabbi said he thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel It was the like Confession that made amends for Thomas's Incredulity when he was sensibly assured of the Resurrection of Jesus My Lord and my God This was also the Substance of Martha's Confession of Faith to Jesus when he said to her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeeth in me shall never dye believest thou this She answered Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the World She answered him not as to that Particular of the Resurrection but in General that he was the Christ the MESSIAH that was to come into the World and that suffised 'T was a Confession not unlike to this that the Blind Man made to whom Christ gave Sight when Jesus said but to him Dost thou believe on the Son of God Lord said he I do believe and be worshipped him What shall we say of the rare Faith of the Centurion preferred by Christ himself before any in Israel though a Gentile the Faith of the Woman and Inhabitants of Samaria that he was the Messiah of that Importunate Woman that cryed to Jesus To cast a Devil out of her possest Daughter and would not be put off to whom Christ said O Woman great is thy Faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt To which let me add the Faith of the People that brought the Man Sick of the Palsy to Christ who uncover'd the Roof to let him down to be toucht The Faith of Jairus the Ruler and of that Good Woman who pressed through the Croud to touch the Hem of Christ's Garment to whom Jesus said Be of good Comfort Daughter thy Faith has made Thee whole Also the Two Blind Men that followed him out of the Rulers House crying Thou Son of David have Mercy on us To whom when Jesus had said Believe ye that I am able to do this they Answered YEA LORD then touch'd he their Eyes and said According to your Faith be it unto you Also the Blind Man near Jericho The Leprous Samaritan that Christ cleansed And that Notable Passage of the Woman that kissed his Feet and anointed his Head to whom he pronounced this Happy Sentence Thy Faith hath saved thee go in Peace I will conclude this with that Famous Instance of the Thief upon the Cross who neither knew nor had time to make a Large Confession like the Creeds of these dayes but it seems he said enough Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise By which it is easie to learn that 't was the Heart not the Mouth the Sincerity not the Words that made the Confession Valid Nor was this only in the Days of Christ the Effect of his Gracious Dispensation or peculiar Indulgence After-times afford us the like Instances This was the main Bent of Peter's Sermon and when the Three thousand believed that he whom the Jews had crucified was both Lord and Christ and repented of their Sins and gladly received his Word they are said to have been in a State of Salvation Thus Cornelius and his Houshold and Kindred so soon as Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah and that they had believed the Holy Ghost fell upon them and they were received into the Christian Communion But the Story of the Eunuch is very pat to our purpose As he rid in his Charriot he was reading these words out of the Prophet Isaiah viz. That he was led as a Sheep to the Slaughter and like a Lamb dumb before the Shearers so opened he not his Mouth In his Humiliation his Judgment was taken away and who shall declare his Generation for his Life is taken from the Earth Philip joyn'd to him and askt him If he understood what he read he desired Philip to interpret the mind of the Prophet if he spoke of him self or another Philip upon the place preached to him Jesus the Eunuch was so well perswaded by the Apostle that coming to a Water he said What doth hinder me to be Baptized Philip answered him If thou believest with all thine heart thou may'st To this the Eunuch replyed I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Upon which he was Baptized and 't is said He went away rejoycing which indeed he might well do that felt the Comfort of his Faith the Remission of Sin and the Joys of the holy Ghost I will conclude these Examples with a Passage in the Acts of Paul at Thessalonica 't is this Paul as his manner was went in unto them and Three Sabbath-dayes reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus said he whom I preach unto you is Christ And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the Chief Women not a few Thus we may plainly see that they were Baptiz'd into the Faith of Jesus and not into Numerous Opinions and that this one Confession from true Faith in the heart was the ground Principle of their Church-fellowship then God's Church was at Peace she thrive there were then no Snares of Words made to catch Men of Conscience in Then not many Words but much Integrity now much Talk and little Truth Many Articles but O ye of little Faith Nor was this only the Judgment and Practice of that Time out of Condescension to Weakness and Charity to Ignorance for both Christ Jesus himself and his Apostles those blessed Messengers of holy Truth have doctrinally laid it down as the great Test to Christians that which should distinguish them from Infidels and justly entitle them to his Discipleship and Christian Communion one with another Then said they to Jesus what shall we do that we might work the Works of God Jesus answered and said to them This is the Work of God that ye BELIEVE ON HIM whom God hath sent Verily Verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life And upon another Occasion to the Jews he said For if ye believe not that I am HE ye shall die in your Sins It must follow then that if they did believe him to be the Messiah the Anointed of God to Salvation they should be saved Most plain is that Answer of the Apostles to the Goaler when he came trembling to them and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Believe said they on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The Apostle
