Catholicism Or Several ENQUIRIES TOVCHING Visible Church-membership Church-Communion The Nature of Schism And the Vsefulness of National Constitutions For the furtherance of RELIGION By W. A. LONDON Printed by M. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. THE PREFACE TO THE READER ONE would think any thing should be acceptable to dissenting Brethren which has a true tendency to deliver them from those mistaken notions of things which do expose them to much trouble from Men and from the Laws themselves and by means of which they are an occasion of trouble and danger to the Nation And it is but reasonable to expect that things of this nature should be consider'd by them now at such a time as this tho' neglected during the time in which those Opinions put them to no trouble The hope of which and the sorrow to see Christian Brethren to suffer great inconveniencies to themselves needlesly has been a motive to me to make these sheets publick at this time as not doubting but that if judiciously and impartially weighed they with other writings of like nature may be of good use to discover to them their mistakes Their Separation from parochial Communion which does expose them to trouble does proceed principally from their mistakes as I conceive them to be either about that which makes men members of the visible Church or that which gives them Right to the external Priviledges thereof or about the external manner of publick worship There are many of the Dissenters whose notion of the visible Church and of Mens Right to Communion in the external Priviledge of it seems much narrower than the Scriptures represent those things to be They make that to be necessary to visible Church-member-ship and Communion which is but necessary to Invisible Church-Communion And then they make this qualification necessary not only by way of Duty but of Condition also without which in humane judgement persons ought not to be admitted into Church fellowship or unto Communion in the external priviledges of the Church Which notion and correspondent practice of theirs I have endeavored to discover to be plainly contrary to the whole current of the Scriptures touching these matters both of the Old Testament and of the New both as to doctrine and matters of fact That which hath betrayed them into this mistake seems to have been the want of distinguishing between the internal and external state of the Church for want of which they confound them and make that which is but necessary to the Being of the Church as invisible to be so likewise to the Being of it as it is visible The Church being described in Scripture but as a little flock and that as our Saviour says there are but few which find the narrow way which leads to Life and enter in at the strait gate and because the qualification of those of the invisible Church who shall be saved as described in Scripture seems to agree but to a few of those who profess the Christian Religion and because the Church is but One hereupon they come to be persuaded that none are really and truly of the Church but such whose qualification agrees with their description to whom Salvation is indeed promised But as for others they esteem them no more to be true and real Members of the Church than wooden Legs and glass Eyes are Members of the Body of a Man But then there are Scriptures which must be considered likewise which have foretold of the coming of many whole Nations into the Church both Kings and their People and of the numerous increase of it when a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation when the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill the wole Earth when for number they shall say the place is too strait for me give place to me that I may dwell and the like for there are many such Predictions in Scripture Now unless they will say that whole Nations and those vast numbers forementioned are all of the Church as invisible which is more then they will or can say they must of necessity admit of a distinction of a two-fold state of one and the same Catholick Church the one external and visible the other internal and invisible And if this distinction be admitted then these Predictions concerning the vast extent of the Church will be fairly reconcileable to those other Scriptures which speak of it in a more contracted and limited sense without which they seem irreconcileable For what some Scriptures speak touching the paucity or fewness of Church-members and what others say touching a far greater number of which the Church doth and will consist are both true in different respects the one in respect of the Internal and Invisible state of the Church the other in respect of that which is external and visible And this distinction is fairly justified by what our blessed Saviour hath said more than once to wit that many are called but few are chosen And if any should fancie that this twofold state of Church-members implies two Churches the one visible the other invisible there is no ground for it since those who are of the Church as invisible are the same Persons which are in external and visible Vnion and Communion with those who are of the Church only as visible and so make one Church with them But we cannot say they make one Church with these and another by themselves for then there would be two Churches indeed and yet of the same persons for a considerable part Considering then this twofold state of the Church it will not be difficult at all to conceive how and why a participation in the external priviledges of the Church does belong to all that are externally and visibly of it when yet a participation in the internal and invisible priviledges of it belongs only to those who are of the Church in respect of its invisible as well as visible state As there are different qualifications of persons of the same Church so there are different priviledges which belong to them accordingly external ones to them who are only externally qualified and both external and internal ones to them who are qualified for both Now this different state of the Church being so apparent as it is in Scripture as also that those who have but common grace and yet Baptized are really and truly of the visible Church I say the consideration of these things hath enclined me to touch upon several things which seem to render it very improbable at least that the Apostles should admit none into the Church by Baptism but such as they judged to believe so effectually as to be thereby Regenerate before they would Baptize them To what is said in my inquiries into these matters I shall here add a little more for our better Vnderstanding that case or question The question is whether it be probable that the Apostles admitted none into
