2. Because it is _against the Edification of him who makes the
separation, in that he deprives himself Communion in spirituall good_.
3. _Because it is against the honour of Christ, in that, at much as in
it lyeth, it takes away the Unity of his mysticall body._
4. _It makes way unto Heresie, and separation from Christ._ And
therefore it is a sin by all good men to be abhorred.
[Sidenote: Second sort of Separatists.]
2. The second sort are such, as _separate from our Churches, as false
Churches_; And from our _Ministry, as Antichristian_: and differ from
us not only in Discipline, but in Doctrine also. We purpose not to
undertake a particular confutation of your Errours.
Four things only we have to say:
1. To beseech you to consider, whether you did not receive the _work
of Conversion from sin unto God, which ye presume to be wrought in you
first of all, in these publique assemblies, from which you now
separate?_ And if once you found Christ walking amongst us, How is it
that you do now leave us? Do you not therein leave Christ also? Are we
lesse, and not rather more reformed then we were? If the presence of
Christ, both of his power and grace, be with us, why will you deny us
your presence? Are ye holier and wiser then Christ? Is not this an
evident token that we are true Churches, and have a true Ministry,
because we have the seal of our Ministry, even the conversion of many
sons and daughters unto God? Doth not the Apostle from this very
ground, [176]argue the truth of his Apostleship? Is it not apparent,
that our Ministers are sent by God, Because their Embassage is made
successfull by God, for the good of souls? Did you ever read of true
conversion ordinarily in a false Church? Will the Lord concur with
those Ministers whom he sends not? Doth not the Prophet seem to say
the quite contrary, _Ier._ 23.33. And therefore either renounce your
conversion, or be converted from that great sin of separating from us.
2. To consider, whether there was not a time, _when ye could have
plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to those Ministers,
whose eyes you would now pluck out, and whom now you hate, and think
you do God good service, in reviling and persecuting them._ How is
it, that you are thus altered and changed? _Are they become your
enemies, because they tell you the truth?_ You will Reply, It is
because they are _Ministers Ordained by Antichristian Bishops_; and
therefore before they have renounced their false Ministry, we cannot
with a safe conscience hear them, nor expect a blessing from their
Ministry. This Reply is, we confess, a great stumbling block to many
godly people, in this Kingdome; for satisfaction to it, we offer these
particulars:
1. Many of you that make this Reply, hold, _That the Election of the
people is by Gods Word sufficient to make a man a true Minister
without Ordination._
Now it is certain, that many publique Ministers have been chosen by
the free and full consent of their Congregations; and most of them
have had an after consent, which was sufficient to make _Leah_ _Jacobs_
wife[177], and why not (to use your own words) to marry a man to a
people; and therefore according to your own judgments, all such are
lawfull Ministers. For sinfull superadditions do not nullifie divine
Institutions.
2. Some of you, that besides Election, require Ordination for the
making of a Minister, yet say, that this Ordination must be by the
people of the Congregation; and thus are your Ministers ordained.
Now we finde neither precept nor president for this in all the
Scripture; we finde [178]_Ordination by the laying on of the hands of
the Presbytery_, but never of the laying on of the hands of the
people. We finde [179]the Apostles, _Timothy_ and _Titus_, _Ordaining_,
but never the people _Ordaining_; and for private persons to assume
the power of Ordination (that is, a power to send men to preach the
Gospel, and administer the Sacraments) is a sin like unto the sin of
_Uzzah_, and of _Corah_, and his company. Therefore we say to you, as
Christ doth, _Matth._ 6. _First pluck the beam out of thine own eye, and
then_, &c. First justifie the Ordination of your own Ministers by
private persons, and then you will see better, to find fault with the
Ordination of our Ministers.
3. We distinguish between a defective Ministry, and a false Ministry,
as we do between a man that is lame or blind, and a man that is but
the picture of a man. We do not deny, but that the way of Ministers
entring into the Ministry by the Bishops, had many defects in it, for
which they ought to be humbled: But we add, that notwithstanding all
the accidental corruptions, yet it is not substantially and
essentially corrupted: As it is with Baptism in the Popish Church; all
Orthodox Divines account it valid, though mingled with much dross,
because the party baptized, is _baptized in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost_. And therefore, when a Papist turns Protestant,
he is not baptized again, because the substance of Baptisme is
preserved in Popery under many defects. The like, and much more, may
be said for the _Ordination of our Ministers by Bishops_: It is lawful
and valid for the substance of it, though mingled with many
circumstantial defects.
