Malefactor before we have heard what he can say for himself and therefore though his flying for it might argue his guiltiness yet we shall patiently hear all that the Separatist can plead for himself and the crime is so great that he knows no ordinary Plea will defend him and therefore he pretends no less than a Commission from Heaven the Authority of God's own Spirit Having the Spirit is the pretence having not the Spirit is the charge sub judice lis est And we have our Saviour's Commission for tryal of any such pretenders though they think themselves exempt from all Ecclesiastical Judicature 1 St. John 4.1 Try the Spirits that is the Teachers and their Doctrines the Reason is For there are many false Prophets gone abroad into the World And if we are to try them there is doubtless a Law and Rule by which to proceed and that is the Word of God which being written by Holy Men as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost so is it able to make the man of God perfect seeing it was confirmed by God's own testimony in sundry Miracles as the Gift of Tongues and Prophecie of dispossessing Devils and healing all Diseases No pretence of revelation can gain equal authority with it unless it bring an equal testimony that is the power of doing Wonders Nobis curiositate non opus est post Christum Tertul. de Praescript c. 8. nec disquisitione post Evangelium Certainly they have not the Spirit in that degree that the Apostles had and therefore we do them no injury to bring them to such an authentick Judge as is the Word of God wherein there is not one sentence to countenance such as separate from any Church of God where the means of Salvation the Word and Sacraments are rightly administred although many corruptions be crept into it By the Example of Christ and his Apostles retaining themselves within the Communion of the Jewish Church notwithstanding their pollutions the error of such as in imitation of the Cathari of old and the Anabaptists now refuse to partake of the Lord's Supper if they see the same administred to such as they suppose wicked Men is for ever confuted and condemned saith * Contr. Anabap Spanhemius To him I add the judgment of ‖ Instit l. 4. c. 1. S. 18. Mr. Calvin If it was the religious care of the Prophets not to alienate themselves from the Church notwithstanding the many and great sins not of a few persons but almost of all the People We do arrogate too much to our selves if we dare presently to withdraw from the unity of the Church because the manners of all that are in it do not satisfie our judgments and are not answerable to their Christian Profession St. John gives us three Rules for tryal of the Spirits 1. By their confessing Christ to be come in the Flesh The 2d By cleaving to the Apostolical Communion v. 6. Whosoever heareth not us is not of God hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error 3ly By mutual love and charity v. 7 8. God is love and he that loveth not knoweth not God These two later testimonies utterly destroy the pretence of Separatists to that Spirit of God which spake by the Apostles for as much as they do act in opposition to it Estius in locum And the Ancients who according to the vulgar Edition do read the first note thus Omnis spiritus qui solvit Jesum that is Sermon of Concision as Dr. Donne paraphraseth it Every spirit that breaks Jesus in pieces and makes Religion serve turnes is not of God in which sense Estius thinks it may also be taken that not only they deny Christ that deny his Humane or Divine Nature or the Doctrine taught by him but such as rent and divide the Church which is his Mystical Body by making Sects and Divisions these have not the Spirit of God but of Autichrist When the Ancient Separatists pretended to extraordinary Operations of the Spirit the Plea was more plausible for the gift of Tongues and Prophecie of Healing c. was not fully ceased But if our Apostle denied it to those ancient Separatists some of which as Thendas and Simon Magus did very strange things lying wonders at least it will be a difficult task for later Separatists to prove that Divine revelations and immediate Inspirations of the Spirit are continued when all the other extraordinary gifts are expired Yet as Grotius observes Jactant se miras habere Inspirationes In locum They still boast of wonderful operations and inspirations of the Holy Ghost But to joyn in issue The gifts of the spirit are twofold either first for the edification of the Church or secondly for the sanctification of the particular members both of these are to be continued in the Church to the end of the World nomen Spiritualis pro eo qui spiritus dono se praedium jactat ad obeundum Prophetiae munus Those for edification of the Church in general are mentioned by the Apostle Ephes 4.8 When Christ escended up on high He gave some Apostles 1 Cor. 14.37 and some Prophets and some Evangelists for the edifying of the body of Christ c. The distinct Offices of the Ministry are those gifts of which all are not capable Are all Apostles saith the Apostle that is in effect All are not Apostles but those that truly succeed the Apostles are to continue successively to the Worlds end till we all come in the unity of the knowledge and faith of the Son of God c. So Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you always How is Christ present but by his Spirit How with his Apostles but in their Successors And this is the import of that phrase used by the Church in the consecration of Ministers Receive the Holy Ghost wherein neither the power of Miracles nor the special grace of the Spirit but only an authority to administer holy things in the Church of God is to be understood And it is strange how they who are most forward to blame the Church for not following precisely the words of Christ in other Institutions can quarrel as her as they do for observing them in this when-as without these words that power cannot be duly and authoritatively derived It is true that the Church not seeing the hearts of Men may confer this authority on unworthy Men but so did Christ who knew all that was in his heart on Judas whose Ministry was authentick though his Person was vile he might be an instrument of saving others himself being a Cast-away If they that separate are partakers of this Holy Calling they are beholding to the ordinary Pastors of the Church for it from whom they now separate and this will but aggravate their guilt If they have a calling extraordinary they ought to evidence it not by an idle pretence to Revelations and Inspirations much less by swelling words of
