it and so analogically he may receive Gods seal the Sacrament and set his own by taking it that yet believes not and as in the Word preached which is the savour of life unto life and of death unto death and a sweet savour howsoever in both he that believes takes his part of the promise he that doth not receives his portion which is the threat so that to either it may be said tolle quod tuum est vade and the terrour of the threatning may conduce and dispose to the acceptance of the promise as fear introduceth love as the needle doth the thread in the expression of St. Augustine even so it fares in the visible Word the Sacrament Farther when the Sacrament which is Gods external Seal of this promise is applied to an unbeliever it hath all that is essential to Gods actual sealing of the truth thereof the promise being made and published the Sacrament by institution signifying it by similitude representing it by sanctification assuring it and God thereby engaging himself to verifie it in respect of external sealing nothing more is done to a true believer for of internal sealing and making the external to be successful or efficacious is not the question neither may we confound the external sealing with the inward which is made by the spirit onely nothing is done more in relation to sealing to him that performeth the condition than to him that fulfilleth it not As when a Writing is sealed and delivered to the use of two to become a Deed when a condition is complyed with or else to be as an escrol he indeed that observes the Condition onely hath the estate thereby conveyed but the sealing is alike to both And this Conditional proposition is an absolute truth even when made unto a Reprobate though it be false that he believes and that he shall be saved yet it is true that if he believe he shall be saved for if the connexion be true though both parts severally considered or though one or other of the parts resolved into a Categorical proposition be false yet the proposition is true Dr. Kend. ubi supra the verity whereof depends on the connexion between the Predicate in the Antecedent and the Predicate in the Consequent which put together so as the Predicate of the Antecedent become the Subject and the Predicate of the Consequent be made the Predicate in a Categorical proposition it will result onely into this indubitable truth He that believes shall be saved Indeed if this Sacrament should be exhibited to an Infidel not added to the Church who had entred into no Covenant with God nor assented by any Historical Faith to the written Word or should have the Sacraments exhibited without the Word then they might argue that the seal were set to a blank but being exhibited to those who are in Covenant with God as all are that be of the visible Church how else can their children be baptized and have received by a Dogmatical Faith the written Word of promise whereof the Sacraments are seals there can be no blank but in the argument if they shall in this case urge it they will not say that it is an untruth or false testimony when it is delivered in the Word though unto reprobates to whom that promise is offered and the offer chiefly bottomed on the sufficiency of Christs death to save all that shall believe it being true that Christ by his death merited salvation for all upon condition of believing if thereby we imply onely the connexion between Faith and Salvation so that all believers shall be saved though it be not truth if we thereby intend that he merited salvation for all persons his death indeed being sufficient for all in regard of the price and merit thereof though we cannot properly say he dyed sufficiently in respect of Christs purpose in laying down his life and of the efficacy of his death I say the offer of this promise to reprobates is grounded chiefly on the sufficiency of Christs death to save believers and partly on our insufficiency to know who shall believe And if this proposition be no false testimony when it is held forth in the Word wherefore should it cease to be true when it is given in the Sacrament why should the same thing be true when proposed thetically generally and to the ear and false when applyed hypothetically particularly and to the eye as if the essence of truth consisted in the manner and way of representation and not rather in the adaequation of things to the understanding If they shall object that the Sacraments are mutual engaging seals and as Gods seals on his part so ought the receivers to set their seals to the counterpart and when God obligeth himself to be their God conditionally they absolutely promise to be his people and therefore when wicked men partake of the Sacrament in them at least it is a false testimony while they profess to be what they are not and because all that are within the Covenant of Grace de jure should be Saints they ought to exclude all such of whom they are not satisfied and convinced that they are such de facto I answer 1. That I grant there ought to be the answer or restipulation of a good conscience in all for to be saved but not in all that partake of the seals of grace and salvation Yet whosoever receives them doth or ought to set his seal to what is thereby sealed to him which is onely that he that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved 2. Let them assign a cause why the same reason holds not in Baptisme and why upon that account they adjourn not the baptising of Infants till they can render that satisfaction seeing Baptisme is a seal of the Covenant as well as the Eucharist and the seal is set to a blank when the baptised hath no faith aswell as when the Communicant believes not 3. Not to mention that there is a kind of mutual Covenant between God and Man in hearing of the Word God obliging himself by his promises there revealed and in us there is a virtual engagement and profession of our religious reception of Gods will and subjection of our Consciences thereunto with belief of his truth hope of the good there promised and love of God which therein reveals himself all which though wicked men seem to profess yet nothing thereof they perform But to insist on prayer there is the like mutual Covenant God obligeth himself by his promise though indeed as Durand aptly Ames Cas Consc l. 4. c. 16. p. 187. promissio divina in Scripturis sanctis non sonat in aliquam obligationem sed insinuat meram dispositionem liberalitatis Divinae and thereby as Thomas Deus non nobis fit simpliciter debitor sed sibi ipsi in some sense to hear our prayers if made in Faith and in our prayers there is always an implicit and for the most part an
ab hoste but onely to argue he had the better because he had the last word without reply is an Argument taken from the Cart where anciently Scolds used to play their prizes and they might as well conclude that the Rock hath the worst because when the surging billows break upon him ◠2. c. 1. De civitate Dei and fall into froth he moves not forward to beat them lower Quis disceptandi finis erit loquendi modus si respondendum esse respondentibus semper existimemus saith Augustine there would then indeed be no end in writing many books But Quid Cannas Mithridaticumq bellum Et Syllas Mariosque Mutiosque Magnâ voce sonas manuque totâ Jam dic Posthume de tribus capellis We need not trouble our selves to inquire how other have fought or who hath been Victor in this Arena but come to discharge our proper parts But yet we need not fight for the Cause is given up and the Weapons laid down and the finger held up as in dedition at the first encounter for they franckly and ingenuously confess That at the receiving of the Sacrament conversion may be wrought or there may be the first sensible feeling of grace wrought but though they quit the field yet they will not come in and yeeld but retreat to this Fortress That this effect is not produced by or flowing from the Sacrament but from the word annexed to and concomitant with it and that the Sacrament is yet no converting Ordinance in an ordinary way nor was sanctified nor may be used to that end But Quisquis hominum sic respondeat nisi qui veritati adversatur contra quam non habet quod respondeat as Augustine to Petilian for what is this but to say nothing Cont. lit Pet. l. 3. c. 36. rather than seem to be convict by holding their peace and to be like the pulse of the flowing Sea which seemes ever and anon a little to retract those waves which yet it sends up in a still rising flood toward the Shore For to recapitulate a little when we argue that if Infidels and faithless persons are to be permitted to be Hearers of the Word because thereby Faith may be begotten in them that then also all Church-members may be admitted to partake of the Sacrament because by it their historical and dogmatical Faith may be elevated and improved to a sound and saving faith hereunto it is usually answered that it follows not by like consequence of reason because the Sacrament is no converting Ordinance but onely confirmes that Faith wherewith men come thither But now I beseech you perpend whether it be not all one to our purpose and the scope of the argument if conversion be wrought at the Sacrament which they grant though attributing somewhat to their acuteness we concede it be not effected by it as long as Faith is wrought there though not thereby there is the same reason for coming thither But then secondly Is not the Word always an essential constitutive part of the Sacrament or can it be a Sacrament but by accession of the Word as well instructive as consecratory to the Element Institut l. 4. c. 14. S. 4. p. 472. that word quod praedicatum intelligere nos faciat quid visibile signum sibi velit quo tendit ac nos dirigit saith Calvin who illustrates this truth by comparing the Sacrament without the Word to a seal set to a Charter without writing and this indeed properly which Allegory they otherwise misapply were setting a Seal to a Blank and therefore he saith farther Comment in 5. Ephes Sola mysterii explicatio facit ut mortuum elementum incipiat esse sacramentum correspondently to Augustine Detrahe verbum quid est aqua nisi aqua accedat verbum ad elementum fit sacramentum and then also the words of Consecration as likewise the visible word the actions instruct also verbum sacramenti est pars ejus instructionis saith Chamier Tom. 4. l. 1. c. 15. S. 9. p. 16. Bell. Enerv. Tom. 3. c. 2. p. 16. and as he tells us that though omne concionatorium non est consecratorium at omne consecratorium est concionatorium so Ames well directeth instruere circumstantes consecrare elementa non debent inter se opponi quid per instructionem circumstantium de elementi destinatione ad usum sacrum elementum ipsum ex parte consecratur Why then doe they separate those which God hath joyned and sophistically argue à malè divisis ad bene conjuncta and interpretatively and in the last result onely seem to say that the Sacrament when it is no Sacrament doth not convert Thirdly as Luther Calvin and Chemnicius and other Orthodox Divines affirm that those sins lapsed into after Baptisme are remitted by Faith and Repentance renewed by the memory of Baptisme so also the word formerly heard but not then applyed and laid to heart being now re-minded by occasion of the Sacrament which else had not been recognized may entitle the Sacrament to be the present and immediate cause of conversion and as the word afterward beleeved makes the Sacrament effectual to an Infant so the Encharist makes that word afterward more efficacious toward Conversion which when it was first heard was not received with true Faith The word calleth it self a light and in creating the new man illumination by the word hath resemblance and Analogy with light in the creation of the world which had the primogeniture among all the works of God being mentioned to be first made and is that whereby other of his works are discerned and quickned and enabled for their operations and as Light is actus perspicui so nothing can be acted in any perspicuity or clearness without the enlightning word yet notwithstanding in a clear light some eyes cannot read without the help of Spectacles and will any man therefore conclude that those Perspectives are not meanes or Instruments of discerning Characters because they have no subserviency to that end without the adjument of Light The Chymists boast much of their Universa medicina and some of them thereby understand the Calidum innatum spiritum insitum which of it self works out and mastereth many Diseases but when some Maladies are too stubborn and violent to be expulsed and there is indication of some proper medicine to be applyed for cure although no remedy can put forth its virtue or produce any effect without it be quickned and actuated by that Native Balsam yet we deny not therefore the force and operation of the Medicine nor dare to affirm it is no healing Pharmacon Fourthly They will not adventure to say the Sacrament doth confirm Faith without the accession of the Word thereunto even formally as it confirmeth and if the requisiteness of such a connexion of the Word therewith doth not frustrate the Sacrament of the denomination of a confirming Ordinance why should the like necessity of the
