having not the spirit that lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5.17 whereas in the members of the Church militant Christ liveth by the holy spirit deriving to them sense life and spirituall motion Nor do we number hypocrites to be of the Church militant though in the visible Church by partaking of the doctrine and Sacraments because they want those vertues and graces which proves one to be a member of the mysticall body of Christ as faith to apprehend Christ the head and foundation and to be united to him and therefore can bear no fruit in him but must be taken away Iohn 15.2 though they be in Church visible which Church the Papists only acknowledging may well hold that the true Church is alwaies visible Mathe. Why is it not so Phila. You are to consider that the tearm or word Church is diversly understood First for the universall company of beleevers and so it is invisible and therefore it is said in the Creed I beleeve the holy Catholike Church now faith is the evidence of things not seen Secondly Church is taken for a company of men in particular places professing one and the same true religion and so it is visible Again if you take the Church in the externall form of it namely for a company of men met together to perform Church duties so the Church is visible but if you take it in its internall form consisting in efficacious calling and faith so it is invisible for it is hard to judge who hath these graces Therefore certainly neither the whole Catholick Church nor all that part of it called militant is visible But some part of the Church militant hath and is but yet is not necessary to be alwaies visible but may possibly lie hid and unappearing at some times Aug. in lib. 5. cont Donat. c. 17 Rev. 13.13 14 In which regard the Church is called a garden inclosed and a fountain sealed Cant. 4.11 and the weapons of her warfare to be spirituall 2 Cor. 10.4 When Antichrist reigned over the world where was then the Church visible surely fled like the woman Rev. 12.16 into some solitary place as Eliah was forced to do by Iesabel 1 Kin. 19.10 Indeed there hath been and I fear will be again when our Sun will be darkned and her Moon will not give her light and our Stars fall from the Churches heaven And when you see the abomination of heresies schisme and libertinisme set up in Gods Temple let him that is in Christianity fly to the Scripture for there you shall only find what the true Church is namely certain people called at divers houres some at the first some at the second others at the third So at the beginning middle and end of the world and not all alike at all times sometimes clouded sometimes more resplendent so that it is not alwaies visible nor alwaies alike visible Mathe. Whether is the visible Church subject to defects or errors Phila. Yes for Adam and Eve fell in Paradise and afterward the world was so wicked that the Church remained only in Noahs family And after God had chosen the people of Israel to be his Church they worshipped the golden Calfe and for that and other sins we find them left without Religion Priest or Law 2 Chron. 5. and their Temple ruin'd and themselves dispersed Christ saith that faith shal hardly be found on the earth 2 Thes 2. and St Paul prophecieth of a generall apostacy So in the time of Athanasius the Christian world was over-run with Arianisme only Athanasius stood for Christ that he was of the same substance with the Father But he was but one man and one man could not make a Church so that the Church as well as the Moon may suffer an eclipse especially when the sword shall awake against the shepherd Zach. 13.7 and he shall be smitten and the sheep scattered So likewise the visible Church may erre not the Church Catholick and universall for truth could not be found then upon earth nor any visible militant Church for then they have no truth to fight for But the visible Church as it consisteth of its outward matter and form namely of a company of men exercised about Ecclesiasticall matters may erre and so it did before the Law in the time of the Patriarks and under the Law as the Church of Israel and since the Law For the visible Church of the Jewes persecuted the Christians and the Disciples were all offended and stumbled at Christs sufferings and hardly beleeved at first his resurrection yea and after it erred about his Kingdome Acts 1.6 which they thought should be earthly So they doubted a while about the calling of the Gentiles Acts 10.20 cap. 11.2 So we find the Church of the Corinths full of division 1 Cor. 1.11 and schismes and doubts of the resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. 15. and the Church of Galatia falling back to Judaisme by circumcision Gal. 5.1 2 3. Yea all the Eastern Churches as wel as the seven Churches of the lesser Asia have had their errors and remaine in some as the Papists say even till now Yea generall Councils have not been free for one hath disallowed what the other hath allowed and both cannot therefore be true As the Councill of Franckford broke down the Images in Churches Aug. lib. de unita Eccles c. 3. which the second Councill of Nice restored and so many others did one contradict another which sheweth the Churches imperfection and that it stands not with her nature to be free from error for then if she did once erre she could be no longer a Church Therefore the Church of Rome if it be a visible Church can chalenge no such prerogative especially since Antichrist sitteth there as chiefe governor Hier. in Epist Rustic since which time by avarice the Law is perished from the Priest and vision from the Prophet Mathe. I pray tell me the notes of a true visible Church Phila. I suppose you mean particular Churches in severall nations For the universall Catholike Church is rather to be beleeved then seen as is implied in that Article of the Creed I beleeve the holy Catholike Church There be therefore three notes of a true visible Church First a sincere preaching of the Word Secondly a pure dispensation of Sacraments And thirdly a right administration of discipline These are the notes of a true Church though all of them are not sound alwaies and at the same time in a Church As the Jewes for forty years in the wildernesse wanted circumcision so sometime some ministers may possibly through ignorance infirmity or fear or to please greatnesse depart from sincere doctrine and so by the dragons taile many stars are cast to the earth and by some of them the waters are made bitter Rev. 8.11 yet may it be a true Church so long as the discession from pure doctrine is not generall So a Church may by ministers neglect want Sacraments and by the tyranny
