is that makes men to be of it and concerning Church-Communion and what it is that qualifies men for it have been the true reason and cause of our Church-Divisions and Separations in great part where such notions have been entertained My present design therefore which I intend to pursue in these Papers is to inquire into the true measure which the holy Scripture gives us of these things that thereby we may the more steadily and with the more certainty make a true Judgment of those separations in Church-Communion which have been made and applauded by some I shall begin with what concerns the being of the Universal Church as Visible and then inquire how and by what means men become Members of it After this I shall inquire further what it is that qualifies men for and which gives them a right to external Communion in this Church as exercised in particular Congregations and likewise into the nature of Catholick-communion and Schism and the usefulness of National-Constitutions for the furtherance of Christian Religion QUERY I. WHat is the true notion of the Vniversal Church as visible The Universal Church as Visible is that Body Company or Society of People throughout the whole World which consists of all such as are Visibly Joyned or Vnited to God in Christ as Head by a Religious Bond. And that which doth distinguish them from all other People in the World is that Relation they bear to God different from that in which all other People stand related to Him And this Relation is a Religious relation by which they are brought nearer to God than all other People are All other People are related as humane Creatures to God as their Creator and Governour but these are related to him by another kind of Bond Obligation such as is Spiritual and of a Religious Nature of which I am to say more afterward And then as this Relation is External and Visible so that by which this Relation is effected and wrought is something Visible also which is the reason why the relation it self is said to be Visible Now the Persons thus Visibly Related to God in Christ are not all Religiously Related to Him alike Some of them are Related and United to him Internally and Invisibly by an Invisible Bond of Union over and besides their Visible Relation to him by that which is visible When as all the rest are Related to him only Externally or if in any respect Internally also yet not so or by such a relation as will entitle them to the internal and best sort of priviledges of Gods People such as Justification Reconciliation Pardon and Eternal life But yet this difference does not make this body of People which are externally one by a Relation to God common to the whole to become two Universal Churches For all which Essentially belongs to the being of the Universal Church is not limited and restrained to that part of it which in respect of its internal and invisible state does differ from and excel the other for the External Relation to God without which the Universal Church does not exist is common to the worser part of it as well as the better by reason whereof they cannot be two Churches and are but one One part of the Visible Church differs from another indeed in respect of Internal and Invisible State before God this is plain from the Scripture But then it is as plain from thence that as touching their External and Visible state they are one and that the same external priviledges belong to the one as to the other of which more afterward We have not indeed the words Visible and Invisible used in Scripture in reference to the two different states of men in one and the same Church but yet we have those different states of them sufficiently revealed in Scripture which we mean by those words I need not instance in Scriptures of this nature because they are sufficiently and commonly known and I shall have further occasion to mention them afterward QUERY II. WHat is it which prepares or qualifies persons for that Relation to God in Christ which makes them Visible Members of his Church There is something previous to that by which the Relation in men to God is wrought which makes them Visible Members of his Church and which does capacitate them for it and that is their being Externally called by God to be of the true Religion Persons lare first to become Disciples before they be received into the Church by Baptism and their becoming Disciples and their being called is the same thing This is the foundation in which that Relation is laid and upon which that which does effect it is built And People are thus called either 1. When they are Converted from a false Religion to own and profess the true And thus the Pagans were called by the Preaching of the Apostles when they were brought to be Disciples Or 2. When Almighty God causes them to be Born and to be Educated in the true Religion as those are who are born of Parents externally in Covenant with God Thus the Jewish People from Abrahams time downward were called to be Gods People and to profess the true Religion And accordingly they were stiled Gods called ones by the Prophet Isa 48.12 Hearken to me O Jacob and Israel my called And how were they called Abraham indeed he was called extraordinarily by God who appeared to him when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran Act. 7.2 But his Posterity were called by being Born to and educated in the same Religion which he himself was of and so were his Childrens Children from Generation to Generation And thus has it been in calling Persons to be of the Christian Religion At the first erection of the Church as Christian men were extraordinarily called by the Preaching and Miracles of the Apostles and others they were called and converted from the Pagan and Jewish Religion to own the Christian Religion But since the times of first planting the Gospel up and down in the World Gods ordinary and common method of calling men to the profession of the Christian Religion has been by their Christian Parents educating them in it And indeed their being born of Parents in an especial Relation to God is in it self a Providential Call which qualifies them for the priviledge of being so related also For upon that account they are both in the Old Testament and the Now stiled a holy Seed that is a Seed separated from the Infidel World to God And by this the Females of the Jews became Church-Members and by this were their Males qualifi'd to enter into Covenant with God by Circumcision at eight days old But of these things further mention will be made in the process of our Inquiries QUERY III. WHat may that be by which People are made Visible Church-Members That by which People are constituted compleatly Visible Church-Members is a mutual Covenanting between God and them between Christ
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
the bad from among the good in the Church but from among the good in the World Not that they should both grow together in the Church till Harvest but in the World And to strengthen this they alledge our Saviours interpretation of this Parable where he says that the Field where the Tares and the Wheat grow together is the World Mat. 13.38 And this indeed at first sight seems to be a very considerable Objection But if we consider the matter well I think it may appear otherwise The Field indeed in which the Seed was sown and the Gospel first preached was the World according to our Saviours Commission to his Apostles Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel Mar. 16.15 But then those that received this Seed of the Gospel so as to make profession of adhering to it were presently baptized and received into the Church Now it was among these that the Tares sprang up many of them proving bad Christians So that the Seed was first sown in the World as in a common field But yet the Tares sprang up in that part of the world which was now become the Visible Church and an enclosed Garden And therefore when the time of the Harvest shall come when these Tares must be separated from the Wheat our Saviour says They shall be gathered out of the Kingdom of the Son of Man Ver. 41. where they were permitted to grow till this Harvest And what is this Kingdom of the Son of Man but his Visible Church The History of the Event of the Apostles Preaching does plainly lay open the meaning of this Parable and that of the Draw-net and other like Parables in that the Visible Church which they gathered out of the world consisted of bad as well as good And this Parable in particular shews further that these Tares were not to be gathered out of the Church for this very reason Lest while ye gather up the Tares saith he ye root up also the Wheat with them So that it seems that the Tares growing with the Wheat is in some respect matter of security to the Wheat and that the Wheat would be in more danger by the Tares being gathered from among it than by their growing together with it in more danger of bein rooted up or rooted out And this seems fully to justifie and make good that reason I am now upon why all unregenerate Christians should not be denied a place and being in the Visible Church