did not write this to a private Brother or in some special Case but to the Church as a General and standing Truth and therefore now as Authentick and proper as then And if this be true I cannot see how any or even the most part of the Church that are still but Brethren to the rest of one voluntary Communion and Profession can with any shew of Reason impose upon them and escape the Reproof of this Scripture for all Societies are to govern themselves according to their Institution and first Principles of Union Where there is Violence upon this part Tyranny and not Order is introduced Now since Perswasion and Conviction began all true Christian Society all Christian Societies must uphold themselves upon the same free Bottom or they turn Antichristian I beseech you here let us examine our selves faithfully and I am of belief that something of this will yet appear amongst us that shew great Reverence to that free Name But to make good their unreasonable conceit of Church Authority they object Christ's Words GO TELL THE CHURCH that is say they The Church is the Rule and guide of Faith whatever the Church agrees upon and requires your assent to and Faith in that you must necessarily believe But though as before 't is confest in a sense we must believe as the true Church believes yet not because she so believes but for the same Reasons that she her self does so believe because none can truly believe as she believes but must so do upon the same principles and motives for which they believ'd that first made up that Christian Church To talk of being the Rule and Guide in point of Faith is to contradict Scripture and justle Christ out of the Office which is peculiar to him and his Spirit he is given to his Church an Head that is a Counsellor a Ruler a Judge and is called a Lawgiver and says the Apostle The Children of God are led by the Spirit of God And he was Wisdom and Righteousness to the Church Apostolick and is so to his own Church all the World over Besides 't is absurd that the Church can be the Rule and Guide of Faith for as such she must be her own Rule and Guide the Faith of the Members being that of the Church which cannot be But what then can be the meaning of Christs words Go tell the Church Very well I answer 't is not about Faith but Injury that Christ speaks and the place explains it self which is this Moreover if thy Brother shall TRESPASS against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone here is Wrong not Religion Injustice not Faith or Conscience concerned as some would have it to maintain their Church power if he shall hear thee thou hast gain'd thy Brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them TELL IT UNTO THE CHURCH but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican Verily I say unto you whatever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven c. The matter manner of which passaged eliver'd by Christ shews that he intended not to set up Church power about Faith and Worship unto which all must bow even without if not against conviction The word TRESPASS and FAULT prove abundantly that he only means private and personal Injuries and that not only from the undeniable signification and use of the word TRESPASS and FAULT but from the way Christ commands for accommodation viz. that the person wrong'd do speak to him that commits the Injury alone if that will not do that he take one or two with him but no man can think that if it related to Faith Worship I ought to receive the Judgment of one or two or three against mine own This has not been the practice at least not the principle of the most degenerated Church since the Primitive times for most if not all agree that nothing below the Church can detemine about matters of Faith and even many with reason cannot go so far yet Christ seems to fix a blame upon him that complies not with the Person he has offended but more if he refuse to give satisfaction after one or two have also intreated him therefore it cannot relate to matters of Faith and scruples of Conscience but personal and private Injuries Which is yet clearer from this part of Christ's saying viz. That in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every Word may be established Which Implies a Tryal and Judicial proceeding as is customary in civil cases about personal and private Trespasses for it were not so proper to speak of Witnesses on any other account This is interpreted beyond exception by the Apostle to the Corinthians where he reproves and forbids them to go to Law one with another before Unbelievers arguing thus Do you not know that the Saints shall Judge the World and if the World shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters This shews the meaning of Church Authority is those dayes and is a natural Exposition upon Christ's words in case of Trespass and Refractoriness Tell the Church And 't is yet the Practice of all sober just and quiet People raher to refer their Controversies to approved men than to tare one another to pieces at Law But it is worth our notice that as any Decision up on an arbitration oblieges only the Parties to sit down content with the awardment of such loss or gain as they the Arbitrators think equal as the next best way to accommodate differences and not that such awardment should alter their first Thoughts and Opinion they had of their right or force them to declare they are of the Arbitrators mind So is it most unreasonable where the Church is only an Arbitrator about Personal trespasses or umpire at most to imagine a Power to determine and impose Faith and that upon severe Penalties as well of this unto which Christ's Church has no relation as of the other World I say this very thing well weigh'd breaks all their Fallacies to pieces and decides the business beyond all contradiction between those that stand upon the Spirit within and the Scripture without on the one hand and such as meerly rest upon the Traditions of Men and Authority of the Church on the other hand For if in an Arbitration I am not bound to be of the Arbitrators mind though for Peace sake I submit to their Award and that the Church Power in this place controverted relates only to external and personal Trespasses Injuries or Injustices as the place it self plainly proves there can be no sense reason or modesty in the Earth on the part of those high Church men who
