power of his to the indisposition of the matter so it makes Original Sin to be natural and unavoidable and consequently also those actual sins that slow from it By which means it not only renders all our endeavours against them useless but casts a blemish upon those divine Laws which pretend to forbid them and upon those divine judgments which pretend to punish them For neither can God without great unreasonableness forbid what is not to be avoided nor punish it without the imputation of injustice But it may be though Original Sin had not its beginning either from some evil spirit or the pravity of the matter which are the two first opinions which pretend to give an account of it yet it might as is suggested in the third arise from such evil habits as Men's souls contracted before their descent into this World and into those bodies wherewith they are invested That indeed might yet more reasonably be believ'd that I say not also abstracting from the Authority of the Scripture much more reasonably than the account that is given of it from Adam if there were but equal reason to believe that Men's Souls had any separate existence antecedently to their conception in the Womb. But as that is a thing for which there is not any solid ground either in reason or Scripture and the supposition of it therefore the meer issue of fancy and conjecture So it is sufficiently confuted by the ignorance Men's Souls are under of any such previous estate For why if Men's Souls had any such previous existence should they not be conscious of it and of the things that were performed by them in it Nay why should not God take care to fix such a remembrance in them that so what was wanting in their former estate might be supply'd by them in their following one For as it is not easie to suppose that the corruptible body should so far stupefie the Soul as to hinder it from emerging in time out of sleep in which it may seem to have been cast and accordingly from calling to mind what had been before transacted within it Because though the Body may be some hindrance to the faculties of the Soul yet it doth not hinder them from coming in time to exert their proper operations So it is much less easie to suppose that God should not however bring to it's memory its past State and Actions by which it offended against him Partly to make it sensible of its former guilt and God's choosing to punish it by thrusting it into a Body and partly to make it so much the more careful to break off from those sins by which it had before offended him These as they are the only imaginable ends why God should thrust an offending Soul into such a Body so being perfectly lost to that Soul in which there is no consciousness of it's former state and of those enormities which were contracted in it I conclude therefore that whatever may be said as to this particular concerning Original Sin yet it did not take its rise from the evil acts or habits of the Soul in any praexistent estate and nothing therefore left to us to resolve it into but the depravedness of those from whom we all descended and from whom it is transmitted to particular Souls and Persons I deny not indeed that even this Account is not without its difficulties and such as it will be hard if not impossible perfectly to assoile I deny not farther that those difficulties are much enhanc'd by the ignorance we are under concerning the Original of humane Souls and which whilst we continue under it will not be easie for us to shew how that depravedness of Nature should pass from them to us But as those difficulties are no ways comparable to the difficulties of two of the former even those which resolve Original Sin into the malignity of some evil spirit or the pravity of matter So they can much less be thought to be of force against the testimony of the Scripture if that as I shall afterwards shew favour its arising from the pravity of our first Parents Partly because the thing in question is a matter of fact and therefore to be determin'd rather by testimony than the force of reason and partly because the testimony of Scripture is the most Authentick one as being no other than the testimony of God Now that there wants not sufficient evidence from thence that that Original Sin whereof we speak ariseth from the pravity of those from whom we first descended will appear if these three things can be made out First that the sin of all mankind enter'd in by Adam Secondly that it enter'd in by Adam not meerly as the first that committed it or tempted other Men by his ill example to do the like but as more or less the cause of all their sins by his own Thirdly that he became the cause of all their sins through his by depraving thereby his own Nature and then communicating that depravation to those that descended from him That the Sin of all Mankind enter'd in by Adam will need no other proof than that known Text of S. Paul (p) Rom. 5.12 even that by one Man sin enter'd into the World and death by sin and so death passed through unto all Men for that all have sinned For as we cannot well interpret the word sin of any other than the sin of all Men because there is nothing in the Text to limit it to any particular Man's so much less when S. Paul doth afterwards affirm that that death which enter'd in by it passed thorough unto all Men for that or because all had sinned by the means of him That as it makes death to pass upon all Men with respect to their several sins and consequently their several sins to be the immediate door by which it enters so making those several sins therefore to be included in that sin which he before affirmed to be the cause of that death and together with it to have enter'd in by Adam But because among those at least by whom the Scripture is acknowledg'd the question is not so much whether all sin enter'd by Adam but after what manner it enter'd by him And because till that be known we cannot speak with any certainty concerning the derivation of the corruptness of our Natures from that of our first Parents or Parent Therefore pass we on to shew according to the method before laid down that as the sin of all Mankind enter'd in by Adam so it enter'd in by him not as some have vainly deem'd meerly as one who first committed it or tempted others by his example to do the like but as one also yea especially who by the malignant influence of his sin was more or less the cause of all those sins that followed it That the sin of all Mankind enter'd not in by Adam either meerly or principally as one who first committed it will need no other
as a means whereby we receive the same and as a pledge to assure us thereof Question How many parts are there in a Sacrament Answer Two the outward visible sign and the inward spiritual grace Question What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism Answer Water wherein the person is baptized In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Question What is the inward and spiritual grace Answer A death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness for being by nature born in sin and the children of wrath we are hereby made the children of grace Question What is required of persons to be baptized Answer Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament Question Why then are Infants baptized when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them Answer Because they promise them both by their Sureties which promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform Question Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordained Answer For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the benefits which we receive thereby Question What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper Answer Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Question What is the inward part or thing signified Answer The body and blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper Question What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby Answer The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ as our bodies are by the bread and wine Question What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper Answer To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and be in charity with all men OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM In Pursuance of an EXPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE Church of England BY GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. and Rector of Welwynne in Hartfordshire Imprimatur Ex Aedib Lamb. Apr. 10. 1686. Jo. Battely RRmo P. ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domesticis LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD FRANCIS Lord Bishop of ELY AND LORD ALMONER TO His Majesty My Lord YOUR Lordship 's favourable acceptance of my Discourse of the Sacraments in General with the desire I have if it may be to put an end to the whole hath prompted me to make the more hast to present your Lordship and the World with this of Baptism in particular Two things there are in it which I thought my self most concern'd to clear and which therefore I have employ'd all requisite diligence on the Doctrine of Original Sin and Infant-Baptism The former being in my opinion the foundation of Christianity the latter of our interest in it For if there be no such thing as Original Sin I do not see but some persons heretofore might and may here after live with such exactness as not at all to stand in need of a Saviour And I see as little if Infant-Baptism be null what interest any of us can have in him according to the ordinary dispensation of the Gospel who have for the most part been baptized in our Infancy or at least have been baptized by those that were Throughout the whole Treatise I have endeavour'd to retrive the antient notion of Baptism to shew what advantages are annexed to it and what duties it either involves or obligeth to To either of which if I have given any light or strength I shall hope I have done some small service to the Church and which your Lordship in particular will take in good part from Your Lordship's Most Obliged Most Obedient and Most humble Servant GABRIEL TOWERSON Wellwyne Aug. 23. 1686. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Of the Rite of Baptism among the Heathen and the Jews THe Heathen themselves not without the knowledge of another World and of the insufficiency of natural Religion to bring them to the happiness thereof Occasion taken by them from thence to enquire after other ways of obtaining it and by the Devil to suggest the mysteries of their respective Deities as the only proper means of compassing it Those mysteries every where initiated into by the Rite of Baptism partly through Men's consciousness of their past sins and which they judged it but meet they should be some way purged from and partly through the policy of the Devil who thereby thought to procure the greater veneration to them That as it was a Rite which was in use among God's own people so naturally apt to represent to Mens minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Of what Service the Heathens use of this Rite is toward the commendation of the Christians Baptism and a transition from thence to the use of it among the Jews Which is not only prov'd at large out of the Jewish Writings and several particulars of that Baptism remark'd but that usage farther confirm'd by several concurring proofs such as is in particular the no appearance there is otherwise of any initiation of the Jewish Women the Baptizing of the whole Nation in the Cloud and in the Sea and a remarkable allusion to it in our Saviour's Discourse to Nicodemus The silence of the Old Testament concerning that Rite shewn to be of no force because though it take notice of the first Jews being under the Cloud and passing through the Red Sea yet it takes no notice at all of their being Baptized in them or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual Repast whereof S. Paul speaketh The Baptism of Christians copied by our Saviour from that of the Jews and may therefore where it appears not that he hath made an alteration receive an elucidation from it pag. 1. The Contents of the Second Part. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it THe Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As
cap. 3. that this Ceremony was in use in his time in almost all the actions they set about So our Church hath taken care to prevent in its own Members all misapplications of it or the giving the least encouragement to those that are made of it by others Partly by confining the use of it to the Administration of Baptism and partly by representing it as only a token of Men's being not ashamed to own the Faith and reproaches of him who suffered upon it Which is certainly a more proper course to discountenance Popery than it can be thought to be to remove the use of it altogether Because at the same time we disavow the errors of that we shew by our Practice our allowance of the Ceremony it self and together therewith our accordance with the Primitive Church which is the only plausible thing the Papists have to boulster up their own cause or reproach us with the neglect of A DIGRESSION CONCERNING Original Sin By way of PREPARATION To the Following DISCOURSES The Contents Of the ground of the present Digression concerning Original Sin and enquiry thereupon made what Original Sin is Which is shewn in the General to be such a corruption of the Nature of every Man that is naturally engendered of the off-spring of Adam whereby it becomes averse from every thing that is good and inclinable to every thing that is evil The nature of that corruption more particularly enquir'd into and shewn by probable Arguments to be no other than a Privation of a Supernatural Grace That there is such a thing as we have before described evidenced at large from the Scripture and that evidence farther strengthned by the experience we have of its effects and the acknowledgments of the wiser Heathen Enquiry next made from whence it had its beginning which is shewn to have been not from any evil Spirit or Daemon the pravity of matter or the evil habits the Soul contracted in a praeexistent state but from the pravity of our first Parents This last at large confirm'd out of the Doctrine of the Scripture and followed by some light reflections upon the means by which it is conveyed A more just account from the Scripture of its being truly and properly a sin partly from its having the title of a sin but more especially from its being represented as such upon the account of our Obligation to the contrary A consideration of those Objections which are commonly made against the Doctrine of Original Sin Which are shewn either not to be of that force whereof they are esteem'd or however not to be a sufficient bar to what the Scripture hath declar'd concerning it AN account being thus given of the outward visible Sign of Baptism Question What is the inward and spiritual Grace Answer A death unto Sin and a new birth unto Righteousness For being by nature born in Sin and the Children of wrath we are hereby made the Children of Grace which is the first of those things I proposed to entreat of Reason would as well as the method before laid down that I should consider the things signified by it Which on the part of God and Christ are an inward and Spiritual Grace as on the part of the baptized an Abrenunciation of their former sins and a resolution to believe and act as Christianity obligeth them to do But because both the one and the other of these suppose the baptized persons to have been before in a sinful Estate and our Catechism in particular to have been born in it and by that as well as by the sins they afterward contracted to be made the Children of wrath Therefore it will be but necessary for us to premise something concerning that sinful Estate as which Baptism both presupposeth and professeth to provide a remedy for Now as that sinful State whereof we speak is best known by the name of Original Sin and will therefore most commodiously be described by it So I will make it my business to enquire What that is and what appearance of the being of it from whence it had its beginning and by what