Visible Church only to those who are of the Invisible also can be For it cannot be denied but that such gifts and such common grace as will not be sufficient unto a mans own Salvation may yet be very useful for the maintaining and defending the Christian Doctrine against Adversaries and for the instructing others in it and for the persuading them to believe it and to live according to it Which was the reason I suppose why St. Paul said that he rejoyced and would rejoyce that Christ was preached tho it were but insincerely by some as well as for being preached in truth by others Phil. 1.18 For the more men of Parts and Learning and of Interest among men the Christian Religion and sound Doctrine has to assert and defend it and the more there are of others to abet and encourage them in it though many of them shall be supposed to be mainly influenced therein by motives of secular honour and interest the more credit in general and the more reputation it will have in the World and the further it will spread As we see on the contrary the more Popery has had men of parts and learning and of interest otherwise to promote and propagate it the more and the farther it hath spread and prevailed in the World And the same is true of other Errors and Heresies as that of Arianism when time was There is no question but the more good men are backt in their promulging sound and saving Doctrine by men of great interest in the World that agree with them in Doctrine and substance of Worship tho they should not in all respects be so hearty and sincere as the other are the more Christian Religion gains among men And if all such as these should be made enemies to the Church by being denied to be of it the Churches power of propagating the Christian Religion would quickly be thereby exceedingly weakened and the propagation thereof greatly obstructed We have not now Miracles the extraordinary means by which Christianity was at first propagated without which it is not probable the unbelieving and blind world would have been reconciled to it upon account of its own intrinsick excellency and goodness And therefore there is now the more need of the help of all Christians to propagate the Christian Religion Not only of such as are of the Invisible Church and Visible likewise but also of those who are but only of the Visible The success in propagating the Christian Religion does not wholly depend upon the moral goodness of the Instrruments by whom it is done but so much upon its own goodness that if that be but sufficiently discovered tho but by men defective in their Morals it is yet able to commend it self very much unto the choice of men If they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words then they should have turned them from their evil ways saith God concerning the false Prophets Jer. 23.22 It is no small matter upon this account to be born within the Pale of the Visible Church of Christian Parents and to be educated in the Christian Religion though by Parents too much strangers to the power of it And of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Psal 87.5 6. How many worthy Children has the Church had and of great use in it who yet have been born of Parents of but small account for Religion So that such mens being of the Church is of great use for the propagating of truly religious men and by them the Christian Religion But if such men as these had been deprived of Chureh education by their Parents being deprived of Membership in the Visible Church the Church in all probability would have been deprived of such useful Members as these prove to be for the propagating of the true Christian Religion 3. Another reason may be because to take others into the Visible Church than such as are or are credibly reputed to be of the Invisible tends much more to the security of the Invisible Church in the world than the excluding all such would do For were it not for those of the Church as Visible over and besides such as are of it as Invisible those which are of the Church as Invisible would be in much more danger than now they are of being devoured by those numerous enemies which they have in the world Christs Flock is but a little flock comparatively and there are but few that find the narrow way that leads to life as he hath told us And so he hath told us also in the Parable of the Sower that of four sorts of hearers of the Gospel there is but one that brings forth fruit And in another place that among the many that are called there are but few chosen Now then if when with the help of those of the Visible Church which are not of the Invisible which yet according to the Scriptures seem to be far the greater number those of the Invisible Church have enough to do to subsist in the world without being rooted out of it by the Enemies of Christianity as we see they have what can we think would become of them but ruine without a standing Miracle to secure them if those who are but only of the Visible Church were made Enemies also to those of the Invisible as doubtless they would if they should all be rejected by them as none of Christs Church on earth How unable would they be to defend themselves against the Popish Party in the world if they were not assisted by those who are but of the Church as Visible Or how unable would they be to defend themselves against all those that are Enemies to Christianity both name and thing if the bulk and body of men which are Christians only in outward Form and Profession did not stand as a screen between them and those enemies Our Saviour hath declared that the Wheat would be in great danger of being rooted up if the Tares should for the present be gathered out of it and for that reason would have both to grow together till the harvest Mat. 13. Our Saviour did not intend hereby no more do I by what I have said to put a bar against purging the Church of Capital Offenders by Discipline and therefore by Tares its probable he meant carnal Gospellers that yet are not obnoxious to Excommunication such as the thorny-ground hearers in whom the Cares of this world and the deceitfulness of Riches and Pleafures of this Life choak the Word which they have received and which they profess so that it brings forth in them no fruit to perfection But before I proceed any farther I must remove an Objection which otherwise lies against the use which I here make of this Parable of our Saviour And the Objection is this That this Parable makes nothing against gathering
or of the ill effect of them and if it should be any occasion of them yet there is a vast difference between the being an accidental occasion of division and actually to divide and separate causlesly And look how much the one is worse than the other by so much must the Dissenters be more in fault by their actual division and separation than they can with any appearance of reason pretend the other to be for the severity of their imposition Now that the imposition of the Liturgy is no necessary cause of division and separation will appear in that the defects objected against it are no sufficient cause of separation from the Worship performed according to it and this I hope I have made out to the satisfaction of any Man whose prejudice is not greater than his reason in my inquiring into the nature of Schism among the following discourses In which discourses I have endeavoured to remove those bars and stumbling-blocks out of the Dissenters way which have kept them from Communion with our Parochial Congregations and this with a design of ease to them as well as service to the Church otherways But this their narrowing and lessening the extent of the visible Church and the terms of admission into it and of sharing in the External priviledges of it and likewise their confining the Administration of its Worship to one Circumstantial mode as only Lawful when Almighty God has not done so is of very pernicious consequence For it has we see divided the Protestants among themselves and cast them into Parties and then engaged them in contentious Disputes one against another which has begot a kind of strangeness and shiness in them towards each other yea and disaffection too and the opposition begot upon this account rises still higher and higher and more and more threatens ruine to both Parties first and last And the Papists themselves could never have contrived a more likely way to disgrace the Reformation to lay low the Protstant interest to enfeeble its strength and to break down its fence and make way for the return of Popery than we our selves have taken by dividing our selves by needless and unreasonable scruples and by making a Reformation of the Reformation as necessary as the first Reformation from Popery was and for want of it to make a second separation as necessary as the first For what would or could they do more than separate in case Popery were in place of Protestant Worship And however an emendation in some things of an Ecclesiastical concern may be very convenient and desirablee when it can be had in a