vanity an apt and fluent cadency of words and canting expressions but by the demonstration of the Spirit and power sutable to the pretence that is by the gift of Tongues and Miracles not by praying extempore only but in a strange tongue too as the Apostles could for so we are to understand that in 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit which was Singulare linguarum Donum in a strange Language but then the Apostle would pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with his understanding but to the understanding of the hearers which many Separatists do not When the Spirit gave the Apostles the gift of utterance they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not talk confidently or impertinently but uttered words of truth and soberness in short and Divine Apothegmes as when Isaiah's Lips were touched with a Coal from the Altar Isay 6.6 he had Linguam cruditam so Christ assisting his Apostles Acts 2.4 gave them not Os only but sapientiam also a Mouth and Wisdome such as their Enemies could not resist Luk. 21.15 or gain-say in their interpretation of the mysteries of the Kingdome of God Now that they have a more legitimate calling to the office or greater abilities to perform it will be easily confuted because they generally disclaim that ordination which from the Apostles hath been successively derived to us by the constant order of Bishops and this being the ordinary lawful calling the blessing of God attends the Administration of Holy things by them and no other so that although they should be inferior in external Gifts and Learning to them that do separate the contrary whereof is notoriously known yet the blessing of God is appropriated to the Ministry of those whom he hath sent and commissioned thereunto And therefore they cannot in the second place with the least probability pretend to a greater measure of the sanctifying graces of the Spirit notwithstanding their talk of the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost It is true that he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 not essentially the same spirit with the Lord but mystically by the influence of that spirit which renders him humble and holy meek and gentle loving and obedient which graces of the spirit being eminently in Christ are in some good measure communicated to all his sanctified Members Eph 4.16 that are united to his Body which graces whether they do abound most in Separatists or those that contain themselves in the Communion of Apostolical Churches will appear anon In the mean time we shall prosecute our Enquiry whether they that separate have any such extraordinary inspirations and revelations of the Spirit as they pretend unto For certain it is that generally Separatists of all perswasions do boast of some such extraordinary influences which yet keep them at as great a distance among themselves as from the true Church of God let them therefore agree which of them have these effects from the true Spirit of God In the mean time we shall make it appear that none of them can have any such Operations Each Faction proclaiming the other to be Sine ratione Philosophos sine visione Prophetas sine missione Apostolos sine instructione didascalos And first Papists ought to have the precedence who challenge more than a double portion of such Revelations They chain the spirit of infallibility to the Pope's Chair so that whatever he pronounceth ex Cathedrâ in matters of Faith must be received with equal authority and credit as if it had been evidently commanded by the written Word Yea though it should differ from some plain Doctrines therein delivered for so do many of the Trent Articles as Purgatory and Prayers to Saints and Angels and Transubstantiation which either owe their original to pretended Revelations or at least have no better proof for the confirmation of them But certainly the Infallible Spirit cannot contradict it self and when St. Peter says one thing and his pretended Successors affirm the contrary when Nicolas the 4th defines contrary to Pope John the 22th they were not both infallible If such a Church can justly claim any spirit it is the spirit of contradiction as when it owns the Revelation of St. Bridget that the Virgin Mary was not conceived in Original Sin and the Revelation of St. Catharine that she was and institutes a Holy-day to celebrate her conception upon such a fabulous contradicted relation Yet not only the observation of days the Canonization of Saints the foundation of many Orders in that Church as of the Jesuits by Ignatius the Franciscans Benedictines and others but even Articles of Faith have had their rise from such pretensions If any of our Sectaries that pretend to inspiration are willing to know their Fathers or to find out a Church with which they may hold Communion now that they are departed from us I think the very worst among them may find a Founder and Foundation in no meaner Church than the Church of Rome And did the Pope of Rome use the same Methods as the Church of England to disclaim and discountenance all fanatick Factions and manifest their folly to all Men