as Simon Magus or Iulian or Porphiry of the gifts of the Holy Ghost These Honourable miserable men will bear no contradiction or reproof Who dare be so unmannerly disobedient or bold as to tell them that they are out of the way to Heaven and strangers to it that I say not Enemies and to presume to stop them in the way to Hell or to hinder them from damning themselves and as many others as they can They think this talk of Christ and grace and life eternal if it be but serious and not like their own in form or levity or scorn is but the troublesome preciseness of hypocritical humorous crackt-brained fellows And say of the godly as the Pharisees John 7. 47 48 49. Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him but this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed § 4. Well Gentlemen or poor men whoever you be that savour not the things of the Spirit Rom. 8. 5 6 7. 13. but live in ignorance of the mysteries of salvation be it known to you that Heavenly Truth and Holiness are works of Light and never prosper in the dark And that your best understanding should be used for God and your salvation if for any thing at all It is the Devil and his deceits that fear the light Do but Understand well what you do and then be wicked if you can and then set light by Christ and holiness if you dare O come but out of darkness into the light and you will see that which will make you tremble to live ungodly and unconverted another day And you will see that which will make you with penitent remorse lament your so long neglect of Heaven and wonder that you could live so far and so long besides your wits as to choose a course of vanity and beasâ—iality in the chains of Satan before the joyful liberty of the Saints And though we must not be so uncivil as to tell you where you are and what you are doing you will then more uncivilly call your selves exceedingly mad and foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures as one did that thought himself before as wise and good as any of you Acts 26. 11. Tit. 3. 3. Live not in a sleepy state of ignorance if ever you would have saving grace Direction 2. ESpecially labour first to understand the true nature of a state of sin and a state Direct 2. of Grace § 1. It 's like you will say that All are sinners and that Christ dyed for sinners and that you were Pâ—â—itâ—nti optimus est tortus mâ—tatio consâ—â—i Cic. Phil. 12. Regenerate in your Baptism and that for the sins that since then you have committed you have Repented of them and therefore you hope they are forgiven But stay a little man and understand the matter well as you go for it is your salvation that lyeth at the stake It 's very true that All are sinners But it is as true that some are in a state of sin and some in a state of grace some are converted sinners and some unconverted sinners some live in sins inconsistent with Holiness which therefore may be called Mortal others have none but infirmities which consist with spiritual life which in this sense may be called Venial some hate their sin and long to be perfectly delivered from it and others so love it as they are lothe to leave it And is there no difference think you between these § 2. It is as true also that Christ dyed for sinners Or else where were our hope But it is true also that he dyed to save his people from their sins Matth. 1. 21. and to bring them from darkness â—â—â—â—â— Gratiâ—â—nius hominis majus est quam bonum naturae totius universi Aquin. 12. q. 113. art 9. unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. and to redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. and that except a man be born again and converted and become as a little child in humility and beginning the world anew he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven John 3. 3 5. Matth. 18. 3. and that even he that dyed for sinners will at last condemn the workers of iniquity and say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Matth. 25. I never knew you Matth. 7. 23. § 3. It is very true that you were sacramentally regenerate in Baptism and that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and all that are the children of promise and have that promise sealed to them by Baptism are regenerate The Ancients taught that Baptism puts men into a state of grace that is that all that sincerely renounce the world the Devil and the flesh and are sincerely given up to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to the Covenant of Grace and profess and seal this by their Baptism shall be pardoned and made the heirs of life But as it is true that Baptism thus Qâ—icquid Deo gratum dignumque offertur de bono tâ—esâ—â— o cordis desertuâ— Intrâ— nos quippe est quod Deo offâ—rimus omnâ— viz. acâ—â—ptabile â—unus Ibi timoâ— Dei ibi confâ—ssio ibi largitas ibi sobrietas ibi paupâ—rtas spiritus ibi compassio c. Potho Prumiens de Domo Dei li. 2. De regno Dei quod intra nos est meditamur vanitatâ—s iâ—saâ—iaâ— falsas dum interioâ—ibus ani nâ—â— viâ—tutibus in quibus regnum Dei consistit privati ad exteriora quaedam studia ducimur circa corporalâ—s exâ—rcitationâ—s quae ad modicum utiles esse videntur occupamur fructus spiritus qui sunt charitas pax gaudium c. intus minime possidemus exterius qâ—arundam coâ—suâ—â—udinum observantias sectamur in exercitiis tantum corporalibus quae sunt jejunia vigisiae asperitas seu vilitas vâ—â—tis c. regulam nobis vivendi quasi perfectam statuentes Idem ibid. saveth so is it as true that it is not the outward washing only the filth of the flesh that will suffice but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 2. 21. And that no man can enter into the Kingdom of God that is not born of the Spirit as well as of water Iohn 3. 5. And that Simon Magus and many another have had the water of Baptism that never had the Spirit but still remain in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and had no part nor lot in that business their hearts being not right in the sight of God Acts 8. 13. 21 23. And nothing is more sure than that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ for all his Baptism he is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And that if you have his Spirit you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and are not carnally but spiritually minded and are alive to God and as dead to
of Heaven and happiness but not sensibly punished or cast into Hell For this Iansenius hath wrote a Treatise and many other Papists think so 4. Some think that all the Children of sincere believers dying in infancy are saved that is Glorified whether baptized or not and no others 5. Some think that God hath not at all revealed what he will do with any Infants 6. Some think that he hath promised salvation as aforesaid to believers and their seed but hath not at all revealed to us what he will do with all the rest 7. Some think that only the Baptized Children of true believers are certainly by promise saved 8. Some think that all the adopted and bought Children of true Christians as well as the natural are saved if baptized say some or if not say others 9. Some think that Elect Infants are saved and no other but no man can know who those are And of these 1. Some deny Infant Baptism 2. Most say that they are to be baptized and that thereby the non-elect are only received into the visible Church and its priviledges but not to any promise or certainty of Justification or a state of salvation 10. Some think that all that are baptized by the Dedication of Christian Sponsors are saved 11. Some think that all that the Pastor Dedicateth to God are saved because so dedicated by him say some or because baptized ex opere operato say others And so all baptized Infants are in a state of salvation 12. Some think that this is to be limited to all that have right to Baptism coram Deo which some think the Churches reception giveth them of which anon 13. And some think it is to be limited to those that have right 〈…〉 m Ecclesia or are rightfully baptized ex parte Ministrantis where some make the Magistrates command sufficient and some the Bishops and some the baptizers will Of the title to Baptism I shall speak anon Of the salvation of Infants it is too tedious to confute all that I dissent from not presuming in such darkness and diversity of opinions to be peremptory nor to say I am certain by the Word of God who are undoubtedly saved nor yet to deny the undoubted certainty of wiser men who may know that which such as I do doubt of but submitting what I say to the judgement of the Church of God and my superiours I humbly lay down my own thoughts as followeth 1. I think that there can no promise or proof be produced that all unbaptized Infants are saved either from the poena damni or sensus or both 2. I think that no man can prove that all unbaptized Infants are damned or denyed Heaven Nay I think I can prove a promise of the contrary 3. All that are rightfully baptized in foro externo are visible Church members and have Ecclesiastical right to the priviledges of the visible Church 4. I think Christ never instituted Baptism for the collation of these outward Priviledges alone unless as on supposition that persons culpably fail of the better ends 5. I think Baptism is a solemn mutual contract or Covenant between Christ and the Baptized person And that it is but one Covenant even the Covenant of Grace which is the sum of the Gospel which is sealed and received in baptism And that this Covenant essentially containeth our saving relation to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and our Pardon Justification and Adoption or right to life everlasting And that God never made any distinct Covenant of outward Priviledges alone to be sealed by Baptism But that outward mercies are the second and lesser gift of the same Covenant which giveth first the great and saving blessings 6. And therefore that whoever hath right before God to claim and Receive Baptism hath right also to the benefits of the Covenant of God and that is to salvation Though I say not so of every one that hath such right before the Church as that God doth require the Minister to Baptize him For by Right before God or in foro coeli I mean such a Right as will justifie the claim before God immediately the person being one whom he commandeth in that present state to claim and receive baptism For many a one hath no such right before God to claim or receive it when yet the Minister hath right Mark 16. 16. Act. 2. 37 38. Act. 22. 16. 1 Cor 6. 11. Tit. 3. 3 5 6. Heb. 10. 22. Eph. 5. 26. Rom. 6. 1 4. Col. 2. 12. 1 Pet. 3. 21 22. Eph. 4. 5. Act. 8. 12 13 16 36 38. to give it them if they do claim it The case stands thus God saith in his Covenant He that believeth shall be saved and ought to be Baptized to profess that belief and be invested in the benefits of the Covenant And he that Professeth to believe whether he do or not is by the Church to be taken for a visible believer and by Baptism to be received into the Visible Church Here God calleth none but true believers and their seed to be Baptized nor maketh an actual promise or Covenant with any other and so I say that no other have right in foro coeli But yet the Church knoweth not mens hearts and must take a serious Profession for a credible sign of the faith professed and for that outward title upon which it is a duty of the Pastor to Baptize the claimer So that the most malignant scornful hypocrite that maketh a seemingly serious profession hath right coram Ecclesia but not coram Deo save in this sense that God would have the Minister Baptize him But this I have largelyer opened in my Disputations of Right Act. 9. 18. 16. 15 33. 19 5. Gal. 3. 27. to Sacraments 7. I think therefore that all the Children of true Christians do by Baptism receive a publick Investiture by Gods appointment into a state of Remission Adoption and right to salvation at the present Though I dare not say that I am undoubtedly certain of it as knowing how much is said against it But I say as the Synod of Dort Art 1. that Believing Parents have no cause to doubt of the salvation of their Children that dye in infancy before they commit actual sin that is not to trouble themselves with fears about it The Reasons that move me to be of this judgement though not without doubting and hesitancy are these 1. Because whoever hath right to the present Investiture delivery and possession of the first and great benefits of Gods Covenant made with man in Baptism hath right to Pardon and Adoption and everlasting life But the Infants of true Christians have right to the present investiture delivery and possession of the first and great benefits of Gods Covenant made with man in Baptism Therefore they have right to pardon and everlasting life Either Infants are in the same Covenant that is are subjects of the same promise of God with their believing Parents
or in some other Covenant or in no Covenant If they be under no Covenant or promise or under some other promise or Covenant only and not the same they are not to be Baptized For Baptism is a mutual Covenanting where the Minister by Christs Commission in his name acteth his part and the believer his own and his Infants part And God hath but one Covenant which is to be made sealed and delivered in baptism Baptism is not an equivocal word so as to signifie divers Covenants of God Obj. But the same Covenant of God hath divers sorts of benefits The special God giveth to the sincere and the Common to the common and hypocritical receiver Answ. 1. God indeed requireth the Minister to take Profession for the Visible Church-title And so it being the Ministers duty so far to believe a lyar and to Receive dissemblers wh 〈…〉 had no right to lay that claim you may say that God indirectly and improperly giveth them Church-priviledges But properly that is by his promise or Covenant-deed of gift he giveth them nothing at all For his Covenant is one and undivided in its action though it give several benefits and Though Providence may give one and not another yet the Covenant giveth all or none God saith that Godliness hath the promise of this life and of that to come but he never said that I know of To the bypocrite or unsound Act. 2. 39. Gal. 3 22 29. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Eph. 2. 12. 2 Tim. 1. 1. Heb. 4. 1. 6. 17. 9. 15. 10. 36. 8. 6. 2 Pet. 1. 4 5. Act. 2. 38. Act. 26. 18. Luk. 24. 47. believer I promise or give right to common mercies 2. But suppose it were otherwise yet either the Children of true believers have the true Condition of Right to the special blessings of the Covenant or they have not the condition of any at all For there can no more be required of an Infant as to any special blessings of the Covenant than that he be the Child of believing Parents and by them Dedicated to God Either this condition entitleth them to all the Covenant promises which the adult believer is entitled to as far as their natures are capable or it entitleth them to none at all Nor are they to be baptized For God hath in Scripture instituted but one baptism to profess one faith And that one is ever for the remission of sins He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Mark 16. 16. 3. Or if all the rest were granted you yet it would follow that all Infants in the World even of true believers are left out of Gods Covenant of Grace that is the Covenant or promise of pardon of life and are only taken in to the Covenant of Church-priviledges And so 1. You will make two Covenants which you denyed and not only two sorts of benefits of one Covenant 2. And two species of Baptism while all Infants in the World are only under a Covenant of outward priviledges and have no baptism but the seal of that Covenant while believers have the Covenant promise and seal of pardon and life 2. And this is my second Reason Because then we have no promise or certainty or ground of faith for the pardon and salvation of any individual Infants in the World And so Parents are left to little comfort for their Children And if there be no promise there is no faith of it nor no Baptism to seal it and so we still make Antipaedobaptism unavoidable For who dare set Gods seal to such as have no promise Or pretend to Invest any in a neer and saving Relation to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which is the very nature of Baptism when God hath given no such commission Obj. Yes Baptism and the Covenant of special promises are for all the Elect though we know not who they are Answ. 1. I deny not Gods Eternal antecedent Election But I deny that the Scripture ever mentioneth his pardoning or Glorifying any upon the account of Election only without certain spiritual conditions which may be given as the reason of the difference in judgement God may freely give the Gospel to whom he will and also faith or the first grace by the Gospel without any previous condition in man but according to his free Election only But he giveth pardon and Heaven as a Rector by his equal Laws and judgement and alwayes rendereth a reason of the difference from the qualifications of man 2. And if this were as you say it would still overthrow Infant baptism For either we must baptize all indifferently or none or else know how to make a difference All must not be baptized indifferently And Election is a secret thing to us and by it no Minister in the World can tell whom to baptize Therefore he must baptize none if there be no other differencing note to know them by Obj. God hath more elect ones among the Infants of true believers than among others And therefore they are all to be baptized Answ. 1. It will be hard to prove that much that he hath more if there be no promise to them all as such 2. If he have more yet no man knoweth how many and whether the Elect be one of ten twenty forty or an hundred in comparison of the non-elect For Scripture tells it not So that no Minister of a Church is sure that any one Infant that he ever baptized is elect 3. And God hath given no such rule for sealing and delivering his Covenant with the benefits as to cast it hap hazard among all because it is possible or probable it may belong to some Object You have no certainty what adult professor is sincere nor to which of them the special benefits belong no not of any one in a Church And yet because that there is a probability that among many there are some sincere you baptize them all Take then the birth priviledge but as equal to the profession of the adult Answ. This partly satisfied me sometimes But I cannot forget that A visible false or hypocritical profession is not the condition of Gods own Covenant of Grace nor that which he requireth in us to make us partakers of his Covenant-benefits Nay he never at all commandeth it but only commandeth that profession of Consent which followeth the real consent of the heart He that Rom. 10. 9. Acts 8. 37. condemneth lying maketh it neither the condition of our Church-membership as his gift by promise nor yet our duty And mark well that it is a Professed Consent to the whole Covenant that God requireth as the condition of our true right to any part or benefit of it He that shall only say I consent to be a visible Church-member doth thereby acquire no right to that membership no not in foro Ecclesiae But he must also profess that he consenteth to have God for his God and Christ for his Lord and Saviour and the Holy
Spirit for his Sanctifier So that he must be a lyar or a sound believer that maketh this profession But for an Infant to be born of true believers and sincerely by them dedicated in Covenant to God is all the Condition that ever God required to an Infant-title to his Covenant And it is not the failure of the true Condition as a false profession is Indeed if the proportion were thus laid it would hold good As we know not who sincerely covenanteth for himself and yet must baptize all that soberly profess it so we know not who doth sincerely Covenant for his Infant and yet we must baptize all whom the Parents bring with such a profession for themselves and them But if the sincere dedication of a sound believer shall be accounted but equal to the lying profession of the adult which is neither commanded nor hath any promise then Infants are not in the Covenant of Grace nor is their sincerest dedication to God either commanded or hath any promise If I were but sure that the profession of the Adult for himself were sincere I were sure that he were in a state of Grace And if I am not sure of the same concerning the Parents dedication of his Infant I must conclude that this is not a condition of the same Covenant and therefore that he is not in the same Covenant or Conditional promise of God unless there be some other Condition required in him or for him But there is no other that can be devised Object Election is the Condition Answ. Election is Gods act and not mans and therefore may be an Antecedent but no Condition required of us And man is not called to make Profession that he is Elected as he is to make profession of his faith and consent to the Covenant And God only knoweth who are his by Election and therefore God only can baptize on this account And what is the probability which the objectors mean that many of the Infants of the faithful are elected Either it is a promise or but a prediction If no promise it is not to be sealed by baptism If a promise it is absolute oâ— conditional If any absolute promise As I will save many children of believers 1. This terminateth not on any singular person as baptism doth and 2. It is not the absolute promise that baptism is appointed by Christ to seal This is apparent in Mark 16. 16. and in the case of the adult And it is not one Covenant which is sealed to the adult by baptism and another to infants Else baptism also should not be the same But if it be any conditional Covenant what is it and what is the condition And what is it that baptism giveth to the seed of believers if they be not justified by it from original sin You will not say that it conveyeth Inherent sanctifying Grace no not into all the Elect themselves which many are many years after without And you cannot say that it sealeth to them any promise so much as of visible Church-priviledges For God may suffer them presently to be made Ianizaries and violently taken from their Parents and become strangers and despisers of Church-priviledges as is ordinary with the Greeks Children among the Turks Now God either promised such Church-priviledges absolutely or conditionally or not at all Not absolutely for then they would possess them If conditionally what is the Condition If not at all what promise then doth baptism seal to such and what benefit doth it secure God hath instituted no baptism which is a meer present delivery of possession of a Church-state without sealing any Promise at all True baptism first sealeth the promise and then delivereth possession of some benefits Yea indeed outward Church-priviledges are such uncertain blessings of the promise that as they Matth. 6. 33. Rom. 8. 28 32 c. are but secondary so they are but secondarily given and sealed so that no man should ever be baptized if these were all that were in the promise The holiest person may be cast into a Wilderness and deprived of all visible Church-communion And doth God then Break his promise with him Certainly no It is therefore our saving Relations to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which the promise giveth and baptism sealeth and other things but subordinately and uncertainly as they are means to these So then its plain that believers Infants have a promise of salvation or no promise at all which baptism was instituted to seal I have said so much more of this in my Appendix to the Treatise of Infant Baptism to Mr. Bedford in defence of Dr. Davenants judgement as that I must refer the Reader thither 8. I think it very probable that this ascertaining promise belongeth not only to the natural seed of believers but to all whom they have a true power and right to dedicate in Covenant to God which seemeth to be all that are properly their Own whether Adopted or bought But there is more darkness and doubt about this than the former because the Scripture hath said less of it 9. I am not able to prove nor see any probable reason for it that any but sound believers have such a promise for their children nor that any hypocrite shall certainly save his child if he do but dedicate him to God in baptism For 1. I find no promise in Scripture made to such 2. He that doth not sincerely believe himself nor consent to Gods Covenant cannot sincerely believe for his child nor consent for him 3. And that faith which will not save the owner as being not the condition of the promise cannot save another Much more might be said of this I confess that the Church is to receive the children of hypocrites as well as themselves And their baptism is valid in foro externo Ecclesiae and is not to be reiterated But it goeth no further for his child than for himself 10. Therefore I think that all that are Rightfully baptized by the Minister that is baptized so as that it s well done of him are not certainly saved by baptism unless they be also rightfully baptized in regard of their right to claim and receive it Let them that are able to prove more do it for I am not able 11. Whereas some mis-interpret the words of the old Rubrick of Confirmation in the English Liturgy as if it spake of all that are baptized whether they had Right or not the words themselves may serve to rectifie that mistake And that no man shall think any detriment shall come to children by deferring of their Confirmation he shall know for truth that it is certain by Gods Word that children being baptized have all things necessary for their salvation and be undoubtedly saved Where it is plain that they mean they have all things necessary ex parte Ecclesiae or all Gods applying Ordinances necessary though they should dye unconfirmed supposing that they have all things necessary to just baptism on their
but a loss of that benefit which they received and hold only by another It is not so properly called a punishment for anothers Sin as a non-deliverance or a non-continuance of their deliverance which they were to receive on the condition of anothers duty Obj. But the Church retaineth them as her members and so their right is not lost by the fault or apostasie of the Parents Answ. 1. Lost it is one way or other with multitudes of true Christians Children who never shew any signes of grace and prove sometimes the worst of men And God breaketh not his Covenant 2. How doth the Church keep the Greeks Children that are made Janizaries 3. No man stayeth in the Church without title If the Church or any Christians take them as their own that 's another matter I will not now stay to discuss the question whether Apostate's Baptized Infants be still Church-members But what I have said of their right before God seemeth plain 4. And mark that on whomsoever you build an Infants Right you may as well say that he may suffer for other mens default For if you build it on the Magistrate the Minister the Church the God-fathers any of them may fail They may deny him Baptism it self They may fail in his education Shall he suffer then for want of baptism or good education when it is their faults Whoever a Child or man is to receive a benefit by the failing of that person may deprive him of that benefit More objections I must pretermit to avoid prolixity Quest. 44. Doth Baptism alwayes oblige us at the present and give Grace at the present And is the Grace which is not given till long after given by Baptism or an effect of Baptism Answ. I Add this Case for two Reasons 1. To open their pernicious error who think that a Covenant or Promise made by us to God only for a future distant duty as to Repent and believe before we dye is all that is essential to our Baptismal Covenanting 2. To open the ordinary saying of many Divines who say that baptism worketh not alwayes at the present but sometimes only long afterward The truth I think may be thus expressed 1. It is not baptism if there be not the profession of a present belief a present consent and a present dedition or resignation or dedication of the person to God by the adult for themselves and by Parents for their Infants He that only saith I promise to believe repent and obey only at twenty or thirty years of age is not morally baptized for it is another Covenant of his own which he would make which God accepteth not 2. It is not only a future but a present Relation to God as his Own his Subjects his Children by Redemption to which the baptized person doth consent 3. It is a present correlation and not a future only to which God consenteth on his paâ—t to be their Father Saviour and Sâ—nctifier their Owner peculiarly their Ruler gratiously and their chief Benefactor and Felicity and End 4. It is not only a future but a present Remission of sin and Adoption and right to temporal and eternal mercies which God giveth to true Consenters by his Covenant and Baptism 5. But those mercies which we are not at that present capable of are not to be given at the present but afterward when we are capable As the particular assistances of the Spirit necessary upon all future particular occasions c. The pardon of future sins Actual Glorification c. Rom. 6. 1 â— 6 7 c. 6. And the Duties which are to be performed only for the future we must promise at present to perform only for the future in their season to our lives end Therefore we cannot promise that Infants shall believe obey or Love God till they are naturally capable of doing it 7. If any hypocrite do not indeed Repent Believe or Consent when he is baptized or baptizeth his child he so far faileth in the Covenant professed And so much of baptism is undone And God Acts 8 37 3â— 13. 20 21 22 23. doth not enter into the present Covenant-Relations to him as being uncapable thereof 8. If this person afterwards Repent and Believe it is a doing of the same thing which was omitted in baptism and a making of the same Covenant But not as a part of his Baptism it self which is long past 9. Nor is he hereupon to be Re-baptized Because the external part was done before and is not to be twice done But the Internal part which was omitted is now to be done not as a part of baptism old or new but as a Part of Penitence for his omission Object If Covenanting be a part of Baptism then this person whose Covenant is never a part of his Baptism doth live and dye unbaptized Answ. As baptism signifieth only the external Ordinance heart-covenanting is no part of it but the Profession of it is And if there was no Profession of faith made by word or sign the person is unbaptized But as baptism signifieth the Internal part with the external so he will be no baptized person while he liveth that is One that in baptism did truly Consent and Receive the spiritual Relations to God But he will have the same thing in another way of Gods appointment 10. When this person is after sanctified it is by Gods performance of the same Covenant in specie which baptism is made to seal that God doth pardon justifie and adopt him But this is not by his past baptism as a Cause but by after grace and Absolution The same Covenant doth it but not baptism Because indeed the Covenant or Promise saith When ever thou believest and repentest I will forgive thee But Baptism saith Because thou now believest I do forgive thee and wash away thy sin and maketh present application 11. So if an Infant or adult person live without grace and at age be ungodly his Baptismal Covenant is violated And his after Conversion or faith and repentance is neither the fulfilling of Gods Covenant nor of his baptism neither The reason is because though Pardon and Adoption be given by that Conditional Covenant of Grace which baptism sealeth yet so is not that first Grace of Faith and Repentance which is the Condition of Pardon and Adoption and the title to baptism it self Else Infidels should have right to baptism and thereby to faith and repentance But these are only the free Gifts of God to the Elect and the fulfilling of some Absolute predictions concerning the Calling of the Elect and the fulfilling of Gods Will or Covenant to Christ the Mediator that He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied and possess those that are given him by the Father 12. But when the Condition of the Covenant is at first performed by the Parent for the Infant and this Covenant never broken on this childs behalf notwithstanding sins of Infirmity in this case the first Actual
faith and repentance of children as they grow up is from Gods fulfilling of his Baptismal Covenant with them The reason is because that God in that Covenant did give them a Right of Relation to the holy Spirit in Christ their Head as their Sanctifier to operate on them as they are capable But if they first prove Apostates and be after converted God is disobliged yea to hypocrites never was obliged as to the engagement made by him in baptism And doth now 1. Freely give them faith and repentance as a Benefactor to his elect and then 2. As a Covenanter give them pardon and adoption c. 13. So to the adult that truly made the Baptismal Covenant and never apostatized from it all the Grace that God giveth them through their lives is his fulfilling of his promise made to them and sealed by baptism and a fruit of their baptism But to Hypocrites and Apostates it is otherwise as is before explained Quest. 45. What is a proper Violation of our Baptismal Covenant Answ. NOte well that there is a wide difference between these questions 1. When doth a man John 3 16 17 18 36. miss of or lose his present part in the Covenant or Promise of God in the Gospel This is as long as he is Impenitent an Unbeliever and Refuser 2. When doth a man totally lose his part John 1 11 12 13 and hope in that Promise or Covenant of God so as to be â—yable to all the penalty of it That is only by final Impenitence Unbelief and refusal when Life is ended 3. And when doth a man violate his own Covenant or promise made to God in baptism Which is our present question To which I answer 1. This Promise hath parts Essential and parts Integral We promise not both these parts alike nor on the same terms Though both be promised The essential parts are our essential duties of Christianity Faith Love Repentance in the essential parts c. The Integrals are the Integral 2 Pet. 2 20 21 22 23. duties of Christianity Heb. 6 2 4 5 6 â— 8. 2. He that performeth not the essential duties is an Apostate or Hypocrite 3. He that performeth not the Integral duties is a sinner not only against the Law of Nature and Heb. 10 26 27 28. Christs Precepts but his own Promise And in this sense we all confess our breach of Covenant with Christ But he is no Apostate Hypocrite or out of Covenant 1 Joh. 1 9 10. James 3. 2 3. Quest. 46. May not Baptism in some Cases be repeated And when Answ. 1. YOu must distinguish between Baptism taken Morally or only Physically 2. Between Baptism Morally as it is a Church or Visible Covenant and as a Heart Covenant 3. Between Real baptism and seeming baptism which is a Nullity 4. Between certain reception of baptism and that which is uncertain or justly doubted of And so I answer 1. Real and Certain Baptism as a visible Church-Ordinance may not be repeated Though the Heart-Covenant was wanting And though it wanted not only decent modes but integral parts 2. But in these cases Baptism may be used where it seemed to have been received before 1. When the person made no profession of the Christian faith nor his Parents for him if an Infant 2. If that profession notoriously wanted an Essential part As if he only professed to believe in God the Father and not in the Son or the Holy Ghost 3. If the Minister only baptized him into the name of the Father or Son or left out any essential part 4. If the person or Minister only contracted for a distant futurity As I will be a Christian when I am old c. and not for the present which is not to be christened but only to promise to be christened hereafter 5. If all application of water or any watery element was omitted which is the external sign 6. Of the Baptizers power I shall speak anon 7. If the Church or the person himself have just cause of doubting whether he was truly baptized or not to do it again with hypothetical expressions If thou art not baptized I baptize thee yea or simply while that is understood is lawful and fit And it is not to be twice baptized Morally but only Physically As I have fully opened in the Question of Re-ordination to which I must refer the Reader 3. And I confess I make little doubt but that those in Acts 19. were Re-baptized notwithstanding the witty evasion invented by Phil. Marnixius Aldegondus and Beza's improvement of it and the now common reception of that interpretation For 1. A new and forced exposition which no Reader Of Acts 19 1 2 3 4 5. dreameth of till it be put into his head is usually to be suspected lest art deceive us Whether it were re-baptizing 2. The omission of the Holy Ghost is an essential defect and maketh Baptism specifically another thing And he were now to be re-baptized who should be so baptized 3. Whatever some say in heat against the Papists Iohns baptism and our Christian baptism are so specifically distinct also that he that had now but Iohns were to be yet baptized The person of the Mâ—ssiah himself being not determinately put into Iohns baptism as such Nor can it be supposed that all the Jews that Iohn baptized were baptized into the profession of faith in this numerical person Iesus but only to an unknown Saviour undetermined However he pointed to Christ in the hearing of some of his disciples We must not run from plain truth in pievishness of opposition to Papists oâ— any other men 4. The fifth Verse would not be true of Iohns baptism as the History sheweth that When Johns hearers heard this they were baptized into the Name of the Lord Iesus This is contrary to the Text that recordeth it 5. In the fourth Verse the words that is on Christ Iesus are plainly Pauls expository words of Iohns and â—ot Iohns words Iohn baptized them into the Name of the Messiah that should come after him which indeed saith Paul was Christ Iesus though not then personally determined by Iohn 6. The connexion of the fourth fifth and sixth Verses puts all out of doubt 1. In the fourth Verse the last words are Pauls that is on Christ Iesus 2 In the next words Ver. 4. When they heard this they were baptized c. must refer to the last words or to his that was speaking to them 3. Ver. 6. The Pronoun Them when Paul had laid his hands on them plainly reâ—â—erreth to them last spoken of Ver. 5. which therefore was not Iohns hearers as such 4. And the â—ords they were baptized into the name of the Lord Iesus are plainly distinctive from Iohns baptism Saith Grotius Sic accepere Latinus Syrus Arabs Veteres omnes ante Marnixium â—ut verba Lâ—ucae Yet I say not so hardly of Iohns baptism as Tertuliâ—â— on this Text de Baptis Adeo pasâ—â—â—â—a in
heed of running from one extream into another p. 50 Direct 11. Be not too confident in your first apprehensions or opinions but modestly suspicious of them p. 51 Direct 12. What to do when Controversies divide the Church Of silencing truth p. 52 Direct 13. What Godliness is The best life on earth How Satan would make it seem troublesome and ungrateful 1. By difficulties 2. By various Sects 3. By scrupulosity 4. By your over-doing in your own inventions 5. By perplexing fears and sorrows 6. By unmortified lusts 7. By actual siâ—s 8. By ignorance of the Covenant of grace p. 54 Direct 14. Mortifie the flesh and rule the senses and the appetite p. 57 Direct 15. Be wary in choosing not only your Teachers but your Company also Their Characters p. 58 Direct 16. What Books to prefer and read and what to reject P. 60 Direct 17. Take not a Doctrine of Libertinism for Free Grace p. 61 Direct 18. Take heed lâ—st Grace degenerate into Counterfeits formality c. p. 63 Direct 19. Reckon not on prosperity or long life but live as dying p. 65 Direct 20. See that your Religion be purely Divine That God be your First and Last and All Man nothing p. 66 CHAP. III. The General Grand Directions for walking with God in a life of faith and Holiness Containing the Essentials of Godliness and Christianity p. 69 Gr. Dir. 1. Understand well the Nature Grounds Reason and Order of Faith and Godliness Propositions opening somewhat of them The Reader must note that here I blotted out the Method and Helps of Faith having fullier opened them in a Treatise called The Reasons of the Christian Religion and another of the Unreasonableness of Infidelity Gr. Dir. 2. How to live by Faith on Christ. How to make Use of Christ in twenty necessities p. 72 Gr. Dir. 3. How to Believe in the Holy Ghost and live by his Grace His Witness Seal Earnest c. Q. When good effects are from Means from our Endeavour and when from the Spirit p. 77 78 Gr. Dir. 4. For a True Orderly and Practical Knowledge of God A Scheme of his Attributes p. 81 82 Gr. Dir. 5. Of self resignation to God as our Owner Motives Marks Means p. 83 Gr. Dir. 6. Of subjection to God as our Soveraign King What it is How to bring the soul into subjection to God How to keep up a Ready and Constant Obedience to him p. 85 Gr. Dir. 7. To Learn of Christ as our Teacher How The Imitation of Christ. p. 90 Gr. Dr. 8. To obey Christ our Physicion or Saviour in his Repairing healing work p. 95 How each faculty is diseased or depraved The Intellect its acts and maladies The Wiâ—â— Q. Whether the Locomotive and sense can move us to sin without the Consent of the Will â—r Reason upon its bare Omission The sin of the Memory Imagination affections sensitive appetite exterior parts which need a Cure Forty intrinsecal evils in sin which make up its Malignity The common Aggravations of sin Special aggravations of the sins of the Regenerate Directions to get a hatred of sin How to cure it p. 95 Gr. Dir. 9. Of the Christian Warfare under Christ Who are our Enemies Of the Devil The state of the Armies and of the War between Christ and Satan The ends grounds advantages auxiliaries instruments and methods of the Tempter p. 104 How Satan keepeth off the forces of Christ and frustrateth all means Christs contrary Methods p. 109 Tit. 2. Temptations to particular sins with Directions for preservation and Remedy 1. How Satan prepareth his baits of Temptation p. 111 2. How he applyeth them p. 114 Tit. 3. Temptations to draw us off from duty p. 124 Tit. 4. Temptations to frustrate holy duties p. 126 Gr. Dir. 10. How to work as servants to Christ our Lord. The true doctrine of Good Works p. 128 Directions for our serving Christ in well doing p. 130. Where are many Rules to know what are good works and how to do them acceptably and successfully Q. Is doing good or avoiding sin to be most looked at in the choice of a Calling or Employment of life p. 133 Q. May one change his Calling for advantages to do good Q. Who are excused from living in a Calling or from Work p. 124 Q. Must I do a thing as a Good work while I doubt whether it be good indifferent or sin p. 134 Q. Is it not every mans duty to obey his Conscience p. 135 Q. Is it not a sin to go against Conscience Q. Whether the formal cause alone do constitute obedience Q. How sin must be avoided by one that hath an erroneus conscience Q. How can a man lawfully resist or strive against an erring conscience when he striveth against a supposed truth Q Is not going against conscience sinning against Knowledge p. 136 Q. When the information of conscience requireth a long time is it not a duty to obey it at the present Q. May one do a Great Good when it cannot be done but by a Little sin as a Lye Q Must I not forbear all Good Works which I cannot do without sin Q Must I forbear a certain great duty as preaching the Gospel for fear of a small uncertain sin Q. What shall a man do that is in doubt after all the means that he can use p. 137 Sixteen Rules to guide a doubting conscience and to know among many seeming duties which is the greatest and to be preferred p. 137 Gr. Dir. 11. To LOVE GOD as our Father and Felicity and End The Nature of holy Love God must be Loved as the Universal Infinite Good Whether Passionately What of God must be loved p. 141 What must be the Motive of our first Love Whether Gods special Love to us The sorts of holy Love Why Love is the highest Grace p. 143 The Contraries of holy Love How God is Hated The Counterfeits of Love p. 144 Directions how to excite and exercise Divine Love ibid. How to see God Signs of true Love p 154 Gr. Dir. 12. Absolutely to Trust God with Soul Body and all with full acquiâ—scence The Nature of Trust of which see more in my Life of Faith and Disp. of Saving Faith p. 157. The Contraries The Counterfeits Q. Of a particular faith The Uses of Trust. p. 158. Fifteen Directions for a quieting and comforting Trust in God p. 158 Gr. Dir. 13. That the temperament of our Religion may be a DELIGHT in God and Holiness Twenty Directions to procure it with the Reasons of it 162 Gr. Dir. 14. Of THANKFULNESS to God our grand Benefactor The signs of it Eighteen Directions how to obtain and exercise it 167 c. Gr. Dir. 15. For GLORIFYING God Ten Directions how the Mind must Glorifie God Ten Directions for Praising God or Glorifying him with our Tongues Where are the Reasons for Praising God Twelve Directions for Glorifying God by our Lives p. 172 Gr. Dir. 16. For Heavenly mindedness and Gr. Dir. 17. For Self-denyal
his Wisdom Clemency and Justice 3. And effectively on his Subjects and Servants who are by his Laws reduced to a Conformity to his mind As a man may first cut his Arms or Image on his seal and then by that seal imprint it on the wax and though it be perfectly cut on the seal it may be imperfectly printed on the wax so Gods Image is naturally perfect in his Son and Regularly or expressively perfect on the seal of his holy Doctrine and Laws but imperfectly on his subjects according to their reception of it in their several degrees § 6. Therefore it is easie to discern their error that tell men the Light or Spirit within them is their Rule and a perfect Rule yea and that it is thus in all men in the world when Gods Word and experience flatly contradict it telling us that Infidels and enemies of God and all the ungodly are in Darkness and not in the Light and that all that speak not according to this Word the Law and Testimony have No Light in them and therefore no perfect Light to be their Rule Isa. 8. 20. The Ministry is sent to bring them from darkness to Light Therefore they had not a sufficient Light in them before Acts 26. 17 18. Wo to them that put darkness for light and light for darkness Isa. 5. 20. telling the children of darkness and the haters of the Light that they have a perfect Light and Rule within them when God saith They have no Light in them See 1 John 1. 5. 4 6 7 8. He that saith he is in the Light and hateth his brother is in darkness even till now 1 John 2. 9 10 11. The Light within a wicked man is darkness and blindness and therefore not his Rule Matth. 6. 23. Ephes. 5. 8. Even the Light that is in godly men is the knowledge of the Rule and not the Rule it self at all nor ever called so by God Our Rule is perfect our knowledge is imperfect for Paul himself saith We know in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away Now we see through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 9 10 12. The Gospel is bid to them that are lost being blinded by Satan 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. § 7. There is an admirable unsearchable concurrence of the Spirit and his appointed means and the will of man in the procreation of the new creature and in all the exercises of grace as there is of Male and Female in natural generation and of the Earth the Sun the Rain the industry of the Gardiner and the seminal vertue of Life and specification in the production of Plants with their flowers and fruits And as wise as it would be to say It is not the Male but the Female or the Female but the Male that generateth or to say It is not the Earth but the Sun or not the Sun but the Rain or not the Rain but the seminal Vertue that causeth Plants with Flowers and Fruits So wise is it to say It is not the Spirit but the Word and Means or it is not the Word and Means but the Spirit or it is not the Reason and Will and industry of man but the Spirit Or if we have not wisdom enough to assign to each cause its proper interest in the effect that therefore we should separate what God hath conjoyned or deny the truth of the causation because we comprehend not the manner and influence this is but to choose to be befooled by Pride rather than confess that God is wiser than we § 8. 2. You may here discern also how the Spirit assureth and comforteth believers and how palpably they err that think the Spirit comforteth or assureth us of our salvation without the use of its Evidencing grace The ten things mentioned § 4. is all that the Spirit doth herein But to expect his Comforts without any measure of discerning his graces which can only rationally prove our right to the blessings of the Promise this is to expect that he should comfort a Rational Creature not as Rational but darkly cause him to rejoyce he knoweth not why and that he should make no use of faith to our comfort For faith resteth understandingly upon the Promise and expecteth the performance of it to those that it is made to and not to others Indeed there is a common encouragement and comfort which all men even the worst may take from the universal conditional Promise and there is much abatement of our fears and troubles that may be fetcht from probabilties and uncertain hopes of our own sincerity and interest in the Promise But to expect any other assurance or comfort from the Spirit without Evidence is but to expect immediate revelations or inspirations to do the work which the Word of promise and faith should do The souls Consent to the Covenant of ☜ Grace and fiducial Acceptance of an offered Christ is justifying saâ—ing faith Every man hath an object in the Promise and offer of the Gospel for this act and therefore may rationally perform it Though all have not hearts to do it This may well be called Faith of adherence and is it self our evidence from which we must conclude that we are true Believers The discerning of this Evidence called by some the Reflex act of faith is no act of faith at all it being no believing of another but the act of Conscience knowing what is in our selves The discerning and concluding that we are the children of God participateth of faith and conscientious knowledge which gave us the premises of such a conclusion § 9. 3. You may hence perceive also how we are said to be sealed by the Spirit Even as a mans Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 8. 9. Ephes. 4 30. seal doth signifie the thing sealed to be his own So the Spirit of holiness in us is Gods seal upon us signifying that we are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Every one that hath the Spirit is sealed by having it and that is his Evidence which if he discern he may know that he is thus sealed § 10. 4. Hereby also you may see what the earnest and first fruits of the Spirit is The Spirit is 2 Coâ— 1. 22. given to us by God as the earnest of the Glory which he will give us To whomsoever he giveth the Spirit of Faith and Love and Holiness he giveth the seed of life eternal and an inclination thereto which is his earnest of it § 11. 5. Hereby also you may see how the Spirit witnesseth that we are the children of God The word Witness is put here principally for Evidence If any one question our adoption the Witness or Evidence which we must produce to prove it is the Spirit of Iesus sanctifying us and dwelling in us This is the chief part at least of the sense of the Text Rom. 8. 16. Though it is true that the same Spirit witnesseth by 1. Shewing us the
ever the world had who taught it not only by his words but by his blood by his life and by his death If thou canst not learn it of him thou canst never learn it Love is the greatest commander of Love and the most effectual argument that can insuperably constrain us to it And none ever loved at the measure and rates that Christ hath loved To stand by such a fire is the way for a congealed heart to melt and the coldest affections to grow warm A lively faith still holding Christ the Glass of infinite Love and Goodness before our faces is the greatest Lesson in the Art of Love § 28. 2. Behold God also in his Covenant of Grace which he hath made in Christ. In that you may see sucâ— sâ—râ— such great and wonderful mercies freely given out to a world of sinners and to your selves among the rest as may afford abundant matter for Love and Thankfulness to feed on while you live There you may see how loth God is that sinners should perish How he delighteth in mercy And how great and unspeakable that mercy is There you may sâ—e an Act of Pardon and Oblivion granted upon the reasonable condition of Believing Penitent Acceptance to all mankind The sins that men have been committing many years together their willâ—ul hâ—ynous aggravated sins you may there see pardoned by more aggravated Mercy and the enemies of God reconciled to him and condemned rebels sav'd from Hell and brought into his family and made his sons O what an Image of the Goodness of God is apparent in the tenor of his word and Covenant Hâ—liness and Mercy make up the whole They are exprest in every leaf and line The precepts which seem too strict to sinners are but the perfect Rules of Holiness and Love for the health and happiness of man What Loveliness did David find in the Law it self And so should we if we read it with his eyes and heart It was sweeter to him than hony he loved it above gold Psalm 119. 127 and 97. he crieth out O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day And must not the Law-giver then be much more lovely whose Goodness here appeareth to us Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way Psalm 25. 8. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved My hands also will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes Psalm 119. 47 48. How delightfully then should I love and meditate on the Blessed Author of this holy Law But how can I read the history of Love the strange design of Grace in Christ the mystery which the Angels desirously pry into the pâ—omises of life to lost and miserable sinners and not feel the power of Love transform me Behold with what Love the Father hath Loved us that we shâ—uld be called the sons of God 1 John 3. 1. How doth God shed abroad his Love upon our hearts but by opening to us the superabundance of it in his word and opening our hearts by his spirit to perceive it O when a poor sinner that first had felt the load of sin and the wrath of God shall feelingly read or hear what mercy is rendered to him in the Covenant of Grace and hear Christs messengers tell him from God that All things are now ready and therefore invite him to the heavenly feast and even compel him to come in what melting Love must this affect a sinners heart with When we see the Grant of Life eternal sealed to us by the blood of Christ and a pardoning justifying saving Covenant so freely made and surely confirmed to us by that God whom we had so much offended O what an incentive is here for Love § 29. When I mention the Covenant I imply the Sacraments which are but its appendants or confirming seals and the investing the believer solemnly with its benefits But in these God is pleased to condescend to the most familiar communion with his Church that Love and Thankfulness might want no helps There it is that the Love of God in Christ applyeth it self most closely to particular sinners And the meat or drink will be sweet in the mouth which was not sweet to us on the table at all O how many a Heart hath this affected How many have felt the stirrings of that Love which before they felt not when they have seen Christ crucified before their eyes and have heard the Minister in his name and at his command bid them Take and Eat and Drink commanding them not to refuse their Saviour but Take him and the benefits of his blood as their own assuring them of his good will and readiness to forgive and save them § 30. 3. Behold also the Loveliness of God in his Holy ones who bear his Image and are advanced by his Love and Mercy If you are Christians indeed you are taught of God to Love his servants and to see an excellency in the Saints on earth and make them the people of your delight Psalm 16. 1 2. 1 Thes. 4. 9. And this must needs acquaint you with the greater Amiableness in the most Holy God that made them Holy O how oft have the feeling and heavenly prayers of lively believers excited those affections in me which before I felt not How oft have I been warmed with their Heavenly discourse How amiable is that Holy Heavenly disposition and conversation which appeareth in them Their faith their Love their trust in God their cheerful obedience their hatred of sin their desire of the good of all their meekness and patience how much do these advance them above the ignorant sensual proud malignant and ungodly world How Good then is that God that makes men Good And how little is the Goodness of the best of men compared to his unmeasurable Goodness Whenever your converse with holy men stirs up your Love to them rise by it presently to the God of Saints and let all be turned to him that giveth all to them and you § 31. And as the excellency of the saints so their priviledge and great advancement should shew you the Goodness of God that doth advance them As oft as thou seest a saint how poor and mean in the world soever thou seest a living monument of the abundant kindness of the Lord Thou seest a child of God a member of Christ an heir of Heaven Thou seest one that hath all his sins forgiven him and is snatcht as a brand out of the fire and delivered from the power of Satan and translated into the Kigdom of Christ Thou seest one for whom Christ hath conquered the powers of Hell and one that is freed from the bondage of the flesh and one that of the Devils slave is made a Priest to offer up the sacrifices of Praise to God Thou seest one that hath the spirit of God within him and one that hath daily intercourse with
