a Governour or as a Covenanter If as a Governour then it is necessary that all his inferior Governours be impowered by his Commission to act by his Authority which Commission if they want they cannot be said to act by his Authority and no Illegal Authority can confer a valid Legal Title If as a Covenanter he cannot be thus obliged without his own will and therefore none can celebrate a Covenant in Gods name so as to oblige him to performance of it unless God signify it to be his pleasure to empower him to do so as in Law none can be obliged by anothers act who has not been empowered to act in his name by his Letters of Proxy And he that presumes of himself to make a Covenant wherein God is by him engaged as a Party without being so empowered by God as what he does cannot in any Legal exposition be reputed as Gods Act so neither can it infer any Legal Obligation on him to performance § XI NOR are these Sacraments invalid only as to the Title but also even as to the Possession of the Benefits to be conveyed by them For it is to be considered that the Case is very different betwixt the Power given by God to Ministers for the conveyance of Spiritual Blessings by the Sacraments and that which is given by Worldly Princes to inferior Officers for the conveyance of Secular Favours For because the possessions of Lands are in effect subject to the power of the Sword the inferior Officers who have the power of the Sword and withal have the Lands within the Jurisdiction wherein that power is allowed them as they may decree wrong in giving Lands to Persons who have no Legal Right to them so they may also for a time put them in possession of them But the advantages of the Sacraments are Spiritual and consequently their Possession as well as Right must depend wholly on the Divine pleasure and it cannot be presumed likely to please God to give any validity to the Acts of Vsurpers Nay that a Curse instead of a Blessing is to be feared from Ordinances so administred will appear by the same Principles of Government For there are no Crimes more punishable by these Principles than those which encroach on the Supreme Government and none reputed more Treasonable than pretending a Commission where none is given and counterfeiting the Broad Seal especially when they proceed so far as to raise actual Sedition on these pretences Now of all these Crimes these Vnauthorized Sacraments must be charged by these Principles § XII THE Administrers of them pretend a Commission from God when they have none because they plainly take upon them to intermeddle in that Government which nothing can empower them to intermeddle in without an express Commission at least they cannot expect to be trusted and submitted to by Loyal Subjects without such a pretence They presume to counterfeit the broad Seal for such our dissenting Brethren themselves conceive the Sacraments to be in respect of the New Covenant and accordingly charge the Romanists with counterfeiting the Broad seal of Heaven for adding to the Number of the Sacraments in taking upon them to oblige God as a Party of a Covenant and pretending to set his Seal to it without Power received from him to do so They raise Sedition by setting up Societies within the Jurisdiction of those Churches whereof themselves were Originally Members and yet independent on the Government of those Churches Which if it be not Sedition by the Principles of Government in general not as confined particularly to that which is Civil or Ecclesiastical for my part I must confess I do not understand what Sedition is And certainly the Principles of Government in general as prescinding from both these kinds must be admitted in these Disputes unless we will pretend Ecclesiastical Government not to agree with that which is Secular in as much as one Vnivocal Notion which is indeed to devest it of any thing of Government but a bare Name And then by the same Principles of Government not only they are Traitors who raise the Rebellion but also they who maintein and abet it when it is raised which will involve the Communicants in these Sacraments in this Capital Guilt as well as the Administrers of them § XIII AND that indeed the valid Administration of the Sacraments is thus confined to the Regularly-Ordeined Clergy will appear whether we consider the Sacraments as Confederations into a Body Politick or only as sacred Rites and Ceremonies instituted by God in Order to some great effects to be promoted by them without any design upon a Body Politick If we consider them as confederations into a Body Politick that is as Baptism does admit a Member into the Church and as the Blessed Eucharist does not only signify but perpetuate and effect that Vnion with Christ the Head of this Mystical Body and with their Brethren as fellow-Fellow-Members which may make them capable of receiving those vital influences which are here expected the same way as a Member of the Natural Body by being vitally united to the Living Head and Members is made capable of receiving that Communication of Blood and Spirits by which the Life of the whole Body is mainteined Then they will plainly appear to be the Right of Governours For in all Governments the Right of admitting Members into their Societies at first or continuing them in it in order to the instating them in the Legal Priviledges of such Societies is never conceived to belong to particular Members but only to Governours So that if a particular Vnauthorized Member should presume to admit a Member into the Body Politick whereof he is himself a Member such an Act were not only Irregular but Invalid in it self so that a Member so admitted cannot be reputed a Legal Member of such a Society nor consequently be Legally intitled to the Priviledges of it without a new admission For considering that this admission and continuance of Members in a Society does withal intitle them to all the Priviledges of it if the power of this admission and deprivation be not confined to the Governours they must consequently be deprived of the Rewards and Punishments for indeed the Priviledges Men gain by being of any Society are the only Rewards that are proper and natural to invite Men to it or continue them in it and the deprivation of those Priviledges especially if they be so necessary for their Preservation as that the loss of them must inevitably expose Persons so deprived to the greatest inconveniences are the only natural Punishments to discourage Men from doing any thing contrary to the Will of the Governours of such a Society And how possible it is for any Government to be mainteined in a Society where the Rewards and Punishments are not at the disposal of the Governours I believe our Brethren themselves will never be able to explain And therefore pursuant to these Principles for my part I must confess
may have leave to urge the Allegory further as the Apostle shews us a Precedent in other the like Arguments from and applications of the same Allegory that the dependence of other Members on the Governours of the Church must be as great as that of the Members of the natural Body on their Head this will both shew how extremely dangerous it must be for them to be cut off from the Communion of their Governours on any account That it must be in an ordinary way as impossible for such Members to live as it is for Members of the natural Body when they are deprived of those influences which they receive from their Head and how necessary it must be for them rather to submit to any Conditions short of Sin than to suffer themselves to be reduced to so dangerous a Condition § XIX I KNOW there is another notion of the word Head not for a Head of influence and Authority but of eminency and dignity only and I know that this is a Notion used in the Scripture also where the (b) Is. IX 14 15. Head and Tail are taken for the most worthy and unworthy places as here the Head and Feet may be taken for the same with the more noble and baser Members in the next verse and I know that this Notion is suitable enough to the Ebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Syriack Idiome But withal when I consider how much (c) Numb XXV 15 Judg. X. 18 XI 8 9 11. 1 Sam. XV. 17 Ps. XVIII 43 Is. VII 8 9. Hos. I. 11 oftener it is used even in that stile it self for a Head of influence and Authority than of dignity only how much more natural it is in this particular Allegory where all things in this Mystical Body of Christ are so exactly parallelled with the like things in the natural Body nay where they are parallelled in this very instance of the derivation of influences from Member to Member by which mutual communication the whole Body Mystical is supposed to be mainteined the same way as the Body natural is When I consider that this communication of influences is that which is absolutely necessary to the Apostles design in this place to shew the mutual need that the Members have of each other and that a bare Priority and Posteriority of dignity would be utterly impertinent to this purpose and of the two would rather seem to prove the contrary When I consider further that according to the customes of those times it seems very probable that according to the greatness of their Gifts they were usually intitled to their several Offices that as their Gifts were generally given them for the service of the Publick not for themselves so they who were found to have the greatest Gifts were generally preferred to the most eminent Offices Nay when I consider that at first before the settlement of an ordinary Government in the Christian Societies that is while they concorporated themselves with the Jews and met together with them in their Synagogues and as to any external coercion depended also on the Government of the Synagogue and before there was an ordinary course taken for deriving Authority regularly to Posterity which was not so necessary at first till they were put upon it either by the gradual decay of these Gifts or at least of the Evidences of them and the multitude of false pretenders to them or by the disorderliness of the administration of them in their publick Assemblies