of this kind alledge the super-abundance thereof to proceed a fervido Scotorum Ingenio i. e. from the violent Complexion of our Country men I had scarce got out of my Child-hood when I was by the permission of Divine Providence cast among the Company of Papists and my tender years and immature Capacity not being able to withstand and resist the Insinuations that were used to Proselite me to that way I became quickly defiled with the Pollutions thereof and continued therein for a time until it pleased God through his rich Love and Mercy to deliver me out of those Snares and to give me a clear understanding of the evil of that way In both these Sects the Reader may easily conceive that I had abundant occasion to receive Impressions contrary to this principle of Love herein treated of seeing the straitness of several of their Doctrines as well as their practice of Persecution do abundantly declare how opposite they are to Universal Love as shall hereafter more at large be shown and Albeit the time it pleased God to deliver me out of these Snares I was so young that it may be presumed my Observations could be but weak and consequently my Experience inconsiderable yet for as much as from my very Child-hood I was very ambitious of Knowledge and by a certain felicity of Understanding I think I may say without Vanity successful beyond many of my Equals in Age though my Observations at that time were but weak yet since I have with more leisure and circumspection gathered thence so much experience as I am confident will serve for a sufficient foundation to any Superstructure I shall build upon it in this Treatise The time that intervened betwixt my forsaking of the Church of Rome and joyning with those with whom I stand now ingaged I kept my self free from joyning with any sort of People though I took liberty to hear several and my Converse was most with those that inveigh much against judging and such kind of severity seeming to complain greatly for want of this Christian Charity among all Sects which Latitude may perhaps be esteemed the other extream opposite to the preciseness of these other Sects whereby I also received an opportunity to know what usually is pretented on that side likewise and thence can say somewhat experimentally on that part also As for those I am now joyned to and whom I justly esteem to be the true followers and Servants of Jesus Christ the World speaks diversly of them as to this matter some highly accusing them of the want of Charity and quarrelling with them as such who peremptorily condemn all but themselves Others have a contrary conceit of them each according as they are prejudicated and informed What may be truly said in the case shall after appear I my self have been diversly censured in this matter being ingaged in Controversie which as they can be scarcely handled without something of sharpness so are seldom mannaged by any so successfully as not to bear the Censure of some or other in this respect Having then upon the whole matter observed that this want of Charity is that for the want of which each Sect accuses the other and yet are most averse to see this defect in themselves and that some do accuse all Sects as guilty of this Crime I have judged it meet to commit my sence hereof to writing according to the purpose signified in the Title afore-mentioned SECT II. The Nature of Christian Love and Charity demonstrated the Consistancy of true Zeal therewith it 's distinction from false Zeal THe Nature of Christian Love and Charity is fully and abundantly described in the Holy Scriptures where it is preferred before all other Virtues and properties whatsoever as that which comprehendeth in it all other perfections and is the root and spring of them for there can be no true Virtue but that which proceedeth from Love hence God himself is called Love I Jo. 4. 7. as being that under which all his innumerable and inutterable perfections are included By this Love we are Redeemed from the Corruption of our Nature and have received the benefit of a Mediator Joh. 16. This is the Banner wherewith God covereth his Children Cant. 2. 4. This is that which Constrained our Lord Jesus Christ to lay down his Life for us Joh. 15. 13. The exercise of this is given by Christ as the principal Token of his Disciples Joh. 13. 35. It is numbered as the first fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. It is called the fulfilling of the Law as that wherein all consisteth Rom. 13. 10. For to Love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves is the sum not only of the Law but of the Gospel also 1 Cor. 13. 