some notable yea or ordinary providence which did lately occurr 5. Or of some examples of good or evil that are fresh before you 6. Or of the right doing of the duty that you are about or any such like helps Direct 5. § 7. Direct 5. Talk not of vain unprofitable controversies nor often of small circumstantial matters that make but little to edification For there may be idle talking about matters of Religion as well as about other smaller things Especially see that the quarrells of the times engage not your thoughts and speeches too far into a course of unprofitableness or contention § 8. Direct 6. Furnish your selves before hand with matter for the most edifying discourse and never Direct 7. go abroad empty And let the matter be usually 1. Things of weight and not small matters 2. Things of certainty and not uncertain things Particularly the fittest subjects for your ordinary discourse are these 1. God himself with his Attributes Relations and Works 2. The great mysterie of mans Redemption by Christ His person office sufferings doctrine example and work His resurrection ascension glory intercession and all the priviledges of his Saints 3. The Covenant of Grace the promises the duties the conditions and the threatnings 4. The workings of the Spirit of Christ upon the soul and every grace of the Spirit in us with all the signs and helps and hinderances of it 5. The wayes and wiles of Satan and all our spiritual enemies the particular temptations which we are in danger of what they are and how to avoid them and what are the most powerful helps against them 6. The corruption and deceitfulness of the heart The nature and workings effects and signs of ignorance unbelief hypocrisie pride sensuality worldliness impiety injustice intemperance uncharitableness and every other sin with all the helps against them all 7. The many duties to God and man which we have to perform both internal and external and how to do them and what are the chiefest hindrances and helps As in reading hearing meditating prayer giving alms c. And the duties of our Relations and several places with the contrary sins 8. The Vanity of the world and deceitfulness of all earthly things 9. The powerful Reasons used by Christ to draw us to holiness and the unreasonable madness of all that is brought against it by the Devil or by wicked men 9. Of the sufferings which we must expect and be prepared for 10. O◠death and the preparations that will then be found necessary and how to make ready for so great a change 11. Of the day of judgement and who will be then justified and who condemned 12. Of the joyes of Heaven the employment the company the nature and duration 13. Of the miseries of the damned and the thoughts that then they will have of their former life on earth 14. Of the state of the Church on earth and what we ought to do in our places for its welfare Is there not matter enough in all these great and weighty points for your hourly meditation and conference § 9. Direct 7. Take heed of proud self-conceitedness in your conference Speak not with supercilious Direct 7. censorious confidence Let not the weak take on them to be wiser than they are Be readier to speak by way of Question as Learners than as Teachers of others unless you are sure that they have much more need to be taught by you than you by them It 's ordinary for novices in Religion to cast all their discourse into a Teaching strain or to make themselves Preachers before they understand It is a most loathsome and pitiful hearing and yet too ordinary to hear a raw self-conceited ungrounded unexperienced person to prate magisterially and censure confidently the doctrine or practices or persons of those that are much better and wiser than themselves If you meet with this proud censorious spirit rebuke it first and read to them Iam. 3. and if they go on turn away from them and avoid them for they know not what manner of spirit they are of they serve not the Lord Jesus whatever they pretend or think themselves but are proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and making divisions in the Church of God and ready to fall into the condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim. 3. 6. 6. 3 4 5 Rom. 16. 17. Luk. 9. 55. Direct 8. § 10. Direct 8. Let the wisest in the company and not the weakest have most of the discourse But yet if any one that is of an abler tongue than the rest do make any determinations in doubtful controverted points take heed of a hasty receiving his judgement let his reasons seem never so plausible or probable but put down all such opinions as doubts and move them to your Teachers or some other impartial able men before you entertain them Otherwise he that hath most wit and tongue in the company might carry away all the rest into what errour or heresie he please and subvert their faith when he stops their mouths § 11. Direct 9. Let the matter of your speech be suitable to your end even to the good of your Direct 9. selves or others which you seek The same subject that is fit for one company is very unfit for others Learned men and ignorant men pious men and prophane men are not fit for the same kind of discourse The medicine must be carefully fitted to the disease § 12. Direct 10. Let your speech be seasonable when prudence telleth you it is not like to do more Direct 10. harm than good There is a season for the prudent to be silent and refrain even from good talk Amos 5. 17. Psal. 39. 1 2. Cast not Pearls before Swine and give not holy things to Dogs that you know will turn again and rend you Matth. 7. 6. Yea and among good people themselves there is a time to speak and a time to be silent Eccles. 3. 7. There may possibly be such excess as tendeth to the tiring of the hearers and more may be cram'd in than they can digest and surfetting may make them loath it afterwards You must give none more than they can bear And also the matters of your business and callings must be talkt of in their time and place § 13. Direct 11. Let all your speech of holy things be with the greatest seriousness and reverence Direct 11. that you are able Let the words be never so good yet levity and rudeness may make them to be prophane God and holy things should not be talkt of in a common manner But the gravity of your speech should tell the hearers that you take them not for small or common matters If servants and others that live near together would converse and speak as the Oracles of God how holy and heavenly and happy would such families or societies be CHAP. XVII Directions for each particular member of the Family how to spend every ordinary day of
and accordingly your speech must be mixt and tempered and your counsels or comforts given with the Conditions and Suppositions exprest § 13. Quest. But what order would you have us observe in speaking to the ignorant and ungodly Quest. 5. when the time is so short Answ. 1. Labour to awaken them to a lively sense of the change which is at hand that they may Answ. understand the necessity of looking after the state of their souls 2. Then shew them what are the terms of salvation and who they are that the Gospel doth judge to salvation or damnation 3. Next advise them to try which of these is their condition and to deal faithfully seeing self-flattery may undo them but can do them no good 4. Then help them in the tryal q. d. If it have been so or so with you then you may know that this is your case 5. Then tell them the Reasons of your fears if you fear they are unconverted or of your hopes if you hope indeed that it is better with them 6. Then exhort them conditionally if they are yet in a carnal unsanctified state to lament it and be humbled and penitent for their sinful and ungodly life 7. And then tell them the Remedy in Christ and the Holy Ghost and the Promise or Covenant of Grace 8. And lastly tell them their present duty that this Remedy may prove effectual to their salvation And if you have so much interest or authority as maketh it fit for you excite them by convenient questions so far to open their case as may direct you and as by their answers may shew whether they truly resolve for a holy life if God restore them and whether their hearts indeed be changed or not § 14. Direct 7. If you are not able to instruct them as you should read some good Book to Direct 7. them which is most suitable to their case Such as Mr. Perkins Right art of Dying well The Practice of Piety in the Directions for the Sick Mr. Ed. Lawrences Treatise of Sickness or what else is most suitable to them And because most are themselves unable for counselling the sick aright and you may not have a fit Book at hand I shall here subjoyn a brief Form or two for such to Read to the Sick that can endure no long discourse And other books will help you to forms of Prayer with them if you cannot pray without such help § 15. Direct 8. Iudge not of the state of mens souls by those carriages in their sickness which Direct 8. proceed from their diseases or bodily distemper Many ignorant people judge of a man by the manner of his dying If one die in calmness and clearness of understanding and a few good words they think that this is to die like a Saint Whereas in Consumptions and oft in Dropsies and other such Chronical diseases this is ordinary with good and bad And in a Feaver that 's violent or a Phrensie or Distraction the best man that is may die without the use of Reason Some diseases will make one blockish and heavy and unapt to speak and some consist with as much freedom of speech as in time of health The state of mens souls must not be judged of by such accidental unavoidable things as these § 16. Direct 9. Be neither unnaturally sensless at the death of friends nor excessively dejected or afflicted Direct 9. To make light of the Death of Relations and friends be they good or bad is a sign of a very vitious nature that is so much selfish as not much to regard the Lives of others And he that regardeth not the Life of his friends is little to be trusted in his lower concernments I speak not this of those persons whose temper alloweth them not to weep For there may be as deep a regard and sorrow in some that have no tears as in others that abound with them But I speak of a naughty selfish nature that is little affected with any ones concernments but its own § 17. Yet your grief for the death of friends must be very different both in degree and kind 1. For ungodly friends you must grieve for their own sakes because if they dyed such they are lost for ever 2. For your Godly friends you must mourn for the sake of your selves and others because God hath removed such as were blessings to those about them 3. For choice Magistrates and Ministers and other instruments of publick good your sorrow must be greater because of the common loss and the judgement thereby inflicted on the World 4. For old tryed Christians that have overcome the world and lived so long till age and weakness make them almost unserviceable to the Church and who groan to be unburdened and to be with Christ your sorrow should be least and your joy and thanks for their happiness should be greatest But especially abhor that nature that secretly is glad of the death of Parents or little sorrowful because that their estates are faln to you or you are enriched or set at liberty by their death God seldom leaveth this sin unrevenged by some heavy judgements even in this life § 18. Direct 10. To overcome your inordinate grief for the death of your relations consider these Direct 10. things following 1. That excess of sorrow is your sin And sinning is an ill use to be made of your Help against excessive grief for the Death of friends affliction 2. That it tendeth to a great deal more It unfitteth you for many duties which you are bound to as to Rejoice in God and to be Thankful for mercies and cheerful in his Love and Praise and Service And is it a small sin to unfit your selves for the greatest duties 3. If you are so troubled at Gods disposal of his own what doth your Will but rise up against the will of God as if you grudged at the exercise of his Dominion and Government that is that he is God! Who is wisest and Best and fittest to dispose of all mens lives Is it God or you Would you not have God to be the Lord of all and to dispose of Heaven and earth and of the lives and Crowns of the greatest Princes If you would not you would not have him to be God If you would is it not unreasonable that you or your friends only should be excepted from his disposal 4. If your friends are in Heaven how unsuitable is it for you to be overmuch mourning for them when they are rapt into the highest Joyes with Christ and Love should teach you to rejoice with them that rejoice and not to mourn as those that have no hope 5. You know not what mercy God Isa. 57. 1. shewed to your friends in taking them away from the evil to come you know not what suffering Phil. 1. 2◠23. the Land or Church is falling into or at least might have faln upon themselves nor what sins they might have
Repent of your sinful life and yet set your Heart upon the life to come and Love God and Holiness better than the world and fleshly pleasure and trust your soul on Christ as your Redeemer and he will certainly forgive you and reconcile you unto God and present you justified and spotless in his sight Think of your sin till you abhor your self and think of your sin and misery till you feel that you are undone if you have not a Saviour and then think what Love God hath shewed you in Christ in giving him to be incarnate and die for sinners and offering you freely to pardon all that ever you have done and to justifie and save you and bring you to endless Glory with himself if yet as last you will but give up your self to Christ and accept his mercy and return to God What joyful tidings is here now for a sinful miserable soul Yet this is the certain truth of God This is his very Covenant of grace which is founded in the blood of Christ and which he is now ready to make with you and seal to you by his spirit within and his Sacrament without if you do but Heartily and unfeignedly Consent Believe in Christ and Turn to God from the world and the flesh and resolve upon a Holy life if you should recover and then I can assure you from the word of God that he will freely pardon you and take you for his Child and save your soul in endless Glory As late as it is he will certainly receive you if you return to him by Christ with all your heart And doth not your heart now rejoice in this unspeakable mercy which is willing to save you after all the sin that you have committed and after all the time that you have lost Do you not Love that God that is so abundant in Goodness and in Love and that Saviour who hath purchased you this pardon and salvation Is it not better think you to Love and praise and serve him than to live in fleshly lusts and pleasures And is it not better to dwell in Heaven with him in endless Ioys than to live awhile in the vain delights of sinners and thence to pasâ— to endless misery O beg of God now to give you a New Heart to Believe in Christ and Repent of sin and Love him that is most Holy Good and gracious And take heed that you sleight his grace no longer and that you do not now take on you in a fear to be that which you are not or to do that which you would not hold to if you should recover And to make all sure will you now sincerely enter into a Covenant with Christ I mean but the same Covenant which you made in Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lords supper and which would have saved you if you had sincerely made and kept it Let me therefore help you both to understand it and to do it by these questions which I intreat you to answer sincerely as one that is going to the presence of God Quest. 1. Do you truly Believe that you are a Rational creature differing from bruits being made to Love and serve your Maker and have an immortal soul which must live in Heaven or Hell for ever And that there is indeed a Heaven of Ioyes and a Hell of punishments when this life is ended Quest. 2. Do you believe that in Heaven the souls of the Iustified at death and the Body also at the Resurrection shall be joined with the Angels and shall dwell with Christ and see the Glory of God and be perfected in Holiness and filled with the sense of the Love of God and with the greatest Ioyes that our nature can receive and shall live in the most delightful Love and Praise of God for ever Quest. 3. Seeing you are certain that all the pleasures of this life are short and will end in death and leave the flesh which desired them in corruption do you not firmly believe that the Ioyes of Heaven are infinitely better and more to be desired and sought than all the pleasures and profits of this life And that it is most reasonable that we should Love God above all Creatures even with all our heart and soul and might Quest. 4. Seeing then that the Love of God is both our Duty and our Happiness is it not reason that we should be kept from the Love of any thing in the world which would steal away our hearts from God and hinder us from Loving him and desiring and seeking him and that we should mortifie the love of worldly riches honours and delights so far as they are against the Love of God Quest. 5. Seeing God is the absolute Lord and Ruler of the world is it not reason that we obey him whatsoever he commandeth us though we did not see the Reason why he doth command it And yet is it not plainly Reasonable that he command us to Love and honour and worship him and to Love one another and to deal Iustly with all and do as we would be done by and toâ—â—e careful of our souls and temperate for our bodies and not to neglect or dishonour our maker nor to neglect our own salvation nor abuse our bodies by beastly filthiness or excess nor to wrong our neighbours nor deny to do them any good that is in our power This is the sum of all Gods laws and this is the nature of Holiness and obedience And do you not from your heart believe that all this is very reasonable and good Quest. 6. When the sinful world was faln from Happiness into misery by turning away from God and Holiness to sensuality and God sent his Son to be their Redeemer and Saviour to be a Sacrifice for sin and a Teacher and Pattern of a Holy and Obedient life and to make a new Covenant with them in which he giveth them the pardon of all sin and everlasting happiness if they will but give up themselves to him as their Saviour and Sanctifier and by true Repentance turn to God do you not verily Believe that miserable sinners should gladly and thankfully accept of such an offer and abundantly Love that God and Saviour that hath so tenderly loved them and so freely Redeemed them from the flames of Hell and so freely offered them everlasting life And do you not Believe that he who after all this shall slight all this mercy and refuse to be renewed by sanctifying grace and shall neglect his God and soul and this salvation and rather choose to keep his sins doth not deserve to be utterly forsaken and to be punished more than if a Saviour and Salvation had never been offered to him Quest. 7. Hath not this been your own case Have you not lived a fleshly worldly life neglecting God and your salvation and minding more these lower things and have you not refused the word and spirit of Christ which would have brought you to Repentance and a holy
and lastly of our Keeping it § 3. The Christian Covenant is a Contract between God and man through the Mediation of Iesus Christ The Covenant what for the return and reconciliation of sinners unto God and their Iustification Adoption Sanctification and Glorification by him to his Glory § 4. Here we must first consider who are the Parties in the Covenant 2. What is the matter of the Covenant on Gods Part 3. What is the matter on Mans Part 4. What are the terms of it propounded on Gods Part. 5. Where and how he doth express it 6. What are the necessary Qualifications on mans part 7. And what are the Ends and Benefits of it § 5. I. The Parties are GOD and MAN GOD the FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST on the one part and REPENTING BELIEVING SINNERS on the other part Man is the party that needeth it but God is the party that first offereth it Here note 1. That Gods part of the Covenant is made Universally and Conditionally with all mankind as to the tenor enacted and so is in Being before we were born 2. That it is not the Father Son and Holy Ghost considered simply as persons in the Godhead but as Related to Man for the ends of the Covenant 3. That it is only Sinners that this Covenant is made with because the Use of it is for the restoration of those that broke a former Covenant in Adam It is a Covenant of Reconciliation and therefore supposeth an Enmity antecedent 4. When I say that it is Repenting and Believing sinners that are the party I mean 1. That taking the Covenant in its first Act it is Repentance and faith themselves that are that Act and are our very Covenanting But taking the Covenant in its external expression so it is a Repenting Believing sinner that must make it it being but the expression of his Repentance and faith by an explicit contract with God 5. Note that though Gods Covenant be by one Universal Act of which more anon yet mans is to be made by the several acts of the individual persons each one for himself and not by the Acts of Societies only § 6. II. The matter of the Covenant on Gods Part is in General that He will be our God more particularly that God the Father will be our Reconciled God and Father in Jesus Christ that God the Son will be our Saviour and God the Holy Ghost will be our Sanctifier And the Relation of a God to us essentially containeth these three parts 1. That as on the title of Creation and Redemption he is our Owner so he doth take us as his own peculiar people 2. That as he hath title to be our Absolute King or Governour so he doth take us as his Subjects 3. That he will be our Grand Benefactor and Felicity or our most Loving Father which comprizeth all the rest And as he will be thus Related to us so he will do for us all that these Relations do import As 1. He will do all that belongeth to a Creator for his creature in our preservation and supplies 2. He will save us from our sins and from his wrath and Hell 3. And he will sanctifie us to a perfect conformity to our Head Also 1. He will use us and defend us as his own peculiar ones 2. He will govern us by a Law of Grace and righteousness 3. He will make us fully happy in his Love for ever § 7. III. The Matter on mans part of the Covenant is 1. In respect of the Terminus a quo that we will forsake the Flesh the World and the Devil as they are adverse to our Relations and Duties to God 2. In regard of the Terminus ad quem that we will take the Lord for our God and more particularly 1. That we do take God the Father for our Reconciled Father in Iesus Christ and do give up our selves to him as Creatures to their Maker 2. That we do take Iesus Christ for our Redeemer Saviour and Mediator as our High-Priest and Prophet and King and do give up our selves to him as his Redeemed ones to be reconciled to God and saved by him 3. That we do take the Holy Ghost for our Regenerâ—â—er and Sanctifier and do give up our selves to be perfectly renewed and sanctified by him and by his operations carryed on to God in his holy service Also 1. That we do take God for our Absolute Lord or Owner and do give up our selves to him as his Own 2. That we take him for our Universal Soveraign Governour and do give up our selves unto him as his subjects 3. That we do take him for our most bountiful Benefactor and loving Father and felicity and do give up our selves to him as his children to seek him and please him and perfectly to Love him Delight in him and Enjoy him for ever in Heaven as our Ultimate End And in consenting to these Relations we covenant to do the Duties of them in sincerity § 8. IV. The Terms or Conditions which God requireth of man in his Covenant are Consent and Fidelity or Performance He first Consenteth conditionally if we will consent And he consenteth to be actually our God when we consent to be his people so that as bare Consent without any performance doth found the Relation between Husband and Wife Master and Servant Prince and People but the sincere performance of the duties of the Relation which we consent to are needful afterward to continue the Relation and attain the benefits and ends so is it also between God and man We are his Children in Covenant as soon as we consent but we shall not be glorified but on Condition of sincere performance and obedience § 9. V. Gods Covenant with man is nothing else but the Universal Promise in the Gospel and to the solemnization the Declaration and Application and solemn Invâ—stiture or Delivery by his authorized Ministers 1. The Gospel as it relateth the matters of fact in and about the work of our Redemption is a Sacred History 2. As it containeth the Terms on which God will be served and commandeth us to obey them for our salvation it is called The Law of Christ or Grace 3. As it containeth the Promise of life and salvation conditionally offered it is called Gods Promise and Covenant viz. on his part as it is Proposed only 4. When by our Consent the Condition is so far performed or the Covenant Accepted then Gods Conditional Universal Promise or Covenant becometh actual and particular as to the effect and so the Covenant becometh Mutual between God and man As if a King make an Act or Law of Pardon and Oblivion to a Nation of Rebels saying Who ever cometh in by such a day and confesseth his fault and sueth out his pardon and promiseth fidelity for the future shall be pardoned This Act is a Law in one respect and it is an Universal Conditional pardon of all those Rebells or a Promise of pardon and an
Church it is done by a double consent to the double relation By baptism he professeth his consent to be a member of Christ and his universal Church and additionally he consenteth to be guided by that particular Pastor in that particular Church which is another Covenant or Consent Quest. 33. Whether Infants should be Baptized I have answered long agoe in a Treatise on that Subject Also What Infants should be Baptized And who have Right to Sacraments And whether Hypocrites are univocally or equivocally Christians and Church-members I have resolved in my Disput. of Right to Sacraments Quest. 34. Whether an unbaptized person who yet maketh a publick profession of Christianity be a member of the Visible Church And so of the Infants of Believers unbaptized Answ. 1. SUch persons have a certain Imperfect irregular kind of profession and so of Membership Their Visibility or Visible Christianity is not such as Christ hath appointed As those that are Marryed but not by Legal Celebration and as those that in cases of necessity are Ministers without Ordination so are such Christians as Constantine and many of old without Baptism 2. Such persons ordinarily are not to be admitted to the Rights and Communion of the Visible Church because we must know Christs sheep by his own mark But yet they are so far visible Christians as that we may be perswaded nevertheless of their salvation As to visible Communion they have but a remote and incompleat jus â—d rem and no jus in re or legal investiture and possession 3. The same is the case of unbaptized Infants of believers because they are not of the Church meerly as they are their natural seed but because it is supposed that a person himself devoted to God ☞ doth also devote his Children to God Therefore not nature only but this supposition arising from the true nature of his own dedication to God is the reason why believers Children have their right to Baptism Therefore till he hath Actually devoted them to God in Baptism they are not legally members of the Visible Church but only in fieri and imperfectly as is said Of which more anon Quest. 35. Is it certain by the Word of God that all Infants Baptized and dying before actual sin are undoubtedly saved Or what Infants may we say so of Answ. I. 1. WE must distinguish between certainty objective and subjective or plainlyer the Since the writing of this there is come forth an excellent Book for Infant Baptism by Mr. Ioseph Whistoâ— in which the Grounds of my present Solutions are notaâ—â—y cleared Reality or Truth of the Thing and the certain apprehension of it 2. And this certainty of apprehension sometime signifieth only the Truth of that apprehension when a man indeed is not deceived or more usually that clearness of apprehension joyned with Truth which fully quieteth the mind and excludeth doubting 3. We must distinguish of Infants as Baptised Lawfully upon just title or unlawfully without title 4. And also of Title before God which maketh a Lawful claim and Reception at his bar and Title before the Church which maketh only the Administration lawful before God and the Reception lawful only in foro ecclesiae or externo 5. The word Baptism signifieth either the external part only consisting in the words and outward action or the Internal Covenanting of the heart also 6. And that internal Covenant is either sincere which giveth right to the benefits of Gods Covenant or only partial reserved and unsound such as is common to hypocrites Conclus 1. God hath been pleased to speak so little in Scripture of the case of Infants that modest men will use the words Certainly and Undoubtedly about their case with very great Caution And many great Divines have maintained that their very Baptism it self cannot be Certainly and undoubtedly proved by the Word of God but by Tradition Though I have endeavoured to prove the contrary in a special Treatise on that point 2. No man can tell what is objectively certain or revealed in Gods Word who hath not subjective certainty or knowledge of it 3. A mans apprehension may be True when it is but a wavering opinion with the greatest doubtfulness Therefore we do not usually by a Certain apprehension mean only a True apprehension but a clear and quieting one 4. It is possible to baptize Infants unlawfully or without any Right so that their Reception and baptizing shall be a great sin as is the misapplying of other Ordinances For instance one in America where there is neither Church to receive them nor Christian Parents nor Sponsors may take up the Indians Children and Baptize them against the Parents wills Or if the Parents consent to have their Children outwardly Baptized and not themselves as not knowing what Baptizing meaneth or desire it only for outward advantages to their Children Or if they offer them to be Baptized only in open derision and scorn of Christ such Children have no Right to be received And many other instances neerer may be given 5. It 's possible the person may have no Authority at all from Christ who doth Baptize them And Christs part in Reception of the person and Collation and Investiture in his benefits must be done by his Commission or else how can we say that Christ doth it But open Infidels Women Children madmen scorners may do it that have none of his Commission 6. That all Infants baptized without title or right by mis-application and so dying are not undoubtedly saved nor any word of God doth certainly say so we have reason to believe on these following grounds 1. Because we can find no such Text nor could ever prevail with them that say so to shew us such an ascertaining Word of God 2. Because else gross sin would certainly be the way to salvation For such mis-application of Baptism by the demanders at least would certainly be gross sin as well as mis-applying the Lords Supper 3. Because it is clean contrary to the tenour of the new Covenant which promiseth salvation to none but penitent Believers and their seed What God may do for others unknown to us we have nothing to do with But his Covenant hath made no other promise that I can find 〈…〉 d we are â—ertain of no mans salvation by Baptism to whom God never made a promise of it If by the Children of the faithful be meant not only their Natural seed but the Adopted or bought also of which they are true Proprietors yet that is nothing to all others 4. To add to Gods words Especially to his very Promise or Covenant is so terrible a presumption as we dare not be guilty of 5. Because this tyeth Grace or salvation so to the outward washing of the body or opus operatum as is contrary to the nature of Gods Ordinances and to the tenour of Scripture and the judgement of the Protestant Divines 6. Because this would make a strange disparity between the two Sacraments of the same
own part Which is but what the antients were wont to say of the Baptized Adult But they never meant that the Infidel and Hypocrite and Impenitent person was in a state of life because he was baptized But that all that truly consent to the Covenant and signifie this by being baptized are saved So the Church of England saith that they receive no detriment by delaying Confirmation but it never said that they receive no detriment by their Parents or Sponsors Infidelity and Hypocrisie or by their want of true Right Coram Deo to be baptized 12. But yet before these Questions either of them be taken as resolved by me I must first take in some other questions which are concerned in the same Cause as Quest. 36. What is meant by this speech that Believers and their seed are in the Covenant of God which giveth them right to Baptism Answ. THough this was opened on the by before I add 1. The meaning is not that they are in that Absolute promise of the first and all following grace supposed ordinarily to be made of the Elect as such unknown viz. I will give them Faith Repentance Conversion Iustification and Salvation and all the Conditions of the Conditional promise without any Condition on their part which many take to be the meaning of I will take the hard heart out of them c. For 1. This promise is not now to be first performed to the adult who Repent and believe already And no other are to be baptized at age If that Absolute promise be sealed by baptism either it must be so sealed as a promise before it be performed or after If before either to all because some are elect or only to some that are elect Not to all for it is not common to Infidels Not to some as elect for 1. They are unknown 2. If they were known they are yet supposed to be Infidels Not after performance for then it is too late 2. The meaning is not only that the Conditional Covenant of Grace is made and offered to them For so it may be said of Heathens and Infidels and all the world that hear the Gospel But 1. The Covenant meant is indeed this Conditional Covenant only Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved 2. To be in this Covenant is to be a Consenting believer and so to be one that hath by Inward Heart Consent the true Conditions of right to the benefits of the Covenant and is thereby prepared solemnly by baptism to Profess this Consent and to receive an Investiture and seal of Gods part by his Minister given in his name 3. Infants are thus in Covenant with their Parents because Reputatively their Parents Wills are thâ—â—rs to dispose of them for their good And therefore they Consent by their Parents who Consent for them Quest. 37. Are Believers Children certainly in Covenant before their Baptism and thereby in a state of Salvation Or not till they are baptized Answ. DIstinguish between 1. Heart-Covenanting and Mouth-Covenanting 2. Between being in Covenant before God and Visibly before the Church 1. No person is to be baptized at age whose Inward Heart Consent before professed giveth him not Right to baptism Therefore all the adult must be in Covenant that is Consent on their part to the Covenant before they are baptized 2. Therefore it is so with the seed of the faithful who must Consent by their Parents before they have right Otherwise all should have right and their baptism be essentially another baptism as sealing some other Covenant or none 3. If there be no promise made to the seed of the faithful more than to others they have no right more than others to baptism or salvation But if there be a promise made to them as the seed of believers then are they as such within that promise that is performers of its conditions by their Parents and have right to the benefit 4. If the Heart Consent or faith of the Adult do put themselves into a state of salvation before their baptism then it doth so by their children But c. 5. But this Right to salvation in Parents and Children upon Heart Consent before baptism is only before God For the Church taketh no Cognizance of secret heart-transactions But a man then only consenteth in the Judgement of the Church when he openly professeth it and desireth to signifie it by being baptized 6. And even before God there is a necessitas praecepti obliging us to open baptism after heart consent And he that heartily consenteth cannot refuse Gods way of uttering it unless either through ignorance he know it not to be his duty for himself and his child or through want of ability or opportunity cannot have it So that while a man is unbaptized somewhat is wanting to the compleatness of his right to the benefits of the Covenant viz. A reception of Investiture and possession in Gods appointed way though it be not such a want as shall frustrate the salvation of those that did truly consent in heart 7. I take it therefore for certain that the children of true believers Consent to the Covenant by their Parents and are as certainly saved if they dye before baptism as after Though those that despise baptism when they know it to be a duty cannot be thought indeed to believe or consent for their children or themselves Quest. 38. Is Infants title to Baptism and the Covenant-benefits given them by God in his Promise upon any proper Moral Condition or only upon the Condition of their Natural Relation that they be the Seed of the Faithful Answ. THat which is called a meer Natural Condition is properly in Law sense no condition at all nor doth make a Contract or Promise to be called Conditional in a Moral sense But it is matters of Morality and not of Physicks only that we are treating of and therefore we must take the terms in a Moral sense For a Physical Condition is either past or present or future or not-future If it be past or present the proposition may indeed be hypothetical but it is no such conditional promise as we are speaking of For instance if you say If thou wast born in such a City or if thy name be Iohn I will give thee so much These are the words of an uncertain promiser but the Promise is already either equivalent to an Absolute Gift or Null So if the Physical condition be de futuro e. g. If thou be alive to morrow I will give thee this or that or if the Sun shine to morrow c. This indeed suspendeth the gift or event but not upon any Moral being which is in the power of the Receiver but upon a Natural Contingency or uncertainty And God hath no such Conditional Covenants or promises to be sealed by baptism He saith not If thou be the child of such or such a man thou shalt be saved as his natural off-spring only If the Papists that accuse
in a state of salvation that are not inherently sanctified And whether any fall from this Infant state of salvation Answ. OF all these great difficulties I have said what I know in my Appendix to Infant Baptism to Mr. Bedford and Dr. Ward and of Bishop Davenants judgement And I confess that my judgement agreeth more in this with Davenants than any others saving that he doth not so much appropriate the benefits of baptism to the children of sincere believers as I do And though by a Letter in pleading Davenants cause I was the occasion of good Mr. Gatakers printing of his answer to him yet I am still most inclined to his judgement Not that all the baptized but that all the baptized seed of true Christians are pardoned justified adopted and have a title to the Spirit and salvation But the difficulties in this case are so great as driveth away most who do not equally perceive the greater inconveniencies which we must choose if this opinion be forsaken that is that all Infants must be taken to be out of the Covenant of God and to have no promise of salvation Whereas surely the Law of Grace as well as the Covenant of Works included all the seed in their capacity 1. To the first of these Questions I answer 1. As all true believers so all their Infants do receive initially by the promise and by way of obsignation and Sacramental Investiture in Baptism a Ius Relationis a right of peculiar Relation to all the three persons in the blessed Trinity As to God as Matth. 28. 19 20. their reconciled Adopting Father and to Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and actual Head and Justifier so also to the Holy Ghost as their Regenerater and Sanctifier This Right and Relation 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. adhereth to them and is given them in order to future actual operation and communion As a Marriage Covenant giveth the Relation and Right to one another in order to the subsequent Communion Eph. 4. 4 5. and duties of a married life And as he that sweareth allegiance to a King or is listed into an Army or is entred into a School receiveth the Right and Relation and is so correlated as obligeth to the mutual subsequent Offices of each and giveth right to many particular benefits By this Right and Relation God is his own God and Father Christ is his own Head and Saviour and the Holy Spirit is his own Sanctifier without asserting what operations are already wrought on his soul but only to what future ends and uses these Relations are Now as these Rights and Relations are given immediately so those Benefits which are Relative and the Infant immediately capable of them are presently given by way of communion He hath presently the pardon of Original sin by virtue of the Sacrifice Merit and Intercession of Christ. He hath a state of Adoption and Right to Divine Protection Provision and Church-communion according to his natural Capacity and Right to everlasting life 2. It must be carefully noted that the Relative Union between Christ the Mediator and the baptized persons is that which in Baptism is first given in order of nature and that the rest do flow from this The Covenant and Baptism deliver the Covenanter 1. From Divine Displicency by Reconciliation with the Father 2. From Legal Penalties by Justification by the Son 3. From sin it self by the operations of the Holy Ghost But it is Christ as our Mediator-Head that is first given us in Relative Union And then 1. The Father Loveth us with Complacency as in the Son and for the sake of his first beloved 2. And the Spirit which is given us in Relation is first the Spirit of Christ our The Spirit is not given radically or immediately to any Christian but to Christ our Head alone and from Him to us Head and not first inherent in us So that by Union with our Head that Spirit is next united to us both Relatively and as Radically Inherent in the Humane Nature of our Lord to whom we are united As the Nerves and Animal Spirits which are to operate in all the body are Radically only in the Head from whence they flow into and operate on the members as there is need though there may be obstructions So the Spirit dwelleth in the Humane Nature of our Head and there it can never be lost And it is not necessary that it dwell in us by way of Radication but by way of Influence and Operation These things are distinctly and clearly understood but by very few and we are all much in the dark about them But I think however doctrinally we may speak better that most Christians are habituated to this perilous misapprehension which is partly against Christianity it self that the Spirit floweth immediatly from the Divine Nature of the Father and the Son as to the Authoritative or Potestative conveyance unto our souls And we forget that it is first given to Christ in his Glorified Humanity as our Head and radicated in Him and that it is the Office of this Glorified Head to send or communicate to all his members from Himself that Spirit which must operate in them as they have need This is plain in many Texts of Scripture Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all how shall be not also with him freely give us all things when he giveth him particularly to us 1 John 5. 11 12. And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath the life and he that hath not the Son hath not the life Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Eph. 1. 22 23. And gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all John 15. 26. The Advocate or Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father c. John 16. 7. If I depart I will send him unto you John 14. 26. The Comforter whom the Father will send in my Name Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I know that is true of his Living in us Objectively and Finally but that seemeth not to be all Col. 3. 3 4. For ye are dead and your life is bid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory I know that in verse 3. by Life is meant Felicity or Glory But not only as appeareth by verse 4. where Christ is called Our Life Matth. 28. 19. All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth ver 20. I am with you allwayes Joh. 13. 3. The Father hath given all things into his hands Joh. 17. 2
was an Ecclesiastical Usurper quoad personam that had no true Call to a Lawful Office shall after have a Call or if any thing fall out which shall make it our duty to Consent and Call him then the impediment from his Usurpation is removed 3. It is not lawful though the Civil Magistrate command us to swear obedience even in licitis honestis to such an Usurper whose Office it self is unlawful or forbidden by Christ as he is such an Officer No Protestant thinketh it lawful to swear obedience to the Pope as Pope nor do any that take Lay-Elders to be an unlawful Office think it lawful to swear obedience to them as such 4. If one that is in an unlawful Ecclesiastical Office be also at once in another that is lawful we may swear obedience to him in respect of the Lawful Office So it is Lawful to swear obedience to the Pope in Italy as a Temporal Prince in his own Dominions And to a Cardinal as Richelieu Mazarine Ximenes c. as the Kings Minister exercising a power derived from him So it is lawful for a Tenant where Law and Custome requireth it to swear fidelity to a Lay Elder as his Landlord or Temporal Lord and Master And so the old Non-conformists who thought the English Prelacy an unlawful Office yet maintained that it is Lawful to take the Oath of Canonical obedience because they thought it was imposed by the King and Laws and that we swear to them not as Officers claiming a Divine Right in the Spiritual Government but as Ordinaries or Officers made by the King to exercise so much of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under him as he can delegate according to the Oath of Supremacy in which we all acknowledge the King to be Supream in all Ecclesiastical Causes that is Not the Supream Pastor Bishop or Spiritual Key-bearer or Ruler but the Supream Civil Ruler of the Church who hath the power of the Sword and of determining all things extrinsick to the Pastoral Office and so of the Coercive Government of all Pastors and Churches as well as of other Subjects And if Prelacy were proved never so unlawful no doubt but by the Kings Command we may swear or perform formal obedience to a Prelate as he is the Kings Officer Of the Non-conformists judgement in this read Bradshaw against Canne c. 5. But in such a case no Oath to Inferiours is lawful without the Consent of the Soveraign power or at least against his will 6. Though it be a duty for the flock to obey every Presbyter yet if they would make all the people swear obedience to them all wise and conscionable Christians should dissent from the introduction of such a custome and deny such Oaths as far as lawfully they may that is 1. If the King be against it we must refuse it 2. If he be neutral or meerly passive in it we must refuse unless some apparent necessity for the Churches good require it 1. Because it favoureth of Pride in such Presbyters 2. Because it is a new Custome in the Church and contrary to the antient practice 3. It is not only without any authority given them by Christ that they exact such Oaths but Mat. 22. 4 10. Luke 22. 27 c. Mark 9. 35. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. 1 Cor. 9. 19. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 4. 5. also contrary to the great humility lowliness and condescension in which he describeth his Ministers who must be Great by being the servants of all 4. And it tendeth to corrupt the Clergy for the future 5. And such new impositions give just reason to Princes and to the People to suspect that the Presbyters are aspiring after some inordinate exaltation or have some ill project for the advancement of themselves 7. But yet if it be not only their own ambition which imposeth it but either the King and Laws command it or necessity require it for the avoidance of a greater evil it may be Lawful and a duty to take an Oath of Obedience to a Lawful Presbyter or Bishop Because 1. It is a ☜ duty to Obey them 2. And it is not forbidden us by Christ to promise or swear to do our duty even when they may sin in demanding such an Oath 8. If an Office be Lawful in the essential parts and yet have unlawful integrals or adjuncts or be abused in exercise it will not by such additions or abuses be made unlawful to swear Obedience to the Officer as such 9. If one Presbyter or Bishop would make another Presbyter or Bishop to swear obedience to him without authority the Case is the same as of the Usurpers before mentioned Quest. 154. Must all our preaching be upon a Text of Scripture Answ. 1. IN many Cases it may be lawful to preach without a Text to make Sacred Orations Act◠2 3. like Greg. Nazianzenes and Homilies like Macarius's Ephrem Syrus's and many other antients and like our own Church-Homilies 2. But ordinarily it is the fittest way to preach upon a Text of Scripture 1. Because it is our Luke 4. 18. very Office to Teach the people the Scripture The Prophets brought a new word or message from God but the Priests did but keep interpret and teach the Law already received And we are not Mal. 2. 7. successors of the inspired Prophets but as the Priests were Teachers of Gods received Word And this practice will help the people to understand our Office 2. And it will preserve the due esteem and reverence of the Holy Scriptures which the contrary practice may diminish Quest. 155. Is not the Law of Moses abrogated and the whole Old Testament out of date and therefore not to be Read publickly and preached on Answ. 1. THe Covenant of Innocency is ceased cessante subditorum capacitate as a Covenant or promise And so are the Positive Laws proper to Adam in that state and to many particular persons since 2. The Covenant mixt of Grace and Works proper to the Jews with all the Jewish Law as such was never made to us or to the rest of the world and to the Jews it is ceased by the coming and perfecter Laws and Covenant of Christ. 3. The Prophecies and Types of Christ and the Promises made to Adam Abraham and others of his Coming in the flesh are all fulfilled and therefore not useful to all the ends of their first making And the many Prophecies of particular things and persons past and gone are accomplished 4. But the Law of Nature is still Christs Law And that Law is much expounded to us in the Old Testament And if God once for another use did say This is the Law of Nature the truth of these words as a Divine Doctrine and Exposition of the Law of Nature is still the same 5. The Covenant of Grace made with Adam and Noah for all mankind is still in force as to the great benefits and main condition that is as to pardon given by it
