ignorance or negligence of those that should have done otherwise unlesse upon due trial you have approved your selves meet Had they eyed as they ought and kept close to the rule that should have guided them herein you might haply have come to see your condition to be otherwise then you deemed it to be and have entertained other thoughts of your selves then you did which might have proved of no small advantage unto you So that if things be duly weighed and considered you will say That they did you an injury rather then a courtesie in dealing with you as they did and be so far from liking and allowing of such a course whereby you were occasioned to sooth your selves in a state that was neither good nor safe that you will see cause of blaming them for their unfaithfulness in a matter of great concernment and to blesse God for those that shall endeavour the rectifying of your mistakes and to let you know that the case is far otherwise with you then you imagined it to be And as for the priviledges that you injoyed viz. the Ordinances belonging unto compleat members only alas what could more indanger your precious souls you being not rightly qualified for them For instance 'T is true that nothing is more sweet and refreshing then the Lords Supper to a gracious soul drawing nigh to the Lord therein as he ought for therein he feeds and feasts upon the Lord Jesus and all his fulnesse unto eternal life But now the unworthy person presuming to approach unto and partake of that Ordinance in stead of Blisse 1 Cor. 11.29 meets with his Bane eating and drinking Judgment to himself and becoming guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And so according to the Prophet Davids imprecation the Table of the Lord proves a snare before him Psal 69.23 and that which sbould have been for his Welfare a trap and ruine to him And now tell me Is this a priviledge worth the pleading and contending for Object 4. You conceive it will be a disparagement and disgrace unto you to submit unto such a course whereby you should discover your ignorance in the very principles of Religion having lived so many years under the Gospel Solut. And will you to avoid this seeming inconvenience expose your selves to inevitable perdition You have hitherto been estranged from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you and can you be contented to live and die so and lose the fruition of the Lord for ever rather then men should know your condition to be such as indeed it is If the fear of a little supposed disgrace from men and those but a few that you live and converse withall of such force as to cause you to your Eternal hazard to neglect a necessary duty Should not a destre to avoid utter shame and confusion of face before all men and angels be much more prevalent with you to neglect no lo ger but speedily to set about it Do but seriously weigh the words of the Apostle Paul and then say whether you can brook to continue in your grosse ignorance and blindness to avoid any thing that may possibly betide you here below 2. Thes 17 8 9 The Lord fesus saith he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ the inseparable concomitant of such ignorance Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory ef his power See here ignorance of God is as dangerous and destructive as disobedience to the Gospel which is the consequent of it and goeth accompanied with it Prov. 1912 For without knowledg the heart is not cannot be good and if that be naught which is the spring and root of all your actions surely your lives must needs be so whatever your fancies and pretences may be to the contrary You would account it and iustly so a great discovery of weakness and folly in any one that should chuse to conceal a grief or disease in the body though mortal least it should be commonly known from the Chirurgeon or Physician and refuse to put himself into their hands for the cure of it and to prevent the mischief that else would certainly insue upon it And are not they much more blame-worthy that shall do so by their spiritual maladies which threaten the life of their far more precious souls the Eternal ruine whereof must needs inevitably follow unlesse some effectual course be taken for the healing of them You plainly see and will readily confesse the great folly of the one Oh! be not guilty of greater in the other The longer you have continued in such a condition under the Gospel the more haste ought you to make in the use of all good means to get out of it And seeing the Lord hath spared you all this while and winked as it were at the time of your former ignorance Let the consideration of this his goodnesse and forbearance now at lenth lead you to repentance Account the long-suffering of the Lord Salvation Rom 2.5 2 Pet. 3.15 Piscator i.e. Ad salutem vobis conducere to conduce to your Salvation the gracious end of God herein and the use that you ought to make of it being this that men should not perish 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 but be saved by coming to repentance and the knowledge of the truth 2. Another duty incumbent upon the people is this Diligently to labour after knowledge in the principal doctrines of religion especially for without your own industry added there unto the pains of the Ministry will but little profit you You have seen the absolute necessity of it in order both to your own eternal good and also to the Churches satisfaction for your admission to full membership Wisdom in this regard is the principal Pro. