whether in bringing their Children to be Baptized they do not intend thereby to dedicate them to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to engage them as much as in them lies to be Gods faithful Servants and to believe and live according to the Doctrine and Precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ or somewhat to that effect And whether likewise such Answers from the Parents should not be expected as are most suitable to such demands And further it would be considered Whether Infants can be so well or so directly and properly obliged to God in Covenanting with him in Baptism by what Sponsors which are not their Parents then do to oblige them as they may by what their Parents themselves may do to that end And the reason of this proposal or question is this If the Childrens being obliged to do that when they come to Age which Parents obliged them to in their Baptism does depend upon their Parents properly in them and authority over them as is supposed it does from what has been formerly argued then they cannot be so properly obliged by what other Sponsors do in their behalf at their Baptism which have no such property in them or authority over them It is true indeed Parents are not wholly unconcerned in entering their Children into Covenant with God by Baptism when yet Sponsors act in the Parents stead For it is the Parents that cause their Children to be Baptized and what the Sponsors act is by the Parents procurement and upon these accounts it is interpretatively their act But yet Parents immediately and in their own persons acting the part of entering their Children into Covenant seems more proper and better to answer the nature of the things Sponsors may be more useful in case Parents of Children to be Baptized are dead as possibly it might be the case of some Children whose Parents were Martyr'd in the Primitive times from which perhaps that usage in the Church took its first rise There are other cases in which Sponsors or Pro-parents may be useful and necessary but hardly so as to exclude Parents from their proper work But I speak of these things with submission to those of better judgment and more authority having only offered them to consideration QUERY VII FOr what reason is Church-Membership said to be Invisible as well as Visible in some and yet but only as Visible in others And from whence does this difference arise This difference proceeds from the difference there is between Visible and Invisible Christianity and from the different Union between Christ the Head and his Members which is caused thereby By invisible Christianity I mean those inward acts and affections of soul by which men abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good which are wrought by a serious assent of the mind unto the truth of the doctrine and great motives of the Gospel by which they are convinced of the necessity of repentance and holy living in order to their escaping everlasting misery and becoming eternally happy By visible Christianity I mean external and visible acts of Religion in reference both to God and men such as is the profession of the God that made the World to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to be his Son and the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith and such other acts as consist in an external performance of the external acts of worship due to this God and Saviour and in acts of Justice and Charity towards men and in sobriety of behaviour in reference to a mans self Now by the internal and invisible Christianity forementioned in conjunction with that which is external the Covenant entred into in Baptism is so performed that by it a man is internally and invisibly united to Christ and consequently to all those who are invisibly one with him But visible Christianity alone is but an external performance of the Covenant entred into in Baptism and this amounts to no more than an external and visible Union with Christ and with his Church as visible By this much then we may understand wherein the difference between visible and invisible Church membership lies and from whence it doth arise Now that the internal Christianity which consists in an internal change in the faculties of the soul to wit in their apprehension inclination motions and operations in reference to their various objects of good and evil does produce or obtain an internal and invisible Union of men with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ will appear if we consider these things 1. This internal Renovation of soul contains in it an Union with God by adhesion for by it a man doth with his heart and soul and out of judgment and choice cleave unto the Lord which in the sence of Scripture is a being joyned to him He that is joyned or he that cleaveth unto the Lord is one spirit for it is rendred by both words 1 Cor. 6.17 And for a man firmly and resolvedly to adhere and stick to the Lord and to the interest of his honour and glory in the world in worshipping loving and obeying him and in placing his affiance in him as his only God and Saviour come what will which is his cleaving to him is such a moral Vnion with God as the nature of man is capable of 2. This internal Renovation worketh an invisible Union with God by a participation of the divine nature as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Pet. 1.4 By which participation men are morally united to God For they are thereby renewed to the Image of God in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness and so are made one Spirit or one in spirit with Him according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit or of one spirit For so far as such an one is partaker of the Divine nature by Renovation he judgeth of good and evil as God judgeth and loves and hates and designs the same things that he doth 3. By this Renovation of the Inner man men come to have the same Spirit of God and of Christ to reside and dwell in them by which their Vnion with the Father and the Son is compleated The holy Spirit first prepares them as living Temples or an Habitation for himself to dwell in by renewing them in a less degree and then comes and takes up his abode and dwells in them by affording them a more constant and more plentiful influence and assistance And the same Spirit dwelling both in Christ and in them the Vnion between them becomes more intimous and more entire Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 As the Union of all the members of a natural body is not made so much by their contiguity or close joyning as by being all animated by one and the same spirit which is in all the parts so it is
if the whole Church were of one heart and one soul as they were at the first in matters of their Communion 3. Catholick Communion consisteth also in the mutual assistances which Christians give to and receive one from another couched in that one word Fellowship in the description of Catholick Communion Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship c. The same word which in our Version is here translated Fellowship is by the Dutch in their Version translated Communion And according to Dr. Hammond it signifies both to communicate and to participate to distribute and to receive So that according to the nature of Christian Communion every Member of the whole Church is or ought to be useful and serviceable to the whole Community of Christians in general and to every Christian in particular so far as they can in the place and rank in which the Providence of God hath set them The which if duly observed by all as it ought to be the same persons that thus communicate and contribute assistance to others would be receiving back again from the whole and from every Member in particular the like succour service and assistance as opportunity serves as they themselves had contributed to them As a Christian is to serve every fellow-Christian so according to the same Law every one is to serve him This is that the Apostle means when he says By love serve one another Gal. 5.13 And this giving and receiving assistance the same Apostle calls communicating with him Phil. 4.15 If this Catholick Communion were but duly maintained among all Christians how like a heaven upon earth would the Catholick Church be And how happy would they be even now for the present that are of it And how would the Inhabitants of the world that are not of it then flow into it And yet for Christians thus to exchange Offices of love with one another is nothing more than what we are all obliged to by the Royal Law of Love Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self For if I am hereby bound to love every Neighbour as my self so is every Neighbout obliged by it to love me as they love themselves And how delightful a commerce would this be if the Christian Church were but so happy as to hit on it The particular duties and offices of love in which this part of Christian Communion does consist are such as these the instructing and exhorting one another the watching over and admonishing one another the strengthening the feeble minded the visiting and comforting the afflicted the relieving one anothers wants the bearing on anothers burdens the having the same care one for another and the like Together with these we may reckon the yielding and allowing to every one the liberty of sharing in the common priviledge of enjoying Communion in Gospel-Ordinances and Worship so long as they have not made themselves uncapable of it by drawing on themselves deservedly the Censures of the Church nor are otherwise naturally uncapable of the end and use for which those Ordinances or any of them were ordained as little Children seem to be in reference to the Lords Supper THus much briefly touching the nature of Catholick Commumunion Come we now to enquire how and by what means it may best be preserved There are two Bonds which the Scripture mentions by which Christians are bound and knit together in one Communion the bond of Charity and the bond of Peace 1 The bond of Charity Above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 Charity is a bond which knits and unites mens hearts together and makes them one in affection knit together in love as as it is exprest Col. 2.2 and while they be so it can hardly be but that they will be one in Communion This was that which made the Catholick Church in its beginning to be all of one heart and one soul as it is said the multitude of them that believed were Acts 4.32 And that was the reason doubtless why they continued stedfastly in their Communion in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayer Charity we see is called the bond of perfectness for the Church is in a kind of perfect state in her Communion so long as the Parts and Members of it are knit together in one Communion by love made perfect in one as our Saviour expresseth it Joh. 17.23 And the Union in Communion which is made by love is Union in its perfection nothing unites Christians so entirely and firmly as love does If Christians love one