cannot be the Ordinance of God for the working of grace that is performed without any manner of Commission or Authority For the necessity of keeping that good order which God hath commanded in his Church requires that no man should attempt any thing of that important nature and high concernment upon his own head or by a power derived no higher than from himself Whosoever shall take upon him to preach God's word in order to the Conversion or saving of souls must be able to give a good answer to that question which the chief Priest and Elders of the People put to our Saviour Christ when he was teaching in the Temple By what Authority doest thou these things and who gave thee this Authority He that cannot make a sufficient and satisfactory reply to it and yet shall adventure upon the work may justly be accounted rash indiscreet and more hasty than needeth or than wisedom requireth But such is the Ministry in question undertaken without any Authority or Commission For all the Authority and Commission that a Minister hath in a constituted setled Church he receives in his ordination Before that he had no Authority or Warrant at all to preach the word or to perform any ministerial Act. Now all the Authority that a Minister of the Church of England hath delivered to him in his ordination is expressed in these words Take thou Authority to preach the word and to administer the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto In which words it is plain that the exercise of his Ministry is restrained to lawfull appointment as to the place where it shall be exercised What that lawfull appointment is I need not trouble my self or the reader here to look into seeing the Ministry in question hath not the least colour of it or pretence to it for it is supposed to be in a place where there is another lawfully appointed to perform the same In the Council of Chalcedon where there were 630 Fathers met about the year of our Lord 451 It was thus decreed Neminem absolute ordinari jubemus Presbyterum aut Diaconum nec quemlibet in Ecclesiasticâ ordinatione constitutum Eos autem qui absolute ordinantur decrevit sancta synodus vacuam habere manûs impositionem That none should be ordained absolutely whether Presbyter or Deacon or any in Ecclesiastical orders and whosoever should be absolutely ordained the Holy Synod decreed his ordination void And the 33th Canon of the Church of England â—aith That it hath been long since provided by many Decrees of ancient Fathers that none should be admitted either Deacon or Priest who had not first some certain place where he might use his function For though in ordination the person ordained is made a Minister of the Catholick Church and being ordained to a function he may by the appointment of those that have Authority in the Church or with leave of the Pastour of the Congregation preach any where And although as Mr. Baines observes It is good for a Minister to be like a young Woman so full breasted that she can both feed her own Child and lend a draught upon intreaty to her Neighbours Yet he is not a Catholick Minister of the Church as the Apostles and Evangelists were whose office being extraordinary is long since ceased in the Church and therefore ought not to take upon himself to preach any where Neither yet did the Apostles themselves doe so as hath been proved though their Commission was without Limit as to place But kept within their Line measured forth by God to them It was never God's intention that the two Tribes of Levi and Gad should be confounded one with another nor is it any way agreeable with Scripture rules and order that a Minister should be a wandring star but fixed regularly in some Orb of the Church as a Pastour of some Flock or Congregation of his People Seeing therefore none is lawfully appointed to perform the ministerial function or any part of it in such a place as is in question but the Minister of that Congregation acts of the Ministry done by any other Person that shall intrude himself among them without and against his consent contrary to lawfull appointment and all good constitution that concern admission of Ministers to pastoral charges are done without any Authority Commission or effect and consequently cannot be God's Ordinance who doth not use to send any to preach in order to the working of grace in means hearts without any Power or Authority yea against both ARGUMENT VIII THAT cannot be the ordinance of God as instrumental to the work of grace that instead of building up People in Faith and Holiness demolisheth Christian Duty and in the natural tendency of it produceth sinfull and pernicious effects 'T is true these may accidentally follow through the Corruption of man's nature and Satan's suggestions upon the most right and purest dispensation of God's word and ordinances St. Peter speaks of some that stumble at the word And St. Paul saith to some we are the savour of death unto death as to other some the savour of life unto life The word preach'd like the water of jealousie when it is received into an honest and good heart it doeth it good and makes it fruitfull but when into a corrupt it doeth hurt and causeth it to rot Yet the most proper intent and genuine fruit and effect of it is to doe good to inlighten convince convert and save means souls But the Ministry in question doth directly produce sinfull and pernicious effects and such as a tender heart may tremble to think on I would not have the reader expect that I should here make a particular enumeration of every one of those sinfull fruits and effects that are produced by the Ministry of intruders and upholders of Conventicles for that is a thing no more possible for me to doe than it is for any man particularly to reckon up every one of the many thousands of absurdities that will unavoidably follow in dispute upon one that is granted or yielded to I will content my self therefore and let the reader doe the like with the mention of so many of them onely as I here use arguments against the practice which is the proper cause of them and thousands more First it tends to the breaking of that bond of near relation that is and ought to be betwixt a Pastour and his flock Though it be a truth well known to but a few in this age and little considered by any yet it is nevertheless certain and undoubted that there is a very intimate relation betwixt a lawfull Pastour and his People The Scripture seems to assert a kind of Matrimonial union betwixt them A Minister is after a sort married to that Congregation over whom he is lawfully set and they to him Our legal incumbency on a Church is our Marriage to that Church Hence is that phrase
ought not to be shew'n in the observation of the Laws of our Church now as hath been to the like Laws and Canons in former and purer times Especially if we enquire into these four things 1. What Power the Church hath to make Laws Canons and Constitutions 2. Who were the Authours and Composers of these of our Church 3. What is the subject matter of them 4. What hath been the judgment of Divines of unquestionable learning judgment and piety concerning Laws Canons and Constitutions of this nature Concerning the first That the Church hath a maternal power to decree and make Laws to bind all her children is such a clear truth as no sober person I think will question By Church I understand not all the number of the faithfull but those that have the lawfull rule and government of the Church Which is the sense that our Saviour Christ useth it in when he saith Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church for there is Ecclesia collectiva and Ecclesia representativa I take it in the latter sense By Laws I understand not any new Article of faith or any thing contrary to what God hath commanded in the holy Scriptures For it is a true maxim whoever was the Authour of it Potestas descendit non ascendit None have power in those things that are above them but in those things which are beneath them So the Church hath no power in those things which are above her but in those things which are below her Now all Doctrines of faith and other things already commanded of God are above the Church and out of her reach so that the cannot meddle with them by any Law de novo otherwise than to see them duly obeyed and observed But as for things of an indifferent and adiaphorous nature serving to external order and decency in these she hath power to ordain and make Laws and Constitutions though not contrary to yet other than what are already made in God's word holding still as near as the can to the general rules of Scripture The doctrine of Salvation is always in all places the same and can never be changed But external rites and order are alterable and variable according to the diversity of time and place and the variety of the minds and manners of men The Church of the Jews had power of ordaining other things than what were expresly set down in God's word and that for perpetual observation She ordained the two days of Purim as perpetual festivals Moreover Iudas and his brethren with the whole congregation of Israel ordained that the days of the dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu with mirth and gladness This feast was instituted by Iudas Machabeus and his brethren when Antiochus Epiphanes was expelled out of Ierusalem the worship of God restored and the Temple prophaned by the Heathen again consecrated which was about 167 years before the Coming of Christ. Which feast was yearly kept ever after and our Saviour Christ himself honoured it with his own presence And if the Jewish Church had that power why then hath not the Christian the like And that the Primitive Church of Christians had and did exercise the like power is plain to any that shall reade Act. 15. and 1 Cor. 11. Secondly The Authours and Composers of these Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical were the reverend learned and godly Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons and other Clergy-men of every Diocesee within the Province of Canterbury met together neither with multitude nor with tumult but lawfully and duly call'd and summoned by virtue of the King's Majesties Writ and receiving legal confirmation of that which was done by them So then the composers of those Canons were such persons as were ordained of God to rule the Church and to order what in their Wisedom should be thought convenient to whom in all things not contrary to God's will revealed in his word we are commanded obedience Luk. 12. 42. Heb. 13. 7 17 24. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. Thirdly The subject matter of these Canons and Consitutions is of such things as concern External order decency and edification which God hath not particularly determined in Scripture but hath left to the rulers and governours of the Church to ordain and appoint within the compass of that general rule of the Apostle Let All things be done unto edifying and in order In which place those things that concern the external polity of the Church are generally expressed but the particulars are not mentioned but left to the wisedom and liberty of the Church Fourthly What have been the judgment of Divines of whose learning and piety and Church of God never yet since their times made the least doubt or question concerning Laws Canons and Constitutions of this nature They have always thought them sacred and venerable and their observation an act of Religion and Obedience to the general commands of God Instead of many take a few testimonies of Divines of the highest rank both foreign and domestick Two I shall quote out of learned Zanchy Quatenus hae leges consentaneae sunt cum Sacris Literis aut saltem non sunt dissentaneae Eatenus verae sunt Ecclesiasticae eoque admittendae nos illis obedientiam debemus ac reverentiam So far forth as these Constitutions are agreeable with the Scriptures or at least not disagreeing with them so far forth they are truly Ecclesiastical and to be received and we owe reverence and obedience to them And he gives his reason in these words Si Consentaneae sunt hae leges verbo Dei qui illas rejicit verbum Dei rejicit Si non repugnant contemnit Ecclesiam Dei qui illas contemnit Contemptus autem Ecclesiae quam Deo ingratus sit apparet cum aliis ex locis Sacrarum Literarum ubi illam magnificat tum maxime ex Evangelio Mat. 18. 17. If those Laws are agreeable with the word of God he that rejecteth them rejecteth the word of God if they are not contrary to the word of God he that rejecteth them despiseth the Church of God and how odious a thing unto the Almighty it is that any should despise his Church as it appears in many places of Scripture where the Church is magnified so especially in Mat. 18. 17. whrere God hath commanded that that person should be accounted as an heathen man and a Publican who hears and obeys not the Church Hear the same Learned Authour again Credo ea quae a piis patribus in nomine Domini congregatis communi omnium Consensu citra ullam Sacrarum Literarum Contradictionem definita recepta fuerunt Ea etiam quanquam haud ejusdem cum Sacris Literis authoritatis A SPIRITV SANCTO ESSE Those things saith he which have been concluded and received by the Holy Fathers gathered together in the
