fanciful Distinction of themselves under Christ as an ordinary Chief of a Party and not as the Divine Head of the whole Body in the Catholick Truth Even as he erred that vulgarly called Christ Good not knowing him to be God the Supremely Solely Good Quest Are they all true Converts that are of the Church Answ All that are indeed the Church are so but all that may appertain to the Church are not so as all that were of Israel were not Israel There is a visible Profession that is too often not sincere yet this makes Men Of or belonging to the Church but not truly The Church Many are so called that are not chosen But all that are truly The Church are also truly called and truly Converts not only outwardly and visibly the Church but inwardly and invisibly so too whose praise is not of Men but of God In the mean time they that are onely of the Visible Church have the Means of Grace and are not thrown out of that Register of God's People till the Final Judgment cuts them off A very great Benefit in it self Quest Is not the Church then so Catholick or General as the Profession of the True Religion is Answ The Catholickness of the Church as hath been often inculcated is its Union to God and Christ and that in sincerity As to the general Profession though the number of it be as the Sand of the Sea a Remnant only shall be saved For God will finish the Account and cut it short in Righteousness for a short work will the Lord make in the Visible Church There shall be an often eating or brousing it off a retrenching of it again and again it shall cast the Leaves of its meer Professors as the Teyle-tree or Oak when yet their Substance is in them the Holy Seed are the Substance of it Isa 6. ult not losing them it loses nothing Quest In what sense is it then said The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church Answ It is undoubted none can fail while they are the Church while united to Truth to the God of Truth to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life It is also certain from this high Declaration there always shall be a Church in the World so united Hades or Mortality shall not prevail over it and how much farther it assures the Perseverance of those that are once truly the Church I leave the thing it self to speak It is said They that overcome ar Pillars that never go out of it and They that go out of it were not of it for if they had been indeed of it they would no doubt have continued with it And how the Church it self shall always continue if any True Member of it may perish is not easie to conceive Quest How is the Church ordained by God to actuate Scripture as it is the Record of Catholick Religion Answ The Apostle in his Noble Description of the Church hath laid the Foundations of our Instruction herein in those three Honourable Titles he hath given it 1. That it is the House of the Living God 2. That it is the Pillar of Truth 3. That it is the Ground of Truth Quest Before the Explanation of each of these Titles in the first place I desire it may be determined whether these things are spoken of the Catholick or of a Particular Church the Particular Church of Ephesus Answ Although I have already affirmed That the Catholick Church differs from a Particular True Church only in the Compass and Comprehensiveness of it yet I very willingly represent it over again in this Instance These things are truly applied to the Catholick Church to the Particular Church of Ephesus to every Particular Church nay it reaches down to every single living Member of the Church so far that God makes his abode with him dwells in him he is a Pillar in the House of God the Truth rests and dwells in him and shall be with him for ever so that he is a Ground of Truth and hath more of the Church in him than greater seeming Portions of it that erre from the Truth Quest If you please now to proceed in the Explanation of these Titles and first What is the Importance of the Churches being the House of God for the actuating the Scripture Answ God the most High Possessour and Owner of Heaven and Earth places his Court Family and particular Residence where he pleases and he hath chosen the Church to be this to him This is my Rest here will I dwell for ever for I have desired it Heaven is my Throne Earth is my Footstool where is the House you will build me To this Man will I look that trembles at my Word And where God dwells there he manifests himself As a Master of a Family makes known in his House and Family his Nature Will Laws and Government so God does in his Church In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel In his Church he shews the Light of his Countenance expects and rewards Services as a Great Master and makes known his Dislikes and Displeasure This is brought to pass in the Church by those many Ways that God hath of bringing his Word to any Places or Persons giving it Reception among them and then stirring up his Children and Servants to hear his Voice to search his Mind and Will and to understand it so that it is as a Voice continually behind them In his Temple therefore in his House every one must needs speak of his Glory His Word cannot lie still for all are concerned to meditate ponder inquire and discourse of it and are by Supreme Management excited so to do and so much as this Exercise in his Word is by any means depressed so far God is withdrawn and the Excellency of the Church-state lost Now of the Church being the House of God there was this great Type God dwelt in the Temple at Jerusalem as in a Palace there was such a Diet of Shew-bread changed every day of Sacrifices of all sorts such Perfumes of Incense and Odours such Officers and Servants attending continually such Resorts of the whole Body of the People to the Court of this Great King and Princely Housholder Together with this State runs along in a mighty Stream Gods shewing his Word to Jacob his Statutes and Judgments to Israel In the New Testament the Pomp and Ceremonial Part is wholly transferred into Spirituality but Spirituality is not lower but higher in the Substance of all that could be figured by these things and the substantial part of that State the Communication of the Word of God is much exalted in the true Christian Church that the Light of One Day is now as much as the Light of Seven was before Thus the Church as the Family of God cannot but actuate his Word Quest What is the meaning of the Church being the Pillar of Truth Does the Church support Truth Answ Not so for it self is built upon the
for Scripture are Scripture and all of them so arises to our Assurance by finding the same Divine Spirit of Truth running through one as does through another For upon this account the True Church received them when first received and so transmitted them making the same Judgment successively in the several Ages as the first did the same Reason always continuing What is besides this is to be attributed to the Discerning of Spirits in all the Times while Scripture was writing by the due Exercise of which True Scripture was received and all other shut out for the Writings of Prophets was subject to Prophets and by them enroll'd into Scriptures That we have the same Scripture justly and faithfully consigned over to us from Age to Age is to be own'd and acknowledg'd to Divine Providence watching over his Church and Oracles together and conveying to us by the ordinary Security of the Churches Testimony the Precious distinguish'd not only from the Vile but from the less Precious also but yet we must have greater Testimony than this as hath been already urged Quest But how could we be assured we have all the Scripture were it not for the Churches Testimony Answ Finding so much Divine and no more of the same stamp in the World we may be concluded that way and abundantly satisfied that God will accept us in our Faith and Obedience to so great a Revelation When any measure of Divine Truth hath been adhered to sincerely the Danger hath always been greater in losing True Religion by corrupt Additions and the injurious Refusals of further Revelation come to pass more through the Prejudices of that Corruption than by humble and modest Suspensions till God hath assured us of his further Revelations But besides this we may easily find we must needs have the whole Globe of Truth and the Horizon of the Gospel gives us the whole Heaven or Kingdom of it as it is administred in this World so that all further Degrees of Light and Discoveries of it shall be but greater Clearnesses of what we already have in the main and Substance For if even the New Testament though it made so great a change did but thus compleat and illustrate Christ yesterday and to day the same how much more may we be assured who have the New it self so much excelling the Old as it every where assures us So that we can expect a Milennium or the New Hierusalem on Earth only for the highest Exaltation of what we now have till we come to Heaven it self Quest Do the various Readings so often bandied by Learned Men make no Abatement from the Certainty of Scripture Answ Those various Readings are such as excite and quicken Search and yet cannot distract the Doctrine being not able to alter the Scope Coherence and Design of the Context much less to change the Analogie of Scripture in other Places While therefore they do not that they take away the suspicion of Conspiracy they preserve from greater Corruptions by turning the Eyes of Men to look every way they shew how many excellent Senses dwell near the Divine Writing and the Bad are manifestly enough thrown off For in main things there is so much repeated and said over again and again as that all such Truths may be fully presented and assured and yet not so much be said as might be said of the same kind without any Tautology for the Subjects are so rich that even the World would be over-charg'd and not able to contain the Books that would be written Amen CAP. VII Of the Publick