another in the truth and for the truth sake which dwelleth in them as St. John speaks this Love and Union by Love will last there will be no failure in the oneness of Communion until there be first a failure in love Charity must needs unite and knit Christians together in one Communion because it is the Principle from which the particular acts of Christian Fellowship fore-mentioned do spring a great part of the acts of Christian Communion are nothing else but offices of brotherly love and by these Christians take fast hold one of another Charity in its own nature is communicative of the good it has and the good it can do and by that it does attract and draw others to a nearer conjunction with those in whom it dwells Charity is the Arms of the Christians inner man by which they imbrace one another though absent Love is of a winning nature it gains upon others that stand at a distance If a Principle of love be in the heart it will season a mans speech and enable him to speak the truth in love according to St. Pauls direction And the truth spoken in love will sooner reconcile than the strongest Arguments when mixt with bitterness of Spirit A tongue of love is Solomons tongue of health it will heal wounds when another tongue does but make them And therefore with great reason did St. Paul call upon the Church of Corinth to do all their things with Charity and spent a whole Chapter upon them to persuade them to it as an effectual means to cure the divisions into which they were unhappily fallen Again Charity covereth a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 and by that means among other it keeps Christians from flying asunder and dividing in their Communion which many times takes its first rise from very small matters when they meet with an evil mind that will aggravate and make the worst of things and seek out matter to make the breach wider But Charity is not apt to spie faults or to pick quarrels nor to aggravate and make the worst of things nor to harbour jealousies or evil surmises out of which breaches are wont to grow but it will over-look mens weakness mistakes and inadvertencies as believing they do not proceed from an evil mind And if any thing be amiss love will take notice of all the extenuating circumstances in the
it for which cause they say we should not use it in receiving the Sacrament least we seem to sympolize with them therein In Answer to this several things are to be considered As 1. That tho' the Church of Rome doth strictly enjoyn kneeling at the Elevation of the Host yet in the Act of Receiving it is not required by any Cannon or Constitution of theirs Dr. John Burges of great Note in his time in his Treatise touching the Lawfulness of receiving the Sacrament kneeling or in his Defence of the three Innocent Ceremonies Chap. 21. pag. 67. and pag. 479. of his Rejoynder as he is recited for I have not his Book hath these words With us the Bishops or Ministers Communicate kneeling as well as the People But with the Papists the Pope when himself performeth the Office receiveth sitting as being a Type of Christ the Mass Priests receive standing by the Canon of the Mass For confirmation of all which he cites several Authors He denies not but that the People receive kneeling and says that the Priest did so too untill the Doctrine of Transubstantiation begot the Canon for his standing But he denies that kneeling in the very time of receiving was ever in the Church of Rome any Rite of or for Adoration of the Sacrament it self and says never any Pope enjon'd it nor is there any direction in the Mass for it The Reverend Dr. Stilliigfleet hath asserted much to the same effect in his Unreasonableness of Separation Pag. 15. 2. How or after what manner soever kneeling has been abused by the Papists to bad purposes yet the abuse of a thing otherwise lawful in it self does not make the Vse of it unlawful when separated from that abuse Kneeling is abused by the Papists in their Prayers to the Virgin Mary and other Saints but this does not make the Vse of kneeling unlawful in our Prayers to Almighty God 3. Our receiving the Sacrament kneeling in complyance with Publick Order and Authority can be no appearance or cause of Suspicion of Bread-Worship because the same Authority which requires our kneeling therein has declared in the Rubrick at the end of the Office of Communion That no Adoration is thereby intended or ought to de done to the Bread and Wine or to any Corporal Presence of Christs Natural Flesh and Blood but is intended and meant for a signification and grateful Acknowledgement of the benesits of Christ therein given By this we see all appearance and suspicion of requiring kneeling in order to any Bread-Worship is quite taken away 4. Standing is a Gesture of Adoration as well as kneeling Mark xi 25. and yet the Dissenters do not think it Vnlawful for that reason to receive the Sacrament standing And if its being a Gesture of Adoration be no just exception against the Vse of it in receiving the Sacrament then the Adoration supposed or implyed in the Gesture of kneeling can be no just exception against the Vse of that Gesture neither in the performance of the same Duty 5. Kneeling its being a Gesture of Adoration is so far from making the Vse of it unlawful in receiving the Sacrament as that it is the great reason why it is not unlawful but fit and convenient For no good Christian will deny but that it highly becomes us inwardly to Adore our Blessed Saviour in the Act of receiving the Bread and Wine for