either already was our interest or at least has been made so by his Institution of it and yet for some more momentous reason than the bare exercise of our Obedience But it is certain many more are influenced by the Spirit than they who are possessed by him Caiaphas (a) St. John XI 51 was influenced by the Spirit So was Balaam (b) Numb xxii xxiii 2 S. Pet. II. 15 16. and so were all they who are said to have resisted (c) Acts VII 51 or grieved (d) Eph. IV. 30 him Our Calvinistical Brethren themselves distinguish between common and special Grace and to keep to the now-mentioned Notion of the Spirits making Prophets the Jews do also distinguish between a Prophetick instinct and the Spirit of Prophecy These first Impulses of the Spirit are so far from making Men good as that indeed there is no Man so wicked but has them at some time or other and it is an aggravation of his wickedness by how many more he has resisted of them They are but dispositions and inclinations to good courses but do not turn to good will and good resolutions till they be consented to And no man is to be reputed either good or bad without some kind of consent And yet even when they are consented to they make a man only willing but for ability to perform what he is then willing to perform they leave him in a need of further Assistances At least they do not suppose the constant abiding of the same Spirit as a constant certain Principle from whom they may still expect the like influences Which consideration alone is sufficient to shew how little confidence is to be reposed in them without the Sacraments Now that these influences which thus accompany the Word Preached are of this kind may appear hence that wicked Men are as apt to feel them as others in the hearing of zealous Preachers and may at the same time strive against them to stifle and suppress them and this with too fatal a success But they who have the Spirit as an inhabiting enlivening Principle must whilest they have it so be predominantly influenced by it This must at least be granted by our Calvinistical Brethren who think no proper Grace resistible or amissible whereas we daily see many who have been affected with zealous Sermons to fall totally and finally too as far as we can judg of them And it is clear in the Cases of Herod hearing (e) S. Mark VI. 20 St. John Baptist gladly of Felix hearing St. Paul and (f) Acts XXIV 25 trembling upon it and of all those who received the Word with (g) S. Mark IV. 16 17. gladness yet fell away in the time of tribulation This I take at least for an Argument ad homines I have intimated others which I my self think more solid but I shall not now repeat them CHAP. X. The Grace which may be obtained by Prayer is not sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments THE CONTENTS § I The Exclusive Part proved 2. as to Prayer That neither this alone nor the Grace which may be expected in the use of it are sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments The Objection proposed § I.II. The Answer 1. That no Prayers can expect acceptance with God but such as suppose the use of Ordinary Means and consequently of the Sacraments if they should prove such § III. 2. No Prayers can expect acceptance which are offered by a Sinner continuing in the state of Sin even at the same time when he offers them § IV. 3. It is more to be considered what is the Ordinary Means appointed by God than what is Ordinarily observed by the best-meaning and wisest Men. § V. 4. It is no way safe for us to venture on our own Judgments concerning the design of God in instituting the Sacraments to neglect them This proved by several degrees It is hard to know the true design of the Sacraments § VI. They are not sure that raising Devotion by the sensible Representations was the principal design of these Sacraments § VII They cannot assure themselves that this use of the sensible Representations was either the Only or the Principal End of the Sacraments § VIII Though they were sure of these things yet they have no reason whereby to be assured that God will be pleased with their taking upon them to judg of his designs and by that Means allowing themselves the liberty of paying their Obedience at their own Discretion § IX 5. Another design of the Sacraments has been proved the confederating Subjects into a Body Politick and the obliging Subjects in it to a dependence on their Governours It is no way convenient that any should be excused from these Establishments upon pretences to Perfection They who were really Perfect would not make this use of such Pretences for their own sake § X. They would not do it for the sake of the Publick § XI XII.XIII They would not do it on account of the Divine actual Establishment and the Divine assistances conveyed by the Sacraments which are necessary for Perfection of the Person § XIV and of his Prayer § XV. 6. The Scripture no where allows of such a Degree of Perfection atteinable in this Life as can in reason excuse from the reason of the Obligation to Ecclesiastical Assemblies All Members of the Church need the Gifts of each other § XVI They need particularly those Gifts which belong to Government § XVII All the other Members need the Head which cannot be understood of Christ but of Persons eminently Gifted § XVIII This Head not a Head of Dignity only but also of Influence and Authority § XIX Though they needed not the Gifts of others yet they are obliged to join themselves in Ecclesiastical Societies in regard of the good they may do to others They are obliged to this as Platonists and as Christians § XX. THE Second Expedient which many are too apt to trust even to the neglect of the Sacraments is Prayer And the reason which makes them inclinable to this excessive confidence in this seems to be that as it is the Ordinary remedy to which Men betake themselves when they find themselves destitute of other supports so withal the Benefits to be expected by it are not confined to any one certain kind But as it is the design of Prayer to make God our Friend so when he is made so and that his good will is gained all things then seem fit to be expected from him which are within his power which is unlimited And if this be so that all things may be expected by Prayer and that Prayer is the Ordinary Means of obteining them it must then indeed follow that there can be no obligation in interest to use any other Means And if the Spiritual things of Religion be so Spiritually transacted in the Soul of Man as this kind of Persons seem apt to conceive as to depend on no externals but that rightly
to the Purity of a Spirit than fire did and one great design of this Mystical language was to help the imaginations of those to whom they used them to frame worthy Ideas of Spirits and the most suitable to their nature they were capable of by those sensible resemblances which were nearest to their nature And that from this fire Baptism should be called Illumination cannot be thought strange not only because it seems to have been really no other than an irradiation of a lightsome glory but because indeed in the Hellenistical idiom which was derived from the Hebrew the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both light and fire and accordingly we have the fire at which St. Peter warmed himself Mark xiv 54 in the High-Priests Pallace called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § VIII And accordingly it were easie to shew how very naturally all the other things mentioned in this Text do agree to the condition of Persons newly baptized Their a Heb. vi 4 tasting of the heavenly gift seems to be the same with their partaking of the Spirit it self which is so often said to be b Joh. vii 39 Rom. 5.5 1 Thes. iv 8 given by Christ or of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as I have said seems in those Ages so ordinarily to have accompanied the Spirit it self and is called also by the same name of Gifts c Rom. xi 29.xii.6 1 Cor. xii 1 4 9 28 30 31 xiv.12 Eph. iv 8 Heb. ii 4 That this Gift should be called a heavenly one cannot be thought strange not only because it was so really in opposition to worldly Gifts but because the Scripture always describes these gifts with relation to that place And accordingly as Christ himself is said to be the d 1 Cor. xv 47 Lord from Heaven so e St. Jam. i. 17 every good and perfect gift is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Father of those Lights from whence Baptism is called Illumination And which yet comes more close to our present Case the Baptismal Regeneration is also said to be f Joh. iii. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Principle of Divine Life there infused is from above And if it were needful to give a critical account of the metaphor of Tasting it were easie to shew how the Allegory is continued in likening the Spirit to meat So the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. a 1 Pet. ii 2. Peter and in this very b Heb. v. 12 13 14. Author opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However this word does properly signifie the first beginnings of Spiritual fruitions as tasting is the first beginning of eating and so will more properly belong to Baptism than any other state of a Christian. Their partaking of the Holy Ghost is the principal design of our Saviours Baptism who does not only baptize with water but with the Holy Ghost Their tasting of the word of God is their partaking of that word which is the c 1 Pet. i. 23 25. incorruptible seed of this Baptismal Regeneration and which to answer the Metaphor of tasting is also compared to meat d Matt. iv 4 And the power of the World to come seem plainly to be those extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which as I have already observed seem then to have been communicated to every baptized Person And very agreeably they are called the powers of the World to come because Christ whose powers they are is described by this same Author as e Heb. ii 5 c. the Prince of this World to come whom therefore such a Largess would very properly become § IX Supposing therefore the fall here described