Priest and therefore had a Kingdom holily governed and therefore not only a visible but also a National Church supposing that he was not Sem as the Jews and Broughton c. think For the scituation of his Countrey doth make many desert that opinion 5. And Iob and his friends shew that there were Churches then besides the Jews 6. And it is not to be thought that all Ismaels posterity suddenly apostatized 7. Nor that Esau's posterity had no Church state for both retained Circumcision 8. Nor is it like that Abrahams off-spring by Keturah were all apostates being once inchurched For though the special promise was made to Isaac's seed as the peculiar holy Nation c. yet not as the only Children of God or persons in a state of salvation 9. And the passages in Ionah about Ninive It is this Jewish pride of their own prerogatives which Paul so much laboureth in all his Epistles to pull down give us some such intimations also 10. And Iaphet and his seed being under a special blessing it is not like that they all proved Apostates And what was in all other Kingdoms of the World is little known to us We must therefore take heed of concluding as the proud Jews were at last apt to do of themselves that because they were a chosen Nation priviledged above all others that therefore the Redeemer under the Law of Grace made to Adam had no other Churches in the World and that there were none sâ—vâ—d but the Jews and proselytes Quest. 157. Must we think accordingly of the Christian Churches now that they are only advanced above the rest of the World as the Iews were but not the only people that are saved Answ. THis question being fitter for another place what hope there is of the salvation of the people that are not Christians I have purposely handled in another Treatise in my Method Theologiae and shall only say now 1. That those that receive not Christ and the Mark 16 16. Joh. 3. 16 17 18 19 20. Joh. 1. 11 12. Gospel revealed and offered to them cannot be saved 2. That all those shall be saved if such there be who never had sufficient means to know Christ incarnate and yet do faithfully perform the common conditions of the Covenant of Grace as it was made with Adam and Noe And particularly All that are truly sanctified who truly hate all known sin and Love God as God above all as their merciful reconciled pardoning Father and lay up all their hopes in Heaven in the everlasting fruition of him in glory and set their hearts there and for those hopes deny the interest of the flesh and all Psal. 19. 1 2 3 4 5. Act. 10. 2 3 35. Rom. 2. things of this World 3. But how many or who doth this abroad in all the Kingdoms of the World who have not the distinct knowledge of the Articles of the Christian faith it is not possible for us to know 4. But as Aquinas and the Schoolmen ordinarily conclude this question we are sure that the Church hath this prerogative above all others that salvation is incomparably more common to Christians than to any others as their Light and helps and means are more The opinions of Iustin and Clem. Alexandr Origen and many other Ancients of the Heathens salvation I suppose is known In short 1. It seems plain to me that all the World that are no Christians and have not the Gospel are not by Christs incarnation put into a worse condition than they were in before But may be saved on 1 1 Tim. 2. 4. 4. 10. Tit. 2. 11. Joh. 1. 29. Joh. 3. 17. 4. 42. Rom. 1. 21. the same terms that they might have been saved on before 2. That Christs Apostles were in a state of salvation before they believed the Articles of Christs dying for sin his Resurrection Ascension the giving of the Holy Ghost and Christs coming to judgement as they are now to be believed 3. That all the faithful before Christs coming were saved by a more general faith than the 2 Joh. 5. â— c. 9. 12 c. Mat. 16. 22. Joh. 12. 16. Luk. 18. 34. Apostles had as not being Terminated in This person Iesus as the Messiah but only expected the Messiah to come 4. That as more articles are necessary to those that have the Gospel than to those that have it not and to those since Christs Incarnation that hear of him than to the Iews before so before there were more things necessary even to those Iews that had a shorter Creed than that which the Apostles believed 3 Mal. 3. 1 2. Joh. 4. 25. before the Resurrection than was to the rest of the World that had not promises prophecies types and Laws so particular distinct and full as they had 4 Rom. 2. 12 14 26. Luk. 12. 47 48. 16. 10. 5. That the Promises Covenant or Law of Grace was made to all lapsed mankind in Adam and Noe. 6. That this Law or Covenant is still of the same tenour and not repealed 5 Gen. 3. 15. Gen. 9. 1 2 3 4. 7. That this Covenant giveth pardoning mercy and salvation and promiseth Victory over Satan to and by the holy seed 6 Psal. 136. 103. â—7 100. 5. 8. That the condition on mans part is Repentance and faith in God as a merciful God thus pardoning sin and saving the penitent believer But just how particular or distinct their belief of the incarnation of Christ was to be is hard to determine 7 Gen. 3. 15. Jonah 3. 9 10. 4. 2. 9. But after Christs Incarnation even they that know it not yet are not by the first Covenant bound to believe that the Messiah is yet to be incarnate or the Word made flesh For they are not bound 8 Jonah ib. Rom. 2. 4. Luk. 13. 3 5. Act. 10. 35. Joh. 3. 19 20 21. to believe an untruth and that as the condition of salvation 10. Men were saved by Christ about 4000 years before he was man and had suffered satisfied or merited as man 11. The whole course of Gods actual providence since the fall hath so filled the world with mercies contrary to mans demerit that it is an actual universal proclamation of the pardoning Law of 9 1 Joh 4. 2 3. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Grace which is thereby now become even a Law of nature that is of Lapsed pardoned nature as the first was the natural Law of Innocence 11 Rom. 1. 20. 21. Act. 14. 17. Rom. 2. 15 16. Psal. 19. 1 2 3. Prov. 1. 20 21 22 23. 24. Exod. 34. 6. â—â—â—â— 3. 12. â—â—h 4. 2. Luk. 6. 36. Luk. 18. 13. 12. Christ giveth a great deal of mercy to them that never heard of him or know him And he giveth far more mercy to believers than they have a particular knowledge and belief of 13. There is no salvation but by Christ the saviour of the world Though there be
Father Word and Spirit are undivided But yet some things are more eminently attributed to one person in the Trinity and some to another 2. By the Law and Covenant of Innocency the Creator eminently ruled Omnipotently And the Joh. 5. 22 25. Prov. 1. 20 21 c. Son Ruled eminently sapientially initially under the Covenant of promise or grace from Adam till his Incarnation and the descent of the Holy Ghost and more fully and perfectly afterward by the Holy Ghost And the Holy Ghost ever since doth Rule in the Saints as the Paraclete Advocate or Agent of Christ and Christ by him eminently by holy Love which is yet but initially But the same Holy Ghost by perfect Love shall perfectly Rule in Glory for ever even as the spirit of the Father and the Son We have already the Initial Kingdom of Love by the spirit and shall have the perfect Kingdom in Heaven And besides the initial and the perfect there is no other Nor is the perfect Kingdom to be expected before the day of judgement or our removal unto Heaven For our Kingdom is not of this World And they that sell all and follow Christ do make the exchange for Mat. 5. 11 12. Luk. 18. 22 23. Mat. 10. 41 32. Luk. 6. 23. 16. 20. 1 Cor. 12. 2 3. 5. 1 3 8. Mat. 18. 10. 1 Thes. 4. 17 18. Mar. 12. 25. 2 Pet. 3. 11 12 13. 1 Pet. 1. 4. Heb. 10. 34. 12. 23. Col. 1. 5. Phil. 3. 20. 21. a Reward in Heaven And they that suffer persecution for his sake must rejoice because their reward in Heaven is great And they that relieve a prophet or righteous man for the sake of Christ and that lose any thing for him shall have indeed an hundred fold in value in this life but in the world to come eternal life We shall be taken up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord And those are the words with which we must comfort one another and not Jewishly with the hopes of an earthly Kingdom And yet we look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness according to his promise But who shall be the inhabitants and how that Heaven and Earth shall diffâ—r and what we shall then have to do with Earth Whether to be Overseers of that Righteous Earth and so to judge or Rule the World as the Angels are now over us in this World are things which yet I understand not Quest. 162. May we not look for Miracles hereafter Answ. THe answer to Quest. 160. may serve to this 1. God may work Miracles if he please Lâ—ke 23. 8. and hath not told us that he never will 2. But he hath not promised us that he will and therefore we cannot believe such a promise not expect them as a certain thing Nor may any pray for the gift of miracles 3. But if there be any probability of them it will be to those that are converting Infidel Nations when they may be partly of such use as they were at first 4. Yet it is certain that sometimes God still worketh Miracles But arbitrarily and rarely which may not put any individual person in expectation of them Object Is not the promise the same to us as to the Apostles and primitive Christians if we could but believe as they did Answ. 1. The promise to be believed goeth before the faith that believeth it and not that faith before the promise 2. The promise of the Holy Ghost was for perpetuity to sanctifie all believers 1 Cor. 1â— 2â— 29. Heb. 2. 3 4. John 1â— 41. But the promise of that special gift of Miracles was for a time because it was for a special use that is to be a standing seal to the truth of the Gospel which all after ages may be convinced of in point of fact and so may still have the use and benefit of And providence ceasing Miracles thus expoundeth the promise And if Miracles must be common to all persons and ages they would be as no Miracles And we have seen those that most confidently believed they should work them all fail But I have written so largely of this point in a set Disputation in my Treatise called The Unreasonableness of Infidelity fully proving those first Miracles satisfactory and obligatory to all following ages that I must thither now refer the Reader Quest. 163. Is the Scripture to be tryed by the Spirit or the Spirit by the Scripture and which of them is to be preferred Answ. I Put the question thus confusedly for the sake of those that use to do so to shew them how to get out of their own Confusion You must distinguish 1. Between the Spirit in it self considered and the Scripture in it self 2. Between the several operations of the Spirit 3. Between the several persons that have the Spirit And so you must conclude 1. That the Spirit in it self is infinitely more excellent than the Scripture For the Spirit is God and the Scripture is but the work of God 2. The operation of the Spirit in the Apostles was more excellent than the operation of the same Spirit now in us As producing more excellent effects and more infallible 3. Therefore the holy Scriptures which were the infallible dictates of the Spirit in the Apostles 1 Joh. 4. 1 2 6. John 18. 37. 8. 47. are more perfect than any of our apprehensions which come by the same Spirit which we have not in so great a measure 4. Therefore we must not try the Scriptures by our most spiritual apprehensions but our apprehensions Acts 17. 11 12. Matth. 5. 18. Rom. 16. 26. by the Scriptures that is we must prefer the Spirits inspiring the Apostles to indite the Scripture before the Spirits illuminating of us to understand them or before any present inspirations the former being the more perfect Because Christ gave the Apostles the Spirit to deliver us infallibly Matth. 28. 20. Luke 10. 16. his own Commands and â—o indite a Rule for following ages But he giveth us the Spirit but to understand and use that Rule aright 5. This trying the Spirit by the Scriptures is not a setting of the Scripture above the Spirit it Rev. 2. 2. Jude 17. a Pet. 3. â— Ephes. 4. 11 12. 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. Ephes. 2. 20. self but is only a trying the Spirit by the Spirit that is the Spirits operations in our selves and his Revelations to any pretenders now by the Spirits operations in the Apostles and by their Revelations recorded for our use For they and not we are called Foundations of the Church Quest. 164. How is a pretended Prophet or Revelation to be tryed Answ. 1. IF it be contrary to the Scripture it is to be rejected as a deceit Acts 17. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 3 4 John 10. 35. John 19. 24 28 36 37. 2. If it be the same thing which is
him but not till he thus forsake it Quest. 3. Is the day of grace and pardon ever past in this life Quest. 3. Answ. The day of grace and pardon to the penitent is never past in this life There is no day or Some speak too ignorantly and dangerrously about the day of grace being past in this life hour in which a true penitent person is not pardoned or in which the impenitent is not conditionally pardoned that is if he will truly repent and believe in Christ And as for the day of true penitence it is not past to the impenitent for it never yet came that is They never truly repented But there is a time with some provoking forsaken sinners when God who was wont to call them to repentance by outward Preaching and inward motions will call and move them so no more but leave them more quietly in the blindness and hardness of their hearts Quest. 4. May we be certain of pardon of sin in this life Quest. 4. Answ. Yes every man that understandeth the Covenant of Grace may be certain of pardon so far as he is certain of the sincerity of his faith and repentance and no further And if a man could not be sure of that the consolatory promises of pardon would be in a sort in vain And we could not tell how to believe and repent if we cannot tell when we truly do it Quest. 5. Can any man pardon sins against God and how far Quest. 5. Answ. Pardon is the remitting of a Punishment So far as man is to punish sinners against God so far they may pardon that is remit that punishment Whether they do well in so doing is another question Magistrates are to execute corporal penalties upon subjects for many sins against God and they may pardon accordingly The Pastors of the Church who are its Guides as to publick Church-communion may remove offenders from the said Communion and they may absolve them when they are penitent and they may rightfully or wrongfully remit the penalty which they may inflict 2. The Pastors of the Church may as Gods officers declare the conditional general pardon which is contained in the Covenant of grace and that with particular application to the sinner for the comforting of his mind q. d. Having examined your Repentance I declare to you as the Minister of Christ that if it be as you express it without dissembling or mistake your Repentance is sincere and your sin is pardoned 3. On the same terms a Pastor may as the Minister or Messenger of Christ deliver this same conditional pardon contained in the Covenant of grace as sealed by the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper which is an act of investiture q. d. I do as the Minister of Christ hereby seal and deliver to you in his name the pardon of all your sins through his blood supposing your professed faith and repentance be sincere otherwise it is void and of no such effect But this is 1. But a conditional pardon though with particular application 2. And it is but a Ministerial act of Delivery or investiture and not the act of the Donor by himself nor the gift of the first title so that it is no whit proper to say that the Minister pardoneth you but that the Minister bringeth and delivereth you the pardon and sealeth it in his Masters name or that Christ doth pardon you and send it you by his Minister As it is utterly improper to say that the Kings Messenger pardoneth a Traytor because he bringeth him a pardon from the Ring And though if we agree of this sense the Controversie remaining will be but de nomine yet is it not of small moment when abused words do tend to abuse the peoples understandings and he that saith I forgive your sins doth teach the people to take him for a God whatever he meaneth in himself and blaspheamous words will not be sufficiently excused by saying that you have not a blaspheaming sense So that a Pastor may 1. Declare Christs pardon 2. And seal and deliver it conditionally in Christs name But he cannot pardon the internal punishments in this life nor the eternal punishments of the next 3. But the punishments of Excommunication he may pardon who must execute them Quest. 6. Doth God forgive sin before it be committed or justifie the sinner from it Quest. 6. Answ. No for it is a contradiction to forgive that which is not or to remit a penalty which is not due But he will indeed justifie the person not by Christs righteousness but by his own innocency in tantum so far as he is no sinner He that hath not committed a sin needeth no pardon of it nor any righteousness but his innocency to justifie him against the false accusation of doing that which he never did God doth prepare the sacrifice and remedy before upon the foresight of the sin And he hath made an universal act of pardon before hand which shall become an actual pardon to him who penitently accepteth it And he is purposed in himself to pardon all whom he will pardon so that he hath the decretive nolle punire before But none of this is proper pardon or the justification of a sinner in the Gospel sense as shall be further shewed Quest. 7. Is an Elect person pardoned and justified before faith and repentance Quest. 7. Answ. Laying aside the case of Infants which dependeth on the faith of others the former answer will serve for this question Quest. 8. Is pardon or justification perfect before death Quest. 8. Answ. 1. De re 1. The pardon which you have this year extendeth not to the sins which you commit the next year or hour but there must be a renewed act of pardon for renewed sins though not a new Gospel or Covenant or act of Oblivion to do it But the same Gospel-Covenant doth morally perform a new act of pardon according to the Redeemers mind and will 2. The pardon which we have now is but constitutive in jure and but virtual as to sentential Iustification But the sentence of the Judge is a more perfective act or if any think that God doth now sentence us just before the Angels in any Coelestial Court yet that at Judgement will be a more full perfective act 3. The executive pardon which we have now which is opposite to actual punishing is not perfect till the day of judgement Because all the punishment is not removed till the last enemy Death be overcome and the body be raised from the Earth 2. And now the Controversie de nomine whether it be proper to call our present justification or pardon Perfect is easily decided from what is said de re Quest. 9. Is our pardon perfect as to all the sins that are past Quest. 9. Answ. 1. As to the number of sins pardoned it is For all are pardoned 2. As to the species of the act and the plenary effect it
their power of the Rod or supposing that they had none such p. 802 Q. 27. What are Christs appointed means of the Unity and Concord of the Universal Church and consequently of its preservation if there be no humane Universal Head and Governour of it upon Earth And if Christ hath instituted none such whether prudence and the Law of Nature oblige not the Church to set up and maintain an universal Ecclesiastical Monarchy or Aristocracy seeing that which is every mans work is no mans and omitted by all p. 802 Q. 28. Who is the Iudge of controversies in the Church 1. About the Exposition of the Scriptures and Doctrinal points in themselves 2. About either Heresies or wicked practices as they are charged on the persons who are accused of them That is 1. Antecedently to our practice by way of regulation 2. Or consequently by judicial sentence and execution on â—ffenders p. 803 Q. 29. Whether a Parents power over his Children or a Pastors or many Pastors or Bishops over the same Children as parts of their stocks be greater or more obliging in matters of Religion and publick Worship p. 804 Q. 30. May an office Teacher or Pastor be at once in the stated relation of a Pastor and a Disciple to some other Pastor ibid. Q. 31. Who hath the power of making Church-Canons p. 805 Q. 32. Doth Baptism as such enter the Baptized into the Universal Church or into a particular Church or both and is Baptism the particular-Church-Covenant as such ibid. Q. 33. Whether Infants should be Baptized I have answered long ago in a Treatise on that Subject Q. What Infants should be Baptized And who have right to Sacraments And whether Hypocrites are univocally or equivâ—cally Christians and Church-members I have resolved in my disput of Right to Sacraments p. 806 Q. 34. Whether an unbaptized person who yet maketh a publick profession of Christianity be a member of the visible Church And so of the Infants of believers unbaptized ibid. Q. 35. Is it cértain by the word of God that all Infants baptized and dying before actual sin are undoubtedly saved or what Infants may we say so of p. 807 Q. 36. What is meant by this speech that Believers and their seed are in the Covenant of God which giveth them right to Baptism p. 812 Q. 37. Are believers Children certainly in Covenant before their Baptism and thereby in a state of salvation or not till they are baptized p. 813 Q. 38. Is Infants title to Baptism and the Covenant benefits given them by God in his Promises upon any proper moral condition or only upon the condition of their natural relation that they be the seed of the faithful ibid. Q. 39. What is the true meaning of Sponsors Patrimi or God Fathers as we call them and Is it lawful to make use of them p. 814 Q. 40. On whose account or right is it that the Infant hath title to Baptism and its benefits Is it on the Parents Ancestors Sponsors the Churches the Ministers the Magistrates or his own p. 815 Q. 41. Are they really baptized who are Baptized according to the English Liturgie and Canons where the Parent seemeth excluded and those to consent for the Infant who have no power to do it p. 817 Q. 42. But the great question is How the Holy Ghost is given to Infants in Baptism and whether all the Children of true Christians have inward sanctifying grace Or whether they can be said to be justified and to be in a state of salvation that are not inherently sanctified and whether any fall from this Infant state of salvation p. 817 Q. 43. Is the right of the Baptized Infants or adult to the sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost now Absolute or suspended on further conditions And are the Parents further duty for their Children such conditions of their Childrens reception of the actual assistances of the spirit or Are Childrens own actions such conditions and May Apostate Parents forfeit the Câ—venant benefits to their baptized Infants or not p. 821 Q. 44. Doth Baptism always oblige us at the present and give grace at the present and is the grace which is not given till long after given by baptism or an effect of baptism p. 823 Q. 45. What is a proper violation of our Baptismal Covenant p. 824 Q 46. May not baptism in some cases be repeated And when ibid. Quest. 47. Is baptism by Lay men or women lawful in cases of necessity or are they nullities and the person to be rebaptized p. 825 Q. 48. May Anabaptists that have no other errour be permitted in Church Communion p. 826 Q. 49. May one offer his Child to be baptized with the sign of the Cross or the use of Chrisms the white garment milk and honey or Exâ—rcisms as among the Lutherans who taketh these to be unlawful things ibid. Q. 50. Whence came the antient universal Custome of Anointing at baptism and putting on a white garment and tasting milk and honey and Whether they are lawful to us p. 827 Q 51. Whether it be necessary that they that are baptized in infancy do solemnly at age review and own their baptismal Covenant before they have right to the state and priviledges of Adult members and if they do not Whether they are to be numbred with Christians or Apostates p. 827 Q. 52. Whether the Universal Church consist only of particular Churches and their members p. 828 Q. 53. Must the Pastor first call the Church and aggregate them to himself or the Church first Congregate themselves and then choose the Pastor p. 829 Q. 54. Wherein doth a particular Church of Christ differ from a consociation of many Churches ibid. Q. 55. Whether a particular Church may consist of more Assemblies than one or must needs meet all in one place ibid. Q. 56. Is any form of Church-Government of Divine Institution p. 830 Q. 57. Whether any formes of Churches and Church-Government or any new Church-officers may lawfully be invented and made by maâ— p. 832 Q 58. Whether any part of the proper Pastoral or Episcopal power may be given or deputed to a Lay man or to one of any other office or their proper work may be performed by such p. 839 Q. 59. May a Lay man Preach or expound the Scriptures or what of this is proper to the Pastors office p. 840 Q 60. What is the true sense of the distinction of Pastoral power in foro interiore exteriore rightly used ibid. Q. 61. In what sense is it true that some say that the Magistrate only hath the external Government of the Church and the Pastor the Internal p 841 Q. 62. Is the tryal judgement or consent of the Laity necessary to the admittance of a member into the universal or particular Church ibid. Q. 63. What power have the people in Church Censures and Excommunication p. 842 Q. 64 What is the peoples remedy in case of the Pastors male-administration ibid. Q. 65. May one be a Pastor
47. r. Caranza's p. 923. l. 8. r. Magirus l. 18. r. * Schoâ—cri p. 924. l. 7. r. 〈◊〉 l. 20. r. Wâ—sâ—mâ—â—cius l. 23. r. Colonius l. 42. r. Croyus p. 925. l. 20. r. Polydo â— l. 28. r Meâ—apâ— * Exercitat p. 926. l. 2. r. Hiâ—oâ— of * Antinorians l. 5. r. * Poâ—â—lington l. 8. r. Gâ—rson Bucers p. 927. l. 32. 33. r. * Sâ—hoâ—tâ—ji l. 34. â— * Doâ—â—cerâ—lliuâ— l. 36. r. â—abritius Hildanus l. 42. r. Uâ—iâ— p. 928 l. 10. for Hood r. * Ford l. 15. r. Heb. The third Chapter is mis-titled from p. 72. to 127. Also p. 510 523 772 802 and in Part 4. p. 12 176. PART 4. Ep. to the Reader p. 2. l. 2. r. here say p. 11. l. 3. r. pars imâ—â—rans p. 16. Sect. 31. l. 8. r. very thing that p. 1â— l. 23. r. in a night p. 32. l. 18. r. â—us uâ—luâ— p. 33. Sect. 88. l. 7. r. tyrannicida p. 41. Sect. 7. l. 13. r. â—ontemnâ—râ—t p. 47. Sect. 4. l. 9. del theâ— of p. 50. Sect. 4. l. 20. r. Coâ—â—câ—â—nce from p. 80. Sect. 2. l. 1â— r. unnec ssary to oc asion p. 87. l. 10. r. yoâ—â—â—â—laiâ— p. 92. l. 11. r calleth p. 97. Sect. 4. l. 5. r. our own p. 99. Sect. 20. l. 6. r. Waâ—â— p. 106. l. 17. r. coâ—â—â—â—iâ—e for l. â—2 del But l. 46. r. your p. 118. Sect. 27. l. 5. del the Law of p. 120. l. 36. r. iâ— * ye â—â— p. 13â— l. 22. r. * lâ—ss 〈◊〉 p. 139. Sect. 15. l. 18. r. was taken p. 162. l. 12. r. Take heed that their p. 165. l. 20. for in hypothesi r. * sâ—pâ—ositively p. 170. l. 4. r. better than p. 178. l. 3. r. that is l. 16 17. r. â—amiliarity l. antep r. we all p. 182. l. 2. r. is thâ—â—â—â— l. 64. del you p. 197. l. 34. r. difficulty in the case whi h l. 58. r. me if I tell In the MARGIN p 4. l. ult r. dubitare p. 7. l. 54. r. * clamoribus l. 55. r. * perderet elementum p. 10. l. pen. r. Iâ—doâ—um p. 70. l. antep r. Velocissimum mens p. 143. r. nostra â—oeda l. pen. r. amando cum p 207. r. 〈◊〉 p. 211. l. 〈◊〉 r supposuit ibid. r. subito p. 227. r. * siâ— alia nihil ibid. r. cum * mâ—tis p. 231. r officiâ—s p. 307. l. 2. r. * f 〈…〉 p. 354. r. Nullane p. 306. l. antep r. Vidâ— p. 402 r. resistat ibid. r. viscera ibid. tâ—â—piorâ—s ibid. r. last bâ—iâ—g p. 〈◊〉 r. pâ—â—â—â—oâ—o habamur p. 371. â— dâ—sperare p. 587. r * gâ—mitibus p. 700. l. pen ult r. * Fundamentum p. 715. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 1â— Annot. b p. 745. l. antep r. binc atque inde l. pen. r. Nosse illum PART 4. p. 7. l. pen. r. regi poterit p. 8. l. 7. r. soâ—titi sunt p. 13. l. antep r. Quod miâ—imâ— p. 21 l. antep si inter A Christian Directory THE FIRST PART CHRISTIAN ETHICKS OR DIRECTIONS FOR THE Ordering of the Private Actions of our Hearts and Lives in the work of Holy Self-Government unto and under GOD. By RICHARD BAXTER LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Three Crowns near Holborn-Conduit 1672. A Christian Directory TOM I. Christian Ethicks The Introduction § 1. THE Eternal God having made Man an Intellectual and Free-agent able to understand and choose the good and refuse the evil to know Novâ—rint universi quod prâ—sens opusâ—ulum non aggredioâ— ut fidelium aâ—ribus prophanas aliquas vocum iâ—geram â—ovitates sed ut innocâ—ntâ—r sobrie de altâ—ssimo c. Ockam de Sacram. Alt. prolog In zâ—â—o domus domini nunc persolvo dâ—bitum vile quidem sed fidâ—le â—t puto amiâ—um quibusqueâ—gregiis Christi tyroâ—ibus grave vero importabile apostatis insipientibus quorum priores nâ— fallor cum lachrymis forte quae ex Dei charitate proâ—â—uunt alii cum tâ—istitia sed quae ex indignatione pusillanimitate deprehensae coâ—scientiae extorquetur illud excipient Gildas Prolog Excid Habet inquies Britanniâ— Rectores habet speculatores Quid tu nâ—gando mâ—tire disponis Habet inquam habet si non ultrâ— non citra numerun sed quia inclinati tanto pondere sunt pressi idâ—irco spatium respirandi non habent Praeoccupabant igitur se mutuo talibus objectionibus c. Gildas ibid. and love and serve his Maker and by adhering to Him in this life of tryal to attain to the blessed sight and Enjoyment of his Glory in the life to come hath not been wanting to furnish him with such Necessaries without which these ends could not succesfully be sought When we had lost our Moral capacity of pleasing him that we might enjoy him he restoreth us to it by the wonderful work of our Redemption In Christ he hath reconciled the world unto himself and hath given them a general Act of Oblivion contained in the Covenant of Grace which nothing but mens obstinate and final unwillingness can deprive them of To procure their Consent to this gracious Covenant he hath committed to his Ministers the Word of Reconciliation commanding us to beseech men as in the stead of Christ and as though God himself did beseech them by us to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. and to shew them first their sin and misery and proclaim and offer the true Remedy and to let them know that All things are now ready and by pleading their duty their necessity and their commodity to compell them to come in Matth. 22. 4. Luke 11. 17 23. But so great is the Blindness and Obstinacy of men that the greatest part refuse Consent being deceived by the pleasures and profits and honours of this present world and make their pretended necessities or business the matter of their excuses and the unreasonable reasons of their refusal negligence and delayes till death surprize them and the door is shut and they knock and cry for Mercy and Admittance when it is too late Matth. 25. 10 11 12. § 2. Against this Wilful Negligence and Presumption which is the principal Cause of the damnation of the ungodly world I have written many Books already But because there are many that profess themselves unfeignedly willing not only to be saved but also to be Christs Disciples to learn of him to imitate him and be conformed to him and to do the will of God if they could but know it I have determined by God's assistance to write this Book for the Use of such and to give them from Gods Word those plain Directions which are suited to the several Duties of their lives and may Guide them safely in their Walk with God to Life Eternal Expect not here copious and earnest Exhortations for that work I have done already and have now to do with such as say they are made willing and desire help against their Ignorance that Skill and Will may concurr
hope And is this a case then for a wise man to continue in a day that can do any thing towards his own recovery Should you delay another day or hour before you fall down at the feet of Christ and cry for mercy and return to God and resolve upon a better course May I not well say to thee as the Angels unto Lot Gen. 19. 15 17 22. Arise lest thou be consumed Escape for thy life look not behind thee Direction 13. WHen thou art Resolved past thy waverings and delayes give up thy self entirely and Direct 13. unreservedly to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as thy Happiness thy Saviour and thy Sanctifier in an hearty Consent to the Covenant of Grace § 1. This is thy Christianity thy espousals with Christ It is Sacramentally done in Baptism But till it be personally owned and heartily renewed by men at age they have no reason to be numbered with adult believers nor to dream of a part in the blessings of the Covenant It 's pity it is not made a more serious solemn work for men thus to renew their Covenant with God For which I have written in a Treatise of Confirmation but hitherto in vain However do it seriously thy self It is the greatest and weightiest action of thy life § 2. To this end peruse well the Covenant of Grace which is offered thee in the Gospel Understand it well In it God offereth notwithstanding thy sins to be thy Reconciled God and Father in Christ and to accept thee as a Son and an heir of Heaven The Son offereth to be thy Saviour to justifie thee by his blood and grace and teach thee and govern thee as thy Head in order to thy everlasting happiness The Holy Spirit offereth to be thy Sanctifier Comforter and Guide to overcome all the enmity of the Devil the World and the Flesh in order to the full accomplishment of thy salvation Nothing is expected of thee in order to thy Title to the benefits of this Covenant but deliberately unfeignedly entirely to Consent to it and to continue that consent and perform what thou consentest to perform and that by the help of the grace which will be given thee See therefore that thou well deliberate of the matter but without delayes And count what thou shalt gain or lose by it And if thou find that thou art like to be a loser in the end and knowest of any better way even take it and boast of it when thou hast tryed the end But if thou art past doubt that there is no way but this despatch it resolutely and seriously § 3. And take heed of one thing lest thou say Why this is no more than every body knoweth and then I have done a hundred times to give up my self in Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Dost thou know it and yet hast thou not done it Or hast thou done it with thy lips and not unfeignedly with thy heart Lament it as one of thy greatest sins that thou hast thus provokingly dallied with God and admire his mercy that he will yet vouchsafe to enter into Covenant with one that hath hypocritically prophaned his Covenant If thou hadst ever seriously thus Covenanted and given up thy self to God thou wouldst not have neglected him by an ungodly life nor lived after to the Devil the world and the flesh which were renounced I tell you the making of this Christian Vow and Covenant with God in Christ is the act of greatest consequence of any in all thy life and to be done with the greatest judgement and reverence and sincerity and foresight and firm resolution of any thing that ever thou dost And if it were done sincerely by all that do it ignorantly for fashion only with the lips then all professed Christians would be saved whereas now the abusers of that holy Name and Covenant will have the deepest place in Hell Write it out on thy heart and put thy heart and hand to it resolvedly and stand to thy Consent and all is thine own Conversion is wrought when this is done Direction 14. IN present performance of thy Covenant with God away with thy former sinful life and Direct 14. see that thou sin wilfully no more but as far as thou art able avoid the temptations which have deceived thee § 1. God will never be reconciled to thy sins If he be reconciled to thy person it is as thou art justified by Christ and sanctified by the Spirit He entertaineth thee as one that turneth with repentance from sin to him If thou wilfully or negligently go on in thy former course of sin thou shewest that thou wast not sincerely resolved in thy Covenant with God § 2. I know infirmities and imperfections will not be so easily cast off but will cleave to thee in Nae illi falsi sunt qui diversissimas res pariter expectant voluptatem praemia virtutis Salust Tenebit te Diabolus sub specie libertatis addictum ut sit tibi liberum peccare non vivere Captivum te tenet author scelerum compedes tibi libidmis impoâ—uit undique te sepsit armata custodiâ Legem tibi dedit ut licitum putes omne quod non licet vivum te in aeternae mortis fovâ—am demersit Hâ—go Etherâ—anus de Aâ—imar regressa cap. 9. thy best obedience till the day of thy perfection come But I speak of gross and wilful sin such as thou canst forbear if thou be but sincerely though imperfectly willing Hast thou been a prophane Swearer or Curser or used to take Gods name in vain or used to backbiting slandering lying or to ribald filthy talk It is in thy power to forbear these sins if thou be but willing Say not I fall into them through custome before I am aware For that is a sign that thou art not sincerely willing to forsake them If thou were truly penitent and thy will sincerely opposite to these sins thou wouldst be more tender and fearful to offend and resolved against them and make a greater matter of them and abhor them and not commit them and say I did it before I was aware No more than thou wouldâ—t spit in the face of thy Father or curse thy Mother or slander thy dearest friend or speak Treason against the King and say I did it through custome before I was aware Sin will not be so played with by those that have been soundly humbled for it and resolved against it § 3. Hast thou been a Drunkard or Tipler spending thy precious hours in an Alehouse prating over a Pot in the company of foolish tempting sinners It is in thy power if thou be truly willing to do so no more If thou love and choose such company and places and actions and discourse how canst thou say thou art willing to forsake them or that thy heart is changed If thou do not love and choose them how canst thou commit them when none compells thee No one
that man is made for another life and for such works which he is utterly unfit for till Grace have changed and renewed him as it doth by many before your eyes § 6. Tempt 3. But saith the Tempter if supernatural grace be necessary yet it may be born in you Tempt 3. Infants have no sin Christ saith Of such is the Kingdom of God Abraham is your Father yea God John 8. 39. 41. You are born of Christian Parents § 7. Direct 3. See the full proof of Original Sin in all Infants in my Treatise of the Divine Life Direct 3. Part. 1. Chap. 11. 12. Grace may indeed be put betimes into Nature but comes not by nature Except you be born again you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3. 5. If any man be in Christ Rom. 8. 9. 16. Rom. 9. 8. Eph. 2. 3. he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. But how vain is it for him to boast that he was born holy who finds himself at the present unholy Shew that you have a holy heavenly heart and life and then you are happy when ever it was wrought § 8. Tempt 4. But saith the Tempter Baptism is the laver of Regeneration You are Baptized and Tempt 4. therefore you are Regenerated The Ancients taught that all sins were washt away in Baptism and Grace conferred § 9. Direct 4. Answ. The Ancients by Baptism meant the Internal and External acts conjunct the Direct 4. souls delivering up it self to God in the Covenant and sealing it by Baptism And so it includeth Conversion and true Repentance and faith And all that are thus baptized are pardoned justified and holy But they that have only Sacramental Regeneration or the external Ordinance are not for Mat. 28. 19 20. that in a state of life For Christ expresly saith that except you are born of the Spirit as well as Water you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven John 3. 5 6. And Peter told Simon Magus after he was baptized that he was yet in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Acts 8. 13. It is not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience 1 Pet. 3. 21. Christ cleanseth his Church by the washing of water by the word Eph. 5. 26. But if you had been cleansed in Baptism if at present you are unclean and unholy can you be saved so § 10. Temp. 5. When this faileth the Tempter would perswade them that Godliness is nothing but Tempt 5. a matter of meer Opinion or belief to believe all the Articles of the faith and to be no Papist nor Heretick but of the true Religion and to be confident of Gods mercy through Christ For he that believeth shall be saved Mar. 16. 16. § 11. Direct 5. To this you must answer that it will not save a man that his Religion is true Direct 5. unless â—â— be true to it Read Iames 2. against such a dead faith Saving faith is the hearty entertainment of Christ as our Lord and Saviour and the delivering up the soul to him to be sanctified and ruled as well as pardoned Knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth He that knoweth his Masters will and dâ—th it not shall be beaten with many stripes Luke 12. 47. It 's sad that men should think to be saved â—y that which will condemn them by being of a right opinion and a wrong conversation by believing their duty instead of dâ—ing it and then presuming that Christ forgiveth them and that their state iâ— good Opinion and presumption are not faith § 12. Tempt 6. But saith the Tempter Holiness is the excellency of holy persons but vulgar unlearned Tempt 6. people may be saved without such high matters which are above them § 13. Direct 6. But God telleth you that without Holiness none shall see him Heb. 12. 14. The unlearned 〈◊〉 6. may be saved but the ungodly cannot Psal. 1. 6. Holiness is to the soul as life to the body He that hath it not is dead though all have not the same degree of health Sin is sin and hated of God in learned and unlearned All men have souls that need regenerating at first And as all bodies that live must live on the earth by the Air and Food c. â—o all souls that live do live upon the s 〈…〉 God and Christ and Heaven by the same Word and Spirit and all this may be had by the unlearned § 14. Tempt 7. But saith the Tempter God is not so unmerciful as to damn all that are not holy Tempt 7. This is but talk to keep men in aw and not to be believed § 15. Direct 7. But if Gods threatnings be necessary to keep men in awe then are they necessary Direct 7. to be executed For God needs not awe men by a lye He best knows to whom he will be merciful and how far Did you never read Isa. 27. 11. It is a people of no understanding therefore he that was made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour And Psal. 59. 5. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressor Is he not just as well as merciful Exod. 34. 6 7. Do you not see that men are sick and pained and dye for all that God is merciful And do not Merciful Iudges condemn Malefactors Are not Angels made Devils by sin for all that God is merciful The Devil knoweth this to his sorrow And if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell 2 Pet. 2. 4. will he be unjust for you § 16. Tempt 8. But Christ dyed for all and God will not punish him and you both for the same Tempt 8. fault § 17. Direct 8. Christ dyed so far for all that have the Gospel as to procure and seal them a free Direct 8. and general pardon of all their sins if they will repent and take him for their Saviour and so to bring salvation to their choice But will this save the ungodly obstinate refusers Christ dyed to sanctifie as well as to forgive Eph. 5. 27. and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. and to destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. and to bring all men under his Dominion and Government Rom. 14. 9. Luke 19. 27. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8 9. § 18. Tempt 9. No man can be certain of his salvation but all must hope well and to raise Tempt 9. dâ—ubts in mens hearts whether they shall be saved or no will not help them but puzzle them and cast them into despair § 19. Direct 9. But is there so little difference between a child of God and of the Devil and between Direct 9. the way to Heaven and the way
Dominion God hath over you and how absolutely and wholly you are His. 2. Let it exceedingly Please you to think that you are wholly his it being much better for you as to your Safety Honour and Happiness than to be your Own or any 's else 3. As God requireth it in his Covenant of Grace that he have his Right by your Consent and not by Constraint so you must thankfully accept the motion and with hearty and full Consent of Will Resign your selves to him as his Own even as his Creatures his Ransomed ones and his Regenerate Children by a Covenant never to be violated 4. You must carefully watch against the Claim and reserves of carnal selfishness lest while you confess you are Gods and not your Own you should secretly still keep possession of your selves against him or re-assume the possession which you surrendred 5. You must Use your selves ever after as Gods and not your Own § 3. II. In this Using your selves as wholly Gods consisteth both your further duty and your benefits 1. When Gods Propriety is discerned and consented to it will make you sensible how you are obliged to employ all your powers of soul and body to his service and to perceive that Nothing should be alienated from him no creature having any co-ordinate title to a thought of your hearts or a glance of your affection or a word of your mouths or a minute of your time The sense of Gods Propriety must cause you to keep constant accounts between God and you and to call your selves to a frequent reckoning whether God have his Own and you do not defraud him whether it be his work that you are doing and for him that you think and speak and live And all that you have will be Used as his as well as your selves For no man can have any good thing that is more his Own than he is his own himself § 4. 2. Propriety discerned doth endear us in affection to our Owner As we love our Own Children so they love their Own Fathers Our very Dogs love their Own Masters better than another When we can say with Thomas My Lord and my God it will certainly be the voice of Love Gods Common Propriety in us as his Created and Ransomed ones obligeth us to Love him with all our heart But the knowledge of his peculiar propriety by Regeneration will more effectually command our Love § 5. 3. Gods Propriety perceived will help to satisfie us of his Love and Care of us and will help Deorum providentia Mundus administratur â—demque consulunt rebus humanis neâ— soâ—um universâ—s verum eâ—aâ— singâ—â—â—â— â—icero 1. de Dâ—via us to Trust him in every danger and so take off our inordinate fear and anxieties and caring for our selves The Apostle proveth Christs Love to his Church from his Propriety Ephes. 5. 29. No man ever yet hated his Own flesh God is not regardless of his Own As we take care of our Cattel to preserve them and provide for them more than they do for themselves for they are more Ours than their own so God is more concerned in the welfare of his children than they are themselves they being more his than their own Why are we afraid of the wrath and cruelty of man Will God be mindless and negligent of his Own Why are we over-careful and distrustful of his providence Will he not take care of his Own and make provision for them God even our own God shall bless us Psal. 67 6. Gods interest in his Church and Cause and Servants is an argument which we may plead with him in prayer 1 Chron. 17. 21 22. and with which we may greatly encourage our confidence Isa. 48. 9 11. For my Names sake will I defer mine anger and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off For mine Own sake even for mine Own sake will I do it For how should my Name be polluted and I will not give my Glory to another Isa. 43. 1 2. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art Mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. If God should neglect Our interest he will not neglect his Own § 6. 4. Gods propriety in us discerned doth so much aggravate our sin against him that it should greatly restrain us and further our humiliation and recovery when we are fallen Lev. 20. 26. Ye shall be Holy unto me for I the Lord am Holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord when he is aggravating Ierusalems sin 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your Spirits which are Gods Justice requireth that every one have his own § 7. 5. It should silence all murmurings and repinings against the Providence of God to consider that we are his Own Doth he afflict you and are you not his own Doth he kill you Are you not his own As a Ruler he will shew you reason enough for it in your sins But as your absolute Lord and Owner he need not give you any other Reason than that he may do with his own as he list It is not possible that he can do any wrong to that which is absolutely his Own If he deny you health or wealth or friends or take them from you he denyeth you or taketh from you nothing but his own Indeed as a Governour and a Father he hath secured the faithful of eternal life Otherwise as their Owner he could not have wronged them if he had made the most innocent as miserable as he is capable to be Do you labour and beat and kill your Cattel because they are your own by an imperfect propriety and dare you grudge at God for afflicting his Own when their Consciences tell them that they have deserved it and much more § 8. And that you may not think that you have Resigned your selves to God entirely when you do Sins against Gods Dominion but hypocritically profess it observe 1. That that man is not thus Resigned to God that thinketh any service too much for God that he can do 2. Nor he that thinketh any cost too great for God that he is called to undergo 3. Nor he that thinketh that all is won of his time or wealth or pleasure or any thing which he can save or steal from God For all is lost that God hath not 4. Nor he that must needs be the Disposer of himself and his condition and affairs and God must humour him and accommodate his Providence to his carnal interest and will or else he cannot bear it or think well of it 5. Remember that all
When the Nature and Name of God is so plainly â—ngraven upon them all It is a great part of a Christians daily busyness to see and admire God in his works and to use them as steps to ascend by to himself Psal 111. 2 3 4. The works of the â—â—rd â—â—e great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honâ—urable and glâ—â—iâ—us and his righteousness endureth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred Psal. 143. 5 I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Psal. 77. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy dâ—ings Psal. 92. 4 5 6. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands A bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fâ—ol understand this As the praising of Gods works so the observing of God in his works is much of the work of a holy soul. Psal. 145. 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 17. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised And his greatness is unsearchable One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of his Magisty and of thy wondrâ—us works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great Goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest to them For God hath shewed it to them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse If we converse in the world as believers or rational creatures ought we should as oft as David repeat these words Psal. 107. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wondrâ—us works to the Children of men And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoyâ—ing They that go down to the sea in ships that do busyness in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep verse 21 22 23 24. But this is a subject â—itter for a Volume of Physicks Theologically handled than for so short a touch What an excellent Book is the visible world for the daily studies of a holy soul Light is not more visible to the eye in the Sun than the Goodness of God is in it and all the creatures to the mind If I Love not God when all the word revealeth his Loveliness and every creature telleth me that he is Good what a blind and wicked heart have I O wonderful Wisdom and Goodness and Power which appeareth in every thing we see In every Tree and Plant and Flower In every Bird and Beast and Fish In every Worm and Fly and creeping thing In every part of the Body of Man or Beast Much more in the admirable composure of the whole In the Sun and Moon and Starrs and Meteors In the Lightning and Thunder the Air and Winds the Rain and Waters the Heat and Cold the Fire and the Earth Especially in the composed frame of all so far as we can see them set together In the admirable order and cooperation of all things In their times and seasons and the wonderful usefullness of all for man O how Glorious is the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in all the frame of nature Every creature silently speaks his Praise declaring Him to Man whose office is as the worlds High Priest to stand between them and the Great Creator and expresly offer him the praise of all Psal. 8. 3 4 5 6 9. When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Starrs which thou hast ordained What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works to the children of men The earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord Psal. 33. 5 6 7 8 9. Read Psalm 65. Thus Love God as appearing in the works of Nature § 27. Direct 10. Study to know God as he appeareth more clearly to sinners in his Goodness in the Direct 10. works of GRACE especially in his Son his Covenant and his Saints and there to Love him in the admiration of his Love Here Love hath made it self an advantage of our sin and unworthiness of our necessities and miseries of the Law and justice and the flames of Hell The abounding of sin and misery hath glorified abounding Grace That Grace which fetcheth sons for God from among the voluntary vassals of the Devil Which fetcheth Children of Light out of darkness and Living souls from among the dead and heirs for Heaven from the gates of Hell and brings us as from the Gallows to the Throne 1. A believing view of the Nature Undertaking Love Obedience Doctrine Example Sufferings Intercession and Kingdom of JESUS CHRIST must needs inflame the believers hearts with an answerable degree of the Love of God To look on a Christ and not Love God is to have eyes and not to see and to overlook him while we seem to look on him He is the liveliest Image of Infinite Goodness and the messenger of the most unsearchable astonishing Love and the purchaser of the most unvaluable benefits that ever were revealed to the sons of men Our greatest Love must be kindled by the Greatest revelations and communications of the Love of God And Greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15. 13. that is Men have no dearer and clearer a way to express their Love to their friends But that Love is aggravated indeed which will express it self as far for enemies But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 8 9 10. Steep then that stiff and heardned heart in the blood of Christ and it will melt Come near with Thomas and by the passage of his wounds get near unto his heart and it will change thy unkind unthankful heart into the very nature of Love Christ is the best Teacher of the lesson of Love that
they say we take down all Religion so because we would call men from their bruitish pleasures they say we would let them have no pleasure For the Epicure thinks when his luxury lust and sport is gone all is gone Call a sluggard from his bed or a glutton from his feast to receive a Kingdom and he will grudge if he observe only what you would take from him and not what you give him in its stead When earthly pleasures end in misery then who would not wish they had preferred the Holy durable Delights DIRECT XIV Let Thankfulness to God thy Creator Redeemer and Regenerater be the very Gr. Dir. 14. For a life of Thankfulness temperament of thy soul and faithfully expressed by thy Tongue and Life § 1. THough our Thankfulness is no benefit to God yet he is pleased with it as that which is suitable to our condition and sheweth the ingenuity and honesty of the Heart An unthankful person is but a devourer of mercies and a grave to bury them in and one that hath not the wit and honesty to know and acknowledge the hand that giveth them But the Thankful looketh above himself and returneth all as he is able to him from whom they flow § 2. True Thankfulness to God is discerned from Counterfeit by these qualifications 1. True Thankfulness having a just estimate of mercies comparatively preferreth spiritual and everlasting mercies before those that are meerly corporal and transitory But carnal Thankfulness chiefly valueth carnal Mercies though notionally it may confess that the spiritual are the greater 2. True Thankfulness inclineth the soul to a spiritual rejoycing in God and to a desire after more of his spiritual mercies But carnal thankfulness is only a delight in the prosperity of the flesh or the delusion and carnal security of the mind inclining men to carnal empty mirth and to a desire of more such fleshly pleasure plenty or content As a Beast that is full fed will skip and play and shew that he is pleased with his state or if he have ease he would not be molested 3. True thankfulness kindleth in the heart a love to the Giver above the Gift or at least a Love to God above our Carnal prosperity and pleasure and bringeth the heart still nearer unto God by all his mercies But carnal thankfulness doth spring from Carnal self-love or love of fleshly prosperity and is moved by it and is subservient to it and Loveth God and Thanketh him but so far as he gratifieth or satisfieth the flesh A child-like Thankfulness maketh us love our Father more than his gift and desire to be with him in his arms But a Dog doth love you and is thankful to you but for feeding him He loveth you in subordination to his appetite and his bones 4. True Thankfulness inclineth us to obey and please him that obligeth us by his benefits But carnal thankfulness puts God off with the hypocritical complemental thanks of the lips and spends the mercy in the pleasing of the flesh and makes it but the fewell of lust and sin 5. True thankfulness to God is necessarily transcendent as his mercies are transcendent The saving of our souls from Hell and promising us eternal life besides the giving us our very beings and all that we have do oblige us to be totally and obsolutely his that is so transcendent a Benefactor to us and causeth the thankful person to devote and resign himself and all that he hath to God to answer so great an obligation But carnal thankfulness falls short of this absolute and total dedication and still leaveth the sinner in the power of self-love devoting himself really to himself and using all that he is or hath to the pleasing of his fleshly mind and giving God only the tythes or leavings of the flesh or so much as it can spare lest he should stop the streams of his benignity and bereave the flesh of its prosperity and contents § 3. Directions for Thankfulness to God our Benefactor Direct 1. Understand well how great this duty is in the nature of the thing but especially how the Direct 1. very design and tenour of the Gospel and the way of our salvation by a Redeemer bespeaketh it as the very complexion of the soul and of every duty A creature that is wholly his Creators and is preserved every moment by him and daily fed and maintained by his bounty and is put into a capacity of life eternal must needs be obliged to uncessant Gratitude And Unthankfulness among men is justly taken for an unnatural monstrous vice which forfeiteth the benefits of friendship and society 2 Tim. 3. 2. The unthankful are numbred with the unholy c. as part of the monsters which should come in the last times and which we have lived to see exactly answering that large description of them But the Design of God in the work of Redemption is purposely laid for the raising of the highest Thankfulness in man and the Covenant of Grace containeth such abundant wonderous Mercies as might compell the souls of men to Gratitude or leave them utterly without excuse It is a great truth and much to be considered that Gratitude is that general duty of the Gospel ☜ which containeth and animateth all the rest as being Essential to all that is properly Evangelical A Law as a Law requireth Obedience as the general duty and this Obedience is to be exercised and found in every particular duty which it requireth And the Covenant with the Jews was called The Law because the Regulating part was most eminent and so obedience was the thing that was eminently required by the Law though their measure of mercy obliged them also to thankfulness But the Gospel or New Covenant is most eminently a history of Mercy and a tender and promise of the most unmatchable benefits that ever were heard of by the ears of man so that the Gift of Mercy is the predominant or eminent part in the Gospel or New Covenant and though still God be our Governour and Gratitude is to the Promise much what Obedience is to the Law the New Covenant also hath its Precepts and is a Law yet that is in a sort but the subservient part And what obedience is to a Law that Thankfulness is to a Benefit even the formal answering of its obligation so that though we are called to as exact obedience as ever yet it is now only a Thankfull Obedience that we are called to And just as Law and Promises or Gifts are conjoyned in the New Covenant just so should Obedience and Thankfulness be conjoyned in our hearts and lives one to God as our Ruler and the other to him as our Benefactor And thâ—se two must animate every act of heart and life We must Repent of sin but it must be a Thankful Repenting as becometh those that have a free pardon of all their sins procured by the blood of Christ and offered them in the