would from hence wring and extort the Power of defining resolving and imposing upon all people under temporal and eternal punishment Articles of Faith and Bonds of Christian Communion I Conclude this of the Church with saying that 't is not Identity of Opinion but Justice not Religious Uniformity but Personal Satisfaction that concerns the text and therefore Reason sober Consciencâ— and good Sense may at any time lawful insist upon their claim to be heard in all their Scruples or Exceptions without disrespect to that excellent Doctrine when rightly understood Go tell the Church To this let me add somthing about this great Word CHURCH Some men think they are sure enough if they can but get within the pale of the Church that have not yet consider'd what it is The Word CHURCH signifies any Assembly so the Greeks used it and it is by Worthy Tindal every where translated Congregation It has a two fold sense in Scripture The first and most excellent Sense is that in which she is called the Body and Bride of Christ In this respect she takes in all Generations and is made up of the Regenerated be they in Heaven or on Earth thus Ephes 1. 22. 5. 23 to 33. Col. 1. 16 17. 18. Heb. 12. 22 23. Rev. 21. 2. Chap. 22. 17. Here Christ only can be Head this Church is washed from all Sin not a Spot nor a Wrinkle left ill men have nothing to do with this Church within whose pale only is Salvation nor is this Universal and truly Catholick Church capable of being conveen'd to be told of Wrongs or Trespasses The other use of that Word in Scripture is alwayes referred to Particular Assemblies and Places that is the Church which by Christ's Doctrine is to be told of Personal Injuries and whose determination for Peace sake is to be adhear'd to must of necessity be the adiacent or most contiguous company of Christian Believers those to whom the Persons in difference are by external Society and Communion related and that such private and distinct Assemblies are so called the Church is apparent from the acts and writings of the Apostles the Church of Jerusalem Antioch Corinth Ephesus Galatia Thessalonica Crete c. peruse these places Acts 5. 11. 9. 31. 11. 22 26. 14 23 27. Rom. 16. 5. 1 Cor. 1. 2. 4. 17. 14. 4. Rev. 2. 3. Chap. By which it plainly appears that the Universal visible Church so much bragg'd of for the Rule and Judge of Faith c. is an upstart thing and like mean Families or ill got Goods it uses false Heraldry to give it a Title For the Apostoilick times to which all others must vail and by whom they must be tryed know no such conceit and the Truth is it was then first started when the Pride of one man made him ambitious and his Power able to bid for Headship Empire and Soveraignity 't was then needful to his being Universal head that he should first have an Universal body But suppose such a Church there were 't is utterly Impossible that such a Church could be called together in anyone place or at any one time to be told or to determine of any thing so that yielding the thing by them desired it is useless and impracticable to the ends they desire it for But alas who knows not that loves not to be blind that the Church among them is the Priesthood the few cunning men govern the Majority and intitle their conceits the Canons of Christ's Church and humane Power and Force the Policy and Weapons of this world must back their decrees And all this comes from the Ignorance and Idleness of the People that give the Pride and Industry of the Clergy an opportunity to effect their crafts upon them For so mean spirited are the People as to take all upon trust for their Souls that would not trust an Arch-Bishop about a slit Groat 'T is prodigious to think what Veneration the Priest-hood have raised to themselves by their usurpt Commission of Apostleship their pretended Successions and their CLINK CLANK of extraordinary Ordination A Priest a God on Earth a Man that has the Keys of Heaven and Hell do as he says or be damn'd what power like to this The Ignorance of the People of their Title and Pretences have prepared them to deliver up themselves into their hands like a Crafty Usurer that hedges in the Estate on which he has a Mortgage and thus they make themselves ever in Fee to the Clergy and become their proper Patrimony So that believing as the Church believes is neither more nor less then Rooking men of their Understandings or doing as ill Gamesters are wont to do get by using false Dice Come come 't is believing as the Priesthood believes which made way for that offence wise and good men have taken against the Clergy in every Age And did the People examine their bottom the ground of their Religion and Faith it would not be in the Power of their Leaders to cause them to Err an implicit Veneration to the Clergy begun the Misery What! Doubt my Minister arraign his Doctrine put him to the Proof by no means but the Consequence of not doing it has been the Introduction of much false Doctrine Superstition and Formality which gave just occasion for Schism for the Word has no hurt in it and implies only a Separation which may as well be right as wrong But that I may not be taxed with partiallity or upbraided with sigularity there are two Men whose Worth Good Sense and True Learning I will at any time engage against an entire Convocation of another Judgment viz. Jacobus Acontius and John Hales of Eaton that are of the same mind who though they have not writ much have writ well and much to the purpose I will begin with Jacobus Acontius at large and do heartily beseech my Readers to be more then ordinarily intent in reading what I cite of him their Care and Patience will be requited by his Christian and very acute Sense It remains that we speak of such Causes of the not perceiving that a Change of Doctrine is introduced as consist in the Persons that are taught Now they are cheifly two Carelesness and Ignorance Carlesness for the most â—part ariseth hence In that the people trust too much to their Pastors and per swade themselves that they will not slip into any Error and that therefore they have small need to have an Eye over them but that they are bound rather to embrace whatsoever they shall hold forth without any curious Examination Hereunto may be added many other businesses whereunto men addict themselves For that Saying is of large extent Where mens Treasure is there is their Heart and that other No man can serve two Masters Now how it may come to pass that after a people hath once had a great Knowledge of Divine Truths the said Knowledge may as it were vanish away besides that Cause which
