things and not to make use of their sayings till the same reasons and purposes call upon us Had they lived in our days I am confident they would have spoken at another rate and have been as earnest in perswading and convincing men of their duty as they were in directing of it been as sharp upon those that neglected to come so preparedly as they should I speak not this to remit any mans care in fitting himself for this God forbid but we have a different task now upon us and I tell you plainly I would rather men should come though they be not so exactly fitted than that they should not come at all I am sure it is better to do our duty though it be imperfectly than wholly to neglect and disregard it I would and by Gods assistance will direct men as well as I can how to come like Christians and good men duely prepared for this but I would not beat the aire in doing this until I had convinced men that it is really their duty to come But to return to my purpose what a symptome is it of a faint and almost dying Religion in men to need to be contended with or compelled in this instance Those good Christians of old that I have been speaking of could not be restrained by the sharpest Laws from this service but must daily ante-lucano tempore said the great Pliny rise before day to do it though it was made death by the Law to do so Our good Fathers in the times either of Queen Mary or the late Rebellious Usurpers what would not they have given for half that liberty that we enjoy who ventured their lives and whatever can be dear to men rather than neglect this service Lord what are we to these who need Laws to drive us and yet will not be driven neither what a strange unhappy peevish temper are we of we neglect to go when there are no Laws to compel us and we resuse to go when there are when we are indulged and left to our liberty then we neglect and disregard it and when the Laws are awakened then we complain and say we ought not to be forced but left to our liberty Nothing will please us nothing shall work upon us we refuse our food or convert it into poyson the means that should reform us make us worse and what our Governours use as a method to perswade us we use to a quite contrary purpose and make an argument for our not being perswaded and prevailed with 2. What peevish frowardness is this yea what mighty folly and weakness I would we would consider that in the second place We have been told that this service is our necessary duty and tyed upon us by asexpress and plain precepts as any other service in the Gospel therefore it were folly to need any compulsion to it But we are assured it is as much our interest as it is our duty and greatly conducive to all the interests of our Souls What weak people are we then that need to be beaten to our own good and like Children cry make a stir when we are dressed or called to our meat Consider it in the case of the Parable that I have related unto it was a Feast a Royal Entertainment that they were invited unto nothing but kindness and benefit to them was intended and yet we are much more our own enemies than they were for perhaps they had meat enough of their own at home and perhaps as good too But alas so have not we what have we of our own to feed and support our selves upon either nothing or nothing comparable to what we have here where our Souls may be feasted with the surprizing and ravishing pleasures of God's love and the love of our dear Lord and nourished with the Divine Graces of the Holy Spirit to which any thing that we have at home either in the entertainments of the world or vice are fiction and dream yea Aconite and deadly wine 3. Therefore instead of blaming our Superiours and quarrelling with the Laws that would compel us to come let us see if we ought not rather to blame our selves and reproach our own foolish temper that needs all this adoe and makes force necessary for us Had we that sense of our duty that we should and would we do it as became wise and good men we should never hear of Law or need to fear it But it is the neglecting nay obstinate resolving against this that makes us uneasie or draws any ill circumstances upon us we have none to complain of but our selves nor any thing done to us but what is necessary unless our Governours must draw the guilt of our ruine upon their own heads in neglecting to do what they can what they ought for the avoiding of it 4. Whose care I think in the last place we ought rather to take kindly and thankfully than stand quarrelling and murmuring against it instead of repining and complaining against our Governours fall down upon our knees and bless God that such care is taken of us That we are not left only to our own arbitrary will and conduct but that we have Fathers that consult for us as we do for our own Children who give them not up only to their own wild untutored passions and judgements but consult for them and tye them to those methods which we know good for them though they do not think so themselves We have seen by too sad an experience how unable most men are to govern themselves aright in matters of Religion what the effects of indulging and leaving men only to their own liberty are and we should certainly soon see the same or worse again Lord what extravagancies and follies are there so rank and wild that ungoverned men will not run into when they are indulged and left wholly to themselves What then do we not owe to the Divine Providence that hath set us under Government both in Church and State yea and what acknowledgments are big enough to be made to those that consider our temper and consult for our good do all they can to save us and to restrain us from destroying our selves We pray daily that God would not leave us to our solves but keep us under the influences of his Grace and guide us by his good Spirit and truly I think we have need too to pray that God will keep us in his Church and that those that watch for our Souls may be still careful and sollicitous for us guide us aright when we are unable to direct our selves and tye us to that duty that is so necessary and good for us when we grow wanton and regardless of it That when the great day of the Lord Jesus commenceth they may give up their accounts with joy and bless God for the success of their labor and care and we also may rise up and bless God for them and bless him with them and all of us be eternally happy in the enjoyment of him to whom be praise and honour and glory now and for evermore Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Fincham Gardiâ—â—r 1. APerswasive to Communion with the Church of England 2. A Resolution of some Cases of Conscience which respect Church-Communion 3. The Case of Indifferent things used in the Worship of God proposed and Stated by considering these Questions c. 4. A Discourse about Edification 5. The Resolution of this Case of Conscience Whether the Church of Englands Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England 