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<DATE>6-29-11</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<VID>179944</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE LAVVFULNES OF Hearing the Publick Mini&s;ters OF THE <HI>Church of England.</HI> PROVED, By Mr. <HI>PHILIP NYE,</HI> AND Mr. <HI>JOHN ROBINSON,</HI> Two Eminent Congregational Divines.</P>
<P>Together with the Judgment of Dr. <HI>Goodwin,</HI> Dr. <HI>Owen,</HI> and other INDEPENDENTS, as well Ancient as Modern, con|cerning <HI>Forms of Prayer, Pari&s;h-Churches,</HI> and <HI>Communion</HI> with them: And the Judgment of other Nonconformi&s;ts about <HI>Kneeling at the Sacrament.</HI></P>
<P>Publi&s;hed, as well to &s;atisfy tho&s;e that yet &s;cruple Communion with the Church, as to vindicate tho&s;e that have complied, from the un|charitable Cen&s;ures of tho&s;e that vilify them, as Temporizers; or that they have done &s;o to qualify them&s;elves for an Office, to &s;erve a Turn, or to &s;ave them&s;elves from the Penal Laws.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>Jonathan Robin&s;on,</HI> at the Golden Lion, in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-Yard. 1683.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<P>THe de&s;ign of the&s;e Sheets, is, to &s;atisfy the Con&s;ciences of tho&s;e Di&s;&s;enters that hold Communion with the Church of <HI>England</HI> unlawful; be&s;eeching them &s;eriou&s;ly to con&s;ider what is here &s;aid (in order to the Church's Peace, and to prevent their de&s;igned ruin) by Learned and Holy Men that are of the Separation, commonly called <HI>Independents.</HI> I have quoted none of the <HI>Pre&s;byterian</HI> Per&s;wa&s;ion (only in the bu&s;ine&s;s of <HI>kneel|ing at the Sacrament</HI>) becau&s;e it would be an endle&s;s work, they generally (both Ancient and Modern) having a&s;&s;erted the lawfulne&s;s of (at lea&s;t) Lay-Communion with the Church of <HI>England.</HI> And be&s;ides, I perceive their Arguments will not prevail with <HI>Inde|pendents</HI> who deny a National Church: I know there are many that are convinced it is lawful to Hear Sermons, but not the Liturgy as an impo&s;ed Form. They may find here, what the Reverend and Learned Dr. <HI>Owen</HI> &s;ays concerning Forms of Prayer, in the latter end of the&s;e Sheets. And whereas they complain the Church-Prayers are empty Forms; I wi&s;h they would come and fill them with Spirit and Zeal. But the greate&s;t Scruple that hinders them, is <HI>kneeling at the Sacrament;</HI> and that which pinches them mo&s;t, is, that this Ge&s;ture is &s;aid to be <HI>Adoration</HI> given to the Elements; but they &s;hould con|&s;ider what the Church &s;ays concerning that Ge&s;ture, which me thinks &s;hould remove that Scruple, and &s;atisfy every rea&s;onable Man in that particular, which for their &s;atisfaction I here quote at large, <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Whereas it is ordained in this Office, for the Admini&s;tration of the Lord's Supper, that the Communicants &s;hould receive the &s;ame Kneel|ing;
<PB REF="3">(which Order is well meant, for a &s;ignification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the Benefits of Chri&s;t therein given to all worthy Receivers, and for the avoiding of &s;uch prophanation, and di&s;order in the Holy Communion, as might otherwi&s;e en&s;ue); Yet, le&s;t the &s;ame Kneeling &s;hould by any Per&s;ons, either out of igno|rance and infirmity, or out of malice and ob&s;tinacy, be mi&s;con&s;trued and depraved; It is here declared, that thereby no adoration is in|tended, or ought to be done, either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received, or unto any Corporal Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t's natural Fle&s;h and Blood. For the Sacramental Bread and Wine re|mains &s;till in their very natural &s;ub&s;tances, and therefore may not be adored, (for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Chri|&s;tians) and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Chri&s;t are in Heaven, and not here; it being again&s;t the truth of Chri&s;t's natural Body, to be at one time in more places than one.</HI></P>
<P>This Caution (which wholly denies Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation) together with that Prayer about the Gunpowder-Trea&s;on, being now incorpo|rated in our Liturgie, do (as Dr. <HI>Goodwin</HI> told a Reverend Doctor of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> now living) make it impo&s;&s;ible there &s;hould be any Reconciliation with the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P>The Reverend and Learned Mr. <HI>Perkins</HI> (an old <HI>Puritan</HI>) &s;ays to this effect, That that <HI>Adoration</HI> u&s;ed in the Sacrament, is not terminated in the Elements, but a token of Godly Reverence to Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;itting in Glory, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Cartwright</HI> &s;ays al&s;o, That a Man mu&s;t not refu&s;e to re|ceive the Sacrament kneeling, when he cannot have it otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Fenner</HI> &s;peaks to the &s;ame purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>And the Learned Mr. <HI>Vines</HI> &s;ays, That Ge&s;tures at Receiving, are Moveables, and not of the Free-hold of this Ordinance.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, whether Men are &s;atisfied in whole or in part, I wi&s;h they would con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly what that excellent Man, Mr. <HI>Jer. Bur|roughs</HI> (a Congregational Divine) &s;ays, in his <HI>Irenicon,</HI> pag. <HI>182. viz.</HI> That one great dividing Practice hath been this, That <HI>becau&s;e Men cannot join in all things with others, they will join in nothing.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="religious treatise">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>Mr. PHILIP NY's Re&s;olution of this Ca&s;e of Con&s;cience, <HI>Viz.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Whether we may lawfully hear the Now Conforming Mini&s;ters, who are Re-ordained, and have renounced the Covenant, and &s;ome of them &s;uppo&s;ed to be &s;candalous in their Lives?</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;wer.</LABEL> FOr the Re&s;olution of this Ca&s;e, there is a three-fold Con&s;ide|ration pertinent.</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Con&s;ideration I.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">About the Duty it &s;elf, <HI>Hearing the Word.</HI></HEAD>
<P>There are four ways by which at this Day the Great God conveyeth the knowledg of him&s;elf and his Mind unto &s;inful Man. 1. His Works of Creation and Providence, <HI>P&s;alm.</HI> 19.2. 2. The &s;ugge&s;t of Con&s;ci|ence, even the remainder of God's Image in us. 3. The Word or Law of God written, expounded, or applyed in ordinary Preaching. 4. The Church, which is the <HI>Ground and Pillar of Truth,</HI> the Knowledg of God and his Mind is more e&s;pecially there held forth, by the Gifts given, and Offices therein appointed by Chri&s;t. The&s;e are di&s;tinct Ways and Methods of God, by which he is plea&s;ed to make known him&s;elf: and we are obliged, even by the Law of Nature, to attend when God doth &s;peak; it is therefore an undoubted moral Duty, to attend the &s;peaking of God, in what&s;oever way by Providence brought unto us.</P>
<P>The Scripture, with the Interpretation and Application thereof, commonly termed <HI>Prophe&s;ying</HI> or <HI>Preaching,</HI> is one of the foremen|tioned Means by which God makes known him&s;elf to us; this is a <HI>Na|tional</HI> Gift according as God in his Providence &s;hall di&s;po&s;e, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 147.19, 20.</P>
<P>Such <HI>National</HI> or Publick Preachers, may be &s;aid to have their Call from Chri&s;t, he having a hand in ordering the Motions of Providence
<PB N="2" REF="4">for the Good of his Church, <HI>John</HI> 5.17. And particularly in this Pro|vidential &s;ending of Mini&s;ters, <HI>Mat.</HI> 9.38. and this is the <HI>calling</HI> and <HI>&s;ending</HI> mentioned, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.15. The Lord in the&s;e Admini&s;trations, by Preachers thus &s;ent, <HI>according to the good Plea&s;ure of his Will, finds out a People before they &s;eek him.</HI> This is a di&s;pen&s;ation of God to Men as his Creatures.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>For Application to the Ca&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>The Word of God interpreted and apply'd by preaching in this providential way, is a choice Mercy and Gift, wherewith God hath ble&s;&s;ed this Nation for many Years, to the Conver&s;ion and Edification of many thou&s;ands. The Governors thereof have &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, accord|ing to their Light, made divers good Laws and Statutes for improving this Mercy for the be&s;t advantage of the Nation, as appears in that,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. There are Schools and Univer&s;ities maintained for the bringing up of Per&s;ons in Learning; al&s;o there is a con&s;tant &s;etled Maintenance for encouraging of &s;uch as &s;hall be &s;ent out to the &s;everal parts of the Nation in this great Work.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. There is a &s;um of Doctrinal Truths, which in the Enlargement and Application, are &s;ufficient both for Conver&s;ion and Edification, to which the Preachers are to a&s;&s;ent; and there is provi&s;ion made by our Laws, that &s;uch Per&s;ons only who are <HI>&s;ound in the Faith</HI> be imployed therein.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The Inhabitants of this Nation, are required to be pre&s;ent, and to give attendance to In&s;truction, that they may <HI>Learn the Fear of the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P><LABEL>A&s;&s;ertion.</LABEL> The&s;e things being &s;o, although &s;ome of us do enjoy the In&s;truction of our Pa&s;tors being in a Church-Relation, yet it is a Duty that we and our Families frequent al&s;o (as we have Liberty and Opportunity) the more <HI>Publick</HI> and <HI>National</HI> Mini&s;try, for the&s;e Rea&s;ons.</P>
<P><LABEL>Rea&s;on 1.</LABEL> Where the Lord hath appointed various Ways and Methods, in which he will draw near to us, and manife&s;t him&s;elf, we ought to make u&s;e of all in their place and &s;ea&s;on. This is a &s;everal and di&s;tinct way or appointment of God, not only in re&s;pect of <HI>God's Works</HI> and our <HI>Con&s;ciences,</HI> but al&s;o in re&s;pect of the <HI>teachings of Church Officers;</HI> as ap|pears in the&s;e Particulars.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The one is <HI>Cultus Naturalis,</HI> from the fir&s;t Commandment, dire|cted by the <HI>Light of Nature;</HI> and the other is <HI>Cultus In&s;titutus,</HI> and a Duty of the &s;econd Commandment; and our direction herein is only from <HI>Go&s;pel Light.</HI></ITEM>
<PB N="3" REF="4">
<ITEM> 2. In re&s;pect of the Per&s;ons that are the <HI>primary Object</HI> of each <HI>Prophe&s;ying,</HI> that is, <HI>Church-Preaching,</HI> &s;erveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. It is principally for building: for a Church-State &s;uppo&s;eth them Believers, though &s;uch preaching hath occa&s;ionally its efficacy in converting the Weak, and more directly in re|lation to the Children of Members. This <HI>National</HI> or <HI>Providential Preaching,</HI> is principally for Conver&s;ion, and hath for its primary and main Object, Per&s;ons in their natural Condition; &s;uch a Preacher was <HI>Noah,</HI> 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.5. 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 4.6. <HI>Mat.</HI> 16.3. Preaching is before Believing, and Believing before any Church-Ordinance: There were Preachers in all Nations, and in every City, before there were Churches in every City.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The one is from <HI>Gifts</HI> only as nece&s;&s;arily requi&s;ite, but <HI>Church-In&s;truction</HI> &s;uppo&s;eth the Per&s;on to be not only of &s;ome eminency in <HI>Gifts,</HI> but <HI>Grace</HI> al&s;o, and &s;et apart to Office according to Chri&s;t's ap|pointment.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>And now having &s;een the difference of the&s;e two Methods, the Con|&s;equence will follow; they ought to be attended with due reverence each of them.</P>
<P><LABEL>Rea&s;on 2.</LABEL> As we are Members of <HI>Churches,</HI> &s;o we are Subjects and Members of this <HI>Common-Wealth,</HI> and are obliged thereby to ob&s;erve the lawful Command of our Governors, and to be Examples therein to others. As Members al&s;o of this <HI>Civil</HI> Body, we ought to join with it in a thankful acknowledging this happy Providence of God, by which we, and our Children after us, may be in&s;tructed; which may be a means to have it continued, and a neglect thereof would give ju&s;t cau&s;e to fear the contrary.</P>
<P><LABEL>Rea&s;on 3.</LABEL> If <HI>Church-Members,</HI> or any <HI>one Godly Man</HI> hath a Warrant to forbear hearing &s;uch Mini&s;ters upon this account of unlawfulne&s;s; then all Godly Men ought at all times &s;o to do; and if &s;o, the Examples of the Godly to the generality being very leading in the Matters of God, this Ordinance thereby will be little frequented, and of le&s;s efficacy to tho&s;e that do come to it. And by a&s;&s;erting it unlawful to hear &s;uch Mini&s;ters, we imply, it were better for the Nation there were no preaching but in particular Churches: and if &s;o, what can we expect will become of many thou&s;ands in an ordinary way of Salvation, that have no benefit at all by our Church-In&s;tructions? We are to walk wi&s;e|ly, yea, mercifully towards them that are without.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<PB N="4" REF="5">
<HEAD>Objections An&s;wered.</HEAD>
<P><LABEL>Object. 1.</LABEL> Where there is no true Church, there can be no true Mini&s;try: the Church of <HI>England</HI> is no true Church, <HI>Ergo,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;wer.</LABEL> There may be a <HI>Lawful</HI> and <HI>True</HI> Mini&s;try, or Admini&s;tration of the &s;aving Truths of God, though the Nation, or any parcels of it as yet be in no <HI>Church-State.</HI> We &s;ay, each <HI>particular Church</HI> materially con|&s;idered, is <HI>part</HI> of the <HI>Church Catholick.</HI> The <HI>Matter</HI> mu&s;t needs have being before the <HI>Form</HI> can be introduced. No Man becomes a Member of the <HI>Catholick Church</HI> but by his effectual Calling, and that is by preaching the Word. I conclude therefore each <HI>particular Church</HI> to have its production from &s;uch an Admini&s;tration, and not this Mini&s;try to have its original or &s;tate from the Church.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 2.</LABEL> The National Mini&s;try is Antichri&s;tian, derived from <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;wer.</LABEL> If <HI>Antichri&s;tian:</HI> it's either &s;o from their <HI>Standing,</HI> as deriving their Ordination thence, (of which in the <HI>third Con&s;ideration</HI>) or from their <HI>Doctrine.</HI> If any &s;uch Doctrine be preached, it's the mi&s;carriage of particular Per&s;ons, and contrary to the National Provi&s;ion. The <HI>Ar|ticles of Religion,</HI> to which the Mini&s;ters are to conform their In&s;tructi|ons, are Orthodox, &amp; framed for the ca&s;ting and keeping out of Popery.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 3.</LABEL> It offends our weak Brethren; it is a complying with the Corruption of the Times, it's an approbation and encouragement to Conformity.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;wer.</LABEL> The&s;e, and other Objections of the like nature, have their weight and place in practice when the matter is <HI>indifferent,</HI> and may be done or left undone without Sin, and not in relation to any <HI>moral</HI> Duty. Though I know <HI>gathering</HI> of Churches in a <HI>Congregational</HI> way, preach|ing without Ordination, Baptizing of Infants, and the like, as well as hearing a Conforming-Mini&s;ter, are a great offence to &s;ome that are truly Godly: yet may I not &s;ay, <HI>If &s;uch a Fellow&s;hip, if &s;uch Bapti|zing, and the re&s;t, offend my Brother, I will do no &s;uch thing while the World &s;tandeth, le&s;t I &s;hould offend.</HI> It were &s;in &s;o to re&s;olve: becau&s;e the&s;e are <HI>moral</HI> Duties, and not left to my liberty, as Meats and the re&s;t, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8.13. and <HI>Acts</HI> 8. wherein the nature of indifferent things is laid down.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<PB N="5" REF="5">