names which are three in one as the three rooms in one Ark. The divers creatures in the Ark shew the mixture of the Church visible consisting of reasonable and unreasonable clean and unclean wheat and tares good and bad And in that there were seven couples of clean and but one couple of unclean it shewes that reprobates have little to do in Gods true Church and though some yet are they nothing in comparison of those that are out of the Church visible So Noah being Master and Lord of all these might well type forth Christ under whose feet God hath put all things in subjection Psal 8. Mathe. What signification of Christ and his Church had Moses Tabernacle and Solomons Temple Phila. Very great and lively For 1. Moses Tabernacle was a type of the Church Catholick as it is militant wandring in this world and discontinuing from the Lord. Bed de tab lib. 1. c. 1. Chrys in Psa 5 And by Solomons Temple the Catholike Church triumphant in heaven which Churches though two in number are but one in Christian faith Both these viz. Tabernacle and Temple typed Christ First the Tabernacle did because Christ is said to dwell or pitch his Tabernacle as the Greek word signifieth in Joh. 1.18 so did the Temple too Beza in John 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore he said dissolve this Temple and I will build it again in three dayes meaning the Temple of his body Joh. 2.19 21. well so called being the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily Col. 2.9 even as the Tabernacle and Temple was sometimes filled with the glory of God Exod. 40.34 and 1 Kin. 8.10 And as these typed out Christ so they did the Church both in the whole body and the members of it 1. In the whole called the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 and Rev. 21.3 Now Jerusalem is called the Tabernacle of God because he meant to dwell with men by the Gospel ruling in their hearts as once he did in the Temple of old Jerusalem 2. In the members of it Therefore Eph. 2.21 they are called a Temple and ver 22. an habitation of God by the spirit and a Temple of the Holy Ghost Haymo in Rev. 21. 1 Cor. 6.19 whose greatnesse though the world cannot contain yet he is content to dwell in a contrite heart But beside if we consider the place where Moses received the platform of the Tabernacle it will be more clear Moses received it in Horeb which signifieth a drie desart as Sinai or Seneh a bush in which God at first appeared to him The dry desart signified the world wherein the Law of God is given The burning bush the fiery afflictions of the Church in this land of thorns The man Moses that was faithfull in all the work of the Tabernacle having received it from God did well represent Christ who received from the bosome of his Father what things he delivered for the rearing up of his Church and so was as Moses a Mediator between God and his people Exod. 35.30 34. The chiefe workmen typed out the Apostles that had their gifts by infusion as Bezaleel and Aholiab of Judah and Dan signifying praise and judgement and were indeed Arch-builders as 1 Cor. 3.10 and so to be esteemed of all men Those that were subordinate to them might prefigure out inferiour ministers of which every one must prove faithfull 1 Cor. 4.1 So the people offering typed forth those in after times under the Gospell that should freely give themselves first to God and then of their goods liberally for the upholding Gods Church and service so often prophecied of Psal 45.12 Psal 110.3 Psal 72.10 11. and Isa which was fulfilled by the Eastern Magi Mat. 2. and by the Primitive Converts Acts 2. And so also by the many indowments of the Church given by Princes and others who beleeved the Gospell Besides the time of setting up the Tabernacle and Temple had relation to Christs comming Exod. 24. for as that was set up by Moses in the seventh month and the Temple by Solomon in seven years 1 Kin. 6.37 38. and in the seven sevens of years the second Temple was finished So after seventy sevens of years Dan. 9.25 from the Angell Gabriels speech to Daniel Christ the Messiah came from heaven and took up an earthly temple of our nature laied it down by death for our sins and raised it up again for our justification upon which doctrine he hath built his Church of which the Jewish was but a shadow This may further be understood by the triple division of this Tabernacle and Temples rooms which were three Fist the Court. Secondly the holy place and the most holy The most holy place was divided from the holy by a vaile Heb. 9.3 Heb. 10.20 This vaile typed Christs flesh which like Moses vaile hid his glorious appearance from our dull sight But when his flesh was rent upon the crosse the vaile of his divine power appeared by renting the vail of the Temple making as it were a way for us to come to the mercy seat Heb. 9.5 for within this vaile it stood Mathe. What signification had the matter of the utensils of that house to the Church Christian Phila. Very much being shadowes of things to come Col. 2. Rab. Maurus in Ex. l. 3. c. 10. For the matter of the boords and pillars being either Shittim wood incorruptible by nature it typed forth Christs body which never saw corruption and the body of beleevers too to whom sin shall not be imputed and from whom at last all corruption shall be removed 1 Cor. 15.53 The silver sockets may figure faith which joineth Christ and the Church together The coverings Christs protection under which the Church doth alwaies shroud her selfe Mathe. And what may the rooms signifie Phila. Surely the most holy place might well figure out the heavens for in them is the true mercy seat and glorious cherubins Orig. in Exod. Bed de tab l. 2. c. 13. into which Christ entred once for all to appear before God for us Heb. 9.12 24. In type whereof the High Priest in the Law entred once a year but Christ once for ever to take possession for us till the vaile of the earth rent to give way to our bodies at the resurrection to take possession of the heavens most holy place The holy place signified the Church on earth Orig. in Lev. 16.12 who must here offer up praier and praise in the name of Christ till he come again and our sacrifice of obedience taught us by word and sacraments which requires us to offer our selves a living sacrifice to God Rom. 12.1 for which he hath made us Priests as well as Kings Rev. 1. ◠to suppresse our rebellious corruptions In regard whereof the Church is called holy as the heavens is the most holy Between which there being no receptacle for souls named you may conceive Limbus patrum and
