Rome in honouring the Saints and their Reliques or Images without making our selves obnoxious to the Jews for any reason to do it with For Christianity having put Idolatry to flight which the Law never pretended to do It is not to bee imagined that the having of Images can make a man take those things for God which they represent so long as the belief of Christianity is alive at the heart For neither was it Idolatry though it were a breach of this Commandment for a Jew to have such Images as were forbidden by their Elders not taking that for God which they represented But what honour of Saints departed or what signs of that honour Christianity may require what furniture or ceremonies the Churches of Christians and the publique worship of God in them may require now all the World professes Christianity and must honour the Religion which they profess this the Church is at freedom to determine by the word of God expounded according to the best agreement of Christians For neither is it obliged by the second Council of Nicaea or the violent proceedings of the Church of Rome which have brought it into force in these Western parts nor to the excesses of the adverse parties in the East which made the setting up and reverencing of Images in Churches to bee Idolatry without sufficient ground in the Scriptures for it Confining the literal intent of the Decalogue to those gross Of the third Commandment sins by which all Jews were to understand that the interest of the Nation in the Land of Promise must become forfeited as all reason requireth the taking of Gods name in vain in the third Commandment is in plain terms to swear that which is false as the Chaldee Paraphrase renders it But a Christian takes up Gods name in professing Christianity And when the World sees him do any thing that agreeth not with his profession without doubt hee takes it up in vain For there never was any true Israelite in whom was no guile that worshipped God in spirit and truth but hee might then understand that hee took Gods name in vain if professing the worship of the only true God hee should live like those that worshipped Idols Much more a Christian knowing that hee is bound to direct all his actions to the end of Gods glory and service out of obedience to his declared will must needs know that he shall not bee guiltless to God if they bee not suitable to the profession which hee weareth It is questioned how God blessed and sanctified the seventh What the sanctifying â—f the Sabbath signifieth day at the creation of all things the keeping of the Sabbath being first commanded after the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt For some would have it understood by a Prolepsis or figure of anticipation that God in consideration of his resting from all his Works on the seventh day when hee gave the Law made that day the Sabbath Others think that hee sanctified it from the beginning for a day of his Service though the rest which the Jews were commanded sitting still all the Sabbath came in force from the giving of the Law And truly the memory of the seven days of the week which hath been preserved among all nations who cannot bee thought to have learned any matter of Religion from the Jews seems to intimate a Tradition of the creation remaining among them But it is to bee considered that when Idolatry prevailed the worship of the seven Planets was a prime part of it and Astrology which appropriates the seven days of the week to them a great means of propagating the same And therefore the memory of the creation being obliterated by the superstition which the Devil had graffed upon it the observations of Heathen people are rather to bee imputed to this then to that And otherwise there is nothing in the Scripture to answer Tertullian with demanding of the Jews which of the Fathers before the Law kept the Sabbath But howsoever if wee bee Christians wee must not question that the blessing which God hallowed the seventh day with is the rest of Christs body in the grave on that day by which that rest from the travel of sin and the punishment of it which Christianity professeth and promiseth was purchased for Christians For upon this ground all the time of the Gospel is that Sabbath which the Jewish Sabbath signified And the fulfilling of the fourth Commandment is the rest of a Christian from all his own works all the days of his life Not that I doubt that under the Law the day was to bee set apart for the Offices of Gods Service but because there are other precepts of the Law Num. XXVIII Levit. XXIII by which that is provided for By virtue of which precepts according to the correspondence between the Law and Gospel not only the first day of the week is set aside by the Apostles for the service of God instead of the seventh day which the Jews observe but also other days of Assemblies being appointed by the Church are to bee observed by Gods people for the same reason as the seventh For even the seventh day it self was observed and was to bee observed by Christians for the same reason so long as the custom of the Church required them to observe it for that purpose Besides the letter of the Law having forbidden any work upon the seventh day common reason would serve without any precept of the Law to infer that they ought to meet for the service of God which his people had always professed when they had nothing else to do Otherwise it is true which Origen so often chargeth that they could not assemble without some breach upon the strict sense of that command not to stir out of their place on that day And this sitting still is as properly sanctifying the day as the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hâ—ifer sprinkling the pollutâ—d sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh according to the Epistle to the Hebrews IX 13. So the keeping of this Commandment under the Gospel is the serving of God all the days of a mans life as our Catechisme expoundeth it When the fifth Commandment promiseth long life to them The meaning of the fifth as to Christians that honour Father and Mother will any man say that this promise is made to Christians that profess to take up Christs Cross and to lay down their lives for Christ If hee do let him say what Land it is which Christians are promised If it bee not the Land of the living which the Land of Canaan figureth Wherefore it is manifest that the honours due to the King and all Civil Powers under him are due by the letter of this precept as properly comprized in the name of Father according to the use of that language The obedience also due to the Elders of the Synagogue is by the Metaphorical signification of the word Mother standing for