If it shall be hear said that the Church in the Primitive times when but few in number did yet subsist yea and abundantly increase too tho they had no humane or worldly Power to defend them and when almost the whole world both of Jews and Gentiles were against them And why may it not as well do so now tho none that are not of the Invisible Church should be any defence unto it I answer that there is no doubt but that they might subsist in the world continue and increase as well as they did provided they had but the same extraordinary means to back and abet them and to increase their numbers as those Primitive Christians had I mean those miraculous Powers which then procured the Christians great reputation among the People and which did still attract and draw in more to their Party than were diminished by the Persecution which was raised against them by the higher Powers which were then Infidel For by reason of those miraculous wonders which were done by the Apostles and others in those times the multitude of People were so astonished and affected that they favoured them so far as that the Rulers were put under some awe For we read that for the reason aforesaid great grace or favour was upon them all to wit all the Christians Acts 4.33 And Chap. 5.13 it s said that the people magnified them So that the Rulers when they had otherwise a mind to it found not how to punish them because of the people for all men glorified God for that which was done Chap. 4.21 And in Chap. 5.26 it s said of the Captain and Officers that were sent to bring the Apostles before the Council that they brought them without violence because they feared the people lest they should have been stoned And by reason of the credit they obtained among the people both to themselves and their way by the numerous Miracles they wrought believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women notwithstanding all the opposition which was made against them by the Rulers Chap. 5.14 And that wonderful increase of Believers which was made from among the Heathen also was attributed by St. Paul unto those Signs and Wonders that were wrought for the proof and confirmation of the Christian Way I will not dare saith he to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed through mighty Signs and Wonders by the Spirit of God Rom. 15.18 19. But if the small number of sincere Christians that are in the world had no other means to preserve themselves and to increase their number but the goodness of their Cause and their own Innocency and were not countenanced and protected by Christian States and Governours and by a multitude more of the same Profession with themselves than are of like sincerity in that Profession they would be in great danger of being in a manner extirpated out of the world by the Insidel and Antichristian Parties in it When the Papal defection befel the Church within the Roman Empire the greatest part perhaps of the then Visible Church in that part of the world fell off from the Orthodox and sincere and became their Enemies in time The consequence of which was the exterminating and rooting out of that part of the world in a great measure the Orthodox and sincere Christians Which is a great instance to shew how it would fare with those of the Invisible Church if they were deserted by those Christians which are not of it or if those were rejected as no fellow-members of the Visible Church and thereby made their Enemies 4. Another reason is taken from the danger in another respect of reckoning none of the Church as Visible but upon the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible For to admit men upon no other terms into the Visible Church nor to its Communion but upon the reputation and under the Notion of their being already of the Church as Invisible tends greatly to betray many Souls into a dangerous snare of self-deceiving For if this rule of admission should be observed many mistakes would be committed either through fallibility or partiality of judgment in them that admit them and so many would be received into the Visible Church or to the Communion of it as Members of the Invisible which yet are not of it And if so then all those which are thus received under the approbation of
the Visible Church as Members of the Invisible will be thereby strengthened in their self-flattery and good opinion they have of themselves touching their good and safe condition when there is no such matter And when they find the good opinion they have of themselves thus strengthened by the publick judgment of the Church concurring with them therein they will be under the greater temptation and in so much the greater danger of resting securely in that unsafe condition to the great hazard of their Souls We know or have abundant reason to suspect that many that have but a Form of Godliness are Laodicean like less apt to suspect the goodness of their own condition before God than they that are truly sincere How much less will they suspect it and how much more will they be confirmed in the good opinion of themselves tho false when they have the publick judgment of the Church to back them in it and that after inspection has been made into their lives and signs of their Conversion approved of As the manner is of those that go that way Of this danger and of this great inconvenience some of the New England Divines grew sensible after they had made trial of that way a great while For in their answer to Mr. Davenports Apologetical Preface pa. 43 44. they express themselves in these words Indeed when men confound these two and do the Visible Church Interest unto such conditions and qualifications as are reputed enough to Salvation this may tend to harden men and to make them conceit that if once they be but got into the Church they are sure of heaven when as alas it may be they are far from it But now there is no such danger does arise from mens being owned Visible Church Members from their professing to believe the Christian Religion and from their Covenanting to endeavour to live according to it Such Profession and such Covenanting does indeed give ground of hope to the Church that such will not be so regardless of their own Salvation as not to be willing to learn their duty and to endeavour to do it that they may be saved But yet such hope of the Church concerning their good performance for the future does not minister any occasion of confidence in such men that they have already performed what is necessary to their Salvation as a receiving them into the Church and unto Communion as having in the publick judgment of the Church already performed it would do This act of the Church in receiving them into Communion in her external priviledges in hope of their improving them to the saving of their Souls gives them no ground of confidence of the safety and goodness of their condition thereby further than they are careful to make their Calling and Election sure by using all diligence in improving the opportunity and means of doing so by their being in the Church Men are too prone to lay too great a stress upon their being received into the Visible Church and Communion tho the Church hath past no judgment thereby of their being of the Invisible Church how much more would they do so in case it had St. Paul was sensible I doubt not how prone many Christians are to lay too much stress meerly upon their being of the Church and partakers in the external Communion thereof For which cause he cautioned the Christians against flattering themselves with an opinion of their safe condition upon that account and laboured to possess them with a sense of the danger they were in for all that if they should rest therein without growing better and better thereby 1 Cor. 10. I would not saith he that ye should be ignorant brethren how that all our Fathers were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink and yet with many of them God was not well pleased but overthrew them in the Wilderness And he told them that these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted Then enumerated their miscarriages and what befel them thereupon and further told them that these things hapned to them for Examples or Types to us and were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Thereby giving them to understand that tho they were baptized and received into the Church and did participate of the same spiritual meat and drink in the Sacrament with the best in the Church yet if they did not take warning by the miscarriages of those that had been of the Church and of the Communion of it as well as they to avoid the like they might perish as well as the other did for all their Communion in the Church 5. Another reason against refusing all such Communion in the Visible Church who are not judged to be of the Church as Invisible is taken from the danger of such a practice in another respect and that is the danger of mistaking the good for bad and of refusing the sincere Christians under the Notion of Carnal and Unregenerate There is so little visible difference between what many of the same persons were a