Church (to which they ought to fubmit their Judgements) fo ought the concurrent Judgement of all the Prophets of every particular Church, to be received of that Church, untill it appear that it is contrary to the Judgement of the Church Unive: fall: But then as the Univerfall Church must be heard before the particular, fo muft the Univerfality of the particular, before any particulars of that particular Church; for God, faith Saint Paul, is not the Authour of Confufion: And therefore he not onely objects against the refractary Particulars of Corinth, We (that is, the Church of Corinth) bave no fuch Custome; but left they fhoud alledge errour alfo in that particular Church, he juftifies their Practice, by the Practice of the Univerfall; Neither (faith he) have the Churches of God. By which it appears, private Men are tyed to fubmit to the Judgement of their particular Church, and that unto the Judgement of the Univerfall.

*

But if any afk what is the Catholick Church, when and how is her Judgement to be?

The Catholick Church (properly fo called) is the whole Number of Chriftians all Places univerfally profeffing Chrift; and this, fince the Apoftles Times never was, nor can be affembled into one, to give Sentence upon any thing: But as in the Politick Body of Civill States, (the reall Affembling of all the Members perfonally, being unneceffary, inconvenient, and almost impoffible) fome Perfons Reprefentative of the whole, being by Intimation of the Superiours from all Parts, delegate to give the common Suffrage of the Whole, do by the Laws of God and Man, give the binding Sentence of the whole Body Univerfall; fo in the myfticall Body of the Church, the Ecclefiafticks, which are the onely authorized Members for difcerning and judging Matters that depend upon the Word of God, because that to them, and to them alone, were the Promises of the Holy Ghoft's Affiftance made, they (I fay) either all affembling themselves together, or at least in their feverall Dioceffes, chofing and delegating from among themselves trufty Men, to do the Office of the Clergy in that Point, do truly and properly give the entire Vote of the whole Catholick Church: And in this way, we have many Sentences and Decrees thereof remaining to us; which being from Age to Age fucceffively received, do stand in Force and fpeak unto this very prefent: againft which, whofoever fhall in Practice or Doctrine attempt any thing to the Prejudice of what is fo established, shall apparently declare himself an infolent and fchifmaticall Exalter of himself, and of his own private Judgement, against the Judgement of the whole Catholick Church: and in the fame way that the Church Catholick fpeaketh, in the fame alfo, if need be, fpeaketh every particular Church.

This being the extraordinary way (wherein the Church speaketh not, but upon extraordinary Occafions) the hath alfo for ordinary Occafions, a contitinuall conftant Voice in an ordinary Way. The Church, confidered in it felf, is not, nor cannot be leffe then the whole Body of it; but confidered in the to that Work Actions of it, any Part by which it duly worketh, as onely which it fo intendeth, is truly and properly enough called the Church: If we speak of a Man, as of his being, as that he lives, is in Health, young,

* Cor. 14. 32, 33. +1 Cor. 11. 16.

young, lufty, &c. we mean by the Man no leffe then the whole Man, with all his Members; but if we fpeak of the particular Actions of the Man, as that he did hear, fee, fpeak, take, &c. we do not then intend that every diftinct Member of his Body did actually hear, fee, fpeak, take, &c. but that the Man performed thofe Actions by the properMembers refpectively ordained for the doing of them, and that nevertheleffe the Office of each Member fo miniftring, was the proper Act of the whole Man; fo that though the Eyes of the Man onely faw, his Ears heard, his Tongue fpake, and his Hands handled, yet is the whole Man faid truly to hear, fee, fpeak, and handle.

As then in the Body naturall, fo in the Body myfticall, the Church: though the Church in her Being comprehend all Members, as well Lay as Clergie, yet in her Work and Actions fhe worketh not promifcuously by all, but by her proper and ordained Members; for if every one were an Eye to fee, a Head to Judge, or a Mouth to give Sentence, then were they all but one equipotent Member, and where then were the Body? faith Saint Paul: Therefore though in the Question of circumcifing the believing Gentiles, the Letters of Ordinance went in the Name of the || Apostles, Elders, and Brethren; yet plainly the Brethren had no Vote in the Decifion of the Question; but as the Apostles and Elders are onely faid to have come together to confider of the Matter, fo the Debate and the Decifion there is only theirs, and the Decrees thereupon are in the 16 Chapter called onely ‡ the Decrees that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders. And if we will have the Brethren to have been named in the Apostles Letters, to fhew that Laymen have Authority to vote in Matters of Religion, then must we alfo confeffe that Laymen, afwell as the Man of God, have Authority to judge in Matters of Doctrine alfo, for they that writ the Letters fay of the Point of Doctrine, We gave no fuch Commandment. Therefore plainly the Judgement of the Apoftles and Elders, was in that Matter, the Judgement of the Brethern, and of the whole Church there, by their unanimous Submiffion and Agreement unto them; and not the voting of Apostles, Elders, and Brethren together, which yet is a thing farre differing from the voting of Laymen onely, and from Laymens choofing of them that fhall vote.

