57. taxeth the Socinians for confounding Christs Kingly Office with his Priestly and in his Annotations subjoyned to his last Edition of that System he says As these two Offices must not be divided or drawn assunder or separate so they should not be confounded for Christs Priestly Intercession in Heaven is only for the Elect but his Royal Power is exercised as in calling and protecting the Elect so also in restraining compescing and punishing the enemies of his Church and in that same 10th Chap. Thes 55. Annot. A. In which respect the blood of the New Covenant is said to cry for better things than the blood of Abel Heb. 12.24 for the blood of Abel requireth vengeneance but the blood of Christ seeks and obtains Grace and Peace And the excellent Doctor Owen in his Exercitations prefixed to the Continuation of the Exposition on the 3 4 5. Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews Exercitat 8. pag. 117. saith For neither did Christ as King expiate and purge our sins which could be done only by a bloody Sacrifice nor doth he as Priest subdue his enemies and ours which is the work and whereunto the power of a King is required in brief as a Priest he interposeth with God for us as a King he acts from God towards us Pag. 119. For the Kingly power of Christ is intended unto his enemies the stubbornest of them and those who are finally so but Christ is a Priest offered and intended only for the Elect. Pag. 122. speaking of the Offices of a King and Priest considered absolutely he says That the Office of a King is founded in nature the Office of a Priest in Grace the one belongs to men as Creatures capable of Political Society the other with respect unto the supernatural end only Pag. 123. For that the Office of Priesthood is that faculty and power whereby some persons do Officiate with God in the name and on the behalf of others by offering Sacrifices all men in general are agreed And thereon it is consented also that it is in it's entire nature distinct from the Kingly Power and Office Pag. 124. For every Priest as we have shewed acts in the name and on the hehalf of men with God but a King in the name and on the behalf of God with and towards men as to the ends of that rule which God hath ordained The Priest represents men to God pleading their cause the King represents God to men acting his Power for all the acts of the Priestly Office belongs to oblation and intercession and these effects consists either in 1. Averruncatione mali or procuratione boni these they affect morally only by procuring and obtaining of them The Acts of the Kingly Office are Legislation destruction of enemies and the like Pag. 129. The special nature of his Sacerdotal Intercession which consists in the moral efficacy of his Mediation in procuring Mercy and Grace And in his Exposition on the 5th Chap. v. 1 2. where the Priestly Office is described For every High-Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God for men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes vice or loco in the stead Joh. 10.11 15. Chap. 13.38 Sometimes pro only as it denotes the final cause as to do a thing for the good of men 2 Tim. 2.10 And both these senses may have place here for where the first intention is the latter is always included he that doth any thing instead of another doth it always for his good and the High-Priest might be so far said to stand and act in the stead of other men as he appears in their behalf represented their persons and pleaded their cause and confessed their sins Levit. 16.21 But in their behalf and for their good and advantage to perform what on their part is with God to be performed is evidently intended in this place and pag. 130. he expounds the things pertaining to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Expression is eliptical and sacred hut what is intended in it is sufficiently manifest the things which were to be done with God or towards God in his worship to answer the duties and ends of the Office of the Priesthood that is to do the things whereby God might be appeased atoned reconciled pacâ—fied and his anger turned away see Chap. 2.17 and pag. 136. He sheweth from the Text That Compassion is a qualification of an High-Priest for their relief who are sensible of their ignorance and wandrings and therefore are apt to be cast down and discouraged and that it is a qualification required in the Priest and necessary unto him for the aforesaid end So it is said of our Saviour the great High-Priest that he made reconciliation for the sins of the people and Intercession for Transgressors I shall only add one other and that is Thomas Goodwin B. D. in his Treatise entituled The heart of Christ in Heaven to sinners on earth Part. 2. 188. First saith he this Office of High-Priesthood is an Office erected wholly for the shewing of Grace and Mercy the Office of the High-Priesthood is altogether an Office of Grace and I may call it the Pardon-Office set up and erected by God in Heaven and Christ he is appointed the Lord and Minister of it and as his Kingly Office is an Office of Power and Dominion and his Prophetical Office an Office of Knowledge and Wisdom so his Priestly Office is an Office of Grace and Mercy the High-Priests Office did properly deal in nothing else if there had not been a Mercy-seat in the Holy of Holies the High-Priest had not been at all appointed to go into it it was mercy reconciliation and atonement for sinners that he was to treat about and so to Officiate for at the Mercy-seat he had otherways no work nor any thing to do when he should come into the most Holy place Now this was but a typical allusion to this Office of Christ in Heaven and therefore the