afterward be left to our selues but sufficiently armed with spirituall strength from aboue to outstand all temptations whatsoeuer that so all prayse may redound to him which worketh all in all Father As you haue shewed me the matter and circumstances of prayer so shew me the effects of prayer Child It were an endlesse labour to enter into that sith the scriptures do plentifully teach that all hard admirable things haue béene compassed effected by prayer both for the turning away of euill and the purchasing of good Father Then tell me what things are especially to be obserued of vs in prayer Child There be nine speciall things to be obserued of vs in prayer Father Which be they Child Repentance meditation humiliation faith loue zeale thanksgiuing watchfulnesse obedience Wherof the first thrée goe before prayer the next thrée are in the action of prayer The last thrée follow after prayer Father Open your meaning more plainly Child My meaning is this that our prayers can neuer bée currant and good in the sight of God except before prayer first wée come with great sorrow for sin strong purposes of amendment Secondly except wée muse meditate very déeply of y t great and manifolde dangers wée goe in euery day both within vs without vs Thirdly except wée bée throughly humbled with the cōscience of our former transgressions Moreouer in y t actiō of praier ther is nothing sound acceptable to god except faith be present y t is a full assurance to be heard for Christ for the promises made in him Secondly except loue toward our brethrē be there also without enuy wrath all vncharitable affectiōs Thirdly except zeale that is pure earnest affectiōs beare the chiefe sway in this action for god abhorreth coldnes Lastly except there be heartie thanksgiuing for fauours obtained watchfullnes ouer our affections afterward and speciall care of bettering our obedience in all time to come Father Doth not our Lord Iesus in the preface of his prayer teach vs all these things concerning the manner of prayer Child Yes our Lord Iesus in his preface doth in general termes teach all these things for hée teacheth vs to pray in faith feare loue In faith and assurance because God is our Father in feare reuerēce because he is in heauen In loue because hée is our father that is a common father to vs all Father If we pray according to these rules are we not sure to be heard Child Yes certainly As the scriptures do abundantly teach vs and as it may appeare by this reason that in prayer there is the mutuall and ioynt worke of the whole trinitie the holy Ghost moouing and quickning the Son mediating the father hearing and graciously returning an answere Father But yet wee see by experience that God doth not alwayes grant the petitions and requests of his owne children Shew me therefore some reasons why God somtimes denieth the requests of those whom he loueth most dearely Child There bée foure reasons hereof first because God hath otherwise decréed with himselfe Secondly because they know not oftentimes what to aske Thirdly because hée in his déepe wisedome séeth it not good for them Lastly because God will try their faith loue patience and constancy Father Hauing thus farre spoken of prayer as one speciall meanes whereby our faith is increased Let vs now further proceede to speake of the Sacraments as of an other speciall helpe and first of all tell me what is a Sacrament Child A Sacrament is an holy signe or seale ordained of God to confirme our faith to testifie our obedience to his maiesty and our loue and fellowship one with another Father How many Sacraments be there Child There are but two Sacraments of the new couenant namely baptisme and the supper of the Lord for those onely are Sacraments of the newe testament which are ceremonies instituted of Christ for the common vse of the whole Church hauing the promise of grace annexed vnto them which excludeth fiue of the popish sacraments Father Why are the sacraments called signes Child Because they represent to our selues spirituall things and set forth Christ his benefits to the outward sences of all Father Why are they called seales Child Béecause they seale vnto our consciences the assurance of the forgiuenesse of sinne and because they doe effectually apply to the faithful the truth and fruit of Christs death Father Are our sacraments but bare signes and figures as the papists charge vs Child Oursacraments are not bare signes and figures but figures ioyned with their truth and substance and such as not onely represent but exhibite vnto vs the bodie blood of Christ Father Make this more plaine Child The Sacraments are signes to represent seales to confirme and instruments to conuey Christ and all his benefits to the beléeuers they represent béecause wée are dull to conceiue and remember they seale because wée are full of vnbeléefe they conuey Christ vnto vs béecause otherwise wée doe hardly apprehend him Father The Papists charge vs that we affirme an imaginary figuratiue and spirituall body of Christ to be present