Anab. Exord they being suppressed and punished severely by the Princes there a remnant of them came in two ships into England 1535. and lurking here a while were taken and made to recant others were severely punished as you may read in your Chronicles whose dregs other people have sucked in Howe 's Chron. 1538. Camb. in the life of Q. Eliz. But in the year 1561. Queen Elizabeth by proclamation commanded them all to depart the land within twenty daies upon pain of imprisonment and confiscation of goods whether they were free born or forreigners Mathe. But what tenets are now peculiar to this sect among us and your judgement therein Phila. 1. That no children ought to be baptized 2. That none are rightly baptized but those that are dipt 3. That there ought to be no set form of praier by the book 4. That there should be no distinction between Clergy and the Laity but all that are gifted may preach and give Sacraments 5. That it is not lawfull to take an oath though demanded by the Magistrate 6. That no Christian can with a good conscience execute the office of a Magistrate All which though I have here and there plainly though cursorily confuted yet I shall do it at your request more particularly Mathe. I pray do so Phila. First I shall prove that Infants ought to be baptized 1. Because it bears analogy with Scripture for God thought fit in making a Covenant with Abraham to institute a Sacrament by which infants as well as elder people might be admitted into his Church which Sacrament was Circumcision Then surely God having by his son Christ abolished Circumcision would not leave those who are the children of Abraham by faith Gal. 3.7 without some Sacrament by which their children also might receive the same benefit Calv. Insti l. 4. c. 16. part 6. unlesse the Gospell hath lesse liberty then the Law which Christ denieth laying I am come that ye might have life more abundant and then surely the means of life also namely baptisme for circumcision is so called Col. 2.11 12. circumcision without hands Mathe. But baptisme of Infants is no where commanded in Scripture Phila. It is not necessary to be injoined in so many words because there is sufficient warrant for it by bearing a proportion with circumcision the sign being only changed In many such cases the Scriptures are silent leaving men to draw consequences of practice from generall propositions As for example when Christ saith except a man be born again doth he not mean a woman as well as man or because he said only to his Disciples at his last supper where there was no woman present Do ye this in remembrance of me may we not therefore give the Communion to women without a special warrant I suppose no wise man will say so And so also for keeping the Lords day there is no command nor yet to rebaptize any which yet the Anabaptists do ordinarily practise Mathe. But children can make no profession of faith or repentance as those did that came to John the Baptist Mat. 3. and therefore are not I think to be baptized Phila. Yes surely because they are the seed of such as professe true religion and so are within the covenant and promise made to the visible Church and her seed in Abraham Gen. 18.18 In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Which word nations compriseth young and old every one in their modell and capacity of blessing therefore circumcision was the seal of Abrahams faith Rom. 4.11 which he had before he was circumcised was given to Isaac as the seal of that faith which he had faederally as the son of Abraham and was to appear in him actually after his circumcision and so baptisme may be lawfully given to infants now under the Gospel though they be not circumcised Rom. 4.11 16. Mathe. But Christ saith go teach and baptize inferring that they should be taught and be capable of teaching before they be baptized Phila. No such matter For that direction of Christ Mat. 28.19 Go teach all nations baptizing them The word translated teach signifieth properly disciple them which may be done by this Sacrament of entrance into Christs school or Church and therefore teaching is set downe by another word after discipling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Mathe. But we read not of any children baptized in the New Testament Phila. True but we read of whole housholds baptized as Acts 16.33 the Jailor and all that belonged to him Among whom if you will say there were no children because they are not set down I reply there is no women nor servants set down neither and so then the Jailor was the whole family and Lydia and Stephanas were their whole family But certainly Paul would have set down the omission of his baptizing children if he had omitted them in those families since that he is so exact in telling us what housholds he did baptize 1 Cor. 1.14 And truly if the want of a peculiar command or practice in the New Testament should exclude Christian children from baptisme we are left in a more uncomfortable estate for our children then the Jewes were But where the equity of the law remains there the law is still in force and where is the same reason there the same thing may be done for substance though the circumstance may differ And I am sure our children have as much need by baptisme to have sin washed away as theirs had by circumcision to have sin cast away Mathe. But that promise of God Gen. 17.7 of which circumcision was the seal was made only to Abraham and his seed by nature Phila. If it were so why is it not kept for the Jewes are cast off from being Gods people therefore that everlasting Covenant was and must be understood of Abrahams children by promise not by nature and so beleevers being within the Covenant may rightly claim the seal of the Covenant for their children Cyp. l. 3. ep 8. Aug. ep ad Dard. 57. which seal baptisme is to the Christians children as circumcision was to Jewish the one corresponding to the other even as the cloud and the red sea in which they and their children were all baptized 1 Cor. 10.1 Tertul. de Resur sarnis 2. typed our baptisme Beside is it not reason that those to whom the Kingdome of God belongs should be received into his Kingdome of grace the Church And that children are such Christ sheweth plainly Mar. 10.14 And that they were little infants it is plain for he took them in his arms Nay farther the Apostle saith that if one of the parents be a beleever their children are holy 1 Cor. 7.14 and if so then surely they are capable of the Sacrament of entrance into the Church nor are they so called holy because they are legitimate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
