Catholicism Or Several ENQUIRIES TOVCHING Visible Church-membership Church-Communion The Nature of Schism And the Vsefulness of National Constitutions For the furtherance of RELIGION By W. A. LONDON Printed by M. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. THE PREFACE TO THE READER ONE would think any thing should be acceptable to dissenting Brethren which has a true tendency to deliver them from those mistaken notions of things which do expose them to much trouble from Men and from the Laws themselves and by means of which they are an occasion of trouble and danger to the Nation And it is but reasonable to expect that things of this nature should be consider'd by them now at such a time as this tho' neglected during the time in which those Opinions put them to no trouble The hope of which and the sorrow to see Christian Brethren to suffer great inconveniencies to themselves needlesly has been a motive to me to make these sheets publick at this time as not doubting but that if judiciously and impartially weighed they with other writings of like nature may be of good use to discover to them their mistakes Their Separation from parochial Communion which does expose them to trouble does proceed principally from their mistakes as I conceive them to be either about that which makes men members of the visible Church or that which gives them Right to the external Priviledges thereof or about the external manner of publick worship There are many of the Dissenters whose notion of the visible Church and of Mens Right to Communion in the external Priviledge of it seems much narrower than the Scriptures represent those things to be They make that to be necessary to visible Church-member-ship and Communion which is but necessary to Invisible Church-Communion And then they make this qualification necessary not only by way of Duty but of Condition also without which in humane judgement persons ought not to be admitted into Church fellowship or unto Communion in the external priviledges of the Church Which notion and correspondent practice of theirs I have endeavored to discover to be plainly contrary to the whole current of the Scriptures touching these matters both of the Old Testament and of the New both as to doctrine and matters of fact That which hath betrayed them into this mistake seems to have been the want of distinguishing between the internal and external state of the Church for want of which they confound them and make that which is but necessary to the Being of the Church as invisible to be so likewise to the Being of it as it is visible The Church being described in Scripture but as a little flock and that as our Saviour says there are but few which find the narrow way which leads to Life and enter in at the strait gate and because the qualification of those of the invisible Church who shall be saved as described in Scripture seems to agree but to a few of those who profess the Christian Religion and because the Church is but One hereupon they come to be persuaded that none are really and truly of the Church but such whose qualification agrees with their description to whom Salvation is indeed promised But as for others they esteem them no more to be true and real Members of the Church than wooden Legs and glass Eyes are Members of the Body of a Man But then there are Scriptures which must be considered likewise which have foretold of the coming of many whole Nations into the Church both Kings and their People and of the numerous increase of it when a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong Nation when the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill the wole Earth when for number they shall say the place is too strait for me give place to me that I may dwell and the like for there are many such Predictions in Scripture Now unless they will say that whole Nations and those vast numbers forementioned are all of the Church as invisible which is more then they will or can say they must of necessity admit of a distinction of a two-fold state of one and the same Catholick Church the one external and visible the other internal and invisible And if this distinction be admitted then these Predictions concerning the vast extent of the Church will be fairly reconcileable to those other Scriptures which speak of it in a more contracted and limited sense without which they seem irreconcileable For what some Scriptures speak touching the paucity or fewness of church-Church-members and what others say touching a far greater number of which the Church doth and will consist are both true in different respects the one in respect of the Internal and Invisible state of the Church the other in respect of that which is external and visible And this distinction is fairly justified by what our blessed Saviour hath said more than once to wit that many are called but few are chosen And if any should fancie that this twofold state of church-Church-members implies two Churches the one visible the other invisible there is no ground for it since those who are of the Church as invisible are the same Persons which are in external and visible Vnion and Communion with those who are of the Church only as visible and so make one Church with them But we cannot say they make one Church with these and another by themselves for then there would be two Churches indeed and yet of the same persons for a considerable part Considering then this twofold state of the Church it will not be difficult at all to conceive how and why a participation in the external priviledges of the Church does belong to all that are externally and visibly of it when yet a participation in the internal and invisible priviledges of it belongs only to those who are of the Church in respect of its invisible as well as visible state As there are different qualifications of persons of the same Church so there are different priviledges which belong to them accordingly external ones to them who are only externally qualified and both external and internal ones to them who are qualified for both Now this different state of the Church being so apparent as it is in Scripture as also that those who have but common grace and yet Baptized are really and truly of the visible Church I say the consideration of these things hath enclined me to touch upon several things which seem to render it very improbable at least that the Apostles should admit none into the Church by Baptism but such as they judged to believe so effectually as to be thereby Regenerate before they would Baptize them To what is said in my inquiries into these matters I shall here add a little more for our better Vnderstanding that case or question The question is whether it be probable that the Apostles admitted none into
is that makes men to be of it and concerning Church-Communion and what it is that qualifies men for it have been the true reason and cause of our Church-Divisions and Separations in great part where such notions have been entertained My present design therefore which I intend to pursue in these Papers is to inquire into the true measure which the holy Scripture gives us of these things that thereby we may the more steadily and with the more certainty make a true Judgment of those separations in Church-Communion which have been made and applauded by some I shall begin with what concerns the being of the Universal Church as Visible and then inquire how and by what means men become Members of it After this I shall inquire further what it is that qualifies men for and which gives them a right to external Communion in this Church as exercised in particular Congregations and likewise into the nature of Catholick-communion and Schism and the usefulness of National-Constitutions for the furtherance of Christian Religion QUERY I. WHat is the true notion of the Vniversal Church as visible The Universal Church as Visible is that Body Company or Society of People throughout the whole World which consists of all such as are Visibly Joyned or Vnited to God in Christ as Head by a Religious Bond. And that which doth distinguish them from all other People in the World is that Relation they bear to God different from that in which all other People stand related to Him And this Relation is a Religious relation by which they are brought nearer to God than all other People are All other People are related as humane Creatures to God as their Creator and Governour but these are related to him by another kind of Bond Obligation such as is Spiritual and of a Religious Nature of which I am to say more afterward And then as this Relation is External and Visible so that by which this Relation is effected and wrought is something Visible also which is the reason why the relation it self is said to be Visible Now the Persons thus Visibly Related to God in Christ are not all Religiously Related to Him alike Some of them are Related and United to him Internally and Invisibly by an Invisible Bond of Union over and besides their Visible Relation to him by that which is visible When as all the rest are Related to him only Externally or if in any respect Internally