Promises and Threats he hath dealt not onely with private Persons but Kingdoms and States For he hath blessed such as did observe the Sabbath and cursed such as did prophane it This is evident not onely from the History of the Scriptures but from his Judgments in all Times We might easily by observation understand it in our Times It 's somewhat remarkable and not altogether to be neglected that even in this Nation upon the publike allowance of Sports and Recreations upon the Lords Day which is our Christian Sabbath Civil and Bloody Wars and ruine of the Royal Family should so shortly follow and that the hand of God should be most against those who by Writing Words or Practise had maintained the lawfulness of that Doctrine I forbear to cite the particular places of Scripture whence these Reasons are taken and the Examples of God's Judgments because this is done already by many others who have written of the Sabbath Before I conclude this Doctrine of the Sabbath § XVII it will be expedient to say something of the Lords Day which we Christians observe and as Christians are bound to sanctifie These things I suppose will be granted by rational and impartial men 1. That we under the Gospel are as much bound to serve and worship God as the Jews were under the Law 2. That the Lords-Day is as necessary for the preservation and continuance of Religion as the Jewish Sabbath was 3. It 's as fit and as due proportion of time as theirs was For our condition in respect of the business and necessities of this life did not differ from theirs but is the same 4. It 's as useful and conducing to our Spiritual good and the attaining of our Eternal Sabbath as theirs 5. It 's the 7th part of our time and a 7th day in order as theirs also was and so consecrates no less time to God but so much as the Commandement requires 6. The morality of the Commandement and the principal thing therein aimed at is not this or that 7th day but this or that 7th day which God shall determine for Sanctification 7. As God set a Character upon their Day so He hath upon ours Upon the 7th Day He rested from the great Work of Creation and therefore sanctified and blessed it and honoured it above other days and in remembrance of the great and glorious Work of Creation He commanded the Day to be observed So upon the first Day of the Week when Christ had finished His great Work of Redemption He began His Everlasting Sabbath For upon this Day He rose again upon this Day He sent down the Holy Ghost and by these two glorious Works He honoured this Day above all others even above their Sabbath The Creation was a glorious Work the Redemption is more glorious The Creation is a great benefit the Redemption is greater And if we must remember the former we must much more remember the latter If the Day whereon He rested from the former be fit to be observed much more is the Day wherein He rested from the latter The Resurrection of the Son of God made Man and the sending down of the Holy Ghost are never to be forgotten but eternally to be remembred by Christians For upon them depend our Eternal Salvation and without them we cannot attain unto or enter into our Everlasting Rest. And he is unworthy the Name much more the Priviledges of a Christian that will not remember these things And we can hardly find any to have dis-esteemed or neglected this Day but they were either prophane Wretches or giddy Sectaries and Hereticks For the alteration of the Day to be sanctified § XVIII there was great reason For 1. Seeing Christ did not rise again nor send down the Holy Ghost upon the Iewish Sabbath but upon the first day of the Week there was more reason to observe this our first then that their last Day of the Week And surely seeing Christ could have risen upon their Sabbath and sent down the Holy Ghost upon that Day and yet did not either of them upon the same nor any other Day of the Week there was some reason in it And by singling out this time for those Blessed Works He did intimate that this should be His Day wherein all Christians should honour Him to the end of the World and that the former Sabbath was to be laid aside 2. The former Sabbath did several ways respect the Jews in particular 1. As having the Ceremonial Law annexed unto it the Services and Rites whereof were to be observed in the Tabernacle and Temple upon this Day 2. It was a Sign between God and them that they might know that it was the Lord which did sanctifie them Exod. 31. 13 17. Ezek. 20. 12. So that it was part of that Partition-Wall whereby they were separated from the Gentiles Therefore after that Christ was risen the Holy Ghost given from Heaven upon this Day the Apostles received Commission to preach unto all Nations and God taking away the Partition-Wall made of both one Body-Politick in Religion it was though altogether convenient to surrogate the Lords-Day in the place of the former Sabbath and upon these grounds the first day of the week began to be observed in the days of the Apostles and had the name of the Lords-Day and both the observation and the name have universally amongst Christians continued since that time By laying aside the former Day was signified that the Covenant with the Fathers which had this Sabbath annexed was now with that Day expired and abolished by a more excellent time which succeeded it which being sanctified by us doth distinguish us from the unbelieving Jew in all Nations For by it we profess our Belief of Christ's Resurrection and our Sanctification by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven Many remain to this day unsatisfied § XIX and doubt of the Morality of the fourth Commandement and if it were Moral by what Authority the Sabbath of the Jews determined in that Commandement of the Moral-Law given unto them could be altered For the Morality of it we must observe as before 1. That some Commandements were primitively some derivatively moral so that there were degrees of morality in that Law which is called Moral and in that respect though they were all moral yet there is a great inequality in their morality 2. This Commandement as some others have something positive in it 3. This Commandement was positive in respect of the time For neither time in general nor this or that particular time nor this or that portion of time as a day one day in seven this or that 7th day are moral They are not intrinsecally good nor have any connexion inseparable with the last end and felicity of man 4. This Commandement derives its morality ab extrinseco from the Divine Determination of the time and the Rest for Sanctification commanded in that time The Sanctification of one 7th determinate day every week