means it is conveyed whether as it hath for the most part the name of a Sin so it be truly and properly such and what is to be said to the Objections that are made against it I. To begin with the first of these even what Original Sin is and which in the general may be defin'd to be such a Corruption of the nature of every Man that is naturally ingendred of the off-spring of Adam whereby it becomes averse from every thing that is good and inclin'd to every thing that is evil I call it a Corruption of nature to distinguish it from nature considered in it self and as it was in the first formation of it Partly because Nature being as such the work of God cannot be supposed to be corrupt And partly because the Scripture assures us that whatsoever it now is God made it upright * Eccl. 7.29 and so free from all corruptions whatsoever But so also do I entitle it the Corruption of the Nature of every Man that is naturally ingendred of the off-spring of Adam Partly because the Scripture where it entreats of it represents all Men as under the Contagion of it and partly to exempt our Lord and Saviour from it who was ingendred after another manner and whom the same Scripture assures to have been free †2 Cor. 5.21 from all sin yea to have been so * Luk. 1.35 from his Birth I call it lastly such a Corruption of humane Nature whereby it is averse from every thing that is good and inclin'd to every thing that is evil Which I do upon the account of the Scripture's representing it as a sinful (a) Psa 51.5 one and which as such will make those in whom it is averse from good as well as inclinable to evil yea averse from all that is good and inclinable to all evil Because good yea all good is opposite to such an estate and evil yea all evil connatural to it If they in whom that corruption of nature doth as yet abide be not always actually prevail'd upon to reject that good from which we have affirm'd them to be so averse or to pursue that evil to which we have affirm'd them to be inclinable it is not because they want any averseness for the one or inclination to the other but for some other collateral considerations Such as is for example the reputation or advantage that may accrue to them from the espousing of any thing that is good or the omission of any thing that is evil For all good and all evil being of one uniform nature because becoming good or evil by the conformity they bear to the divine Laws or by their deviation from them where there is an inclination to any thing that is good there must be an inclination to all that is of the same nature as on the other side where an
therefore there can be any doubt concerning the Law we speak of it must be as to its having been given to Adam in his publick capacity and as he may be suppos'd to have been the representative of all Mankind Which I shall endeavour to evince first by shewing what I mean by his publick capacity secondly by shewing that Adam was set in such a capacity and thirdly that the Law we speak of was given to him as considered in it By the publick capacity of Adam I mean such a one whereby as he was design'd to be the Father of all Mankind so God made him a kind of Trustee for it In order thereunto both giving him what he did for their benefit as well as his own and obliging him for their sakes as well as his own to see to the preservation of it and act agreeably to it Which if he did his Posterity as well as himself should have the benefit thereof and God's favour together with it but if not forfeit together with him what God had so bestow'd upon him and incurr the penalty of his displeasure Now that Adam was set in such a capacity which is the second thing to be demonstrated will appear from the Scriptures making him the cause of all Men's death by his offence and disobedience For the effects of another disobedience being not otherwise chargeable upon any Man than as that other may be suppos'd to be appointed to act for him If the effects of Adam's disobedience were to fall upon all his Posterity he also must be supposed to have been appointed to act for them and consequently to have been set in that publick capacity whereof I speak Which will leave nothing more for us to shew upon this Head than that that Law which requires a pious and innocent temper was given to Adam in that capacity But as we can as little doubt of that if his contracting a contrary temper was as fatal to his Posterity as to himself So that it was will need no other proof than his producing the like temper in them and that temper 's proving as deadly to them The former whereof is evident from what I before said to shew that Original Sin had its beginning from Adam the latter from S. Paul's (p) Rom. 7.24 calling it a Body of Death or a Body that brings it The Genitive Case (q) Grot. in loc among the Hebrews and Hellenists being usually set for such Adjectives as betoken a causality in them Even as the Savour of Death is us'd for a deadly one or that which bringeth death and the Tree of Life for a life-giving one or that which was apt to produce or continue it I deny not indeed that I may now pass to those Exceptions that are commonly made against it that it may seem hard to conceive how Adam should be set in such a capacity as to involve all mankind in happiness or misery according as he either continued in or fell from that integrity wherein God created him I deny not therefore but that it is equally hard to conceive how God should give him such a Law the observation or transgression whereof on his part should redound to the account of his Posterity But as every thing that is hard to be conceiv'd is not therefore to be deny'd if it be otherwise strengthen'd with sufficient proofs So it would be consider'd also whether it be not much more hard to conceive how God should otherwise involve Infants and Children in those calamities into which they often fall especially in National Judgments It being certainly more agreeable to the divine Justice to conceive those to have some way or other offended and consequently thereto to have fallen under the displeasure of it than to conceive them to suffer it without any offence at all For why then should we not think especially when the Scripture hath led the way that God oblig'd them in Adam to a pious and innocent temper and which they losing in him they became obnoxious with him to the same sad effects of his displeasure And though it be true that there is this great imparity between the cases that the effect of God's displeasure upon occasion of Original Sin is made to reach to eternal misery as well as to a temporal one whereas the case we before instanc'd in concerns only a temporal punishment Yet as they do thus far agree that a punishment is inflicted where there is no actual sin to deserve it which is sufficiently irreconcileable with the understanding we otherwise have of the divine Justice So that great imparity may be much abated by considering that God hath provided a Plaster as large as the Sore even by giving his Son to dye for all Mankind and appointed the Sacrament of Baptism to convey the benefit of it For as the consequents of Original Sin will be thereby taken off from so many Infants at least as are admitted to that Sacrament so that mercy of his to those and the assurance we have from the Scripture of his giving his Son to dye for all may perswade us to believe that though he hath not reveal'd the particular way to us yet he hath some other way to convey the benefit of that death to those who are not admitted to the other But it will be said it may be which is a no less prejudice against the being of Original Sin that all sin to make it truly such must have the consent of the will of those in whom it is as well as be the transgression of a Law A thing by no means to be affirm'd concerning that which we call Original Sin because not only contracted before we had a being and therefore also before we had so much as the faculty of willing but moreover conveyed to us when we had neither reason to apprehend it nor any power in our wills either to admit or reject it And indeed how altogether to take off the force of that Objection is beyond my capacity to apprehend or satisfie the understandings of other Men Because as I cannot see how any thing can be a sin which hath not also the consent of the will of those in whom it is so I am as little able to conceive how Original Sin should have the consent of ours either when it was first contracted or when it was transmitted to us But as I am far less able to conceive how Infants and Children should come to be so severely dealt with without any offence at all or therefore without having some way or other consented to one So I think first that that difficulty may well be laid in the ballance against the other yea alledged as a bar to the supposed force of it For why should my inability to apprehend how Infants and Children could consent to Original Sin prevail with me to deny the being of it when a far greater inability to apprehend how the same persons should come to be so severely dealt withal
elsewhere * Expl. of the Crced Art I believe in the Holy Ghost said concerning the necessity of the divine Grace in order to it But as Christianity doth every where pretend to the doing of it and which is more both represents that effect under the name of a death unto sin and compares Men's thus dying with that natural death which our Saviour underwent so it may the more reasonably pretend to the producing of it because it also pretends to furnish Men with the power of his Grace to which such an effect cannot be suppos'd to be disproportionate The only thing in question as to our present concernment is whether as the outward work of Baptism hath undoubtedly the relation of a sign unto it so it hath also the relation of a means fitted by God for the conveying of it and what evidence there is of that relation Now there are two sorts of Texts which bear witness to this relation as well as to its having that more confessed relation of a sign Whereof the former entreat of this Grace under the title of a death unto sin the latter of a cleansing from it Of the former sort I reckon that well known place to the Romans where S. Paul doth not only suppose all true Christians †Rom. 6.2 to be dead to sin and accordingly argue from it the unfitness of their living any longer therein but affirm all that are baptized into Jesus Christ * Rom. 6.3 to be baptized into that death yea to be buried by Baptism (a) Rom. 6.4 into it to be planted together (b) Rom. 6.5 by that means in the likeness of Christs death and to have their old Man (c) Rom. 6.6 or the body of sin crucified with him For shall we say that S. Paul meant no more by all this than that the design of Baptism and the several parts of it was to represent to us the necessity of our dying and being buried as to sin and that accordingly all that are baptized into Christ make profession of their resolution so to do but not that they are indeed buried by Baptism as to that particular But beside that we are not lightly to depart from the propriety of the Scripture phrase which must be acknowledg'd rather to favour a real death than the bare signification of it That Apostle doth moreover affirm those whom he before describ'd as dead to be freed (d) Rom. 7.18 from sin yea so far (e) Rom. 7.18 as to have passed over into another service even that of righteousness and to have obeyed from the heart (f) Rom. 7.17 that form of Doctrine into which they had been delivered Which suppos'd as it may because the direct affirmation of S. Paul will make that death whereof we speak to be a death in reality as well as in figure and accordingly because Men are affirmed to be baptized into it shew that Baptism to be a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it Agreeable hereto or rather yet more express is that of the same Apostle to the Colossians (g) Col. 2.11 though varying a little from the other as to the manner of expression For having affirmed them through Christ to have put off the body of the sins of the flesh by a circumcision not made with hands and consequently by a spiritual one he yet adds lest any should fancy that spiritual Circumcision to accrue to them without some ceremonial one in the Circumcision of Christ even that Baptism which conformably to the circumcision of the Jews he had appointed for their entrance into his Religion by and wherein he accordingly affirms as he did in the former place that they were not only buried with him but had risen together with him by the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead From whence as it is clear that the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh which is but another expression for a death unto them is though accomplished by a spiritual Grace yet by such a one as is conveyed to us by Baptism so it becomes yet more clear by what he adds concerning Men's rising with him in the same Baptism even to a life contrary to what they had before deposited through the faith of the operation of God For as we cannot conceive of that rising with Christ as other than a real one because there would not otherwise have needed such a faith as that to bring it about So neither therefore but think the like of that death which it presupposeth and consequently that that Baptism to which it is annex'd is a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it But so we may be yet more convinc'd by such Texts of Scripture as speak of this death unto sin under the notion of a cleansing from it Of which nature is that so often alledged one (h) Eph. 5.26 27. concerning Christ's sanctifying and cleansing his Church with the washing of water by the word For as it appears from what is afterwards subjoyn'd as the end of that cleansing even that the Church might not have any spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blemish As it appears I say from thence that the Apostle speaks in the verse before concerning a cleansing from the filth of sin which is but another expression for the putting off the body of sin or a death unto it So it appears in like manner from S. Paul's attributing that cleansing to the washing of water that the outward sign of Baptism is by the appointment and provision of God a means of conveying that spiritual Grace by which that cleansing is more immediately effected and that death unto sin procur'd From that death unto sin therefore pass we to our new birth unto righteousness that other inward and spiritual Grace of Baptism and the complement of the former A Grace of whose conveyance by Baptism we can much less doubt if we consider the language of the Scripture concerning it or the Doctrine as well as practice of the Church The opinion the Jews had of that which seems to have been its type and exemplar or the expressions even of the Heathen concerning it For what less can the Scripture be thought to mean when it affirms us to be born of the water (i) Joh. 3.5 of it as well as of the spirit yea so as to be as truly spirit (k) Joh. 3.6 as that which is born of the flesh is flesh What less can it be thought to mean when it entitles it the laver of (l) Tit. 3.5 Regeneration and which is more affirms us to be saved by it as well as by the renewing of the Holy Ghost What less when it requires us to look upon our selves as alive (m) Rom. 6.11 unto God by it as well as buried (n) Rom. 6.4 by it into the former death or as the same Apostle elsewhere expresseth it as