if it were not the same internal grace exhibited under divers external significative Elements As the Lutherans to verifie that opinion that the Sacraments conferre grace ex opere operato are constrained to assert a Total falling from grace so these men to defend and maintain with more facility this Tenent that the Sacraments are no converting Ordinances have also thought it expedient to deny also that they conferre grace and with an admirable confidence obtrude this as the Doctrine of all Reformed Churches I am not willing to start and prosecute more Controversies at once this which I have primarily taken into agitation will engage enough of time and paper I remember Torquatus his fate that though he killed an Enemy yet suffered punishment because he went out of his Rank and Order to do it I shall therefore appositely to the present subject answer That they need not tell us of differences between the Word and Sacraments no several things but have their different properties else they could not be severall things they might deliver us more disparities but what are those they mention to make a difference between the Preparation or Probation needfull to the one and the other and the Communion and Fellowship in the one and not the other Let it be as it is pretended that the one is a converting and the other a confirming Ordinance doth it therefore follow that there must be a preexamining of the fitness of men in order to the one and not the other that we may admit of the society and concurrence of formal Professors in the one and not in the other Let it be so as it is suggested but is not then the Word the more blessed gracious and venerable Ordinance as to give being is more than to supply food and to infuse life more than to increase strength and so calls for more reverence purity and preparation in order thereunto as more honour is due unto our Parents than to our Nurse and Lawyers put more weight upon those words in a Deed Give and Grant than upon that of Confirm Ipsum esse perfectissimum omnium 1. q. 4. ar 1. comparatur enim ad omnia ut actus nihil enim habet actualitatem nisi in quantum est saith Aquinas and the more noble Effects make the Causes more noble and is not the World to all Ordinances as Faith to the Just and to all righteousness the life and soul thereof Others beside Believers say they may be admitted to the hearing of the Word but yet must no care be had nor triall made whether those that hear believe or not or are disposed to believe And is it no matter whether the Word become the savour of death onely course must be taken that the Sacrament become not deadly no matter though the word be so And if none must be admitted to the Sacrament but those that have Faith then none can receive admission for who can be assured that another hath Faith which is rooted in the heart which onely God searcheth the hidden man of the heart is invisible to any forrein eys the hidden Manna cannot be tasted by any other than he that imbosomes it and the new name is not legible by any save a reflected beam of light If it be answered that they intend onely that such are to be admitted who by a discursive knowledge collected by external signes in the conversation and reasoning from one thing to another they conclude to be faithful and regenerate I answer that such knowledge is not infallible they may be deceived and doubtless are in many and therefore in admitting of some they must needs set the seal to a blank and are false Witnesses and practical Lyers in relation to such as notwithstanding this probation doe deceive them neither can their endeavors to the contrary salve the thing being notwithstanding done though it may render the persons more excusable for doing it who also must still be perplex'd and anxious whether the signes be sufficient and the judgment regular There may be also a partial and male-administration of Discipline and an approbation of the unworthy who may perhaps ascendere ad altare per gradus by stairs of favour sundry ways impetrated and in such cases wherein they yet prescribe that there ought to be no intermission of the Synaxis nor separation from the Church all the prejudices and pollutions and profanations which they so much amplifie and declaim against in mix'd Communions doe arise and occurre But what doe the Sacraments seal more than the Word assures save that the one applyes that more particularly which the other holds forth generally and doth it by a representation to the eye and hand and mouth which the other doth unto the Ear Circumcision is indeed called a seal of the righteousness of Faith And as by an analogy and proportionable accommodation may our Sacraments be so named so God openeth the ear and sealeth instruction also Job 33.16 and binds up the testimony and seals the Law among his Disciples Isa 8.16 Methinks when I reflect on this Argument of theirs I re-mind that sophisme of the Arminians who argue That which every man is bound to beleeve is true but that Christ dyed for him is that which every man is bound to beleeve ergo Which Argument seems to me to have some similitude with this That which seales Christ and remission of sins unto Faith pre-supposeth Faith in them to whom the Scal is applyed but the Sacraments seal Christ and remission of sins to Faith ergo and the like answer may serve to the one and other fallacy viz. That as no man is bound to beleeve that Christ dyed for him unless he beleeve and repent but is rather bound not to beleeve it the death of Christ becoming effectuall to him onely upon condition of his Faith and repentance and the assurance thereof viz. That he shall be saved by Christs death being a conolusion that results from a Major proposition he that beleeves and repents shall be saved by the death of Christ and a Minor I beleeve and repent so the Sacraments seal not the donation of Christ and remission of sinnes in and through him but upon the condition of faith and repentance just as the Promises hold forth Christ in the Word preached And therefore the Seal is not put to a blanck but offered to be set if Covenants be performed as a man seals a Writing to become his Deed when Conditions be performed else to be as an Escrol to the faithless the Sacrament is a Seal in actu primo not in actu secundo a Seal still in its own nature not in the effect a Seal objectively viz. of the conditional Covenant and Promises not subjectively viz. of Faith in that person as the Seal doth not ratifie the services of the Tenant but the Grant of the Lord upon condition of performing the homage and fealty Whether the Sacrament be a converting Ordinance or not I shall onely say succinctly That
and Heresies Perswasions to mildness and moderation 307. DEFENCE SECT XVII They misrepresent their Church-way Whether the Queries of the Diatribe were doubts of Friends or Enemies What are properly scruples 318. SECT XVIII Rom. 14.1 10. discussed Whether they judge or despise their Brethren Psal 15.4 vindicated No other Qualifications required in order to communicating in a Church-member having a dogmatical Faith but to be without scandal whether they reject onely the wicked whether their way render them not guilty of temerarious judgment of judging the heart of bearing infirmities of moral men 320 SECT XIX 1 Cor. 13.7 considered whether they suspect not much evil believe or hope little good of their people of examining the knowing to be exemplar to the ignorant or to nanifest their humility whether it be their duty to submit to such a passive examination whether to call them to it be not directly to detract from them or interpretatively to diffame them small matters are often great in the consequence 2 Cor. 11.2 examined the properties of charity in hoping and believing all the ignorance charged is not to know it to be duty to submtt to their commands whether conversion may be sudden whether the Church have loss or gain by these ways of pretended Reformation 332 SECT XX. Whether the Apologists are charitably suspected or can be justly charged with Pharisaism whether their actings proceed out of tenderness of conscience A paralel between the Apologists and Pharisees in some things 369 169 SECT XXI What was Diotrephes what his ambition whether the Apologists exceed not the bounds of Ministerial power by bringing all under triall excluding and not for scandal and that so many and by common continual practice whether this check not with 1 Peter 5.3 whether those they reject are scandalous themselves separated and left the Church behinde them Of Ecclesiastical power what it is and how far extensive The duty of Stewards It is Christ's honour to have an universal Church Their actings 1. Not commanded or warranted by Gods VVord 2. They act solely Of their Elders of ruling Elders in general not by divine right yet a prudent constitution requisite to be continued in some way the interest of the whole Church in censures the Elders Representatives of the Church whether the ancient Church knew any such 3. They act arbitrarily of the former Bishops the Flowers of the Apologists Canina facundia which they cast on the Opposites of their way the aspersions wiped off and some of them reflected of small things and whether their Injunctions are such what may be the consequences thereof viz. their own power and greatness in the intention which yet in effect may be thereby lessened whether their promiscuous examination be to prevent respect of persons of examining persons known to be knowing of the Shekel of the Sanctuary of their aviling of their people and thereby giving advantage to the Papists to upbraid us of the former Bishops the lack of light in some places through want of some to hold it forth whether the Diatribe aspersed Presbytery to be modelled like Popery the Apologists no friends to Presbytery their way hath some analogy with Popery and accidental tendency thereunto 378 178 SECT XXII Of Independents their godliness their Schism the confessed imperfection of the way of the Apologists their desire of an union with the Independents an admonition to the Presbyterians the confounding of Churches and Parishes by the Apologists their gathering of Churches whether they are guilty of disorder against Law whether Magick were laid to their charge whether they are culpable of Schism and Sedition or injury to other Ministers of the hatching others Eggs like the Partridge 414 214 SECT XXIII VVhy they have not the Sacrament in their own Churches why onely at Pyworthy whether it be no great matter to be called or drawn thither Of their return to their own Churches How they stigmatize the People and judge their hearts Of serving the times they confess the Word and Sacraments to be the same thing what thereupon followes 426. 