shall receive everlasting life and then added This is the Sum of my Faith other additaments which Ignorance and Corruption have superinduc'd into Christianity I simply refuse beseeching God to Purge his Church c. And in the simplicity of this Faith saith the Author he liv'd and dy'd Rex arbitratur rerum absolute necessariarum ad salutem non Magnum esse Numerum nullam ad Concordiam breviorem viam fore quà m si diligenter separentur Necessaria à non Necessariis â—t de Necessariis conveniat omnis opera insumatur In non Necessariis libertati Christianae locus detur Simpliciter Necessaria Rex uppeâ—â—at quae vel expresse Verbum Dei praecipit credenda faciendare vel ex Verbo Dei necessariâ consequentiâ Verus Ecclesia elicuit Si haec diffinctio adhiberetur at Jus Divinum à Positivo seu Ecclesiastico candide separetur non videtur de Necessariis longa contentio futura King James Isaac Casaub in Epistola ad Card Peron Regis Jac. nomine scripta a much Greater Person before him by the Pen of Isaac Casaubon spake the same that the things absolutely necessary to Salvation are but few Mr. Chillingworth a Person of Note whose Book against Knot was Licens'd by the Professors of Divinity at Oxford sets that Passage in the Front of it The Prot. Relig. a safe way to Salvation at Oxford 1638. §. 30. §. 43. and in his Epistle to the King calls it a Blessed Doctrine and in his Preface saith All things necessary to Salvation are evidently contain'd in the Scripture and that there 's no Conclusion in the whole Fabrick of his Discourse that is not naturally deducible out of it And that he that believes the Scripture sincerely and endeavours to believe it in the true sence cannot possibly be a Heretick and if no more than this was requir'd of any Man to make him capable of Christian Communion then all Men so qualified tho' different in Opinion be of necessity one in Communion And Men shall find this not only a better but the only means to suppress Heresie and restore Unity And in his Answer to Knot 's Preface §. 12. that to say that Christians of different Persuasions and Communions such as hold all those things that are simply necessary to Salvation may obtain Pardon for the Errors wherein they die ignorantly by a general Repentance is so far from being a ground of Atheism as Knot said that to say the contrary is to cross in Diameter a main Article of our Creed and to overthrow the Gospel of Christ Dr. Stillingfleet having Cited with applause Irenicum ann 1662. Part 1. Ch. 6. §. 6. a large Passage of Mr. Hales concerning Schism saith The Primitive Church was very large in their Foundation and proposed only the main Truths in great simplicity and charg'd not People with loads of Articles as in latter Ages and much less would burthen Men with imposing doubtful Practices upon them as a ground of Church Communion St. Augustin saying the Rule of Faith is common or fit both for the Weak and Strong And he goes upon this Principle in his Defence of Arch-Bishop Laud's Book Multitudes of places to this effect might be Cited out of Dr. Owen Mr. Baxter and many other of the Non-Conformists as would it hurt Kings or Souls to have all Christians hold their Unity and Communion just on the terms they did under St. Peter and St. Paul c. The Nature of Religion in 3 Discourses put out by Mr. R. Baxter Anno 1684. Our Famous and Judicious Judge Hales to add no more says Religion is plain and easie to be known is best in its Simplicity and Purity but is hard to be kept from Corruption by additions which choak and stifle it This is done by the Subtleties of the Schools by turning Religion into Politick Contrivances for Wealth and Power and by Contests about Church-Government and Ceremonies so as to lay the weight of Religion on them c. To this are added the Testimonies of Sir Francis Bacon and of Dr. Isaac Barrow Many sayings that pass current amongst all Attest this as in necessariis Unitas in Adiaphoris libertas in Utrisque Charitas c. But it 's needless to add more Scriptures Reasons or Authorities for this It 's certain therefore that all that believe the great necessary Truths hold Christ the Head and obey His Great Commands are true Members of Christs Universal Church and shall be Saved though they be Ignorant or Erronious in many Useful things For their Works may be burnt and they suffer loss but they shall be Saved yet so as by Fire And those that would Build the Church of God indeed and thereby do good to the World must keep their Eyes strongly fixed on this large Foundation of it in Faith and Love because the Blindness of many which yet goes under the Name of Zeal and Knowledg is such that instead of it they have laid Narrow and False Ones some by adding many things as Necessary that are not found in Scripture or are contrary to it or but their Nice Disputes of things mentioned in it and others by Imposing many Useful