distinction between the several Ordinances of the Word and Sacraments we shall onely grant 1. That the Sacraments are no converting Ordinances in relation to men out of the Church and to turn men from Ethnicisme to Christianity although they be such to men within the Church Prae festi Morat p. 392. and to convert them from an Historical or Dogmatical to a lively-active-saving faith when Mr. Tombes inferres then breaking of bread is a converting Ordinance Mr. Baxter answers If you mean that it may convert who ever denyed it Yea or it may be useful to convert unsound Christians to sincerity 2. That perhaps appropriately rather than properly by a denomination taken from the more frequent and more ordinary effect thereof the Sacraments may be called confirming Ordinances and so contradistinguish'd to the Word 3. Though as seales obsignating and assuring conditionally they are not without some efficacy toward conversion as shall be shewed yet seeing in that way they convert onely by confirming converting to a true special faith by confirming and quickning a common general faith therefore as seals they may be said to be primarily confirming Ordinances and though also as seals actually and absolutely confirming relative grace and exhibiting the benefits and privileges of the Covenant they suppose faith either in fieri or facto esse Faith being the Condition of the Covenant whereupon those benefits and privileges are bestowed Art 45. or though as conjoyned to the Word for more ample confirmation thereof as the Confession of the French Churches hath it they in that respect are also called confirming Ordinances Quomodo enim duo vincula dicuntur uno fortiora duo testes fortiores solitario sic proculdubio longè plùs valeat ad confirmationem fidei Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 9. S. 32. promissionis obligatio Sacramentorum pignoratio quà m alterutra seorsim nimirum quia intellectus per se movetur in verbis per sensus in sacramentis as Chamier discourseth yet as they are signes shewing forth and representing the death of Christ and salvation thereby unto beleevers so they are means and moral instruments to beget that real grace which converts the heart in like manner as the Word doth those two the Word and Sacrament not having different effects and operations in relation to Faith but onely a different manner of efficiency and the one assisting and confirming the other toward the same effect But in their sense though this distinction this their Palladium as the old Heathens fabled of theirs may be pretended to have fallen from Heaven yet as other Images it was the work of mens hands and of a late framing and whosoever shall hotly strive to preserve it shall like Metellus rescuing the Palladium at Rome hazard in such flames the loss of his eyes But if we should by hypothesis allow the distinction in their sense yet it brings nothing pertinent in answer to our Argument for who hath so little of natural Logick if he have no artificial to judge that because the Sacrament is onely a confirming and the Word a converting Ordinance therefore it can possibly be consequent that pre-examination is requisite in order to right partaking of the former not the latter Who would not rather without any Prompter suppose that such examination were rather to be required for disposing men to be partakers of the Word whose effects are more general gracious and profitable as I have elsewhere manifested and where the hazard and danger both of damnum emergens lucrum cessans is more to such unpreparedness and indisposition and either due preparation is necessary to no Ordinances save such as confirm Faith and then men may come to the Word unprepared or else men may come to some Ordinances duly prepared without pre-examination Like Iphilus treading on the tops of Corn without any pressing them they tenderly insist upon this point and doe rather knock at this door than enter but let us survey their discourse Fatale aggressi sacrato avellere templo Palladium Some have contested against this difference but with small success It may probably be so in respect of perswading such as according to what Stapleton adviseth Look who speakes not what is spoken or such who are like Peleus Cedere nescius or like the Canes of China which are but hollow Reeds yet are as hard and impenetrable as Iron and like the Luciferians easier to be overcome than perswaded being perswasion-proof to all that checks with their Interests and therefore adde the many grains of their affection to supply the weight of reason and to turn the ballance their way Quod valdè volumus hoc facilè credimus We know the Spartans out-faced their great Defeat at Mantinaea set up their Trophees and arrogated the Victory besides the good Cause may not always have the best advocate Tully against Oppiaricus prevailed in a bad Cause and Aeschines against Ctesiphon miscarried in a good and some Advocates are like Pericles in the Theater who being vanquished by Thucydides will by their bold eloquence perswade that they are Victors But it shall as much intrench upon discretion as modesty for me to enter upon odious comparisons between the persons they mention or their Writings Vivorum ut magna admiratio ità censura difficilis one of those whom they so magnifie and I shall not strive to open wider the Pupil of their Eye to make either of them seem less is with one or two more of his Nation as the Tower of David builded for an Armory where hang all the Shields of mighty men they are I confess Stars of great Magnitude and perchance my Astralobe takes their Altitude at no lower Elevation than doth that of the Apologists and though I cannot move Concentrick with them in this Circle nor make them my Cynosure or such Stars whereby I guide my course yet the Apologists are more Anomalous to other of their motions and less follow their light For Mr. Prinne although perchance as he said of the Macedonians Quis non in hoc potest esse eloquens Yet I shall not dishonour him by my poor Desence which like Incense will more cloud than perfume his praise Frigida â—aus species est vituperationis although I shal only say that he being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magnus in omnibus it could not be expected that he should be non minor in singulis and being no less eminent for the multitude of his Writings than for the magnitude of his Learning and so much curious workmanship may not be looked for in a great Colosse as in a small Statue and that notwithstanding his Adversary encountred him in that subject which he had chosen as his Sparta to adorn and to make it his Master-peece as Apelles did the Table of Venus wherein to display all his Artifice and Pontice rem solam qui facit ille facit Yet notwithstanding all these advantages I may truly say Nec retulit praedas nec palmam victor
if it were not the same internal grace exhibited under divers external significative Elements As the Lutherans to verifie that opinion that the Sacraments conferre grace ex opere operato are constrained to assert a Total falling from grace so these men to defend and maintain with more facility this Tenent that the Sacraments are no converting Ordinances have also thought it expedient to deny also that they conferre grace and with an admirable confidence obtrude this as the Doctrine of all Reformed Churches I am not willing to start and prosecute more Controversies at once this which I have primarily taken into agitation will engage enough of time and paper I remember Torquatus his fate that though he killed an Enemy yet suffered punishment because he went out of his Rank and Order to do it I shall therefore appositely to the present subject answer That they need not tell us of differences between the Word and Sacraments no several things but have their different properties else they could not be severall things they might deliver us more disparities but what are those they mention to make a difference between the Preparation or Probation needfull to the one and the other and the Communion and Fellowship in the one and not the other Let it be as it is pretended that the one is a converting and the other a confirming Ordinance doth it therefore follow that there must be a preexamining of the fitness of men in order to the one and not the other that we may admit of the society and concurrence of formal Professors in the one and not in the other Let it be so as it is suggested but is not then the Word the more blessed gracious and venerable Ordinance as to give being is more than to supply food and to infuse life more than to increase strength and so calls for more reverence purity and preparation in order thereunto as more honour is due unto our Parents than to our Nurse and Lawyers put more weight upon those words in a Deed Give and Grant than upon that of Confirm Ipsum esse perfectissimum omnium 1. q. 4. ar 1. comparatur enim ad omnia ut actus nihil enim habet actualitatem nisi in quantum est saith Aquinas and the more noble Effects make the Causes more noble and is not the World to all Ordinances as Faith to the Just and to all righteousness the life and soul thereof Others beside Believers say they may be admitted to the hearing of the Word but yet must no care be had nor triall made whether those that hear believe or not or are disposed to believe And is it no matter whether the Word become the savour of death onely course must be taken that the Sacrament become not deadly no matter though the word be so And if none must be admitted to the Sacrament but those that have Faith then none can receive admission for who can be assured that another hath Faith which is rooted in the heart which onely God searcheth the hidden man of the heart is invisible to any forrein eys the hidden Manna cannot be tasted by any other than he that imbosomes it and the new name is not legible by any save a reflected beam of light If it be answered