<HEAD>Con&s;ideration II.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">About <HI>refraining</HI> a <HI>Moral</HI> Duty for the Evil mixed with it, or in the Per&s;ons performing it.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. As <HI>we are not to do Evil that Good may come of it,</HI> no more ought we to leave what is <HI>morally</HI> Good undone, for the Evil that is &s;ome-way mixed with it. Zeal for Good is to be preferred to that which is a|gain&s;t Evil. The greate&s;t Good is better than the greate&s;t Evil is back What-ever good thing we do, tends towards our Union with the chiefe&s;t Good, the refraining of Evil not &s;o immediately.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Betwixt things <HI>indifferent,</HI> and what is <HI>morally</HI> good, you have this difference. If there be any mixture of evil with the one, it be|comes wholly evil, there is nothing of good in it to give &s;top or pre|ponderate; but what is morally good will remain &s;o &s;till, though mixed with evil. We may allay the worth of it, as ba&s;er Metals mixed with Gold, but yet it is Gold &s;till, and may be perfectly &s;evered.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>When I would do good,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>evil is pre&s;ent with me.</HI> I cannot hear, or read, or pray, and the re&s;t, but with a mixture of Sin, yet upon this account I may not cea&s;e from, or neglect a known Duty, not though <HI>materially</HI> con&s;idered the evil accompanying being greater than the good; As in meditation, when bla&s;phemous thoughts ari&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> To omit a known Duty is a &s;in of wilfulne&s;s, the evil from me in it is but infirmity only. The lea&s;t <HI>wilful</HI> Sin is greater and more provoking than the greate&s;t Sin of <HI>Infirmity.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>For Application to the Ca&s;e.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. Governors otherwi&s;e pious and zealous, yet not &s;o knowing in mat|ters of Church-Orders, may po&s;&s;ibly in the di&s;charging of their Duty, and doing this good Work, occa&s;ion a mixture of evil with it; Being per&s;waded that <HI>Preachers</HI> and <HI>Preaching,</HI> will be accepted with more re|verence, and become more effectual, if by Per&s;ons <HI>ordained</HI> as well as <HI>examined</HI> and <HI>tried,</HI> for their fitne&s;s; and if accompanied al&s;o with <HI>&s;et</HI> and <HI>&s;olemn Forms of Prayer,</HI> and other <HI>&V;niformities,</HI> they therefore by their Laws e&s;tabli&s;h and enjoyn the&s;e things. The Per&s;ons al&s;o appoin|ted to this Work (though not approving all that is impo&s;ed) through infirmity yield and &s;ubmit, rather than let &s;o good a Work fall.</P>
<P N="2">2. The things therefore objected as Evils, by which &s;ome are deter|red from hearing, are the <HI>Infirmities</HI> of others mixed with the Duty; I &s;ay <HI>Infirmities,</HI> for &s;o in charity we ought to judg. Now if I may not omit a Duty in re&s;pect to the Evil mixed with it, which is my own, much le&s;s may I thus leave an Ordinance for the Evil that is another Man's, no way mine, or to be charged upon me. This were to make another Man's Sins or Infirmities more mine than my own.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<PB N="6" REF="6">
<HEAD>Objections An&s;wered.</HEAD>
<P><LABEL>Object. 1.</LABEL> We cannot judg &s;uch Impo&s;ition, and &s;ubmitting to the&s;e Infirmities, e&s;pe|cially after &s;o much Light and Reformation.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 1.</LABEL> If the known <HI>Integrity</HI> and <HI>Piety</HI> of &s;ome of them who have <HI>Confor|med,</HI> is &s;uch, that there is ground to hope what they have done herein is through want of Light, Mi&s;apprehen&s;ion, or the like <HI>Infirmity;</HI> we may then conclude that the gro&s;ne&s;s, wilfulne&s;s, or what&s;oever may make tho&s;e Actions more than an <HI>Infirmity</HI> in any other <HI>Conformi&s;t,</HI> mu&s;t ari&s;e only from the internal frame or badne&s;s of the Mind and Inten|tions, for externally they are the &s;ame. If &s;o, then it is nothing at all to us; to them it is, <HI>Prov.</HI> 21.27. for in re&s;pect of the lawfulne&s;s of our joyning with the admini&s;tration, or unlawfulne&s;s, whether it be done with a better or wor&s;e mind, is not ob&s;ervable by us; outward and vi&s;ible Sins only pollute others that be in relation. If Envy, Pride, Hypocri&s;y, or the like Evils of the Mind did &s;o, we &s;hould be con&s;tant|ly guilty of other Men's Sins, and without Remedy.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 2.</LABEL> What-ever Sins are in the Per&s;on as to him&s;elf, they are to me but as Sins of Infirmity, that is, &s;uch Evils adhering to the Wor&s;hip as I have no power to prevent; I may and ought to mourn for &s;uch mix|tures, as for my own Infirmities, but avoid them I cannot without I avoid the Duty.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 2.</LABEL> There is much Error mingled with the few Truths they preach, as Po|pery, Arminiani&s;m, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> There are al&s;o invective Reflections, <HI>yea,</HI> railings again&s;t the People of God.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 1.</LABEL> What is <HI>morally</HI> Good, will bear the mixture of a great deal of Evil, and yet retain its Goodne&s;s &s;till: the Goodne&s;s being from God, who is a greater Good, than Satan or Sin, is an Evil.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 2.</LABEL> We cannot expect from Men of ordinary Gifts, that Truth be preached without the mixture of Errors more or le&s;s: We <HI>know but in part, therefore are to prove all things, and hold fa&s;t that which is good, Heb.</HI> 5.14. A Saint, as other Creatures, though weak and newly born, hath a ta&s;te of what is Food &s;uitable, and what &s;incere.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 3.</LABEL> As for tho&s;e intemperate Expre&s;&s;ions and Reflections on the People of God, I confe&s;s it is &s;ad; but were there not &s;uch again&s;t <HI>Paul</HI> and his
<PB N="7" REF="6">Party? <HI>Phil.</HI> 1.15. yet notwith&s;tanding they are to be heard, even by the &s;ame Per&s;ons they enveighed again&s;t for the Truth's &s;ake.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 3.</LABEL> The Lives of mo&s;t of our <HI>Conformi&s;ts</HI> are vile and abominable, full of Pride, Covetou&s;ne&s;s, Luxury, Drunkenne&s;s: How can we expect a Ble&s;&s;ing on their Labours, though they preach Truth and good Things?</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 1.</LABEL> The mixtures in Sermons are neare&s;t; the Irregularities of their Cal|ling the next; the Sins of their Conver&s;ations farthe&s;t from their Do|ctrine, and therefore have le&s;s efficacy at &s;uch a di&s;tance to preju|dice it.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 2.</LABEL> It's God's Word, and not their own, they preach. Truth is ble&s;|&s;ed from the Lord for its own &s;ake, and his who&s;e it is. When Chri&s;t ble&s;&s;ed his Di&s;ciple; with the promi&s;e of his pre&s;ence, <HI>Mat.</HI> 28.20. <HI>Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the World;</HI> it is to be applyed ra|ther to their <HI>Doctrine</HI> than <HI>Per&s;ons:</HI> for they were &s;ometimes left to hu|mane Infirmities in their lives, and they lived not <HI>to the end of the World.</HI> If it be not Truth, though an Angel from Heaven bring it, no Ble&s;&s;ing will come with it; but if it be <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> that is preached, whoever is the In&s;trument, there is matter of hope and rejoicing, <HI>Phil.</HI> 1.15, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Some preached Chri&s;t who were not &s;incere, though at the &s;ame time others who were blamele&s;s preached the &s;ame Truths. <HI>What then?</HI> &s;aith <HI>Paul,</HI> ver&s;. 18. <HI>Notwith&s;tanding, every way Chri&s;t is preached, and therein do I rejoice, and will rejoice.</HI> Tho&s;e <HI>Peter</HI> mentions, they <HI>&s;ed the Flock,</HI> the Flock then heard them, and were in&s;tructed by them: yet we are told tho&s;e Mini&s;ters were <HI>Covetous, Ambitious,</HI> took up their Mini&s;try for <HI>filthy Lucres-&s;ake,</HI> and were <HI>Lords over God's Heritage.</HI> More cannot be objected again&s;t our <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> that <HI>Conform,</HI> than might again&s;t the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in <HI>Chri&s;t</HI>'s time; either in re&s;pect of their <HI>Doctrine,</HI> which was loaden with <HI>Traditions;</HI> their <HI>Standing,</HI> which was not according to <HI>Law;</HI> their <HI>lives,</HI> which were <HI>vicious:</HI> yet <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> not only <HI>permits,</HI> but <HI>requires</HI> us to attend the Truths they deliver.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Con&s;ideration III.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">About <HI>partaking</HI> with another Man's &s;ins.</HEAD>
<P>This ari&s;eth from &s;ome <HI>&s;pecial relation,</HI> as a <HI>moral touch:</HI> which is either in re&s;pect to the Per&s;on tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing, or the Sin it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="1">1. Our <HI>Relation</HI> to Per&s;ons may either be, 1. <HI>Tran&s;ient,</HI> or <HI>Occa&s;io|nal.</HI> For a Man becomes guilty with him that &s;inneth, by <HI>applanding, approving,</HI> or <HI>encouraging</HI> him in his Sin, <HI>John</HI> 2.10, 11. <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.32. and in &s;ome ca&s;es by <HI>&s;ilence,</HI> being pre&s;ent when &s;ome gro&s;s Sin is openly
<PB N="8" REF="7">commited. Or, 2. our <HI>Relation</HI> may be <HI>&s;et</HI> and <HI>&s;tated,</HI> either <HI>Civil,</HI> as between Parents and Children, Ma&s;ters and Servants, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> This will not be much to our purpo&s;e: or <HI>Sacred, viz.</HI> that <HI>&s;etled Relation</HI> that ari&s;eth from <HI>Go&s;pel-Communion,</HI> as in <HI>particular Churches</HI> between Offi|cers and Members, and one Member with another. By virtue of this <HI>Relation,</HI> Sins are tran&s;mitted from one to another with the greate&s;t celerity and efficacy; <HI>A little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Evil</HI> of another, and that <HI>Duty</HI> we join in, may &s;o <HI>relate,</HI> as I may partake of his Evil, though I act nothing with him but what is a Duty on my part. Receiving of Rents and Tenant&s;hip are &s;o nearly related, that if the Per&s;on with whom I partake thus, have forfeited his Tenant&s;hip, and of right is no Tenant, yet by my accepting of Rent from him, I make him one notwith&s;tanding his forfeiture. To exerci&s;e a Judicial Act, relates &s;o much to the Per&s;on legally con&s;titu|ted a Judg, that if I &s;ubmit my Cau&s;e to him that is not &s;o, and &s;uf|fer, I &s;in again&s;t my own Liberty. In each of the&s;e what I do is good, but <HI>partakes &s;omewhat</HI> with the evil of another. In our <HI>Spiritual</HI> Af|fairs, that is a full in&s;tance, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10.18. <HI>They that eat of the Sacrifice, partake of the Altar;</HI> that is, from the <HI>Relation</HI> and <HI>Connexion</HI> betwixt the Altar and the Gift. <HI>Mat.</HI> 23.19. <HI>The Altar &s;anctifieth the Gift.</HI> It is either not a Sacrifice, or not a Lawful Sacrifice, but by rea&s;on of the <HI>Altar.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>For Application to the Ca&s;e.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. My being pre&s;ent, and hearing of a <HI>Conformi&s;t,</HI> is no <HI>Approbation</HI> of the evil of his <HI>Conformity,</HI> and &s;o no <HI>occa&s;ional</HI> or <HI>tran&s;ient Relation</HI> is rai&s;ed thereby. <HI>Approbation</HI> is an act of the Mind or Heart; It is not &s;hewed to him or others by me, until it be <HI>expre&s;&s;ed outwardly</HI> by my Words or Ge&s;tures which I have not in this ca&s;e any occa&s;ion to do; his Evil being done el&s;ewhere, and formerly, and not in our pre&s;ence that now hear him.</P>
<P N="2">2. Nor is there any <HI>&s;et</HI> or <HI>&s;tanding Relation</HI> between him and me, though he preach and I hear him con&s;tantly: This creates no <HI>Church-fellow&s;hip</HI> or <HI>Communion.</HI> To in&s;truct and learn, is an <HI>humane</HI> or natu|ral conver&s;e, and differs not from teaching or learning any other Fa|culty, though the &s;ubject Matter I hear be Divine. It's true, by the addition of a <HI>&s;pecial</HI> In&s;titution, it becomes a <HI>Church-Ordinance:</HI> &s;o <HI>giving of Alms, vi&s;iting of the Sick,</HI> and the like, which are Actions of <HI>common</HI> Humanity, when brought under a <HI>&s;pecial</HI> In&s;titution, do thereby become as much <HI>Church</HI>-Ordinances as <HI>Preaching,</HI> 2 Cor. 6.14. <HI>What fellow&s;hip hath Light with Darkne&s;s? or a Believer with an Infidel?</HI> that is, in <HI>re&s;pect to Church-Communion</HI> and <HI>Fellow&s;hip,</HI> there is none: yet a
<PB N="9" REF="7"><HI>Believer</HI> and an <HI>Infidel</HI> may Preach and Hear, may Teach and be Taught, <HI>Acts</HI> 17. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.13.</P>
<P N="3">3. For any &s;pecial <HI>Tincture</HI> derived from his Evil to the Duty we per|form with him; it mu&s;t be either from the Sins of his <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> or his <HI>Or|dination:</HI> The former hath been &s;poken to. As for the evil of his <HI>Ordina|tion,</HI> it relates not to his Preaching, by any &s;uch near aliance, as that the one may not be done without the other. <HI>It is the duty of all Chri&s;tians</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Ames</HI>) <HI>to do their utmo&s;t to advance the Kingdom of God, and there|fore to teach others the Knowledg of God.</HI> Why may not a Man Preach and In&s;truct others, if he be able, by <HI>word of Mouth,</HI> as well as by <HI>Wri|ting and Printing</HI> Theological Di&s;cour&s;es? This latter was never que&s;ti|oned by any &s;ober Man.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.</HEAD>
