supernatural help in remembring and attesting it The first Churches received the Testimony from the first witnesses upon naturally certain and infallible evidence it being impossible that those witnesses could by combination deceive the world in such matters of fact in the very age and place when and where the things are pretended to be done and said And these Churches had the concomitance of supernatural attestation in themselves by the supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost and by miracles wrought by them The Christians or Churches of the next age received the testimony from those of the first with a greater evidence of natural infallible Certainty for that the Doctrine was delivered to them in the records of sacred Scripture and both the miracles and reporters were more numerous and they were dispersed over much of the world and with these also was the supernatural evidence of miracles We of the present age receive it insallibly from the Churches of all precedent ages successively to this day by the same way with greater advantages in some respects and with lesser in others not upon the Churches bare authority but the natural Cerainty of the infallible tradition of the Holy Scriptures or records of this religion and of the perpetual exercise thereof according to those records in all essential points wherein it was naturally impossible for the precedent ages to impose falshoods upon the subsequent And this rational evidence of the Churches tradition was in conjunction with the histories of heathens and the concessions of the Churches enemies infidels and hereticks all which did acknowledg the verity of the matters of fact There is natural evidence of the impossibility that all the witnesses and reporters being so many of such condition and in such circumstances should agree to deceive and never be detected for there is no possible sufficient cause that so many thousand believers and reporters in so many several countries throughout the world should be deceived or be herein mad or sensless and that those many thousands should be able in these matters unanimously to agree to deceive more than themselves into a belief of the same untruth in the very time and place where the things were said to be done And no sufficient cause can be given but that some among so many malicious enemies should have detected the deceit especially considering the numbers of Apostates and the contentions of Heriticks Besides all this there is a succession of the same spirit of Wisdom and Goodness which was in the Apostles and their hearers continued to this day and is wrought by their Doctrine § 20. Of the infallible Knowledg of the Sense of Scripture AS we may be infallibly certain of the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture so likewise of the sence of the Scripture at least in points fundamental or essential to the Christian Religion and that without an infallible Teacher We may certainly know that an interpretation of Scripture repugnant to the common reason of mankind and to sense rightly circumstantiated is impossible to be true if we can certainly know any thing is impossible to be true and consequently we may infallibly know it The sence of Scripture in many things and those most material to Christian faith and life is so evident from the plain open and ample expression thereof that he that runs may read it if his understanding be notoriously prejudiced And if we cannot know the said sense to be necessarily true we can know nothing to be so and so we are at uncertainty for every thing It will surely be granted by all that we may as certainly know the sense of Scripture in things plainy and amply expressed as the sense of any other writings as for instance of the Writings of Euclide in the definitions and axioms in which men are universally agreed If any say the words in which the said definitions and axiomes are expressed may possibly bear another sense it is answered That they may absolutely considered because words which have their sense ad placitum and from common use being absolutely considered may have a divers sense from what they have by common use but those words being respectively considered as setled by use cannot possibly bear another sense unless we imagine the greatest absurdity imaginable in the Writer Besides they that pretend the possibility of another sense I suppose do mean sense and not nonsense And how a divers sense of all those words in Euclide that is not pure nonsense should arise out of the same words and so conjoined is by me incomprehensible But if the possibility of the thing be comprehensible or so great an absurdity be imaginable in a Writer led only by a humane spirit it is not imaginable in Writers divinely inspired That the Holy Ghost should write unintelligibly and wholly diversly from the common use of words in things absolutely necessary to salvation is impossible If an infallible Teacher be necessary to give the sense of Scripture in all things and no other sense than what is so given can be safely rested in then either the right sense of that infallible Teachers words if he be at a distance cannot be known but by some other present infallible Teacher or else that pretended infallible Teacher is more able or more willing to ascertain us of his meaning than the Holy Spirit of God in Scripture To speak of seeking the meaning of Scripture from the sense that the Catholick Church hath thereof is but vain talk For first the Catholick church never yet hath and never is like to come together till the day of judgment to declare their sense of the things in question nor have they written it in any book or number of books 2. Never did any true Representative of the Catholick Church or any thing like it as yet come together or any way declare what is their sense of the Scripture and the things in question nor is ever like to do 3. Tho it be granted that the Catholick Church cannot err in the essentials of Christian Religion as indeed no true member thereof can for it would involve a contradiction yet there is no assurance from Scripture or Reason but that a great if not the greater part of the Catholick Church may err in the integrals much more in the accidentals of Religion yea there is no assurance from Scripture or Reason but that the whole Catholick Church may err at least per vices in the several parts thereof some in one thing some in another And all this is testified by experience in the great diversities of opinions about these things in the several parts of the Catholick Church yea and by the difference of judgment and practise of the larger parts thereof even from those among us who hold this principle of the necessity of standing to their judgment Wherefore shall we think that God puts men upon such dissiculties yea impossibilities of finding out the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures at least in the main points of
than of those that are of authoritative institution also of those that are used occasionally and pro hic nunc than of those that are used statedly Furthermore I apprehend that significant Ceremonies of Divine Worship are more apt to degenerate into Superstition and if they be multiplied that Religion is therewith loaded as with unprofitable luggage and that it is a form of Religion rather Mosaical than Evangelical wherein spiritual worship is most regarded I think also that significant Ceremonies are not necessary in genere as those things are which are left to the determination of humane authority and so not to be instituted and imposed in the ordinary Divine Service I apprehend that our Lord Christ hath instituted all those stated Ordinances of positive Worship that are necessary to the Church Universal and therefore that more of the same nature are not to be devised by men If any significant Ceremonies be indeed necessary for some parts of the Catholick Church in respect of time and place there seems to me a fairer plea for their institution in those times and places but the controverted Ceremonies among us seem to be necessary for the whole Church in every age if at all necessary Significant Ceremonies of the same nature and reason with those perpetual Ordinances that Christ hath instituted for the Universal Church may not be instituted by man and particularly such as are made Symbols of the Covenant of Grace and Christianity In matters doubted among sober Christians Superiors should take heed of strict imposing and thereby wresting the Consciences of their subjects and overstraining them to a compliance with them in derogation to Gods authority in their consciences If Superiors command that which is above their sphere to command namely things not necessary in genere yet if they be not simply evil subjects may do those things unless they be evil in their consequence to a higher degree than the not doing of them would be In this case it is not formal obedience but they are done for the ends sake and to avoid evil §. 