And this appears,
1. Because when they were ordained, _they were designed to no other
Office, but to preach the Word, and administer the Sacraments;
according to the Will of Christ._
2. Because since their Ordination, _God hath sealed the truth of their
Ministry_ (as hath been said) _by his blessing upon it_. If they be
_Antichristian Ministers_, how is your _conversion Christian_?
3. Because they were ordained by Bishops, not as Lord Bishops, or as
_a superiour Order by divine Right above a Presbyter_; but as they
were _Presbyters_. For the understanding of which, you must know,
1. That by Scripture, a Bishop and Presbyter is all one, as appears by
_Act._ 10.27, 28. _Tit._ 1.5, 6, 7, 8. _Phil._ 1.1. 1 _Tim._ 3.1, 2, &c.
1 _Pet._ 5.1, 2. and by what is said by the Authors quoted in the
[180]Margent.
2. _That the Lordly Dignities of Bishops were meer civill additaments
annexed to their Bishopricks by Kingly favour._
3. That this Opinion, that _Bishops are a [181]superiour Order of
Ministry, by Divine Right above a Presbyter, is a late upstart
Opinion, contrary to antiquity_, as appears by the Authors quoted in
the Margent.
4. That the Laws of this Realm do account nothing _divine_ in a
Bishop, but his being a Presbyter; and therefore the Parliament in
their _Ordinance for Ordination_, tels us, _That they did ordain as
Presbyters, not as Bishops, much lesse as Lord Bishops_.
As for their usurpation of the sole power of Jurisdiction, together
with their Lordly Titles & Dignities, and Dependances, we have
renounced them in our _Solemn League and Covenant_: But we never did,
nor never shall renounce them as _Presbyters_, which by the consent of
all sides, are by _Divine Right_.
We shall add one thing more,
4. That Ministers do not receive their Ministry from the People, or
Bishops, but immediatly from Jesus Christ: For they are Ministers and
Embassadors of Christ, not of the People: Indeed they are Embassadors
for the good of the People, but not Embassadors of the People: All
that the people or Bishop doth, is but to _choose_ and _ordain_ a man;
but it is Christ that gives him his _power and authority_; As when a
wife _chooseth a husband_, and a Town a Mayor; the Town doth not
give the Mayor, nor the wife the husband, the power they have; but the
_Laws of God_, the one and of _Man_, the other: So it is here, It is
Christ that gives the Office, and the Call to the Ministry; They are
his _Servants_, and in his _Name_ execute their function. It is he
that fits them with ability for their work; the people they consent,
and the _Bishop as a Presbyter, with other Presbyters, ordain him_;
which though it had many Corruptions mingled with it, when the
_Bishop_ was in all his pomp and Lordliness, yet for the substance of
it, it was lawful & warrantable, and _therefore cannot without sin be
renounced and abjured_.
3. In the third place we exhort you to consider, _whether since you
have forsaken our Congregations, you have not fallen into such strange
opinions, and those of so high a nature, as that if any man should
have told you seven years ago, that you would have one time or another
fall into them, you would have said to him, as_ Hazael _did to the
Prophet; Am I a dog, that I should do this?_ Who would ever have
thought, that you that did once sigh, mourn, and bitterly complain,
_That a Chappell was permitted to the Queen to hear Masse in, should
now plead for a toleration of Popery, and all manner of Errours and
Heresies? That you that did once flock to our Churches as Doves to the
windows, should now not only forsake ours, but all Churches of
whatever constitution; That you that did once so much prize Christ,
and his holy Scriptures, should now (some of you at least) deny the
Divinity of Christ, and his holy Scriptures?_ But this is no great
wonder, for the Apostle hath foretold it, [182]_That evill men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived_; and
that _they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will
eat as doth a Canker_, &c. _Errour_ is of an incroaching nature; as
the _little Theef_ openeth the _door_ oftentimes to the _great Theef_
so a little _errour_ paves a cause-way to a greater: The _Popish
superstition_ at first grew secretly, the _tares_ were hidden under
the _corn_; but in a little while the _tares_ grew up, so as no _corn_
could be seen: Images, at first were brought into the Church _only for
an historicall use_; afterwards, to stir up _devotion_, at last, they
came to be _worshipped_: Let the Serpent but winde in his head, & he
will quickly bring in his whole body: Your _first errour_ was in
_separating from our Churches_, from which _Christ doth not separate_.
