the best and most warrantable Notion we can have of the Gospel That it is a form of Government which Christ hath left to the World for those that would be of his Church and People That by agreement of submission to those Rules prescribed a Company of faithful Professors might perfectly joyn themselves together into a comfortable Society and Communion For Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature given to Society fitted by nature and by his ingenious disposition is inclined to it Now every Company or Society which is necessary for the well-being of Man must for that end have a frame of Polity a model of Government from just Laws deliberately agreed upon and wisely constituted and set over it And these things which are in every wise Government are eminently conspicuous in the Gospel which is undoubtedly the best frame of Government in the World So were those Inspired Authors perswaded that wrote the Canonical Epistles to the several Churches after Christs Ascension and 't is clearly apparent in that profound Epistle written to the Hebrews at Jerusalem For at that time when that Epistle was written there were two famous Governments that stood in Competition for precedence in that place The Old Law or Jewish Polity delivered by Moses to the Israelites and the New Law which is the Gospel given by Christ unto Believers And our Holy Author in that Epistle makes it his business to prove That the Gospel delivered by Christ was justly to be preferred before the Law delivered by Moses and that as Christ so did his Gospel in all things deserve the preheminence The Church then is a Society of the Faithful and the Gospel is to be looked upon as the model of Government which Christ left his Church Every Believer then must not only look on the Priviledges and Mercies promised and exhibited in the Gospel as the ground of his confidence but on the Laws enjoyned in the Gospel as just and wise Rules directive of his obedience And we cannot but observe that the Promises of the Gospel are not absolute but conditional upon our Faith and Obedience to the Rules prescribed if we love him and keep his Commandments Which till we do heed and observe we will be too favourable to the spawn of the Gnosticks those Libertines that multiply and thrive in the midst of us who looking on the Gospel as a Promise of Merey and not as a Rule of Duty turn the Grace of God into wantonness and continue in sin securcly because Grace abounds which God forbid When Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey the Gospel Heb. 5.9 And they that walk according to this Rule they may look for that mercy and peace which is promised to the Israel of God Gal. 6. So the Will of God under this last dispensation manifested and published by Christ and his Apostles is that which we understand by the Gospel Now of things thus manifested some are supernatural great mysteries of Godliness that Angels desred to peep into those perspicacious intelligences were glad to behold Things the Wise men of this World did not know flesh and blood could not discover but contrived they were by the manifold wisdom of God and published of his infinite goodness by his Son who hath kept nothing secret of the Counsel of his Will but hath declared what is necessary for us and our Salvation And unto these Objects Supernatural we are to make our application by Faith and Hope And from the Objects I suppose our applying our selves by believing and relying on them are called and accounted supernatural also Although certainly we have reason enough to assent to these things as true and rely on them and rejoyce in them as good which our gracious God who is truth and cannot lye of infallible veracity hath clearly manifested by his Son and his immense goodness inclined him to reveal by him what he saw was necessary for our Salvation and we are to apply our selves in reason to them accordingly But some things are Natural such as by disquisition of Reason may be discerned and concluded as That God the first infinite Being is a Spirit that he is but One and to be worshipped c. That our Neighbour is to be loved edified comforted and what we would that others c. And Christ came not to destroy this Law but to fulfil it These Rules Natural and Rational are afresh established by Christ in his last dispensation and by a new publication revived for Morality and mens comfortable Conversations These are reasonably called the Rules of the Gospel Now the Gospel as well as our Treatise respects not only single persons but Societies and several directions are given by Christ and his Apostles for ordering mens Conversations in Societies for publick good To shew that Governours by these Rules must be appointed over Societies is the next considerable SECT III. 3. NO sooner could Mankind multiply unto that number that might admit of Society or Communion but had they continued in a state of Innocence Superiority and Inferiority Dominion and Subjection would have been found amongst them Adam the first Father of all Mankind from priority of Nature and Existence from power wisdom and experience that was eminently in him from the protection his Posterity had from him and their dependance upon him had been absolute Monarch Ruler and Judge over all that descended from him And with this Authority of Rule Cain was invested when Abels desires were to be towards him and Cain was to Rule over him And when in every Family there is a Guide one Father one Master to be honoured and obeyed That in many Families united in Society there should be one supream Moderator to Rule is natural and necessary And that cannot be unlawful among Men on Earth which God hath revealed to be among the Angels in Heaven where there are Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions The highest in the Order ruling subordinately under God without Tyrannical insulting and the lowest Subject without murmuring or opposing Regere Regi necessarium est To Govern and be Governed is necessary and natural Neither beauty nor being of this Glorious Universe could subsist or continue without Order unless some part did Rule and some Obey unless one were Chief to Command others that belong to it Consider that the God of Nature hath thus ordered every thing In our Bodies One head over the members In our Souls One understanding over the other faculties In the visible Heavens One Sun in the Firmament over all the Stars Over the whole systeme of Creatures Heaven and Earth visible and invisible One GOD ruleth over all And if no Superiority were setled over a Company associated by Heirship or Descent of necessity there must be Rulers elected and Judges appointed to determine Controversies and preserve Peace without which the happiness and welfare of the Society could never be promoted For if every mans Opinion or Will were suffered arbitrarily