Moses to the Jews there arose a stout Question whether we were to Celebrate with the Jews on the fourteenth Moon or the Sunday following This matter though most unnecessary most vain yet caused as great a Combustion as ever was in the Church The West separating and refusing Communion with the East for many Years together In this Fantastical Hurry I cannot see but all the World were Schismaticks neither can any thing excuse them from that Imputation excepting only this that we charitably suppose that all Parties out of Conscience did what they did A thing which befell them through the Ignorance of their Guides for I will not say their malice and that through the just Judgment of God because through sloath and BLIND OBEDIENCE Men examined not the things which they were taught but like Beasts of Burthen patiently couched down and indifferently underwent whatsoever their Superiors laid upon them By the way by this you may plainly see the danger of our appeal unto Antiquity for resolution in Controverted points of Faith and how small Relief we are to expect from thence For if the discretion of the chiefest Guides and Directors of the Church did in a Point so trivial so inconsiderable so mainly fail them as not to see the Truth in a Subject wherein it is the greatest Marvel how they could avoid the sight of it can we without imputation of extream grosness and folly think so POOR SPIRITED persons competent Judges of the Questions now on Foot betwixt the Churches Pardon me I know not what Temptation drew that Note from me How these men will come off I can't tell they have ventured fairly and yet I think their case not hazard us at all you have them in three points plain First That relying upon the Clergy as Guardians of Truth to the People and the Peoples not examining the truth of things from them is not Apostolical but Apostatical Secondly That no Councils or Fathers ought to be the Rule or Judge of our Faith Thirdly That to save Souls every Man is a Priest that is the people are interressed in the Christian Ministry which is not tyed to Times Places Persons and Orders as under the Law but free to all that have obtained Mercy and Grace from God and therefore Peter calls the believers a Royal Priesthood So that every one is Priest to himself under the Gospel But all this I have mentioned with design if it be possible to beat men off that superstitious and dangerous Veneration they carry to the Names of Church Priesthood and Fathers as if they were to be sayed by them and not by Christ who is only Head and Saviour of the true Church And truly when I consider the wilde dependance some people have upon the Church whilst they know not what she is and make it a Principle not to Inquire I am amazed with what Confidence they expose their Souls This Principle it is and not Inquiry that makes men careless and unactive about their own Salvation But let none deceive themselves as they Sow they must Reap 'T is not to be saved to be within the Pale of any visible Church in the World That is putting an eternal Cheat upon our selves Ill things are Ill things within or without the pale that matters not and as Sin can't be Christened nor impiety reconciled to Christianity by no Arts of men so the Wages will be Death eternal Death To be therefore of the Church of which Christ is Head the redeemed regenerated Church of Christ is quite another thing then to be of any visible Society whatever for in all such Communions there are but too many that have no true Title to Christianity If then that Immaculate Church of which Christ is head be made up only of holy and regenerated Souls throughout the Societies of Christians this will adminster but little Comfort to those that presume upon their being within the Pale of the Visible Church But to proceed to those Scriptures that oppose themselves to humane Authority in matters of Faith c. There is one place of Scripture that is irreconcilable to Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience He that believeth hath the Witness In HIMSELF This general Rule respects no Persons 't is the Result of the Holy Ghost to all Believers Such have no need to go to Rome nor Winefried's Well to the Shrines of Saints the Priests nor the Church for a Proof of their Faith they have an Evidence nearer home they have the witness of their Faith and the Reason of their Hope IN THEMSELVES 'T is true this is a Private Judge but as it happens 't is one of the Holy Ghost's setting up of all things I confess most destructive to Papacy no doubt for here is a Judge in every man that sincerely believes to whom he must stand and fall in this and the other World For saith the same Apostle If our Heart condemn us God is greater then our Heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God The Witness in our selves discharges us The Spirit beareth Witness with our Spirits that weare the Châ—ldren of God and Sons of the true Church not she that hath fatted her self with the Flesh of Saints and died her Garments in the Blood of Martyrs who hath Merchandized in the Souls of men but of that Church who is Crowned with Stars and Cloathed with the Sun and has the Moon under her Feet a Church of Light and Knowledge of Understanding and Truth and not of Implicite Faith and Blind Obedience one that tramples upon all Sublunary Glory and not she that makes her Pretences to Religion a Decoy to catch the World Of like Tendency is that notable Passage of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Here is not a Word of the Pope nor an External Judge no humane Inquisition or Authority Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves but which way shall we do this by Christ who is the great Light that shines in our Hearts to give us the Knowledge of God and our selves He that believes in him has the Witness in himself he is no Reprobate his Heart condemns him not To which I will add another Passage to the same Purpose in his Epistle to the Galatians But let every Man prove his own work then shall he have Rejoycing in himself alone and not in another FOR EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN Here every man is enjoyned to turn Inquisitor upon himself and the Reason rendred shews the Justice of the thing because my Rejoycing must be in my self alone and not in another I stand and Fall to no man such as I sow I must reap at the Hand of God if Paul say true Mens Pardons are Vain and their
