for the preservation of outward Order And whatever Arbitrariness may be supposed in making a judgment upon the Rule of the Word or in the Application of its rule unto the present Case it must abide in some or other And who shall be thought more meet or able to make a right determination thereon than those whose Duty it is and who have the advantage to be acquainted with all Circumstances belonging to the Case proposed Besides there is the Judgment of the Church or the Congregation it self which is greatly to be regarded Even in the Church of England a suspension of any from the Lords Supper is allowed unto the Curate upon the Offence of the Congregation which is a sufficient evidence that a Judgment in this Case is owned to be their due For none can take Offence but upon a Judgment of the Matter at which he is offended nor in this case without a right to determine that some Offences ought to debar Persons from a participation of the holy Ordinances as also what those Offences are This therefore is to be considered as an Aid and Assistance unto Ministers in the discharge of their Duty It is the Church into whose communion persons are to be admitted And although it be no way necessary that determinations in this Case should be always made by Suffrage or a Plurality of Votes in the Body of the Church yet if the Sense or Mind of the Congregation may be known or is so upon the Enquiry that ought to be made unto that purpose that any persons are unmeet for their communion it is not convenient they should be received nor will their Admission in this case be of any advantage to themselves or the Church The Light of Reason and the Fundamental constitutive Principles of all Free Societies such as the Church is ascribe this Liberty unto it and the Primitive Church practised accordingly So also is the judgment and Desire of the Congregation to be considered in the admission of any if they are made known to the Guides of it For it is expected from them they should confirm their Love unto them without dissimulation as Members of the same Body and therefore in their approbation of what is done their Rulers have Light and Encouragement in their own Duty Besides there is appointed and ought to be preserved a communion among Churches themselves By virtue hereof they are not only to make use of mutual Aid Advice and Counsel antecedently unto a actings of Importance but each particular Church is upon just demand to give an account unto other Churches of what they do in the Administration of the Ordinances of the Gospel among them and if in any thing it hath mistaken or miscarried to rectifie them upon their Advice and Judgment And it were easie to manifest how through these Means and Advantages the Edification of the Church and the Liberty of Christians is sufficiently secured in that discharge of Duty which is required in the Pastors of the Churches about the Admission of persons unto a Participation of holy ordinances in them 5. This Duty therefore must either be wholly neglected which will unavoidably tend to the corrupting and debauching of all Churches and in the end unto their Ruine or it must be attended unto by each particular Church under the conduct of their Guides and Rulers or some others must take it upon themselves What hath been the issue of a Supposal that it may be discharged in the latter way is too well known to be insisted on For whilst those who undertake the Exercise of Church-Power are such as do not dispense the Word or preach it unto them towards whom it is to be exercised but are strangers unto their spiritual state and all the Circumstances of it whilst they have no way to act or exercise their presumed Authority but by Citations Processes Informations and Penalties according to the manner of Secular Courts of Judicature in Causes Civil and Criminal and whilst the Administration of it is committed unto men utterly unacquainted with and inconcerned in the Discipline of the Gospel or the preservation of the Church of Christ in Purity and Order and whilst herein many the most or all of them who are so employed have thereby outward Emoluments and Advantages which they do principally regard the due and proper care of the right Order of the Churches unto the Glory of Christ and their own Edification is utterly omitted and lost It is true many think this the only decent useful and expedient way for the Government of the Church and think it wondrous unreasonable that others will not submit thereunto and acquiesce therein But what would they have us do or what is it that they would perswade us unto Is it that this kind of Rule in and over the Church hath Institution given it in the Scripture or countenance from Apostolieal Practice Both they and we know that no pretence of any such Plea can be made Is it that the first Churches after the Apostles or the Primitive Church did find such a kind of Rule to be necessary and therefore erected it among themselves There is nothing more remote from Truth Would they perswade us that as Ministers of the Gospel and such as have or may have the care of particular Churches committed unto us that we have no such concernment in these things but what we may solemnly renounce and leave them wholly to the mannagement of others We are not able to believe them The Charge that is given unto us the Account that will be required of us the nature of the Office we are called unto continually testifie other things unto us Wherefore we dare not voluntarily engage into the neglect or omission of this Duty which Christ requireth at our hands and of whose neglect we see so many sad Consequents and Effects The Lord Christ we know hath the same Thoughts and makes the same Judgment of his Churches as he did of old when he made a solemn Revelation and Declaration of them And then we find that he