Such a Faith as this justifies but not as it is a Work or meritorious Action that of its own nature puts us in the Favour of God and makes us truly just But as it is the Condition upon which the Mercy of God is offered to us by Christ Jesus For then we correspond to his design of coming into the World that he might redeem us from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 that is justify us And purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works that is sanctify us Upon our bringing our selves therefore under these Qualifications and Conditions we are actually in the Favour of God Our Sins are pardoned and we are entitled to Eternal Life Our Faith and Repentance are not the valuable Considerations for which God pardons and justifies that is done meerly for the Death of Christ which God having out of the Riches of his Grace provided for us and offered to us Justification is upon those accounts said to be free There being nothing on our part which either did or could have procured it But still our Faith which includes our Hope our Love our Repentance and our Obedience is the Condition that makes us capable of receiving the benefits of this Redemption and Free Grace And thus it is clear in what sense we believe that we are justified both freely and yet through Christ and also through Faith as the Condition indispensably necessary on our part In strictness of words we are not justified till the final Sentence is pronounced Till upon our Death we are solemnly acquitted of our Sins and admitted into the Presence of God this being that which is opposite to Condemnation Yet as a Man who is in that state that must end in Condemnation is said to be condemned already Joh. 3.18 and the wrath of God is said to abide upon him tho' he be not yet adjudged to it So on the contrary a Man in that state which must end in the full Enjoyment of God is said now to be justified and to be at peace with God because he not only has the Promises of that state now belonging to him when he does perform the Conditions required in them but is likewise receiving daily Marks of God's Favour the protection of his Providence the Ministry of Angels and the inward Assistances of his Grace and Spirit This is a Doctrine full of comfort for if we did believe that our Justification was founded upon our Inherent Justice or Sanctification as the Consideration on which we receive it we should have just cause of Fear and Dejection since we could not reasonably promise our selves so great a Blessing upon so poor a Consideration but when we know that this is only the Condition of it then when we feel it is sincerely received and believed and carefully observed by us we may conclude that we are justified But we are by no means to think that our certain persuasion of Christ's having died for us in particular or the certainty of our Salvation through him is an Act of saving Faith much less that we are justified by it Many things have been too crudely said upon this Subject which have given the Enemies of the Reformation great Advantages and have furnished them with much matter of Reproach We ought to believe firmly That Christ died for all Penitent and Converted Sinners and when we feel these Characters in our selves we may from thence justly infer That he died for us and that we are of the Number of those who shall be Saved through him But yet if we may fall from this state in which we do now feel our selves we may and must likewise forfeit those hopes and therefore we must work out our Salvation with fear and trembling Our believing that we shall be Saved by Christ is no Act of Divine Faith since every Act of Faith must be founded on some Divine Revelation It is only a Collection and Inference that we may make from this general Proposition That Christ is the propitiation for the Sins of those who do truly repent and believe his Gospel and from those Reflections and Observations that we make on our selves by which we conclude That we do truly both repent and believe ARTICLE XII Of Good Works Albeit that Good Works which are the fruits of Faith and follow after Iustification cannot put away our Sins and endure the severity of God's Iudgment yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a Tree discerned by the fruit THat Good works are indispensably necessary to Salvation that without holiness no man shall see the Lord is so fully and frequently exprest in the Gospel that no doubt can be made of it by any who reads it And indeed a greater disparagement to the Christian Religion cannot be imagined than to propose the hopes of God's Mercy and Pardon barely upon Believing without a Life suitable to the Rules it gives us This began early to corrupt the Theories of Religion as it still has but too great an influence upon the Practice of it What St. Iames writ upon this Subject must put an end to all doubting about it and whatever Subtilties some may have set up to separate the consideration of Faith from a holy Life in the point of Iustification yet none among us have denied that it was absolutely necessary to Salvation And so it be owned as necessary it is a nice curiosity to examine whether it is of it self a Condition of Justification or if it is the certain distinction and constant effect of that Faith which justifies These are Speculations of very little consequence as long as the main Point is still maintained That Christ came to bring us to God to change our Natures to mortify the Old man in us and to raise up and restore that Image of God from which we had fallen by Sin And therefore even where the Thread of Men's Speculations of these Matters may be thought too fine and in some Points of them wrong drawn yet so long as this Foundation is preserved that every one who nameth the name of Christ does depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 so long the Doctrine of Christ is preserved pure in this Capital and Fundamental Point There do arise out of this Article only two Points about which some Debates have been made 1st Whether the Good Works of Holy Men are in themselves so perfect that they can endure the severity of God's Judgment so that there is no mixture of imperfection or Evil in them or not The Council of Trent has decreed That Men by their Good Works have so fully satisfied the Law of God according to the state of this Life that nothing is wanting to them The second Point is Whether these Good Works are of their own nature meritorious of Eternal Life or not The Council of Trent has decreed that
Remission of Sins is acknowledged to be given freely to us through Jesus Christ this is that which we affirm to be Iustification though under another name We do also acknowledge that our Natures must be sanctified and renewed that so God may take pleasure in us when his Image is again visible upon us and this we call Sanctification which we acknowledge to be the constant and inseparable effect of Iustification So that as to this we agree in the same Doctrine only we differ in the use of the Terms in which we have the Phrase of the New Testament clearly with us But there are two more material differences between us It is a Tenet in the Church of Rome That the Use of the Sacraments if Men do not put a bar to them and if they have only imperfect Acts of Sorrow accompanying them does so far compleat those weak Acts as to justify us This we do utterly deny as a Doctrine that tends to enervate all Religion and to make the Sacraments that were appointed to be the solemn â—â—ts of Religion for quickning and exciting our Piety and for conveying Grace to us upon our coming devoutly to them becomes means to flatten and deaden us As if they were of the nature of Charms which if they could be come at tho' with ever so slight a preparation would make up all defects The Doctrine of Sacramental Justification is justly to be reckoned among the most mischievous of all those Practical Errors that are in the Church of Rome Since therefore this is no where mentionâ—d in all these large Discourses that are in the New Testament concerning Justification we have just reason to reject it Since also the natural consequence of this Doctrine is to make Men rest contented in low imperfect Acts when they can be so easily made up by a Sacrament we have just reason to detest it as one of the depths of Satan The Tendency of it being to make those Ordinances of the Gospel which were given us as means to raise and heighten our Faith and Repentance become Engines to encourage Sloth and Impenitence There is another Doctrine that is Held by many and is still Taught in the Church of Rome not only with Approbation but Favour That the inherent Holiness of good Men is a thing of its own nature so perfect that upon the account of it God is so bound to esteem them just and to justify them that he were unjust if he did not They think there is such a real condignity in it that it makes Men God's adopted Children Whereas we on the other hand Teach That God is indeed pleased with the inward Reformaâ—â—on that he sees in good Men in whom his Grace dwells that he approves and accepts of their Sincerity but that with this there is still such a mixture and in this there is still so much Imperfection that even upon this account if God did straitly mark Iniquity none could stand before him So that even his acceptance of this is an Act of Mercy and Grace This Doctrine was commonly Taught in the Church of Rome at the time of the Reformation and together with it they reckoned that the chief of those Works that did Justify were either great or rich Endowments or excessive Devotions towards Images Saints and Relicks by all which Christ was either forgot quite or remembred only for form-sake esteemed perhaps as the chief of Saints not to mention the impious Comparisons that were made between him and some Saints and the Preferences that were given to them beyond him In opposition to all this the Reformers began as they ought to have done at the laying down this as the Foundation of all Christianity and of all our hopes That we were reconciled to God meerly through his Mercy by the Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ And that a firm believing the Gospel and a claiming to the Death of Christ as the great Propitiation for our Sins according to the Terms on which it is offered us in the Gospel was that which united us to Christ that gave us an Interest in his Death and thereby justified us If in the management of this Controversy there was not so critical a Judgment made of the Scope and several Passages of St. Paul's Epistles and if the Dispute became afterwards too abstracted and metaphysical that was the effect of the Infelicity of that Time and was the natural consequence of much disputing Therefore tho' we do not now stand to all the Arguments and to all the Citations and Illustrations used by them and tho' we do not deny but that many of the Writers of the Church of Rome came insensibly off from the most practical Errors that had been formerly much taught and more practised among them and that this matter was so stated by many of them that as to the main of it we have no just Exceptions to it Yet after all this beginning of the Reformation was a great Blessing to the World and has proved so even to the Church of Rome by bringing her to a juster sâ—nse of the Atonement made for Sins by the Blood of Christ and by taking Men off from external Actions and turning them to consider the inward Acts of the Mind Faith and Repentance as the Conditions of our Justification And therefore the Approbation given here to the Homily is only an Approbation of the Doctrine asserted and proved in it Which ought not to be carried to every particular of the Proofs or Explanations that are in it To be Iustified and to be accounted Righteous stand for one and the same thing in the Article And both import our being delivered from the Guilt of Sin and entitled to the Favour of God These differ from God's intending from all Eternity to save us as much as a Decree differs from the Execution of it A Man is then only Iustified when he is freed from Wrath and is at peace with God And tho' this is freely offered to us in the Gospel through Jesus Christ yet it is applied to none but to such as come within those Qualifications and Conditions set before us in the Gospel That God pardons Sin and receives us into favour only through the Death of Christ is so fully expressed in the Gospel as was already made out upon the second Article that it is not possible to doubt of it if one does firmly believe and attentively read the New Testament Nor is it less evident that it is not offered to us absolutely and without Conditions and Limitations These Conditions are Repentance with which remission of sins is often joined and Faith Gal. 5.6 Luke 24.47 Acts. 2.38 but a faith that worketh by love that purifies the heart and that keeps the â—ommandments of God Such a Faith as shews it self to be alive by Good Works by Acts of Charity and every Act of Obedience by which we demonstrate that we truly and firmly believe the Divine Authority of our Saviour and his Doctrine