that they intend onely that such are to be admitted who by a discursive knowledge collected by external signes in the conversation and reasoning from one thing to another they conclude to be faithful and regenerate I answer that such knowledge is not infallible they may be deceived and doubtless are in many and therefore in admitting of some they must needs set the seal to a blank and are false Witnesses and practical Lyers in relation to such as notwithstanding this probation doe deceive them neither can their endeavors to the contrary salve the thing being notwithstanding done though it may render the persons more excusable for doing it who also must still be perplex'd and anxious whether the signes be sufficient and the judgment regular There may be also a partial and male-administration of Discipline and an approbation of the unworthy who may perhaps ascendere ad altare per gradus by stairs of favour sundry ways impetrated and in such cases wherein they yet prescribe that there ought to be no intermission of the Synaxis nor separation from the Church all the prejudices and pollutions and profanations which they so much amplifie and declaim against in mix'd Communions doe arise and occurre But what doe the Sacraments seal more than the Word assures save that the one applyes that more particularly which the other holds forth generally and doth it by a representation to the eye and hand and mouth which the other doth unto the Ear Circumcision is indeed called a seal of the righteousness of Faith And as by an analogy and proportionable accommodation may our Sacraments be so named so God openeth the ear and sealeth instruction also Job 33.16 and binds up the testimony and seals the Law among his Disciples Isa 8.16 Methinks when I reflect on this Argument of theirs I re-mind that sophisme of the Arminians who argue That which every man is bound to beleeve is true but that Christ dyed for him is that which every man is bound to beleeve ergo Which Argument seems to me to have some similitude with this That which seales Christ and remission of sins unto Faith pre-supposeth Faith in them to whom the Scal is applyed but the Sacraments seal Christ and remission of sins to Faith ergo and the like answer may serve to the one and other fallacy viz. That as no man is bound to beleeve that Christ dyed for him unless he beleeve and repent but is rather bound not to beleeve it the death of Christ becoming effectuall to him onely upon condition of his Faith and repentance and the assurance thereof viz. That he shall be saved by Christs death being a conolusion that results from a Major proposition he that beleeves and repents shall be saved by the death of Christ and a Minor I beleeve and repent so the Sacraments seal not the donation of Christ and remission of sinnes in and through him but upon the condition of faith and repentance just as the Promises hold forth Christ in the Word preached And therefore the Seal is not put to a blanck but offered to be set if Covenants be performed as a man seals a Writing to become his Deed when Conditions be performed else to be as an Escrol to the faithless the Sacrament is a Seal in actu primo not in actu secundo a Seal still in its own nature not in the effect a Seal objectively viz. of the conditional Covenant and Promises not subjectively viz. of Faith in that person as the Seal doth not ratifie the services of the Tenant but the Grant of the Lord upon condition of performing the homage and fealty Whether the Sacrament be a converting Ordinance or not I shall onely say succinctly That
but doubtingly For whereas it may be answered that it is enough to act with the judgment of Charity and to go as far as that can lead and direct I shall reply That Charity is very incompetent to hold the Beam when things are to be waighed out in the Scales of Justice and with à suum cuique tribuere Charity presumeth all are good that are not manifestly evil interprets all doubtful things concerning persons in the better part and judgeth aliorum bona certa meliora certa mala minora bona dubia certa dubia mala nulla which though it exalt the excellency of the virtue absolutely yet it shews it is not respectively fit to be a just Judge which must be impartial and by what signs soever he may seek to make judgment the possibility of being deceived will render him still pendulous and doubtful whether those signs be certain or his disquisition and deliberation sufficient and besides if any shall say that they admit none that are manifestly wicked but such onely as being closely and secretly such cannot be discerned to be hypocrites I shall answer them as Augustine did Cresconius Contra Cresc l. 2. c. 23 24 26. Tom. 7. p. 47.49 Cur conaberis occultum excipere peccatorem quem Scriptura non excipit non ait oleum manifesti peccatoris sed absolute oleum peccatoris Nec qui Baptizatur à mortuo manifesto sed absolute à mortuo ita nec occultus excipitur quo evertitur omne quod loquer's so in like manner they are unregenerate absolutely such to whom the priviledges of the godly are to be denyed and not occult unregenerate men onely 3. Why is the one Sacrament more the priviledge of the godly As cited by Bede on 1 Cor. 10. and often by Chamier v. g. Tom. 4. S. 11. c. 5. Sect. 27. or more makes those Saints to whom it is exhibited then the other Are they not both alike equally Seals of the Covenant of Grace and is not the Eucharist the renewing of that Covenant which was formerly made by us or others for us in Baptisme Et institutio paria et significatio similia et finis facit aequalia It is no ways to be doubted saith Augustine that every one of the faithful doth partake of the body and blood of Christ when by Baptisme he is made a member of Christ They administer the Sacrament of Baptisme to Infants of whose sanctity they can have no prognosticks and of whose Parents holiness they have no Diagnostick signs to tell me that other qualifications are more requisite to the one Sacrament then the other is nihil ad rhombum that is not now our subject matter but whether if the Sacrament of the Eucharist be imparted to any that give not satisfactory testimony of grace the priviledges of the godly be prostituted and if so why then it should not hold alike in the other Sacrament of Baptisme also truly as all the Rivers run into the Sea from whence chiefly they are derived so let the Learned perpend Whether these conclusions that seem to tend and lead thereunto Advers Anabapt l. 6. c. 9 p. 229. did not first flow from the principles of Anabaptisme that great Abysse of modern Heresies though perchance as Rivers they may seem at first to run a quite contrary course from the Sea and to move so silently that none can discern their motion thitherward Post doctrinam de caena domini scrupulosè quaerunt Anabaptistae saith Bullinger quorum causâ instituta sit et quibus danda est ac multa de separatione dicunt atque hac ratione caeâ—am domini amabilem et gaudio plenam horribilem tristem faciunt ac aditum ad eam adeo coarctant ut pii quoque homines ab ea abhorreant et eam potius fugiant quà m accedant And as a straight Line drawn out in length is weak and cannot be strengthned but by being re-doubled and bowed back again whereby it draws neer to the nature of a circular Line which is more strong by the support which each part yieldeth to another so let it also be considered by the Senate of the Learned for these points need rather Oedipus then Davus whether the Apologists can be true and firm to their principle of admitting none to the one Sacrament as being the proper priviledge of the godly without satisfactory tokens of godliness unless they also suspend Infants from the other until they grow into a capacity of giving such marks and demonstrations and also whether they can exclude the Parents from the one Sacrament without rejecting their Children from the other since the Parents Faith is the ground of claim to the Child and if a Dogmatical Faith and External Profession cannot entitle the Parent to the Eucharist whether can it give the Child a right to Baptisme since quod facit tale debet esse magis tale But for my part were I convinced of the truth of these principles of the Apologists I should have strong tentations to turn Anabaptist and doubt I could not else be true to them or maintain them This may also pertinently serve to blank or founder their Hackney Argument that the seal is to set a blank and false testimony that is given by a promiscuous admission for when the Sacrament the seal of Faith is administred to those that are not true Believers the seal is set to testifie and confirm that truth of sacred Writ If thou believe thou shalt be saved which is the compendium and abstract of the Covenant This promise is made to unbelievers though it be the object of Faith but the thing promised which is the appropriate object of Hope is not to be acquired by any that performs not the condition Besides not onely by the rule of contraries nor alone by an equal accommodation of that rule in interpreting the Laws Praeceptum faciens includit praeceptum non faciens Mark 16.16 and therefore consequently the promise made to doing implies the threat against not doing but even in terms it is exprest that as he that believes shall be saved so he that believeth not shall be damned and therefore the Sacraments being seals of the Covenant as they confirm and ascertain the mercy to the faithful partakers so do they the judgement to the unfaithful receiver and therefore never is the seal set to a blank to whomsoever applied for somewhat of holy writ is still sealed either salvation or damnation according to the performance of the condition or not as the same Deed or Writing sealed and delivered may according to Covenants contain a grant and confirmation of a right and estate upon condition of some services and upon default thereof that right and estate to be forfeited and a mulct or penalty to be then incurred and he to whom the Original is sealed may seal back his counterpart and oblige himself to observe the condition before he have performed it and though perchance afterward he break