little before they had saving grace and what they are when they have it only in the lowest degree that men would be in great danger of mistaking if they should make a judgment of their spiritual state under such Circumstances And the difficulty of not mistaking in this case will be still increased when that very little of true grace which is in some men is greatly obscured by the courseness of their natural temper and disposition Besides the prejudice which some good men have against others upon account of some difference in Opinion will not suffer them to discern true grace in some of them in whom it is and perhaps in some good degree too This Age hath furnished us with too many instances of this nature The like may be said in respect of the narrowness of spirit and severity of many by reason of which many of those in whom God himself finds saving grace would be refused Communion with the Church for want of it if that opinion should generally obtain that none should be admitted into the Visible Church ar to its Communion but upon the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible Some do understand the danger of rooting up the Wheat if the Tares should be gathered from among it to lie in the danger of mistaking the Wheat for the Tares if the one should be attempted to be gathered from the other And if this should be the reason why our Saviour would have them both to grow together till the Harvest it would be pat to what I have said on this reason But if it be not as I am apt to think it is not yet then it so much the more confirms that to be our Savious meaning which I have suggested elsewhere for I do not
whether in bringing their Children to be Baptized they do not intend thereby to dedicate them to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to engage them as much as in them lies to be Gods faithful Servants and to believe and live according to the Doctrine and Precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ or somewhat to that effect And whether likewise such Answers from the Parents should not be expected as are most suitable to such demands And further it would be considered Whether Infants can be so well or so directly and properly obliged to God in Covenanting with him in Baptism by what Sponsors which are not their Parents then do to oblige them as they may by what their Parents themselves may do to that end And the reason of this proposal or question is this If the Childrens being obliged to do that when they come to Age which Parents obliged them to in their Baptism does depend upon their Parents properly in them and authority over them as is supposed it does from what has been formerly argued then they cannot be so properly obliged by what other Sponsors do in their behalf at their Baptism which have no such property in them or authority over them It is true indeed Parents are not wholly unconcerned in entering their Children into Covenant with God by Baptism when yet Sponsors act in the Parents stead For it is the Parents that cause their Children to be Baptized and what the Sponsors act is by the Parents procurement and upon these accounts it is interpretatively their act But yet Parents immediately and in their own persons acting the part of entering their Children into Covenant seems more proper and better to answer the nature of the things Sponsors may be more useful in case Parents of Children to be Baptized are dead as possibly it might be the case of some Children whose Parents were Martyr'd in the Primitive times from which perhaps that usage in the Church took its first rise There are other cases in which Sponsors or Pro-parents may be useful and necessary but hardly so as to exclude Parents from their proper work But I speak of these things with submission to those of better judgment and more authority having only offered them to consideration QUERY VII FOr what reason is Church-Membership said to be Invisible as well as Visible in some and yet but only as Visible in others And from whence does this difference arise This difference proceeds from the difference there is between Visible and Invisible Christianity and from the different Union between Christ the Head and his Members which is caused thereby By invisible Christianity I mean those inward acts and affections of soul by which men abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good which are wrought by a serious assent of the mind unto the truth of the doctrine and great motives of the Gospel by which they are convinced of the necessity of repentance and holy living in order to their escaping everlasting misery and becoming eternally happy By visible Christianity I mean external and visible acts of Religion in reference both to God and men such as is the profession of the God that made the World to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to be his Son and the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith and such other acts as consist in an external performance of the external acts of worship due to this God and Saviour and in acts of Justice and Charity towards men and in sobriety of behaviour in reference to a mans self Now by the internal and invisible Christianity forementioned in conjunction with that which is external the Covenant entred into in Baptism is so performed that by it a man is internally and invisibly united to Christ and consequently to all those who are invisibly one with him But visible Christianity alone is but an external performance of the Covenant entred into in Baptism and this amounts to no more than an external and visible Union with Christ and with his Church as visible By this much then we may understand wherein the difference between visible and invisible Church membership lies and from whence it doth arise Now that the internal Christianity which consists in an internal change in the faculties of the soul to wit in their apprehension inclination motions and operations in reference to their various objects of good and evil does produce or obtain an internal and invisible Union of men with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ will appear if we consider these things 1. This internal Renovation of soul contains in it an Union with God by adhesion for by it a man doth with his heart and soul and out of judgment and choice cleave unto the Lord which in the sence of Scripture is a being joyned to him He that is joyned or he that cleaveth unto the Lord is one spirit for it is rendred by both words 1 Cor. 6.17 And for a man firmly and resolvedly to adhere and stick to the Lord and to the interest of his honour and glory in the world in worshipping loving and obeying him and in placing his affiance in him as his only God and Saviour come what will which is his cleaving to him is such a moral Vnion with God as the nature of man is capable of 2. This internal Renovation worketh an invisible Union with God by a participation of the divine nature as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Pet. 1.4 By which participation men are morally united to God For they are thereby renewed to the Image of God in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness and so are made one Spirit or one in spirit with Him according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit or of one spirit For so far as such an one is partaker of the Divine nature by Renovation he judgeth of good and evil as God judgeth and loves and hates and designs the same things that he doth 3. By this Renovation of the Inner man men come to have the same Spirit of God and of Christ to reside and dwell in them by which their Vnion with the Father and the Son is compleated The holy Spirit first prepares them as living Temples or an Habitation for himself to dwell in by renewing them in a less degree and then comes and takes up his abode and dwells in them by affording them a more constant and more plentiful influence and assistance And the same Spirit dwelling both in Christ and in them the Vnion between them becomes more intimous and more entire Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 As the Union of all the members of a natural body is not made so much by their contiguity or close joyning as by being all animated by one and the same spirit which is in all the parts so it is
