they make herein may possibly keep up some Churches but is the ready way to destroy all Religion 2. That many of those by whom this Liberty is denyed unto professing Christians yet do indeed take it for granted that they have such a Liberty and that it is their Duty to make use of it For what are all the Contests between the Church of Rome and the Church of England so far as Christians that are not Church-men are concerned in them Is it not in whether of these Churches Edification may be best obtained If this be not the Ball between us I know not what is Now herein do not all the Writers and Preachers of both Parties give their Reasons and Arguments unto the People why Edification is better to be had in the one Church then in the other and do they not require of them to form a Judgment upon those Reasons and Arguments and to act accordingly if they do not they do but make a Flourish and act a Part like Players on a Stage without any determinate Design 3. All Christians actually do so they do judge for themselves unless they are brutish they do Act according unto that Judgment unless they are hardened in Sin and therefore who do not so are not to be esteemed Disciples of Christ. To suppose that in all things of Spiritual and Eternal Concernment that men are not determined and acted every one by his own Judgment is an Imagination of men who think but little of what they are or do or say or Write Even those who shut their Eyes against the Light and follow in the Herd resolving not to enquire into any of these things do it because they judge it is best for them so to do 4. It is commonly acknowledged by Protestants that private Christians have a Judgement of Discretion in things of Religion The Term was invented to grant them some Liberty of Judgement in Opposition unto the blind Obedience required by the Church of Rome but withal to put a restraint upon it and a distinction of some superiour Judgement it may be in the Church or others But if by Discretion they mean the best of mens Vnderstanding Knowledge Wisdom and Prudence in and about the things wherein it is exercised I should be glad to be informed what other Judgment than this of Discretion in and about the things of Religion this or that or any Church in the World can have or exercise But to allow men a Judgement of Discretion and not to grant it their Duty to act according unto that Judgement is to oblige them to be Fools and to act not discreetly at least not according unto their own Discretion 4. The same is to be spoken of Gospel Discipline without which neither can the Duties of Church Societies be observed nor the Ends of them attained The neglect the loss the abuse hereof is that which hath ruined the Glory of Christian Religion in the World and brought the whole Profession of it into Confusion Hereon have the fervency and sincerity of true Evangelical mutual Love been abated yea utterly lost For that Love which Jesus Christ requireth among his Disciples is such as never was in the World before amongst Men nor can be in the World but on the Principles of the Gospel and Faith therein Therefore it is called his New Commandement The Continuation of it amongst the Generality of Christians is but vainly pretended little or nothing of the Reality of it in its due Exercise is found And this hath ensued on the Neglect of Evangelical Discipline in Churches or the turning of it into a Worldly Domination For one principal End of it is the Preservation Guidance and acting of this Love That mutual Watch over one another that ought to be in all the Members of the Church the Principal Evidence and fruit of Love without Dissimulation is also lost hereby Most men are rather ready to say in the Spirit and Words of Cain Am I my Brothers Keeper than to attend unto the Command of the Apostles Exhort one another dayly least any be hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin Or comply with the Command of our Saviour if thy Brother offend thee tell him of it between him and thee By this means likewise is the Purity of Communion lost and those received as principal Members of Churches who by all the Rules of Primitive Discipline ought to be cast out of them Wherefore this also is to be considered in the Choice we are to make of what Churches we will joyn our selves unto as unto constant compleat Communion and in whose Communion we will abide For these things are Matters of Choice and consist in Voluntary free Acts of Obedience With those unto whom they are not so who would on the one hand have them to be things that men may be compelled unto and ought so to be or on the other that follow no other Guidance in them but outward Circumstances from the Times and Places where they are born and inhabit I will have no Contest It follows from hence also That Where there are many Churches wherein these things are found whereon we may lawfully and ought in Duty to joyn with some of them in particular every one is obliged to joyn himself unto such a Church as whose Principles and Practises are most suited unto his Edification CHAP. XI Of Conformity and Communion in Parochial Assemblies FROM what we have insisted on we may borrow some Light into the Determination of that Case wherein Multitudes are at this day concerned And the Case it self may be briefly stated in this Enquiry namely Whether all Protestants Ministers and People are bound to joyn themselves unto the Church of England as now by Law established in its Parochial Assemblies as unto compleat constant Communion without the use of any other Church means for their own Edification So as if they do not so do they are Guilty of Schisme This is that which is called Conformity unto the Church of England which as unto private Persons can be expressed only in constant compleat Communion in Parochial Assemblies according to their Present Constitution without the Use or Exercise of any other Church Worship or Discipline but what is by Law established in them Refraining from an absolute compliance herein is called Schisme But whereas Ecclesiastical Schisme whatever it be in particular in its general nature hath respect only unto divine Institutions this which respecteth only the Laws Rules and Determinations of men can have no alliance thereunto Yet is it not only charged as such without the least countenance from Scripture or Antiquity so far as it may be allowed of Authority with us but the supposition of it is accumulated with another Evil namely that those who are so guilty of it in the Judgment of them who are interested with secular Power though Peaceable and Orthodox ought to be punished with various Penalties gradually coming unto the loss of Goods Liberty and in some Cases of
under For the Communion so much talked of amongst Churches is almost come only unto an Agreement and Oneness in design for the mutual and forcible Extermination of one another at least this is the professed Principle of them who lay the loudest claim to the Name and Title with all the Rights and Priviledges of the Church Nor are others far remote from the same Design who adjudge all who dissent from themselves into such a condition as wherein they are much inclined to think it meet they should be destroyed That which animates this contest which gives it Life and Fierceness is a supposed enclosure of certain Priviledges and Advantages Spiritual and Temporal real or pretended unto the Church-state contended about Hence most men seem to think that the principal if not their only concernment in Religion is of what Church they are so as that a dissent from them is so evil as that there is almost nothing else that hath any very considerable evil in it When this is once well riveted in their Minds by them whose secular Advantages lye in the Enclosure they are in a Readiness to bear a share in all the evils that unavoidably ensue on such Divisions By this means among others is the state or condition of Christian Religion as unto its publick Profession become at this day so deplorable as cannot well be expressed What with the bloody and desolating Wars of Princes and Potentates and what with the Degeneracy of the Community of the People from the Rule of the Gospel in Love Meekness Self-denial Holiness Zeal the Universal Mortification of Sin and Fruitfulness in Good Works the Profession of Christianity is become but a sad Representation of the Vertues of him who calls out of Darkness into his Marvellous Light Neither doth there seem at present to be any