Here the _Serpent got in his head_, & no wonder his whole body
_followed_; he that saith _yea_ to the Devil in a little, shall not
say _nay_ when he please: He that tumbleth down the _Hill of Error_,
will never leave tumbling, till he comes to the _bottome_. First you
deny our Ministers to be true Ministers, and our Ordinances to be true
Ordinances; and then God, as a just Judge, gives you over, in a little
time, to deny all _Ministers and Ordinances_, and then to be _above
all Ministers and Ordinances_; and at last, to be above Christ
himself, and not to stand in need of his _mediation to God the
Father_. First you deny _Baptisme of Infants_, and then after,
_Baptisme of water_: In a word, First you _run away from us_, and then
for the most part turn _Independents_, then _Antinomians_, then
_Anabaptists_ then _Arminians_, then some of you _Socinians_,
_Antiscripturists_, _Anti-Trinitarians_, still waxing worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived, & in the conclusion, meer _Atheists_.
Suffer us therefore to speak to you in the words of Christ, to the
Church of _Ephesus_. Rev. 2.5. _Remember from whence you are faln, and
repent, and do your first works_, &c. Repent of all your
Soul-destroying _Errours_, and return to the Churches from which ye
have most unjustly separated, for fear, lest _God as a just Judge_,
because you would not receive the love of the truth that you might be
saved, should still give you over to strong delusions, that ye should
believe a lye, _That all they might be damned, who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse_: And this makes way to
the fourth thing we have to say to you; and that is,
4. To beseech you to consider, _Whether since you forsook our
Congregations, you are not much decayed in the power of Godliness_,
whether you have not lost your first love to Godly Ministers,
Gospel-Ordinances, Fastings, reading the Word, private & Family
prayers, and Communion of Saints; whether you are not grown more
censorious, self-conceited, headie, high-minded, treacherous, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, and lovers of pleasure more then
lovers of God; whether Duties to God and Man have not been more
neglected, Sabbaths more prophaned, Families worse governed; the
publique welfare of Church and State have not been less minded,
whether prophaneness, or prophane Ones, have not been more indulged;
and whether you be not sensibly and dangerously apostatized from that
close and humble walking with God, which formerly some of you did so
much labour after: For the truth is, _Corruption in the Judgment, will
quickly bring corruption in the conversation_. Our actions are guided
by our apprehensions; and if our apprehensions be _erroneous_, our
_actions_ will quickly be tainted with wickednesse; And therefore it
is very observeable, [183]_That in the old Law, when the Leprosie was
in the head, the Priest was not only to pronounce the man unclean, but
utterly unclean_: For Leprosie in the head, will quickly beget a
Leprosie in the whole man: As the Sun is to the World; so is the
Understanding to Man: If the Sun be dark, all the world is in
darknesse; and if the light that is in thee (saith Christ) be
darkness, _How great is that darkness?_ We wonder not at the
_looseness_ of your practices, when we consider the _looseness_ of
your principles: _For Doctrines contrary to Godliness, must needs
bring forth a conversation contrary to the Gospell._ And this is an
evident token to us, that the _New-Lights_ (as they are called) which
you hold forth to the world, proceed not from the _Father of Lights_,
but the _Prince of Darkness_, because they lead men into the _Works of
Darkness_.