Communion in the instituted Ordinances of worship That particular Churches are Constituted or to be Constituted only of such But others do think that these do make the Visible Church much narrower than the Scriptures do and do hold that all that are visibly in Covenant with God are thereby joyned in Relation to him and are made Members of his Visible Church as well those which have no saving grace as those that have Our business then for the present will be to consult the Scriptures in this case Before God had a Church in the World by Institution mans visible relation to God was known by their worshipping of him only whether they had any other signs of saving grace or no and tho they were in no visible Covenant with him They were known to whom they did belong by whom they worshipped Every man walked in the name of his God as the Prophet speaks Mica 4.5 and those that worshipped a strange God were the Children of a strange God Mal. 2.11 as those that worshipped the true God were counted his Children Natural Religion especially in point of worship was then the measure of judging mens visible relation to God But when Almighty God was pleased to set on foot and begin the gathering him a Visible Church out of the rest of the World in a way of divine Institution he laid the foundation of it in his transaction with Abraham by instituting and ordaining two things 1. That as God by Covenant engaged to Abraham to be his God and the God of his Seed so Abraham and his Seed must engage to God by Covenant to be his Servants and a People unto him 2. That this Covenant should be entred into by Abraham and his Seed by observing such a Sacred Rite as God instituted and appointed for that purpose and that was Circumcision And this was continued for this use until the Messias came and instituted Baptism another Sacred Rite for the same end Now in Gods thus founding his Visible Church there was no such thing as the appointing saving Grace in the judgment of charity to be the condition of mens admission into his Church by Circumcision But the Lord absolutely commanded that Abraham and his Male Seed after him and all Born in the House or bought with their money should be Circumcised without any limitation or condition in reference to the appearance of saving Grace By which it is evident that God did not design to have no others of his Visible Church than such as had saving Grace Now the Posterity of Abraham when they came out of Egypt were by virtue of their Covenanting with God all of them bad as well as good visibly related to God as his People and so his as no other people were And I hope we may safely say that God himself accounted them to be what Moses and others by divine inspiration said they were And if so then we may say that Almighty God did account them all bad as well as good tho not in the most emphatical sence to be his chosen elected and adopted People Deut. 4.37 Rom. 9.4 his Called Isa 48.12 a People near unto him Psal 148.14 his Saints his holy People Deut. 7.6 33.3 Psal 50.5 his Children Deut. 14.1 a special and peculiar People unto himself Deut. 7.6 14.2 his Inheritance Deut. 9.29 his Portion Deut. 32.9 his peculiar Treasure Psal 135.4 All these Titles and Appellations given them by God or by man inspired by God in giving them do with as much plainness as words can express shew that God himself owned them for his People his Children and related to him in such a sence as other People not in Covenant with him were not Now that they were not thus called or accounted for any such reason as because they had saving grace or because they were reputed to be of the Church as Invisible will appear with full evidence For the same inspired Man Moses at the same time and in the same Book in and by which God owned them for his People under many of the foresaid appellations did from God charge them with such and so much guilt as no man can with any colour of reason say was consistent with an Invisible Church-state Thus in Deut. 9. Thou art a stiff-necked People vers 6. From the day thou didst depart out of the Land of Egypt even until ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord vers 7. They have corrupted themselves they have quickly turned aside vers 12. I have seen this People and behold it is a stiff-necked People vers 13. You have been Rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you vers 24. I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck chap. 31.27 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked generation chap. 32.5 When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters vers 19. A froward Generation Children in whom is no faith vers 20. They are a Nation void of Counsel neither is there any understanding in them vers 28. These things are charged on them generally and in the gross And considering some other passages there is great cause to fuspect that much the major part of them at least were thus guilty For in Numb 14.2 its faid That all the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole Congregation said Would God we had died in the Land of Egypt or would God we had died in the Wilderness And vers 10. All the Congregation bade stone them with stones And vers 33. Your Children shall wander in the Wilderness forty years and bear your Whoredoms until your Carcases be wasted in the Wilderness And vers 35. I will surely do it to all this evil Congregation that are gathered together against me And vers 29. Your Carcases shall fall in this Wilderness and all that are numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me All these things considered they will not suffer us with any plausible pretence to say or to think that God owned this People in the bulk of them as his Visible Church for any such reason as because they seemed to be Invisibly related to him by special grace And if not then it must be upon some or all of these accounts following unless any other more likely can be thought of which I am not able to foresee nor to suspect 1. They were in some sort holy and separated unto God as they were Born of Parents who were in Covenant with him Upon which account they were called a holy Seed Ezra 9.2 Now the holiness of persons always signifies some such special relation to God which is not common to all persons as such Almighty God has another kind of right to the Children of such as are his by Covenant than he has to the Children of
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
the Church by Baptism but upon Supposition that they had a true justifying saving faith before such admission And hereby faith in this question is not meant faith objectively but subjectively considered For it is agreed that a profession of a belief of the same truth doctrinally considered is necessary to visible Church-membership by Baptism in the adult which if believed as it ought to be will be sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and such is the Belief That Jesus Christ is the Son of God John 20.31 Acts 8.37 But the question is whether a less degree of belief of saving doctrine be not sufficient to visible Church-membership than is sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and whether it is not probable that the Apostles did admit some into the Church by Baptism upon the appearance and probable evidence of such a Faith And in order to the making a due judgement in this case it is necessary to know what this Faith is and wherein it differs from justifying and saving Faith The one for distinction sake we call a Faith initial or inchoate the other a Faith consummate or complete The initial Faith stands in such a lower degree of assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel concerning Christ his being the Son of God or Saviour of Sinners as has not yet thorow its power over the Will renewed the whole man so as to become Regenerate or a new creature But the Faith consummate or complete lies in such a firm assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel as by which through frequent consideration of the things assented to the Will is changed and renewed in its inclinations motions and affections in reference both to Sin and Duty This difference between Faith and Faith is fairly set out in the Scriptures St. James chap. 2. treats of a Faith that will not avail to Justification and Salvation and of that also which will The one is the Faith which is alone or by it self verse 15. which has not yet purified the heart from earthly affections and fleshly lusts nor brought forth the fruit of the Spirit but is dead and remains barren But the other Faith which will avail to Justification is operative and vigorous producing internal and external acts of Christian Obedience by which it s made perfect ver 22. that is it is thereby made to attain its end in the Justification of the person that hath it This Faith worketh by Love and is thereby consummate or made perfect Gal. 5. For the Greek word according to learned Authors is in the middle voice and may be taken actively or passively or rather both it working by Love is thereby consummate or made perfect Dr. Hammond understands it in a passive sence and reads it thus Faith which is consummate by Love When St. Paul saith I could not write to you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ because of the envy strife and division they lived in 1 Cor. 3.1 his words seem to intimate that men might be babes in Christ by such a Faith as fell short of purifying the heart and working by love and which left them in a carnal state And when S. Peter saith Add to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1.5 he supposeth it very possible for some Christians to have a faith without the addition of those Christian virtues there enumerated and to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as it follows Vers 8 9. And we read of some who believed in Christ when they saw his Miracles to whom yet he would not