design or expectation in the Most for the ending of Controversies about the Church but Force and the Sword which God forbid It is therefore high time that a sober Enquiry be made whether there be any such Church state of Divine Institution as those contended about For if it should appear upon Trial that indeed there is not but that all the fierce digladiations of the Parties at Variance with the doleful effects that attend them have proceeded on a false supposition in an adherence whereunto they are confirmed by their Interests some advances may be made towards their Abatement However if this may not be attained yet Directions may be taken from the Discovery of the Truth for the use of them who are willing to be delivered from all concernment in these fruitless endless contests and to reduce their whole Practice in Religion unto the Institutions Rules and Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ. And where all hopes of a general Reformation seem to fail it savours somewhat of an unwarrantable Severity to forbid them to reform themselves who are willing so to do provided they admit of no other Rule in what they so do but the Declaration of the Mind of Christ in the Gospel carrying it peaceably towards all Men and firmly adhering unto the Faith once delivered unto the Saints To make an Entrance into this Enquiry the ensuing Discourse is designed And there can be no way of the Mannagement of it but by a diligent impartial search into the Nature Order Power and Rule of the Gospel Church state as instituted determined and limited by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles When we depart from this Rule so as not to be regulated by it in all Instances of Fact or pleas of Right that afterwards fell out we fall into the confusion of various Presumptions suited unto the Apprehensions and Interests of men imposed on them from the Circumstances of the Ages wherein they lived Yet is it not to be denied but that much Light into the nature of Apostolical Institutions may be received from the declared Principles and Practices of the first Churches for the space of 200 years or thereabouts But that after this the Churches did insensibly depart in various degrees from the state Rule and Order of the Apostolical Churches must I suppose be acknowledged by all those who groan undâ—r the final Issue of that gradual Degeneracy in the Papal Antichristian Tyranny For Rome was not built in a day nor was this change introduced at once or in one Age nor were the lesser Alterations which began this Declension so prejudicial unto the Being Order and Purity of the Churches as they proved afterwards through a continual additional encrease in succeeding Ages Having affirmed something of this nature in my brief Vindication of the Nonconformists from the Guilt of Schisme the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet in his late Treatise entitled The Vnreasonableness of Separation doth not only deny it but reflects with some severity upon the Mention of it Part 2. Sect. 3. pag. 225 226 c. I shall therefore on this Occasion reassume the consideration of it although it will be spoken unto also afterwards The Words he opposeth are these It is possible that an impartial Account may ere long be given of the state and ways of the first Churches after the decease of the Apostles wherein it will be made to appear how they did insensibly deviate in many things from the Rule of their first institution so as that though their Mistakes were of small moment and not prejudicial unto their Faith and Order yet occasion was administred unto succeeding Ages to encrease those Deviations until they issued in a fatal Apostacy I yet suppose these words inoffensive and agreeable unto the Sentiments of the Generality of Protestants For 1. Unto the first Churches after the Apostles I ascribe nothing but such small Mistakes as did no way prejudice their Faith or Order And that they did preserve the latter as well as the former as unto all the substantial Parts of it shall be afterwards declared Nor do I reflect any more upon them then did Hegesippus in Eusebius who confines the Virgin Purity of the Church unto the days of the Apostles lib. 3. cap. 29. The greater Deviations which I intend began not until after the end of the second Century But 2. To Evince the improbability of any Alteration in Church Rule and Order upon my own Principles he intimates both here and afterwards that my Judgment is that the Government of the Church was Democratical and the Power of it in the People in distinction from its Officers which is a great Mistake I never thought I never wrote any such thing I do believe that the Authoritative Rule or Government of the Church was is and ought to be in the Elders and Rulers of it being an Act of the Office-Power committed unto them by Christ himself Howbeit my Judgment is that they ought not to Rule the Church with Force Tyranny and Corporal Penalties or without their own consent whereof we shall treat afterwards There are also other Mistakes in the same Discourse which I shall not insist upon
Obedience unto the Commands of Christ in its Integrity For the First the Scripture is full of Predictions all confirmed in the Event that after the days of the Apostles there should be various Attempts to wrest corrupt and pervert the Doctrine of the Gospel and to bring in pernitious Errors and Heresies To prevent or reprove and remove them is no small Part and Duty of the Ministerial Office in the Dispensation of the Word But whereas those who taught such perverse things did for the most part arise at first in the Churches themselves Act. 20.30 2 Pet. 2.1 1 John 2.19 as the Preaching of the Word was appointed for the rebuke of the Doctrines themselves so this Discipline was ordained in the Church with respect unto the Persons of them by whom they were taught Rev. 2.2.14 20. 3 Joh. 8.9 Gal. 5.12 And so also it was with respect unto Schisms and Divisions that might fall out in the Church The way of suppressing things of this Nature by external force by the Sword of Magistrates in Prisons Fines Banishments and Death was not then thought of nor directed unto by the Lord Jesus Christ but is highly dishonourable unto him as though the ways of his own appointment were not sufficient for the Preservation of his own Truth but that his Disciples must betake themselves unto the secular Powers of this World who for the most part are wicked Prophane and ignorant of the Truth for that end And hereunto belongeth the Preservation of his Commands in the Integrity of Obedience For he appointed that hereby care should be taken of the Ways Walkings and Conversation of his Disciples that in all things it should be such as became the Gospel Hence the exercise of this Discipline he ordaâ—ned to consist in Exhortations Admonitions Reproofs of any that shouâ—d offend in things Moral or of his especial Institutâ—on with the total Rejection of them were obstinate in their Offences as we shall see afterwards 2. The second End of it was to preserve Love entire among his Disciples This was that which he gave in especial charge unto all that should believe in his Name taking the Command of it to be his own in a peculiar manner and declaring our Observance of it to be the principal Pledge and Evidence of our being his Disciples For although mutual Love be an old Commandment belonging both unto the Moral Law and sundry Injunction under the Old Testament yet the Degrees and Measure of it the Ways and Duties of its exercise the Motives unto it and Reasons for it were wholly his own whereby it becomes a new Commandment also For the preservation and continuance of this Love which he lays so great weight upon was this Discipline appointed which it is several ways effectual towards As 1 In the Prevention or Removal of Offences that might arise among Believers to the impeachment of it Matth. 18.15 16 17 2 In that Watch over each other with mutual Exhortations and Admonitions without which this Love let men pretend what they please will not be preserved That which keepeth either Life or Soul in Christian Love consists in the exercise of those Graces mutually and the Discharge of those Duties whereby they may be Partakers of the fruits of Love in one another And for the most part those who pretend highly unto the Preservation of Love by their coming to the same Church who dwell in the same Parish have not so much as the carcase nay not a shadow of it In the Discipline of the Lord Christ it is appointed that this Love so strictly by him enjoyned unto us so expressive of his own Wisdom and Love should be preserved continued and encreased by the due and constant Discharge of the Duties of mutual Exhortation Admonition Prayer and watchful care over one another Rom. 15.14 1 Thes. 5 11 12. 