be they must be for it is not here as in Goods where we are permitted to use all or some and give what portion we please out of them but we cannot do our duty towards our Children unless we give them wholly to God and offer them to his service and to his grace The first does honour to God the second does charity to the Children The effects and real advantages will appear in the sequel In the mean time this Argument extends thus sar That Children may be presented to God acceptably in order to his service And it was highly preceptive when our Blessed Saviour commanded that we should 〈◊〉 little children to come to him and when they came they carried away a Blessing along with them He was desirous they should partake of his Merits he is not willing neither is it his Father's will that any of these little ones should perish And therefore he died for them and loved and blessed them and so he will now if they be brought to him and presented as Candidates of the Religion and of the Resurrection Christ hath a Blessing for our Children but let them come to him that is be presented at the doors of the Church to the Sacrament of Adoption and Initiation for I know no other way for them to come 13. Secondly Children may be adopted into the Covenant of the Gospel that is made partakers of the Communion of Saints which is the second Effect of Baptism parts of the Church members of Christ's Mystical body and put into the order of eternal life Now concerning this it is certain the Church clearly hath power to do her offices in order to it The faithful can pray for all men they can do their piety to some persons with more regard and greater earnestness they can admit whom they please in their proper dispositions to a participation of all their holy Prayers and Communions and Preachings and Exhortations and if all this be a blessing and all this be the actions of our own Charity who can hinder the Church of God from admitting Infants to the communion of all their pious offices which can do them benefit in their present capacity How this does necessarily infer Baptism I shall afterwards discourse But for the present I enumerate That the blessings of Baptism are communicable to them they may be admitted into a fellowship of all the Prayers and Priviledges of the Church and the Communion of Saints in blessings and prayers and holy offices But that which is of greatest perswasion and convincing efficacy in this particular is That the Children of the Church are as capable of the same Covenant as the children of the Jews But it was the same Covenant that Circumcision did consign a spiritual Covenant under a veil and now it is the same spiritual Covenant without the veil which is evident to him that considers it thus 14. The words of the Covenant are these I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect I will multiply thee exceedingly Thou shalt be a Father of many Nations Thy name shall not be Abram but Abraham Nations and Kings shall be out of thee I will be a God unto thee and unto thy seed after thee and I will give all the Land of Canaan to thy seed and All the Males shall be circumcised and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and thee and He that is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people The Covenant which was on 〈◊〉 's part was To walk before God and to be perfect on God's part To bless him with a numerous issue and them with the Land of Canaan and the sign was Circumcision the token of the Covenant Now in all this here was no duty to which the posterity was obliged nor any blessing which 〈◊〉 could perceive or feel because neither he nor his posterity did enjoy the Promise for many hundred years after the Covenant and therefore as there was a duty for the posterity which is not here expressed so there was a blessing for Abraham which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise and which we shall better understand from them whom the Spirit of God hath taught the mysteriousness of this transaction The argument indeed and the observation is wholly S. Paul's Abraham and the Patriarchs died in faith not having received the Promises viz. of a possession in Canaan They saw the Promises afar off they embraced them and looked through the Cloud and the temporal veil this was not it they might have returned to Canaan if that had been the object of their desires and the design of the Promise but they desired and did seek a Country but it was a better and that a heavenly This was the object of their desire and the end of their seach and the reward of their Faith and the secret of their Promise And therefore Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Faith which he had before his Circumcision before the making this Covenant and therefore it must principally relate to an effect and a blessing greater than was afterwards expressed in the temporal Promise which effect was forgiveness of sins a not imputing to us our infirmities Justification by Faith accounting that for righteousness and these effects or graces were promised to Abraham not only for his posterity after the flesh but his children after the spirit even to all that shall believe and walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he walked in being yet uncircumcised 15. This was no other but the Covenant of the Gospel though afterwards otherwise consigned for so the Apostle expresly affirms that Abraham was the father of Circumcision viz. by virtue of this Covenant not only to them that are circumcised but to all that believe for this promise was not through the Law of Works or of Circumcision but of Faith And therefore as S. Paul observes God promised that Abraham should be a father not of that Nation only but of many Nations and the heir of the world that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And if ye be Christ's then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the Promise Since then the Covenant of the Gospel is the Covenant of Faith and not of Works and the Promises are spiritual not secular and Abraham the father of the faithful Gentiles as well as the circumcised Jews and the heir of the world not by himself but by his seed or the Son of Man our Lord Jesus it follows that the Promises which Circumcision did seal were the same Promises which are consigned in Baptism the Covenant is the same only that God's people are not impal'd in 〈◊〉 and the veil is taken away and the Temporal is passed into Spiritual and the result will be this That to
to relinquish the paths of darkness this is the way of the Kingdom and the purpose of the Gospel and the proper work of Faith 6. And if we consider upon what stock Faith it self is instrumental and operative of Salvation we shall find it is in it self acceptable because it is a Duty and commanded and therefore it is an act of Obedience a work of the Gospel a submitting the Understanding a denying the Affections a laying aside all interests and a bringing our thoughts under the obedience of Christ. This the Apostle calls the Obedience of Faith And it is of the same condition and constitution with other Graces all which equally relate to Christ and are as firm instruments of union and are washed by the bloud of Christ and are sanctified by his Death and apprehend him in their capacity and degrees some higher and some not so high but Hope and Charity apprehend Christ in a measure and proportion greater than Faith when it distinguishes from them So that if Faith does the work of Justification as it is a mere relation to Christ 〈◊〉 so also does Hope and Charity or if these are Duties and good works so also is Faith and they all being alike commanded in order to the same end and encouraged by the same reward are also accepted upon the same stock which is that they are acts of Obedience and relation too they obey Christ and lay hold upon Christ's merits and are but several instances of the great duty of a Christian but the actions of several faculties of the 〈◊〉 Creature But 〈◊〉 Faith is the beginning Grace and hath insluence and causality in the production of the other 〈◊〉 all the other as they are united in Duty are also united in their Title and appellative they are all called by the name of Faith because they are parts of Faith as Faith is taken in the larger sence and when it is taken in the strictest and distinguishing sence they are 〈◊〉 and proper products by way of natural emanation 7. That a good life is the genuine and true-born issue of Faith no man questions that knows himself the Disciple of the Holy Jesus but that Obedience is the same thing with Faith and that all Christian Graces are parts of its bulk and constitution is also the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and the Grammar of Scripture making Faith and Obedience to be terms coincident and expressive of each other For Faith is not a single Star but a Constellation a chain of Graces called by S. Paul the power of God unto salvation to every believer that is Faith is all that great instrument by which God intends to bring us to Heaven and he gives this reason In the Gospel the 〈◊〉 cousness of God is revealed from faith to faith for it is written The 〈◊〉 shall live by Faith Which discourse makes Faith to be a course of Sanctity and holy 〈◊〉 a continuation of a Christian's duty such a duty as not only gives the first breath but by which a man lives the life of Grace The just shall live by Faith that is such a Faith as grows from step to step till the whole righteousness of God be fulfilled in it From faith to faith saith the Apostle which S. 〈◊〉 expounds From Faith believing to Faith obeying from imperfect Faith to Faith made perfect by the animation of Charity that he who is justified may be justified still For as there are several degrees and parts of Justification so there are several degrees of Faith answerable to it that in all sences it may be true that by Faith we are justified and by Faith we live and by Faith we are saved For if we proceed from Faith to Faith from believing to obeying from Faith in the Understanding to Faith in the Will from Faith barely assenting to the revelations of God to Faith obeying the Commandments of God from the body of Faith to the soul of Faith that is to Faith sormed and made alive by Charity then we shall proceed from Justification to Justification that is from Remission of Sins to become the Sons of God and at last to an actual possession of those glories to which we were here consigned by the fruits of the Holy Ghost 8. And in this sence the Holy Jesus is called by the Apostle the Author and 〈◊〉 of our Faith he is the principle and he is the promoter he begins our Faith in Revelations and perfects it in Commandments he leads us by the assent of our Understanding and finishes the work of his grace by a holy life which S. Paul there expresses by its several constituent parts as laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us and running with patience the race that is set before us resisting unto bloud striving against sin for in these things Jesus is therefore made our example because he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith without these Faith is imperfect But the thing is something plainer yet for S. James says that Faith lives not but by Charity and the life or essence of a thing is certainly the better part of its constitution as the Soul is to a Man And if we mark the manner of his probation it will come home to the main point For he proves that Abraham's saith was therefore imputed to him for Righteousness because he was justified by Works Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he offered up his son And the Scripture was fulfilled saying Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness For Faith wrought with his Works and made his Faith perfect It was a dead and an imperfect Faith unless Obedience gave it being and all its integral or essential parts So that Faith and Charity in the sence of a Christian are but one duty as the Understanding and the Will are but one reasonable Soul only they produce several actions in order to one another which are but divers 〈◊〉 and the same spirit 9. Thus S. Paul describing the Faith of the Thessalonians calls it that whereby they turned from Idols and whereby they served the living God and the Faith of the Patriarchs believed the world's Creation received the Promises did Miracles wrought Rightcousness and did and suffered so many things as make up the integrity of a holy life And therefore disobedience and unrighteousness is called want of Faith and Heresie which is opposed to Faith is a work of the flesh because Faith it self is a work of Righteousness And that I may enumerate no more particulars the thing is so known that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in propriety of language signifies 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 is rendred disobedience and the not providing for our families is an act of 〈◊〉 by the same reason and analogy that 〈◊〉 or Charity and a holy life are the duties of a Christian of a justifying
