Q. 121. May a Minister pray publickly in his own name singly for himself or others or only in the Churches name as their mouth to God ibid. Q. 122. May the name Priests Sacrifice and Altar be lawfully now used instead of Christs Ministers Worship and the Holy Table p. 882 Q. 123. May the Communion Table be turned Altar-wise and Railed in And is it lawful to come up to the Rails to communicate p. 882 Q. 124. Is it lawful to use David's Psalms in our Assemblies p. 883 Q. 125. May Psalms be used as prayers and praises and Thanksgivings or only as Instructive Even the Reading as well as the singing of them ibid. Q. 126. Are our Church-Tunes Lawful being of mans invention p. 884 Q. 127. Is Church Musick by Organs or such Instruments Lawful ibid. Q. 128. Is the Lords day a Sabbath and so to be called and kept and that of Divine institution And is the seventh day Sabbath abrogated c p. 885 Q. 129. Is it Lawful to appoint humane Holy dayes and observe them ibid. Q. 130. How far is the holy Scriptures a Law and perfect Rule to us p. 886 Q. 131. What Additions or humane Inventions in or about Religion not commanded in Scripture are Lawful or Unlawful p. 887 Q. 132. Iâ— it unlawful to obey in all thâ—se cases where it is unlawful to impose and command or in what cases And how far Pastors must be believed and obeyed p. 888 Q. 133. What are the additions or inventions of mâ—n which are not fâ—rbidden by the Word of God whether by Rulers or by private men invented p. 889 Q 134. What are the mischiefs of unlawful Additions in Religion p. 891 Q. 135. What are the mischiefs of mens errour on the other extream who pretend that Scripture is a Rule where it is not and deny the aforesaid lawful things on pretence that Scripture is a perfect Rule say some for all things p. 892 Q. 136. How shall we know what parts of Scripture precept or example were intended for universal constant obligation and what were but for the time and persons that they were then directed to p. 893 Q. 137. How much of the Scripture is necessary to salvation to be believed and understood p. 894 Q. 138. How may we know the Fundamentals Essentials or what parts are necessary to salvation And is the Papists way allowable that some of them deny that distinction and make the difference to be only in the degrees of mans opportunities of knowledge p 895 Q 139. What is the use and Authority of the Creed And is it of the Apostles framing or not And is it the Word of God or not p 896 Q 140. What is the use of Catechisms p. 897 Q. 141. Could any of us have known by the Scriptures alone the Essentials of Religion from the rest if tradition had not given them to us in the Creed as from Apostolical Collection ibid. Q. 142. What is the best method of a true Catechism or sum of Theologie p. 898 Q. 143. What is the use of various Church-Confessions or Articles of faith ibid. Q. 144. May not the subscribing of the whole Scriptures serve turn for all the foresaid ends without Creeds Catechisms or Confessions ibid. Q. 145. May a man be saved that believeth all the Essentials of Religion as coming to him by verbal Tradition and not as câ—ntained in the Holy Scriptures which perhaps he never knew p. 899 Q 146. Is the Scripture fit for all Christians to read being so obscure ibid. Q. 147. How far is Tradition and mens words and Ministry to be used or truâ—â—ed in in the exercise of faith p. 900 Q 148. How knâ—w we the true Canon of Scripture from Apocrypha ibid. Q. 149. Is the publick Reading of the Scripture the proper wâ—rk of the Minister or may a Lay man ordinarily do it or another officer p. 901 Q 150. Is it Lawful to Read the Apocrypha or any good Books besides the Scriptures to the Church as â—omiliâ—s c ibid. Q 151. May Church Assemblies be held where there is no Minister or what publick Worship may be so performed by Lâ—y men As among Inâ—idels or Papists where persecutiâ—n haâ—h killed imprisoned or expelled the Ministry p. 902 Q. 152. Is it Lawful to subscribe or profess full assent and consent to any religious Books besides the Scriptures seeing all men are fallible ibid. Q. 153. May we lawfully Swear obedience in all things lawful and honest either to Usurpers or to our Lawful Pastors ibid. Q. 154. Must all our Preaching be upon some Text of Scripture p. 904 Q. 155. Is not the Law of Moses abrogated and the whâ—le Old Testament out of date and therefore not to be Read publickly and Preached ibid. Q. 156. Must we believe that Moses Law did ever bind other Nations or that any other parts of the Scripture bound them or belonged to them or that the Iews were all Gods visible Church on earth p. 905 Q. 157. Must we think accordingly of the Christian Churches nâ—w that they are only advanced above the rest of the World as the Iews were but not the only people that are saved p. 906 Q. 158. Should not Christians take up with Scripture wisdom only without studying Philosophy or other Heathens humane Learning p. 907 Q. 159. If we think that Scripture and the Law of Nature are in any point contradictory to each other Which must be the standard by which the other must be tryed p. 908 Q. 160. May we not look that God should yet give us more Revelations of his will than there are already made in Scripture ibid. Q. 161. Iâ— not a third Rule of the Holy Ghost or perfecter Kingdom of Love to be expected as different from the Reign of the Creator and Redeemer p. 909 Q. 162. May we not look for Miracles hereafter p. 910 Q. 163. Is the Scripture to be tryed by the spirit or the Spirit by the Scripture and which of them is to be preferred ibid. Q. 164. How is a pretended Prophet or Revelation to be tryed p. 911 Q. 165 May one be saved who believeth that the Scripture hath any mistake or errours and believeth it not all ibid. Q. 166. Who be they that give too little to the Scriptures and who too much and what is the danger of each extream p. 912 Q. 167. How far do good men now Preach and pray by the spirit p. 913 Q. 168. Are not our own Reasons studies memory strivings Books Forms Methods and Ministry needless yea a hurtful quenching or preventing of the Spirit and setting up our own instead of the spirits operations p. 914 Q. 169. How doth the Holy Ghost set Bishops over the Churches p. 914 Q. 170. Are Temples Fonts Utensils Church-Lands much more the Ministry holy and What reverence is due to them as holy p. 915 Q. 171. What is Sacriledge and what not p. 916 Q. 172. Are all Religious private-meetings forbidden by Rulers unlawful Conventicles or are
those doctrines against which no Minister shall be allowed to preach and according to which he is to instruct the people 3. To be a testimony to all neighbour or forreign Churches in an heterodox contentious and suspicious age how we understand the Scriptures for the Confuting of scandals and unjust suspicions and the maintaining Communion in Faith and Charity and Doctrine Quest. 144. May not the Subscribing of the whole Scriptures serve turn for all the foresaid ends without Creeds Catechisms or Confessions Answ. BY Subscribing to the Scriptures you mean either Generally and Implicitly that All in them is True and Good though perhaps you know not what is in it Or else particularly and explicitly that every point in it is by you both understood and believed to be true In the first sense it is not sufficient to salvation For this Implicite faith hath really no act in it but a Belief that all that God faith is true which is only the formal object of faith and is no more than to believe that there is a God for a Lyar is not a God And this he may do who never believed in Christ or a word of Scripture as not taking it to be Gods Word yea that will not believe that God forbiddeth his beastly life Infidels ordinarily go thus far In the second sense of an explicite or particular Actual belief the belief of the whole Scriture is enough indeed and more than any man living can attain to No man understandeth all the Scripture Therefore that which no man hath is not to be exacted of all men or any man in order to Ministration or Communion While 1. No man can subscribe to any one Translation of the Bible that it is not faulty being the work of defectible man 2. And few have such acquaintance with the Hâ—brew and Chaldee and Greek as to be able to say that they understand the Original Languages perfectly 2. And no man that understands the words doth perfectly understand the matter It followeth that no man is to be forced or urged to subscribe to all things in the Scriptures as particularly understood by him with an Explicite faith And an Implicite is not half enough 2. The true Mean therefore is the antient way 1. To select the Essentials for all Christians to be believed particularly and explicitely 2. To Collect certain of the most needful Integrals which Teachers shall not preach against 3. And for all men moreover to profess in General that they implicitely believe all which they can discern to be the holy Canonical Scripture and that all is true which is the Word of God Forbearing each other even about the number of Canonical Books and Texts And it is the great wisdom and mercy of God which hath so ordered it that the Scripture shall 1 Cor. 8. 1 2. 13. 1 2 3 4. 1 Cor. 8. 3. Rom. 8. 28. have enough to exercise the strongest and yet that the weakest may be ignorant of the meaning of a thousand sentences without danger of damnation so they do but understand the Marrow or Essentials and labour faithfully to increase in the knowledge of the rest Quest. 145. May not a man be saved that believeth all the Essentials of Religion as Coming to him by Verbal Tradition and not as contained in the holy Scriptures which perhaps he never knew Answ. 1. HE that believeth shall be saved which way ever he cometh by his belief So be it it be sound as to the object and act that is If it contain all the Essentials and they be predominantly Believed Loved and practised 2. The Scriptures being the Records of Christs Doctrine delivered by Himself his Spirit and his Apostles it is the Office of Ministers and the duty of all Instructers to open these Scriptures to those they teach and to deliver particulars upon the authority of these Inspired sealed Records which contain them 3. They that thus receive particular truths from a Teacher explaining the Scripture to them do receive them in a subordination to the Scripture Materially and as to the Teachers part though not formally and as to their own part And though the Scripture authority being not understood by them be not the formal object of their faith but only Gods authority in general 4. They that are ignorant of the being of the Scripture have a great disadvantage to their faith 5. Yet we cannot say but it may be the case of thousands to be saved by the Gospel delivered by Tradition without resolving their faith into the authority of the Scriptures For 1. This was the case of all the Christians as to the New Testament who lived before it was written And there are several Articles of the Creed now necessary which the Old Testament doth not reveal Matth. 16. 16. Rom. 10. 9 10 13 14 15. 2. This may be the case of thousands in Ignorant Countreys where the Bible being rare is to most unknown 3. This may be the case of thousands of Children who are taught their Creed and Catechism before they understand what the Bible is 4. This may be the case of thousands among the Papists where some perverse Priests do keep not only the Reading but the Knowledge of the Scriptures from the people for fear lest they should be taught to resolve their faith into it and do teach them only the Articles of Faith and Catechism as known by the Churches tradition alone Quest. 146. Is the Scripture fit for all Christians to read being so obscure Answ. 1. THe Essentials and points necessary to salvation are plain 2. We are frequently and vehemently commanded to delight in it and meditate John 5. 39. Psalm 1. 2. Deut. 6. 11. Psal. 19. 7 8 9 10 11. 2 Tim. 3. 15. Psal. 119. 98 105. 133. 148. Acts 17. 11. Acts 8. in it day and night to search it to teach it our very children speaking of it at home and abroad lying down and rising up and to write it on the posts of our houses and on our doors c. 3. It is suited to the necessity and understanding of the meanest to give light to the simple and to make the very foolish wise 4. The antient Fathers and Christians were all of this mind 5. All the Christian Churches of the world have been used to Read it openly to all even to the simplest And if they may Hear it they may Read the same words which they hear 6. God blessed the ignorant Ethiopian Eunuch when he found him Reading the Scriptures though he knew not the sense of what he read and sent him Philip to instruct him and convert him 7. Timothy was educated in the knowledge of the Scriptures in his childhood 2 Tim. 3. 15. Rom. 15. 4. Mat. 12. 24. 8. That which is written to and for all men may be read by all that can But the Scripture was written to and for all c. Object But there are many things in it hard to be understood Answ.