charged the Failings Neglects and Miscarriages of the Churches principally upon the Angels or Ministers of them And we would not willingly by our neglect render our selves obnoxious unto his Displeasure nor betray the Churches whereunto we do relate unto his just indignation for their declension from the Purity of his Institutions and the vigour of that Faith and Love which they had professed We should moreover by the Conformity required of us and according to the Terms on which it is proposed engage our selves against the exercise of our Ministerial Office and Power with respect unto them who are already Members of Particular Churches For this we carry along with us that by Conforming we voluntarily consent unto the whole state of Conformity and unto all that we are to do or not to do by the Law thereof Now it is not to be expected that all who are duly initiated or joyned unto any Church
unto the owning and observance of them And whereas this Liberty was given them by Jesus Christ in the Gospel they were resolved to make use of it and not to comply with the other sort who pressed Conformity upon them in their Ceremonies and Modes of Divine worship So it may fall out in other Instances Some may be perswaded that such or such things may be Lawful for them to observe in the worship of God they may be so unto them and as is supposed in their own Nature On the Consideration of some Circumstances they may judg that it is convenient or expedient to attend unto their Observance Lastly all Coincidencies weighed that it is necessary that so they should do and that others also that walk with them in the Profession of the Gospel should conform themselves unto their Order and Practice On the other hand some there are who because the things of the joynt-practice required are not appointed by Jesus Christ nor doth it appear unto them that he hath given Power unto any others to appoint them do not judg it expedient nor yet all Circumstances considered Lawful to observe them Now whereas this Case answers unto that before proposed the Determination thereof given by the Apostle may safely be applyed unto this also What Rule therefore doth he give therein which he would have attended unto as the means for the Preservation of Love Peace and Unity among them Is it that the former sort of Persons provided they be the most or have the most Power ought to impose the Practice of those things which they esteem Lawful and Convenient on those who judg them not so when it is out of Question that they are not appointed by Christ only it is pretended that they are not forbidden by him Where indeed the Question was about the Institutions of Christ he binds up the Churches precisely unto what he had received from him But in cases of this nature wherein a direct command of Christ cannot be pleaded nor is pretended he absolutely rejects and condemns all thoughts of such a procedure But supposing that Differences in Judgment and Practice were and would be among Christians the Sum of his Advice is that all Offences and Scandals ought to be diligently avoided that censuring judging and despisings on the account of such Differences be cast out that tenderness be used towards them that are weak and nothing severely prest on them that Doubt and for their different Apprehensions and Ways they should all walk in Peace condescending unto and bearing with one another Nothing can more evidently determine the unlawfulness of imposing on Christians unscriptural Conditions of Communion than do the Discourses of that Great Apostle to this Purpose Yea better it is and more agreeable unto the mind of Christ that Persons and particular Churches should be left unto different Observations in sundry things relating unto Sacred worship wherein they cannot joyn with each other nor communicate together endeavouring in the mean time to keep the Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace than that they should be inforced unto an Vniformity in the Practice of things that have not the immediate Authority of Christ enstamped on them Accordingly it so fell out among them unto whom the Apostle gave these Directions and that suitably unto his Intention in them For the Dissenting Parties agreeing in the common Faith and Profession of the Gospel did yet constantly meet in distinct Assemblies or Churches for the Celebration of Holy worship because of the different Rites wherein they did not agree And in this Posture were Peace and Love continued among them untill in process of Time their Differences through mutual forbearance being extinguished they Coalesced into one Church state and Order And the former Peace which they had in their Distances was deemed sufficient whilst things were not measured nor regulated by secular Interest or Advantages But it is a part of our present unhappiness that such a Peace among Christians and particular Churches is mistaken to have an ill Aspect upon the concerns of some belonging unto the Church in Power Honour and Revenue But as we apprehend there is as things are now stated among us a plain mistake in this surmize so if the Glory of God and the Honour of the Gospel were chief in our Consultations about Church Affairs it would be with us of no such consideration as to hinder us from committing quietly the success and events of duty unto the Providence of God Fourthly There was also a signal Vindication of the Truth pleaded for in an Instance of Fact among the Primitive Churches There was an opinion which prevailed very early among them about the necessary observation of Easter in the room of the Jewish Passeover for the solemn commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour And it was taken for granted by most of them that the observance hereof was countenanced if not rendred necessary unto them by the example of the Apostles