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
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
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
For to the former S. Peter made answer among other things that they should be baptiz'd * Acts 2.38 for the remission of sins Which shews what Baptism was intended for and what therefore if they were duly qualified they might certainly expect from it To the latter Ananias that he should arise and be baptized †Acts 22 16. and wash away his sins Which effect as it cannot be thought-to referr to any thing but the preceding Baptism and therefore neither but make that Baptism the proper means of accomplishing it So can much less be thought to exclude or rather not principally to intend the washing away the guilt of them Partly because as was before observ'd that is the most usual sense of washing away sins and partly because most agreeable to the disconsolate condition Paul was then in as well as to the foregoing declaration of S. Peter II. To the Doctrine of the Scripture subjoyn we the consentient Doctrine and belief of the Church as which though it cannot add to the Authority of the other yet will no doubt conferr much to the clearing of its sense and of that Doctrine which we have deduced from it Now what evidence there is of such a consent will need no other proof than the Doctrine of her Creed * Creed in the Communion-serv and the use she made of the simple Baptism of Infants to establish against the Pelagians the being of that Original Sin they call'd in question For how otherwise could the Church call upon Men to declare that they believ'd one Baptism for the remission of sins Yea though she thought it otherwise necessary to inculcate Baptism as well as remission and the single administration of it as well as either For beside that both the one and the other might have been declar'd by themselves as well as in the tenour wherein they are now exhibited Had it not been a thing otherwise certain that remission of sins was an effect of Baptism to have subjoyn'd it to Baptism as it is now would have been a means to render it uncertain and consequently all the hopes of a Christian together with it Again if there had been any the least doubt in the Church concerning this relation of Baptism I mean as a means to convey remission of sins to the Baptized party How could she have made use of the simple Baptism (a) Voss Hist Velag li. 2. Part. 2. Antithes 4. of Infants to establish against the Pelagians the being of that Original sin which they call'd in question For that Argument of hers proceeding upon the supposition of remission of sins by Baptism as that again upon the supposition of something to be remitted in the party baptized which in Infants could be no other than that Original Sin which she asserted If Baptism had not been certainly intended for the remission of sins that argument of hers had been of no force yea rather weakned than any way strengthened that Original Sin which she maintain'd Especially when it was a like certain and accordingly reply'd by the Pelagians (b) Voss ibid. Thes 4. that Baptism had other uses and for which it might be suppos'd to have been conferr'd upon Infants though they had nothing at all of sinful in them III. But beside the suffrage of the Church of God which both publish'd this Doctrine in her Creed and argued others from it It is farther to be observ'd that those who were none of the soundest members of it nor indeed as yet perfect ones confirm'd it by their opinions and practices as they also did in some measure who yet separated from it in this affair Witness for the former their deferring their Baptism to their death beds Whether as the Fathers (c) Tertul. de Poenitent c. 8. sometime charg'd them that they might sin so much the more securely in the mean time or as I rather think for the most part because they were not well assur'd of the like efficacious means for the forgiveness of them For which soever of these two were the occasion of that delay manifest it is even from thence that they had a high opinion of the forgiveness of sin by Baptism but much more from the hazard they ran of going out of the World without it and the contrariety of that their delay to the practice of the first Christians (d) Acts 2.41 as well as to the sentiments (e) Cod. Eccl. Vniv can 57. of their own times concerning it It being not to be thought that Men of ordinary prudence would run upon so great an irregularity as well as danger unless they also believ'd that if they hapned to obtain Baptism they should obtain together with it so plentiful a forgiveness as would make ample amends for the other And though we cannot so reasonably expect the like evidence from Hereticks and much less from those whose business was in a great measure to depretiate the value of Baptism as it is certain the Pelagians was Yet as even they as was before (f) Expl. of Bapt. Part 4. observ'd allow'd the Baptizing of Infants into the same rule of Faith with those of riper years and consequently into remission of sins So they denyed not as to Men of riper years (g) Voss Hist Pelag. li. 2. Part. 2. Thes 4. that Baptism was efficacious toward it and that as they were baptiz'd into the belief of remission of sins so they receiv'd that remission by it IV. In fine so notorious as well as prevalent was the Doctrine of forgiveness of sin by Baptism that the adversaries of the Church and of Christianity took occasion from thence to calumniate them for it and made that Doctrine of theirs one of their greatest crimes Of which to omit others we have a remarkable proof in Julian (h) Orat. cui tit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 53. who makes Constantius or rather Christianity in him thus to bespeak the World Whosoever is a corrupter of Women or a Murtherer or impure or abominable let him come with confidence For having wash'd him with this water I will make him presently clean And though he be afterward guilty of the like crimes yet I will take care to cleanse him from them if he will but smite his breast and knock his head The former part whereof is a manifest allusion to Baptism and its effects the latter to the penitential discipline of the Church And it ought the rather to be taken notice of because as it bears witness to that forgiveness of sin by Baptism which hath been hitherto our design to advance so it will contribute in part toward the proving what comes next in order even That the outward visible sign of Baptism hath that relation whereof we speak to the forgiveness of all sins whatsoever and particularly of Original Sin There being little doubt as to the formerof these if as Christianity is there made to speak adultery and murther were wash'd away by the waters of it
