and carnall interests to false ways and vain inventions For which cause it behooves the zealous Religionist to be carefull even to jealousie that he be not imposed upon by himself or others and in this care heartily and intirely to resign and conform himself to the Law of God By such resignation and conformity he secures his own Soul and what in him lies the Sound state of Religion It is here acknowledged that what is written in nature is Gods Law as well as what is written in Scripture and that natural Revelation as well as supernatural is Divine and whatsoever is known of God by the Light of nature in the matter of Religious Worship is to be received as well as that which is known by the Light of Scripture and the divine Goodness is to be owned in both though in the latter it hath appeared more abundantly because therein is given us a full instruction in all things pertaining to Gods Kingdom which in the other is not given For the great mysteries of the Gospel could not be known by nature and in things that could be known thereby the light is but weak and glimmering and not easily able to fix the heart therein not so much for want of evidence in the object as from the pravity of our mind reason being laid asleep and all our faculties being sunk into the brutish life What is the utmost capacity of that light among the Heathens is hard for us to define and though it be harsh to determine that they were all utterly and universally forsaken of God yet it is evident both by Scripture and the lives of the Gentiles that Gentilism was a very forlorn state This is enough to shew the high favour of God toward the Church in supernatural Revelation by which he hath not only instructed us in things supernatural not otherwise to be known in this life but also more perfectly in the Laws of nature now transcribed into the Books of the Old and New Testament so that there is nothing of Religion or Morality that may not be found therein Besides the Law of God written in Nature and Scripture what certain and stable rule of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Conversation hath the Church to walk by that there can be no certainty or consent in meer or all Tradition or in the judgment of the ancient Fathers or the ancient practice of the Catholick Church is so evident as needs no confirmation and there can be no acquiescence or accord in the determinations of any visible universal Supream Power For whereas all Christians acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scripture they neither do nor ever did nor will unanimously acknowledge that there is such a Power in being And the main Body of them that maintain'd such a Catholick Supremacy cannot agree in what subject the same resides whether in the Pope or a General Council And as several Popes so have several Councils of equal amplitude and authority often crossed one another and consequently some of both kinds must needs have erred And it still remains a controversie undeterminable which Councils are to be received and which to be rejected unless the whole Christian World hitherto disagreeing herein will be bound up by the resolves of one Party that can bring no better proof than their own pretended infallibility To all which may be added that an Oecumenical Council truly so called or a Representative of the universal Church was never yet congregated Wherefore let the Faithfull rest upon the old right foundation the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles whose infallibility is unquestionable Such being the fulness and perfection of holy Scripture which was given by Divine inspiration and that for this end that the man of God might be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works it must needs be safest in Divine matters not to be venturous without its warrant They best secure themselves from error who keep to that rule which is both perfect and infallible some pretending to lay open the folly of the way which they call puritanism affirm that the mystery thereof lies in this principle that nothing ought to be Established in the Worship of God but what is authorized from the Word of God Indeed there are those of that denomination who disallow whatsoever instituted Worship is not so authorized but they are not so ignorant as to suppose that all particular circumstances belonging to Divine Worship which admit of endless variation are defined in the Word of God such as are those natural and civil circumstances without which actions are not performable But they suppose a wide difference between these matters such as time place method furniture c. and those ordinances of Religion which they take for parts of Worship as being made direct and immediate signs of honour given to God by their use And all of this kind some do judge or at least suspect to be unlawfull that are not of Gods appointment My design obligeth me to shun the intangling of this Discourse with controversie and therefore I write not either for or against the lawfulness of such uncommanded Worship But it is sufficient for me to shew that the purity of Religion is more safe by acquiescence in that only which God hath prescribed than by addition of new ordinances of Worship devised by men who even the best of them may too easily deviate from the truth And who knows not that too much yielding to mens devised Forms and Rights which had a shew of Wisdom made way for the departure of so great a part of Christendom from the primitive Christianity All duties of the Law of nature may be clearly proved from Scripture though the particular instances thereof that are innumerable and their infinitely variable circumstances cannot be there expressed As for instituted Worship it is unquestionable that there is no such defect in those parts thereof that are of Divine authority as needs to be made up by the human addition of other new parts And it is granted on all hands that there are things meerly circumstantial belonging to it which are necessary in general but in particular not determined of God and must be ordered by the light of nature and human prudence according to the general rules of Gods word None that know what they say in magnifying the written Word will teach the People not to rely upon impartial reason which no true Revelation did ever contradict But we are so conscious of the weakness of human understanding that in case of any seeming contrariety between Scripture and Reason not to give the Scripture the preeminence we know is most unreasonable Is Scripture liable to be perverted so is Reason Is there obscurity and difficulty in the interpretation of Scripture so in human ratiocinations much more Whosoever can apprehend right reason can rationally apprehend Gods written word which is its own interpreter and whose authentick interpretation of it self we are inabled to discern by rational inferences and deductions