of humane actions his Spirit he inquires searcheth discerneth judgeth and elects fit and suitable Means directly tending to that ultimate End viz. his content and acquiescency unto which he aspires and inclines So the Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord set up in his Superiour part to direct Mans goings in the night of this World and to guide his feet in the way of peace So upon discursive Reasoning to choose and approve of the most plain way and most direct means to conduct him to his designed end of content must be granted to be the Nature of Man And the Laws of Mens Natures are the results and last conclusions of the Spirits practical Reasoning The dictates of the Intellective part prudentially limiting directing and ordering mans Actions as they most probably move in a streight tendency to their ultimate End are the Laws of Nature in Men. Now Man is to consider himself in a double respect privately singly or distinct from company and rationally is to mind his actions for his particular peace or publickly as interessed in humane Society and to order things rationally for its general good For internal secret Actions that tend to every single mans particular content a mans own Reason may be supream Judge and give Laws and Rules for his direction In such cases we allow every man the judgment of his own Discretion But for open and external Action in our Conversations as relating to Society for regulating them every man is not a competent Judge That 's Natural Quod convenit cum natura sociali rationali It 's natural for Man related to a Society to submit to the just determinations of his Governours whose wisdom knows to order what is best and most conducing to Publick peace which by reason in this last Circumstance he is bound to preserve and maintain And yet then also private Men move naturally in a direct tendency to their own particular happiness when they discharge those duties of Charity and Kindness that preserve peace to their Neighbours to which they are obliged and they by it create a content and delight in their own Spirits which naturally must be satisfied They erre dangerously that think and say That because they have a Law from their Reason within their selves for their own private and secret Opinions that their own Reason may give directions for publick Actions that concern their Neighbours The Laws therefore of Mans nature that direct mens external Actions to promote the peace and welfare of Humane society are not Mens private particular Judgments but Governours sober and deliberate determinations For if every Mans particular Judgment were his natural Law in Publick Concerns what could be expected but from different and contrary Judgments there would be different and contrary Affections and Actions a renting into Divisions and Dissensions and an irreparable breach there would be of peace which is the main end of Government and Society So that if Subjects will move naturally and rationally in a setled Society they are to account the just and sober Constitutions of their wise Governours to be the Laws of their Natures to direct them for Peace to which they are bound naturally to conform Just Constitutions I say For neither power greatness nor multitude countenancing or maintaining disordered Actions can make them natural to men but only their consonancy to Reason and tendency to a good End And so it is not what hath been done or what is generally done through sense passion or custome but what ought may and hath been done upon sober deliberate Reason is to be accounted natural to man And if we consider we must acknowledge that very oft prejudice education passion custome and interest hath perverted the Reason of Governours but these things ought not to be thrown as a reproach upon Humane Nature He saies true that saies Hony is sweet though sick men think it not so It is not to be reputed the Nature of men but corruption of Nature when numbers of men choose or determine any thing impious or unjust It is not Humane Reason but the depravation of it that dictates and concludes practically of any thing that is filthy or dishonest For they act not rationally that erect not proper means nor humanely that fix not in a right end that is the publick good of the Community in which they are interessed and concerned From our paper Hectors and whifflers for Humane Reason although I hear much of the noise I can see very little of the thing in them For not aiming at the end of Society they cease to be humane and not choosing the Means and Rules to the End which is the right ordering of publick Actions they cease to be rational and prudential So the dictates and conclusions of the sober discursive Reason of Governours deliberately directing and choosing fit means to compass the designed End of Societies peace and full content are to be concluded the Laws of Mens Nature in relation to their Societies by Governours to be established and by Subjects naturally to be submitted unto And thus also we must determine if we will considerately be directed by the Rules of the Gospel SECT II. 2. GOD who made Man of his free Grace the perfectest of all visible Creatures and capable of greater Happiness hath given him greater endowment and ability by which that Happiness might be attainable And therefore hath ordered and placed the Intellective faculty as the Sun in the heavenly part of that Microcosme by whose clear dictates as so many radiant emanations of light Man may walk safely and guide himself But by the unlucky interposition of Earthly delight Sense Passion or Custome this glorious Light of Heaven from time to time hath suffered Eclipses and Men too frequently like Beasts in a Wilderness have wandred out of the Way and have found no full content to rest in But evident it is Our Gracious God who knew not to take off utterly his Loving kindness from man nor suffered his Care of him to fail out of a tender regard to his safety hath at sundry times and in divers manners given Men the light of his Word and hath openly from time to time declared That he would have Man come to the knowledge of Truth and be saved And therefore he who out of his great love spake to our Fathers by his Prophets hath in these last daies spoken to us by his Son whom he sent from his bosom to reveal this good Will of his to transform Mankind by renewing the Spirits of their minds while they approved the good and acceptable Will of God and this is rightly called the Gospel of Jesus Christ So the Will of God in this last dispensation revealed and published by Christ and his Apostles is that which we understand by the Gospel and this is no more than the good News of a possible Happiness for Man and the Rules to be observed by which that Happiness is attainable Now this I humbly conceive is
