have a fit foundation that is the Will or Law of God Thirdly That it have its Terminus or Correlate co-existing which is Christ as his head and the rest of the Church as his fellow members both which are and shall be alwayes co-existing and therefore this must be a real relation and therefore now to come to answer Durands Reasons why it is Relatio rationis The first of which is As saith he money receives its value and price from humane institution so saith he do natural things receive the nature of a Sacrament from divine institution but money receives its price and value from a relation of humane reason so appointing it therefore saith he these things receive the nature of a Sacrament from a relation of divine reason so appointing it therefore again saith he since a Character is that by which in orders one man is capable of giving the Sacraments and another in Baptism to receive them it is nothing but a relation of reason by divine institution I consent so far as he saith it is a relation without any dispute but it is a relation of divine making and confirming and therefore not barely a relation of reason which in its use of speaking is referred to the constitution of mans soul but it is a real relation such as God makes for if those are real relations which naturally result out of the principles of nature because that is Gods Ordinance much rather are those real which by the immediate hand and power of God are ordained as this and therefore although I think he hath better explained the nature of this Character than others yet he spake too diminishingly of such a most heavenly and divine work to call it a relation of reason and therefore that learned man had very ill luck to boast of that place Ecclesiastic 24. 31. as in the vulgar Qui elucidant me vitam aeternam habebunt They who manifest or make me that is wisdâ—me clear and easie shall have everlasting life This as if he had done he modestly glories in but as I said most unhappily for this Text is only in the vulgar not in the most original Copy which is the Greek which is the most original language that Book is delivered to us in I must confess the sentence is heavenly it is a noble work to clear an obscure piece of wisdome and free it from the incumbrances of Scholastick discourses and I am perswaded as he was of himself he did it only he gives it too poor a name for by this way all the great effects of Baptism are justified of making us the Sons of God members of his body the Church and yet men need be troubled with none of these nicityes which the School is perplexed with as when a Covenant is made with men and their Seal set to it they will be forced to make it good though their will be wicked by the Justice of the Land so God who is Justice it self will make good whatsoever promise he hath made and set his Seal to We need not seek for new entities in the soul whether powers or habits here is this real relation stampt which is most invisible but yet most sure and therefore the safest way for any man to speak in this case SECT IV. What is the Subject of this Relict IF any man shall enquire in what Subject this relation is placed I must oppose all in that as well as the former Some put it in the soul immediately some in the understanding which hath most prevailed some in the will I in neither but the whole man who is made a member of God the very body is a member of God Shall I take the members of God and make them the members of an harlot and therefore the whole man is the Subject of this relation or rather the relate for relations whose nature is ad aliud their beings do not so properly exist In as Ad and because the man is the Subject of this blessed Covenant therefore this indelibility of the Covenant consists only in this life where the soul of man and his body are united not with the soul in heaven or hell as is imagined in generall by the School for which I see no Argument of strength objected That which is said That if a man baptized after his death with Lazarus should be raised again or a Priest who had received Orders should that man be consecrated or baptized again â— answer no for although there was a suspension of the personality of that man yet he is the same individuall person he was and hath the same relations he had If he arise in the same flesh he hath the same fatherhood and filiation to the same persons he hath the same similitudes and dissimilitudes the same equalities and inequalities and therefore likewise as in these so in this he is the same Thus the nature of this relict being explained as I hope so far as is usefull to the understanding of any man we see which way to expound that place before touched Gal. 3. 