and accordingly we find S. Paul frequently disputing against circumcision as virtually comprizing in their notion the keeping of the whole Jewish Law Besides to these literal impositions of the Law of Moses the Pharisees had added many vain Traditions and several superstitious usages of their own contrivance in the observance whereof the People plac'd not a little confidence as to that righteousness upon which they hoped to stand clear with Heaven Against all these our Apostle argues and sometimes by arguments peculiar to them alone Jewish Converts were those who having embraced the Christian Religion did yet out of a veneration to their ancient Rites make the observance of them equally necessary with the belief and practice of Christianity both to themselves and others These last were the Persons who as they first started the controversie so were those against whom the Apostle mainly opposed himself endeavouring to dismount their pretences and to beat down their Opinions level with the ground 10. THIS will yet further appear from the way and manner of the Apostles arguing which plainly respects this controversie and will be best seen in some particular instances of his reasonings And first he argues that this way of justification urged by Jews and Jewish Converts was inconsistent with the goodness of God and his universal kindness to Mankind being so narrow and limited that it excluded the far greatest part of the World Thus in the three first Chapters of his Epistle to the Romans having proved at large that the whole World both Jew and Gentile were under a state of guilt and consequently liable to the divine sentence and condemnation he comes next to enquire by what means they may be delivered from this state of vengeance and shews that it could not be by legal observances but that now there was a way of righteousness or justification declared by Christ in the Gospel intimated also in the Old Testament extending to all both Jews and Gentiles whereby God with respect to the satisfaction and expiation of Christ is ready freely to pardon and justifie all penitent believers That therefore there was a way revealed in the Gospel whereby a man might be justified without being beholden to the rites of the Jewish Law otherwise it would argue that God had very little care of the greatest part of men Is he God of the Jews only is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also Seeing it is one God which shall 〈◊〉 the Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith Jew and Gentile in the same Evangelical way The force of which argument lies in this That that cannot be necessary to our Justification which excludes the greatest part of mankind from all possibility of being justified and this justification by the Mosaick Law plainly does a thing by no means consistent with God's universal love and kindness to his Creatures Hence the Apostle magnifies the grace of the Gospel that it has broken down the partition-wall and made way for all Nations to come in that now there is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor uncircumcision Barbarian nor 〈◊〉 no difference in this respect but all one in Christ Jesus all equally admitted to terms of pardon and justification in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness being accepted with him 11. SECONDLY He argues that this Jewish way of Justification could not be indispensably necessary in that it had not been the constant way whereby good men in all Ages had been justified and accepted with Heaven This he eminently proves from the instance of Abraham whom the Scripture sets forth as the Father of the faithful and the great Exemplar of that way wherein all his spiritual seed all true Believers were to be justified Now of him 't is evident that he was justified and accepted with God upon his practical belief of God's power and promise before ever Circumcision and much more before the rest of the Mosaick Institution was in being Cometh this blessedness then upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also For we say that Faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousness How was it then reckoned when he was in Circumcision or in uncircumcision Not in Circumcision but in uncircumcision And he received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being yet uncircumcised c. The meaning whereof is plainly this That pardon of sin cannot be entailed upon the way of the Mosaick Law it being evident that Abraham was justified and approved of God before he was Circumcised which was only added as a seal of the Covenant between God and him and a testimony of that acceptance with God which he had obtained before And this way of God's dealing with Abraham and in him with all his spiritual children the legal Institution could not make void it being impossible that that dispensation which came so long after should disannul the Covenant which God had made with Abraham and his spiritual seed CCCCXXX years before Upon this account as the Apostle observes the Scripture sets forth Abraham as the great type and pattern of Justification as the Father of all them that believe though they be not Circumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also and the father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of the Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised They therefore that are of Faith the same are the children of Abraham And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel this Evangelical way of justifying unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So then they which be of Faith who believe and obey as Abraham did shall be blessed pardoned and saved with faithful Abraham It might further be demonstrated that this has ever been God's method of dealing with mankind our Apostle in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews proving all along by particular instances that it was by such a Faith as this without any relation to the Law of Moses that good men were justified and accepted with God in all Ages of the World 12. THIRDLY He argues against this Jewish way of Justification from the deficiency and imperfection of the Mosaick Oeconomy not able to justifie and save sinners 〈◊〉 as not able to assist those that were under it with sufficient aids to perform what it required of them This the Law could not do for that it was weak through the flesh till God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful 〈◊〉 to enable us that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And indeed could the Law have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law But alas the Scripture having concluded all mankind Jew and Gentile under sin and consequently incapable of being
man in such circumstances with the least pretence of reason lay claim to merit or boast of his own archievements Hence the Apostle magnifies the Evangelical method of Justification above that of 〈◊〉 Law that it wholly excludes all proud 〈◊〉 upon our selves Where is 〈◊〉 then it is excluded By what Law of works Nay but by the Law of Faith The Mosaical Oeconomy fostered men up in proud and high thoughts of themselves they looked upon themselves as a peculiar people honoured above all other Nations of the World the seed of Abraham invested with mighty priviledges c. whereas the Gospel proceeding upon other principles takes away all foundations of pride by acknowledging our acceptance with God and the power whereby we are enabled to make good the terms and conditions of it to be the mere result of the Divine grace and mercy and that the whole scheme of our Salvation as it was the contrivance of the Divine wisdom so is the purchase of the merit and satisfaction of our crucified Saviour Nor is Faith it self less than other graces an act of Evangelical obedience and if separated from them is of no moment or value in the accounts of Heaven Though I have all Faith and have no Charity I am nothing All Faith be it of what kind soever To this may be added that no tolerable account can be given why that which is on all hands granted to be the condition of our Salvation such is Evangelical obedience should not be the condition of our Justification And at the great day Christians shall be acquitted or condemned according as in this World they have fulfilled or neglected the conditions of the Gospel The decretory sentence of absolution that shall then be passed upon good men shall be nothing but a publick and solemn declaration of that private sentence of Justification that was passed upon them in this World so that upon the same terms that they are justified now they shall be justified and acquitted then and upon the same terms that they shall then be judged and acquitted they are justified now viz. an hearty belief and a sincere obedience to the Gospel From all which I hope 't is evident that when S. Paul denies men to be justified by the works of the Law by works he either means works done before conversion and by the strength of mens natural powers such as enabled them to pride and boast themselves or which mostwhat includes the other the works of the Mosaick Law And indeed though the controversies on foot in those times did not plainly determine his reasonings that way yet the considerations which we have now suggested sufficiently shew that they could not be meant in any other sence 16. CONSECT II. That the doctrines of S. Paul and S. James about Justification are fairly consistent with each other For seeing S. Paul's design in excluding works from Justification was only to deny the works of the Jewish Law or those that were wrought by our own strength and in asserting that in opposition to such works we are justified by Faith he meant no more than that either we are justified in an Evangelical way or more particularly by Faith intended a practical belief including Evangelical obedience And seeing on the other hand S. James in affirming that we are justified by works and not by Faith only by works means no more than Evangelical obedience in opposition to a naked and an empty Faith these two are so far from quarrelling that they mutually embrace each other and both in the main pursue the same design And indeed if any disagreement seem between them 't is most reasonable that S. Paul should be expounded by S. James not only because his propositions are so express and positive and not justly liable to ambiguity but because he wrote some competent time after the other and consequently as he perfectly understood his meaning so he was capable to countermine those ill principles which some men had built upon S. Paul's assertions For 't is evident from several passages in S. Paul's Epistles that even then many began to mistake his doctrine and from his assertions about Justification by Faith and not by works to infer propositions that might serve the purposes of a bad life They slanderously reported him to say that we might do evil that good might come that we might continue in sin that the grace of the Gospel might the more abound They thought that so long as they did but believe the Gospel in the naked notion and speculation of it it was enough to recommend them to the favour of God and to serve all the purposes of Justification and Salvation however they shaped and steered their lives Against these men 't is beyond all question plain that S. James levels his Epistle to batter down the growing doctrines of Libertinism and Prophaneness to shew the insufficiency of a naked Faith and an empty profession of Religion that 't is not enough to recommend us to the Divine acceptance and to justifie us in the sight of Heaven barely to believe the Gospel unless we really obey and practise it that a Faith destitute of this Evangelical obedience is fruitless and unprofitable to Salvation that 't is by these works that Faith must appear to be vital and sincere that not only Rahab but Abraham the Father of the faithful was justified not by a bare belief of God's promise but an 〈◊〉 obedience to God's command in the ready offer of his Son whereby it appears that his Faith and Obedience did cooperate and conspire together to render him capable of God's favour and approbation and that herein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith That Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness whence by the way nothing can be clearer than that both these Apostles intend the same thing by Faith in the case of Abraham's Justification and its being imputed to him for 〈◊〉 viz. a practical belief and obedience to the commands of God that it follows hence that Faith is not of it self sufficient to justifie and make us acceptable to God unless a proportionable Obedience be joyned with it without which Faith serves no more to these ends and purposes than a Body destitute of the Soul to animate and enliven it is capable to exercise the functions and offices of the natural life His meaning in short being nothing else than that good works or Evangelical obedience is according to the Divine appointment the condition of the Gospel-Covenant without which 't is in vain for any to hope for that pardon which Christ hath purchased and the favour of God which is necessary to Eternal Life The End of S. Paul's Life THE LIFE OF S. ANDREW St. ANDREW He was fastened to a Cross since distinguished by his name by y e Proconsul at Patrae a City of Achaia from which he preached severall dayes to y e Spectators S. Hierom. Baron Nov 29. St. Andrew's Crucifixion Matth. 23.
