Spirit and sufficient Rule 23. That men must believe the Scripture without reason for their believing it or must believe it to be Gods word without seeking any proof that it is his word 24. That it is meritorious to believe the Scripture to be Gods word without knowing any proof or reason of it this being an infused faith and proof making it but acquired 25. That we must believe Gods word no further than we have evidence of truth from the nature of the matter revealed 26. That Mahomet is the Paraclet promised by Christ V. Of the Creation 1. That this world was from eternity and not made in time 2. That an evil God made this earth or a middle God between the perfect God and the evil one As old Hereticks variously spake 3. Or that such an evil or middle God made the body of man 4. Or that such an evil or middle agent made the woman 5. That God made sin and death and disorder before sin deserved them 6. That when God had made this world he left it to the Government of certain Angels who fell and necessitated man to fall 7. That the World is Gods body and he the Soul of it and no more 8. That the world came by chance or by a fortuitous conflux of atomes and was not made by Gods wise and powerful word or action 9. That there is nothing in the world but matter and motion and the various shapes of matter caused by motion or at least nothing but God and matter and motion and its modal effects 10. That the world is Infinite as being made by that infinite God who made it as great and good as he was able and therefore infinite in his own similitude VI. Of Angels and Spirits and Heaven 1. That men can certainly tell the space number and order of all the celestial regions orbs or spaces and the number of Angels or when the first were made 2. That this world or earth was made by Angels only 3. That the fallen Angels were necessitated by God to sin and to tempt man 4. That God hath so left to Angels the Government of this world as not to govern it himself save by such leaving all to their free contingent action 5. That all that which scripture ascribeth to the Holy Ghost is done only by Angels 6. That we may know which are our Guardian Angels 7. That men may choose their own guardian Angels or spirits 8. That we must pray to Angels though we see them not or have no special notice when they hear us 9. That Angels lusted after women and begat Giants of them before the deluge 10. That they fight with each other for the government of the Kingdoms of this world even the good Angels among themselves VII Of Man as man in his nature and first state 1. That mans soul is God or part of God 2. Or is only a part or act of an universal soul of the world and is no singular or individual substance in each one 3. That the soul is but a quality motion or action of a higher agent 4. That the soul is mortal and dieth with the body being either annihilated or asleep or sunk into a meer potentia or hath no knowledge will sense or action or is swallowed up in the universal soul so as to lose its proper or numerical existence 5. That mans soul is of the same species as the bruits 6. That mans spirit only is immortal and continueth after death but not his soul 7. That mans soul or spirit was from eternity 8. That it was made before this earth and sinned in a former body and was thrust for punishment into this body and world 9. That the souls departed of men are sent back into beasts or at least into other men and so are oft born 10. That mens souls are fallen Angels 11. That Adams soul was made first male and female before it was incorporate 12. That Adams body was the cloathing that God made him after he sinned having no body before 13. That neither soul nor body was made after Gods image as Epiphanius ill affirmeth 14. That mans Vital faculty Intellect and Will are but accidents of his soul 15. That the soul is moved but as an engine by an extrinsick cause and hath not any Essential self-moving form or power 16. That no man can do more or less or otherwise than he doth because God as the first mover necessitateth all his actions 17. That the will hath no habits but a meer power and liberty 18. That Adam and Eve had no holiness or holy inclination to love God as God and to obey him but a meer neutral possibility 19. That Adam had not help or strength sufcient or necessary power to have forborn his first sin 20. That man was made only to be an inhabitant of earth as Angels are of heaven and is not capable of an higher habitation VIII Of sin Original and subsequent 1. That God is as much the Cause of all sin as he is of darkness and such other privations and that he made Adam sin or that he irresistibly predetermineth every ones will to every forbidden act which it doth 2. That the Devil irresistibly necessitated Adam to sin and so some superior cause did the Devils 3. That sin is not only the occasion of much good but a proper cause and as such is decreed willed and caused by God 4. That God made a Covenant with Adam that if he sinned all that came of him should be reputed sinners farther than they were really seminally in him and by natural in-being and derivation were partakers of his guilt and corruptions and so that God made them sinners by his arbitrary imputation when naturally they were not so 5. That Original sin necessitateth every sin of omission or act which ever after followeth in the world 6. That sin being a meer privation all are by nature deprived of all moral good and so all are equally evil and as bad as those in hell notwithstanding any thing that the Redeemer hath done to prevent it 7. That infants have no Original sin no guilt of Adams sin and no sinful pravity of nature 8. That Infants have no participation of guilt of any nearer parents sin but Adams only and God doth not inflict any punishment on children for their fathers sin because of their derived guilt by nature 9. That therefore Infants have no need of a Saviour to suffer for their sin nor of a pardon 10. That Infants need not the Holy Ghost to sanctifie them by killing any sinful pravity or inclination in them 11. That sin was not the cause of death 12. That sin deserveth not hell or an everlasting punishment IX Of Redemption and the Covenant of grace made to Adam and Noah 1. That God made no promise Covenant or gift of grace to Adam after his fall 2. That God made the Covenant of grace only to Adam and the elect and not to all mankind in him
