is established in the external form sincere worshippers are liable to be persecuted by formal worshippers as in those times of the Jewish Church wherein the true prophets were slain for their testimony by a wicked prevailing power Matt. 23.37 Gal. 4.29 Lâ—t this be improved that upon this account trouble in the world may be the less grievous Set a due value upon peace in Christ and you will set less by trouble in the world Indeed if you live in the enjoyment of that peace you will quietly bear the worlds trouble The soul that is lodged in Christs peace is in a strong hold or incompassed with a strong guard and kept safe and sute against all assaults Phil. 4.7 Secure your selves in this peace by considering what it is It is a peace that passeth all understanding that is the worth of it is incomprehensible for the benefits whence it flows pass all understanding There is included in it pardon of sin deliverance from the wrath to come the favour and friendship of God and fellowship with him and an unchangeable good estate a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and everlasting consolation This is enough to quiet the mind and stablish the heart as it is written 2 Thes 2.16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work You see what is included in Christs peace Oâ—â—rize it according to the worth of it and secure your selves in it as in a strong hold by delightful meditation Solace your selves in this peace as in a kind of Paradice For it is that Paradice which God lets his people into upon earth and it is some foretaste and pledg of the Celestial Paradice The Worlds trouble cannot drive you out of this strong hold out of this Garden of God but it is well consistent with it Paul sets forth this inward peace in outward trouble 2 Cor. 4 8. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed The second head of consolation is that there remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 a perfect and everlasting rest This God will bring his suffering-people to in his righteousness and great faithfulness 2 Thes 1.6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven This Rest is in your Fathers House in the Heavenly Mansions in the Regions of perfect light and joy the habitation of Angels and blessed Spirits and the residence of the Divine Glory where sin and temptation cannot enter where all danger and fears all suffering and sorrow are shut out for ever Where there is no variableness nor shadow of turning in the Saints felicity because they are before the throne of God and see his face And they shall perfectly know love and enjoy God their Father and J sus their glorified Saviour and they shall dwell for ever at the Fountain of Life and Light and Joy Hallelujahs and triumphant praises shall be their constant employment with such other Services or Ministeries as are proper to the Heavenly state Let this be improved By the eye of Faith look to this everlasting Peace and Joy and set you hearts upon it and then you will be above the tribulation of this world Do this in imitation of your blessed Redeemer of whom it is said Heb. 12 2. that for the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God For the joy that was set before him Look unto this future joy by a lively act of faith as it is the evidence of things not seen and as Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season because he had respect to the recompence of reward so let us do and consider with Paul how this light affliction that is but for a moment worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Wherefore stir up your faith in the promises of Christ that it may act in a lively manner A lively faith hath a reaching sight it can see into the third Heaven And the more you fix upon this object the clearer sight you will have of it A fixed meditation on the heavenly glory strengthens the eye of faith While we look at the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 The word imports As Shooters look at the mark with a fixed earnestness As we should look to this blessed and everlasting rest by the eve of faith so we should labour to ensure our right and tâ—tle to it to have such good evidence for it as will not fail and to have it as clear as it can be had This assurance will set our hearts at rest in all the shakings of this world and we shall thereby be quiet from the fear of evil and shall have patience in the greatest trials This will set us above the tormenting fear of death and free us from that bondage Being assured of that blessed state to come we may welcome death in its approaches And in case we be above the slavish fear of death what can we not bear For we know the time is but short and we are waiting for the end Then bodily sickness and pains will signifie to us our approaching blessedness then bloody persecutions and fiery trials do but call us up from earth to heaven then poverty and nakedness bonds and imprisonments banishments and all kinds of distresses and dangers tell us we are thereby hastening to our final state and the nearer it comes the more we may rejoice as knowing that we are the nearer to our salvation The third Head of Consolation follows viz. That the tribulation to which believers are liable is but in the world it is confined to this