after they have once drunk of this cup of abomination what hope can there be that any thing hereafter should be done right among them 8. And lastly because after so many Councels things have not been the better but the worse in the Church through their means for it is not dead laws and orders wrtten by men will do the true Church any good but the living law of God written in their hearts by the Spirit as God hath promised to do saying I will write my law in their hearts and put in it their inward parts For as the law of sin hath been written in our natures to corrupt us so the law of the Spirit of life must be written also in our natures to reform us Wherefore after all their Decrees Laws Rules Orders c. the Church commonly hath been so far from being bettered that it hath become more ignorant of the Word superstitious formal prophane then before All these things being seriously considered the Church may very well want Councels Now if any shall say Yea but had not the Church a Councel in the Apostles times as we see Act. 15 and did not they order and decree matters in the Church I answer the Church had a Councel then but far differing from the Councels now adaies for 1. That Councel was not called nor packed together by secular power but freely met together by the general consent o◠the Church of the faithful For by the Believers at Antioch it was agreed that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem about the matters in controversie 2. This Councel did not consist only of the Apostles and Elders but of the brethren also and whole Church and the whole Church as well as the Apostles and Elders did agree and order what was done in that matter 3. That free Councel consisting of the Apostles Elders and Brethren did not determine any thing by their meer power and authority but debated the business by the word by the word concluded it And so it was not the Authority of the Councel did any thing but the Authority of the Word that did all in that matter as you may see in the fore named place And in these regards that Councel differs from ours Now if notwithstanding all this the Church upon some occasions desire a Councel for herein as in all other outward things it is free it must minde these things 1. That it hath power it self to call one as the Primitive Church had And what men can object against this of worldly Princes calling them let them not say what they did but what they ought to have done 2. As the Church it self is to chuse its Councel so it is to chuse it out of its self For the Councels of the Church are to be chosen out of the Church and not of the world out of the faithful and not out of unbelievers For the natural man that neither knows nor savours the things that be of God can be of no use here but he must be able to know the word of God from the doctrines of men and to separate the precious from the vile that is employed in this matter And so the natural carnal and litter 〈◊〉 man must be declined here where the things are wholly spiritual and divine and the spiritual man onely who speaks spiritual things by a spiritual rule must be heard and regarded and so a man must first be of the Church ere he can be of the Councel 3. As the Church is to chuse men out of it self for its Councel so likewise it is to chuse brethren as well as Elders and Ecclesiastical men are not to meddle alone in the matters of the Church and to thrust out other Christians as if they were necessarily to be concluded in and by them 4. In chusing Elders and Brethren to this work great care is to be had that they chuse not men of worldly power or place lest wordly power and Authority and honour might seem to bear sway in the things of the Kingdom of God but they are rather to make choyce of men destitute of these things that it may appear whatever they do is done only by the clear evidence of the word and influence of the spirit and so onely by the law of love all secular power and force being excluded 5. The Church hath power to judge of all Doctrines and that both of its Officers and Councels The Clergie and Ecclesiastical men have been wont to challenge to themselves the knowledge and judgement of Doctrines and have excluded ordinary Christians from it whereas in truth the judgement of doctrine belongeth to the people and not to the Ministers And all Christs Sheep have power to judge of the doctrine the Ministers teach whether it be Christs Voyce or a Strangers John 10. and Christ commanded them to take heed of false Prophets which come to them in sheeps cloathing being inwardly ravening wolves Mat. 7. And the Apostle commands them to try the spirits whether they be of God and hath said Let one or two speak and the rest judge 1 Cor. 14. c. by which with many other Scriptures it is evident That Ministers are not to judge of doctrine for the People but the People are to judge of the doctrine of the Ministers and according as they find it to be of God or not of God to receive it or reject it For every one is to be saved by his own faith and not by another mans and so is to take heed how he hear the things of faith at his own peril and he is not if he will be wise to salvation to take up things on trust in a matter that concerns either his eternal life or eternal death 2. As the Church is to judge of the Doctrine of its Officers so also of its Councels For the Church judges of them and their doctrine also by the word and doth not take all that they determine for truth to be certain and unquestionable Yea in the first Councel of the Apostles Act. 15. Other Churches and Christians had both liberty and power to try both the doctrine and Spirit of the very Apostles in that matter and were not to swallow it down whole as they say because the Apostles had determined it and they were holy men but the faithful were to judge whether or no they had judged according to the word and if not they might have resisted them as Paul did Peter And Paul gives this liberty to Christians yea we have it from Christ himself whether Paul had allowed it or no to try the very Apostles themselves and the very Angels of Heaven whether they bring the right word or no for Christ commanded the Apostles to teach that Nations to observe and do whatsoever he had commanded them and nothing else and saith Paul If I or an Angel from heaven bring you any other doctrine let him be accursed So that the Church
