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
Church but Christ himself 58. Take heed of superstition indiserâ—â—t â—â—al â—â—th been the usual beginner of superstition Mâ—lignity in that age the sharpest opposer for the Aâ—thorâ—s sake Formality in the next age hath made a Religion of it And then the zealous who first invented it have turned most against it for the sake of the last owners And thus the world hath turned round Instances lay'd down of the superstition of Religions people in this age 59. If through the fault of either side or both you cannot meet together in the same assemblies yet keep that Unity in faith love and practice which all neighbour Churches should maintain And use not your different assemblies to revâ—ling and destroying Love and Peace 60. 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 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 no censures or contempt of any party take you off But account it as comfortable to be a Martyr for Love Peace by blind Zealots or proud Usurpers as for the saith by Infidels or Heathens And take the pleasing of God whoever is displeased for your full reward The Additional Directions to the Pastors 1. Let it be our first care to know and do our own duty And when we see the peoples weakness and divisions let us first examine and judge our selves and lament and reform our own neglects Ministers are the Cause of most divisions 2. It is needful to the peoples Edification and Concord that their Pastors much excel them in knowledge and utterance and also in prudence holiness and heavenly mindedness that the reverence of their callings and persons may be preserved and the people taught by their Examples 3. Inculcate still the necessary conjunction of Holiness and Peace and of the Love of God and Man And that Love is their Holiness it self and the sum of their Religion the End of faith and the fulfilling of the Law And that as Love to God uniteth us to Him so Love to man must unite us to each other And that all doctrine and practices which are against Love and Unity are against God against Christ against the Spirit against the Church and against Mankind 4. If others shew their weakness by unwarrantable singularities or divisions shew not your greater weakness by impatience and uncharitable censures or usage of them especially when self-interest provoketh you 5. Distinguish between them that separate from the Universal Church or from all the Orthodox and Reformed parts of it and those who only turn from the Ministery of some one person or sort of persons without refusing Communion with the rest 6. Distinguish between them who deny the Being of the Ministry and Church from which they separate and those who remove only for their own Edification as from a worse or weaker Ministry a Church less pure 7. Distinguish between those who hold it simply unlawful to have Communion with you and those who only hold it unlawful to prefer your assemblies before such as they think to be more pure 8. Remember Christs interest in the weakest of his Servants and do nothing against them which Christ will not take well 9. Distinguish between weakness of Gifts and of Graces and remember that many who are weaker in the understanding of Church-orders may yet be stronger in grace than you 10. Think on the Common Calamity of mankind what strange disparity there is in mens understandings and will be And how the Church here is a Hospital of diseased souls of whom none are perfectly healed in this life 11. Distinguish still between those truths and duties which are or are not of necessity and between the tolerable and the intolerable errors And never think of a Common Unity and Concord but upon the terms of necessary points and of the primitive simplicity and the forbearance of dissenters in tolerable differences 12. Remember that the Pestoral Government is a work of Light and Love And what these cannot do we cannot do Our great study therefore must be first to know more and to Love more than the people and then to convince them by cogent evidence of truth and to cause the warmth of our Love to be felt by them in all the parts of our ministration and converse As the warmth of the Mothers milk is needful to the good nutrition of the Child The History of Martin 13. When you see many evils which Love and evidence will leave uncured yet do not reject this way till you have found one that will better do the work and with fewer inconveniences 14. When you reprove those weak Christians who are subject to errors disorders and divisions reflect noâ— any disgrace upon piety it self but be the more careful to proclaim the honour of Godliness and true Conscientious strictness lest the ungodly take occasion to despise it by hearing of the faults of such as are accounted the zealousest professors of it 15. Discourage not the people from so much of Religions exercises in their families and with one another as is meet for them in their private stâ—tions 16. Be not wanting in abilities watchfulness and diligence to resist Seducers by the evidence of truth that there may be no need of other weapons And quench the sparks among the people before they break out into flames 17. Be not strange to the poet ones of your flocks but impartial to all and the servants of all Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate 18. Spend and be spent for your peoples good Do all the good that you are able for their bodies as well as for their souls And think nothing that you have too dear to win them that they may see that you are truely fathers to them and that their welfare is your chiefest care 19. Keep up the reverence of the ancient and experienced sort of Christians and teach the younger what honour they owe to them that are their Elders in age and grace For whilest the Elder who are usually sober and peaceable are duly reverenced the heat of rash and giddy youth will be the better kept in order 20. Neither neglect your interest in the Religious persons of your charge lest you lose your power to do them good Nor yet be so tender of it as to depart from sober principles or wayes to please them Make them not your Rulers nor follow them into any exorbitancies to get their love or to escape any of their censures 21. Let not the Pastors contend among themselves especially through envy against any whom the people most esteem A reproof of ignorant pievish backbiting quarrelsome Ministers 22. Study our great pattern of Love and tenderness meekness and patience and all those texts which commend these virtues till they are digested into a nature in you that healing virtue may go from you
furtherance of the right and successful use of gifts For ordinarily he that speaketh from the heart speaketh to the heart when an unexperienced hypocrite speaketh without life But sometimes a dulness and want of utterance in the sincere and a natural and affected servency in the hypocrite with a voluble tongue do obscure this difference and make the hypocrite the more profitable to the Church DIRECT XVIII Understand well the necessity of your Communion with all the Universal Church and wherein it consisteth and how far to be preferred before your Communion with any particular Church WIth the Vniversal Church mystical you must have communion by the same spirit the same regeneration the same Faith and Love and the same Laws of God and obedience thereto With the Universal Church visible you must have communion in the same Profession of faith and repentance and the same baptism and the same sort of ministry and publike worship so far as they are universally determined of by Christ. And though you are absent in body you must be as present in spirit by consent with all the Churches of Christ on earth You must have spiritual communion with the whole spiritual Church and visible communion in kind in the same Rule of faith and kind of workship with all the visible Church and Lâ—cal-presential communion with that particular Church where you are present and with any other where your presence afterwards may be needful unless they hinder you by unlawful terms So that it is not the same kind nor measure of Communion which you are obliged to hold with all But you must have Communion with all men as a man and with neighbours as a neighbour and with relations according to the relations civil or domestical and with all true Christians as a true Christian and with all professed Christians as a professed Christian and with the particular Church of which you are a part as a part of that Church And with your bosome Friends and intimate Companions as a Friend and Companion And yet in all this you must communicate with no Church or person in their sin it self and yet not refuse their Communion in good though mixt with sin You must own all the prayers of all the Churches in the world so far as they are good and joyn in spirit by consent as if you concurred with them in presence and made all their prayers to be your own As you do by the prayers of the Church where you are present If there be disorders or imperfections or sinful blemishes in their prayers you must disown all those faults but not therefore disown any part of all their prayers which are good but desire to have a part in them and desire the pardon of their failings And here you may perceive what a mischief pievish separation is on both sides It hindereth you from prâ—ying aright for others as the members should do for all the body And it hindereth you from partaking in the benefit of the prayers of most of the Church of God on earth Indeed God may hear those prayers for you which you your selves disown But whether this may be expected according to the ordinary course of his dealing is much to be doubted seeing he hath made every mans will or choice the ordinary condition of his participation of such benefits it is hard to conceive that he that abhorreth the prayers of other men or taketh them for such as God abhorreth or will not accept and in his mind disowneth all participation and communion in them should yet have a part against his will But of this more anon As your Baptism maketh you Members of the Universal Church in order of nature before you are members of a particular Church so your relation to the Universal Church is more noble more necessary and more durable than your relation to any particular Church It is more noble because the Society is more noble The whole is more excellent than a little part It is more necssary because you cannot be saved and be Christians without being members of the Universal Church But you may be Christians and be saved without being a member of