<P><LABEL>Object. 1.</LABEL> My pre&s;ence at &s;uch Mens Preaching, if I be &s;ilent and give no te&s;timony again&s;t them, will be an encouragement to their way.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 1.</LABEL> If I had no other <HI>ju&s;t</HI> and <HI>apparent</HI> rea&s;on for my being pre&s;ent, it might be &s;o interpreted; but my pre&s;ence <HI>relates,</HI> and ought &s;o to be judged, unto the <HI>Word Preached.</HI> If I be pre&s;ent in &s;ome con&s;ecreated place, adorned with Images, to hear a Sermon, my pre&s;ence ought not to be interpreted a <HI>Countenancing</HI> tho&s;e <HI>Super&s;titions,</HI> but the <HI>Preaching of Gods Word.</HI> When the <HI>Preaching of Chri&s;t,</HI> and a <HI>malitious Spirit,</HI> was in one Man, <HI>Pauls</HI> rejoycing at the one, was no Countenancing of the other.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 2.</LABEL> We do not &s;o ea&s;ily derive guilt or pollution by being pre&s;ent, or in the Company of Sinners, though we do not te&s;tify again&s;t them, when they are not in <HI>Spiritual Communion</HI> with us. <HI>A little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump,</HI> but no more. The <HI>Contagion</HI> goeth no further than the <HI>Relation.</HI> The Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 5.9. layeth down clearly this diffe|rence from that Ver&s;e to the end. He &s;peaks of <HI>Judging,</HI> that is, <HI>cen|&s;uring</HI> of others, that we may prevent partaking with them in their Guilt. By <HI>Judging</HI> we are to under&s;tand not only the <HI>Cen&s;ure</HI> it &s;elf, but the <HI>telling our Brother,</HI> the <HI>reproving, convincing,</HI> and other private Duties in relation thereunto, and <HI>avoiding</HI> their Company afterwards: and it is applied with di&s;tinction of Per&s;ons in re&s;pect of their relation to us. There are <HI>Fornicators of this World, ver.</HI> 10. and &s;uch <HI>are without, ver.</HI> 12. Now there is not that Obligation lying upon us to reprove their Sins, as <HI>if a Brother be a Fornicator, ver.</HI> 11. In &s;ome ca&s;es we may be &s;ilent, and leave the former to the <HI>Judgment of God, ver.</HI> 13. But in no ca&s;e if he be a Brother.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="8">
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 3.</LABEL> To <HI>Reprove</HI> or give <HI>Te&s;timony</HI> again&s;t an evil, is a tender Duty, and we may ea&s;ily mi&s;carry, if the rules thereof be not &s;trictly ob&s;erved. 1. E&s;pecially, if publick, in the Face of a Congregation come together peaceably to wor&s;hip God. 2. And the Per&s;on an Elder, at lea&s;t &s;o re|puted generally by the Congregation. 3. The Sin al&s;o mu&s;t be a <HI>gro&s;s</HI> Sin, and apparant &s;o to the A&s;&s;embly. But if it be doubtful, as in our Ca&s;e, whether it be a Sin, or &s;uch a Sin; whether committed upon the place, or formerly, we know not where, nor how long &s;ince: if po&s;&s;ibly he hath repented of it, or is able to clear him&s;elf at lea&s;t from the gro&s;ne&s;s of it: I &s;ay, in &s;uch a ca&s;e, were he a <HI>Brother,</HI> and in this <HI>Re|lation,</HI> I have no <HI>Call</HI> to reprove, or give a publick te&s;timony, in &s;uch time or place e&s;pecially.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 4.</LABEL> This Objection renders not my coming to hear, an Evil, but my not reproving. I am the rather bound to come, for I have hereby not only an opportunity to receive, but to do good, if &s;uch reproving be a duty.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 2.</LABEL> Ordination and Conformity, and Common Prayers, and Ceremonies, are connexed with Preaching, as one intire Service; by partaking thereof of the the one, we contract the pollution of the other.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 1.</LABEL> What God him&s;elf in a <HI>moral</HI> way joyneth together, no Man may &s;e|parate, only God him&s;elf: But what God in <HI>Nature</HI> hath joyned toge|ther, he gives us leave to &s;eparate, as Chaff from Wheat, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And &s;o likewi&s;e for what Man joyneth together, e&s;pecially in the Service of God, and &s;uch matters thereof as God hath not required; A <HI>&s;et Litur|gy,</HI> or <HI>&s;tinted Form of Prayer</HI> for matter and Words to be u&s;ed (much le&s;s to be in&s;eparably joyned with Preaching) is not required by the Lord, nor indeed is there any &s;uch nece&s;&s;ary dependance by our Laws.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 2.</LABEL> <HI>Ordination</HI> is not &s;o <HI>nece&s;&s;arily</HI> connexed with Preaching, either by God or Man: Scripture-light mentions <HI>Preaching</HI> and <HI>Hearing</HI> as Du|ties, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10. whereas yet there could be no Ordination; nor are they &s;o in&s;eparably joyned by our Laws: But if they were, it is &s;ufficient to my Con&s;cience that God hath not &s;o joyned them. Our actings, and the rea&s;ons or grounds of them, are not to be interpreted in Church-Matters by Humane Laws; If they were, it would be difficult to inha|bit in &s;ome Common-wealths with a good Con&s;cience. Our living with|in the <HI>Precincts</HI> of &s;uch a <HI>Pari&s;h,</HI> our Laws interpret a being of the &s;ame <HI>particular Church</HI> with them for all <HI>Church-Ordinances:</HI> but this
<PB N="11" REF="8">being Mans Law only, we judge our &s;elves not &s;o nece&s;&s;arily involved by our habitation. A Church according to <HI>Scripture</HI> is a <HI>Spiritual Body:</HI> The Limits are part of the e&s;&s;ence and con&s;titution of &s;uch a Body, and therefore ought to be <HI>Spiritual</HI> and of the &s;ame nature, and not meerly <HI>humane,</HI> as is the divi&s;ion of Pari&s;hes.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w. 3.</LABEL> To &s;peak more properly, we cannot &s;ay nearne&s;s by an external di&s;po&s;ition of things connexeth them any more, than Unity makes kin|dred, or of one Blood. No, it mu&s;t be where there is &s;uch a dependency of things, that the being, at lea&s;twi&s;e the <HI>orderly</HI> being, of the one is not without the other. In this Sen&s;e <HI>Baptizing, breaking of Bread,</HI> and other <HI>Ordinances</HI> that relate to, and nece&s;&s;arily depend on an Office, and con|nexed with it, and &s;o our being called thereunto, and inve&s;ted there|in; and if the per&s;on with whom I partake, be either not in &s;uch an Office, or in any apparent di&s;orderly way, I partake with his Sin: &s;o near are the&s;e Duties related in their <HI>orderly</HI> Admini&s;tration. But <HI>Prea|ching</HI> in a <HI>Providential</HI> way, as by Per&s;ons gifted, and out of their Cha|rity admini&s;tring to us, or by Provi&s;ion of the Magi&s;trate, is altogether of another nature. And though <HI>Ordination</HI> and <HI>Preaching</HI> be joyned to|gether in the vulgar e&s;teem; yet it's not the voice or &s;anction of Man can bring things into a nearer Relation than the Spirit hath &s;et them.</P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 3.</LABEL> Why may we not as well go to Common-Prayer?</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w.</LABEL> If there were no other things to be objected again&s;t tho&s;e Prayers, but <HI>Ordination, Conformity,</HI> or other Sins of the Mini&s;ter's, que&s;tionle&s;s we may: for we que&s;tion not to joyn with them in Prayer before or after Sermon, more than with his <HI>Preaching.</HI></P>
<P><LABEL>Object. 4.</LABEL> Where there is any better Preaching than Ordinary, e&s;pecially in the City, it is &s;o thronged, as by that time Prayers are ended, there is no hearing.</P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w.</LABEL> It is one thing to ab&s;tain upon &s;uch an account which is <HI>prudential</HI> only, as upon the account of bodily infirmity: another thing to ab&s;tain upon the opinion of unlawfulne&s;s. Now the thing contended for, is to vindicate the <HI>Lawfulne&s;s</HI> of hearing &s;uch Mini&s;ters, notwith&s;tanding what hath been objected to the contrary, and to deliver us from an Error of very ill con&s;equence: for this Opinion, <HI>that it is unlawful to hear &s;uch Mini&s;ters as have been &s;poken of,</HI> is an error of <HI>very ill</HI> con&s;e|quence, in many re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. It puts us upon &s;uch &s;ingularity, as by which we divide in our
<PB N="12" REF="9">practice, not only from our Brethren of the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> per&s;wa&s;ion, but likewi&s;e from divers of the &s;obere&s;t Separati&s;ts. Where a good Con&s;ci|ence nece&s;&s;itates, as in many things, to differ from other Godly Brethren on each hand, it is a &s;ad Providence to have the&s;e differences increa&s;ed by an <HI>erronious</HI> Con&s;cience.</P>
<P N="2">2. Except it be the <HI>reading of Scriptures,</HI> this Ordinance alone, of all other publick Ordinances among&s;t us, hath by the good hand of God been kept and continued by our <HI>National</HI> E&s;tabli&s;hment free in it &s;elf from all di&s;putable Mixtures and Impo&s;itions; and the benefit and fruit of this Publick Mini&s;try, hath accordingly been vi&s;ibly great, as in any part of the World. Let us fear therefore le&s;t we our &s;elves now by rai&s;ing <HI>groundle&s;s</HI> &s;cruples, lay this as low, as others by their <HI>unwarranta|ble</HI> additions have done the other Publick Ordinances.</P>
<P N="3">3. In mo&s;t of the mi&s;per&s;wa&s;ions of the&s;e latter times, by which Mens Minds have been corrupted, I find in what&s;oever otherwi&s;e they differ one from another, yet in this they agree, that its <HI>unlawful to hear in Publick;</HI> Which I am per&s;waded is one con&s;tant de&s;ign of Satan, in the variety of ways in Religion he hath &s;et on Foot by Je&s;uites among&s;t us. Let us therefore be the more aware of what&s;oever tends that way.</P>
<P N="4">4. Such rea&s;onings again&s;t <HI>Hearing,</HI> though they convince not the unlawfulne&s;s of it, yet they leave &s;uch prejudices in the minds of them which are tender, as perplex and render Hearing le&s;s profitable and edifying, even to tho&s;e that are per&s;waded of its <HI>Lawfulne&s;s.</HI> To bring the lawfulne&s;s of known Ordinances under di&s;pute for &s;ome circum|&s;tances affixed, hath even been of great advantage to Satan, whether in &s;uch di&s;putes he prevails or not: For Men are either beaten wholly off from the duty, or perform it with a more remi&s;s and un&s;utable Spirit, which lieth more directly in the way to prevent a ble&s;&s;ing, than the evils of others we ordinarily object. Tho&s;e di&s;putes about the <HI>Mora|lity</HI> of the Sabbath, as they have prevailed with many to a <HI>total neglect;</HI> &s;o with more to a <HI>remi&s;s ob&s;ervance,</HI> though convinced of it as a <HI>moral</HI> Duty. If for <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> the Duty be &s;o evident, as not to be liable to a di&s;pute in it &s;elf (as this of Hearing is); then Satan fa&s;tens Scruples about <HI>Circum&s;tances;</HI> which prevailing, we have as little benefit from the <HI>Ordinance</HI> or Duty, as if it were not.</P>
</DIV3>
<TRAILER><HI>The end of Mr.</HI> Nye's <HI>Rea&s;ons touching the lawfulne&s;s of hearing the Publick Mini&s;ters.</HI></TRAILER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="religious treatise">
<PB N="13" REF="9">
<DIV2 TYPE="introduction">
<HEAD>ADVERTISEMENT.</HEAD>
<P>TO &s;top the Mouths of many, e&s;pecially tho&s;e Mini&s;ters that continually from Pre&s;s and Pulpit do maliciou&s;ly, as well as ignorantly, tell the People that the Di&s;&s;enters (e&s;pecially <HI>Independents</HI> and <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI>) do act contrary to their own Principles, in Communicating &s;ometimes with the Church of <HI>Eng|land;</HI> and that they do &s;o meerly to qualifie them&s;elves for an Office, to &s;erve a Turn (as they &s;pitefully phra&s;e it) or to &s;ave them&s;elves from the penal Laws, I have here in&s;erted in what follows, the Opinion not only of the <HI>Independents,</HI> but even the <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> them&s;elves, many years &s;ince about this matter.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="text of treatise">
<HEAD><HI>VIZ.</HI> A TREATISE of the Lawfulne&s;s of Hearing the Publick Mini&s;ters in the Church of <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Penned by that Learned and Reverend Divine, Mr. JOHN ROBINSON, late Pa&s;tor to the Engli&s;h Church of God at <HI>Leyden:</HI> Printed there in the Year 1634, and now publi&s;hed for Publick Satisfaction.</HEAD>
<P>AS they that affect alienation from others, make their differences as great, and the adver&s;e Opinion or Practice as odious as they can; thereby to further their de&s;ired victory over them, and to harden them&s;elves, and their &s;ide again&s;t them: So on the contrary, they, who de&s;ire peace and accord, both interpret things in the be&s;t part that rea&s;onably they can, and &s;eek how and where they may find any lawful door of entry into accord and agreement with others. Of which latter number I profe&s;s my &s;elf (by the Grace of God) both a Companion and Guide: &s;pecially in regard of my Chri&s;ti|an Country-men, to whom God hath tied me in &s;o many inviolable bonds: accounting it a Cro&s;s, that I am in any particular compelled to di&s;&s;ent from them; but a benefit, and matter of rejoycing, when I
<PB N="14" REF="10">can, in any thing with good a Con&s;cience unite with them, in matter, if not in manner; or, where it may be, in both. And this Affection, the Lord and my Con&s;cience are my Witne&s;&s;es, I have always nouri&s;h|ed in my Brea&s;t, even when I &s;eemed furthe&s;t drawn from them. And &s;o all that have taken knowledg of my Cour&s;e can te&s;tifie with me, and how I have &s;till oppo&s;ed in others, and repre&s;&s;ed in mine own (to my power) all &s;ower zeal again&s;t, and peremptory rejection of &s;uch, as who&s;e Grace: challenged better u&s;e and re&s;pect from all Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>And in te&s;timony of mine affection this way, and for the freeing of mine own Con&s;cience, and information of other Mens, I have penned this Di&s;cour&s;e, tending to prove <HI>the hea<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ng of the Word of God preached by the Mi<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;ters <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">f the Church of</HI> Engl<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">d, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 span"><GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">n and apply the Do|ctrins of <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">d in ca&s;es nece&s;&s;ary for all, of all Sec<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">s or &s;orts of Ch<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="8 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">ity and occa&s;ion of &s;o doing: though &s;eque&s;tring them&s;elv<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ll C<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="4 letters">nion with the Hierar|chical Order there e&s;tabli&s;hed.</HI></P>
<P>Three &s;orts of oppo&s;ites I make account to meet withal. The fir&s;t of them, who truly de&s;ire, and carefully endeavour to have their whole cour&s;e both in Religion, and otherwi&s;e, framed by the holy and right Zeal of God's Word, either for their confirmation in the Truth; or Reformation, wherein, through humane frailty they &s;tep a&s;ide. And unto them e&s;pecially I direct this my Di&s;cour&s;e: begging at his hands who is <HI>the Father of Lights, and from whom cometh down every good and perfect Gift,</HI> for them, as for my &s;elf, that as he hath given us to &s;et our Faces towards Heaven, and to <HI>&s;eek him with the whole Heart, &s;o he would not &s;uffer us to wander from his Commandments,</HI> to the right hand or to the left.</P>