commit himself Joh. 2.23 and of others who believed on him but would not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue and because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God John 12.42 And it s said of Magus that Simon himself also believed Act. 8.13 This may suffice to shew what that Faith is which falls short of that which is Justifying and wherein it differs from it I shall now improve this to shew how unlikely a thing it is that the Apostles should receive none into the Church by Baptism but such as they esteem'd to have a Justifying Faith 1. It is no ways probable that those who had lived in the darkness of Paganism should ordinarily if at all in their first beginning to believe believe unto Justification but that there was some space of time between their first believing and their believing unto Justification and if so then it cannot be probable that the Apostles who Baptised men presently and when they first began to believe would Baptize them under the notion of their having already believed unto Justification Now the reason why it is not probable that such men when they first began to believe did then believe unto Justification is this because men do not believe unto Justification untill their Faith hath wrought such a change in the whole man as by which they become Regenerate as I have shew'd for we cannot say God justifies unregenerate men while they are such Now such a change as this is not ordinarily if at all wrought in an instant and as soon as men begin to believe For the word of God by believing of which this change is wrought does not effect it physically but morally by causing such thoughts and considerations to rise in the mind as do by degrees alter and change the moral frame and constitution of the Soul For tho' the Spirit of God is the principal Agent and the word of God his Instrument in this work yet he causeth this change by working upon mens thoughts and by bringing them seriously to consider the things they believe whereunto they tend and how they were concern'd in them And mens discerning things of this nature and consequently their thoughts and considerations about them are brought on but by degrees as light comes in being confusedly and indistinctly discerned at first And the assent of the mind to the truth of things to be believed cannot exceed the minds discerning the credibility of the evidence upon which they are to be believed but so long as the one is weak the other will be weak also And so far as the assent of the mind is but weak so far its operation upon the will to alter and change it will be but weak likewise as the one is wrought gradually so is the other Men may be forced to believe whether they will or no thro' the strength of conviction as that signifies the assent of the mind when yet the will is not thereby prevailed upon to consent and yield to the dictates of the mind for some considerable time and sometimes never And let a mans faith or belief be what it will yet untill it prevails over the will which is the great wheel in the Soul that gives motion both to a mans affections and actions to alter and change it as to its prevailing bent and
as they owned him only for their God according to their Covenant with him tho otherwise they had great guilt upon them This still confirms what was said before that tho the immoralities of this People for the generality of them were such in other respects as that all that they had done in Covenanting and in a partial performance of Covenant could not give them the reputation of being Members of the Invisible Church yet their Covenant with God and partial performances of it in worshipping him only with a worship of his own appointment did denominate them in an external and visible respect to be his People and so his as the rest of the world were not By the way then if those of this Church under the Old Testament were stiled Saints a holy People and the like upon other accounts and in other respects than their being really and inherently holy as I have shewed they were by inspired men then it cannot be concluded but that the People of the Churches in the New Testament were so likewise when the Apostles in their Epistles to them stiled them Saints the Sanctified in Christ Jesus and the like For the same Epithetes and Appellations signifie but the same thing in the Old Testament as in the New In both they signifie a People separated from the Pagan unbelieving world unto God among whom some were more so and some less some by external Covenant and profession and some by that and much more to wit by the Renovation of the whole inner man I the rather note this as I pass along because those of the Congregational way lay so great a stress as they do upon St. Pauls stiling the Churches to whom he wrote Saints for the proving as they would have it that none but such as are savingly sanctified are Church-matter or to be admitted as Church-Members except when it is done through mistake of them that admit them Having taken a brief survey how things stand related touching Visible Church-Membership under the Old Testament I shall now proceed to enquire how matters stand declared touching the same under the New And our inquiry must be whether persons adult are by no other means Visible Church-Members unless they are reputatively Members of the Church as Invisible Or whether they do not become truly Members of the Visible Church in Scripture account by their voluntary Covenanting by Baptism with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost tho it should be supposed that there is not enough in them to denominate them Members of the Church as Invisible The question is not whether it does not become those who admit men into the Church by Baptism and the Baptismal Covenant to think the best of them who are so admitted and to hope they do it with a sincere mind when they therein give up themselves to God But whether their due admission thereto does depend upon such a judgment in those that admit them Or whether such Persons may be refused and not suffered to Covenant with God in Baptism and thereby to enter into the Church tho they offer themselves thereto and desire it in case those whose office and place it is to admit men thereto should be unsatisfied touching the truth of their saving Conversion or Regeneration Or thus the question is not whether it be not the duty of every man that enters into Covenant with God in Baptism to do it with a sincere mind and with all his heart But whether this be required by way of condition without which it is neither lawful for the person himself to Covenant with God nor for others to suffer him to do it if they suspect he will do it with such a frame of mind as is short of Regeneration Nor is the question whether a man might not be refused admission into the Church in case there were cause to suspect him to have an evil design in desiring it to betray the Christians to their Enemies upon account of which suspicion its probable the Disciples refused Saul's joyning with them after his Conversion tho he desired it until they had received better satisfaction concerning him But the question is whether such as have only some general and in distinct belief that Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of the world by his death and that the way of Christianity is the way of Salvation and do desire admission into the Christian Church to be further instructed in that way and in order thereto are willing to enter into Covenant with God and to be Baptized I say the question is whether such may be suffered to Covenant with God and enter into the Church by Baptism supposing them as yet to have no thorow saving work of Conversion wrought in them but only so much as may be hoped is preparatory and dispository thereto but yet have something tho not all which is necessary to it and whose profession is serious and sincere so far as it goes as that is opposed to dissembling knowingly And to prove that they may and that the lawfulness of such Covenanting by Baptism does not depend upon their being savingly Regenerate and that our Saviour himself owns Unregenerate men received into the Visible Church by such Covenanting in Baptism to be as well Members of it as the Regenerate I shall offer several things 1. And I shall lay down this first as a foundation to build upon in this proof viz. That it is not a thing unlawful in it self for some such as are not of the Church as Invisible by regenerating Grace to enter into Covenant with God to be his People nor is such a qualification enjoyned as a necessary condition of doing so When all the Males at Age in Abrahams House were commanded to enter into Covenant with God by Circumcision And when his Seed after him were required to cause all the Male-strangers bought with their money to do the like And when the Proselytes from among the Gentiles were required to Circumcise themselves and all their Males and thereby to enter into Covenant with God I say in all this there was no such thing as their being Circumcised in heart enjoyned as a condition of their so entring into Covenant by Circumcision The Lord also commanded Joshua to Circumcise all the Hebrew Males that in the space of forty years had been born in the Wilderness which was an entering them into Covenant with God and this without any condition of such qualification as would have made them of the Church as Invisible Nay Almighty God at another time commanded all Israel Men Women and Children and the Strangers in their Camp to enter into Covenant with him and into his Oath Deut. 29.10 11 12. This command was absolute and peremptory also and without condition The Lord did not in this nor in any of the other instances require men to enter into Covenant with him only upon this condition that they did already truly fear him and sincerely love him or otherwise to forbear No