Legal way yet to make this as necessary as the first Reformation from Popery was and a separation from Parochial Communion for want of it as necessary as our first separation from Popery was is so unreasonble that it is a marvelous thing that men of any reputation for Wisdom should not see it and be full of the sense of it And so it is likewise that they should run so desparate a hazzard as they do of losing all the benefit they have of the National Reformation from Popery rather than be denied or want that further Reformation as they esteem it which they desire And is it not marvelous also that they will not do what they can do toward preventing of it by complying with publick Order as far as they can For they themselves have given occasion to believe that very many especially of the more knowing of them can joyn in the Common Prayers made in our Parochial Assemblies yea and more than so however it comes to pass they refrain from doing so And one would think the Apostles injunction if it be dossible and as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men should weigh more with them than any politick consideration whatsoever especially when the Publick Peace and Safety is so much concerned in it as it is and as they know it is It is hardly to be believed that they can think that not to comply as far as they can should be a more likely way to come into their End fo far as it is fair and reasonable than to do so is God Almighty grant the things which belong to our Peace may not still be hid from our Eyes I have been informed and do perceive that many of the Dissenters can come to Church but cannot not kneel in receiving the Sacrament by reason whereof they are obnoxious to the Law tho' they should come to Church For whose help and satisfaction in this Case I shall here add a few words which were omitted in a more proper place One reason of this scruple of theirs is taken from our Saviour and his Apostles using another gesture at the first Institution of the Lords Supper But it must be considered 1. That if the circumstances attending the first Institution of this Supper should oblige us to an imitation of them as well as in what is Essential to the Ordinance it self then we may not receive it but in the Night and after another Supper is first eaten and in the Gesture and Posture of lying upon Couches or Beds for under those Circumstances it was first instituted and received But now the different Practice of Christians in after times does declare That they have not held themselves obliged to imitate them in these Circumstances Nor is there any reason they should because these things were but accidental to the Ordinance it self and were all occasioned by this Supper being instituted at the Paschal Supper and from the Jews Gesture used therein according to the Custome of their Countrey And the alteration of the Gesture does no more alter the Nature of the Ordinance than the alteration of the other Accidental Circumstances does 2. Scripture Examples are no farther binding to us than they were agreeable to some Precept or Rule of Duty otherwise But now there is no Precept enjoyning any one Gesture to be used in receiving the Sacrament as exclusive of any other and therefore any may be made use of when required by the Government over us for where there is no Law there is no Transgression But if there had been any one Gesture required by our Saviour as necessary and as exclusive of others no doubt but St. Paul would have made mention of it when he made known to the Church of Corinth what he had received from the Lord touching his Last Supper but we see no such thing was mentioned by him Chap. 11. 3. The Jewish Church having altered the Gesture in their eating the Passeover from what was used at the first institution of it our Saviour we see complyed there with and conformed to what was then become Customary in that Church And if we do the like for the like reason who can blame us for it without reproaching our Blessed Saviour Their other reason of their Scruple is taken from the Papists having abused this Gesture of kneeling to Idolatry in worshipping the Bread by
Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and whether he would reform his sinful life and in hope of Salvation by Jesus Christ henceforth live unto God according to his teaching in the Gospel The answer to this was assertory and promissory Covenant-wise made viz. that he did so believe and that through Gods assistance he would so reform and so live to the performance whereof he bound himself by being Baptized in his name Now when such a promissory answer as this proceeded from such a frame of mind as did produce or would produce effects sutable to such an answer or undertaking it might very well be called the answer of a good Conscience towards God And St. Peter might well say as here we suppose he does That the entrance into the Church by Baptism when accompanied with this answer of a good Conscience would as certainly be Salvation to them through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as ever Noah his Families enterance into the Ark was the means of their escaping perishing by water that being the figure to which St. Peter here likens Baptism And this way and method of bringing Persons into the Visible Church as Institutive by Covenanting with God in Baptism does but answer to what was done in Abrahams days and after for the gathering God a Visible Church out of the World for that was done by Circumcision then which is done by Baptism now For it was the Sacred Rite of entering Persons into Covenant with God to take God for their God and to be his People and for that reason it is called the Covenant of Circumcision by St. Stephen Act. 7. And it was the badge by which they were marked and differenced from others as belonging to God by Covenant and is therefore said to be the token of the Covenant between God and them Gen. 17.11 And just so is Baptism now which is come in the room of Circumcision We see then how excellently the Old and New Testament agree in this point That ever since God has had a Visible Church on Earth by Institution he has made the way and means of becoming Members of it to be a Covenanting with him by an initiating Ordinance QUERY V. HOW can Infants become Visible Church-Members by Covenanting with God since they seem naturally uncapable of doing such a thing while Infants This Inquiry seems necessary in this place upon occasion of the resolution of the former Query That the Infants of the Circumcised were to be engaged to God Covenant-wise by being Circumcised is past dispute But then there will another question arise and that is whether they were so by their own act and deed or by the act and deed of their Parents We cannot say that they were in their own Persons active in Covenanting with God and that therefore it must needs be by the act and deed of their Parents that they were by Circumcision engaged to God Covenant-wise But then yet a further question will arise and that is whether those Infants were obliged by their Parents entering them into Covenant by Circumcising them before they were in a capacity of consenting to it And the Answer is that there can be no doubt but that they were supposing they were obliged at all which none deny but they were The Children were obliged by what their Parents did in their Minority on their behalf with a purpose to oblige them supposing the thing lawful This was a thing commonly understood among the Jews and taken for granted and as it appears was so accounted by God also I will give some instances of both 1. The Jews did so esteem it and that appears by what they did to oblige their Seed after them to observe the days of Purim Esther 9.27 The Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their Seed and upon all such as joyned themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time every year and that these days should be remembred and kept throughout every Generation every Family every Province and every City and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews nor the remembrance of them perish from their Seed So again 1 Sam. 20.42 And Jonathan said to David Go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the Name of the Lord saying The Lord be between me and thee and between my Seed and thy Seed for ever 2. Almighty God did account and hold the Children obliged by what their Parents did or had done on their behalf with an intent to oblige them For proof of this I will instance in several cases First the Lord did hold the Children and Posterity of the Jews to be obliged by that Covenant which their Fore-fathers had made with the Gibeonites in the days of Joshua For there was three years of Famine sent by God in the days of David for that Saul and his House had slain the Gibeonites contrary to the Covenant which their Fore-fathers had made with them tho it was several hundreds of years before 2 Sam. 21.1 Secondly The whole Congregation of Israel Men Women and their little ones entred into