be Publick so must it be 2. Vniversal The Father naturally cares for the welfare of every Child Gods Providence is over all his Creatures for their good And it is the care of his Deputies to provide for the welfare and happiness of all their Subjects Now if Religion be the only thing that can make men happy as it is proved the Governour cannot compass his End which is to procure the happiness of his Subjects but by enjoyning the Exercise of Religion to be Universal CHAP. IV. Our Governours of our Church of England have done well to injoyn every Believing Subject an open Profession of his Faith in his respective Congregation The particulars incident to this Head are Four I. We are to consider and agree what FAITH is II. That of that Faith there ought to be Profession III. That Profession ought to be made by every Believer IV. This is to be done in respective Congregations SECT I. 1. OUr Governours are not only as Gods Deputies under the Law of Nature to injoyn their Subjects the Care of Religion but as Deputies of Christ under a more perfect Law revealed by him in this last dispensation to injoyn their Subjects the right Exercise of true Religion prescribed in the Gospel which he published to fulfil the Law of Nature that man might come to that Happiness for which he was created and designed And this I understand to be the most proper Notion of Faith viz. The true Religion well ordered and rightly modified by Gospel Rules by the right Exercise whereof we worship and serve God acceptably so that whatsoever is not of Faith is sin and without Faith it is impossible to please God For being Baptized into the obedience of the Gospel of which obedience Baptism represents our Profession we ought to have a firm Perswasion of the goodness and reasonableness not only of the Duties in the Gospel prescribed but of our conformity to those Prescriptions for the carrying on that true and undefiled Religion wherewith God is well pleased So that Faith is the Gospel grace that teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live holily righteously and soberly in this present world And Believing is a comprehensive Duty and signifies not only a tacit assent to Evangelical Rules as true and warrantable as a barren act of the Understanding but a firm election and perswasion of these Rules as good and comfortable and implies a firm purposing and resolving of a total Gospel Obedience I heartily pity and bewail the differences and distances that are to be seen among Professed Believers in this Nation and upon serious Consideration I fully perswade my self there is nothing contributes more to the being and continuance of our Division than a general rashness and injudiciousness When men run away with some sudden partial Notions and slight Apprehensions of things of great necessity and deserved esteem in the World and do not seriously and discursively make a right Judgment and agree of the full sense and meaning of them as they import To instance in some few particulars which is easie for any to observe The Gospel most say they highly esteem and yet we cannot but observe that most snatch and run away with it as a promise of Mercy but never regard it as a rule of Duty and direction of an holy life The two Sacraments are Seals of the Covenant betwixt God and us and most men are very heedful at Receiving them that God may seal to them Remission of sins and never regard that at the same time they covenant under Seal to yield Obedience to God The Blood of Christ is precious and its shedding to be had in everlasting remembrance but when most men most solemnly remember it this Consideration contents them That Christs Blood was shed for our Redemption for remission of sins to reconcile God to man c. When we should think how this Blood-shedding was That men might be reconciled to God and be redeemed from an unclean conversation and by this sprinkling be sanctified and purged from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.13 14. Graces and gifts of the Spirit we justly value and admire but is it not too apparent men are taken up with gifts of Edification and pass by gifts and true grace of Sanctification so that if a man be but ready in a Scripture phrase hath gotten a voluble Tongue a round expression c. he gets the name and repute of a Saint immediately But the exercise of Piety and Charity which are the certain evidences of true Sanctity These things stand by neglected and despised I might instance in several things that we frame the same Consideration of If we give God but a piece of a Duty we think a maimed and imperfect sacrifice will content him and expiate and satisfie him and excuse all our defects and enormities and with gross mistakes we see evidently men delude and deceive themselves in this untoward generation And although in many things our mistakes of these sorts hasten our irreligious miscarriages yet in nothing are they more manifest than in the nature of Faith From all Christians that make any profession of the true Religion we shall hear these pretences That they live by Faith walk by Faith are justified by Faith are saved by Faith c. And yet for all this noise we hear of these things we can see but few that make a true judgment or have a right understanding of the full meaning of the real Faith in Christ or Faith of the Gospel It s undeniably true that without believing that supernatural Truth of Christs Merits for our pardon and remission of sins there can be no peace for men but they must die and consume in the guilt of their Transgressions It is certainly true that Christ our High Priest put away sins by the sacrifice of himself but when Christ our designed Mediatour was King and Prophet as well as Priest It is not barely a fruitless relying or a lazy recumbency on Christs Merits as our Priest only but our believing his Laws and Directions he left his Church as a King the observing his Counsels and Injunctions he gave as a Prophet is necessary to make up that Faith which will bring us to the end of our Hope which is the salvation of our souls It 's undeniably true that in the Gospel are given exceeding great and precious Promises of Mercies and Salvation upon which God hath caused â—he to hope yet when these Promises are not absolute but conditional upon our conformity to those Rules of Duty that are prescribed unless we be carried on to the practice of those things required that pertain to life and godliness we cannot be rationally concluded to have that Faith in the Gospel in us which will certainly bring us to that happiness which we openly design and expect And upon a serious inquiry we cannot conclude any of the Theological Graces to be truly infused into any man unless they discover