any stated particular Church It is more durable because you can never separate from the Univeâ—sal Church or cease to be a member of it without being separated from Christ But divers occasions may warrant your removeall from a particular Church Live not therefore in those narrow and dangerous principles as if your Congregation or your party were all the Church of Christ or as if you had no Christian relation to any other Ministers or People nor owed any duty to them as Members of the same Body But remember that all Christians Persons and Congregations are but the Members of the Kingdom of Christ. DIRECT XIX Take heed of engaging your selves too far in any divided Sect or of espousing the interest of any party of Christians to the neglect or injury of the common interest of the Universal Church or cause of Christianity I Doubt not but among several ranks of Christians the soundest and most upright are to be best esteemed and caeteris paribus their Communion to be preferred before theirs that are more unsound and scandalous But it s one thing to prefer the eye or hand before the foot a noble member before a more ignoble and another thing to own a Sect as such or a party as they either divide from others or take up a dividing opposite interest You are sure that the Universal Church of Christ can never erre against the essentials of Christianity nor against any truth or duty necessary to their salvation For then the Church were no Church and then Christ were not its Head And then the body of Christ might perish And then Christ were not the Saviour of his body But you cannot say of any one part that you are sure that part shall never fall away and perish There may fall out a necessity which may warrant the Body to cut off a hand or leg to save the rest But no corporal necessity can warrant you to destroy the whole nor any one member to forsake the Body before it is forcibly cut off He that seeth not how the espousing of parties and divided interests doth corrupt most Christians in the world and lacerate and deface the Church of Christ doth not understand or not observe the condition of mankind It is somewhat rare to meet with any serious Christians who are not so deeply engaged into some Sect or Side or party as to darken their judgements and pervert their affections as to all the rest and to corrupt their converse in the world How blindly do such look on all that is good in those that differ from them How partially do they judge of the judgements and practises of others How small a thing will serve the turn to excuse the faults of any of their party And how small and common a good seemeth excellent in them And how perversly do they
dangers and more solicitous of its safety than the private members are I think that the chief part of the Duty is incumbent upon us which must be done in order to the prevention of these maladies and to the cure And therefore I think that the principal work of a Director or Counsellor in this case must be with the Ministers of Christ themselves The Churches peace lieth most upon our hands And if we miscarry and will not understand instruction nor bear admonition nor do our parts how little hope will be left of our tranquility The body must needs languish when the Physician is as bad as the disease DIRECT I. Let it be our first care to know and do our own duty for the strengthening and uniting of the people And when we see their weakness and divisions let us first examine and judge our selves and lament and reform our own neglects THat the state of the flocks doth usually follow the state of the Pastors is known by the experience of all the Churches in all ages and places of the world Where there is a holy faithful able diligent concordant Ministry there is usually a reformed and agreeing people And where there is an ignorant lazy formal ungodly and contentious Ministery there is either a people divided or else agreeing in ignorance formality and ungodliness At least if such a Ministry have been long among them And we need no other proof of this and of the chief cause of the peoples divisions and mistakes than the accusations and charges of the Ministers against each other On every side it is the Pastors of the flocks that are accused by those of the adverse party as the chief offenders One side saith It is you that teach the people errours and put scruples into their minds and lead them into contempt of order and authority And the other side saith It is you that proudly usurp authority which Christ never gave you and lord it over Gods heritage and by your own inventions lay snares before the people to divide them and will not suffer them to unite in their proper center and agree in the primitive simplicity And that bring the Ministery into hatred and contempt by your cruelty and vicious lives And whilest each side is thus accused by the other they have all the greater cause to suspect themselves Because it seemeth to be agreed on all hands that it is the Pastors who are principally in the fault though it be not agreed what the fault is nor which party of the Pastors must bear the blame And indeed where are there any sects or factions but there are Ministers that head them and that caused them at first and keep them up Is it not the Bishops that have caused the long division between the Greek and Latin Churches Was it not principally a contention for their interests which of them should be the greatest so little doth Câ—rists own decision of that controversie among his Apostles signifie with those men who are contending about a successive infallible Judge Is it not their Councils and their contentious writings and practises which have been the grand causes of this woful schism And are not the dividing snares which cause most of the rest of the schisms of Christendome the meer usurpations and impositions of the Roman Prelates It was the Bishops of each party with their Presbyters who headed the diviâ—iâ—â— in the second Council of Ephesus and in the Council of Ariminum and many others And by them the Heresâ—es of the Arrians the Nestorians the Eutychians c. with the schisms of the Novatians Donatists and most others have been maintained And among our selves most parties have their Leaders who first made the breach and still keep it open It is therefore but reasonable that we all suspect and search our selves And perhaps the lot may find out that Achan who is thought most innocent and Ionah who is not the worst in the ship may be the man and he may be the Iudas who is last in asking Master is it I And it is ten to one but the leaders of every party will be found blame-worthy in part though not in equality Besides all that shall be intimated in the following Directions these causes of the peoples weakness and Divisions are so openly manifest in too many Pastors that they cannot be concealed or excused First There is so much Ignorance in many that they are not able judiciously to edifie the flocks nor to teach sound principles in a suitable manner and method to their hearers Who can teach others that which they never learned themselves Secondly Too many are strangers to the people whom they teach and know not the weaknesses of the vulgar and therefore neither justly resolve their doubts nor answer their objections nor indeed speak that language which the people understand They have been bred from their childhood in the Universities among Schollars and have little conversed with Plow-men and poor people and ignorant persons who have quite other conceptions and expreâ—â—â—ons than schollars have Their accurate stiles and well-couched words and elegant phrases are most of them like an unknown tongue to the greatest number of their auditors And that which they use as congruous to the matter is so incongruous to their hearers that its little to their benefit Thirdly And some in avoiding this exream do fall into the contrary and never go beyond the present understanding of the people and teach them nothing but what they know already And hereby they bring themselves into contempt entising the hearers to think that their Teachers are as ignorant as they and know no more than they teach And they tempt the people to be puffed up and think themselves worthy to be preachers because they can do as much and as well as their teachers use to do Fourthly And how cold and unskilful are many in the application of that doctrine which they have tolerably opened And speak the truths of the living God without any affecting reverence or gravity And talk as drowsily of the evil of sin the need of grace the love of God in Jesus Christ yea of death and judgement Heaven and Hell as if it were their design to rock the auditors asleep or to make them believe that it is but an histrionical fiction which they act and that nothing which they say is to be believed There is no need of any more forcible means to entice men to sin than to hear it preacht against so coldly Nor is there need of any more to teach men to set light by Christ and Grace and Heaven it self than to hear them so hearteslly commended We speak a few good words to the people in a reading tone like a child that is saying his lesson as if we believed not our selves and then we blame the people for their being no more edified by us and we look they should be much affected with that which never much affected the speakers If Christ himself who preached
