points that no controversies or opinions will shake his faith or destroy his love to God or man Thirdly He will honour God by upright practise and shew forth the power and excellency of religion in the true success upon the heart and life His Religion which begins in solid faith will grow up into sincere Love and good works Fourthly He will be without partiality a Lover of all the servants of Christ and therefore escape temptations to faction and division because his Religion consisteth in those common truths and duties which all profess Fifthly he will not only safely receive all further truths from these principles but all his knowledge and disputes will be sanctified as being all subservient to faith and love and holiness Whereas he that taketh the contrary course and presently falleth to the study of by-opinions and layeth too much upon them will prove too like a superficial hypocrite and a deceiver of himself by thinking that he is something when he is nothing Gal. 6. 5 6. And he will make a pudder in the world for nothing as children do in the house about their babies and their bawbles He will make but an engine of his by-opinions to destroy true Piety and Christian Love in himself first and then in all that will believe him He will first make himself and then many others believe that Religion is nothing but proud self-conceit and faction And he will be the shame of his profession and the hardener of the wicked in their sin and misery by perswading them that the Religious are bnt a few ignorant whimsical fanaticks These are too sad experienced truths DIRECT XXXII Lay not a greater stress upon your different words or manner of prayer than God hath laid And take heed either of scorning reproaching or slighting the words and manner of other mens worship when it is such as God accepteth from the sincere IT is an easie thing to turn the native heat of Religion into a feaverish out-side zeal about words or circumstances or ceremonies whether it be for them or against them O what a wonder is it that by so palpable a trick as thâ—s the Devil should deceive so many and make such a stir and disturbance in the Church I know that one party will cry up Order the other will cry up Spirituality and both will say that God maketh not light of the smallest matters in religion nor no more must we And in this general position there is some truth But if nothing could be said for both their errours they would then be no deceits nor be capable of doing any mischief Some things that you contend about God hath left wholly undetermined and indifferent And some things in which your brother erreth his errour is so small a fault as not at all to hinder his acceptance with God nor with any man that judgeth as God doth Had you ever understood Rom. 14 15. you would have understood all this It would make a knowing Christian weep between indignation and compassion to see in these times what censures and worse are used on both sides about the wording of our prayers to God! How vile and unsufferable some account them that will pray in any words which are not written down for them And how unlawful others account it to pray in their imposed forms some because they are forms and some because they are such forms and some because that Papists have used them and some because they are imposed when God hath given them no command but to pray in faith and fervency according to the state of themselves and others and in such order as is agreeable to the matter and in such method as he hath given them a Rule and Pattern of But of all quarrels about forms and words he hath never made any of their particular determinations no more than whether I shall preach by the help of Notes or study the words or speak those which another studied for me It is a wonder how they that believe the Scriptures came first to make themselves believe that God maketh such a matter as they do of their several words and forms of prayer That he loveth only extemporary prayer as some think and hateth all prescribed forms Or that he loveth only prescribed Forms as others think and hateth all extemporary prayers by habit Certainly in Christs time both Liturgies by forms and also prayers by habit were used And yet Christ never interposed in the Controversie so as to condemn the one or the other He condemneth the Pharisees for making long prayers to cover their devouring widdows houses and for their praying to be seen of men But whether their prayers were a Liturgy and set forme or whether they were extemporary he taketh no notice as telling us that he condemned neither And it s like the Pharisees long Liturgy was in many things worse than ours though the Psalms were a great part of it And yet Christ and his Apostles oft joyned with them and never condemned them Nay as far as I can find the Pharisees and other Jews were not in this so blind and quarrelsome as we nor never made a controversie of it nor ever presumed to condemn either Liturgies or Prayers by habit I shall now pass by their errour who are utterly against publike prayers from a habit as having spoken of it at large elsewhere when I had opportunity I shall now only answer the contrary extreme Obj. Where hath God given any men power to prescribe and impose forms for others or commanded others to obey them Answ. First where ever he hath given any power to teach their inferiours to pray who cannot do it in a better way He hath given Parents this power where he hath bid them Bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Is it not by the Law of nature the Parents duty to teach their children to pray And is not the learning of the words first profitable to their learning of the sense May they not teach their Children the Lords Prayer or a Psalm though it be a Form And why not then other words which are agreeable to their State And he that taught his own Disciples a Form and Rule of Prayer and telleth us that so Iohn taught his Disciples and saith to his Apostles As my Father sent me so send I you by making them Teachers to his Church did allow them to teach either by forms or without as the cause required All the Scripture is now to Preachers a form of Teaching And when we read a Chapter we read a prescribed form of Doctrine And it haâ—h many forms of prayer and praise and forms of Baptizing administring the Lords Supper If you say that the Apostles had an infallible spirit I answer True And that proveth that that their Doctrine was more infallible than other mens but not that they only and not other men may teach by the way of forms All the Books of Sermons now written are
so many prescribed words or forms of teaching And if we may use forms of Teaching as well as the Apostles why not also forms of praying If you say that the Apostles prescribed the Church no Liturgy I answer That only proveth that no one is universally necessary nor to be universally imposed but not that therefore no use of forms of prayer are lawful May we not now use the Lords Prayer or pray in some other Scripture form Obj. But the Apostles compelled none to use them Answ. Christ and his Apostles assumed not the civil Sword and therefore so compelled men to nothing But yet their authority bound the conscience when Christ said when ye pray say Our Father c. he bound them in duty to do as he bid them though he forced them not But Secondly tell me if you can where God forbiddeth you to use good and lawful words in prayer meerly because the Magistrate or Pastor bids you use them Is this the meaning of all the Precepts of honouring and obeying your Superiors Do nothing which they bid you do though otherwise lawful O strange exposition of the Fifth Commandment If you command your Child to learn a Catechism or Form of Prayer before his meat or for other times will you teach him to say Father or Mother it had been lawful for me to use this Form if neither you nor any body had bid me But because you bid me now it is unlawful O whither will not partiality lead men Obj. But though it be lawful to impose forms on children yet not upon aged Christians Answ. Aged persons have too many of them as much need of such forms as children Age maketh not the difference We are fain to teach many aged persons forms of Catechism as well as children Why not therefore forms of prayer Obj. But it is not lawful to impose forms publikely on whole Congregations of Believers Answ. All sects in the world do it I never heard any Separatist or Anabaptist or any other publike Minister but he imposed a form of prayer upon all the Congregation He is void of common sense that thinketh that his extemporary prayer is not as truly a form to all the people as if it had been written in a book The order and words are not of your own invention but invented by another to your hand and imposed upon you to use For I hope you come together to pray and not to hear a prayer only But the difference is First that one imposeth every day a new form on you and the other imposeth every day the same Secondly And that one telleth you not what words you shall pray in before you hear them and the other writeth them down for you to know before hand For my part I wonder why written or unwritten long-premeditated or suddenly expressed prayers should be taken for unlawful But however do not think the difference to lie where it doth not For doubtless to the people they are both formes and both imposed though not imposed by the same persons and authority Obj. But at least you have no proof for imposing forms â—n the Ministers themselves Ans. First I know no man that questioneth but some form of prayer and praise were imposed by God himself on the Iewish Ministers And one was taught by Christ to his Apostles And a form of Profession of faith and of Baptism and the Lords supper is imposed on all the Ministers of the Church And Ioel 2. 17. a form of prayer is taught the Priests Secondly But we are not now pleading for the needless imposing of any forms nor the causless restraint of extemporarary prayers I have fully born my testimony against that in due season But many things are lawfully and necessarily obeyed which are not lawfully commanded as I shall shew you more anon I could heartily wish that we could say that all Ministers of any party were such as were wholly above the need of forms Or at least such whose own composures were better for for the Church than any that could be offered them by others If it were not a contradiction But all that I now expect from the Objectors is that they tell me or themselves what proof they have that it is a sin for a Minister only to use an imposed form when all the Congregation else may use it Answer this well before you go And I pray let all the people note here that it is not nor cannot be denied but that a form even a new one every day may be lawfully be imposed upon all them and that the question is only of the Ministers use of imposed forms Obj. But our Ministers do not impose their prayers by forcâ— Answ. Do you think that there is no imposition but by force Your Pastor is your guide in the worship of God and God hath imposed it on you to to follow him and joyn with him in lawful prayer And what the words shall be and what the matter and order chosen for that time time the Speaker chooseth for you And so he bindeth you by his Ministerial authority which is a true and lawful imposing though he compel you not by the sword or force Obj. But Christ hath given gifts to all his Ministers and commanded them to use them And they use them not when they use imposed formes Therefore we must not obey men against Christ. Answ. No doubt but all that are lawful Ministers have such gifts as are necessary to the essential works of their office But the degrees of their gifts have very great variety as Paul fully sheweth in 1 Cor. 12. and oft elsewhere And the necessary gift for hearty acceptable prayer is true Desire excited by the spirit of supplication which sometime venteth it self but by sighes and groans Rom. 8. 16 26. But the Ministerial gift of prayer is Knowledge and Utterance by which a Minister may be able to express the desires and wants of the people unto God which includeth memory in some degree Even as Knowledge and Utterance are his Gift of preaching And some have more Knowledge and worser Vtterance And some have better Vtterance and less Knowledge And some through want of memory are defective in both The lowest rank of lawful Ministers may be so defective in their own gifts both of Knowledge Memory and Utterance as to have need of the help of the gifts of others who much excel them As a Minister who hath tollerable Gifts for preaâ—hing may yet need the writings of other men before hand and may bring both their Matter and Method into the Pulpit yea and oft times their words so that though he have Gifts yet being weak he may use the gifâ—s of others I have been counselled since I was silenced to compose Sermons my self and give them in writing to some weak Minister that hath an excellent Voice and utterance and to let him preach them And really if I had not known that such have good books enough at hand for such a use
Church be able to prove it hath worse crimes to nullisie it than any of these had For none of these were for these faults pronounced no Churches of Iesus Christ. Secondly observe that no one Member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded 〈◊〉 come out and separate from any one of all these Churches as if their communion in worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater reasons for it than any of these recited were DIRECT VI. Understand well the different conditions and terms of Communion with the Church as invisible and as visible and the different priviledges of the Members that so you may not presume to impose any conditions which God hath not imposed nor yet to grudge at the reception of those that are not sanctified and sincere ALL Christians are agreed that it belongeth to God only to make the conditions of Church-communion and therefore it belongeth not to us to invent them nor to our wit to censure what God hath done but to search the Scripture till we find it out and then obey it This is the great controversie which hath troubled the Church When men know not who should be Members of the Church and who not and when they have no certain rule or character to know whom they must receive it is no wonder if confusion and contention be the complexion and practice of such Churches And here the Pastors have torn the Church by running into contrary extreams Some have thought that the Visible Church must be constituted only of such persons as satisfie the Pastors and the people of the truth of their sanctification by some special account of their conversion or the work of grace upon their hearts in a distincter manner than the ancient Church required of the baptized Wherein being agreed of no certain terms to know anothers sanctification by their Churches are diversified according to the measure of the strictness or largeness censoriousness or charity of the Pastors the people while one thinks that person to have true grace whom another thinks to have done And so they that will be most uncharitable do pretend to the reputation of being the most pure because they are most strict And multitudes are shut out whom Christ would have to be received his children are numbred with the dogs On the other side there is one or two of late among us who think that the Church is but Christs School where he teacheth the way to true Regeneration and not a Society of professed Regenerate ones or Saints And that all who own Christ as the Teacher of the Church and submit to the Government of the Pastors and are willing to learn how to be regenerate should be baptized though they profess not any special saving faith or repentance And their reasons are because first else all that doubt of their sincerity must lie or be kept out Secondly because that in the Church of the Jews the multitude were such as were openly ungodly And some of the Papists talk also at this rate though indeed they are themselves yet â—tterly unresolved in this point What Church soever is constituted according to either of these two opinions will not be constituted according to the mind of Christ But yet with this difference The first Opinion introduceth Church tyranny and injustice and is founded in the want of Christian charity and knowledge and tendeth to endless separations and confusions But the second opinion inferreth all these greater mischiefs First it confoundeth the Catechumens with the Christians and maketh all Christians who are but willing to learn to be Christians Secondly it maketh the Christian Church to consist of such as are no Christians As that person certainly is not who consenteth not that Christ be his Teacher Priest and King For to such a one he is no Christ seeing these are the essential parts of his Mediatory office And the new device of distinguishing Christs Apostolike and Mediatory offices so the Church congregate and the Church regenerate accordingly will not seem to difend this conceit For as Christ is not divided so his office for which he is called Christ is but One which entirely is called the office of a Saviour or Redeemer or Mediator which are all one And the essential parts of it are first his Priestly second Teaching and Ruling offices or works And this which is called his Apostleship is but the same which is called his Teaching or Prophetical Office and is a part of his Mediatory or saving Office And he is no Christian nor is that any Congregated Christian Church which professeth not to take Christ for his Mediator his Priest and King as well as for an Apostle a Prophet or Teacher Thirdly they therefore who hold the aforesaid doctrine do introduce a new sort of Christianity Fourthly and a new sort of Baptism which the Church of Christ never knew to this day And therefore they do ingenuously profess their dissent from our form or words in Baptism because we put the baptized to renounce the flesh the world and the devil and to use such covenanting words as must signifie special grace But through the great mercy of God Baptism is still the same thing in all the Christian Churches in the world the Reformed the Roman the Greek the Armenian yea and the Ethiopian too for all their seeming reiteration of it And Baptism among them all is the same now as it hath been in all Generations from Christs institution of it So that we fully maintain as well as the Romans that Christianity hath by this sacred Tradition been safely delivered down to us to this day What a Christian is and what Christianity is may be most certainly known by this which is commonly called our Christening In which the profession and covenant which maketh men Christians is so express and unchanged from age to age Therefore these men who would have our Baptism changed do speak plainly but impudently as if they were raised in the end of the world to reform the Baptism and Christianity of all ages and were not only wiser than the universal Church from Christ till now but also at last must make the Church another thing I intreat the Reader who would know the judgement of all antiquity about Baptism as supposing saving grace to read those numerous citations of Mr. Gataker in the Margin of his book against Davenant of Baptism Fifthly and by this new doctrine they destroy all that special Love which Church-members or visible Christians as such should bear to one another For if no faith or consent must necessarily be professed at Baptism but that which is common to the ungodly and children of the devil then all Church-members as only such must be taken to be but ungodly and no man must love a Church-member as such with a special love as a visible Saint but only as one of the hopefuller sort of the
