reference to the Soul our duty is to arm our selves against the fear of death as not thinking on the paâ—gs of death which Christ hath sweetned and sanctified to all His but upon that blessed estate that is enjoyed after death And look upon death not as it is seâ— forth in the Law so it is a curse but as it is set forth in the Gospel so it is an entrance into Heaven consider also what God hath promised to the death of the Rev. 14. 13. righteous Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them As we die in the Lord both our Bodies and Souls are really joyned to Christ as it is expressed in the Covenant of Grace and though death make a separation of soul and body yet neither of them are sever'd from Christ our mystical union and conjunction with Christ our Head endures for ever c. God as He Isa 43. 2. is present with us in our sickness so especially will He be with us at our Death when the holy Angels are especially also present with us ready to carry the soul into heaven 2. In reference to the body our duty is To seek to preserve life to recover health as by Diet Physick that is such lawful means and worthy instruments called thereunto and this God requires of us to do 3. Concerning our Neighbour our duty is Reconciliation where any difference is forgiving all men and desiring to be forgiven by them serting our Families in order making our Will which indeed much rather should be in the time of our best health 1 Kings 2. 2. 1 Chron. 28. 9. Gen. 18 19. charging those of our Family to learn believe and obey the true Religion c. Thus let us strive to honour God dying as well as living Now Secondly of the second part 2dly bâ—haviâ—â— Death which is a right behaviour and disposition in Death which is a religious and holy behaviour especially towards God when we are nearer the agonie and pangs of death This religious behaviour contains Three especial duties 1. To Dye in or by Faith relying on Gods special love and mercy iâ— Christ As the Israelites stung with the Num. 21. 8 9. fiery Serpents looked to the brazen Serpent and were cured So we when we find death to draw near and his fiery sting to sting and pierce our hearts then let us fix the eye of a true and lively Faith upon Jesus Christ the true brazen Serpent lifted up and crucifi'd upon the Cross for our sins and for mine in particular and so by death we shall Joh. 3. 14 15 never perish but have everlasting life 2dly To dye in obedience to God As we must live in obedience to God's Cammandments so must we dye be ready willing to go out of the world whensoever God calls us and that withour murmuring or repining Imitating our blessed Saviour who said Father not my will but Thy will be Mat. 26. 39. done 3dly The last duty is To resign and render up our Souls into the hands of God as the most faithful keeper So did our Saviour in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of soul Luk. 23. 46. and body drew on He said Father into Thy hands I commit My Spirit and so gave up the Ghost So Stephen when he Acts 7. 59. was ston'd to death said Lord Jesus receive my spirit And so being dead Joh. 11. 11. Acts 7. 60. 1 Thes 4. 13. sob 7. 21. we are said to sleep which is by a Synechdoche part for the whole For the body only lyes in the earth Now I shall sleep in the dust that is my body only Let us then not fear death Christ hath taken away the sting of it from all true believers He hath sweetned it unto us and made it only a passage to our Fathers house And I saw the dead small and great stand before God that is all without exception shall personally appear before God and come to Judgment of what degree rank estate or condition soever whether Emperours Kings Princes or Beggars then there will be no distinction of persons we must all nakedly appear before this Tribunal we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ That every 2 Cor. 5. 10. one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Observe the placing of the words small and great the small are put before the great to shew that there will be then no distinction of persons as I said before but all must promiscuously appear before God Then the high and great wicked ones who here through the pride of their countenance will not seek after God God was not in Psal 10. 4. all their thoughts except to swear by His Name or to curse God dam me but rather they think on their father Joh. 8. 44. Psal 2. 3. Jer. 5. 5. the Devil whose works they do and drink healths to him and wish the Devil take them so running on in the practice of all wickedness that no cords or bonds will hold them They altogether break the yoke and burst the bonds All Laws both Divine and Humane they trample under foot But then when the holy Angels shall most powerfully gather together from all quarters of the Earth and Sea all men and set them before the Judg even Jesus Christ from whose faâ—e the heaven Rev. 20. 11. 6. 14 15. 