of the Scriptures depends The Second Proposition in the Article is That there is but one God As to this the common Argument by which it is proved is the order of the World from whence it is inferred That there cannot be more Gods than one since where there are more than one there must happen diversity and confusion This is by some thought to be no good reason for if there are more Gods that is more Beings infinitely perfect they will always think the same thing and be knit together with an intire love It is true in things of a Moral Nature this must so happen For Beings infinitely perfect must ever agree But in Physical things capable of no Morality as in creating the World sooner or later and the different Systems of Beings with a thousand other things that have no Moral Goodness in them different Beings infinitely perfect might have different Thoughts So this Argument seems still of great force to prove the Unity of the Deity The other Argument from Reason to prove the Unity of God is from the Notion of a Being infinitely perfect For a Superiority over all other Beings comes so naturally into the Idea of infinite Perfection that we cannot separate it from it A Being therefore that has not all other Beings inferior and subordinate to it cannot be infinitely perfect whence it is evident That there is but one God But besides all this the Unity of God seems to be so frequently and so plainly asserted in the Scripture that we see it was the chief Design of the whole Old Testament both of Moses and the Prophets to establish it in opposition to the false opinions of the Heathen concerning a diversity of Gods This is often repeated in the most solemn Words as Hear O Israel 6. Deut 4. the Lord our God is one God It is the First of the Ten Commandments Thou shalt have no other Gods but me And all things in Heaven and Earth are often said to be made by this one God Negative words are also often used 44. Isa. 6 8. There is none other God but one besides me there is none else and I know no other the going after other Gods is reckon'd the highest and the most unpardonable act of Idolatry The New Testament goes on in the same strain Christ speaks of the only true God and that he alone ought to be worshipped and served 17. Joh 3 4. Mat. 10. 1 Cor. 8.5 6. all the Apostles do frequently affirm the same thing They make the believing of one God in opposition to the many Gods of the Heathens the chief Article of the Christian Religion and they lay down this as the chief ground of our Obligation to mutual Love and Union among our selves 4. Eph. 4.5 6. That there is one God one Lord one Faith one Baptism Now since we are sure that there is but one Messias and one Doctrine delivered by him it will clearly follow that there must be but one God So the Unity of the Divine Essence is clearly proved both from the Order and Government of the World from the Idea of Infinite Perfection and from those express Declarations that are made concerning it in the Scriptures which last is a full proof to all such as own and submit to them The Third Head in this Article is that which is negatively expressed That God is without Body Parts or Passions In general all these are so plainly contrary to the Ideas of Infinite Perfection and they appear so evidently to be Imperfections that this part of the Article will need little Explanation We do plainly perceive that our Bodies are clogs to our Minds And all the use that even the purest sort of Body in an Estate conceived to be glorified can be of to a Mind is to be an Instrument of local Motion or to be a repository of Ideas for Memory and Imagination But God who is every where and is one pure and simple Act can have no such use for a Body A Mind dwelling in a Body is in many respects superior to it yet in some respects is under it We who feel how an Act of our Mind can so direct the Motions of our Body that a thought sets our Limbs and Joints a-going can from thence conceive how that the whole extent of Matter should receive such Motions as the Acts of the Supreme Mind give it But yet not as a Body united to it or that the Deity either needs such a Body or can receive any trouble from it Thus far the apprehension of the thing is very plainly made out to us Our thoughts put some parts of our Body in a present Motion when the Organization is regular and all the parts are exact and when there is no Obstruction in those Vessels or Passages through which that heat and those Spirits do pass that cause the motion We do in this perceive that a thought does command matter but our Minds are limited to our Bodies and these do not obey them but as they are in an exact disposition and a fitness to be so moved Now these are plain Imperfections but removing them from God we can from hence apprehend that all the Matter in the Universe may be so intirely subject to the Divine Mind that it shall move and be whatsoever and wheresoever he will have it to be This is that which all men do agree in But many of the Philosophers thought that Matter though it was moved and moulded by God at his pleasure yet was not made by him but was self-existent and was a Passive Principle but coexistent to the Deity which they thought was the Active Principle From whence some have thought that the belief of two Gods one good and another bad did spring Though others imagine that the belief of a bad God did arise from the corruption of that Tradition concerning fallen Angels as was before suggested The Philosophers could not apprehend that things could be made out of nothing and therefore they believed that Matter was co-eternal with God But it is as hard to apprehend how a Mind by its Thought should give Motion to Matter as how it should give it Being A Being not made by God is not so easily conceivable to be under the acts of his Mind as that which is made by him This conceit plainly destroys infinite Perfection which cannot be in God if all Beings are not from him and under his Authority besides that successive duration has been already proved inconsistent with Eternity This Opinion of the World 's being a Body to God as the Mind that dwells in it and actuates it is the foundation of Atheism For if it be once thought that God can do nothing without such a Body then as this destroys the Idea of Infinite Perfection so it makes way to this conceit That since Matter is Visible and God Invisible there is no other God but the vast extent of the Universe It is true God has
full and clear proofs of it in the New Testament And they had need be both full and clear before a Doctrine of this Nature can be pretended to be proved by them In order to the making this Mystery to be more distinctly Intelligible different Methods have been taken By one Substance many do understand a Numerical or Individual Unity of Substance and by Three Persons they understand Three distinct Subsistences in that Essence It is not pretended by these that we can give a distinct Idea of Person or Subsistence only they hold it imports a real diversity in one from another and even such a diversity from the Substance of the Deity it self that some things belong to the Person that do not belong to the Substance For the Substance neither begets nor is begotten neither breathes nor proceeds If this carries in it somewhat that is not agreeable to our Notions nor like any thing that we can apprehend to this it is said That if God has Revealed that in the Scripture which is thus expressed we are bound to believe it though we can frame no clear apprehension about it God's Eternity his being all one single Act his Creating and Preserving all things and his being every where are things that are absolute riddles to us We cannot bring our Minds to conceive them and yet we must believe that they are so because we see much greater Absurdities must follow upon our conceiving that they should be otherwise So if God has declared this inexplicable thing concerning himself to us we are bound to believe it though we cannot have any clear Idea how it truly is For there appear as strange and unanswerable difficulties in many other things which yet we know to be true so if we are once well assured that God has Revealed this Doctrine to us we must silence all Objections against it and believe it Reckoning that our not understanding it as it is in it self makes the difficulties seem to be much greater than otherwise they would appear to be if we had light enough about it or were capable of forming a more perfect Idea of it while we are in this depressed State Others give another view of this Matter that is not indeed so hard to be apprehended But that has an Objection against it that seems as great a prejudice against it as the difficulty of apprehending the other way is against that It is this They do hold That there are Three Minds That the first of these Three who is from that called the Father did from all Eternity by an Emanation of Essence beget the Son and by another Emanation that was from Eternity likewise and was as Essential to him as the former both the first and the second did jointly breathe forth the Spirit and that these are Three distinct Minds every one being God as much as the other Only the Father is the Fountain and is only self-originated All this is in a good degree Intelligible but it seems hard to reconcile it both with the Idea of Unity which seems to belong to a Being of Infinite Perfection and with the many express Declarations that are made in the Scriptures concerning the Unity of God Instead of going farther into Explanations of that which is certainly very far beyond all our apprehensions and that ought therefore to be let alone I shall now consider what Declarations are made in the Scriptures concerning this Point The First and the Chief is in that Charge and Commission which our Saviour gave to his Apostles to go and make Disciples to him among all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 By Name is meant either an Authority derived to them in the virtue of which all Nations were to be Baptized Or that the Persons so Baptized are Dedicated to the Father Son and Holy Ghost Either of these Senses as it proves them all to be Persons so it sets them in an equality in a thing that can only belong to the Divine Nature Baptism is the receiving Men from a State of Sin and Wrath into a State of Favour and into the Rights of the Sons of God and the Hopes of Eternal Happiness and a calling them by the Name of God These are things that can only be offered and assured to Men in the Name of the Great and Eternal God and therefore since without any Distinction or Note of Inequality they are all Three set together as Persons in whose Name this is to be done they must be all Three the True God otherwise it looks like a just Prejudice against our Saviour and his whole Gospel That by his express Direction the first entrance to it which gives the Visible and Foederal Right to those great Blessings that are offered by it or their Initiation into it should be in the Name of Two Created Beings if the one can be called properly so much as a Being according to their Hypothesis and that even in an equality with the Supream and Increated Being The plainness of this Charge and the great occasion upon which it was given makes this an Argument of such Force and Evidence that it may justly determine the whole Matter A Second Argument is taken from this That we find St. Paul begins or ends most of his Epistles with a Salutation in the Form of a Wish Rom. 1.7 Rom. 16.20 24. 1 Cor. 16.23 1 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.3 Gal. 1.3 Gal 6.18 Eph. 1.2 Eph. 6.23 Phil. 1.2 Phil. 4.23 Col. 1.2 1 Thes. 1.1 1 Thes 5.28 2 Thes. 1.2 2 Thes. 3 18. 1 Tim. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.2 Tit. 1.4 Philem. 3.25 2 John 1.3 which is indeed a Prayer or a Benediction in the Name of those who are so Invocated in which he wishes the Churches Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Iesus Christ which is an Invocation of Christ in conjunction with the Father for the greatest Blessings of Favour and Mercy That is a strange Strain if he was only a Creature which yet is delivered without any mitigation or softning in the most remarkable parts of his Epistles This is carried further in the Conclusion of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians The Grace of the Lord Iesus Christ the Love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you It is true this is expressed as a Wiâ—h and not in the nature of a Prayer as the common Salutations are But here Three great Blessings are wished to them as from Three Fountains which imports that they are Three different Persons and yet equal For though in order the Father is first and is generally put first yet here Christ is first named which seems to be a strange reversing of things if they are not equal as to their Essence or Substance It is true the Second is not named here The Father as elsewhere but only God yet since he is mentioned as distinct from Christ and the