Indulgences Fictions For every man shall bear his own Burden in that great Day of the Lord. It cannot therefore be Reasonable that another man should have the Keeping of my Understanding at my Eternal Cost and Charges or that I must entirely depend upon the Judgment of a Man or Men who erring and thereby causing me to err cannot be damned for me but I must pay their Reckoning at the hazard of my own Damnation I am not unacquainted with the great Objection that is made by Roman Catholicks and some Protestants too High Church-men perhaps that Love the Treason but hate the Traytor that love this part of Popery but hate the Pope viz. There are doubts in Scripture even about the most important Points of Faith some body must guide the Weak there must be some one ultimate External and Visible Judge to appeal to who must Determine and Conclude all Persons as to their Doubts and Apprehensions concerning the Interpretation of Scripture otherwise So many Men so many Minds the Church would be filled with Controversie and Confussion I answer That the Scriptures are made more doubtful than they are by such as would fain preserve to themselves the Umpiridge Judgship of their Meaning I deny it in point of Fact that Man's Duty is not most plainly exprest in all that concerns Eternal Salvation but 't is very strange that when God intends nothing more by the Scriptures than to reach the Capacities of Men as to things on which their Eternal Salvation depends yet that no Book if such men say true should be so obscure nor subject to so many Various nay Contradictory Constructions Name me one Author Heathen Jew or Christian that ever wrote with that Obscurity and seeming Inconsistency which some gladly pretend to find in the holy Scripture that they might have the Use and Keeping of them from the Vulgar and make their own Ends by it Is then every Body's Book to be understood but God's Was that writ not to be understood In short one of these two things must be true Either that God intended Not to be understood or To be understood in what he commanded to be written If he resolved Not to be understood it had been better there had been nothing writ but if it was his purpose To be understood of Men it must be supposed that what he caused to be written was plain enough for men to understand or he mist his own Aim and End and writ it to no purpose which is absurd If it should be told me That it is not denyed but that the Scriptures may be understood by some body but not by every body for that the Great Visible Judge must needs understand them because it belongs to his Office to resolve those Doubts and determine those Controversies that may arise about understanding them Answ I must also say that this is false in Fact For its ridiculous to imagine that Luke did not make Theophilus his own Judge in the reading of what he writ to him or that the Apostles in writing to the several Churches as Rome Corinth Ephesus c. to whom they directed their Epistles did not intend that they should understand what they writ or that they erected any such Officer in the Church as an Expounder of their Epistles to the Assembly to be necessarily believed For we know in those days The People made the Church they were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the CLERGY however it came about that it be now engrossed into fewer hands as you may see in the Greek of Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Heritage in all our Bibles But this is as if the Priest's only were the Lord's Heritage which can't be for a Reason obvious to all namely that they reign as Lords over God's Heritage or Clergy forbid expresly by Peter therefore not the Heritage and Clergy over which they so rule like Lords by no means I will say no more but this 't is no convincing Proof to me of their Humility But to shut up this Agument about the Difficulty of Understanding the Scripture and pretended a necessity of a Visible Judge I say Whatsoever may be spoken may be written or thus Whatsoever a Visible Judge can now say the holy Pen men by God's Direction might have written and what an Omniscient and Omnipotent God did know and could do for Man's Salvation an OMNIBENEVOLENT God that tells us he delights not in the Death of one Soul but rather that he should be saved would have done And because God is as Omnibenevolent as Omniscient and Omnipotent we must conclude he has done it and 't is great Presumption and a mean Shelter to Ignorance to raise a credit to Humane Devices by beating down the true Value of the Scriptures They are dark what follows they must not be read what follows then Why then such Teachers may do as they list with the People But did the Pharisees with their broad Philacteries know God's mind better then the Prophets or could they deliver it clearer no such matter 't is by the same strange Figure that the School-men know the mind of Christ better then the Apostles and that the Council of TRENT can declâ—re Faith more clearly then the holy Ghost in the Scripture hath donâ— and yet this is the English of their Doctrine that hold to us those Lights to read Scripture by and that would have us seach their Canons and Decrees to find out the Mind of the holy Ghost in Scripture The Confusions that are pretended to follow such an Inquiry are but the wretched Arts of ill men as much as in them lies to keep Light and Truth out of the World When the Net was cast into the Sea there came some good some bad Fish that was not the Fishers fault they were no better Inquiry is not to be blam'd for the ill use weak or worse men make of it The Bereans might not all believe though they might all search for men don't inquire with equal Wisdom Love and good Desire some seek and find not Some ask and receive not therefore must none ask or seek after that which is good or because some ask or seek amiss will it follow that the thing it self is naught If Superstition Error Idolatry and Spiritual Tyranny be detected and Truth discover'd will it more then make amends for all that Weakness and Folly some men have brought forth by the liberty of such an Inquiry The Enemies of Light may be as Rhetorical as they please upon the excess or Presumption of some bolder then wise and more Zealous then Knowing but if they had nothing to lose by the discovery they would never be the Enemies of a prudent Search It is to be fear'd such get that Obedience by a blind devotion which no man could yield them upon better Information and is it reasonable that men of that Stamp should secure their Empire by the Ignorance of the People
