that Distinction I do not I say distribute One Thing into its Two Parts or Adjuncts but I distribute One Word or Homonymous Term into Two Things signified by it To be Vnited to Christ by his Spirit so as to Have Him a Head of Influences to me for Spiritual Life and Salvation is One Thing and to be of the number of Those who are brought under his Positive Institutions and Subject themselves to his Officers for the proper End and so Have Him as a Political Head only for External Government though it be in order to bring them on to Saving Grace and into the Mystical Church also is Another If I speak of the Seed of Abraham To be his Seed by Birth is One Thing and to be his Seed by Faith is Another It is One Thing to be an Outward Jew or a Jew by Nature and Circumcision in the Flesh and it is Another to be an Inward Jew by Circumcision in the Spirit by Grace and Keeping the Commandments of God And what a Distribution then is this Why It is Distributio Homonymi sive Equivocantis in Equivocata And the Distribution of a Genus into its Species of a Whole into its Parts of a Subject into its Adjuncts being as I count Distributiones Vnivoci This can be none of those Three Here is Idem Nomen the same Word or Term CHVRCH but Nominis Ratio Diversa the Reason of the Denomination the Conceptus Objectivus not the Same When there is One Name then there are Two Things The Things are diverse and disparate but not Two Species of One Genus or Two Parts of One Integrum or Two Accidents of One Subject there is no need of That The Political Body is One Society and the Mystical Body is One Society Both are headed by One Christ Both are Catholick and Both are One and One Person may be a Member of Both but Both are not the Same It is not a Distribution of an Integrum into its diverse Sorts of Members as I have been formerly apt to think because the Coetus then must be One when That Coetus which consists of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate and That which consists of the Regenerate Only cannot be One and the Same Coetus but Two Especially when there may be Some who are Members of the Church Mystical as being already in a State of Salvation and not yet Admitted into the Congregate or Political Body either Vniversal or Particular for so I use these Terms Act. 10.4 22 35. Rom. 2.26 27. as well as Many who are Members of a Christian Congregation but Foreigners to the Assembly of Heaven It is not a Distribution of a Subject into its Adjuncts for the same Reason which yet our Divines intend by their Terms Visible and Invisible already noted The Church which is Christ's Church is that One Mystical Body of the Elect and Regenerate only according to them distinguished into a double Respect or Consideration thereof as Invisibly or Visibly such that is as Men be Indeed or in Appearance Members of it A goodly Distribution As if we should divide Man in Specie into its Singulars Plato Socrates Paul John and the Pictures of Men when the Picture of a Man is No Man and a Visible Member No Member that is a dividing a Church-Member or Church into one that is One and into one that is None Besides that this is a Conception as before intimated that makes the Apostle understand by the Outward Jew when he distinguishes them Rom. 2. to be the Inward One according to Appearance one that appears to be an Inward One or a Jew only Putativè secundum apparentiam as they speak when nothing is more contrary to his Mind who means undoubtedly a Jew by Nature as Gal. 2. one of Abraham's Seed according to the Flesh Born a Jew and thereby having a Right to Circumcision and the Consequences of it The Formal Reason giving Being and Relation to One Church is distinct and different quite from That which Constituteth and giveth Relation to the Other I am nevertheless afraid to say likewise That it is a Distribution of a Genus into its Species because the making Two Churches specifically distinct under One Vnivocum Vnivocans will be Absonant I doubt to the General Ear though if any will make the Coetus Vocatorum the Number of the Called in Genere to be divided into the Number of the Called Effectually and of the Externally Called and then divide these as the Species into their Singulars Peter Paul Regenerate Judas Simon Unregenerate I shall be far from falling out with them who must rather declare That if they can make it good they have won our CAVSE For my part I am only pretty sure methinks of This that the term CHVRCH is Homonymous and so long as I go no farther than I do I seem to my self the more safe For thus much appears The Inward Jew hath another Relation to God than the Outward in regard to which the Outward Jew is said to be No Jew that is None as so meant when in regard to that Relation which is common to Both he was a Jew the true proper Jew and the Other but Metaphorically so having the same Priviledges thereof equal with the Other It is One thing to have One of these Relations and to have the Other is Another and the Societies to which