Apostle in the Text when he speaks of this our High Priests being entered into Heaven he makes mention of a Throne of Grace and this is the very next words to my Text Chap. 5.1 2 3. verses in which he gives a full description of an High-Priest and all the properties and requisites that were to be in him Pag. 189. the great and essential qualifications there specified that were to be in an High-Priest are Mercy and Grace It 's said he was ordained for men that is for mens cause and for their good pag. 190. thus you see the ends which he is ordained for are all matter of Grace and Mercy the qualification that was required in an High-Priest was That he should be one that could have Compassion Mercy and Compassion is that which is here made the special and therefore the only mentioned property of the High-Priest as such and the specifical essential qualification that was inwardly and internally to constitute him The Reader will find much more
and worse continued contests Our nakedness-discovering writings what have they done but added oyl to the flame For Christs sake my reverend and dear Brethren hearken to this word in season from the Oracles of God and treasures of pure antiquity pointing out the way of a godly and edifying peace It will be no grief of heart but sweet peace and consolation when we are to appear before the Judg of the quick and the deed Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus So heartily prayeth your Brother and fellow-â—ervant ROBERT BLAIR Thus far Reverend Mr. Blair who was both a Son of Thunder â—nd a Son of Peace a Peace maker O with what authority and seriousneâ—s did I hear him press unity in Preaching before a Synod from these words Phil. 2.1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind And I heard him say upon Preaching before a general Assembly That he could be content to be carried from the place in which he was Preaching to his grave to have the rent that then was in the Church cured Ignorant and rash youths who have not experience and consider not what an abominable sin Schism is and what are the mischievous consequences of it and how it ordinarily ends in the ruin desolation of a Church they know little what they are doing when they are blowing up the fire of contention and it 's a sport to some to cast such fire-brands But they who have Heavenly wisdom see that that sporting is mischievous madness that it will be bitter in the latter end It is not for nought that the Spirit of God directed the Apost Paul in writing to the Church of the Corinthians in which there were many things wrong to fall first upon the ill of divisions 1 Cor. 1.10 and when he is shutting up that Epistle he exhorts that all these things be done with charity and to greet one another with an holy kiss And when he is shutting up the 2 Epist he concludes Finally Brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you Greet one another with an holy kiss So thus he begins and ends with this unity and peace 9. And because no speaking nor reasoning will prevail against the working of a spirit of error and schism without the effectual working of the pirit of the Lord let us humbly and earnestly pray that the Lord would have mercy upon us for his Sons sake who came to destroy the works of the Devil pour upon us the spirit of grace and of supplications the spirit of faith repentance that we may look on him whom we have pierced mourn the spirit of a sound mind the spirit of love peace And that every one Magistrates Ministers and people may be made sensible of their own sins We should pray that the Lord would send his Spirit that convinces the world of sin to let us see our sins and to let us see them written in our judgments that we may accept of the punishment of our sins justifie the Lord when he judges The Lord often writes the sins of men in so great and legible letters in their judgments that they who run may read them David despised the Lord and occasioned the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme by his adultery and murther incestuous filthiness breaks out in his house the sword departs not from his house his people despise him and follow Absalom Shimei an exasperate Benjamite is let loose upon him to revile and curse him and cast stones at him he disowns him as no King gives him no title of honour but only calls him a man and which was worse a bloody man a man of Belial and does not cry and then flee but goes along in the sight and hearing of the King Courtiers and Soldiers cursing casting stones and dust David sees that tho' Shimei did this contrary to the Law of God which says Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor curse the ruler of thy people Yet that he did it not without the over-ruling Providence of God he saw that the Lord had let Shimei loose upon him is humbled under the hand of God Uzziah will needs go to the Temple exercise the Priests Office the Lord by Leprosie cuts him off from the House of the Lord and from the exercise of his Kingly Office When the Priests did not impartially apply the Law of God to reclaim the people from their sins no doubt they thought thus to keep in with the people but this brought them to be base contemptible before all the people Mal. 2.9 The Jews that remained in the land after the ruin of the Temple though they had but one Prophet yet they despise him they will not hear the word which Jeremiah spoke in the name of the Lord but they would do what went out of their own mouth and therefore the Lord leaves them to live like Pagans swears by his great name that his name should not be named any more in their mouths they should not have so much as the form profession of the worship of the true God Jer. 