Ignorance ought to be the Mother of Devotion with none but those that cannot be devout upon better terms it is the glory of a man that he is Religious upon Reason and that his Duty and Sacrifice are not blind or forc'd but free and reasonable Truth upon Knowledge though vext with Schism wise and good men will chuse before Ignorant Religion with Uniformity Enough of this But this Notion of an Infallible Visible Judge is as false in Reason as in Fact For first it takes away the Use of every Man's Reason and it is a Contradiction to have any unless he were such an Interpreter and such a Judge as would conclude us by Conviction and not by Authority that would be the most Wellcome person in the World But to over-rule my own Sight to give the Lye to my own Understanding say Black is White and that Two and Three make Ten thus Subjugare intellectum in Obsequium fidei to yield my Understanding to such an In-evident Way of Faith nay which is worse to believe a Lye for so it is to them to whom the thing to be believed appears Untrue is most-Unreasonable If we must be Led it had been easier and better for us to have been born Blind we might have follow'd then the Dog and the Bell for we could not mend our selves but to see and to be Led and that in ways we see to be foul or wrong this is Anxious Here lies the Dispute and truly here the Question might fairly end Either put out our Eyes or let us use them but if we have Eyes for our Minds as well as for our Bodies I see no Reason why we should trust any man or men against the Eyes of our Understanding any more than we ought to confide in them against the Sense and Certainty of the Eyes of our Bodies Where is the poorest Mechanick that would be paid his Labour in Brass half Crowns for Silver by either Pope or Bishop and can we be so bruitish as to think our Nobler part void of Distinction about that Treasure which is of eternal Moment For though Peter was to feed the Sheep yet the Sheep were not to follow Peter but Christ My Sheep hear my Voice and follow me and a Stranger they will not follow Here is no Mediator betwixt Christ and his Sheep nor does any body else hear his Voice for them but they hear his Voice themselves And though the Shepherd may have many Servants yet he only is their Shepherd and they are only the Sheep of his Fold But there are three places of Scripture that come fresh into my Remembrance that are very pertinent to the present Occasion The first is this That which may be known of God is Manifest in Men for God hath shewed it unto them That is The Spirit of man being the Candle of the Lord God hath enlightned it to manifest unto Man what is necessary for him to know both of God and himself Here is no need of Wax-Candles or Tapers or a Visible Guide and Judge for â—e that believes has the Witness in himself Another Passage is this Be ye Followers of me even as I am also of Christ In which the Apostle is so far from setting himself up a Judge over the Church of Corinth that he makes his appeal to them concerning his Doctrine and Conversation bounding both with that of his Lord Jesus Christ and making them Judges of the Truth of his Conformity to that Example Be ye Followers of me How after what manner What! Absolutely without Examination must we believe thee without any Tryal and take what thou sayest for granted without any more to do no such thing Be ye Followers of me even as I also am of CHRIST I submit my self to be judg'd by you according to that Rule and all Men and Churches are to be thus measur'd that lay Claim to the Name of Christian The Third Passage is in his Second Epistle to the same Church of Corinth 't is this Therefore seeing we have this Ministry as we have received Mercy we faint not but have renounced the hidden things of Dishonesty not walking in Craftinesses nor handling the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God Here is the Utmost Imposition the Apostle makes use of he requires not Men to receive him without Evidence and refers himself to that of their own Consciences in the Sight of God This was the Way of making Christians then and this is the Way of making and keeping Christians now Conscience in the best Sense has ever been allow'd to be a Bond upon Men in all Religions But that Religion which under Pretence of Authority would superceed Conscience and instead of making Men better the End of Religion makes them worse by confounding all Distinction betwixt Good and Evil and resolving all into an Implicite Faith and blind Obedience unto the Commands of a Visible Guide and Judge is false it cannot be otherwise For to admire what Men don't know and to make it a Principle not to inquire is the last mark of Folly in the Believer and of Imposture in the Imposer To be short a Christian implies a Man and a Man implies Conscience and Understanding but he that has no Conscience not Understanding as he has not that has delivered them up to the Will of another Man is no Man and therefore no Christian I do beseech you Protestants of all Sorts to consider of the danger of this Principle with respect to Religion Of old'tw is the Fool that said in his Heart there is no God But now upon this Principle Men must be made Fools in order to believe Shall Folly which is the Shame if not the Curse of a Man be the Perfection of a Christian Christ indeed has advised us to become Little Children but never to become such Fools for as the Proverb is this is to be led by the Nose and not by our Wits You know that God hates the Sacrifice of Fools I will pray with the Spirit and with Understanding also saith the Apostle Let us commend that Testimony which we believe to be true to the Consciences of Men and let them have the Gospel priviledge of Examination Error only looses upon Trial. For if this had been the Way to Christianity with Reverence be it spoken God had not made our Condition better but worse For this translates our Faith and Dependence upon God to Man and the Possibility if not Probability of Man's erring exposes us to greater insecurity than before For where I never trusted I never could be deceived But if I must abandon my own Sense and Judgment and yield my self up to the Faith and Authority of another to say no more of the Blindness and La neness of such Belief and Devotion what Security can I have that the Man or Men whom I trust may not 〈◊〉 and deceive me and that