themselves by their operations Love is practical and works where seated a care of keeping Commandements Hope is purifying He that hath hope of heaven is heavenly and purifieth himself as God is pure And Faith it self works by Love and Love by Obedience This then is that precious Faith we should contend for as becometh Saints In this we should strive to continue in grounded and setled and not be moved away from the Hope of the Gospel All these things are premised that the Reader may easily conclude what we plainly understand by that Faith which the Ruler hath religiously injoyned and the Subject is bound willingly to maintain namely a sincere and a firm purpose of mind of adhering and conforming to the Rules of the Gospel by a total Obedience He that Believes thus shall not be ashamed when Faith makes him have respect to all Evangelical Commandments SECT II. Of this Faith there must be Profession NAturally we are to look of our selves as related to Society so that of our internal Piety there must be an external signification intending not only Gods glory by setling our private Peace but by promoting our Neighbours good and edification So that as care must be had by us of Religion so of its Exercise and as of Faith so of Profession of Faith And this is required by the Gospel evidently when it is injoyn'd That Christ be confessed before men that all that by Baptism are consecrated to the obedience of the Gospel hold fast the Profession of their faith without wavering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes rendered Confession sometimes Profession in that they agree either of them it is frankly and openly to declare what we hold in matters of Religion to justifie and bear witness to any Truth of the Gospel be they either supernatural or natural Priviledges or Mercies promised or Services or Duties injoyn'd yea the offering the sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our Lips is explained by an Holy Author to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.15 a giving thanks or confessing to his Name Profession of Faith we understand to be a voluntary and open declaring amidst the Society in which incorporated of our free and full consent in believing the Gospel not only the Mercies promised but Duties injoyn'd and that we assent to them all not only as true and infallible but also as good and comfortable and a declaring of our desires study and care to observe them accordingly An express signifying of Profession of Faith is a declaring of our resolution of Evangelical Obedience our assenting and adhering to the right Exercise of true Religion as prescribed in the Gospel The work of Faith and Religion is not wholly to be done within but many externals are necessary and essential for constituting a visible Church she is to be a light upon an Hill Every Believer is to shine as lights in the World in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation and that can only discern Externals Therefore the Believers outward carriage and deportment and converse must be so ordered like lights to the inlightning and warming the blind and benummed World Outwardly we are to manage our selves as we may direct strengthen and comfort our Neighbour Poverty of spirit hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Purity of heart c. These are Duties of the first rank and primarily to be taken care of to present our selves so as to be approved by our God These ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone For there be many external Duties necessary for Communion amidst the society of the Faithful that must not be omitted and refused as Preaching and hearing the Word Administring and receiving the Sacraments meeting and assembling together in those Assemblies mutual exhortations and provocation to good Works confession of Sins of Thanks declared resolutions as well as desires of Holiness and other Duties all comprehended in profession of Faith These are all External yea are all Gospel Duties and have been and will be used in the Church of Christ Thus the Church of God among the Jews that met at the Ark and Temple in Jerusalem The Tribes went up for the Testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord and these were External Thus the Church of Christ united under the faith of the Gospel had their Praying preaching the new Law singing of Hymns while Christ continued on Earth amongst them And when gone up to Heaven they continued in Assembling and breaking of Bread and Prayers They had their Liturgies and publick Administrations not only in works of Charity but works of Piety They had their sacrifices of Praise the fruit of their lips and giving thanks to the Name of the Lord. They had their prophesying at Church at Corinth and what was to be done by the Church on Earth They had Visions of the Examples to lead them from the Angels both in Earth and Heaven Neither can a visible Church or Society think to be continued without open profession and declaration And in the Gospel They that worshipped God in their spirits were ready to bow their knees to him They that knew God made their acknowledgment They that believed in their heart for their Righteousness made confession with their mouths to help on their own and others salvation Thus by Presidents of Saints on Earth and Angels in Heaven the Gospel of Christ doth lead his Church as the Law of Nature directs it not only to Religion but its exercise nor the Gospel only to Faith but the profession of Faith that every Member united to that visible Society of Believers must hold the profession of his Faith without wavering And there 's the next particular The injunction of what both Nature and the Gospel directs us unto is not unlawful but necessary and both require that of our Faith we should make Profession and it is very good that Rulers from their Subjects require the same SECT III. Every particular Believing Subject ought to be injoyn'd to this open profession of Faith PRofession of Faith is an essential of the visible Church and none can be concluded in the Judgment of men of the visible Church that doth not make profession of Faith The visible Church is not a Company but a Society and what makes the Society a Church is profession of Faith Every one is to evidence himself of this Society if he will claim right to the Priviledges of a Society he must perform the offices and duties and be diligent in the Ministration of the Society A Minister may gather a Company but he cannot gather a Church nor make them to be so by his own single confession Every man that will approve himself of the Church must not only give a tacit but an express consent by an open Profession This is necessary for constituting every man in Church-membership and this is rationally required and injoyn'd of Christian Governours to their Believing Subjects for