27. As many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. What have they in the preterperfect Tense have they renewed themselves according to righteousness and true holiness have they cast off the polluted raggs of their corrupted nature and cloathed themselves with the glorious robe of Christs righteousness no not in act but in obligation like him who is admitted into any Corporation or Office of Government he presently is a Governor and we may say hath taken upon him and put on the Government of that place when perhaps he never did nor perhaps ever will do act of justice yet he hath the bond and obligation to do it immediately he is responsible for his neglect so is it with men baptized when they are baptized into Christ they have taken this duty upon them and they are by a new bond which is the relict of this Baptism made debtors to Christian duties whether they pay them or no. SECT V. My Definition reconciled with this Discourse THere is yet one Objection left which I think my self bound to satisfie which is That I defined this relict of Baptism by the Genus of a power but in all my Discourse I have made it a relation for answer to this I say I defined it by that which delivered the nature of it most clearly to our capacity the essence of powers being more easily discerned than that of relations But farther conceive that these moral relations either are powers or the immediate foundations of them as we may discern in those which are instanced in before as a King a Judge a Mayor and the like These either are those powers or have those powers most naturally flowing out of them about which if any will contend I am weary of Dispute Let him correct the Definition and say It is a relation by which a man hath a spiritual power and it will come all to the same effect I have done
Luke 22. 19. to speak of which is only pertinent to the thing in hand The two first Evangelists affirm that only his Disciples were with him see Mat. 26. 19. The disciples came and said to him so Mark the 14. 16. The disciples went forth but St. Luke comes more close and in the 14th verse of the 22. Chapt. saith And when the hour was come that was to eat the Passeover he sat down with the Twelve Apostles So then here we have them who were with him not intimated only by their general name of Disciples which they had in common with the Seventy but the name of their particular Office which was appropriate only to them St. Luke doth particularize in the Case of these men sent into the Town St. Matthew vers 17. where before leaves it at large That he sent Disciples but how many or who is not discovered by him St. Mark Chap. 14. v. 13. punctually sets down the Number he sent two of his Disciples But St. Luke 22. 8. tells who they were James and John I put down this to shew the punctuality of that Evangelist in his Description who writing after the other seems more particuarly to set down some things than the other did especially in this Story Well we see who they were that were with our Saviour at the Celebration of his last Passeover and the last indeed that ever was or could be exacted of the Jews That at the Celebration of it and so likewise at the Institution of the Lords Supper his Twelve Apostles were those that were with him Now they being at Supper in the places before alledged you may observe that he took bread c. But in the 10th of the 22. of St. Luke at the later end of the verse he said this do in remembrancâ— of me this do hoc facitâ— do this thing this thing ye see me do It cannot relate to their own Actions which were only eating and drinking which could in no resemblance Communicate the Death of Christ But Consecrate the Bread and Wine with a Benediction with this Expression this is my body this is my blood and so in my place distribute this in Commemoration of me for although in St. Luke this very phrase do this is only applyed to the Bread yet St. Paul according to what he had received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 25. saith that he used the same to the Cup likewise this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me and indeed St. Luke doth most punctually imply the same although not expresly enforce it in verse 20. likewise also the Cup after Supper saying This likewise referring as St. Paul expresseth to the Conclusion of the 19. verse Do this likewise in remembrance of me he said the same likewise ter the same manner concerning the Cup. Well you see both of these how they are to be celebrated according to Christs Institution now there is a Question raised which I do not find from Christs time downward untile now Who is the Minister of this Sacrament SECT II. Who the proper Minister of this Sacrament THere are many disputes I grant but moved newly there is as I hear though I read it not a Question Whether there be any proper Minister or no of the Communion Consider therefore with me this Text There were none with our Saviour but the Twelve Apostles it is said to these Do this from that Time downward it hath been held that none but Apostolical men Successors of them should do it It is a Thing of the greatest and highest Concernment to a mans Soul that ever was Heaven or Hell is at Stake upon it if we misse Consider it is a kind of lifting up a Creature beyond its Nature Bread and Wine to the body and blood of Christ it is no matter which way one way or other it is a Command given to a selected Number of men These are described by that Office not by a General Notion to be the men are spoken to who then can conceive but so great a power with so great a blessing should be Committed to such men Well then I think it clear here was a Covenant instituted what it was is in other places and Laws of our Saviour