Section 2: An Insurrection of Contending Christians

I am easily aware that the Men of Heat and Party, will lift up their Hands in Wonder, when they read this Catalogue and Distinction of the Affairs of Christianity. I see them already kindling into Rage against me; they encompass my Tent and proclaim War. And upon a Review of their Numbers, their Insurrection and their Zeal, I cannot find an Advocate wanting for any one Sect or Party, among the common Professors of the Religion of Christ in England. I see there Merges and his Neighbour Aspergio; I find Sedentius and Genicola both there; Piscopion, Classicus and Antipas are come thither also. Each of them a Prince of their Tribe, and either a Head or a very forward Member of the Family of their Fathers. Just so the Children of Israel began to denounce War against their Brethren Gad and Reuben, when they built an Altar of Witness to maintain their Communion with the rest of their Tribes, while they were Dissenters only in point of Habitation, and dwelt beyond Jordan: These Party-Men are full of Faith and Certainty in every Opinion; they embrace none as Brethren in Christ who do not wear their Garb and Livery, and talk not exactly in their Language and Phrases, nor will they hold Communion with those that dissent from them in the least Punctilios of the Form or Worship of Christians. If Men depart from the Truth, say they, they are in the Way of Error; and it is all one whether they depart little or much, since they have forsaken the Truth we ought to forsake them.

These warm Zealots are not used to admit of any Doubt in the smallest Circumstantials of Religion, and because they have learned of their Teachers to affirm all their Tenets with equal Confidence, they believe that the Scripture reveals them all with equal Evidence. A Metaphor smiling upon their Practice, is an express Command. They can read their indispensable Duty in a single and dubious Example. A remote Conclusion of their own drawing, at the End of a long Chain of Consequences, gives them resistless Conviction, and appears in their Eye as bright, though distant, as the Morning-Star. A Circumstance or two of matter of Fact determines their Judgment unchangeably, for or against an Opinion, which at most is but feebly favoured by those very Circumstances; a little Criticism on a single Greek Word in some single Text of Scripture, becomes a firm Foundation for their Faith: They force some Text or other to prove every thing which they say, and when they have imposed their Sense on the Words of the holy Writers, they are sure the Evangelists and the Apostles are of their Mind. Each of them have picked up some Scraps of the Arguments of their Party, and they fancy themselves well equipped and furnished for the Defence of the Truth.

Merges, a very honest Man in the main, is newly come out of the Water, and glows all over with Zeal and Assurance, that there can be no Baptism without plunging: He makes a mere Jest of Baby-Sprinkling, and declares that if we are not covered with Water, we are not buried with Christ: No honest Man, says he, could ever doubt that John's Disciples were immersed at Enon, for the Scriptures say, there was much Water there, John 3:23.

Aspergio, a bold Talker, is as confident that sprinkling, or pouring Water on the Head, is a true Method of Baptism, and is ready to say severe things against the Practice of Immersion, as if it were not only needless, but, as they are ready to call it, foolish and sinful.

It is plain, says he, in the Word of God, that the Apostles were baptized with the Spirit, which can never mean that they were dipped or plunged into the Spirit, but only that the Spirit was poured out upon them: And when the Israelites were baptized into Moses, it is plain they were only sprinkled with the Cloud and the Sea, Matthew 3:11 compared with Acts 2:3, 17 and 1 Corinthians 10:2. and therefore, says he, I wonder that any Man should be so weak as to give himself the trouble of Dipping when he has such Texts as these to prove Sprinkling.

Sedentius, a weak and warm Dissenter, is just come from Saint Paul's Cathedral: Being urged by great Curiosity, with much ado he obtained Leave of his Conscience to go thither and see Men receive the Lord's Supper kneeling: As he returns he is almost ready to pronounce Damnation against the Organs and Singing-Men, for they are all, says he, the Limbs of Antichrist: He whispers Damnation against these Idolaters that bow before a Piece of Bread; for they look as though they worshipped the Host, and belonged to Rome. He is very positive that sitting is a Posture of absolute Necessity in that Ordinance, for Jesus and his Disciples did sit and eat, Mark 14:8, 1 Corinthians 11:20 and since it is called the Supper of the Lord, we must sit down while we partake of it, for every Child knows that Men are never accustomed to kneel at Supper.

On the other hand, Genicola hates the Presbyterians for their scandalous Irreverence at the Sacrament: What, says he, dare any Man use so clownish and so rude a Gesture as sitting, when he receives the Seal of the Pardon of his Sins, and the Emblems of the Body and Blood of Christ? and he forbids all such Worshippers from his Communion with this Sentence, Procul, O procul este, profani; that is hence you profane Creatures, though he can hardly pretend to bring one Text of Scripture for his own Practice: He is sure also that the Surplice, a Sign or Token of Purity, and as our Reformers teach, ought to be worn at Prayer, for we must lift up Hands of Purity and Innocence when we come before God; and he finds the long white Garment in these Words, Let all things be done decently and in order, 1 Corinthians 14:40.