44.16 26. they would not be reproved by Ezek. ch 3.26 they are plagued with the want of a reprover When people will reject the counsel of the Lord will not hearken to his voice nor take his gracious offer made in the Gospel when they will not endure sound Doctrine nor desire the sincere milk of the word nor receive the truth in love the Lord justly gives them up to their own hearts lusts to walk in their own counsels to strong delusions to believe lyes to be tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine to turn aside to fables When they despise his servants will not receive his mâ—ssengers their message count them enemies for telling the truth the Lord removes his servants from them leaves them to be deluded with teachers which are after their own humours and lusts When people refuse to hear the Lords words and walk after the imaginations of their own heart Jer. 13.10 the Lord fills them with drunkenness that they destroy one another like drunken men who know not what they are doing v. 13. Behold I will fill all the Inhabitants of this Land even the Kings that sit upon Davids Throne and the Priests and the Prophets and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness And I will dash them one against another even the Fathers and the Sons together saith the Lord I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but destroy them Hear ye and give car be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Give glory to
show that those of the outed Ministers to whom the Magistrate had granted the peaceable publick exercise of their Office in some Parishes in their returning to those Parishes where they were formerly ordained Ministers or not having access to the peaceable exercise of their Ministry in their own Parishes upon the â—nvitation of destitute Congregations with the consent of Presbyterian Ministers concerned going to exercise their Office in those destitute Congregations till they might have access to return â—o their own Parishes That these Ministers in so doing did sin Of what Law of God is this practice of theirs a Transgression Is it a sin for Ministers whom God hath called to the work of the Ministry to exercise their Office in the Parishes where they were ordained Ministers or to help destitute Congregations who desire them to come and help them Is it a sin because the Magistrate permits them to preach The Author himself dare not say this as appears from his first Answer to the first Objection A Minister â—ins not in preaching the Gospel though an Uâ—urper a Robber permit him to preach and much â—ess doth the Permission of the lawful Magistrate render his preaching sinful Object The Magistrate appoints them to preach and to preach in such or such a parish and therefore it 's sinful Ans 1. If it were a sin in the Magistrate to appoint a Minister to preach in such or such a place and a sin for the Minister to preach because the Magistrate appointed him to preach in such a place then the Ministers who wrote the first Book of Discipline and the Church of Scotland who approved it did sin in desiring the Magistrate to appoint Ministers to preach in such and such Parishes We did shew from the first Book of Discipline That they desired the Magistrate to do this and more too even to compel them to preach 2. This Author grants in his Answer to the third Objection That the Magistrate may place Ministers when the Church is corrupt and all things are out of order the vanity of his evasion by which he seeks to elude that Argument taken from the 10th Chapter of the second Book of Discipline is before discovered 3. Suppose it were unlawful for the Magistrate to appoint a Minister to exercise the Office of the Ministry in a particular Parish yet it would not be sinful for that Minister to preach in that Parish if the Parish were vacant and earnestly desired him to exercise his Ministry among them and if his preaching there were not injurious to any if the Magistrates appointing a Minister to preach c. in a Parish render the Ministers preaching in that Parish sinful then the Magistrate by such appointments might make the exercise of the Ministry in any Parish or in all Parishes in his Dominions sinful which is a most absurd Conceit Or is it sinful to accept of the peaceable exercise of their Ministry in such or such Parishes because the Magistrate gives them Injunctions and Rules to regulate them in the exercise of their Ministry But 1. These Injunctions were the Magistrates Acts and not the Ministers 2. The Ministers accepted not of these Injunctions but declared they could receive no such Ecclesiastick Rules from the Magistrate and that they had full Prescriptions from Christ which they behoved to observe as they would be answerable to him of whom they had received their Ministry 3. The Act of Instructions as it was distinct from the Act of Indulgence in which the publick peaceable exercise of their Ministry was granted and came not to the Ministers hands for a considerable time after they had received the Act of Indulgence so there was a great difference in the nature of the Acts and the Indulged Ministers did right in making use of what was good and refusing what was evil 4. If the Magistrates sending Injunctions to Ministers renders the exercise of their Ministry sinful then the Magistrate may render the exercise of the Ministry in any place in every place of his Dominions sinful by sending Instructions to all the Ministers in his Dominions which is another absurd Conceit which if it were received would make it easie for an ill-disposed Magistrate to mar all preaching by writing and sending Acts of Instructions to all the Ministers in his Dominions Object The Act of