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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50245	An apologie of the churches in New-England for church-covenant, or, A discourse touching the covenant between God and men, and especially concerning church-covenant ... sent over in answer to Master Bernard, in the yeare 1639 ...	Mather, Richard, 1596-1669.; Peters, Hugh, 1598-1660.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670.	1643 (1643)	Wing M1267; ESTC R180449	39,536	50

Gospel through obstinacy which we perswade our selves they are not come unto and consequently the Covenant remaines which hath preserved the essence of Churches to this day though the mixture of manifold corruptions have made the Covenant more implicite then were mee●e Secondly Because there want no good Records as may be seene in Seldens History of Tithes to prove that in former times in England it was free for men to pay their Tithes and Oblations where themselves pleased Now this paying of Tithes was accounted as a dutie of people to their Minister or sheepe to their Pastour and therefore seeing this was by their owne voluntary agreement and consent their joyning to the Church as members thereof to the Ministery thereof as sheepe of such a mans flock was also by their owne voluntary agreement and consent and this doth imply a Covenant It was not the precincts of Parishes that did limit men in those dayes but their owne choice Thirdly Those Questions and Answers ministred at Baptisme spoken of before viz. Do st thou renounce I doe renounce doest thou beleeve I doe beleseve doest thou promise I doe promise as they were used in other places so were they also in England and are unto this day though not without the mixture of sundry corruptions Now this doth imply a Covenant And when the children came to age they were not to be admitted to the Lords Supper before they had made personall Confession of their owne Faith and ratified the Covenant which was made at their Baptisme by their Parents which course indeed afterward did grow into a Sacrament of Confirmation but that was an abuse of a good Order If here it be said that the Members of the Parishionall Assemblies are not brought in by their owne voluntary profession but by the Authority and Proclamation of the Prince and therefore they have no such Covenant The Answer is that the Christian Prince doth but his dutie when he doth not tollerate within his Dominions any open Idolatry or the open worship of false Gods by baptized persons but suppresseth the same and likewise when he gives free libertie to the exercise of all the Ordinances of true religion according to the minde of Christ with countenance also and encouragement unto all those whose hearts are willingly bent thereunto Ezra 1. 13 7 13. And therefore this practise of his cannot overthrow the ●reenesse of mens joyning in Church-Communion because one dut●e cannot oppose nor contradict another And suppose that this course of the Magistrate shou●d seeme to be a forcing of some to come in for members who were unfit in which case it were not justifiable yet this doth not hinder the voluntary subjection of others who with all their hearts desired it When the Israelites departed out of Aegypt there went a mixed multitude with them many going with them that were not Israelites indeed Exod. 12. And in the dayes of Morde●ay and Hesth●r many of the people of the lands became Iewes when the Iewes were in favour and respect Est. 8. 17. and so joyned to them not of their owne voluntary minde nor of any sincere heart towards God but meerely for the favour or feare of men yet this forced or feined joyning of some could not hinder those that were Israelites indeed from being Israelites nor make the Iewes to be no Iewes no Church-members And the same may be said in this case Suppose the Magistrates Proclamation should be a cause or an occasion rather of bringing some into the Church who came not of their owne voluntary minde but for feare or for obteining favour yet this cannot hinder but others might voluntarily and freely Covenant to be subject to the Gospel of Christ Such subjection and the promise of it being the thing which themselves did heartily desire though the Magistrate should have said nothing in it If any shall hereupon inferre that if the Parishionall Assemblies be Churches then the members of them may be admitted to Church priviledges in New England before they joyne to our Churches Such one may finde his Answer in the Answer to the tenth of the thirty-two Questions Whereunto we doe referre the Reader for this point Onely adding this that this were contrary to the judgement and practise of the Reformed Churches who doe not admit a man for member without personall profession of his Faith and joyning in Covenant though he had formerly been a member of a Church in another place as was shewed before out of Master Parker Lastly If any say that if these reasons prove the English Congregations to have such a Covenant as proves them to be Churches then why may not Rome and the Assemblies of Papists goe for true Churches also For some man may thinke that the same things may be said for them that here in Answer to this eleventh Objection are said for the Parishes in England Such one must remember two things first that we doe not say simply a Covenant makes a company a true Church but as was said before a Covenant to walke in such wayes of worship to God and edification of one another as the Gospel of Christ requireth For who doubts but there may be an agreement among theeves Pro. 1. A confederation among Gods enemies Psal. 83. A conspiracy among the Arabians the Ammonites and Ashdodites to hinder the building of Hierusalem Neh. 4. 