Five Propoſitions to the Kings Majeſty and the Army, concerning Church-Government, in the ordering of the Diſcipline thereof towards Communicants.
1. THat the power may be, To provoke to goodneſſe, putting them in minde of every occaſion, wherein any Chriſtian vertue of mercifulneſſe, Almes-giving, meekneſſe, purity, peace-making, is more then ordinarily ſeaſonable; and by our example, and the examples of other pious men, (preſent, or read of in Story, eſpecially ſacred) encouraging to abundance in well doing, and upon all occaſions remembring them of the various diſpenſations of the love and mercy of God through Chriſt, wherein they have had their peculiar portion, and the infinite immarceſſible Crowne, that ſuper-abundant weight of glory, which is not in the ſame degree powred out to all, but diſpenſed according to works, according to the proportion of that labour of Love, and worke of Faith, that ſhall be obſervable in every Combatant of Chriſts, when the2 great Leader and Crowner of our Faith ſhall come out to his day of retributions; and each of theſe is an excellent way to provoke all to well doing, the duty preſcribed, Heb. 10.24. Let us obſerve one another, to ſharpen or provoke (in one another) Charity and good or laudable works.
2. To give the Brother a ſight, not onely of his ſins (the not doing of which is an argument of a moſt mortall enmity, a hating the Brother in the heart, whom we do not in that caſe rebuke, Lev. 19.17. and no man muſt be ever accounted otherwiſe then a treacherous contriver of his brothers deſtruction, that is guilty of it) but even of his paſſions, his inclinations, the weakneſſes and peculiar diſtempers of his nature, things, of which no man is a competent judge to diſcerne them in himſelfe, and wherein a man may live and dye ignorant, if he be not taught by anothers more impartiall obſervation, and of which there is farre more reaſon to expect to be admoniſht by a friend that takes notice of them, then of a jaundice-looke, or earthly breath, which being but ſymptomes of bodily diſeaſes, and yet by all rules of friendſhip to be revealed to him who is concerned to know and ſeeke out for cure of them, are not neare ſo dangerous to be concealed, or unlikely to be diſcerned by the patient, as the more ſubtle ſecret diſeaſes of the Soule. Thus, if the interpretation of learned men will ſtand good; Saint Paul received benefit by the admonition of the by-ſtanders, Act. 23.4. without which he had not conſidered what was his duty to the High Prieſt. And thus did Chriſt befriend Saint Peter with the knowledge of his paſſionate temper3 (tranſported with zeale at the preſent, though he ſhould dye with Chriſt, he will not deny him, and afterwards, when danger was inſtant, tranſported as much with a contrary paſſion) and foretold him, that he peculiarly ſhould deny him, which it ſeems, he never would have diſcerned in himſelfe: And if any thing had been armour ſufficient againſt ſeare, this of all others would moſt probably have ſecured him.
3. The third is, (in caſe of falling into, but eſpecially continuing in ſin) frequent, repeated, importunate calling and rouzing to awake, and get out of it. That title of the friend among the heathens, to be the other or ſecond ſelfe, being far from being leſſened or ſuperſeded by Chriſt, (but improved indeed, and applyed to the divineſt and moſt ſacred offices of friendſhip, and the reſcuing from ſin, as from the moſt formidable danger) layes an obligation upon every friend, every brother, i. e. Chriſtian (toward every other, that comes wit hin the reach of his warmth or influence) to ſupply all thoſe offices, that every ones ſelfe, i. e. his ſoul, his conſcience, is concerned and obliged to do. Thus when the conſcience, beſide the directive office, hath another of puniſhing and diſciplining too, of playing the Erinnys with the torch within us, to ſcorch and light us out of our road of darkneſſe, the Brother, the Chriſtian, the ſecond ſoul, and conſcience within the fellow-Chriſtians breaſt, received thus into his moſt venerable ſecrets, the knowledge of the deformities and ſins of his very ſoule, when either he hath neglected to performe the duty of the Domeſtick divine guardian, the aſſiduous watch to4 keepe off the hoſtile approaches or mines of ſinnes, or hath not been obeyed in his warnings, he hath now this onely laſt part of duty behind, that of becomming the Angell to Lot, calling him, leading him, forcing him out of Sodome, ſetting him without the Port with an eſcape, fly for thy life, neither ſtay thou in all the plaine; and againe re-inforcing the admonition and warning, with an eſcape to the mountaines leſt thou be conſumed. And he that hath no heart to be thus importunate upon his periſhing brother, may by that gheſſe how little he hath of that Angelicall temper in him.