disorder in the Church of Christ and his Service For what is a Church without order but a kind of an Hell above ground Where order is wanting what is a Kingdom but a Chaos of Confusion Yea But such a Ministry and such Meetings and Assemblies as are in question are contrary to the order God hath in his word established in his Church For the order God hath set in his Church is that his People should be distinguished into flocks and that every flock should have its own shepherd It is God's ordinance saith Mr. Hildersham as it is agreeable to good order that Christians should be sorted into Congregations according to their dwellings that they who dwell next together should be of the same Congregation and from thence the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a parish first came As it is against all reason and scripture that a people scattered about some here and some there in several parts of the Country should voluntarily associate and combine themselves in a distinct body under what Ministry they please and that best suits with their humour and call themselves a Church as the manner of some is So it is agreeable with the very light of nature and dictates of right reason that a people in a vicinity and neighbourhood dwelling together ought to join together with those of that neighbourhood according as most conveniently they may for the worship and service of God We reade of the Church of God at Rome Corinth Galatia Ephesus c. And of seven Epistles written from Heaven to seven several Churches all which had their abode at the places whence the Churches bare their Names these are scripture Churches saith a Presbyterian It is the ordinance of God that every Flock or Congregation should have their own pastour Take heed to the flock over whom the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Timothy appointed Titus to ordain Elders in every City i. e. wheresoever there was a body of people for a fit Congregation there must be a Pastour or Elder placed Whence it appears that even in the Apostles days there was a distinction of Churches and Congregations for the Elders had their flocks over whom the Holy Ghost made them Overseers The like is said of Paul and Barnabas that they ordained Elders in every Church Hence saith Calvin may be gathered the difference betwixt the office of those Elders and that of the Apostles These had no certain station in the Church but still went up and down hither and thither to plant new Churches Rom. 15. 19. 20. 23. 24. 1 Cor. 4. 17. Act. 1. 8. Rom. 1. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 11. 2 Cor. 10. 14. 16. But the other were by God's appointment fixed and tyed to their own proper Congregations and Flocks Act. 14. 23. Act. 20. 28. Tit. 15. â—1 Pet. 5. 1. The diminutive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Luc. 12. 32. Act. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. 3. Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth intimate as much for parvum gregem significat it signifies a small part of the great flock distinguished from the rest And indeed the state and condition of the Ministers and Ministry of the Church requires that every Pastour should not take care of all the Flock or Church but that rather they should have certain portions or Congregations of God's People committed to them particularly amongst whom they should bestow their care and pains For this cause St. Paul took course to send certain Ministers to certain particular Churches as Crescens to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia and Tychicus to Ephesus Vnde rectissime colligimus saith a Learned Casuist auditores ordinariis pastoribus contentos esse oportere ne eos in crimen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjiciant So 't is God's ordinance that Flocks Congregations should be contented with and depend on their own Pastours This appears by that charge of the Apostle We beseech you brethren to know them to own and acknowledge them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Again remember them that have the rule over you which have spoken to you the word of God And again obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account that they may doe it with joy and not with grief In both places the Command of God is for Obedience to Pastours not any such as people themselves according to their own humours shall chuse but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the seventh verse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 17 th verse In both places YOVR RVLERS such as are lawfully set over you by those that are in Authority in the Church And even as St. Paul commends Epaphroditus to the Philippians as their ordinary Pastour and commands them to receive him in the Lord with all gladness and to hold such in repâ—tation So he doth the like to other Churches commanding them to honour and obey their own Pastours which he would never have done if it had been lawfull for people with neglect of their own Ministers to follow whom they please People are much mistaken if they think they are so much at their own disposal as that they may put themselves under the teaching and care of what Minister they have a mind to though never so excellent and orthodox For 1. First God is not so careless of the precious Souls of his People in his Church as to leave them at random to shift for themselves every one according to his own foolish fancy but doth dispose of them himself by his good providence by the hand of those who from and under him have Authority so to doe to the care and charge of Pastours of his own appointment the respective Ministers of those Parishes and places where they with other of his People do cohabite And therefore the form of our institutions to our several charges runs in these words Curam regimen omnium animarum parochianorum tibi plenarie in Domino committimus The definition that our Saviour Christ gives of a Church is a Shepherd and his Sheep that will hear his voice A lawfull Minister and a Flock or Congregation lawfully committed to his charge make up a true Church Hereunto accord the Judgment of the Fathers St. Chrysostome in an homily de recipiendo Severiano begins thus Sicuti capiti Corpus cohaerere necessarium est ita Ecclesiam Sacerdoti Principi Populum As it is necessary that the body cleave to the head so it is likewise of necessity that the Congregation cleave to the Priest and the People to their Prince To which the saying of St. Cyprian agrees Illi sunt Ecclesia plebs sacerdoti adunita pastori suo grex adhaerens The Church is a Congregation of believers united to their Minister and a
if any Person or Persons shall hereafter absent themselves from their own Congregations except in urgent Cases made known to and approved by the Presbytery the Ministers of these Congregations whereto they resort shall both in publick by Preaching and in private by admonition shew their dislike of their withdrawing from their own Minister that in so doing they may witness to all that hear them their due care to strengthen the hands of their fellow Labourers in the work of the Lord and their detestation of any thing that may tend to Separation or any of the above mentioned Evils hereby their own flock will be confirmed in their stedfastness and the unstable Spirits of others will be rectified Like as the Minister of that Congregation from which they do withdraw shall labour first by private admonition to reclaim them and if any after private admonition given by their own Pastour do not amend in that case the Pastour shall delate the aforesaid Persons to the Session who shall cite and censure them as Contemners of the comely order of the Kirk And if the matter be not taken order with there it is to be brought to the Presbytery For better observing whereof the Presbyteries at the several visitations of their Kirks and provincial Assemblies in their censure of the several Presbyteries shall enquire hereanent Which enquiry and report shall be registrate in the provincial Books that their deligence may be seen in the General Assembly The contrary course here amongst us of this age hath been taken notice of by godly Christians beyond the Seas as our great fault and contrary to the practice and custome of the reformed Churches of God abroad Honorius Reggius a learned man hath taken the pains to gather together out of Mr. Edwards his Gangrene and other Authours no less than 180 errours practised in England since the year of our Lord 1640. And hath divulged them to the whole World to the great shame of our nation and scandal to our Religion whereof this is the 125 th errour Partem Libertatis Christianae esse non audire proprium Ministrum sed ubi libeat a quo plus Commodi speretur That it is a part of Christian liberty for people not to hear their own Ministers but to attend that Ministry which they like best and from whom they hope to receive the most profit I never heard or read that this disorderly practice was tolerated or allowed in the Church of God in any part of Christendom but once and that was by virtue of a Licence and privilege granted by certain Popes to the Mendicant Fryers to intermeddle in matters of Parish Churches as to hear Confessions to preach and teach with power thereunto annexed to gather the benevolence of the people for their labour Which occasioned such a contention in France between the Prelates and the Fryers there An. Dom. 1354 that the Prelates of France convening and Assembling together in the City of Paris caused by the Bedles to be called together all the Students Masters and Bachelours of every Faculty with the chief Heads of all the Religious houses and Fryers in the University of Paris who being all congregated together in the Bishop of Paris his house where there were present 4 Archbishops 20 Bishops and all the rest of the Bishops throughout the whole Kingdom of France except those who were necessarily absent with full consent did send in under their hand-writing a complaint against the insolency Presumption of the Fryers The Bishop of Byters Preaching in that Assembly on that Text of St. Paul Eph. 3. 18. ut sciatis quae â—it longitudo latitudo altitudo profunditas charitatis took occasion to shew That by the vigour of true charity every man ought to hold himself content with that which was his own and not to intermeddle or busie himself farther than to him appertained or belonged to his Office For there saith he all order Ecclesiastical is dissolved whereas men not containing themselves in their own precincts presume in other mens charges where they have nothing to doe But this Charity saith he now-adays waxeth cold and all Ecclesiastical order is confounded and utterly out of order For many there be now-adays which presume to thrust in themselves where they have nothing to doe so that now the Church may seem a Monster For as in a natural body appeareth a Monster when one Member doeth the office of another so in the spiritual body which is the Church it may be thought like-wise Against the same evil and ungodly practice of the Fryers in our Land and Nation at the same time did that famous godly and learned Richard Armachanus Archbishop and Primate of Ireland inveigh in 7 or 8 Sermons preach'd on purpose in London For which being cited by the Fryers before Pope Innocent the Sixth to appear So he did and before the face of the Pope valiantly defended both in word and writing that it was better for the parishioners to leave the Fryers and to resort to their own Pastours for that the ordinary Pastour is properly appointed of God unto that Ministry which he exerciseth amongst them whereas the Fryers were but onely permitted of man thereunto and therein he stood constant unto the Death For these are the words of Iohn Wickliff as they are quoted by Mr. Fox Ab Anglorum Episcopis conductus Armachanus novem in Avione conclusiones coram Innocentio 6 suorum Cardinalium coetu contra fratrum mendicitatem audacter publicavit veiboque ac scriptis ad mortem usque defendit Now if this be the order which God hath established in his Church That People should be divided into flocks that every flock should have their own Pastour and that they should depend upon him then he can by no means endure to see a breach of that order in his service that he hath set How much it hath displeased him appears in that famous instance in 1 Chron. 15. 13. Because they sought him not according to the right order therefore God made a breach upon them And what that breach was both of order on the Peoples part and of punishment on God's part may be seen Cap. 13. 9 10. Vzzah out of a very good intention put forth his hand to stay the Ark when it was in danger of falling and therefore was smitten with sudden death according to the just threatning of God pronounced before They shall not touch any holy thing lest they dye God will be worshipped and served not onely in his own ordinances but in his own order also There are many duties quae cum bona sint opera perniciem pariunt cum non eo ordine quo sunt constituta peragantur which though they be good works yet the doers of them may be damned because they doe them not in that order they should Upon this account Mart. Luther sharply reprehended those of Wittenberge who in his absence had abrogated the
truth in the World viz. that Christ was the holy one of God because he had no calling so to doe The words of St. Paul are full to the same purpose How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they preach except they be sent The Apostle speaks of such preaching and hearing as should beget Faith and by which Grace is ordinarily wrought and increased in the Soul and upon which People may expect God's Blessing Now thus none can hear without a Preacher neither can any thus preach i. e. profitably to beget Faith except he be sent They cannot be succesfull in their Ministry without a Mission They may talk as Usurpers but not preach as God's Ambassadours They may satisfie the Itch of the Ear but they cannot be instrumental to work Grace in the heart God will not concur with that Ministry he sends not Our Saviour Christ Faith Iohn 10. 8. All that ever came before me are Thieves and Robbers Why Moses and the Prophets the Priests and Levites were before Christ. Were they all Thieves and Robbers and none of them true Pastours The Emphasis lies in the word came which being rightly understood makes it as true that all that ever came or shall come after Christ are Thieves and Robbers also as well as those that came before him St. Hierome's note upon the text makes it clear Venerunt inquit Christus non qui missi sunt de quibus Propheta veniebant a se ego non mittebam eos Our Saviour doth not say that all that were sent before him were Thieves and Robbers but all that came before me Plainly shewing that whosoever shall come amongst the People of God his Church to perform the Office of the Ministry of his own accord without a lawfull Sending is a Thief and a Robber and none of Christ's true Sheep will or ought to hear him But it will be said the Preaching and Ministry of such Persons as are in question is the Preaching and Ministry of Persons sent for they are Persons in holy Orders and Ministers ordained 1. I deny not but that some of such Persons as are in question may be lawfully ordained Ministers all are not to my knowledge yet it followeth not presently from thence that they are sent to preach or to perform Acts of the Ministry For it may so be in a true setled and constituted Church that for a lawfull Cause and by lawfull Authority a Person ordained may be deposed and justly suspended from performing any ministerial Acts as Abiathar in the Church of the Jews was by King Solomon Otherwise Ministers in their Office were Lawless and exempt from all legal and just Restraint and Censure And although a Person in holy Orders cannot have his Ordination ordinarily made void by any quoad internam potestatem in regard of the inward Power of Order that is conferred on him in his Ordination so as upon his Restauration he need be re-ordained yet it may be made void quoad externam executionem in regard of the outward Execution of that Power in the Church either in publick or private either for a set-time or season or else during his Life It is in the Power of the Church and Governours thereof to suspend a Minister from the Execution of his Office though it be not in their Power to rase out that Characterem insculptum