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A49797 Magna Charta ecclesiæ universalis the grand charter issued out and granted by Jesus Christ for the plantation of the Christian faith in all nations ... / by George Lawson ... Lawson, George, d. 1678. 1686 (1686) Wing L708; ESTC R37962 90,290 226

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World loving sinful man 2. His only begotten Son given to redeem us 3. The Holy Ghost regenerating us and working Faith in us that by faith we may escape eternal death and attain eternal life For this is the true and genuine sense of these words we read of many forms of faith and confession some called Apostolical related by many of the Ancients and of the Nicene Ephesine Constantinopolitan Roman Athanasian and others yet this is before them all above them all the ground of them all immediately divine delivered by Christ himself recorded in holy Scipture and therefore no unwritten Tradition In this respect Tertullian might well say that the Apostles had the rule of Faith from Christ and Christ from God For from whom he received his power from him he received this Doctrine which he commands his Apostles to teach and all Nations to believe Sect. 3. This is the ground of the ancient and Apostolical Creed delivered by the Apostles to the Churches which they planted as by several of the first Primitive Writers we are informed For they for matter and method agree with this and in both are conformable unto it The matter of them all is God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and the method is to begin with the Father go on with the Son and end with the Holy Ghost though not in express terms yet by consequence By which it appears they took their rise from these words 1. They begin with God the Father and under this part bring in that first great work of Creation 2. They proceed to the Son the eternal word of the Father who was made flesh and redeemed mankind created righteous and holy and faln in Adam 3. They speak of the Holy Ghost who as Tertullian expresseth it is Sanctificator fidei by whom Christ was conceived the Prophets inspired the Church comforted Divers of them conclude with the final judgment wherein Christ shall render to all such as being sanctified by the spirit do believe eternal rewards to the devil and wicked men eternal punishments where we must observe 1. That creation extends to all things for God created heaven and earth and all things therein 2. Redemption reacheth only man for Christ redeemed not the Angels nor any other creature but sinful mankind 3. Sanctification is confined to the Church and the Elect people of God So that the Spirit sanctifies not all men but the Church Christ reedeems man but not all creatures God the Father createth all things and all persons The first part of the Creed concerning one God is against all Atheists and Heathen Idolaters The second concerning the Son Jesus Christ is against all Mahumetans and Unbelieving Jews The third concerning the Holy Ghost is against all Pelagians enimies of grace and counterfeit Christians And here it is to be noted that the mystery of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost was never so clearly and distinctly made manifest as it was when the Father out of Love gave his only begotten Son and sent him into the World and when the Son and eternal word was made flesh and redeemed man and when the holy Ghost descended in the likeness of a Dove and rested upon our Saviour Jesus Christ and came upon the Apostles and sanctified believers Sect. 4. After it hath been manifested that in this Doctrine concerning God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost 1. We have Christs own Creed and 2. That this was the ground of the ancient Apostolical Creeds and Confessions it remains 3. that I say something of that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed which we find in Ruffinus with an Exposition and which is used in the Catechisms and Liturgies of the Roman and reformed Churches In this we may observe 1. That for the principal matter and method its grounded upon our Saviours Creed and exactly agrees with the ancient and primitive Confessions For therein we have three principal parts the 1. Concerning God the Father and the work of Creation of the world the 2. concerning God the Son and the work of Redemption of man the 3. concerning God the Holy Ghost and sanctification of the Church and the Elect people of God This appears by that brief contraction of it in our publick Catechism which is a prime peice in this particular of antiquity and gives great light how to understand the confession and implies that it was grounded upon our Saviours Creed 2. To understand this Creed the better we must observe 1. The object 2. The act of man about this object 1. The object is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost considered 1. In himself 2. In his works which are 1. Creation 2. Providence Providence where of there are two parts 1. Preservation 2. Ordination 1. General of all 2. Special of man especially as faln Of this special providence there be two principal branches Redemption Application Concerning the Redeemer two things are to be observable 1. Who he is 2. What 's his work 1. He is Jesus Christ who for person is the only Son of God for Natures God and man and as man he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary for Offices he is King Priest and Prophet 2. His work is that which we call Redemption whereof two parts His Humiliation His Exaltation His humiliation in that he taking upon him the form of a servant suffered under Pontious Pilate was Crucified dead and buryed descended into Hell His Exaltation in his Resurrection His Exaltation in his Ascension His Exaltation in his Session at the right hand of God His Exaltation in his Comming to Judgement The application of this Redemption hath three things considerable 1. The principal cause which is the holy Ghost by the word working Faith in us 2. The subject to which this application is made which is the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints which is the number of believers 3. The effects of this Redemption applyed Which are 1. Forgiveness of sins 2. Resurrection of the body 3. Life everlasting And here it s to be noted 1. That by the humiliation of Christ and especially the death and sacrifice of himself upom the Cross these effects and blessings were merited and in consideration of the same were promised 2. That God as loving us Redeeming us by Christ and applying this Redemption by his Spirit is the fountain and cause of salvation and eternal happiness 3. That God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as considered in himself and in his works of Creation Redemption and Sanctification is the principal object of the acts of this saving faith 2. As these things are the object of our Faith and the Credenda so the act is to believe To believe is 1. To be certainly perswaded of the truth of these things as revealed by God and certainly known to be so For the ground of a divine infallible faith must be a divine Testimony known certainly to be divine 2.