them to that one place in which God had appointed to put his name Deut. 12.5 6. so that we may by better reason pull down all private Conventicles that people may be brought to the place of Gods publick worship They may as well be afraid to pray in any Parish called by a superstitious name as in the Church so called if they neglect the doctrin of faith which directs us to the true use of every creature 3. The Church is taken personally and so for either the Church malignant Psal 26.5 called the congregation of evill doers and sometime for the true Church or any assembly thereof and that company is called Ecclesia as the assembly of the Jewes was called the Synagogue and of wicked men a congregation because like greges a flock of cattell they met together disorderly as Acts 19.39 41. Aug. in Levit. Q. 57. called the Beasts of Ephesus 1 Cor. 15. though sometime they be used indifferently one for the other as Lev. 8.3 So that all the three words Kuriake Synagogue and Ecclesia signifie a Church or an house set apart for a people to meet in about sacred occasions which people are the Church personall which Church is to be considered as it is known to God or to us As it is known to God who only knoweth who are his we rather beleeve it then see it as our Creed teacheth when we say I beleeve in the holy Catholick Church that is I beleeve there is such an universall Church dispersed throughout the world though I know not the parties Beside this Church is to be considered not only in the whole but in the parts whereof every holysociety is a communion of Saints and so the Church is partly known to us at least in outward calling to be Saints and in an answerable profession of it As the Brown hold Not therefore such an holy society is meant as is totally and perfectly sanctified and fully obedient to the whole will of God revealed for such a communion was never found in Adams family there was a Cain and Noahs Ark clean and unclean men as well as beasts that were as unlike in their conditions as the Raven and the Dove Aug. in Joh. 6. Beda in Rom. â— as Shem and Cham Rebecca had Esau in her womb as well as Jacob the Church of Israel had a world of wicked in it in Christs little Colledge was one traitor in the field of the Church is tares as well as wheat and a through reformation or purgation of them cannot be till the worlds end Zuinglius art 34. Mat. 13.29 yet this Church is called the kingdome of Heaven in the New Testament because it makes us to be of heavenly natures and guides us to Christs heavenly kingdome But if we will be of a congregation absolutely holy Socrat. schol lib. 5. cap. 10. we must get a new found ladder to go up to heaven as said Constantine to Acesius the Novatian Bishop Mathe. What is meant by this personall Church Phil. Not any one man as the Papists make the Pope to be the Church virtuall nor a company of any creatures save men for bruits are uncapable of rationall doctrine nor are Angels tied to it for Christ is not their nature but the seed of Abraham Heb. But the Church personall is a company of people every where dispersed effectually called ordinarily by the ministers of the word from the prophanesse of the world to the supernaturall dignity of Gods children to whom they are united in Christ by faith and to one another by love In which people we are to consider their invisible essence and their visible existence First their visible existence which they have in common with the visible Church being admitted into it by that way that God in his word hath appointed for that purpose as the Jewes were by circumcision under the law and both the professors of Christ among Jewes and Gentiles by baptisme under the Gospell Secondly they are to be considered in their invisible essence which is faith in God through Christ and love to one another This Church is included in the visible Church though not so plainly discerned as the visible is yet they partake of the same blessings and afflictions with the Church visible as a child in the womb of the mother partaketh of her joies and griefs Mathe. I pray Sir shew me the state and condition of the visible Church and how to distinguish of the invisible company from others meerly visible if it may be Phila. The visible is that universall and Catholike Church which God hath endowed with the means of salvation through Christ typed or preached as he was typed and prophecied of the Jewes were a chiefe part of it as they were a setled Church but before that it remained in the family of Adam and Sheth and Noah whose Ark was a type of the Church Then after the flood in a few families especially in those that came of Shem from whom came Abraham in the ninth generation after him being the son of Terah whom God called from Vr of the Chaldees and with him setled his Covenant of Christ first promised to Adam From him came Isaac Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs and from them the people called Israel after old Jacobs name given him of God But afterward were called Jewes of Judah whose tribe stood to the house of David and was the Kingly tribe yet in processe of time it came to be a name of profession or distinction from the ten other tribes who worshipped in the Temple of Samaria John 4.20 built upon the mount Gerizam between whom there was a feude implacable as John 4.9 and St Paul affirms it a name of religious profession Rom. 2.28 he is not a Jew that is one outwardly but inwardly But these were once the true visible Church especially after their redemption from Egypt by Moses and Aaron by whom God gave them lawes Ecclesiasticall and Civil which were put in practice first in their travels in the wildernesse and quiet possession of Canaan under divers sorts of Governors as first Moses secondly Joshua and then under Judges Aug. de civit dei l. 18. c. 22. for the space of 320 years next under Kings about 520 years till they were carried captive to Babylon for seventy years Then they returned by King Cyrus his leave and had commission to rebuild the Temple which was forty nine year in finishing From that time they were under the power of the Medes and Persians and such Deputies as they appointed called the heads of the captivity such as Mesullam Hanania Benechia Husadiah Zerobabell of the line of David as also other ten more after Alexander the great yet still there was a visible Church among them Next the government divolved to the Machabees of the tribe of Levi and in them continued till Herod by the Roman power deprived them of all soveraignty In whose time Christ was born 536 years after the captivity