and the most certain expectation of those full joyes that are to come Thus we most please our selves and we best satisfie our Neighbours in whatsoever Relation he respects us in the practice of Holiness which directly tends to true Happiness Our Father the Magistrate the Minister our Equals are all solicitous to know and be assured of our pious and holy inclinations and when they can perceive they have not watched over us nor laboured in vain they are most delighted and best pleased Now our Relations are not to be satisfied in the state we are in with probable conjectures of our meanings and intentions but they must have clear and significant expression of our minds and intendments either by words or actions A sullen silence cannot content us in our Contracts but we must have sensible assurance of our mutual assent or refusal In our Secular Trafficks and Commerces we cannot carry on our Bargains but by external signification And as in Temporal so in Spiritual Covenants there is a necessity of these things when no communion can be held without them We cannot be mutually pleased with mutual assurances of our purposes to stand firm to the Faith of the Gospel without an open declaration unless every one hold forth the profession of his Faith without wavering There can be no contenting assurance of any persons continuing a Member of a visible Church without profession of Faith in Service or Sacrament Hearing the Word preach'd only is no sufficient evidence I am in charity to believe the Minister to be a good man because he signifies his pious intentions by Religious expressions But I cannot in reason conclude the Hearer so long as he saies nothing If People wanted nothing but Knowledge Conversion or Faith if ignorant or unconverted I could excuse this boulimy among us and it were far more tolerable that people mind only Sermons But when People are knowing and converted baptized and ingaged in Profession certainly it were more truly Religious to spend some time in doing as well as hearing to shew they have not heard in vain but that they have got this Faith they so greedily heard for by holding forth the profession of it c. By Hearing constantly I in charity conclude thou desirest to be good thou wouldst get Faith but if Hearing is all how can I without rashness judge that thou art good or hast got Faith which is not evident to me without thy Profession It is a painted no real Fire that hath neither light nor heat It is a Stock a Log not a living Tree that hath neither leaves nor fruit It is a Carkass not a living Body that hath neither words nor motion It is Presumption and no living Faith that is not signified by Profession And now with all meekness I beseech those that separate from us seriously to consider this undoubted Truth That the visible certain sign of any Companies or Persons being indeed of the Catholick Church that is Militant is the Peoples Confession of Faith in Service and Sacraments Since therefore Profession of Faith is of such necessity and hath so great an influence to please both our selves and others and is a duty and service by Gospel Rules incumbent to every Christian we may truly conclude That the Christian Magistrate may and ought to injoyn an open Profession of Faith to each believing Subject in his respective Congregation SECT IV. Every one is to make profession of his Faith and the best time and place to do it in are in respective Congregations and the Magistrate is to injoyn every one c. 4. THat there should be meeting and assembling of Congregations must be adjudged expedient and necessary for the imparting and promoting what is good and comfortable and the preventing or removing of what is hurtful or inconvenient which things cannot be hoped for or compassed by Singularity or Separation And that this is confessed is evident from the general practice of all Cities and Nations that professed any Religion were it true or false and by the practice of ordinary Men without any respect to Religion who agree to meet in Markets Fairs Exchanges Walks for Temporal ends above-said And if general Meetings be rationally concluded to be necessary for imparting things Temporal then they must be concluded also natural and necessary for imparting things Spiritual And for any one wilfully and perversly to decline these Meetings lawfully appointed must be a sin being prohibited by the Gospel when the Hebrews are commanded not to forsake the Assembling of themselves together as the manner of some is Heb. 10.25 because such Meetings are appointed and designed to advance the exercise of Piety and Religion Such Congregations of Believers as respect the Worship and Service of God are the Congregations we mean and the Believer is to discharge his duty of Profession in the midst of them God Nature and Grace doth not delight to do any thing in vain and all voluntary Agents freeliest exert their kindly operations upon such Objects as may be influenttal upon them for good and are in capacity to receive the said Operations Confession of Faith is not expected when not called to it to be made to Persecutors or Infidels that are professed enemies of the Gospel where there is more probability of their Rage than Conversion and where there is no hope of advancing Gods glory or our Neighbours good where there is less hope of dying a Martyr than danger of being a Manslayer where he may seem to conspire with the Persecutors to take away his own life Mat. 7.6 By Christs own direction we are not to cast holy things to dogs nor pearls to swine least they trample them under foot and turn again and rent you But holy things are properly tendred to holy Men. Our delight to communicate these should be chiefly to the Saints of the Earth and such as pretend at least a desire to excel in vertue yea where we may act with safety to our selves and probably with benefit to others there Confession of Faith is best made and that if among a Congregation of Believers And for any that stupidly or sottishly sit at home soaking and smoaking in their Chimney Corners securely indulging the sensual part and never regard but slight the opportunities of Meetings conveniently and communicating of holy apprehensions and affections for their own and Neighbours comfort We must look upon them as an unnatural sort of Men and the most lazy kind of the beasts of the people who industriously study to be useless and to neglect their own and the general good of the Neighbourhood which they are obliged to further and maintain And if they have sharp goads and lashes to prick them or quicken them vigorously to move under that yoke to which they are naturally bound it is no more than what is just and reasonable for the good and welfare of the Community which every particular Officer and Ruler are concerned to promote and advance For Time and Place