your foul back-biting reviling censorious contentious tongues do not prove the contrary 13. who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisedome that is Let him that would be thought more knowing and religious than his neighbours be so much more blameless and meek to all men and excel them in good works v. 14. But if ye have a bitter zeal for so is the Greek word and strife in your hearts glory not in such a zeal or in your greater knowledge and lie not against the truth 15. This wisdome descendeth not from above as you imagine who father it on Gods word and spirit but is earthly sensual or natural and devillish O doleful mistake that the world the flesh and the Devil should prove the cause of that conceited spiritual knowledge and excellency which they thought had been the inspiration of the spirit v. 16. For where zeal and strife 〈◊〉 that is a striving contentious zeal against brethren there is confusion or tumult and unquietness and every evil work O lamentable reformers that set up every evil work while they seemed zealous against evil v. 17. But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality or wrangling and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace when peace-breakers that sow in divisions and contention shall reap the fruit of unrighteousness though they call their way by the most religious names Thus I have briefly shewed you what Vâ—nity and Division are that wrong apprehensions draw you not to sin DIRECT VIII When any thing needeth amendment in the Church remember that the best Christian must be the forwardest to reformation and â—he backwardest to Division and must search and try all means of Reforming which make not against the concord of the Church I Do not here determine in what cases you may or may not separate from any company of faulty Christians I only say that you must never separate what God hath conjoyned the Holiness and the Vnity of believers If corruptions blemish and dishonour the Congregation Do not say Let sin alone I must not oppose it for fear of division But be the forwardest to reduce all to the will of God And yet if you cannot prevail as you desire be the backwardest to divide and separate and do it not without a certain warrant and extream necessity Resolve with Austin I will not be the chaff and yet I will not go out of the floor though the chaff be there Never give over your just desire and endeavour of Reformation And yet as long as possibly you can avoid it forsake not the Church which you desire to reform As Paul said to them that were ready to forsake a sea-wrackt vessel If these abide not in the ship ye cannot be saved Many a one by unlawful flying and shifting for his own greater peace and safety doth much more hazard his own and others DIRECT IX Forget not the great difference between casting out the wicked and impenitent from the Church by discipline and the godlies separating from the Church it self because the wicked are not cast out The first is a great duty The second is ordinarily a great sin THe question is not Whether the impenitent should be put away from Church-Communion That 's not denied But whether you should separate from the Church because they are permitted This is it which we call you to beware Not but that in some cases a Christian may lawfully remove from one Church to another that hath more light and purity for the edification of his soul. But before you separate from a faulty Church as such as may not lawfully be communicated with you must look well about you and be able to prove that thing which you affirm Many weak Christians marking those Texts which bid us avoid a man that is an Heretick and to have no company with disorderly walkers and not to eat with flagitious persons do not sufficiently mark their sense but take them as if they call'd us to separate from the Church with which these persons do communicate Whereas if you mark all the Texts in the Gospel you shall find that all the separation which is commanded in such cases besides our separation from the Infidels or Idolatrous world or Antichristian and Heretical confederacies and no-Churches is but one of these two sorts First either that the Church cast out the impenitent sinner by the power of the Keyes Secondly or that private men avoid all private familiarity with them And both these we would promote and no way hinder Thirdly but that the private members should separate from the Church because such persons are not cast out of it shew me one Text to prove it if you can Let us here peruse the Texts that speak of our withdrawing from the wicked 1 Cor. 5. Is expresly written to the whole Church as obliged to put away the incestuous person from among them and so not to eat with such offenders So is that in 2 Thes. 3. and that in Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid Unless it be a Heretick that hath already separated himself from our communion And then it can be put private familiarity which we are further to avoid In brief there is no other place of Scripture that I know of which commandeth any more I have before shewed that abundance of Church corruptions or of scandalous members were then among them and yet the Apostle never spake a syllable to any one Christian to separate from any one of all those Churches Which we cannot imagine that the Holy Ghost would have wholly omitted if indeed it had been the will of God Obj. But then why did Luther and the first Pretestants separate from the Church of Rome and how will you justifie them from Schisme Ans. Its pity that sloth and sortishness should keep any Protestant or Papist either in such ignorance as to need any help to answer so easie a question at this day Let not equivocal names deceive us and the case is easie By the word Church the Scripture still meaneth first either the Universal Church which is the body or Kingdome of Christ alone Secondly or particular Congregations associated for personal communion in Gods worship But the Pope hath feigned another kind of thing and called it The Church That is The Vniversality of Christians as headed by himself as the constitutive and governing head Whereas first God never instituted or allowed such a Church Secondly nor did ever the Universality of Christians acknowledge this usurping Head Shew me in Scripture or in Church-History that either there ever was de facto or ought to be de jure such a thing in the world as they call the Church and I profess I will immediately turn
these Additions to Christianity this proud Church-tyranny I doubt not is the great cause of Schism in the world And when I have had opportunity to write against it I have born my testimony against it as is yet legible But it is not that sort of men that I am here most to speak to but to them that profess to be more teachable and willing to know the truth 3. And yet I add though this Book be written principally to save the darker sort of honest Christians from the sin and misery of Church divisions I write it not principally for them to read For I know their prejudice weakness and incapacity after-mentioned But I write it to remember the Teachers of the Churches what principles they have to Preach and strengthen and what principles to confute and to destroy if ever they mean to save the people from this state of sin and the Churches from the sad effects And if Ministers neglect the faithful discharge of so great and necessary a duty let them remember that they were warned if they find themselves overwhelmed in the ruines II. The Reasons moving me to this work are these First It is my calling to help to save people from their sins and Church division is a heap of sins 2. The more I love them that I hope are tender Conscienced and dare not sin when they are convinced of it the more I am bound to endeavour their conviction remembring who hath said Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Lev. 19. 17. 3. LOVE is not an appurtenance of my Religion but my Religion it self God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him who can speak a higher word of any thing in all the world Love is the end of faith and faith is but the Bellows to kindle Love Love is the fulfilling of all the Law the end of the Gospel the nature and mark of Christs Disciples the divine nature the sum of holiness to the Lord the proper note by which to know what is the man and what his state and how far any of his other acts are acceptable unto God without which if we had all knowledge and belief all gifts of utterance and highest profession we were but as sounding Brass and as a tinkling Cymbal And if all our goods were given to the poor and our bodies to the fire it would profit nothing Love is our foretast of Heaven and the perfection of it is Heaven it self even the state and work of Angels and of Saints in glory And he that is angry with me for calling men to Love is angry for calling them to Holiness to God and Heaven Holiness which is against Love is a contradiction It is a deceitful Name which Satan putteth upon unholiness All Church principles which are against Universal Love are against God and Holiness and the Churches life And he that saith he loveth God and hateth his Brother is a Lyar. To be holy without Love is to see without light to live without life He that said The wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle c. did no more dream of separating them then of dividing the head of a man from his heart to save his life Iam. 3. 17. Nor no more than he that said Follow Peace with all men and Holiness Heb. 1â— 14. No necessity can justifie such a division Holiness and Love to God are but two names for one thing Love to God and to man are like Soul and Body that are separated no way but by death Love and Peaceableness differ but as Reason and Reasoning Love may be without Passive Peace from others to us but never without Active Peace from us to others 4. I have had so great opportunity in my time to see the working of the mysterie of iniquity against Christian Love and to see in what manner Christs House and Kingdome is edified by divisions that if I be ignorant after such sad experience I must be utterly unexcusable and of a seared Conscience and a heart that seemeth hardened to perdition God knoweth how hardly sin is known in its secret root till men have tasted the bitterness of the fruit Therefore he hath permitted the two Extreams to shew themselves openly to the world in the effects And one must be noted and hated and avoided as well as the other I thought once that all that talk against Schism and Sects did but vent their malice against the best Christians under those names But since then I have seen what Love-killing principles have done I have long stood by while Churches have been divided and sub-divided one Congregation of the division labouring to make the other contemptible and odious and this called the Preaching of truth and the purer worshiping of God I have seen this grow up to the height of Ranters in horrid Blasphemies and then of Quakers in disdainful pride and surliness and into the way of Seekers that were to seek for a Ministry a Church a Scripture and consequently a Christ. I have many a time heard it break out into more horrid revilings of the best Ministry and Godliest people than ever I heard from the most malignant Drunkard I have lived to see it put to the Question in that which they called the little Parliament whether all the Ministers of the Parishes of England should be put down at once When Love was first killed in their own breasts by these same principles which I here detect I have seen how confidently the killing of the King the Rebellious demolishing of the Government of the Land the killing of many Thousands of their Brethren the turnings and overturnings of all kinds of Rule even that which they themselves set up have been committed and justified and prophanely fathered upon God These with much more such fruits of Love-killing principles and divisions I have seen And I have seen what fierce censorious proud unchristian tempers they have caused or signified In a word I have long seen that envious wisdom whatever it pretend is not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish and that where envy and strife is upon pretence of Religious precedency of wisdom there is confusion and every evil work Jam. 3. 15 16. And if after so long so sad so notorious experience you would have me still to be tender of the brood of Hell I mean these Loveâ—destroying wayes and to shew any countenance to that which really hath done all this you would have me as blind as the Sodâ—mites and as obdurate as Pharaoh and his Egyptians and utterly resolved never to learn the will of God or to regard either good or evil in the world 5. The same sins are continued in without repentance The same pride and ignorance is still keeping open our divisions And if after such warnings as the world scarce ever had the like we shall be still impenitent
this how dare you blame me for writing to save you from confusion and every evil work 6. I will conclude with the repetition of one thing delivered in this Treatise that among all the rest two separating dividing principles will never give peace to the Church where they prevail The one is the confounding mens Title to visible Church Membership and Communion with their Title to Justification and Salvation The other is the Imposing of new terms and titles of Visible membership and Communion and rejecting the sufficiency of the â—erms and title of Christs appointment Christ hath solemnly and purposely made the Baptismal Covenanting with him to be the terms and title to Church membership and Communion And the owning of this same Covenant is the sufficient Title of the adult And the Imposers that come after and require another kind of evidence of Conversion or Sanctification than this do confound the Church and enflame the people and leave no certain way of tryal but make as various terms and titles as there are various degrees of wisdome and Charity and various opinions in the Pastors yea in all the people to whom they allow the judgement of such Causes in the several Churches In this point the sober Anabaptists seem to come nearer the truth than they I add no more but Christs conclusion that a house or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand The Book it self was written near two years ago but this Preface Feb. 2. 1669. AN ABSTRACT OF THE DIRECTIONS 1. FOrget not the difference between the younger sort of Christians and the Elder The peril of the Church from young Christians 2. Observe the secret workings of spiritual pride and how deep rooted and odious a sin it is and what special temptations to it the younger and emptier sort of Christians have 3. Overvalue not the Common gift of utterance nor a high profession as if grace were appropriated to such alone who are to be called Professors 4. Affect not to be made enâ—lnent and conspicuous in holiness by standing at a further distance from common Christians than God would have you 5. Understand the true difference between the Church as Visible and as Regenerate or mystical and the several qualifications of the Members What Scandals were in the primitive Churches in Scripture times 6. Understand well the different Conditions and terms of Communion with the Church as mystical and as visible and the different priviledges of the members that you may not presume to impose any Conditions which God hath not imposed nor unjustly grudge at 〈…〉 essence of those that are not sincere 7. Get time and sleep apprehensions of the necessity and reasons of Christian Vnity and Concord and of the sin and misery of divisions and discord what Scripture saith herein 8. When any thing needeth amendment in the Church the best Christians must be the forwardest to Reform and the backwardest to divide on that pretence 9. Forget 〈◊〉 the great difference betweene the Churches 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 and the Godlyes separating from the Church it self because the wicked are not cast out The first is a great duty the second usually a great sin Luthers case 10. Expect not that any one lawfully received into the Church by Baptism should be cast out of it or denyed the priviledges of the Church but according to the rules of Christian discipline by the power of the Keys that is for oâ—stinate impenitency in a gross on scandalous sin upon proof and after sufficient private and publick admonition 11. Understand what the Power of the Keys is and what the Pastors office is as they are the Governours of the Church entrusted by Christ with the power of admission and rejection that so you may know how far you are to rest in the Pastors judgment and may not usurp any part of their office to your selves 12. Study well Christs gracious nature and office and his great readiness to receive the weakest that come to him that so you may desire a Church discipline agreeable to the Gospel 13. Yet lest you run into the worse extream remember still that the destroying of sin and the sanctifying of man to God was the work of our Redeemer And that Holiness and Peace must go together And that our own Church-order and discipline must be subservient to the inward spirituality and prosperity of the Church-regenerate And no such favour must be shewed to sinners as favoureth sin and hindereth Holiness 14. Though your Governours are the Iudges what persons shall be of your publick-Church-Communion yet it is you that must judge who are fit or unfit for your private familiarity 15. Vnderstand how much it hath pleased God to lay all mens happiness or misery upon their own choice And seek not to alter this order of God 16. Though the profession of Christianity which entitleth men to Church-Communion must be credible yet remember that there are various degrees of Credibility And that every Profession which is not proved false is credible in such a degree as must be accepted by the Church 17. Know how far it is that either Grace or Gifts are necessary to a Minister that you may give to both their due 18. Vnderstand well the necessity of your Communion with all the Universal Church and wherein it consisteth and how far it is to be preferred before your Communion with any particular Church 19. Engage not your selves too far in any divided Sect and espouse not the interest of any party of Christians to the neglect or injury of the universal Church and the Christian Cause 20. Be very suspicious of your Religious passions and carefully distinguish between a sound and sinful zeal least you father your sin on the Spirit of God and think you please him more when you most offend him 21. Lend not a patient ear to backbiters nor hastily believe the most religious people when they speak ill of others 22. Make not your selves selves judges of other mens actions much less of their state before you have a Call or before you have sufficient knowledge of the person and of the Case 23. Mistake not the nature of the sin of Scandal as if it were the bare displeasing of another when it is the laying of a stumbling-block or occasion of sinning before another 24. Make Conscience of Scandalizing one party as well as another and those most who are most in danger by your offence 25. Be not over tender of your reputation with any sort of men on earth nor too impatient of their displeasure censures or contempt But live above them 26. Use not your selves needlesly to the familiar company of that sort of Christians who use to censure them that are more sober Catholick and charitable than themselves Unless you be as much or more with the soberer sort who will shew you the sin and mischief of Love-killing principles and divisions 27. Take heed of misjudging of the answers of your prayers and of taking those things to be from God which