to be a fall from the Obligations they had undertaken in Baptism the Argument hence deduced to perswade them to continue in the Churches Communion will be the same with that concerning which I have lately discoursed on Heb. x. 22 23. But for clearing the force of it in both places it will not be amiss to shew further that by this fall is properly meant no other than a desertion of the external Communion of the Church To this purpose I consider that Baptism among the Jews was properly a Ceremony of admitting Disciples into the School of a Rabbi This I shall not now prove because I shall have occasion to do it in my Second Part. This therefore being supposed it will plainly follow that our Christian Baptism also does admit us as Scholars to Christ as our Master and Rabbi St. Matt. xxiii 7 8 10. St. Joh. xiii 13 14. for so he is pleased to call himself Now the Obligation of a Scholar as such is to frequent his Masters School and to submit to the Rules by which it is governed And as he ceases to be Scholar of any Master and would then have been thought to have deserted any Sect either of the Rabbins or Philosophers who had deserted the Schools wherein the Doctrine of the Sect was taught and the Chairs in which they sate who taught them so we have reason in the same way of proceeding to presume that he leaves the Christian Profession and ceases to be a Scholar of Christ who leaves the School of Christ and the Chair wherein his Doctrine is taught or refuses to be subject to the Constitutions which were issued from those Chairs I am sure Christ himself obliges his Disciples to observe and do whatever the Scribes and Pharisees bid them do for the very Authority of the Chair of Moses wherein they sate Mat. xxiii 2 3. And so they call themselves Moses's Disciples in opposition to their being Christ's Disciples And accordingly the places wherein the Primitive Christians kept their Meetings were in the form of Schools and the Chairs of the Apostles are mentioned and appealed to by Tertullian Tertull. Praefer c. 36. and particularly the very material Chairs wherein St. James sate at Hierusalem Euseb. Hist. L.vii. c. 19. and St. John at Ephesus were preserved for some considerable time after § X Nor was this duty of a Scholar due only during the principal Masters Life The Succession was maintained and whosoever was lawfully and orderly placed in the Masters Chair upon his decease to him the Scholars were as much obliged as they had been to the Master himself and were as much disowned from belonging to the Sect if they deserted the Schools then as if they had done it while the Master was living Aristotle was guilty of deserting the Academical Sect for leaving the Aeademia and gathering Scholars to himself in the Peripatus in opposition to those in the Academia as well in Xinocrates and Speusippus's times as when Plato himself possessed the Chair And so our Saviour himself allows the same Authority to the Scribes and Pharisees St. Matt. xxiii 2 because they sate in Moses's Chair though so many Ages after as if Moses himself had
of Governours as well as Governed which were all qualified for their offices by Gifts of the Spirit a 1 Cor. xii 28 29. Eph. iv 11 Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Teachers which were all only useful for the Church in this World and only for their benefit as united in Assemblies these Gifts being generally of that nature as that others were more concerned in them than they who had them Their Gifts were also of the same kind and many of them more principally designed for the edification of Believers than the conviction of Infidels Such were the gifts of b 1 Cor. xiii 2.xiv.2 knowing Mysteries Interpretation c 1 Cor. xii 10.xiv.26 of Tongues of d 1 Cor. xi 4 5 xiii.9.xiv.1 3 4 5.22 24 31 39. Rom. xii 6 1 Thes. v. 20 Prophesying and e 1 Cor. xiv 14 15. Praying especially of that office of the Eucharist f 1 Cor. xiv 16 where the Idiot had his set part assigned him and was to answer Amen These were the very employments of the Synaxes in that Age. And therefore certainly the Church thus united by such Gifts and Offices of the Spirit must needs have been that Body of them which joyned in the celebration of their publick Assemblies and considered under that very Notion as they were united in those Assemblies for which alone these Gifts and Offices were useful And plainly the Apostles design being as I have elsewhere observed in all these Discourses to prevent the falling away of the Persons to whom he writes either to Judaism or Gentilism or any of the Heresies which then began to appear there could be nothing more apposite to this purpose than to perswade them to keep to this external Body as united by the celebration of the same publick Assemblies whereby they were visibly and notoriously distinguished from those erroneous Societies and nothing more disagreeable than our Adversaries Notion of a multitude not a body of Elect not distinguishable from others by such notorious Characters as might be prudently useful by way of Argument § XII BESIDES the similitude of a Vine used by our Saviour was the same which had been used concerning the carnal Israel in the Old Testament Psal. lxxx 8 14 15. Isa. v. 1 7 xxvii.2 Jer. ii 21 Ezek. xix 10 Hos. x. 1 and therefore very fitly applyed to the Spiritual and Mystical Israel in the New according to that way of arguing which is so universally observed by the sacred Writers of the New Testament And then considering that the Christians made the Spiritual Israel a Society in the same sence wherein the carnal Israel had been so before nay allowed of something suitable to those very means by which they were confederated into a Society Instead of Circumcision they continued not only the Mystical Circumcision of the heart but Baptism which had been a means taken up by the Jews before the Preaching of the Christian Religion and which they thought more countenanced by the Prophets who had foretold the state of Christianity than Circumcision it self was and withal thought it more agreeable to the more Spiritual nature of the Christian Religion in comparison of the Jewish And so for Sacrifices though they rejected the bloody ones which they also thought discountenanced by those same Prophesies which had predicted the state of Mystical Judaism yet they allowed a Mystical Melchisedechian Sacrifice not only of the Morals of Religion but also under those very Elements and Symbols which they supposed predicted and Typified in those fame Writers who had spoken so disparagingly of the bloody Sacrifices Yet still these means of confederation though they were indeed more agreeable to the nature of a Spiritual Religion than those among the Jews were still external and therefore as proper for confederating an external Society as those were in the room of which they succeeded § XIII AND 4. It is further observable that though the immediate design of the Sacred Writers seems to have been to secure the Persons to whom they wrote in the external Communion of the Church in that Age wherein they wrote yet the reasons used by them for this purpose are such as concern the Church as a Church and so as suitable to the later Ages of the Church as those earlier ones wherein they were first used Indeed if the Argument used to prove their obligation to continue in the external Communion of the Church had been this that they could not otherwise partake of the miraculous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and manifestations of the Spirit than as those Gifts and manifestations were proper to that Age so the Argument would lose its force in succeeding Ages which could not pretend to those Gifts and manifestations But when I consider that those Gifts and manifestations in that Age did generally accompany the Graces of the Spirit and that therefore it is no good Argument to conclude that the Spirit was only given for extraordinary purposes because he was pleased to manifest himself by Gifts and Appearances that were indeed extraordinary when I consider that it is the Spirit as a Principle of Spiritual Life of which they are supposed to be deprived by falling away from that external Communion nay as a Principle of Spiritual Life to themselves when I consider that the Church being called Christ they are supposed to lose their interest in Christ and all his saving Graces by separating from the Communion of the Church to lose their interest in his Redemption to lose their interest in him by losing his Spirit which whosoever has not is none of his when I consider that by falling away from their Baptismal Obligations they are supposed to have forfeited all the advantages of their Baptism their illumination their tasting of the heavenly gift their participation of the Holy Ghost their tasting of the good Word of God and of the Powers of the World to come and so to have forfeited them as to need Renovation as intire as if they never had enjoyed them nay to have forfeited their whole interest in the New Covenant which sure respects the Graces of the Spirit more principally than his Gifts I say when I consider these things I cannot but think that the Graces here spoken of on these occasions are as well the Graces properly so called as the Gifts of the Spirit those of them which are to be ordinarily expected in all Ages as those which were proper to that those of them which are absolutely necessary for Salvation as well as those which were only more convenient for the more advantagious procurement of Salvation And sure we have reason to expect as that these ordinary necessary Graces of the Spirit should be continued to these later Ages wherein they are still as necessary as they were at first so that they should be continued in the same means of conveyance by which they were communicated at first And we have the rather reason to expect that they should be continued by the