it would appear that there are more Sects and they as erroneous in Doctrine and vicious in their Lives as any in England or Amsterdam but as long as they own his Supremacy and serve the interest of his Court it is not much considered what becomes of the Gospel and the Church of God It were easie to run a Parallel betwixt our Sectarie and such as have been or still are in the Church of Rome who run beyond the Line of the greatest Separatists that are among us Have we some that deny the King's Supremacy and hold it lawful to depose and murder Kings See Fowlis lives c. We owe these Tenets and practices to the Church of Rome Have we some that will shew no respect to their Superior St. Ignatius would not move his Hat to the Magistrates Have we some that play fast and loose with Oaths of Allegiance and enter into holy Leagues and contrive Massacres of their Brethren this we owe to the Church of Rome Have we some that condemn our Church as carnal and Antichristian The Beguini so had they such as called their Church the Whore of Babylon that they were all carnal and blind and their Fraternity only the true Church in which Salvation was to be had Have we some that despise humane learning and make ignorance the Mother of Devotion so had the Church of Rome as St. Gregory says of St. Bennet that he hated Learning yet was knowingly ignorant and wisely unlearned Have we some that can discern the precious from the vile and tell who are the Elect and who Reprobate Philip Nereus and St. Catharine had the faculty to smell Souls and tell as perfectly which was clean and which unclean as Noah could judge of the Creatures that came into the Ark and Juliana could discover the thoughts of
Loyalty which is one of the chiefest ingredients and ornaments of true Religion for next to Fear God is Honour the King and yet no Artillery Yard did ever discipline more Men for War nor any Magazine furnish them with keener Weapons than the Tongues and Pens of some Disciplinarians have done Thirdly I would willingly be informed what company of persons in any Age did openly separate from an Established Church wherein they might serve God without sinning by communicating with it and did not also trouble and disturb the State The multitude cannot look through the Vizor and see how they are acted by the ambition and covetousness of a few male-contents who under a seeming Zeal for the Truth have real designs against peace and do expose the Temporal and Eternal welfare of their followers for the accomplishing of their own ungodly Lusts not unlike the Ape that burnt the Cats foot in the fire to pluck out her beloved Nuts Fourthly Nor can it be otherwise thought but that Schismatical persons among us do drive Seditious designs if it be considered that there is no pious duty or laudable exercise of piety and devotion but it may be done more solemnly in the publick Assemblies than in any private Conventicles whatsoever * Non licet â—â—de sepaâ—are ubi â—â—iect in belius â—mmutaâ—â—g Aug. â—â—ontra â—â—resc l. 2. â— 28 〈◊〉 230. of â—chism And what Reason can there be as Mr. Hales says why they should do that secretly and suspiciously which they may do warrantably in the publick Congregations except they are afraid their Devotions will be less acceptable when they serve God with Reverence as well as with godly Fear It is beyond question that there may be such corruptions in Doctrine and such Idolatrous practices required in Worship as may justifie a Separation but neither of these can be pretended against our Church The Covenanters indeed did pretend a necessity of reforming our Doctrine but to this day have not mentioned any one Article that needed it but while the Covenant was warm upon their Spirits they required that all persons admitted into any Benefice should subscribe our Articles having first read them publickly and professed their consent to them as long as the House of Lords had the Power of admission committed to them and even now in cool bloud all parties that have any thing of Sobriety do make the Doctrine of the Church of England the Standard by which they authorize their own And if the present Dissenters were Christians indeed the great and uncontroverted Fundamentals of Religion wherein they agree with us in judgment might reconcile their affections in those lesser things wherein they differ Opinionum diversitas Opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hales of Schism p. 215. How unreasonable and irreligious a thing it is to contend for Ceremonies to the neglect of the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith is I hope satisfactorily evinced in another discourse hereunto annexed Fifthly I shall therefore propose another Argument to prove that Schism as it is now practised among us is inseparable from Sedition because if men did dissent purely upon the account of Judgment and Conscience they would dissent soberly and peaceably and as the Nonconformists in Mr. Balls days joyn with us in somethings which they cannot but allow though they refused to communicate in other things which they suspected and concerning those things also they would in all humility and meekness seek satisfaction and distrust their own Opinions which they find to be contrary to the judgment of their Superiours whom they cannot but acknowledge to be very learned and good men For as Erasmus on Romans 14. Dignitatis ratio poscit ut imperitior peritiori obtemperet We owe so much to the Authority and wisdom of our Superiours that in things doubtful and suspected and he instanceth in things far more obnoxious than our Ceremonies they who have less knowledge ought to obey him that hath more and he gives this reason because if it be a crime of Arrogance to despise the Superstition of the weak and of him that erreth in Simplicity of how much more intolerable Arrogance is it if he that is