time as the present case requires As the Wisdom of a Housholder will direct him how far to bear with faults and weaknesses in his Family so the Magistrate by Wisdom will discern what may be born with in his Common-Wealth so far as is sufficient to the true and just ends of Government CHAP. XXXIII The Churche's true interest to be pursued by Ecclesiastical Persons NOthing is more precious and among Christians nothing should be more valued than the good of Gods Church for it is Christs and Gods great interest in the world but the misery is that the Churches name is abused and its interest mistaken most perversly For none have more pretended for the Church than they whose business is to get and keep worldly pomp and power with carnal ease and pleasure and to make laws and rules serviceable to these ends and to corrupt the minds and debauch the lives of men that they may bring them into blind obedience to such laws and maintain their worldly dominion over Christs heritage and who value all men howsoever qualified as they stand affected to their estate and accordingly stick not to reject the eminently good and to receive the notoriously bad In the Romish Church all this is palpable Now let these be called the Church by them that list to give that name to a state of Pride and Luxury of Tyranny and oppression of carnal and Devilish Policy under which the souls of people are betray'd to everlasting perdition Wherefore those in the Ministery that are sollicitous of the Churches welfare should state the interest thereof aright which indeed is not for the service of the flesh or the carnal mind but for the promoting of the Divine life in men and the increase of the mystical Society of Regenerate Persons united in Christ their Head by his Spirit dwelling in them and in order thereunto for the increase of the visible Society of persons externally owning such an internal State And therefore it is to promote and propagate the sound knowledge of God in Christ and to make the people of their charge really good and to advance them what they can in grace and wisdom according to their several capacities and to deal with them in meekness and love and to walk before them as examples of all purity and goodness and to be more sensible and sollicitous about the corruptions and sinfull disorders than the sufferings of the Church and to be more zealous for Gods honour and the good of Souls than for their own honour wealth or power and in a word to seek the things of Christ more than their own things The Ministers that discharge their Office well are in Scripture declared Worthy of double honour And that they be indowed with honorable settled maintenance is necessary for the support of a Religion that for its excellency requires to be supported by the help of excellent Gifts as Learning Eloquence and Prudence not now to be obtained by Miracles but in the ordinary use of means with much cost and labour And questionless the withdrawing of these supports tends to the Churches ruine nevertheless an inordinate and licentious collation and accumulation of Preferments making for the Service of Covetousness Ambition and depraved appetite and for the decay of Sobriety Vigilancy and Industry in the Pastors is no less dangerous This exorbitancy after the Roman Empire became Christian allured and brought in the men of this World who have their Portion in this life and gave them advantage by carnal arts to possess themselves of the chief Seats of Power in the Church by which means Religion degenerated into externalness and carnality and that which was then named the Church was at length turned into a worldly State which grew more and more corrupt till the mystery of iniquity was fulfilled in it Where Christianity hath recovered it self out of the degeneracy of the later times and knowledge is generally diffused among the people the sufficiency industry and faithfulness of Ecclesiastical persons will be inquired after negligence in their Administrations and irregularities in their lives will not pass without noting the ignorant idle and scandalous will fall into contempt outward Formalities will be no covering as in darker times they were distinctive Habits and Reverend Titles alone will not procure veneration the Ecclesiastical Authority will sink and fall without remedy if real worth doth not uphold it In such times men will not be to learn that an arm of flesh doth not constitute a Christian Church and that the aid of the secular Power is not enough to prove one Party to be Orthodox and the rest Heretical or Schismatical External violence which is the common support of false Religions will in this case do little good but it will render them that call for it the more odious and more discover the weakness of their Cause Wherefore the Clergy must resolve to do Worthily and fulfill their Ministery or they must extinguish the Light of the Gospel or the Light of the Gospel will extinguish them But if as faithfull Shepherds they watch over the Flock and tender the state thereof if they labour in the Word and Doctrine and Teach with meekness and patience if they pitty and succour the weak and heal that which is lame that it may not be turned out of the way if they use the rod of Discipline with judgment and Paternal affection if they discard and lay by mens unprofitable institutes and maintain all Divine ordinances in their due honour and chiefly urge the observance of the indispensable Commands of God and turn men from externalness and make it their chief aim that Christ by his Word and Spirit may Reign in the hearts of Professed Christians then shall they magnifie their Office and establish their Authority and hold their Flocks in an unfeigned Reverence and submission as feeling the force of the Ministerial warfare in their Consciences And the inferior differences shall not be able to cause disgust or aversation or break those strong bonds of the Peoples sincere regard toward their Pastors but they would rather be swallowed up in love which is the bond of Perfectness The Conclusion NO greater thing can fall under the consideration of Mankind than the Security and increase of true Religion The Glory of God among men and their eternal Salvation depends upon it T is as far above the concernments of the Kingdoms of this World and their Politick Administrations all Secular Affairs and Philosophical speculations as the Heavens are high above the Earth An inquiry into the Sound state and true interest thereof is a contemplation worthy of the greatest minds and the advancement of it is the chiefest honour of the highest Powers T is the Royal interest of that Potentate who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and of that Blessed Society which are incorporated under him their Lord and Head And who that in any degree hath truly known the felicity of this Kingdom and hopes for a