as wasting fire proceedeth from the incendiaries The Texts recited DIRECTIONS FOR VVeak Christians How they may escape the troubling dividing and endangering of the Church by their Errours in Doctrine Worship and Church-Communion IF we had never been warned by the History of the Sacred Scripture or of the former Ages of the Church yet our experience in this present Age is enough to tell both us and our Posterity how great perturbations and calamites may come to the Church of Christ by the miscarriages of the more zealous Professors of Religion and how great a hinderance such may prove to the prosperity of the Gospel to the Love and Unity of Christians to the Reformation and holy order of the Congregations and to all those good ends which are desired by themselves How great a dishonour they may prove to the Christian name and what occasions of hardening the wicked in their contempt of Godliness to their everlasting ruine and the sufferings of Believers Therefore seeing the peace and welfare of the Church is much more valuable than the peace and welfare of an individual soul as I have Directed you how to escape your own disturbance and undoing so I think it as necessary to direct you how to escape being the Plagues and disturbers of the Church and the instruments of Satan in resisting the Gospel and destroying others And you should be the more willing to hear me in this also because by hurting others you hurt your selves and by wronging the Church of God you cross your own desires and ends if you are Christians indeed and by doing good to others and furthering the cause of Godliness and Christianity you do good to your selves and further your own Cosolation and Salvation DIRECT I. FIrst observe this General direction see that you forget not the great difference between Novices and experienced Christians between the babes and those at full age between the weak and the strong in grace Level them not in your estimation It is not for nothing that the Spirit of God in Scripture maketh so great a difference between them as you may read in Heb. 5. 11 12 13 14 6. 1 2. 1 Tim. 3. 6. 1 Iohn 2. 12 13 14. There are babes strong men and fathers among Christians There are some that are dull of hearing and have need of milk and are unskilful in the word of righteousness and must be taught the principles and there are others who can digest strong meat who by reason of Use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil Novices must not be made Pastors of the Church It is not for nothing that the Younger are so often commanded reverence and submission to the Elder and that the Pastors and Governors of the Church are usually called by the name of Elders because it was supposed that the elder sort were the most experienced and wise and therefore Pastors and Rulers were to be chosen out of them And why is it that children must so much honour their fathers and mothers and must be governed by them It is not meerly because generation giveth the Parents a propriety in their children For God would not have folly to be the governour of wisdom upon pretense of such propriety But it is also because that it must ordinarily be supposed that Infants are ignorant and Parents have understanding and are fit to be their Teachers as having had longer time and helps to learn and more experience to make their knowledge clear and firm If the young and unexperienced were ordinarily as wise as the aged or mature why are not children made governors of their Parents or at least commanded to instruct and teach them as ordinarily as Parents must do their children The Lord Jesus himself would be subject to his mother and reputed father in his Child-hood Luke 2. 51. Can there be a livelier conviction of the arrogancy of those novices who proudly sleight the judgments of their elders as presuming groundlesly that they are wiser than they Yea Christ would not enter upon his publick Ministry or Office till he was about thirty years of age Luke 3. 23. He is blind that perceiveth not in this example a most notorious Condemnation of the pride of those that run with the shell on their head into the Ministery or that hasten to be Teachers of others before they have had time or means to learn and that deride or vilisie the judgments of the aged who differ from their conceits before they understand the things in which they are so confident It was thought a good answer in Iohn 9. 21. He is of age ask him But they that are under age now think their words to be the wisest because they are the boldest and the fiercest The old were wont to bless the young and now the young deride the old It is the character of a truculent people Deut. 28. 50. that they regard not the person of the old that is They reverence not their age How many vehement commands are there in Solomons Proverbs to the younger sort to hearken to the counsel of their Parents The contrary was the ruine of Eli's sons and the shame of Samuels 1 Sam. 8. 1 5. Was Rehoboam unwise in forsaking the counsel of the aged and harkning to the young and rash And are those people wise that in the Mysteries of Salvation will prefer the vehement passions of a novice before the well-setled judgment of the experienced aged Ministers I know that the old are too oft ignorant and that wisdom doth not always increase with age But I know withall that Children are never fit to be the Teachers of the Church And that old men may be foolish but too young men are never wise enough for so high a work We are not now considering what may fall out rarely as a wonder but what is ordinarily to be expected Most of the Churches confusions and diviâ—â—ons have been caused by the younger sort of Christians Who are in the heat of their zeal and the infancy of understanding Who have affection enough to make them drive on but have not judgement enough to know the way None are so fierce and rash in condemning the things and persons which they understand not and in raising clamours against all that are wiser and soberer than they If they once take a thing to be a sin which is no sin or a duty which is no duty there is no person no Minister no Magistrate who hath age or wisdom or piety enough to save them from the injuries of juvenile temerity if they do not think and speak and do according to their green and raw conceits Remember therefore to be always sensible of the great disadvantages of youth and to preserve that reverence for experienced age which God in nature as well as in Scripture hath made their due If time labour were not necessary to maturity of knowledge why do you not trust another with your health as well as a studyed experienced
these are such as come to their knowledge by hard and laborious studies and meditation though also by the spirit blessing their endeavours And they are such as give proof of the knowledge which they pretend to And they are such as employ their knowledge to preserve the peace and concord of believers and do not proudly make a stir with it to set up their own names though thereby they set the world on fire Make therefore no more of these vain defences of your Pride Let no man think of himself and his own understanding above what is meet I perswade you not to deny any truth which indeed you know nor to doubt of any thing which is made truly certain to you But value not your understandings above their worth and fix not too rashly upon your first apprehensions and go not away with a passionate confidence in your poor raw untryed and defective conceptions But remember that you know but little and must have time and labour to grow up to the rest Be not wise in your own conceits Rom. 12. 16. 11. 25. Prov. 26. 5. 28. 11. And this is commonly the sin of the slothful that never were at that pains for knowledge by which it must be attained The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason Prov. 26. 16. You little think when you are conceited of your knowledge that you are further from wisdom than a fool Prov. 26. 12. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit There is more hope of a fool than of him Be not wise in thy own eyes Prov. 3. 3. Wo to them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Isa. 5. 21. Be not righteous overmuch neither make thy self over-wise why shouldst thou destroy thy self The self-conceited must become fools in their own esteem if ever they will be wise as the worldly wise must own that which is folly in the judgment of the world if ever they will be wise 1 Cor. 3. 18. 2. And there is a Religious Pride of Goodness as well as of Knowledge which must yet more carefully be avoided as being yet worse than the former as the thing abused is much better And this worketh as subtilly and secretly as the former It may not only consist with many complaints and confessions of sinfulness weakness and unworthyness but even with doubts of sincerity and so much dejectedness as seemeth to draw near to desparation It is an ordinary thing to hear the same persons talk in a complaining doubting and almost despairing manner of speech and yet to have high expectations of respect from others and to be most proudly impatient of the least undervaluing or neglect Yea Pride will make an advantage to it self of all these humble confessions and complaints And it is an old observation that many are proud of their humility For though it be true that Austin saith that Grace is a thing which no man can use amiss the meaning is only that Grace efficiently can do nothing amiâ—s For if it do amiss so far it is not grace Yet objectively all Grace may be abused that is a man may make it the object of his Pride and the occasion of many other sins And this Religious Pride of Goodness doth ordinarily work under the pretext of Thankfullness to God for his grace and Zeal for Holyness But it may be known by this that it always tendeth to lift us up and to the diminishing of Love to oothers and to the contempt of the weak and the censuring of our brethren and the division and disturbance of the Church of God They are lamentable effects which this Pride produceth in the Church and all Societies where it cometh It maketh all mens Goodness seem little except our own It causeth the people to undervalue their Pastors and turneth compassion of meâ—s weaknesses into a sowr contempt It setteth a man in his own conceit so near to God that he looketh down on other men as earthly animals in comparison of himself It maketh new terms of Church-Communion and teacheth men to make narrower the door of the Church than God hath made it It causeth men to deny and vâ—liâ—ie Gods grace in those that answer not their expectations And to think that the Church is not worthy of their Communion And to think that none are so fit as they to be the Reformers of the Church and of the world I intreat those who are in danger of this pernicious sin to think with themselves 1. What a heynous crime and folly it is for one that but lately was a child of the Devil and a sink of sin to be proud so quickly of their goodness And for one that so lately was groaning and weeping with a broken heart for a sinful life to be already puffed up with the conceits of godlyness And for one who daily maketh confession to God of a sinful heart and a faulty life and of great unworthyness to contradict all this by an over-valuing of his own piety And how incongruous it is for one who professeth to hope for justification by free grace mercy only to have nothing of his own but what 's defiled and who abhorreth the Doctrine of merit and talketh so much of our emptyness and insufficiency to be yet puffed up with the conceit of his spirituality and worth And what an odious self-conâ—radiction it is to make your self like the Devil in pride because you think you are like God in holiness 2. And consider that the more you are proud of your Goodness the less you have to be proud of If this sin be predominant it is certain that you have no saving grace at all And what an odious thing and miserable case is it to be proud of Holyness when you are unholy and to be damned both for want of it and for being proud of it That a man should be proud of that for want of which he must suffer the fire of Hell But if your pride be not predominant yet it is certain that in what measure soever you have that vice in that measure you are destitute of grace For true grace and pride are as contrary as life and death 3. And study well the meaning of all these Scriptures For you shall not say that I mis-interpret them to you Why was it that Christ mentioneth the Parable of the Phaâ—â—see and the Publican one thanking God that he was not so bad as others and the other thinking himself unworthy to look up to heaven Luke 18. 10 11. c. Why did he give us the parable of the prodigal who confesseth that he was unworthy to be called a Son and of his elder brother who swelled with envy at his entertainment Why was it that Christ seemed not strict enough to the Pharisees in keeping the Sabbath nor in his Diet nor in his Company but they called him a gluttonous person and a wine-bibber and a friend of Publicans
they gather it out of the World And all this is because they know no more than they see or at least are affected with no more but live as if England or Europe were all the world One years abode in Asia or Africa might cure this errour In 2 Cor. 6. 12 13 c. the Apostle forbiddeth the Christians to marry with Infidels because light hath no communion with darkness nor righteousness with unrighteousness nor Christ with Belial And therefore inferreth that he that believeth hath no part with an Infidel nor the Temple of God any any agreement with Idols And for this he citeth the words of the Prophet Come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing All these words which the Apostle so plainly speaketh only against marrying with Infidels and Idolaters and having communion with them either intimately or in their sin are by abundance of ignorant Professors abused as if they had commanded us to separate from the colder and common sort of Christians and to come out of the Church whereof they are members What profaning of Gods word is this and how gross and palpable a contradicting of its plain expressions It was a Church of such mixed Christians as our Churches do consist of to which the Apostle wrote those words And because he commandeth them to separate from intimacy with Heathens and Infidels yet so as when they are once married to them to continue in it therefore these men say that one part of the Church is called to come forth and separate from the rest And with the like abuse they apply the command Come out of Babylon to them that have no communion with Babylon And when ignorance uncharitableness and passion have taught them to call Christs Churches Babylon they add sin to sin the sin of separation to the sin of slander and reproach and abuse the Text according to their false exposition of it DIRECT V. Understand rightly the true difference between the Mystical and the Visible Church and the qualification of their Members and do not confound them as if it were the same persons only that must be Members of both THE Mystical Church indeed hath none but true Saints But the Visible Church containeth multitudes of Hypocrites who profess themselves to be what they are not They profess to believe in God while they neglect him and to be ruled by God while they disobey him and are ruled by their lusts They profess to Love God and forsake the world whilest they love the world and God is not in all their thoughts They profess to love the holy Scriptures whilest they neglect them and love not the holiness of their precepts They profess to believe in Jesus Christ whilest their hearts neglect his grace and government They profess to believe in the holy Spirit and to hold the Communion of Saints in the Catholick Church whilest they resist the Spirit and love not Saints All this sheweth that they are Hypocrites But abundance of Hypocrites are in the Visible Church Nay God would have no Hypocrites cast out but those who bewray their hypocrisie by impenitency in proved Heresie or gross sin We must not model the Church of Christ according to our private fancies We are not the Lords of it nor are we sit or worthy to dispose of it Look into the Scripture and take it for the Rule and see there of what manner of persons the Visible Church hath been constituted in all ages of the world till now In the first Church in Adams family a Cain was the first born member and so continued till he was excommunicated for the murder of his brother In a Church of eight persons who were saved out of all the world the Father and Pastor was overtaken with gross drunkenness and one of his sons was a cursed Cham. In a Church of six persons saved from the wickedness of Sodom two of them Lot's sons in law perished in the flames among the unbelievers a third was turned into a pillar of salt the Father and Pastor was drunk two nights together after the sight of such a terrible miracle and after so strange a deliverance to himself and committed incest twice in his drunkenness The two that remained his daughters caused his drunkenness purposely and committed incest with him In the Church in Abrahams family there was an Ishmael And in the Church in Isaacs family there was an Esau and even Rebeka and Iacob guilty of deceitful equivocation And Abraham and Isaac denied their wives to save themselves in their unbelief In Iacob's family was a Simeon and Levi who murdered multitudes under a pretense of Religion and under the cover of false deceit And almost all his sons moved with envy sold their brother Ioseph for a slave and some were hardly kept from murdering him And his daughter Dinah was defiled by desiring to see the company and fashions of the world In the Church of the Israelites in the Wilderness after all the miracles which they had seen and the mercies they had received so great were their sins of unbelief and murmuring and lust and whoredomes and idolatry and disobedience that but two of them that came out of Egypt were permitted to enter the promised land In the times of the Judges they so oft renewed their idolatry besides all their other sins that they spent a great part of all those ages in captivity for it And when the villanies of Gibeah had imitated the Sodomites and ravished a woman to death the Tribe of the Benjamites defended it by a war and that in three battels till fourty thousand of the innocent Israelites were slain and twenty five thousand of the Benjamites Look through all the Books of Samuel the Kings and Chronicles and the Prophets from the sad story of the sons of Eli and of Samuel to all the wicked Kings that followed who kept up odious Idolatry even Solomon himself and scarce two or three of the best did put down the high places And when Hezekiah was zealous to reform the hearts of the subjects were not prepared but derided or abused the Messengers whom he sent about to call the people home to God Manasseh's wickedness is scarcely to be parallel'd And when God sent his Prophets to call them to repentance they mocked his Messengers and despised and abused his Prophets till the wrath of the Lord arose and there was no remedy 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. Read over the Prophets and see there what a people this Church of God was The ten Tribes were drawn by Ierâ—boam to sin by setting up Calves at Dan and Beth-el and making Priests of the vilest of the people and forsaking the Temple and the true worship of God and the lawful Priests And these lawful Priests at Ierusalem were ravening Wolves and greedy Dogs and careless and cruel Shepherds The false Prophets who deceived the people were most accepted The people are accused of cruelty oppression whoredom drunkenness Idolatry and hatred
