Virgin and appear in her Native Beauty when Honours Lordships and great Revenues the common Temptations to Deflower and Disguise her are taken away and it will not a little contribute to publick Peace when all Denials the common Parent of Discontent are removed But what may be as great an Inducement as any to move a Complyance hereto by all our Sides and Parties is That whereas they would all have their own ways to be preferred This Method will make no Party either upper or under but will pull all in general down and set none in particular up so will prevent all Emulation and give none of them reason to Complain From what hath been said it may reasonably be expected that the perplexed Nations of Christendom should hearken to so excellent an Occonomy especially the settleing Patriots of our own distracted Nations and in hearkening to it they will but hearken to the plain Precept and Advice of their Blessed Lord and great Legislator For his Words are these All Power is given me in Heaven and Earth go ye therefore and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Chost Teaching them to Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the END of the World. As if he had said May be some may question your Power and Authority to Preach my Golpel or 't is possible you your selves may think my Commission not sufficient but expect to receive your Power and Commission from the Princes of the Earth But I tell you it is sufficient and that I have Received all Power both in Heaven and Earth Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations c. In which Words our Blessed Lord doth seem plainly to Dictate to the whole World how he would have his Gospel dispensed and that in every minute Circumstance viz. First The manner they must go and Teach which doth plainly imply an Itineration then whom they must Teach all Nations Secondly The Duty of these Predicants in the matter what they must do Baptize and Teach them to Observe all the Things he has Commanded And lo I am with you always even to the End of the World. This plainly implies the Continuation how long he would have this Method continue viz. for ever to the End of the World and is confirmed by a promise of a Blessing on the due performance thereof But here let me Note that the Princes of the Earth though Idolatrous and Pagan had all the right and legal Power in ordinary and that both our Saviour acknowledged and the Apostles well knew but not being Proselyted to his Doctrine would grant no Commissions or Authorise such Preachers therefore he himself as well as they had Power on Earth yea all Power in an Extraordinary manner was fain to use it and issue out the first Commissions but the Nature and Intent of these Commissions was not to convey a Power to a sort of men distinct from the State but was an Act of Necessity and he had not used any Power or given his Commissions at all if the High Priest or Jewish Sanhedrim would have done it The Princes and States of Christendom therefore since sufficiently Proselyted to the Faith of Jesus may justly issue out their Que Warranto's against all Ecclesiastical Power and all Persons whatsoever who claim any Power Priviledge or Jurisdiction jure divino distinct from theirs for it peculiarly belongs to them as Nursing Fathers of the Church to issue out their Commissions and to say Go and Teach c. 'T is true if they send none or send those that are contrary to Christs Institutions which instead of giving the Children Bread will give them Stones then the Power Lapses and returns to its Fountain and Men must Act by vertue of Christs Extraordinary Commission and have recourse to his special Power For Christ must be Preached Princes ought to have the Preference but if they neglect their Duty Renounce their Power or are so far from commanding it that they forbid it Then God must be Obeyed rather than Man as has been the Plea and a just one too of all hitherto that have entered on the Function But further I desire to take notice of one thing more and that is of the last Clause of our Saviour's Precept viz. And lo I am with you always even to the end of the World. Christ said his Words were Spirit and Life but some there are who too much incline to the Letter and like the old Jews think the Kingdom of Heaven should come with Observation They expect a new Material Heaven and a new Earth and that Christ will come again on Earth personally and Reign a Thousand Years in great Glory Those are but Fancies for the Text seems to be plain And lo I am with you always even to the End of the World. First this plainly implies the World shall have an end and then his Willingness that this way of Administration should continue so long and he mentions not the least word of his coming again in the Interim or that the world shall have Two Ends which now leaving the world we may reasonably suppose he would have made some mention of if such things should have come to pass It seems plainly to me therefore that there will be