steddiness purity and soberness This new nature while it is lodg'd in the earthly tabernacle is clogg'd with many adverse things especially the relicks of the old nature which cause much vanity of thoughts indisposedness of mind motions to evil and aversations from good and somtimes more sensible disorders of affections and eruptions of unruly passion and aberrations in life and conversation The same divine principal is in some Christians more firm lively and active than in others yet it is habitually prevalent in them all and it resists and overcomes the contrary principle even in the case of most beloved sins and strongest temptations and perseveres in earnest and fearful indeavours of perfecting holiness in the fear of God And whatsoever degree of sanctity is obtained it ascribes wholly to the praise of Gods grace in Christ and the power of his spirit Christianity being known what it is it may easily be known what it is not and so the false disguises of it may easily be detected Forasmuch as it looks far higher than the temporal interests of mankind in the settlings of this life though it doth not overlook them it cannot be thought to have done its work in making men meerly just-dealers good neighbours and profitable members of the Common-wealth for such may be some of them that are without Christ without the hope of the Gospel and without God in the world Moreover it cannot lie so low as in a bare belief of the Gospel and an observance of its external institutes accompanied with a civil conversation As for such as rest in these things what are they more in the eye of God than the heathens that know him not And wherein do they differ from them except in a dead faith and outward form taken up by education tradition example custom of the country and other such like motives Nor doth it lie in unwritten doctrines and ordinances of worship devised by men nor yet in curiosities of opinion or accidental modes of Worship discipline or Church-government nor in ones being of this or that Sector party nor in meer Orthodoxality all which being rested in are but the false coverings of hypocrites It is not the lax and easie low and large rule by which Libertines and Formalists yea some pretended perfectionists do measure their own righteousness who assert their perfectness by disannulling or lessening the law of God In a word it is not any kind of morality or vertue whatsoever which is not true holiness or intire dedication to God and therefore much less is it that loose and jolly religion of the sensual gang who keep up a superficial devotion in some external forms but give up themselves to real irreligion and profaneness and bid defiance to a circumspect walking and serious course of Godliness And now it is too apparent what multitudes of them that prophess the faith of Christ are Christians in name only and not indeed Their alienation from the life of God and their enmity against it and their conformity to the course of this world in the lusts thereof doth testifie that they have not received the grace of God in truth But Christians indeed according to the nature of Christianity above expressed which is now in them though not in the highest yet in a prevalent degree do make it their utmost end to know love honour and please God to be conformable to him and to have the fruition of him in the perfection of which conformity and fruition they place the perfection of their blessedness In the sence of their native bondage under the guilt and power of sin they come to the Mediator Jesus Christ and rest upon him by the satisfaction and merit of his obedience and suffering to reconcile and sanctifie them to God and accordingly they give up themselves to him as their absolute Teacher and Ruler all-sufficient Saviour Having received not the Spirit of the world but that which is of God they are crucified to the honours profits and pleasures of the world and have their conversation in heaven and rejoyce in the hope of glory and prepare for sufferings in this life and by faith overcome them The law of God is in their hearts and it is the directory of their practice from day to day by the touchstone of Gods word they prove their own works and come to the light thereof that their deeds may be made manifest to be wrought in God They draw nigh to God in the acts of religious worship of his appointment that they may glorifie him and enjoy spiritual communion with him and be blessed of him especially with spiritual blessings in Christ and as God is a Spirit they worship him in Spirit and in truth It is their aim care and exercise to keep consciences void of offence towards God and towards men and to render to all their dues both in their publick and private capacities and to walk in love towards all not excluding enemies and to do all the good they can both to the souls and bodies of men but those that fear God they more highly prise and favour The remainder of corruption within themselves they know feelingly and watch and pray and strive that they enter not into temptation and maintain a continual warfare against the Devil the world and the flesh under the conduct of Jesus Christ their Leader according to the laws of their holy profession with patience and perseverance In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation they indeavour to be blameless and harmless as the Sons of God and to shine as lights in the world and by the influence of their good conversation to turn others to righteousness Such is the Character of those persons upon whose souls the holy doctrine of the Gospel is impressed and in whom the Christian religion hath its real being force and vertue These are partakers of the heavenly calling and set apart for God to do him service in the present world and afterwards to live in glory with him for ever These are the true Church of God the Church being here taken as mystical not as visible and these are all joyned together by one Spirit in one Body under Christ their Head in the same new nature having one rule of their profession and one hope of their calling These are a great multitude which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues yet hitherto not proportionable to the rest of mankind And they continue throughout all ages but in greater or lesser numbers and more or less refined from Superstition or other corruptions and more or less severed from the external communion of the Antichristian State according to the brightness or darkness of the times and places wherein they live CHAP. II. Things pertaining to the Sound State of Religion And first holy Doctrine THe advancement of the Christian life which hath its beginning in the new birth being the great end propounded in this discourse in reference to this end
not consonant to right reason or that whatsoever is darted into their mind is to be taken for an irradiation from the Holy Ghost or that any may presume upon the Spirits immediate help in the neglect of rational search and Study But their meaning is that as heretofore in extraordinary persons there were extraordinary inspirations so there have been are and always shall be the ordinary teachings and inspirations of the Spirit in regard whereof it is stiled in Scripture the Spirit of wisdom and revelation which teaching as all the Faithfull stand in need of so more especially the Ministers of the Gospel and that this divine assistance doth elevate or heighten the gifts of nature and learning and guides us to sound reasoning yea and sometimes brings things into the mind without previous reasoning yet rational and found to be so upon due Scanning There is no great evidence in reason that St. Pauls demonstration of the Spirit and power is to be restrained to the miraculous confirmation of his Doctrine or any extraordinary gift though that sense be not excluded For the contexture of his discourse in that Chapter sets forth a certain faculty perceptive and expressive of the things of the Spirit of God belonging unto spiritual men as such And they are no Fanaticks that to this day own the more common interpretation of the words namely to Preach from the special help of the illuminating and quickning Spirit with a lively perception and feeling of the things that are delivered But whatsoever the meaning of those words be verily they are besotted with reason that in the pride thereof regard not this illumination from above and scoff at those that look after it To Preach Christ is the matter of this dispensation and to Preach moral duties is not extraneous to the Preaching of Christ but comprized