his wonderful love in dying for us and for giving his Flesh for the Life of the world and if so then it cannot be incongruous or unfit to express and signifie this internal Act of Adoration by another that is external for we are to Worship and Glorifie him both in our Bodies and our Spirits And now me thinks no man atho understands and considers these things should be able to think it Vnlawful to kneel in receiving the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Blessed Saviour THE CONTENTS OR THE Heads of Enquiry Query I. WHat is the true Notion of the Vniversal Church as visible Pag. 3 Query II. What is it which prepares or qualifies persons for that relation to God in Christ which makes them visible members of his Church 6. Query III. What may that be by which People are made visible Church-members 9 Query IV. How and when is the Covenant between God and men entred into by which people are externally united to Christ and visibly made members of his Church 13 Query V. How can Infants become visible Church-members by Covenanting with God since they seem naturally uncapable of doing such a thing 19 Query VI. Whether in the baptising of Children that method of proceeding be not most proper by which the Children are most directly made to enter into Covenant with God by their Parents 38 Query VII For what reason is Church-membership said to be invisible as well as visible in some and yet but only as visible in others and from whence doth this difference arise 41 Query VIII Whether men are no otherwise members of the Church as visible then as they are reputed members of the Church as invisible 53 Query IX Whether God hath granted any right to Church-priviledges to those who are only of the Church as visible but not as invisible 123 Query X. Why and for what reason may it be conceived does Almighty God own and and allow others to be of the Church as visible than only such as are of the Church as invisible 173 Query XI What is it that makes the difference between the Vniversal Church as visible and particular Churches And what makes the difference between one particular Church and another 207 Query XII Whether from the reason of the Extent and Latitude of visible Church-membership and Communion which has been discoursed of the great usefulness of a National Settlement or Constitution for the publick Emercise of the Worship of God in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity may not fairly be infer'd and concluded 225 Query XIII Wherein may Catholick-Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserv'd 265 Query XIV What is the nature of Schism 300 Query XV. Supposing things touching visible Church-membership and Communion to be as they have been represented in our former Enquiries Yet how do they tend to lessen our Church-divisions 349 ERRATA THe Running Titles of the Book mistaken Pag. 22. l. 23. dele since p. 31. l. 1. after all add these p. 39. l. 27. for properly r. property p. 48. l. 5. f. whom r. when l. 25. dele also p. 54. l. 15. f. mans r. mens p. 57. l. 16. f. man r. men p. 61. l. 12. f. taken r. broken p. 62. l. 2. f. in r. on p. 118. l. 8. f. qualifies r. qaalified p. 195. l. 2. f. bein r. being p. 335. l. 19. f. Rule r. Cure CATHOLICISM OR Several Enquiries touching the Nature and Extent of Visible Church-Membership and Communion c. NOTIONS narrower than those which will hold Scripture-measure concerning the Church and what it
that have aggravated their crime in not observing the Covenant consented to by their Fore-fathers unless they their Posterity had been obliged by their Fore-fathers consenting to it Thirdly God calls those Children of Idolatrous Jews his Children whom they Sacrificed to their Idols and says they were born unto him Ezek. 16.20 21. 23.37 And upon what account were they so but by being the Children of Parents in Covenant with God tho now they had violated it and by being farther brought into Covenant with God by their Parents Circumcising them It seems that Covenant which had obliged the Parents to be Gods obliged those that were born of them to be so likewise and much more were they thus obliged when their Parents had brought them into Covenant with God by Circumcising them Tho such Parents had forfeited their Covenant interest in God yet they had not by that by which they did so made void Gods Covenant right to them and their Children but that they were still under an Obligation to him to be his Upon which account it is as it is probable that God is called the God of some men when yet they have been very bad as we may see 1 King 15.3 2 King 16.2 2 Chron. 28.5 36.5.12 Fourthly It was the Parents that Circumcised their Children of eight days old and not the Children themselves and yet these Children were as firmly obliged by it when grown to be men as if they had then Circumcised themselves I testifie again to every man that is Circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law saith St. Paul Gal. 5.3 And if they were obliged by what their Parents did in Circumcising them to perform the duty on their part whenever they were capable of it we may well conceive that by what their Parents did in entring them into Covenant by Circumcising them they were invested with the benefit promised on Gods part until they devested themselves of it by their actual and wilful transgressing the Covenant in not becoming a People unto God in correspondence to his Promise of being a God unto them And the truth is according to Scripture account little Children which were devoted