that intrinsical Authority received in his Ordination And a Person so lawfully suspended by Authority as is said may he in such a case execute the Office of the Ministry or may he not If so then Acts of lawfull Authority in the Church signifie nothing Governours and Government and Church-discipline is a mere empty Name and but a Cypher Then might Abiathar have executed the High-priest's Office Notwithstanding King Solomon's Exauctoration of him And so the Ordinance of God in the Church to which all stand bound in Conscience to be in subjection will be made void and of none effect If not then such Ministers as notwithstanding their legal Restraint or suspension from Execution of their Office do yet constantly execute the same by preaching and other ministerial Duties otherwise than by the Law they are allowed cannot be said to be sent of God since they are inhibited by God's Vicegerents on Earth and consequently have not that sending which the word of God saith is necessary to those whose preaching is to be instrumental to work Faith and other saving Graces in the Hearts of God's People But what calling or sending can such a Minister as is in question pretend to for his setting up a Course of House-preaching or other ministerial Acts in the place or Parish where there is a publick constant preaching Minister established by Law If he hath any it must be either extraordinary or ordinary for there is not a third way of calling or sending Extradordinary calling or sending is that which is done by God himself immediately without the Concurrence or Ministry of any humane Help or Authority Not of man nor by man Either 1. By divine Vision or Revelation and thus St. Paul was called and sent to preach the Gospel at Macedonia A Vision appeared to Paul in the Night saying come over into Macedonia and help us And after he had seen the Vision immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them 2. By secret impulse on mens spirits for this work wrought by the extraordinary Power of God in the Primitive times Such was Philip the Deacon's going to the City of Samariah and preaching the Gospel unto them after the dispersing the Church at Ierusalem Such also was the Calling of those who at the same dispersion first preached Christ at Phoenicia and Cyprus and the Hand of God was with them though otherwise they were but private Persons Now I think no wise men will pretend to these extraordinary Callings or Sendings in these days It is sufficient to say they are extraordinary and such as but in like Cases cannot be expected Extraordinary onely take place where ordinary are not to be had The internal and extraordinary sending is secret and invisible and therefore it is not sufficient for a man to say that he is sent of God seeing every Heretick may say the same but he ought to prove his extraordinary and invisible Calling by the working of some Miracle or by some special testimony of Scripture 'T is true Iohn Baptist had 〈◊〉 immediate and extraordinary Calling and yet wrought no Miracle that was reserved for the Messiah of whom he was the immediate Forerunner to manifest himself unto the world by but then that Calling of his was foretold and witnessed by plain testimonies of Scripture And the manner of his Birth and Condition of his Life as it was well known to all Israel were
example of our Saviour Christ nor of his Apostles can be brought to justifie or allow any such practice ARGUMENT VI. THAT which God in his word hath branded with a black mark forewarning and commanding his People to avoid cannot be his ordinance or means of grace For it is not God's manner to stygmatize or disgrace his own ordinances or to forbid or discourage any in the use of them but to dignifie advance the honour and strictly to enjoin the use of them as knowing that the Devil and his instruments will sufficiently vilifie and disgrace them and that there will be enough in all ages who will disuse and forsake them Yea God hath so far dignified his ordinances of the word and sacrament which he intends to make use of as means of grace that when he might have wrought it in mens hearts immediately by his own spirit yet he hath put them off to his Ministers to doe it which is no small honour The case of the Eunuch in the Acts makes this plain The Spirit bad Philip join himself to the Chariot Yea when God himself hath begun the work yet he would not perfect it himself but hath handed it over to his Ministers to be completed by them This he did at the Conversion of St. Paul He sent Ananias to him who entered into the House and put his hands on him and said Brother Saul the Lord even Iesus which appeared to thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me that thou shouldst receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost What greater honour than this could God have put upon his Ordinance of the Ministry But he hath set a black mark and brand upon the Persons and Ministry in question and commanded a withdrawing from them Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Iesus but their own bellies and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple The Emphasis of the Apostles words is worthy our observation Mark them signifying such a diligent wary and circumspect care as Watchmen use that stand on an high Tower to descry the approach of an Enemie They mark diligently all Comers and give notice according as they apprehend any danger for the preservation of the City And avoid them as dangerous Persons hurtfull to Christian Society And how sweet and fair soever their words seem to be yet they will eat as doth a Canker They give not their poison but wrapt up in Honey Their smooth Language is their net wherewith they catch many a simple Soul that is not exceeding carefull lest any man should beguile him as Ioab did Amasa with enticing words Their flattering speeches and specious pretenses of Purity and Doctrine and tenderness of Conscience tend to no other but to deceive the simple and unwary to get themselves a maintenance and to fill their own bellies they are like the false Apostles in the Church of Corinth who transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ yet were but deceitfull workers to bring that People into bondage to devour them and to take of them How guilty the persons in question are of causing Divisions amongst People whereever they come of renting the Unity of the Church and disturbing the peace thereof of giving offence to Rulers and Governours by their constant and wilfull violation of all Ecclesiastical and Civil order and discipline is too notoriously known by sad experience in all places And whether the other Character in the text belongs to them that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seek not so much mens Souls for therein they may spare their pains as needless where there is a preaching Ministry established as their purses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making merchandize of the word of God their hearers and followers are best able to tell and will I think in a while be weary of it In the mean time we that are Pastours of Flocks find by experience in those places where these persons intrude themselves that the People are ready to pull their own Ministers bread out of their mouths to feed those their new Masters live we never so blamelesly and take we never so much pains amongst them for the good of their Souls Yea they hate those their Ministers most who best deserve their love and lay most obligations on them According to that of the Philosopher Leve aes alienum debitorem facit grave ininâ—icum A bad Debtor when he owes but a small summ will be contented to look towards you but when it is great more than he can well pay or as much as he thinks he can get then he will be glad to be rid of you Again The Apostle foretells that towards the latter end of the World and surely those days are come upon us Perilous times shall come and there shall be many that shall creep into houses and lead Captive silly Women from such turn away And whom do the men we are speaking of most prevail upon and draw after them but easie and unstable souls such as have itching Ears always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth well meaning People that are spurred on with zeal and want judgment to hold the reins many times an over vehement bending into some way of our own chusing doth not onely withdraw us from the left hand way the way of Idolatry and Superstition from which we should all withdraw but from the middle way too in which we should all walk And then the danger is great The Devil doth many times make zeal and religion his instrument to drive men on to incredible extremities of impiety For if he cannot take away mens faith yet he will quench their Charity to others even to those to whom they owe it most For zeal except it be ordered aright when it bendeth it self to conflict with things either indeed or but imagined to â—e opposite to Religion useth the razor many times with such eagerness that the very life of Religion is thereby hazarded through hatred of tares the corn in the field is plucked up So that zeal needeth both ways a sober guide Zeal against Poperty saith another learned Authour who conceals his name except it be bridled by discretion and attended by equal pace of strength is not the way to protect but to betray a cause Those that were lately zealous for the good old cause lost it and the King had not better friends than his most implacable Enemies Fury is as bad in a Champion as torpour it is an even temperature of wisedom and valour that doeth the execution A sober Protestant though he rageth less shall prevail more on a Papist than a mad Fanatique The greatest part of zeal against Popery that is found amongst the Nonconformists is like that of one frantick who wounds himself
not savouring the things of God but of men for dissuading his Master from going up to Ierusalem The means as well as the intention must be good if we would have our actions pleasing to God We grant God may and doth often bring good out of evil but that is no thanks to those that doe it Evil can naturally produce nothing but evil It must be no lese than the infinite Wisdom and Almighty power of God that must over-rule it into good As good Ends cannot justifie Evil means so neither will evil beginnings ever bring forth good conclusions unless God by a miracle of mercy create light out of darkness order out of confusion and peace out of our passions And as he hath not allowed us to doe any evil for the obtaining or procuring of the greatest good so he needs it not Wilt thou speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him q. d. his cause his glory needs not any â—in of ours to promote it He will never thank any man for seeking his honour by sinfull means he can get himself glory and save mens souls otherwise He will say as Achish Have I need of mad-men that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad-man in my presence The way God hath taught us to gorifie him by in seeking or procuring the salvation of our own or the souls of others is always to doe that which is good and though he can bring good out of evil yet he never Commands ordains or allows our evil for that end But such Preaching and Meetings as are in question are sinfull acts Which will appear as by other reasons which shall be shewed hereafter so in this place onely because they are done in disobedience and opposition to the known Laws of the Church and Kingdom wherein we live and which we stand bound in Conscience towards God to observe and obey I begin with the Laws of the Church The Eleventh Canon of the Church of England saith Whosoever shall affirm or maintain that there are in this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the King's born-subjects than by the Laws of this Realm are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the names of true and lawfull Churches Let him be excommunicated and not restored but by the Arch-bishop after his repentance and revocation of such his wicked errour The sense of this Canon is large and comprehensive and contains in it virtually a prohibition of all Meetings Assemblies or Congregations whatsoever which are not allowed by the Laws of the Land as the Meetings in question will and God willing shall be made appear to be Neither can it be restrained onely if at all to any other Meetings than such as are under pretence of joyning in religious worship not authorized by the Laws of the Land which according to the title of the Canon are called Conventicles for there can be no other unlawfull Meetings so called for any other end but onely these two viz. First for Ministers and Lay-men or either of them to joyn together to make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical without the King's authority And that is censured and forbidden as unlawfull in the twelfth Canon Or else Secondly to consult about a course to be taken to impeach or deprave the Doctrine of the Church of England the book of Common Prayer or any part of the Government or Discipline established in the Church And this is forbidden under pain of Excommunication in the 73 Canon Any other end for any other unlawfull Meeting or Assembly other than what is aforesaid cannot easily be imagined therefore unless we will make the Reverend Pious and Learned Authors and Composers of those Canons and Constitutions which are so solemnly established by Supreme authority guilty of a gross tautology this Canon flatly prohibits all Meetings Assemblies or Congregations except the publick which are commanded and allowed by the Laws of the Land of any manner of persons in private houses or elsewhere which under pretence of religious worship take upon them to be called Churches Besides it is expressed in such terms as are commonly competible to none but such Meetings as are under pretence of religious worship What other Meetings are commonly called Congregations or do challenge to themselves the name of Churches but such Meetings as are in question The place and order of the Canon do prove the same for immediately after the impugners of the King's Supremacy the publick worship of God Articles of Religion Rites and Ceremonies Government established in the Church of England the Authours of Schism and maintainers of Schismaticks in the Church are censured is subjoyned this Canon censuring Conventicles as being the Nursery of all the former In the 71 Canon all Ministers whatsoever are forbidden to preach or administer the holy Communion in any private house except in be in time of necessity when any is either so impotent as that he cannot go to the Church or very dangerously sick under pain of Excommunication In the 72 Canon it is ordained that no Minister whatsoever shall without licence from the Bishop of the Diocese first obtained and had under his hand and seal presume to appoint any meetings for Sermons or Exercises in Market-Towns or other places either publickly or in private houses under pain of Suspension for tho first fault Excommunication for the second and Deposition for the third Now if a Minister may not doe this in his own Parish but onely in a case of necessity much less may a stranger intrude himself into another man's Parish where there is a Preaching Ministry established by Law and there set up a course of private house-preaching administring of Sacraments and performance of all Ministerial acts where there can be no need of his so doing so much as pretended But is will be thought by some that the Laws and Constitutions of the Church are not so greatly to be regarded as that the breach of them should be sinfull and that her Canons lay no such obligation on Conscience as that the neglect of their observation and contrary practice should be criminal Nay such is the state and condition of our times that is is rather thought a vertue to despise them than any fault to disobey them And they are reputed most pure and holy who with greatest boldness quarrel and cavil against the Authority Government and Lawfull Precepts of the Church Yet certainly the judgment and practice of Christians in former ages was otherwise When vertue and true piety did more abound they made more conscience of observing the Precepts and Constitutions of the Church which were made for decency order and good government And if any frowardly wilfully or constantly lived in any opposition or contrariety thereunto they were adjudged as evil doers Nec his quisquam contradicit quisquis sane vel tenuiter expertus est quae sunt jura Ecclesiastica And truly I see not why the same regard and respect