<P>A &s;econd &s;ort is of them, who&s;e tender and &s;crupulous Con&s;cience, makes them fearful, and jealous of every thing, which hath in it the lea&s;t appearance of evil; le&s;t coming too near it, they be defiled by it, one way or other. This their godly Zeal, and tenderne&s;s of Heart is to be loved of all Men, and cheri&s;hed by all good means. Only &s;uch are to be intreated, for their own good, to take knowledge of a di&s;tincti|on mo&s;t u&s;eful for their direction, in things lawful in their kind, and good in their right u&s;e. Of which &s;ome are only naturally good in their kind, but not &s;imply commanded of God, as to get, and keep the riches and credit of the World; to enjoy outward Peace, or other bodily Comfort. Others are morally good in their kind, and command|ed of God, as to hear the Word of God, obey the Magi&s;trate, and the like. Now in things of the former &s;ort, it is very requi&s;it (con&s;idering both their Nature and ours) that we keep a jealous Eye, and &s;trait
<PB N="15" REF="10">Hand over our &s;elves, and our ways. For them, they are not in their kind enjoyed as the other: neither do the Scriptures any where require of Men, to be rich, or the like: as they do to hear Gods Word, obey Authority, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And for our &s;elves we are prone, and in danger to over-&s;train for the getting and enjoying of them, as being naturally plea&s;ing good things. So as if out of a godly jealou&s;ie over our Hearts towards them, we keep not our &s;elves from going too near the &s;ide, for the getting or keeping of them; we &s;hall by one &s;torm of Temp|tation or other, be blown into the ditch of Sin and De&s;truction. But now, for the practice and performance of Duties &s;imply moral, and commanded in their kind, as is the hearing of God's Word, &s;pecially by God's People, we ought to &s;train to the uttermo&s;t, and to go as near the wind as may be; &s;eeing nothing but apparent Sin in the way can excu&s;e the withdrawing from it, when occa&s;ion of enjoying it is offered. O that there were not to be found &s;ome, who being very &s;crupulous of coming near to any thing ami&s;s in outward Ordinances, or to any per|&s;on failing in them; yet make no &s;cruple of complying, and conform|ing with the World &s;o far in the eager pur&s;uit of Worldly Profits, im|moderate u&s;e of worldly Delights, and fulfilling the Lu&s;ts of the World and Fle&s;h dwelling in them, as that there appears &s;carce an hair's-breadth of difference between them, and meer Worldlings which know not God. Which latter Evils are both wor&s;e in them&s;elves, as being expre&s;ly condemned by the Law of God, and Light of Nature; and more odious in the per&s;ons, as being more per&s;onal, free, and volun|tary than tho&s;e in the other, to which they are carried by the violent Current of the Times.</P>
<P>A third &s;ort of Oppo&s;its I make account to meet with, more untracta|ble than the former, and more vehemently bent again&s;t the things pro|pounded by me, out of prejudice and pa&s;&s;ion, than the other by &s;cruple of Con&s;cience, or &s;hew of Rea&s;on. To them I can hardly &s;ay any thing; (it not being their manner to reade, or willingly to hear that which cro&s;&s;eth their prejudices) yet &s;omething I mu&s;t &s;ay touching them, out of the woful experience of many years taken of them, though not much (I thank the Lord) among&s;t them unto whom I have mini&s;tred.</P>
<P>Some of the&s;e I have found carried with &s;o exce&s;&s;ive admiration of &s;ome former Guides in their cour&s;e, as they think it half Here&s;y to call into que&s;tion any of their Determinations, or Practices. We mu&s;t not think that only the Phari&s;ees of old, or Papi&s;ts of later times, are &s;u|per&s;titiou&s;ly addicted to <HI>the Tradition of the Elders, and Authority of the Church.</HI> In all Sects there are divers (e&s;pecially of the weaker &s;ort, who being the le&s;s real in their conceptions, are the more per&s;onal) that
<PB N="16" REF="11">rather chu&s;e to follow the path of blind Tradition, if beaten by &s;ome &s;uch fore-goers as they admire, than the right way of God's Word by others, to be &s;hewed them afterwards.</P>
<P>Some again are as much addicted to them&s;elves as the former to o|others; conceiving in effect, though they will not profe&s;s it, the &s;ame of their own heads, which the Papi&s;ts do of their Head the Pope, <HI>(viz.)</HI> that they cannot erre, or be deceived: and this &s;pecially in &s;uch mat|ters as for which they have &s;uffered troubles and afflictions formerly; and &s;o having bought them dear, they value them highly. But it is too Merchant-like to &s;trive to over-&s;ell a thing, which we have formerly over-bought: We mu&s;t <HI>buy the Truth, and &s;ell it not</HI> at any rate; but mu&s;t account nothing either true or good, according to the valuation which we have &s;et upon it, but God.</P>
<P>There is al&s;o a third &s;ort highly advancing a kind of privative Good|ne&s;s and Religion; and who bend their force rather to the weakning of other Men in their cour&s;es, than to the building up of them&s;elves in their own; and in truth, rather to &s;eparation from Men not only in evil, but even in that which is good, for &s;ome other evil conceived in them, than to Union with God and his People in his holy Ordinances: and half imagining that they draw near enough to God, if they can withdraw far enough from other Men. Great Zeal they have again&s;t the fal&s;e Church, Mini&s;try and Wor&s;hip &s;o being, or by them conceived &s;o to be; and again&s;t any appearing evil in the true, but little for that which is true and good, as their practice manife&s;ts: But Evil is as con|trary to Evil, as Good is to Evil; and &s;o is that Zeal plainly carnal, which carries a Man further again&s;t Evil, than for Good; &s;eeing no Evil is &s;o evil, as Good is good.</P>
<P>Fourthly; There are &s;ome to be found &s;o &s;owred with moodine&s;s and di&s;contentment, as they become un&s;ociable, and almo&s;t <HI>Lukanthropoi;</HI> Werewolfs, as they &s;peak; if they &s;ee nothing lamentable, they are rea|dy to lament: if they take contentment in any, it is in them alone whom they find di&s;contented: if they reade any Books, they are only Invec|tives, e&s;pecially again&s;t Publick States, and their Governours. All things tending to accord and union any manner of way, are unwelcome unto them. They have their Portion in <HI>I&s;hmael</HI>'s Ble&s;&s;ing, <HI>Gen.</HI> 16.12.</P>
<P>La&s;tly; There want not &s;ome, who (as <HI>Jehu</HI> in his fierce marching, covered his Ambition, Cruelty, and Zeal for his own Hou&s;e, under pre|text of Zeal for God's) think to cover and palliate their both gro&s;&s;er, and more proper and per&s;onal Corruptions, under a furious March, not only again&s;t the Failings, but the Per&s;ons al&s;o failing, of Infirmity in mat|ters of Church-Order and Ordinances. Who if they were well acquainted,
<PB N="17" REF="11">and duly affected with their own, both more voluntary, and greater Sins, would &s;lack their <HI>Jehu</HI>'s Peace, yea turn their Cour&s;e, tho not to walk with others in Evil (which God forbid) yet to ap|ply and accommodate them&s;elves unto them, in that which is good, &s;o far as po&s;&s;ibly they could ob&s;erve any way by the Lord opened unto them. I could in&s;tance in, and name divers particular Per&s;ons mon|&s;trou&s;ly grown out of kind, this way. But that Cour&s;e I leave unto them, who rather de&s;ire the di&s;gracing, than the bettering of them again&s;t whom they deal: Or perhaps conceive in their leavened Hearts that there is no other way of bettering, &s;pecially Per&s;ons of mean Condition, than by di&s;gracing them. But <HI>let not my Soul come in their Secret, in who&s;e Habitations are</HI> &s;uch <HI>In&s;truments of Cruelty.</HI> Gen. 49.5, 6.</P>
<P>The&s;e things thus premi&s;ed, the Objections follow, which I have either heard from others, or can conceive of my &s;elf mo&s;t colourable again&s;t the Practice by me propounded. And they are of two &s;orts: Some of them are framed upon Suppo&s;ition, that the Mini&s;ters in that Church are in them&s;elves lawful, and of God: but now yet to be heard by rea&s;on of the Abu&s;es, and Evils to be found in their Mini&s;trations. Others withdraw herein (and tho&s;e the more) upon the contrary Suppo&s;ition: To wit, that the very Order and Con&s;titution of that Church and Mini&s;try is Papal, and unlawful. Now the Examination of the Grounds of the one or other I will not in this place meddle with: but (though both cannot be true) will for the &s;atisfying of the with|drawers on both Parts, grant for the pre&s;ent, to either Part their Ground, and &s;o examine di&s;tinctly what Exceptions they can or do build thereupon.</P>
<P>But fir&s;t, for the former: Suppo&s;ing a Church and the Mini&s;try there|of e&s;&s;entially lawful, it cannot but be lawful for the Members of other Churches in general Union and A&s;&s;ociation with it, to communicate therewith, in things lawful, and lawfully done: &s;eeing the end of Union is Communion. God hath in vain united Per&s;ons, and States to|gether, if they may in nothing communicate together. But he who would have us <HI>receive the weak in Faith,</HI> whom <HI>God hath received,</HI> would not have us refu&s;e the Fellow&s;hip of Churches in that which is good, for any Weakne&s;s in them, of one &s;ort or other. And this we have &s;o plainly, and plentifully commended unto us both by the Prophets, yea, by Chri&s;t him&s;elf, in the Jewi&s;h Church; and Apo&s;tles, and Apo|&s;tolical Men in the fir&s;t Chri&s;tian Churches; in which many Errors, and Evils of all kinds were more than manife&s;t: and the &s;ame oft-times both &s;o far &s;pread, and deeply rooted, as the reforming of them was rather to be wi&s;hed, than hoped for: As that no place is
<PB N="18" REF="12">left for doubting in that ca&s;e by any, who de&s;ire to follow their holy Steps in Faith towards God, and Charity towards Men, and effectual De&s;ire of their own Edification.</P>
<P>The Objections of the former &s;ort follow.</P>
<P>Object. 1. <HI>There is danger of being &s;educed, and mi&s;led by the Errors taught in the A&s;&s;emblies.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. We mu&s;t not lo&s;e the Benefit of many main Truths taught, for danger of &s;ome few Errors, &s;pecially in le&s;&s;er matters. This were to fear the Devil, more than to tru&s;t God. 2. There were in the Jewi&s;h Church in Chri&s;t's time, and in divers of the Apo&s;tolical Churches afterwards, more and greater Errors taught, than are in any, or all the Churches in <HI>England;</HI> of which al&s;o there are not a few; which if their Mini&s;ters did as fully and faithfully teach and practi&s;e all Truths, as they keep them&s;elves carefully from Errors, might compare in this Bu&s;ine&s;s, with any reformed Church in <HI>Europe.</HI> 3. This Ex|ception hath its weight again&s;t the hearing of Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uits, &s;pe|cially by the weaker &s;ort, and le&s;s able to di&s;cern of things that differ: But not again&s;t many Mini&s;ters of the Church of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>Object. 2. <HI>He that in any thing partakes with that Church in which Sins known are &s;uffered unreformed, partakes in all the Sins of that Church: as he that &s;wears by the Altar, &s;wears by the Offerings upon it which it &s;anctifies,</HI> Mat. 23.19, 20.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> I partake not in the Sins of any, how great or manife&s;t &s;o|ever the Sins be, or how near unto me &s;oever the Per&s;ons be; except the &s;ame Sins either be committed, or remain unreformed by my Fault: Otherwi&s;e Chri&s;t our Lord had been inwrapped in the Guilt of a world of Sins in the Jewi&s;h Church, with which Church he communica|ted in God's Ordinances, living and dying a Member thereof. If my Brother &s;in a &s;candalous Sin, and I by ju&s;t order make Complaint there|of to the Church, I have done my Duty; It appertains to the Church to excommunicate him, if he repent not; but not to me, except (Pope|like) I would make my &s;elf the Church. I am guilty of the Evil in the Commonwealth and Family, for redre&s;&s;ing whereof I do not my duty in my place: which if I do in the Church as I can, I am free from the Sins done and &s;uffered there; which Sins and Evils I can no more be &s;aid to &s;uffer (wanting power to reform them) than to &s;uffer it to blow or rain, becau&s;e I hinder it not.</P>
<P>But the proof of the A&s;&s;ertion from <HI>Mat.</HI> 13. is of admirable device. How doth the Church &s;anctify the Sin of the Sinner, as the Altar doth the Offering of the Offerer? The Altar makes that to become actually an Offering, or holy Gift, which before was not an Offering actually,
<PB N="19" REF="12">but only Gold, Silver, or other materials. So doth not the Church make any Man's Sin to become his Sin, which it was not before, but only &s;uffers the Sin that was. But to &s;train the &s;trings of this imagined pro|portion to make them meet; and to &s;uppo&s;e the Church in a &s;en&s;e to be as the Altar; yet this only follows thereupon, that, as he who par|takes with the Altar in the upholding of the Offering, partakes with the Offering: So he that partakes with the Church in the upholding of any Evil, hath his part in the Evil al&s;o.</P>
<P>And this I grant willingly: but deny, as a mo&s;t vain imagination, that every one that partakes with a Church in things lawful, joyns with it in upholding the things unlawful to be found in it. Chri&s;t our Lord joyned with the Jewi&s;h Church in things lawful, and yet upheld no|thing unlawful in it.</P>
<P>Object. 3. <HI>But this cour&s;e of Hearing will offend weak Brethren, not per|&s;waded of the lawfulne&s;s of it.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. It will offend more, and many of them weaker, and that more grievou&s;ly, if it be not performed.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is an Offence taken, and not given; &s;eeing the thing is in it &s;elf good in its kind, commanded by God; and in that particular, by Men in Authority; and directly tending to my Edification: and not like unto eating of Fle&s;h, or drinking of Wine, or the like things of indif|ferent nature, and left to my free liberty to u&s;e, or not to u&s;e.</P>
<P>And the&s;e are the principal <HI>Objections</HI> upon the former Grounds: They upon the latter follow.</P>
<P>There is in the hands of many, a Treati&s;e publi&s;hed by a Man of Note, containing <HI>certain Rea&s;ons to prove it unlawful to hear, or have Spi|ritual Communion with the pre&s;ent Mini&s;try of the Church of England.</HI> This hath been an&s;wered, but indeed &s;ophi&s;tically, and in pa&s;&s;ion: Neither hath the An&s;werer much regarded what he &s;aid or un&s;aid, &s;o he might gain&s;ay his Adver&s;ary. With that An&s;wer was joyned another, di|rected to my &s;elf, and the &s;ame doubled, pretending to prove <HI>Publick Communion upon Private:</HI> but not pre&s;&s;ing at all, in the body of the Di&s;|cour&s;e, that Con&s;equence; but proceeding upon other Grounds, and in truth, con&s;i&s;ting of a continued Equivocation in the terms, <HI>Publick, Licence, Government, Mini&s;try,</HI> and the like; drawn to another &s;en&s;e than either I intended them, or than the matter in que&s;tion will permit. Whereas he that will refute another, &s;hould religiou&s;ly take, and hold to his Adver&s;aries meaning. And if in any particular it be not &s;o plain|ly &s;et down, &s;hould &s;pell it as it were out of his words. But it is no