7. Of bowing at the Name of JESVS IT is rationally supposed that in this act not the Name but the Person so named is made the object of adoration the Name pronounced is only the occasion of the present adoration of the Person Nothing in Reason or Scripture doth evince that it is simply evil to adore Christ by incurvation of the body or other reverent gesture upon occasion of the pronouncing of the Name JESUS Howbeit to make such incurvation a stated Ordinance of worship may be an excess in Religion that is Superstition tho not intolerable partly because it too rigidly tyes up Christians to a bodily exercise of no necessity nor of great moment partly because it makes them attend to an overcurious gesticulation and verges to externalness and formality hindring the inward life and power of devotion partly because it makes a difference where God hath made none and puts greater honour upon one Name that of right hath not greater honour than the other viz. Christ God Lord or Jehovah For tho the Name be not the object worshipped yet it hath an honour and preheminence given it above the other names without sufficient ground But if the said incurvation be so severely commanded that great mischief would follow the non-observance I judg it may be done tho not formally in obedience yet for avoiding that mischief and peradventure it may be expedient in that case to bow at the name of Christ God Lord. The place Phil. 2.10 is only a phrase expressing Subjection to Christ and used also Rom. 14.11 from Isa 45.23 to express Subjection to God § 8. Of kneeling in the Sacrament AS for kneeling in the Sacrament the inquiry is not here of the expediency of it much less of the imposing of it but of the bare lawfulness of it against which I find no evidence The Act of kneeling among us is no adoration of the elements nor owning of Christs corporal presence but it is either a gesture of prayer then made or a sign of most submiss and reverential receiving those pledges of Divine Grace or both Yet for as much as it was a Table-gesture in which Christs Disciples received it from their Lords hand a Table-gesture cannot reasonably be thought less safe or less decent § 9. Of wearing the Surplice AS touching the Surplice the wearing of a Garment of this or that colour or of this or that form or shape in Divine Worship is neither commanded nor forbidden of God But tho as to its materiale it may be indifferent yet as to its formal state it may not be also so If the Scurplice be made a holy Garment as the Priestly Garments under the Law if it be used to make him that wears it more holy and the Service more acceptable for obtaining Divine Grace it is Superstitious If it be made a Symbol of sanctity it may raise a scruple But a distinctive habit of a Minister whether used as his ordinary garb or only in sacred Administrations I cannot see to be Superstitious or forbidden But a habit that is not Superstitious may be too gawdy or too theatrical What is the formal state or reason of the Surplice is to be judged by the authoritatively declared meaning of those that injoyn it touching its end and use But whatsoever the nature and reason of this Garment be I cannot approve the inforcing of it upon such Ministers and in such Congregations to whom by reason of invincible prejudice it is either odious or ridiculous yea tho their prejudice be supposed culpable Wise Rulers give way to the unmoveable aversness of Inferiors in things unnecessary and of no great moment tho of good intention And as I should be loth to wear a fools coat in Divine Service upon the command of a Superior so I should be loth to appear in a Congregation in a habit which I knew would be to them as ridiculous as a fools coat tho it were their great folly so to think § 10. Of the Ring in Matrimony FOr as much as the Matrimonical contract and conjunction tho it be a Divine Ordinance yet is no part of Divine Worship I no more doubt of the lawfulness of the Ring as a sign of that contract than of any other sign used for ratification of humane Contracts § 11. Of the Cross in Baptism SOme Nonconformists say that they deny not the Civil use of the Cross in Coins and Banners Others of them say they dare not reprove the Ancient Christians that used the sign of the Cross meerly as a professing signal action to shew to the Heathen that they did believe in Christ crucified Indeed that usage thereof was not an Act of Worship but an informing of men touching their faith It seems lawful to signifie as by words so by other signs that we are Christ's and his devoted Servants For Words are but a kind of signs The grounds of scrupling the sign
is undeniable and witnessed by the common sense of human nature that since the Fall a shameful turpitude doth inseperably adhere to this act And this is a natural intimation to mankind of their vicious propagation in their fallen state I mean in respect of original sin and a manifest sign of the common viciousness and brutishness in this case as also of the impotence of passion or sensual commotion to which all are obnoxious herein and ordinarily more than in other sensualities if it be not carefully brought under the due governnance of reason Wherefore that Cynical impudence which some are reported to have acted herein is to be abhorred of all men And even Human much more Christian modesty requires the greatest reservedness herein Nevertheless this inseparably adhering turpitude is not always and directly or of it self a sinfulness That there is a natural where there is not a sinful turpitude many instances do shew That many things just and honest and necessary have a kind of shamefulness in them is acknowledged by men in general If in the present instance there be always some sinfulness it is no other than what is found in all the good acts of men in this their imperfect state And those acts are not counted nor called sins by reason of such adhering sinfulness for that they are prevalently tho not perfectly good and virtuous § 12. Continence in single life is not a common but a special giâ—t which all have not received Mat. 19 10 11. When the Disciples said If the case of a man be so with his Wife it is good not to marry Our Saviour answered All men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given And v. 12. He that is able to receive it let him receive it The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.7 I would that every man were even as my self but every man hath his proper gift of God one after this manner another after that And of the unmarried and Widows he speaks If they cannot contain let them marry This shews that all have not that singular gift from God to preserve themselves in pureness of body and spirit without the remedy of Marriage And nothing can be produced from Scripture or Reason to argue that the bare want of the said singular gift is a sinful incontinence The general impetus of nature to the conjunction of Male and Female is necessary to the perpetuating of mankind And if it were not so generally implanted in nature there is reason to think that considering the many great intanglements and molestations that accompany Marriage many would not encumber themselves therewith and so would refuse to serve the Providence of God in the successive Generations of men upon Earth in that regular way of Procreation which he hath appointed for mankind from the beginning And who knows but in the state of Innocence as there might be vehement Hunger and Thirst so there might be an impetus of Nature to this conjuction I suppose that in the state of innocence the motions of the sensitive appetite would not be raised and laid immediately at the call of the rational appetite but from the sensitive nature it self as the immediate source and spring from which they issue and to which they return Yet I firmly hold that in that state the said motions were so perfectly under the government of the rational appetite doing its Office as thereby to be always diverted from whatsoever would be dishonest But I think that that good government must have been maintained by prudence and diligence not indeed with trouble and difficulty as now it is but with a pleasant and facile industry In case of Hunger and Thirst Innocent nature might admit a simple motion of sense to Eat and Drink in a time unseasonable for such an act but Reason and the rational appetite would so bridle it that no irregular act of Mind or Body should follow § 13. In the want of the gift of continence legitimate Matrimony is the remedy appointed of God 1 Cor. 7.1 It is good for a man not to touch Woman Nevertheless to avoid Fornication let every Man have his own Wife and every Woman her own Husband The meaning whereof is Tho in divers respects it be more convenient to be unmarried yet there is one respect of greater moment which commands the use thereof viz. to avoid Fornication And vers 9. It is better to Marry than to burn God doth not give to all to overcome the inordinacy of carnal desire without Marriage where it may be duly had and such as cannot otherwise overcome the said inordinacy must Marry if they can to keep themselves pure in Body and Mind or as 't is expressed in the Liturgy undefiled Members of Christs Body § 14. They who are unavoidably kept from Marriage or being in Wedlock are dâ—pâ—ived of conjugal imbraces by their yoke-fellows infirmities or necessary absence must rely upon God for strength to repress inordinate motions and to keep themselves in that purity of heart and life which is acceptable to him For the necessary help