with authority and used to awaken them with an He that hath ears to hear let him hear did yet convert no more than he did what can we expect upon our drowsie and dry discourses but drowsiness in the hearers if not contempt Fifthly And alas the private work of the Ministery is done as poorly by too many who do pretty well in publick as if they knew not that it is any considerable part of their employment or as if indeed they believed not the immortality and preciousness of souls And if the praise of men constrained them not to do the publick part somewhat better they would become contemptible burthens of the Church Sixthly the great duty of Catechizing is so much neglected that few of the people understand the great fundamental truths and few are instructed in the true method of the Christian doctrines who know somewhat of the matter of them And such defects and languor in the Vital parts will one time or other appear in the externals Seventhly Formality and imagery choaketh or excludeth the sense life and power of the most necessary truths They that teach youth the â—â—rds of the Catechism do oft content themselves with that much as if they had made them understanding Christians and leave them as ignorant sensless of the importance of those words as they were before ever they learnt them The foresaid unacquaintedness with the people and their weaknesses doth make many teachers lose their labour while they measure the common people by themselves and think that they can understand such words as they themselves can understand When they little know how utterly ignorant abundance are of the matter when they have learned to speak all the words by rote Therfore experience hath oft constrained me to say that after all their study and learning in the Universities such Pastors as did never familiarly converse with the poor and vulgar of the flocks and try the exercise of personal instruction and exhortation upon them are no more to be regarded in many controversies about the Pastoral work and discipline than an unexperienced Physician or Chyrurgeon or Soldier or Pilot in many cases of their professions Which maketh many learned self-conceiced Doctors become the plagues while they think themselves the pillars of the Church There are no parents or masters but find it presently in their children how quickly they will learn a Catechism and therein the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue while they scarce understand the sense and matter of any of the plainnest words which they have uttered And we find it is just so with too many of the aged also And therefore if by other questions and explications you put them out of their rode and teach them not to fix their thoughts upon the matter as well as on the words it will all prove but as the teaching of a Paâ—rot and not of a true believer And what I have said of Catechising is true also of Prayer Confession and every other part of worship In which the Hypocrites part is easie even the out-side form and lifeless image But it is the inward Life the spirit and truth which is the excellent heavenly and difficult part Eighthly And some make a formality and a snare of the gift of extemporary expression And by a preposterous care to avoid all forms they teach them not these Catechism forms with that diligence as the matter doth require But leave their minds void of those orderly well-setled second notions which should help the first And thus while some neglect the soul or spirit of Christâ—anity and others neglect the form or body of it betwixt them both it is too much neglected by almost all Ninthly Too many are meer wordlings and ungodly self-seekers and enter upon the Ministery but as a trade to live by and never had that humble holy mind themselves which they expect in the people But as riches and preferment and honour and ease are the things which they most seek so they do proportion and choose the means accordingly And when they have thus made themselves contemptible and alienated the hearts of the people from them they theâ— call them all that passion can suggest not for their sin against God but for crossing their carnal ends and interest Tenthly And under all this ignorance negligence and vice pride maketh too many of them to be enemies to repentance and to all that would bring them to it so that they are not so much offended with the people for their own faults as for disliking theirs scarce a drunkard a swearer in all the parish is so impatient of hearing of their sins as many of these high minded impenitent Ministers Nay so far are they from enduring to be accounted of as they are that they expect applause and great veneration when they deserve not pardon And they think they are neglected or treated unreverently if their ignorance be not called wisdome and their hypocrisie go not for the only pieâ—y and their carnal discourse and conversation for which God threatneth their damnation Rom. 8. 5 6 7 8 13. be not cloathed with some fair and honourable names And when they have thus set the people so pernicious an example they storm against them for not being more obedient to them than they themselves will be to God and for rejecting the precepts and reproofs of that Scripture which they have rejected and despised before their faces I humbly propound it therefore to my Brethren that if they have a people who despise their Ministery and turn away from them and speak against them and seek after other teachers that they would first impartially ask their consciences I have we given them no cause or occasion of all this Is it not long of us Have we so preached so privately overseen and taught them and so lived as that all this confusion will not be justly laid at our doors When we have first truly cleared things at home we are the fitter then to expostulate with our people And when we have pulled out the beam of selfishness carnalâ—ty negligence and pride out of our own eyes we may the better see to cast the motes of childish peevishness and discontent out of the peoples eyes DIRECT II. â—t is needful to the peoples edification and concord that their Pastors much excel them in knowledge and utterance and also in prudence holiness and heavenliness of mind and life that so both the reverence of their calling and persons may be preserved and the people instructed by their examples I Doubt not but the ministrations of a weak and of an ungodly Minister are valid and may be effectual to the flock And that the innocent people forfeit not their priviledges in acceptable worship and effectual Sacraments though a wicked Pastor may forfeit his own acceptance and reward with God But yet because there are none of us so innocent whose consciences may not justly tell us that we have deserved to be afflicted in that kind and
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
are but the effects of your prejudice passion or weakness of understanding 28. Do not too much reverence the revelations impulses or most confident opinions of any others upon the account of their sincerity or holiness but try all judiciously and soberly by the word of God 29. Take heed least the trouble of your own disquieted doubting minds do become a snare to draw you to some unâ—outh way of Cure and so make the fancy of some new opinion sect or practice to seem your remedy and give you ease and soperswade you that it is the certain truth 30 Keep in the rank of a humble disciple or Learner in Christs Church till you are fit and called to be Teachers your selves 31. Grow up in the great substantial practical truths and duties and grow downwards in the roots of a clearer belief of the Word of God and the life to come And neither begin too soon with doubtful opinions nor ever lay too much upon them 32. Lay not a greater stress upon your different words and manner of prayer than God hath laid And take heed of scorning reproaching or slighting the words and manner of other mens worship when it is such as God accepteth from the sincere Where the Case about forms of prayer is handled 33. When you are sure that other mens way of worship is sinful yet make it not any other or greater sin than indeed it is and speak not evil of so much in it as is good And slander not God as a hater or rejecter of all mens Services which are mixt with infirmities or as a partial hater of the infirmities of others and not yours 34. Think not that all is unlawfully obeyed which is unlawfully commanded 35. 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 seperate from all the worship which is faultily performed For then there must be no Church-Communion upon Earth Where is more about extemporary prayer and imposed forms 36. Yet know what Pastors and Church-Communion you may joyn with and what not And think not that I am perswading you to make no difference 37. In your judging of Discipline reformation and any means of the Churches good be sure your eye be 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 â—ts nature destructive of the end 38. Neglect not any truth of God much less renounce it or deny it 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 39. 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 these greater though the least when it is indeed a duty is not to be denyed or neglected 40. Labour for a sound judgement to know good from evil least you trouble your selves and others by mistakes Forsake not the guidance of a judicious Teacher nor the Company of the agreeing generality of the Godly 41. Let not the bare fervour of a Preacher or the loudness of his voice or affectionate utterance draw you too far to admire or follow him without a proportion of solid understanding and judiciousness 43. Your belief of the necessary Articles of faith must be made your own and not taken meerly on the Authority of any And in all points of belief or practice which are necessary to Salvation you must ever keep company with the Universal Church For it were not the Church if it erred in those And in matters of Peace and Concord the major vote 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 is to be preferred before the Rulers and the major Vote 43. Reject not a good cause because it is owned by some bad men And own not a bad cause for the goodness of the Patrons of it Iudge not of the Cause by the persons when you should judg of the persons by the Cause 44. Yea take the bad examples of religious men to be one of your most perillous temptations And therefore labour to discover what are the special sins of professours in the age you live in that you may be specially fortified against them 45. Desire the highest degree of holiness and to be free from the Corruptions of the times But affect not to be odd and singular from ordinary Christians in lawful things 46. When you have to do only with stigmatized scandalous ones to vindicate the honour of Christianity from their Scandal go as far from them as lawfully you can But with the Common sort of Sinners whose Conversion you are bound to seek go not as far from them as you can but purposely study to come as near them as lawfully you may that you may have the better advantage to win them to the truth 47. Whenever you are avoiding any error forget not that there is a contrary extream to be avoided of which you are not our of danger 48. Think more and talk more of your faults and failings against others especially against Princes Magistrates and Pastors than of their faults and failings against you 49. Take notice of all the good in others which appeareth and talk rather of that behind their backs than of their faults 50. Study the duty of instructing and exhorting more than of reproof and finding fault 51. The more you suffer by Rulers or any mâ—n the more be watchful lest you be tempted to dishonour them or to withdraw or abate the Love which is their due 52. Make Conscience of heart-revenge and tongue-revenge as well as of hand-revenge 53. When you are exasperated by the hurt which you feel from Magistrates remember also the Good which the Church receiveth by them 54. Learn to suffer by good people and by Ministers and not only by ungodly people or by Magistrates 55. When you complain of violence and persecution in others take heed lest the same inward vice work in you by Church cruelties and dimning censures against them or others Persecution and separation often have the same Cause 56. Keep still in your eye 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 ignorantly separate from almost all the Church of Christ while you think that you separate but from those about you Queres about separation 57. Yet ler not any here cheat you by the bare namees and titles of Unity to the papal usurping head of the Church nor must you dream of any Head and Center of Unity to the universal