do Christians though the seventh day of the Jewes was the last as Christians is the first of the week as our weeks are now reckoned And if any people in the world then surely Jewes and Christians had their warrant for the observation of holy times from Heaven What the Patriarchs from Adam to Moses did in this particular we cannot so clearly determin because the Scripture in this point is silent That God set a special Character upon the seventh day of creation is evident Gen. 2. 2. 3. Because having finished his glorious works in six dayes he rested the 7th and blessed and hallowed that day and so he did none of the rest Some take it for certain that God even then insâ—ituted the Sabbath and others do think it probable that God from the beginning required of man the 7th part of his time and the 10th part of his goods for his service and reserved both as a chief rent to be paid to him as chief Lord in acknowledgment of his supreme dominion If reason were consulted it could not deny but that these are due to God especially if he require them by a command If Scripture which is a rule above humane reason some think it might be demonstrated that God did command Man to gave both in all times Yet to give both is not moral but positive That is properly Moral which is intrinsecally good just necessary and such as directly and immediately makes a man better and that which is good in this manner cannot any wayes be performed by a wicked man or an hypocrite Yet the tenth of a mans goods and the 7th of his time may be given to God by a Cain by an hypocritical Pharisee tho with an heart rightly qualified they cannot be offered to God by such kind of persons whose very hearts are corrupt and depraved That which is just and holy in it self and renders a man acceptable to God is of universal and perpetual obligation from the beginning If any particular duty afterwards become such by vertue of Gods command though the matter of the duty and the thing commanded in it self be not intrinsecally just then that duty is not moral but positive and receives its morality ab extrinseco from Gods Command not from the nature of the thing In respect of this Morality not onely the Sabbath but the Sacraments and the precept concerning the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil may be said to be moral and so moral and ceremoniall Lawes which are really difâ—erent should be consounded Yet if any will call such commands Positively moral I will not wrangle about words Yet I must say that term Positively moral is not proper nor accurate As in Grammer there be words which derive their signification and in Logick arguments which receive the force of arguing from Primitive so even in this decalogue which we call the moral law there be Commandements which derive their morality from others and all from the first Yet this is the diâ—ference between such Commandements and others which are purely positive or ceremonial That these derivatives have a nearer connexion with pure morals and conduce more effectually to pure justice and holinesse then these positives do whose matter in it self is indifferent and no better The end of this Commandement § III in the third place is to preserve Religion and the Worship of God which without the observation of set and determinate times would soon decay and determine And we find that they who usually neglect Sabbaths and Sanctified Times are prophane and irreligious Wretches God knew this better then we do and therefore so strictly required the Sanctification of the Sabbath Persons who take liberty in their own Families to neglect the constant times of Prayer and serving their God in private and are left to their liberty â—or publick Worship in a short time prove little better then Heathens The end of the Sabbath to the Jew was constantly to worship God in remembrance of Creation and deliverance out of Aegypt Deut. 5. 15. and to distinguish them from the Heathen who had forsaken that God who created Heaven and Earth and worshipped Idols and their Sabbath tended and did conduce to these ends The Christian observes his Sabbath in remembrance of Christ's Resurrection and his Deliverance from Eternal Death thereby and consecrates himself in that day the more solemnly unto that God who hath not onely created but redeemed him And take away their Sabbath-Christian their Religion is not likely to continue long To enter upon the Commandment It 's Affirmative and includes a Negative § IV and in the same we have 1. The Commandement it self 2. The Explication of it The Commandement it self is brief and delivered in few words The Explication is large The words are these Remember the Sabbath-Day to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8. Keep the Sabbath-Day to sanctifie it Deut. 5. 12. Remember in the former place is explained in the latter by the word Keep which word according to the Hebrew Chaldee and the Versâ—on of the Septuagint sometimes signifies to have a special care to keep or observe a thing and the Arabick word Natar is of the same signification And the meaning of it is Have a care and take special heed to sanctifie the Sabbath For when we are forgetful of a thing we neglect it To remember a thing is sometimes to do it if it be a thing to be done as when God saith He will remember His Covenant it 's meant he will be careful to keep and perform it Gen. 9. 15. God had a special reason to prefix this word which signifies or imports special care and heed 1. Because Religion did so much depend upon the Sanctification of the Sabbath and man's Salvation upon Religion 2. I believe the Israelites in Aegypt had much neglected the Sabbath and Holy Times neither if they had been careful could they so well observe them because of their cruel Bondage 3. Some of these Israelites contrary to God's Command went out upon the Sabbath to gather Manna as though that had been an ordinary 〈◊〉 and God did signifie himself much herewith displeased Exod. 16. 26 27. 〈◊〉 hence no man can conclude an higher degree of Morality in this 〈◊〉 then in others For of the four first it 's least Moral Thus far it is 1. As it 's commanded by God 2. As requiring a special and more solemn performance of Moral Duties 3. As necessary for preservation of Religion amongst men The Sabbath-Day The word § V Remember take care and heeâ— is but general though a special Item yet here it 's specified by the Object The Sabbath-Day and the end the Sanctification of it For the thing to be remembred and so carefully observed was the Sanctification of that time The word Sabbath taken from the Hebrew Language and used in many Languages of the World signifies 1. By it self Rest. 2. Joyned with the word Day a time of Rest. 3. A certain determinate time
