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
house is done by their Confederation and Covenant as the Cement by which the Christians were united and combined in one particular Church fitly framed together as the phrase is Ephes 2. But St. Peter is not here speaking to any one particular Church as such when he says ye are built up a spiritual house but to the strangers scattered abroad throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bethynia as appears Chap. 1.1 And no one surely can think that these Christians thus scattered and at this distance could become one particular Church by such a mutual Confederation as these hold necessary for the forming a particular Church And if not it must be by vertue of somewhat else than such a particular Church Covenant as these dissenting Brethren thought to find here by which Christians in so many distant parts of the world as aforesaid were built up one spiritual house And that doubtless must be the same thing by which all Christians in the world become one spiritual house of God for so they are For when Christ is said to be High Priest over the house of God Heb. 10.21 And to be faithful as a Sen over his own house Heb. 3.6 House in these places cannot signifie less than the Universal Christian Church who are called the houshold of faith And how do all these Christians become the house of God but by being joyned and devoted to him by the Baptismal Covenant and thereby to one another among whom he dwells and is Worshipped as in his holy Temple For by this they all become one body which is but another Metaphor under which to express the same thing Ephes 2.21 22. 1 Cor. 12.13 It is the same thing which makes persons Members of the Church Universal that qualifies them for particular Church Membership and that is the Baptismal Covenant And to make any other Covenant besides this so necessary to qualifie men for particular Church Membership and Communion as to make this of Gods own appointment insufficient for that end is a great impeachment of it and contains in it such consequences as the Abetters of it would be ashamed to countenance if they were aware of it For so long as it is asserted to be of divine appointment the formal cause of a particular Church and essential to its being and is made the Condition of Communion when God has no where appointed or required it so long it may be charged with these evils 1. With a teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men a piece of vain Worship condemned by our Saviour Mat. 15.9 which is the same thing with adding to Gods Word or a saying he saith when he hath not said it 2. It is in some sort and in part a making void the Command or Institution of God that men might establish their own Tradition For whereas the Baptismal Covenant qualifies men for particular Church Membership by bringing them into the Universal Church this Opinion denies the Baptismal Covenant to be sufficient to this end and sets up this other confederating in its room 3. It contains in it the Unchurching of all those Gospel Churches that are or ever have been in the world that have not been thus united by Church Covenanting For to say this is the Form of a particular Church or the formal cause of it is in effect to say that none are really Churches without it for Matter and Form are essential to the being of Churches as well as they are of other things Now to Unchurch all Churches that have not been thus confederate is a great thing indeed if we consider how few years it is since such Covenanting was heard of in any Christian Church in the world and by how inconsiderable a number of Congregations it has been used since it has been heard of These things considered it is matter of a very venturous and daring nature As for the other part of our Enquiry touching that which makes the difference between one particular Church and another we may conceive of it thus 1. It consists partly in that which does distinguish one Town from another or one great Neighbourhood from another and that is the bounds of Habitation And this distinction is as well convenient yea necessary for Ecclesiastical Order and peaceable Government as it is for Civil and does as well accommodate the ends of the one as of the other and without this a peaceable and orderly Government in the whole Church would be impracticable even as it would be in an Universal Empire And thus the Churches planted by the Apostles are differenced and distinguished one from another that at Rome from that at Corinth and that at Ephesus from that at Philippi yea that at Cenchrea from that at Corinth which yet bordered upon Corinth and so of the rest And indeed that difference which is made between Church and Church by Vicinity of Neighbourhood and Cohabitation does best answer the ends of particular Church Association such as is assembling together for Publick Worship and mutual assistances in all Christian offices of Brotherly love and friendship But this alone does not constitute Christians dwelling together in the same place a particular Christian Church tho by their being of the Church Universal they are as fit matter qualified for it But 2. That which does constitute such to be a particular Church as that signifies a company of Christians in Local Communion in Divine Worship consisting in the participation of Gospel Ordinances is the placing over them one or more Church-Officers to minister to them therein By which Officers as well as by the place where they dwell and where they assemble for Worship they are distinguished from other like Churches under the Conduct of other Church-Officers of the same kind For by such their joynt Local Communion in the Worship administred by their spiritual Guide or Pastor they are united with him and among themselves as one Worshipping Congregation by which Union also they are distinguished from other particular Churches as other particular Churches in like manner are from them Those of the Independent Church-way do indeed hold particular Churches as such to be Antecedent to any Church-Officers over them Which is the reason which Dr. Owen in his Inquiry concerning Churches does alledge to prove the Power of the Keys to be given to the Church And to prove particular Churches to be Antecedent to Church Officers he quotes Acts 14.23 where it is said of Paul and Barnabas And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church c. As for this proof of his Assertion I shall consider it by and by but shall first examine and try what is in the Assertion it self which I am inclined to think will be found full of mistake and that the contrary will be found true viz. that the Evangelical Ministry is and always has been Antecedent to the existence of Christian Churches and indeed an instrumental cause of their being And this is true not only of particular Churches but also of the Universal Church as Christian which yet in order of
the Parts of the Sacrifice should be laid upon the Wood. And besides all this there were Laws directing how the Priests should be Accoutred in their Ministration as of what and after what manner and fashion their Garments should be made and when put on and when put off And I might instance in many like things in other cases But now in the New Testament it is far otherwise There we are directed indeed in the Substance and Spiritual Nature of Divine Worship and what is essential to it But as for the External circumstances of Administration thereof we have very little of particular direction therein but the Church in those things is left for the most part to guide and determin her self and her own actions by general Rules such as Edification Peace and Order and such External signs of Reverence and Devotion as Natural Religion will direct men in And indeed there is so little of particular direction in these things as that there is no sort of Christians however distinguished but do more and are under a necessity of doing more in the External manner of Worship than there is particular direction for in Scripture There is a command for Baptising Disciples in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost but no particular direction what Prayer shall be made or what Instruction shall be given at the Administration of Baptism nor after what manner or form the Party Baptised shall by himself or Parents enter into Covenant with God The like may be said touching the Lords Supper there is no particular direction what Prayers shall be made or Instruction given or Exhortation made at the Administration of it nor after what manner the Elements are to be Consecrated otherwise than by reciting the words of Institution nor how in particular the Cup is to be Blessed nor what Gesture shall be used nor when and how often it shall be Received In these things Churches in several Nations may and do vary more or less and yet all is well done so long as they keep to general Rule which may be observed and kept to in these and other Ordinances of Worship under several different Circumstances and this none can deny And so far publick Prayer tho' we have particular Rules for the matter of it and to whom and in whose Name to be made and likewise for the Internal manner yet as to the External manner and circumstances save that of being made in a known Tongue as whether it shall be made in a set Form or without except the direction given for the use of the Lords Prayer or whether with the use of a Book or without it or whether kneeling or standing or how many shall be made at one Church Assembly these things are not particularly determined one way or other but are left to the prudence of men to use one or another according as the exigence of Circumstances shall require or their Governors order And if our Blessed Saviour had not intended to have allowed such a liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship we cannot in reason but think he would have been as particular in determining them as he has been in the matter and substance of Worship it self which yet we see he has not been For he could not but know it impossible for all Church Guides not immediately inspired tho' otherwise never so wise and good to pitch upon the self-same Circumstances of Administration where they have only general Rules to Guide them in their Choice And accordingly experience shews that among good men some have thought such and such Circumstances of Worship best to agree with general Rules when others as good as they have thought others to do so And tho' in such cases both cannot be best under the same Circumstances of things yet that which is not best in it self may be best to be used as Circumstances may fall out as when that which is not best cannot be refused without a greater inconvenience than the use of that rather than a better does amount to Our Blessed Saviour then having left his People at so much liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship as we see he has it argues sufficiently that the use of different Circumstantial modes of Worship is not at all displeasing unto him so long as they agree with the general Rule especially when the avoiding of a Breach and the preservation of Peace Vnity and good Will in the Church does influence the choice If there be then such a liberty left by Christ unto his Church of using different Circumstantial modes of Worship so long as they answer to the general Rule as none can with any colour of reason deny but there is then it cannot but be a great abuse of this liberty for Christians so to contend for one of these Circumstantial modes of Worship in opposition to the other as to separate and break Communion about it and thereby to involve the Church in unpeaceable strife and contention disaffection and feuds When it is but matter of liberty to use one or another and not matter of indispensable Duty to use one only and not the other it cannot but be an abuse of such a liberty to make use of it to a publick hurt to the Church The making use of that which is but only matter of liberty when to do so causeth a Brother to offend is severely condemned by St. Paul how much more then is the making use of such liberty to be blamed when it tends to a great and publick mischief in the Church St. Paul saith brethren ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5.13 That the using of this liberty we speak of has been an occasion for the flesh to show it self and play its part is sadly visible in that variance strife emulation and envying which has been caused thereby which are works of the flesh and such too that as St. Paul saith they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. I know it will be said that if it be an abuse of liberty to contend so much for the use of one External way and manner of Worship when another is Lawful as well as that and when to do so tends to strife and division and the destruction of Charity then it must be alike abuse of liberty to impose the use of another when such an imposition is attended with the same or like evil or inconvenience as we see the imposition of that prescribed by the Liturgy is To this I shall say but these two things 1. If we should suppose this to be so as they object yet the abuse of a liberty one way by the Authors of such an imposition does not at all priviledge the abuse of a liberty by others in the contrary extream 2. The imposition they speak of is no necessary Cause of division and separation
the Church by Baptism but upon Supposition that they had a true justifying saving faith before such admission And hereby faith in this question is not meant faith objectively but subjectively considered For it is agreed that a profession of a belief of the same truth doctrinally considered is necessary to visible Church-membership by Baptism in the adult which if believed as it ought to be will be sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and such is the Belief That Jesus Christ is the Son of God John 20.31 Acts 8.37 But the question is whether a less degree of belief of saving doctrine be not sufficient to visible Church-membership than is sufficient unto Justification and Salvation and whether it is not probable that the Apostles did admit some into the Church by Baptism upon the appearance and probable evidence of such a Faith And in order to the making a due judgement in this case it is necessary to know what this Faith is and wherein it differs from justifying and saving Faith The one for distinction sake we call a Faith initial or inchoate the other a Faith consummate or complete The initial Faith stands in such a lower degree of assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel concerning Christ his being the Son of God or Saviour of Sinners as has not yet thorow its power over the Will renewed the whole man so as to become Regenerate or a new creature But the Faith consummate or complete lies in such a firm assent of the mind unto the Truth of the Gospel as by which through frequent consideration of the things assented to the Will is changed and renewed in its inclinations motions and affections in reference both to Sin and Duty This difference between Faith and Faith is fairly set out in the Scriptures St. James chap. 2. treats of a Faith that will not avail to Justification and Salvation and of that also which will The one is the Faith which is alone or by it self verse 15. which has not yet purified the heart from earthly affections and fleshly lusts nor brought forth the fruit of the Spirit but is dead and remains barren But the other Faith which will avail to Justification is operative and vigorous producing internal and external acts of Christian Obedience by which it s made perfect ver 22. that is it is thereby made to attain its end in the Justification of the person that hath it This Faith worketh by Love and is thereby consummate or made perfect Gal. 5. For the Greek word according to learned Authors is in the middle voice and may be taken actively or passively or rather both it working by Love is thereby consummate or made perfect Dr. Hammond understands it in a passive sence and reads it thus Faith which is consummate by Love When St. Paul saith I could not write to you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ because of the envy strife and division they lived in 1 Cor. 3.1 his words seem to intimate that men might be babes in Christ by such a Faith as fell short of purifying the heart and working by love and which left them in a carnal state And when S. Peter saith Add to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1.5 he supposeth it very possible for some Christians to have a faith without the addition of those Christian virtues there enumerated and to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as it follows Vers 8 9. And we read of some who believed in Christ when they saw his Miracles to whom yet he would not commit himself Joh. 2.23 and of others who believed on him but would not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue and because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God John 12.42 And it s said of Magus that Simon himself also believed Act. 8.13 This may suffice to shew what that Faith is which falls short of that which is Justifying and wherein it differs from it I shall now improve this to shew how unlikely a thing it is that the Apostles should receive none into the Church by Baptism but such as they esteem'd to have a Justifying Faith 1. It is no ways probable that those who had lived in the darkness of Paganism should ordinarily if at all in their first beginning to believe believe unto Justification but that there was some space of time between their first believing and their believing unto Justification and if so then it cannot be probable that the Apostles who Baptised men presently and when they first began to believe would Baptize them under the notion of their having already believed unto Justification Now the reason why it is not probable that such men when they first began to believe did then believe unto Justification is this because men do not believe unto Justification untill their Faith hath wrought such a change in the whole man as by which they become Regenerate as I have shew'd for we cannot say God justifies unregenerate men while they are such Now such a change as this is not ordinarily if at all wrought in an instant and as soon as men begin to believe For the word of God by believing of which this change is wrought does not effect it physically but morally by causing such thoughts and considerations to rise in the mind as do by degrees alter and change the moral frame and constitution of the Soul For tho' the Spirit of God is the principal Agent and the word of God his Instrument in this work yet he causeth this change by working upon mens thoughts and by bringing them seriously to consider the things they believe whereunto they tend and how they were concern'd in them And mens discerning things of this nature and consequently their thoughts and considerations about them are brought on but by degrees as light comes in being confusedly and indistinctly discerned at first And the assent of the mind to the truth of things to be believed cannot exceed the minds discerning the credibility of the evidence upon which they are to be believed but so long as the one is weak the other will be weak also And so far as the assent of the mind is but weak so far its operation upon the will to alter and change it will be but weak likewise as the one is wrought gradually so is the other Men may be forced to believe whether they will or no thro' the strength of conviction as that signifies the assent of the mind when yet the will is not thereby prevailed upon to consent and yield to the dictates of the mind for some considerable time and sometimes never And let a mans faith or belief be what it will yet untill it prevails over the will which is the great wheel in the Soul that gives motion both to a mans affections and actions to alter and change it as to its prevailing bent and
and his Visible Members In which Covenant God on his part promiseth to be their God in Christ to pardon them and to confer eternal life on them upon condition they take him only for their God and Christ Jesus for their Lord and Saviour by believing in him and obeying him And men on their part Covenant to perform the Condition of Gods Covenant in taking him for their God and Christ for their Lord and Saviour by believing in him and obeying him Those words I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People contain the substance of the Covenant of Salvation both on Gods part and mans part Heb. 8.10 The mutual Covenant between God and his Israel of old is thus described Thou hast avouched this day the Lord to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and his judgments and to hearken to his Voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar People as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldest keep all his Commandments Deut. 26 17 18. This mutual Covenanting is the Copulative or Bond by which the conjunction is made between the Head and his Members Christ and his Body the Church For the nature of it is to Vnite the Parties Covenanting and to convey a mutual interest in each other I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith God Ezek. 16.8 And this tying or knitting together by Covenant is called the Bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 I might multiply places to shew that mens being joyned to the Lord in the common notion of Scripture is by Covenanting with him to be his People Thus Jer. 50.5 Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant never to be forgotten Also Isa 