Indulgence flowed from a sinful Supremacy and therefore it was sinful to make any use of it Ans To say nothing of the making use of a Pass given by a Captain of Robbers or of a Covenant of peaceable commerce made with an Usurper who hath no just title which Casuists do not condemn I answer That that Act which indeed was the Act of Indulgence and which the Indulged Ministers made use of viz. The Relaxation of the Civil Restraint which hindred the peaceable exercise of their Ministry or the granting of the publick peaceable exercise of Ministry was no Act of any sinful Supremacy but the exercise of that power which the Magistrate hath from God for doing good As from the right stating of the question it evidently appears That this accepting of the publick peaceable exercise of the Ministry was not sinful so it evidently appears That it was lawful and commendable and a duty to which they were obliged as the work of the Ministry is a good work so the peaceable setled exercise of it under the protection of lawful Authority is a great mercy that hath many blessings and advantages in it it 's a promised blessing it 's a blessing for which the people of God should pray and because the peaceable setled exercise of the Ministry cannot be where Magistrates are without their allowance or permission therefore it 's duty to pray That the Lord would incline the heart of Rulers to grant the peaceable publick exercise of Religion in their Dominions and when the Lord inclines the hearts of Rulers to this we should not slight such a promised Mercy nor refuse the return of our Prayers but thankfully receive this blessing of God conveyed by the hand of the Magistrate and make use of this Talent to the Glory of God and edification of his Church I remember I have spoken before of the advantages of the peaceable setled exercise of the Ministry and of the necessity of accepting of it especially in answering the last head of the Authors Arguments and shall say no more of the state of the question but this That they who but understand the terms of the question will see that all the Arguments which the Author brings to prove the accepting of the Indulgence sinful do evanish as smoke and lose all colour when they compere before the light of naked Truth And they will see that what these Ministers did in exercising their Ministry in these desolate Congregations when the Lord in his good Providence had given them peaceable access thereto was so evidently a religious work a labour of love a work of mercy a seasonable expedient necessary work
ought to command the Ministers to observe the Rule commanded in the word and punish the Transgressors by civil means if he ascribe no more to our Magistrates but this That they should meerly permit or not molest or as the Cup of cold Water hath it pag. 42. forbear to persecute the Mediators Ambassadors he gives no more to the Magistrate than is given to a strong Captain of Robbers who hath Ministers under his power and at his disposal which were most absurd But even upon this absurd supposition That the Magistrate might not command or appoint Ministers to preach and that appointing were an overstretch yet even upon this supposition the Ministers might lawfully after this appointment of the Magistrate have gone to those Parishes to which they were appointed to go upon the earnest desire of those destitute people I clear it by this similitude Suppose a Captain of Robbers hath by force subdued an Island in which there are two Ministers and four distinct Parishes this Usurper commands these Ministers to be brought before him and tells them he will not suffer them to return to their former Charges but appoints them to preach at the two vacant Churches though he have no Authority to appoint them to preach in these two other Parishes yet these Ministers having no access to their own Parishes being debarred by strong hand might upon the earnest desire of the two vacant Congregations go and help them till they might have regress to their own Parishes and their doing so would be no owning of the Authority of the Captain of Robbers to appoint and it were but folly to say to that Captain If ye only suffer us to go it may be we will go but if ye appoint us we will not go at all for that were but the way to hinder themselves from all exercise of their Office and deprive the whole Island of the benefit of the Gospel or if that Captain should appoint or command a Physitian to make his residence in such a Town of the Island or else he would not suffer him to exercise his Calling in the Island the Physitians going would be no acknowledgment that the Captain had a lawful Authority to command or appoint him the exercise of the Ministry and of Medicine are works of necessity and mercy and so necessary in order to the Glory of God and the good of man that whenever and wherever they who are called and fitted of God to exercise their Offices have lawful access to do these works of necessity and mercy they should not neglect the occasion and it 's a Phantastick and Childish Conceit to think that if men who have no Authority over Ministers or Physitians or they who have lawful Authority but claim more in reference to Ministers c. than God hath given them if they take upon them a power in reference to Ministers which they have not and in a way not competent to them appoint Ministers or Physitians to do the work of the Ministry or Medicine which God antecedently to any thing that those who usurp upon them do in reference to them hath called them to I say it 's a Phantastick and Childish Conceit to think That such Usurpations can make void the call which they have from God to do those works of necessity and mercy when