2 Thes. 3.15 Heb. 3.12 13. Ch. 12.15 16. 3. A third End of it is that it might be a due Representation of his own Love Care Tenderness Patience Meekness in the acting of his Authority in the Church Where this is not observed and designed in the exercise of Church Discipline I will not say it is Antichristian but will say it is highly injurious and dishonourable unto him For all Church Power is in him and derived from him nor is there any thing of that nature which belongs unto it but it must be acted in his Name and esteemed both for the manner and matter of it to be his Act and Deed. For men therefore to pretend unto the exercise of this Discipline in a worldly frame of Spirit with Pride and Passion by tricks of Laws and Canons in Courts Forein to the Churches themselves which are pretended to be under this Discipline it is a woful and scandalous Representation of Christ his Wisdom Care and Love towards his Church But as for his Discipline he hath ordained that it shall be exercised in and with Meekness Patience Gentleness evidence of Zeal for the good and compassion of the Souls of men with Gravity and Authority so as that therein all the holy Affections of his mind towards his Church or any in it in their mistakes failings and miscarriages may be duly represented as well as his Authority acted among them Isa. 40.11 2 Cor. 10.1 Gal. 5.22.23 1 Thes. 2.7 2 Tim. 2.24 25 26. Jam. 3.17 1 Cor. 13. 4. It is in part appointed to be an Evidence and Pledge of the future Judgment wherein the whole Church shall be judged before the Throne of Christ Jesus For in the Exercise of this Discipline Christ is on his own Judgment Seat in the Church nor may any man pronounce any Sentence but what he believeth that Christ himself would pronounce were he visibly present and what is according to his mind as declared in his Word Hence Tertullian calls the Sentence of Excommunication in the Church futuri judicii praejudicium A Representation of the future Judgment 4. In all that Degeneracy which the Christian professing Church hath fallen into in Faith Worship and Manners there is no Instance can exceed the corruption of this Divine Institution For that which was the Honour of Christ and the Gospel and an effectual means to represent him in the Glory of his Wisdom and Love and for the Exercise of all Graces in the Church unto the blessed Ends now declared was turned into a Domination Earthly and Secular Exercised In a Prophane Litigious Unintelligible Process according unto the Arts Ways and Terms of the worst of Law Courts by Persons for the most part remote from any just Pretence of the least Interest in Church Power on causes and for ends forein unto the Discipline of the Gospel by a Tyranny over the Consciences and over the Persons of the Disciples of Christ unto the Intolerable scandal of the Gospel and Rule of Christ in his Church as is evident in the State and Rule of the Church of Rome As these are the general Ends of the Institution
not or is neglected It is therefore fond to suppose that our Saviour should prescribe this Rule for that season wherein there was no need of it and not for those times wherein the Church could not subsist in order without it 3ly The Church here directed unto is a Christian Church For 1. whereas it hath been proved it concerned the times to come afterwards there was in those times nothing that could pretend unto the name of the Church but a Christian Church only The Jewish Synagogues had an utter end put unto them so as that an Address unto any of them in this case was not only useless but unlawful And as unto Magistrates or Arbitrators to have them called the Church and that in such a sense as that after the Interposition of their Authority or Advice a man should be freed from the discharge of all Christian Duties such as are mutually required among the Disciples of Christ towards his Brother is a fond Imagination For 2 It is such a Church as can exercise Authority in the Name of Christ over his Disciples and such as in Conscience they should be bound to submit themselves unto For the Reason given of the Contempt of the Voice Judgment and Sentence of the Church in case of offence is their Power of spiritual binding and looâ—ing which is comitted by Christ thereunto and so he adds immediatley ver 18. Whatever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose in heaven shall be loosed on earth is the Priviledge of a Christian Church only 4thly It is a visible particular Congregation alone that is intended For 1. As unto the Church in other acceptations of that name either for the Catholicâ— invisible Church or for the whole Body of professed Believers thoroughout the world it is utterly impossible that this Dâ—ty should be observed towards it as is manifest unto all 2. We have proved that the first and most proper signification of the word is of a single congregation assembling together for its Duties and Enjoyments Where ever therefore the Church in general is mentioned without the Addition of any thing or circumstance that may lead unto another signification it must be interpreted of such a Particular Church or Congregation 3. The Persons intended offending and offended must belong unto the same society unto whom the Address is to be made or else the one party may justly decline the Judicatory applyed unto and so frustrate the Process And it must be such a Church as unto whom they are known in their Circumstances without which it is impossible that a right judgment in sundry cases can be made in point of Offence 4 It is a Church of an easie Address Go tell the Church which supposeth that free and immediate aâ—cess which all the Members of a Church have unto that whole Church whereof they are members Wherefore 5 It is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tell the Church not a Church but the Church namely whereunto thou and thy Brother do belong 6 One end of this Direction is that the offending and the offended parties may continue together in the Communion of the same Church in Love without Dissimulation which thing belongs unto a particular Congregation 7 The meaning is not tell the Diocesan Bishop for whatever Church he may have under his Rule yet is not he himself a Church Nor is it 8 the Chancellours Court that our Saviour intended Be it what it will it is a disparagement unto all Churches to have that name applied thereunto Nor Lastly Is it a Presbytery or Association of the Elders of many particular Congregations that is intended For the Power claimed in such associated Presbyteries is with respect unto what is already in or before particular Congregations which they have not either Wisdom or Authority as is supposed finally to order and determine But this supposeth that the Address in the first place be made unto a particular Congregation which therefore is firstly and properly here intended All things are plain familiar and exposed to the common Understandings of all Believers whose minds are any way exercised about these things as indeed are all things that belong unto the Discipline of Christ. Arguments pretendedly deep and learned really obscure and perplexed with logical Notions and distinctions applied unto things thus plain and evident in themselves do serve only to involve and darken the Truth It is plain in the place 1 That there was a Church-State for Christians then designed by Christ which afterwards he would institute and settle 2 That all true Disciples were to join and unite themselves in some such Church as might be helpful unto their Love Order Peace and Edification 3 That among the members of these Churches Offences would or might arise which in themselves tend unto pernicious Events 4 That if these Offences could not be cured and taken away so as that Love without Dissimulation might be continued among all the Members of the Churches an Account of them at last was to be given unto that Church or Society whereunto the Parties concerned do belong as Members of it 5 That this Church should hear determine and give Judgment with advice in the cases so brought unto it for the taking away and removal of all Offences 6 That this