may soon be washed but to be healed is a work of a long cure 3. Thirdly The Dispositions which are required to the ordinary susception of Baptism are not necessary to the efficacy or required to the nature of the Sacrament but accidentally and because of the superinduced necessities of some men and therefore the Conditions are not regularly to be required But in those accidents it was necessary for a Gentile Proselyte to repent of his sins and to believe in Moses's Law before he could be circumcised but Abraham was not tied to the same Conditions but only to Faith in God but Isaac was not tied to so much and Circumcision was not of Moses but of the Fathers and yet after the sanction of Moses's Law men were tied to conditions which were then made necessary to them that entred into the Covenant but not necessary to the nature of the Covenant it self And so it is in the susception of Baptism If a sinner enters into the Font it is necessary he be stripped of those appendages which himself sewed upon his Nature and then Repentance is a necessary disposition if his Understanding hath been a stranger to Religion polluted with evil Principles and a false Religion it is necessary he have an actual Faith that he be given in his Understanding up to the obedience of Christ. And the reason of this is plain Because in these persons there is a disposition contrary to the state and effects of Baptism and therefore they must be taken off by their contraries Faith and Repentance that they may be reduced to the state of pure Receptives And this is the sence of those words of our Blessed Saviour Unless ye become like one of these little ones ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that is Ye cannot be admitted into the Gospel-Covenant unless all your contrarieties and impediments be taken from you and you be as apt as children to receive the new immissions from Heaven And this Proposition relies upon a great Example and a certain Reason The Example is our Blessed Saviour who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitor he had committed no sin and needed no Repentance he needed not to be saved by Faith for of Faith he was the Author and Finisher and the great object and its perfection and reward and yet he was baptized by the Baptism of John the Baptism of Repentance And therefore it is certain that Repentance and Faith are not necessary to the susception of Baptism but necessary to some persons that are baptized For it is necessary we should much consider the difference If the Sacrament by any person may be justly received in whom such Dispositions are not to be sound then the Dispositions are not necessary or intrinsecal to the susception of the Sacrament and yet some persons coming to this Sacrament may have such necessities of their own as will make the Sacrament ineffectual without such Dispositions These I call necessary to the person but not to the Sacrament that is necessary to all such but not necessary to all absolutely And Faith is necessary sometimes where Repentance is not sometimes Repentance and Faith together and sometimes otherwise When Philip baptized the Eunuch he only required of him to believe not to repent But S. Peter when he preached to the Jews and converted them only required Repentance which although it in their case implied Faith yet there was explicit stipulation for it they had crucified the Lord of life and if they would come to God by Baptism they must renounce their sin that was all was then stood upon It is as the case is or as the persons have superinduced necessities upon themselves In Children the case is evident as to the one part which is equally required I mean Repentance the not doing of which cannot prejudice them as to the susception of Baptism because they having done no evil are not bound to repent and to repent is as necessary to the susception of Baptism as Faith is But this shews that they are accidentally necessary that is not absolutely not to all not to Insants and if they may be excused from one duty which is indispensably necessary to Baptism why they may not from the other is a secret which will not be found out by these whom it concerns to believe it 4. And therefore when our Blessed Lord made a stipulation and express Commandment for Faith with the greatest annexed penalty to them that had it not He that believeth not shall be damned the proposition is not to be verified or understood as relative to every period of time for then no man could be converted from Insidelity to the Christian Faith and from the power of the Devil to the Kingdom of Christ but his present Infidelity shall be his final ruine It is not therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Sentence but a 〈◊〉 a Prediction and Intermination It is not like that saying God is true and every man a lier and Every good and every perfect gift is from above for these are true in every instant without reference to circumstances but He that believeth not shall be damned is a Prediction or that which in Rhetorick is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Use because this is the affirmation of that which usually or frequently comes to pass such as this He that strikes with the sword shall perish by the sword He that robs a Church shall be like a wheel of a vertiginous and unstable estate He that loves wine and oyl shall not be rich and therefore it is a declaration of that which is universally or commonly true but not so that in what instant soever a man is not a believer in that instant it is true to say he is damned for some are called the third some the sixth some the ninth hour and they that come in being first called at the eleventh hour shall have their reward so that this sentence stands true at the day and the judgment of the Lord not at the judgment or day of man And in the same necessity as Faith stands to Salvation in the same it stands to Baptism that is to be measured by the whole latitude of its extent Our Baptism shall no more do all its intention unless Faith supervene than a man is in possibility of being saved without Faith it must come in its due time but is not indispensably necessary in all instances and periods Baptism is the seal of our Election and adoption and as Election is brought to effect by Faith and its consequents so is Baptism but to neither is Faith necessary as to its beginning and first entrance To which also I add this Consideration That actual Faith is necessary not to the susception but to the consequent effects of Baptism appears because the Church and particularly the Apostles did baptize some persons who had not Faith but were Hypocrites such as were Simon Magus Alexander the
Holy Ghost while you continued under the legal dispensation or since you embraced the Gospel and the faith of Christ and speaking afterwards of the state of the Jews 〈◊〉 the revelation of the Gospel says he before saith came we were kept under the Law i. e. before the Gospel came we were kept under the Discipline of the legal Oeconomy shut up unto the faith reserved for the discovery of the Evangelical dispensation which should afterwards in its due time be revealed to the World This in the following Chapter he discourses more at large Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law i. e. Ye Jews that so fondly dote upon the legal state Do ye not hear the Law i. e. Understand what your own Law does so clearly intimate and then goes on to unriddle what was wrapt up in the famous Allegory of Abraham's two Sons by his two Wives The one Ishmael born of Hagar the Bond-woman who denoted the Jewish Covenant made at Mount Sinai which according to the representation of her condition was a servile state The other Isaac born of Sarah the Free-woman was the Son of the promise denoting Jerusalem that is above and is free the mother of us all i. e. The state and covenant of the Gospel whereby all Christians as the spiritual children of Abraham are set free from the bondage of the Mosaic dispensation By all which it is evident that by Law and the works of the Law in this controversie the Apostle understands the Law of Moses and that obedience which the legal dispensation required at their hands 8. WE are secondly to enquire what the Apostle means by Faith and he commonly uses it two ways 1. More generally for the Gospel or that Evangelical way of justification and salvation which Christ has brought in in opposition to Circumcision and the observation of those Rites by which the Jews expected to be justified and this is plain from the preceding opposition where Faith as denoting the Gospel is frequently opposed to the Law of Moses 2. Faith is taken more particularly for a practical belief or such an assent to the Evangelical revelation as produces a sincere obedience to the Laws of it and indeed as concerned in this matter is usually taken not for this or that single vertue but for the intire condition of the New Covenant as comprehending all that duty that it requires of us than which nothing can be more plain and evident In Christ Jesus i. e. under the Gospel neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision 't is all one to Justification whether a Man be circumcised or no What then but Faith which worketh by love which afterwards he explains thus In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature a renewed and divine temper of mind and a new course and state of life And lest all this 〈◊〉 not be thought plain enough he elsewhere tells us that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the Commandments of God From which places there needs no skill to infer that that Faith whereby we are justified contains in it a new disposition and state both of heart and life and an observation of the Laws of Christ in which respect the Apostle does in the very same Verse expound believing by obeying of the Gospel Such he assures us was that very Faith by which Abraham was justified who against all probabilities of reason believed in God's promise he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong c. that is he so firmly believed what God had promised that he gave him the glory of his truth and faithfulness his infinite power and ability to do all things And how did he that by acting suitably in a way of intire resignation and sincere obedience to the divine will and pleasure so the Apostle elsewhere more expresly by Faith he obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went This Faith he tells us was imputed to Abraham for righteousness that is God by vertue of the New Covenant made in Christ was graciously pleased to look upon this obedience though in it self imperfect as that for which he accounted him and would deal with him as a just and a righteous Man And upon this account we find Abraham's faith opposed to a perfect and unsinning obedience for thus the Apostle tells us that Abraham was justified by faith in opposition to his being justified by such an absolute and compleat obedience as might have enabled him to challenge the reward by the strict