Gospel Leave out this Gratitude and it is no Evangelical Repentance And what is our saving faith in Christ but the Assent to the truth of the Gospel with a Thankful Acceptance of the good which it offereth us even Christ as our Saviour with the Benefits of his Redemption The Love to God that is there required is the Thankful Love of his Redeemed ones And the Love to our very enemies and the forgiving of wrongs and all the Love to one another and all the works of Charity there required are the exercises of Gratitude and are all to be done on this account because Christ hath loved us and forgiven us and that we may shew our thankful Love to him Preaching and Praying and Sacraments and publick praises and communion of Saints and obedience are all to be animated with Gratitude and they are no further Evangelically performed than Thankfulness is the very life and complexion of them all The dark and defective opening of this by Preachers gave occasion to the Antinomians to run into the contrary extream and to derogate too much from Gods Law and our Obedience But if we obscure the doctrine of Evangelical Gratitude we do as bad or worse than they Obedience to our Ruler and Thankfulness to our Benefactor conjoyned and co-operating as the Head and Heart in the Natural body do make a Christian indeed Understand this well and it will much incline your hearts to Thankfulness § 4. Direct 2. Let the greatness of the manifold mercies of God be continually before your eyes Direct 2. Thankfulness is caused by the due apprehension of the greatness of mercies If you either know them not to be mercies or know not that they are mercies to you or believe not what is said and promised in the Gospel or forget them or think not of them or make light of them through the corruption of your minds you cannot be thankful for them I have before spoken of Mercy in order to the kindling of Love and therefore shall now only recite these following to be alwayes in your memories 1. The Love of God in giving you a Redeemer and the Love of Christ in giving his life for us and in all the parts of our Redemption 2. The Covenant of Grace the pardon of all our sins the justification of our persons our adoption and title to eternal life 3. The aptness of means for calling us to Christ The gracious and wise disposals of providence to that end the gifts and compassion of our instructers the care of Parents and the helps and examples of the servants of Christ. 4. The efficacy of all these means â—he giving us to will and to do and opening of our hearts and giving us repentance unto life and the Spirit of Christ to mortifie our sins and purifie our nature and dwell within us 5. A standing in his Church under the care of faithful Pastors the liberty comfort and frequent benefit of his Word and Sacraments and the publick communion of his Saints 6. The company of those that fear the Lord and their faithful admonitions reproofs and encouragements the kindness they have shewed us for body or for soul. 7. The mercies of our Relations or habitations our estates and the notable alterations and passages of our lives 8. The manifold preservations and deliverances of our souls from errors and seducers from terrors and distress from dangerous temptations and many a soul-wounding sin and that we are not leâ—t to the errors and desires of our hearts to seared Consciences as forsaken of God 9. The manifold deliverances of our bodies from enemies hurts distresses sicknesses and death 10. The mercies of adversity in wholesome necessary chastisements or honourable sufferings for his sake and support or comfort under all 11. The communion which our souls have had with God in the course of our private and publick duties in Prayer Sacraments and Meditation 12. The use which he hath made of us for the good of others that our time hath not been wholly lost and we have not lived as burdens of the world 13. The mercies of all our friends and his servants which were to us as our own and our interest in the mercies and publick welfare of his Church which are more than our own 14. His patience and forbearance with us under our constant unprofitableness and provocations and his renewed mercies notwithstanding our abuse our perseverance untill now 15. Our hopes of everlasting Rest and Glory when this sinsul life is at an end Aggravate these mercies in your more enlarged meditations and they will sure constrain you to cry out Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal. 102. 1 2 3 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name For the Lord is good his Mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psal. 100. 4 5. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy For as the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his mercy to them that fear him Psal. 103. 8 11. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Psal. 136. 1 c. O give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people sing ye unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works glory ye in his holy name Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek him Psal. 105. 1 2 3. § 5. Direct 3. Be well acquainted with the greatness of your sins and sensible of them as they are Direct 3. the aggravation of Gods Mercies to you This is the main end why God will humble those that he will save Not to drive them to despair of mercy nor that he taketh pleasure in their sorrows for themselves But to work the heart to a due esteem of saving mercy and to a serious desire after it that they may thankfully receive it and carefully retain it and faithfully use it An unhumbled soul sets light by Christ and Grace and Glory It relisheth no spiritual mercy It cannot be thankful for that which it findeth no great need of But true humiliation recovereth our appetite and teacheth us to value mercy as it is Think therefore what sin is as I have opened to you Dir. 8. and think of your manifold aggravated sins and then think how great those mercies are that are bestowed on so great unworthy sinners Then mercy will melt your humbled hearts when you confess that you are unworthy to be called Sons Luke 15. and that you are not worthy to look up to Heaven Luke 18. 13. and that you are not worthy of the least
corruption Direct 3. and that the natural tendency of Reason is to those high and excellent things which corruption and bruitishness do almost extinguish or cast out with the most and that the prevalency of the lower-faculties against right Reason is so lamentable and universal to the confusion of the world that it is enough to tell us that this is not the state that God first made us in and that certainly sin hath sullied and disordered his work The wickedness of the world is a great confirmation of the Scripture § 7. Direct 4. Consider how exactly the Doctrine of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace is suited to Direct 4. the lapsed state of man even as the Law of Works was suited to his state of innocency so that the Gospel may be called the Law of Lapsed Nature as suited to it though not as revealed by it as the other was the Law of Entire Nature § 8. Direct 5. Compare the many Prophecies of Christ with the fulfilling of them in his person As Direct 5. that of Moses recited by Stephen Acts 7. 37. Isa. 53. Dan. 9. 24 25 26 c. And consider that those Jews which are the Christians bitterest enemies acknowledge and preserve those Prophecies and all the Old Testament which giveth so full a testimony to the New § 9. Direct 6. Consider what an admirable suitableness there is in the Doctrine of Christ to the relish Direct 6. of a serious heavenly mind and how all that is spiritual and truly good in us doth close with it and embrace it from a certain congruity of Natures as the eye doth with the light and the stomach with its proper food Every good man in reading the Holy Scripture feeleth something even all that 's good within him bear witness to it And only our worser part is quarrelling with it and rebells against it § 10. Direct 7. Consider how all the first Churches were planted by the success of all those Miracles Direct 7. mentioned in the Scripture And that the Apostles and thousands of others saw the Miracles of Christ and the Churches saw the Miracles of the Apostles and heard them speak in Languages unlearnt and had the same extraordinary gifts communicated to themselves And these being openly and frequently manifested convinced unbelievers and were openly urged by the Apostles to stop the mouths Gal 3. 1 2 3. of opposers and confirm believers who would all have scorned his arguments and the faith which they supported if all these had been fictions of which they themselves were said to be eye-witnesses and agents So that the very existence of the Churches was a testimony to the matter of fact And what testimony can be greater of Gods interest and approbation than Christs Resurrection and all these miracles § 11. Direct 8. Consider how no one of all the Hereticks or Apostates did ever contradict the matters Direct ◠of fact or hath left the world any kind of confutation of them which they wanted not malice or encouragement or opportunity to have done § 12. Direct 9. Consider how that no one of all those thousands that asserted these miracles are Direct 9. ever mentioned in any history as repenting of it either in their health or at the hour of death whereas it had been so heinous a villany to have cheated the world in so great a cause that some consciences of dying men especially of men that placed all their hopes in the life to come must needs have repented of § 13. Direct 10. Consider that the witnesses of all these Miracles and all the Churches that believed Direct 10. them were taught by their own doctrine and experience t◠forsake all that they had in the world and to be reproached hated and persecuted of all men and to be as lambs among wolves in expectation of death and all this for the hope of that blessedness promised them by a Crucified Risen Christ. So that no worldly end could move them to deceive or willingly to be deceived § 14. Direct 11. Consider how impossible it is in it self that so many men should agree together to deceive Direct 11. the world and that for nothing and at the rate of their own undoing and death and that they should all agree in the same narratives and doctrines so unanimously And that none of these should ever confess the deceit and disgrace the rest All things well considered this will appear not only a Moral but a Natural impossibility Especially considering their quality and distance there being thousands in several countries that never saw the faces of the rest much less could enter a confederacie with them to deceive the world § 15. Direct 12. Consider the certain way by which the Doctrine and Writings of the Apostles and Direct 12. other Evangelical messengers hath been delivered down to us without any possibility of material alteration Because the Holy Scriptures were not left only to the care of private men or of the Christians of one country who might have agreed upon corruptions and alterations But it was made the office of the ordinary Ministers to read and expound and apply them And every Congregation had one or more of these Ministers And the people received the Scriptures as the Law of God and that by which they must live and be judged and as their charter for Heaven So that it was not possible for one Minister to corrupt the Scripture Text but the rest with the people would have quickly reproved him Nor for those of one Kingdom to bring all other Christians to it throughout the world without a great deal of consultation and opposition if at all which never was recorded to us § 16. Direct 13. Be acquainted as fully as you can with the History of the Church that you may Direct 13. know how the Gospel hath been planted and propagated and assaulted and preserved until now which will much better satisfie you than general uncertain talk of others § 17. Direct 14. Iudge whether God being the Wise and Merciful Governor of the world would Direct 14. Neq enim potest Deus qui summa Veritas Bonitas est hu manum genus prolem suam decipere suffer the honestest and obedientest subjects that he hath upon earth to be deceived in a matter of such importance by pretence of Doctrines and Miracles proceeding from himself and which none but God or by his special grant is able to do without disowning them or giving any sufficient means to the world to discover the deceit For certainly he needeth not deceit to govern us If you say that he permits Mahometanism I answer 1. The main positive doctrine of the Mahometanes for the worshiping of one only God against Idolatry is true And the by-fancies of their pretended Prophet are not commended to the world upon the pretense of attesting Miracles at all but upon the affirmation of Ma sil 〈◊〉 de
power of his carnal motives profit and honour and some delight And if you will put your selves habitually and statedly also under the sense and power of your far greater motives as alwayes perceiving how much it doth concern you for your selves and others and the honour of God this would be a constant poise and spring which being duly wound up would keep the wheels in equal motion § 13. Direct 13. Thus you must make the service of your Master and the saving of your selves and Direct 13. others your business in the world which you follow daily as your ordinary calling and then it will carry on your thoughts Whereas he that serveth God but on the by with some occasional service will think on him or his work but on the by with some occasional thoughts A close and diligent course of holy living is the best help to a constant profitable course of holy thinking § 14. Direct 14. The chief point of skill and holy wisdom for this and other religious duties is to Direct 14. take that course which tends to make Religion pleasant and to draw your souls to delight in God and to take heed of that which would make all grievous to you It will be easie and sweet to think of that which you take pleasure in But if Satan can make all irksome and unpleasant to you your thoughts will avoid it as you do a Carrion when you stop your nose and haste away Psal. 104. 34. saith the Psalmist My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Directions about the work it self § 15. Direct 1. As you must never be unfurnished of holy store so you must prudently make choice Direct 1. of your particular subject As the choice of a fit Text is half a good Sermon so the choice of the â—ittest matter for you is much of a good meditation Which requireth some good acquaintance both with the Truth and with your selves § 16. Direct 2. To this end you must know in their several degrees what subjects are in themselves Direct 2. most excellent to be meditated on As the first and highest is the most blessed God himself and the glorious ☞ person of our Redeemer and the New Ierusalem or Heaven of Glory where he is revealed to The order of Subjects to be meditated on as to their excellency his Saints And then the blessed society which there enjoyeth him and the holy Vision Love and Ioy by which he is enjoyed And next is the wonderful work of mans Redemption and the Covenant of Grace and the sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost and all the Graces that make up Gods image on the soul And then is the state and priviledges of the Church which is the Body of Christ for whom all this is done and prepared And next is the work of the Gospel by which this Church is gathered edified and saved And then the matter of our own salvation and our state of grace and way to life And then the salvation of others And then the common publick good in temporal respects And then our personal bodily welfare And next the Bodily welfare of our neighbours And lastly those things that do but remotely tend to these This is the order of desirableness and worth which will tell you what should have estimative precedency in your thoughts and prayers § 17. Direct 3. You must also know what subject is then most seasonable for your thoughts and Direct 3. refuse even an unseasonable good For good may be used by unseasonableness to do hurt It may be thrust in by the Tempter on purpose to divert you from some greater good or to mar some other duty in hand So he will oft put in some good meditation to turn you from a better or in the midst of Sermon or Prayer or if he see you out of temper to perform a duty of meditation or that you have no leisure without neglecting your more proper work he will then drive you on that by the issue he may discourage and hurt you and make the duty unprofitable and grievous to you and make you more averse to it afterwards Untimely duty may be no duty but a sin which is covered with the material good As the Pharisees Sabboth-rest was when Mercy called them to violate it § 18. Direct 4. Examine well and determine of the End and Use of your meditations before you Direct 4. set upon them and then labour to fit them to that special End The End is first in the intention and from the Love of it the means are chosen and used If it be knowledge that you are to encrease it is evidence of Truth with the Matter to be known in a convincing scientifical way that you must meditate on If it be Divine belief that is to be encreased or exercised it is Divine Revelations both matter and evidence of credibility which you have to meditate on If you would excite the Fear of God you have his Greatness and terribleness his Justice and threatnings to meditate on If you would excite the Love of God you have his Goodness Mercy Christ and promises to meditate on If you would prepare for death and judgement you have your hearts to try your lives to repent of your graces to discover and revive and exercise and your souls diseases to â—eel and the râ—medies to apply so when ever you mean to make any thing of a set meditation determine first of the end and by it of the means § 19. Direct 5. Clear up the Truth of things to your Minds as you can before you take much pains Direct 5. to work them on your affections lest you find after that you did but mis-inform your selves and bestow all your labour in vain to make deluding images on your minds and bring your affections to bow before them As many have done by espousing errors who have laid out their zeal upon them many years together and made them the reason of hatred and contention and bitter censurings of opposing brethren and have made parties and divisions and disturbances in the Church for them and after so many years zealous sinning have found them to be but like Michol's image a man of straw instead of David and that they made all this filthy pudder but in a dream § 20. Direct 6. Next labour to perceive the weight of every thing you think on be it Good or Direct 6. Evil And to that end be sure that God and Eternity be taken in in every Meditation and all things judged of as they stand related to God and to your Eternal state which only can give you the true estimate and sense of Good and Evil There will still the Life and Soul and power be wanting in your most excellent Meditations further than God is in them and they are Divine When you meditate on any Scripture-truth think of it as a beam from the Eternal Light indited by
crime 12. Their Consciences are quick in telling them of sin and putting them upon any dejection as a duty but they are dead to all duties that tend to consolation as to Thanksgiving for mercies Praises of God meditating on his Love and grace and Christ and promises Put them never so hard on these and they feel not their duty nor make no conscience of it but think it is a duty for others but unsuitable to them 13. They alway say that they cannot believe and therefore think they cannot be saved Because that commonly they mistake the nature of faith and take it to be a Believing that they themselves are forgiven and in favour with God and shall be saved And because they cannot believe this which their disease will not suffer them to believe therefore they think that they are no believers whereas saving faith is nothing but such a Belief that the Gospel ☜ is true and Christ is the Saviour to be trusted with our souls as causeth our Wills to Consent that he be ours and that we be his and so to subscribe the Covenant of Grace Yet while they thus consent and would give a world to be sure that Christ were theirs and to be perfectly holy yet they think they believe not because they believe not that he will forgive or save them 14. They are still displeased and discontended with themselves just as a pievish froward person is apt to be with others see one that is hard to be pleased and is finding fault with every thing that they see or hear and offended at every one that comes in their way and suspicious of every body that they see whispering and just so is a Melancholy person against himself suspecting displeased and finding fault with all 15. They are much addicted to solitariness and weary of company for the most part 16. They are given up to fixed musings and long poring thoughts to little purpose so that deep musings and thinkings are their chief employments and much of their disease 17. They are much averse to the labours of their callings and given to idleness either to lye in bed or sit thinking unprofitably by themselves 18. Their thoughts are most upon themselves like the mill-stones that grind on themselves when they have no grist so one thought begets another Their thoughts are taken up about their thoughts when they have been thinking irregularly they think again what they have been thinking on They meditate not much on God unless on his wrath nor Heaven nor Christ nor the state of the Church nor any thing without them ordinarily but all their thoughts are contracted and turned inwards on themselves self-troubling is the sum of their thoughts and lives 19. Their thoughts are all perplexed like ravelled Yarn or Silk or like a man in a maze or wilderness or that hath lost himself and his way in the night He is poring and groping about and can make little of any thing but is bewildred and moithered and entangled the more full of doubts and difficulties out of which he cannot find the way 20. He is endless in his scruples afraid lest he sin in every word he speaketh and in every thought and every look and every meal he eateth and all the Cloaths he weareth And if he think to amend them he is still scrupling his supposed amendments He dare neither travel nor stay at home neither speak nor be silent but he is scrupling all as if he were wholly composed of self perplexing scruples 21. Hence it comes to pass that he is greatly addicted to superstition to make many Laws to himself that God never made Col. 2. 18 19 20 21 22 23. him and to ensnare himself with needless Vows and resolutions and hurtful austerities Touch not taste not handle not and to place his Religion much in such Outward self-imposed tasks to spend so many hours in this or that act of devotion to wear such cloaths and forbear other that are finer to forbear all dyet that pleaseth the appetite with much of the like A great deal of the Perfection of Popish devotion proceeded from Melancholy though their Government come from Pride and Covetousness 22. They have lost the power of Governing their thoughts by Reason so that if you convince them that they should cast out their self-perplexing unprofitable thoughts and turn their thoughts to other subjects or be vacant they are not able to obey you They seem to be under a necessity or constraint They cannot cast out their troublesome thoughts They cannot turn away their minds They cannot think of Love and mercy They can think of nothing but what they do think of no more than a man in the Tooth-ache can forbear to think of his pain 23. They usually grow hence to a disability to any private prayer or meditation Their thoughts are presently cast all into a confusion when they should pray or meditate They scatter abroad a hundred wayes and they cannot keep them upon any thing For this is the very point of their disease a distempered confused fantasie with a weak reason which cannot govern it Sometime terrour driveth them from Prayer they dare not hope and therefore dare not pray and usually they dare not receive the Lords Supper here they are fearfullest of all And if they do receive it they are cast down with terrours fearing that they have taken their own damnation by receiving unworthily 24. Hence they grow to a great aversness to all holy duty Fear and dispair make them go to prayer hearing reading as a Bear to the stake And then they think they are haters of God and Godliness imputing the effects of their disease to their souls when yet at the same time those of them that are Godly would rather be freed from all their sins and be perfectly holy than have all the riches or honour in the world 25. They are usually so taken up with busie and earnest thoughts which being all perplexed do but strive with themselves and contradict one another that they feel it just as if something were speaking within them and all their own violent thoughts were the pleadings and impulse of some other And therefore they are wont to impute all their fantasies either to some extraordinary actings of the Devil or to some extraordinary motions of the spirit of God And they are used to express themselves in such words as these It was set upon my heart or it was said to me that I must do thus and thus and then it was said I must not do this or that and I was told I must do so or so And they think that their own imagination is something talking in them and saying to them all that they are thinking 26. When Melancholy groweth strong they are almost alwayes troubled with hideous Blaspheamous temptations against God or Christ or the Scripture and against the immortality of the soul which cometh partly from their own fears which make them think most against their
will of that which they are most afraid of thinking As the spirits and blood will have recourse to the part that is hurt The very pain of their fears doth draw their thoughts to what they fear As he that is over-desirous to sleep and afraid lest he shall not sleep is sure to wake because his fears and desires keep him waking so do the fears and desires of the Melancholy cross themselves And withall the malice of the Devil plainly here interposeth and taketh advantage by this disease to tempt and trouble them and to shew his hatred to God and Christ and Scripture and to them For as he can much easier tempt a cholerick person to anger than another and a flegmatick fleshy person to sloth and a sanguine or hot tempered person to lust and wantonness so also a melancholy person to thoughts of blasphemy infidelity and despair And ost-times they feel a vehement urgency as if something within them urged them to speak such or such a blasphemous or foolish word and they can have no rest unless they yield in this and other such cases to what they are urged to And some are ready to yield in a temptation to be quiet and when they have done they are tempted utterly to despair because they have committed so great a sin and when the Devii hath got this advantage of them he is still setting it before them 27. Hereupon they are further tempted to think they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost not understanding what that sin is but fearing it is theirs because it is a fearful sin At least they think they shall not be forgiven not considering that a temptation is one thing and a sin another and that no man hath less cause to fear being condemned for his sin than he that is least willing of it and most hateth it And no man can be less willing of any ☞ sin than these poor souls are of the hideous blasphemous thoughts which they complain of 28. Hereupon some of them grow to think that they are possessed of Devils and if it do but enter into their fantasie how possessed persons use to act the very strength of imagination will make them do so too so that I have known those that will swear and curse and blaspheam and imitate an inward aliene voice thinking themselves that it is the Devil in them that doth all this But these that go so far are but few 29. Some of them that are near distraction verily think that they hear voices and see lights and apparitions that the Curtains are opened on them that something meets them and saith this or that to them when all is but the errour of a crazed brain and sick imagination 30. Many of them are aweary of their lives through the constant tiring perplexities of their minds and yet afraid of dying some of them resolutely famish themselves some are strongly tempted to murder themselves and they are haunted with the temptation so restlesly that they can go no whither but they feel as if somewhat within them put them on and said Do it do it so that many poor creatures yield and make away themselves 31. Many of them are restlesly vexed with fears of want and poverty and misery to their families and of imprisonment or banishment and lest some-body will kill them and every one that they see whisper they think is plotting to take away their lives 32. Some of them lay a law upon themselves that they will not speak and so live long in resolute silence 33. All of them are intractable and stiffe in their own conceits and hardly perswaded out of them be they never so irrational 34. Few of them are the better for any Reason conviction or Counsel that is given them If it seem to satisfie and quiet and rejoyce them at the present to morrow they are as bad again it being the nature of their disease to think as they do think and their thoughts are not cured while the disease is uncured 35. Yet in all this distemper few of them will believe that they are melancholy but abhor to hear men tell them so and say it is but the rational sense of their unhappiness and the forsakings and heavy wrath of God And therefore they are hardly perswaded to take any Physick or use any means for the cure of their bodies saying that they are well and being confident that it is only their souls that are distressed This is the miserable case of these poor people greatly to be pittyed and not to be despised by any I have spoken nothing but what I have often seen and known And let none despise such for men of all sorts do fall into this misery learned and unlearned high and low good and bad yea some that have lived in greatest jollity and sensuality when God hath made them feel their folly § 3. The causes of it are 1. Most commonly some worldly loss or cross or grief or care which made too deep an impression on them 2. Sometime excess of fear upon any common occasion of danger 3. Sometime over-hard and unintermitted studies or thoughts which screw up and rack the fantasie too much 4. Sometime too deep fears or too constant and serious and passionate thoughts and cares about the danger of the soul. 4. The great preparatives to it which are indeed the principal cause are a weak Head and Reason joyned with strong Passion which are oftest found in Women and those to whom it is natural 5. And in some it is brought in by some heynous sin the sight of which they cannot bear when Conscience is but once awakened § 4. When this disease is gone very far Directions to the persons themselves are vain because they have not Reason and free-will to practise them but it is their friends about them that must have the Directions But because with the most of them and at first there is some Power of Reason left I give Directions for the use of such § 5. Direct 1. See that no errour in Religion be the cause of your distress especially understand well Direct 1 the Covenant of Grace and the Riches of mercy manifested in Christ. Among others it will be useful to you to understand these following truths 1. That our thoughts of the Infinite Goodness of God should bear proportion with our thoughts Special Truths to be known for preventing causeless troubles concerning his Infinite Power and Wisdom 2. That the Mercy of God hath provided for all mankind so sufficient a Saviour that no sinner shall perish for want of a sufficient satisfaction made for his sins by Christ nor is it made the condition of any mans salvation or pardon that he satisfie for his own sins 3. That Christ hath in his Gospel-Covenant which is an Act of oblivion made over himself with pardon and salvation to all that will penitently and believingly accept the offer And that none perish that hear the Gospel but
the final obstinate refusers of Christ and life 4. That he that so far believeth the truth of the Gospel as to Consent to the Covenant of Grace even that God the Father be his Lord and Reconciled Father and Christ his savior and the Holy Ghost his sanctifier hath true saving faith and right to the blessing of the Covenant 5. That the day of Grace is so far commensurate or equal to our Life time that whosoever truly Repenteth and Consenteth to the Covenant of Grace before his death is certainly pardoned and in a state of life and that it is every mans duty so to do that pardon may be theirs 6. That Satans temptations are none of our sins but only our yielding to them 7. That the effects of natural sickness or diseasedness is not in it self a sin 8. That those are the smallest sins formally and least like to condemn us which we are most unwilling of and are least in Love or liking of 9. That no sin shall condemn us which we hate more than love and which we had rather leave and be delivered from than keep For this is true Repentance 10. That he is truly sanctified who had rather be perfect in Holiness of heart and life in Loving God and Living by Faith than to have the greatest pleasures riches or honours of the world taking in the Means also by which both are attained 11. That he who hath this Grace and desire may know that he is elect and the making of our Calling sure by our Consenting to the holy Covenant is the making of our Election sure 12. That the same thing which is a great duty to others may be no duty to one who by bodily distemper as Feavors Phrensies Melancholy is unable to perform it § 6. Direct 2. Take heed of worldly cares and sorrows and discontents Set not so much by earthly things as to enable them to disquiet you But learn to cast your cares on God You can have less peace in an affliction which cometh by such a carnal sinful means It s much more safe to be distracted with cares for Heaven than for Earth § 7. Direct 3. Meditation is no duty at all for a melancholy person except some few that are able to Direct 3. bear a diverting meditation which must be of something farthest from the matter which troubled them Or except it be short meditations like ejaculatory prayers A set and serious meditation will but confound you and disturb you and disable you to other duties If a man have a broken leg he must not go on it till it s knit lest all the body fare the worse It is your Thinking faculty or your Imagination which is the broken pained part and therefore you must not use it about the things that trouble you Perhaps you 'll say That this is to be prophane and forget God and your soul and let the tempter have his will But I answer No It is but to forbear that which you cannot do at present that by doing other things which you can do you may come again to do this which you now cannot do It is but to forbear attempting that which will but make you less able to do all other duties And at the present you may conduct the affairs of your soul by holy Reason I perswade you not from Repenting or Believing but from set and long and deep Meditations which will but hurt you § 8. Direct 4. Be not too long in any secret duty which you find you are not able to bear Prayer Direct 4. it self when you are unable must be performed but as you can Short confessions and requests to God must serve instead of longer secret prayers when you are unable to do more If sickness may excuse a man for being short where nature will not hold out the case is the same here in the sickness of the brain and spirits God hath appointed no means to do you hurt § 9. Direct 5. Where you find your selves unable for a secret duty struggle not too hard with your Direct 5. selves but go that pace that you are able to go quietly For as every striving doth not enable you but vex you and make duty wearisom to you and disable you more by increasing your disease Like an Ox that draweth unquietly and a Horse that chaseth himself that quickly tireth Preserve your willingness to duty and avoid that which makes it grievous to you As to a sick stomach it is not eating much but digesting well that tends to health and little must be eaten when much cannot be digested So it is here in case of your meditations and secret prayers § 10. Direct 6. Be most in those dutys which you are best able to bear which with most is Prayer Direct 6. with others hearing and good discourse As a sick man whose stomach is against other meats must eat of that which he can eat of And God hath provided variety of means that one may do the work when the other are wanting Do not misunderstand me In cases of absolute necessity I say again you must strive to do it whatever come of it If you are backward to believe to Repent to Love God and your neighbour to live soberly righteously and godly to pray at all here you must strive and not excuse it by any backwardness for it is that which must needs be done or you are lost But a man that cannot read may be saved without his reading and a man in prison or sickness may be saved without hearing the word and without the Church-communion of Saints And so a man disabled by melancholy may be saved by shorter thoughts and ejaculations without set and long meditations and secret prayers And other duties which he is able for will supply the want of these Even as nature hath provided two eyes and two ears and two nostrils and two reins and lungs that when one is stopt or faulty the other may supply its wants for a time So is it here § 11. Direct 7. Avoid all unnecessary solitariness and be as much as possible in honest chearful company Direct 7. You have need of others and are not sufficient for your selves And God will use and honour others as his hands to deliver us his blessings Solitariness is to those that are fit for it an excellent season for meditation and converse with God and with our hearts But to you it is the season of temptation and danger if Satan tempted Christ himself when he had him fasting and solitary in a wilderness much more will he take this as his opportunity against you Solitude is the season of musings and thoughtfulness which are the things which you must fly from if you will not be deprived of all § 12. Direct 8. When blasphemâ—us or disturbing thoughts look in or fruitless musings presently meet Direct 8. them and use that authority of Reason which is left you to cast them and command them out If you
inimicus sed tu veritaâ—i Hieron i. Gal. 5. Godliness in the world Gods Laws condemn the very life and pleasure of the fleshly man Godliness is unreconcileable to concupiscence and the carnal interest Lay by thy fleshly mind and interest or as sure as thou art a man thou wilt be judged and damned as an enemy to God Dost thou not feel that this is the cause of thy enmity that God putteth thee on unpleasing holy courses and will not let thee please thy flesh but affrighteth thee with the threatnings of Hell Rom. 8. 6 7 8. For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God ver 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Acts 9. 5. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker Isa. 45. 9. Read Luke 19. 27. § 15. Direct 6. Draw neâ—r and accustome thy soul to serious thoughts of God For it is strangeness Direct 6. that maketh thee the more averse to him We have less pleasure in the company of strangers than of familiar acquaintance Reconciliation must be made by coming nearer and not by keeping at a distance still § 16. Direct 7. Study well the wonderful Love and Mercy which he hath manifested to thy soul in Direct 7. the Redemption wrought by Iesus Christ in the Covenant of Grace in all the patience he hath exercised towards thee and all his offers of mercy and salvation entreating thee to turn and live Canst thou remember what God hath done for thee all thy life and how patiently and mercifully he hath dealt with thee and yet canst thou hate him or thy Heart be against him § 17. Direct 8. Iudge not of God or Holiness by the faults of any men that have seemed holy Direct 8. No more than you will censure the Sun because Thieves rob by the light of it or because some men are purblind God hateth sin in them and you where ever he findeth it Judge of God and holiness by his proper nature and true effects and by the holy Scripture and not by the crimes of sinners which he condemneth who if they had been more Holy had less offended § 18. Direct 9. Come among the godly and try a holy life a while and judge not of it or them Direct 9. that use it by the reports of the Devil and wicked men Malice will speak ill oâ— God himself and of his holiest servants Can worse be said than was said of Christ himself and his Apostles The Devil was not ashamed to belye Iob to Gods own face and tell God that he was such a one as that a little tryal to his flesh would turn him from his Godliness But those that come near and try the wayes and servants of God do find that the Devil did belye them § 19. Direct 10. Remember thy near approaching end and how dreadful it will be to be found and Direct 10. judged among the malignant enemies of Holiness And if the Righteous be scarcely saved where then shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4. 18. Then what wouldst thou give to be one of those holy ones that now thou hatedst and to be judged as those that lived in that holiness which thy malignant heart could not abide Then thou wilt wish that thou hadst lived and dyed as the righteous that thy latter end might have been like his Tit. 7. Directions against sinful Wrath or Anger § 1. AS Anger is against the Love of our neighbour I shall speak of it afterwards As it is against the soul it self I shall speak of it in this place Anger is the rising up of the heart in passionate displicency against an apprehended evil which would cross or hinder us of some desired good It is given us by God for Good to stir us up to a vigorous resistance of those things which within us or without us do oppose his Glory or our salvation or our own or our neighbours real good § 2. Anger is Good when it is thus used to its appointed end in a right manner and measure But it is sinful 1. When it riseth up against God or any Good as if it were evil to us As wicked men are angry at those that would convert and save them and that tell them of their sins and hinder them from their desires 2. When it disturbeth Reason and hindereth our judging of things Duo maxime contraria sunt consilio Ira â—â—stinatio Bias in Laert. aright 3. When it casteth us into any unseemly carriage or causeth or disposeth to any sinful words or actions when it enclineth us to wrong another by word or deed and to do as we would not be done by 4. When it is mistaken and without just cause 5. When it is greater in measure than the cause alloweth 6. When it unfitteth us for our duty to God or man 7. When it tendeth to Read Sexeca de Ira and be ashamed to come short of a Heathen the abatement of Love and brotherly kindness and the hindering of any good which we should do for others Much more when it breedeth malice and revenge and contentions and unpeaceableness in societies oppression of inferiours or dishonouring of superiours 8. When it stayeth too long and ceaseth not when its lawful work is done 9. When it is selfish and carnal stirred up upon the account of some carnal interest and used but as a means to a selfish carnal sinful end As to be angry with men only for crossing your Pride or profit or sports or any other fleshly will In all these it is sinful Directions Meditative against sinful Anger § 3. Direct 1. Remember that immoderate anger is an injury to humanity and a rebel against the Direct 1. Government of Reason It is without reason and against reason Whereas in man all Passions should be obedient to Reason It is the misery of madness and the crime of drunkenness to be the suppressing and dethroning of our Reason And sinful Anger is a short madness or drunkenness Remember that thou art a man and scorn to subject thy self to a bestial fury § 4. Direct 2. It is also against the Government of God for God governeth the Rational powers first Direct 2. and the inferiour by them If you destroy the Kings Officers and Judges you oppose the Government of the King Is a man in passion fit to obey the commands of God that hath silenced his Reason § 5. Direct 3. Sinful Passion is a pain and malady of the mind And will you love or cherish your Direct 3. disease or pain Do you not feel your selves in pain and diseased while it is upon you I do not think you would take all the world to live
from the ignorance or unbelief of some of these or not considering and applying them to the cause that is before you Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee § 4. Direct 2. Know God in Iesus Christ the Mediator and come to him by him And then you Direct 2. may have access with boldness and confidence Ephes. 3. 12. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by his blood by the new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh And having an High Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. The sight of Christ by faith should banish immoderate fear Matth. 14. 27. Be of good chear it is I be not afraid § 5. Direct 3. Understand the tenour of the Gospel and the freeness of the Covenant of Grace and Direct 3. then you will there find abundant encouragement against the matter of inordinate fears § 6. Direct 4. Employ your selves as much as possible in Love and praise for Love expelleth tormenting Direct 4. fear there is no fear in Love 1 John 4. 18. § 7. Direct 5. Remember Gods particular mercies to your selves for those will perswade you that Direct 5. he will use you kindly when you find that he hath done so already As when Manoah said We shall surely dye because we have seen God his Wife answered If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received an offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things Judg. 13. 22 23. § 8. Direct 6. Labour to clear up your title to the promises and special interest in Christ. Otherwise Direct 6. the doubts of that will be still feeding and justifying your fears § 9. Direct 7. Consider what a horrible injury it is to God to think of him as you do of the Devil Direct 7. as an enemy to humble willing souls and a destroyer of them and an adversary to them that diligently seek him of whom he is a lover and rewarder And so to think of God as Evil and fear him upon Heb. 11. 6. such misapprehensions § 10. Direct 8. Observe the sinfulness of your fear in the effects how it driveth you from God and Direct 8. hindereth faith and love and thankfulness and discourageth you from prayer and Sacraments and all duty And therefore it must needs be pleasing to the Devil and displeasing to God and no way to be pleaded for or justified § 11. Direct 9. Mark how you contradict the endeavours of God in his Word and by his Ministers Direct 9. Do you find God driving any from him and frightning away souls that would fain be his Or doth he not prepare the way himself and reconcile the world to himself in Christ and then send his Embassadors 2 Cor. 5. 19. Luke 14. 17. Matth. 22. 8. in his name and stead to beseech them to be reconciled unto God and to tell them that all things are ready and compell them to come in § 12. Direct 10. Consider how thou wrongest others and keepest them from coming home to God When Direct 10. they see thee terrified in the way of piety they will fly from it as if some enemies or robbers were in the way If you tread fearfully others will fear there is some quicksand If you tremble when you enter the Ship with Christ others will think he is an unfaithful Pilot or that its a leaking Vessel Your fear discourageth them § 13. Direct 11. Remember how remediless as to comfort you leave your selves while you inordinately Direct 11. fear him who alone must comfort you against all your other fears If you fear your Remedy what shall cure the fear of your disease If you fear your meat what shall cure your fear of hunger If you fear him that is most Good and faithful and the friend of every upright soul what shall ease you of your fear of the wicked and the enemies of holy souls If you fear your Father who shall comfort you against your foes You cast away all peace when you make God your terrour § 14. Direct 12. Yet take heed lest under this pretence you cast away the necessary fear of God Direct 12. even such as belongeth to men in your condition to drive them out of their sin and security unto Christ and such as the truth of his threatnings require For a sensless presumption and contempt of God are a sin of a far greater danger Directions against sinful fear of the Devil § 1. Direct 1. Remember that the Devil is chained up and wholly at the will and beck of God He Direct 1. could not touch Iob nor an Ox nor an Ass of his till he had permission from God He cannot appear Job 1. to thee nor hurt thee unless God give him leave § 2. Direct 2. Labour therefore to make sure of the Love of God and then thou art safe Then thou Direct 2. hast God his Love and Promise alwayes to set against the Devil § 3. Direct 3. Remember that Christ hath conquered the Devil in his temptations on the Cross by Direct 3. his Resurrection and Ascension He destroyed through death him that had the power of death even the Devil that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. The Prince of this world is conquered and cast out by him and wilt thou fear a conquered foe § 4. Direct 4. Remember that thou art already delivered from his power and dominion if thou he Direct 4. renewed by the Spirit of God And therefore let his own be afraid of him that are under his power and not the free men and redeemed ones of Christ God hath delivered thee in the day that he converted thee from a thousand fold greater calamity than the seeing of the Devil would be And having been saved from his greatest malice you should not over-fear the less § 5. Direct 5. Remember what an injury it is to God and to Christ that conquered him to fear the Direct 5. Devil while God is your protector any otherwise than as the instrument of Gods displeasure It seemeth as much as to say I fear lest the Devil be too hard for God or lest God cannot deliver me from him § 6. Direct 6. Remember how you honour the Devil by fearing him and pleasure him by thus honouring Direct 6. him And will you not abhor to honour and please such an enemy of God and you This is it that he would have to be feared instead of God He glorieth in it as part of his dominion As Tyrants rejoyce to see men fear them as those that can destroy them when they will so the Devil triumpheth in your fears as his honour When God reprehendeth the