Name of God agreed on by Common-consent and without any Contradiction of the Scripture although they are not of the same Authority with the Scriptures Yet I beleive even those things to be from THE HOLY GHOST Hinc fit ut quae sunt hujusmodi c. Hence it comes to pass that those things which are of this nature I neither will disallow nor dare I with a good Conscience Quis enim ego sum c. For who am I that I should dissallow that which the whole Church approves of So far that worthy Authour The next whose judgment in this case I shall produce is Mr. Calvin in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Corinthians Quinetiam hinc colligere promptum est has posteriores scilicet Ecclesiae Leges non esse habendas pro humanis traditionibus quandoquidem fundatae sint in hoc generali mandato liquidam approbationem habent quasi ex ore CHRISTI IPSIVS Where shewing the difference betwixt the tyrannical Edicts of the Pope and the Laws of the true Church in which discipline and order are contained he saith Whence it is easie to be gathered that the Laws of the Church are not to be accounted humane traditions seeing they are founded upon the general precept of the Apostle and have as clear an approbation as if they had been delivered from the mouth of Christ Himself For saith he elsewhere Dico sic esse humanam traditionem ut simul sit divina It is so an humane tradition as that it is also divine Dei est quatenus est pars deeoris illius cujus cura observatio nobis per Apostolum commendatur hominum autem quatenus simpliciter designat quod in genere fuit indicatum magis quam expositum It is of God fo far forth as it is a part of that order and decency the care and observation whereof is commanded and commended to us by the Apostle It is of men so far forth as it simply names or signifies that which was in general uttered rather that particularly expounded Take a third testimony from that burning and shining Light of the French Church Licet quae a regia aliis Legitimis petestatibus rite praecipiuntur sunt de jure positivo quod tamen illis postquam ita constitutae sunt pareatur est de jure divino cum Legitimae potestates omnes a Deo sint Deique vices in suo ordine teneant dumque illis obedimus eorumque praecepta observamus Deo pariter in illis paremus Deique praeceptum voluntatem exequimur Although those things which are commanded by the King's Authority or other lawfull Powers under him are of positive right Yet it is of divine institution that we should obey them in those things which they command seeing all lawfull Powers are of God and supply the place of God in their several orders Therefore while we obey them and keep their Commandments we obey God in them and so fulfill the Will and Command of God Learned Beza shall be the next that shall give in his verdict to this truth Nam etsi Conscientias proprie solus Deus ligat c. For although God alone can properly bind the Conscience yet so far as the Church with respect to order and decency and thereby to Edification doth rightly enjoyn or make Laws those Laws are to be observed by all pious persons and they do so far bind the Conscience as that no man wittingly and willingly with a purpose to disobey can either doe what is so forbidden or omit what is so commanded without Sin To these above named add we in the last place the verdict of our own learned and judicious Mr. Hooker To the Laws saith he thus made id est according to the general Law of Nature and without contradiction to the positive Law of Scripture and received by a whole Church they which live within the bosome of that Church must not think it a matter of indifference either to yield or not to yield obedience Is it a small offence to despise the Church of God My son keep thy Father's Commandments saith Solomon and forget not thy Mothers instructions bind them both always about thine heart It doth not stand with the duty we owe to our heavenly Father that to the ordinance of our Mother the Church we should shew our selves disobedient Let us not say we keep the Commandments of one when we break the Laws of the other For unless we observe both we obey neither And what doth let but that we may observe both when they are not one to the other in any sort repugnant Yea which is more the Laws of the Church thus made God himself doth in such sort authorize that to despise them is to despise in them him Thus far that most judicious Authour Yea one of the reformed Churches have put it into their very Confession That those Laws of the Church deserve to be esteemed divine rather than humane Constitutions From all which it appears that Ecclesiastical Canons and Constitutions are not merely man's Laws but God's also both because they are composed and framed by those Fathers by divine Authority and have their general foundation in Scripture and also because they are ordained for the Glory of God for Edification order and decency of the Church and the better fulfilling and keeping the Laws of God For as we have a Command from Christ to tell the Church when any one is refractary and perverse So have they which are complained of to the Church that Command from Christ also to hear the Voice of God in the Church and in disobeying the Church they disobey God And if Children and Servants are bound by the Law of God to obey their Parents and Masters in all things that are reasonable honest and just and in their obedience they obey and serve God himself Eph. 6. 1. Col. 3. 20. 24. Tit. 2. 9. 10. then it can be no less pleasing to God that Christians who live in the bosome of the Church should be obedient and conformable unto the lawfull Precepts and Constitutions of their spiritual Mother the Church of Christ and the Rulers thereof It is very truly said by Calvin Semper nimia morositas est ambitiosa A frowardness and aptness to quarrell with the proceedings of the Church is accompanied with ambition and pride It is not because the Church takes too much power on her but because they would be under none It is ambition to have all Government in their own hands that is the Cause why some will not be subject to any All which hath been said of this matter is agreeable with the Doctrine of the Church of England who in her twentieth Article saith The Church hath power to decree and make Laws So in her 34th Article That whosoever through his private judgment willingly and purposely doth break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the word of
God offendeth against the Common order of the Church hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Conscience of the weak Brethren Where by traditions I suppose is meant the Laws and Canons of the Church as the words following do intimate which speak of the Common order of the Church and Authority of the Magistrate Thus much of the Laws of the Church Neither are such meetings onely against the Laws of the Church but against sundry statute Laws of the Kingdom also in that behalf made and provided In the Statute of 35 Eliz. 1. It is provided that if any person or persons above 16 years old shall refuse to repair to some Church Chapel or usual place of Common-prayer to hear divine Service and receive the Communion or come to and be present at any Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under Colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes And if any person shall obstinately refuse to repair to some Church Chapel or usual place of Common-prayer or by any motion persuasion inticement or allurement of any other willingly joyn in or be present at any such Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under Colour or pretence of any such Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm as is aforesaid which refers to other Statutes formerly made and yet of force against Conventicles as well as this one shall be committed to prison and there remain without bail untill be conform and untill he make an open Submission in the words set down in the Statute viz. I. A. B. do humbly acknowledge and confess that I have grievously offended God in contemning her Majesties Godly and lawfull Government and Authority by absenting my self from Church and from hearing divine Service contrary to the godly Laws and Statutes of this Realm and in using and frequenting unlawfull and disorderly Conventicles and Assemblies under Colour and pretence of Exercise of Religion And I am heartily sorry for the same c. And I do promise and protest without any dissimulation that from henceforth I will from time to time obey and perform her Majesties Laws and Statutes in repairing to Church and hearing divine Service and doe my utmost endeavour to maintain and defend the same Neither can it be pretended as it is by some that this Statute was made or stands in force against any other sort of People than those in question viz. against Popish recusants onely and not against Protestant dissenters as they call themselves The answer is easie out of the words of the said Statute For in the beginning of the Statute the Persons that are concerned in obedience to it are expressed in these general and large words Any person or persons whatsoever above the Age of 16 which shall refuse to repair to Church and willingly join in and be present at any Conventicle or Meeting c. Which words comprehend and take in Persons of all Religions Sects and Persuasions whatsoever And whereas the penalty of the Statute to all that shall refuse Obedience and Conformity to it is abjuration of the Realm or to be proceeded against as Felons There is a Proviso toward the End of the Statute that sixeth the penalty altogether upon Protestant recusants and not on Popish In these words Provided that no Popish recusant or feme Covert shall be compelled or bound to abjure by virtue of this Act. And lest the Popish recusants should be the onely Persons therein meant or intended the Conventiclers of our Age make themselves more perfect Recusants than that Statute supposeth For whereas that makes absence from the Prayers of the Church for one Month together a Crime sufficient to render them obnoxious to the penalties of that Act these men for the most part withdraw themselves for many Years together and for ought I see if they are let alone resolve so to doe all the days of their lives In Anno 22. Caroli 2di Regis there was a Statute made to prevent and suppress seditious Conventicles as the Title of that Statute truly calls them wherein Every Person of the Age of 16 years and upward that shall be present at any Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under Colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner that according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England in any place within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed at which Conventicle or meeting there shall be 5 persons or more assembled together is made liable to suffer the penalties of 5 s for his first fault and for his second 10 s and so onward the Preacher to suffer the penalty of 20 ll And the owner of the house or ground that shall wittingly and willingly suffer such Conventicle Meeting or unlawfull Assembly to be held to suffer the penalty of 20 ll In the late Act for Uniformity all Non-conformist Ministers and disabled and prohibited from preaching any Sermon or Lecture indefinitely either publick or private And for as much as the King's Majesty by the Law of God and the Land of right is and ought to be master of all the assemblings together of any of his Subjects therefore what Meetings soever are not allowed and authorized by the Laws of the Realm are adjudged by the Learned in the Laws to fall within the compass of those Statutes that forbid and punish Riots and unlawfull Assemblies and are or may justly be presumed to be in terrorem populi and in the Event it is to be feared will prove to be contrary to the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King And by the Law all the King's Liege-people are commanded to assist in the suppressing of them upon pain of imprisonment and to make fine and ransome to the King Notwithstanding all which good Laws this practice hath continued in the Church these several years and still doth notwithstanding His Majesties reinforcement of their execution by his late Proclamation in open defiance and contempt of all Authority as if the Laws of the Church and Realm were but fulmen inane a shadow of a Cloud that vanisheth as soon as it is made and as if obedience to Magistracy were no part of Christian duty Concerning these Laws of the Realm to silence clamour I will touch lightly at five things I. That the King being next under God within his Dominions supreme in the Church on Earth hath Power and Authority over the Persons of Ministers as well as of any other his Subjects He being Custos utriusque tabulae having both tables committed to him as well the first that concerns our religious duties to God as the other that concerns our civil duties to men may and ought to make such laws as conduce as well to the peace and order in the Church as as godliness and honesty Pertinet hoc ad reges seculi Christianos ut temporibus suis pacatam velint matrem suam Ecclesiam unde