Laws of Justice whereas now his being pardoned and accepted by God in the way of a mean and imperfect obedience it could not claim impunity much less a reward but must be intirely owing to the Divine grace and favour 9. HAVING thus cleared our way by restoring these words to their genuine and native sence we come to shew how the Apostle in his discourses does all along refer to the Original controversie between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts whether Justification was by the observation of the Mosaic Law or by the belief and practice of the Gospel and this will appear if we consider the persons that he has to deal with the way and manner of his arguing and that there was then no other controversie on foot to which these passages could refer The Persons whom he had to deal with were chiefly of two sorts pure Jews and Jewish Converts Pure Jews were those that kept themselves wholly to the Legal Oeconomy and expected to be justified and saved in no other way than the observation of the Law of Moses Indeed they laid a more peculiar stress upon Circumcision because this having been added as the Seal of that Covenant which God made with Abraham and the discriminating badge whereby they were to be distinguished from all other Nations they looked upon it as having a special efficacy in it to recommend them to the divine acceptance Accordingly we find in their Writings that they make this the main Basis and Foundation of their hope and confidence towards God For they tell us that the Precept of Circumcision is greater than all the rest and equivalent to the whole Law that the reason why God hears the Prayers of the Israelites but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gentiles or Christians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the vertue and merit of Circumcision yea that so great is the power and efficacy of the Law of Circumcision that no man that is circumcised shall go to Hell Nay according to the idle and 〈◊〉 humour of these Men they fetch down Abraham from the Seat of the Blessed and place him as Porter at the Gates of Hell upon no other errand than to keep circumcised Persons from entring into that miserable place However nothing is more evident than that Circumcision was the Fort and Sanctuary wherein they ordinarily placed their security
of his Neighbour-creatures the skins of Beasts 〈◊〉 hair and a Leathern girdle and herein he literally made good the character of Elias who is described as an hairy man girt with a Leathern girdle about his Loins His Diet suitable to his Garb his Meat was Locusts and wild Honey Locusts accounted by all Nations amongst the meanest and vilest sorts of food wild honey such as the natural artifice and labour of the Bees had stored up in caverns and hollow Trees without any elaborate curiosity to prepare and dress it up Indeed his abstinence was so great and his food so unlike other Mens that the Evangelist says of him that he came neither eating nor drinking as if he had eaten nothing or at least what was worth nothing But Meat commends us not to God it is the devout mind and the honest life that makes us valuable in the eye of Heaven The place of his abode was not in Kings houses in stately and delicate Palaces but where he was born and bred the Wilderness of Judaea he was in the Desarts until the time of his shewing unto Israel Divine grace is not consined to particular places it is not the holy City or the Temple at Mount Sion makes us nearer unto Heaven God can when he please consecrate a Desart into a Church make us gather Grapes among Thorns and Religion become fruitful in a barren Wilderness 4. PREPARED by so singular an Education and furnished with an immediate Commission from God he entred upon the actual administration of his Office In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness of Judaea and saying Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martyr calls him the Herald to Proclaim the first approach of the Holy Jesus his whole Ministry tending to prepare the way to his entertainment accomplishing herein what was of old foretold concerning him For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias saying The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight He told the 〈◊〉 that the Messiah whom they had so long expected was now at hand and his Kingdom ready to appear that the Son of God was come down from Heaven a Person as far beyond him in dignity as in time and existence to whom he was not worthy to minister in the meanest Offices that he came to introduce a new and better state of things to enlighten the World with the clearest Revelations of the Divine will and to acquaint them with counsels brought from the bosom of the Father to put a period to all the types and umbrages of the Mosaic Dispensation and bring in the truth and substance of all those shadows and to open a Fountain of grace and fulness to Mankind to remove that state of guilt into which humane nature was so deeply sunk and as the Lamb of God by the expiatory Sacrifice of 〈◊〉 to take away the sin of the World not like the continual Burnt-offering the Lamb offered Morning and Evening only for the sins of the House of Israel but for Jew and Gentile Barbarian and Scythian bond and free he told them that God had a long time born with the sins of Men and would now bring things to a quicker issue and that therefore they should do well to break off their sins by repentance and by a serious amendment and reformation of life dispose themselves for the glad tidings of the Gospel that they should no longer bear up themselves upon their external priviledges the Fatherhood of Abraham and their being God's select and peculiar People that God would raise up to himself another Generation a Posterity of Abraham from among the Gentiles who should walk in his steps in the way of his unshaken faith and sincere obedience and that if all this did not move them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance the Axe was laid to the root of the Tree to extirpate their Church and to hew them down as fuel for the unquenchable Fire His free and resolute preaching together with the great severity of his life procured him a vast Auditory and numerous Proselytes for there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judaea and the Region round about Jordan Persons of all ranks and orders of all Sects and Opinions 〈◊〉 and Sadducees Souldiers and Publicans whose Vices he impartially censured and condemned and pressed upon them the duties of their particular places and relations Those whom he gained over to be Proselytes to his Doctrine he entred into this new Institution of life by Baptism and hence he derived his Title of the Baptist a solemn and usual way of initiating Proselytes no less than Circumcision and of great antiquity in the Jewish Church In all times says Maimonides if any Gentile would enter into Covenant remain under the wings of the Schechina or Divine Majesty and take upon him the yoke of the Law he is bound to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumcision Baptism and a Peace-offering and if a Woman Baptism and an Oblation because it is said As ye are so shall the stranger be as ye your selves 〈◊〉 into Covenant by Circumcision Baptism and a Peace-offering so ought the Proselyte also in all Ages to enter in Though this last he confesses is to be omitted during their present state of desolation and to be made when their Temple shall be rebuilt This Rite they generally make contemporary with the giving of the Law So Maimonides By three things says he the Israelites entred into Covenant he means the National Covenant at Mount Sinai by Circumcision Baptism and an Oblation Baptism being used some little time before the Law which he proves from that place 〈◊〉 the People to day and to morrow and let them wash their Clothes This the Rabbines unanimously expound concerning Baptism and expresly affirm that where-ever we read of the Washing of Clothes there an obligation to Baptism is intended Thus they entred into the first Covenant upon the frequent violations whereof God having promised to make a new and solemn Covenant with them in the times of the Messiah they expected a second Baptism as that which should be the Rite of their Initiation into it And this probably is the reason why the Apostle writing to the Hebrews speaks of the Doctrin of Baptisms in the plural number as one of the primary and elementary Principles of the faith wherein the Catechumens were to be instructed meaning that besides the Baptism whereby they had been initiated into the Mosaic Covenant there was another by which they were to enter into this new 〈◊〉 that was come upon the World Hence the Sanhedrim to whom the cognizance of such cases did peculiarly appertain when told of John's Baptism never expressed any wonder at it as a new upstart Ceremony it being a thing daily practised in their Church nor found fault
is indeed presumed so but it was instituted to be a Seal of a Covenant between God and Abraham and Abraham's posterity a seal of the righteousness of Faith and therefore was not improper for him to suffer who was the child of Abraham and who was the Prince of the Covenant and the author and finisher of that Faith which was consigned to 〈◊〉 in Circumcision But so mysterious were all the actions of Jesus that this one served many ends For 1. It gave demonstration of the verity of Humane nature 2. So he began to fulfil the Law 3. And took from himself the scandal of Uncircumcision which would eternally have prejudiced the Jews against his entertainment and communion 4. And then he took upon him that Name which declared him to be the Saviour of the World which as it was consummate in the bloud of the Cross so was it inaugurated in the bloud of Circumcision For when the eight days were accomplished for circumcising of the Child his name was called JESUS 3. But this holy Family who had laid up their joys in the eyes and heart of God longed till they might be permitted an address to the Temple that there they might present the Holy Babe unto his Father and indeed that he who had no other might be brought to his own house For although while he was a child he did differ nothing from a servant yet he was the Lord of the place It was his Father's house and he was the Lord of all and therefore when the days of the Purification were accomplished they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord to whom he was holy as being the first-born the first-born of his Mother the only-begotten son of his Father and the first-born of every creature And they did with him according to the Law of Moses offering a pair of Turtle-doves for his redemption 4. But there was no publick act about this Holy Child but it was attended by something miraculous and extraordinary And at this instant the Spirit of God directed a holy person into the Temple that he might feel the fulfilling of a Prophecy made to himself that he might before his death behold the Lord 's CHRIST and