Deceit is irrepairable Again since Mankind is a reasonable Creature and that the more reasonable he is in his Religion the nearer to his own being he comes and to the Wisdom and Truth of his Creator that did so make him a Religion without Reason Imposed by an unaccountable Authority against Reason Sense and Conviction cannot be the Religion of the God of Truth and Reason for it is not to be thought that he requires any thing that carries any violence upon the Nature of his Creature or that gives the Lye to that Reason or Sence which he first endow'd him with In short Either Convince my understanding by the Light of Truth and Power of Reason or bear down my Infidelity with the force of Miracles for not to give me Understanding or Faith and to press a submission that requires both is most unreasonable But if there were no other Augument then this it goes a great way with me that as to such as have their understanding at liberty if they are mistaken there may be hopes of reclaiming by Informing them but where the Understanding and Conscience are enslav'd to Authority and where Men make it a Principal Doctrine to suspect their own Sense and strive against their own Convictions to move only by other mens Breath and fall down to their Conclusions nothing seems to be left for the soundest Arguments clearest Truths to work upon They had almost need to be re Created in order to be converted for who can reasonably endeavour to make him a Christian that is not a Man which he cannot be truly said to be who has no understanding or resolves not to use it but reject it which is yet worse for he that has no understanding has no prejudice against it but he that purposely denys abuses it is so much worse as that he turns Enemy to him that has and uses his understanding He therefore can never be convinced oâ— his Error who is prejudiced against the necessary means of Conviction which is the use of his Understanding without which 't is impossible he should ever be Convinced To Conclude I have reserved till last one Argument which is ad hominem unanswerable by us Protestants and without yielding to which we cannot be consistent with our selves or be thought to do unto others what we would have others do unto us and that is this The Translation of the Scripture was the painful work of our worthy Ancestors This I call their most solemn Appeal to the People against the Pope and Traditions of Rome in the business of their Separation For when the question rose of the divine Authority of this or the other Practice in the Doctrine or Worship of the Roman Church presently they recur'd to the Scriptures and therefore made them speak English that they might witness for them to the people This appeal to the People in defence of their Separation by making them Judges of their proceeding against the Church according to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures puts every man in possession of them Search the Scriptures say the first Protestants Prove all things see if what we say against Pope Church of Rome be not true and in case any difficulty did arise they exhorted all to wait upon God for the divine aid of his Spirit to illuminate their understandings that one should not impose upon the other but commend them to God be Brotherly Patient Long suffering ready to help the Weak inform the Ignorant shew tenderness to the Mistaken and with reason and moderation to gain the Obstinate In short Protestancy is a restoring to every man his just right of Inquiry and Choice and to its honour be it ever spoken there is greater likelihood of finding Truth where all have Liberty to seek after it then where it is denyed to all but a few Grandees and those too as short sighted as their Neighbours But now let us Protestants examine if we have not departed from this Sobriety this Christian Temperance how comes it that we who have been forgiven much have our selves fallen upon our sellow Servants who yet owe us nothing have not we refused them this reasonable choice have we not threatned beaten and imprisoned them Pray Consider have you not made Creeds set Bounds to Faith form'd and regulated a Worship and strictly enjoyn'd all mens obedience by the help of the Civil Power upon pain of great Sufferings which have not been spared to Dissenters though in Common Renouncers and Protestors with you against the Pope Church of Rome for this the Land mourns Heaven is displeas'd and all is out of due course To give us the Scriptures and knock our Fingers for taking them to Translate them that we may read them and punish us for endeavouring to understand and use them as well as we can both with respect to God and our Neighbour 't is very unreasonable upon our Protestant Principles I wish we could see the mischief we draw upon our selves which is worse our cause for the Papist in this case acts according to his Principle but we against our Principle which shews indeed that we have the better Religion but that we also are more condemnable For if we will consider it seriously we shall find it not much more injurious to Scripture Truth and good Conscience that we believe as the Church believes then that we believe as the Church says the Scripture would have us believe For where is the difference since I am not allowed to use my understanding about the Sense of Scripture any more then about the Faith of the Church and if I must not receive any thing for Faith or Worship from Scripture but what is handed to me by the Church or her Clergy I see my self in as ill terms as if I had sat down with the old Doctrine of believing as the Church believes And had the Controversie been only for the Word Scripture without the use and application of it for at this rate that is all that is left us truly the enterprise of our Fathers had been weak and unadvised but because nothing less was intended by them and that the Translation of the Scripture was both the Appeal and Legacy of those Protestant Ancestors for the reasons before mention'd I must conclude we are much degenerated from the simplicity of Primitive Protestancy and need to be admonisht of our Backslidings and I heartily pray to Almighty God that he would quicken us by his present Mercies and Providences to return to our first Love Let the Scripture be free Sober Opinion tolerated Good â—ife cherisht Vice punisht away with Imposition Nick-Names Animosities for the Lord's sake and let Holy Writ be our Common Creed and Pious Living the Test of Christianity that God may please to perfect the good work he has begun and deliver us from all our Enemies I am now come to the last point and that is PROPAGATION of FAITH by FORCE In which I shall with the