more weak in Faith and Knowledge do judge and condemn them that are better than himself according to the vulgar rule of unlearned persons who judge all unjust which themselves do not practise and the Apostle tells such that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink i. e. the spirit and temper of the Gospel consists not in being solicitous about such things which are left to our Christian liberty but about the promoting of righteousness and peace Ro. 14.17 and joy in the Holy Ghost which are indispensably injoyned so that sober and conscientious Dissenters would rather according to the Will of God suffer patiently for well-doing than studiously promote discord and division and all those evils which the Apostle says do accompany it I cannot forbear to commend that excellent advice of S. Augustine to such persons Epistle 56. If thou art questioned saith he concerning points of subtilty and controversies tell them thou knowest not what to Answers because thy Learning lyeth not that way if thou art urged to declare what thou knowest and wherein thy learning lyeth Responde to nosse quomodo sine istis homo possit esse beatus Answer thou I have learned how a man may be happy without the understanding of such points And Mr. Hales observed that when scruples of Conscience began to be made or pretended then Schisms began to break in Treatise of Schism p. 217. And now let any indifferent man judge concerning such as instead of dissenting peaceably and seeking satisfaction meekly in such punctilio's of the nature of which they may be safely ignorant and as the Jews say of some of their questions refer the resolution of them until Elias come do not only renounce all Communion in the established Worship but contrary to the known Laws of God and the King disturb the publick peace rail at their Brethren defame and resist their Superiors are deaf to all arguments and will not be perswaded when they are over-convinced but instead of patiently enduring what is not in their power to amend as S. Augustine adviseth do with equal pride and impatience attempt the casting off of all Government whether such are men of tender Consciences or of carnal and by consequence of Seditious principles Sixthly Which will yet more evidently appear if it be considered that Schisms are ordinarily contrived and abetted by discontented and ambitious persons whose seditious and Traiterous designs against the State do want the Midwifry of Schism to give them Birth and Maturity The Vow at Hebron was a means to form an Army against David 2 Sam. 15.7 and Come see my zeal the Motto of Jehu's standard 2 Kings 10.16 which drew many after them who went in the simplicity of their hearts to their own destruction
sake laudably tolerate what they do not think laudable but damnable nor do they forsake the Field of Christ because of the Weeds nor his Floor for the Chaff nor the great House of God because of some less honourable Vessels that are therein If I seem to contend too earnestly and rebuke too sharply it was not my nature or indignation but the subject that prompted me to it Some Grounds will produce Briers and Thorns though the Husbandman use his utmost care to prevent them The good Samaritan used Wine as well as Oyl on the Man that was casually wounded going from Jerusalem to Jericho And when the Prince of Peace dealt with the seducing and sacrilegious Pharisees that lay in wait to divert poor souls and would neither enter into the way of peace nor suffer them that were entring to go therein he acts like a Boanerges and denounceth Hell and Damnation Matth. 23.33 from which the good Lord deliver us all Amen THE PICTURE and CHARACTER OF A SEPARATIST Shewing That Sensuality is the Ground OF SEPARATION St. Jude v 19. These are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit GOD threatneth the Watchmen of Israel that if they saw the Sword come Ezek. 33 6. and they did not blow the Trumpet that the People might be warned if the Sword came and took away any person from among them though he were taken away in his iniquity yet his blood should be required at the Watchman's hands Our Saviour likewise informs us that they who see the Wolf coming Joh. 10.13 and leave the Sheep to be caught or scattered by him are Hirelings and no good Shepherds for such should give their lives for the Sheep Now there is no Sword so dreadful as that two-edged Sword of Division and Error that destroys Bodies and Souls no Wolves so ravenous as those that prey upon Christ's Flock and should those whom God hath made his Watchmen and Shepherds not warn the People of the approach of such they might justly hear what as yet hath been unjustly spoken of too many that they are Thieves and Robbers and dumb Dogs For as much then as we know by sad experience what St. Paul foretold by a Spirit of Prophecie Acts 20.29 that grievous Wolves should enter into the Church of God not sparing the Flock and doth plainly describe them to be certain Men that should arise among our selves speaking perverse things i.e. false and forced Doctrines to draw away Disciples after them we should be unaccountably defective in our duty to God and in our love to those Souls which Christ purchased with his Bloud not to acquaint them with their present danger Vnum signum habetis quare non manetis in uno Ovili August ad plebem and exhort them to contain themselves within the Fold of their great Shepherd who bought them and hath provided green Pastures and set his own mark upon them and teach them how to know and avoid those Wolves which for the most part put on sheeps clothing that with the less suspicion they may prey upon the Sheep This I have thought fit to premise because the iniquity of some Men who cannot indure sound Doctrine may exact an Apology for a Discourse of this nature Our Apostle in this Epistle exhibiteth the effigies of a