take it for granted having so much Charity as to hope that whatever any rash and violent spirits amongst us may think and speak yet those who are Judiciously godly have more Charity then to disclaim us for such If they dare I wish they would speak out But so it seemeth it is that even this Bitter Root of rigid separation as a Reverend Brother rightly calls it begins to grow spring up again amongst us there wanting not some who stick not to maintain and justifie this their Separation from this ground because we are no True Churches of Christ For their sakes or rather for yours in defence of the cause of God agaainst them let mee speak a few words and but a few 1. are not our Congregations True Churches What are not here the Pillars of Truth Is not the Word of Truth the Gospell of Salvation here held forth and that in an ordinary and constant way even as the Edicts and Proclamations of Princes are wont to be held forth by Pillars to which they are affixed Now if so shall wee question whether here be true Churches of Christ or no Heare the Apostle 1 Tim. 3. That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground or stay of Truth Where the Pillar of Truth is there is the House of God the Church of God Where the light of Gods truth is set up and held forth in a loving way to the guiding of passengers in the way to Eternall life are not here the Golden-Candlestick And if so shall wee question whether here be true Churches or no Let the spirit of truth decide it The seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven Churches Revel. 1. So many golden Candlesticks so many Churches Here is a first evidence where the light of the Gospell is held forth ordinarily in a publick and Ministeriall way to a people that professes to walk by the direction of it can it be questioned whether there bee a Church a true Church or no Secondly where the Seales of Gods Covenant the Sacraments of the New Testament are for substance rightly dispenced according to the Institution of Jesus Christ can it be questioned whether there be a true Church or no Where the Seales of the Covenant are there is the Covenant it self the visible Covenant and where that is there is a Church To them pertained the Covenants saith the Apostle speaking of the Church of the Jewes Now who will deny these appurtenances to our Churches Here are the Seales of the Covenant and consequently the Covenant it self Arg. 3. And as the Covenant so the Glory To them pertained the Glory of the covenants so Paul putteth them together The Glory â—iz the Arke of the Covenant a Testimony of Gods gracious and glorious presence Now where this is shall wee question whether there be a true Church or no Where there is the presence of Christ in the midst of his Ordinances so as in an ordinary way they are made effectuall to the conversion and salvation of many where Christ sitteth walketh in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks displaying his Power and Glory can it be questioned whether there bee true Churches of Christ or no But that he hath done and doth this in some of our Congregations I think it will not be denyed It must be an envious hand that will dare to write Jchabod upon the dooreâ— of some of these houses Argu. 4. Where there are societies of visible Saintâ— all such by outward profession and some of them a considerable part of them walking in measure answerably to that profession can it be questioned whether there be true Churches of Christ or no To the Church of God which at Corinth to them which are sanctified in Christ Jesâ—â— called to be Saints It is the Apostles superscription to this Epistle in the sâ—cond verse of the Chapter where the latter clause is but an Exegesis an Explication of the former A true Church of God and a company of visible Saints are one and the same Ob. Why but wee are not all such Answ. No more were they in this Church of Corinth The incestuous person and many others amongst them they were strange Saints yet a Church a true Church A company of visible Saints joyning together in the Ordinances of God though there be an unapprovable mixture of some heterogeneous members amongst them maketh a Church a true Church Now as for these all these I think it cannot it will not be denyed but that they are to be found in some of our Churches Here are pillars of Truth golden Candlesticks the doctrine of the Gospel truely and purely preached here are the seales of the Covenant the Sacraments for substance rightly administred here is the glory the presence of Christ in his ordinances ordinarily concurring with them and giving efficacy to them for the begetting and nourishing up of Christian soules unto eternall life here are Congregations prefessing subjection to the Ordinances of Christ a considerable part whereof are visible Saints walking answerably to that profession Object True saith the Brownist for so I