now having given you this Account of the State of the Church of Pergamos as it was represented by our Lord himself I am much mistaken if from this Authority we may not be able to justifie the Reformation of the Church of England against the most specious and popular Exceptions which they of Rome make against our Reformation And this I shall endeavour to do under these three heads First That in this Church whilst it was in Communion with and Subjection to the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errours both in Doctrine and Worship added to the Profession of the Common Faith. Secondly That upon this Supposition we might and ought to reform our selves as we have done Thirdly That the main Objections which they of the Roman Church do bring and whereby they seek to stagger those of our Communion and to fright them into their own may by this instance of the Message of Christ to the Church of Pergamos be demonstrated to be vain and fallacious and therefore by no means fit to remove us from our stedfastness First That in this Church as in all others that were in Communion with the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errours introduced into the Faith and Worship of Christians And first as in the Church of Pergamos so in these Churches there were Doctrines and Practices leading to Idolatry I wish that were all but it is not all for Idolatry it self if it be possible for us to know what it is was practised and that practice not only connived at but encouraged and commanded and of this sort were the practices of Adoring the Host Praying to Saints to dead Men and Women and Worshipping of Images contrary to the whole tenor of the Scripture providing that we should worship the Lord our God and that him only we should serve And it is very observable that when we urge them with these things they defend themselves from Idolatry by the use of such distinctions as 't is impossible for the common People to save themselves by if indeed these distinctions would do the business As for Doctrines tending to licenciousness of Life and Manners what can be more evidently such than the easie terms upon which they promised forgiveness of sins and security from Hell Confession to a Priest with attrition being reckoned sufficient to receive a Pretorial Absolution which shall be valid in Heaven as also the invention of Purgatory and the Power of the Church to shorten the pains of it by Indulgences by applying the treasure of the Churches Merits by Masses and Prayers with a great many abuses of this nature And besides all these what shall we say to their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Half Communion their Latin Service their Sacrifice of the Mass for which there is no President or Rule in the Scriptures or in Antiquity but plain and full consent there is both of the one and of the other against them But now to all this they make one general Reply and tell us that the Church meaning the Roman Church hath not erred in these points because she cannot err at all for she is the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches and the Standard of Catholick Unity and Faith she is that One Catholick Church which cannot fail to which Christ has promised his perpetual Presence and Assistance that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her and of which St. Paul said that she is the pillar and ground of the Truth In a word that whatsoever is by her defined is infallibly true and therefore that these Doctrines and Practices are neither damnable errors and sins nor errors and sins at all Now if indeed such promises were made to that Church we should be brought into a very great strait and not very well know whether we should believe the Scripture speaking against the Doctrines and Practices imposed by that Church or the Scripture speaking to us to believe and do as that Church requires But first of all we say that whatsoever Promises were made to the Catholick Church they do not belong only to the Church of Rome which is but a part of it and that these Promises that the gates of Hell should not prevail against the Church and that Christ would be with his Church to the end of the world amounted to no more than this that she should be preserved from so much error as would utterly destroy the Being of a Church not from all Error whatsoever but that no Promise in particular was made to the Church of Rome so much as to secure her from fundamental Errors utterly destructive of the Being of a Church especially since St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome plainly supposes that it was possible for them to be quite cut off from the Body of Christ Rom. 11.21 22. where speaking of the rejection of the Jews he hath these words For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Which had been vain words if it had been impossible by virtue of any Priviledge conferred upon the See of Peter for the Church of Rome not to continue in God's goodness or it be an infallible truth that she shall not be cut off We do what we can to find the Infallibility of the Roman Church in the Scriptures but if we cannot find it there is much more reason to conclude that she hath erred because some of her Doctrines and Practices do seem to us apparently to contradict the Scripture than to believe she is infallible because she says so of her self But to this they say that we mis-interpret those Scriptures which seem to condemn what they profess and practise and in short that we cannot arrive to certainty of the true sence of Scripture without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter which the Church is Well for the present I will suppose this but then this will be the consequence of the Supposition that 't is impossible for that Church ever to convince me or any reasonable man of her own Infallibility by the Scriptures For when she tells me that Christ hath said Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth and Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world she supposes that the Promise of Infallibility to her self is so plainly made that every man who has a mind to understand the truth may be certain of the true sence of the words But if I may arrive at a certain sence of these Scriptures without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter then why may I not be as certain of the sence of other Texts as plain as these without such an Interpreter It