Interpretation of Scripture Quest THat the Progress upon this great Point may be made with the best Advantage it will be necessary to state the Amount of what hath been already asserted viz. That Scripture is a Publick and Divine Record and That the Proof and Evidence it is Divine is Divine and Publick also What therefore do these two Positions arise to Answ They arise plainly to this 1. That True Religion is at once given unalterably fixed on Monuments of its own and cannot receive the various Phases of Increase or Decrease like the Moon by new and upstart Decrees Canons or Anathemas 2. That Religion is in this Sense Publick even as God himself that it is of free and open access in the Scripture and its Entertainment as liberal as the Light and the Fountains of Water and no Man need wait till his Religion be drawn out of the private Repository of Breast or Breasts 3. That the Assurance and Evidence of Scripture is very near us when we come to treat with it so that we need not send up to Heaven that were to bring Scripture down from above when it is come down already nor beyond the Sea to oldest Antiquity for a Scale to it which hath always the Broad Seal of Divinity with it for that were to bring Scripture a second time from the Apostles and former Ages through which Divine Care and Providence hath already pass'd it down to us with the very same principal Assurance it gave them viz. that Divine Life of Truth and Holiness that cannot be far from any one of us for in it our Understandings and Consciences live and move and have their Beings and in that Light alone see Light Quest But hath the Private Spirit of Apostate Angels working by Corrupted Humane Nature made no Attempt upon this Publick Record though so every way guarded as it is to introduce a False Religion even under the Appearance of this Publick Authority of Scripture Answ Yes that very notorious one of Private Interpretation Answ What is Private Interpretation Answ That it may be well understood being a very great Instrument of the False Spirit we must proceed by degrees to the true Comprehension of it And first in the strictness of its Notion it is an affixing a Sense to Scripture or any part of it that does not so evidently and indisputably flow from Scripture as to partake of the Divinity of Scripture Quest How should an Interpretation be so made of Scripture as to partake of its Divineness Answ An Interpretation is as Divine as Scripture when it is the true evident Importance and Sense of Scripture Words and Scope and carries the perfect Spirit and Analogie of Scripture with it or is a Deduction and Doctrine arising from Scripture measured by the Context by its usual ways of expressing it self and the compare of one Place of Scripture with another so as to evince it self to be a just and necessary Consequence Quest What is the Effect of such Interpretations Answ Every one that soberly and impartially and piously attends to it cannot but be convinced and instructed by it as the true Divine Scripture-Sense opened and applied to him Quest How else may Interpretation be Publick and Divine even as Scripture it self Answ When there is truly a Divine Presence and such Motives of Credibility by which a rightly qualified Person may be induced to believe that such an
harmless in comparison but the abomination of idolatry and superstition most loathsome to that infinitely pure and spiritual Nature I come in the next place to consider how far time place distinction of persons in religious worship are within the cognisance of the law and light of Nature For I omit out of choice any discourse of sacrifices which some have contended came in by natural instinct as too copious for the present intendment concluding they were ordained by God chiefly to typifie the true ever breathing sacrifice of Christ which service having performed they expired in it not only repealed by the Evangelick Law but no doubt through the superintendency of Providence grown into disuse throughout the world which together with those strong solid Reasons against their valuableness in themselves given by God Psal 50. 9 10 11 12. Mic. 6. 6 7 8 9. Heb. 9. 10 c. sufficiently argue they were not of natural notion nor of the everlasting Righteousness of that Law Let us therefore waving them go on to debate the dictates of Primitive rules concerning time and I find but two things I can suppose injunctions of so ancient a date pertaining to it 1. That the time be sufficient capacious enough for the receipt of Religious duty and action sufficient for the making ample inquiries and searches into Divine things for the souls commoration and rest upon them for the discharge of Religious business and duty and so suitable and agreeable to the testification of our honour to the supreme Majesty by offering such a proportion of our time together such frequency of returns with the favour of season and redeeming season when it seems to fly from us that in all we may have a liberal space for so grand a business in our more stated and occasional performances 2. That in what concerns publick worship the time be commensurate as in the former particular to all the ends and purposes of publick worship the occasions and advantages of it and particularly that it be known agreed and indicted for that service But for the seventh part of time though undoubtedly pitcht upon with infinite wisdom justice and â—quity in the fourth command respecting Divine honour and business on one side and humane occasion and diversion on the other yet it must certainly be said the original â—allowedness of it is founded in Divine command and must bâ— conveyed by undoubted tradition of that command having no more natural in it than the general compromise of the world in the distribution of Time into Sevens or weeks seldomer than which no reasonable sense of Religion could allow for the recurrency of solemn publick worship mix'd with continued private devotions as in extraordinary to every days service Else I cannot perceive it could be defin'd by the laws of natural understanding For place these two things are also necessary 1. That places be as agreeable as may be to the end secret and retired places for retired and secret worship places of domestick coveniency for Families and publick known and agreed for publick worship 2. That places for Divine Worship have the decency gravity and solemnity that is suitable to such a degree and quality of business as is there to be negotiated not as any part of Divine Worship or so much as having any influential conduciveness upon the mind in such action but solely as the result of humane prudence adjusting every thing to its proper use and service and with the decorum most natural to it For time and place having no influence upon Religious actions more than upon all common humane actions by any peculiar vertue of their own they cannot without a peculiar Sanctification from God with which he by his revealed will acquaints those upon whom he is pleased to enjoin the observation rise any higher than themselves Nor can humane appointment extend them beyond expediency and decency the ordinary rules by which all things civil and humane are squar'd Devotion can mount nothing higher than its own true elevation as to the nature of the thing Devotion I say and zeal ascend up to God yet they leave the things they use behind to rest in their own station It being a Divine power that makes any thing Divine or Sacred or efficacious to any such productions Without this every thing rests upon its own basis of natural aptitude observed and imployed by reason to those ends and purposes whereunto that aptitude serves Time and place rated beyond themselves become injurious to religious services receiving more of the minds attendance and respect than is due to them which being wholly oblig'd to a total sole and single determination upon the Divine Majesty it self must not look off from it but under the peril of moving that jealousie God expresses in the Scriptures and if not thus yet they beget in men injurious thoughts of God as if he dwelt in Temples made with hands and the presence of the Lord of Heaven and Earth confin'd there whereas except by his own choice upon certain reasons as among the Jews all places are alike and He equally accepts those that worship him in spirit and truth He that inhabits Ubiquity is no more offended Joh. 4. 21 23 24. or disdains mean and unadorn'd places for his service than stately Structures To misdeem so of God hath a degree of that folly that would restrain his Omnipresence lest it should be defil'd with the sordidness of some receptions nauseous to us not knowing that Infinite Spirit feels not the passions of body our Saviour made use of any place for Heavenly Discourses and Prayers to observe days or times carries a suspition that he who inhabits eternity and is Lord of time is not all times the same and therefore the Heathen that had corrupted natural Religion watcht for some days as more lucky and avoided others as unluckly in their attendances on their mock-deities Yet doth God allow to men the wise and prudent choice of their own conveniences in his worship both for time or place not presuming to sanctifie any thing to him that he hath not first sanctified to himself for who knows how to chuse for him or who is able to give to him first This must needs be the determination of natural reason if it use its own light and discharge its own trust Having spoken thus briefly of time and place I come to the third thing Distinction or separation of persons for Divine offices how far it is directed by natural Religion under these three Heads 1. In the first Ages of the world Patriarchal Eldership nearness to the Creation and continual acquaintance with the History of Gods Treaties and dealings with men together with the Power Gravity Authority resident in it carried the most fit administration of Divine Things along with it so that the Pontifical Prophetick and Royal Authority accumulated upon them this seems unquestionable in Reason Scripture History and universal tradition 2. After the multiplication of Families into Nations and
