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A41563 Spiritual order and Christian liberty proved to be consistent in the Churches of Christ and impositions upon the consciences of believers in religious practices found to be antichristian and destructive to both / by R.G. a protestant. Gordon, Robert, fl. 1669-1675. 1675 (1675) Wing G1291; ESTC R29926 14,410 15

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further this Spiritual Government and Christian Liberty are not only consistent and was accordingly practised in the first Churches but i● was also necessary that it should be so because thereby the Spiritual Vnity and Peace of the Churches is preserv'd on the one hand from Confusion on the other hand from Tyranny all things being done decently and in order and yet in Charity and to Edification therefore the Apostle Paul finding Divisions to be entered into the Church at Corinth and to prevent the like at the Church at Rome in his Epistles to those Churches he leads them to the practice of this Spiritual Government and Christian Liberty as the most proper remedy to recover and preserve them in the Peace and Vnity of the Gospel which he that will be at the pains to read may perceive Indeed under the Old Covenant the Service thereof stood in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings observing Times and Days and carnal Ordinances until the time of the Reformation but now that time being come under the New-Covenant wherein the Lord saith I will write my Laws in their Hearts in the Exercise of Church-Government among a People under that Dispensation Christian Liberty is of absolute Necessity the Law requiring Obedience being not in Tables of Stone but in their Hearts they were to walk in the Order of the Gospel through the Convincement of that Law in their Hearts they were under And the necessity of the continuation of both these conjoyned together is also manifest by the sad Consequences which have followed there where Church Government hath been exalted on the Ruines of Christian Liberty at this Door this dark night af Apostacy entred into the Church at the first a Mystery of Iniquity that begun to work in the days of the Apostles not by a Demas that forsook them but by a Deotrephes that sought Preheminence among them for in the exercise of Church-Government in Christian Societies had the Apostles Rules of Expediency Edification Peace and Charity the best and only Preservatives of Gospel Order and Vnity been observed in all Ages by Church Rulers the many Schismes that have rent and divided the Churchos of Christ had not entred and when contrary to Christian Liberty Innovations are imposed by Church-Authority the Dissenters cannot in truth be reputed the Breakers of the Churches Vnity though accounted such by the Imposers But the many Schismes and the sad Consequences of them in any Christian Society is then most justly laid to their charge who being Church Governours under the name of Comely Orders impose Vnscriptural Traditions of the Elders as necessary Conditions of Church-Communion upon the Consciences of the Disciples unto which they are required to submit though unclear or unconvinced as they would not be accounted Breakers of the Vnity of the Body and as such be refused the Spiritual Fellowshig of the Church Which kind of Imposition as it is manifest by what is said already to be contrary to the Doctrine of the New-Testament and tenour of the New-Covenant so it makes void the Foundation Principle of Protestancy is contrary to Right Reason really destructive both to the Spiritual Order and Christian Liberty of the Gospel and last of all is a direct contradiction to an immediate inward Revelation of the Spirit as being a Rule to every particular Christian for his Conduct in all Religious Practices and to that end implanted in every man as he comes into the World First let the serious Protestants examine the first and great Foundation Principle on which they founded their Separation from those of Rome and they will find that to assert the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures without us and of the Illumination of the Holy Spirit within us they protested that neither Traditions Councils Popes nor Cannons of any visible Church but the Scripture only interpreted by the Holy Spirit gives final Determination in Matters of Religion Which is so wholly at once made void by this kind of Church-Imposition if allowed that their Protestation becomes quite insignificant thereby Secondly it is contrary to Right Reason to allow of such an Imposition in a Christian Society because all in such a Society are of one joynt voluntary Communion it is therefore most unreasonable for one or more of that Society to impose their final determinations in matters controverted on their Brethren unconvinced and not referred to them in respect such Societies are to be governed according to their first Principle of Union which is Inward Perswasion and therefore is to be upheld by that same Principle least it degenerate into Tyranny Uniform Outward Practices they may be driven into but they cannot be the Bond of their Spiritual Union that being ever one and the same whil'st outward Practices are alterable so never to be imposed as necessary but to be perswaded into as they are found agreeable to the Rules of Conveniency Edification Peace and Charity It is Man's Glory that he is not Religious by any kind of outward force but that in his worshiping God he offers up to him a free and reasonable Sacrifice whereas this kind of Church Power once admitted deprives Persons of the use of their Reason who by submitting unconvinced do give the Lye to their Understandings in a word it leaveth a man neither the use of his Reason as a Man nor of his Spiritual Understanding as a Christian and therefore cannot be of the God of Truth that hath indued every man with a reasonable Soul and every Christian with a Spiritual Understanding Thirdly It is also destructive both to the Spiritual Order and Christian Liberty of the Gospel this is sufficiently proved in the sad Example of those of Rome where the many unnecessary and unscriptural Traditions Rites and Ceremonies imposed have wholly extinguished the Spiritual Order of the Gospel mentioned in the New Testament and where the Bloody Inquisition hath buried Christian Liberty and will infallibly produce the same event where it is received Lastly The Contradiction betwixt this kind of Imposition and an Immediate Revelation of the Light and Spirit of God in every individual as his unerring Rule and Conduct in every thing of Religion is manifest in this that this Inward Revelation is asserted to be therefore given to every man as he cometh into the World as being of it self sufficient if obeyed to lead him into all Truth without any necessity of hearkning unto any outward Writings or Instructions whatsoever but as this Light leads thereunto which if it be so and that a Society be united upon that Principle in one joynt Communion the uselessness of one or more in the Church having such a Power or of general or particular outward Laws and Instructions to order Matters in that Society requiring Obedience thereunto And of the fore appointed Standing Meetings Weekly Monthly and Quarterly and the frequenting the Set Times and Places of those Meetings further than it becomes necessary to every individual Person of the Society through the Inward