also yet not so or by such a relation as will entitle them to the internal and best sort of priviledges of Gods People such as Justification Reconciliation Pardon and Eternal life But yet this difference does not make this body of People which are externally one by a Relation to God common to the whole to become two Universal Churches For all which Essentially belongs to the being of the Universal Church is not limited and restrained to that part of it which in respect of its internal and invisible state does differ from and excel the other for the External Relation to God without which the Universal Church does not exist is common to the worser part of it as well as the better by reason whereof they cannot be two Churches and are but one One part of the Visible Church differs from another indeed in respect of Internal and Invisible State before God this is plain from the Scripture But then it is as plain from thence that as touching their External and Visible state they are one and that the same external priviledges belong to the one as to the other of which more afterward We have not indeed the words Visible and Invisible used in Scripture in reference to the two different states of men in one and the same Church but yet we have those different states of them sufficiently revealed in Scripture which we mean by those words I need not instance in Scriptures of this nature because they are sufficiently and commonly known and I shall have further occasion to mention them afterward QUERY II. WHat is it which prepares or qualifies persons for that Relation to God in Christ which makes them Visible Members of his Church There is something previous to that by which the Relation in men to God is wrought which makes them Visible Members of his Church and which does capacitate them for it and that is their being Externally called by God to be of the true Religion Persons lare first to become Disciples before they be received into the Church by Baptism and their becoming Disciples and their being called is the same thing This is the foundation in which that Relation is laid and upon which that which does effect it is built And People are thus called either 1. When they are Converted from a false Religion to own and profess the true And thus the Pagans were called by the Preaching of the Apostles when they were brought to be Disciples Or 2. When Almighty God causes them to be Born and to be Educated in the true Religion as those are who are born of Parents externally in Covenant with God Thus the Jewish People from Abrahams time downward were called to be Gods People and to profess the true Religion And accordingly they were stiled Gods called ones by the Prophet Isa 48.12 Hearken to me O Jacob and Israel my called And how were they called Abraham indeed he was called extraordinarily by God who appeared to him when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran Act. 7.2 But his Posterity were called by being Born to and educated in the same Religion which he himself was of and so were his Childrens Children from Generation to Generation And thus has it been in calling Persons to be of the Christian Religion At the first erection of the Church as Christian men were extraordinarily called by the Preaching and Miracles of the Apostles and others they were called and converted from the Pagan and Jewish Religion to own the Christian Religion But since the times of first planting the Gospel up and down in the World Gods ordinary and common method of calling men to the profession of the Christian Religion has been by their Christian Parents educating them in it And indeed their being born of Parents in an especial Relation to God is in it self a Providential Call which qualifies them for the priviledge of being so related also For upon that account they are both in the Old Testament and the Now stiled a holy Seed that is a Seed separated from the Infidel World to God And by this the Females of the Jews became Church-Members and by this were their Males qualifi'd to enter into Covenant with God by Circumcision at eight days old But of these things further mention will be made in the process of our Inquiries QUERY III. WHat may that be by which People are made Visible Church-Members That by which People are constituted compleatly Visible Church-Members is a mutual Covenanting between God and them between Christ
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
of their being already qualified with the other It is true men by Baptism it self are brought into a new state externally they are brought into a new relation to God to Christ and to the Church his body and to new enjoyments also in the Church And it is to be noted our Saviour calls Baptism a being born of Water as a birth distinct from that of being born of the Spirit Our Saviour in that discourse of his with Nicodemus about Baptism and being born again seems to allude to the Jews custom of receiving Proselytes by Baptism as well as by Circumcision who did reckon they were thereby born again as it were and brought into a new state of life as is well known by the tenour of the writings of the Jewish Doctors And altho by being born of Water men may be said to be born of the Spirit in one sence for they are Baptized into the Name of the Holy Ghost as well as into the Name of the Father and the Son and by one spirit we are all Baptized into one body as the Apostle faith 1 Cor. 12.13 Yet in a higher and more emphatical sence all that are born of the Spirit are not so born when they are Baptized but most of them afterwards as the experience of the Church doth abundantly manifest Again another Scripture is Act. 2.38 Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins Now it may be some will argue hence that since Baptism is enjoyned in order to the obtaining of remission of sins and since Baptism alone without Repentance here required with it will not avail for the obtaining such remission that therefore a being Baptized for the remission of sins always supposes Repentance in him that is Baptized Answer The most that can be inferred hence is that Baptism as well as Repentance and Repentance as well as Baptism are directed to and enjoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sins but not that such Repentance as is available to this end is enjoyned as the condition of being Baptized and by that to be received into the Church Tho I deny not but that in the adult a profession of sorrow for sin past and a promise of amendment for time to come was always required before Baptism but sorrow for sin alone avails not to the obtaining of remission of sin and what the promise of amendment for the future would prove was uncertain to those who received Persons into the Church by Baptism The Apostles we may well suppose received such raw Disciples to Baptism as those were to whom this counsel was here given upon like terms that John the Baptist received the multitudes that flock'd to him for Baptism and they were Baptized confessing their sins They confessed themselves such sinners as needed amendment and professed sorrow for what was past and by receiving Baptism engaged themselves to amend for time to come and accordingly he is said to Baptize them unto Repentance Mat. 3.11 But very many of them fell short afterwards of performing their engagement John 5.35 Baptism and Repentance as saving are not inseparable in point of time in reference to the obtaining Remission of sin If a man do effectually repent tho it be not till long after he is Baptized yet his Baptism and Repentance will be effectual for the obtaining Remission of sins And if so then such Repentance as is saving is not of necessity before Baptism to the obtaining of Remission of sins But the truth is if we will infer any thing from the Text under consideration in reference to our present enquiry it may be that which is so far from proving mens Visible Church-Membership to depend upon the credibility and reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible as that it will much rather prove the direct contrary viz. That the credibility of mens being of the Church as Invisible depends upon their being of the Church as Visible For it tends to prove that men living under the Gospel and others I meddle not with in this matter cannot approve themselves to be Members of the Invisible Church until they are first made Members of the Visible by Baptism For we see men are as well to be Baptized for the Remission of sin as to repent to obtain it As the promise of being saved is elsewhere made unto a being Baptized as well as it is to believing He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 And if so then a man cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state that through his own default is not Baptized by which he should be made of the Visible Church and if he cannot be concluded to be in a pardoned state without this then he cannot be duly reputed to be in the Invisible Church-state because there are none in that Church-state but what are pardoned If any should alledge the words of St. Paul If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 