Church of Christ from an unalterable Rule are of an unchangeable Judgment They are not like Children tossed up and down with every breath nor carried about with diverse and strange Doctrines but the God of hope as he hath filled them with all joy so with all peace and unity in believing That they continue stedfast in the same Faith are perfectly joyned together in the same Judgment and amidst Society of Believers there is but one Spirit one Conscience The Head and perfection of a Rational Creatures Vnity must be in Judgment Beasts may agree in Affection only Men can agree in Judgment And Judgment Faith and Conscience of which there is a noise in the World are but little different All the result of the Souls Reasoning the deliberate conclusion and agreement of her Counsel from a certain Rule and infallible A respect of the Rational Creature to the Rules of the Gospel not only as true and warrantable but as good and acceptable and a serious purpose and resolution to conform to those Rules accordingly Of which Rules some are supernatural and revealed others are natural some positive but being injoyned by Christ they are eternal universal indispensable and binding to the Catholick Church of Christ But some Rules are particular given by Christian Rulers to their particular National Churches to whose wisdom Christ hath left the ordering and injoyning of some Canons not unlawful for setling Peace And be the Canons either concerning Words or Actions since they are accomodately fitted to the custome and apprehensions of the People and are significant expressions of the Subjects unity of Judgment and Faith They are binding to believing Subjects for the Lords sake So that as in the Catholick Church for the General Rules so in particular Churches for particular Commands where lawfully fixed and unrepealed the Believing Subjects are to be of the same Faith of the same Judgment And where difference of Faith or Judgments are in the same constituted Church impossible it is there should be Vnity of Affection impossible it is the Souldiers and Servants should be in peace and Vnity where Captains and Leaders are at variance and dissension Liberty or pretence of Conscience in a constituted Church can never be plea sufficient to justifie two differing Believers in differing and contrary undertakings If one of those undertakings be warrantable the others must be unlawful and unwarrantable There is but one Conscience one Faith in this case can be justifiable as certain as there is but one Rule and but one Truth And when two differing Believers in differing and contrary Actions can have but one true and justifiable Rule There cannot be in contrary Actions any more than one right Faith or justifiable Conscience And Conscience is Concludens scientia a deliberate Conclusion and setled Judgment a fixed Determination of the Intellective part from a certain infallible Rule from which we infer assume and apply to our selves the morality of our Actions and determine of the subsequent issue accordingly So that two things are required to make up a Conscience 1. A deliberate Determination or Conclusion 2. A certain Rule from whence we infer the morality of our Actions 1. There must be a deliberate Determination in what may be called Conscience so no Example or practice of the most retired mortified man can be a Rule for thy Conscience The most devout of men are no Lords of our Faith who at the best are but Helpers of our joy Infallibility is not to be granted to any particular man which is not granted to any particular Church of Christ Neither can Conscience be made up soundly from the practice of a fallible man but from the law of Nature and Rules of an Infallible God So that it is not to be called Conscience that is grounded on the Examples of godly Religious men without thy own Deliberation Nor is that Conscience that hath only former Resolutions for its Rule for wilful obstinacy timaciousness of purpose cannot be a part of Conscience which is not in the Appetitive part at all Nor can Humor Animosity a sudden precipitate ingaging be justified by plea of Conscience when there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conscience cannot be without Deliberation neither can Deliberation without applying or determination be called Conscience For while the Vnderstanding is fluctuating questioning and inquiring it may be in tendency to it it is not yet to be called Conscience And here again they seem as far from Reason in their expressions as from Obedience in their actions that call out for liberty of Conscience May not my Conscience be free And they would make the doubting Reason against the undoubtedly lawful Command of the Superiour in things indifferent to be the weak tender Conscience But where liberty or doubting is there can be no determination of the thing doubted and where no determination there can be no Conscience 2. That cannot be called Conscience that grounds not its Determination upon a certain Rule When Conscience is but a Witness to a Rule at the best a subordinate Rule neither can it be an absolute Law which must be determined by a Law without which it may be Humor Animosity Fancy or Opinion whatever it is surely it cannot rightly be called Conscience And since Conscience cannot be without a Rule and when the Rules of Nature and the Gospel do not interfere and are not contrary there cannot be two different or contrary Consciences that can be both good of any professed Believers in a constituted Church wheresoever Over the General Church of Christ there be Rules Natural and Necessary whose morality is determined and some Rules Positive and Arbitrary that are eternally and universally binding to all Believers to the end of the World In all these Gospel Rules there can be but one Conscience in all Believers undoubtedly And in every particular Church somethings are to be determined for Peace sake by the wisdom of Governours as time and place words and gestures c. in the service and worship of God Now in a Constituted Church where these things are determined I deliberately declare in this Subjects submission and the others refusal there can be but one Conscience For when indifferent things are determined by wise and good Rulers most conducing to convenience and peace the Rule upon such determination is for every Believing Subject to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake Now when no Conscience can be without a Rule since I have a Rule for my Submission and thou canst shew no Rule thou hast for thy Refusal certainly it must be concluded I have a Conscience in my willing subjection but thou canst have no Conscience in thy wilful omission and opposition And being there is but one Rule that is good and warrantable in all positive things there can be to speak properly in such things but one Conscience For Resolutions if without yea much more if against a Rule cannot be called Conscience And Conscience which is 〈◊〉