us such dreadful Apprehensions of his Wrath and of the guilt of Sin we dare not soften these to a degree below the Majesty of the Eternal God and the Dignity of his most Holy Laws But after all we are far from the Conceit of the Stoicks who made all Sins alike We acknowledge that some Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity may consist with a state of Grace which is either quite destroyed or at least much eclipsed and clouded by other Sins that are more heinous in their nature and more deliberately gone about It is in this sense that the word deadly Sin is to be understood in the Article For though in the strictness of Justice every Sin is deadly yet in the Dispensation of the Gospel those Sins are only deadly that do deeply wound the Conscience and that drive away Grace Another Term in the Article needs also to be a little explained the sin against the Holy Ghost concerning which since there is so severe a Sentence pronounced by Christ it is necessary that it be rightly understood and that can only be done by considering the Occasion of those Words as well as the Words themselves Christ wrought such Miracles in the sight of his Enemies that when there was no room left for any other Cavil Matth. 12.24 31. they betook themselves to that that he did not cast out devils but by Belzebub the Prince of Devils And this was the occasion that led our Saviour to speak of the Sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost It was their rejecting the clearest Evidence that God could give to prove any thing by The power by which those Miracles were wrought and which was afterwards communicated to the Apostles is called through the whole New Testament the Holy Ghost By which is not to be meant here the Third Person of the Trinity but the wonderful Effusion of those extraordinary Gifts and Powers that were then communicated the Oeconomy and Dispensation of which is said to be derived from that one Spirit This was the utmost Proof that could be given of Truth And when Men set themselves to blaspheme this and to ascribe the Works of Christ to a collusion with the Devil they did thereby so wilfully oppose God and reproach his Power they did so stifle their own Conviction and set themselves against the Conviction of others that nothing could be done further for their Conviction this being the highest degree of Evidence and Proof And this was so high an Indignity to God when he descended so far to satisfy their scruples that it was not to be pardoned as their Impenitence and Incredulity was so obstinate as not to be overcome Upon this Occasion given our Saviour makes a difference between their Blaspheming him and instead of owning him to be the Messias calling him a deceiver a glutton and a wine-bibber of which upon hearing his Doctrine and seeing his Life they were still guilty This was indeed a great Sin but yet there were means left of convincing them of the Truth of his being the great Prophet sent of God And by these they might be so far prevailed on as to repent and believe and so to obtain pardon But when they had those means set before them when they saw plain and uncontested Miracles done before them and when instead of yielding to them that set up such an Opposition to them which might have been as reasonably said of every Miracle that could have been wrought then it was not possible to convince them This is an impious rejecting of the highest Method that God himself uses for proving a thing to us The scorn put upon it as it flows from a Nature so depraved that it cannot be wrought on so it is a sin not to be pardoned All things of extream severity in a Doctrine that is so full of Grace and Mercy as the Gospel is ought to be restrained as much as may be From thence we infer That those dreadful words of our Saviour's ought to be restrained to the subject to which they are applied and ought not to be carried further Since Miracles have ceased no Man is any more capable of this Sin These Terms being thus explained the Question in the Article is now to be explained There are words in St. Iohn's Epistle and elsewhere that seem to import that men born of God that is to say Baptized or Regenerated Christians sin not Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.6 9.5.18 whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin for he is born of God This is again repeated in the end of that Epistle together with these words He that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not As these words seem to import that a true Christian sins not so in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said to be Impossible to renew again by Repentance those who fall away Heb. 6.4.5.6 after they had been once enlightened and had tasted of the heavenly gift had been made partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Upon these Expressions and some others though not quite of their force it was that in the Primitive Church some that â—ell after Baptism were cast out of the Communion of the Church and though they were not cut off from all hopes of the Mercy of God yet they were never restored to the Peace of the Church This was done in Tertullian's time if what he says on this Subject is not to be reckoned as a piece of his Montanism But soon after there were great Contests upon this Head while the Novatians withdrew from the Communion of the Church and believed it was defiled by the receiving of Apostates into it Though that was not done so easily as some proposed but after a long separation and a severe course of Penance Upon this followed all those Penitentiary Canons concerning the several Measures and Degrees of Penance and that not only for Acts of Apostacy from the Christian Religion but for all other crying Sins According to what has been already said upon the former Articles it has appeared that the Sanctification of Regenerated Men is not so pâ—rfected in this Life but that there is still a mixture of Defects and Imperfections left in them And the state of the New Covenant is a continuance of Repentance and Remission of Sins for as oft as one sins if he repents truly of it and forsakes his Sins there is a standing Offer of the Pardon of all Sins And therefore Christ has taught us to pray daily Forgive us our sins If there were but one general Pardon offered in Baptism this would signify little to those who feel their Infirmities and the Sins that do so easily beset them so apt to return upon them It was no wonder if the entertaining this
to condemnation so by the righteousness of one Rom. 5.18 the free gift came upon all men to justification of life The all of the one fide must be of the same extent with the all of the other So since all are concerned in Adam's Sin all must be likewise concerned in the Death of Christ. This they urge further with this Argument That all Men are obliged to believe in the Death of Christ but no Man can be obliged to believe a Lye therefore it follows that he must have died for all Nor can it be thought that Grace is so efficacious of it self as to determine us otherwise why are we required not to grieve God's Spirit Why is it said Acts 7.51 Matth. 23 37. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye How often would I have gathered you under my wings but ye would not What more could I have done in my vineyard that has not been done in it These seem to be plain Intimations of a Power in us Isa. 5.4 by which we not only can but often do resist the Motions of Grace If the determining Efficacy of Grace is not acknowledged it will be yet much harder to believe that we are efficaciously determined to Sin This seems to be not only contrary to the Purity and Holiness of God but is so manifestly contrary to the whole Strain of the Scriptures that charges Sin upon Men that in so copious a Subject it is not necessary to bring Proofs Hos. 13.9 Joh. 5.40 Ezâ—k 33.14 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help And ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Why will you dye O house of Israel And as for that Nicety of saying That the Evil of Sin consists in a Negation which is not a positive Being so that though God should determine Men to the Action that is sinful yet he is not concerned in the Sin of it They think it is too Metaphysical to put the Honour of God and his Attributes upon such a Subtilty For in Sins against Moral Laws there seems to be an Antecedent Immorality in the Action it self which is inseparable from it But suppose that Sin consisted in a Negative yet that Privation does immediately and necessarily result out of the Action without any other thing whatsoever intervening So that if God does infallibly determine a Sinner to commit the Action to which that Guilt belongs tho' that should be a Sin only by reason of a Privation that is dependent upon it then it does not appear but that he is really the Author of Sin since if he is the Author of the sinful Action on which the Sin depends as a Shadow upon its Substance he must be esteemed say they the Author of Sin And though it may be said That Sin being a Violation of God's Law he himself who is not bound by his Law cannot be guilty of Sin yet an Action that is Immoral is so essentially opposite to Infinite Perfection that God cannot be capable of it as being a contradiction to his own Nature Nor is it to be supposed that he can Damn Men for that which is the necessary result of an Action to which he himself determined them As for Perseverance the many Promises made in the Scriptures to them that overcome Rev. 2 3. that continue stedfast and faithful to the death seem to insinuate that a Man may fall from a good state Those famous Words in the Sixth of the Hebrews Heb. 6. do plainly intimate That such men may so fall away that it may be impossible to renew them again by repentance And in that Epistle Heb. 10. where it is said The just shall live by faith it is added but if he draw back any man is not in the Original my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And it is positively said by the Prophet Ezek. 18.24 When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his sin that he hath sinned shall he dye These Suppositions with a great many more of the same strain that may be brought out of other places do give us all possible reason to believe that a good Man may fall from a good state as well as that a wicked Man may turn from a bad one In conclusion the End of all things the Final Judgment at the Last Day which shall be pronounced according to what Men have done whether good or evil and their being to be rewarded and punished according to it seems so effectually to assert a Freedom in our Wills that they think this alone might serve to prove the whole Cause So far I have set forth the Force of the Argument on the side of the Remonstrants As for the Socinians they make their Plea out of what is said by the one and by the other side They agree with the Remonstrants in all that they say against Absolute Decrees and in urging all those Consequences that do arise out of them And they do also agree with the Calvinists in all that they urge against the possibility of a certain Prescience of future Contingents So that it will not be necessary to set forth their Plea more specially nor needs more be said in opposition to it than what was already said as part of the Remonstrants Plea Therefore without dwelling any longer on that I come now to make some Reflections upon the whole Matter It is at first view apparent That there is a great deal of weight in what has been said of both Sides So much that it is no wonder if Education the constant attending more to the Difficulties of the one side than of the other and a Temper some way proportioned to it does fix Men very steddily to either the one or the other Persuasion Both Sides have their Difficulties so it will be natural to chuse that Side where the Difficulties are least felt But it is plain there is no reason for either of them to despise the other since the Arguments of both are far from being contemptible It is further to be observed That both Sides seem to be chiefly concerned to assert the Honour of God and of his Attributes Both agree in this That whatever is fixed as the primary Idea of God all other things must be Explained so as to be consistent with that Contradictions are never to be admitted but things may be justly believed against which Objections may be formed that cannot be easily answered The one Side think That we must begin with the Idea of Infinite Perfection of Independency and Absolute Soveraignty And if in the Sequel Difficulties occur which cannot be cleared that ought not to shake us from this primary Idea of God Others think That we cannot frame such clear Notions of Independency Soveraignty and Infinite Perfection as we can do of Justice Truth Holiness Goodness and