preparation of the whole man with a desire and resolution to observe it 3. An actual application of that time to a performance of Religious Duties and whatsoever Works tend most to the glory of God those do most sanctifie the Day This is the reason why Christ's miraculous Cures did not prophane this day and that Works of Mercy are so suitable to this time Though publick and Congregational Duties are principally intended yet Family and Closet-Duties are required and though other days may be sanctified and observed as times of Humiliation or Thanksgiving yet this is done upon a more general ground and not by vertue of this Commandement which is confined to the Seventh Day What the particular services of the Sabbath be I need not mention For they are such as God hath instituted and the principal are Word and Prayer as you heard in the Explication of the second Precept The sins here forbidden are 1. All prophane and sinful thoughts § XIV words and deeds which unhallow all times and especially this These are sins in the six days but more heynous sins on the seventh 2. All secular thoughts words deeds which are contrary unto and non-consistent with the Rest and sanctification of this time and with Diviner Employments These are lawful at other times unlawful in this 3. The neglect of Holy Duties in this time of Rest. For though we should rest this day not onely from all secular labours and works but also from worldly thoughts and motions of the mind if it were possible and not apply our selves to Religious Worship yet the Day remains to us unsanctified 4. All prophane Sports yea and all Recreations which hinder and distract us in the service of our God 5. All Hypocritical all irreverent yea all imperfect performance of Holy Duties Men may be strict zealous devout in the outward parts of Religion and yet stand at a great distance from their God For God requires not any kind of Sanctification of this day but that which is hearty and sincere And because our best service is imperfect therefore we can keep no perfect Sabbath on Earth that is reserved for Heaven Let us therefore endeavour the best aim at perfection desire pardon of defects and long after the estate of glory wherein we shall perfectly hallow an Eternal Sabbath before the Eternal King There he many causes of the prophanation § XV and impediments of the Sanctification of this holy time and we should take notice of them 1. Some are Atheists who are devoid of Faith and the fear of God These believe not that there is a God who will judge the World and render to every one according to their Works They fear not His Divine Power and Majesty They have no care to worship Him They perswade themselves that all Religious Service is vain and that the Worship of a Deity hath no better reason and ground then the fancy and conceit of some precise superstitious Fools They think that the Rest and Sanctification of every 7th day is a needless expence and loss of time to the hinderance and neglect of many considerable businesses 2. Some though not so prophane do not consider how much the Preservation and continuance of Religion depends upon the observation of Holy Sabbaths Take these away you shall by Experience find that Religion will decay and that in a short time We by the Light of Nature may easily understand that there is a time necessarily required for the dispatch of all business and if so then the Religious Service of our God and the Salvation of our Souls are the greatest and most weighty businesse we have to do in this World and therefore do of necessity require and may justly challenge not onely some time but a competent and due proportion of time Yet we find that men of great understanding and very prudent in these Earthly things are very inconsiderate and imprudent in this particular 3. Some take no notice of those Characters God hath imprinted upon some days and by some glorious work done on them honoured them and made them more excellent then other days They do not consider that the Jews being the people of God from whom Salvation was observed and that according to God's Command and Example one day in seven and that Christians from the Apostles days have consecrated the 7th part of their time unto God and that by sufficient Warrant from Heaven And this forgetfulness and want of consideration is one cause of their neglect and dis-esteem of the Sabbath 4. Some do know believe and profess these things yet are Worldly-minded negâ—igent in matters of Religion and at all times and so on the Sabbath are indisposed to Heavenly Duties so that they hallow no time and unhallow this sacred time which God doth arrogate to himself And such as being Earthly minded are most active in secular business are most careless and negligent in the observation of God's Sabbath 5. The want of preparation before we enter upon the Sabbath and Divine Service our careless carriage in the performance of Holy Duties and our intermixing of secular business prophane thoughâ—s and discourses must needs abate and that very much of the sanctification of the Day 6. Some are perswaded that all days since the abolition of the Jewish Polity are alike and therefore it is Jewish or Superstitious to observe any determinate time and to prefer one day above another 7. Some out of a Spiritual Pride and high conceit of themselves as above all Ordinances neglect Sacraments and Sabbaths as far below their high attainments The Reasons to perswade us to sanctifie the Sabbath are many § XVI and in general the same with those which bound the Jews and therefore must be sought in the Old Testament in Moses and the Prophets 1. God commands us to sanctifie His Sabbath and repeats this Command many times And though their Weekly Sabbath was not the same with ours for the particular Day yet the end and many particular Duties of Sanctification are the same 2. As the Jewish Religion so the Christian depends much upon the Sabbath and as theirs was necessary for the continuance of their Religion so ours is for the continuance of ours 3. God did severely and many times prohibit the Prophanation of this sacred time 4. When and where it 's neglected and prophaned wholly or in part there Religion decays accordingly and that in a short time 5. He hath promised to such as shall observe his Sabbath many and great Blessings both Temporal and Spiritual publick and private to particular Persons Nations and Common-wealths And in these Promises he did not so much regard this or that 7th day as the continuance of Religion by the Sactification of such Times as he himself should determine 6. He hath threatned most fearful Judgments to be inflicted upon them who shall by neglect of Holy Duties or by Worldly and Bodily Labours and Employments or any other way prophane the same 7. According to these