Faith in Divine mercy and lastly of future rewards and punishments Now in all these as I premis'd Natural Religion is not to be measured by what is found in the dark and sullied state of the generality of Mankind at such vast distances from the days of Innocency or so much as in the colder liveless Climate of Philosophick Morality but by what discovers it self when these frozen benum'd Principles relent and are thaughn by the warmer beams of revealed truth by what men do and must acknowledg when they come to themselves then the Ministers of Natural Righteousness out of and according to Divine Revelation are 2 Cor. 5. 11. made manifest in mens consciences and they speak and write no other things than they do acknowledg and shall acknowledg to the utmost to the very end Even as the illiterate 2 Cor. 1. 13. mind does not at first perceive the wisdom of such a writer as Socrates Plato Plutarch of such Historians as Livy Taritus but when it comes to be cultivated it knows by a Test within it self the gravity and dignity of their sense and stile Thus at the first unexercised souls tast not the gratefulness of the Word of God to natural conscience which is afterwards most agreeable the senses being exercised to discern gâ—od and evil Heb. 5. 14. 2. In what of Christianity pure and perfect revelation alone must be acknowledg'd There is yet such a close affinity betwixt the holiness purity wisdom of the one thus reveal'd and the other implanted that they must be own'd all from the same fountain and accepted alike by every serious considerer that as it is observ'd of the Old and New Testament and the several Writers of each through all the variety of Times Manners and Customs of the world in the sâ—veral ages of it throughout the several periods of the Churches state and progression and throughout the different extractions educations employments temperatures of the Sacred Writers there is yet one Wisdom one Reverence of God one Holiness one Majesty of Discourse running through the whole arguing the supreme Author one and the same Even so in Natural and Revealed Christian Religion the Divine Commandment is perfectly one and the same nothing trivial nothing Romantick nothing Speculative only all is for greatest use of the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls so as not to be refused 3. The Revelations of Christianity are the highest Amplifications of natural light even to the utmost possibilities of conception but in nothing contradictious The Doctrine of the only true God is kept most pure even as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times But this Divine Nature is explained to us in the Father Son and the Holy Spirit and in the infinite Graces and Bounties proceeding from the Deity so explain'd to us and this is so to the utmost that as we certainly know in Heaven it self it is impossible to know any more Gods than the one true God we have known here in the world so it is as impossible we should know any more in that Essence than the Father the Son and the Spirit in Eternity it self It is of everlasting inviolable Truth There is one God and it is reveal'd to us in Christianity There is one Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. 1 Cor. 8 6. between God and man the man Christ Jesus There is one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him And this is life eternal to know thee the only true God Joh. 17. 3. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Thus the Divine Unity is preserv'd And lest the obligation to a Mediator to a Redeemer should abate or interfere with the obligation to the one God and Father the Mediator is always made known to us as the Son of the Father the brightness of his Heb. 1. 3. Glory tho express image of his person the heir of all things So that the Glory of the one Mediator infinitely and incomprehensibly unites and circulates in one with the Glory of God the Father So far is the Revelation of Jesus Christ Phil. 2. 2â— from any the least contradictoriness to that fundamental natural principle of one God And as evident it is that it is to the utmost and above all we can think for in the highest Glory of Knowledg it is we know certainly impossible to know any higher Mediator any other Mediator than our one Mediator for as a man can rise no higher than God there can be no higher Beeing than God so there cannot be a greater Redeemer and Mediator than the Son of God There cannot be a greater acceptance of a sinner than upon the account of the most perfect obedience and the deepest sufferings of the only begotten of the Father the beloved Joh. 1. 14. â—at 3. ult Son in whom he is well pleased There cannot be a nearer union to the whole nature of of man than by this divine Person assuming not any humane Person which had been limited narrow and confined but humanity it self into one person with himself There cannot be a greater inspiration and internal operation than of which the Spirit of God is the Author and Fountain nor a closer uniting of Believers to Christ than by this Spirit to be so joined to the Lord as to be one 1 Cor. 6. 17. Spirit Thus to the great Justification of Christianity before Natural Religion all is from God and absorpt into him yet in such a distinction from him that every glorified Spirit enjoys its Happiness Glory Purity Perfection Acceptance with the Divine Majesty distinctly and in it self and yet so in God that the whole Glory is refunded into him which is the perfect Glory of the Divinity From the whole then though it is most true that these great points surmount Reason in the discovery and explication yet when it beholds these things in that full portraicture divine Revelation presents them it cannot but adore and admire and confess the manifold wisdom and knowledg of God the riches of his grace the praise of his Ephes 3. 10. 1. 6 11. glory working all things after the counsel of his own will As to the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection and eternal Judgment they are but what is very agreeable to the very Principles of Natural Religion all men having an ingrafted sense both of it and a future state and as to the Resurriction it self I think it most manageable upon grounds of Reason That the Creator can as easily command the Principles of a dissolved body into one as at first create those very Principles out of nothing nor can I think those niceties of dispute brought into this Article of Faith of any moment it being enough there shall be a future state of Spirits in bodies as in sensible appearances of Glory or Misery and those bodies as much mens own as the nature
long mistaken I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but Acts 10. 34. in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness the two Comprehensive parts of this Religion is accepted of him Why then should mankind imbrue their hands and that upon the Account of Religion in the blood of those that are of the same Religion they themselves are or ought to be and hold to contradiction to it What excellent persons were Job his three Friends and Elihu though out of the Family of Abraham I mean out of that part of it where God had more eminently fix'd his Church and out of that line wherein all the Families of the Earth were to be blessed How excellent the Books of their Religion and Ratiocinations upon it though the Friends were mistaken in urging too far as if present Afflictions were a detection from Heaven of Insincerity and applying it to Job That most desirable Book of Holy Scripture was undoubtedly by the special Wisdom of God prepared as a Treatise of Natural Theology rais'd to its own height through the Assistances and Inspirations of the Holy Spirit and wherein most probably the sense of all the Pious Patriarchs kept fresh and pure from Corruption was maintain'd and improv'd upon the proper Reasons of Natural Religion for we meet with no intermixture of positive Precepts or Rites except the Historical Relation of Sacrifices in the beginning and end of the Book An Institution of God by which men were taught in the beginning of the World as soon as sin had entred it to look for Atonement witâ— God through that great Sacrifice of Christ to be offer'd in the end of the world to whom it is most probable Job makes somâ— very significant References though according to the Covertness of so great a mystery at that time But what point of Natural Religion even sense of Natural Corruption and the â—vil of sin of Faith in Divine Mercy and Repentance of Godliness Righteousness Soberness Fidelity Chastity Tempâ—rance Charity and Mercy to the poor is left untouched What point relating to the Worship of God against Atheism Idolatry an Iniquity own'd to deserve punishment from a Judg is not hâ—re stated Job 31. 28. Prayers Praises Holy Meditations Discourses and Attendances on the Word of God for the knowledg of his ways have here their frequent mentions What severe Reproofs Censures and Condemnations of all wickedness do we meet with And which is most remarkable through the whole All is Substantial nothing Ceremonial How lovely is such a Religion Our Saviour observing but some of the lines of it in the young man in the Gospel it is said He look'd upon him and lov'd him Mat. 10. 