to the Penalty of the Law is not that sufficient to discharge the Conscience from the guilt of disobedience Casuists that are of that Judgment say it holds true onely in those Laws whereof there are but very few in the World that are purely penal And the Laws which we now speak of are not such for these are partly Moral binding to doe or to leave undone some moral Act and partly Penal in case of Omission of what the Laws command or Commission of what the Laws forbid then to undergoe the Punishment the Laws inflict Now in these mixt Laws suffering the Penalty doth not discharge the Conscience from the guilt of sin For it is a rule of sure truth which Casuists give in such cases Omnis praeceptio obligat ad culpam Every just Command of those who have lawfull Authority to command leaves a guilt of sin upon those mens Consciences who do not obey The reason is because where a Law made by lawfull Authority requires active obedience and imposeth a Penalty in case of disobedience the Conscience of the subject stands bound primarily and intentionally to the performance of the duty therein enjoined As for the Penalty threatned that is a secondary and accidental thing to the Law added to keep up the reputation and esteem thereof in the minds of those who are concerned in it and to affright them from the neglect and disobedience of it So that though the suffering the Penalty of the Law in case of the transgression of it be as much as can be required of the Law-giver yet God by whom Kings reign and who requires subjection to Authority and that for Conscience sake will not hold such persons guiltless that doe not the things commanded in the Law The malefactour satisfies the Law at the time of his execution but who will say that without repentance of his fact the guilt of sin remains not still upon his Conscience or that he shall be acquitted at God's tribunal 5. Neither are they the Laws of the Church and Kingdom of England onely that are against such Meetings and Ministry as are in question But the godly Kings and Princes of the primitive Christian-Church have ever made the like Eusebius tells us that Constantine the Great made a Law that no Separatists or Schismaticks should meet in Conventicles and commanded that all such places where they were wont to keep their Meetings should be demolished and that they should not keep their factious Meetings either in publick places or private houses or remote places but that they should repair to their parochial Churches And in the next Chapter he saith that by that Law the memory of most of those Sectaries was forgotten and extinguished Sozomen reports that Theodosius the great decreed that the Sectaries whose petition for liberty he had first torn in pieces should not assemble together but all of them repair to their own publick Congregations otherwise to be banished their Country to be branded with some infamy and not to be partakers of Common privileges and favours with others And our neighbours and brethren of Scotland of the Presbyterian judgment did in one of their late general Assemblies since the enacting of their solemn League and Covenant make a special Canon against all private Meetings the direct tendency there of being to the overthrow of that Uniformity by them covenanted to be endeavoured in all the Churches of the three Kingdoms The very Heathens themselves by their Laws have made all such Assemblies illegitimate which the highest Authority did not cause to meet though they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to doe solemn Sacrifice to their Gods as may appear by Solon's Laws and in their practice they have shewed themselves ready to yeild obedience to their Governours in desisting from such irregular Conventions when they have been required Though Demetrius his Assembly came together disorderly and of their own heads rushed into the Theatre and there kept a shouting and Crying two hours together some one thing some another not knowing most of them wherefore they came together Yet when the Town-clark who had Authority did dismiss them they added not one fault to another but broke off their disorderly Meeting presently And they shew themselves more refractary than Demetrius himself who doe otherwise And if it be well considered the practice in question will be found to interfere with it self and to carry in the very face of it a convincing Testimony of its evil and unwarrantableness For if it be lawfull for these men to preach in private Meetings as they do and have a long time done why do they not take upon them to adventure to preach in the publick and Church-assemblies also What is it that makes them abstain from the latter and yet take liberty in the former Is it in obedience to the Law of the Land which forbids them to preach in publick The same Law forbids them to preach in private also It cannot be denied but that one is forbidden as well as the other Then this must needs be turned upon them why do they not obey in the one as well as in the other since they cannot but acknowledge that both are forbidden in the same Law surely if it were the Care and Conscience and desire to obey lawfull Authority according as Christian duty binds them that makes them silent in publick the same Conscience the same care and desire would make them sit down in silence in private also If it be said that they therefore abstain from publick preaching because it more exposeth them to the danger and penalty of the Law than private doth Then this must be retorted upon them also that their obedience is not such as God requireth for Conscience but for wrath Good men obey for Conscience but those that obey for wrath have not the fear of God before their Eyes For none contemns the power of man unless he hath first despised the Power of God And shall that be accounted by any sober Christian to be the ordinance of God or means of his appointment to beget grace in mens souls that is so repugnant to good Laws both of Church and State which we all stand bound in Conscience to observe and obey is contradictory to it self and hath in it that which proclaims to all that will open their Eyes to look into it its unlawfulness and sin God forbid ARGUMENT II. THAT cannot be the ordinance of God or means of grace that is contrary to that order which God himself by his word hath established in his Church For God is not the Authour of disorder and confusion But the Devil In the Church God's Command is for order in all things Let all things be done decently and in order And St. Paul did as well rejoice to see the order as the faith of the Church of Coloss. Onely Death and Hell have no order And it is a kind of death to a godly Christian to see
it pleaseth him I will not dare saith one of them to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word or deed The Ministry is God's ordinance and depends not upon the worthiness of him that is employed in it but it hath its virtue force and efficacy from the blessing of God and inward operation of his Spirit which worketh where and in and by whom he will Christ himself converted very few in comparison of the many converted by his Apostles Those Ministers whose parts are most Seraphical cannot at their pleasure infuse grace into their hearers hearts A Paul may plant and an Apollos may water but it is God that must give the increase So as that neither the one nor the other are any thing in themselves without God's blessing which the weakness of the instrument shall not hinder as making most for the Honour of the supreme Agent to work by it We have this treasure in Earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of Men. All God's Servants are not alike gifted some have five talents some ten some but one yet all may be his faithfull Servants and may have their gifts given them to profit withall And from any of their gifts any may learn and profit if the fault be not their own Who thâ—ives more in grace than they who conscionably attend and depend on their own godly Pastours Who go more empty away with the shell of Religion onely when others have gotten the kernel but such as love to wander and heap â—p to themselves Teachers of their own chusing The first sort find the pâ—eaching of God's word to prove wholsome food to them which though it seem coiurse and to be served in with great simplicity like Daniel's diet which was but Pulse and Water yet because it is God's allowance allways hath his blessing with it and makes his Children so to thrive that their Countenances do appear fairer and they are fatter in flesh than the other who though they feed upon Varieties and perhaps more curiously cook'd dishes yet have Souls that are still thin and lean and depart from their banquets without any great satisfaction for want of that blessing without which all manner of Varieties prove but wind and vanity For Man lives not by bread onely but by the word of blessing that comes forth of God's mouth Neither say I this of mine own private opinion but the brethren of the Non-conformity say the same He that keepeth in God's order under a meaner honest Minister is like to be a more humble thriving Christian than he that breaks that order under pretence of Edification Saith Mr. Baxter The ancient and godly Fathers of the Church taking into consideration this order that God hath established amongst his People have both in their publick Councils and private writings always disallowed and forbidden the liberty that People are apt to take of their own heads to wander from their own Pastours to hear Strangers In the third Council of Carthage where Saint Augustine himself was present there was this decree made Placuit ut a nullo Episcopo usurpentur plebes alienae nec aliquis Episcoporum supergrediatur in Dioecesi suum Collegam Be it ordained that no Bishop usurp or have any thing to doe with another's People or enter into the Diocese of his Compartner in office to meddle or make there And this Canon extends its obligation to Ministers of inferiour order in reference to each others Congregations as well as to Bishops in relation to their Dioceses For Sicut Episcopus se habet ad Dioecesim suam sic sacerdos ad suam parochaim saith Aquinas As it is with a Bishop with respect to his Diocese so 't is with a Minister in respect of his Parish Sine spe sunt saith that holy Martyr St. Cyprian perditionem maximam de indignatione Dei acquirunt qui schisma faciunt relicto Episcopo alium sibi foris Pseudoepiscopum constituunt They are without hope and procure to themselves the greatest destruction through the just indignation of God who make Schisms in the Church and leaving their own Bishop appoint and set up another a false Bishop to themselves Again singulis pastoribus portio gregis est ascripta quam reger quisque ac gubernet rationem sui actus domino reddat To every Pastour there is a portion of God's People committed which he ought to Rule and Govern as one that must give an account to God for them And saith the same holy man farther Oportet eos quibus praesumus non circumcursare nec Episcoporum concordiam cohaerentem sua subdola fallaci temeritate collidere It behoves those over whom God hath set us not to run about hither thither nor by their false and crafty temerity to break the Concord and good Agreement that ought to be amongst Ministers In the Canon-law it is ordained Vt dominicis festis diebus presbyteri antequam Sacra celebrent plebem interrogent si alterius parochianus sit in ecclesia qui proprio contempto presbytero ibi velit Sacris interesse si inveniatur statim ab ecclesia abjiciant That on Festival and Lord's days the Ministers before they beg in Divine Service shall ask the people if there be any Person of another Parish in the Church who neglecting his own Pastour desires to be present at divine Worship there and if any such be found they shall forthwith thurst him out of the Church And in another pleea it is thus decreed Omnis quilibet confiteatur proprio Sacerdoti siquis autem alieno Sacerdoti voluerit justa de causa coufiteri peccata licentiam prius postulet obtineat a proprio Sacerdote cum aliter ipse illum non possit absolvere vel ligare Let every man confess his faults to his own Minister but if any upon just cause desire to confess to another Minister let him first ask and obtain Licence so to doe from his own Minister seeing otherwise no other can absolve or bind him Of the same judgment in this case have the reverend Brethren of the Presbyterian perswasion declared themselves to be not onely in their Sermons to their people which I have sometimes heard but I have seen an Act and can produce it of the assembly of Scotland Entitled An act against such as withdraw themselves from the publick worship in their own Congregation Wherein the said Assembly in the zeal of God For preserving order unity and peace in the Kirk for maintaining that respect which is due to the ordinances and Ministers of Iesus Christ for preventing Schisms noysome errours and all unlawfull practices which may follow on the peoples withdrawing themselves from their own Congregations do ordiain every member in every Congregation to keep their own Paroch Kirk to communicate there in the Word and Sacraments and