of his Grace is never wanting to those that use his means and keep within the bounds which he hath set God will not have his order broken nor his universal perpetual law transgressed such as the Law of Marriage is to satisfie mens natural desires But when they are debarred of Gods appointed remedy or when they have used it but are by his providence frustrated of the benefit thereof they must not transgress the limits which he hath set them but they must have patience and strive against nature and expect such relief from Gods Grace as shall be sufficient for them § 15. To be regulated by those Laws which God hath set in Nature and Scripture is mans uprightness but to depart from them to self-devised ways is his sin and folly under a shew of Wisdom and by pleasing himself therein he deviates more and more from the right way The general admiring of Monkery and Vows of single Life hath as much contributed to the corruption of the Christian Religion and the advancing of the Antichristian Impurity and Superstition as any institution or custom that ever was taken up in the Christian Church Howbeit some may be called to single Life for Religions sake according to the Words of our Saviour Matt. 19.12 There he Eunuchs which have made themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of Heavens sake He that is able to receive it let him receive it Such as clearly know they have received the gift above mentioned may be called of God to single Life to imploy themselves more freely in serving God either in a publick or private calling All that are so gifted are not hereunto called because many of them may be required to glorifie God and do good in a Married state either in respect of their own Families or the Commonwealth But in regard there be few comparatively who have received this gift it is most rationally supposed that they
they but Christ makes the office and not they but Christ gives the power that belongs to the office from which they cannot detract The ordination of Timothy is said to be by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery 1 Tim. 4.14 If it be said that by the Presbytery is meant a company of Bishops it it granted that Presbyters and Bishops were all one If it be said they were a company of none but Diocesan Bishops that had subject-presbyters of an inferior order under them let it be proved from Scripture It is said by some That only the Diocesan Bishops ordain authoritatively and the Presbyters concomitantly founding the distinction on those two Texts 2 Tim. 1.6 and 1 Tim 4.14 it being said in the one That Timothy received the gift by the putting on of Paul's hands and in the other by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery To this it is answered 1. That the imposition of hands mentioned 2 Tim. 1.6 might be in confirmation for the first receiving of the Holy Ghost after Baptism and the following effects of the spirit of love power and of a sound mind argue so much 2. If any of a higher state than Presbyters laid hands on Timothy in his ordination yet the phrase of Presbytery argues that they did it as presbyters 3. If it was Paul that ordained Timothy authoritatively and the presbytery but concomitantly our bishops cannot thence claim the sole authoritative ordination for Paul was of an order above them and was no otherwise a bishop than as having Episcopal power eminently contained in his Apostolick office 4. If the presbytery there mentioned be a company of bishops of an order superior to presbyters it will follow by this distinction that such a bishop ordains not authoritatively but concomitantly 5. The said Texts afford no ground for the distinction of authoritative and concomitant ordination According to the hierarchical principle the bishop is enabled to give orders not by his power of jurisdiction but by his power of order Now a presbyter hath as much of the Character and Sacrament of order as a bishop and the consecration of a bishop is not held a distinct Sacrament of order from the ordination of a presbyter and the truth is the form of consecrating a bishop according to the English Ordinal is expressive of no more power of order than is given to the presbyter in the form of his ordination in the said Ordinal The conjunction of Presbyters with the Bishop in the present form of ordination shews that the order is conveyed by them as well as by the bishop Their imposition of hands is an authoritative benediction and dedication of the party ordained Let any instance be produced of the imposition of hands by any such as had no power of conveying that which was signified by that ceremony I mean of conveying it so far as mans act can reach unto To say it is only a sign of their giving consent is a poor evasion for the people give consent also If presbyters are at any time allowed to ordain by commission from a Bishop they cannot do it rightly if they have not an intrinsick power of doing it For the Bishops commission or license cannot give a new spiritual power to a Presbyter which was not in him before at least radically or habitually § 24. Of a valid Ministry AS Christ allows the Church to receive such to Baptism and the Lords Supper as he doth not receive so he allows the Church to call some to the Ministry whom he doth not call For it is his prerogative to be the Searcher of the Hearts and men can judg but by appearance Such as Christ doth not allow the Church to call to the Ministry may by his permission through the Churches mal-administration be called thereunto and being so called they abide therein by his permission till they be cast out by due reformation and so long their calling is valid as to external order And such are Ministers to others tho not to their own good and Chrsts ordinances by them administred are valid and effectual to those intents for which he appointed them The whole current of Scripture shews that Gods ordinances are not made void by the close hypocrisie or gross impiety of the dispensers thereof and the contrary opinion tends to unchurch Churches and to deny the Christendom of the Christian World for the most part As we must distinguish between miscarriages in admission and the nullity of the office so between defects or corruptions in the office it self and the nullity thereof The Priesthood and Worship in the Temple at Jerusalem was often much corrupted yet it was true for the substance thereof but the Priesthood appointed for the Calves at Dan and Bethel was false for the substance and a nullity Tho the sacrificing Priesthood at Dan and Bethel were a nullity yet the Ten Tribes had the substance of the true religion and some external acts of worship true and valid as circumcision and so retained something of a Church So now among the Papists there is the substance of the Christian Religion and some thing of a Church and Ministry and ordinances The Ministry of the Popish Priests with reference to the Sacrifice of the Mass is a nullity but as ordained to preach the Gospel and Baptize and to any other parts of the proper work of the Ministry it is not a nullity but their administration in those things is valid § 25. Of the Magistrates Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs MAgistratical and Ecclesiastical power are in their nature wholly divers and they are not subordinate but collateral powers yet Ministers are subject to Magistrates and Magistrates to Ministers in divers respects according to the nature of the power that is seated in either of them The Magistratical power is Imperial the Ecclesiastical is ministerial and so the pastor is under the magistrate as his Ruler by the sword not only in civil but in sacred things and the magistrate is under the pastor as his Ruler by the word or his authoritative teacher The pastors power over the magistrate is no dimunution to his right for it takes away none of his authoritty nor doth it hinder the exercise and efficacy of it but it is his benefit because it is an authoritative administring to him the mercies of the Gospel in Christs Name and if he be not under that authoritative administration he is not under the blessing of the Gospel Howbeit the pastoral discipline may not be so exercised towards the supream magistrate as by dishonouring him to make him less capable of improving his office to the common good which the excommunicating of him would do but if magistrates whether of higher or lower rank be excommunicated nevertheless they must be obeyed The magistrates power over the pastor is no diminution to his spiritual authority for it is not given to hinder but to further the efficacy and exercise thereof So that both powers are mutually
