churches and whosoever shall thus be cast out of one church wee wil repute him equally cast out of all and avoid communion with him accordingly 24. If it should so fall out that any Minister or particular church should obstinately and wilfully after many endeavours and much waiting reject the direction and counsel of the association in things apparently agreeable to the word of God then we resolve to draw the right hand of fellowship from such Minister or church 25. For the better carrying on of our intended association we resolve to observe these following rules 1. We judge it convenient to divide our selves into three associations viz. at Carlile at Penrith and Cockermouth and shall meet once a Moneth or more or less as occasion shall require and the major part of the association shall think fit yet in this we do not intend to exclude any Minister not being scandalous from any of the associations that will be pleased to take the pains to be present there nor yet the Ministers of other Counties that shall desire to joyne with any of them 2. At these meetings we shall hear and determine things of common concernment endeavour to resolve doubts compose differences consider the justness weight of the grounds and reasons of Ministers removals from any place when such cases shall fall out consult and advise about special emmergencies that may happen to our Ministry or congregations in particular 3. Because ministers being men of like passions with others can claime no exemptions from humane frailties and infirmities and in regard their miscarriages are more dishonorable to God and the Gospel more offensive and hurtful to private christians therefore we resolve impartially to hear complaints made against any Minister in association with us and to this end we do all and every one of us in case any exception or complaint against any of us shall be made freely profess our resolution to submit to the admonition reproof censure or advice of our brethren yet we would not be here mistaken as if we intended the encouragement of groundless and frivolous quarrels and exceptions either in people against ministers or in one minister against another for as we purpose the Lord assisting us not to be too backward to reprove and rebuke when there shall be just cause so shall we endeavour to be mindefull of that wariness which the Scripture enjoyneth in receiving an Accusation against an Elder 4. Though for conveniencie we divide our selves into three associations yet we resolve sometimes to meet all together especially when there shall fall out any thing of more extraordinary and publike nature or difficulty which cannot be easily satisfactorily decided in any of our particular associations 5. If any that shall offer to ioyn with us in our association lie under the common repute of scandal then we will deferr his admission till he have cleared himself or otherwise given satisfaction and for the prevention of offences we resolve not to admit any into our associations without the consent of the whole or major part of them 6. Lastly we will endeavour a closure of affection as well as judgement and practise and to that end we resolve wholly to lay aside and bury all names and terms of difference to carry our selves each to other as brethren forbearing as much as we can whatsoever might either in word or action occasion mis-reports and offences or raise up grounds of iealousie and exception one against another Omnibus hisce Consentimus c. The Ministers of Westmerland gave their Consent in these words We whose Names are here under-written do subscribe to the forementioned Propositions except what concerns the County of Cumberland in particular The Confession of Faith I Believe that there is one only a living and true God b who is a most pure spirit c infinite in being and perfection d And that in the Unity of the Godhead there are three dictinct Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and these three are one God the same in substance equal in power and glory e 2. I believe that God hath revealed his whole counsel concerning his own glory and mans salvation in the Scriptures of the Old and new Testament which were given by divine inspiration f to be the perpetual and onely rule of our faith and obedience g 3. I believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth h and all things in them of nothing in the space of six dayes and all very good and that he upholdeth i all things by the word of his Power and governeth k all things according to the counsel of his own will l 4. I believe that God created man after his own image in knowledge righteousness and true holiness m And that he gave him a Law n promising life upon perfect obedience and threatning disobedience with death o 5. I believe that man having broken this Law lost the image of God and communion with him p and brought himself his whole posterity into an estate of sin and misery q 6. I believe that man not being able to deliver himself from the curse r God so loved the world s that he promised t and accordingly when the fulness of time was come sent forth his Son Jesus Christ u who took to him our nature w and became man x being conceived by the Holy Ghost in the wombe of the Virgin Mary of her substance and born of her y yet without sin z who having fulfilled all righteousness a was made a curse for us b suffered death upon the cross c was buried and the third day he rose again d ascended into heaven e and sitteth at the right hand of God f making intercession for us g 7. I believe that all the fruits of Christs Mediatorship shall be effectually communicated to all h and onely i those who in him were elected unto salvation before the foundation of the world k which the Holy Ghost doth certainly apply by working faith in them l thereby uniting them in their effectual calling to Christ theirhead m and into one Church which is his body n justifying o adopting p sanctifying q and bringing them into communion with him in all spirituall blessings r 8. I believe Christ hath appointed that those who profess his name should for the begetting s and increase t of grace and knowledge exercise an holy communion together u under the administration of all his Ordinances w which they are carefully to observe till his second coming x 9. I believe that Christ shall come again at the end of the world y and that then the Bodies of all those that shall bee found dead shall bee raised and the rest z changed and all brought before him to judgement which he