delivered by the letter of Moses Law Whereas indeed and in truth the Moral Precepts of Gods Natural Law though of greatest consequence to the everlasting estate of immortal Souls which the Law supposeth rather then expresseth are onely the matter of the Carnal Covenant which contracteth not for the doing of them out of that reason and with that intent which God requireth because it contracteth not for the world to come wherewith that intent is rewardable For as the keeping of the precepts materially qualified that people for the Land of Promise so the keeping of them in obedience to God and for his Service qualified them then for Heaven as Christians always supposing the expectation of Christs coming for the redemption of Gods people Therefore though it bee necessary for Divines under Christianity to distinguish between moral and positive in Moses Law yet they will confound the ground of that distinction as it took place under the Law to Gods people if they expect that the letter of the Law should express it The not considering of this is that which suffers not men to How the Spiritual sense of the Decalogue concerns Christians see that sense which the plain letter of the Decalogue signifieth being transported with a prejudice that the Moral Law signified as much to the Jews and required as great duty of them as the exposition of them preached by our Lord Christ requireth of Christians Whereas by that which I have said it may appear that the mistake which our Lord corrects in the meaning of Moses Law is â—he Haeresie of the Scribes and Pharisees promising everlasting life in recompense of the outward observing of it Whereas the Law indeed rewardeth it with the Land of Promise intimating onely the reward of the world to come to those that should serve the searcher of hearts from the heart in expectation of the Messias his coming So the Decalogue being the brief of those conditions upon which God contracted with the Generality of that people for the Land of Promise carries not with it the least presumption in reason that whatsoever it containeth is either moral or perpetually positive to wit according to the carnal sense which the letter of the Law first presenteth Indeed according to the spiritual intent of it by which true Israelites were conducted even then to the world to come it signified and required the same spiritual obedience which the Gospel obliges us to though in a measure proportionable to those helps of grace which God then gave compared with those which the Coming of Christ hath brought forth So that in one word admitting the literal sense â—f the Decalogue to bee that which obliged the Jews the spiritual sense which it is to carry with Christians is to bee valued by the correspondence of the New Testament with the Old in the mater of every particular precept What can bee more manifest then this in the Preface to it The meaning of the first Commandment in this sense Can Christians say truly that God ever delivered them out of the Land of Aegypt and the bondage of it must they not all say that God hath delivered them from the bondage of sin and Satan correspondent to it might not all true Israelites in whom was no guile say the same in regard of that worship of Idols which all other Nations were enslaved with and the sin to which it engaged therefore a Jew understands this first precept to bee the chief point of his Law that hee acknowledg but one God but that one whom his Fathers knew And if the Mater bee examined it will appear that both Jews and Mahumetans stand at distance with Christians upon this false pretense that the Faith of the holy Trinity agreeth not herewith For the Alcoran insinuateth this poyson every where But the Christian goes farther in the meaning of this precept And believing the Father Son and Holy Ghost to bee that one God which gave them this precept believes himself redeemed from the bondage of sin by the blood of the Son and by the Grace of the Spirit And therefore making the will of God the ground and his glory and service the intent of all his doings renounces all respect to the pleasure or profit or honour and greatness of this World so far as it is not the means to serve God Acknowledging that when hee declines from this resolution hee makes his Belly his God or his riches his Idol as St. Paul saith or rather the Devil that offers him some little part of that which our Lord refused in gross the God whom hee worships The second Commandment setting forth God for a God The extent of the sâ—coud Commandment that is jealous of his people whether they worship him or not manifestly supposeth their Covenant to forsake all other Gods beside him a contract of Mariage between him and his people Which if it bee so it is no less manifest that the Images which the precept supposeth are the representations of other Gods which his people were went to commit adultery with by worshipping them for God For seeing it is manifest how much Idolatry was advanced by Imagery though it may bee without it there can bee no marvel that there