far I should be from excusing any hard thoughts concerning a Multitude But if the knowledg of their danger be the most likely means to secure them from it if more of them will come to understand their danger when they are warned of it by others than would if they were left to the ingenuity and sagacity of their own reflections It must be then the greatest cruelty to conceal our apprehensions of their danger as it would be in the other case to reveal them And the greater the multitude is of them that are indangered the more pitiable is their case and the more obliging a tender compassionate truly Christian Spirit to endeavour all he can for their relief How can such a one who has learned the true value of Souls from what his Lord has done and suffered to save them endure to see his Lords designs so frustrated and such numbers of Souls fall short of those favours which were designed for them by what he had done and suffered for their Salvation Could the danger of his Fathers Life extort words from the dumb Son of Croesus And can any Lover of the Father of Spirits keep silence when thousands of those Spirits are in danger of perishing for want of seasonable information To think that there are such multitudes of those who unfeignedly believe the truth of the Christian Religion who yet are destitute of the ordinary means of Salvation required by that Religion to think how many more are like to be engaged on the same dangerous courses in all those future generations wherein these SCHISMS may last if they be not timely obviated to think how many of these poor Souls neither think of any danger in the state of SCHISM nor are sensible of the true stating of those disputes which might in all likelihood convince them how nearly they are concerned in that danger who if they were but rightly informed and made sensible of their danger would in all likelihood receive conviction and escape the danger at least would be more inquisitive if they knew their present course to be indeed so dangerous if they should prove mistaken To think I say on these things seriously must sure raise the zeal of him who has any zeal of God in him or any bowels of compassion for Souls that is indeed who has any thing of the Spirit of Christianity So that hitherto the multitude of them who are concerned ought rather to be an inducement than a dissuasive to a compassionate soul to let them see their danger § XII BUT if another use be made of this consideration of the multitude of those who are concerned in the consequences of this discourse for a charge against our modesty for dissenting from so great a multitude in thinking their condition so dangerous when they think it so secure in pretending to any thing new that such a multitude have not discovered before us though I know how little such an Objection becomes the Person of those who are most of all concerned to make it who make no scruple to practise and avow this liberty of dissenting from greater multitudes than themselves yet many other considerations may be pleaded for our defence even in this particular also First the multitude though they may seem many when we confine our thoughts to the narrow extents of our own Dominions yet are really inconsiderable in comparison of the whole Church I do not say only of former Ages but even of this also wherein we live And what immodesty can it be to dissent from a multitude when we have so much greater a multitude to confront against them Next this multitude it self are so disunited among themselves as that no particular party will make a multitude in comparison of the whole And if they be united in this conclusion that their condition is not dangerous it is not from any common principles but purely from common interest that they are so united It is plain that the different parties do state the question of SCHISM and their own defence from the charge of it very differently and are obliged to do so by the different interests of their causes So that no one set of Principles can pretend even to the patronage of a multitude And sure a Vnion in Negative conclusions without any Vnion in Principles to prove those conclusions a Vnion not of unprejudiced Judgment but plainly suspicious of common interest a Vnion of innovaters against the concurrent sense and Principles too of all Antiquity cannot have any thing very venerable in it for the recommendation of its Authority though a higher deference were due to Authority than can be allowed by the common Principles of the Reformation § XIII AS for the multitude of those whose Authority is really considerable in this case I mean that of Catholick Antiquity I hope hereafter to make it appear in my Second Part that I have said nothing as to my general charge but upon their common Suffrages and Principles too And why should we presume a multitude of innovaters better acquainted with the principles and practices of the Apostles than they who had so much better advantages of knowing them by living so much nearer to their times I do not prejudg against their actual knowing some things better than the ancients But if there can be no general presumption in favour of them but the enquiry in what particulars they do so be resolved into particular information that is enough to overthrow their Authority as a presumption against us in point of modesty which is all for which I am concerned at present Besides that this acknowledgment that Persons of less advantages for finding the truth in general and therefore of less Authority may yet be so happy as to light upon better information in some particulars is that which might be a very satisfactory plea and by them against whom we plead it undeniable for our dissent from them in these particulars though we had been more destitute otherwise of Authority for our dissent than indeed were are And to know when the case may prove so that Persons more unlikely may discover some particular truths which have escaped the observation of others who were otherwise much more able to have made the discovery a better rule can hardly be given in general than that this may be then expected when either some false Principle was taken up unwarily at first by them who though they were themselves as subject to humane frailties as others yet by their being the first had the Authority with their Successors as to recommend them as Principles to posterity so that all their future enquiries were only into their consequences not into the truth of such Principles themselves or when some other means of information were made use of which either were not known or not made use of by those more able Persons Thus it is very justly pleadable against the Romanists that whilest they made unwritten traditions of equal Authority with the written word of
A further presumption for proving the same thing § XIII p. 156. CHAP. VIII 3. The participation in these external Solemnities with any legal validity is only to be had in the external Communion of the visible Church § I. The Church as taken for the body of the Elect uncapable of being communicated with externally § II III. That all things here contrived are exactly fitted for a visible Church and no other § IV V. p. 163. CHAP. IX 2. That in reference to the duty of particular Persons the visible Church wherein they may expect to find these ordinary means is the Episcopal in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed and particularly that Episcopal Communion under whose Jurisdiction the Persons are supposed to live § I. 1. The Episcopal Communion in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed is that visible Church to whose external Communion these ordinary means of grace are confined This proved by several degrees § II. 1. The ordinary means of grace are now confined to the Sacraments Two things premised The former § III IV. The later § V. The thing to be proved § VI. Proved two ways 1. Exclusively of other means of gaining that Grace which is necessary to Salvation besides the Sacrament § VII VIII 1. Of the Word Preached Some things premised § IX X XI XII 1. Much of the Grace conveyed by the Word Preached in the Primitive times was undoubtedly proper to those times and not fit to be expected now § XIII XIV XV. 2. There were reasons proper to those times why such Grace might be expected then which will not hold now for the conviction of the Persons who then received the Spirit § XVI 3. There were also other proper reasons necessary for the conviction of those with whom they had to deal § XVII 4. That Grace which might otherwise have been expected in attending on the Word Preached is yet not so probably to be expected in the Preaching of Persons unauthorized especially if they Preach in opposition to those who are Legally invested with Spiritual Authority § XVIII XIX 5. It is yet further doubtful whether the Grace which which may now be ordinarily expected at any Preaching whatsoever be so great as to be able to supply the want of Sacraments at least so great as to secure the Salvation of those who enjoy this Ordinance whilest they want the Sacraments § XX XXI 6. It is also very doubtful whether all the Grace which is supposed to accompany the Word Preached be any more than what is necessary to dispose the Auditors to receive and believe the truth of the Doctrines Preached to them or whether there be any the least ground to believe that they shall there receive that further Assistance which is necessary to help them to practise what they have thus received and believed § XXII XXIII XXIV 7. This first Grace of persuasion if we suppose it alone to accompany the Word Preached will fully answer the design of the Word Preached § XXV 8. The Grace here received seems to be only some actual influences of the Spirit which wicked men may receive whilest they continue so and which therefore cannot alone be thought sufficient for Salvation not the Person of the Divine Spirit himself § XXVI p. 166. CHAP. X. The exclusive Part proved 2. as to Prayer That neither this alone nor the Grace which may be expected in the use of it are sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments The Objection proposed § I II. The Answer 1. That no Prayers can expect acceptance with God but such as suppose the use of the ordinary means and consequently of the Sacraments if they should prove such § III. 2. No Prayers