are not immediately inspired of God have sufficiently certain evidence in reason to the discerning and chusing of infallible guides that are immediately inspired § 15. Whether Infallibility admit of degrees and in what respect EVery truth is equally impossible to be false for all things that imply a contradiction are equally because utterly impossible All are alike infallible in that wherein they are infallible and therein they cannot be more infallible because therein it is utterly impossible that they should be deceived and so it cannot be more impossible than it is already Nevertheless there are different degrees of evidence for being infallible in such or such a matter Likewise there are different degrees of clear apprehension of being infallible and so the sure knowledg of being infallible admits of degrees That knowledg that is sufficiently certain may be advanced to be abundantly certain and that which is abundant may be advanced to yet more abundant Whereupon I conclude that though infallibility in its formal reason admits of no degrees yet there are different degrees of the evidence and the clear apprehension thereof Moreover infallibility is in a more noble and perfect state in one subject than in another And so the infallibility of a superior intellect as that of Angels is in a more perfect and excellent than the hypothetical and the unlimited than the limited In the same subject infallibility may be in a more perfect state at one time than another according to the rising or falling of the evidence thereof § 16. Of the Infallibility of Sense THAT which is agreeable to sense rightly circumstantiated is impossible to be false and that which is repugnant to sence rightly circumstantiated is impossible to be true For that the one should be false and that the other should be true implies a contradiction supposing the sensitive faculty to be true And if the sensitive faculties be not true it infers that impious and absurd opinion that God cannot or will not govern the material world but by falshood The Popish opinion of Transubstantiation is no deception of the sense but of the understanding for they that have persuaded themselves to believe it do not say they see or tast or feel Christs body and blood but acknowledg what they see feel and tast to be the accidents of the bread and wine which they say remains after Transubstantion Wherefore the imposing is not upon the senses but upon the understanding which ought to judg by sense of matters that are the proper objects of sense § 17. Of Infallibility of Reason IF Sense may be the subject of Infallibility why may not the Understanding be so which is a more excellent Faculty in the kind of perception or knowledg If the Understanding be the subject of Certainty why not also of infallibility in that limited sense as hath been before explained The proper object of Certainty is not that which may or may not be but that which must be or which is known to be such An indubitable Certainty is acknowledged and from an indubitable Certainty properly so called I think a good inference is made unto an infallible Certainty To be indubitable in a matter is to be sure that I am not therein deceived And I cannot rationally be sure that I am not deceived unless I am sure that it cannot be that the thing be otherwise than I apprehend And if I am sure that it cannot be otherwise than I apprehend I am as to that particular infallible Because men in their most confident persuasions are commonly deceived by prejudice from passion interest education and the like it follows not that none can be secure from deception that is to know that it cannot be that they should be deceived in such or such a matter Certainly an impartial and unbiassed judgment may be found § 18. Logical Physical Moral and Theological Conclusisions as well as Mathematical admit of demonstrative Evidence UPON the foregoing enquiries I judg it very disadvantageous to the cause of Religion to speak as some do of a lower evidence for it than demonstration and such as the matter is capable of whereas I suppose there is not surer and clearer Evidence for any thing than for true Religion Not only Mathematical but Logical Physical Moral and Theological Conclusions admit of demonstrative evidence Whereas some say the existence of God is not Mathematically demonstrable because only Mathematical matter admits such kind of evidence if it be meant of that special evidence that is in the Mathematicks it is nothing to the purpose but if it be meant of evidence in general as demonstrative as Mathematical evidence it is false for this Truth admits the clearest and strictest demonstration This Proposition That God is is demonstrative in the strictest sense by a demonstration a posteriori viz of the necessary cause from the effect it being evident that the existence of God is absolutely necessary to the existence of the World for that we cannot attribute the being of the Phanomena or visible things in the world to any other cause than such a Being as we conceive God to be but we must offer violence to our own faculties This Proposition That every word of God shall be fulfilled according to the true and full intent of it is demonstrative in the strictest sense a priori from the veracity of God it being as evident that God is true as that he is As the Existence so the Attributes of God have demonstrative Evidence unless you had rather call them indemonstrable principles as having the greatest self-evidence From the Essence and Attributes of God and mans dependance on him and relation to him Moral and Theological Truths of demonstrative evidence are inferred as touching Gods moral law the good of conformity and the evil of inconformity thereunto and a just retribution to men according to that difference § 19. Of the infallible knowledg of the truth of the Christian Religion and Divine Authority of the Scripture UPON the grounds here laid as the Existence and Attributes of God and mans dependance on him and relation to him and his obligations thence arising may be demonstrated so also that the Christian Religion and the Holy Scriptures are of God as the Author and that the contrary would involve a contradiction And I take this to have been demonstrated by learned men and need not here be largely insisted on Only I shall set down a little of that much that hath been written by Mr. Baxter We may infallibly know the Christian Doctrine to be of God by his unimitable image or impression which is upon it supposing the truth of the historical part Likewise the truth of the historical part namely that this doctrine was delivered by Christ and his Apostles and that those things were done by him and them which the Scriptures mention we may know infallibly The Apostles and other first witnesses knew it infallibly themselves by their present sense and reason with the concomitance of
Christianity Surely God requires of us no more than he hath given and that is to make use of the faculties wherewith he hath indued us How can we apprehend any doctrine or the sense of any written word but by our faculty of understanding And how can we make judgment thereof I mean a judgment of discretion but by making use of our own reason This is not to subject matters of Religion to a private Spirit but to refer them to the Divine Authority of Scripture to be apprehended in the right and due use of reason which is a publick and evident thing and lies open to the trial and judgment of all men § 21. What Certainty is necessary to the being of saving Faith THUS upon the grounds before laid we may have a natural infallible Certainty of the verity of the Christian Religion and the divine authority of the Scripture and of the sense of Scripture It remains to be considered Whether the having of this Certainty both of the Christian Religion and of the Scripture be necessary to the being of saving Faith Here let it be noted That a person may have some doubting of a matter whereof he sees no just cause of doubting And howsoever men may possibly argue against this assertion yet experience makes it good And there is sufficient reason for it in the infirmity of our minds contracted by the fall whereby oft-times we are confident of the things which we see we have just cause to doubt of or disbelieve and whereby we doubt of the things that we see we have just cause most firmly to believe I take this to be evident in that saying I believe Lord help my unbelief And against this it cannot be said here is an effect without a sufficient cause for tho there be no sufficient ground or reason of the doubt yet for it being a defect there is a sufficient cause namely the infirmity of the mind He that said to our Saviour I believe Lord help mine unbelief had saying faith And his faith that he professed and his unbelief that he complained of appears by the context not to relate to his interest in Christ but to Christ himself as able to help him And so from this instance it is evident that the not having of an infallible certainty of the object denies not the being of saving faith at least where a man is so far clear as to see no just cause of doubt tho he do somewhat doubt A man that sees not a sufficient evidence to be infallibly assured touching the firmness of the grounds for the receiving of the Christian Doctrine and yet sees no sufficient evidence for the rejecting of that doctrine may from the consideration of the importance of the things therein treated of and the probability of the truth of those things be induced intirely and heartily to imbrace that doctrine with purpose to live accordingly and to perform that purpose That this may be is evident for humane prudence doth strongly oblige a man in that case to make such a choice for himself and if he doth not make such choice he doth not act with the understanding of a man But if it be said that the corruption of humane