should bee a peculiar precept against it Wherefore it is manifest that Jews by the letter of this precept are tied from all Images which their Elders who had the power of limiting what is lawful and what is not by the Law should declare to bee unlawful But to think that their declarations ought to bind Christians were to imagine that Christians ought to bee Jews And the letter of the Law forbidding all Images at all times and in all places as well as some it is not possible to show how Christians can bee tied from any kind of Image at any time or in any place more then others by the letter of this precept But by the positive part of the precept implied in the negative which it expresseth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them Christians must needs find themselves bound to that worship of God in spirit and truth which it is not possible for Jews to think themselves tied to in consideration of the Land of Promise And therefore having the Word of God for the rule of their worship must needs condemn the worshipping of God by any imagination of their own devising for superstition and will-will-worship In standing upon that which God declareth not that hee regardeth for the discharge of their duty to him and in tendring him things of their own chusing for the worship which they acknowledge to bee due For as I said afore it is not possible that they who lay such a weight of their diligence upon things of their own choise should discharge the duty of worshipping him in spirit and truth in that measure which the comparison of Gods will with our own choise requireth And by this rule wee condemn all excesses of the Church of
bee allowed to forejudge my opinion because it makes our Reconcilement with the Church of Rome easier then they would have it For if division in the Church without evident and valuable cause bee a sin to God it will certainly bee the sin of the Kingdom to bear them out in it by stating our Reformation upon undue grounds For the terms of it must needs bee according to the grounds of it which being either invisible or inconsiderable in comparison of the benefits of Unity must needs translate some part of the blame to rest upon that side which exceeds And therefore to excuse my freedom in publishing that Why it ought to bee declared which follows Let no man grudge me this Plea for my self at the day of Judgement that being convicted that our agreement cannot bee acceptable to God but upon the consequence of those two suppositions according to that which follows I am not at rest till I have said it Could there bee peace had by compounding the Interest of two parties without providing for the Interest of our common Christianity in those two Articles what joy could a Christian expect of that which should bee purchased at so unconscionable a Rate Here is nothing said but that which hath been said when Arbitrary power might have made it a pretense for Persecution had the Interest of Usurpers allowed it It is a short view of that which I have published heretofore presented to those that may desire to see in one prospect what is the true consequence of it in the composing of those differences that remain still on foot And the danger of being involved in the Crime of Schisme before God obligeth me to declare that opinion which being not declared may render me lyable to that charge in Gods sight Therefore there is no offense to Superiors in declaring it The The declaring of it no offense to Superiors Lawes of Kingdoms go by a Rule that is made of such metal as may bend and be fitted to the body which they are to rule Only they are to aim at an inflexible Rule of Gods truth which is the Inheritance of every Christian And therefore he that sees it made crooked is bound to set it straight This is not to say what publique Authority should do but what it should intend to do A thing necessary to bee said when there bee those who would have it intend that which it ought not to do In fine the difficulty and danger of our case seems to supersede for the present the Rule of Obedience in the Church CHAP. V. Wee have the same evidence for the Visible Vnity of the Church as for the truth of the Scriptures The Church founded upon the Power of the Keyes The Vnity of the Church Visible by the Lawes of it The Law which endoweth the Church with Consecrated Goods How the Vnity of the Church is signified by the Scriptures How in the Old Testament Wee have the same evidence for the Visible Unity of the Church aâ— for the truth of the Scriptures I Say then that the Unity of the Church signifies nothing unless it signifie the Visible Unity of Communion in the outward offices of Gods Service Not onely the Invsible Unity of the heart in Faith and Charity Unless the Church bee founded by God for an outward Society Visible to the common reason of man Not onely for an Invisible Number the Unity whereof onely his own Invisible Wisdom inwardly designeth And I say it because I conceive I have proved it by the same evidence upon which wee accept the Scriptures for the Word of God Upon which wee hold our common Christianity For I have shewed that wee believe the Scriptures for the Scriptures the matter of Faith for the Motives of Faith there related That is wee hold those things which the Scriptures relate sufficient to oblige all the people of God afore Christ to bee Jewes All the people of the world after Christ to bee Christians This in the nature of a reason obliging a man to bee a Christian For in the nature and kind of an effective cause I do not suppose much less grant that any thing is sufficient much less effectual without Gods Spirit â—ut if an Unbeliever should ask mee why I believe that to bee true which being true I grant sufficient to oblige mee to believe It will not serve my turn to say that I find it written in the Scripture So long as the question is why