Separatist and in this little Tablet of the Text I shall present to your view both the Picture and the Character of such Men. The Picture of King Charles the First was by an ingenious hand pourtrayed in such Lines as did contain in express words the whole Book of the Psalmes so that at one view you might behold the form of his Body and the Image of his Divine Soul You have in this Text First the Picture or external Lineaments of a Separatist for the better resembling whereof if I use some dark colours as shades to represent his proper complexion and features I shall borrow them from the Scriptures or unquestionable Artists by whose help I hope to strike the Original to the life so that I shall not be troubled as he that had drawn a Cock to drive away all living Cocks from it lest they should disgrace his work but rather invite them all to use it as a Glass to see their Faces and correct their imperfections by it Nor shall I need for the information of others to write under the Hieroglyphick These are they c. 2ly I shall give you a Character of the Genius or internal disposition of a Separatist and that First Ex ore suo for his word is Spiritualis having the Spirit 2ly From the Apostle who had the gift to discern spirits and he affixeth the word Animalis Sensual having not the Spirit First of the Picture to which the Relative in the Text doth only point us and therefore I shall be inforced to imitate a piece of Art to bring it into the Text. There was a French Nobleman that had the Heads of his Children so graved and painted on one Table that by the help of a Glass they reflected the countenance of their Father on another I shall in like manner collect the several Heads and qualities described in the Context which with very little Art will so reflect the picture of a Separatist on the Text that he that runs may read These are they c. The Romish Artists who have very good skill in painting will describe a Separatist in the form of an English Bishop such as Cranmer or Ridley who left the Communion of the Papacy and retained no resemblance of his Fatherhood the Pope or of that Step-mother the Church of Rome Separation is indeed such a deformed and illegitimate birth that it is never acknowledged by its own Parents but laid at other Mens Doors And it concerns us to enquire who are the peccant Parties that we may clear our selves from the charge and imputation First then we say that we have no otherwise separated from the Church of Rome than that Church hath separated from the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostolical Government and Worship If there be any thing truly ancient and Catholick in that Church the same is still legible in every part of our constitution we have forsaken the corruptions and innovations which of later Years invaded that Church and the time manner and methods by which strange Doctrines and practices like Hay and Stuble were laid on the ancient Foundation so that the whole Building is become another Babel for confusion and corruption have been particularly discovered The superfluous and unsound additions are the only things that we have left Bishop Jewel's Apology And for the truth of this we have appealed to the suffrages of the Fathers of the first Six Hundred Years whom that Church doth yet admit of as authentick Witnesses to be our Compurgators Great corruptions there were in that Church before the convening of the Council of Trent which was near the time of our Reformation
her Neighbours hearts Have we some that talk of being Godded with God and Christed with Christ and having the root of the matter in them St. Bonaventure says of St. Francis that he was wholly swallowed up in God And Hugh Paulin de Cressay in his Preface to S ta Sophia talks of being closed in the Midhead of God and being oned with him Have we some who by seeking God in Prayer pretend to receive immediate resolution of all their doubts and direction in all difficult cases Orlandinus says of Ignatius and his Followers that in matters of debate they were wont to joyn in Prayer to God and after that what Opinion the most were of that they resolved to put in practice as being the mind of God Have we some that slight the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and talk of immediate impulses of the Spirit to which they ought rather to attend that talk of such a state of perfection in which they cannot sin of living above Ordinances and Duties The Fratricelli did the same things and so did the Disciples of one Almarinus a Student in Paris who taught that the Government of Christ according to the Gospel is expired and now the Church is to be governed by the spirit The Word and Sacraments are to cease and all Men to be saved by immediate operations of the Spirit without outward exercises Doubtless the Enthusiasts that called themselves the Family of love and held that God would behold no iniquity in his People took their Principles from some in the Church of Rome who hold that nothing is sinful that is acted upon a principle of love be it Fornication or Adultery that prescribed the means to attain supernatural irradiations from God which are to be received in the pure fund of the Soul so that they may have a real and experimental perception of the Divine presence in the depth and center of the spirit And when the doing or not doing an external work is proposed either of which is lawful they must hearken to the immediate impulses of the spirit within them and It is the great perfection of a Christian say the Jesuits in their spiritual exercises printed A. D. 1574. to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what God hath already revealed and taught in his Holy Gospel And yet all these pretend and so did Mahomet too that the spirit did reveal all these Doctrines and practices to them But it was the same spirit that wrought in Simon