no New Material Heaven or Earth or that Christ will come Personally again to Reign amongst Men and my Reason is his own Words Lo I am with you always even to the End of the World not I will be but I am with you and what he promised them was not a Personal but a Ministerial Presence A Presence by his Spirit as if he had said If you will go and continue to Preach my Gospel amongst all Nations I promise to Aid you in your Administration and Assist you by the Influence of my Spirit and that not for a little Time but to the end of the World which Promise he performed and and that in a special Manner so long as they continued to observe his Words and Institution But when Men began to make Merchandize of his Gospel to Monopolize and to Closet up the Sun-Beams and to put their Candle under a Bushel no wonder they fell into such Darkness and Confusion and no wonder he withdrew himself and the presence of his Spirit from them If therefore we expect his coming again or his more particular Presence in the large Effusions of his Spirit We must send forth his Light and his Truth and cease to Sell and parcel out his Gospel we must draw it out of the Garrisons in which particular Parties have imprisoned it and set it on a Candlestick on a Mountain that it may be as free as the Air or the Sun-beams It has been long Enslaved and Enthrall'd and if we a little view the present State of Christendom and consider what Canons Constitutions and Decretals what differing Customs Educations and Prejudices there are how many
Powers of the Earth must be Pulled down their Dissenting Neighbours Destroyed and themselves undone for the maintaining of it so that there is Kingdom against Kingdom and Nation against Nation There is Papists and Protestants Calvinists Lutherans Dissenters Churchmen and an endless number of new names of Distinction the cursed motives to mischief and Disturbance as is but too manifest at this Day 'T is of sad Consideration that Christian Princes must have no Allegiance paid them if of a differing Opinion from their Subjects That when a Protestant Rules the Pope must discharge his Subjects from their Allegiance and when a Popish Prince Reigns his Protestant Subjects discharge themselves It highly concerns them therefore to think of some Remedy and Expedient for all their Power their Titles and Crowns are become Precarious things and ever and anon subject to be laid aside by the Insolent Power of the Church and ill Administration of the Affairs of another World But time will be ill spent in Mustering up a black list of Grievances when they are so Notorious and so much I will not say seen but felt by all Sides and Parties of Christians of what Quality soever even from the King on his Throne to the Beggar on the Dunghill it will be much better spent in Contriving of Expedients And it may justly be expected that any performance of this nature will rather meet with a favourable acceptance then dicouragement since a thing so universally wanted by all sorts of Men. The Dove has been once sent out but has return'd again finding no place to rest the Sole of her Foot The Waters of Confusion covering the Land I shall presume to send her once more hoping she will find them asswaged and return with an Olive Leaf Then gently laying Infallibility aside I shall resume my former Argument of Impossibility of Agreement and put it in its place not only as the more certain and undoubted Truth but because when a foundation for Peace is laid it may be expected it should be a Proposition universally acknowledged and agreed to by all And this we all know and agree in That we can Not Agree To this the whole Christian World may safely Subscribe but if they will not they cannot convince me to the contrary by any other thing than their Agreement Let them Agree then and I have done But I shall take it for granted they will not convince me after such a manner and therefore will go on and say That this Proposition must be one of the chief Stones of the Foundation we must Build our Peace upon we must have our Agreement one way from the Impossibility of our Agreement another way we must have Light out of this thick Darkness and order out of Confusion And herein we are instructed by the Methods of our all-Wise God and Creator in a case of a Paralel Nature For in the Beginning after he had Created all things out of Nothing and Spoke things into their Existence from a formless Mass of Matter by a wonderful and strange sort of Chimistry He brought Light out of Darkness and Order out of Confusion and set all things in that most exquisite and incomparable frame and model we see them And all this not by altering or changing the nature of things differing for as necessary He had Created them so but by bringing things of a like Nature together or qualifying things of a different Nature so as to make them Agree and be Harmonious But for the present waving this Observation it will be necessary I Speak something of Differences and Agreements