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
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
the causes of happiness or misery And the reason of this is because Natural-free-will was part of the Natural-image of God on Adam and it is as natural to a man to be a free-agent as to be Reasonable And God will govern Man as Man agreeably to his nature Therefore do not wonder if Church priviledges are principally left to mens own wills or choice when their salvation is left to it Indeed God would not have any man admitted into the Church and to its communion in his own way and on his own terms The way and terms are of Christs appointment That they must Profess Faith and Repentance is his appointed condition that the Minister must be the publike judge of this profession and accordingly receive them â—olemnly by Baptism and that they must enter under the hand of the Key-bearers of the Church All this is of Christs institution But whether they will make this profession or not and whether they will make it in truth or in falshood and whether they will live according to it or play the hypocrites and live contrary to it These are at their own choice And good reason for the gain or less must be their own If any be in the Communion of the Church who either never made profession of Christianity or who is proved before them to have apostatized from that profession or to live impenitently in any gross sin after the Churches admonition it is the Pastors fault and yours if it be by the neglect of your duty But if any other be there it is their own fault and the loss and hurt must be their own If any one that professeth Christianity ignorantly unbelievingly and hypocritically be there or if they come to the Sacrament whilest they live in secret or open sin before they have been openly admonished by the Church it is their own sin and not you but they shall bear the blame God leaveth such matters to their own choice and as they choose they speed And for us to grudge at this order of God is but to quarrel at wisdome and goodness and to correct Gods order by our disorder The man that came in without a wedding garment is blamed and bound hand and foot and punished But the Minister that called him in and admitted him is not blamed because he did as he was bidden He went to the high-ways and hedges and compelled them by importunity to come in that the House might be filled Nor are any that came in with him blamed for having communion with such For they were in their places and did as they were exhorted to do And sâ—â—will it be in the case that is before us DIRECT XVI Though the profession of Christianity which entituleth men to Church-communion must be credible yet remember that there are divers 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 PRofession of Christianity is every mans Church-title No man is to prove the sincerity of his own profession nor may the Church require such proof at his hands For how can a man prove to another the sincerity of his own heart But the fuller testimony he giveth of it the better it is And therefore none should refuse to make his own profession as fully credible to the Church as he is able noâ— is the Church to be blamed for enquiring after the fullest credibility so be it they do it but ad melius esse and not ad esse not laying his title upon it nor refusing him for want of it But every profession as such is credible in some degree which is not disproved Because men are under God the only competent judges of their own hearts And the belief of one another is the ground of humane converse And it is an injury to any man to account him a lyar without sufficient proof He that will disprove a mans profession must prove first that he doth not tolerably understand what he saith secondly or that he speaketh not seriously but in jest or not voluntarily but in hypocrisie by constraint or for some by end Thirdly or that he contradicteth his own words by some more credible words or deeds And if you never yet thus disproved mens profession of Christianity before the Pastors of the Church and yet cry out against the Pastors for admitting them you are not true Reformers but disorderly Mutineers and peevish censurers in the Church of Christ. Christs orders and mens right and all Church-justice must not be trodden down and sacrificed to your humour and arbitrary way DIRECT XVII Know how far either Grace or Gifts are necessary to a Minister that you may give both Grace and Gifts their due THere have been two great questions which long have troubled the Church whether we may take him for a true Minister of Christ that is ungodly And what measure of Gifts is necessary to the being of the Ministry I have carefully answered them both in my Disputation of Ordination long ago and shall now only say in brief First that no ungodly man is so called to the Ministry as to excuse himself before God for his usurpation and hypocritical administrations Secondly But many an ungodly man is so far called to the Ministry as that his adminâ—st at ons are all valid to the Church and the innocent people shall not have the loss Thirdly no people should choose and prefer such an ungodly Minister before a better Fourthly but they should rather submit to such than have none when a better cannot by them be had Iudas had a place in the Ministry with the Apostles Act. 1. 17. And his ministration might be valid to others though his hypocrisie might turn it into sin to himself And his ministry might have been accepted of the people though they had known his hypocrisie as Christ did But a sincere Apostle was to be preferred before him And for Gifts First the greatest degree is best and secondly God maketh so great use of them that many an hypocrite wiâ—h excellent gifts doth edifie the Church more than many good men that are ungifted Thirdly but that measure of Gifts only is necessary to the Being of a Minister without which the essential parts of his office cannot be performed Learn therefore to prefer them that have most grace and guifts but not to take them for no Ministers that want Grace totally or want only a greater degree of Gifts And marvel not that Gifts are more necessary to the validity of ministration than Grace is He may perform the office of a Minister to the benefit of the Church that hath no saving grace at all so did Iudas so did those in Math. 7. 21. that prophesied and cast out devils in Christs name to whom he will yet say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not For Grace is to save him that possesseth it But Gifts are to teach and profit others Yet Grace is an exceeding
not be tryed by the Scripture Or when it driveth you to use means which God forbiddeth in his Word and putteth you upon ways which the sealed Law and Testimony condemn It cannot be of God which is against Gods Word 10. Lastly it is a suspicious sign when it is contrary to the judgement experience and zeal of the generality of the most wise experienced tryed sober godly Christians and so to the ordinary working of Gods Spirit in other men who are as good as you For Gods Spirit is not contrary to it self By all these signs you may easily perceive how the dividing zeal of a Sect as a sect doth differ from the genuine Christian zeal The one is a zeal for some singular opinion The other is a zeal for Godliness and Christianity The one is kindled by some interest of our own religious reputation the other is kindled by the interest of the will and glory of God The one is for the strengthning of a Party The other is to increase the Church Universal and promote the common cause of Christianity even when some particular truth or duty is the Matter of it yet the general cause of godliness is the end The one is a burning hurting zeal even the same which hath made matter for so many Martyrologies and frightful Histories by inquisitions torments prisons flames massacreâ— and bloody wars And the same which hath silenced so many faithful Ministers and disturbed so many States and Churches The other is a zeal of Love which maketh men fervent in doing good to others The one causeth men to revile and despise and censure and backbite and zealously to make all dissenters seem odious that the hearers may abate their love to them The other maketh us value all that is good in others and to hide their nakedness and to make them better and to provoke the hearers to love and to good works The one tendeth to divisions and sidings and separations and distances from our brethren and to feed contentions The other is a zeal for unity amity and peace The one is the complexion of the weak and childish the proud and self-conceited the peevish and surly sort of Professours The other is the zeal of solid knowledge and of the prudent humble meek and well grounded sort of Christians The one is a zeal which flyeth most outward against the sins of other men and can live with pride and covetousness and selfishness and sensuality at home such serve not the Lord Iesus but their own bellies Rom. 16. 