the Love of God we must be content to be shut out from the Love of God § 47. Inst. 9. Thus also the vulgar separate the Mercy and the Iustice of God! As if God knew Instance 9. not better than man to whom his mercy should extend And as if God be not merciful if he will be a righteous Governour and unless he will suffer all the world to spit in his face and blaspheme him and let his enemies go all unpunished § 48. Inst. 10. Thus many separate Threatnings and Promises Fear and Love a perfect Law and a pardonining Instance 10. Gospel As if he that is a man and hath both fear and Love in his nature must not make use of both for God and his salvation and the Law-giver might not fit his Laws to work on both As if Hell may not be feared and Heaven loved at once § 49. Inst. 11. Thus hypocrites separate in conceit their seeming Holiness and devotion to God from Instance 11. duties of Iustice and Charity to men As if they could serve God acceptably and disobey him wilfully Or as if they could love him whom they never saw and not love his Image in his works and children whom they daily see As if they could hate and persecute Christ in his little ones or at least neglect him and yet sincerely love him in himself § 50. Inst. 12. Thus by many Scripture and Tradition Divine faith and humane faith are commonly Instance 12. opposed Because the Papists have set Tradition is a wrong place many cast it away because it fits not that place When mans Tradition and Ministerial Revelation is necessary to make known and bring down Gods Revelation to us And a subservient Tradition is no disparagement to Scripture though a supplemental Tradition be And man must be believed as man though not as God! And he that will not believe man as man shall scarce know what he hath to believe from God § 51. Inst. 13. Thus many separate the sufficiency of the Law and Rule from the usefulness of an Instance 13. Officer Minister and Iudge As if the Law must be imperfect or else need no Execution and no Iudge for execution Or as if the Iudges execution were a supplement or addition to the Law As if the Question Who shall be the Iudge Did argue the Law of insufficiency and the promulgation and execution were not supposed § 52. Inst. 14. Thus also many separate the necessity of a publick Iudge from the lawfulness and Instance 14. necessity of a private judgement or discerning in all the rational subjects As if God and man did govern only Brutes or we could obey a Law and not judge it to be a Law and to be obeyed and not understand the sense of it and what it doth command us As if fools and mad men were the only subjects As if our learning of Christ as his Disciples and meditating day and night in his Law and searching for Wisdom in his Word were a disobeying him as our King As if it were a possible thing for subjects to obey without a private judgement of discretion Or as if there were any repugnancy between my judging what is the Kings Law and his judging whether I am punishable for disobeying it or as if judging our selves contradicted our being judged of God! § 53. Inst. 15. So many separate between the operation of the Word and Spirit the Minister and Instance 15. Christ As if the Spirit did not usually work by the Word and Christ did not preach to us by his Ministers and Embassadors And as if they might despise his Messengers and not be taken for despisers of himself Or might throw away the dish and keep the milk § 54. Inst. 16. Thus many separate the special Love of Saints from the common Love of man as man Instance 16. As if they could not Love a Saint unless they may hate an enemy and despise all others and deny them the Love which is answerable to their Natural Goodness § 55. Inst. 17. Thus many separate Universal or Catholick Union and Communion from particular Instance 17. And some understand no Communion but the Universal and some none but the particular Some say we separate from them as to Catholick Communion if we hold not local particular Communion with them yea if we joyn not with them in every mode As if I could be personally in ten thousand thousand Congregations at once or else did separate from them all Or as if I separated from all mankind if I differed from all men in my visage or complexion Or as if I cannot be absent from many thousand Churches and yet honour them as true Churches of Christ and hold Catholick communion with them in Faith Hope and Love Yea though I durst not joyn with them personally in Worship for fear of some sinful condition which they impose Or as if I need not be a member of any ordered worshipping Congregation because I have a Catholick faith and Love to all the Christians in the world § 56. Inst. 18. Thus are the outward and inward worship separated by many who think that all Instance 18. which the Body performeth is against the due spirituality or that the spirituality is but fansie and contrary to the form or outward part As if the heart and the knee may not fitly bow together nor decency of order concur with Spirit and truth § 57. Inst. 19. Thus many separate faith and obedience Pauls Iustification by faith without the Instance 19. works of the Law from Iames's Iustification by works and not by faith only and Christs Justification by our words Matth. 12. 37. And thus they separate free Grace and Iustification from any necessary condition and from the rewardableness of obedience which the Antients called Merit But of this at large elsewhere § 58. Inst. 20. And many separate Prudence and zeal meekness and resolution the wisdom of the Instance 20. Serpent and the innocency of the Dove yielding to no sin and yet yielding in things lawful maintaining our Christian liberty and yet becoming all things to all men if by any means we may save some These Instances are enow I will add no more § 59. Direct 18. Take heed of falling into factions and parties in Religion be the party great or Direct 18. small high or low in honour or dishonour and take heed lest you be infected with a factious censorious uncharitable hurting zeal For these are much contrary to the interest Will and Spirit of Christ Therefore among all your readings deeply suck in the doctrine of charity and peace and read much Reconciling moderating Authors Such as Drury Hall Davenant Crocius Bergius Martinius Amyraldus Dallaeus Testardus Calixtus Hottonus Junius Paraeus and Burroughs their Irenicons § 60. The reading of such Books extinguisheth the consuming flame of that infernal envious zeal described Iames 3. and kindleth charity and meekness and mellowness and
1. And there are many things easie to be understood 2. We never said that men should not use the help of their Teachers and all that they can to understand it 3. Were not those Teachers once ignorant And yet they did read it by the help of Teachers And so may others 4. As the King for Concord commandeth all the Schoolmasters to teach one Grammar So God makeeth it the Ministers Office to Instruct people in the Scriptures And were it not a question unworthy of a Schoolmaster to dispute Whether the Scholars must learn by their Book or by their Master Yea to conclude that it must be by their Master and not by their Book or that they must never open their Book but when their Master is just at hand to teach them The Doctrine of the Papists who tell us that the Scriptures should not be read by the Vulgar it being the rise of all Heresies is so inhumane and impious as savouring of gross enmity to Scriptures and to knowledge that were there no other it would make the Lovers of Religion and mens souls to pray earnestly to Christ to save his flocks from such seducers who so Jewishly use the Key of Knowledge Object But many wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction and what Heresie is not defended as 2 Pet. 3. 1â— Psal. 19. 3 8 9 10. 2 Tim. 3. 16. â— Pet. 1. 23. by their authority Answ. 1. And many thousands receive saving knowledge and grace by them The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. All Scripture is profitable to instruction c. to make the man of God perfect It is the incorruptible seed by which we are born again and the sincere milk by which we are nourished 2. And is it not as true 1. That the Law of the Land is abused by every false pretender Lawyer and Corrupt Judge What title so bad that is not defended in Westminster Hâ—ll sometimes under pretence of Law And what action so bad that some pretend not Law for What then Must the Law be forbidden the common people for this 2. Nay what is so much abused to unrighteousness and sin as Reason it self What Heresie or Crime do not men plead Reason for Must Reason therefore be forbidden the Vulgar 3. Yea Contrarily this signifieth that Law and Reason are so far from being things to be forbidden men that they are indeed those things by which Nature and Necessity have taught all the world to try and discern right from wrong good from bad Otherwise good and bad men would not all thus agree in pretending to them and appealing to their decisions 4. If many men are poysoned or killed in eating or drinking If many mens eye sight is abused to mislead them unto sin c. the way is not to eat nothing but what is put into our mouths nor to put out our eyes or wink and be led only by a Priest but to use both the more cautiously with the best advise and help that we can get 5. And do not these Deceivers see that their Reason pleadeth as strongly that Priests and Prelates themselves should never read the Scripture and consequently that it should be banished out of the world For who that is awake in the world can be ignorant that it is Priests and Prelates who have been the Leaders of almost all Heresies and Sects who differ in their Expositions and opinions and lead the Vulgar into all the Heresies which they fall into Who then should be forbidden to read the Scripture but Priests and Prelates who wrest them to their own and other mens destruction Quest. 147. How far is Tradition and mens Words and Ministry to be used or trusted in in the exercise of faith Answ. 1. THe Churches and Ministers received the Gospel in Scripture from the Apostles and Heb. 2. 3 4. 2 Pet. 1. 17 18 19 20 21. 2 John 1. 1 1 3 4 5. 4. 6. 2 Tim. 2. 2. Titus 1. 5. the Creed as the summary of faith And they delivered it down to others and they to us 2. The Ministers by Office are the Instructers of the people in the meaning of it And the keepers of the Scriptures as Lawyers are of the Laws of the Land Quest. 148. How know we the true Canon of Scripture from Apocrypha Answ. BY these means set together 1. There is for the most part a special venerable excellency in the Books themselves which helpeth us in the distinct reception of them 2. The Tradition of infallible Church History telleth us which Books they are which were written by men inspired by the Holy Ghost and who sealed their Doctrine with Miracles in those times It being but matter of fact which Books such men wrote whom God bear witness to infallible Church History such as we have to know which are the Statutes of the Land and which are counterfeit is a sufficient notification and proof 3. The sanctifying Spirit still in all Ages and Christians attesteth the Divinity and Truth of the Doctrine of the main body of the Bible especially the Gospel And then if we should err about the authority of a particular Book it would not overthrow our Faith It is not necessary to salvation to believe this particular Text to be Divine But it is sin and folly to doubt causelesly of the parts when the Spirit attesteth the Doctrine and the Body of the Book I pass these things briefly because I have largelier handled them elsewhere Quest. 149. Is the publick Reading of the Scripture the proper work of a Minister or may a Lay-man ordinarily do it or another Officer Answ. 1. IN such cases as I before shewed that a Lay-man may preach he may also Read the Scriptures Of which look back 2. No doubt but it is a work well beseeming the ordained Ministers or Pastors and an integral part of their Office and should not be put off by them when they can do it 3. When they need help the Deacons are ordained Ministers authorized to help them in such work and fittest to do it 4. Whether in a case of necessity a Lay-man may not ordinarily Read the Scripture to the Congregation is a Case that I am loth to determine being loth to suppose such a necessity But if the Minister cannot and there be no Deacon I cannot prove it unlawful for a Lay-man to do it under the direction of the Pastor I lived sometime under an old Minister of about eighty years of age who never preached himself whose eye sight failing him and having not maintenance to keep an assistant he did by Memory say the Common-prayer himself and got a Taylor one year and a Thresher or poor day-labourer another year to Read all the Scriptures Whether that were not better than nothing I leave to consideration And I think it is commonly agreed on that where there is no Minister it is better for the people to meet and hear a Lay-man Read the Scriptures and some good Books