but their Superiors may T is the Spirit of Antichrist that is fierce and violent but the Spirit of Christ is dovelike meek and harmless and that Spirit inclines to deal tenderly with the consciences of Inferiours Tenderness of conscience is not to be despised or exposed to scorn because some may falsly pretend to it The Head of the Church and Saviour of the Body is compassionate towards his Members and he hath said Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea As the way of unity lies much in the wisdom equity and charity of Superiours so in the humility and due submission of Inferiours in their ready closing with what is commendable in the publick constitutions in their bearing with what is tolerable in making the best improvement of what is therein improvable for their own and others Edification in a word in denying no compliance which piety towards God and charity towards men doth not forbid Matters of publick injunction which Inferiors stick at may be considered by them either as in themselves unlawfull or as inexpedient Now it is not only or chiefly the inexpediency of things commanded but the supposed unlawfulness of divers of those things that the Nonconformists generally stick at whereof they are ready to render a particular account when it will be admitted Howbeit a question may arise about the warrantableness of submission to things not in themselves unlawfull but inexpedient especially in respect of scandal the solution whereof may be requisite for the clearing of our way in such things Upon this question it may be noted That in those cases wherein there is no right of commanding there is no due of obedience Nevertheless things unwarrantably commanded are sometimes warrantably observed though not in obedience yet in prudence as to procure Peace and to shew a readiness to all possible compliance with Superiors Moreover Rulers have no authority to command that which in it self is not unlawfull when Christian charity forbids to do it in the present circumstances by reason of evil consequents For all authority is given for Edification and not for Destruction Likewise our Christian liberty includes no Licence to do that act at the command of Rulers the doing of which in regard of circumstances is uncharitable But here it must be considered how far the law of charity doth extend in this case and when it doth or doth not forbid my observance of what the Ruler hath unwarrantably because uncharitably commanded True charity doth not wholly destroy Christian Liberty though it regulates the use thereof and it doth not extend it so far one way as to destroy it self another way If I am bound up from doing every indifferent thing at which weak consciences will take offence my liberty is turned into bondage and I am left in thraldom to other mens endless Scrupulosities This is I think a yoke which Christians are not fit nor able to bear This bondage is greater and the burden lies heavier upon me if by reason of others weakness I must be bound up from observing an indifferent thing at the command of Rulers and by them made the condition of my liberty for publick Service in the Church when my conscience is fully satisfied that it is lawfull and otherwise expedient for me to do it As for the warrantableness of enjoyning the Ruler must look to that Are some displeased and grieved that I do it As many or more may be displeased and grieved if I do it not Do some take occasion by my necessary use of a just liberty to embolden themselves to sin My forbearing of it may be an occasion of sin to others as their persisting in some troublesom Errour to their own and others Spiritual dammage and in unwarrantable non-compliance with their Governours And the loss of my liberty for publick Service consequent to such forbearance must also be laid in the ballance When both the using and forbearing of my liberty is clogged with evil consequents I know no safer way than duly to consider of what moment the consequents are on either side and to incline to that which hath the lesser evil Herein the Wisdom of the prudent is to direct his way upon the impartial view of all circumstances which come under his prospect And if good conscience and right reason guided by the general Rules of Gods Word lead me to make use of my Christian liberty in compliance with my Superiors I must humbly and charitably apply my self to remove the offence that some take by clearing the lawfulness and expediency of my act to their judgments But if that cannot be discerned by them I am by my Christian good behaviour to make it evident to their consciences what in me lies that what I do I do sincerely and faithfully and that I am no temporizer man-pleaser and self-seeker I humbly conceive that that high saying of the Apostle If meat make my Brother to offend I will eat no Flesh while the World standeth doth admit such equitable interpretation as the circumstances of time place person and the whole state of things declares to be most reasonable A humble representation of my own case touching the exercise of the Ministery I Have been in the Ministery