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
undissembled belief was that I doubt not which Philip required of the Eunuch when he said If thou believest with all thine heart thou maist be Baptized And the Eunuchs answer upon which he was Baptized by Philip does intimate so much when he only said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And more than this I conceive cannot be duly inferred from those words of Philip to the Eunuch for the reasons I have already given These are the principal Texts made use of to countenance the opinion which I have in this Inquiry opposed There are objections or pleas drawn from some other which are well answered by Mr. Thomas Lamb as some of these I have insisted on also are in his fresh suit against Independency And thus upon our Inquiry we have found as I conceive that others are of the Visible Church in Scripture account and so in Gods account by whose inspiration the Scriptures were written than those which are of the Church as Invisible or them that seem to be so For Almighty God as has been shown accounteth and owneth such to be his People in distinction from the rest of the world that have entered into Covenant with him tho otherwise they or many of them are far from seeming to be of the Church as Invisible And if God esteem of them as such then so must his Servants likewise and if the Scripture account them such it will become us to do so too who profess to make the holy Scriptures the rule of our judgment After that upon our Inquiry we have found things thus Let not any man now say that by this doctrine we confound the Kingdom of the Devil with the Kingdom of God For this would but reflect after an unseemly manner upon the wisdom of God for thus numbering bad men as well as good to be of his Visible Church as externally related to him and as worshippers of him Secret Hypocrites belong to the Kingdom of the Devil as well as those that are more visibly such and yet none deny but that many such are in the Visible Church nor do they count this a confounding Gods Kingdom with the Devils There is no doubt but that the Devil has his Visible and Invisible Kingdom as well as God has his But those Hypocrites whether secret or more open which are of the Visible Church tho they are in a sence of the Kingdom of the Devil yet must be reckoned to be not of his Visible but of his Invisible Kingdom So that the Hypothesis I seek to establish does not at all tend to confound Gods visible Kingdom and the Devils visible Kingdom one with another much less their Invisible Kingdoms For those are not in Scripture reckoned to be of the Visible Kingdom of the Devil who professedly worship the true God and him only and Jesus Christ as his Son and only Mediator tho otherwise bad But such as worship Idols other gods and other mediators in doing of which they do in effect worship the Devil who is the founder of such worship Those Kingdoms or Nations are in Scripture counted of the Devils Kingdom or Dominion in which his Worship and Ordinances Idol-worship and the Rites of that worship are established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations As on the contrary those Nations or Kingdoms are counted Gods Kingdoms in which the Word and Worship of God are by publick Authority owned and established as the Religion of those Nations Thus when Idol worship was put down and cast out of the several Territories of the Roman Empire by the first Christian Emperors and the Christian Religion established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations then the Devil was said to be cast down and the Kingdom of God and the power of his Christ to be come Rev. 12.9 10. And again The Kingdoms of this world are said to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ When idol-worship which is Devillish worship is rejected by the Authority of those Kingdoms Revel 11.15 Not that there shall be no Hypocrites or Carnal Professors of Christianity in these Kingdoms when they are thus become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ But tho there be 〈◊〉 as the true Christian doctrine and worship is owned and established by the Government or ruling power of those Kingdoms and so long as the generality of the Inhabitants are for the same doctrine and worship in opposition to Idolatrous and Antichristian doctrine and worship they are accounted to belong to Gods Visible Kingdom in the world and not the Devils however many of those Inhabitants may belong to the Invisible Kingdom of the Devil And thus those are called the Children of Gods Kingdom by our Saviour who yet at last shall be cast out into outer darkness Mat. 8.12 But of this more afterwards QUERY IX WHether God hath granted any right to Church-priviledges to those who are only of the Church as Visible but not as Invisible That such have right to them before men unless they are justly deprived of them by Church-censures those will grant who yet deny that they have any right to them by Gods allowance But our present enquiry is whether they have any right by Gods allowance And if that be true which we now suppose we found to be so in our former enquiry viz. that God himself doth own very many such to be of the Church as Visible which yet are not at all of it as Invisible then it will be but reasonable to conclude from thence that he does allow them a share in the external and temporary priviledges of that relation except in those cases wherein he himself hath made an exception For otherwise God by conferring on them the priviledge of Relation to himself and his Church has conferred upon them a right to the priviledges of that relation so far as the relation it self extends For the relation and the priviledges of the relation go together except in case of forfeiture by miscarriage The union of parts does of it self infer right to communion with them in things common to the whole The right of those in the Visible Church to Visible Church-priviledges does arise I conceive from that Covenanting between God and them in Baptism by which they engaged themselves to be his People as God on the other hand had engaged himself to be their God on that condition Now for ought that appears from the Scriptures to the contrary so far as they perform Covenant with God in being a People unto him so far he owns them to be his People and so far as he does so he allows them the priviledge of his People which is a share in his houshold fare and in the provisions for his Family which are his Word and Ordinances If they worship no other God and hold the Head Christ Jesus in point of doctrine and worship and own his doctrine and precepts as the rule of faith and life and worship God in