56.6 The Sons of the Stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him to love the name of the Lord and to be his Servants every one that taketh hold of my Covenant c. That this Union is thus made by Contract and Covenant between God and men we may the rather believe and the more easily conceive because the Holy Scripture delights to resemble and illustrate the Union between God and his People Christ and his Church by the Union that is between Men and their Wives which is an Union by mutual Contract and Covenanting the one to take the Woman for his Wife the other to take the man for her Husband with promise to deport themselves towards each other according to the nature of the mutual relation between them Ephes 5.28 Isa 54.5 Jer. 31.31 Hos 2.19 And those who were Strangers to the Covenants of promise were said to be without God and without Christ that is not related to him nor he to them as his Church and People Ephes 2.12 And here let it be observed and remembred once for all that the same thing which Unites men to Christ Unites them to those also who are already one with him by Covenant Union with the Head is the Reason of Union with all those Members which make the body of that head like as a man by becoming a Covenant Servant to a Master becomes a Member of that Family and a Fellow-servant to all the rest of the Servants of that Master QUERY IV. HOw and when is the Covenant between God and men entred into by which People are externally Vnited to Christ and visibly made Members of his Church This Covenanting is transacted when People are Baptized For Baptism is a Sacred Rite instituted by Christ by which the Covenant we speak of is solemnly entred into As for Almighty God he has prevented men on his part in Covenanting with them and stands openly declared in his Word to be a God to all those to pardon and save them whoever they be that shall become a People unto him by believing in him and serving him And not only so but he has also Authorized his Ministers to transact with men in his Name according to that declaration by bringing them into Covenant with him by Baptism and thereby to receive them into his Church For to that end are the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven delivered to them viz. to open the door and to let such into the Church and this they do as Stewards of God's House Now whenever men take hold on this Covenant of God and openly and publickly Covenant with him to become a People unto him and to perform the condition of his Covenant with them in order to the obtaining the benefits promised on his part then and by that means is their visible Relation to God to Christ and to his Church constituted and made And all this a being visibly Baptized in his Name doth imply For this I conceive is the meaning of their being Baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 Not only that they are Baptized in their name as that signifies its being done by their Authority but also into their name as that signifies their being brought into a special Relation to them as then God whom they Covenant to worship and serve And therefore from thenceforth they are called by that name into which they are Baptized like as a Wife is called by the name of her Husband from that very moment in which the Marriage-Covenant is compleated Isa 4.1 Hence it is that S. Paul saith That as many as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 For by that they put on his Name and put on their Relation to him For this Visible Membership we speak of is nothing else but a Visible Relation to Christ the Head of Christians and to all those that are visily related to him By Baptism they are planted into Christ Rom. 6. which is another metaphor by which our External Union with Christ by Baptism is signified And by it they are Baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 Those words of St. Peter shew likewise that there was a Covenanting with God in Baptism when he says The like figure whereunto Baptism doth now save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 I find that which is here translated The answer of a good Conscience is rendred by others the promise or stipulation of a good Conscience and by some the question or questioning of a good Conscience Now if the Greek will bear or countenance these several readings Answer Stipulation Questioning yet the matter may be thus well accommodated The Answer of a good Conscience here spoken of was an answer to somewhat proposed or put questionwise to be resolved or answered to by them who were to be Baptized and that the Answer to it was of the nature of a Promise Stipulation or Covenant in reference to God As when it was proposed or put questionwise to the party to be Baptized whether he did believe Jesus
God now as ever Circumcision did the Circumcised heretofore And it is now as much the benefit of Persons to be obliged in Covenant with God in their Infancy by Baptism as ever it was for others formerly by Circumcision Now as touching that Warrant or Authority which Christians have to oblige their Infant Children by Baptizing them to become parties in Gods Covenant and to perform the terms and condition of it on their part as they grow up into a capacity of being active therein I shall compare what of this kind Christians have with what Abraham and his Seed and others had for their obliging their Children to be a People unto God by Circumcising them Abraham and his Seed had an express command for it but the Gentiles which were not of Abrahams natural Seed had only a favourable allowance and grant that in case any of them had a mind to joyn themselves to the Jewish Church and to have communion with them in the way of worship prescribed them Exod. 12 48. that then in order to this attainment the Father or Man himself was to be Circumcised and all his Males But otherwise as Circumcision was not enjoyned the Gentiles so we do not find that any Prophet or other were sent abroad among them to draw them into the Jewish Church only we read indeed that the Pharisees compassed Sea and Land to make one Proselyte but its probable it was but from among other Jews to make him of their Sect to strengthen their party But when the Visible Church was to become Christian our Saviour commissionated his Apostles to go into all the World and to disciple all Nations and Baptize them Now if this commissioning extended to the Baptizing the little Children of Christian Parents as well as the Christian Parents themselves then here is Warrant and Authority enough for such Parents to engage their Children by Baptizing them in Covenant with God and to oblige them to perform the terms of it when they shall be capable of endeavouring to do so And that this Commission of our Saviour did extend to the Authorizing the Apostles to Baptize such little Children I have endeavoured to make out in another discourse which I shall not here repeat but refer the Reader to it Address from p. 29. to p. 80. The substance of what is there said is reducible to these two heads 1. To shew what reason the Apostles had to understand the words of their Commission to Baptize in this Latitude 2. What reason we have to believe that they did understand the words of their Commission in this extensive sense and that they did practice accordingly Unto what I have said there I shall here add one very considerable reason to induce us to believe that the Apostles did Baptize the little Children of Christians taken from the unanimous agreement of all Christians in all parts of the World in the practice of Baptizing Infants in the purer times of the Church and before the defection into Popery Now there are some things which render it morally impossible that there should be such an unanimous agreement in such a practice unless they had it from the Apostles or others sent by them in their first planting of Christianity in those places The Apostles went into all the World to Preach the Gospel and were our Saviours Witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth according to his Commission Their sound went into all the Earth Rom. 10. Col. 1.6.23 and their words unto the ends of the World The Gospel was Preached to every Creature under Heaven as St. Paul saith There are some things which make it morally impossible that there should be such an universal agreement as aforesaid in all places upon any other account or for any other reason than their first receiving this practice of Baptizing Infants from the Apostles in their first planting of Christianity there As 1. The vast distance of one place from another where the Christians lived made it morally impossible they should come into this usage by combination or imitation of one another 2. The diversity of their Languages made it impossible that this sameness of practice should grow out of any mutual correspondence or intelligence held by them 3. If these things had not made it impossible and if it could be supposed that the Christians in all parts notwithstanding their distance of place and diversity of Language might have held such correspondence as by agreement to have introduced such a practice as they had not from the Apostles but had been imposed upon them at first by some Innovators yet it is morally impossible it should steal into all Churches and every where without some known opposition from some good men or other if it had not been Apostolical We cannot with any reason think that all Christians both in office and out of office in the Church would have suffered such an Innovation as this if it had been an Innovation without such considerable opposition as would have been taken notice of by some Author or other who lived in or near such time in which it had been first brought into the Church Since then no man is able to assign the beginning of this practice short of the Apostles times And since the whole world of Christians were agreed in it in the purest times of the Church for ought appears to the contrary And since all Christians how much soever they have differed in other things have yet all along agreed in this as much as they have in the observation of the Lords day a very few only excepted and those chiefly or rather only as have appeared since Luthers days or the beginning of the Reformation And since the Apostles practice recorded in Scripture of their Baptizing whole Housholds gives us ground to believe they practised the same in all places where they have been and that their doing so was the reason and ground of the universal practice of Baptizing Infants in all Churches first planted by them and in those succeeding them I say all these things considered there remains little reason for any impartial man to doubt but that the Apostles did practise Infant Baptism in pursuance of their Commission QUERY VI. WHether in the Baptizing of Children that method of proceeding be not most proper by which the Children are most directly made to enter into Covenant with God by their Parents The reason of this Query arises out of the matters discussed in the two former For if that Union and Relation between God and men by which they become Members of his Visible Church is made by entering into Covenant with him to be his People as he with them to be their God And if little Children are obliged in Covenant with God by what their Parents do in causing them to be Baptized with intent thereby so to oblige them then I propose it to be considered whether it will not thence follow that it is most proper to demand of the Parents