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first thing to be looked after therefore get wisdom and with all your getting get understanding and if accordingly you cry after knowledge and lift your voice for understanding if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures then shall you understand the fear of the Lord Prov. 2.3 4 5 Prove 3. â—3 and find the knowledg of God And happy is he that finds it Which that you may do your duty is 1. To attend and watch diligently at Wisdoms gate Prov. 8.34 Lavater in loc Wilcoxe and daily i. e. often to wait at the posts of her door Postes sunt Sapientiae doctores These Posts are the teachers of Wisdom As painful Scholars watching the School doors that they may be first in upon the opening of them that you may hear her voice by her Messengers speaking unto you whose instructions you ought readily to receive and carefully to lay up making your hearts the store-houses of the word
THe Admission of persons baptized in their infancy without due Tryal of their Faith and growth in Christ when grown in years to a full participation of all Church-Priviledges and Ordinances hath caused great confusion in the Administration of holy things And therefore I conceive the Learned Author of this Elaborate Exercitation hath deserved well of the Churches by clearing the way of those Admissions from Scripture-grounds and the concurrent Testimonies of many both Antient and Modern writers As also by discovering and removing those Popish additions and pollutions which by several steps and degrees have crept into it And if what he hath offered in this Essay come not up to the Judgment and Practice of the best constituted Churches yet this ingenuous and pious overture holds out more then most Churches have hitherto attained and may provoke the zeal of many to hold out what they have attained as more commodious for and perfective of the much desired and longed for restauration of the Churches to their primitive purity both in separating the pretious from the vile and in uniting the pretious into a more beautiful and beneficial Order among themselves These considerations have confirmed me in giving not only License to the publishing but thanks to the Publisher of this discourse of Confirmation The 24th of the 6th Moneth 1657 Joseph Caryl ΤΕΛΕΙΩΣΙΣ OR An EXERCITATION UPON CONFIRMATION The Antient way of Completeing CHURCH-MEMBERS Wherein is indevoured its Recovery from the Corruptions of Preceding Ages under which it hath lain so long Buried and the Restitution of it to its Primitive USE and END To which are Annexed some Directions for the putting of it into Practice Together with Sundry Encouragements thereunto Published as an Help for the Reducing of our Churches into Gospel-Form and Order and as an Expedient to promote Peace and Unity among Brethren By Jonathan Hanmer Minister of the Gospel JER 6.16 Ask for the old pathes where is the good way and walk therein Tertul. advers Praxeam Id verum quodcunque primum LONDON Printed by A. Maxey for John Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-Row Cheap-Side 1657. TO The Right Worshipful Sr JOHN CHICHESTER KNIGHT The Worshipful JOHN FOWELL ESQUIRE And the rest of the Inhabitants of TAWTON-BISHOP in the County of DEVON HAving been prevailed with to Publish this small Treatise which was conceived might prove of some Use to the Churche of Christ I have made choice to commend it unto you who defire may especially share in and injoy the benefit of it Which I have done as a Testimony of that great Respect and Love which I owe and bear unto you For though I be an unworthy Ambassador of Christ unto others yet doubtlesse I am chiefly so unto you being that part of the Lords Vmeyard wherein particularly he hath set me to labour And the searcher of of hearts knoweth how much I long after your Spiritual Welsare the prosperity of whose Souls would exceedingly rejoyce me When the Lord shall graciously vouch safe opportunity of putting these things in practice among you I hope and not without some ground that you will be found a ready and willing people to receive and submit unto them so far as they shall appear to be agreeable unto the mind of Christ and to make for his glory And in so doing you will both Facilitate and further the Work and greatly encourage the Workman Now that the Father of Lights would fill you with the knowledg of his Will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding and enable you to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the Knowledg of God That the God of all Grace would stablish strengthen and settle you in his Truth and Wayes in these-evil dayes wherein so many unsound and unstable souls turn aside from the truth giving ear to deceivers that with fair words and pretences corrupt the minds of the simple to the dishonour of God the grief of his Messengers the offence of his People and the hurt and hazard of their own Souls Finally That the very God of peace would sanctifie you throughout and preserve your whole Spirit Soul and Body blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the