nature would be too hard for humane prudence in the case I answer That God can give that assistance of his Grace whereby a mans will shall be inabled to make its choice according to prudence against its naturally corrupt inclination And God can give this assistance very congruously or agreeably to his holy Wisdom Whosoever in the case aforesaid doth make such a choice and live accordingly hath saving faith For his so doing doth imply an unfeigned love to and preferring of God and Christ and Holiness above all that is in the world and so must needs suppose faith unfeigned and God proceeding according to his Grace in Christ will not impute unto condemnation such a ones culpable defect of Certainty in the matters of Faith which doth not hinder his sincere trust in God through Christ and his intire and hearty love to him § 22. Of our Certainty of being in the State of Grace IT may lastly be inquired What Certainty one may have of his being in the state of grace As for the Certainty of Salvation that is a different inquiry and depends on another question touching the Certainty of perseverance in a justified state which is not here to be medled with and we inquire not whether one may be certain of his being in the state of Grace by special revelation but in an ordinary way That any one ordinarily should have certain knowledg of his being in the state of Grace supposeth his certain knowledg of these two things 1. That God hath declared in his word that they which have such and such qualifications are in the state of Grace 2. That he himself is so qualified For it is the conclusion of these two premises the one whereof is the object of divine faith and the other of a clear and right self-knowledg The Certainty of the former viz. That God hath declared persons so qualified to be in the state of Grace none deny that acknowledg the Certainty of Christs Gospel The Certainty of the latter is the matter of debate whether it be possible and whether it ought to be had It is not inquired Whether the Certainty of the latter viz. Whether the person himself be so qualified be a Certainty of divine faith For the object of such Certainty is only what God hath revealed that this or that man hath faith and repentance but this is only a point of self-knowledg Here interpose we something of the doctrine of Protestants and Papists about the Certainty of this matter The Protestants in asserting that the Certainty of being in the state of Grace is a Certainty of divine faith do mean no more but that one of the propositions viz. Whosoever unfeignedly believes is justified rests solely on the Word of God and the other viz. I unfeignedly believe is known by internal sence and experience But whether the conclusion Therefore I am justified or in the state of Grace be rightly called a conclusion of divine faith I leave to others to judg not caring to strive about words when the thing it self is agreed upon And doubtless no sober Protestant will assert that the Certainty which we have of this conclusion is a Certainty of the same reason with that which we have of an article of faith either so firmness or necessity The Papists in denying the Certainty of Justification to be a Certainty of Divine Faith do not deny all Certainty thereof but mean that it is not of the same reason with the Certainty which we have of an Article of Faith Because tho one of the premises on which it is founded be an Article of Faith yet the other is known but by internal sence and the testimony of conscience As to the later of the premises which is known but by internal sence and
of his name in our abject and forlorn state and posture And the Scripture expresly takes notice of a kind of Will-Worship in a certain voluntary abasement and neglect of the body Col. 2.23 § 14. The nature of Monastick Vows of Obedience Poverty and Chastity considered THat the formale of these Vows as of all others is Divine Worship is not doubted the inquiry therefore is of the subject matter thereof By the matter of these Vows the asserters thereof intend a special religious state over and above the general religious state which is Christianity it self which special state contains an obligation to certain offices and works to be done intended for the direct and immediate honouring and serving of God and that in a more sublime and perfect way than Christianity in general and so they are made direct matter of devotion or Worship But the matter of those Vows may be so intended and managed as to be religious only reductively as being for the advancement of Religion namely for vacancy to holy exercises for more Freedom in the Christian warfare upon which account Caelibate or single life was commended by St. Paul not that he commended the Vow thereof but a constant purpose thereof for those ends in case of the gift or power to continue therein Now whether they be fit matter of Vows in this later sense is afterwards to be considered The like may be said of abstinence as of Caelibate § 15. Of Decency and Order adjuncts of Divine Worship THE Apostles rule Let all things be done decently and in order is of the law of nature and would have obliged the Churches of Christ tho it had not been written in the Holy Scripture Decency as such is no part of Worship but an adjunct it is the convenient setting it off or a mode thereof agreeable to its dignity And it is not proper to it alone but common to all Civil matters and Humane actions of a grave nature viz. that it be performed in a meet habit and posture of Body and Furniture and other like significations of due respect to a holy action Order likewise is an adjunct of Worship and is not to be extended to the making of new Worship for that it is no other than the due disposing of what is already made and the convenient setting and ranking of the several parts thereof for Method Measure Time Place and other circumstances And it belongs to Divine Worship not on a peculiar but common reason as to all humane actions wherein order is both beautiful and advantageous and disorder is deformed and prejudicial The Apostles said Rule intends that necessary Decency and Order the want whereof is undecency and disorder but not Gaudy dresses Theatrical ornaments Pompous formalities Imagery and Various flourishes affected by the sensual fancy Such Decency is injoyned as is suitable to things of a holy and reverend Nature We may know what is injoyned in a Law by what is therein forbidden Now in this Law nothing is forbidden but undecency and disorder and therefore nothing is injoyned but the necessary Decency and Order opposite thereunto And in plain reason whatsoever is not undecent is decent and whatsoever is not disorderly is orderly I mean in a capable subject of these adjuncts Most Matters of Decency and Order are simply necessary only in genere but not in specie any further but that some species or other under the genus is to be made use of according to prudence Some particular species of Decency are in themselves necessary when they are possible and they are those whose opposites are undecent from the nature of the things Some are necessary from extrinsecal circumstances as from custome of the Time and Place the Quality and Condition of persons c. The former kind may be called Natural the later Civil or Customary And the later sort are necessary even by the Law of Nature yet not immediately but mediately such circumstances being supposed But this sort admits of much variety and alteration Less decent hath the nature of undecent when it it chosen in opposition to more decent as less good hath the nature of evil when it is chosen in opposition to greater good But here it is not fit nor safe to contend about magis and minus nor to strain to the uttermost pitch in things that are matter of Controrvesie or Scruple or Jealousie but it is best to take up with that which is most passable among all provided there be no simple undecency For then in that case no necessary Decency is neglected § 16. Of Time and Place considered as Adjuncts or as matter of Worship TIME and Place in general are necessary Adjuncts or Circumstances of Divine Worship For no action Natural or Moral can be performed without them And they are meer Adjuncts when they attend Divine Worship in a way and reason common to it with other humane Actions and are appointed and used about it according to convenience for the due performance of it And then they are only for the Worship performed therein but the Worship is not from them But Time and Place in Gods Worship sometimes have a higher state and become the matter thereof as the old Sabbath and the Lords day and the Tabernacle and Temple under the Mosaical dispensation For as God by his Institution did make those Times and Places not occasionally but statedly holy and a means of sanctifying his people so his people in their submission to his appointment and their very Dedication and Observation or Sanctifying of those Times and Places did perform special Acts of Worship being an Oblation to God and an immediate giving of honour to him And those Times and Places were not only sanctified by the duties therein performed but the duties were partly sanctified and made acceptable by those Times and Places Howbeit those sacred Times and Places that have been advanced to be matter of Worship are also in that state of advancement Adjuncts to that Worship to which they appertain and are appropriated For there is that inferiority and superiority in several parts of Worship that some may be rightly accounted adjuncts to others As God by his Institution can make Times and Places that of themselves are but meer Adjuncts to be matter of his Worship and hath done it in the forementioned instances so men also may by their Institutions make Times and Places statedly or permanently Holy and matter of Worship and an Oblation to God How lawfully they may do so is afterwards to be considered but however the dedicating and observing thereof hath the Nature of Worship in it For the efficient cause Whether it be God or Man is extrinsecal to the formal nature of Worship which lies in the formal Reason and direct and proper end and use of the action by whomsoever instituted Here it may be considered Whether every Adjucnt of Worship instituted of God doth by that Institution become a matter or part of Worship which otherwise it