for the worship of the true and living God as it was a fit proportion of man's time and excellent means for the preservation and continuance of Religion had some connexion with the supream end and did conduce to the attaining of it The Divine Determination of that time for that end signified by a Command added did plainly make it moral For the alteration of the day it 's certain 1. That if God had in the beginning determined one and the same 7th Day to be of perpetual and universal obligation § XX then it could not be justly and by any sufficient Authority altered 2. It 's certain that the day prescribed to the Jew in time of the servitude and bondage of the Law was altered and another substituted and observed in the place thereof 3. This was altered after Christ's Incarnation and Glorification sending down of the Holy Ghost the Revelation of the Gospel preached to Jew and Gentile and in the Apostles days according to an Order given by them to the Churches planted by them 1 Cor. 16. 1 2 4. The day substituted was the first day of the week ibid. and the Lords Day and was so called and observed universally by Christians from that time to our days 4. In that one day in 7 as also this or that 7th day were positive and not moral therefore the 7th formerly observed by the Jew was alterable considered in it self 5. The 4th Commandement given to the Jew did not say that that 7th day determined then by Him should never be altered but be the Sabbath to Jew and Gentile to the end of the World 6. There were as you heard before great and weighty Reasons why the Apostles not onely might but should aâ—ter it For if the Character set upon it by the Work of Creation and the deliverance of Israel out of Aegypt the separation of them from all Nations till the exhibition of the Messias was a reason and ground to God for to institute and for them to observe them much more was the Character set upon the first day of the week by Christ's Resurrection the general manifestations and apparitions of him rise uon that day and the coming of the Holy Ghost as far greater blessings to sinful man then Creation and deliverance out of Aegypt was a sufficient ground and reason to lay aside the former day as joyned with the Ceremonial Law the Covenant with their Fathers in the Wilderness and the separation of the Jews from all other Nations and to institute and observe the first day unto God-Redeemer by Christ exhibited as the former was observed to God-Creatour and Deliverer of one Nation out of Aegypt Neither was there any need of a new express Precept seeing to the Apostles the Reasons for the alteration were so weighty clear and evincing For the former Sabbath being joyned with the Ceremonial Law given to the Jew did presuppose the Church confined to a Nation the Gentiles excluded the people of God in minority and servitude under a Tutor and Christ fo come therefore for the positive part it was to cease with the legal dispensation And as there followed a new manner of Worship and a new Administration so there must be a new day The Commandement it self requires one day in seven and if so then no day could be so fit as the day of Resurrection and the coming down of the Holy Ghost from Heaven By the observation of this we acknowledge the Levitical Priesthood and Service to be abolished Christ exhibited the Work of Redemption finished and that Jesus of Nazareth who was born at Bethlem brought up at Nazareth crucified at Jerusalem rose again the third day ascended into Heaven hath sent down the Holy Ghost is the Son of God and Saviour of the World CHAP. XI The Fifth Commandement BEfore I enter upon the words of this Commandement § I Something must be said in general 1. Concerning the difference 2. The order of these two parts of the Law For our Saviour reduceth the whole Law to two heads 1. Of the Love of God 2. Of our Neighbour And as God and our Neighbour differ and that very much so the dutyes of this latter part differ from those of the former for as the former have God for their object so these have Man The former respect our communion with God the latter our communion with our Neighbour The former presents the dutyes of men as subjects to be performed to their Soveraign the Great and everlasting the latter commands dutyes to be performed to man who is the fellow-Subject The former give morality to the latter The latter receive morality from the former and depend upon them and are so far good as they agree with the former The former have more connexion with as they conduced more immediately unto the last end Gods glory and Mans happinesse So that the difference between them is very great According to this difference there is an inequality It 's true that they are equall as they are commands and also commands of God and bind unto obedience unto God and the matter of both is just Yet their inequality is great because the dutyes of the former according to the object are far more excellent and if they come in competition with these of the second Table they must be preferred Yet we must make a distinction For in both parts of the Law there be some dutyes morall some positive and one and the same duty is in some respect moral in another positive This therefore is the certain rule that moralls of the first part or Table as some call it are to be performed beâ—ore the morals of the second Table and positives of the first before positives of the second Upon this account if the love of Father and Mother a moral duty of the latter part come in competition with the love of God required in the first part then its true our Saviour â—aith He that loveth Father or Mother more then God or hateth not Father and Mother for Christs sake is not worthy of Christ. In this respect obedience to our lawfull superiours inconsistent with our obedience to God is unlawfull for we must obey God rather then man the supreme Lord before the subordinate But if we compare positives of the first Table with morals of the second the morals of the second must be prefer'd before the positives of the first Therefore we may intermit the outward solemne worship of God upon the Sabbath day to save the life of a Beast or much more of a man though the work should take up the whole time of one Sabbath or more This lesson our Saviour taught us when he proved that it was lawfull to heale on the Sabbath This inequality is implyed in the words of our Saviour to the Scribes and Pharisees when he not onely reproves them but denounceth a judgement against them in that they pay'd tith of Mint and Annise and Cummin and omitted the weightyer matters of the Law
