ΕΠΙΔΙΩΡΘΟΣΙΣ OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of CHURCHES In Order to their Through-REFORMATION By THOMAS BOYER Minister at Rempston in Nottinghamshire TIT. 1.5 For this cause left I thee at Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nathaniel Ekins at the Gun in Pauls Church-yard and for Stephen Lincoln in Leicester 1659. To all that wish well to SION Brethren IT being no less necessary to circumstantiate than it is to substantiate our Duty As the Word of God is assistant to us in the one so the works of God are in the other By vertue of this Constellation many have discovered most glorious things How it hath illuminated our English Orb is obvious to every eye It is long since by this means some saw that it was high time for Reformation to be in fashion And the spirits of Gods people have been working this way many a year but the largest contributions towards this work have issued out of the Treasury of those laborious Bees that have returned richly laden from the Wars These have laid us a right foundation and shewed us the Pattern of a compleat Superstructure It s our Interest to build accordingly though many do not Here 's my Mite which I must confess is but very little more than a Breviat of other mens voluminous Essaies but paradventure it may be accepted if not blessed by the Lord and not prejudicial if not beneficial unto you It aims if heart deceive not at his Glory and your good My desire is that it may hit the white If moreover it be as sharp arrows in the heart of the Kings enemies I intreat them not to be offended for corruption had better be let out than gangrenate No more at present but that I am An unworthy servant of Christs for your sakes THOMAS BOYER ΕπιδιοÏθωσις OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of Churches in Order to their Through-Reformation Qu. WHat condition is England visibly in Resp England is visibly in a state of Lukewarmness She is neither hot nor cold She so partakes of both that she cannot be said to be either She is both Gradu remisso and neither Gradu intenso We are a little Christian and a little Heathen or worse a little Protestant and a little Papist or Mahometan Our hearts are stil divided we give God something and our lusts something We fear the Lord and serve our Idols so that our fear of God is equivalent to none at all We are still like Redwald King of the East Saxons the first Prince of this Nation that was baptized In the same place we worship God and set up an Altar Our spirits lie like that Haven Acts 27.12 towards the Southwest and Northwest two opposite points We are half good half bad or Mungrels and Hermaphrodites in Religion There is so much of Luke-warmness in the Nation and almost in every Town and Family if ex ungue leonem that it may thence receive its denomination The spirit of England is not so much a spirit of Opposition to as of Obstruction of the work of Reformation through the deadness unweldiness thereof It s grown so stiff that its much ado to get it go any further on in the work though its pitty hot love should be so soon and sadly cold but usually men when they have compassed their own ends are willing to give themselves a Quietus est and a Writ of ease and to have the infinite Mercies of God totally unanswered and his Glory to himself to vindicate It would rejoyce all our hearts to see any of us mend our pace in Religion and make it appear that we are not guilty of this sinfull distemper It would speak fair for our admission into Churchship in the quality of adult members of the visible Church of Christ Quest Whether is Lukewarmness a state to be rested in or no Resp Lukewarmness is not a state to be rested in Rat. 1. For 1. To halt between two opinions is a very unreasonable thing No Apology can be made for it at the last day 1 Reg. 18.21 2. To be Lukewarm is opposite to Christs express command Rev. 3.19 3. A divided heart is a barren and an empty heart Hos 10.1 2. 4. Professors of a divided and lukewarm temper are severely threatned by God both in the Old and New Testament Hos 10.2 Rev. 3.16 5. Men of that frame can have no Communion with God in Church-Ordinances 1 Cor. 10.21 22. 6. Such a state is opposite to exactness in Religion Through-Reformation and giving up our selves wholly to God and his Truth 7. A Lukewarm-heart cannot let out it self holily to any thing in the world Divided affections cannot run out upon any thing in subordination to the Glory of God nor aim singly at the honor of Christ c. Quest What is England to do in this Condition Resp It s Englands duty in this condition to lay aside all carnal considerations and in an orderly Scriptural way to attempt a Through-Reformation Personal Civil and Ecclesiastical For a divine Correspondency is the best Policy Quest What is Reformation Resp Reformation in the general is a working up of a thing to its regular state and condition or to the very mind of the Owner to what he would have it in his best conception to