such as should receive it was accordingly foretold by our Saviour and resembled by various Parables as it is here by the Wise and Foolish Virgins Thus we have it again in another Parable concerning the Marriage of a Kings Son to which both good bad were invited and did come and the Wedding was furnished with such guests Mat. 22. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares that sprang up amongst it The Parable of the Draw-net that being cast into the Sea gathered of every kind bad as well as good are of the same import And so is the Parable of the Sower and his Seed Wherein four sorts of Hearers or Professors of the Gospel are resembled by four sorts of ground into which the Seed fell of which there is but one thorowly good Mat. 13. Add unto this that our Saviour did not only fore-tell his Apostles by these Parables what different success the Preaching of the Gospel would meet with even among those that would receive it and how his Church would be filled with many bad as well as good but also told them plainly without a Parable That many would be called and yet but sew chosen Mat. 20.16 Wherefore and for what reason may we conceive did our Saviour thus instruct his Disciples touching what the state and condition of his Church would be which should be gathered by the Preaching of the Gospel but that they might not be disappointed in their expectations nor be offended when afterwards they should find it to consist of such a mixture or ever expect tho they should observe his rules for the purging his Church to find it otherwise until the end of the world the time appointed for a total gathering out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity And that the Apostles did not understand otherwise by our Saviours Parables and Doctrine but that the worser as well as the better Christians were of this Kingdom of Heaven the Visible Church their Epistles to such Churches in which there was such a mixture shew for they counted them and treated them as Christian Brethren in so much as St. Paul would not have such as deserved Church-censure and in some sort were under it to be counted as Enemies but admonished as Brethren 2 Thes 3.14 15. The Apostles then being thus thorowly instructed by our Saviour afore-hand touching the constitution of his Church of bad as well as good it is no ways likely that they would receive none into the Church but under the notion of such as were truly Regenerate 4. There are some circumstances relating to the Apostles receiving Persons into the Visible Church by Baptism which render it incredible that they did not so receive any but upon the reputation and esteem they had of being of the Church as Invisible First one thing was the doctrine by which they most prevailed with men to become Disciples Which doctrine was the Preaching that pardon of sin and the happiness of Eternal Life are to be had by Christs suffering for Sinners if they believe in him and the Preaching to the People that this Jesus rose from the Dead after his Enemies had put him to death and confirming the truth of what they said by astonishing miracles It 's true they did together with this Preach the necessity of Repentance also But the glad tidings of Pardon and Salvation by a Saviour so extraordinarily confirmed as it was being new and never heard of before especially among the Gentiles and being so hugely comfortable as it was did so strongly affect the People as made them instontly turn Disciples and to promise no doubt a reformation of life with an intent to perform while they were thus filled with joy But many of them after this transport of affection and newness of joy was over tho they held fast the comfortable part of their profession of faith in Christ and in his Death yet proved partial and defective in reforming their lives which rendred the work of Regeneration in them very doubtful at least or rather worse than so And the Apostles were fore-warned and pre-instructed by our Saviour that upon their Preaching the joyful news which the Gospel brings many would be so taken with it as readily and joyfully to become Disciples and turn Christian in profession who yet would afterwards when times of tryal came either Apostotize and fall off or foully faulter in retaining that profession by carnal shifts to secure themselves from Persecution For our Saviour had told them this by opening to them who or what manner of hearers he meant by those resembled in the Parable to the stony ground on which the Seed fell and said they were such as when they heard the word would immediately receive it with gladness but afterwards in time of temptation would be offended as not having root in themselves Mar. 4.16 All which considered it was no ways probable that the Apostles received all they Baptized under the notion of Persons already truly Regenerate but as Disciples only according to the tenour of their Commission Secondly another circumstance is the great hast the Apostles made to Baptize Persons when once they had prevailed with them to consent to it The same day of Pentecost they Preached to those mentioned Act. 2. they Baptized about three thousand of them And so Philip Baptized the Eunuch presently upon the Road after once Preaching to him And the Jaylor and all his were Baptized straight-way and in the same hour of the night in which Paul and Silas first Preached to them Act. 16.33 I think there can no instance be given of their delaying so much as four and twenty hours to Baptize any after they were willing to be Baptized This is another thing which renders it very incredible that the Apostles Baptized none but upon account of their being esteemed Regenerate or that they did Baptize Persons ordinarily by any other rule than that contained in the letter of their Commission which was to Baptize those that were Disciples as such If they had thought it necessary to Baptize none but whom they could prudently esteem to be of the Invisible Church they would in all likelihood have suspended the Baptizing of many at least until they had had some tryal of the constancy of their resolution and experience of their reformation And so much the rather because it is hard to make any good judgment of mens sincerity by what they do on a sudden under some transport of affection and before they have had some time in cooler thoughts to deliberate upon what they engage to do Thirdly their refusing none that were willing to be Baptized argues that they did not think none were to be Baptized before they were Regenerate or did seem to be so They refused none so far as appears that were willing to be Baptized and to come into the Church how notoriously bad soever they had been before Simon Magus is a famous instance of this nature And some were
undissembled belief was that I doubt not which Philip required of the Eunuch when he said If thou believest with all thine heart thou maist be Baptized And the Eunuchs answer upon which he was Baptized by Philip does intimate so much when he only said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And more than this I conceive cannot be duly inferred from those words of Philip to the Eunuch for the reasons I have already given These are the principal Texts made use of to countenance the opinion which I have in this Inquiry opposed There are objections or pleas drawn from some other which are well answered by Mr. Thomas Lamb as some of these I have insisted on also are in his fresh suit against Independency And thus upon our Inquiry we have found as I conceive that others are of the Visible Church in Scripture account and so in Gods account by whose inspiration the Scriptures were written than those which are of the Church as Invisible or them that seem to be so For Almighty God as has been shown accounteth and owneth such to be his People in distinction from the rest of the world that have entered into Covenant with him tho otherwise they or many of them are far from seeming to be of the Church as Invisible And if God esteem of them as such then so must his Servants likewise and if the Scripture account them such it will become us to do so too who profess to make the holy Scriptures the rule of our judgment After that upon our Inquiry we have found things thus Let not any man now say that by this doctrine we confound the Kingdom of the Devil with the Kingdom of God For