it and so analogically he may receive Gods seal the Sacrament and set his own by taking it that yet believes not and as in the Word preached which is the savour of life unto life and of death unto death and a sweet savour howsoever in both he that believes takes his part of the promise he that doth not receives his portion which is the threat so that to either it may be said tolle quod tuum est vade and the terrour of the threatning may conduce and dispose to the acceptance of the promise as fear introduceth love as the needle doth the thread in the expression of St. Augustine even so it fares in the visible Word the Sacrament Farther when the Sacrament which is Gods external Seal of this promise is applied to an unbeliever it hath all that is essential to Gods actual sealing of the truth thereof the promise being made and published the Sacrament by institution signifying it by similitude representing it by sanctification assuring it and God thereby engaging himself to verifie it in respect of external sealing nothing more is done to a true believer for of internal sealing and making the external to be successful or efficacious is not the question neither may we confound the external sealing with the inward which is made by the spirit onely nothing is done more in relation to sealing to him that performeth the condition than to him that fulfilleth it not As when a Writing is sealed and delivered to the use of two to become a Deed when a condition is complyed with or else to be as an escrol he indeed that observes the Condition onely hath the estate thereby conveyed but the sealing is alike to both And this Conditional proposition is an absolute truth even when made unto a Reprobate though it be false that he believes and that he shall be saved yet it is true that if he believe he shall be saved for if the connexion be true though both parts severally considered or though one or other of the parts resolved into a Categorical proposition be false yet the proposition is true Dr. Kend. ubi supra the verity whereof depends on the connexion between the Predicate in the Antecedent and the Predicate in the Consequent which put together so as the Predicate of the Antecedent become the Subject and the Predicate of the Consequent be made the Predicate in a Categorical proposition it will result onely into this indubitable truth He that believes shall be saved Indeed if this Sacrament should be exhibited to an Infidel not added to the Church who had entred into no Covenant with God nor assented by any Historical Faith to the written Word or should have the Sacraments exhibited without the Word then they might argue that the seal were set to a blank but being exhibited to those who are in Covenant with God as all are that be of the visible Church how else can their children be baptized and have received by a Dogmatical Faith the written Word of promise whereof the Sacraments are seals there can be no blank but in the argument if they shall in this case urge it they will not say that it is an untruth or false testimony when it is delivered in the Word though unto reprobates to whom that promise is offered and the offer chiefly bottomed on the sufficiency of Christs death to save all that shall believe it being true that Christ by his death merited salvation for all upon condition of believing if thereby we imply onely the connexion between Faith and Salvation so that all believers shall be saved though it be not truth if we thereby intend that he merited salvation for all persons his death indeed being sufficient for all in regard of the price and merit thereof though we cannot properly say he dyed sufficiently in respect of Christs purpose in laying down his life and of the efficacy of his death I say the offer of this promise to reprobates is grounded chiefly on the sufficiency of Christs death to save believers and partly on our insufficiency to know who shall believe And if this proposition be no false testimony when it is held forth in the Word wherefore should it cease to be true when it is given in the Sacrament why should the same thing be true when proposed thetically generally and to the ear and false when applyed hypothetically particularly and to the eye as if the essence of truth consisted in the manner and way of representation and not rather in the adaequation of things to the understanding If they shall object that the Sacraments are mutual engaging seals and as Gods seals on his part so ought the receivers to set their seals to the counterpart and when God obligeth himself to be their God conditionally they absolutely promise to be his people and therefore when wicked men partake of the Sacrament in them at least it is a false testimony while they profess to be what they are not and because all that are within the Covenant of Grace de jure should be Saints they ought to exclude all such of whom they are not satisfied and convinced that they are such de facto I answer 1. That I grant there ought to be the answer or restipulation of a good conscience in all for to be saved but not in all that partake of the seals of grace and salvation Yet whosoever receives them doth or ought to set his seal to what is thereby sealed to him which is onely that he that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved 2. Let them assign a cause why the same reason holds not in Baptisme and why upon that account they adjourn not the baptising of Infants till they can render that satisfaction seeing Baptisme is a seal of the Covenant as well as the Eucharist and the seal is set to a blank when the baptised hath no faith aswell as when the Communicant believes not 3. Not to mention that there is a kind of mutual Covenant between God and Man in hearing of the Word God obliging himself by his promises there revealed and in us there is a virtual engagement and profession of our religious reception of Gods will and subjection of our Consciences thereunto with belief of his truth hope of the good there promised and love of God which therein reveals himself all which though wicked men seem to profess yet nothing thereof they perform But to insist on prayer there is the like mutual Covenant God obligeth himself by his promise though indeed as Durand aptly Ames Cas Consc l. 4. c. 16. p. 187. promissio divina in Scripturis sanctis non sonat in aliquam obligationem sed insinuat meram dispositionem liberalitatis Divinae and thereby as Thomas Deus non nobis fit simpliciter debitor sed sibi ipsi in some sense to hear our prayers if made in Faith and in our prayers there is always an implicit and for the most part an
will and that they came no farther shall be their own fault and it is not his readiness to admit such nor the opening of the door of the visible Church that makes men hypocrites but their own wickedness Christ will not keep men out for fear of making them hypocrites but when the Net is drawn unto the shore the Fishes shall be seperated c. And in the precedent page he saith Their being baptized persons if at age or members of the Universal Church into which it is that they are baptized is a sufficient evidence of their interest to the Supper till they do by heresie or scandal blot this evidence and this after much doubting dispute and study of Scripture he saith he speaks as confidently as almost any truth of equal moment The way of pell-mell blinds men in their wretchedness very like blindes them with light and poysons them with the antidote just as the means is destructive to the end Light may indeed some-while a little blind some weak eys yet it is the proper means of seeing and to keep them in the dark will perpetuate their blindness not make them see better Doth it not argue blindness of understanding to think by any argument to evince that it shall either blind men in their wretchedness or impede their conversion by sealing to them an assurance that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they shall be saved by his death which is the sum of the Covenant of Grace whereof the Sacraments are Seals To raise our Structure the higher and make it stand more firmly we should perchance dig the Foundation deeper and because this erroneous principle is the Fountain of those bitter Waters of strife our Marah and Meribath it might seem expedient to cast a little Salt into the Spring of those Waters to heal them A Covenant is a mutual compact or bargain between God and Man consisting of mercies on Gods part granted over to man and of conditions on mans part required by God it results from Gods antecedent and voluntary love that he entred into paction with man and performeth his absolute promise of giving Faith and perseverance to his Elect to which promise no condition is imaginable to be annexed which is not comprehended in the promise it self but to Gods Covenant of conferring other mercies which flows from his consequent love which is a natural property in God whose proper nature inclines to reward good and evil is a restipulation and condition of duty annexed Of this conditional Covenant onely the former being indeed rather a promise then a Covenant being onely Gods act without any mutual act of man the Sacraments are divine external seals and I suppose it is no such just cause as may legitimate a war whether it be more proper to say they are conditional seals of the Covenant to testifie and confirm unto us that we shall surely acquire what God hath promised if we seal back as it were our counterpart unto God and performing the condition render unto him what he requires as a conditional promise is made absolute by performance of the condition which otherwise obligeth not That the Sacraments are not Seals of the absolute