16 17. The other beginneth at home and consumeth all these vices in the heart and as zeal increaseth humility and meekness and love and self-denyal and temperance and heavenly mindedness increase The one is easily got and easily kept and hardly kept under O how easie is it to get and keep a contemptuous censorious backbiting dividing or persecuting â—eal But the other is not so much befriended by Satan or the flesh and therefore must be preserved by prayer and meditation and very great diligence How hard is it to keep up a zealous love of God and Man and a fervour in all our heavenly and spiritual desires Abate but your diligence and this will presently decay when the fierce contending hurting separating and persecuting zeal doth need no such fuel or labour to maintain it The one is kindled by the enflaming censures of some rash and passionate Preacher that knoweth better how to kill Love than to cause it or by the singular conceits of some Sectary or Divider or by the backbitings of some Doâ—g or malicious Calumniator The other is kindled by the humble and heavenly preaching of the Gospel and by the meditations on Christs example and a study to imitate him and his Saints in patience forbearance foâ—giving others and doing good The one is a zeal which carrieth men from the Scripture to pretenses of such revelations and inspirations and impulses as have no proof but the feeling and fancy of the person or at least to abuse the Word of God and plead it for that which it condemneth It provoketh men to some unlawful practâ—se under pretense of misinterpreted texts and of good ends and meanings The other still putteth you upon good and striveth against evil and goeth for tryal of every cause to the Law and to the testimony Lastly the one is a zeal which pretendeth the spirit and yet goeth contrary to the common workings of the spirit in the most part of the best and wisest Christians But the other is the common vital heat which animateth all the body of Christ and actualeth all his living members and keepeth up love and holiness in the Church and is the same in all humble heavenly Christians in the world It will be of great use to you in order to your own and the Churches peace to understand and observe the difference between these contrary sorts of religious zeal DIRECT XXI Lend not a patient ear to back-biters much less must you hastily believe them when they speak ill of others But shew your detestation of that sin though they should be most religious people that use it and do it upon a religious pretence I Do not say that it is always unlawful to speak that which is ill of another behind his back Sometime wicked men will take occasion to justifie sin it self by the advantage of a sinners name And sometime they will magnifie the vertues of some wicked man or of some of their sect on purpose to cast reproach on godliness or to make others odious by the comparison Yet in such cases we must repress their malignity more by a defensive than an offensive opposition But the usual course of back-biting in all sorts of men is sinful The back-biter how great or learned or religious soever is but the devils minister to preach down the love of others and to exhort you to hate your brother or to abate your charity to him And he that patiently hearkeneth to such is a partaker of their sin And he that believeth them hath taken the infection Most of our odious thoughts of others and our false and uncharitable censures do come in this way For the most part men censure and separate and persecute most where they are acquainted least but go by hear-say and judge of men by back-biters mis-reports And acquaintance and familiarity usually reconcileth them and sheweth them their errour You think it is a fair excuse for you when you either believe or report evil of another to say that you heard it from very honest and religious or reverend persons or you heard it from many and confidently uttered But God hath not allowed you to receive back-biters because they are godly or because they are many This very age and time doth experimentally confute this excuse In which it is so common a thing for false reports and news to be uttered with confidence and that by multitudes and many of them religious and yet neither truth nor ground
that is a temptation or occasion of sinning before another INdeed the word offend hath occasioned the mistake of many in this point to the great ensnaring of themselves and others Offending sometime signifieth only Displeasing or grieving another And this is not the scandal which the Scripture speaks against But it signifieth also the laying of a stumbling block before another upon which he may be occasioned to fall into sin And this is the offence which is called scandal Abundance of well meaning people have thought that they must not use any form or words or order or action especially if it be indifferent in it self which others are displeased or grieved at Because they think that is scandal Indeed there is a grieving others which is scandal that is when by grieving them we occasion them to sin But consider I beseech you these two things First what a wretched person that is who will sin against God every time that his brother doth not humor him Durst these persons profess this openly with their tongues Dare you say Do not you use such a form of prayer or such a ceremony for if you do I will sin against God What elfe do you mean when you blame men for scandalizing you I hope you do not mean that no body must displease you If not you must know that this only is true scandal to occasion you to sin And is it not a shame that you will sin so easily 2. And if bare displeasing had been scandal then peevishness and ignorance would have advanced all that had them to be the Governours of the world For what is it to govern but to have all others obliged to fulfil your wills And if no man must displease you then all must fulfil your wills And he is scandalous that is not ruled by you And if this were so the most childish and womanish sort of Christians who have the weakest judgement and the strongest wils and passions must rule all the world For these are hardliest pleased and no man must displease them But I beseech you remember that scandal lieth in Pleasing men as well as in displeasing them when it may harden them in an errour or tempt them to any sin I will instance to you but in two scandalous acts of Peter himself The first was to Christ in Math. 16. 22 23. Where he thought to please Christ and save him from suffering and would have had him to spare or favour himself And Christ saith Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence to me the Greek word is A scandal that is Thou wouldst do as satan did even tempt me to sin neglect the work which I came into the world about The other was in Gal. 2. 12 13 Where Peter did scandalize the Iews by pleasing them For fear of offending the weak Judaâ—zing Christians he separated from familiar communion with the Gentiles By which he laid a stumbling block or temptation before them to harden them in the sinful opinion of separation If it had been done in our dayes many would have been drawn away with Barnabas and thought that Peter had not given scandal to the Iewish Christians but only separated for fear of scandalizing them Many a time I have the rather gone to the Common prayers of the publick assemblies for fear of being a scandal to those same men that called the going to them a scandal that is for fear of hardening them in a sinful separation and errour because I knew that that was not scandal which they called scandal that is displeasing them and crossing their opinions but hardening them in an errour or other sin is true scandalizing Understand this or you will displease God under pretence of avoiding scandal DIRECT XXIV Make conscience of scandalizing one party as well as another and those most who are most in danger by your offence MAny persons pretend the avoiding of scandal only to slatter one party and to preserve their own reputation and interest with that side which they are lothest to displease And perhaps discern not the deceit of their own hearts in all this but think that it is indeed the sin of scandal which they avoid But why make you no conscience of scandalizing others on the contrary side Who perhaps are more in number and whose salvation should be as much desired by you The Papist perhaps will not deliver the Lords Supper in both kinds nor will forbear his Image-worship lest he offend the Roman-Catholicks But he careth not much that by so doing he offendeth the Protestants and other Churches Nor that his Images are a scandal to all the Mahometans and keep them from the Christian faith And thus every sect saith If you do this or that you will scandalize and offend many good people Meaning their own side But they â—ever regard how many others they shall really scandalize by the contrary One saith It is scandalous to use extemporary prayers And another saith it is scandalous to pray by forms and books And both sides usually mean no more but that their own party will be displeased and take it for a sin But as he is not scandalized by me who only taketh my action to be a sin but he that is ensnared by it in any sin himself so whether it be displeasing or tempting that you mean you must regard one side as well as the other The heavenly wisdome is without partiality and without hypocrisie Jam. 3. 17. And usually they talk most against scandalizing those whom they account to be the lest And the best are least in danger of sinning And so they accuse them to be the worst or else they know not what they say For suppose a separatist should say If you hold communion with any Parish minister or Church in England it will be a scandal to many good people I would ask such a one why call you those good people that are easily drawn to sin against God Nay that will sin because I do my duty He will say No they will not sin but they will take it to be your sin and they will be troubled at it I must answer him you talk of scandal and know not what scandal is scandal is not troubling men nor making them take me for a sinner but occasioning them to sin themselves by some unlawful or needless act of mine Therefore if you know what you say you make the separatists almost the worst of men that will sin against God because another will not sin yea if they would but sin because another sinneth it were bad enough I would ask you therefore whether you take not the people of the Parish Churches to be more than you and to be worse than you If you took them not for much worse than your selves you would not separate from them And if you do think them worse you must think that they are more in danger of sinning or being turned from the liking of godliness and of the Gospel And if so then we are