doth not onely call for ministerial help and advice in a more especial manner but also gives opportunity and advantage for counsel or reproof therefore wee resolve to be as diligent in visiting the sick and afflicted as other labours greatness of our charge and ability to go abroad will suffer us and that not only the rich and those that desire us but also the poor and those that send not for us 8. Seeing we are in Scripture commanded to love all men and as much as in us lieth to follow Peace with all and yet warned to reserve our Brotherly kindness and delight for those that walk holily therefore we resolve in our Society as well as in dispencing of Ordinances to put a difference between the precious and the vile and though we intend not to deny that Charity Help Civility and Duty that we owe unto the Scandalous yet will we bestow our love of complacencie onely on those that order their conversations aright lest by intimacie with wicked men we strengthen the hands of evill doers grieve the hearts of the godly and ensnare our own souls 9. Seeing the sins of Sabbath-breaking Swearing Fornication and Drunkenness are so abominable in the sight of God and men and yet so frequent we resolve besides the reproving of these sins in publike and private to endeavor to bring such Offenders to the punishment of the Law in thosed cases provided 10. We will instruct our people publikely concerning the nature of the discipline of Christ shal press the necessity of their submission to it according to the Rule of Scripture 11 Because it hath been the commendable practise of the Saints of old in order to the Reformation of the Churches publikely and solemnly to renew the Covenant with God and because in this Age temptations to Apostacie and back-slidings from the faith are strong and frequent and because our hearts are so ready to start aside from the Power of Discipline that we daily stand in need of all possible Obligations to submission therefore we resolve to require from our people an assent to the Truths of Christ contained in a short Confession of Faith hereunto annexed and a Profession of their consent to submit unto and accept of the terms of the covenant of Grace to take the Lord for their God to walk in his Wayes to fear love honor and obey him with all their heart and with all their might and to submit to Discipline and Government Yet 1. We are so far from resolving to satisfie our selves with the bare recital and repetition of the words of the Profession c. that we shall endeavour to make the people not onely to profess with Understanding but so far as we can with feeling Apprehensions of what they speak 2. Neither do we intend strictly to bind all to the same circumstances of professing their consent but if any professing owning the substance shall scruple at any particular circumstance we resolve to use towards such all possible meekness and condiscention 12. Besides a professed competent Knowledge of the fundamentals of Religion we resolve to require an unblameable conversation in all those whom we shall admit to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper both these being necessary for the discovery of peoples present fitness and right * in foro Ecclesiae to the actual enjoyment of that Ordinance 13. Because the Ordinances of God may on the one hand be prophaned by the sinful neglect and carelessness of the Church-guides and because on the other hand people may be wronged by a rash and groundless exclusion therefore in the judging and determining of peoples present fitness for that Sacrament we resolve to set before us these following Rules both in point of Knowledge and Scandal In Point of Knowledge 1. Because the truth of Grace is utterly inconsistent with a total ignorance of the Fundamentals of Religion and because such persons not being able to discern the Lords body would eat and drink judgement to themselves therefore we resolve not to admit any that upon trial shall be found to be such to the Sacrament of the Supper 2. We shall not reject any as ignorant that have a competent Knowledge of those heads of Divinity mentioned by the Assembly in the form of Church-Government pag. 28. All such persons who shall be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to know That there is a God that there is but one everliving and true God Maker of Heaven and earth and Governor of all things that this onely true God is the God whom we worship that this God is but one God yet three distinct persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost all equally God That God created man after his own image in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness That by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned that thereby they are all dead in Trespasses and sins and are by nature the children of wrath and so lyable to eternal death the wages of every sin That there is but one Mediator betwixt God and man the Man Christ Iesus who is also over all God blessed for ever neither is there salvation in any other That he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary that he died upon the cross to save his people from their sins that he rose again the third day from the dead ascended into heaven sitteth at the right hand of God and maketh continual intercession for us of whose fulness we receive all grace necessary to salvation That Christ and his benefits are applied onely by faith that faith is the gift of God and that we have it not of our selves but it is wrought in us by the Word and the spirit of God That faith is that grace whereby we believe and trust in Christ for remission of sins and life everlasting according to the promises of the Gospel that whosoever believes not in the Son of God shall not see life but shall perish eternally That they who truly repent of their sins do see them sorrow for them and turn from them to the Lord and that except men repent they shall surely perish That a godly life is conscionably ordered according to the word of God in holiness and righteousnses without which no man shall see God That the Sacraments are seals of the Covenant of Grace in the blood of Christ that the Sacraments of the New Testament are Baptism and the Supper of the Lord that the outward elements in the Lords Supper are Bread and Wine and do signifie the Body and Blood of Christ crucified which the worthy receiver by Faith doth partake of in the Sacrament which Christ hath likewise ordained for the remembrance of his death that whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord therefore that every one is to examine himself left he eat and drink judgement to himself not