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
ought not to refuse who are taught by the Canon of the Mass to look upon the words Hoc est enim corpus meum and Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei for so the Roman Missal expresseth them as a Reason of what is before enjoin'd and particularly of the Disciples eating and drinking the things given to them For if those very words referr'd to what was before enjoyn'd and particularly to their eating and drinking the things given to them The words Do this in remembrance of me ought in reason to referr to the same eating and drinking and no otherwise to the Body and Blood of Christ than as that was an inducement to them to do what they did in remembrance of Him and of his Death But let us suppose however because some of the Roman Communion will have it so that the words Do this c. referr to the Body and Blood of Christ and that it must therefore be somewhat about those that this Precept of Christ must be thought to enjoin Yet how doth it appear which is the only thing that can advantage them that we are to understand thereby Sacrifice or make an Offering of them For though I grant that if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be considered with respect to Christ's Body and Blood it must have another sense than we are wont to put upon it Yet why should it not signifie make as well as sacrifice especially when that sense is both the most natural and the most obvious one For so it will yet more agree with the opinion these Men have of their converting the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament into the Body and Blood of Christ and accordingly producing that Body and Blood out of them And indeed as one would think that they who give the Priest the priviledge of making his God should be willing to understand the words in that sense because setting those aside there is nothing else from whence that Power can be colourably deduc'd So one would think too that they should secure to themselves that Power before they pretend to offer him as without which there can be no place for it But let that Notion also how natural soever even in their own opinion be laid aside with the rest if it be only to make way for that other of sacrificing or offering Yet how will it appear that this latter one ought to have place here or if it hath that it denotes such a sacrificing or offering as they advance For though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agreeably to the notion of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth sometime signifie to sacrifice or offer for so it doth Lev. 15 15-30 and in other places according to the Septuagint Version * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet as even there it comes to have that sense rather from the matter intreated of than from any natural signification of the word So there is nothing in the present Argument to determine it to that sense or oblige us to such an understanding of it Though if that also should be allow'd which yet there is not the least necessity of doing yet will not the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reach that Sacrifice which is intended to be superstructed upon them Because he who commands Men to sacrifice or offer in remembrance of himself doth rather enjoin a Commemorative than Expiatory one and consequently not that Sacrifice which is intended So little is there in the words themselves how favourably soever consider'd to oblige us to understand them of such an Offering as the Church of Rome advanceth And we shall find them to signifie as little though we take in the sense of the Catholick Church upon them how conformable soever the Council of Trent affirms it to be unto its own Because though the Antients did all agree upon a Sacrifice and which is more look'd upon those words as either directly or indirectly obliging to the offering of it yet as hath been elsewhere (k) Part 2. shewn they advanc'd other kind of Sacrifices than what the Church of Rome now doth and consequently cannot be suppos'd to give any countenance to it And I shall only add that though Justin Martyr (l) Dial. cum Tryph. p. 259 c. represented that Offering of fine Flour which was offer'd for those that were cleansed from the Leprosie as a Type of the Bread of the Eucharist Though he moreover appli'd the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that Bread and if any of the Fathers therefore did affirm'd Christ to command us to make or offer that Bread to God Yet he adds that he commanded us to do so in remembrance of that Passion which he suffered for those that were cleansed in their Souls And again that we might at the same time give thanks to God for his having made the World and all things in it for the sake of Man and for his having delivered us by Christ from that wickedness in which we sometime were and dissolv'd all noxious Principalities and Powers Which shews him not to have thought in the least of our being commanded to offer Christ's Body and Blood under the Species of Bread or indeed of any other Sacrifice than a Commemorative or Eucharistical one The principal Argument of the Tridentine Fathers being thus discharg'd and the Sacrifice of the Mass so far forth depriv'd of its support We shall the less need to concern our selves about those which are of an inferiour rank and in truth rather Assistants to the former Argument than any proper proofs of the Sacrifice it self For what boots it to alledge that our Saviour's Priesthood like that of Melchizedek being not to be extinguished by death we are in reason to presume that upon his departure hence he appointed his Apostles and their Successors to offer up continually that Offering which Melchizedek first and after him our Saviour offer'd For beside that there is no appearance of Melchizedek's offering up Bread and Wine and we therefore not to argue from the Bread and Wine which he brought forth that our Melchizedek was either to offer or appoint any such Sacrifice Our Melchizedek was to abide for ever as well as his Priesthood yea he was to abide in his Priesthood for ever as well as in his Person Witness not only the Psalmist's affirming that he was to be a Priest for ever but St. Paul's affirming also that (m) Heb. 7.23 24. whereas the Aaronical Priests were of necessity to pass over their Priesthood from one to another because no one of them could continue by reason of Death our Melchizedekian Priest because he was to abide for ever was invested with an unchangeable Priesthood and such as should not pass away from him For what was this but to say that he should keep his Priesthood in his own Person and should not therefore either need or be in a capacity to appoint other Priests in his room