16. and the earth do â—ly away c. denoting the terror and Majesty of the Judg Himself when there shall be such a conclusion of all things Then those high ruffing Gallants will strive to hide themselves in Caves and Rocks of the mountains and cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that setteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vain for there is no hiding-place but all must appear and Heb. 4. 13. that before Him before whom all things are naked and open and so must be judged according to their works Which brings us to the Second Head that is Judgment I need not prove that there shall be 2. Judgment a Judgment although there are several reasons for it besides the dictates of our own Consciences it is an Article of our Faith And many places both in the Old and also in the New-Testament confirm it For brevity sake I will only cite the Texts and leave them to be read out of the Bible Read Dan. 7. 9 10. Jude 14. 15. Christ's Sermon in Matthew 24 25 Chapters Acts 17. 31. and 1 Thes 4. 16. Heb. â— 27. Now next to speak what this last Judgment is In the end of the world Christ the What is this Judgment Judg shall descend from Heaven in the Clouds in the Glory and Majesty of His Father with His holy Angels and all men shall
the words in our Church-Catechism are a death unto sin and a new-birth unto righteousness So said the Apostle buried with Christ in Baptism wherein also we are risen with Him through faith c. Col. 2. 12. God who usually accompanies His own Ordinance with His blessing will not frustrate our expectation in any of those good things which He hath promised therefore we must strive to be perswaded that remission of sins and regeneration or a renewedness of life by Baptism is offered unto us and that we receive it therein In as much as by Baptism we are incorporated into Christ and receive His Holy Spirit unless we reject the promises there made unto us and so render them unprofitable to our selves The right use of Baptism is placed in faith and repentance if thou wouldst use Baptism aright as it should be then repent and believe so we read in sundry places of the Gospels and also in the Acts of the Apostles that is that we be perswaded that we are purged by the blood of Christ from our sins and be sensible that we have His holy Spirit dwelling in us and so daily to meditate of mortifying our corrupt flesh and of yielding obedience to all Gods commands Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament by the washing of water representing the powerful washing of Eph. 5. 26. the Blood and Spirit of Christ and so 1 Cor. 6. 11. Heb. 10. 22. sealing up our regeneration or new birth our entrance into the Covenant of Grace our ingraffing into Christ and into His mystical body which is the Joh. 3. 5. Tit. 3. 5. Church Acts 8. 27. This Sacramental washing sealeth to those that are within Gods Covenant their birth in Christ and entrance into Christianity The Covenant which is in general to all believers is in Baptism especially made and established with every one of the faithful And it is always ratified and sure even to them that fall when they do repent Although Novatus and his Sect taught otherwise Neither do they enter into a new Covenant after their falls but that which was entered into is restored renewed and confirmed again We must often meditate on and consider of the Covenant made and entered into in our Baptism Baptism came in place of circumcision and keepeth analogy and proportion with it for both of them were a Sacrament of entrance or of receiving into the Covenant of Grace Baptism came in place of circumcision 1. By the command of God God sent John to baptize with water so we have it Joh. 1. 33. 2. By the Ministry of John therefore he was called John the Baptist so we have it Mat. 3. 1 In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness c. 3. It was sanctified and confirmed by our Saviour Christ Himself being baptized by John Mat. 3. 13. 4. By his giving commission to His Apostles and Ministers to continue the Mat. 28. 18. same in His Church unto the end Baptism is therefore also called the circumcision made without hands or tâ—ue regeneration in the Spirit in puting off the body of the sins of the flesh Col. 2. 11 by the circumcision of Christ That is by virtue of the gift of regeneration which is the spiritual circumcision whereof Christ alone is the workeâ— Buried with Him in Baptism c. So Baptism is our Circumcision on comes to us in the place of Circumcision that is by which the same things are confirmed and in all things assured to us in the Nâ—w Testament which were confirmed and conferred on those in the Old Testament by Circumcision The words of institution of Baptism are recorded in Mat. 28. 19. Mark 16. 14. Go ye into all the world and preach theâ— Gospel to every creature that is to every rational and intelligent creature or Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned To be baptized in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost signifies and imports these things 1. That it is done by the command of God 2. To testifie that by this Rite and Ceremony that he that is thus baptized is received into Grace and favour by the eternal Father for and through His Son and is sanctified by the Holy Ghost We must still understand this of believers and them alone for Mark 16. 