226 SECT XXIV VVhether they are Butchers or Surgeons VVhether guilty of Schisme Of negative and positive Schisme VVhat are just causes of separation VVhether our Saviour separated from the Jewish Church for instance in eating the Passover They condemn what they practise by confounding Churches and by separation They grant Professors to be visible Saints which destroys their Platform Their Reasons why all sorts are to be admitted to the Word and Prayer VVhether there are not better Reasons to warrant a like admission to the Sacrament VVhether the same conclude it not VVhether the Churches of England are all true Churches Sacraments Notes of the Church and therefore communicable to all Church-Members they grant Discipline enters not the definition of a Church yet they separate for want thereof VVhether they may not aswell deny Baptisme to the Children as the Eucharist to the Parents 434. 234. SECT XXV Their great abuse and distortion of Scripture with what a train of Consequences their Arguments are far-fetch'd they are borrowed from the Donatists Papists Brownists Independents none of them conclude the question as themselves have stated it the Argument raised from 1 Cor. 14.40 examined Whether it be a glorious and comfortable practice that none approach the Lords Table save holy persons Whether their way be warranted by the Laws The moderating of Censures Whether their way have like ground with the antient Discipline in receiving in Penitents Whether there be order and decency in mix'd Communions The lesser good to be omitted to acquire the greater the confusion and disorder of their wayes 250. 450. SECT XXVI Jeremy 15.19 Discussed and vindicated 264. 464. SECT XXVII 2 Thes 3.2 6. Opened and redeemed from their misapplications Whether antiently the Commerce with any not excommunicate were avoided VVhat society Excommunication cuts off from How Suspension might be used and is abused 267. 467. SECT XXVIII 1 Cor. 5.11 Ventilated and the Chaff of their Interpretation dispersed Whether we may have communion in sacred things with such as we may not have society with in civil 274. 474. SECT XXIX Matth. 7.6 The sense thereof enucleated and shewed not to be subservient to their purpose but odiously abused VVhether Ministers may act in Censures alone and upon their own knowledge 281. 481. SECT XXX 1 Cor. 11.27 sequent Discussed of eating and drinking unworthily VVhether there be a necessity of examining all because some cannot examine themselves Whether any irregenerate man can examine himself VVhether this tends not to introduce Auricular Confession Jude 3. opened 288. 488. SECT XXXI 1 Tim. 5.22 Interpreted and answered Of Principals and Accessories 1 Tim. 3.10 considered Not like Reasons to examine those that are to communicate and those that are to be ordained 293. 493. SECT XXXII 1 Pet. 3.15 Heb. 13.17 Discussed VVhat obedience is due to Ministers and what power they have 497. 297. SECT XXXIII Levit. 13.5 2 Chron. 23.19
own faces and put upon themselves the reproch of bad builders He is not like to build the house better that hath not entred at the door The influence of the Agent is upon the Patient well prepared and those preparations and previous dispositions are best wrought by familiar and gentle applications humble condescentions meekness of spirit and by being given to Hospitality which are the most proper tools and most effectual Instruments to build with durum durum non faciunt murum and he that shall chuse to make use of the contrary may think to build such a Chamber for himself as Tobias had by the preparation of Eliashib in the Courts of the house of God but he may not hope to build Gods house especially when his Rod takes up almost all the Ark and leaves so little room for the pot of Manna The Halcyon or Kings-Fisher doth onely build his nest in a calm and the Fishers of the King of Heaven are onely like to edifie the Church by calm comportments and gentle applications not by raising such firy and boysterous storms Amphions Musick brought together and laid the stones for building the Walls of Thebes but they are so long and so much knocking and beating of the stones that they break them to pieces and are like the Italian Musicians that were admitted to sound their Airs before Sultan Achmet which were so long a tuning of their Instruments that he thought this their best Musick and sent them away with contempt and indignation and frustrated of their reward SECT VII The Apologists causlesly irritated by an Allegory Quis te tam lene fluentem Moturum tot as violenti gurgitis iras Nile putet WHO would have imagined that the drawing of an Allegory from Nebuchadnezars Image would have been an occasion to bring me into the firy Furnace as St. Augustine calls an Adversaries angry mouth and that quicquid tetigero ulcus erit Bitterly they say but Flagrantior aequo Non debet dolor esse viri nec vulnere major I conclude that I cannot but excuse such as at the sound of such Musick cannot fall down and worship the Image which Nebuchadnezar hath set up I make their holy and Christian way the means antonomasticè of spiritual life though I trust all are not spiritually dead that partake not of these meanes Nebuchadnezars Image and Idolatry and their Exhortations moving soules to their society as tending to Reformation and some rise of order so as it seems they only are of the Reformed Religion whereas they onely reform the Church militant in the Military notion as Troops and Companies are said to be reformed when they are lessened This is Pagan Musick Magnum crimen Caie Caesar ante haec tempora inauditum But are the Apologists in earnest and will they as much blemish their Charity to think I intended this as their discretion to suppose that this can be inferred from my expressions If I seem to conclude bitterly it is because the stomach vitiated the tongue with choler therefore every thing tastes bitter Doth it more imbitter them to hear the same thing drest in a Rhetorical figurative expression than in a rustical and blunt Language Acuto quà m retuso telo vulnerari commodius sit saith the great Physician Celsus A comparison reflects more light and impresseth more complacency than a simple contemplation If I had said I could not but excuse these that could not dance after their pipe would not that have irritated them with the harsh sound thereof And what do I in that other delivery of my self but signifie the same thing in other words Scaliger tells us of a Maid that sounded at the sight of a Rose as Cantharides are killed with smells of sweet flowers and it seems the Apologists are offended with a poor Flower of Rhetorique a Rose that hath no prickles Allegories are but implicit and contracted similitudes which as they must not be wrested beyond their scope and as Heralds say of Bearings the resemblance must be taken from the best of their properties not the worst so he that shall apply all that to the subject of the apodosis which agrees to the subject of the protasis will forfeit as much of discretion as of charity In that Allegory viz. where the dead carcass is there will the Eagles resort the carcass refers unto and shadows out our blessed Saviour but dare any to be so foolishly blasphemous as to apply unto our Saviour other properties of a carcass than that one of conveying his Saints to him as Eagles to a carkass Do not the Apologists in the close of this Section tell us in the phrase of Scripture of Adders stopping their ears to them and of their piping to them that have not danced and shall we have so little wit or ingenuity to say they grant themselves to be Charmers or Fidlers With as much colour of justice do they complain else-where that I lay Magick to their charge in saying their gathering others from their proper Pastors into their Church resembles that Magick which some Romans were slandered with of charming and bringing other mens fruits into their Fields As Socrates said of Heraclitus his Works What I understand is good what I understand not I beleeve is good So when they else-where complain of despiteful Calumnies cast upon them who will not contrariwise be apt to say what I know hath no cause of complaint and therefore I beleeve what I know not is as causless But as it tends nothing to the honour of their patience imbecilla se laedi putant si tanguntur so as little to the repute of their innocence to be so tender Hieron in Is 2. Tom. 4. p. 20. Aug. Tom. 7. p. 69. as to catch fire from every spark for not onely wise Tacitus hath said agnita sunt si irascaris but more reverend Hierom Qui mâ—hi irasci voluerit priùs ipse de se quod talis sit confitebitur and perchance when they suspect I accuse them of Idolatry they re-mind that of Hierom Omne dogma contrarium veritati adorat opera manuum suarum constituit idolum in terra sua SECT VIII In whom the School vesteth the power of Church-censures Whether the Apologists may de jure or doe de facto censure alone How they have restored the Sacrament THE Paper quantum distabat ab illa that otherwhere is too parsimonious is here quanto majora dedisti become very prodigal in granting them more power than they desire and then surely the grant is exceeding large for it impowers the Minister alone to excommunicate which the Learned make an act of jurisdiction belonging to the whole Church the act and exercise of that power none but their late sprung party of Independents do invest the whole Church with though the Church-Representative in general Councils perchance do assume it Or to the Officers of the Church which is not so accurately expressed for the Minister is a Church-Officer too but