is here Virtually and Really present by his Spirit in this Sacrament as in all other his Ordinances and in a speciall manner and the same powerfull and comfortable to the worthy receiver The Papists have put a difference between the Sacrifice of the Masse § XVII and the Sacrament of the Eucharist and for the former Service they have their direction from the Missal for the Later from the Rituall Yet Christ did but institute a Sacrament and not a Sacrifice and in the same the bread and wine is commanded to be used in blessing the giving and receiving of both and not the offering of the body and blood of Christ for that offering was once made never to be made again And whereas they do affirm that the Sacrifice of the Masse is properly a Sacrifice Propitiatory for the Sins of the living and the dead and the same with that Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Crosse it cannot be true neither can it be credible to any rationall unprejudiced person For a Sacrifice properly so taken especially ilasticall or propitiatory is essentially bloody as wherein the thing Sacrificed is first slain then offered But the Sacrifice of the Crosse as they themselves confesse is INCRUENTUM unbloody and therein is no death of the thing Sacrificed Neither can it be the same with that which Christ offered upon the Crosse For to that it was essential that Christ's body should be broken and the blood shed and offered unto God without spot by the eternall Spirit and without this Death and offering it could not have bin this Sacrifice at all and this Sacrifice was but offered once and once offered was never to be offered again For once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 10. 14. So that we have here but one Sacrifice and the same once offered yet of eternall vertue If this Sacrifice of the Masse were the same which they affirm with the Sacrifice upon the Crosse it must needs be granted that it is propitiatory But they confesse 1. That it is incruentum 2. That it is not Expiatorium Redemptorium 3. That it 's only Commemoratorium Applicatorium By the First they grant that it 's not essentially the same By the Second that it 's not effectively the same By the Third that it 's only a Commemoration and a meanes of the Application of the same And if they would lay aside the Sacrifice of the Masse and acknowledge the Sacrifice of the Crosse and celebrate the Sacrament as it was instituted by Christ We should easily grant that therein there is a Commemoration of Christ's death and Sacrifice once offered and that this Sacrament is a meanes whereby that Sacrifice is applied Before I conclude this Doctrine of the Sacraments § XVIII I will examine 1. Who have power and right to administer them 2. To whom they may lawfully be administred 3. Whether they are to be administred according to humane judgment which is fallible or divine judgment which is infallible For the first of these Who have power to administer That 's easily and briefly determined For they who are trusted with the word and have Commmission to preach the Gospel they have power to administer these Sacraments This in respect of Baptism appears in the mission of the Apostles into all Nations For by that Commission they who must teach must baptize And we never read of any Commission given to any others either to baptize or administer the Lords supper And the constant practice of the universall Church so far as known to us hath bin conformable to this Commission What may be done in case of necessity which God not man hath brought us unto is another thing For in such cases God dispenseth with many things required in his own Institution As for the second question § XIX To whom may they be administred The answer in generall is 1. They may be administred to such as have a right unto them who are Christ's disciples and may be judged fit to be members of the Church visible and in the number of Christians 2. We must distinguish between the subjects who have a right to the actuall participation of Baptism and such as have aright to the actual participation of the Lords supper 3. Of such as may be subjects capable of Baptism some are Adulti and these if they be disciples and manifest themselves to be such they no doubt may be baptized But all the controversy in our unhappy dayes is Whether Infants of Christians and believing Parents may be baptized or no In this controversy I shall deliver my knowledge and judgment as briefly as may be 1. Infants as Infants and Children of Turks Pagans unbelieving Jews are not capable of Baptism neither as Infants nor Infants of such Parents 2. Infants as Infants and considered Physically as distinct persons from their Parents are not capable of or have any right to Baptism 3. The Infants of Christian Parents so considered as distinct persons from their Christian Parents as Christians have no right unto it 4. The Infants of Christian and believâ—ng Parents considered as one person with them as Christians and believers have right to Baptism For if they be one person with them as Christians they must needs have some kind of right to Baptism as their Parents have 5. They have not this right from them by Nature nor humane Laws for so they only receive their humane nature from them as their Parents have humane nature and this naturally and if their Parents be free or noble by humane Laws they derive freedom or nobility 6. That they derive this right from their Parents as Christians it 's from Gods free mercy and gracious ordination which includes the Children in Covenant with the Parents 7. Children are one person with their parents both by the Law of God and the Laws of Men and that in many things and especially in Obligations in Priviledges in rewards and punishments By the Laws of men in civill matters we know that SUI HEREDES as the Civilians call them derive a right unto their Parents estate though there be no Testament or if a Testament and the same they be excluded because the Law grounded upon nature considers them as one person with their Parents or next kindred deceased If the Father be a subject of a free State and so bound to subjection unto the Laws the Son born of him as a subject of that State is bound to the Lawes and derives that obligation from his Father as one person with him neiâ—her is it materiall whether the Father was a subject naturall or naturaliz'd If the Father dye indebted and the Heir enter upon the estate by vertue of that Will He by the civill Law falls under the same obligation as one with the Father and is bound to discharge the debts Paul was born a Roman Act. 22. 28. and all the Priviledges of a Roman he had by birth