Magus and the Gnosticks that sought the ruine of the Gospel and to that end disposed them to all error and uncleanness As for the good Spirit of God that holy meek obedient humble Spirit it is clear as the Apostle says they have it not Excellent is the discourse of Mr. Calvin against all such Popish and fanatick pretenders Instit l. 1. c. 9. to which I refer having given the Reader a former account But I suppose all that separate have not entertained such loose Principles Some plead only for a greater purity of Ordinances and dare not pretend to extraordinary inspirations of the spirit except it be in the gift of prayer which whatever the Ministers may know to the contrary the People do generally believe and no care is taken to undeceive them but upon this false supposition is that great clamor raised of limiting and quenching the spirit and depriving the People of God of the benefit of their Ministers gifts by injoyning them the use of a Liturgy for the silencing of which I desire it may be considered that if God have given the spirit of Prayer to any particular Men it may much more be presumed that he hath given it to the Governors of his Church agreeing together in those things Matth. 18.19 which are fit to be desired of God for the publick welfare of his Church and therefore the Scripture tells us that in the exercise of such gifts the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14.32 that God may not appear to be the author of confusion but of peace in all his Churches Nor can any reason be given why the Church that is to guide us in Doctrine as all do agree should not also lead us in our Devotion and publick Prayer which is a part of our Doctrine And unless the Objectors have more extraordinary impulses of the spirit in prayer than the Confessors and Martyrs in the Church of God have had for 1500. Years together I see no reason why we should exchange a well composed Liturgy by which they were always contented to Worship God in publick for a Licence to pray ex tempore Doubtless the harmony of all the Churches of God in the matter and manner of making our supplications would be a special means to make them effectual if that may not be had yet we that joyn with the Church in Doctrine and other parts of Divine Worship ought not to dissent in this To obey is better than Sacrifice this very act of obeying our spiritual Pastors Quanto obedientiores sumus praepositis nostris tanto obediet Deus Orationibus nostris will add Incense to our Sacrifices for as Eusebius Emissenus says By how much the more obedient we are to our Governors in the Church so much the more ready will God be to hear our Prayers Aug. ad Monachos Hom. 3. One petition of an obedient Person is sooner granted than a thousand of those that are disobedient Luther said that he had rather obey than work miracles it is certainly more to the edification of the Church in humility and obedience to invocate God in the publick Prayers of the Church than by a use of the most excellent gifts to draw the People 1 Cor. 14.5 first to admiration of mens persons then to division and separation as it often happeneth Sure we are God promised his spirit and blessing to his Church and we may be as sure he will not give them to those that despise his Church Let us suppose that some private Minister may have immediate inspirations how can he assure his hearers of it or what particular promise is there of a blessing to such more than to them that pray by the ordinary assistance of the spirit The Prayers of Cornelius and other devout Christians were doubtless more acceptable to God than the Prayers of some that had extraordinary gifts 1 Cor. 14.17 which as the Apostle intimates were not used to edification It is an excellent observation of Mr. Hooker Ecclesiastical Polity l. 5. S. 10. If every Man should follow what he imagineth the spirit to reveal to him or to some other of whom he hath an high esteem nothing but confusion would ensue under pretence of being guided by the Spirit The gifts and graces whereof do so naturally tend all to common peace that where such singularity is they whose hearts it possesseth ought
Worship or some grand profaneness in our Members so are they not raised without such thoughts in the hearts of those that do separate from us as Mr. Newcomen observed in his Sermon at St. Pauls Febr. 8. 1646. p. 40. Who are they that brand their Brethren with the title of Proud Time-servers Prelatical Tyrannical Antichristian but such as separate Who will say that they are of the same opinion in Fundamentals and that their differences are but in minutioribus but Why do they in matters of lesser moment transgress the Apostles rule Why do they not keep their opinions private and have their faith to themselves before God Why do they upon so small differences withdraw from Communion with us and gather themselves into distinct and separate Churches This is certainly a pharisaical leaven that ferments and imbitters our spirits and though the effects of it may be hid for a time yet on every heat and agitation it spreads through the whole lump and swells Men with Pride and an unsociable sowrness of Spirit And though the things wherein we differ seem to be but small and have a shew of piety yet the consequences are so notoriously and really evil that the most zealous pretences for the Discipline of Christ are too narrow a Plaister to cover or cure the festred rancor and malice towards his members Ceremonies are no fit matter to exercise our zeal and contention but obedience and charity Yet as the Ordinances and Rites that were retained by the believing Jews and Gentiles were still a Wall of separation between them and the Apostle calls it the enmity Eph. 2.15 so is it with us The Jews and Samaritans differed chiefly about the place wherein they ought to Worship upon which there grew a mortal hatred