near fourty years having been ordained Presbyter according to the Form of Ordination used in the Church of England And being called to this Sacred Order I hold my self indispensibly obliged to the work thereof as God enables me and gives me opportunity The nature of the Office is signified in the Form of Words by which I was solemnly set apart thereunto viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained And be thou a faithfull Dispenser of the Word of God and of his holy Sacraments in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen The former part of these Words being used by our Saviour to his Apostles in conferring upon them the Pastoral Authority fully proves that the Office of a Presbyter is Pastoral and of the same nature with that which was ordinary in the Apostles and in which they had Successours Likewise this Church did then appoint that at the ordering of Priests or Presbyters certain portions of Scripture should be read as belonging to their Office to instruct them in the nature of it viz. That portion of Act. 20. which relates St. Pauls sending to Ephesus and calling for the Elders of the Congregation with his exhortation to them To take heed to themselves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them Overseers to rule the Congregation of God Or else 1 Tim. 3. which sets forth the Office and due qualification of a Bishop And afterwards the Bishop spake to them that were to receive the Office of Priesthood in this form
12. read Sacraments pag. 77. l. 3. read condescention pag. 96. l. 22. read orall pag. 99. l. 2. read rites pag. 116. l. 13. read abasing ib. l. 25. read noting pag. 117. l. 25. read transform it into pag. 121. l. 21. read Levities pag. 144. l. 21. read exalt pag. 149. l. 20. read effected pag. 150. l. 20. read smatch pag. 157. l. 13. read exercise pag. 162. l. 7. read vainly pag. 163. l. 11. dele love pag. 167. l. 9. read concerns pag. 171. l. 3. read Enemies ib. l. 9. read regulation ib. l. 19. read and pag. 189. l. 6. read be not pag. 202. l. 22. read and are withall A TRACT OF THE SOUND STATE OF RELIGION c. CHAP. I. The Nature of Christianity and the Character of true Christians THe Names and Titles by which real Christians are in Holy Scripture distinguished from other men are not mean and common but high and excellent as a Chosen generation a royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar People the first-fruits of Gods creatures the houshold of God children of Light children of Wisdom heirs of the heavenly Kingdom and the Title of Saints was one of their ordinary appellations Doubtless the true difference between them and others lyes not in mere names but in some peculiar excellencies of quality and condition thereby signified And so much is abundantly set forth in the several expressions of Christianity as the Regeneration the new Creation a transformation in the renewing of the mind a participation of the divine nature the life of God conformity to the image of the Son of God and such like Thus from the Scripture stile it is evident that true Christianity is of an other nature then that carnal formal and lifeless profession with which multitudes confidently take up and that in its true professors there must needs be found something of a higher strain and nobler kind and which indeed makes them meet for that holy and Blessed state to come unto which it leads them It is indeed an excellent name and nature the regenerate State and divine life which is begun in the new birth wherein the Soul retaining the same natural faculties is changed from a carnal into a spiritual frame by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost and the word of truth In this change the mind is illuminated unto an effectual acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness as containing the highest good and appearing in such evidence as makes earthly things to be seen what they are indeed but as dross and dung in comparison thereof The will is drawn by the force of the truth acknowledged to an absolute conversion and adhesion to God as the great and ultimate object of the souls love desire joy reverence observance acquiescence zeal and intire devotion In this absolute conversion to God is included the renouncing of all self dependence and of that perverse self-seeking which follows the lapsed state and an unlimited self resignation to God which is the only true self-seeking and self-love For God having made our felicity immutably coherent with his glory but subordinate thereunto a true Convert turning from poor empty nothing self to the infinite God exchanges insufficiency poverty vanity and misery for immensity almightiness all-sufficiency and infinite fullness and so he loseth self as it is a sorry thing and a wretched Idol and findeth the blessed God and self-eternally blessed in him And forasmuch as all have sinned and fallen away from God and cannot be brought back to him but in the hand of a Redeemer and Reconciler our Religion stands also in the sensible knowledg of sin and of our deplorable state under the power and guilt thereof with an humiliation sutable thereunto and in a lively faith towards our Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God made man in the fulness of time who gave himself for us to redeem us from sin and death to a life of grace and glory Which Faith is the worthy receiving of him in the full capacity of a Redeemer the intire and hearty acceptance of the grace of God in him the Souls resignation to him to be conducted to God by him and the securing of all that is hoped for in his hands with an affiance in his all-sufficiency and fidelity This Faith worketh by love towards God and man For through faith we love God because he loved us first and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins And through faith we resolve that if God so loved us then ought we also to love one another And this love eminently contains in it all the virtues of moral honesty towards men