especially of the Nature of This Agreement which I say is Impossible Learned Men have employed their Parts and been over and above Curious and Critical in vain and unnecessary Distinctions in such sort that they embroyled the World and have too much contributed to bring it into the present misery and distraction I should be heartily glad now at last to see them employ their Talents otherwise and as they have distinguished men into Misery and Confusion so now they would try their Skill to distiguish them out again and bring the World into Peace and Order 'T is but high time they should do so and would they but distinguish a little and truly inform the world of the Nature of Vnity and Dissention Discord and Concord Agreement and Difference for Men have been miserably mistaken about these things 't is my Opinion they would not be ill employed It ought to be observed that amongst Christians there are several sorts and kinds of Agreements and several sorts of Differences First They Agree in the most principal things and in what they ought to Agree and this Agreement they call their Difference though nothing so for they all Agree in their endeavours to please God and their various Lines however differing in the Circumference do unite in the Center 'T is a Maxime That things which Agree in a Third Agree together this being well followed will Metamorphose most of our Differences into Agreements Our belief in the Supream God and his Son Jesus Christ pronounce and declare an Vniversal Agreement Now what are all our various ways and Modes of Worship but so many several Essays and Attempts to please This God and Testifications of our Agreement and ought rather to be called parts thereof than Differences We all endeavour to Worship God after the best manner we can and must this way and this manner and our endeavours herein be called Differences Indeed the World has branded them along time with that odious appellation but very improperly for herein we shew nothing more then our Agreement But to speak the Truth this is not the Agreement I contend for 't is indeed a sort of Agreement we have and think not of 'T is mixt Partial and Relative but not productive of Publick Peace One Man keeps a Festival thinking to Please God thereby another is afraid and scrupulous and will not keep it thinking to please him too Here they both Agree and both Disagree They both agree to Please God he that observes and he that observes not observes to the Lord which ought to be a motive of Charity But then they disagree and differ one from another which though they may innocently enough ye too frequently is made Criminal by exerting their Passions to that height that Charity and their Honest Intentions are consumed in the Flame Secondly They Agree in what they ought not to Agree viz They Conspire Cabal and Agree to Plague Vex and Disturb one another and this ought not to be called an Agreement but a Difference And of this Nature was the Agreement of Herod and Pilate and of late but too frequently practiced by Two Parties of Christians in order to ruine the Third Thirdly When Men cease to Molest and Disturb one another they are said to Agree and when they have made Stipulations and Contracts we call the Transaction an Agreement But the last sort of Agreement I principally
contend against and in my former Discourse have shewed to be impossible is that of Men being all of One Mind One Judgment One Apprehension in the matters of Religion or otherwise and whenever I say Agreement is impossible I mean this sort of Agreement which really is so and no other Christian Men have indeed taken indefatigable Pains to bring this Agreement to pass and cannot as yet be brought to leave off although opposed by God Nature and all things Visible and Invisible Let us turn our Eyes wherever we Please we shall see nothing but Diversity and infinite Variety in things if we look up to Heaven what shall we see there but an innumerable company of Stars not ranged and in order but promisciously placed hic et ubique Indeed if the Sons of Men had been to have placed them no doubt but they would have put them in Rows and in Order I mean such a position which they call Order But what they call Order Unity and Agreement The All-Wise God esteems not so He knows and can see Beauty Order and Agreement in different Natures and infinite variety of Things though They cannot and methinks He plainly speaks from Heaven and tells them so having Confronted them with such a glorious appearance of infinitely differing but most beautifull Instructors which they cannot miss of seeing if they will but look upward I say one would think they should learn their Lesson out of this glorious Book of Heaven wrote in such fair and legible Characters and cease their vain attemps about an universal Order and Agreement Further if the Almighty hath not only placed these Heavenly Bodies for Ornament but also hath empowered them to influence the Bodies and Minds of Men as 't is possible