to the Service of God by their Parents and designed to be trained up to it were by a favourable construction reputed to be doers of that Service while but little Children which they could not actually perform until they were past their Child-hood This is plain and express in one case and by purity of reason must be allowed in other under like circumstances The Children of the Koathites of a month old were said to keep the charge of the Sanctuary because they were designed and devoted for it by their Parents then tho they could not actually perform that Service until they attained unto more years Numb 3.27 28. These are the Families of the Koathites in the number of all the Males from a month old and upwards were eight thousand and six hundred keeping the charge of the Sanctuary And the contrary practice of Parents was accompanied with a contrary event in their Children If they did not devote their Children to the Service of God by Circumcising them when they should their Children were reputed breakers of the Covenant whereas their Parents properly were so by neglecting to fulfil the terms of it on their Childrens behalf The Vncircumcised Man-child whose flesh of his fore-skin is not Circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his People he hath broken my Covenant Gen. 17.14 And thus were the little Children of Proselytes also made parties in Gods Covenant by their Fathers taking hold of it and by entering their Male-Children with themselves into it by Circumcision Exod. 12.48 Nor is it at all unreasonable that the Children should be obliged by what their Parents did to that end in their Minority so long as it was in nothing but what the Children ought then to have obliged themselves to if they had been capable to have done so and which in duty they ought to oblige themselves to when come to years of discretion if their Parents had not done it for them before Parents as Parents have so great an Interest and Propriety in their Children and so great Authority over them and Power of disposing of them that what they oblige them to by their act and deed will and command in their Minority they ought in duty to observe and do if the things be not unreasonable in themselves nor countermanded by God as having a greater Interest in them and Authority over them than their Parents had This is so reasonable as that we see God himself approves of it and has founded his own Institution upon it of obliging little Children by Covenanting with him by the act and deed of their Parents If a man by his Will and Testament oblige his Son and Heir to any thing which is fair and reasonable it is a dishonourable thing among men for such a Child to esteem himself not obliged thereby to do it If it be but a mans Covenant or Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disannulleth it saith S. Paul Gal. 3.15 And thus we see how little Children become obliged in Covenant with God and visible Members of his Church by the act and deed of their Parents on their behalf both before the Law of Moses and under it Let us now consider whether the little Children of Christians under the New Testament be not brought into Covenant with God and made Members of the visible Church by the act and deed of their Parents as well and as much as others had been in times of the Old Testament It cannot be denied but that Christian-Parents have as great a Propriety in and as much Authority over their Children now as ever Parents had under the Law And if so they must needs be in the same capacity of obliging their little Children by their act and deed on their behalf in any thing that is for their benefit as they were Nor is it less the duty of Children now to be obliged by what their Parents do in their Minority on their behalf for their benefit than it was then Honour thy Father and thy Mother is of as much force to Children now as ever it was in Old Testament times These things are clearly seen by the light of nature And now we deny not but that it is as much the duty of Parents now to seek the good of their Children by doing that for them in their Minority which tends to their benefit as ever it was heretofore All things being supposed it must be granted that Parents are in as good a capacity to oblige their little Children to God in Covenant now by what they may do on their behalf in their Minority as ever Parents were heretofore They may dedicate and devote them to God and his Service by Baptism now as well as Parents could by Circumcision heretofore And Baptism does as much oblige the Baptized in Covenant with
good opinion of them and of the innocency and goodness of their intention in what they desire and seek Whereas the other tends to exasperate and provoke and to beget an ill opinion of them and a jealousie of their designs in the minds of those from whom they expect ease and relief in what is mattet of grievance to them And that which does that is no good way of obtaining from them Solomon's wise advice is If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences Eccles 10.4 QUERY XIII WHerein may Catholick Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserved To clear our way in this Inquiry it will be convenient to take notice of the difference that is between the Vnion of the Catholick Church and the Communion of it The Union of the Catholick Church consists in the same Relation which all the Members of that one Body bear to Christ the Head of it and to one another as fellow-members But the Communion of this spiritual Corporation