For they generally believed that by them it was observed and that it was their Duty to accommodate themselves unto their practise only there was a difference about the precise Time or Day which they were to solemnize as the Head and Rule of their Festival as every undue presumption hath one Lameness or other accompanying it It is Truth alone which is square and steady Some therefore pleaded the example of John the Apostle and Evangelist who as it was strongly asserted and testified by multitudes kept his Easter at such a time and by such a Rule whom they thought meet to follow and imitate Others not inferiour unto them in number or Authority opposed unto their Time the example of Peter whom they affirmed on what grounds and Reasons they know best for they are now lost to have observed his Easter at another Time and according unto a different Rule And it is scarcely imaginable how the Contests hereabouts troubled the Churches both of Europe and Asia who certainly had things more material to have exercised themselves about The Church of Rome embraced that Opinion which at length prevailed over the other and obtained a kind of Catholicisme against that which was countenanced only by the Authority of St. John as that Church was alwayes wondrous happy in reducing other Churches unto an acquiescency in its sentiments as seldom wanting desire or skill dexterously to improve its manifold advantages Now this was that Easter to be celebrated on the Lords Day only and not by the Rule of the Jewish Passover on the 14 day of the first month what day of the week soever it fell out upon Hereon Victor the Bishop of that Church being confident that the Truth was on his side namely that Easter was to be observed on the Lords Day resolved to make it a Condition of Communion unto all the Churches for otherwise he saw not how there could be either Union Peace or Uniformity among them He did not question but that he
can hence be taken for other men who are neither Jesus Christ nor his Apostles but weak and fallible as our selves to compose entire Liturgies and impose the necessary use of them in all the worship of the Church Neither is there the least countenance to be obtained unto such Impositions from the practise or example of the first Churches Liturgies themselves were an Invention of after-Ages and the use of them now enquired after of a much later date For those which pretend unto Apostolical antiquity have long since been convicted to be spurious and feigned Nor is there scarce any Learned man who hath the confidence to assert them to be genuine And on a supposition that so they are no tollerable reason can be given why the use of them should be neglected and such others taken up as are of a most uncertain Original The first condition therefore of communion proposed unto us is not only unscriptural which is sufficient unto our present Argument but also destitute of any ancient Example or Usuage among the Churches of Christ to give countenance unto it This if we admit not of if we attend not unto we are not only refused communion in other things but also excommunicated or cast out of the whole communion of the Church as many are at this day yea some are so not only for refusing compliance with the whole of it in general but for not observing every particular Direction belonging unto it as might be manifested in Instances of no great importance If therefore any Divisions or Schismes do ensue among us on this account that some indispensibly require an Assent and Consent unto the Liturgy and all things contained in it as the condition of compleat Church-communion or a necessary attendance on the whole Religious worship thereby performed and therein prescribed which others refuse to admit of as such and thereon forbear the communion proposed unto them it is evident from the Rules laid down where the guilt of them is to be charged And we do not discourse of what any may do among themselves judging it meet for their edification nor of what a Civil Law may constitute with respect unto publick places Employments and Preferments but only where lies the lin and evil that attends Divisions arising on these Impositions and which by their removal would be taken away And there seems to be an aggravation of this Disorder in that not only all men are refused communion who will not submit unto these Terms of it but also they are sought out and exposed unto severe Penalties if they will not admit of them though expresly contrary to their Consciences and Perswasions 2. Canonical Submission unto the present Ecclesiastical Government of the Church and the Administration of the Discipline thereof in their hands by whom the Power of it is possessed with an Acquiescency therein are to the same purpose required of us and expected from us Who these are and what are the Wayes and Means of their Administrations we shall not repeat as unwilling to give offence unto any We cannot but know how and in what sense these things are proposed unto us and what is expected from us thereon Neither dare we give another sense of them in our minds than what we judge to be the sense and intention of them who require our submission and obedience unto them It is not certainly their design nor mind that we should look on the Offices of the Church as unwarrantable and on their Rule as inconvenient so as to endeavour a Reformation in the one and of the other It is such a conformity they intend as whereby we do virtually at least declare our approbation of all these things in the Church and our acquiescency in them Neither can we be admitted to put in any Exception nor discharge our Consciences by a plain Declaration of what we dislike or dissent from or in what sense we can submit unto any of these things We take it therefore for granted that in the conformity required