imbrace the glory and consolation of Israel and the light of the Gentiles in his arms for old Simeon came by the Spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the Child Jesus then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and prophesied and spake glorious things of that Child and things sad and glorious concerning his Mother that the Child was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel for a sign that should be spoken against and the bitterness of that contradiction should pierce the heart of the holy Virgin-Mother like a Sword that her joy at the present accidents might be attempered with present revelation of her future trouble and the excellent favour of being the Mother of God might be crowned with the reward of Martyrdom and a Mother's love be raised up to an excellency great enough to make her suffer the bitterness of being transfixed with his love and sorrow as with a Sword 5. But old Anna the Prophetess came also in full of years and joy and found the reward of her long prayers and fasting in the Temple the long-looked-for redemption of Israel was now in the Temple and she saw with her eyes the Light of the World the Heir of Heaven the long-looked-for Messias whom the Nations had desired and expected till their hearts were faint and their eyes dim with looking farther and apprehending greater distances She also prophesied and gave thanks unto the Lord. But Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him Ad SECT V. Considerations upon the Circumcision of the Holy Child JESVS 1. WHen eight days were come the Holy Jesus was circumcised and shed the first-fruits of his Bloud offering them to God like the prelibation of a Sacrifice and earnest of the great seas of effusion designed for his Passion not for the expiation of any stain himself had contracted for he was spotless as the face of the Sun and had contracted no wrinkle from the aged and polluted brow of Adam but it was an act of Obedience and yet of Choice and voluntary susception to which no obligation had passed upon him in the condition of his own person For as he was included in the vierge of Abraham's posterity and had put on the common outside of his Nation his Parents had intimation enough to pass upon him the Sacrament of the National Covenant and it became an act of excellent Obedience but because he was a person extraordinary and exempt from the reasons of Circumcision and himself in person was to give period to the Rite therefore it was an act of Choice in him and in both the capacities becomes a precedent of Duty to us in the first of Obedience in the second of Humility 2. But it is considerable that the Holy Jesus who might have pleaded his exemption especially in a matter of pain and dishonour yet chose that way which was more severe and regular so teaching us to be strict in our duties and sparing in the rights of priviledge and dispensation We pretend every indisposition of body to excuse us from penal duties from Fasting From going to Church and instantly we satisfie our selves with saying God will have mercy and not sacrifice so making our selves Judges of our own privileges in which commonly we are parties against God and therefore likely to pass unequal sentence It is not an easie argument that will bring us to the severities and rigours of Duty but we snatch at occasions of dispensation and therefore possibly may mistake the justice of the opportunities by the importunities of our desires However if this too much easiness be in any case excusable from sin yet in all cases it is an argument of infirmity and the regular observation of the Commandment is the surer way to Perfection For not every inconvenience of body is fit to be pleaded against the inconvenience of losing spiritual advantages but only such which upon prudent account does intrench upon the Laws of Charity or such whose consequent is likely to be impediment of a duty in a greater degree of loss than the present omission For the Spirit being in many perfections more eminent than the Body all spiritual improvements have the same proportions so that if we were just estimators of things it ought not to be less than a great incommodity to the Body which we mean to prevent by the loss of a spiritual benefit or the omission of a Duty he were very improvident who would lose a Finger for the good husbandry of saving a Ducat and it would be an unhandsome excuse from the duties of Repentance to pretend care of the Body The proportions and degrees of this are so nice and of so difficult determination that men are more apt to
with Water and then with Bloud and afterwards built it up by the hands of the Spirit Himself enter'd at that door by which his Disciples for ever after were to follow him for therefore he went in at the door of Baptism that he might hallow the entrance which himself made to the House he was now building 2. As it was in the old so it is in the new Creation out of the waters God produced every living creature and when at first the Spirit moved upon the waters and gave life it was the type of what was designed in the Renovation Every thing that lives now is born of Water and the Spirit and Christ who is our Creator and Redeemer in the New birth opened the fountains and hallowed the stream Christ who is our Life went down into the waters of Baptism and we who descend thither find the effects of life it is living Water of which whose drinks needs not to drink of it again for it shall be in him a Well of water springing up to life eternal 3. But because every thing is resolved into the same principles from whence they are taken the old World which by the power of God came from the Waters by their own sin fell into the Waters again and were all drowned and only eight persons were saved by an Ark and the World renewed upon the stock and reserves of that mercy consigned the Sacrament of Baptism in another figure for then God gave his sign from Heaven that by water the World should never again perish but he meant that they should be saved by water for Baptism which is a figure like to this doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 4. After this the Jews report that the World took up the doctrine of Baptisms in remembrance that the iniquity of the old world was purged by water and they washed all that came to the service of the true God and by that Baptism bound them to the observation of the Precepts which God gave to Noah 5. But when God separated a Family for his own special service he gave them a Sacrament of Initiation but it was a Sacrament of bloud the Covenant of Circumcision and this was the fore-runner of Baptism but not a Type when that was abrogated this came into the place of it and that consigned the same Faith which this professes But it could not properly be a Type whose nature is by a likeness of matter or ceremony to represent the same Mystery Neither is a Ceremony as Baptism truly is properly capable of having a Type it self is but a Type of a greater mysteriousness And the nature of Types is in shadow to describe by dark lines a future substance so that although Circumcision might be a Type of the effects and graces bestowed in Baptism yet of the Baptism or Ablution it self it cannot be properly because of the unlikeness of the symbols and configurations and because they are both equally distant from substances which Types are to consign and represent The first Bishops of Jerusalem and all the Christian Jews for many years retained Circumcision together with Baptism and Christ himself who was circumcised was also baptized and therefore it is not so proper to call Circumcision a Type of Baptism it was rather a Seal and Sign of the same Covenant to Abraham and the Fathers and to all Israel as Baptism is to all Ages of the Christian Church 6. And because this Rite could not be administred to all persons and was not at all times after its institution God was pleased by a proper and specifick Type to consign this Rite of Baptism which he intended to all and that for ever and God when the family of his Church grew separate notorious numerous and distinct sent them into their own Countrey by a Baptism through which the whole Nation pass'd for all the Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea so by a double figure foretelling that as they were initiated to Moses's Law by the Cloud above and the Sea beneath so should all the persons of the Church men women and children be initiated unto Christ by the Spirit from above and the Water below for it was the design of the Apostle in that discourse to represent that the Fathers and we were equal as to the priviledges of the Covenant he proved that we do not exceed them and it ought therefore to be certain that they do not exceed us nor their children ours 7. But after this something was to remain which might not only consign the Covenant which God made with Abraham but be as a passage from the Fathers through the Synagogue to the Church from Abraham by Moses to Christ and that was Circumcision which was a Rite which God chose to be a mark to the posterity of Abraham to distinguish them from the Nations which were not within the Covenant of Grace and to be a Seal of the righteousness of Faith which God made to be the spirit and life of the Covenant 8. But because Circumcision although it was ministred to all the males yet it was not to the females although they and all the Nation were baptized and initiated into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea therefore the Children of Israel by imitation of the Patriarchs the posterity of Noah used also Ceremonial Baptisms to their Women and to their Proselytes and to all that were circumcised and the Jews deliver That Sarah and Rebecca when they were adopted into the family of the Church that is of Abraham and Isaac were baptized and so were all strangers that were married to the sons of Israel And that we may think this to be typical of Christian Baptism the Doctors of the Jews had a Tradition that when the Messias would come there should be so many Proselytes that they could not be circumcised but should be baptized The Tradition proved true but not for their reason But that this Rite of admitting into Mysteries and Institutions and Offices of Religion by Baptisms was used by the posterity of Noah or at least very early among the Jews besides the testimonies of their own Doctors I am the rather induced to believe because the Heathens had the same Rite in many places and in several Religions so they initiated disciples into the Secrets of Mithra and the Priests of 〈◊〉 were called 〈◊〉 because by Baptism they were admitted into the Religion and they thought Muther Incest Rapes and the worst of crimes were purged by dipping in the Sea or fresh Springs and a Proselyte is called in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Baptized person 9. But this Ceremony of Baptizing was so certain and usual among the Jews in their admitting Proselytes and adopting into Institutions that to baptize and to make Disciples are all one and when John the Baptist by an order from Heaven went to