to it 14. To defend the cause of the just and innocent and vindicate them against false accusers and excuse those causes and persons that deserve excuse 15. To communicate and convey to others the same good impressions and affections of mind which God hath wrought on us and not only the bare truths themselves which we have received 16. Lastly To be instruments of common converse of expressing our mutual affections and respects and transacting all our worldly business for learning arts manufactures c. These are the Uses and Duties of the Tongue § 11. Direct 3. Understand and remember what are the sins of the Tongue to be avoided And they Direct 3. are very many and many of them very great The most observable are these The sins of the Tongue § 12. 1. Not to say any more of the sins of omission because it is easie to know them when I have named the Duties which are done or omitted among the sins of Commission the first that I shall name is Blasphemy as being the greatest which is the Reproaching of God to speak contemptuously of God or to vilifie him or dishonour him by the denying of his perfections and to debase him by false Titles Doctrines Images Resemblances as likening him to man in any of our imperfections any thing that is a Reproaching of God is Blasphemy Such as Rabshakeh used when he threatned Hezekiah and such as Infidels and Hereticks use when they deny his Omnipresence Omniscience Government Justice particular Providence or Goodness and affirm any evil of him as that he is the author of sin or false of his word or that he governeth the world by meer deceit or the like § 13. 2. Another sin of the Tongue is false Doctrine or teaching things false and dangerous as from God If any falsly say he had such or such a point by Divine Inspiration Vision or Revelation that maketh him a false Prophet But if he only say falsly that this or that Doctrine is contained in the Scripture or delivered by tradition to the Church this is but to be a false Teacher which is a sin greater or less according to the aggravations hereafter mentioned § 14. 3. Another of the sins of the Tongue is an opposing of Godliness indirectly by false application of true Doctrine and an opposing of godly persons for the sake of godliness and cavelling against particular truths and duties of Religion or indirectly opposing the Truth or duty under pretence of opposing only some controverted mode or imperfection in him that speaketh or performeth it A defending of those points and practices which would subvert or undermine Religion A secret endeavour to make all serious godliness seem a needless thing There are many that seem Orthodox that are impious and malicious opposers of that Truth in the application which themselves do notionally hold and positively profess § 15. 4. Another great sin of the Tongue is the prophane deriding of serious Godliness and the mocking and jeasting and scorning at godly persons as such or scorning at some of their real or supposed imperfections for their piety sake to make them odious that piety through them might be made odious When men so speak that the drift and tendency of their speech is to draw men to a dislike of Truth or holiness and their mocks or scorns at some particular opinion or practice or more doth tend to the contempt of Religion in the serious practice of it When they mock at a Preacher of the Gospel for some expressions or imperfections or for truth it self to bring him and his doctrine into contempt or at the Prayers and Speeches of Religious persons to the injury of Religion § 16. 5. Another great sin of the Tongue is unjustly to Forbid Christs Ministers to preach his Gospel or speak in his Name or to stand up against them and contradict resist and hinder them in the preaching of the truth and as Gamaliel calls it to fight against God Acts 5. 39. Yet thus they did by the Apostles v. 40. When they had called the Apostles and beaten them they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Iesus and let them go So Acts 4. 18 19. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the Name of Iesus But Peter and John answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard 1 Thess. 2. 15 16. Who bâ—th killed the Lord Iesus and their own Prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrary to all men Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost As Dr. Hammond Paraphraseth it And this generally is the ground of their quarrell to us that in spight of their prohibition we preach to the Gentiles § 17. 6. Another sin of the Tongue is Prophane swearing either by God or by Creatures And also all light and unreverent use of the Name and Attributes of God of which more afterwards § 18. 7. Much more is Perjury or Fâ—rswearing a most heinous sin it being an appealing to God the author and defender of Truth to bear witness to an untruth and to judge the offender and so a craving of Vengeance from God § 19. 8. Lying also is a great and common sin of the Tongue of which more anon § 20. 9. Another sin of the Tongue is hypocritical dissembling which is worse than meer lying when mens tongues agree not with their hearts but speak good words in prayer to God or conference with men to cover evil intentions or affections and to represent themselves to the hearers as better than they are § 21. 10. Another is Ostentation or proud boasting either of mens wit and learning or greatness Quod facere instituâ—s noli praedicare nam si facere nequiveâ—is rideberis Pâ—ttaâ—â— Sâ—â—t in Laâ—â—t or riches or honour or strength or beauty or parts or piety or any thing that men are proud of As the faithful do make their boast in God Psal. 34. 2. Psal. 44. 8. and in the Cross of Christ by which they are crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. So the covetous boast themselves in the multitude of their riches Psal. 49. 6. and the workers of iniquity boast themselves against the righteous and the proud do triumph and speak hard things Psal. 94. 2 3 4. Even against the Lord do they boast in their boasting against his people Ezek. 35. 13. So far as Pride prevaileth with men they are apt to boast themselves to be some body Acts 5. 36. Either openly as the more foolish do or cunningly by the help of fair pretences as the more ingenious proud ones do § 22. 11. Another sin of the Tongue is unseasonable speaking of common things when
of the world III. If laying the hand on the Book and Kissing it be unlawful for any special matter or manner forbidden more than other significant acts it is for some of the reasons named by you which now I will answer I. Object It savoureth of the Romish superstition Answ. 1. Not at all Prove that if you can 2. Superstition is the feigning of things to be Pleasing or Displeasing to God which are not and using or disusing them accordingly whatever be the Etymologie of the word Superstitum Cultus or supra Statutum c. it is certain that the common use of it among Heathens as Plutark at large and Christians was for an erroneous undue fear of God thinking this or that was displeasing or pleasing to him to be done or to be avoided which was not so but was the conceit of a frightned mistaking mind Therefore to say that God is displeased with this signification of the mind when it is not so nor can be proved is superstition And this is not the solitary instance of Satans introducing superstition under pretense of avoiding superstition 3. The sense of the Law is to be judged of by the Law and by the notorious doctrine and profession of the Law-makers and of the Land which here renounceth the superstitious use of it But I confess I was more afraid that the Papists had too much derogated from the Scripture than given too much to it And they profess that they swear not by a creature Vid. Perer. ubi sup in Gen. 24. 2. Object But Paraeus c. in Gen. 24. 2. saith Non absque superstitione fit cum super crucifixum aut codicem Evangelii digitis impositis juratur ut fit in Papatu Answ. 1. But that same Act which in Papatu is superstitious because of superstitious conceits and ends is not so in all others that have none such 2. It is no new thing to be quick in accusing our adversaries But Paraeus addeth not a syllable of proof And if he had it must have been such as toucht not us or else invalid Object Some good men have scrupled it Answ. 1. Ten thousand to one such have not scrupled it 2. They are not our Gods nor Law 3. The Quakers and the old Anabaptists and they say Origen scrupled yea condemned all swearing or all imposed Oaths And if we avoid all as sin which some good men have scrupled we shall make superstition a great part of our Religion And when on the same grounds we have but practised all as Duty which some good men have taken for Duty we shall quite out-go the Papists He that readeth Beda Boniface and abundance such pious writers will soon see that Godly or Fanatical Religious persons dreams visions strict opinions confident assertions and credulous believing one another with the hope of improving such things against Pagans and Jews for Christianity brought in almost all the Legends and superstitions of the Papists II. Object 2. Our Common-Law Commissions that give authority to examine persons direct it to be Object done super sacramenta sua per sancta Dei evangelia fideliter prestanda And in the form of Administrations in Ecclesiastical Courts the words are Ad sancta Dei Evangelia rite legitime jurati Whether these forms do not infer that in their first use at least persons either swore by the Evangelists or offended in that mode of swearing And our Common-Law calls it a Corporal Oath from touching the Book Answ. 1. To know the sense of our present Law it is not necessary that we know the sense of the Answ. first users of the form For the Law is not now the Kings Law that first made it He hath no Law that hath no Government but the Kings Law that now Reigneth and beareth his sense 2. To justifie our obedience to a Law it is not necessary that we prove every phrase in that Law to be fitly expressed 3. But examine it well and try whether it be not also fit and laudable 1. There are three things conjoyned in the Oaths in question 1. A testimony assertory or a promise 2. An Oath 3. An Imprecation The Assertory Testimony here is the first thing intended and the Oath and Imprecation are but as a means to make that Testimony or Promise valid 2. The published Doctrine of England in the 39. Articles the book of Ordination c. is that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to Salvation as being Gods Law or Rule of our Faith and Life All our Duty to God is there commanded All the promises on which we hope are there contained All the punishments which the perjured or any sinner must feel and should fear are there threatned Therefore 3. The Laying on the hand and Kissing the book is an Action directly related to the Imprecation and not to the Oath but only by consequence as the Imprecation is subservient to the Oath as the Oath is to the Assertion So that this is the plain paraphrase of the whole I do believe that God the Ruler of all the world is the Iudge of secrets which are above mans judgement the searcher of hearts and the hater and avenger of perjury according to this his holy word by which he governeth us And to this God I appeal as to the truth of this my testimony consenting my self to lose all the benefit of his promises to the just and to bear all the punishments here threatned to the Perjured if I lie And what could be said more fitly 1. To own the Protestant doctrine that the Scripture is Gods perfect word that the evil to be feared and the good to be hoped for is all there contained and is all the fulfilling of that word 2. And to put the word in its due subordination to God And our ordinary form of swearing sheweth this So help you God and the Contents of this Book Whether you will call this swearing upon or by the Gospel or call it a corporal Oath or a spiritual Oath is only de nomine and is nothing to the matter thus truly described Sacramentum signifieth the Oath it self and Ad sancta evangelia is a fit phrase or if super sacramenta signifie the two Sacraments of the Gospel it can mean no more than As one that by the reception of the Sacrament doth profess to believe this Gospel to be true I do renounce the benefits of it if I lie And in this sense it hath been some mens custom to receive the Sacrament when they would solemnly swear III. Object Some seem to object against kissing the Book as having the greater appearance of giving Object too much to it or putting some adoration on it and because this Ceremony of kissing is held to be of later date than laying on the hand Answ. The Ceremony signifieth that I love and approve the Gospel and place the hope of my salvation Answ. in it And the publick Doctrine of the Kingdom before cited sheweth as a
