righteous judgement We are not allowed to account them as enemies but to admonish them as brethren yea though they so far disobey even the Apostles sayings as that we are necessarily ingaged to Withdraw from them as 2 Thes 3. 6. And therefore woe unto such what ever they be whether Presbyterians or Independants that shall resist the truth of which they are convinced and shal through partial respects to their own parts seek the destruction either of other and remain implacable and malign and hate and despise their brethren because in every respect they cannot accord to be of their minds nor walk with them just in their ways when yet not withstanding if partiallity do not blind their eyes they may both see faults in their own ways in which they are engaged which no engagement ought to bind them to maintain or abide in after they are discovered but they ought freely to confess their faults each to others as James 4. 11. 12. Chap. 5. 16. being convinced of them and both of them ought to consent freely to the wholesom words of our Lord and Saviour even Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness not to teach otherwise but if any do the Apostle telleth us plainly and we are apt to beleeve it That such are puft up and know nothing but dote about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railing evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness And biddeth Timothy from such to withdraw himself as 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. And we are apt to do as he advised Timothy for if it was good for Timothy it is in all liklihood good for us also and how shall we think such men honest that will not approve of the things that are honest as the Apostle injoyneth them in another place For it is not enough not to oppose or resist and speak against such things but they ought to approve them and testifie their assent and agreement thereunto so far forth as they are apparently honest or true c. else they do implicitely oppose and resist them or shew their unwillingness to embrace and obey them and that they are stubborn and rebellious and even at enmity with God in those respects because he crosseth them even in their own devices and ways c. And doubtless many good men in these our days are deeply engaged in this very sin and yet we are not allowed to judg and censure them as enemies and Apostates but should love and pity and pray for them considering our selves as also subject to the same failings Beloved Brethren The Scripture is clear concerning Jonas that he was a Prophet of the Lord and was immediately called and sent of God as a choyce and famous man to prophesie against Nineve and yet because that he knew the goodness and mercy of God and that upon repentance he would pardon he was unwilling even to preach the preaching which the Lord commanded him in all likelihood lest his future prophecying should be the worse credited and how rebelliously he carryed and demeaned himself till he was forced through extremity by the power of God to submit unto him and humble himself and out of the belly of hell even to cry unto him And after all that being but a little afflicted for want of the gourd how passionately angry and teeny he was and durst profess stubbornly even in the presence of God speaking it vocably unto him that he did well to be angry even to the very death like a man desperate and as he had been at enmity even with God himself and yet he was doubtless a man inspired with the Spirit of God and very intimate and familiar with him Look for this Jonas 4. And therefore strange is the temper and natural frailties and dispositions by nature of some good men Nay who can we read of almost in Scripture though never so holy and fully inspired but we may read likewise of their failings and infirmities and of some of their gross and notorious sins as David in the matter of Uriah Peter in his dissimulation and building up that by his practise which he destroyed by his doctrine and Paul had his infirmities and Pricks in the flesh after his conversion and calling to the Ministry Elias also was a man subject to like passions as the Apostles were who confessed themselves subject to like passions as others Acts 14. 15. and yet they were men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost so was Barnabas so was Peter so were all the Apostles and many others in whom we might instance and it would be useful to determine from murder or hating of their brethren which is no better then man-slaughter as 1 John 3. 5. which many are too apt to take liberty to do because they see some faults and miscarriages in them as if it were a ground fully sufficient to excuse their malice because they have some spots yea some flesh as well as spirit And they will not beleeve that any such have the Spirit of God because they have also a spirit of flesh a Law in their members by which they are led captive against the Law of their minds for they will not consider that they have but the Spirit of God in measure And that it is needful they be sometimes left to their own strength that they might remember and freely acknowledg by whose strength they stand and give the glory to God for who is there but is apt to think that their mountains are made strong so that they shall never be moved and to judg and censure and condemn their brethren and say of themselves like the proud Pharisee We are not like other men If they should not sometimes have pricks in the flesh and messengers of Satan sent to buffet them a little matter will puss us up and therefore it is that the Apostle admonisheth that he that thinketh he standeth should take special heed lest he fall For by how much the more confident any man is in his own strength by so much the more likely he is to fall And by how much the more severe rigorous censorious or uncharitable any man is in judging of others by so much the more likely and sure he is so to fall himself as to be justly culpable of the same or worse then those whom he judged condemned and censured And therefore it is That Christ himself hath admonished us Judg not that you be not judged Mat. 7. 1 2 c. Rom. 2. 1 to the end Chap. 7. and Chap. 14. And should not they that are strong bear the infirmities of the weak but they must please themselves Should not every one of us please his neighbor in that which is good to edification as Christ himself also did Rom. 15. 1 2 3. and Chap. 14. and 1 Cor. 16. 14. Is it not the advice even of the Holy Ghost Is it