In the fame manner the Voice of the ordained Governours and Minifters in every particular Church, in thofe Things that are committed to their Care and Charge, is the Voice of the Church it felf; and the Voice of that particular Church, not being repugnant to Faith, nor the declared Judgement of the Catholick Church, is (as to the Members of that Church) the Voice of the whole Church Catholick: fo that he that refufeth to hear the Voice of the Governours of his particular Church, refufeth to hear his particular Church; and not that Church onely, but the whole Church Catholick.

Again, as in the Body the most usefull Members thereof, the Eyes, the Ears, the Tongue, the Hands, the Feet, would not onely be ufeleffe, but make a confued Deformity, if they were every one annexed immediately to the Groffe of the Body, and not joyned by the Mediation of fome noble Limb: the Eyes, the Ears, and Tongue, by the Head; the Hands, by the Arms; and the feet, by the VOL. I. Legs:

1 Cor. 12. 12.

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Legs: fo would it be in the Church Catholick, if every particular Member fhould hold it felf immediately to depend on it, and not on the noble and mediating Limb of his particular Church, that fo by an ufefull and decent Subordination of the Members under the Head, The Body from thence (as the Apoftle fpeaks) by Joynts and Hands having Nourishment and knit together, may encreafe with the Encrease of God.

These fame Things doth our Saviour teach, when giving a Rule for governing ones felf in private Offences betwixt his Brother and him, he bids him

Tell it to the Church: Our Saviour meant not that upon every fuch Occafion the Church Catholick fhould, or could be convoked, but onely that the Offended fhould complain to the Governours of the Church he lived in, the doing whereof, is properly to complain to the whole Church, yea to the whole Church Catholick, as appears by our Saviour's adding, that if the Offender refufed to bear the Church, he should be as an Ileathen Man; as much as to say, That if by refufing to hear his particular Church, he refused to hear the whole Church Catholick, he fhould then be as an Heathen Man, cut off from the Communion of the whole Church; for it were no juft Sentence to cut off one from whole Church, for disobeying the particular, unleffe that Difobedience to the particular, were difobeying of the whole Church.

Every particular Church then hath fo farre the Authority of the Church Univerfall, that (as to her own Members) her Voice is the Voice of the Catholick Church, and tyes them all in Confcience to fubmit their Judgements to hers, and to ylied Obfervance to all her Ordinances that are not against the expreffe Word of God, nor Judgement of the Catholick Church. And even in her Ordinances that minifter Queftion, whether they be orthodox and agreeable to the Word of God or no, her Authority is fo farre binding, as that even those Ordinances are not to be rejected nor condemned upon the Judgement of any of her private Members onely, but either by her own Review and Cenfure, by fome more generall Nationall Affembly, or (if the Confequence require it) by a full and true Generall Affembly of the Church; whofe Sentence when once it fhall be obtained, fhall be received, as the moft facred, and moft authentique Judgement that may be had in that Matter, and nearest approaching to the Judgement of the Holy Ghoft; but fhall not be received as infallible, as if pronounced by a Judge infallible: For what Affiftance foever God hath promised to his Church, it is onely fuch as agrees with the Condition of a Church Militant. therefore he hath neither promifed it to the fingle Minifters in every of their Preachings, neither yet fo to the Church it felf, as that in every of her Confultations and Degrees, fhe fhould infallibly produce the Sentence of the Holy Ghoft (for then were the Scripture needleffe, feeing the Church fhould be able to pronounce infallibly with Authority, equall to the very Text, and the Church as to Errour in Knowledge and Understanding should not be Militant, but Triumphant :) but every Judgement of every Church fhall have fuch a Potiority of Credit and Authority, in refpect of the Judgement of any Part or Member thereof, as that it must not be rejected nor over-ruled by any other Judgement, then either her own Revifall and Cenfure, by Affembly of her proper Judges, by a more generall Nationall Affembly, or a full generall Affembly of the Church. To

Coloff. 2. 19. + Matt. 18. 17.

To conclude then, when, for avoiding Confufion in the Church, * God bath fubjected the Spirits of the (particular) Preachers, to the concurrent Judgement. of all the Preachers; for Men, under Pretence of preaching God's Word, to preach their own private Judgements, in Detraction from the Authority of their Church, and without fubmitting their Opinions to the Judgement of their Church; this is fo farre from honouring God by magnifying of his Word, as that contrarily it deftroyes the Authority of the Scripture, by confused and wrong arrogated Judgement in interpreting of it; it by Sects and Schifines fubverts the Peace of the Church, and contrary to the Admonition that God hath given in that behalf, makes God the Author of Confufion.

The Affurance of our orthodox Profeffion depending upon the Confideration of these things, cannot but occafion a little farther Examination of them.

