Wine the outward part of the Lord's Supper Yes And is not the inward and spiritual part this The giving of Christ to us his very Body and Blood and all the Benefits and Merits of his Death and Sufferings Yes Doth not the breaking of the Bread shew forth to us that the Body of Christ was broken upon the Cross for us Yes And doth not the Wine poured out shew forth Christ's Blood shed for us Yes Doth not this Sacrament nourish and strengthen our Souls Yes Doth it not nourish and strengthen them in Faith Yes Doth it not nourish and strengthen them in Hope Yes Doth it not nourish and strengthen them in Love to Christ Yes Doth it not nourish and strengthen them in Charity to one another Yes Doth it not encourage every good Christian in a holy Life when he receives these Tokens of his Saviour's Love Yes But may we receive this Sacrament unworthily No. If we would come worthily must we not examine our selves Yes That is to say must we not examine our Faith whether we believe in Christ and believe his Gospel Yes If we would come worthily must we not examine our selves whether we repent of our Sin Yes If we would come worthily must we not examine our selves whether we resolve sincerely to obey Christ's Laws Yes If we would come worthily must we not examine our selves whether we be in Love and Charity with our Neighbours Yes If we would come worthily must we not come and thankfully remember Christ's dying for us Yes If we would come worthily should we not earnestly beg God in Prayer to make us worthy Yes If we come after this manner will God refuse to accept of us No. If we come after this manner shall we not find it a very comfortable Duty Yes If we come after this manner will God cease to love us or refuse to pardon us No. And if we persevere and hold out will he take us to himself when we die Yes Should notorious customary Sinners presume to come to this Sacrament without Repentance No. In Repentance must we not bewail our Sins to God Yes Must we not sorrow because we have offended him we love Yes In Repentance must we not Confess our Sins to God Yes In Repentance must we not stedfastly purpose amendment of Life Yes Does our Repentance signifie any thing without intentions of Reformation No. If we thus repent of our Sins and leave them heartily is not God willing for Christ's sake to be Friends with us Yes Did not Christ die for the Sins of all true Penitents Yes Will not Christ Seal a Pardon to us in the Sacrament if we come faithful Penitents Yes And is it not a strange thing that Men will not come to the Sacrament with Faith Repentance and Charity that so they may have their Pardon sealed Yes Should we not in the Sacrament remember and think upon the wonderful Love of Christ in dying for us Yes Should malicious and uncharitable and revengeful Persons so continuing come to the Sacrament No. Must we not therefore take care to come in Charity Yes Suppose we have done any Man any considerable Injury should we not be ready to make him Satisfaction and reconcile him to us before we come to the Sacrament Yes Suppose a Man have done us an Injury should we forgive him and be willing to be reconciled to him Yes May not a Man lawfully seek Satisfaction for greater Injuries Yes But if we do seek for Satisfaction by Law for a great Injury should it not be without Spite Malice and purposes of Revenge Yes Should we not at the Sacrament offer up something to God for the Use of the Poor Yes Should a Christian that hopes to see God wilfully neglect the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper No. Can he do it without endangering his Salvation No. Should you not therefore take all fit Opportunities to come to this Sacrament after you come to years of Discretion Yes Is it not a good sign of devout Affections and divine Love to come to it frequently Yes Shall not those that conscionably do these things be happy in their change of Worlds Yes Is not eternal Happiness well worth a Christian Life for a few Years Yes Is he wise who will chuse to live wickedly for a little while and live in Hell for ever No. Is it not infinitely better to live and die in Peace Yes AN EXPOSITION OF THE Church-Catechism IN A Continued full and plain Discourse PART II. IN Order to the Explication of this Excellent Catechism we are to consider 't is made up of Five Chief Parts which like the Five Pillars placed near the Door of the Tabernacle Exod. 26.36 37. are the fittest and best Entrance upon Christian Knowledge after our first admission into the Church in the whole World 1. The First Part of it contains an account of our baptismal Benefits Vow and Covenant that is it teaches us to understand and consider what was done for us and in our Name when we were received into the Family of our Saviour into the Christian Church And takes care that we should know what we then promised to do our selves 2. The Second Part of it contains a brief Account of what is to be believed by every Man that hopes Salvation by the Name of Jesus This is comprehended in short in the Apostles Creed 3. The Third Part of it contains an Account in short of what is to be done by every Christian what is to be performed by us if we hope to see God and desire to shew our Love of him by our Obedience And this is briefly comprehended in the Ten Commandments 4. The Fourth Part of it contains a short and comprehensive Account of what is to be prayed for by every Christian And this is contained in the Lord's Prayer which is that very self-same Prayer which our Saviour taught his Disciples when he came to visit us in great Humility and lived upon Earth 5. The Fifth Part of it contains the Doctrine of the Two Sacraments Or a most brief but excellent Account of the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper SECTION I. 1. The First Part of the Catechism contains an Account of our baptismal Benefits Vow and Covenant That is it teaches us to understand and consider what was done for us and in our Name when we were received into the Family of our Saviour into the Christian Church And takes care that we should know what we then promised to do our selves Question WHAT is your Name Answer N. or M. THE First Question is What is your Name and the Reason of it is this That we may remember that when our Name was given us we were received into Christ's Church made Disciples of his and admitted into the number of his Flock by Baptism That we may remember whose we are and to whom we belong That we may remember whose Faith and Love and Obedience we have undertaken here from whose Merits and