world and terminated in this life Should we think it hard to suffer in such a world as this In a world all the glory whereof is but as grass and the flower of the field and as a scene or shew that passeth away and all the state of it is at the best but vanity and vexation of spirit In a world which lies in wickedness which for the greater part of it is led by the wisdom that is earthly sensual and devillish which in respect of the malignity prevailing in it is as the suburbs of Hell and in which so many men are as Devils one to another In a world which God hath appointed for a purgatory to the best of men that are in it and to whom at the best it is but a state of trial to humble them and to prove them that they may be fitted for a better world In a world wherein the children of God are maligned and scorned wherein they of whom the world was not worthy were destitute afflicted and tormented and wherein the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory himself was crucified In a world where n hypocrites and false Christians reproach the Name of Christ by their unchristian conversation and open the mouthâ— of his professed enemies to blaspheme him and wherein sincere Christians through weakness of grace and strength of corruption and by yeilding to temptation too often grieve the Holy Spirit and dishonour the Name of God and lay a stumbling-block before others Should we think it hard usage to have a share of sufferings appointed us in such a world as this Let this be improved Consider we what is the true state of this vain and evil world that we may comfort our selves in that we do not receive our good things in it but undergo hardships and so have the lot of Lazarus and not of Dives to whom it was said Luke 16 25. Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things now he is comforted and thou art tormented Let it comfort us I say that God hath not given us our portion of good in such a wretched world but hath reserved it for us in a better and that here amidst our sorrows he hath given us the first fruits of happiness Let it be considered That if tribulation were not most expedient in this present world he that is infinitely powerful wise and good would not appoint it for his dear children If the present state of things and the condition of this world did not require it as best all things considered it would not be Therefore concerning this appointment look not to your own thoughts but consider as the heaven is high above the Earth so is Gods thoughts herein above your thoughts and his ways above your ways Isa 55.9 His understanding is infinite and his mercy hath no end and his faithfulness reacheth beyond our comprehension Be comforted that in this dark World you are in his hand who wishes better to you than you to your selves and who knows better how to dispose of you than your selves do Tho we are now in darkness He will bring us forth to the light and we shall behold his righteousness Mic. 7.9 We are under afflictive providences but in a dark and dismal World light of perfect joy is reserved for us in the regions of light
work and duty belonging to a Presbyter who is no bishop Not one place of Scripture doth set forth any Presbyter as less than a bishop Phil. 1 1. Paul makes mention of Bishops and Deacons in the Church at Philippi in the inscription of his Epistle but no mention of Presbyters that were not bishops And it seems by that Text that in the Apostles times there were more bishops than one placed in one city and 't is to be noted that Philippi was but a little City under the Metropolis of Thessalonica Thus bishop and elder in the places aforecited are names of the same office whatsoever it be and the Hierarchical Divines grant as much but are not agreed what office is there set forth by those names One part of them think that those Texts speak of or at least comprehend such Presbyters as are now so called The other part of them think they speak of such bishops as are now distinct from presbyters Now they that hold that the said Texts speak of or include such presbyters as are now so called must needs hold that such presbyters are pastors and bishops in the Scripture sence of those names and so an identity of the bishop and presbyter is confessed and it rests upon them to prove the divine institution of bishops of a higher order over such presbyters and they that hold that the said Texts speak of such bishops as are now distinct from presbyters must needs grant the qualification ordination and work of presbyters inferior to bishops is not set forth in Scripture If it be said that the order of inferior and subject presbyters is of divine institution and yet not defined or expressed in Scripture let a satisfactory proof be brought from some other authority of its divine institution and what its nature is If it be said that at first the function of a bishop and presbyter was one but afterwards it was divided into two and that the division was made by divine warrant the asserters are bound to prove it by sufficient authority To have the power of the keys of binding and loosing of remitting and retaining sins in Christs name as his commissioned Officer is to have Episcopal power and this power belongs to a Presbyter The Asserters of Prelacy answer