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
but he required this Covenanting with him to this end that they might truly fear and love him and cleave to him only as a means to such an end No man will say that Almighty God did fore-know when he commanded all those fore-mentioned to enter into Covenant with him that in doing it they would all of them be qualified with such regenerating Grace and spiritual Life as all those are who are of the Church as Invisible which yet they must say or suppose if they will say that the lawfulness of Covenanting with God does depend upon their being Regenerate when they do it unless they will say that God commanded such of them as were not so qualified to do a thing which in its own nature was sinful and unlawful which I presume none will dare to say By all which it appears with full evidence as I apprehend that it is not unlawful for some such as are not of the Church as invisible to enter into Covenant with God to be his People And that the lawfulness of such Covenanting does not depend upon mens being qualified with Regenerating Grace And if so then the lawfulness of mens being admitted into the Visible Church by Covenanting with God by Baptism does not depend upon their being reputed Members of the Church as Invisible or such as are Regenerate 2. My next reason or argument I draw from our Saviours Commission to his Apostles directing them who or what manner of Persons they should Baptize and by Baptism receive into his Visible Church viz. such as were made Disciples The words of the Commission run thus Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Or Disciple all Nations or make Disciples in all Nations so others render it The Apostles then according to their Commission were to Baptize all those who first were made Disciples and by the Baptismal Covenant to enter them into the Church Mens being made Disciples then was the rule given by our Saviour by which the Apostles were to govern themselves touching who and what manner of Persons they were to receive into the Church by Baptism And those were Disciples who did attend upon the teaching of Christian Teachers with a desire to learn their doctrine whether they had attained to Regeneration thereby or no. And such the Apostles had in Commission to Baptize From this Commission of Christ then I argue thus If our Lord Jesus commanded his Apostles to Baptize all that were Disciples and thereby to bring them into the Church as he did then he commanded or authorised more to be brought into the Visible Church by the Baptismal Covenant than were truly Regenerate For men might be Disciples in an inferior sence and were so who yet were not Regenerate Such Disciples had our Saviour himself Such were those who upon the sight of his Miracles believed on him with whom yet he would not trust himself because he knew what was in them John 2.23 24. And such were those John 6.66 of whom it is said From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And such an Unregerate Disciple was Judas And such perhaps were Ananias and Sapphira and such was Simon Magus and many other unprofitable branches that by Baptism had been planted into Christ the true Vine And that our Saviour by Commissionating the Apostles to Baptize Disciples intended no less but that they should Baptize all such as were made or became Disciples as such whether Regenerate or not and that they could understand his Commission no otherwise our Saviours own practice and example will infer it For tho he knew all men and what was in them and had declared in their hearing that some of his Disciples did not righty believe John 6.64 yet did not reject those as no Disciples whom he knew to be Unregenerate so long as they followed him as Disciples but caused them to be Baptized as well as those he knew to be better as those words imply John 4.1 2. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and Baptized more Disciples than John tho Jesus himself Baptized not but his Disciples c. These words imply both that he caused as many to be Baptized as were made Disciples and that there were great numbers famed to be so made and Baptized And yet so far as appears there were but few of them that firmly cleaved to our Saviour till the last For we read of but about an hundred and twenty Men and Women that appeared as his avowed Disciples after our Saviours Resurrection till the day of Pentecost Act. 1. From all which we may observe these two things 1. That it was not disagreeable to our Saviours mind that more should enter into Covenant with God by Baptism and thereby be brought into the Visible Church than were truly Regenerate which is a further confirmation of our former argument 2. That if the Apostles had known as our Saviour did those Disciples that offered themselves to Baptism being Unregenerate to be so yet that would not have made it unlawful to admit them to Baptism and into the Church no more than what our Saviour caused to be done in like case did All this shews that men were received by the Apostles into the Church upon other terms than the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible before they were so received 3. My next Argument to prove that they were and that our Saviour would have his Apostles to understand that they were to be received upon larger terms I gather from our Saviours instructing his Apostles so thorowly and so frequently as he did that his Church would consist of bad as well as good which is also an argument that he did account such to be a part and Members of his Visible Church Which we cannot think he would have done without cautioning them to look to it and to take heed of letting such into his Church much less would he on the contrary have bid them compel men to come in that his House might be full if he had designed that the Apostles should keep all out of the Church but such of whose effectual conversion to God they were well satisfied Our Saviour by many Parables did thorowly inform his Apostles that his Church would consist of a mixture of bad as well as good of foolish as well as wise Thus he told them that the Kingdom of Heaven should be likened unto ten Virgins whereof five Wise and five Foolish Mat. 25.1 2. By the Kingdom of Heaven our Saviour in his Parables and so in this means the Kingdom of the Messias here on Earth which is his Visible Church in which he Reigns and Rules by his Gospel as the Law of that Kingdom And those are the People or Subjects of this Kingdom who own him for their King and his Gospel for the Law of his Kingdom And the different effects which this Gospel was to have in the lives and behaviour of