he hath and many suppose and contend for Then this will aggravate their vanity in endeavouring to be more in Order and more Methodised than their Principals And they may contend and endeavour to Eternity but all to no purpose for when they shall have Power or be able to remove the Stars from place to place or form them into what Figures they please discharge their Influences or regulate their Promiscuousness Then and not till then shall they be able to bring their Motly Agreement to pass But as 't is impossible to do the one so not more possible to perform the other Then again if we cast down our Eyes upon Earth what shall we see to agree there 'T is nothing but a Composition of things of different qualties and natures a pregnant Mass of Matter productive of infinite Variety of Forms and Shapes And this is not its Deformity but Beauty and it would be but an unpleasing Heap without it But after all we like Men as we are will needs have all to Agree We would have no Differences we would have all Men to have One Mind the Same Opinion the Same Thought and Apprehension of things and perform Actions after the Same Manner and Method Notwithstanding all the discouragement and constant and successive defeats we have met with in the Prosecution thereof For first our Maker defeated Nimrod and his Accomplices the old Babylonian Builders who were contriving and forming to themselves strange universal things under One Form One way and One Government as also of late in the Reformation the New Babylonian Butlders who were carrying on the same work but in an Ecclesiastical manner And most of the great Invaders of the Earth have met with the same misfortune for some of their large Dominions and Empires have at this day scarce any being but in Records and that with great difficulty Preserved By God Almighties proceeding and dealings with the sons of Men in the things of this Nature he seems plainly to tell them That he is not pleased with such their universal Proceedings He never yet prospered or established universal Kings or universal Churches excepting for some little time to punish others but has always pulled down their Buildings and reduced them to their primitive Condition and station And whatever esteem or value they may put upon universal Agreements universal Empire or Churches it doth plainly appear He has not the same For he has divided the Globe of the Earth by Seas and Rivers and Mountains and allotted each Nation its Limits And this Division is both Ornamental and Necessary and no Division with him at all for he beholds all the Kingdoms of the Earth as one Undivided Mass and Spot of Ground and all the Generations of Men as one Stock and Family in one House but several Apartments and though we cry out of Division and Separation yet he beholds all Christian Assemblis together and as in one place and all to be in the Communion of one Church as so many Figures in one Sum. and all their several Opinions to be parts of One Agreement So that we need not be so fierce to attempt impossibilities to fill up the Sea choak up the Rivers or level the Mountains to make all a Terra Firma nor take all that pains which some Men do to reconcile Differences and make all men of One Mind which is equally impossible Which brings me again to my first Assertion which ought a little further to be insisted on 'T is impossible that Christians should Agree in the way and nature they would Agree not onely for the reasons mentioned in my former Discourse but because there is no common Standard fixed and agreed to by all by which all Parties may take their measures and square and decide their Pretences Some will have the Pope to be head of the Church and to be Infallible and the sole Judge of all Controversies and Differences others will have a General Council some will have both in Conjunction others neither of them either apart or in Conjunction Some again will have the Scriptures to be Judge others Tradition some Scriptures and Tradition together others neither Scriptures nor Tradition but every private Person Some again will have the Church others the Fathers some neither Church nor Fathers And what a noise have we perpetually sounding in our Ears about Church Fathers Councills and Scriptures which are true and which are spurious The Objections at this time of Day lie almost equally alike against all But if they agree which are the True they fall out about the Interpretation and every Party say their own Comment is right and nothing as yet on Earth has been found sufficient and competent to make a dicision 'T is not fit that the less number should judge for the greater a single Man for a whole company nor a whole company for a single Man where the matter is Salvation The Scriptures indeed are the best Rule and the best Judge we have but this onely to private and Particular Persons for themselves but not for others not for publick Communities and Societies against one another For the Question Who shall interpret them will never be answered a private Person may judge for himself but not for