7 8. And yet none of these are made true Churches by such kind of confederacies or agreements And so wee may say of the Assemblies of Papists especially since the Counsell of Trent If there be any agreement or confederacy among them it is not to walke in the wayes of the Gospell but in wayes contrary to the fundamentall truths of the Gospel as Idolat●y in worship Heresie in doctrine and other Antichristian pollutions and corruptions and therefore if they combined in these things such combinations will never prove them true Churches The Church is the Pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. But the Religion of Papists is so farre from truth that whosoever liveth and beleeveth according to it without repentance cannot be saved Witnesse their doctrine in the point of vilifying the Scriptures and in point of free-will and of Justification by works of the Popes Supremacy of the Sacrifice of the Masse of worshipping of Images c. In regard of which and such like the Holy Ghost saith that their Religion is a Sea become as the bloud of a dead man and every soule in that Sea dyeth Rev. 16. 3. And therefore agreement in such a Religion will never prove them to be true Churches nor any Assemblies of Arrians Antitrinitaries Anabaptists or Famelists supposing them also to be combined by Covenant among themselves But now for the Assemblies in England the case is farre otherwise for the Doctrine of the Articles of Religion which they professe and which they promise to hold and observe though some things are amisse in some of those Articles and though many persons live contrary

in their lives yet the doctrine is such that whosoever beleeveth and liveth according to it shall undoubtedly be saved and many thousands have been saved therein and therefore Assemblies united by Covenant to observe this doctrine may be true Churches when the Assemblies of Papists and others may be false although they also were combined by Covenant the reason of the difference rising from the difference that is in the doctrine and Religion which they severally professe and by Covenant binde themselves to observe the one being fundamentally corrupt and consequently pernicious The other in the fundamentall points Orthodoxall and sound Secondly It must be remembred also which was intimated before that if fundamentall corruptions be professed in with impenitency and obstinacy then God may disanull the Covenant on his part and give a Bill of divorce to such a people Iere. 3. 8. Now experience and the Scripture also doth witnesse of the Jesuited and Tr●nt-Papists that they repented not of the workes of their hands of worshipping Devills and Idolls of Gold c. neither repented they of their murthers nor of their sorceries nor of their fornications nor of their thefts Rev. 9. 20 21. But now for the Parish Assemblies in England we hope that we may safely say they doe not sinne of obstinacy but of ignorance having not been convinced and many of them never having had means to be convinced of the corruptions that are amongst them in respect of their constitution and worship and Ministery and so the Covenant remaining among them may prove them to be Churches when it cannot stand the Papists in like stead they being impenitent and obstinate Which we doe not speake to justifie the Parishes altogether as if there were not dangerous corruptions found in them nay rather the Lord be mercifull to the sinnes of his people wee may lament it with teares that in respect of their members and Ministery in respect of their worship and walkings in many of those Assemblies there are found such apparent corruptions as are justly grievous to a godly soule that is enlightened to discerne them and greatly displeasing to the Lord and indeed had need to be repented of betime least otherwise the Lord remove the Candlesticke and unchurch them Rev. 2. 5. In a word the corruptions remaining are just causes of repentance and humiliation but yet in as much as the Articles of Religion which they professe containe such wholesome doctrine that whosoever beleeveth and walketh according thereunto in sinceritie shall undoubtedly be saved and in as much as the corruptions are not persisted in with obstinacy therefore wee deny not but they have the truth of Churches remaining But this opinion of Church-Covenant is holden by none but the Brownists or those of the Separation and therefore it is not to be received This ground cannot be made good that none but they of the Separation are for Church Covenant for all the Reformed Churches generally as was shewed before in Answer to Objection the tenth are for it in their judgement practise and shall all they be condemned for * Brownists or maintaining unlawfull Separation from the Church Also Master Parker and Doctor Ames men of our owne Nation famous for holinesse and learning and moderation both of them plead for Church-Covenant and yet neither of them were Brownists but bare witnesse against that riged Separation ●or Doctor Ames his judgement of Church-Covenant may be seene in his Medulla Theol lib. 1. cap. 32. 14 15 17. Fideles non constitunt Ecclesiam particularem quamvis simul forsan plures in eodem loco conveniant aut vivant nisi speciali vinculo intersese conju●guntur c. That is beleevers doe not make a particular Church though perhaps there be many of them that meete together and live in the same place unlesse they be joyned together by some speciall bond amongst themselves for so one Church would many times be dissolved into many and many Churches confounded into one Now this bond is a Covenant either expressed or implicite whereby beleevers do binde themselves particularly to performe all such duties both towards God and mutually to one another as pertaine to the nature of a Church and their edification And thereupon no man is rightly admitted into the Church but by confession of his Faith and stipulation or promise of obedience These words doe plainely and fully shew his judgement of Church Covenant to be the