come to that Supper it is easie to understand what the Apostle would have them examine themselves about in Order to their Communicating at the Table of the Lord. And it is about these things especially as I conceive viz. whether they understand the Nature of that Ordinance and for what end our Lord did Institute it And whether they are like to find themselves Affected with a sense of that great Love of Christ in dying for them which is Represented and Commemorated in that Sacrament And whether they do not judge him most worthy of their Love and Thanks for such Love of his to them And whether they do not judge it fit and reasonable that they should live unto him who dyed for them And whether and how far they do endeavour to do so And St. Paul had a little before his Exhorting them to examine themselves represented to them the Nature and End of that Ordinance according to its first Institution to the end they might examine themselves by it whether they had apprehensions sutable to it and that they might the better know how to govern and demean themselves in the use of it Now if after all this we should look into those outward Acts of unworthiness for which St. Paul greatly blames those of this Church telling them that their Communicating in that manner was not to eat the Lords Supper and for which and for not discerning the Lords Body he says that many were weak and sickly among them and many dead we shall find that Men but of common Grace may easily avoid being guilty of like abuses The first Abuse of this kind the Apostle takes Notice of was their Schismaticalness in the use of this Ordinance by which they defeated in a manner one great end of it In Chap. 11. ver 17. he charges their coming together in their Church-Assemblies to be not for the better but for the worse And this he did upon this account because when they came together in the Church there were Divisions among them ver 18. And in ver 20. he told them That this was not to eat the Lords Supper to Communicate so dividedly as it seems they did For in ver 21. he saith every one taketh before other his own Supper By which words considered with their relation to the Context several Authors have understood the Schismatical Practice of the several Parties into which that Church was divided in Communicating apart one from another For although they came together in one place to do it yet so as that one Party made an end of their Communicating before another had begun theirs I will instance in such Authors for this against which the Dissenters can have least Exception Cartwright upon the place in his Confutation of the Rhemists Translation of the New Testament delivers his sense thus There was a double Abuse among them One in their Love Feasts c. while that which should have served for the knitting the knot of Love was used to cut the Cord thereof in that every one as himself listed made choice of such as he would have to sit at Table with him the other either not tarried for or thrust out when they came especially the Root The other Abuse pulled in by the former was for that those which were Companions at one Table in the Common Feast Communicated also in the Sacred with the same Separation and severalty Dr. Mayor saith thus It seems this good Order was perverted among the Corinthians one Company being of one Sect coming before another and receiving the Lords Supper and this their own Supper in a most scandalous manner departed and then came another Company doing likewise Mr. Sam. Cradock in his Apostolical History pag. 72. delivers his sense thus In those their Feasts of Charity at the end whereof the Lords Supper was Celebrated they did not now observe the true Church Communion but every one that is every Faction or Division being come to the place of the Assembly did presently sit down to eat what they brought in company of their own Party not minding or regarding others whereupon this Holy Feast was neither Celebrated at the same time by all nor in Holy Concord contrary to the true Vnion of Christians signified thereby Unto which I might add the Dutch Annotators upon the place Own Supper that is a Supper which is not held in Common of the whole Church as the Lords Supper must be held but which is held privately by some alone Every one that is every one that held with them And St. Paul's words in ver 33 34. seem strongly to back the Interpretation and sense of these Authors His words are these Wherefore my Brethren when ye come together to eat tarry one for another that ye come not together to condemnation Now unless one Party had Feasted and Communicated together before another there would have been no occasion for this Admonition of tarrying one for another unless we could suppose that the Individuals did eat their own Supper and the Lords Supper singly and apart from all the rest which is no ways likely so long as they had those of their own Party to Associate themselves with That phrase of their coming together to eat shews they did not eat singly and apart This Sacrament by tending to awaken the sense of Christs love to all his members one as well as another by dying for them all tends to Unite and Knit them all one to another in mutual love as co-partners together in the same benefits by his death and to render them all dear one to another because they were so to him when he gave himself for them all 1 Cor. 10.17 To use this Sacrament therefore as an Instrument of division as they did was to pervert the end and use of it and to Act contradictiously to the good and benefit which our Saviour designed his People by it Considering then that their communicating thus dividedly was that which made their coming together to be not for the better but for the worse ver 17.18 and to be a coming together for condemnation ver 33 34. it highly concerns those amongst us who divide themselves in their Sacramental communion from their Brethren thorowly to review and examin the reasons and grounds upon which they do it lest their coming together should be found before God to be a coming together not for the better but for the worse and a coming together to condemnation This Factious communicating of these Corinthians the Apostle we see did insist on more than on any other their Sacramental abuses repeating this and concluding with a particular caution and admonition against it which is more than he did concerning any other of them And yet this Schismatical communicating was such as Christians by vertue of common grace may easily avoid the like as every one will grant The other abuses at their Feasts of Charity and at the Sacrament were their neglecting and despising their poor Brethren and suffering them to