as carnal For ye are yet carnal v. 12. If any build on this foundation wood hay stubble v. 15. he shall suffer loss chap. 4. 18. 21. Some are puffed up Shall I come to you with a rod or in love chap. 6. 5 6 7 8. I speak to your shame Is there not a wise man among you Because yee go to Law one with another before Heathens Nay you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God chap. 11. 17 18 19 20 21. I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse For first of all when you come together in the Church I hear that that there be divisions among you For there must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you When you come together into one place this is not to eat the Lords Supper For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken Vers. 23. 30. He that eateth and drinketh unworthâ—ly eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body For this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep Chap. 14. Reproveth their abuse of unknown tongues and their disorder in Gods publike worship Chap. 15. 12 13 14 15. If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection But if there be no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God v. 17. and ye are yet in your sins 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. I fear lest when I come I shall not finde you such as I would and that I shall be found to you such as ye would not Lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes back-bitings whisperings swellings tumults and lest my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many that have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed Besides that Paul and his Ministry was slandered and much slighted among them as by his large aâ—d vehement apologies and expostulations doth appear These were the faults of the Church of the Corinthians The corruptions of the Churches of Galatia Gal. 1. 6 7 8 9. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ to another Gospel which is not another but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ thoughâ—e â—e or an Augel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached to you let him be accursed Chap. 3. 1 2 3. O foolish Galathians Who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Are ye so foolish Having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh Have ye suffered so many things in vain chap. 4. 9. How turn yâ— again to weak and beggarly elements whereto ye desire again to be in bondage vers 10. 11. Ye observe dayes and moneths and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed on you labour in vâ—in v. 16. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law v. 29. As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now The Legalists persecuting the Apostles Chap. 5. 2. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing V. 3 4. For I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law Christ is become of no effect to you Who ever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace v. 9. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 12. I would they were even cut off which trouble you Chap. 6. 12. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised The corruptions of the Church of Colosse Col. 2. 20 21 22 23. If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances Touch not tast not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the Commandements and Doctrines of men Which things have indeed a shew of wisdome in will-worship The corruptions of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2. 4 5. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love Remember from whence thou art fallen and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remoâ—e thy Candlestick Act. 20. 30. Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things c. as aforesaid The corruptions of the Church of Pergamus Rev. 2. 14 15 16. I have a few things against thee because thou hast there theâ— that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate Repent or else I will The faults of the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2. 20 21 22 I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest the woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to teach and to sedâ—ce my sâ—rvants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to Idols The faults of the Church of Sardis Rev. 3. 1. Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead I have not found thy works perfect before God 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments The faults of the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. 15 16 17. Thou art neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I haue been thus large in citing the words of the Text to make it plain to you of what kind of Members the Visible Churches were then made up And to affect their hearts with the sense of their partiality who can plead for many things as duties and plead against many things as sin without one plain word of Scripture on their side and yet can read all these without either sense or notice Yet mark I pray you that I am far from saying that God alloweth any of these sins or that any should make light of them For all must abhor them Nor do I say that none of the Churches ought to have excommunicated any of these offenders for these sins Some of them I doubt not should have been cast out But these are the uses which I desire you to make of all these Texts First before you judge any Church to be 〈◊〉
But to make him as sensible of the wickedness of these unlawful means and of the good of a serious spiritual Religiousness and of Christian Love and tenderness and forbearance here is the great difficulty And on the other side many are very sensible of the need of spirituality and seriousness in Religion and of the evil of hypocritical formality and imagery and of usurpation of the prerogatives of Christ and of the plague of persecuting Pride and cruelty who yet have little sense at all of the good of Unity and of the mischiefs of divisions in the Church Yea many are so careful to be found exact in their obedience to God that they build very much for duties and against sins upon dark and very far-fetcht consequences and upon a few obscure and doubtful passages in Scripture when there is no express words or clear text at all to bear them out And doubtless the darkest intimations of the will of God must not be disregarded But on the other side we cannot bring them to lay to heart some duties and sins which are over and over an hundred times and that with vehemency exprest and urged in the plainest words And because all Christians pretend to sâ—bmit to the word of God I will try whether it be not thus with you in the present case and will cite many plain expressions of Scripture for Christian Vnity and Concord that you may either better perceive you duty or plainly shew your great partiality Zech. 14. 9. In that day there shall be One Lord and his name One. Ezek. 34. 23. And I will set up One Shepherd over them Ezek. 37. 22. I will make thâ—m One Nation and One King shall be King to them all and they shall be no more two Nations nor divided into two Kingdomes any more 24. And David my servant shall be King over them and they shall have One shepherd Jer. 32. 39. I will give them one heart and one way So Ezek. 11. 19. Joh. 21 22. That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be One in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and Thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Joh. 11. 52. That he should gather together in One the children of God that are scattered abroad Act. 1. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication And chap. 2. 1. They were all with one accord in one place Act. 4. 24 32. They lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Act. 5. 12. They were all with one accord in Solomons Porch Act. 15. 25. It seemed good to us being assembled with one accord 2 Cor. 11. 2. I have espoused you to one husband Eph. 4. 1 c. I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of your vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace There is One body and One Spirit Even as ye are called in One hope of your calling One Lord One Faith One Baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all v. 12 13. For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the Unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man that we henceforth be no more childrâ—n tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunâ—ing craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things who is the Head Christ From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love 1 Cor. 12. 3 12 13. No man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost As the Body is One and hath many Members and all the members of that One body being many are One â—ody so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into One body v. 22 23. Nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable upon these we bestow more abundant honour and our uncâ—mely parts have more abundant comeliness For our comely parts have no need but God hath tempered the body together hâ—ving given more abundant honour to that part that lâ—â—ked that there should be no Schisme in the body 〈◊〉 that the members should have the same care one for another And whether one member suffer all suffer with it and if one be honoured all rejoyce v. 15. If the foot say Because I am not the hand I am not of the bâ—dy is it therefore not of the body By all this you may see that even the lowest dishonoured 〈◊〉 an◠〈◊〉 memâ—ers must not be denied to be of the Church or body of Christ. 1 Cor. 13. 4 5. Charity suffereth long is not easily provoked thinketh no evil The greatest is charity v. 13. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement v. 12 13. Every one saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the name of Paul Ch. 3. 15. If any mans work be burnt he shall sâ—ffer loss yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire Ch. 3. 3 4. For yâ— are yet carnal For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men while one saith I am of Paul c. Rom. 14. 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive but not to doubtful disputations v. 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him which eateth for God hath received him who art thâ—u that judgest another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth One man esteemeth one day above another Another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind He that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord v. â—0 But why dost
it He resisteth Light as an Angel of Light and his Ministers hinder Righteousness as pretended Ministers of Righteousness And he will be a zealous Reformer when he would hinder Reformation And this is the mark of Satans way of Reformation He doth it by by dividing the Churches of Christ and teaching Christians to avoid each other And to that end he zealously aggravateth the faults of every party to the rest that they may have odious thoughts of one another and Christian Love may be turned into aversation As in the Plague time every one is afraid of the breath and company of his neighbour and they that were wont to assemble and converse with peace and pleasure do timerously shun the presence of each other because they know that it is an infectious time and they are uncertain who is free even so doth Satan break the societies and converse of Christians by making them believe that every party hath some dangerous infection which as they love their souls they must avoid And he destroyeth your Love to one another by pretending Love to your selves O how careful will he be for your souls when the Devil would undo you he will do it as your Saviour And when his meaning is to save you from Heaven and from Christ and from his saving grace and from Union and Communion with his Church and from the impartial Love of one another he takes on him that he is saving you only from sin and from Church-corruptions Or rather that it is Christ and not he that giveth you counsel And he can do much in imitating Christ in the manner of his suggestions to make you believe that it is Christ indeed Perhaps his counsel shall come in in the midst of a fervent prayer or presently after it to make you believe that it is an undoubted answer of your prayers And oft times his impulses are vehement and much affecting to make you think that it is something above nature And the pioâ—s pretence will much perswade you to think that sure this can never come from an evil spirit But if you had well studied 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. Gal. 1. 8. Luke 9. 55. 1 Ioh. 4. 1 2. 2 Thes. 2. 2. you might be wiser and be saved from this deceit I will not recite the words because I would have you turn to them and seriously study them And in this dividing work the Devil doth as make-bates do who first goes to one man and tell him a tale what such a one said against him and what a dangerous person he is and then go to the other and say as much of the first to him So the Devil saith to the Presbyterian O take heed of the Independents and to the Independents Take heed of these Presbyterians To the Anabaptist he suggesteth Avoid these Protestants Take heed of them for they Baptize infants And to the Protestants he saith Take heed of these Anabaptists for they are against baptizing any till they come to full age To one he saith Away from that Church or think not those persons to be religious for they pray by the book And to the other he saith Take heed of those people as whimsical and proud and brainsick fanaticks for they pray without-book by the Spirit To one sort he saith Take heed of those people for they wear a Surplice or Kneel at the Sacrament or answer the Priests in the Responses of the Common-prayer To the other he saith Take heed of these disobedient stubborn selfconceited people that will sit at the Sacrament and will not conform to the orders of the Church I am not now minding whose opinion is right or wrong among all these parties or any like them But how charitable to your souls the Devil is when he would destroy your charity and your souls and how piously and kindly he would have you take heed when he would lead you to perdition and how great a Reformer he will be if he may but do it by Dividing It may be the young unexperienced Schismatick of what sect soever will distast these words and think I speak like an adversary to Reformation And so the Devil would make him think of all other Christians as well as of me except his party But if one should give such counsel for the preservation of his own health and bodily comfort as the Dividing spirit giveth him for the Church and for his soul he would quickly understand it according to my present sense If one should come in kindness to him and bid him O take heed of that mouth and belly for it getteth nothing but devoureth all that the hands do get by labour Cut off that hand for it hath a crooked finger Cut off that gouty foot that it may not trouble the whole body Rip up those guts which have such filthy excrements he would not swell against me if I advised him to suspect such kindness Fifthly Remember also that the Unity of Christians is their peace and ease as well as their strength and safety Psal. 133. 1. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity As the amity and converse with friends is pleasant and the concord of families is their quietness and ease so is it as to the amity and concord which is the bond of Church society And the divisions and discord of Christians is their mutual pain and trouble Do you not feel your minds disturbed by it Do you not see the Church discomposed by it The itch of contention doth ordinarily make it pleasant for the time to every Sect to scratch by zealous wranglings and disputes for their several opinions till the blood be ready to follow But the smart and scab doth use to convince them of their folly But if they will go more than Skin-deep they may need a Surgeon Children will claw themselves but it is Madmen that will wound themselves The hurtâ— which we get in the Christian warfare by mortifying the flesh or by the persecution of the malignant enemy is tenderly healed by the hand of Christ and usually furthereth our inward peace But if we will hurt and wound and divide our selves what pity or comfort can we expect Sixthly Consider also that the Unity and Concord of Believers is their Honour and their Divisions and discord are their shame And consequently the honour or dishonour of Christ and the Gospel and Religion is much concerned in it Agreement among Christians telleth the world that they have a certainty of the faith which they profess and that it is powerful and not ineffectual and that it is of a healing nature and tendeth to the felicity of the world But Divisions and discords among Christians perswade unbelievers that there is no certainty in their belief or that it is of a vexatious and destructive tendency or at best that all its power is too weak to overcome the malignity which it pretendeth to resist where did you ever see Christians live in undivided