can expect acceptance which are offered by a sinner continuing in the state of sin even at the same time when he offers them § IV. 3. It is more to be considered what is the ordinary means appointed by God than what is ordinarily observed by the best and wisest men § V. 4. It is no way safe for us to venture on our own Judgments concerning the design of God in instituting the Sacraments to neglect them This proved by several degreâ—â— It is hard to know the true design of the Sacraments § VI. They are not sure that raising Devotion by the sensible representations was the principal design of these Sacraments § VII They cannot assure themselves that this use of the sensible representations was the only or the principal end of the Sacraments § VIII Though they were sure of these things yet they have no reason whereby to be assured that God will be pleased with their taking upon them to judg of his designs and by that means allowing themselves the liberty of paying their obedience at their own discretion § IX 5. Another design of the Sacraments has been proved the confederating Subjects into a Body Politick and the obliging Subjects in it to a dependence on their Governours It is no way convenient that any should be excused from these establishments upon pretences to perfection They who were really perfect would not make this use of such pretences for their own sake § X. They would not do it for the sake of the publick § XI XII XIII They would not do it on account of the Divine actual establishment and the Divine assistances conveyed by the Sacraments which are necessary for perfection of the Person § XIV And of his Prayer § XV. 6. The Scripture no where allows such a degree of Perfection atteinable in this life as can in reason excuse from the reason of the Obligation to Ecclesiastical Assemblies All Members of the Church need the gifts of each other § XVI They need particularly those gifts which belong to Government § XVII All the other Members need the Head which cannot be understood of Christ but of Persons eminently gifted § XVIII This Head not a Head of Dignity only but also of influence and Authority § XIX Though they needed not the gifts of others yet they are obliged to joyn themselves in Ecclesiastical Societies in regard of the good they may do to others They are obliged to this as Platonists and as Christians § XX. p. 191. CHAP. XI 7. The Scripture gives us no encouragement to believe that any Prayers shall be heard which are made out of the Communion of the Church or even in the behalf of those that are so excepting those which are made for their Conversion This proved from St. John who was the only Apostle who lived to see the case of separation § I. St. Joh. xvii 9 § II. Where by being given to Christ is meant a being given by external Profession § III. By the World all they are meant who were out of the visible Society of the Professors of the Christian Doctrine § IV V. They are said to be in the World purely for this reason because they did not keep to the Society of the Church § VI. The same thing proved from 1
III BUT however it is certain that no Man can be assured of anothers Election And seeing the Persons themselves are thus incapable of being distinguished from others Seeing at least there are no visible distinctives of any Society of them how is it possible to maintein any visible Communion with them by visible Solemnities The Elect may indeed be capable of mainteining a Communion with God because they know him and are known by him without any visible Societies but for want of these necessary conditions of Communication they can never constitute any Society nor maintein any Communication with each other And therefore if this be the Church to which our dissenting Brethren would pay the respect due to the Church all our Sacraments must be perfectly insignificant which seem plainly designed not only nor principally to maintein a visible Communication with God but with each other § IV SEEING therefore that this Legal validity depends on the due administration of these External Solemnities by which they may be believed Obligatory of God by the same Rules of Legal Equity whereby they would be Obligatory of Men And seeing that this is the only way among Men to infer an Obligation on Persons not immediately appearing in their own Persons as God does not in Covenanting with Vs that it may appear that the Persons acting in their behalf be indeed impowered by them to act in their Names and to pass such Acts into Legal Forms by solemn sealing them this must also be conceived requisite to Gods Obligation as it may be valid in Law and as it may be capable of appearing to Vs And therefore his Covenant is Transacted with Vs by Ministers dealing with us immediately and who must make out their Authority to Act and Administer the Seals in his Name the same way as Legal Procurators do by their Deputation from them who were Originally concerned § V NOW all the things on which this Tryal depends are visible the Covenant it self the Seals the Ministers their Call by Authorized Persons and therefore are uncapable of being Transacted any where but in a visible Church and an External Communion And it is further Observable that this way of proceeding will resolve the ultimate Tryal of the validity of these Solemnities into the Authority of the Persons administring them which will more directly prove that the visible Church here supposed must also be a Body Politick And this may suffice at present for proof of this second thing necessary for the Justification of this Proposition That the Ordinary Means of Salvation are confined to the External Communion of the visible Church CHAP. IX That the Grace to be expected in hearing the Word Preached is not sufficient for Salvation without the Sacraments THE CONTENTS 11. That in reference to the Duty of particular Persons the visible Church wherein they may expect to find these Ordinary Means is the Episcopal in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed and particularly that Episcopal Communion under whose Jurisdiction the Persons are supposed to live § I. 1. The Episcopal Communion in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed is that visible Church to whose External Communion these Ordinary Means of Grace are confined This proved by several degrees § II. 1. The Ordinary Means of Grace are now confined to the Sacraments Two things premised The former § III.IV. The later § V. The thing to be proved § VI. Proved two ways 1. Exclusively of other Means of gaining that Grace which is necessary to Salvation besides the Sacrament § VII VIII 1. Of the Word Preached Some things Premised § IX X.XI.XII 1. Much of the Grace conveyed by the Word Preached in the Primitive times was undoubtedly proper to those times and not fit to be expected now § XIII XIV.XV 2. There were reasons proper to those times why such Grace might be expected then which will not hold now for the conviction of the Persons who then received the Spirit § XVI 3. There were also other proper Reasons necessary for the conviction of those with whom they had to deal § XVII 4. That Grace which might otherwise have been expected in attending on the Word Preached is yet not so probably to be expected in the Preaching of Persons Vnauthorized especially if they Preach in opposition to them who are Legally invested with Spiritual Authority § XVIII XIX 5. It is yet farther doubtful whether the Grace which may now be Ordinarily expected at any Preaching whatsoever be so great as to be able to supply the want of the Sacraments at least so great as to secure the Salvation of those who enjoy this Ordinance whilest they want the Sacraments § XX. XXI 6. It is also very doubtful whether all the Grace which is supposed to accompany the Word Preached be any more than what is necessary to dispose the Auditors to receive and believe the Truth of the Doctrines Preached to them Or whether there be any the least ground to believe that they shall there receive that further Assistance which is necessary to help them to Practice what they have thus received and believed § XXII XXIII.XXIV 7. This first Grace of Perswasion if we suppose it alone to accompany the Word Preached will fully answer the design of the Word Preached § XXV 8. The Grace here received seems to be only some actual Influences of the Spirit which wicked men may receive whilest they continue so and which therefore cannot alone be thought sufficient for Salvation not the Person of the Divine Spirit himself § XXVI § I I PROCEED therefore to the second Particular requisite for bringing this Proposition home to my present design viz. That in reference to the Duty of particular Persons that visible Church wherein they may expect to find these Ordinary Means is the Episcopal in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed and particularly that Episcopal Communion under whose Jurisdiction the Persons are supposed to live This will also consist of 2. Parts fit to be considered distinctly 1. That the Episcopal Communion in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed is that visible Church to whose External Communion thâ—se Ordinary Means of Grace are confined And 2. That in respect to particular Persons that Episcopal Communion under which the Persons live is that particular Episcopal Communion to which these Ordinary Means of Salvation are confined in the Case of these particular Persons § II 1. THEN The Episcopal Communion in opposition to all other Societies not Episcopally governed is that visible Church to whose External Communion these Ordinary Means of Grace are confined This I shall endeavour to prove by these degrees 1. That the Ordinary Means of Grace are now confined to the Sacraments 2. That the validity of these Sacraments depend upon the Authority of the Persons by whom they are administred 3. That no other Ministers have this lawful Authority but only they of the Episcopal Communion § III 1. The Ordinary Means of Grace