6. A Letter to Anonymus in answer to his three Letters to Dr. Sherlock about Church-Communion 7. Certain Cases of Conscience resolved concerning the Lawfulness of joyning with Forms of Prayer in Publick Worship In two Parts 8. The Case of mixt Communion Whether it be Lawful to Separate from a Church upon the account of promiscuous Congregations and mixt Communions 9. An Answer to the Dissenters Objections against the Common Prayers and some other parts of Divine Service prescribed in the Liturgy of the Church of England 10. The Case of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament stated and resolved c. In two Parts 11. A Discourse of Profiting by Sermons and of going to hear where men think they can profit most 12. A serious Exhortation with some important Advices relating to the late Cases about Conformity recommended to the present Dissenters from the Church of England 13. An Argument to Union taken from the true Interest of those Dissenters in England who profess and call themselves Protestants 14. Some Considerations about the Case of Scandal or giving Offence to Weak Brethren 15. The Case of Infant-Baptism in Five Questions c. 16. A Discourse concerning Conscience wherein an Account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it c. 17. The Charge of Scandal and giving Offence by Conformity Refelled and Reflected back upon Separation c. 1. A Discourse about the charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before Luther 2. A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be received and what Tradition is to be rejected 3. The difference of the Case between the Separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome and the Separation of Dissenters from the Church of England 4. The Protestant Resolution of Faith c. 5. A Discourse concerning a Guide in matters of Faith c. A Companion to the Temple or a help to Devotion in the use of the Common prayer divided into Four parts 1. Of Morning and Evening Prayer 2. Of the Litany with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings 3. Of the Communion Office with the Offices of Baptism Catechism and Confirmation 4. Of the Occasional Offices viz Matrimony Visitation of the Sick c. The whole being carefully Corrected and how put into one Volume By Thomas Comber D. D. Sold by Abel Swalle at the Vnicorn at the West-end of St. Pauls Church-yard 1684.
the same doth the King govern us and we have no more right to quarrel the commands of the one than Children and Servants have to repine and murmur at the precepts of the other which they never have but when either Parents or Masters exercise an authority that doth no way belong to them 2. Which in our case is not done for Secondly it is done by those whose power reacheth to these things and who stand accountable to God for them The power of Kings in Spiritual Matters was never questioned that I know of in the Christian Church till Pride and Ambition began to corrupt it's Faith and poison it's Doctrine and till Rome began to aim at a Spiritual Empire as well as it had had a Temporal one The Doctrine of discarding Kings and Emperours from any intermedling in Religion was first hammered in the Conclave and thence our Classical Divines have fetched it and I wish it were the only instance in which they symbolize with those that they so lowdly declaim against I am sure the Kings of Israel supervised and when occasion was reformed matters of Religion and the Church and the better that they were the more they interested themselves and employed their care about them and embalmed their Names more by that than all their Arms and glorious Atchievements And when the Apostle commands Christians to pray for Kings that they might live honest and godly i. e. religious lives under them he certainly thought their influence might be greatly helpful thereunto And the truth is I do not well see how Kings and Governours can blast their honour more and more blacken their own name than by looking only to their own grandour and honour without any concern for his whose Vice-gerents they are by living themselves in glorious and Ceiled Houses but letting that of God lye neglected and wast as the expressions in the Prophet are Certainly when the great and final Audit comes and when the Kings and Princes of the world come to stand before him by whom they Reigned who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords one great Inquiry will be how faithful they have been to him their great Master and how much or how little they have consulted his honour and interest in the world and those doubtless will give their accounts with most joy to themselves and most acceptation to him that have been tender of his Church and consulted the benefit of his Religion that have been nursing Fathers to the one and tender of the other and used their power to keep men in their duty to him and his Laws as well as to their own And the Governours in the Church and those that are over us in the Lord they watch for our Souls says St. Paul and must give account for them Heb. 16.17 So that we must not think that our Governours exceed the bounds and limits of their own power when they make Laws about Religion and tye us to observe the services of it or that they do these things arbitrarily only and to exercise their power over us no neither of these are true their power reacheth to these things and they are bound by their great Lord to take all the care they can of them and therefore we must excuse them they do but their own duty to God which they compel us to do ours 3. And that this is really our duty and tyed upon us by the Laws of the Gospel is the third Consideration and will adde another reason to vindicate them in compelling us to it If this thing were contrary to the Gospel then we might justly complain of their rigor and severity or were it left wholly indifferent then we might raise objections and pretend invasion of our Christian liberty by these Laws as tragically as we do in the like cases But when it is a thing plainly and expresly commanded by our Saviour and tyed upon us as a constant and standing service of Religion to be observed and practised by all Christians until his second coming again as it is most plain it is if we will either consider his own words or St. Pauls after him then certainly there cannot be the least room for an objection in this matter Those that say the least of the power of Kings and Temporal Governours do say they are obliged to see that the precepts of God be observed and kept by men and that they are to inforce the Laws of Religion by their own and when it is for their purpose will boldly call for this exercise of their power summon the Temporal Sword and Arms when their own Spiritual ones are too weak and be ready to anathematize and curse those powers that in this come not to help the Lord against the mighty It it be their own 〈◊〉 of Religion why then it is the Scepter of Christ whom all Kings are bound