Truths as Necessary and Excluding all that own them not And this main Truth may be greatly abused as it hath been * As the Naked Gospel seems to do while it pretends to enlarge Charity and explode Imposition Some its like may press it to make the Foundations so large as to set up a new Heathenism and make Christ our Saviour in effect needless or to lay aside many excellent Truths now owned among us and privily to bring in damnable Heresies that overthrow the Foundation But we are firmly to cleave to it because it 's a most certain Truth and of the greatest Consequence if well minded to build up the Church of God For From hence it plainly follows First That if all who Believe and Obey the Necessary Truths of the Gospel are Members of the Universal Church of God then no Particular Churches may require such Persons to profess and own divers other Useful Truths to the end they may be received into Communion with them Many believe they may and ought to propose many Profitable Truths to such as Necessary Conditions of their Communion with them and will bring many Plausible reasons for it But it 's clear by the former Principle they may not For if they be true Members of Christ's Church though they do not know or own those Truths why should those Truths be pressed upon them to make them Members of such a Church or Churches in Particular Part 1. Ch. 2. § 3.4.5 c. Shall they Exclude those that Christ receives This is Evil and causes great Divisions Dr. Stillingfleet in his Defence of Arch Bishop Laud builds much on this that only the Truths that are necessary to be believed in order to Salvation are necessary to believed as to Church Communion Ob.
Scriptures of the Old Testament how few things were necessary to be explicitely believed then Of the New Testament when all things were clearly reveal'd and setled only the Great things were required then St. Peter said Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God and Christ said upon this Rock will I build my Church c. And again thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ Mat. 16.16.18 Joh. 6.68 69. the Son of the Living God Christ our Lord when risen from the Dead and had opened his Disciples Minds to understand the Scriptures ordered them to Teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 20. and to Baptize them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then to Teach them to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them but not whatsoever they should devise Philip tells the Eunuch if he believed with all his heart he might be Baptized Acts 8.37 and was satisfied with this Confession of his I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God St. Paul many years after writing to the Romans saith if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Ro. 10.9 10. and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart Man believeth c. And tells us what he had Preached to the Corinthians that they might be Saved How that Christ died for our Sins according to the Scriptures and that he was Buried 1 Cor. 15.1.4 and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures c. St. John saith 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment And thus Obedience to the great Commands of Christ whether only revealed by him or also written in our Hearts is a necessary part of our Religion as well as the Belief of his Great Truths To love the Lord our God with all our heart and our Neighbour as our selves For Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to those only that obey him Mat. 22.37.39 Hebr. 5.9 2 Tim. 1.13 and we are to hold fast the form of sound words in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus And thus we find the Apostles practised They bore with many that held the true Foundation but taught and did amiss they bore with those at Jerusalem that were Zealous of the Law Acts 21. Rom. 14. They reprov'd those at Rome who despised them that durst not eat all things and those who judged them that durst eat all things but bore with both and Exhorted them to do so to one another And so in other places of the Acts and the Epistles they oft reprov'd and taught Believers better but never denied them to be of God's Church and no wonder since it pleases God not presently to Cure all whom he truly Converts of their Errours but usually doth it by degrees See Vossius and Usher de Symbolis Secondly The Ancient Practice and Creeds of the Church teach this for they are generally very short and contain only the main things of our Religion and agree in sense tho' not in the very words We may see this in Justin Martyr's Apollogie in Irenaeus Grotius on Mat. 28.19 l. 1. c. 2. l. 3. c. 4. in Tertullian de velandis Virgin c. 1. de Praescriptionibus c. 13. contra Praxeam c. 2. And so for a great while after tho' by degrees they grew larger yet not much as we see in most of