we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ The breaking and the receiving the blessed bread he calls the communion of the Lord's body because they which eat thereof with actuall faith in the Lord himself grow up together in communion with the Lord himself and with his flesh and bloud Even as they also which with faith embrace the word preached by the Apostles b 1 Iohn 1.3 have also fellowship with the Apostles and that fellowship is with the Father and his Son Iesus Christ DOCT. II. A confirmation of the former FOr as Baptisme is an instrument to inchoate and begin this communion because thereby we are born again in Christ So the Supper was instituted to perfect the same because therein we are fed with the flesh and bloud of Christ that we may grow up in him a 1 Cor. 12.13 For as the Apostle saith by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit DOCT. III. That the furthering and increasing of our communion with Christ is the chief end of the Lords Supper THe Lords Supper was indeed instituted for many other ends to wit that being admonished both by words and signes representing the Lords death and the effusion of his most precious bloud we might call to mind and thankfully acknowledge the great benefit of our Redemption For what saith the Apostle b 1 Cor. 11.26 As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come To these ends therefore serveth it that we may be confirmed in our faith about the remission of our sins that we may be nourished unto the hope of a blessed resurrection that we may be stirred up to give thanks unto God for so great a benefit and to repent us of our sins and last of all to renew our covenant made with God openly and in the presence of the whole Church But because all these tend to no other end but this that we may be more and more united unto Christ and become one with him and that a Gal. 2.20 he may live more effectually in us and we in him b Eph. 5. â—0 being made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones Therefore we doubt not but the Supper was chiefly and principally instituted for the increasing and furthering this our union and communion with Christ in which is perfected and consummated our salvation Whereunto also serveth the bread and wine being bodily nourishments That we may know it for certain that what the bread and wine is for the nourishing of our bodyes and the preserving of this naturall life such also is the flesh and bloud of Christ for the feeding of our souls and the maintenance of our Spirituall life DOCT. IV. Why the bread is called the body of Christ FRom whence also we may learn why Christ calleth this bread his body Not so as if it were either properly his true body or as if his body were included in it or so as if it were but a bare and naked signe of his body which was broken and crucified for us But because it is a Sacrament thereof and Sacraments as St. Augustine saith are often called by the names of those things whereof they are Sacraments and so is made an instrument of the holy Ghost for the communicating unto us the true body of Christ and for the confirming us in the communion thereof As also the Apostle for the same reason speaking of Baptisme called it not a signe of regeneration but the very laver of regeneration without doubt because a Eph. 5.26 with the washing of water by the word as by a fit and convenient instrument Christ by the effectuall working of his Spirit doth inwardly wash cleanse and regenerate us DOCT. V. That the bread is but improperly and figuratively called the true and substantiall body of Christ WHerefore we doubt not but in the words of the Supper the true and naturall body of Christ is predicated of the bread especially seeing that for explication sake there is added b Luk. 22.19 Which is given for you So that this is a most true saying the bread is Christs body to wit that true boby which was given for us but this is improperly and figuratively seeing that in very deed the bread was given for us but the true body of Christ whereof the bread is a Sacrament DOCT. VI. That the body of Christ is not in the bread really and properly FRom hence also we are confirmed in our opinion that as the bread is not properly the very body of Christ but a Sacrament thereof so likewise the body of Christ is not really and properly in the bread For in Sacraments the things themselves whereof they are Sacraments are not really included although they sometimes receive the names thereof As it appeareth plainly in Baptisme without all controversie in which no man saith that either the bloud of Christ by which we are washed from our sins or regeneration it self is included For neither in the word of the Gospel are included really those things which thereby are declared Now the Sacraments are the visible word But neither did Christ say My body is in this that is in the bread but he used another farre different manner of speaking to wit This that is This bread is my body Now if any one list to be contentious and say that the sense is all one It will follow that if the body of Christ be really in the bread the bread likewise is really properly and substantially the body of Christ which if it be impious