ΕΠΙΔΙΩΡΘΟΣΙΣ OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of CHURCHES In Order to their Through-REFORMATION By THOMAS BOYER Minister at Rempston in Nottinghamshire TIT. 1.5 For this cause left I thee at Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nathaniel Ekins at the Gun in Pauls Church-yard and for Stephen Lincoln in Leicester 1659. To all that wish well to SION Brethren IT being no less necessary to circumstantiate than it is to substantiate our Duty As the Word of God is assistant to us in the one so the works of God are in the other By vertue of this Constellation many have discovered most glorious things How it hath illuminated our English Orb is obvious to every eye It is long since by this means some saw that it was high time for Reformation to be in fashion And the spirits of Gods people have been working this way many a year but the largest contributions towards this work have issued out of the Treasury of those laborious Bees that have returned richly laden from the Wars These have laid us a right foundation and shewed us the Pattern of a compleat Superstructure It s our Interest to build accordingly though many do not Here 's my Mite which I must confess is but very little more than a Breviat of other mens voluminous Essaies but paradventure it may be accepted if not blessed by the Lord and not prejudicial if not beneficial unto you It aims if heart deceive not at his Glory and your good My desire is that it may hit the white If moreover it be as sharp arrows in the heart of the Kings enemies I intreat them not to be offended for corruption had better be let out than gangrenate No more at present but that I am An unworthy servant of Christs for your sakes THOMAS BOYER ΕπιδιοÏθωσις OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of Churches in Order to their Through-Reformation Qu. WHat condition is England visibly in Resp England is visibly in a state of Lukewarmness She is neither hot nor cold She so partakes of both that she cannot be said to be either She is both Gradu remisso and neither Gradu intenso We are a little Christian and a little Heathen or worse a little Protestant and a little Papist or Mahometan Our hearts are stil divided we give God something and our lusts something We fear the Lord and serve our Idols so that our fear of God is equivalent to none at all We are still like Redwald King of the East Saxons the first Prince of this Nation that was baptized In the same place we worship God and set up an Altar Our spirits lie like that Haven Acts 27.12 towards the Southwest and Northwest two opposite points We are half good half bad or Mungrels and Hermaphrodites in Religion There is so much of Luke-warmness in the Nation and almost in every Town and Family if ex ungue leonem that it may thence receive its denomination The spirit of England is not so much a spirit of Opposition to as of Obstruction of the work of Reformation through the deadness unweldiness thereof It s grown so stiff that its much ado to get it go any further on in the work though its pitty hot love should be so soon and sadly cold but usually men when they have compassed their own ends are willing to give themselves a Quietus est and a Writ of ease and to have the infinite Mercies of God totally unanswered and his Glory to himself to vindicate It would rejoyce all our hearts to see any of us mend our pace in Religion and make it appear that we are not guilty of this sinfull distemper It would speak fair for our admission into Churchship in the quality of adult members of the visible Church of Christ Quest Whether is Lukewarmness a state to be rested in or no Resp Lukewarmness is not a state to be rested in Rat. 1. For 1. To halt between two opinions is a very unreasonable thing No Apology can be made for it at the last day 1 Reg. 18.21 2. To be Lukewarm is opposite to Christs express command Rev. 3.19 3. A divided heart is a barren and an empty heart Hos 10.1 2. 4. Professors of a divided and lukewarm temper are severely threatned by God both in the Old and New Testament Hos 10.2 Rev. 3.16 5. Men of that frame can have no Communion with God in Church-Ordinances 1 Cor. 10.21 22. 6. Such a state is opposite to exactness in Religion Through-Reformation and giving up our selves wholly to God and his Truth 7. A Lukewarm-heart cannot let out it self holily to any thing in the world Divided affections cannot run out upon any thing in subordination to the Glory of God nor aim singly at the honor of Christ c. Quest What is England to do in this Condition Resp It s Englands duty in this condition to lay aside all carnal considerations and in an orderly Scriptural way to attempt a Through-Reformation Personal Civil and Ecclesiastical For a divine Correspondency is the best Policy Quest What is Reformation Resp Reformation in the general is a working up of a thing to its regular state and condition or to the very mind of the Owner to what he would have it in his best conception to be Leu. 26.23 Isa 1.25 26 27. Amos 9.11 Mal. 3.2 3. Acts 1.5.16 2 Tim. 