<PB N="20" REF="13">new thing, even for Learned and Godly Men, to take more than lawful Liberty in dealing with them again&s;t whom they have the Advantage of the Times favouring them, like the Wind on their Backs. But God forbid I &s;hould follow them herein: I will on the contrary u&s;e all plainne&s;s and &s;implicity, as in the &s;ight of God, that &s;o I may make the naked Truth appear as it is to the Chri&s;tian Reader's Eye what in me lieth.</P>
<P>And for the Treati&s;e mentioned, it mu&s;t be ob&s;erved, how both in the Title and body of the Book, the Author confounds as one <HI>hearing of</HI> and <HI>having Spiritual Communion with the Mini&s;tery,</HI> &amp;c. Which as it is true of &s;uch as &s;tand in &s;piritual and political Church-Union with a Church, and the Mini&s;try thereof, who accordingly have Church-Communion in the publick Acts and Exerci&s;es of that Church; &s;o is it not true of others, which are not Members of, nor in Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Union and Combination with the &s;aid Church.</P>
<P>For the better clearing of things, let us in a few words con&s;ider di|&s;tinctly of Religious Actions, according to the &s;everal Ranks in which they may rightly and orderly be &s;et. Some &s;uch Actions are Religious only, as they are performed by Religious Per&s;ons. And of this &s;ort is Hearing (and &s;o Reading) of God's Word. The Scriptures teach, and all confe&s;s, that Hearing of the Word of God goes before Faith: <HI>For Faith comes by Hearing,</HI> as by an outward means, (<HI>Rom.</HI> 10.7.) Hear|ing then being before Faith, and Faith before all other Acts of Reli|gion inward or outward; it mu&s;t needs follow, that Hearing is not &s;imply, or of it &s;elf, a work of Religion, and &s;o not of Religious Com|munion. Hearing is properly, and of it &s;elf, a natural Action, though it be the hearing the very Word of God. And I call it a natural Action in it &s;elf, in a double re&s;pect: Fir&s;t, for that the Light of Nature tea|cheth every Man to hear and li&s;ten to another, that can and will teach and inform him in any thing for his good, divine or humane. Second|ly, for that a meer natural Man, <HI>Jew, Turk, Infidel,</HI> or <HI>Idolater,</HI> law|fully may, yea nece&s;&s;arily ought to hear God's Word; that &s;o of natu|ral he may become &s;piritual.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd rank, I place Preaching and Prayer; which are pro|perly Acts religious and &s;piritual; as being to be performed the one by a Gift, the other by a Grace of God's Spirit. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 50.16, 17. <HI>Prov.</HI> 15.8. <HI>John.</HI> 9.31.</P>
<P>Of a third &s;ort is the Paricipation in the Sacraments; which or|dinarily at lea&s;t requires a Member&s;hip in &s;ome particular and Mi|&s;terial Church in the Participant, they being publick Church-Ordi|nances.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="13">
<P> In a fourth Order I &s;et the Power of Suffrage, and Voice-giving in electing of Officers, and ce&s;uring of Offenders; for which there is requi&s;ite an Intere&s;t of the Per&s;on &s;o voting, in that particular Church, as a Member thereof.</P>
<P>Of the la&s;t &s;ort is the Mini&s;tration of Sacraments, which requires, with the re&s;t fore-mentioned, a publick State of Mini&s;try in the Per&s;on admini&s;tring them.</P>
<P>Now for Preaching by &s;ome, and Hearing by others (which two al|ways go together) they may be, and oft are performed without any Religious or Spiritual Communion at all pa&s;&s;ing between the Per&s;ons Preaching or Hearing.</P>
<P>When <HI>Paul</HI> preached to the <HI>&s;uper&s;titious Athenians,</HI> &s;hall we conceive he had Spiritual Communion with that Heatheni&s;h A&s;&s;embly? How much le&s;s had they Spiritual and Religious Communion with him, who performed not &s;o much as a Religious Work in their hearing? As God gave any of them to believe, they came into invi&s;ible, or inwardly Spi|ritual Per&s;onal Communion with him: as they came to make Per&s;onal Manife&s;tation and Declaration of their Faith, they came into out|ward Per&s;onal Communion with him: La&s;tly, as they came to joyn in, or unto &s;ome particular Church, into Church-Communion with him, el&s;e not. So when <HI>there comes into the Church-A&s;&s;embly &V;nbelievers, Heathens, Turks, Jews, Athei&s;ts, Excommunicates,</HI> Men of all Religions, Men of none at all, and there hear; what &s;piritual Communion have they with the Church or State of the Teacher, or one with another, either in regard of the nature of the Act done, or by God's Ordination and In&s;titution? Hearing &s;imply is not appointed of God to be a Mark, and Note either of Union in the &s;ame Faith, or Order among&s;t all that hear; or of differencing of Chri&s;tians from no Chri&s;tians, or of Mem|bers from no Members of the Church; as the Sacraments are Notes of both in the Participants. The hearing of the Word of God is not &s;o inclo&s;ed by any hedg or ditch, divine or humane, made about it, but lies in common for all, for the good of all.</P>
<P>The particular Objections follow.</P>
<P>Object. 1. <HI>No Man may &s;ubmit his Con&s;cience to be wrought upon by an unlawful and Antichri&s;tian Mini&s;try: neither hath God promi&s;ed, or doth af|ford any Ble&s;&s;ing upon it; neither can any have the &s;anctified u&s;e thereof.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It cannot be &s;aid properly that the Office of the Mini&s;try works upon the Con&s;cience of the Hearer. The Office only gives power and charge to the Teacher, to teach in &s;uch or &s;uch a Church-&s;tate.
<PB N="22" REF="14">And as it re&s;ides in the Per&s;on of the Officer alone; &s;o the Commu|nion (lawful or unlawful) which any hath with it, is in regard of the lawful or unlawful Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Relation and Union foregoing between the Per&s;ons; and not in any working of the Office upon the Con&s;cience of any. Secondly, Though God ble&s;s not the unlawful Office of the Mini&s;try, which is not of him&s;elf: yet he may and doth ble&s;s the Truths taught by the Officer, which are of him&s;elf, and from Heaven. To deny this of many in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> is (<HI>Balaam</HI>-like) to cur&s;e, where God would have us to ble&s;s.</P>
<P>Object. 2. <HI>To hear &s;uch a Mini&s;ter, is to honour, approve, and uphold his Office of Mini&s;try.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. If this be &s;imply true; then when the heatheni&s;h <HI>Athenians</HI> heard <HI>Paul</HI> preach: or when an Unbeliever comes into the Church-A&s;&s;embly, and hears the Preacher, he approves, honours, and upholds the Office of the Mini&s;try, which what it means, he is altogether ig|norant.</P>
<P>If any reply: <HI>We know the Mini&s;try of the Church to be as it is.</HI></P>
<P>I an&s;wer: That the knowing of it makes not our act the more or le&s;s an act of Approbation. If I do an Act wherein I indeed approve of a thing, if I know the thing, I really approve of it upon Knowledg; if I know it not, I really approve of it, but ignorantly. 2. If I ap|prove of the Office &s;imply, becau&s;e I hear the Officer preach, then I much more approve of all the Doctrines which he delivers, becau&s;e I hear him deliver them. If the latter &s;eems unrea&s;onable, &s;o is the for|mer much more, except I be in Church-Communion with the Officer, and then indeed I really approve of his Office, as I al&s;o do of his Doctrine, if it be according to the Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith made by me; for then I am in former Union with him in the one or other, and &s;o have Communion in the Acts thereof. If this were a good ground, that every one approves of the Evil done in matter or manner, where he is pre&s;ent, none could live with a good Con&s;cience in the Society of Men upon Earth. Per&s;ons &s;o minded are be&s;t alone; for with others they will keep no Peace, no not with them&s;elves neither, if they be true to their own Grounds. But they plainly balk them&s;elves in their Cour&s;es, either in weakne&s;s of Judgment, or partiality of Affection, or throught want of due Con&s;ideration of their Ways.</P>
<P>Object. 3. <HI>By this then it &s;eems a Man may be pre&s;ent at any act of Ido|latry, and do as others do that practi&s;e Idolatry, yet not approve of it. And &s;o the three Nobles in <HI>Daniel</HI> needed not to have put them&s;elves upon &s;uch Pikes of Danger as they did, for not falling down as others did in the Place.</HI></P>
<PB N="23" REF="14">
<P> <HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. In preaching the Truths of the Go&s;pel no Idolatrous Act is performed, as there was. 2. It mu&s;t be known, that Appro|bation is properly in the Heart, and only the manife&s;tation of Appro|bation in outward Ge&s;ture, Speech or Writing: Both the one and other are evil, if the thing be evil. But here it mu&s;t be con&s;idered, that I may in &s;ome ca&s;es do the &s;ame outward Act which others do, and wherein they manife&s;t their Approbation of Idolatry or other Evil, and yet I be free in Truth and Deed from all &s;uch Approbation and Stain thereof. The <HI>Jews</HI> after Chri&s;t's Death, and <HI>the taking away</HI> and aboli&s;h|ing the legal <HI>Ordinances</HI> thereby, circumci&s;ed their Infants, and frequen|ted the Temple for Purification, and other <HI>Mo&s;aical</HI> Ceremonies as parts of God's Wor&s;hip, and &s;till remaining of Divine In&s;titution. <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o <HI>circumci&s;ed</HI> Timothy, <HI>entred the Temple for Purification,</HI> and yet did not approve any manner or way of the Error and Evil in the Jewi&s;h Wor|&s;hippers. To come nearer home: it is the Cu&s;tom in Popi&s;h Coun|tries, that all that pa&s;s by a Cro&s;s, mu&s;t in honour of it, leave it on the Right-hand, as they may be rea&s;on of the placing of it, coming or go|ing. Now if I ride with others that way, I may do the thing that they do, and keep Company with them, and yet not honour the Cro&s;s as they do. It is, be&s;ides the former, the manner that &s;uch as &s;o pa&s;s a Cro&s;s, &s;hould in further honour, put off their Hat to the &s;aid Cro&s;s. But if I do this al&s;o, I plainly manife&s;t an Approbation of the Super|&s;tition. The rea&s;on of the Difference is, becau&s;e I have another ju&s;t Cau&s;e to do the former thing, namely to keep on with my Company, but have no ju&s;t cau&s;e of the latter. But now, &s;uppo&s;e that at the very place where the Cro&s;s &s;tands, I meet with &s;ome Friend or other, to whom I owe that civil Re&s;pect of uncovering my Head; I may then do that lawfully al&s;o upon the former Ground. So, if I had ju&s;t and rea&s;onable cau&s;e either of coming or &s;tanding by the Magi&s;trate (to whom I owe this Civil Honour) whil&s;t he is performing &s;ome Act of Idolatry in the Streets, or el&s;e-where; I might upon the &s;ame Ground, go or &s;tand uncovered by him without ju&s;t Blame. To apply the&s;e things to the Objection moved, &s;eeing no other Cau&s;e could re&s;onably be conceived of the King's commanding &s;uch a thing, or of their do|ing the thing at his Commandment, &s;ave the wor&s;hipping of the Idol; they in &s;o doing could not have e&s;caped the ju&s;t blame of Idolatry: But now I have ju&s;t Cau&s;es more than one of my Hearing, and among&s;t the re&s;t my Edification; and therefore cannot be challenged therein to approve of the Mini&s;ters &s;tate or &s;tanding. Be&s;ides that, as for|merly an&s;wered, here is no Idolatrous Act performed.</P>
<PB N="24" REF="15">
<P> Object. 4. <HI>He that hears them preach, hears them as Mini&s;ters of the Church of</HI> England, <HI>and as &s;ent by the Bi&s;hops, and &s;o in hearing them, hears and receives them that &s;end them; according to that of our Saviour, He that hears you, hears me; and he that de&s;pi&s;eth you, de&s;pi&s;eth me; and he that de&s;pi&s;eth me, de&s;pi&s;eth him that &s;ent me.</HI> Luke 9.16. Joh. 13.10.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> I grant the former part of the Objection, and account the de|nying of it a point of Famili&s;m, &s;eeing the Officers of publick States in the executing of their Offices are to be e&s;teemed according to the pub|lick Laws and Orders of tho&s;e States, and not according to any under|hand either Cour&s;e or Intention by them&s;elves or others. They are heard as they preach, and preach as Mini&s;ters of the Bi&s;hops &s;ending, and the Pari&s;hes receiving, to which they are &s;ent by them. And &s;o I profe&s;s I hear them as the Mini&s;ters of the Bi&s;hop's &s;ending, and of the Pari&s;hes &s;ent to; but not as my Mini&s;ters either &s;ending, or &s;ent to, except I be of tho&s;e Pari&s;hes, or at lea&s;t in Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Union with them. Every one, whether of a fal&s;e Church, or no Church, or excom|municated from the Church, that hears me, hears me as the Pa&s;tor of the Church which I &s;erve, but not as his Pa&s;tor, I &s;uppo&s;e, nor in way of any his &s;piritual Communion with mine Office of Pa&s;tor&s;hip. Se|condly, By <HI>hearing</HI> and <HI>receiving</HI> there, Chri&s;t's means properly the <HI>hearking to,</HI> believing and obeying the Doctrine taught by the Apo|&s;tles, which many <HI>de&s;pi&s;ed,</HI> unto whom he oppo&s;eth the former that <HI>heard</HI> it. Now the Mini&s;ters in the Pari&s;hes have not the Doctrines of the Go&s;pel from the Bi&s;hops, as they have their Office; but from God in his Word, and &s;o far forth as a Man hears, that is, hearkens to, and <HI>receives</HI> them by receiving it, he &s;o far hearkens to and receives Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Object. 5. <HI>Yet &s;uch as hear them, have Communion with their Office of Mi|ni&s;try what in them lies.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> That is, they have no Communion at all with it, if it lie not in them to have any, as it doth not. If I hold up my Hand as high as I can, I touch Heaven with my Finger, what in me lies: Do I there|fore at all touch it? If &s;uch think to have, any &s;uch Communion, it is their Error and Ignorance, but makes not the thing to be the more, than if they thought not &s;o.</P>
<P>Object. 6. <HI>Is there then no Communion at all between the Teacher, and taught? What Profit then comes there by &s;uch Hearing?</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The Church-Officer <HI>feeds the Flock</HI> and <HI>Church over which he is &s;et,</HI> as the Object of his Mini&s;try; &s;uch as come in (being not in Church-Union therewith) hear him &s;o doing; and, as a Stander-by, hearing me talk to, or di&s;pute with another (tho I &s;peak not a word to him)
<PB N="25" REF="15">may reap as much, and more Fruit by my Speech, than he to whom I direct it; &s;o may and doth it often come to pa&s;s with him that hears the Mini&s;ter feed the Flock who&s;e Mini&s;ter he is, tho he be no part of it: He may reap Fruit by hearing him feed his Flock, or &s;eeing him mini&s;ter Bapti&s;m to any Member thereof: Here is Communion only in the effects of the Truths taught. It were U&s;urpation in any to partake in a Church-Priviledg (which the Office of Mini&s;try is) that were not in a Church-State fir&s;t; and &s;o if hearing &s;imply imported Church-Communion, none but Church-Members might lawfully hear.</P>