or unbelieving Jewes are The distance from God and Salvation of the one is not such or so great as the distance of the other The Apostle puts the Ephesians in mind That before their conversion they were Gentiles in the slesh who were called uncircumcision by that which was called circumcision in the slesh made by hands That at that time they were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope without God in the world Ephes. 2. 11 12. It 's not to be understood that they were without God as Creatour or Preserver but without God promising to save them For God did not promise to save them or their Children upon any terms They were excommunicate and banished out of his Kingdome and were denyed the very meanes of conversion Therefore they must needs be without Christ and without hope For where there is no Christ nor promise in Christ there could be no hope But after their conversion they were Subjects of Gods Kingdome fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and if the Parents being the root were holy then their Children the branches were holy and within the Verges of Gods spiritual Kingdom And as the promise in Christ to come was to the Jews and their Children so the promise in Christ already come is to Christians and their Children For the Covenant made to Abraham and his seed is essentially though not accidentally the same with the promise of the Gospel and must necessarily include the Children with the Parents as that did except any man can produce a clause of exclusion which no man to this day ever could When Peter said The promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God should call Acts 2. 3. He spake not to the Jews merely as Jews but as Christians believing in Christ already come and the promise was not personal to them alone excluding their Children but to them as such and their Children For their conversion did no wayes limit or straiten the promise made to Abraham but continued it in the same extent it was before And the words imply that if he called the Gentiles who were afar off both they and their Children as he did call them afterward even they should enjoy the promise in the same extent so as to include the Children with the Parents To understand it otherwise is to offer violence to the Text. For the Gentiles once called must enjoy the priviledges for them and theirs in as large and ample manner as the Jew did this onely was the proper and special priviledge of the Jew he must first be called Yet this we must know that Children are in the lowest form of Christs Kingdom whilst they are Children and after they are at age by their actual disobedience may loose the benefit and by Apostacy they may forfeit all their priviledges and their hope These priviledges which these Children enjoy are not ordinarily immediate conversion or justification and the Spirit of Adoption and regeneration and the actuall enjoyment of those blessings but that which they have immediate right unto is the meanes of conversion which he denyes to such as are not of the Church For this was the priviledge which the Jew enjoyed though he did not believe he was trusted with the Oracles of God wherein were precepts of duty promises for mercy and also of power to keep the precepts and the outward confirmation both of precepts and promises This was the Childrens bread which was not given to doggs of the Gentiles and such as were strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel These Children born in the Church and of believing Parents who are Christians are members of the Church subjects of Christs Kingdome and have a special relation to God to Christ to the Church and the same such as no Infants in the world born of Parents out of the Church have or as such can have The summe of this discourse is That as all Children are part of their parents make but one person by the Laws of God and men so Christian Infants are one person with their Christian parents and make but one body with them as the root and branches are but one Tree and this by divine ordination and especially in obligations to dutyes and right unto favours and priviledges spiritual so far as they are capable So that the question so much vexed in our dayes rightly stated is this Whether Christian infants as part of their parents and one person with them have right to Baptism or are subjects immediately capable of baptism according to Divine ordination To this thus stated the Antipaedo-baptists have said nothing to this hour And whereas they alleage that there is no example or precept in the Gospel for Infant-baptism it hath been answered that there is no expresse precept or example for women to receive the Lords Supper and yet they themselves administer it to women But this is but very little if not the least that may be said for infant-baptism For so many precepts and examples as they can find in the New-Testament for the Baptism of such as are at age so many precepts and examples they give us for Baptizing Infants For if the parents or one of the parents may be baptized then the Infant may be baptized For they are one person in respect of Baptism and therefore what right the one hath the other must have Neither can it be upon any sufficient ground alledged that Children are uncapable of Baptism either as it is a Sacrament or as a Sacrament of initiation or as a seale of the righteousnesse by faith For circumcision was 1. A Sacrament 2. A Sacrament of initiation 3. A Seal of the righteousnesse by faith Yet this was administred to Infants and that by Gods Institution which never would have been done by Divine Warrant if they had been uncapable The difference between Baptism and Circumcision was 1. That the signes are different 2. That there was a different modification in the object of faith required in both The signe of the former was the cutting off the foreskin of the â—lesh in the second washing with water in the name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost The different modification of the object of faith was Christ to come and Christ already come The spirituall thing sealed and signified in both was the same that is righteousnesse by faith in Christ. And as there is no place of Scripture alleaged so I think there can be no reason sufficient given why the covenant being essentially the same the Children included then should be excluded now If the faith profession and promise of the Parents then was sufficient to obtain the sealing of the covenant by the initiating Sacrament why should they not be now For Children are as much one person now with their parents as they were then Neither should any wonder that the Faith of one may