once to affirme then cannot the other be affirmed without great impietie And yet we deny not but that Sacramentally it may be so according to the sense in which we say that in the word of the Gospel is remission of sins life and salvation which thereby are declared and offered unto us But forasmuch as by such manner of speaking the vulgar sort are commonly drawn to superstition we judge it fitting to abstain altogether from them and we hold it most mete to use such formes of words as we find recorded in the sacred Scripture DOCT. VII That in the Supper not onely the signes but also the things themselves signified are distributed NOw without all manner of controversie this we hold for a sure position and a certain truth that although the very body and bloud of the Lord are not that is exist not in their own substance and really and properly in the bread wine but in heaven Yet together with the distribution of the bread and wine the very flesh and bloud also are truely offered unto all to be eaten and to be drunk But how Not simply but as the one was delivered unto death for us and the other poured forth for the remission of our sins For the words of Christ in a Iohn 6.51 Iohn are manifest concerning the eating of his flesh
and the drinking of his bloud if any man will have life in him and consonant and agreeable unto the words of Christ are the words of the Apostle also saying b 1 Cor. 11.27 Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the true body and bloud of the Lord. Neither do we doubt but as Christ openly commanded the bread to be eaten so also not long after where he said this is my body he secretly commanded that also to be eaten no lesse then the bread but yet each after it's own manner DOCT. VIII That none but the faithfull do truely eat the true flesh of Christ BUt yet notwithstanding the flesh of Christ is in the Supper offered unto all to eat we believe that they are the true faithfull onely which do truely eat thereof And that for these reasons First because they onely have communion with Christ and so also with his flesh and bloud but others have not neither are they made partakers thereof when they receive the bread Secondly because they onely have the Spirit of Christ by the power of whom alone the flesh of Christ is truely communicated Thirdly because they onely bring faith with them without which there can be no true receiving and eating thereof For neither doth Christ himself truely and really exhibit his true body but to them who as truely believe that his body was delivered unto death for them and his bloud poured forth for their sins as they believe that those words are true THIS IS MY BODY DOCT. IX That Hypocrites eat the body of Christ Sacramentally MEan while we deny not but that even Hypocrites themselves void of true and justifying faith when they receive and eat the bread as the Sacrament of the Lords body may be said in some sort to eat the true body of Christ to wit Sacramentally but not truely and really As the Apostle in like manner saith that all the Corinthians which were Baptized with water were also sanctified and justified to wit Sacramentally as we declared before although they were not all truely made such DOCT. X. That of those that eat there are three sorts and so divers manners of eating FRom whence we are taught that there are three sorts of men of whom there may a question be made whether they eat the flesh of Christ or no. The first is of thē which receive the bread as common bread and not as a Sacrament And these eat not the body of Christ in any sort but are true Capernaites and their eating is merely carnall The second is of them which contrarily eat not the bread at all but yet not out of contempt but believe the Gospel onely and their eating is merely Spirituall The third and last sort is of them which not content onely with believing the Gospel receive the bread also not simply as the first as if it were bare and common bread but as the Sacrament of the Lords body whereupon they may be said also to receive and eat Sacramentally But forasmuch as this may be done by the true Godly as well as by those which are hypocrites and ungodly but yet after a different manner the one sort eating also by faith and the other without true faith Therefore also we say that the ungodly and hypocrites eat onely Sacramentally but the true Godly both Sacramentally and truely and Spiritually and so unto salvation DOCT. XI That by faith onely the true body of Christ is eaten BUt whereas we say that the faithfull onely receive the true body of Christ not Sacramentally onely but also truely we understand it of eating not with the mouth of the body but the mind and Spirit endued with faith and that by the operation of the holy Spirit effectually working in us and applying Christ wholly unto us For it is the food of the mind as a Cyprian Serm. de Coena Cyprian speaketh and not of the belly And as Christ speaketh and St. Augustine expounds it b Ioh. 6.36 It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing And the Apostle teacheth That c 1 Cor. 12.13 by one Spirit we are all Baptised into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit And if all our true union