of Babylon who like Daniels stone put all the former monarchies down by setting up a new spirituall kingdome in mens hearts to which even Kings themselves should be subject Now when he came he found the Church of the Jewes in much confusion by Sects and schismes of Pharisees and Sadduces Herodians and few that would entertain his doctrine yet some there was that were his disciples and followers whom having converted by preaching and confirmed by miracles and given his Sacraments as seals of his New Testament he suffered death by the Jewes envy and the unjust judgement of Pilate for mans redemption as hath been declared and rose the third day after for our justification and about 40 daies after having instructed and confirmed them in the rule of his spirit all kingdome in the Church he ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Ghost down upon them who were with the rest of his disciples his visible Church which they mightily increased by their travels among the Gentiles after the Jewes had persecuted and despised the Gospel Mathe. Where was now the visible Church Phila. It was translated to the Gentiles who were before without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Eph. 2.12 strangers from the covenant of promise and had no hope but were without God in the world destitute of all good and possessed with all evill though convinced of a godhead by nature Rom. 1.19 but rightly knew him not some said that he was One of himselfe another that the world was his son so that when they came to worship God Orph. in 1 Sect. de Deo Tresmig in Pimaud c. 9. they did it by idols as I have told you seeking God downward in the creature by which they should have been led upward to God yet God of his infinite mercy takes this wild Olive and plants it upon the stock of the Jew Jesus the root and off-spring of David that they might be the children of Abraham by living in the faith of Abraham which is rightly to be a true visible Christian whether Jew or Gentile Mathe. Wherein consisted Abrahams faith Phila. In beleeving that God would raise up one out of his seed in whom mankind should be blessed even Jesus Christ whose sufferings were signified by sacrifice without which analogicall relation they could never have savoured sweetly with God And as beleeved on Christ to come so Christians beleeve on the same Christ passed And this beliefe is the essentiall being of a true Christian that is a trusting upon Christ by faith for perfect redemption And this is that makes the difference between the visible and invisible Christian for the visible or externall Christian is one that partaketh of the visible priviledges of the Church as Word and Sacraments but not of the invisible graces thereof they hear and understand not they receive but perceive not they read but beleeve not they beleeve literally not spiritually they conceive but do not produce Christ but abortively But the other Christian is not only visible by profession and participation of the common rites of the Church but is also a partaker of the invisible graces offered and conveied under those outward mysteries of the Church by the grace of faith which only justifieth him to Godward Jam. and produceth good works whereby he is justified in his faith with man and approved a true visible Christian But God requires only faith to justifie before him Orig. in Rom. 3. cap. for the Lord required not of the penitent theefe what before he had wrought nor did expect what work he should fulfill after he beleeved but being justified by the confession of his faith in Christ our Saviour joined him as a companion with himselfe being now ready to enter into Paradise And that this is the essentiall being of a true Christian these Authors following will manifest namely that such invisible Christians are justified before God by faith Rom. 3. without the deeds of the Law so saith Ignat. in Epi. ad Ephes Justin in dial cum Tryphon Clem. Alex. in strom 7. Aug. ad Bonif. l. 3. c. 5. Chrysost in Genes hom 26. Ambr. in Rom. 3. Basil mag de humilitate Victor Antiochenus in Marc. 5. Raban in Ecclum c. â— Remigius in Psal 29. Idiota c. 6. de conflictione carnis animae Giselbert in alterc c. 8. Theoph. in Rom. 10. Bern. serm 3. de adventu dom Rupertus in lib. 7. in Joh. c. 7. Foleng in Psal 2. Fulgent ad Monim l. 1. Honorius in spec Ecclus de nat dom Ferus in 1 p. pass dom Aquin. in Lect. 4. super Gal. 3. sic in Rom. 3. All these hold with St Paul Rom. 3. and c. 10. with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Therefore the Primitive Church baptized after such confession was made as Abraham was circumcised after he beleeved Rom. 4.11 yet Isaac was circumcised and all the children of Israel at eight daies old except when they travelled through the wildernesse into the faith of Abraham So the children of Christians were baptized into the faith of their converted parents Cypr. â—p 59. See the bapt of the Church of Geneva printed 1641. they beleeving in their parents in whom as infants they had only sinned and for whom their parents beleeved as well as for themselves And though this practice be not set down in the Scripture by verball command yet considering that Christ gave some commandements by voice to his disciples touching things pertaining to the kingdome of God Act. 1.2 3. And this practice being of so great antiquity in that kingdome of God i. that is the Church we need not make doubt of it except we will be contentious against the Churches custome See Hookers Eccles Politic. lib. 1. sect 14. Dr Field on the Church l. 4.30 1 Cor. 11.16 which ought to over-rule mens fancies and stand as a law to quiet conscience because the Church is directed by the same spirit that gave the Scriptures 1 of Thes 4.8 and therefore Paul exhorts them to keep the traditions they had been taught either by word or by Epistle And that baptizing of infants was an Apostolicall tradition may be gathered both from Councils and Fathers as I have in part declared and of which you may read farther in Aug. l. 10. de gen ad lit c. 23. So Orig. Com. in 6. Rom. Cypr. Epi. ad Fidum Concil Cartha and Concil Melivitan doth curse those that deny baptisme to children See also Irenaeus in his 2. lib. cant Heres c. 39. And if it were so anciently practised and no direct time set down when it began we may well conceive that it was delivered to the Church by by the Apostles and not taken from the Pope who did not apeare many hundred years after baptisme of children was used in the Church Now this baptisme is the first mark of a visible Christian who next is discovered by those works which