21. And the Scribe that had so much of the notion of it he commended as not far from the Kingdom of Heaven viz. from True Christianity here and Eternal Salvation hereafter In this Book of Job we have also the true natural way of propagating Religion and reconciling differences in it viz. by Discourse and Argument only heinous offences and plain violations of Duty in Natural Religion are cited to the Magistrates Tribunal I have insisted so long upon this because we have not such another Hypothesis in Scripture such a Body of Natural Religion such a form of sound words concerning it given out by such Masters of Assembly and yet not of that we may call the visible Church at that time else indeed the whole Scripture is full of Natural Religion from one end of it to the other and that which is least in the Kingdom of Christ concerning it is greater than all besides But no doubt there might be many others at that time and all along who were not of the Jewish Proselytism and yet great Instances of this same Natural Piety For if Elijah 1 King 19. 18. who had a less compass to observe in and more probable opportunities of Inquiry and even Inspection yet was ignorant of seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed their knees to Baal but thought himself left alone how much more may lye hid from our almost suspition True worshippers of God according to Natural Religion all along elder times inspired and conducted to it by Divine Illumination Nay who dares be so bold to define there are no such now For though it is most true There is no other name under the whole Heaven given to men whereby they can be saved but Acts 4. 12. the name of Christ yet we are not sure that Name must be expresly known but that the God of pardoning-mercies giving and accepting repentance unto life may by Divine Equity and Favour be interpreted God in Christ in the behalf of men so addressing God as he is truly so in himself Yet ah lass we cannot stretch our charitable hopes so as to think this the case of the generality of the Nations that know not Christ who lye in the valley of the shadow of death not only as ignorant of Christ but as without God the true God in the world Horrible Corrupters of what they naturally know that is of Natural Religion But as there were many Lepers and Widows in the days of those two Prophets Luk. 4. 25. but to one of each were they sent so we may hope there are some Instances of this Divine Bounty and Grace if we can hope so but of few but these secret things belong to the Lord our God and it 's safest not to presume too far on either Deut. 29. 29. side yet by the same Charity we allow Papists that the prevalency of truly Christian principles may Antidote the poyson of Popery so the pregnancy of some natural principles rise up above all the refuse in such Souls but oh Lord thou only knowest Yet some things I dare be bold to affirm 1. That if any man live uprightly as Job according to the Laws of Natural Religion at its full extent and hath the knowledg of Christ offer'd him he will receive it upon the advantageous Recommendations of it in Gods own time and way 2. That if any man so obeys the Precepts of Natural Religion and hath not the Revelation of Christ the want of that Revelation shall not be charged upon him so much as in the consequences of it 3. That whoever understands Natural Religion must needs understand that sin is in the world that man is born like the wild Asses Colt and drinks iniquity like water and Job 〈◊〉 16. 13 14. yet that God is patient speaks once and twice in order to mens Conversion and Repentance That therefore there is place for it in pardoning-mercy of which in God even Humane Nature it self hath a sense Natural Religion cannot be ignorant of this for without it all service of God or Application to him would be in vain and but like the service of Devils Yet I cannot but here take notice There is not such a learned World in Morals as was heretofore among the Graecians
may have heard the fame of it with their ears It is the way found out and declared by him that made weights for the winds and ballance for the clouds It is the way of the fear of the Lord the beginning of Wisdom and departing from evil the true understanding There lyes the peace of Natural Religion It is the way of Christianity seen and publisht by Christ Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life That 's the peace of Christian Religion And it is certainly the proper excellency of Christian Religion and its very intention to bring this way both as Natural and Christian to light to lay the grounds of it to give the Rules and Measures of it to sweeten mens tempers to the good nature of it That every one in a clear and still air not darkned with Clouds full of Thunder and terrible with the Lightning of dreadful Laws and Bloody Executions may see may be wary in the choice of his conduct of himself to his unchangeable state and may therefore have light have room have still and silence in which he may weigh every thing prove every thing Now that which I have now declar'd is a way most agreeable to the Word of God and that Reason which respects either all mankind or all Christians This is the Contrivance of Christianity's providing That the Wolf and the Lamb may dwell together that the Lion may lye down with the Kid that the child may play on the hole of the Asp that there may be no hurting or destroying in all Gods Holy Mountain That Knowledg of God and True Religion may have the same scope and freedom that the waves have in the Sea Christianity hath always the Grounds ready by it and with it And to present them in their Rational Possibility is a Vindication of Divine Justice Righteousness and Goodness an Offerture to man to be happy Nor will the Platform be always Vtopian the days will come when it shall pass into life power and effect Now whenever this shall be in its Glory that Degeneracy of mankind that curse that lyes upon the earth that vail of the covering spread upon the face of all Nations that severe indignation of God against Humane Nature shall be removed The Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh the light of one day shall be as the light of seven All flesh shall see the Glory of the Lord together So come come thus Lord Jesus Even so Amen I have thus far made a Lamentation upon the General State of the World in relation to Religion which till some such mighty Influence come down from Heaven as I have intimated upon it is like to be for a Lamentation For the dark places of the Earth will be full of the Habitations of Cruelty and it is certain the Habitations of Cruelty will be furnished with the Instruments of Cruelty And therefore Oh my Soul come not into their secret unto their Assembly my Honour be not thou united for in their anger they slay and destroy and in their self-will they dig down walls Cursed be their anger for it is fierce and their wrath for it is cruel Their drink-offerings of Blood will I not offer nor take their name of Religion into my mouth I shall therefore leave them and address the close of this Discourse to the Saints that are in the earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my Delight And in the first place it calls us to the Review of the Excellent Christian Religion even as Natural Religion all essence all substance trace it throughout all its Doctrine Worship Rules of Life they are all by their very Goodness plain to him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledg there is nothing froward nor perverse in them its bands of peace are not politick or worldly Intrigues no Ceremonial Symbolism or Ritual Shibboleth but ponderous Verities and Divine Love All the shew or appearance any Religion can make is but a ray borrowed from its Divine perfection a derivation from its light or from Natural Religion which is it self for pure Natural Religion is Christian Religion if you suppose a soul without sin mounting from its Creature-probaâ—ionership to its highest perfection as Adam if not having 〈◊〉 from Paradise to Heaven And Christian Religion is Natural Religion suppose the soul fallen and rising back from its Apostacy to that perfection by the Redeemer 2. Let me apply this Discourse to the Comprimise of all Differences betwixt Protestants and particularly in our English Christian Nation not defining any Controversal Point but urging to that end such undoubted Principles as I have insisted upon in this Discourse 1. That supposing a National Church cannot be made out to satisfaction yet Christian Kingdoms are so considerable a point of Scripture-Prophecy that it cannot be denied So far therefore as National Worship can be agreeable to a mans Conscience making inquiry and most curious search into the Word of God both as to his Duty and to his Liberty also and possible Freedom from Scruple every Christian is oblig'd to Glorifie God in the publick services of him and Confession of the Faith of Jesus Christ with his native Country Suppose a man should retire to particular private Congregations to supply what he may find wanting in the National Constitution to compleat all the Duties of Christian Communion and the advantages of it yet still he is bound to promote and encourage National Religion so far as it extends to avoid as much as is possible all Divisions and profest separation from it by putting the fairest Construction and the kindest hopes upon those things that seem doubtful and as little infringing the Authority of Laws as may be consistent with sentiments of Conscience and a due enjoyment of that liberty God hath given men of judging for their own souls as in his sight viz. in those things that are not Laws of Natural Religion and so indisputable or those Grand Points of Christianity in which a Christian can have no allowance in all things else a Christian hath a liberty but so that he must not use that his liberty as a cloake of maliciousness but as the Servant of God give due Honour to 1 Pet. 2. 16. all I would therefore propose these three Considerations to draw men to the greatest Conjunction with National Religian that can by any means be reconcil'd with good Conscience towards God Considerat 1. That if we examine things by Scripture there are many abatements from the supposeable evil of external Observances of which we may lawfully make our utmost Advantages to so great a Good as our Professed Conjunction with National Religion while substantially good though the High Places I 1 Kings 15. 14. mean things equivalent in our opinion be not taken away as in the times of the Excellent Kings of Judah First then as fundamental to this case I suppose these two things Equiponderating one another 1. The high Character of National Christian