with Christ is by the holy Spirit although he with his body be in heaven and we on earth It is necessarie also that the eating be after the same manner For what is it to eat but to receive and unite the food unto thee for the nourishment of that part for which it is appointed Now the flesh of Christ as we said before is the food of the mind and not of the belly Neither truely do we eat the body of Christ any otherwise but as it was delivered to death for us made without bloud as the words do sound and the breaking of the bread doth represent unto us and also as the passeover and other sacrifices were wont to be eaten But now the body liveth and cannot be without bloud As at the first Supper it was neither dead nor without bloud To say then that properly that body doth passe into our bodyes and that by the mouth it is no lesse then sacriledge To what end also is this that as the bread is distributed without the wine and the wine without the bread so also the body without the bloud and the bloud apart without the body is given in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper But that we may understand that the body and bloud in their very substance and as they are in heaven do not passe through our mouthes but are received onely by a faithfull remembrance stirred up in us effectually by the holy Spirit For this is the thing which the Lord required saying a Luk. 22.20 This do in remembrance of me And again b 19. This is my body which is given for you For in so speaking he required faith of them by which they should believe this and by believing eat that is apply it to themselves for the food and life of their souls Wherefore we are verily perswaded that they do truely and not imaginarily eat the flesh of Christ whosoever believe that it was delivered unto death for an expiatorie sacrifice to cleanse them from their sins and so believing embrace with a faithfull mind and apply it unto themselves And whosoever thus eat the body of Christ as dead we doubt not but they are more and more joyned and knit unto it now being living and quickning according to the promise of Christ who having first said c Ioh. 6.56 He that eateth my flesh afterwards added dwelleth in me and I in him DOCT. XII That the opinion concerning the eating of Christs body corporally is not to be admitted as being vain and improfitable Furthermore forasmuch as this manner of eating the flesh of Christ to wit by faith is certain and saving and that other feigned manner of eating by the
within the compasse of their dutie which how profitable it is for the commowealth in generall and for every man in particular who knows not Thirdly and lastly whereas men found by dayly expeperience that they did alwayes sinne against this perfect Law and did feel that they could not keep it as they ought and so became more more every day subject to the wrath of God and guilty of eternall death From hence it came to passe that despairing in themselves and of their own strength they did the more ardently desire and long for the coming of their Redeemer and Deliverer and therefore the more they came to the knowledge of their sins and their own weakensse and the more sensibly they felt the wrath of God by the Law the more they did hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and fitted and prepared themselves for the receiving of Christ by faith So it is most true which the Apostle saith in both places a Rom. 3.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin and b Gal. 3.24 The Law is our School-master to bring us unto Christ DOCT. IX That the Law at this time hath the same uses even in those which are regenerate ANd we believe that the foresaid uses of the Law abide and continue as long as we live in this world not onely in the unregenerate as was said before but even in the regenerate also For whereas our minds are overclouded with darknesse and our memories are slippery that we cannot either perfectly understand the things of God or understanding them keep them in remembrance Need we have of the Law of God to be our glasse wherein we may every day behold and see and certainly understand what is the will of God that we should do And again Whereas our hearts are not perfectly purged from all corruption So that they are not fully bent to doe the will of God but still a Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the Spirit Necessary it is for us to have the Law of God by the tenours and comminations thereof to keep us from falling into sin and by the promises thereof to incite us unto obedience and to follow after righteousness And thirdly and lastly For as much as there is b 1 Ioâ—â—â—8 no man so far forth sanctified but that he sinneth and hath sin dwelling in him which makes us weak and feeble to every good work and alwayes prone to that which is evil Therefore the Law is usefull and profitable for us that thereby coming to the knowledge of our sins and manifold weaknesses we may more and more every day acknowledge how impossible it is that we should ever by our own works be justified and saved and further so much the more ardently-hunger and thirst after Christs righteousness embrace him by faith And so the Law although it can never