1â— He that believeth not shall be damned and that for all his Baptism unless he believe So here is the principal end of Baptism 3. To be baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is to shew that the pâ—â—son baptized is bound to know and acknowledg to believe and trust in to worship and fear to honour and call upon this true God Father Son and Holy Ghost and this is the second end of Baptism which St. Paul shews in these words 1 Cor. 1. 13 Were ye baptized in the name of â—aul â—â— as much as if he had said ye must be His to whom in Baptism ye have given and obliged your selves given your names unto and in whose name ye were baptiâ—eâ— Of Baptism there are two parts 1. The water of Baptism 2. The lawful use thereof 1. By the water of Baptism is signified both the Spirit and the Blood of Christ spilt upon the Cross This is that blood of sprinkling which speaketh better Heb 12. 24. things than that of Abel We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without 1 Pet. 1. 19. spot This is the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. As the Blood of Christ so also the Spirit of Christ is signified by the water of Baptism Therefore said our Saviour If any man thirst let him come unto Me Joh. 7. 37 38 39. and drink he that believeth on Me out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive John indeed baptized with water but Acts 11. 16 â—e shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost The lawful use of the water of Bapâ—ism is perceived in the action both of the Minister administring it and also of the faithful who receive Baptism The action of the Minister is twoâ—old 1. The Sanctification of the water 2. The outward washing 1. The Sanctification of the water is the setting it apart to this end to signifie the Blood and Spirit of Christ by His ordinance and institution which the words of institution do declare 2. The outward washing is a most sure sign pledg and seal of the inward washing whereby we with the Blood and Spirit of Christ are washed from out sins He hath washed us from our sins Rev. 1. 5. in His own blood So many of us as Rom. 3. 1. are baptized into Jesus Christ are
baptized into His death Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it thâ—â— He might sanctifie and cleanse it by the Eph. 5. 25 26. washing of water through the word The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from 1 Joh. 1. 7. all sin As the filthiness of the body is washed away with water so we are purged from our sins by the blood and spirit of Christ Ye are washed ye are sanctified 1 Cor. 6. 11. ye are justified in the Name of the Lorâ— Jesus and by the Spirit of our God That inward washing is made or done both by the blood and by the spirit of Christ 1. Washing through the blood oâ— Christ is Justification So we have it Acts 22. 16 Arise and be baptized calling on the name of the Lord. 2. Washing through the spirit is regeneration when we are by the Holy Spirit regenerated or born again to a new life 1 Cor. 6. 11. Thus far of the action of the Minister now to speak of the action of him or her baptized Every faithful person that is baptized receiveth the outward Baptism of water that there may be signified and sealed up unto him that he is assuredly washed from his sins by the blood and spirit of Christ as surely as his body is sprinkled or washed with water Then will I Ezek. 36. 25. sprinkle said the Lord clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthinesses and from all your Idols I will cleanse you To be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ signifieth to be made partakers of the Covenant of Grace namely to be reconciled to God justified regenerated adopted to be the Son or Child of God and to be endowed with the freedom of the Sons of God All are washed with water but believers only by the blood and spirit of Christ Therefore not all that are baptized receive remission of sins and regeneration but the believers only For without a man have his name in the Covenant the seal set to it confirms nothing unto him To the receiving of the Sacrament as very worthily it is in our Liturgy there must be adjoyned thanksgiving which is presently performed by every person that is baptized if he be adult or of years of discretion or by the witnesses in his stead if he be an infant who when he comes to years of discretion all his life long ought to be thankful unto God for this benefit Q. What are the ends of Baptism A. Especially these four 1. To be a seal to us of our receiving into the Covenant of Grace and fellowship with Christ and His Church 2. By the outward washing to represent and confirm to us the inward cleansing of our Souls which standeth in justification and regeneration Eph. 5. 26. So in this sence Baptism as it is 1 Pet. 3. 21. is said to save us because it sealeth unto us eternal salvation 3. To mind us of repentance and reforming our lives for we are baptized with water unto repentance Mat. 3. 