Covenant nor set to without respect to the condition carries the stamp or seal of the Corporation of Protestants and those which have set their hands to any Writing against Bellarmine in that controversie of the efficacy of the Sacraments have attested this truth And some others of the Luminaries of our own Sphaere have reflected much light upon the point I therefore whose harvest cannot attain to their Gleanings shall not light my Candle in the Sun nor in the worse sense bring an Owl to Athens Tu sequere à longe et vestigia semper adora It may seem as much delirous to discourse of Military Glory after Hannibal as it was for Phormio to do it before him and a Smith may seem already to have run mad in undertaking as he of old did to have effected the amendment of an instrument of Archimedes Onely I shall say that whatever some rather odiously then ignorantly insinuate this is yet neither the language of Ashdod nor carries any stamp or holds any affinity with Semi-Pelagianisme or if you will call it so Arminianisme which is Synonymous for Arminius and Socinus have had the fortunes to have these bastard and illegitimate Doctrines put upon them which had other elder Fathers as Sextus 5. his Obelisk and Farnezi his Bull and other Monuments though formed and erected by the old Romane Emperours are now denominated from those that of late times have redeemed them from rubbish and restored their beauty but the Doctrine we hold forth hath no Analogy therewith For beside that we assert Faith to be absolutely and infallibly infused by God per modum creationis and nothing to concurre to conversion ex parte voluntatis causativè sed tantum subjectivè and ut credamus to be wrought passively in nobis sine nobis although actively ipsum credere be produced nobiscum simul tempore consentientibus et co-operantibus whereas the Arminians symbolizing with the Jesuits affirm Faith to be purely an elicit act of Free-will through a moral perswasion onely upon an object congruously proposed alliciens consensum non efficiens and Grace whose name they have antiquated as well as destroyed the Nature substituting the word help or motion in stead thereof to be a general and indifferent influxe terminable by mans good or evil free-will Besides this we are now disputing of Gods Covenant and Promise in time not of his Decree before all time If thou believe thou shalt be saved is not of the nature of a practical decree but of a promise and is onely doctrinal and enunciative neither do we as they do make Gods Decree conditional but onely the execution thereof and not the will of God to save but the salvation of man Gods eternal purpose in saving being absolute in respect of any cause or condition impulsive in the object not in regard of the means in the execution and order to the end Gods promises for their form correspond not with his purposes his promises being according to the manner of his executions but his purposes have a different method What he purposes he performs for the matter but not as he purposed for the manner he saves in the same manner that he decreed to save but in executing or saving doth not follow the same order which he did in decreeing this which is last in execution is first in intention Dr. Kend. Vndicat part 2. c. 7. and that which is performed on a condition was absolutely intended the intention was to perform it upon condition but upon no condition was it so intended We do not therefore say God intended upon condition of Faith to give Salvation but that he intended to give Salvation upon condition of Faith intending to give Faith absolutely and Salvation conditionally But the Sacraments therefore being onely Seals of
seeing this was a concluding part and as it were the peroration of that other We would have as much care impended and forwardness manifested in making men worthy partakers as in having them to partake but we do not conceive there lies upon us any obligation to give or on others to take by triall an account of our worthiness nor that their title to the signs and elements the Sacramentum rei Panis Domini is rooted in or resulting from their worthiness but their Church-membership We wish every Heir were a prudent and temperate manager of his Inheritance but he must not be suspended from the enjoyment thereof till he demonstrate his temper and thriftiness his right accrews as Heir not as a good Husband or a sober man and yet while he is in infancy or an Ideot he is not admitted to manage it and by Outlawry he forfeits his personal and cannot sue for his real Estate and by Attainder forfeits the whole They tell us of the comforts they have found in their endeavours to preserve the dignity of Gods Ordinance They are very subtil or cautious to dispute against us so often with those arguments whereof we can take no perfect cognizance and for truth whereof we must take their word their inward experiences But to answer the dignity of good things is their communicableness and it is no indignity to the Sun that the Negro's partake his light though it scorch them but it seems that the Apologists are like the Eastern people that think it conduceth to the Majesty of their Kings to be recluded and shut up from publick intercourse whereas it were more for their honour to be imployed in the administration of the Office whereunto they were designed But if their endeavours have been formally as an Ordinance to preserve the dignity thereof they should have done the same towards all Ordinances by the Canon of per se de omni but their care hath not been like in such way to preserve the dignity of the Word and Prayer which we think and shall endeavour presently to shew to be Ordinances of like dignity and to be in danger of as much indignity as the Sacrament by a free and promiscuous admission so that we doubt that it will start much suspicion that there is an influence of Self and interest into their endeavours and their love to the dignity of this Ordinance is Amor concupiscentiae non amicitiae as that which will better serve their turn and fit their ends To condemn their people for not taking what they will not give them is paralel to the hard measure of some of our Kings that compelled some to fine for not taking the Order of Knighthood at the Coronation when as they came to tender themselves at the day and could not obtain it It seems to them below reason to see no difference between other Ordinances and the Lords Supper as to matter of examination It may perchance be below their reason which is at such an elevation but seeing Nos populus terrae quibus non licet esse tam disertis are not at such an ascendent it had not been below their charity better to inform us of this difference To hear without faith makes the Word become the savour of death In 1 Cor. 14.22 Ad Pop. Antioch Hom. 73. tom 5. p. 141. Confut. of Rhem. Test p. 528. and also to seal mens condemnation as Diodate in terms delivers it as to eat and drink unworthily makes the Sacrament turn to damnation Si nihil ex eo quod huc convenimus admonemur lucrari deberemus haec non modo nihil nobis prodessent verum majoris occasio damnationis fierent nobis saith Chrysostome do you think this a matter of less hainous offence to neglect his Word than his Body saith Fulk so there is no disparity in the danger of the one or other As previously to eating there is a command for a man to examine himself so dispositively to hearing there is a precept to take heed how we hear and several other qualifications are thereunto required 1 Peter 2.1 2. James 1.21 so as there is no inequality in the obligation to bring suitable dispositions The formal part in faithless hearing can no more be separated from the material than in unworthy receiving so as there is no disproportion in the hazard of sinning and with as little difference are the Principles and Reasons supposed to forbid the admitting of unworthy persons to the Sacrament extensive and applicable to the non-admission to the Word In 3. q. 80. art 6. p. 365. Universaliter in omni materia est contra jus naturae admittere indignos ad quaecunque beneficia as Nugnus argueth and either the Word is no Pearl nor holy thing or else though Pearls and holy the Sacraments may as well as the Word ex Hypothesi be cast before Swine and given to Dogs That prohibition primarily and directly respects and is intended as is elsewhere shewed to the not preaching of the Word to those that may fall under that metaphorical notion and is applicable to the Sacrament which was not then instituted onely extensione quadam Scripturae non proprio literali sensu To say that more apply this Text to the Sacrament than to the Word as it is impertinent to tell us how it is usually applied when we require how it is to be rightly understood so it is improper for them Ad similitudnem non rationem vivunt Seneca to make any such aid-prayer who would by a kinde of Petalism exile that Topick of Authority and make it an Utopick save perchance when it may do them service and then as Ockham to the Emperour they will defend with the Pen what shall protect them as with a Sword and if the Argument may be impress'd against an adversary then onely Hostem qui feriet fuerit mihi Carthaginensis But however if as they confess the Text may be extended to Hearers of the Word that comes full enough to our purpose for if as they dispute because the Pearl and holy things of the Sacrament are not to be cast or given to Swine or Dogs that is persons unworthy therefore it is of necessity to make triall who are worthy may not we with as good consequence and as much force of reason argue that because the Pearl and holy things of the Word are not to be dispensed unto such also that therefore they ought to examine who are such or not antecedently to such dispensation But farther also if as we argue and the Context will evince the prohibition be first and chiefly intended of preaching the Word then as the direct light is brighter than the reflected the first draught of any fancy in picture is more perfect than the second so the not casting or giving those Pearls and holy things being principally meant of the Word and applicable to the Sacraments onely in an accommodate sense it seems to follow that those