ages that is washed off quickly in the Holy Font and an eternal debt paid in an instant For so sure as the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea so sure are our Sins washed in this Holy floud for this is a Red Sea too these waters signifie the bloud of Christ These are they that have washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bloud of Christ cleanseth us the Water cleanseth us the Spirit purifies us the Bloud by the Spirit the Spirit by the Water all in Baptism and in pursuance of that Baptismal state These three are they that bear record in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three agree in one or are to one purpose they agree in Baptism and in the whole pursuance of the assistances which a Christian needs all the days of his life And therefore S. Cyrill calls Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Antitype of the Passions of Christ it does preconsign the death of Christ and does the infancy of the work of Grace but not weakly it brings from death to life and though it brings us but to the birth in the New life yet that is a greater change than is in all the periods of our growth to manhood to a perfect man in Christ Jesus 18. Fifthly Baptism does not only pardon our sins but puts us into a state of Pardon for the time to come For Baptism is the beginning of the New life and an admission of us into the Evangelical Covenant which on our parts consists in a sincere and timely endeavour to glorifie God by Faith and Obedience and on God's part he will pardon what is past assist us for the future and not measure us by grains and scruples or exact our duties by the measure of an Angel but by the span of a man's hand So that by Baptism we are consigned to the mercies of God and the Graces of the Gospel that is that our Pardon be continued and our Piety be a state of Repentance And therefore that Baptism which in the Nicene Creed we 〈◊〉 to be for the remission of sins is called in the Jerusalem 〈◊〉 The Baptism of Repentance that is it is the entrance of a new life the gate to a perpetual change and reformation all the way continuing our title to and hopes of forgiveness of sins And this excellency is clearly recorded by S. Paul The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man hath appeared Not by works of righteousness which we have done that 's the formality of the Gospel-Covenant not to be exacted by the strict measures of the Law but according to his mercy he saved us that is by gentleness and remissions by pitying and pardoning us by relieving and supporting us because he remembers that we are but dust and all this mercy we are admitted to and is conveyed to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the laver of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost And this plain evident Doctrine was observed explicated and urged against the Messalians who said that Baptism was like a razor that cuts away all the sins that were past or presently adhering but not the sins of our future life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Sacrament promises more and greater things It is the earnest of future good things the type of the Resurrection the communication of the Lord's Passion the partaking of his Resurrection the robe of Righteousness the garment of Gladness the vestment of Light or rather Light it self And for this reason it is that Baptism is not to be repeated because it does at once all that it can do at an hundred times for it admits us to the condition of Repentance and Evangelical mercy to a state of Pardon for our infirmities and sins which we timely and effectually leave and this is a thing that can be done but once as a man can begin but once he that hath once entred in at this gate of Life is always in possibility of Pardon if he be in a possibility of working and doing after the manner of a man that which he hath promised to the Son of God And this was expresly delivered and observed by S. Austin That which the Apostle says Cleansing him with the washing of water in the word is to be understood that in the same Laver of Regeneration and word of Sanctification all the evils of the regenerate are cleansed and healed not only the sins that are past which are all now remitted in Baptism but also those that are contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and infirmity not that Baptism be repeated as often as we sin but because by this which is once administred is brought to pass that pardon of all sins not only of those that are past but also those which will be committed afterwards is obtained The Messalians denied this and it was part of their Heresie in the undervaluing of Baptism and for it they are most excellently confuted by Isidore Pelusiot in his third Book 195 Epistle to the Count Hermin whither I refer the Reader 19. In proportion to this Doctrine it is that the Holy Scripture calls upon us to live a holy life in pursuance of this grace of Baptism And S. Paul recalls the lapsed Galatians to their Covenant and the grace of God stipulated in Baptism Ye are all children of God by faith in Jesus Christ that is heirs of the promise and Abraham's seed that promise which cannot be disannulled encreased or diminished but is the same to us as it was to Abraham the same before the Law and after Therefore do not you hope to be 〈◊〉 by the Law for you are entred into the Covenant of Faith and are to be justified thereby This is all your hope by this you must stand for ever or you cannot stand at all but by this you may for you are God's children by Faith that is not by the Law or the Covenant of Works And that you may remember whence you are going and return again he proves that they are the Children of God by 〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ because they have been baptized into Christ and so put on Christ. This makes you Children and such as are to be saved by Faith that is a Covenant not of Works but of Pardon in Jesus Christ the Author and Establisher of this Covenant For this is the Covenant made in Baptism that being justified by his grace we shall be heirs of life eternal for by grace that is by favour remission and forgiveness in Jesus Christ ye are saved This is the only way that we have of being justified and this must remain as long as we are in hopes of Heaven for besides this we have no hopes and all this is stipulated and consigned in Baptism and is of force after our 〈◊〉 into sin and risings again In
powers to reject any proposition and to believe well is an effect of a singular predestination and is a Gift in order to a Grace as that Grace is in order to Salvation But the insufficiency of an argument or disability to prove our Religion is so far from disabling the goodness of an ignorant man's Faith that as it may be as strong as the Faith of the greatest Scholar so it hath full as much excellency not of nature but in order to Divine acceptance For as he who believes upon the only stock of Education made no election of his Faith so he who believes what is demonstrably proved is forced by the demonstration to his choice Neither of them did 〈◊〉 and both of them may equally love the Article 3. So that since a 〈◊〉 Argument in a weak understanding does the same work that a strong Argument in a more 〈◊〉 and learned that is it convinces and makes Faith and yet neither of them is matter of choice if the thing believed be good and matter of 〈◊〉 or necessity the Faith is not rejected by God upon the weakness of the first nor accepted upon the strength of the latter principles when we are once in it will not be enquired by what entrance we passed thither whether God leads us or drives us in whether we come by Discourse or by Inspiration by the guide of an Angel or the conduct of Moses whether we be born or made Christians it is indifferent so we be there where we should be for this is but the gate of Duty and the entrance to Felicity For thus far Faith is but an act of the Understanding which is a natural Faculty serving indeed as an instrument to Godliness but of it self no part of it and it is just like fire producing its act inevitably and burning as long as it can without power to interrupt or suspend its action and therefore we cannot be more pleasing to God for understanding rightly than the fire is for burning clearly which puts us evidently upon this consideration that Christian Faith that glorious Duty which gives to Christians a great degree of approximation to God by Jesus Christ must have a great proportion of that ingredient which makes actions good or bad that is of choice and effect 4. For the Faith of a Christian hath more in it of the Will than of the Understanding Faith is that great mark of distinction which separates and gives formality to the Covenant of the Gospel which is a Law of Faith The Faith of a Christian is his Religion that is it is that whole conformity to the Institution or Discipline of Jesus Christ which distinguishes him from the believers of false Religions And to be one of the faithful signifies the same with being a Disciple and that contains Obedience as well as believing For to the same sense are all those appellatives in Scripture the Faithful Brethren Believers the Saints Disciples all representing the duty of a Christian A Believer and a Saint or a holy person is the same thing Brethren signifies Charity and Believers Faith in the intellectual sence the Faithful and Disciples signifie both for besides the consent to the Proposition the first of them is also used for Perseverance and Sanctity and the greatest of Charity mixt with a confident Faith up to the height of Martyrdom Be faithful unto the death said the Holy Spirit and I will give thee the Crown of life And when the Apostles by way of abbreviation express all the body of Christian Religion they call it Faith working by Love which also S. Paul in a parallel place calls a New Creature it is a keeping of the Commandments of God that is the Faith of a Christian into whose desinition Charity is ingredient whose sence is the same with keeping of God's Commandments so that if we desine Faith we must first distinguish it The faith of a natural person or the saith of Devils is a 〈◊〉 believing a certain number of Propositions upon conviction of the Understanding But the Faith of a Christian the Faith that justifies and saves him is Faith working by Charity or Faith keeping the Commandments of God They are distinct Faiths in order to different ends and therefore of different constitution and the instrument of distinction is Charity or Obedience 5. And this great Truth is clear in the perpetual testimony of Holy Scripture For Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful and yet our Blessed Saviour told the Jews that if they had been the sons of Abraham they would have done the works of Abraham and therefore Good works are by the Apostle called the sootsteps of the Faith of our Father Abraham For Faith in every of