Dan. 8.25 and the land of Judea the land of Tzeby Dan. 11.16 and Antiochus a man of an hard face i. impudent and minding hidden things i. secret wickednesse hardly practised by any before him So the Apostles did obscure the Emperours and Popes of Rome under the terms of Beasts and Antichrist lest they should provoke them to persecute the Christians before the time For the Beast was and is not and yet is Rev. 17.8 He was in rising an hundred yeers after Constantine and then was not i. even almost extinct by the invasion of the barbarous Goths and Vandals and yet is i. recovered and gets the place of Rome once governed by Kings Consuls Dictators Decemviri Triumviri which some Writers say are the five heads or Kings spoken of Rev. 17.10 and the sixt was an Emperor which St Iohn saith is and the other was not yet come namely the Pope who when he did come continued not long but he was dispossessed by the Goths But then he recovering againe made up the seventh by assuming the temporall power and yet appeared as an eight because he had a spirituall power divers from the former Of all which matters of Antichrist and his ruine one concludeth well in these verses Antichristus eat Christus comitatus ab alto Coelicolis properat Gog Magog ecce ruit Ecce ruit regnum serpens detrusus ad orcum Bestia tum sequitur cauda propheta dein Cauda propheta dein populus seductus ab ill is Veh miseris ter veh qui fide deficiunt Mathe. Though I find by what you have said that the Pope is not the head of the Church yet may I not think the Papists and many other hereticks and schismaticks to be of the body of the Church militant Phila. You cannot justly so think for the Church militant is that part of the Church Catholick which under the banner of Christ her head fighteth or is ready to do it against his enemies the world flesh and the devill and all their crafts and errors and their afflictions in spiritual armour Eph. 6.13 But they do not so not that I think they are a company of men perfect and void of sin as the Catharists and Anabaptists do nor are they such Aug. lib. de heres cap 88. Cyp. lib. 4. Ep. 2. as having never id in matters of faith refuse to retain any sinners in their congregation as the Novatians and Donatists did But yet not such a company as consist only in outward profession and communion of Sacraments under one Pastor the Pope but have the internall vertues of faith hope and charity whether living under the Law of the Gospell yet we exclude not as the Papists do from this Church all that are not baptized or under the examination of Catechisme or all kind of hereticks apostates excommunicate persons or schismaticks farther then they wilfully continue such nor doe we think that reprobates and hypocrites are members of the Church though they outwardly professe themselves so Mathe. I pray make this appear Phila. First many that are unbaptized and but under the discipline of catechising may be and are members of the Church militant because many such are included in the covenant Act. 2.39 as the Eunuch Acts 8. and Cornelius Acts 10. yea Rahab in the Old Testament mentioned Heb. 11.31 and the theefe crucified with Christ and many were martyrs before they were baptized Beside as many have been baptized who were never true members of the Church 1 Iohn 2.19 for many sheep are out of the fold Aug. in tract 45. in Joh. and many wolves within so by the same reason many unbaptized may be members of the Church militant Bel. lib. 1. de baptismo c. 6. though not visible because they may have the baptisme of fire and blood though not of water So we say that hereticks and apostates stubbornly continuing such are not of this Church because they have made shipwrack of faith and therefore are to be shunned by the faithfull being not of their society 1 Iohn 2.19 Yet we cannot deny them admittance upon their returning and repenting And so we account of schismaticks Concil Nicen. cap. 18 19. who rent themselves off from the Church Christs mysticall body and so is no part of it because they break the union of members with the head and one another and therefore so standing they cannot be members of the Church no more then a branch rent from a tree can be part of the living tree or a member cut from the body to be part of the living body So those that are justly excommunicate in the right sense of the Catholick Church and have no mind to return and to be reconciled cannot be of the Church militant because such want repentance and love and peace But because the whole Catholick Church cannot personally or actually excommunicate one some think therefore that whether excommunication be inflicted justly or unjustly one is but cast out of the Church visible or some particular Church Indeed sometimes it may very well be so but if it be done by the rule of the whole Church surely it is all one as if done by the whole or the representative body of the Church because the same spirit guideth any part if they go by a true rule which guideth the whole as 1 Cor. 5.4 and therefore in ancient time Nic. Conc. Can. 5. if one Church did excommunicate a man another Church might not absolve him It is true that a man unjustly excommunicated is only cast out of the visible Church John 9.34 35. or particular Congregation and therefore he retaining his faith and baptisme is neverthelesse a member of the Church militant yea a man justly excommunicate yet upon his repentance is a member of the Church militant and ought to be admitted into the visible Church and particular Congregation as was the incestuous person 2 Cor. 2.7 8. for the censure of excommunication is to such a man only corrective 1 Cor. 5.5 not destructive for though it be said there for the destruction of the flesh yet I suppose that he was not delivered to Satan to be killed but rather that he finding himselfe cast out of the Church which is the kingdome of God and so deprived of the benefits thereof conveied to men by praier word and Sacrament and so in the devils power it might work in him a mortification of fleshly concupiscence by true repentance Nor do we set open this Church door so wide as to account reprobates of the Church militant nor yet notorious sinners without repentance for the members of the Church militant are living stones built upon the corner stone Christ 1 Pet. 2 5. in whom they are chosen and inrolled as his souldiers and are Saints by efficacious calling because predestinated thereto Rom. 8.30 which reprobates are not So manifest and notorious sinners are not of the Church militant because they fight not against sin but subject themselves to it