Papist But if you ask why we separated from the Papal Church I answer Because first it was no Church of Christ as such And secondly It was a Church of traiterous combination against the prerogative of Christ and therefore by the Protestants called the Anti-christian Church We separated not from Rome either as the Universal Church for that it was not nor as part of the Universal Church for so we hold communion with those that are Christians in it still Nor as a true worshipping Congregation for they consist of many thousand congregations which we had never local communion with And as true worshipping congregations in specie we still hold communion with them in mind so far as they are such indeed But in two senses we separate from them First as a Papal Catholick Church because in that sense they are no Church of Christ but a pack of rebels Secondly as particular Congregations in specie which have mixed Gods worship with false doctrine and Idolatrous bread-worship and other unlawful things which by oaths and practise they would force those to be guilty of who will communicate with them And thus we disown them only as neighbour Churches that never were their lawful subjects but bear our testimony against their sin And our forefathers who were members of their Churches departed to save themselves from their iniquity and because they were refused by themselves unless they would lie forswear be idolaters and communicate with them in their sin Nor would they then nor will they to this day admit any into communion of their particular Churches as such who will not first come in to their pretended Universal Church which is no Church and worse than none If this answer seem not plain and full to you it is because you understand not Christian sense and reason DIRECT X. Expect not that any one lawfully received by Baptism into the Christian Church should be cast out of it or denied the priviledge of members but according to the rules of Christian discipline by the power of the Keyes that is for obstinate impenitency in a gross or scandalous sin which the person is proved to be guilty of and this after private and publick admonition and tender patient exhortation to Repentance HEre are two things which I desire you to observe First what is Christs appointed way for removing members from the Communion of the Church Secondly how great a sin it is to remove them by a contrary and arbitrary way of our own presumptuous invention First It is here supposed that the person is not a professed Apostate For there needeth no casting out of such He that turneth Turk or Heathen or openly renounceth Christianity or ceaseth the Profession of it doth go out of the Church himself and needeth not to be cast out Unless it be any Tyrant who will come to the Communion in scorn while he professeth but to shew his lawless will He that seeketh the Communion of the Church in sobriety thereby professeth himself a Christian. and for such as being Baptized continue this profession Christs way of rejecting them is plainly described in the Gospel Mat. 18. 15 16. If thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen man or a Publican Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject 1 Cor. 5. Ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have jâ—dged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan V. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven v. 11 12 13. With such a one no not to eat Do not ye judge them that are within Therefore pâ—â— away from among your selves that wicked person By all this it is plain that the Church must exercise a regular course of justice with every person that it shall reject He must first be told prâ—vately of his fault and then before two or three unless at least the open notoriety make the private admonition needless And then it must be told the Church And the Church must with compassion tenderness and patience and yet with the authority of the Lord Jesus and the powerful evidence of truth convince him and perswade him to repent And he must not be rejected till after all this he obstinately refuse to hear the Church that is to Repent as they exhort him Note here that no sin will warrant you to cast out the sinner unless it be seconded with Impenitency It is not simply as a drunkard or a fornicator or swearer that any one is to be rejected but as an impenitent drunkard or fornicator or swearer c. Also that it is not all impenitency that will warrant their rejection But only impenitency after the Churches admonition Note also that no private person may expect that any offender be cast out either because his sin is known to him or because he is commonly famed to be guilty till the thing be proved by sufficient witness Yea that the admonition given him must be proved as well as the fault which he committed Yea if all the town do know him to be guilty and witness prove that he hath been privately admonished he may not be rejected till he be heard speak for himself and till he refuse also the publike admonition This is Christs order whose wisdom and mercy and authority are such as may well cause us to take his way as best And yet the ignorance or rashness of many professors is such that they would have all this order of Christ overturned And some of them must have such a drunkard and such a swearer kept away and rejected before ever they admonished them or exhorted them to Repentance or prove that any one else hath done it much more before they have told the Church or proved that he hath neglected the Churches admonition And some go so much further that they must have all the Churches taken for no Churches till they have gathered them a new and must have all the Parish at once rejected till they have gathered out some few again without any such order of proceeding with them as Christ appointeth It may be a thousand shall be cast out at once when never a one of them was thus admonished Obj. They were never members of a true
abundance more some taking him for the Messiah and some by his breathing on them thinking that they received the Holy Ghost When David George in Holland and Iohn of Leyden in Munster and Behmen Stiefelius and so many more pretended Prophets in Germany could deceive so many persons as they did When the pretended revelations of the Ranters first and the Quakers after could so marvellously transport many thousand professours of religion in this land I think we have fair warning to take the counsel of St. Iohn Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God It is a pitiful instance of the good old learned Commenius who so easily believed the prophesies of Daubritius and the rest which he hath published Yea when he saw the prophesies fail yet when he adjured the prophet to speak truth and got him to swear as before the Lord that it was truth this seemed enough to confirm his belief of him whereas if he had been as well acquainted with the nature of Melancholy and Historical passions as many others are he would have known that as strange things as that he recordeth of the man or women may be done without any Divine inspirations and that it is no wonder if that person swear that his words are true who is first deceived himself before he deceive others For a crackt brain'd person to believe his delusions to be real verities is little wonder I have many a time my self conversed with persons of great honesty and piety though of no great judgment who have some of them affirmed that they had angelical revelations and some of them thought that the Spirit of God did bring this Scripture or that Scripture to their mind in answer to their prayers and were so very confident that what they affirmed was the certain truth or voice of God that I have been stricken with a reverence to their professions and with a fear lest I should resist God in resisting them But resolving to take none on earth for the master of my faith but to try the Spirits whether they be of God by going to the Law and Testimony I was constrained to turn my reverence into pity For I found that their seeming revelations were some of them Scripture-doctrine and some of them contrary to the Scripture As for that which is already in the Scripture what need I further revelation for it Is it not there sufficiently revealed Can their words add any authority to the Word of God And have I not Gods own Ministers and means to help me to the knowledge of his word And as for that which is contrary to Scripture I am sure that it is contrary to the will of God And if an Angel from Heaven should preach another Gospel to me I must hold him accursed Gal. 1. 7 8. so that if these persons should have the appearance voice of an Angel speaking to them I would despise it as well as the words of a mortal man if they be against the recorded word of God But by what I have seen and heard I know that it is a great temptation to some weak Christians to hear one that is much in prayer say Take heed what you do Have no Communion with this sort of men nor in this or that way of worship nor in this or that opinion for I am sure it is against the mind of God I once thought as you do but God hath better made known his mind unto me But saving the due respect to the honesty of such persons ask them How shall I know that you are in the right If they say I will not reason the case with you but I know it to be the mind of God Tell them that God hath made you reasonable creatures and will accept no unreasonable service of you and you have but one Master of your Faith even Christ Therefore if they believe that themselves which they can give you no reason to believe they must be content to keep their belief to themselves and not for shame perswade any other to it without proof If they say that God hath revealed it to them Tell them that he hath not revealed it to you and therefore that 's nothing to you till they prove their divine revelation If God reveal it to them but for themselves they must keep it to themselves If he reveal to them for others he will enable them to make some proof of their revelations that others may be sure that they sin not in believing them If they say that the Scripture is their ground Tell them that the Scripture is already revealed to all And if indeed what they speak be there you are ready to believe it But if they pervert the Sâ—â—pture by false interpretation or abuse it and mâ—â—apply it none of this is the work of the Spirit of God If they say that the spirit hath told them the meaning of the Scripture say as before that is not told for you which is not proved to you The Scripture is written in such words as men use of purpose that they might understand it and is to be understood by all men that hear it though they have no revelation God hath set Pastors in his Church to teach it If therefore revelations be still necessary to the understanding of the Scripture revelations then the Scriptures seem to be in vain and these last revelations must again have new revelations to the right understanding of them also The truth is it is very ordinary with poor fanciful women and melancholy persons to take all their deep apprehensions for revelations And if a text of Scripture come into their minds they say This text was brought to my mind and that text was set upon my spirit As if nothing could bring a text to their thoughts but some extraordinary motion of God And as if this bringing it to their mind would warrant their false exposition of it To conclude Decry not the necessity of the ordinary sanctifying work of the spirit to bless the Scripture to your true illumination and sanctification And if any pretend to any other revelations or inspirations or expositions of the Scripture which they cannot prove to youâ— despise them not but modestly leave them to themselves But take heed that the reverence of any ones holiness tempt you not to depart from the certain sufficienâ— word of God and draw you not into any 〈◊〉 Heresie or Separation or Opinion contrary to Gods standing Law DIRECT XXIX Take heed lest the trouble of your own disquieted doubting minds do become a snare to draw you to some uncouth way of cure and so make the fancy of some new Opinion Sect or Practise to seem your Remedy and give you ease and thereby perswade you that it is the certain truth THis is the pitiful Case of the ignorant and ungrounded and troubled sort of religious persons that they are looking every way for ease and comfort And having not wisdom enough to
must we not separate from them then as Idolaters Yea and every man from himself that is He must give over praying because its all Idolatry But perhaps they will say This sin is but in the manner and not in the matter Answ. Very good It seems then that sin in the manner of worship is not Idolatry And how prove you that the faults of the Liturgy are not as far from the Matter of the worship as your own are Will you find some words which you can call false in the matter Suppose it were so When an Antinomian an Anabaptist a Separatist or any one that erreth doth drop some of his errours in his prayers as I think none will deny that they use to do must we needs believe that his prayer is Idolatry therefore as being false worship And is it unlawful to joyn with such Then we shall have more separation than you yet plead for or practise your selves No two men in the world must joyn together if all sinful worship or worship false sometime in the very matter doth necessitate a separation At least where no one knoweth before hand what another will say with his tongue when I know that every man hath some false opinion in his mind But where did these men learn to call their brethrens worship false any more than their own upon the account that God hath not commanded the manner of it when he hath neither commanded us to use a form nor to forbear it but by general precepts of doing all to edification If one man preach in one method and another in another One by written Notes to help his memory and another without one by his own gifts only and another by the help of others which of these is the false prophet the false worshipper or Idolater Hath God said you shall use Notes in preaching No more hath he said you shall preach without Notes yet hath he commanded both to severall persons where edification variously requireth itâ— Is he an Idolater that useth Meeters Tunes Versions Translations Directories Pâ—lpits Cups Table Cloaths Fonts Basins c. which God commandeth not O Lord pity thy poor Church whose Pastors themselves are so peevish in their ignorance and tempt other men by their follies to â—â—stifie all their severities against them and others But what Text of Scripture is it that ever told these men that all false worship is Idolatry what text do they name but such as if they did it on purpose to shew their boldness in adding to Gods Word The second Commandment is the chief which they insist on But what ever Expositions they may forge there is no such word nor sense in the Commandment We all hold that as the gross direct Idolatry is the worshipping of a false God against the first Commandment so to make any such false representation of the true God by words or deeds as maketh him like an Idol and contradicteth his nature and so to worship him this is also a secondary kind of Idolatry Because God is none such as they represent him and therefore it is not God indeed but an Idol which they worship And because God is not like to any thing corporeal in heaven or earth therefore he that maketh an image of any thing in Heaven or earth as like to God or to represent him he maketh an idol of God by blasphemy To what will you liken me that â— should be like unto it saith the Holy one This is the idolatry forbidden in the Second Commandment It is not all false worship but one sort of false worship which is idolatry what else that Commandment forbiddeth is neither called Idolatry nor can so be proved It is an odious sound to hear an ignorant rash self-conceited person especially a Preacher to cry out Idolatry Idolatry against his brethrens prayers to God because they have something in them to be amended while perhaps his own prayers have so much false doctrine in them or false fire of carnal passions and uncharitableness as maketh it a much harder question whether it be lawful to joyn with such as he is while he abhorreth so much to joyn with others All that know me know that it is not my own case and interest that I fit this reprehension to It is twenty times harder to me to remember a Form of words than to express what is in my mind without them But we must not fit our opinions of all our brethrens prayers to our own temperament DIRECT XXXIV Think not that all is unlawful to be obeyed which is unlawfully commanded MAny a Ruler sinneth in his Commands when it is no sin but a duty of the inferior to obey them He that hath but a bad end or bad circumstances may sin in commanding As if a Magistrate command Religious Duties in meer Policy for his own Advantage or if he enforce a lawful Command with unlawful Penalties And yet it will be the Subjects Duty to obey Yea as to the matter it self it may be unlawful for a Ruler to command a thing that will do no good because it is a vain Command and maketh men spend that time in vain and yet it may be the Subjects Duty to do it If the Magistrate choose an inconvenient place for publike worship or an unfit hour or if the Pastor choose a less fit translation meeter or tune or other circumstances of worship it may be their sin to do so and yet the peoples duty to obey them If a Father bid his Child but carry a straw from one place to another it is his fault so to imploy his time in vain but the Child is not faulty in obeying Indeed if the thing commanded be such as is simply evil and forbidden us by God in all cases whatsoever than no ones commands can make it lawful But if it be a thing that is only inconvenient or unlawful by some lesser accident then the command of authority may preponderate as a more weighty accident If it be lawful to give a Thief my purse to save my life which is not lawful for him to demand or take Then sure it is lawful to obey a King a Parent a Master oâ— a Pastor in things not evil in themselves though they unlawfully command them I say not that we must do so in all things which are evil but by accident For some accidents may make it so great an evil as no mans command can preponderate and make it lawful But in some cases it is so though not in all Therefore remember that you do not prove it sinful in you to do such things by proving it a sin in the imposer unless you have some better reason and can shew a Law of God forbidding you DIRECT XXXV Think not that you are guilty of all the Faults of other mens worship with whom you joyn no not of the Ministers or Congregations Nor that you are bound to separate from them in worship because of all the faults in their performance THis