Decree is either Presumption or Despair since a Man upon that bottom reckons That which way soever the Decree is made it must certainly be accomplished They also argue That because we must receive the Promises of God as conditional we must also believe the Decree to be conditional for Absolute Decrees exclude conditional Promises An Offer cannot be supposed to be made in earnest by him that has excluded the greatest number of Men from it by an antecedent Act of his own And if we must only follow the revealed Will of God we ought not to suppose that there is an Antecedent and Positive Will of God that has decreed our doing the contrary to what he has commanded Thus the one side argues That the Article as it lies in the plain meaning of those who conceived it does very expresly establish their Doctrine And the other argues from those Cautions that are added to it That it ought to be understood so as that it may agree with these Cautions And both sides find in the Article it self such grounds that they reckon they do not renounce their Opinions by subscribing it The Remonstrant side have this further to add That the Universal Extent of the Death of Christ seems to be very plainly affirmed in the most solemn part of all the Offices of the Church For in the Office of Communion and in the Prayer of Consecration we own That Christ by the one Oblation of himself once offered made there a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World Though the others say That by full perfect and sufficient is not to be understood that Christ's Death was intended to be a compleat Sacrifice and Satisfaction for the whole World but that in its own Value it was capable of being such This is thought too great a stretch put upon the words And there are yet more express words in our Church-Catechism to this purpose which is to be considered as the most solemn Declaration of the sense of the Church since that is the Doctrine in which she instructs all her Children And in that part of it which seems to be most important as being the short Summary of the Apostles Creed it is said God the Son who hath redeemed me and all Mankind Where all must stand in the same Extent of Universality as in the precedent and in the following words The Father who made me and all the World the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the Elect People of God which being to be understood severely and without exception this must also be taken in the same strictness There is another Argument brought from the Office of Baptism to prove that men may fall from a state of Grace and Regeneration for in the whole Office more particularly in the Thanksgiving after the Baptism it is affirmed That the Person baptized is Regenerated by God's Holy Spirit and is received for his own Child by Adoption Now since it is certain that many who are baptized fall from that state of Grace this seems to import That some of the Regenerate may fall away Which tho' it agree well with St. Austin's Doctrine yet it does not agree with the Calvinists Opinions Thus I have examined this matter in as short a compass as was possible and yet I do not know that I have forgot any important part of the whole Controversy though it is large and has many Branches I have kept as far as I can perceive that Indifference which I proposed to my self in the prosecuting of this matter and have not on this occasion declared my own Opinion though I have not avoided the doing it upon other occasions Since the Church has not been peremptory but that a Latitude has been left to different Opinions I thought it became me to make this Explanation of the Article such And therefore I have not endeavoured to possess the Reader with that which is my own sense in this matter but have laid the Force of the Arguments as well as the Weight of the Difficulties of both Sides before him with all the Advantages that I had found in the Books either of the one or of the other Persuasion And I leave the Choice as free to my Reader as the Church has done ARTICLE XVIII Of obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ. They also are to be accursed that presume to say That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Iesus Christ whereby men must be saved THE Impiety that is condemned in this Article was first taug htby some of the Heathen Oraters and Philosophers in the Fourth Century who in their Addresses to the Christian Emperors for the Tolerance of Paganism started this Thought that how lively soever it may seem when well set off in a piece of Eloquence will not bear a severe Argument That God is more honoured by the Varieties and different Methods of worshipping and serving him than if all should fall into the same way That this diversity has a Beauty in it and a suitableness to the Infinite Perfections of God and it does not look so like a mutual agreement or concert as when all Men worship him one way But this is rather a Flash of Wit than true Reasoning The Alcoran has carried this matter further to the asserting That all Men in all Religions are equally acceptable to God if they serve him faithfully in them The infusing this into the World that has a shew of Mercy in it made Men more easy to receive their Law and they took care by their extream Severity to fix them in it when they were once engaged for though they use no Force to make Men Musselmans yet they punish with all extremity every thing that looks like Apostacy from it if it is once received The Doctrine of Leviathan that makes Law to be Religion and Religion to be Law that is that obliges Subjects to believe that Religion to be true or at least to follow that which is enacted by the Laws of their Countrey must be built either on this foundation That there is no such thing as Revealed Religion but that it is only a Political Contrivance or that all Religions are equally acceptable to God Others having observ'd that it was a very small part of Mankind that had the advantages of the Christian Religion have thought it too cruel to damn in their thoughts all those who have not heard of it and yet have lived morally and virtuously according to their Light and Education And some to make themselves and others easy in accommodating their Religion to their secular Interests to excuse their changing and to quiet their Consciences have set up this Notion that seems to have a largeness both of good Nature and Charity in
it looks plausiable and is calculated to take in the greatest Numbers They therefore suppose that God in his Infinite Goodness will accept equally the Services that all his Creratures offer to him according to the best of their skill and strength In opposition to all which they are here condemned who think that every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth Where a great difference is to be observed between the words saved by the Law and saved in the Law the one is condemned but not the other To be saved by a Law or Sect signifies That by the virtue of that Law or Sect such Men who follow it may be saved Whereas to be saved in a Law or Sect imports only That God may extend his Compassions to Men that are engaged in false Religions The former is only condemned by this Article which affirms nothing concerning the other In sum if we have fully proved that the Christian Religion was delivered to the World in the Name of God and was attested by Miracles so that we believe it's Truth we must believe every part and tittle of it and by consequence those Passages which denounce the Wrath and Judgments of God against Impenitent Sinners and that promise Mercy and Salvation only upon the account of Christ and his Death Rom. 10.9 10. Mark 8.38 We must believe with our hearts and confess it with our mouths We must not be ashamed of Christ or of his words lest he should be ashamed of us when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels This I say being a part of the Gospel must be as true as the Gospel it self is and these Rules must bind all those to whom they are proposed whether they are enacted by Law or not For if we are assured that they are a part of the Law of the King of Kings we are bound to believe and obey them whether Human Laws do favour them or not it being an evident thing that no subordinate Authority can derogate from that which is superior to it So if the Laws of God are clearly revealed and certainly conveyed down to us we are bound by them and no Human Law can dissolve this Obligation If God has declared his Will to us it can never be supposed to be free to us to chuse whether we will obey it or not and serve him under that or under another Form of Religion at our pleasure and choice We are limited by what God has declared to us and we must not fancy our selves to be at liberty after he has revealed his Will to us As to such to whom the Christian Religion is revealed there no question can be made for it is certain they are under an indispensable Obligation to obey and follow that which is so graciously revealed to them They are bound to follow it according to what they are in their Consciences persuaded is its true sense and meaning And if for any Secular Interest they chuse to comply with that which they are convinced is an Important Error and is condemned in the Scripture they do plainly shew that they prefer Lands Houses and Life to the Authority of God in whose Will when revealed to them they are bound to acquiesce The only difficulty remaining is concerning those who never heard of this Religion Whether or How can they be saved St. Paul having divided the World into Iews and Gentiles called by him those who were in the Law and who were without Law he says Those who sinned without Law Rom. 2.12 14 15. that is out of the Mosaical Dispensation shall be judged without Law that is upon another foot For he adds when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature things contained in the Law That is the Moral parts of it these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves that is their Consciences are to them instead of a Written Law which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another This implies that there are either Seeds of Knowledg and Virtue laid in the Nature of Man or that such Notions pass among them as are carried down by Tradition The same S. Paul says How can they call on him in whom they have not believed And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard Rom. 1â— 14 and how can they hear without a Preacher Which seems plainly to intimate that Men cannot be bound to believe and by consequence cannot be punished for not believing unless the Gospel is preached to them St. Peter said to Cornelius Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Acâ—â— 1â— â—4 35. but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Those places seem to import that those who make the best use they can of that small measure of Light that is given them shall be judged according to it and that God will not require more of them than he has given them This also agrees so well with â—he Ideas which we have both of Justice and Goodness that this Opinion wants not special colours to make it look well But on the other hand the Pardon of Sin and the Favourof God are so positively limited to the believing in Christ Jesus and it is so expresly said That there is no salvation in any other Acts 4.12 and that there is none other name or Authority under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved that the distinction which can only be made in this matter is this That it is only on the Account and in the Consideration of the Death of Christ that Sin is pardoned and men are saved This is the only Sacrifice in the sight of God so that whosoever are received into mercy have it through Christ as the Channel and Conveyance of it But it is not so plainly said that no Man can be saved unless he has an explicit Knowledge of this together with a belief in it Few in the Old Dispensation could have that Infants and Innocents or Ideots have it not and yet it were a bold thing to say that they may not be saved by it So it does not appear to be clearly Revealed That none shall be saved by the Death of Christ unless they do explicitely both know it and believe in it Since it is certain That God may pardon Sin only upon that score without obliging all Men to believe in it especially when it is not Revealed to them And here another distinction is to be made which will clear this whole matter and all the difficulties that arise out of it A great difference is to be made between a Foederal certainty of Salvation secured by the Promises of God and of this New Covenant in Christ Jesus and the extent to which the Goodness and Mercy of God may go None are in