spirit of judgement and burning Esa 4.4 both to condemn our selves and to consume our drosse therefore it continually lusteth against the flesh and makes our hearts to rise against sin Gal. 3. as it doth against any thing we hate and if at any time we yeeld to the flesh this good spirit becomes like a voice behind calling to us that we are out of the way Esa 30.21 by daily good motions and checks of conscience and by baptizing us with fire Mat. 3.11 inflaming our hearts with an holy revenge upon sin and with a love to all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth Then next he doth infuse divine graces into the heart which are like so many letters commendatory of us to God as faith to beleeve above reason naturall as Abraham did Rom. 4.17 and without any visible means Heb. 11.1 so also he worketh in us love to God by which we tender the pleasure of God above all things in doing and suffering of which we are never ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by this holy spirit which he hath given us Rom. 5.5 and makes us wait by hope for the righteousnesse to be revealed Gal. 5.5 with longing and sighing Rom. 8.23 and praying by the spirit of supplication poured by him upon us Zac. 12.11 and never leaves till he hath made us partakers of the divine nature resembling God in selfe-contentment though we be shut out of the worlds society and in being in love with good men that are begotten of God 1 John 5.1 therefore he is called the spirit of love Rom. 15.30 and in wisedome Mar. 13.11 whereby the elect discern those mysteries which none knoweth but God and they for they are not discerned by others 1 Cor. 2.14 and also in transforming them into the practise of those things they hear and beleeve by this spirit from one glorious grace to another 2 Cor. 3.18 and this through the sanctification of obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 by which he gives us comfort by giving us peace of conscience and joy in assurance of remission and freedome from the guilt of sin in which respect he is called the comforter John 16.7 and so he is but especially in the times of affliction wherein he gives them such tastes of heavenly glory as makes them to contemn all earthly things and rejoice in tribulations Rom. 5.4 because this spirit of glory resteth upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 Thus he goeth alwaies with the elect working in them a spirituall strength to persevere though sometimes they be like smoking flax almost choked in their sad melancholy fumes or like bruised reeds that have no strength then doth he establish the inward man Eph. 3.16 by nourishing the seeds of grace sown in our drie ground by his sweet dew from above Esa 44.3 and by his secret and powerfull assistance in the times of triall 2 Cor. 12.9 bearing witnesse to them that they are the sons of God for all their crosses in this world Rom. 8.15 which he sealeth to them by the promises beleeved concerning Christ and himselfe Eph. 1.13 All which considered we should make much of this spirit and not grieve it nor quench it Not grieve it by acting without it by our own sensuall desires and separating our selves from the societies where he doth affoord his gracious dispensations Jud. 19. or do not acknowledge his power in giving them skill and abilities to perform their severall places and callings nor asking counsell of him or direction from him Esa 30.1 but rather despise it even in his ordinances 1 Thes 4.8 and turn their ear from it as Neh. 9.20 30. and harden their hearts against it Zac. 7.12 and rebell against his doctrine and so grieve him in his ministers Esa 63.10 and Acts 7.51 as St Stephen told the Jewes yea to tempt him by venturing to try whether he will punish them or no as Ananias and Saphira did Acts 5.9 by all which they shew that whatsoever portion of the spirit they have received yet it is in vain Also we must not quench it as some do fire by casting on water or withdrawing that which should feed it â— Tim. 1.6 or lose it as we do springs for want of endeavor to draw or pump them And this men do when after they have had some taste of heavenly gifts in remorse for sin or some joifull apprehensions of Gods promises yet they fall away and having begun in the spirit yet end in the flesh Gal. 3. So when they fall into grosse sins after calling to grace they cause the Holy one to cease from them in his operation for a time and so lose the joy which formerly they found in Gods service So do they discourage the spirit of their Teachers so that they cannot do their work with joy but griefe Heb. 13.17 Thus by living in known sins they sad the spirit which would seale them to the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 which may possibly conduce to the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost if these be not repented of Mathe. I pray declare to me that sin as plain as you can Phila. It is a wilfull and totall falling away from the grounds and true beginnings of Christ and from that spirituall fellowship which one hath had with the people of God therein after ones illumination and outward sanctification contemning the Gospell and despighting the methods and operations of the Holy Ghost without repentance even to death All this may be gathered from Heb. 6.4 5 6. and Heb. 10.25 26 27. But this must be rightly understood As first that he must be one inlightned with some competent knowledge in true religion and sanctified by outward calling at least to the covenant of grace Heb. 10.29 and the seals thereof though not sanctified by saving grace which shewes it selfe by true repentance from all sin and by relying on Christ by faith for his salvation So next he must wilfully apostate Heb. 10.26 as it were without temptation not as David by lust or Peter by feare yea it must be a totall falling from all parts of truth which may possibly over-power his nature by the terrors of the law Also he must despise the Gospell and even loath the way of salvation by Christ and scorne the Gospel which is the meanes of sanctification and hath in some manner worked formerly upon himselfe some change of mind and manners Besides he must offer some despight by blasphemie and persecution and that not of ignorance as Paul did but of desperate malice and that not only to the person of the holy as many have done to the person of the Father and Son by many presumptuous sins but to the work of grace and operating power of the Holy Ghost in us by which God commeth more neer to us then in other things or to his power shewed outwardly for approving Gospel-truth So the Pharisees blasphemed the miracles of Christ saying that they were wrought by Beelzebub Mat. 12.24 whereas be did them