justify us yet it may bring us every day nearer nearer unto justification by bringing us unto Christ that justifieth DOCT. X. That the Morall Law as concerning the substance thereof was not abrogated by Christ FOr we know and believe that the Law as concerning the substance of Doctrine and those wholesome and saving uses whereof hath been spoken was not be abrogated by Christ and therefore was not abrogated but onely as concerning the curse and condemnation For a Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Yet further in respect of the curse and condemnation it self the Law alwayes was and still is usefull and profitable unto them which yet are not in Christ for as much as it drives them unto him that they be not condemned DOCT. XI Errours condemned WE therefore condemne those which cast out of the Church this Law as unprofitable and not usefull nor belonging unto Christians And again those which teach that a man may either totally or partially in whole or in part be justified by the Law whereas the Law rather was given a Gal. 3.22 to conclude all under sinne and to bring them unto Christ who alone b Iohn 1.29 taketh away the sinnes of the world And this is our brief confession concerning the Law which was delivered by Moses and expounded by the Prophets which fitteth prepareth disposeth and bringeth men unto Christ who is c Rom. 10.4 the end of the Law as the Apostle witnesseth CHAP. XI Concerning Christ our Redeemer DOCTRINE I. The summe of our faith concerning the Person and Office of Christ our Redeemer THerefore a Gal. 4.4 When the fulnesse of the time was come in which the promise of Redemption which was made unto the first man was to be fulfilled by the second God sent forth The eternall Father his Sonne onely begotten and eternall and therefore true God of the same nature with the Father made of a woman alone without the seed of man and therefore true man but without sinne and therefore true Christ made under the Law and therefore also circumcised that he might with most perfect obedience fulfill the Law for us all becoming obedient unto his Father even unto death to wit for us for being without sinne himself 5. he deserved not to die To redeem them that were under the Law them that were c. Therefore all the elect To redeeme them to wit by his obedience death and a Act. 10.28 bloud shed that is a sacrifice of infinite virtue and a price of redemption of the greatest efficacie for it was the bloud of God To redeeme them I say from their sinnes unto the former image of God and so unto the former image of God and so unto perfect righteousnesse and from death likewise unto eternall life and from the kingdome of Satan unto the Kingdome of God That we might receive the adoption of sonnes and so at length be received unto the full and perfect possession of an heavenly inheritance as sonnes and lawfull heires and to conclude a Eph. 1.10 That he might gather together in one head all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth and that he might make them cleave fast unto him b Eph. 1.12 to the praise of his glorie DOCT. II. That Christ our Redeemer is both true God and true Man WE believe therefore that Iesus Christ is c Iohn 1.14 the onely begotten Son of God and therefore his Son by nature coessentiall with the Father and d Mic. 5.2 coeternall true God and Lord Jehova and we believe that the same Iesus Christ is also true man of the seed of e Matt. 1.1 Abraham and David conceived of the holy Ghost without the help of man in the wombe of the Virgin f Hebr. 4.15 without sinne born of her having a true humane soul and mind being made like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted So that he is true g Athanas in Symb. God of the substance of his Father begotten
comprehend therefore much in few words our judgement is that The Sacraments are outward signes and such as fall under our senses whith are added unto the word of the Gospel according to Christ's institution by reason of our ignorance weakness and for the better stirring up and confirming of our faith whereby all men are seriously called but the elect onely and believers by the holy Ghost inwardly working in their minds and drawing them are brought unto Christ to have true and reall communion with him and with his flesh and bloud and so are made partakers of all Christs benefits which by the word and outward visible signes are signified and offered that being incorporated into Christ they may at length make up the body of the whole Church according as the Father hath preordained unto the praise and glorie of his grace and their eternall salvation DOCT. XVII In summe what communitie the Sacraments of the Old Testament have with the Sacraments of the New COncerning the Sacraments of the Old Testament we need not say much forasmuch as they are abrogated But this one thing must not be omitted to wit that the Fathers of old forasmuch as they had the same God that we have the same promises the same Mediatour the same Spirit regenerating the same faith and the same hope They had likewise the same Sacraments that we have if we have respect unto the substance thereof which is Christ although for ceremonies different from ours And