to purchase them DIRECT XXXVII In your judging of Discipline Reformation and any means of the Churches good be sure your Eye be both upon the true End and upon the particular Rule and not on either of them alone Take not that for a means which is either contrary to the word of God or is in its nature destructive of the End THere are great miscarriages come for want of the true observation of this rule First If a thing seem to you very needful to a good end and yet the word be against it avoid it For God knoweth better than we what means is fittest and what he will bless As for instance some think that many self-devised ways of worship contrary to Col. 2. 21 23. would be very profitable to the Church And some think that striking with the sword as Peter did is the way to rescue Christ or the Gospel But both are bad because the Scripture is against them Secondly and if you think that the Scripture commandeth you this or that positive means if Nature and true Reason assure you that it is against the End and is like to do much more harm than good be assured that you mistake that Scripture For first God telleth us in general that the means as such are for the End and therefore are no means when they are against it The Ministery is for edification and not for destruction The Sabbath is for man and not man for the Sabbath Secondly God hath told us that no positive duty is a duty at all times To pray when I should be saving my neighbours life is a sin and not a duty though we are commanded to pray continually So is it to be preaching or hearing on the Lords day when I should be quenching a fire in the town or doing necessary works of mercy Wherefore the Disciples Sabbath-breaking was justified by Christ and he giveth us all a charge to learn what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice which must needs import I prefer mercy before sacrifice and would have no sacrifice which hindereth mercy Therefore if a Sermon were to be preached so unseasonably or in such unsuitable circumstances as that according to Gods ordinary way of working it were like to do more hurt than good it were no duty at that time Discipline is an Ordinance of Christ But if sound reason tell me that if I publickly call this man to Repentance or excommunicate him it is like to do much hurt to the Church and no good to him it would be at that time no duty but a sin As Physick must be forborn where the Disease will but be exasperated by it Therefore Christ boundeth our very preaching and reproof with a Shake off the dust off your feet as a testimony against them And give not that which is holy to dogs c. When treading under foot and turning again and rending us is lâ—kest to be the success the wisdome of Christ and not that of the flesh only requireth us to take it for no duty This is to be observed by them that think that Admonitions and excommunications and exclusion from the Sacrament must be used in all places and at all times alike without respect to the End come of it what will Or that will tempt God by presuming that he will certainly either bless or at least justifie their unseasonable and imprudent actions as if they were a duty at all times To be either against the Scripture or against the End is a certain proof that an action is no duty because no means DIRECT XXXVIII Neglect not any truth of God much less renounce it or deny it For lying and contempt of Sacred truth is always sinful But yet do not take it for your duty to publish all which you judge to be truth nor a sin to silence many lesser truths when the Churches peace and welfare doth require it TO speak or subscribe against any truth is not to be done on any pretense whatsoever For lying is a sin at all times But it is the opinion of injudicious furious spirits that no truth is to be silenced for peace Truth is not to be sold for carnal prosperity but it is to be forborn for spiritual advantage and true necessity First if the publishing of all truths were at all times a duty then all men live every moment in ten thousand sins of omission because there are more than so many truths which I am not publishing Nay which I never shall publish whilest I live Secondly Positives bind not always and to all times Thirdly while you are preaching that opinion which your zeal is so much for you are omitting far greater and more necessary Truths And is it not as great a sin to omit them as the lesser Fourthly Mercy is to be preferred before sacrifice What if the present uttering some truth would cost many thousand mens lives Were not that an untimely and unmerciful word And is it not as bad if but accidentally it tend to the ruine of the Church and the hurt of souls It were easie to instance in unseasonable and imprudent words of truth spoken to Princes which have raised persecutions of long continuance and ruined Churches silenced Ministers and caused the death of multitudes of men Fifthly And where is there any word of God which commandeth us to speak all that we know and which forbiddeth us to forbear the utterance of any one truth Sixthly And for the most part those men who are most pregnant and impatient of holding in their opinions on the pretense of the pretiousness of truth do but proudly esteem their own understandings precious and do vend some raw undigested notions vain janglings or errors under the name of that truth which must by no means be concealed though the vending of it tend to envy and strife and to confusion and every evil work When those that have the Truth indeed have more wisdome and goodness to know how to use it It is not Truth but Goodness which is the ultimate object of the soul. And God who is infinite Goodness it self hath revealed his Truths to the world to do men Good and not to hurt them And the Devil who is the Destroyer so he may but do men hurt will be content to make use even of Truth to do it Though usually he only pretendeth Truth to cover his lies And this angel of Light hath his ministers of Light and Righteousness who are known by their fruits whilest the pretenses of Light and Righteousness are used to Satans ends and not to Christs to hurt and destroy and to hinder Christs Kingdome and not to save and to do good As the Wolf is known by his bloody jaws even in his sheeps cloathing DIRECT XXXIX Know which are the great duties of a Christian life and wherein the nature of true Religion doth consist And then pretend not any lesser duty against those greater though the least when it is indeed a duty is not to
most after in many places for the meer affectionate manner of expression and lowdness of the Preachers voice How oft have I known the ablest Preachers undervalued and an ignorant man by crouds applauded when I that have been acquainted with the Preacher ab incunabulis have known him to be unable well to answer most questions in the common Catechism And I durst not tell them of his great insufficiency and ignorance for fear of hindering the success of his labours and being thought envious at other mens acceptance I have known poor tradesmens boys have a great mind of the Ministry and we that were the Ministers of the Countrey contributed to maintain them while they got some learning and knowledge But they had not patience to keep out of the Pulpit till they competently understood their business there And yet many of the religious people valued these as the only men And some of them shortly after turned to some whâ—msical Sect or other and contemned the Ministers that instructed and maintained them And all this while understood not half so much as many of our sober Auditors understood This prepareth the poor people to be hurried into any disorder or division when they no better know how to choose their Guides DIRECT XLII Your belief of the necessary Articles of Faith must be made your own and not taken meerly upon the Authority of any And in all points of Belief or Practice which are of necessity to Salvation you must ever keep company with the Universal Church for it were not the Church if it erred in these And in matters of peace and concord the greater part must be your guide In matters of humane obedience your Governours must be your Guides And in matters of high and difficult speculation the judgment of one man of extraordinary understanding and clearness is to be preferred before both the Rulers and the major Vote IN several sorts of Controversies and Cases you must prefer several sorts of Guides or Judges It is a grand pernicious Errour to think that the same mens judgments must be most followed in every Case And it is of grand importance to know how to value and vary our Guides as the Cases vary And for the most part every man is more to be regarded in his own way of study and profession than wiser men in other matters of other studies and professions As a Lawyer is to be valued in the Law more than the ablest and most illuminated Divine And a Philosopher in Philosophy and a Linguist in the Tongues and a Physician in Physick c. For instance First Suppose it were a Controversie whether Christ be God or whether there be a life to come or a resurrection c. Here no man must be Judge because if you are Christians indeed it is past controversie with you And you believe this upon the evidences of truth which have convinced you And herein the universal Church are your associates Secondly Suppose it be made a Controversie whether you shall use this Translation or version in publick or another or whether you shall meet at this hour or that at this place or that what words of prayer shall be used in publick what persons you shall communicate with in publick and what not c. In all such your lawful Pastors and Rulers are the Judges and their judgments must be preferred before more learned men that are not related to you Thirdly Suppose the question be among many associated Churches whether this Church or Pastor be to be disowned as Heretical or owned by the rest as orthodox Christians Here the judgement of the Pastors of those associated Churches in Councels is to be preferred as of the proper Judges Fourthly Suppose the question were among a free people that want a Pastor whether this man or that or the other being all sufficient shall be the Pastor of that Church Here the major Vote of the people of that Church should be preferred Fifthly Suppose the question be whether 1 Iohn 5. 7. e. g. be Canonical Scripture or the Doxology after the the Lords Prayer c. here a few learned Antiquaries are to be believed before a major Vote or Councel unskilled in those things who contradict them Sixthly Suppose the question were of the Object of predestination of the naturâ—â— of the wills liberty of the concourse of God and determining way of grace of the definition of justification faith c. Here a few well studied judicious Divines must be preferred before Authority and majority of Votes As one clear-sighted man seeth further and better than a thousand that have darker sight So that you must in such vary your guides according to their several capacities and the Case Obedience hearkneth most to Authority Unity and Concord must depend most on some majority of Votes Hard questions must be decided by the best studied Persons and the quickest clearest sights and not by bare Commands or Votes DIRECT XLIII Take heed lest you be tempted to reject a good Cause because it is owned by some bad persons or to like a bad cause when it is owned by men that are otherwise good And that you judge not of the faith and cause by the persons when you should judge of the persons â—ather by the faith and cause I Confess when we have no other reason to encline us to one opinion or to another but only the reputation of them that hold it caeteris paribus in matters of meer godliness the judgment of godly men is much to be preferred before theirs that are ungodly and they are much liker to be in the right But when God hath given us other means to know the truth we must impartially make use of them It too oft falleth out that honest people are like straying sheep If one leap over the hedge the rest will croud and strive to follow him And therefore errours are like Languages and Fashions that follow the Country where they are bred The religious people in Sweden and Denmark have one sort of errour In Holland and Helvetia perhaps they have another In France and Spain and Italy they have others In Greece and Armenia and Ethiopia they have others And it is an easie matter before we are aware to fall into the common epidemical disease and to think This is best because the best and strictest people are of this mind And indeed sin doth seldome get so great an advantage in the world as when it hath won the major vote among the most religious sort of people If but a Peter separate Barnabas and many more will follow And on the other side sometimes the worser sort of men may hold fast the truth and many ignorant persons are apt to reject it because it is owned by men so bad But if Truth be the Religion of their King and Countrey or of their Ancestors in which they were brought up or if their reputation or peace of conscience lie upon it or if the defence of it shew
are not desperate and covereth sins instead of condemning without proof would equally cure them both And let me yet conclude with this double protestation against the carping slanderer who useth to falsifie mens words First That I intend not in all this any flattery of the ungodly or making them better than they are or forbearing plain reproof or Church-discipline nor any unlawful communion with the wicked nor countenancing them in any of their sins nor neglecting to call them to repentance Secondly That while I here name persecution my purpose is not to mark out any persons or party above others or determine who they be that are the persecutors But only to detect the deceitfulness of our hearts when we most complain of it and to shew that wherever that sin is indeed it cometh but from the same principle as sinful separation doth even from the death of Love to others Thirdly and I add that though I here aggravate the persecution of unjust excommunications or separations as robbing men of the priviledge of Christians yet leaving them the common liberties of men and subjects it is none of my purpose to equal this absolutely with that destroying cruelty which leaveth them neither and will not suffer them to enjoy so much liberty as Heathens and Infidels may enjoy or as Paul had under such Act. 28. ult DIRECT LVI Keep still in your thoughts the state of all Christs Churches upon Earth that you may know what a people they are through the world whom Christ hath communion with and may not be deceived by ignorance to separate from allmost all Christs Churches while you think that you separate from none but the few that are about you THousands of well meaning people live as if England were almost all the world And do boldly separate from their Neighbours here which they durst not do if they soberly considered that almost all the Christian world are worse than they But narrow minds who can look but little further with their Reason than with their eye-sight do keep out at once both Truth and Love It is a point that I have often had occasion to repeat and yet will not forbear to repeat it here again It is but about one sixth part of the known world who make any profession of Christianity and are baptized besides how much peopled the unknown part of the world may be we know not Of this sixth part the Ethiopians Egyptians Syrians Armenians the Greek Churches the Muscovites and all the Papists are so great a body that all the Protestants or Reformed Churches are little more than a sixth part of this sixth The Papists being about a fourth or fifth part and the other Christians making up the rest And of these Protestants Sweden Denmark Saxony and many other parts of Germany making up the greatest part are such as are called Lutherans And of the other half which are supposed to be more Reformed there is scarce any of so Reformed lives as these in England and Scotland And among these how great a number are they that you separate from If you look to the Papists their worship is by the Mass If you look to the Muscovians they have a Liturgy much more blameable than ours and have a few Homilies instead of preaching If you look to the Greek Church to the Armenians the Abassines and all the Eastern and the Southern Churches in Asia and Africa they also worship God by Liturgies much more lyable to blame than ours and have but little preaching among them besides Homilies and the Members of their Churches are commonly far more ignorant than the worst of ours even than the rudest part of Wales If you look to the Lutherans they have Liturgies and Ceremonies and Images in their Churches though not adored and have far worse Preachers and of worse lives and more unprofitable preaching than is usually found with us and the people more ignorant and vicious If you look to the remnant called the more Reformed Churches in Holland France Helvetia Germany though they have much less of Liturgy or Ceremonies yet are their Church-members usually as ignorant as ours and more addicted to intemperance and there is no less scandal in their lives than among ours Now this being the true state of the world and though we daily pray that it may be better yet it is no better I would only intreat you but to think of it as it is and that to answer me deliberately these few Questions Quest. 1. Do you believe that all baptized professed Christians not denying any essential part of Christianity are Christs Universal Visible Church Qu. 2. Do you not believe that this Church is only One and that every particular Church and every Christian is a part of it Qu. 3. Do you not believe that it is unlawful in any case whatsoever to separate from it And that to separate from the Universal Visible Church is visibly to separate from Christ Qu. 4. Do you not believe that to give a Bill of Divorce to the Universal Church or to many hundred parts of it or to any one part and to declare that they are none of the Church of Christ is not great arrogancy and injury to men and unto Christ himself Qu. 5. Dare you say before God Let me have no part in any of the prayers of all these Churches on earth who use a Liturgy as culpable as ours because I will have no Communion with them Do you set so light by your part in their prayers Q. 6. If you travelled or lived in Abassia Armenia Greece or any Christian Country where their worship is not Idolatry nor substantially wicked nor they force not the worshippers to any false Oaths subscriptions or other actual sin would you refuse all communion with them and all publick worshipping of God Or would you not rather joyn with them than with no Church at all Qâ— 7. When you remember on the Lords days that now all the Christian world are congregate and are calling upon God and praising him in the name of one Christ and in the profession of one Faith dare you think of being a Body separated from them all And can you think that Christ disowneth them all save you Qu. 8. Can you think it agreeable to the gracious nature design and office of Jesus Christ to cast off and condemn so many hundred parts of the Church-universal and to accept that one part only which you joyn with Judge by his actions and expressions in the Scriptures Qu. 9. If there were bâ—t ten persons of your mind in all the world would you believe that God would save none but those ten or accept the worship of no more or that it were lawful to have communion with none but those ten If not how can you think so in a case so neer it Qu. 10. Can you prove that Christ doth separate from all the Christians of the world which you separate from or that they have no visible Commâ—nion with him or