in the sacrament and not his essentiall body What say you to that Child They doe falsely so charge vs for wée hold that the Godly receiue the true and naturall body of Christ and are partakers of his very substance to make vs grow into one life with him for wée can haue no benefit by Christ vntill wée bée partakers of Christ himselfe and that in such sort that we become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone that is one with him and he with vs Howbeit not corporally but in such sort as is agréeable to a Sacrament that is to say spiritually and mistically Father Lay open this point more at large Child Our coniunction with Christ is not in imagination conceit onely but is reall substantiall though secret and hard to be comprehended and therefore the Apostle calleth it a great mistery For we are tied to Christ by his spirit as the naturall members to the head by ioynts and sinewes in a most secret and admirable manner For wée may not carnally conceiue of this our coniunction with Christ as though there were any mingling of his body and ours his substance and ours or his person ours for all things that are vnited one to another are not straight wayes mingled for although the light is ioyned with the ayre and the Sunshine with the windowes yet can we not therefore say they are mingled together The coniunction in couenant betwixt man wife maketh them two one flesh so néere is it yet for all that they cease not to be diuers persons and sundry substance although by couenāt they are one flesh Such is the coniunction and vnion betwixt Christ and vs for we are indeede vnited with the flesh of Christ and are flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones yet is
of the Sacrament of Baptisme let vs now proceede to speak of the sacramēt of the lords supper first tell me what is the special vse of it Child First it serueth to seale vnto our consciences all the promises made in Christ and all the benefits of his death whatsoeuer therfore there is the same vse of it that is of a seale which is to cōfirme and ratifie a writing For in outward things men like wel of a promise but better of a writing best of all of a seale Now therfore the sacrament is as it were y e kings broad seale set to his generall frée pardon For all the doctrine of the Gospel is as it were an open proclamation of pardon to all penitent sinners this sacrament is the seale of the kings pardon to ratifie confirme all the promises of the Gospell for a word or promise must necessarily go before the sacrament which it doth seale confirme vnto vs therefore the sacraments without the word of promise going before are as it were a seale to a blanke Secondly the sacrament of y e Lords supper is as it were a second seale set by the Lords owne hand vnto the former couenant made in baptisme which is renued in the Lords supper betwixt y e Lord himselfe the faithfull receiuer and that by the outward actions of eating bread drinking wine c. Thirdly the Lords supper serueth to represent vnto vs our continuall féeding in the house of God For as by baptisme we are once admitted into the houshold of God so by the Lords supper is signified a daily féeding in the same vpō Christ and all the promises made in him also vpon the word which is our most swéet heauenly manna Father Which bee the outward signes in the Lords supper Child Bread and wine Father Which be the inward things signified Child The body and blood of Christ Father How receiue you the outward signes Child I receiue them with my hands eate them with my mouth digest them with my stomack Father How do you receiue the inward things signified Child Onely by faith and féede of it as of a foode giuen me to life euerlasting Father Is the bread and wine then changed into the substance of the body and bloud of Christ Child No for that were to destroy y e nature of a sacrament which must consist both of heauenly earthly matter Therefore the bread and wine remaine still in their own forme nature substāce but Christs naturall body is in heauen Therfore the papists would make vs beléeue the moone is made of a gréen théese whē they beare vs in hand that bread is changed into flesh and wine into bloud and Christs naturall body is really present in the sacrament and yet we sée it quite contrary with our eyes and a child may discerne that it is neither so nor so Father Is there then no difference beetwixt bread and wine in the sacrament common bread and wine Child There is no difference eyther in substance or forme but only in the vse end whereunto they are applyed which is to represent signifie holy things for wheras before they were common meat now they are holy signes and beare the name of that thing which they signifie otherwise out of this action they are the same with common bread Father You said euen now that Christs bodie and blood and all the benefits of his death are receiued of vs by faith tell me therefore whether a wicked vnfaithfull man can receiue them Child He cannot for if they be receiued onely by faith how