for themselves; for they must agree what hour to meet together, what place to meet in, what language* shall be used in the wor- | ship, whether they shall begin or end the worship with the Lord's supper, or with a psalm or song, who shall minister in holy things; whether there shall be any responses of the congregation to the words of him that officiates in prayer, or whether amen shall be pronounced aloud, or whether a silent assent be sufficient. Where God hath not determined these things, I do not find that he hath ever given authority to any person to determine these for other persons, or any society of men to determine them for other societies; but they must be determined by an agreement or vote of every society for itself. As in several of these things there must be a concurrence or agreement to make any solemn and constant meetings and transactions of a civil society, peaceful and useful, regular and orderly, so are the same things needful to be agreed upon in a christian church to render the worship of every single society practicable and edifying, harmonious, agreeable, and decent.

And since these things are necessary to be determined one way, if some few persons in the society will not consent to the agreement of the major part of them, they must depart and join themselves to some other society which is more for their conveniency. Such are the various tempers, engagements, sentiments, inclinations and conveniences of different persons, that there would be a great bar put upon the frequent meetings of any large society for any civil or religious purposes, if they must not, meet and transact any affairs till every single person be perfectly pleased. If therefore the minor part cannot, or will not consent to what the bulk of the society agree upon, here is no imposition upon their consciences, while they are allowed to join themselves with other societies, civil or religious, where these necessary and disputed circumstances are agreed and practised more according to their mind.

The circumstances which are not necessary to be determined one way, are the postures or gestures of the body, the garments of the preacher, or of him that prays, of singers or hearers, &c. and these every person may determine for himself: Some may have a blue garment, while others have red or brown, black or white; some may wear a long coat, others a short one; some may stand in prayer, others kneel if they will; some may chuse to stand in singing or preaching, while others may chuse to sit in the same society. I must confess there seems to be something of a natural decency in the uniformity of some of these circum

*Always excepting those primitive times, when various languages were used as an extraordinary confirmation of the gospel of Christ. But in ordinary seasons of worship the assembly must know and agree beforehand, that it must be performed in a language which they understand.

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stances, especially that of gesture, in one and the same congregation, in some particular parts of worship, as standing in prayer, &c. but no such necessity of such a uniformity as to give power to any person or society to determine for every single worshipper, and oblige him to obey. If any whole church, or a multitude of churches in a nation will chuse to agree in any particular practice, it is well; or if they can persuade every person to consent to the same: But if some persons will presume to determine all these circumstances one way, and will impose them upon their fellow-christians by a pretended authority, they go beyond the bounds that either the light of nature or scripture allows, and assume such a power over the consciences of men as I cannot find the chapter and verse where it was given them; for these circumstances being left indifferent in themselves, the nature of things, and in scripture, they are not necessary to be determined one way for a whole society, and much less should all this society be obliged in conscience to comply with such an imposition.

Having given such an account of the natural circumstances of social worship, let us enquire what are religious ceremonies.

Religious ceremonies are either real actions, or modes and circumstances of action by which some special honour is designed to be paid to God, and therefore God alone can institute them, who alone can determine what shall be honourable to himself. These have generally a signification of something inward and invisible annexed to them: But whether we can learn what they signify or no, still there is a holiness and a necessity placed in them by the divine appointment; and therefore man cannot appoint them, nor add to them, because he cannot put holiness into any thing, nor make any thing holy or sinful, which God has not made so. Some of these religious ceremonies are real actions, and entirely divine institutions of sacred appointments of service, which are in no wise necessary to natural actions, nor should ever have been practised, if God had not positively enjoined them: Others in their abstracted nature antecedent to the divine command, were but mere natural circumstances of action; yet when thus determined particularly by God, they become as it were parts of our religion, and our worship.

Circumcision, offering of sacrifices, slaying and eating the passover, burning of incense, lighting the lamps, sprinkling of blood, divers washings, the use of the instruments of music in the temple, &c. seem to be the first sort, viz. such real religious actions and ceremonies of pure divine institution, as were by divine appointment imposed upon the ancient church. Others are of the second sort, among which may be reckoned the places or spots of ground, perhaps where the tabernacle and temple stood, the holy times, such as sabbaths, new moons, and other festivals, the attire or vesture of the priests who officiate, &c. These were VOL. IV.

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but modes and circumstances of action made necessary to the Jewish worshippers, ordained to be holy, and converted into religious ceremonies.

Under the New Testament the ceremonies distinct from natural religion, whether real actions or mere modes and circumstances of action, are few and easy, such as the washing with water and baptism, and eating bread and wine at the supper of the Lord, to which we may add the observation of the first day of the week in memory of our risen Saviour. Any of the circumstances or modes of action which belong to these religious rites, which are not determined by scripture, and are not necessary to be determined one way in order to social worship, must be left indifferent to every worshipper, according as his conscience or his conveniency shall direct. I know not any text where God has given any man, or set of men, any power to impose on others. See these things happily set forth at large in Doctor Calamy's excellent discourse, called an "Introduction to the Second Part of Moderate Non-conformity;" of which I am informed, that Mr. Locke himself should say upon the perusal of it, that while the protestant dissenters kept close to these principles, they would sufficiently maintain their ground, and justify their separation from any established national church, if that church should assume an authority to impose things which ought to be left indifferent.