and infer that none are by Baptism or otherwise in Christ but what are new Creatures the answer to them is this If by any mans being in Christ be understood of such a being in him as is saving then he is indeed a new Creature and truly Regenerate But then that is such a being in Christ as is not visible to men and therefore does not belong to our present inquiry But if you read the words according to the Margent If any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature then this Text does not infer that if men be in Christ they are new Creatures but that they ought to be so according to their Covenant-ingagement when they were planted into him by Baptism Act. 2.37 It is likewise urged to prove that a true saving faith such as makes men Members of the Church as Invisible is requied as necessary to qualifie them for Baptism and Visible Church-Membership For when the Eunuch said to Philip Here is Water what doth hinder me to be Baptized Philip said unto him If thou believest with all thine heart thou maiest And he answered and said I believe that Christ is the Son of God Here Philip seems to make a believing with all the heart to be the condition of admitting the Eunuch to Baptism and what less can a believing with all the heart be than a true saving faith To which I answer thus That the Apostles and Evangelists such as Philip was did indeed suppose and expect a faith in Christ in all adult Persons whom they Baptized into him is not to be doubted Nor is is it to be doubted but that they press'd and persuaded them to be very hearty and serious in their undertaking the Christian profession when they Baptized them into it and so did Philip here But yet we see that for all that Philip Baptized this Eunuch upon his bare professing that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God tho he did not say that
out of scruple of Conscience and others from a worse Principle will be apt to take occasion to disturb the peace of the Church with disputes and by deserting the Communion of it And then moderation and prudence are necessary to the same end in the exercise of Discipline in the Church by making a difference in correcting open and notorious scandals and lesser disorders For else if both be punished alike when they are not alike criminal or if lesser disorders shall be strictly looked after and severely punished and greater connived at it will tend to lessen the Government in mens reverence and esteem and so weaken the fense of the Churches peace and render Communion with her less desirable by such as will take themselves to be unequally dealt with by her But as good Government in the Church is necessary to its Peace and to Unity in its Communion so is obedience to such Government without which Government loseth its end But when the Government and exercise of it is equal and as easie as will consist with the due ends of it then if yet for all that men will be troublesom and disobedient under it they will be left without excuse in the eyes of sober men if fitting course be taken to restrain them from disturbing the peace of the Church for otherwise if this be not granted Government in the Church would signifie little THus much concerning our Inquiry touching the nature of Catholick Communion and the means of preserving it But before I proceed to an Inquiry into the nature of Schism I think it not amiss to enquire for what reason the Unity of Catholick Communion is necessary and why we should endeavour that as much as may be it should be kept entire and all of a piece and without Fracture And the only reason which I shall insist on is this because its being such and so kept and maintained tends greatly to the growth and increase of the Church both in respect of the number of its Members and bigness of its Body and also in respect of its healthful state and its growing up to a greater stature in all virtue and goodness 1. It tends to the increase of the body of Christians in the number of its Members For next to the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles and Primitive Believers the peaceable and charitable demeanour among Christians and good agreement among themselves if it were generally found in them would attract and draw men to the liking and love of the Religion which they profess for the sake of the lovely effects it produceth in them Men can hardly think otherwise than well of that Religion by which they find men are made more peaceable and loving and more ready to all good offices to one another and to all men than others are or than they themselves were before they engaged heartily and seriously in it And that the concord and good agreement of all Christians in one Catholick Communion has so happy a tendency as I have said to draw others to the belief love of that same Religion appears by the reason why and for which our blessed Saviour so earnestly desired and prayed for the Union and Agreement of all Christians in the things their Religien taught them to wit because the world would thereby be brought to believe that he the Author of it had been sent of God Joh. 17.20 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And it s most apparent that the contrary to this has had its contrary effect For where have any such numerous additions to the Catholick Church been found from among the Pagan world since the great divisions which have risen and been kept on foot in the Christian world as those which were made for some hundreds of years together in the Primitive times while Catholick Communion was preserved in the Church without any considerable interruption Nay have not the unreasonable divisions and fierce contentions which have broken out in the Reformed Churches since the Reformation and in our own nation especially been a temptation to many to turn Atheists or Scepticks The holy Scriptures in many places seem to foretel a more general flowing of the Nations of the world into the Church than ever yet has been accomplished But we cannot reasonably expect this should be brought to pass by means of the Christian Churches in being until by humility peaceableness and charity and good agreement among themselves and other virtues they make a better representation of the excellency of the Religion which they profess than they do at this day When God Almighty turns to the people a pure Language then it may be expected they will call upon him and serve him with one consent as the Prophet speaks Zeph. 3.9 Not while they treat one another with impure and corrupt Language which smels of wrath and disdain of envy spight and contempt Not while by words they do all they can to disgrace one another but by speaking the truth in love and with meekness of wisdom 2. The good agreement of Christians in one Catholick Communion tends greatly to the increase of the Church in respect of its spiritual healthful state and its growing up to a greater stature in all virtue and goodness For where peace and good agreement is in the several offices of Christian Brotherhood there love is which is the bond of perfectness which holds them fast together And love is a radical grace out of which other graces grow in so much that love is made the Summary of all Christian duties towards one another Love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8.10 Charity edifieth saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 8.1 It tends to edifie and build up the subject in which it dwels and to make him more like God who is love and it tends to edifie the object on which it is set and on which it exerciseth it self it tends to build up both the one and the other in grace and goodness And there is this further reason why a peaceable agreement in one Catholick Communion tends to increase the Church in her spiritual riches viz. because the holy Spirit of God delights to dwell where peace and love dwell and there to dispence and communicate his treasures by which the souls of men are enriched but without his supplies influences and operations there is no thriving in grace and real goodness He that dwels in love God dwels in him 1 Joh. 4.16 And where God takes up his special residence he will adorn those living Temples with plenty of spiritual ornaments and those shall be sure to be made partakers of his best sort of gifts such as the world cannot receive Be of one mind live in peace and