Gain-sayers could with an infallable certainty preface their Determinations in matters controverted in the Churches referred to them Viz. It seemeth good to the holy Ghost and to us which for any Person or Persons now to pretend to by an alledged uninterrupted succession from the Apostles or by a Revelation to that end now in this Age received withou● giving the like Evidence of their being so sent and conducted is but a vain empty boast to make void the certainty of the holy Scripture thereby to establish in themselves an unscriptural Ecclesiastick Papacy over all in the Church And as the Apostles were careful to establish the Spiritual Order of the Gospel in the Churches they were no less careful to preserve their Christian Liberty lest under the pretence of Order it should be incroached upon by Church-Rulers in whom the Form of Words might become stronger then the Power of Godliness as after the Apostles dayes it indeed came to pass Hence we also find in the New Testament Church-Rulers required to be apt to teach sober patient in Meekness instructing them that oppose no Striker no Railer but in much for-bearance to feed the Flock of God not as Lords over Gods Heritage but as Ensamples to the Flock not as having Dominion over their Faith but as helpers of their Joy For saith the Apostle the Authority given us of the Lord is not for Destruction but for Edification The Spiritual Authority intrusted of the Lord with Church Officers is to reach the Consciences of all in the Church to be manifest there and not to exalt Man over the Consciences of the Disciples Church-Rulers are not because of their authority to force by Church-Orders or Laws every one to submit to every particular appointment they judge necessary to be established in the Church because Practices or Doctrines imposed upon Persons to be believed and submitted to unconvinced edifies not but destroys the work of God in their Hearts the true Ministers beareth with the Vnclearness of the weak waiting till their Submission to outward appointments be made necessary to them of the Lord by inward Convincement whereas the false Minister allows not unclearenss in Dissenters as an excuse for non-obedience being satisfied in an outward formal bodily Compliance Those that are to be ruled in the Church are also required in the New-Testament to submit to those that have Authority over them in the Lord yet So as every one is to be fully perswaded in his own Mind Christs Government is to be exercised in the Hearts of his People Truth is to carry with it conviction in the Conscience first before it be submitted to outwardly Matters of this kind are not to be taken upon trust we are commanded to try the Spirits whether they be of God or not we are to examine Doctrines to hold fast that which is good Christ's Sheep they hear his Voice and follow him a Strangers Voice they will not hear they that are Christs are led by the Spirit of Christ this is the main thing in Religion Persons are not to be hurried too hastily into the Practice of the decent Church-Orders but are to wait on the Lord to clear the matter to their Understandings they are to do nothing of this kind doubtingly but in clearness and Faith for what is not of Faith is Sin an Error here is an Error in the Foundation because without Faith it is impossible to please God And further that Church-Government might not degenerate into Tyranny and to preserve Christian-Liberty the Apostle tells us wherein the Vnity of the Church consists the great end of Government is to preserve Church-Vnity that there be no Schism in the Body Christians are therefore required to be of one Mind but in the Lord their Vnity is in the Spirit not in an Vniformity of outward Practices We find that in the first Churches they walked in different outward Practices some observing a day and some not observing it some eating and some not eating and that in one and the same Church wherein they were commanded by the Apostle Paul as a rule in such cases to all Christian Societies not to judge one another because of them whence i●s m●nifest that not outward different Practices breaks the Spiritual Vnity of the Church but judging one another because of them he that observes a day or other outward appointment in the Church doing it in the Lord may have unity with him that observes it not also in the Lord It was so in the Apostles times and it will be so still where GOD and not Man POWER and not Form is exalted for indeed the true ground of Unity among Christians is not that such a Person is conform to me in outward Practices but because I find him in what he doth differing from me walking in his integrity according to his own understanding in the Lord and this is the stronger band of Unity betwixt us then if we were both without inward Convincement in one uniform practice nothing is more pleasant to behold in Christian Societies while we see but in part and every individual is to see for himself then different sorts and sizes of Christians every one in their own Station learning their own Lessons from Christ to whom they are to give an Account and yet in their different Practices having Vnity in the Lord one with another this is indeed lovely to a Spiritual Eye though to the Carnal Eye it seems undecent and disorderly Indeed Vniformity in a Christian Society is much to be desired but the Lord is to be waited upon to bring People to this Christianity was begun in the Spirit and so it must be continued nothing must be received by force of Church-Authority or Arguments of mans Wisdom but as by Convincement the Conscience is perswaded thereunto where the Lord alone is to rule who leads his People into the Vnity of the Spirit in the midst of different outward Practices Thus without forced or constrained Commentaries and Meanings by repeating the very Words of the New-Testament its manifest to him whom the Power of an outward Form of Words without Life or the Ways of Unrighteousness hath not blinded that both Spiritual Order and Christian Liberty were established by the Apostles in the first Churches Now that this Spiritual Government and Christian Liberty are consistent in one and the same Christian Society necessarily follows beyond the reach of Contradiction because it was so appointed by the Apostles in the first Churches Secondly because they walked in their Church-Fellowships in the practice of them both which is already cleared Neither can any man suppose either that the Apostles gave forth inconsistent and unpracticable Instructions to the Churches or that even in their own time while present among them they were never practiced though given forth except he design to lessen their Authority in the Churches or the divine Authority of the holy Scriptures conveying to us the truth of these things as I have already shewed But