they had been in the Church for some time seems to intimate that the Apostles themselves had no other apprehensions of those Conversions or many of them For we find them earnestly perswading those Christians to put away such practices the retaining of which could not well consist with a thorow and sound conversion Which argues that at least many of them had not yet put them off tho they had been for some time in the Church Thus Col 3.8 9. But now ye also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth Lie not one to another seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds That is they had engaged to do so in Baptism See the like again Ephes 5.3 And 1 Pet. 2.1 Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid What know ye not that he that is joyned to an harlot is one body Chap. 10.21 22. Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of devils Ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie Are we stronger than he Chap. 15.33 34. Be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame 2 Cor. 6.16 17. What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Chap. 12.20 21. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults and lest when I come again my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleaness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed Phil. 2.22 All seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ So by the general Epistle which St. James wrote not to any particular Church but to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad it appears that he was very jealous and suspicious that the faith which very many of the Christians had was but a dead and unavailable faith and such as would neither justifie nor save them because it was but a barren and unfruitful faith such as did neither purifie the heart nor reform the life being hearers of the Word and not doers For for all their knowledge and their faith it seems by the tenour of his writing that their lusts remained still lusty and strong that warred in their members The love of pleasure their unworthy compliances to keep friendship with the World pride envy and grudging one against another strife and contention and uncharitable judging and condemning one another and provoking one another with their unruly Tongues and cursing and swearing and such like distempers it seems did abound among them And St. James by this Epistle to them endeavours their thorow Conversion and encourageth the sincere among them to endeavour it likewise saying If any see his brother err and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins And when we likewise find that there were but a few names in Sardis but what had defiled their Garments having indeed a name to live but were dead and nothing which our Saviour could commend in all the Church of Laodicea I say when we find this and consider all these things and more of like nature in the Apostles Writings we have great reason to think that many of those whom the Apostles baptized were not thorowly converted till after they were brought into the Church and yet many such were so after And indeed I do not know what other reason can be given why the Apostles made such haste as they did to baptize persons after they had once gained their consent to turn Christians without staying for any farther trial but that they thought their thorow Conversion was more likely to be effected within the Church than without It is one thing to be converted from a false Religion to a bare or notitional belief of the true and another thing to be converted from that to a right practical belief of it There were some who did believe in the former sense through the power of conviction and could do no otherwise who yet had no mind to become obedient to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel in all things Such were those Joh. 2.23 and those Joh. 12.42 43. and such was Simon Magus and such were those of whom St. James speaks that had but a dead faith And thus it is with many that are of the Visible Church in these days who have no other faith for some time and yet afterward are converted to a lively practical belief of the Christian Religion And it is probable that the faith of most of the Apostles Converts went little or nothing farther than to a general belief of the truth of the Apostles Doctrine until after they were baptized they having so little time of learning before as generally they had but were carried on further to a more particular distinct and practical belief by after-teaching when they were in the Church And this is not disagreeable to what I have formerly noted from the words of our Saviours Commission to his Apostles touching a double teaching the one to make men become Disciples which went before Baptism the other to direct them how to live as Christians which followed after it Mat. 28.19 20. But however whatever thorow and effectual Conversions the Apostles might in an extraordinary way effect in men while they were without the Church for the first founding of the Christian Church yet we are sure that since that extraordinary way of Conversion has been discontinued abundantly more have been converted by their being in the Church and by advantage of the means of conversion which they have there enjoyed than have been among those without the Church And this is the first reason assigned why others should be admitted into the Visible Church than such as are of the Invisible or than are reputed to be so before such admission 2. Another reason why we may conceive Almighty God allows many others to be of the Visible Church than are of the Invisible is because so to do is more useful for the propagating and spreading of the Christian Religion in the World than the limiting and restraining the