4 The fourth degree of this duty is, (in caſe any or all the former, though conſcientiouſly and diligently uſed, have yet been without ſucceſſe, then watching of ſeaſons and opportunities, calling in prudence to aſſiſt Charity, the braine to aide the heart, either comming as God to Adam, in the coole of the day, when the tempter of the wax may probably make it more capable of impreſſion, or (as the fathers ſay of Gods dealing with the Elect, whom he doth, as 'tis thought, by that meanes infallibly worke on) calling him, tempore congruo, at a fit choſen time, when in all probability a ſeaſonable admonition may be hearkened to; great variety there is of theſe opportunities, not defineable particularly, but onely obſervable by him, that not onely in his duty towards God, and toward himſelf, but alſo toward his weak or ſick brother doth walke circumſpectly, and obſervingly, not as an unwiſe, but wiſe watchman, and that is the meaning of Epheſ. 5.16. parallel to Dan. 2.8. rendred5 in the former place redeeming, in the latter gaining the time, i. e. delaying in time of the rage, or fury of the Prince, in Dan. or of the evill times, in St. Paul; and ſo in the heat of a violent ſinne, when admonition is out of its place, untill the preſent tempeſt be over, and then there be more hope, or poſſibility for reaſon to be hearkened to. And as a branch of this comes in at laſt
5 A fift degree of this duty (when nothing elſe will, and that may probably or poſſibly doe ſome good, but never elſe, never upon wearineſſe, or wrath, or any thing, but grounds of deepeſt Charity) the breaking of familiar converſe with him, to whom all other methods of kindneſſe have prov'd ſucceſleſſe. For as in the authoritative proceſſe, when the cenſures of the Church are found neceſſary, to which onely Chriſt deſigned them to the ſaving that which is loſt, the courſe is to deny him the moſt intimate ſociety, that of the communion of the faithfull, and neither joyne with him in the Prayers and Leſſons, nor in the participation of the Lords Supper: ſo in the image of that, the ſociety of ſingle friends or Chriſtians (eſpecially where there is no place for the publike cenſures either for want of government in a new planted Church, or where Schiſme hath driven it out, or where the crime is not of that nature, as to be capable of that publike audience) when all the former offices of the Angelus cuſtos have been perform'd improſperouſly, then that of the Angell with Jacob, a wreſtling to get from him, to deny him the bleſſing of his company6 and familiarity, may prove ſeaſonable, not out of a faſtidious paſſionate diſpleaſure to the ſinner, (O, he is then the moſt naturall proper object of pitty and kindneſſe, the incorrigible ſinner is fit for any thing rather then our anger or impatience) nor againe, leſt I be polluted by his company, (in this caſe 'tis with the friend as with the beleeving Huſband, if the unbeleeving Wife is willing to live with him, let him not depart, how knoweſt thou but that by thy Chriſtian contrary example thou maiſt yet ſave thy impenitent heathen brother?) but I ſay onely on that great principle of ſaving Charity, that by ſeeing himſelfe avoided, withdrawne from, left to converſe with none (beſide his ſinne) but fiends and flatterers, he may poſſibly be aſhamed, and by that confuſion of ſpirit awakened out of that ſnare, whence the calme, leſſe ſenſible admonitions were not able to rouze him, and this perhaps was the kinde that belong'd to the diſorderly obedient, 1 Theſ. 5.14. which the Theſſalonions are ſo earneſtly entreated (peculiarly under the notion as brethren) to uſe in this caſe; and an opportunity ſometime may be wiſely choſen when it may prove proper and ſeaſonable.