3.16 Titus 1.5 Heb 9.10 Quest What is Personal Reformation Resp Personal Reformation is the working up of a person to the regular state of a Reformed Saint Quest What is Civil Reformation Resp Civil Reformation is the working up of a people to the regular state of a Common-wealth Quest What is Ecclesiastical Reformation Resp Ecclesiastical Reformation is the working up of Reformed Saints to the regular state of a Reformed Church Quest What is a Church Resp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church amongst the ancient Greeks especially the Athenians from whom it is taken denoted three things 1. And most properly a Civil Society in Court or a company of great ones gathered together by a lawfull Authority or the Command of the Supream Magistrate for a Politique end or the good of the Common-wealth Act. 19.39 thus a Parliament or Councel of State is a Church 2. It denotes a Company of people called and met together by whom and for what cause soever though the Gatherer have no Authority and the gathered as little knowledge c. Act. 19.32 Thus a company of the most covetous and ignorant Mechanicks are a Church 3. It signifies a Company met together for wicked ends Act. 19.40 thus a company of Riotors are a Church Resp 2. Secondly During the Raign of Anti-Christ four things have been abusively called a Church 1. A Company of people joyned together by the Power of Anti-Christ to give obedience to his Traditions
R. 2. A company of people met together by the Power of the Civil Magistrate to receive holy things P 3. The place of such meetings 4. A company of Apostates joyned together by a Jesuitical bond to seduce people from the publique Ordinances of Jesus Christ A. Q c. Resp 3. Thirdly This word Ecclesia or Church is very often used by the holy Ghost in Scripture but that which it seemeth good to the most blessed Spirit to call most frequently by this name is a Company of visible Saints joyned together by a special bond for the constant exercise of the Communion of Saints amongst themselves Quest What condition is every Church of Christ in Resp Every Church of Christ is either in a Reformed or in a planted constituted state Quest Is there any difference betwixt a planted and a Reformed Church of Christ Resp Yea Their Agreement is very extensive and emphatical and yet they differ In the discovery whereof these two considerations must be diligently eyed 1. It is one thing to preach the Gospel another thing to plant the Gospel and a third to plant Churches by the Gospel preacht heard and planted As it is one thing for Work-men to work upon those things that are to be the Materials of a Building in a preparatory way another thing for those things to be actually prepared and fit to be put into the Building and a third thing to have all those Materials so fitted joyned together and the building compleated 1 Cor. 3.9 2. Reformation supposeth the building not compleated and yet somewhat done in order thereunto be it more or less sometimes and in some places it finds the Gospel to have been preached only and not planted Sometimes it finds that the Gospel hath been received by some but that those are not united or agreed to walk together in Church-fellowship and so do not constitute a particular Church according to the Gospel sometimes it finds them joyned together but very loosely Sometimts it finds them fast joyned together but under a defect of some particular Officers Sometimes it finds the Church to have been builded and compleated but relapsed degenerated or apostatiz'd less or more as a decayed Building not utterly ruined or not having more of the Devil than of Christ in it though too much This supposed these four things may be concluded 1. A Planted and Reformed Church of Christ agree 1. In their Causes 2. In their Properties 3. In their Practices And 4. In their Priviledges 1. In their Causes and so first in their Efficient causes thus 1. Christ was the Institutor and Ordainer both of the first Planted and of Reformed Churches under the Gospel Mat. 16.18 Rev. cap. 2. 3. 2. Christ and his Officers by his Word and Spirit are the Makers of both the Ministry is before both and none but Ministers by divine Appointment and Commission as Paul Timothy c. are originally ordinarily and equally employed by Christ in either 2. In their matter Visible Saints are the matter whereof both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are constituted and made 3. In their form Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are formed Et in unum coalescunt omnes sancti Ecclesiae by a mutual Consent and Agreement to walk towards God and one another respectively according to Gospel Rules 4. In their ends The end both of the first Planted and our Reformed Churches of Christ is his Glory and his Saints salvation 2. In their Properties Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ can visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and act according to Gospel-Rules of Church Communion 3. In their Practices Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ do visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and walk according to Gospel Rules of Church-Communion 4. They agree in their Priviledges Christ hath given very glorious Priviledges both to his first Planted and to his Reformed Churches Yet 2. They differ But 3. The difference that is betwixt them is but Parallel to the difference that was betwixt the Church at its first Constitution and the Church Reformed under the Law And 4. But accidental 1. In their Order 2. In their Officers 3. In their Matter 4. In their Form 5. In their End 6. In their Properties 7. In their Practices And 8. In their Priviledges Mat. 16.18 1 Cor. 3.11 Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. Quest What difference is there in their Order Resp 1. Christ in the first Planting of his Churches proceeded as it were in an Analytical Order he made the Gospel so successfull that thousands were converted at a time and made as it were one Catholick visible Church by joyning themselves voluntarily to the Lord and to the Apostles then altogether at Jerusalem out of which as out of a Fountain there issued at it were particular Churches Resp Christ in the Reforming of his Churches proceeds as it were in a Synthetical Order He first moulds particular persons into particular Churches and then those particular Churches into one Catholick Church Sensu Amesiano Medul lib. 1. cap. 31.32 Quest Wherein do the first Planters and Reformers of the Churches of Christ differ Resp They agree in the Essentials of the Ministery as 1. the Spirit of Christ hath furnisht both of them invisibly at the least with gifts and graces proportionable to the work whereunto he hath appointed them in the times and places wherein they live For eminency in gifts and graces is as necessary for all Church-Officers as sincerity in them is for all Church-members and therefore God sends none to Church-work but those that appear to their Judges to be such though they be not all of them equally qualified 2. They are both of them called and sent Licensed and commanded by Christ to be his Vicegerents and chief Ministers about soul and Church affairs on earth Heb. 5.4 3. Both of them have the same commission for the substance and body of it both of them may by the special Law of Christ dispence the Mysteries of God or preach administer Sacraments and govern according to his Word 4. Both of them may providentially be suspended as to the exercise of these Acts which are properly Ministerial but not ex humana libertate arbitrio proprio 5. Both of them have a right by Divine grant to a comfortable maintenance that may free them from being necessitated to work with their own hands and encourage them and put them into a capacity of attending wholly upon the execution of their Commission 1 Cor. 9 to the end 2 Tim. 2.4 Resp They differ accidentally and circumstantially in the extra-essentials of the Ministery As 1. in the manner of their receiving of their gifts graces vocation mission and commission For 1. the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel John the Baptist and Christ had them all immediatly from the Spirit without any humane Instrumentality 2. The first Fathers and Planters of Churches by
Interest in God they give the most glorious Evidences of their saving conversion and Union with Christ 1. They make the most express profession of their assent to the Truth of the Gospel in general 2. They extend that profession most particularly to the grand Fundamentals of the Gospel The Messias is come by owning of it distinctly in the parts thereof 3. They exert most acts of Faith and Repentance 4. They engage themselves most gloriously to continue therein and to walk in all other things also according to the Gospel and not otherwise 2. The Reformed Churches of Christ conform most gloriously to the Rules of Church-Communion 1. They glorifie God most 2. They lay out themselves most for the benefit of one another 3. They contribute most towards the salvation of those that are without As are 1. Infidels Heathen and Christian 2. Scattered Saints 3. Unreformed Churches And 4. Savable Apostates 1. By the Doctrinal and practical holding forth of the Word of Life 2. By defending of it And 3. By offending the enemies thereof in a Scriptural way Such are the Practises of the Reformed Churches of Christ Quest What difference is there betwixt the Priviledges of the Reformed Churches and the Priviledges of the first planted Churches of Christ Resp 1. In general Priviledges are special advantages granted to a special person or people by their Superiours 2. They are proportioned to the practises or atchievments of those that have them granted unto them Particularly 1. Though Gods free Grace be the Fountain of all Humane Enjoyments Yet 2. Divine Providence hath so ordered it that 1. In general they that do most have most And 2. In particular they that do most for God have most from God And 3. Therefore the Reformed Churches of Christ have the most glorious Priviledges that are in the World 1. They have the most glorious Administration of the Covenant of Grace Christ is applyed to them in the most glorious manner in all the purest Ordinances of Jesus Christ Isaiah 2.2 3 4.30.20 21 26. 