be Leu. 26.23 Isa 1.25 26 27. Amos 9.11 Mal. 3.2 3. Acts 1.5.16 2 Tim. 3.16 Titus 1.5 Heb 9.10 Quest What is Personal Reformation Resp Personal Reformation is the working up of a person to the regular state of a Reformed Saint Quest What is Civil Reformation Resp Civil Reformation is the working up of a people to the regular state of a Common-wealth Quest What is Ecclesiastical Reformation Resp Ecclesiastical Reformation is the working up of Reformed Saints to the regular state of a Reformed Church Quest What is a Church Resp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church amongst the ancient Greeks especially the Athenians from whom it is taken denoted three things 1. And most properly a Civil Society in Court or a company of great ones gathered together by a lawfull Authority or the Command of the Supream Magistrate for a Politique end or the good of the Common-wealth Act. 19.39 thus a Parliament or Councel of State is a Church 2. It denotes a Company of people called and met together by whom and for what cause soever though the Gatherer have no Authority and the gathered as little knowledge c. Act. 19.32 Thus a company of the most covetous and ignorant Mechanicks are a Church 3. It signifies a Company met together for wicked ends Act. 19.40 thus a company of Riotors are a Church Resp 2. Secondly During the Raign of Anti-Christ four things have been abusively called a Church 1. A Company of people joyned together by the Power of Anti-Christ to give obedience to his Traditions
trade not with the man of sin in the depths of Satan to take away the tenth at least of them as well as from them Quest Wherein doth the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel differ Resp Matter is that of which a thing is made and doth exist 2. Visible Saints are the matter of all true Churches of God 3. Being visibly in covenant with God hath ever been the critical Badge of visible Saints All those and those only are to be esteemed and used as visible Saints and Gods peculiar that God hath made a promise of himself unto and taken into covenant with himself 4. The terms upon which God hath made over himself to mankind are very various He promised himself upon one condition to man in the state of innocency upon another to him when faln upon a third to Abraham c. upon a fourth to Moses c. upon a fifth to those adult persons that lived under the Gospel and upon a sixth to their children respectively during their minority 5. The difference betwixt the matter of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon his various administration of his covenant or his promising and applying himself to mankind upon various terms and conditions 6. Upon this account the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel do differ For 1. Before Christ came in the flesh God had freely tyed himself to his people by an external Covenant of grace or promise of himself unto them 2. In the beginning of the Gospel God altered that and made a new Will Testament or Covenant 3. The whole world thereupon was as it were dissolved and void of visible Saints both Jews and Gentiles were for a time deserted by God for he was not visibly obliged to mankind in that pinch of time none of those that were his peculiar people before could now challenge a particular Interest in him by vertue of his ancient Promise to Abraham though often confirmed in a solemn manner now indefinitely in force during that Dispensation or untill they do personally accept of the new covenant or Gods promise of himself upon new conditions Mar. 1. 4. The world lying in this miserable condition God tendered himself again unto it in his new Instrument or covenant of Peace and Reconciliation by the publike Ministry of John the Baptist Christ and his Apostles and their assistants and successors 5. Many Adult persons did thereupon accept of him accordingly 6. All Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children were restored to their visible Interest in God again or vested with an Interest in God by vertue of his free grant promise or covenant which as before only and solely gives a right unto himself and to the glorious things of the Gospel 7. Those visible Saints were the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel 8. Most of those visible Saints did visibly apostatize from their acceptance of God upon those new Terms 9. To those visible Saints so apostatized God still tendered himself by his Ministers but upon higher terms Apoc. 2. 3. 