of Salvation so it is withal as certain that our participation in the External Solemnities whereby this Covenant is transacted is the only Ordinary Means whereby we may be assured of our Interest in the Covenant and that God has neither instituted nor is pretended by our Brethren themselves to have instituted any other External Solemnities of transacting this Covenant besides the Sacraments But because I am now considering the Sacraments under another Notion not as Solemnities of transacting the Covenant but in relation to those Graces for the communication whereof they were particularly designed and instituted by God himself that which I am at present concerned to prove will be that the Graces hereby conveyed are such as that without them Salvation cannot ordinarily be expected and withal that they are such as that God has instituted no other ordinary way of giving them besides the Sacraments Both these I shall endeavour to prove together as I have already exprest them in the Proposition § VII THIS I shall endeavour from two Topicks 1. By excluding the other Ordinary Means of gaining that Grace which is requisite either for Salvation it self or at least for our Assurance of it besides the Sacraments And 2. By shewing directly that the Grace conferred in the Sacraments is of such a nature as to suppose the Persons to whom it has not yet been given in an unsalvable Condition From the former it will principally appear that the Grace is not otherwise to be expected Ordinarily than by the Sacraments From the later That this Grace is such as that Salvation cannot Ordinarily be expected without it § VIII 1. THEREFORE I shall endeavour to disprove those other Ordinary Means which are or may be pretended to by them who are out of the Communion of the Church And they are especially two either the hearing of the Word Preached or private Prayer The former will at least so far serve our purpose as to oblige Men to depend on some Assemblies and consequently on the power of those who alone enjoy the power of calling such Assemblies or at least to depend on the Preachers But the later is such as if it be allowed to be an Ordinary Means of obteining that Grace which is necessary for Salvation will excuse Men not only from all Sacraments but from all Assemblies too and will allow a liberty to those who joyn with no Party at all on pretence of the sufficiency of their Closet-Devotions Which is a thing I am therefore the more willing to warn them of that none may venture to defend this later way till they have first considered how they can give an account of this dangerous Consequence of it And the same Inconvenience will much more concern them who conceive the Moral Duties of Faith and Repentance to be sufficient for obteining this Evangelical Grace which is necessary for our Salvation But of this Opinion I shall say no more now both because I have considered it already and because it must necessarily fall if I suceed in my present undertaking § IX THE first Ordinary Means therefore pretended for obteining the Grace of the Gospel independently on the Sacraments is the Word But before I oppose this I shall first lay down some Cautions from which it may appear how far I am indeed concerned to oppose it 1. Therefore if by the Word be understood the subsistent Word whether the fontal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Christ himself or the derivative as the Spirit which is given to us upon our becoming Christians in regard whereof Christ himself is said to be (a) Gal. iv 19 formed in us (b) 2 Cor. iv 10 Col. iii. 4 St. Joh. xiv 6 1 Joh. i. 1.2 to live in us to be (c) Gal. ii 20 crucifyed and (d) Rom. vi 4 Col. ii 10 buried in us and We are said on account of this living Spirit which we receive from him to (e) 1 Cor. xv 49 Comp. wiith Ver. 45. bear his Image as by our (f) Ib. 1 Cor. xv 45.49 Souls we bear the Image of Adam I then conceive my self so far from being concerned to deny that by this Word we receive all the Graces of the Gospel as that indeed it is from hence that I infer the necessity of Sacraments as the only Ordinary Means of partaking of the Word in this sense And yet it is very much to be suspected that some of the places produced by our Adversaries for proving the efficacy of the Word are only to be understood of the Word in this sense So in 1 Pet. 1.23 Where we are said to be born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever The abiding for ever here is not so naturally intelligible of the permanency of the Decrees of God as (g) Ps. cxix 89 elsewhere this Phrase is used as of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within us For the Argument here produced is to prove the permanency of our new life to which we are here born that that should also endure for ever because it is the fruit of this incorruptible seed But for that it had not been so proper to argue the incorruptibleness of the effects of the Divine Decrees because the same Decrees which are the reasons why some things are incorruptible are also the reason why others are corruptible But the subsistent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a very proper Argument for concluding the incorruptibleness of those things which partake of it In this sense Life is an usual Epithete of this Word And from our partaking of this quickening Spirit the Apostle concludes the necessity of our immortality and resurrection 1 Cor. xv The only difficulty is that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here spoken of is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 25. And yet if St. h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr understood the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Orphaicks of this subsistent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must seem less strange in the Hebrew Idiom according to which it is so very ordinary to put Words for Things None can doubt but that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as properly rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the same way also it may probably be understood in St. James 1.18 Where our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Word of Truth is opposed to the birth whereby Concupiscence is said to bring forth Sin and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby Sin when it is consummated brings forth Death Ver. 15. But this is not so likely to be understood either of the Doctrines of Concupiscence or Sin as of the things themselves And therefore it will be also much more suitable to understand our Regeneration by the Word rather of that Subsistent Being which is so called in the ordinary language of those times than of the Doctrine of the Gospel § X 2. IF by
things do certainly imply that they who then had the Spirit could certainly know they had it and make an argument of it to prove the Doctrines and Spirits of others and much more in themselves And accordingly wherever this Spirit was given it seems generally to have discovered it self by some sensible indications in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which others were able to discern it as well as he who had it Therefore our Saviour promises that miraculous signs should generally follow them which should (p) S. Mark XVI 17 18. believe and it was by these sensible signs that Simon (q) Acts VIII 18 Magus though a professed enemy of the Apostles was notwithstanding convinced that the Spirit was given by the Imposition of the Apostles hands and this by their Imposition of hands on the generality of those who had been baptized by St. Philip that we may not suspect that their Case was then thought extraordinary And St. Paul speaking of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tells us that though they were distributed differently yet that all had some And this seems to have been continued till the Religion was sufficiently propagated even to St. Cyprian and Lactantius's times So far baptized Christians felt that strange and suddain change in themselves which they could not sufficiently admire and could never have believed if they had not felt it And particularly ordinary baptized Christians found themselves to have a power over Devils to torment and vex them and to force them to quit their Oracles and to confess themselves to be seducing Spirits Now as these sensible indications to the Persons themselves are by the confession of all Parties long since ceased so also this reason is ceased of the influences themselves that the Persons who now receive the Spirit do not expect any new conviction of the truth of the Religion by which they receive it but confess themselves abundantly satisfied with those Credentials which were exhibited at its first publication But it is also further considerable that besides these reasons for the conviction of the Persons receiving the Spirit in those Ages § XVII THERE were also 3. others necessary for the conviction of those Persons who were to deal with them Especially when they were to be instructed in something new of which they were ignorant before Thus it was necessary that the Holy Ghost should fall upon Cornelius and his company upon St. Peters preaching to them and before their Baptism because else the Apostle had not been so well satisfied that it was his Duty to baptize them notwithstanding his vision for that purpose immediately before his coming to them At least he had wanted that satisfaction which had been requisite for his defence to others who would have been extremely scandalized at him if he had ventured to practise upon a Revelation made only to himself We find him expressly making this use of it as an Argument for his own direction in this affair Who can forbid water that these should not be baptized Acts X. 47 Acts XI 17 who have received the holy Ghost as well as we And again If God gave unto them the same gift as unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ who was I that I could hinder God The necessity hereof then appears by the Apology he was afterwards obliged to make for himself in this particular And indeed it was very agreeable to the methods of Prophecy in that Age for God to instruct some even inspired Persons themselves by visible signs of his influences