Some of the brethren of the Nonconformists have been of the same Judgment whatever this or their practice now is Memorable to this purpose is that saying of Mr. Baxter to his People of Kiderminster I ever loved saith he a Godly peaceable Conformist better than a turbulent Nonconformist and should I make a party or disturb the peace of the Church I should fear lest I should prove a Firebrand in Hell for being a Firebrand in the Church And by all the interest I have in your judgments and affections I here charge you that if God should give me up to any factious Church-renting course against which I daily pray that you forsake me and follow me not a step It is an unhappy degree of wickedness to be a ring-leader in any schism Every accessory is faulty enough but the first Authour abominable Those who either by his example suggestion advice connivence or otherwise are taught to doe ill increase his sin as fast as they do their own Whosoever shall break one of the least Commandments and shall teach men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven An unruly beast breaks the hedge and feeds in forbidden Pasture the whole herd follows but the owner must answer for all the trespass that is committed Therefore is Ieroboam so often branded in holy Writ with this note of infamy Ieroboam the Son of Nebat that made Israel to sin His fault lived when he himself was dead and 't is often said by Divines that his torment increased in Hell according as his sin increased upon earth and that the wickedness of Israel will not be taken off from his Soul for ever It was shame enough to Israel that they were made to sin by Ieroboam but O the miserable Estate of Ieroboam that made Israel to sin his pretence was fair enough but that was no excuse to the foulness of his crime nor is it any mitigation to his present torment Let the Authours of schism in the Church pretend what they please to Religion and Truth yet how they can have the true love or power of either in thier hearts or lives that seek not the Church's Peace and Unity withall I cannot understand The Holy Ghost in Scripture joins both together Love truth and peace And speak the truth in love He follows neither that persues them not both It was an unquestionable Maxime amongst Christians in the ancient Church which is no less a truth now than ever non habet Dei charitatem qui Ecclesiae non diligit unitatem The Love of God abides not in them who do not love and keep the Unity of the Church Nay the practice in question tends not onely to the dividing and distracting the Church but even to the dissolving and destroying her being It puts the members of the body of Christ out of joint and causeth a Luxation of the parts and so hinders that spiritual Nutrition thriving and growth in grace that ought to be in the body of Christ. For as in the natural body of man if a member be separated from it it can receive no nourishment or growth nay if there be but a dislocation of a part so that it be onely out of joint it will not thrive or prosper but wither and consume till it be set right again so the mystical body of Christ can never increase with the increase of God if either there be not a right Union of the joints to the head or if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ligament and bond that knits and fastens one member to another be broken Now this Union of the members the Apostle saith is made by the Ligament of Love which he therefore calls the bond of perfection because as it unites Church-members among themselves so it is the cause that they communicate mutual help to the profit and preservation of the whole The members of the Church then being made so loose and set at such distance so divided and distracted one from another some hurried this way and some that it must needs argue that this bond is either quite broken or much loosned And if it be a truth which Philosophers affirm that every natural body desires no less its unity than its entity I fee no reason why the spiritual and mystical body of Christ the Church should not in like manner desire its unity since if it be and continue thus unhappily divided it cannot long subsist in its entity As a tottering wall of stones heaped up together without mortar or binding is easily shaken and thrown down so must the Church be soon brought to ruine if this distracting and dividing course be suffered and practised By concord and good agreement among Christians the Church grows and is enlarged So by their discords and divisions it will in short time perish and come to nothing Say I this onely Or say not the brethren of the Nonconformists the same He that is not the Son of peace is not the Son of God saith Mr. Baxter all other sins destroy the Church consequentially but division and separation demolish it directly Building the Church is but an orderly joining the materials and what then is disjoyning but pulling down Believe not those to be the Church's friends that would cure and reform her by cutting her throat Pro Ecclesia clamitant saith St. Cyprian of such they cry out for the Church but contra Ecclesiam dimicant their practice is a fighting against the Church And that not by open and professed hostility but by secret and unseen Policy Their pretences are friendly but their actions mischievous their voice like Iacob's but their hands like Esau's Thirdly it hinders the Communion of Saints that holy and sweet fellowship which all the Members of Christ's Church ought to have both with Christ their head and each with other When in the natural body of man the members are joined to the head and one with another they have by virtue of that Union Communion also and do impart bloud spirits and life from one to the other So in the mystical Body of Christ the members being joined to the Lord and one to another there will be a sweet Communion among themselves in heart and affections joy with them that rejoice and forrow with them that weep prayer each for and each with other the multitude of them that believe will be of one heart and one soul. Now one of the closest bonds of Union amongst Christians is in their communicating together in holy duties We are then most one when with one mind and with one mouth we glorifie God together When holy David would set forth the greatest intireness of facred friendship he described it by walking to the house of God in company together The end and effect of our joint partaking in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to seal up this Unity As by one of the Sacraments we