its stages at its first beginning at its increment at its greatest perfection is a Duty made up of the concurrence of the Will and the Understanding when it pretends to the Divine acceptance Faith and Repentance begin the Christian course Repent and believe the Gospel was the summ of the Apostles Sermons and all the way after it is Faith working by Love Repentance puts the first spirit and life into Faith and Charity preserves it and gives it nourishment and increase it self also growing by a mutual supply of spirits and nutriment from Faith Whoever does heartily believe a Resurrection and Life eternal upon certain Conditions will certainly endeavour to acquire the Promises by the Purchase of Obedience and observation of the Conditions For it is not in the nature or power of man directly to despise and reject so 〈◊〉 a good So that Faith supplies Charity with argument and maintenance and Charity supplies Faith with life and motion Faith makes Charity reasonable and Charity makes Faith living and effectual And therefore the old Greeks called Faith and Charity a miraculous Chariot or Yoke they bear the burthen of the Lord with an equal consederation these are like 〈◊〉 twins they live and die together Indeed Faith is the first-born of the twins but they must come both at a birth or else they die being strangled at the gates of the womb But if Charity like Jacob lays hold upon his elder brother's heel it makes a timely and a prosperous birth and gives certain title to the eternal Promises For let us give the right of primogeniture to Faith yet the Blessing yea and the Inheritance too will at last fall to Charity Not that Faith is disinherited but that Charity only enters into the possession The nature of Faith passes into the excellency of Charity before they can be rewarded and that both may have their estimate that which justifies and saves us keeps the name of Faith but doth not do the deed till it hath the nature of Charity For to think well or to have a good opinion or an excellent or a fortunate understanding entitles us not to the love of God and the consequent inheritance but to chuse the ways of the Spirit and
Faith And although in the natural or philosophical sence Faith and Charity are distinct habits yet in the sence of a Christian and the signification of duty they are the same for we cannot believe aright as Believing is in the Commandment unless we live aright for our Faith is put upon the account just as it is made precious by Charity according to that rare saying of S. 〈◊〉 recorded by the supposed S. Denis Charity is the greatest and the least Theologie all our Faith that is all our Religion is compleated in the duties of universal Charity as our Charity or our manner of living is so is our Faith If our life be unholy it may be the faith of Devils but not the Faith of Christians For this is the difference 10. The faith of the Devils hath more of the Understanding in it the Faith of Christians more of the Will The Devils in their saith have better Discourse the Christians better affections They in their faith have better Arguments we more Charity So that Charity or a good life is so necessary an ingredient into the definition of a Christian's Faith that we have nothing else to distinguish it from the faith of Devils and we need no trial os our Faith but the examination of our lives If you keep the Commandments of God then have you the Faith of Jesus they are immediate in S. John's expression but if you be 〈◊〉 and ungodly you are in S. Paul's list amongst them that have no saith Every Vice that rules amongst us and sullies the fair beauty of our Souls is a conviction of Infidelity 11. For it was the Faith of Moses that made him despise the riches of Egypt the Faith of 〈◊〉 that made him valiant the Faith of Joseph that made him chast Abraham's Faith made him obedient S. Mary Magdalen's Faith made her penitent and the Faith of S. Paul made him travel so far and suffer so much till he became a prodigy both of zeal and patience Faith is a Catholicon and cures all the distemperatures of the Soul it 〈◊〉 the World saith S. John it works rightcousness saith S. Paul it purifies the heart saith S. Peter it works Miracles saith our Blessed Saviour Miracles in Grace always as it did Miracles in nature at its first publication and whatsoever is good if it be a Grace it is an act of Faith if it be a reward it is the fruit of Faith So that as all the actions of man are but the productions of the Soul so are all the actions of the new man the effects of Faith For Faith is the life of Christianity and a good life is the life of Faith 12. Upon the grounds of this discourse we may understand the sence of that Question of our Blessed Saviour When the son of man comes shall he find Faith on earth Truly just so much as he finds Charity and holy living and no more For then only we can be confident that Faith is not failed from among the children of men when we seel the heats of the primitive Charity return and the calentures of the first old Devotion are renewed when it shall be accounted honourable to be a servant of Christ and a shame to commit a sin then and then only our Churches shall be Assemblies of the faithful and the Kingdoms of the world Christian Countries But so long as it is notorious that we have made Christian Religion another thing than what the Holy Jesus designed it to be when it does not make us live good lives but it self is made a pretence to all manner of impiety a stratagem to serve ends the ends of covetousness of ambition and revenge when the Christian Charity ends in killing one another for Conscience sake so that Faith is made to cut the throat of Charity and our Faith kills more than our Charity preserves when the Humility of a Christian hath indeed a name amongst us but it is like a mute person talk'd of only while Ambition and Rebellion Pride and Scorn Self-seeking and proud undertakings transact most of the great affairs of Christendom when the custody of our Senses is to no other purposes but that no opportunity of pleasing them pass away when our Oaths are like the fringes of our discourses going round about them as if they were ornaments and trimmings when our Blasphemies Prophanation Sacriledge and Irreligion are become scandalous to the very Turks and Jews while our Lusts are always habitual sometimes unnatural will any wise man think that we believe those Doctrines of Humility and Obedience of Chastity and Charity of Temperance and Justice which the Saviour of the World made sacred by his Sermon and example or indeed any thing he either said or did promised or threatned For is it possible a man with his wits about him and believing that he should certainly be damned that is be eternally tormented in body and Soul with terments greater than can be in this world if he be a Swearer or Lier or Drunkard or cheats his neighbour that this man should dare to do these things to which the temptations are so small in which the delight is so inconsiderable and the satisfaction so none at all 13. We see by the experience of the whole world that the belief of an honest man in a matter of temporal advantage makes us do actions of such danger and difficulty that half so much industry and 〈◊〉 would ascertain us into a possession of all the Promises Evangelical Now let any man be asked whether he had rather be rich or be saved he will tell you without all doubt Heaven is the better option by infinite degrees for it cannot be that Riches or Revenge or Lust should be directly preferred that is be thought more eligible than the glories of Immortality That therefore men neglect so great Salvation and so greedily run after the satisfaction of their baser appetites can be attributed to nothing but want of Faith they do not heartily believe that Heaven is worth so much there is upon them a stupidity of spirit and their Faith is dull and its actions suspended most commonly and often interrupted and it never enters into the Will so that the Propositions are considered nakedly and precisely in themselves but not as referring to us or our interests there is nothing of Faith in it but so much as is the first and direct act of Understanding there is no consideration nor reflexion upon the act or upon the person or upon the subject So that even as it is seated in the Understanding our Faith is commonly lame mutilous and imperfect and therefore much more is it culpable because it is destitute of all cooperation of the rational appetite 14. But let us consider the power and efficacy of worldly Belief If a man believes that there is gold to be had in Peru for fetching or Pearls and rich Jewels in India for the exchange of trifles he
instantly if he be in capacity leaves the wife of his bosom and the pretty delights of children and his own security and ventures into the dangers of waters and unknown seas and freezings and calentures thirst and hunger Pirates and shipwrecks and hath within him a principle strong enough to answer all objections because he believes that Riches are desirable and by such means likely to be had Our Blessed Saviour comparing the Gospel to a Merchant-man that found a pearl of great price and sold all to buy it hath brought this instance home to the present discourse For if we did as verily believe that in Heaven those great Felicities which transcend all our apprehensions are certainly to be obtained by leaving our Vices and lower desires what can hinder us but we should at least do as much for obtaining those great Felicities as for the lesser if the belief were equal For if any man thinks he may have them without Holiness and Justice and Charity then he wants Faith for he believes not the saying of S. Paul Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall ever see God If a man believes Learning to be the only or chiefest ornament and beauty of Souls that which will ennoble him to a fair employment in his own time and an honourable memory to succeeding ages this if he believes heartily it hath power to make him indure Catarrhs Gouts Hypochondriacal passions to read till his eyes almost fix in their orbs to despise the pleasures of idleness or tedious sports and to undervalue whatsoever does not cooperate to the end of his Faith the desire of Learning Why is the Italian so abstemious in his drinkings or the Helvetian so valiant in his fight or so true to the Prince that imploys him but that they believe it to be noble so to be If they believed the same and had the same honourable thoughts of other Vertues they also would be as national as these For Faith will do its proper work And when the Understanding is peremptorily and fully determined upon the perswasion of a Proposition if the Will should then dissent and chuse the contrary it were unnatural and monstrous and possibly no man ever does so for that men do things without reason and against their Conscience is because they have put out their light and discourse their Wills into the election of a sensible good and want faith to believe truly all circumstances