I believe the Scripture My answer must bee that the consent of all Christians in submitting to the Gospel which they would not have done had they not known the motives to bee true for which they did it assures mee as much that they are true as if I had seen the things done which moved them to believe Especially being as much convicted by the light of Reason and Nature that Christianity goes beyond Judaisme for advancing the Service of God and goodness as that Judaisme goes beyond the Religion either of Pagans or Mahumetans For this being the reason why wee believe that must bee The Church founded upon the Power of the Keyâ—s alleged by all that will allege any reason to Unbelievers It must needs have the same force in evidencing the sense that wee allow it in evidencing the credit of the Scriptures If the consent of all Christians in submitting to Christianity upon Motives recorded in the Scriptures assure mee that they are true And therefore the Scriptures the Word of God and Christianity the onely Religion by which wee can bee saved Then the consent of all Christians in owning the obligation of holding Visible Communion with the Church is to assure mee that it is Gods Ordinance For the act or the acts of our Lord upon which the Church is founded I allege the Power of the Keyes described by the effect of binding and loosing and to that effect granted to St. Peter Mat. XVI 18 19 To the Disciples assembled after the Resurrection John XX. 19-23 in the terms of remitting and retaining sinne To the Church Mat. XVIII 15-18 in the same terms as to St. Peter to the effect of rendring him that obeys not a Heathen man or a Publican to him that would bee a Christian Here you have a certain Power deposited with certain Persons the effect whereof is Visible in the succession of Person deriving the authority which they claim from the visible act of those Persons which are here trusted with it And in the maintenance of Visible Communion amongst true Christians by excluding the false It is true Haereticks and Schismaticks exclude themselves out of the Church For they would bee the Church themselves if they could tell how But it is the authority of the Church that obligeth Christians to avoid them as the Jewes to whom our Lord spake did then avoid Heathen men and Publicans And it obligeth by declaring them Haereticks and Schismaticks I know there bee those that would have the imputation of
raised Christ from the dead that shall raise the mortal bodies in which it dwelt here up to life is it not the sin which the fall of Adam brought into the world that first brought in death after it The same Spirit of holiness it is that our Lord according to promise sent his Disciples in his own stead and sent it with visible signs of his presence to make his word effectual in them first and by them to the conversion of the Nations And this means as no Christian can deny to bee sufficient to oblige all the world to bee Christians So there can bee nothing wanting on Gods part to render it effectual with those that embrace it For it is manifest that the Grace of God works the conversion of all by shewing the world sufficient reason to bee Christians A thing which can by no means bee done but by shewing them that they are the causes of their own damnation if they bee not They that are convicted hereof it is sure would bee perswaded by concupiscence not to act according to that conviction were there no more then conviction of reason to turn the ballance But when Gods Spirit manageth the motives of Christianity which it self provideth for this conviction consisteth in the works whereby God hath made good the preaching of our Lord and his Apostles what can bee wanting to the efficacy of it And this is signified in the Old Testament by ascribing the conquest of the promised Land to God and not to the strength or valour of his people So that wheresoever wee find that they are delivered out of their enemies hands by Gods assistance there wee are assured that the powers of darkness are not to bee overcome by Christians but by Gods Grace And the inclinations of mans heart to evil from the Mothers And therefore they inferre Original Sin by the Fall of Adam womb the frailty of humane flesh and the mortality thereof are so expresly delivered in the Old Testament that the Jewes themselves do acknowledge the effect of Adams transgression in them Neither is it possible to give any account of any necessity for the coming of our Saviour otherwise For whatsoever can bee required to convict the world that the tender of the Gospel shall bee made good to all that embrace or preserve it might have been as well without the death of the Son of God as by it Therefore the consent of the Church in this point hath been evidenced against Pelagius not only by the custome of baptizing Infants but by the Ceremonies which they were baptized with signifying the ejecting of the evil Spirit to make way for Gods Spirit Not that it was a Law from the beginning that all children of Christian Parents should be baptized Infants For it is evident that they thought it better to bee baptized at mans age Because then they are more able to understand what they undertake But because they never did presume of the Salvation of any that dyed unbaptized And therefore since the world came to profess Christianity and that the care and zeal either of Parents or Ministers could not so well bee trusted for the preventing of death by procuring Baptisme for Infants especially with that reverence which the Sacrament requireth it hath been agreed upon by the silent practise of Christendome to baptize all while they are Infants And this consent whoso infringeth in the overt act of Schisme which hee committeth hee involveth a presumption of Haeresie against himself For what could move a man to such an outrage who did believe that profession which saveth