knoweth the reason of his own commands It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4. 10. If God should command us nothing how is he our Governour and our God And if he command us any thing what should he command us more fitly than to worship him And he that will not obey him in this is not like to obey him well in any thing For there is nothing that he can with less shew of Reason except against seeing all the Reason in the world must confess that worship is most due to God from his own Creatures § 12. These Reasons for the Worship of God being undenyable the Objections of the infidels and Object ungodly are unreasonable As Obj. 1. That our worship doth no good to God for he hath no need of it Answ. Answ. It pleaseth and honoureth him as the making of the world and the happiness of man doth Doth it follow that there must be no world nor no man happy because God hath no need of it or no addition of felicity by it It is sufficient that it is necessary and Good for us and pleasing unto God § 13. Obj 2. Proud men are unlikest unto God and it is the Proud that love to be honoured and Object praised Answ. Pride is the affecting of an undue honour or the undue affecting of that honour Answ. which is due Therefore it is that this affectation of honour in the Creature is a sin because all honour is due to God and none to the Creature but derivatively and subserviently For a subject to affect any of the honour of his King is disloyalty And to affect any of the honour of his follow subjects is injustice But God requireth nothing but what is absolutely his due And â—e hath commanded us even towards men to give fear and honour to whom they are due Rom. 13. 7. § 14. Direct 3. Labour for the truest knowledge of the God whom you worship Let it not be said Direct 3. of you as Christ said to the Samaritan Woman Joh. 4. 22. Ye worship ye know not what nor as it is said of the Athenians whose Altar was inscribed To the unknown God Act. 17. 23. You must know whom you worship or else you cannot worship him with the heart nor worship him sincerely and acceptably though you were at never so great labour and cost God hath no pleasure in the sacrifice of fools Eccl. 5. 1 4. Though no man know him perfectly you must know him truly And though God taketh not every man for a Blaspheamer and denier of his Attributes whom contentious pievish wranglers call so because they consequentially cross some espoused opinions of theirs yet real misunderstanding of Gods nature and attributes is dangerous and tendeth to corrupt his worship by the corrupting of the Worshippers For such as you take God to be such Worship you will offer him For your worship is but the honourable acknowledgement of his perfections And mistakingly to praise him for supposed imperfections is to dishonour him and dispraise him If to know God be your eternal life it must needs be the life of all your worship Take heed therefore of ignorance and errour about God § 15. Direct 4. Understand the office of Iesus Christ as our Great High Priest by whose Mediation Direct 4. alone we must have access to God Whether there should have been any Priesthood for sacrifice or intercession Heb. 8. 3. if there had been no sin the Scripture telleth us not expresly but we have great reason to conjecture there would have been none because there would not have been any reasons for the exercise of such an office But since the fall not only the Scriptures but the practice of the whole world doth tell us that the sinful people are unmeet immediatly thus to come to God but that they must come by the Mediation of the Priest as a Sacrificer and Intercessour So that either Nature teacheth sinners the Necessity of some Mediator or the Tradition of the Church hath dispersed the Knowledge of it through the World And certainly no other Priest but Christ can procure the acceptance of a sinful people upon his own account nor be an effectual Mediator for them to God Heb. 7. 27 28. Heb 9. 26 28. unless in subserviency to an effectual Mediator who can procure us access and acceptance for his own sake For all other Priests are sinners as well as the people and have as much need of a Mediator Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. Heb. 10. 13 14. for themselves 1. See therefore that you never appear before God but as sinners that have offended him and have deserved to be cast out of his favour for ever and such as are in absolute necessity of a Mediator to procure their access and acceptance with God Come not to God without the sense of sin and misery 2. See also that you come as those that Have a Mediator in the Heb. 6. 20. Heb. 7. 25 26. Matth. 1â— 5. Joh. 11. 42. presence of God even Jesus our High Priest who appeareth before God continually to make intercession for us Come therefore with holy boldness and confidence and joy having so sure and powerful a friend with God the beloved of the Father whom he heareth alwayes § 16. Direct 5. Look carefully to the state of thy soul that thou bring not an unholy heart to Worship Direct 5. the most Holy God Come not in the Love of sin nor in the hatred of Holiness For otherwise thou hatest God and art hated of him as bringing that before him which he cannot but hate And it 's easie to judge how unfit they are to worship God that hate him and how unlike they are to be accepted by him whom he hateth Psal. 5. 3 4 5 6 7. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man But as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal. 15. 1 2. Who shall abide in Gods tabernacle but he that walketh Lâ—v. 10 3. uprightly and worketh righteousness God will be sanctified in them that come nigh him and are unsanctified persons fit for this and can the unholy offer him holy worship The carnal mind is enmity against God is it fit then to serve and honour him Rom. 8. 7 8. See 2 Cor. 6. 15 16 17 18. Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from
sight the same industry that is necessary to a thorough acquaintance with other History is necessary to the same acquaintance with this 4. That the common beginning of receiving all such historical truths is first by Believing our Teachers so far as becometh Learners and in the mean time going on to Learn till we come to know as much as they and upon the same historical Evidence as they 5. That if any man be here necessitated to take more than others upon the trust or belief of their Teachers it is long of their Ignorance and therefore if such cry out against their taking things on trust it is like a mad mans raving against them that would order him or as if one should reproach a Nurse for feeding Infants and not letting them feed themselves Oportet discentem credere He that will not believe his Teacher will never learn If a Child will not believe his Master that tells him which are the Letters the Vowels and Consonants and what is their power and what they spell and what every word signifieth in the Language which he is teaching him will he be ever the better for his teaching 6. That he that knoweth these historical matters no otherwise than by the belief of his particular Teacher may nevertheless have a Divine and saving faith For though he believe by a humane faith that these things were done that this is the same Book c. yet he believeth the Gospel it self thus brought to his knowledge because God is true that hath attested it Even as it was a saving faith in Mary and Martha that knew by their eyes and ears and not only by Belief that Lazarus was raised and that Christ preached thus and thus to them but believed his Doctrine to be true because of Gods Veracity who attested it 7. That it is the great wisdom and mercy of God to his weak and ignorant people to provide them Teachers to acquaint them with these things and to â—ou chsafe them such a help to their salvation as to make it a standing Office in his Church to the end of the world that the Infants and ignorant might not be cast off but have Fathers and Nurses and Teachers to take care of them 8. But specially mark that yet these Infants have much disadvantage in comparison of others that know all these matters of fact by the same convincing evidence as their Teachers And that he that followeth on to learn it as he ought may come to prove these subservient matters of fact by such a concurrence of evidences as amounteth to an infalibility or moral certainty beyond meer humane faith as such As e. g. an illiterate person that hath it but from others may be certain that it is indeed a Bible which is ordinarily read and preached to him and that it is so truly translated as to be a sufficient Rule of faith and life having no mistake which must hazard a mans salvation Because the Bible in the Original tongues is so commonly to be had and so many among us understand it and there is among them so great a contrariety of judgements and interests that it is not possible but many would detect such a publick lye if any should deal falsly in so weighty and evident a case There is a Moral certainty equal to a Natural that some actions will not be done by whole Countreys which every individual person hath power and natural liberty to do As e. g. there is no man in the Kingdom but may possibly kill himself or may fast to morrow or may lye in bed many dayes together And yet it is certain that all the people in England will do none of these So it is possible that any single person may lye even in a palpable publick case as to pretend that this is a Bible when it is some other Book or that this is the same Book that was received from the Apostles by the Churches of that age when it is not it c. But for all the Countrey and all the world that are competent witnesses to agree to do this is a meer impossibility I mean such a thing as cannot be done without a Miracle yea an universal Miracle And more than so it is impossible that God should do a Miracle to accomplish such an universal wickedness and deceit whereas it is possible that natural causes by a Miracle may be turned out of course where there is nothing in the nature of God against it as that the Son should stand still c. We have a certainty that there was a Iulius Caesar a William the Conquerour an Aristotle a Cicero an Augustine a Chrysostome and that the Laws and Statures of the Land were really enacted by the Kings and Parliaments whose names they bear because the Natural and Civil interestâ— of so many thousands that are able to detect it could never be reconciled here to a deceit When Judges and Counsellors Kings and Nobles and Plaintiffs and Defendants utter enemies are all agreed in it it is more certain to a single person than if he had seen the passing of them with his eyes So in our case when an Office was stablished in the Church to read and preach this Gospel in the Assemblies and when all the Congregations took it as the Charter of their salvation and the Rule of their faith and life and when these Pastors and Churches were dispersed over all the Christian world who thus worshipped God from day to day and all Sects and enemies were ready to have detected a falsification or deceit it is here as impossible for such a Kind of History or Tradition or testimony to be false in such material points of fact as for one mans senses to deceive him and much more § 29. Thus I have at once shewed you the true order of the Preaching and proofs and receiving of the several matters of Religion and how and into what our Faith must be resolved and how far your Teachers are to be Believed And here you must specially observe two things 1. That there can be no danger in this Resolution of faith of derogating either from the work of the Holy Ghost or the Scriptures self-evidence or any other cause what ever Because we ascribe nothing to History or Tradition which was ascribed to any of these causes by the first Christians but only put our Reception by Tradition instead of their Reception immediately by sense Our receiving by infallible history is but in the place of their receiving by sight and not in the place of the self-evidence of Scripture or any testimony or teaching of the Spirit The method is exactly laid down Heb. 2. 3 4. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him God also â—earing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will