of us we must cordially and sincerely approve the pâ—esent Ecclesiastical Government and the Administration of Church-Discipline thereby For it is the profession of our Acceptance of it as proposed unto us and if we acquiesce not therein but express an uneasiness under it we do it at the hazard of the Reputation of our Sincerity and Honesty in conforming Now this condition of communion with the Church of England is also unscriptural and consequently unlawful to be made so This is by many now plainly acknowledged For they say there is no Government determined in the Scripture But this now in force amongst us is erected by the Authority of the Magistrate who hath supream power in things Ecclesiastical And on that ground a lawful Government they plead it to be and lawful to be exercised and so also by others to be submitted to But we have now sundry times declared that this is not our present Question We enquire not whether it be Lawful or no or on what account it may be so esteemed or how far it may be submitted unto or wherein But we say the professed acknowledging of it with submission unto it as the Government of the Church is required of us as a necessary condition of our communion If they are not so give us liberty to declare our sense concerning it without prejudice And if it be so then may we refuse this condition as unscrptural For in the case of Conformity there is not only a submission to the Government required but expresly as was said an approbation of it that it is such as it ought to be For in Religious things our practise declares a cordial approbation as being a part of our Profession wherein we ought to be sincere Some again make some Pleas that Bishops and some Government by them are appointed by the Apostles and therefore a submission unto them may be justly required as a condition of communion For we will not now dispute but that whatever is so appointed may be so required although we believe that every particular Instance of this nature is not rigidly to be insisted on if it belong not unto the Essentials of the Church and it be dubious to some whether it be so appointed or no. But yet neither doth an admittance of this Plea give us any relief in this matter For suppose it should or might be proved that there ought to be according to the mind of Christ in all Churches Bishops with a preeminence above Presbyters in Order or Degree and that the Rule of the Church doth principally belong unto them that are so yet will not this Concession bear an application to the present Question so as to afford us any Relief For the granting of things so dubious and questionable can never give them such an evidence of Truth and firmitude in the Church as to warrant the making of them necessary conditions of communion unto all Christians Neither doth it follow from any thing that
will that answer our Duty or give us peace in our latter End Shall we profess the perswasions of our minds in these things and indeavour by all Lawful means to accomplish what we desire shall we then escape the severest censures as of Persons inclined to Schisms and Divisions Yea many great and wise Men of the Church of England doe look on this as the most pernicious Principle and Practice that any can betake themselves unto And in reporting the Memorials of former times some of them have charged all the calamities and Miseries that have befallen their Church to have proceeded from Men of this Principle endeavouring Reformation according unto Models of their own without Seperation And could we conscientiously betake our selves to the pursuit of the same Design we should not especially under present jealousies and exasperations escape the same condemnation that others before us have undergone And so it is fallen out with some which might teach them that their measures are not authentick and they might learn Moderation towards them who cannot come up unto them by the security they meet withall from those that do out go them Shall we therefore which alone seems to remain proceed yet farther and making a Renunciation of all those Principles concerning the Constitution Rule and Discipline of the Church with the ways and manner of the Worship of God to be observed in the Assemblies of it come over unto a full Conformity unto the present Constitutions of the Church of England and all the proceedings of its Rulers thereon Yea this is that say some which is required of you and that which would put an End unto all our Differences and Divisions We know indeed that an Agreement in any thing or way right or wrong true or false will promise so to do and appear so to do for a season But it is Truth alone that will make such Agreements durable or useful And we are not ingaged in an inquiry meerly after Peace but after Peace with Truth Yea to lay aside the Consideration of Truth in a disquisition after Peace and Agreement in and about spiritual things is to exclude a regard unto God and his Authority and to provide only for our selves And what it is which at present lays a Prohibition on our Consciences against the compliance proposed shall be afterwards declared neither will we here insist upon the discouragements that are given us from the present state of the Church it self which yet are not a few Only we must say that there doth not appear unto us in many that steadiness in the profession of the Truth owned amongst us upon and since the Reformation nor that consent upon the Grounds and Reasons of the Government and Discipline in it that we are required to submit unto which were necessary to invite any dissentors to a through Conformity unto it That there are daily inrodes made upon the ancient Doctrine of this Church and that without the least controle from them who pretend to be the sole Conservators of it untill if not the whole yet the principal