as truth justice mercy peaceableness kindness faithfulness humility meekness modesty and towards inferiors moderation equity and condescention and towards Superiors reverence and submission Christianity is a root of true goodness that brings forth its fruit in due season in the first place the internal and immediate actings of faith hope and love which may be called radical duties as lying next the root then the inseparable effects thereof such as are holy meditation and prayer among the acts of devotion towards God and among the acts of charity towards men justice fidelity mercy which are called the weightier matters of the Law And further it shoots forth into an universal regard of Gods commandments in all particularities not slighting the lowest or remotest duties which indeed cannot be slighted without the contempt of that Authority which injoyned the greatest and most important The Spirit of Christianity is a spirit of Wisdom and prudence that guides in a perfect way It sets right the superior governing faculties and holds the inferior under the command and government of the Superior It awakens reason to attend to the souls great concernments to mind the danger of temptations the madness of depraved affections and the mischief and banefulness of all sin It is no inconsiderate licentious presumptuous dissolute spirit but strict circumspect and self suspitious solid serious and universally conscientious It is pure grave sober shunning every unseemly speech all foolish and light behaviour and much more that which hath a filthy savour and smels rank of impurity and dishonesty It watcheth the motions of the animal life and sensitive appetite and curbs them when they are extravigant and renounceth whatsoever things tend to vitiate the soul and work it below its spiritual happiness It is a spirit of patience and of true rational courage and of resolved submission to the will of God It is above wordly riches and poverty and glory and ignominy and fleshly pain and pleasure But self-conceit excessive self estimation asperity towards others and domineering cruelty over conscience is no part of the above-mentioned and commended strictness and severity For as it hates flattery and base compliance with others in prophaness or lukewarmness so it is ever qualified with meekness lowliness of mind peaceableness patience that it may gain upon others and win them to its own advisedness
the things here principally looked after are the receiving and propagating of holy Doctrine drawn out of the pure fountain of Sacred Scripture the right administration of true Gospel worship by which God is glorified as God and the worshippers are made more godly The due preaching of Gods word and dispensation of other divine ordinances by personslawfully called thereunto for the conversion of sinners and edification of converts Holy discipline truly and faithfully administred by the Pastors as the necessity of the Church requires and the State thereof will bear Religious family government Private mutual exhortations pious conferences and profitable conversation The predominant influence of religion in the civil government of a nation yet without usurpation or incroachment upon the civil rights of any especially of the higher Powers The unity of Christians and their mutual charity conspicuous and illustrious and lastly in order to all these intents a good frame of Ecclesiastical polity Holy Doctrine is the incorruptible seed of Regeneration by which the new creature is begotten It is not here intended to represent a perfect scheme thereof for it sufficeth to signifie that extracts thereof from holy Scripture are drawn out in the ancient Catholik Creeds and in the harmonious confessions of the present Reformed Churches Nevertheless our design requires the observation of some most important things about the Doctrine of Salvation As that there be first an earnest and hearty belief of the existence and providence of God and his government of mankind by laws congruous to their nature and of the immortallity of human souls and of a life of retribution in the world to come which is the foundation of all religion 2ly Right apprehensions of Gods nature and attributes more especially of his Holiness comprehending as well his purity and justice as his mercy and goodness that as he is ready to procure his creatures happiness and refuseth none that come unto him so that he cannot deny himself and that he receiveth note but upon terms agreeable to his Holiness 3ly An Idea of Godliness in themind not as shaped by any private conceptions but as expressed by the Holy Ghost whose workmanship it is that Christianity in the hearts and lives of men may be the same with Christianity in the Scriptures 4. The receiving of the great mystery of Godliness not as allegorized in the fancies of some Enthusiasts wherein it vanisheth to nothing but as verisied in the truth of the History wherein it becomes the power of God to Salvation and so not to sever the internal spirit of the Christian Religion from its external frame the basis whereof is the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead and of the incarnation of the eternal word Lastly Soundness of judgment in those great Gospel verities that are written for the exalting of Gods grace and the promoting of true godliness and the incouraging of the godly in opposition to ungracious ungodly and uncomfortable errours of which sort are these following truths That the study and knowledge of the Scriptures is the duty and priviledge of all Christians that according to their several capacities being skilfull in the word of righteousness they may discern between truth and falshood between good and evil and offer to God a reasonable service according to his revealed will That internal illumination is necessary to the saving knowledge of God the Holy spirit in that regard not inspiring new revelations but inabling to discern savingly what is already revealed in nature and Scripture