the Text I may seem to exclude Infants from Baptism and this place is alledged by divers against their admission yet nothing in the Text nor any thing in my Discourse doth debar them from this Sacrament For the Apostles were sent to preach the Gospel both to the unbelieving Jew and also to the Gentiles neither of these much less their Children were inclosed in the pale of the Christian Church as believing in Christ already come and not only the Gentile but the proselyte and native Jew must repent and profess their faith before they were baptized and this is evident out of the history of the new Testament And can any man infer from hence that because those who were adult and at age out of the Church might not be baptized before they were taught and confessed the faith therefore the Infants of Christian parents who are actual members of the Church may not be baptized It s evident the sequel is not good Some doubt might be made of Infants born of Parents before they were made Christians and yet we find no question made of them in the Scriptures But of such as are born in the Church of Christian parents after they were Christians there is less doubt for these are part of their parents not only as their parents by nature but as Christians and were always so accounted as born under the Covenant and in their parents bound to the condition thereof and so far as they were bound so far they had right to the priviledges and promises which might be sealed unto them God did not require any profession or promise personal from them because they had not the use of reason and all the duty for the present lay upon the parents and the Church till the Infant came to age and was capable of instruction for then being taught they were bound in their own persons to make their confession and vow and so own their Baptism and this was the end of Confirmation which is an act performed by the Bishop with imposition of hands certain words according to a certain form prescribed in the ritual part of our Liturgy The covenant of Righteousness by Faith was sealed to infants by circumcision from the times of Abraham untill this commission was granted by Jesus Christ who neither by himself nor his Apostles except them or exclude them but of this see more in my Theopolitica lib. 2. cap. 15. Sect. 19 20. CHAP. 7. Of touching persons baptized to observe Christs Commandments Sect. 1. THE fourth proposition is Christ commanded the Apostles to teach all persons baptized to observe whatsoever Christ commands them This implies that the parties to be bapt●zed must not only profess their faith but promise obedience to Christs commands In the words we may observe a two-fold duty 1. Of the people which was the observation of Christs commandments 2. Of the Minister who must teach the people to observe these commandments In the first we have 1. Christs laws and precepts 2. The peoples obedience 1. Laws are moral acts of a superiour power which bind the parties subject to obedience or upon disobedience to penalty The sovereign and universal Monerch is God who by creation preservation and redemption hath a total and absolute power over man and especially in respect of his piritual capacity as he is a subject ordinable to an eternal estate After Christ was risen from the dead God communicates a transcendent power unto him especially as redeemer of man therefore as Christ had received this glorious power so he did exercise the same by making laws and binding all the subjects of his spiritual and eternal kingdom to the observation of the same For these laws are not only a rule to direct them what to do but of a binding force and the obligation is so strict that whosoever shall refuse to obey shall be liable to eternal punishments for those Laws being written in the Scripture are far more excellent then any humane decrees and statutes not only because they are the Laws of God and the other of men but also because they are made in exact wisdom are most fitted for man so as to direct all acts and operations of soul and body bind the conscience and immortal soul promise eternal rewards and threaten eternal punishments and aree very way so perfect that upon obedience eternal peace and happiness will certainly follow The ignorance of these things and want of consideration is the cause why these laws are so little regarded so much neglected and disobeyed though they shall be the rule according to which Christ shall judge the world and determine of mens final and eternal estate Sect. 2. There are divers laws therefore of Christ as is here implyed and the same published not only by word but writing and that long ago and if so it 's the duty of all to whom these laws are made known especially of persons baptized to obey these and because this duty concerns us all and that very much therefore I will first inform you of the duty more particularly that you may know what it is and secondly stir you up unto performance by certain reasons and motives This obedience doth presuppose our submission unto Christ as our superiour Lord upon our acknowledgment of his power and this is the condition of admission into his kingdom and is the foundation of all obedience for we may do many things which another wills us to do and yet the doing of them is no obedience because he hath no power over us neither do we acknowledg him as our superiour 2. As it presupposeth submission to his legal power so it doth the promulgation of his Laws for where there is no law as there can be no sin so there can be no obedience 3. These Laws must be known to us before we can observe them for the laws of Christ as in our understanding and known by us are the immediate rule of our obedience yet when they are sufficiently published it may be our own fault to be ignorant of them as through our own negligence it may so come to pass 4. This obedience is properly an act of the will of man freely conforming to the will of Christ and is required in the first Commandment 5. The matter of this obedience is the law and command of God the proper and formal object is Christ as our supreme Law-giver 6. When the will of Christ is once made known unto us our liberty is so far restrained nay altogether taken away in those things that are commanded and we must have no will of our own but his will must be ours These things observed we must know 1. That this obedience must be yeilded out of love unto our Sovereign yet with humble reverence to his Majesty and joyned with a fear to offend him and the more we love him the more willingly and freely we shall obey and it will be our joy and delight to do his Commandments 2. This obedience