between them so as that there was no commerce between them they would not salute one another Nec monstrare vias eadem nisi Sacra colenti and it was accounted all one to be a Samaritan and to have a Devil So when once Men swerve from the center and basis of charity there is no consistency but Men fall first to vain jangling and that increaseth to more ungodliness for where bitter envying or as the original word is zeal is there is confusion and every evil thing Behold saith St. James how great a matter a little fire kindleth if Men snatch a Coal from the Altar it is blown up and down by popular breath until it be raised into a flame and hath this property at least of the fire of the Sanctuary that the busie Levites will not permit it to go out I know it will be troublesome to others for it is a terror to my self to recount what cataracts and inundations of blood our Church-divisions that at first as the Prophets Cloud were but as a hand-breadth have rained down upon the whole Land I shall give it you therefore in a Foreign instance namely of the Donatists in Africa who because Cecilian their Bishop had admitted some to his Communion whom they accused for Traditors first withdrew from the Church which as they pretended ought to consist of such only as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy and without blemish and because they had read in the Canticles that Christ caused his Flock to rest sub meridie they concluded that their Party in the South of Africa was that Flock and hereupon they are very industrious to gather Congregations and pick up one of a Family and two or three of a Village which as Optatus observes were generally of the weaker sort Aut exivit Vxor resedit Maritus c. The Wife is withdrawn from her Husband the Son or Daughter from their Parents And my * Optatus Author sets down the Method which those Seducers used Cai Sei or Caia Seia bonus homo sed traditor libera animam tuam Thou good Man or good Woman thou art among Idolaters and Superstitious persons thou hast good affections but they are not rightly placed come out of Babylon and deliver thy Soul When they had thus increased their Party they built Basilicas non necessarias more Churches than were necessary and their Sermons were generally Satyrs against the Catholicks and though they were frequently confuted in private disputations and condemned by many Synods at home and several Councils abroad and divers Edicts of the Emperors yet never would they acquiesce or be reconciled but vexed the Churches of Africa for more than a Hundred Years increasing their Numbers and subdividing into Factions as the Primianists and Maximianists the Rogatians and Callidians Luciferians and Circumcellians and all of them Donatists and the Circumcellians were a Generation of Zealots so fierce and implacable that Domitian himself did not use more cruelty in shedding Christians bloud nor Julian who was in Rempublicam Christianam ingeniose nequam could ever contrive more mischievous Instruments to destroy Christianity withall than these Donatists were and therefore he countenanced them against the Catholicks And when at last their grievances and the grounds of the Schisme came to be inquired into in the Conference of Carthage they could object nothing against the Catholicks but what here the Pharisees did against Christ Why eateth your Master with Publicans and Sinners And can any Christian Spirit think that this Plea for a Levitical Ceremony will justifie such barbarous cruelties and bloody Sacrifices before him who hath said I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice For let it be considered that we live in a Church which is established on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone a Church wherein nothing is forbidden which the Word of God commands nor any thing commanded which that forbids a Church whose Constitutions are truly Ancient and Apostolical for which it is envied by her Adversaries though blamed by those that should be her Friends In a word a Church wherein we may be as holy devout and charitable as flesh and bloud will permit us This Church is protected by a Gracious King setled on the Throne of his Fathers by many miracles of Providence ready to gratifie the just desires of all good Men. And what sufficient reason can be given to disturb the peace of such a Church or to disobey the commands of such a King for the preservation of peace and unity under whom all things are lawful except libertas pereundi a licence to undo our selves and others That there are some such imperfections in the Church as discontented Persons may quarrel at is no strange thing and if causless and frivolous objections may be a ground for Separation there can never be a firm peace in any Church seeing that ignorance and interest Tanta est imperitiae morositas ut vel in rebus probatissimis habeat semper quid reprehendat Cal. and malice will still prevail in the hearts of some Men but that such things may be tolerated and submitted to rather than to destroy the foundations of peace and
