latter we do in every Act of Outward Devotion such as Bowing Kneeling Standing putting on Sackcloth c. all which represent our Duty and are professions of our Intentions to perform it Tho' therefore Mr. B. should prove by Scripture that the Sacraments represent our Duty as required by God yet it were nothing against me except he prove it to be proper and peculiar to Sacraments to represent our Duty as profest by us to the Exclusion of all other Signs However tho' I need not take Notice of the Scriptures he produces to this purpose they not being to the point in hand yet because they are all perverted from their true and genuine sense I think my self obliged to Vindicate them from his false glosses and shall with them likewise consider his other Arguments on this Head The first is John 3. 5. Except a Man be born of the Water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven This he produces Vind. 38. to prove that Washing with Water is by its Resemblance Instructive to us concerning the Priviledges and Duties of the Covenant we enter into But here is nothing concerning Instruction but the plain and litteral meaning of the place is That Baptism represents to us the Will of God to give us a New Birth by Water and the Holy Ghost The Water doth not only Instruct us in the Necessity of the Regenerating and purifying Vertue of the Holy Spirit as he seems to suggest but when duly used it carries that Vertue along with it The second place produced by him to prove the Water in Baptism to be an Instructing Sign concerning our Duty and Priviledges is Tit. 3. 5. He saved us by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost This fully proves that it is God's Institution that we shou'd be saved by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism if Mr. B. thinks that we are only Instructed in that Priviledge by the Water in Baptism as he seems to do he contradicts the very Letter of the Holy Scripture which says we are saved by it and he seems to be influenced in this point with Socinian Notions The third place is Acts 22. 16. Arise be Baptised and wash away thy sins This he produces to prove that Baptism is Designed to Instruct us concerning our guilt as well as pollution and the necessity of our being cleansed from it by the laver of our Mediators Blood But sure the place proves quite another thing not only that we are Instructed by Baptism concerning the necessity of being Cleansed but that we are actually Cleansed and Washed in our Mediator's Blood by it and have our Sins then and not before forgiven us So the Scriptures frequently Teach us and so the Church has ever understood it it is not for any Merit of our Faith or Repentance that our Sins are forgiven us and therefore God may as Justly and has as positively made Baptism a condition of our Pardon when it may be had as either of them Christ may apply the Vertue of his Blood to us on what terms he Pleases and since he has made Baptism a Condition the meaness of the thing ought to be no Exception any more than the washing in Jordan was a just Exception to Naaman the Syrian We are therefore as much regenerated by Baptism Cleansed Saved and Pardoned by it as Naaman was Cured of his Leprosy by Washing in Jordan And can no more be partakers of these benefits without it when we may have it then he cou'd without the other It is therefore of very ill consequence to interpret these places of bare Instruction and I hope Mr. B. will not say he meant so to interpret them as to Exclude the real force and efficacy The fourth place is John 6. 53. 54. Who so eats my flesh and drinks my Blood hath Eternal Life For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed This he produces to prove that in the Lords Supper There is not only a Commemorative Representation of the Death of Christ but also an Instructive Representation of our spiritual Communion with him in his Body and Blood And of Those Duties by which we are said 〈◊〉 Eat his Flesh and Drink his Blood Vind. p. 39. But there is no colour for such a gloss The Place speaks of feeding by Faith on the Flesh and Blood of Christ either in or out of the Sacrament 'T is certain and confessed by the Church of God that there is a peculiar Feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ by worthy Receivers in the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper and that there is not only a Commemorative and Instructive Representation of them as Mr. B. alledges but a real and true Communion of them your Confession of Faith uses the Words Really and Indeed Chap. 29. and therefore i◠is great perverting of those Words of St John to interpret them of such Commemorative and Instructive Representation only and a ready way to bring in the Socinian Notions of Sacraments The Fifth place Vind. p. 39. is Rom. 6. 