is a mistake among some brethren to call the Congregations of Christ by the names of men though godly and eminent and to say Mr. such an ones Church or Mr. such an ones Church and so to put the Church under several Heads which works distinction and division whereas they should rather say the Church of Christ in such or such a place it being wherever it is one Church under one Head and Governor Jesus Christ And therefore let us know that it is part of the mystery of iniquity for the Church or faithful to have one or moe visible Heads to go to not being contented with Christ alone And though this hath been and will be the practice of the carnal Church yet the spiritual Church and people do only own and have recourse to Christ their true and spiritual Head And so they all living as one body and members one of another under one onely Head live all in invincible peace and unity whereas difference of outward Heads and Ringleaders alwayes breeds difference and divisions among Christians The eighth Rule is For the true Church to keep out all error in Doctrine seeing this breeds not onely division but confusion and ruine also in the Church Wherefore the Congregations of Christ must be the more careful and watchful in this matter When some false Apostles taught at Antioch that Except Christians were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved which was a most dangerous error against Christ and the Gospel the whole Church first at Antioch and presently after at Jerusalem met together to keep it out which accordingly through God they did So that what ever Doctrines are evidently against the Word of truth and Gospel of our salvation the Church is to take care to keep them out as it loves its own peace and unity Now if any say By what means may the Church be able to keep out error I Answer It may certainly keep out Error by these means 1. Let the Church suffer none to teach among them that are not themselves taught of God though they have never so great natural parts and never so much humane learning For when they are the Teachers that are taught of God they will only teach the truth which they have heard and learned from God And the line of every mans teaching must extend no further But when they teach that are not so taught they will in many things vary from the truth as it is in Jesus yea and under a form of sound doctrine will give forth an unsound and false sense to the deceiving of many that are weak and simple and so under pretence of Christ will utter the voice of a stranger and endanger the mis-leading of some sheep for a time 2 Let the faithful examine every thing that is taught by the Word of God and not receive doctrines upon trust from their Teachers who through the reputation of their learning and holiness may easily lead them unawares into error And therefore let the Church compare the present Doctrine Preached and Printed and generally received with the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles which without doubt is sure and certain seeing those holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit And whatever Doctrine shall be found contrary to or different from that Doctrine let them reject it as reprobate silver seeing the Church is to be built upon no other foundation of Doctrine then that of the Prophets and Apostles And though through Gods especial goodness the Doctrine of the Gospel be again revived among us at this present time yet ought we not to sit down content with the present state of things but to search and see if our present Doctrine do not yet err from the Primitive purity and brightness of the Gospel and that in many considerable points and whether some or many corruptions do not yet remain among us to be purged out by the light and truth of the Apostles Doctrine Wherefore to conclude this thing let us know that the Church cannot possibly keep out Error longer then it precisely keeps it self to the bare and naked Word of God and tries all Doctrines of their Teachers by it 3. The Church that it may be able to keep out Errors must desire of God the Spirit which he hath promised that this Spirit of Truth may lead them into the true and spiritual knowledge of the word and understanding of the minde of Christ For no man can make any right Judgement of the word he hears or reads without the teaching of the Spirit And by this Anointing as we shall be certainly taught which is Truth so also we shall discern which is Error and that by so clear and true a light that we shall not mistake Wherefore Christians must take heed that they do not think with carnal people that the ability to judge of divine truths and humane and Antichristian errors depends upon humane learning Arts and Sciences for thus it will come to pass that they judging themselves unable to judge of matters of Religion will wholly leave the judgement