described and belongs not to my businesse this only appertains to my businesse That the Apostles were Instituted and they only the Ministers of it only this little I will adde lest some mens observation may stagger at it SECT III. The Communion was Instituted before our Saviours Death THat though our Baptism may perchance appear to take its force from some Command of Christs after his Death yet this of the Lords Supper was now instituted before and yet doth relate to his Death First because Circumcision was not determined but the Passeover was which prefigured the Lords Supper and this which he now celebrated and had finished was the last which by Gods Command should be celebrated among the Jewes Secondly because the Death of our Saviour was at hand so near that there could be no Communion interposed betwixt this and that and therefore it was as it were given in the very Nick of time and as while the Passeover was on foot no Communion could be expected so as soon as that is expired no Iâ—terim betwixt this and that This must appear in its Institution I have done with this I only Consider that as in humane Affairs he that should take upon him the Kings person to act as he without he make him Chancellor or Judge enters into an high presumption so and much greater must his pride be that dares to act Christ in the Sacrament to call for a Sacramental Virtue to the Elements without his Authority which seems to be granted only to this Sort of men and to none other thus I think you see the full Commission of the Apostles until now restrained to the Jews and they were instituted as yet Preachers of the Kingdom of God to come At this Institution of the Communion the Celebraters of that That they and the other Disciples did baptize before is evident That they did not do it without a Commission in honour to them and their piety I am resolved it could not be But what that Baptism was or when or how farr they had a Commission I find not and therefore dare determine nothing CHAP. IV. Gods Method for Mans Salvation WHen our Saviour was Dead and had suffered for the Sins of Mankind he then brake down the partition wall that was betwixt the Jew and Gentile he then as he suffered for the Sins of the whole World so he took Care how all the World should be partakers of these Sufferings of his he could by Divine power have stamped their Souls with infused Graces and by Compulsion have forced men to that â—aith which should be saving but then Heaven and Hell had not been praemium poena he took therefore such a Course as might most ordinately bring men to his
setting out and can proceed no further but to understand the Text and so more abundantly the weaknesse of this Argument SECT III. What is meant by Church FIrst know that by the Church we must understand the visible Catholick Church which hath this power and indeed almost all the promises of Christ which is his City his house his spouse his body but then it is understood of her according to that part which hath that faculty of receiving Complaints he who bids you tell a man any Story bids you not speak it to its â—eet or hands but his Ears which are fit parts to receive the Story or if he be deaf you must do it by writing that his Eyes which are organized for that purpose may entertain that relation Again when a man commands he doth it not with his Eyes or Ears but his Tongue which is the part fitted for that purpose The Church is Christs body it hath many parts when you are bid tell the Church you are not bid tell the feet or hands but the Ear those who are proper for that work when the Church speaks it is not with hands or eyes but with the Churches Tongue which are the Officers for that purpose these men would make the body of Christ all Ear all Tongue every member of the Church fit to receive Complaints and fit to Judge and Censure which is ridiculous Take his own Simile Suppose the Church universal a Corporation there was never any such where every man was a Judge It cannot be therefore so here Tell the Church that is tell those Officers in the Church who are designed and organized authorized for such a purpose and then if he refuse to hear them let him be c. and this that very word brother which he introduceth for the prop of his cause evinceth for all Christians throughout the Catholique Church are brethren and the Duty belongs to them this I think doth satisfie and what he adds is of no moment for he being full with his conceit that by Church is meant a particular Congregation and each man in it labours to build upon that foundation which being overthrown his building perisheth He urgeth a place out of Whitaker to prove that Lay-men have Authority of Censuring pag. 52. but because he confesseth That Whitakers meaning is of a General Council that it hath power over any particular Pastor in the Conclusion of that page and the top of the 53. he forms this Syllogism SECT IV. Another Argument of his answered EVery Member of a General Council hath power in the Censuring of a Delinquent Brethren or Lay men as they are termed are Members of a General Council I deny this Minor he brings no proof although if he had studied this question he could not choose but know it is generally