the very Gifts themselves seem immediately without any further approbation of Man to have intitled them to the several Offices and accordingly the Offices themselves are reckoned as (d) 1 Cor. XII 28 Gifts as indeed the Case now described seems really to have been the Case of the Corinthians when this Epistle was written that they were not as yet under any settled establishment for Government and St. Paul proves his Apostleship among other things from his Gifts on which supposition this latter exposition that the Head and Feet signifying higher and inferior dignity of Gifts must infer the former that the same Persons who were so qualified for their Gifts were accordingly ranked in their Offices in the Church and the interest they had in the Government yet still with this advantage for the former Exposition that that does more immediately comply with the Apostles design in shewing the mutual necessity and usefulness of the Members to each other I say all these things being considered whatever may be thought of this latter Exposition otherwise yet it can hardly be thought so peculiar to the Apostles meaning as to exclude the former on which I have grounded my Argument § XX BUT supposing this were true as we have proved it false that some Men might be so perfect even in this Life as not to need the Society of others in regard of any advantage themselves were capable of receiving by such a Society yet still they might be obliged to it and to submit to all unsinful Conditions of being admitted into it on account of the benefit that others might be capable of receiving from them Even the Principles of that Philosophy which generally inclines Men to these Enthusiastick fancies I mean the Platonical would have taught them that they are (a) Tull. Somn. Scipion. not born for themselves and that all the good which they are able to do they are also bound to do by the great design of Societies and of God himself if he design the maintenance of them whose principal advantage is this that they who of themselves are weak may there expect the benefit of all the gifts of those which are more able But the Christian Religion does further assure us that all our Gifts are (b) S. Matth. xxv 15 Talents which we are bound to improve for the good of others as well as our Selves and that accordingly we must at length be accountable not only for the Principal it self which we have received but also for the (c) v. 27 improvements we might have made if we had used our utmost diligence in improving them and for those Gifts whose nature is rather to be useful for others than for the Possessor they are such wherein Men are principally obliged to use this diligence that all Men have some of these but that they who are perfect must be supposed to enjoy them in a more plentiful measure And indeed none are more capable of doing good to others than they who are perfect themselves They must be supposed to be best experienced their Examples would be more securely imitated and in matters of this nature Examples are more instructive than the most accurate Notions there would be that pretence which the vulgar are too apt to make use of to recommend the very failings of great Persons by the Authority of the Persons who are guilty of them These would approve the Practicableness of Virtue even in our present Age and circumstances and the very reverence which
of being proved In which way of proceeding it is plain that it is supposed that Communion with Christ could not be maintained without Communion with his visible Church and in after Ages without a Communion with that Church which could derive a visible Succession from that which originally was so I say this is supposed Antecedently to the proof that the Seducers were disunited from Christ both because it was from hence proved that their Doctrines were destructive to the true Christ because the Church said they were so and because their Communion is proved not to have been with the true Christ because it was not with his Church But of this I may have more occasion to discourse more largely hereafter I only observe at present that they are not therefore said to have been disunited from Christ because they did in express terms disown him which is the principal thing which is urged to shew how different their case was from the present case of our Brethren § XXX But 3. Whatever the occasion was yet the Argumnets used by those Primitive Writers to convince those Seducers of the dangerousness of their condition do certainly come home to our Brethrens Case My meaning is they do not only prove that the Seducers could have no Communion with Christ because they did either expressly or interpretatiuely deny him but also because they had no visible Communion with the visible Church So I have already shewn that it was a visible Association which St. John meant b 1 Joh. i. 3 when he exhorted them to whom he wrote to communicate with his own Party because he and his communicated with the Father and the Son It seems then there was no communicating with Christ however Orthodox a Profession they made of him without a continuance in the Orthodox Communion So the Author to the Hebrews c Heb. x. 25 26. does not make the denying of Christ to be the true Messias to be the willful sin of which he there speaks so dreadfully but the forsaking of the publick Assemblies And the whole reasoning of St. Paul in comparing the Mystical Body of Christ with the natural Body does plainly suppose that although all Grace be derived from Christ the Mystical Head to the several Members of his Mystical Body as in the natural Body all the vital influences are derived from the Head to the several Members respectively yet there is withall the same mutual necessity of the Members to each other for receiving these influences from the Mystical Head as there is in the Natural Body for receiving influences from the Natural Head And therefore it is impossible in the Natural Body that any particular Member should receive influences from the Head if separated from its fellow-Fellow-Members by which those influences are to be propagated to it so it will also be as impossible by the same Analogy of reasoning for any Member of the Mystical Body of Christ to receive vital influences from Christ the Mystical Head of that Body if separated from its fellow-Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body And it is observable from the Offices and Gifts there mentioned that it must be an external Organical Body that is there spoken of in which only it is that those Offices and Gifts were capable of being exercised And from the reasoning they must not only be the Gifts but the Graces of the Spirit which are most properly to be considered as vital influences that are thus derived And then Persons divided from the Church must necessarily be in the state of Death as St. John supposes them as necessary as it is in the Body natural that that Member should be dead which receives no vital influences from the Head But these are also things which I may have occasion to discourse more largely in my second Part and therefore say no more concerning them at present CHAP. XII The very Case of abstaining from the Ordinances on pretence to Perfection seems to have been taken up and condemned in the time of the Apostles THE CONTENTS 8. This very pretence of abstaining from the external Ordidinances under the pretence of Perfection seems to have been taken up even in those Primitive Ages Euseb. Dem. Eu. L.iii. c. 4. The Philosophical Notions of those Ages concerning the worship of the supreme Deity § I. How this Hypothesis was received first into the Elective Philosophy thence taken up by the Hellenistical Jews and from them derived to the first Converts to Christianity § II. The several reasonings of the Primitive Christians that might make them in interest favourable to this Hypothesis § III. Particularly their pretending to a Mystical Priesthood might make them less solicitous for their dependence on the literal external Priesthood § IV. Instances of several like mistakes of those times in reasoning from Mystical Titles § V. How the Genius of this Philosophy has inclined men to this way of reasoning where-ever it has prevailed even among our modern Enthusiasts § VI. Inference 1. That what the Apostles did resolve in this particular they did resolve with a particular design upon our Adversaries Case § VII That the Prudential establishments of the Apostles are sufficiently secure § VIII Inf. 2. Hence may appear the insecurity of this way of arguing in general from Mystical Titles to the neglect of external Observances § IX.X. Inf. 3. It plainly appears to have been against the design of the Legislator in the very Case of the Jews from whom the Christians borrowed it § XI Inf. 4. That the whole contrivance of things by the Apostles plainly supposes that they also did not allow of this Plea for excusing any from the Publick Ordinances § XII Inf. 5. The Philosophers themselves never intended this Plea for their exemption from the Mysteries and external Rites of Initiation then used to which the Sacraments are answerable among Christians § XIII XIV Inf. 6. The great design of this way of arguing was to exclude themselves from paying any external worship to the Supreme Being and so destructive to the very foundation of the Christian Religion § XV. And this very rationally on the Hypothesis then received § XVI But the reason of this Argument does not hold against those Exteriors which are observed by the Christian Institution § XVII It is very probable that our Adversaries Case is particularly spoken to in Heb. x. 22 23. § XVIII § I TO proceed therefore with my present design it is further observable 8. That this very pretence of abstaining from the external Ordinances under the pretence of Perfection seems to have been taken up even in those Primitive Ages Those Philosophers who excused their neglect of all exterior worship of the Supreme Being by pretending that the only proper and acceptable worship of him was that of a a Vid. Testimonia Porphyr Apollonii Tyanei Theophrasti apud Eus. Pr. Eu. L.iv. c. 12 13 14 15 19 c. Porph. ipsum L.11 Abstinent Hierocl in Aur. Carm. Cyr. in Julia. L.1 pure