this we the rather hold because theirs were delivered to them to the same end that ours are delivered unto us to wit that they might be confirmed in the faith of Christ and grow up together in communion with him To prove what we have said these places of Scripture are very pertinent he was a Revel 13.8 the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world b 1 Cor. 10.4 They did all drink the same Spirituall drink for they drank of that Spirituall Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ And again c Heb. 1â— 8 Iesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever DOCT. XVIII That there are onely two Sacraments of the Christian Church WE acknowledge onely two Sacraments properly so called which were alwayes common to all the Christian Church by name Baptisme and the Lords Supper whereof the one belongeth to the beginning of our communion with Christ and the other unto the increase thereof Whereupon the one is called the Laver or washing of regeneration and the other the holy Feast or the Lords Supper DOCT. XIX Errours condemned WE cannot therefore but dislike those which will have a Sacrament to be even where no word is heard but onely some visible signe seen And those likewise which make no distinction between the thing of the Sacrament and the Sacrament but will have it to be received into the mouth as well as the Sacramentall signe Whereas the thing of the Sacrament is that which the signe coming under the judgement of our sense bringeth unto our minde but letteth not fall into our hand or mouth Neither yet do we like those which in the Sacraments consider nothing else but what they see with their eyes Nor yet those which will have them to be onely badges cognizances to distinguish us from other people or else but bare signes and no instruments of the holy Ghost by which he worketh in us effectually and confirmes us in the communion of Christ But we condemne those which institute new Sacraments beside those which Christ himself hath instituted And those also which tye the grace of God and the things signified by the Sacraments unto the Sacraments in such manner as if every one that receiveth the signes might truely be said alwayes to partake also of the thing it self CHAP. XV. Concerning Baptisme BEsides what hath been said of the Sacraments in generall we further believe and confesse as followeth concerning the Sacrament of Baptisme in speciall DOCTRINE I. What Baptisme is and what the effects thereof a Matt. 21.19 BAptisme is the first Sacrament of the New Covenant by which both all they which either having made confession of their sins and profession of their faith in Christ and so likewise in God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost or such as at least we believe for the pietie of their b 1 Cor. 7.14 parents do belong unto the Covenant and they more especially which truely belong unto the Covenant are c Eph. 1 1â— sealed in Christ being as it were d 1 Cor. 6.15 incorporated into him by the holy Ghost in such manner that they are e 1â— no longer their own but his by whom they are said to be received unto the fellowship of the Covenant and so become one body with him and all the Saints and are made partakers of all Spirituall and celestiall benefits being by this Baptisme as the laver of regeneration a Ephes 5.26 cleansed from their sins by the bloud of Christ and b Rom. 6.4 buried with him into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glorie of the Father even so we also should walk in newnesse of life For which cause it is usually called the Sacrament or c Mark 1.4 The Baptisme of repentance for the remission of sins The seal of faith the seal of the Covenant the laver of regeneration the washing away of sins and the Sacrament or seal of newnesse of life DOCT. II. That the power and vertue of Baptisme hath onely place in the elect and that they alone are Baptised not onely with water but also with the holy Ghost BUt yet notwithstanding such excellent things are said of Baptisme and are truely attributed unto it as an instrument used by the holy Ghost and so Sacramentally all they which are Baptised are truely said to be made and to be such We believe that it is fulfilled really onely in the elect which are endued with the holy Ghost forasmuch as they onely do truely believe and truely belong unto Christ and his mysticall body And therefore that all indeed are Baptised with water but the elect onely with the holy Ghost and that all receive the signe not all the thing signified and offered by Baptisme but that the elect onely are made partakers thereof DOCT. III. What be the integrall parts of the Sacrament of Baptisme WE believe that for the making of the Sacrament of Baptisme to be entire those two things are sufficient which Christ hath instituted to wit the simple element of water with which men are Baptised whether by way of immersion or dipping in the water or aspersion sprinkling on the water and that form of words which Christ taught his Apostles to use when they Baptized Matth. 28.9 to wit In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost And we are fully perswaded that they neither used any other forme of words nor added any thing