must look upon all those who shall deny the truth of our Churches as Separatists and that rigid ones Suppose all this be granted yet here are great defects and those no lesse then destructive making your Churches to be no true Churches But what are they Why possibly some of them will not spare to say that we have no true Ministery Answ. If not why then do they retain that Baptisme which they received through our hands Qu. But why have wee no true Ministery Here possibly some will cry out upon us as Antichristian charging us That wee have received our calling from Rome viz. by the imposition of the hands of those who had their Calling and Ordination from thence Answ. As for them I shall put them and the Church of Rome together to debate the point and so leave them The Church of Rome challengeth us that wee are no true Ministers Why Because wee have not received our Ordination from them The Separatist on the other hand hee cryes out upon us Wee are no true Ministers Why Because we have received our Ordination thence Sure both cannot speak truth I shall therefore here leave them to dispute it out whilest in the mean time I speak a word or two with those who are of somewhat more cool and 〈◊〉 Object Wee are no true Ministers say they Why Because wee have not received our calling from the people Wee are neither Ordained nor Elected by them Answ. To this charge take this Reply in breif First As for our Calling wee acknowledg we have not received it from them but from Jesus Christ our Lord and theirs His servants wee are and in his Name do wee execute our Ministeriall Offices and Functions not in the Churches
not been hereby dissolved and taken down The Church-work which hath been and yet is in hand in this Kingdom is not new bâ—â—lding but repairing No just reason why the Inhabitants should forsake the house for that 2. But suppose the Church hath not her way as yet laid out yet it will not be denied but that she hath been all this while seeking it out Now for any in the mean time to withdraw and separate themselves from her is an advantage taken not given The story tells us of Ezra Ezr. 8. how that he with his company in their return from Babylon to Jerusalem celebrated a Fast at the River Ahavah setting themselves in a solemn manner to seek of God a right way for themselves and theirs Now whilest they were at their prayers should a party have broke away from them upon pretext of a perfect knowledge of what they were seeking for whether this had been a warrantable separation or no I dare put it to them who take up this plea for themselves 3. But neither in the third place can it truly be said that the Church is so wholly destitute of a way to walk in whether for Worship or Government The former of which is and for some good time hath been fully agreed upon The latter how ever not fully compleated yet is it for substance both determined and held forth 2. But it is not held forth as jure divino Answ. I. Suppose it be not yet is it not held forth as not jure divino 2. Though it be not held forth as the Government expresly laid down in the Word yet is it held forth as that Government which is conceived to be most agreeable to the Word Otherwise it should not come up to the National Covenant 3. But your own practise will shortly justifie ours You intend a separation in your Churches and what do we more Answ. 1. A Separation in a Church by purging of it will not justifie a Separation from a Church by departing from it 2. Neither will it follow that because we purge our own floors therefore others strangers may come and set their fans on work in them 3. Nor yet will a Separation which is orderly and regular justifie that which is disorderly and irregular 4. But suppose this our separation be tolerated by Authority Ans. Suppose it which yet for my own part I cannot suppose yet will not that make it warrantable In as much first as Toleration is properly of evil Thou toleratest that woman Jezabel Revel. 2. 20. However in the second place Toleration doth not change the nature of the thing but leaveth it as it findeth it Much lesse in the third place will a Toleration for the future justifie a precedent act done before thaâ— Toleration Such and the like Allegations I might reckon up many But they are but as I said fig leaves though the best covers that can be found yet not sufficient to bide the injustice of this way Much lesse the rashnesse of it That is the last particular which if this practice of new Separation cannot be acquitted from this alone will be enough to render it an unwarrantable Separation and consequently a Schism Now whether so or no will soon appear if we consider either the ground or manner of it 1. For the ground what ever can be pretended there will be sound none sufficient to bear it out Suppose some just grievances may be found amongst us Yet are they tolerable If so then is Separation upon