hearty prayer of Your Servant for Jesus sake J.H. Aug. 28.1657 To the Christian READER THe Histories of all Ages do make it manifest how prone the sinful hearts of men are to deprave and corrupt the sincere Doctrines and pure Institutions of the Gospel The Apostles haveing received it from Christ and being inspired by his Spirit delivered and left behind them unto the Churches a perfect Rule and Pattern for their Direction and Imitation which they ought to have followed and kept close unto As in some sort it seems they did for some short space of time as may be gathered from those words of Egesippus an antient Historian Vicinus Apostolorum temporum Hieronym in Catalog Bellar. de Scrip. Eccles an 177 lib. 3. cap. 29 who liv'd near the Apostles times and was contemporary with Justin Martyr and Athenagoras mention'd by Eusebius Ad ea usque tempora virgo pura incorrupta mansit Ecclesia c. Unto those times viz. of the Apostles and that generation of men which by special favour had heard with their ears the heavenly Wisdom of the Son of God the Church remained a pure and uncorrupted Virgin But corruptions grew on apace SceMagd Cent. as the time of the revelation of Antichrist drew near who by degrees so deformed the beautiful face of Christianity through his alterations and additions that at length it looked almost quite like another thing than it was at the first The mutations in the Church being not much unlike those in the Jewish state whereof Esay thus complaineth Isa 1.28 Thy silver is become dross thy wine mixed with water In this deplorable condition did the first Reformers find the state thereof the weeds having so far over-topt the good grain that it was a hard matter to discern the one from the other which yet through Divine assistance they did in some measure both shewing and going before us in the way of Reformation And indeed much they did herein that have preceded us for whom we have cause to blesse the Lord in this regard having handed down Religion to us by much more pure then they received it from those that went before them But yet is there much of this work remaining the carrying on whereof unto further perfection seems to be the proper task of this generation which therefore ought accordingly to be vigorously intended and attempted Now the best way to Reform and bring things right when through Tract of time they have degenerated and grown crooked is to have recourse to the first and purest Ages and to reduce them to the Primitive pattern and practice Tertul lib. de Praescript Omne genus ad originem suam censeatur necesse est Doctrines therefore are to be
and doted on as if ab initio and of Apostolical institution Among other the confusion in our Congregations as to the Members of them all heaped together without any distinction is not the least remora and obstrustion in the way of Reformation which hath created no small trouble and occasion'd many hot contests among those who have laboured to regulate and bring things into better order in this regard the different apprehensions of men in this particular producing unseemly Animosityes and sadning distances between those whose union would be exceeding amiable and of considerable advantage That a distinction of persons is necessary is on all hands granted by the friends of Reformation But to find out what this ought to be what are the places or stations to be assigned to and the priviledges to be injoyed by them how they are to be considered and in what state to be accounted of according to their several capacities and qualifications hic labor hoc opus est As an help hereunto was this Exercitation undertaken and intended Wherein from the best Antiquity it appears that in the Primitive times there were in and belonging to the Church persons of several sorts and sizes and accordingly of several ranks and degrees viz. Catechumens incomplete imperfect also adult complete and perfect recens nati and such as were in their minority also some grown up to maturity and of full age in an Ecclesiastical sense And that the ordinary way by which they passed from the one state into the other was the antient rite of Imposition of hands or Confirmation which through the iniquity and corruption of the darker times was so alterd though not altogether laid aside that it was quite perverted from its first intendment the true use and end thereof being even lost and unknown by reason whereof great inconveniences and mischiefs have ensued and long prevailed to the great detriment of the Church not in likelyhood to be removed as the fruitlesness of endeavours hitherto have shewn but by the reduction of this laudable practice into the Churches of Christ the drift and scope of the following discourse which being but in part finished Mr. John Howe and communicated to a worthy and judicious * brother had this approbation returned in a few lines to the Author that partly procured its publication Sir I have at length perused your papers to my very great content and satisfaction and do hear return them with my hearty thanks for your happy labour herein and doubt not but the Church of God when it comes to injoy the benefit of them as I know it will be far from you to go about to defraud it of what may prove so good an expedient and I think