11. 4. To be sealed to the certain hope of resurrection and of an eternal blessed life In Baptism Original sin is washed and taken away especially as concerning the guilt that is to say the fault and the punishment there remaining notwithstanding the vitiation and the sickness namely wicked lusts and inclination to evil and that to this end that we might all our life long fight against sin and the Devil who is the Author of sin But the Papists say that by Baptism rightly administred not only the guiltiness but also the corruption of Original sin is so washed away as that it is not afterward properly accounted a sin But we contrarily distinguish thus of sin sin in regard of the guiltiness or obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and also in regard of the punishment together by one act is taken away in Baptism But in regard of that error and corruption of Nature it is not at the first wholly taken away but successively and by little and little or by degrees it is extinguished even as our renovation or renewing by the Holy Ghost is by little and little begun increased and carried on in us And this we evince by these four reasons 1. Else St. Paul would not so greatly bewail his Original sin if after Baptism it ceased to be a sin when-as he cryed out O miserable man that I am who shall Rom. 7. 23 24. deliver me from the body of this deathâ— I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members 2. Original sin is called a sin exceeding or out of measure sinful and a sin that hangeth fast on or easily encompasseth Rom. 7. 13. us about Heb. 12. 1. 3. Concupiscence is the root of actual sin and therefore after Baptism it must needs properly be a sin 4. Unless that concupiscence were a sin where would or could be that vehement and hot combate between the flesh and the spirit for the flesh lusteth against Gal. 5. 17. the spirit and the spirit against the â—lesh and these are contrary the one to the other Q. Why was Christ baptized what could Baptism signifie or seal unto Him He had no sin to wash away A. â— That He might fulfil all righteousness that is for us and on our behalf Mat. 3. 15. 2. That He might in His own person commend and confirm Baptism against all those who so debase and decry it 3. That He might sanctifie our Baptism in Himself 4. That by Baptism we might know Him to have entered into His office and the execution of it Q. How doth Baptism belong to Infants and how are they capable of performing the conditions required A. I have perused the learned Exercitations of Mr. John Tombes B. D. formerly a Cotemporary with me in Magdalen-Hall who is the best and most learned of that opinion and perswasion who hath many arguments against Infant Baptism which require a large volume particularly to answer I shall therefore only lay down some argument to assert the laudable use of the Churches Infant-Baptism which do fully convince and satisfie me and I suppose by God's blessing on serious meditation and consideration may satisfie those which will not wilfully close their eyes against the truth Arguments 1. Because Infants are comprehended in the Covenant of the Grace of God and therefore both the faith of the Parents themselves and also of the Church 1 Cor. 7. 14. is confirmed by this sign that God will be the God and Saviour as of the faithful Parents so of their seed and children which promise of His He at His good Rom. 8. 29 30. Tit. 3. 5. time performeth in His elect 2. Because to them belongeth also the promise of forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ 3. Because they belong to the Church of God 4. Because they are redeemed by the blood of
punishment did grow from the fall of our first Parents The punishment of sin which we now speak of is the wrath and curse of God by whose just sentence man is delivered over for his sin into the power both of bodily and spiritual â—eath begun here and to be accomâ—lished hereafter Bodily death is the separation of the â—ul from the body with all personal â—iseries and evils that attend thereon â—â— make way thereunto Spiritual death is the final separation â—f both soul and body from God together with spiritual bondage and all â—re-runners of damnation Or more particularly All the misery â—f man God in this one word Death â—â—th comprehended In the day thou Gen. 2. 17. â—â—est of the tree of knowledg of good and â—â—il thou shalt dye There are four degrees of death 1. There is a spiritual death which a privation of spiritual life whereby man is destitute of saving Grace and â— lives only unto sin So Christ of the â—hurch of Sardis I know thy works Rev. 3. â— â—ou hast a name that thou livest but thou â—t dead 2. The second degree is of afflictions â—d miseries So Pharaoh said to Moses â—d Aaron Pray ye to the Lord that He Exod. 10. 17. â—ay remove from me this death only 3. Corporal death which is a privaâ—on of natural life and a resolution of the body into dust and returning oâ— the soul again unto God Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and Eccles 12. 