That man was created after the image of God in righteousness and true holyness and that in this state he was indued with a self-determining principle called Freewill and thereby made capable of abiding holy and happy or of falling into sin and misery according to his own choice and that God left him to the freedom of his own choice having given him whatsoever power or assistance was necessary to his standing That the first man being set in this capacity fell from God and it pleased God not to annihilate him nor to prevent his propagating of an issue in the same fallen state which would follow upon his fall but left the condition of mankind to pass according to the course of nature being now fallen That by the sin of Adam all men are made sinners and corrupt in their whole nature and are under the curse of the Law and liable to eternal condemnation and being left to the wicked bent of their own wills are continually adding to their original sin a heap of actual transgressions and so are of themselves in a miserable and helpless condition That the Lord Jesus Christ according to his full intention and his Fathers commandment hath made propitiation for the sins of the whole world so far as thereby to procure pardon of sin and Salvation of soul to all that do unfeignedly believe and repent That man being dead in sin cannot be quickned to the divine life but by the power of Gods grace raising him above the impotency of lapsed nature That the culpable impotency of lapsed nature to saving good lies in the fixed full aversation of the will by a deplorable obstinacy nilling that good to which the natural faculties can reach and ought to incline as to their due object That the root of godliness lies in regeneration and inward Sanctification That God calleth some by the help of that special grace which infallibly effecteth their conversion and adhesion to him without any impeachment of the natural liberty of the will That whatsoever God doth in time and in whatsoever order he doth it he decreed from eternity to do the same and in the same order and so he decreed from eternity to give that special grace to some and by it to bring them to glory which decree is eternal election to which is opposite the pure negative of Non-election As for preordination to everlasting punishment it passeth not upon any but on the foresight and consideration of their final abode in the state of sin That the more common convictions inclinations and endeavours towards God in persons unregenerate are good in their degree and the ordinary preparative to a saving change and they are the effects of that divine grace which is called common That deligent seeking after God by the help of common grace is not in vain it being the means to some further attainment towards the souls recovery and it is regarded of God in its degree and God doth not deny men further degrees of help till they refuse to follow after him by not using the help already given them and by resisting his further aid That God hath made all men savable and though he doth not simply and absolutely will the conversion and Salvation of all yet he willeth it so far and in such manner as is sufficient to encourage the diligent in their endeavours and to convict the careless of being inexcusable despisers of his grace towards them That there is an
Spiritual strain which is most agreeable to the things of the Spirit of God and which as coming from life and Spirit is better discerned than described There is a speaking not in words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And though this more eminently took place in the Apostles and such other extraordinary persons yet there is no sufficient reason to restrain it to them alone St. Paul may well be understood to speak of this as a gift received by them that had received not the Spirit of the world but that which is of God and as something suted to the perception and taste of all Spiritual men It doth not exclude the use of human wisdom though the wisdom of the Spirit sway in chief For no doubt even Paul's human learning and prudence was herein serviceable though in subserviency to the influence and conduct of the Spirit This Spirituality of expression is conformable to that of the Spirit of God in Scripture though not confined to the words thereof Surely the mysteries of Salvation cannot be better handled than in those terms in which they were first delivered to wit in Scripture expressions or others consonant thereto solidly and pertinently used and to call this canting savours to much of that Spirit to which holy language is unsavory Without controversie the strongest reason is of greatest force to gain the wills of men to imbrace true Religion For that which crosseth sensuality selfishness and all the depraved appetite of our lapsed nature as Religion doth must needs have its greatest strength next under the power of divine grace in the force of right reason But care and skill is requisite that it be so prepared offered and set home that it may be sutable to them that should receive it and that the cogency thereof may so reach unto and fasten upon their judgments as to gain their wills Philosophical ratiocinations are too remote not only from low and dull capacities but also from the greater part of them that are competently apprehensive and intelligent and so being too much estranged from them they do not touch them to the quick A familiar natural plain and obvious way of reasoning comes home to all men and is most felt at the heart and that by Scholars themselves though their intellect may be more delighted in more accurate or reserved Speculations Scriptural preaching is indeed the most rational as coming with such reason as is of greatest force with men in matters of Salvation For Gods written word is a treasure of divine wisdom that throughly furnisheth the man of God Besides the infallible testimony thereof hath more authority than Philosophical reason though sound and true can have upon Christian