II. are not those who the faith, stand it therefore sequence taken for those "weak" consciences, whom St. Paul orders SECT. the "strong" to "bear" with; because the obligation which all Christians have to the faith, takes place in the order of charity before the obligation they have to their fellow Chris- contradict tians. Those, that understand not the faith, and therefore but those doubt of the true consequence of it, may be. Those, that who underowned St. Paul for an apostle, could not see, that salvation not, and comes [by] faith alone and not by the Law; notwithstanding doubt the that St. Paul had proved it by the unanswerable dispute of true conthis epistle. The reason is sufficient. All his arguments of it.] proceed upon the mystical sense of the Old Testament'; which they, that acknowledged the truth of the Gospel to be unquestionable, could not own nevertheless, until they understood the reason why God gave the Law, with an intent to bring in the Gospel by it. It is therefore no marvel, that they, who deny not the creed, nevertheless do not understand, that particular Churches are and ought to be members of the whole Church: which is called the catholic Church, to distinguish it from heresies and schisms; which could never prevail all over, as the catholic Church did, because it had authority from the apostles, which they transgressed that they do not understand, that particular Churches are able to oblige their members in anything, that neither contradicteth the faith nor anything determined by the catholic Church ".-I say, it is no marvel, that they should not understand those things: the Reformation having discovered a claim on the one side, that the pope and see of Rome may and ought to oblige all Christians to anything that they determine; and a claim on the other side, that private spirits may, by interpretation of Scripture not limited within the sense of the Church, oblige all Christians without or against the Church. For he, that cannot see between those two claims, that no interpretation of Scripture can be true, that is not within those bounds which the consent of the catholic Church alloweth, may easily think some to be obliged by the sense of the Scripture, which private spirits may introduce, to scruple that which the Church determineth, as contradicting the Scripture. 1 See Epilogue, Bk. I. Of the Pr. of Chr. Tr., c. xiii. § 25, sq.; Bk. II. Of the Cov. of Gr., c. viii. § 13-15. THORNDIKE. A a m See Just Weights and Measures, c. iii. § 2-4, c. v. § 3-6, cc. vii., viii. &c. SECT. due, ac cording to § 7. But if any man should deny the positions, which I take II. for granted here, because "weakness" cannot be pleaded if [No "forbearance" they be denied;-that there is no remission of sins without baptism, and that no baptism saveth, but that which admitteth into the catholic Church as well as into the covenant of grace-he, that should deny all or any of these, I say, must not be for "weak;" because he cannot be "forborne," without superseding the articles of our creed, to which we are formerly obliged. St. Paul, to those who deny any article of the creed.] [II. What bearance" St. Paul: -a. It tend to [SECTION III.] Now to the second point, the "forbearance" which St. is the "for- Paul orders. I am, in the first place, to advise, that his enjoined by order tends to preserve unity between two parties, of which the Church of Rome then consisted; and therefore cannot cannot ex- extend to those that depart from this Church. They cannot those that be capable of this "forbearance," that extend it not to those, depart of whom they desire it, by continuing in unity with this Church.] Church. In conscience, after that the Jews had refused the faith, would any good Christian have them "forborne," as members of the Church, which they defied? Therefore cannot the "forbearance" here ordered belong to the congregations that depart from this Church. from the [How far it extends § 2. As for those that disclaim not communion with it"; After the Act of Uniformity had passed, and the ejection of the ministers on St. Bartholomew's-day had issued in a formal separation between the Church and the bulk of the nonconformists, there ensued a division among the latter, some of them (of whom Baxter was the principal) still coming to church and partaking of the communion there: whence they received the name of Occasional Conformists. Baxter, Life of Himself, Pt. ii. p. 436, says of himself and Dr. Bates, that they "went to the public assemblies, and also to the CommonPrayer, even to the beginning of it:" and ibid., p. 433, he formally defends the practice "My judgment was for the holding of communion with assemblies of both parties; and ordinarily I went to some parish-church, where I heard a learned minister, that had not obtruded himself upon the people, but was chosen by them, and preached well (as Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Tillotson, Mr. Nest, &c.), and I joined also in the Common-Prayers of the Church: and as oft also as I had fit opportunity, I privately preached and prayed myself either with Independents or Presbyterians that desired me." He adds, however, that he "would occasionnally joyn with any true Church in publick or private," &c., "even as" he "would hold occasional communion with a Church of Lutherans, or Greeks, or Abassenes, if" he "passed through their countreys."—Ibid., pp. 394, sq., he sums up the arguments pro and con between the more and less moderate III. to those, not com in their case there seems to lie a question, what the "for- SECT. bearance" ordered by St. Paul in the then Church of Rome signifies. For by perusing the acts of the primitive Church, that disand considering the divisions which sometime it hath escaped claim and sometimes it hath been vexed with, I do believe, that munion some divisions have prevailed, which might have been avoided with the Church.] by patience and forbearance in due time. And therefore I am of opinion, so long as "forbearance" signifies no more than forbearance, that there may be a time of forbearance, wherein the parties may be obliged to confer together, with so much patience, as to clear one another in the utmost intent and meaning of their respective pretences and the reasons of them, otherwise subject to mistake; submitting and compromising as well the present uniformity on one side, as the demands of abatement in the terms of it on