this by distinguishing the power of the keys in foro interiore or the Court of Conscience within and foro exteriore in the exterior Court to wit that of the Church and say that the former belongs to the Bishop and Presbyter both and the latter to the Bishop only To which I reply 1. The Scripture makes no such distinction and where the Law distinguisheth not we may not distinguish 2. The distinction is vain for all power that belongs to the Pastors of the Church purely respects the conscience by applying to it the commands promises and threatnings of God and it respects the conscience as having the conduct of the outward man and that in reference to Church communion as well as other matters 3. If Presbyters may in the name of Christ bind the impenitent and loose the penitent as to the conscience in the sight of God which is the greater and primary binding and loosing then by parity of reason and that with advantage they may bind and loose as to Church-communion which is the lesser secondary and subsequent binding and loosing That Officer is a Bishop that hath power of authoritative declaring in Christs name that this or that wicked person in particular is unworthy of fellowship with Christ and his Church and a power of charging the Congregation in Christs name not to keep company with him as being no fit member of a Christian Society and also a power of Authoritative declaring and judging in Christs name that the same person repenting of his wickedness and giving evidence thereof is meet for fellowship with Christ and his church and a power of requiring the Congregation in Christs name again to receive him into their Christian fellowship For these are the powers of Excommunication and Ecclesiastical Absolution and a Presbyter hath apparently the said powers As he can undoubtedly declare and charge and judg as aforesaid touching persons in general so by parity of reason touching this or that person in particular all particulars being included in the general He hath undoubtedly a power of applying the word in Christs name as well personally as generally That a Presbyter hath the said powers is granted by the Church of England in the common usage of the Ecclesiastical Courts wherein a Presbyter is appointed to denounce the sentence of Excommunication tho the Chancellor doth decree it And the Excommunication is not compleat till a Presbyter hath denounced it in the congregation That the Apostles have no successors in the whole of their Office is confessed on all hands but if they have successors in part of their Office viz. in the Pastoral Authority in this respect the Presbyters if any are their successors Peter exhorting the Presbyters stiles himself their fellow-Presbyter which is to be understood in respect of the power of Teaching and Ruling The Pastoral Authority of Presbyters is further cleared in many passages in the publick forms of the Church of England touching that Order The form of Ordaining Presbyters in this Church lately was Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou remittest they are remitted and whose sins thou retainest they are retained and be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God and of his holy Sacraments in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Now the former part hereof is intirely the words used by our Saviour John 20.21 22. towards the Apostles expressing their Pastoral Authority And the latter part is no derogation or diminution from the power granted in the former part If Presbyters are not partakers with the Apostles in the Pastoral Authority how could they have Right to that Form of Ordination Likewise this Church did in solemn form of words require the presbyters when they were ordained to exercise the discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and this Realm hath received the same according to the commandment of God And that they might the better understand what the Lord hath commanded therein this Church did appoint also That at the ordering of Priests there be read for the Epistle that portion of Acts 20. which relates St. Paul's sending to Ephesus and calling for the Elders of the Congregation with his exhortation to them To take heed to themselves and to all the flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers to rule the congregation of God Or else 1 Tim. 3. which sets forth the Office and due Qualifications of a Bishop These portions of Scripture this Church appointed to be read to the Presbyters as belonging to their Office and to instruct them in the nature of it And afterwards the Bishop speaks to them that are to receive the Office of Priesthood in this form of words