under it Yet it must be acknowledged that morality in its best estate as it is vulgarly taken for temperance and righteousness towards men and other vertues of that rank as proceeding from a meerly natural principle which an Aristotle might describe in his Ethicks is far below Christianity For it is found in many that are alienated from the life of God and lead meerly by the Spirit of this world But this name may be given to some higher thing as first to the whole observation of Gods moral law founded in our Creation and that not only in the outward work after a common manner performable by the unregenerate but in a duemannerfrom a right principle to a right end that is from the love of God unto his glory And in this sense we acknowledge that it is a great part but not the whole of the Christian Religion nor indeed the whole of morality taken not vulgarly but Theologically and that in its full extent For so taken it is no other then the conformity of our minds and actions to God and his laws and faith in Christ is a main part thereof Indeed to preach Christ is to preach the whole Duty of man and more especially those duties that are consequent to and founded in our redemption as also to set forth the whole mystery of the Gospel which is the ground and reason of our duty For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and accordingly hath ordained the Ministery of reconciliation by which there is made known the lapsed and lost estate of mankind the abundant grace of God in Christ for their recovery remission of sins and free justification through his righteousness regeneration and inward sanctification the inhabitation of the spirit in believers and their mystical union with Christ their living by the faith of him and deriving of spiritual life and strength from him and growing up into him till they be filled with all the fulness of God in him their spiritual warfare and conflicts between the flesh and spirit within them their temptations desertions and renewed consolations and the earnest and sealing of the Holy Spirit given unto them Surely these are fit Subjects to behand led by a Gospel Preacher though the Preaching of these matters or of many of them is by some called Canting and phrase Divinity yet they are the Sacred expressions of the Holy Ghost in Scripture And dare any say they are but a sound of words without matter agreeable to the Stile No they are real and deep mysteries and intelligible to them that obey the truth It is heartily here asserted and earnestly contended for that the Gospel calls us as much to vertue as to glory and that its true intent is to reduce us to a holy life yet withall the Counsel of God therein is to set forth the glory of his free grace the all-fulness of Jesus Christ and the mighty working of his Spirit and the wonderfulness of Salvation through him to the intent that we might glory not in our selves but in him who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption And indeed who do more powerfully and successfully preach Christian duty than they that most insist on this unspeakable grace and lay open the treasures thereof The love of Christ is so to be spoken of as to beget in us a love towards him not imaginary and conceited but real and substantial made good by an intire subjection to him And therefore the Doctrines of free grace and of good works are to be sounding together in our Pulpits What Christ hath done for us is not to save us the pains of a continual mortification and of the agony to be endured therein and of aspiring to the most perfect state of holiness that is attainable We are to live as strictly as if we were to be saved by the perfection of our own obedience And indeed none lead more holy lives than they that desire to be found in Christ and when they have done all that they can rely wholly upon the mercy of God in him It is most true that Gospel mysteries do not lie in meer Phrases nor is new matter always brought with new forms of speech nor are people much the wiser by having their heads filled with them There are empty sounds and terms unintelligible swelling words with windy notions expressions that seem to draw deep whose meaning is but shallow There is a sollicitous stating of points with a seeming exactness that is indeed weak and injudicious and a niceness in distinguishing which is but frivolous Many controversies much agitated are but a strife of words and too great stress is often laid upon little fancies And a greater mischief there is that in cloudy language pernicious doctrines take shelter and dangerous Sects are known to hide themselves in this covert And therefore he that doth his work rightly will know the true significancy and import of what he utters He vents not meer words but sound matter and good substance for the souls of men are fed with solid sense and not with phrases Howbeit as touching expressions there is a certain
knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they shall be alike good Whatsoever scornfull or careless Men conceit hereof the Divine Wisdom hath made it praise-worthy and precious The tongue of the just is as choice silver and the lips of the righteous feed many And to good Hearts this Practice will not be burdensom for they will recreate their Minds herewith as an holy divertisement and serious Pastime while others spend their leasure in that mirth and laughter which the Wise Man calls madness CHAP. IX The Prevalence of Religion or real Godliness in the Civil Government of a Nation IN Christian States and Kingdoms Religion being Gods interest ought to have the preeminence in all things And its Preeminence is no incroachment upon the Rights of the Higher Powers but their Establishment God alone hath an underived and unlimited Empire over Man his creature The People are primarily Gods Subjects and then are subject to Princes as to his Vicegerents and obedience to him is the grand interest both of Prince and People None can doubt that God hath made his own Glory and mans Salvation the supreme ends of government and subjection And consequently that is the best Policy which gives these ends the highest place and makes temporal advantages and the wellfare of the outward Man subordinate thereunto And this requires that the Constitution give the highest regards to Gods Laws and maintain their Authority and that the whole publick Administration tend to the promoting of Righteousness and true Holiness and to the suppressing of all unrighteous and impious Practice As it is the Church's duty and honour to teach and command her Children to do whatsoever Christ hath commanded so it is the proper work and chiefest glory of the Magistrate who is Gods Minister to defend the Faith and uphold the Ordinances of the Gospel and to further the most lively and powerfull Dispensation of them and to incourage and command obedience to the Divine Law written in Nature or Scripture In subserviency hereunto his Power is to determine such things as are requisit in general but in particular are left undetermined of God and therefore called indifferent and are to be ordered by human Prudence according to the general Rules of Gods word And for these ends the chief Magistrate hath a Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil and Ecclesiastical But it is no diminution of his Authority to remove from it things unnecessary unprofitablē and offensive in their use and for their doubtfull nature apt to perplex the Subjects conscience And he is the general Bishop of his Dominions in a political sense without any incroachment upon that Authority wherewith Christ the King of the Church hath invested spiritual Pastors As he is such an Officer it is worthy of his chiefest care