upon others Thus St. John Baptist himself was directed to the knowledg of our Saviour That whereas he knew him not himself John I. 33 he who had sent him to baptize with water had said unto him Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend and abiding on him that is he who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost But much more this was requisite then when the matter was of universal concernment and where it was convenient for the Prophets reputation that others should be satisfied as well as himself that he might not seem to impose on them on his single Authority which was exactly St. Peters Case here Thus the Apostles Authority was recommended to the multitude by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon them at the Feast of Pentecost Acts II. But now that we have no hopes of any further Revelation either concerning things or Persons but that God hath left us intirely to our own natural Prudence both for knowing the manner of administring those Sacraments which have been derived to us from the beginning and what Persons have a Title to them all those gifts of the Spirit which on this account were given at the Preaching of the Word cannot now be expected by us § XVIII AND yet farther 4. even concerning that power of the Spirit which accompanies the Preaching of the Word it is worth considering in what Preaching of the Word it may be expected Whether it may only be expected in the Preaching of such Persons as are sent and Authorized Or may also be expected at the Preaching of such as Preach without Authority nay in opposition to them who are legally invested with this Spiritual Authority And it may be when our dissenting Brethren have thoroughly considered the now mentioned Observations and shall then recollect their proofs for this influence of the Spirit accompanying the word Preached which may reach our present Case and prove it reasonable for them to expect the like influences now possibly they will find this to be the solidest reason for their purpose to shew the parity of the Case now as in the Primitive times That whereas they will hardly find an express and immutable Promise which may reach our times the only reason why we may expect the like Assistance now is that the Apostolical Office is still continued as to its Ordinaries though it have ceased long since as to its Extraordinaries that they who are called by Persons Authorized by God to call them are as properly Authorized by God in their several Successions as they who were Authorized by him immediately that deriving their Authority from God he must in reason be obliged to second them in all Exercises of this Authority relating to the end for which he had designed it on the same account as every Supreme Worldly Governour thinks himself obliged by the Principles of his Government to ratifie and promote all the Legal procedures even of his inferior subordinate Officers and that God is rather obliged to do this than even worldly Princes themselves because indeed the effect of all their Ministry depends on his immediate interposition whereas the power of the Sword committed to inferior Magistrates enables them to do many things without immediate recourse to the Supreme § XIX IF this way of proceeding be allowed it will plainly resolve all the ground of expecting this influence of the Spirit in the use of their Ministry into the Legality of their
For these he ordinarily appoints fewer Means and obliges particular Persons to greater diligence if they will have them that they may not fail of those few ordinary Means But God is yet further more sparing in his Provisions when the benefits expected exceed the power of Nature 2 Kings V. 12 S. John IX 7 11. Numb V. 17 18 c. No water but that of Jordan was allowed the power of curing Naamans Leprosie No Pool but that of Siloam could recover the blind mans sight No Water but that of Jealousie prepared according to the Rules of his own appointment could discover the Adulteress It is sufficient in this Case that the methods prescribed by him be generally in the Power of the Persons concerned and they are sufficiently in their Power if by any Moral diligence or by any lawful condescendence they may be obteined § XXIV I BELIEVE our Adversaries will object that these are Reasons rather than Testimonies But it may be when they shall examine their Testimonies more narrowly they will find that they will not be applicable to our present circumstances any farther than parity of reason will make them hold and that these are the properest Reasons for judging of the application And however this method of Conversion here described do fit our Brethrens Systems who speak only of the Conversion of professed initiated Christians from a bad or careless to a good and considerate way of living suitably to their Profession yet it will certainly better fit those Conversions mentioned in the Scriptures from a state of Judaism and Gentilism to a belief and Profession of the Christian Religion Now if this be the Case not only the Grace of Conversion is to be expected in this Ministry and that of a Conversion not from one Life to another but only from one Religion to another it will thence appear how little comfort can be expected from an attendance on this Ordinance without the Sacraments For what comfort can it be only to believe the Christian Religion true without performance of the Conditions prescribed by it Or to know what the Conditions are without ability to perform them Or to know where this ability may be had if we do not make use of Means to come by it Nay to make application even to our Brethrens Systems what comfort were it to be convinced of the necessity of a holy Life nay to be under the greatest and most serious sense of this necessity if they want that further Grace which is necessary to enable them to practise Holiness Conditional Promises cannot indeed be valued as Promises to them who find themselves unable to perform the Conditions And therefore if this ability to perform Conditions be only to be expected from the Sacraments this will be sufficient to weaken that extreme confidence which many place in the Word preached without the Sacraments § XXV AND that this first Grace of Perswasion is all that can in reason and Prudence be expected from the Word Preached our dissenting Brethren themselves may understand if they shall be pleased further to consider 7. that this does fully answer the design of the Word Preached The end of all Popular Discourses is only to perswade and direct to perswade the Auditory to aim at the End proposed by the Orator and to direct them to the most Prudent Means for obteining that End And therefore if God do so far assist the Word preached in his name by his Ministers as to make it effectually perswasive to such as are not deficient to themselves and withal the Word Preached direct them further where they may be furnished with all things necessary for reducing their Convictions to Practice this will abundantly answer the end of the Word Preached If he be withal pleased to assist them further in the actual Practice of what they are perswaded to be necessary to be practised by them yet that will not concern him as a Proposer of his own Will nor consequently as he uses Preaching as a Means suitable for that purpose but under another Notion and therefore will be most proper for another Ordinance I confess he might have used Words that should at once perform what they represent as he did in the Creation and continues to do in the Consecration of the Eucharist not to the changing of the nature of the Elements but to the producing those Graces in the use of them which so much exceed the nature of those Elements But where we have no more express intimation of his actual pleasure than we have here there we have no better way of judging what he is pleased to do than by judging what he is by his design obliged to do And whatever may be his design in other words as those now mentioned yet certainly no more than I have said is rational to be expected in Words of address to Persons and especially when those Words are urged with the usual ordinary Arts of Perswasion as Preaching is as practised by Ministers § XXVI BUT because one great occasion of mistake in this whole affair is that the Spirit is conceived to accompany the Word Preached therefore 8. it were well our Adversaries would be pleased to consider Whether by the Spirit he meant only an influence of the Spirit or the Divine Person of the Spirit himself If the Person of the Spirit were given and ordinarily given to qualified Hearers of the Word Preached by vertue of the Ordinance of Preaching and this as often as they come duly qualified for hearing it I should then confess that the Spirit thus given would serve all Ends of the Sacraments and make them unnecessary to such Persons For the Spirit thus given would be a Principle of Divine Life in them and therefore must renew and regenerate and sanctifie them It must unite them to Christ for this Vnity is the Unity of the Spirit and as they who have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his so they who have it must be his This must therefore intitle them to all that he has done and suffered for them It must purifie them by his blood It must make him live and abide in them It must convey his influences to them It must be a Spirit of Adoption in them crying Abba Father and assuring them that they in particular are the Sons of God And what other favours can be expected from the Spirit which is given in Baptism It must make them one Body with him And that is all that our partaking in one Bread can do or at least will necessarily infer whatever other favour may be expected in the Eucharist And if we may expect new degrees of influence from it as often as we come prepared Hearers of the Word Preached what further interest can we have to be promoted by receiving the Lords Supper that can either oblige us to receive it or be taken for a likely reason why Christ should require it from us who requires nothing from us in the Gospel but what