them we now use And the Creed at first was only in those words at Baptism In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Thirdly Reason also speaks this fully that all things which are for the perfection and well-being of a thing are not necessary to the Being of it This holds true in all Persons and Things both Natural and Civil and must do so as to the Church of God All Rooms in the same House are not equally furnished or perfect yet are parts of the House And why not so with God's House Else a great many of his true Churches will be denied to be parts of his Universal Church and several Parties will in their Judgment cut off one another from it which is a heinous Sin how light soever some may make of it Fourthly The Judgment of Great Men tho' differing in many other things fully agrees in this with Scripture Reason and Antiquity I by no means build on this yet mention it to remove the strong prejudices that possess many and shut out the Truth Many Years ago reading Arch-Bishop Laud's Book against Fisher §. 9 I observ'd divers good Passages against narrow Foundations that * De noâ—â—s Eccl. c. 8. Bellarmin makes the Greeks no Church and so denies them Salvation that a chief means whereby Rome grew to her Greatness was to blast every Opposer by the Name of Heretick or Schismatick that in things necessary we have an absolute certainty in the Scriptures Creeds and the Four first General Councils §. 10. and in other things not absolutely necessary if Christians differ it is no more than hath been in all Ages more or less and yet may and do preserve one necessary Faith and Charity entire §. 38. And again that there 's a Latitude in Fundamentals for to whom much is given of him much shall be required as well in Belief as in Obedience the Sum of Obedience being in Mat. 22.37 39. and of Faith in Hebr. 11 6. or Act. 4.12 L. 3. de Trinit ad finem Instit l. 4. c. 1. and Cites Hilary In facili nobis est Aeternitas Jesum suscitatum a mortuis per Deum credere Ipsum esse Dominum confiteri In this he agrees with Calvin Sunt quaedam ita cognitu necessaria ut fixa esse omnibus oporteat §. 12. qualia sunt Unum esse Deum Christum esse Deum Dei Filium in Dei misericordia salutem nobis consistere Alia controversa quae Fidei Unitatem non dirimunt c. Multitudes of Foreign Writers might be alledged but I chuse rather to keep to our own Country Printed before His History of Scotland Arch-Bishop Spotswood in his Will briefly summed up the things in the Apostles Creed That God is one in 3 Persons the Father Creator of all things the Son made man in the fulness of time who by his bitter Death and Passion having redeem'd Mankind from death ascended into Heaven from whence he will come to judge all flesh and the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son the Sanctifier of all that believe That this God hath chosen to himself a Church the Members whereof living in Communion tho' never so dispers'd shall by his infinite mercy receive remission of all their sins and being rais'd in their Bodies at the last day
do always for in many cases we do things sometimes for several Reasons which we will not may not do always Hundreds of Instances might be given and strong Reasons too By this Rule we should be bound constantly to Communicate with the worst Churches that we think we may Communicate with sometimes but if we could sometimes Communicate with the Greek Churches in their way would we always do it if we could do otherwise Or with the Lutherans would we always do it Or if the Lutherans could joyn with us as the Synod at Charenton in France permitted them to do would they do it always Or if the Nonconformists can joyn sometimes with Churches where there are corrupt and unprofitable Ministers scandalous and malicious People divers bad impositions and an exclusion of some things that Christ hath given for the Churches benefit must they do so always Besides this would tempt the Nonconformists wholly to leave the Conformists Churches for the Conformists argue thus All Churches that may be sometimes Communicated with ought always to be Communicated with But the Conformists Churches say the Dissenters may sometimes be Communicated with therefore they ought always be Communicated with But the N. C. hereupon will argue thus Those Churches we may not always Communicate with we may never Communicate with so say the Conformists But the Conformists Churches may not always be Communicated with say the N. C. Therefore they ought never be Communicated with And this Arguing will be stronger with the N. C. than the other because they are more strongly perswaded they ought not always to joyn with the Conformists than that they ought to joyn with them sometimes But this Principle is deeply laid in the hearts of many N. C. Reformation but not Separation and they say tho' they cannot Conform they must Preach and