<P>Object. 7. <HI>In the true Church indeed is Order, that the Church-Covenant go before Church-Communion, but not &s;o in the fal&s;e.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> In the true Church there may be unlawful Church-Commu|nion without a preceeding Church-Covenant, as well as in the other; to wit, if an Act of Communion (properly) pa&s;s between the Church, and him that is no Church-Member; as for Example, Participation in the Sacraments; but hearing being not properly an Act of Communi|on, cannot import Communion nece&s;&s;arily with the one or other; not otherwi&s;e then according to a fore-going Church-Union; whereas to partake in the Lord's Supper imports Communion in both lawful in him; that is, a lawful Church-Member, and unlawful in him that is not in &s;uch a Church-State.</P>
<P>Object. 8. <HI>But it is the Order of the Church of</HI> England, <HI>that all that hear, are, and &s;o are reputed Members of that Church.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> I deny that there is any &s;uch Order; let the Law or Canon either be &s;hewed that &s;o orders things.</P>
<P>Excommunicates are permitted to hear Sermons, tho not Divine Service, as they call it. 2. What if there were &s;uch an Order? It no more either made or declared me to be a Member there, than doth my dwelling in &s;uch or &s;uch a Pari&s;h make me a Member of that Pari&s;h-Church; which latter is indeed the Law and Order there. If the Church with me &s;hould make a Law, Canon, or Order, that all that come in and hear me preach, &s;hould thereby become Members of it; we were the more fooli&s;h in making &s;uch an Order, but they never a whit the nearer either for Member&s;hip or Communion.</P>
<P>Object. 9. <HI>He that hears, appears to have Communion with the Church, and Mini&s;try, and all Appearance of Evil is to be avoided:</HI> 1 The&s;&s;. 5.22.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The Scripture is not to be under&s;tood of all that appears Evil to Others, out of an erroneous and deceived Judgment; for then we mu&s;t ab&s;tain from almo&s;t all Good; &s;eeing there are &s;ome to whom almo&s;t all Good &s;eems Evil; but it is meant either of the Doctrine in <HI>Prophe&s;y,</HI> of which I have &s;ome probable Su&s;picion; of which the
<PB N="26" REF="16">Apo&s;tle &s;eems properly to &s;peak; or of that which appears Evil to a rightly di&s;cerning eye. By this imagined Expo&s;ition I might not hire a Hou&s;e in a Pari&s;h where I were not known: &s;eeing thereby I appear a Pari&s;h-member.</P>
<P>Object. 10. <HI>None can hear without a Preacher, nor Preach except he be &s;ent,</HI> Rom. 10.14, 15. <HI>Therefore I cannot lawfully hear him that hath nat a lawful &s;ending.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> That conclu&s;ion is neither in Text, nor &s;ound: I may law|fully hear him that hath no lawful Calling, as I have formerly &s;hewed.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Apo&s;tle's meaning there, is not to &s;hew what is unlawful, but what is impo&s;&s;ible. It is impo&s;&s;ible to believe without hearing, and im|po&s;&s;ible to hear without preaching, and impo&s;&s;ible to preach without the &s;ending there intended; that is, without God's gracious work of Pro|vidence in rai&s;ing up of Men, by enabling, and di&s;op&s;ing them to preach for the effectual calling of the Elect of God, of which he there &s;peaks. If any make a Que&s;tion, Whether Faith come by the hearing of the Preachers there? It is more que&s;tionable, whether they them&s;elves want not Faith, which are &s;o barren of Charity, in which true Faith is fruit|ful. If Faith come by the Preaching in <HI>England</HI> to any; it follows there|upon that &s;uch Preachers are &s;ent in the Apo&s;tle's &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P>Object. 11. <HI>The Sheep of Chri&s;t hear his Voice, but &s;trangers they will not hear.</HI> John 10.3, 8, 27.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Chri&s;t does not there &s;peak of the outward Hearing, but of the hearkning unto; that is, as he expounds him&s;elf, ver. 3, 4, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17. of the <HI>knowing</HI> and <HI>beieving</HI> of his Voice, and following it. So Chap. 9. <HI>I told you before, and ye did not hear;</HI> that is, not believe, ver. 27. And, <HI>God hears not Sinners,</HI> ver. 31. that is, approves not of them and their Prayers. So Chap. 11. <HI>I know that thou heare&s;t me always;</HI> and a thou&s;and times in the Scriptures. The drift of Chri&s;t in the place is (without que&s;tion) to &s;hew the difference between &s;uch as were his Sheep, and &s;uch as were not his Sheep. His Sheep heard his Vioce, and they which were not his Sheep heard not his Voice. But they which were not his Sheep, nor heard his Voice, as there he &s;peaks, heard him preach outwardly as well as the re&s;t which were his Sheep: Be&s;ides, they which were his Sheep, and would not hear Strangers in the Lord's Sen&s;e, heard outwardly tho&s;e Strangers preach, and by hearing them di&s;covered them to be Strangers, that is, fal&s;e Prophets. The Strangers of whom he &s;peaks were of the true Church, and of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> but brought fal&s;e Doctrine tending to kill the Soul. Such Stran|gers none &s;hould hear, that is, believe and follow.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="16">
<P> Object. 12. <HI>The Scriptures both of the Old and New Te&s;tament warn God's People of fal&s;e Prophets, which the Mini&s;ters of that Church are, ha|ving an unlawful Calling.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. They warn, <HI>not to hearken unto them, nor to believe them,</HI> Deut. 13.3. 1 John 4.1. but to try them, which without hearing them, cannot be done. Not that all fal&s;e Prophets are to be heard by all, that they may try them, for that were to tempt God: But I now an&s;wer the Scripture cited, which &s;peaks of Prophets in the true Church, which were to be heard till they were orderly repre&s;&s;ed, or at lea&s;t plainly di&s;covered by their Doctrine heard to be &s;uch.</P>
<P N="2">2. No Man's unlawful outward Calling makes him a fal&s;e Prophet, nor his outward lawful Calling a true; but his true or fal&s;e Doctrine only makes him a true or fal&s;e Prophet. A Man may have a lawful Office of Mini&s;try, and yet be a fal&s;e Prophet, if he teach fal&s;e Doctrine; &s;o may he be a true Prophet, if he teach the Truth, tho in an unlaw|ful and Antichri&s;tian State of Mini&s;try. Yea <HI>Balaam</HI> was both a <HI>fal&s;e Prophet</HI> in <HI>cur&s;ing</HI> (in purpo&s;e) where God would have him <HI>ble&s;s,</HI> and <HI>in teaching</HI> Balack <HI>to put a Stumbleng-block before the People of</HI> I&s;rael; <HI>Numb.</HI> 22.25. <HI>Jo&s;h.</HI> 13.22. 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.15, 26. <HI>Rev.</HI> 2.14. and yet a true Prophet in <HI>ble&s;&s;ing I&s;rael</HI> by the Spirit of Prophecy, and Word of the Lord put into his Mouth. <HI>Numb.</HI> 25.5, 9, 10, &amp;c. and <HI>Chap.</HI> 24.23, &amp;c. He is a Prophet that &s;peaks or declares a thing pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, or to come: And to prophe&s;y in our Sen&s;e, is nothing el&s;e but to <HI>&s;peak to Edification, Exhortation, and Comfort.</HI> 1 Cor. 14.3. He that doth this is a true Prophet, he that &s;peaks the contrary, a fal&s;e. It were good if they, in who&s;e Mouths the challenge of fal&s;e Prophets is rife&s;t, would better weigh how them&s;elves expound and apply the Scriptures in their prophe&s;ying, le&s;t notwith&s;tanding any outward lawful Church-&s;tate, they be deeper wounded by the rebound of their Accu&s;ations this way, then their Adver&s;aries.</P>
<P>Object. 13. <HI>The Lord forbids</HI> Judah <HI>going to</HI> Gilgal <HI>or to</HI> Bethel. <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 4.15, 16.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> The meaning is plain, and the words expre&s;s that they were not to go thither to <HI>offend, and play the harlot in joyning to Idols,</HI> ver&s;. 15, 16, 17. This I grant is to be done in no place; but deny any &s;uch thing to be done in the Hearing by me pleaded for. The Scriptures every where forbid the going, or coming to &s;uch Places, or Per&s;ons, as in or by which &s;ome Evil is done, to wit, for the doing of any thing evil, or unlawful in, or with them.</P>
<P>Object. 14. <HI>They that eat of the Sacrifice partake of the Altar,</HI> 1 Cor. 10.18. <HI>&s;o they that receive the Word from an unlawful Officer, partake with his Office.</HI></P>
<PB N="28" REF="17">
<P> <HI>An&s;w.</HI> I deny the Con&s;equence; The Office is not to the Word, as the Altar is to the Sacrifice. The Altar makes the things to be offer'd, actually to become a Sacrifice, which it was not before, &s;ave only in De|&s;tination; as Chri&s;t plainly teacheth, &s;aying, <HI>The Altar &s;anctifieth the Gift,</HI> Mat. 23.19. but &s;o doth not the Office make that to become the Word of God, which was not &s;o actually before. This Argument hath its &s;pecial weight, being applied to Sacraments, or proper In&s;titutions. The Church and Mini&s;try under God, make (in a good &s;ence) the Bread and Wine Sacramental, in their u&s;e, which before they were not. And to the Sacraments (e&s;pecially the Supper of the Lord) the Apo&s;tle in the place cited hath an eye; &s;hewing the proportion between the eating of the Sacrifices in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> which in that u&s;e became their Sacra|ments; and the eating the Sacrifice of the Heathens, which were their Sacraments; and the eating of the Lord's Supper, as the Sacrament of Chri&s;tians. With the&s;e things join in the la&s;t place, that Sacrifices con|&s;idered as proper In&s;titutions, might not be <HI>offered</HI> or <HI>eaten,</HI> but in the <HI>place cho&s;en,</HI> (Deut. 12.5, 6, 7.) and &s;anctified by the Lord for that pur|po&s;e. No more may Sacraments now be eaten, but in the Church; whereas the Word may be preached to any, as well out of the Church as in it.</P>
<P>Object. 15. <HI>The Places called Temples and Churches, having been built for Idolatry, &s;hould be demoli&s;hed, and therefore are not to be frequented, &s;pecially being accounted and made Holy Places,</HI> Deut. 12.3.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. The difference of Places under the Law, when all other pla|ces, (for the mo&s;t &s;olemn Wor&s;hip) as oppo&s;ed to that one place as holy, were unholy, is now taken away; &s;o as no place now is holy, or unholy, as then.</P>
<P N="2">2. Suppo&s;e it be the Magi&s;trates Duty to de&s;troy them, (of which I now di&s;pute not, nor how far he &s;hould proceed therein) yet I deny the Con&s;equence, and that I may not u&s;e that lawfully which he ought to de&s;troy.</P>
<P>The Magi&s;trate ought to have <HI>de&s;troyed</HI> &s;uch <HI>Cities in I&s;rael,</HI> as who&s;e Inhabitants had been corrupted with Idolatry, <HI>Deut.</HI> 13.12, 13, 14. Yet might the Cities (if &s;pared by the Magi&s;trates) lawfully be dwelt in afterwards; and Synagogues in them both be built and frequented for God's moral Wor&s;hip. <HI>Jericho</HI> &s;hould have been an <HI>execration</HI> and <HI>heap for ever,</HI> 2 King. 2.3, 5. yet being built again and &s;tanding, was the Seat of the School of the Prophets. The Murtherer ought to be put to death: yet if he be &s;pared, and &s;urvive, his Wife, Children and Ser|vants, lawfully may, and in Con&s;cience ought to conver&s;e with him according to the natural and civil relations between them and him.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="29" REF="17"> 3. I know no Law in force, nor Doctrine received in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> that a&s;cribes any holine&s;s to the places. And for Errors and Abu&s;es per&s;onal, they re&s;t in the per&s;ons &s;o erring. I &s;uppo&s;e &s;ome &s;uch Holine&s;s be ab&s;cribed unto them, as to Holy Churches, Holy Buildings, Con&s;ecrated Places, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Yet I &s;ee no &s;ufficient rea&s;on why I may not u&s;e lawfully a natural and civil place in them, for any law|ful Work, Civil or Religious, Private or Publick, for there is one rea|&s;on of all the&s;e. If any think tho&s;e places like the Idolathites, he mi&s;|taketh therein: The things offered to Idols, and eaten in the Idols Temple, and Fea&s;t, were in proportion, as the Bread and Wine (be|ing ble&s;&s;ed) in the Lord's Supper; as both the Apo&s;tle, and rea&s;on of the thing manife&s;ts. Whereas the place which I u&s;e (though for a re|ligious Action to be performed in it) whether in the Temple, or in mine own Hou&s;e, hath only the Con&s;ideration of a natural and civil Circum&s;tance. The Temple as a Temple (which yet I do not think is done in <HI>England</HI> by any, either received Doctrine, or Law) may be made an Idol by Con&s;ecration; and yet every particular place in it not made unlawful for all U&s;es.</P>
<P>If any further Object, that in preaching and hearing God's Word therein, we have a religious u&s;e of it, they err, not con&s;idering that tho the Work done be religious, yet the Place is no more religious therefore than the time in which I do it. Time and Place are natural Circum&s;tances, and without which no finite Action can be performed; and &s;ome time and place more commodious and fit than others for the doing of things of all kinds. I have no more religious U&s;e of the place which I hear publickly, than in which I pray privately in my Hou&s;e or Chamber.</P>
<P>Object. 16. <HI>Seeing what&s;oever is not of Faith is Sin, what Word of God, and &s;o of Faith is there for this Practice?</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Every Scripture that either commands the <HI>hearing</HI> of God's Word, and promi&s;eth a <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing to them that hear and keep it:</HI> Mat. 7.24. Luke 11.28. or that commands me to <HI>edify and build to my &s;elf:</HI> 1 Pet. 2.5. or to <HI>obey the Magi&s;trate;</HI> Tit. 3.1. or to <HI>follow after Peace:</HI> Heb. 12.14. or to <HI>prevent Offences:</HI> 1 Cor. 10.32. warrants and in Ca&s;es enjoyns this Practice, &s;uppo&s;ing no Sin to be in the way: of which in an&s;wering the former Objections (to which I &s;uppo&s;e all other of weight or colour may be referred) I hope I have cleared it.</P>
<P>And for any un&s;atisfied, or other-wi&s;e minded, I wi&s;h I knew their Rea&s;ons either for their good, by a &s;ufficent An&s;wer to be given unto them, or for mine own, by admitting of them, as there may appear weight in them. In the mean while, let me intreat of the differently
<PB N="30" REF="18">minded one way or other, that they would exerci&s;e mutually that true Chri&s;tian Charity one toward another, and Compa&s;&s;ion one of ano|thers Infirmities, which becomes all that will be in Truth and Deed, Followers of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; and which is mo&s;t needful (&s;pecially in things of this kind, for the pre&s;erving of the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peaee; which Bond of Peace whil&s;t Men are not careful to keep inviolated by brotherly Forbearance in matters of this nature, they mi&s;erably di&s;&s;ipate, and &s;catter them&s;elves, and one another, even as the Ears in a Sheaf are &s;cattered when the Bond breaketh.</P>
<P>But as few or no good things of any kind are &s;o well u&s;ed by &s;ome, but others as much abu&s;e them; &s;o it is to be feared, there will not want, who will change the lawful Liberty this way, into lawle&s;s Li|centiou&s;ne&s;s, and &s;o take up in&s;tead of all other religious Exerci&s;es, a Hearing Cour&s;e only.</P>