to support and if it be any thing that they lack to have observed why then it is the Lords cause and the supporting of it is no less than fighting the Lords battel for which the highest Praises and Panegyricks are too little And therefore methinks men of this temper and who are yet known to have acted still upon this principle should for shame cease to complain cry out against the Government for using their power in that which they themselves allow the exercise of it lawful in and not condemn it when it compels men to nothing but what the Laws of Christ have made their necessary duty 4. Yea and fourthly which is as really their interest and advantage as it is their duty for so it is in this as well as in all other precepts of the Gospel they are real instruments of our happiness as well as instances of our obedience I cannot now stand to enumerate all the benefits and advantages of receiving the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper and I need to do it the less because the Church hath done it for me I will only recite the words in her Catechisme which are sufficient at this time The strengthning and refreshing out Souls by the Body and Blood of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine And certainly if any thing can be an Apologie for the present exercise of power in our Governours in constraining men to an observance of this service this may that it is a matter of pure kindness and nothing but their own gain that they are compelled unto they are severely dealt with indeed in this and a mighty wrong sure is done them when they are compelled to be made happy and good All the world hath ever granted it lawful and innocent nay prudent and wise to direct and govern those who are not able to govern and choose for themselves Parents restrain the ignorance of Children and think it no crime to whip them to that duty and exercise which they know to be good for them and Guardians do the same thing too for their Minors what they are assured is for their
forced Authority to take other measures and to try what the stricter hand of Law will do with them upon whom indulgence and kindness have been so ineffectual and whether they may not tye men to that duty to which they cannot perswade them They have sadly seen how little lenity and kindness can oblige and how far favour is from endearing some men yea that it hath unhappily rendred them worse more bold and more extravagant in their Separation made them only more keen and eager against the Church and given them the fairer opportunity to wreak their malice upon her which they had so diligently improved that they had brought her near to a Crisis indeed and were in a fair way of effecting their purpose when as gross Hereticks as ever were yea when black Atheists were called the only True Protestants and such a Jargon of different and contrary Sects Marshall'd in one Body as well as under one Name to fight against her Yea they have seen and felt something more than this that tender Consciences have too commonly hard hands and that the pulling down the Church hath been but a Prologue and step to dissolving the State Some men have begun with the Supremacy and faults of Aaron only that they might the more successfully cast down the Government of Moses and fright men from the Communion of the Church the more easily to muster them against the King and therefore made it necessary for the Government to provide against the one if they intended to secure and preserve the other They have thought it high time therefore now to change their measures and to exercise Power when Mildness and Clemency would not prevail And this is one thing that hath raised the clamour and enraged men to inveigh against Proceedings so lowdly at present What must men be driven like beasts must they be compelled to that Service which ought to be free and voluntary is this Christian dealing or the way to make Converts can this bring men to Church or engage them to offer a reasonable Service to God there it may possibly make Hypocrites and cause time-servers to come in but sure the Faith of men cannot be forced nor they ever brought in love with Religion and the Service of it by such means These and such as these are the common clamours of men against these Proceedings of Authority and the truth is by the way it lets us see how strangely froward and peevish some men are But a little while ago the common cry and objection was want of Discipline among us but now that we are too strict in it Heretofore we were derided and censured for slackness and remisness for taking too little care of Religion but now we are blamed for taking too much So very contrary pretences can some men make use of against the Church and Government and wrest every thing that they do or do not into an Argument against them I am not willing to reflect farther upon this petulancy my Province at present is to shew the injustice and unreasonableness of it and to vindicate this proceeding of our Governours from those aspersions and reproaches that are cast upon them And I shall lay the foundation of this Apology upon that passage of our Saviour in the Parable I have been alluding to Go and compel them to come in It is probable it will be said that this is only a by-expression and far enough from the purport and design of this Parable and therefore to argue from it is against that common rule that Divines have agreed upon that Parables are not to be argued from but only in the main thing intended by them To this it will be easie to answer that though it be indeed so as is urged yet our collection relies upon a certain reason and that is the Decorum and Propriety of speaking that our Saviour observed in all his Discourses and how far he was from expressing any thing in unjustifiable or unbecoming Phrases though it were a thing purely incidental and were never so much collateral or beside the great matter that he intended to say To be sure he would never have ascribed such a thing as this to God Almighty under the person of this great man though never so much by the by had it been so unbecoming and contrary to his dispensations with men nor ever have mentioned his commanding his servants to compel men to come in to Religion and the Ministries of it had it been unlawful and contrary to the temper of the Gospel as is pretended to use any force at all either to restrain men from evil or tye them to that which is good We may rest assured that no such expression had ever fallen from him had he intended that every man should be purely at his own liberty in Religion to do or not to do what himself pleased So that I think this expression will favour our purpose and be a good foundation to superstruct an Argument upon In the prosecution of which I shall do these two things 1. Propose some general and more abstracted Considerations for the justifying the present proceedings in this case 2. And secondly inquire immediately into the Merits of the Cause and