10. All and only those Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children having alwayes been legally in them and one with them by the fundamental Laws of God were confirmed in or restored to their visible Interest in God again 11. All and only those visible Saints are the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel So that the difference betwixt the matter of Reformed Churches and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel lies mainly in these two points Conclu 1. Adult persons who were the first and greatest part of the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel were not under the new Gospel-covenant during their minority But adult persons who also were and are the first and major part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel either were interested in the new covenant during their Infancy or rejected together with their parents for their non-improvement of the means of Grace ordained by Christ Conclu 2. Adult persons who are the first and greatest part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel or the body and Representative of it are both more extensive and more intensive in the performance of the conditions of the new covenant then the Adult matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel was Object But our Antiministerialists say that none can be in Covenant with God during their minority Resp It may be so It s very probable that they do hold that babes can have no interest in God by promise c. and if so it is the fountain of all their visible extravagancies and is it self fed by these and other hellish atheistical and antichristian opinions and principles of darkness 1. That they may make the light within them their Suprema Lex 2. That God cannot make a Law without mans consent 3. That to esteem of and use any one as legally in another is unjust and illegal 4. That Infants are utterly uncapable of free grace c. Object Our Antiministerialists are so far from requiring more of Adult persons who are the only matter of their Churches Sensu praedicto than was required of adult persons that were the matter of the first constituted Churches under the Gospel inclusively that they do not require so much Resp Through-conformity to the Gospel is not consistent e ther with their principles or designs 2. Christ hath not sent them either to plant his Churches or reform them and therefore it is no wonder if they go not the way to either 3. They are so far from being Primi perturbatae collapsaeque Ecclesiae restauratores mensuraque reliquorum that their practice is no President nor their work no Rule to Reforming Ministers in the least 4. What ever may be said de regulis regulatis Christs seven Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia are the Supreme Regula regulans of all Church-reformation under the Gospel 5. In those Epistles such matter of Reformed Churches of Christ is required as is before mentioned Quest What difference is there betwixt the form of a Reformed Church and the form of the first planted Churches under the Gospel Resp A Form is an internal cause by which a thing is what it is 2. The mutual consent and agreement of visible Saints to walk towards God and one another respectively according to the Rules of Gods Word is the form of all the true Churches of God 3. God according to the good pleasure of his Will and the variety of his Saints conditions did successively give several Rules of Church-communion 4. The difference that there is betwixt the form of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon that variety of Divine Dispensation 5. Upon this account there is a difference
He hath given them vast instruction how to do it And 4. What do they import save Reformation 3. As it is the great glory of God to Institute and plant Churches for the Edification of his people that his special presence may be amongst them before their apostacy c. So it is the greatest glory of Christ to reform his Churches that his Presence may continue amongst them after their apostacy and defection c. For 1. Herein he delivers them from the great removeable evils that are on earth And 2. Gives them the most glorious things that are on earth communicable de quibus infra 4. It is the most incomparable state of man on earth In a Thoughly-Reformed state after Christian Apostacy the Saints and Churches of Christ are in the greatest glory that ever they will be in on earth When this Dispensation is ended that in Heaven will immediatly succeed it and continue for ever Quest But who is it that makes such a Preservation the end of his Reformation Resp If we may Judge of mens ends by their actings men of such a spirit are very rare 2. The grand enquiry is not about mens ends but Gods 3. God doth not make mans life his Law 4. In the Reformation of Christian Churches its evident that he aymes at their Preservation inclusively whether men do or not 5. Men ought to use Gods means for Gods ends It s both their duty honour and safety 6. It proceeds from want of Grace in those that do not and is not commendable in the least 7. It concerns us to take heed of being led by ungodly guides Object There be other means to preserve the Churches of Christ Resp 1. Whatever our ends be Gods way to them is the best 2. God hath prescribed Reformation as the way to the Preservation of Churches Leviticus 26.23 c. 3. The Experience of all Ages testifies and convinceth that it is so and the only soveraign Antidote against