they have access thereunto without doing Injury to any His 2 3 4. Answers about the Magistrates discharging Ministers to preach are in answer to what he was pleased impertinently to object to himself That the Magistrate may for ends known to himself discharge Ministers to preach and so though the purpose in his Answers be good yet they are nothing to the purpose in this place I have only one question anent somewhat he saith In the end of his 4th Answer he grants in the beginning of it That the Magistrate may indirectly and consequently silence a Minister for a civil Crime as Solomon did Abiathar but he says For an Ecclesiastick Transgression the Magistrate cannot indirectly or consequently remove any Minister from the exercise of his Ministry where the Church is setled in his power except only causative by commanding the Church-Judicatories to do their work First that is first to judge for in prima instantia he may not do it or corroboratively by backing the Service of the Church-Judicatory with his Civil Sanction and Authority Now my question is Suppose a Magistrate hath commanded a Church-Judicatory to take course with a Minister who preaches Heresie or Doctrine tending to Idolatry or preaches Schismatick-Doctrine and rents the Church and yet the Church-Judicatory through Ignorance or being themselves tainted or through want of Zeal take no effectual course to remedy these evils this is a case supposable for we see the Church-Judicatory of Pergamus suffered them that held the Doctrine of Balaam and that held the Doctrine of the Nicclatians and the Church-Judicatory of Thyatria suffered the Woman Jezabel that called her self a Prophetess to teach and seduce the Servants of God to commit Fornication and to eat things sacrificed to Idols in this case shall the Magistrate do no more but command the Church-Judicatory to their work He hath done that and yet the Judicatory does nothing or nothing to purpose and the Church is like to be undone through these Doctrines that fret like a Gangreen And the other member of his distinction makes no help for the Church-Judicatory I suppose passes no right sentence which the Magistrate may corroborate shall he who is Gods Vicegerent suffer the people of God and his Subjects to be poisoned with damnable Doctrine may he do nothing indirectly to restrain these Hereticks from preaching such damnable Doctrines and therefore it seems that though the Magistrate cannot depose an Heretick that 's a Minister yet he may do more to restrain a Heritick from destroying the people of God than is comprehended within the members of his distinction of causatively and corroboratively and he himself seems to grant with Voetius in his Answer to the second Objection That the Magistrate may hinder an Heretick from preaching Heresie either publickly or from house to house As for his second Objection if he had formed it thus When the Magistrate granteth the peaceable publick exercise of the Ministry Ministers should thankfully accept of this grant he would have had no Answer but he kept out peaceable out of the Objection and then he answers that the Magistrate should not discharge the publick exercise of the Ministry well but what is that to the purpose will he infer from thence that therefore he should not allow to Ministers the publick peaceable exercise of their Ministry The third Objection he proponeth thus Our second Book of Discipline granteth That Magistrates may place Ministers when the Kirk is corrupted and all things out of order and so it is now with us The Argument may be framed thus if the Magistrate when the Church is corrupted and all things out of order may place Ministers
Galatians It 's to this fellowship with Christ that God calls us in the Gospel and then give all diligence to make your calling and election sure It 's sad to see several people who will talk great things of the interests of Christ in the Land so ignorant of Christ and of union with him and so unconcerned as to their own interest in Christ that though they have no assurance of it and cannot give one mark of interest in Christ yet they are not sensible of this nor regrating it nor earnestly seeking in publick or private to know him to be in him to know if they be in him but they are taken up with other things Christ is not in their mind heart and mouth they are not speering after him in their private converse as the Spouse doth in the Song Saw ye him whom my soul loveth They are more in seeking to know some useless barren notion some jangling debate than they are in seeking to know Christ and him crucified more taken up in apprehending some unedifying empty conceit than in apprehending Christ or seeking to be apprehended by him Who can think that they are truly careful about Christs interests in the Land who are careless about their own interest in Christ and give no diligence to make sure their calling If folk were taken up about the one thing necessary it would take them off their vain janglings about these things which tend neither to edification nor peace They who are striving to enter in at the strait gate and taking the kingdom of heaven by violence and working out the work of their salvation with fear and trembling and giving diligence to make their calling and election sure will not find leisure to dote about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings and evil surmisings That weighty question What shall I do to be saved would take folk off from unedifying questions and doubtful disputations 2. Be much in the exercise of Faith and Repentance ye must live and walk by Faith and be daily searching out your sins looking into the sink of original corruption that loathsome stinking