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
as they owned him only for their God according to their Covenant with him tho otherwise they had great guilt upon them This still confirms what was said before that tho the immoralities of this People for the generality of them were such in other respects as that all that they had done in Covenanting and in a partial performance of Covenant could not give them the reputation of being Members of the Invisible Church yet their Covenant with God and partial performances of it in worshipping him only with a worship of his own appointment did denominate them in an external and visible respect to be his People and so his as the rest of the world were not By the way then if those of this Church under the Old Testament were stiled Saints a holy People and the like upon other accounts and in other respects than their being really and inherently holy as I have shewed they were by inspired men then it cannot be concluded but that the People of the Churches in the New Testament were so likewise when the Apostles in their Epistles to them stiled them Saints the Sanctified in Christ Jesus and the like For the same Epithetes and Appellations signifie but the same thing in the Old Testament as in the New In both they signifie a People separated from the Pagan unbelieving world unto God among whom some were more so and some less some by external Covenant and profession and some by that and much more to wit by the Renovation of the whole inner man I the rather note this as I pass along because those of the Congregational way lay so great a stress as they do upon St. Pauls stiling the Churches to whom he wrote Saints for the proving as they would have it that none but such as are savingly sanctified are Church-matter or to be admitted as Church-Members except when it is done through mistake of them that admit them Having taken a brief survey how things stand related touching Visible Church-Membership under the Old Testament I shall now proceed to enquire how matters stand declared touching the same under the New And our inquiry must be whether persons adult are by no other means Visible Church-Members unless they are reputatively Members of the Church as Invisible Or whether they do not become truly Members of the Visible Church in Scripture account by their voluntary Covenanting by Baptism with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost tho it should be supposed that there is not enough in them to denominate them Members of the Church as Invisible The question is not whether it does not become those who admit men into the Church by Baptism and the Baptismal Covenant to think the best of them who are so admitted and to hope they do it with a sincere mind when they therein give up themselves to God But whether their due admission thereto does depend upon such a judgment in those that admit them Or whether such Persons may be refused and not suffered to Covenant with God in Baptism and thereby to enter into the Church tho they offer themselves thereto and desire it in case those whose office and place it is to admit men thereto should be unsatisfied touching the truth of their saving Conversion or Regeneration Or thus the question is not whether it be not the duty of every man that enters into Covenant with God in Baptism to do it with a sincere mind and with all his heart But whether this be required by way of condition without which it is neither lawful for the person himself to Covenant with God nor for others to suffer him to do it if they suspect he will do it with such a frame of mind as is short of Regeneration Nor is the question whether a man might not be refused admission into the Church in case there were cause to suspect him to have an evil design in desiring it to betray the Christians to their Enemies upon account of which suspicion its probable the Disciples refused Saul's joyning with them after his Conversion tho he desired it until they had received better satisfaction concerning him But the question is whether such as have only some general and in distinct belief that Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of the world by his death and that the way of Christianity is the way of Salvation and do desire admission into the Christian Church to be further instructed in that way and in order thereto are willing to enter into Covenant with God and to be Baptized I say the question is whether such may be suffered to Covenant with God and enter into the Church by Baptism supposing them as yet to have no thorow saving work of Conversion wrought in them but only so much as may be hoped is preparatory and dispository thereto but yet have something tho not all which is necessary to it and whose profession is serious and sincere so far as it goes as that is opposed to dissembling knowingly And to prove that they may and that the lawfulness of such Covenanting by Baptism does not depend upon their being savingly Regenerate and that our Saviour himself owns Unregenerate men received into the Visible Church by such Covenanting in Baptism to be as well Members of it as the Regenerate I shall offer several things 1. And I shall lay down this first as a foundation to build upon in this proof viz. That it is not a thing unlawful in it self for some such as are not of the Church as Invisible by regenerating Grace to enter into Covenant with God to be his People nor is such a qualification enjoyned as a necessary condition of doing so When all the Males at Age in Abrahams House were commanded to enter into Covenant with God by Circumcision And when his Seed after him were required to cause all the Male-strangers bought with their money to do the like And when the Proselytes from among the Gentiles were required to Circumcise themselves and all their Males and thereby to enter into Covenant with God I say in all this there was no such thing as their being Circumcised in heart enjoyned as a condition of their so entring into Covenant by Circumcision The Lord also commanded Joshua to Circumcise all the Hebrew Males that in the space of forty years had been born in the Wilderness which was an entering them into Covenant with God and this without any condition of such qualification as would have made them of the Church as Invisible Nay Almighty God at another time commanded all Israel Men Women and Children and the Strangers in their Camp to enter into Covenant with him and into his Oath Deut. 29.10 11 12. This command was absolute and peremptory also and without condition The Lord did not in this nor in any of the other instances require men to enter into Covenant with him only upon this condition that they did already truly fear him and sincerely love him or otherwise to forbear No
of their being already qualified with the other It is true men by Baptism it self are brought into a new state externally they are brought into a new relation to God to Christ and to the Church his body and to new enjoyments also in the Church And it is to be noted our Saviour calls Baptism a being born of Water as a birth distinct from that of being born of the Spirit Our Saviour in that discourse of his with Nicodemus about Baptism and being born again seems to allude to the Jews custom of receiving Proselytes by Baptism as well as by Circumcision who did reckon they were thereby born again as it were and brought into a new state of life as is well known by the tenour of the writings of the Jewish Doctors And altho by being born of Water men may be said to be born of the Spirit in one sence for they are Baptized into the Name of the Holy Ghost as well as into the Name of the Father and the Son and by one spirit we are all Baptized into one body as the Apostle faith 1 Cor. 12.13 Yet in a higher and more emphatical sence all that are born of the Spirit are not so born when they are Baptized but most of them afterwards as the experience of the Church doth abundantly manifest Again another Scripture is Act. 2.38 Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins Now it may be some will argue hence that since Baptism is enjoyned in order to the obtaining of remission of sins and since Baptism alone without Repentance here required with it will not avail for the obtaining such remission that therefore a being Baptized for the remission of sins always supposes Repentance in him that is Baptized Answer The most that can be inferred hence is that Baptism as well as Repentance and Repentance as well as Baptism are directed to and enjoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sins but not that such Repentance as is available to this end is enjoyned as the condition of being Baptized and by that to be received into the Church Tho I deny not but that in the adult a profession of sorrow for sin past and a promise of amendment for time to come was always required before Baptism but sorrow for sin alone avails not to the obtaining of remission of sin and what the promise of amendment for the future would prove was uncertain to those who received Persons into the Church by Baptism The Apostles we may well suppose received such raw Disciples to Baptism as those were to whom this counsel was here given upon like terms that John the Baptist received the multitudes that flock'd to him for Baptism and they were Baptized confessing their sins They confessed themselves such sinners as needed amendment and professed sorrow for what was past and by receiving Baptism engaged themselves to amend for time to come and accordingly he is said to Baptize them unto Repentance Mat. 3.11 But very many of them fell short afterwards of performing their engagement John 5.35 Baptism and Repentance as saving are not inseparable in point of time in reference to the obtaining Remission of sin If a man do effectually repent tho it be not till long after he is Baptized yet his Baptism and Repentance will be effectual for the obtaining Remission of sins And if so then such Repentance as is saving is not of necessity before Baptism to the obtaining of Remission of sins But the truth is if we will infer any thing from the Text under consideration in reference to our present enquiry it may