of them to those whom they conceive after this manner learned whereby they leave open a wide door through which the Teachers may bring in all sorts of Errors upon them But Believers must know that the gift of the Spirit onely without all humane learning is sufficient to teach us perfectly which is Truth and which Error and to make us able to judge of all doctrines of men and Angels and that all humane learning in the world without the Spirit is not able to do this And so a poor plain Country man by the Spirit which he hath received is better able to judge of Truth and Error touching the things of God then the greatest Philosopher Scholar or Doctor in the world that is destitute of it 4 Another notable means to keep Error out of the Church is to restore in it that most antient Gospel-Ordinance of Prophesying which how much soever it have been out of use during the reign of Antichrist yet is no other then the very commandment of the Lord as Paul witnesseth 1 Cor. 14. 31. where he saith When the whole Church is met together ye may all prophesie one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted and adds vers 3â— If any man think himself to be a Prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord Wherefore brethren labour that ye may prophesie So that prophesying in the Church is Gods own Commandment as every Prophet and spiritual man must acknowledge Now this divine Ordinance of prophesying is three wayes helpful to keep out Error 1. For first When one man only speaks in the Church and no man is suffered to speak besides him as he is very subject to be puffed up and to conceit that wisdom onely dwels with him so he iâ— more ready to vent the
it doth not belong Being in the mean time really against Magistracy further then it is serviceable to their own ends Whereas we reckon Magistracy not less Magistracy no less the Ordinance of GOD though we suffer under it and by it This Clergy-Antichristian power where ever it is will still sit upon the power of the Nation the power of Anti-christ so domineering over the powers of the World that none but the power of CHRIST can cast it off That will still be uppermost what power soever is supream Besides all the experience of former Ages which is the greatest wonder in the World that men consider not GOD gives you sparklings enough of it in this Age some preaching That the government of the Church which they make outward and visible and over mens estates bodies and lives belongs not to King nor Parliament but to the Ministers and their Elders and better it is there should be no government at all say they then not in their hands by whom it should be And here lies the Mystery of Iniquity in this That they make the whole Kingdom a Church then require a power authority and jurisdiction in their Church-Kingdom which the Magistrate is not to deal withal but themselves Whereas we acknowledge the whole power of the Kingdom to belong to the Magistrate and onely give unto CHRIST the power of his own Kingdom which is not of the World but spiritual and heavenly And here also fully to deliver my self from misapprehensions I understand not by the Church of CHRIST any company of men whatsoever who under the notion of a Church or Saints or any other title may plead priviledge or exemption of their lives liberties or estates from the power of the Civil Magistrate for that were to justifie the Papal Prelatical or any other government of a newer name which under pretence of Jus Divinum shall set up and exercise an outward and visible power and jurisdiction free and exempted from the authority and power of the civil Magistrate which I utterly both deny and detest as Antichristian And therefore I humbly represent how prejudicial this may prove to you in the end to suffer a Generation of men in the Kingdom under the name either of Church or Clergy whose power preferment interest is different and excentrical from the power welfare and interest of the Kingdom and what a ballance they may prove against the State where they live in turning and tumultuous times as they themselves know so I hope you clearly perceive it as well as they How they already dare lift up the Head against you who sees not How do they manifest their discontents against you in Pamphlets and Pulpits in their Sermons and Prayers because you have not setled the Government they have studied out for you as Jus Divinum and the certain and unchangeable minde of GOD though they can neither make it out to your selves nor to any body else by the Word that it is so And how do they labour to instill into the people their own discontents perswading them you have done nothing at all because you have not done all that ever they would have you do though you can see neither Scripture nor reason for it And for this cause rendring you every where odious to the people Many other things besides do they scramble up and use against you which they conceive may make for your disadvantage and dis-interest in the people because they think they shall never get much higher except they make you a little lower for they must according to the law of Antichrist set their feet on your power to get up to their own Some discoveries of this spirit you might see in Mr. Loves Sermon telling you before your faces and before the people That some call'd you a Mungrel Parliament Indeed the King as I understand call'd the Parliament at Oxford so but Mr. Love was the first for ought I can learn that ever named you so and I wish he may be the last but any Doctrine is orthodox out of a mans mouth of his Order farther threatning you with a discerning people