that toucheth not the heart neither Is it loss of children or friends or is it pain and sickness I confess these are sore but yet they do not touch the heart If they come thither it is your doing and though thither they should come moderately if they are immoderate it is your own sinful doing It is you that grieve and make the heart ake God and man did but make the flesh ake If others hurt your bodys will you therefore vex your minds Will you pierce through your hearts because they touch your name or goods If so remember which part of your sorrow is of their making and which is of your own And can you for shame go beg of Gâ—d or man to ease the grief which you your selves are causing and willfully continue it while you pray against it And why lament you that which you cause and choose It is a shame to be willfully your own tormentâ—r◠§ 20. Direct 14. Abhor all that tendeth to take down the power and government of Reason that is Direct 14. all fâ—â—bleness and câ—wardize of mind and a melancholy a piâ—vish passionate disposition and labour to keep up the authâ—rity of Reason and to keep all your passions subject to your wills which must be done by Christian faith and fortitude If you come once to that childish or distracted pass as to grieve and say I cannot help it I know it is sinful and immoderate but I cannot choose if you say true you are out of the reach of counsel advice or comfort You are not to be preacht to nor talkt to nor to be written for we do not write Directions to teach men how to touch the Stars or explain the Asperites or inequalities of the Moon or the Opacous parts of Saturn or to govern the Orbs or rule the Chariot of the Sun If it be become a natural impossibility to you Doctrine can give you no remedy But if the impossibility be but Moral in the weakness of your Reason and want of consideration it may by Doctrine Consideration and Resolution be overcome You can do more if you will than you think you can How come you to lose the command of your Passions Did not God make you a rational creature that hath an understanding and will to rule all Passions How come you to have lost the Ruling power of Reason and will You would take it for a disparagement to be told that you have lâ—st the use of your Reason And is it not a principal use of it to Rule the passions and all other inferior subject powers You say you cannot choose but grieve But if one could give you that creature which you want or desire then you could choose You could rejoyce if one could restore you that Child that Friend that Estate which you have lost But God and Christ and Heaven it seems are not enough to cure you if you must have but theâ— you cannot choose but grieve And what hearts have you then that are thus affected Should not those hearts be rather grieved for God will sometime make you see that you had more power than you used § 21. Direct 15. Observe the mischiefs of excessive sorrow that you may feel what reason you have Direct 15. to avoid it While you know not what hurt is in it you will be the more remiss in your resisting it I shall briefly name you some of its unhappy fruits § 22. 1. It is a continual pain and sickness of the mind This you know by feeling 2. It is a The ill effects of sinful grieâ— destroyer of bodily health and life For worldly sorrow worketh death 2 Cor. 7. 10. Prov. 17. 22. A merry heart doth good like a medicine but a broken spirit dryeth the the bones 3. It putteth the soul out of relish with its mercies and so causeth us to undervalue them and consequently to be unthankful for them and not to improve them 4. It destroyeth the sense of the Love of God and lamentably undisposeth the soul to Love them And therefore should be abhorred by us were it but for that Even Anaâ—agoâ—as a Philosopher could say â—o one that asked him Nullâ—m tibi paâ—riae â—ura est Mihi quidem pâ—â—â—â—iae cura est quidem summa digitum 〈…〉 lum intendâ—ns Laâ—rt p 85. one effect 5. It destroyeth the joy in the Holy Ghost and unfitteth us to obey that command of God Rejoyce continually 6. It contradicteth a Heavenly mind and conversation and hindereth us from all foreâ—asts of the everlasting joys 7. It undisposeth us to the excellent work of Praise Who can ascend in the Praises of God while Grief doth oppress and captivate the soul 8. It destroyeth the sweetness of all Gods Ordinances Hearing Reading Prayer Sacraments we may force our selves to use them but shall have no delight in them 9. It hindreth the exercise of Faith and raiseth distrust and sinful doubts and fears within us 10. It causeth sinful discontents and murmurings at God and man 11. It maketh us impatient pievish froward angry and hard to be pleased 12. It weakneth the soul to all that 's good and destroyeth its fortitude and strength For it is the Ioy of the Lord that is our strength Neh. 8. 10. 13. It hindreth us in the duties of our callings who can do them as they should be done under the clog of a disquiet mind 14. It maketh us a grief and burden to our friends and robs them of the comfort which they should have in and by us 15. It maketh us unprofitable to others and hindreth us from doing the good we might when we should be instructing exhorting and praying for poor sinners or minding the Church of God we are all taken up at home about our own afflictions 16. It maketh us a stumbling block and scandal to the ungodly and hindreth their conversiion while the Devil setteth us before the Church doors to keep away the ungodly from a holy life as men set scar-crows in their fields and gardens to frighten away the birds 17. It dishonoureth Religion by making men believe that it is a melancholy vexatious self-tormenting life 18. It obscureth the Glory of the Gospel and crosseth the work of Christ his Spirit and Ministers who all come upon a message of Great joy to all Nations and proclaim Glad tidings to the worst of sinners much more to the sons of God and heirs of life 19. It misrepresenteth God himself as if we would perswade men that he is a hard and cruel master that none can please though they do all through a Mediator upon a covenant of grace and that it is worse with us since we served him than before and that he delighteth in our grief and misery and is against our peace and joy and as if there were no joy nor pleasure in his service Such hideous doctrine do our lives preach of God when those that profess to fear and seek him do live in such immoderate
grief and trouble 20. And it too much pleaseth the Devil who is glad to torment us here if he may not do it in Hell and especially to make our selves the executioners upon our selves when he is restrained when he can boast and say Though I may not vex thee I will perswade thee to vex thy self These are the fruits of sinful sorrows Direct 16. § 23. Direct 16. Govern your thoughts and suffer them not to muse and feed on those objects which cause your grief No wonder if your sore be always smarting when you are always rubbing on it in your thoughts Of this I spake more fully even now Tit. 10. Directions against sinful Despair and Doubting § 1. DEspair is the contrary to Hope There is a Despair that is a duty and a Despair that is a sin See more of the cure of Douburg Ch. 25. Tom. 2. and a Despair that is indifferent as being but of natural and not of Moral kind Despair is a duty when it is the contrary to the sinful Hope before described that is 1. When we despair of any thing which God hath told us shall never come to pass For we are bound to believe his word as that all the world should be saved or converted or that our bodys should not dye and perish and many Joh. 3 3 5. Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 18. 3. Luk. 13 3. Rom. 8. 7 9 13. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 5. 24. such like 2. It is a duty to Despair of ever attaining a good end by means or upon terms which God hath told us it shall never be attained by And so it is a great duty for an unregenerate person to despair of ever being saved without regeneration conversion and holiness and to despair of ever being pardoned or saved if he live after the flesh and have not the spirit of Christ and repent not unfeignedly of his sin and be not a new-creature and crucifie not the flesh with its affections and lusts Such a despair is one of the first things necessary to the conversion of a sinner because the false hopes of being pardoned and saved without regeneration is the present hindrance to be removed § 2. Despair is a sin when it is contrary to any Hope which God commandeth us so it be not only a Negative despair or bare not-hoping which in sleep and other times may be innocent but a Positive despair which concludeth against Hope As 1. Particular despair of the benefit of some particular promise as if Israel had despaired of deliverance from Egypt or Abraham of a Son 2. General despair of the fulfilling of some general promise as if we despaired of the Resurrection or the Kingdom of Christ in glory 3. When by misapplication we despair of that pardon and salvation to our selves which yet we believe shall be to others § 3. Yea Despair is sinful sometimes when it is not contrary to any promise or commanded Hope For if God have not revealed his will one way or other it is no duty to expect the thing and yet it is a sin to conclude positively that it will not be For then we shall say more than we know or than God hath revealed If Hope be taken for the comfort that aâ—isâ—th in us from the apprehension of a meer possibility then indeed it is a duty to hope for that Good which is possible only But if Hâ—pe be taken for a confident expectation than both such Hope and also the contrary Despair would be a sin We may so non-sperare but not Desperare Possibles must be taken but for possibles yet still for such § 4. He that despaireth but of some common Mercy which he should not despair of ratione materâ—ae committeth a sin of the smaller sort He that despaireth of a great mercy to others though not promised committeth a greater sin ratione materiae as if you despair of the conversion of a bad child or of the continuance of the Gospel to the Kingdom c. But he that despaireth of his own pardon and salvation sinneth more perillously ratione materiae § 5. The Despairing of pardon and salvation upon a Despair of the truth of the Gospel or sufficiencie Iâ—â—as perished not meerly by despair but he had no such Repentance as Renewed his soul nor any Love to God and holiness of Christ is damnable and a certain mark of a wretched infidel if it be predominant But to Believe all the Gospel to be true and desire Christ and life as best and yet to Despair upon too bad thoughts of ones self or through some other mistake this is a sin of infirmity consistent with grace unless the Despair be so total and prevalent as to make the sinner setledly cast off a godly life and give up himself to a life of wickedness The Scripture speaketh little of this humble sort of despair and no where threatneth it as it doth Infidelity § 6. The commonest Despair like Spira's which cometh immediately from invincible predominant melancholy though occasioned first by sin is no otherwise sinful or dangerous than the despair or raâ—ing of a mad-man or one in a doâ—ing feaver is It is the too-humble Despair through personal misapplication and particular mistakes that I shall speak of in this place § 7. Direct 1. Take heed of being ignorant of or misunderstanding the three great general grounds of Direct 1. faith and Hope that is 1. The infinite goodness of God and his unmeasurable Love and Mercy 2. The relation of Christ office to all and the sufficiency of his Ransom and Sacrifice for all 3. The universality of the promise or the Act of Oblivion or deed of guift of free pardon and salvation to all on condition of penitent belief and acceptance which is procured and given by Christ and contained in the Gospel If you mistake so about any one of these as not to believe or understand them or if you do not well consider and improve them no wonder if you be left under continual doubtings and liable to despair Direct 2. § 8. Direct 2. Understand well the true nature of the Condition of this universal promise how much Joâ— 1. â—1 â—â— Joh 3 16 18. Rev 22. 17. 1 Joh 5. 11 12. Joh. 5. 40. Luk. 19. 27. it consisteth in the will or Acceptance of Christ and Life as offered by the Gospel or in our hearty Consent to the Baptismal Covenant that God be our God and Father our Saviour and Sanctifier And that in Gods account the will is the man and he is a true believer and hath part in Christ that is truly willing of him to the ends of his office and that he hath right to all the benefits of the Covenant of Grace who doth heartily consent to it This is true faith This is the condition of pardon and on these terms Christ and life is given This is the infallible evidence of a state of grace If you know not this but look after
something else as necessary which is separable from this no wonder if you are perplexed and inclined to despair § 9. Direct 3. Understand the extent of this pardoning Covenant as to the sins which it pardâ—neth that Direct 3. it containeth the forgiveness of all sin without exception to them that perform the condition of it that is to Consenters So that directly no sin is excepted but the non-performance of the condition but conseâ—uently all sin is excepted and none at all forgiven by it to them that do not perform the condition Every conditional grant doth expresly except the non-performance of the condition by the making of it to be the condition He that saith All sin is forgiven to them that believe and repent and no other doth plainly import that not-believing and not-repenting is not forgiven while it continueth nor any other sin to such But to penitent believers or consenters all sin is pardoned Which made the Ancients say that all sin is washt away in Baptism supposing the person Baptized to be a meet Subject and to have the Condition of the Covenant which is by Baptism sealed and delivered to him § 10. Direct 4. Misunderstand not the excepted sin against the Holy Ghost which is no other than Direct 4. Though the trouble of 〈…〉 for a larger Discourse of this sin yet having 〈…〉 oâ—â— I must not here be 〈…〉 reâ—â—â—â—ng what is thâ—â—e â—aid alreadâ— an aggravated Non-performance and refusal of the condition of the Covenant viz. when Infidels are so obstinate in their Inâ—idelity that they will rather impute the Miracles of the Holy Ghost to the Devil than they will be convinced by them that Christ is the true Messias or Saviour This is the true nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost of which I have written the third Part of my Treatise against Infidelity So that no one hath the sin against the Holy Ghost that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ and Saviour or that confesseth the miracles done by Christ and his Apostles were done by the Holy Ghost or that confesseth the Gospel is true or that doth not justifie his sin and infidelity He must be a professed Infidel againâ—â— confessed Miracles that commits this sin And yet many despair because they fear they have committed this sin that never understood what it is nor have any reason but bare fear and some blaspâ—emous temptations which they abhor to make them imagine that this sin is theirs But the truth is in their fearing condition if any other sin had been as terribly spoken of they would have thought it is theirs § 11. Direct 5. Understand the Time to which the condition of the Gospel doth extend namely to the Direct 5. end of our life on earth The day of this grace hath no shorter end For the Gospel saith not He that believeth this year or the next shall be saved But absolutely without limitation to any time short of death He that believeth shall be saved so that to doubt whether true Repentance and faith will be accepted at any time before death is but to be ignorant of the Gospel or to doubt whether it be true And therefore for a despairing soul to say If I did repent it is too late because the day of Grace is past is but to contradict the gospel-Gospel-covenant it self or to say he knows not what God never refused a soul that truly Repented and believed before death § 12. Obj. 1. But they 'll say do not some Divines say that some mens day of Grace is sooner past Obj. 1. and God hath forsaken them and it is too late because they came not in in time Answ. They that understand what they say must say but this that this word the day of Grace Answ. hath divers senses 1. Properly by the day of Grace is meant The Time in which according to the When the day of Grace is past tenour of the Gospel God will pardon and accept those that repent And in this sense the time of life is the time of Graces whenever a sinner repenteth and is converted he is pardoned 2. Sometimes by the day of Grace is meant the time in which the means of grace is continued to a Nation or a Person And thus it is true that the day of grace is quicklyer past with some Countreys than others that is God sometimes taketh away the Preachers of his Gospel from a people that reject them and so by Preaching offereth them his grace no more But in this sense a man may easily know whether his day of grace be past or no that is whether Bibles and Books and Christians and Preachers be all gone or not And yet if they were he that receiveth Christ before they are gone is safe No man in his wits can think this day of grace is past with him while Christ is offered him or while there is a Bible or Preacher or Christian about him 3. Sometime by the day of grace is meant The certain time which we are sure of as our own And so it is only the present minute that is the time of grace that is we cannot before hand be sure of another minute But yet the next minute when it is come is as much the time of grace as the former was 4. Sometime by the day of grace is meant the Time in which God actually worketh and giveth grace and that is no more than the day of our Conversion And in this sense to have the day of grace past is a happiness and comfort that is that the day is past in which we were converted 5. And sometime by the day of grace is meant that day in which God moveth the hearts of the impenitent more strongly towards conversion than formerly he did And this is it that Divines mean when they talk of the day of Grace being past with men before their death ☞ that is Though such have never a day of effectuial grace yet their motions were stronger towards it than hereafter they shall be and they were fairer for Conversion than after when they are gone further from it This is true and this is all And what 's this to a soul that is willing to come in and ignorantly questioneth whether he shall be accepted because the day of grace is past § 13. Obj. 2. But Christ saith Luk. 19. 42. If thou hadst known in this thy day Obj. 2. Answ. That was the day of the Offers of Grace by Preaching we grant that Nations have but their Answ. day of enjoying the Gospel which they may shorten by sinning it away § 14. Obj. 3. But it s said of Esau that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was Obj. 3. rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears Heb. 12. 17. It seems then that Repentance in this life may be too late Answ. It 's true that Esau's time for the Blessing was past as
pardonable and may consist with true grace so a Venial sin may be in an unsanctified person materially where it is not pardoned that is e. g. his wandering thought or passion is a sin of that sort that in the Godly is consistent with true grace But as Venial signifieth a sin that is pardoned or pardonable without a regeneration or conversion into astate of life from astate of death so Venial sin is in no unregenerate unjustified person but is only the Infirmities of the Saints and thus I here speak of it In a word that sin which actually consisteth with habitual repentance and with the hatred of it so far that you had rather he free from it than commit or keep it and which consisteth with an unfeigned consent to the Covenant that God be your Father Saviour and Sanctifier and with the Love of God above all is but an infirmity or venial sin But to know from the nature of the sin which those are requireth a Volume by it self to direct you only § 19. Direct 8. Understand how necessary a faithful Minister of Christ is in such cases of danger and Direct 8. difficulty to be a guide to your Consciences and open your case truly to them and place so much confidence in their judgement of your state as their office and abilities and faithfulness do require and set not up your timerous darkened perplexed judgements above theirs in cases where they are fitter to judge Such a Guide is necessary both as appointed by Christ who is the Author of his office and in regard of the greatness and danger and difficulty of your case Do you not feel that you are insufficient for your selves and that you have need of help sure a soul that 's tempted to Despair may easily feel it You are very proud or blindly self conceited if you do not And you may easily know that Christ that appointed them their office requireth that they be both used and trusted in their office as far as Reason will allow And where there is no office yet Ability and faithfulness deserve and require credit of themselves Why else do you trust Physicions and Lawyers and all artificers in their several professions and arts as far as they are reputed able and faithful I know no man is to be believed as infallible as God is but man is to be believed as man And if you will use and trust your spiritual guide but so far as you use and trust your Physicion or Lawyer you will find the great benefit if you choose aright § 20. Direct 9. Remember when you have sinned how sure and sufficient and ready a remedy you have Direct 9. before you in Iesus Christ and the Covenant of grace and that it is Gods design in the way of Redemption not to save any man as innocent that none may glory but to save men that were first in sin and misery and fetch them as from the gates of hell that Love and mercy may be magnified on every one that is saved and grace may abound more by the occasion of sins abounding Rom. 5. 15 20. Not that any should continue in sin because Grace hath abounded God forbid Rom. 6. 1. But that we may magnifie that grace and mercy which hath abounded above our sins and turn the remembrance of our greatest sins to the admiration of that great and wonderful mercy To magnifie mercy when we see the greatness of our sin and to Love much because much is forgiven this is to please God and answer the very design and end of our Redemption But to magnific sin and extenuate mercy and to say My sin is greater than can Luk. 7. 47. be forgiven this is to please the Dâ—vil and to cross Gods design in the work of our Redemption Is your disease so great that no other can cure it It is the fitter for Christ to honour his office upon and God to honour his Love and mercy on Do but come to him that you may have life and you shall find that no greatness of sin past will cause him to refuse you nor no infirmities which you are Joh. 5. 40. Luk. 15. 20 22 23. willing to be rid of shall cause him to disown you or cast you out The Prodigal is not so much as upbraided with his sins but finds himself before he is aware in his Fathers arms cloathed with the best Robes the Ring and Shooes and joyfully entertained with a Feast Remember that there is enough in Christ and the promise to pardon and heal all sins which thou art willing to forsake § 21. Direct 10. Take heed of being so blind or proud in thy humility as to think that thou Direct 10. canst be more willing to be a servant of Christ than he is to be thy Saviour or more willing to have grace than God is to give it thee or more willing to come home to Christ than he is to receive and wellcome thee Either thou art willing or unwilling to have Christ and grace to be sanctified and freed from sin If thou be willing Christ and his grace shall certainly be thine Indeed if thou wouldst have pardon without Holiness this cannot be nor is there any promise of it But if thou wouldst have Christ to be thy Saviour and King and his spirit to be thy sanctifier and hadst rather be perfect in Love and Holiness than to have all the Riches of the World then art thou in sincerity that which thou wouldst be in perfection Understand that God accounteth thee to be what thou truly desirest to be The great work of Grace lyeth in the renewing of the will If the will be sound the Man is sound I mean not the conquered uneffectual Velleity of the wicked that wish they could be free from Pride sensuality gluttony drunkenness lust and covetousness without losing any of their beloved honour wealth or pleasure that is when they think on it as the way to Hell they like not their sin but wish they were rid of it but when they think of it as pleasing their fleshly minds they love it more and will not leave it because this is the prevailing thought and will So Iudas was unwilling to sell his Lord as it was the betraying of the innocent and the way to Hell but he was more willing as it was the way to get his hire So Herod was unwilling to kill Iohn Baptist as it was the murder of a Prophet but his willingness was the greater as it was the pleasing of his Damosel and the freeing himself from a troublesome reprover But if thy willingness to have Christ and perfect Holiness be more than thy unwillingness and more than thy willingness to keep thy sin and enjoy the honour wealth and pleasures of the world than thou hast an undoubted sign of uprightness and that Love to Grace and desire after it which nothing but Grace it self doth give And if thou art thus willing it is
full exposition what we ascribe to it But as some scrupulous Brethren in Scotland gratifie the Papists by rejecting the Oath of Supremacy which is the most thorny hedge against them and this while they cry out against Popery so others would gratifie the Papists by suggesting that we give too much to the Bible and adore it when the very sum of Englands Protestantism is their just ascribing to the Holy Scriptures its sufficiency as to all things necessary to salvation Thus Satan undoeth still by overdoing IV. Object Laying on the hand and kissing the Book seem of the same nature with the Cross in Object Baptism and other significant Ceremonies And an Oath is part of the Worship of God Therefore not to be taken with these Ceremonies or else will seem to justifie the other Answ. 1. Significant words gestures or actions are not therefore evil because they are significant Answ. unless bruitishness be a Vertue Nor because any call them by the name of Ceremonies else that name might be put on any thing by an enemy to deprive us of our liberty Therefore I can judge of no Ceremony by that General name alone till it be named it self in specie 2. Of the Cross in Baptism see my Disputations of Church-Government of Ceremonies written long ago There are these notorious differences in the Case 1. The Cross is an Image used in Gods Worship Though not a Permanent yet a Transient Image and used as an Image of the Cross of Christ though but in Water or Oyle And God hath more specially forbidden Images used in his Worship than he hath done a Professing significant Word Gesture or Action which is no Image nor used as such 2. The Cross seemeth to be a third Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace while it is used as a Symbol of Christianity and a dedicating Sign as the Canon calleth it by which before the Church there is made a solemn self-obligation as Sacramentally to Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh and manfully to fight under Christs banner as his faithful servants and souldiers to our lives end Implying our trust and hope in Christ crucified for the benefits of his death So that if it be not a compleat third Sacrament it hath so much of that which is proper to a Sacrament like the Sacramentum Militare whence the name came into the Church that for my part I dare not use it though I presume not to censure those that do nor to condemn all other uses of the Cross which the Antients abounded in as sudden particular professing Signs much below this solemn covenanting use And as I think the King would not take it well when he hath made the Star the Badge of the Knights of the Garter if any Subject will presume to make another Symbolum Ordinis though yet many a significant Gesture or Act may be used without offence So I fear Christ would not take it well of me if I presume to make or use another Symbole or Tessera of Christianity Especially with so much of a Covenanting Sacramental Nature But what 's this to things or Gestures significant of no such kind You see then the difference of these Cases But if you were able to prove the Cross as harmless as the Swearing Ceremony I would be for the Cross and not against the laying the hand on the Book and kissing it For 1. I am not of their mind that form their judgment of other particulars to suit with their preconceived opinions of things of the same rank or quality nor make the Interest of my former conceptions to be the measure of my after judging 2. Nor do I think it so great an honour to be strict in my opinions as dishonour to be superstitious and to add to Gods Law by saying that he forbiddeth what he doth not or to be affectedly singular in denying lawful things with a Touch not taste not handle not c. Nor do I esteem him to be the wisest best or holiest person who is narrowest or strictest in his opinions but who is Rightest nor him that maketh most things to be sins but him that committeth least sin which is such indeed nor him that maketh most Laws to himself and others but him that best obeyeth Gods Laws Quest. 1. MAy one that scrupleth thus swearing himself yet Commissioned give an Oath thus to another Quest. that scrupleth it not Answ. 1. If the thing be as is proved lawful his scruple will not make him innocent in neglecting Answ. the duty of his place 2. If the substance of the Oath were lawful and only the Mode or Ceremony were sinful as suspected then 1. If the Commissioner must himself particularly command that Mode it were unlawful for him to do it 2. But if he only command and give the Oath as an Oath leaving the Mode without his Approbation or Command to the Taker and the Law he may so give the Oath And thus Christians in all Ages have taken it for Lawful to make Covenants even with Infidels and Idolaters and to take a Turks Oath by Mahomet when it is only the Oath that we demand and the Mode is his own which we had rather be without and give no approbation of And if a King may thus demand an Infidels or Idolaters Oath as God himself doth mens duty when he knoweth that they will sin in doing it much more may one do so in case of a doubtful Ceremony which he is neither the author nor approver of But I think this in question is lawful fit and laudable § 7. III. As to the case of Taking Gods Name in vain which for brevity I joyn with swearing How Gods Name is taken in vain it is done 1. Either in the grossest and most hainous sort 2. Or in a lower sort 1. The grossest sort of taking Gods Name in vain is by Perjury or calling him in for witness to a lye For among the Jews Vanity and a Lye were words frequently taken in the same signification 2. But the lower sort of taking Gods Name in vain is when it is used lightly unreverently contemptuously jeastingly or See Dr. Haâ—â—oâ—ds Pract. Catâ—ch on the thâ—rd Commandment Jer. 5. 2. Lev. 19. 12. without just cause And in these also there is prophaneness and a very great sin which is aggravated according to the Degree of the contempt or prophanation It is a great sin unreverently in common talk to make a by-word of saying O Lord or O God or O Iesus or God help us or Lord have mercy on us or God send this or that or any way to take Gods Name in vain But to use it in jears and scorns at Religion or make Play-books or Stage-playes with such prophane contemptuous jears is one of the greatest villanies that mans tongue can be guilty of against his Maker Of which anon § 8. IV. Direct 1. For the avoiding of all this prophaneness in swearing and taking the Name of
satisfaction for our sins and Risen from the dead and conquered death and Satan and is ascended and Glorified in Heaven and that he is the King and Teacher and High Priest of the Church That he hath made a new Covenant of Grace and pardon and offered it in his Scriptures and by his Ministers to the World and that those that are sincere and faithful in this Covenant shall be saved and those that are not shall remedilâ—sly be damned because they reject this Christ and Grace which is the last and only remedy And here open to them the nature of this Covenant that God doth offer to be our Reconciled God and Father and Felicity and Christ to be our Saviour to forgive our sins and reconcile us unto God and renew us by his spirit and the Holy Spirit to be our sanctifier to illuminate and regenerate and confirm us and that all that is required on our part is such an unfeigned consent as will appear in the performance in our serious endeavours Even that we wholly give up our selves to be renewed by the holy spirit to be justified taught and Governed by Christ and by him to be brought again to the Father to Love him as our God and End and to live to him and with him for ever But whereas the temptations of the Devil and the allurements of this deceitful world and the desires of the flesh are the great enemies and hinderances in our way we must also consent to renounce all these and let them go and deny our selves and take up with God alone and what he seeth meet to give us and to take him in Heaven for all our portion And he that consenteth unfeignedly to this Covenant is a member of Christ a justified reconciled Child of God and an heir of Heaven and so continuing shall be saved and he that doth not shall be damned This is the Covenant that in Baptism we solemnly entred into with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as our Father and Felicity our Saviour and our Sanctifier This in some such brief explication you must familiarly open to them again and again § 10. Direct 10. When you have opened the Baptismal Covenant to them and the Essentials of Direct 10. Christianity cause them to learn the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments And tell them the Uses of them that man having three Powers of soul his Understanding his Will and his Obediential or executive power all these must be sanctified and therefore there must be a Rule for each And that accordingly the Creed is the summary Rule to tell us what our Understandings must Believe and the Lords Prayer is the summary Rule to direct us what our wills must desire and our tongues must ask and the Ten Commandments is the summary Râ—le of our Practice And that the Holy Scripture in general is the more large and perfect Rule of all And that all that will be taken for true Christians must have a General implicite Belief of all the Holy Scriptures and a particular explicite Belief Desire and sincere practice according to the Creeds Lords Prayer and ten Commandments § 11. Direct 11. Next teach them a short Catechism by memory which openeth these a little Direct 11. more fully and then a larger Catechism The shorter and larger Catechism of the Assembly are very well fitted to this use I have published a very brief one my self which in eight Articles or Answers containeth all the essential points of Belief and in One Answer the Covenant-consent and in four Articles or Answers more containeth all the substantial parts of Christian duty The answers are some of them long for Children But if I knew of any other that had It is in my 〈…〉 and by it self so much in so few words I would not offer this to you because I am conscious of its imperfections But there are very few Catechisms that differ in the substance Which ever they learn let them as they go have your help to understand it and let them keep it in memory to the last § 12. Direct 12. Next open to them more distinctly the particular part of the Covenant and Catechism Direct 12. And here I think this Method most profitable for a family 1. Read over to them the best expositions that you can get on the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments which are not too large to confound them nor too brief so as to be hardly understood For a summary Mr. Brinsleyes True watch is good but thus to read to them such as Mr. Perkins on the Creed and Dr. King on the Lords Prayer and Dod on the Commandments are fit so that you may read one Article one Petition and one Commandment at a time And read these over to them divers times 2. Besides this in your familiar discourse with them open to them plainly one Head or Article of Religion at a time and another the next time and so on till you come to the end And here 1. Open in one discourse the nature of man and the Creation 2. In another or before it the nature and attributes of God 3. In another the fall of man and especially the Corruption of our nature as it consisteth in an inordinate inclination to earthly and fleshly things and a backwardness or averseness or enmity to God and Holiness and the Life to come and the nature of sin and the impossibility of being saved till this sin be pardoned and these natures renewed and restored to the Love of God and Holiness from this Love of the world and fleshly pleasures 4. In the next discourse open to them the doctrine of Redemption in general and the Incarnation and natures and person of Christ particularly 5. In the next open the Life of Christ his fulfilling the Law and his overcoming the Tempter his humble life and contempt of the world and the end of all and how he is exemplary and imitable unto us 6. In the next open the whole Humiliation and suffering of Christ and the pretenses of his persecutors and the Ends and Uses of his suffering death and burial 7. In the next open his Resurrection the proofs and the Uses of it 8. In the next open his Ascension Glory and Interâ—ession for us and the Uses of all 9. In the next open his Kingly and Prophetical offices in General and his making the Covenant of Grace with man and the nature of that Covenant and its effects 10. In the next open the Works or Office of the Holy Ghost in General as given by Christ to be his Agent in men on earth and his great witness to the world and particularly open the extraordinary gift of the spirit to the Prophets and Apostles to plant the Churches and indite and seal the holy Scripture and shew them the authority and use of the holy Scriptures 11. In the next open to them the ordinary works of the Holy Ghost as the Illuminater Renewer
with the holy Praise of God from day to day As he that is acquainted with all that is in any Book can copiously discourse of it when he that knoweth not what is in it hath little to say of it so he that knoweth God and his works and himself and his sins and wants is acquainted with the best Prayer Book and hath alwayes a full heap of matter before him when ever he cometh to speak to God 3. Let him study the mysterie of mans Redemption and the Person and Office and Covenant and Grace of Christ and he need not want matter for prayer or praise A very Child if he see but a Pedlars pack opened where there are abundance of things which he desireth will learn Rev 3. 17 18. without-book to say O Father buy me this and give me that c. So will the soul that seeth the treasuries and riches of Christ. 4. Let him know the extent of the Law of God and the meaning of the ten Commandments If he know but what sins are forbidden in each Commandment and what duties are required he may find matter enough for Confession and Petition And therefore the view of such a brief Exposition of the Commandments as you may find in Mr. Brinsley's True-Watch and in Dr. Downams and Mr. Whateleys Tables will be a present furniture for such a use especially in dayes of humiliation So it will also to have a particular understanding of the Creed and the Lords Prayer which will furnish you with much matter 5. Study well the Temptations which you carry about you in your flesh and meet with in the world and are suggested by the Tempter and think of the many duties you have to do and the many dangers and sufferings to undergo and you will never be unfurnished for matter for your prayers 6. Observe the daily passages of Providence to your selves and others Mark how things go with your souls every day and hearken how it goeth with the Church of God and mark also how it goeth with your neighbours and sure you will find matter enough for prayer 7. Think of the Heavenly Joyes that you are going to and the Streets of the New Ierusalem will be large enough for faith to walk in 8. For words be acquainted with the phrase of Scripture and you will find provisions for all occasions Read Dr. Wilkins Book called The Gift of Prayer or Mr. Brinsleyes Watch or Mr. El. Par's Abba Father 9. Keep up the heart in a reverend serious lively frame and it will be a continual spring to furnish you with Matter When a dead and barren heart hath a dry and sleepy tongue 10. Ioyn as oft as you can with those that are full and copious in prayer For example and use will be very great helps 11. Quench not the Spirit of God that must assist you 12. In case of necessity use those Books or Forms which are more full than you can be your selves till you come to ability to do better without them Read further the Directions Tom. 1. Chap. 6. Tit. 2. for more § 31. Quest. 31. How should a Christian keep up an ordinary fervency in prayer Quest. 31. How to keep up fervency in prayer Answ. 1. See that knowledge and faith provide you Matter For as the fire will go out if there be not fewell so fervency will decay when you are dry and scarce know what to say or do not well believe what you understand 2. Clog not the body either with overmuch eating and drinking or over-tiring labours For an active body helpeth much the activity of the mind And the holiest person will be able but poorly to exercise his fervency under a dull or languishing body 3. Rush not suddenly upon prayer out of a crowd of other businesses or before your last worldly cares or discourses be washed clean out of your minds In Study and Prayer how certain a truth is it that Non bene fit quod occupato animo fit Hieron Epist. 143. ad Paulin. That work is not well done which is done with a mind that is prepossessed or busied about other matters That mind must be wholly free from all other present thoughts or business that will either Pray or Study well 4. Keep a tender heart and conscience that is not senseless of your own concernments For all your prayers must needs be sleepy if the heart and conscience be once hardned seared or fallen asleep 5. Take more pains with your hearts than with your tongues Remember that the success of your work lyeth most on them Bear not with their sluggishness Do by them as you would do by your Child or Servant that sleepeth by you at prayer You will not let them snort on but jog them till you have awakened them So do by your hearts when you find them dull 6. Live as in the continual presence of God but labour to apprehend his special presence when you are about to speak to him Ask your hearts how they would behave themselves if they saw the Lord or but the lowest of his holy Angels 7. Let faith be called up to see Heaven and Hell as open all the while before you and such a fight will surely keep you serious 8. Keep death and judgement in your continual remembrance and expectation Remember how all your prayers will be lookt back upon Look not for long life Remember that this prayer for ought you know may be your last but certainly you have not long to pray Pray therefore as a dying man should do 9. Study well the unspeakable iâ—cessity of your souls If you prevail not for pardon and grace and preservation you are undone and lost for ever Remember that necessity is upon you and Heaven or Hell are at the end and you are praying for more than a thousand lives 10. Study well the unspeakable excellency of those mercies which you pray for O think how blessed a life it would be if you could know God more and love him more and live a blameless heavenly life and then live with Christ in Heaven for ever Study these mercies till the flames of Love put life into your prayers 11. Study well the exceeding encouragements that you have to Pray and Hope If your Hope decay your fervour will decay Think of the unconceivable Love of God the astonishing mercy shewed to you in your Redeemer and in the helps of the Holy Spirit and how Christ is now interceding for you Think of these till faith make glad your heart And in this gladness let Praise and thanksgiving have ordinarily no small share in your prayers for it will tire out the heart to be alwayes poreing on its own distempers and discourage it to look on nothing but its infirmities And then a sad discouraged temper will not be so lively a temper as a thankful praiseful joyful temper is For Laetitia loquax res est atque ostentatrix sui Gladness is a very expressive thing and apt to shew
it self But tristes non eloquentes Symmach Epist. 31. l. 1. ad Aâ—so â— sunt maxime si ad aegritudinem animi accedat corporis aegritudo Hieron Epist. 31. ad Theoph. Alexand. Sad men are seldome eloquent especially if the body be sick as well as the mind 12. Let the Image of a Praying and a bleeding Christ and of his praying Saints be not on a wall before your eyes but engraven on your minds Is it not desirable to be conformed to them Had they more need to pray importunately than you 13. Be very cautelous in the use of forms lest you grow dull and customary and before you are aware your tongues use to go without your hearts The heart is apt to take its ease when it feeleth not some urgent instigation And though the presence of God should serve turn without the regard of man yet with imperfect men the heart is best held to its duty when both concurr And therefore most are more cautelous of their words than of their thoughts As children will learn their Lesson better when they know their Masters will hear them it than when they think he will not Now in the use of a form of Prayer a sleepy heart is not at all discerned by man but by God only For the words are all brought to your hand and may be said by the most dull and careless mind But when you are put to express your own desire without such helps you are necessitated to be so mindful of what you do as to form your desires into apt expressions or else your dulness or inattentiveness will be observed even by men and you will be like one that hath his Coach or Horse or Crutches taken off him that if he have legs must use them or else lye still And to them that are able it is often a great benefit to be necessitated to use the ability they have Though to others it is a loss to be deprived of their helps See Mr. Mayo's Directions on this â—aâ—e I speak not this against the lawfulness of a form of prayer but to warn you of the temptations which are in that way 14. Joyn oft with the most serious servent Christians For their servour will help your hearts to burn and carry you along with them 15. Destroy not fervency by adulterating it and turning it into an affected earnestness of speech and lowdness of voice when it is but an hypocritical cover for a frozen empty heart § 32. Quest. 32. May we look to speed ever the better for any thing in our selves or in our prayers Quest. 32. Is not that to trust in them when we should trust on Christ alone Answ. We must not trust in them for any thing that is Christs part and not theirs But for their own part it is a duty to trust in them however quarrelsome persons may abuse or cavil at the words And he that distrusteth Prayer in that which is its proper office will pray to little purpose And he that thinks that faithful servent importunate understanding prayer is no more effectual with God for mercy than the babling of the hypocrite or the ignorant careless unbelieving sleepy prayers of the negligent will either not care how he prayeth or whether he prayeth at all or not Though our persons and prayers have nothing that is meritorious with God in point of Commutative Iustice nor as is co-ordinate with the merits of Christ yet have they conditions without which God will not accept them and are meritorious in subordination to the Merit of Christ in point of paternal Governing Iustice according to the Covenant of Grace as an obedient child deserveth more Love See my Consession of this at large and Praise and Reward from his Father than the disobedient as the antient Fathers commonly used the word Merit § 33. Quest. 33. How must that person and prayer be qualified that shall be accepted of God Quest. 33. Answ. There are several degrees of Gods acceptance I. That which is but from common grace may be accepted as better than none at all II. That which hath a promise of some success especially as to pardon and salvation must be 1. From a penitent believing holy person 2. It must proceed from true Desire and be sincere and have renewed faith and repentance in some measure 3. It must be put up in confidence on the merit and intercession of Christ. 4. It must be only for things lawful 5. And to a lawful end III. That which is extraordinarily accepted and successful must be extraordinary in all these respects in the persons holiness and in renewed faith and fervent importunity and holy Love Tit. 3. Special Directions for Family-Prayer § 1. Direct 1. LEt it be done rather by the Master of the family himself than any other if Direct 1. he be competently able though others be more able But if be be utterly unfit let it rather be done by another than not at all And by such a one as is most acceptable to the rest and like to do most good § 2. Direct 2. Let prayer be suited to the case of those that joyn in it and to the condition of the Direct 2. family And not a few general words spoken by rote that serve all times and persons alike § 3. Direct 3. Let it neither be so short as to end before their hearts can be warm and their wants Direct 3. expressed as if you had an unwilling task to slubber over and would fain have done nor yet so tedious as to make it an ungrateful burden to the family § 4. Direct 4. Let not the coldness and dulness of the speaker rock the family sleep But keep Direct 4. waken your own heart that you may keep the rest awake and force them to attention § 5. Direct 5. Pray at such hours as the family may be least distracted sleepy tired or out of Direct 5. the way § 6. Direct 6. Let other duties concurr as oft as may be to assist in prayer as Reading and Direct 6. Singing Psalms § 7. Direct 7. Do all with the greatest reverence of God that possibly you can Not seeming Direct 7. Reverence but Real that so more of God than of Man may appear in every word you speak § 8. Direct 8. The more the bearers are concerned in it the more regard you must have to the Direct 8. fitness of your expressions For before others words must be regarded lest they be scandalized and God and Prayer be dishonoured And if you cannot do it competently without use a well composed form § 9. Direct 9. Let not family Prayer be used at the time of publick prayer in the Church nor Direct 9. preferred before it but prefer publick prayer though the manner were more imperfect than your own § 10. Direct 10. Teach your Children and Servants how to pray themselves that they may not Direct 10. be prayerless when they come
confirm some confederacies or oaths of secresie for rebellions or other unlawful designes as the Powder-plotters in England did § 5. 4. Nor is it any other than impious prophanation of these sacred Mysteries for the Priest to constrain or suffer notoriously ignorant and ungodly persons to receive them either to make themselves Non absque probatione examine paâ—em ilâ—un praebendum esse neque nâ—vâ—s nâ—que vâ—â—er bus Chrianâ—s Quod siquis est fornâ—â—a ' oâ— aâ—t ebriosus aut idoâ—is serviens cum ejusmodi etiam communem cibum capere vetat Aposlo'us nedum coelesti mensa communicare saith a Iesâ—itâ— Acosta l. 6. 10. And after Neque enim ubi perspecta est superstitionis antiquae aut ebâ—iositatis aut foedae consuetudâ—â—â—â—s maculâ— â—d â—ltare Indus debet admitti nisi contraria opera illam manifeste diligenter eluerit Christianis concedatur sed non-Christianâ— dignis morâ—buâ— subâ—â—aâ—atur p. 549. believe that they are indeed the Children of God or to be a means which ungodly men should use to make them godly or which infidels or impenitent persons must use to help them to Repentance and faith in Christ. For though there is that in it which may become a means of their conversion as a Thief that stealeth a Bible or Sermon Book may be converted by it yet is it not to be used by the receiver to that end For that were to tell God a lye as the means of their Conversion For whosoever cometh to receive a sealed pardon doth thereby profess repentance as also by the words adjoyned he must do and whosoever Taketh and Eateth and drinketh the bread and wine doth actually profess thereby that he Taketh and applyeth Christ himself by faith And therefore if he do neither of these he lyeth openly to God And lies and false Covenants are not the appointed means of Conversion Not that the Minister is a lyar in his delivery of it For he doth but conditionally seal and deliver Gods Covenant and benefits to the Receiver to be his If he truly Repent and Believe But the Reciever himself lyeth if he do not actually Repent and Believe as he there professeth to do § 6. 5. Also it is an impious prophanation of the Sacrament if any Priest for the love of filthy lucre shall give it to those that ought not to receive it that he may have his fees or offerings or that the Priest may have so much money that is bequeathed for saying a Mass for such or such a soul. § 7. 6. And it is an odious prophanation of the sacrament to use it as a League or bond of faction to gather persons in to the Party and tye them fast to it that they may depend upon the Priest and his faction and interest may thereby be strengthened and he may seem to have many followers § 8. 7. And it is a dangerous abuse of it to receive it that you may be pardoned or sanctified or saved barely by the work done or by the outward exercise alone As if God were there obliged to give you grace while you strive not with your own hearts to stir them up to Love or desire or faith or obedience by the means that are before you Or as if God would pardon and save you for eating so much bread and drinking so much wine when the Canon biddeth you Or as if the Sacrament conveyed grace like as Charmes are supposed to work by saying over so many words § 9. 8. Lastly It is no appointed end of this Sacrament that the Receiver thereby profess himself certain of the sincerity of his own Repentance and faith For it is not managed on the ground of such certainty only by the Receiver much less by the Minister that delivereth it But only he professeth that as far as he can discern by observing his own heart he is truly willing to have Christ and his benefits on the terms that they are offered and that he doth consent to the Covenant which he is there to renew Think not therefore that the Sacrament is instituted for any of these mistaken ends § 10. Direct 2. Distinctly understand the parts of the Sacrament that you may distinctly use them Direct 2. and not do you know not what This Sacrament containeth these three parts 1. The Consecration Q. What are the parts of the Sacrament of the Bread and Wine which maketh it the Representative Body and Blood of Christ. 2. The Representation and Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ. 3. The Communion or Communication by Christ and Reception by the people § 11. I. In the Consecration the Church doth first offer the creatures of Bread and Wine to be accepted of God to this Sacred Use And God accepteth them and blesseth them to this use which he signifieth both by the words of his own Institution and by the Action of his Ministers and their Benediction They being the Agents of God to the people in this Accepting and Blessing as they are the Agents of the people to God in Offering or Dedicating the creatures to this use § 12. This Consecration having a special respect to God the Father in it we acknowledge his three grand Relations 1. That he is the Creator and so the Owner of all the Creatures for we offer them to him as his own 2. That he is our Righteous Governour whose Law it was that Adam and we have broken and who required satisfaction and hath received the sacrifice and attonement and hath dispensed with the strict and proper execution of that Law and will rule us hereafter by the Law of Grace 3. That he is our Father or Benefactor who hath freely given us a Redeemer and the Covenant of grace whose Love and favour we have forfeited by sin but desire and hope to be Reconciled by Christ. § 13. As Christ himself was Incarnate and true Christ before he was sacrificed to God and was sacrificed to God before that sacrifice be communicated for life and nourishment to souls so in the Sacrament Consecration must first make the Creature to be the flesh and blood of Christ representative and then the sacrificing of that flesh and blood must be represented and commemorated and then the sacrificed flesh and blood communicated to the Receivers for their spiritual life § 14. II. The Commemoration chiefly but not only respecteth God the Son For he hath ordained that these consecrated Representations should in their manner and measure supply the room of his Bodily presence while his body is in Heaven and that thus as it were in effigie in representation he might be still Crucified before the Churches eyes and they might be affected as if they had seen him on the Cross. And that by faith and Prayer they might as it were offer him up to God that is might shew the Father that Sacrifice once made for sin in which they trust and for which it is that they expect all the acceptance of their persons with God