A further presumption for proving the same thing § XIII p. 156. CHAP. VIII 3. The participation in these external Solemnities with any legal validity is only to be had in the external Communion of the visible Church § I. The Church as taken for the body of the Elect uncapable of being communicated with externally § II III. That all things here contrived are exactly fitted for a visible Church and no other § IV V. p. 163. CHAP. IX 2. That in reference to the duty of particular Persons the visible Church wherein they may expect to find these ordinary means is the Episcopal in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed and particularly that Episcopal Communion under whose Jurisdiction the Persons are supposed to live § I. 1. The Episcopal Communion in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed is that visible Church to whose external Communion these ordinary means of grace are confined This proved by several degrees § II. 1. The ordinary means of grace are now confined to the Sacraments Two things premised The former § III IV. The later § V. The thing to be proved § VI. Proved two ways 1. Exclusively of other means of gaining that Grace which is necessary to Salvation besides the Sacrament § VII VIII 1. Of the Word Preached Some things premised § IX X XI XII 1. Much of the Grace conveyed by the Word Preached in the Primitive times was undoubtedly proper to those times and not fit to be expected now § XIII XIV XV. 2. There were reasons proper to those times why such Grace might be expected then which will not hold now for the conviction of the Persons who then received the Spirit § XVI 3. There were also other proper reasons necessary for the conviction of those with whom they had to deal § XVII 4. That Grace which might otherwise have been expected in attending on the Word Preached is yet not so probably to be expected in the Preaching of Persons unauthorized especially if they Preach in opposition to those who are Legally invested with Spiritual Authority § XVIII XIX 5. It is yet further doubtful whether the Grace which which may now be ordinarily expected at any Preaching whatsoever be so great as to be able to supply the want of Sacraments at least so great as to secure the Salvation of those who enjoy this Ordinance whilest they want the Sacraments § XX XXI 6. It is also very doubtful whether all the Grace which is supposed to accompany the Word Preached be any more than what is necessary to dispose the Auditors to receive and believe the truth of the Doctrines Preached to them or whether there be any the least ground to believe that they shall there receive that further Assistance which is necessary to help them to practise what they have thus received and believed § XXII XXIII XXIV 7. This first Grace of persuasion if we suppose it alone to accompany the Word Preached will fully answer the design of the Word Preached § XXV 8. The Grace here received seems to be only some actual influences of the Spirit which wicked men may receive whilest they continue so and which therefore cannot alone be thought sufficient for Salvation not the Person of the Divine Spirit himself § XXVI p. 166. CHAP. X. The exclusive Part proved 2. as to Prayer That neither this alone nor the Grace which may be expected in the use of it are sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments The Objection proposed § I II. The Answer 1. That no Prayers can expect acceptance with God but such as suppose the use of the ordinary means and consequently of the Sacraments if they should prove such § III. 2. No Prayers can expect acceptance which are offered by a sinner continuing in the state of sin even at the same time when he offers them § IV. 3. It is more to be considered what is the ordinary means appointed by God than what is ordinarily observed by the best and wisest men § V. 4. It is no way safe for us to venture on our own Judgments concerning the design of God in instituting the Sacraments to neglect them This proved by several degreâ—â— It is hard to know the true design of the Sacraments § VI. They are not sure that raising Devotion by the sensible representations was the principal design of these Sacraments § VII They cannot assure themselves that this use of the sensible representations was the only or the principal end of the Sacraments § VIII Though they were sure of these things yet they have no reason whereby to be assured that God will be pleased with their taking upon them to judg of his designs and by that means allowing themselves the liberty of paying their obedience at their own discretion § IX 5. Another design of the Sacraments has been proved the confederating Subjects into a Body Politick and the obliging Subjects in it to a dependence on their Governours It is no way convenient that any should be excused from these establishments upon pretences to perfection They who were really perfect would not make this use of such pretences for their own sake § X. They would not do it for the sake of the publick § XI XII XIII They would not do it on account of the Divine actual establishment and the Divine assistances conveyed by the Sacraments which are necessary for perfection of the Person § XIV And of his Prayer § XV. 6. The Scripture no where allows such a degree of Perfection atteinable in this life as can in reason excuse from the reason of the Obligation to Ecclesiastical Assemblies All Members of the Church need the gifts of each other § XVI They need particularly those gifts which belong to Government § XVII All the other Members need the Head which cannot be understood of Christ but of Persons eminently gifted § XVIII This Head not a Head of Dignity only but also of influence and Authority § XIX Though they needed not the gifts of others yet they are obliged to joyn themselves in Ecclesiastical Societies in regard of the good they may do to others They are obliged to this as Platonists and as Christians § XX. p. 191. CHAP. XI 7. The Scripture gives us no encouragement to believe that any Prayers shall be heard which are made out of the Communion of the Church or even in the behalf of those that are so excepting those which are made for their Conversion This proved from St. John who was the only Apostle who lived to see the case of separation § I. St. Joh. xvii 9 § II. Where by being given to Christ is meant a being given by external Profession § III. By the World all they are meant who were out of the visible Society of the Professors of the Christian Doctrine § IV V. They are said to be in the World purely for this reason because they did not keep to the Society of the Church § VI. The same thing proved from 1
Covenant And seeing the Church with whom this Covenant is made is still a Body Politick as formerly though not a Civil one And seeing that God has designed to oblige all Persons to enter into this Society to maintein its Peace which could not be significant if Persons might Ordinarily hope for the same advantages out of it as in it They will both of them seem to agree in this that the Promises are in both alike confined to the Covenant at least as to an Ordinary way § XIV BUT besides these Arguments from Testimonies this confinement of the Evangelical Promises to the Evangelical Covenant will appear from the Reason of the things themselves even according to that account of them which our dissenting Brethren themselves conceive to be rational To which purpose it is to be remembred that the reason why God has been pleased to admit Mankind to this favour is not his own essential Goodness alone but the consideration of the Satisfaction of Christ by which it is purchased and by which it is made reconcilable with the Principles of Government to admit of this Impunity of our offences without any fear of inconvenience that must otherwise follow from such an example of Impunity and Favour to Persons so offending Whence it will further follow that seeing they are the purchase of Christs blood they are to be considered as belonging to his Right and therefore as disposable only according to his pleasure Now they themselves acknowledg a Covenant betwixt God the Father and Christ concerning this purchase not only that the Promises were to become his Property but also that their actual distribution and extent should be according to his appointment However whether the distribution of them depended on his pleasure or not yet as to the positive way of arguing we who have an Interest in Christ are sufficiently secure of obteining them St. Joh. xvi 26.27 because by virtue of this satisfaction his Father himself as himself has told us loves us and is as careful for the performance as if himself had been the Person interessed in our behalf And accordingly he has given our Saviour this power for this purpose that he should give eternal Life to us St. Joh. vi 40 and he has received a Commandment from the Father to lay down his Life for us And the very Persons are as truly given him by the Father as the Father himself has confined these favours only to the Persons which he should give him St. Joh. vi 37.39 xvii 6.9.11.12 And if our dissenting Brethren would only be pleased to consider further that the Covenant betwixt Christ and Vs is only pursuant to that betwixt him and his Father and only designed for its application to particulars that as by the Covenant betwixt him and his Father it is resolved that only his should have an Interest in these Promises so by the Covenant betwixt him and Mankind particular Rules were agreed upon for knowing who should be accounted his And that Christ transacted this whole affair as a publick Person the same way as Adam had done in the former Covenant And that accordingly as the benefit of the former Covenant belonged to all who bore the Image of the first Adam so the benefit of the later Covenant cannot be challenged by any but those who bear the Image of the second nay that the name of Christ is more expresly applied to the multitude represented by him than that of Adam is to the multitude represented