Therefore pass we both from the one and the other to that Heavenly thing to which it relates the manner of its relation to it and the foundation of that relation Now as the first of these hath been before defin'd to be an inward and Spiritual Grace as that again declar'd to be such a Grace or favour of God as conduceth in an especial manner to the welfare of our inward Man or Spirit so I must now add for the farther Explication of it that it is moreover such a Grace as conduceth immediately to the welfare of it Whether as purifying the soul from the filth of sin and introducing the contrary affections or as delivering it from that guilt which the filth of sin had brought upon it A notion which stands confirm'd to us not only by the Doctrine of our own Catechism but by the account the Scripture gives us both of Baptism and the Eucharist and the confesons of the Romanists themselves Witness for the first its declaring the inward and Spiritual Grace of Baptism to be a death unto sin and a new birth unto Righteousness as the inward grace of the Eucharist to be the Body and Blood of Christ and by which as it afterward follows our Souls are strengthened and refreshed as our bodies are by the outward elements thereof Witness for the second its representing Baptism as a thing which sanctifies (b) Eph. 5.26 and saves (c) 1 Pet. 3.21 and both that (d) Act. 2.38 and the Eucharist (e) Matt. 26.28 as things which tend to the remission of Sins Witness for the third their great Schoolman Aquinas (f) Sum. 3. Part. quaest 60. Art 2. representing a Sacrament as a sign of such a Sacred thing as procures the sanctification of us Which is the rather to be noted because of the use it will hereafter be of toward the determining the Number of those things which are to be accounted of as Sacraments of our Religion Concerning the relation a Sacrament bears to the object of it and particularly to that Grace to which it especially referrs I have nothing to add and shall not therefore bring it again under consideration I shall only observe from what hath been before said concerning it that it is an instrument of Grace as well as a pledge of it that it is a moral instrument thereof and not a physical one that it is such a moral instrument thereof as is rather apt to convey or produce it than that which actually and infallibly doth The actual conveying of that Grace depending upon the due disposition of the party receiving it and who as St. Paul speaks if he be not rightly qualified for it will rather reap Damnation by it than either the Divine Graces or the rewards of them Which things I have this second time made mention of not because they were not before sufficiently clear'd but because they lay dispersedly in my former account of this relation and so would have been less useful toward the forming a distinct conception of it That which will especially require our second thoughts is the foundation of that and other the relations of a Sacrament The which as I have affirm'd in the general to be the Institution of Christ so the farther consideration of that Institution will both lead us to a more distinct knowledge of the nature of a Sacrament and inform us concerning the necessity and efficacy thereof Now as there are two things which that Institution doth manifestly import that is to say a Command and a Promise so that Command again respects the elements of a Sacrament either as being to put on that relation or as actually invested with it In the former of these regards it commands the setting them apart for that purpose but more especially because that is the principal design of a Sacrament for their becoming a means of conveying the Divine Graces to us Which as was before observ'd it either prescribes particular rules for or remits men for them to the general precepts of Christianity so far as they are applicable thereto And I shall only add because those rules were before declar'd that to make the elements put on the relation of a Sacrament there is a necessity of applying that part of the Institution to them by the execution of those Commands which it enjoyns Because the setting them apart for that purpose is by the Institution it self put into the hands of men But of what men and how qualified I have not as yet declar'd and shall therefore now set my self to enquire And here in the first place it is easie to see by what is deliver'd in the general concerning the power of remitting sins or in particular concerning the power of Baptism that the Separation or Consecration of the elements is the proper work of the Ministers of the Gospel and ought accordingly to be left to them to perform Because as both the one and the other were by Christ committed to his Apostles so none can therefore pretend to the power of either but those who deriv'd it from them which none but the Ministers of the Gospel have It is no less easie to see secondly that as the Separation or Consecration of the elements is the proper work of the Ministers of the Gospel even by the Institution of Christ so it cannot therefore ordinarily at least be attempted without sin by others because a deviation from his Institution And thus far all who acknowledge a Ministerial Function are at an accord in this particular and the farther prosecution thereof no way necessary to be intended I say therefore thirdly that as the Separation or Consecration of the elements cannot ordinarily at least be attempted without sin by other than the Ministers of the Gospel so there is reason enough to believe even from thence that those elements cannot ordinarily have the relation of a Sacrament by any others Consecration than theirs For beside that the Promise of Christ is not to be suppos'd to extend any farther than those Commands to which it is annexed are observ'd Neither can we think he will vouchsafe his benediction to that Action which without any necessity at all varies from his own Institution This being to encourage men to go against his own Institution which no wise Institutor can be suppos'd to give way to All therefore that can be suppos'd to admit of a dispute in this affair is whether in extraordinary Cases and where a lawful Minister cannot be had other Persons may take upon them to Consecrate and Administer it And whether if they do so what they do is so far valid as to make that which they pretend to Consecrate and Administer to have the relation of a Sacrament But as it would be consider'd whether it were not equally advisable for such Persons to let alone altogether the Consecration and Administration thereof Because Christ may as well supply to men the want of the Sacraments themselves as the defects of those who
in fine from Christ's telling S. Peter when he ask'd the washing of his Hands and Head as well as Feet that he who had been washed needeth not save to wash his feet An answer to the supposed silence of the Scripture concerning so early a Baptism and that shewn to be neither a perfect silence nor an unaccountable one p. 9. The Contents of the Third Part. Of the outward visible Sign of Baptism THe outward visible Sign of the Christian Baptism shewn to be the Element of Water and enquiry thereupon made wherein it was intended as a Sign Which is shewn in the general to be as to the cleansing quality thereof more particularly as to the use it was put to toward new born Infants and that application of it which was first in use even by an immersion or plunging the Party baptized in it Occasion taken from thence to enquire farther how it ought to be applyed more especially whether by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Evidence made of an immersion being the only legitimate Rite of Baptism save where necessity doth otherwise require And enquiry thereupon made whether necessity may justifie the Application of it by an Aspersion or Effusion and if it may whether the case of Infants be to be look'd upon as such a necessity What is to be thought of those additions which were antiently made or continue as yet in being in the outward solemnities of Baptism Where the sign of the Cross in Baptism is more particularly considered and answer made to those Exceptions that are made against it as a Ceremony as an addition of Men to the Institution of Christ and as a supposed Relique of Popery or giving too much countenance to the Papists abuses of it p. 17. A Digression concerning Original Sign by way of Preparation to the following Discourses The Contents OF the ground of the present Digression concerning Original Sin and enquiry thereupon made what Original Sin is Which is shewn in the General to be such a corruption of the Nature of every Man that is naturally engendered of the off-spring of Adam whereby it becomes averse from every thing that is good and inclinable to every thing that is evil The nature of that corruption more particularly enquir'd into and shewn by probable Arguments to be no other than a Privation of a Supernatural Grace That there is such a thing as we have before described evidenced at large from the Scripture and that evidence farther strengthned by the experience we have of its effects and the acknowledgments of the wiser Heathen Enquiry next made from whence it had its beginning which is shewn to have been not from any evil Spirit or Daemon the pravity of matter or the evil habits the Soul contracted in a praeexistent state but from the pravity of our first Parents This last at large confirm'd out of the Doctrine of the Scripture and followed by some light reflections upon the means by which it is conveyed A more just account from the Scripture of its being truly and properly a sin partly from its having the title of a sin but more especially from its being represented as such upon the account of our Obligation to the contrary A consideration of those Objections which are commonly made against the Doctrine of Original Sin Which are shewn either not to be of that force whereof they are esteem'd or however not to be a sufficient bar to what the Scripture hath declar'd concerning it p. 33. The Contents of the Fourth Part. Of the things signified by Baptism on the part of God or its inward and spiritual Grace THE things signified by Baptism are either more general or particular More general as that Covenant of Grace which paseth between God and Man and that body of Men which enter into Covenant with him More particular what the same God doth by vertue of that Covenant oblige himself to bestow upon the Baptized and what those Baptized ones do on their part undertake to perform These latter ones proposed to be considered and entrance made with the consideration of what God obligeth himself to bestow upon the Baptized called by the Church An inward and spiritual Grace Which inward and spiritual Grace is shewn to be of two sorts to wit such as tend more immediately to our spiritual and eternal welfare or such as only qualifie us for those Graces that do so To the former sort are reckon'd that inward and spiritual Grace which tends to free us from the guilt of sin called by the Church forgiveness of sin That which tends to free us from the pollution of sin called by our Catechism A death unto it And that which tends to introduce the contrary purity and hath the name of a New birth unto righteousness To the latter sort is reckoned our union to that Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head and by means whereof he dispenseth the former Graces to us Each of these resum'd and considered in their order and shewn to be what they are usually stil'd the inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism or the things signified by the outward visible Sign thereof p. 65 The Contents of the Fifth Part. Of Forgiveness of sin by Baptism OF the relation of the sign of Baptism to its inward and spiritual Grace and particularly to Forgiveness of sin Which is either that of a means fitted by God to convey it or of a pledge to assure the Baptized person of it The former of these relations more particularly considered as that too with respect to Forgiveness of Sin in the general or the Forgiveness of all Sin whatsoever and Original Sin in particular As to the former whereof is alledged first the Scriptures calling upon Men to be Baptiz'd for the remission or forgiveness of sin Secondly the Church's making that Forgiveness a part of her Belief and Doctrine Thirdly the agreeing opinions or practices of those who were either unsound members of it or Separatists from it And Fourthly the Calumnies of its enemies The like evidence made of the latter from the Scripture's proposing Baptism and its Forgiveness as a remedy against the greatest guilts and in special against that wrath which we are Children of by Nature From the premises is shewn that the sign of Baptism is a pledge to assure the Baptized of Forgiveness as well as a means fitted by God for the conveying of it p. 71 The Contents of the sixth Part. Of Mortification of sin and Regeneration by Baptism OF the relation of the sign of Baptism to such inward and spiritual Graces as tend to free us from the pollution of sin or introduce the contrary purity And that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby they are convey'd This evidenced as to the former even our death unto sin which is also explain'd from such Texts of Scripture as make mention of our being baptiz'd into it and buried by Baptism in it or from such as describe us as
receiv'd this custom was even among the Heathen may appear as the same Mr. Mede (i) Vbi supra hath observed from what was done to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were persons (k) Hesych in utramque vocem to whom the Rites of Burial had been perform'd as dead but did afterwards appear again in the World For as these were look'd upon as born anew (*) Plutarch Quaest Rom. statim ab initio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the World so like new-born Infants they were to be wash'd with Water before they could be admitted to the conversation of Men or allowed to enter into the Temples of their Gods But so that the Water of Baptism was intended for a sign is evident from its being stil'd the laver (l) Tit. 3.5 of regeneration or a new Birth and from the addition that was made to it in after times of giving milk * Tertul. de Coronâ c. 3. Inde nempe post immersionem suscepti lactis mellis concordiam praegustamus and hony to the new-baptized persons as that too to declare their Infancy †Idem adv Marcion li. 1. c. 14. Sedille quidem usque nunc nec aquam reprobavit creatoris qua suos abluit nec oleum quo suos uncuit nec mellis lactis societatem quo suos infantat c. For this evidently shews this second Birth to relate to the first and consequently that the Element of Water and the Regeneration by it though borrowed more immediately from the Baptism of the Jews yet was intended by our Saviour as I no way doubt it was also by the Jews as of like use with that which was apply'd to new-born Infants and to represent alike washing away of natural pollutions One other particular there is wherein I have said the Water of Baptism to have been intended as a sign and that is in respect of that manner of application which was sometime us'd I mean the dipping or plunging the party baptized in it A signification which S. Paul will not suffer those to forget who have been acquainted with his Epistles For with reference to that manner of Baptizing we find him affirming (m) Rom. 6.4 that we are buried with Christ by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life And again (n) Rom. 6.5 that if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection To the same purpose or rather yet more clearly doth that Apostle discourse where he tells us (o) Col. 2.12 that as we are buried with Christ in Baptism so we do therein rise also with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead For what is this but to say that as the design of Baptism was to oblige Men to conform so far to Christ's Death and Resurrection as to die unto Sin and live again unto Righteousness so it was perform'd by the ceremony of immersion that the person immers'd might by that very ceremony which was no obscure image of a Sepulture be minded of the precedent death as in like manner by his coming again out of the Water of his rising from that death to life after the example of the Instituter thereof For which cause as hath been elsewhere (p) Expl. of the Creed in the words And Buried observ'd the Antient Church added to the Rite of immersion the dipping of the party three several times to represent the three days Christ continued in the Grave for that we find to have been the intention of some and made the Eve of Easter one of the solemn times of the Administration of it 3. The third thing to be enquir'd concerning the outward visible sign of Baptism is how it ought to be apply'd where again these two things would be considered First whether it ought to be applyed by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Secondly