illa verba dicta esse à Christo tum ad commendandam charitatem suam tum ut emolliret cor Judae ut resipisceret non indignè communicaret And Sylvius addeth ut discamus nihil ab eo praetermissum quod ad emendationem pertineat That Judas departed before the administration appears because having received the sop he went out immediately and what that signifies every Englishman knows that is instantly forthwith That the Sop was exhibited to Judas the same night of the Institution and before the Sacrament instituted which is implyed in this cryptical Syllogisme is no such principle as to be evident in it self and to need no proof and I am deceived if I have not formerly manifested that it was dealt him at another time and if it were given him in that night of the celebration of the Lords Supper yet that it was done after it was ended is to the judgement of Augustine Beda Hugo Thomas and others as Vasquez quotes them and of Cyrill and Chrysostom as Suarez alleageth them Ubi supra For the terme immediately Customary use Quem penes arbitrium est fas norma loquendi hath rather evidenced it that when we say we will immediately or instantly come or goe or doe a thing we doe not binde or conclude our selves to a precise and punctual instant but think we have complied with our engagement if in a short time we performe it and the use of the word in Scripture doth afford such latitude and thereof may be vouched a multitude of instances When our Saviour tells us Mark 4.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when the fruit is brought forth immediately he putteth in the Sickle we do not see nor can imagine that the husbandman watcheth to reap his Corn in the first instant of its ripening Luk. 19.11 they thought the Kingdome of God should immediately appeare I presume not in an instant but after a short space John 6.2 Immediately the ship was at the land not in an instant by miracle but by a speedy yet successive motion Acts 17.10 Immediately they sent away Paul and Silas but such a dispatch could not be prepared in a moment Mar. 1.28 Immediately his fame spread abroad thorough all the Region which could not be carried so farre but in some length of time Mark 4.5 Immediately the seed sprung up where immediately can onely signifie speedily for seed doth not pullulate but after some little time and that which our translations render straightwayes is in the Greek for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same which they here translate immediately and he that considers the things mentioned to be done straightways Mark 2.2 and 3.6 and 15.1 will be facil to belevee that they could not be set about and entred upon and expedited in lesser time than our Saviour might have administred the Sacrament after he had dealt Judas the Sop. Nay we finde that the Sacrament of Baptisme is in the preparation for it and administration thereof said to be done straightwayes as Acts 16.33 it is said that the Jaylour and all his were baptized straightway the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as it signifies in praesentia subitò so here the Vulgar and Castalion render continuò so doth Beza in some Editions in other illicò as doth Piscator and by the same word Continuò doth the Vulgar and sometimes Beza translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here John 13.30 in some Editions he reades statim as Piscator doth also so doth the Vulgar elsewhere as in that of Mark 4.29 turne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into statim which in John it translates continuò so as it seems the words are all Synonimous or indifferent But then it is not imaginable that all the Jaylors family could be convened and prepared and things accommodate for their baptisme in an instant and therefore Tremellius out of the Syriac as he renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eâdem horâ the same houre in that of John 13.30 so doth he also in that of Acts 16.33 translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eâdem horâ But if we should confine immediatly to an instant yet the Apologists cannot make it cleare when that instant commenced For not to insist upon the sense of Baronius and Maldonat that he went out immediately before Christ his solemn Sermon and was no partaker thereof Continuò saith the Cardinal solùm significat Judam non exspectasse prolixam Christi concionem it is observable what Vasquez prompts us with that it is not said he went forth immediately after he had received the Sop but having received it acceptâ offulâ as Beza and Piscator or cùm accepisset as the Vulgar reade the Greek particle of the Aorist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after the mention of giving the Sop Satan is said to have entred into him and Christ said what thou doest doe quickly now it is likely that between the Sop and Christ his Speech was Judas confirmed in his wicked purpose by being possessed of the Divel to perpetrate it and after Christ his Speech from thence the instant commencing then immediately he went forth not immediately after the Sop but chusing that opportunity to goe off to escape farther discovery seeing his going out might be interpreted to be by reason of being sent by his Master to doe some service quickly and so the Paraphrase of the words will be when Christ had said what thou doest doe quickly then immediately Judas having already received the Sop wherewith the Divell entred to spurre him faster to his treason went forth And so the mention of the receipt of the Sop at his going forth shewes not the moment of the time but the cause of his Exit the Divel driving him that entred with it But whereas Dictator-like they tell us that those words what thou doest c. were spoken before the Sacrament we desire we may be excused to suspend our Faith untill they prove what they say or prove that all they say is Oracle They think he spake well that prompted them to say that Judas was but◠had Porter to let in men to the Sacrament Verba nitent phaleris sed nullas verba medullas Intus habent Judas was not he that lets in but he that entred not he by whom but after whom others may seem fit to be admitted To prove that others besides such as have approved signes of holiness may have accesse it had been unapt and incongruous to have produced the example of an holy Man but the instance of such a Son of perdition is a very proper example but what rigid and injurious Porters are they that shut such as are not notoriously wicked and scandalous out of that gate where Judas had entrance There was no visible cause for his exclusion Then we trust it follows after all this bustling to the contrary that he was admitted or else Christ excluded him without visible cause and then sure he could be
upon one side as that of the Papists is on the other who thinke she deserves them now because then she did It is no Argument because Jordan falls into the dead Sea that it never had fresher streams neither is Rome like the Birds of Phineus that whatsoever she hath touch'd must be afterward polluted It was enough for my purpose that I proved the thing de facto and I am no more obliged to prove it de jure than our Divines are to justifie the deferring of Baptisme by some in the ancient Church and particularly by Constantine untill toward their death because from thence they collect an Argument Tertullian Haymo Aquinas Erasmus Glossae aliique that Baptisme was not then beleeved to be of such necessity nor more than those many and great names of Tertullian Haymo Aquinas Erasmus c. that conceive St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.29 did draw an Argument to prove the Resurrection from a practice either of the Cerinthians or the Marcionites could suppose he intended to legitimate that custome But of this usage which we discourse of however these austeri Aristarchi may lash it yet the modest sweetness of famous Chamier as Ut quisque est major magis est placabilis will take with more complacency than their harsh censoriousness Ubi supra S. 18. S. 28. p. 127. who having said that consultissimum ut Sacramenti actio sit continua addes of this practice quia olim factum à piis viris non sumus adeò praefracti in nostra sententia ut damnemus And indeed though Protestant Divines condemn the reposition of the Sacrament in order to circumgestation and adoration c. yet Sacramental actions being defined by their ends and this transmission of the Elements being onely a continuance of their first Ordination to a Sacramental use and so the Sacrament being a Relative and being not extra usum had still rationem Sacramenti and the conservation thereof elsewhere being signified unto and ratified by him that was to receive since the words work not of themselves but by the understanding of him that communicated may seem sufficient Therefore under these Aspects this Custome which partly arose in times of Persecution l. 1. obser 8. p. 60. and partly was grounded on this reason as Albaspinus tells us out of Innocent that they to whom it was sent se à nostra communione non judicent separatos and perchance upon other reasons of which as of other usages though our great distance may render us ignorant yet it seems they were so weighty and considerable that no Christian then living interposed any Objections against them I say this Custome is not therefore condemned though not altogether approved by our gravest Theologues as Morton Chemnicius Gerhard c. But for my part since the Apologists Contra ibunt animis vel magnum praestet Achillem I shall not hazard the Charge nor abide the Shock of such bold Assailants but quit the ground having already served my turn of it They had the confidence in the fromer Section to proclaim the Fathers were for them but now Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo being but a little galled they wince and say that Antichrist hath been long working in the Church and the Fathers it seems were his Chaplains and his Work was carryed on by them and not onely by the Gnosticks and other Hereticks and might be too prodigal of Christs blood I wish they could vindicate themselves from being worse than Prodigals that are so covetous thereof avarus est deterior prodigo But neither could the one lavish nor can the other with-hold from others his blood but only that which properly is but the sign thereof and to become his blood to those alone that beleeve and to be effectual in sealing of Salvation by it upon condition of Faith yet that signe without prodigality to be exhibited to all that profess Faith and can discern what is thereby signified and the Salvation to be offered in signo to whom it was never intended in beneplacito Salvation upon condition of Faith in Christ being but the tenor of the Gospel which is held forth in the Sacraments as well as in the Word onely with a different manner of propounding and therefore anciently the Catechumeni as soon as they were baptized and till then they were not held faithful were at once admitted to publick hearing of the Gospel and participating of the Eucharist Which Custome as it is witnessed de facto by our Divines formerly quoted and by many of the Fathers mentioned by Lorinus so the same Author thinks In Acta c. 2. v. 42. p. 109. it had its ground and rise from Act. 2.41 42. where it being said that four thousand were baptized in one day of whose conversation sure there could be no tryal had neither could they make any special confession of their Faith whereof their coming to be baptized onely was a reall profession which though it was usual in the baptizing of such as came over from Paganisme that they might testifie they were Christians yet there is neither the like Rule nor Exercise nor Reason for a Confession to be made at the Eucharist by those who have been bred in the Profession of the Faith and where their approach and desire to participate is a special profession as I have shewed I say as soon as it is said they were baptized it is added in the next immediate verse They all continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread that is in breaking of the Eucharist as the Syriack reades and the general sense interprets it and prayers From discrediting the Witnesses they speak to enervate the Testimony viz. That Strangers by place may upon knowledge of some members or Certificate from the Church be admitted but I briefly demand Whether without farther probation upon such Knowledge or Certificate onely they shall finde admission or not If yea they give up the cause Tam Scythae lasso meditantur arcu Cedere campis for this might alwayes supersede all farther tryal and closeth with what we have asserted That the knowledge of men collected by ordinary converse with them might frustrate and prevent all farther examination If not they given us words that signifie nothing and which onely Sunt apina tricaeaue aut si quid vilius istis Indeed it is obvious in Antiquity that strangers were not regularly admitted to the Sacraments without Certificates from their proper Pastor which were called Literae communicatoriae formatae But their way is as dissonant from this Rule as the observing thereof would be destructive to their ends Ne quis sine literis Episcopi sui in aliena Ecclesia communicet 1. Concil Carthag Can. 6. Apud Centur. Magdeburg 7. Apud Caranzam for such Literae formatae would altogether frustrate their new Formatae Ecclesiae gathered and made up of such as have no such Communicatory Letters SECT XV. Of daily communicating