by Adam That only Adam and his Wife are called Adam but all who have an Interest in the New Covenant are called by the name of Christ that only Eve was said to be flesh of Adams flesh and bone of his bone and one flesh with him in regard of the singular manner of her production out of him but the whole Church is said to be of the flesh and bones of Christ Nay that this Unity betwixt Christ and his Church is expresly urged so far as that whatsoever is done to the Church is in a Legal sense 1 Cor. xii 12 Eph. v. 30 Act. ix 4 2 Cor. 1.5.7 1 Pet. iv 13 Col. 1.24 Gal. vi 17 reputed as if it had been done to Christ himself and what is not conferred on his Members is said to be wanting to himself their Head so he was persecuted by St. Paul in his Members and the remainder of his Sufferings in the flesh was fulfilled by the sufferings of the same St. Paul when now a Christian and he bore in his Body the dyings of the Lord Jesus and from this relation of ours to Christ as of Members to our Head the same Apostle concludes it as impossible for him to have risen if we should not rise also as it is for the Head to be enlivened whilest at the same time its Members lie rotting in the grave where I desire it may be observed that the Apostle is to be considered as a Disputant from Reason not as a Proposer of Revelation whence it will plainly follow that Christians are also included in this Legal person of Christ which is susteined by him in transacting the New Covenant and therefore that as all Christians must necessarily have a Title to these promises which cannot otherwise be said to be performed to Christ in this Latitude so that none but they can have a Legal Title to them because none can have a Legal Title to them but by purchase and none but Christ has purchased them and none but they have a Legal Title to the name and consequently to the purchases of Christ If I say these things had been impartially considered I do not conceive what could have been further necessary for shewing that this Legal Title to these promises is confined not only to the Covenant betwixt God and Christ but also to that betwixt Christ and Mankind § XV NOR indeed can I conceive how the Notion of a Covenant is otherwise explicable in these Evangelical Transactions For considering that that does imply not only a Legal but a mutual Contract it must follow that there must be mutual promises and mutual Obligations and therefore that as God is pleased in this Covenant to oblige Vs in a Legal way to the performance of our Duty so we may expect that he would also be pleased to oblige himself by promising some advantages to us to encourage us in it If he had in another way exacted our Duty on the bare account of his absolute Authority over us without any Promises on his part it might indeed have been called a command but could never have been properly stiled a Covenant And if God obliged himself to any promises in this Covenant with us it is least of all credible that he should leave out those promises which are of all others the most considerable as these are of which we are here discoursing Besides that indeed the very nature of a promise inferring a Legal Obligation it is not likely that
either already was our interest or at least has been made so by his Institution of it and yet for some more momentous reason than the bare exercise of our Obedience But it is certain many more are influenced by the Spirit than they who are possessed by him Caiaphas (a) St. John XI 51 was influenced by the Spirit So was Balaam (b) Numb xxii xxiii 2 S. Pet. II. 15 16. and so were all they who are said to have resisted (c) Acts VII 51 or grieved (d) Eph. IV. 30 him Our Calvinistical Brethren themselves distinguish between common and special Grace and to keep to the now-mentioned Notion of the Spirits making Prophets the Jews do also distinguish between a Prophetick instinct and the Spirit of Prophecy These first Impulses of the Spirit are so far from making Men good as that indeed there is no Man so wicked but has them at some time or other and it is an aggravation of his wickedness by how many more he has resisted of them They are but dispositions and inclinations to good courses but do not turn to good will and good resolutions till they be consented to And no man is to be reputed either good or bad without some kind of consent And yet even when they are consented to they make a man only willing but for ability to perform what he is then willing to perform they leave him in a need of further Assistances At least they do not suppose the constant abiding of the same Spirit as a constant certain Principle from whom they may still expect the like influences Which consideration alone is sufficient to shew how little confidence is to be reposed in them without the Sacraments Now that these influences which thus accompany the Word Preached are of this kind may appear hence that wicked Men are as apt to feel them as others in the hearing of zealous Preachers and may at the same time strive against them to stifle and suppress them and this with too fatal a success But they who have the Spirit as an inhabiting enlivening Principle must whilest they have it so be predominantly influenced by it This must at least be granted by our Calvinistical Brethren who think no proper Grace resistible or amissible whereas we daily see many who have been affected with zealous Sermons to fall totally and finally too as far as we can judg of them And it is clear in the Cases of Herod hearing (e) S. Mark VI. 20 St. John Baptist gladly of Felix hearing St. Paul and (f) Acts XXIV 25 trembling upon it and of all those who received the Word with (g) S. Mark IV. 16 17. gladness yet fell away in the time of tribulation This I take at least for an Argument ad homines I have intimated others which I my self think more solid but I shall not now repeat them CHAP. X. The Grace which may be obtained by Prayer is not sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments THE CONTENTS § I The Exclusive Part proved 2. as to Prayer That neither this alone nor the Grace which may be expected in the use of it are sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments The Objection proposed § I.II. The Answer 1. That no Prayers can expect acceptance with God but such as suppose the use of Ordinary Means and consequently of the Sacraments if they should prove such § III. 2. No Prayers can expect acceptance which are offered by a Sinner continuing in the state of Sin even at the same time when he offers them § IV. 3. It is more to be considered what is the Ordinary Means appointed by God than what is Ordinarily observed by the best-meaning and wisest Men. § V. 4. It is no way safe for us to venture on our own Judgments concerning the design of God in instituting the Sacraments to neglect them This proved by several degrees It is hard to know the true design of the Sacraments § VI. They are not sure that raising Devotion by the sensible Representations was the principal design of these Sacraments § VII They cannot assure themselves that this use of the sensible Representations was either the Only or the Principal End of the Sacraments § VIII Though they were sure of these things yet they have no reason whereby to be assured that God will be pleased with their taking upon them to judg of his designs and by that Means allowing themselves the liberty of paying their Obedience at their own Discretion § IX 5. Another design of the Sacraments has been proved the confederating Subjects into a Body Politick and the obliging Subjects in it to a dependence on their Governours It is no way convenient that any should be excused from these Establishments upon pretences to Perfection They who were really Perfect would not make this use of such Pretences for their own sake § X. They would not do it for the sake of the Publick § XI XII.XIII They would not do it on account of the Divine actual Establishment and the Divine assistances conveyed by the Sacraments which are necessary for Perfection of the Person § XIV and of his Prayer § XV. 6. The Scripture no where allows of such a Degree of Perfection atteinable in this Life as can in reason excuse from the reason of the Obligation to Ecclesiastical Assemblies All Members of the Church need the Gifts of each other § XVI They need particularly those Gifts which belong to Government § XVII All the other Members need the Head which cannot be understood of Christ but of Persons eminently Gifted § XVIII This Head not a Head of Dignity only but also of Influence and Authority § XIX Though they needed not the Gifts of others yet they are obliged to join themselves in Ecclesiastical Societies in regard of the good they may do to others They are obliged to this as Platonists and as Christians § XX. THE Second Expedient which many are too apt to trust even to the neglect of the Sacraments is Prayer And the reason which makes them inclinable to this excessive confidence in this seems to be that as it is the Ordinary remedy to which Men betake themselves when they find themselves destitute of other supports so withal the Benefits to be expected by it are not confined to any one certain kind But as it is the design of Prayer to make God our Friend so when he is made so and that his good will is gained all things then seem fit to be expected from him which are within his power which is unlimited And if this be so that all things may be expected by Prayer and that Prayer is the Ordinary Means of obteining them it must then indeed follow that there can be no obligation in interest to use any other Means And if the Spiritual things of Religion be so Spiritually transacted in the Soul of Man as this kind of Persons seem apt to conceive as to depend on no externals but that rightly