Opus operatum it is conveyed to the Souls of those to whom they are applied unless they themselves put a Bar in the way of it by some mortal Sin In consequence of this they reckon that by the Sacraments given to a Man in his Agonies though he is very near past all Sense and so cannot joyn any lively Acts of his Mind with the Sacraments yet he is justified not to mention the common practice of giving Extreme Unction in the last Agony when no appearance of any Sense is left This we reckon a Doctrine that is not only without all Foundation in Scripture but that tends to destroy all Religion and to make Men live on securely in Sin trusting to this that the Sacraments may be given them when they die The Conditions of the New Covenant are Repentance Faith and Obedience and we look on this as the corrupting the Vitals of this Religion when any such means are proposed by which the main Design of the Gospel is quite overthrown The business of a Character is an unintelligible Notion We acknowledge Baptism is not to be repeated but that is not by virtue of a Character imprinted in it but because it being a Dedication of the Person to God in the Christian Religion what is once so done is to be understood to continue still in that State till such a Person falls into an open Apostacy In case of the Repentance of such a Person we finding that the Primitive Church did reconcile but not rebaptize Apostates do imitate that their Practice but not because of this late and unexplicable Notion of a Character We look on all Sacramental Actions as acceptable to God only with regard to the Temper and the inward Acts of the Person to whom they are applied and cannot consider them as Medicines or Charms which work by a Virtue of their own whether the Person to whom they are applied co-operates with them or not Baptism is said by St. Peter to save us not as it is an Action that washes us Not the putting away the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21 but the answer of a good conscience towards God And therefore Baptism without this Profession is no Baptism but seems to be used as a Charm unless it is said that this Answer or Profession is implied whensoever Baptism is desired When a Person of Age desires Baptism he must make those Answers and Sponsions otherwise he is not truly Baptized and though his outward making of them being all that can fall under Human Cognizance he who does that must be held to be truly baptized and all the outward Priviledges of a baptized Person must belong to him yet as to the effect of Baptism on the Soul of him that is baptized without doubt that depends upon the sincerity of the Professions and Vows made by him The Wills of Infants are by the Law of Nature and Nations in their Parents and are transferred by them to their Sureties the Sponsions that are made on their behalf are considered as made by themselves but there the outward Act is sufficient for the inward Acts of one Person cannot be supposed necessary to give the Sacrament its Virtue in another 1 Cor. 10 1â— In the Eucharist by our shewing forth our Lord's Death till he comes we are admitted to the Communion of his Body and Blood To a share in Partnership with other Christians in the Effects and Merits of his Death But the unworthy Receiver is guilty of his Body and Blood and brings thereby down Judgments upon himself so that to fancy a Virtue in Sacraments that works on the Person to whom they are applied without any inward Acts accompanying it and upon his being only Passive is a Doctrine of which we find nothing in the Scriptures which teach us that every thing we do is only accepted of God with regard to the Disposition of Mind that he knows us to be in when we go about it Our Prayers and Sacrifices are so far from being accepted of God that they are Abomination to him if they come from wicked and defiled Hearts The making Men believe that Sacraments may be effectual to them when they are next to a State of Passivity not capable of any sensible thoughts of their own is a sure way to raise the Credit of the Clergy and of the Sacrament but at the same time it will most certainly dispose Men to live in Sin hoping that a few Rites which may be easily procured at their Death will clear all at last And thus we reject not without great Zeal against the fatal Effects of this Error all that is said of the Opus operatum the very doing of the Sacrament we think it looks liker the Incantations of Heathenism than the Purity and Simplicity of the Christian Religion But the other Extream that we likewise avoid is that of sinking the Sacraments so low as to be meer Rites and Ceremonies St. Peter says Baptism saves us St. Paul calls it The laver of Regeneration to which he joyns the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Mark 16.16 John 3.3 5. Our Saviour saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and except ye are born again of Water and of the Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God These Words have a Sense and Signification that rises far above a meer Ceremony done to keep up Order and to maintain a settled Form The Phrase Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is above the Nature of an Anniversary or Memorial Feast This Opinion we think is very unsuitable to those high Expressions and we do not doubt but that Christ who instituted those Sacraments does still accompany them with a particular Presence in them and a Blessing upon them so that we coming to them with Minds well prepared with pure Affections and holy Resolutions do certainly receive in and with them particular largesses of the Favour and Bounty of God They are not bare and naked Remembrances and Tokens but are actuated and animated by a Divine Blessing that attends upon them This is what we believe on this Head and these are the Grounds upon which we found it A Sacrament is an Institution of Christ in which some material thing is sanctified by the use of some Form or Words in and by which federal Acts of this Religion do pass on both sides on ours by Stipulations Professions or Vows and on God's by his secret Assistances by these we are also united to the Body of Christ which is the Church It must be Instituted by Christ for though Ritual Matters that are only the Expressions of our Duty may be appointed by the Church yet federal Acts to which a conveyance of Divine Grace is tied can only be instituted by him who is the Author and Mediator of this New Covenant and who lays down the Rules or Conditions of it and derives the Blessings of it by what Methods and in what Channels he thinks fit
Penance The Aggregate of all these is the Matter and the Form are the words Ego te Absolvo Now besides what we have to say upon every one of these particulars the Matter of a Sacrament must be some visible Sign applied to him that receives it Innoc. 3. in 4. later Can. 21 22. Conc. Trid. Sess. 14. c. 5. It is therefore a very absurd thing to imagine that a Man 's own Thoughts Words or Actions can be the Matter of a Sacrament How can this be sanctified or applied to him It will be a thing no less absurd to make the Form of a Sacrament to be a practice not much elder than Four hundred Year since no Ritual can be produced nor Author cited for this Form for above a Thousand Years after Christ. All the ancient Forms of receiving Penitents having been by a Blessing in the Form of a Prayer or a Declaration but none of them in these positive words I Absolve thee We think this want of Matter and this new invented Form being without any Institution in Scripture and different from so long a practice of the whole Church are such reasons that we are fully justified in denying Penance to be a Sacrament But because the Doctrine of Repentance is a point of the highest importance there arise several things here that ought to be very carefully examined As to Confession we find in the Scriptures that such as desired St. Iohn's Baptism Matt. 3.6 came confessing their sins but that was previous to Baptism We find also that scandalous Persons were to be openly rebuked before all and so to be put to shame 1 Tim. 5.10 in which no doubt there was a Confession and a publication of the Sin but that was a matter of the Discipline and Order of the Church which made it necessary to note such persons as walked disorderly 2 Thess. 3.14 1 Cor. 5.11 and to have no fellowship with them sometimes not so much as to eat with them who being Christians and such as were called Brothers were a reproach to their Profession But besides the Power given to the Apostles of binding and loosing which as was said on another Head belonged to other matters we find that when our Saviour breathed on his Apostles and gave them the Holy Ghost he with that told them That whose soever sins they remitted John 20.23 they were remitted and whose soever sins they retained they were retained Since a Power of remitting or retaining sin was thus given to them they infer that it seems reasonable that in order to their dispensing it with a due caution the knowledge of all sins ought to be laid open to them Some have thought that this was a Personal thing given to the Apostles with that Miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost with which such a discerning of Spirits was communicated to them that they could discern the sincerity or hypocrisy of those that came before them by this St. Peter discovered the sin of Ananias and Saphira Acts 5.3 9. and he also saw that Simon of Samaria was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity So they conclude that this was a part of that extraordinary and miraculous Authority which was given to the Apostles and to them only Acts 8.23 But others who distinguish between the full extent of this Power and the Ministerial Authority that is still to be continued in the Church do believe that these Words may in a lower and more limited Sense belong to the Successors of the Apostles but they argue very strongly that if these Words are to be understood in their full extent as they lie a Priest has by them an absolute and unlimited Power in this Matter not restrained to Conditions or Rules so that if he does Pardon or retain sins whether in that he does right or wrong the sins must be pardoned or retained accordingly He may indeed sin in using it wrong for which he must answer to God but he seems by the literal meaning of these Words to be cloathed with such a Plenipotentiary Authority that his Act must be valid though he may be punished for imploying it amiss An Ambassador that has full Powers though limited by secret Instructions does bind him that so empowered him by every Act that he does pursuant to his Powers how much soever it may go beyond his Instructions for how obnoxious soever that may render him to his Master it does not at all lessen the Authority of what he has done nor the Obligation that arises out of it So these words of Christ's if applied to all Priests must belong to them in their full extent and if so the Salvation or the Damnation of Mankind is put absolutely in the Priest's Power Nor can it be answered That the Conditions of the Pardon of sin that are expressed in the other parts of the Gospel are here to be understood though they are not expressed As we are said to be saved if we believe which does not imply that a single Act of believing the Gospel without any thing else puts us in a state of Salvation In Opposition to this we Answer That the Gospel having so described Faith to us as the Root of all other Graces and Virtues as that which produces them and which is known by them all that is promised upon our Faith must be understood of a Faith so qualified as the Gospel represents it and therefore that cannot be applied to this Case where an unlimited Authority is so particularly exprest that no Condition seems to be implied in it If any Conditions are elsewhere laid upon us in order to our Salvation then according to their Doctrine we may say that of them which they say of Contrition upon this occasion That they are necessary when we cannot procure the Priest's Pardon but that by it the want of them all may be supplied and that the Obligation to them all is superseded by it And if any Conditions are to be understood as limits upon this Power why are not all the Conditions of the Gospel Faith Hope and Charity Contrition and New Obedience made necessary in order to the lawful dispensing of it as well as Confession Attrition and the doing the Penance enjoyned Therefore since no Condition is here named as a restraint upon this General Power that is pretended to be given to Priests by those words of our Saviour they must either be understood as simple and unconditional or they must be limited to all the Conditions that are expressed in the Gospel For there is not the colour of a reason to restrain them to some of them and to leave out the rest And thus we think we are fully justified by saying that by these Words our Saviour did indeed fully empower the Apostles to publish his Gospel to the World and to declare the Terms of Salvation and of obtaining the Pardon of Sin in which they were to be infallibly assisted so that they could