shall hée receiue them that hath no faith the vnbeléeuers therefore may receiue the outward signes that is the bread and wine as wel as others as did Iudas but the inward thing signified which is the body and blood of Christ and all the benefits of his passion none can receiue but onely the elect Father If this be true that all that receiue the shell doe not receiue the kernell then it followeth that grace is not necessarily tyed to the outward signe or sacrament Child True indéed for otherwise the faithlesse should gaine as much by the sacrament as the faithfull which were most absurd but most certaine it is that saluation is not tyed nor shut vp within the Sacraments neither doe they giue grace but onely testifie and assure that grace is giuen as sealed euidences doe giue no lands which are otherwise attayned as by inheritance friendship and money but onely testifie that they are giuen and assure the quiet possession and enioying thereof Father Why did God choose these creatures of bread and wine to represent vnto vs the body and blood of Christ rather then any other earthly creature Child Because there are none other earthly creatures that can so fitly represent vnto our outward senses those things which God would haue vs learne by this sacrament Father What be those things that God would haue vs learne by this Sacrament Child By the breaking of the bread we haue to learne the breaking of the bodie of Christ vpon the crosse and by powring forth of the wine the shedding of his blood and by the distributing to all that are present Christs communicating himselfe to all that will faithfully receiue him By eating and drinking wée learne that as bread wine do nourish our bodies in this life so Christs body and blood do nourish our soules to life euerlasting and as the substance of bread and wine by digestion passeth into the substance of our bodies euen so by faith Christ and wée are vnited with an vnspeakable vnion and wée made flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones and this is the proportion and analogie betwixt the signe the thing signified For if the sacraments had not a certaine likenesse of those things wherof they are sacraments then were they no sacraments at all Father What more is to be learned hereby Child That wée being many are one in Christ as of many graines is made one loafe and of many grapes one wine Father For as much as the vnworthy receiuer is dāned as the Apostle saith how wilt thou know whether thou art a worthie receiuer or no Child If I examine my selfe and find that I humbly acknowledge mine owne vnworthines that is to say my sins and be heartely sorry for them and fully purpose amendment of life assuredly resting vpon y e promises of pardon made in Christ then am I worthy because mine vnworthines is forgiuen put out of remembrance Father For whom are the Sacraments ordained Child The sacraments are specially ordained for those which beleeue in Christ and do séeke for remission of sins eternall life onely through his sacrifice for how can the forgiuenes of sin bée sealed vnto the vnbeléeuers whose sin is not forgiuen Father Who ought to approach vnto the Lords supper Child None but such as haue the knowledge of God in some measure
that Doth repentance change or abolish the substance of body or soule or any of the faculties thereof Child No such matter But true repentance doth rectifie and amend them by remoouing the corruption for it turneth the sadnesse of malancholy into Godly sorrow choler into good zeale softnesse of nature to méekenes of spirit lightnesse and wantonnes to christian mirth It reformeth euery man according to his natural constitution not abolishing it but redressing the faults of it Father By what meanes is repentance wrought in vs Child Both faith and repentance are wrought in vs by y t preaching of the Gospell through the inward worke of the holy Ghost Father Is not repentance wrought in vs by the preaching of the Law Child To speake properly it is not For the Law is not the proper cause but rather an occasiō of repentāce because it representeth vnto the eye of our soule our damnable estate and smiteth the conscience with dolefull terrours and feares which though they be no tokens of grace for they are in their owne nature the very gates and the downefall to the pit of hell yet are they certaine occasions of receiuing grace Father Expresse this more plainely Child Euen as a Phisition is sometimes constrained to giue that vnto his patient which increaseth sicknesse maketh his fits more sore and terrible to the end he may recouer him so man because hée is dangerously sicke of sin must bée cast into some fits of legall terrors by the ministrie of the Law that he may be soundly and inwardly cured Father The Law is a scholemaster to bring vs vnto Christ ergo it is the cause of repentance Child It bringeth vs to Christ but not so kindly naturally as doth the Gospel by alluring vs but as it were violently and forceably constraining vs and as they say it bringeth vs not simply and of it selfe but after some sort and manner For the law in it selfe is the ministry of death damnation because it sheweth a man his wretched estate but sheweth him no remedy therefore it cannot properly be an instrumentall cause of that repentance which is effectuall to saluation But the doctrine of repentance is a part of the Gospell and therefore the preaching of the Gospell and the preaching of repentance are put one for another Luk. 96. Mar. 6. 