the Feet I have no need of you but by so much the more those Members which seem to be weaker are yet necessary and as upon those Members of the Body which seem to be less honourable we yet bestow the more abundant honour and our more uncomely parts have the more abundant comeliness So by the same proportion of reason he plainly implies that the more noble and more perfect gifts and Members must yet not be understood to be so perfect as to stand in no need of the Assistance of the least perfect ones And he after tells us that God has therefore followed our example in the Body Mystical also in bestowing (m) v. 24 25. more abundant honour on those Members which most wanted it for this very reason that there might be no SCHISM in the Body From whence our Brethren may be pleased to observe the original of this term which will be of great consequence for stating the true Notion of it But of this I may possibly discourse more largely in the Second Part. At present I only observe that this independence of one Member on another and the consequent withdrawing of the correspondence of any particular Member from the rest how perfect soever he pretends to be is that which the Apostle stigmatizes here expressly by the name of Schism § XVII BUT that I may bring this whole Discourse yet more close to my present design it is yet further observable that among these gifts of the Spirit which are reckoned as necessary for the whole the (a) Rom. xii 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequently given to the Governours of the Church and the (b) Cor. xii 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are expressly mentioned And in all likelihood this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was then reputed so necessary for Persons to be ordained the (c) 1 Tim. iv 14 2 Tim. I. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Timothy received by imposition of hands And to know who had this gift there was also in in those Ages given another gift the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the (d) 1 Tim I. 18 IV. 14 Prophesies mentioned concerning St. Timothy in relation to his Ordination the tryal by the Spirit in (e) Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. Clemens Romanus and the (f) Clem. Alexandr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Ews I.III. Eccl. Hist. c. 23. signification of the Spirit in him of Alexandria For if it had been any natural gift which they were then so careful should be in Persons to be ordained by them it had not been necessary that their Ordainers should have been endued with another gift to know it And particularly this gift of the Spirit to fit Men for Government was a thing the Jews had been so well acquainted with in the Old-Testament-instances of (g) Numb xxvii 18 19 20 21 22 23. Joshua and (h) 1 Sam. x. 9 Saul and (i) 1 Sam. xvi 13 David and many others nay was the very Mystical Vnion which the external Vnction did only signifie and convey from which their Governours were called the (k) 1 Sam. xvi 6 XXIV 6 10. XXVI 9 11 16 23. 2 Sam. I. 14 16. XIX 21 XXIII 1 Lam. iv 20 1 Sam. II. 25 1 Chron. vi 42 XVI 22 Ps. CXXXII 10 17. LXXXIV 9 LXXXIX 38 51. Hab. III. 13 Lords Anointed Pursuant whereunto it is that according to the rules of the Philosophy then current which ascribed the Truth of names rather to the Spiritual things which were represented than to the sensible signs and Types which represented them the Spirit it self is called Vnction by (l) 1 John II. 20 27. St. John that upon these considerations it is very unlikely that this gift should have been wanting in those times where every thing was so fitted to the Jewish Notions and wherewithal it was so very necessary for the Christian themselves though they had less regarded the Jews in this particular than we find they did in many others Nay how near a Title even Ecclesiastical Governours as well as others how little Spiritual soever they were as to their Persons were then thought to have even to the Extraordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on account of that gift of the Spirit which they were supposed to receive upon their investiture into their Office appears from this that the Evangelist gives this as the reason why even Caiaphas Prophecyed because he was High Priest (m) S. John XI 51 that time when he did so If therefore this was a gift which obliged all that wanted it to a dependence on them who had it how much less perfect soever they were in other regards then it will plainly follow that no pretence of Perfection whatsoever could exempt from a dependence on their Governours Which will more immediately reach my purpose than if they had depended on the Sacraments themselves or any other Exercises or Solemnities of the Ecclesiastical Assemblies § XVIII AND the same thing seems very probable from hence that among the Members which are instanced in as necessary the Head is mentioned as one Certainly there is no office in the Body Mystical so suitable with that of the Head in the Body natural as that of Governing Nor can it here be understood of Christ who is indeed frequently called the Head of the Church because such a Head is here spoken of as (n) 1 Cor. XII 21 cannot say to the Feet I have no need of you that is such a Head as is capable of receiving necessary offices from the other Members as well as of performing necessary offices for them And though it should he understood of particular Governours yet it cannot be thought more strange that in this Allegory all particular Governours should be represented under the Metaphore of one Head than it is that all their Churches are frequently in the Scripture called one Church and here are represented in a Metaphore exactly answering the other that of one Body And the utmost that can be made of this expression will only amount to the one Episcopacy in St. (o) de Vnit Eccles. Cyprian which he makes common to all particular Bishops And it deed when one Body had been mentioned before it had spoiled the suitableness of the Metaphore to have mentioned any more than one Head Though indeed a shorter way might have been taken for giving an account of this whole matter that it is not distinction of Persons but distinction of (a) Rom. XII 4 Office which is here taken notice of by the Apostle for the constitution of a distinct Member And therefore though the Persons of Governours be different yet so long as their office is undoubtedly the same and it is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that qualifies them for that office that is sufficient to shew how they may be here all accounted for under the Notion of one Head And if we
so far from thinking the greater Mysteries absolutely necessary for him who had already been initiated in the lesser as that they usually prescribed a certain time before he who had received the less was capable of the greater Five years is commonly supposed to have been the Period prefixed for that purpose at least to the making an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which a years space was requisite even after their receiving the greater Mysteries And it was taken for a great irregularity in the Case of Demetrius Poliorcetes that he was permitted to partake of both Mysteries at one time Plutarch Demetr And the Lord's Supper wherein Christ's suffering is so represented to our eyes and which was professedly instituted by Christ for that purpose that it might perform the office of the Heathen Images as the opposers of Images argued against the Patrons of them seems at once to exhibit all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Christian Religion could admit of as well as the greater Mysteries themselves For my purpose it is sufficient that it be necessary for continuing the Salvability of Adults who have lost their Baptismal strength and Purity if they would continue and grow strong and ripe in that new Life which they have received in their Baptism None who survives his Baptism for any considerable while can think himself unconcerned in this Case as thus stated And therefore if this may be proved that it is necessary for the Salvation of such Persons as these are this will as much oblige such Persons to receive the Lords Supper often and consequently to submit to all unsinful Impositions that may be required from them as Conditions on which they may be admitted to receive it as they were at first obliged to get themselves baptized and to submit to all such unsinful conditions required by them who had alone the power of baptizing them § IX THIS will appear if our Brethren will be pleased to consider the importance of that Mystical stile wherein this whole matter is expressed in the Scripture that is if they will be pleased to continue the Allegory of Life and the Analogy between the natural Body and the Mystical Body of Christ so far at least as the sacred Writers themselves are pleased to continue it And sure that cannot be thought presumptuous To this purpose it is observable 1. That this Analogy between the Natural Body and the Mystical Body of Christ is continued in this that no Member in the Mystical Body can continue in that Spiritual Life of which it partakes by being a Member of that Mystical Body without a constant repetition of those vital influences by which it was first enlivened any more than a Member of the Natural Body can continue its Natural Life without a continual new supply of those vital influences from the head by which this Natural Life is maintained And therefore as it is certain that that Member which wants this continuation of vital influences does certainly decay and by degrees lose that Natural Life which is maintained by those influences though it be impossible to determine the certain Period wherein it shall die so it is by the same proportion of reasoning as certain that he who has not new influences from Christ continued to him is in a dying condition notwithstanding the Principle of new Life received by him in his Baptism If therefore the Eucharist be the same way an ordinary means of continuing this new Life as Baptism was of receiving it that is of communicating those new vital supplies from Christ the Head of this Mystical Body as Baptism was of the first infusion of this vital Principle it will be as necessary for those Adults of whom we are speaking who survive their Baptism as Baptism it self was to them when they first received it § X AND 2. The Scripture does further prosecute this