Christ indeed hath instituted a ministry for the compleating of his church unto the consummation of all things he hath also promised his Apostles and his ministers successively in them that he will be with them alway to the end of the world But I find no promise of an uninterrupted succession of regularly ordained ministers That which is delivered by ordination is the sacred ministerial office at large as respecting the universal Church to be exercised here or there according to particular calls and opportunities § 21. Of Prayer and Fasting and Imposition of Hands in Ordination PRAYER is such a duty as is requisite to the sanctifying of all other duties as the preaching of the Word administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper and therefore is necessary to this sacred action of ordaining ministers Fasting is a service expressive of solemn humiliation and a necessary adjunct of extra ordinary prayer for the obtaining of more special mercy and therefore a necessary preparative and concomitant in this solemnity And we have Scripture Examples for prayer and fasting in the mission of persons to the work of the ministry Luke 6.12 13. Act. 13.2 Act. 14 23. What imposition of hands imports and the moment of it is to be considered from the use of it both in the Old and New Testament In the Old Testament 't was used 1. In solemn benediction the person blessing laid his hand on the person blessed Gen. 48.14 2. In offering Sacrifice as a sign of devoting it to the Lord by him that offered it Lev. 1.4 3. In ordaining to an office as a sign of setting apart therunto Numb 27.18 20. In the New Testament it is used 1. in blessing Mark 10.16 2. In curing bodily diseases Mark 16.18 Luke 13.13 Acts 19.11 3. In conveying the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost Acts 8.17 Acts 19.6 4. In ordaining ministers Acts 6.6 1 Tim 4.14 The meaning of imposition of hands spoken of Heb. 6.2 is diversly taken some take it as used for the remitting of sins as they also do 1 Tim. 5.22 and say that Baptism refers to the making of proselytes and laying on of hands to the absolving of penitents Others take it for confirmation Others conceive that the whole ministry is by a synecdoche therein comprehended From the various uses of this Rite we collect that it was a sign of conveying a benefit or of designing to an office or of devoting one to the Lord and particularly of authoritative benediction and designation to the office of the ministry and of devoting to the Lord in that kind There is no sufficient reason to make it but a temporary Rite and to limit the use of it in ordination only to the times of miraeles there being no circumstance in any Text to shew that it was done only for the present occasion And we read not that miraculous gifts were given by imposition of hands in ordination § 22. The power of Ordaining belongs to the Pastors of the Church SOme give this reason why the power of Ordination is not in the people but in the Pastors because the act of ordaining is a potestative or authoritative mission which power of mission is first seated in Christ and from him committed to the Apostles and from them to the Bishops or Elders But this Reason must be taken with a grain of salt or in a sound sense because Bishops or Elders have spiritual power formalier but not efficienter and they do not properly make or give the ministerial power but are only instruments of designation or application of that power to the person to whom Christ immediately gives it by the standing-act of his Law That the power of ordaining belongs not to the people but to the Church officers first appears by Scripture-authority for that in all the New Testament there is no example of ordination by any of the Laity but contrariwise it is therein expresly committed to spiritual officers 2. By Reason for that the Pastors of the Churches are better qualified for the designation of a person to the Holy ministry and for performing the action of solemn investiture as also for that ordination includes an authoritative benediction and that is to come from a Superior as the Scripture saith The less is blessed of the greater and not the greater of the less as it would be if the Pastor were to be ordained by the people that are governed by him Some argue for a popular ordination because election which is the greater belongs to the people But 1. Election is not greater than Ordination in the ministerial Call For in ordination investiture in the Function it self is given but in the peoples election no more is given than the stated exercise of the ministry in that Congregation 2. In case Election were greater than Ordination yet the consequence holds not Several parties may have each their own part divided to them and he that may do the greater may not always do the lesser unless the lesser be essentially included in the greater which is not in this case It is likewise urged for popular ordination That in the consecration of the Levites the children of Israel laid their hands upon them Numb 8.11 To this it is answered That the Levites were taken by God instead of the first born of all the children of Israel which the Lord claimed as his own upon the destroying of the first-born of the Egyptians and so the imposition of hands by the first-born upon the Levites was not strictly an ordaining of them to their office but an offering of them as a sacrifice in their own stead to make an atonement for them as he that brought a sacrifice laid his hand on the head of it Tho in Timothy's ordination the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery be mentioned and where many Presbyters were they joined in this action yet I see not any thing in Scripture or Reason to gainsay the validity of ordination by a single Bishop or Presbyter Nevertheless ordination by the imposition of many hands is more unquestionable and the use