the Visible Church as Members of the Invisible will be thereby strengthened in their self-flattery and good opinion they have of themselves touching their good and safe condition when there is no such matter And when they find the good opinion they have of themselves thus strengthened by the publick judgment of the Church concurring with them therein they will be under the greater temptation and in so much the greater danger of resting securely in that unsafe condition to the great hazard of their Souls We know or have abundant reason to suspect that many that have but a Form of Godliness are Laodicean like less apt to suspect the goodness of their own condition before God than they that are truly sincere How much less will they suspect it and how much more will they be confirmed in the good opinion of themselves tho false when they have the publick judgment of the Church to back them in it and that after inspection has been made into their lives and signs of their Conversion approved of As the manner is of those that go that way Of this danger and of this great inconvenience some of the New England Divines grew sensible after they had made trial of that way a great while For in their answer to Mr. Davenports Apologetical Preface pa. 43 44. they express themselves in these words Indeed when men confound these two and do the Visible Church Interest unto such conditions and qualifications as are reputed enough to Salvation this may tend to harden men and to make them conceit that if once they be but got into the Church they are sure of heaven when as alas it may be they are far from it But now there is no such danger does arise from mens being owned Visible Church Members from their professing to believe the Christian Religion and from their Covenanting to endeavour to live according to it Such Profession and such Covenanting does indeed give ground of hope to the Church that such will not be so regardless of their own Salvation as not to be willing to learn their duty and to endeavour to do it that they may be saved But yet such hope of the Church concerning their good performance for the future does not minister any occasion of confidence in such men that they have already performed what is necessary to their Salvation as a receiving them into the Church and unto Communion as having in the publick judgment of the Church already performed it would do This act of the Church in receiving them into Communion in her external priviledges in hope of their improving them to the saving of their Souls gives them no ground of confidence of the safety and goodness of their condition thereby further than they are careful to make their Calling and Election sure by using all diligence in improving the opportunity and means of doing so by their being in the Church Men are too prone to lay too great a stress upon their being received into the Visible Church and Communion tho the Church hath past no judgment thereby of their being of the Invisible Church how much more would they do so in case it had St. Paul was sensible I doubt not how prone many Christians are to lay too much stress meerly upon their being of the Church and partakers in the external Communion thereof For which cause he cautioned the Christians against flattering themselves with an opinion of their safe condition upon that account and laboured to possess them with a sense of the danger they were in for all that if they should rest therein without growing better and better thereby 1 Cor. 10. I would not saith he that ye should be ignorant brethren how that all our Fathers were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink and yet with many of them God was not well pleased but overthrew them in the Wilderness And he told them that these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted Then enumerated their miscarriages and what befel them thereupon and further told them that these things hapned to them for Examples or Types to us and were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Thereby giving them to understand that tho they were baptized and received into the Church and did participate of the same spiritual meat and drink in the Sacrament with the best in the Church yet if they did not take warning by the miscarriages of those that had been of the Church and of the Communion of it as well as they to avoid the like they might perish as well as the other did for all their Communion in the Church 5. Another reason against refusing all such Communion in the Visible Church who are not judged to be of the Church as Invisible is taken from the danger of such a practice in another respect and that is the danger of mistaking the good for bad and of refusing the sincere Christians under the Notion of Carnal and Unregenerate There is so little visible difference between what many of the same persons were a little before they had saving grace and what they are when they have it only in the lowest degree that men would be in great danger of mistaking if they should make a judgment of their spiritual state under such Circumstances And the difficulty of not mistaking in this case will be still increased when that very little of true grace which is in some men is greatly obscured by the courseness of their natural temper and disposition Besides the prejudice which some good men have against others upon account of some difference in Opinion will not suffer them to discern true grace in some of them in whom it is and perhaps in some good degree too This Age hath furnished us with too many instances of this nature The like may be said in respect of the narrowness of spirit and severity of many by reason of which many of those in whom God himself finds saving grace would be refused Communion with the Church for want of it if that opinion should generally obtain that none should be admitted into the Visible Church ar to its Communion but upon the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible Some do understand the danger of rooting up the Wheat if the Tares should be gathered from among it to lie in the danger of mistaking the Wheat for the Tares if the one should be attempted to be gathered from the other And if this should be the reason why our Saviour would have them both to grow together till the Harvest it would be pat to what I have said on this reason But if it be not as I am apt to think it is not yet then it so much the more confirms that to be our Savious meaning which I have suggested elsewhere for I do not