direction Timothy was to hold fast the form of sound words at his Church at Ephesus that as there is but one Faith so in Believing Congregations there might be but one Confession And this not only evinced from Scripture and Reason as expedient but from the Apostles practice who having received the promise of the Father and power from on high at Jerusalem they agreed on one summary Rule for their own Teaching and the Peoples believing a compendious sum of Evangelical Doctrines exquisitely composed which is delivered to us by Tradition from Antiquity and generally received under the Name of the Apostles Creed In which Confession the intelligent Believer not only makes an acknowledgment of his assent to Promises of Mercy to be rely'd upon but to the reasonableness of Duties of Obedience that are injoyned by the Gospel to be practiced and makes open profession of Communion of Saints which must be maintained by the practice of Holiness and comprehend all the duties of Christianity that are required And this compendious Confession of Faith by repeating this set Form prescribed by the Apostles hath been used by the People as well as the Minister by which they openly declared their unfeigned Assent to what they did believe and their stedfast Resolution of what they would do in every Congregation that would be reputed of the Church of Christ And if it be lawful and expedient to have set Forms for Confession of Faith it cannot be unlawful and unfitting to have set Forms for the exercise of Devotion It cannot be a reproach but a duty to have our Spirits thus stinted when the Spirit of Grace limits himself in the Rules of Holiness and hath the denomination of Holy from this limitation And if new sorts of Words and variety of Expressions must be used in praying as some wildly fancy I wonder St. Paul in all his Epistles in the beginning should use the same Salutation and in the end should use the same Valediction and that Christ in his Agony who wanted neither expression or fervency should pray thrice together the same words At Antioch that the Christians there in their Congregation had their Liturgy At Corinth that the People were all Prophesying At Jerusalem that in their Religious Assemblies they were to hold fast the profession of their Faith without wavering is so evident as doubtless it can need no further illustration And if set Form of Words were unlawful in Gods service certainly the multitude of Angels would never have been represented unto us as agreeing in one Anthem on Earth nor they above in the same doxology in Heaven And if the Examples of Saints and Angels may lead us rightly if Nature God and Christ and his Apostles may direct us safely we must conclude That Vniformity of Words is not only lawful but expedient in the exercise of Godliness 3. I shall prove Vniformity of Words necessary and expedient by Reason 1. And Reason it self will tell us if we have not abjured it that Vniformity in Words is necessary and conducing to the practice of Godliness for take this away and see what giddiness and distractedness must necessarily ensue in every Assembly Without agreement in these things to terminate and bound both our Thoughts and Words how improbable is it that most men should be secured from inconsiderate wandrings and unwarrantable expressions But being confined to words of Faith and Devotion we call home our Thoughts to consider what these import and signifie that are injoyned and prescribed us and reverently we worship God and pray to him and confess to his Name And our wilful Opposers give Testimony to this Truth by their practice that set Ferms must be prescribed to the People When the best gifted Brother is appointed and agreed on to put up Prayers which are set Forms to the whole Congregation and it is not to be denied but every Member that is truly Religious secretly doth concur with such Prayers and limit their Thoughts to what is signified by such Expressions Weak Creatures never considering that they split upon that Rock which they pretend studiously to avoid while they voluntarily enslave themselves and stint their spirits and thoughts to conform to the sudden wild effusions and oft unwarrantable expressions of their idolized Teacher and dare not spoil their Liberty to submit unto and concur with the deliberate Forms and Prescriptions of their sober Governours and Rulers which will undoubtedly guide and lead them to the right exercise of true Religion that tends to peace Poor inconsiderate People they know not what to do for it is not a set Form they hate which they may see they cannot avoid but a spirit of Contradiction they love while they oppose the warrantable directions of their Religious Leaders and willingly suffer themselves to be captivated by wild ungovern'd Enthusiasts and run headlong into an inexcusable sin of a wilful Disobedience But if any can think set Forms to be unlawful and will be tied to none but avoid them then must every pretended Saint bring a distinct Prayer and Psalm to be poured out by himself in their several Congregations And it must necessarily follow when every one is singing a several Psalm in their Congregation it must happen what St. Paul saith was at Corinth when they all spake with several Tongues a Stranger coming in must in reason conclude that there was madness in the midst of them Thus in Reason we must determine to terminate and bound the Thoughts and Considerations of them that would be truly Religious there ought to be set Forms of Words agreed upon and prescribed in Believing Congregations 2. That is best to be used that will most heighten our Devotion and Intention in our Religious addresses to God for how shall I hope that God should intend me if I do not intend my own Petitions And I am verily perswaded Prayer without Devotion is like a Body without a Soul it is dead and ineffectual Now this I do deliberately affirm and maintain That premeditated and set Forms of Prayer must heighten any mans Devotion and Intention I desire such as obstinately oppose premeditated and composed Forms to consider that in this they contend only for freedom of Words And have Words any power or influence over God Can we imagine that God is taken with variety or shift of Phrases Words or loeutions are for mans necessity not Gods information They are of no necessity to make our hearts known to him who understand what we need before we ask him and our Thoughts afar off And it is the affections of our Hearts not the expression of our Mouths that make us prevail with our God What therefore may best conduce to settle our Consideration to fix our Desires and Intentions on God and good things is most lawful and most expedient to be used And this I dare say upon Reason and from Experience is best done by well-weighed Forms of set Prayers foreknown and assented unto both by Priest and People For