Christ's presence and blessing with them all in ways so abominable to God and so apparently destructive to his intire body the Church which he hath purchased with his most pretious bloud 3. Where were then the threatnings of his withdrawing from our Assemblies upon just occasion God hath said Your Sabbaths your Calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even your solemn Meetings my Soul hates them they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And I hate I despise your Feast-days I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies i. e. I will not accept with Favour as I did Noah's Sacrifice their solemn Assemblies In another place the Holy Ghost useth the same expression I will not smell the Savour of your sweet Odours It is a Judgment saith Ainsworth opposed to that blessing promised in v. 12. I will walk among you God threatens to deny his presence to their Assemblies and one reason is given by a Divine of the Presbyterian Judgment Because they were not any way of Divine institution but of their own invention and therefore all along they are called your or thine Now shew me where Christ in all the Old or New Testament doth either command or allow any such Ministry and attendance on it as is in question and then I shall acknowledge it to be the Ordinance of God and that this promise belongs to it but not till then In the mean time I may well without any digression retort upon the objectours and tell them that in my Judgment they are far out of the way either of obedience to Christ's Command or of hopes of enjoying his blessing promised who in resorting to such kind of Meetings for which they have neither a command nor promise separate and withdraw themselves from the publick assemblies and attendance on his worship and ordinances there where God hath assured us of his presence and blessing and whither he hath enjoyned us constantly to repair For as that Minister who shall upon any pretence whatsoever of his own forsake a Congregation over whom he was placed by God and goe to another without any lawfull call is like Ionah who being sent by God to Nineve sinned greatly in going to Tarshish though he had preached never so duely and diligently there So those People who in any measure neglect the publick for those private assemblies are like Micah who in the time of the Iudges when there was a publick Ministry in the place which the Lord had chosen for that purpose instituted a private worship and ministry in his own house a certain peculiar Levite being called and set apart for that work And no wise man that shall reade his story will think it safe to follow his example Well may such a Person flatter himself in his course and say in his heart as he Now I know the Lord will doe me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest But as Iunius hominis imperiti sermo est in pietate parùm instituti That saying of his shews him to have but little wit less religion and that he was but in a golden dream or Fool 's Paradise all that while though he thought himself wiser and in a better case than his neighbours But this was done when there was no King in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes otherwise so abominable an act could never have passed so clearly as it did By such I would be soberly and soundly resolved of this demand Are the People of England in their present state and condition assembling themselves together in publick places appointed for God's worship under the teaching and ministry of their lawfull Pastors that are set over them by Authority a true Church or true Churches or not If they say no they doe that which God blessed be his name hath not yet done unchurch us and lay us under a judgment which he hath not yet laid upon us viz. a divorce from Iesus Christ. Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not Through the infinite goodness of the most high we have wherewithall to consute that unchristian and uncharitable judgment of theirs since we have both the matter and the form of a true Church The matter is a multitude of rational Creatures that profess saving truth contained in the word of God Simon Magus and the Eunuch upon their profession were admitted Members of the Church and Members do constitute the body The form of a true Church is a gracious call into the dignity of the Children of God so as that Christ becomes â—nited to them As the form of a man â—s the Soul united to the body so the â—orm of a Church which is his body 〈◊〉 Christ united to it We have the â—ord and laws of Christ and those he â—akes effectual for the convincing of â—ll and conversion of some And this 〈◊〉 an irrefragable argument to evince 〈◊〉 Church to be a true Church even in the judgment of the Presbyteriaâ— Divines themselves For to those of the Independent way that separated from them these are their words We beseech you to consider whether ye did not receive the work of conversion from sin to God which ye presume to be wrought in you first of all in those publick assemblies from which ye now separate And if ye found Christ walking amongst us how is it that 〈◊〉 do now leave us If the presence 〈◊〉 Christ both of his power and grace be with us why do ye deny your presence Are ye holyer and wiser than Christ Is not this an evident token that we are true Churches and have a true Ministry because we have the seal of our Ministry even the conversion of many Sons and Daughters to God Doth not the Apostle from this very ground argue the truth of his Apostleship 〈◊〉 it not apparent that our Ministers are sent by God because their Embassage is made succesfull by God for the good of Souls Did ye ever reade of true conversion ordinarily in false Church Will the Lord concur with those Ministers he sends not Doth not the prophet say the quite contrary Jer. 23. 23. And therefore either renounce your conversion or be converted from that great sin of separating from us Again where there are the infallible marks of a true Church there is a true Church But we have the infallible marks of a true Church viz. the word of Christ truly taught and his Sacraments rightly administred First for the word of Christ. The Church is according to the proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a People called forth from the rest of the world called to be Saints Now the best note to know a People called is by the voice calling this was ever an infallible mark of Christ's Church First among the Apostles who were called out from amongst others by the word of