of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and labour and study not how to widen and gall and rankle but how to salve and heal these unhappy sores of the Church and State And as Mr. Calvin saith Epist ad Catech. Genev. When we shall come to that great Tribunal where we are to render an account of our Ministery There shall be no question concerning Ceremonies neither shall this conformity in outward things be brought to examination but the lawful use of our liberty and that shall be adjudged lawful that conduceth most to edification Let therefore all our care circumspection and diligence tend to this which we may know so far to succeed as we become Proficients in the serious fear of God in sincere piety and unfeigned Sanctity of manners I know you will all joyn with me to condemn those pitiful pretences which are still to be heard from the mouths of some profane persons to excuse their not frequenting of the Lords Supper a Sacrament which may assure them of infinite comfort and blessings if they did not obicem ponere make themselves uncapable They pretend a grudge against a neighbour on a punctilio of profit or reputation or perhaps a pet against their Minister for demanding his Dues or reproving their Vices and therefore they cannot come It is the very same that is pleaded against the Communion of the Church in whose Peace and Communion they might have Peace and Salvation they have some perverse Opinions of their Brethren or Minister some point of Reputation profit or trade lies in the way or some strange reports have been whispered in their ears by Schismatical persons the truth whereof they had never time to examine nor discretion to judge of and yet there are such invincible prejudices created within them that they cannot be reconciled Non amo te nec possum dicere quare that is they must keep at a distance and live in hatred and malice though they have no reason for it But when God shall call us to an account for our ignorance and uncharitableness and make inquisition for the Authors and grounds of all those divisions that obstinacy and cruelty that hath been practised among us what shall we answer him can we say as Saul did except it be falsly I have kept the Commandments of the Lord it will be replyed then what meaneth the lowing of the Oxen and the bleating of the Sheep that are gone astray if it be pretended that they are set a-part for a more solemn Sacrifice the Prophet demands hath the Lord as great delight in Sacrifice and burnt-offerings as in obeying the Voice of the Lord Behold to obey the Commands of God for Peace and Charity is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams Shall we say all our divisions were occasioned by misinformation that the Cause of God and the Kingdom of Christ were concerned or that it was done in opposition to a Ceremony because we would not receive the Sacrament on our Knees or see our Minister wear a Surplice or because we would not submit to the injunctions of our Rulers in matters of Decency Vbi ad summum illud Tribunal ventum fuerit ubi reddenda erit olim functionis nostrae ratio minima erit de Ceremoniis quaestio Cal. Epist in Catech. Genev. or which is as much as any of the rest because we would not eat with Publicans and sinners Consider if this be not contrary to our Saviours rule of preferring Mercy above Sacrifice when we sacrifice Mercy and Peace and Charity which are so strictly commanded to our own ignorance or interest or to the discontent and maliciousness of wicked men which are so peremptorily forbidden Remernber the Blessing pronounced to the Peace-makers by our Saviour and the Curse against them that are Contentious and obey not the Gospel and then think whether true Comfort and Piety do lye most in being instruments of Peace of Mercy and good Works Deterior est qui recedit ab Ecclesiae concordiâ in baeresin aut Schisma demigrat quam qui impurè vivit salvis dogmatibus Eras de Eccl. concordiâ p. 113. or in being Fire-brands in the Church of God instruments of Satan accusers of the Brethren enemies of Peace and authors of Confusion And think often that God hath made our following of Peace a condition of Salvation as well as of Holiness Follow peace with all men with all our Christian Brethren more especially without which no man shall see the Lord. The Plea of Templum Domini will but aggravate the guilt of such as do steal Jer. 7.4 and murther and commit Adultery and swear falsly Is this House which is called by my Name become a den of Robbers What greater dishonour can we do the Church of God than under pretence of Zeal for Reformation of things inconsiderable and doubtful to open a gap for the greatest impiety such as Rebellion and Schism a contempt of things Sacred and Civil which have been after mature deliberation and Primitive custom legally established in the Church of God If men do indeed desire the honour and safety of Religion and the whole Nation there is no better method of effecting it than by a hearty endeavour that we may all speak and mind the same things and keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace by this the power of godlinefs will appear as well as the form of it when that Dove-like spirit shall possess our Souls and banish all those proud and wrathful dispositions that do as much hinder the righteousness of God James 1.20 as love and charity to our Brethren What an honour is it to be a Repairer of the breaches of Sion to settle the Ark of God that hath been so long in a wandring condition to convert Thousands of Souls from the error of their ways and as the good Samaritan pour in Wine and Oyl to their wounds that have fallen among Thieves in their journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho If Christ will so graciously reward at the last day all those temporal and bodily supplies that we bestow on his distressed Members as himself hath expressed Matth. 25.34 much more bountifully will he recompense all that labour of love which we manifest for the preservation of those Souls which he redeemed with his precious bloud to reduce a sinner from the error of his ways by a mild reproof a seasonable instruction a peaceable and pious example This is to be as Moses was to Aaron Exod. 4.16 instead of a God and a Saviour unto them Great is the advantage and opportunity that those Men have who by their parts and reputation have an influence upon the spirits and consciences of their misguided Brethren if they would instruct them in this plain lesson of preferring works of mercy and charity above all external services whatsoever if they would convince them how hateful to God a Pharisaical temper is that disposeth Men