to provide and send forth able and faithfull Dispensers of the Word that may teach the People the good knowledge of God after the example of the good King Jehoshaphat and to see that every one who hath the Cure of Souls be resident with his Flock and constantly instruct them by preaching the Word and Catechizing them in the Principles of Religion and not to suffer Pluralists to seise upon several Congregations as a prey to fleece but not to feed them to incourage laborious Ministers that watch for the Peoples Souls as those that must give an account and strictly to injoyn the Sanctification of the Lords Day which was sanctified to the publick Worship of God by the Apostles of our Lord who were guided by an infallible Spirit in setling this as all other Ordinances pertaining to Christs Kingdom and was observed by the Apostolick Churches and so hath continued in all Ages and in all places of Christianity and is conveyed down to us by as unquestionable Tradition as the Scripture it self It is not of little moment to suppress or at least to bring into disgrace whatsoever customs serve for nought but to feed inordinate Sensuality and to make those that use them profane vicious and licentious There are frequented shews and pastimes well known that increase unto all ungodliness and may be called the Devils ordinances Those that wish well to Piety have an ill part to act when they take upon them to defend some exercises from which an extreem abuse is inseperable and which are made a trade of gain arising from the impurity and profaness of them and therefore are incorrigible and can admit no reformation The Piety of any Nation is not to be measured by formalities and opinions and uniformity in little things but by substantial Devotion by solid zeal in the weighty matters of the Law and main concerns of Religion by righteousness of life by sobriety purity modesty by peace and concord with mutual forbearance in those differences that should not and need not make breaches among Brethren by dutifulness in all relations by industry frugality and by abounding Charity that is full of good Works Happy is that State where religious influence is predominant where the pious and prudent bear sway not by intrusion but by lawfull Admission also where it ariseth to that strength as to carry along with it the affection and interest of a Nation not by setting up the Faction of a few but by making the generality or at least the greater number of considerable men some of them truly regenerate Christians and the rest orderly and well affected One would think it were out of question that it were more desirable that Religiousness should be in fashion than open dissoluteness and profaness For uncontrolled profaness will run down all Religion But when those that reach not the Power of Godliness indeed come so far as to take up an outward garb thereof it is a great external advantage to true Religion and shews its prevalent Influence on the publick State If any should demur upon this Assertion by making it a question whether Phariseim or Profaness be the worser evil let him know first that profane and dissolute Christians are notorious Hypocrites for professing to know God when in works they deny him Besides Phariseism is not simple insincerity but a compound hypocrisie wherein malignity and enmity against the Power of Godliness is the chief ingredient it is a kind of strict externalness that seeks to destroy the inward life and spirit of that Religion which it pretends to own I have no list to say that such malignity is less mischievous than filthy lewdness or debauchery But the garb of strict Profession here mentioned is of another nature and serviceable to the Churches good though we must continually and strictly charge all Men to beware of resting in it to the ruine of their own Souls CHAP. X. Christian Unity and Concord ALl faithfull Christians are Members of one mystical Body having all one Spirit one Lord and Head one Faith one Baptism and one God and Father of them all one Hope of their Calling and one Heaven to receive them all
and carnall interests to false ways and vain inventions For which cause it behooves the zealous Religionist to be carefull even to jealousie that he be not imposed upon by himself or others and in this care heartily and intirely to resign and conform himself to the Law of God By such resignation and conformity he secures his own Soul and what in him lies the Sound state of Religion It is here acknowledged that what is written in nature is Gods Law as well as what is written in Scripture and that natural Revelation as well as supernatural is Divine and whatsoever is known of God by the Light of nature in the matter of Religious Worship is to be received as well as that which is known by the Light of Scripture and the divine Goodness is to be owned in both though in the latter it hath appeared more abundantly because therein is given us a full instruction in all things pertaining to Gods Kingdom which in the other is not given For the great mysteries of the Gospel could not be known by nature and in things that could be known thereby the light is but weak and glimmering and not easily able to fix the heart therein not so much for want of evidence in the object as from the pravity of our mind reason being laid asleep and all our faculties being sunk into the brutish life What is the utmost capacity of that light among the Heathens is hard for us to define and though it be harsh to determine that they were all utterly and universally forsaken of God yet it is evident both by Scripture and the lives of the Gentiles that Gentilism was a very forlorn state This is enough to shew the high favour of God toward the Church in supernatural Revelation by which he hath not only instructed us in things supernatural not otherwise to be known in this life but also more perfectly in the Laws of nature now transcribed into the Books of the Old and New Testament so that there is nothing of Religion or Morality that may not be found therein Besides the Law of God written in Nature and Scripture what certain and stable rule of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Conversation hath the Church to walk by that there can be no certainty or consent in meer or all Tradition or in the judgment of the ancient Fathers or the ancient practice of the Catholick Church is so evident as needs no confirmation and there can be no acquiescence or accord in the determinations of any visible universal Supream Power For whereas all Christians acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scripture they neither do nor ever did nor will unanimously acknowledge that there is such a Power in being And the main Body of them that maintain'd such a Catholick Supremacy cannot agree in what subject the same resides whether in the Pope or a General Council And as several Popes so have several Councils of equal amplitude and authority often crossed one another and consequently some of both kinds must needs have erred And it still remains a controversie undeterminable which Councils are to be received and which to be rejected unless the whole Christian World hitherto disagreeing herein will be bound up by the resolves of one Party that can bring no better proof than their own pretended infallibility To all which may be added that an Oecumenical Council truly so called or a Representative of the universal Church was never yet congregated Wherefore let the Faithfull rest upon the old right foundation the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles whose infallibility is unquestionable Such being the fulness and perfection of holy Scripture which was given by Divine inspiration and that