and hope for audience when they beg for mercy and offer up prayer or praises to him § 15. III. In the Communication though the Sacrament have respect to the Father as the Joh. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 12. 12 â—3 1 Cor. 15 45. Gal. 3. 14. 4. 6. Eph. 2. 22. principal Giver and to the Son as both the Gift and Giver yet hath it a special respect to the Holy Ghost as being that spirit given in the flesh and blood which quickeneth souls without which the flesh will profit nothing And whose Operations must convey and apply Christs saving benefits to us Ioh. 6. 63. 7. 39. § 16. These three being the parts of the Sacrament in whole as comprehending that sacred Action and participation which is essential to it The material Parts called the Relate and correlate are 1. Substantial and Qualitative 2. Active and passive 1. The first are the Bread and Wine as signs and the Body and Blood of Christ with his graces and benefits as the things signified and given The second are the Actions of Breaking Pouring out and Delivering on the Ministers part after the Consecration and the Taking Eating and Drinking by the Receivers as the sign And the thing signified is the Crucifying or Sacrificing of Christ and the Delivering himself with his benefits to the believer and the Receivers thankful Accepting and using the said gift To these add the Relative form and the ends and you have the definition of this Sacrament Of which see more in my Univers Concord p. 46 c. § 17. Direct 3. Look upon the Minister as the Agent or Officer of Christ who is commissioned by Direct 3. him to seal and deliver to you the Covenant and its benefits And take the Bread and Wine as if you heard Christ himself saying to you Take my Body and Blood and the pardon and Grace which is thereby purchased It is a great â—â—â—â—p in the application to have Mercy and pardon brought us by the hand of a commissioned Officer of Christ. § 18. Direct 4. In your preparation before hand take heed of these two extreams 1. That you Direct 4. come not prophanely and carelesly with common hearts as to a common work For God will be sanctified in them that draw near him Lev. 10. 3. And they that eat and drink unworthily not discerning the Lords Body from common bread but eating as if it were a common meal do eat death to Quinam auteâ—â— indigâ—i ineptive sint quibus Angelorum panis praebeatur sacerdoâ—um ipsoâ—um audâ—ta confessione â—aeâ—erisque perspectis judicium esto Acosta â— 6. c. 10. p. 549. themselves instead of life 2. Take heed lest your mistakes of the nature of this Sacrament should possess you with such fears of unworthy receiving and the following dangers as may quite discompose and unfit your souls for the joyful exercises of faith and Love and Praise and Thanksgiving to which you are invited Many that are scrupulous of Receiving it in any save a feasting gesture are too little careful and scrupulous of Receiving it in any save a feasting frame of mind The first extream is caused by Prophaneness and negligence or by gross ignorance of the nature of the Sacramental work The later extream is frequently caused as followeth 1. By setting this Sacrament at a greater distance from other parts of Gods worship than there is cause so that the excess of Reverence doth overwhelm the minds of some with terrours 2. By studying more the terrible words of eating and drinking damnation to themselves if they do it unworthily than all the expressions of Love and mercy which that blessed feast is furnished with So that when the Views of infinite Love should ravish them they are studying wrath and vengeance to terrifie them as if they came to Moses and not to Christ. 3. By not understanding what maketh a Receiver worthy or unworthy but taking their unwilling infirmities for condemning unworthiness 4. By Receiving it so seldom as to make it strange to them and increase their fear whereas if it were administred every Lords day as it was in the Primitive Churches it would better acquaint them with it and cure that fear that cometh from strangeness 5. By imagining that none that want Assurance of their own sincerity can receive in faith 6. By contracting an ill habit of mistaken Religiousness placeing it all in poâ—ing on themselves and mourning for their corruptions and not in studying the Love of God in Christ and living in the daily Praises of his name and joyful Thanksgiving for his exceeding mercies 7. And if besides all these the Body contract a weak or timerous melancholy distemper it will leave the mind capable of almost nothing but fear and trouble even in the sweetest works From many such causes it cometh to pass that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is become more terrible and uncomfortable to abundance of such distempered Christians than any other ordinance of God And that which should most comfort them doth trouble them most § 19. Quest. 1. But is not this Sacrament more holy and dreadful and should it not have more preparation Quest. 1. than other parts of worship Answ. For the degree indeed it should have very careful preparation And we cannot well compare it with other parts of worship as Praise Thanksgiving Covenanting with God Prayer c. because that all these other parts are here comprized and performed But doubtless God must also be sanctified in all his other worship and his name must not be taken in vain And when this Sacrament was received every Lords day and often in the week besides Christians were supposed to live continually in a state of general preparation and not to be so far from a due particular preparation as many poor Christians think they are § 20. Quest. 2. How often should the Sacrament be now administred that it neither grow into contempt Quest. 2. or strangeness Answ. Ordinarily in well disciplined Churches it should be still every Lords day For 1. We have no reason to prove that the Apostles example and appointment in this case was proper to those times any more than that Praise and Thanksgiving daily is proper to them And we may as well deny the obligation of other institutions or Apostolical orders as that 2. It is a part of the seâ—led order for the Lords days worship And omitting it maimeth and altereth the worship of the day and occasioneth the omission of the Thansgiving and Praise and lively commemorations of Christ which should be then most performed And so Christians by use grow habited to sadness and a mourning melancholy Religion and grow unacquainted with much of the worship and spirit of the Gospel 3. Hereby the Papists lamentable corruptions of this ordinance have grown up even by an excess of reverence and fear which seldom receiving doth increase till they are come to Worship Bread as their God 4. By seldom communicating men are
seduced to think all proper Communion of Churches lyeth in that Sacrament and to be more prophanely bold in abusing many other parts of worship 5. There are better means by Teaching and Discipline to keep the Sacrament from contempt than the omitting or displacing of it 6. Every Lords Day is no ofter then Christians need it 7. The frequency will teach them to Live prepared and not only to make much ado once a Moneth or Quarter when the same work is neglected all the year beside Even as one that liveth in continual expectation of death will live in continual preparation when he that expecteth it but in some grievous sickness will then be frightned into some seeming preparations which are not the habit of his soul but laid by again when the disease is over 2. But yet I must add that in some undisciplin'd Churches and upon some occasions it may be longer omitted or seldomer used No duty is a duty at all times And therefore extraordinary cases may raise such impediments as may hinder us a long time from this and many other priviledges But the ordinary faultiness of our imperfect hearts that are apt to grow customary and dull is no good reason why it should be seldome Any more than why other special duties of Worship and Church-communion should be seldome Read well the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians and you will find that they were then as bad as the true Christians â—â—e now and that even in this Sacrament they were very culpable and yet Paul seeketh not to cure them by their seldomer communicating § 21. Quest. 3. Are all the members of the visible Church to be admitted to this Sacrament or Quest. 3. communicate Answ. All are not to seek it or to take it because many may know their own unfitness when the Church or Pastors know it not But all that come and seek it are to be admitted by the Pastors except such Children Ideots ignorant persons or Hereticks as know not what they are to receive and do and such as are notoriously wicked or scandalous and have not manifested their repentance But then it is presupposed that none should be numbered with the adult members of the Church but those that have personally owned their Baptismal Covenant by a Credible Profession of true Christianity § 22. Quest. 4. May a man that hath knowledge and civility and common gifts come and Quest. 4. take this Sacrament if he know that he is yet void of true Repentance and other saving Grace Answ. No For he then knoweth himself to be one that is uncapable of it in his present state § 23. Quest. 5. May an ungodly man receive this Sacrament who knoweth not himself to be Quest. 5. ungodly Answ. No For he ought to know it and his sinful ignorance of his own condition will not make his sin to be his duty nor excuse his other faults before God § 24. Quest. 6. Must a sincere Christian receive that is uncertain of his sincerity and in continual Quest. 6. doubting Answ. Two preparations are necessary to this Sacrament The general preparation which is a state of grace and this the doubting Christian hath And the particular preparation which consisteth in his present actual fitness And all the question is of this And to know this you must further distinguish between Immediate duty and more Remote and between the degrees of doubtfulness in Christians 1. The nearest immediate duty of the doubting Christian is to use the means to have his doubts resolved till he know his case and then his next duty is to receive the Sacrament And both these still remain his duty to be performed in this order And if he say I cannot be resolved when I have done my best yet certainly it is some sin of his own that keepeth him in the dark and hindereth his assurance and therefore Duty ceaseth not to be duty the Law of Christ still obligeth him both to get assurance and to receive and the want both of the knowledge of his state and of Receiving the Sacrament are his continual sin if he lye in it never so long through these scruples though it be an infirmity that God will not condemn him for For he is supposed to be in a state of grace But you will say What is still he cannot be resolved whether he have true faith and Repentance or not What should he do while he is in doubt I answer It is one thing to ask what is his duty in this case and another thing to ask Which is the smaller or less dangerous sin Still his duty is both to get the knowledge of his heart and to communicate But while he sinneth through infirmity in failing of the first were he better also omit the other or not To be well resolved of that you must discern 1. Whether his judgement of himself do rather incline to think and hope that he is sincere in his repentance and faith or that he is not 2. And whether the consequents are like to be good or bad to him If his hopes that he is sincere be as great or greater than his fears of the contrary then there is no such ill consequent to be feared as may hinder his communicating but it is his best way to do it and wait on God in the use of his Ordinance But if the perswasion of his gracelesness be greater than the hopes of his sincerity then he must observe how he is like to be affected if he do communicate If he find that it is like to clear up his mind and increase his hopes by the actuating of his grace he is yet best to go But if he find that his heart is like to be overwhelmed with horror and sunk into despair by running into the supposed guilt of unworthy Receiving then it will be worse to do it than to omit it Many such fearful Christians I have known that are fain many years to absent themselves from the Sacrament because if they should receive it while they are perswaded of their utter unworthiness they would be swallowed up of desperation and think that they had taken their own damnation As the twenty fifth Article of the Church of England saith the unworthy receivers do So that the chief sin of such a Doubting Receiver is not that he receiveth though he doubt for doubting will not excuse us for the sinful omission of a duty no more of this than of Prayer or Thanksgiving But only Prudence requireth such a one to forbear that which through his own distemper would be a means of his despair and ruine As that Physick or food how good soever is not to be taken which would kill the taker Gods Ordinances are not appointed for our destruction but for our edification and so must be used as tendeth thereunto Yet to those Christians who are in this case and dare not communicate I must put this Question How dare you so long refuse it He that
that you must there exercise II. What there is objectively presented before you in the Sacrament to exercise all these Graces III. At what seasons in the administration each of these inward works are to be done § 47. I. The Graces to be exercised are these besides that holy fear and reverence common to all Worship 1. A humble sense of the odiousness of sin and of our undone condition as in our selves and a displeasure against our selves and loathing of our selves and melting Repentance for the sins we have committed as against our Creator and as against the Love and Mercy of a Redeemer and against the holy Spirit of Grace 2. A hungring and thirsting desire after the Lord Jesus and his Grace and the favour of God and communion with him which are there represented and offered to the soul. 3. A lively faith in our Redeemer his death resurrection and intercession and a trusting our miserable souls upon him as our sufficient Saviour and help And a hearty Acceptance of him and his benefits upon his offered terms 4. A Ioy and gladness in the sense of that unspeakable mercy which is here offered us 5. A Thankful heart towards him from whom we do receive it 6. A fervent Love to him that by such Love doth seek our Love 7. A triumphant Hope of life eternal which is purchased for us and sealed to us 8. A willingness and resolution to deny our selves and all this world and suffer for him that hath suffered for our Redemption 9. A Love to our Brethren our neighbours and our enemies with a readiness to relieve them and to forgive them when they do us wrong 10. And a firm Resolution for future obedience to our Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier according to our Covenant § 48. II. In the naming of these Graces I have named their Objects which you should observe as distinctly as you can that they may be operative 1. To help your Humiliation and Repentance you bring thither a loaden miserable soul to receive a pardon and relief And you see before you the sacrificed Son of God who made his soul an offering for sin and became a Curse for us to save us who were accursed 2. To draw out your Desires you have the most excellent gifts and the most needful mercies presented to you that this world is capable of Even the Pardon of sin the Love of God the Spirit of Grace and the hopes of Glory and Christ himself with whom all this is given 3. To exercise your Faith you have Christ here first represented as crucified before your eyes and then with his benefits freely given you and offered to your Acceptance with a Command that you refuse him not 4. To exercise your Delight and Gladness you have this Saviour and this Salvation tendered to you and all that your souls can well desire set before you 5. To exercise your Thankfulness what could do more than so great a Gift so dearly purchased so surely sealed and so freely offered 6. To exercise your Love to God in Christ you have the fullest manifestation of his attractive Love even offered to your eyes and taste and heart that a soul on earth can reasonably expect in such wonderful condescension that the greatness and strangeness of it surpasseth a natural mans belief 7. To exercise your Hopes of Life Eternal you have the price of it here set before you you have the Gift of it here sealed to you and you have that Saviour represented to you in his suffering who is now there reigning that you may remember him as expectants of his Glorious Coming to judge the world and glorifie you with himself 8. To exercise your self-denyal and resolution for suffering and contempt of the world and fleshly pleasures you have before you both the greatest Example and Obligation that ever could be offered to the world when you see and receive a Crucified Christ that so strangely denyed himself for you and set so little by the world and flesh 9. To exercise your Love to Brethren yea and enemies you have his example before your eyes that Loved you to the death when you were enemies And you have his holy servants before your eyes who are amiable in him through the workings of his Spirit and on whom he will have you shew your Love to himself 10. And to excite your Resolution for future Obedience you see his double Title to the Government of you as Creator and as Redeemer and you feel the obligations of Mercy and Gratitude and you are to renew a Covenant with him to that end even openly where all the Church are witnesses So that you see here are powerful objects before you to draw out all these Graces and that they are all but such as the work requireth you then to exercise § 49. III. But that you may be the readier when it cometh to practice I shall as it were lead you by the hand through all the parts of the administration and tell you when and how to exercise every grace and those that are to be joyned together I shall take together that needless distinctness do not trouble you 1. When you are called up and going to the Table of the Lord exercise your Humility Desire and Thankfulness and say in your hearts What Lord dost thou call such a wretch as I What! me that have so oft despised thy mercy and wilfully offended thee and preferred the filth of this world and the pleasures of the flesh before thee Alas it is thy wrath in Hell that is my due But if Love will choose such an unworthy guest and Mercy will be honoured upon such sin and misery I come Lord at thy call I gladly come Let thy will be done and let that mercy which inviteth me make me acceptable and gratiously entertain me and let me not come without the wedding garment nor unreverently rush on holy things nor turn thy mercies to my bane § 50. 2. When the Minister is confessing sin prostrate your very souls in the sense of your unworthiness and let your particular sins be in your eye with their heinous aggravations The whole need not the Physicion but the sick But here I need not put words into your mouths or minds because the Minister goeth before you and your hearts must concurr with his Confessions and put in also the secret sins which he omitteth § 51. 3. When you look on the Bread and Wine which is provided and offered for this holy use remember that it is the Creator of all things on whom you live whose Laws you did offend and say in your hearts O Lord how great is my offence who have broken the Laws of him that made me and on whom the whole Creation doth depend I had my Being from thee and my daily bread and should I have requited thee with disobedience Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son § 52. 4. When the
of soul and Body have special need of help and counsel As 1. The Doubting troubled Christian. 2. The Declining or Backsliding Christian 3. The See Tom. 1. Ch. 7. Tit. 10. Of despair Poor 4. The Aged 5. The Sick 6. And those that are about the sick and dying Though these might seem to belong rather to the first Tome yet because I would have those Directions lye here together which the several sorts of persons in Families most need I have chosen to reserve them rather to this place The special duties of the Strong the Rich and the Youthful and Healthful I omi◠because I find the Book grow big and you may gather them from what is said before on several such subjects And the Directions which I shall first give to doubting Christians shall be but a few brief memorials because I have done that work already in my Directions or Method for Peace of Conscience and spiritual comfort And much is here said before in the Directions against Melancholy ☞ and Despair § 2. Direct 1. Find out the special cause of your doubts and troubles and bend most of your endeavours Direct 1. to remove that cause The same Cure will not serve for every doubting soul no nor for every one that hath the very same doubts For the Causes may be various though the doubts should be the same and the doubts will be continued while the cause remaineth § 3. 1. In some persons the chief cause is a timerous weak and passionate temper of body and mind which in some especially of the weaker Sex is so Natural a disease that there is no hope of a total cure Though yet we must direct and support such as well as we are able These persons have so weak a Head and such powerful passions that Passion is their life and according to Passion they judge of themselves and of all their duties They are ordinarily very high or very low full of joy or sinking in despair But usually Fear is their predominant Passion And what an enemy to quietness and peace strong fears are is easily observed in all that have them Assuring evidence will not quiet such fearful minds nor any Reason satisfie them The Directions for these persons must be the same which I have before given against Melancholy and Despair Especially that the Preaching and Books and means which they make use of be rather such as tend to inform the judgement and settle the will and guide the Life than such as by the greatest servency tend to awaken them to such passions or affections which they are unable to manage § 4. 2. With others the Cause of their Troubles is Melancholy which I have long observed to be the commonest cause with those godly people that remain in long and grievous doubts Where this is the cause till it be removed other remedies do but little But o◠this I have spoken at large before § 5. 3. In others the Cause is a habit of discontent and pievishness and impatiency because of some wants or crosses in the world Because they have not what they would have their Minds grow ulcerated like a Body that is sick or sore that carryeth about with them the pain and smart And they are still complaining of the pain which they feel but not of that which maketh the sore and causeth the pain The cure of these is either in Pleasing them that they may have their will in all things as you rock children and give them that which they cry for to quiet them 〈…〉 or rather to help to cure their impatiency and settle their minds against their childish sinful discontents of which before § 6. 4. In others the Cause is errour or great ignorance about the tenour of the Covenant of Grace and the Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ and the work of Sanctification and evidences thereof They know not on what terms Christ dealeth with sinners in the pardoning of sin nor what are the infallible signes of Sanctification It is sound Teaching and diligent learning that must be the cure of these § 7. 5. In others the cause is a careless life or frequent sinning and keeping the wounds of Conscience still bleeding They are still fretting the sore and will not suffer it to skin either they live in railing and contention or malice or some secret lust or fraud or some way stretch and wrong their Consciences And God will not give his peace and comfort to them till they reform It is a mercy that they are disquieted and not given over to a seared Conscience which is past feeling § 8. 6. In others the Cause of their doubts is Placing their Religion too much in humiliation and in a continual poreing on their hearts and overlooking or neglecting the high and chiefest parts of Religion even the daily studies of the Love of God and the riches of Grace in Iesus Christ and hereby stirring up the soul to Love and Delight in God When they make this more of their Religion and business it will bring their souls into a sweeter relish § 9. 7. In others the Cause is such weakness of parts and confusion of thoughts and darkness of mind that they are not able to examine themselves nor to know what is in them When they ask themselves any question about their Repentance or Love to God or any grace they are fain to answer like strangers and say they cannot tell whether they do it or not These persons must make more use than others of the judgement of some able faithful guide § 10. 8. But of all others the commonest cause of uncertainty is the weakness or littleness of Grace When it is so little as to be next to none at all no wonder if it be hardly and seldome discerned Therefore § 11. Direct 2. Be not neglecters of self-examination but labour for skill to manage aright so Direct 2. great a work But yet let your care and diligence be much greater to get grace and use it and increase it than to try whether you have it already or not For in examination when you have once taken a right course to be resolved and yet are in doubt as much as before your over-much poreing upon these trying questions will do you but little good and make you but little the better but the time and labour may be almost lost whereas all the labour which you bestow in Getting and Using and Increasing grace is bestowed profitably to good purpose and tendeth first to your safety and salvation and next that to your easier certainty and comfort There is no such way in the world to be certain that you have grace as to get so much as is easily discerned and will shew it self and to exercise it much that it may come forth into observation When you have a strong Belief you will easily be sure that you believe When you have a fervent Love to Christ and Holiness and to the word and wayes and servants
of God you will easily be assured that you love them When you strongly hate sin and live in universal constant obedience you will easily discern your Repentance and obedience But weak grace will have but weak assurance and little consolation § 12. Direct 3. Set your selves with all your skill and diligence to destroy every sin of heart Direct 3. and life and make it your principal eare and business to do your duty and please and honour God in your place and to do all the good you can in the world and trust God with your souls as long as you wait upon him in his way If you live in wilful sin and negligence be not unwilling to be reproved and delivered If you cherish your sensual fleshly lusts and set your hearts too eagerly on the world or defend your unpeaceableness and passion or neglect your known duty to God or man and make no Conscience of a true reformation it is not any enquiries after signes of grace that will help you to assurance You may complain long enough before you have case while such a thorn is in your foot Conscience must be better used before it will speak a word of sound well grounded peace to you But when you set your selves with all your care and skill to do your Duties and please your Lord he will not let your labour be in vain He will take care of your peace and comfort while you take care of your duty And in this way you may boldly trust him Only think not hardly and falsly of the Goodness of that God whom you study to serve and please § 13. Direct 4. Be sure whatever condition you are in that you understand and hold fast and Direct 4. improve the General grounds of Comfort which are common to mankind so far as they are made known to them and they are three which are the Foundation of all our comfort 1. The Goodness and Mercifulness of God in his very Nature 2. The sufficiency of the satisfaction or sacrifice of Christ. 3. The universality and freeness and sureness of the Covenant or promise of pardon and salvation to all that by final impenitence and unbelief do not continue obstinately to reject it or to all that unfeignedly Repent and Believe 1. Think not meanly and poorly of the infinite Goodness of God Psal. 103 8 11 17. 89. 2. 86. 5 15. 25. 10. 119. 64. 138. 8. 1â—6 5. Even to Moses he proclaimeth his name at the second delivery of the Law The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. His mercy is over all his works It is great and reacheth to the Heavens It is firm and endureth for ever And he hath pleasure in those that hope in his mercy Psal. 147. 11. 100. 5. 33. 18. 57. 10. 108. 4. 2. Extenuate not the Merits and Sacrifice of Christ but know that never man was damned for want of a Christ to dye and be a sacrifice for his sin but only for want of Repentance and faith in him Ioh. 3. 16. 3. Deny not the universality of the conditional promise of pardon and salvation to all that it is offered to and will accept it on the offerers terms And if you do but feel these three foundations firm and stedfast under you it will encourage every willing soul. The Love of God was the cause of our Redemption by Christ Redemption was the foundation of the Promise or new Covenant And he that buildeth on this threefold foundation is safe § 14. Direct 5. When you come to try your particular Title to the blessings of the Covenant be Direct 5. sure that you well understand the condition of the Covenant and look for the performance of that condition in your selves as the infallible Evidence of your title And know that the condition is nothing but an unfeigned Consent unto the Covenant Or such a Belief of the Gospel as makeeth you truly willing of all the mercies offered in the Gospel and of the Duties required in order to those mercies And That nothing depriveth any man that heareth the Gospel of Christ and pardon and salvation but obstinate unwillingness or refusal of the mercy and the necessary annexed duties Understand this well and then peruse the Covenant of Grace which is but to take God for your God and Happiness your Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier and then ask your hearts whether here be any thing that you are unwilling of and unwilling of in a prevailing degree when it is greater than your willingness And if truly you are willing to be in Covenant with your God and Saviour and Sanctifier upon these terms know that your Consent or Willingness or Acceptance of the mercy offered you is your true performance of the Condition of your title and consequently the infallible evidence of your title even as Marriage Consent is a title-condition to the person and priviledges And therefore if you find this your doubts are answered You have found as good an evidence as Scripture doth acquaint us with And if this will not quiet and satisfie you you understand not the business nor is it Reason or Evidence that can satisfie you till you are better prepared to understand them But if really you are unwilling and will not consent to the terms of the Covenant then instead of doubting be past doubt that you are yet unsanctified And your work is presently to consider better of the terms and benefits and of those unreasonable reasons that make you unwilling till you see that your happiness lyeth upon the business and that you have all the reason in the world to make you willing and no true Reason for the withholding of your Consent And when the light of these considerations hath prevailed for your Consent the match is made and your Evidence is sure § 15. Direct 6. Iudge not of your hearts and Evidences upon every sudden glance or feeling Direct 6. but upon a sober deliberate examination when your minds are in a clear composed frame And as then you find your selves record the judgement or discovery and believe not every sudden inconsiderate appearance or passionate fear against that Record Otherwise you will never be quiet or resolved but carryed up and down by present sense The case is weighty and not to be decided by a sudden aspect nor by a scattered or a discomposed mind If you call your unprovided or your distempered understandings suddenly to so great a work no wonder if you are deceived You must not judge of colours when your eye is blood-shotten or when you look through a coloured Glass or when the object is far off It is like casting up a long and difficult account which must be done deliberately as a work of time and when it is so done and the summs
experiences thou wilt be very hardly kept from desperation Thou wilt read such passages as Heb. 6 4 5 6. and Heb. 10. 26 27 28 29. with so much horrour that thou wilt hardly be perswaded that there is any hope Thou wilt be ready to think that thou hast sinned against the Holy Ghost and that thou hast trampled underfoot the blood of the Covenant and done despite to the spirit of grace And thou wilt think that there is no being twice born again Or if thou be restored to Life thou wilt hardly ever be restored to thy comforts here if thy backsliding should be very great But indeed the danger is exceeding great lest thou never be recovered at all if once thou be twice dead and pluckt up by the roots Jud. 6. and lest God do finally forsake thee And then how desperate will be thy case § 35. 16. Is it not the example of Backsliders very terrible which God hath set up for the warning of his servants as monuments of his wrath Luk. 17. 32. Remember Lot's Wife saith Christ to them that are about to lose their estates or goods or lives by saving them How frightful is the remembrance of a Cain a Iudas a Saul a Ioas 2 Chron. 24. 2. a Iulian How sad is it to hear but such a one as Spira especially at his death crying out of his backsliding in the horrour of his soul and to see such ready to make away themselves § 36. 17. Consider that there is none that so much dishonoureth God as a Backslider Others are supposed to sin in ignorance But you do by your lives as bad as speak such blaspheamy as this against the Lord As if you should say I thought once that God had been the best Master and his servants the wisest and happiest men and Godliness the best and safest life but now I have tryed both and I find by experience that the Devil is a better master and his servants are the happiest men and the world and the flesh do give the truest contentment to the mind This is the plain blaspheamy of your lives And bethink thee how God should bear with this § 37. 18. There is none that so much hardeneth the wicked in his sin and furthereth the damnation of souls as the Backslider If you would but drive your Sheep or Cattle into a house those that go in first do draw the rest after them but those that run out again make all the rest afraid and run away One apostate that hath been noted for Religion and afterwards turneth off again doth discourage many that would come in For he doth as it were say to them by his practice Keep off and meddle not with a Religious life for I have tryed it and found that a life of worldliness and fleshliness is better And people will think with themselves Such a man hath tryed a Religious life and he hath forsaken it again and therefore he had some reason for it and knew what he did Woe to the world because of offences and woe to him by whom the offence shall come â—â—k 17. 1. Mat. 18. 7. How dreadful a thing is it think that mens souls should lie in Hell and you be the cause of it It were good for that man that a milstone were hanged about his neck and be were drowned in the depth of the Sea Matth. 18. 6 7. Luk. 17. 2. § 38. 19. There is none that are so great a terrour to weak Christians as these Backsliders For they are thinking how far such went before they fell away And those that think that true grace may be lâ—st are saying Alas how shall I stand when such that were better and stronger than I have faln away And those that think true grace cannot be lost are as much perplexed and say How far may an Hypocrite go that after falleth away How piously did this man live how sorrowfully did he repâ—nt how blamelesly did he walk how fervently and constantly did he pray how savourily did he speak how charitably and usefully did he live And I that come far short of him as far as I can discern can have no assurance that I am sincere till I am sure that I go further than ever he did Woe to thee that thus perplexest the consciences of the weak and hinderest the comforts of believers § 39. 20. Thou art the greatest grief to the faithful Ministers of Christ Thou canst not conceive what a wound it giveth to the heart and comforts of a Minister when he hath taken a great deal of pains for thy Conversion and after that rejoyced when he saw thee come to the flock of Christ and after that laboured many a year to build thee up and suffered many a frown from the ungodly for thy sake to see all his labour at last come to nought and all his glorying of thee turned to his shame and all his hopes of thee disappointed I tell thee this is more doleful to his heart than any outward loss or cross that could have befaln him It is not persecution that is his greatest grief as long as it hindereth not the good of souls It is such as thou that are his â—orest persecutors that frustrate his labours and rob him of his joyes And his sorrows shall one day cost thee dear The life and comforts of your faithful Pastors is much in your hands 2 Cor. 7. 3. 1 Thes. 3. 8. Now we Live if ye stand fast in the Lord. § 40. 21. Thou art more treacherous to Christ than thou wouldst be to a common friend Wouldst thou forsake thy friend without a cause especially an old and tryed friend And especially when in forsaking him thou dost forsake thy self Prov. 27. 10. Thy own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not Prâ—v 17. 17. A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity If thy friend were in distress wouldst thou forsake him And wilt thou forsake thy God that needs thee not but supplyeth thy needs Ruth was more faithful to Naomi Ruth 1. 16 17. that resolved Whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge where thou dyest I will dye And hath God deserved worse of thee § 41. 22. Nay thou dealest worse with God than the Devils servants do with him Alas they are too constant to him Reason will not change them nor the Commands of God nor the offers of everlasting life nor the fears of Hell nothing will change them till the spirit of God do it And wilt thou be less constant to thy God § 42. 23. Consider also that thy end is so near that thou hadst but a little while longer to have held out And thou mightest have known that thou couldst keep thy worldly pleasures but a little while And it is a pitiful thing to see a man that hath born the forest brunt of the battle and run till he is almost at the end of the race to lose all for want of a
Come to him therefore as the Saviour of souls that be may Teach you the will of God and Reconcile you to his Father and pardon your sins and renew you by his spirit and acquaint you with his Fathers Love and save you from damnation and make you heirs of life eternal For all this may yet possibly be done as short as your time is like to be And it will yet be long of you if it be not done The Covenant of Grace doth promise pardon and salvation to every Penitent Believer when ever they truly turn to God without excepting any hour or any person in all the world Nothing but an unbelieving hardened heart resisting his grace and unwilling to be Holy can deprive you of pardon and salvation even at the last It was a most foolish wickedness of you to put it off till now but yet for all that if you are not yet saved it shall not be long of Christ but you Yet he doth freely offer you his mercy and he will be your Lord and Saviour if you will not refuse him yet the match shall not break on his part see that it break not on your part and you shall be saved Know therefore what he is as God and Man and what a blessed work he hath undertaken to Redeem a sinful miserable world and what he hath already done for us in his life and doctrine in his death and sufferings by his Resurrection and his Covenant of Grace and what he is now doing at his Fathers right hand in making intercession for penitent believers and Heb. Rom. 5. what an endless Glory he is preparing for them and how he will save to the uttermost all that come to God by him O yet let your heart even leap for Joy that you have an allsufficient willing gracious Saviour whose Grace aboundeth more than sin aboundeth If the Devils and poor damned souls in Hell were yet but in your case and had your offers and your hopes how glad do you imagine they would be Cast your selves therefore in Faith and Confidence upon this Saviour Trust your souls upon his Sacrifice and Merit for the pardon of your sins and peace with God Beg of him yet the renewing grace of his spirit Be willing to be made holy and a new Creature and to live a holy life if you should survive Resolve to be wholly ruled by him and give up your self absolutely to him as your Saviour to be justified and sanctified and saved by him and then trust in him for everlasting happiness O happy soul if yet you can do thus without deceit § 8. Direct 4. Believe now and consider what God is and will be to your soul and what Love he Direct 4. hath shewed to you by Christ and what endless Ioy and Glory you may have with him in Heaven for For a new heart and the Love of God and a Resolution for a holy obedient life ever notwithstanding all the sins that you have done And think what the world and the flesh hath done for you in comparison of God Think of this till you fall in Love with God and till your hearts and hopes are set on Heaven and turned from this world and flesh and till you feel your self in Love with Holiness and till you are firmly Resolved in the strength of Christ to live a holy life if God recover you and then you are truly sanctified and shall be saved if you die in this condition Take heed that you take not a Repentance and good purposes which come from nothing but Fear to be sufficient If you recover all this may die again when your fear is over You are not sanctified nor God hath not your hearts till your Love be to him that which you do through fear alone you had rather not do if you might be excused And therefore your Hearts are still against it When the feeling of Gods unspeakable Love in Christ doth melt and overcome your hearts when the infinite Goodness of God himself and his mercies to your souls and bodies do make you take him as more Lovely and desirable than all the world when you so believe the Heavenly Joyes above as to desire them more than earthly pleasures when you Love God better than worldly prosperity and when a life of such ☜ Love and Holiness seemeth better to you than all the merriments of sinners and you had rather be a Saint than the most prosperous of the ungodly and are firmly resolved for a holy life if God recover you then are you indeed in a state of grace and not till then This must be your case or you are undone for ever And therefore meditate on the Love of Christ and the Goodness of God and the Joyes of Heaven and the happiness of Saints and the misery of worldlings and ungodly men meditate on these till your eyes be opened and your hearts be touched with a holy love and Heaven and Holiness be the very things that you desire above all and then you may boldly go to God and believe that all your sins are pardoned And it is not bare terrour but these believing thoughts of God and Heaven and Christ and Love that must change your hearts and do the work § 9. These four Directions truly practised will yet set you on safe ground as sad and dangerous as your condition is But it is not the hearing of them or the bare approbation of them that will serve the turn To find out your sinful miserable state and to be truly humbled for it and to discern the Remedy which you have in Christ and penitently and believing to enter into his Covenant and to see that your Happiness is wholly in the Love and fruition of God and to believe the Glory prepared for the Saints and to prefer it before all the prosperity of the world and Love it and set your hearts upon it and to resolve on a holy life if you should recover forsaking this deceitful world and flesh all this is a work that is not so easily done as mentioned and requireth your most serious fixed thoughts and indeed had been fitter for your youthful vigor than for a painful weak distempered state But necessity is upon you It must needs be yet done and throughly and sincerely done or you are lost for ever And therefore do it as well as you can and see that your hearts do not trifle and deceive you In some respect you have greater helps than ever you had before You cannot now keep up your hard-heartedness and security by looking at death as a great way off You have now fuller experience than ever you had before what the flâ—sh and all its pleasures will come to and what good your sinful sports and recreations and merriments will do you and what all the riches and greatness and gallantry and honours of the world are worth and what they will do for you in the day of your necessity You stand so
life and consequently rejected Christ as a Saviour and the Holy Ghost as a sanctifier and all the mercy which he offered you on these terms Quest. 8. If this hath been your case are you now unfeignedly grieved for it Not only because it hath brought you so near to Hell but also because it hath displeased God and deprived you of that Holy and comfortable life which you might all this while have lived and endangered all your hopes of Heaven Do you so far Repent as that your very Heart and Love is changed so that now you had rather have a Holy life on earth and the sight and enjoyment of God in the Heavenly Joyes for ever than to have all the pleasure and prosperity of this world Do you hate your sins and loath your self for them and truly desire to be made Holy Are you firmly Resolved that if God do recover you to health you will live a new and Holy life that you will forsake your fleshly worldly life and all your wilful sins and will set your self to learn the will of God and call upon him and live in the holy Communion of Saints and make it your chief care to please God and to be saved Quest. 9. Are you willing to these ends to Give up your self absolutely now to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your Reconciled Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier to be sanctified and Iustified and saved from your sins and from the wrath of God and live to God in Love and Holiness And are you willing to bind your self to this by entring into this Covenant with God renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil Either your Heart is willing and sincere in this Resolution and Covenant or it is not If it be not there is no hope that your sin should be pardoned and your soul be saved upon any other or easier terms And for all that God is merciful and Christ died for sinners it was never his intent to save one impenitent unsanctified soul But if your Heart unfeignedly consent to this I Matth. 28. 19 â—0 2 Cor. 6. 10 17 18. have the commission of Christ himself to tell you that God will be your Reconciled God and Father and Christ will be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit will be your Sanctifier and Comforter and your sins are pardoned and your soul shall be saved and you shall dwell in Heaven with God for ever God did consent before you consented He shewed his Consent in purchasing and making and offering you this Covenant Shew your unfeigned Consent now by accepting it and giving up your self unreservedly to him and you have Christs Blood and Spirit and Sacrament to seal it to you The flesh and the world have deceived you but Trust in Christ upon his Covenant terms and he will never deceive you And now alas what pity is it that a soul that is in so miserable a case and is lost for ever if it have not help and speedy help should be deprived of all this Grace and Glory and only for want of Repenting and Consenting What pity is it that a soul that is ready to go into another world where mercy shall never more be offered it should rather go stupidly on to hell than Return to God and Accept his mercy Do but truly Repent and Consent to this Covenant and all the mercies of it are certainly yours God will be your God and Christ and the Spirit and pardon and Heaven and all are yours The Lord open and perswade your heart that you may not be undone and lost for ever for want of accepting the mercy that is offered you And now I know it would be comfortable to you if you could be fully assured that you are forgiven and shall be saved In a matter of such unspeakable moment how jâ—yful would a well-grounded certainty be to any man that hath the right use of his understanding I tell you therefore from God that there is no cause of your doubting on his part but only on your own There is no doubt to be made whether God be merciful nor whether Christ be a sufficient Saviour and sacrifice for your sins nor whether the Covenant be sure and promise of pardon and salvation to all true penitent believers be true All the doubt is whether your faith and Repentance be sincere or not And for that I can but tell you how you may know it and I shall open the Truth to you that I may neither Deceive you nor causlâ—sly Discomfort you If this Repentance and Change which you now profess and this Covenant which you have made Matth. 13. 19 20 21 22 23. Rom. 8. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 14. Joh. 3. 3 5 6. Matth. 18. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Eph. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Luk. 14. 26 27. with God 1. Do come only from a present fear and not from a changed renewed heart 2. And if your Resolutions be such as would not hold you to a holy life if you should recover but would die and fade away and leave you as were before when the fear is past then is it but a forced hypocritical Repentance and will not save you if you so die Though a Minister of Christ should Absolve you of all your sins and seal it by giving you the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for all this you are lost for ever if you have no more For Absolution and the Sacrament are given you but on supposition that yâ—ur faith and Repentance be sincere And if this Condition fail in you the Action of the holiest Minister in the world will never save you But 1. If your Repentance and Covenant come not only from a present fear but from a Renewed Heart which now Loveth God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness better than all the Honours and Riches and Pleasures of the flesh and world and had rather have them even on Gods terms 2. And if this change be such as if you should recover would hold you to a Holy Life and not die or dwindle into hypocritical formality when the fright is over then I can assure you from the word of God that if you die in this Repentance you shall certainly be saved And though Late Repentance have so many difficulties that it too seldom proveth true and sound and it is an unspeakable madness to cast our salvation on so great a hazard and to defer that till such a day as this which should be the principal work of all our lives and for which the greatest care and diligence is not too much Yet for all that when Conversion is indeed sincere it is alwayes acceptable how late soever And a returning prodigal shall find Luk. 15. 19 20 21 22. Joh. 6. 37. better entertainment with God than he could possibly expect And never will Christ cast out one soul that cometh to him in sincerity of heart The Lord give you such a Heart and all is yours Amen
Jer. 31. 34. Eph. 1. 7. Act. 5. 31. Eph. 5. 26. Rev. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 6. 16. Mal. 3. 17. Joh. 1. 12. 3. 16. Eph. 2. 14. Rom. 8. 1 17. Luk. 4. 18. Rom. 5. 1 5. Luk. 1. 74. Joh. 10. 28. Luk. 23. 43. 1 Cor. 15. 8. Tit. 3. 3 4. Act. 4. 4 5 6. 1 Tim. 1. 13 14 15 16. A Form of Exhortation to the Godly in their Sickness DEar Friend Though Nature teacheth us to have compassion on your flesh which lyeth in pain yet Faith teacheth us to see the nearness of your Happiness and to Rejoyce with you in hope of your endless Joyes which seem to be at hand We must Rejoyce with you as your friends that Love you and therefore are partakers of your welfare And we must Rejoyce with you as your fellow-travellers and fellow-souldiers that are going along with you to the same felicity and if we are left behind for a little while yet hope ere long to overtake you and never to be separated from you more This is the day for which Christ hath been so long preparing you And which you have so long foreseen and have been so long preparing for your self This is the day which you thought on in all your prayers and patience in all your labours and sufferings your self-denyal and mortification since God did bring you to your self and him Now you are going to see the things which you have believed and to possess the things which you have sought and hoped for To see the final difference between the Righteous and the wicked between a Holy and a worldly life between the vessels of mercy and of wrath Your Time is hasting to an end and Endless Blessedness must succeed it O now what a mercy is it to have a Christ That you are not to encounter an unconquered Death nor to go to God without a Mediator But that Death is by Christ disarmed of its sting and that you may boldly resign your soul into the hands of your Redeemer and commend it to him as a member of himself Now what a case had your soul been in if you had no Intercessor If you had been to answer for your sins your self only and had not a Saviour to be your Advocate and answer for you Now you may better perceive than ever you have done what God did for you when he opened your eyes and humbled and changed and renewed your heart and how great a mercy it is to be a penitent Believer You may now see more fully than ever heretofore what God intended for you when he converted you When he forgave all your sins and justified you by his Grace and adopted you for his child and an heir of life and sealed you with his Spirit and sanctified and separated you to himself Now what a case were you in if you were yet in your sins and in the bondage of Satan and had not this evidence of your title to eternal life If you had your heart now to soften and to humble and to convert and your faith and justification all to seek and all your preparations for Heaven to make If you had all this to do with a pained body and a distracted mind in so short a time with God and Eternity and Death before you ready with terror to overwhelm your souls If now you were to seek for an interest in Christ and for the pardon of all your sins and your peace with God were yet to make If you had all your life past to look back upon as consumed in sin and when Time is at an end must cry out of all that is past as lost This is the case that God in justice might have left you to But what an unspeakable mercy is it that you have already been Reconciled to that God that you are going to and that the sins which now would have been your terror are all forgiven through the blood of Christ That you can look back upon your Time since the day of your Conversion as spent in faithful Devotedness to God and in a believing preparation for your endless life and in godly sincerity notwithstanding your manifold sinful imperfections which Christ hath undertaken to answer for himself Though you have nothing of your own to boast of and no works that will justifie you according to the Law at the Barr of God but you need a Saviour and a Pardon for the failings even of the best that ever you did Yet must you with thankfulness remember that Grace which hath begun eternal life within you and prepared and sealed you to the full possession of it For all the mercy that is in God and for all the Glory that is in Heaven and for all the Merits and satisfaction of Christ and for all the fulness and freeness of the Gal. 4. 4 6. Rom. 8. 16 17. Rom. 8. 9. 1 Pet. 3. 7. Promise if God had not given you a believing penitent heart and sanctified and sealed you by the Spirit of his Son all this could have afforded you little comfort but would have aggravated your misery as it did your sin Seeing then that many of the wicked would be glad to dye the death of the Righteous and when it is too late they would all be glad if their latter end might be like his how glad should you be that God by such a life hath prepared you for such an end And though a humble soul hath still an eye upon its own unworthiness and Satan is ready to aggravate our Rom. 5. 2. 17. Rom. 5. 20 21. sins in order to our discouragement and fear yet must you remember what an honourable victory grace hath had over them And look on them as Christ did as the advantage of his grace that where sin abounded there grace hath superabounded You have had something to humble you and to Rom. 8. 35 36. Ephes. 1. 6 7. 2. 5 7 8 Tit. 3. 3 5 6 7. Rom. 3. 24. 2 Cor. 12. 9. Luke 15. 4 6 24. Matth. 18. 11. 2 Pet. 3. 9. shew you that you were a child of Adam And you have had something for grace to contend with and to conquer and for Christ to pardon Bless him through whom you have had the victory Had you not deserved Hell Christ could not have saved you from a deserved Hell and the Song of the Lamb would not have been so sweet to you in the everlasting remembrance and experience of his grace You have sinned as a Man and he hath pardoned as God You have been weak and nothing but his grace hath been sufficient for you and by his strength you can do all things He hath as dear a Love to you now in his exaltation as he had upon the Cross when he was bleeding for your sins And will he suffer a chosen soul to perish for whom he hath paid so dear a price A Christ in Heaven John 3. 15 16. Matth. 18. 14. Luke 21. 18. John 18. 9.