the Faith that will either dispense with the Commandments of God or teach for doctrines the commandments of men There must be Heresies among you that is this must happen in the Church it self Men should arise from among themselves speaking perverse things And thus also St. Peter foretold There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 But it was impossible they should do it privily or slily if they were not of the Church and had not thereby an opportunity under a pretence of Piety and care of Christian Truth to slip their Innovations into the Church by degrees Whereas it is added That they which are approved may be made manifest the meaning is that honest men may more and more appear to be what they are So that in the words of the Text there are these two things observable I. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church There must be Heresies among you II. The reason why God is pleased to permit Heresies that they who are approved may be made manifest 1. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church There must be Heresies among you By which we are not to understand an absolute necessity that Heresies should arise For this is inconsistent with that liberty of humane Nature which Religion and God's dealing with Mankind in giving us Laws and making us to expect a Day of Judgment do necessarily suppose But the meaning is this that all things considered it was in it self highly probable that Heresies would be brought into the Church and that God certainly foresaw that they would come in men being left to that liberty which is capable of being abused and under that Grace that may be resisted All therefore that is needful to be considered under this head will be this what are the grounds of that probability of the coming in of Heresies which the Text supposes of Heresies I say which God saw would certainly come to pass if he interposed not his irresistible power to prevent it Now it was not to be expected but that Heresies would be if we consider on the one side the revelation of Christian Truth and on the other the Temper and Circumstances of Mankind 1. As to the Revelation of Christian Truth we are to consider the tendency and design of the Doctrine it self and the evidence we have that God hath revealed it 1. The spirit and design of the Doctrine of Christianity which is plainly to rectifie the ill Manners and the corrupt Affections of Mankind to restrain them from Liberties which most Men desire how unreasonable and hurtful soever they are and to tie them up to Rules that are not grateful to flesh and bloud Moreover the Doctrine of Christianity truly represented is equally for the Interest of all Mankind and is by no means framed to serve the designs of Ambition and to advance one part of the Church to the prejudice and slavery of all the rest Lastly It teaches a Worship of great simplicity that has but very few Mysteries and nothing of that Pomp and Ceremony which is so pleasing to the Senses and the Fancies of Men and will not suffer them to place the weight of Religion in any outward Shows and Performances but in loving the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbours as our selves And to such a course of life and temper of mind it obligeth us by all that it teaches concerning God and Christ and a life to come our Creed serving no other turn but to make it necessary for us to live a sober righteous and godly life But then 2. The evidence we have for the truth of this Doctrine and that God hath revealed it is not so irresistible as to over-rule all contradiction and perverseness though it be sufficient to satisfie a wise and honest Man nor is the manner wherein these things are testified and declared to us so inlightning as to make it absolutely impossible for a Man to mistake about them or for those that wilfully pervert them to delude others with putting false colours upon them although it is so plain that we must be extraordinarily to blame if we run into any Error against sound Faith or good Life One would think the Doctrine of the Resurrection had been plainly enough delivered first by our Saviour then by his Apostles and that the Institution of the Lord's Supper and the Order which the Apostles observed in the Administration of it was also plain enough and yet in this very Church of Corinth there were divers fouly mistaken as to the one and still wanted instruction as to the other One would think that those words This is my body were sufficiently plain and that there was not the least need for our Lord to have added presently after that saying But take notice that I mean This is my body by deputation or representation or in a figurative sense any more then to have so explained himself when he said I am the door I am the vine c. But yet because he did not think fit to leave an express caution against the literal sense of these words we know it has been insisted upon against plain evidence of Scripture Sence and Reason Again let a Man consider the Institution of the Holy Communion and have no prejudice upon his mind and he will never desire that it should have been more plainly expressed that the Cup be administred to all than it is especially since it is said of the Cup Drink ye All of this and they All drank of it But yet because these words were not added or the like And let no man ever presume to administer the Bread without administring the Cup to the same Person the Cup hath been taken away from the People for the greater reverence of Administration When St. Paul said that he that understands not the Language in which Prayer or giving of Thanks is made is not edified it could hardly have been thought necessary to have added this Let therefore all Forms of Publick Prayer and Administration of Sacraments in all Ages of the Church be made in the Tongue that the People understand And yet for want of some such conclusion Publick Prayers have been made in a Language that the People understand not and the Practice maintained as confidently as if the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians were itself in a Language that we could not understand There is no question but God could have added such explications and cautions in the Scripture as would have made it a great deal more difficult and troublesome to bring in those Errors than it hath been and perhaps utterly impossible to maintain them amongst Christians without destroying the Bible out of the World But then by the same reason that such cautions had been necessary thousand times as many more had been necessary too For so many Additions by way of caution must have been made as there are ways of eluding and perverting a