Churches that they may better suspend their people which hath some affinity with Caligula's wish That the whole City of Rome had but one neck that he might cut it off at once to take so much pains to justifie and defend their suspending of so many as unfit when as he said to his Son encountring with his Enemy Percute qua aratrum the same labour might have made the most of them fit and however they shall be fitted yet to give them no admission or entrance but onely by stepping over their threshold which they have set up by Gods threshold he that shall deny that this is to be carefull to exclude and keep men from the Sacrament and as Alcibiades perswaded Pericles to be studious rather not to give than to give an account so that this is to be more solicitous not to give than to give the Sacrament he hath been bred up in Anaxagoras his School where in defiance of sense it was denied that the Snow was white and if I should do it I should doubt that even for this I should come too near the danger of incurring some of Chrysostome's stigmatical Epithites Chrysostome was ere while as full as they could wish now he is fulsom and their stomaces cannot digest an argument collected from his words They very calmly and with silence let pass the greatest and most forcible part of the testimony and onely pick a quarrel to the application of one piece thereof Chrysostome had said that he that stands by and not communicates is wicked shameless and impudent And the Paper thence modestly as it could offered it to be considered by arguing à pari if not à fortiori where or upon whom that censure would fall or how it would be-reversed if those that stand by and would yet shall not be suffered to participate hereupon Ignescunt irae duris dolor ossibus haeret They take this shaft into their sides as if aimed at them and complain of the wound and indeed cùm vitia incessimus reum ira manifestat but I shall say with St. Hierom Neminem specialiter meus sermo pulsavit Tom. 1. ep 2. ad Nepol c. 26. qui mihi irasci voluerit priùs ipse de se quòd talis sit confitebitur As our Saviour told the Jews That not he but Moses accused them so it was not I but Chrysostome that laid the censure and leaves it not on them but ex Hypothesi upon supposition they do that which he censureth it was he that delivered the Law as the major if their conscience become the witness against them in the case and make up the minor for the conclusion let any man be judg I could not borrow a nail from that Master of the Assemblies as the words of the wise are called and not drive it to the head nor bring forth and onely shew the weapon and not strike with it nor make it like Thebes when Epaminondas was slain a spear that had no head or point If they shall prompt me how I might apply the words to make them argumentative in any more modest or candid manner I shall be very docible to write after their copy and excuse and expunge my former characters or Ut Lugdunensem dicturus Rhetor ad aram My tongue shall lick out and make amends for the blots of my Pen. But noise and outcries whatsoever some Nations imagine will not help an Eclipse As in Tophet they set up a loud sound and raised clamours to drown the cry of the dying childe so perchance they keep this ratling about thatwhich seems to pinch the credit of their persons onely to drown the sound of that blow which-mortally wounds their cause for what was transcribed out of Chrysostome That he which was unworthy of the Eucharist was also unworthy of the prayers this they take no notice of like weak souls that wink when they are put in fear and think the danger lessened which they see not And this though his words seem yet to be the sense of the whole Church which did conclude all her publick and solemn prayers with the receiving of the Sacrament so as Albaspinus tells us De vet eccles rit l. 1. obs 16. p. 124. Mede Christian Sacrif Sect. 1. p. 475. Vix repories quenquam eo i. solenniter usum esse nisi ad Eucharistiam significandam As we vocally conclude all our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord so saith Mr. Mede the ancient Church in the solemn and publick service when she presented her self before God as one body did visibly by representing him in the Symboles of his Body and Bloud he being thereby commemorated and received by them and us to the same end for which he suffered that through him we receiving forgiveness of sins God might accept our persons and prayers The Stations which were but dimidiata jesunia Fasts extended to the ninth hour and not prolonged usque ad authoritatem demorantis stellae in Tertullian's Idiom and which he tells us had their name from the example of Souldiers whose standing to watch before the Palace being called Stations I. 1. obs 14. p. 101. gave the like appellation to the Christians coming together twice a week and continuing together in prayer for defence of the Church and to impetrate Gods favour those Stations being as Albaspinus describes them Nihil aliud quam coitio ac veluti conjuratio totius ecclesiae contra Deum and whereby as Tertullian speaks quasi manu facta eo Deum perpellebant adi gebántque ad id quod obnixè peterent concedendum But those Stations were always concluded with the Eucharist as the close and upshot thereof In the fifty days betwixt Easter and Whitsunday L. 1. obse 15. p. 106 108 a time of more solemn prayers and which Albaspinus affirms to equal the Lords day in Worship and Religion every particular Christian saith he most sweetly was compelled and enforced to receive the Eucharist Besides they had no other place where they offered the publick prayers but that whereon the memory of Christ's Body and Bloud was celebrated and even as in the Old Testament where they called on the Name of the Lord there they still built an Altar and their Sacrifices were Rites whereby to invocate God as may be collected from 1 Sam. 13.12 So in the swadling of the Christian Church Breaking of Bread or as the Syriack reades the breaking of the Eucharist and prayers are conjoyned and both referred to their Christian fellowship as the Exegesis thereof shewing wherein the Communion of the Church consisted so as therefore whosoever was of the body of the Church did both partake of the Prayers and of the Altar and who was divided from the one had no benefit of the other as Mr. Mede produceth Ignatius to witness Pag. 494. and it was morally impossible that those which were received as competent for a conjunction in the former could be rejected as incapable of Communion in the later
promises though with some more particular and appropriate application upon performance of the condition Chamier Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 9. S. 18 Easdem res confirmare quae prius erant solis verbis conceptae est enim ea signorum natura ut quae Diplomata in membranis sunt fiant efficaciora sortianturque effectum suum Sacraments having some analogy with an Oath wherewith God confirms the promise willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs thereof the immutability of his counsel non suam naturam spectans sed nostram infirmitatem and therefore Paraeus calls our Sacraments In Hebr. c. 6. v. 17. p. 888. God's visible Oaths as the very words saith he manifests for Lawyers call a solemn Oath a Sacrament and therefore they are Gods Oaths in confirmation of his Promises Si verbum meum non sufficit ecce signum do addes Chrysostome but then even in confirming Faith objectivè they consequently not onely strengthen but beget Faith subjectively as a Seal in confirming the Writing begets a beleef of the validity of the assurance and so are meanes of Conversion producing a firmer assent to the truth of those Promises which before were not effectually laid hold of Dico sacramenta saith Chamier esse notiora efficaciora fidei faciendae Ubi supra S. 24. p. 42. observe he saith faciendae non tantùm confirmandae ipsa promissione codem modò quo sigilla regia sunt notiora â—fficaciora ipso diplomate nimirum quia solent apud nos esse cognitiora certioraque quae in oculos cadunt quà m quae auribus admoventur As then he that is not satisfied with a bare single promise may credit an oath and then that oath is properly the means whereby he is perswaded into a beleef and as when a naked Writing is not held a good Conveyance until it become a Deed sealed and delivered that sealing and delivery makes good the assurance and is that which invests the right and interest so when the Word preached doth not profit being not mix'd with Faith in them that hear it the Sacrament that superadds to the Dogmatical or Historical Faith a fiducial assent doth not onely confirm but cause that Faith which justifieth and brings peace with God And to say it cannot properly be said to doe this because it doth it not without precognition of the word is as if they should say that because a Deed is a writing sealed and delivered that it doth not therefore become of force from the sealing and delivery but from the writing read or that an incorporal estate did alwayes pass when the grant alone was read and was onely confirmed by the sealing and delivery Though most of their cunning lye in such generalities yet I shall not insist on it that Christ hath promised to be with us in all his Ordinances unto the end of the world And that there are general promises that their hearts shall live that seek God Psal 6.9.32 Prov. 8.17 Matth. 7.7 Lam. 3.25 Psal 75.4 that the Lord will be found of them that seek him and is good to them that wait for him and to the soul that seeketh him and they that dwell in his Courts shall be satisfied with the goodness of his house and that this is extensible and accommodable to seeking and waiting on him in all his wayes and Ordinances and as a general rule extends to and comprehendeth all particulars not specially and expresly excepted so they must shew by direct and explicit proof that the grace of conversion is denyed to this particular ordinance or else it is included in the affirmation of such grace to be annexed to ordinances in general As the generative faculty for propagation of the species is still supported and enlivened by influence of Gods benediction Be fruitful and multiply semel quidem dicta est semper autem fit saith Chrysostome so the converting power in the Sacrament for continuance and dilatation of the Church is maintained and verified by the power of Christ's blessing of the Elements to the remembrance of him which commemoration is efficacious to the engaging of the heart to him The Sacramental Elements are the Body and Blood of Christ and the Blood of the New Testament shed for many for remission of sins as well by signification as by obsignation and the obsignation is but an higher kind of signification they are the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ In locum signifying and sealing them accompanied with their effect and spiritual reality saith Deodate by virtue of the Holy Ghost And why should not the signification be really effectual in production of reall grace as the sealing to the causing of relative or the signification have no such effect in the Sacrament which is so efficacious when made in the Word Beside every promise made to the Word Homil. 