Determination of the Church is to be rested in on the Penalty of a Deprivation of all the Priviledges of the Church 7 That these things are the Institution and Appointment of Christ himself whose Authority in them all is to be submitted unto and which alone can cast one that is a Professed Christian into the condition of an Heathen or a Publican These things in the Notion and Practice of them are plain easy and exposed to the Understanding of the meanest of the Disciples of Christ as it is meet that all things should be wherein their daily Practice is concerned But it is not easily to be expressed into what horrible Perplexities and Confusions they have been wrested in the Church of Rome nor how those who depart from the plain obvious sense of the words and love not the Practice they direct unto do lead themselves and others into ways and paths that have neither use nor end From the corrupt abuse of the holy Institution of our Lord Jesus Christ here intended so many Powers Faculties Courts Jurisdictions legal Processes with Litigious Vexatious oppressive Courses of Actions and Trials whose very names are uncouth horrid foreign unto Religion and unintelligible without Cunning in an artâ—ficial barbarous Science of the Canon Law have proceeded as are enough to fill a sober rational man with astonishment how it could ever enter into the minds of men to suppose that they can possibly have any Relation unto this Divine Institution Those who are not utterly blinded with Interest and Prejudice wholly ignorant of the Gospel and the mind of Christ therein as also Strangers from the Practice of the Duties which it requires will hardly
Gospel are believed owned and professed without Controversie and those not borne withal by whom they are denied or opposed Without this a Church is not the Ground and Pillar of Truth it doth not hold the Head it is not built on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Neither is it sufficient that those things are generally professed or not denied A Church that is filled with wranglings and contions about fundamental or important Truths of the Gospel is not of choice to be joyned unto For these things subvert the Souls of Men and greatly impede their Edification And although both among distinct Churches and among the Members of the same Church mutual Forbearance be to be exercised with respect unto a variety in Apprehensions in some Doctrines of lesser Moment Yet the Incursion that hath been made into sundry Protestant Churches in the last and present Age of Novel Doctrines and Opinions with Differences Divisions and endless Disputes which have ensued thereon have rendered it very difficult to determine how to engage in compleat Communion with them For I do not judge that any Man is or can be obliged unto constant total Communion with any Church or to give up himself absolutely unto the conduct thereof wherein there are incurable dissensions about important Doctrines of the Gospel And if any Church shall publickly avow countenance or approve of Doctrines contrary unto those which were the Foundation of its first Communion the Members of it are at Liberty to refrain the Communion of it and to provide otherwise for their own Edification 2. It must be such a Church as wherein the Divine Worship Instituted or approved by Christ himself is diligently observed without any Addition made thereunto In the Observance of this Worship as unto all external occasional Incidencies and Circumstances of the Acts wherein it doth consist it is left unto the Prudence of the Church itself according to the Light of Nature and general Rules of Scripture and it must be so unless we shall suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ by making men his Disciples doth unmake them from being rational Creatures or refuseth the Exercise of the rational Faculties of our Soules in his service But this is so remote from Truth that on the contrary he gives them an improvement for this very end that we may know how to deport our selves aright in the Observance of his Commands as unto the outward discharge of them in his Worship and the Circumstances of it And this he doth by that Gift of Spiritual Wisdom whereof we shall Treat afterwards But if Men if Churches will make Additions in or unto the Rites of Religious Worship unto what is appointed by Christ himself and require their Observance in their Communion on the force and efficacy of their being so by them appointed no Disciple of Christ is or can be obliged by vertue of any Divine Institution or Command to joyn in total absolute Communion with any such Church He may be induced on various considerations to judge that something of that Nature at some season may not be evil and sinful unto him which therefore he will bear with or comply withal Yet he is not he cannot be obliged by vertue of any Divine Rule or Command to joyn himself with or continue in the Communion of such a Church If any shall suppose that hereby too much liberty is granted unto Believers in the choice of their Communion and shall thereon make severe Declamations about the Inconveniences and Evils which will ensue I desire they would remember the Principle I proceed upon which is that Churches are not such sacred Machines as some suppose erected and acted for the outward Interest and Advantages of any sort of Men but only means of the Edification of Believers which they are bound to make use of in Obedience unto the Commands of Christ and no otherwise Whereas therefore the Disciples of Christ have not only a Divine Warranty justifying them in the doing of it but an express Command making it their indispensible Duty to joyn in the Celebration of all that Religious Worship which the Lord Christ the only Lawgiver of the Church and who was faithful both in and over the House of God as the Son hath Instituted and Commanded but have no such Warranty or Command for any thing else it is their Duty to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free And if by the same Breath in the same Rule Law or Canon they are commanded and obliged to observe in the Worship of God what the Lord Christ hath appointed and what he hath not appointed both on the same Grounds namely the Authority of the Church and on the same Penalties for their Omission no man can be divinely obliged to embrace the Communion of any Church on such Terms 3. It is required that the Ministry of a Church so to be joyned with is not defective in any of those things which according to the Rule of the Gospel are fundamental thereunto What these are hath been declared And because Edification which is the End of Church Communion doth so eminently depend on the Ministry of the Church there is not any thing which we ought to have a more diligent consideration of in the joyning of our selves unto any such Communion And where the Ministry of any Church be the Church of what sort or size it will is incurably Ignorant or Negligent or through a defect in Gifts Grace or conscientious attendance unto their Duty is insufficient unto the due Edification of the Souls of them that believe no man can account himself obliged unto the Communion of the Church but he that can be satisfied with a Shadow and the Names of things for the Substance and Reality of them If therefore it be granted as I think it is that Edification is the principal End of all Church Communion it is not intelligible how a man should be obliged unto that Communion and that alone wherein due Edification cannot be obtained Wherefore a Ministry enabled by Spiritual Gifts and ingaged by sense of Duty to labour constantly in the use of all meanes appointed by Christ for the Edification of the Church or encrease of his Mystical Body is required in such a Church as a Believer may conscientiously joyn himself unto And where it is otherwise let Men cry out Schisme and Faction whilst they please Jesus Christ will acquit his Disciples in the Exercise of their Liberty and accept them in the Discharge of their Duty If it be said that if all men be thus allowed to judge of what is best for their own Edification and to act according unto the Judgement which they make they will be continually parting from one Church unto another until all things are filled with disturbance and Confusion I say 1. That the contrary Assertion namely that Men are not allowed to judge what is meet and best for their own Edification or not to act according to the Judgement