promises though with some more particular and appropriate application upon performance of the condition Chamier Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 9. S. 18 Easdem res confirmare quae prius erant solis verbis conceptae est enim ea signorum natura ut quae Diplomata in membranis sunt fiant efficaciora sortianturque effectum suum Sacraments having some analogy with an Oath wherewith God confirms the promise willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs thereof the immutability of his counsel non suam naturam spectans sed nostram infirmitatem and therefore Paraeus calls our Sacraments In Hebr. c. 6. v. 17. p. 888. God's visible Oaths as the very words saith he manifests for Lawyers call a solemn Oath a Sacrament and therefore they are Gods Oaths in confirmation of his Promises Si verbum meum non sufficit ecce signum do addes Chrysostome but then even in confirming Faith objectivè they consequently not onely strengthen but beget Faith subjectively as a Seal in confirming the Writing begets a beleef of the validity of the assurance and so are meanes of Conversion producing a firmer assent to the truth of those Promises which before were not effectually laid hold of Dico sacramenta saith Chamier esse notiora efficaciora fidei faciendae Ubi supra S. 24. p. 42. observe he saith faciendae non tantùm confirmandae ipsa promissione codem modò quo sigilla regia sunt notiora â—fficaciora ipso diplomate nimirum quia solent apud nos esse cognitiora certioraque quae in oculos cadunt quà m quae auribus admoventur As then he that is not satisfied with a bare single promise may credit an oath and then that oath is properly the means whereby he is perswaded into a beleef and as when a naked Writing is not held a good Conveyance until it become a Deed sealed and delivered that sealing and delivery makes good the assurance and is that which invests the right and interest so when the Word preached doth not profit being not mix'd with Faith in them that hear it the Sacrament that superadds to the Dogmatical or Historical Faith a fiducial assent doth not onely confirm but cause that Faith which justifieth and brings peace with God And to say it cannot properly be said to doe this because it doth it not without precognition of the word is as if they should say that because a Deed is a writing sealed and delivered that it doth not therefore become of force from the sealing and delivery but from the writing read or that an incorporal estate did alwayes pass when the grant alone was read and was onely confirmed by the sealing and delivery Though most of their cunning lye in such generalities yet I shall not insist on it that Christ hath promised to be with us in all his Ordinances unto the end of the world And that there are general promises that their hearts shall live that seek God Psal 6.9.32 Prov. 8.17 Matth. 7.7 Lam. 3.25 Psal 75.4 that the Lord will be found of them that seek him and is good to them that wait for him and to the soul that seeketh him and they that dwell in his Courts shall be satisfied with the goodness of his house and that this is extensible and accommodable to seeking and waiting on him in all his wayes and Ordinances and as a general rule extends to and comprehendeth all particulars not specially and expresly excepted so they must shew by direct and explicit proof that the grace of conversion is denyed to this particular ordinance or else it is included in the affirmation of such grace to be annexed to ordinances in general As the generative faculty for propagation of the species is still supported and enlivened by influence of Gods benediction Be fruitful and multiply semel quidem dicta est semper autem fit saith Chrysostome so the converting power in the Sacrament for continuance and dilatation of the Church is maintained and verified by the power of Christ's blessing of the Elements to the remembrance of him which commemoration is efficacious to the engaging of the heart to him The Sacramental Elements are the Body and Blood of Christ and the Blood of the New Testament shed for many for remission of sins as well by signification as by obsignation and the obsignation is but an higher kind of signification they are the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ In locum signifying and sealing them accompanied with their effect and spiritual reality saith Deodate by virtue of the Holy Ghost And why should not the signification be really effectual in production of reall grace as the sealing to the causing of relative or the signification have no such effect in the Sacrament which is so efficacious when made in the Word Beside every promise made to the Word Homil. 3. aâ—â— Ephes c. 1. is extended to the Sacraments which are but visible words And when Chrysostome in his Exhortations to frequent communicating affirms not onely by these things set before us viz. the Sacrament but by Hymnes also doth the Holy Ghost descend he implyes that by the Sacrament the Holy Ghost more evidently came into mens hearts than by the other means and whether that of 1 Cor. 12.13 of drinking into one spirit which the Syriack Ambrose Augustine and others render drinking of one spirit and which Calvin thus expounds Participationem calicis huc spectare ut unam Christi spiritum hauriamus and Piscator Etsi verbi auditionem sacramentor legitimam c. brationem spiritus consolans sanctificans sequitur remunerationis ergo potiores â—amen esse in eo sacramentorum partes neque sane leviter praetereundum est quod Paulus dixit nos spiriâ—â— potari eui nihil unquam simile protulit cum de verbi praedicatione locutus est Thes Salmur part 3. p. 40. Calvin in loc Piscator in loc Gerhard loc com tom 6. c. 20. p. 173. Chrys in homil moral 24. Ut regenerentur ab uno spiritu viz. Sancto and Gerhard Ex uno calice bibimus ut unum spiritum accipiamus refer not to the conferring of real grace as well as relative and so whether those Testimonies of Chrysostome and other Fathers which if I should muster up for my defence I might like that Romane Vestal be oppress'd with the multitude of such Bucklers concerning the Sacrament calling it Fundamentum salus lux vita medicamentum immortalitatis antidotum non moriendi the saying of Ignatius Renovationis regenerationis causa which is Nyssen's vivificatio spiritûs which is Cyril's Saint as mentis which is Cyprians c. relate onely to confirming not begetting of Faith let men more learned judge but truly I cannot beleeve Can they deny that the Sacrament by shewing forth and signifying the Lords death and putting us in remembrance of him and his Body broken and his Blood shed for the remission of sins is a part of the Gospel or good
till the work of Grace be manifest in them is to shut up the means from them till they have acquired the end to restrain them from Physick till they have recovered into health to forbid them to wash their hands with water till they be clean and to keep them from the fire till they be warm A great Master of the School sets it down as one difference between infused and acquisite habits Christian and Philosophical virtues Estius in 2. dist 27. sect 4. p. 384. that Virtus Christiana non requirit praeviam actuum frequentiam sicut virtus Philosophica sed etiam uno actu acquiratur aut sine actu praevio infundatur But if infused habits were wrought in the manner of acquisite as some conceive yet as in natural generations though the previous dispositions were precedent yet the introduction of the form is momentaneous so in Regeneration though the Word heard have wrought some preparations and predispositions yet the new heart may be conferred at the instant of receiving and the new name be given together with the Manna whereby the ultimate disposition to that form may be wrought by the infusion of the sacred Spirit and as though Sol homo generant hominem yet the man as the proximous and immediate natural cause is called the Father of the childe and not the Son so the Sacrament though enlivened and quickened by the Word may be notwithstanding justly named the moral cause of conversion and whensoever else that new heart is inspired and that change wrought yet as in natural mutations when there is a transition from one state to another and from privation to a form or habit the same individual moment is the end of the one and beginning of the other Illud in quo aliquid primo mutatum instans est and the Ultimum non esse unius est primum esse alterius and thereupon as the most of Philosophers affirm Omne quod movetur partim est in termino à quo partim in termino ad quens and also as In motu recto cum reflectione non datur quies intermedia so in some analogy herewith when there is whether by the Word or Sacraments a change from a carnal to a spiritually regenerated estate though there be antecedent dispositions to grace yet those being but preludial influences of grace therefore notwithstanding though the last act in the carnal state were suitable to that principle yet the first act in the spiritual flows from the fountain of that new life and it shall be a strange piece of unreasonableness to argue that because that man and that act were evil in the former instant that neither can be better in the next or that the precedent indispositions shall obstruct or vitiate the subsequent operations Relative grace is conferred by the Sacrament upon condition of faith which it may therefore presuppose as precedent in nature though it be simultaneous in time but real grace cannot precede nor presuppose faith for then it should go before and be presupposed to it self The gracious benefits of the Covenant are promised and proposed