devise and chuse that which is incongruous or less congruous much more in regard of mans propensity to Superstition and bold presumption about Religious Ordinances And de facto we find that God hath not so left the matter but taken care to appoint the Worship which he expects from men in all Ages as best knowing what is best pleasing to himself And in reason it must needs be that he hath sufficiently provided for his honour in the Worship that he hath Instituted as much as concerns or belongs to the reason and end of those kinds which he hath instituted And thereupon it is found in reason to be a presuming of our own against the Divine Wisdom either to change an Ordinance which God hath instituted for another ordinance of our own devising of the same reason and to the same intent or to add to the Divine Ordinances by way of supplement Humane Ordinances of the same reason and intent with the Divine and that either as necessary to Divine Service or only as profitable and de bene esse For so to do is plainly to derogate from the Divine Ordinances Therefore it must be concluded that there are certain Ordinances of Divine Worship which may not be left to mans discretion either to change them or to make additions to them of others of the same reason and intent either as necessary or profitable and in that regard supplemental and perfective The express Text of Scripture proves this that some additions are forbidden Deut. 4.2 Deut. 12.32 The prohibition is not meerly of adding to the Rule but of doing more than the Rule requires as the precept is not of preserving the Rule but observing what is commanded in it It is indeed against mingling the heathenish observations with Divine Institutions And it is not to be imagined that it is only a prohibition of the forgery of Divine Oracles § 4. What of divine worship may not be devised or instituted by man NOW it is to be considered what kind of Religious observations God hath reserved to his own determination and forbidden to be devised or instituted by man And these are first Such as are of the same reason with those Ordinances which God hath instituted to be observed by the universal Church to the Worlds end as to make an addition of another weekly day to the same holy intents for which the Lords day is set apart to institute any Ordinance that is of the same reason with the Sacraments of the Covenant of Grace In vain do some say That it is impossible for man to make a Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace and consequently no ordinance devised of man ought to be excepted against as such For altho God only can institute a lawful and valid Sacrament of the Covenant yet man may presume to institute an ordinance that is of the same nature reason and intent with the Sacrament of divine institution tho it be unlawful and of no validity even as other divine worship may be invented by man which is not right nor effectual As touching the efficacy and profitableness of an ordinance here distinguish between an aptitude to profit in case of Gods approba ion and an actual profitableness No doubt but many things not institutâ—d of God have an aptitude to be useful but it follows not that they will be useful if ordained by men For the actual usefulness comes not from the aptitude of the thing but from Gods institution but that which is contrary to the will of God is not blessed to supernatural ends yea that which is not sanctified of God thereunto is not so bless d. Tho God can be obliged by a seal only of his own annexing to his Covenant yet it is too possible for mâ—n to pâ—â—sume so far as to institute that whereby they fancy God as sealing and â—onveying to them his grace and indeed that which can mean no less Morâ—ovâ—r in a Sacrament of the Covenant as grace on Gods part is seâ—led so self-dedication on mans part Anâ—â—n ordinance of mans devising that seals self-dedication to God upon the terms of the Covenant of Grace is at least the Moity of a Sacrament 2. No new integral part of divine worship without which the worship of God is supposed not intire but deficient in part may be invented of man For it were to invent a new part of the Christian Religion and to augment it beyond the state thereof as setled by the Author and Founder of it Here note that the accidental parts of Religion being varied or augmented or diminished make no variation addition or diminution in the Religion no more than alteration in clothes makes an alteration in the man 3. No ordinance that is of universal and perpetual use to the Church of God if it be at all of use so that it may in no place in no age be omitted may be devised of man For the devising of such an ordinance supposeth a defect in the divine ordinances of universal and perpetual use to be made up by adding other ordinances by way of supplement And it is but a presuming that those other are requisite when they are not Also if the universal Lawgiver hath reserved any thing to his own power it can be no less than the making of such Laws or Ordinances as are of universal and perpetual use And surely that he hath reserved something to himself few among us will gainsay Howbeit an arbitrary and temporary use of a Religious observance by particular men for such ends as equally concern all Christians may not be unlawful upon this account because therein Christs Legislative power is not encroached upon it being not made a Law to the Church but only a private arbitrary observation § 5. What things of or belonging to Divine Worship may be devised or instituted by man THE things set down under the former head as forbidden are such new ordinances of Worship as are co-ordinate with the divine ordinances and are in proper sense additions pretending or in themselves expressing the same nature reason end and use that the divine ordinances have and consequently importing an insufficiency in them But there are such institutions of men in subordination to the divine institutions as serve for the more convenient modifying and ordering of the same And they are not proper Additions because they are not of the same nature and use and these are unlawful All such modes of a duty as are necessary in genere and not determined in specie as when there must be a practice one way or other but whether this way or that way is not determined of God are left free to humane determination This humane determination must be regulated by the general Rules of Gods word of which there be these two chief first That all determinations be made for edification and not for destruction 2ly That all things be done decently and in order These two Rules we find expresly in Scripture and they are also of the Law
members of Christs body Which shews that to marry for the said end is not an yielding to Lust but a means of that Chastity which becomes the members of Christ to have § 31. Marriage being ordained 1. For procreation of Children 2. For a remedy against sin 3. For that mutual society help and comfort that is necessary in this Animal life of mankind here upon earth the sober and regular use of the marriage-bed in order to any necessary help and comfort doth not defile the conscience but is sanctified to the pure and consciencious even then when respect to procreation or the avoiding of sin doth not urge it Particularly it is no way against Chastity or Christian purity to use it for that necessary health of body which is evidently promoted by it and especially if probably it cannot be well procured without it § 32. It hath been judged by some of the Ancients to be not only sinful but nefarious for a man to lye with his Wife while she is with child But I find not this utterly forbidden in Scripture either expresly or by manifest consequence As for the judgment of Reason about it these things may be considered 1. That by Divine perpetual Ordinance towards mankind one Male is confined to one Female whereas other creatures are not so limited 2. Conception is not only the end of this duty for it is to be rendered to those that are barren 3. That wherein the brutes are led by natural propension in man falls under the government of Reason And in the present case it seems reasonable that the sensitive