examine it by the rules and measures of the Gospel 1. The general Considerations I intend are these that follow 1. That whatever is done of this nature is done by our lawful Governours 2. It is done by those whose Authority reacheth to these things and who are accountable to God for them 3. It is done in a matter which is in it self lawful and plainly justified by the Laws of the Gospel 4. It is in a matter which is greatly gainful and advantageous to those that are commanded 5. It is occasioned only by our selves and our own unreasonable neglect of our duty 6. It is nothing else but what those very men that complain have done in the like or lesser cases 7. It is no harm or injury to these men upon their own common Principles 1. Whatever is done of this nature is done by our lawful Governours I shall not need I hope to have any controversie with men about this nor will any I believe dare to dispute the truth of it though we possibly may have enough to question the Government of the Church yet certainly that of the Kingdom is unquestionable with any but men of desperate and rebellious Principles and impatient of any Government but that which themselves manage Now this alone is one good step towards vindicating what is now done and one good argument for mens Obedience and Submission unto it For it is scarce becoming men to dispute and question the actions of their lawful Governours in any thing but to revile and reproach them is lawful in none Subjection is tyed immediately upon the Consciences of men and obedience in all things not essentially evil is a duty of Religion By the same right that a Parent commands his Child and a Master his Servant by
benefit they compel them unto though it be never so irksome to them and spare not for their much crying just as Chirurgions and Physicians consult the good and not the ease and palate of their patients and forbear not the caustick or the sawe or the bittetest potion though perhaps the Patient must be bound in one case and be even constrained in the other It is just the same case here only so much the greater benefit by how much the spirit and it's Salvation is better than the body and if there be any to complain of eertainly 't is only our own selves 5. And that 's the fifth thing I proposed to consideration for all this is occasioned only by our own default and it is not very easie to say whether men be more condemnable for their wilful falling into such an evil or their complaining that means are used for their recovery It is imprudent to hurt and mischief themselves but it is much more to quarrel with the charity of those that would help them Would men be pleased to live so like Subjects as not to occasion any fear or jealousie to the Government and would they please to keep themselves in the Communion of the Church and a regular observance of the Services and Ministries of Religion they would never hear of any trouble nor need to complain of any force or violence against them But if they will be heaving at Government and will be factious and innovate in Religion the more easily and successfully to accomplish their other evil designs they must thank themselves if the edge of the Law be turned on them and if they be a little stricter held to their duty they must blame only their own wilful neglect and disregard of it In this case they have none to complain against but themselves for Authority if it have any regard to it self or any concern for them cannot do less than it doth without betraying it's own trust and casting off all concern for those that God hath given it the charge and care of 6. But sixthly there is another consideration to render mens complaints and murmurings against this procedure unjust and that is that they themselves have done the same thing or worse in the like or lesser cases Time was when any one that did not swear as fast as they would have them and count their Covenant Religious and Sacred should not only be Excommunicated but Out-law'd and put immediately from under the benefit and protection of Law And we have lately seen how forward these very persons that now complain have been to put Tests upon all others and to injoyn all in any Office or Place of trust to receive the Sacrament upon forfeiture of the Place and a great sum besides And I wish I could not say to the shame of some and their unanswerable reproach how readily they could receive it when their profit and interest invited them though they complain and grumble when it is made their duty and labour to scare others from it under the notion of Superstition and Idolatry Interest we may see will easily answer all Objections and be able to do more than all the best arguments in the world besides and were but the Sacrament now a Band and Cement of Union among themselves a confederating the more closely to carry on their own purposes or any way subservient to their design we should hear of no complaints nor invectives against any but those that refused so holy and saying an Ordinance This is the plain truth of the thing and if men be offended at it we cannot help it nor ought much to be concerned and therefore it is a stark shame for those to complain against the present proceedings of Authority who have gone before them in the same and much worse It is a hard thing for us to be judged by them who do themselves the very same thing 7. And lastly the complaining will be the more unreasonable when it is no injury at all to them upon their own principles nor doing any thing to them which they do not wilfully to themselves It is too evident what little respect these men bear to the Church and how little they value the Communion of it they separate themselves from it and avow a downright Schism against it and therefore what injury I pray can Excommunication be to such men It is they that anticipate Excommunication thrust themselves out of the Church and defie it and persist in plain contempt of it and what Authority doth is little else than barely declaring what they have done before And I am verily perswaded were it not for some consequences of it and some prejudice that might redound from it to their Temporal concern they would as little regard it as they do the Church deride it as brutum fulmen and no more dread it than men do fire painted upon a wall We that can hear men ridiculing the notion of a Church and laughing at all the discourses about Communion with it do very well know how little they value or think themselves hurt by being Excommunicated and turned out of that which they never desire to be of they that can so lowdly confront all Antiquity and in spight of all the Fathers of the Church and Maxims of the Apostles too teach Salvation to be attainable as well out of the Church as in it certainly can never think themselves injured by being cast out of it and all their Tragical complaints of Persecution in this are but artifice and hypocrisie Men may be driven indeed to that which they do not love but they