whether it ought to be applyed by a threefold immersion or aspersion answerably to the names into which we are baptiz'd or either by that or a single one The former of these is it may be a more material question than it is commonly deem'd by us who have been accustomed to baptize by a bare effusion or sprinkling of water upon the party For in things which depend for their force upon the meer will and pleasure of him who instituted them there ought no doubt great regard to be had to the commands of him who did so As without which there is no reason to presume we shall receive the benefit of that ceremony to which he hath been pleased to annex it Now what the command of Christ was in this particular cannot well be doubted of by those who shall consider first the words of Christ (q) Matt. 28.19 concerning it and the practice of those times whether in the Baptism of John or of our Saviour For the words of Christ are that they should Baptize or Dip those whom they made Disciples to him for so no doubt the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies and which is more and not without its weight that they should baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Thereby intimating such a washing as should receive the party baptized within the very body of that Water which they were to baptize him with Though if there could be any doubt concerning the signification of the words in themselves yet would that doubt be remov'd by considering the practice of those times whether in the Baptism of John or of our Saviour For such as was the practice of those times in Baptizing such in reason are we to think our Saviour's command to have been concerning it especially when the words themselves incline that way There being not otherwise any means either for those or future times to discover his intention concerning it Now what the practice of those times was as to this particular will need no other proof than their resorting to Rivers and other such like receptacles of waters for the performance of that ceremony as that too because there was much Water there For so the Scripture doth not only affirm concerning the Baptism of John (r) Matt. 3.5.6.13 John 3.23 but both intimate concerning that which our Saviour administred in Judaea because making John's Baptism and his to be so far forth of the same sort (ſ) Joh. 3.22 23. and expresly affirm concerning the Baptism of the Eunuch which is the only Christian Baptism the Scripture is any thing particular in the description of The words of S. Luke (t) Act. 8.38 being that both Philip and the Eunuch went down into a certain water which they met with in their journey in order to the baptizing of the
to their Youth that it should not be derived to them from their Conception and Birth The Ages preceding that being not in a capacity to produce in themselves such an evil principle and therefore to be suppos'd to have had it transmitted to them together with their Nature and so also by the same means and from the same time in which that their Nature was And indeed as even the tenderest age falls under death and not unreasonably therefore concluded to be some way or other under sin if as S. Paul †Rom. 5.12 speaks death enter'd by it and so pass'd upon all Men for that all have sinned So there want not some places of Scripture which do yet more directly evince that the first beginnings of our Nature are tainted with that of which we speak Of this sort I reckon that of Job (a) Job 14.4 which is so commonly apply'd to this affair even his demanding of God with reference to himself (b) Job 1 c. and all other Men who could bring a clean thing out of an unclean and thereby therefore intimating that it was not to be done For as it is manifest from his alledging that the better to countenance his own expostulation concerning God's bringing him into judgment tha by the unavoidable uncleanness there intimated must be meant a sinful one as which alone could either dispose him to such actions as could be a proper matter for judgment or be alledged in bar to a severe one So it is alike manifest from Job's asking who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean that Men are not only so unclean in their Nature but that they become so by those evil principles out of which they are brought and so also from the time that they were separated from them Of the same Nature is that of our Saviour where he asserts the necessity of Men's being born again of water and the Spirit upon the account of their being before but flesh (c) Joh. 3.6 because born of flesh For as we cannot well understand our Saviour of any other flesh than flesh corrupted or rather of the whole Nature that is so Partly because of the opposition that is there made (d) Ibid. between a fleshly and spiritual temper and partly because that is the most usual notion of it in the New (e) Rom. 7.18 25. Gal. 5.19 24. Testament So neither therefore but conclude all Men to become such flesh by those fleshly persons from whom they are born and so also from the time that they receive their being from them But of all the Texts of Scripture which are commonly alledged in this affair even the earliness of that evil principle wherewith we have said all Men to be imbued there is certainly none of greater force than the profession that David makes (f) Psal 51.5 that he was shapen or born in iniquity and conceiv'd by his Mother in sin That if it entreat of the Corruption of humane Nature making it as early as the first beginnings of it because speaking as manifestly of its Conception (g) Ham. Annot. in locum and Birth And indeed as we have no reason to believe from any thing the Scripture hath said concerning David or his Parents that what he spake of his own formation was to be understood of that alone so we have much less reason to believe that he intended any other thing by the sin and iniquity thereof than that Original Corruption whereof we speak For beside that the letter of the Text is most agreeable to that notion and not therefore without manifest reason to be diverted to another Beside that that sense is put upon it by the most eminent Fathers (h) Voss Pelag. Hist l. 2. Part. 1. Thes 1. of the Church and the Doctrine contained in it confirm'd by the concordant (i) Ibid. Thes 6. testimonies of them all Beside that that sense hath the suffrage of one of the most learned (k) Ham. ubi supra of the Jewish Writers as the thing it self the consentient belief of all the rest Aben Ezra resolving the meaning of the Psalmist to be that in the hour of his Nativity the evil figment was planted in his heart even that Concupiscence as he afterward interprets himself by which he was drawn into sin Beside all these I say it is no less agreeable to the scope of the whole Psalm and particularly to the care he takes in the Verse before to condemn himself for his offences and so justifie the severity of God if he should think good to take vengeance of them For what could be more sutable to that than to lay open together with his actual sins that polluted Fountain from whence they came and so shew himself to be vile upon more accounts than one and God to have as many reasons to chastise him And I shall only add that as that sense cannot therefore be fairly refus'd because conformable to the design of the Psalmist as well as to the letter of the Text it self and to the interpretation of the Antients as well as either So they seem to me to add no small confirmation to it who can find no other means to elude it than by making the words of the same sence with that hyperbolical expression of the same Author where he affirms (l) Psal 58.3 that the wicked are estranged from the Womb and that as soon as they are born they go astray speaking lies For as it cannot be deny'd that there is a very wide difference between Men's being conceived and born in sin and their going astray from their Mother's Womb and their own birth This latter expression importing that iniquity which follows after it whereas the former denotes the condition of the Conception and Birth it self So it is evident from what the Psalmist adds in the place alledged concerning the wicked's speaking lies that he there entreats of actual sins which as no Man denies to require a more mature Age for the perpetration of so make it necessary to allow an Hyperbole in it Whereas the place we insist upon hath not the least umbrage of actual sins and is therefore under no necessity of being interpreted conformably to it But because it can hardly be imagin'd but if there be such a thing as Original sin it will produce sutable effects in those in whom it is And because it can as little be thought but that those effects will lye open to the observation of all that shall take the pains to reflect upon them Therefore enquire we in the next place whether that Original Sin whereof we speak doth not discover it self by sutable effects and so add yet farther strength to what the Scripture hath affirm'd concerning it A thing not to be doubted of if we reflect upon the behaviour of Children as soon as they come to have any use of reason For do not some of those as the Psalmist speaks (m) Ibid. go
without it doth not prevail with me to deny that severe usage of them Neither will it avail to say which is otherwise considerable enough that we have for the belief of this last the testimony of our Senses which is not to be alledged as to the other For the question is not now whether the severe usage of Infants and Children may not more reasonably be believ'd than their Original Sin upon the account of the greater evidence there may be of it But whether we can any more deny the Original Sin of Infants and Children upon the account of our inability to apprehend how they should consent unto it than we can deny the severe usage of the same persons upon the account of our inability to apprehend how they should come to be so dealt with without the other Which that we cannot is evident from hence that we are equally at a loss in our apprehensions about the one and the other that I say not also more at a loss about the latter than about the former And indeed as we find it necessary to believe many things notwithstanding our inability to apprehend how they should come to pass and ought not therefore to deny the being of any one thing upon the sole account of that inability So our apprehensions are so short as to the modes of those things of the being whereof we are most assured that it will hardly be deemed reasonable to insist upon the suggestions of them against the affirmations of the Scripture Partly because of the Authority of him from whom it proceeded and partly because we cannot so easily fail in our apprehension concerning the due sense of the affirmations of it as in the deductions of our own reason concerning the things affirmed Nothing more being required to the understanding of the one than a due consideration of the signification of the words wherein they are expressed whereas to the right ordering of the other there is requir'd a due understanding of the Nature of those things about which we reason which is both a matter of far greater difficulty and in many cases impossible to be attain'd Whatever difficulty therefore there may be in apprehending how Original Sin could have the consent of those in whom it is supposed to be and consequently how it should be truly and properly a sin Yet ought not that to be a bar against our belief of it if the Scripture hath represented it as such and which whether it hath or no I shall leave to be judg'd by what I have before observ'd from it From such Objections as are level'd more immediately against the being of Original Sin pass we to those which impugne the derivation of it from Adam and from whom we have affirmed it to proceed Which Objections again do either tend to shew that it had its Original from something else or that it cannot be suppos'd to have its Original from Adam An opinion hath prevail'd of late years that that which we call Original Sin took its rise from the sins of particular Souls in some praexistent estate and from those evil habits which they contracted by them And certainly the opinion were reasonable enough to be embrac'd if the praeexistence of Souls were but as well prov'd as it is speciously contriv'd For that suppos'd it would be no hard matter to give an account of the rise of that Corruption which is in us nor yet of God's afflicting those on whom no other blame appears That corruption as it is no other than what particular Souls have themselves contracted so making them as obnoxious to the vengeance of God as any after sins can be supposed to do But do they who advance this hypothesis think the plausibleness thereof a sufficient ground to build it on Or are problems in Divinity no other way to be determin'd than those of Astronomy or other such conjectural Arts are I had thought that for the resolution of these we ought rather to have had recourse to that word of God which was design'd to give us an understanding of them to have examin'd the several assertions of it and acquiesced in them how difficult soever to be apprehended I had thought that we ought to have done so much more where the Scripture professeth to deliver its opinion and doth not only not wave the thing in question but speaks to it Which that it doth in the present case will need no other proof than the account it gives of the Original of Mankind and then of the Original of Evil. For as it professeth to speak of Adam not only as created by God but as appointed by him (r) Gen. 1.28 to give being by the way of natural Generation to all that after him should replenish the Earth which how he should be thought to do if he were only to be a means of furnishing them with a Body who had the better part of their being before is past my understanding to imagine so it professeth to speak of the same Adam as one by whom sin and death (Å¿) Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.21 22. enter'd into the World as well as the persons of those on whom it seizeth And can there then be any place for a precarious hypothesis about the Original of Mankind or the evils of it Can there be place for advancing that hypothesis not only beside but against the determinations of the Scripture Do not all such hypotheses proceed upon the uncertainty of the matter about which they are conversant Do they not come in as a relief to the understandings of Men where they cannot be satisfied any other way But how then can there be place for such a one where the Scripture hath determin'd How can there be any place even for the most specious and plausible For as that cannot be suppos'd to be uncertain which the Scripture hath determin'd So no plausibility whatsoever can come in competition with the determinations of God such as those of the Scripture are But such it seems is the restlesness of some Men's minds that if they cannot satisfie their scruples from what the Scripture hath advanced they will be setting up other Hypotheses to do it by Wherein yet they are for the most part so unlucky as to advance such things themselves as have nothing at all of probability in them For who can think it any way probable that if mens Souls had an existence antecedent to their conception in the Womb they should not in the least be conscious of it nor of any of those things which were transacted by them in it Is it as one hath observ'd who seems to have been the first broacher of it in this latter Age is it I say for want of opportunity of being reminded of their former transactions as it happens to many who rise confident that they slept without dreaming and yet before they go to bed again recover a whole series of representations by something that occurr'd to them in the day But who can