shewn to have been ordered to be determined and inflicted by any Rules of the Gospel nor proved that ever they were determined or executed by Christ or his Apostles especially not upon Omission or difference of any in the open profession of Faith or publick exercise of Religion And without haesitancy with as much earnestness but with more truth and reason we utterly deny all these things and doubt not but to any sober Reason we shall assert and prove the direct contrary It is confessed by all and not denied by any that I have met with That before the last dispensation Bodily and External Punishments might lawfully be agreed upon and inflicted and so they were in every Polity and Government that Sin might be restrained and Righteousness executed to preserve Peace and promote the welfare of the Society Before Christs Incarnation this is owned to have been natural and universal and according to the different heinousness of Offenders Crimes and their noxious influence so by wise Governours there hath been ordered variety and difference of Punishments The highest whereof have been Capital mortal destructory of the Body and Life which is all the Ruler can reach unto And that those have been lawfully inflicted before the Law and in the Law is acknowledged by our Adversaries themselves Now if our Opposers cannot shew where this was repealed in the Gospel I am sure I can shew where it was established For Christ came not to dissolve or destroy the Law of Nature but confirm and fulfil it and it must continue in Polities as lawful in the times of the Gospel as it was before and in the time of the Law And this Inference must follow If Capital and destructory Punishments may certainly those that are Emendatory may be determined and inflicted by Governours from the Rules of the Gospel Now that the open and obstinate may perish by the Sword of the Higher Powers who beareth it not in vain is so plain from Christs own words and the Apostles Letters as it were mispending of time to insist in a further proof or demonstration Therefore some of our Adversaries are so modest as to confess the Gospel doth permit Capital Punishments to be inflicted by Magistrates upon contumacious persons disturbing publick Charity and Peace but for things or actions that concern Piety or Religion either for Omission or Transgression the Gospel gives the Offender an Impunity and Indempnity say our Opposers in this particular but with what truth or reason let any man judge But yet it is confidently asserted That Heresie or any erronious Opinion which man can give a Reputation unto with a specious name of CONSCIENCE when it can be nothing less ought not to be punished If by Heresie they mean a secret though resolute electing or adhering to some Opinion or Perswasion contrary to some fundamental Article of Faith or some duty of Religion if they keep it secret that no man hath cognizance of it the Magistrate can neither judge it nor punish it for his Power reacheth only to external and manifest things But open publication of this defaming the Gospel or any one Article of Faith accompanied with an endeavour to gain Proselytes to his Erroneous Perswasion this may be justly censured or punished Declared Heresie and open Schisms are of dreadful consequence to disturb the Peace of the whole Society St. Paul wished and not unlawful if the Magistrate endeavour they may be cut off that trouble it For such not only disturb the Society in point of Piety but in point of Charity and Peace while they cause difference of pretended Judgment Faith Consciences upon which there must follow alienation of Affections and Contentions as hath been declared before sufficiently Now if those sins that abuse our Piety to God have as bad or worse influences for unhappy consequences as the sins that abuse Charity to our Neighbours why they should have lesser or no punishment it is beyond my narrow Reason to discover This then I positively affirm and will not doubt to maintain That Heresie or Schisme when open and declared and disturbs the Peace of the Society or any other manifest sin ought to have Punishments determined and inflicted by Magistrates by the Rules of the Gospel And I hope it will be granted what was ordered by those Rules may lawfully be ordered by the Laws of Rulers to the end of the World It is yet insisted on These things were not done by Christ or his Apostles That Christ threatned woes and destruction to the unbelieving Jews is unquestionably evident and that as he threatned them so upon their impenitence he inflicted them True indeed all the time of Christs Ministery and Humiliation he did not manifest his Regal power by inflicting Punishments but only by threatning them upon supposed Disobedience But when Ascended taking upon him to be Judge and King he punished the Rebellious and the Judgments and ruine of the Jews must be acknowledged to have come by the avenging Power of Christ As he threatned so he caused the root of the Tree to wither for its unfruitfulness For not returning Fruit when demanded of his Vineyard he pulled down the Wall thereof and it was trodden down For killing the Heir he miserably destroyed the Husbandmen Because Jerusalem would not be gathered together under the Obedience of the Gospel he caused their House to be left unto them desolate And sure it cannot be supposed unlawful if it be lone by Christian Rulers upon open and obstinate Transgressors which was evidently done by Christ himself And for the Apostles Though they were not Kings yet they had Authority to censure and punish those that were obstinately disobedient and they did exercise their Power wherewith they were intrusted to this end when their Excommunication was oft attended with Temporal Penalties to the destruction of the flesh sometimes that the Soul might be saved And who dare say It is unjust for Rulers appointed by God to do the like things for the same Reasons and End which the extraordinary Spirit of Christ given to the Apostles effected One thing yet remains to prove viz. That this was done upon Omission or Recusancy of Obedience to the Gospel And questionless so it was for Christ because the Jews would not know the time of his Visitation in mercy visits them with Judgments They rejected him and his Counsel would not receive the Gospel and therefore he ordered and brought destruction upon them And thus was it done by the Apostles also who for open sins and disobedience to Gospel Rules came not alway with spirits of Meekness but sometimes with a Rod. The obstinate Offender was ordered to be Corrected that he might be ashamed sometimes he was taken away from the Society of the Faithful and delivered to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh And why should it seem unjust for our Magistrates to order the like things when by the Rules of the Gospel by the practice of Christ and his Apostles Punishments may