13. Therefore the Apostle Paul giveth to this Love or Charity the Precedency before either Faith or Hope in which Chapter he doth briefly but very emphatically describe it for having first shewn that the speaking with Tongues of Men and Angels that the gifts of Prophesying Understanding and Knowledge that the Faith that even could remove Mountains and the giving of all to the Poor yea and the Body to be burnt is nothing without it He proceeds to the description of it thus Charity suffers long is kind Charity envieth not Vaunteth not it self is not puffed up does not behave it self unseemly seeking not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in Iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things never faileth Albeit other gifts have 1 Cor. 13. from the first Verse As by this the excellency of Love is shown so the necessity of pressing after it and living in it will be readily acknowledged by all but seeing the sum of this Love as well as the perfection thereof consists in loving God above all so whatever diverteth in any thing there-from is not to be accounted Love though the same word be used to express it and that in the Scripture it self such as the Love of Self the Love of the World the Love of any Creature Hence for the attaining of the true and excellent Love the Love of all these other things is not only to be laid aside and the Love of God preferred to them but they are to be hated as Christ himself Phraseth it He that hateth his life Jo. 12. 25. Yea he useth it so as to speaking of hating Father and Mother Luk. 14. 26. though when the Love to such is truly subordinate to the other it is both commended and commanded The Testimony which is required of our really being in the Love of God Christ himself signifieth to us If you Love me keep my Commandements And as the Beloved Disciple John said in the case of Knowledge shewing us the falshood of such as pretend to know God and yet do not so saying He that says he knows God and keeps not his Commandements is a Lyar and the Truth is not
in him 1 Jo. 2. 4. So may be also said He that saith he loves God and keeps not his Commandment is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him according as the same Apostle saith I Jo. 5. 3. For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandements Hence it is apparent that Love without Purity is but a false pretence and that whatsoever hinders from the practice of this Love of God or with draws from the obedience of the least of his Commands is to be denyed and no ways to be entertained as being either the love of the Devil the love of the World or the love of Self and not the love of the Father and as from the true love of God having taken place both upon the Understanding and Will there ariseth a great fervency and desire of Mind that it may be wholly united with the Lord and made conformable unto his Will in all things So from hence ariseth also a certain Aversion from Indignation of and even Hatred to whatsoever is contrary thereunto or has a tendency to lead from it which is commonly called Zeal which Zeal having a right bottom and foundation and proceeding purely from the Love of God is a great Virtue greatly to be commended and pressed after and the defect thereof is justly reproveable in a Christian That Zeal then thus considered is a thing excellent pure and holy of it self appears in that it is ascribed to God himself 2 King 19. 13. Isa. 9. 7. Where the performance of the Blessed Evangelical promises is to be performed by the Zeal of the Lord Isa. 19. 17. He is said to be Cloathed with Zeal as with a Cloak and 63. 15. His Zeal is numbred with his Bowels and Mercies next David recommends himself to God for that the Zeal of his House had eaten him up Psal. 69. 9. and 119. 139. And Paul commends the Corinthians for their Zeal 2 Cor. 7. 11. 1 Cor. 14. 12. and for this end has the Grace of God appeared unto all that there might be a People gathered Zealous of good Works Tit 2. 14. And as this is commended and recommended on the one hand so is the contrary thereof to wit Indifferency and Lukewarmness reproved and rebuked as a thing displeasing to the Lord of many instances whereof that might be given that unto the Church of Laodicea may serve at present Rev. 13. 15. 16. Because for a Remedy against this Evil she is Exhorted v. 19. to be Zealous and Repent But as there is a true Zeal so is there a false one and it is not more needful to have the one then iâ— is to avoid the other Now as the true Zeal proceedeth only from the pure Love of God and single Regard to his Honour and Glory so the false Zeal proceedeth from the Love of something else and the regard to other things And of this false Zeal there are several kinds as well as degrees all of which though they ought to be shunned yet some are far more hurtful and pernitious than others the worst and highest of these is when as Men through the height of Pride Lust Ambition or Envy shew themselves furious and Zealous to satisfie and fulfill their desires and affections this is the highest Zeal for self From this Zeal did Cain flay Abel Ishmael mocked Isaac and Esau hated Jacob Pharoah Persecuted the Children of Israel Saul David and Jezabel the true Prophets of the Lord. A second kind is when as Men that are not true and faithful even to those principles of Religion they profess themselves to acknowledge as true as being Conscious to themselves and also publickly known to be such as are Vitious and Profligate yet do violently persecute and oppress others that differs from them though they be not only equal to them but