corrupt body of Death that is ever present with you to hinder you from good and incline you to evil and to the innumerable swarms of actual sins which compass you about and ye must be daily confessing your sins judging your self lamenting after the Lord lying at the Fountain opened to the house of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem and coming through the great High Priest Jesus the Son of God to the Throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in the time of need These exercises would hold you doing and keep you from medling as a busie-body in things too high for you and that do not belong to you and are not within the compass of your calling if ye were thus exercised ye would walk humbly with God and humbly with men ye would be so far from bidding others stand by themselves as if ye were holier than they that in holiness of mind ye would esteem others better than your selves and so far from casting at fellowship with the Lords people in publick Ordinances or private worship that ye would rather judge your self unworthy of their fellowship and if ye could do it would rather separate from your self than from others ye would think it a great mercy and priviledge that the like of you had any access to wait at the posts of the Lords doors and any place in his Courts beware of those who undervalue the preaching of Faith and Repentance for this was the Doctrine of the Prophets of John the Baptist who came preaching the Doctrine of Repentance and directing his hearers to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World Christ himself preached that men should repent and believe the Gospel and the Apostle Paul taught Repentance toward God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Repentance and Faith are as necessary for the beginning and progress of our motion towards Heaven as our two legs are necessary for walking and the exercise of Faith and Repentance cease not till all tears be wiped away and Faith be turned into sight to cut off the exercise of Faith and Repentance is to cut off the legs of a man who is fleeing from sin and wrath to the true City of Refuge Ye may be sure that those Teachers who make it their business to discover to you your sins and diseases your poverty nakedness filthiness and direct you to Christ as the Saviour of sinners as the Physitian of souls as full of grace and truth who hath fine white Raiment fine Gold who is a fountain opened who teach you to loath your selves and to love Christ to have no confidence in the flesh but to rejoyce in the Lord Jesus who teach you that you are nothing and he is all that you may not glory in your selves but in the Lord you may be assured that they preach the same that Christ and his Apostles preached and if you were rightly sensible of your own sins and humbled for them then the consideration of the sins of others would not puff you up but humble you further Dan. 9.5 6 7 8. Beware of the way of those who talk of the sins of others as if they were accusers leading a process against others and commending themselves by condemning others for that looks like the strain of the Pharisee in the 18. of Luke The sins of our Rulers Ministers and of persons of all ranks should make us ashamed Ezr. 9.6 3. Let the Glory of God and the enjoying of God be your chief end and take his word which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament for the only Rule to direct you how to glorifie and enjoy him deny your self beware of self-seeking self-pleasing of pleasing your own humors or the humors of others Let that be your great design to please God to be accepted of him if you can please others to their edification become all things to all for gaining of them but beware ye displease not God to please any make no mans Testimony though it were given immediately before his death the rule of your Faith or Practice so long as men are here on earth they know but in part and even good men may err in their judgment and practice in several things some are so easily misled that if a Paper come to their hand that pleases them in some opinion that they are addicted to they take all the rest of it for unquestionable truth without examination or if a Preacher be of their party they implicitely follow him in any thing he says or does beware of listning to Impulses and Revelations which ye find born in upon you even though ye be in a good frame of Spirit when they are cast in for Satan can turn himself into an Angel of light and wait such occasions of suggesting errors and he can delude people by
pleaseth is impertinently brought in under this head for he is speaking of Instructions set down in the Word of God and which are concerning things at all times necessary to the right exercise of the Ministry If the Magistrate would give only such Injunctions I suppose few would complain for all grant that the Magistrate may put Ministers to do their necessary Duty prescribed to them in the Word of God As to the alterable circumstances he excludes the Magistrate from any Power in reference to these but he doth not prove what he says for though the Church have power to determine such Circumstances according to the general Rules of the Word it will not follow that the Magistrate hath no power in reference to these Circumstances If he had said that the Church onely hath that power and proved what he said he would have said something If the Church hath Power saith he by what Law can the Church be robbed of that Power given by Christ They will easily Answer That the Magistrate may have power in reference to some Circumstances and exercise that power and yet not rob the Church of any power which Christ hath given to it For both the Magistrate and Church may have some power in reference to these common Circumstances and exercise it and yet not rob one another of the power which they have as there are some Commons for Pasturage which all Persons in the adjacent bounds may make use of for Pasturage and yet not rob one another Then he questions by what right can the judgment of this matter be committed in prima instantia at the very first unto the Magistrate or rather wholly and solely to him But this Question alters the state of the Question for the Magistrate may have power in reference to these Circumstances though he have not the sole power the Author of the late Apology pag. 169. 