consists in a mutual performance of those Christian Duties and Offices to which they are engaged by virtue of that relation By that Relation in which their Union consists they come to have a greater interest in one another than they had before their incorporation into that body and by it they come under new duties to one another to which they were not obliged before But their Communion consists much in a mutual discharge of those duties towards one another and in an improvement of that interest for the benefit of one another and the good of the whole by their mutual intercourse in spiritual affairs The Union of the whole which is made by one Baptism or the Baptismal Covenant respects the being of the Church But Catholick Communion respects its well-being by its increase in wisdom goodness and comfort There is indeed a Catholick Church Vnity by Communion as well as there is another which comes by Relation but this Unity of Communion slows from that which is made by a Relation common to the whole Having thus briefly considered how Catholick Communion differs from Catholick Union I shall now proceed to shew a little more particularly wherein or in what Catholick Commumunion doth consist And we may best know what it is and wherein it doth consist by the account we have of it as practised in the Catholick Church when it first became Christian And this account we have in these words Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers By which description we see it consisted in their consent and agreement in three things Faith Worship Fellowship 1. In their agreeing in the same Faith they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine that is in the belief of it in attendance to it and practice of it From the same faith being common to all Christians it is called the common faith Tit. 1.4 the one faith Eph. 4.5 and their agreement in it is stiled Vnity in the faith Eph. 4.13 2. In their agreement in the same Worship breaking of bread and prayers This Catholick Church in its beginning is said to have continued with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And on the day of Penticost they were all with one accord in one place when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them And when their number so increased that they could not all perform this Publick Worship together in one place but in several distinct Assemblies called particular Churches yet their agreement in the same Worship made their Communion in it but one Communion tho performed in several Assemblies For altho these Assemblies be never so far distant from one another yet so long as they all agree in the same Worship the distance of place can no more hinder their Communion from being one than their being baptized in several distant places can hinder the Relation to one another contracted thereby from being one when it is common to all the Members We account all those to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome at the same time and in the same acts in which they hold their Local Commumunion in several distant Nations so long as they all agree in the same corrupt Worship And there is the same reason for the Unity of the Communion in Worship of all Orthodox Assemblies in all Nations So that I take this for an unquestionable truth That it is mens agreement in the same Principles of Communion be they good or bad that makes their Communion but one tho the particular acts of it are performed by them in many thousand distant places And now it is by the Union of Relation by the Baptismal Covenant and the Unity of Communion by agreement in the Principles of the Worship wherein they have Communion that all Orthodox Christians make one great House or Temple of God in the world in which he is openly worshipped and publickly acknowledged to be what he is the one only true God Father Son and Holy Ghost in opposition to all false Gods Ephes 2.21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. This is that house which is called Christs own house Heb. 3.6 and that House of God over which Christ is said to be High Priest Heb. 10.21 And particular Churches in reference to this one house are but as several Apartments in it which all together make up one great house of God And in this house of his God dwells and therein manifesteth himself to his People after a more special manner than he does to the world 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people Here Almighty God meets with them and communes with them and receives their addresses and here he entertains them with the fatness of his house the Ordinances of the Gospel and the benign influences and comfortable presence of his Spirit in the use of them In this way the whole Church in their several Assemblies have Communion with their Head Christ Jesus and one with another by partaking in common of the spiritual benefits communicated by the Lord and in assisting in common in the Worship Adoration and Thanksgiving which the Church renders him for the glory and transcendent perfections of his nature and being and returns him for all the blessings and benefits they receive from him And the more all Christians are agreed in their worshipping of God and in their Communion with him the more they honour him and the more they please him and make themselves the more capable of receiving all good things from him in the greater abundance If the agreement but of two of them touching any thing they shall ask hath his promise of granting it Mat. 18.19 what might not be expected from him