Worship and Obedience agreeably to her holy Baptismal Engagement And finally he observes how the Doctrine of the Trinity is connected with all the Parts of Christian Religion and made the very foundation of it without which it cannot stand It is indeed a Mystery most Superlative not to be discovered or proved by bare Reason in whose Territories it dwells not And subtle and audacious Hereticks of old and at this day have used many guilty Arts to expel it out of our Faith But to a Child of God a bare Word of God is as good as a Demonstration and the Evidence of this Truth from thence received is Victorious And unto him the three Persons in one God are so great that he makes no more of any incroaching Creature than he that sees the Sun makes of a Candle Is this his God a jealous one yea and a jealous heart it is that he himself hath one that is exceeding watchful against every Idol Against every Creature that doth fawn and flatter and would become any part of its Portion He is as truly willing to have God for his Master as his Rewarder He would have no Pleasure but in pleasing God His highest Ambition in this World is to have the favour to receive his God's Commands and the grace to Obey them For in his eyes it is a truth most evident that neither Men nor Angels are capable of any higher honour than to be Objects of God's Love and Instruments of his Pleasure And this Faith is his Victory over the World and his governing Principle in the World and that whereby he here walks with God Not indeed without innumerable and unavoidable Infirmities and Faults but these break not off that blessed Walk For it is still renewed on God's part by Pardon and on his part by Repentance Neither is his holy Walk without use of those worldly Comforts that God alloweth us to take For he knows God ever made Thanksgiving Days to be Feast Days the temperate pleasure of bodily senses doth so much promote the spiritual pleasure and gratitude of our Minds And even under the old Law God appointed many Feasts for one Fast. He doth not dream that Enoch did not walk with God because he begat Sons and Daughters His care is that the lean Kine devour not the fat that sensual Delights be not Thieves but Servants unto spiritual Be it also added his said Walk with God is but by Faith not by full Vision in frequently interrupted and never compleatly sensed Peace and Triumphant Joy If he hath temporary Raptures of Third-Heaven-Joys they are but Temporary they be his Sweet-meats and Rarities not his daily Food And he knows to his Comfort that such Raptures be his Privilege only not his Duty Indeed if his weak Bottle could bear so strong Wine he would wish all his days spent in Extasies He would be glad to have every word that he speaks of God to be accented with sighs and every sentence emphased with tears But he knoweth that the Sun of Righteousness doth graciously quicken many Souls that he doth not in this World exuberantly Comfort Yea many that sit in darkness almost all their days and see but little light do nevertheless enjoy his saving Love and his wonderful Support thereby We all know the Sun in the Firmament doth in the Earths dark Bowels make Gold and precious Minerals Though therein he shews not his beautiful beams Nor can it be hard to think how the true Father of Lights should enrich unspeakably those whom He sees not fit to fill with the Joy of it presently In a word The Soul that He doth so enrich that Soul He doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify And as truly that Soul doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify Him Justifies him against all the Cavils raised at his Decrees Laws and Providences Sanctifies i. e. sets him as the sole Object of Fear Trust and Worship And also Glorifies him or Practically expresseth supream Estimation in conforming to his Preceptive Will in Natural Civil and Religious things Thus is the first Commandment written in this Soul Thus is God's Name hallowed thus is his Kingdom come and his Will done in it Mark 2. JESUS Christ is God and sits at God's right hand in his Soul My meaning is Christ as Mediator who is next to God in Heaven and is continually with God in Heaven is next to God in his Heart and continually with God in his Heart Qi Deum cogitat sine Christo dimidiat Deum Calvin Our Saviour must be considered in respect unto his eternal Essence and Person and in respect unto his undertaken Office In the first respect he is God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so he hath been considered in the foregoing Mark. In the second respect he is God and Man by a Personal Union of both Natures and the servant of God by an astonishing Condescention of grace 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of Christ is God It is of Christ thus considered that all following is spoken Thus considered Jesus Christ is the Man that is God's fellow that is who is next unto God in point of honour who hath nearest and most intimate