170. shews That both Magistrates and Ministers may upon the dispensation of Mercy and Judgment call for Thanksgiving or Humiliation indict days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving and acknowledges that for more harmony in this publick work and convenient following of it with benefit and advantage to Church and State it were expedient that Magistrates and Ministers did previously consult And pag. 167 168. He shews That Magistrates may Convocate Synods But this is not privative of the power of Church-Officers who may and ought to come together of themselves as the necessities of the Church requires The Author of the Answer to the History of the Indulgence hath very rationally shewed that if the Magistrate appoint the Thursday of any week to be a Muster-day in every Parish of his Dominions he may discharge any Publick Sermon upon that Thursday This is an extrinsecal circumstantial regulating or limiting of the Publick exercise of the Ministry which cannot in Reason be denied to the Magistrate who finds it necessary to have a Muster of all his Subjects who are fit to carry Arms in one day To give the Magistrate an unlimited power in Circumstantials were to give him a destructive power for so he might appoint a House for Publick Worship which would not contain the third part of the Parish And to give him no power in reference to Circumstantials were unreasonable and to imagine the Marches betwixt Magistrates and Ministers can be Mathematically defined and brought to a very Mathematical point is a conceit that will not readily come in the head of any man who hath read and understood any thing of these Questions And I perceive the Historian himself hath a Latitude to come and go upon for pag. 81 82. where he says And I shall willingly grant that what agreeth to Magistrates as such agreeth to all Magistrates good and bad yet it may be maintained that more may be allowed in such Magistrates as are really minding Reformation c. than in such as are open Enemies thereunto c. And I suppose this is one Reason of difference among Divines in these matters some who have lived under Reforming Magistrates have allowed more and others who have lived under Magistrates who abused their power have allowed less and when these concessions are calculated according to the disposition of Rulers which are so variable and not according to the Rule of the Word of God and the natures and ends of the Magistratical and Ministerial Offices What wonder if their concessions vary one from another All these things being considered it was no wonder that these Brethren thought it convenient to add the clause Formally and Intrinsecally Ecclesiastical to cast off the Cavils of these who would have alledged that the Assertion without this did deny all power to the Magistrate about the extrinsick Circumstantials of the exercise of the Ministry And thus I have given some Reason why there was so much debate about that general Thesis The Brethren who were present at the debate can no doubt say much more than either â—e or I could dream of for there were many there who could have taught both him and me in these matters or in any Theologick Question In wording of the Assertion they were to look not onely to the salving of their Credit and Conscience among their Friends who would candidly Interpret their words but also to obviate the cavils of Adversaries who were waiting for their halting and would have been glad of any pretext to have rendred them odious to the Magistrate The Historian goeth on in that 65 pag. upon that supposition that the Assertion was thus qualified to justifie their accepting of these Rules and upon this supposition he infers that then the cause sure was betrayed c. uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur If ye will give him leave to lay a Foundation in the Air of his own fancy he will build Castles in the Air but it were a very idle work for me to spend time in casting down these Castles which have no Foundation but his false imagination Further saith he I suppose it will be found that some of these Instructions were indeed Formally and Intrinsecally Ecclesiastical and if these were excepted they should have been particularly mentioned that all might have been clear Answ Then the addition of the words Formally and Intrinsecally Ecclesiastical to the Assertion did exclude these and all of that nature and so was added to good purpose and why then would he not have subscribed this Paper or used it for a directory Was it the worse that it did directly exclude these Rules which did intrench most upon the Ministerial Office If he say that the excepting of these was an accepting of the rest I Answer He grants that Mr. B. refused all and that Mr. H. said the same upon the matter with Mr. B. and therefore all were refused The confinement with all the rest of the Injunctions was spoken against by Mr. H. as Impositions burdening their Ministry and Reasons given why their Ministry should not be burdened with these Impositions And the