To me, says Piscopion, it is as clear as the Light, that no Man can be a Minister of Christ unless the Hands of a superior Man, even a Diocesan Bishop, have been upon his Head; and all the Preachings and Ministerings of such a presumptuous Wretch, who was not thus ordained, are but vain Babblings, empty Trifles, and impudent Usurpations in the Name of the Lord: For thus says the Common Prayer Book, which was made by Saints and Martyrs, It is evident unto all Men, diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church; Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Thus he proceeds triumphant where the Civil Government is on his Side, and will yield to no Man in Argument or Dispute.

Classicus arises in warm Opposition to Prelacy, and asserts it an indisputable Truth, that no Minister of Christ is superior to another: I read, says he, in my Bible, no Distinction between Bishops and Presbyters; they are the same Officers in Scripture; And the Power of Synods is so plainly instituted at the Council of Jerusalem, Acts 15 that I am amazed this should be esteemed a matter of Doubt or Difficulty; and I am well assured of this, because Timothy had the Hands of the Presbytery laid upon him, 1 Timothy 4:14. there is no Man above or below a Presbyter has any thing to do in ordaining Ministers since the Apostles are dead.

Antipas grows impatient at these bold Assertions, and asserts with as much Boldness, that the Power of ordaining all Sorts of Officers in the Church belongs properly to the Brethren of a single Congregation, and none besides have any Authority to meddle with it, since the Race of inspired Men are dead and gone: The Brethren have all the Power in their Hands, and it is the Church or Congregation alone that has any Manner of Right to choose and approve and establish its own Pastors, Elders, Overseers and Deacons: For is it not said, Acts 6:3. Look you out among you seven Men, et cetera. And if this be done at the Choice of Deacons, why not of Elders too? The Learned say, that the Word in Greek, which is used for ordaining of Elders, signifies the Choice or lifting up the Hands of the Brethren to vote for them. Whatsoever Particulars are disputed in Church Government, the Power of the People must be ever acknowledged and received as a fundamental and immovable Truth.

Among all these Combatants there is not one but is so positive in his own Sentiments, that one would think they had received all their Opinions by Inspiration, or that Christ and his Apostles had been precisely of their Party, and had written their Opinions down in express Letters and Syllables. And not only are they so assured of the Truth of their Tenets, but the vast Importance of them too: And each of them grows angry that his own particular Opinion should be reckoned among the less-evident or the less-important Points of Religion: Their Fury boils high, and their mistaken Zeal and warm Ferment of their Passion swells every Punctilio to a Mountain, and makes every Particle of their Opinions fundamental: They do not observe how their swift Career and Violence carries each of them besides or beyond their Text, and thus they are sometimes hurried on beside the Goal of Truth, and I am persuaded their Assurance always runs too fast for their Evidence, and reaches far beyond it.

They commend and practise Vehemence as a Virtue, and so far forget their Bible as to believe all Moderation to be a mere Spirit of Indifference, and unworthy of a good Christian. They all maintain opposite Notions, yet by their Temper and Conduct they all seem to approve each other's Zeal for his own Party, and with one Consent they vote me a mere Latitudinarian, a lukewarm Professor, a Citizen of Laodicea, who has not a Spark of Zeal for the Gospel of Christ, the Worship or the Discipline of his Church.

My dear zealous Friends, be calm a little, and let me speak before I am condemned. I do not deny many of these Things which I call less-important to be some Way discovered in the New Testament, though not in so express and plain Language as you suppose. The chief Concerns of the Christian Church are so far prescribed by positive Rules, by Examples or just Inferences, that a serious Reader, who is attentive and unbiased, and who will exercise his reasoning Powers, may find sufficient Notices of all necessary Truth and Duty: According to my Measure of Light I humbly hope I have found it, and thereby regulate my Practice.

But still it must be granted, that Things less necessary are not so plainly described as the bigger and more substantial Parts of Religion, nor graven in Characters so large and obvious that every one must needs discern them. Christ Jesus hath been as faithful in his House as Moses was, and has delineated the Form, Pattern and Order of it, so far as infinite Wisdom thought necessary to carry on the grand Designs of Grace and the Gospel: But some of the lesser Pins in this spiritual Tabernacle are not so graphically deciphered, as that every Child may tell whether they must be round or square. There is nothing of so much Weight depends upon them, and therefore there was no need for them to be so expressly described under the New Testament, wherein bodily Exercise profits little, but Worship and Religion consist more in what is spiritual and invisible.

Upon the whole then, since there are different Degrees of Evidence and Clearness, wherewith some of the Doctrines of Faith, and the Rules of Worship and Order in the New Testament are expressed, there ought also to be found in us different Degrees of Assent or Assurance, wherewith we should receive these Doctrines or these Rules of Duty: For it is a certain and eternal Rule of Logic or Reason, that our Assent to any Proposition ought to be firm or feeble, just in Proportion to the different Degrees of Evidence, whether they be brighter or more obscure.

Here then is a plain and pretty general Rule given us, whereby we may judge whether any particular Opinion or Practice be more or less important, and consequently whether our Zeal for it should be warmer or cooler, namely Is the Evidence of this Practice, or this Truth in Scripture more bright or cloudy? According to the Light of Evidence, such generally should our Zeal be. Violence and fierce Contention among Christians, especially about Matters of lesser Moment, or of doubtful Dispute, are infinitely scandalous to the Christian Name; and as they tend to ruin and destroy the Churches of Christ, so in all Ages they have greatly grieved the Souls of those who love the Interests of Christianity, and wish well to Zion.