hearers and it peirceth deeper and sticks closer And arguments taken and words spoken from Scripture wherewith the people converse dayly are more easily apprehended and retained and so are more instructive and every way more usefull than other reasonings Though numerous citations of sentences out of human Authors be an unprofitable kind of ostentation yet the Sentences of Holy Writ which is the evidence of our Christian hope and the testimony of him who is truth it self are most effectual to edification And whosoever is able to speak reason in divine matters is to make a rational use of Scripture and if any quote it impertinently and absurdly it is through defect of reason and they would be as injudicious in their Sermons without those quotations But nice and haughty wits mostly cavil without cause and charge profitable Preachers with injudiciousness meerly through their own vain curiosity and inconsiderateness Scripture quotations are sometimes used by way of allusion or for illustration not for strict proof and that which is brought for proof if it be not full and cogent yet it may add some weight and then it is not abused Besides if a passage be used in a sound and pious though not in its proper sense it is pardonable It is fit indeed that in citing Texts we know their true import and go more by weight than number shunning impertinency and superfluity yet it is not unfit to note that all sound and good Preachers are not alike judicious and those that are very solid may be guilty of some oversights and 't is a bad matter that their Ministery which God hath owned and honoured with good success in his Service should be set at nought for a few mistakes perhaps more pretended than real about the sense of some Scripture when it is not applyed otherwise than the Analogy of faith will bear and nothing is defended but known truth I have known a pious but strangely mistaken sense of a Scripture sentence cast into the mind and there fixed to have been the first occasion of seriousness in Religion to one that afterward lived and dyed a godly Christian. Now that which was causal in this conversion was the godly truth it self which was written in Gods word and the mistaking it to lie in such a sentence where it did not being but accidental was no hinderance I do in no wise countenance the irrational use of Scripture but am sensible of the importance of good judgment and due care about the sense thereof yet I cannot approve the scornful haughtiness of some men who deride godly persons well instructed in the Scripture as having nothing but words and Phrases and senseless notions either because they come short of Scholar-like exactness or because they speak of the things of God in a more Evangelicall and Spiritual strain than these can well bear In speaking the best use of art is to speak to best purpose and for that end in divine matters to speak with greatest Majesty and authority And this is done not by ostentation of wit by puerile and effeminate rhetorications by a rapsody of flanting words by starched speech by cadency of sounds or any too elaborate politeness that please the shallow fancy but by the evidence of reason set forth in a masculine and unaffected Eloquence that hath power over the wills of men which are tough and knotty peices Perspicuity is a great vertue and felicity in discourse for hereby what is offered gains attention and enters the mind and abides therein but intricacy and obscurity is a bar to its entrance and entertainment Hereunto an easie and obvious method evident coherence and plainness of expression conduceth mainly Wherefore he that minds what he hath to do is not careful by a more curious artifice to please the fancies of some itching hearers but hath most regard to that composure that makes most for a general benefit and edification And for this cause as he would not multiply words without need and become tedious so he would not be too succinct and close and by that means either too dark or too quick to inform or effect the people In vulgar auditories a dilating of the matter is most necessary so that idle tautologies and prolixity be avoided and it may be
rash with their mouths and hasty to utter any thing before God that is unmeet they are subject to the discipline of the Church to be censured for their errour Moreover heightened affections inlarge the heart and open the mouth and do not make a man at a stand for want of words Indeed astonishing affection or an extasie of Spirit may put one to such a stand but that rarely takes hold of any in a pubick performance But a calm admiration and reverence of God and seriousness and earnestness of address to him doth not hinder but further apâ—expressions For the use of one constant Form it hath been pleaded that a stranger may thereby the better know how we Worship God and that the people better understand and remember that to which they are continually used But on the other hand variety and newness of matter and words are more apt to quicken the affection and perfect the understanding also especially of the attentive whenas under the constant rehersal of one thing the faculties grow flat and dull Besides in the use of this liberty and variety the Prayer being ordinarily the same for substance in the main the vulgar apprehension and memory is help'd by the sameness of the main substance and scope and the affections are raised and the understanding further edified by that which is new in the frame and method and particular matter and the peoples more particular variable concernments are provided for by a more peculiar accommodation and respect thereto as occasions vary And by the received doctrine of Faith a stranger may be sufficiently ascertain'd of the substance of the Worship to be celebrated For a Doctrine of a Church governs its Worship and it is well known that one the same tenor thereof will pass through the several congregations of a nation that are not confined to a stinted Form yet combined in the