even by their own acknowledgment exceed them in Temperance and Virtue having nothing to charge them with but that they agree not with them in judgment and practice in matters of Religion This apparently is a false Zeal and not of God for if it proceeded from the true Love of God it would first operate in themselves to the removing of all those things which they acknowledge to be contrary to this Love of God before it exerted it self towards others seeing as the Proverb is Charity begins at home And like unto this was the Zeal of the Scribes and Pharisees who Persecuted Christ for a breaker of the Law which themselves did not fulfil As is also the Zeal both of the Papists and Protestants in their Persecutions at this day A third sort is of such who do indeed walk strictly and closely to their own Principles making Conscience of their way but yet being blinded in their understanding do Persecute Truth supposing it to be Error Of this number was Paul before his Conversion Being as to the Law blameless and Persecuting the Saints out of Zeal Act. 22. 3. Gal. 1. 14. And therefore in this Class he numbers his Country-men saying They have a Zeal for God but not according to knowledge Rom. 10. 2. And perhaps among these such may be numbred of whom Christ speaketh saying to his Disciples and when they kill you they shall think to do God good Service A fourth or last sort is when as Men being truly enlightned in their Understanding but their Will Heart and Affections not being throughly leavened with the Love of God do condemn things justly reproveable but not out of the pure drawings of Divine Love but even from a mixture of self in the forwardness of their own will as not suffering any to be contrary unto them This is the most innocent kind of wrong Zeal yet not so that it ought to be watched against and of those few that are guilty of it it were fit they waited to be Redeemed from it but the pure undefiled Zeal that is acceptable to God is that which proceeds not only from a pure and clear understanding but also from a renewed and sanctified Will which moves not of nor from Self but from and for the Lord. SECT III. The Controversie stated with respect to the different sort of Christians how it is to be fetched from the nature of their Principles and not from the practice of particular persons THe sun of what is said is that true Christian Love and Charity is the most excellent of Virtues most needful to be sought after and attained that it is never joyned but with purity which it naturally leads to and there-from doth consequentially arise an Indignation and Zeal against Unrighteousness which true Zeal is justly commendable and really distinguishable from all false and ignorant Zeal For the more clear stating of the Controversie in proceeding in this matter these following assertions relating thereto may be proposed and affirmed I. That whatsoever Love is consistent with the pure Love of God may be safely exercised towards all sorts as well of Men as Christians II. That whatsoever Love or Charity
really conduceth to the salvation of their souls and so far as they are capable thereof may and ought to be shewed towards them III. That therefore the good in all ought to be commended encouraged and loved and no true Good either denyed rejected or despised because of any Errors peculiar to respective Sects IV. That the Evil either in Opinion or practice ought neither to be spared encouraged nor fomented under any pretence of Love whatsoever These I shall not enlarge nor yet offer to prove studying to avoyd prolixity because I presume they will be readily granted and assented to by all That then which principally comes under consideration is to consider and examine which of all the several sorts of Christians at this day do most truly observe these rules and shew forth most of the true Love and Zeal of God in their way and principles avoyding that which is contrary thereunto wherein that I may proceed clearly there are some things previous to be warily and seriously weighed as First when I speak of the Charity of the several sorts of Christians I speak of such as are settled in their in respective Principles as perswading themselves certainly in the truths and soundness of them so that their Love and Charity is really to such as they judge and believe are wrong seeming to have Charity to all and be affraid to judge them from an unsettledness in ones self as not knowing which is right or which is wrong is a Vertue of necessity and not of choyce and proceedeth no ways from the Love of God neither has any resemblance thereunto for God loveth and Compassionates Sinners and such as are out of the way not as being ignorant or doubting whether they be such but as really knowing them It were indeed the height of madness and folly for these unsettled uncertain and stragling souls to take the liberty to judge others for being wrong while they profess they know not yet who is right and who is wrong being only sure of this that themselves are not come to rights for they could not in so doing but be Self-condemned not but I believe that the