Soveraignity over their Consciences was reserved by the Apostles unto the Authority of Christ alone and their Obedience was required by them only unto his commands This is that which I see some would be at To presume themselves to be the Church at least the only Rulers and Governours of it To assume to themselves alone the Judgement of what is Lawful and what is unlawful to be observed in the Worship of God To avow a Power to impose what they please on all Churches pretended to be under their Command so that they judge it lawful be it never so useless or trifling if it hath no other End but to be an Instance of their Authority and then assert that all Christian People must without further Examination submit quietly unto this state of things and comply with it unless they will be esteemed damned Schismaticks But it is too late to advance such Principles a second time He addes from my Paper or as my sense the Apostles gave Rules inconsistent with any determining Rule viz. of mutual Forbearance Rom. 14. But then saith he the meaning must be that whatever Differences happen among Christians there must be no Determination either way But this is direstly contrary to the Decree of the Apostles at Hierusalem upon the Difference that happened in the Christian Churches But they are not my Words which he reports I said not that the Apostles gave Rules inconsistent with any determining Rule but with such a Rule and the Imposition of the things contained in it on the Practise of men in things not determined that is whilst Differences about them do continue as he contends for And 1. Notwithstanding this Rule of Forbearance given by the Apostle expresly Rom. 14. Yet as unto the Right and Truth in the things wherein men are at difference every private Believer is to determine of them so far as he is able in his own Mind Every one is to be fully perswaded in his own Mind in such things so far as his own Practise is concerned 2. The Church wherein such Differences do fall out may doctrinally determine of the Truth in them as it is the Ground and Pillar of Truth supposing them to be of such weight as that the Edification of the Church is concerned in them For otherwise there is no need of any such Determination but every one may be left unto his own Liberty There are Differences at this day in the Church of England in Doctrine and Practice some of them in my Judgement of more importance then those between the same Church and us yet it doth not think it necessary to make any Determination of them no not Doctrinally 3. If the Church wherein such Differences fall out be not able in and of it self to make a Doctrinal Determination of such Differences they may and ought to crave the Counsel and Advice of other Churches with whom they walk in Communion in Faith and Love And so it was in the Case whereof an Account is given us Act. 15. The Determination or Decree there made concerning the necessary Observance of the Jewish Rites by the Gentiles converted unto the Faith by the Apostles Elders and Brethren under the guidance of the Holy Ghost as his Mind was revealed in the Scripture gives not the least Countenance unto the making and imposing such a Rule on all Churches and their Members as is contended for For 1. It was only a Doctrinal Determination without Imposition on the Practise of any 2. It was a Determination against Impositions directly And whereas it is said that it was a Determination contrary to the Judgment of the Imposers which shews that the Rule of Forbearance where Conscience is alledged both ways is no standing Rule I grant that it was contrary to the Judgment of the Imposers but imposed nothing on them nor was their Practice concerned in that erronious Judgement They were not required to do any thing contrary to their own Judgment and the not doing whereof did reflect on their own Consciences Wherefore the whole Rule given by the Apostle and the whole Determination made is that no Impositions be made on the Consciences or Practice of the Disciples of Christ in things relating to his Worship but what were necessary by vertue of Divine Institution They added hereunto that the Gentiles enjoying this Liberty ought to use it without offence and were at Liberty by vertue of it to forbear such things as wherein they had or thought they had a natural Liberty in case they gave Offence by the use of them And the Apostles who knew the state of things in the Minds of the Jews and all other Circumstances give an Instance in the things which at that season were to be so forborn And whereas this Determination was not absolute and obligatory on the whole Case unto all Churches namely whether the Mosaical Law were to be observed among Christians but some Churches were left unto their own Judgement and Practise who esteemed it to be still in force as the Churches of the Jews and others left unto their own Liberty and Practise also who judged it not to oblige them both sides or Parties being bound to continue Communion among them in Faith and Love there is herein a perpetual establishment of the Rule of mutual Forbearance in such Cases nothing being condemned but Impositions on one another nothing commended but an Abstinence from the use of Liberty in the case of Scandal or Offence I had therefore Reason to say that the false Apostles were the only Imposers that is of things not necessary by vertue of any divine Institution And if the Author insinuate that the true Apostles were such Imposers also because of the Determination they made of this Difference he will fail in his Proof of it It is true they imposed on or charged the Consciences of men with the observance of all the Institutions and Commands of Christ but of other things none at all The last things which he endeavours an Answer unto on this occasion lies in those words The Jewish Christians were left unto their own Liberty provided they did not impose on others and the Dissenters at this day desire no more then the Gentile Church did viz. not to be imposed on to observe those things which they are not satisfied it is the Mind of Christ should be imposed on them So is my sense in the places referred unto reported Nor shall I contend about it so as that the last Clause be change for my Words are not they are not satisfied it is the Mind of Christ that they should be imposed on them but they were not satisfied it is the Mind of Christ they should Observe This respects the things themselves the other only their Imposition And one Reason against the Imposition opposed is that the things themselves imposed are such as the Lord Christ would not have us observe because not appointed by himself But hereunto he answers two things 1. That it was agreed
to choose out from among themselves Persons meet for an Ecclesiastical Office Act. 6. The same People who joyned with the Apostles and Elders in the consideration of the grand Case concerning the continuation of the legal Ceremonies and were associated with them in the Determination of it Act. 15. The same to whom all the Apostolical Epistles excepting some to particular Persons were written and unto whom such Directions were given and Duties enjoyned in them as suppose not only a Liberty and Ability to judge for themselves in all Matters of Faith and Obedience but also an especial Interest in the Order and Discipline of the Church Those who were to say unto Archippus their Bishop take heed unto the Ministry thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it Col. 4. unto whom of all sorts it is commanded that they should examine and try Antichrists Spirits and false Teachers that is all sorts of Hereticks Heresies and Errors 1 Joh. chap. 2.3 c. That People who even in following Ages adhered unto the Faith and the Orthodox Profession of it when almost all their Bishops were become Arian Hereticks and kept their private Conventicles in opposition unto them at Constantinople Antioch Alexandria and other places and who were so many of them burned here in England by their own Bishops on the Judgement they made of Errors and Heresies And if the present People with whom the Dr. is acquainted be altogether unmeet for the Discharge of any of these Duties it is the fault of some body else beside their own This Principle of the Reformation in Vindication of the Rights Liberties and Priviledges of the Christian People to judge and choose for themselves in Matters of Religion to joyn freely in those Church Duties which are required of them without which the work of it had never been