such as should receive it was accordingly foretold by our Saviour and resembled by various Parables as it is here by the Wise and Foolish Virgins Thus we have it again in another Parable concerning the Marriage of a Kings Son to which both good bad were invited and did come and the Wedding was furnished with such guests Mat. 22. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares that sprang up amongst it The Parable of the Draw-net that being cast into the Sea gathered of every kind bad as well as good are of the same import And so is the Parable of the Sower and his Seed Wherein four sorts of Hearers or Professors of the Gospel are resembled by four sorts of ground into which the Seed fell of which there is but one thorowly good Mat. 13. Add unto this that our Saviour did not only fore-tell his Apostles by these Parables what different success the Preaching of the Gospel would meet with even among those that would receive it and how his Church would be filled with many bad as well as good but also told them plainly without a Parable That many would be called and yet but sew chosen Mat. 20.16 Wherefore and for what reason may we conceive did our Saviour thus instruct his Disciples touching what the state and condition of his Church would be which should be gathered by the Preaching of the Gospel but that they might not be disappointed in their expectations nor be offended when afterwards they should find it to consist of such a mixture or ever expect tho they should observe his rules for the purging his Church to find it otherwise until the end of the world the time appointed for a total gathering out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity And that the Apostles did not understand otherwise by our Saviours Parables and Doctrine but that the worser as well as the better Christians were of this Kingdom of Heaven the Visible Church their Epistles to such Churches in which there was such a mixture shew for they counted them and treated them as Christian Brethren in so much as St. Paul would not have such as deserved Church-censure and in some sort were under it to be counted as Enemies but admonished as Brethren 2 Thes 3.14 15. The Apostles then being thus thorowly instructed by our Saviour afore-hand touching the constitution of his Church of bad as well as good it is no ways likely that they would receive none into the Church but under the notion of such as were truly Regenerate 4. There are some circumstances relating to the Apostles receiving Persons into the Visible Church by Baptism which render it incredible that they did not so receive any but upon the reputation and esteem they had of being of the Church as Invisible First one thing was the doctrine by which they most prevailed with men to become Disciples Which doctrine was the Preaching that pardon of sin and the happiness of Eternal Life are to be had by Christs suffering for Sinners if they believe in him and the Preaching to the People that this Jesus rose from the Dead after his Enemies had put him to death and confirming the truth of what they said by astonishing miracles It 's true they did together with this Preach the necessity of Repentance also But the glad tidings of Pardon and Salvation by a Saviour so extraordinarily confirmed as it was being new and never heard of before especially among the Gentiles and being so hugely comfortable as it was did so strongly affect the People as made them instontly turn Disciples and to promise no doubt a reformation of life with an intent to perform while they were thus filled with joy But many of them after this transport of affection and newness of joy was over tho they held fast the comfortable part of their profession of faith in Christ and in his Death yet proved partial and defective in reforming their lives which rendred the work of Regeneration in them very doubtful at least or rather worse than so And the Apostles were fore-warned and pre-instructed by our Saviour that upon their Preaching the joyful news which the Gospel brings many would be so taken with it as readily and joyfully to become Disciples and turn Christian in profession who yet would afterwards when times of tryal came either Apostotize and fall off or foully faulter in retaining that profession by carnal shifts to secure themselves from Persecution For our Saviour had told them this by opening to them who or what manner of hearers he meant by those resembled in the Parable to the stony ground on which the Seed fell and said they were such as when they heard the word would immediately receive it with gladness but afterwards in time of temptation would be offended as not having root in themselves Mar. 4.16 All which considered it was no ways probable that the Apostles received all they Baptized under the notion of Persons already truly Regenerate but as Disciples only according to the tenour of their Commission Secondly another circumstance is the great hast the Apostles made to Baptize Persons when once they had prevailed with them to consent to it The same day of Pentecost they Preached to those mentioned Act. 2. they Baptized about three thousand of them And so Philip Baptized the Eunuch presently upon the Road after once Preaching to him And the Jaylor and all his were Baptized straight-way and in the same hour of the night in which Paul and Silas first Preached to them Act. 16.33 I think there can no instance be given of their delaying so much as four and twenty hours to Baptize any after they were willing to be Baptized This is another thing which renders it very incredible that the Apostles Baptized none but upon account of their being esteemed Regenerate or that they did Baptize Persons ordinarily by any other rule than that contained in the letter of their Commission which was to Baptize those that were Disciples as such If they had thought it necessary to Baptize none but whom they could prudently esteem to be of the Invisible Church they would in all likelihood have suspended the Baptizing of many at least until they had had some tryal of the constancy of their resolution and experience of their reformation And so much the rather because it is hard to make any good judgment of mens sincerity by what they do on a sudden under some transport of affection and before they have had some time in cooler thoughts to deliberate upon what they engage to do Thirdly their refusing none that were willing to be Baptized argues that they did not think none were to be Baptized before they were Regenerate or did seem to be so They refused none so far as appears that were willing to be Baptized and to come into the Church how notoriously bad soever they had been before Simon Magus is a famous instance of this nature And some were
me to fall somewhat hard upon such as separate from the publick Worship of God established in such Nations by National Authority in a way of National Reformation and on those more especially who separate from that Worship for that very reason because enjoyned by National Authority It likewise falls hard upon them also who disesteem or less esteem a National Ministry because it is National or made such according to a National establishment These seem to be of one mind and Almighty God of another when he esteems Nations to be joyned to him and to be his People by that for which they separate Their pretence that in the Apostles times and for three hundred years after the Affairs of the Church were carried on only in a free Congregational way in greater or lesser voluntary Associations and therefore they ought to be so now seems very inconsiderable Because what was done in that kind then was done by way of necessity because they had not opportunity of a better Not but that they long'd for and pray'd for such Kings as would use their Authority and Power for the propagation and furtherance of the Christian Religion as well as for the defence of it and the Professors of it And they esteemed it no small favour from God when at last they obtained it in Constantine a Christian Cesar who used that Power of his for the establishing the Christian Religion and Worship of the only true God and for the ordering and regulating many things relating to the more commodious and orderly carrying on the ministration of the Gospel and the Worship of God And therefore the people of God then existent in the Empire are brought in by the Spirit of Prophesie expressing themselves thus upon that occasion Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ as I shew'd before Rev. 12.10 2. It may be justly questioned whether it be worth the while for men to dispute against the being of a National Church in New Testament times considering that in the New Testament Nations reformed from Paganism and Popery are stiled Gods Kingdoms And considering likewise that the Scripture stiles the same people and in the same respect sometimes the Kingdom of God and sometimes his Church And therefore it should seem no more improper to call a Christian Nation a Church of God than it is to call it a Kingdom of God which yet the Scripture stiles so 3. It may be observed yet farther That the Kingdoms or Nations which have been reformed from Popery were before such reformation was made but Kingdoms of this world notwithstanding much of what pertains to the Christian Religion was then owned and professed in them The Spirit of God by whom the book of Revelations was indited we see stiles them so in their unreformed state The Kingdoms of this world are become c. Yet they then in their unreformed state Worshipped the true God and his Son Christ Jesus They owned the holy Scriptures for the Word of God and used the same Creeds which the Reformed Churches themselves use and yet we see they are in that state stiled by the Spirit of God but Kingdoms of this world when as under their reformed state they are said to be the Kingdoms of God and of his Christ Like as Almighty God for the like