there would be no difference in this point if they were practised 1. They say co-habitation of Members is necessary upon many spiritual accounts Vid. Hooker Survey Part 1. p. 49. Such co-habitation saith he is required which is necessary for the dispensation of Gods Ordinances and the administration of Church-censures for otherwise the end of the covenant would be made frustrate and the benefit of the whole prejudiced and hence there must needs be such a co-habitation of Officers and a convenient company of Members that they comely and conveniently meet together to the exercise of all Gods Ordinances Act. 14. 27. 1 Cor. 11. 20. 14. 23. To the same purpose Norton Contr. Apoll. p. 40. 2. They acknowledge our churches at least most of them to be true Churches Mr. Hooker rejects the denyal of this with abhorrency 3. That therefore 't is unlawful to separate from them either for the want of some Ordinances or for the fin of some worshippers Vid. Hookker Preface to the Survey and Norton p. 156. That these three Principles are owned by them will not be denyed and that they are inconsistent with the common practice of gathering Churches out of other Parishes is too evident Will they call our Churches true and yet unchurch them by taking our Members against our consent Will they say That 't is unlawful to separate from our Churches and yet entertain and encourage those that separate Will they say Co-habitation is necessary and yet receive those that live many miles distant If any seek to evade this by saying That though many yet not all Congregations in England are true Churches We answer 1. It should then first be proved and not taken for granted that such a Congregation as they desire to receive Members from is no true Church 2. But who of all that take this Liberty doth make a difference 'twixt one congregation and another and forbears to take if opportunity serve from a congregation reputed a true Church 3. How easily will this be objected against any Church whence Members be had That 't is no true Church and how must the controversie be decided Facile credimus quod volumus If it be further urged that though our Churches be true yet are they corrupt So that it may be lawfuli to withdraw communion from the same as in the Ans. of Elders of New-England to the 32. Quest pag. 29. Answ. We acknowledge with grief That many of our congregations are corrupt Yet 1. this doth not in any wise justifie the gathering of Members that inhabit not within convenient limits 2. Nor the gathereing out of those Congregations which are more purged though not according to the hight of strictness which some require Ames usually cited by our Brethren in this point Cas. Consc. Lib. 5. cap. 12. Q. 3. mentions but three causes of separation from a true Church 1. Participation of their sins 2. Eminent danger of Seduction 3. Persecution And yet these are not applicable to many Presbyterian Churches from whom nevertheless Members are withdrawn True indeed Mr. Norton adds a fourth Separation may be saith he p. 168. for purer Worship and Edification no great inconvenience ensuing But there lies much weight in the last words otherwise upon this ground men might shift from one Congregational-church to another for purer Worship as well as from a Presbyterian to a Congregational-church But 3. is it the best most warrantable and most effectual course of curing a corrupt church to take away from it the best Christians it hath Or are you sure that you can justifie before the Lord your weakning the hands and hearts of other Ministers that are upon the reformation of their more corrupt churches which you unavoidably do by this practice Many have thought that it were a better expedient to disperse good members into less pure Churches that so there might be most help where there is most need If any say This is a grievous yoke for tender consciences We answer 1. Tender consciences ought to be universally tender Why also are they not tender of breaking rule and of being examples of disorder and introducing the many inconveniences that attend this practice 2. We think we have provided as much for a tender conscience as a truly tender conscience can require Do we engage them to be without Ordinances or Membership in case there be no Minister of their own Or do we engage them to scandalous and insufficient Ministers If any will desire to depart when they can plead none of these we fear it be humor or ignorance more then tenderness of conscience To those that would plead that we may tye them from Church-Ordinances as in case the Minister where they live forbear them upon the general unfitness of his people 'T is readily answered we provide help for that he may enjoy them for the present in other congregations They that say by this means they shall be hindered from some Minister with whom they can most profit may be pleased to answer these questions Whence is your profiting is it from the Minister and his ability or from God Is it likely that God will give the success you expect out of his own way We deny not but the God of order may overlook your irregularities and give divine influence while ye seek it in a disorderly way But what reason have ye to expect it in your way Do ye certainly know that ye have profited or that all your joy which you have got in this course is solid Are there not sensible consolations even in holy men And do not these run with a violent stream May they not mistake their own spirits upon that account May you not profit more for ought you know in humble waiting on God where he hath set you And might you not more cheerfully expect it here then elsewhere Many serious Christians have thought and found it to be the most hopeful ready certain way of a speedy increase of grace and of attainment of more real and lasting comfort for a man to bestirre himself in the instruction reproof and reformation of the people with whom he lives this affords opportunity and advantage for the exercise of grace and exercise is one of the best wayes to increase it rather then to remove to the ministery of a man of quicker and abler parts Some may possibly except against the condescention of our brethren of the congregational-judgement in point of Ordination mentioned Prop. 17. Let such consider 1. That Ordination by the people is one of the main occasions of offence to the Presbyterian Brethren who in this regard do not know how to own men so ordained for Ministers and then surely if it were possible this offence should be removed 2. This Proposition doth not take away the election from the people which the congregational-brethren look upon as the chief thing 3. We are agreed That such Ordination shall be performed in the Congregation unto which the person is to be ordained 4.