parts of it are laid waste is sufficiently evident and may be easily proved And we fear not to own that we cannot conform to Armianism Socinianism on the one hand or Popery on the other with what new or specious pretences soever they may be blended And for the Ecclesiastical Government as in the hands of meer ecclesiastical Persons when it is agreed among themselves whether it be from Heaven or of Men we shall know the better how to judge of it But suppose we should wave all such considerations and come up to a full Conformity unto all that is or shall or may be required of us will this give us an universally pleadable acquitment from the charges of the Guilt of want of Love Schism and Divisions We should indeed possibly be delivered from the noyse and clamour of a few crying out Sectaries Phanaticks Schismaticks Church-Dividers but withal should continue under the censures of the great and at present thriving Church of Rome for the same supposed Crimes And sure enough we are that a compliance with them who have been the real causes and occasions of all the Schisms and Divisions that are amoâ—gst Christians almost in the whole world would yield us no solid relief in the change of our condition Yet without this no Men can free themselves from the loudest outcries against them on the account of Schism And this sufficiently manifests how little indeed they are to be valued seeing for the most part they are nothing but the steam of Interest and Party It is therefore apparent that the Accommodations of our Judgments and Practices to the measures of other men will afford us no real advantage as to the imputations we suffer under nor will give satisfaction unto all Professors of Christianity that we pursue Love and Peace in a due manner For what one sort requireth of us anonother will instantly disallow and condemn And it is well if the Judgment of the Major Part of all sorts be not influenced by Custome prejudices and secular Advantages We have therefore no way left but that which indeed ought to be the only way of Christians in these things namely to seek in sincerity the satisfaction of our own Consciences and the approving of our hearts unto the search of them in a dilligent attendance unto our own especial Duty according to that Rule which will neither deceive us nor fail us And an Account of what we do herein we shall now render unto them that follow Truth with Peace CHAP. II. Commendations of Love and Vnity Their proper objects with their geniral Rules and measures Of Love toward all mankind in geneâ—al Allows not salvation unto any without faith in Christ Jesus Of the differences in Religion as to outward Worship THe Foundation of our discourse might be laid in the commendation of Christian Love and Unity and thereon we might easily enlarge as also abound in a collection of Testimonies confirming our Assertions But the old reply in such a Case by whom ever were they discommended evidenceth a labour therein to be needless and superfluous We shall therefore only say that they are greatly mistaken who from the Condition whereunto at present we are driven and necessitated do suppose that we value not these things at as high a Rate as themselves or any other Professors of Christian Religion in the world A greater noyse about them may be made possibly by such as have accommodated their name and notion to their own Interâ—sts and who point their Pleas about them and their pretences of them to their own secular Advantage But as for a real valuation of the things themselves as they are required of us and prescribed unto us in the Gospel we shall not willingly be found to come behind any that own the name of Christ in the world We know that God hath stiled himself the God of Love Peace and Order in the
from him Instead hereof some have invented bonds of Ecclesiastical Vnity which may outwardly bind men together in some appearance of order whilst in the mean time they live in envy wrath and malice biting and devouring one another or if there be any thing of Love among them it is that which is meerly natural or carnal and sensual working by a joynt consent in delights and pleasure or at best in Civil things belonging unto their conversation in this world The love that is among such persons in this world is of the world and will perish with the world But it is a far easier thing to satisfie Conscience with a pretence of preserving Church Unity by an acquiescency in some outward Rules and Constitutions wherein mens minds are little concerned than to attend diligently unto the due exercise of this Grace of Love against all Oppositions and Temptations unto the contrary For indeed the exercise of this Love requires a sedulous and painful labour Heb. 6. 10. But yet this is that alone which is the Bond of Perfection unto the Disciples of Christ and without which all other pretences or appearances of Unity are of no value with him Secondly This Love acts it self by forbearance and condescention towards the Infirmities mistakes and faults of others wherein of what singular use it is for the Preservation of Church Peace and Order the Apostle at large declares 1 Cor. 13. Fourthly The Lord Christ by his Kingly Authority hath instituted Orders for Rule and Ordinances for Worship to be observed in all his Churches That they be attended unto and celebrated in a due manner belongs unto the unity which he requires among his Disciples To this end he communicates supplyes of spiritual ability and wisdome or the Gifts of his Spirit unto the Guides and Rulers of his Churches for their administration unto edification And hereon if a submission unto his Authority be accompanyed with a due attendance unto the Rule of the Word no such variety or difference will ensue as shall impeach that Unity which is the Duty of them all to attend unto In these