away Men's sins is most frequently made use of to denote the forgiveness of sins and that outward sign therefore to which such a washing is attributed intended as a sign of the forgiveness of them I conclude therefore that whatever else may be thought to be excluded from the signification of the Water of Baptism yet it hath the relation of a sign to the forgiveness of sin and that forgiveness therefore to be look'd upon as one of the Graces signified by it And I shall only add that this was always so acknowledg'd in the Church that even the Pelagians themselves though they deny'd all sin in Infants and consequently left no place for the forgiveness of sin in them yet did allow of their being Baptiz'd for the remission of sins according to the rule of the Vniversal Church and the tenour of the Gospel as appears from the words of Pelagius himself (b) Vid. Voss Hist Pelag. li. 2. part 2. Thes 4. and those of his Scholar Coelestius There being therefore no doubt to be made that forgiveness of sin is one of those inward and Spiritual Graces which are signified by Baptism it may not be amiss for the farther clearing of that Grace to say somewhat concerning the nature of it both as to those sins it pretends to assoile and the measure of its forgiveness But because I have elsewhere (c) Expl. of the Creed Art of The forgiveness of sins given no contemptible account thereof and shall have occasion to resume it when I come to shew what farther relation the outward visible sign of Baptism bears to this and its other inward Graces I shall content my self to observe at present that as that forgiveness which is signified by it hath a relation to all our past sins so it relates in particular to Original Sin and consequently tends alike to the cancelling of its Obligation Witness not only the Churches applying this sign of it to Infants as that too as was before noted for the remission of sins but S. Paul's making that quickning (d) Ephes 2.1 which we have by Baptism to save us as well from that wrath which we were the Children of by Nature as from our own vain conversation and the punishment thereof For other sense than that as the generality of the Latins (e) Vid. Voss Pelag. Hist li. 2. part 1. Thes 2. did not put upon the Apostles words so neither is there indeed any necessity for or all things considered any probability of Partly because the Apostle might intend to aggravate the sinfulness of Men's former estate from their natural as well as contracted pollutions even as David aggravated his (f) Psal 51.5 where he deplores his Adultery and Murther and partly because there is sufficient evidence from other Texts of Men's being sinful by their birth as well as practice and which as S. Paul's Children of wrath by Nature is more strictly agreeable to so is therefore more reasonable to be interpreted of And I have insisted so much the longer both upon this particular and the Text I have made use of to confirm it because as Original Sin is one main ground of Baptism and accordingly in this very Catechism of ours represented by our Church as such so she may seem to make use of that very Text to evidence the being of Original Sin and the efficacy of Baptism toward the removing of it Her words being that as we are by nature born in sin and the Children of wrath so we are by Baptism made the Children of Grace From the Grace of forgiveness of sin pass we to that which tends to free us from its pollution entitled by our Church a death unto it A grace which as the corruption of our Nature makes necessary to be had so cannot in the least be doubted to be signified by the outward sign of Baptism It being not only the affirmation of S. Paul that all true Christians are dead (g) Rom. 6.2 to sin but that they are buried by Baptism (h) Rom. 6.4 into it that they are by that means planted together into the likeness (i) Rom. 6.5 of Christ's death and that their Old Man even the Body of sin is crucified (k) Rom. 6.6 with Christ in it For as that and other such like Texts (l) Col. 2.12 of Scripture are a sufficient proof of Baptism's having a relation to our death unto sin as well as unto the death of Christ So they prove in like manner that it had the relation of a sign unto it and consequently make the former death to be one of the Graces signified by it Because not only describing the Rite of Baptism under the notion of a death and Burial which it cannot be said to be but as it is an image of one but representing it as a planting of the Baptized person into the likeness of that death of Christ which is the exemplar of the other For what is this but to say that it was intended as a sign or representation of them both and both the one and the other therefore to be look'd upon as signified by it The same is to be said upon the account of those Texts of Scripture which represent the Water of Baptism as washing (m) Acts 22.16 away the sins of Men or if that expression may not be thought to be full enough because referring also to the forgiveness of them as sanctifying and cleansing (n) Eph. 5.26 27. the Church to the end it may be holy and without blemish For as that shews the Water of Baptism to have a relation to that grace which tends to free the Church from sinful blemishes so it shews in like manner that it was intended as a sign of it and of that inward cleansing which belongs to it There being not otherwise any reason why the freeing of the Church from sin by means of the Baptismal water should have the name of cleansing but upon the account of the analogy there is between the natural property thereof and the property of that Grace to which it relates One only Grace remains of those which tend more immediately to our spiritual welfare even that which our Catechism entitles a new birth unto righteousness Concerning which I shall again shew because that will be enough to prove that it is a Grace signified by it that the Water of Baptism hath a relation to it and then that it hath the relation of a sign I alledge for the former of these S. Paul's entitling it the laver of regeneration (o) Tit. 3.5 as our Saviour's affirming (p) Joh. 3.5 before him that we are born again of that as well as of the Spirit For the latter what hath been before shewn in the general concerning its having been intended as a sign of the things to which it relates For if the Water of Baptism were intended as a sign of those things to which it relates it must consequently have bin intended as
But so that Christianity it self taught as well as was affirmed by this its adversary to do is not only evident from what hath been elsewhere said (i) Expl. of the Creed Art The forgiveness of sins concerning its tendering forgiveness of sins indefinitely and particularly in the laver of Baptism but from the quality of those criminals whom it invited to forgiveness by it For thus we find it to have done those Jews (k) Acts 2.38 whom it before charg'd (l) Acts 2.23 with the murther of our Lord and him in particular (m) Acts 22.16 who elsewhere (n) 1 Tim. 1.13 confesseth himself to have been a blasphemer a persecuter and injurious yea was intent upon that execrable employment at the time he was first invited to forgiveness But therefore as I cannot either conceive or allow of any other abatement in this forgiveness than that which is to be made upon account of the sin against the Holy Ghost and which what it is hath been elsewhere (o) Expl. of the Creed Art The forgiveness c. declar'd So I shall need only to take notice of the reference it hath to that Original Sin which is the unhappy parent of all the rest Not that there can be any great doubt as to the pardon of that where it appears that the most heinous actual sins are pardoned but because Baptism hath been thought by our Church (p) See the Office of Bapt. and the Catechism to have a more peculiar reference to it and because if it can be prov'd to have such a reference to its forgiveness it will be of signal use to shew the necessity of baptizing Infants in whom that sin doth alike predominate Now though it be hard to find any one Text of Scripture where that forgiveness whereof we speak is expresly attributed to Baptism Yet will it not be difficult to deduce it from that (q) Eph. 2.1 c. which I have before shewn to entreat of our becoming the children of wrath by nature as well as by the wickedness of our conversations For opposing to the corruption or rather deadness which accrues by both the quickning we have together with Christ and which quickning he elsewhere (r) Col. 2.12 as expresly affirms to be accomplished in us by Baptism Affirming moreover that quickning to bring salvation (Å¿) Eph. 2 5-8 and peace (t) Eph. 2 14-17 and reconciliation (u) Eph. 2.16 for so he discourseth of it in the following Verses of that Chapter he must consequently make that quickning and the means of it to tend to the forgiveness of both and particularly of natural corruption Because as that quickning is by him oppos'd to both so it must in this particular be look'd upon as more peculiarly opposed to the latter because that is more peculiarly affirm'd to make Men the Children of wrath and vengeance Such evidence there is of the outward visible sign of Baptism being a means fitted by God to convey that forgiveness whereof we speak And we shall need no other proof than that of its being also a pledge to assure the baptized person of it For since God cannot be suppos'd to fit any thing for an end which he doth not on his part intend to accomplish by it He who knows himself to partake of that which is fitted by God to convey forgiveness of sin may know alike and be assur'd as to the part of God of his receiving that forgiveness as well as the outward means of its conveyance For which cause in my Discourse of its other inward and spiritual Graces I shall take notice only of that outward and visible sign as a means fitted by God to convey them because its being also a pledge may be easily deduced from it PART VI. Of Mortification of sin and Regeneration by Baptism The Contents Of the relation of the sign of Baptism to such inward and spiritual Graces as tend to free us from the pollution of sin or introduce the contrary purity And that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby they are convey'd This evidenced as to the former even our death unto sin which is also explain'd from such Texts of Scripture as make mention of our being baptiz'd into it and buried by Baptism in it or from such as describe us as cleansed by the washing of it The like evidenc'd from the same Scripture concerning the latter even our new birth unto righteousness As that again farther clear'd as to this particular by the consentient Doctrine and practice of the Church by the opinion the Jews had of that Baptism which was a Type and exemplar of ours and the expressions of the Heathen concerning it The Doctrine of the Church more largely insisted upon and exemplified from Justin Martyr Tertullian and S. Cyprian I Have considered the sign of Baptism hitherto in its relation to Forgiveness that Grace which tends to free men from their guilt and is for that purpose convey'd by Baptism to us I come now to consider it in its relation to those which either tend to free them from the pollution of sin best known by the name of a Death unto it or to introduce the contrary righteousness and is call'd a new birth unto it Where again I shall shew in each of them that as the outward work of Baptism hath the relation of a sign unto them so it hath equally the relation of a means fitted by God to convey them and where it is duly receiv'd doth not fail to introduce them To begin as is but meet with that which hath the name of a Death unto sin because sin must be first subdu'd before the contrary quality can be introduc'd Where first I will enquire what we are to understand by it and then what evidence there is of the sign of Baptism's being fitted to convey it For the better understanding the former whereof we are to know that as Men by the corruption of their nature are inclined unto sin and yet more by the irregularity of their conversations so those inclinations are to the persons in whom they are as a principle of life to a living Creature and accordingly do both dispose them to act sutably thereto and make them brisk and vigorous in it Now as it cannot well be expected that where such inclinations prevail Men should pursue those things which piety and vertue prompt them to so it was the business of Philosophy first and afterwards of Religion if not wholly to destroy those inclinations yet at least to subdue them in such sort that they should be in a manner dead and the persons in whom they were so far forth dead also They neither finding in themselves the like inclinations to actual sin nor hurried on by them when they did How little able Philosophy was to contribute to so blessed an effect is not my business to shew nor indeed will there be any need of it after what I have
I have the more willingly taken notice of it because it comes so near even in its expression to what our Catechism hath represented as the inward and spiritual Grace thereof There being no great difference between a death of crimes and life of vertues which is the expression of that Father and a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness which is the other's And I shall only add that as the Doctrine of the Church must therefore be thought to bear sufficient testimony to Baptism's being a means of our regeneration So its practice is in this particular answerable to its Doctrine and though in another way proclaims the same thing Witness what hath been elsewhere observ'd concerning its giving Milk and Hony (t) See Part 3. to the new Baptized person as to an Infant new-born its requiring him presently after Baptism to say (u) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer in the words Our Fa heâ— De vitâ B. Martini c. 1. Necdum tamen regeneratus in Christo agebat quendam bonis operibus Baptismatis candidaâ—um Our Father c. as a testimony of his Son-ship by it And in fine its making use of the word regenerated to signifie Baptized As is evident for the Greek Writers from what was but now quoted out of Justin Martyr and from Sulpitâ—us Severus among the Latins Which things put together make it yet more clear that whatever it may be now accounted yet the Church of God ever look'd upon the Sacrament of Baptism as a mean of our internal regeneration And indeed as it is hard to believe that it ought to be otherwise esteem'd considering what hath been alledg'd either from Scripture or the declarations of the Church So it will appear to be yet harder if we consider the opinion of the Jews concerning that which may seem to have been both it's Type and exemplar For as I have made it appear before (w) Part 1. that even they were not without their Baptism and such a one as was moreover intended for the same general ends for which both their Circumcision was and our Baptism is So I have made it appear also (x) Ibid. that the persons so baptiz'd among them were accounted as persons new-born yea so far that after that time they were not to own any of their former relations In fine that that new birth was look'd upon as so singular that it gave occasion to their Cabalistical Doctors to teach that the old soul of the Baptized Proselyte vanished and a new one succeeded in its place For if this was the condition of that Type of Christian Baptism how much more of the Antitype thereof Especially when it is farther probable as hath been also (y) Part 2. noted from the discourse of our Saviour to Nicodemus that he both alluded in it to that Baptism of theirs and intimated the conformity of his own Baptism to it in that particular And though after so full an evidence of this relation of Baptism to regeneration it may seem hardly worth our while to alledge the expressions of the Heathen concerning it Yet I cannot forbear for the conformity thereof to the present argument to take notice of one remarkable one of Lucian (z) Lucian Philopatr p. 999. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who brings in one Triepho thus discoursing after his scoffing manner But when saith he that Galilean lighted upon me who had a bald Pate a great Nose who ascended up to the third Heaven and there learn'd the most excellent things meaning as is suppos'd S. Paul he renewed us by water made us to tread in the footsteps of the blessed and deliver'd us from the Regions of the ungodly In which passage under the title of renewing men by water he personates the Christian Doctrine concerning their being regenerated or renewed by Baptism and accordingly makes it the subject of his reproach PART VII Of our Vnion to the Church by Baptism The Contents Of the relation of the sign of Baptism to our Vnion to the Church and that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby that Vnion is made This evidenc'd in the first place from the declarations of the Scripture more particularly from its affirming all Christians to be baptiz'd into that Body as those who were first baptiz'd after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles to have been thereby added to their company and made partakers with the rest in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship in breaking of Bread and in Prayers The like evidence of the same Union to the Church by Baptism from the declarations of the Church it self and the consequences of that Vnion shewn to be such as to make that also to be accounted one of the inward and spiritual Graces of that Baptism by which it is made HAving thus given an account of such inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism as tend more immediately to our spiritual and eternal welfare It remains that I say somewhat of that which though of no such immediate tendency yet is not without all because qualifying us for the reception of the other That Vnion I mean which we thereby obtain to Christ's mystical body the Church and by which we who were before Aliens from it as well as from God and Christ become members of the Church and partakers of the several priviledges thereof Which Vnion if any Man scruple to reckon among the inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism properly so call'd I will not contend with him about it Provided he also allow of it as a thing signified by it on the part of God and Christ and as moreover a Grace and favour to the person on whom it is bestow'd For as that is all I ask at present concerning the Union now in question So what I farther mean by it's being an inward and spiritual Grace shall be clear'd in the process of this Discourse and receive that establishment which it requires In order whereunto I will shew the outward and visible sign of Baptism to be a means whereby that Union is made and then point out the consequences of that Union That the outward visible sign of Baptism is in the nature of a means whereby we are united to the Church will appear if we reflect upon what the Scripture hath said concerning it or the agreeing declarations of the Church it self For what else to begin with the former can S. Paul * 1 Cor. 12.13 be thought to mean where he affirms all whether Jews or Gentiles or of what ever other outward differences to have been baptiz'd by one spirit into one body For as it is plain from the foregoing †1 Cor. 12.12 verse or verses that S. Paul entreats of Christ's Body the Church and consequently that the baptizing here spoken of must be meant of our Baptizing into it So it is alike plain from what it was designed to prove as well as from the natural force of the expression that it was
it who are qualified as Christianity requires for the receiving of it So the only thing therefore farther necessary to be enquir'd into on this Head is how men ought to be qualified for it or as our Catechism expresseth it what is required of them For supposing those praerequisites of Baptism he who enjoyns the discipling and baptizing all Nations must consequently be suppos'd to enjoyn the administring of it to all such in whom those praerequisites are Now there are two things again as our Catechism instructs us which are requir'd of all those that are to be baptized Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises made to them in that Sacrament And for these two things at least it hath the astipulation of the Scripture and I may add also of that Profession which is made by the baptized person in Baptism and which having before establish'd I may now the more securely argue from Witness for the Scripture S. Peter's †Acts 2.38 enjoyning those Jews who demanded of him and the rest what they ought to do in order to their salvation to repent and so be baptiz'd in the name of the Lord Jesus And Philip's replying upon the Eunuch who ask'd what did hinder him to be baptiz'd that if he believ'd * Acts 8.37 with all his heart he might Thereby more than intimating that if he did not he could not be baptiz'd at all though all other things concurred to the receiving of it And indeed what less can be suppos'd to be requir'd of such persons when as was before †Expl. of Bapt. Part 8. observ'd the baptized person makes Profession in his Baptism of renouncing all sin and wickedness and of a belief in that Jesus into whose Religion he is admitted That Profession of his supposing Repentance and Faith to have been before in him as without which otherwise he could not there make a sincere Profession of renouncing sin or of believing in the name of the Lord Jesus But so that I may add that by the way the Antient Church appears to have requir'd before she admitted men to the participation of Baptism Justin Martyr where he professeth to give a sincere account of her doings in this affair telling those he wrote his Apology to that such as were persuaded and believ'd that the things taught and said by the Christians were true (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. p. 93. and moreover took upon them so to live were taught to pray and ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their former sins and then and not till then brought by them to the place of Baptism and there regenerated after the same manner with themselves Which is so clear a proof of the Antients believing Repentance and Faith to be prerequisites of Baptism that nothing need to be added to it For the clearing of the first of which we are to know that though Repentance in strict speech be nothing else than a sorrow of mind for those sins we stand guilty of before God Yet as even so it presupposeth a right apprehension of those sins as without which we could never be brought to a due sorrow for them so taking Repentance as our Catechism and the Scripture also sometime doth as one of the two prerequisites of Baptism For S. Paul in one place (b) Acts 20.21 makes that Repentance and Faith the sum of his Preaching to the Jews and Greeks and in another (c) Heb. 6.1 the foundation of our Christianity it will be found to imply in it whatsoever that sorrow for sin doth naturally dispose men to as well as that sorrow it self The same S. Paul elsewhere professing that he shewed both to the Jews and Gentiles that they should turn unto God as well as Repent and do works meet for Repentance as well as either To attain therefore a due understanding of this Repentance as well as to clear that definition of it which our Catechism hath given us it will be necessary for us to enquire what this Repentance doth presuppose what it imports and to what it doth dispose us That which Repentance doth most manifestly presuppose is a right apprehension of that sin about which it is to be conversant And may be fetch'd in part from the dictates of our own reason but more especially from the declarations of Christianity concerning it Such as are that sin is the transgression of a Law and particularly of that of God and that as such it justly exposeth us to his wrath and indignation Partly as it is a violation of his Authority to whom we are naturally subject and partly as an equal affront to his goodness who gives us our being and all things else and who therefore ought more diligently to have been attended to In fine that it hath for its wages Death both temporal and eternal and under each of which without the mercy of God in Christ the sinner must necessarily fall For as these are known in part from the dictates of our own reason to be the properties of that sin whereof we speak So they are much more known to be so from the Doctrine of Christianity and consequently to be known by us toward a right apprehension of that which ought to be the matter of our sorrow But from hence it will be easie to collect what that sorrow for sin doth import which is requir'd of all those that take upon them the Profession of Christianity Even that it importeth such a sorrow of mind as hath a regard to the violation of God's Authority and Goodness by it as well as to the evils which are like to arise to it from our selves Our sorrow being in reason to be suited to that which is most considerable in the object of it And indeed as otherwise it will be rather a sorrow for punishment than sin because sin as such is a transgression of God's Law and consequently our sorrow for it to have a more especial regard to the affront that is offer'd him thereby So it will much less deserve those titles which are given it by the Scripture of being a sorrow or repentance toward (d) Acts 20.21 God for so it is sometime stil'd and a sorrow (e) 2 Cor. 7.9 according to God or a Godly one as it also is That being neither toward God nor according to God which hath not a regard to that affront which is offer'd to him by sin as well as to the evils which are like to accrue unto our selves But because even such a sorrow will not qualifie us for Baptism unless we add thereto what the same sorrow doth naturally dispose us to Therefore to make out more fully the true nature of Repentance as well as to clear our Churches definition of it I will proceed to that and shew what those things are Of which nature I reckon first an ingenuous confession of sin and earnest prayer to God for the pardon of it Sorrow
of what he hath so purchas'd The belief of these and the like Articles of our Faith being as manifestly presuppos'd to the belief of those Promises which in this place we are required to intend III. That which will it may be more concern us to enquire is what our Catechism means by a stedfast belief of them For my more orderly resolution whereof I will enquire first what it means by belief and then by a stedfast one Now by belief may be meant either a simple assent of the mind and in which fense there is no doubt it is oftentimes taken in Christian Writers Or there may be meant also a belief with affiance and such as beside the assent of the mind or understanding to them doth also connote a trust in them or in God because of them By vertue of which as I have elsewhere discours'd (k) Expl. of the Decal Com. 1. Part 3. concerning the grace of trust the heart or will is prompted to desire as well as assent to the matter of the divine promises and acquiesce in those for the obtaining of it And indeed if we may judge any thing by our Homilies to which the Articles (l) Art 11. of our Church do also particularly referr us in the point of justifying Faith this latter belief must be here intended Because a belief which hath for its end the remission of sins in Baptism and consequently a justifying one For the right and true Christian Faith saith one of our (m) Homily of Salvation Part 3. Homilies is not only to believe that the Holy Scripture and all the forecited Articles of our Faith are true but also to have a sure trust and confidence in God's merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ And it is not only saith another (n) Hom. of Faith the common belief of the Articles of our Faith but it is also a sure trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and a stedfast hope of all good things to be receiv'd at God's hands In fine saith the same (o) Ibid. Homily the very sure lively Christian faith is not only to believe all things of God which are contained in holy Scripture but also to have an earnest trust and confidence in God c. Which suppos'd as we may because we can have no more Authentick interpretation of it to be the sense of the belief here intended it will not be difficult to shew what our Catechism means by a stedfast one For considering the belief of these Promises as an Assent of the mind to them so a stedfast belief will imply that which is free from all doubts and which the mind of man gives to those Promises without any the least fear of there being any Collusion in them Which the mind of man may well give considering whose those Promises are and that they have both God and Christ for the Authors of them On the other side if we consider the belief intended as including in it also an affiance or trust and by vertue of which the heart or will is prompted to desire as well as believe the matter of those Promises and acquiesce in those Promises for the attaining of it So this stedfast belief will also imply such a one as is firmly rooted in the heart or will and can no more be rooted out of it by the force of temptations than the other by doubts or scruples And indeed as I do not see how any other belief than that can answer such glorious promises as are made to us in the Sacrament of Baptism so I see as little reason to doubt IV. What evidence there is of that being the Faith or belief which is pre-requir'd by Christianity to the receiving of it For though S. Luke may seem to intimate by the account he gives of the Baptism of the Samaritans (p) Acts 8.12 that they were baptiz'd upon a simple belief of what Philip preach'd concerning the things of the Kingdom of God Yet he doth much more clearly intimate afterward that Christianity requir'd another sort of belief and such as was accompani'd with an adherence of the will unto them He making it the condition of the Eunuch's Baptism afterward that he should believe with all his heart (q) Acts 8.37 Which is an expression that in the language of the Scripture referrs rather to the will and affections than to the understanding but however cannot well be thought not to include them there where the believing with all the heart is requir'd And indeed as I do not see considering the Doctrine of our First Reformers why this notion of Faith should be so exploded as it seems to me lately to have been As I do much less see why men should so boyle at that Justification which was wont to be attributed in an especial manner to it So if I live to finish the work I am now upon I will in a Comment upon the Epistle to the Philippians which I have almost gather'd sufficient materials for endeavour to clear both the one and the other that men may neither take occasion from thence to discard good works as unnecessary nor yet stay themselves upon any other than the promises of Christ and on which the holiest men upon earth when they have been approaching near God's tribunal have found themselves oblig'd to cast themselves In the mean time a little to repress the youthful heats of those who can hardly forbear smiling at such antiquated notions I will set before them the advice which was order'd to be given to sick persons when good works to be sure were not without their just repute It is among the Interrogatories which are said (r) Field of the Church Append. to the 3d. Book p. 303. to have been prescrib'd by Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury and particularly after that which prompts the Priest to ask Dost thou believe that thou canst not be sav'd but by the death of Christ and the sick persons Answer that he did so Go too therefore as the Priest was taught to proceed and whilst thy soul remaineth in thee place thy confidence in this death alone and in no other thing commit thy self wholly to it cover thy self wholly with it immerse fix and wrap thy self wholly in it And if the Lord God will judge thee say I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy judgment otherwise I contend not with thee And if he say that thou art a sinner say Lord I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sins If he say to thee thou hast deserv'd damnation say Lord I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my evil deserts and I offer the same death for that merit which I ought to have had and have not If he continue as yet to say that he is angry with thee say Lord I oppose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me