which are necessary by way of predisposition for choice of the 〈◊〉 15. But when mens Faith is confident their resolution and actions are in proportion For thus the Faith of Mahumetans makes them to abstain from Wine for ever and therefore if we had the Christian Faith we should much rather abstain from Drunkenness for ever it being an express Rule Apostolical Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess The Faith of the Circumcellians made them to run greedily to violent and horrid deaths as willingly as to a Crown for they thought it was the King's high-way to Martyrdom And there was never any man zealous for his Religion and of an imperious bold Faith but he was also willing to die for it and therefore also by as much reason to live in it and to be a strict observer of its prescriptions And the stories of the strict Sanctity and prodigious Sufferings and severe Disciplines and expensive Religion and compliant and laborious Charity of the primitive Christians is abundant argument to convince us that the Faith of Christians is infinitely more fruitful and productive of its univocal and proper issues than the Faith of Hereticks or the false religions of Misbelievers or the perswasions of Secular persons or the Spirit of Antichrist And therefore when we see men serving their Prince with such difficult and ambitious services because they believe him able to reward them though of his will they are not so certain and yet so supinely negligent and incurious of their services to God of whose power and will to reward us infinitely there is certainty absolute and irrespective it is certain probation that we believe it not for if we believe there is such a thing as Heaven and that every single man's portion of Heaven is far better than all the wealth in the world it is morally impossible we should prefer so little before so great profit 16. I instance but once more The Faith of Abraham was instanced in the matter of confidence or trust in the Divine Promises and he being the father of the faithful we must imitate his Faith by a clear dereliction of our selves and our own interests and an intire confident relying upon the Divine goodness in all cases of our needs or danger Now this also is a trial of the verity of our Faith the excellency of our condition and what title we have to the glorious names of Christians and Faithful and 〈◊〉 If our Fathers when we were in pupillage and minority or a true and an able Friend when we were in need had made promises to supply our necessities our confidence was so great that our care determined It were also well that we were as confident of God and as secure of the event when we had disposed our selves to reception of the blessing as we were of our Friend or Parents We all profess that God is Almighty that all his Promises are certain and yet when it comes to a pinch we find that man to be more confident that hath ten thousand pounds in his purse than he that reads God's Promises over ten thousand times Men of a common spirit saith S. Chrysostome of an ordinary Sanctity will not steal or kill or lie or commit Adultery but it requires a rare Faith and a sublimity of pious affections to believe that God will work a 〈◊〉 which to me seems impossible And indeed S. 〈◊〉 hit upon the right He had need be a good man and love God 〈◊〉 that puts his trust in him For those we love we are most apt to trust and although trust and confidence is sometime founded upon experience yet it is also begotten and increased by love as often as by reason and discourse And to this purpose it was excellently said by S. Basil That the 〈◊〉 which one man learneth of another is made perfect by continual Use and Exercise but that which through the grace of God is engrassed in the mind of man is made absolute by Justice 〈◊〉 and Charity So that if you are willing even in death to confess not only the Articles but in affliction and death to trust the Promises if in the lowest nakedness of Poverty you can cherish your selves with the expectation of God's promises and dispensation being as confident of food and raiment and deliverance or support when all is in God's hand as you are when it is in your own if you can be chearful in a storm smile when the world frowns be content in the midst of spiritual
life The imposition of a new name at his election to the Apostleship He and his Brother stiled Boanerges and why The Zeal and activity of their temper Their ambition to sit on Christ's right and left hand in his Kingdom and confident promise of suffering This ill resented by the rest Our Lord's discourse concerning the nature of the Evangelical state Where he preached after Christ's Ascension The story of his going into Spain exploded Herod Agrippa in favour with the Roman Emperors The character of his temper His zeal for the Law of Moses His condemning S. James to death The sudden conversion of his Accuser as he was led to Martyrdom Their being beheaded The Divine Justice that pursued Herod His grandeur and arrogance at Caesarea His miserable death The story of the Translation of S. James his Corps to Compostella in Spain and the Miracles said to be done there 1. SAINT James surnamed the Great either because of his Age being much elder than the other or for some peculiar honours and favours which our Lord conferred upon him was by Country a Galilean born probably either at Gapernaum or Bethsaida being one of Simon Peter's Partners in the Trade of Fishing He was the Son of Zebdai or Zebedee and probably the same whom the Jews mention in their Talmud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi James or Jacob the Son of Zebedee a Fisherman and the many servants which he kept for that imployment a circumstance not taken notice of in any other speak him a man of some more considerable note in that Trade and way of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nicephorus notes His Mother's name was Mary surnamed Salome called first Taviphilja says an ancient Arabick writer the Daughter as is most probable not Wife of Cleopas Sister to Mary the Mother of our Lord not her own Sister properly so called the Blessed Virgin being in all likelihood an only Daughter but Cousin-german stiled her Sister according to the mode and custom of the Jews who were wont to call all such near relations by the names of Brothers and Sisters and in this respect he had the honour of a near relation to our Lord himself His education was in the Trade of Fishing no imployment is base that 's honest and industrious nor can it be thought mean and dishonourable to him when it is remembred that our Lord himself the Son of God stoop'd so low as not only to become the reputed Son of a Carpenter but during the retirements of his private life to work himself at his Father's Trade not devoting himself merely to contemplations nor withdrawing from all useful society with the World and hiding himself in the solitudes of an Anchoret but busying himself in an active course of life working at the Trade of a Carpenter and particularly as one of the Ancients tells us making Ploughs and Yokes And this the sacred History does not only plainly intimate but it is generally asserted by the Ancient writers of the Church A thing so notorious that the Heathens used to object it as a reproach to Christianity Thence that smart and acute reparteé which a Christian School-master made to Libanius the famous Orator at Antioch when upon Julian's expedition into Persia where he was killed he asked in scorn what the Carpenters Son was now a doing The Christian replied with salt enough That the great Artificer of the World whom he scoffingly called the Carpenter's Son was making a coffin for his Master Julian the news of whose death was brought soon after But this only by the way 2. S. JAMES applied himself to his Father's Trade not discouraged with the meanness not sinking under the difficulties of it and as usually the blessings of Heaven meet men in the way of an honest and industrious diligence it was in the exercise of this calling when our Saviour passing by the Sea of Galilee saw him and his brother in the Ship and called them to be his Disciples A Divine power went along with the word which they no sooner heard but chearfully complied with it immediately leaving all to follow him They did not stay to dispute his commands to argue the probability of his promise solicitously to enquire into the minute consequences of the undertaking what troubles and hazards might attend this new employment but readily delivered up themselves to whatever services he should appoint them And the chearfulness of their obedience is yet further considerable that they left their aged Father in the Ship behind them For elsewhere we find others excusing themselves from an immediate attendance upon Christ upon pretence that they must go bury their Father or take their leave of their kindred at home No such slight and trivial pretences could stop the resolution of our Apostles who broke through these considerations and quitted their present interests and relations Say not it was unnaturally done of them to desert their Father an aged person and in some measure unable to help himself For besides that they left servants with him to attend him it is not cruelty to our Earthly but obedience to our Heavenly Father to leave the one that we may comply with the call and summons of the other It was the triumph of Abraham's Faith when God called him to leave his kindred and his Father's house to go out and sojourn in a foreign Country not knowing whither he went Nor can we doubt but that Zebedee himself would have gone along with them had not his Age given him a Supersedeas from such an active and ambulatory course of life But though they left him at this time it 's very reasonable to suppose that they took care to instruct him in the doctrine of the Messiah and to acquaint him with the glad tidings of Salvation especially since we find their Mother Salome so hearty a friend to so constant a follower of our Saviour But this if we may believe the account which one gives of it was after her Husbands decease who próbably lived not long after dying before the time of our Saviour's Passion 3. IT was not long after this that he was called from the station of an ordinary Disciple to the Apostolical Office and not only so but honoured with some peculiar acts of favour beyond most of the Apostles being one of the three whom our Lord usually made choice of to admit to the more intimate transactions of his life from which the others were excluded Thus with Peter and his Brother John he was taken to the miraculous raising of Jairus his Daughter admitted to Christ's glorious transfiguration upon the Mount and the discourses that there passed between him and the two great Ministers of Heaven taken along with him into the Garden to be a Spectator of those bitter Agonies which the Holy Jesus was to undergo as the preparatory sufferings to his Passion What were the reasons of our Lord 's admitting these three Apostles to