for this end that the man of God might be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works it must needs be safest in Divine matters not to be venturous without its warrant They best secure themselves from error who keep to that rule which is both perfect and infallible some pretending to lay open the folly of the way which they call puritanism affirm that the mystery thereof lies in this principle that nothing ought to be Established in the Worship of God but what is authorized from the Word of God Indeed there are those of that denomination who disallow whatsoever instituted Worship is not so authorized but they are not so ignorant as to suppose that all particular circumstances belonging to Divine Worship which admit of endless variation are defined in the Word of God such as are those natural and civil circumstances without which actions are not performable But they suppose a wide difference between these matters such as time place method furniture c. and those ordinances of Religion which they take for parts of Worship as being made direct and immediate signs of honour given to God by their use And all of this kind some do judge or at least suspect to be unlawfull that are not of Gods appointment My design obligeth me to shun the intangling of this Discourse with controversie and therefore I write not either for or against the lawfulness of such uncommanded Worship But it is sufficient for me to shew that the purity of Religion is more safe by acquiescence in that only which God hath prescribed than by addition of new ordinances of Worship devised by men who even the best of them may too easily deviate from the truth And who knows not that too much yielding to mens devised Forms and Rights which had a shew of Wisdom made way for the departure of so great a part of Christendom from the primitive Christianity All duties of the Law of nature may be clearly proved from Scripture though the particular instances thereof that are innumerable and their infinitely variable circumstances cannot be there expressed As for instituted Worship it is unquestionable that there is no such defect in those parts thereof that are of Divine authority as needs to be made up by the human addition of other new parts And it is granted on all hands that there are things meerly circumstantial belonging to it which are necessary in general but in particular not determined of God and must be ordered by the light of nature and human prudence according to the general rules of Gods word None that know what they say in magnifying the written Word will teach the People not to rely upon impartial reason which no true Revelation did ever contradict But we are so conscious of the weakness of human understanding that in case of any seeming contrariety between Scripture and Reason not to give the Scripture the preeminence we know is most unreasonable Is Scripture liable to be perverted so is Reason Is there obscurity and difficulty in the interpretation of Scripture so in human ratiocinations much more Whosoever can apprehend right reason can rationally apprehend Gods written word which is its own interpreter and whose authentick interpretation of it self we are inabled to discern by rational inferences and deductions
aggravations of Sin before the Lord and with their acknowledgment and bewailing of such scandals before the World as have been given by some among them as also with their publick Testimonies against Errors and Corruptions that have risen in their times and so they reproach them for their humility sincerity and impartiality in abusing themselves and giving glory to God and condemning Sin where ever they find it They scoff at those that speak of communion with God spiritual experiences desertions and the like matters and use in scorn Scriptural words and phrases and other holy expressions used by the Religious and profane the terms of Holy Godly Saint Sanctified by the use thereof in scandalous Ironies and so they make sport for profane men and harden them in their irreligion They would render holy things contemptible by nothing some little oversight and indecencies mostly involuntary in those that perform the same as perhaps in the Preachers tone or gesture And to say the truth it is one of the easiest things in the World for licentious wits to play upon the most serious and sacred things and to make the most acceptable Service of God and his choicest Servants seem ridiculous These are some of the many vile and wretched ways of disgracing true Religion And I will add one more to wit that madness of opposition on what side soever it be which to make a different Party odious will not fear to expose Godliness it self to the contempt and scorn of them that scorn all Religious Parties Surely it is a fearfull thing to be a hater reviler and scorner of Persons and things dear to God and precious in his sight What is it to provoke the Lord to jealousie if this be not Wherefore he doth no ill service that detects this perillous folly And men would easily shun such mistake and prejudice as makes them misjudge and condemn the Pious if they would but deal fairly and exercise the same equity and candor towards them which is due to all sorts and which towards themselves all do justly challenge But Godliness will be still Godliness let presumptuous wits imploy their Tongues and Pens to transform into never so ugly shapes Invectives Sarcasms odious and ridiculous Tales and Stories Scenial representations and disguises will not confound it nor sink its authority and reputation On the other hand the fairest coverings and best contrived Apologies the most notable and advantageous Policies will not make corrupt things savoury nor insipid things relishable nor little empty things great and weighty nor uphold the estimation of a degenerate carnal outside lifeless state of Religion where better things are known The wit of man may adorn or palliate any folly and deform true Wisdom but in a lucid Region where knowledge is diffused Wisdom will shew it self and the folly of fools cannot be hid But let the Religious know that it behoves them to take care that they suffer not so many things in vain for these indignities may do them more good than the vain applause of men If their Enemies give them advantage as indeed they do for the learning of more Wisdom Sobriety and Circumspection let them receive it it is pity they should not make the most of such harsh Instructions What manner of Persons should they be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness that as much as in them lies there might not be that wo to the World because of offences and that with well doing they might put to silence the ignorance of foolish men More especially they should do their uttermost to shun even the appearance of the sins more peculiarly charged upon them as Hypocrisie Pride Wildness of Fancy Affected Singularity and Self-Flattery and to be adorned with a conspicuous sincerity humility and charity And whatsoever contumely they indure let them by no means retaliate in the same kind remembring their blessed Lord who being reviled reviled not again but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Wickedness cometh from the wicked scurrility petulancy bitterness and all intemperate language is more agreeable to their adversaries than to them And it is observed that the flinging of witty sarcasms biting jears and scoffs and railing words against a Party do vex and gall more than hurt or break them and provoke but not convince them and serve indeed to feed a humour and make sport and do some present feat but do not carry the main cause or prevail in the end but turn rather to the dammage and blemish of those for whose