be that which is so far from proving mens Visible Church-Membership to depend upon the credibility and reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible as that it will much rather prove the direct contrary viz. That the credibility of mens being of the Church as Invisible depends upon their being of the Church as Visible For it tends to prove that men living under the Gospel and others I meddle not with in this matter cannot approve themselves to be Members of the Invisible Church until they are first made Members of the Visible by Baptism For we see men are as well to be Baptized for the Remission of sin as to repent to obtain it As the promise of being saved is elsewhere made unto a being Baptized as well as it is to believing He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 And if so then a man cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state that through his own default is not Baptized by which he should be made of the Visible Church and if he cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state without this then he cannot be duly reputed to be in the Invisible Church-state because there are none in that Church-state but what are pardoned If any should alledge the words of St. Paul If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 and infer that none are by Baptism or otherwise in Christ but what are new Creatures the answer to them is this If by any mans being in Christ be understood of such a being in him as is saving then he is indeed a new Creature and truly Regenerate But then that is such a being in Christ as is not visible to men and therefore does not belong to our present inquiry But if you read the words according to the Margent If any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature then this Text does not infer that if men be in Christ they are new Creatures but that they ought to be so according to their Covenant-ingagement when they were planted into him by Baptism Act. 2.37 It is likewise urged to prove that a true saving faith such as makes men Members of the Church as Invisible is requied as necessary to qualifie them for Baptism and Visible Church-Membership For when the Eunuch said to Philip Here is Water what doth hinder me to be Baptized Philip said unto him If thou believest with all thine heart thou maiest And he answered and said I believe that Christ is the Son of God Here Philip seems to make a believing with all the heart to be the condition of admitting the Eunuch to Baptism and what less can a believing with all the heart be than a true saving faith To which I answer thus That the Apostles and Evangelists such as Philip was did indeed suppose and expect a faith in Christ in all adult Persons whom they Baptized into him is not to be doubted Nor is is it to be doubted but that they press'd and persuaded them to be very hearty and serious in their undertaking the Christian profession when they Baptized them into it and so did Philip here But yet we see that for all that Philip Baptized this Eunuch upon his bare professing that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God tho he did not say that
me to fall somewhat hard upon such as separate from the publick Worship of God established in such Nations by National Authority in a way of National Reformation and on those more especially who separate from that Worship for that very reason because enjoyned by National Authority It likewise falls hard upon them also who disesteem or less esteem a National Ministry because it is National or made such according to a National establishment These seem to be of one mind and Almighty God of another when he esteems Nations to be joyned to him and to be his People by that for which they separate Their pretence that in the Apostles times and for three hundred years after the Affairs of the Church were carried on only in a free Congregational way in greater or lesser voluntary Associations and therefore they ought to be so now seems very inconsiderable Because what was done in that kind then was done by way of necessity because they had not opportunity of a better Not but that they long'd for and pray'd for such Kings as would use their Authority and Power for the propagation and furtherance of the Christian Religion as well as for the defence of it and the Professors of it And they esteemed it no small favour from God when at last they obtained it in Constantine a Christian Cesar who used that Power of his for the establishing the Christian Religion and Worship of the only true God and for the ordering and regulating many things relating to the more commodious and orderly carrying on the ministration of the Gospel and the Worship of God And therefore the people of God then existent in the Empire are brought in by the Spirit of Prophesie expressing themselves thus upon that occasion Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ as I shew'd before Rev. 12.10 2. It may be justly questioned whether it be worth the while for men to dispute against the being of a National Church in New Testament times considering that in the New Testament Nations reformed from Paganism and Popery are stiled Gods Kingdoms And considering likewise that the Scripture stiles the same people and in the same respect sometimes the Kingdom of God and sometimes his Church And therefore it should seem no more improper to call a Christian Nation a Church of God than it is to call it a Kingdom of God which yet the Scripture stiles so 3. It may be observed yet farther That the Kingdoms or Nations which have been reformed from Popery were before such reformation was made but Kingdoms of this world notwithstanding much of what pertains to the Christian Religion was then owned and professed in them The Spirit of God by whom the book of Revelations was indited we see stiles them so in their unreformed state The Kingdoms of this world are become c. Yet they then in their unreformed state Worshipped the true God and his Son Christ Jesus They owned the holy Scriptures for the Word of God and used the same Creeds which the Reformed Churches themselves use and yet we see they are in that state stiled by the Spirit of God but Kingdoms of this world when as under their reformed state they are said to be the Kingdoms of God and of his Christ Like as Almighty God for the like reason esteemed the Nation of the Jews who had been his own Church and People but as Ethiopians unto him Amos 9.7 and told them by another Prophet Ye are not my people and I will not be your God Hos 1.10 For tho they had his Ordinances among them and boasted of their Temple-Worship crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these yet at the same time they burnt Incense unto Baal and walked after other Gods Jer. 7. they divided their Worship between the true God and Baal and did swear by the Lord and by Malcham Zeph. 1.5 And upon this account it was that God said of them by his Prophet they are unto me as a speckled bird of a Religion of several colours Jer. 12.9 For this spiritual Whoredom especially it was that Almighty God who had once espoused that people to himself gave them a Bill of Divorce at last brake up house turned them out of doors and sent them out of his Land untill they should repent and reform And if we compare these things with the spiritual whoredom wherewith Mystical Babilon is charged and for which with other heinous crimes she is threatned in this Book of Revelations it will not be at all hard to conceive why Nations while Popish are stiled and esteemed but Kingdoms of this world And this if there were no other is argument enough to prevail with all such as would not be disowned by God to be none or to become none of their Communion who are thus disowned by him And thus we have seen how both from the light and law of Nature the reason of the thing and from divine Revelation also the great expediency at least of the publick exercise of Gods Worship in the way of National establishment is warranted and approved of This then may be a caution to men who live in any such reformed Nation as we have discoursed of and as ours is to take heed of acting in matters Ecclesiastical or pertaining to Church Communion as if they lived in a Popish or Pagan Nation by disowning and by separating from the National way of Worship lest thereby they discountenance and disparage what God approves of and disown that for which God owns such a Nation for his Kingdom It is true the Primitive Christians who lived in Pagan Countries and those since which have lived in Popish have been necessitated in duty to be separate in their Christian Communion from their National Worship as much as they were obliged not to be Idolaters But there is a great difference between false Worship and defects in that which is true The best Church Constitution and the best Church Administration which have men not divinely inspired for the ordering of them are liable to humane defects And if humane defects even in Gods Worship were not to be endured for the sake of Communion in the Worship it self there could no such thing as Church Communion be enjoyed among Christians because we cannot say there is any in this imperfect state in which we are without defects But then the question will be what defects are to be indured in Gods Worship rather than Communion in it should be forsaken and what are intolerable and for the sake of which Communion in the Worship is to be declined And here it seems to me impossible warrantably to determine any defects intolerable which do not alter the nature of the Worship and make it become false Worship that do not destroy or defeat the ends for which true Worship serves Who is he that will undertake to determine for what defects which