in Hell If we could suppose a Society designedly united without Religion it would be like the Plot for building of Babel an endeavour of such a part of mankind to set up for its self and its own security as it were in defyance of Heaven A Society united in Civils and crumbled into Sects and Divisions in Religion that is in the main substantials of Doctrine Worship and Practice is a Babel as it was under the curse of Confusion of divided Language A disparagement of Religion which can be as it is indeed Religion but one as if its Name were Legion or as if in fundamental points it could not sufficiently evidence it self so as to be known to be the true Lastly a disanulling the ancient Law of Society which is principally for the Union of Religion so that if men could agree in all things else and were yet divided here it were not true humane society but would want the very noblest part or Principle of it Religion which is as a soul or spirit to it Yet too rigorous and severe a constraint of Uniformity is both to forget humane infirmity that does not allow so perfect an union in this world if a rigid Uniformity be indeed perfection and to forget also that every man is a complete Being within himself and makes a perfect Figure as he is alone and therefore to grant nothing to this consideration is rather to crowd men into a Little ease in Religion than to unite them and so pressing them too strait makes them fly out of that uneasie state for more room and dissolves the union that might else have been But in all the principal points of True Religion Union is so necessary that it stands good Humane society is for the sake of Religion yet in this state of Gods patience to the world Commerce and civil Conversation are no more than Property founded in Grace for then we must go out of the world yet still the supreme and prime end of Society is Religion Society in Divine Adorations is the state of Angels and Saints in Heaven It was designed to be the State of Innocency in this world It is a Law that cannot be repealed It is the perpetual Duty of Man Fallen Nature hath a violent inclination to it so that all societyes consent to walk in the name of some God though mistaken in the right object But the word of God and Christianity as they most clearly reveal the True Religion so the necessity of Union in it The publickness of Religion therefore that it is most choosable for the glory of it to God for the good it does to the souls of men for the blessing and acceptance it receives from God I shall plainly make evident from the reason of Scripture 1. For the Glory publick Religion presents to God it is evident although God in his Son and Spirit is a sufficient Spectator and Witness of and infinitely rich in his own Glory in the understanding of and his own eternal praises of himself so that nothing can be added to him yet it is most evident God is pleased to delight in the publickness of his service and the nearest approach of all his Creatures to him and that not in solitary service but the most conjoyn'd as if infinity received Additions of Glory from the openness and publickness of his Worship which yet we know is impossible But it is the abyss of his goodness that he delights in loving all his creatures and being universally known loved and served by them and that in the greatest Union herein that as he himself is the prime Unity and Universality and this is the perfection of his Being so his Creatures sprung from him may return to him in the same Universality and Unity in resemblance of himself which is the highest and truest worship of him In Heaven there is an Innumerable company of Angels and blessed Spirits in one general Assembly to praise and worship God The Scripture excites the praise of all the Earth of all the world of all Lands of all People Tongues Languages Nations Kindred and Families even the Heaven and Earth and things under the Earth and the whole host of them are called in to concert the Glory of God and nothing left out but Death and Destruction which cannot praise him because never made by him And when the Glory of God as it rises from his Creatures is represented at its highest pitch it is thus set out And I beheld and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb c. And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them I heard saying as it were in one Quire Blessing and Honour and Glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Thus David also musters up the whole Creation to join in the praises of God not to fill up and adorn the Divine Poesie but to shew the indisputable right God hath to the services of all his Creatures and that in those which are not able to pay it immediately by themselves every wise and prudent holy man is to observe that tribute of praise that is as it were marked upon them by the wisdom that made them and to offer it up for them when the service of God is represented as most glorious in its being most publick Every thing therefore in Gods Ordination of Religion tends to publickness Our Saviour will not appear but in the fulness of his Body the Church which does as it were compleat him For it is in this sense his Complement or Fulness though he fills all in all The knowledg of God would cover the earth even as water does the Sea and is restless till it does so the Preaching of the Gospel is to be extended to all Nations to every creature In Prayer there is to be a coming of all flesh to God Praise is to rise up as one pillar of Incense from the whole world The Church especially is to publish the name of the Lord and to ascribe greatness to our God Now the sense of this is that since God hath been pleased to place his Glory in the publickness of Religion in this Universality of it all good men are zealous and earnest to draw in the publick Societies of the world as much as they can to love fear serve pray to God and praise him together God does not allow his servants that out of choice they should retire to the Religion of a Cloyster or a Wilderness or a private separated Assembly as the greatest honour to him but delights in the most publick Assemblies of his Saints servants and creatures for though the reasons here of lye deep in the Divine
their hands to guard them in all their ways that they may not dâ—â—h their foot aginst any of the stones of Scandal They are Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister for them that shall be Heirs of Salvation Those greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven humble themselves as Little Ones to serve the Little Ones of God and Christ And as their Angels they always behold in Heaven the Father of our Lord and of all that believe in him that whoever despises them even to Scandal must be sure to have it remonstrated against them 2. He exemplifies the care of them in himself The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost and the Argument is raised to the height as it is exemplified in the Father of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth named after Christ whose will it is not that so much as one and yet when one only is in the danger of Scandal Who does not look upon him as a Singularist especially if one of the least too and reject him should perish but is pleased in the preservation of one such even as the joy of one Sheep that is lost out of a hundred exceeds sensibly the joy of the ninety nine that were not in hazard But now lest the great charge against Scandalising and Despising should seem to introduce a Lawless state in Christianity and increase Petulancy and Licentiousness in those who would be looked upon as at least Little Ones in Christianity or make the care of not Scandalising of endless scruple or burden Our Lord prescribes a Method for preventing so ill Consequences very certain to its End yet very far from Scandal or Despising A Method that allows no sin and yet deserts none till they deserve to be accounted but as Heathens or Publicans to whom yet a due measure of Christian Charity is to be preserved Which Method it is not my business now to enter into the Controversal part of but to observe as of great moment that the Doubting of the lawful use of Indifferent Things in Religion falls not into the account of any of those Trespasses the Lord speaks of and that as if it were on purpose lest the thing should be mistaken a most different Method is in that Case commanded by the Apostle of the Lord. Here therefore give me liberty to compare in some things which I have omitted in the body of the Discourse the Sermon of our Lord and his Apostle First He that doubts in Indifferent Things and cannot conform to what others do and would be conformed to in is not commanded by the Apostle to hear the one or the two or three nor the Church it self Nor is it said by the Apostle they that will not hear on such accounts should be as Heathen-men or Publicans or as we speak Excommunicate both which are very notorious in the Evangelists Records in the Case of the Trespasses there spoken of which assures us they are of another Nature Nor doth the Apostle urge as from our Saviour that what is in these Cases bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven or what is loosed on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven that there shall be any obligation on the doubting Conscience by the Churches Canons or any such discharge of it before God or it self by obeying them But every Man in this Case is to hear his own Conscience there every thing of this nature is bound and loosed there every word or matter is heard and established On the other side there is no Injunction of telling the fault