thereof most laudabl◠and in no case to be omitted where it may be had according to the custom of the Church in all ages § 23. The Validity of Presbyterian Ordination IF a Bishop and Presbyter of divine institution be the same as hath been before proved the controversie about ordination by Presbyters is at an end And if the Bishop that now is be another kind of officer than the Scripture Presbyter there is no proof of his divine institution That the Presbyter that now is hath the Pastoral or Episcopal office hath been already proved by the form of their ordination and by the nature of that power of the keys that is granted to reside in them If the Prelates have invested them with an office that is truly Episcopal it matters not whether in express terms they gave them the power of ordaining or no or whether they expresly excluded the power of ordaining for not
the close So that in all things as aforesaid the Vnity in Trinity and the Trinity in Vnity is to be worshipped He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity What less than the whole doctrine aforegoing can the said words in all things as aforesaid refer to For ought doth appear no one part of the doctrine or explication is made more necessary to be believed than another Besides in the Nicene Creed in the doctrine of the Person of Christ why may not the summary thereof expressed in these words and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God be distinguished in like manner from the following explicatory words begotten of the Father before all worlds God of God light of light c. as if the one but not the other were thereby intended as necessary to be believed Moreover if the sense of this Creed in the said Assertions be not to exclude from salvation all such as do not so distinctly know nor so explicitely believe concerning the doctrine of the Trinity as its sets forth in the explication thereof yet certainly it can be taken for no less than the excluding of such as apprehend and believe in any point contrary thereto which is the case of the Greek Church in denying the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son Admit the said Assertions are to be restrained to those that believe not as is expressed only in the summary of the doctrine I then make this query Whether none of those who being of very low capacities do not distinctly apprehend and explicitely believe one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity so as in their apprehensions neither to confound the persons nor divide the substance can truly and savingly fear God and believe in Christ Here let it be no offence to make the following Queries 1. Whether it be certain by the word of God that all those of the Christian profession whose apprehensions of the Trinity were not fully conformable to the Faith of the Homousians as the Orthodox were called in those times did perish everlastingly 2. Whether it be certain by the Word of God that all those who so apprehended of the union of the natures in Christ as was exprest either by the Nestorians or Eutychians did perish everlastingly Furthermore I enquire Whether it be certain by the Word of God That all Pagans who have lived since the times of Christianity and to whom the Gospel was never published are damned In the aforesaid Assertions the form of words being unlimited and universal seems to import so much Now the case of such who live in meer negative infidelity being without the revelation of the Gospel is different from theirs who by wilful perverseness overthrow the Faith against the evidence of that Divine testimony in the Holy Scripture which they profess to believe Without doubt none of the whole stock of Mankind can be saved but through the Redeemer Jesus Christ But it is not so certain that all are damned who live and dye without the knowledg of Redemption by him I certainly know That without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that no man can be holy without the sanctifying operation of the Holy Spirit But that none of them are sanctified who are without the knowledg of Christ and his Gospel is not so evidently and certainly known to me either from Scripture or Reason The sum of the matter is That I am afraid in the solemn rehearsal of a Creed in the midst of Divine Service to adjudg those to eternal damnation that are not so adjudged by the word of God yet I heartily and entirely assent to the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation of Christ according to the explication thereof as set forth in this Creed and I would not give my suffrage that any should be allowed in the publick Ministry who holds in any point contrary to the said doctrine Of the LITANY THE manner of the composure of the Litany and more especially that the formally petitioning words are in great part uttered by the people only I judg not so inconvenient but that I may comply therewith yet I had much rather and do heartily wish that it were otherwise framed Now I enquire Whether being thus minded I may justly declare my unfeigned consent to the use thereof Of the COLLECTS c. IN the Collect for Christmas-day these words And as at this time to be born are to be considered That our Saviour was born on or about the 25th of December is a matter of great uncertainty