desire either be gratified or denied as Reason guided by the general Rules of Gods word doth shew what is most expedient within the limits of goodness and honesty This may certainly be determined That if Congress in this case will destroy the Foetus whosoever useth it sinneth greatly and heinously And if there be danger of destroying it he that useth it exposeth himself to the danger of great and heinous sin § 33. It is most certain that there are times and occasions wherein abstinence from the marriage-bed is strictly enjoined The Precept forbidding to approach carnally to a woman in the time of that known infirmity which is common to that Sâ—x was not meerly Mosaical but moral that is universal and perpetual as appears Lev. 18.19 24. Lev. 20 18 23. For the breach thereof is noted as one of the abominable practises of those Nations which were not under the Mosaick institutions for whâ—ch practises God took vengeance on them by casting them out before his people § 24. The more solemn times of Prayer and Fasting require abstinence from all manner of sensitive pleasures tho in themselves lawful and honest and particularly from conjugal embraces 1 Cor. 7.5 Defraud not one another except tâ— be with consent for a time that you may give your selves to fasting and prayer It is not said that you may pray but that ye may give your selves to Fasting and Prayer which imports a solemn setting of themselves apart to extraordinary Prayer with Fâ—stâ—ng § 35. Not only solemn Religious Fasting but other such high and solemn acts of Religion as require the greatest raising of the mind in spiritual cogitations and retirement to converse with God and consequently the best preparedness of body and mind do also require abstinence from the heightned delights of the sensitive or animal part For which cause abstinence from conjugal embraces is most requisite for some due space of time before and after the participâ—tion of the Holy Sacrament And I think this abstinence ought also to be observed on the Lords day for the same reason When the people were to meet with God in that extraordinary way upon Mount Sinai Moses gave it them in charge as a part of their preparation for it That they come not at their Wives Exod. 19.15 § 36. Yet the ordinary daily exercises of Religion and Holy walking before God in them do not require the like abstinence A sober and regular use of Marriage as of all other delights pertaining to the Animal life doth not render any man unfit for the daily Service of God With reference hereunto the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4.4 5. Every creature of God and so every Ordinance of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer Howbeit with this concession a caution also must here be given That the married must so cohabit that their prayers be not hindered or polluted 1 Pet. 3.7 And because prayer is a daily duty they must daily manage their mutual converse so as not to be indisposed to or diverted from this or any other daily exercise of Religion Wherefore they must not indulge themselves in this or any other high gratification of sense at those times wherein they should every day set themselves to the solemn performance of those holy exercises Some due distance of time should be always observed between the one and the other But extraordinary Prayer particularly Prayer with Fasting requires abstinence for a greater interval Christians must keep a spiritual decorum and carefully shun whatsoever practise doth not become holiness § 37. It concerns them whose aim and care is that their lives may be pure and holy to endeavour to keep themselves from all irregularity and inordinate actings in this thing and thereupon to watch against all base brutishness and unseemliness of behaviour and preposterous ways and abusive dalliances in it as knowing that they are always under the eye of the Holy God It behoves them so to use it as not to weaken their bodies or corrupt their minds as not to irritate but to allay sensuality and to have this as all other lawful gratifications of sense in a manifest and direct subserviency to spiritual ends and so to manage themselves therein as that they may be able with a good conscience to pray that it may be sanctified to them And there is as great need of prayer for the sanctifying of the marriage-bed as of any other enjoyment belonging to the Animal life and it may be greater because Reason is in danger to be put much besides its present use Let all that call themselves Christians retain in their hearts a deep impression of the words of the holy Apostle 1 Thes 4 3 4. This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God for God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness Christians are by the same Apostle called upon to consider that their bodies are the members of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.15 19. And in this consideration they should lothe and dread all manner of obscenity and vile abuse of their own bodies JONAH
the Authority of the Pastors but as they are made for the present or absent Pastors who are separately of equal Office Power they are no Laws except in an equivocal sense but only Agreements Now in judging between these two ways of the subordination enquired of let it be considered first That every particular church hath power of government within it self as hath been before observed 2. That a particular church doth not derive that power from any other particular church or collective body of churches but hath it immediately from Christ 3. That yet the acts of government in every particular church have an influence into all the churches being but integral parts of one whole the Catholick church and consequently they are all of them nearly concerned in one another as members of the same body 4. Thereupon that particular churches combine in such collective bodies and associations as have been before mentioned is not arbitrary but their duty 5. That the greater collective bodies are in degrees more august and venerable than the lesser included in them and in that regard ought to have sway with the lesser and not meerly in regard of agreement For tho in the greater there be but the same power in specie with that in the lesser yet it is more amply and illustriously exerted 6. That in all Societies every part being ordered for the good of the whole and the more ample and comprehensive parts coming nearer to the nature and reason of the whole than the lesser and comprehended the more ample parts if they have not a proper governing power over the lesser have at least a preeminence over them for the ends sake and this preeminence hath the force of a proper superior power in bearing sway 7. Hence it follows that the acts of Synods if they be not directly acts of government over the particular Pastors yet they have the efficacy of government as being to be submitted to for the ends sake The general good § 22. What is and what is not of Divine Right in Ecclesiastical Polity WE must distinguish between things that belong to the church as a church or a Society divers in kind from all other Societies and those things that belong to it extrinsecally upon a reason common to it with other regular societies The former wholly rest upon Divine Right the latter are in genere requisite by the Law of Nature which requires decency and order and whatsoever is convenient in all societies and so far they rest upon Divine Right but in specie they are left to human determination according to the general Rules given of God in Nature or Scripture And it is to be noted That such is the sulness of Scripture that it contains all the general Rules of the Law of Nature What soever in matter of Church government doth go to the formal constitution of a church of Christ is of Divine Right The frame of the Church catholick as one spiritual society under Christ the head as before described wholly rests upon Divine Right and so the frame of particular churches as several spiritual Polities and integral parts of the Catholick church as before described is also of Divine Right if such Right be sufficiently signified by the Precepts and Rules given by the Apostles for the framing of them and by their practise therein Moreover the parcelling of that one great Society the Church-catholick into particular Political Societies under their proper spiritual Guides and Rulers is so necessary in nature to the good of the whole that the Law of Nature hath made it unalterable It is intrinsick to all particular stated Churches and so of Divine Right that there be publick Assemblies thereof for the solemn Worship of God that there be Bishops Elders or spiritual Pastors therein and that these as Christs Officers guide the said Assemblies in publick Worship that therein they authoritatively preach the Word and in Christs Name offer the mercies of the Gospel upon his terms and denounce the threatnings of the Gospel against those that despise the mercies thereof that they dispence the Sacraments to the meet partakers and the spiritual censures upon those that justly fall under them that the members of these Societies explicitely or implicitely consent to their relation to their Pastors and one towards another It doth also intrinsecally belong