Acquaintance with God and who in all his Works is his Joint-worker Zech. 13.7 He is in the word declared to be King of Saints Head of all Principalities and Powers Exalted above every Name that is named in this World and in the World to come the Delight of God's Soul as Isai 42.1 Nor is it any wonder for in him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Unto him is given all Power in Heaven and Earth And the Keys of Death and Hell are in his hand Without his leave Satan could not enter into very Swine Him the very Angels and all the Church of God are bound to worship Let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 Unto him shall the gathering of the people be That is as the Hebrew word signifyeth the bowing the submission or the worship of the People Gen. 49.10 Upon him depends all the Happiness of Men and of Angels all capable of Happiness For he is the HEAD of all Principalities and Powers Head as to Eminence and as to Government and Influence Again intimately he knoweth God's Ends Decrees Works For the Father sheweth him all things that himself doth Joh. 5.19 20. And finally God doeth nothing but he is his Co-worker in it God Reveals much to Men and Angels but 't is by Christ all of it ever since the Fall He the Essential Image is the Representative Image of God unto us We know not the Father not his Nature Will or way to effect his Will but by the Son Angels as well as Men bless the Lamb for opening of the Book Rev. 5. God upholds all Creatures but 't is by Christ Mediator He is given for a Covenant to the People to establish the Earth Isa 49.8 Heb. 1.3 God governs the world but it is by Christ My Father worketh hitherto
most complete Confirmation that can be given For in these said Sacraments God doth as appears from his Institution of them most sensibly unto our selves and most publickly in the face of the Congregation TESTIFIE his Engagement to fulfill the Promises of the Covenant expecting our fulfilling of the Demands which he had before Testified unto us by his Word and Spirit in our hearts And we in the Sacraments do as appears from our very Celebration of them besides our verbal Declarations most solemnly and openly TESTIFIE our Engagement to fulfill the Demands of the Covenant expecting God's gracious fulfilment of the Promises which we had before testified with our Hearts and with our Lips In a word the good Man learns that though it be an amazing Condescention of which God disposeth his Grace in way of Covenant yet it is a further and vastly greater Condescention of which he addeth Seals and such Confirmations There was on his part no need of them nor did he add them to help his own inviolable Faithfulness but meerly to help our weak Faith and to give us the more strong Consolation Particularly 1. The more to express his sincere and earnest respect unto our Salvation as a King expresseth his Zeal for a poor Subjects Satisfaction when he saith Come I am not satisfied my self to give thee my bare word though it be a royal one I will unto the same add my broad Seal 2. To Apply more particularly and closely unto every individual Soul this foresaid Covenant I say more particularly than in the Scripture it is applied Like a King who being desirous more abundantly to comfort reconciled Rebels though he hath in common declared their Pardon in an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity doth further Sign and Seal particularly every one's Pardon For in the Word God speaks indeed the same things as in the Sacraments but in the Word he speaks unto all generally but in the Sacraments unto every one particularly Therein his Language by his Minister uttered is I Baptize THEE and Take and Eat THOU 3. To invest Believers solemnly and as by formality of Law into a right to the good things of the Covenant As Men use when having consented to a Bargain they have made those that deal with them a right unto a House or Field they do make that right more explicite by the delivery of it to them by some formality of Law that of a House by the delivery of a Key and that of a Field by delivery of a Turf of Earth So Acts 22.14 Arise and be Baptized for the washing away of thy Sins that is Receive Baptism as a livery and Seisin of Pardon and of all other benefits of the Covenant of Grace which are inseparable from it 4. To set Christ and all his benefits before Believers in the way of greatest force to Instruct and Comfort them And that is by Proposal of them unto our Senses in visible Rites and Ceremonies For who knows not that Knowledge comes into our Souls through our Senses And both most powerfully and pleasantly through our Eyes Now the gracious Man dares not receive this overflowing of God's Grace in vain Holily to God exemplarily to Men beneficially unto his Soul he doth by the holy Sacraments of the New Testament 1 Profess his Christian Religion 2 Testifie his Union to Christ and to his Members 3 Distinguish himself from Infidels 4 Encourage and Engage his