and little probability and contrary to the most rational Chronology It is therefore questioned whether the said words may be statedly used in a solemn prayer of the Church Tho this be a small matter yet the question is VVhether one may declare an assent and consent to the use of it while he doth not believe it to be true Of the Order for the Ministration of the Holy Communion IT is liable to exception That a great part of the Communion Service as it is called which makes a great part of the Morning-prayer for the Lords day is appointed to be read at the Communion-Table when there is no administration of the Sacrament If the declared consent hereunto import no more than that it may be complyed with in submission to authority I shall not refuse it In the Fourth Commandment it is appointed to be read The Lord blessed the Seventh day instead of the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day It may well be questioned whether one may consent to the changing of God own Words in this Commandment into other words of mans chusing But if the declared consent respect not the changing of one word for another but only the simple using of that word which stands in the Liturgy I shall not utterly refuse it seeing it hath nothing that is false or evil nor any so considerable inconvenience that I discern as to necessitate to a non-compliance Yet I dislike the retaining of it In the Exhortation preparatory to the Sacrament it is declared That it is requisite that no man should come to the Holy Communion but with a full trust in Gods Mercy and quiet conscience Here it is said not only that it is a duty to be so qualified in coming but that it is requisite that no man should come but so qualified This seems to mean that the said qualification is so necessary that none may lawfully come without it It is hereupon to be considered whether a godly Christian under doubts and fears touching his own estate towards God and apprehensive of Gods displeasure towards him may not have that Grace which may enable him to come acceptably to this Sacrament Tho I do not scruple the lawfulness of kneeling in the act of receiving the Sacramental Bread and Wine yet it is hard to consent to a Rule that debars from the Lords Supper all Christians who through unfeigned scruple of conscience refuse this gesture especially considering
Idolatry in any kind BY the meer appearance of idolatry I understand not external or meerly corporeal idolatry of which I have before spoken For this differs from that on this manner That is an outward sign of inward worship tho it be but seeming or feigned but this is only an appearance of being such a sign when it is not Query about incurvation towards the Altar or Communion-Table Whether it give not an appearance of idolatry before the Vulgar and those that are less accurate in distinguishing between an object to which and toward which Query much more about directing worship towards a Crucifix or other pictures tho but as to objects of remembrance The same appearance may be in the mixing of expressions of veneration to Saints or Angels amidst the worship of God tho they be not those expressions that are appropriated to Gods worship but only such as are common to the worship due to God and the creatures There may be indeed a notorious signifying of the difference of our veneration towards them from what is due to God Howbeit for fear of scandal it may be better wholly forborn Also the like appearance may be in bowing to a King or Potentate amidst the Worship of God except time custom and manner of doing do notoriously notifie the distinction Also when that which is a common expression both of Civil and Religious honour shall be made by a King to be a symbol of giving divinee honour to him if one use that expression towards him or his image with a civil intent without protesting against the idolatrous use thereof § 21. Whether a course of Idolatry in what kind soever infer a state of damnation THE meaning of this Question is Whether all Idolatry be mortal sin not only in respect of desert but existence as sins whose ordinary habitual practice denies the being of grace and presence of the sanctifying Spirit That all idolatry in whatsoever degree is not of this nature is plain For idolatry in general is the giving of that honour to the creature which is due to the Creator alone and this lies not only in solemn avowed worship but in the affection of the heart There are Idola seculi as well as Idola templi And it is too common among the true worshippers of God to rob him of his honour and to place it upon the creature and that habitually as on a Child or Wealth c. tho only in a mortified and not in a prevalent degree The remainders of covetousness which is idolatry is a witness hereof And if this may be in reference to the idols of the heart why not also in reference to the idols of the Templ◠Nay more easily may it be in this later than in the former respect in some devout persons that live in darker times and places because it may proceed not from the love of the creature more than God but meerly from ignorance and error about the way of Divine Worship Wherefore I doubt not but many holy Souls in darker Ages Countries have been habitually or customarily guilty of a lower kind of