one Nature only but they meant that Christ had but one Nature as undivided which the Orthodox granted but denied not that the Godhead and Manhood were distinct And what was the difference then but whether the undivided Godhead and Manhood should be called one Nature or two which truly in one sense was two and in another one The like was the Monothelites Heresie for and against which were many Councils about one or two Wills and Operations no more disagreeing than as aforesaid about the sense of One and Two And had not a wise Explication and patient Reconciliation done better service than Cursing did whose doleful effects Hatred Hereticating and Schism continue to this day Should I come to the Councils about Images and that at Constantine that decreed the Tribus Capitulis and the multitudes since that have deposed Emperors and Kings raised Wars set up Popes and Anti-Popes c. Alas how sad a History would it be to convince us that Councils of Bishops have caused most of the Schisms Church-Tyranny Rebellions and Confusions in the Christian world And if the Popes have been restrained or deposed or Schisms at Rome partly stopt by any the flame hath quickly more broke out and condemned Popes have oft got the better of them And if one Council hath said That the Pope is responsible another hath determined the contrary If Basil and Constance decreed That a Council be called every ten years it was not done but was a mockery in the event In a word Councils of Bishops have been but Church-Armies of which at first the Patriarchs were Generals and afterwards Popes and Emperors and came to fight it out for Victory the sequel being usually Schism and Calamity And must this be the only way of Universal Peace CHAP. VII The Vniversal Church will never unite in many pretended Articles of Faith not proved to be Divine nor in owning unnecessary doubtful Opinions or Practices as Religious or Worship of God notwithstanding the pretense of Tradition Sect. I. I Need say no more for proof of this than is said in the first Part. If Preachers say that this or that is an Article of Faith If Popes say it If Councils say it this saying will never unite all Christians in the belief of it It is no belief of God whose object is not revealed by God and perceived so to be and received as such That the sacred Scriptures are written by Divine Inspiration Christians are commonly agreed But that Popes Prelates or Councils speak by Divine Inspiration even when they expound the Scriptures all Christians neither are agreed nor ever will be And till a man perceiveth that it is God that speaketh or that the word spoken is Gods Word he cannot believe it with a Divine Faith which is nothing but believing it to be Gods Word and trusting it accordingly God is true but men are Lyers Rom. 3. Sect. II. Before we can receive any thing as Truth from Man we must have evidence that it is true indeed And that must be 1. Either from the nature of the thing and its causes 2. Or from some testimony of God either concomitant as Miracles were or subsequent in the Effects 3. Or from our knowledge of the Veracity Authority Inspiration and Infallibility of the Instrument or Speaker If therefore any Church or company of men shall tell us that this is a Divine Truth or Article of Faith no more of the World can be expected to believe them than are convinced of it by one of these three proofs The first is the case of natural Revelation and not now questioned The Second none but the Church of Rome do plead for their own belief viz. that they work Miracles and therefore are to be believed in whatever they affirm to be the Word of God Knot against Chillingworth and others of them do ultimately resolve their Faith or their proof of the truth of their Religion into the Miracles wrought in the Church of Rome by which God testifieth his approbation of their Assertions Other Christians that may have more miracles than Papists yet resolve not their proof of Christianity into them but lay more stress on other Evidence and particularly on Christs and his Ministers miracles attesting the holy Scriptures and Gospel to be of God And when we can find just proof of the Papists Miracles we shall be willing to study the meaning of them But hitherto we have not found such proof If any Council in Rome France Germany or England shall say These are Divine revealed Truths and as such you must believe subscribe or swear to them the world will never agree in believing them when no sober man is bound to believe them but as humane uncertain and fallible witnesses according to the measure of their Credibility Sect. III. Long experience fully proveth this No Age of the Church did ever agree in Articles of meer humane Assertion for that had been but a humane Faith That which the Council of Nice said was denyed by the Councils at Sirmium Ariminum c. That which the Council at Ephesus the first and at Chalcedon affirmed they at the Council of Ephesus the second denyed That which the