Soul to the Obedience of the Gospel He thinks it worth his while to contemplate and to praise the wonderful extent of God's grace in this signed sealed Covenant of his For the most part he is one that considers it is extended as to the PERSONS so unto the SEED of Believers And that as God said to Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed so upon us Gentiles is that blessing of Abraham come Gal. 3.13 14. And we are told that our Children are Holy that is with a Covenant-holiness and such as entitles them unto Baptism the entring Seal of the Covenant 1 Cor. 7.14 They are holy by their Parents Dedication and by God's Acceptation for when the Parents dedicated themselves they dedicated their seed also unto God and when God Promised to be their God he Promised to be the God of their seed also No Man hath yet shewn us where God hath said I will no longer be the Covenant-God of my Peoples Infant-seed Or though I do admit them into my Covenant I will not henceforth as of old seal my Covenant unto them Now as before Baptism they are Holy by Spiritual Dedication after Baptism they are farther Holy by Sacramental Consecration And as the Circumcised of old were debtors to the whole Law to do it so are they being Baptized by new Obligation debtors to the whole Gospel to obey it To wit when they come unto years of capacity and cease to be accounted by God as Parts and Pieces of their Parents which in their nonage they are accounted A blessed Privilege And such as if it were but duly improved by Parents and Children we should soon see blessed Effects of it The gracious Man of whom we speak laments much his Parental and his Personal non-improvement And is one that sets himself to make it appear he thinks the past time of neglect to have been too too much One that now having received his sight in the Matter addicts himself to improve it so much the more unto Faith and Obedience He perceives that Baptism is another kind of thing than the generality of People take it for And of all things to be named God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Baptism in vain Take it in vain they do who mind their Covenant with God never the more for it Who believe the Pardon of their Sins never the more who confide in God for the bestowal of all the Promised good things of the Covenant never the more who are bent to die unto sin and live unto righteousness never the more for their Baptism But he conceives of it as a Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins And makes the same use of it as a Servant doth of his Covenant with his Master as a Souldier doth of his Covenant with his Captain as a Wife doth of her solemnized Marriage-Covenant with her Husband He constantly bears it in Mind as his true and greatest Encouragement to expect the recompence of reward without doubting and as his like Engagement to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ to fight under his Banner against Flesh World and Devil and all days of his Life to Honour Love and Obey him As Warriers are not dress'd but are naked till their Swords are girded to their Sides so is it with him in a Morning he thinks not himself up dress'd and ready to stir till his Soul hath put on the Sword of the Spirit which is the covenant-Covenant-WORD of GOD as in holy BAPTISM SIGNED and SEALED Ubi VERBUM nominatur SACRAMENTA fere subintelliguntur
Ames in Sciagraph Cateches It is his perpetual Soliloquy How shall I that am dead to sin that am Baptized and have solemnly Vowed Death unto all Sin how shall I live any longer therein I that am in the import and signification of my Baptism Risen with Christ what shall become of me if I do not seek the things that are above If unbaptized Infidels be damned without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall I be thought worthy if I Forget though I do not verbally Renounce my Baptism If I become blind see not far off and FORGET that I was washed from my old sins If I bear my holy Baptism but as an empty Formality If I use it not as daily Food for the strength of my Faith and as my ordinary Physick for its Health If under Temptations I do not advance the Considerations of it for gaining Victory over them and if at other times I do not advance the same for keeping my Conquest Better may a Servant forget that he was Hired a Souldier that he was Listed a Wife that she was Married than I forget that I was Baptized Their Folly would be less their Sin would be less their Loss and Shame incomparably less And the rather because I consider my Baptism was Infant-Baptism it self Other Baptism is like the Tower of David builded for an Armory wherein there hang a thousand Bucklers and Shields against our spiritual Adversaries But of Infant-Baptism it must be said There is none like that None like it for numerous and powerful enforcements unto Faith and Obedience Being Baptized in my Infancy upon the account of God's Covenant with my Ancestors I am thereby given to see that