3. aâ—â— Ephes c. 1. is extended to the Sacraments which are but visible words And when Chrysostome in his Exhortations to frequent communicating affirms not onely by these things set before us viz. the Sacrament but by Hymnes also doth the Holy Ghost descend he implyes that by the Sacrament the Holy Ghost more evidently came into mens hearts than by the other means and whether that of 1 Cor. 12.13 of drinking into one spirit which the Syriack Ambrose Augustine and others render drinking of one spirit and which Calvin thus expounds Participationem calicis huc spectare ut unam Christi spiritum hauriamus and Piscator Etsi verbi auditionem sacramentor legitimam c. brationem spiritus consolans sanctificans sequitur remunerationis ergo potiores â—amen esse in eo sacramentorum partes neque sane leviter praetereundum est quod Paulus dixit nos spiriâ—â— potari eui nihil unquam simile protulit cum de verbi praedicatione locutus est Thes Salmur part 3. p. 40. Calvin in loc Piscator in loc Gerhard loc com tom 6. c. 20. p. 173. Chrys in homil moral 24. Ut regenerentur ab uno spiritu viz. Sancto and Gerhard Ex uno calice bibimus ut unum spiritum accipiamus refer not to the conferring of real grace as well as relative and so whether those Testimonies of Chrysostome and other Fathers which if I should muster up for my defence I might like that Romane Vestal be oppress'd with the multitude of such Bucklers concerning the Sacrament calling it Fundamentum salus lux vita medicamentum immortalitatis antidotum non moriendi the saying of Ignatius Renovationis regenerationis causa which is Nyssen's vivificatio spiritûs which is Cyril's Saint as mentis which is Cyprians c. relate onely to confirming not begetting of Faith let men more learned judge but truly I cannot beleeve Can they deny that the Sacrament by shewing forth and signifying the Lords death and putting us in remembrance of him and his Body broken and his Blood shed for the remission of sins is a part of the Gospel or good
till the work of Grace be manifest in them is to shut up the means from them till they have acquired the end to restrain them from Physick till they have recovered into health to forbid them to wash their hands with water till they be clean and to keep them from the fire till they be warm A great Master of the School sets it down as one difference between infused and acquisite habits Christian and Philosophical virtues Estius in 2. dist 27. sect 4. p. 384. that Virtus Christiana non requirit praeviam actuum frequentiam sicut virtus Philosophica sed etiam uno actu acquiratur aut sine actu praevio infundatur But if infused habits were wrought in the manner of acquisite as some conceive yet as in natural generations though the previous dispositions were precedent yet the introduction of the form is momentaneous so in Regeneration though the Word heard have wrought some preparations and predispositions yet the new heart may be conferred at the instant of receiving and the new name be given together with the Manna whereby the ultimate disposition to that form may be wrought by the infusion of the sacred Spirit and as though Sol homo generant hominem yet the man as the proximous and immediate natural cause is called the Father of the childe and not the Son so the Sacrament though enlivened and quickened by the Word may be notwithstanding justly named the moral cause of conversion and whensoever else that new heart is inspired and that change wrought yet as in natural mutations when there is a transition from one state to another and from privation to a form or habit the same individual moment is the end of the one and beginning of the other Illud in quo aliquid primo mutatum instans est and the Ultimum non esse unius est primum esse alterius and thereupon as the most of Philosophers affirm Omne quod movetur partim est in termino à quo partim in termino ad quens and also as In motu recto cum reflectione non datur quies intermedia so in some analogy herewith when there is whether by the Word or Sacraments a change from a carnal to a spiritually regenerated estate though there be antecedent dispositions to grace yet those being but preludial influences of grace therefore notwithstanding though the last act in the carnal state were suitable to that principle yet the first act in the spiritual flows from the fountain of that new life and it shall be a strange piece of unreasonableness to argue that because that man and that act were evil in the former instant that neither can be better in the next or that the precedent indispositions shall obstruct or vitiate the subsequent operations Relative grace is conferred by the Sacrament upon condition of faith which it may therefore presuppose as precedent in nature though it be simultaneous in time but real grace cannot precede nor presuppose faith for then it should go before and be presupposed to it self The gracious benefits of the Covenant are promised and proposed upon condition of faith but faith is not offered or promised upon condition of believing True faith onely gives an interest and right in the Res Sacramenti Panis Dominus but an historical dogmatical faith and outward profession thereof constitutes a Church-member and that lends the title to the Sacramentum rei Panis Domini and yet the receiving of the later may be a subservient means to elevate and promove that historical to a saving faith which may bring to the participation of the former And as sound faith is necessary to that hearing whereby the soul may live but not to hearing simply and absolutely but men hear that they may believe not onely because they have believed so it is in the receiving the Sacrament and what Chamier tells Bellarmine I may say to them that will have none but such as are approved faithfull to be admitted to this seal of faith Paulus circumcisionem pronunciat fuisse signum sigillum fidei Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 3. sect 20. p. 29. quid ergò sciebántue omnes ii qui circumcidebant infantes eos esse verè justificatos Yea though perhaps at the instant of receiving Recordatio tantundem saepè praestat vi illius spiritûs quantum rei ipsius eahibitio Theses Salmurpart 3. sect 23. p. 37. the heart feel no great warmth thereby yet may it catch such sparks from the ardency of Christ's love manifested in his death which though at first it made but a smoaking flax yet being fuelled by continuing meditations may by degrees grow into a bright and lively flame and the strength of that meat may be more manifested in the consequent walkings toward the mount of God just as Physicians advise weak and nauseous stomacks to eat though they have no present appetite because they shall feel the effects thereof in their future increasing strength But as it did not follow that if the Sacrament were no converting Ordinance that examination were a more necessary Antecedent to an admission so neither is it consequent that therefore none ought to be admitted that cannot convince others of their conversion for that conclusion cannot be distilled but by such a medium that unconverted men must not be permitted to do or undertake any duties which they cannot well and duly discharge but he that so judgeth is not yet converted from an errour as dangerous as manifest for the Apologists eliminate Prayer also from converting Ordinances yet know they have not yet met with any such new light as hath led them to thaâ— Paradox that no man not converted must pray All the moral actions of natural men though sometimes these falling Stars make a greater blaze than the fixed an Alchymy Lace hath a more glaring lustre than Silver were but Splendida peccata peccata quia non ex fide which is that onely Altar where the Swallows can finde a nest to lay their young saith Augustine Non bona quia nihil bonum sine summo bono nec placere ullus deo sine deo potest they were but Falsae virtutes in optimis moribus as Prosper and but Vitia quia non virtutes relatae ad deum simillima celerrimo cursui extra vâ—am the Tree was not good and therefore the Fruit was not and the inside of the Platter was not cleansed saith Basil and they could not convert nor dispose unto conversion for pure nature hath neither congruous impetratory merit nor proper preparations for grace as no stream can rise higher than the fountain yet these works good ex genere objecto evil ex circumstantiis fine neither formally nor virtually ordinate to God they were nevertheless obliged to perform and were sure of some reward for them either by increase of temporal blessings or lessening of eternal punishments they impetrate medious though not the highest mercie Ordinant bominem benè respecta
man ought to repell another for such an incapacity especially when he knows it onely per scientiam privatam non publicam notoriam And this also is the divine Oeconomy of God omniscient to hold forth the means of salvation to those who he knows will not make any saving use of them onely for their inexcusable conviction not infallible conversion so to will the saving of them voluntate signi quamvis non voluntate beneplaciti The Apologists are like raw Chymists who resolve things into smoke and vapours but distill no Spirit nor make any clear or liquid Extraction they tell us often of polluting and defiling the Sacrament but do with no clearness explain the reason or manner thereof to break up those mists we shall hold forth this light that in the sense of Scripture to pollute is to do an injury to contemn or to hold as vile Jer. 34.16 Mal. 1.7 Lev. 18.21 19.12 21.6 Sometimes this pollution is understood to be in the opinion of men Sanctius in Jer. p. 75 34. 6. p. in Malach. 1.7 p. 1711. Willet in Levit. 19.12 p. 457. Lapide in Levit. 19.12 Dicuntur ea mali polluere quantum in ipsis est August contra Parmen l. 2. c. 13. p. 9. Sanctius in Malach. 1.7 sometime in the profane attempts of men who as much as in them lieth defile the name and things of God in this notion we shall grant that the Sacrament may be said to be polluted by an unworthy Receiver But first also no less is every holy Ordinance by an indign Partaker both the Word when it is preached to those that reject it or receive it not with faith and Prayer when it is made without reverence or devotion and so likewise is every duty when it is discharged negligently and inordinately and the Name of God and Religion and the Church of God are polluted in all those vitious and defective performances Si quispiam alteri vile aliquid offert vilem illum esse demonstrat quia haec aut moribus aut meritis accommodata fatetur saith a very good Commentator ungracious persons can no more actually or intentionally sanctifie Gods Name in undertaking any other duties than the Apologists say they can in approaching to the Lords Table and if so many as they are doubtfull or dissatisfied of or have private exceptions against must be suspended from the Sacrament lest that be polluted they ought by a parity of reason to forbid them to profess to be Christians for the Name of God may be also polluted Ezek. 20.39 39.7 Isal 48.11 and thrust them out of the Church for the Sanctuary also is subject to be polluted Ezek. 44.7 Zeph. 3.4 and drive off from all holy things which are obnoxious to pollution Numb 18. and banish them the Land for that also is in danger to be polluted Numb 35.33 and perhaps they ought not to receive their Tithes when they are brought them for Gods holy Name is polluted with their gifts Ezek. 20.39 But it seems there is no fear of contracting nor need to be care of preventing pollution but in the Sacrament Secondly this being a relative not a real pollution for the Sacraments being moral and not physical causes are not capable of real pollution therefore not properly to preserve the purity of the Sacrament but to maintain the dignity of all Ordinances and chiefly the honour of