Monotholites under Philippicus innumerable Bishops saith Binius affirmed many other Councils condemned That which the Council at Nice the second decreed for Images was condemned by many other Councils That which the Councils at â—isa Constance and Basil decreed to be Articles of Faith the Council at Florence and others abhorre Much less will a Provincial Synod or a Convocation or a Parliament be taken by all the Christian world to be infallible Sect. IV. And indeed the obtruding of â—alshoods or Uncertainties on the Churches is a notorious cause of Schism For what can you expect that men of Sobriety and Conscience should do in such a case Discern the certainty of the thing they cannot nor can they believe that all must needs be true that is said by a Synod a Convocation or a Parliament And they dare not lie in saying they believe that which they do not And to take all for Schismaticks that dare not deliberately lie or that set not up 〈◊〉 men as Lords of their Conscience instead of God is Schismatical unchristian and inhumane And as mens mere wills ought not to rule their understandings nor the will of Synods of Bishops or others to be the rule and measure of our wills so though we were never so willing to believe all to be true that Councils of Bishops or Princes say 〈◊〉 are not our understandings in the power of our 〈◊〉 We cannot believe what we list To know or believe without evidence of truth is to see without light False Hypocrites may force their tongues to say that they believe this or that at the Command of man but they cannot force themselves indeed to believe 〈◊〉 How then can a book of Articles or the Decrees of a Council or the Laws of a Prince bring the World to any unity
life and character of Christs disciples and to cause wrath envy hatred and strife when God saith He that hateth his brother is a murderer and no murderer hath eternal life in him 1 Joh. 3. 15. It grieveth me to see preachers against preachers and Churches against Churches and in Press and Pulpit Learning and Oratory imployed to render brethren odious and keep up a heart war against each other and all this O fearful as in the name of Christ and as for the safety of the Church and Kingdome To see families against families and father against son and as Guelphes and Gibelines Cities and Countreys in their ordinary discourses at the least accusing contemning and reproaching one another It grieveth me to think how much first the honour and then the success of the Ministry on both sides is hereby hindered and what temptations some have to further injuries which I am loth to name And how by all this the wicked and Infidels are hardened the weak are scandalized the Papists are encouraged to despise us all and many turn to them scandalized by our discord sects are advantaged the Church and Kingdome by divisions weakened and the King denyed the comfort which he might have in a loving united and concordant people I believe that you dislike all this as well as I All the question hath been and still is which is the true way of Cure And one would think that 1. the nature of the thing and 2. the experience of all the Christian world 3. and our own new experience these seventeen or eighteen years might resolve men of lower parts than ours Is there no better way to the Churches concord than that which must cast out either such men as you or I and that so many Can a wise Physicion a true Peace-maker find out no remedy which may better avoid the foresaid evils O what a loss had England in the removal of such healing men as Bishop Vsher Hall Davenant Brownrig c. Far was I and am I from liking any former injury to such men by Covenant or abuse But it hath been ever the just misery of the persecutors of worthy men to have the stone fly back on their own heads and to be themselves undone by striving to undo others while they first make and then stir up a multitude of enemies for their own defence who else would be friends and live in peace I am fully perswaded that in this book I have told you a righter way of Christian Church concord more divine sure harmless and comprehensive fitted by Christ himself to the interest of all good men yea of the Church and all the world I offer it first to you that you and posterity may see what it was that I desired and that if I here err you will faithfully detect my errour that I may repent before I die and may leave behind me the recantation of this and all my other mistakes and miscarriages as I intend to do upon just conviction But do it quickly or else I am not like to see it And I purpose not to provoke you by any confutation but to improve your evidence for my self And to answer the earnest demand of our Reasons by you the Lord Bishop of Eli I have also published an Historical Narrative of our case and judgement in another Book called The Non-conformists Plea for Peace If much contrary to my expectation you should be convinced that These Terms of Vnity and Concord are righter than those which you above all men that I know have effectually helpt to bring us under I humbly crave that you will use as much earnestness and diligence to procure the Churches concord by promoting them as you did for that which you then thought righter I have here opened those reasons which made me believe that the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapter to the Romans decideth our controversie and is to be understood as I then maintained If it prove the necessary Truth which is here offered you I beseech you see that prejudice resist it not It would be a happy work could we procure the reviving of Christian Love Unity and Concord that all Christs servants might strive together for the hallowing