himself is effectually and really but spiritually given and exhibited to all worthy Communicants And 2. It was appointed for a Seal or Confirmation and renewing of that Covenant of Grace which God made with us in and by Christ Jesus which is the great Benefit we receive by his Death 'T is true we were as I said admitted into this Covenant by Baptism and 't is as true that we have since that time by Disobedience broken our part of it But here we are graciously admitted to confirm it we renew it here Here we come to own that though we are Sinners yet we are no Apostates have not fallen from the Christian Faith Here we come solemnly to own our Crucified Master and to declare that as we were admitted into a gracious Covenant with God in Baptism so we now desire to confirm it desire to renew it humbly desire to receive the benefit of it to all Ages So that by coming to this last Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the constant remembrance of his Death for us for the real and effectual receiving him and for a renewing of the Covenant of Grace with God we solemnly own whose we are to whom we belong what Religion we are Professors of We here most solemnly distinguish our selves from Jews Infidels and Mahometans We come to own and evidence solemnly to God and the World whose Name we profess and own and upon whose account 't is we hope Salvation We come to own for whose Death and Sufferings-sake 't is that we do humbly expect and hope to be blessed for ever happy for ever secure for ever so sit down in peace and glory for ever We shew by frequenting it upon whose account 't is we humbly hope to be safe then when the whole World shall be in Flames and the Earth with the Works thereof shall be burnt up Here we come solemnly to own upon whose account 't is we hope to have all our Prayers heard and to have our Obedience though imperfect accepted and all our religious Actions and Instance of Duty to be united to his Merits and his Intercession Question What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper Answer Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded c. THE meaning is As the outward part or sign in the One Sacrament is Water wherein the Person is Baptized In the name c. So the outward part or sign of the Other Sacrament is Bread and Wine Here now an ill Person may say 'T is strange there should be so much in pouring a little Water on an Infant and in eating and drinking a little consecrated Bread and Wine To this I answer This is a great instance of our Lord's Love and Tenderness and Mercy to us that he would enjoin us no such painful troublesom and chargeable ways of Service of him as were in the Jewish Church when That was the true Church Their Circumcision was a painful way of admitting them into Covenant with God Their Bullocks Sheep Goats and Lambs were offered up in Sacrifice to him But our Blessed Jesus requires of us no such expensive and painful Rites and Sacrifices in his Service and his Worship No he will please to admit us into Covenant with him into his Church and his Favour by being Baptized with Water In the name c. if we afterward sincerely stand to our Conditions of Faith Repentance and Obedience these easie and reasonable terms Then again in the other Sacrament of the Lord's Supper he permits and invites us to renew this Covenant and injoins us to remember the Death and Sufferings of him our Master not by any painful troublesom chargeable ways of Sacrifice or the like but by coming with Faith and Repentance Charity and Devotion to his holy Table there to Feast together on his Body and Blood represented and exhibited to us by Bread and Wine Question What is the inward part or thing signified Answer The Body and Blood of Christ which are verily c. THE meaning is As Bread and Wine are the outward parts or signs of the Lord's Supper to be seen by the Eye so the thing signified or inward part is this All faithful receivers do after a spiritual manner feed on the Body and Blood of Christ as truly and really as they do on the Bread and Wine They are by this heavenly Duty united more closely to him They behold in the broken Bread his Body broken on the Cross for us They behold and see represented in the Wine poured out his Blood shed for us Having beheld this they then truly spiritually and effectually receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in this Supper that is their crucified Saviour is really exhibited and given to the Souls of all faithful Communicants all the benefits of his Death and Sufferings conveyed to them Question What are the Benefits whereof we are made partakers thereby Answer The strengthening and refreshing of our Souls by c. THE meaning is That all penitent faithful sincerely worthy Communicants are by the receiving of the body and blood of our Saviour strengthened and refreshed both They are strengthened by the Grace of God hereby conveyed to them and they are refreshed by the comfortable hope of Pardon and of being admitted to his Favour Thus By this heavenly Duty their Faith is strengthened by beholding the lively representation of their crucified Saviour's Body broken and Blood shed before their Eyes By this Duty their Hope is strengthened when they see before them what great Things Christ has done and suffered for their Salvation how willing he is to be reconciled and that now there is nothing wanting to their Pardon and Salvation but a sincere Repentance Reformation and a persevering new Obedience By this Duty their Love to God is strengthened by considering and beholding his Love to them in sending his Son to die for their Sins and by beholding the Love of Jesus in laying down his Life for their Redemption By this Holy Duty their Love and Charity towards each other is strengthened when we consider how freely Christ laid down his Life for us all and that we are all Members of his Body how must this needs unite us with Peace and Love as we are Travelling on together to Jesus and Jerusalem By this Duty our Repentance would be strengthened and made more serious deep and persevering when we behold what bitter sufferings our Iniquities brought our Jesus to and in these sufferings behold the great hatred of God to Sin By this Duty our resolutions of Obedience would be strengthened For as the Representation of the sufferings of our dearest Lord for our Interest would encrease our Love so would that Love fix and endear our Obedience By the frequent and devout performance of this Duty our Souls would through the Grace of God then conveyed to them in it be strengthened in a lively and active Faith in a Seraphick Love in Divine Obedience and in a Primitive Piety As in this Duty