other words Yet is not that essence or being to be adapted to the nature of that to which it is affixt Now wherein consists the essence or being of such a relative thing as a sacred sign but in the relation which it bears to the thing signified and consequently in its signifying that which it is appointed to mark out And if the essence or being of a sign consists in the relation which it bears to the thing signified may it not as such be said to be that thing which it is intended to signifie For who if ask'd concerning this or that Picture as for instance the Picture of Alexander or Julius Caesar would describe it by a piece of Paper or Cloath or Wood so and so Painted but as such or such a person who did such admirable things in the World Nay who is there that when he sees this or that Picture though he knows them to be but inanimate things doth so much as ask What it is but Who So naturally and almost necessarily do Men take the very being of such a thing to consist in its relation to the person it represents and accordingly do as naturally express themselves in that manner concerning it And if that be the case as to other signs why not in like manner as to this Sacred sign of Christ's Body the Bread Especially if as I shall by and by shew it hath a yet nearer relation to it In order whereunto I will now proceed to shew 3. What the word Is imports in that figurative sense whereof we speak And here in the first place it is easie to observe that the word Is imports that to which it is attributed even the Bread of the Sacrament to be a sign of that Body of Christ which it is affirmed to be Which I do not only affirm upon account of the notion that all Men have of it but upon account of the likeness there is between the Bread broken and the Mortifying of our Saviour's Body and upon account also of the same Body's being affirmed by St. Paul in his History of the Institution to be broken for us There being otherwise no ground for that expression as to the Body of Christ but that the breaking of the Bread was intended to signifie or represent the injury that was offer'd to Christ's Body and consequently that that Bread was so far forth intended as a sign of it Which is no more than the Romanists themselves and particularly Estius have said in this affair and therefore I shall not need to insist upon it I say secondly that as the word Is imports that to which it is attributed to be a sign of Christ's Body so also to be such a sign in particular as was intended to bring Christ's Body and the Crucifixion of it to our own Minds or the Minds of others or in a word to be a memorial of it The former being evident from our Saviour's enjoyning his Disciples presently upon these words to do what he had now taught them in remembrance of himself The latter from St. Paul's telling his Corinthians that as often as they ate that bread and drank that cup they did shew the Lord's death till he came I say thirdly and lastly that the word Is doth likewise import that to which it is attributed to be a means of our partaking of the Body of Christ as well as a sign or a memorial of it Which we shall the less need to doubt when St. Paul (a) 1 Cor. 10.16 doth in express terms represent the Bread which is broken in the Sacrament as the Communion or Communication of the Body of Christ and the Cup of Blessing which is blessed in it as the Communion of his Blood Now if a sign even where it is hardly such may be said to be that which it signifies How much more such a sign as is also by the Institution of Christ a means of its conveyance and of which whosoever doth worthily partake shall as verily partake together with it of the Body of Christ and of the Benefits that accrue to us thereby I may not forget to add what St. Luke and St. Paul have added to the words This is my Body even This is my Body which is given for you as the former which is broken for you as the latter Both to the same purpose though in different expressions even to mark out to us more clearly how we are to consider that Body that is to say as a crucified one The giving of Christ or his Body being sometime express'd by giving him for our sins (b) Gal. 1.4 and at other times by giving him (c) Tit. 2.10 to redeem us from them which we know by the same Scripture to have been compassed by his death As indeed under what other notion can we conceive the giving of his Body when it is not only consider'd apart from his Blood but that Blood afterward affirm'd to be shed for the remission of sins and accordingly so requir'd to be consider'd here The expression of St. Paul which is broken for you is yet more clear because more manifestly pointing out the violence that was offer'd to Christ's Body With this farther advantage as was before said that it doth not obscurely intimate the breaking of the Bread to have been intended to represent what was done unto his Body and under what notion we are to consider it Though to put it farther out of doubt St. Paul after his account of the History of the Institution affirms both the one and the other Element of this Sacrament to relate to our Saviour's Death and consequently to respect his Body as mortist'd as well as his Blood as shed He relling his Corinthians that he that did eat that Bread as well as he that drank that Cup did thereby shew forth the Lord's Death till he came Only if it be enquir'd why our Saviour should even then represent his Body as broken or given when it was not to be so till the day after the Institution of this Sacrament I answer partly because it was very shortly to be so but more especially because he intended what he now enjoyn'd as a prescription for the time after his Death as his willing his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him doth manifestly imply That importing the thing to be remembred to be past and gone as which otherwise could not be capable of being remembred It follows both in St. Luke and St. Paul Do this and Do this in remembrance of me Words which the Romish Church hath pick'd strange matters out of even no less as was before observ'd out of Baronius than the Priesthood of the A postles as which was collated upon them by these words and the Sacrifice of the Mass For then also saith that Author the Apostles when the Lord commanded them to do the very same thing in remembrance of him were made Priests and that very Sacrifice which they should offer was ordain'd By what Alchymie the
Covenant which was shed for many for the remission of fins but St. Luke and St. Paul as the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood which was shed for them For which cause I will consider the thing here affirmed under each of these notions and first as Christ's Blood of the New Testament or Covenant which I conceive to be the clearest and most proper declaration of it Because it appears even by that St. Paul who makes use of the other expression that the Blood of Christ is the principal thing signified by it even in that very Chapter where he entitles it the New Testament in his Blood For not only doth he before (i) 1 Cor. 10.16 entitle the Cup the Communion of his Blood as he doth the Bread in the same verse the Communion of his Body but immediately after the words of the Institution declare him who eateth that Bread and drinketh that Cup with due preparation to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come as him who eateth and drinketh unworthily to be guilty of his Body and Bloody The Blood of Christ therefore being the thing principally signified and consequently the principal thing predicated of the Cup by the one and the other reason would that we should enquire what our Saviour meant by it that is to say whether that Blood which now ran in his Veins and was shortly after to be shed or only a memorial of it A Question which will soon be voided not only by what I have before said concerning the Notion of Christ's Body but by the Adjuncts of that very Blood whereof we speak The Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as appears by a Text of the Author to the Hebrews (k) Heb. 9.14 c. and by what I have elsewhere (l) Expl. of the Sacrament in general Part 2. discours'd upon it being no other than that Blood which the Mediator of it shed at his Death For that Author tells us that neither that nor any other Testament or Covenant can be firm without it And the Blood that was shed for remission of Sins the very same It being by means of the same Death that the Redemption of Sins against the First Testament or Covenant is procur'd which is but another Name for the Remission of them And I shall only add for the better explanation of those words even the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant that as of old God would not enter nor did enter into the First Covenant with the Israelites till he was aton'd and they sprinkled by the Blood of their Sacrifices So neither would he enter into the New till he was first aton'd and we sprinkled by the Blood of the Sacrifice of his Son and that Blood therefore conformably to what was said of the Blood of the First Covenant stiled the Blood of the New There will be no great difficulty after what I have said of the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as to the meaning of that New Testament or Covenant in Christ's Blood which St. Luke and St. Paul bring in our Saviour as affirming the Cup to be Because thereby must consequently be meant that New Covenant which was brought about by the Bloud of his Cross even that by which the same Saint Paul elsewhere (m) Col. 1.20 tells us that Christ made Peace between us and God Which will consequently leave nothing more to us to enquire into upon this Head than the importance of that is which joyns the subject and the foregoing predicates together and how the Cup of this Sacrament was and is his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and how the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood For the understanding whereof though it may suffice to remit my Reader to what I before said upon the account of the Bread's being Christ's Body because that mutatis mutandis may be apply'd to the Particle Is here Yet I shall add ex abundanti that there cannot well be any doubt of its being taken figuratively here either in the one or the other predication concerning it Because the Cup of this Sacrament cannot literally and properly be both his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and the New Testament or Covenant in it which yet in some or other of the Sacred Writers it is affirm'd to be Which as it will make it so much the more reasonable to allow of that figurative Sense here which we have attributed to the same Particle Is in This is my Body So consequently make it reasonable to understand by This is my Blood of the New Testament which answers directly to the other This is a Sign and a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance as well as the Bread is of my Body And indeed as the Cup or rather the Wine of it may well pass for a Sign of that Blood as for other Reasons so for that effusion which is attributed to it So that it is both a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance is evident from St. Paul's bringing in our Saviour subjoining the words Do this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me to the Story of the Cup and elsewhere representing the same Cup as the Communion of his Blood This I take to be a fair account of the Particle Is as it is made use of to connect the Cup and Christ's Blood of the New Tescament or Covenant And it will be no less easie to give as clear an account of it as it is made use of to connect the same Cup and the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood That Cup representing to us God's exhibiting together with it Christ's Blood and the Merits of it and our receiving that Blood and the Merits of it with that thankfulness which doth become us and a Mind resolv'd to walk worthy of those Benefits we receive by it I will conclude this long Discourse concerning the Institution of this Sacrament when I have lightly animadverted upon that which St. Matthew and St. Mark bring in our Saviour subjoining to all he had said concerning the Elements thereof To wit that he would not any more drink of this Fruit of the Vine for so St. Matthew expresseth it until he should drink it new with them in his Father's Kingdom For though it should be granted what Grotius contends for out of St. Luke that these words were spoken just before the Institution of this Sacrament and only plac'd here upon the account of Christ's being again to speak of the Cup Yet thus much must be granted to St. Matthew and St. Mark 's placing it here that it was the Fruit of the Vine that our Saviour gave them and they accordingly drank of even in this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper There being no more reason nor so much neither considering that that is the immediate Antecedent to deny this Fruit of the Vine's referring to what our Saviour gave his Disciples and they all drank of than there would be to deny
necessity nor ever was of any Man 's receiving the Cup whether he be Priest or private Person Consecrater of the Bread and it or only a simple Communicant Then every one too that heretofore did or now doth receive in both kinds doth in one and the same Eucharist receive the Blood twice once in the Species of Bread and again in the Species of Wine In fine by the same Rule and their affirming whole Christ to be contained under either Species Hoc est corpus meum may be as proper to make a Transubstantiation of the Cup as it is a Transubstantiation of the Bread The two former whereof render our Saviour's injunction concerning the receit of the Cup perfectly unnecessary The last gives us occasion to wonder why our Saviour who to be sure affected no change of Phrase did not make use of the same Hoc est corpus meum to make an alteration of the Cup especially when if he had it might have so aptly hinted to us the sufficiency of one only Species to possess us of his Body and Blood These I take to be the natural Consequences of making Hoc est corpus meum to signifie at all times This is my Body and Blood and by vertue thereof to possess the Receivers of that over which they are pronounc'd of whole and entire Christ And if on the other side they with whom we have to do make those words to signifie so only where the Sacrament is administred but in one kind and only to those to whom it is so administred they must consequently make the very same words Hoc est corpus meum to signifie one thing to the Lay-man who receives but in one kind and another to the Priest that consecrates and receives in both Which beside that it will make the signification of those words to be arbitrary and according as the Priest shall intend them will make them vary from the signification they had in the Institution of Christ which is and ought to be the Pattern of all Our Saviour as he both instituted and distributed the Sacrament in both kinds so to be sure making the words Hoc est corpus meum to signifie only This is my Body apart from my Blood as which latter he both appointed a distinct Element for and as they love to speak converted that distinct Element into by words equally fitted for such a Conversion I think I shall not need to say much to shew the Bread of the Sacrament not to be converted into Christ's Body and Blood by the force of the words This is my Body and This is my Blood as if the latter extended to the Species of the former as well as to its own proper Sacrament even the Liquor of the Cup Both because those words are not appli'd even by themselves to the Bread but to the Cup and cannot therefore in reason be thought to have any operation upon the former And because our Saviour in that Eucharist which he consecrated for his Disciples gave them the Bread of it to eat before he proceeded to the Consecration of the Cup and before therefore it could be suppos'd to receive any influence from those words This is my Blood as which were not till some time after pronounced by him One only Device remains to bring Christ's Blood as well as Body under the Species of Bread called by the Schoolmen Concomitancy but ought rather by the Romanists explication of it and indeed by the words natural connexion before us'd by the Council of Trent to be termed a real Vnion By vertue of which if Christ's Blood and Body are brought together under the Species of Bread Christ's Body in the Sacrament even that which the words Hoc est corpus meum produc'd