of Gods name the promoting of his Kingdome and the doing of his will with Love and Concord as it is done in Heaven And when instead of worldly wealth and grandure we are contented with our daily bread and instead of cruelty to the innocent or weak we bewail our own sins and forbear and forgive one another and instead of tempting men to the evil of wrath and making battering Cannons and tearing engines of Schism we cease to be over-wise in our own conceits and to judge despise and ruine others then we shall be in a hopeful way to this we shall then receive him that is weak even in the faith much more about our lesser matters even as Christ received us and not to doubtful disputations and he that pleaseth God by that in which his Kingdome doth consist will be also approved by us and we shall better learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice and that none of our Church power is given for destruction but for edification and so we shall not condemn the guiltless nor smite the Shepherds and scatter the flocks and then hunt them about as Schismaticks and see the mote of dissent from a formality ceremony or word in their eye while we see not this great beam in our own How joyfully should we die might we leave behind us by our endeavours a healed Church and Nation and see first this desired unity which would be the strength ease and joy of Ministers and people King and Subjects and a hopeful pattern to the divided Churches abroad to imitate If you will not contribute your help hereto those will who shall have the honour and comfort of being the blessed instruments of our concord if God have so much mercy for us I once more repeat to you the pacificators old despised words Si in Necessariis sit Vnitas in non-necessariis Libertas In utrisque Charitas optimo certe loco essent res nostrae Pardon this freedome and accept this Account of the reasons of all his former and later dissent from your judgement words and way to Nov. 15. 1679. Your unfeigned well-willer RICHARD BAXTER A Premonition Reader UPon the review of this book I find some things which may be to some an occasion of offence if this premonition prevent it not I. Some may think when I say Diocesan Prelacy Arch-Bishops and Patriarchs are not to be made necessary to Universal or subordinate Church Concord as being uncapable terms or means thereof that I speak against the Lawfulness of all Episcopacy when I speak but against such necessity of that sort Know therefore 1. that I meddle not with the question Whether every particular Church of Pastor and people associate for personal Church Communion such as Ignatius describeth should have a Bishop with
must be so And if they are as usually bad as Christ and his Apostles tell us then bad men will rule And operari sequitur esse As men are they will do Great men will have worldly selfish interests clean contrary to the interest of Christ and his doctrine And how great influence Rulers have as to concord or division is easily known 5. And hitherto the Pastors of the Churches have been alas such as Gregory Nazianzen Isidore Pelusiota and many others have described to say nothing of Gildas or Salvian or the sad Characters that most parties give of one another and the accusations that Afflicters bring against those whom they afflict and which the sufferers give of them If Paul then must say All seek their own and not the things that are Jesus Christs no wonder if it be so now and that even General Councils have sadly anathematized one another and thousands of Bishops or Pastors have been cursed from Christ by the rest And how much power proud turbulent ignorant and worldly Pastors have to hinder the Churches Concord hath been found by too long and sad experience 6. And mans nature is sensual and slothful and it will cost so dear by long and hard study to be wise indeed and by mortification and self-denyal to be truly good that few are likely to attain it 7. And education company friends and false writers and teachers will still cherish faction and discord in the world 8. And distance and disacquaintance will leave open mens ears to back-biters slanderers and false reports Men will think it uncharitable not to believe such e. g. as Learned Historians Doctors and their Pastors are 9. And the wars and cross-interests of Princes and States have hitherto by jealousies fomented divisions in the Church 10. And the false wayes and termes of Concord will be kept up in opposition to the true and will not be the least impediment 11. And Lastly Even the Wise and Good that must be the Peace-makers are such but in part and have in them too much of the folly errour and sin of others which will hinder their work yea and make them also troublers of themselves and others § 6. These being not doubtful conjectures but certain Prognosticks the remedy must be suited to the Patients capacity And I. Necessary Essentials all Christians are and must be agreed in But unnecessary things such as I have described are never like to be commonly united in nor is it necessary that they should It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to the Apostles to impose nothing on the Church but Necessary things Act. 15. It was the deceivers and false Teachers which would have done otherwise Against whom St. Paul doth copiously and zealously dispute in his Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians Colossians c. To pretend that as necessary which is not so or to command that as necessary and causelesly to make it necessary which is not so in it self and which we may easily know will never be so judged of nor received by all is but to rack and tear the Church and do mischief for an unnecessary thing § 7. II. As it is certain that nothing but Truth can be fit matter for the Churches Concord so it must be certain Truth that is not only such as whoever believeth is not deceived but such as may be discerned by ascertaining Evidence by all sober willing Christians Not only such as the Learned may be sure of but all that must take it as certain in their profession For no man must make a false profession and say he is certain when he is not Not that all that may be called certainty must needs exclude all doubting but that the Assent be prevalent against such doubting Nor do I mean that it must be certain by natural evidence It is enough if it be so by Divine Revelation And if any be so weak that they perceive not some necessary revealed truth to be certainly so revealed they must be put on no more than to say I do though not with certainty believe it And no probability must be imposed on mens profession when there is notable danger on the contrary side if they should mistake § 8. III. Therefore the terms of Union must be only things plain and intelligible to all sober willing minds For all persons of dull wits and diverting business cannot attain such certainty or firm belief of things which they cannot understâ—nd Belief without understanding is but a dead notion or name or rather a contradiction § 9. As for the Popish doctrine of Implicite faith it is no true belief of any thing but that General verity in which they say the particulars are implicitely contained We must all believe implicitely in God that is That whatever God revealeth is true But he that believeth no more but this is falsly said to believe other things For he may believe this who never understood that God revealed any thing in particular He that never heard of Christ or the resurrection may believe that all Gods revelations are true But to call this an Implicite belief of Christ and the Resurrection is but to equivocate and call that believing a thing which is no believing of it If they hold that to believe that the Church that is the Pope and his Councils is infallible in acquainting us with matter of faith is all that is necessary to salvation though they know not what the particulars are let them say so plainly and not call this a believing of other things or a believing in Jesus Christ or his Gospel § 10. IV. And it is only things of Divine Authority that can be the necessary terms of universal Unity or Concord supposing the necessary media of bringing them to mens notice Had we lived in the time and place where Christ and his Apostles did preach and work their Miracles it had been one thing to determine what were then preached as the necessary articles of faith and another thing how we come to hear know and understand them It must have been by our ears eyes and intellects that we knew and perceived what was said and done And so now standing at the distance of many ages certain history or tradition must bring that to our notice which our eyes and ears would then have brought to it But still the Law and terms of Vnion are no less Divine whatever means do help us to understand them And as for them that will make humane terms seem necessary to Catholick Vnion or Communion that they deceive themselves and others and shall never attain the end but tear the Church by such ill engines is easily thus proved § 11. The Catholick Church never did or will agree what humane power it is to whom this work belongeth whether it be a Pope or Council or some universal Monarch or a Council of Princes by agreement Never such a thing was or will be Popes and Councils were but in one Empire the chief Ecclesiastical
as of that ad quem as Mar. 6. 12. Luke 13. 3 5. Acts 2. 38. 3. 19. 8. 22. 17. 30. 26. 20. Matth. 9. 13. Luke 24. 47. Acts 5. 31. 11. 18. 20. 21. 26. 20. 2 Tim. 2. 15. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Luke 10. 13. 15. 7 10. 2 Cor. 7. 10 11. § 5. Christ himself the Law giver and Judge doth oft in his explications lay his acceptance of men on a few great plain sure necessary things He summeth up the whole Law into the two great Commands the first and the second like unto it even the Love of God and Man and when he tells one that had lived soberly and justly that yet he lacked one thing Luke 18. it is but this plain great necessary duty to prefer his heavenly reward and hopes and Christ to bring him to it before his wealth and prosperity on earth This was not a great Volume of hard opinions but one plain and necessary duty not hard to know but hard to an unbelieving worldly heart to be willing to do So in his great Sermon on the Mount Matth. 5. it is not many dark opinions or small ceremonious practices that he pronounceth blessedness on but the pure in heart the poor in spirit the merciful the peace-makers and such as suffer for righteousness sake And in all his most excellent Sermons and Prayers John 5. 6. 10. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. what have you but our common Catechism truths Which of the controversies of contenders or what nice opinions are there decided or propounded Nay he himself oft distinguishing tells men that God will have mercy and not sacrifice and reproveth the Pharisees that were strict in tything mint annise and cummin and neglected the great matters of the Law Mercy truth and justice and that troubled the Church with their ceremonies and worshipped God in vain with their traditions teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Matth. 