the other side, to that which may appear to be for the best towards the service of God and the peace of this Church. nion sub ment of § 3. But I am not of this opinion unless my superiors in [This opithe Church, the synod of this province, authorize it. For I mitted to am fully satisfied, that all the good which can be expected the judgby uniting those that now conform not to this Church, can superiors.] never countervail the mischief that will be done, in treading under foot the authority of the Church vested in the synods of the provinces, by doing that by force, which by right cannot be done but by their consent. § 4. And this, all that [follows from] this order of St. Paul [The orders compared with the orders of the apostles for eating or not stles for non-conformists. But a little later, viz., A a In About 1670 he speaks again ofhis practice are of the apo eating or meats saidols.] crificed to SECT. eating meats sacrificed to idols, will enforce. St. Paul in III. his first epistle to the Corinthians distinguishes scholastinot eating cally, that they may be eaten either as God's creatures materially, or formally as meats sacrificed to idols, which idolaters feasted upon after their sacrifices in honour of their idols; as we see by his words, 1 Cor. x. 7, "Nor be ye idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." And Dan. v. 4; "They drunk wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." St. Paul then resolveth, that Christians may eat them, because they know them to be God's creatures, and that they cannot be polluted by being offered to idols, which "are nothing:" but that when there is occasion for Christians to think, that a Christian eats them as idolaters did, as in an idol temple or being invited home by an idolater; in such cases it was necessary to forbear, lest such a weak Christian should, by his example, be edified to eat them as idolaters did, and so fall into misprision of idolatry: 1 Cor. viii. 10, 11; x. 27, 28. But at Jerusalem, the Christians that had been idolaters, as Gentiles, are forbidden to eat them materially, even as God's creatures; because there was an order long afore introduced by the authority which the Law had established, forbidding them, as for a hedge to the Law, that God's people might be the further off from eating them in honour of idols. But Daniel (whereas St. Paul forbids the Corinth[1 Cor. x. ians to make enquiry "for conscience' sake" whether meat 27.] set afore them were sacrificed or not), when he forbore the king's meat, did make enquiry for conscience' sake; there being presumption, that it was sacrificed or dedicated to [Acts xv. 20, 29.] See Just Weights and Measures, c. xix. § 6. See Epilogue, Bk. III. Of the Laws of the Ch., c. xxxi. § 36. note d. — Τοῦ ἀπέχεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων Non censet (sc. St. James at the Council of Jerusalem) "monendos pios ex gentibus de iis quæ satis didicerant; Deum colendum, Unum et Verum, non falsos; Ei omnem exhibendam reverentiam; abstinendum a cædibus, rapinis, injuriis, adulteriis, et incestis jure gentium cognitis; jus cuique reddendum: sed de iis monet quæ disputationem recipere videbantur, et quæ Judæos poterant offendere, et impedire quo minus pii ex gentibus cum piis Hebræis in unam Ecclesiam coalescerent. In his primum locum obtinent τὰ ἀλισθήματα Tŵv eldwλwv, i. e. ea quæ infra vocantur eidwλólvra. Malach. i. 7, in Græco LXX Senum est, ἄρτους ἠλισγημένους, ubi Aquila et Symmachus μεμολυσμέ νους. Sirach ii. 33, ἀλισγήσει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐδέσμασιν ἀλλοτρίοις. Vide ad Dan. i. 8" (see note q below). Grot. ad Act. xv. 20. III. idols, by offering the first-fruits, as the custom was: Dan. SECT. i. 5, 8. This shews that it was the same that Tobit did, i. 10-12. And the Jews have reason when they tell us, that Nehemiah was dispensed with in this constitution, because he was cup-bearer to the king'. Though, when they say further, that this is the reason why he is called Hattirshatha, in that I leave them to themselves". to win the for those § 5. So, this being one point of legal observation, which was [The hope to be manifested so long as there was hope to win the Jews, Jews was the Christians which had been Gentiles are tied to it by the the reason apostles; not only at Jerusalem and at Antiochia, but also differing in all those Churches which Paul and Barnabas had founded orders.] upon commission given at Antiochia: Acts xiii. 2, 3, 14; xiv. 26; xv. 23; xvi. 4. For so were the Gentiles to do, who being converted to the true God were allowed by the Law to live in the land of promise, or to worship God with the Jews in their dispersion. The reason of this difference is evident by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xii. 2 ;-" Ye know ye were Gentiles, carried after those dumb idols, as ye were led." Whereas by the places quoted out of the Acts it appears, that the address of Paul and Barnabas was first made to the Jews, and that the Churches were founded out of them for the greatest part. So that, the hope of winning the Jews remaining, the dispensation was to take place. § 6. The Church of Rome, when St. Paul writ, seems to [Apostolic have consisted of both; and St. Paul's order is therefore in- authority requisite different to both, commanding mutual forbearance. Which, for such as it affords an argument for the like authority to do the as like in the like case, so will not allow it without the like St. Paul.] authority. Now the authority of synods is the authority of "Causa.. cur Daniel pane vinoque regio abstinuerit, non alia est quam quod moris erat illis gentibus partem de pane et de vino injicere in aram, aut si ara non adesset, in focum, vice aræ, atque eo modo diis suis consecrare totum illud quod erant comesturi. Id vero, sicut stulta illorum opinione erat sanctitas, ita Hebræis, melius institutis, et certis talia dedicata esse falsis numinibus, erat pollutio. Sic Jacchiades et Theodoretus." Grot. ad Dan. i. 8. "Hebræi aiunt ita dictum fuisse" (scil. nn)," quod licuerit ei bibere de vino Gentilium, quod esset pincerna regis Artaxerxis." Vatablus, ad Nehem. vii. 65; ap. Crit. Sac.Munster (ad Esdr. ii. 63. ap. Crit. Sac.) interprets the word to mean simply "qui dispensavit potum;" or "potest esse, ut dixit Aben-Ezra, quod sit in lingua Chaldaica nomen dignitatis." See last note. See above in § 4, note p. an order as that of |