of Non-Conformity if any be aggrieved at it in that gradation from one to more and so to the Church But the Apostle's command is First Not to Judge or Despise if that may keep Indifferents to their Equipoise if not the Command is not so much as by Example to Scandalise or draw any that Doubt to act against or over their Doubt in Indifferent Things because they are but Indifferent for that is to sin against the Brethren the weak Brethren as at the least we esteem them Now in these Cases to sin against the Brethren is to sin against Christ in his Law against Scandal Now in that all things are of so diverse a frame and aspect in the Lords Prescriptions concerning Trespasses and the Apostle's Directions in cases of various apprehensions in things of Indifferency wherein one great part may be guilty yet of great weakness and mistake and that none of the Methods ordered in the one is so much as mentioned in the other or once intimated it argues very evidently that variety and as various practices in indifferent Things though joined with such mistake and weakness are none of the Trespasses our Saviour had regard to And since the Apostle puts all under the notion of Scandal wherein the weaker part is either drawn into sin enfeebled in the vigour disquieted in the true peace of Conscience or so much as despised by being incompassionately neglected in his Doubt the whole Case is brought under the force of our Saviour's Sermon against Scandal that none looking upon themselves on any accounts as Great in the Kingdom of God in the Church or in the Christian Profession let those Accounts be whatever they can be presumed to be should by any sort of Imperiousness whether Command rigorous Treaty or Example that despises all that do not follow it impose upon the Little Ones To all which let me have the Readers patience to add this one Observation That the Evangelist Mark makes the occasion of this or a like Discourse of the Lords upon Scandal That the Disciples were much displeased that one did cast out Devils in Christs name that did not follow them that did not seem and indeed was not of their way in the appearance of Things But our Lord with great Compassion accepts him so far as he was come For saith he He that is not against us is on our part He that although in a different Company or Mode does the same things we do and does nothing in opposition to our Great Design is on our side And so he proceeds into a similar Discourse of Kindness to or Scandal against his Disciples though Little Ones And if we suppose it the same Discourse as in St. Matthew and that this Evangelist had not an accurate regard to the occasion yet in that he connected it with such an occasion and that by the Divine Wisdom it teaches us how much such a Discourse is adjusted to such an occasion for guided by the Holy Spirit the things are so laid together Now that the Apostle had his Eye upon these so famous Discourses besides the Reasons I have given on this Head in its due place it is evident to me further he had so by his Representation of himself in a Figure all along the ninth Chap. of his First Epistle to the Corinths in the very heart of a Discourse concerning Scandal as that Person that humbles himself as a Little Child in
Now to the discharge of Conscience in this it s so high Office and Trust it owes to it self and the Soul that it be richly and abundantly furnished with the knowledge of the Divine Will and the Word of God dwelling in it that seeing it is both the Scribe and Doctor or if I may so speak the Bishop of the Soul within it self it be as the good Householder that brings forth out of his Treasury things new and old that it attend to all Means of Instruction for the Kingdom of Heaven entertain all Wisdom lift up its voice for it seek it as Silver and search for it as for hid Treasure And that its influence may be powerful and effective upon the Soul to all Holy and Heavenly Obedience there must be a just preservation of its Authority and good Conduct that so it may promote the Soul into all goodness having gained a high Reputation and Honour by the success it hath had already and the comfort and good expectation it raises within the Soul upon its happy Government For the upright man from this vigor of Conscience holds on his way and grows stronger and stronger and Job 17. 9. Prov. 4. 18. the way of the Just becomes as the shining Light that shines more and more to the perfect day And therefore one of the principal Scandals Scripture remarques upon is this When Conscience upon any Sollicitation upon any Insinuation or Usurpation upon it betrays this Trust and surrenders it self to any other Dictate or Authority but that which is Divine and that shining within it self and so assuring it by its Rationality Goodness Purity Majesty that it is from God To take any thing upon trust from Men that it does not try and examine or to let go any thing it hath so tryed and examined and found good upon any pretence whatever is indeed to be Scandalised that pretence that does so assume over it and prevail with it against it self Scandalises it For the charge of representing to the Soul the Authority of the Divine Laws is committed to the Conscience the supream Moderation is in God and the Divine Law yet it is transmitted into the Soul it enters thither through the Dictates of Conscience whatever then so imposes on Conscience as that it recedes from its Government Scandalises it for the Government of God is lost also thereby And though Conscience cannot justifie a man in any error nor ought to possess a Man with unnecessary scruples yet still the main Government of Conscience deriving it self from God and the true understanding of his Will is by no means to be shaken For Man as a Rational Creature as a Creature of Religion cannot obey God but by the Mediation of Conscience He must know and judge within himself what is the Divine Law and obey it If he does in Conformity to that Will and does not know it it is not true Obedience because it is not Religious it is not reasonable or rationally Religious Obedience The Obedience of God is seated in the Judgment in the Conscience if these Reins are slack and loose if this Golden Bridle be neglected Men know not whither they may run upon what they may be driven and never discover the danger A man cannot distinguish what is from God from what is not if this gust of the Soul be not quick vigorously exercised and left free Conscience may be instructed advised perswaded yea even menaced and terrified by the Applications of the Word of God to it nay it may be over-ruled by Lawful Authority wherein it turns Apostate or Renegade to Natural Religion yet it can never be Lawfully depos'd or put out of Authority The Mystery of Faith the Rule of Obedience the Consolation and Vigor of the Soul are all preserved in a pure Conscience and Shipwracked together with it Now because Conscience is placed by God in this great Trust and Dignity it becomes and it must needs become so great a matter of Scandal as the Apostle discourses when Conscience not duly regarding its own light and inward Sense surrenders it self to a forreign Rule steers it self by a compass out of it self says another shall be wise and see and Dictate for it and so gives up it self in an implicite Faith and blind Obedience Here is Scandal in its Delusive Deceptive Power a Man thinks it modest cautious a point of Honour and Subjection to those that are above him to be carried by an Authority out of himself Conscience hereupon deserts its own Principles and its own place in directing according to them Upon this it falls into all the miserable consequences the mischief of Scandal Conscience is wounded grieved weakned and lies prostrate and without Repentance the work of God in the Natural or new Creation is destroyed and even the Man for whom Christ dyed perishes God hath concredited the Keys of Knowledge and Jurisdiction within the Soul to Conscience alone and I cannot find that it can be at all excused in resigning them into any Hand but his that gave them no not to an Angel from Heaven The Ministers of Religion and Magistrates in their place have these Keys as they are Administred without a Man to offer and press upon him all considerations of his Duty But every Man must see with his own Eyes and not anothers for him he must be enlightned by Beams and Rayes that shine within his own Soul He hath a private double Look upon himself and none may open and shut but Conscience in and with God whoever else does becomes a Father and a Master upon Earth to him in the place of God and Christ Upon this account the Apostle lays down these three Rom. 14. 22 23 great Positions 1. That whatever is not of Faith of a free and full perswasion of Conscience is Sin For though the Natures of things cannot be changed in themselves yet as we are conversant in them it is an undoubted Rule Bonum oritur ex integris causis Every thing conspires to and concerts Good but Evil being a declension and fall from Good every degree of fall or aberration from Good is Evil and this Plenipotence of Conscience committed to it by God is a prime necessary in every good thing and the want of it greatly evil though it hath not an Omnipotence of changing Nature it self 2. From hence it follows he that does and doubts in what he does is condemned in his doing whatever the thing be in it self because to him it is so far Evil that he does it against that Domestick Authority of Conscience 3. He is a happy Man that especially having fallen into doubt in doubtful things is come to so good a Resolution as not to condemn himself in that wherein he allows himself He that hath a good assurance rising neither from Ignorance nor Carelesness is a happy Man by way of Eminency It is a rare and extraordinary happiness and he that hath not but is perplexed with Doubt ought not