reason esteemed the Nation of the Jews who had been his own Church and People but as Ethiopians unto him Amos 9.7 and told them by another Prophet Ye are not my people and I will not be your God Hos 1.10 For tho they had his Ordinances among them and boasted of their Temple-Worship crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these yet at the same time they burnt Incense unto Baal and walked after other Gods Jer. 7. they divided their Worship between the true God and Baal and did swear by the Lord and by Malcham Zeph. 1.5 And upon this account it was that God said of them by his Prophet they are unto me as a speckled bird of a Religion of several colours Jer. 12.9 For this spiritual Whoredom especially it was that Almighty God who had once espoused that people to himself gave them a Bill of Divorce at last brake up house turned them out of doors and sent them out of his Land untill they should repent and reform And if we compare these things with the spiritual whoredom wherewith Mystical Babilon is charged and for which with other heinous crimes she is threatned in this Book of Revelations it will not be at all hard to conceive why Nations while Popish are stiled and esteemed but Kingdoms of this world And this if there were no other is argument enough to prevail with all such as would not be disowned by God to be none or to become none of their Communion who are thus disowned by him And thus we have seen how both from the light and law of Nature the reason of the thing and from divine Revelation also the great expediency at least of the publick exercise of Gods Worship in the way of National establishment is warranted and approved of This then may be a caution to men who live in any such reformed Nation as we have discoursed of and as ours is to take heed of acting in matters Ecclesiastical or pertaining to Church Communion as if they lived in a Popish or Pagan Nation by disowning and by separating from the National way of Worship lest thereby they discountenance and disparage what God approves of and disown that for which God owns such a Nation for his Kingdom It is true the Primitive Christians who lived in Pagan Countries and those since which have lived in Popish have been necessitated in duty to be separate in their Christian Communion from their National Worship as much as they were obliged not to be Idolaters But there is a great difference between false Worship and defects in that which is true The best Church Constitution and the best Church Administration which have men not divinely inspired for the ordering of them are liable to humane defects And if humane defects even in Gods Worship were not to be endured for the sake of Communion in the Worship it self there could no such thing as Church Communion be enjoyed among Christians because we cannot say there is any in this imperfect state in which we are without defects But then the question will be what defects are to be indured in Gods Worship rather than Communion in it should be forsaken and what are intolerable and for the sake of which Communion in the Worship is to be declined And here it seems to me impossible warrantably to determine any defects intolerable which do not alter the nature of the Worship and make it become false Worship that do not destroy or defeat the ends for which true Worship serves Who is he that will undertake to determine for what defects which
if the whole Church were of one heart and one soul as they were at the first in matters of their Communion 3. Catholick Communion consisteth also in the mutual assistances which Christians give to and receive one from another couched in that one word Fellowship in the description of Catholick Communion Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship c. The same word which in our Version is here translated Fellowship is by the Dutch in their Version translated Communion And according to Dr. Hammond it signifies both to communicate and to participate to distribute and to receive So that according to the nature of Christian Communion every Member of the whole Church is or ought to be useful and serviceable to the whole Community of Christians in general and to every Christian in particular so far as they can in the place and rank in which the Providence of God hath set them The which if duly observed by all as it ought to be the same persons that thus communicate and contribute assistance to others would be receiving back again from the whole and from every Member in particular the like succour service and assistance as opportunity serves as they themselves had contributed to them As a Christian is to serve every fellow-Christian so according to the same Law every one is to serve him This is that the Apostle means when he says By love serve one another Gal. 5.13 And this giving and receiving assistance the same Apostle calls communicating with him Phil. 4.15 If this Catholick Communion were but duly maintained among all Christians how like a heaven upon earth would the Catholick Church be And how happy would they be even now for the present that are of it And how would the Inhabitants of the world that are not of it then flow into it And yet for Christians thus to exchange Offices of love with one another is nothing more than what we are all obliged to by the Royal Law of Love Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self For if I am hereby bound to love every Neighbour as my self so is every Neighbout obliged by it to love me as they love themselves And how delightful a commerce would this be if the Christian Church were but so happy as to hit on it The particular duties and offices of love in which this part of Christian Communion does consist are such as these the instructing and exhorting one another the watching over and admonishing one another the strengthening the feeble minded the visiting and comforting the afflicted the relieving one anothers wants the bearing on anothers burdens the having the same care one for another and the like Together with these we may reckon the yielding and allowing to every one the liberty of sharing in the common priviledge of enjoying Communion in Gospel-Ordinances and Worship so long as they have not made themselves uncapable of it by drawing on themselves deservedly the Censures of the Church nor are otherwise naturally uncapable of the end and use for which those Ordinances or any of them were ordained as little Children seem to be in reference to the Lords Supper THus much briefly touching the nature of Catholick Commumunion Come we now to enquire how and by what means it may best be preserved There are two Bonds which the Scripture mentions by which Christians are bound and knit together in one Communion the bond of Charity and the bond of Peace 1 The bond of Charity Above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 Charity is a bond which knits and unites mens hearts together and makes them one in affection knit together in love as as it is exprest Col. 2.2 and while they be so it can hardly be but that they will be one in Communion This was that which made the Catholick Church in its beginning to be all of one heart and one soul as it is said the multitude of them that believed were Acts 4.32 And that was the reason doubtless why they continued stedfastly in their Communion in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayer Charity we see is called the bond of perfectness for the Church is in a kind of perfect state in her Communion so long as the Parts and Members of it are knit together in one Communion by love made perfect in one as our Saviour expresseth it Joh. 17.23 And the Union in Communion which is made by love is Union in its perfection nothing unites Christians so entirely and firmly as love does If Christians love one another in the truth and for the truth sake which dwelleth in them as St. John speaks this Love and Union by Love will last there will be no failure in the oneness of Communion until there be first a failure in love Charity must needs unite and knit Christians together in one Communion because it is the Principle from which the particular acts of Christian Fellowship fore-mentioned do spring a great part of the acts of Christian Communion are nothing else but offices of brotherly love and by these Christians take fast hold one of another Charity in its own nature is communicative of the good it has and the good it can do and by that it does attract and draw others to a nearer conjunction with those in whom it dwells Charity is the Arms of the Christians inner man by which they imbrace one another though absent Love is of a winning nature it gains upon others that stand at a distance If a Principle of love be in the heart it will season a mans speech and enable him to speak the truth in love according to St. Pauls direction And the truth spoken in love will sooner reconcile than the strongest Arguments when mixt with bitterness of Spirit A tongue of love is Solomons tongue of health it will heal wounds when another tongue does but make them And therefore with great reason did St. Paul call upon the Church of Corinth to do all their things with Charity and spent a whole Chapter upon them to persuade them to it as an effectual means to cure the divisions into which they were unhappily fallen Again Charity covereth a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 and by that means among other it keeps Christians from flying asunder and dividing in their Communion which many times takes its first rise from very small matters when they meet with an evil mind that will aggravate and make the worst of things and seek out matter to make the breach wider But Charity is not apt to spie faults or to pick quarrels nor to aggravate and make the worst of things nor to harbour jealousies or evil surmises out of which breaches are wont to grow but it will over-look mens weakness mistakes and inadvertencies as believing they do not proceed from an evil mind And if any thing be amiss love will take notice of all the extenuating circumstances in the