likeness between the Natural Body and the Mystical Body of Christ that as it is impossible for any particular Member in the Natural Body to derive any vital influences from the Head unless it continue in conjunction with the whole Body so it is as impossible for any particular Member in the Mystical Body of Christ to derive the influences of Spiritual Life from Christ who is the Head of that Mystical Body any longer than it is united with the whole Mystical Body This appears plainly from that particular of this comparison that as in the Natural Body Members have their distinct situation some of them at a distance from the Head and they who are so receive their vital influences though from the Head yet not immediately but by the vessels through which they are communicated and by the influence of the nearer parts so that these vital influences are maintained and continued in the particular Members as well by their mutual influences on each other as by the common influences which they all receive from the Head so there are also supposed the like conveyances in the Mystical Body and the like distinction of offices in the Members of it by which they become necessary to each other as the Head is necessary to them all And this argument is purposely urged by the Apostle himself to let particular Christians understand their obligation to keep united with one another in order to their receiving vital influences from the Head And by the nature of the comparison here used it is plainly supposed that the advantage which the Members may expect from the mutual intercourse of each others gifts whilest they are united to each other in external Communion is not only extrinsecal by moving and exercising the good Principle within them but necessary intrinsecally for the preservation of that Spiritual Life which they are already supposed to enjoy as the Members in the Natural Body do not only lose the advantage of a sprightful vigorous Life but of Life it self by an interruption of their communication with each other And this is implyed in the similitude of the Vine where our Saviour expressly warns his Apostles Joh. xv 4 that as a branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it continue in the Vine so neither could they except they abided in him Where it is plain that Christ is not understood Personally but Mystically when they are supposed capable of abiding in him And this Mystical way of speaking is so familiar with St. John as well as our Saviour as that it cannot be thought strange that he should thus express himself § XI 3. THEREFORE the Church with which it was supposed so necessary for particular Members to be united in order to their participation of the influences of Spiritual Life is plainly supposed to be the Church in this World and that visible Society of them which joyned in the same publick exercises of Religion in that Age when these things were written This appears plainly from all the Apostle says concerning this Church of which he there speaks They were plainly an organized Body consisting
excluded from all hopes of Salvation but it is abundantly sufficient to make it appear that we cannot be so well assured of it This proved as to both parts 1. As to the Negative That it is not requisite for this purpose to prove that we must otherwise be excluded from all hopes of Salvation § I II III IV V VI. 2. As to the positive part That for proving this Obligation to enter into the external Communion of the visible Church it is sufficient to shew that without such an external Communion with it we cannot so well be assured of our Salvation and that this supposition of our less security without it is sufficient to prove us obliged to submit to all terms not directly sinful however inexpedient in order to the procuring this external Communion § VII VIII IX X. An Application of what has been said in this Chapter to the Adversaries § XI XII p. 55. CHAP. II. The second Head That for proving this want of so solid assurance of the welfare of particular Persons out of Ecclesiastical Communion as may be had in it it will be sufficient to shew that however God may provide for the Salvation of particular Persons in an extraordinary way without this external Communion yet that this is a case indeed rare and extraordinary and not easily to be expected and therefore not to be trusted with any confidence and that at least the ordinary means of Salvation are confined to the external Communion of the visible Church The difference betwixt the ordinary and extraordinary means of Salvation § I II III IV. The former Head proved in both particulars 1. That we cannot be so well assured of our Salvation in the use of extraordinary as of ordinary means The extraordinary means whereby we may be assured of our Salvation are conjectures concerning the Divine Uncovenanted goodness Concerning these it is proved 1. That the assurance grounded on these conjectures is not such as can afford any solid comfort to the Person concerned The extreme difficulty of making application of what might be concluded from this Divine Uncovenanted goodness to particular cases § V VI VII VIII IX X. The particulars necessary for assurance in this case are such as God is not obliged to by his Uncovenanted goodness § XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII 2. The comfort that might otherwise have been expected from these conjectures is not comparable to that which may be had from those general ordinary means which God hath provided for by express Revelation This proved by three Degrees § XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII 3. These expectations from extraordinaries not seasonable in our Adversaries case who might obtein the ordinary means by concessions not sinful § XXIII 4. The relief by extraordinary pretences to Gods Uncovenanted goodness must needs be rendred more difficult since the establishment of ordinaries § XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII p. 66. CHAP. III. The ordinary means whereby we may be assured of Salvation must be promises conveyed to us in a Legal way by the Solemnities of a Covenant § I II. 2. The ordinary means of Salvation at least whereby we may be satisfied of it and receive any comfort from it are confined to the external Communion of the visible Church and that the Episcopal Church under whose Jurisdiction any one lives is that visible Church out of which these ordinary means of Salvation are not to be bad by any whilest he lives under that Jurisdiction This to be proved in two Parts 1. That these ordinary means of Salvation are confined to the external Communion of the visible Church § III IV. This proved by three Degrees 1. The ordinary means whereby we may assure our selves that we in particular have any interest in the Divine Promises is by assuring our selves that we in particular are in Covenant with God § V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX p. 89. CHAP. IV. 2. The only ordinary means whereby we may assure our selves of our interest in this Covenant is by our partaking in the external Solemnities whereby this Covenant is transacted and mainteined This cleared in two particulars 1. That the partaking of these external Solemnities of initiation into and maintenance of this Evangelical Covenant is the only ordinary means of procuring and mainteining a Legal interest in it § I II. An Objection urged and Answered The Assertion proved from Gods actual establishment § III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI The same proved from the reason of the thing 1. God is concerned to take care that these external Solemnities be punctually observed as he is a Covenanter § XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XVI p. 109. CHAP. V. 2. God is also concerned to see the same external Solemnities observed as he is a Governour 1. He is as a Governour concerned to confederate us into a Body Politick 1. That he may thus seâ—ure the performance of his own will The great usefulness of the distinction betwixt God as a Governour and as a Covenanter § I II III. The forementioned point proved § IV V VI VII VIII IX X. 2. That it may thus appear even to men that his will is performed by us because it is his will How necessary this is for Government How necessary a visible Society is for making this appear to others § XI XII XIII XIV XV. 2. He is as a Governour concerned to oblige us to the performance of our Duty by such means as may prove most likely to prevail with us for its actual performance § XVI XVII XVIII p. 131. CHAP. VI. Both the ends now mentioned concerning God as a Governour are more likely to be atteined by admitting us to the benefits of the Covenant by the external Solemnities of it than otherwise § I. 1. That of confederating us into a Body Politick A short account of the usefulness of the whole Hypothesis promoted in this discourse for this purpose § II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV 2. That of securing our performance of Duty § XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII p. 138 CHAP. VII 2. That at least our partaking in the external Solemnities of this Evangelical Covenant is the only ordinary means whereby we may be satisfied of our title to the Covenant it self § I II. This proved by three Degrees 1. That for our satisfaction it is requisite that we have positive Arguments for us as well as that there appear no positive Arguments against us § III IV V VI VII 2. That no Arguments can comfort but such as may externally appear and so be capable of being judged of by the Persons concerned § VIII 3. Our partaking of the external Solemnities of the Covenant is at least the only Argument appearing to us whereby we can be assured of any Legal title to the benefits of it § IX X XI XII