rest is made as vain where that is the predominant and denominating part Thus over-doing is undoing and thus the superstitious are materially righteous overmuch And not only much cost and pains is lost but the soul corrupted the Church divided Religion debased and endangered and God displeased by ignorant zeal Here note to prevent mistakes First that as God is related to our actions either as the efficient commanding or as the final cause so there is a double superstition One which is the greatest as comprehending the other when that which God never commanded or forbade is feigned to be commanded or forbidden by him The other when we feign him finally to be pleased with a Religious worship of our own invention though we confess it to have no higher an original than our selves Secondly That the matter of this later sort of superstition is either that which God forbiddeth and so is displeased with or that which he hath made and holdeth indifferent and so is neither pleased or displeased with in any moral consideration in it self considered He that ofâ—ereth God a â—â—crifice of sin or things prohibited or of a worthless and indifferent thing and taketh God to be pleased with the later or not displeased with the former doth indeed displease him by either of these conceits And the general prohibition of not adding or diminishing rightly understood may notifie things as under the former head Thirdly But it is no superstition to hold a good thing to be good a bad thing to be bad or an indifferent thing to be indifferent Fourthly Nor yet to determine of those circumstances of worship which God hath left to humane determination being made necessary in genere by nature or scripture Nor yet to judge that God is pleased with such a prudent determination Fifthly it is not superstition to do the same material thing which another doth superstitiously if we have not the same superstitious conceit of it as he hath If a Papist should ananoint the sick as a Sacrament and a Protestant do it as a medicine the former is snperstition and not the later And so in other things Sixthly Whether that indifferent thing remain indifferent to our use which others use to superstition is a case which a judicious collation of circumstances must determine His superstitious use doth not make it simply a sin in any other who hath none of his false conceits and ends else some superstitious persons so abusing meat and drink and cloaths and all things in the world might make all things become unlawful to us or at least deprive us of all our liberty in things indifferent Seventhly If we avoid anothers uperstition as to the form or intention which maketh it superstition and this as a sin we do well If we avoid the matter it self which he useth superstitiously because it is by him made scandalous we do our duty when it is scandalous indeed no contrary greater accident maketh it our duty But if we take it to be simply superstition or sin to do materially the same action which a snperstitious person doth we are superstitious in avoiding his superstitious act For instance a Papist viâ—iteth the Lady of Lauretto as a divine duty This is superstition A Protestant goeth thither upon lawful and necessary business This is no superstition Another Protestant who hath no necessary business there avoideth it that he may not be scandalous and encourage others to it This is well done A Sectary thinketh it superstition or other sin simply to go thither what ever his necessity or intention be This is superstition Or a feigning God to forbid that which he forbiddeth not A Papist fasteth on Friday or avoideth flesh in Lent as a Divine duty superstitiously A Protestant fasteth the same day because an Act of Parliament commandeth it which renounceth the Papists religious end Or because his Physician prescribeth it as necessary for â—is health This is not superstition Another Protestant avoideth it through necessity for his health And another in Popish Countries avoideth it only as scandalous Neither of these are superstitious Another fasteth on a Friday for his own necessity or conveuience as a time which he may lawfully choose And another fasteth on a Friday because the Master of the family or the Pastors of the Church have appointed a fast on that day This is no superstition A Sectary thinketh that it is superstition or some other sin to fast the same day that the Papists do because the Papists do it superstitiously This is superstition unless in the case of scandal as aforesaid The multitudes of superstitions by which the Papists or any others have corrupted and debased the Christian Religion I shall not nâ—w digress to mention But only touch upon a few instances of the superstitions of those godly persons of this age to whom I am now writing To shew them that it is the Religious sort that are the common beginners of superstition by over-doing out of a mistaken zeal or fear of sinning I refer the Reader to Biâ—â—on for full proof But here again I must first crave the patience of those that love not errour better than information and desire them not to be too angry with me for telling them what I confidently hold though it diffâ—â— from the opinions of many whom I greatly reverence and honour while I profess withall that I do it not in a Magisterial imposing way nor as slighting the persons from whom I differ but as offering my brethren that Light which I think needful to their own and to the Churches cure And I will thank them if they will do the like by me if I be guilty of any superstitious errour First the Scripture telleth us of no Church-Elders but what were ordained and of none but such as were of the same Office with the preaching Pastors or Elders of none that had not authority to baptize and administer the Lords supper Nor doth Church-history tell us of any other as a Divine office But when one Assembly had many Elders or Pastors those that were best gifted for publike Sermons did preach and the rest did help to rule the Church and to catechize and instruct and visit particular families and persons and other parts of the office as there was cause But now we have concluded that there is a distinct office of Ruling-Elders who need not be ordained and who have no power to baptize or to administer the Lords Supper This I think is a superstition For we feign God to have made a Church-office which he never made And though we must honour and hold Communion with the Churches which have this blemish yet still it cannot be freed from superstition Secondly God hath required nothing but profession of the Baptismal Covenant to prove a mans title to his enterance and priviledges in the universal Church And a consent to our Relation to the particular Churches to our membership in them But mistaking-zeal hath accounted this too loose a way and hath
devised stricter terms Many must have other proofs of Godliness besides the understanding voluntary assent and consent to the Baptismal Covenant Yea of those that are in the universal Church already before they can be admitted to its priviledges or to a particular Church And which is worse they here give the Church no certain rule instead of Christs rule which they cast by But one man requireth one account and another requireth another and the rule and test doth vary as the charity or prudence of men do vary This is a superstition which hath already torn the Churches in pieces and is going on still to do worse And it s raised by mistaking-zeal Thirdly that none that at the same time or before are not entered members of some particular Church may by Baptism be entered into the Universal Church is a superstition which some good men have taken up Fourthly that he who is a member only of the Universal Church may not in transitu be admitted to communion with particular Churches unless he bring a Certificate from a particular Church of which he â—ometime was a Member Fifthly that the Pastor may not lawfully receive any member into a particular Church without the consent of the Major Vote of the people Sixthly that a Minister of Christ may not by Baptism receive any into the Universal Church but by the consent of the Major Vote of some particular Church Seventhly that no man is a Minister or Commissioned Officer of Christ for the discipling and baptizing of those without the Church unless he be also the Pastor of some particular Church or at least have been such Eighthly that the people do not only châ—sse the persons who shall be their Pastors but also give them their office or power Ninthly that the people have the power of the Keyes or of Church-Government by Vote Tenthly that the people of a particular Church do give authority to men to be Ministers in the Vniversal Church and to preach and baptize among those that are without Eleventhly that he that is a member of one Church may not communicate with any otâ—er but by the consent of the Pastor and people of that one Twelfthly That he that is a member of a Church may not remove his relation to another Church when his occasions and personal benefit require it and the publick good of many is not hurt by it without the consent of the Pastor and people of that Church Thirteenthly that it is simply unlawful to use a form of prayer or to read a prayer on a book Fourteenthly That if a School-master impose a form upon a schollar or a parent on a child it maketh it become unlawful Fifteenth that our presence maketh us guilty of all the errours or unmeet expressions of the Minister in publick worship At least if we before know of them And therefore that we must joyn with none whose errours or mis-expressions we know of before Sixteenth that as oft as a Minister is removed from his particular flock he becometh but a private men and is no longer a Minister and Officer of Christ. Seventeenth that we are guilty of the sins of all unworthy or scandalous Communicants if we communicate with them Though their admission is not by our fault Eighteenth that he whose judgement is against a Diocesan Church may not lawfully joyn with a Parish Church if the Minister be but subject to the Diocesan Nineteenth that whatsoever is unlawfully commanded is not lawful to be obeyed Twenty that it is unlawful to do any thing in the worship of God which is imposed by men and is not commanded it self in the Scripture As what Translation of the Scripture shall be read what meetre and what Tune of Psalms shall be in use what hour and at what place the Church shall meet Pulpits Tables Fonts c. Printing the Bible c. dividing it into Chapters verses c. These and more such as these are superstitions which some religious people have brought up And among those who are of another opinion wil speak against all the fore-mentioned superstâ—tâ—ons there are too many introduced which they are as fond of because they are their own ☞ As that all the Pastors of the Protestant Churches abroad who had only the election of the people and the ordination of Parochial Pastours and not of Diocesan Bishops are no true Ministers of Christ but Lay-men That therefore those Churches are no true Churches in a political sense and as organized That therefore their Baptism is unlawful and a nullity and all those nations are no baptized Christians Though the Papists who hold the validity of Lay-mens baptizing do here censure more easily That it is not lawful to communicate in such Churches and receive the Sacrament of the Lords supper from such Ministers That those Countries which are baptized by such should be rebaptized That those Ministers who are ordained by such should be re-ordained That it is unlawful to joyn with those Churches where the Minister prayeth only from a Habit of of prayer called extemporary without a fore-known form because they know not but he mayx put somewhat unlawful into his prayers and because the mind cannot so readily try and approve and consent to words which are hastily uttered and not known to the hearers before These and abundance other superstitions some men would introduce on the other side And by all such inventions fathered upon God and made a part of Religion the minds of men are corrupted and disquieted and the Churches disturbed and divided by departing from primitive simplicity I shall only now propose this to the consideration of those of the first sort Whether they are sure that these superstitions of theirs may not run the round as other superstitions have done before them Or some of them at least What if the next age should turn them into a dead formality And what if the next age after that should make Laws to enforce them And then Godly people first scruple them and then flye from them as discerned superstition And then the worst men bâ— glad of that advantage to persecute those that would not submit to them By this circulation if the same men who invented un-ordained Elders new and needless Church-Covenants c. could but live two or 300 years they might come to be among the number of those who cry out of them as superstitious and suffer persecution because they will not use them Yea there are among you now many things of a lower nature which some dare scarce plainly say God commandeth or forbiddeth and yet they are censorious enough about them As heretofore many were against wearing the hair of any considerable length Against wearing cuffs upon a day of humiliation Against dressing meat or feasting at least on the Lords day which is a day of Thanksgiving of divine institution and held That it is necessary to feast twice at least upon a day of Thanksgiving of mans appointment That a Minister should
1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3 4. II. On the other side if any withdraw from our Communion let us not too hastily accuse them of schism And when we do let us well distinguish of schism and not go further from them than they have gone from us and to be our selves the Schismaticks while we oppose it There are many cases in which local separation may be lawful First As if our callings justly remove us to another place or Country Secondly If our spiritual advantage bind us to remove to a better Minister and more suitable society when we are free Thirdly if our lawful Pastors be turned out of the place and we follow them and turn away but from Usurpers Fourthly If the Pastors turn Hereticks or Wolves Fifthly If the publick good of the Churches require my removal Sixthly If any sin be imposed on me and I be refused by the Church unless I will commit it In these and some other such cases a remove is lawful And when it is not lawful yet it may be but such a blemish in the departers as the departerâ— find in the Church which they depart from which will on neither side dis-oblige them from Christian Love and such Communion as is due with neighbour Churches There is a schism from the Church and a schism in the Church There is a schism from almost all the Churches in the world and a schism from some one or few particular Churches There is a separation upon desperate intollerable principles and reasons and a separation upon some weak but tollerable ones These must not be conâ—ounded The Novatians were tolerated and loved by the sober Catholicks Emperours and others when many others were otherwise dealt with If any good Christians in zeal against sin do erroneously think that an undisciplin'd Church should be forsaken that they may exercise the discipline among themselves which Christ hath appointed It is the duty of that Church to take this warning to repent of her neglect of discipline and then to love and honour those thâ—t have though upon mistake perhaps withdrawn But if when they have occasioned the withdrawing by their corruption they will prosecute the persons with hatred revising slanders contempt or persecution and continue impenitent in their own corruption they will be the far greater Schismaticks and err a more pernicious errour DIRECT LX. When the Love-killing spirit either cruel or Dividing is abroad among Christians be not idle nor discouraged spectators nor betray the Churches Peace by a few lazy wishes but make it a great part of your labour and Religion to revive Love and peace and to destroy their contraries And let nâ— censures or contempt of any Sect or party take you off But account it an honour to be a Martyr for Love and Peace as well as for the Faith OF all parts of Religion I know not how unhappily it comes to pass men think that Negatives are sufficient for the service of Peace If a man live not unpeaceably and do no man wrong nor provoke any to wrath this is thought a sufficient friend to peace And therefore it is no wonder that Love and Peace so little prosper When Satan and his instruments do all that they can by fraud and force against it and we think it enough to stand by and do no harm It is the Peace-makers that Christ pronounceth blessed for theirs is the kingdome of heaven Math. 5. 9. Here he that is not with Christ and the Church is against it Why should we think that so much actual diligence in hearing reading praying c. is necessary to the promoting of other parts of holiness and nothing necessary to Love and Peace but to do no hurt but be quiet patients Is it not worthy of our labour And is not our labour as needful here as any where Judge by the multitude and quality of the adversaries and by their power and success Is it a mark of hypocrisie to go no further in duties of Godliness than the safety of our reputation will give us leave And is it not so in the duties of Love and Peace If the Kingdome of God be in Righteousness and Peace then what we would do to promote Gods Kingdome we must do for them Rom. 14. 17. And if dividing Christs Kingdome is the way to destroy it and Satan himself is wiser than to divide his own Kingdome Math. 12. then what ever we would do to save the Kingdom of Christ all that we must do to preserve and restore the peace of it and to heal its wounds I know if you set your selves in good earnest to this work both parties who are guilty will fall upon you with their censures at least One side will say of you that you are a favorer of the Schismaticks and Sectaries because you oppose them not with their unhappy weapons love them not as little as they As they say of Socrates and Sozomen the Historians that they were Novatians because they spake truth of them called them honest men And as they said of Martyn and Sulpitius Severâ—s that they were favourers of unlearned Fanaticks and of the Priscilian Gnosticks because they were not as hot against them as Ithacius and Idacius but refused to be of their Councels or communicate with them for inviting the Emperour to the way of blood and corporal violence And the other side will say that you are a temporizer and a man of too large principles because you separate not as they do And perhaps that you are wise in your own eyes because you fall in with neither Sect of the extreams But these are small things to be undergone for so great a duty And he that will not be a peace-maker upon harder terms than these I fear will scarce be meet for the reward I again repeat Iam. 3. 17. The wisdome from above is first pure and then Peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Rom. 12. 18. If it be possible as much as in you lyeth live peaceably with all men Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness Obj. But is it not as good sit still as labour to no purpose What good have ever any peace-makers done among differing Divines Answ. A grievous charge upon Divines and Christians Are they the only Bedlams or drunken men in the world If Princes fall out or if neighbours fall out arbitrators and peace-makers labour not alwayes in vain But I answer you It is not in vain Peace-breakers would have yet prevailed more and made the Church unhappier than it is if some Peace-makers had not hindered them The minds of thousands are seasoned with the Love of Peace and kept from cruelties and Schisms by the wholesome instructions and examples of Peace-makers And it is worth our labour to honour so holy and sweet a thing as Love and Peace and to bear our