a Christian to include in it the Sacrament of Baptisme And thus it remaineth evident that it is a Covenant of unspeakable Wherein the Covenant of Grace consisteth Grace on Gods part which his Gospel bringeth notwithstanding that it requireth upon the condition of our Salvation that wee live and dye Christians First as tendring the assistance of Gods Spirit as well to undertake as to perform And then having performed as tendring a reward which our performance cannot challenge And both in consideration of Christ whose merits and sufferings are free pure meer Grace before all helps of Grace which they have purchased for us It is a thing prodigious and deplorable to consider that they That the state of Grace is forfeited by heinous sin who would bee Reformers of the Church should notwithstanding all this think it no state of Grace that can become forfeit by sin As if because without daily sin Christians do not live therefore that reconcilement with God were no reconcilement that can become void by gross and heinous sin But till that which hath been said of Justification and that Faith which alone justifieth bee destroyed there can bee no pretense for so dangerous a doctrine That which is granted upon a condition faileth with it And it must bee a secret which the Old and New Testament hath not revealed that shall make good our title to Heaven though wee make not good that Christianity which intitleth us to it And therefore when S. Paul is perswaded that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Rom. VIII 28. hee supposeth us to bee such as hee describeth all along the Chapter afore Such as hee found himself resolved to bee Such as live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Of such hee might well bee perswaded that nothing should separate them from the love of God in Christ Knowing the helps of Gods All-sufficient Grace to bee promised all that so live not to fail till they receive them in vain Whence S. John saith that hee who is born of God sinneth not because the Vnction which hee hath from God abideth in bim and teacheth him all things 1 John II. 20. 27. III. 9. hee supposeth him that is born of God to bee the Son of God who shall bee no Son of God if hee sinne such sins as hee means And therefore hee supposeth this Vnction to abide in him which abideth not in them that sinne When our Lord saith to the Samaritane John IV. 14. that whoso drinketh of the water which hee shall give shall never thirst any more hee supposeth that the water which hee giveth is not vomited up again hee opposeth this water so drunk to the water of Jacobs Well which did make room for thirst in time Whereas this water so drunk shall spring up to life everlasting All Haeresies have the superficial sound of some Texts of Scripture to set against the whole stream of Scripture and the current Doctrine of it Hee that considers how much of the Old and New Testament that which I have said of Justification involveth will think it reason to measure the meaning of two or three Texts by that not to rack all the rest to the length of these As for the sense of the Church seeing the consent thereof is evident in the condition upon which wee are justified It is a part of
sinner exact of himself that Penance which the Church would or ought to impose But whether all sinners can bee brought to know what that is or knowing to impose it upon themselves let the common reason of Christians judge They that assure them of pardon and the favour of God without it whether it bee themselves or their false teachers plainly they murther their souls The Church of Rome in making the Keys of the Church the necessary means for pardon of all sin that voids the Grace of Baptisme goes beyond the bounds of truth In procuring a Law that all submit to it once a year goes not beyond the bounds of Justice It were to bee wished that the abuses of that Law might be cured without taking it away For if it bee the power of the Keys that makes the Church the Church It will bee hard to shew the face of a Church where the blessing of the Church and the Communion of the Eucharist is granted and yet no power of the Keys at all exercised Nay it will appear a lamentable case to consider how simple innocent Christians are led on till death in an opinion that they want nothing requisite for the obtaining and assuring of the pardon of their sins when it is as manifest that they want the Keys of the Church as it is manifest that the Keys of the Church are not in use for that purpose St. James ordaineth that the Presbyters of every Church Of anointing the sick according to S. James pray for the sick with a promise of pardon for their sins This supposeth them qualified by submitting their sins to the Keys of the Church which the Presbyters do manage The promise belongs not to the Office of Presbyters upon other terms Hee requireth them also to anoint the sick with oyl promising Recovery upon it Not to all that should bee anointed For Christians then should not dye if true Christians But as the Disciples of our Lord had used it to evidence their Commission to the World So was the manifestation of Gods Spirit residing in the Church granted for the benefit of his Church Neither is there any cause why the same benefit should not bee expected but the decay of Christianity in the Church In the mean time the forgiveness of sin according to St. James comes by the Keys of the Church Recovery of health from the prayers of it So the Unction of the sick is to recover health not to prepare for death as the Church of Rome now useth it But supposing the health of the soul restored by the Keys of the Church All the pretenses for Divorce of lawful Mariages all the incestuous Mariage of Christiaâ—â— not to bee Ruled by Moses Law Contracts all the unchristian solemnizing of Christian Wedlock which the blessed Reformation hath authorized