Covenant with God by his appointment in the Land of Moab Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your little Ones and your Wives that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God And it must be by the act of their Parents since or some in their stead that their little Ones did so by obliging them as much as in them lay to observe and keep that Covenant when they should come to years of discretion to understand it For it is not easie to understand how the little Ones that were but Infants could otherwise enter into Covenant with God And if not then we see from this instance likewise that God did account the little Children obliged by what their Parents did on their behalf with an intent to oblige them Which is yet farther confirmed from what is said in the 14. and 15. verses in these words Neither with you only do I make this Covenant and this Oath but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us this day meaning their Posterity yet to come as is generally understood For it seems that God did intend to oblige the Posterity to come to take him for their God by bringing their Fore-fathers into Covenant with him Hence it is that the Jews defection to Idolatry is aggravated thus They rejected his Statutes and his Covenant which he made with their Fathers 2 King 17.15 And in this 29. of Deut. 25. Then shall men say because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the Land of Aegypt c. How could
whether in bringing their Children to be Baptized they do not intend thereby to dedicate them to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to engage them as much as in them lies to be Gods faithful Servants and to believe and live according to the Doctrine and Precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ or somewhat to that effect And whether likewise such Answers from the Parents should not be expected as are most suitable to such demands And further it would be considered Whether Infants can be so well or so directly and properly obliged to God in Covenanting with him in Baptism by what Sponsors which are not their Parents then do to oblige them as they may by what their Parents themselves may do to that end And the reason of this proposal or question is this If the Childrens being obliged to do that when they come to Age which Parents obliged them to in their Baptism does depend upon their Parents properly in them and authority over them as is supposed it does from what has been formerly argued then they cannot be so properly obliged by what other Sponsors do in their behalf at their Baptism which have no such property in them or authority over them It is true indeed Parents are not wholly unconcerned in entering their Children into Covenant with God by Baptism when yet Sponsors act in the Parents stead For it is the Parents that cause their Children to be Baptized and what the Sponsors act is by the Parents procurement and upon these accounts it is interpretatively their act But yet Parents immediately and in their own persons acting the part of entering their Children into Covenant seems more proper and better to answer the nature of the things Sponsors may be more useful in case Parents of Children to be Baptized are dead as possibly it might be the case of some Children whose Parents were Martyr'd in the Primitive times from which perhaps that usage in the Church took its first rise There are other cases in which Sponsors or Pro-parents may be useful and necessary but hardly so as to exclude Parents from their proper work But I speak of these things with submission to those of better judgment and more authority having only offered them to consideration QUERY VII FOr what reason is Church-Membership said to be Invisible as well as Visible in some and yet but only as Visible in others And from whence does this difference arise This difference proceeds from the difference there is between Visible and Invisible Christianity and from the different Union between Christ the Head and his Members which is caused thereby By invisible Christianity I mean those inward acts and affections of soul by which men abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good which are wrought by a serious assent of the mind unto the truth of the doctrine and great motives of the Gospel by which they are convinced of the necessity of repentance and holy living in order to their escaping everlasting misery and becoming eternally happy By visible Christianity I mean external and visible acts of Religion in reference both to God and men such as is the profession of the God that made the World to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to be his Son and the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith and such other acts as consist in an external performance of the external acts of worship due to this God and Saviour and in acts of Justice and Charity towards men and in sobriety of behaviour in reference to a mans self Now by the internal and invisible Christianity forementioned in conjunction with that which is external the Covenant entred into in Baptism is so performed that by it a man is internally and invisibly united to Christ and consequently to all those who are invisibly one with him But visible Christianity alone is but an external performance of the Covenant entred into in Baptism and this amounts to no more than an external and visible Union with Christ and with his Church as visible By this much then we may understand wherein the difference between visible and invisible Church membership lies and from whence it doth arise Now that the internal Christianity which consists in an internal change in the faculties of the soul to wit in their apprehension inclination motions and operations in reference to their various objects of good and evil does produce or obtain an internal and invisible Union of men with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ will appear if we consider these things 1. This internal Renovation of soul contains in it an Union with God by adhesion for by it a man doth with his heart and soul and out of judgment and choice cleave unto the Lord which in the sence of Scripture is a being joyned to him He that is joyned or he that cleaveth unto the Lord is one spirit for it is rendred by both words 1 Cor. 6.17 And for a man firmly and resolvedly to adhere and stick to the Lord and to the interest of his honour and glory in the world in worshipping loving and obeying him and in placing his affiance in him as his only God and Saviour come what will which is his cleaving to him is such a moral Vnion with God as the nature of man is capable of 2. This internal Renovation worketh an invisible Union with God by a participation of the divine nature as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Pet. 1.4 By which participation men are morally united to God For they are thereby renewed to the Image of God in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness and so are made one Spirit or one in spirit with Him according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit or of one spirit For so far as such an one is partaker of the Divine nature by Renovation he judgeth of good and evil as God judgeth and loves and hates and designs the same things that he doth 3. By this Renovation of the Inner man men come to have the same Spirit of God and of Christ to reside and dwell in them by which their Vnion with the Father and the Son is compleated The holy Spirit first prepares them as living Temples or an Habitation for himself to dwell in by renewing them in a less degree and then comes and takes up his abode and dwells in them by affording them a more constant and more plentiful influence and assistance And the same Spirit dwelling both in Christ and in them the Vnion between them becomes more intimous and more entire Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 As the Union of all the members of a natural body is not made so much by their contiguity or close joyning as by being all animated by one and the same spirit which is in all the parts so it is
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