this ground intolerable unwarrantable In as much as it ought not to be but upon a very great and weighty cause and that where there is no remedy Suppose there be some nay many just scandals amongst us by reason of corruption in manners Yet is not this neither a sufficient ground for Separation from a Church wherein there is purity of Doctrine and Worship with some power of godlinesse to be found So as should it be granted that there is a cause and that cause weighty yet is it not so weighty as to turn the scale for Separation Surely how weighty soever it may be pretended to be yet 1. It is not so weighty as that which the Brownists had to plead for their Separation most of those blocks which they stumbled at being now taken out of the way And yet for all that theirs was and yet is universally censured by all but themselves for a rash Separation 2. Neither in the second place will it be found to be so weighty as to weigh down as to justifie Schism This being the weightier and greater evil of the two This was Augustines Argument as I told you against the Donatists And we may as truly take it up in this case Though Toleration of some unwarrantable mixtures in a Church be an evil yet is it not so great an evil as Separation upon that ground Put them into the ballance together and it will be found that this preponderates and weighs down that And if so needs must this be an unadvised Separation Vnadvised So it must be concluded to be in the Leaders how advised soever in other things much more in many of the followers who are carried away upon very light and sleight grounds Instance in two or three of them 1. The worthinesse of some of the persons who are leading-men going before them in this cause Is it likely that such men should be deceived Ans. And what I pray you were Peter and Barnabas Were not they worthy men And yet for all that we finde them taken in this snare guilty of an unwarrantable separation 2. But this way prospers Many come into it daily Ans. And did not Arianism so Though a damnable Heresie yet how did it flie like lightning over-spreading the world of a sudden breaking in like a Land flood carrying all afore it And do not many Errors acknowledged Errors the like in the Kingdom at this day And yet never the better to be liked for that 3. But here is a great deal of strictnesse holy strictnesse in this way Ans. And was there not so in most of those first and famous Schisms of the Church The Novatians Audians Donatists Luciferians all strict in their way strict in their personal walkings strict in their Church-Order in all likelihood more strict then the rest of the Churches which they separated from Neither is it to be wondered at that we should meet with extraordinary strictnesse in a right-hand Error But the question is whether there be not too great a strictnesse Whether the way of the Gospel be not in this way made narrower then ever Christ made it or his Apostles left it Such weak grounds they are which multitudes are carried away with Now needs must this be in them a rash and unadvised Separation who have no better principles to bottom their practise upon then these In the second place consider the manner of
to the not onely present breach and interruption but unlesse God be the more merciful to the utter endangering if not destroying of Church-peace and unity in this Kingdom And if a bare connivance at these divisions have already occasioned such a combustion what do we think would a Toleration do A Toleration of all sorts of Sects and Schisms and Heresies and Blasphemies which is by some and those more then a good many under the abused notion of Liberty of Conscience so earnestly pleaded for For my own part should this be once yeelded which I hope their eyes shall first fail who look for it I should look upon it as the Passing-bell to the Churches peace and glory if not to the true Religion of God in this Kingdom Surely blessed Paul was of another minde otherwise he would not have been so earnest with his Corinthians for unity in judgement as well as in affection Never had he any thought of such a politike principle for the according of his Corinthians to indulge every of them their several opinions and Wayes No this he knew well enough was the high way to confusion And therefore he presseth upon them unity in judgement as well as in affection As we desire the one endeavor after the other Obj. Why but it is a thing impossible that there should be such an agreement among Christians Such a general consent in judgement that all should be of one opinion It never was so it never will be so Paul himself tells us expresly There must be Heresies Answ. True so there must be It is an unavoidable evil through Satans malice and mans corruption I but so there ought not to be So as this is no plea no just excuse either for the broaching or contenancing or tolerating of them 2. Neither in the