same faith and order And when all is said that management and performance of this Service is the best that is most effectual to make the Comers thereunto more perfect in knowledge more devout and zealous towards God more pious and blameless in their conversation and every way more perfect in the divine life and it will be so acknowledged by them that are discerning and serious in the things of God But to conciliate the minds of men diversly affected in this matter and to prevent the inconveniencies and to obtain the good of either way a prescribed Form and a free Prayer will do best together in reference to the Churches peace and edification CHAP. VI. The right Administration of Ecclesiastical discipline THe Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God are Pastors of the Church and Pastoral authority includes both teaching and ruling and implies the peoples subjection in the Lord to their Doctrine and discipline To bereave the Church of discipline is to leave it unfurnished of that means which is necessary to the preservation of all orderly Socities of mankind It is to turn the Garden of the Lord by plucking up the fence thereof into a Common or Wilderness The power intrinsecal to this Office is not secular and coercive by temporal penalties but purely Spiritual which is in the name of Christ and by authority from him the chief Pastor to watch over the Flock to encourage them that live conformably to the Gospel by the consolations thereof and to warn them that walk disorderly and if any continue obstinate therein to declare them unworthy of Church-Communion and Christian converse and to require the faithful to have no fellowship with them to the intent that they may be humbled and reformed As the Discipline of all Societies is to be regulated by their true interest and and chief scope so is this of the Church of God Now the Christian Church looks mainly to the honour of Christ and the glory of Gods grace in him and to the Salvation of men for which ends it was ordained And consequently its true interest lies in the conservation and augmentation of true Christianity or the power of godliness but that Church interest which is elsewhere fixed and levelled to an other mark appertains to a carnal and worldly State set up in the room and pretence of this Spiritual Society The Churches true and proper excellency lies not in worldly splendor opulency and power nor in outward rites and formal unity nor in the stability and amplitude of a meer external State but in the inward light and life in the unfained faith and love in the purity and Spiritual unity of believers and in the security and advancement of this internal State and of the external State in order to the internal Wherefore the right end of discipline is not to promote temporal glory and opinions and formalities thereunto subservient but the Apostolick faith and worship and the regeneration of the professors thereof and their sincere devotion Godly unity Sobriety Righteousness Brotherly-kindness and common Charity and all the vital parts of Christianity and to keep and cast out Heresie Superstition Profaness Unrighteousness and all wicked error and practice that tends to frustrate the designs of Christs Gospel as also to prevent and remedy the causless tearing and renting of Churches and those alienations and animosities among Christians that proceed only from the wills and lusts of men And the management hereof to this right end is of far greater consequence than any scrupulosity or preciseness about its external form and order Nay if an external order could be proved to be primitive and Apostolical and were perverted and abused to inforce corrupt doctrines scandalous and insnaring inventions and impositions and in a Ceremonial strictness to indulge real profaness and discourage true Godliness it were no other then the mystery of a carnal state under a Spiritual name having a form of godliness but denying and suppressing the power thereof The right end of Discipline being such as hath been declared it follows that its proper work is to incourage Godliness and to disgrace open sin Accordingly being rightly managed it admonisheth the unruly casts out the obstinate and restores the penitent About these things it is active watchfull and vigorous What severity it hath it exerciseth in correcting real scandals and gross breaches of Gods Law and in maintaining the Churches peace against those that cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have received that is the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles But it careth little for those matters wherein the life and power of Religion and the Churches peace and edification is unconcerned Much less doth it seek to quench godly zeal and to hinder the necessary means of the increase of true godliness or to afflict peaceable and pious Christians by any needless rigors CHAP. VII Religious Family-government IN the time of the Law the solemn Dedication of houses was in use the Solemnity expressing that holy exercises should be performed in it and that the houshold should be
holy In the first times of Christianity the Scripture makes mention of Churches that were in particular houses teaching that Christian families should resemble Churches for piety and godly order By Family-godliness Religion thrives exceedingly and decays as much by the neglect thereof By Domestick instruction knowledge is much increased For this private particular Teaching is apt to be more heeded than that which is publick and general and persons are hereby prepared to attend with profit upon the publick Preaching Good principles are infused and impressions of good are made upon those that live under such government And where much may not be wrought at present towards conversion something may stick upon them which may afterwards appear when the grace of God shall visit them more powerfully Moreover National and Church Reformation should here begin Nations will be wicked and Churches