but he required this Covenanting with him to this end that they might truly fear and love him and cleave to him only as a means to such an end No man will say that Almighty God did fore-know when he commanded all those fore-mentioned to enter into Covenant with him that in doing it they would all of them be qualified with such regenerating Grace and spiritual Life as all those are who are of the Church as Invisible which yet they must say or suppose if they will say that the lawfulness of Covenanting with God does depend upon their being Regenerate when they do it unless they will say that God commanded such of them as were not so qualified to do a thing which in its own nature was sinful and unlawful which I presume none will dare to say By all which it appears with full evidence as I apprehend that it is not unlawful for some such as are not of the Church as invisible to enter into Covenant with God to be his People And that the lawfulness of such Covenanting does not depend upon mens being qualified with Regenerating Grace And if so then the lawfulness of mens being admitted into the Visible Church by Covenanting with God by Baptism does not depend upon their being reputed Members of the Church as Invisible or such as are Regenerate 2. My next reason or argument I draw from our Saviours Commission to his Apostles directing them who or what manner of Persons they should Baptize and by Baptism receive into his Visible Church viz. such as were made Disciples The words of the Commission run thus Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Or Disciple all Nations or make Disciples in all Nations so others render it The Apostles then according to their Commission were to Baptize all those who first were made Disciples and by the Baptismal Covenant to enter them into the Church Mens being made Disciples then was the rule given by our Saviour by which the Apostles were to govern themselves touching who and what manner of Persons they were to receive into the Church by Baptism And those were Disciples who did attend upon the teaching of Christian Teachers with a desire to learn their doctrine whether they had attained to Regeneration thereby or no. And such the Apostles had in Commission to Baptize From this Commission of Christ then I argue thus If our Lord Jesus commanded his Apostles to Baptize all that were Disciples and thereby to bring them into the Church as he did then he commanded or authorised more to be brought into the Visible Church by the Baptismal Covenant than were truly Regenerate For men might be Disciples in an inferior sence and were so who yet were not Regenerate Such Disciples had our Saviour himself Such were those who upon the sight of his Miracles believed on him with whom yet he would not trust himself because he knew what was in them John 2.23 24. And such were those John 6.66 of whom it is said From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And such an Unregerate Disciple was Judas And such perhaps were Ananias and Sapphira and such was Simon Magus and many other unprofitable branches that by Baptism had been planted into Christ the true Vine And that our Saviour by Commissionating the Apostles to Baptize Disciples intended no less but that they should Baptize all such as were made or became Disciples as such whether Regenerate or not and that they could understand his Commission no otherwise our Saviours own practice and example will infer it For tho he knew all men and what was in them and had declared in their hearing that some of his Disciples did not righty believe John 6.64 yet did not reject those as no Disciples whom he knew to be Unregenerate so long as they followed him as Disciples but caused them to be Baptized as well as those he knew to be better as those words imply John 4.1 2. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and Baptized more Disciples than John tho Jesus himself Baptized not but his Disciples c. These words imply both that he caused as many to be Baptized as were made Disciples and that there were great numbers famed to be so made and Baptized And yet so far as appears there were but few of them that firmly cleaved to our Saviour till the last For we read of but about an hundred and twenty Men and Women that appeared as his avowed Disciples after our Saviours Resurrection till the day of Pentecost Act. 1. From all which we may observe these two things 1. That it was not disagreeable to our Saviours mind that more should enter into Covenant with God by Baptism and thereby be brought into the Visible Church than were truly Regenerate which is a further confirmation of our former argument 2. That if the Apostles had known as our Saviour did those Disciples that offered themselves to Baptism being Unregenerate to be so yet that would not have made it unlawful to admit them to Baptism and into the Church no more than what our Saviour caused to be done in like case did All this shews that men were received by the Apostles into the Church upon other terms than the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible before they were so received 3. My next Argument to prove that they were and that our Saviour would have his Apostles to understand that they were to be received upon larger terms I gather from our Saviours instructing his Apostles so thorowly and so frequently as he did that his Church would consist of bad as well as good which is also an argument that he did account such to be a part and Members of his Visible Church Which we cannot think he would have done without cautioning them to look to it and to take heed of letting such into his Church much less would he on the contrary have bid them compel men to come in that his House might be full if he had designed that the Apostles should keep all out of the Church but such of whose effectual conversion to God they were well satisfied Our Saviour by many Parables did thorowly inform his Apostles that his Church would consist of a mixture of bad as well as good of foolish as well as wise Thus he told them that the Kingdom of Heaven should be likened unto ten Virgins whereof five Wise and five Foolish Mat. 25.1 2. By the Kingdom of Heaven our Saviour in his Parables and so in this means the Kingdom of the Messias here on Earth which is his Visible Church in which he Reigns and Rules by his Gospel as the Law of that Kingdom And those are the People or Subjects of this Kingdom who own him for their King and his Gospel for the Law of his Kingdom And the different effects which this Gospel was to have in the lives and behaviour of
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
his Ordinances and have the form of godliness tho otherwise destitute of the power of it yet as they are thus far a People unto God so God so far owns them as a People unto him separated unto him from the Idolatrous and Infidel world and accordingly allows them an interest and share in the external priviledges of his People of which communion in his Word and Ordinances is the chief Only where God himself hath put a bar to this enjoyment there the Visible Church ought to do so too as in those cases wherein deprivation by Church-censures is enjoyned Right to the priviledges of the Church comes in by mens relation to it as parts or members of it and so long as the relation continues so long a right to the external priviledges continues except in the case before excepted Those that are related to the Church both as Visible and Invisible have a right from God to Church priviledges both external internal and eternal but those who are related to the Church only externally as it is Visible have right only to the external priviledges of it Thus far we have argued from the nature and reason of the subject under consideration Come we now to enquire what the usage of the Church has been as to point of 〈◊〉 in this matter as we have it recorded in Scripture And as for the Old Testament Church the whole Nation of the Jews that entred into Covenant with God to be his People were allowed their part and share in the Ordinances of publick worship and not only so but were commanâ—◠〈…〉 them save in some exâ—◠〈…〉 as while they were unâ—◠〈…〉 legal uncleanness and in thâ—â—e particular cases of guilt for which they were to be deprived of their lives as well as communion and to be cut off from among the People Three times in the year were all their Males to appear before the Lord to keep three solemn Feasts appointed and yet I think no body will imagine them to be all without exception of the Church as Invisible And when any Strangers from among the Gentiles had a mind to turn Proselytes to the Jews Religion all that was required of them to make them capable of communion in the Passover was but to Circumcise all their Males by which they entred into Covenant with God Exod. 12.48 And since it was thus in the old Testament Church it is not to be imagined that the terms of external communion should be more rigorous and severe in the new since our Saviours yoke is casie and his burden light in comparison of that among the Jews which was a yoke as St. Peter speaks which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear All the same adult Persons which were received into the Church by Baptism were admitted to communion of the Church in the Ordinances of worship Thus it was in the first Christian Church which was a pattern to all that followed Act. 2.41 42. When the three thousand were added to the Church by Baptism They continued in the Apostles Doctrine and in breaking of bread and prayer Acts 2.42 And St. Paul saith By one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether Jews or Gentiles bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit The same all we see were made to drink into one spirit which were baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 By drinking into one spirit is meant Communion in the Lords