Therefore seeing that since your departure from us, you have wofully
back-slidden from God, and are visibly decaid in Holiness and
Righteousness, Our Exhortation to you is, that you would return to
your first Principles; for then it was better with you, then now; And
our prayer to God for you is, _That he would give you repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth; and that you may recover your selves
out of the snare of the Devill, who are taken captive by his will._
Having finished that we had to say to those that separate from our
Church, we now go on to speak a few words to those that _continue with
us still, and that wait upon the publique Ministry, but do not yet
joyn with us, in partaking of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper_.
These we shall divide into three ranks.
1. Such as are _young people_, not yet sufficiently instructed in the
grounds of Religion.
2. Such as are _grown in years_, and come to our Churches, but yet are
scandalous in life and conversation.
3. Such as live, for ought we know, unblameably, but yet refuse to
come to the Sacrament in the Presbyterian way.
1. Such as are _young people_, and not yet sufficiently instructed in
the grounds of Religion; Our Exhortation to you is, _That you would
remember your Creator in the days of your Youth_; the word in the
Hebrew[184] is, in the choyce of thy dayes: The time of Youth is the
Golden Age; and grace in Youth, is like a Jewel in a gold-ring. The
time of Youth, it is the _Seasoning Age_: A Vessell will of a long
time retain the savour of that liquor that it is first seasoned
withall; _Teach a child_ (saith Solomon) _the trade of his way, and he
will not depart from it when he is old_. The time of Youth is the
chiefe time you have to _work for heaven_. Old age is a time to _spend
grace_; but Youth is the time to get it: Old Age is the time to _reap_
the fruit of holiness, but Youth is the time to _sow_ the seed of it:
And it is a time, that of all times God doth most require, and most
delight in. It is observed by one, that Christ [185]_loved his
youngest Disciple best_: And by Another, that Christ was _wonderfully
delighted_ with that _Hosanna_ that the children sang unto him, Mat.
21.16. [186]_The childrens Hosanna pleased him no less then the mens
Hallelujahs; Suffer little children to come unto me_, saith Christ,
_for to them belongeth the Kingdome of God._ In the Old Testament God
hath manifested a great deal of love to young people; He chose _Abel_,
the younger, _Shem_, the younger, _Abraham_, the younger, _Jacob_, the
younger; young _Samuel_, and young _David_, and young _Josiah_: And
therefore let young men, especially, be exhorted to begin betimes, to
bear the yoak of the Lord; _Seek ye first the Kingdome of God, and his
Righteousness_; first, _before_ any thing else; and first, _more_ then
any other thing. Say not, (O say not!) I am a young man, and therefore
may plead for liberty to do what I list, till I come of riper years:
But remember, _That Jesus Christ shed his blood for thee when he
was 8. dayes old_; and took thee into his Family by _Baptisme_, _when
thou didst hang upon thy mothers Breast_; Thou art (it may be) a young
man, but a Baptized young-man; A Young-man consecrated and dedicated
to God; And it is not only sin, but sacriledg and perjury, to
_impropriate that that is dedicated to God, to the service of the
Devill_. Remember the wrath manifested from Heaven _against the 42.
children_ that mocked _Elisha_; And remember further, That young
people must dye, as well as old: _There are Skulls in Golgotha, of all
sizes_; and young people have _immortall souls_, and must appear at
the great day of Judgment, as well as _old_; Young people are by
nature _children of wrath, heires of hell_; and therefore this is thy
first work (_O young man_) to get out of the Root of Abomination, into
the Root of Acceptation; out of the old _Adam_ into the new _Adam_; &
before this be done, (though thou shouldst spend thy time in gathering
up Pearls and Jewels,) thou art an undone creature.