to look into your actions and to spy out your boundless priviledges as if you must do justice not out of the love of Righteousness but out of fear of Mr. Loves discerning people Telling you also The Clergy had done as much service for you in their Pulpits as your Regiments in the Field that by this means he might minde you what they can do against you as well as for you if you be not servants to their designes for they that have heretofore been for you can if they please turn to others against you who shall be more for themselves And in many other things flying out against your worthy Commanders in the Army upon suspitions of his own and against the Articles at Oxford c. For it is no proper Presbyterial Doctrine that does not at least meddle with the affairs of the State which in time they may hopefully come to order In these and divers other things he took his full swing all of them no doubt deeply appertaining to the mystery of the Gospel The other things he spake to the disadvantage of the ignorant and weak and neither to the Truths disadvantage nor mine I shall clear in a short Reply set after the Discourse and so shall trouble you no farther with any such stuffe but only with a smart expression from one it seems of some note in the Assembly who said If the Parliament approved Mr. Dells Sermon it were no blasphemy to say They were no Parliament So that it seems you shall be no longer a Parliament then you approve what the Assembly approves but the Kingdom hopes you are built upon a better foundation And to him who hath been so bold with you I shall only crave leave to Reply in your presence If the Assembly which I hope they will not should condemn that Doctrine of the Gospel for the substance of it delivered then by Mr. Dell it will be no blasphemy to say They are the enemies of the truth of Christ And I hope the last prop of Antichrist in the Kingdom For your selves Honourable and Worthy I beseech you consider that GOD is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working that all power is given to CHRIST in Heaven and in Earth that he might give free passage to the Gospel And therefore take heed after GOD hath blest your Power and Forces in the field and subdued that Malignant power that was against you and hath given you a little peace quietness in the Kingdom you do not now begin your affaires with discountenancing disrelishing much less condemning the faithful and true Word of GOD witnessed in the Scriptures and confest to by the faithful and Martyrs of Christ in all Ages and with the setting off from you that Ministery that hath most of the Spirit in it lest the Lord withdraw his presence from you and your
that have most natural power and abilities are fittest to be the Officers so among spiritual men in the Church they are fittest to be the Officers that have most spiritual power that is such in whom Christ and the Spirit are most manifest and of this the faithful of all sorts are Judges Wherefore no natural parts and abilities nor no humane learning and degrees in the Schools or Vniversities nor no Ecclesiastical Ordination or Orders are to be reckoned sufficient to make any man a Minister but only the teaching of God and gifts received of Christ by the Spirit for the work of the Ministry which the faithful are able to discern and judge of 2. Out of whom these Officers are to be chosen And that is out of the flock of Christ and nowhere else Indeed Antichrist bringing in humane learning instead of the Spirit chose his Ministers onely out of the Vniversities but the right Church chuses them out of the faithful seeing it reckons no man learned and so fit to speak in the Church but he that hath heard and learned from the Father Moreover it is plain that as natural power is founded on a natural gift and he must needs be a man that is capable of humane power so supernatural power is founded on a supernatural gift and he must needs be a Believer that is capable of this spiritual power And so a man must needs first be of the Church ere he can have any power or office in it Wherefore all unbelievers and carnal men are so far from having any power in the true Church that they have no place in it and are so far from being Officers that they are not members For they that neither have nor know spiritual power themselves how can they exercise it among others 3. By whom they are to be chosen And that is by the Congregation or Community of Believers For if every free Society hath power to chuse its own Officers much more hath the true Church this power being as is said the freest Society under heaven And so the true Church is not to have Officers thrust over them by others but is to chuse them its self If any object against this that Paul commanded Timothy and Titus to appoint Elders and that Paul and Barnabas Act. 14. 