condition of such if they be truly forbearing and ready to embrace the good when seen by them is both more tollerable to others and safe for themselves than those that are hardily confident in a wrong belief from thence forwardly judging others But this I mention for the sake of certain men of loose and uncertain principles who being really Conscious to themselves of their own unsettledness finding themselves at a loss as concerning many of the controverted Principles of the Christian Religion which is right and which wrong and not finding a ready way to come to any certain determination therein and being perhaps unwilling to undergoe the trouble and difficulty of such a serious search and enquiry as well as desirous to avoyd these troublesome circumstances or other inconveniences which may seem to them necessarily to accompany their imbodying themselves with any particular People or Fellowship and therefore find it more easie to satisfie and please themselves with some general notions of practical Truths commonly acknowledged by all and therefore cover themselves by condemning that heat asperity and severe censuring that is among the several sorts of Christians one towards another as not consistent with nor suitable to that Love which ought to be in all Christians whereas poor Men they mind not how much they fall in this Crime and that in a degree far more reprovable than those they thus accuse For First Are not they found guilty of the want of this Christian Love and Charity that do judge and condemn all these several sorts of Christians as defective in this so principal and necessary a Christian Vertue whereby they do indirectly shut them out from being Christians or Disciples of Jesus for if they judged it an Error inconsistent with Christian Love and Charity to condemn or accuse one another for difference in Opinion why are they found themselves so guilty of it for since in this censuring and condemning of one another among the several sorts of Christians is practised by them as their duty and a necessary consequence of their Doctrine why should these judge them for it if they say they condemn them for it Because they believe it to be a wrong Principle shall not others be allowed the like liberty to condemn Principles they likewise believe to be wrong one of two then must of necessity hold either that wrong Doctrines or Opinions may be justly reproved confuted and condemned without breach of Christian Love and Charity and therefore the so doing amongst the several sorts of Christians upon their own respective Principles in it self simply considered not evil or reproveable and therefore these men wrong in judging it so or it is an evil and inconsistent with Christian Love and Charity to condemn any sort of Christians for their Doctrines and Opinions and if so these men fall fouly in this Crime that do accuse all others for this judging of Principles and yet themselves judge them for their Principles herein And Secondly Their envy in this is of an higher degree by their own Sentence then those others thus judged by them because the others proceed upon a certain belief and firm perswasion that they are in the right and those they condemn wrong and so proceed rationally consequential to their own Principles but these Men Albeit they be Conscious to themselves that they are not come to a determination of what is right and what wrong and remain yet in doubt for want of a clear Understanding what to approve and what to condemn do never the-less most irrationally and inconsequentially to their own affirmations reprove censure and condemn all others as destitute of or at least defective in a vertue and quality so necessary and essential to all Christian Societies to whom therefore may be fitly applyed the saying of the Patriarch Jacob to his First-born Ruben Unstable as water thou shalt not excel Gen. 49. 4. And that of the Apostle Paul to the Romans Rom. 2. 11. As also that other saying of the same Apostle to the Galatians For if I Build again the things that I destroyed I make my self a Transgressor Gal. 2. 18. 2dly To make a judgment of the several sorts of Christians we must fetch it not from the practices of particular Persons but from their respective principles by enquiring how far they naturally lead to or draw from this Universal Love because that it cannot be denyed but that among all and every sort of the several Sects of Christians there are men of divers and sundry humours and complexions some more hot violent and froward who prosecute what they judge right with great Zeal hast and fury others of more calme meek and loving dispositions who though they be not less desirous to advance their way yet do it in a more complacent affable and deliberate manner Some there are that
