that piece of the mystery of iniquity, which in after ages should be called uniformity. So Paul preached fometimes on the Jew's fabbath, fometimes on the first day of the week, fometimes each day of the week, fometimes in the day, fometimes in the night; fometimes prayed in the houfe, fometimes on the fhore: he circumcifed Timothy among the weak, refufed to circumcife Titus among the perverfe; became as a Jew to the Jews, as a Greek to the Greeks, to the weak as weak, to the ftrong as ftrong, all things to all men, that he might win fome: and what external uniformity was here? And then for the Sacraments, Chrift adminiftered the Sacrament of the fupper, imme diately after fupper; Paul at midnight, and it may be others in the morning, or at noon: and what external uniformity in all this? And for government; fometimes the apoftles met together into a council, and in that council ordered things, not of their own heads, or by plurality of voices, but by the word and Spirit; and what they ordered by the word and Spirit, they put in execution by the power of the word and Spirit, and not by the power of the world. At other times, minifters and believers did things by the word and Spirit among themselves, by the mutual confent of both; or elfe believers alone among themselves, if there were no ministers prefent. And where the number of believers were more, they ftood in need of more officers and were fewer, of fewer officers; and all thefe things, are the free ordering of the churches, who have Chrift, the Spirit, and the Father among them, and in them, and fo are taken out of the bondage of men, into the freedom of God. That truly I fee not the gofpel more fetting its spirit against any thing of Antichrift, than against this point of external uniformity. For if we have one Lord, Chrift, Spirit, Faith, Baptifm, and God, all other things are free to the churches, as God fhall order by them, and no otherwife; and the reason, and wisdom, and prudence

prudence of man, have no place in this world, where the Sun of righteoufnefs fhines, as the only light?

But against this that hath been said, do lie fome objections; as first,

The Prophet foretold that the Lord should be one, and bis name one, and doth not this imply external uniformity?

I answer, nothing lefs: for the apostle explicates plainly and clearly, what it is to have the Lord one, and his name one, among believers, Ephefians iv. 4, 5, 6. where he faith, there is in the fpiritual church, one body, and one. Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptifm, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. Where you fee, that among believers there is a manifold unity, but no external uniformity; yea, the prayer of Chrift the Son, for the chuch, unfolds clearly the promife of God the Father to the church, John xvii. Chrift prays, that they all (who are many among themfelves, according to the flesh) may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, (that is, according to the unity of the Spirit, not external uniformity) that after this manner they alfo may be one in us.

I

But again, it is objected out of 1 Cor. xiv. that the apoftle requires that all things may be done in the church decently and in order: and doth not this imply external uniformity?

I answer, that they will hardly admit in their parishchurches, fuch a decency and order as the apoftle there means, neither are they capable of it. For he faith before, when the whole church is come together into fome place, that all may prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted: and that during this exercife of prophefying, if any thing be revealed to another, the former to give place; and he muft fpeak that hath the cleareft light, feeing the Spirit, to whomfoever it is given, it is given to profit withal. And that though all may prophefy one by one, yet all may

not

hot prophefy at once, for then it would not be order, but confufion, which the apostle would have avoided, faying, Let all things be done decently and in order. And this decency too, he perfuades to by the word, he doth not enforce by secular power: and if they will call this uniformity, for believers to prophefy one after another, according to the variety of the gifts of the Spirit, and not many, or two or three at once, or the fame time, we willingly agree with them: but how far this thing is from their fenfe, every

one knows.

Thus you fee thefe objections anfwered, and I am confident there are no more can be brought, but may as clearly and easily be answered as these.

And therefore, I fay, I wonder, and wonder again, that we having covenanted and agreed together folemnly, to endeavour for a government most agreeable to the word of God, fhould in the mean time be left fo void of the spirit and light of the gospel, as to fall upon external uniformity, which is no-where to be found in the gospel, nor in the practice of primitive christians.

Yea, while I confider more seriously of the matter, methinks external uniformity is a monftrous thing, how glorious foever in their eyes; and not to be found either in nature or in grace, either in Chrift's kingdom, or the kingdoms of the world.

In nature is no external uniformity extended to all the works of nature; for look into the world, and fee if there be not variety of forms; heavenly and earthly bodies, having feveral forms; and in the earth, each bird, beast, tree, plant, creature, differs one from another, in outward form. If the whole creation, fhould appear in one form, or external uniformity, what a monftrous thing would it be, nothing differing from the first chaos? But the variety of forms in the world is the beauty of the world: So that though

F

though there be a moft admirable unity among all the creatures, yet there is nothing less than external uniformity.

Again, as there is no external uniformity fpread over the great world, fo nor yet over the little world, or man. For look upon a man, confifting of head and members, unto which the apoftle compares the church, and you fhall not find all the members like one another, neither in regard of their outward forms, nor operations: for the hand doth not move as the foot, nor the foot act as the hand; and if all the members fhould appear and act in one form, what a monster would a man be? and yet among the members, though there be no external uniformity, yet there is admirable unity.

And yet again, look into the kingdoms of the world, and you fhall fee no fuch thing in them as external uniformity: Here in England you fhall obferve that York is not governed as Hull, nor Hull as Hallifax, nor that as Bristol, &c. neither is one county, governed uniformly as another; there is no uniformity in the government of Kent and Effex; nor one town governed like another; in Godmanchester, the youngest fon inherits, in Huntingdon the eldeft: nor one corporation governed like another, nor one company in the city governed as another; and yet between all Counties, Cities, Towns, Corporations, Companies, there is unity, though no external uniformity. Yea, look upon the famous City of London, and there are, it may be, an hundred thousand families, or more in it, and each one governed after a several manner; and among all these families there is no external uniformity, and yet they all agree well enough, in the unity of a city.

Nay further, to bring but one man to an uniformity of life and practice, by an outward Law, would be the most abfolute tyranny in the world, and make his life worse than death. To compel every man by a law every day in the week, or every Monday, Tufeday, &c. in the week,

to

to an uniformity of life, that he fhall rife at the fame time, ufe the fame postures, speak the fame words, eat the fame food, receive the fame phyfic, fit, and ftand, and walk, and lie down at the fame fet times, who ever heard of such a cruel bondage? What an abfurd and intolerable thing then is uniformity in the life of a man, taking away all freedom of the foul? But how much more evil and intolerable is uniformity in the life of a christian, or of the true churches of Christ, taking away all freedom of the Spirit of God, who being one with God, works in the freedom of God, and is not to be bound with any authoritative or coercive power, of poor, dark, ignorant, vain, foolish, proud, and finful men?

What now then do the Prefbyters mean by uniformity? Would they have the word preached, and the Sacraments administered, and the name of God called on, and all this done in fpirit and truth, in the churches of Chrift? this truly is unity and not uniformity, and fuch an unity as no man can compel. But would they have the word preached, the name of God called on, Sacraments adminiftered, the fpiritual difcipline of the spiritual church managed, the vir tues of Chrift, and graces of the Spirit in the faints exercised, and all this in one and the fame outward form, or uniformity? This is the burden of the faints, the bondage of the church, the straitning of the Spirit, the limiting of Christ, and the eclipfing the glory of the Father. And how wife foever these men may be in natural and carnal things, yet their wisdom is but foolishness in fpiritual things, in which there is no more uniformity than in the workings of the Spirit, who works feverally in feveral faints, and severally in the fame faints, at feveral times: And therefore they that would tie the church to an uniformity, which works not of itself, but as the Spirit works in it, let them first tie the Spirit to an uniformity, and we are contented. But these men seem to run a fad hazard, who would thus re