<P>And tho&s;e &s;pecially of them who di&s;liking the pre&s;ent Church-&s;tate in <HI>England,</HI> yet want due Zeal and Love to that which them&s;elves ap|prove. Let me a little turn my Speech to &s;uch, for the preventing in &s;ome, and remedying in others of that inordinate and broken Cour&s;e.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t I demand of &s;uch, what is this Cour&s;e of hearing &s;uch Mini&s;ters, as who&s;e &s;tate of Mini&s;try they approve not? Is it any par|ticular Ordinance left by Chri&s;t, and enjoyned all Chri&s;tians in all Ages and Places? Verily no. It were to be wi&s;hed that no Church-Mini&s;try were to be found, which is not approveable by the Word of God, notwith&s;tanding any good Act performed by them that po&s;&s;e&s;s it. This Hearing is only a work-of natural Liberty it &s;elf, as I have &s;hewed, and &s;anctified to Believers by their Faith. It is lawful to u&s;e it upon occa|&s;ion, as it is to borrow of other Men; but to make it our Cour&s;e, is to live by borrowing, which no hone&s;t Man, that can do otherwi&s;e po&s;&s;ibly, would do. Yea what differs it from a kind of &s;piritual Vaga|bondry in him that can mend it, tho with &s;ome Difficulty, to live in no certain Church-&s;tate, and under no Church-order, and Government.</P>
<P>To print deep in our Hearts the Con&s;cience of our Duties this way, let us briefly con&s;ider how many Bonds of Nece&s;&s;ity the Lord hath laid upon us, to walk in the Fellow&s;hip, and under the Ordinances of the mini&s;terial and in&s;tituted Church.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, We have lying upon us the nece&s;&s;ity of Obedience to Chri&s;t our Lord, in the Commi&s;&s;ion Apo&s;tolical enjoyning, that after we be <HI>made Di&s;ciples,</HI> as the Word is, and <HI>baptized,</HI> we be withal <HI>taught to ob&s;erve what&s;oever he hath commanded,</HI> Mat. 28.19, 20. It mu&s;t not then &s;uffice us that we are Di&s;ciples and Chri&s;tians, but we mu&s;t join here|with the entire ob&s;ervation of all the Ordinances of Chri&s;t (as we can
<PB N="31" REF="18">find means) from the greate&s;t to the lea&s;t. And let us beware that like the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> we call none of God's Commandments <HI>little,</HI> becau&s;e we would make our &s;elves, and others believe, that little and light account is to be made of ob&s;erving them; le&s;t we our &s;elves be <HI>called little,</HI> that is, be indeed none <HI>in the Kingdom of Heaven.</HI> Our Sins of Ignorance and humane frailty, alas, are too many, let us not add thereunto pre&s;umptuous Sins, either of Commi&s;&s;ion or Omi&s;&s;ion, to pro|voke God withal.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Church, and mini&s;trations therein, are not needle&s;s, but mo&s;t needful means &s;anctified of God, and given of Chri&s;t for our <HI>Salvation</HI> and <HI>edification</HI> thereunto; which he that de&s;pi&s;eth, that is, doth not &s;ubmit his Soul and Body unto (as he hath means) and conver&s;e there|in with good Con&s;cience, tho in Affliction and Per&s;ecution, de&s;pi&s;eth not Man, but God and Chri&s;t, to the depriving of him&s;elf of the Fruit of God's mo&s;t gracious pre&s;ence in his <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> and <HI>Temple,</HI> where he hath promi&s;ed <HI>to dwell;</HI> and of Chri&s;t's <HI>a&s;cen&s;ion</HI> into Heaven, for the pour|ing out of all Kingly <HI>Gifts</HI> and Large&s;&s;es <HI>upon Men for the Work of the Mini&s;try.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Our great In&s;irmities, whereof both the Scriptures every where, and our own experience warn us, &s;hew in what great need we &s;tand of all the Lord's Holy Ordinances and In&s;titutions, for the &s;upplying of what is wanting in us, and correcting what is ami&s;s, and continuing and encrea&s;ing of what is good, unto the coming of the Lord: where we mu&s;t al&s;o take knowledg, and remember, that it is one note of dif|ference, and the &s;ame very clear, between the wi&s;dom of the Fle&s;h, and the wi&s;dom of the Spirit, that the former will be &s;ure to provide for the Body, and outward Man, what may be, tho with danger and prejudice of the Spiritual; the other will take care and order for the Spiritual State, tho the outward pinch for it. And if any, out of the view, and per&s;ua&s;ion of his own &s;trength of Grace, come to conceive, that he &s;tands in no &s;uch need of Chri&s;t's Ordinances, or of any Chri|&s;tian Fellow&s;hip for the di&s;pen&s;ing of them: let &s;uch a Man con&s;ider, that the le&s;s need he hath of others by rea&s;on of his greater plenty of Grace received, the more need others have of him for their &s;upply. But what&s;oever any imagine of him&s;elf, the Apo&s;tle, who was not partial, teacheth, that the very Head (the chief and highe&s;t Mem|bers) <HI>cannot &s;ay to the Feet</HI> (the lowe&s;t and meane&s;t Members) <HI>I have no need of you,</HI> 1 Cor. 12.21.</P>
<P N="4">4. And la&s;tly, It is nece&s;&s;ary for our &s;ound and entire comfort with the Lord our God, that our Obedience be entire in re&s;pect of all his Holy Commandments, which we do, or can di&s;cern to be &s;uch, and to
<PB N="32" REF="19">concern us, according to that of the Man of God, <HI>Then &s;hall I not be a&s;hamed, when I have re&s;pect to all thy Commandments,</HI> P&s;al. 119.6. That &s;o we may have our part in the Te&s;timony given by the Holy Gho&s;t of <HI>Zachary</HI> and <HI>Elizabeth:</HI> which was, that <HI>they were Righteous before God, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blame|le&s;s,</HI> Luke 1.5, 6. That is, both in the Moral Precepts, and Sacred Ceremonies, and In&s;titutions of the Lord. Who&s;e Examples we in our Place and Times are to follow, not balking with the Lord in any thing, great or &s;mall: nor &s;eeking &s;tarting-holes, whereby to e&s;cape from him in his Word, which is <HI>holy, good,</HI> and <HI>pure.</HI> Good, as com|ing from our good God, good in it &s;elf; and good for us, if we con|ver&s;e therein as we ought, in good Con&s;cience towards God, Zeal for his Ordinances, Mode&s;ty in our Selves, and Charity towards other Men; &s;pecially towards them with whom God hath joined us in the mo&s;t and be&s;t things: taking heed le&s;t by any uncharitable, either judgment of, or withdrawing from their Per&s;ons, for &s;uch humane Frailties, as unto which, into one kind or other, all <HI>Adam</HI>'s &s;inful Po&s;terity are &s;ubject; we &s;in not more by our cour&s;e held again&s;t them, than they by theirs in them, which God forbid.</P>
<P>To conclude; For my &s;elf, thus I believe with my Heart before God, and profe&s;s with my Tongue, and have before the World, that I have one and the &s;ame Faith, Hope, Spirit, Bapti&s;m, and Lord, which I had in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and none other: that I e&s;teem &s;o many in that Church, of what &s;tate or order &s;oever, as are truly par|takers of that Faith (as I account many thou&s;ands to be) for my Chri&s;tian Brethren; and my &s;elf a Fellow member with them of that one My&s;tical Body of Chri&s;t &s;cattered far and wide throughout the World: that I have always in Spirit and Affection, all Chri|&s;tian Fellow&s;hip, and communion with them, and am mo&s;t ready in all outward Acti|ons and Exerci&s;es of Religion, lawful and lawfully done, to expre&s;s the &s;ame: and with|al, that I am per&s;waded the heating of the Word of God there preached, in the man|ner, and upon the grounds formerly mentioned, both lawful and, upon occa&s;ion, nece&s;&s;a|ry for me, and all true Chri&s;tians, withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Mini&s;try, and the appearances thereof: and uniting in the Order and Ordinances in&s;tituted by Chri&s;t, the only King, and Lord of his Church, and by all his Di&s;ciples to be ob&s;erved. And la&s;tly, That I cannot communicate with, or &s;ubmit unto the &s;aid Church-Order and Ordinances there e&s;tabli&s;hed, either in State or Act, without being condemned of mine own Heart, and therein pro<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">oking God, who is greater than my Heart, to condemn me much more. And for my Failings (which may ea&s;ily be too many) one way or other, of Ignorance herein; and &s;o for all my other Sins, I mo&s;t hum|bly crave pardon fir&s;t, and mo&s;t at the Hands of God. And &s;o of all Men whom therein I offend, or have offended any manner of way; even as they de&s;ire, and look that God &s;hould pardon their Offences.</P>
<P>Thus far Mr. <HI>Robin&s;on.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="addenda">
<PB N="33" REF="19">
<HEAD>ADDENDA.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Judgment of &s;everal other Independent Mini&s;ters, as well Ancient as Modern, concerning this Matter.</HEAD>
<P>MR. <HI>Henry Jacob</HI> (a &s;trict <HI>Independent</HI>) in his printed Declara|tion 1612, annexed to his Book, called, <HI>The Divine Beginning and In&s;titution of Chri&s;t's True Vi&s;ible Church,</HI> he hath this A&s;&s;ertion, <HI>pag.</HI> 6. For my part I never was nor am &s;eparated from all publick Communion with the Congregations of <HI>England.</HI> I acknowledg there|fore that in <HI>England</HI> are true vi&s;ible Churches and Mini&s;ters, tho acci|dentally, yet &s;uch as I refu&s;e not to communicate with; and tho&s;e of the Separation, in &s;ome Matters, are &s;treighter than I wi&s;h they were.</P>
<P>And the <HI>Browni&s;ts,</HI> in their <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith,</HI> printed 1616, they declare, That a Mini&s;ter receiving Prelatical Ordination, if he be a Pari&s;h Mini&s;ter, it makes not a nullity of the Mini&s;try of him in every re&s;pect be&s;ides. That is, it makes not void all trune&s;s of Mini&s;try in him, as a believing Congregation a&s;&s;enteth to hear him, and u&s;eth him for their Mini&s;ter, when <HI>on &s;ome weighty occa&s;ion, they joyn only to that which is true in the &s;aid Mini&s;ter, and te&s;tify in the be&s;t manner they can that they do &s;o, orrdinarily leaving the Pari&s;h Congregation and Mini|&s;try for their Error.</HI> With all profe&s;&s;ing, publi&s;hing, and practi&s;ing, freely and con&s;tantly, the &s;imple Truth therein with our &s;elves; this quitteth us from all Evil, and appearance of Evil in this Matter, it being no Evil, nor appearance of Evil, to join with the Pari&s;h-Con|gregation and Mini&s;try in &s;uch re&s;pects; and &s;o far forth as is afore|&s;aid, we ought &s;ometimes, on <HI>weighty Occa&s;ions,</HI> &s;o to join, and we &s;in if we do not.&mdash;And though we do not think every form of Prayer &s;inful and ab&s;olutely unlawful, yet we think it not &s;o profitable, and to &s;ome hurtful.</P>
<PB N="34" REF="20">
<P> Mr. <HI>Norton</HI> of <HI>New-England,</HI> upon tho&s;e words of our Ble&s;&s;ed Sa|viour; <HI>The Scribes and Phari&s;ees &s;it in</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>Chair, all things that they &s;ay unto you, that ob&s;erve and do.</HI> Which, &s;aith he, not only permits, but requires and implieth <HI>full Communion.</HI></P>
<P>The five di&s;&s;enting Brethren, (<HI>viz.</HI> Dr <HI>Goodwin,</HI> Mr. <HI>Bridg.</HI> Mr. <HI>Ny,</HI> Mr. <HI>Greenhill,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Sydr. Simp&s;on</HI>) in their Apologetical Narrative, <HI>pag.</HI> 6. they &s;ay, <Q>We have always profe&s;&s;ed, and that in tho&s;e times when the Churches of <HI>England</HI> were the mo&s;t, either actually, over|&s;pread with Defilements, or in the greate&s;t danger thereof,&mdash;that we both did, and would hold a Communion with them, as the Chur|ches of Chri&s;t.</Q></P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Firmin</HI> argues about this Matter, <HI>pag.</HI> 29. Suppo&s;e there &s;hould be &s;ome humane Mixtures, are all the Ordinances of God polluted? Why do you not communicate with them in tho&s;e Ordinances which are pure? And in his <HI>Separation Examined,</HI> pag. 40. &s;ays, Corrupt Members there were enough in the Jewi&s;h Church, and &s;o in the Chri|&s;tian Church &s;oon after, and in the Apo&s;tles Times; but you have no Example of &s;eparating from them.</P>
<P>Dr. <HI>Thomas Goodwin</HI> on the <HI>Ephe&s;ians,</HI> pag. 487, 488, 489.&mdash;His Judgment concerning Pari&s;h Churches, Mini&s;try and Communion.</P>
<P>In my la&s;t Di&s;cour&s;e I handled what was meant by the word <HI>Church.</HI> There was a nece&s;&s;ity that lay upon me to open that di&s;tinction of Church Univer&s;al and Particular. I gave you two Cautions about two Errors concerning each of the&s;e, both toward the Church Univer|&s;al, and toward Particular Churches. Concerning which I mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily &s;ay &s;omething to take away &s;ome Mi&s;takes and Mi&s;apprehen&s;i|ons of my meaning, for I walk by this Rule, to give no offence to <HI>Jew</HI> or <HI>Gentile,</HI> or to the Churches of God, as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Error, I told you, was of the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> of old, who de|nied the Church Catholock, and re&s;trained it to one part of the World; and yet the imputation of this Error lieth upon tho&s;e whom you call <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> to this day; this I cleared them from, and it is as great a clearning as can be.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Error, was of tho&s;e who hold Particular Churches (tho&s;e you call Pari&s;h-Churches) to be no true Churches of Chri&s;t, and their Mini&s;ters to be no true Mini&s;ters, and upon that ground for|bear all Church-Communion with them in Hearing, or in any other Ordinance. And as I acquitted the&s;e from that other Error, &s;o I
<PB N="35" REF="20">acquitted my &s;elf from this, and my Brethren in the Mini&s;try. I would not now have touched upon it again, but, as I &s;aid, to clear, not my &s;elf &s;o much, as &s;ome mi&s;takes about it.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is this, It was under&s;tood as if I &s;aid, that all Pari&s;h-Churches and Mini&s;ters generally, were Churches and Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, &s;uch as with whom Communion might be held. I &s;aid not &s;o, I was wary in my Expre&s;&s;ions; I will only &s;ay this unto you about it, There is no Man that de&s;ireth Reformation in this Kingdom, (as the generality of all Godly People do) but will acknowledg and &s;ay, that multitude of Pari&s;hes, where Ignorance and Prophane&s;s overwhelm|eth the generality, Scandalou&s;ne&s;s and Simony, the Mini&s;ters them|&s;elves; that the&s;e are not Churches and Mini&s;ters fit to be held Com|munion with. Only this, The Ordinances that have been admini&s;tred by them, &s;o far we mu&s;t acknowledg them, that they are not to be re|called or repeated again.</P>
<P>But here lieth the Que&s;tion, my Brethren, and my Meaning. Where|as now in &s;ome of the Pari&s;hes in this Kingdom, there are many God|ly Men that do con&s;tantly give them&s;elves up to the Wor&s;hip of God in publick, and meet together in one Place to that end, in a con&s;tant way, under a Godly Mini&s;ter, whom they them&s;elves have cho&s;en to cleave to, (tho they did not chu&s;e him at fir&s;t). The&s;e, notwith|&s;tanding their mixture and want of Di&s;cipline, I never thought for my part, but that they were true Churches of Chri&s;t, and Si&s;ter Churches, and &s;o ought to be acknowledged. And the contrary was the Error that I &s;pake again&s;t.</P>
<P>Secondly, For holding Communion with them. I &s;ay, as Si&s;ter-Churches, occa&s;ionally as Strangers, Men might hold Communion with them. And it is acknowledged by all Divines, that there is not that Obligation lying upon a Stranger, that is not a Member of a Si&s;ter-Church, to find fault in that Church, or in a Member of it, as doth on the Church it &s;elf to which one belongeth.</P>