and what errours are intoâ—erable Yet as long as it is certaâ—n that such a difference there is and that accordingly men must do doth it not rather concern both parties to search after it and practise as far as they can discern than to cast away Reason because there is a difficulty in using it aright Just thus the Papists do with us about the like notion of fundamentals or essentials of Christianity They call to us for a just enumeration of the fundamentals and because they find so much difficulty there as may find words and work for a perverse wrangler they insult as if they might therefore take either all things or nothing to be essentials and of necessity As if Christianity had no constitutive essentiall parts and so were nothing And when they have all done they are forced themselves in their writings to distinguish the fundamentals essentials and universally necessary points from the rest as Daveâ—pâ—rt Costerus Bellarmine Holden c. do And doth it not then concern them as much as us to know which they be What if it be a hard thing to enumerate just how many bits a man may eat and not be a glutton or how many drops a man may drink and be no drunkard or just what meats and drinks must be used to avoid exceâ—s in quality or just what sort of stuffes or silks or cloth or fashions may be used without excess in apparel will you thence infer that men may eat and drink any thing in quantity and quality or else nothing or that he may wear any thing or must go naked What if you cannot justly enumerate what herbs or roots or drugs are wholsome and what are unwholsome which purge too much and which too little Must therefore all be used indifferently or none If I am not able to enumerate just how many faults or weaknesses may be tollerable in my servants Must I therefore have none till I have those that are faultless or else must I allow them to do any thing that they list Though just at the verge of evil even that which is good may be matter of doubt yet God in Nature and Scripture hath given us sufficient light for an upright safe peaceable life Thirdly And if ever Baptism had been well understood by these objectors the essentials of Christianity had been understood Hath not Christ himself determined who they be that shall be admitted into the Church and numbered with Christians in the very tenor of the Baptismal Covenant And did not the Church take the Creed to be sufficient for its proper use which was to be the matter of the Christian profession as to the Articles of faith to be believed And yet are we now to seek in the end of the world what Christianity is and what are the essentials of our faith and who is to be received as a professor of Christianâ—ty But this is a subject more largely to be handled if Rulers will permit it And in the mean time because it is not the Magistrates but the Pastors that I am now speaking to I shall pretermit the most which is to be said and only acquaint you in the conclusion that one of these following wayes must be chosen I. Either to tollerate all men to do what they wil which they will make a matter of conscience or religion And then some may offer their children in sacrifice to the devil and some may think they do God service in killing his servants â—nd some may think it their duty to perswade people that there is no God nor life to come nor duty nor sin but all things are left to our own wills as lawless Secondly Or else you must tollerate no errour or fault in religion And then you must advise what measure of penalty you will inflict If but a little then you tollerate the errour still For they that err will err still and they that conscienciously pray as Daniel did Dan. 6. or forbear to obey the King as the three Confessours did Dan. 3. will do so still for all your penalty And so there is no cure but a tolleration still But if you inflict upon them banishment or death you must resolve that the King shall dwel alone and have no subjects and so be no King nor have any servant and so be no Masters nor endure so much as a wife and so be no husband and if he have children must use them as K. Philip of Spain did his eldest son Prince Charles and so be no Father It can be no less than this at last Or if you will imprison them every subject must be in prison and then who shall be the Jaylor and who shall find them food Thirdly Or else you must deal partially and unjustly and condemn one while you acquit another for the same fault or condemn one sort of errours while you allow to tollerate others as great As if all were to be punished who believe not Christs descent into Hell while all are tollerated who deny the rest of the Articles of the Creed Fourthly Or else you must make sure that all the Kings subjects shall be born under the same Planets and of the same parents and have the same temperament and complexion and the same teachers and company and all hear the same words and all see the same objects and all have the same callings employments interests passions temptations advantages and the same degree of natural capacity and of grace That so there may be no difference or defect in their apprehensions Fifthly or else you must â—istinguish and say that some are tollerable and shall be tollerated and some errours arâ— intollerable and shall not be tollerated in the tongue I mean for you must tollerate them in the mind whether you will or not And then you will find a necessity of discerning as well as you can the tollerable from the intollerable And if so for Christs sake and his Churches sake and your own sake bethink you whether Christ be not the King of his Church and whether he hath given his Church no Laws for its Constitution and Administration By which we must try who are to be the members of himself and his Church and to have Communion with himself and one another and who are to be rejected and avoided And whether the Holy Ghost iâ— not the Author of the Church-establishment in the Scriptures And whether we can expect more infallible deciders of such cases than Christ and his Spirit and Apostles And whether the Church be not the same thing now as then and and its universal constitution and necessary administration the same And whether the primitive Church or ours be the purer and more exemplary And whether it would do Kings and Kingdomes and the souls of men any dangerous hurt to have all Christians hold their Union and Communion just on the same terms as they did under Peter and Paul and all the Apostles Or at least whether it be worthy all the calamitous divisions
in Christendome and the blood of the many hundred thousands that have for conscience sake been shed and the enduring of the outcries of the imprisoned and banished and their prayers to heaven for deliverance from mens hands and the leaving of such a name on record to posterity as is usually left in History on the authors of such sufferings besides the present regret of mind in the calamities of others and the sad divisions and destruction of Charity which cometh hereupon I say whether it be worth the suffering of all this and O how small a part is this and all to keep our Churches from the primitive simplicity and from the same way and Communion which Peter and Paul and the Churches of their times established and practised Shall we speak so highly of Christ and his Apostles and the sacred Scriptures and yet think all this blood and misery division and distraction worthy to be endured rather than our Union and Communion should be held on the terms which they did appoint and practise or rather than such terms should be tolerated among us I know what is said against all this But this is no place to answer all that is said by such as cannot see how to answer themselves in so clear a case DIRECT XII Remember that the Pastoral Government is a Work of LIGHT and LOVE and what cannot be done by these is not at all to be done by you And therefore you must make it your great study and employment first to Know more than the people and to Love them more than they Love you or one another and then to convince them by unresistable evidence of truth and to cause the warmth of your Love to be felt by them in every word and act of your Ministration As the Miâ—k is waâ—m by the natural heat of the mother and so is fitted for the nourishment of the child AS the Gospel is the revelation of the Love of God and it is a message of Love which we have to bring and a work of Love which we cooperate to effect so it is a spirit of Love which must be our principle and it is an office and work of Love which we are called to and the manner must be answerable to the work Faith is the Head and Love is the Heart of the new Creature And as there is no Light in our office and work if there be no Faith and evidence of Truth so there is no Life in it if there be no Love God himself in the great work of our Redemption Christ in his Incarnation life and suffering hath taught the world that the manifestation of Love is the way to win Love and to cure enmity And he is not worthy the name of a Minister of Christ who hath not learned this lesson and doth not imitate his Lord in this That as our office participateth subordinately of his office both Ruling Teaching Priestly so we may participate of that Spirit of Love which was his Principle and must be ours If it be not a work of Love which we do it is not the work of a Minister of Christ and Preacher of the Gospel Can you well Preach so great Love of Christ to men without Love if you shew not Love to them you can never expect to win their Love to your selves And when you overmuch desire to be loved your selves as which of you doth not you pretend that it is to make your endeavours more successful when you perswade them to the love of Christ. And doubtless a just Love to the person of the Preacher is a good advantage to this success And in good sadness can you believe that any thing is so likely to win Love as Love or did experience ever teach you that reproach or contempt or hurting men was the effectual way to make them Love you This way hath been long tried by the Mountebanks in Italy Spain and many other Countries but alas with what success Indeed solitudinem faciunt paâ—â—m vocant as Tertullian saith When they have killed those that they had first oppressed they affrighted the rest to say they loved them and really won the Love of their surviving blood-thirsty enemies but that was all If the new knack of transfusion of blood cannot do this feat by letting in the blood of a Spaniel who loveth him that beateth him when you let out their own phlebotomy will never do it Account then that Sermon that converse that reproof that discipline in which Love is not apparently predominant to be but a lifeless useless thing as to the winning of a sinners heart to Christ. Though I deny not but when the case of the sinner appeareth desperate the severity of Discipline in casting him off may express more of another affection as to him But that is because in so doing you must shew greater Love to the Church which must be saved from the infection But perhaps you 'l say They despise me and injure me and follow others and admire them who deserve not so well of them as I do Answ. First we are most of us too partial to be competent Judges of our own deserts Selfishness too often maketh us think better of our selves our preaching and our lives than there is cause And it too often filleth men with envy against those whose greater worth and better labours cause them to be preferred by the hearers And envy usually breeds detraction I know that many giddy persons heap up Teachers to them selves and follow seducers coutemn the faithfullest servants of the Lord. But I know withall that there is usually a convincing power in the preaching of able experienced Ministers which is not to be found in the cold formal discourses of an hypocrite And that there is a suitable principle in true spiritual experienced Christians which causeth them to relish this spiritual experimental preaching much more than the more-adorned carkasâ—es of formality And seriousness is still acceptable to serious Christians Yea even to common natural men unless the malicious possess them by slanders with prejudice against it Now if this should be the cause that others are preferred before you O how heynous were your sin As if it were not enough for you to neglect your duty and to do the work of God deceitfully and injure the souls of men in a cause of such importance but you must also impenitently justifie such a crime and also maligne those that have more of the grace and gifts of God than you and that do more to help to save mens souls Secondly But suppose that your deserts be as great as you conceive and their love to you as little I would further ask you First is it for their own sake who thus hinder their own edification by it that you are troubled at them or is it for your selves because you have not the respect which is your due If it be the later I need not tell you what it is for Ministers of Christ
of Israel that when they were rooted out the land should keep her Sabbaths Was that a mercy or a judgement Would you so cure Sabbath-breaking and disorder and take a solitude for Peace Fourthly is not the work to be done the saving of mens souls And shall any be saved against his will And then should not all force be meerly such as is subservient to the ends of Love Fifthly will stripes change the judgement in matters of Religion Sixthly is he any better than a Knave or an hypocrite who will say or swear or do that through fear which he verily thinketh God forbiddeth him and is displeâ—sed for and feareth it may damn his soul Seventhly Is it the honour and felicity of soâ—ls to be such or of Church or Kingdome to be composed of such Eighthly is not a conscientious fear of sinning against God a thing well pleasing to him and necessary to mens salvation and to the Churches welfare and to the safety of the lives of Kings and of the Kingdoms peace And is there not then great cause to cherish it though not the errours that abuse it And should not all care be used to cure the ungodly world of impiety and â—earedness of conscience which makes them make a mock of sin And if conscience were once debauched and mastered by fear and the people be brought to prefer their their fleshly interest before their spiritual and to fear mens punishment more than Gods would not such debauched consciences have a great advantage to make such men the masters of the estates and lives of others And are the lives of Kings and the estates of neighbours and the peacâ— of Kingdomes competently secured where God is not feared more than fines or corporal penalties Ninthly if force be so far followed till it have changed mens judgements or conquered conscience or exterminated and destroyed all that will not be thus changed or conquered who differ from superiors in unnecessary things will it not all things well considered prove a dear price for that which might be had at much cheaper rates Are not the most conscientious necessary helpers of the Ministery by their example to cure the unconscionableness of the rest And therefore should be countenanced encouraged Tenthly would not the cessation of unnecessary impositions cast out the most of the scruples of conscientious people and cease the saddest divisions of the Churches If Rome could have been content with a Religion of no more Articles than the Apostles was and would on those terms have held Communion with other Churches O what rends and ruines had it prevented in the Christian world Are not the old Apostolical rules and terms sufficient to the safety and peace of Christians Were those worthy persons B. Vsher B. Hall B. Davenant B. Morton with the Bergii the Crocii and all the great pacificators deceived who wrote and preached and cried out to the world that so much as all Christians are agreed in is sufficient matter for their concord if they would lay it upon no more vid. Vsh. serm before King Iames at Wansted Or do you think it was their meaning Let all Rulers multiply unnecessary scrupled impositions in their own dominion and for scrupling them let them silence imprison and banish at home And then let them send to their neighbour Churches for Unity Peace and Concord and tell them that the subscribing to the Scriptures generally and to the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue and Sacraments particularly are terms sufficient to this end Supposing that good order deconcy and peace be kept up by suitable discipline both Ecclesiastical and Civil And why would not this serve for all the world Or why should more scrupled things be called necessary to order and decency than indeed are so My desire of the Churches peace which caused me to write all the rest provoketh me to touch this subject briefly which will scarce endure to be touched DIRECT XIV When you reprove those weak Christians who are subject to errours disorders or divisions reflect not any disgrace or contempt upon Religion and conscientious strictness but be the more careful to proclaim the innocency and honour of serious Godliness lest the prophane and ungodly take occasion to despise it by your opening the faults of such as are taken for the zealous Professours of it HOnest hearers take most notice what is the main scope which the Preacher aimeth at and the business which he driveth on Some men take occasion by the errours and faults of such as have seemed seriously religious to make all seriousness and diligence for our salvation to seem to the hearers to be meer hypocrisie and not only a needless but a hurtful thing and to perswade the people that an ignorant carelesness of their souls with good neighbour-hood quietness and mirth is better than all this ado Which is no more or less than to preach for Atheism and Ungodliness in practise so it be veiled with the hypocritical profession of the Christian faith And this unhappy sort of Preachers do seldome miss to fall upon the real and supposed miscarriages of men that are or seem religious in some part of their sermons and familiar discourse which being done to so odious an end as to bring seriouâ— Religiousness it self into dislike it maketh the best of the hearers abhor such reflections because they abhor the scope of them Believing that Holiness need not to be preached against in the world till mens hearts are more enclined to it and till all its enemies abate their opposition And if it were to be done yet not by a Minister of Christ He that preacheth against Holiness how covertly soever preacheth against God Whereas if a mans designe be to promote Religion the sober hearers though partly guilty will bear his reproof of the faults of professours with much more patience when they see it is for God and godliness that he doth it I speak by experience and must give them this testimony that I have many and many a time poured out my soul in earnest reprehensions of the errours and disorders of rash dividing zeal and the hearers have taken all with patience when the same persons could not bear the tenth part so much from some preachers whom they imagined to aim in it at the depressing of the honour of true and serious religion Therefore be sure what sort of men soever you are reproving that you say nothing which tendeth to make the ignorant or ungodly sort of your auditors think that it is zeal or strictness or careful diligence about their souls which you condemn But still put in sufficient caution for the necessity of a holy heart and life DIRECT XV. Discourage not the Religious from so much of Religious exercises in their families or with one another as is meet for them in their private stations BY this means many Pastors have been very great causes of schisms and separations Some of them are so carnal and selfish that they make