bound to be more afraid of giving scandal to them than unto you Are not men most afraid of overthrowing the children and the weak rather than those that are stronger than themselves If you are apter to sin and turn from Christ than the people of the Parish Churches we should rather separaâ—e from you than from them If not we must more take heed of scandalizing them than you Obj. But Christ pronounceth a â—o to them that offend his little ones Answ. If by offending them be meant only persecuting and hurting them as many think then it is nothing to the question in hand For I hope communicating with others is not a persecuting you And bare displeasing them it is certain that the text doth not mean at all But if by offending them be meant scandalizing them that is laying snares before them whether by fraud or persecution to turn them from Christ and draw them to sins then it confirmeth all that I say And the term little ones conteineth the reason of the words Because as little children are easily overthrown easilier deceived so the young weak believers of little faith are most in danger of being turned away from Christ or ensnared in any sin or errour And therefore if you think the Parish Churches to consist of weaker persons than your selves the woe is to you or us if we offend them The truth is offending and giving scandal is commonly taken in the Gospel for any action which is not our necessary duty by which either Heathens and Inâ—idels and enemies to Christ are like to be drawn to harder thoughts of the Christian faith or any wicked man is like to be kept from a godly life or else by which the young ungrounded and unsetled sort of Christians may be tempted to turn back and forsake the faith which they have professed or fall into any dangerous sin And therefore seeing the separatists profess to be setled in the faith already and many in the Parish Churches are weak and many averse to some duties of Religion and more in danger of being turned away we are bound to be much more afraid of giving scandal to the Parishes than to the separatists Obj. But Christ cared not for offending such perverse ones as Herod or the Pharisees Answ. Christ feared not to displease the greatest when it would be done by doing good No more must you or they be pleased by our neglect of any duty But Christ was against laying any trap before either Herod or the Pharisees to make them sin And it is not your censure of others that will warrant us to use them as Reprobates forsaken of God If every man that can be uncharitable enough to call his neighbours Pharisees or enemies of Christ without proof shall keep us from communion with them then the worse any man is the more he shall be Lord of all other mens consciences DIRECT XXV Be not over-tender of your reputation with any sort of men on earth nor too impatient of their censures displeasure or contempt THe fangs of the censorious are a common scandal and as strong a snare or temptation to some men as worldly preferments are to others When we come among men whom we take for the most Religious and hear them keenly censure all for hypocrites or formalists profane or schismaticks who are contrary to them in opinion or practise at the first we are in danger of being carried away as Barnabas in dissimulation and to say as they say or at least comply with them by our silence and practise lest we should be censured by them as others are Especially Ministers are greatly in danger of this snare For the prophane hate them for their doctrine and their holy lives And it is the godly that are the fruit of their labours and the satisfaction which they have for all their sufferings and the comfort of their lives And if these forsake them and despise them with whom shall they find any comfort in the world Therefore they are very much in danger of complying too far with their errours and weaknesses to keep their interest in them And they think it is that they may do them good And perhaps this was the case of Peter and Barnabas with the weak Judaizing Christians For Paul telleth us Rom. the 14. that it was the use of the weak who thought those things to be duties and sins which were not so to judge the strong who knew their liberty And it was the custome of the strong to despise the weak Just as at this day the mistaken superstitious Christian saith They are prophane that are not against all that he is against And those that see his errour say what giddy whimsical fanaticks are these So was it then and so it is like to be till God give the world a better mind Many a faithful Minister I have known who have freely confessed to me that the censures of peevish self-conceited Christians enclined to separation was a far stronger temptation to them to forsake or overrun their own understandings than all the offers of honours or riches could be on the other side It is a hard thing when we have spent our labour and lives to bring men to Christ and have got them into a state of hope and forwardness to be shortly after cast off by them as formalists oâ— temporizers or any thing that their sick fancies will call us But for all this it is but one of those trials which God will have his servants undergo And both Ministers and private persons must be above the praise and the dispraise even of self-conceited Religious persons before they can be sit to follow Christ as tried and firmly setled men Stand your ground if you are in the right Truth will bear all your charges at the last and will defend it self and you If you please men whoever they be contrary to God and conscience you are servants of men and verily you have your reward Math. 6. But you are no longer the servants of Christ. Gal. 1. 10. And you will never be setled but change as the Moon as the parties or opinions of the censurers change But if you stick to the words of truth and soberness at last the sober part of the Religious will be your encouragers and many of the giddy will come to you by Repentance when experience hath shewed them that which they would not learn of you That which is vertiginous will at last settle its rest on that which is permanent and firm As boys when they have made themselves wheel-sick with turning round will lay hold on the next post to keep them from falling Therefore bear the censures of the ignorant Please them in all things lawful for their good and edification and become all things to all men in a lawful way But depart not from the principles or practise of Christian-union Communion Charity or Sobriety to please a dividing hot-brain'd party nor to escape their sharpest censures He is
fetch true grounded satisfaction from the Scriptures and from the solid truth in the use of Gods appointed means they hearken to any one that will promise them comfort and salvation by what means soever Like ignorant people is their sickness some of them know not an able Physician and some of them will not be at the cost and some of them will not take such unpleasing Medicines and most of them have not patience to stay for a Cure unless the Medicine at twice or thrice taking do give them ease they will not believe that it will do them any good And so in their foolish ignorance and the weariness of their pain they will go to any ignorant woman or unskilful fellow who will take cheapest of them and be boldest in his undertakings And those that die by it are out of sight and forgotten by the living And those that by the strength of nature do recover do magnifie their ignorant Physician as if there were none such and so entice others to their Graves Thus many troubled unquiet souls either notâ—ound â—ound Doctrine and Teachers from deceit or else will not be at the pains or patience to wait on God in the use of the right means or most commonly spoil the Remedy offered them by their own misapplications and then for ease they hearken to any ignorant Sectary that will fiercely cry out against â—ound Teachers and revile all that are wiser than himself as if he knew more than all the Ministers in the Country O saith the deceiving Papist you will never have setled comfort while you follow these Ministers and till you come to us who are the true Church Saith the Anabaptist you will never be well setled while you follow these Preachers They have not the Spirit but speak only by the book Come to us and be baptized and you will have peace And thus saith the Quaker the Familist and other Sects I have known some that have lived long in doubts and fears of damnation who have turned Anabaptists and suddenly had comfort And yet in a short time they forsook that Sect and turned to another I have known those also that have lived many years in timerous complaints and fears of Hell and they have turned to the Antinomians and suddenly been comforted And others have turned Arminians which is clean contrary and been comforted And others have but heard of the Doctrine of perfection in this life and suddenly been past their fears as if hearing of perfection had made them perfect And from thence they have turned Familists and at last shew'd their perfection by fornication and licentiousness and meer Apostasie who yet liv'd very conscionably and blamelesly as long as they lived in their fears and troubles The reason of all this is plain to any judicious Observer 1. The persons are ignorant and never had the right knowledge and skilful improvement of the sound doctrine which at first they seemed to embrace And 2. the power of conceit and fancy brought them comfort or quietness in their change For they thought before that if they had not somewhat extraordinary they could have no assurance of salvation And while they held that sound Doctrine which all about them held as well as they and found no extraordinary power of it on their hearts they perceived no difference between themselves and others But when they had entertained new opinions and entered into a new Sect which confidently told them that they only were in the right they had then something extraordinary to trust their souls on And the novelty of the matter and greatness of the change with the conceited excellency of the opinions and party did make them think that they were now grown very acceptable to God To this may be added that as a life of holiness hath far more opposition from the Devil the world and the flesh than the changing of an opinion or joyning with a party hath so it must be harder to get and keep that comfort which is got and kept by faith and holiness than that which is got by such an easie change We see among us what abundance of persons can live like beasts in most odious whoredomes drunkenness and rage or like devils in bloody cruelty against the good and yet be comforted because they are of the Church of Rome which they think is the true Church As if God saved men for being of such a side or party And why may not Separatists Anabaptists and others easily take such kind of comfort O therefore labour for well-grounded faith and solid knowledge that you may attain the true Evangelical comforts and your ignorance may not prepare you for deceit and you may not be like children toss'd to and fro and carried up and down with every wind of doctrine by deceived and deceitful men Nor may not have need to go to the devil to be your comforter nor to steal a little unlawful peace from parties and opinions as if there were not enough to be had in Christ and holiness and eternal life DIRECT XXX Keep in the rank of a humble Disciple or learner in the Church of Christ till you are fit and called to be your self a Teacher CHrist owneth no Disciples which are not in one of these two ranks either Teachers by office upon a lawful call or Learners who submit to be taught by others When his Ministers have made men his Disciples they must afterward Teach them to observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded them Matth. 