is no more that Body which was broken upon the Cross at least consider'd as such for that to be sure was separated from his Blood but his Body entire and perfect And then farewell not only to the natural signification of Hoc est corpus meum and quod pro vobis frangitur but to the Sacrifice of Christ's Body in the Eucharist which yet they have hitherto so contended for as not to think it to be such only by a Figure or Memorial of it Such reason is there to believe how confidently soever the contrary is affirm'd that Christ's Body and Blood are not contain'd under the single Species of Bread And yet if that could be prov'd it would not therefore follow that it were an indifferent thing whether we receiv'd the Cup or no. For the design of the several Species and our receit of them (u) 1 Cor. 11.26 being to shew forth to others the Lord's Death as well as to possess our selves of his Body and Blood If that be not to be compass'd without the receit of the Cup it will make the use of it to be so far necessary what ever we may gain by the Bread alone He satisfying not his Duty who complies with one end of any thing to the neglect of another as that too which tends apparently to the Honour of the Institutor as to be sure the Commemoration of our Saviour's Death and Passion doth Now that the Death of our Saviour cannot be otherwise shewn forth or at least not as he himself represented it without the receit of the Cup as well as Bread may appear from his own representing his Death as a thing effected by the shedding or pouring out of his Blood For so it is in the several Evangelists as well as by the breaking of his Body Blood shed or poured out of a Body being not to be represented in a Sacrament but by a Species at least distinct from the Species of that Body nor we therefore in a capacity so to represent or shew it forth by our receiving but by the receit of such a distinct one Add hereunto that as it is agreed among all Men that the Death which we are to represent or shew forth hath the nature of a Sacrifice and the Eucharist it self for that reason represented by the Romanists as such So it is alike certain and agreed that there is nothing more considerable in the Sacrifice of Christ's Death than the shedding of his Blood as to which he himself peculiarly attributes the Remission of Sins Which Sacrifice therefore whosoever will shew forth as to that particular by the receit of the Sacrament of it he must do it by the receit of such a Symbol as may represent the Blood of Christ as separated from his Body which nothing but a Symbol distinct from that of the Body can and therefore neither because there is no other here but that Cup whereof we speak I may not forget to represent as a fourth Pretence because suggested by the Council of Trent (w) Sess 21. cap. 2. that the receit of the Cup is not of the substance of the Sacrament and may therefore by the Church be either granted or deny'd as it shall seem most expedient to
sin is generally Luxury and Vanity If in a City or other place of Trade Deceit and Covetousness If in a mean estate any where repining and murmuring If in a more honourable one oppressing or Lording it over other Men. By one or other of these marks a Man may come to know his prevailing Sin and knowing it to know also the truth of his repentance for them and others For if he finds himself to get ground on such sins he shall not need to doubt of the truth of his Repentance because there cannot be a better proof of that than its leading Men to abandon their sins and particularly such of them as have the greatest force with the committers of them and are therefore the most difficult to be overcome And though it be true that all Men neither have nor can have that proof of their Repentance For they who have but lately begun to make a strict search into themselves must of necessity be without it how true soever their Repentance is Though they ought not therefore if they find no other reason to question the truth of it to condemn or doubt of that their Repentance because true Repentance must of necessity precede the Fruits of it Yet I think they will act most safely for themselves and most for the comfort of their own Souls I do not say if they stay so long from the participation of this Sacrament till they can have the Fruits of their Repentance to justifie the sincerity thereof but if when they may they think betimes and often what Repentance they are to bring with them to this Sacrament and accordingly set themselves as early to improve what they have and bring forth the fruits of it in those instances wherein they have been most peccant and are by their natural inclinations most likely to be so still For so they shall be able to see by the event what the nature of their Repentance is and accordingly be stirred up to labour after a more sincere one or be satisfied by the fruits they have brought forth that they are so far duly qualified for the partaking of this so excellent a Sacrament Having said thus much concerning the examination of our Repentance which I judge of all other things to be most necessary to be enquir'd into I shall need to say the less concerning that which follows even the examination of our stedfast purpose to lead a new Life as well as of the truth of our Repentance For as it is evident from what hath been said elsewhere (t) Part V. that that ought to be enquir'd into because the thing we are to make profession of in the receit of this Sacrament So he who is satisfied of the truth of his Repentance by the fruits which it hath produc'd may by the same fruits satisfie himself of the stedfastness of his present Purpose to abandon his former sins and pursue the contrary Graces There being no great likelihood of his departing from his present Purpose who knows himself to have already produc'd those good fruits which he now resolves upon as that too out of the Conscience of his own obligation to them and the just sense he hath of his former aberrations and the Affront he offer'd to his both Authority and Kindness to whom he now devotes himself anew Only if any Man find not in himself this most sure proof of the stedfastness of his Purpose and yet find in himself a disposition thus to shew forth his Saviour's death and a desire to partake of the several Graces and Benefits of this Sacrament Let him see whether he can by his own earnest Prayers and reflections and God's Blessing upon them both bring himself to resolve as well against the particular ways and means whereby he was formerly train'd into sin as against the sin it self and upon such particular ways and means also whereby it is most certainly prevented For so I do not see why he should not look upon his Resolution as stedfast and such as God will both accept of in the present case and add farther strength to by the participation of this Sacrament those Resolutions which prove in the event to be uncertain and tottering being for the most part only general ones and such as descend not to those particular ways and means whereby men come to be ensnar'd or whereby that seduction of theirs may be certainly prevented Thus for instance if a Man who hath heretofore given himself more liberty in drinking than the Laws of Temperance will allow should reflect so far upon his former failings this way as not only to resolve against the like intemperance for the future but against such Company too so far as he may by which he hath been drawn into it or to keep however within such measures that there can be no danger for him of offending I do not see why that Man may not look upon such a Resolution as a stedfast one and which God the giver of all Grace will add farther firmness and stedfastness to and make it hold out even against those temptations which at present it may be it is not in a condition to grapple with The Catechism goes on to tell us That we ought to examine our selves in the third place whether we have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ As well it way when he who was the Institutor of this Sacrament prompts us to receive the Elements thereof as that Body of his which was broken for us and as that Blood which was shed for the remission of our sins That as it supposeth that we ought to look upon the mercy of God as convey'd to us by Christ's death and accordingly expect that mercy by it and trust upon that death for it which is that our Church understands by Faith (u) See Expl. of Bapt. Part 10. so supposing too that we ought to approach this Sacrament with such a sorrow for sin and resolution against it as so great a Benefit requires which will convert this Faith or trust into a lively and operative one Now whether we have such a lively Faith or no we may easily satisfie our selves by its being attended or not attended with that sorrow and resolution and which how they are to be known I have already accounted for I shall hardly need to say any thing concerning examining our selves in the fourth place whether we have a thankful remembrance of Christ's death Partly because that thankful remembrance is one of the principal things enjoin'd in the celebration of this Sacrament and we therefore to bring that with us to the due receiving of it And partly because it will not be difficult for us to discover whether we have such a Remembrance or no That being to be judg'd in part by our own desire of receiving the present Sacrament but more by the care we take to prepare our selves for it as by other ways and means so by an earnest reflection upon the Benefits of that Death
own blessed Example But because some persons as they conceive find in themselves some indisposition even to this latter sort of Love because not exerting the acts of it with that pleasure wherewith they should though at the same time as they themselves confess they are infinitely troubled at it and both pray and strive against that their indisposition And because they look upon that their indisposition as irreconcileable with that perfect Charity which our Liturgy mentions and which as they think the Scripture requires (z) Mat. 5.48 when it commands us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Therefore I think it not amiss to add That Charity may be said to be perfect two manner of ways To wit either as excluding all wilful uncharitableness or as excluding also involuntary aversations or disgusts In the former sense there is no doubt every Man ought to be in perfect Charity neither is there any thing in the former Case to perswade that the persons before described are not For they certainly who do not only exert the proper acts of Love but are troubled that they cannot do it more readily and chearfully have nothing of wilful or affected uncharitableness in them All that is to be said of such persons is that their Charity is not so perfect as to exclude all involuntary aversations or disgusts Which who hath or can have where there is such a thing as Flesh and Spirit and between which the Scripture tells us there will be a perpetual Combat It is enough and perhaps as much as can be expected from us to strive against those natural risings of our own Hearts and so as to do those things which Charity requires of us notwithstanding them Being moreover troubled that we cannot do what we do more chearfully and readily and both asking God pardon for it and desiring a farther assistance of his Grace in order to it Which as they are the qualifications of the persons before describ'd so seem to me to be a better proof of the truly charitable temper of the Parties than they dare challenge to themselves Because I do not see how any one can both do the things which Charity requires of him and lament his not more chearfully performing them if he had not in him a sincere though imperfect Charity toward those that are the Objects of it 2. I have little to return by way of Answer to what is enquir'd in the second place concerning our Demeanour at the Celebration of this Sacrament Unless it be that Hoc age which the old Romans premis'd to the offering of their respective Sacrifices For then shall we demean our selves as we ought at the Celebration of this Sacrament when we make our thoughts and affections go along with the Priest's words and actions neither suffer any thing how useful soever to possess our Minds which they do not suggest to us Because as the whole of that Service was intended for our Instruction and Edification so the main of it consists of such Prayers and Praises as are offer'd up in our name and which therefore we cannot expect the benefit of unless our Thoughts and Affections say an Amen to them all the way as well as our Voice doth at the conclusion of them If the distribution of the Sacramental Elements leaves any void places for our private Devotions as it cannot well do otherwise where there is any number to partake of them they are and may be so fill'd up with those Meditations and Ejaculations which our printed Manuals of Devotions furnish that it will be in vain for me to offer any thing toward the supplying of them Only amidst those transports of joy and thankfulness which the remembrance of Christ's Death or our own Meditations upon it may suggest unto us let us not forget that we meet together to oblige our selves by the present Sacrament as well as to receive benefit from it and accordingly to vow to God the abandoning of those sins by which we have been heretofore ensnar'd and particularly our most beloved ones 3. The third and last Question remains to be discuss'd even in what posture of Body we ought to receive this holy Sacrament A Question which I should hardly have thought fit to propose had not the singularity of some among our selves represented the Posture of sitting as the only allowable one I call it a Singularity first because so far as we can judge by their Writings the Antients always receiv'd it in a posture of Adoration And I appeal for the proof hereof to Justin Martyr in the first place as being not only one of the most Antient but one too who gives the most accurate account of this Solemnity For though it be true that that Father makes no express mention of the posture wherein this Sacrament was receiv'd Yet as he takes particular notice of the whole Assemblies rising up to Prayers after the reading of the Scriptures and the Bishop's Exhortation out of them so he takes no notice at all of their changing their posture afterwards either in the Service of the Eucharist or the distribution or reception of it Which is to me a probable Argument that they continued in the same posture and consequently receiv'd the Sacrament in it And indeed as it is not to be thought that they should use any less reverent posture in the Prayers and Thanksgivings of this Sacrament than they did in the Prayers that preceded it which shews that so far to be sure they continued still in the posture of standing So that Father's subjoining immediately to that Service that the Deacons thereupon gave or distributed the Elements so bless'd to each of those that were present and carried them away to those that were absent makes it farther probable that they who were to communicate did not come up to the Table and there sit and receive with the President or Bishop which they must have done if they had kept to the posture now contended for but continu'd where they were before and in the same reverential Posture wherein they but now were at Prayers For to imagine them sitting in their proper places and so receiving is not only without any the least ground in that Father but without any ground also from the reason of that posture in the Sacrament even its being as they tell us the posture of a Feast For how doth it agree to a Feast for those that are invited to it not to approach that Table upon which the Feast is set or at least some other that is placed near to it But beside the Probabilities we have from Justin Martyr of the Churches anciently receiving in a posture of Adoration and particularly in the posture of standing It is not to be despis'd that the same Antients had a very venerable esteem for the Sacramental Elements which makes it yet more probable that they receiv'd them in such a posture as was agreeable to so venerable an esteem For we do not saith the