others What recompence or allay of Anguish will it be to us that there were such and such Offences or Causes of Exception to Religion and the Ways of it And that we saw they took mightily in the World that they were generally received When all is but making a Covenant with Death and binding over our selves to it Can there be any Cause just enough why we should be Damned and lose our selves for ever Or will it satisfie us for our Souls that others perish with us 2. It is therefore every Mans Interest to arm himself with all the Reasons he can against Scandal as there are sufficient and to resist this Enemy at the very Gates It is only that we are deeply Scandalised first against Religion that we go up and down as it were inquiring for Scandal for some to Scandalise us and to give us further shew of Reason against being Religious Were our Hearts but true to Religion we should easily find they are more and stronger that are with it than that are against it If our Eyes were opened the Reasons for Religion are like a Mountain full of Charriots and Horses of Fire that cannot be resisted Our business therefore is not if we sincerely resolve that we and our 2 kings 6. 17. House shall serve the Lord to search every where for Offences Josh 24. 17. against such a resolution but to find out the pressing and undeniable Arguments why we should so resolve to fortifie our selves against all the seeming pretences to the contrary by setting them before us as Joshua does before the People of Israel to animate our selves the higher against them That we are so unequally poised so propense upon Scandal is because our Hearts are first bribed toward Sin and Apostacy from God 3. This should engage us to take heed to our selves to beware of our own proper Scandal the motion prejudice and passion that grows from our own false Understanding or Lust and does and will scandalise us though there were no other Scandal in the World these will make us fall into Dislike or Discontent with any of the ways of Holiness and our Duty when they do not satisfie our particular Apprehensions Affections or Desires Let us commit our ways wholly to the Lord and he will give us the desires Psal 37. 1. c. of our hearts a hundred fold in our Design of Good even in this Life in the room of what we would purchase with Scandal Let us rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him and he will bring it to pass for us But let us not fret our selves in any wise to do Evil because any thing in our Duty lies cross to our inordinate Concupiscence We cannot do well in being angry to Scandal for that is indeed to be angry to our Death we foolishly pervert our own way when ever our hearts fret against the Lord. If we love the Law of God nothing can offend us If we love God and our Brother we can have no occasion of stumbling or Scandal in us 4. Seeing Scandals are so every where abroad and our own Hearts so weak on the part of Scandal it is most necessary to commit our selves to Infinite Grace and the Divine Spirit as our greatest Security and Protection without which no Flesh could be saved not the very Elect If we set our love upon God and place our trust in him we shall dwell in the secret place of the Most High and rest under the Shadow of the Almighty and he will deliver us from the Snare of the Fowler from noisome Scandal though a thousand Psal 91. fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand They that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish Psal 92. 13. c. in the Courts of our God they shall still being unscandalised bring forth fruit in their old-age they shall be fat and flourishing not blasted with Scandal's East Wind to shew that the Lord is upright a Rock of Security not of Scandal and there is no unrighteousness no cause of Scandal in him Oh how great is thy Goodness to them that fear thee to them Psal 31. 19. that trust in thee before the Sons of Men. Thou shalt hide them in the Secret of thy presence from the Pride of Scandal that compasseth men as a Chain yet they are proud of it from the strife of Tongues the Tongue of Scandal that are a World of Inquity that are set on fire of Hell that are set against Heav'n and walk through the Earth 5. We may from hence learn the great unreasonableness of being Scandalised that there are so many Scandals against Religion not marked with Vengeance If we consider well the state of the World how can it be otherwise It is neither a Heaven nor a Paradise upon Earth that immediately spue out Scandal and having once spued it out never receive it any more for ever Nor is it a Hell where there is Scandal all Scandal and no Religion but Scandal under Divine Vengeance Scandal all in a Flame with the Wrath of God discovering what it is so that it can intrap none any longer but those that are its Vassals for ever This World then is a World of Scandals and scandalised only it is under a Discipline an Administration of Grace like an Hospital a Bethlehem for Lunaticks the Lunaticks of Scandal the Infani as Holy Writ calls them They are under a gracious Provision of all Necessaries and a Method for Cure In the mean time that they that are at the height of this Lunacy should throw about Scandal with all their might is no more strange than that there are Mad Men in such a Bethlehem at the height of Distraction Indeed the Patience the Bounty that God uses to these is greater than of the most compassionate Hospitals generally in this world yet no doubt they have the cruel twinges and lashes of Conscience in order to their Cure if they might proceed to their Effect but that their Cure grows desperate is no more to be wondered at in the one Case than in the other Many never come to themselves They truly have Devils and are Mad Devils that are never cast out Others there are that are brought to a more quiet but sullen state others that have their lucid Intervals others again that have generally fair appearance of Reason yet not in their Right Minds and lastly some that are reduced beyond danger of relapse but not perfect What Reproach is it now to Right Reason to Sobriety that Lunaticks of all sorts erre from it or that some rally at it or that the very best among them do some things unbecoming to it No more is it that Evil Men or Imperfect Men not sanctified to the Perfection of Paradise or Heaven do unsuitable to Religion according to their several states though they do insanire cum ratione seem to be in their Wits and Reason while they do so Or that there
Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone Quest How then is it said to be the Pillar of Truth And of what Importance is that to the Actuating Scripture Answ As the Laws and Ordinances of Courts and Governments are publickly fixed that every one may know and take notice of them so the Church in all its Members but especially by Deputed Ministers giving themselves wholly to it proclaims preaches and makes offer of the most Publick Notice of the Word of Truth within it self that all the Children and Servants of the Family may be continually catechiz'd and built up therein and Strangers have opportunity to know if they would apply themselves to it Thus it is a Famous City set on an Hill that cannot be hid and therefore its Laws Constitutions Manners cannot but in all reason be inquired of by all that do so much as pass by it It is a Candlestick bearing the lofty Torch of Divine Truth Of this the Pillars of the Temple at Jerusalem and the affixing to them the Rolls of Divine Revelation was an eminent Type and alluded to by the Apostle As therefore from a Prince come forth Edicts Proclamations Manifesto's and Declarations according to Laws which are fastned to Publick Pillars of the Court it self and all open and conspicuous Places of Concourse so are there in the Church the most advantagious Publications of the Divine Truth and Word to all both the Natives and Free-born of the Church it self and Ingenuous Strangers that would hearken out the most Reasonable Proposals of Truth or whom God is pleased to Naturalize to himself Quest What is the meaning of the Church being the Ground of Truth And how does this actuate Scripture Answ It means nothing but the Perpetuity and Continuation of Truth with the Church establishing it self by all that Firmness of Divine Evidence and Reason and on those very Securities taking Possession of the Church as the Ark of its Strength where it self or the God that is Truth it self places the Soles of his Feet as on his unmovable Footstool for ever Of which the Ark in the Holâ—est was a Type the Footstool of the Throne of Mercy the secure Repository of the Tables of the Covenant the Ark of Testimony over which the Shecinah or Glory appeared as inthron'd attended with Cherubims and setting its Feet upon it the place of my Throne and the place of the Soles of my Feet Ezek. 43. 