by all such Malefactors themselves I know not if one of a hundred thousand can be excepted and the punishment of such is justifiable as all generally acknowledge but to kill sober honest good Men meerly for their Conscience is quite contrary to the Doctrine of Christ as has been elsewhere upon other occasions largely demonstrated This being premised I shall briefly apply the same to the several sorts of Christians that thence may be observed whose Principles do most exactly agree with and lead to that Universal Love and Charity so much in words commended by all and for the want of which every sort take so much liberty to judge and condemn each other There are many other particulars by which the several Sects may be tryed in this respect but these two fore-mentioned being the principal I shall chiefly insist upon them in this present application To begin then with the Papists there is nothing more commonly acknowledged and assented to among them then that Maxim Extra Ecclesiam nulla Salus without the Church there is no Salvation which Maxim in a sence I confess to be true as shall hereafter appear but according as it is understood among them it does utterly destroy this Universal Love and Charity for by this Church without which there is no Salvation they precisely understand the Church of Rome reckoning that whosoever are not of her Fellowship are not saved and this must needs necessarily follow upon their Principles seeing they make the Ceremonial Imbodying in this Church so necessarity to Salvation that they exclude from it the very Children begotten and brought forth by their own Members unless formally received by the Sprinkling or Baptisme of Water And Albeit they have a certain place more tolerable than Hell for these Unbaptized Infants yet hence is manifest how small their Charity is and how much it is confined to their particular Ceremonies and forms since if they think Children born among them for want of this Circumstance are excluded from Heaven Albeit never guilty of actual Transgression they must needs judge that such as both want it and also are guilty of many sins as they believe all men are who are come to age especially such as are not in the Church go without remedy to Hell Secondly All Dissenters and Seperatists from the Church Infidels Turks and Heriticks which in short are all that profess not fellowship and Communion with the Church of Rome and own her not as their Mother are in a most solemn manner yearly Excommunicated by the Pope and it were a most gross inconsistency to suppose that such as are so Cursed and Excommunicated and given over to the Devil by the Father and chief Bishop of the Church can in the judgment of the Members be saved especially while they think he is approved of God and led by an Infallible Spirit in his so Excommunicating them And lastly To suppose any such Universal Love or Charity as extending to Persons either without the compass of their own Society or dissenting and separating from them so as to reckon them in a capacity or possibility of Salvation were to destroy and overturn the very Bassis and Foundation of the Roman Church which stands in acknowledging the Superiority and Precedency of Peter and his Successors and in believing that Infallibility is annexed thereunto Now such as are not of the Roman Society cannot do this and those that do not thus are such to whom the Church of Rome can have no Charity but must look upon them as without the Church and consequently as uncapable of Salvation while there abiding If it be objected that the Church of Rome professeth Charity to the Greek Armenian and Ethiopian Churches Albeit vastly differing in many things from them I Answer that whatsoever Charity the Church of Rome either doth or ever hath professed to any of these shall be found to be always upon a supposed acknowledgment made by them to the See of Rome as the Mother-Church and Apostolick Seat from thence seeking the Confirmation and Authority of their Patriarches at least as the Romanists have sought to make the World believe how true is not my present business to enquire and all these differences of Ceremonies that are betwixt them are only approved by the Romanists as such which are indulged to them by the Pope who pretends out of a Fatherly care and compassion to yield these things unto them which if it be true is done by him rather to uphold the shew of his Authority and because distance of place and other incommodities hinders him from pressing more upon them since in places nearer hand and where fitter opportunities hath been presented he hath shewn himself very Zealous and Violent to bring all to a ready obedience to the least of his Commands as by many examples could be largely proved yet some are of the mind that all these Stories and pretended acknowledgments of Patriarchs to the Romish Sea are but the meer effects of the Policy of that Court to uphold their Grandure and nothing better but pretty Comedies to amuse the Vulgar and Credulous and augment their Reverence towards the Pope and his Clergy but what-ever be in this it is abundantly manifest that there can be nothing more contrary to this Universal Love and Charity than Romish Principles and that no man of that Religion without deserting his Principles can pretend to it As to the other Principle of Persecution how much it is Preached and practised in the Church of Rome will need no great Probation Those that are acquainted