abstain from actual Communion I do not see how they can avoid denying the Divine Authority to be concerned for the Sacraments for if they acknowledged it to be so they could not deny the Sinfullness of resisting it and consequently denying the perpetual Obligation of the Sacraments And then it will be impossible for them to explain any Sinfulness in Schism as it is a Division of a Body Politick which as they are Consequences I doubt unavoidable from this Supposal so I verily believe that they will be so detested by our ingenuous Adversaries as that they will oblige them to some serious second thoughts how they may avoid them § XII BUT though we could be better assured that true Repentance should find acceptance with God independently on Sacraments or any other Act of Church-Communion yet it is not conceivable how there can be true Repentance in them who willingly abstain from Communion when it may be had by compliances not Sinful For I believe our dissenting Brethren themselves do not understand by Repentance a bare sorrow for our past Sins but a serious and universal design of Reformation for the future and accordingly that he who lives in any known avoidable Sin cannot be said to be truly Penitent Nor do I believe that they will deny any violation of our Political Duties to be as truly and properly Sins as the violation of those which are Personal so that he who lives never so Temperately as to himself yet if he disturb the Society where he lives he cannot be supposed in this sense universally Reformed and therefore not truly Penitent nor do I think that they will deny that there is a Duty incumbent on private Persons to preserve the Peace of Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Societies I am sure the Scripture recommends this principally even above the other and that nothing but direct Sin can excuse us for the omission of any Duty Now upon these Concessions it is impossible that he who is hindred from the Peace of the Church or from her Communion by any Impositions not Sinful can be supposed thoroughly reformed or consequently truly Penitent So that still this obligation to maintain the Church's Peace and to submit to its unsinful Impositions on account of the greater security of our Salvation in its Communion than out of it remains unshaken by any thing which our Adversaries have yet Objected to the contrary CHAP. II. That we cannot be so well assured of our Salvation in the use of Extraordinary as of Ordinary Means THE CONTENTS § I The 2. Head That for proving this want of so solid Assurance of the welfare of particular Persons out of Ecclesiastical Communion as may be had in it it will be sufficient to shew that however God may provide for the Salvation of particular Persons in an Extraordinary way without this external Communion yet that this is a Case indeed rare and Extraordinary and not easily to be expected and therefore not to be trusted with any confidence and that at least the Ordinary Means of Salvation are confined to the External Communion of the Visible Church The difference betwixt the Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Salvation § I. II.III.IV The former Head proved in both particulars 1. That we cannot be so well assured of our Salvation in the use of Extraordinary as of Ordinary Means The Extraordinary Means whereby we may be assured of our Salvation are Conjectures concerning the Divine Uncovenanted Goodness Concerning these it is proved 1. That the Assurance grounded on these Conjectures is not such as can afford any solid comfort to the Person concerned The extream difficulty of making application of what might be concluded from this Divine Uncovenanted Goodness to particular Cases § V. VI.VII.VIII.IX.X The particulars necessary for Assurance in this Case are such as God is not obliged to by his Uncovenanted Goodness § XI XII.XIII.XIV.XV.XVI.XVII 2. The comfort that might otherwise have been expected from these Conjectures is not comparable to that which may be had from those general Ordinary Means which God hath provided for by express Revelation This proved by three Degrees § XVIII XIX.XX.XXI.XXII 3. These expectations from Extraordinaries not seasonable in our Adversaries Case who might obtain the Ordinary Means by Concessions not Sinful § XXIII 4. The relief by Extraordinary pretences to Gods Uncovenanted Goodness must needs be rendred more difficult since the establishment of Ordinaries § XXIV XXV.XXVI.XXVII I PROCEED therefore to the 2. thing proposed That none be can so well Assured of his Salvation out of this visible Church or consequently out of that part of it of which Providence has made him a Member as in it And that this Visible Church must be the Episcopal that particularly to whose Jurisdiction he belongs This may be resolved into two easie parts 1. That though our Salvation might be equally sure in it self yet at least that none can be so well assured of it in the use of Extraordinary as of Ordinary Means 2. That the Ordinary Means at least of Salvation are indeed confined to the External Communion of the Visible Church And that the Episcopal Church under whose Jurisdiction any one lives is that Visible Church out of which the Ordinry Means of Salvation are not to be had by any whilst he lives under that Jurisdiction § II 1. THOVGH our Salvation might be equally sure in it self yet none can be so well assured of it in the use of Extraordinary as of Ordinary Means For clearing this it must first be understood what we mean by Ordinary and what by Extraordinary Means of our Salvation The Means therefore whereby we may be assured of our Salvation are those whereby the Difficulties occurring in the procurement of our Salvation are most Regularly provided for And they are reducible to these Heads 1. To assure us that our past misdemeanors Antecedent to our admission into the Favour of God both of Original and Actual Sins shall not be imputed to us for the future to our Prejudice For till we be assured of this we shall have very Just reason to Question the real security of our condition And because our Natural Strength is not sufficient to perform our Duty for the future though all our past offences had been really forgiven us and yet without probable hopes of our future performance we can have no assurance of our future Security therefore it is further requisite 2. That we be upon our own Endeavours assured of those Supernatural Divine Assistances without which our unassisted natural Endeavours are not likely alone to prove sufficient For Rewards promised to impossible performances cannot afford us any comfort and without these Assistances our Duty would prove impossible to us And yet notwithstanding these Assistances we are still obnoxious to so many inadvertencies and impure mixtures by reason of the faint concurrence of our Wills as might render our best performances unacceptable if God should deal in rigor with them so that even these Assistances
the Light so they who joyn in the external Profession of him are said to have Life to walk in the Truth and in the Light and on the contrary that they who deserted this Party externally professing him are therefore said not to have the Son nor those priviledges which are only to be had by him but on the contrary to be in falshood to be in darkness to be in the World and in Death for that very reason I have shewed that if they should be mistaken in a matter of this nature their very recovery it self how penitent soever they should prove is described as very hazardous so hazardous as that no slight reasons nor slight conveniences can make amends for it I have shewn that they have no Promise that their own Prayers should be heard for any Spiritual good thing whilest they continue in that condition nor that the Prayers of any others should be heard in their behalf I have shewn that the sin against the Holy Ghost which is so usually dreadful to our Brethrens Consciences is most likely to be incurred by this Practice of leaving the Communion of the Church But I must not recapitulate what I have there discoursed as the several Heads under which I discoursed them gave way I only add some few things now which were not so naturally reducible to the former Topicks § II That of Heb. vi is a Text which our Brethren find extremely afflictive to them when they are under anguishes of Conscience I heartily wish they would seriously consider how much more their separation may expose them to the danger of it than those uncertain guesses at the temper of their own Spirits which according to their way of management does usually occasion their fearful apprehensions concerning it I have already observed that it is the great design of the Writer of this Epistle to secure the Hebrews to whom he writes it from falling away to their old Profession of Judaism And accordingly as the greatest part of the Epistle is spent in Dispute in proving the Christian Religion true from the Notions then received amongst the Jews themselves concerning Mystical Judaism which he applies to the Christian Religion so the frequent excursions which he makes as he has occasion to apply the several Parts of his Discourse are plainly to confirm them in the visible Christian Communion For otherwise his whole Discourse had signified little if they might have had liberty of professing this Mystical Judaism as they had done formerly and as he plainly supposes the Jews to do still when he argues from those Mystical Notions as things acknowledged by them in the Jewish Communion § III And the like might have been observed concerning all those Parts of Scripture which are written professedly against the Errors and Seducers of those times that the design of such Discourses is not as our Brethren usually take it to be to secure them from falling from a good Life but primarily from falling from the true Religion and that Party wherein the true Religion was professed and if on such occasions any thing be spoken of their Lives it is only as a good Life might secure them from Seduction or as their departure would occasion their living ill either as the Doctrine of the Seducers tended to defend an ill Life as generally their Notions did concerning Christian Liberty or as their wavering and inconstancy to Parâ—â—es might take them off from any serious belief of any Religion at all at least from any vehement concern for any one Party when the owning of it should engage them in sufferings as God knows we see it does by too many