upon condition of faith but faith is not offered or promised upon condition of believing True faith onely gives an interest and right in the Res Sacramenti Panis Dominus but an historical dogmatical faith and outward profession thereof constitutes a Church-member and that lends the title to the Sacramentum rei Panis Domini and yet the receiving of the later may be a subservient means to elevate and promove that historical to a saving faith which may bring to the participation of the former And as sound faith is necessary to that hearing whereby the soul may live but not to hearing simply and absolutely but men hear that they may believe not onely because they have believed so it is in the receiving the Sacrament and what Chamier tells Bellarmine I may say to them that will have none but such as are approved faithfull to be admitted to this seal of faith Paulus circumcisionem pronunciat fuisse signum sigillum fidei Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 3. sect 20. p. 29. quid ergò sciebántue omnes ii qui circumcidebant infantes eos esse verè justificatos Yea though perhaps at the instant of receiving Recordatio tantundem saepè praestat vi illius spiritûs quantum rei ipsius eahibitio Theses Salmurpart 3. sect 23. p. 37. the heart feel no great warmth thereby yet may it catch such sparks from the ardency of Christ's love manifested in his death which though at first it made but a smoaking flax yet being fuelled by continuing meditations may by degrees grow into a bright and lively flame and the strength of that meat may be more manifested in the consequent walkings toward the mount of God just as Physicians advise weak and nauseous stomacks to eat though they have no present appetite because they shall feel the effects thereof in their future increasing strength But as it did not follow that if the Sacrament were no converting Ordinance that examination were a more necessary Antecedent to an admission so neither is it consequent that therefore none ought to be admitted that cannot convince others of their conversion for that conclusion cannot be distilled but by such a medium that unconverted men must not be permitted to do or undertake any duties which they cannot well and duly discharge but he that so judgeth is not yet converted from an errour as dangerous as manifest for the Apologists eliminate Prayer also from converting Ordinances yet know they have not yet met with any such new light as hath led them to thaâ— Paradox that no man not converted must pray All the moral actions of natural men though sometimes these falling Stars make a greater blaze than the fixed an Alchymy Lace hath a more glaring lustre than Silver were but Splendida peccata peccata quia non ex fide which is that onely Altar where the Swallows can finde a nest to lay their young saith Augustine Non bona quia nihil bonum sine summo bono nec placere ullus deo sine deo potest they were but Falsae virtutes in optimis moribus as Prosper and but Vitia quia non virtutes relatae ad deum simillima celerrimo cursui extra vâ—am the Tree was not good and therefore the Fruit was not and the inside of the Platter was not cleansed saith Basil and they could not convert nor dispose unto conversion for pure nature hath neither congruous impetratory merit nor proper preparations for grace as no stream can rise higher than the fountain yet these works good ex genere objecto evil ex circumstantiis fine neither formally nor virtually ordinate to God they were nevertheless obliged to perform and were sure of some reward for them either by increase of temporal blessings or lessening of eternal punishments they impetrate medious though not the highest mercie Ordinant bominem benè respecta
finis ultimi in aliquo genere L. 2. q. 65. art 2. p. 195. non autem finis ultimi simpliciter saith Aquinas A man therefore must do and may be permitted to do that good thing which he cannot do well and especially when the frequent acts may conduce to the obtaining of that habit which may enable to do better There are sundry duties and several good works which convert not which are a kinde of Isthmus between nature and grace and like as the twilight is an effluence of the rising Sun so these are but the results of dawning grace for operamur ex justificatione non ad justificationem saith Augustine Ronus es Domine animae quaerenti te quid tum invenienti sed hoc mirum est quòd nemo te quaerere valet nisi prius invenerit vis igitur inveniri ut quaeraris quaeri ut inveniaris Potes quidem quaeri inveniri non tamen perveniri and yet may be ordinate to conversion as conditions and qualifications by the influence and effect of grace in fieri though not in facto esse and why the attendance upon this Ordinance of the Sacrament if it were not converting may not yet be rank'd in this classis I cannot discover any cause to deny and then why those that cannot yet evidence their conversion may not safely be admitted to attend upon and partake of this Ordinance they will not finde colour to gainsay Their admission cannot be altogether frustrate for though the Sacrament have no immediate causality for such an effect as conversion yet it may be adjumental intermediously and subordinate thereunto and though it beget not the ultimate Bernard de diligen Domi. p. 951. Cajetan 3. q. 79. art 1. Valentia 3. disp 6. q. 7. punct 1. p. 91â— yet it may some previous dispositions for introductions of the form He that is less evil is more capable of good and he that moves but a foot is nearer the term than he that stirs not at all Cajetan though therein he enterfeit with his fellows who generally deny the Sacraments to confer the first grace unless by accident and by consequent as Valentia limits and explicates it confesseth Posse contingere ut sumens sit qui nec consequatur vitam gratiae nec de novo mortaliter peccet sumendo sed ità excusetur à peccato in sumendo ut propinquior sit vitae gratiae ex qua appropinquatione secundùm aliquos actus attritionis desiderii divinae gratiae pautatim perducatur divinâ duce misericordiâ ad occasiones verae contritionis ut â—andem aliâ forte vice sumendo gratiam verae conversionis percipiat When the Sacrament doth not convert in act and if it were not conversive in power yet is it not without effect when received by such as bring not faith with them at the reception as the Fathers compare the Sacrament to Manna so like Manna as some have thought thereof it relisheth according to the quality and disposition of the palate he that cats and drinks his condemnation hath from justice a suum cuique and that damnation is sealed to him by that receiving who now being without excuse shall be judged out of his own unworthy mouth and that kinde of sealing is one genuine effect of the Sacrament for Dicimus effectum Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 2. sect 4. p. 27. ut totius ministerii sic sacramenti esse infidelium quidem damnationem sed fidelium salutem saith Chamier He that receives the seals of the covenant seals back a counterpart to God accepts of the terms and assents to the conditions and as God obligeth himself to conferre the benefits promised if conditions be observed so the receiver concludes himself to suffer the punishments threatned if he perform not the conditions as in the gift of an Estate upon condition the Donor may plead the Charter against the Donce for a Forfeiture upon breach of conditions aswell as the Donee can allege it to prove his Title as long as he fulfills the condition and yet that actual sealing of damnation while men persist in that estate of infidelity may be a potential sealing of salvation as to that obsolete argument of the Pelagians furbish'd up and new trimm'd by the Arminians That supervacaneous were the comminations against Apostacy if there could be no falling from faith it is answered that the threatnings against recidivation from the faith are morally conducible and subservient to confirm and establish us in the same and as Luther saith The way not to go into Hell by condemnation is to descend into it by meditation so the impression of that seal of condemnation making them know the terrors of the Lord may perswade men and the spirit of bondage may so make way for the spirit of adoption Whatsoever the Grand Inquest of learned judgments shall do the Pety Jury of tender consciences will give up their Verdict of these opinions viz. That the Sacrament is no converting Ordinance and that none that have not or cannot give convincing arguments of their sound conversion may not partake thereof that they are Carnificinae animarum for consequently to the Principles of this Doctrine he who out of distress and affliction of conscience cannot make out the evidence of his conversion to himself and as we reade of some Melancholiks so there may be a melancholy in the conscience whereby men may suppose themselves spiritually dead when they yet live may not dare to come and he that being overcast with any cloud exhaled from mens uncharitableness prejudices or misprisions or his own bashfulness and natural inabilities cannot hold it forth to others may not hope to be admitted and they shall be most capable who can deceive themselves by their presumption or others by their handsome expressions and fair shews and so this Wine shall onely not be given to those that be heavy of heart nor this staff of Bread put into their hands that are weak and ready to fall and this will be interpretatively as if he alone that is sick must not take Physick and a Physician may onely administer to such as upon inspection into their state he findes to be of sound health and hereby also a way shall be smoothed to a kinde of private Masses for the Minister must needs communicate alone when he can be sure of no mans conversion but his own and may not admit any whom he hath not assurance to be converted for probability thereof is not ground sufficient but without faith thereof it must be sin since their rule for admitting is not whom they think to be converted but who are so and therefore God sets us out of this perplexity did we not involve our selves therein for he bindes us not to be responsible for other mens consciences but for our own because we cannot look into anothers but into our own he ordains us not to give judgment where we can have no evidence Et non datur scibile