carried on we do abide by and maintain Yea we meet with no Opposition more fierce than upon the Account of our Asserting the Liberties and Right of the People in reference unto Church Order and Worship But I shall not be afraid to say that as the Reformation was begun and carried on on this Principle so when this People shall through an Apprehension of their Ignorance Weakness and Unmeetness to discern and judge in Matters of Religion for themselves and their own Duty be kept and debarred from it or when through their own Sloth Negligence and Vitiousness they shall be really uncapable to mannage their own Interest in Church Affairs as being fit only to be governed if not as brute Creatures yet as Mute Persons and that these things are improved by the Ambition of the Clergy engrossing all things in the Church unto themselves as they did in former Ages if the Old Popedome do not return a new one will be erected as bad as the other Thirdly another Principle of the Reformation is that there was not any Catholick Visible Organical Governing Church traduced by Succession into that of Rome 〈◊〉 all Church Power and Order was to be derived I will not say that this Principle was absolutely received by all the first Reformers here in England yet it was by the Generality of them in the other Parts of the World For as they constantly denied that there was any Catholick Church but that invisible of Elect Believers allowing the External Denomination of the Church unto the diffused Community of the baptized World so believing and professing that the Pope is Antichrist that Rome is Mystical Babylon the Seat of the Apostatized Church of the Gentiles devoted to destruction they could acknowledge no such Church state in the Roman Church nor the derivation of any Power and Order from it So farre as there is a Declension from this Principle so far the Cause of the Reformation is weakened and the principal Reason of Separation from the Roman Church is rejected as shall be farther manifested if occasion require it This Principle we do firmly adhere unto and not only so but it is known that our fixed Judgement concerning the Divine Institution Nature and Order of Evangelical Churches is such as is utterly exclusive of the Roman Church as a body organized in and under the Pope and his Hierarchy from any pretence unto Church State Order or Power And it may be hence judged who do most weaken the Cause of Reformation we or some of them at least by whom we are opposed A second Absurdity that he chargeth on our way is that it would make Vnion among the Protestant Churches impossible supposing them to remain as they are Sect. 24. pag. 186. To make good this Charge he insists on two things 1. That the Lutheran Churches have the same and more Ceremonies and unscriptural Impositions then our Church hath 2. That notwithstanding these things yet many learned Protestant Divines have pleaded for Vnion and Communion with them which upon our Principles and Suppositions they could not have done But whether they plead for Union and Communion with them by admitting into their Churches and submitting unto those Ceremonies and unscriptural Impositions which is alone unto the Doctors Purpose or whether they judge their Members obliged to Communicate in local Communion with them under those Impositions he doth not declare But whereas neither we nor our Cause are in the least concerned in what the Dr. here insist upon yet because the Charge is no less then that our Principles give disturbance unto the Peace and Vnion of all Protestant Churches I shall briefly manifest that they are not only conducive thereunto but such as without which that Peace and Union will never be attained 1. It is known unto all that from the first Beginning of the Reformation there were Differences among the Churches which departed from the Communion of the Church of Rome And as this was looked on as the greatest Impediment unto the Progress of the Reformation so it was not morally possible that in a work of that Nature begun and carried on by Persons of all for us in many Nations of divers Tongues and Languages none of them being divinely inspired that it should otherwise fall out God also in his Holy Wise Providence suffered it so to be for Causes known then to himself but since sundry of them have been made manifest in the Event For whereas there was an Agreement in all fundamental Articles of Faith among them and all necessary meanes of Salvation a farther Agreement considering our Sloth Negligence and proness of men to abuse security and Power might have produced as evil effects as the Differences have done For those which have been on the one hand and those which have been on the other have been and would have been from the corrupt Affections of the Minds of men and their secular Interests 2. These Differences were principally in or about some Doctrines of Faith whereon some fiery Spirits among them took occasion mutually and unjustly enough to charge each other with Heresie especially was this done among the Lutherans
Consist only of such a number of men as may meet in one Congregation so qualified and that those by entring into Covenant with each other whereof we shall treat hereafter become a Church and choose their Officers who are to Teach and Admonish and administer Sacraments and to exercise discipline by the Consent of the Congregation And let us 2 suppose such a Church not yet gathered but there lies fit matter for it dispersed up and down in several parishes 3 Let us suppose D. O. about to gather such a Church 4 Let us suppose not one thing peculiar to our Church required of these Members neither the Aerial sign of the Cross nor kneeling at the Communion c. I desire to know whether D. O. be not bound by this unalterable rule to draw these Members from Communion with Parochial Churches on purpose that they might form a Congregational Church according to Christs Institution either then he must quit these unalterable Rules and Institutions of Christ which he will never do whilst he lives or he must acknowledge that setting up a Congregational Church is the primary Ground of this Separation from our Parochial Churches c. The whole Design hereof is to prove that we do not withhold Communion from their Parochial Assemblies because of the things that are practised and imposed in them in the Worship of God and Church Rule but because of a necessity apprehended of setting up Congregational Churches I Answer 1. We know it is otherwise and that we plead the true Reason and that which our Consciences are regulated by in refraining from their Communion and it is in vain for him or any Man else to endeavour so to Birdlime our understandings by a multiplicity of Questions as to make us think we do not judge what we do judge or do not do what we know our selves well enough to do If we cannot Answer Sophismes against Motion we can yet rise up and walk 2. These things are consistent and are not capable of being opposed one to the other Namely that we refrain Communion on the Reasons alledged and thereon judge it necessary to erect Congregational Churches which we should have no occasion to do were not we excluded from Communion in Parochial Assemblies as we are 3. The Case being put unto me I answer plainly unto the Doctors last supposition whereon the whole depends that if those things which we except against as being unduely practised and imposed in Parochial Assemblies were removed and taken away I would hold Communion with them all the Communion that any one is obliged to hold with any Church and would in nothing separate from them This spoiles the whole Case But then he will say I am no Independent I cannot help that he may judge as he sees Cause for I am nullius addictus jurare in verba Magistria designing to be the Disciple of Christ alone 4. But yet suppose that in such Churches all the things excepted against being removed there is yet a defect in some unalterable Rule that Concerns the Government of the Churches that they answer not in all things the strictness laid down in the Drs first supposition although it is certain that if not all of them absolutely yet the most of them and of the most importance would be found virtually in Parochial Assemblies upon the removal of the things excepted against the Enquiry is what I would do then or whether I would not set up a Congregational Church gathered out of other Churches I Answer I tell you plainly what I would do 1. If I were