3 4 5. So many of us as were Baptised into Christ were Baptised into his Death therefore we are Buried with him by Baptism unto Death that like as Christ was Raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also shou'd wà lk in Newness of Life He alledges Vind. p. 39. That dying unto Sin and walking in Newness of Life is not signifyed as the Benefit Conferred by God as I suppose but rather as the Duty required from us And to the same purpose he quotes Coloss 2. 12. Buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him and you being dead in your sins and the uncircomcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses It is manifest from the plain Words of these places that the Apostle here shews what God has done for us and from thence infers what we owe to him He has mortified Sin in us by Baptism he has buried us with Christ he has forgiven us all Trespasses he has quickened us together with him as he raised Christ and given us a New Life by his Holy Spirit let any one judge whether these are Benefits we receive from God as I affirm or rather Duties required from us as Mr. B. alledges Every one of these as the Church of God has ever Taught and as the generality of Christians except Pelagians of old and Socinians of late have professed to believe are Acts of God's efficacion Spirit upon us and not Duties required of us tho' they infer Duties to be perform'd by us We cannot quicken our selves or kill Sin in us till the Spirit of God deliver us from the Body of Death and quicken us by a new Principle and then when he has given us a New Life it is as the Apostle infers our Duty to walk in the Newness of that Life This is plainly the Apostles Reasoning Rom. 6. for after he
it the people standing as appears by the fifth Verse Then the Levites Jeshua and Cadmiel Bani Hashabniah Sherebijah Hodijah Shebaniah said Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever And so they go on with the Confession and it is like the People joyned their Voices also for they used to joyn in the Blessings and Praises of God to do which the Levites now invite them And in the latter end of the Confession it is said V. 18. Because of all this We make a sure Covenant and Write it This Confession is then plainly the Preface to that Covenant and therefore these are no clear Instances as he alledges or Precedents for Extemporary Prayers in an Ordinary Setled Congregation much less is there any Command for such Whereas the Precedents for Forms of Prayer are express and the Command to use the Lord's Prayer in particular literal Luk. 11. 2. When you pray say Our Father to which Mr. B's Interpretation is a Contradiction When you pray you need not say Our Father c. either in Ordinary publick Addresses to God or Occasional V. Let me observe further that tho' Mr. B. gives me such hard words for not distinguishing between the Spirit of Prayer and the Grift Rem p. 60. yet he doth not bring one place of Scripture where they are distinguished It was directly my business to shew That there was no such Ordinary Gift without the help of Forms necessary or promised either to the Children of God or which is the same thing as Mr. B. now states it Rem p. 59. to all Ministers or private Christians In the diligent use of such helps as they are furnished with and frequent exercising themselves in this excellent Duty This is a point so material that we ought to have plain Scripture for it and a clear promise that God will give this Gift to us on all occasions ordinary and extraordinary without the help of Forms if we use the means endeavour it heartily and exercise our selves in it But Mr. B. has not produced one particular much less clear promise to this purpose only he argues the Conveniences of it from general Rules which signifie nothing when duly examined neither ought to be put in the balance with our Saviour's Command and Scripture Precedents And therefore I had good reason to suppose that Mr. B. set up his Rule of Human Prudence to the exclusion of any particular Rule or Precedent in Scripture in these Duties he mentioned Nay I had good Warrant to believe that he allows a dispensing Power even against express Scripture-Rules and Precedents when his Human Prudence judges them contrary to Edification He asserts this positively in the matter of Ordination and I had reason to believe the same as to matter of Worship Saith he Reflect p. 37. Positive Precepts must always yield to Moral and Matters of meer Order to the end of the Duty ordered and the former must never be pleaded against the latter This I take to be a dangerous Position for it is in effect to say that all the particular Rules in Scripture about the Worship of God and Discipline of his Church cease to be Obligatory on any party of Men that think them contrary to Edification Whereas we ought to suppose that they never are contrary to it and therefore are never to be laid aside and that tho' they seem to us to be contrary yet they are not but are some way