Surely the fourteenth chapter of the Romans Jays a foundation for this christian liberty, and forbids to impose on conscience the observation of meats or days, and in general all impositions of this kind. The apostle, while he handles this subject, had no order to impose or forbid these practices on the Romans, to whom he wrote. He leaves every man to use his own liberty in the gospel, nor to be entangled with any fresh yokes of bondage; Gal. v. 1. supposing always that the light of nature and commion reason will keep all sober christians within the bounds of human decency, common prudence, and civility; and that a preference be given to such modes, and gestures, and seasons, which seem to be patronized by the examples mentioned in scripture."

The custom also of the holiest and purest churches may have some influence to direct our practice, in such affairs of small importance where we cannot find any other rule of determination, either from the light of nature or scripture. The apostle Paul seems to give this advice to the Corinthians in the business of wearing the hair long or short; 1 Cor. xi. 14, 15. For after he had offered some reason on one side from the mere light of nature and decency, he adds, verse 16. that if any man seem to be contentious, that is, be not satisfied with my arguments, and persist in contending about this matter, we have no such customs, nor the churches of God: That is, let him be determined by the custom

of us the apostles, and of other christian churches; let him not affect a singularity in things of less moment, nor give offence to the generality of the most serious and pious professors of the same faith in such little things as these are.

But if any man, or any society of men, shall assume so much to themselves, as to pretend a divine anthority to confine other churches and christians to a most exquisite uniformity in every punctilio that relates to religion and circumstances of worship, even in things which God has not appointed, they throw us back again into a sort of Judaism, and make and impose new yokes of bondage; they pretend to bind what Christ has made free, and seem to usurp his prerogative: A pretence to such power appears to me to be the very spring and spirit of antichristianism; there is the foundation for papacy laid, though it has not arisen yet to an universal supremacy, to an infallible chair, and a triple crown.

All christians are bound by the New Testament to worship one God, even God the Father who dwells in heaven, in the name of one Mediator, Jesus Christ, by the aids or operations of one Spirit, they are bound to be baptized into these names, and to remember the death of Christ in the holy supper, to trust in the promises of the gospel, and to practise the precepts of it in an uniform life of holiness. This is evident and certain, and perhaps this may be thought almost sufficient to maintain the unity of the christian church. But still let it be observed, that where christians are fallen into very different opinions in any important matters of doctrine or duty, or where their sentiments are so extremely divided, and perhaps contrary to each other in matters of worship and order, that they cannot agree and join in the same forms and modes of divine service, or where they have not charity enough to bear with each other's differences in things of less moment, they ought not to force themselves, nor to be forced into one society or church; but they should join themselves to such distinct societies as are nearest of their own mind; for their edification in faith, holiness and love, is one great and chief end of church-fellowship.

Though the men of Israel were bound by law to join three times a year to worship God who dwelt in the temple or tabernacle by the appointed sacrifices of the passover, pentecost, &c. yet they were not bound by any law of God to attend that synagogue which was nearest to their own dwelling, where prayer and praise was performed, and instructions and exhortations given to the people. Herein they had, or they should have had, liberty to chuse their fellow-worshippers and the synagogue where they would worship, if they had any scruple upon their consciences about the practice of that which was nearest to them. And the same liberty belongs to christians in every age and nation.

To force all christians into the same church, whose understandings and opinions point different ways, and to bind them together in an outward form of fellowship with their minds so much divided, is the way to increase their differences, to kindle their fire with more fierceness, and awaken their wrath to a higher degree, till they grow mad against each other and ruin the church. It is like tying Sampson's foxes together by the tail with firebrands between them, while their heads stand contrary ways, and then inclosing them all with a strong fence in one field: There they will unavoidably snarl and rage against one another; they will draw different ways, and diffuse their fire and wrath till they have burnt up the field, and destroyed a lovely harvest.

THE

TERMS OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNION,

Humbly proposed to the Churches of Christ, with an Attempt towards the Solution of various Questions and Cases of Conscience, arising from the Subject.

QUESTION I.-What is Christian Communion? And what are are the general and agreed Terms of it?

CHRISTIAN communion in the sense of scripture, is that communion or fellowship which christians have with God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, or with one another; and both are joined together by the apostle John; 1 John i. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship, or communion with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

This communion or fellowship in the spiritual and invisible part of it consists in a participation of the favour of God, the spiritual benefits of Christ, and the invisible and everlasting blessings of the gospel. But this is not our present subject of discourse. The visible fellowship or communion that christians have with each other, consists chiefly in the participation of the spiritual ordinances of the gospel, and mutual assistances for the good of each other.

"The special ordinances of the gospel are chiefly these two, baptism and the Lord's-supper." Baptism is an ordinance appointed by Christ, for our entrance into the visible church; and when once performed is never to be repeated. The Lord'ssupper is an ordinance appointed by Christ after we are entered into the church, for the assistance and increase of our faith and hope, our comfort and holiness; and ought to be as often repeated