are to bee attributed to one mistake that the Mariage of Christians stands by the Law of Moses not by the Gospel of Christ Our Presbyterians in their Confession of Faith duely prohibit Mariage in those degrees of alliance which are prohibited in blood But out of Leviticus if they will prove it their word must serve for our warrant that this is the sense If Man and Wife bee one flesh then is a Man as neer his Wifes Kin as his own But man and wife are not one flesh by Moses Law licensing plurality of wives and divorce though by the Law of Paradise It was dispensed with after the Flood and not revived but by our Lord. That Divorce and plurality of wives was not restrained but by the Gospel it is impudence to Dispute much more to deny The Mariage of the Niece with the Uncle of the half blood hath puzzled all them that would make it unlawful by Moses Law The Mariage of a Christian with two Sisters successive will bee as hard to condemn by the same Granting the premises all these Disputes cease Mariage is the Bond of one with one not to bee dissolved till death by the Law of Christ not by the Law of Moses Whether Adultery dissolve the Bond or not I leave it disputable for the present as I find it Mariage with a Pagan was void by Moses Law St. Paul enables Christians to hold to it Therefore hee refers them not to the Law Christianity improves Moses Law in all things Therefore Christians cannot be regulated by Moses Law in Matrimonial causes Therefore in the prohibiting of degrees as well as of divorce For Moses Law prohibits more then that Law which the Children of Noah received after Flood had done It were better to restrain all that which the present Canon Law restrains then that the incests of the late licentious times should bee tolerated For the present Canon Law restrains not much more then the Greek Church restrains But if the Authority thereof bee not binding by reason of the Usurpations of the Church of Rome yet to depart from the Canons of the Whole Church and of those times which wee acknowledg would bee a departure from the whole Church Hee that would bar the Cross in Baptisme for fear it should Instituted Ceremonies are Sacraments with the Fathers bee taken for a Sacrament what would hee say to St. Ambrose that cals it down right a Sacrament I know not what hee would say I know what hee should do Hee should understand St. Ambrose by St. Ambrose when hee makes a Kiss to bee a Sacrament as a Religious sign of that Religious Affection which Kinsfolk professed to their neer Kinsfolk whom in his time they saluted with a Kiss to signifie that as St. Ambrose declareth At this rate St. Pauls holy kiss must needs bee a Sacrament For it was a Religious signe of that charity which Christians professed to Christians when they were to receive the Communion with them At this rate it is no marvel that there are found seven Sacraments in the Fathers For there are more then seven to bee found if there bee as many Sacraments as Ceremonies instituted by the Church If this bee true the discharging of instituted Ceremonies The Ceremonies of these Offices justifie instituted Ceremonies will bee a Defection from Gods Church If Confirmation Ordination and Penance bee Offices in which the Church is indebted to God and to his Church If the effect of them bee of such consequence that they have been always solemnized with the Imposition of hands that Ceremony shall bee enough to make them Sacraments at this rate and yet no neerer to Baptisme and to the Eucharist then that reason of the difference which I have setled will allow Nay let the prayers of the Church for the recovery of the sick who submit to the Keys of the Church bee solemnized with anointing a thing fit enouâ—h to bee done may but the ground upon which and the intent to which it is done appear and that shall bee a Sacrament and yet the want of it no more prejudice to salvation then the disusing of the Kiss of peace which
against the conflict of Death with the spiritual enemies of the Soul For though the Church ordaining Prayer for bodily health can by no means forget the health of the Soul if it mean to remember the Common Christianity Yet appeareth it nevertheless what ground and occasion the Institution of S. James pretendeth And so it appeareth what dependence the Unction of the Sick holdeth upon the Communion of the Eucharist As for the Marriage of Christians if it bee under a peculiar rule by virtue of the Common Christianity and that the interest of the Church in allowing of Marriages is grounded upon the same It is far from any imputation of abuse that the Church of Rome celebrateth the same at the Eucharist For seeing our Christianity is particularly concerned in the duties of Marriage How should the Grace of God enabling to discharge the said duties bee expected but by reviving the obligation of our Common Christianity which the receiving of the Eucharist signifieth I will not undertake to clear the See of Rome from all abuse of Ecclesiastical Power in multiplying the Impediments of Marriage as beyond necessity so beyond the Interest of Christianity and in dispensing in them again for favour or for reward as having been prohibited for no better reason then this That Power appears most in that which there is least reason for On the other side dispensing in those degrees which the Law of Moses prohibiteth and therefore Christianity ought to bee farther from allowing It seemeth to stretch the Power of the Church beyond the bounds of it And thus it appeareth first what relation these Offices hold with the Eucharist and the Communion of it and then what is the point of Reformation in which the voiding of those abuses standeth On the other side they that now are content with Confirmation The Reformation pretended no lâ—ss abuse on the other side so they may have the giving of it themselves and the Catechizing of