15. Yea when he describeth the Judgement to come it is not many hard opinions that he layeth life and death on but on loving relieving visiting his members yea the least of his members yea himself in them And he condemneth those that do it not even to the least What then shall they suffer that interdict and anathematize Kings and Kingdoms and hereticate great part of the Church of Christ yea the Pope and his Councils of military Bishops that have risen to their greatness and conquered the Christian Nations by this art of Anathematizing or cursing Kings and Subjects from Christ § 6. We find Christ preaching also to divers single persons as to Nathaneal to the Samaritan woman John 4. to the blind man John 9. to the Canaanitish woman and others and he never went beyond these few plain divine and necessary terms § 7. And he sent out his disciples to preach but the same doctrine that he had done even to Repent and believe the Gospel and Devils were subject to them that preached this short plain truth who I fear are the Masters of many that spin a finer web And John Baptist went but the same way And among the counsels which he gave to the many sorts that flocked to him see whether any of our Engines of heretication and division and silencing are to be found All the four Gospels are strangers to such things § 8. And the very Controversal Epistles of St. Paul that were written to confute Seducers were written by the same spirit and go the same way The summ of all is Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ The doctrine of faith in Christ and the abrogation of the burdensome Ceremonious Jewish Law and that the Gentiles â—ere not bound to keep it is the summ of his doctrine 〈◊〉 summeth up all the Law in LOVE Rom. 13. â—â—d in living soberly righteously and godly in the â—orld following the spirit and mortifying the lusts of the flesh living a holy and heavenly life in love and unity and peace And whereas pride and ignorance then began the dividing way and condemning Christians for tolerable differences he oft and plainly reproveth and confuteth this But most fully and purposely to the Romans Chap. 14. 15. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye but not to doubtful disputations or not to judge his doubtful thoughts instancing in differences about meats and dayes Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him Who art thou that judgest another mans servant to his own master he standeth or falleth Yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand Let every man be fully perswaded or assured in his own mind He that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord c. But why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother For we shall all stand before the judgement-seat of Christ Let us not therefore judge one another any more but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block in his brothers way If thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ dyed For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another For meat destroy not the work of God All things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man that eateth with offence I is good neither to eat flesh or drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or maâ—â— weak And he that doubteth is damned if he eat beâ—cause he eateth not of faith For whatsoever is not 〈◊〉 faith is sin Ch. 15. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself c. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God § 9. I know not what can be spoken more plain and home to the case in hand and the humane unnecessary impositions which have so many ages torn the Churches of Christ And yet all this is nothing to the Imposers The different exposition of this one part of Scripture hath had a great hand in the calamitous distractions silencings imprisonments scatterings that have been exercised in many Nations of the world The controversie lyeth here The One side say that All this was spoken by St. Paul only
Baptism the term of Christian Catholick unity and concord as necessary ad esse and the Creed as needful and apt ad bene esse ordinarily § 22. There is a controversie raised as aforesaid by Donatists and other Sectaries so now by the Papists whether the person baptized must not also own 1. the Ministry in general 2. the particular Minister that baptizeth him 3. and the particular Church into which he is received 4. and subject himself by profession to such pastoral power To all which I shall distinctly answer § 23. I. To the first 1. what is connoted is not alwayes a necessary part of the contract A man cannot be baptized but he must know that some one hath power to baptize him 2. It is more needful of the two that the Apostolical office and power be known and believed than the successive ordinary Ministry Because the belief of the truth of the Gospel more dependeth on their testimony as commissioned and qualified with those extraordinary gifts of the spirit which are its seal and proof 3. It is of great use to our faith and obedience to understand that Christ hath settled an authorized Ministry to preserve and preach his Word and administer his Sacraments and guide his Churches to the end of the world and he that knoweth not this wanteth an integral part of Christianity and a great and needful help to his edification and salvation 4. Yet none of these are absolutely necessary to the essence of Christianity If any lived where the ministerial office were not known or should by misleading so far err as to think that any judicious Christian or any Christian Magistrate or master of a family might preach and administer the Sacraments if yet this man believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as his Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and be accordingly devoted to him in baptism this man shall be saved notwithstanding his ignorance or errour about the Ministry