23. did chuse Elders in every Church with prayer and fasting And therefore it may seem that the Congregation hath not power to chuse its own Ministers but that some chief Ministers must appoint other Ministers in each Congregation To this I answer That if there were any Ministers among us that did hold the place of the Apostles living and acting evidently in the vertues of Christ and in the knowledge and power of the Spirit I would not doubt to allow them as much authority in ordaining Ministers as Paul and Barnabas or any of the other Apostles had But since it is very evident that very few of these have the Spirit of the LORD upon them how should they have Authority to appoint Ministers who cannot themselves be reckoned Believers or spiritual But secondly If they were true Ministers through the anointing of the Spirit yet could they not appoint Ministers in other Congregations without their own consent and approbation but those whom the whole Church chuses they are to commend to God by prayer and if they should refuse to do this yet he who is chosen by the Church is sufficiently its Minister through the Churches choice alone Neither did Paul or Barnabas or Timothy or Titus appoint any Minister by their own single Authority without the consent of the Church as may appear by those Scriptures 1 Tim. 3. and Titus 1. where Paul saith The Overseers or Elders as also the Deacons or Ministers should be blameless and unreproveable Now neither Timothy nor Titus knew of themselves who were blameless in those places but onely received the Testimony of the Church which chose them to that office Further we see Act 6. that the Twelve Apostles together did not by themselves appoint any to a lower office to wit to be Deacons without the Churches own choice of them But say the Twelve to the multitude of the Disciples Look ye out among your selves seven men of honest report full of the holy Spirit and wisedom whom we may appoint over this business And those whom the Church chose the Apostles confirmed Wherefore if it were not lawful for the Apostles at their own pleasure to appoint men to minister so much as alms to the necessities of the poor without the choice and consent of the Church much less was it lawful for them to appoint any among Believers to the hard and difficult work of the Ministry without their own choice and approbation By all which it is clear that the Congregations of the faithful have power in themselves according to the doctrine of the Gospel to chuse their own Ministers And therefore seeing the true Church of God cannot possibly be without the word seeing it is born and nourished and encreased and strengthened and preserved and comforted and perfected by it And seeing the generality of the Clergy of these times are ignorant of the mystery of the Gospel and destitute of the Spirit it must come to pass that either the Church must perish for want of the word or else according to what we have heard Believers must meet together as they can conveniently up and down the Kingdom and such Meetings must chuse one or mo fit persons from among themselves to be their Elders in the Lord and then by prayer to commend them to the work of the Ministry and so to acknowledge them for their Pastors And there is no doubt but what Believers met together in the name of Christ do in this matter it is done through the working and approving of God himself And besides this way I see no other how in this great defection of the Clergy the Church may have the true word of God restored to their meetings and assemblies again Now this thing that is so directly cross to the way and working of Antichrist for many Ages together and is so opposite to Fathers Schoolmen Councels Doctors Antiquity Custom and the general praâ—ctice of the Kingdom cannot be hoped to be accomplished at once but by degrees as the lightnings of the Gospel shall enlighten the world and the Spirit shall be poured forth And therefore in this matter let some begin and the rest follow as this practice shall be cleared up to them from the Scriptures For none are to be forced in this matter if Authority should entertain this truth but the Spirit is to be allowed its own liberty to blow when and where and on whom he listeth Neither ought this to trouble any if all do not presently agree with them it is sufficient if at first a few begin whom others may follow afterwards as God shall perswade them Now as the Church hath power to chuse its Officers so if
violence and to perswade peace but not to threaten or enforce it For such is the nature of the Church that inward perswasion is required nowhere more then here For none may be compelled to the faith against their wils and God will be loved with the whole heart and also hypocrisy is a sin chiefly hated of God Whereby it comes to pass that the whole manner of governing the Church must have this scope that they that are perswaded may be first called unto it and after kept in it upon the same account And so the more this manner shall be free from dominion so much the more fit it is to govern increase and confirm the Church And this way onely was used as long as the Apostles lived and those that succeeded them in the same Spirit and that unquestionably for 300 years after Yea and when the Church come to be countenanced by worldly authority yet this same freedom still was allowed of which shall produce a few testimonies I read that Constantine the Emperour would have no man enforced to be of one religion more then another Also the same Constantine in his Epistle to his Subjects inhabiting the East saith Let no man be grievous one to another but what every man thinketh BEST that let him DO For such as are wise ought thorowly to be perswaded that they onely mean to live holily as they should do whom the Spirit of God moveth to take their delight and recreation in reading his holy will And if others wilfully will go out of the way cleaving to the Synagogues of false Doctrine they may at their own perill As for us we have the worthy House or Congregation of Gods verity which he according to his own goodness and nature hath given us And this also we wish to them that with like participation and common consent they may feel with us the same delectation of minde And after Let no man hurt or be prejudiciall to his neighbour in that wherein he thinketh himself to have done well If by that which any man knoweth or hath