service they were designed CHAP. XVI Religions main strength next under the Power of God lies in its own intrinisick excellency THe propagating of true Christianity and the sound state of Religion agreeable thereunto against the enmity of the adverse World is worthy of the utmost indeavours of all pious men and to search into the right ways and means thereof is a necessary and noble speculation But it must first be known that its Stability and Victory in the World depends primarily upon the Wisdom Truth and Power of God ingaged for it and therefore it cannot fall by the Power and Policy of Adversaries nor sink and lose it self by the weakness or defectibility of its Professors but it remains firm and sure and the same for ever Next after the Power of God its main strength is its own intrinsick excellency It is upheld chiefly by its own principles which are mans perfection and place our nature in its due state and put both Persons and Societies into the only right frame and reduce all things into their own place and order They have nothing in them of iniquity impurity vanity or unfitness but are perfectly holy just and good and give unto God his due and unto men theirs and that upon the most excellent grounds that can be laid as the Glory of God our conformity to him our fellowship with him our reward from him and in him and all in and through a Mediator who is God and Man in one Person and the Head of all the faithfull who are his Body The Godly practice conformable to these principles is from a cause that faileth not to wit the inhabitation and influence of the Holy Spirit of God Though true Christianity be far above the strain and reach of meer nature yet it is practicable by Divine grace and notwithstanding the imperfect state of its Professors it faileth not of its end which is to bring into the Possession of the heavenly Kingdom the fruition of God and everlasting glory yea it doth effect great and excellent things in the present world Its rules are pure and perfect its motives are great and high and of indubitable verity They that live after it are a Law to themselves and an aw to others No other institution Philosophical or Religious is so powerfull to restrain inordinate affection and to settle the minds and affairs of men in the greatest peace and order as far as human imperfection can arrive It denies all
vicious excesses and sensuall pollutions yea all offensive levites and unchristian irregularities and all fellowship therewith Yet morosity and sowreness of Spirit it by no means approves but serenity of disposition and freeness and sweetness of conversation is both commanded and caused by it It reacheth the hidden man of the heart and awes the Conscience it forbids the inward motions of intemperance and injustice it condemns and loaths Hypocrisie and makes all external works to be nothing without sincerity It makes sincere love the principle and placeth it at the bottom of our whole behaviour towards others and therefore prompts and powerfully ingages to mutual succour in the time of need It maintains a charity unknown to the Infidel World and which is a vertue peculiar to it in the greatest vigor and extent It injoyns the love of enemies It exalts Humility meekness and mutual forbearance as chief vertues which were contemned by the pride of moral Heathens And therefore it makes men just and peaceable And yet withal it hath the best grounds of true fortitude and magnanimity And therefore Damns that pusillanimity and foolish softness of disposition which betrays truth and vertue Self-denial is one of its grand precepts without which none can live under its discipline and so it over-rules and controles that selfishness which is the Arch-rebell against God and the root of all mischief and turns the World upside down It teaches men to live above the Honors and riches of the World and takes off the heart from them Its principles most intirely accord with the true interest of the Higher powers it declare their authority to be from God as they are his Vicegerents and teacheth them to rule in Subordination to him according to his laws And it awes the Consciences of Subjects to obdience If Rulers command any thing repugnant to the Laws of God it forbiddeth subjects to perform such-commands yet withall obligeth to submit with patience to the unjust penalties of non-performance and to avoid Mutinies and Rebellions It also teacheth the people in Spiritual matters to receive the Churches directive with their own discretive judgment and so not to derogate from the just Authority of Ecclesiastical Superiors It is indeed the chiefest strength of all just Governments and Societies The truth is it doth hedge in with thorns the lusts of men as Pride Malice Revenge Covetousness and Sensuality but it secures and inlarges their wholsome comforts and injoyments their proprieties immunities and all just priviledges It advanceth Righteousness Temperance Beneficience and all other duties appertaining to mankind Wherever it roots and spreads it makes no small part of the Prudence Courage Industry and Frugality and by consequence of the wealth and strength of a Nation There is no aggregation of men in the world wherein appears more of that which is good and profitable to men than is found where the influence of this profession becomes predominant whether in a Nation or Kingdom or City or Family The Spirit of Christianity is the Spirit of power of love and of a sound mind which gives great advantage for Prudence Soberness steddiness of Conversation The seriousness and gravity of this way disposeth not to futil talking childish credulity easiness and rashness but to a considerate freeness and direct dealing with a generous caution and reservedness in due Season Though its followers cannot link themselves to Factions and serve all times and occasions and go along with the men of this world in their designs throughout yet they shall not fail of interest in a Nation not wholly vitiated nor is it hard for them to maintain an influence upon the publick State if they accommodate themselves to serve it so far as conscience and prudence leads them Considerate men will not contemn them and they that own them shall know where to find them and in pursuing good designs shall find them fast friends Religion doth not cast men down into stupidity pusillanimity or sluggish neglect of opportunity but erects them to a Prudent and temperate vigor of Spirit and regular activity whereby they become fit for the affairs of human life in a higher or lower Sphear according to their different capacities CHAP. XVII Religion may be advanced by human Prudence what ways and methods it cannot admit in order to its advancement THough true Religion stands by an unchangeable Law and depends not upon the mutable things of this World and varies not according to their variations nor is to be governed by the common policy of secular Kingdoms nevertheless its affairs may be much advanced by prudence and disadvantaged by indiscretion There is a lawfull use of human Policy being refined from Hypocrisie and all iniquity The Author of this Profession the holy and just One in whose mouth was no guile adviseth his Disciples to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves St. Paul one of his chief Ministers was attentive to all the methods of gaining People and became all things to all men that he might win some and he was bold to tell some that being crafty he caught them with guile but it was the guile of abounding Charity and self-denial managed with prudence for the service of Christ and the saving of Souls In secular Kingdoms the reasons of State are locked up from the common view But the maxims and methods of this