are but compelled by that which they do not much dread or fear 2. The second thing proposed is to inquire into the nature and measures of that compulsion that the Laws and Precedents of the Gospel do warrant in this case and then to try whether the present proceedings of Authority against men may not be justified upon them This is a thing the more needful to be stated with heed and caution because the great Clamour is upon it And two things with great confidence are urged by men upon which they take upon them to censure the present proceedings of Authority as wholly contrary to the Doctrine and spirit of the Gospel 1. That it is not consonant to the Gospel to use any force at all to men in matters of Religion and that nothing but Papal usurpation and cruelty hath introduced the practice of it 2. That however if there be any footsteps of force and rigour then or that the Gospel mention any such thing yet that rigour was purely Spiritual Church-censures were her only Arms and Excommunication the only punishment that she did inflict but the Body and Estate and the external concerns of men were untouched But so say they these are not now did Authority content it self only to go thus far we should bear it and should have nothing to object against it but now mens civil interests are touched
mens persons or purses may pay for it There is a Writ de Capieâ—do Excommunicato and there are sharp Laws for punishing the contumacy of those that obstinately refuse submission and compliance These are the popular and in some mens apprehension very plausible exceptions against these things It will the more concern me therefore clearly to state this matter And if I can make these two things clear in opposition to what is objected I shall do enough in this 1. That the Doctrine of the Gospel doth warrant the Exercise of force and rigour in matters of Religion where men will not be governed and kept within due bounds by the precepts and rules of it and a conscience of their duty and the History of it and the Primitive times do furnish us with examples and precedents enough of that rigour and therefore that this was not introduced by Popish usurpation as is pretended 2. That these punishments were not purely Spiritual but extended and reached to the persons and external interests of men both which suffered as much or more than they do now If I can clear the truth and certainty of these two things I shall fully satisfie the Objections and lay a certain soundation to justifie the present proceedings of Authority upon To this therefore I now address my self with all the plainness and clearness that I can beseeching any especially that are under any dissatisfaction in these things to consider honestly and impartially what I am going to say 1. And first that the Doctrine of the Gospel doth warrant the exercise of force and rigour in matters of Religion where the Conscience of duty will not keep men in order And that we are furnished with precedents and examples of this I think is very clear to all that have either considered the constitution of the Christian Church or taken notice of those Remarks of the Government of it which they meet with in the New Testament 1. If it would be sufficient conviction to some men to argue this from principles of true reason or from consequences that fairly and naturally offer themselves from premisses that are certain and uncontroverted among all men it might be enough to put the matter upon that issue And then I would only consider what is granted on all hands viz That Christ hath founded himself a Church in the world not contenting himself only to have persons come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus to become Proselytes to the Christian Religion and to be won over to the Faith of the Gospel But that he hath formed all these persons into a Society cast them into one common Body of which himself is the Head made his Church a Spiritual Politie and united all Christians as Members of it by proper and strong bands and ligatures and made the greatest part of their duty to consist not so much in acting in a single and independent capacity as in the discharge of those Offices that become them as members consociated and united together in one common body For so we know the greatest part of Christian Religion consists in the publick worship of God and Christ with one heart and one consent the glorifying God with one mouth and in meekness and love in condescention and charity one to another and a strict union and peace among themselves I need not stand arguing the truth of this it is plain of it self in the New Testament and confessed by all Sides and Parties of men at this day though I must needs say the serious belief and consideration of it would alone umpire and issue most of the disputes that are among us about Conformity and Schism and Separation at the present But I am sure it is a sufficient foundation for what I am undertaking to prove and there are these two things that do most naturally and necessarily follow from it 1. That therefore Christ hath vested this Church of his with all that authority and power that is absolutely necessary for the conservation of it self as a Body and a Society i. e. for the preservation of order and agreement and for their keeping all its members in a due regard to the Laws and Constitutions of it And this is so certain as it is that Christ Jesus is good and wise and one that would never defeat his own designs nor command order and unity to be preserved in his Church without induing it with that power which was absolutely necessary to that purpose It is so reflective upon the wisdom of a man to cast men into society and unite them under any Government without contriving some effectual means for the preservation and maintenance of order among them as such that we can't think it competent to the Son of God without the highest blasphemy 2. That therefore he hath vested his Church and the Governours of it with a power of inslicting punishments and using rigour against its members where the sense and conscience of their duty would not keep them in order There can be no doubt of this nor any reason to question the certainty of it for this power is also entirely necessary to the preservation of the Church unless we do suppose that all the members of it are and ever will be so conscientious and good us to be kept within their compass by a sense of their duty and a respect to the great arguments that the Gospel useth to that purpose And I readily confess that were all Christians such as they should be and as the Laws of the Gospel require them to be this power that I am contending for might be thought unnecessary for the Church and thereupon be argued not to be granted to it But alas we see too clearly that it is quite otherwise and he that better knew what was in man than we hath plainly told us that it always was and will be otherwise and that he doth in representing it as a mixed multitude as a parcel of ground wherein was stony and barren and thorny uncultivated land as well as good and well prepared as a field wherein there were tares and weeds as well as wheat and good grain as a net cast into the ses which brought up of every kind and wherein were refuse and vile as well as good and wholsome fish all which you may see illustrated clearly Matth. 13. And we have clear Specimens of this truth in his own first collection of Disciples and followers of the one of which we read of a great many at one time going off and forsaling him and of a Judas and a Devil even among the small company of his twelve Apostles And also in the first foundations of a Church that his Apostles laid after him in one of which you read of an Hymeneus and Alexander in another of a Demas in one of an Incostuous person and Schismaticks and in another of those that walked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorderly breaking their ranks forsaking their proper station and enterfering upon