convenient bonds or at least none that are willing They allow them power within themselves both for constitution and dissolution of such a Church as they see occasion for the benefit of the same and the glory of God and their souls health And therefore seeing all power both for Government and Discipline is necessarily allowed them in such a case Though they are not against the consociation of true Christian Churches for the mutuall advice and Edification and help and comfort of one another or in case of admonition c. Yet they utterly deny to submit themselves as under the Jurisdictive authority of any such Churches save only in case of advice or councel or admonition or at most as sister Churches in every respect and as they shall convince them from Scripture grounds that their decrees or results are according to God and to his Laws and Testimonies concerning them either in Doctrine or Government And therefore will not submit to binde themselves to be ordered or governed by the votes of such in any respect till they first know what their votes are that they submit unto lest they should be enslaved to the wills of men against their consciences which are or ought to be onely bound by Scriptural decrees or loosed either And therefore ought not to be submitted to the decrees of men not infallibly guided though never so numerous or wise and learned who all may erre and often do and therefore ought not to challenge any binding authority or power whatsoever or loosing either but onely in case and so far forth as they can and doe even convince the Conscience from Scripture evidence In the name of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ that their decrees are just and ought to be obeyed and submitted to And it is lawfull as well for a Church as a particular man to goe to the Law and to the Testimony as they are injoyn'd And to search the Scriptures dayly whether those things be so that are decreed or taught us or that are preached unto us yea though by an Angel from heaven And if we finde they teach us another Gospel then what we have received we must let them be accursed And it is evident that the Apostles and Elders and the whole Church being assembled with one accord resolved of nothing till it was cleared from Scripture that all assented and agreed to it even the whole Church as Acts 15. 22 25. And it is certaine that either a particular man or particualar Church having Scriptural grounds may say as they It seemed good to the holy Ghost c. For what the Scripture decrees the holy Ghost decrees And therefore all Assemblies Congregational Presbyterial Classical Synodical National or Oecumenical should onely be as this in the Acts to consider of such matters as vers 6. And to resolve them from Scripture that all being assured from Scripture ground may with one accord passe sentence with them being fully assured that it seemeth good to the holy Ghost as well as unto them what ever is resolved or decreed or done in his sacred name Else they are presumptuous and self-willed and do usurp authority over the Church of God if they take upon them to binde and loose and do not make it manifest as they ought to do from Scripture evidence that it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost as well as them Coloss 4. 4. And though it is true that we ought to obey them that have the oversight of us and that have the Rule over us and to follow their faith as Hebr. 13. 7 17. Yet it must be in case when we know them to be such as watch for our souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief And it must be upon consideration of the end of their conversation that it is Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever For they that preach unto us the Word of God should not be changeable least they carry us about with divers and strange doctrines as vers 8. 9. which we must not be to follow their faith nor in obedience unto them That turne away their ears from the truth and are turned unto fables as 2 Tim 4. 3 4. 1 Tim. 6. 3. 4. 5. 2 Tim 3. 2 3 4. 2 Thes 3. 6. 7 8. And if any come unto us and bring not the true Doctrine we must not receive him to house neither bid him God speed as 2 Joh. 10. How much lesse may such be received as Ministers of God and maintan'd either by tythes or other maintenance And how unlawful is it therefore either for Magistrates or others to force maintenance of any such or to limit men by Parochiall bounds that in case a Parish shall heap to themselves teachers after their owne hearts having itching ears that turn from the truth Yet men must be inforced to maintain such teachers and to heare them likewise and must not withdraw themselves as the Apostle injoynes us nor go elsewhere unless we can remove our habitations also which cannot chuse but be sometimes inconvenient and to our utter overthrow in wordly respects All which bondage is a great infringement to our Christian Liberty in them that do it and ought not to be approved nor assented to by any that desires to keep a good conscience voyd of offence both to God and man Reas For how many thousand Parishes both have been and are not onely here but in other Kingdoms by this means kept utterly destitute of any spiritual food for the good of their souls And that sometimes even for a whole age together during the Parsons or Vicars life Who once enstall'd can never be removed If he be conformable to the Government on foot and can please the greater or most of the Parish yea and though he be never so carnal If he have but learning and an outward form of doctrine and profession in respect of Religion like the generality of the Congregation though he utterly deny the power of godlinesse yet all his Parishoners though never so godly and conscientious must hold them contented during such a mans life for they must allow him his Tythes or maintenance and they must not obey the Apostles direction to wit from such turn away But they must keep to their own Church and be bound to submit to their own Minister unless they can remove out of such a Parish And so in all likelihood famish the souls of their whole families If God be not mercifull in stretching forth his immediate hand in an extraordinary unexpected way For the ordinary Way Is by the foolishness of Preaching as so the World accounts iâ— to save them that beleeve And therefore let men say what they will but there is no other way to keep such men out for intruding themselves and being intruded upon them but to let all that are godly and consciencious have free liberty to approve and receive or admic and in stall whom