Arguments to perswade us that there is somewhat that is highly necessary to the Purity of Christians of which Christ has not said a Word and concerning which his Apostles have given us no Directions We do not deny but it may be a mean to strike Terror in People to keep them under awe and obedience it may when the management of it is in good hands be made a mean to keep the World in Order and to guide those of weaker Judgments more steadily and safely than could be well done any other way In the use of Confession when proposed as our Church does as matter of Advice and not of Obligation we are very sensible many good ends may be attained but while we consider those we must likewise reflect on the mischief that may arise out of it especially supposing the greater part both of the Clergy and Laity to be what they ever were and ever will be depraved and corrupted The People will grow to think that the Priest is in God's stead to them that their telling their sins to him is as if they confessed them to God they will expect to be easily discharged for a gentle Penance with a speedy Absolution and this will make them as secure as if their Consciences were clear and their Sins pardoned so the remedy being easy and always at hand they will be encouraged to venture the more boldly on Sin It is no difficult matter to gain a Priest especially if he himself is a bad Man to use them tenderly upon those occasions On the other hand corrupt Priests will find their account in the dispensing this great Power so as to serve their own ends They will know all Peoples Tempers and Secrets and how strict soever they may make the Seal of Confession to draw the World to trust to it yet in Bodies so knit together as Communities and Orders are it is not possible to know what use they may make of this Still they know all themselves and see into the weakness the passions and appetites of their People This must often be a great snare to them especially in the supposition that cannot be denied to hold generally true of their being bad Men themselves Great advantages are hereby given to infuse fears and scruples into Peoples minds who being then in their tenderest Minutes will be very much swayed and wrought on by them A bad Priest knows by this whom he may tempt to any sort of Sin And thus the good and the evil of Confession as it is a general Law upon allMens Consciences being weighed one against the other and it being certain that the far greater part of Mankind is always bad we must conclude that the evil does so far preponderate the good that they bear no comparison nor proportion to one another The matter at present under debate is only Whether it is one of the Laws of God or not And it is enough for the present purpose to shew that it is no Law of God upon which we do also see very good reason why it ought not to be made a Law of the Church both because it is beyond her Authority which can only go to matters of Order and Discipline as also because of the vast inconveniences that are like to arise out of it The next part of Repentance is Contrition which is a sorrow for Sin upon the motives of the Love of God and the hatred of Sin joined with a renovation of Heart This is that which we acknowledge to be necessary to compleat our Repentance but this consisting in the temper of a Man's Mind and his inward acts it seems a very absurd thing to make this the matter of a Sacrament since it is of a Spiritual and Invisible nature But this is not all that belongs to this head The Casuists of the Church of Rome have made a distinction between a perfect and an imperfect Contrition the imperfect they call Attrition which is any sorrow for Sin tho' upon an inferior motive such as may be particular to one act of Sin as when it rises from the loss or shame it has brought with it together with an act formed in detestation of it without a resolution to sin any more Such a sorrow as this is they teach does make the Sacrament effectual and puts a Man in a state of Justification tho' they acknowledge that without the Sacrament it is not sufficient to Justify him Trid. Sess. 14. c. 4. This was setled by the Council of Trent We think it strikes at the root of all Religion and Vertue and is a reversing of the design for which Sacraments were Instituted which was to raise our Minds to a high pitch of Piety and to exalt and purify our Acts. We think the Sacraments are profaned when we do not raise our Thoughts as high as we can in them To teach Men how low they may go and how small a measure will serve turn especially when the great and chief Commandment the consideration of the Love of God is left out seems to be one of the greatest corruptions in practice of which any Church can be guilty A slackness in Doctrine especially in so great a Point as this in which human nature is under so fatal a biass will always bring with it a much greater corruption in practice This will indeed make many run to the Sacrament and raise its value but it will rise upon the ruins of true Piety and Holiness There are few Men that can go long on in very great sins without feeling great remorses these are to them rather a Burthen that they cannot shake off than a Vertue Sorrow lying long upon their thoughts may be the beginning of a happy change and so prove a great blessing to them all which is destroyed by this Doctrine For if under such uneasy thoughts they go to Confession and are Attrite the Sacrament is valid and they are Justified Then the uneasiness goes off and is turned into joy without their being any thing the better by it They return to their Sins with a new calm and security because they are taught that their Sins are pardoned and that all Scores are cleared Therefore we conclude that this Doctrine wounds Religion in its Vitals and we are confirmed in all this by what appears in Practice And what the best Writers that have lived in that Communion have said of the abuses that follow on the Methods in which this Sacrament is managed among them which do arise mainly out of this Part of their Doctrine concerning Attrition All that they teach concerning those Acts of Attrition or even Contrition is also liable to great abuse in Practice for as a Man may bring forth those Acts in Words and not be the better for them So he may force himself to think them which is nothing but the framing an inward Discourse within himself upon them and yet these not arising genuinely from a new Nature or a change of Temper such Acts can
unless we do thus believe It were not suteable to the Truth and Holiness of the Divine Nature to void a Covenant so solemnly made and that in favour of wicked men who will not be reformed by it So Faith is the certain and necessary Mean of our Salvation and is so put by Christ since upon our having it we shall be saved as well as damned upon our not having it On the other hand the nature of a Ritual Action even when commanded is such that unless we could imagine that there is a Charm in it which is contrary to the Spirit and Genius of the Gospel which designs to save us by reforming our Natures we cannot think that there can be any thing in it that is of it self effectual as a Mean therefore it must only be considered as a Command that is given us which we are bound to obey if we acknowledge the Authority of the Command But this being an Action that is not always in our power but is to be done by another it were to put our Salvation or Damnation in the power of another to imagine that we cannot be saved without Baptism and therefore it is only a Precept which obliges us in order to our Salvation and our Saviour by leaving it out when he reversed the words saying only he that believeth not without adding and is not Baptized shall be damned does plainly insinuate that it is not a Mean but only a Precept in order to our Salvation As for the Ends and Purposes of Baptism St. Paul gives us two the one is that we are all baptized into onâ— body we are made members one of another 1 Cor. 12.13 We are admitted to the Soâ—â—â—ty of Christians and to all the Rights and Priviledges of that Body which is the Church And in order to this the outward action of Baptism when regularly gone about is sufficient We cannot see into the sincerity oâ— mens Hearts Outward Professions and regular Actions are all that fall under mens Observation and Judgment But a second End of Baptism is Internal and Spiritual Of this St. Paul speaks in very high terms when he says that God has saved us according to his mercy Tit. 3.5 by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost It were a strange perverting the design of these words to say that somewhat Spiritual is to be understood by this washing of regeneration and not Baptism when as to the word save that is here ascribed to it St. Peter gives that undeniably to Baptism and St. Paul elsewhere in two different places Rom. 6. Col. 2. makes our Baptism to represent our being dead to sin and buried with Christ and our being risen and quickned with him and made alive unto God which are words that do very plainly import Regeneration So that St. Paul must be understood to speak of Baptism in these words here then is the inward effect of Baptism It is a death to sin and a new life in Christ in imitation of him and in conformity to his Gospel So that here is very expresly delivered to us somewhat that rises far above the Badge of a Profession or a Mark of difference That does indeed belong to Baptism it makes us the visible Members of that one Body into which we are Baptized or admitted by Baptism but that which saves us in it which both deadens and quickens us must be a thing of another nature If Baptism were only the receiving us into the Society of Christians there were no need of saying I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost It were more proper to say I Baptize thee in the Name or by the Authority of the Church Therefore these august words that were dictated by our Lord himself shew us that there is somewhat in it that is Internal which comes from God that it is an admitting men into somewhat that depends only on God and for the giving of which the authority can only be derived by him But after all this is not to be believed to be of the nature of a Charm as if the very act of Baptism carried always with it an inward Regeneration Here we must confess that very early some Doctrines arose upon Baptism that we cannot be determined by The words of our Saviour to Nicodemus were expounded so as to import the absolute necessity of Baptism in order to Salvation for it not being observed that the Dispensation of the Messias was meant by the Kingdom of God but it being taken to signifie Eternal Glory that expression of our Saviour's was understood to import this that no Man could be saved unless he were Baptized so it was believed to be simply necessary to Salvation A natural consequence that followed upon that was to allow all Persons leave to Baptize Clergy and Laity Meâ— and Women since it seemed necessary to suffer every Person to do that without which Salvation could not be had Upon this these hasty Baptisms were used without any special Sponsion on the part of those who desired it of which it may be reasonably doubted whether such a Baptism be true in which no Sponsion is made and this cannot be well answered but by saying that a general and an implied Sponsion is to be considered to be made by their Parents while they desire them to be Baptized Another Opinion that arose out of the former was the mixing of the outward and the inward effects of Baptism It being believed that every Person that was born of the Water was also born of the Spirit and that the renewing of the Holy Ghost did always accompany the washing of Regeneration And this obliged St. Austin as was formerly told to make that difference between the regenerate and the predestinated for he thought that all who were Baptized were also regenerated St. Peter has stated this so fully that if his words are well considered they will clear the whole matter He after he had set forth the miserable state in which Mankind was under the figure of the Deluge in which an Ark was prepared for Noah and his Family says upon that The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us 1 Pet. 3 21. Upon which he makes a short digression to explain the nature of Baptism not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer or the Demand and Interrogation of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ who is gone into Heaven The meaning of all which is that Christ having risen again and having then had all power in heaven and in earth given to him he had put that vertue in Baptism that by it we are saved as in an Ark from that miserable state in which the world lies and in which it must perish But then he explains the way how it saves us that it is not as a Physical action as it washes away the filthiness of the flesh