Clouds may be discerned Cum tota dicat Ecclesia quam diu hic est dimitte nobis deâ—ita nostra non utique hic est sine macula ruga So long as the whole Church is commanded to say whilst she is in this World forgive us our trespasses she cannot be imagined to be altogether without spot or wrinkle Rather they discover themselves to be most stained to whom every small spot in the Church seems to be altogether intolerable Cum sub specie studii perfectionis imperfectioneâ— nullam tolerare possumus aut in corpore aut in membi is Ecclesiae tum diabolum nos tumefacere superbia hypocrisi seducere moneamur When under colour of perfection ye can endure no imperfection either in the body or members of the Church you must be admonished that this your separation is caused by the Devil who puffs you up with pride and seduceth you by Hypocrisie Secondly We may not upon every slight ground to please a fond humour leave the Society of God's People in the Church for sake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is or goe off from Communion with that Church whereof we are or ought to be Members When an Ulcer breaks out in any part of the body suppose the hand or the foot must that member presently be cut off or not rather be cured and healed by the use of plasters and other wholsome medicines or the pain and evil be endured with patience â—ntill nature hath tryed her skill and as it will in short time conquered the malignity of the Distemper And shall we then presently make use of the knife as soon as ever there ariseth some diversity of opinions in the Church especially in matters that are circumstantial in Religion This were not Chirurgery but Butchery Nay suppose the very substance and body of Religion were corrupted and not onely some light errours in circumstances were maintained but there were Heresie in Doctrine also in this case we ought to be very tender of making a Schism and look well to our selves with what mind and affection we doe it Suppose a Malefactor be really guilty and hath deserved to dye yet if the Judge condemn him out of cruelty of mind envy or spleen and not out of true love to justice and hatred of his sin though the Sentence were for the matter of it never so just yet he were most unjust in pronouncing of it so a separation from a Church though for just causes yet would be most unjust and sinfull if it be done out of malice or any evil respect or affection whatsoever In such a case that is required of a Christian which is required of a Chirurgeon who when necessity forceth him to cut off a member yet he doeth it unwillingly with grief and after trial of all lawfull ways and â—â—eans to stop the evil and to prevent the mutilation of the Patient The property of true Christian Charity is it rejoyceth not in iniquity but in the truth That is iniquity which is so diametrically opposite to Charity which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a vice that makes men not onely to rejoyce in the Calamity of others but greedily to such in all evil reports of them and rejoyce if they are true Christian Charity where it is works the same mind and affection in us towards our neighbours as is in Parents towards their Children who with joy admit of their commendation but will not so easily believe any thing that tends to their disparagement unless they either soe it with their eyes or have good proof made for it and then not without grief of heart Faults in a Church call for our lamentation not separation should God separate from a Christian Soul because there is still some corruption of sinfull nature remaining in it the condition of us all would be most miserable to Eternity Did Christ separate from the Church of the Iews and not hold Communioâ— with her because she was not what she had or ought to have been What the state of the Jewish Church in our Saviour Christ's time was the Scriptures do abundantly shew In it was a very corrupt Ministry blind leaders of the blind They preach'd well enough but did not live accordingly The High-Priests Office which by God's Ordinance was to last during Life was now become annual and basely bought and sold for money The People were wicked impenitent haters and â—â—â—secutors of the Son of God Their Doctrine was much corrupted and blended with false and Pharisaical glosses Many superstitious Ceremonies were used and urged more strictly than any of God's Commandments Church-discipline very much perverted The Jews had agreed that if any did profess Christ he should be excommunicated An horrible abuse was crept into the place of God's Service A Market and Money-changing set up in the Temple of God And yet for all this our Saviour made no separation from this corrupt Church but communicated with them 〈◊〉 all parts of Divine Worship In his Infancy he was admitted a Member of that Church by Circumcision At the Purification he was presented before the Lord in that Church and a Sacrifice offered for him according to the Law of Moses When he came to riper years he constantly kept the Church came to the Congregation to Divine Service publick Prayers and reading the Scriptures He received the Sacraments in their Church Baptism and the Passover Yea his conformity to the Iewish Church was not onely in Divinâ—â— Institutions but in Humane also as in his observation of the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple mentioned Ioh. 10 doth appear He was so far from breaking the order or custome of that Church as that he conformed to it in those things that were contrary to Divine Institutions It was the ordinance of God that the Passover should be eaten by the Iews with their loyns girded their shooes on their feet and their staves in their hands because they were to eat it in haste Standing was a posture of readiness for travell and they used long Garments in those Countries which would have been an hindrance to them if they had not been trussed up The Apostle seems to allude to this custome when he saith stand therefore having your loyns girded about But because the Church of the Iews being now safely escaped out of Egypt had by long custome omitted and altered these Ceremonies therefore our Saviour Christ would not break or alter the custome of that Church but did as they did He did not stand 〈◊〉 the Passover but sate or used a leaning posture for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by St. Matthew doth signifie as appears by the Evangelist When the even was come he sate down with the twelve And all this to teach us that we ought to be tender of violating the customes of the Church not to grow into