Offer of pardon to all that it is revealed to But it is an Actual Pardon to those that come in and conferreth on them the benefits of the Act as if they were named in it and is their very Title to their pardon of which their Consent is the Condition and the Condition being performed the Pardon or Collation of the benefit becometh particular and actual without any new act it being the sense of the Law it self or Conditional Grant that so it should do So as to the reality of the Internal Covenant-interest and benefits Iustification and Adoption it is ours by vertue of this Universal Conditional Covenant when we perform the condition But as to our Title in foro Ecclesiae and the due solemnization and Investiture it is made ours when Gods Minister applyeth it to us in Baptism by his Commission As the Rebel that was fundamentally pardoned by the Act of Oblivion must yet have his personal pardon delivered him by the Lord Chancellor under the Great Seal In this sense Ministers are the instruments of God not only in declaring us to de pardoned but in Delivering to us the pardon of our sins and solemnly investing us therein As an Attorney delivereth possession to one that before had his fundamental Title Thus God entreth into Covenant with man § 10. VI. The Qualifications of absolute Necessity to the Validity of our Covenant with God in Quis vero non doleat Baptismo plerosque adultos initio passim nostro tempore non raro ante persundi quam Christianam Catechesin vel mediocriter tenâ—ant neque an flagitiosae superstitiosae vitae poenitenâ—ia tangantur neque vero id ipsum quod accipiunt an velint accipere satis constet Acosta l. 6. c. 2. p. 520. Nisi peâ—ant instent Christianae vitae professione donandi non sunt Idem p. 521. And again While ignorant or wicked men do hasten any how by right or wrong by guile or force to make the barbarous people Christians they do nothing else but make the Gospel a scorn and certainly destroy the deserters of a rashly undertaken faith Id. ibid. p. 522. foro interiore are these 1. That we understand what we do as to all the Essentials of the Covenant For ignorantis non est consensâ—s 2. That it be our own act performed by our Natural or Legal selves that is some one that hath power so far to dispose of us as Parents have of their children 3. That it be Deliberate sober and rationall done by one that is compos mentis in his wits and not in Drunkenness madness or incogitancy 4. That it be seriously done with a real intention of doing the thing and not histrionically ludicrously or in jeast 5. That it be done entirely as to all essential parts for if we leave out any essential part of the Covenant it is no sufficient consent As to consent that Christ shall be our Iustifier but not the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier 6. That it be a Present consent to be presently in Covenant with God For to Consent that you will be his servants to morrow or hereafter but not yet is but to purpose to be in Covenant with him hereafter and is no present covenanting with him 7. Lastly It must be a Resolved and Absolute Consent without any open or secret Exceptions or Reserves § 11. VII The Fruits of the Covenant which God reapeth though he need nothing is the Pleasing of his Good and Gracious Will in the exercise of his Love and Mercy and the Praise and Glory of his Grace in his peoples Love and Happiness for ever The fruits or Benefits which accrew to man are unspeakable and would require a Volume competently to open them Especially that God is our God and Christ our Saviour Head Intercessor and Teacher and the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier and that God will regard us as his own and will protect us preserve us and provide for us and will govern us and be our God and Joy for ever that he will Pardon us Justifie and Adopt us and Glorifie us with his Son in Heaven § 12. Direct 2. When you thus understand well the Nature of the Covenant labour to understand the special Reasons of it The Reasons of the Matter of the Covenant you may see in the fruits and benefits now mentioned But I now speak of the Reason of it as a Covenant in genere and such a Covenant in specie 1. In General God will have man to receive Life or Death as an Accepter and Keeper or a Refuser or Breaker of his Covenant because he will do it not only as a Benefactor or Absolute Lord but also as a Governour and will make his Covenant to be also his Law and his Promise and Benefits to promote obedience And because he will deal with man as with a free agent and not as with a bruit that hath no choosing and refusing power conducted by Reason Mans life and death shall be in his own hands and still depend upon his own will though God will secure his own Dominion interest and ends and put nothing out of his own power by putting it into mans nor have ever the less his own will by leaving man to his own will God will at last as a Righteous Judge determine all the world to their final Joy or Punishment according to their own choice while they were in the flesh and according to what they have done in the Body whether it be good or evil Matth. 25. Therefore he will deal with us on Covenant-terms § 13. 2. And he hath chosen to Rule and Judge men according to a Covenant of Grace by a Redeemer and not according to a rigorus Law of works that his Goodness and Mercy may be the fullâ—er manifested to the sons of men and that it may be easier for man to Love him when they have so wonderful demonstrations of his Love And so that their service here and their work and happiness hereafter may consist of Love to the Glory of his Goodness and the Pleasure of his Love for ever § 14. Direct 3. Next understand rightly the nature use and ends of Baptism Baptism is to the Direct 3. mutual Covenant between God and man what the solemnization of Marriage is to them that do before Consent or what the Listing a Souldier by giving him Colours and writing his name is to one that Consented before to be a Souldier In my Universal Concord p. 29 30. I have thus described it See the Râ—formed â—â—yturgiâ— pag. 68. External Baptism what Baptism is a holy Sacrament instituted by Christ in which a person professing the Christian faith or the Infant of such is Baptized in water into the Name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost in signification and solemnization of the holy Covenant in which as a Penitent Believer or the seed of such he giveth up himself or is by the Parent given up to God the Father Son and Holy
Ghost forsaking the Devil the World and the Flesh and is solemnly entered a visible member of Christ and his Church a pardoned regenerate Child of God and an heir of Heaven § 15. As the word Baptism is taken for the meer Administration or external Ordinance so the Internal Covenanting or faith and Repentance of the adult person to be baptized is no essential part of it nor requisite to the Being oâ— it but only the Profession of such a faith and Repentance and the external entering of the Covenant But as Baptism is taken for the Ordinance as performed in all its essential parts according to the true intent of Christ in his Institution that is in the first and proper meaning of the word so the Internal Covenanting of a Penitent sincere Believer is necessary to the Being of it And indeed the word Baptism is taken but equivâ—â—ally or Analogically at most when it is taken for the meer external administration and action For God doth not institute worship ordinances for bodily motion only when he speaketh to man and requireth Worship of man he speaketh to him as to a man and requireth humane actions from him even the work of the soul and not the words of a Parrot or the motion of a Poppeâ— Therefore the word Baptism in the first and proper signification doth take in the inward actions of the Heart as well as the outward Profession and actions And in this proper sense Baptism is the mutual Covenant between God the Father Compleat Baptism what it is Son and Holy Ghost and a penitent Believing sinner solemnized by the washing of water in which as a Sacrament of his own appointment God doth engage himself to be the God and reconciled Father the Saâ—iâ—ur and the Sanctifier of the Believer and taketh him for his reconciled Child in Christ and delivereth to him by solemn investiture the pardon of all his sins and title to the mercies of this life and of that which is to come What I say in this Description of a Penitent Believer is also to be understood of the Children of such that are dedicated by them in Baptism to God who thereupon have their portion in the same Covenant of Grace § 16. The word Baptism is taken in the first sense when Simon Magus is said to be Baptized Act. 8. and when we speak of it only in the ecclesiastick sense as it is true Baptism in foro ecclesiae But it is taken in the later sense when it is spoken of as the compleat ordinance of God in the sense of the Institution and as respecting the proper ends of Baptism as pardon of sin and life eternal and in foro coeli § 17. In this full and proper sense it is taken by Christ when he saith Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved that is He that Believeth and is by Baptism entered into the Covenant of God And in this sense the Ancients took it when they affirmed that all that were Baptized were Regenerated pardoned and made the Children of God And in this sense it is most true that he that is Baptized that is is a sincere Covenanter shall be saved if he die in that Condition Read the Propositions of the Synod in Nâ—w England and the Defense of them against Mr. Davenpoâ—t about the subject of Baptism that he is then in All that the Minister warrantably Baptizeth are sacramentally Regenerate and are in foro ecclesiae members of Christ and Children of God and Heirs of Heaven But it is only those that are sincerely delivered up in Covenant to God in Christ that are spiritually and really Regenerate and are such as shall be owned for members of Christ and Children of God in foro â—oeli Therefore it is not unfit that the Minister call the Baptized Regenerate and pardoned members of Christ and Children of God and Heirs of Heaven supposing that in soro ecclesiae they were the due subjects of Baptism But if the persons be such as ought not to be Baptized the sin then is not in calling Baptized persons Regenerate but in Baptizing those that ought not to have been Baptized and to whom the â—eal of the Covenant was not due § 18. None ought to be Baptized but those that either personally Deliver up themselves in Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost professing a true Repentance and faith and consent to the Covenant or else are thus delivered up and dedicated and entred into-Covenant in their Infancy by those that being Christians themselves have so much interest in them and power of them that their act may be esteemed as the Infants act and legally imputed to them as if themselves had done it If any others are unduly Baptized they have thereby no title to the pardon of sin or life eternal nor are they taken by God to be in Covenant as having no way consented to it § 19. Direct 4. When you enter a child into the Christian Covenant with God address your selves to Direct 4. it as to one of the greatest works in the world as thâ—se that know the Greatness of the Benefit of the Duty and of the Danger The Benefit to them that are sincere in the Covenant is no less than to have the pardon of all our sins and to have God himself to be our God and Father and Christ our Saviour and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier and to have title to the blessings of this life and of that to come And for the Duty how Great a work is it for a sinner to enter into so solemn a Covenant with the God of Heaven for Reconciliation and Newness of life â—nd â—or salvation And therefore if any should abuse God by Hypocrisie and take on them to conseâ—â— to the terms of the Covenant for themselves or their Children when indeed they do not the Danger of such prophaneness and abuse of God must needs be great Do it therefore with that due preparation reverence and seriousness as beseemeth those that are transacting a business of such unspeakable importance with God Almighty § 20. Direct 5. Having been entered in your Infancy into the Covenant of God by your Parents you Direct 5. must at years of discretion review the Covenant which by them you made and renew it personally your selves and this with as great seriousness and resolution as if you were nâ—w first to enter and subscribe it and as if your everlasting Life or death were to depend on the sincerity of your consent and performance For your Infant Baptismal Covenanting will save none of you that live to years of discretion and do not as heartily own it in their own persons as if they had been now to be baptized But this I pass by having said so much of it in my Book of Confirmation § 21. Direct 6. Your Covenant thus 1. Made 2. Solemnized by Baptism 3. And Owned at age Direct 6. must 4. Be frequently renewed through the
whole course of your lives As 1. Your first consent must Of Renewing the Covenant oft be habitually continued all your dayes for if that ceaseth your Grace and title to the benefits of Gods Covenant ceaseth 2. This Covenant is virtually renewed in every act of Worship to God For you speak to him as your God in Covenant and offer your selves to him as his Covenanted people 3. This Covenant should be actually renewed frequently in Prayer and Meditation and other such acts of communion with God 4. Especially when after a fall we beg the pardon of our sins and the mercies of the Covenant and on dayes of Humiliation and Thanksgiving and in great distresses or exhilerating mercies 5. And the Lords Supper is an ordinance instituted to this very end It is no small part of our Christian diligence and watchfulness to keep up and renew our Covenant-consent § 22. Direct 7. And as careful must you be to keep or perform your Covenant as to enter it and Direct 7. renew it which is done 1. By continuing our consent 2. By sincere obedience 3. And by perseverance We do not nor dare not promise to obey perfectly nor promise to be as obedient as the higher and better sort of Christians though we Desire both But to obey sincerely we must needs promise because we must needs perform it § 23. Obedience is sincere 1. When the radical consent or subjection of the Heart to God in Christ is Habitually and heartily continued 2. When Gods interest in us is most predominant and his authority and law can do more with us than any fleshly lust or worldly interest or than the authority word or perswasions of any man whosoever 3. When we unfeignedly Desire to be perfect and habitually and ordinarily have a predominant Love to all that is good and a hatred to that which is evil and had rather do our duty than be excused from it and rather be saved from our sin than keep it § 24. Direct 8. While you sincerely consent unto the Covenant live by faith upon the promised Benefits of it believing that God will make Good on his part all that he hath promised Take it for your Title to pardon sonship and eternal life O think what a mercy it is to have God in Covenant with you to be your God your Father Saviour Sanctifier and felicity And in this continually rejoice CHAP. IV. Directions about the Profession of our Religion to others § 1. Direct 1. UNderstand first how great a duty the Profession of true Religion is that you may Direct 1. not think as some foolish people that every man should conceal his Religion N 〈…〉 o jam 〈…〉 Qâ—in nec fa 〈…〉 e suâ religione mentiri Ex eo enim quod aliud à se coli dicit quam colit culturam honorem in alterum transferenâ—o j 〈…〉 iâ— quâ—d â—egavit Dicimus palam dicimus vobis torquentibus lacerati cruenti vociferamur Deum colimus per Christum Tâ—rtul Apolog. c. 11. or keep it to himself Observe therefore these Reasons following which require it § 2. 1. Our Tongues and bodies are made to exercise and shew forth that acknowledgement and adoration of God which is in our hearts And as he denyeth God with the Heart who doth not Believe in him and worship him in his heart so he denyeth God imputatively with his Tongue and life who doth not profess and honour him with his tongue and life and so he is a practical Atheist Isa. 45. 23 24 25. I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that to me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory So Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the Glory of God the father Isa. 44 5. One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call him by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel § 3. 2. The publick Assemblies and Worship of God are purposely appointed by him that in them we might make open profession of our Religion He that denyeth Profession denyeth the publick faith and worship of the Church and denyeth Baptism and the Lords Supper which are Sacraments appointed for the solemn profession of our faith § 4. 3. Our Profession is needful to our Glorifying God Men see not our Hearts nor know whether we believe in God or not nor what we believe of him till they hear or see it in our profession and actions Pauls life and death was a Profession of Christ that in his boldness Christ might be magnified in his body Phil. 1. 20. Matth. 5. 14 15 16. Ye are the Light of the world A City that is set on an hill cannot be hid Neither do men light a candle to put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light to all that are in the house Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven § 5. 4. Our Profession is the means of saving others that which is secret is no means to profit them They must see our good works that they may Glorifie God Phil. 1. 12 13 14. § 6. 5. God hath required our open and bold Profession of him with the strictest commands and upon the greatest penalties 1 Pet. 5. 3. Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready alway to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dâ—ad thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Mark 8. 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed 2 Tim. 2. 12. Mat. 10. 32 33. Luk. 9. 26. Direct 2. 1 Cor. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 10. 8. Rom. 15. 2. 1 Tim. 1. 4 Tit. 3. 9. when he câ—meth in the glory of his father with the holy Angels § 7. Direct 2. Next Understand what it is in Religion that you must principally profess It is not every lesser truth much less every opinion of your own in which you are confident that you are wiser than your brethren This is the meaning of Rom. 14 22. Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God By faith
3. Else there should be seldome any Church in the world for want of a Head yea never any For I have proved there and to Iohnson that there never was a true General Council of the Universal See also in my Reasons of Christian Religion Coâ—s 2. of the Interest of the Church Church But only Imperial Councils of the Churches under one Emperours power and those that having been under it had been used to such Councils And that it is not a thing ever to be attempted or expected as being unlawful and morally impossible Quest. 13. Whether there be such a thing as a Visible Catholick Church And what it is THe Antients differently used the terms A Catholick Church and The Catholick Church By the first they meant any particular Church which was part of the Universal By the second 1 Cor. 12. 12. and throughout they meant the Universal Church it self And this is it that we now mean And I answer Affirmatively There is a Visible Universal Church not only as a Community or as a Kingdom distinct from the King but as a Political Society 2. This Church is the Universality of Baptized Visible Christians Headed by Iesus Christ himself Eph. 4. 1 5 6 7 16. There is this and there is no other upon earth The Papists say that this is no Visible Church because the Head is not Visible I answer 1. It is not necessary that he be seen but visible And is not Christ a Visible person 2. This Church consisteth of two parts the Triumphant part in Glory and the Militant part And Christ is not only Visible but seen by the triumphant part As the King is not seen by the ten thousandth part of his Kingdoms but by his Courtiers and those about him and yet he is King of all 3. Christ was seen on earth for above thirty years and the Kingdom may be called visible in that the King was once visible on earth and is now visible in Heaven As if the King would shew himself to his people but one year together in all his life 4. It ill becometh the Papists of any men to say that Christ is not visible who make him see him taste him handle him eat him drink him digest him in every Church in every Mass throughout the year and throughout the world And this not as divided but as whole Christ. Object But this is not quatenus Regent Answ. If you see him that is Regent and see his Laws and Gospel which are his Governing instruments together with his Ministers who are his Officers it is enough to denominate his Kingdom visible 5. The Church might be fitly denominated Visible secundum quid if Christ himself were invisible Because the Politick Body is visible the dispersed Officers Assemblies and Laws are visible But sure all these together may well serve for the denomination Quest. 14. What is it that maketh a Visible Member of the Universal Church And who are to be accounted such 1. BAptism maketh a Visible member of the Universal Church and the Baptized as to entrance Matth. 28. 19. 〈…〉 1â— 16. unless they go out again are to be accounted such 2. By Baptism we mean open devotion or dedication to God by the Baptismal Covenant in which the adult for themselves and Parents for their Infants do Profess Consent to the Covenant of Grace which includeth a Belief of all the Essential Articles of the faith and a Resolution for sincere obedience and a Consent to the Relations between God and us viz. that he be our Reconciled Father our Saviour and our Sanctifier 3. The Continuance of this Consent is necessary to the continuance of our visible membership 4. He that through ignorance or incapacity for want of water or a Minister is not baptized and yet is solemnly or notoriously dedicated and devoted to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in the same Covenant though without the outward Sign and professeth openly the same Religion is a visible Christian though not by a compleat and regular visibility As a Souldier not listed nor taking his Colours or a Marriage not regularly solemnized c. 5. He that forsaketh his Covenant by Apostacy or is totally and duly excommunicated ceaseth to be a visible member of the Church Quest. 15. Whether besides the Profession of Christianity either Testimony or Evidence of Conversion or Practical Godliness be necessary to prove a man a Member of the Universal Visible Church 1. AS the Mediator is the way to the Father sent to recover us to God so Christianity includeth John 14. 6. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 6 3 11. Godliness And he professeth not Christianity who professeth not Godliness 2. He that professeth the Baptismal Covenant professeth Christianity and Godliness and true Conversion 2 Pet. 1. 3. And therefore cannot be rejected for want of a Profession of Conversion or Godliness 3. But he that is justly suspected not to understand his own profession but to speak general words without the sense may and ought to be examined by him that is to baptize him And therefore though the Apostles among the Jews who had been bred up among the Oracles of God did justly presume of so much understanding as that they baptized men the same day that they professed to believe in Christ yet when they baptized converted Gentiles we have reason to think that they Acts 2. 38 39. first received a particular account of their Converts that they understood the three essential Articles of the Covenant 1. Because the Creed is fitted to that use and hath been ever used thereunto by the Churches as by tradition from the Apostles practice 2. Because the Church in all ages as far as Church History leadeth us upward hath used catechising before baptizing yea and to keep men as Catechumens some time for preparation 3. Because common experience telleth us that multititudes can say the Creed that understand it not If any yet urge the Apostles example I will grant that it obligeth us when the case is the like And I will not fly to any conceit of their heart-searching or discerning mens sincerity When you bring us to a people that before were the Visible Church of God and were all their life time trained up in the knowledge of God of sin of duty of the promised Messiah according to all the Law and Prophets and want nothing but to know the Son and the Holy Ghost that this Iesus is the Christ who will reconcile us to God and give us the sanctifying Spirit then we will also baptize men the same day that they profess to believe in Iesus Christ and in the Father as reconciled by him and the Holy Ghost as given by him But if we have those to deal with who know not God or sin or misery or Scripture Prophecies no nor natural verities we know no proof that the Apostles so haâ—â—ily baptized such Of this I have largely spoken in my Treatise of Confirmation 4. It is
Disciple to some other Pastor 1. THat Timothy was still Pauls Son in point of Learning and his Disciple and so that under Apostles the same persons might be stated in both relations at once seemeth evident in Scripture 2. But the same that is a Pastor is not at once a meer Lay-man 3. That men in the same Office may so differ in Age Experience and degrees of knowledge as that young Pastors may and often ought many years to continue not only in occasional reception of their help but also in an ordinary stated way of receiving it and so be Related to them as their ordinary Teachers by such gradual advantages is past all doubt And that all Juniors and Novices owe a certain reverence and audience and some obedience to the elder and wiser 4. But this is not to be a Disciple to him as in lower Order or Office but as of lower Gifts and Grace 5. It is lawful and very good for the Church that some Ordained persons continue long as Pupils to their Tutors in Schools or Academies e. g. to learn the holy Languages if they have them not c. But this is a relation left to voluntary Contractors 6. In the antient Churches the particular Churches had one Bishop and some Presbyters and Deacons usually of much lower parts who lived all together single or chaste in the Bishops or Church-house which was as a Colledge where he daily edified them by Doctrine and Example 7. The Controversie about different Orders by Divine Institution belongeth not to me here to meddle with But as to the Natural and Acquired Imparity of age and gifts and the unspeakable benefit to the Juniors and the Churches that it is desirable that there were such a way of their education and edification I take to be discernable to any that is impartial and judicious Ambrose was at once a Teacher and a Learner Beda Eccl. Hist. mentioneth one in England that was at once a Pastor and a Disciple And in Scotland some that became Bishops were still to be under the Government of the Abbot of their Monasteries according to their first devotion though the Abbot was but a Presbyter 8. Whether a setled private Church-member may not at once continue his very formal Relation to the Pastor of that Church and yet be of the same Order with him in another Church as their Pastor at the same time As he may in case of necessity continue his Apprentiship or civil service is a case that I will not determine But he that denyeth it must prove his opinion or affirmation of its unlawfulness by sufficient evidence from Scripure or Nature which is hard Quest. 31. Who hath the power of making Church Canons THis is sufficiently resolved before 1. The Magistrate only hath the power of making such Canons or Laws for Church matters as shall be enforced by the Sword 2. Every Pastor hath power to make Canons for his own Congregation that is to determine what hour and at what place they shall meet what Translation of Scripture or Version of Psalms shall be used in his Church what Chapter shall be read what Psalm shall be sung c. Except the Magistrate contradict him and determine it otherwise in such points as are not proper to the Ministerial Office 3. Councils or Assemblies of Pastors have the power of making such Canons for many Churches as shall be Laws to the people and Agreements to themselves 4. None have power to make Church Laws or Canons about any thing save 1. To put Gods own Laws in execution 2. To determine to that end of such Circumstances as God hath left undetermined in his Word 5. Canon-making under pretence of Order and Concord hath done a great deal of mischief to the Churches whilest Clergy men have grown up from Agreements to Tyrannical Usurpations and Impositions and from Concord about needful Accidents of Worship to frame new Worship Ordinances and to force them on all others but especially 1. By encroaching on the power of Kings and telling them that they are bound in Conscience to put all their Canons into execution by force 2. And by laying the Union of the Churches and the Communion of Christians upon things needless and doubtful yea and at last on many sinful things whereby the Churches have been most effectually divided and the Christian world set together by the Ears and Schisms yea and Wars have been raised And these maladies cannot possibly be healed till the tormenting tearing Engines be broken and cast away and the Voluminous Canons of numerous Councils which themselves also are matter of undeterminable Controversie be turned into the primitive simplicity and a few necessary things made the terms of Concord Doubtless if every Pastor were left wholly to himself for the ordering of Worship Circumstances and Accidents in his own Church without any Common Canons save the Scriptures and the Laws of the Land there would have been much less division than that is which these numerous Canons of all the Councils obtruded on the Church have made Quest. 32. Doth Baptism as such enter the Baptized into the Universal Church or into a particular Church or both And is Baptism the Particular-Church Covenant as such Answ. 1. BAptism as such doth enter us into the Universal Church and into it alone and is no particular church-Church-Covenant but the solemnizing of the great Christian Covenant of Grace between God and a believer and his seed For 1. There is not essentially any mention of a particular Church in it 2. A man may be baptized by a general unfixed Minister who is not the Pastor of any particular Church And he may be baptized in solitude where there is no particular Church The Eunuch Mat. 28 19 20. Act. 8. was not baptized into any particular Church 3. Baptism doth but make us Christians But a man may be a Christian who is no member of any particular Church 4. Otherwise Baptism should oblige us necessarily to a man and be a Covenant between the Baptized and the Pastor and Church into which he is baptized But it is only our Covenant with Christ. 5. We may frequently change our particular Church relation without being baptized again But we never change our relation to the Church which we are baptized into unless by Apostasie 2. Yet the same person at the same time that he is baptized may be entred into the universal Church and into a particular And ordinarily it ought to be so where it can be had 3. And the Covenant which we make in baptism with Christ doth oblige us to obey him and consequently to use his instituted means and so to hear his Ministers and hold due Communion with his Churches 4. But this doth no more enter us into a particular Church than into a particular family For we as well oblige our selves to obey him in family relations as in Church relations 5. When the baptized therefore is at once entered into the universal and particular
Covenant of Grace When a man Receiveth the Lords Supper unworthily in scorn in drunkenness or impenitency much more without any right as Infidels he doth eat and drink damnation or judgement to himself and maketh his sin greater Therefore he that gets a Child Baptized unworthily and without right doth not therefore infallibly procure his salvation 7. Because the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. 14. Else were your Children unclean but now are they holy and the Scripture giveth this priviledge to the Children of the faithful above others whereas the contrary opinion levelleth them with the seed of Infidels and Heathens as if these had right to salvation by meer Baptism as well as the others 8. Because else it would be the greatest act of Charity in the world to send Souldiers to catch up all Heathens and Infidels Children and Baptize them which no Christians ever yet thought their duty Yea it would be too strong a temptation to them to kill them when they had done that they might be all undoubtedly saved Obj. But that were to do evil that good might come by it Answ. But God is not to be so dishonoured as to be supposed to make such Laws as shall forbid men the greatest good in the World and then to tempt them by the greatness of the benefit to take it to be no evil As if he said If Souldiers would go take up a million of Heathens Children and Baptize them it will put them into an undoubted state of salvation But yet I forbid them doing it And if they presently kill them lest they sin after they shall undoubtedly be saved but yet I forbid them doing it I need not aggravate this temptation to them that know the power of the Law of nature which is the Law of Love and good works and how God that is most Good is pleased in our doing good Though he tryed Abraham's obedience once as if he should have killed his Son yet he stopt him before the execution And doth he ordinarily exercise mens obedience by forbidding them to save the souls of others when it is easily in their power Especially when with the adult the greatest labour and powerfullest Preaching is frequently so frustrate that not one of many is converted by it 9. Because else God should deal with unaccountable disparity with Infants and the Adult in the same ordinance of Baptism It is certain that all Adult persons Baptised if they dyed immediately should not be saved Even none that had no right to the Covenant and to Baptism such as Infidels Heathens Impenitent persons Hypocrites that have not true Repentance and faith And why should Baptism save an Infant without title any more than the Adult without title I still suppose that some Infants have no title and that now I speak of them alone Obj. But the Church giveth them all right by Receiving them Answ. This is to be farther examined anon If you mean a particular Church perhaps they are Baptized into none such Baptism as such is a Reception only into the Universal Church as in Eunuchs case Act. 8. appeareth If you mean the Universal Church it may be but one single ignorant man in an Infidel Countrey that Baptizeth And he is not the Universal Church Yea perhaps is not a lawfully called Minister of that Church However this is but to say that Baptism giveth Right to Baptism For this Receiving is nothing but Baptizing But there must be a Right to this Reception if baptism be a distinguishing Ordinance and all the world have not right to it Christ saith Matth. 28. 19. Disciple me all Nations baptizing them They must be initially made Disciples first by Consent and then be Invested in the visible state of Christianity by Baptism 10. If the Children of Heathens have right to baptism and salvation thereby it is either 1. As they are men and all have right or 2. Because the parents give them right 3. Or because remote ancestors give them right 4. Or because the universal Church gives them right 5. Or because a particular Church giveth them right 6. Or because the Sponsors give them right 7. Or the Magistrate 8. Or the Baptizer But it is none of all these as shall anon be proved II. But as to the second question I answer 1. It will help us to understand the case the better if we prepare the way by opening the case of the Adult because in Scripture times they were the most famous subjects of Baptism And it is certain of such 1. That every one outwardly Baptized is not in a state of salvation That no hypocrite that is not a true penitent believer is in such a state 2. That every true penitent believer is before God in a state of salvation as soon as he is such And before the Church as soon as he is baptized 3. That we are not to use the word Baptism as a Physical term only but as a moral Theological term Because words as in Law physick c. are to be understood according to the art or science in which they are treated of And Baptism taken Theologically doth as Essentially include the Wills consent or Heart-Covenanting with God as Matrimony includeth marriage consent and as a man containeth the soul as well as the body And thus it is certain that all truly Baptized persons are in a state of salvation that is All that sincerely consent to the Baptismal Covenant when they profess consent by Baptism but not hypocrites 4. And in this sense all the Ancient Pastors of the Churches did concur that Baptism did wash away all sin and put the baptized into a present right to life eternal as he that examineth their Writings will perceive not the outward washing and words alone but when the inward and outward parts concur or when by true faith and repentance the Receiver hath right to the Covenant of God 5. In this sense it is no unfit language to imitate the Fathers and to say that the truly baptized are in a state of Justification adoption and salvation unless when mens misunderstanding maketh it unsaâ—e 6. The sober Papists themselves say the same thing and when they have said that even ex opere operato Baptism saveth they add that it is only the meet Receiver that is the penitent believer and no other of the adult So that hitherto there is no difference 2. Now let us by this try the case of Infants concerning which there are all these several opinions among Divines 1. Some think that all Infants baptized or not are saved from Hell and positive punishment but are not brought to Heaven as being not capable of such joyes 2. Some think that all Infants dying such are saved as others are by actual felicity in Heaven though in a lower degree Both these sorts suppose that Christs death saveth all that reject 〈…〉 not and that Infants reject it not 3. Some think that all unbaptized Infants do suffer the poenam damni and are shut out
to a holy life or fit for Glory immediately without an inward Holiness of his own yet by what is said it seemeth plain that meerly on the account of the Condition performed by the Parent and of his Union Relatively with Christ thereupon and his title to Gods promise on these Grounds he may be said to be in a state of salvation that is to have the pardon of his Original sin deliverance from hell in right adoption and a right to the needful operations of the Holy Ghost as given to him in Christ who is the first receiver of the spirit 15. But when and in what sort and degree Christ giveth the actual operations of the spirit to all Covenanted Infants it is wonderful hard for us to know But this much seemeth clear 1. That Christ may when he please work on the soul of an Infant to change its disposition before he come to the use of Reason 2. That Christ and his spirit as in Covenant with Infants are ready to give all necessary assistance to Infants for their inherent sanctification in the use of those means and on those Mr. Whiston p. 60. sheweâ—h That even the promises of a new Heart c. Ezek 36 37 c. Though they may run in the external tenour of them absolutely yet are not absolutely absolute but have a subordinate condition and that is That the parties concerned in them do faithfully use the means appointed of God in a subserviency to his working in or bestowing on them the Good promised further conditions on which we must wait for it and expect it For the Holy Ghost is not so engaged to us in our Covenant or Baptism as to be obliged presently to give us all the grace that we want But only to give it us on certain further conditions and in the use of certain means But because this leadeth me up to another question I will suspend the rest of the answer to this till that be handled Only I must answer this objection Obj. It is contrary to the Holy nature of God complacenically to Love an unsanctified Infant that is yet in his Original Corruption unchanged and he justifieth none relatively from the guilt of sin whom he doth not at once inherently sanctifie Answ. 1. Gods complacencial Love respecteth every one as he is For it is Goodness only that he so Loveth Therefore he so Loveth not those that either Actually or Habitually Love not Him under any false supposition that they do Love him when they do not His Love therefore to the Adult and Infants differeth as the objects differ But there is this Lovely in such Infants 1. That they are the Children of believing sanctified Parents 2. That they are by his Covenant Relatively United to Christ and so are Lovely as his members 3. That they are pardoned all their original sin 4. That they are set in the way to Actual Love and holiness being thus dedicated to God 2. All imperfect Saints are sinners And all sinners are as such abhorred of God whose pure eyes cannot behold iniquity As then it will stand with his purity to accept and love the Adult upon their first believing before their further sanctification and notwithstanding the remnant of their sins so may it do also to accept their Infants through Christ upon their Dedication 3. As the actual sin imputed to Infants was Adams and their Parents only by Act and not their own it is no wonder if upon their Parents faith and repentance Christ wash and justifie them from that guilt which arose only from anothers act 4. And then the inherent pravity was the effect of that Act of their Ancestors which is forgiven them And this pravity or inherent Original sin may two wayes be said to be mortified radically or Virtually or inceptively before any inherent change in them 1. In that it is mortified in their Parents from whom they derived it who have the power of choosing for them and 2. In that they are by Covenant engraffed into Christ and so related to the cause of their future sanctification yea 3. In that also they are by Covenant and their Parents promise engaged to use those means which Gods being a God to any individual person doth râ—quire and presuppose that they do for the present supposing them capable or for the future as soon as capable take God in Christ as their God Ibid. p. 61. Christ hath appointed for sanctification 5. And it must be remembred that as this is but an inceptive preparatory change so the very pardon of the Inherent vitiosity is not perfect as I have elsewhere largely proved however some Papists and Protestants deny it While sin remaineth sin and corruption is still indwelling besides all the unremoved penalties of it the very being of it proveth it to be so far unpardoned in that it is not yet abolished and the continuance of it being not its smallest punishment as permitted and the spirit not given so far as to cure it Imperfect pardon may consist with a present right both to further sanctification by the Spirit and so to Heaven Obj. Christs body hath no unholy members Answ. 1. 1 Cor. 7. 14. Now are your Children holy They are not wholly unholy who have all the fore-described holiness 2. As Infants in Nature want memory and actual reason and yet initially are men so as Christs members they may want actual and habitual faith and Love and yet initially be sanctified by their Union with him and his spirit and their Parents Dedication and be in the way for more as they grow fit And be Christians and Saints in fieri or initially only as they are men Quest. 43. Is the right of the Baptized Infants or adult to the sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost now Absolute or suspended on further Conditions And are the Parents further duty for their Children such conditions of their Childrens reception of the Actual assistances of the Spirit Or are Childrens own actions such Conditions And may Apostate Parents forfeit the Covenant benefits to their Baptized Infants or not Answ. THE question is great and difficult and few dare meddle with it And almost all Infant-cases are to us obscure I. 1. It is certain that it is the Parents great duty to bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 2. It is certain that God hath appointed this to be the means of their actual knowledge faith Eph. 6 4 5. Col 3. 21. Gen. 18 19. Deut. 6. 6 7 8. 11. 18 19 20. and holiness 3. And God doth not appoint such means unnecessarily or in vain nor may we ordinarily expect his grace but in the use of the means of Grace which he hath appointed us to use 4. It is certain that Gods receiving the Children of the faithful is an act of Gods Love to the Parents as well as the Children and promised as a part of his blessing on themselves 5. It is certain that these Parents
hold their own mercies upon the condition of their own continued fidelity And let their Apostasie be on other reasons never so impossible or not future yet the promise of continuance and consummation of the personal felicity of the greatest Saint on earth is still conditional upon the condition of â—his persevering sidelity 6. Even before Children are capable of Instruction there are certain duties imposed by God on the Parents for their sanctification viz. 1. That the Parents pray earnestly and believingly for them Second Commandment Prov. 20. 7. 2. That they themselves so live towards God as may invite him still to bless their Children for their sakes as he did Abrahams and usually did to the faithful's seed 7. It is certain that the Church ever required Parents not only to enter their Children into the Covenant and so to leave them but to do their after duty for their good and to pray for them and educate them according to their Covenant 8. It is plain that if there were none to promise so to educate them the Church would not baptize them And God himself who allowed the Israelites and still alloweth us to bring our Children into his Covenant doth it on this supposition that we promise also to go on to do our duty for them and that we actually do it 9. All this set together maketh it plain 1. That God never promiseth the adult in Baptism though true believers that he will work in them all graces further by his sanctifying spirit let them never so much neglect or resist him or that he will absolutely see that they never shall resist him nor that the spirit shall still help them though they neglect all his means or that he will keep them from neglecting the means Election may secure this to the Elect as such but the Baptismal Covenant as such secureth it not to the baptized nor to believers as such 2. And consequently that Infants are in Covenant with the Holy Ghost still conditionally as their Parents are And that the meaning of it The Holy Ghost is promised in Baptism to give the Child grace in his Parents and his own faithful use of the appointed means is that the Holy Ghost as your sanctifier will afford you all necessary help in the use of those means which he hath appointed you to receive his help in Obj. Infants have no means to use Answ. While Infants stand on their Parents account or Wills the Parents have means to use for the continuance of their grace as well as for the beginning of it 10. Therefore I cannot see but that if a believer should apostatize whether any do so is not the question and his Infant not be made anothers Child he forfeiteth the benefits of the Covenant to his Infant But if the propriety in the Infant be transferred to another it may alter the case 11. And how dangerously Parents may make partial forfeitures of the spirits assistance to their Children and operations on them by their own sinful lives and neglect of prayer and of prudent and holy education even in particular acts I fear many believing Parents never well considered 12. Yet is not this forfeiture such as obligeth God to deny his spirit For he may do with his own as a free benefactor as he list And may have mercy freely beyond his promise though not against his word on whom he will have mercy But I say that he that considereth the woful unfaithfulness and neglect of most Parents even the Religious in the Great work of holy educating their Children may take the blame of their ungodliness on themselves and not lay it on Christ or the spirit who was in Covenant with them as their sanctifier seeing he promised but conditionally M. â—â—istoâ— pag. â—3 As Abraham as a single person in Covenant was to accept of and perform the conditions of the Covenant so as a Parent he had something of duty incumbent on him with reference to his immediate seed And as his faithful performance of that duty incumbent on him in his single capacity so his performing that duty incumbent on him as a Parent in reference to his seed was absolutely necessary in order to his enjoying the good promised with reference to himself and his seed Proved Gen. 17 1. 18. 19. He proveth that the promise is conditional and that as to the continuance of the Covenant state the conditions are 1. The Parents upright life 2. His duty to his Children well done 3. The Childrens own duty as they are capable to give them the sanctifying Heavenly influences of his Life Light and Love in their just use of his appointed means according to their abilities 13. Also as soon as Children come to a little use of Reason they stand conjunctly on their Parents Wills and on their own As their Parents are bound to teach and rule them so they are bound to learn of them and be ruled by them for their good And though every sin of a Parent or a Child be not a total forfeiture of grace yet both their notable actual sins may justly be punished with a denyal of some further help of the spirit which they grieve and quench 11. And now I may seasonably answer the former question whether Infants Baptismal saving grace may be lost of which I must for the most that is to be said referr the Reader to Davenant in Mr. Bedfords Book on this subject and to Dr. Sam. Ward joyned with it Though Mr. Gatakers answers are very Learned and considerable And to my small Book called My Iudgement of Perseverance Augustine who first rose up for the doctrine of perseverance against its Adversaries carried it no higher than to all the Elect as such and not at all to all the Sanctified but oft affirmeth that some that were justified sanctified and Love God and are in a state of salvation are not elect and fall away But since the Reformation great reasons have been brought to carry it further to all the truly sanctified of which cause Zanchius was one of the first Learned and zealous Patrons that with great diligence in long disputations maintained it All that I have now to say is that I had rather with Davenant believe that the fore-described Infant state of salvation which came by the Parents may be lost by the Parents and the Children though such a sanctified renewed nature in holy Habits of Love as the adult have be never lost than believe that no Infants are in the Covenant of Grace and to be baptized Obj. But the Child once in possession shall not be punished for the Parents sin Answ. 1. This point is not commonly well understood I have by me a large Disputation proving from the current of Scripture a secondary original sin besides that from Adam and a secondary punishment ordinarily inflicted on Children for their Parents sins besides the common punishment of the World for the first sin 2. But the thing in question is
to its capacity therefore a Believers child is supposed to be Virtually not actually dedicated to God in his own dedication or Covenant as soon as his child hath a being 3. Being thus Virtually and Implicitly first dedicated he is after Actually and regularly dedicated in Baptism and Sacramentally receiveth the badge of the Church And this maketh him a visible member or Christian to which the two first were but introductory as Conception is to humane Nativity Object 2. But the seed of Believers as such are in the Covenant and therefore Church-members Answ. The word Covenant here is ambiguous Either it signifieth Gods Law of Grace or prescribed terms for salvation with his immediate offer of the benefits to accepters called the single Covenant of God or it signifieth this with mans Consent called the Mutual Covenant where both parties Covenant In the former sense the Covenant only offereth Church-membership but maketh no man a Church-member till Consent It is but Gods conditional promise If thou believe thou shalt be saved c. If thou give up thy self and children to me I will be your God and you shall be my people But it is only the Mutual Covenant that maketh a Christian or Church-member Object The promise is to us and our children as ours Answ. That is that you and your children dedicated to God shall be received into Covenant â—â—t not otherwise Believing is not only bare Assenting but Consenting to the Covenant and delivering up your selves to Christ And if you do not consent that your child shall be in the Covenant and deliver him to God also you cannot expect acceptance of him against your wills nor indeed are you to be taken for true believers your selves if you dedicate not your selves to him and all that are in your power Object This offer or Conditional Covenant belongeth also to Infidels Answ. The offer is to them but they accept it not But every believer accepteth it for himself and his or devoteth to God himself and his children when he shall have them And by that virtual dedication or Consent his children are Virtually in the Mutual Covenant And Actually upon actual Consent and dedication Object But it is Profession and not Baptism that makes a visible member Answ. That 's answered before It is profession by Baptism For Baptism is that peculiar act of profession which God hath chosen to this use when a person is absolutely devoted resigned and engaged to God in a solemn Sacrament this is our regular initiating profession And it is but an irregular Embrio of a profession which goeth before baptism ordinarily Prop. 3. The time of Infant membership in which we stand in Covenant by our Parents Consent cannot be determined by duration but by the insufficiency of Reason through immaturity of age or continuing ideots to choose for ones self Prop. 4. It is not necessary that the doctrine of the Lords Supper be taught Catechumens before Baptism nor was it usual with the antients so to do though it may very well be done Prop. 5. It is needful that the nature of the Lords Supper be taught all the baptized before they receive it As was opened before else they must do they know not what Prop. 6. Though the Sacrament of the Lords Supper seal not another but the same Covenant that baptism sealeth yet are there some further truths therein expressed and some more particular exercises of faith in Christs Sacrifice and coming c. and of Hope and Love and Gratitude c. requisite Therefore the same qualifications which will serve for Baptism Justification and Adoption and Salvation are not enough for the right use of Church communion in the Lords Supper the one being the Sacrament of initiation and our new birth the other of our Confirmation Exercise and Growth in Grace 7. Whether persons be baptized in Infancy or at age if they do not before understand these higher mysteries they must stay from the exercise of them till they understand them And so with most there must be a space of time between their Baptism and fuller Communion 8. But the same that we say of the Lords Supper must be said of other parts of Worship Singing Psalms Praise Thanksgiving c. men must learn them before they can practise them And usually these as Eucharistical acts concur with the Lords Supper 9. Whether you will call men in this state Church-members of a middle rank and order between the Baptized and the Communicants is but a lis de nomine a verbal Controversie It is granted that such a middle sort of men there are in the Church 10. It is to be maintained that these are in a state of salvation even before they thus communicate And that they are not kept away for want of a stated Relation-title but of an immediate capacity as is aforesaid 11. There is no necessity but upon such unfitness that there should be one dayes time between baptism and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper nor is it desirable For if the baptized understand those mysteries the first day they may communicate in them 12. Therefore as men are prepared some may suddenly communicate and some stay longer 13. When persons are at age if Pastors Parents and themselves be not grosly negligent they may and ought to learn these things in a very little time so that they need not be setled in a lower Learning state for any considerable time unless their own negligence be the cause 14. And in order to their Learning they have right to be Spectators and Auditors at the Eucharist and not to be driven away with the Catechumens as if they had no right to be there For it is a thing best taught by the practice to beholders 15. But if any shall by scandal or gross neglect of piety and not only by Ignorance give cause of questioning their title and suspending their possession of those sacred priviledges these are to be reckoned in another rank even among those whose title to Church-membership it self becometh controverted and must undergo a tryal in the Church And this much I think may serve to resolve this considerable question Quest. 71. Whether a Form of Prayer be lawful Answ. I Have said so much of this and some following questions in many Books already that to avoid repetition I shall say very little here The question must be out of question with all Christians I. Because the Scripture it self hath many forms of prayer which therefore cannot be unlawful Object They were lawful then but not now Answ. He that saith so must prove where God hath since forbidden them Which can never be Object They may lawfully be read in Scripture for instruction but not used as prayers Answ. They were used as prayers then and are never since forbidden Yea Iohn and Christ did teach their Disciples to pray and Christ thus prefaceth his form When ye pray say II. All things must be done to Edification But to use a form of prayer is