denyed by such Writers as Treat of it Although he is extraordinarily Confuted I am unwilling to let any thing slip which may disturb a Reader He saith the Proposition is proved by Instance and Experience but I know not where He addes immediately If others had not Church power over this or that party if he would have refused to have come into their fellowship and joyned with them then it was his voluntary Subjection and Engagement that gave them all the power and Interest they have To understand this there is voluntary engagement in Baptism and besides this there is no more needfull for it is true he who lives in Scotland cannot be governed by the Bishops of England because they cannot have cognizance of his State and because that the Church hath confined the Exercise of that habitual power which they have every where that it shall not break out into Act in such places and upon such causes which they cannot have a full knowledge of but if he who now lives in Scotland will come and live in England and receive the blessings of Gods mercies in his Covenants from the Church of England if he offend he must be admonished and convented before the â—hurch quoad hoc that is the Church Officers and if he obey them not be as an Heathen If he refuse to Communicate with us in these Spiritual blessings he makes himself as an Heathen So that in some Sence there is a Covenant required that which he calls implicite even in a baptized man for else he makes himself an Heathen towards us in regard of us but this implicite is not like their Covenant which seems to be perpetual This is only pro tempore for the time of his abode and no â—onger That which he yet urgeth that men travell into farre Counâ—ries where are Churches planted certainly that man if they be Protestant Churches he will claim a right in the Church Seals if he be a Protestant if a Papist and they Papists he will do so likewise or else he will be as an Heathen To conclude this he brings some places of Scripture to shew that some would not joyn with the Apostles as Acts 5. 13. where Heathens refused to joyn with the Apostles Luke 7. 30. The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Council c. But can he shew me that any who were Christians refused Communion with them of what Church soever It is not imaginable His Third Argument is only against Presbyterians I meddle not with it His Fourth Argument is thus framed SECT V. Another Argument of his answered THat Society of Men who may enjoy such priviledges Spiritual and Ecclesiastical unto which none can be admitted but by Approbaâ—ion of the whole that Society must be in an Especial Combination But a particular Combination is such a Society who enjoy such Spiritual priviledges c. Ergo. I deny this Minor Laymen in a particular Congregation have no such power to admit allow and approve of every man who comes into that Congregation they may inform but they cannot judge His last Argument from an Induction avails nothing where he saith If the Inventory of all other respects being brought in none can constitute a Church visible then this only must he reckons up mutual Affection and Cohabitation only which are insufficient to make his Induâ—ion I shall therefore set down what makes a Church visible CHAP. XI SECT I. What makes a Church Visible COnsider what makes a Church that if it be visible constitutes a Church visible and certainly for the first if we consider the Church to be the body of Christ the City of God the Heavenly Jerusalem then as we must conceive it consisting of many men we must conceive it likewise having these men united in some form of Government under Christ and like a City an house a body ruled by their King and head Christ who by his Inferiour Ministers and Officers rules and governs this body this City he is of this City who is ruled and governed by the Lawes of this City of this House who is governed by the Oeconomical discipline of this house of this body who is guided and governed by the
he shews here which way we are made members of it that is Christs body to wit being baptized by the same Spirit into Christ the Spirit which enlivens us makes Baptism effectual to the incorporating a man into the body of Christ For what else can that phrase be into the body as a work of Baptism but into the body of Christ his Church Well then Baptism is the Act the relict of Baptism as before is the Thing which makes us members and parts of this body Consider then next Gal. 3. 26 27. 