For the better effecting of this, we exhort you, to attend diligently
to the publike Preaching of the Word, and willingly and cheerfully to
submit to be catechized and instructed by your _Parents, Masters, and
Ministers_. The Scripture divideth a Congregation, into him that
_catechizeth_, and those that are _catechized_, saying, [187]_Let them
that are taught_, or (as it is in the Greek) _Catechized, communicate
to him that teacheth_ (or _catechizeth_) _them in all good things_. In
the Primitive times, when any Heathen man was converted to
Christianity, he was first a _catechumenus_, before he was admitted
either to _Baptisme_, or the _Lords Supper_. And _Egesippus_
testifies, [188]_that by the diligent instruction of the Church, there
was no known Common-Wealth in any part of the World, inhabited, but
within fourty years after Christs passion, received a great shaking of
Heathenish Religion._ There are in Christian Religion, _fundamentalls_
and _superstructions_. The _fundamentalls_ are the vitals of
Christianity: These are comprized in many of our _English_
Catechismes. Amongst all others, we do more especially commend the
_greater and lesser Catechismes made by the Reverend Assembly of
Divines_, _and published to be used in all Churches in_ England _and_
Wales, _by Authority of Parliament_. These we exhort you, not only to
read, but to learn. And to invite you thereunto, we further declare;
That the study of the Catechisme, is a singular help for the _right
understanding_ of the Scriptures: (For the Catechisme is nothing else,
but a Methodical Extract out of the Bible, of the fundamentals of
Christian Religion;) And it is also very useful to make you understand
what your _Ministers preach to you_; And to keep you from the
_Errours_ and _Heresies of these times_ to prepare you to give a
distinct and perfect account of your Faith to the Minister and Elders.
For one great Reason why men do so pervert the Scriptures to their own
destruction, and run wilde into so many errors and heresies, and are
so unable to give a particular and distinct account to the Minister
and Elders, is for want of the study of the Catechisme. As a ship
_without ballast_ is tossed about with every wave and wind; so is a
_man without the study of the Catechisme_, carried about with every
wind of vain doctrine. As a _house_ without a foundation will quickly
fall, so will a Christian that is not well verst in the fundamentals
of Religion. As Children grow _crooked_, that are not well looked to
at first; so many run into _crooked opinions_, because not well
catechized.
And therefore we earnestly beseech and intreat all Parents, and
Masters of Families, that they would make conscience of this great
duty of catechizing their children and servants. And oh that the Lord
would make our words to take impression upon your hearts. In the Old
Testament God commands Parents to _teach diligently their children_.
The word in the Hebrew[189] is, to _whet the Law_ upon their children.
The fourth Commandement is directed not to children, and servants, but
to Parents and Masters; And they are there commanded, not only _in
their own persons_, to keep the Sabbath; but to see that their
_children and servants do it also_. It is not, _Thou, or thy son, or
thy daughter; But thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter_. It doth not
say, (as _Zanchy_ well observes[190],) _Remember thou to keep holy the
Sabbath day, and to perswade thy children and servants to keep it
holy_: But _remember thou to keep it holy, and thy son, and thy
servant_, implying thereby, _that it is the Duty of the Master and
Father, to compell his servant and children to the keeping of the
Sabbath day_. For doing of this, God exceedingly extols _Abraham_,
Gen. 18.19. _I know that he will command his children, and his
household after him, that they keep the wayes of the Lord_: upon which
words, a learned Divine wrote thus; [191]_Abraham did not leave his
children and servants to their own genius, their own counsels, their
own lusts, though it is certain, divers of them would have thanked him
for such a liberty; for they had been nursed up in superstition and
idolatry, as_ Abraham _was, and might have pretended, that they were
not satisfied in point of conscience. But_ Abraham _knew how to
distinguish between liberty of conscience, and liberty of lust, and
therefore would not allow them such a liberty as would have enticed
them into the worst kinde of bondage._ The New Testament also calls
upon Parents, not only to bring up their children, but to
[192]_nurture them up in instruction and admonition of the Lord_. Old
_Eli_ was _grievously punished_ for neglect of this duty: And let his
severe chastisement be as a _warning-piece_ to all Fathers and
Masters; And let them know, _That if their children and servants
perish for want of instruction, through their negligence, their blood
will be required at their hands._
And if Parents and Masters, much more ought Ministers to be very
conscientious in the diligent discharge of this duty. Our Saviour
Christ layeth an express command upon them, not only _to feed the
sheep_, _but also the lambs of Christ_. It is no disparagement to a
_Peter_, to be a _feeder of Christs lambs_. Oh that Ministers would
unanimously and universally set to this duty! We commend it to them,
as a most _Soveraign Antidote_, to preserve their Congregations from
the errours of these times. It is reported of _Julian_, that amongst
other subtile plots he used for the rooting out of Christian Religion;
One was the _suppression of all Christian Schools_, and places of
catechizing. [193]And as one saith, _If he had not been as a Cloud
that soon passeth away, it had been to be feared, lest within a short
time he had overshadowed all Religion._ For when Catechizing was taken
from the Church, it was presently all overspread with ignorance. And
it is further added by the same Author, That the Papists themselves
acknowledg, that all the advantage the Protestants got of them in the
beginning of Reformation, was by their catechizing; because they began
sooner to catechize, then they did. And it is to be feared, saith he,
if ever the Papists get once again advantage of Us, it will be by
their exacter catechizing, then ours. And therefore, if ever you would
prevent the further _corruption_ of mens Judgments, and secure them
from the infection of _errour_, and preserve Religion from ruine. We
exhort you in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, to practise this
duty; and intreat our people with all readiness and constancie, to
submit unto this Ordinance of God, which with so much publique
prejudice, hath been so long neglected.