12. and consequently true repentance doth spring out of the gospell as out of his naturall root and most originall cause Father As you haue told me by what meanes faith and repentance are wrought in vs so now tell mee by what meanes they are nourished increased in vs Child As faith and repentance are first hatched and bred in our harts by the ministry of the word so also are they increased by the same and by other good helpes appointed of God for that purpose as prayer sacraments reading meditation conference and such like good meanes Father First then let vs proceed to speak a little of prayer and first of all tell me what prayer is Child And earnest calling vpon God according to his will or as some say a familiar speach betwixt God and vs or as a secret letter wherein Gods people signifie their minde vnto him at large crauing a spéedy answere which hée in his time according to his will and wisedome doth alwayes most graciously returne without fayling Father How manie partes are there of prayer Child Thrée confession petition thanks giuing Father Whereof must confession bee made Child Confession must bée made both of originall sinne and actuall transgressions both commissions of euill and omissions of good And all this must be done with as much particularising as may bée that is calling to minde and reckoning vp particular offences especially those which lie heauiest vpon vs and that with as great griefe vehemency and aggrauation of them as is possible Father Whereof must our petitions be Child Petitions must bée for the remoouing of euill the obtayning of good for spirituall and earthly blessings concerning our selues and those that are néere vnto vs concerning Church and commonwealth concerning magistracy ministerie commonalty Father For what must our thanksgiuing be Child First for al spiritual blessings as election creation redemption iustification sanctification adoption word sacrament good men good bookes good societie good conference all furtherances to eternal life whatsoeuer Secondly for all outward blessings as preseruation of prince country peace for magistrats soode rayment health liberty peace and preseruation For dayly ordinary and particular fauours which are renued vpon vs continually from day to day euen as the eagle renueth her bill Father As you haue shewed mee the parts of prayer so also shew mee some circumstances of prayer and first tell me to whom we must pray Child To God onely Father In whose name must we pray Child In the name of Christ onely Father How must we pray Child In the spirit that is feruently féelingly and constantly which cannot be without a féeling of our misery Father When must we pray Child At all times as occasion and necessitie doth mooue but specially in the time of affliction as it is written if any be afflicted let him pray Father Where must we pray Child Euery where but especially in the publike assembly and our priuate families Father Vpon what must our prayers bee grounded Child Vpon the word of God and the promises of the Gospell Father What must we pray for Child For those things which our Lord Iesus hath taught in his praier which is the perfect platforme of all prayer both for matter and forme Father Which bee those things which our Sauiour would haue vs alwaies to bee mindefull of when we haue any suites vnto his father Child First the honoring and setting vp of his name héere amongst vs both in regard of his Iustice and mercie and also in respect of his worde and wisedome power and prouidence Secondly for the aduancement and flourishing estate of his Church and kingdome by the regiment of his word and Spirit by the increase of good worke men in his haruest and a blessing vpon their labour by a remoouing of all lets by a weakning ouerthrow of all aduersary power whatsoeuer especially that of Antichrist Idolatry and Atheisme Thirdly that all chéerful obedience may at all times and of all persons in their seuerall places and callings bée yéelded vnto his most holy will without grudging or hypocrisie Fourthly that all things necessary for this life may bée ministred vnto vs as food rayment health libertie peace and preseruation and also that a blessing may bée vpon all that wée haue as body goods name wife children family stocke store corne cattell trades occupations yea all the works of our hands both goings out and commings in Fiftly that a generall pardon may be graunted from the throne of grace thorow Christ for the remission of all sin in his blood that therby we may be iustified acquited and discharged Sixtly that we may not