them that receive it after their mode not distinguishing themselves from the Fanaticks cannot bee presumed to Catechise according to the Christianity of Gods Church But in as much as they Usurpe unto themselves authority without their Bishops and against them they cannot make Members of Gods Church by the Confirmation which so they may give So they bar the gift of Gods Spirit which Baptisme promiseth a Christian as a Christian by barring the Unity of Gods Church Again Ordaining all whom they Ordain to one and theâ— same Office of Preaching the Word and Ministring the Sacraments First they usurpe the power of Ordaining which they never received any authority by their Ordination to exercise And that in despite of their Bishops as seducing the people from the way of salvation which by their Ordinations they pretend to teach So receiving no Power of the Keys by their Usurpation they receive no power to celebrate the Eucharist but only to commit sacrilege by profaning so high an Ordinance And then they tread under foot the Hierachy of Bishops Priests and Deacons in despite of the whole Church dividing the authority of their Bishops among themselves but abolishing the Order of Deacons by confounding the title of Ministers common to all three Orders for ministring their several Offices with that sense in which the lowest Order are called Deacons for ministring to Bishops and Priests in their Offices As for the power of the Keys which is not that which God left his Church unless the effect of it bee the binding and loosing of sin It is plain enough that under pretense of taking away the scandal of notorious sin they would have power to shame and domineer over their neighbours overtaken with sin but without pretense of curing their sin for the condition upon which they are restored Such Discipline goes no further then the outward man and the restraining of him from sin for shame of the world The presumption of a voluntary change in the inward man for hope of Gods Grace by the Sacrament of the Eucharist must bee the effect of the Keys of Gods Church As for this power in sin that is not notorious what do they pretend more then their Preaching Which whether it bee such as shows the cure of sin let their diligence in Preaching mortification witness And yet whether every Christian can learn or will bee induced meerly by Preaching to use that mortification which is requisite let them that are able judge But what visiting of the sick do they pretend but to pray by them or comfort them without ever entring into the ground of their comfort upon examination of the conscience The blessing of Mariage they have reserved to the Church but upon an ungrounded presumption that the Mariage of Christians is to bee ruled by the Law of Moses The insufficience whereof being discerned by the people when they were loose from the Law of the Land hath occasioned all the incests and other disorders of the late times In the mean time whereas all these Offices are either provided to bring Christians to the Eucharist or to bee celebrated with the Eucharist It is demanded that godly Ministers bee not tied to celebrate the Eucharist above thrice a year It should rather bee demanded how they come to bee counted godly Ministers that demand this I shall not need to say how the point of Reformation is The point of Reformation in the mean between both found through which the line of it is to pass in these particulars Confirmation fitteth for the Eucharist by the profession of Christianity and by being a Member of Gods Church Ordination giveth some degree in the Clergy above the people and therefore supposeth the profession of retiring from the world more then other Christians undertake to do The Eucharist conveyeth Gods Spirit for the performing of this profession sincerely and resolutely made Both requiring the Unity of the Church both are to bee ministred by that authority without which nothing is to bee done in each Church The reconciling of notorious sin is the Bishops peculiar The Priest hath authority to cure that which is made known to him But this authority is not arbitrary in either of both The rigor of antient Discipline by the Canons of the Church is quite out of force But in these lees and dregs of Christianity which now wee draw there is some reasonable ground to presume upon that a sinner is resolved to live a good Christian for the future Let that bee limited and the power of the Keys will have effect in barring the sinner from the Communion till the presumption bee visible in him But to what shall the Keys of the Church reconcile him when the Eucharist is celebrated but thrice a year To what purpose is the visiting of the sick but that upon such presumption they may have the Eucharist to maintain them in the great journey which they are going The duty of Mariage among Christians depends wholly upon this supposition that God gives the maried an
the Synagogue derived from the terms of this precept But according to the correspondence between Christianity and Judaism God is our Father and our Mother is the Church And therefore as in temporal and civil things hee is a rebell that honours not the King so in matters of Religion hee is an Apostate from the Church that honours not the commands of it within those bounds which the command of God limiteth And thus the sive first Commandments according to the method of Christianity abridging an infinite number of Jewish Observations into one very weighty precept enjoyn every one of them the whole duty of a Christian to God the acknowledging and worshipping of the only true God extending it self to living as a Christian to resting from the works of the old Adam and to the honour of God by keeping his Commandments as they are delivered to us by his Church The four Precepts that follow are under one and the same consideration The meaning of the five last