misapplied which is to be amended without Dispensing with them Thus I may be assured that praying to God by a Form is very edifying because I find Precedents for doing so in Scripture and I ought to look on it as a very corrupt Human Prudence that suggests the contrary And herein as I take it lies the principal difference between Mr. B. and Me concerning this Rule I argue that Forms of Prayer singing Prose-Psalms c. are edifying because I find them used in Scripture he argues That they ought not to be generally used because his Human Prudence and Observation finds them contrary to Edification I must leave you to judge which of us pay the greatest deference to the holy Scripture or have the greatest opinion of our own Prudence VI. To conclude this Head I will deal easily with Mr. B. and allow him the Interpretation of his Rule which he now gives and tho' he says That only the general Rules must be regarded yet I will allow he did not intend to exclude particular Directions and I will take the Rule as Mr. Baxter has it from whence I suppose Mr. B. took it in these words Conformity stated p. 13. We never held that the Scripture is a particular Rule commanding every Accident and Circumstance about God's Worship but only a general Rule requiring all to be done in Love and Peace and to Edification and decently c. in those Circumstances which must be some way determined and God hath left to variable Human Determinations such as are Time Place Utensils Translations Sections Metres Tunes Methods and Words in Preaching and Prayer Habits Gestures and many such-like This Rule is laid down in the Name of all your party and I hope you will stand by it for it not only justifies our Holy-days Communion-Table Rails Habits Desks Pulpit and Fonts as I shewed in my Admonitton but also our Office for the Dead for we have a general Rule in Scripture to pray always more especially when we meet with any loss or cause of sorrow And I suppose our Human Prudence doth determine that the death of a Friend is a very sensible loss that the time of his burial is a very proper time for Prayer and his Grave where we take our last farewell of him is a very proper place to express our hope of his Resurrection and to thank God for that hope which is the sum of that Office of our Church The same may be said for the Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth and indeed for every other Office appointed by our Church and every practice even of our reading the Apocrypha and Standing at the Gospel the one being a gesture within the very Letter of the Rule and as the Prudence of the Church has judged for many Ages very edifying and the other full as warrantable as your Ministers Reading the Covenant and Acknowledgment of Sins which they were ordered to do two Lord's days Octob. 6. 1648. Nay it justifies that which we are no ways obliged to justifie tho' Mr. B. often objects it to us that is Bowing towards the East or Altar it being no Rule of our Church or universal practice For God has in general commanded us to worship him with our Bodies and it is very convenient decent and solemn that the whole Congregation should bow one way without meeting each others Faces If therefore Human Prudence determine that this gesture shall be used at certain times and that it shall be towards the East or Communion-Table it only does what the Rule
hath shewed whâ—â— God has done for us in giving us hâ—â— Grace to mortify our Lusts and to enliven us with Christ he concludes V. 12 Let not therefore Sin reign in your Mortaâ— Body that you should obey it in the Luâ—â— thereof The Sixth place he produces is 1 Cor 6. 11. But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus He alledges thâ—â— that these Expressions refer to Baptism which is true but that it is our Duty to Wash to Sanctify to Justify our selves rather than receive them as Benefits from God is not to be allowed These are acts of God's Spirit upon us in Baptism we expect and receive them from him and when we have received them it is then our Duty to imploy the Grace he has bestowed on us lest we receive it in vain and this obligation to improve the Talent God has given us in Baptism is a clear Consequence from his having so freely given it to us The Seventh place Mr. B. urges to prove that Baptism is a Sign from us to God of our Obligations to the Duties of his Covenant is 1. Pet. 3. 25. Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God I think this is so far from proving what Mr. B. produces it for that it proves the direct contrary Our Saviour tells us that he who Believes and is Baptised shall be saved that is Faith and Baptism are the means or conditions of our Salvation Baptism is God's Act by his Ministers and Faith is ours that is the Act of it tho the Gift and Grace be his but except we perform our part Baptism will do us no service nor ought the Ministers who are the dispensers of God's Favours to admit us to it till we satisfy them some other way of our Sincerity than meerly by our demanding Baptism Therefore the Apostles requir'd a solemn profession of Faith Repentance and Obedience from such as were to be Baptised and Obliged them to answer such Questions as the Church has ever put to those that came to Baptism till your Directory threw them out Now this clearly proves that Baptism doth not directly and immediatly signify our Duty or Obligation to God since another Rite was added to signify that even a solemn Profession of our Faith and Resolution that we would forsake the Devil and his Works believe in God and keep his Commandments expressed by solemn Answers to several Questions These Answers bind and oblige us to our Duty to God before we can be Baptised and then comes Baptism which is God's act by which he pardons our Sins and Adopts us as Sons or as our Church expresses it grants us A death unto Sin and a new birth unto Righteousness And the not observing this seems to me the reason of that great Omission in your Directory of which I took notice Admonition p. 56. That No express Covenant is Ordered to be made in the Name of the Child Baptized either by the Parent or any else For the Authors of the Directory having determined that Sacraments are Instituted Solemnly to engage Church-Members Into the Service of God in Christ Confession of Faith Chap. 27. it will follow on Mr. B'S Principles which seem in this point to be the same with theirs that it is unlawful to demand another Engagement of those that are to be Baptized or that they shou'd by another Rite that is by Solemnly Answering certain Questions dedicate themselves to the Service of Christ because as he Argues Vind. p. 52. It is a needless doing that over again by a Rite of our own devising which is sufficiently done by a Rite of Christ's Institution And therefore the Directory only Orders the Minister before Baptism to Use some words of Instruction touching the Institution Nature and Ends of this Sacrament But doth not require any Profession or Engagement from those that are to be Baptised or in their Name or any answer signifying their consent vow or resolution to believe and serve Christ quite contrary to St. Peter who tells us in effect That Baptism will not save us without this Answer of a good Conscience I think this one place is sufficient to shew us that we are obliged by other means than meer accepting the Sign of Baptism and that the thing that directly binds our Duty on us is our solemn Profession of our Faith and Duty which we must signify by such signs and means as are proper to signify our sincerity in other Cases And that Baptism doth not signify those but supposeth them the whole design of that being to entitle us to God's Grace and Favours upon supposition that we are qualified for them Mr. B. indeed objects That Baptism is the Solemnizing a mutual Covenant between the blessed God on the one part and us on the other and therefore it is first a Sign from us to God of our consent to the proper terms of his Covenant before it can be a Sign from him to us of our Interest in those benefits If this were so then there needed no other Sign of our consent besides the use of Baptism 〈◊〉 St. Peter shews us the contrary that we are to signify our consent by other means even by a Solemn Profession and taking on us expresly those Obligations that are the proposed Conditions of the Covenant and when we have bound our selves by this Rite and Solemn Profession and declared our consent to those Terms then and not before we are admitted to Baptism for the Remission of Sins 8thly He further argues from St. Mark 1. 4. where Baptism is called the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins That it is First A Sign of our Repentance towards God before it can be a Sign from him of the Remission of Sins p. 41. But the meaning is plainly that John Preached Remission of Sins by Baptism on Condition Men repented And the Question is here whether Baptism signified that the Men Repented or that God wou'd forgive the Penitent when Baptized If the last be the meaning then it is a Sign altogether from God to us But if the First then it is indeed a Sign from Men to God But that it cannot be so is clear because Repentance was first to be signified by other Signs such as Confession of Sins promise of Amendment c. before the Persons were to be Baptised and therefore Baptism did not signify but suppose Repentance I do own there is a Covenant made between us and God in Baptism We promise Faith and Obedience and signify them by a Solemn Profession and other Signs God gives us his Spirit for Remission of Sins and a new Birth and this is signified by Baptism which is the Sign and Means that Conveys them 9thly He produces Gal. 5. 3. Every Man that is Circumcised is a Debtor to the whole Law Vind. p. 42. I answer That every Man