case much rather than those which tend to aggravate a matter Charity thinketh not evil is not easily provoked beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things and by these means charitable men have hold of others and keep them from flying out unless of very bad minds and ill tempers The truth is Charity is that to Catholick Communion which the Soul is to the natural body the life and spirit of it that preserves it in a healthful condition but so far as Charity is wanting in Communion so far that Communion is sickly and languishing and void of its true spirit and life 2. The other Bond by which Christians are bound up together in one Catholick Communion is the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace So that we see Peace is the bond by which the Unity of the Spirit is kept Now this Vnity of the Spirit is that oneness of mind and oneness of practice which holy men inspired by the Spirit have taught all Christians to observe in reference to Faith Worship and Love that is that they should be all of one and the same Faith use the same Worship and have the same love to one another which are the same things in which the Communion of the Catholick Church from the beginning of it did consist as I have already shewed When St. Paul beseecheth the Christians in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that they would all speak the same thing and that there might be no divisions among them but that they would be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment he doth not say in reference to what 1 Cor. 1.10 But it is to be supposed that they readily understood his Exhortation to refer to these great Articles of Christianity The like we have in Phil. 2.1 2. save that love is there particularly instanced in If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind The Unity of the Spirit then is the Unity of Christians in those things in which they have Communion or their Unity in Communion and this is we see to be kept or preserved by the bond of peace Now this peace consisteth chiefly in Christians avoiding differences among themselves as much as in them lies But if differences do arise then this peace consisteth in such gentleness moderation and calmness of behaviour in Christians one towards another as by reason whereof their Christian Converse is not interrupted nor their Communion disturbed their differences notwithstanding It is true indeed in this imperfect state it cannot be but that there will be difference of opinion among Christians about lesser things not essential to Communion especially concerning such circumstantial matters as are left undetermined in Scripture except only by general rule For considering that more Christians are weake than those that are strong and less spiritual both in point of knowledge and in the graces of Humility Meekness and Charity and more unmortified in self-will and self-conceit it cannot be otherwise but that there will be differences among Christians But yet if the greater the wiser and the better sort of Christians do not slight and despise those that differ from them through weakness of judgment or prejudice of education nor violently oppose them but patiently bear with them and wisely insinuate to them by degrees those things which may help them and by condescension become all things to them for their good so far as innocently they can peace may very well be preserved among them which otherwise differ in many things Not but that offences will come when the best men have done the best they can to prevent it for this will fall out so long as there are those among Christians whose Lusts and Passions are unmortified But I am shewing how the Unity of the Spirit may be kept in the bond of peace among them that differ in mind and opinion about circumstantial matters and that they may converse very lovingly together where unmortified Lusts and Passions do not prevail notwithstanding such difference The wise and good carriage of good men towards those that differ will have a great influence upon them if not presently to reconcile them in opinion yet to charm them into a peaceable demeanour if they be not men of ill temper God himself makes allowances unto men that differ conscienciously about lesser things and not out of affectation though they err in judgment so long as their error proceeds not from a corrupt will or pride of mind Rom. 14. and good men so far as they are partakers of a divine nature will do so too And such differences are very consistent with Catholick Communion in peace and love So that it is not so much mens differing in opinion about circumstantial matters in Religion that breaks Peace destroys Charity and disturbs the Communion of the Church but mens unruly Lusts and Passions of pride envy and ill will which take the advantage thence to vent themselves against one another in irregular practices From whence come wars and brawlings among you Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Jam. 4.1 Tho Christians then may differ in opinion in some lesser things yet so long as they agree in the substance of Faith and Worship and so long as they manage themselves in their differences so as that peace is not broken by any irregular or troublesome behaviour their Communion in Faith Worship and Fellowship or mutual love cannot suffer much by such differences For Peace and Charity support each other and propagate each other And the Apostle does very well therefore couple them together in his Exhortation Col. 3.14 15. Above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which ye are called in one body The Peace here meant to which Christians are called by being united in one body is peaceable living one with another 3. Besides the bond of Charity and the bond of Peace there is a third thing very necessary to the Unity and peaceable Communion in the Church and that is prudent and moderate Government The peace and purity of the Church are two great ends of the Government in it both which conduce very much to the comfortable Communion of the Church and to the Christians Unanimity in it In reference to which Moderation is very necessary in respect of the external manner and circumstances of Worship as namely that the terms of Communion therein be made as easie as will well consist with publick edification and comely order For when they are so men will have no tolerable pretense upon account of conscience to refuse Communion with the Church therein But otherwise some
or their doing more to accomplish it than the Law or Government under which they are allows them For otherwise it is not seditious I conceive for men to endeavour to get any thing amiss in the Government to be altered in a regular way that is in such a way as the Government or publick Constitution allows I need not say how much the two bonds the one of Peace the other of Charity is broken by this sort of Division which is accompanied either with Faction or Sedition nor how great the Schism is that is made thereby But this is certain that a Division of this kind cannot be without much envying and strife and where these are there is confusion and every evil work as St. James hath told us Chap. 3.16 4. Another sort of division in the Church is that which is made by an unjust Separation of one part of the Catholick Church from another in the business of their Communion in their solemn Worship And this is a division of a very high nature indeed especially when it is accompanied with the third sort of Division before insisted on For if such a Division be unjustly made it is point blank contrary to the Unity of the Spirit that is contrary to the Unity of Communion among Christians which was taught and practised by men inspired by the Spirit in reference both to solemn Worship and Christian Fellowship as has been formerly explained By such a Division the Churches peace is broken with a high hand great offence being thereby taken at others and cause of offence given to them and a wide gap opened for debate strife contention and confusion to enter in to a dreadful destruction of Charity the spirit and life of Christianity without which Faith it self is dead and all other religious performances little available It concerns us greatly therefore and some men more especially very diligently to inquire how far the Divisions and Separations that do abound in our days and in this Nation are unjustly or justly made To do which I do not know a more compendious way than to enquire into the nature of our National Constitution about Gods publick Worship and the power of giving being to it and how far we are obliged to observe it That such National Constitutions as have been made in several Nations for reformation from Popery and for the establishing of the Reformed Religion and Worship in the room of it since the beginning of the Reformation has been so far approved of by God as that he does reckon and esteem those Nations his Kingdoms upon that account I have found as I conceive in our twelfth Inquiry Which with what else is there produced and argued for the usefulness of such National Constitutions I take to be ground sufficient to authorize a National authority in such an undertaking Now when ever the forming of such National Constitution is undertaken by them to whom it does belong they must needs find that tho the Essentials and substance of all divine Worship is expresly and particularly set down in Scripture yet there are several Circumstances and Accidents of Worship which pertain to the external administration of the substance which are not otherwise determined in Scripture than by general Rules as that Edification Order and Decency be always observed in the choice of such things as are not particularly determined and set down in Scripture Such are those I instanced in in another of our Inquiries concerning Prayer tho all the substantial parts of it are determined in Scripture yet we are no where limited to pray with a set Form nor without one to use or not to use Book-prayer to kneel or to stand in Praying nor directed whether in the Publick Worship there shall be several distinct and short Prayers used for several things or whether all Prayer matter fit for a publick Assembly shall be comprised in one or more longer Prayers And the like may be said touching several external Circumstances that are to be used in all other parts of Publick Worship This being the case it will necessarily fall under the consideration of those who are imployed in the forming a publick Constitution for Worship which of these will tend most to the Peace Unity and Edisication of the Church and to Decency and Order whether to leave all aside termined Circumstances of Worship to every ones choice who are to administer the holy things or in these things to chuse for them and to determine by an Ecclesiastical Constitution what shall be observed Suppose we then that upon serious consideration and consultation they come to be fully persuaded in their own minds that to leave all both Ministers and People to their own choice in such undetermined Circumstances in Gods Publick Worship would tend to great Division Disorder and Confusion as it did in the late times of general Liberty and that then we should have one opposing another in their different ways and making of Parties one against another to endless branglements and to the eating out the heart and life of true Religion And suppose also that upon such considerations as these they come to a resolution to determine all undetermined Circumstances of Publick Worship by the use of a Liturgy except only what is to be performed in the Pulpit as that which tends most in their Judgment to Peace Unity Edification Order and Decency And when they have gone thus far in general they will necessarily be led to proceed in the next place to the choice of particular Circumstances of administration of the several parts of Publick Worship In which it is to be presumed they govern themselves according to the best of their understanding by those general Rules which direct all things to be done for Edification Order and Decency And when they have done so and brought things to the best issue they could yet considering that all men and the best of men are fallible it is not unlikely but that they may be mistaken in some things and that such and such a Circumstance or Mode of administration of Worship would have better and more fully agreed with the general Rules than those they have made choice of But yet if their failings and and mistakes therein do not extend to the corrupting of Gods Worship in the Essence or substance of it but only to the ordering of some less useful Circumstances to be observed in the external manner of performance of that Worship there will be no just cause of separating from Communion in it upon that account For those who separate from Communion in the Worship which is every Lords day performed in our Parochial Assemblies according to our Liturgy are obliged to prove one of these two things against it if they would justifie their separation from it Either first that the Worship is corrupt in the Essence or substance of it or secondly that the faults or defects in the External manner of performance of it are such as do fall short of and