the only one to extricate it out of those many perplexing difficulties through which it is striving forwards toward a Reformation will finde cause to thank you too and to blesse God for you who did in much mercy as I trust guide you to this undertaking c. As t is here tendred to the perusal and submitted unto the judgement of the godly-wise so is thy candid interpretation and friendly acceptances desired of thee If it be found to be a truth the God of truth will make way for its entertainment in the hearts of those that love the truth If it may any whit conduce to the settlement of the Churches peace and the healing of the unhappy breaches and differences among brethren the Sons of Peace and Citizens of Sion will gladly imbrace it and set upon the practise of it And that this may be the issue of this weak labour thou art earnestly desired by thy prayers to recommond it to the blessing of the Lord by him who desires to be found An unfeigned lover of Truth and Peace I. H. Christian READER HEaring of the following Treatise to be in the Press and being desired to give my thoughts thereof I have adventured according to the cognizance had of it to commend the main Contents as useful to our present time I had in my hand some moneths past a few sheets from the Author of the same Argument which now I hear is grown into a greater volume The matter asserted therein was the due disposition growth and preparation of the Baptized unto Participation in the Lords Supper collected from the Primitive doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and testified by the concurrent votes of the Church in some succeeding ages In which more than Dogmatical Faith and Negative holinesse appeared to be requisite unto worthy Communicants in those times The proof of this was the care taken of persons Baptised in their minority to nurture them up in the Faith and orderly watching to the rule of Christ And after due experience Confirmation of them and admittance to Communion in higher Mysteries This Confirmation or Approbation of the baptized being now adult and making confession of repentance towards God faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is by some glorious lights in the Church understood in that phrase of Imposition of Hands annexed to Baptisms Hic unus locus abundè testaeur hujus Ceremoniae Originem fluxisse ab Apostolis c. Hic locus ad Paedobaptismi approbationem facit c. Calv. in Heb. 6.2 Heb. 6.2 Whence it is said That this One place doth abundantly testifie that the Original of this Ceremony flowed from the Apostles though afterward it was turned into Superstition as other of the best Ordinances of God And again That this place maketh to the proof of Infani-Baptism What grounding Infant-Baptism or Confirmation by Imposition of hands have in this Scripture I will not now dispute but unless there were more express and firm ground for both we might be at a loss concerning these Ordinances What if it should be said That Jewish Baptisms and Imposition of hands are meant here by the Apostle writing to the Hebrews and that these among them did teach Repentance from dead works and Faith in God and the Resurrection of the dead and Eternal Judgment All this is truth These were among the rest of the Jewish Rites the very Principles Fundamental Elements which taught Christ though most of them were dull of hearing and did not understand him by them But let this pass As to the Initiation of Church-Infants we have a sure word of Covenant that cannot be broken And that this must be done by Baptism must be granted or else another way discovered And as for the Confirmation of them solemnly by prayer and acceptance to Communion after their parental nurture in the Elements of Religion and experience of their profiting in faith and godlynesse by Ecclesiastical institution the Author in this Treatise I hope will give sufficient proof The abuse of this by Popish Blasphemies and Prelatical Corruptions cannot be denied so that it hath been odious and ridiculous but to restore it to Primitive purity in looking more exactly to the education of Infants in the Church and nurturing them according to their
maternum huic prima fuit Schola Sacrarum literarum his mothers lap was his first School Nec magis inejus sinu quà m Sermone educatus he suckt in not only milk from her brests but also the principles of religion from her mouth And this is that for which the children of the virtuous woman are said to call her Blessed viz. Prov. 31 28 Cartwright Propter educationem virtutem pietatem per educationem procuratam For their education and virtue and piety procured by it This duty then you see is injoyned and belongs unto parents Neither may they think to shift it off from themselves by saying It 's the Ministers Office to do it for it 's theirs also as well as his nor will his doing his part free them from the obligation that lyes upon them 2. Their duty is to require and see to it that those under their charge do diligently frequent and carefully attend upon the publick Ordinances of Catechizing and the preaching of the Word especially upon the Lords day the due sanctification whereof both by themselves and theirs is charged upon them Exod. 10.10 Zanch. in 4 praecept Datur praeceptum hoc imprimis cuique patrifamilias this precept is given in the first place to every father of a family as those that should require the same to be observed by the whole family Again Vult Deus ut patresfamilias authores sint toti familiae duces ut veniant in caetum fidelium c. Ibid. The Lord would have the Governours of families to be procurers and leaders to the whole family to come unto the assembly of the faithful to sanctifie the Holy-day c. Every governour of a family saith he may and ought to compel them of his houshold to the outward worship of God Officium est inquit Bullingerus boni patris-familias curare ut tota familia Sabbathum sanctificet Decad. 