7. the spirit unto God that gave it 4. The fourth degree is everlasting death or the state of the damned Rev. 21. 8. which in respect of corporal death â—â— called the second death But it is the third of these corporal death which â—â— here meant Spiritual death hath three degrees 1. When a man who is alive in regard of corporal or temporal death lies dead in sins She that liveth in pleasures is dead while she liveth And this 1 Tim. 5. 6. is the case of all men by nature whâ— are children of wrath and dead in sinâ— Eph. 2. 1. and trespasses 2. The second degree is the very end of this life when the body is to be layed in the earth and the soul descendâ— to the place of torment 3. The third degree is in the day oâ— Judgment when the body and soul meâ—â— again and go both to the place of the damned there to be tormented for ever and ever But now we are to speak of temporaâ— or corporal death which is a punishment inflicted on man for sin Deatâ— passed upon all men for that all have Rom. 5. 12. â—inned This death is a miserable priâ—ation of life And yet this death is not so properly as by Gods appointment â—ut from God as revenging on Sin and so properly it is from Sin as the meritorious and procuring cause of it And so this death is not only a simple and a bare privation of life but joyned with a subjection unto misery Therefore it is not an annihilation of the Sinner because the subject of misery being â—aken away then misery it self should be â—aken away also Now sith we must all dye let us labour Heb. 9. 27. to dye well To dye well two things are requisite 1. A preparation 1. Preparation before death before death 2. A right behaviour and disposition in death 1. The preparation unto death is an action of a repentant Sinner whereby he makes himself â—it and ready to dye That which we can do but once how careful should we be to do it well sith there is no place after for amending of errours therein committed This preparation is a duty very necessary to which we are bound by God's Commandment Therefore we are bid to watch and pray As death leaves us so judgment finds us as the tree falleth so Eccles 11. 3. it lyeth This preparation is twofold 1 General 1. General preparation for death 2. Particular 1 General to prepare our selves to dye through the whole course of our life for we know not neither the time of our death nor the place of our death nor the manner how whether of a sudden death or of a lingring sickness Therefore all the days of my Job 14. 14. appointed time will I wait till my change shall come The best Art of living well is to learn the Art of dying well Balaam would dye the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. and that his latter end might be like to his but he did not care to live the life of the righteous I protest by our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our 1 Cor. 15. 31. Lord said St. Paul I dye daily That is in preparation for it meditation upon it and expectation of it This will keep us humble and further our daily repentance and help us to be contented in every condition and make us watchful over our selves to fly and avoid Sin careful to grow in Grace and to be frequent in Prayer to God that He would teach us so to number Psal 90. 12. our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom For if we would live for ever we must begin to live that blessed and everlasting life here before we dye to live the life of Grace here which is the life of Glory begun We all with open face beholding as in a 2 Cor. 3. 18. glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory aâ— by the spirit of the Lord that is we by faith contemplating the glorious light of God's mercy truth power c. by which means we are made like unto Hiâ— in the glory of holiness and newness of life by the Spirit of regeneration which hath its progresses in this life until such time as it cometh to its perfection in the life everlasting â— Of particular preparation before 2. Particular preparation â—oâ— death death this contains three duties 1. Concerning God 2. Our selves 3. Our Neighbour â— Concerning God to seek to be reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ This reconciliation is had by renewing our former faith and repentance To see and acknowledg that Visitation of sickness from God's hand and usually it is for sin 1. Therefore make we a new examination of our hearts and â—am 3. 3â— lives search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. 2. Confess we our sins to the Lord and He will forgive the iniquity of our sins If we confess our sins He is saithful and just to forgive 1 Psal 32. 5. Joh. 1. 9. us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 3. Pray earnestly unto God with sighs and groans of the Spirit for pardon of sin and that God would assure us of it and that He is reconciled to us in Christ Jesus our Surety 2. Concerning our duties to our selves and that 1. In reference to the Soul 2. In reference to the Body 1. In