according to Christianity in this place Murther Adultery Theft and false Witness are things that either take away or abridge the interest of particular Jews in the Land of Promise And if the publique were accessory to the multiplying of them accordingly the publique interest thereof in Gods promises must needs become questionable Among Christians seeing these are crimes which cannot consist with any interest in the world to come the very first motions of them are commanded to bee suppressed and mortified And certainly whosoever was inwardly a Jew in spirit did understand himself bound to abstain from them not for fear of punishment but for love of goodness which love the love which Christ hath prevented us with advanceth to that height which Christianity professeth But this obligeth us to assign the last Commandment a meaning by it self distinct from all that which is prohibited by the former precepts And truly hee that finds not the peculiar Law of the Jews in the prohibition of coveting another mans wife must bee strangely transported with prejudice For Adultery being prohibited afore coveting another mans wife cannot bee understood but by sowing seeds of dissentions and other ways of inticing whereby a man may seek to make another mans wife his own by the Law of the Jews which allowed a man to put away a wife that pleased him not And therefore the rest of the precept must bee weighed in the same Balance to forbid any way of fraud or force whereby a man may make his neighbours goods his own Therefore the mater of this precept is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark X. 13. And the Jews reduce the precepts of not coveting or lusting under the title of rapine and oppression as you may see in Maimoni And therefore whether you restrain St. Pauls thou shalt not covet Rom. VII 7. to that which this precept forbiddeth or enlarge it to that which is forbidden by the other four Christians are by this precept forbidden to entertain any motion of lust towards that which is another mans And St. Austines observation that the sum of the Law is comprized in the first precept commanding the love of God and the last forbidding concupiscence is fully verified understanding the love of God to bee commanded by all the five precepts comprising all of them the whole duty of a Christian to God But the Love of a mans Neighbour by the other five forbidding any lust toward a mans own advantage by another mans disadvantage And so you see what a Christian prays for in praying to God to have mercy upon him for any thing wherein hee hath offended against any precept of his Law for the past and to give him Grace to keep it for the future In particular for the fourth Commandment that if hee will pray as a Christian should pray hee must pray to God to have mercy upon him in whatsoever hee hath not rested from the works of the first Adam begging Grace to do it for the future CHAP. XXIV That no Clergy man ought to bee of more Dioceses then one Of inferior Orders in the Clergy and their Offices The conversation of the Clergy and the use of Church goods The ground for promotions to higher degrees The Vniversities may bee serviceable to some part of this Discipline Reasons for it Publick fame of sin to bee purged by Ecclesiastical process Sinners convict by Law not to Communicate before Penance The Cure of notorious sin the Bishops Office The Church not Reformed without restoring Penance Publick or Private What means there is left for the restoring of it I Have yet two particulars to mention both much to bee desired That no Clergy man ought to bee of more Dâ—oâ—eses then one for the justifying of that Reformation which wee profess The one is an express Canon of the Whole Church concerning the discipline of the Clergy The other is an evident consequence of the like Canon in this estate when Religion is setled by the Law of the Kingdom concerning the discipline of the People The former is the Restoring of that Canon of the Whole Church which confineth all Orders of the Clergy to their respective Churches In the Language of this time it signifieth the voiding of all Privileges to hold Church preferment in more Dioceses then one It is the evident consequence of that Order which the Whole Church hath derived from the Act of the Apostles themselves constituting several Cities and the Territories thereof the seats of several Churches and their Dioceses It is manifest that this Order was in force though in a diverse measure in divers Countries from the beginning all over Christendom And that with the like respect to the Churches of Mother Cities in all Provinces It is also manifest that the Canon grounded upon this Order was in force till the Usurpation of the See of Rome seeking Benefices for their creatures all over Christendom authorized the dissolving of it by privileges the greatest benefit whereof themselves enjoyed So that the surceasing of it being an abuse of the Papacy our professing of Reformation requires the restoring of it But the restoring of it will signifie more then the terms of Of inferior Orders in the Clergy and their Offices it express It will infer the restoring of some part of that antient Discipline of the Clergy upon which the credit and authority thereof with and over the People from the beginning of Christianity was grounded It is well enough known how very antiently how very generally inferior Orders of Clergy were instituted by the Church under the Hierarchy founded by the Apostles for a sense to St. Pauls Rule that no Novice should bee Ordained For when Christianity was propagated all over then those that had lived meer Lay-men all their lives might as well bee counted Novices in Christianity compared with them that were grown up from their youth in these inferior Orders as those that were newly converted to Christianity in St. Pauls time The imployment