know any third sense pretended to among Interpreters But indeed there is danger in both respects and therefore I know no inconvenience if we understand the Parable in reference to both Now it is not hard to conceive how bad a thing it would be if such as have true grace should be refused admittance into the Visible Church or to its Communion only because it is so little that men cannot discern it to be so For such a discouragement may be enough to set them back again to quench the smoaking flax and to expose them to the loss of that very little grace in its beginning which they have A thing point blank against that admonition and caution of our Saviour Mat. 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones QUERY XI WHat is it that makes the difference between the Vniversal Church as Visible and particular Churches And what makes the difference between one particular Church and another The Query being double I shall answer to that first which is first and do say the Universal Church differs from a particular Church in two respects 1. The Universal Church differs from a particular as the whole differs from a part and a particular Church differs from the Universal as a part differs from the whole For otherwise they are materially the same only with this difference the one contains all Visible Church matter and the other but a part of it There is nothing necessary to qualifie the matter of which a particular Church doth consist than what made all the Members of it Members of the Universal Church unless it be what belongs to the Officers of it as such 2. If by a particular Church we understand one single Congregation then a particular Church differs from the Universal as those of which it does consist do assemble together in one place for Publick Worship which the Universal Church cannot do now tho in the beginning of its existence possibly it might But if by a particular Church we understand so many single worshipping Congregations as are united under one and the same Church Government and Governours in a City Province or Kingdom Then a particular Church in this sense is differenced from the Church Universal by this Ecclesiastical Polity under which it is otherwise united than the Universal Church as such is or can be And such a particular Church we suppose the Church in Jerusalem in Corinth and in other great Cities to have been the Scripture so accounting them when yet each of them consisted of more single worshipping Assemblies than one as may well be presumed on several accounts not here to be mentioned There is another thing which the Congregationalists make essential to the being of a particular Church for they make it the Form or formal cause of it which would be another difference between the Universal Church and a particular if their Opinion and Assertion were admitted concerning it and that is that Church Covenant or mutual engagement to walk together in the way and order of the Gospel And by this each one of their single Congregations distinguisheth it self from all other And they account this so necessary as to make it a condition of Communion without which they will not admit persons otherwise well approved of by themselves to Sacramental Communion that is unless they are under this engagement to them or some other Sister Church of the same kind But this is so much the worse because it is done and required under the Notion of Divine appointment when God has appointed no such thing Which is such a piece of superstition as the enjoyning the use of the Ceremonies of the Church of England is free from so long as they are not enjoyned as things of divine appointment but only as of an indifferent nature and therefore there is no such reason to scruple them as there is to scruple this practice upon those terms There are two Texts of Scripture upon which more especially and principally they ground this opinion and practice of theirs which I shall a little enquire into The one is 2 Cor. 8.5 which Dr. O. to this end quotes more than once in his late Book the words are these And this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God The Vs here in the Text are St. Paul and Timotheus from whom this Epistle came Chap. 1.1 And if so how could the Churches of Macedonia's giving themselves to St. Paul and Timothy possibly signifie their mutual Covenanting one with another among themselves And is it not as strange also that they should give themselves to Paul and Timothy in order to the Constituting themselves Churches when as that giving themselves to Paul and Timothy here spoken of was done then when they were already Churches as the whole Context from ver 1. doth shew And if their giving themselves to Paul and Timothy was one of those things which they did more than Paul and Timothy hoped for then such a confederation is not likely to be meant by it as was essentially necessary to their existence as Churches this certainly would not have been more than they hoped for if it had been their duty and of so great a necessity This is enough to shew how impertinently this Scripture is alledged But the whole Context shews that the things St. Paul here speaks of were quite of another nature and that is the liberality of the Churches of Macedonia towards the relief of the Christians of Jerusalem and their zeal in being otherwise serviceable to so good a work wherein they did indeed exceed the expectation of Paul and Timothy For their Poverty to which they were brought by sustering for the Gospel was so deep that St. Paul it seems scarce thought it fit to receive any thing of them and it was upon their earnest intreaty that he did and yet they did not only thus give above their ability but besides their giving up themselves to God as ready to suffer further for him if called to it they gave up themselves to St. Paul Timothy also to assist them in that charitable work they had in hand by their further endeavours to promote it among others For they intreated Paul and Timothy earnestly to take upon them the fellowship of ministring to the Saints the managing of that affair and procured them to send Titus to Corinth to promote the same business as appears by ver 6. This Scripture though so great a stranger to this opinion as you see yet is that which so far as ever I could perceive is chiefly depended upon in this cause They bring in also as favouring their notion and practice the saying of St. Peter to the Christians ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood c. 1 Pet. 2.5 And they do it seems suppose that these living stones being so laid together as to to make a spiritual