very same that is held and practised in New-England at this day And that he was not for that severitie and regiditie of separation may be cleared from sundry of his workes wherein he plainly and fully beares witnesse against the same and namely in his Fresh suite against Ceremonies pag. 207. and in his second Manuduction wherein he purposely and at large deales in this Argument of Separation Sure it is Master Canne in his Booke wherein he goes about to prove the necessitie of separation from the Non-Conformists principles doth professedly and expressely oppose himselfe against Doctor Ames in the point of Separation which shewes how farre the good Doctor was from favouring that way when they most zealously therein doe count him to be a speciall opposite of theirs as indeed he was And for Master Parker his judgement of Church-Covenant was heard before in part where he so much approveth the practise of the Reformed Churches in this point And much more may be seene of his judgement herein in the sixteenth Chap. of the third booke of his P●lit Ecclesiastica And yet in the same place and likewise lib 1. c●p 13 14. of the same Treatise he plentifully and plainly shewes his dislike of the wayes of Separation as is also acknowledged in an Admonition to the Reader prefixed before that Booke by ● R. suo suorumque nomine So that this Assertion appeares to be untrue wherein it is said that none but Brownists and Separatists doe approve of Church-Covenant As for the In●erence from this ground that therefore Church-Covenant should not be received because it is pleaded for and pract●●ed by the Separatists We Answer that this will not follow unlesse it could be proved that the Separatists hold no truth or if they hold a truth wee must not hold it that so it may appeare wee differ from them Either of which it were unreasonable to affirme If the Papists hold sundry Articles of Faith as that there is a unitie of the Divine Essence and Trinitie of Persons that Jesus Christ is God and man and that true Messiah that was promised and the onely Saviour of the world and many such like must wee deny these things because they are holden by the Papists This were as unreasonable as to condemne the doctrine of the Resurrection because it was maintained by the Pharisees Act. 23. 8. And so we say of Church-Covenant holden and practised by them of the Separation as also many other truths are maintained by them No reason that truth should be refused because the

Separatists maintaine it When Doctor Bancroft in a Sermon at Pauls-Crosse had avouched that the Superioritie of Bishops above other Ministers is by Gods owne Ordinance and to make the contrary opinion odious affirmed that Aerius per●i●ting in it was condemned for an Heretique by the generall consent of the whole Church and that Martin and his Companions doe maintaine the same opinion of Aerius What saith learned Doctor Reinolds hereunto in a Letter to Sir Francis Knolls who required him to shew his judgement herein Touching Martin saith he if any man behave himselfe otherwise then in discretion and charitie he ought let the blame be laid where the fault is and defend him not but if by the way he utter a truth mingled with whatsoever else it is not reason that that which is of GOD should be condemned for that which is of man no more then the doctrine of the Resurrection should be reproved because it was maintained and held by the Pharisees Wherefore removing the odious name of Martin from that which is sinceritie and love is to be dealt with c. And the very same doe wee say to them that would make Church-Covenant to be odious because it is held by those of the Seperation who are commonly called Brownists If men behave themselves otherwise then they ought we defend them not therein but if they hold any truth mingled with whatsoever else wee would not have that which is of God to be condemned for that which is of man truth should not be refused because of other corruptions that may be found in them that hold it If you with them hold Church-Covenant you iustifie them in all their Wayes of seperation and erronious opinions Not so for many of them hold that there are no visible Christians that stand members of the Parishes in England and that it is not lawfull to hold any private Religious communion with such perso●s and that the parishionall Assemblies are none of them true Churches and that it is not lawfull to hear any of those Ministers to preach the Word none of which are justified at all by holding Church-Covenant though they do hold the same There is no such necessarie and inseparable connexion betweene these opinions and that of Church-Covenant that he that holds this must needs hold the other also But the time hath been when your selves did not hold Church-Covenant as now you do when you were in England you were not of this mind and therefore no marvell if your change since your coming to New England be suspected and offensive If you change your judgement and practise in this manner God knows whether you may come at last and therefore men may well be afraid of holding with you in this point which your selves did not hold when you lived in your native Countrey Some of us when we were in England through the mercie of God did see the necessitie of Church-Covenant and did also preach it to the people amongst whom we ministred though neither so soone nor so fully as were meete for which we have cause to be humbled and to judge our selves before the Lord But suppose we had never knowne nor practised the same before our coming into this countrey yet if it be a truth of God there is no reason why we should shut our eyes against the light when God holds it forth unto us nor that others should be offended at us for receiving the same For by the same reason men might still continue in their sinnes and not make any progresse in knowledge and holinesse that so they may not seeme unconstant which were contrary to the Scripture wherein we are commanded nor to fashion our selves according to the former lusts of our ignorance 1. Pet. 1. 