yea though he knew not of the office of the Apostles but took them for lay men For the promise is that whoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16 18. by what means soever he was converted to the faith It is not only He that is converted by a Priest shall not perish Nor is it ever said He that believeth in the Apostles or Priests shall not perish but he that believeth in Christ which essentially includeth the belief in the Father and the Holy Ghost And therefore Paul calleth them carnal as guilty of Schism that said I am of Paul and I of Cephas because they were not baptized into the name of Paul or Cephas but of Christ And he thanketh God that he had baptized few of them lest they should say that he had baptized them into his own name And yet are the Apostles foundations or bases and pillars in the Church because Christ used them as the first great keepers of his word and seals and the means of converting unbelievers and it 's hard and rare to believe in Christ without knowing and believing that they were his commissioned Ministers § 24. II. But though it be a duty to choose a true Minister to be baptized by yet it is not at all necessary to the validity of baptism to know that the baptizer is such Indeed not one of many can be sure as not having seen his ordination nor knowing of his necessary qualifications Many things may deceive them and all baptism by Lay-men is not null as the Fathers held and the Papists now hold and confess § 25. III. And as to reception into a particular Church I have proved before that it is no work of baptism as such but a consequent act in order of nature alwayes and oft of time The Eunuch Act. 8. was baptized into no Church but the Universal There be some few rigid mistaken brethren called Independents in New England that think indeed that all baptized persons must be baptized into a particular Church but others even of that party are wiser herein It is very fit that every one that can be a member of some particular Church But some cannot as Travellers Merchants Ambassadors c. who reside among Infidels only and those that live in Countreys where the Pastors by tyranny refuse to admit any to their communion who will not say or do some unlawful thing But yet Baptism as such is no such thing nor hath such an effect Much less is it a profession that such a particular Church is sound § 26. IV. And as to subjection to the Clergie It is true that Baptism essentially subjecteth us to Christ and this includeth an obligation to obey him in all things which we know to be his Law And it is true that just obedience to the Guides of the Church is his command But it followeth not that every man knoweth this nor that every disobedience unchurcheth us It is his command that we pray continually and in all things give thanks and that we speak not an idle word and use not vain jeasting c. But it nullifieth not Christianity that we culpably offend in one of these Nor doth our baptism contain our promise that we will never sin nor that we will obey a command which we understand not but that we will be Christs subjects and obey him sincerely so as that when we fail by weakness we will renew our repentance Christ also commandeth every child subject wife servant to obey their parents Princes and Magistrates Husband and Master And he that is baptized bindeth himself also to obey these Laws sincerely if he know them But it followeth not that it is essential to Baptism to oblige us to subjection to parents husbands masters but only to Christ who commandeth us to obey them Even as subjects take not an Oath of Allegiance to every Justice Constable or Messenger but only to the King who yet commandeth us to obey his Judges Justices Constables c. § 27. To pretend that Baptism as such doth subject men to the Bishop of Rome or to the Bishop of Alexandria Antioch Paris London or to the Pastor of a single Church is a perverting the sence of it and to be answered as the Apostle did others Were ye baptized into the Name of Paul CHAP. IV. II. What are the terms necessary for the continuance of Church-Communion and what are the lawful Causes of abscission or Excommunication § 1. IT is granted that as there is somewhat more necessary to the continuance of our pardon justification and right to glory than was to our first reception so also to our continuance as members of the Catholick Church That is the bare profession of faith and consent and subjection or Covenanting with Christ for future sincere obedience is enough to our first reception by baptism But some performance of this Covenant is necessary to our continuance The reasons are 1. Because the Covenant or promise is necessary not meerly for it self but for the
invented expositions will be as liable to be wrested by Hereticks as the Scripture It is ridculous presumption to talk of making any Law profession or Articles that a false Heretick may not subscribe to 3. But there is another remedy against them while they conceal their heresie they are no Hereticks in the judgment of the Church Non apparere here is as non esse when they divulge it the judicatures must correct them It 's vanity to dream that the Law is faulty as long as it is but such as men can break or that any Law can be made which none can break But as they break them they are to be judged 4. And we must not rack and divide the good for fear of such letting in the bad The Churches Concord and peace is of more regard than the keeping out of some secret Heretick yea of old he was not called a Heretick that did not separate from the Church All good men agree to the word of God but all will not agree to every word of yours § 13. I conclude In humane affairs there is nothing without imperfection weakness and incommodity and to pretend the cure of these by impossibilities or mischiefs is the way of such as these Thirteen hundred years have been the true schismaticks and distracters of the Church CHAP. X. A draught or specimen of such Forms as are before mentioned for the Approved and the Tolerated Ministers § 1. TThis Chapter should have gone before the ninth But I thought to pass it by lest it seem presumptuous But the observation how ordinarily men miscarry in this work hath perswaded me to run the hazard of mens censures § 2. 