with or have heard of the Spanish Inquisition of the many Inhumain Butcheries and Massacres committed both in France and the Netherlands upon Men meerly for the matter of their Consciences the many Plots Consultations Combinings and Wars contrived fomented and carryed on by the Bishops of Rome themselves and the chief of their Clergy yielding large and voluntary Contributions thereto for to ruin and root out the Dissenters from the Romish Society after Luther appeared cannot but see how natural and consequential it is to Romish Principles so to do And thence also observe how contrary and opposite these things are to Universal Love and Charity and how much they act the Hypocrite when they pretend Christian Charity to any that differ from them And this manifestly appears in these two which none of them that has understanding to know or honesty to confess their Principles can deny I might also add a third which Albeit by some Popish Doctors in some Nations it be denyed yet is no less firmly believed and contended for by other eminent Persons among them especially Bellarmine and approved by the Pope himself to wit the Popes power to depose Princes in case of Heresie and give their Kingdoms to others allowing them upon that account to fight against them and accounting their so purchaseing of them lawful Small offences heretofore would have provoked to this Sentence as appeared in the example of Hildebrand and others
they judge that the light of Nature can carry them through to the end and accomplish the work or that they suppose the improving of it will procure any such Miraculous Revelation do not truly Preach or establish Universal Love because the same is not founded upon the true Love of God but is an exalting of the Nature and Reason of Man which is really defiled and proceeds from Self Since these Men for the most part do look upon Grace or the operation of the Spirit in the Saints as but a meer fancy so I say these men do not commend the true Love of God which is contrary to Self but only their own corrupt Nature and Reason and do therefore really oppose and slight the Universal Love of God in that they suppose Man capable of himself to save himself without Christ the alone Mediator in and by whom the Universal Love of God to all is only extended for whom ever God loves he loves them in Christ and no other ways and this Love of God in Christ cannot be truly received and entertained to the Salvation of the Soul but as the Old Man the first Man with his deeds which are altogether corrupted and can claim no share in Mans Salvation is put off and done away and as the New Man that proceeds from a Divine Spiritual Seed which is not of nor from Mans Nature comes to be born and brought forth in the soul. But much more do they contradict and declare themselves void of and Strangers to the Universal Love who hold the precise decree of Reprobation with the other principles depending thereupon in believing that the far greater number not only of Man-kind but even of those that profess the Name of Christ are necessarily damn'd and that by Vertue of God's absolute decree who from all Eternity ordained to Create them for that very end and appointed them to walk in such Wickedness for which he might Condemn them and punish them Eternally So that not only such as are ignorant of the History of Christ and of the Scriptures are certainly Damned but even most of those who have the benefit of this Knowledge are notwithstanding Damned also for not right using and applying the same which miserable Crime they necessarily fall in because that God Albeit He publickly and by his revealed Will doth invite them all to Salvation yet by a secret Will unknown to Men He doth with-hold from them all Power and Grace so to do Now I say whoever are of this mind as all Calvinists generally are cannot justly pretend to Universal Love for seeing they limit the Love of God to a small number making all the rest only objects of his Wrath and Indignation they must by consequence so limit their own Love also For God being the Fountain and Author of Love no man can extend true Christian Love beyond his yea the greatest and highest Love of any Man falls infinitely short of the Love of God even as far as a little drop of water falls short of the great Ocean Now none of these Men without manifestly contradicting their own Principles can pretend to have Love to any of those that are thus predestinated to Death for what sottishness were it and inconsistency to pretend Charity to such so as to suppose a possibility of Salvation for those whom God hath appointed to be Damned and to be Sons of Predition for to say we ought to have Charity to all because we know not who is appointed to Life or may be called to it saith nothing to solve this difficulty because even to such as may be supposed to be Elected I am not to have Charity so long as I see them in Wickedness and in any unconverted state for that were to walk against all true judgment and a putting light for darkness and darkness for light a calling good evil and evil good which is expresly forbidden Next