private Mass and Idols had celebrated the Lord's Supper under both kinds had taken away auricular Confession superstitious differences of meats invocation of Saints and many other Popish fopperies and intolerable abuses in the Church non quod impie fecissent sed quod non ordine Not but that the work was good in it self but it was ill done because not done in a right order and therefore it was justly culpable and blameable in them Circumstances of actions often marr the substance In divine Worship our care must not onely be to the matter of the service that it be good but to the circumstances also wherewith it is attended that they be warrantable by God's word or at least not contrary thereunto God requires that even the wood and every part of the sacriâ—ce offered to him be in order And doth God look for order among sticks And doth he not much more require order to be kept in the use of those means by which he hath appointed to bring Souls to Heaven What gross absurdities would unavoidably follow from such a manifest breach of order in the Church If one Minister may intrude into another's Parish and Congregation and there set up a course of private house-preaching and other ministerial Acts why then may not the Bishop of one Diocess thrust himself into the Diocess of another and there take upon him to ordain Presbyters and exercise Episcopal jurisdiction whether the Diocesan will or no Which as it is contrary to all good Laws and Order so hath been always forbidden and condemned by the Judgment of the Fathers of the Church assembled in Council Not onely in that of Carthage before mentioned but also in a Council at Antioch it was decreed non licere uni Episcopo in Dioecesi alterius Episcopale officium exercere And in the 36 th Canon of those which goe under the Name of the Apostles it was ordained Episcopum non audere extra terminos proprios ordinationes facere in civitatibus villis quae illi nullo jure subjectae sunt Si vero convictus fuerit c. That no Bishop shall dare to confer orders out of his own Diocess in any City or Village which by no Law or Right is in subjection to him and if he shall be convicted so to doe without the consent or leave of those to whom those Cities or Towns do belong he shall be deposed and those that are ordained by him So likewise in Civil affairs why then may not a Judge who is Commissionated for the Northern Circuit thrust himself into the place and office of him that is appointed for the Western sit on the bench judge causes and condemn Malefactours in alieno foro Which were the way to overthrow all Justice according to that known Axiome in the Law Sententia a Iudice non SVO lata nulla est ipso jure And in Military matters why then may not the Colonel of one Regiment or a Reformado Officer that hath lost his Company and hath none left to command intrude himself into another Regiment and there take upon him to muster the Souldiers and lead a party Which is the onely way to open a Flood-gate to all Confusion and disorder that is imaginable to the Destruction of Magistracy Ministry Judges Armies and all things Now order being a great part of God's Law he that wilfully breaks good order makes himself guilty of the breach of the whole Law and so makes void his Plea for an ordinance of God which may be instrumental to beget faith or grace in the Souls of those that attend unto it The Queen of Sheba when she had seen the good order of the Servants that ministred to King Solomon was so astonished with admiration that there was no spirit left in her If order in a Family doth so draw the Eyes and Minds of the Beholders to it how much more amiable is order in the Church which is the house of the Living God where a greater than Solomon is always present and where the Glory of the Lord appears in the way and means of the Salvation of Souls ARGUMENT III. THAT cannot be the ordinance of God as a means of grace that hath no promise of God's blessing made or annexed to it For though it be a Paul that plants and an Apollo that waters yet it must be God that gives the blessing or else all their labour will be to no purpose I deny not but that there may be a very good use made of the meetings of Christians together otherwise than in the publick Congregation when they are Lawfully and orderly regulated without manifest breach of any Divine or humane precept without intrenchment upon or infringment of any Gospel-order or ordinance and that they may so expect God's blessing on them Yet because Satan hath stretched his hellish Subtilty to the highest in these last times with too unhappy Success to put easie and well-meaning people out of the sure and ordinary way of God's blessing by disparaging the publick Church Assemblies and advancing private irregular and disorderly meeting where there is not that ground of expectation of Divine concurrence into competition with yea prelation above them therefore makeing a little more than ordinary stay here I shall endeavour to let the Reader fee how the Spirit of God in Scripture hath commended the publick Assemblies to us by affixing more special promises of his presence with and benediction of them than on any other though ordered in all things never so rightly and how it hath recorded the faith of good men in their belief of these promises testified in their esteeming useing and frequenting the publick ordinances of God accordingly Glorious things are spoken of thee oh thou city of God To the ancient people of God the Iews the special promises of Divine presence were made in their Church Assemblies In the places where I record my name I will come unto thee and will bless thee In the Tabernacle saith God I will meet thee and Commune with thee of all things Which promises were always performed accordingly as may be seen in Lev. 9. 23. 24. Nâ—mb 1. 1. Numb 7. 89. Thence it was that the Tabernacle of the Jewish Church had the name of the Tabernacle of meeting or the Tabernacle of the Congregation To those that attended God there his blessing was assured Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Court he shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy Holy Temple Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall ever be praising thee He blesseth thy Children within thee O Sion Blessed is the man that heareth me watching dayly at my Gates waiting at the posts of my doors saith Christ the Wisedom of the Father And that was the reason of David 's so great love to the Church Lord I have loved
therefore though there is not that holiness affixed to places now since our Saviour's coming into the World as there was before yet our assembling together in the Church is as holy now as then and better than elsewhere And wheresoever the Scripture seems to take away all religious differences of places as if no place were holier than another as in Mal. 1. 11. Ioh. 4. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 8. It is true of inherent holiness but not of relative And this must be always remembred to prevent mistake that the Holy Ghost doth no where compare private and profane places with publick and consecrated as if the worship we doe to him were as much to his Glory or as good and profitable to our selves and others which we doe in those places as that which we doe in the Church But he compares publick places then with publick now and private with private and his meaning is that not onely at Ierusalem and among the Jews God shall have an house for his publick worship but in all Nations where he shall be pleased to bestow his Gospel God will not be worshipped in the Temple at Ierusalem onely nor shall his presence be tyed to that place more than to other such like houses of God elsewhere but he will have houses which shall be properly his own and set apart for his publick worship and service amongst all Nations It was a part of that heavy Yoke that was intolerable on the Necks of our Fathers that they must take long and tedious journeys to come from all Quarters of their Country to one place to worship and that they did not dare no not in case of absolute nenessity to perform publick service in any other place yea that their very private Devotions were to be performed either in or toward that place But now besides our Closets for our private Devotions we have Churches in our several Towns Parishes and Villages where we may be sure to have God present to hear accept and bless us if we can find honest and good hearts to resort to them Every place hath God's presence and therefore is in it self alike sanctified for his service but every place is not alike separated from common and profane use and dedicated and consecrated to God nor owned and accepted by him and therefore we have no reason to expect God's presence or to meet with the like blessing in one place as in another And therefore saith that holy and ancient Synod at Gangra in Paphlagonia under Constantine the Emperour Omnem locum aedificatum in nomine Dei honor amus Congregationem in Ecclesia factam ob utilitatem communem recipimus We do honour every place built in the Name of God and do reverence and receive the Congregation met in the Church for the Common advantage Churches then are holy and to be respected and frequented rather than other places because of their holy Use and for the holy Assemblies there made And therefore that same Council decreed Si quis docet domum Dei contemptibilem esse Conventus qui in ea celebantur anathema sit Cursed be he that shall teach that the House of God may be slighted or the Congregations that assemble therein And in the next Canon they think fit to ordain Si quis extra Ecclesiam seorsum Conventus celebrrat c. Cursed be he that shall keep any Convention out of the Church And the same Synod as History tells us condemned and deposed Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia for perswading such as refrained the Church and publick Assemblies to raise Conventicles and Brotherhood in their private Houses And in the Civil Law it is decreed That the sacred Mystery or Mysteries be not done in private Houses but be celebrated in publick places lest thereby things be done contrary to the Catholick and Apostolick Faith unless they call to the celebrating of the same such Clerks of whose Faith and Conformity there is no doubt made or else that are deputed thereunto by the good will of the Bishop If any thing be done to the contrary the House wherein these things are done shall be confiscated and themselves shall be punished at the discretion of the Prince 'T is true St. Paul commands us Every where to lift up holy hands without wrath But those hands cannot be pure that are profane and they cannot have other than such who contemn the Church As therefore we exhort all men every where to worship God even so for the performance of this service by the People of God assembled we think not any place so good as the Church nor any Exhortation so fit as that of David O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness But now alas we live to see those prophetique words uttered by a Learned and judicious Gentleman above 60 years agoe to be verified and fulfilled to the utmost He discerning then the great increase and growth of Sectaries in this Realm said That time would soon bring it to pass if it were not resisted that God would be turned out of Churches into Barns and from thence again into Fields and Mountains and under Hedges and the Office of the Ministry robbed of all dignity and respect be as contemptible as those places all Order Discipline and Church-government left to the newness of Opinion and Mens fancies yea and soon after as many kinds of Religions spring up as there are Parish Churches within England every contentious and ignorant Person cloathing his Fancy with the Spirit of God and his Imagination with the Gift of Revelation By all which hath been said wherein I hope the candid Reader will pardon my Prolixity in this plain Vindication of the languâ—shing Reputation of Church-assemblies it appears that the speciality of Divine promises are made to the publick Dispensation of God's ordinances and that we may expect a greater Blessing upon them in our Church-assemblies than elsewhere But I know no promise of God at all made to such Preaching and Meetings as are in question God hath not engaged himself for a Blessing to any People waiting on him as they count it in a way out of his appointment yea contrary to it But as he hath forbidden to hear Intruders Ier. 27. 14 15. So he hath expresly said there shall no Blessing at all accompany such a Ministry and such attendance on it Let that place in Ieremiah be noted I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the Lord. Sive vera praedicent sive falsa Saith a Presbyterian Divine Whether they preach that which is true or that which is false The question is not de facto but de jure not what they teach but by what warrant Thence it was as Tarnovius thinks that our Saviour Christ rebuked the Devil and commanded him silence not suffering him to speak when he confessed and declared the most necessary and Soul-saving
no other than miraculous and extraordinary Ordinary calling or sending to any place to preach the Gospel and to execute the Office of a Minister there in a setled and constituted Church is when a Person in holy Orders hath the cure and care of a Flock or Congregation of God's People committed to him to preach the Gospel to them and to perform all other ministerial Acts amongst them by the Ministry of those Men who under God have Authority so to doe according to good and wholsome Ecclesiastical Laws and Constitutions in that behalf made and established God calleth ordinarily by his Church her voice is his Therefore whensoever the Church of God that is the learned wise godly and such as the Church hath publickly appointed for that purpose saith to any thou shalt he sent to such a place thou shalt goe for us then doth God call Saith Mr. Perkins Sending implies the Act of another that hath Power and Authority to send He cannot be said to be sent that comes to a place and there takes upon him to preach and doe all ministerial Acts of his own accord He comes not in Christ's Name but his own And a Christian can in nothing shew himself more impudent than in embracing such as Teachers sent from God that come in their own Names If one come in his own Name him ye will receive saith Christ to the Jews blaming them much for it And because there are so many that are apt to run before they are sent it is necessary that wheresoever any Person undertakes to preach the word his calling to that work be clear and manifest both in respect of his own Comfort and the Peoples profit Though St. Paul was immediately called of God yet he was sent to Ananias for imposition of his hands that it might be clear to the Church that he was called And when he was to be sent to the Gentiles he was again by imposition of hands ordained or appointed to be their Doctour that so his Calling might be publickly declared to be lawfull and that none else might intrude into it And if this were necessary in him who was immediately called of God how much more necessary is it in all those who have not now that extraordinary Calling but onely are mediately ordained and appointed to that work by those men who under God have power to send and appoint Pastours over the several Flocks of his People in the Church Now if such a person as is in the question cannot make out his calling or sending by one of these two ways to such a Town or Parish where he takes upon him thus to execute the Office or any part of it of a Minister certainly then he hath no Calling or sending at all But is like one that shall enter into another man's house at the window or some other way than by the door and that we know is no fair possession of an house he that enters in at the windows ought to be thrown out of doors Of such our Saviour saith Verily verily I say unto you he that entreth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a Thief and a Robber And if such as they can be no other who baulking the lawfull and ordinary way of entrance by the Authority of those who derive their power on earth from Christ and break in without yea against the Laws and Leave of their Governours that act in Christ's Name and Stead then are not they sent of God and consequently have none of God's promises of blessing annexed to their Ministry This is that which renders the best actions that can be