some may not also into the children of Christians by his preventing grace convey so much seminall grace as may make them capable passively at least of this Sacrament of entrance Beside why may they not be admitted upon their parents faith as well as Christ cured some for the faith of others as the Palsey man and the woman of Canaans daughter and the centurions servant especially they having only sinned in their parents I see not but the imputation of their parents faith may possibly remove that which is imputed for the parents fact through that means which God in Christ hath ordained and so as they sin by another so in this case they may beleeve by another that as the malady is brought upon him without his will so without his will it may be healed Cypr Ep. 59. for no doubt the grace of God in Christ aboundeth above the guilt of Adams sin Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. and so the ordinance of Baptisme required and applied by the faith of the parents answereth to the ordinance of imputation of guilt for the parents fact and so Gods waies are equall that he may be justified in his doings and clear when he is judged By all which it may be collected beside from the ancient custome of the Church which is not to be despised that parents may without fear and in faith bring their children to baptisme Mathe. But how shall I resolve the fearfull in mind about their refraining to the Lords Supper Phila. Their fears may be good or bad If they be good as fear of their unworthinesse as Job feared all his works they be the fitter guests for this Table whose precious viands is able to remove that cold Systole of fear and bring forth the warm Diastole of faith both which those that have the spirit of God do breath at certaine times Psal 119.131 this may be a filiall fear of offending God by their unworthinesse But a despairing fear is bad as if Christ would cast thee away when thou commest to him and so is a panick fear when thou canst give no account of it so is an erroneous fear of taking the Communion in a mixt assembly because I have not a certain good character of all present or do certainly know that some of them are not so strict and conscientious livers as they ought to be For it is true that many are not to be admitted as the unbaptized and those that are ignorant of the grounds of religion and of the mystery of this holy Sacrament and some are to be sequestred from it as Adam from the tree of life lest he prophane it and as the leprous out of the camp lest they infect others so are obstinate and scandalous men and inordinate walkers Mat. 1â— 1â— 2 Thes 3. pertinacious hereticks wilfull schismaticks are to be suspended and they that neglect to do it if it be in their power do highly offend God But now let the fearfull consider whether they consent or allow of the one sin or the other if not he need not fear or whether it be in his power to separat those vile from the precious if not let it content him that God hath given him an heart to grieve for the disorder or if thou hast power to separate one from the other thou must be carefull that you mistake not the wicked for the just lest while you fear to beguilty of spilling the blood of Christ yet thou bringest the blood of some of his flock upon thee because thou takest from them the food allowed them by their Shepherd Consider therefore your fear to receive in a mixt assembly whether it proceed not from selfe conceit that you are more holy then others or that you may be defiled by them or that it is sinfull to accompany with such at the Communion and search if you can find any prohibition for it or reprehension in Scripture for so doing you may find prohibition of mixing with scandalous Christians company in common society and at meat not in sacred things 1 Cor. 5.11 So in 2 Thes 3.14 they are bidden to have no company with those that obeied not the Apostles words in that Epistle that was that Christians should walk orderly and laboriously in their callings So then they must forbear the company of such in common conversation not at the Lords Table for were it fit that the whole Church should forbear the Communion because of a wicked person there present surely nay but rather imitate Christs Disciples who did not avoid receiving the Lords Supper because Judas was there Luke 22.21 Neither did Christ forbid him because though inwardly bad enough yet be was not convicted of it and Christ not comming then as a judge would not censure him If we therefore look not narrowly into this feare it will make us neglect the duty we owe to God and the benefit God offers to us because another man doth not do his as he ought Aug. ex Cyp. lib de lapsis which is a thing disallowed by ancient Churches and Doctors namely that one is defiled with those mens sins that come unworthily to the Lords Table Mathe. How may one become a fit communicant of the Lords Supper Phila. The New Testament sets down two rules Christ bids us do it in remembrance of him St Paul bids us to examine our selves and shewes the danger of the neglect that it incurs judgement and the reason of that danger because for want of examination we discern not the Lords body By all which we may find what is the duty of a true communicant which no doubt consists in a right knowledge of the mystery of it and a true faith in the application of it both which to examine is our preparation Therefore we are to consider First the thing it selfe Secondly the relation that it hath to Christ Thirdly the end of it Fourthly the fitnesse of a receiver The thing it selfe is a visible earnest of an invisible good expected by faith in Christ to whom we have right through his word of which the Sacrament is a seale In this Christ hath shewed his abundant love that he would not only make himselfe visible to us by taking our nature but also humble himselfe to our sense of tasting and feeling that we may not only see but taste and handle the word of life so that though he be gone far from us and above us in the union hypostaticall having taken our manhood into God yet he is with us by an union sacramentall that we may take him into our selves and by vertue thereof be transformed to his likenesse in righteousnesse and holinesse The next thing to consider is the relation the Sacrament hath to Christ First in the elements Secondly the actions of the receiver The elements are mean and plain bread and wine the common food of the poorest man in that Country where it was first instituted But the element is made excellent by the institutor Christ as sometimes coins