APPENDIX Numb. IV II. What Church you Ihouldbe a fixed Communicant in.'' I. As to the lira, I knownot well what is meant by fixedMember(hip by the Au- thor ofthe Writing which you Ihewed me ; you muff bea fixedMember ofChrift, , and the Church Univerfal, or elfe you are no fixed Chriftian : But as to particu- lar Parlors and Congregations, Order, and Concord, and Edification are the general Rules which tell you where to fix and how far. I. You ought not to commit any real Sin for Communionwithany Church. a. Thoughyou may and muff join with faulty Afiemblies and Worfhip; yetyou mutt not juftifie their Faults, nor profefs your Content to them, nor promife that you will never endeavour any Amendment of them. ;. There muft be noSelf obliging unneceffarily : Liberty is not focontemptible a thing that we Ihould calf it away for nought ; much lefsmuff you bind your felf contrary to God's.Providence, or without excepting Alterations by it. 4. Your Church-Memberfhip, as toparticular Congregationsmuft have no great- er fixednefs than your Habitationand other Obligations : You may remove your. Congregational Relation when you remove your Dwelling ; and none can hinder you from removing both , when your Intereff requireth it. Sufpe& them that would make you their Propriety. II. As to the Second (where you Ihould fix) : I. You are in your Father's Houfe, under his Government, and mull obey him in all lawful things ; and muff not go againft his Confent. 2. You are a Member of a Chriftian Family ; and no Scripture tells us of the Members of one Chriftian Family beingof diversChurches, nor alloweth it. 3. Scripture knoweth no particular Churches, hint what werebounded by Neigh bourhood and Cohabitation; except Hereticks: There were never Churches ga- thered out of Churches then ; nor two approved Churches of the fame Language in the fame Bounds. I. I do hereby undertake to prove againft any Difputer, that there is no Form fo agreeable to God's Word, as this following: I. AChriftian Kingdom confin- ing of a Chriftian King (orfupreme Power) and particular confederate Churches being the Burgeffes, and peaceable Unbelievers that tolerated Aliens or Catechu- mens. 2. A reformed Epifcopacy Succeffors to the Evangelifts, that (without the Sword or Force) had the Care of many Churches. 3. Reformed Parifh.Churches, confining of Godly Parlors, and protelfed Chriftian Cohabitants, the incapable being Catechumens ; which made the old Nonconformiffs declare that they were fo far from being againft Parifh-Churches, that their Lives would be a burden to them if they were not reflored to them. The firff Church State that Chrift himfelf made, was the Platform of a Chriftian Kingdom Church, offering to make Judea fach, felting Twelve Aporleo over the Twelve Tribes, and Seventy two Difciples, the Number of their great Council, and fo would have gathered all Jeru /àlem's Children to himfelf, as a Hen garheretb herChickens, Mat. 23. which they refuting he declared that the Kingdom of God Mould be taken from them, and given to a Nation that would bring forth the fruit thereof ; and fo they were cut off for their Unbelief, and we graffed in (to the fame Olive or political State, the Mofaical Lawonly changed for Chrift's Law): And as all the Prophets foretold this, that Chrift's Church Ihould be a Davidical Kingdom ; fo after Two HundredNinety Four Years Tryal it was fet up, and the Pagan Empire, Babylon, did fall, and Chrift reigned by Chritian Emperors, and his enemies were made his Footrool, and the Kingdoms of the World became the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Chrift, confining ofChurches confederate for Unity ; and the Nations brought in their Glory to it ; and the Fulnefs of the Gentiles came in, and all the 1 /reel of God were laved, Judea becoming the molt Chriftian Nation in theWorld : And Heaven and Earth rejoiced at the Fall of Ba- bylon, and this new Jerufalem's initial State : And fare it is fuch a Kingdom-Church which thofe expeet that talk of the future Thouftnd Years Reign of Chrift. As Teachers are under him as Prophet, and Priefls as he is Pried ; fo are Chriftian Kings as he is King ; and bad Kings are no more Reafon ágainff his Inflitution than 'bad Teachers and Priers. a. There are ThreeSorts of Parlors or Bithops in Chrift's Church : I. Such as were to gather many Churches (out of Iofidels) and to fet Elders or fixed Bithops over them, and then overfee both the Eiders and People : Such Chrift made the Apoiles, whofe Office was partly extraordinary and temporary, and is fo far
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