joyned unto any such Church as wherein there were a defect in any of the Rules appointed by Christ for its Order and Government I would endeavour peaceably according as the Duties of my state and Calling did require to introduce the Practise and Observance of them 2. In case I could not prevail therein I would consider whether the want of the things supposed were such as to put me on the practise of any thing unlawful or cut me short of the necessary means of Edification and if I found they do not so do I would never for such defects separate or withdraw Communion from such a Church But 5. Suppose that from these defects should arise not only a real Obstruction unto Edification but also a necessity of practising some things unlawful to be Observed wherein no forbearance could be allowed I would not condemn such a Church I would not separate from it would not withdraw from Acts of Communion with it which were Lawful but I would peaceably joyn in fixed Personal Communion with such a Church as is free from such defects and if this cannot be done without the gathering of a new Church I see neither Schisme nor Separation in so doing Wherefore notwithstanding all the Drs Questions and his Case founded on as many suppositions as he was pleased to make it abides firm and unshaken that the Ground and reason of our refraining communion from Parochial Assemblies is the Practise and Imposition of things not lawful for us to observe in them And it is unduely affirmed p. 223. that upon my Grounds Separation is necessary not from the particular conditions of Communion with them but because Parochial Churches are not formed after the Congregational way For what form of Churches they have be it what it will it is after the Congregational way And it is more unduely affirmed and contrary unto the Rules of Christian Charity that this plea of ours is a necessary piece of Art to keep fair with the Presbyterian Party For as we design to keep fair as it is called with no Parties but onely so far as Truth and Christian Love require and so we design it with all Parties whatsoever so the Plea hath been always insisted on by us and was the cause of Non-conformity in multitudes of our Perswasion before they had any opportunity to Gather any Congregational Churches according to the Rule of the Gospel Such things will never help nor adorn any Cause in the Issue But he presseth the due Consideration of this Art that as I suppose they may avoid the snare of it on the Presbyterians by minding them what was done in former times in the debate of the dissenting Brethren and the setting up of Congregational Churches in those dayes For saith he Have those of the Congregational way since altered their Judgment Hath D. O. yielded that in case some termes of Communion in our Church were not insisted on they would give over Separation were not their Churches first gathered out of Presbyterian Congregations and if Presbytery had been setled upon the Kings Restauration would they not have continued in their Separation Answ. 1 There is no Difference that I know of between Presbyterians and those whom he calls Independents about particular Churches For the Presbyterians allow them to be of Divine Institution grant them the exercise of Discipline by their own Eldership in all ordinary cases and none to
as one of the first depraved Inclinations of Mind that wrought in Ecclesiastical Rulers and which in the fourth and fifth Centuries openly proclaimed itself unto the scandal of Christian Religion there was a greater disposition in them unto a Deviation from the Original Institution Rule and Order of the Church no way suited unto the satisfaction of that Ambition then unto a Defection from the Purity of Faith and Worship which yet also followed 2. As the Inclination of many lay towards such a Deviation so their Interests lead them unto it and their Temptations cast them upon it For to acknowledge the Truth unto our Author and Others the Rule and Conduct of the Church the Preservation of its Order and Discipline according unto its first Institution and the Directions given in the Scripture about it are according unto our Apprehension of these things a Matter so weighty in itself so dangerous as unto its Issue attended with so many Difficulties Trials and Temptations laid under such severe Interdictions of Lordly Power or seeking either of Wealth or Dignity that no wise men will ever undertake it but meerly out of a sense of a Call from Christ unto it and in compliance with that Duty which he owes unto him It is no pleasant thing unto Flesh and Blood to be ingaged in the conduct and oversight of Christs Volunteers to bear with their manners to exercise all Patience towards them in their Infirmities and Temptations to watch continually over their walkings and conversation and thereon personally to exhort and admonish them all to search diligently and scrupulously into the Rule of the Scripture for their Warranty in every Act of their Power and Duty under all their Weaknesses and Miscarriagâ—s continuing an high valuation of them as of the Flock of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood with sundry other things of the like kind all under an abiding sense of the near approach of that great Account which they must give of the whole Trust and Charge committed unto them before the Judgment seat of Christ for the most part peculiarly exposed unto all manner of Dangers Troubles and Persecutions without the least encouragement from Wealth Power or Honour It is no wonder therefore if many in the Primitive times were willing gradually to extricate themselves out of this uneasie condition and to embrace all occasions and opportunities of introducing insensibly another Rule and Order into the Churches that might tend more unto the Exaltation of their own Power Authority and Dignity and free them in some measure from the weight of that important charge and continual care with labour which a diligent and strict Adherence unto the first institution of Churches and Rules given for their Order and Government in the Scripture would have obliged them unto And this was done accordingly until in the fourth and fifth Centuries and so onward the Bishops under various Titles began by their Arbitrary Rules and Canons to dispose of the Flock of Christ to part and divide them among themselves without their own knowledge or consent as if they had conquered them by the sword This Bishop shall have such a share and number of them under his Power and that other so many so far shall the Jurisdiction of one extend and so far that of another was the subject of many of their Decrees and Laws for the Rule of the Church But yet neither did they long keep within those Bounds and Limits which their more modest Ambition had at first prescribed unto them but took occasion from these Beginnings to contend among themselves about Preheminence Dignity and Power in which contest the Bishop of Rome at length remained Master of the Field thereby obtaining a second Conquest of the World 3. That there was such a gradual Deviation from the Original Institution of Churches their Order and Rule is manifest in the Event For the change became at length as great as the distance is between the Gospel and the Rule of Christ over his Church on the one hand and the Canon Law with the Pope or Antichrist set over the Church on the other This change was not wrought at once not in one Age but by an insensible Progress even from the Days of the Apostles unto those dark and evil times wherein the Popes of Rome were exalted into an absolute Tyranny over all Churches unto the satiety of their Ambition For 4. This Mistery of Iniquity began to work in the days of the Apostles themselves in the suggestions of Satan and the Lusts of Men though in a manner latent and imperceptible unto the wisest and best of Men. For that this Mistery of the Iniquity consisted in the effectual Workings of the Pride Ambition and other Vices of the Minds of Men excited enticed and guided by the craft of Satan until it issued in the Idolatrous persecuting State of the Church of Rome wherein all Church Rule Order and Worship of Divine Institution was utterly destroyed or corrupted we shall believe until we see an Answer given unto the learned Writings of all sorts of Protestants whereby it hath been proved These things are sufficient to Vindicate the Truth of the Assertion which the Doctor opposeth and to free it from his Exceptions But