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Counsellors there is Safety. And great Defe-
rence fhould be paid to the Advice of many
aged, learned, and pious Men, met in Coun-
cil. But if no infpired Men are among
them, they can only draw up their Conclu-
fion thus; It seemed good to us (fallible Men)
to give our Opinion or Advice fo or fo; but
not to determine abfolutely for other Perfons,
and make Rules to bind the Confciences of
others, unless they could add, It Seemed good
to the Holy Spirit alfo, as well as unto us; for
if the Vote of a Council of fallible Men
could bind us, why should not the Council
of Trent, or any other Councils, bind us to
all their Antichriftian Decrees? The best
conftituted Church or Council may in Time
grow degenerate, and if they have fuch Au-
thority given them, they may
make Heathen-
ifh or Hellifh Decrees, and bind them on the
Confciences of Men.

And yet further, in the third Place, I add, If this Decree at Jerusalem had not been the Direction and Determination of the Holy Spirit, by the Lips of infpired Men, why fhould the Churches at Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts xv. 23.) fubmit to a Vote or Opinion of the Church at Jerufalem, any more than the Church at Jerufalem should fubmit to an Opinion of the Church at Corinth, or Rome, or Antioch? What was done at Jerufalem by infpired Men once, on an extraordinary Occafion, cannot be made a

binding

binding Example or Rule, for the Determination of Confcience in all following Times, and in ordinary Church-Affairs, where no inspired Perfons are prefent; for by this Precedent, one Church would have Power given it to determine for another; which I know no Church pretends to, but that of Rome.

And finally, It is plain, if this Scripture give Authority to uninfpired Men in ordinary Cafes, it gives this Dominion to the whole Church at Jerufalem, and not to the Bishops or Elders only; for this was not a Council made up of the Elders, Bishops, or Reprefentatives of the Churches of Jerufalem, Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, but of the Apoftles, Elders, and Brethren of the Church at Jerufalem; and yet they authoritatively determined the Cafe for the Churches of the Gentiles, which they fhould never have done, if there had been no Apostles or inspired Perfons there.

Whatsoever therefore the Church at Jerufalem determined as a Duty for the Gentile Churches to practise in a dubious Cafe, because it had Apoftles, and many infpired Perfons in it, can be no fufficient Authority for Synods, Convocations, or Councils of Bishops or Elders of modern Churches, to determine other dubious Cafes, for their own or other Congregations, and bind their Confciences to any Point of Faith or Practice merely by their Authority, when they have no infpired Perfons among them. But I only

glance

glance at thefe Things, and will not enter into a Debate about them at present.

VI. Though Baptifm and the Lord's Supper are Ceremonies of divine Institution, yet is not the New Teftament in a great Measure filent as to the Perfons who fhall celebrate them?

I anfwer, The Scripture acquaints us, that the Commiffion to baptize was plainly given here to those who were appointed to teach the Nations. Matth. xxviii. 20. And the Light of Nature fhews us, that those Perfons who are furnished with Talents, and chofen, and called, and folemnly appointed to preach the Gospel to Men, to offer up their Prayers and Praises to God, and to lead the Worship in Churches, are certainly, in the Nature of Things, the moft proper Perfons to adminifter or celebrate fuch Rites or Ordinances, as fhould be attended with the Word and Prayer; for by the Word and Prayer is every Thing fanctified to its proper Purposes in the Kingdom of Chrift.

And yet, if no Minifters, Elders, or Bifhops, are near at Hand, nor the Miniftrations of any fuch are to be obtained, without finful Compliances, perhaps it may be better that fome private Member of that Congregation, if fufficiently furnished with proper Gifts, fhould be deputed or defired by the Church, to perform thefe Solemnities once or

twice, than that these Institutions of Chrift, which are fo plain and express, should be omitted for a long Time together, merely on Account of doubtful Difputables. Chrift has most exprefsly commanded this Duty; but who fhall adminifter this Ordinance, and how Ministers should be ordained, is much more obfcure. If a Congregation want a regular Minifter, yet the Church should affemble for Prayer; and Exhortation or teaching, by reading or preaching, should not be utterly neglected: Why then should they neglect the Lord's Supper? If a neighbouring Minister cannot conveniently be obtained, may not a Brother of the Congregation, who has competent Abilities, be defired to pray, or to read a Sermon, or to exhort, rather than the Church be without any publick Worship, or fpend their Lord's-Days at Home, and that for Weeks or Months together, for a confiderable Time? And may not a Person thus qualified, if no Minister be within Reach, be deputed, or called by the Church, to break Bread to them, rather than live without obeying the express Commands of a dying Saviour.

Now I have ventured fo far in giving my Opinion here, I may the more confidently add, that this fhould not be practifed on every little common Occafion, left great Inconveniences arise thereby: And for this Reafon, every deftitute Church fhould furnish. G them

themselves, as foon as may be, with a Paftor or Minister of their own, to go before them, and, in a regular Manner, celebrate thefe divine Rites of Chriftianity, which ought not to be long neglected.

Some other Cafes might be mentioned, which may fall out in a Chriftian Church, wherein we can find no plain Direction or Example in Scripture; and then Reafon and Prudence muft direct us: Where Revelation is filent, Reason is our Guide.

SECT