28. 19 20. And a Learner must hear and read and discourse in a learning way by humble asking the resolution of his doubts acknowledging the weakness of his own understanding and the superiority of his Teachers This is the common ruine of raw professours that they presently grow proud of a poor ignorant head as if it were full of knowledge and spirituality and while they continue Hearers they continue not Disciples or Learners but come with a proud and carping humour to quarrel with their Teachers as poor ignorant men in comparison of them And therefore choose them a heap of Teachers according to their own opinions And all this while they have such list to be some body and to vent their seeming wisdome that they can hardly stay from being Teachers themselves till they have any thing like a lawful call Whereas if they would have kept in the rank of humble Learners till they had grown wiser they might have preserved the Churches peace and their own DIRECT XXXI Grow up in the great substantial practical truths and duties and grow downwards in the roots of a clearer belief of the word of God and the life to come And neither begin too soon with doubtful opinions nor ever lay too much upon them HE that taketh this course will have all these advantages First He will be himself a solid Christian and will make sure of the man which is his own salvation Secondly He will have so fast hold of the necessary
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
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
old can do And if you extend the case to all other parts of the Ministery where the reason is the same they will say what reverence is due to such or why should we maintain and honour men for doing no more than our children can do And the Popish devise to make a disparity by keeping the people in ignorance is the basest and most pernicious plot of all When the Pastors instead of excelling the people would keep down the people from increasing in their knowledge and expression this is so notorious a discovery of envy pride and malignity conjunct that the people presently flye from such Pastors as supposing them to be ministers of the Devil because they see them bear his image What do we teach them for if we would not have them learn and profit What greater honour can a Teacher have than to make his Schollars as wise and able as himself Every one who is a child of Light and believeth in him who is the Light of the world will suspect that man to be a Minister of the Prince of darkness who is a malicious adverstry of Light This is that brand of the Roman iniquity the hindering men from the reading of the Scriptures and magnifying ignorance which maketh men so commonly think them to be the Ecclesia malignantium and the Antichristian brood Thus Cardinal Wolsey declaimed against the Art of Printing as that which would take down the honour and profit of the Priesthood by making the people as wise as they It is not by keeping them down or envying their abilities that we must keep our distance from the people but by rising higher our selves and excelling them in all ministerial gifts Else why should we be thought any fitter to be their Teachers and Guides than they to be ours Yea though we excel them in all these abilities it will not serve turn to the ends of our Ministery unless we also excel them in holiness and every Christian vertue The Devil knoweth more than Ministers And if he have a tongue to speak he wanteth not utterance He is the most excellent and honourable who is likest to God and hath most of his image And God hath more proposed himself to mans imitation in Goodness than in Greatness He hath not said Be Great for the Lord your God is Great but walk in the Light as he is in the Light 1 Iob. 1. 7. and Be holy for the Lord your God is holy 1 Pet. 1. 16. Lev. 20. 7. 19. 2. 21. 8. To be Great and Bad is to be able to do mischief To be Learned ingenious and Bad is to be wise to do evil and a crafty and subtle instrument of the devil Ier. 4. 22. It was no laudable description of Elymas Act. 13. 8 10. O full of subtlety and all mischiefs thou child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right wayes of the Lord Satan would never transform himself into an Angel of Light nor his ministers into the Ministers of Righteousness nor would Pharisees and hypocrites cover oppression by long prayers if Light Righteousness and long prayers were not laudable in themselves and necessary in the preachers of the word of God and had not a goodness in them capable of being a cloak to their iniquity 2 Cor. 11. 14 15. Mat. 23. 14. God is Light 1 Iob. 1. 5. And God is Holy If therefore Satan or any hypocrite would credit their falshood and wickedness they must pretend to Light and Holiness And he that will keep up the true honour of his Ministery and be accepted with God and reverenced by good men mâ—st do it by real Light and Holiness An ungodly Minister hath a radicated enmity to the holy doctrine which he preacheth and to the holy duties and life which he exhorteth the people to And how well how sincerely how readily how faithfully they are like to do the work which they are enemies to you may easily judge The carnal mind is enmity to God for it is not subject to his law nor indeed can be Rom. 8. 6 7 8. I knoâ— that they are not enemies to the honour nor to the maintenance and therefore may force themselves to do much of the outside of the work But where there is an inward enmity to the life and ends of it we can expect but a formal unwilling and unconstant discharge of such unpleasing duty Truth is for Goodness The Knowledge which maketh you not Good is lost and hath mist its end If therefore your Love to God and man your mortification and unblameableness of life your heavenly mindedness be no greater than the peoples or perhaps much less do not wonder if you lose your honour with them and if you grow contemptible in their eyes Mal. 1. 10. 14. I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing Mal. 2. And now O ye Priests this commandement is for you If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name I will send a curse upon you The Law of truth was in Levi's mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn away many from iniquity For the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts But ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts Therefore also have I made you contemptible and base before all the people according as ye have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law 1 Sam. 2. 17. 24 30. The sin of the young men was very great before the Lord for men abhorred the offering of the Lord Ye make the Lords people to transgress Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at my offering which I have commanded I said indeed that thy house should walk before me for ever But now the Lord saith Be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed If as Moses you stand nearer to God than the people do you must be so much holier than they and your faces must shine with the beames of God in the peoples eyes They that with open face behold in Christ as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3. 7. 17 18. If therefore by your low and common parts and carnal lives you make your selves contemptible instead of exclaiming against the people cry out against your selves and lament your sins and the more you have aggravated the crimes of Schism and other errors in your flocks the more penitently bewail your
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
did but fast and pray more and read the Scriptures more than others he was reproached as a Heretick and favourer of the Priscillianists Martin Bishop of Turen was at that time a man of no great Learning but so famous for Holiness Charity and numerous miracles as the like is scarce written with credibility of any man since the Apostles for which he is canonized a Saint This Martin was grieved partly to hear strictness brought into reproach and partly to see Magistrates called to the suppression of heresies by the Bishops and so every heretick taught how to persecute and suppress the truth who could burget the Emperor on his side Therfore he petitioned the Emperour for mercy to the Priscillianists and told him that it was a thing not used by Christians to propagate sound doctrine or suppress mens errours by the sword He also avoided the Synods of the Bishops and refused not only their Councils but their Communion Whereupon the Bishops not only despise him as an unlearned man and one that deceived the people with false miracles but also suggested to the Emperour that he was a favourer of the hereticks himself Insomuch that Martin hardly escaped suffering with them through the Bishops calumnies But the great piety and clemency of the Emperour preserved him And at last did promise him the saving of the lives of some that were further appointed to suffer on condition that he himself would communicate with the Bishops Martin saw that there was no other means to save the life of one that else was presently tâ—odie and thinking that Christ who would have mercy and not sacrifice would in such a case allow it he promised to have Communion with the Bishops and so did communicate with them the next day and saved the mans life When he had done it he was in great doubt and perplexity about it whether he had done well or not and in this trouble went secretly out of the City homewards And by the way in a Wood as he was in heaviness and doubt an Angel appeared to him and rebuked and chastened him for communicating with them and bid him take warning by this lest the next time he hazarded his salvation it self by it And Martin professed that long after this the gift of miracles was denied him but he communicated with the Synod and Bishops no more This History I only recite