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. Here you see phrases wonderfully expressing the same thing As God is considered in Oeconomicks so he is a father so by Baptism we are adopted the children of God as Christ is the head of the body so we are baptized into him and engrassed as the Spirit speaks elsewhere into the body Suppose Christ to be an holy Garment with which the Crimes and Sins of his Servants are hid by Baptism you cloath your selves with his righteousnesse and you put on Christ under whom your unrighteousnesse shall be hid and your sins covered or else as others expresse it Matters put on a form c. But then if you will adde the last verse If ye be Christ ye are Abrahams seed heirs of the promise you may see these 3. things Children Members Heirs most heavenly united in the second Answer of our Catechism In my Baptism wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven which three in expresse Terms are put down â—y St. Paul and what necessary Thing and Essential as he calls it of another Covenant can adde to a further union than this matters not much Well then it is proved that Baptism doth constitute a Member Now I will examine how this may be justified against his Objection which consists only of Instances against this and no proof of them An Excommunicate man saith he hath no Membership He that renounceth the fellowship of the Church or when a Church is utterly dissolved there is no Church-Membership CHAP. XII His Instances Examined and Confuted The Dissolution of a Church doth not destroy Membership I Will take all these apart and discourse the Evidence of them and begin with the last of which I may justly say posito quolibet sequitur quidlibet Let it be granted that the Church should be dissolved and torn to pieces that being the entire body of Christ Christ could have no body and then there would be no Members but it is impossible the Gates and powers of Hell shall never have power to dissolve it the winds shall bluster and the rain fall but not have force to beat down the City of the living God It shall be in persecution and suffer many miseries but the darknesse shall not be able to comprehend or suppresse the light of it it is true one of their poor particular Congregations may be and hath been shaken and scâ—ttered and their Union dissolved because it is wrought by man and mans hand guards it but it shall never be so with Christs body it shall be a pillar a strong support of all truth yea the ground and foundation in which Truth is inherent and by which Truths are supported that instance therefore falls of its self the foundation is cast down and then the Castle hangs only in the Air. SECT II. How Excommunication doth extirpate Baptisme I Apply my self then to the first Instance of an Excommunicated man in which case I would have wished he had brought some reasons to have proved they were not of the Church but he not doing it I will undertake the question against such Opposition as I can find elsewhere The Question is whether an Excommunicate man be a visible member of Christs visible Church I put the Terms as strict as I can because I will avoid all future Cavilling and I answer affirmatively he is he brings no proof to the contrary So we are upon even Terms if I should say no more only the difference will be in the Authority of the Speaker in which I think he will prevail and therefore I will examine it by reason and as well as I can satisfie the Objections made by some Jesuites against it To understand this Consider that any part continues so long a member of its body as it is united to it and so long it is united to it as it can receive influence from the head and be active and operative in its proper works by the fountains and originals of those motions assisted any way by any outward applications or inward medicines the members of a mans body as it haps out in some Palsies may be utterly unactive so that they cannot stirre or move no not feel or be sensible of any hurt and yet these parts remain members of the body still and it may be by Physicians directions be restored to former vivacity and be quickened by spirits as before coming from the same fountain and this is a Sign it is a member still of this body That which is a member of another body canot by any Act be made a member of this nor that which is an entire body of it self so that when physick can restore a member though it appear to our Senses never so dead yet it is still a member Again Consider for the other Term of distinction That if a baptized man though excommunicate be a member by his Baptism he is likewise a visible member by the same Baptism for Baptism is a visible sign of the Effect it produceth and is as visible in the Excommunicated man as in him that Communicates Thirdly Consider that many parts of the body are by obstructions hindred from that influence of blood and spirits which would enable them to do their duties which yet that obstruction removed hold the same Commerce and Society with giving and receiving mutual correspondence in their several offices again with both head and members These things premised as I think apparent Truth I now addresse my self to the businesse SECT III. Bellarmines Arguments answered THere is a great Dispute betwixt Cardinal Bellarmine and others Whether an Excommunicated person be a member of the Church I must oppose Bellarmine for although the Conclusion seems the same in Thomas Hooker and him yet Hooker offers at no reason for it Bellarmine doth lib. 3. de Ecclesia militante Cap. 6. And he saith Excommunicated persons are not in the Church his first Argument is drawn from Mat. 18. 17. If he will not hear the Church let him be as an heathen c. This saith he is understood of Excommunication I yield But saith he Heathens are not of the Church I grant that likewise but do adde neither doth the Text say they are Heathens no more than Publicans but resembling as Sicut being in that like