things doth consist that Evangelical Church Vnity which the Gospel recommends unto us and which the Lord Christ prayed for with respect unto all that should believe on his Name One Spirit one Faith one Love one Lord there ought to be in and unto them all In the possession of this Vnity and no other were the first Churches left by the Apostle And had they in succeeding Generations continued according to their Duty in the preservation and liberty of it all those scandalous Divisions which afterwards fell out among them on the account of Pre-eminences Jurisdictions Liturgies Rites Ceremonies violently or fraudulently obtruded on their Communion had been prevented The ways and means whereby this Vnity may be obtained and preserved amongst Christians are evident from the Nature of it For whereas it is Spiritual none other are suited thereunto nor hath the Lord Christ appointed any other but his Spirit and his Word For to this end doth he promise the presence of his Spirit among them that believe unto the consummation of all things And this he doth both as to lead and guide them into all Truth necessary unto the Ends mentioned so to assist and help them in the orderly performances of their Duties in and about them His Word also as the Rule which they are to attend unto he hath committed unto them and other ways and means for the compassing of this end besides the due improvement of spiritual Assistances in a compliance with the holy Rule he hath not designed or appointed This is that Gospel-Vnity which we are to labour after and these are the means whereby we may do so But now through the mistake of the minds of men with the strong influence which carnal and corrupt Interests have upon them we know how it hath been despised and what hath been set up in the room thereof and what have been the means whereby it hath been pursued and promoted We may take an Instance in those of the Church of Rome No sort of Christians in the world as we have already observed do at this day more pretend unto Vnity or more press the necessity of it or more fiercely judge oppose and destroy others for the breach of it which they charge upon them nor more prevail or advantage themselves by the pretence of it than do they But yet notwithstanding all their Pretenâ—es it will not be denied but that the Vnity which they so make their boast of and press upon others is a thing utterly forreign to the Gospel and destructive of that Peace Union and Concord among Christians which it doth require They know how highly Unity is commended in the Scripture how much it is to be prized and valued by all true Believers how acceptable it is to Jesus Christ and how severely they are condemned who break it or despise it These things they press and plead and make their advantage by But when we come to enquire what it is that they intend by Church-Vnity they tell us long Stories of Subjection unto the Pope to the Church in its Dictates and Resolutions without farther examination meerly because they are theirs Now these things are not only of another nature and kind than the Unity and Concord commended unto us by Jesus Christ but perfectly inconsistent with them and destructive of them And as they would impose upon us a corrupt confederacy for their own secular Advantage in the room of the spiritual Unity of the Gospel so it was necessary that they should find out means sutable unto its Accomplishment and Preservation as distant from the means appointed by Christ for the attaining of Gospel-Vnion as their carnal Confederacy is from the thing its self And they have done accordingly For the enforcing men by all wayes of deceit and outward violence unto a compliance with and submission unto their Orders is the great Expedient for the establishment and preservation of their perverse Union that they have fixed on Now that this Fictitious Vnity and corrupt carnal pursuit of it have been the greatest occasion and causes of begetting fomenting and continuing the Divisions that are among Christians in the world hath been indeniably proved by Learned men of all sorts And so it will fall out where-ever any reject the Union of Christs Institutions and substitute in the room thereof an Agreement of their own Invention as his will be utterly lost so they will not be able to retain their own Thus others also not content with those bounds and measures which the Gospel hath fixed unto the Vnity of Christians and Churches will have it to consist almost wholly in an outward Conformity unto certain Rites Orders Ceremonies and Modes of Sacred Administrations which themselves have either invented and found out or do observe and approve Whoever dissents from them in these things must immediately be branded as a
intestine Differences and Schismes do but reproach them that they have not been able in an hundred years to rectifie all those Abuses and remove all those Disorders which they were inventing and did introduce in a thousand There is one thing only of this Nature or that owes it self unto this Original which we shall instance in as an occasion of much Disorder in the present Churches and of great Divisions that ensue thereon It is known none were admitted unto the fellowship of the Church in the Dayes of the Apostles but upon their Repentance Faith and turning unto God The plain Story of their Preaching the Success which they had therein and their Proceedings to gather and plant Churches thereon puts this out of the reach of all sober Contradiction None will say that they gathered Churches of Jews and Gentiles that is whilst they continued such nor of open Sinners continuing to live in their sins An evidence therefore and Confession of Conversion to God was unavoidably necessary to the Admission of Members in the first Churches Neither will we ever contend with such importune Prejudices