Christendom an Occasion of Plots a Fomenter of Sedition Faction and Rebellion and of most of the 〈…〉 â—mongst us which being taken away innumâ—â—able Advantages of Peace would ensue But of those in the Conclusion What for the present I shall further add is with their leave the Templers Motto with some Variation leaving out the Sword as a strange Instrument and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the Truth Live. And the Law give 〈…〉 〈…〉 As also what the Prophet speaks Isa 56. and 16. The time being now come saith the Lord That he who blesseth himself 〈…〉 himself in the God of Truth 〈…〉 by the God of 〈…〉 are forgotten and because they are hid from mine Eâ—es Which brings me to the third Thing 〈…〉 discourse of in order to 〈…〉 Government 〈…〉 be 〈…〉 be 〈…〉 although 〈…〉 ensue thereby 〈…〉 saith he by his Prophet Haggai It is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House meaning the Temple with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The Glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts And in this Place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts Here let me make my Paraphrase By shaking the Heavens and the Earth c. is not meant a literal Sence as some would have nor are the Material Heavens to be so shaken but hereby is meant all the Kingdoms Constitutions and Governments of the World and that the Prophet means so is plain by verse 21 and 22. where he saith Speak to Zerubbabel Governour of Judah saying I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and I will overthrow the Throne of the Kingdoms and destroy the Strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen and I will overthrow the Chariots c. And what is meant by the Desire of all Nations 'T is Halcyon days a peaceable Time the flourishing of the Gospel the calling of the Jews and what our Saviour Prayed for Thy Kingdome come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine that is I can Adorn and make this Temple as Rich and as Beautiful as I please I want nothing which may Embellish it for the Silver and the Gold is mine and so are the Cattle of a thousand Hills as he told David but 't is not my Desire that should be Adorned with Silver or Gold and yet the Glory of it shall be greater than the former for in this Place will I give Peace Here by this Temple cannot be meant a Material Temple either formerly built or to be built neither of the two Former because it must Exceed them in Glory and the Glory must not consist in a glittering shew of Silver or Gold but of Peace Where let me note that God doth plainly intimate little Peace has hitherto been in the World and therefore as a special Blessing doth promise that Peace shall be the peculiar Ornament of this Latter Temple and that we may depend upon his Word and Promise four Times saith the Lord of Hoâ—ts is mentioned in these four Verses sufficient Asseverations to Engage the Faith of a mortal Man. But I cannot leave off my Comment here but for the Sake and Consolation of the scattered Tribes shall bring the Prophet's Words again to the File Yet once c. by which the Living God plainly intimates That he had often shaken the Heavens and the Earth before that is the Governments and Kingdoms of the World for the Material Heavens and Earth were so far from being shaken often that since the Creation they were never shaken once for that of the Deluge was not a shaking the Earth or the Heavens but only a Permission of one Element some time to be Predominant and to return again to its Duty But not to Expound it by Parts The Eternal God the Lord of Hosts doth seem plainly to say thus Ye Sons of Jacob mine Heritage my Chosen Weep not but be Comforted though your latter House falls short of the Glory of the former though you cannot Adorn it with so much Silver and Gold weep not I have Silver and Gold enough I accept your Will and good Endeavours and know ye That Heaven is my Throne and Earth is my Footstool What Temple can you make for me I value not Houses or Temples for the Substance of these things have mine Hand made but him I value who is Poor and of a Contrite Spirit and Trembleth at my Word but cease your Lamentations and Weeping though the Glory of the former Temple does far Exceed the Glory of this your latter Temple yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and will build you a Temple not a Material One whose Glory shall far Exceed the Glory of the former and in this Place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts The Lord of Hosts is now about to build this Glorious Temple of Peace he is Faithful who hath Promised he is beginning to shake the Nations and to perform his Covenant to his People Yet a little while and the Gentiles shall bring his Heritage and his Chosen for an Offering to the Lord out of all Nations upon Horses and in Chariots and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift Beasts to his Holy