Ecclesiasticks consider the Civil Magistrates share herein for though the Church-Men are principally guilty that being profest Ministers of a Religion which renounces and condemns Force they incite the Magistrate to use it both to impose their own Belief and suppress that of other mens yet the Civil Magistrate in running upon their Errands and turning Eexecutioner to their Cruelty upon such as dissent from them involves himself in their Guilt That in this Protestant Country Laws have been made to prosecute men for their Difference and Dissent from the National Worship and that those Laws have been executed I presume will not be denyed for not only our own Histories since the Reformation will furnish us with Instances but our own Age abounds with Proofs Thousands have been Excommunicated and Imprisoned whole Familes Undone not a Bed left in the House not a Cow in the Field nor any Corn in the Barn Widows and Orphants Uncommiserated no regard had to Age or Sex and what for only because of their Meeting to Worship God after another yet not a less Peaceable Manner then according to the Way of the Church of England Nor have they only suffered this by Laws intended against them but after an excessive rate by Laws known to have been never design'd against them and only intended against the Papists and in these Cases four times the Vallue has not served their turn we can prove 60 l. taken for 13 l. and not one Penny returned as we made appear before a Committee of the late Parliament which is the Penalty of four Offences for one to say nothing of the gross Abuses that have been committed against our Names and Persons by men of ill Fame and Life that have taken the Advantage of our Tenderness and the present Posture of the Law against us to have their Revengeful and Covetous Ends upon us And though yet unredrest not a Session of Parliament has past these Seventeen Years in which we have not humbly remonstrated our suffering condition we have done our Part which has been patiently to Suffer and modestly to Complain 't is yours now to hear our Groans and if ever you expect Mercy from God deliver us The late Parliament just before its Dissolution was preparing some Relief for us if that Parliament could think of it yea begin it we hope you will finish and secure it To remove all Scruples or Objections that Politically or Ecclesiastically on the part of the State or the Church may be advanced against us in this request I shall divide this Discourse into these two Parts First Caesar's Authority next the Church's Authority about Force in things that relate to Faith and Conscience with my Reasons briefly to both Our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did long since distinguish the Things of Caesar from the Things of God in his plain and notable Answer unto that ensnaring Question of the Jews about paying Tribute to Caesar Render saith he unto Caeâ—ar the things that are Caesar's and to God the Things that are God's that is Divine Worship and all things relating to it belong unto God Civil Obedience to Caesar God can only be the Author of right Acts of Worship in the Mind this is granted by all therefore it is not in the Power of any Man or Men in the World to sway or compel the Mind in Matters of Worship to God Where this is attemped God's Prerogative is invaded and Caesar by which Word I understand the Civil Government hath All. For he doth not only take his own Things but the things appertaining to God also Since if God hath not Conscience he hath nothing My Kingdom says Christ is not of this World nor is the Magistrate's of the other World Therefore he exceeds his Province and Commission when ever he meddles with the Rites of it Let Christ have his Kingdom he is sufficient for it and let Caesar have his 't is his Due Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's Then there are things that belong not to Caesar and we are not to give those to him such are Gods things divine things but those that belong to Caesar and his Earthly Kingdom must be of Duty rendred to him If any should ask me What are the Things properly belonging to Caesar I answer in Scripture Language To love Justice do Judgment relieve the Oppressed right the Fatherless be a Terror unto Evil-doers and a Praise to them that do well for this is the great End of Magistracy But perhaps my Answer shall be reckoned too general and ambiguous and a fresh Question started Who are the Evil-doers to whom the Civil Authority ought to be terrible But this ought in my Judgment to be no Question with men that understand the Nature of Civil Authority for those are the Evil-doers that violate those Laws which are necessary to the Preservation of Civil Society as Thieves Murderers Adulterers Traytors Plotters Drunkards Cheats Vagabonds and the like mischievous and dissolute Persons Men void of Virtue Truth and Sincerity the Foundation of all good Government and only firm Bond of human Society Whoever denies me this must at the same Time say that Virtue is less necessary to Government than Opinion and that the most Vitiated Men professing but Caesar's Religion are the best Subjects to Caesar's Authority consequently that other Men living never so honestly and industriously and having else as good a Claim to Civil Protection and Preferment shall meerly for their Dissent from that Religion a Thing they can't help for Faith is the Gift of God be reputed the worst of Evil-doers which is followed with exposing their Names to Obloquie their Estates to Ruin and their Persons to Goals Exiles and Abundance of other Cruelties What is this but to confound the Things of Caesar with the Things of God Divine Worship with Civil Obedience the Church with the State and perplex human Societies with endless Debates about Religious Differences Nay is not this to erect new Measures to try the Members of Worldly Societies by and give an Accession to another Power then that which is necessary to the Constitution of Civil Government But that which ought to deter wise Rulers from assuming and exercising such an Authority is the Consideration of the pernicious Consequences of doing so For First It makes PROPERTY which is the first and most fixt Part of English Government floating and uncertain for it seems no Conformity to the Church no Property in the State and doubtless the Insecurity of Property can be no Security to the Government Pray think of that 2dly It makes me owe more to the Church then to the State for in this Case the Anchor I ride by is not my Obedience to Laws relating to the Preservation of Civil Society but Conformity to certain Things belonging to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church so that though I may be an honest industrious English man a great Lover of my Country and an