compares the Body of Christ The eye cannot say unto the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you v. 21. Now it being the Apostle's design in this Chapter to press the Christians to Charity and Unity and mutual serviceableness one to another as Members of the same Body he assures them in the Words of the Text which I have chosen That they were indeed Members of one Body and he tells them what it was that made them so For by one spirit says he we are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles and have been made to drink into one spirit That is by being Baptized they were made Members of the Body of Christ and united one to another under him the Head and this whether they were Jews or Gentiles bond or free i. e. whatever worldly circumstances made any distinction between them yet all they were one in Christ who professed his Faith and were by Baptism admitted into his Church And this Union of one to another under Christ was testified and declared by their Communion in the Table of the Lord. And whereas he says that by one Spirit they were baptized into this one Body and were all made to drink into one Spirit the meaning is that the Grace of the Holy Spirit was given in Baptism and in the Lords Supper to all the Faithful who do not receive unprofitable signs but one as well as another receives the quickning Grace of God to make them living Members of that one Body So that although there was a diversity and an equality in the Spiritual Gifts that were distributed among the Faithful in those dayes yet they were all equally Members of the same Body of Christ in as much as they were all Baptized into his Body and were all equally Partakers of his Table And thus I have explained the meaning of the Text with the relation it hath to the design of the Apostle in this Chapter That which remains is to speak to the particular design of the Text which is to shew that Christians are one Body or Society of Men and wherein the Vnity of the Church consists and what our part is to maintain it and how we may in this divided state of Christianity be satisfied that we are within that Unity Before I enter upon which I may well make two observations upon the Text in behalf of the Doctrine and Practice of this our Church of England 1. That St. Paul thought the observation of the two institutions of our Saviour viz. Baptism and the Communion of the Holy Table was a sufficient proof that believers were one Body And we have reason to believe that if he had known there were other Sacraments or outward badges of Christian profession instituted by Christ for the Church which is his Body he would not have omitted the mention of them here where he proves the Unity of the Church by Baptism and Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ We know that the Evangelists mention no other outward signs and visible tokens of our profession and God's Grace but Baptism and the Lord's Supper And it is something to our purpose that St. Paul owns no more than these where he industriously proves that Christians are one Body by these 2. I observe that the Communion of the Lords Table is described by drinking into one Spirit i. e. by one part of the Sacrament as sometimes it is by the other of breaking of bread But then nothing can be more plain from such expressions than that one part or kind is as necessary as the other because sometimes one sometims the other is put for both which had been against all rules of speaking if it had been allowable to separate the one from the other But as to that of Drinking the Cup it is most evident that it belonged to all for says St. Paul We have all been made to drink into one Spirit All who All the Priests of the Christian Church only No all that belong to the Body of Christ whether Jews or Gentiles bond or free But now if St Paul had known that it was not necessary for the Christian People to drink of the Cup in the Communion but that it was sufficient for them to have received the Bread only Can we think that he would have described their receiving the Sacrament by receiving a part of it which did not necessarily belong to them and not rather by that which did I do not make this observation to prove only that the People did at first universally receive the Cup for that is not denied by any but by those who have disputed themselves out of all Modesty and even these may be convinced beyond all doubt by this very place that all the Faithful in St. Paul's days received the Cup for otherwise how could he with truth have said that they had been all made to drink into one Spirit But that which I chiefly observe is this That though the Faithful did in those days drink as well as eat at the Lord's Table yet if the Apostle had known and surely he knew it if it was true that however it was the practice then yet it might without injury be altered in after times he would not have used an argument to satisfie the Faithful of his time that they all belonged to the Body of Christ which might afterwards be quite out of doors viz. when the Church should please to alter the Institution of our Saviour in this matter but he would rather have insisted upon receiving in that kind which could not be justly taken away from them and have said that all had been Baptized into the Body of Christ or made Members of his Church by Baptism and all that are of his Body may claim to eat of that one Bread. This by the bye I now address my self to the main business I propounded which is to state the notion of the Vnity of the Church to shâ—w what is meant by it and to make some Inferences from it for our farther instruction And in the first place it is evident that St. Paul here speaks not of any one particular Church but of the Society of all Christians whatsoever that are Baptized and have a right to the Holy Communion whether they be Jews or Gentiles And it is concerning the Unity of this Church that we are to enquire or what that is which makes it one Body as the Apostle here calls it To which purpose we are to consider distinctly what are the several grounds or notions of Unity which are laid down in the New Testament or what those things are that belong in common to all Christians as their Duty or their Priviledg and in respect of their joint performance of the former of which and their enjoyment of the latter they may be said to be One. 1. Therefore all Christians do unite in their profession to submit to one Head who is our