the Title of a Book of Porphyry on that Subject as the infelicity that occasioned it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or descent of the soul into this World And the ascent of the soul was not only out of this inferior part of the World under the Moon which they conceived subject to the Daemon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also above the seven Spheres which they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was from the motion of those seven solid Orbs and the proportion between them to each other that the Musick of the Spheres was occasioned Plat. in Timaeo according to their Doctrine This inferior World was also made by the Angels according to them lest otherwise it should have been immortal and it was their office to tie the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they took out of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given them by the supreme God to Bodies The inferior World was thought subject to the Planetary influences and not only to the influences of the Planets themselves but those also of the Demons by which they were supposed to be animated At least all Bodies were thought to be thus subject to them and consequently the Soul it self according to the greater or lesser grossness of its vehicle Porph. de Abst. Orac. Chald. was conceived to be more or less subject to them This therefore was the great work of this Philosophy to free the Soul from these grosser vehicles which were the bonds of her captivity And still the purging of her vehicle and the quickening the Principles of her Intellectual Life made her by degrees more and more capable of ascending And as the terrestrial vehicle confined her to these lower parts of the World so her freedom from that would only give her liberty to soar above the Earth but still her aerial vehicle would as much confine her from ascending above the air now as her earthly vehicle did from ascending above the Earth before So that till she were divested of all excepting only her pure atherial vehicle she could not according to them ascend above the Planetary Spheres from whence she had descended And therefore the way to free the Soul from this World and from those Daemons to which it was subject was first to free it from these vehicles And because the Angels were they who had tyed the soul to those vehicles therefore there was no other way of ridding the soul of these vehicles but either by appeasing those Daemons or overpowering them by the assistance of some more powerful Daemons And both these ways were taken by the several Sects of the Philosophers as well as the Gnosticks And particularly one chief means recommended for this purpose even by the Philosophers was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Pythagoraeans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aur. Car◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that this among other things was thought a means of freeing from the Body at that was for mounting up into the pure aether and being made in their sense a God appears from the end of those verses where the Authors give an account of the benefit their Readers might expect by following their Prescriptions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so it should seem the Author of Poemander Poem c. 4. expressing the benefits of the Christian Baptism according to the Notions of the Aegyptian Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it has already been shewn that that Author is for raising the soul above the World in the sense already explained and probably according to the sense of Basilides But I must not now digress to shew why I think so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore subject to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be ignorant of this knowledg which they pretended to as so peculiar to themselves so the Apostle shews that this does really belong to the Catholick Society in opposition to all others that they know (a) 1 St. John v. 20 Christ and the (b) 1 Joh. ii 13 Father as they are visible members of that Society which professed the belief of Christs Doctrine and that none other knew them but they that as they who are in the Communion of the Church are frequently said not to be (c) Chap. iv 4 of the World so all who are not of that Communion are still in (d) Ver. 5. the World how much soever they pretend to be above it the same way as St. Jude twits the Gnosticks who pretended that they themselves were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Catholicks only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he tells them that they the Gnosticks themselves were only (e) St. Jud. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and like (f) Rom. 1.22 St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeed for any deeper knowledg of the Christian Religion than a bare belief of the Truth of Christs Doctrine in general the Apostles themselves could not pretend to when Christ spoke these words no not till the descent of the Spirit upon them at Pentecost which was to (g) Joh. xvi 13 lead them into all truth It was but little before that they were asking him concerning his (h) Act. i. 6 restoring the Kingdom to Israel so that it seems they had so long retained their old fancies that he should be a temporal Prince which must needs put them into very different apprehensions concerning the whole scheme of the Christian Religion from what it really was But besides the great design of the Apostle being to perswade his Readers to keep to one visible Society in opposition to many others it had been extremely improper to understand the World only of ill Livers seeing there might have been many such in the Society he perswaded them to continue in and many otherwise in those which he perswaded them to avoid But the sense I have given is as opposite as could have been thought of that being out of the visible Church they were in the World and so were excluded from this Intercession of Christ of which we are now speaking And from this way of arguing it will appear that they who were out of the visible Society of the Church are not therefore said to be in the World because of the peculiar impiety of the Heresies then taught by them or because of the peculiar debauchery of their lives but purely for this very reason because they did not keep to the Society of the Church This I the rather observe that our dissenting Brethren of the present Age who neither teach such wicked Heresies nor lead so wicked lives may not think themselves unconcerned in this Argument as long as they yet keep themselves at as great a distance from the visible Society of the Church as they did then Now this does plainly follow from the appropriation of the Gnosticks
them for the shame is to be referred to the kind of suffering by the Cross with which it is also frequently joyned on other a Heb. xii ◠occasions rather than to the shame of their disowning him nay this very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is elsewhere ascribed to the Cross was no more than he had deserved This was indeed as the same Author elsewhere expresses it b Heb. x. 29 a trampling under feet the Son of God that is indeed a shewing the greatest possible contempt of him which is elsewhere c Psal. xci 13 Isa. xiv 19.xxviii.3 Matt. vii 6.v.13 Rev. xi 2 importance of that Phrase a counting the Blood of the Covenant by which they bad been sanctified an unholy thing that is indeed so far from being fit to expiate the sins of others as the Blood of the Covenant ought to do as that it needed expiation it self as it must needs have done if it had been shed for Crimes of his own that had justly deserved it a doing despite to the Spirit of Grace that is of the Gospel which they had received d Gal. iii. 2 not by the works of the Law but by the Obedience of Faith accounting that it self an evil and deceiving Spirit as they must needs have accounted it if it had been given them by the means of a Deceiver § XIII THESE are aggravations I confess unapplicable to our Brethrens Case Their departure from the Church does not imply their taking Christ himself for a Deceiver but their thinking them deceived from whom they depart in pretending to a Succession from him And therefore as far as this special aggravation of the crime is a particular reason of the severity of the Punishment so far I shall ingeniously confess that I think our dissenting Brethren unconcerned in it But then withall it will be fit to be considered that this disparity of their Case can only be as to the intention of the Persons not as to the nature of the Thing They who in those times and circumstances deserted the School of Christ to go over to his professed Adversaries must have been more sensible of this consequence of their doing so because the party to which they went did in terms profess to believe our Lord an Impostor which was the Principle from which all these dreadful consequences followed And their knowing this must needs have been an extreme aggravation of their Crime But as to the nature of the thing the Case is the same now as then Whosoever deserts Christ's School must necessarily imply that he is not such as he pretended to be that is not so Authorized from God as himself pretended for if they thought him so they could never pretend any reason why they should desert him And then all the other consequences follow out of Course For whoever pretends an Authority from God when he has it not must be supposed so wicked for doing so as that there is no other crime chargeable on him by his greatest Adversaries but it may then prove likely for him to have been guilty of it So that in this regard the Cases of our present Adversaries and those of the Apostles times would be like that of two Persons assisting a Rebel who should pretend a Commission from his Prince but falsely The one of them I suppose knows the falshood of his pretence the other does not but thinks that whilest he serves him he serves his Prince Both of them are alike guilty of the same Crime and both are as real Enemies to the Royal Authority and may do as much real mischief in