impetuous stream did carry all before them This was the judgment of the Eastern and Southern Christians invaded by the Saracens and possessed by them from beyond Babylon and Arabia unto Barbary and Spain where they met the Northern Barbarians In these latter days How many Churches Christian are swallowed up by the Turkish Empire These were not meerly temporall judgments but spirituall Because the enemies did not onely invade and possesse their Countryes but in many places deprive them of their Teachers and the Gospel the glorious light whereof is mightily darkened as in â—ormer times so in these latter dayes by that Smoak and mist of Hell the doctrine of the Alcoran and that in many places of the World This is a just judgment of God which Christ avert from us because they walked not in the light of the Gospel when it so clearly shined upon them And its one of the most feafull punishments of Christians to be delivered up to believe lyes and false doctrine in matters of Salvation Yet Turks and other Mahumetans do not professe themselves Christians as we in this Western Corner of the World do But amongst us there be such as professe their faith in Christ who yet are in the just judgment of God delivered up to superstition Idolatry and most dangerous doctrines which have formerly been and now are dispersed into severall Nations We read That because men received not the Love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a Lie 2 Thes. 2. 10 11. Where we may observe 1. The sin which is Not to receive the love of the truth that they might be saved 2. The Punishment God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye For when God doth take away his Spirit from such as enjoy the word of God which they will not believe and practise it 's an easy thing for the Devil to delude the wisest and most learned in matters of Religion and then there is no Doctrine so false and absurd which man so deluded will not believe This hath been confirmed by experience of former times especially in that Temple or Church wherein the Son of Perdition shall exalt himself above all Civil and Ecclesiasticall powers The seat of this Wicked one must be some eminent City so the Scripture tells us and this City shall be called Babylon in a mystery and stand built upon seven hills Some say that Constantinople which was called New-Rome is so Yet that cannot be it Because it must be that City which did Reign over the Kings of the Earth when John received the Revelation from Heaven and that was not Constantinople which was obscure at that time The Character of this Whore was 1. That She made the Nations of the Earth drunk with her cup of fornication And 2. She Her self was drunk with the blood of the Saints and the Martyrs of Jesus Fornication is Superstition Image-worship and Idolatry The drinking of the blood of the Saints is the persecution and murder of all such Christians as shall refuse to acknowledge Her power and to receive Her abominable and Idolatrous worship Lest any therefore should be ignorant what City this is The spirit informs us 1. That it 's a City which professeth Christ. 2. It 's the seat of the Son of Perdition arrogating Supreme power not only in temporals but spirituals 3. It 's Idolatrous and Superstitious worshiping of Images 4. It sheds the blood of such Christians as will not acknowledge Her power and drink of Her cup of fornication 5. It 's a City that was built and once stood upon seven hills 6. It Reigned over the Kings of the Earth in the times of John the Divine 7. It 's a City that boasts of many lying signs and wonders and believes lies receives false Doctrine That this City and the man of sin therein should continue so long have so great power delude so many Nations inâ—atuate them seem to be holy profess her self the Mother of all Christian Churches the Temple of God infallible and that society out of which there is no salvation is a spirituall judgment from Heaven and far greater then the Iâ—vasion of the Saracens and Barbarous Nations yea then the damned Doctrine of the Alcoran For that in many things is grosse ridiculous and absurd In this Mysticall Babylon the grossest errours put on the Vizard of saving and infallible truth the most abominable superstition of zealous devotion the greatest pride of deepest humility and he that beareth the title of Servant of Servants will be the Lord of Lords Besides all the transcended perogatives of this Church as of Supremacy Infallibility Authority above Scripture are maintainâ—d by the choisest wits of greatest Schollars And their Sophisms are so effectuall that not only the ignorant sort of people and silly women but persons of greatest power the Princes and Potentates of the Earth men of most excellent parts profoundest Learning and Policy are enchanted and bewitched by this great City This is one of the greatest trialls of Christians and the Church of God that ever came upon the World And if we Seriously consider we may easily understand that it 's God alone who preserves us in the truth And all such as love the truth and endeavour to practise it according to the plainnesse and simplicity of the Gospel may expect this blessing from Heaven even in the midst of these most dangerous times This is a fair warning to us all who enjoy the Scriptures and therein the word of God to take heed least we live unprofitably through our own neglect under the means of salvation For if we do not seriously attend unto the saving doctrine of the truth and give all diligence to practise it so far as we know it it will be just with God to suffer Sathan to delude us be a lying spirit in the mouths of our Prophets and to give us over to believe lyes errours heresies as we see it come to passe with many amongst us at this day By the former sins and neglect of our duty we do not only lose all the benefits and comforts which God hath promised and we might enjoy in a well constituted Church reformed in Doctrine Worship Discipline according to the word of God but also make our selves liable to the former punishments and all others which God hath threatned against us in his Book It 's the great and unspeakable mercy of God § XII which signifies his tender care oâ— our poor souls that he will make known unto us what glorious rewards we upon obedience to his Laws may expect from him and what fearfull punishments will follow upon our disobedience and impenitency The Law-givers and Rulers of the World think it sufficient to publish their Laws once enacted and to leave every man to take notice of them or neglect to do so at their perill But our gracious and most mercifull Lord sends his