this were to make true christian-Christian-Love as blind as the heathens supposed their god of their Lustful Love to be for I ought to love Men for some real good I see in them as feeling them to partake of and grow in the Love of God and not upon a meer perhaps God may do them good perhaps they may be called unless I believed there were something of God in all given them in order to call them Thirdly Seeing these Men do believe and affirm that God in this case appoints the end so he doth the means also they are not only obliged upon their Principle without all Charity to conclude as Damned and appointed to Damnation all such as have not the benefit of these means they think needful but even all such among themselves enjoying these means in whom appears not according to their notion of it true and convincing tokens of Conversion And as this Doctrin naturally leads from any thing like Universal Love So as I observed before it so leaveneth and defileth with an unlovely humour such as strictly and precisely hold it that for most part they are observed to be Men of peevish and persecuting spirits For these two Principles to wit that of there being no Salvation without the Church among Papists as precisely understanding it of the Church of Rome and this of absolute Reprobation among Protestants are the very root and spring from whence flows that Bloody and Antichristian tenet of Persecution for the case of Conscience and therefore both it and they are directly contrary and diametrically opposite to the true Catholick-Christian Love of God SECT V. Some Principles of Christianity proposed as they are held by a great body of People and whole gathered Churches in Brittain and Ireland which do very well agree with true Universal Love SUch as most commonly complain for the want of Universal Love do alledg this defect to proceed from the nature of a Sect unto which they think this want of Charity so peculiar that from thence they conclude that it is impossible either for any Sect universally to have this Universal Love or for any Member of a Sect so long as he stands to his Principles or is strictly bound up and tyed to a Sect to have this Universal Love and indeed this in a great measure is too true if the nature of a Sect be rightly understood and therefore to avoid mistakes it will be fit to enquire somewhat in this matter A Sect is commonly and universally taken in the worst part and alwayes so understood where it is mentioned in the Scripture as being either really understood of such as are justly so termed Act. 5. 17. Ch. 5. 5. Ch. 26. 5. or reproachfully cast upon such as ought not to have been so denominated Act. 24. 5. Ch. 28. 22. For a Sect is a company of People following the Opinions and Inventions of a particular Man or Men to which they adhere more and for which they are more Zealous than for the simple plain and necessary Doctrine of Christ. But such as are not a Sect nor of
by the Spirit of God only to themselves nor stint it to singular and extraordinary occasions but hold it forth as a common and Universal priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church Now this Doctrine greatly commends the Love of God and establisheth the Principle of Universal Love in that it shew how Universally God hath offered this blessed Priviledge to all in that He hath given his Light unto all upon the receiving of which this immediate guidance of the Spirit followeth as a necessary Concomitant for such as deny this immediate Revelation of God's Will by his Spirit in the hearts of his Children to be a common and Universal Priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church must needs suppose the knowledge of his Will necessary for them to be communicated to them by some other external means as by outward Writings and Precepts in so much that all such as are robbed of this Benefit are necessarily excluded from partaking of the Universal Love of God in order to the Salvation of their Souls Fourthly As the confining of the Gifts and Graces of God to certain external formes and Ceremonies are directly opposite and contrary to Universal Love such as the limiting of the work of the Ministry to outward Ordination and to a particular Tribe of Persons the making humane Parts and Arts more necessary thereto than the Grace of God so that the Grace of God is not judged sufficient to make a Man a Minister or to priviledge him to Preach without those other Artificial and Ceremonial things So I say on the other hand those People to the commending of the Universal Love of God to all but especially in the visible Church do affirm that as this Light and Grace of God is given to all in order to save them so whoever find himself truly called in his heart thereby and fitted to Minister to others may lawfully Preach and Declare to Others the good things that God has done for his soul and direct and instruct them as by the same Grace he is enabled how they may come to the experience and attainment of the same things albeit he have no outward Ordination or Call from Men be not initiated in their Ceremonies and Orders nor yet