prosecuting the Rebellion Only the Crime is not alike imputable to him who knows what he does to be Rebellion as to him who mistakes it for Loyalty So if they be as really Enemies to Christ whom our Adversaries mistake for his Friends as they were in the Apostles times who did not so much as pretend to be his Friends if they really disown the Chair of Christ in disowning his Regular Successors in that Chair though they pretend only to disown the Men who are at present possessed of the Chair the Crime of deserting this Chair now will prove as grievous as it was in the Apostles days though it be not now so imputable to the Persons guilty of it as it was then when they had better information However it will highly concern our Brethren by no means to neglect the real guilt whatever they may think of the imputation if for no other reason yet for this that the neglect will certainly aggravate the imputation Besides that the imputation it self may prove really greater than they are aware of § XIV THIS therefore being the guilt here spoken of let us now consider the Punishment of it from whence it will both appear how great the guilty is and how liable our Adversaries are to the Punishment suitably to their proportion of the guilt And this is rather implyed here than exprest when it is said to be so great as to need a Renovation For it is hereby intimated that all they enjoyed before is so totally lost by this fall as that nothing remained of it and if they would recover any of the advantages of the former state they must recover them by a new admission into that state and an admission so intirely new as if they never had been of it so little benefit they could expect from their former Admission even in order to the making their second Admission more easie and compendious Now this Renovation it self does also refer to Baptism So Baptism it self is expressly called the laver of Regeneration and of the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. iii. 5 by which we are also said to be saved The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in both places From these things therefore it follows that the Holy Spirit of our Master which is his internal Teacher which must open the understanding of his Disciples and make them capable of understanding his sublimer Doctrines his Acroamaticks which according to the methods of Teaching in those times were only intrusted with those of their Scholars whom they found to be of extraordinary capacities which method was also punctually observed by our Master himself I say it follows that this Spirit by which the Scripture usually signifies all the good things of the Gospel is so intirely lost by this lapse of theirs from their Baptismal State as that it is not recoverable but by a new admission into Christ's School again such a one as that was whereby they at first became his Scholars Which would be so far from fitting them for the Mysteries of Christianity for which it is the great design of this Author to perswade them to fit themselves in this whole Chapter that they might be the better capable of apprehending the mystical discourse concernig Melchizedec which occasioned this whole digression and which he immediately resumes in the following Chapter as that it would only be a
both of them points of Doctrine And must we therefore conclude that the Apostles had no just Authority to oblige them to believe particular Doctrines on account of the Revelation made to themselves because they were contradicted in such Doctrines when contrary to the present sense of those to whom they were proposed and because they were pleased to condescend to give an account of themselves and their Doctrines upon such contradiction Nay their Master himself was very wary in proposing any thing not only to the promiscuous Multitude but even to themselves that might seem harsh and unlikely to them till they were first throughly possessed with a Reverence for the Authority and till that might pass with them for a stronger Argument for their belief than all their seeming unlikelihoods for disbelieving them Therefore he also was pleased to condescend to a rational defence of his Paradoxes Yet none will therefore think it rational to infer that he had not even then a sufficient Authority to oblige them to believe what he said without particular reasonings nay none can therefore think that he had not even then given sufficient conviction of the Justice of his claim to such an Authority by the many Miracles he had done before them § XX AND if in that first Age the Apostles were so wary of engaging their Authority even for the belief of Doctrines why should we think it strange that they should have been yet more wary of engaging it for matters of Government Why should we think it strange that they should in these things also condescend to reason the Case with dissenters and use all the rational inducements that might prevail with them to perform willingly the things required from them though as to the reason of things they had been as little obliged to it as they were to give an account of their Doctrines or to stand to their judgments concerning those reasons when their own Authority so evidenced was a much stronger reason than any of them all especially considering that their Authority for Doctrines was indeed the only true and solid foundation for their Authority in Government If the Religion should not prove true and it could not be true if when it wholly derived its credit from Revelations made to the Apostles those same Apostles might have been convinced of a mistake in any one particular by them pretended to be a Revelation all the pretences of Salvation to be obtained by joyning themselves to that Society and all claim to Authority over any Member of this Society in order to his being a Member of it being grounded on the advantages men may hope for by becoming Members of such a Society must fail together with it Besides that the Administration of Government was of much less consequence in those first times when there were but few to be governed than the general interest of Religion And when Converts were very good and sincere and ready of themselves to perform their Duty as soon as they might understand that it was their Duty there was much less need of coercive Acts of Government than afterwards And yet without coercion it is not so easie to distinguish the true right of Government from the condescensions of good and prudent Governours § XXI BESIDES there were other reasons proper to that Age very powerful to incline them to a condescension from their just rights It was some considerable time before the Christians made an open secession from the Jewish Synagogues of which they had been formerly Members I do not know whether they did it at all till they were forced to it either by the Jewish Excommunications or till the Jews by their obstinate refusal of the Gospel were thought to deprive themselves of their pretensions to the Mystical Israel It does not appear that they set up any distinct Government in the places converted by them till St. Paul began it after the Jews had behaved themselves very perversly at Antioch of Pisidia There it was that he first used that fatal Ceremony of rejecting them Act. xiii 51 by casting off the dust of his feet against them and pronounced that fatal sentence against them Lo we turn unto the Gentiles Till then they generally assembled in the same Synagogues they observed the same Festivals Verse 46. and kept close to the same Legal Ceremonies and walked orderly in all things according to the Customs received from the Fathers as St. James expresses it But after this we read of their ordeining Elders in every City And the reason of the thing seems to have required it For we plainly find that the carnal Israel were understood to have had the first title to the Priviledges of the Mystical Israel till they had forfeited their title and God was pleased to take the advantage of the forfeiture by pronouncing the Sentence against them And while this was so the ordinary Government of the Church was permitted to the Jewish Synagogues and their Rulers of them and the Apostles exercised no other distinct Authority than what was allowed to Prophets by the Rules of the Synagogue it self and what was absolutely necessary for mainteining themselves independently on them if the Principles possessed by them should cause an actual breach So that this whole time was a state of constant Prudential condescension And yet certainly none can conclude that no more Power did of right belong to them than what was in Prudence fit to be exercised by them in this condition None can think that the Commission of Christ by which he sent them in as ample a form as himself had been sent in by the Father extended no farther than to such things as were fit to be performed by them supposing that they were willing to condescend in these circumstances § XXII ANOTHER reason of condescending was the multitude of supernatural gifts wherewith that Age abounded and the extraordinary course that was then observed by the Spirit in dispensing them They were not only given to Persons Authorized upon their call to Authority but were generally granted to new and zealous Converts upon their Baptism They were also such as were given them not so much for the sakes of the Persons who had them as for the edification which the Church might be capable of receiving by them so that their very receiving them was an interpretative Call to use them and that in their publick Synaxes and was thought to be so by the Persons who had received them and both they themselves and others who were convinced that they really had them were externally fearful of the guilt of resisting and much more of quenching that Spirit which was the Author of them and they thought they should contract this guilt by endeavouring to suppress them which I have shewn that that Age took for a guilt of the highest nature It is very well known how great a Liberty was indulged by the Jews to true Prophets That extraordinary Call was thought sufficient to excuse them not only