each of others or the grounds or reasons upon which they act or how to resolve fully so as all may assent and be satisfied in conscience from sacred Scripture that so they ought to resolve in such and such cases And therefore they ought thus to joyn and assemble themselves and be engaged deeply each unto others that things of this nature might be justly carried without partiality or respect of persons yea at least in private if authority will not suffer them to engage in publique if there be so many within convenient bounds as may in any possibility do good this way 5. They are stricter in maintaining the Power and Kingdom and supremacy of Christ then the Presbyterian Government as in now stands will allow or suffer Reas For though they do allow that the body of the Church should be obedient and subject to the Ministers and Elders of the same so far forth as they hold forth the Word and Voyce of Christ as Joh. 10. 4. and do make it manifest as they ought to do from the Law and Testimony that their ways and words or judgments and censures or proceedings are right as in the way of the Churches of New England appers pag. 100. Chap. 5. Yet in case when the Officers of a Church shall err and commit an offence or miscarry the business that concerns them all or that in any respect concerns the glory of God They make bold to over rule them and to maintain the truth and rescue the innocent or condemn the guilty and to elect or eject receive or refuse yea to remit or retain as they finde cause and ground form Scripture yea though quite contradictory to the judgments and decrees and results of their Elders and in case of obstinacy even to proceed to censure and to cast them out as unsavory salt if their sin so deserve And this democracy is necessarily assumed and exercised by the Church in choosing their Officers and joyntly with them in admitting members and in censuring or acquitting and remitting offenders And that to preserve the Monarchy of Christ from Antichristian usurpation lest they should be in forced to let men at their pleasure bear rule over them and become as men pleasers and servants of men as many have done and that without all remedy or hope of remedy whiles their Officers live as hath been said before in the like case And all because that they had not power within themselves to censure and remove them but having their power to seek form other Churches or from without their own could never finde it to remove them by as in conscience they ought But were forced to yeeld even blinde obedience and to submit themselves to what ever decrees were imposed on them whether right or wrong truth or falshood good or evil And what else can be justly expected form the Presbyterial Government if they require obedience to what ever they decree or determine by Vote in Classis or Synod or Congregational Presbytery when they make it not manifest as they ought to do from sacred scripture that such decrees are just and ought to be executed and obeyed c. by all or any whom they do concern that are under the Government and of the Kingdom of Christ For what is this but to give them liberty for the absolute exercise of arbitary power after men are chosen to such anoffice For what is it but Arbitrary power in spiritual respect that is not submitted to the Word of God to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Law and Testimony as well as such is accounted Arbitrary power in civil respects that is not submitted to the Laws of the Land And this cannot chuse but at least sometimes engage or enforce us unto blinde obedience if we submit thereto and that unto men as if we were necessitated to account of them as if they could not err And therefore doubtless such whoever they are that either claim as due or expect such obedience do extol themselves even above the Apostles and expect more obedience and honor and service then they ever required who were notwithstanding more infallibly guided For they rather commend then blamed the Bereans for searching of the Scriptures whether those things were so that were preached by them And what may this prove but not onely the infringement of the Churches liberties but even the just rights and liberties of the subjects yea and the priviledg of Parliament For if the Parliament were bound as in duty to God to establish and confirm what ever a Synod or an Assembly of Divines should conclude or decree amongst themselves to be just and right in the sight of God and that without evidence form sacred Scripture What a gross slavery might even their very consciences be subjected to For was not this the means of introduction of Popery and all superstition that ever was establisht in the Christian world to wit obedience unto Synods as if they could not err And is it not as dangerous now lest men should yet err and mislead the Parliament and the whole Kingdom yea and all the Churches Are we sure that they are more infallible then in former ages Doubtlesse I say they ought not to challenge nor expect or plead for any such obedience nor that they either do or can do any thing Authoritatively indeed but what they make good and manifest from Scripture for then onely and onely so far forth they may Authoritatively say It seemed good unto the holy Ghost and us as hath been said before for even the Apostles were but drawn together to consult and consider of those things neither did they decree till James stood up and resolved the matter from sacred Scripture by concluding such a result as to which they all assented It was not carryed by multiplicity and majority of votes what should be decreed but by the best Scripture evidence Neither are any such either fit or worthy to be members of an Assembly Synod or Classis or congregational Presbytery that can be content to let things pass upon slender debate and without result from Scripture grounds upon bare votes it may be inconsiderately gathered to be made as decrees for the Churches Government and that about matters in controversie concerning faith and doctrine or ways and manners or any such like Considering that the eyes of the chief Seers in a whole Kingdom or Nation yea in the whole universe may be covered and the sacred Scriptures may be unto them all as a sealed book yea they may account even the great things of Gods own Law as a strange thing as Isai 29. Vers 9. to the end Micah 3. 5 6. 7 8. Hosea 8. 12. And yet may think it strange that such men as they should either be or be accounted blinde as those that said unto Christ Are we blinde also And therefore it behoves the Magistrates and all in authority to restrain and limit them in these respects that so highly concern even the life