or the body like the Notion that the Gentiles might have of their Februations or which is more natural considering to whom he writes like the Opinions that the Iews had of their Cleansings after their Legal Impurities from which their Washings and Bathings did absolutely free them The Salvation that we Christians have by Baptism is effected by that Federation into which we enter when upon the Demands that are made of our renouncing the Devil the World and the Flesh and of our believing in Christ and our Repentance towards God we make such Answers from a good Conscience as agree with the end and design of Baptism then by our thus coming into Covenant with God we are saved in Baptism So that the Salvation by Baptism is given by reason of the federal compact that is made in it Now this being made outwardly according to the Rules that are prescribed that must make the Baptism good among Men as to all the outward and visible effects of it But since it is the answer of a good Conscience only that saves then an answer from a bad Conscience from a hypocritical Person who does not inwardly think or purpose according to what he professes outwardly cannot save but does on the contrary aggravate his Damnation Therefore our Article puts the efficacy of Baptism in order to the forgiveness of our sins and to our Adoption and Salvation upon the vertue of Prayer to God that is upon those Vows and other acts of Devotion that accompany them So that when the seriousness of the mind accompanies the regularity of the action then both the outward and inward effects of Baptism are attained by it and we are not only Baptized into one Body but are also saved by Baptism So that upon the whole matter Baptism is a federal admission into Christianity in which on God's part all the Blessings of the Gospel are made over to the Baptized And on the other hand the Person Baptized takes on him by a solemn Profession and Vow to observe and adhere to the whole Christian Religion So it is a very natural distinction to say that the outward effects of Baptism follow it as outwardly performed but that the inward effects of it follow upon the inward acts but this difference is still to be observed between inward acts and outward actions that when the outward action is rightly performed the Church must reckon the Baptism good and never renew it But if one has been wanting in the inward acts those may be afterwards renewed and that want may be made up by Repentance Thus all that the Scriptures have told us concerning Baptism seems to be sufficiently explained There remains only one place that may seem somewhat strange St. Paul says that Christ sent him not to Baptize but to Preach 1 Cor. 1.17 Which some have carried so far as to infer from thence that Preaching is of more value than Baptism But it is to be considered that the Preaching of the Apostles was of the nature of a Promulgation made by Heraulds It was an act of a special Authority by which he in particular was to convert the World from Idolatry and Iudaism to acknowledge Iesus to be the true Messias Acts 8.26 to the end Now when Men by the Preaching of the Apostles and by the Miracles that accompanied it were so wrought on as to believe that Iesus was the Christ Acts 16.31 32 33. then according to the practice of Philip towards the Eunuch of Ethiopia and of St. Paul to his Jayler at Philippi they might immediately Baptize them yet most commonly there was a special Instruction to be used before Persons were Baptized who might in general have some Conviction and yet not be so fully satisfied but that a great deal of more pains was to be taken to carry them on to that full assurance of Faith which was necessary This was a work of much time and was to be managed by the Pastors or Teachers of the several Churches So that the meaning of what St. Paul says was this that he was to publish the Gospel from City to City but could not descend to the particular labour of preparing and instructing of the Persons to be Baptized and to the Baptizing them when so prepared If he had entred upon this Work he could not have made that progress nor have founded those Churches that he did All this is therefore misunderstood when it is applied to such Preaching as is still continued in the Church which does not succeed the Apostolical Preaching that was inspired and infallible but comes in the room of that Instruction and Teaching which was then performed by the Pastors of the Church The last Head in this Article relates to the Baptism of Infants which is spoken of with that moderation that appears very eminently through the whole Articles of our Church on this Head It is only said to be most agreeable with the Institution of Christ and that therefore it is to be in â—ny ways retained in the Church Now to open this it is to be considerâ—d that tho' Baptism and Circumcision do not in every particular come to a Parallel yet they do agree in two things The one is that both were the Rites of admission into their respective Covenants and to the Rights and Privileges that did arise out of them and the other is that in them both there was an Obligation laid on the Persons to the observance of that whole Law to which they were so initiated St. Paul arguing against Circumcision lays this down as an uncontested Maxim That if a Man was Circumcâ—â—â—d he became thereby a debtor to the whole law Parents had by the Iewish Constitution Gal. 5.3 an Authority given them to conclude their Children under that Obligation so that the Soul and Will of the Child was so far put in the power of the Parents that they could bring them under federal Obligations and thereby procure to them a share in federal Blessings And it is probable that from hence it was that when the Iews made Proselytes they considered them as having such Authority over their Children that they Baptized them first and then Circumcised them though Infants Now since Christ took Baptism from them and appointed it to be the federal Admission to his Religion as Circumcision had been in the Mosaical Dispensation it is reasonable to believe that except where he declared a change that he made in it in all other respects it was to go on and to continue as before especially when the Apostles in their first Preaching told the Iews that the Promises were made to them and to their Children Acts 2.39 which the Iews must have understood according to what they were already in possession of that they could initiate their Children into their Religion bring them under the obligations of it and procure to them a share in those Blessings that belonged to it The Law of Nature and Nations puts Children in the Power
Isa. 12.3 ye shall receive a new Doctrine with joy from some select Persons Since then the Figure of eating and drinking was used among the Iews for receiving and imbibing a Doctrine it was no wonder if our Saviour pursued it in a Discourse in which there are several hints given to shew us that it ought to be so understood It is further observable that our Saviour did frequently follow that common way of Instruction among the Eastern Nations by Figures that to us would seem strong and bold These were much used in those Parts to excite the Attention of the Hearers and they are not always to be severely expounded according to the full Extent that the words will bear The Parable of the unjust Judge of the unjust Steward of the ten Virgins of plucking out the right Eye and cutting off the right Hand or Foot and several others might be instanced Our Saviour in these considered the Genius of those to whom he spoke So that these Figures must be restrained only to that Particular for which he meant them and must not be stretched to every thing to which the Words may be carried We find our Saviour compares himself to a great many Things to a Vine a Door and a Way And therefore when the Scope of a Discourse does plainly run in a Figuâ—e we are not to go and descant on every Word of it much less may any pretend to say that some Parts of it are to be understood literally and some Parts figuratively For instance if that Chapter of St. Iohn is to be understood literally then Christ's Flesh and Blood must be the Nourishment of our Bodies so as to be meat indeed and that we shall never hunger any more and never die after we have eat of it If therefore all do confess that those Expressions are to be understood figuratively then we have the same reason to conclude that the whole is a Figure For it is as reasonable for us to make all of it a Figure as it is for them to make those Parts of it a Figure which they cannot conveniently expound in a literal Sense From all which it is abundantly clear that nothing can be drawn from that Discourse of our Saviour's to make it reasonable to believe that the words of the Institution of this Sacrament ought to be literally understood On the contrary our Saviour himself calls the Wine after those Words had been used by him the Fruit of the Vine which is as strict a Form of Speech as can well be imagined to make us understand that the Nature of the Wine was not altered And when St. Paul treats of it in those two Chapters in which all that is left us besides the History of the Institution concerning this Sacrament is to be found he calls it five times Bread and never once the Body of Christ. 1 Cor. 10.16 In one Place he calls it the Communion of the Body as the Cup is the Communion of the Blood of Christ. Which is rather a saying that it is in some sort and after a manner the Body and the Blood of Christ than that it is so strictly speaking If this Sacrament had been that mysterious and unconceivable Thing which it has been since believed to be we cannot imagine but that the Books of the New Testament the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles should have contained fuller Explanations of it and larger Instructions about it There is enough indeed said in them to support the plain and natural Sense that we give to this Institution and because no more is said and the design of it is plainly declared to be to remember Christ's death and to shew it forth till he come we reckon that by this natural Simplicity in which this Matter is delivered to us we are very much confirmed in that plain and easy Signification which we put upon our Saviour's words Plain things need not be insisted on But if the most sublime and wonderful Thing in the World seems to be delivered in Words that yet are capable of a lower and plainer Sense then unless there is a concurrence of other Circumstances to force us to that higher meaning of them we ought not to go into it for simple Things prove themselves Whereas the more extraordinary that any thing is it requires a fulness and evidence in the Proof proportioned to the uneasiness of conceiving or believing it We do therefore understand our Saviour's Institution thus that as he was to give his body to be broken and his blood to be shed for our Sins so he intended that this his Death and Suffering should be still commemorated by all such as look for remission of sins by it not only in their Thoughts and Devotions but in a visible Representation Which he appointed should be done in Symbols that should be both very plain and simple and yet very expressive of that which he intended should be remembred by them Bread is the plainest Food that the Body of Man can receive and Wine was the common nourishing Liquor of that Countrey So he made choice of these Materials and in them appointed a Representation and Remembrance to be made of his body broken and of his blood shed that is of his Death and Sufferings till his Second coming And he obliged his Followers to repeat this frequently In the doing of it according to his Institution they profess the Belief of his Death for the Remission of their Sins and that they look for his Second coming This does also import that as Bread and Wine are the simplest of bodily Nourishments â—o his Death is that which restores the Souls of those that do believe in him As Bread and Wine convey a vital Nourishment to the Body so the Sacrifice of his Death conveys somewhat to the Soul that is vital that fortifies and exalts it And as Water in Baptism is a natural Emblem of the Purity of the Christian Religion Bread and Wine in the Eucharist are the Emblems of somewhat that is derived to us that raises our Faculties and fortifies all our Powers St. PÃ ul does very plainly tell us that unworthy receivers that did neither examine nor discern themselves nor yet discern the Lord's Body were guilty of the body and blood of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.27 29. and did eat and drink their own damnation That is such as do receive it without truly believing the Christian Religion without a grateful acknowledgment of Christ's Death and Sufferings without feeling that they are walking suitably to this Religion that they profess and without that decency and charity which becomes so Holy an Action but that receive the Bread and Wine only as bare bodily Nourishments without considering that Christ has instituted them to be the Memorials of his Death such Persons are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ That is they are guilty either of a Prophanation of the Sacrament of his Body and Blood or they do in a manner Crucify