without determining how far the Reader is to believe it But I must say that the reading of it was a temptation to me to doubt concerning my Communion the Reader may easily know with whom For though I know how credulous and fabulous many ancient Writers were yet I considered that thâ—s Historian is one of the most ancient one of the most learned one of the most strictly Religious of all the old Historians of the Church and that he was himself an intimate acquaintance of Martins and had it from his own mouth and most solemnly protesteth or sweareth that he feigneth nothing and that the miracles of Martin were known to him partly by his own sight partly by Martin's own Relation and partly by many credible witnesses And they were so believed commonly in that age by good men that it was the occasion of his Canonizing And if such History is not to be believed I will not mention the consequences that will hence follow And yet on the other side I considered First That it was possible that a holy man might be mistaken by fear and scrupulosity and take that for an Angels appaâ—ition which was but a dream Secondly That his avoiding Communion with the Bishops might be only a prudential act fitted to that time and place upon accidental or circumstantial reasons which will not suit with another time and place Thirdly It is dangerous making the actions of any men upon pretense of any Revelations and Miracles to be instead of Scripture the rule of our faith or duty much more to prefer them before the Scripture when there is a contrariety between them Fourthly And his separation was but temporary not from the Order nor from any of the other Pastors or from the people but only from those individual persons whom he supposed to be scandalous And these considerations I judge sufficient to resist that temptation Whoever understandeth what a man is and what a Christian is and what the office and work of a Pastor is will make no doubt but that his Guidance must be paternal and that as Love is the effect to be produced in the people so Love in him must be the means of causing it that he must expect that the success of his preaching discipline should not exceed the measure of Love which is manifested therin further thanas God may extraordinarily work beyond the aptitude of the means And when he hath complained of the people as sharply as he will he shall find that whatsoever it is that Love cannot do in order to their conversion and edification and which Light or evidence cannot do in order to their conviction is not by him to be done at all And if he will be trying with edge tools he may cut his own fingers sooner than cure an erring mind And shall find that the people will much worse endure acts of force and corporal penalty from a Pastor than from a Magistrate and will hardly believe by any cloathing that he is a sheep if they once perceive that he hath bloody teeth Our work is to win the heart to Christ And he is unfit to be a Pastor that knoweth not how hearts are to be won DIRECT XIII When you have thought of all the evils that will be uncured when Love and evidence have done their part yet reject not this way till you have found out a better which will do the work that is to be done and that with fewer inconveniences I Am not now about to state the bounds of Liberty in matters of Religion It requireth a full Treatise by it self and many tediously dispute the case before they ever truly stated it Much less am I perswading Magistrates that they must permit every deceiver to do his worst to draâ— the people from God or from Christ Iesus the Mediator from faithâ— and godliness any more than from Loyalty Peace and Honesty But I am speaking only against that partial factioâ—s needless dividing and pernicious violence which is pretended to be the chief if not the only cure of all the errours or disagreements in the Churches by those that know no part of Chyrurgery but amputation Some speak much of the many disorders which will be uncured if Violence do not more than Teaching and Love But I humbly ask of them First are those disorders such as are curable in this life or such as are the unavoidable miseries of our corrupt and imperfect state Secondly will force cure them better than evidence of truth and Love will do Thirdly will they be so cured without a greater mischief God telleth the Sabbath-breakers
day above another Another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Rom. 15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one of us â— ease his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God Wherefore RECEIVE ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God Rom. 14. 17 18 19 20. For the Kingdome of God is not meat and drink but Righteoâ—sness and PEACE and Ioy in the Holy Ghost For he that in THESE THINGS serveth Christ is Acceptable to God and APPROVED of MEN. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for PEACE and things wherewith one may Edifie another For meat destroy not the work of God Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth that is acknowledgeth to be indifferent or lawful And he that doubteth is damned if he eat The rest and some of the same again you shall have in the Conclusion and I shall not accuse my self of vain repetition but account my self and England happy if twice or ten times warnâ—ng you of your undoubted duty in the plain words of God which you cannot without professed Infidelity deny will but perswade you to heal our grievous wounds at so cheap a rate as the doing of that good and blessed work which NONE may so EASILY do as YOU and none are more OBLIGED to do nor shall suffer more everlastingly for not doing it if no Scripture no reasons no experience no petitions no groans and tears of the distressed Church of Christ can intreat you to it But alas Rom. 3. 16 17 18. Destruction and misery are in their wayes The way of PEACE they have not known There is no fear of God before their eyes Eccles. 7. 7. SURELY OPPRESSION MAKETH A WISE MAN MAD. Rev. 6. 10. QUAMDIU DOMINE SANCIE VERAX Psal. 120. 6. DIU HABITAVIT ANIMA MEA INTER OSORES PACIS The Preface THE Reason why I think it needful to adjoyn these few Directions to the Pastors are First Because I think that the rest will do but little good without them Though the people are more inclined to separations than the Pastors yet are the Pastors the greater causes of most of the Divisions in the Church And therefore must be the chiefest in the Cure Because the advantage of their parts and place doth make them most significant in both And their office obligeth them to be the most skilful and forward in the Cure Secondly Because I should be chargeable with such partiality as beseemeth not a Minister of Christ if I should fall upon the miscrariages of the people only and say nothing to my self and brethren who are as deeply concerned in the matter in hand Yet I must here premise that as I have done this part with greater brevity so also with submissive tenderness and respect And that I do not at all intend any of the Directions following as a Magisterial Dictator to those in authority nor any of the admonitions as factious reflections upon superiors or inferiors or as pleading for or against any party now among us To the reasons after given for tenderness to Religious dissenters though too much inclined to separations I shall here only add First That the general weakness even of the Pastors through most of the Churches upon earth should make us rather pity the weakness of the people than angrily revile them And to think of Christs words Let him that is without sin cast the first stone Alas our preaching our praying our conference our living tell all the world too lowdly that we are weak How few are there that be not either ignorant or injudicious or imprudent or dull and liveless or dry and barren or of a stâ—mmering tongue in our Ministerial work And in so high a business any one of these is a lothsome blemish If we are put to defend our Religion or any necessary part thereof how weakly and injudiciously is it usually done In a word Our great divisions among our selves with our censures and usage of one another do tellâ—all the world not only that we are weak but that too many of us account one another to be worse than weak even intollerable and unworthy of our sacred office And shall we by our weakness and faultiness become the peoples scandal and tempt them to undue separations and when we have done be impatient with their weakness while we overlook our own Secondly Let us be so impartial as to remember how far some have spoken to their sense who have been of most veneration in the Church I instance but in two First The wise and ancient Britain Gildas who saith no less than Apparet ergo eum qui vos sacerdotes sciens ex corde dicit non esse eximium Christianum Sane quod sentio proferam O inimici Dei non sacerdotes O licitatores malorum non pontifices traditores non sanctorum Apostolorum successores â— impugnatores non Christi ministri Sed quomodo vos aliquid solvetis ut sit solutum in coelis a coelo ob scelera adempti immanium peccatorum sunâ—bus compediti c. If the Author of these words â—e Venerable account not the speakers of such like now to be utterly intollerable The second is St. Martin whose story out of Sulpitius Severus I have afterwards abbreviated If a Sainted Bishop most famous for myracles pretend to Angelical Revelation for so much as is there mentioned let us be charitable and patient to those tender conscionable Christians who mistakingly go in such like wayes I am my self so sensible of the evil and danger of Dividing separating principles and â—ayes that it is much of my labour to cure them with all And therefore I have written what I have here done though I am sure I shall displease the guilty But overdoing and illdoing will prove but undoing The Lord give more Wisdome Holiness and Love to Pastors and people and open our ears to healing counsels before we are incurable Amen Directions to Pastors how to deal with those weak Christians who are inclined to Divisions WHen the young and ungrounded sort of Christians do by their errors pride or passions disturb the Churches peace orde it is the Pastors usually that are first and most assaulted by their abuses and therefore are most impatient and exasperated against them And it were well if we were so innocent our selves as that our consciences need not call us to enquire whether all this be not partly the fruit of our own miscariages However seeing that both the eminency of our grace and the nature of our office should make us more sensible of the Churches