Here is the sum of what I have been saying § 30. 2. Observe also the great difference between us and the Papists in this controversie of using Tradition in the resolution of our Faith 1. They decide the main question in gross by Tradition viz. Whether the Scripture be the Word of God But we only decide the questions about history or matters of fact by it which are subservient to the other 2. The Tradition which most of them plead is nothing but the Authoritative judgement of the successive Pastors of the Church in a General Council confirmed by the Pope and as another faction among them saith The reception of the whole Church both Laity and Clergie and this Church must be only the Roman faction But the Tradition which we plead is the concurrent Testimony of friends and foes Orthodox and Hereticks and of all the Churches throughout the world both Greek and Latine Ethiopian Armenian Protestants c. And this Testimony we plead not meerly as a humane testimony much less as such as is credible chiefly for the meer Power real or pretended of the Testifiers but as such as by a concurrence of testimonies and circumstances hath besides the Teachers authority the evidences of infallible moral certainty in the very History as we have of the Statutes of the Realm § 31. Direct 6. Understand what kind and measure of Obedience it is that you owe your lawful Pastors Direct 6. that you neither prove Schismatical and unruly nor yet have a hand in setting up Idols and usurpations in the Church This you may learn from the foregoing description of the Pastors work The kind of your obedience is commensurate to the kind of his Office and Work You are not to obey your We may not offer any violence but only perswade We have not so great authority given us by the Laws as to repress offenders and if it were lawful for us so to do we have no use of any such 〈◊〉 power for that Christ crowneth them which abstain from sin not of a forced but of a willing mind and purpose Chrys. â—itaâ—te Bilson of Subjection p. 526. Et ibid. ex Hilar. If this violence were used for the true faith the Doctrine of Bishops would be against it God needeth no forced service He requireth no constrained confession I cannot receive any man but him that is willing I cannot give ear but to him that intreateth c. Ita Origen ibid. citat Pastors as Civil Magistrates that bear the Sword nor as Physicions to tell you what you must do for your health nor as Artificers to command you how to plow and sow and trade c. except in the Morality of these But it is as your Teachers and Guides in the matters of salvation that you must obey them And that not as Prophets or Law-givers to the Church but as the stated Officers of Christ to open and apply the Laws that he hath given and determine of such circumstances as are subservient thereunto Not as those that have dominion of your faith or may preach another 2 Cor. 1. 24. Gal. 1. 7 8. Gospel or contradict any truth of God which by Scripture or Nature he hath revealed or can dispence with any duty which he hath commanded But as those that have all their power from God 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13 10. and for God and your salvation and the good of other mens souls to edification only and not to destruction Particular cases I here purposely forbear § 32. Direct 7. Be sure that you look on them as the Officers of Christ in all that they do as such Direct 7. and see not only their natural but their Ecclesiastical Persons that through them you may have to do with God Especially in Preaching and Administring the Sacraments and binding the impenitent and absolving the penitent and comforting the sad and humbled souls All the holiness and life and power of your spiritual converse with them consisteth in your seeing and conversing with God in them and using them as his Messengers or Officers that deliver his message and do his work and not their own If you disobey them in his work it is God that you disobey And if they Teach you his Word or deliver you Christ and his benefits in the Sacraments it is Christ himself that doth it by them as by his instruments so far as they do it according to his Commission and his Will This observing Christ in their Teaching will possess you with due reverence and care and cause you to do it as a holy work And to see Christ in them delivering and sealing his Covenant to you will very much increase your joy when Man as Man is but a shadow Direct 8. § 33. Direct 8. Make use of their help in private and not in publick only As the use of a Physicion is not only to read a Lecture of Physick to his Patients but to be ready to direct every person according to their particular case there being such variety of temperatures diseases and accidents that in dangerous cases the direction of the judicious is needful in the application So here it is not the least of the Pastoral work to oversee the individuals and to give them personally such particular advice as their case requireth Never expect that all thy Books or Sermons or Prayers or Meditations should serve thy turn without the counsel of thy Pastors in greater cases for that were but to devise how to prove Gods Officers needless to his Church If thou be an ignorant or unconverted sinner go to the Minister and ask him what thou must do to be saved And resolve to follow his sound advice If thou be in doubt of any weighty point of faith or godliness or assaulted perillously by any adversary or need his advice for thy setled Peace thy assurance of Pardon and Salvation and thy preparation for death go ask counsel of thy Pastors and receive their help with readiness and thankfulness Or if thou live where there is none that is able and willing thus to help thee remove to them that are such if lawfully thou canst § 34. Direct 9. Assist your Pastors in the work of God by the duties of your places which tend Direct 9. thereto Labour by your holy serious conference to instruct the ignorant and convince the unbelieving Acts 18. 24 26 27. and convert the ungodly and strengthen the weak with whom you have fit opportunity for Rom. 16. 3. â—ohn 3. 8. Eph. 4. 29. 1 Pet. 4. 11. Phil. 2. 15. Matth. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 3. 1 2. 2 Pet. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. 2. 12. Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 10. 24. Direct 10. 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. such work Labour by your holy examples by Love and Concord and Meekness and Sobriety and contempt of the world and a heavenly life to shine as lights in the midst of a dark and crooked Generation Preach all of you
by decisive Iudicial â—entence Nor any Universal Civil Monarch of the world 2. The publick Governing Decisive judgement obliging others belongeth to publick persons or Officers Eph. 4. 7 13 14 15 16. of God and not to any private man 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. 17. 3. The publick decision of Doubts or Controversies about Faith it self or the true sense of Gods Word and Laws as obliging the whole Church on Earth to believe that decision or not gainsay it Acts 15. See my Key for Catholicks because of the Infallibility or Governing authority of the Deciders belongeth to none but Jesus Christ Because as is said he hath made no Universal Governour nor Infallible Expositor It belongeth to the Law-giver only to make such an Universally obliging Exposition of his own Laws 4. True Bishops or Pastors in their own particular Churches are Authorized Teachers and Guides in Expounding the Laws and Word of Christ And the people are bound as Learners to reverence their Teaching and not contradict it without true cause yea and to believe them fide humanâ in things pertinent to their Office For oportet discentem credere 5. No such Pastors are to be Absolutely believed nor in any case of notorious Error or Heresie where the Word of God is discerned to be against them 6. For all the people as Reasonable creatures have a judgement of private discerning to judge what they must Receive as Truth and to discern their own duty by the help of the Word of God and of their Teachers 7. The same power of Governing-Iudgement Lawful Synods have over their several flocks as a Pastor over his own but with greater advantage 8. The power of Judging in many Consociate Churches who is to be taken into Communion as Orthodox and who to be refused by those Churches as Hereticks in specie that is what Doctrine they will judge sound or unsound as it is Iudicium discernendi belongeth to every one of the Council â—ingly As it is a Iudgement obliging themselves by Contract and not of Governing each other it is in the Contracters and Consenters And for peace and order usually in the Major Vote But with the Limitations before expressed 9. Every true Christian believeth all the Essentials of Christianity with a Divine faith and not by a meer humane belief of his Teachers though by their Help and Teaching his faith is generated and confirmed and preserved Therefore no essential Article of Christianity is left to any obliging decision of any Church but only to a subservient obliging Teaching As whether there be a God a Christ a Heaven a Hell an Immortality of souls whether God be to be believed loved feared obeyed before man Whether the Scripture be Gods Word and true Whether those that contradict it are to be believed therein Whether Pastors Assemblies publick Worship Baptism Sacrament of the Lords Supper be Divine institutions And the same I may say of any known Word of God No mortals may judge in partem utramliâ—et but the Pastors are only Authorized Teachers and helpers of the peoples faith And so they be partly to one another 10. If the Pope or his Council were the Infallible or the Governing Expositors of all Gods Laws and Scriptures 1. God would have enabled them to do it by an Universal Commentary which all men should be obliged to believe or at least not to contradict For there is no Authority and Obligation given to men yea to so many successively to do that for the needful decision of Controversies which they never have Ability given them to do For that were to oblige them to things impossible 2. And the Pope and his Council would be the most treacherous miscreants on earth that in so many hundred years would never write such an Infallible nor Governing Commentary to end the differences of the Christian world Indeed they have judged with others against Arrius that Christ is true God and one with the Father in substance c. But if they had said the contrary must we have taken it for Gods truth or have believed them 11. To judge who for Heresie or Seandal shall be punished by the Sword belongeth to none but the Magistrate in his own dominions As to judge who shall have Communion or be excommunicated from the Church belongeth as aforesaid to the Pastors And the said Magistrate hath first as a man his own Iudgement of discerning what is Heresie and who of his subjects are guilty of it in order to his publick Governing Judgement 12. The Civil Supream Ruler may Antecedently exercise this Judgement of Discerning by the Teaching of their proper Teachers in order to his consequent sentences on offenders And so in his Laws may tell the subjects what Doctrines and practices he will either Tolerate or punish And thus may the Church Pastors do in their Canons to their several flocks in relation to Communion or non-communion 13. He that will condemn particular persons as Hereticks or offenders must allow them to speak for themselves and hear the proofs and give them that which justice requireth c. And if the Pope can do so at the Antipodes and in all the world either per se or per alium without giveing that other his essential claimed power let him prove it by better experience than we have had 14. As the prime and sole-universal Legislation belongeth to Jesus Christ so the final Judgement universal and particular belongeth to him which only will end all Controversies and from which there is no appeal Quest. 