desolation 4. It s compounded of all the saving Spirituals that are in the World 5. Those other wayes and means are but of humane Invention 6. They are used by Worldly Wise men or carnal Polititians 7. It is not to be expected by Christians that Christ will by them secure his Churches from ruin and desolation but that 8. Where Christian Reformation is not practised mens Ecclesiastical and Spiritual if not their civil and temporal estates and Interests will languish and come to nothing notwithstanding Leviticus 26. c. Wherefore 9. Prudens O tale Caveto Object I see no necessity at all of preserving of Christian Churches Resp 1. The Instituted Churches of Christ are scituated directly in our way to the full fruition of God in Heaven according to Scriptures 2. The continuance of them is absolutely necessary for all those that travel thither 3. They that are travelling to Heaven do discover this necessity 4. The Gospel is hid from all the rest 2 Corin. 4.3 5. The Objection savours very strongly of Atheism and Antiscripturism unbelief and Antichristianism and therefore 6. Those whose spirits appear to be fraught with it must be left to the Judgement of God For 1. Contra negantem principia non est disputandum 2. The Apostle Paul desires the Church to pray for himself and his assistants and successors that they may be delivered from men of such a spirit 2 Thessal 1.1.3.1 2. 3. He commands his Successors in the Ministry 1. To withdraw from such 1 Timothy 6.5 2. To rebuke them sharply Titus 1.13 3. To reject such an one Titus 3.10 4. To turn away from such 2. Tim. 3.5 4. He charges the Churches 1. To let them be anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 2. To avoid them Romans 16.17 3. To let them be accursed Gal. 1.8 9. 5. He himself did actually Excommunicate such 1 Timothy 1. 19 20. 6. The Apostle John adviseth the Saints 1. That they receive not such an one into their houses 2. That they bid him not God-speed 2 John 10. 7. Le ts not trust our own hearts in the Gospel Quest What difference is there betwixt the Properties of Reformed Churches and the Properties of the first planted Churches under the Gospel Resp 1. In general Properties properly are beings that are not of but follow or flow from the essences of their first and next Subjects 2. All Properties are Proportionable to the Essences from which they flow 3. In particular 1. The Churches of God are Essentially the most glorious things in the world and therefore 2. They have the most glorious Properties that are in the world Yet 3. The Essentials of the Churches of God having been sometimes more sometimes less glorious the Properties of them have accordingly been sometimes more sometimes less glorious 4. More particularly 1. The Churches Work and necessity being very various And 2. Greater in times of Reformation than at the first Plantation of Churches God communicated himself to them accordingly So that 5. The Essences of Reformed Churches being more glorious than the Essences of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel The Properties of Reformed Churches are also more glorious than the Properties of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel to instance 1. The members of the first Planted Churches could give much but the members of Reformed Churches can give more for a visible Interest in God They can give more glorious Evidences of their saving conversion and Union with Christ 1. They can make a more express profession of their assent to the truth of the Gospel in general 2. They can extend that profession more particulary to the grand Fundamentals of the Gospel The Messiah is come by owning of it distinctly in the parts thereof 3. They can exert more Acts of Faith and Repentance 4. They can engage themselves more gloriously to continue therein and to walk in all other things also according to the Scriptures and not otherwise 2. The first Planted Churches under the Gospel could walk according to Gospel Rules of Church-Communion but Reformed Churches can conform to them more compleatly and exactly 1. They can glorifie God more 2. They can edifie one another more And 3. They can contribute more towards the Salvation of those that are without Whether they be Infidels Heathen Or Christian Scattered Saints Unreformed Churches or Sauable Apostates 1. By the Doctrinal and practical holding forth of the Word of Life 2. By defending of it And 3. By offending the enemies thereof Such Power is most properly proper to Reformed Churches under the Gospel Quest What difference is there betwixt the practises of the Reformed Churches and the practises of the first Planted Churches under the Gospel Resp As all Properties are proportionable to the Essences so all practises are proportionable to the Properties from which they flow and therefore 1. The Practises of Reformed Churches are the most glorious practises in the World 2 In particular 1. The Members of the Reformed Churches of Christ give most for a visible