1. The form to be subscribed by the Approved Ministry I A. B. do seriously as in the sight of God profess that as I have been in Baptism devoted by the sacred Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost renouncing the Devil the world and the flesh so far as they are his enemies so I do unfeignedly Believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and consent still to that Covenant in hope of the grace and Glory promised obliging my self to continue by the help of that grace in Faith Love and sincere obedience to the end More particularly § 3. I. I do unfeignedly Believe 1. That there is one Only God an infinite Spirit of Life understanding and will most perfectly powerful wise and good incomprehensibly Three in One and One essence in Three called persons or subsistences by the Church the Father the Word and the Spirit of whom and through whom to whom are all things he being the Creator preserver Governour and the ultimate End of all Our absolute owner our most just Ruler and our most gracious and amiable Father and benefactor 2. I believe that this God created all the world things invisible and visible And made man in his own Image forming a fit Body and breathing into it a spirit of Life understanding and will fitted and obliged to know love and serve his Creator giving him the inferior Creatures for this use making him their Owner their Governour and their End under God But specially forbidding him to eat of the Tree of knowledge on pain of death 3. The woman being tempted by Satan and the man by the woman both fell by wilful sin from their Holiness Innocency and Happiness into a state of Pravity Guilt and misery under the slavery of the Devil world and flesh under Gods vindictive Justice and the condemnation of his Law Whence sinful corrupted guilty and miserable natures are propagated to all mankind And no meer Creature is able to deliver us § 4. II. I believe that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to be their Saviour Who being God and one with the Father took our Nature and became man being conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary named Jesus the Christ who was perfectly holy without sin fulfilling all righteousness and being tempted overcame the Devil and the world and after a life of humiliation gave himself a sacrifice for our sins by suffering a cursed death on the Cross to ransome us and reconcile us unto God and was buryed and descended to Hades and conquering death the third day he rose again And having sealed the New Covenant with his blood he commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel to all the world and promised the Holy Ghost and after forty daiesascended into heaven where he is God and man the glorified Head over all things to his Church all power being given him in heaven and earth our prevailing Intercessor with God the Father to present us our service acceptable to God and communicate Gods grace and mercies unto us to Teach us Govern protect and judge us and to save and bless and glorifie us § 5. 2. By the new Testament Covenant or Law of grace God through the aforesaid Mediation of Jesus Christ doth freely give to fallen mankind Himself to be their Reconciled God and Father his Son to be their Saviour and his holy Spirit to be their sanctifier and comforter if they will accordingly believe and accept the gift and by faithful covenant give up themselves to him in these Relations Repenting of their sins and consenting to forsake the Devil the world and the flesh so far as they are enemies to God and their salvation and sincerely to obey Christ his Laws and his Spirit to the end bearing the Cross and following him though through sufferings that they may reign with him in Glory All which God will faithfully perform § 6. III. I Believe that God the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and from or by the son was given to the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists to be their infallible Guide in preaching and recording the doctrine of salvation and to be the great witness of Christ and his truth by his manifold Divine operations And that he is given to quicken illuminate and sanctifie all true believers and to save them from the Devil the world and the fleshes temptations from sin and from spiritual misery And that the Holy Scriptures indited by this Spirit are to be believed loved and obeyed as the word of God § 7. 2. I believe that all who by true Consent are devoted to God in the foresaid Baptismal Covenant and so continue are one sanctified Church or Body of Christ and have Communion in the same spirit of faith and Love and have forgiveness of their sins and having one God one Christ one spirit one faith one Baptism and one Hope of Heavenly Glory are bound to keep this unity of the spirit in the bond of peace in the Doctrine worship order and conversation and mutual helps which Christ hath by himself or his Apostles commanded avoiding uncharitable contentions divisions injuries and offences And that the Baptized Covenanters and external Professors of the foresaid Covenant consent are the visible