29. Whether a Parents power over his Children or a Pastor or many Pastors or Bishops over the same Children as parts of their flock be greater or more obliging in matters of Religion and publick Worship THis being toucht on somewhere else I only now say 1. That if the case were my own I would 1. Labour to know their different Powers as to the matter commanded and obey each in that which is proper to his place 2. If I were young and ignorant Natural necessity and natural obligation together would give my Parents with whom I lived such an advantage above the Minister whom I seldome see or understand as would determine the case de eventu and much de jure 3. If my Parents commanded me to hear a Teacher who is against Ceremonies or certain Forms and to hear none that are for them natural necessity here also ordinarily would make it my duty first to hear and obey my Parents And in many other cases till I came to understand the greater power of the Pastors in their own place and work 4. But when I come to Church or know that the judgement of all Concordant Godly Pastors condemneth such a thing as damnable Heresie or Sin which any Father commandeth me to receive and profess I would more believe and follow the Judgement of the Pastors and Churches Quest. 30. May an Office Teacher or Pastor be at once in a stated Relation of a Pastor and a
Church it is done by a double consent to the double relation By baptism he professeth his consent to be a member of Christ and his universal Church and additionally he consenteth to be guided by that particular Pastor in that particular Church which is another Covenant or Consent Quest. 33. Whether Infants should be Baptized I have answered long agoe in a Treatise on that Subject Also What Infants should be Baptized And who have Right to Sacraments And whether Hypocrites are univocally or equivocally Christians and Church-members I have resolved in my Disput. of Right to Sacraments Quest. 34. Whether an unbaptized person who yet maketh a publick profession of Christianity be a member of the Visible Church And so of the Infants of Believers unbaptized Answ. 1. SUch persons have a certain Imperfect irregular kind of profession and so of Membership Their Visibility or Visible Christianity is not such as Christ hath appointed As those that are Marryed but not by Legal Celebration and as those that in cases of necessity are Ministers without Ordination so are such Christians as Constantine and many of old without Baptism 2. Such persons ordinarily are not to be admitted to the Rights and Communion of the Visible Church because we must know Christs sheep by his own mark But yet they are so far visible Christians as that we may be perswaded nevertheless of their salvation As to visible Communion they have but a remote and incompleat jus â—d rem and no jus in re or legal investiture and possession 3. The same is the case of unbaptized Infants of believers because they are not of the Church meerly as they are their natural seed but because it is supposed that a person himself devoted to God ☞ doth also devote his Children to God Therefore not nature only but this supposition arising from the true nature of his own dedication to God is the reason why believers Children have their right to Baptism Therefore till he hath Actually devoted them to God in Baptism they are not legally members of the Visible Church but only in fieri and imperfectly as is said Of which more anon Quest. 35. Is it certain by the Word of God that all Infants Baptized and dying before actual sin are undoubtedly saved Or what Infants may we say so of Answ. I. 1. WE must distinguish between certainty objective and subjective or plainlyer the Since the writing of this there is come forth an excellent Book for Infant Baptism by Mr. Ioseph Whistoâ— in which the Grounds of my present Solutions are notaâ—â—y cleared Reality or Truth of the Thing and the certain apprehension of it 2. And this certainty of apprehension sometime signifieth only the Truth of that apprehension when a man indeed is not deceived or more usually that clearness of apprehension joyned with Truth which fully quieteth the mind and excludeth doubting 3. We must distinguish of Infants as Baptised Lawfully upon just title or unlawfully without title 4. And also of Title before God which maketh a Lawful claim and Reception at his bar and Title before the Church which maketh only the Administration lawful before God and the Reception lawful only in foro ecclesiae or externo 5. The word Baptism signifieth either the external part only consisting in the words and outward action or the Internal Covenanting of the heart also 6. And that internal Covenant is either sincere which giveth right to the benefits of Gods Covenant or only partial reserved and unsound such as is common to hypocrites Conclus 1. God hath been pleased to speak so little in Scripture of the case of Infants that modest men will use the words Certainly and Undoubtedly about their case with very great Caution And many great Divines have maintained that their very Baptism it self cannot be Certainly and undoubtedly proved by the Word of God but by Tradition Though I have endeavoured to prove the contrary in a special Treatise on that point 2. No man can tell what is objectively certain or revealed in Gods Word who hath not subjective certainty or knowledge of it 3. A mans apprehension may be True when it is but a wavering opinion with the greatest doubtfulness Therefore we do not usually by a Certain apprehension mean only a True apprehension but a clear and quieting one 4. It is possible to baptize Infants unlawfully or without any Right so that their Reception and baptizing shall be a great sin as is the misapplying of other Ordinances For instance one in America where there is neither Church to receive them nor Christian Parents nor Sponsors may take up the Indians Children and Baptize them against the Parents wills Or if the Parents consent to have their Children outwardly Baptized and not themselves as not knowing what Baptizing meaneth or desire it only for outward advantages to their Children Or if they offer them to be Baptized only in open derision and scorn of Christ such Children have no Right to be received And many other instances neerer may be given 5. It 's possible the person may have no Authority at all from Christ who doth Baptize them And Christs part in Reception of the person and Collation and Investiture in his benefits must be done by his Commission or else how can we say that Christ doth it But open Infidels Women Children madmen scorners may do it that have none of his Commission 6. That all Infants baptized without title or right by mis-application and so dying are not undoubtedly saved nor any word of God doth certainly say so we have reason to believe on these following grounds 1. Because we can find no such Text nor could ever prevail with them that say so to shew us such an ascertaining Word of God 2. Because else gross sin would certainly be the way to salvation For such mis-application of Baptism by the demanders at least would certainly be gross sin as well as mis-applying the Lords Supper 3. Because it is clean contrary to the tenour of the new Covenant which promiseth salvation to none but penitent Believers and their seed What God may do for others unknown to us we have nothing to do with But his Covenant hath made no other promise that I can find 〈…〉 d we are â—ertain of no mans salvation by Baptism to whom God never made a promise of it If by the Children of the faithful be meant not only their Natural seed but the Adopted or bought also of which they are true Proprietors yet that is nothing to all others 4. To add to Gods words Especially to his very Promise or Covenant is so terrible a presumption as we dare not be guilty of 5. Because this tyeth Grace or salvation so to the outward washing of the body or opus operatum as is contrary to the nature of Gods Ordinances and to the tenour of Scripture and the judgement of the Protestant Divines 6. Because this would make a strange disparity between the two Sacraments of the same
all true Worshippers in the world 16. Yea it will tempt men at last to be weary of their own Religion because they will find it an unsatisfactory uncomfortable tiresome thing to do their own superstitious work 17. And they will tempt all that they draw into this opinion to be weary of Religion also And truly had not Gods part which is wise and good and pleasant prevailed against the hurtfulness of mens superstition which is foolish bad and unpleasant Religion had ere this been cast off as a wearisome distracting thing or which is as bad been used but to delude men 18. Yea it will tempt men at last to Infidelity For Satan will quickly teach them to argue that if Scripture be a perfect particular Rule for forty things that were never there then it is defective and is not of God but an undertaking of that which is not performed and therefore is but a deceit 19. And the notoriousness and ridiculousness of this error will tempt the prophane to make Religious people a scorn 2o Lastly And Rulers will be tempted in Church and State to take such persons for intolerable 〈…〉 cieties and such whose principles are inconsistent with Government And no thanks to this 〈◊〉 if they be not tempted to dislike the Scripture it self and instead of it to fly to the Papists Traditions and the Churches Legislative Soveraignty or worse But here also remember that I charge none with all this but those before described Quest. 136. How shall we know what parts of Scripture Precept or Example were intended for universal constant obligations and what were but for the time and persons that they were then directed to Answ. IT is not to be denyed but some things in Scripture even in the New Testament are not Laws much less universal and perpetual And the difference is to be found in the Scripture it self As 1. All that is certainly of universal and perpetual obligation which is but a Transcript of the Universal and perpetual Law of Nature 2. And all that which hath the express Characters of Universality and Perpetuity upon it And such are all the substantial parts of the Gospel As Except ye Repent ye shall all perish Luke 13. 3 5. Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven John 3. 3 5. He that believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. Without Holiness none shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Go preach the Gospel to all Nations baptizing them c. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you Matth. 28. 19 20. Abundance such Texts have the express Characters of Universality and Perpetuity which many call Morality 3. And with these we may number those which were given to all the Churches with commands to keep them and propagate them to posterity 4. And those that have a plain and necessary connexion to these before mentioned 5. And those which plainly have a full parity of reason with them And where it is evident that the Command was given to those particular times and persons upon no reasons proper to them alone but such as were common to all others I deny not but as Amesius noteth after others many ceremonial and temporary Laws are urged when they are made with natural and perpetual motives But the reasons of making them were narrower what ever the reasons of obeying them may be On the other side Narrow and temporary precepts and examples 1. Are void of all these foresaid characters 2. They are about Materials of temporary use 3. Or they are but the ordering of such customes as were there before and were proper to those Countreys 4. And many speeches are plainly appropriated to the time and persons 5. And many actions were manifestly occasional without any intimation of reason or purpose of obliging others to imitation For instance 1. Christs preaching sometimes on a Mountain sometimes in a Ship sometimes in a House and sometimes in the Synagogues doth shew that all these are lawful in season on the like occasion But he purposed not to oblige men to any one of them alone 2. So Christs giving the Sacrament of his Body and Blood in an upper room in a private house after Supper to none but Ministers and none but his family and but to twelve and on the fifth day of the Week only and in the gesture of a decumbent leaning sitting all these are plainly occasional and not intended as obliging to imitation For that which he made a Law of he separated in his speeches and commanded them to do it in remembrance of him till his coming And Paul expoundeth the distinction 1 Cor. 11. in his practice So the promise of the Spirit of Revelation and Miracles is expounded by the event as the feal of the Gospel and Scripture proper to those times in the main So the primitive Christians selling their estates and distributing to the poor or laying it down at the Apostles feet was plainly appropriated to that time or the like occasions by the Reason of it which was suddenly to shew the world what the belief of Heaven through the promises of Christ could make them all and how much their Love was to Christ and one another and how little to the world And also by the cessation of it when the persecutions abated and the Churches came to any setlement Yea and at first it was not a thing commanded to all but only voluntarily done So the womens Vail and the custome of kissing each other as a token of Love and mens not wearing long hair were the customes of the Countrey there ordered and improved by the Apostles about sacred things but not introduced into other Countreys that had no such custome So also Anointing was in thâ—se Countreys taken for salubrious and refreshing to the body and a ceremony of initiation into places of great honour Whereupon it was used about the sick and Gods giving the gift of healing in those times was frequently conjunct with this means So that hence the anointing of the sick came up and the antient Christians turned it into an initiating Ceremony because we are Kings and Priests to God Now these occasions extend not to those Countreys where Anointing neither was of such use or value or signification So also Pauls becoming a Jew to the Jews and being shaved and purifying himself and circumcising Timothy are evidently temporary complyances in a thing then lawful for the avoiding of offence and for the furtherance of the Gospel and no obligatory perpetual Law to us And so most Divines think the eating of things strangled and blood were forbidden for a time to them only that conversed with the Jews Acts 15. Though Beckman have many Reasons for the perpetuity not contemptible So the Office of Deaconesses and some think of Deacons seemeth to be fitted to that time and
antient formulae agree not in words among themselves 5. It is not to be doubted of but the Apostles did appoint and use a Creed commonly in their ☞ dayes And that it is the same with that which is now called the Apostles and the Nicene in the main but not just the same composure of words nor had they any such precise composure as can be proved But this much is easily provable 1. That Christ Composed a Creed when he made his Covenant and instituted Baptism Matth. 28. 19. 2. That in the Jewish Church where men were educated in the knowledge of the Scriptures and expectation of the Mâ—ssiah it was supposed that the people had so much preparatory knowledge as made them the more capable of Baptism as soon as they did but seriously profess to Believe and Consent to the terms of the Covenant And therefore they were presently baptized Acts 2. 38 39 40. 3. That this could not be rationally supposed among the Gentiles and common Ignorant people of the world And Ignorantis non est Consensus He doth not Covenant who understandeth not the Covenant as to what is promised him and what he promiseth 4. That the Apostles baptized and caused others to baptize many thousands and settle many Churches before any part of the New Testament was written even many and many years 5. That the Apostles did their work as well and better than any that succeeded them 6. That their successors in the Common Ministery did as far as any Church History leadeth us up Instruct and Catechise men in the meaning of the Baptismal Covenant which is the Christian faith before they baptized them Yea they kept them long in the state of Catechumens usually before they would baptize them And after baptized but twice a year at Easter and Whitsontide as our Liturgy noteth And they received an account of their tolerable understanding of Religion before they would receive them into the Church 7. No doubt then but the Apostles did cause the baptizable to understand the three Articles of Christs own Creed and Covenant and to give some account of it before they baptized them ordinarily among the Gentiles 8. No doubt therefore but they used many more Explicatory words to cause them to understand those few 9. There is neither proof nor probability that they used a Composure of just the same words and no more or less Because they had to do with persons of several capacities some knowing who needed fewer words and some ignorant and dull who needed more Nor is any such Composure Heb. 5. 11 12. 6. 1 2 3. come down to our hands 10. But it is more than probable that the Matter opened by them to all the Catechumens was still the same when the words were not the same For Gods Promises and mans Conditions are still the same where the Gospel cometh Though since by the occasion of Heresies some few material clauses are inserted For all Christians had one Christianity and must go one way to Heaven 11. It is also more than probable that they did not needlesly vary the words lest it should teach men to vary the matter But that all Christians before baptism did make the same profession of faith as to the sense and very much the same as to the very words using necessary caution and yet avoiding unnecessary preciseness of formality But so as to obviate damnable Heresies that the Christian profession might attain its ends 12. Lastly No doubt but this practice of the Apostles was exemplary and imitated by the Churches and that thus the Essentials of Religion were by the tradition of the Creed and Baptism delivered 2 Tim. 1 13. 2 Cor. 3. 2 3 7. Heb. 8. 10. 10. 16. by themselves as far as Christianity went long before any Book of the New Testament was written And every Christian was an Impress or Transcript or Specimen of it And that the following Churches using the same Creed wholly in sense and mostly in words might so far well call it The Apostles Creed As they did both the Western and the Nicene Quest. 140. What is the use of Catechisms Answ. TO be a more familiar explication of the Essentials of Christianity and the principal Integrals in a larger manner than the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue do that the ignorant may the more easily understand it Every man cannot gather out of the Scripture the Greatest matters in the true method as distinct from all the rest And therefore it is part of the work of the Churches Teachers to do it to the hands and use of the ignorant Quest. 141. Could any of us have known by the Scriptures alone the Essentials of Religion from the Rest if Tradition had not given them to us in the Creed as from Apostolical Collection Answ. YEs For the Scripture it self telleth us what is necessary to salvation It describeth to us the Covenant of Grace both Promises and Conditions And it were strange if so large a Volume should not as plainly tell us what is necessary to salvation as fewer words The Scripture hath not Less than the Creed but more Quest. 142. What is the best Method of a true Catechism or Summ of Theology Answ. GOd willing I shall tell the Church my opinion of that at large in a peculiar Latin Treatise called Methodus Theologiae which here I cannot do Only I shall say that among all the great variety of Methods used in these times I think none cometh nearer the Order of the Matter which is the true Commendation of a Method than those which open Theology 1. In the breviate of the Baptismal Covenant 2. In the three explicatory summs the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue with the added Gospel Precepts 3. In the Largest form which is the whole Scripture And that our common English Catechism and Paraeus or Ursine and many such who use that common easie Method are more truly Methodical than most that pretend to greater accu 〈…〉 ness Though I much commend the great industry of such as Dudley Fenner Gomarrus and 〈…〉 cially George Sohenius Quest. 143. What is the use of various Church Confessions or Articles of Faith Answ. I Will pass by the very ill use that is made of them in too many Countreys where unnecessary opinions or uncertain are put in and they that can get into favour with the Secular Power take advantage under pretence of Orthodoxness and Uniformity Truth and Peace to set up their opinions and judgements to be the common rule for all to bow to though wiser than themselvâ—s And to silence all Ministers and scatter and divide the flocks that will not say or swear as they do that is that they are wise men and are in the right The true and commendable use of various Church Professions or Confessions of faith is 1. To be an Instruction to the more ignorant how to understand the Scriptures in most of the most weighty points 2. To be an enumeration of