anothers Office and Place and St. John speaks of a great many of Apostates that went out from them 1 Joh. 2.19 And the Apostles frequently warn us of false brethren and Apostates of Seducers and Deceivers and of men of the very worst Characters that should yet have a form of godliness and put on the name and vizor of Christianity And the truth is as long as men are men and continue in this imperfect state we cannot expect it should be otherwise There will be Hypocrites in the Church and men that make Religion a design and receive not the truth in love but have by-ends and purposes of their own to serve and when it serves these will be ready to destroy and cause Factions in the Church and betray Religion as well as at other times to profess great kindness to it and for any thing I can see or learn from the Histories of the Church it hath been as much pester'd and troubled by unruly disorderly members as almost any other Collection or Society of men whatsoever Now to these it is plain such a power as this is absolutely necessary and it is not possible to keep them in order without it Men that act not by Conscience and a sense of duty and whom the arguments of the Gospel and the sense of immortality will not hold nothing but the rod and external correction can take hold of And therefore the Church must either have power to punish them and inflict such severities upon them as they regard and can be restrained by or else it must be left defenceless and unregarded exposed to all their malice and without any remedy against those mischiefs that Faction and unruliness always produce i. e. it may at any time be in the power of her wicked members to work her ruine and disorder and she be wholly destitute of any remedy to help her self against them Which if any man can believe to be according to the mind and constitution of Christ he must at the same time believe that Christ founded his Church in vain or out of the greatest malice to her in exposing her certainly to the assaults and injuries of her wicked and rotten members without any ordinary means of defence against them 2. Or secondly if it would be sufficient to argue from those precepts and charges that are in the Apostolical writings yea in the Gospel it self given to the Governours of the Church in general of feeding the flock of keeping out those ravenous and greedy wolves that would strive to break in upon it of watching over it of silencing gain-sayers of stopping the mouth of those that taught any other Doctrine of convincing gain-sayers of sharply rebuking the disorderly and unruly c. many of which are written in almost all the Epistles I say if we might argue from them we might infer not only the lawfulness but sometimes the expediency and necessity of this power for otherwise the members of the Church were commanded to do that which were impossible to be done and forbid the exercise of that power which was absolutely necessary to the doing of that which they had an express charge to see to the doing of which were something worse and more tyrannical in their Master than Pharaoh's exacting brick of the Israelites of old without allowing them straw to burn them with These Considerations and these Arguments from them might be enough to issue this question and to convince all men that act by Reason and upon the principles of it But to others plain matter of fact will be more affecting and those that call upon us so loudly to produce any example of this under the Gospel will be more satisfied by shewing them plain precedents of that which we are pleading for or express places of Scripture to warrant the same And first for a place of Scripture to warrant this upon I think that of our Saviour Matth. 18.17 sufficient where he directs us as the last remedy against a Brother that injures us to tell the Fact to the Church Which though I confess it may intend only his higher conviction and shame and a more probable way of inducing him fairly to repair the wrong yet I doubt not but it means more and is in effect an appealing to a higher Tribunal whose commands should he so disregard as to cause them to pass censure upon him afterwards he should be reputed a Heathen and a Publican forfeit all that respect and charity that he might otherwise expect and claim from us And this interpretation I am the more confirmed in because I find the same thing injoyned to an Excommunicated person 1 Cor. 5.9 and 2 Thes 3.14 And that this was our Saviours meaning may be strongly concluded from the consonant directions of his Apostles who injoyn the exercise of such a power in cases of Scandal and great Offences as is plain in St. Pauls command to the Corinthians in the case of the Incestuous person 1 Cor. 5.3 4 5. For I verily have judged already concerning him that hath done this thing in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ i. e. that power which he hath given me to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh c. And this power he would have exercised also not only against that single person but equally against any other that is an incorrigible Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Rayler or a Drunkard or an Extortioner 1 Cor. 5.11 And much what the same to this he recommends to the Thessalonians to be done to those that walk disorderly as was just now hinted and did not obey the directions of the Apostle to them 2 Thes 3.6.11.14 And consonant directions he gives to Titus Cap. 1.11 and particularly concerning a Heretick Cap. 3.10 A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject i. e. Excommunicate And that the Apostles did themselves act according to this rule when occasion was you have clear instances in St. Peters censure upon Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5.5.10 which example became of most excellent effect saith St. Luke to restrain all men from any the like sins v. 11. Great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things who plainly perceived that the Apostles had a power to correct and punish them if they did amiss The like you read done by St. Paul against the Incestuous Corinthian the case but now mentioned 1 Cor. 5.6 and also against Hymeneus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1.20 whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme And I think few things can be plainlier spoken of than this power is in several places in his Epistles to the Corinthians particularly in these that follow 1 Cor. 4. ult What will ye shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness where by the Rod