Idolatry in making Idols to themselves not simply as God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the excessive honour they gave to the creature did not distroy the sincerity of their Devotion towards God nor deny their unfeigned giving of the highest honour to him alone For such we now speak of may heartily and prevalently own the true God and all the essentials of Religion and so they may be of the true Church of God as True is taken for the essence and not for the integral perfectness and healthfulness of the Church The Third Part Of Superstition less than Idolatry § 1. Of excess in the quantity or measure of Religious Observances ALL Superstition is an excess in Religion The excess in the object thereof being opened in the Second Part here it remains that I speak of that which is in the Acts thereof and this excess is either in the measure or in the kind when the Rule of Religion is transgressed in either of these ways and in some instances there may be an excess in both Excess in the quantity or measure of Religious Observances is when tho the thing in kind were not an excess yet for the quantity it is more than conduceth to the end of Religion yea is an hindrance thereto as for Example Prayer or Preaching of the word too Prolix or at an unseasonable time too rigid a pressing of Religious Exercises on the Lords day or at any other time lawfully set apart thereunto contrary to the works of Mercy or present necessity yea that conveniency to life and converse which doth not divert the mind from the things of God too much care and curiosity about circumstances of Decency and Order and too great a heaping up of Rites and Formalities § 2. Of Excess in Religious Observances for the kind thereof EXcess in the kind is when mans presumption in giving honour to God gives such signs of honour to him as for kind he would not should be given but hath forbidden the same God may forbid the kinds of Religious Observances either in particular as he did some heathenish rites to his people of old expressing them by name or else in general viz. by a general rule forbidding all of such a nature and reason in common Some kind of Religious Observances are unlawful in themselves or in the nature of the things as being naturally unfit to be offerrd to the Holy God namely such kind of Worship as was given to Bacchus and other like heathen gods who were served congruenti vitio And such need not to be forbidden in specie because they are naught in their common nature being vices and 't is enough to be forbidden in genere Some kinds of Religious Worship may not be vicious in their nature nor contrary to Gods holiness to command or allow Yet may be forbidden by the general precept of Scripture or other supernatural Revelation § 3. Of the Rule that limits the kinds of Worship OF Natural Worship the Law of Nature is the limiting Rule for all the kinds thereof Of positive Worship namely all that which in specie is not necessary in nature but is of free Determination the kinds thereof are supposed to be either restrained to Divine Institution or left to humane choice That there are Divine Institutions of positive Worship in sundry kinds is acknowledged by all that acknowledg the Scriptures Divine Authority And that many kinds of positive Worship have been taken up by humane discretion is known by all that know what is practiced in the World Now the Question is Whether these kinds that are of humane choice are lawful or lawfully intermingled in their use with Divine Institutions That all kinds of positive Worship should be left to humane choice seems in reason repugnant in regard of mans natural darkness in Divine things and proneness at the best to mistake therein and to
such as the Popish Whippings or such as some of the Ancients with pious intention but superstitiously used as perpetual abiding on the top of a Pillar never to sleep but standing c. And there are Austerities inconvenient for measure by excess in that which is for kind sutable and comely as immoderate Abstinences and Abasements all such being to be rejected come not into the present consideration But the query is Whether allowable Austerities may be not only adjuncts but also acts or matter of Worship Humiliation or Prostration of soul in self abasement before God is an act of internal Worship And I do not see but the Austerities we now speak of may be lawfully used as direct and immediate signs of such humiliation and consequently as acts of Worship Whatsoever is directly and immediately expressive of internal Worship is external Worship And so fasting and other abstinences may be esteemed not only as fit adjuncts of Worship and helps therein but acts thereof Vows of the aforesaid allowable Austerities to be continued in for term of life or notable length of time are dangerous and apt to insnare the Consciences and if a special religious state be placed in them more than what belongs to Christianity as such they are Superstition and Will-worship MATRIMONIAL PVRITY § 1. MArriage is the Bond of an individual Conjunction between Man and Woman instituted of God to an individual Conversation or Course of Life This Bond cannot be dissolved by man because it is not man but God that makes it tho the Married parties voluntarily enter