this would but reflect after an unseemly manner upon the wisdom of God for thus numbering bad men as well as good to be of his Visible Church as externally related to him and as worshippers of him Secret Hypocrites belong to the Kingdom of the Devil as well as those that are more visibly such and yet none deny but that many such are in the Visible Church nor do they count this a confounding Gods Kingdom with the Devils There is no doubt but that the Devil has his Visible and Invisible Kingdom as well as God has his But those Hypocrites whether secret or more open which are of the Visible Church tho they are in a sence of the Kingdom of the Devil yet must be reckoned to be not of his Visible but of his Invisible Kingdom So that the Hypothesis I seek to establish does not at all tend to confound Gods visible Kingdom and the Devils visible Kingdom one with another much less their Invisible Kingdoms For those are not in Scripture reckoned to be of the Visible Kingdom of the Devil who professedly worship the true God and him only and Jesus Christ as his Son and only Mediator tho otherwise bad But such as worship Idols other gods and other mediators in doing of which they do in effect worship the Devil who is the founder of such worship Those Kingdoms or Nations are in Scripture counted of the Devils Kingdom or Dominion in which his Worship and Ordinances Idol-worship and the Rites of that worship are established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations As on the contrary those Nations or Kingdoms are counted Gods Kingdoms in which the Word and Worship of God are by publick Authority owned and established as the Religion of those Nations Thus when Idol worship was put down and cast out of the several Territories of the Roman Empire by the first Christian Emperors and the Christian Religion established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations then the Devil was said to be cast down and the Kingdom of God and the power of his Christ to be come Rev. 12.9 10. And again The Kingdoms of this world are said to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ When idol-worship which is Devillish worship is rejected by the Authority of those Kingdoms Revel 11.15 Not that there shall be no Hypocrites or Carnal Professors of Christianity in these Kingdoms when they are thus become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ But tho there be 〈◊〉 as the true Christian doctrine and worship is owned and established by the Government or ruling power of those Kingdoms and so long as the generality of the Inhabitants are for the same doctrine and worship in opposition to Idolatrous and Antichristian doctrine and worship they are accounted to belong to Gods Visible Kingdom in the world and not the Devils however many of those Inhabitants may belong to the Invisible Kingdom of the Devil And thus those are called the Children of Gods Kingdom by our Saviour who yet at last shall be cast out into outer darkness Mat. 8.12 But of this more afterwards QUERY IX WHether God hath granted any right to Church-priviledges to those who are only of the Church as Visible but not as Invisible That such have right to them before men unless they are justly deprived of them by Church-censures those will grant who yet deny that they have any right to them by Gods allowance But our present enquiry is whether they have any right by Gods allowance And if that be true which we now suppose we found to be so in our former enquiry viz. that God himself doth own very many such to be of the Church as Visible which yet are not at all of it as Invisible then it will be but reasonable to conclude from thence that he does allow them a share in the external and temporary priviledges of that relation except in those cases wherein he himself hath made an exception For otherwise God by conferring on them the priviledge of Relation to himself and his Church has conferred upon them a right to the priviledges of that relation so far as the relation it self extends For the relation and the priviledges of the relation go together except in case of forfeiture by miscarriage The union of parts does of it self infer right to communion with them in things common to the whole The right of those in the Visible Church to Visible Church-priviledges does arise I conceive from that Covenanting between God and them in Baptism by which they engaged themselves to be his People as God on the other hand had engaged himself to be their God on that condition Now for ought that appears from the Scriptures to the contrary so far as they perform Covenant with God in being a People unto him so far he owns them to be his People and so far as he does so he allows them the priviledge of his People which is a share in his houshold fare and in the provisions for his Family which are his Word and Ordinances If they worship no other God and hold the Head Christ Jesus in point of doctrine and worship and own his doctrine and precepts as the rule of faith and life and worship God in
substance of Worship and in their fellowship or mutual love as I have shew'd it does then their being divided in these or any one of these or in any lesser things if the Vnity of their Communion be thereby destroyed that undoubtedly is Schism When any thing which before was but one comes to be divided it ceaseth to be one any longer unless there be a re-union and thus it is in reference to Church Communion Altho Christians do agree in the Christian Faith and in the substance of Worship also yet if upon account of any lesser things they be so divided as that Christian Fellowship or Brotherly love be thereby destroyed their Vnity of Communion is thereby destroyed also I do not say that all their Communion in those things wherein they are agreed is destroyed by uncharitable division but this I say that the Vnity of their Communion is thereby destroyed For Brotherly love is an essential part of Cotholick Communion so that if that be destroyed by any division tho but about lesser matters the Vnity of the Communion is destroyed and the guilt of Schism contracted yea and their Communion it self in Faith and Worship wherein they are agreed is greatly damnified also For their Communion in Faith and Worship is rendred unacceptable to God and unprofitable to themselves for want of Communion in Brotherly love though I had all Faith and have not Charity I am nothing And for Worship If thou bringest thy gift to the Altar and rememberest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Shewing how little God regardeth devotional Communion in Worship when void of true Charity The Schism we enquire after then lies in division in the Church as that is opposite to and destructive of Christian Vnity in Faith or in Worship or in Love And all Church division tends more or less to the destruction of Christian Unity in these in whole or in part That it lies in division appears in that it receives its name from that for the word Schism signifies division or a rent And the Translators of our English Bible when they have put the word division in the line reading they have put Schism in the Margin 1 Cor 10.10 and 11.18 and when Schism in the line division in the Margin 1 Cor. 12.25 and this they have done to explain the one by the other Since then Schism consists in Church division it follows that by how much the greater the division is at any time by so much the greater is the Schism and the less the one is the less is the other also We must therefore distinguish of Schism There are several sorts or degrees of Division and so of Schism which are sometimes found among Christians I. A different persuasion in Christians touching some things indifferent in their own nature some holding them unlawful others lawful some accounting them necessary when others are otherwise persuaded This difference fell out between the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles touching some meats the observation of days and the use of Circumcision And a difference much like to this in some respects has fallen our among some Christians in our days and in our Nation Now a difference of this nature tho it be in some sort a division yet it is capable of being so managed as that the effects of sinful Schism shall scarcely at all follow upon it As thus First if those who are scrupulous and yet under a mistake shall be modest and humble in their dissenting and desirous to be as little troublesom and offensive to their Brethren from whom they differ as possibly they can and as tender of disturbing the peace of the Church as their case will permit and ready to hear and impartially to consider any thing offered by their brethren to remove their scruples and reconcile them in judgment Secondly if they be not averse to comply with their Brethren in all things so far as they can and to hold Communion with them so far as they have attained and are agreed according to the Apostles Exhortation in that case when he says Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.16 For these words were used in reference to those Christians mentioned in the Verse before