<P>I will give you my Rea&s;ons, that moved me to &s;peak &s;o much. It was not &s;imply to vent my own Judgment, or &s;imply to clear my &s;elf from that Error; but the Rea&s;ons, or rather the Motives and Con&s;i|derations that &s;tirred me in it, were the&s;e;</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If we &s;hould not acknowledg the&s;e Churches, thus &s;tated, to be true Churches of Chri&s;t, and their Mini&s;ters true Mini&s;ters, and their Order &s;uch, and hold Communion with them too in the &s;en&s;e &s;poken of, we mu&s;t acknowledg no Church in all the Reformed Chur|ches; none of all the Churches in <HI>Scotland,</HI> nor in <HI>Holland,</HI> nor in <HI>Ger|many,</HI> for they are all as full of mixture as ours. And to deny that to
<PB N="36" REF="21">our own Churches, which we do not to the Churches abroad, nothing can be more ab&s;urd. And it will be very hard to think, that there hath been no Church &s;ince the Reformation.</P>
<P>Secondly, I know nothing tendeth more to the peaceable Reforma|tion among&s;t us, than to break down this <HI>Partition Wall;</HI> for there is nothing provokes more than this doth, to deny &s;uch Churches to be true Churches of Chri&s;t. For do but think with your &s;elves, and I will give you a familiar Example: You come to a Man, whom you think to be a Godly Man; you tell him, he hath the&s;e and the&s;e Sins in him, and they are great ones; it is as much as he can bear, though you tell him he is a Saint, and acknowledg him &s;o. But if you come to him, and &s;ay, be&s;ides this, You are a Limb of the Devil, and you have no Grace in you; this provokes all in a Man, when there is any ground in him&s;elf to think &s;o, or in another to judg him &s;o. So it is here, Come to Churches, and &s;ay, You have the&s;e Defects among you, and the&s;e Things to be reformed; but if you will come, and &s;ay, Your Churches and your Mini&s;ters are Antichri&s;tian, and come from <HI>Babylon,</HI> there is nothing provokes more. Therefore, if there be a Truth in it, (as I believe there is) Men &s;hould be zealous to ex|pre&s;s it; for this is the great <HI>Partition Wall</HI> that hindreth of twain making one.</P>
<P>Then again, This is that which I con&s;ider, and it is a great Con&s;i|deration al&s;o. I know that Je&s;us Chri&s;t hath given his People Light in matters of this nature by degrees. Thou&s;ands of good Souls that have been bred up and born in our A&s;&s;emblies, and enjoy the Ordi|nances of God, and have done it comfortably, cannot &s;uddenly take in other Principles, you mu&s;t wait upon Chri&s;t to do it.</P>
<P>In this Ca&s;e, Men are not to be wrought off by Fal&s;hoods, God hath no need of them. No, rather till Men do take in Light, you &s;hould give them all that is comfortable in the condition they are in; we &s;hould acknowledg every good Thing in every Man, in every Church, in eve|ry Thing, and that is a way to work upon Men, and to prevail with them; as it is <HI>Philem.</HI> ver&s;. 6. <HI>That the Communication of thy Faith may become effectual by the acknowledgment of every good thing, which is in you in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> It is that which buildeth men up, by acknowledgment of every good thing that is in them.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, The la&s;t Inconvenience is this, It doth deprive men of all tho&s;e Gifts that are found among&s;t our Mini&s;ters, and in this King|dom, that they cannot hold any Communion or Fellow&s;hip with them. So that I profe&s;s my &s;elf as zealous in this Point, as in any other I know; And for my part this I &s;ay, and I &s;ay it with much integrity,
<PB N="37" REF="21">I never yet took up Religion by Parties, in the lump; I have found by trial of things, that there is &s;ome Truth on all &s;ides. I have found Holine&s;s where you would little think it, and &s;o likewi&s;e Truth; and I have learned this Principle, which I hope I &s;hall never lay down till I am &s;wallowed up of Immortality; and that is that which I &s;aid be|fore, To acknowledg every good Thing, and hold Communion with it, in Men, in Churches, or what&s;oever el&s;e. I learn this from <HI>Paul,</HI> I learn this from Je&s;us Chri&s;t him&s;elf, he <HI>filleth all in all;</HI> he is in the Hearts of his People, and filleth them in his Ordinances to this day; and where Je&s;us Chri&s;t filleth, why &s;hould we deny an acknowledg|ment, and a right hand of Fellow&s;hip and Communion.</P>
<P>My Brethren, this Rule that I have now mentioned, (which I pro|fe&s;s I have lived by, and &s;hall do while I live) I know I &s;hall never plea&s;e Men in it. Why? it is plain, For this is the nature and condi|tion of all Mankind; if a Man di&s;&s;ents from others in one thing, he lo&s;eth them in all the re&s;t; and therefore if a Man do take what is good of all &s;ides, he is apt to lo&s;e them all, but he plea&s;eth Chri&s;t by it, and &s;o will I for this particular.</P>
<P>Dr. <HI>Owen,</HI> pag. 177. of <HI>Evangelical Love,</HI> &s;aith, That it is pleaded indeed, the Sub&s;tance of the Wor&s;hip of God ought to be no other than what Je&s;us Chri&s;t hath appointed; yet the Manner and Mode of performance of what he doth command, with other Rites and Cere|monies, for Order and Decency, may lawfully be in&s;tituted by the Ru|lers of the Church; let it therefore at pre&s;ent be granted (&s;ays he) that &s;o they may be by them, who are per&s;waded of the lawfulne&s;s of tho&s;e Modes, and of the things wherein they con&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>Indeed he very much condemns Communion with &s;uch Apo&s;tatical Churches who are guilty of Idolatry, and require un&s;criptural Terms of Communion: but what Churches tho&s;e are, remains to be proved. I am &s;ure he a&s;&s;erts, that many Errors in Doctrine, Di&s;orders in Sa|cred Admini&s;trations, irregular walking in Conver&s;ation, with neglect and abu&s;e of Di&s;cipline in Rulers, may fall out in &s;ome Churches, and yet not evacuate their Church-State, or give &s;ufficient warrant for any Per&s;on to leave their Communion, and to &s;eparate from them, <HI>Pag.</HI> 76. <HI>Evang. Love.</HI></P>
<P>And, pag. 176. We wholly deny that the Mi&s;takes of Chri&s;ti|ans in joining them&s;elves unto &s;uch Churches as have no warrantable In&s;titution, ought to be any cau&s;e of the dimini&s;hing of our Love to|wards them; for they may be Per&s;ons born of God, united to Chri&s;t, partakers of the Spirit, and belong to the Church Catholick My&s;tical,
<PB N="38" REF="22">which is the fir&s;t principal Object of all Chri&s;tian Love and Charity; notwith&s;tanding their Errors and Wandrings from the Truth in this Matter.</P>
<P>And the &s;aid Dr. <HI>Owen,</HI> who in his <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of the Work of the Spi|rit in Prayer,</HI> writes again&s;t the making or compo&s;ing of Forms of Prayer for our &s;elves to be u&s;ed privately, de&s;ires the Reader, <HI>p.</HI> 200. to ob&s;erve that he <HI>doth not argue again&s;t Forms of Prayer as unlawful to be u&s;ed.</HI> And, <HI>pag.</HI> 222. he grants, that <HI>Men or Churches may agree upon a pre&s;cribed Form by common con&s;ent, as judging and avowing it be&s;t for their own Edification.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Again,</HI> pag. 228. Whether they are approved or di&s;approved of God, whether they are lawful or unlawful, we do not con&s;ider, but only whether they are for Spiritual Benefit and Advantage for the good of our own Souls, and the Edification of others, as &s;et up in competition with the Gift before de&s;cribed. <HI>So that it &s;eems the Doctor doth not judg &s;uch Forms of Prayer unlawful which are for the good of our own Souls, and the Edification of others, and which are not in competition with the Gift before de&s;cribed.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore (<HI>p.</HI> 231, <HI>&amp;</HI> 232.) &s;uppo&s;ing that tho&s;e who make u&s;e of, and plead for Forms of Prayer, e&s;pecially in Publick, do in a due manner prepare them&s;elves for it by holy meditation, with an endea|vour to bring their Souls into a holy frame of Fear, delight and reve|rence of God; let it al&s;o be &s;uppo&s;ed that they have a good End and De&s;ign in the Wor&s;hip they addre&s;s them&s;elves unto, namely, the Glory of God, and their own Spiritual Advantage; the Prayers them&s;elves, tho they &s;hould be in &s;ome things irregular, may give oc|ca&s;ion to exerci&s;e tho&s;e Acts of Grace which they were otherwi&s;e pre|pared for: And I &s;ay yet further, that whil&s;t the&s;e Forms of Prayer are cloathed with the general Notions of Prayer, that is, are e&s;teemed as &s;uch in the minds of them that u&s;e them, are accompanied in their u&s;e with the Motives and Ends of Prayer, expre&s;s no Matter unlawful to be in&s;i&s;ted on in Prayer, directing the Souls of Men to none but lawful Objects of Divine Wor&s;hip and Prayer, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and whil&s;t Men make u&s;e of them with the true de&s;ign of Prayer, looking after due a&s;&s;i&s;tance unto Prayer, I do not judg there is any &s;uch Evil in them, as that God will not communicate his Spirit to any in the u&s;e of them, &s;o as that they &s;hould have no holy Com|munion with him in and under them. Much le&s;s will I &s;ay, that God never therein regards their Per&s;ons, or rejects their praying as unlaw|ful: For the Per&s;ons and Duties of Men may be accepted with God, when they walk and act in &s;incerity according to their Light, tho in
<PB N="39" REF="22">many things, and tho&s;e of no &s;mall importance, &s;undry Irregularities are found, both in what they do, and in the manner of doing it. Where Per&s;ons walk before God in their Integrity, and practi&s;e nothing con|trary to their Light and Conviction in his Wor&s;hip, God is merciful unto them, altho they order not every thing according to the Rule and Mea&s;ure of the Word. So was it with them who came to the Pa&s;&s;over in the days of <HI>Hezekiah, They had not clean&s;ed them&s;elves, but did eat the Pa&s;&s;over otherwi&s;e than it was written,</HI> 2 Chron. 30.18.</P>
<P>And, <HI>p.</HI> 235. he grants, That &s;uch Forms of Prayer <HI>have not any intrin&s;ecal Evil in the compo&s;ition of them;</HI> but argues again&s;t the <HI>&s;etting up</HI> and pre&s;cribing &s;uch <HI>Forms of Prayer</HI> univer&s;ally, <HI>in oppo&s;ition, and un|to the exclu&s;ion of free Prayer.</HI></P>
<P><HI>And, p.</HI> 236. If they appear not contrary unto, or incon&s;i&s;tent with, or are not u&s;ed in a way exclu&s;ive of that Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer, which we have de&s;cribed from the Scripture, nor are reducible to any Divine Prohibition, I &s;hall not contend with any about them.</P>
<P>Much more might have been collected, even out of the Writings of the Congregational Mini&s;ters concerning the&s;e weighty Matters, but this is &s;ufficient. I know the Reader will be &s;ollicitous to know their Judg|ment about the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and kneeling thereat; but I mu&s;t con|fe&s;s, at pre&s;ent, I cannot find they &s;ay any thing particularly about it, only the practice of &s;ome of them in receiving the Sacrament ac|cording to the manner of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> does evince, that all of them do not deny the lawfulne&s;s of it, but that they may &s;ome|times communicate there, tho ordinarily they do with their own par|ticular Churches, for better-Edification, as they judg.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Tombs,</HI> a learned Mini&s;ter, and a great <HI>Anabapti&s;t,</HI> wrote a Book to prove it lawful, both to Hear and <HI>Communicate</HI> with the Church of <HI>England;</HI> and his practice at <HI>Salisbury</HI> was conformable thereunto.</P>
<P>Indeed the <HI>Nonconformi&s;ts</HI> that are called <HI>Presbyterians,</HI> both Ancient and Modern, do generally allow the lawfulne&s;s of Communicating with the Church of <HI>England,</HI> tho at the &s;ame Time they held the Ce|remonies to be burthen &s;ome, and therefore would avoid them if they could; but if they could not have the Sacrament otherwi&s;e, they took it as they could have it.</P>
<P><HI>Thus &s;ays Mr.</HI> Baxter <HI>in his</HI> Chri&s;tian Directory, <HI>pag.</HI> 859. <HI>Fir&s;t Edi|tion;</HI> Had I my choice, I would receive the Lord's Supper &s;itting; but
<PB N="40" REF="23">where I have not, I will u&s;e the Ge&s;ture which the Church u&s;eth. And it is to be noted, that the Church of <HI>England</HI> requireth the Communi|cants only to <HI>receive it kneeling,</HI> but not to eat and <HI>drink it kneeling,</HI> when they have received it.</P>
<P>And his Re&s;olution of this Ca&s;e ought to be con&s;idered, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P>Que&s;t. <HI>May the Communion-Tables be turned Altar-wi&s;e? and railed in? And is it lawful to come up to the Rails to Communicate?</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1.&mdash;God hath given us no particular Command or Prohi|bition about the&s;e Circum&s;tances, but the general Rules for Unity, Edification, Order and Decency: Whether the Table &s;hould &s;tand this way or that way, here or there, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> he hath not particularly de|termined.</P>
<P N="2">2. They that turn the Table Altar-wi&s;e, and rail it in, out of a de&s;ign to draw Men to Popery, or in a &s;candalous way which will en|courage Men to, or in Popery, do &s;in.</P>
<P N="3">3. So do they that rail in the Table, to &s;ignify that the Vulgar or Lay-Chri&s;tians mu&s;t not come to it, but be kept at a di&s;tance; when Chri&s;t in his Per&s;onal Pre&s;ence admitted his Di&s;ciples to communicate at the Table with him&s;elf.</P>
<P N="4">4. But where there are no &s;uch Ends, but only to imitate the Anci|ents that did thus, and to &s;hew reverence to the Table on the account of the Sacrament, by keeping away Dogs, keeping Boys from &s;itting on it, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The profe&s;&s;ed Doctrine of the Church condemneth Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation, the real Corporal Pre&s;ence, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as ours doth. In this Ca&s;e Chri&s;tians &s;hould take the&s;e for &s;uch as they are, indifferent things, and not cen&s;ure or condemn each other for them; nor &s;hould any in|force them on any that think them unlawful.</P>
<P N="5">5. And to Communicate, is not only lawful in this Ca&s;e, where we cannot prove that the Mini&s;ter &s;inneth, but even when we &s;u&s;pect an evil De&s;ign in him, which we cannot prove; yea, or when we can prove that his per&s;onal Interpretation of the Place, Name, Situation, and Rails, is un&s;ound; for we a&s;&s;emble there to communicate in, and according to the profe&s;&s;ed Doctrine of Chri&s;tianity, and the Churches and our own open Profe&s;&s;ion, and not after every private Opinion and Error of the Mini&s;ter. As I may receive from an <HI>Anabapti&s;t</HI> or <HI>Sepa|rati&s;t,</HI> notwith&s;tanding his Per&s;onal Errors; &s;o may I from another Mans, who&s;e Error de&s;troyeth not his Mini&s;try, nor the Ordinance, as long as I con&s;ent not to it; yea, and with the Church profe&s;s my di&s;&s;ent.</P>
<P N="6">6. Yet <HI>caeteris paribus,</HI> every free Man that hath his choice, &s;hould chu&s;e to Communicate, rather where there is mo&s;t Purity and lea&s;t Er|ror, than with tho&s;e that &s;werve more from regular Exactne&s;s.</P>
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