Sin is a Herod that sought my life from the very womb That it was In me before ever it proceeded actually From me That it is an earlier Enemy of mine than they dream of who disown Original Sin For what need of the holy Washing if I was not then it self Unclean And being that I was surely so methinks I am the more engaged to contrive and endeavour the death of so early as well as deadly Foe as my Sin is Being in Infancy Baptized so early entred into league with God against it and encouraged extremely unto holiness and righteousness the date of my Obligation addeth weight unto it I cannot but think that of all Men living the so early bound had need exquisitely and entirely to obey Being in Infancy Baptized I am thereby certified God is not only my God but he was the God of my Fathers before me And I cannot but much the more promptly trust in him as it 's Usual with all the World to trust the most readily of any Men their own Friends and their Father 's before them For this also have I the Example of God's Saints on Scripture-Record who often strengthened their Faith on their Father's Covenant Exod. 32.13 c. Yea good warrant from God I have being he tells me he shews mercy to thousands of them that love him and Children are beloved for their Father's sake Rom. 11.28 Being baptized in Infancy I can and shall often plead the Covenant therein sealed with special Advantage The Object of my Faith is not only God in Covenant but God in Covenant with the Seal of Baptism administred to strengthen that my Faith And this whenever administred is a strong Plea But as all the World will acknowledge Experience and long Acquaintance do make a mighty inducement to Trust and Confidence in any one that we Plead with Now this Inducement I have by the means aforesaid And thus do I humbly Plead with my God both for Spirituals and for Temporals Lord when I could only Want and could not Know Desire or Ask for the good things that I wanted whether Initial Graces or After-supplies of Grace whether Necessaries or Convenient Comforts of this Life then most freely of Grace visibly and without question free thou didst Seal a Promise of all of them unto me Forbid the unbelief in my heart I meekly beseech thee And let me not doubt but thou wilt faithfully bestow them all on me now that I am daily in thy dear Son's Name an earnest Supplicant for them Now that of thy own Grace whereof thou art as constantly the Rewarder as the Author I ask seek knock and pray without ceasing O what will the People say the People of the Congregation that saw thee solemnly seal Promise of all unto me when I was carried in Arms if they should see that sealed Promise fail me now What will the Minister be tempted to say he who in Christ's Name and Place did then solemnize the Covenant betwixt thee and my soul What will he say should he see me now at these years coming to thee and yet cast out and cast off by thee O be it far from me to distrust thee and especially then to distrust thee when I consider 1 that thou art my God in sealed Covenant and 2 that thou art my God in sealed Covenant from my Mother's belly By thy Grace assisting I will never forget or less than Practically remember my Infant-Baptism for therewith thou hast quickned me And therewith I trust thou wilt always quicken me When of old thou didst promise Life to Hezekiah his query was What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me But I am past that doubt Thou hast promised me Life and all good things in Christ Jesus and holy Baptism is the Sign and Witness between Thee and Me. The sign and seal of the Righteousness which is by Faith even of all the Grace promised to me in Christ Amen and Amen! It must be added the gracious Man is one that doth not use to forget that he is a creature Weak and but Imperfectly fanctified and during his abode in this World always miserably Tempted And therefore one that had need to make use of all the means of grace by God provided To have a due respect unto ALL the Covenant Word of God and unto BOTH of the Sacraments or Seals thereof He forgets not that the Word of God is a Covenant word and that the Covenant of God is a signed sealed Covenant and that the signed sealed Covenant of God for our more abundant Instruction and Consolation hath two distinct Seals ordained for it Baptism the first for our Initiation the Lord's Supper the other for our Confirmation Baptism once to be administred for our one Entrance into Covenant the Lord's Supper often to be administred I think always on Lords-Days for our Continuance in Covenant for our Perseverance and Progress in grace Baptism in which God constructively saith Come thou and obey the Gospel as thus Encouraged and Engaged by the Sign and Seal on my part and by the Bond and Badge on thy own part And the Lord's Supper in which God saith Forasmuch as thou hast Vnderstood and Consented unto and Professed thy consent unto the Covenant sealed between me and thee in Baptism Come thou and