deny the juft Power of our lawful Superiors in determining of fuch Matters as are neither condemn'd nor commanded particularly in Scripture ; which is in Effect to deny them any fuch Authority as may be at all beneficial to thofe Bodies of Men who are under their Care; all this notwithstanding, for the Sake of thefe uncertain, unedifying, unevident, undemonftrable Sufpicions of his own, this weak, this fcrupulous Man will adventure to break plain and undeniable Rules, in the Meaning of which the Chriftian World have agreed in all Ages. Now is it not abfurd and ridiculous to pretend Confcience in purfuing fuch Measures? Is it not evident beyond all Poffibility of Contradiction, that fuch a Practice is only the Effect of wretched Ignorance, and that Ignorance not invincible, but wilful? And does not every one, who goes about to encourage fuch Ignorance, fall under a great deal of the Tranfgreffor's Guilt himfelf? Had he not need to be exceedingly cautious how he manages himself in these Cafes, when, in fpite of all the Prejudices he can have taken in, he finds many of thofe, whom he himself takes for truly pious, holy and prudent Men; whom he knows to be as much afraid of finning against God as he himself can poffibly be; yet of a Judgment directly contrary to his own: (And yet it is impoffible that Confcience fhould ever make Men think or act contrarily to one another in the fame Cafe, as I fhall prove hereafter, God willing, at large.) Can any Man who has examin'd the Scriptures throughly, be so stupid as to prove the Unlawfulness of ufing Forms of Prayer in the Publick Church Service, by the Second Commandment; And yet find no Leffon of Obe dience in all things of a middle Nature to our Temporal or Spiritual Superiors in the Fifth ? Can he be thought a Chriftian of a tender or an excellent Spirit, who difturbs the Peace and Unity of the true Church of Chrift,only in Compliance with the extravagant Whimfies and Caprices of his own Brain? All truc Christians are infallibly affur'd, that Love, Unity, diligently reading the Scriptures, and Obedience to their Superiors in all Things which are not finful, are pofitively commanded in the written Word of God. No Chriftian is now, or ever can be fure, that any of thofe Things which they ftumble at, are forbidden there and can any good, any confcientious Man difpenfe with a certain Duty, for the Sake of that which is none, or at beft, is but an uncertain and questionable Duty? Can fuch a Man trefpafs upon a plain and no way doubtful Divine Law, which lays a notorious, and every where acknowledged Duty upon him, for the Sake of that, which, for ought he knows, may not only be no Duty, but may be a very great and almost an unpardonable Sin? But to all this it is anfwer'd, that according to St. Paul's Determination, Whatfoever is not Rom. 14% of Faith is Sin: And we know, that this Text 23. is the great Afylum, or Place of Refuge, or that common Principle upon which both the irregular Members of our own Church, and those who separate from it, defend themselves. For by this Apoftolical Maxim they understand, that, we are to do nothing in religious Matters in general, or in the Worship of God in particular, but that, of the Lawfulness of which we are convinced in our own Consciences, as they love to express themselves, i. e. in our own private Conceits or ། Opinions; for they mean nothing else by their Confciences. From hence the Diffenters plead against the Rites, Orders, Ceremonies, Government and Discipline of the establish'd Church of England: They judge or fuppofe them to be unlawful, and therefore, as they pretend, they dare not fubmit to them, left they fhould, in fo doing, fin against God, and their own Souls: which Plea founds well enough, and we might give fome Credit to it; provided their Fears were uniform, and that they would avoid Sinning as carefully in uncontroverted Cases, as they would have us believe they are in thefe. From the fame Maxim, the refractory Churchman argues against Communicating in the Lord's Supper; he tells us, he is not worthy of that holy Communion; he is not fatisfy'd about it, nor of his Duty with relation to it; that he is not fufficiently prepar'd for it, and that therefore he dares not meddle with it, for Fear of incurring eternal Damnation, &c. Now that our following Discourse may be the more clear and intelligible, and that thefe Tranfgreffors on both Sides may be driven from their ufual Refuge, and that none for the future may mistake and mifapply the Apostle's Meaning in the forementioned Text, we fhall the more largely and in the plaineft Manner prove, that thofe Words of the Apostle neither have, nor indeed can have, any fuch Meaning as is commonly fix'd upon them; all which will the more fully appear, if we confider thefe Things. 1. That the Apoftle thro' this whole Chapter fpeaks not one Word concerning any A& of religious Worship, but applies himself only to filence thofe Controverfies then on Foot about Meats Meats clean and unclean, and the Obfervation of Days, which threatned a Schifm between the believing Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were better prepared for the receiving of the Doctrine of the Gospel, had they but rightly understood their own Advantages; but the Gentiles actually receiv'd it beft. All thofe Principles upon which the Gentile World acted, were but uncertain and precarious as to them, who could give very little Account of their Originals, and confequently, the Gentiles frequently demurr'd to their Obligatory Nature or Authority: And of this they were generally very fenfible. They faw themfelves engaged in dark and doubtful Practices, and in Principles much difputed, among themfelves, and therefore they lived in perpetual Longings for, and earnest Expectations of, furer and better Guides, and a clearer Light than they had ever enjoy'd before. Hence it was, that when that Gofpel was preach'd among them, which confirm'd the beft of those Notions which they had formerly entertain'd; and the Authority of that Gospel, with refpect to fuch Things as they were yet ignorant of, was afferted and ftrengthned by fuch Miracles as were undeniable, and yet of fo ftupendous a Nature, as none of their most authentick Hiftories had ever furnish'd them with; they then receiv'd that Gospel with the greatest Readiness: They embraced it in all its Parts and Branches, as they had Opportunities of being inftructed in it, and made no Difficulty to lay hold on that facred Liberty, which was tender'd to them by Faith in Chrift Jefus, their Minds being tinctured with no fuch Prejudices, as were fufficient to hinder the Impreffions of the Gospel. As 6. 'As for the Jews, their Cafe was very different from that of the Gentiles: The Oracles of the true, the living God were committed to them. Thofe very Differences between Meats and Rom. 14. Meats, between Days and Days, as to religious Solemnities, and the eating or not eating fuch and fuch particular Things on them, to which the Apoftle refers, and the Principal of thofe Rites and Ceremonies which they us'd, were impos'd upon them by God Himself, and that in fo remarkable and open a Way, that there was no room left for any Doubt about their obliga tory Nature. It is true thofe Ceremonies were all myfterious and merely Reprefentations or Memorials of Things to come, and fuch as would fall of themselves when thofe Things expected fhould appear. But the inward Meaning of thofe myfterious Rites and Ceremonies was not fo obvious or intelligible to every one, as the Obligation was, which they had from Heaven to obey them. Hence it came to pass that the Jews were fo full of Prejudices against the Doctrine of the Golpel, as evacuating and difanulling a Law, which was of an Authority unquestionably Divine. And it was no eafy Matter for them to believe, that a real Man, as our Saviour certainly was, one who appear'd in the World in a State very much inferior to that of Mofes, fhould yet be poffefs'd of a Power to fuperfede or abolish any of thofe Precepts, which fo great a Man as Mofes had given them, and which he had receiv'd immediately from the Hand of God. Hence also it was, that thofe Jews who did believe in Chrift, or who were fully convinced that Jefus was the Meffias, were yet fo prepoffefs'd with a Notion of the Excellency of thofe " " |