Religion, a religando, ex vi termini, is that which whatsoever it be, ought to bind the Profeffour; but of all other, + Godlineffe (which onely is the true Religion) must not have that binding Power of hers denyed; and therefore Will-worship, as repugnant to Religion, is to be rejected. Ye shall not (faith Mofes to the People when they were to enter into the Land, and be a fettled Church) Ye shall not (faith he) do as we do this Day, every one that which is good in his own Eyes. It is impoffible for the Profeffour which followeth his own Judgement or Confcience onely, to avoide Difobedience and Will-worship; for private Judgement and Confcience, are neither fure nor conftant Obfervers of God's Law: nor can a Man alwayes tell whether his Judgement, or his Affection leads his Confcience; but as || Obedience is that which our Saviour himself learning, fheweth that we all must learn; fo the Power of Godlinesse is to conftrain Obedience. And if there be a Question what we fhall obey, the Scripture tells us, ¶ The Priest's Lips should preferve Knowledge, and we should Seek the Law at his Mouth. And our Saviour tells his Difciples, He that heareth you, beareth me; and he that defpifeth you, despiseth me; and bids that he that will not hear the Church, be as an Heathen Man: And St. Paul tells us, The Church is the Pillar and Ground of the Truth; and against private Singularities and Indecencies in the Service of God, he objects, that §§ their Church had no fuch Custome, neither the Churches of God: We are alfo commanded to fubmit to all manner of Ordinance of Man, for the Lord's Sake; and that every Soul be fubject to the higher Power; that he that refifteth the Power, refifteth the Ordinance of God, and receiveth to himself damnation. The Scripture is abundant to this purpofe, and among many other places, Gen. 27. 6. is remarkable: When Jacob (or Ifrael) was afraid, in the Apparell of his Elder Brother, to feek his Father's fupreme Bleffing, left by feeking it in an undue manner, he should, instead of a Bleffing, get a Curfe; his Mother requires his Obedience to her Voice; Ifrael obeyed her, and by it obtained the Bleffing. If this Allegory fo much concern us, as that we be the Ifrael, the younger Brother that want and feek the Bleffing, our Saviour our elder Brother, in whofe Cloathing we feek it, and God our Father that gives it; who is our directing Mother, by obeying whofe Voice we obtain the Bleffing, but fhe that is the Wife of our Fa

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ther,

Mala. 2. 7.

ther, the Church of God? By these then, and many other Scriptures, it ap pears, That in all Matters of Religion, wherefoever there is a Doubt, and confequently Ufe of Judgement, the Judgement of the Church is to be preferred: So God's Word (which must be obferved) directs, fo the Exigence of things requires; the particular Man cannot otherwife avoid Will-worship and Singularity, nor the Church of God Confufion.

When now there is fo great Offence taken at divers Ordinances of our Church, what is there in any of them fo erroneous or corrupt as to discharge one's Confcience from the Terrour of these Precepts, and from the Obedience that they command? Is there any thing in the Ordinances of our Church against the expreffe Command of God? If there be, Why do not the Offended shew it, that they may juftifie themselves, vindicate God's Truth, and ftop the Mouthes of all Gain-fayers? But when instead of things exprefly croffing God's Commandments, they find no Exceptions but what, at the moft, are difputable, grounded upon Inferences and Collections, and those not generally received, nor yet all approved by the Judgement of any particular Church, but late Imaginations of Men, of a few, and them private Men; whether it be meet in the Sight of God, upon fuch grounds to follow Men, or indeed one's own felf, rather then God, every one may judge.

And were that granted (which indeed cannot be proved, nor may be granted) that the Ordinances of our Church are fuperftitious, how yet will that warrant the difobeying of them, to a Confcience that is guided onely by the Word of God? For where is Superftition by the Word of God forbidden? Or where is it there described? Though then we fincerely grant Superftition to be the fouleft Corruption, a Christian Church can be depraved with, and nearest approaching to Idolatry, yet being a Corruption discovered by the Judgement of the Church, rather then any expreffe Word of God, with what Warrant can any Man's Confcience, against God's expreffe Command, difobey the Ordihance, for fear of Superftition, when concerning it he hath received no Command from God? efpecially, when Difobedience being like the Sinnes of Witchcraft and Idolatry, he commits a Sinne that is equall to them, and onely to avoid Superftition, which is leffe then either. Nay, that is not all, but while he disturbs his Duty with falfe Apprehenfions of Superftition, he with his Difobedience commits the Superstition which he fears; for when Superftition properly is an over-ftrict religious infifting upon the doing or not doing of that which in it felf is but indifferent, his own Scrupuloufneffe not to kneel, not to bow, not to ftand up, not to be uncovered, not to anfwer, &c. according to the Ufe of the Church, is not onely Difobedience, but very Superftition it felf,. placing Religion in that wherein there is no Religion to be placed, and teaching the Confcience more to fear Pollution from without, by things externally enjoyned, then to fear it within, from the Haughtineffe, Stubbornneffe, or Selfconceitedneffe of the Heart, then which, nothing doth fooner defile the Actions of a Man, and make his Religion vain.

But, will he fay? His Confcience cannot be fatisfied, but that the Ordinance of the Church in fome Things is fuperftitious, fo as he may not fubmit unto

1 Sam. 15. 23. § Col. 2. 21.

it.