APPENDIX. No. I*. By the RIGHT which (as I assert) belongs to the GOVERNORS of the CHURCH in MAKing Canons, or laws for the behaviour of its members in spiritual affairs, and particularly in prescribing the particular circumstances of religious worship, I do not mean authority to change any of the divine laws; when any attempt of this kind is made, our rule is plain and express: "We must obey God rather than men,” (Acts v. 29.) Neither is it pretended, that they have power to impose any article of faith or rule of moral duty; or prescribe any condition of salvation, which is neither expressly contained in the scriptures, nor can be certainly concluded from them. For it is God's prerogative to declare in what manner he will be worshipped and obeyed, and upon what terms he will make us happy; and therefore the Papists, who are the only persons that claim this power, pretend at the same time to be infallibly guided by the Spirit of God. So that all that remains to be prescribed by the church relates only to external peace and order. And if it appear, that things of this nature are left undetermined in the scriptures, and also that it is necessary they should be determined, then we cannot doubt but that Christ has intrusted the church with * See Dr Sherlock's excellent Vindication of the Rights of Ecclesiastical Authority, Lond. 1683. Clagett's Reply to Alsop on the Misch. of Impositions, 1681., Answer to Delaune's Plea, by Mr Robertson, late a Dissenting Teacher, with a Letter to Dan. Foe, 1710; and Hart's Ans. to Delaune, 1717. Mr Law's Second and Third Letter to the Bishop of Bangor. authority to determine them, otherwise its constitution would be defective, and such as could not answer the ends for which it was founded. Now, that things of this nature are not particularly determined in scripture, is most evident: for the rules of scripture are all general; we are commanded to "assemble together" to worship God, but the times and places wherein we must assemble are not expressed. We are commanded to "follow such things as make for peace and edification," and to "do all things decently and in order,” (Cor. xiv. 40.) "for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints;" but the particular methods, whereby order must be maintained, and edification promoted, are no where set down. Timothy and all other Bishops with him, are commanded to "lay hands suddenly on no man ;" but the previous trials of candidates for holy orders, and the time and method of inspection into their abilities and behaviour, are left undetermined. Neither is it possible, in things of this nature, to give particular rules which shall never require to be varied. For the same methods which at one time promote peace and edification, may, when the scene is changed, happen to obstruct these ends; and what in one age or country is decent, in another may be highly indecent. And therefore it is not diminishing the perfection of scripture to affirm, that they do not particularly determine things of this kind, which, being variable in their own nature, are not capable of any fixed determination. Neither is it less certain, that it is necessary for things of this kind to be determined, than that the scripture has left them undetermined. For instance, the times and places where christians assemble together to worship God must be fixed, otherwise they cannot assemble at all. When they are assembled, it must be determined in what order the several offices of religion shall be performed, whether praying, or preaching, or singing of psalms, or administring the sacraments, shall be first; otherwise one will be for praying, whilst another is for preaching, and a third for some other office, and nothing but disorder and confusion will be seen in the church. On the same account, the division of christians into districts and parishes, for their more convenient assembling together, and preservation of order and discipline, is a thing which must be varied, and a more strict or gentle discipline of offenders must be proportioned to what the times will bear, and to what men will be brought to submit to (as God himself has set us an example in conniving at many things in the Jews, for the hardness of their hearts, as our blessed Saviour affirms.) These, I say are things which must of necessity be varied, as times and circumstances change, and yet the variation of them may safely be left to the discretion of particular men. And the same will hold in other particular circumstances of public duties, which the scriptures have left undetermined. Either, then, every particular man is entirely left to his own liberty, as to all the circumstances of every part of God's worship, which must unavoidably produce disorder and confusion, and therefore "decency and order" cannot be maintained; or else there must be somewhere a power in the church to settle these circumstances, as shall be found necessary for the preservation of decency and regularity. And if we inquire into the practice of the apostles, and other primitive governors of the church, we shall find that, besides the standing rules of the gospel, they prescribed various directions as the several occasions of the churches required, (1 Cor. xi. 16.-Ep. to Tim. and Titus.) And this authority has been transmitted through the several ages of the church to their successors, who are thereby authorized to make all such rules as should be requisite for the decent and orderly performance of divine worship. And, as the governors of the church ought not to impose any thing that is burthensome upon the people, however otherwise it may perhaps be lawful, so when they have made any rules concerning these matters, it is certainly the du ty of the people, rather " to obey" and conform unto them, (Heb. xiii. 17.) than hazard the breach of the church's peace for things as are in their own nature indifferent, and consequently alterable whenever there appears just reason for it. We must consider (says Dr Sherlock, speaking of the power of the christian church in establishing the circumstances of worship,) the difference between the law and the gospel. Under the law, (Gal. iv. 1. 2.) the church was in an infant state, like an heir under age, which is under tutors and governors ;' and therefore every part of that temple worship was exactly framed according to the pattern in the mount. But the christian church is arrived to a full age, and set at liberty by Christ from the yoke of bondage, (Gal. vi. i.) and therefore is not under servile restraints, as the Jewish Church was, but has the government of its own actions, according to the general rules of the gospel. In matters of this nature, all churches are at liberty to prescribe rites and ceremonies to its own members, provided they be consistent with the above-mentioned general precepts, laid down in scripture.— And this has been expressly declared by our Reformed Church. "It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places like; U |