the God of love and peace shall be with you saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 13.11 While the Catholick Church is of one mind in the great things of Christian Religion and being so do live in peace and not unpeaceably contend fall out and divide about lesser things such as for which God perhaps doth neither esteem or disesteem men he who is the God of love and peace will be with them to bless them with his presence with spiritual blessings especially And as the presence of the soul in the body enlivens it with natural life by virtue whereof the several Members perform their several functions proper to each of them respectively even so the presence of the holy Spirit in the body of Christ the Church does animate it with spiritual life and does so influence and actuate the several Members of it as that by virtue thereof they all perform their several Christian offices proper to each for the common good of the whole But then this vital power of acting spiritually is conveyed by the Spirit to each of the Members as they are in Vnion and communion with the whole and so as one Member is made a Channel of this conveyance to another and each enabled to contribute its part to the common good of the whole Thus Col. 2.19 where St. Paul mentioning the Head of the Church saith from which all the body by joynts and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God This spiritual nourishment of the body flows from Christ the Head we see as having obtained it by his Mediation but then it is the great Office-work of the holy Spirit to apply the benesits obtained by Christ to the several members of his body by working and increasing grace and comfort in them He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you saith our Saviour speaking of the Holy Ghost Joh. 16.14 And this conveyance of nourishment from the Head to the Members by the Holy Spirit is made by the union of the parts as knit together by joynts and bands by which Union one member is made a Channel of conveyance of nourishment to another and in this way the whole body increaseth with the increase of God This being so a disunion of the parts or members must needs obstruct this spiritual nourishment and hinder the growth of the body To the same effect is that parallel place Ephes 4.15 16. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working of the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love This increase of the body to the edifying it self in love is made we see both by the parts of the body being joyned together and also by that which every joynt supplyeth being so compacted Thus we see how the increase of the Church in spiritual strength depends upon Gods special presence and assistance and how the enjoyment of that presence depends upon the peaceable agreement and mutual love of the parts of which the Church doth consist And if so then unpeaceableness discord and strife contention and dividing into Parties in the Church must necessarily tend to deprive her of that special presence and divine assistance of the holy Spirit without which Christians cannot thrive and increase in true goodness and for want of which they will rather decline and go backward Tho the God of peace and of love will be with his People while they are so of one mind in the Essentials of Christianity as upon that account to live in peace and Christian Communion one with another notwithstanding their differing in some lesser things which will always be found in the best estate of the Church which can be expected here on earth yet there is no reason to expect he will be so with them when they do not so live in peace tho they should otherwise be of one mind in the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and all the substantial parts of Worship The holy Spirit may indeed dispense gifts of Knowledge and Utterance and the like which are common to bad men as well as good such as these he may bestow upon Christians even while they are in disorder and unpeaceable division But as for those fruits of the Spirit which constitute men truly good such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness and meekness Gal. 5.22 the having of these and mens being of an unpeaceable temper and in a state of discord and division are I fear inconsistent for these are contrary one to another Tho St. Paul acknowledged those of the Church of Corinth to be enriched with all utterance and all knowledge Chap. 1 5. yet in Chap. 3.1 he tells them that he could not speak unto them as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as to babes in Christ and for this reason as it follows in ver 3. because there was among them envying strife and division Ye are yet carnal saith he for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men that is as other men which were no Christians They might indeed know and believe and talk otherwise and better than those that were out of the Church but their walking and living was but as theirs while envying strife and division was found with them For these are of those works of the flesh of which St. Paul saith that those which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 21. And if Christians would but examine and judge of themselves by these Scripture measures it would make them on all hands one side as well as another to be as much afraid to do any thing to disturb the peace of the Church or to be guilty of envying strife and division in it as they would be to find themselves but in a carnal state and of being shut out of the Kingdom of heaven And as for those who are guilty of these things in these sad times wherein envying strife and division do abound it is hugely necessary that as they love their own souls they would without delay repent and get out of such a state and not flatter and deceive themselves with an opinion of their good and safe condition upon account of their being otherwise Orthodox and Religious so long as they indulge themselves in such a state QUERY XIV What is the nature of Schism From what hath been discoursed touching the nature of Catholick Communion and the means of preserving it we may be able to make a judgment of the nature of Schism what it is and who are guilty of it For if Catholick Communion stands in the Unity of the Spirit or Christians Unity in their Communion in the Doctrine of Faith in things necessary to Salvation and in the
direct Schism and prepare the way to reconciliation For when it does indeed appear by complying as far as they can and by other truly Christian behaviour of persons that through error of judgment differ from their Brethren in other things that that difference proceeds purely from Conscience tho erronious and not from a worse Principle their case is truly pitiable and calls for tenderness towards them from them that differ from them and to treat them accordingly is certainly the way to gain upon them and to make them the more capable of receiving information and satisfaction in their scruples Whereas when they are otherwise treated with severity it tends to spoil their good temper and to exasperate them and to make them out of disgust to them who have so dealt with them to unite into Parties and make head against them to the imbroiling the Church in grievous Schism 2. There is another and worse Division or Schism than meer difference in judgment and practice in some lesser things and that division lies more in Christians unchristian managing their differences than in the difference that is in their opinion and practice when it is but about some things wherein the good or hurt of men would be little concerned if they could be separated from their effects And this division lies in the immoderate manner of contending for that wherein Christians differ As thus when they do not content themselves with offering their arguments fairly and peaceably for that wherein they differ but fall out with their Brethren for not submitting to but opposing them both in their arguments and practice as when they set them at naught and censure them as insincere as not truly lovers of truth but that they are byassed by some undue interest of honour reputation or gain or humour or self-will and that these prevail with