experience of he thinketh he may profit his neighbour let him do the same if not let him give over and remit it till another time For there is a great diversity between the willing and voluntary embracing of Religion and that whereunto a man is forced and constrained I read also that Ethelbert King of Kent Being converted to the faith ann 586. after his conversion innumerable others dayly did come in and were converted to the faith of Christ whom the King did especially embrace but COMPELLED NONE for so he had learned THAT THE FAITH AND SERVICE OF CHRIST OUGHT TO BE VOLUNTARY AND NOT COACTED The Church then at first consisted onely of the willing and such as were perswaded unto it by the word till Antichrist began to prevail and then they fell from perswading to forcing and they no longer went about to make men willing by the word but to get power from the Kings of the earth to force them against their wils And this main piece of the mystery of iniquity was perfectly brought forth by Boniface the third who was the first that used these words in the Church Volumus mandamus statuimus ac praecipimus We will we require we appoint we command which is not the voice of the true Ministers of Christ but the true voice of theeves and murderers And from that time the peace of the Church decayed apace when there were moe unwilling forced unto it then willing perswaded And true peace will never be restored to it again till men shall abandon the power of force and onely use the perswasion of the word that the Church may consist onely of a willing people The fourth Rule is To make void the distinction of Clergy and Laity among Christians For the Clergy or Ecclesiastical men have all along under the reign of Antichrist distinguished themselves from other Christians whom they called the Laity and have made up a distinct or several Kingdom among themselves and separated themselves from the Lay in all things and called themselves by the name of the Church and reckoned other Christians but as common and unclean in respect of themselves Whereas in the true Church of Christ there are no distinctions nor sects nor difference of persons no Clergy or Laity no Ecclesiastical or Temporal but they are all as Peter describes them 1 Pet. 2. 9. A chosen generation a royall Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar people to shew forth the virtues of him that called them out of darkness into his marvelous light And so all Christians through the Baptisme of the Spirit are made Priests alike unto God and every one hath right and power alike to speak the word and so there is among them no Clergy or Laity but the Ministers are such who are chosen by Christians from among themselves to speak the word to all in the name and right of all and they have no right nor authority at all to this office but by the consent of the Church And so Presbyters and Bishops or which is all one Elders and Overseers in the Church differ nothing from other Christians but onely in the office of the word which is committed to them by the Church as an Alderman or Common Councel man in the City differs nothing from the rest of the Citizens but only in their Office which they have not of themselves neither but by the Cities choice or as the Speaker in the House of Commons differs nothing from the rest of the Commons but only in his office which he hath also by the choice of the House and thus and no otherwise doth a Minster differ from other Christians as Paul saith Let a man so esteem of us as of the Ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God But Antichrist he hath cast out the simplicity of Christian people and brought Sects into the Church dividing it into Clergy and Laity and this distinction they have made visible by their garments disguising their Clergy in their habit from other Christians that they might appear holier then they and of another order from them And this distinction hath proved a Seminary of implacable discord and heart-burning in the Church For hereupon the Clergy have prefer'd themselves above others Christians and have exercised authority and coercive power and domination and very tyranny over them and have made themselves their Lords and given them Laws rules forms orders after their own mindes and agreeable to their own advantages and would not so much as suffer them to judge whether they were agreeable to the word of God or no as if other Christians were their Subject Slaves Vassals yea very dogs And hence again the Laity as they called them have envied and maligned them and hated and opposed them and as they could get power have been subduing them and have looked upon them as men of a different sect and interest from
themselves whose prosperity was their ruine and whose power was their inslaving and all this was to the making void Christian brotherhood and communion Wherefore the right Church to preserve in it the peace of Christ must admit of no such distinction of Laity and Clerg but all Christians must equallâ—â—â—main â—â—main it it Kings Priests and Prophets unto God The fifth Rule is To keep equality in the Church and that both between Christians and Churches for this also is an excellent way to preserve peace 1. To keep equality between Christians For though according to our first Nativity whereby we are born of men there is great inequality some being born high some low some honourable some mean some Kings some Subjects c. yet according to our new or second birth whereby we are born of God there is exact equality for here are none better or worse higher or lower but all have the same faith hope love the same