preservation of the family in peace If children cry or fight or chide or make any fowle or troublesome work the mother will not therefore turn them out of doors or use them like strangers but remember that it is her place and duty to bear with that weakness which she cannot cure The proud impatience of the Pastors hath frequently brought them into the guilt of persecution to the alienating of the peoples hearts and the distraction and division of the Churches when poor distempered persons are offended with them and it may be revile them and call them seducers or antichristian or superstitious or what their pride and passion shall suggest or if some weak ones raise up some erroneous opinions alas many Pastors have no more wit or grace or pity than presently to be rough with them and revile them again and seek to right themselves by wayes of force and club down every errour and contention when they should overcome them by evidence of truth and by meekness patience and love Though there be place also for severity with turbulent implacable impenitent hereticks § 55. Direct 33. Time of learning and overcoming their mistakes must be allowed to those that are Direct 33. mis-informed We must not turn those of the lower forms out of Christs School because they learn not as much as those of the higher forms in a few weeks or years The Holy Ghost teacheth those who for the time might have been Teachers of others and yet had need to be taught the first Principles Heb. 5. 11 12. He doth not turn them out of the Church for their non-proficiency And where there is ignorance there will be errour § 56. Direct 34. Some inconveniences must be expected and tolerated and no perfect Order or Concord Direct 34. expected here on earth It is not good reasoning to say If we suffer these men they will cause this or that disorder or inconvenience But you must also consider whither you must drive it if you suffer them not and what will be the consequents He that will follow his Conscience to a prison will likely follow it to death And if nothing but death or prison or banishment can restrain them from what they take to be their duty it must be considered how many must be so used and whether if they were truly faulty they deserve so much and if they do yet whether the evils of the Toleration or of the Punishment are like to be the greater Peace and Concord will never be perfect till Knowledge and Holiness be perfect § 57. Direct 35. You may go further in restraining than in constraining in forbidding men to Direct 35. preach against approved doctrines or practices of the Church than in forcing them to preach for them or to subscribe or speak their approbation or assent If they be not points or practices of great necessity a man may be sit for the Ministry and Church-communion who meddleth not with them but Preacheth the wholsome truths of the Gospel and lets them alone And because no duty is at all times a duty a sober mans judgement will allow him to be silent at many an errour when he dare not subscribe to or approve the least But if here any proud and cruel Pastors shall come in with their lessâ—â— selfish incommodities and say If they do not approve of what we say and do they will secretly foment a faction against us I should answer them that as good men will foment no faction so if such Proud impatient turbulent men will endure none that subscribe not to all their opinions or differ from them in a circumstance or a Ceremony they shall raise a greater faction if they 'l call it so against themselves and make the people look on them as tyrants and not as Pastors and they shall see in the end when they have bought their wit by dear experience that they have but torn the Church in pieces by preventing divisions by carnal means and that they have lost themselves by being over zealous for themselves and that DOCTRINE and LOVE are the instruments of a wise Shepheard that loveth the flock and understands his work § 58. Direct 36. Distinguish between the making of new Laws or articles of belief and the punishing Direct 36. of men for the Laws already made And think not that we must have new Laws or Canons every time the old ones are broken or that any Law can be made which can keep it self from being broken Perversness in this errour hath brought the Church to the misery which it endureth God hath made an Universal Law sufficient for the Universal Church in matters of faith and holy practice leaving it to men to determine of necessary circumstances which were unfit for an universal Law And if the sufficiency of Gods Law were acknowledged in mens practices the Churches would have had more peace But when particular Countreys have their particular Volumes of Articles Consessions Liturgies and I know not what else to be subscribed to and none must Preach that will not say or write or swear that he believeth all this to be true and good and nothing in it to be against the Word of God this Engine wracks the limbs of the Churches all to pieces And then what 's the pretense for this epidemical calamity Why no better than this Every Heretick will subscribe to the Scriptures and take it in his own sense And what followeth Must we needs therefore have new Laws which Hereticks will not subscribe to or which they cannot break It is the Commendation of Gods Law as fit to be the means of Unity that all are so easily agreed to it in terms and therefore would agree in the sense if they understood it But they will not do so by the Laws of men All or many Hereticks in the primitive times would profess assent to the Churches Creed no doubt in a corrupt and private sense But the Churches did not therefore make new Creeds till above 300 years after Christ they began to put in some particular words to obviate Hereticks which Hilary complained of as the Cause of all their divisions And what if Hereticks will subscribe to all you bid them and take it in their own corrupted sense Must you therefore be still making new Laws and Articles till you meet with some which they cannot mis-understand or dare not thus abuse What if men will mis-interpret and break the Laws of the Land Must they be made new till none can mis-expound or violate them Sure there is a wiser way than this Gods word containeth in sufficient expressions all that is necessary to be subscribed to Require none therefore to subscribe to any more in matters of faith or holy practice But if you think any Articles need a special interpretation let the Church give her sense of those Articles and if any man Preach against that sense and corrupt the Word of God which he hath subscribed let his fault be
proved and let him be admonished and censured as it deserves Censured I say not for not subscribing more than Scripture but for corrupting the Scriptures to which he hath subscribed or breaking Gods Laws which he promised to observe § 59. Direct 37. The Good of men and not their ruine must be intended in all the Discipline Direct 37. of the Church Or the good of the Church when we have but little hope of theirs If this were done it would easily be perceived that persecution is an unlikely means to do good by § 60. Direct 38. Neither unlimited Liberty in matters of Religion must be allowed nor unnecessary Direct 38. force and rigour used but Tolerable differences and parties must be tolerated and intolerable ones by the wisest means supprest And to this end by the Counsel of the most prudent peaceable Divines the Tollerable and the Intollerable must be statedly distinguished And those that are only Tolerated must be under a Law for their Toleration prescribing them their terms of good behaviour and those that are Approved must moreover have the Countenance and Maintenance of the Magistrate And if this were done 1. The advantage of the said Encouragement from Governours 2. With the regulation of the the toleration and the Magistrates careful Government of the Tolerated would prevent both persecution and most of the divisions and calamities of the Church Thus did the ancient Christian Emperours and Bishops And was their experience nothing The Novatians as good and Orthodox men were allowed their own Churches and Bishops even in Constantinople at the Emperours nose Especially if it be made the work of some Justices 1. To judge of persons to be tolerated and grant them Patents 2. And to over-rule them and punish them when they deserve it No other way would avoid so many inconveniences § 61. Direct 39. The things intolerable are these two 1. Not the believing but the Direct 39. preaching and propagating of principles contrary to the essentials of Godliness or Christianity or Government Iustice Charity or Peace 2. The turbulent unpeaceable management of those opinions which in themselves are tollerable If any would Preach against the Articles of the Creed the Petitions of the Lords Prayer or any of the Ten Commandments he is not to be suffered And if any that is Orthodox do in their separated meetings make it their business to revile at others and destroy mens Charity or to stir men up to rebellion or sedition or contempt of Magistracy none of this should be endured § 62. As for those Libertines that under the name of Liberty of Conscience do plead for a liberty of such vitious practices and in order thereto would prove that the Magistrate hath nothing to do in matters of Religion I have Preached and wrote so much against them whilest that Errour raigned and I find it so unseasonable now the constitution of things looks another way that I will not weary my self and the Reader with so unnecessary a task as to confute them Only I shall say that Rom. 13. telleth us that Rulers are a terrour to them that do evil and that Hereticks and turbulent firebrands do evil therefore Rulers should be a terrour to them And that if all things are to be done to the Glory of God and his interest is to be set highest in the World then Magistrates and Government are for the same end And if no action which we do is of so base a nature as ultimately to be terminated in the concernments of the flesh much less is Government so vile a thing when Rulers are in Scripture called Gods as being the Officers of God § 63. Direct 40. Remember Death and live together as men that are neer dying and must live Direct 40. together in another world The foolish expectation of prosperity and long life is it which setteth men together by the ears When Ridley and Hooper were both in Prison and preparing for the flames their contentions were soon ended and Ridley repented of his persecuting way If the persecutors and persecuted were shut up together in one house that hath the Plague in the time of this lamentable Contagion it 's two to one but they would be reconciled When men see that they are going into another World it takes off the edge of their bitterness and violence and the apprehensions of the righteous judgement of God doth awe them into a patience and forbearance with each other Can you persecute that man on Earth with whom you look to dwell in Heaven But to restrain a man from damning souls by Heresie or turbulencie or any such course my Conscience would not forbid it me if I were dying § 64. Direct 41. Let the Proud themselves who will regard no higher motives remember how Direct 41. fame and History will represent them to posterity when they are dead There is no man that desireth his name should stink and be odious to future Generations There is nothing that an ambitious man desireth more than a great surviving name And will you knowingly and wilfully then expose it to perpetual contempt and hatred Read over what History you please and find out the name of one Persecutor if you can that is not now a word of ignominy and doth not rott as God hath threatened If you say that it is only in the esteem of such as I or the persecuted party neither your opinion shall be judge nor mine but the opinion and language of Historians and of the wisest men who are the masters of fame Certainly that report of Holy Scripture and History which hath prevailed will still prevail And while there are Wise and Good and Merciful men in the World the Names and Manners of the Foolish and Wicked and Cruel will be odious as they continue at this day § 65. I have wrote these Directions to discharge my duty for those that are willing to escape the guilt of so desperate a sin But not with any expectation at all that it should do much good with any considerable number of persecutors For they will not read such things as these And God seldom giveth professed Christians over to this sin till they have very grievously blinded their minds and hardened their hearts and by malignity and obstinacy are prepared for his 2 Tim. 3. 11 12. Mat 5. 11 12. Luk. 14. 26 33. sorest judgements And I know that whoever will live Godly in Christ Iesus It is not said Who professeth to believe in Christ Iesus but to live Godly shall suffer persecution and that the Cross must still be the passage to the Crown CHAP. XII Directions against Scandal as given § 1. SCandal being a murdering of souls is a violation of the general Law of Charity and of the sixth Commandment in particular In handling this subject I shall 1. Shew you what is true scandal given to another 2. What things go under the Name of Scandal which are not it but are falsly so