the Christian faith lest the Word of God be blasphemed Dum Christi infamatur Evangelium Hier. in locum Tit. 2.5 and the Churches Discipline lest that contract some scandal by suffring and indulging such nefarious offenders was that wholesome expedient of Excommunication first instituted and as we have always granted is still to be exercised and for this very thing contest with them because they practise not that old way of cure but rather prove practices such as carries some resemblance with that perverse custome of the wilde Irish who rather than they will thresh out the Corn and winnow off the Chaff do burn the Oats in the straw and we have ever suffraged to that of St. Augustine De fide oper c. 5. tom 4. p. 13. Sic vigilet tolerantia ut non dormiat disciplina and we shall concurre with him and say Cùm iis per quos Ecclesia regitur adest salva pace potestas disciplinae adversus improbos aut nefarios exercendae tunc rursus ne socordiâ segnitiéque dormiamus c. But thirdly it is one thing to cast out and separate notorious offenders another to withdraw and separate from those that have not tried notes of true holiness and therefore for such as juridicè aut jure effectivè vel demeritoriè are not excommunicate or salvo pacis vinculo cannot be so for their multitude or other obstacle and such as have not approved their real sanctity upon triall and may be supposed to have no other but a relative holiness as that they are Church-members and Professors of the Faith and perchance walk not so ordinately but to give rise to a suspicion of their unsincerity or if some way faulty yet onely known to be so to some few and not publickly or notoriously defamed by the course of their lives yet by admission of such to the participation thereof the Sacrament is no more polluted in it self nor annulled toward others that communicate therein with them than are the Word and Prayer by their being partakers of them and that is onely no more than the Brasen Serpent was by being looked on by men envenomed by the fiery Serpent or their Christian Religion is by their being admitted or continued Church-members neither is there in order to the conservation of the one than of the other from pollution any greater necessity to put them under triall or to separate from them nor more cogent reason to deny them the Sacrament Homil. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes tom 4. p. 356. than to forbid them to do any materially good work or duty yea or to exclude them from being Church-members Non equidem dixit Rex saith Chrysostome ut quid accubuisti mensae sed jam ante quà m invitareris aut introires te indignum fuisse pronunciavit neque enim ait ut quid discubuisti sed cur intrâsti Fourthly nay farther in that very case of notorious evil men Aug. tells us Cùm sive per negligentiam praepositorum sive per aliquam excusabilem necessitatem Ubi supra sive per occultas obreptiones invenimus in Ecclesia males quos Ecclesiasticâ Disciplinâ corrigere aut coercere non possumus tunc non ascendat in cor nostrum impia ac perniciosa praesumptio quâ existimemus nes ab his esse separandos ut peccatis eorum non inquinemur atque ità post nos trahere conemur veluti mundes sanctósque Discipulos ab unitatis compage quasi à malorum consortio segregatos veniant in mentem illae de Scripturis similitudines divina
and that carries the worst ignominy for Simpliciter pateat vitium fortasse pusillum Quod tegitur majus creditur esse malum Whether those are endearments and Charientismes likely to charm and winne upon their affections Ignosci aliquatenus iguorantiae potest contemptus veniam nou meretur whether this be not a provoking of their children to wrath graviùs contumeliam ferunt homines quam detrimentum whether this be not obloquious to themselves that they have not meliorated nor lickt them into a better shape all this while since by the law Falcidia the parents were punisht for the continued faults of their children whether this being a judgment not of men by external actions but by the hidden causes thereof and their secret intentions which cannot be evident to them by any violent signes and at most there can be oâ—ely a probable suspition that the actions spring from such a fountaine be not temerarious judgment and a judging of the heart since such a suspition is sufficient onely to spring a doubt not to support an absolute determination which must be founded onely upon manifest grounds and as long as things are but doubtful they are not manifest and the most rational doubts are to be interpreted in the better part as hath been formerly demonstrated and then whether the Apologists have just cause to complaine of or can have hope to be condoled for the hard thoughts and untempered words which thâ—y say they suffer from others since Judicium si quis quae fecit perferat aequum est as Vespasan thought it punishable Senatoribus maledici but not regardable remaledici of all these if the Apologists will not consider others will take notice What they diaper their margin with out of Mr. Baxter of the desperate opposing and villfying and scurrilous railing at desired discipline is but as Urias his letters in the sacred story or Bellerophons in the prophane which are destructive to themselves for their dear brethren and such as are germane to them in principles are most engaged in that guilt which in that place is most reflected on who have endeavoured to make that Oath of union according as they have called it an old Almanack fitted to the interest of State or impiously as Cusanus saith the Scriptures are fitted to the time and practice of the Church so that one time according to the current the they are expounded one way and when that rite of the Church changeth then the sense is changed They conclude the Section with intimation of fear to suffer in their estates aswel as their names and quiet for adhering to those principles and proceeding in this way As they have not hitherto felt any detriment so we cannot see any imminent danger thereof but whether the pluralities of a Church and a Congregation which springs an income aswel of offerings as of tythes have not brought some advantage and improvement or whether a pastoral Church and a gathered Church may not countervaile two Benefices or the Semestrian visitations of some of them may not ballance the Triennial visitations of the Bishops especially since as he said of Grotius Odi sapientem qui sibi non sapit and also In steriles campos nolunt juga ferre juvenci I shall not pretend to know though I am not ignorant quantus tota rumor in urbesonat I shall onely say They accuse their people to be time-servers or observers but can they say soberly as Pope Paul the 3d. did of his son Petrus Aloysius Haec ille vitia non me commonstratore didicit for though they suspect them yet it is manifest of it selfe and very obvious that there is much Quicksilver in the composition of them and that mettal doth never endure the fire and being liquid is conformable to any mould and I hope therefore they will as did the Romans make fortunam fidei comitem and as the King of Navar profest to Beza not advance beyond the possibility of a safe retreate Hectora non nosset si faelix Troja fuisset and it is adversity can onely try what friends they will be to their way and whether they affect Alexander or the King Sure I am their undertakings are not like the Ceraunia a Jewel onely bred in a storm They suppose and publish that authority is for them or not against them but if the superiour bodies should have different aspect and influence whether they would then turn tables again or not and whether they would be like the regina aurarum quae obsistit ventis immobilÃsque contrà nititur adversantibus as Nieremberge or like the hedge Bore that having many hoses to his den doth alwaies stop that which is toward the bleate wind that would be the question and in order to some perhaps no very difficult question Contra Ep. Parmen l. 3. c. 6. Cont. lit Petil l. 2. c. 98. But whatever they would undergoe as St. Augustine to his Donatists let them take heed lest perchance Coecis vendatur reprobus lapis pro gemma pretiosa l. carnalis duritia pro spirituali patientia and that non fortiter sed pertinaciter non timetis Quoniam qui pro pace Christi omnibus terrenis caruerit deum habet qui autem pro parte Donati vel paucos nummos perdiderit cor non habet But I shall for conclusion remark that to excuse the omission of administring the Sacrament in their Churches they say it hath been supplied by holding forth Christ in the word and giving souls to eat and drink his flesh and blood in the word whence it follows that it is the same thing that is exhibited in both but in different manner All to whom Christ is offered in the word receave him not nor are qualified to do so aswell as all embrace him not 〈…〉 he is propounded in the Sacrament nor are conditioned to do it those 〈…〉 we not perfect understanding in the word yet to all them it is preacht that they may understand and believe for it is verbum practicum why then by a parity of reason should not the Sacrament be administred to those who by the word have attained an historical and dogmatical faith are intelligent of the nature use end of the Sacrament without further scrutiny whether they have a true faith seeing that true faith may be wrought by reception of that which is signum practicum why then should the one be the privilege of Saints more than the other why should it be prodigality of Christs blood in holding it forth to all in the Sacrament and not when they tender if to all in the word seeing the same blood is offered in the one and other unless this be even such another crotchet as the Papists grate our eares with who tell us that the blood of Christ represented by the cup is also exhibited with the bread which signifieth his body by a certain concomitancy but yet the Laity that partake of the bread may not for some great mysteries participate of