Supper according to the sense of all Interpreters that I have met with Again he had said thus Chap. 10.17 We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of one bread Here again the same all that made one body were partakers of one bread So that the extent of the Communion of the parts equallized the union of the whole Nor indeed is there any one instance in Scripture that I can find of any one person that has been refused Communion with a Christian Church when he has desired it who has been before received into the Church by Baptism except such as have been under Censure of the Church for some Capital Offence And such indeed are to be excluded until brought to repentance by the Ecclesiastical Government under which they live And St. Paul has given direction in what manner of Cases and for what manner of Offences men are to be proceeded against by Church Censure greater or lesser after due admonition otherwise used But now saith he I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such an one no not to eat 1 Cor. 5.11 For these and such like Crimes a Church may and ought in her governing capacity to deny her Communion with persons guilty of them after due admonition And accordingly our Church has ordered publick admonition frequently to be made in these words with many other If any of you be a blasphemer of God a hinderer or slanderer of his Word an Adulterer or be in malice or envy or in any other grievous crime Repent you of your sins or else come not to that holy Table lest after the taking of that holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he did into Judas and fill you full of all iniquities and bring you to destruction both of body and soul And further If any that desire to communicate be an open and notorious evil Liver or have done any wrong to his Neighbour by word or deed so that the Congregation be thereby offended the Curate having knowledge thereof shall call him and advertise him that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lords Table until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life that the Congregation may thereby be satisfied which before were offended The same order shall the Curate use with those betwixt whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign not suffering them to be partakers of the Lords Table until he know them to be reconciled I know there are several things wont to be alledged against admitting such to the Lords Supper who have not saving Grace as 1. That such will but increase their sin and further their Damnation by partaking of it so long as they are unregenerate To which it may be Answered 1. That such would no less sin by neglecting to Obey Christs Command Do this in remembrance of me and in neglecting to prepare themselves for it than they do when they come to this Supper of our Lord unprepared but rather indeed more For by not coming they make themselves guilty of a double Disobedience the one in not doing what Christ has Commanded to be done in remembrance of him the other in not preparing to do it after a right manner whereas by coming unprepared they make themselves guilty but of one of them 2. For the same reason Men should not
Pray while unregenerate as not come to the Sacrament while they are so For they are required to do both the one and the other in a right manner as well as to do them at all But yet no judicious Man will say that all unregenerate Men ought to restrain Prayer before God or to be restrained from it For it is possible and to be hoped that their Praying may have that good effect upon them as to make them better And the same may be said of such mens coming to the Sacrament 3. Though the Scripture directs that by Church-Censure Men should be debarr'd from the Sacrament for open Acts of Scandal yet I know not where it directs to keep them from it for want of saving Grace so long as not guilty of such Scandal 2. Obj. It is again Objected that this Ordinance is appointed for the Confirmation of the Converted but not for the Conversion of the unconverted Answer I grant indeed that this Sacrament is not appointed for mens first Conversion to Christianity or for unbaptized Persons But yet it may be very useful together with other means to carry on the work of Conversion from common Grace to special And yet such is the Conversion generally which is wrought in such as are Educated in the Christian Religion The use of this Sacrament in conjunction with Christian Doctrine may very well contribute its share in carrying on this progressive change in Men by improving common Grace into special The Preaching of the Cross is to us who are saved the Power of God to Salvation saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1.18 And Christ as Crucified is by the Lords Supper Preached to the seeing of the Eye as well as by Word and Doctrine he is Preached to the hearing of the Ear And the Eye affecteth the Heart as the Prophet speaks as well as the Ear And therefore the one may help on the work of Conversion from common Grace to special as well as the other And in all likelyhood it often does so as we have reason to think when we see Men who as may be seared have no more than common Grace upon occasion of their going to the Sacrament to become more serious both before and after than usually they are at other times And if such would but frequent it often it might well be hoped that it would work a great alteration in them by making them often more serious and considerate about the things of their Souls And indeed what is more likely to beget a love to our Blessed Saviour than such a lively representation of his wonderful love in dying for us as is made in the Celebration of that Sacrament 3. Obj. The giving this Sacrament to such as by a saving Faith are not in Covenant with God is but like setting a Seal unto a blank To which it is answered First That this Sacrament is not a Seal of Mans Faith but of Gods Covenant and the Seal that is set to that is not set to a Blank The Lords Supper is not a Seal to assure such as receive it that they have Faith but to assure them of Gods Faithfulness in his Covenant and to work in them a confidence in that Circumcision which was a Seal of the Covenant was not set to a blank when applyed to Children before they had Faith Secondly though this Sacrament be indeed a Seal of Gods Covenant directly yet it must be acknowledged that the end and design of its being so is to help Mens Faith in Gods Faithfulness and Goodness in reference to what he has promised in his Covenant But then though this be so yet the giving this Sacrament to such who have but common Faith cannot be said to be like setting a Seal to a blank because a common Faith such as unregenerate Men may have is more than no Faith at all and yet it is the having no Faith at all which can only answer to the setting a Seal to a blank in this case For a common Faith may be improved until it become special as I have shewed and upon that account this Sacrament being a Sacrament for Mens improvement in Faith and Love may as well belong to them who have but common Faith as to those whose Faith is special and saving And indeed what is more likely to make a Faith which is but dull and unactive as a common Faith is to become lively and vigorous than that which with great Advantage is to this end represented to the Mind in this Sacrament as I said before Thirdly I might add that the Covenant made in Baptism is Recognized and renewed in the use of the Lords Supper and this doubtless may be done by such as have but common Faith as well as by those who have that which is special and saving 4. Obj. The saying of St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup is alledged against mens being admitted or presuming to come to the Lords Supper who have not saving Grace though otherwise free from Scandalous Offences They suppose Saving Grace Repentance Faith and Love to be the Matter about which the Apostle would have Men to examine themselves as necessary to qualifie them for Lawful Communion in that Sacrament Now that for Men to examine themselves whether they have saving Grace or no is very necessary for their Preparation for coming to the Sacrament is granted because thereby they will the better come to know the state of their own Souls and what it is that hinders their assurance of having such Grace and the necessity of removing it and their need of such a Saviour as he is whose Love they are to commemorate in that Sacrament And God forbid that I should in the least encourage any to neglect the best Preparation they can make for so concerning a business as the approaching to the Table of the Lord is And except by examination they can find in themselves some knowledge and belief that Christ Jesus is the Saviour of Sinners by dying for them and of the Nature and End of this Sacrament in general I do not understand how they should receive any benefit by coming to it But to conclude from this saying of the Apostle that Men are to forbear coming to the Table of the Lord until by self-examination they can satisfie themselves that they have saving Grace I think to be more than ever the Apostle intended in those words For such satisfaction and assurance is hardly attainable while Christians are but weak and unexperienced though known to God to be sincere And for this cause it seems to be more than is fit to be imposed upon Men as a condition of their coming to the Lords Supper But by the reason which St. Paul gives in verse 29. why he would have Men to examine themselves before they eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup it appears that the thing in special and in particular concerning