second place is it a thing so absolutely impossible for Christians to attain to such an agreement in the Truth A thing in one Congregation very possible and orâ—â—nary why then impossible in many 3. However in the third place though there be some difference about circumstantials in some points of lesser consequence and concernment yet in the fundamentals the chief heads and principles of Religion there may and ought to be an agreement amongst the Churches of Christ This we are sure in a true Church is not onely possible but necessary Such an agreement there was in the last age betwixt the Church of England and other Reformed Churches as also betwixt her own members in her own bosome Some differences there were about Order Government Discipline Ceremonies but for Substantials matters of Faith they were agreed witnesse the sweet harmony of their confessions And O that there were but the like concord and agreement to be found amongst us at this day That our differences were confined wholly to the Hem of Christs Garment Such were the divisions of the last age in comparison of ours And yet even those divisions were then thought sad enough What would not the godly party on both sides have given to have bought them of O what then shall we do for the healing of our present Breaches All of us implore the help of the great Physitian that he would undertake the cure which if he do not vain is the help of man the Church of God among us is in a lost condition For this mercy let the Favorites of Heaven ply the throne of Grace with their prayers all of us second them with the best of our endeavors striving after a holy unity in judgement as much as others do after division To that end Whereto we have already attained as the Apostle adviseth let us walk by the same rule Truths upon good ground received and beleeved by the Churches of Christ and our selves hold them fast In other things if we be otherwise minded differing from our Brethren in some points of inferior concernment let us carry these our differences in a humble and as much as may be in a quiet and peaceable way rather somthering our private opinions in our own brests then to suffer them to break forth to set the Church on fire to the disturbance and breach of the publike peace which ought to be more dear to us then many of the children of our own brains So waiting upon God until he shall further reveal his Truth to our selves or others And thus I have with as much brevity as I could dispatched also this latter branch of this Apostolical Charge Concerning which I shall now onely pray that God by his Spirit which is the Spirit of peace and unity would imprint it upon your hearts and upon the hearts of all his people in this Kingdom Amen FINIS a Luke 1. 3. Acts 1. 1. b In personâ Theophili fidelibus omnibus sua scripta dedicavit Lucas Aret in Luc. Theophilus vir Senatorii Ordinisâ— ibid. Doctrinam omnium communem privatim suo Theophilo destinat Calv. ibid. Neque enim ideò minus ad omnes pertinet Pauli doctrinaâ— quia â—x suis Epistolis alias certis urbibus alias etiam hominibus dicavit Idem c Nathan Homes Animadversions upon Mr. Tombs Exercitations Preface to the Reader d Hâc lege Evangelium suum Theophilo nuncupat Lucas ut fidelem ejus custodiam suscipiat Calv. ibidem Introduction Josh. 7. 10. 13. Divisions Pauls affection insinuated Huic morbâ— exulceratisâ—imo primuâ— malagâ—â—ata quaedam adhibet Pareus ad Loc. Observ. A fit preparative for sharp Reproofs A threefold Argument here couched Each considered first simply 1. The Obsecration Estius ad loc. Obs. P. Mart. Com. ad loc. A language peculiar to the New Testament Phâ—l v. 8 9. Obs. The sweetnesse of the Gospel above the Law Applicat What language Ministers are to use to their people They may command 2 Thes. 3. 6 1 Tim. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 7. 10. And Rebuke 2 Tim. 4. 2 Cum auctoritate summa tanquà m Dei Legatuâ— Beza ad Loc. But sometimes beseech 2. The Compellation Gen. 29. 4. Brethren a word full of affection 1 King 20. 32 33. Obs. Christians should look upon each other as Brethren Loving as Brethren 1 Ioh. 3. 18. 1 Pet. 3. 8. Performing Brotherly offices each to other Deut. 25. Vid. Aynsworth ad loc. Prov. 17. 17. Obs. Ministers must look upon their people as Brethren Though not deserving so to be accounted 1 Cor. 4. 15. Applâ—c A patern for Ministers in these dividing times 2 Cor. 12. 15. Isai. 1. 2. Hoses 6. 4. How Christians should stand affected towards their separating Brethren Gen. 45. Ipsum fraternitatis nomen utcunque Donatistis fastidiosum est tamen Orthodoxis erga ipsos Donatistas necessarium Optat. lib. 3. 3. The Adjuration Eos per nomen Christi adjurat ut quantum ipsum amant tantum studcant concordiae Calvin ad loc. The name of Jesus what Estius Com. ad loc. 1. For Christs sake A prevalent Argument 2 Cor. 5. 14. Col. 3. 17. 2. By Authority from Christ