Interest may with great advantage be disclosed as well to Aliens and Enemies as to Friends and fellow-Citizens For by this discovery the powers of the World who through their own misapprehensions or others malicious suggestions are sometimes turned against it may become more propense and indulgent towards it and the more sober part of Men may be inclined to favour it and greater numbers both of high and low Degree may be brought intirely to close with it when they shall behold the goodness and usefulness the innocency and integrity of its Principles As for the Enemies counterworking we need not dread it For the stratagems of this warfare are not carnal and cannot be counterwrought with carnal stratagems It remaineth therefore as the business of this inquiry to consider how we may improve the intrinsical and innate Advantages before mentioned and to gain all extrinsical and adventitious ones that may be made and to make thâ— most of them all for the designed end But due care must be had that the wisdom of this World or human Policy have not too great 〈◊〉 stroke For many are the arts and methodâ—… that serve secular Interests which the sincerity and purity of true Religion can by no mean admit It cannot stablish it self in bloud and cruelty nor murther the innocent for its own security nor hold People in subjection by the horroâ— of a Spanish Inquisition which is not the policy of the city of God the Spiritual Jerusalem but of Babylon It cannot make use of such impostures as are used to uphold the mystery of iniquiâ—y and which is the way of those Church Politicians that make
common remisness in this matter is deplorable Sometimes the manner of opposition against Seducers is unadvised and prejudicial To contend for truth by wrath and clamour and contumelious language and usage inhanceth the price of Error and adds to its reputation But the surest way is to converse much with our plain hearted People and to season them with right principles and to detect the subtile methods of deceitfull workers and the dangerous issues of their allurements and by honest and inoffensive applications to prepossess those holds of which deceivers seek to possess themselves And here it is of chief importance that the influence of the Pastors and other prudent and able Persons upon the common multitude of professors be more prevailing than the influence of the common multitude upon the Pastors and other prudent Leaders Servile temporizing with vulgar fancies degrades the Authority and Wisdom of prudent Guides and lifts up a vulgar Spirit and will bring it to that pass that the weakest and most inconsiderate shall sway the Churches Interest Let Persons of approved worth be more faithful and noble than by such servility and treachery to raise to themselves a power in the hearts of the weaker sort Let them rather commend themselves by their known Integrity Wisdom and Goodness and by being ready also in all condescention to serve and please them to their Edification And such faithfulness is the surest means to gain them love and honour Let the Religious beware of seeking to be admired and magnified among one another or of overprizing each others esteem This latter seems to be the cause that drew Peter to a fit of dissimulation and separation from the believing Gentiles while he sought too much to please them that were of the Circumcision Sometimes we know not our own Spirits It is good to beware of provocations like to be given or taken Upon a supposed affront or injury men of parts have been hurried into dangerous contests and to make head against petty passionate opposition they have run beyond their own thoughts and wrought strange confusion Discretion and charity seeks to convince and satisfie and not to exasperate an offended Brother It is well observed that no turbulent Opinion or Party doth usually arise in the Church but by the Church's neglect of some truth or duty Wherefore if an evil spirit seek an occasion of mischief reform the abuse and so prevent his working upon the simple And forasmuch as some of upright hearts being deceived with a fancy of a more sublime and perfect way may pass into the tents of Sectaries so far as conceâ—ns Church Order and external Worship a compassionate regard must be had of such as walk honestly and retain those fundamental Truths that may be a ground-work for saving Faith and godly Life Now towards such the greatest charity is exercised in labouring to remove the stumbling-block of their error and to make it plain before them that the Faithfull whose Communion they forsake contend for the Perfection of holy Scripture and the explicit Knowledge of the doctrine of Salvation and the reasonable service of God according to his Word and spiritual Worship sutable to the Gospel Dispensation and the lively use of holy Ordinances in opposition to unwritten Traditions Mens inventions implicit Faith ignorant devotion and meer formality That they declare by word and deed against the iniquity and impiety of this evil World and therefore the world hates them that they insist upon no forms or usages in Religion but what are commanded by the positive Laws of Christ or are necessary in their general reason by the law of Nature that they seek no worldly advantages or advancements in the Church but what are necessary for the support of the Truth according to Gods ordinary Providence and lastly that human infirmities must not be thought strange in them that have not obtained Angelical perfection These and the like things should be laid open before honest People that have been seduced into Sectarian error CHAP. XXV The advancement of the sound State of Religion by making it National and the settled interest of Nation CHrists little Flock cannot go out of the World nor retire within themselves alone from the Nations of the Earth but they must needs remain a part of Kingdoms Commonwealths with the World in general They must take themselves to be concerned in the civil Powers for the Powers that are will take themselves to be concerned in them and their ways For which cause their aims and actions as far as their Sacred Rule allows must be fitted to the capacity of the civil Government and directed unto the generall peace and quietness of the nation whereof they are in which they enjoy their civil rights By this means religions interest may incorporate with the general interest of a nation run in the same channel That pure Religion may take root and spread and prosper it is necessary to bring its external frame to the consistency of a National settlement The just â—aâ—aude hereof is laid in the doctrine of Faith and substantials of Divine Worship and things necessary to Church unity and order but it goes not beyond these And being fixed in this extent it is in a way to gain besides the support and power of the Law the Nations unstrained compliance and approbation As on the one hand Ecclesiastical tyranny is a root of bitterness always bearing gall and wormwood so on the other hand unfixedness and unlimited liberty consists not with that stability wherein all prudent Governors would settle their own affairs as also with that general tranquillity and repose which is the health of any People If one were raised to empire by a meer Fanatick Party he cannot settle himself nor stand upon firm ground till he wind his interest out of their hands and turn himself to the way of general satisfaction To the same intent and purpose it is of great importance so to fix the terms of Church Communion as not to set a perpetual bar against the main body of the People A Church state so barr'd though it were asserted with a veterane Army and could inclose all preferments both of honor and profit within it self to be at its disposal yet it is hard to see how it could ever obtain a firm establishment For a Christian Nation in general being shut out of the Church or barr'd of such Privileges as are supposed to belong to them as Christians are inraged and likely to be ingaged as one Man to oppose that which they take for intolerable oppression Or if they care not to be admitted they will turn to a contrary interest and Party in Religion or to infidelity Barbarism Atheism or some destructive way or other Now the intention here propounded may take effect if the Constitution shut out none from Sacred and Spiritual Priviledges but such as make not Profession of true Christianity or be destitute of that knowledge which is absolutely necessary to true