but Quakers There are others who frame to themselves other reasons of separation from Parochial Communion in Worship besides its being performed by the Liturgy as namely because those Congregations are not as they pretend constituted of visible Saints nor by a Church Covenant Who these are is well known for whose sakes several of my former Inquiries are made in which there are such things produced from the holy Scriptures as may I suppose be sufficient to satisfie their reason if not their prejudice touching their mistake in these opinions As for their exceptions against the Government of the Church by Bishops as Diocesan how they would make Communion with the particular Congregations under their Jurisdiction unlawful upon that account I understand not unless they think the Ministers of those Congregations by whom the Ordinances are administred to be no true Ministers because Episcopally ordained and not by Presbyters And if this should be their scruple they may easily receive satisfaction by considering that Diocesan Bishops were Presbyters before they were Bishops and therefore must needs remain so after For they were not devested of any Ministerial power or authority by being made Bishops but only invested with a superaddition of authority and power they had not before So that they who are ordained by them are ordained by a Presbyterial authority and more And with this the old Nonconformists satisfied themselves touching the validity of their Ministerial authority received by Ordination from the Bishops that then were Some again dislike Parochial Communion because the Civil Power is so much concerned as it is in Ecclesiastical affairs relating to it one way or other and for that all such things are not left wholly to the ordering of Ecclesiastical Rulers as they were in the Apostles times and long after But there is not the same reason why they should be so left now as there was why they were so then The reason why they were wholly left then to the ordering of an Ecclesiastical Power was because there was no Civil Powers as Christian then in being so that they could not promote Christianity better any other way But it is not so now for it is shewed in our last former Inquiry but one that the affairs of the Gospel and the Salvation of men in a Christian Kingdom or State may better be provided for and promoted by a national Constitution than they can be without it And that therefore things of this nature are not to be ordered as if we were still in a Pagan Kingdom when we are not For where the reason of things is altered it is but reasonable and fit that there should be a sutable alteration in the things themselves Thus the gesture of standing with Loyns girt and a Staff in the hand appointed to be used in eating the Passover at the first Institution of it for that it was then to be eaten in haste was afterwards altered to another gesture by the Church when that Circumstance of eating in haste ceased and our Saviour himself did eat it in that posture to which the Church had changed it which is a consideration of very great weight in reference to this and some other cases And the Obligation of the Ceremonial Law ceased upon the same ground when the substance was come which had been prefigured by Ceremonial Rites And the like might be observed touching the discontinuance and disuse of anointing the sick washing Disciples feet and the kiss of Charity and some other things which were obliging until the reason of the Obligation ceased But altho the Civil Power doth concern it self by a National Constitution to order and direct in things appertaining to the Church for the promoting of Religion and the Salvation of men yet it does not this without the advice and assistance of those that are Officers and bear rule in the Church And when the Civil Powers have gone as far as they think fit in ordering and directing by Ecclesiastical advice and assistance yet they do not act any thing themselves peculiar to the Ministry of the Church but leave all such things wholly to them who are invested with Ministerial authority reserving only to themselves a power os restraining such men from an undue exercise of their Office tending to publick disturbance And thus I have endeavoured to satisfie the Dissenters that there is no sufficient reason or cause for them to separate from the Publick Worship of our Parochial Assembles and that their pretences for their doing so when narrowly looked into are found to have nothing of substance in them sufficient to bear them out in it And if I am not mistaken in my Allegations and reasonings I cannot discern how their separation can possibly be defended from being an unlawful Schism And if it be I am sure they have upon many accounts great reason to desist from engaging farther in it QUERY XV. SVpposing things touching visible Church-Membership and Communion to be as they have been represented in our former Inquiries yet how do they tend to lessen our Church Divisions The answer to which is That if the matters of our Inquiry be as they have been represented then they tend to lessen our Church-divisions by removing and taking away the very foundation on which they and our Church-separations are in great part at least built For I do not know any one of the different Parties among the Protestant Dissenters except those called Presbyterian who do not found their separation from our Parish Churches at least principally upon this supposition that they are not constituted according to the order of the Gospel And why not according to the Order of the Gospel but because as they say they are not constituted ol Gospel matter that is not of visible Saints but of such as for a great part of them at least were never duly reputed to be regenerate or to be of the Invisible Church and their meaning is as I collect both from their Writings and Converse That they were not at first nor since constituted of such particular members only as at the time of such their Constitution had a probable appearance of Regeneration but of all baptized persons however they proved good or bad and without any other probation or discrimination Now if those things be true which have been endeavoured to be proved to be so in the management of the former Enquiries Then this ground on which they build their separation is altogether unsound and such as has no firmness or substance in it but is only imaginary For our Parish Congregations are constituted of persons visibly in Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost by being baptized in their name and thereby engaged to be theirs to worship and serve the Father by the Son through the assistance of the Spirit And of such and no other were the Churches planted by the Apostles constituted And this Covenanting was then and so is now the visible formal difference between those of the Visible
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
misrepresented that Method of our Lord in the general tenour of my Inquiries And indeed if I have not taken wrong measures and unless very much mistaken their Communion in their state of Separation if taken altogether and the terms on which it is held must needs be far more impure than the Parochial Communion they have withdrawn from There are extreams on both hands as well on the right hand as on the left and there is a proneness in men to run into the one by flying from the other And good men especially in matters of publick Reformation are through mistaken zeal more in danger of running into an extreme on the right hand than into one on the left and in flying from Babylon to run beyond Jerusalem And there is a danger of doing much hurt in the Church by over-doing as well as there is by under-doing and both extremes are carefully to be avoided The New England Ministers in their Answer to Mr. Davenport formerly mentioned do say We may be very injurious to Christ as well as the Souls of men by too much straitening and narrowing the bounds of his Kingdom or Visible Church here on earth Certainly enlargement so it be a regular enlargement is a very desirable thing In Church Reformation it is an observable truth saith Pareus on the Parable of the Tares that they which are for too much straitness do more hurt than profit the Church So much they p. 45. Thus the mistaken zeal of the Donatists and Novatians of old for a purer Church and purer Communion as was thought or pretended put them upon separating from other Orthodox Christians which proved an inlet to the most unchristian practices imaginable for the carrying on their undertaken Reformation and destructive of the peace of the Church in the highest and lamentably scandalous to the Christian Religion in the Doctrinal part whereof notwithstanding they were for the most part all agreed as we are now and differ mostly about Disciplinary Points as they did then Such a strictness in Church Reformation as does so narrow and lessen the Visible Church as to endeavour to reduce it to the size of the Invisible is many ways hurtful as I have shewed in my Reasons for the contrary It tends to hinder and lessen the great work of thorow and sound Conversion in the Church It tends to hinder the spreading and propagating of the Christian Religion It tends to harden men in an unsafe condition It tends to deprive good men of Communion with the Church under the Notion of bad It tends to ruine the Church as to its existence in the world And lastly it tends to beget and foment divisions contentions feuds envyings strifes and undue censurings among Christians and so to cast the