to particular churches as they are integral parts of one Catholick church of which all the particular Christians contained in them are members and consequently it appears to be of Divine Right that they hold communion one with another and that they be imbodied according to their capacities in such Associations as have been before described As for all circumstantial variation and accidental modification of the things aforesaid with respect to meer decency order and convenience according to time and occasion being extrinsick to the spiritual frame and Polity of the Church as such and belonging in common to it with all orderly Societies they are of Divine Right only in genere but in specie they are left to those to whom the conduct and government of the church is committed to be determined according to the general Rules of Gods word Much of the controversie of this Age about several forms of Church-government is about things extrinsick to the church-state and but accidental modes thereof tho the several parties in the controversie make those Forms to which they adhere to be of Divine Right and necessary to a Church-state or as some speak a Church-organical Now in the said controverted Forms of Government there may be a great difference for some may be congruous to the divine and constitutive frame of the Church and advantageous to its ends others may be incongruous to it and destructive to its ends § 23. Of a True or False Church MANY notes of a true Church are contentiously brought in by those that would darken the truth by words without knowledg But without more ado the true and real being of a Church stands in its conformity to that Law of Christ upon which his Church is founded This Law is compleatly written in the Holy Scriptures The more of the aforesaid Conformity is sound in any Church the more true and sound it is and the less of it is found in any church the more corrupt and false it is and the more it declines from truth and soundness A Church may bear so much conformity to its Rule as is sufficient to the real being or essential state of a Christian church and yet withall bear such disconformity to its Rule as renders it very enormous A church holding all the essentials of Faith Worship Ministry and Government together with the addition of such Doctrine Worship Ministry and Government as is by consequence a denial of those essentials and a subverting of the foundation is a true church as to the essentials tho very enormous and dangerous And they that are of the communion of such a church who hold the essentials of Religion
more prevalently in their judgment and practice in their hearts and lives than the superadded errors and corruptions and are ready to Renounce those errors and corruptions if they saw their inconsistence with the essentials are true Christians otherwise they are not such The same church may be a true and a false church in different respects or formal considerations In respect of the essentials of Christian Faith Worship and Ministry it may be a true church and in respect of some devised Church-form superadded by which over and above the said Essentials it is constituted and denominated it may be in that distinct formal consideration a false church OF THE MINISTRY § 1. The Nature of the holy Ministry in general THE Holy Ministry is a state of Authority and Obligation to perform some special Holy Works and Services in the Name of Christ for the edifying of the church So that whosoever is in a holy order or office is qua talis authorized and obliged to the work and service that is appropriated to it and whosoever statedly and de jure doth the work and service appropriated to a holy order is really in or of that order altho men may not give him the name thereof Whether the Magistratical and Ministerial Offices may reside together in the same person is not here considered but if it were granted that they may they would essentially differ from each other For the Magistrate as such hath received no authority formally ministerial nor hath any minister as such the power of a civil magistrate Some thus distinguish between the magistratical and ministerial authority that the one is directive and the other imperative I take not this to be a competent distinction for that authority that infers an obligation on the subject to obey is properly imperative and the ministerial authority doth so as the Scripture speaks expresly Heb. 13.17 Paul was no Magistrate but as a Minister he speaks 2 Cor. 10.6 Having in readiness to revenge all disobedience and he expresly declares his ministerial authority to be imperative Phil. v. 8. The I might make hold in Christ to injoyn thee that which is convenient c. and v. 21. having confidence in thine obedience I wrote unto thee Now they had rightly distinguished if instead of imperative they had put coercive coactive or imperial For all directive authority by special office is imperative Whosoever doth by special office direct unto duty in the name of his King and according to his will as a Minister doth in the name of Christ doth therein command But a coactive power is something more and belongs not to a Minister as such The Magistrate rules by the Sword and the Minister by the Word § 2. Of the efficient cause of the Ministry and its Authority AS Christ alone hath the power of appointing the work or works of the holy ministry to be done in his name either towards believers or the unbelieving towards the church jointly or toward particular persons severally so he alone hath the power of appointing the holy orders or offices that contain an authority and obligation to perform the same And seeing Christ hath already appointed all the ministerial works and appropriated the same to certain ministerial orders no new order or office of the holy ministry can be instituted by men for they cannot institute other ministerial work to be done in Christs Name than what he hath appointed But the circumstances and accidental modes and subservient offices about the work of the ministry are of that nature as that they well may be appointed by men and accordingly the officers for the management thereof may be so appointed and such modes and circumstances being necessarily subject to great variation in regard of the great diversity of occasion cannot well be pre-defined The holy ministry and power belonging to it is conferred neither by Magistrate nor by Prelate nor by any spiritual officer or officers as the proper givers thereof but by Christ alone And tho Christ give it in some respect by the mediation of men yet not by them as giving the office power but as instruments either of designing the person to whom he gives it or of the solemn investiture of that person therein as the King is the immediate giver of the power of a Mayor in a Town corporate when he gives it by the mediation of the Electors not as giving the power but designing the person to be invested with it or by the mediation of some other officers as instruments of the solemn investiture Neither Magistrate nor Prelate nor any spiritual officer or officers can dsiannul or take away that spiritual office whereof they are not the authors nor in proper sence the givers Nor can they inlarge or lessen it as to its essential state or define it otherwise than Christ hath defined it And if the ordainer in conveying the holy office or order should use any any words or actions that import the lessening thereof in its essential state they are void and null as if a Minister that joyns a Man and Woman in marriage according to the true intent of that ordinance shall add some words that forbid the Husband the government of his Wife that addition is a nullity § 3. Of the Office of a Bishop Elder or Pastor THE Ministry of Gods appointment is either extraordinary and temporary as that of the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists also if so be they were only the itinerary assistants of the Apostles or ordinary and perpetual as that of Pastors and Teachers The words Elder Bishop Pastor are names of the same Sacred Office as appears Acts 20.17 28. where their Ministry towards the Church is set forth in Pauls words to the Elders which he sent for from Ephesus to Miletum Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood The Apostles besides their extraordinary Office of Apostleship had also the ordinary Office of Bishops pastors and Elders or to speak peradventure more properly they had these ordinary offices included in their Apostleship Christ saith to Peter Feed my sheep And Peter calls himself an Elder 1 Pet. 5.1 And John in his second and third Epistles so calls himself And indeed if it were not so they could have no successors or partakers Howbeit the Scripture gives us no evidence of their being fixed Bishops or Pastors to particular Churches As for the meaning of these names the word Bishop imports an Overseer Elder is a name of Authority borrowed from age and applied to a Ruling-officer The word Pastor is metaphorical signifying that this Officer is to the Congregation of God as a Shepherd to a Flock of sheep to feed them This feeding consists in teaching and ruling so that every Pastor is in the nature of his office a Teacher and he feeds by doctrine And indeed Pastoral Ruling is by