28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them Prove it to be necessary to Salvation where it can be had Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Joh. 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Prove the Institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. The Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you This do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New-Testament in my Blood This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me Prove the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper necessary to Salvation up from the Dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Prove that we were by Nature born in sin Psalm 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Prove that we are by nature Children of Wrath. Eph. 2.3 And were by nature Children of wrath even as others Prove that by Baptism we are made the Children of Grace Gal. 3.26 27. For ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Question What is required of Persons to be baptized Answer Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the Promises of God made to them in that Sacrament Prove that Repentance is required of persons to be baptized Acts 2.38 Then Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Prove that Faith whereby they believe the Promises of God is required of Persons to be baptized Acts 8.36 37. And the Eunuch said See here is Water what doth hinder me to be baptized And Philip said if thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest Acts 18.8 And many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized Question Why then are Infants baptized when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them Answer Because they promise them both by by their Sureties which promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform Prove that children of believing Parents are to be baptized Acts 2.38 39. And Peter said Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ For the promise is unto you and to your Children Mark 10.14 Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Matth. 28.19 Go teach all Nations baptizing them Acts 16.15 And she was baptized and her Houshold 1 Cor. 1.16 I baptized the Houshold of Stephanus not only them but their Houshold in which 't is very probable were Children 1 Cor. 7.14 For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they holy Prove that though our Sureties promised Faith and Repentance in our name yet we our selves are to perform them when we come to age Heb. 10.23 Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Question Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordained Answer For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the Benefits which we receive thereby Prove that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was for a continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of the death of Christ 1 Cor. 11.24 This do in remembrance of me Verse 26. As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come Question What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper Answer Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Prove that the outward part of the Lord's Supper is to be Bread and Wine Matth. 26.26 27 28 29. Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it For this is my Blood of the New Testament But I say unto you I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the Vine until the day when I drink it new with you c. Question What is the inward part or thing signified Answer The Body and Blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper Prove that the inward part or thing signified is the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion or Communication of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion or Communication of the body of Christ Question What are the Benefits whereof we are made partakers thereby Answer The strengthening and refreshing of our Souls by the Body and Blood of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine Prove that our Souls are strengthened and refreshed by the Body and Blood of Christ John 6.54 55 56. Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day For my Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him Question What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper Answer To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively Faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and be in Charity with all Men. Prove that they who come to the Lord's Supper are to examine themselves whether they truly repent 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Verse 31. For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged Prove that they who come to this Sacrament must stedfastly purpose to lead a new Life 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the Feast not with the old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth Prove that we are to come to this Sacrament
