undissembled belief was that I doubt not which Philip required of the Eunuch when he said If thou believest with all thine heart thou maist be Baptized And the Eunuchs answer upon which he was Baptized by Philip does intimate so much when he only said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And more than this I conceive cannot be duly inferred from those words of Philip to the Eunuch for the reasons I have already given These are the principal Texts made use of to countenance the opinion which I have in this Inquiry opposed There are objections or pleas drawn from some other which are well answered by Mr. Thomas Lamb as some of these I have insisted on also are in his fresh suit against Independency And thus upon our Inquiry we have found as I conceive that others are of the Visible Church in Scripture account and so in Gods account by whose inspiration the Scriptures were written than those which are of the Church as Invisible or them that seem to be so For Almighty God as has been shown accounteth and owneth such to be his People in distinction from the rest of the world that have entered into Covenant with him tho otherwise they or many of them are far from seeming to be of the Church as Invisible And if God esteem of them as such then so must his Servants likewise and if the Scripture account them such it will become us to do so too who profess to make the holy Scriptures the rule of our judgment After that upon our Inquiry we have found things thus Let not any man now say that by this doctrine we confound the Kingdom of the Devil with the Kingdom of God For this would but reflect after an unseemly manner upon the wisdom of God for thus numbering bad men as well as good to be of his Visible Church as externally related to him and as worshippers of him Secret Hypocrites belong to the Kingdom of the Devil as well as those that are more visibly such and yet none deny but that many such are in the Visible Church nor do they count this a confounding Gods Kingdom with the Devils There is no doubt but that the Devil has his Visible and Invisible Kingdom as well as God has his But those Hypocrites whether secret or more open which are of the Visible Church tho they are in a sence of the Kingdom of the Devil yet must be reckoned to be not of his Visible but of his Invisible Kingdom So that the Hypothesis I seek to establish does not at all tend to confound Gods visible Kingdom and the Devils visible Kingdom one with another much less their Invisible Kingdoms For those are not in Scripture reckoned to be of the Visible Kingdom of the Devil who professedly worship the true God and him only and Jesus Christ as his Son and only Mediator tho otherwise bad But such as worship Idols other gods and other mediators in doing of which they do in effect worship the Devil who is the founder of such worship Those Kingdoms or Nations are in Scripture counted of the Devils Kingdom or Dominion in which his Worship and Ordinances Idol-worship and the Rites of that worship are established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations As on the contrary those Nations or Kingdoms are counted Gods Kingdoms in which the Word and Worship of God are by publick Authority owned and established as the Religion of those Nations Thus when Idol worship was put down and cast out of the several Territories of the Roman Empire by the first Christian Emperors and the Christian Religion established by publick Authority as the Religion of those Nations then the Devil was said to be cast down and the Kingdom of God and the power of his Christ to be come Rev. 12.9 10. And again The Kingdoms of this world are said to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ When idol-worship which is Devillish worship is rejected by the Authority of those Kingdoms Revel 11.15 Not that there shall be no Hypocrites or Carnal Professors of Christianity in these Kingdoms when they are thus become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ But tho there be 〈◊〉 as the true Christian doctrine and worship is owned and established by the Government or ruling power of those Kingdoms and so long as the generality of the Inhabitants are for the same doctrine and worship in opposition to Idolatrous and Antichristian doctrine and worship they are accounted to belong to Gods Visible Kingdom in the world and not the Devils however many of those Inhabitants may belong to the Invisible Kingdom of the Devil And thus those are called the Children of Gods Kingdom by our Saviour who yet at last shall be cast out into outer darkness Mat. 8.12 But of this more afterwards QUERY IX WHether God hath granted any right to Church-priviledges to those who are only of the Church as Visible but not as Invisible That such have right to them before men unless they are justly deprived of them by Church-censures those will grant who yet deny that they have any right to them by Gods allowance But our present enquiry is whether they have any right by Gods allowance And if that be true which we now suppose we found to be so in our former enquiry viz. that God himself doth own very many such to be of the Church as Visible which yet are not at all of it as Invisible then it will be but reasonable to conclude from thence that he does allow them a share in the external and temporary priviledges of that relation except in those cases wherein he himself hath made an exception For otherwise God by conferring on them the priviledge of Relation to himself and his Church has conferred upon them a right to the priviledges of that relation so far as the relation it self extends For the relation and the priviledges of the relation go together except in case of forfeiture by miscarriage The union of parts does of it self infer right to communion with them in things common to the whole The right of those in the Visible Church to Visible Church-priviledges does arise I conceive from that Covenanting between God and them in Baptism by which they engaged themselves to be his People as God on the other hand had engaged himself to be their God on that condition Now for ought that appears from the Scriptures to the contrary so far as they perform Covenant with God in being a People unto him so far he owns them to be his People and so far as he does so he allows them the priviledge of his People which is a share in his houshold fare and in the provisions for his Family which are his Word and Ordinances If they worship no other God and hold the Head Christ Jesus in point of doctrine and worship and own his doctrine and precepts as the rule of faith and life and worship God in