14. But to be changed Rom. 12. 2. and renued Ephes. 4. 23. and put off the old man and put on the new Ephes. 4. yea to grow in grace and holinesse 2. Pet. 3. 18. and be stronger and stronger Iob 17. 9. that our good workes may be mo●e at the last then at the first Revel. 2. 19. Sure it is the Apostle tells the Corin●hians and Ephesians that the time had been when they were not the same men that now they are when he wrote unto them and yet he doth not blame them for leaving their former opinions or practise but commends them for it 1. Cor. 6. 11. Ephes. 2. 3. c. And it is said of Apollos an eloquent man and mighty in the Scripture that when he came to Ephesus the way of God was expounded unto him more perfectly by Aquila and Priscilla whereas before he was instructed in the way of the Lord knowing onely the Baptisme of Iohn yet this was no dispraise at all to him that now upon better information he would change his judgement to the better nor unto them that were the means thereof Act. 18. 25 26. Nullus pudor est ad maliura transire The time hath been and we may be humbled for it when we lived without God in the world and some of us in many sinfull courses and shall any be offended because we are not still the same and when God called us from the wayes of sin and death to the Fellowship of his grace in Christ yet some of us lived a long time in conformity to the ceremonies imposed in our native Countrey and saw not the evill of them But when God did open our eyes and let us see the unlawfulnesse thereof we cannot see but it would have been a with-holding the truth in unrighteousnesse and a great unthankfulnesse to God for light revealed to us if we should still have continued in that course through an inordinate desire of seeming constant and therefore it is not any just cause of offence that we have changed our judgement and practise in those things when we once perceived the Word of God to disallow them Indeed it hath been sometime objected against Mr. Cartwright and others that desired the reformation of the Churches in England in regard of Discipline and Church-Order that they which stood so much for Reformation in Discipline did in after times adde and alter some things beyond what they saw at first and what themselves had formerly desired and that therefore being so mutable and inconstant in their apprehensions they were not to be regarded nor hearkened unto to which Objection Mr. Parker makes full Answer in Eccles. lib. 2. ca. 36. p. 307. where he sheweth from the Scripture and the testimonie of Bishop Iewel Doctor Reinolds and others that in the Reformation of Religion God brings not his servants into perfection in knowledge and zeale at the first but by degrees so as they grow and make progresse in these things in such wise that their good works are more at the last then at the first as was said of the Church of Thyatira even as the man that had been blind when Christ restored him to his sight could at the first but see men like trees walking and afterward saw every man cleerly and therefore it is no good arguing to say these men have altered and corrected such things from what their apprehensions were at first and therefore they are not to be regarded Now if this be no good arguing against Mr. Cartwright and those that in England have been studious of Reformation as indeed it is not then it is no good Argument against us in this matter of Church-Covenant to say we now hold and practise otherwise then we have done in former time If any shall here reply that change from conformity to the ceremonies to Worship God more purely is warranted by the Word and therefore not blame-worthy and that the same may be said of the case of Apollos of the Corinthians and Ephesians forementioned and of Cartwright and the rest in his times We answer that this is true and thereby it appears that it is not simply the changing a mans opinion or practise that can be counted blame-worthy or offensive but changing without warrant of the Word and therefore in point of Church-Covenant the issue must not be whether we or others have formerly known and practised it but whether it have ground from Gods Word For if it have as we hope have been proved before in this discourse then the observing of it can be no cause of just offence unto others nor imputation of inconstancy to our selves though in time past we had not had so much light as to discerne the necessitie and use thereof The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary and grant unto all his Churches and servants that the●● love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement that they may discerne the things that differ and approve the things that are excellent and by his Spirit of truth be led forward into all truth till Antichrist be utterly consumed with the breath of his mouth and the brightnesse of his coming and the holy City new Jerusalem come down from God out of heaven as a Bride adorned for her husband the Lambe the Lord Jesus to whom be all glory of affiance and service for ever Amen FINIS Object 1. Answer Object 2 Answer Object 3 Answer Object 4. Answer Argu. 2. Object 1. Answer Obj. 2. Answ. Obj. ● Answer Argu. 3. Argu. 4. Argu. 5. Object Answer Argu. 1. Argu. 2. Object Answer Argu. 3. Object 1. Answer Obj. 2. Answ. Obj. 3. Object 4. Answ. Object 5. Answ. Argu. 4. Argu. 5. Object Answer Argu. 6. Obj●ct 1. Answer Object 2. Answ. Obj. 3. Answ. Obj. 4. Answ. Obj. 5. Answ. Obj. 6. Answ. Reply Answ. Obj. 7. Answ. Obj. 8. Answ. Obj. 9. Answ. Obj. 10. Answ. Obj. 11 Answ. Obj. 12. Answ. * By Brownists and Separatists you are to understād those of the rige● Separation Reply Answ. Obje 13. Answ. Reply Answ.