performed by the Sons of Men to be sinfull when they are done unlawfully and by such as have no particular Calling or Command for the doing of them This doth quite alter and diversifie the nature of actions so as that they are varied from what otherwise they would be to some other things It is a rule as true as old Bonum extra proprium subjectum in malum mutatur Every good thing out of its proper place and subject is turned into evil V. g. In the natural body of man the hand is a very good and usefull member for the offices of Common life yet if the hand be out of its proper place and grow either out of the Head or Leg or elsewhere where it ought not it is no longer a good or usefull member but a deformed and monstrous excrescence of Nature In the body politick or state the execution of wrath upon him that doeth evil is a very just and good work yet if it be done by one that hath no Authority or Commission at least in such a place or circuit it is not justice but murther Ammon abusing his Sister Tamar by filthy incest ought by the Law of God to dye Absolom killed him with the Sword and in so doing he did the very thing that God commanded Yet Absolom sinned greatly in doing it because he was not the man that ought to have done it but David the King In the Ecclesiastick body the Church the preaching the word is an excellent ordinance of God for the saving of them that believe as foolish as the world do account it But if it be performed by one that hath no Authority or Commission for so doing nay that is under a just and legal prohibition and restraint from the doing it at all it is not preaching but quite another thing even what the Apostle calls it beating the air Whensoever a Commandment is limited to persons and places that Command makes it a sin to them if they leave the thing required undone and the not commanding yea forbidding makes it a sin to others that shall doe it because 't is the Precept that makes the thing to such persons in such places to be lawfull or sinfull Wrath hath been revealed from Heaven on such as have rashly adventured on a thing that in it self hath been very good yet had no particular Command for it This appears plainly in the case of Vzzah Though his intention was good yet it belonged not to him to touch the Ark for the charge and care thereof was committed to others It is the Policy of Satan if he cannot prevail with men to abide and abound in those things which are materially evil but they will needs be doing good then he will draw them on to doe that good unlawfully without a calling to it or warrant for it And it were well that People who are so easily misled by the specious pretext of good were not ignorant of this Wile of the Devil whereby he deceives simple souls not a few When we set upon the performance of any thing it should not be enough to weigh with our selves how good it is but to look what warrant we have to doe it The manner of performances is to be regarded as well as the matter For
Clouds may be discerned Cum tota dicat Ecclesia quam diu hic est dimitte nobis deâ—ita nostra non utique hic est sine macula ruga So long as the whole Church is commanded to say whilst she is in this World forgive us our trespasses she cannot be imagined to be altogether without spot or wrinkle Rather they discover themselves to be most stained to whom every small spot in the Church seems to be altogether intolerable Cum sub specie studii perfectionis imperfectioneâ— nullam tolerare possumus aut in corpore aut in membi is Ecclesiae tum diabolum nos tumefacere superbia hypocrisi seducere moneamur When under colour of perfection ye can endure no imperfection either in the body or members of the Church you must be admonished that this your separation is caused by the Devil who puffs you up with pride and seduceth you by Hypocrisie Secondly We may not upon every slight ground to please a fond humour leave the Society of God's People in the Church for sake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is or goe off from Communion with that Church whereof we are or ought to be Members When an Ulcer breaks out in any part of the body suppose the hand or the foot must that member presently be cut off or not rather be cured and healed by the use of plasters and other wholsome medicines or the pain and evil be endured with patience â—ntill nature hath tryed her skill and as it will in short time conquered the malignity of the Distemper And shall we then presently make use of the knife as soon as ever there ariseth some diversity of opinions in the Church especially in matters that are circumstantial in Religion This were not Chirurgery but Butchery Nay suppose the very substance and body of Religion were corrupted and not onely some light errours in circumstances were maintained but there were Heresie in Doctrine also in this case we ought to be very tender of making a Schism and look well to our selves with what mind and affection we doe it Suppose a Malefactor be really guilty and hath deserved to dye yet if the Judge condemn him out of cruelty of mind envy or spleen and not out of true love to justice and hatred of his sin though the Sentence were for the matter of it never so just yet he were most unjust in pronouncing of it so a separation from a Church though for just causes yet would be most unjust and sinfull if it be done out of malice or any evil respect or affection whatsoever In such a case that is required of a Christian which is required of a Chirurgeon who when necessity forceth him to cut off a member yet he doeth it unwillingly with grief and after trial of all lawfull ways and â—â—eans to stop the evil and to prevent the mutilation of the Patient The property of true Christian Charity is it rejoyceth not in iniquity but in the truth That is iniquity which is so diametrically opposite to Charity which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a vice that makes men not onely to rejoyce in the Calamity of others but greedily to such in all evil reports of them and rejoyce if they are true Christian Charity where it is works the same mind and affection in us towards our neighbours as is in Parents towards their Children who with joy admit of their commendation but will not so easily believe any thing that tends to their disparagement unless they either soe it with their eyes or have good proof made for it and then not without grief of heart Faults in a Church call for our lamentation not separation should God separate from a Christian Soul because there is still some corruption of sinfull nature remaining in it the condition of us all would be most miserable to Eternity Did Christ separate from the Church of the Iews and not hold Communioâ— with her because she was not what she had or ought to have been What the state of the Jewish Church in our Saviour Christ's time was the Scriptures do abundantly shew In it was a very corrupt Ministry blind leaders of the blind They preach'd well enough but did not live accordingly The High-Priests Office which by God's Ordinance was to last during Life was now become annual and basely bought and sold for money The People were wicked impenitent haters and â—â—â—secutors of the Son of God Their Doctrine was much corrupted and blended with false and Pharisaical glosses Many superstitious Ceremonies were used and urged more strictly than any of God's Commandments Church-discipline very much perverted The Jews had agreed that if any did profess Christ he should be excommunicated An horrible abuse was crept into the place of God's Service A Market and Money-changing set up in the Temple of God And yet for all this our Saviour made no separation from this corrupt Church but communicated with them 〈◊〉 all parts of Divine Worship In his Infancy he was admitted a Member of that Church by Circumcision At the Purification he was presented before the Lord in that Church and a Sacrifice offered for him according to the Law of Moses When he came to riper years he constantly kept the Church came to the Congregation to Divine Service publick Prayers and reading the Scriptures He received the Sacraments in their Church Baptism and the Passover Yea his conformity to the Iewish Church was not onely in Divinâ—â— Institutions but in Humane also as in his observation of the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple mentioned Ioh. 10 doth appear He was so far from breaking the order or custome of that Church as that he conformed to it in those things that were contrary to Divine Institutions It was the ordinance of God that the Passover should be eaten by the Iews with their loyns girded their shooes on their feet and their staves in their hands because they were to eat it in haste Standing was a posture of readiness for travell and they used long Garments in those Countries which would have been an hindrance to them if they had not been trussed up The Apostle seems to allude to this custome when he saith stand therefore having your loyns girded about But because the Church of the Iews being now safely escaped out of Egypt had by long custome omitted and altered these Ceremonies therefore our Saviour Christ would not break or alter the custome of that Church but did as they did He did not stand 〈◊〉 the Passover but sate or used a leaning posture for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by St. Matthew doth signifie as appears by the Evangelist When the even was come he sate down with the twelve And all this to teach us that we ought to be tender of violating the customes of the Church not to grow into
preaching abroad out of his own precincts whether upon intreaty or otherwise we need not inquire seeing he had an Apostolical power which was of universal extent in it self and such as no Minister now can lay claim to His Commission was as the rest of the Apostles were general and originally not confined to any one place as other Ministers are but they were to teach all Nations Yet because every one of them could not travel and preach in every Countrey therefore it pleased the Lord afterwards in Wisedom for good Causes to order it as it were by a second Decree that Paul should specially have a care of and preach to the Gentiles Yet this did no way diminish his Apostolical Authority nor forbid him from preaching at all to the Iews or Peter to the Gentiles if occasion did serve for of Paul it is expresly said that he was to carry Christ's Name both to the Gentiles and to the Children of Israel And it is generally believed that he was the Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews And of St. Peter it is not doubted that he both at Antioch and elsewhere preached the Gospel both to Iews and Gentiles The Apostolical power did extend to all Nations but the Conveniency of the Church did require that some of them should be fixed to one sort of People in one place and some to another 'T is true St. Paul saith he was troubled with the care of all the Churches i. e. as he was an Apostle so the care of all the Churches lay upon him quod ad jus attinet potestatem saith Camero he had right and power to take care of all the Churches as an Apostle and so differing from all Bishops and Presbyters now And doubtless as all good Ministers of Christ do he did take all the care that lawfully he might or could of the whole Church of Christ especially of all those within his own precincts and of his own planting which by an usual Synecdoche in Scripture are termed all Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for order and peace sake it pleased God that their persons and labours should be appointed for several distinct parts of the World as in his infinite Wisedom he saw was most convenient for the better propagation of the Gospel of Christ in all the World And it is the observation of the Excellent Divine Martin Chemnitius in his Commentary on that temporary precept of our Saviour Christ to his Disciples Goe not into the way of the Gentiles c. Hoc temporarium praeceptum fideles verbi Dei ministros admonet ut singuli se intra metas legitimae suae vocationis ad pascendum illum Dei gregem qui ipsis commissus est 1 Pet. 5. 2. contineant nec latiùs evagentur aut falcem suam in alterius pastoris messem nisi speciali concessione vel vocatione mittant This temporary percept doth warn all the faithful Ministers of God's word that all of them should contain themselves within the bounds of their lawfull Calling to feed that flock of God that is committed unto them and not to wander abroad or thrust their hook into the harvest of another Pastour without his special leave or calling By all which it appears that a forcible or surreptitious entry of one Minister into another's charge is destitute of all Scripture president or allowance and therefore cannot be the Ordinance of God The Example of the Apostles meeting and preaching sometimes in private Houses I conceive cannot but most impertinently be urged to defend the practice I here dispute against For 1. 'T is not to the question which is of a setled constituted Church where a preaching Ministry is established by Law The Christian Church in the Apostles days was not â—etled and established as is ours but in a way to be so 2. The Magistrate was then heathen all the World over ours now Christian Publick preaching and Christian meetings were not then suffered our Church-Assemblies are not onely allowed and protected but commanded by Sovereign Authority 3. They had then either none at all or very few Christian-Churches erected and so were forced to meet where they could we want not Churches but hearts to resort to them 4. The Apostles had a general and extraordinary call to preach any where through all Coasts and Parts of the World where they were appointed to plant Churches so have not the Persons in question The office of an Apostle or Evangelist is now ceased 5. It can never be proved that the Apostles did or would have made use of their private meetings either in competition with or opposition to the publick Ordinances of God as our modern Conventicles are but in subserviency according as the necessity of those times did require to what publick and solemn Assemblies they could then or might in after-times enjoy For as our Saviour made use of all private Conferences and Meetings not in separation from competition with or opposition against but in professed subserviency to the Synagogue-service and Temple-worship of the Jewish Church so I am perswaded that the Apostles of Christ together with the primitive Christians would have done the like had the case in their time with respect to the publick exercise of Christian Religion been the same or the like to what it was in our Saviour Christ's time with respect to the publick exercise of the Religion of the Iews But forasmuch as there were no Conventions for publick exercise of Christian Religion permitted or commanded in those times untill the Roman Empire and other Kingdoms of the World became Christian it was therefore a thing impossible that the private Meetings of the Apostles and those primitive Christians should be so made use of in subordination to the publick Assemblies as were the private Meetings of our Saviour and his Disciples in the Jewish Church So that the case and condition of Christianity in the primitive times is so different from and contrary to what it is in the Church of England where the publick worship is protected and commanded by Authority that their private Meetings cannot possibly hold any proportion or similitude with ours So that to argue from private Meetings in those times of persecution of Christianity to private Meetings in England in these days is to take away the subject of the question and then to argue the case 6. Neither did one Apostle then thrust himself into the place where another was to labour but contained himself within the compass of his Line and portion of God's People that he was appointed to preach to But the matter in question is of a quite contrary nature viz. of a silenced Minister's intruding himself in amongst a People over whom there is a preaching Ministry established and there taking upon him to gather Conventions teach that People and perform ministerial Acts amongst them contrary to good Laws without the consent yea against the allowance of the Pastour of the place So that neither the