as they owned him only for their God according to their Covenant with him tho otherwise they had great guilt upon them This still confirms what was said before that tho the immoralities of this People for the generality of them were such in other respects as that all that they had done in Covenanting and in a partial performance of Covenant could not give them the reputation of being Members of the Invisible Church yet their Covenant with God and partial performances of it in worshipping him only with a worship of his own appointment did denominate them in an external and visible respect to be his People and so his as the rest of the world were not By the way then if those of this Church under the Old Testament were stiled Saints a holy People and the like upon other accounts and in other respects than their being really and inherently holy as I have shewed they were by inspired men then it cannot be concluded but that the People of the Churches in the New Testament were so likewise when the Apostles in their Epistles to them stiled them Saints the Sanctified in Christ Jesus and the like For the same Epithetes and Appellations signifie but the same thing in the Old Testament as in the New In both they signifie a People separated from the Pagan unbelieving world unto God among whom some were more so and some less some by external Covenant and profession and some by that and much more to wit by the Renovation of the whole inner man I the rather note this as I pass along because those of the Congregational way lay so great a stress as they do upon St. Pauls stiling the Churches to whom he wrote Saints for the proving as they would have it that none but such as are savingly sanctified are Church-matter or to be admitted as Church-Members except when it is done through mistake of them that admit them Having taken a brief survey how things stand related touching Visible Church-Membership under the Old Testament I shall now proceed to enquire how matters stand declared touching the same under the New And our inquiry must be whether persons adult are by no other means Visible Church-Members unless they are reputatively Members of the Church as Invisible Or whether they do not become truly Members of the Visible Church in Scripture account by their voluntary Covenanting by Baptism with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost tho it should be supposed that there is not enough in them to denominate them Members of the Church as Invisible The question is not whether it does not become those who admit men into the Church by Baptism and the Baptismal Covenant to think the best of them who are so admitted and to hope they do it with a sincere mind when they therein give up themselves to God But whether their due admission thereto does depend upon such a judgment in those that admit them Or whether such Persons may be refused and not suffered to Covenant with God in Baptism and thereby to enter into the Church tho they offer themselves thereto and desire it in case those whose office and place it is to admit men thereto should be unsatisfied touching the truth of their saving Conversion or Regeneration Or thus the question is not whether it be not the duty of every man that enters into Covenant with God in Baptism to do it with a sincere mind and with all his heart But whether this be required by way of condition without which it is neither lawful for the person himself to Covenant with God nor for others to suffer him to do it if they suspect he will do it with such a frame of mind as is short of Regeneration Nor is the question whether a man might not be refused admission into the Church in case there were cause to suspect him to have an evil design in desiring it to betray the Christians to their Enemies upon account of which suspicion its probable the Disciples refused Saul's joyning with them after his Conversion tho he desired it until they had received better satisfaction concerning him But the question is whether such as have only some general and in distinct belief that Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of the world by his death and that the way of Christianity is the way of Salvation and do desire admission into the Christian Church to be further instructed in that way and in order thereto are willing to enter into Covenant with God and to be Baptized I say the question is whether such may be suffered to Covenant with God and enter into the Church by Baptism supposing them as yet to have no thorow saving work of Conversion wrought in them but only so much as may be hoped is preparatory and dispository thereto but yet have something tho not all which is necessary to it and whose profession is serious and sincere so far as it goes as that is opposed to dissembling knowingly And to prove that they may and that the lawfulness of such Covenanting by Baptism does not depend upon their being savingly Regenerate and that our Saviour himself owns Unregenerate men received into the Visible Church by such Covenanting in Baptism to be as well Members of it as the Regenerate I shall offer several things 1. And I shall lay down this first as a foundation to build upon in this proof viz. That it is not a thing unlawful in it self for some such as are not of the Church as Invisible by regenerating Grace to enter into Covenant with God to be his People nor is such a qualification enjoyned as a necessary condition of doing so When all the Males at Age in Abrahams House were commanded to enter into Covenant with God by Circumcision And when his Seed after him were required to cause all the Male-strangers bought with their money to do the like And when the Proselytes from among the Gentiles were required to Circumcise themselves and all their Males and thereby to enter into Covenant with God I say in all this there was no such thing as their being Circumcised in heart enjoyned as a condition of their so entring into Covenant by Circumcision The Lord also commanded Joshua to Circumcise all the Hebrew Males that in the space of forty years had been born in the Wilderness which was an entering them into Covenant with God and this without any condition of such qualification as would have made them of the Church as Invisible Nay Almighty God at another time commanded all Israel Men Women and Children and the Strangers in their Camp to enter into Covenant with him and into his Oath Deut. 29.10 11 12. This command was absolute and peremptory also and without condition The Lord did not in this nor in any of the other instances require men to enter into Covenant with him only upon this condition that they did already truly fear him and sincerely love him or otherwise to forbear No