into it and publick Officers instrumentally authorize their Act according to Gods Law Hence it is said Whom God hath joyned let no man put asunder But this Rule puts no bar to Gods right of dissolving this Bond by an Act of his Law upon causes therein declared § 1. By the Church of Rome Matrimony is held a Sacrament upon this ground That God hath consecrated it to be a Symbol of the indissoluble Conjunction of Christ with the Church and of Grace to be conferred upon those that enter into it Indeed it is used in Scripture as a similitude to express or illustrate the Mystical Union betwixt Christ and his Church But every similitude used in Scripture to express a holy Mystery as that of the Vine and Branches to express the Union between Christ and the faithful doth not thereby become a consecrated Symbol thereof with a promise of Grace annexed to it as so consecrated Nevertheless tho Matrimony be not an instituted Symbol of Divine Grace yet Grace suitable to this state of Life is promised to the faithful and this state as all other things is sanctified by the word of God and prayer unto those holy ends which God hath designed in it § 3. The Causes for which Matrimony was ordained are excellently set by the Church of England in these words First It was ordained for the Procreation of Children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord and to the praise of his holy Name Secondly it was ordained for a remedy against sin and to avoid Fornication that such as have not the gift of continency might Marry and keep themselves undefiled Members of Christs Body Thirdly It was ordained for the mutual Society help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other both in prosperity and adversity It belongs to the substance of Matrimony that the Man and the Woman give and take the power of their bodies mutually unto the conjugal due called benevolence 1 Cor. 7.3 4. And they are so equal in the matter of Wedlock that both of them are both superior and inferior in asking and rendering the said due Hence it is a resolved case That sterillity is not an impediment of Marriage because tho the primary end which is Procreation be thereby hindred yet the secondary end to be a remedy against sin which is also of Gods ordaining is obtained But Frigidity or total Impotency is a just impediment because in that case both the primary and secondary end of Marriage is made void and the essential due thereof cannot be rendered § 4. As concerning the ancient Polygamy or plurality of Wives at once some conceive that it was only by Divine connivence and that it was a sinful practice which God winked at Others conceive that it was by Divine dispensation and that the law of the Conjunction of one Man and one Woman was most consentaneous to nature but that it was not in nature immutable and indispensable but such as might be changed the state of things and persons being changed yet then not to be changed but by his authority from whom all the Laws of nature do proceed But whether Polygamy were allowed or only winked at it appears to be wholly disallowed by the Law of Christ and was never as yet admitted in any Christian Commonwealth If according to the words of Christ a Man putting away his Wife and Marrying another commiteth Adultery much more doth he commit Adutery if keeping the former Wife he Marry another The Concubines mentioned in the Old-Testament were not as in our days unmarried but properly Wives tho in respect of some Matrimonial Priviledges inferior to Wives strictly so called For their carnal Conjunction with any besides him whose they were was a defiling of the Marriage-bed Concerning Reuben who lay with Bilhah Jacobs Concubine this is denounced Thou shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy Fathers bed then defiledst thou it Gen. 49.4 § 5. As concerning the honour of Matrimony it is written Heb. 13.4 Marriage is honourable among all men and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judg This is the law of Christ On the contrary the hypocrisie and the countefeit sanctity of those lyars who were to bring in the great Apostacy upon the Christian Church is foretold to consist among other things in forbidding to Marry 1 Tim. 4.3 And the prohibition of it to divers orders of men and other unjust restrictions laid upon it are one kind of the forbidding to Marry intended in that prediction The wisest and most civilized Commonwealths that were not Christians have testified their great respect to Marriage by encouraging it with many Priviledges as more conducing to the publick good than the single Life By the Roman Laws in times of Gentilism Marriage was priviledged and the single Life disadvantaged § 6. The debasing of Matrimony came in with the degeneracy of the Church Quickly after the Apostles age Christians departed from the simplicity that is in Christ by devising rules of Life which Christ required not and built upon the precious foundation which had been laid Wood Hay and Stubble And the Devotion both of men and women was carried forth to a self-devised religiousness yet the essentials of Christianity were preserved sound Accordingly many of the Fathers of the Church extolled Celibate and Virginity with excessive praises and thought of Marriage as of a state