them more than truth Now such things as these are of a provoking nature and lay a temptation upon their Brethrens Passions and tend directly to alienate affections and minister to unpeaceable contendings and are a direct breach of peace Tho men have truth on their side yet they may be Schismatical in labouring to propagate or to defend that truth when they go farther in doing so than speaking the truth in love I mean in way of Controversie Tho those that differ from them may possibly be moved with undue motives to oppose them and the reasons for what they hold yet because whether they be so or no is a matter of which they are not competent Judges it lying out of their reach and belonging only to the Judgment of God who only is the searcher of hearts therefore whatever they may fear or suspect yet they should forbear either to pronounce or insinuate any such hard things against their Brethren by which they become Judges of evil thoughts Which if they do not they stir up strife and violate peace by causing unquietness and disorder in the Church and destroy Charity weaken yea wound the very Spirit of the Churches Communion which without doubt is Schism tho it should never proceed to actual separation This mingling of mens Passions and unchristian Censures and insinuations with their Arguments hinders the due operation of their Arguments upon their Antagonists minds tho they should have truth on their side For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God but hinders it Jam. 1.20 Whereas tho men do differ yet so long as they propose and reply one to another no otherwise than as supposing both sides to be only in the search of truth they may live lovingly and peaceably together and enjoy Edifying and comfortable Communion one with onother their difference in Judgment notwithstanding 3. There is a division and consequently a Schism in the Church of a higher nature than the former and that is when the persons that divide or cause division in the Church unnecessarily gather into a Party and do after a sort unite and combine themselves together the more publickly and avowedly to maintain and carry on the Cause they have espoused in opposition to their Brethren and industriously labour to increase their number as hoping thereby in time to be able to bring their opposites to submit to them and to give up their Cause Now if the thing or things they after this manner contend for should be unprofitable for the Church in case they should obtain or of so little use or benefit as that it could never reasonably be expected that it should countervail the hurt that is or will be done to the Church to the Communion of the Church to the Cause of Religion in the world and to the Souls of men in general by being obtained in such a way it would be a most grievous Schism thus to divide and imbroil the Church upon so mean an account A Division or Schism of this nature is termed Faction which is a siding or making of Parties in the Church And of this nature in some sort was the Schism in the Church of Corinth For their Divisions were factious Divisions for they proceeded to making of Parties Their Crime in this charged upon them by St. Paul is termed Divisions in our Bibles but the word is Faction in the Margin 1 Cor. 3.3 And part of the works of the flesh rendred Seditions in our Translation is Divisions or Factions in the Margin Gal. 5.20 This sort of Division which is accompanied with Faction or making of Parties is more than is found in some Divisions which yet are sinful Now when a Schism grows up to this height to a combined strength it is much worse than while it was acted only by a few apart and in a more private way and less taken notice of because then there is more of contempt in it and more are corrupted by it and the peace of the Community more disturbed and because usually by endeavours of increasing the Party much more evil is perpetrated by slanders naughty insinuations and suggestions against those they divide from and combine against than was found in the nature of the division at first or in the nature of the error on which the division first began This factious division is likewise aggravated further when it partakes of the nature of Sedition And we see in the fore-cited place Gal. 5. the same word signifies Division Faction and Sedition Now Sedition I conceive is a division accompanied with a combination of men against the Government either of Church or State under which the Providence of God hath set them It is their acting things contrary to that Government farther than the necessity of not sinning against God does oblige them to the disturbing of the publick peace thereby or it may be so perhaps by seeking to alter any thing amiss or inconvenient in the Government in an undue way that is by acting out of their sphere or the place or rank in which the providence of God hath set them their going beyond their bounds in it
misrepresented that Method of our Lord in the general tenour of my Inquiries And indeed if I have not taken wrong measures and unless very much mistaken their Communion in their state of Separation if taken altogether and the terms on which it is held must needs be far more impure than the Parochial Communion they have withdrawn from There are extreams on both hands as well on the right hand as on the left and there is a proneness in men to run into the one by flying from the other And good men especially in matters of publick Reformation are through mistaken zeal more in danger of running into an extreme on the right hand than into one on the left and in flying from Babylon to run beyond Jerusalem And there is a danger of doing much hurt in the Church by over-doing as well as there is by under-doing and both extremes are carefully to be avoided The New England Ministers in their Answer to Mr. Davenport formerly mentioned do say We may be very injurious to Christ as well as the Souls of men by too much straitening and narrowing the bounds of his Kingdom or Visible Church here on earth Certainly enlargement so it be a regular enlargement is a very desirable thing In Church Reformation it is an observable truth saith Pareus on the Parable of the Tares that they which are for too much straitness do more hurt than profit the Church So much they p. 45. Thus the mistaken zeal of the Donatists and Novatians of old for a purer Church and purer Communion as was thought or pretended put them upon separating from other Orthodox Christians which proved an inlet to the most unchristian practices imaginable for the carrying on their undertaken Reformation and destructive of the peace of the Church in the highest and lamentably scandalous to the Christian Religion in the Doctrinal part whereof notwithstanding they were for the most part all agreed as we are now and differ mostly about Disciplinary Points as they did then Such a strictness in Church Reformation as does so narrow and lessen the Visible Church as to endeavour to reduce it to the size of the Invisible is many ways hurtful as I have shewed in my Reasons for the contrary It tends to hinder and lessen the great work of thorow and sound Conversion in the Church It tends to hinder the spreading and propagating of the Christian Religion It tends to harden men in an unsafe condition It tends to deprive good men of Communion with the Church under the Notion of bad It tends to ruine the Church as to its existence in the world And lastly it tends to beget and foment divisions contentions feuds envyings strifes and undue censurings among Christians and so to cast the Church into a sickly state and such as threatens her spiritual life Besides the encouragement and advantage which is thereby given to our common Enemies to plot and attempt against us And thus over-doing is indeed undoing And lest any should be offended at a discourse against over-much strictness It ought to be considered that there is a great difference between a mans being strict towards himself and in reference to his own practice and his being strict and severe towards others in depriving them of the outward Priviledges of Christian Professors A man cannot well be too strict in keeping a narrow watch over his own heart words and ways in governing his Appetites Thoughts and Passions Tongue and Actions Nor does this kind of strictness depend upon such a purity of Communicants or Communion in which no Carnal Christians have any share But it depends upon or rather it consists in a due attention of mens minds to their own duty and to the opportunities of receiving good by the Ordinances of God The rest of the Guests in the Parable were not the worse nor did fare the worse for that there was one among them that had not on the Wedding Garment The ordinances of God do not the less avail good men that with a due frame of mind wait upon God in them tho unregenerate men participate with them therein And when by the Censures of the Church Capital Offenders and notorious scandalous Persons are deprived of Communion with the Church it is not for that reason as if the Ordinances of God were the less useful to the good by such mens sharing in them But it is