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
the Parts of the Sacrifice should be laid upon the Wood. And besides all this there were Laws directing how the Priests should be Accoutred in their Ministration as of what and after what manner and fashion their Garments should be made and when put on and when put off And I might instance in many like things in other cases But now in the New Testament it is far otherwise There we are directed indeed in the Substance and Spiritual Nature of Divine Worship and what is essential to it But as for the External circumstances of Administration thereof we have very little of particular direction therein but the Church in those things is left for the most part to guide and determin her self and her own actions by general Rules such as Edification Peace and Order and such External signs of Reverence and Devotion as Natural Religion will direct men in And indeed there is so little of particular direction in these things as that there is no sort of Christians however distinguished but do more and are under a necessity of doing more in the External manner of Worship than there is particular direction for in Scripture There is a command for Baptising Disciples in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost but no particular direction what Prayer shall be made or what Instruction shall be given at the Administration of Baptism nor after what manner or form the Party Baptised shall by himself or Parents enter into Covenant with God The like may be said touching the Lords Supper there is no particular direction what Prayers shall be made or Instruction given or Exhortation made at the Administration of it nor after what manner the Elements are to be Consecrated otherwise than by reciting the words of Institution nor how in particular the Cup is to be Blessed nor what Gesture shall be used nor when and how often it shall be Received In these things Churches in several Nations may and do vary more or less and yet all is well done so long as they keep to general Rule which may be observed and kept to in these and other Ordinances of Worship under several different Circumstances and this none can deny And so far publick Prayer tho' we have particular Rules for the matter of it and to whom and in whose Name to be made and likewise for the Internal manner yet as to the External manner and circumstances save that of being made in a known Tongue as whether it shall be made in a set Form or without except the direction given for the use of the Lords Prayer or whether with the use of a Book or without it or whether kneeling or standing or how many shall be made at one Church Assembly these things are not particularly determined one way or other but are left to the prudence of men to use one or another according as the exigence of Circumstances shall require or their Governors order And if our Blessed Saviour had not intended to have allowed such a liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship we cannot in reason but think he would have been as particular in determining them as he has been in the matter and substance of Worship it self which yet we see he has not been For he could not but know it impossible for all Church Guides not immediately inspired tho' otherwise never so wise and good to pitch upon the self-same Circumstances of Administration where they have only general Rules to Guide them in their Choice And accordingly experience shews that among good men some have thought such and such Circumstances of Worship best to agree with general Rules when others as good as they have thought others to do so And tho' in such cases both cannot be best under the same Circumstances of things yet that which is not best in it self may be best to be used as Circumstances may fall out as when that which is not best cannot be refused without a greater inconvenience than the use of that rather than a better does amount to Our Blessed Saviour then having left his People at so much liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship as we see he has it argues sufficiently that the use of different Circumstantial modes of Worship is not at all displeasing unto him so long as they agree with the general Rule especially when the avoiding of a Breach and the preservation of Peace Vnity and good Will in the Church does influence the choice If there be then such a liberty left by Christ unto his Church of using different Circumstantial modes of Worship so long as they answer to the general Rule as none can with any colour of reason deny but there is then it cannot but be a great abuse of this liberty for Christians so to contend for one of these Circumstantial modes of Worship in opposition to the other as to separate and break Communion about it and thereby to involve the Church in unpeaceable strife and contention disaffection and feuds When it is but matter of liberty to use one or another and not matter of indispensable Duty to use one only and not the other it cannot but be an abuse of such a liberty to make use of it to a publick hurt to the Church The making use of that which is but only matter of liberty when to do so causeth a Brother to offend is severely condemned by St. Paul how much more then is the making use of such liberty to be blamed when it tends to a great and publick mischief in the Church St. Paul saith brethren ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5.13 That the using of this liberty we speak of has been an occasion for the flesh to show it self and play its part is sadly visible in that variance strife emulation and envying which has been caused thereby which are works of the flesh and such too that as St. Paul saith they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. I know it will be said that if it be an abuse of liberty to contend so much for the use of one External way and manner of Worship when another is Lawful as well as that and when to do so tends to strife and division and the destruction of Charity then it must be alike abuse of liberty to impose the use of another when such an imposition is attended with the same or like evil or inconvenience as we see the imposition of that prescribed by the Liturgy is To this I shall say but these two things 1. If we should suppose this to be so as they object yet the abuse of a liberty one way by the Authors of such an imposition does not at all priviledge the abuse of a liberty by others in the contrary extream 2. The imposition they speak of is no necessary Cause of division and separation