7. For thus the True Church against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail is the unchangeable Rest of Truth It adheres to Truth it buys the Truth and never sells it Truth dwells with it for ever God never suffers it to apostatize from Truth but by the constant holding of the Judgment and retaining the Love and Zeal of the Affections of those that are indeed his Church he hath setled his Word in his Church on Earth even as it is for ever settled in Heaven The Church therefore actuates Scripture by finding out Reasons debating enforcing defending by all Arguments that Truth of Scripture and so persisting in it for ever Quest Cannot then the Church fail Answ It hath been said before the True Church cannot fail For the True Church is as hath been described the House of God the Pillar and Ground of Truth and that which is so cannot fail and God will have such a Church always in the World If any Person City or Nation that seem to have been the Church have this Light eclipsed the â—anâ—lestick removes for it is only a Candlestick for the sake of the Light and the Pillar it self shakes and falls if the Records fixed to it are taken away and the Palace and Court remove with the Prince who is always with his Truth and the lively Motion of it So much Truth therefore and active Display of it so much a Church in any Place and the Truth removing or lying dead the Church removes also or is ready to die in that Place Quest But is there no higher Sense of the Church being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Answ No other but what arises from the most intimate and inseparable Union betwixt the Church and Truth Truth taking an undefailable possession of the Church so that whereever Truth in that Fulness as to lead to Life and Happiness is there is the Church and no where else The True Church then may be stiled a Pillar and Ground of Truth in the highest Sense if rightly understood that is Truth it self that is the unmovable Pillar and everlasting Foundation hath so closely banded the Church with it self that it is One Pillar and Foundation with it Thus the Church may be both the Building and the Rock and Foundation to succeeding Parts and Members of the Church The Building as it self rests upon the Pillar and Foundation of Truth else it can't be the Church The Pillar and Foundation of Truth to the still succeeding and rising Church as it is One with Truth it self to which every True Member first comes and unites and therein to the Church even as every Degree of Building is a Foundation and Support to the still growing Building not in it self but as it is surely cemented to the Foundation regulated by it and partakes its Strength Yet if it swerve never so little from the Foundation it is presently a Deformity and the more it swerves the greater danger of the Ruine of it self and all that rests upon it Quest May not this help to explain that so much disputed Expression of our Saviour Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not preval against it Answ I shall be glad if it may give any Light to it and hope it may For the Apostle Peter making that Confession of the Divinity of Christ not singular but representing the whole Body of Apostles and Christians and being possessed with and by that Truth he confess'd was both part of the Building upon that Rock and as united with that Rock he became Rock it self upon which succeeeding Christians were to be built The Prophets and Apostles are in this Sense Foundations and the Twelve Apostles Twelve Foundations Christ himself being the Corner-stone in whom alone the whole Building even the Apostolick Foundation it self rises in a strict and proper Sense Quest Is there not a good Security then in joyning our selves to the Church to those that have been in the Building before us Answ No otherwise than as we joyn our selves by their Ministry to that Foundation it self which always lies sure upon which they themselves must alone rest if the True Church For by placing our selves not upon them but upon that Common Foundation we are adjusted to the whole Building that was before us that lies regular with that Foundation by the Care of him who is both the Foundation Corner-stone and is also he that built all things even God in Christ Quest We must then seek to
them Captive with the rest though in different Baskets as the Prophet Jeremy represents Quest How do they survive in the time of the displac'd and dejected Candlestick Answ They are either called out to a Zealous Appearance and Suffering for Truth or sometimes retired into Corners like the Seven thousand in Israel or the Church in the Wilderness that they cannot appear like a Church offering those Publick Notices of Divine Truth a Church is designed for Quest How is a Visible Profession lost from Particular Persons Answ It is too often thrown up by Apostasie or Profaneness or dwindled into a very Spiritless Form but very often a Profession without the Power being not inconsistent with the working of Iniquity it may pass out of this World like a Lamp burning but being found to burn only in a small Temporary Light without Oyl in the Vessel a Plenitude of Grace in the Heart shutting out every Lust it becomes a Lamp put out in utter Darkness Quest What is to be inferred from all this Answ That there is no Trust but in the Lord himself the Truth it self by which at all times the Church that is indeed the Pillar and Ground of Truth and wherein it is so will be known to us and in uniting to Truth we are united to That Quest There remains one thing yet to be understood in the Description of the Church which is its Power of Governing even as it is Governed by the Word of God Vnder what Notions I beseech you is that Government expressed in Scripture Answ That Power is by our Saviour represented under the Mataphor of Keys and the Use of those Keys in opening and shutting or in Binding and Losing Quest What is the meaning hereof Answ The meaning is plainly this When the Church of Christ hath by the Key of Knowledge inquir'd into all the Divine and Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel and Word of God it hath in and according to that Word and only so a Power of Application of that Doctrine to Particular Cases binding Men under the Sense of Guilt and fear of Damnation in such or such Sins and an impenitent Continuance in them or of Absolving and assuring Men of the Divine Favour and Acceptance in a holy course of Life and Obedience to God and of Pardon upon Repentance after Falls into Sin and Disobedience and so of Declaring and Pronouncing upon Men as to their present State in the Church by Excommunication or Absolution all these are the Power of Binding and Loosing according to what our Saviour speaks in parallel Words Whose Sins you remit they are remitted whose Sins you retain they are retained meaning still according to his Word the Pole-Star by which they are to direct all their Motions who claim any such Power For only where it is declard according to the Word is it that what is bound on Earth is also bound in Heaven and what is loosed on Earth is loosed in Heaven there being an Invariable Agreement between what is Published from Heaven in the Word of God concerning the State and Actions of Men on Earth and the Transactions in Heaven in relation to them He then that pronounces agreeably with that word pronounces as Heaven does and will pronounce Heaven binds what he binds and looses what he looses because he speaks the Voice of Heaven in both Cases But that there should be any Binding or Loosing except in the Power of this Word and according to it in its Vertue in its Truth nothing can be more contrary to the Ends to the Glory to the Soveraignty of Christ To bind any single Christian by Excommunication and not according to this Word is as much a Brutum Fulmen a Thunder to no purpose a causeless Curse that shall not come as for the Pope to Excommunicate whole Protestant Churches Quest What is a Particular Church Answ It is the Catholick Church in a Neighbourhood or number of Christians Communicating one with another ordinarily even as the whole Cotholick Church would if it were possible Communicate with it self in the Ordinances and Worship of Christ exactly according the to Rules of his Word wherein this is the distinguishing Character of the True Church that its Communion is not with it self primarily but its Communion is so with it self as to be with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ principally as the Fountain-Head Center and Rule of the Communion and therein it holds out and invites to its Communion CAP. X. Of the Officers appointed by Christ in his Church Quest CAn there be either an Orderly or an Effectual Actuation of the Truth by the Church as a Congregation without distinct and separate Offices and Officers that may attend continually on this very thing Answ It is imposible for an Assembly without Order would cease to be an Assembly and fall into a Confusion or Rude Multitude All Wise and Prudent Assemblies have always had Elders to preside over them and our Lord hath ordained such to moderate throughout his Congregation or Church to conduct all the Publick Services of Religion For all things therein are actually administred by the Ministers of Christ the Noblest Organical Parts of the Church like those Senses that attend upon the Understanding most immediately Seeing Eyes and Hearing Ears so these upon the Word of Christ And that they may be most fitted ingaged and provoked hereunto they are even according to the very Laws of Nature separated to their Offices and unto all Preparations for them by Reading and Meditation as to their Proper Calling and Business of Life seeing they do not pretend to Immediate and Extraordinary Inablements or Excitations to their Service Quest What Titles or Characters does the New Testament place upon these Officers Answ Those that we have especial Respect to for in the Deacons if strictly taken we are less concerned receive Denominations either from their Work and Service or from that Honour and Estimation due to the Faithful Discharge of such a Service From their Work they are stiled Apostles Evangelists Pastors Teachers Ministers Servants of God and Christ and in a just sense of the Church also From the Estimation and Honour due to the Discharge of their Work and the Authority it ought to carry in the Hearts and Consciences of Christians they are styled Bishops Elders Rulers Guides and Ensamples as also Embassadours And the Work and the Honour do so enclose one another that they ought not to be separated and are in their Institution the Measure one of another extending both to Obedience and Support of them in their Work and the Titles are so prepared by the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost that they ought not to be changed for any other nor the Scripture Language herein to be altered for any Words not importing the same proper Sense Quest How shall the True Ministers of Christ be known that there may be that Obedience and Submission paid to them that is commanded Answ There can be no other Means to