they relate therefore are not the Same To be Called is One thing to be Elected Another The Mystical Church is the Number of the Spiritual Seed Inward Jew or Christian or of the Elect The Political Church is the Number of the Called To speak yet more exactly There is the Kingdom of Christ and there are Some Persons among them whom He Chooses to give his Special Grace and Spirit unto and thereby to make them One with Himself in another or stricter manner than the rest These Select or Elect Persons are sometimes called the Church and sometimes this whole Kingdom is called the Church This Kingdom is Vniversal or Catholick because it is over the World These Elect are Catholick because scattered here and there every where in it This Kingdom is One because they are All under One Head and Government and have One Faith and One Baptism Ephes 4.5 These Elect are One because united into a Mystical Body even so as to be said One Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 If Divines had used to distinguish these Two Things by Two Words and called the One Christ's Kingdom and the Other the Church the Matter would have been more easie But when they are Both called the Church I am forced to distinguish the word Church and tell That I understand by it Christ's Kingdom that which is called the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel Matth. 13.44 Mar. 4.26 Act. 20.25 And if it appear that Vnregenerate Men are of This Kingdom Matth. 8.12 it is all one to me as to say They are of the Church Unto Christ's Kingdom certainly
a holy People unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special People unto Himself above all the People that are upon the Face of the Earth Deut. 7.6 So again Chap. 14. Vers 2. A Special People a Peculiar People from whence this Covenant we speak of is called by some the Covenant of Peculiarity as by me the Covenant of Advantage from the Words before of the Apostle What Advantage then hath the Jew He hath shewed His Mind unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any other Nation Psal 147.19 20. To whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving the Law and the Service of God and the Promises Rom. 19.4 By the Adoption I understand that Sonship only which they had by their Admission into this outward Relation of being God's peculiar People By the Covenants I understand nothing but this same Covenant of Advantage given at first to Abraham and renewed after by Moses and so called Two Covenants the Covenant of Circumcision and the Covenant which God made with the Jews when He took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Act. 7.8 Heb. 8.9 By the Promises likewise we must understand either those that were made only to that People or if the great Promise of Salvation by Christ be included also we must understand that they belonged to the Israelites in regard to the Revelation that is they only had the Revelation of them but the Matter revealed belong'd alike to all the World It is true that Abraham was the first Man with whom God entred Covenant understanding it of this Covenant of Advantage or Peculiarity and he is the first Elect therefore we read of in Scripture Thou art the Lord the God who didst choose Abraham and broughtst him out of Vr of the Châ—ldees Nehem. 9.7 It is an Election into this peculiar State or relation to God in regard to his Conventional Government we are speaking of and as all the Israelites are said to be his Chosen People It is not to be understood of that Decree of Election which Divines dispute of from other Texts but is equivalent with his Call Get thee out of thy Countrey unto a Land that I will shew thee Gen. 12.1 God's choosing Abraham and calling him into this peculiar Relation is but the same thing but it is One thing to be Chosen in regard to that Election which is unto Everlasting Life and Another to be only Called Many are called says Christ and few chosen This is indeed here very certain and to be observed that it was in Abraham and his Family God was pleased to lay the First Foundation of any Corporation formed under distinguishing Laws or Institutions for his Solemn Service or Worship which is properly to be a Church A Church from the Word in the Greek is a Number of the Called that is called out of the World as it is Idolatrous or given to false Worship unto the owning the true God and his Government according to his own Institutions which was begun in the Commonwealth and Polity of Israel Circumcision being preliminary to it and is now and shall be continued in the Congregations of Christians to the end of the World This Covenant then which God made with the Jews when He brought them out of Egypt appears to be no other than such a Covenant as passes between a Prince and his Subjects that is a Political Covenant God undertaking to be their Ruler and they promising him Allegiance so that the Common-wealth of Israel was indeed a Theocracy insomuch as when the People chose Saul for their Prince they are