Lord Jesus Christ which is so necessary a duty incumbent on all that he who makes not this profession is in no respect within the Unity of the Church this being the ground of all other reasons of Unity whatsoever and therefore the Apostle makes this to be one principal foundation of the Unity of the Church that it professes subjection to one Lord Ephes 4.5 And in the third verse of this Chapter he layes down this mark of distinction between the impulse of the Spirit of God and the impulse of an evil Spirit That whosoever is led by the former doth say that Jesus is the Lord. They are also One in professing the Common Faith that was at first delivered to the Saints which began to be Preached when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and hath ever since been contained in the Holy Scriptures and summarily expressed in the Ancient Creeds And therefore to one Lord the Apostle doth in the forementioned place add one Faith Thus we find in Rom. 6.17 That one Form of Doctrine was delivered to Christians and that they are to stand fast in one Spirit and with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 Thus St Paul charged Timothy That if any man taught otherwise and consented not to wholsome Words the words of our Lord Jesns Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness he should from such withdraw himself 1 Tim. 6.3 not looking upon them any longer as Christians or as such conversiing with them which together with many other like passages manifestly shews that he who in any point departed from the common faith of Christians that was received from the Apostles was broken off from the Unity of the Church which is One by a Common profession of certain points of Grand importance taught at first by the Holy Spirit For which reason St. Cyprian doubted not to say He cannot seem a Christian who doth not persist in the Vnity of Christ's Gospel and Faith. 3. There is an Unity of Sacraments in the Christian Church One Baptism by which we are all admitted into the same state of Duties and Priviledges undertaking the conditions of the New Covenant and gaining a right to the promises thereof and therefore the Apostle adds also One Baptism And here in the Text he expresly affirms that by one Spirit we are Baptized into one Body into one Body of People professing one Common Faith and claiming the Priviledges belonging to such a profession The like Unity is inferred from the other Sacrament since we are all made to drink into one Spirit And in the 10th Chapter of this Epistle v. 16 17. he saith The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread. 4. There is also an Unity of Obedience to the same Laws and Institutions For to all Christians it equally belongeth to govern themselves effectually by the will of their Lord Jesus Christ to observe his Ordinances and Commands by the doing of which they declare themselves to be of his Flock in that they hear his voice and of his Kingdom in that they live by his Laws and that as there is one and the same obligation so there is one and the same correspondent practice one and the same Spirit of Obedience that runs through all 5. There is also an Unity of Affection or mutual Charity prescribed to the Church Thus saith our Saviour By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Thus saith the Apostle in this Chapter The Members should have the same care one for another and whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it which kind of Unity appeared most visibly after the Church was begun on the day of Pentecost for it is observed presently that the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one Soul. Acts 4.32 6. There is also an Unity of Communion in the Service and Worship of God in joining together in the same Acts of Piety and Devotion according to the Rules of the Gospel in Prayers and in Sacraments and in glorifying God with one mouth moreover in the common defence of the same Truth and in the joint opposition of every dangerous error in propagating and promoting the same Faith of the Gospel and striving together for the interest of it 7. There is also an Unity of Discipline or Government which is to be maintained by every Member's keeping in his Place and Order in the Church the People of Christ receiving the Mysteries of Christianity from their Pastors and these confederating one with another for the maintenance of common Christianity without invading each others Liberty and Jurisdiction and accommodating as near as may be all Rites of Discipline and Worship to one another and assisting each other by Advice and Correspondence and giving no occasion to breach of Charity and Christian Communion by abusing a lawful or by claiming an undue Authority Other more particular Instances might be mentioned but I shall content my self with these believing that upon these Grounds of Unity which I have noted it will not be difficult to satisfie those scruples which have been thrown into some mens minds concerning the necessity of being of that one Church which is the Body of Christ and they are chiefly two 1. That there must be one Church which is the only Church of Christ exclusively to all the rest that are not in Communion with her 2. That where there is most Unity there of necessity must be the true Church 1. That there is but one Society or Communion which is the Body of Christ exclusively to all other Communions whatsoever For thus they argue The Apostle here and the New Testament elsewhere affirms That the disciples of Christ are one Body If therefore there be as there are several Bodies of Christians in this divided state of Christendom that are not United in Communion in Worship in Government no nor in Doctrine neither these cannot all be the Body of Christ which is but one and therefore there must be but one of them which is that Body of Christ or the true Church And from hence they proceed farther since we grant that they are a Church we do in effect grant that we are not so much as a part of the true Church our selves because we are not in Communion with them and we and they are not Members of one another as all the Members of the Church are Which kind of reasoning how likely soever it may be to confound and amuse a Man is by no means fit to unsettle a prudent nor so much as an honest Person if he will give himself leave to consider The plain Answer to