whilst he would strike his foe They cannot confute it without condemning themselves This unguided zeal will be sure to run far enough from Popery and so runs into it as he that sails round the Globe the farther he goes after he is half way the nearer he approacheth to the place whence he set out The Quakers a considerable part of the Nonconformists railed at Popery till they began to be taken for Jesuits or their Disciples The like Stygma the Apostle St. Iude casts upon such Persons There are certain men crept in unawares c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How disgracefully and disdainfully the Scripture seems to speak of them who irregularly and contrary to good order and lawfull appointment intrude themselves as Teachers into the Church under pretence of Religion They creep in amongst People they come in by stealth as if they came in at a Window or Back-door insinuating themselves into flocks and societies of God's People creeping to Conventicles professing themselves to be the onely Gospel-preachers and pure Worshippers of God as if all Religion were lost except what they bring and profess Whereas they are indeed unless we will mince the Appellation the Holy Scripture fastens on them but a new sort of Creepers gotten into the body of the Church From such saith the Holy Ghost turn away Again St. Paul Now we command you brethren in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not according to the Tradition he hath received from us With more Apostolical Gravity and Authority a Duty cannot be urged on Christians than this of withdrawing or separating from such as walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorderly The Metaphor say Expositours is borrowed from the custome of War wherein every Souldier hath his proper station and employment appointed him from which when he swerves he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his rank Now in an Army every Officer hath his place Company and Command assigned him by his General whereunto he must keep and from which he must not stir And if he should leave his place and take upon him either to make an attempt on the Enemy of his own head without Commission and Orders from his General though with never so good success or Command in another Company than that which is assigned and allotted to him by Authority he is guilty of a breach of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good order and discipline that ought to be in an Army and brings in a most odious and destructive disorder and confusion and so deserves to be either quite cashiered or otherwise by Martial Law severely to be punished Yea so absolutely necessary hath it been thought in the opinion of experienced Souldiers that the Laws and Orders of Martial-discipline in an Army should be strictly observed that whosoever have erred from it though in the least Punctilio have been adjudged worthy of death without mercy Famous to this purpose is that story we reade in Valerius Maximus of Manlius Torquatus Consul of the Romans in the Latin War who commanded his own Son to be beheaded for fighting the Enemy without his Father's Privity and Command though he was provoked thereunto by Geminius Metius General of the Tusculans and although he had obtained a signal Victory and very much and rich spoil Satiâ—s esse judicans patrem forti silio quam patriam militari disciplina carere Judging it better that a Father should be deprived of a valiant Son than that his Country should want Military discipline The Church is by Christ twice together in one place said to be an Army with banners he that is the Commander in chief is God himself holy just and wise not the Authour of Confusion but the institutour and lover of order and the hater and punisher of such as wilfully transgress such good rules of wholsome discipline as he either immediately by himself or mediately by his Deputies on earth shall establish amongst his People And is Discipline so needfull in an Army and can it be thought needless in the Church Is our spiritual warfare of less danger of concernment than our bodily Shall it be thought to be a venial offence to be committed without danger when a person shall undertake to intrude himself into the place and company of another and lead on and engage a Party in the Church militant into ways of schism and profaneness in opposition to the way of true Religion and Worship of God established not onely without any lawfull allowance but contrary to all Law and Discipline both Civil and Ecclesiastical The baseness and wickedness of such doings is excellently displayed by Learned Doctor Henry More in his Apology annexed to the second part of his enquiry into the Mystery of iniquity Because some men saith he think themselves of more popular gifts for Prayer and Exhortation for these to spur out and run on in a Career without attending the direction of their Superiours were as if the Toy should take those Troopers that are best horsed to set madly a gallopping because they find their horses will goe so freely and so turn the orderly March of the Army into a confused Horse-race and put themselves into a rout even without the assault or pursuit of any Enemy Can it be pleasing to Christ that any should follow such men in their irregular and hare-brain'd ways when his Apostle bids all men from such to withdraw To what end should there be such flocking after them unless their followers could be partakers of some spiritual benefit from them But this cannot be For their disorderly walking and busie medling where they have not to doe renders all they doe unprofitable and is in effect a spending of a great deal of pains to no purpose wearying themselves out to weave the Spiders Webb and to sow to the wind The Apostle doth most excellently express it in a most elegant allusion of words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 working not at all but are busie-bodies Their work is neither lawfull nor profitable For seeing that the Ministers of Christ are disposed of in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the dispensation of God it doth follow that those things which they teach or doe receive their force and effect not from their own wills and authority but from the Authority Approbation and Concurrence of him that sends them And therefore what a Minister doeth contrary to the will of God cannot be of any force or effect at all as to the accomplishment of the end on mens souls for which God ordained the Ministry for he is bound to preach not onely those things but in that manner as God hath appointed God's Command for a separation and withdrawing from such dividing house-creeping and disorderly Persons must needs argue their Ministry not to be his ordinance since he so brands it and gives such Cautions against it ARGUMENT VII THAT
it ought to be nothing else as if the whole day were to be spent at Church and in keeping publick Assemblies so far as conveniency and edification of the people will permit Why else did Holy David desire to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Why prayed he that he might be so happy One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life Therefore if Conscience to obey God or desire to doe him service did draw them to his house at any time or to any part of his Worship the same would induce them at all times and to all parts of it The liberty then that such persons take in God's service as if all were Arbitrary argues much of hypocritical wantonness nothing of sound or sincere godliness They who are fed with Corn from Heaven meat to the full are thus faln to loath the Mannah that Rained down upon them twice every Sabbath-day Of a third sort I could inform the Reader who being weak yet I hope well-meaning Christians not knowing the depths of Satan under a specious pretence of Piety are not content with what they hear at Church but must afterwards fill their heads with notions which they hear at Conventicles wherewith they feast themselves without fear after they have been fed to the full in God's house with Angels food Without fear I say of offending God by breaking the order he hath set in his Church by countenancing abetting or joining themselves with such unlawfull and ungospel-like Assemblies without fear of offending or provoking the Rules of the Church which they are bound to obey by seeing their Laws despised and affronted without fear of exposing themselves to the temptation and hazard of falling so fearfully as they cannot but see that some of their Brethren and Neighbours have done And without fear of losing what they have heard in publick by departing immediately from the Church to a Conventicle as if all Religion did consist in nothing but hearing and all the Service of God were but according to the French scoff a mere Preach If this be the way of keeping the Sabbath where is room then for Meditation which the Scripture as much enjoins as hearing Thou shalt meditate on the Law that thou mayst observe to doe according as is written Mary therefore kept Christ's sayings because she pondered them in her heart David therefore grew to be wiser than his teachers because God's Law was his meditation Conference with Neighbours and Family-instructions will by this means also be issued out Thus shall you say every one to his neighbour and every one to his brother what hath the Lord answered and what hath he spoken The best of Hearers even Christ's own Disciples took another course than these now doe When they had heard their Master Preach they spent their time after Sermon in conferring among themselves about what they had heard and went to their Teacher to be better informed and to have all doubts resolved For want of so doing it comes to pass with too many as sometimes it did with some of them that though they had seen their Lord's mighty power in feeding five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes yet their Faith was never the stronger And this was the reason They considered not the miracle of the Loaves for their heart was hardned They had seen the miracle but they had not considered it nor meditated on it and therefore it did them no good at all In the judgment of the Presbyterian Divines themselves the way these people take is not the right For the Assembly of Divines in their Directory for Worship give this rule for the Sanctification of the Lord's day that what time is vacant between or after the Solemn meetings of the Congregation in publick be spent in Reading Meditation Repetition of Sermons especially by calling their Families to an account of what they have heard and Catechising of them holy conferences prayer for a blessing upon the publick Ordinances singing of Psalms visiting the Sick relieving the Poor and such like duties of piety charity and mercy accounting the Sabbath a delight In a word I could inform the Reader what impious devices have been used not onely to make a rent in the Church but also to keep it open that it should never close again by endeavouring that an irreconcileable prejudice might be perpetuated in the minds of people against the publick Ministry and Ministers of the Church And to the end that those poor deluded Souls which have been drawn off from their due attendance to God's publick Ordinances to wait on these men in their clanculary and irregular conventions might never return to the Church any more I have observed that the absence of one of these Masters of Conventicles in the places where they are held have ever been carefully supplied by the presence of some other Domestick Chaplain to keep up their House-meetings As if Ieroboam's impious policy should never be forgotten who not daring to trust his new divided Tribes in a joint resort to the Temple at Ierusalem set up his Calves to be Worshipped by them nearer home But I will not rake any longer in this puddle lest it stink in the nostrils of pious and sober Christians as it cannot but doe in God's already Now I appeal to all my judicious and learned Brethren of the Clergy and to all persons else of stayed principles and piety whether for a stranger thus to pluck the work of a Pastour of a Congregation out of his hands be tollerable in the Church of Christ or no Whether this practice that tends thus to divide betwixt Minister and People breaking the near bond of relation that is and ought to continue between them robbing him of his flock and taking them off from dependance on him for the enjoyment of the work of his ministry be of God or no And whether he hath ordained any such course as the means of Grace in his Church or whether this be not rather a strategem of Satan to introduce all manner of impiety and ungodliness The Presbyterian Divines themselves have given their judgment on my side already in this case In these words To make a Rupture in the body of Christ and to divide Church from Church and to set up Church against Church and to gather Churches out of true Churches And because we differ in something therefore to hold Communion in nothing this we think hath no warrant out of the word of God and will introduce all manner of confusion in Churches and Families and not onely disturb but in a little time destroy the power of Godliness purity of Religion peace of Christians and set open a wide gap to bring in Atheism Popery Heresie and all manner of wickedness So also in their Preface to the Ius divinum of Church-government