The Bloody Tenant Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb, Part 2 · Chapter 21
TO CHAP. XXI.
IT was my ſerious and unfeigned endeavour, in my Letter which the Examiner hath anſwered, to have removed thoſe two ſtumbling blocks out of his way, which I perceived had turned him off, from holding fellowſhip with theſe Churches. The former was, The want of fit matter of our Churches: The latter, Our diſ-reſpect to the ſeparate Churches in England, under affliction, when nevertheleſſe our ſelves practiſe ſeparation in peace.
From the beginning of his tenth Chapter, he hath endeavoured to faſten the former of theſe ſtumbling blocks, that it may ſtill lie in his way, and ſtand (as an everlaſting wall of partition) between us. Which nevertheleſſe I have (as you ſee) through the helpe of Chriſt endeavoured to dig through the ſandineſſe thereof, that if it were the holy will of God, it might fall downe (like the walles of Jericho) before the Arke of the Lord, and neither detaine him, nor others, from Communion with us.
The latter ſtumbling block, he goeth about to re-eſtabliſh in this, and the following Chapters to the end of his Booke; Come we therefore to conſider, whether there may be any hope, of removing this ſtumbling block alſo, and the eſtabliſhment thereof by the ſame helpe. The ſtumbling block lieth ſomewhat broader, then at firſt was propounded. The Examiner takes it as a great offence; That we walke between Chriſt and Antichriſt.
1. In practiſing ſeparation here, and not repenting of our preaching, and printing againſt it in our own Countrey.
2. In reproaching himſelfe at Salem, and others, for ſeparation.
3. In particular, that my ſelfe have conceived and ſpoken, That ſeparation is a way, which God hath not proſpered: as if (ſaith he) the truth of the Churches depended upon the countenance of men, or upon outward peace and libertie.
To the firſt of theſe I anſwered in my Letter, That in ſtead of halting betwixt Chriſt, and Antichriſt, the Lord hath guided us to walke with an even foote between two extreames: ſo that we neither defile our ſelves with the remnants of pollution in other Churches; nor doe we for the remnants of pollution, renounce the Churches themſelves, nor the holy things of God amongst them, which our ſelves have found powerfull to ſalvation. This moderation ſo farre as we have kept it in preaching or printing, we have ſeene no cauſe to repent of it; But if any ſhall ſhew us cauſe, why we ſhould repent of it, we ſhall deſire to repent of it, yea and to repent, that we repented no ſooner.
The Examiner here undertaketh to prove this middle walking to be no leſſe then-halting, of which we have cauſe to repent. And this he endeavours to prove to me, out of mine own Confeſſions.
Firſt, ſaith he, Mr. Cotton himſelfe confeſſeth, that no Nationall, Provinciall, Dioceſan, or Pariſh Church, wherein ſome truely godly are not, are true Churches.
Secondly, He practiſeth no Church-eſtate, but ſuch as is conſtituted onelyonly of godly perſons, nor admitteth any unregenerate, or ungodly perſons.
Thirdly, He confeſſeth, that a Church of Chriſt cannot be conſtituted of ſuch godly perſons, who are in bondage to the inordinate love of the world.
Fourthly, That if a Church conſiſt of ſuch, Gods people ought to ſeparate from them.
Reply. If theſe (which he calleth confeſſions of Mr. Cotton) have been ſtumblings to him, I ſhall (by the helpe of Chriſt) ſoone remove them out of his way. For I doe profeſſe, that I never made any ſuch Confeſſions, but looke at them all as contrary to my judgement, both in former times and to this day.
For the firſt, Though there were no truely godly perſons in a Church, yet if there be ſuch as profeſſe godlineſſe (ſuch as they call viſible Saints) to meete together in a Congregation to worſhip the Lord, and to edifie one another in the adminiſtration of his holy Ordinances, I doe beleeve there is truth of Church-eſtate.
It is true, I doe beleeve, and confeſſe, that God requireth more then profeſſion of godlineſſe, even ſinceritie of holineſſe in Church-members, and it is no ſmall ſinne in them, if it be wanting; But what if ſome, if moſt, if all beleeve not? Shall their unbeliefe make the faith of God of none effect? God forbid? Rom. 3.3, 4. If an hypocriticall Church were no Church, then an hypocri…call Miniſter were no Miniſter, and his adminiſtrations nullities. Cultus inſtitutus, in the whole latitude of it, as Churches, Min;iſteries, Seales, Cenſures, &c. they are all ordained for the Elects ſake. And the Elect God would have them to be foreign, without carefull ſcruples and diſtractions. If truth of Churches, and Miniſteries, and Ordinances, depended upon the perſonall ſincerity of the godlineſſe of the diſpenſers, the Elect of God would ever be intangled with inextricable ſcruples, touching their cōmunion here or there, with this or that Church, or the adminiſtrations of the Officers thereof. But God hath called us in peace.
For the ſecond part (which he maketh) of my Confeſſions, he had ſaid true, if he had ſaid, I endeavour ſuch a thing, that our Church ſhould be conſtitute of godly perſons: but I doe not ſay I have attained it; for God ſeeth not as man ſeeth: man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord regardeth the heart, 1 Sam. 16.7. And ſure I am, we looke at Infants as members of our Church, (as being foedurally holy) but I am ſlow to beleeve that all of them are regenerate, or truly godly.
As for the third and fourth point (which he maketh) of my Confeſſion; That a Church of Chriſt cannot be conſtituted of godly perſons, taken with the inordinate love of the world: or that a Church conſiſting of ſuch, ought to be ſeparated from: Theſe are onelyonly his own palpable miſtakes of thoſe words of mine, which I expreſſed as the ſumme of his words, which he (through haſt) conceived to be mine, whereof we have ſpoken in the 20th Chapter.
Let him not ſay (as he doth) that when I would not have Pariſh Churches to be ſeparated from, for the remnants of pollutions, I mean onelyonly, Ceremonies, and Biſhops: neither let him ſay, that I doe extenuate and mince the roote, maſſe, and ſubſtance of the matter of Nationall Churches, (though for the greater part unregenerate) by naming onelyonly a remnant of pollutions.
For he knoweth we wholly avoyde Nationall, Provinciall, and Dioceſan Government of the Churches by Epiſcopall Authority: He knoweth alſo, we avoyde their preſcript Liturgies, and Communion with openly ſcandalous perſons in any Church-order; He knoweth likewiſe, (or at leaſt may know) that it is a continuall ſorrow of heart, and a mourning of our ſoules, that there is yet ſo much of thoſe notorious evills (which he nameth) ſtill continuing in the Pariſhes, worldlineſſe, ignorance, ſuperſtition, ſcoffing, ſwearing, curſing, whoredome, drunkenneſſe, theft, lying, I may adde alſo murther, and malignity againſt the godly, ſuffered to thruſt themſelves into the fellowſhip of the Churches, and to ſit downe with the Saints at the Lords Table.
But yet I count all theſe but remnants of pollution, when as the ſubſtance of the true eſtate of Churches abideth (as I opened above) in their Congregationall Aſſemblies. And in ſo ſpeaking, I follow the holy patterne of the Prophet Iſaiah, who acknowledging a great forſaking (or Apoſtacy) in the midſt of the Land, yet reſembleth the eſtate of the Church to an Oake, whoſe ſubſtance is in it, (when the leaves fall off) and maketh the holy ſeed to be that ſubſtance, Iſai. 6.12, 13.