said to reject God for the Lord their God was their King 1 Sam. 12.12 Not but He continued this Conventional-Government of His for all that allowing of their Kings as his Vicegerents having his House or Temple to dwell amongst them where he kept also his Servants or Houshold the Priests and Levites receiving their Offerings as Rents for maintaining his Attendants This Kingdom was not to cease untill Christ his Son the Messiah should come into the World and then indeed he broke up House and delivered up the same to him The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet untill Shiloh come and to Him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49.10 We read therefore when Christ had finished the Work of Man's Redemption and Rose from the Dead He takes upon Him the Administration of this Government All Power is given me in Heaven and Earth Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel Matth. 28.18 Mar. 16.15 What is that but Go and gather all those that will come in and Incorporate as the People who are to be gathered to Me that is that will embody as Christians who then are to be Baptized and so to continue in Doctrine in Fellowship breaking Bread and Prayer which are Laws and Institutions of his Government I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion Ask of Me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the utmost Parts of the Earth for thy Possession That Kingdom which God had over the â—ews in regard to this voluntary Government He hath now given to his Son and all the World that will are to be brought into it Upon this account is the State of the Church under the Gospel that is the Christian Church so often called the Kingdom of God And Jesus began to Preach Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of the Messiah fore-told in the Prophets and the Terms were not strange to the Jews They thought indeed the Messiah would come for the Restauration of the Kingdom to Israel by Conquering the Romans and subjecting all the Nations and so reigning in outward Glory but they were deceived not in the Matter it self nor in the Greatness and Extent of his Dominions but they were deceived in the Manner of it which was not to be of this World that is not from it or to be set up by Worldly Means by Armies or the Sword but by the Word yet is it a Kingdom in the World and as other Kingdoms comprehends the Bodies as well as Souls of Men and Women living under Subjection to his Government in that External way of Worship and Discipline as by his own Officers and Ordinances He hath appointed in the Gospel It is therefore a mistaken Notion which our Divines have ordinarily taken up of the Church accounting it to be the Number only of the Regenerate and Elect which in the first Apprehension is the Number of the Called and the Called are ex intentione vocantis more than the Chosen It is true that the Church in some Scriptures speaking of it to other Purposes is to be understood of the Elect only So we read of the Church of the
Whosoever Will be saved May be saved God Wills it and it is Man only Will not And shall we think that if any would come in to these External Means whereby his Grace is Communicated that they are to be Refused It is a strange thing that Divines should be able to see how Christ how the Spirit it self or its Help can be the Fruit of Vniversal Grace and yet their Eyes be holden as not to see the External Ordinances to be so while they make the Church to consist of the Regenerate only I pray let us consider a little of other Societies What is it makes a Man the Member of any other Society which he may be of if he will Is it not his Consent only to be of it his Coming-in it self that which gives him his Right and makes him one of that Company And why is it otherwise with the Church or Society of Christians It is the Will of a Man upon his Hearing the Gospel Preached or his Receiving the Gospel Preached so as to be Willing is the Foundation I should say Condition to speak exactly of his Right to be Received If he will be Baptized upon it he may be Baptized without more terms It is his Consent to it is the Ratio fundandi in This as in other Voluntary Relations It is true that the Nature of Christian Society is such as requires that a Man be one that hath Received the Christian Doctrine that is to be a Believer and that he lives not in any open gross Sin seeing that would Excommunicate from it if he were In But supposing him such a one that believes that Christ is the Son of God I mean it according to the Articles of the Creed for how shall he be Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost if he Believe not the Trinity and stands not actually Guilty of any such notorious Sin as if the were in the Church he must to be turn'd out for it there is nothing but his Willingness enjoyned of God nor ought to be required of us to the Receiving Him There are some says St. Austin that Put on Christ so far as to come into the Church and be Baptized Vsque ad