our Souls are thus strengthened so are they refreshed too by the comfortable Apprehensions of having renewed the Covenant of Grace with our God and Saviour to the Conditions of which if we sincerely stand on our part we are certainly intituled to Heaven and Glory and Immortality We are refreshed as we before intimated by the comfortable Hopes of Pardon of Sin and of being restored to the Divine Favour which we certainly then are if we fail not of our part These are strengthenings and refreshings of the Soul as great as any that can be given to the Body by bread and wine Question What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper Answer To examine themselves whether they repent them c. THE meaning is All that come to this Sacrament if they hope to feast comfortably on the body and blood of their Saviour and to partake of all the benefits of his Death and Sufferings are to come daily prepared And to that end are as the Apostle advises 1 Cor. 11.28 to examine themselves Now this Examination is chiefly to be touching these Five things which are here summed up together in this Answer 1. touching their Repentance 2. Touching their Resolutions of a new Life or Obedience 3. Touching their Faeith 4. Touching their Charity 5. Touching their Thankfulness and Devotion 1. Touching their Repentance Repentance in short is this A change of Life a turning from Sin to God with Confession and Contrition a lasting durable State of new Life and Reformation 2. Touching resolutions of a new Life and Obedience That is a future sincere universal constant and persevering discharge of all known Duty to our God our Selves and Neighbours and where at any time we fail of perfection through Infirmity there instantly to rise again by Repentance a greater diligence and watchfulness 3. Touching our Faith Faith in short is this Such a belief of Jesus Christ and his Gospel as makes us sincerely obedient to his Laws and to live accordingly We are to come with Faith in God's Mercy that is stedfastly believing that for the sake of our Saviour our God will not fail to be reconciled to us upon Repentance Reformation and a persevering future Obedience 4. Touching our Charity Charity in brief is this A sincere Love of God and of our Neighbour for God's sake Now this Charity is to shew its self to our Neighbour in a readiness to Give and Forgive To forgive Injuries that is all lesser and more inconsiderable Injuries so as to seek no satisfaction In greater instances or in considerable and insupportable matters though we may seek for legal Reparation from the injurious Person yet we are so far to forgive as not to seek it with spite and rigour and malice and hatred and with designs of gratifying our revengeful Humour But still to carry a treatable and friendly a Christian and charitable Disposition toward the Person And to be ready to make satisfaction to and to seek a reconciliation with them whom we have injured In giving to them of need and in this holy Sacrament never to appear before the Lord empty In short to be charitably inclined to all Men not only our Friends but even our bitterest Enemies and not to be hindred from it by the difficulty of the Duty considering the Example of our Master and the Crown before us 5. Touching our Thankfulness and Devotion That is to come to these holy Mysteries with a thankful remembrance of Christ's astonishing and most endearing Love in dying for us with a Heart and Soul and Mouth full of Thanks and Praises and Zeal and Devotion Divine Love and purposes of Obedience full of the most affectionate admiration that our God and Saviour should do so much more for us fallen Men than he did for the fallen Angels As for that unworthiness the Apostle speaks of in not discerning the Lord's body that consists in these Four Things 1. In not discerning it by Faith from a common meal or from common food Not discerning Christ's body in the consecrated bread and Christ's blood in the consecrated wine 2. In not by Faith discerning this holy Sacrament from the Jewish Passover as some of the half converted Jews did not 3. In not discerning Christ's body and blood in the consecrated bread and wine so as to come to it irreverently 4. Not so to discern Christ's body as to come to it with a remaining affection to sin with a known willful sin unrepented of unresolved against particularly hatred and malice These are the chief parts of unworthiness So that if we examine our selves touching the Five things mentioned 1. Repentance 2. Faith in the Holy Jesus 3. Resolutions of a Christian Life and a new Obedience 4. Our Charity 5. Our Thankfulness and Devotion and find them in the Soul though in lower degrees and measures yet if we find there withal desires of having them greater let us not then fear of eating and drinking our own Damnation but ever come with a holy chearful humble and devout heart to this most heavenly Duty Thus have I briefly explained the Nature and the meaning and the benefits of the Two Sacraments which are necessary for all men in general to Salvation and which our blessed Saviour a little before he left this lower World appointed and ordered to be continued by us in his Church to the Worlds end to be dispensed by the Ministers of the Gospel to all believers as the ordinary way and means to keep us in Covenant with him and to convey Grace to his People Accordingly he has appointed and set apart a whole Order of Men in succession down from the Apostles to administer the Word and both these Sacraments to all faithful People till his second coming to judge the World The First of these I mean Baptism is the Sacrament by which we are admitted into his Church the Second of these the Lord's Supper is the Sacrament by which we solemnly and thankfully own our having been so The First of these is the Sacrament by which we are admitted to the Favour of our God and Saviour the Second is that Sacrament by which we are to continue our selves in that Favour Again The First of these is the Sacrament by which we are admitted and received into the Covenant of Grace before we knew it the Second of these is the Sacrament by which we renew and confirm this gracious Covenant with our God and Saviour The First of these the Sacrament by which we have a Title given us to a Kingdom of Glory the Second is the Sacrament to which God mercifully invites us to ratifie confirm and renew that Title of ours to a Crown of Life The First of these the Sacrament by which we are new-born to Righteousness the Second of them is the Sacrament by which we are nourished up in it The First of these the Sacrament by which we are made Christians or Disciples of the Holy Jesus the other the Sacrament by which we solemnly