is offered in this matter is that since the declared Object of Worship is Iesus Christ believed to be there present then whether he is present or not the Worship terminates in him both the secret acts of the Worshippers and the professed Doctrine of the Church do lodge it there And therefore it may be said that tho' he should not be actually present yet the act of Adoration being directed to him must be accepted of God as right meant and duly directed even tho' there should happen to be a mistake in the outward application of it In answer to this we do not pretend to determine how far this may be pardoned by God whose Mercies are infinite and who does certainly consider chiefly the Hearts of his Creatures and is merciful to their Infirmities and to such Errors as arise out of their weakness their Hearts being sincere before him We ought to consider this action as it is in it self and not according to Mens Apprehensions and Opinions about it If the conceits that the Ancient Idolaters had both concerning their Gods and the Idols that they Worshipped will excuse from Idolatry it will be very hard to say that there were ever any Idolaters in the World Those who Worshipped the Sun thought that the great Divinity was lodged there as in a Vehicle or Temple but yet they were not by reason of that misconception excused from being Idolaters If a false Opinion upon which a practice is founded taken up without any good authority will excuse Mens Sins it will be easie for them to find Apologies for every thing If the Worship of the Elements had been commanded by God then an Opinion concerning it might excuse the carrying of that too far but there being no Command for it no hint given about it nor any insinuation given of any such practice in the beginnings of Christianity an Opinion that Men have taken up cannot justifie a new practice of which neither the first nor a great many of the following Ages knew any thing An Opinion cannot justifie Mens practice founded upon it if that proves to be false All the softning that can be given it is that it is a sin of Ignorance but that does not change the nature of the action how far soever it may go with relation to the Judgments of God If the Opinion is rashly taken up and stiffly maintained the Worship that is introduced upon it is aggravated by the ill foundation that it is built upon We know God by his Essence is every where but this will not justifie our Worshipping any Material Object upon this pretence because God is in it we ought never to Worship Him towards any visible Object unless he were evidently declaring his Glory in it as he did to Moses in the Flaming-bush to the Israelites on Mount Sinai and in the Cloud of Glory or to us Christians in a sublimer manner in the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ. But by this parity of Reason tho' we were sure that Christ were in the Elements yet since he is there Invisible as God is by his Essence every where we ought to direct no Adoration to the Elements we ought only to Worship God and his Son Christ Jesus in the grateful remembrance of his Sufferings for us which are therein commemorated We ought not to suffer our Worship to terminate on the Visible Elements because if Christ is in them yet he does not manifest that visibly to us Since therefore the Opinion of the Corporal Presence upon which this Adoration is founded is False and since no such Worship is so much as mentioned much less commanded in Scripture and since there can scarce be any Idolatry in the World so gross as that it shall not excuse it self by some such Doctrine by which all the acts of Worship are made to terminate finally in God we must conclude that this Plea cannot excuse the Church of Rome from Idolatry even though their Doctrine of the Corporal Presence were true But much less if it is False We do therefore condemn this Worship as Idolatry without taking upon us to define the Extent of the Mercies of God towards all those who are involved in it If all the Premises are True then it is needless to insist longer on explaining the following Paragraph of the Article that Christ's Body is received in the Sacrament in a heavenly and spiritual Manner and that the Mean by which it is received is Faith For that is such a natural result of them that it appears evident of it self as being the Conclusion that arises out of those Premises The last Paragraph is against the reserving carrying about the lifting up or the worshipping the Sacrament The Point concerning the Worship which is the most essential of them has been already considered As for the reserving or carrying the Sacrament about it is very visible that the Institution is Take eat and drink ye all of it which does import that the consumâ—ng the Elements is a part of the Institution and by consequence that they are a Sacrament only as they are distributed and received It is true the practice of reserving or sending about the Elements began very early the state of things at first made it almost unavoidable When there were yet but a few converted to Christianity and when there were but few Priests to serve them they neither could nor durst meet all together especially in the times of Persecution so some parts of the Elements were sent to the absents to those in Prison and particularly to the Sick as a Symbol of their being parts of the Body and that they were in the Peace and Communion of the Church The Bread was sent with the Wine and it was sent about by any Person whatsoever sometimes by Boys Eus. Hist. lib. 6. c. 44. as appears in the famous Story of Serapion in the Third Century So that the condition of the Christians in that time made that necessary to keep them all in the sense of their obligation to Union and Communion with the Church and that could not well be done in any other way But we make a great difference between this practice when taken up out of necessity tho' not exactly conform to the first Institution and the continuing it out of Superstition when there is no need of it Therefore instead of Consecrating a larger portion of Elements than is necessary for the occasion and the reserving what is over and above and the setting that out with great Pomp on the Altar to be worshipped or the carrying it about with a vast Magnificence in a Procession invented to put the more honour on it or the sending it to the Sick with Solemnity we chuse rather to Consecrate only so much as may be judged fit for the number of those who are to communicate And when the Sacrament is over we do in imitation of the practice of some of the Ancients consume what is left that there may be no occasion
given either to Superstition or Irreverence And for the Sick or the Prisoners we think it is a greater Mean to quicken their Devotion as well as it is a closer adhering to the Words of the Institution to Consecrate in their Presence for tho' we can bear with the practice of the Greek Church of reserving and sending about the Eucharist when there is no Idolatry joyned with it yet we cannot but think that this is the continuance of a practice which the state of the first Ages introduced and that was afterwards kept up out of a too scrupulous imitation of that time without considering that the difference of the state of the Christians in the former and in the succeeding Ages made that what was at first innocently practised since a real necessity may well excuse a want of exactness in some matters that are only positive became afterwards an occasion of much Superstition and in conclusion ended in Idolatry Those ill effects that it had are more than is necessary to justifie our practice in reducing this strictly to the first Institution As for the lifting up of the Eucharist there is not a word of it in the Gospel nor is it mentioned by St. Paul Neither Iustin Martyr nor Cyril of Ierusalem speak of it there is nothing concerning it neither in the Constitutions nor in the Areopagite In those first Ages all the Elevation that is spoken of is the lifting up their Hearts to God The Elevation of the Sacrament began to be practised in the Sixth Century for it is mentioned in the Liturgy called St. Chrysostome's but believed to be much latter than his time â—erm Const. in Theor. Tit. 12. Bibl. patr Ivo Carn Ep. de Sacr Missae T. 2. Bibl. pat German a Writer of the Greek Church of the Thirteenth Century is the first that descants upon it he speaks not of it as done in order to the Adoration of it but makes it to represent both Christ's being lifted up on the Cross and also his Resurrection Ivo of Chartres who lived in the end of the 11 th Century is the first of all the Latins that speaks of it but then it was not commonly practised for the Author of the Micrologus tho' he writ at the same time yet does not mention it who yet is very minute upon all particulars relating to this Sacrament Nor does Ivo speak of it as done in order to Adoration but only as a form of shewing it to the People Dur. Rat. div offic lib. 4. de Sexta parte Can. Durand a Writer of the 13 th Century is the first that speaks of the Elevation as done in order to the Adoration So it appears that our Church by cutting off these Abuses has restored this Sacrament to its Primitive Simplicity according to the Institution and the practice of the first Ages ARTICLE XXIX Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the Use of the Lord's-Supper The wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith altho they do carnally and visibly press with their Teeth as St. Austin saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing THIS Article arises naturally out of the Former and depends upon it For if Christ's Body is corporally present in the Sacrament then all Persons good or bad who receive the Sacrament do also receive Christ On the other hand if Christ is Present only in a Spiritual Manner and if the Mean that receives Christ is Faith then such as believe not do not receive him So that to prove that the Wicked do not receive Christ's Body and Blood is upon the Matter the same thing with the proving that he is not corporally Present And it is a very considerable Branch of our Argument by which we prove that the Fathers did not believe the corporal Presence because they do very often say That the Wicked do not receive Christ in the Sacrament Here the same distinction is to be made that was mentioned upon the Article of Baptism The Sacraments are to be considered either as they are Acts of Church-Communion or as they are federal Acts by which we enter into Covenant with God With respect to the Former the visible Profession that is made and the Action that is done are all that can fall under human cognisance So a Sacrament must be held to be good and valid when as to outward appearance all things are done according to the Institution But as to the internal Effect and Benefit of it that turns upon the Truth of the Profession that is made and the sincerity of those Acts which do accompany it For if these are not seriously and sincerely performed God is dishonoured and his Institution is prophaned Our Saviour has expresly said that whosoever eats his Flesh and drinks his Blood has eternal Life From thence we conclude that no Man does truly receive Christ who does not at the same time receive with him both a Right to eternal Life and likewise the beginnings and earnests of it The Sacrament being a federal Act he who dishonours God and prophanes this Institution by receiving it unworthily becomes highly guilty before God and draws down Judgments upon himself And as it is confessed on all hands that the inward and spiritual Effects of the Sacrament depend upon the State and Disposition of him that Communicates so we who own no other Presence but an inward and spiritual one cannot conceive that the Wicked who believe not in Christ do receive him In this Point several of the Fathers have delivered themselves very plainly Origen says Christ is the true Food whosoever eats him shall live for ever of whom no wicked Person can eat Comment in Matth. c. 15. for if it were possible that any who continues Wicked should eat the Word that was made Flesh it had never been written Whoso eats this Bread shall live for ever This comes after a Discourse of the Sacrament which he calls the typical and symbolical Body and so it can only belong to it In another place he says The Good eat the living Bread which came down from Heaven but the Wicked eat dead Bread which is Death Tom. â— Spiâ—il Sacr. d' Achâ—ry Zeno Bishop of Verona who is believed to have lived near Origen's time has these words There is cause to fear that he in whom the Devil dwells does not eat the Flesh of our Lord nor drink his Blood though he seems to communicate with the Faithful since our Lord has said He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood dwells in me and I in him St. Ierom says They that are not Holy in Body and Spirit do neither eat the Flesh of Iesus nor drink his Blood In cap. 66. Isaiae of which he said He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood hath eternal Life Tract