pietatem ejus in dubium vocant videtur defecisse à parentis pietate Rivet in Gen. 18. Exer. 91. p. 353. and in c. 21. Exer. 104. p. 403. Ita Paraeus expressè in Gen. 16.12 17.21 p. 249. 259. Though the Covenant were established with Isaac yet Ismael whom the Hebrew calls a Wilde Asse and the Chaldee paraphrase retaines the Original word Metaphoricè pro homine insociabili ferinis moribus praedito saith Rivet and whom he and Paraeus Cajetan Pererius and others judge to be a profane man and a Reprobate and Mr. Broughton thinkes to be the onely evil man whose name is fore-told in Scripture though he had then no Title to the Inheritance yet he had the Seal of Circumcision to shew for it which was also given him saith Paraeus very observably Ut ei non minus quà m aliis offerretur rata maneret federis gratia donec eum ab ipsa manifestâ apostasiâ excluderet ità redderetur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deinde propter Disciplinam cuj omnes Abrahae domesticos subjectos esse voluit ut servaretur ordo vitarentur scandala And so also at the first Institution of this Seal all the Males of Abraham's Family were the Virgin Waxe as it were to receive the stampe thereof as well those bought with his Money as they that were borne in his house and it was impress'd on them the same day that the seal was ordained and they could then be put under no long tryal or great preparation and though it have better Evidence than that of Gen. 14.14 where his trained servants are according to that which some will have to be proper to the Hebrew rendred his catechized servants that Abraham had taught his servants the knowledge of God Gen. 18.19 Yet that they were by any former probation found all of them to have evident signes of holiness and that Abraham's Family had a Prerogative beyond Christs and was a Paradise without a Serpent it is very hardly imaginable or that it was as Scaliger of Virgil such a monstrum sine labe but their capacity of Circumcision was rooted in their being parts of Abraham's Family the Church and their admission to that Seal of the Covenant is made an Argument to prove that even the Children of Infidels Rivet in Gen. 17. exer 89. p. 343. taken or bought by and in the power of Christians may be baptized as hath been determined in a National Synod of the French Churches When the seal had been disused and for 40. years antiquated at the great sealing day when that great Body of the People was circumcised Josua 5. and that Body was not nor could be without some Excrements and therein as in Mines there was vile Earth as well as precious Metals and when that Ore was brought forth out of the dark Mine and was capable to have been sifted or put under a fiery Tryal or have been brought unto the Teste yet without any such separation of the precious from the vile we doe finde that all Israel was circumcised v. 8. and that without any examination or any profession save general and virtual that we can finde and then immediatly follows their keeping of the Passover v. 10. so it was ordained that every soul that was circumcised should eat the Passover every soul that was susceptible of a journey to the place which the Lord had chosen and was capable to eat such solid meat which Infants were not And upon this account the Rabbins also except the Blind Lame Deaf and Idiot yet was the Command for eating thereof an absolute and general Rule with no other exception but of being on a journey or under any legal uncleanness and even these were not to omit but to adjourn it one moneth In Lev. 9.13 else to be cut off from their People for that omission of duty say the late Annotators is dangerous as well as commission of sinne against God we doe not finde so much as that moral uncleanness was a barre to the keeping thereof by any that continued of the Congregation of Israel And not to conceal a truth there is no foot-steps of any cutting off or any Law or Precedent for such casting out from the Congregation by sentence of Excommunication for any notorious crimes or scandals in all the Old Testament I shall not gain-say there may be some Evidence found among the Rabbinical Writings for the practice thereof which may onely argue it to be then an Ecclesiastical but no Divine Institution But it cannot be imaginable how there should be any such examination antecedent to admission to partake of the Passover when the Lamb was neither brought to the Temple nor killed by the Priest In Exod 12.6 p. 890. In Gen. 17.11 Exer. 80. but slain and eaten privately at home as Rivet proves out of Philo Josephus Liranus and others and of the same opinion is Gerhard Rivet extracts the definition of a Sacrament out of Gen. 17.11 which he defines Signum federis inter Deum homines and the partaking of the Sacrament is a renewing of the Covenant with God and much upon this account it is pretended that a profession of Faith is exacted as previous to the participation the same inconveniencies then may seem to refult from an admission to a formal explicit covenanting with God as from being admitted to take the seal of the Covenant and consequently the like Reasons may seem to prohibite the one and the other Unless we shall think it less to be entred into a Gild or Company than to wear the Livery or suppose it not strange that he that is taken Tenant shall be denyed his Evidences but now long before this Nationall Circumcising there was a covenanting with God by the whole Nation of the Jews all the people in the whole heap or floor without winnowing away of the Chaff Exod. 24.7 Deut. 29.10 12. many of which notwithstanding the Psalmist sings a sad note of them They flattered him with their mouth and lyed unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Govenant Psal 78.36 37. and Moses himself renders this Character of them that they were a stiff-necked and a foolish people and had not eyes to see nor ears to hear nor hearts to beleeve yet in respect of the Covenant and Promises he nevertheless calls them an Holy Nation and the peculiar People of God and therefore like as Aeneas Sylvâ—us said in the case of Priests Marriages howsoever there might be some Reasons for excluding of such as are not approved for Personal Sanctity yet there are more Reasons for admission of such as are not by judicial Censure cast out of the Church because of their federal Holiness and we may therefore say of their new Chymistry whereby they pretend to separate the pure from the impure as Gerson did of some constitutions Eorum sanctior esset omissio When as they say of the
that Worship without concurring in any sinne save that which they suppose is contracted only by a Communion with such men though not in evil but rather in that which in it self is good and formally as it is a Communion onely with those that are evil That to separate on this account was both the root and pith of the Schisme of the Donatists who did not own any separation from the Catholique Church but impropriated that Church to themselves and held Communion with many Churches of their Model but separated from others and therefore might have put in the same Plea with this but seeing those Churches from which the Apologists separate are Members of the Catholique Church as till they be cut off juridicè aut jure they are so and in this consideration § 9 Eadem est ratio partium totius and all Members are conjoyned to the Body See more of this therefore if they separate from any such particular members they divide from the body of the Catholique Church as I have before proved by the authority of Junius § 24 that it is schismatical so to be torn off ab hac illáve Ecclesia i.e. membro particularis corporis ex infirmitate particulari Next that they remove the antient Land-mark of that distinction between the Church of the Called and that of the Elect may be discerned by any that passeth by their way There are many externally called who are onely relative and notional Saints Saints in the judgment of Charity because they have given their names to Christ entred into an outward Covenant with God and doe make profession of their Faith but such as are effectually called and are united to Christ in virtue as well as profession and in whom the Spirit of Christ is operative by influence of grace and salvation such onely are Elect Saints real Saints in verity Now if they will admit none to an entire Church-fellowship which is not as was said without Communion of Sacraments others that communicate not being not owned by themselves to be of the Church save such as give demonstrative signes that they are elected doe they not quantum ad hominem though it be impossible quoad rem contract the Church of the Called and make it no more extensive than that of the Elect and turn those many that are called into a few that are chosen sure I think this cannot but be visible to any unless to one Cui lumen ademptum And by this meanes also there may be multi hirci intus multae oves foras Hom. Deonibus tom 9. p. 224. Since as Augustine meekly scit praedestinatione praescientiâ oves hircos ille solus qui praedestinare potuit qui praescire si autem multas oves foras errare plangimus vae quorum humeris lateribus cornibus factum est non enim haec facerent nisi fortes oves quae sunt fortes de suis viribus praesumentes quae sunt fortes de sua justitia gloriantes humeris audaces ad impellendum quia non portant sacrinam Dei latera mala conspirantes amici societas pertinaciae cornua erecta elata superbia mitte foras quod non emisti certe ipsa tota causa