present experiments in the many Divisions for which I am at present concerned And indeed all their pains had been needlessly imployed if our Adversaries Notion of a Church had been intended What need had there been to have been so solicitous for an invisible Church consisting of Elect which could never fail how much soever they had neglected them And why should they have been jealous of them of whose present condition they often speak as well as themselves could desire if they had thought they could not fall from that Grace which they had once received Certainly our Brethren themselves cannot understand these things of any other Church than a visible one wherein these Elect Persons were not so distinguishable from others who were not Elect which might engage for a solicitousness for all when they knew not who they were that were in danger Besides the Apostles Discourses do plainly suppose some to have fallen and that so notoriously as that others might beware of their example and the Persons themselves could not deny a change from what they had been formerly But if they might have had the benefit of their Faith and Repentance and their Moral invisible Dispositons in another Party their fall could never have been so notorious § IV But whatever it might have been in other places yet plainly the fall here described is from their Baptismal Profession from that condition into which they were initiated by those Fundamental Rites mentioned in the beginning of the Chapter particularly those external ones of Baptism and Imposition of hands Heb. vi 2 And if men would but expound the Scriptures as they do other Books of the same Antiquity that is explain the terms of Art in the same sense they did from whom they were taken and as they did for whose information they were designed there could be little doubt of it The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination here was plainly the very term used by the Christians in St. Justin Martyrs time for Baptism Ver. 4. Nor can it be admired that the Christians should call their own Mysteries by Mystical Titles Apolog. 2. p. 49. D. It cannot be thought more strange in this Sacrament than in the other If we be said to be all one Body 1 Cor. x. 17 1 Cor. xii 13 because we partake of one Bread we are also to be baptized into one â—ody Besides the Mystical way of teaching which was so generally in use in the Eastern Nations the Christians proving the Truth of their Religion as I have said from Mystical Judaism plainly inclined them to use a Mystical Language in all their writings And among them all there is none who makes more advantage of these Mystical Notions and Language than this Author to the Hebrews and it may be none who is more Critical in observing the phrases and terms of that Language And if he would observe the Propriety any where where would it better become him than in a Subject of this Nature The reason why Baptism was called Illumination was because it ingraffed into Christ who was the true Light And it is very well known how constant the Writers of the New Testament are in using this Mystical expression concerning a Luk. ii 32 Joh. i. 9.viii.12 Act. xiii 47 1 Joh. 1.5 Rev. xxi 23 Christ and how constant withal they
his own Order that can perform the Ceremony to him because we suppose him to be supreme and there cannot be two such in one Society And if he must depend on the supreme powers of the neighbouring Societies for an investiture so that he could not be validly invested without them this would both be dangerous in suspicious times and would besides be very prejudicial to the liberty of the particular Society for which such a Governour were concerned § XVI AND therefore I for my part am so little solicitous for any consequence that may hence be inferred to the prejudice of my Cause as that I am apt to think that this must have been the way observed at first in the making of Bishops how absolute soever I conceive them to have been when they were once made and how invalid soever I think the actings of Presbyters would be which were done without his consent after his Consecration though they were those very Presbyters by whom he had been Consecrated And I wish our Adversaries had Authorities suitable to their confidence either better than conjectures or if no better yet more ancient than the time of St. Hierome whose contemporary he was who wrote the Commentaries under the name of St. Ambrose much more than the very exceptionable testimony and Age of Eutychius This seems best to agree with the absoluteness of particular Churches before they had by compacts united themselves under Metropolitans and Exarchs into Provincial and Diocesan Churches as the word Diocese was understood in the Eastern parts in the language of that Age. And this seems to have been fitted for the frequent Persecutions of those earlier Ages when every Church was able to secure its own Succession by its own power without depending on the uncertain opportunities of the meeting of the Bishops of the whole Province And the alteration of this practice the giving the Bishops of the Province an interest in the choice of every particular Colleague seems not to have been so much for want of power in the particular Churches to do it as for the security of the compacts that they might be certain of such a Colleague as would observe them whose Communicatory Letters they might therefore not scruple to receive when they had first by their own act satisfied themselves of the trustiness of his Person before his Consecration However the matter was I cannot but think that it was the interest of the neighbouring Bishops in the correspondence of every particular Bishop that first occasioned and procured their interest in his Election Nor can I tell how the Succession could have been so secure otherwise unless every Bishop had named and constituted his Successor in his Life time for which they had precedents in the Successions of the Philosophers in imitation whereof I have already observed how probable it is that these Ecclesiastical Successions were framed But then withall as that way was uncertain so when the Philosophers failed to nominate their own Successors then the Election was in the Schools But this would even then only warrant such acts of those Presbyteries which held correspondence with their own Bishops and with the Episcopal Communion but in these modern Ages it can only excuse those to whom the power was returned by the Bishops who had been peaceably possessed of it for many Centuries before This I note that it may not be drawn into a precedent now any further than it is fit and reasonable CHAP. XXV The Nullity of the same Ordinations proved from the right of Episcopal Presbyteries as Presbyteries THE CONTENTS 2. Even from the Principles of Aristocratical Government from the right which Episcopal Presbyteries ought to have in giving Orders as they are considered as Presbyteries § I II. This proved by these degrees 1. Though a Presbyter when he is once made is a Presbyter in the Catholick Church yet the reason that makes him so is that correspondence of the whole Catholick Church with that particular one of which he was made a Member at his Ordination § III IV V VI. 2. Hence it follows that he who cannot validly make out his Authority in the particular Church in which he pretends to have received his Orders cannot in reason expect that the exercise of his Authority should be ratified in other Churches who cannot thus be satisfied that he has received them § VII 3. The Church by which the validity of the Orders of every particular Presbyter must expect to be tryed must not be a Church that derives its beginning from him but such a one as must be supposed settled and established before he could be capable of any pretensions to Orders Applied to single Presbyters § VIII To whole Presbyteries made up of overvoted single Presbyters § IX X XI 4. No Orders can be presumed to have been validly received in any particular Episcopal Church as Presbyterian without the prevailing suffrages of the Presbyteries § XII A smaller over-voted number of Presbyters cannot validly dispose of the common rights of the whole Presbyteries § XIII XIV XV. The power given in the Ordination of a Presbyter is a right of the Presbytery in common by the Principles of Aristocratical Government § XVI XVII XVIII XIX An Objection answered § XX XXI XXII Another Objection answered § XXIII XXIV Retorted § XXV The reason of the Retortion given § XXVI § I BUT 2. There is also another just exception against the validity of our Adversaries Ordinations even from the right of Aristocratical Government and that is from the right of their Fellow-Presbyters as well as themselves If we should allow the right of Ordination to Presbyters as Presbyters as our Adversaries desire yet that will not justifie the validity of the Ordinations of single Presbyters no nor of a smaller part in opposition to the greater by which it is over-voted And our Adversaries cannot defend their Ordinations at present any better than by the single acts of particular Presbyters over-voted by the greater part of the Presbyteries of which they were originally Members Their first Ministers which began the separation were much the smaller part of the respective Presbyteries to which they were related And though they might if they had continued in the Communion of the Church have had their single votes in all the acts of Government and the disposal of all the Offices which by the practice then obteining were allowed to the whole Presbyteries yet they could never have obteined that the Offices disposed of by their single votes must have been validly disposed of and ratified by the rest by whom they were over-voted And sure they cannot expect to be gainers by their unpeaceableness that their single votes must be esteemed of greater value out of the Church than in it that they who could not have made Presbyters in the Church against the prevailing vote of their Brethren should be allowed to make as many as they please on condition they will divide from their Brethren and make themselves the Heads