2. They have the most glorious Interest in God Exod. 19.5 6. Levit. 26.12 2 Corin. 6.17 18. 3. They have the most glorious communion with Christ in his Ordinances Revel 27 17. Revel 3.20 4. They grow most under Means of Grace Mal. 4.2 5. They have the most glorious Evidences of their Justification Revel 2.10 11 17. Revel 3.4 5 21. 6. They have the most glorious outward peace amongst themselves Isaiah 11. Micah 4.3 4. 7. They are constituted and fixed by Christ for the main Supporters of Christianity Revel 3.12 8. They have the most glorious power on Earth Revel 2.26 27. 9. Christ causeth them to be honoured even by the greatest enemies of Christianity Rev. 3.9 10. Christ himself secures them in times of greatest danger Rev. 3.10 11. They have the Magistrates for their ordinary protection Isaiah 4.5 6. Isaiah 32.1 2. Isaiah 49.23 Romans 13.3 4. 1 Timothy 2.2 3. 12. They have the most glorious Presence of God alone with them in the tenour of their temporal undertakings Exodus 23.22 c. Levit. 26. Deut. 28. Et alibi passim These are the proper Priviledges of the Reformed Church of Christ In a word Notwithstanding that hellish conspiracy and Antichristian Energy and the terrible tottering of the first Planted Churches of Christ and of the true Reformed Protestant Christian Religion for a thousand years yet neither the one nor the other are totally eclipsed much less ruined but retain their Essentials and had need be Rallyed and new model'd throughout Quest What must we do that we may be a Reformed Church of Christ Resp 1. Repent of your scandalous sins Not walking up to your Baptismal Covenant Apopostacy Neglect of Evangelically approved Ministers of Christ and of the Ordinances by them administrable c. 2. Hear such Preachers Revel cap. 2. 3. 3. Continue therein with patience untill ye think ye can prove that ye have such a Faith in Christ as hath the Promise of Salvation annexed to it in the Gospel Rom. 10 17. 4. When ye think ye can prove that ye have such a Faith make known your arguments to your Minister by conference or otherwise 5. Offer to give Scripture Security for your continuance in the profession and practice of such a Faith and Repentance and to walk in all other things also according to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and not otherwise during life 6. If your supposed evidences of your union with Chrst be approved and accepted by your Minister give the profered Security for your future correspondent Evangelical behaviour 7. If your supposed evidences of your Union with Christ be not yet approved and accepted by your Minister then continue quietly and peaceably under the Ministry of the Word untill they be and then give the profered Security for your said good behaviour according to the Gospel and then 8. Your Minister must solemnly admit or declare you being seven or more a Reformed Church of Christ 9. Being so admitted or declared ye are a visible Reformed Protestant Christian Church of Christ by and in the Eye of the Gospel Quest Are we not a Church of Christ untill then Resp No For 1. We are not a first Planted Church of Christ before And 2. No person is a Reformed Saint untill he have such approved Evidences of his union with Christ Object But we are accounted Saints and a Church of Christ without that or any of it Resp 1. Proh nefas 2 Thessal 2.8 2. Gospel reckoning is the best Romans 2.16 c. And Resp 3. By the Gospel 1. None in our dayes may warrantably expect Salvation but upon the terms above mentioned 2. None may warrantably judge himself to be a Saint or member of a Reformed Church of Christ but upon those conditions 3. No Minister of Christ may Judge or Declare any man to be a Saint or any Society to be a Church of Christ but upon the terms above mentioned respectively 4. Without Ministerial Union and inauguration none are a Reformed Church of Christ 4. Take heed of Antichrist 2 Epist John 8. Quest Must we not be admitted into the state of Reformed Saints or members of a Reformed Church of Christ by Baptism when we are approved of by our Minister Resp No For 1. The Gospel Epistles are calculated directly for our Meridian and 2. There is no Rule for such a Practise 2. It lies upon those that are for the Affirmative and they are desired to prove it if they can 3. In the interim they will do well not to exclaim of and divide from Reforming Ministers and Christians Quest How then must Reformed Christians be installed into the state of a Reformed Church or members thereof Resp Either 1. By your Ministers publique verbal Declaration of his approbation of your evidential Profession and of your being thereupon in that estate and quality Or 2. By laying his hands upon you and praying for you Heb. 6.2 1 Tim. 5.22 Or 3. By his enrolement of your Names in a Book of Record Malathy 3.16 17 18. Or 4. By all or two of these together to bring our Divisions to An end