as under any pretences capable of a wrangling Countenance shall set up against this evidence Hence in the judgment of Charity all the Members of those Churches were looked on as persons really justified and sanctified as effectually converted unto God and as such were they saluted and treated by the Apostles As such we say they were looked on and owned and as such upon their Confession it was the duty of all men even of the Apostles themselves to look on them and own them though absolutely in the sight of God who alone is the Searcher of the hearts of men some among them were Hypocrites and some proved Apostates But this Profession of Conversion unto God by the Ministry of the Word and the mutual acknowledgment of each other as so converted unto God in a way of Duty was the foundation of holy spiritual Love and Unity among them And although this did not nor could preserve all the first Churches absolutely free from Schismes and Divisions yet was it the most Soveraign Antidote against that Infection and the most effectual means for the reduction of Unity after that by the violent interposition of mens Corruptions and Temptations it had been lost for a season Afterwards in the Primitive times when many more took on them the profession of Christian Religion who had not such eminent and visible Conversions unto God as most of those had who were changed by the Ministry of the Apostles that persons unfit and unqualified for that state and condition of being Members of Churches might not be admitted into them unto the disturbance of their Order and disreputation of their Holy Conversation they were for some good season kept in the condition of Expectants and called Catechumens or persons that attended the Church for Instruction In this state they were taught the Mysteries of Religion and trial was made of their Faith Holiness and Constancy before their Admission And by this means was the preservation of the Churches in Purity Peace and Order provided for Especially were they so in conjunction with that severe Discipline which was then exercised towards all the Members of them But after that the Multitudes of the Gentile world in the times of the first Christian Emperors pressed into the Church and were admitted on much easier terms than those before mentioned whole Nations came to claim successively the priviledge of Church-Membership without any personal duty performed or profession made unto that purpose on their part And so do they continue to do in many places to this day Men generally trouble themselves no farther about a Title to Church-Membership and Priviledges but rest in the prepossession of their Ancestors and their own Nativity in such or such places For whatever may be owned or acknowledged concerning the necessity of a visible Profession of Faith and Repentance and that credible as to the sincerity of it in the judgment of Charity it is certain for the most part no such thing is required of any nor performed by them And they do but ill consult for the edification of the Church or the good of the Souls of men who would teach them to rest in an outward formal Representation of things instead of the reality of Duties and the power of Internal Grace And no small part of the present ruine of Christian Religion owes it self unto this corrupt Principle For whereas the things of it which consist in Powers Internal and effectual Operations of Grace have outward Representations of them which from their Relation unto what they represent are called by the same names with them many take up with and rest in these external things as though Christianity consisted in them although they are but a dead Carcass where the quickning life and Soul of internal Grace is wanting Thus it is in this matter where there is a shadow and appearance of Church-Order when the truth and substance of it is far away Men come together unto all the Ends of Church-Assemblies where unto they are admitted but on no other grounds with no other hearts nor designes but on and with what they partake in any Civil Society or joyntly engage in any other worldly Concern And this Fundamental Errour in the Constitution of many Churches is the occasion as of other Evils so in particular of Divisions among professed Christians Hence originally was the Discipline of the Church accommodated by various degrees to the Rule and Government of such persons as understood little or were little sensible of the Nature Power and Efficacy of that spiritual Discipline which is instituted in the Gospel which thereby at last degenerated into the outward way of Force and Power before described For the Churches began to be composed of such as could no otherwise be ruled And instead of reducing them to their Primitive Temper and Condition where unto the Evangelical Rule was suited there was invented a way of Government accommodate unto that state whereinto they were lapsed which those concerned found to be the far easier work of the two Hence did sincere mutual Love with all the fruits of it begin to decay among Church-Members seeing they could not have that tollerable perswasion of that Truth of Profession in each other which is necessary to preserve it without Dissimulation and to provoke it unto a due Exercise Hence did private spiritual Communion fail amongst them the most being strangers unto all the ways and means of it yea despising and contemning it in all the instances of its exercise which will yet be found to be as the Life and Soul of all useful Church-communion And where publick Communion is only attended unto with a neglect hereof it will quickly wither and come to nothing For on this occasion do all duties of Watchfulness Exhortations and Admonitions proceeding from mutual Love and Care of each others condition so frequently recommended unto us in the Scripture