corrupt while families remain disordered but by the reformation of these lesser Societies the larger are easily reformed as the whole street is made clean where every one will sweep his own door which is but an easie task It were most desirable that houses of eminent persons were exemplary in this kind as it appears King Davids was by that profession I will walk within my house with a perfect heart I will not know a wicked person he that walketh in a perfect way shall serve me But it is lamentable that in so many families of professed Christians of high and low degree wickedness carries it with a high hand in drunkenness swearing cursing open profanation of the Lords day in hatred of Godliness and contempt of Gods ordinances and that in many others free from debauchedness and open lewdness there is no face Religion no divine Worship performed no Godly discipline no instruction in the way of Godliness observed Should any professing subjection to God maintain under his charge and government an open Rebellion against God or at least a totall neglect of him Should not God rule where his Servant rules Wherefore it is the proper work of Christian housholders in their several houses to offer Prayers and praises to God dayly both Morning and Evening as the dayly Sacrifice to Sanctifie the Lords day in Prayer singing of Psalms reading the Scriptures and other holy Books in repeating Sermons instructing Children and Servants and in taking account of their diligence and proficiency under the means of Grace and this to be done not formally and customarily but conscienciously in good carnest and to good effect It is their charge also to hold a prudent hand over children in their Minority and not to indulge them in a course of idleness sensual pleasure or any inordinate liberty also to make intercession to God for those under their tuition to allow Servants time for secret duty lastly to purge their Families of sinfull disorders and to remove scandals as carefully as the Israelites cleansed their houses from Leaven at the time of the Passover As the Religious care of Superiors so the submission and teachableness of inferiors is injoyned Children Servants and Sojourners in Godly families being come into the Lords heritage and portion and under his special protection and the dispensation of his grace should not think it a yoke of bondage to live under such a Discipline and to be held unto such exercies but should improve the advantage and be followers of whatsoever is good and praise-worthy And whatsoever imperfections they find therein they should not malignantly aggravate the same but bless God for the good and consider the defects as the remainders of human weakness CHAP. VIII Private mutual Exhortations Pious discourse and edifying Conversation IT is also of great advantage when Christian people are inured in the way of Religious converse and discourse for edification For by this means they propagate the knowledge and love of the truth and keep themselves in Spiritual life and vigor and daily building up one another on their most holy faith advance heaven-ward And it is as comely as advantageous The royal Prophet understood what was seemly and worthy of him in his conversation and he saith I will talk of thy commandments before Princes and not be ashamed Is it not seemly for those that are risen with Christ to speak of the things above and for Fellowtravell rs towards the heavenly Kingdom to mention the affairs of their own country It is also sweet and lovely a partaking of that grace that was poured into Christs lips and it is pleasant to all such as savour the things of God Yea are not Converts bound by all means to seek the conversion of others We have received this holy commandment Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good for the use of edifying that it may administer grace to the hearers Indeed holy language proceeding from the mouths of Scandalous persons or detected hypocrites is disgraced and loseth its savour If affectation and vanity appear therein it hath not so sweet a relish But this can be no disparagement to gracious words which holy and humble men of inoffensive lives speak feelingly from the abundance of the heart and those that judge them hypocrites God will judge Moreover honest minds may be sometimes guilty of imprudence and thereby occasion some disgust and make that which is good and wholsom to be unacceptable and ineffectual Nevertheless t is a bad matter for any one from the baseness of some Hypocrites and the weakness of good Christians to take occasion of pouring out contempt upon this godly Practice Yea whosoever gives a check to it upon pretence of its unseasonableness and impertinency at some times are not well advised for the interest of true Religion because for one that is overforward herein a hundred are too backward and that among the Wise and Able who might reap a harvest of much good if they were not too shie or sluggish The most have need rather of the spur than the bridle in this case Wherefore discretion will mind the season in which every thing is beautifull and not inconsiderately force Discourse and run on therein when it will not be entertained as in the set times of other Mens sports or business Nor will it press any beyond due measure and what they can well receive lest that which in it self is precious become nauseous or untastfull Opportunity and leasure will sufficiently offer it self for set and solemn conference and besides this there will be room almost continually to put in by the by a word that may take effect How forcible are right words It hath sometimes come to pass that a short Saying occasionally let fall upon a prepared mind hath entred deep and stuck close Yea that which takes not much at present may be remembred and have its effect after a long time and then be matter of much Blessing and Praise The counsel of the wise Preacher looks this way In the morning sow thy seed in the evening with-hold not thy hand for thou