God Christ Spirit the same divine nature the same precious promises the same incorruptible Crown and inheritance of Saints in light And therefore saith Paul speaking of this true Church There is neither Jew nor Greek nor bond nor free nor male nor female but all are one in Christ Jesus Indeed in the world and before men I say again there is distinction of persons and inequality but in Christs Kingdom and before God all Believers aae equal and this equality preserves peace But when in this Kingdom some will be advancing themselves above others like Diotrephes that would have the preheminence and some will be striving to sit at the right hand and some at the left whilst they leave others to sit at the footstool this is that which breeds difference among the very Disciples who envied Zebedees children for such a desire And therefore Christ to preserve peace forbad Lordship in his Church and commanded service and tells them that the nature of his Kingdom is not to place men one over another but one under another and that the greatest must be the least the greatest in the way of the spirit must be the least in the way of the flesh 2. As equality among Christians is to be kept for the preserving of peace so also among Churches For all Churches are equal as well as all Christians and there is no Church can set it self before or above another all being sisters of one Mother beams of one Sun branches of one Vine streams of one Fountain members of one Body branches of one golden Candlestick and so all equal in all things Wherefore there may and ought to be a consociation of Churches but no subordination which makes void at once both equality and unity And so that Church or those Churches that will set themselves above other Churches that are their equals as the Classical above the Congregational c. they are the breakers of Christian peace and unity and the unskilful vote of the Assembly for the subordination of Churches was not a way to make peace but to mar peace in the Church of God Moreover no Church can be subjected to another but Christ who is present in it and is King and Lawgiver is subjected too which not true Church will either require or allow For if the true Church will not subject the Word of God which they have received to any men or Angels but will judge all by it and will suffer none to judge it much less will they subject Christ the Lord of all to any other power or authority for so they should dishonour and disanul their Head Where two or three are met in Christs name Christ himself is among them and the Head of them and so they can submit to no body else seeing Christ hath made no greater nor surer promise of his presence to any body then to them The sixth Rule is To keep the Officers of the Church in subordination to the whole Church or community and not to suffer them to get head over it seeing the very nature of ruling the Church is not Dominion but Service We reade Act. 11. 2. that when Peter had preached in the house of Cornelius a Gentile or Heathen the Church of the circumcision to whom Peter was Minister contended with him that he went in to men uncircumcised and did eate with them for as yet they knew not that the Gentiles were to be called And Peter was fain to give an account to them of the whole matter and to shew them that he was warned of God in a Vision to do so c. And this was a sign that Peter was a servant of the Church and in subordination to it and no Lord over it And after vers 22. when the Church at Jerusalem heard that the Grecians at Antioch had received the Gospel they sent Barnabas to Antioch to forward and perfect the Work And also the Church at Antioch sent forth Paul and Barnabas to the work of the Ministry in divers Towns and Countries All which are an evident sign that the Church was above the Officers and not the Officers above the Church Now this also will preserve peace in the Church to keep the Officers in their proper place and to let them remain as servants in the Church which Christ hath commanded and not to let them grow up to be Lords and Masters which Christ knowing the evil and inconvenience thereof hath forbidden For if the Officers get above the Church though they be never so good they are masterful and troublesome and though never so bad yet will they get a party in the Church for themselves and so work disturbance but if the Church remain as it ought above the Officers it quits them when they grow evil and unruly and chooses better in their stead and so preserves union Whereas fixed and unmoveable Officers when they do degenerate are the causes of all disturbances and confusions both in Church and State The seventh Rule is For all true Christians and Congregations to take Christ alike for their Head and not to set up visible heads or Ring-leaders to themselves of men no not of the best men For whilst some said we are of Paul others we of Apollos others we of Cephas they were all in this matter carnal and divided both from Christ and among themselves whilst several set up several heads whom they especially owned and after whom they were called Whereas each that believed by the Ministry of Paul or Apollos or Cephas were through the same faith and spirit with them as neer to Christ as themselves were and so were not to set up a fellow member as a Head to the division of the body I say each believer and Communion of Saints hath Christ equally for their Head and so ought not to set up any outward or visible Head for them to joyn to for this is to rend the body in pieces and to work great division and distraction among the faithful And therefore I conceive it