Mountain at Jerusalem as he has spoken by the Mouth of his Prophet Rejoyce ye therefore with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that Love her Rejoyce for Joy with her all ye that Mourn for her But here I must note that this Promise is made to all Nations but particularly to the Jews and to the Christians when to the Jews it is called a Temple when to Christians a Church The first long since have had their Temple their High-Priest and Hierarchie abolished The latter have theirs still in being which Symbolizes much with the Former and must Symbolize with their Fate for they must now be pulled down Of CHURCH and STATE HERE is a very great Error and we form to out selves very hurtful and foolish Notions of things we suppose the Church and State to be Two Things and in all our Discourses name them at Twice whereas they really are but One for the Church is in the State or rather is the State for when the Nations of the World at first became Christian and receiv'd the Faith of Jesus they became better Nations and the Inhabitants better People having receiv'd better Maxims and Principles but still the same People and they stood in Statu quo as to all Power or Administration of their Affairs The Religion which came amongst them made no alteration of Things but for the better gently infusing it self with as little noise as Rain on a Fleece of Wool its Ministry was of
Christianity Publick Peace and Themselves as ever has happened to the World since the first Propagation of so Holy a Religion Ouc agathon polycoironie c. saith the old Poet which with deference I interpret One Government and one Power in a Nation is enough But if Ecclesiastical Government must go down some like Saul will be for saving Amaleck and the best of the Cattle their Wealth and Riches To which I answer these must not be saved for Dominion and Power are inseparable to Wealth and Riches therefore these must be sacrificed before God's Wrath can be appeased or Peace be settled in our Israel But in Answer methinks I hear a great noise of Profaneness Sacriledge and the Ruine of of all Religion but I shall be deaf to the Objection since in plain truth the English of it is no more Then Great is Diana of the Ephesians For Religion would not at all be in hazard or concerned in so great a Change but would be purified and cleansed and appear much more amiable and Eligible it would but divest her of her sordid Rags knock off her Fetters and leading her out of the Squalid Prison of Terrene and Temporal Mixtures cloath her with Royal Robes and restore her to her Throne and Dignity The Religion of the Holy Jesus is God be thanked at this time of the Day so well propagated that there is no danger of its being lost if Honours and Preferments and all Secular Advantages be discharged her Retinue and secluded her Family For they make no Constituent or Essential Parts of her but are things which her mistaken but well-meaning Votaries have given her to Adorn and Bedeck her but really have disguised and deformed her For her Government and Empire is over nay in the Hearts and Consciences of Men teaching them to live good Lives and to follow the Example and Precepts of the most Holy Author whose Life and Doctrine was a of spiritual Nature abstracted and separate from all Vain Glory Pomp and Splendor who did utterly Renounce the dividing of Inheritances and publickly declare his Kingdom was not of this World. His Religion therefore ministring in the Affairs of his own Kingdom viz. of Heaven Grace and Glory ought to be kept separate and pure and not mixt with the Things and Powers of this World. The English of Mille per Ann. is not taking up the Cross nor does Grace and Godliness eccho right to Honours and Revenues Faith Hope and Charity are Fundamentum Paries Tectum The Foundation Walls and Roof of Christ's True Church upon Earth other Structures which we call Churches are nothing at all and if we can procure Means or get Builders to rear this Heavenly Fabrick implant these Essential Qualifications in the Hearts of Men our Work is done The old Building must come down and the old Builders must be rejected who have built with untempered Mortar have mixt Temporals with Spirituals instead of Humility and Charity have put Pride and Ambition and in the room of Mortification and Self-denyal have placed Wealth and Honours and have fenced all about with a High Wall of an usurped Power and Authority Other Measures therefore must be taken and a new Administration exhibited since most of what hitherto have been taken must be acknowledged to be mistaken and not calculated for publick Peace Christ has been Preached indeed Grace Administred and Souls Saved but the Manner and Method of Administration has been irregular and unhappy Ministring rather Matter of Disturbance than â—ny Advantages to the Affairs of Princes and Governme … of the World. The many unhappy Monarchs disturbed in their Measures of Government by strugling Parties and contending Churches