2. Ser. 4. It is the duty of a good Governour of a family to take care that the whole family do sanctifie the Sabbath Such persons therefore may not think it sufficient to sanctifie the Lords day and to attend upon the publ ck Ordinances themselves but they are to look well unto those under their charge that the fame be done by them also whose profanation and neglect of the duties thereof may be laid to the charge of those that might and should have prevented it but did not being regardlesse of them Nor should they content themselves with this only that those belonging to them do attend upon the Ordinances but they are also to labour that they do it to good purpose least by the carelesse and customary performance of their duty God be dishonoured and their own souls injured and hazarded no lesse then by the omission of it They ought therefore to call upon them for and require from them an account of the things that they have heard and help them to the fuller understanding of them that so through the blessing of the Lord they may attain the end of what they do and their labour may not be in vain 3. Their duty is to watch and have a vigilent eye over them in respect of their conversation to prevent miscarriages and to quicken them to their duty The care of governours in this particular is of very great consequence without which things will certainly go amiss and many disorders will follow in the family What Solomon saith of a King and other magistrates in the Common-wealth may not unholy be applyed to our purpose every father being in some sort a magistrate as it were in his own family A King that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes i.e. Curâ inspectione coercet malos Lavater By their care and inspection they lay a restraint upon those that are evil so that they are not so bad as they would be nor take that liberty to sin that otherwise they would do The neglect hereof seems to be a part of good Elies fault and this in likelyhood imports the cause why the sins of his sons were so great he kept not so strict a hand over them and their actions as he should have done but was too indulgent toward them Those words of his in dealing with and reproving them seem to imply so much Why 1 Sam. 2.23 24. faith he do you such things for I hear of your evil dealings by this people nay my sons for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lords people to transgress So here the good man knows little but by hear-say and what the common rumour and complaint of the people brings to his ears Sic dicunt inquit sic ad me perfetur q. d. Si vera sirt quae audio gravitur peccatis P. Martyr in l. So they say this is brought to me if the things be true which I hear ye sin grievously The contrary carriage is commended in Solomons virtuous woman Pro. 3.27 Carswright she looketh well to the wayes of her houshold Lustrat mores universae familiae diligens haec inspectio non solù nec praecipuè opera domesticae respicit verum etiam quomodo se in cultu Divino gerunt quales in piâ—tate progressus faciant diligenter observat This diligent inspection respects not only nor chiefly the houshold-imployments but she also diligently observes how they behave themselves in the worship of God and what progresse they make in piety Lavater Considerat quibus moribus singuli sint praediti quid dicant quid faciant ne turpe quid committant She considers what the manners of each one are what they say what they do that no unseemly thing be committed by them Thus though eye-service be not good yet is there need and accordingly ought there to be a watchful eye over them that children and servants be not evil 4. This Inspection ought to be accompanied with the discreet exercise of Discipline without which what we see to be amiss may be far enough from being amended Haec duo quasi elements sunt virtutis Spes honoris metus poenae quorum illa incitstiores reddit ad pulcherrima studia haec segniores ad vitia Plutarch de lib. educand Such as need reproof and correction must have it and those that deserve countenance and encouragement should not want it the evil are to be timely checkt and curbed and the good cherished and commended And these two being rightly managed will by the blessing of the Lord be found to be notable means to restrain vice and promote virtue Fond affection may prompt parents to with-hold but true love will bid them to make use of the rod when there is cause for nothing more endangers the disobedient then indulgence Hence the Scriptures do so much urge the use of discipline thus speaking He that spareth the rod hateth his son Prov. 13.26 but he that loveth him chastneth him betimes Because there is folly bound