the cup the blood may be some way administred but they must not drink it SECT XXIV Whether they are Butchers or Surgeons Whether guilty of Schism Of negative and positive Schisme What are just causes of separation Whether our Saviour separated from the Jewish Church for instance in eating the Passover They condemne what they practise by confounding Churches and by separation They grant Professors to be visible Saints which destroyes their Platforme Their reasons why all sorts are to be admitted to the word and prayer Whether there are not better reasons to warrant a like admission to the Sacrament whether the same conclude it not Whether the Churches of England are all true Churches Sacraments notes of the Church and therefore communicable to all Church members They grant discipline enters not the definition of a Church yet they separate for want thereof Whether they may not aswell deny Baptisme to the Children as the Eucharist to the Parents VVHy they separate not in all Ordinances is an head that looks not directly toward us but respects their brethren of the separation who have outrun and gone beyond them and stand at a distance as much further from them as they from us For as when Apolles had drawn a fine small line Protogenes cut that in 〈…〉 another and the former halfed that again so when one sort have cut 〈…〉 from communion with the rest of the Church they divide themselves again and some of them think themselves not refined enough and as the Chymists say of sublimation sapius repetenda est operatio neque enim prima sublimotione res mox satis depuratur so one separation grows out of another like the tunal which Nieremberge speaks of mira frondium facunditas solium supernasâ—itur solio si decidâ—t aliquod radices rursus agit surgitque altera arbos And so though as sand conteined in a vessel hath one general figure in the whole Masse conformable to the continent yet every grain is inechaerent with other so though they all come under one common notion of Separatists yet they are as much separate from 〈◊〉 other as from us and as little agree among themselves as with us though when they come against us like Themistocles and Aristides going on Embassie they lay down their enmities to be afterward reassumed And as Aristides said It will never be well with Athens till both the one and the other be shut up in the dungeon so they intimate in the close of this Section that in such a condition they were most likely to close in a mutual agreement but their present quarrels with the other occasion here the diverting of their armes which offers us a little truce who might now stand a loofe and behold the fight among themselves whom that happily may befall which Tacitus relates of Apronjus souldiers dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur and when they fall out good men may come by the truth Discordia in malis tam bona quà m concordia in bonis onely we shall gather up some of those arrowes which they let fly at others to shoot back upon themselves and if any of those shot at randome seem to fall neer us we shall endeavour to repell or avoid such as we have not already broken They separate not in other Ordinances because they are for Surgery not Butchery It seems then they now somewhat odiously set their brethren in the rank of cut-throats who will shrewdly resent to be degraded into the company of Butchers Secondly How little conformity or resemblance their practise hath with the rules of Chirurgery hath been frequently instanced Thirdly Chirurgeons neither use nor are able to cut off any one member from an union with the rest in the influence and benefit of one vitall faculty onely but exscind altogether from the whole body whereas they make exscision of men onely from a Communion in one Ordinance alone not all Fourthly Let this reason have the most favourable passe yet it onely can argue absolutely why they should separate not in all Ordinances but in some alone not comparatively why in this Sacrament rather than in other Fiftly It is a strange method of Physick or Chirurgery to seek to preserve life by witholding the means of life and the medicine of life and immortality as the Fathers call the Sacrament and if all meanes must be sought to cure before they cut down a Church we think they have deserted their own Aphorismes for they have not sought to cure it by this medicine yet they have cut down their Church not onely by gathering another but by a practical judging of them to have no present interest in the body and blood of Christ nor worthy to have the truth of Gods promises in him to be sealed unto them The learned and they quote Camero distinguish of a twofold separation positive and negative the first they condemne unlesse upon just and weighty grounds the second they are acting in making a separation in their Congregations not separating from their Churches but some corruptions in them in order to reformation De Eccles p. 325. Camero in that place disputes of Schisme whereof secession or separation may be the genus and Schisme he distinguisheth into negative and positive the first Schisma quod non exit in coetum societatem aliquam religiosam quae simpliciter secessio subductio cùm non instituitur ecclesia facto Schismate Schisma positivum tum fit cum instituitur ecclesia hoc est cum fit consociatio quaedam quae legibus ecclesiasticis Dei verbo atque sacramentorum administratione utitur separatim quod quadam formula desumpta ex Scriptura dicitur strâ—ere altare contra altare But as the men of Bengala are so afraid of a Tiger that they dare not name him through fear if they should do so they should be torn in pieces by him so it seems the Apologists are so conscious of Schisme or fearfull to be blasted with it that they decline the mention of this and passing over the description he makes of Schisme they only barely and without any distinct explication tell us of a negative and positive separation Abstine epistolis quae sunt instar Edicti saith Symmachus facessat omne studium ex quo nascitur cura compendii Me thinks they should have been able to have understood Camero had they looked into him themselves but whencesoever it results there is an ignorant and wilfull mistake in alleaging him for they seem to quote him as if he determined that a negative separation were absolutely and universally lawfull whereas he affirming that a positive Schisme is that which Antonomasticè and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called Schisme he renders this reason because often he saith not alwayes a negative secession is lawfull that justly and piously it may be free to depart from some Churches but it will not be so if it grow into a positive As for example some may be cast out by the fault of
and they lie unto God with their tongues when they pray Psal 76.36 aswell as others in their judgment seem to lie or give false testimony when they give them the Sacrament And why those reasons then should be of weight to exclude from the Sacrament but not to debarre from prayer A Lapide in Levit. 19.36 I know not where to lay the cause but upon the divers weights and divers measures which the Hebrewes say pollute the Land and prophane the name of God and that more truly than they can prove the free admission can pollute or prophane the Sacrament onely when they are resolved to assume a power to keep whom they please from some Ordinances that they may better keep them in awe and hold them in subjection To exclude from prayer is neither so specious to attempt since as among the Heathens to what Deity soever the sacrifice were intended yet there was an invocation of Janus and Vesta also so among the Christians whatsoever be the Ordinance attended upon it is seconded with that of prayer and invocation of God and this is the Salt that must season all other sacrifices disposing to and attending on them for improving their fruit and effect and therefore this species carries away the name of the genus from the rest and the Hebrew and Greek aswell as the English call this by the name of Service not without warrant sealed by God himself who calls his house an house of proyer denominating it from the chiefest service but also to withold them from prayer is lesse possible to effect for men may pray without concurrence of a Minister but not receive the Sacrament without it be consecrated by him But they have laid an obligation on the Church of England Perpetuúsque animae debitor hujus erit in undertaking to prove that some of the particular Congregations are true Churches Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Tempus eget we cannot allow them to be auditors of that sum nor to cast it up with their new Counters who it seems suffering none to come to the Sacrament without their Let-passe would rise higher to permit none to passe for true Churches which have not their Communicatory letters Seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos Exiit in coelum ramis soelicibus but which are those that are true Churches and what is that which is constitutiv◠or destructive to either of them As Adrian Turnebus used to hit more right when he set down predictions of the weather clean contrary to the Prognosticators so perchance he may aim nearer to truh that denominates some of those not true Churches which they so call and some of them true whom they name not such but seeing they allow the Word and Sacraments for notes of a visible Church Field of the Church l. 2. c. 2. p. 51. whereunto some of our great Divines have appended another which admitted might also perchance disfranchise some of those that usurp and appropriate the name of Churches viz. an union and connexion of men in this profession and use of the Sacraments under lawfull Pastors and guides appointed authorised and sanctified to direct and lead them Contro 4. de Eccles l. 3. c. 2. in consonancy wherewith Bellarmine himself defines the Church to be Caetus hominum ejusdem Christianae fidei professione corundem Sacramentorum communione ligatorum sub regimine legitimorum pastorum But indeed the other two being as they grant the Inseparable absolutely proper peculiar and essentiall notes for scire est per causas scire and therefore being both the formall cause of a Church giving Being thereunto in constituting and conserving it while it is taught by the Word and by the Word and Sacraments is gathered together to God and being the effect of the Church constituted while it teacheth others they cannot but demonstrate the Church à priori à posteriori and therefore being adequate unto the Church Gerhard loc com tom 5. de Eccles c. 10. p. 306. 309. and inseparable from it it may firmly and immoveably be collected saith Gerhard that where the Word is preached and the Sacraments administred there is a Church and reciprocally where there is a Church there is the Word preached and the Sacraments administred upon this ground therefore as the Church of England was a true Church so were also all the particular congregations being similar parts of that nationall Church as that was of the Catholique and if in respect of that common nature found in them they were not Species of the Church in general yet they were members thereof as it is an integrall body for they had all of them the Word preached and professed purely without any error in the foundation which onely nulls a Church and the Sacraments legitimously administred for matter and form and had there been some corruption in the doctrine and administration yet as totas Ecclesias non esse aestimandas ex solis pastoribus Whitak Cont. 2. de Eccles q. 5. c. 17. p. 541. Iunius Eirenic part 1. tom 1. p. 715. 716. Animad in Contro 4. Bellarm. l. 4. c. 2. p. 1132. Ibid. p. 1131. nec ex qui busdam paucis as Whitaker and Gerhard so these corruptions had onely made a cease to be a pure Church not to be a Church so long as the foundation had stood it had been the house of God though hay and stubble were built thereupon saith Whitaker it had continued to be a Church untill Deus renunciaverat iis testificatione publicâ as Junius in the like case the Word and Sacraments simply and absolutely distinguished a Church from prophane Assemblies and the incorrupt preaching of the Word and legitimate administration of the Sacraments from hereticall congregations though properly as Iunius observes the preaching of the Word being actus hominum est Index illius notae non nota primaria jam enim ante habuit notam Ecclesia Dei veritatem verbum veritatis à Deo quà m praedicatio exstiterit so as sure our Congregations were lately all Churches Fuimus Troes fuit Ilium ingens Gloria Dardanidum But since their brethren in principles sought to undermine our Churches and having made the match and their zeal giving fire to the hidden mine by a new powder-plot have blown up these Churches and thereby not onely rent and dissipated them one from the other but scorched and mortally wounded them with fundamentall errors I think now it is not without due caution and circumspection that they say onely some of our Congregations are true Churches for as Diogenes sought a man with a Lanthorn at noon-day at Athens so amidst all the late new light we have more need then ever of that lamp unto our feet to find a Church and they do therefore ingenuously call themselves of the Congregational way for they are many of them out of the way of a true Church And though all that be of those principles are not vitiated with