furnished with their Learning and School-education This greatly commends and holds forth the Love of God because it does not confine the Ministry unto such a narrow compass as by the several Sects it is done but supposeth that among those that had not the Scriptures and outward knowledge there might have been Ministers or Preachers of Righteousness as it was said of Noah that he was one who was ere the Scriptures were writ and Job was another besides Socrates amongst the Greeks Pythagoras amongst the Latines and several others that might be named among the Arabians Indians and Ethiopians and this Doctrine doth very much hold forth the Universal Love of God in the visible Church in that it excludeth none from Ministring his Gift as he hath it albeit a poor Trades-man or Mechanick Men as is done among the far greater parts of the Sects of Christendom by the presumptuous Usurpation of them Fifthly This People do greatly commend and hold forth the Universal Love of God to all in denying the use of outward carnal things which perish in the using such as Washing or Sprinkling with Water or eating of Bread and Wine to be the Seals of Gods Covenant with Man or to be the means or Channels by which Grace and Spiritual refreshment is Ministred to the soul for thereby they confine not Gods Love in the communicating of his Gifts and Graces to the application or not using of Elementary things which may be as truly as to the matter of them performed by the most wicked and greatest Hypocrite of the World as by the most Godly and sincere as do the greatest part of the Sects among Christians who make such a noise of the Sacraments and Ordinances and do so quarrel and jangle about their matter and manner of performance but do affirm and believe that increase of Grace and refreshment in and by the Life of Christ is conveyed unto the souls of all those that are Faithful as this Seed receives a place and grows up in their hearts Without these outward Ceremonies this cannot be performed but by such as are sincere and Godly indeed for such can only be truly Faithful and wait in that place where Grace and Refreshment Strength and Power Wisdom and Courage Patience and all other good gifts are received Sixthly These People do much establish Universal Love in that they affirm Persecution of Men for the matter of their Consciences to be Unchristian and Unlawful believing that as God can only inform and enlighten the Conscience so it is contrary to the Universal Love of God for Men to seek to force and restrain it as hath hitherto been sufficiently shewn Lastly They do very truly and observably establish Universal Love in that they Preach Love to Enemies and the necessity of bearing and suffering Injuries without Revenge holding it Unlawful for Christians to fight or use carnal Weapons even to resist such as oppose them and wrongfully prejudice them As this is most agreeable to the Doctrine and Practice of Christ so is it to the Universal Love of God whose long-suffering-Patience even towards the Wicked Stiff-necked and Rebellious after many provocations doth above all declare his Love in which they cannot pretend to be Followers of him who believe it Lawful for them to Revenge every Injury to give Blow for Blow and Knock for Knock and so know not what it is patiently to receive and suffer an Injury if they have any opportunity of revenging themselves and so consequently cannot have Universal Love which necessarily supposeth and includes Love to Enemies and he that will Beat Kill and every way he can destroy his Enemy does but foolishly contradict himself if he pretend to Love him and those that do not Preach and Practice Love to Enemies but that which is quite contrary cannot justly pretend either to the Doctrine or Practice of Universal Love Wherefore I desire the Reader may make Application hereof as to the several Sects of Christians and examine whose Principles and Practices do most agree herewith and seriously consider whether there be any intire united Body of Christians except these here mentioned who do unanimously hold forth so many Doctrines so directly establishing and agreeing to true Universal Love Writ in Aberdeen Prison the first Month 1677. THE END * Which external Agreement as well in Doctrines as in the Practices necessarily following thereupon became as one External bond tye of their outward and visible Fellowship obvious to the VVorld whereby they are distinguished even to the observation of Man from the several Sects professing the Name of Christ as the true Christians of old were by their Adherence to the Orthodox Principles from other Hereticks that laid claim likewise to be Christians Let not the Reader think strange that I assert this Principle and enter not upon the probation of it having done that largely else-where as in my Apology it not being my business here so to do but only to shew how such and suâ—h Principles do not agree with Universal Love as on the other hand when I make mention of other Principles I do not offer to refute them it being enough here to demonstrate that they are contrary to Universal Love