est quia tu justus alii injusti indignum erat ut justus esset cum injustis indignum scilicet ut frumenta essent inter zizania indignum ut oves inter hircos pascerentur donec Pastor veniret qui in separando non errat ita tu angelus eradicans zizania non te agnoscerem angelum zizania eradicantem nec si jam messis venisset ante messem non tu sed quisquis fuerit non est verus qui designavit messem designavit tempus angeli tibi nomen potes impoere tempus messis non potes breviare ita falsum dicis qui sis quia nondum venit quando sis noli velle zizania eradicare quando tempus non est sed tu ipse intrò redi cum tempus est cornua sunt ista ventilantis non mansuetudo pascentis non expectas finem nesciens quando tibi sit finis unde hoc nisi quia ipsos tanquam hircos accusasti falsò accusasti nam si verè accusasses non te separasses tua separatio illorum est purgatio Lastly for the state of the Church Exponere similitudinem istam ne conati quidem sunt illam similitudinem omnino attingere nolucrant Brevic. collat cum Donatist tom 7. p. 117. Cont. Donat. post collat c. 7. p. 122. tom 7. which is a floor where chaff is heap'd with Wheat a Field where Tares grow intermix'd with Wheat a Net where bad Fish is involved with good c. most of those similitudes Quibus Dominus suorum servorum tolerantiam confirmavit as Augustine they like the Donatists of old whose Copy it seems they have chosen to write after will take no notice of as any way concerning them but I doubt it is onely nihil ad nos because supra nos and they doe not answer it because they cannot durum sed levius fit patientiâ quicquid corrigere est nesas for seeing Ecclesiasticall Communion is described by a Society in the Sacraments and therein principally is constituted and if there shall be a commixtion of evil men with good not onely in the Congregation but also in Una Congregatione paria Sacramenta tractantes as was even now alleaged out of Augustine and not onely in the Word but as idem verbum Dei simul audiunt so also simul Dei sacramenta percipiunt then whatever they suggest to the contrary thus much is gained hereby which will be on their part the loss of the question First that none ought to be so offended with the grossness of their Administrations at home where no separation is made as thereupon to remove S. 9 or desert to have a Communion of Sacraments with such Congregations August de verb. Dom. in Evang. Matth. Serm. 18. tom 10. p. 18. and separating from them to gather themselves into another Church which yet they confess to be the case of divers of them the Corn lay fast in the same Floor with the Chaff and that onely was volatile Non vos seducant perversi paleae nimis leves avolant ante adventum ventilatoris ex area and therefore he directeth elsewhere ex eo ubies disce quid es and consequently adviseth nemo ante tempus ventilationis deserat aream In Psal 25. tom 8. p. 26. Brevicul collat cum Donat. 3. die tom 7. p. 117. Cont. Donat. post collat c. 6. tom 7. p. 122. In Psal 149. tom 8. p. 360. quasi dum non vult pati peccatores nè praeter aream inventus priùs ab avibus colligatur quà m ingrediatur in horreum the good Fishes break not the Net to get out from the bad Commixtos bonis malos intra retia suorum sacramentorum And this commixture will continue while we are
so neither can we suppose the answer to be among such things quae decies repetita placebunt but if the unsealed may be called if they be not only actively but also passively called and come in why may they not have the seal of their calling and being called to believe partake of the Sacraments the seals of faith And though we think it not proper to say that men are sealed but the promises to them yet like Mercury to battologize with Battus and use their forms we are not so foolish to think whether or no they be so fond to imagine that any that are uncalled should be sealed for the Sacraments being the proper cognizances of Christianity are not communicable to any but Christians and the profession of the faith is as tessera hospitalis without which none must eat at the Lords table But if the uncalled may not be sealed doth it therefore follow that the called may not be sealed we rather think the contrary to be consequent It is not onely denoted by the Greek name of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but warranted by the constant Idiom of Scripture that the Church and the Called are confignificant Rom. 1.6 7. and 9.24 1 Cor. 1.9 24. and 5.11 and 7.18 Col. 3.15 c. and therefore though none but of the Church and called yet all that are of the Church and called may be sealed but it seems still they will have none but the chosen to be called and so make the Church of the called to be of no more latitude than that of the elect which we observed before though they would take no notice therof like the Ostrich which when he hides his head and sees no body supposeth no body sees him But to speak properly men are not sealed but the promises to them and the Sacrament by sensible things and actions assures their faith that if they believe in the death of Christ they shall be saved by it which is to them onely a conditionall sealing also And then likewise as is their calling such will their sealing an externall calling takes onely the outward conditionall seal an inward hath the internall and absolute seale also And beside before any come to the Supper of the Lord he is not onely called but sealed too with one of the seals viz. Baptisme for that seale hitherto they impresse upon all them and their children as many as the Lord our God shall call so that many are sealed that have no inward call and though upon another account of other qualifications more requisite to the Eucharist then necessary to Baptisme all that are baptized do not communicate but only those who being intelligent are capable of a Dogmaticall faith yet formally as the Sacraments are seals why any one should be susceptible of the one that is not capable of the other my ignorance cannot apprehend and I doubt their learning cannot prompt me But whereas they say They like a free Pulpit but condemn a too free Table Sadly they and their friends have made their pulpits too free suffering others to intrude there as Ambassadors for Christ who had not his commission and of their Table have been too parcimonious and the Stewards have grudged the liberality abridged the allowance of their Master In 1 Cor. 11. for oportet communes mensas esse communes saith Oecumenius atque illam dominicam imitari quae omnibus aeque prostat in the former they have been carried away with an epidemicall stream occasioned by the common shower of folly falling in those times where preacher seem to be bred as the best Meteorologists tell us those frogs are which though some may vainly imagine to be rained down from heaven yet indeed are generated of the dust of the earth diluted and levened with a little humor and spirit of the rain that comes from cloudy meteors and yet crawle about and croke in every corner when they are not yet perfectly formed for what ever the inward parts may be of any of them they are but half made up without an externall calling but whether in the later of no free Tables they have some resemblance with Philoxenus who being a Musician and defining the soul to be the harmony was said to put his own affection into his Philosophy I will not determine To that serious caveat given them which might chalenge a more prolix and intentive consideration Not to hazard their own souls while they are scrupulous about others the paper had it legible thus while they fear accidentally to lose or hazard souls whether they do not more endanger them and their own souls too by withholding from them the Sacrament the likeliest means of full and perfect recovery of them they answer that unworthy comers do directly quoad corruptionem actus defile and destroy themselves nor is the Sacrament a proper or likely means to recover such as they keep back but rather likely by accident more to blind and harden them and to prevent mens sins and damnation cannot hazard their souls but will comfort their consciences under this buckler they fight The things which they here answer were alibi damnata priusquam hic nata and do but resemble vagrants which being whipt in one town will in another still be begging viz. the question Of this subject we have elswhere we hope said enough to satisfie discerning and equanimous men to those that are not such we have said too much the one we trust will be satisfied of the other we are satisfied why they will not be We have copiously shewed That if unworthy persons eat and drink damnation it is sâ—bi non aliis That it is one question who may come another who may be admitted and they are not warranted to proceed in doubtfull things who are not commissioned to be judges save only in things manifest That though another cannot comply with his duty in worthy receiving yet the Minister may not cancel his in not giving the Sacrament nor dispense with a certain duty for an uncertain danger nor hath any warrant much lesse precept to with-hold that which is good of it self upon fear or suspition that it may do evil by accident for upon this score may all good things in the world be inhibited That though indifferent things being abused may be denied or removed yet what is good in its proper nature and direct effects may not be laid aside or with-held for any accidentall abuses and that seeing he doth as much evill as he might do good which neglects to do it he kils that might help to save and omits it therfore there is equal danger in withholding this food of life from those that are or may be worthy as in exhibiting it to those that are or may not be such yea rather more danger because it is sarer to erre on the account of charity then on the score of unmercifulnesse and censoriousnesse and where is hope of doing good he cannot be excused of the omission to doe