And to perswade people thereunto, let them consider further,
1. If Ministers are bound to catechize; then people are bound to be
catechized.
2. That they are baptized, and thereby consecrated unto Christ, and
obliged by promise, to give up themselves unto instruction.
3. That ignorance, though it be not the greatest, yet it is a most
dangerous sin: All sin is wrapt up in ignorance, as a child in
swadling clouts. The Scripture saith, [194]_That Christ will come in
flaming fire to render vengeance upon all those that know him not_,
&c.
It makes the _ignorance of God_ to be the cause of all sin, 1 _Sam._
2.12. 1 _Joh._ 2.4. _Eph._ 4.19. And _David_ prayeth unto God,
[195]_To pour out his wrath upon the heathen that know him not_; how
much more upon the Christians that know him not? As toads and Serpents
grow in dark and dirty sellars: so all sin and wickednesse in an
ignorant and blind soul. Now there is no ordinary way for young people
to gain the knowledge of God, but by _Catechizing_.
4. That the time of youth is the _golden Age_, the _seasoning age_,
and a time in which men are apt to receive abiding impressions of
evil, or good. And if they can learn to say to _Elisha_, _Bald-pate_,
why should they be unwilling to learn to sing to Christ, _Hosanna_?
5. That it is not so great a shame for young people to be ignorant, as
to be wilful and obstinate in ignorance. And if they refuse to be
_Catechised_, they shall perish in their ignorance; but the _Minister_
is free from the blood of their souls.
The second sort are such _as live within the bounds of our Province,
and come to our Congregations, and yet are wicked and prophane, and
such, as if they should come to be examined by the Minister and
Elders, would not be received to the Sacrament_. These are Christians
in _name_, but they are a shame to the _name_, and bear it (as
_Urijah_ did a letter to _Joab_) _for their ruine and destruction_. We
beseech and intreat them to consider, what a sinful and cursed
condition it is to live ungodlily and unrighteously under the
abundance of Gospel-Ordinances.
First, what a _sinful condition_ it is; For,
1. It is as much as in them lyes, a frustrating of the great love of
Christ in dying for them: For, therefore Christ dyed, _that they which
live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which
dyed for them, and rose again_, 2 Cor. 5.13.
2. It is a frustrating of the gracious design of God, in sending the
Gospel to them; for one chief errand of the Gospel, is to _teach us to
deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world_, Tit. 2.12.
3. It is not only to sin against the _light of nature_, but against
the _light of the Gospel_.
4. Not only against the _creating and preserving mercies of God_, but
against the _heart-blood mercy_ of Jesus Christ.
5. It is a sin of _horrible ingratitude and unthankfulness_; a sin
that makes God himself to stand, as it were, amazed, that any man
should be so wicked, as to be guilty of it, _Isai._ 1.2. _Jer._ 2.11,
12.
6. It is a sin that will make us speechlesse, and unexcusable at the
great day, _Joh._ 15.22.
7. It is a sin that renders a Christian worse then the very bruit
creatures, _Isa._ 1.3. And in this one sense, worse then the Devills
themselves, because the Devills never refused so great salvation.