Church and those of the world All under this Character and Badge and none but they were of the Visible Church and therefore it must needs be the Constitutive form of that Relation Visible Church-membership All that have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and are visibly Christians and of Christs Church How ancient and how long before Christs appearance in the world in our nature this way of constituting Visible Church-members has been by such a Rite as God appointed I have shewed before And if this visible Covenanting with God by Baptism be that by which persons become Members of the Visible Church then a probable appearance of Regeneration or a reputation of being of the Church as invisible cannot be it that makes them visible Church Members tho it does qualifie them for it unless this probable appearance of Regeneration and Covenanting with God by Baptism be one and the same thing And if they be then those of which our Parish Churches are constituted have a probable appearance of Regeneration or of being of the Invisible Church and then they are constituted of matter according to those Dissenters own mind And if so then we may well hope they will no longer separate from them as if they were not Constitututed of qualified matter So that things are brought at last to this issue That these Dissenters must either overthrow this Plea against the reason and ground of their Separation and prove that visible Covenanting with God by Baptism is not that by which Visible Church-membership is made or else it will certainly overthrow this Plea of theirs for their Separation And if they will so much as attempt to overthrow this Plea against them they must row all the way against the stream and strong tide of the Scriptures and against the stream of Antiquity and the sense of the ancient Church from the Apostles times downwards who always esteemed Baptism the door of entrance into the Visible Church and consequently that all such as had pass'd through Baptism were within the Church And as it is more agreable to Scripture so it is much more reasonable to say that men cannot seem to be of the Church as Invisible without being first of the Church as Visible than it is to say their being of the Church as Visible proceeds from their seeming to be of the Church as Invisible For as touching mens enterance into the Church by Baptism our Saviour hath said Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Baptism is injoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation which are Priviledges of the Church as Invisible Acts 2.38 and 22.16 Mar. 16.16 So that according to these Scriptures mens being and seeming to be of the Church as Invisible and their sharing in the Priviledges of it seems ordinarily to depend upon their being of the Visible Church by Baptism Now one would think a Notion so preposterous as this opposed appears to be should be very unfit to make a foundation to build Churches upon or to justifie a separation from those which have a substantial foundation the Scriptures I mean But if mens seeming in the apprehension of others to be of the Church as Invisible did not depend upon their being of the Church Visible yet such seeming could be no proper or fit Rule by which to judg determine and conclude who are and who are not of the Visible Church And the reason is because it is Arbitrarious and uncertain for mens being or not being acknowledged to be of the Visible Church would depend upon the uncertainty of mens opinions and affections and those would seem in some mens apprehensions to be of the Church Invisible which to others would seem otherwise And then those would be owned by some to be of the Visible Church which would be denied to be so by others Of the truth of all which this present Age hath furnished us with plentiful experience And if this should be the Rule observed through the whole Christian world it would be the ready way to make Parties and Sidings unchristian oppositions and uncharitable censurings among Christians in all parts of the world as it has done here in this Nation Whereas to be visibly in Covenant with God by Baptism is a certain fixed a common open and publick Rule by which to judg who are of the Visible Church so long as they continue to own themselves under the obligation of that Covenant and have neither so far violated it as to give Divine Worship to other Objects than their God nor incurr'd to themselves Excommunication by Heresie or other scandalous living And this Rule gives no occasion of division in the Church as the other does but tends to bind and hold the several Members together in the unity of the Spirit and bond of peace To which purpose St. Paul urgeth it upon the Christians motive-wise Eph. 4. All these things considered one would wonder how men of Learning and Piety should ever be betrayed into such Notions and Principles and to lay so mighty a stress on them as they have done when yet they have no more colour from Scripture or reason than ever yet they have been able to produce for their defence But to make the best of it I can we will suppose it was the appearance of a more thorow Reformation and more pure Communion which in their apprehension was to be obtained by these new Methods that first drew them into this way Reformation and pure Communion are things which sound mighty well in good mens ears and which they can easily believe to be well pleasing unto God And as there is an appearance of greater strictness in that way than in that of more general Communion so it was easie for them hereupon to think there was more purity in it also which has been the prevailing reason which has carried multitudes into Quakerism And when such an opinion has once seated it self in mens minds they quickly grow confident that nothing in Scripture can be against it and then they can easily fancy that every slight appearance and sound of words in Scripture is for them upon which they can but put such a gloss as shall favour them though it be nothing to their purpose when impartially scann'd And had their opinions and practice which I have opposed and wherein they differ from all other good men been matter of purity indeed I should not have made One to find fault with them But if this their Way be disagreeable to Gods pure Word which is the Rule by which we must judg of what is pure and what is impure and if it run counter to our Lords Method laid down in the Scripture of ordering the affairs of his Church in very material points then it will be found an impure practice a sinful mixture and a corruption to be purged out of the Church And yet such it is if I have not