because as was observed before the supposition hereof is the foundation of all our present contests about Church Order and Rule I shall yet proceed a little farther in the Declaration of the Way and Manner whereby the Apostacy asserted was begun and carried on And I shall not herein insist on particular Instances nor make a Transcription of Stories out of antient Writers giving Evidence unto the Truth because it hath been abundantly done by others especially those of Magdeburg in the sixth and seventh Chapters of their Centuries unto whose Observations many other Learned men have made considerable Additions but I shall only treat in general of the Causes Ways and Manner of the Beginning and Progress of the Apostacy or Declension of Churches from their first Institution which fell out in the successive Ages after the Apostles especially after the End of the second Century until when Divine Institutions as unto the substance of them were preserved entire Decays in any kind even in things Natural and Political are hardly discernable but in and by their effects When an Hectick Distemper befalls the Body of any man it is oftimes not to be discerned until it is impossible to be cured The Roman Historian gives this advice unto his Readers after he hath considered the ways and means whereby the Empire came to its Greatness labente deinde disciplina velut dissidentes primo mores sequatur animo deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint tum ire caeperint praecipites donec ad haec tempora anibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus periculuâ— est Liv. Praefat. His words do not give us a more graphical Description of the Rise and Decay as unto Vertue and Vice
can have that respect and Devotion unto them as they would have unto hereditary Rulers long Succession in Rulers being the great cause of Veneration in the People especially such as had a Succession one unto another by a Natural Descent through Divine Appointment as the Preists had under the Law or as unto those whom on the account of their Worth Ability and Fitness for the work of the Ministry among them they do choose themselves they may do well to consider who are concerned The necessity there is of maintaining a Reputation and Interest by secular Grandeur Pomp and Power of Ruling the People of the Church in Church Matters by external force with many other Inconveniences do all proceed from this Order of things or rather disorder in the Call of men unto the Ministry And hence it is that the City of God and the People of Christ therein which is indeed the only true free Society in the World have Rulers in it and over them neither by a Natural Right of their own as in Paternal Government nor by hereditary Succession nor by Election nor by any way or means wherein their own consent is included but are under a Yoke of an Imposition of Rulers on them above any Society on the Earth whatever Besides there is that Relation between the Church and its Guides that no Law Order or Constitution can create without their mutual voluntary Consent And therefore this Right and Liberty of the People in every Church to choose their own Spiritual Officers was for many Ages preserved sacredly in the primitive times But hereof there is no shadow remaining in our Parochial Churches sundry Persons as Patrons and Ordinaries have a concurring Interest into the imposing of a Minister or such whom they esteem so upon any such Church without the Knowledge Consent or Approbation of the Body of the Church either desired or accepted If there be any who cannot comply with this Constitution of things relating unto the Ministry because it is a Part of their Profession of the Gospel which they are to make in the World which yet really consists only in an avowed subjection unto the Commands of Christ they can be no way obnoxious unto any charge of Schisme upon their refusal so to do For a Schisme that consists in giving a Testimony unto the Institutions of Christ and standing fast in the Liberty wherewith he hath made Disciples free is that whose Guilt no man need to fear 5. What remaineth of those Reasons whereon those who cannot comply with the Conformity under Consideration are cleared in point of Conscience from any Obligation thereunto and so from all Guilt of Schisme whatever belongs unto the Head of Impositions on their Consciences and Practise which they must submit unto These being such as many whole Books have been written about the chief whereof have no way been answered unless railings and scoffings with contempt and fierce Reproaches with false Accusations may pass for Answers I shall not here again insist upon them Some few things of that Nature I shall only mention and put an end unto this Dispute 1. The Conformity required of Ministers consists in a publick Assent and Consent unto the Book of Common Prayer with the Rubrick in it which contains all the whole Practise of the Church of England in its commands and Prohibitions Now these being things that concern the Worship of God in Christ the whole entire State Order Rule and Government of the Gospel Church whoever gives solemnly this Assent and Consent unless he be allowed to enter his Protestation against those things which he dislikes and of the sense wherein he doth so assent and consent which by Law is allowed unto none the said Assent and Consent is his publick Profession that all these things and all contained in them are according to the Mind of Christ and that the Ordering of them as such is part of their professed Subjection unto his Gospel Blessed be God most Ministers are too wise and honest to delude their Consciences with Distinctions Equivocations and Reservations and do thereon rather choose to suffer Penury and Penalty then to make the least entrenchment upon their own Consciences or the honour of the Gospel in their Profession What they do and declare of this Nature they must do it in Sincerity as in the sight of God as approving what they do not only as pardonable effects of Necessity but as that which is the best they have or can do in the Worship of God with a solemne Renunciation of whatever is contrary unto what they do so approve And whether this be a meet Imposition on the Consciences of Ministers with reference unto a great Book or Volume of a various composition unto things almost without number wherein exceptions have been given of old and lately not answered nor answerable with Rules Laws Orders not pretending to be Scriptural Prescriptions is left unto the Judgment of all who have due thoughts of their approaching Account before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ. 2. The Conformity that is required of others being precisely and without Power of Dispensation in them by whom it is required to answer the Rule or Law of it before declared every Man by his so conforming doth thereby take it on his Conscience and make it Part of his Christian Profession that all which he so conformes unto is not only what he may do but what he ought to do both in matter and manner so farre as the Law or any Part of it doth determine or enjoyn them No man is allowed to make either distinction or Protestation with respect unto any thing contained in the Rules and therefore whatever he doth in compliance therewith is interpretable in the sight of God and Man as an Approbation of the whole Sincerity and Openness in Profession is indispensibly required of us in order unto our Salvation And therefore to instruct men as unto the Worship of God to do what they do not judge to be their Duty to do but only hope they may do it without Sin or to joyn themselves in and unto that Performance of it which either they approve not of as the best in the whole or not lawful or approveable in some Parts of it is to instruct them unto the Debauching of their Consciences and Ruine of their own Souls Let every one be perswaded in his own Mind for what is not of Faith is Sin 3. There is in this Conformity required a Renunciation of all other ways of publick Worship or means of Edification that may be made use of For they are all expresly forbidden in the Rule of that Conformity No Man therefore can comply with that Rule but that a Renunciation of all other publick wayes of Edification as unlawful is part of the visible Profession which they make Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor is no good Plea in Religion It is uprightness and Integrity that will preserve Men and nothing else He that