to bring such Persons to shame and by that means to repentance and to free the Church from that dishonour which otherwise would stick upon it for tolerating such scandalous persons among them And partly also for admonition to others and to prevent the tainting of such as are less wary by their ill example and familiar converse But otherwise bad mens sharing in external Communion with the Church is no ways likely to hinder the growth of good men in grace or their profiting by the Ordinances of God there administred To the pure all things are pure Bad men cannot in the least pollute the Ordinances of God to the good by their participating with them in them And therefore if God would have such as are not obnoxious to Excommunication for Capital Crimes tho not Regenerate to be continued in the Church being once received into it by Baptism to the end they might be under the influence of his Ordinances for their Conversion I say if God would have it thus in order to their Conversion no good man should envy or grudge them this benefit of enjoying the means of such Conversion And they especially should not who have themselves been Converted and Regenerated in the same way of general Communion and by the means therein afforded which yet has been the case I doubt not of such as have been leading men in modelling this new Church way as it has been of many others For their Congregations at the first and long after consisted scarcely of any other than what had been drawn out of the Parochial Congregations where they had been Converted if they were indeed Converted as they supposed them to be before their incorporating and associating in their new way And if they had continued in the same way wherein they were by Gods blessing upon the means of Grace they therein enjoyed made such as they then were they might without doubt have attained to as much growth in all Christian Virtues as ever they did afterwards and I think much more provided they had but diligently and carefully improved the same means and opportunities by which they had acquired what they had then attained to For the Word and Ordinances of the Gospel which are the means of increase of Grace as well as of the beginning of it are the same and will produce the same effects in those who with a good frame of mind attend upon God in them as well when unregenerate men share in them as when they do not And therefore neither the holy Prophets or other holy men of greatest Piety under the Old Testament nor
Church and those of the world All under this Character and Badge and none but they were of the Visible Church and therefore it must needs be the Constitutive form of that Relation Visible Church-membership All that have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and are visibly Christians and of Christs Church How ancient and how long before Christs appearance in the world in our nature this way of constituting Visible Church-members has been by such a Rite as God appointed I have shewed before And if this visible Covenanting with God by Baptism be that by which persons become Members of the Visible Church then a probable appearance of Regeneration or a reputation of being of the Church as invisible cannot be it that makes them visible Church Members tho it does qualifie them for it unless this probable appearance of Regeneration and Covenanting with God by Baptism be one and the same thing And if they be then those of which our Parish Churches are constituted have a probable appearance of Regeneration or of being of the Invisible Church and then they are constituted of matter according to those Dissenters own mind And if so then we may well hope they will no longer separate from them as if they were not Constitututed of qualified matter So that things are brought at last to this issue That these Dissenters must either overthrow this Plea against the reason and ground of their Separation and prove that visible Covenanting with God by Baptism is not that by which Visible Church-membership is made or else it will certainly overthrow this Plea of theirs for their Separation And if they will so much as attempt to overthrow this Plea against them they must row all the way against the stream and strong tide of the Scriptures and against the stream of Antiquity and the sense of the ancient Church from the Apostles times downwards who always esteemed Baptism the door of entrance into the Visible Church and consequently that all such as had pass'd through Baptism were within the Church And as it is more agreable to Scripture so it is much more reasonable to say that men cannot seem to be of the Church as Invisible without being first of the Church as Visible than it is to say their being of the Church as Visible proceeds from their seeming to be of the Church as Invisible For as touching mens enterance into the Church by Baptism our Saviour hath said Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Baptism is injoyned in order to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation which are Priviledges of the Church as Invisible Acts 2.38 and 22.16 Mar. 16.16 So that according to these Scriptures mens being and seeming to be of the Church as Invisible and their sharing in the Priviledges of it seems ordinarily to depend upon their being of the Visible Church by Baptism Now one would think a Notion so preposterous as this opposed appears to be should be very unfit to make a foundation to build Churches upon or to justifie a separation from those which have a substantial foundation the Scriptures I mean But if mens seeming in the apprehension of others to be of the Church as Invisible did not depend upon their being of the Church Visible yet such seeming could be no proper or fit Rule by which to judg determine and conclude who are and who are not of the Visible Church And the reason is because it is Arbitrarious and uncertain for mens being or not being acknowledged to be of the Visible Church would depend upon the uncertainty of mens opinions and affections and those would seem in some mens apprehensions to be of the Church Invisible which to others would seem otherwise And then those would be owned by some to be of the Visible Church which would be denied to be so by others Of the truth of all which this present Age hath furnished us with plentiful experience And if this should be the Rule observed through the whole Christian world it would be the ready way to make Parties and Sidings unchristian oppositions and uncharitable censurings among Christians in all parts of the world as it has done here in this Nation Whereas to be visibly in Covenant with God by Baptism is a certain fixed a common open and publick Rule by which to judg who are of the Visible Church so long as they continue to own themselves under the obligation of that Covenant and have neither so far violated it as to give Divine Worship to other Objects than their God nor incurr'd to themselves Excommunication by Heresie or other scandalous living And this Rule gives no occasion of division in the Church as the other does but tends to bind and hold the several Members together in the unity of the Spirit and bond of peace To which purpose St. Paul urgeth it upon the Christians motive-wise Eph. 4. All these things considered one would wonder how men of Learning and Piety should ever be betrayed into such Notions and Principles and to lay so mighty a stress on them as they have done when yet they have no more colour from Scripture or reason than ever yet they have been able to produce for their defence But to make the best of it I can we will suppose it was the appearance of a more thorow Reformation and more pure Communion which in their apprehension was to be obtained by these new Methods that first drew them into this way Reformation and pure Communion are things which sound mighty well in good mens ears and which they can easily believe to be well pleasing unto God And as there is an appearance of greater strictness in that way than in that of more general Communion so it was easie for them hereupon to think there was more purity in it also which has been the prevailing reason which has carried multitudes into Quakerism And when such an opinion has once seated it self in mens minds they quickly grow confident that nothing in Scripture can be against it and then they can easily fancy that every slight appearance and sound of words in Scripture is for them upon which they can but put such a gloss as shall favour them though it be nothing to their purpose when impartially scann'd And had their opinions and practice which I have opposed and wherein they differ from all other good men been matter of purity indeed I should not have made One to find fault with them But if this their Way be disagreeable to Gods pure Word which is the Rule by which we must judg of what is pure and what is impure and if it run counter to our Lords Method laid down in the Scripture of ordering the affairs of his Church in very material points then it will be found an impure practice a sinful mixture and a corruption to be purged out of the Church And yet such it is if I have not