Father Mother c. for his service and swearing to prefer it and his safety before them all See Martinius reciting the Oath out of divers Authors This is our sense of the word Let no man now that taketh it in other sense pretend therefore that we differ in doctrine 2. Seeing it is no Scripture word it is not of necessity to the faith or peace of the Church but when disputers agree not of the sense of the word they are best lay it by and use such terms whose sense they can agree on 3. The name Sacrament is either taken from the Covenant sworn to or from the Sign or Ceremony of Consent by which we oblige our selves or from both together 4. The Covenant of Christianity is different from a particular Covenant of some Office And accordingly the Sacrament is to be distinguished 5. As Civil Oeconomical and Ecclesiastical Offices are distinct so are their several Sacraments 6. The solemn renewing of the sacred Vow or Covenant without any instituted obliging sign is to be distinguished from the renewing it by such a sign of Gods institution And now I conclude 1. As the word Sacrament is taken improperly secundum quid from the nobler part only that is the Covenant as a mans â—oul is called the Man so there are as many Sacraments as Covenants and there is in specie but one Covenant of Christianity and so but one Sacrament of Christianity variously expressed 2. As the word Sacrament is taken properly and fully according to the foresaid description so there are properly two Sacraments of Christianity or of the Covenant of Grace that is Baptism the Sacrament of initiation most â—ully so called and the Lords Supper or the Sacrament of Confirmation Exercise and Progress 3. As the word Sacrament is taken less properly defectively secundum quid for the same Covenant of Grace or Christianity renewed by any arbitrary sign of our own without a solemn Ceremony of Divine institution so there are divers Sacraments of Christianity or the Covenant of Grace that is Divers solemn renewals of our Covenant with God As 1. At our solemn transition from the state of Infant-membership unto that of the Adult when we solemnly own our baptismal Covenant which Calvin and many Protestants and the English Rubrick call Confirmation 2. The solemn owning the Christian Faith and Covenant in our constant Church-assemblies when we stand up at the Creed or profession of our saith and all renew our Covenant with God and dedication to him 3. At solemn dayes of Fasting or humiliation and of Thanksgiving when this should be solemnly done Specially upon some publick defection 4. Upon the publick Repentance of a particular sinner before his absolution 5. When a man is going out of the world and recommending his soul to God by Christ All these are solemn renewings of our Covenant with God in which we may use any Lawful Natural or Arbitrary signs or expressions to signifie our own minds by as speaking subscribing standing up lifting up the hand laying it upon a book kissing the book c. These Sacraments are improperly so called And are Divine as to the Covenant renewed but Humane as to the expressing signs 4. Ordination is not improperly or unfitly called a Sacrament because it is the solemnizing of a mutual Covenant between God and man for our dedication to his special service and his reception of us and blessing on us though Imposition of hands be not so solemn a Ceremony by meer Institution as Baptism and the Lords Supper But then it must be noted that this is not Sacramentum Christianitaâ—is a Sacrament of the Christian Covenant but Sacramentum Ordinis vel officii particularis a Sacrament of Orders or a particular Office but yet of Divine institution 5. The solemn Celebration of Marriage is an Oeconomical Sacrament that is a solemn obligation of man and woman by Vow to one another and of both to God in that relation which may be arbitrarily expressed by lawful signs or ceremonies 6. The solemn Covenant of a Master with his servant is on the same account an Oeconomical Sacrament 7. The inauguration of a King in which he is sworn to his subjects and dedicated to God in that Office and his subjects sworn or consent to him is a Civil Sacrament whether Unction be added or not And so is a Judges entrance on his Office when it is done so solemnly by an obliging Vâ—w or Covenant 8. Confirmation in the Papists sense as conferred by Chrysm on Infants for giving them the Holy Ghost is but an unwarrantable imitation of the old miraculous operation by the Apostles and neither a Christian Sacrament nor a warrantable practice but a presumption 9. The same may be said of their Sacrament of Extream Unction 10. Their Sacrament of Marriage is no otherwise a Sacrament than the Inauguration of a King is which is approved by God as well as Marriage and signifieth also an honourable Collation of Power from the Universal King 11. Their Sacrament of Penance is no otherwise a Sacrament than many other fore-mentioned renewings of our Covenant are 12. Therefore the Papists seven Sacraments or septenary distribution is confused partly redundant partly defective and unworthy to be made a part of their faith or Religion or the matter of their pievish and ignorant contendings And they that peremptorily say without distinguishing that there are but two Sacraments in all do but harden them by the unwarrantable narrowing of the word Quest. 100. How far is it lawful needful or unlawful for a man to afflict himself by external Penances for sin Answ. Neg. 1. NOt to the destroying of his body life or health or the disabling or unfitting Isa. 58. â— 5 6 7 8 c. Matth. 9. 13. 12. 7. Matth. 6 1 3 5 6 17. Zâ—ch 8. 19. 2 Cor. 2. 7. Col. 2 22 23 24. Joel 1. 14. 2. 15. Dan. 9. 3. Aâ—â—â—â— 10. 13. 1 Cor 7. 5. â—uke 2 37. Maâ—â—h 4. 2. â— Sâ—m 12. 22. â—uke 18. 12. body or mind for the service of God 2. Not to be the expression of any sinful inordinate dejection despondency sorrow or despair 3. Not so as may be an outward appearance of such inordinate passions or as may be a scandal to others and deter them from Religion as a melancholy hurtful thing 4. Not as if God would accept the meer external self-afflicting for it self or as if he loved our hurt or as if we merited of him by our unprofitable voluntary troubles But 1. It is a duty to express true godly sorrow by its proper exercise and signs so far as either the acting of it or the increase or continuance by the means of those expressions is profitable to our selves 2. And also so far as is needful to the profiting of others by shewing them the evil of sin and drawing them to repentance 3. And so far as is necessary to the satisfying of the Church of the truth of our Repentance in
3. Either Christianity is something and discernable or nothing and undiscernable If the latter then Christians are not to be distinguished from Heathens and Infidels If the former then Christianity hath its Constitutive parts by which it is what it is And then it hath essential parts distinguishable from the rest 4. The word Fundamentals being but a Metaphor hath given room to deceivers and Contenders to make a Controversie and raise a dust about it Therefore I purposely use the word Essentials which is not so lyable to mens Cavils 5. Those are the Essentials of Christianity which are necessary to the Baptism of the Adult Know but that and you answer all the pratings of the Papists that bawle out for a list of Fundamentals And sure it is not this day unknown in the Christian world either what a Christian is or who is to be baptized Do not the Priests know it who baptize all that are Christened in the world And why is Baptism called our Christening if it make us not Christians And why hath Christ promised that He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Mark 16. 16. if that so much faith as is necessary to baptism will not also serve to a mans state of salvation 6. The Baptismal Covenant of Grace therefore is the Essential part of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion And all the rest are the Integrals and Accidents or Adjuncts 7. This Covenant containeth I. Objectively 1. Things True as such 2. Things Good as such 3. Things Practicable or to be done as such The Credenda Diligenda Eligenda Agenda as the objects of mans Intellect Will and Practical power The Credenda or things to be known and believed are 1. God as God and our God and Father 2. Christ as the Saviour and our Saviour 3. The Holy Ghost as such and as the Sanctifier and our Sanctifier as to the offer of these Relations in the Covenant The Diligenda are the same three persons in these three Relations as Good in themselves and unto us which includeth the grand benefits of Reconciliation and Adoption Justification and Sanctification and Salvation The Agenda in the time of baptism that make us Christians are 1. The actual Dedition resignation or dedication of our selves to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in these Relations 2. A Promise or Vow to endeavour faithfully to live according to our undertaken relations though not in perfection that is as Creatures to their Creator and their Reconciled God and Father as Christians to their Redeemer their Teacher their Ruler and their Saviour And as willing Receivers of the Sanctifying and Comforting operations of the Holy Spirit II. The Objects tell you what the Acts must be on our part 1. With the Understanding to know and believe 2 With the Will to love choose desire and resolve and 3. Practically to deliver up our selves for the present and to promise for the time to come These are the Essentials of the Christian Religion 8. The Creed is a larger explication of the Credenda and the Lords Prayer of the Diligenda or things to be willed desired and hoped for and the Decalogue of the Natural part of the Agenda 9. Suffer not your own Ignorance or the Papists Cheats to confound the Question about Fundamentals as to the Matter and as to the expressing words It is one thing to ask What is the Matter ☞ Essential to Christianity And another What Words Symbols or Sentences are Essential to it To the first I have now answered you To the second I say 1. Taking the Christian Religion as it is an Extrinsick Doctrine in signis so the Essence of it is Words and Signs expressive or significant of the Material Essence That they be such in specie is all that is essential And if they say But which be those words I answer 2. That no particular Words in the world are essential to the Christian Religion For 1. No one Language is essential to it It is not necessary to salvation that you be baptized or learn the Creed or Scriptures in Hebrew or Greek or Latin or English so you learn it in any Language understood 2. It is not necessary to salvation that you use the same words in the same Language as long as it hath more words than one to express the same thing by 3. It is not necessary to salvation that we use the same or any one single form method or order of words as they are in the Creeds without alteration And therefore while the Antients did tenaciously cleave to the same Symbol or Creed yet they used various words to express it by As may be seen in Irenâ—â—s Tertullian Origen and Ruffin elsewhere cited by me so that its plain that by the same Symbol they See the Appendix to my Reformed Pastor meant the same Matter though exprest in some variety of words Though they avoided such variety as might introduce variety of sense and matter 10. Words being needful 1. To make a Learner understand 2. To tell another what he understandeth it followeth that the great variety of mens capacities maketh a great variation in the necessity of Words or Forms An Englishman must have them in English and a Frenchman in French An understanding man may receive all the Essentials in a few words But an Ignorant man must have many words to make him understand the matter To him that Understandeth them the words of the Baptismal ☞ Covenant express all the Essentials of Christianity But to him that understands them not the Creed is necessary for the explication And to him that understandeth not that a Catechism or larger Exposition is necessary This is the plain explication of this question which many Papists seem loth to understand Quest. 139. What is the Use and Authority of the Creed And is it of the Apostles framing or not And is it the Word of God or not Answ. 1. THe Use of the Creed is to be a plain explication of the Faith professed in the Baptismal Covenant 1. For the fuller instruction of the duller sort and those that had not preparatory knowledge and could not sufficiently understand the meaning of the three Articles of the Covenant what it is to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost without more words 2. And for the satisfaction of the Church that indeed men understood what they did in baptism and professed to believe 2. The Creed is the Word of God as to all the Doctrine or Matter of it what ever it be as to the order and composition of words 3. That is oft by the Antients called the Apostles which containeth the matter derived by the Apostles though not in a form of words compiled by them 4. It is certain that all the words now in our Creed were not put in by the Apostles 1. Because Vid. 〈…〉 Vossiâ—m de Symbolis some of them were not in till long after their dayes 2. Because the
antient formulae agree not in words among themselves 5. It is not to be doubted of but the Apostles did appoint and use a Creed commonly in their ☞ dayes And that it is the same with that which is now called the Apostles and the Nicene in the main but not just the same composure of words nor had they any such precise composure as can be proved But this much is easily provable 1. That Christ Composed a Creed when he made his Covenant and instituted Baptism Matth. 28. 19. 2. That in the Jewish Church where men were educated in the knowledge of the Scriptures and expectation of the Mâ—ssiah it was supposed that the people had so much preparatory knowledge as made them the more capable of Baptism as soon as they did but seriously profess to Believe and Consent to the terms of the Covenant And therefore they were presently baptized Acts 2. 38 39 40. 3. That this could not be rationally supposed among the Gentiles and common Ignorant people of the world And Ignorantis non est Consensus He doth not Covenant who understandeth not the Covenant as to what is promised him and what he promiseth 4. That the Apostles baptized and caused others to baptize many thousands and settle many Churches before any part of the New Testament was written even many and many years 5. That the Apostles did their work as well and better than any that succeeded them 6. That their successors in the Common Ministery did as far as any Church History leadeth us up Instruct and Catechise men in the meaning of the Baptismal Covenant which is the Christian faith before they baptized them Yea they kept them long in the state of Catechumens usually before they would baptize them And after baptized but twice a year at Easter and Whitsontide as our Liturgy noteth And they received an account of their tolerable understanding of Religion before they would receive them into the Church 7. No doubt then but the Apostles did cause the baptizable to understand the three Articles of Christs own Creed and Covenant and to give some account of it before they baptized them ordinarily among the Gentiles 8. No doubt therefore but they used many more Explicatory words to cause them to understand those few 9. There is neither proof nor probability that they used a Composure of just the same words and no more or less Because they had to do with persons of several capacities some knowing who needed fewer words and some ignorant and dull who needed more Nor is any such Composure Heb. 5. 11 12. 6. 1 2 3. come down to our hands 10. But it is more than probable that the Matter opened by them to all the Catechumens was still the same when the words were not the same For Gods Promises and mans Conditions are still the same where the Gospel cometh Though since by the occasion of Heresies some few material clauses are inserted For all Christians had one Christianity and must go one way to Heaven 11. It is also more than probable that they did not needlesly vary the words lest it should teach men to vary the matter But that all Christians before baptism did make the same profession of faith as to the sense and very much the same as to the very words using necessary caution and yet avoiding unnecessary preciseness of formality But so as to obviate damnable Heresies that the Christian profession might attain its ends 12. Lastly No doubt but this practice of the Apostles was exemplary and imitated by the Churches and that thus the Essentials of Religion were by the tradition of the Creed and Baptism delivered 2 Tim. 1 13. 2 Cor. 3. 2 3 7. Heb. 8. 10. 10. 16. by themselves as far as Christianity went long before any Book of the New Testament was written And every Christian was an Impress or Transcript or Specimen of it And that the following Churches using the same Creed wholly in sense and mostly in words might so far well call it The Apostles Creed As they did both the Western and the Nicene Quest. 140. What is the use of Catechisms Answ. TO be a more familiar explication of the Essentials of Christianity and the principal Integrals in a larger manner than the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue do that the ignorant may the more easily understand it Every man cannot gather out of the Scripture the Greatest matters in the true method as distinct from all the rest And therefore it is part of the work of the Churches Teachers to do it to the hands and use of the ignorant Quest. 141. Could any of us have known by the Scriptures alone the Essentials of Religion from the Rest if Tradition had not given them to us in the Creed as from Apostolical Collection Answ. YEs For the Scripture it self telleth us what is necessary to salvation It describeth to us the Covenant of Grace both Promises and Conditions And it were strange if so large a Volume should not as plainly tell us what is necessary to salvation as fewer words The Scripture hath not Less than the Creed but more Quest. 142. What is the best Method of a true Catechism or Summ of Theology Answ. GOd willing I shall tell the Church my opinion of that at large in a peculiar Latin Treatise called Methodus Theologiae which here I cannot do Only I shall say that among all the great variety of Methods used in these times I think none cometh nearer the Order of the Matter which is the true Commendation of a Method than those which open Theology 1. In the breviate of the Baptismal Covenant 2. In the three explicatory summs the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue with the added Gospel Precepts 3. In the Largest form which is the whole Scripture And that our common English Catechism and Paraeus or Ursine and many such who use that common easie Method are more truly Methodical than most that pretend to greater accu 〈…〉 ness Though I much commend the great industry of such as Dudley Fenner Gomarrus and 〈…〉 cially George Sohenius Quest. 143. What is the use of various Church Confessions or Articles of Faith Answ. I Will pass by the very ill use that is made of them in too many Countreys where unnecessary opinions or uncertain are put in and they that can get into favour with the Secular Power take advantage under pretence of Orthodoxness and Uniformity Truth and Peace to set up their opinions and judgements to be the common rule for all to bow to though wiser than themselvâ—s And to silence all Ministers and scatter and divide the flocks that will not say or swear as they do that is that they are wise men and are in the right The true and commendable use of various Church Professions or Confessions of faith is 1. To be an Instruction to the more ignorant how to understand the Scriptures in most of the most weighty points 2. To be an enumeration of
to true penitent believers with a right to everlasting life and as to the obligation to sincere obedience for salvation though not as to the yet future coming of Christ in the flesh And this Law of Grace was never 2 Tim. 3. 15. Rom. 15. 4. 16. 26. yet repealed any further than Christs coming did fulfill it and perfect it Therefore to the rest of the world who never can have the Gospel or perfecter Testament as Christians have the former ☞ Law of Grace is yet in force And that is the Law conjoyned with the Law of Nature which now the world without the Church is under Under I say as to the force of the Law and a former Matth. 22. 29. Luke 24. 27 32 45. John 5. â—9 Acts 17. 2. 11. 18. 24 25. John 20. 9. John 7. 38 42. 10. 35. 13. 18. 19. 24 28. Luke 4. 18. 21. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. Acts 8. 32 33 35. Rom. 1. 2. promulgation made to Adam and Noah and some common intimations of it in merciful forbearances pardons and benefits though how many are under it as to the knowledge reception belief and obedience of it and consequently are saved by it is more than I or any man knoweth 6. There are many Prophecies of Christ and the Christian Church in the Old Testament yet to be fulfilled and therefore are still Gods Word for us 7. There are many Precepts of God to the Jews and to particular persons given them on Reasons common to them with us where parity of Reason will help thence to gather our own duty now 8. There are many holy expressions as in the Psalms which are fitted to persons in our condition and came from the Spirit of God and therefore as such are fit for us now 9. Even the fulfilled Promises Types and Prophecies are still Gods Word that is his Word given to their several proper uses And though much of their Use be changed or ceased so is not all They are yet useful to us to confirm our faith while we see their accomplishment and see how much God still led his Church to Happiness in one and the same way 10. On all these accounts therefore we may still Read the Old Testament and preach upon it in the publick Churches Quest. 156. Must we believe that Moses Law did ever bind other Nations or that any other parts of the Scripture bound them or belonged to them or that the Iews were all Gods Visible Church on Earth Answ. I Conjoyn these three Questions for dispatch I. 1. Some of the Matter of Moses Law did Rom. 2. Rom. 1. 20 21 Enod 12. 19 43 48 49. 20. 10. Lev. 17. 12 15. 18. 26. 24. 16 22. Numb 9. 14. 15. 14 15 16 29 30. 19. 10. Deut. 1. 16. bind all Nations that is The Law of nature as such 2. Those that had the knowledge of the Jewish Law were bound â—ollaterally to believe and obey all the expositions of the Law of nature in it and all the Laws which were given upon reasons common to all the world As about degrees of Marriage particular rules of Justice c. As if I heard God from Heaven tell another that standeth by me Thou shalt not marry thy fathers Widow for it is abominable I ought to apply that to me being his subject which is spoken to another on a common reason 3. All those Gentiles that would be proselytes and joyn with the Jews in their policy and dwell among them were bound to be observers of their Laws But 1. The Law of Nature as Mosaical did not formally and directly bind other Nations 2. Nâ—r were they bound to the Laws of their peculiar policy Civil or Ecclesiastical which were positives The reason is 1. Because they were all one body of Political Laws given peculiarly to one political body Even the Decalogue it self was to them a political Law 2. Because Moses was not authorized or sent to be the Mediator or deliverer of that Law to any Nation but the Jews And being never in the enacting or Promulgation sent or directed to the rest of the World it could not bind them II. As to the second Question Though the Scripture as a writing bound not all the World yet 1. The Law of Nature as such which is recorded in Scripture did bind all 2. The Covenant of Psal. 145. 9 103. 19. Psal. 100. 1. Rom. 14. 11. Act. 34 35. Jud. 14. 15. Grace was made with all mankind in Adam and Noe And they were bound to promulgate it by Tradition to all their off-spring And no doubt so they did whether by word as all did or by writing also as it 's like some did as Henochs Prophesies were it 's like delivered or else they had not in terms been preserved till Iudes time 3. And God himself as aforesaid by actual providences pardoning and benefits given to them that deserved hell did in part promulgate it himself 4. The neighbour Nations might learn much by Gods doctrine and dealing with the Jews III. To the third Question I answer 1. The Jews were a people chosen by God out of all the Deut. 14. 2 3. 7. 2. 6 7. Exod. 19. 5. 6. 7 8. Lev. 20. 24 26. Deut. 4. 20 33. 29. 13. 33. 29. Rom. 3. 1 2 3. Nations of the Earth to be a holy Nation and his peculiar treasure having a peculiar Divine Law and Covenant and many great priviledges to which the rest of the World were strangers so that they were advanced above all other Kingdoms of the world though not in wealth nor worldly power nor largeness of Dominion yet in a special dearness unto God 2. But they were not the only people to whom God made a Covenant of Grace in Adam and Noe as distinct from the Law or Covenant of Innocency 3. Nor were they the only people that professed to Worship the true God neither was holiness and salvation confined to them but were found in other Nations Therefore though we have but little notice of the state of other Kingdoms in their times and scarcely know what National Churches that is whole Nations professing saving faith there were yet we may well conclude that there were other visible Churches besides the Jews For 1. No Scripture denyeth it and charity then must hope the best 2. The Scriptures of the Old Testament give us small account of other Countreys but of the Jews alone with some of their Neighbours 3. Sem was alive in Abrahams dayes yea about 34 years after Abrahams death and within 12 years of Ismaels death viz. till about An. Mundi 2158. And so great and blessed a man as Sem cannot be thought to be less than a King and to have a Kingdom governed according to his holiness and so that there was with him not only a Church but a National Church or holy Kingdom 4. And Melchizedeck was a holy King and
act of sin And when an unmortified lust or love of the world doth hurry you to the halter by sinful discontent And what hope of pardon without Repentance How exceeding likely therefore is it that when ever you put your selves out of your present pain and trouble you send your souls to endless torments And will it ease you to pass from poverty or crosses into Hell Or will you damn your souls because another wrongeth you O the madness of a sinner Who will you think hath wronged you most when you feel Hell fire Are you aweary of your lives and will you go to Hell for ease Alas how quickly would you be glad to be here again in a painfuller condition than that which you were so weary of yea and to endure it a thousand years Suppose you saw Hell before your eyes Would you leap into it Is not time of Repentance a mercy to be valued Yea a little reprieve from endless misery is better than nothing What need you make haste to come to Hell Will it not be soon enough if you stay thence as long as you can And why will you throw away your hopes and put your selves past all possibility of recovery before God put you so himself § 6. Direct 6. Understand the wonders of mercy revealed and bestowed on mankind in Iesus Christ Direct 6. and understand the tenour of the Covenant of Grace The ignorance of this is it that keepeth a bitter taste upon your Spirits and maketh you cry out Forsaken and Undone when such Miracles of mercy are wrought for your salvation And the ignorance of this is it that maketh you foolishly cry out There is no hope The day of grace is past It is too late God will never shew me mercy When his Word assureth all that will believe it that who ever confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy Prov. 28 13. And if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive 1 John 1. 9. And that whoever will may freely drink of the waters of life Rev. 22. 17. And that whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 17. I have no other hope of my salvation but that Gospel which promiseth pardon and salvation unto all that at any time repent and turn to God by faith in Christ And I dare lay my salvation on the truth of this that Christ never rejected any sinner how great soever that at any time in this life was truly willing to come to him and to God by him John 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out But the malitious Devil would â—ain make God seem odious to the soul and representeth Love it self as our enemy that we might not Love him Despair is such a part of Hell that if he could bring us to it he would think he had us half in Hell already and then he would urge us to dispatch our selves that we might be there indeed and our despair might be uncurable How blind is he that seeth not the Devil in all this CHAP. IX Directions for the forgiving of Enemies and those that injure us Against Wrath See Tom. 1. Ch. against Anger and Malice and Revenge and Persecution § 1. IT is not only actual Murder which is forbidden in the sixth Commâ—ndment but also all inordinate Wrath and Malice and desires of Revenge and injuring the person of our neighbour or our enemy For so the Prophet and Judge of the Church hath himself expounded it Mat. 5. 21 22. Anger hath a hurting inclination and Malice is a fixed Anger and Revenge is the fruit of both or either of them He that will be free from injurious actions must subdue that wrath and malice which is their cause Heart-murders and injuries must be carefully rooted up For out of the Heart proceed evil thoughts and murders c. Matth. 15. 19. This is the fire of Hell on which an evil tongue is set Iames 3. 6. and this must be quenched if you would be innocent § 2. Direct 1. See God in your neighbour and Love him for that of God which is upon him If he Direct 1. be Holy he hath the Moral Image of God If he be unholy he hath his Natural Image as he is a man He is not only Gods Creature but his Reasonable Creature and the Lord of his inferiour works And art thou a child of God and yet canst not see him and love him in his works Without God he is nothing whom thou art so much offended with And though there be somewhat in him which is not of God which may deserve thy hatred yet that is not his substance or person Hate not or wrong not that which is of God It would raise in you such a reverence as would asswage your wrath if you could but see God in him that you are displeased with § 3. Direct 2. To this end observe more the Good which is in your neighbour than the evil Malice Direct 2. overlooketh all that is good and amiable and can see nothing but that which is bad and detestable It hearkeneth more to them that dispraise and open the faults of others than to those that praise them and declare their virtues Not that Good and Evil must be confounded But the Good as well as the Evil must be acknowledged We have more use our selves for the observation of their virtues than of their faults and it is more our duty And were it never so little good that is in them the right observing of it at least would much diminish your dislike § 4. Direct 3. Learn but to Love your neighbour as your self and this will make it easie to you both Direct 3. to forbear him and forgive him With your self you are not apt to be so angry Against your self you bear no malice nor desire no revenge that shall do you hurt As you are angry with your self penitently for the faults you have committed but not so as to desire your own destruction or final hurt but with such a displeasure as tendeth to your recovery so also must you do by others Direct 4. To this end be sure to mortifie your self ishness For it is the inordinate respect Direct 4. that men have to themselves which maketh them aggravate the faults of all that are against them or offend them Be humble and self-denying and you will think your selves so mean and inconsiderable that no fault can be very great nor deserve much displeasure meerly as it is against you A proud self-esteeming man is easily provoked and hardly reconciled without great submission because he thinketh so highly of himself that he thinketh heinously of all that is said or done against him and he is so over-dear to himself that he is impatient with his adversary § 5. Direct 5. Be not your own Iudge in cases of setled malice or revenge but let some impartial Direct 5. sober by
your selves their Riches their health their Honours their Lordships their Kingdoms yea more their knowledge and learning and grace and happiness are partly to you as your own As the comforts of Wife and Children and your dearest friends are And as our Love to Christ and the blessed Angels and Saints in Heaven doth make their joyes to be partly ours How excellent and easie and honest a way is this of making all the world your own and receiving that benefit and pleasure from all things both in Heaven and Earth which no distance no malice of enemies can deny you If those whom you truly Love have it you have it Why then do you complain that you have no more health or wealth or honour or that others are preferred before you Love your neighbours as your selves and then you will be comforted in his health his wealth and his preferment and say Those have it whom I love as my self and therefore it is to me as mine own When you see your neighbours Houses Pastures Corn and Cattle Love will make it as good and pleasant to you as if it were your own Why else do you rejoyce in the portions and estates of your children as if it were your own The covetous man saith O how glad should I be if this House this Land this Corn were mine But love will make you say It is all to me as mine own What a sure and cheap way is this of making all the world your own O what a mercy doth God bestow on his servants souls in the day that he sanctifieth them with unfeigned love How much doth he give us in that one grace And O what a world of blessing and comforts do the ungodly the malitious the selfish and the censorious cast away when they cast away or quench the love of their neighbours And what abundance of calamity do they bring upon themselves In this one summary instance we may see how much Religion and obedience to God doth tend to our own felicity and delight And how easie a work it would be if a wicked heart did not make it difficult And how great a plague sin is unto the sinner And how fore a punishment of it self And by this you may see what it is that all fallings-out divisions and contentions tend to And all temptations to the abatement of our love And who it is that is the greater loser by it when love to our neighbour is lost And that backbiters and censurers who speak ill of others come to us as the greatest enemies and thieves to rob us of our chiefest jewel and greatest comfort in this world And accordingly should they be entertained CHAP. XXVIII Special Cases and Directions for Love to Godly persons as such Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Love to the Godly WHom we must take for Godly I answered before Chap. 24. Tit. 1. Quest. 5. Quest. 1. How can we love the Godly when no man can certainly know who is sincerely Quest. 1. godly Answ. Our love is not the love of God which is guided by infallibility but the love of man which is guided by the dark and fallible discerning of a man The fruits of piety and charity we infallibly see in their lives But the saving truth of that grace which is or ought to be the root we must judge of according to the probability which those signs discover and love men accordingly Quest. 2. Must we love those as godly who can give no sensible account of their conversion for the Quest. 2. time or manner or evidence of it Answ. We must take none for godly who shew no credible evidence of true conversion that is of true faith and Repentance But there is many a one truly godly who through natural defect of understanding or utterance are not able in good sense to tell you what Conversion is not to describe the manner in which it was wrought upon them much less to define exactly the time or Sermon when it was first wrought which few of the best Christians are able to do especially of them who had pious education and were wrought on in their childhood But if the Covenant of Grace be wisely opened to them according to their capacity and they deliberately and soberly and voluntarily profess their present assent and consent thereto they do thereby give you the credible evidence of a true conversion till you have sufficient contrary evidence to disprove it For none but a converted man can truly repent and believe in God the Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier according to the Baptismal Covenant Quest. 3. But what if he be so ignorant that he cannot tell what faith or repentance or redemption or Quest. 3. sanctification or the Covenant of Grace is Answ. If you have sufficient evidence that indeed he doth not at all understand the essentials of the Sacramental Covenant you may conclude that he is not truly godly Because he cannot consent to what he knoweth not Ignorantis non est consensus And if you have no evidence of such knowledge you have no evidence of his godliness but must suspend your judgement But yet many a one understandeth the essentials of the Covenant who cannot tell another what they are Therefore his mind in case of great disability of utterance must be fished out by Questions to which his Yea or No will discover what he understandeth and consenteth to You would not refuse to do so by one of another language or a dumb man who understood you but could answer you but by broken words or signs And verily ill education may make a great many of the phrases of Scripture and religious language as strange to some men though spoken in their native tongue as if it were Greek or Latin to them who yet may possibly understand the matter A wise Teacher by well composed questions may without fraud or formality discern what a man understandeth though he say but Yea or No when an indiscreet unskilful man will make his own unskilfulness and uncharitableness the occasion of contemptuous trampling upon some that are as honest as himself If a mans desires and endeavours are to that which is good and he be willing to be taught and use the means it must be very gross ignorance indeed and well-proved that must disprove his profession of faith If he competently understand what it is to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier he understandeth all that is absolutely necessary to salvation And his Yea or No may sometime signifie his understanding it Quest. 4. Must I take the visible members of the Church because such for truly godly Quest. 4. Answ. Yes except when you have particular sufficient proof of their hypocrisie Certainly no man doth sincerely enter into the Baptismal Covenant but he that is sincerely a penitent believer if at age For that Covenant giveth actual pardon and adoption to those that sincerely enter into it the very
is not For 1. All the punishment is not removed 2. The final absolving sentence is to come 3. The pardon which we have is as to its continuance but conditional And the tenour of the Covenant would cease the pardon even of all sins past if the sinners faith and repentance should cease I speak not de eventu whether ever any do fall away but of the tenour of the Covenant which may prevent falling away Now a pardon which hath much yet to be done as the condition of its continuance is not so perfect as it will be when all those things are performed Quest. 10. May Pardon or Iustification be reversed or lost Quest. 10. Answ. Whether God will eventually permit his true servants to fall so far as to be unjustified is a Controversie which I have written of in a fitter place 2. But quoad robur peccatoris it is alas too easie to fall away and be unjustified 3. And as to the tenour of the Covenant it continueth the promise and threatning conditionally and supposing the sinner defectible doth threaten damnation to them that are now justified if they should not persevere but apostatize Col. 1. 33. Rom. 11. 22. Iohn 15. 9. Quest. 11. Is the pardon of my own sins to be believed fide divina And is it the meaning of that Quest. 11. Article of the Creed I believe the pardon of my sins Answ. I am to believe fide divina that Christ hath purchased and enacted a conditional pardon which is universal and therefore extendeth to my sins as well as to other mens And that he commandeth his Ministers to offer me this and therein to offer me the actual pardon of all my sins to be mine if I truly repent and believe And that if I do so my sins are actually pardoned And I am obliged accordingly to believe in Christ and take him for my Saviour for the pardon of my sins But this is all the meaning of the Creed and Scripture and all that is of Divine belief 2. But that I am actually pardoned is not of Divine faith but only on supposition that I first believe which Scripture telleth not whether I do or not In strict sense I must first believe in Christ for pardon And next in a larger sense I must believe that I am pardoned that is I must so conclude by an act of reason one of the premises being de fide and the other of internal self-knowledge Quest. 12. May a man trust in his own faith or repentance for his pardon and justification in Quest. 12. any kind Answ. Words must be used with respect to the understanding of the hearers And perilous expressions must be avoided lest they deceive men But de re 1. You must not trust to your faith or repentance to do that which is proper to God or to Christ or to the Gospel or for any mâ—re than their own part which Christ hath assigned them 2. You must trust to your faith and repentance for that which is truly their own part And should you not trust them at all you must needs despair or trust presumptuously to you know not what For Christ will not be instead of faith or repentance to you Quest. 13. What are the several causes and conditions of pardon Quest. 13. Answ. 1. God the Father is the principal efficient giving us Christ and pardon with and through him 2 Christs person by his Sacrifice and Merits is the Meritorious Cause 3. The Gospel Covenant or Promise is the Instrumental Cause or Gods pardoning Act or Grant 4. Repentance is the Condition sine qua non necessary directly gratiâ finis in respect to God to whom we must turn 5. Faith in Christ is the Condition sine qua non directly gratiâ medii principalis in respect to the Mediator who is thereby received 6. The Holy Ghost worketh us to these conditions Tit. 2. Directions for obtaining Pardon from God Direct 1. UNderstand well the Office of Iesus Christ as our Redeemer and what it is that he Direct 1. hath done for sinners and what he undertaketh further to do For if you know not Christs Office and undertaking you will either be ignorant of your true remedy or will deceive your selves by a presumptuous trust that he will do that which is contrary to his Office and Will Direct 2. Understand well the tenour of the Covenant of Grace for there it is that you must Direct 2. know what Christ will give and to whom and on what terms Direct 3. Understand well the nature of true faith and repentance or else you can neither tell how Direct 3. to obtain pardon nor to judge of it Direct 4. Absolutely give up your selves to Christ in all the Office of a Mediator Priest Prophet Direct 4. and King And think not to be justified by one act or part of Christianity by alone believing in Christ as a sacrifice for sin To be a true Believer and to be a true Christian is all one and is the faith in Christ which is the condition of justification and salvation Study the Baptismal Covenant For the Believing in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost there meant is the true faith which is the condition of our pardon Direct 5. Be sure that your Repentance contain in it a Desire to be perfectly holy and free from all Direct 5. sin and a Resolution against all known and wilful sinning and particularly that you would not commit the same sins if you had again the same temptations supposing that we speak not of such infirmities as good men live in which yet you must heartily desire to forsake Direct 6. Pray earnestly and believingly for pardon through Christ Even for the continuance of Direct 6. your former pardon and for renewed pardon for renewed sins For prayer is Gods appointed means and included in faith and repentance which are the summary conditions Direct 7. Set all right between you and your neighbours by forgiving others and being reconciled Direct 7. to them and confessing your injuries against them and making them restitution and satisfaction For this also is included in your repentance and expresly made the condition of your pardon Direct 8. Despise not the Sacramental delivery of pardon by the Ministers of Christ For this belongeth Direct 8. to the full investiture and possession of the benefit Nor yet the spiritual consolation of a skilful faithful Pastor nor publick absolution upon publick repentance if you should fall under the need of such a remedy Direct 9. Sin no more I mean Resolvedly break off all that wilful sin of which you do repent Direct 9. For repentings and purposes and promises of a new and holy life which are uneffectual will never prove the pardon of your sins but shew your Repentance to be deceitful Direct 10. Set your selves faithfully to the use of all those holy means which God hath appointed Direct 10. for the overcoming of
selfishness and pride and sensual pleasing of the fleshly appetite and fancy These are the most common radical and most mortal damning sins Direct 10. Take certain times to call your selves to a special strict account As 1. At your preparation Direct 10. for the Lords Day at the end of every Week 2. In your preparation for the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood 3. And before a day of Humiliation 4. In a time of sickness or other affliction 5. Yea every night review the actions of the foregoing day He that useth to call his conscience seriously to account is likest to keep his accounts in order and to be ready to give them up to Christ. Direct 11. Make not light of any sin which you discover in your self-examination But humble Direct 11. your selves for it before the Lord and be affected according to its importance both in its guilt and evil signification Direct 12. And let the end of all be the renewed exercise of faith and thankfulness and resolutions Direct 12. for better obedience hereafter That you may see more of the need and use of a Saviour and may thankfully magnifie that Grace which doth abound where sin abounded and may walk the more watchfully and holily for the time to come Tit. 3. Directions for Self-judging as to our Estates to know whether we are in a regenerate and justified state or not Direct 1. IF you would so judge of the state of your souls as not to be deceived come not to Direct 1. the tryal with an over-confident prejudice or conceit of your own condition either as good or bad He that is already so prepossessed as to resolve what to judge before he tryeth doth make his tryal but a means to confirm him in his conceit Direct 2. Let not self-love partiality or pride on the one side or fear on the other side pervert Direct 2. your judgement in the tryal and hinder you from the discerning of the truth Some men cannot see the clearest evidences of their unsanctified hearts because self-love will give them leave to believe nothing of themselves which is bad or sad They will believe that which is good and pleasant be it never so evidently false As if a Thief could be saved from the Gallows by a strong conceit that he is a true man or the conceit that one is learned would make him learned Others through timerousness can believe nothing that is good or comfortable of themselves Like a man on the top of a Steeple who though he know that he standeth fast and safe yet trembleth when he looketh down and can scarce believe his own understanding Silence all the Objections of an over-timerous mind and it will doubt and tremble still Direct 3. Surprise not your selves on the sudden and unprepared with the question whether you Direct 3. are justified or not but set about it as the most serious business of your life A great and difficult question must have a well studied answer and not be answered hastily and rashly If one should meet you in the Street and demand some great and long account of you you would desire him to stay till you review your memorials or have time to cast it up Take some appointed time to do this when you have no intruding thoughts to hinder you and think not that it must be resolved easily or quickly upon the first enquiry but by the most sober and judicious consideration and patient attendance till it be done Direct 4. Understand the tenour of the Covenant of Grace which is the Law that you must Direct 4. judge of your estates by for if you mistake that you will err in the conclusion He is an unfit Judge who is ignorant of the Law Direct 5. Mistake not the nature of true faith in Christ. Those that think it is a believing that Direct 5. they are actually pardoned and shall be saved do some of them presume or believe it when it is false and some of them despair because they cannot believe it And those that think that faith is such a recumbency on Christ as alwayes quieteth the mind do think they have no faith when they have no such quietness And those that think it is only the resting on the blood of Christ for pardon do take up with that which is no true faith But he that knoweth that faith in Christ is nothing else but Christianity or consenting to the Christian Covenant may know that he Consenteth even when he findeth much timerousness and trouble and taketh not up with a deceitful faith Direct 6. Remember in your self-judging that the Will is the Man and what you truly would Direct 6. be that you are in the sense of the Covenant of Grace Direct 7. But remember also that your Endeavours must prove the truth of your Desires and that Direct 7. idle wishes are not the denominating acts of the Will Direct 8. Also your successes must be the proof of the sincerity of your Endeavours For such Direct 8. striving against sin as endeth in yielding to it and not in victory is no proof of the uprightness of your hearts Direct 9. Mark what you are in the day of tryal For at other times it is more easie to be Direct 9. deceived And record what you then discover in your self What a man is in tryal that he is indeed Direct 10. Especially try your selves in the great point of forsaking all for Christ and for the Direct 10. hopes of the fruition of God in Glory Know once whether God or the Creature can do more with you and whether Heaven or Earth be dearer to you and most esteemed and practically preferred and then you may judge infallibly of your state Direct 11. Remember that in melancholy and weakness of understanding you are not fit for Direct 11. the casting up of so great accounts but must take up with the remembrance of former discoveries and with the judgement of the judicious and be patient till a fitter season before you can expect to see in your selves the clear evidence of your state Direct 12. Neither forget what former discoveries you have made nor yet wholly rest in them Direct 12. without renewing your self-examination They that have found their sincerity and think that the next time they are in doubt they should fetch no comfort from what is past do deprive themselves of much of the means of their peace And those that trust all to the former discoveries of their good estate do proceed upon unsafe and negligent principles and will find that such slothful and venturous courses will not serve turn Direct 13. Iudge not of your selves by that which is unusual and extraordinary with you but by Direct 13. the tenour and drift of your hearts and lives A bad man may seem good in some good mood and a good man may seem bad in some extraordinary fall To judge of a bad man