therefore while the Church wanted the favor of the Civil Magistrate had not power to inflict punishments upon men God was pleased to supply that defect this way and make Satan the common Lictor and executioner of punishment upon those whom gentler methods would not restrain and prevail upon These things I think are sufficient to the purpose I have spoken them to let men see how terrible the effects of Excommunication were in the times of the Gospel St. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Romans calls his sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrysostom in Hom. 15. in primam ad Corinthios 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the destruction of the flesh i. e. as was done to holy Job And a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might afflct him with some sore Ulcer or other Disease St. Ambrose lib. 10. de poenitentia inquiring how the Incestuous Corinthian was delivered to Satan answers thus Sicut Domin us in animam sancti Job non dedit potestatem sed in carnem ejus permisit ita hic traditur Satanae St. Hierome in cap. 5. ad Galatas Precepit eum tradi poenitentiae in interitum vexationem carnis per jejunia aegrotationes The Author of the Commentary upon the first to the Corinthians commonly though as some say falsely ascribed to St. Hierome upon cap. 4. ult hath these words Quali vigâ veniam ad vos c. Quali Petrus venit ad Ananiam Saphiram Paulus ad Magum And this expression The destruction of the flesh he renders by carnis angustias detrimenta membrorum And Pacian in Epist 3. ad Sempronium hath the same words Theodoret in locum c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cajetanus in locum Hinc apparet punitionem hanc fuisse venationem corporalem etiam usque ad mortem non tamen repentinam In which perhaps he may be mistaken and as to the Incestuous person certainly was yet herein he follows St. Augustine who lib. 6. de Sermone Domini in Montem seems to question whether this did not extend unto death Answerable to these you will find these following Learned persons as you have them in the large Criticks printed at London Vatablus in primam ad 1 Cor. 5.5 ut carne afflictus resipiscat Clarius in locum terminum prefigit satanae ut corpus tantum tangeret uti in Job factum erat Jacob. Capellus in locum who gives an instance of the like punishment and immediate seizure by Satan out of the Life of St. Ambrose written by Paulinus Grotius in locum Nempè ut per eum morbis vexetur To these may be added Aquinas in locum if we think he can add any moment to the judgment of those that we have named before him In the close of which I may add the Authority of our own Hammond whose Judgment is and will be valued as long as sound Learning flourisheth in the world and he in his Note E on 1 Cor. 5. contends for the reasonableness of this Exposition And because Calvins Authority may be of credit more than they all with some men I therefore produce him in the last place who both in his Exposition upon this place and in his Institutions too doth not deny these to have been the effects of Excommunication in the Apostles time only contends that that was not all that was intended in this expression as he chargeth St. Chrysostome and others though I do not see for what reason to have said was and that whatever evil consequences the Laws of our Nation have made appendant to it now are not so terrible as these were and consequently that there is not so much cause to cry out against this procedure with men as unchristian and contrary to the rules or practice of the Gospel and Apostles of Christ 2. And that this notion is true might further be proved from the testimony and judgment of men of great Authority and Credit in the Church of Christ both Ancient and Modern were there any need of it Such for instance are St. Augustine St. Chrysostome St. Hierom of old and such as Grotius Capellus Hamond and almost all the most Learned men of late who all unanimously contend that this was the sense of delivering up unto Satan and these the effects that usually followed Excommunication in the Primitive times while the Church was destitute of the protection of the Civil Magistrate and had not the power of making Laws externally to punish obstinate offenders The Learned Reader for his fuller satisfaction may at leisure consult the Quotations in the Margine And now after these things I do not well know what is wanting to our purpose unless it be to examine some Objections against this notion of delivering to Satan and to satisfie some scruples about it to which I shall address my self that I may leave every thing as plain as I can And there are three or four things that will require a particular consideration in order to this 1. And first it may be demanded Why are these effects of Excommunication now ceased there appears nothing of this nature now nor hath for a long time what 's the reason therefore if there were such things why we see nothing like them now To which Question an Answer may be given out of what was hinted but just before That these extraordinary effects lasted only till the Government of the Empire turned Christian Till then indeed it was necessary that the Church should have some such power to inforce Excommunication and render it terrible and effective to obstinate offenders But when the Governours and Civil power became Christian then they might use the Temporal Sword to back the Spiritual and inforce these Censures of the Church with external punishments and thereby do that which God did by this extraordinary means And therefore as when the Children of Israel of old came into the plentiful land of Canaan that Manna ceased by which they had been fed in a barren wilderness so when the Church was protected by the Civil power and the Laws of men could do that which an extraordinary providence had done to that time then God was pleased to withdraw the same and leave men to their own conduct when they were able to govern themselves For God was never so lavish and prodigal of doing Miracles as some men would make him As he never suffered a Miracle to be effected but upon some very great reason no more did he ever interpose or use an extraordinary power to effect that which the power of nature and second causes were sufficient for When Kings and Emperours therefore became nursing Fathers to the Church according to the ancient Prophesie made Laws for the Government and Protection of it and backed those Laws with Sanctions of grievous punishments made the interest of Religion their own and guarded the peace and order of the Church with the same vigilancie and care that they did their Kingdoms then there was no