strive to save Souls and in their places to reform what 's amiss tho' they say the Conformists Churches are not unlawful to be Communicated with They own them as true Churches and would help on the work of God that is done in them and believe the Conformists also should own them and be glad of their assistance 7. Seventhly That Wickedness in Heart and Life against Christ's Commands destroys the Church as well as Errours against his Truths For a profession of Obedience to Christ is as necessary as a profession of his Truth and a sincere Obedience is as necessary to make one a true living Christian as an unfeigned belief of the Truth It 's wickedness that tears the Church of God amongst us and abroad more than any thing and Love which includes Holiness Unites it most and builds it up 1 Cor. 13. It 's not so much difference in Judgement that causes our Divisions as the wickedness and hatred of the Power of Godliness and those that own it tho' of the same way with them and it 's wickedness that chiefly leads People into bad Opinions They therefore go against the Foundation of the Church that neglect it and countenance the debauch'd World Mr. Baxter's Book of Cain and Abel or the formal dead World and those that hate God The great Enmity lies here between the Godly and the Wicked the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent and they do not build up but pull down the Church that take part with these Luke 12. Our Lord came to send Fire on the Earth not Peace but a Sword And whence is this but from the wickedness of Men that Fights against him 8. Eighthly That Persons may be true Christians tho' they Err and go much against this main Truth * Yet he that hateth his Brother is a Murtherer and no Murtherer hath everlasting life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3.15 Tho' they be Ignorant or Err in divers useful Truths and be Zealous for their Errours Tho' they Practice divers things in their Lives and in the Worship of God which they ought not Tho' they impose their Errours and Practices on others as necessary to Communion with them Tho' they Vex Fine Imprison Banish and use Cruelties against those that differ from them Tho' they say those that joyn not with them are no true Churches nor can be Saved And much more those that own others for true Christians and Churches and Persecute them not tho' they dare not hold Communion with them when they might and ought For many of these tho' they sin and many of them very greatly may not be in a state of Damnation for they may do such things ignorantly through Custom Weakness or Temptation and may have in their Hearts true Faith in Jesus Christ and Love to him and his Saints and be saved by a General Repentance The Lutherans generally will not joyn with the Calvinists nor our Conformists with the sober Dissenters nor the Anabaptists with either and who dare say that all of those are in a state of Damnation Thus we see what need all sorts of Christians have of this Charitable but true Principle and they especially that are so forward to impose upon others and exclaim against them and Fine Trouble and Punish them too But though some of these may be Saved it highly concerns such to look well to themselves that they be of that number and not like those Jews of old that strove to make the Scriptures serve their Gain and Ambition Grotius on Mat. 21.38 thereby killing the Heir that they might be Great and Rule the People 9. Ninthly Hence it plainly follows that this is the only true way to build up the Church of God Not for People to Conform to all things in the places where they shall live nor to require all to agree to all things taught by Christ or invented by Men and root out all that comply not nor to make forms of Agreement in such words as several Parties keeping their Opinions may agree in as Melancthon Bucer and others in the beginning of the Reformation did but plainly to lay down the great Things of the Gospel wherein we agree omitting other things wherein we differ and bearing with each other and mutually loving and assisting each other These Large and Sure Foundations will certainly lead us to this and all that can be said against it is but the effect of Prejudice or Interest The Lutherans and Calvinists by this means might have United and a miserable Breach have been prevented 'T is not so small a thing we aim at as an Union between the Presbyterians and Congregational for wherein almost do they differ Nor only with the Godly Episcopal Men at home but with all every where that build on the true Foundation and hold nothing that overthrows it as gross Idolatry and damnable Heresies do To approve what is good in all and to cleave to what we judge best To Communicate with others at least sometimes and if we cannot do that yet to love them as the Servants of Christ and seek their good What mischiefs have been in the