Lot of inheritance in the glory of it doth not value the concerns thereof above all his chief joys that are but of this World A zeal for the common Faith and a constraning love to all the Faithfull hath excited a very mean and weak one to do what he was able on this important Subject impartially searching after their common good Let the Prince of this Society one of whose names is Counsellour deliver his Flock from all dangerous and disadvantageous error and from wandring in broken Parties by unstable and divided Counsels and shew them graciously the right way of maintaining a consistency among themselves and of gaining upon the reconcilable part of men And forasmuch as this Prince and Leader is the Lamb of God whose Banner is Love let his people every where be acted by the Spirit of Love and shew forth the meekness of Wisdom in all good Conversation with Humility Patience and Long-suffering having this Principle deeply imprinted in them The Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God The point of CHURCH-UNITY AND SCHISM Discuss'd CHAP. I. Of the Church and its Polity THe Church is a Spiritual Common-wealth which according to its primary and invisible State is a Society of regenerate Persons who are joyned to the Lord Christ their Head and one to another as fellow Members by a mystical Union through the Holy Spirit and are justified Sanctified and adopted to the inheritance of Eternal Life but according to its secondary and visible state it is a Society of Persons professing Christianity or Regeration and externally joyned to Christ and to one another by the Symbals of that Profession and made partakers of the external priviledges thereunto belonging There is one Catholick Church which according to the invisible Form is the whole company of true Believers throughout the World and according to its visible Form is the whole company of visible Believers throughout the World or Believers according to human judgment This Church hath one Head and Supream Lord even Christ and one Charter and System of Laws the Word of God and Members that are free Denizons of the whole Society and one Form of Admission or solemn Initiation for its Members and one kind of Ministery and Ecclesiastical Power This Church hath not the power of its own Fundamental Constitution or of the Laws and Officers and Administrations intrinsecally belonging to it but hath received all these from Christ its Head King and Lawgiver and is limited by him in them all Nevertheless it hath according to the capacity of its acting that is according to its several parts a power of making Secondary Laws or Canons either to impress the Laws of Christ upon its Members or to regulate circumstantials and accidentals in Religion by determining things necessary in genere not determined of Christ in specie As the Scripture sets forth one Catholick Church so also many particular Churches as so many Political Societies distinct from each other yet all compacted together as parts of that one ample Society the Catholick Church Each of these particular Churches have their proper Elder or Elders Pastor or Pastors having authority of teaching and ruling them in Christs name An Ecclesiastical Order of Presbyters or Elders that are not Bishops is not found in holy Scripture For all Presbyters or Elders being of a sacred Order in the Gospel Church that are any where mentioned in Scripture are therein set forth as Bishops truly and properly so called and are no where set forth as less than Bishops These Elders or Bishops are Personally to Superintend all their Flock and there is no grant from Christ to discharge the same by Delegates or Substitutes A distinction between Bishops and Presbyters and a Superiority of the former over the latter was after the Scripture times anciently and generally received in the Christian Church Yet it was not a diversity of Orders or Offices essentially different but of degrees in the same Office the essential nature whereof is in both The Bishop of the first Ages was a Bishop not of a multitude of Churches but of one stated Ecclesiastical Society or single Church whereof he was an immediate Pastor and he performed the work of a Bishop or immediate Pastor towards them all in his own Person and not by Delegates and Substitutes and he governed not alone but in conjunction with the Presbyters of his Church he being the President Though several Cities in the same Kingdom have their different municipal Laws and Priviledges according to the diversity of their Charters yet particular Churches have no Divine Laws and Priviledges diverse from each other but the same in common to them all because they have all the same Charter in specie from Christ. Therefore each of them have the same power of Government within themselves And the qualifications requisite to make men Members or Ministers of the Universal Church do according to Christs Law sufficiently qualifie them to be Members or Ministers of any particular Church to which they have a due and orderly call Local presential Communion in Gods Ordinances being a main end of erecting particular Churches they should in all reason consist of Persons who by their cohabitation in a vicinity are capable of such Communion and there may not be a greater local distance of the Persons than can stand with it A Bishops Church was anciently made up of the Christians of a City or Town and the adjacent Villages who might and did Personally meet together both for Worship and Discipline All Christians of the same local Precinct are most conveniently brought into one and the same stated Church that there might be the greatest Union among them and that the occasion of straggling and running into several Parties might be avoided Yet this local partition of Churches is not of absolute necessity and invariable but if there be some insuperable impediment thereof the partition must be made as the state of things will admit No Bishop or Pastor can by Divine right or warrant claim any assigned circuit of Ground as his propriety for Ecclesiastical Government as a Prince claims certain Territories as his propriety for Civil Government so that no other Bishop or Pastor may without his Licence do the work of the Ministery in any case whatsoever within that Circuit It is not the conjunction of a Bishop or Pastor with the generallity or the greater number of the People that of it self declares the only rightfull Pastor or true Church within this or that Circuit For many causes may require and justifie the being of other Churches therein Seeing particular Churches are so many integral parts of the Catholick Church and stand in need of each others help in things that concern them joyntly and severally and they have all an influence on each other the Law of Nature leads them to Associations or Combinations greater and lesser according to their capacities And the orderly state that is requisite in all Associations doth naturally require some regular