abused by Ambitious and Discontented Bishops especially by him who is so notorious and has so often Signalized himself by Affronting Crowned Heads and perplexing their Affairs are sad Instances and but too easily Verifie the Charge And for the several Forms and Ways of Discipline and Administration however all Parties and Sects of Christians pretend they find them in the Scriptures They are no more able to find them there than they are able to find the several Figures of Birds Beasts and Fishes in the Heavens which the Astrologers tell us are there They may find faint Resemblances indeed but no Plain and self-evident Schemes The Reason is because none is of Absolute Necessity to Salvation and we must entertain very mean and low Thoughts of the Goodness of the All-wise Being to let poor Mortals ramble in the Dark for so many Ages and subject them to an Eternal Search and wrangling about Schemes and Forms of Government of his Church If any at all had been absolutely necessary his Blessed Son who came to Reveal all his Will would have fixed it as plain as the Sun in the Firmament that it should not be in our Power to mistake And if no Church-Government at all be necessary then it follows of Course that no particular Way or Model is necessary and indeed if we consider things narrowly a Coat may as well be made for the Moon as any particular Way be prescribed The Flux and Reflux and infinite uncertainty of humane Affairs will not admit of it as long and as often as Men sin they must be Punished but this cannot be done unless there be Disturbances and setting up and pulling down Kingdoms Nations and Families and since it is necessary there should be so great Changes what particular Scheme can be drawn to fit all Circumstances But some will send me to the Apostles and to the Primitive Times But to this I answer That what they might then prescribe ought not to be drawn down for a President to these Times The Church then was under Heathens and Persecutors and but in its Infancy and if we take their Measures we put a Childs Coat on a Man's Back which is but an ill sight but yet it is done by us and is a Folly we are so fond of that neither the Inconveniences we labour under nor the just Derision we incur thereby can make us forego We find indeed in the Scriptures Episcopi Presbiteri Diaconi but not exhibited to us in such commanding and indispensible Terms as to pass an Obligation and Necessity on all Ages of the Church and all Mankind to have the same But if Men useful serving the Same Purposes and Ends and more Conducive to Publick Tranquillity in these latter Ages of the World after so great a Change of Circumstances and Corruption of Manners by the Supream Power of any Nation shall be thought fit to be chosen no matter whether they have the same Names or no or any Names at all so they serve the same Ends for the Business of Christianity is not a thing of Names and Titles but a Substantial Thing productive of Holiness Piety and Charity And whatsoever Person or Thing which may be thought Fit and Convenient to promote her Interest and Minister to her Necessity may without Scruple be adopted into
no Benefits oblige no Prince Reign but all the most Sacred Bonds of Gratitude Honour and Obedience and every other thing which may make men wish to Live are violated and broken asunder if Religion or that which men call by that Name stand in Competition or Mother-Church is to be served and men pull down Houses tumble down Monarchs and ruine Kingdoms for her sake Sure then those must be happy days when no particular Religion or Church is to be set up nor any to be pull'd down no Party to be pleased and none to be offended but every Nation will be all of one Side one Party and the same Religion And of how great Refreshment and Consolation is it to think that that hot and fiery Zeal which has burnt so many Martyrs and consumed so many Pious and Good men nay destroyed the Lord of Life himself shall be absolutely and for ever quenched in the Springs of this most Charitable and Refreshing Fountain which from the Heart of each Respective Kingdom shall be constantly running and refreshing the dry and barren Corners of the same and like so many Rivulets of Oyl shall pass through the great Ocean of the World and Heal and Cleanse and Purify but not mix with the same But what should I say Vltima Cumaei Venit jam carminis aetas Magnus ab integro Seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia Regna The Happiness which this Administration will most certainly bring into the World cannot be well expressed it will bring back the Golden Age and presently put a new Face on all Affairs it will joyn Justice and Mercy Truth and Peace together in such an inseparable Bond that all the Malice and Subtilty of the Grand Impostor who is now going to his Prison shall not be able to unloose First The Man of Sin will be pulled down and we shall hear no more of the Bloody Machinations of Rome the Cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition the Barbarity of French or Irish Massacres nor of the Unnaturalness of English and Scotch Rebellions no Holy Leagues or Solemn Leagues and Covenants or Associations will be heard of amongst us but Christendom from an Aceldama will be made like the Garden of Eden or Paradice of God and every Nation have its Tree of Life or Fountain of Living Water in the middle which by its constans Irrignous Streams will cool all Heart and Animosities and bring all in Subjection to the Gentle Laws of the Holy Jesus But further We shall hear of no Plots or Contrivances or Black and Bloody Charges and Misrepresentations all Noise of Persecution or flying for Religion the Prorestants from France or Papists from England will cease no Heretick to be Burned or Schismatick to be Ruined and the reason is because all Law and Power and Parties Names of Distinctions and all other Causes and Cursed Motives of Mischief and Distraction will be utterly Abolish'd and cast into the same Dungeon with the great Criminal and Deviser of them But my Contemplation still carries me further in Congratulation of the Princes of Christendom on this Alteration How easy must be their Government and how happy their Days when the heavy Ecclesiastical Yoke is taken from their Shoulders When they may be served by all their Subjects when they may punish single Offenders and not offend whole Parties when there are no Parties to be pleased or displeased and none to be Inflamed against the Government by discontented States-men And since some will be Lords keep the Power to oppress and give no Toleration to men of differing Thoughts and Apprehensions This method will set them on a level with their Brethren and there will be no need that Toleration should be either given or taken and Then they may reckon their Crowns to set much surer on their Heads when none have a priviledge or pretence to offend on the Score of a Tender Conscience But in a more particular manner as to our own Nation and present Circumstances a considerable body of us are for a Church of England a Religion Established by a Law for Bishops for Ecclesiastical Government Conformity and a National Church others we have who are a no less considerable body which we call Dissenters though indeed all are Dissenters one from another and these would have no Bishops no Ecclesiastical Government or Lordships or Temporal Dignities conferred on Spiritual Men and no Superiority of Functions in the Ministry of the Gospel but would have Pastors and Elders and Deacons and in short another differing way of Administration Again The first which we call Church-men and the others which we call Dissenters are divided and sub-divided and have several Denominations and Classes and Distinctions amongst themselves one are for Moderation and Condescention another for Strictness and the Bigotted to their Law and Establishment c. Some again are for a National some for a Synodical and others an Independant Church some draw one way and some another and all would have their own little Way and Method prevail so that we are perfectly Distracted and Confounded and can come to no Settlement or Agreement only we all agree in this to call our selves by one general Name and that is not Christian but Protestant We all protest against Popery a Name for another sort of Christians which possess several Kingdoms and Nations which we call our common Enemies Now Was but these Angeli Evangelizantes these Gospel Angels or Ministers of the Gospel instituted and appointed in each Nation as afore-said to go their Stages and Circuits First As I said before we should have no Popery and by consequence no Protestants to Protest against it and all our Names of Distinction so destructive to our selves when cast into such an Avarage would be perfectly lost we should have no Contentions for Offices Dignities or Superiority the Lot would give an equal Title and Priviledge to all Hitherto the Ministers of the Gospel has been appointed by Men so has been corrupted and forced to serve the ends of Princes of several Parties and ill-designing Polititians Has been mixt with all our Governments and clog'd with Humane Inventions and Traditions but by This Method God Himself would choose his Ministers and then from Humane and Earthly it would presently become Heavenly and Divine all the Sinister Arts to get Church Preferment so destructive to publick Peace and Truth would fall to the Ground the Doctors would cease to Flatter the Court to get Bishop-Pricks and Lecturers their Parishoners or Patrons to advance their Stipend it would be put out of the Power of Ignorant Patrons to prefer Ignorant Novices to the Ministry or Ignorant Parents a weak and unfit Boy for the University Nay it would be put out of the Power of Princes and States themselves to give Preferment or make Ministers and so by consequence as they have but too much done to make what Gospel they please And we may reasonably hope that Truth will then be a