Church into a sickly state and such as threatens her spiritual life Besides the encouragement and advantage which is thereby given to our common Enemies to plot and attempt against us And thus over-doing is indeed undoing And lest any should be offended at a discourse against over-much strictness It ought to be considered that there is a great difference between a mans being strict towards himself and in reference to his own practice and his being strict and severe towards others in depriving them of the outward Priviledges of Christian Professors A man cannot well be too strict in keeping a narrow watch over his own heart words and ways in governing his Appetites Thoughts and Passions Tongue and Actions Nor does this kind of strictness depend upon such a purity of Communicants or Communion in which no Carnal Christians have any share But it depends upon or rather it consists in a due attention of mens minds to their own duty and to the opportunities of receiving good by the Ordinances of God The rest of the Guests in the Parable were not the worse nor did fare the worse for that there was one among them that had not on the Wedding Garment The ordinances of God do not the less avail good men that with a due frame of mind wait upon God in them tho unregenerate men participate with them therein And when by the Censures of the Church Capital Offenders and notorious scandalous Persons are deprived of Communion with the Church it is not for that reason as if the Ordinances of God were the less useful to the good by such mens sharing in them But it is to bring such Persons to shame and by that means to repentance and to free the Church from that dishonour which otherwise would stick upon it for tolerating such scandalous persons among them And partly also for admonition to others and to prevent the tainting of such as are less wary by their ill example and familiar converse But otherwise bad mens sharing in external Communion with the Church is no ways likely to hinder the growth of good men in grace or their profiting by the Ordinances of God there administred To the pure all things are pure Bad men cannot in the least pollute the Ordinances of God to the good by their participating with them in them And therefore if God would have such as are not obnoxious to Excommunication for Capital Crimes tho not Regenerate to be continued in the Church being once received into it by Baptism to the end they might be under the influence of his Ordinances for their Conversion I say if God would have it thus in order to their Conversion no good man should envy or grudge them this benefit of enjoying the means of such Conversion And they especially should not who have themselves been Converted and Regenerated in the same way of general Communion and by the means therein afforded which yet has been the case I doubt not of such as have been leading men in modelling this new Church way as it has been of many others For their Congregations at the first and long after consisted scarcely of any other than what had been drawn out of the Parochial Congregations where they had been Converted if they were indeed Converted as they supposed them to be before their incorporating and associating in their new way And if they had continued in the same way wherein they were by Gods blessing upon the means of Grace they therein enjoyed made such as they then were they might without doubt have attained to as much growth in all Christian Virtues as ever they did afterwards and I think much more provided they had but diligently and carefully improved the same means and opportunities by which they had acquired what they had then attained to For the Word and Ordinances of the Gospel which are the means of increase of Grace as well as of the beginning of it are the same and will produce the same effects in those who with a good frame of mind attend upon God in them as well when unregenerate men share in them as when they do not And therefore neither the holy Prophets or other holy men of greatest Piety under the Old Testament nor
nature is Antecedent to particular Churches The gathering of Christ a Christian Church in the world at first was the effect of the Apostolical Ministry and the Ministry of their assistants The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ being the chief corner stone Eph. 2.20 and the Foundation is Antecedent to the Superstructure All the additions that have been since made to the Visible Church have been by the Ministerial Office by letting all the particular Members of that addition into it by Baptism And when men are ordained Ministers of the Gospel they are not ordained Ministers of this or that particular Church but Ministers of Christ to the Church in general Let no man glory in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas all are yours and ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Paul Apollos and Cephas were theirs in common with others not theirs appropriately And their being sent or called to be Ministers to this ot that particular Church is but the application of their general capacity to particular use and exercise to wit that of Ministration to such a people in particular And this Ministerial Power they bring with them to the Church or People among whom they are placed but do not receive it from them And it is by virtue of their Ministry and Ministration that a particular Body of people can act or perform any Publick Acts of Communion peculiar to a Church as such And therefore as they cannot act as a Church without such a Ministry so neither can they properly be a Church without it The first thing St. Paul mentions Ephes 4.11.12 for which our Saviour Christ gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers was for the perfecting of the Saints or for the joyning them together or for the making them up or for the compacting or knitting them together For thus variously is that word rendred by Expositors but all to the same sense For it is for the knitting them and holding them together as one body in their several Publick Assemblies for Worship and Edification And indeed a Church is so called from several Christians assembling together for Publick Worship their Union wherein is made by their joynt concurrence with their Spiritual Pastor in his Ministration for which end and purpose such Officers are given and appointed by Christ as the words of St. Paul now alledged shew And now as for the Text alledged by the Doctor in which Paul and Barnabas are said to have ordained Elders in every Church Acts 14.23 this does not prove the Churches there spoken of to be such Antecedently to any Ministerial Act or Power by which they became such For they had been made Churches in some sort by the planting of Paul and Barnabas who also as Church Officers ministred to them while they were among them For this ordaining Elders in every Church by Paul and Barnabas was done in their return to the places where they had preached the Gospel and made Disciples before and they returned to them to confirm them and to ordain Elders among them as appears by the two precedent verses compared with the Text it self Besides St. Luke did not write this History till after the Apostles had thus ordained Elders in the Churches mentioned by him so that they were indeed Churches then when he wrote those words and it was proper for him to stile them so tho it should be supposed they had been none before they had Elders ordained in them So that this Text can be no proof of that for which the Doctor doth alledge it QUERY XII WHether from the reason of the extent and Latitude of Visible Church-Membership and Communion which has been discoursed of the great usefulness of a National settlement or Constitution for the publick exercise of the Worship of God in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity may not fairly be inferred and concluded Now the reason why Visible Church-Membership Communion are better in respect of their due extensiveness than they would be if the terms and conditions of enjoying those Priviledges were limited and restrained to the same terms which the enjoyment of Invisible Church Membership and Communion are is this viz. because these Priviledges under such an extent and latitude tend more to the propagation of the Christian Religion and the increase of the number of those who shall be saved than they would or could do if they were limitted and restrained to the same terms and conditions of enjoyment as Invisible Church Membership and Communion are This hath been shew'd in our tenth Inquiry And it is for the same reason that it is better that the exercise of Gods Publick Worship should be set up in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity by a National Authority and that all such Professors should be thereby obliged to frequent it than it is to leave all such to their own liberty to promote and frequent it or to forbear and neglect to do so as the way called Independency does For the National way tends more to propagate and promote the knowledge and practice of Christian Religion and the Salvation of Souls than the Congregational way does and therefore must needs be abundantly better That it does so is too apparent to be denied by any that have but common reason when these things following are but duly considered 1. Better provision is made by a publick establishment for the instruction of such a Nation in the way of Salvation than can reasonably be expected without it Unless provision were made by publick Authority for the maintenance of a Gospel Ministry in all parts of a Nation there would certainly be a greater want of a publick Ministry in many places of it than by reason of such a publick provision there is Would people think we of themselves in all places of a Nation provide a better maintainance for the Ministry of the Gospel among them if left wholly to themselves than there is made by publick Authority If they would how comes it to pass that those places are generally worst supplied with Ministers where the Publick has made least provision for their maintainance And generally where there is the greatest failure in this there is the least face of Religion and greatest hazard of mens Souls Where there is no Vision the people perish saith Solomon Prov. 29.18 And the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge saith the Prophet Hos 4.6 2. If the people should be all left to themselves to chuse what Ministers they please without any publick approbation and allowance of some appointed by publick Authority to judg of their fitness many would be in danger of chusing men of erronious Principles and such as would corrupt the minds of men The consequence of which would be great opposition and contention between the Orthodox and the Erronious and making of Parties and endless strife to the destruction