which he would have them examine themselves was about their Capacity of discerning the Lords Body in doing it For he tells them that if they did not discern the Lords Body in eating that Bread c. they would eat and drink unworthily and likewise Judgment to themselves For our better understanding the scope and meaning of St. Paul in this his Discourse touching unworthy Communicating at the Lords Table we will enquire alittle what he means by eating and drinking unworthily what by not discerning the Lords Body and what by being guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 1. The unworthy eating of that Bread and drinking that Cup of the Lord of which the Apostle speaks signifies the receiving those Sacred Symbols of Christs Body and Blood with a frame of Mind incongruous and unsuitable to the nature of that Feast and to a participation of it Or it is a receiving those Consecrated Elements with such an unsuitable Mind as makes Men uncapable of receiving that benefit which our Lord designed to be received by the use of that Ordinance 2. Not to discern the Lords Body in eating that Bread and drinking that Cup is not to understand the Nature of that Ordinance nor our Lords design in it nor to be sutably affected with the Spiritual Nature and meaning of it First it is not to understand the Nature and End of that Ordinance As when Men do not understand that the breaking the Lords Body upon the Cross and the shedding of his Blood as an Expiatory Sacrifice for the sin of the World is signified represented and commemorated by the breaking of Bread and pouring out of Wine in that Sacrament And when they do not understand or discern that this Ordinance was appointed by our Blessed Saviour for a perpetual Commemoration of his transcendent Love in dying for us Now if no more than this should be meant by not discerning the Lords Body Men of common Illumination in the things of the Gospel and by a common Faith concerning them may undoubtedly escape being guilty of this unworthiness in eating that Bread and drinking that Cup. For it will not be denyed but that many unregenerate Men may in this sense discern the Lords Body more clearly and more distinctly than many of the Regenerate themselves can And if Secondly by not discerning the Lords Body should be also meant as I suppose it is the unsutableness of Mens Affection to the Spiritual Nature of the things represented by eating that Bread and drinking that Cup yet Men by common Grace may in some measure discern the Lords Body by having some degree of Affection sutable to the Spiritual Nature and Design of that Ordinance In the sense now under consideration Men do not discern the Lords Body in receiving this Sacrament when they are no more Affected with Love and Gratitude to our Blessed Saviour for his great Love in dying for us than as if there had never been any such thing suffered by him and for such an end as the Redemption of the World But now Men who have but Initial Faith and common Grace may eat that Bread and drink that Cup of the Lord with a much more sutable frame of Mind and Affection than this comes to For they may at such a time and upon such an Occasion have some sense of Christs Love upon their Minds in dying for them and some hope of being saved by his Death and for that reason they may have some degree of Love and Affection to him stirring in them even such as may draw some grateful acknowledgment of his Love from them and some present purposes of Living more to him such as may cause them to sin less until that sense is worn off When our Saviour saith He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 He supposeth some may Love him to a degree who yet love somewhat else more and thereby make themselves unworthy of the Salvation which is by him Now such a sense of Christs Love as this which Men but of common Grace may have at their coming to the Sacrament has a very fair tendency in it towards such a sense and such Love which is saving indeed and is in a very near Capacity of being so improved as to become such and doubtless is so in many a one For which cause such should be encouraged to frequent this Sacrament as often as they have Opportunity with the best Preparation they can make 3. To be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord as all they are who eat that Bread and drink that Cup unworthily ver 27. can signifie no less and it may be no more than a being guilty of a Profaning of his Body and Blood by using and receiving the Sacred Symbols and Signs thereof with a frame of Mind altogether unsutable to what is signified and represented thereby And this Men are guilty of when they are no otherwise affected at the Commemoration of the Death of Christ in the Sacrament than as if his Death had been the Death but of a common Man nor are no more Affected with the things represented by that Sacrament in the eating that Bread and drinking that Cup than as if they were but at a common Meal They are thus guilty when they are stupid sottish and irreverent at that Action and void of an affecting sense of the wonderful Love of our Saviour in laying down his Life for us even then when they make use of that Ordinance which was purposely instituted to perpetuate and preserve a lively sense of it in Christians to the end of the World This Profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord thus is as we may easily perceive a sin of the same Nature with that of not discerning the Lords Body in eating that Bread and drinking that Cup and is resolved into it as all unworthy receiving that Sacrament is as it should seem by St. Paul's words when he assigns the not discerning the Lords Body as the reason why Men at any time eat that Bread and drink that Cup unworthily in the 29. ver But now Men by common Illumination and Faith are very capable of discerning a great difference between the Person and Death of Christ and the Reason and End of his Death and the Person and Death of other Men and between the reason of eating and drinking at the Lords Table and their eating and drinking at other Tables and of being otherwise Affected with these things than with common things Considering then that the unworthy eating of that Bread and drinking that Cup of which the Apostle speaks consists in such an unsutable frame of Mind in doing so as by reason of which Men do not discern the Lords Body but Profane it and the facred Signs and Symbols of it And considering likewise that the Apostle makes the danger of thus eating that Bread and drinking that Cup unworthily the reason of his Exhorting them to examine themselves before they
know any third sense pretended to among Interpreters But indeed there is danger in both respects and therefore I know no inconvenience if we understand the Parable in reference to both Now it is not hard to conceive how bad a thing it would be if such as have true grace should be refused admittance into the Visible Church or to its Communion only because it is so little that men cannot discern it to be so For such a discouragement may be enough to set them back again to quench the smoaking flax and to expose them to the loss of that very little grace in its beginning which they have A thing point blank against that admonition and caution of our Saviour Mat. 