he believed with all his heart And upon like terms we may suppose he had Baptized Simon Magus a little before vers 13. concerning whom the Scripture tells us not only that he said he believed as it does here of the Eunuch but that he did indeed believe Then Simon himself also believed saith the Text. And so did those mentioned John 2.23 and so did those who were likened to the Stony ground for they believed for a time but after fell away Luk. â— 13 And many among the chief Rulers also believed on Christ who yet would not confess him John 12.42 So that when men are said to believe in Christ it does not always and necessarily imply a saving faith or a new birth or an Invisible Church-state Men might and did believe in Christ before they were Baptized who yet we cannot say were Regenerate by their believing or in the Invisible Church-state as Simon Magus for instance And yet such believing or professing to believe qualified them for Baptism And when Philip here required of the Eunuch a believing with all his heart in order to his being Baptized we cannot reasonably think that he meant more thereby if he proposed it as a condition of his being Baptized then that he should be serious and real in it in opposition to dissembling For that was as much as we can reasonably think the Eunuch was then capable of knowing concerning himself and therefore no more could be expected from him But then such a believing with all the heart could be no argument from which it could be concluded that therefore either he or any other in his or lower circumstances that did so believe were therefore savingly Regenerate For it may very rationally be presumed that all generally who in the first times of the Gospel made profession of faith in Christ in order to their being Baptized tho many of them Unregenerate yet did really believe in Christ more or less For what reason is it imaginable that they should dissemble when they profess'd faith in Christ as the Son of God in order to their being Baptized and received into the Church when yet as the times were then they could have no worldly advantage in prospect as a motive for them to dissemble and to profess and say they did believe what they knew they did not believe And that such a believing as is real and not dissembled may be said to be a believing with all the heart tho it proceed not from nor is accompanied with a principle of regeneration or sincerity in a moral sence will be yet rendred the more credible if we consider what the Scripture says in a case not much unlike this under consideration It is said of all Juda and Berjamin and of the Strangers out of Ephraim Manasseth and Simeon that they entered into Covenant with an Oath to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and with all their soul 2 Chron. 15.12 And it 's said again at the 15th vers That all Juda rejoyced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their heart Now this Covenant and Oath entred into was to engage them to worship the true God only in opposition to their worshipping of strange Gods in which many of them had been tardy till Asa the King set upon this work of Reformation as we may see chap. 14.3 And when it 's said that all Juda did thus Covenant and Swear with all then heart to seek the Lord God of their Fathers it can in reason import no more in recerence to many of them than to signifie that they did not dissemble in doing it but that there was really the consent of their minds concurring with their verbal engagement by Covenant and Oath For no considering man will think that this Covenanting by all the men of Juda without limitation or exception could proceed from an inward principle of Regenerate or Spiritual life in reference to all or them and yet they are all said to do it and with all their heart And if not then the Covenanting with sll the heart of such of them as had no principle of spiritual life must be understood of their doing it really and without dissembling the matter I alledge all this to show that men may do things with all their heart in Religion when yet what they so do does not proceed from any principle of Regeneration or a divine life And if they may then we cannot conclude that tho Philip should be understood to require a believing with all the heart as a conditional qualification for Baptism that therefore he required such a faith as by which a man must necessarily be Regenerate before he may duly desire Baptism And the truth is it is not to be imagined that such raw Disciples as were generally Baptized and of such short standing as to be Baptized the same day and sometimes near the same hour in which they were first instructed in the Christian doctrin could be able to know before they were Baptized that they did indeed savingly believe and if not it could not be reasonable to require the knowledge of such a thing concerning themselves as a condition of their desiring or requiring Baptism Men may easily know their own minds whether they do believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God or no and so may be able to profess without dissimulation that they do believe that he is when they do indeed believe so But because many that did in those times and do in these believe in Jesus Christ as sent of God and as the Son of God who yet were not then nor are now truly renew'd by it in heart and life therefore no man can ordinarily satisfie himself touching the soundness and savingness of his faith but by some competent time of trial and experience of the life and power of it by its effects in purifying the heart and life and overcoming the world and working by love We understand by St. James and other Writers of the holy Scriptures that there were many who knowing that they did believe yet unduly promised themselves justification and salvation from such their believing when yet it was not accompanied with such works of a good and holy life as by which faith is made perfect And many such there are as is justly to be feared now in our days These men deceived themselves they deceived their own hearts as St. James expresseth it but not in thinking they did believe for they knew they did but in persuading themselves that their faith was sufficient to salvation when yet it was but a dead and barren saith not producing the fruits of a truly Christian temper and conversation Now it was upon the believing Jesus Christ to be the Son of God or the Messiah or he by whom alone salvation is to be had and an undissembled profession of this belief that qualifies men for Baptism however it proved afterwards as to the efficacy of in operation And this real