better way to do it than by an Oath Otherwise an Oath is needlesse and such as be too hasty to swear when there is no necessity are to be suspected as false or prophane wretches 4. The party swearing must aime at that end for which an Oath was ordayned and take it so as that it may end in the glory of God and the good of man Besides the conditions required in an assertory Oath § XIII as that the matter must be of importance and there must be some necessity of it there are some other qualifications necessary in a promissory Oath For 1. The thing promised must be just and lawfull If a man may not do much lesse may he promise and swear to do that which is unjust Neither if in this case we swear can the Oath bind us but becomes ipso facto voyd For the â—bâ—gation of Man cannot be in force when it 's contrary unto and inconsisâ—ent with â—â—peâ—iour obligation of Gods Commandement Henâ—e that Axiom Juramentum non ligat ad illicitum No Oath can bind us to do that which 〈…〉 or not do that which he hath commanded For it 's contrary to 〈…〉 end of an Oath to be Vinculum Iniquitatis to bind to offend the supreme Loâ—d Therefore it 's a fearfull abuse and prophanation of an Oath when men swear to conceal Treason and bind themselves to do mischief as those 〈◊〉 men did who conspired to murder Paul Act. 23. 21. It 's true that by the variation of cirumstances and other accidents and events of divine providence that which was lawfull in the time of swearing may become unlawfuâ— beâ—ore the time of performance and in this case God doth free a man from his obligation 2. The thing promised by Oath must be possible not onely in it self but to the party swearing and so that prudent men may judge it to be in his power Yet if by providence it become impossible to the party before the time of performance he is free But he must be willing and surely endeavour the performance for if through his own folly negligence or wilfullnesse it become such so that the cause is in himself who might have prevented it he must needs be guilty Otherwise Nemo tenetur ad Impossibile 3. The party swearing must have a sincere intention to perform his Oath and must carefully remember how deeply â—e hath engaged himself and use his utmost enâ—eavour to be faithfull lest God be dishonoured his conscience wounded his neighbour deceived and disappointed And because an Oath taken before man should expresse the mind of the party swearing to them whom it concernes to beleeve him § XIV therefore both in an assertory and also a promissory Oath the words must be plain and full so that they may be understood for otherwise if they conceale that which should be expressed or expresse their mind doubtfully the Oath will be â—o little purpose and if this be done of purpose to deceive it 's abominable Therefore all Aequivocations and mental reservations are to be abhorred as contrary to the very end of an Oath If these be used all Oaths are Vselesse For the party swearing speaks one thing but meanes another and whosoever depends upon any such must needs be deceived Neither is it safe for any man after that he hath solemnly bound himself by a Promissory Oath to seek evasions to disoblige himself by Curious and nice distinctions or strayning or wresting the words For we must consider that God will judge us As in swearing § XV so in other things especially in Divine Worship we take up the Name of God And as in Oaths so in other things especially in religious services we must not take his name in vain but perform them so as that God with whom we have to do may be glorified As fasting and prayer for vaine glory to gaine an opinion of our holinesse and to think to be heard of God for our many words and repetitions are here prohibited as also all formalityes in divine Worship so the contrary is commanded And God requires a due disposition of heart and a preparation before this disposition continued in the act of performance and an holy carriage after our devotions are ended For as God is holy so must we when we draw nigh unto him be holy And this precept discovers an abundance of prophaness hypocrisie formality in most and many imperfections in the best when they worship before God CHAP. X. The Fourth Commandement BEfore I enter upon the explication of this commandement § I it will be requiâ—ite to premise some generals concerning the order and relation of it to the former concerning the reason and cause of a Sabbath and concerning the end 1. The order is clear enough For after that God had required subjection to himself and secured his soveraign power in the First instituted and appointed the services which man must perform unto him prohibiting all superstitious inventions of men in the Second and prescribed the manner how his institutions must be performed in the Third he determins a certaine time wherein all other businesse set aside religious dutyes ought to be performed unto him in a more solemn manner and that time consecrated in a special manner to his Divine Majesty in this Fourth This is the order and connexion of this part of the Law with the rest whereby we understand that this Commandemeâ—t presupposeth the former necessarily so that without them it s nothing but a bare duration and part of time no wayes different in it self from other times And for this reason must of necessity derive its morality so far as it is moral from some thing antecedent 2. The reason § II and cause why God did determin a certain portion of time for rest and sanctification followes in the second place to be considered and it 's the condition of man in this life which is such as that it did in some sort necessarily require it For man in innocency had his secular employment if we may so call it For he was put in Paradise and in that Garden God had planted Eastward in Eden to dresse it and keep it Gen. 2. 15. And this work must take up some time But since his Fall he must eat his bread in the sweat of his face and as his necessities so his worldly employments are not few but so much of his time is taken up in these earthly works that he cannot keep a perpetual Sabbath to his God as we hope to do in Heaven For this cause God in his Wisdome thought it fit to measure out of his time a determinate portion wherein man must sequester himself from the businesse of the World and spend the same in his better and diviner imployments What portion was fittest and sufficient neither too much nor too little he onely knew as He onely had power to limit it and bind man to the Sanctification of it The Jewes observed one day in seaven in a certain order so likewise