such great need of these extraordinary interpositions of providence to this purpose as was formerly and therefore they ceased Just as the power of Miracles which was a long time continued in the Church yet ceased afterwards when the truth and Divinity of Christian Religion was sufficiently attested and could be maintained without them 2. But then secondly it may be demanded Why there is so very little account and so very few instances of this to be found in the History of the Church sure a thing of this nature must have been much taken notice of had there been any such and it is very strange that there should be so little account of it The truth of what is here objected must be acknowledged unless there be more examples of this thing than I have yet either by reading or conversing with Learned men been able to discover But yet this I think may fairly be accounted for 1. For first it is certain and greatly lamented by Learned men that we have but very little of the History of those early times of Christianity come to us whether it be from the iniquity of time or of men whether from the rage of War or spight of Enemies the artifice of Hereticks or the industry of those men who can as easily suppress ancient Records as falsifie and corrupt them or from what other causes it hath proceeded I know not but the truth of the thing is too plain and we might be assured of it had our selves never made inquiry by consulting the Labours of the best Antiquaries and the most curious and unwearied searchers into Primitive times Here and there some very great thing they have picked up so as to be able to patch up a History of some great mens Lives but alas far enough from the exactness and fulness that they deserved and any competent account of those times would have enabled them to have done And therefore I no more wonder that we have so little account of this than that we have so little too of many others which it would much have advantaged us to have had 2. And yet perhaps a good reason may be given for this even more than for some other things As for example It may well be supposed that this punishment was very rare nor was there much occasion to make use of it those times were famous for Piety and zeal to Religion those good men needed not to be whipped to their duty their own fervours and the rage of their Enemies kept them close to it and they were so exercised with almost daily and continual sufferings for their Religion and their Lord that they had no leisure or temptation to grow wanton against the Laws and constitutions of either And they were so taken up with recording their own sufferings and transmitting accounts of them as they used to other Churches that they forget to record almost any thing else and the truth is the giving account of the brave actions and glorious sufferings of their Martyrs and Confessors together with some few Apologies for themselves and their Religion is almost all that we have left us of those times 3. But thirdly it may yet further be urged that we may point to a space in the Primitive times before the Government became Christian when some Christians became very troublesome and Schismatical when this punishment would have been proper and in all likelihood of most effect to chastise those whom all gentler methods were unsuccessful with And yet we do not read any thing that this remedie and these punishments were made use of Such was the time in which that great man St. Cyprian lived who was much harrassed and vexed with the petulancie and faction of some Priests and others in their carriage towards the lapsed as they called those that fell in times of persecution and in whose time the Novatian Schism broke out which so troubled the Church Now this was a proper time for this great punishment and these effects of it would very likely have done much good This is an Objection which seems to come roundly up to the matter and doth require satisfaction which I shall endeavour to give to it in these following considerations 1. It is certain that this extream and highest punishment was but very rarely used or inflicted upon men and indeed I think I may say scarce ever but when the lesser intermedial censures of the Church were ineffectual and despised such were excluding men from the full Communion of the Church and imposing such Penances upon them as they judged the nature of their offences to require 2. St. Cyprian did use all fair ways to direct and inform these erring Priests yea some of the Confessors themselves nay even the Martyrs who granted Letters of Communion to many to these lapsi before they had satisfied the Church and threatned to use the censures of the Church against them if they did not reform and by that means did happily effect his purpose on many of them and the business of Re-baptizing of them which this controversie after grew into was a matter of question and dispute but not of any ill manners in the Church 3. It is plain when all other means failed with Novatus and he still persisted or rather grew more Factious and Schismatical St. Cyprian had Excommunicated him and inflicted this highest censure upon him had he not fled into another Country which flight of his shewed clearly what a mighty dread he had of that punishment And that being the common practice of notorious and great Offenders of all resolvedly Factious and Schismaticks at that time as is plain in many instances and particularly of Privatus and his followers in St. Cyprians time also is to me a farther clear Indication of this thing what a mighty dread and horror they had of this punishment for otherwise what needed they have fled away for the Church had no power to punish them in their Estates or Bodies any other way and therefore had they not feared this they might have stayed and defied all the Church could do to them 4. And fourthly if there be any instance producible of this not being used and these effects following when the party was desperately fallen into sin and yet might be reached It was perhaps for this only reason because they thought Schism a sin so odious and provoking and of such a monstrous guilt that the committer of it scarce came within the compass of common charity his case was hopeless and his sin scarce to be forgiven or prayed for and therefore that he forfeited the charity of the Church in using means for his recovery and those were never to be admitted to the Communion of the Church again who wilfully cut off themselves from it they had given themselves over to Satan in one sense and it was needless for the Church to do it in another And that this is not only a conjecture may be concluded from the great sense that those good