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones QUERY XI WHat is it that makes the difference between the Vniversal Church as Visible and particular Churches And what makes the difference between one particular Church and another The Query being double I shall answer to that first which is first and do say the Universal Church differs from a particular Church in two respects 1. The Universal Church differs from a particular as the whole differs from a part and a particular Church differs from the Universal as a part differs from the whole For otherwise they are materially the same only with this difference the one contains all Visible Church matter and the other but a part of it There is nothing necessary to qualifie the matter of which a particular Church doth consist than what made all the Members of it Members of the Universal Church unless it be what belongs to the Officers of it as such 2. If by a particular Church we understand one single Congregation then a particular Church differs from the Universal as those of which it does consist do assemble together in one place for Publick Worship which the Universal Church cannot do now tho in the beginning of its existence possibly it might But if by a particular Church we understand so many single worshipping Congregations as are united under one and the same Church Government and Governours in a City Province or Kingdom Then a particular Church in this sense is differenced from the Church Universal by this Ecclesiastical Polity under which it is otherwise united than the Universal Church as such is or can be And such a particular Church we suppose the Church in Jerusalem in Corinth and in other great Cities to have been the Scripture so accounting them when yet each of them consisted of more single worshipping Assemblies than one as may well be presumed on several accounts not here to be mentioned There is another thing which the Congregationalists make essential to the being of a particular Church for they make it the Form or formal cause of it which would be another difference between the Universal Church and a particular if their Opinion and Assertion were admitted concerning it and that is that Church Covenant or mutual engagement to walk together in the way and order of the Gospel And by this each one of their single Congregations distinguisheth it self from all other And they account this so necessary as to make it a condition of Communion without which they will not admit persons otherwise well approved of by themselves to Sacramental Communion that is unless they are under this engagement to them or some other Sister Church of the same kind But this is so much the worse because it is done and required under the Notion of Divine appointment when God has appointed no such thing Which is such a piece of superstition as the enjoyning the use of the Ceremonies of the Church of England is free from so long as they are not enjoyned as things of divine appointment but only as of an indifferent nature and therefore there is no such reason to scruple them as there is to scruple this practice upon those terms There are two Texts of Scripture upon which more especially and principally they ground this opinion and practice of theirs which I shall a little enquire into The one is 2 Cor. 8.5 which Dr. O. to this end quotes more than once in his late Book the words are these And this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God The Vs here in the Text are St. Paul and Timotheus from whom this Epistle came Chap. 1.1 And if so how could the Churches of Macedonia's giving themselves to St. Paul and Timothy possibly signifie their mutual Covenanting one with another among themselves And is it not as strange also that they should give themselves to Paul and Timothy in order to the Constituting themselves Churches when as that giving themselves to Paul and Timothy here spoken of was done then when they were already Churches as the whole Context from ver 1. doth shew And if their giving themselves to Paul and Timothy was one of those things which they did more than Paul and Timothy hoped for then such a confederation is not likely to be meant by it as was essentially necessary to their existence as Churches this certainly would not have been more than they hoped for if it had been their duty and of so great a necessity This is enough to shew how impertinently this Scripture is alledged But the whole Context shews that the things St. Paul here speaks of were quite of another nature and that is the liberality of the Churches of Macedonia towards the relief of the Christians of Jerusalem and their zeal in being otherwise serviceable to so good a work wherein they did indeed exceed the expectation of Paul and Timothy For their Poverty to which they were brought by sustering for the Gospel was so deep that St. Paul it seems scarce thought it fit to receive any thing of them and it was upon their earnest intreaty that he did and yet they did not only thus give above their ability but besides their giving up themselves to God as ready to suffer further for him if called to it they gave up themselves to St. Paul Timothy also to assist them in that charitable work they had in hand by their further endeavours to promote it among others For they intreated Paul and Timothy earnestly to take upon them the fellowship of ministring to the Saints the managing of that affair and procured them to send Titus to Corinth to promote the same business as appears by ver 6. This Scripture though so great a stranger to this opinion as you see yet is that which so far as ever I could perceive is chiefly depended upon in this cause They bring in also as favouring their notion and practice the saying of St. Peter to the Christians ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood c. 1 Pet. 2.5 And they do it seems suppose that these living stones being so laid together as to to make a spiritual
Publick Worship at least in part should be performed by a Liturgy appears by their having ordered that so it should be And this ought to weigh much with humble and modest men remembring what St. Paul hath said in another case to shew what esteem ought to be had of the Usages and Customs of the Churches of God If any man seem contentious we have no Such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 2. To satisfie yea to convince such as are under a prejudice against worshipping God by the use of our English Liturgy that there is no such difference as they fancy between the worshipping God according to that in conjunction with Pulpit Worship and that way of Worship which they so much prefer before it I shall offer this to their consideration viz. That there have as worthy men for Piety and Learning both Conformists and Non-conformists as perhaps ever England bred lived and died in Communion in that Whorship which has been performed by our English Liturgy from the beginning of the Reformation downward And we may well conclude that their Souls would never have prospered and flourished so as no mens more if there had been any such difference as some men imagine between the way of their Communion and that of others Men do not gather Grapes of thorns nor Figs of thistles That the souls of many prosper no better under it proceeds not from the nature of the provision for them but from their own gross neglect both of it and of themselves who doubtless would be such as they are whatever the manner of Worship is in the places where they live 3. If we have in the place where the providence of God hath set us means of worshipping God publickly competently useful and sufficient to the ends of such Worship tho it should in some respects be inferiour to some other yet if we can have no better without breaking Order and running into confusion nor without breaking one Commandment to observe another nor without making our selves guilty of an unlawful separation and all the dreadful consequences of it we may be said to worship God in the best manner we can tho we content our selves with this provided we be not wanting to improve it the best we can to its end And the reason is because we then perform the best Worship we can that will consist with edification Publick Order and the peace of the Church and a Worship wherein all these concur does best answer to general Rules for the manner of Publick Worship taken together 4. For men to separate from Parochial Communion in the Worship performed according to the Liturgy to the end God may be worshipped by them after a better manner in separate Assemblies is to do evil that good may come of it unless they can prove a necessity so to separate or to sin For that to separate without such a necessity is to do evil is a Protestant Maxim assented to on all hands among them And that they are under no such necessity as to sin if they do not so separate I have shewed before by shewing that the said Worship is neither corrupt in the essence of it nor is the external manner of performance of it deficient as to its end and use one of which must be proved against it before separation from it can be justified 5. By such a separation as that we speak of men really do much more disservice to God and the great concerns of Religion and the Souls of men than they can with any colour of reason pretend that by worshipping God without the Liturgy they honour him or Religion or advantage the Souls of men The effects of such a Separation are very visible which do too naturally flow from it such as the destruction of Peace Charity and Humility the engendering of Envy Hatred Strife and Contention to the great reproach of Religion and dishonour of Almighty God and the hurt of mens Souls But how these great evils can be pretended to be counter-ballanced by their Worship being performed without the Liturgy I understand not but do take it to be a matter past doubt that the benefit which those that separate get by their Communion without a Liturgy over and above what they might have gained by Communion where that is used will never equal the hurt they draw upon themselves and others and the wrong they do to Religion by their