of whom he had said If in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you And indeed this compliance is necessary in all like cases to prevent Schism upon a double account 1. Otherwise such do not what they can to preserve Peace and prevent Schism and so must be guilty of it if it follow for want of such compliance That to do thus is their undoubted duty is clear from that of the Apostle Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men how much more with fellow Christians If Christian compliance than be the way to live peaceably with Christian Brethren then it follows that if they do not comply as much as in them lies and as far as they can when the preserving of peace requires it they do not what they ought to do and if Schism or a breach of peace follows they must needs be accessary to it and guilty of it 2. Because if they do not comply so far as they can they give occasion of suspicion that their non-compliance in that wherein their differing from their Brethren professedly lies proceeds not so much from scruple of conscience as from some worse Principle such as humour self will a spirit of opposition and contradiction or a personal prejudice against the men from whom they differ or the like For it will be thought that if Conscience to God were the only reason why they differ with their Brethren in any thing that then Conscience would engage them to go along with their Brethren in that wherein they do not differ and to be tender and scrupulous of making the difference or breach between them wider than needs must and of multiplying occasion of offence causelesly Men cannot be confident when they see such men are not tender of Conscience in the one that they are so in the other but will be apt to suspect that their differing proceeds chiefly from some worse cause tho the parties themselves perhaps are not aware of it but think it proceeds from the goodness of their Conscience when there is no such matter And when this occasion of suspicion is given by not complying in what they can the natural effect of it will be to weaken mens esteem of them and affection to them and to prepare the way to farther difference Whereas a compliance as far as possibly they can would maintain a good opinion of them in mens minds procure them fair quarter from them that differ from them prevent the differenee from growing up into a
direct Schism and prepare the way to reconciliation For when it does indeed appear by complying as far as they can and by other truly Christian behaviour of persons that through error of judgment differ from their Brethren in other things that that difference proceeds purely from Conscience tho erronious and not from a worse Principle their case is truly pitiable and calls for tenderness towards them from them that differ from them and to treat them accordingly is certainly the way to gain upon them and to make them the more capable of receiving information and satisfaction in their scruples Whereas when they are otherwise treated with severity it tends to spoil their good temper and to exasperate them and to make them out of disgust to them who have so dealt with them to unite into Parties and make head against them to the imbroiling the Church in grievous Schism 2. There is another and worse Division or Schism than meer difference in judgment and practice in some lesser things and that division lies more in Christians unchristian managing their differences than in the difference that is in their opinion and practice when it is but about some things wherein the good or hurt of men would be little concerned if they could be separated from their effects And this division lies in the immoderate manner of contending for that wherein Christians differ As thus when they do not content themselves with offering their arguments fairly and peaceably for that wherein they differ but fall out with their Brethren for not submitting to but opposing them both in their arguments and practice as when they set them at naught and censure them as insincere as not truly lovers of truth but that they are byassed by some undue interest of honour reputation or gain or humour or self-will and that these prevail with them more than truth Now such things as these are of a provoking nature and lay a temptation upon their Brethrens Passions and tend directly to alienate affections and minister to unpeaceable contendings and are a direct breach of peace Tho men have truth on their side yet they may be Schismatical in labouring to propagate or to defend that truth when they go farther in doing so than speaking the truth in love I mean in way of Controversie Tho those that differ from them may possibly be moved with undue motives to oppose them and the reasons for what they hold yet because whether they be so or no is a matter of which they are not competent Judges it lying out of their reach and belonging only to the Judgment of God who only is the searcher of hearts therefore whatever they may fear or suspect yet they should forbear either to pronounce or insinuate any such hard things against their Brethren by which they become Judges of evil thoughts Which if they do not they stir up strife and violate peace by causing unquietness and disorder in the Church and destroy Charity weaken yea wound the very Spirit of the Churches Communion which without doubt is Schism tho it should never proceed to actual separation This mingling of mens Passions and unchristian Censures and insinuations with their Arguments hinders the due operation of their Arguments upon their Antagonists minds tho they should have truth on their side For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God but hinders it Jam. 1.20 Whereas tho men do differ yet so long as they propose and reply one to another no otherwise than as supposing both sides to be only in the search of truth they may live lovingly and peaceably together and enjoy Edifying and comfortable Communion one with onother their difference in Judgment notwithstanding 3. There is a division and consequently a Schism in the Church of a higher nature than the former and that is when the persons that divide or cause division in the Church unnecessarily gather into a Party and do after a sort unite and combine themselves together the more publickly and avowedly to maintain and carry on the Cause they have espoused in opposition to their Brethren and industriously labour to increase their number as hoping thereby in time to be able to bring their opposites to submit to them and to give up their Cause Now if the thing or things they after this manner contend for should be unprofitable for the Church in case they should obtain or of so little use or benefit as that it could never reasonably be expected that it should countervail the hurt that is or will be done to the Church to the Communion of the Church to the Cause of Religion in the world and to the Souls of men in general by being obtained in such a way it would be a most grievous Schism thus to divide and imbroil the Church upon so mean an account A Division or Schism of this nature is termed Faction which is a siding or making of Parties in the Church And of this nature in some sort was the Schism in the Church of Corinth For their Divisions were factious Divisions for they proceeded to making of Parties Their Crime in this charged upon them by St. Paul is termed Divisions in our Bibles but the word is Faction in the Margin 1 Cor. 3.3 And part of the works of the flesh rendred Seditions in our Translation is Divisions or Factions in the Margin Gal. 5.20 This sort of Division which is accompanied with Faction or making of Parties is more than is found in some Divisions which yet are sinful Now when a Schism grows up to this height to a combined strength it is much worse than while it was acted only by a few apart and in a more private way and less taken notice of because then there is more of contempt in it and more are corrupted by it and the peace of the Community more disturbed and because usually by endeavours of increasing the Party much more evil is perpetrated by slanders naughty insinuations and suggestions against those they divide from and combine against than was found in the nature of the division at first or in the nature of the error on which the division first began This factious division is likewise aggravated further when it partakes of the nature of Sedition And we see in the fore-cited place Gal. 5. the same word signifies Division Faction and Sedition Now Sedition I conceive is a division accompanied with a combination of men against the Government either of Church or State under which the Providence of God hath set them It is their acting things contrary to that Government farther than the necessity of not sinning against God does oblige them to the disturbing of the publick peace thereby or it may be so perhaps by seeking to alter any thing amiss or inconvenient in the Government in an undue way that is by acting out of their sphere or the place or rank in which the providence of God hath set them their going beyond their bounds in it