separation And if not then when ever the account comes to be made up and their loss to be compared with their gain they will be found exceeding great losers by their separation notwithstanding all the advantages they promised themselves by it Thus far to shew that there is no just cause of separating from Communion in the Worship performed by the Liturgy every Lords day As for the gesture of kneeling in the act of receiving the Lords Supper so much hath been written to prove it no sin and so little that looks like an Argument to prove the contrary that if men of understanding would but lay aside prejudice and impartially compare and consider what hath been said on both sides I cannot think that after this any could be long without satisfaction touching the lawfulness of complying with publick Order in that matter especially considering how much is declared at the end of the Office for administration of the Lords Supper in the Liturgy to clear that gesture in that action from all suspicion of Bread-worship more than in the Liturgy in use in the old Non-conformists days when they scrupled it But if any after they have done thus shall not for all that be satisfied yet that can be no more an Argument to them than it was to the old Non-conformists why they should not hold Communion in the rest of the Lords-day Worship as they did and not only so but pressed it also on others as their duty to do so and zealously inveyed against separation from it as a great evil as their Writings do abundantly shew And that for such to hold Communion with their Brethren so far as they can is plain matter of duty I have shewed before And in case they should thus hold Communion in the other parts of Worship they need no more to live without the use of the Lords Supper than the old Non-conformists did since I doubt not but they know how to be therein accommodated as well as they did and as they were And so for Baptism in case they cannot be active in the use of the Cross after it yet they may be passive in as much as it is not used as any sign of Gods conveying grace as Sacraments are but only as a token of duty nor as any Rite in Baptism neither but only in receiving the Persons baptized into the Church after they are baptized and seems to be no more ground of scruple than laying the hand upon and kissing the Book in swearing is which is a piece of Divine Worship which none scruple
Church and those of the world All under this Character and Badge and none but they were of the Visible Church and therefore it must needs be the Constitutive form of that Relation Visible Church-membership All that have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and are visibly Christians and of Christs Church How ancient and how long before Christs appearance in the world in our nature this way of constituting Visible Church-members has been by such a Rite as God appointed I have shewed before And if this visible Covenanting with God by Baptism be that by which persons become Members of the Visible Church then a probable appearance of Regeneration or a reputation of being of the Church as invisible cannot be it that makes them visible Church Members tho it does qualifie them for it unless this probable appearance of Regeneration and Covenanting with God by Baptism be one and the same thing And if they be then those of which our Parish Churches are constituted have a probable appearance of Regeneration or of being of the Invisible Church and then they are constituted of matter according to those Dissenters own mind And if so then we may well hope they will no longer separate from them as if they were not Constitututed of qualified matter So that things are brought at last to this issue That these Dissenters must either overthrow this Plea against the reason and ground of their Separation and prove that visible Covenanting with God by Baptism is not that by which Visible Church-membership is made or else it will certainly overthrow this Plea of theirs for their Separation And if they will so much as attempt to overthrow this Plea against them they must row all the way against the stream and strong tide of the Scriptures and against the stream of Antiquity and the sense of the ancient Church from the Apostles times downwards who always esteemed Baptism the door of entrance into the Visible Church and consequently that all such as had pass'd through Baptism were within the Church And as it is more agreable to Scripture so it is much more reasonable to say that men cannot seem to be of the Church as Invisible without being first of the Church as Visible than it is to say their being of the Church as Visible proceeds from their seeming to be of the Church as Invisible For as touching mens enterance into the Church by Baptism our Saviour hath said Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Baptism is injoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation which are Priviledges of the Church as Invisible Acts 2.38 and 22.16 Mar. 16.16 So that according to these Scriptures mens being and seeming to be of the Church as Invisible and their sharing in the Priviledges of it seems ordinarily to depend upon their being of the Visible Church by Baptism Now one would think a Notion so preposterous as this opposed appears to be should be very unfit to make a foundation to build Churches upon or to justifie a separation from those which have a substantial foundation the Scriptures I mean But if mens seeming in the apprehension of others to be of the Church as Invisible did not depend upon their being of the Church Visible yet such seeming could be no proper or fit Rule by which to judg determine and conclude who are and who are not of the Visible Church And the reason is because it is Arbitrarious and uncertain for mens being or not being acknowledged to be of the Visible Church would depend upon the uncertainty of mens opinions and affections and those would seem in some mens apprehensions to be of the Church Invisible which to others would seem otherwise And then those would be owned by some to be of the Visible Church which would be denied to be so by others Of the truth of all which this present Age hath furnished us with plentiful experience And if this should be the Rule observed through the whole Christian world it would be the ready way to make Parties and Sidings unchristian oppositions and uncharitable censurings among Christians in all parts of the world as it has done here in this Nation Whereas to be visibly in Covenant with God by Baptism is a certain fixed a common open and publick Rule by which to judg who are of the Visible Church so long as they continue to own themselves under the obligation of that Covenant and have neither so far violated it as to give Divine Worship to other Objects than their God nor incurr'd to themselves Excommunication by Heresie or other scandalous living And this Rule gives no occasion of division in the Church as the other does but tends to bind and hold the several Members together in the unity of the Spirit and bond of peace To which purpose St. Paul urgeth it upon the Christians motive-wise Eph. 4. All these things considered one would wonder how men of Learning and Piety should ever be betrayed into such Notions and Principles and to lay so mighty a stress on them as they have done when yet they have no more colour from Scripture or reason than ever yet they have been able to produce for their defence But to make the best of it I can we will suppose it was the appearance of a more thorow Reformation and more pure Communion which in their apprehension was to be obtained by these new Methods that first drew them into this way Reformation and pure Communion are things which sound mighty well in good mens ears and which they can easily believe to be well pleasing unto God And as there is an appearance of greater strictness in that way than in that of more general Communion so it was easie for them hereupon to think there was more purity in it also which has been the prevailing reason which has carried multitudes into Quakerism And when such an opinion has once seated it self in mens minds they quickly grow confident that nothing in Scripture can be against it and then they can easily fancy that every slight appearance and sound of words in Scripture is for them upon which they can but put such a gloss as shall favour them though it be nothing to their purpose when impartially scann'd And had their opinions and practice which I have opposed and wherein they differ from all other good men been matter of purity indeed I should not have made One to find fault with them But if this their Way be disagreeable to Gods pure Word which is the Rule by which we must judg of what is pure and what is impure and if it run counter to our Lords Method laid down in the Scripture of ordering the affairs of his Church in very material points then it will be found an impure practice a sinful mixture and a corruption to be purged out of the Church And yet such it is if I have not