Sacramentorum receptionem in his Words and some that put Him on ad vitae Sanctificationem unto that Sanctification of Life as brings them to Heaven I add so much because there are Many Saints or Sanctified Men says Mr. Richard Baxter that shall never come thither There are Saints by Separation from Paganism unto Fellowship with the Political Body of Christians which yet are not so by Separation from all Vngodliness into Fellowship with the Mystical Body of Christ The Door of the Church says that Learned and Pious Author is incomparably wider than that of Heaven and the Gospel is a free Offer to All. If any Man will come quite over in Spirit to Christ they shall be welcome if they will come but only to a Visible Profession He will not deny them Admittance there because they intend to go no farther but will let them come as near as they will and that they come no farther shall be their own fault Saints Rest Part 4. Sect. 3. Let me make bold to set this right and as I have put in before Political Body of Christians instead of his terms Visible Church and also left out the word Visible so instead of Visible Profession let me say Participation of Ordinances as St. Austin but now hath it and I take it to be very happily spoken As for the terms Visible and Invisible which our Divines use ordinarily when they distinguish the Congregate and Mystical Church I do avoid them they are a Snare to us The Sense of the term Visible can have no Place with God who Judges always according to Truth and hath no footing therefore neither in Scripture There is indeed the Outward Jew and Inward Jew in Scripture but the Outward Jew was a Real Jew or really a Jew in God's and Man's Account alike who had thereby ex intentione Dei Ordinantis a Right to be Circumcised and consequently to the Priviledge of all the Ordinances of Israel But a Visible Christian a Visible Member according to our common Notion of Visible is one that is not a Christian or Member Indeed but one only that Appears to be a Christian or Member and as None hath no Right therefore to the Ordinances at all in God's Sight A Visible Profession must be consequently an Hypocritical Profession that hath nothing in it but a Lie and Falshood altogether And can Mr. Baxter indeed say That if any will come to Such a Profession he is welcome No no God Almighty indeed is willing that All should come in to Him and They may come as Far as they will if but to be Baptized or Circumcised they are Welcome But I am against that Doctrine and Practice which depends upon this ensnaring Distinction I am for a Believing in Earnest the Gospel Preached and a Man's Coming-in thereupon and being Willing to be Received or to be Baptized and then I say whosoever Will he May. Whosoever would be Circumcised or Take hold of the Covenant Isa 56.4 6. he might Whosoever will be Baptized under the New-Testament he may Whosoever will come in to Christ so far as ever he Will Come this must be held for certain He will in no wise cast him out But no Man must nor be suffered to say He Believes he Repentâ— if he does Not at least in any Sense otherwise than he Does We must have none of this fame Visible Profession whatsoever comes of it We must see our Way clear how we can admit the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate into our Mixt Churcher without a Lie or we must allow none but Gathâ—red ones and turn all Independents unless we should Preach One thing and Pâ—actisâ— Another which no honest Man but must hate to do The People of Samaria are all said to believe Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and were Baptized and Simon himself believed also Here we have none of this Visible Faith or Visible Profession but a Real Belief of what was Preached and that Belief prevailing upon the Will their Willingness to be Baptized is the Ratâ—o Baptizandi the Ground of their Baptism and Fight to be Admitted Simon Magus believed What is that Is it a Profession that he Did when he did Not No such matter his Faith and That of the City was Real and shewn by the Deed in their being Baptized A Man must Believe Indeed and his Faith be True as True does signifie Vndissembled or else he cannot be Baptized But his Faith may be far from True as Simon 's was as True does signifie Saving and yet so far as he can come in with any Truth he hath his Warrant from the Gospel SECT II. I Proceed now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to my Arguments If the common Opinion be received and a
the Promise of Life annexed to it Seek ye Me and ye shall Live Amos 5.4 5 6.2 Chron. 15.2 Exod. 20.24 Matth. 18.20 That the Ordinances therefore in general and one with another are appointed to be the Means of Grace I think a Man should believe as his Creed And why any good Men that will consider should be moved at our Inviting All and Letting in the Willing having first heard and received the Gospel unto the Participation of these External Appointments so long as we press upon them the Necessity of the same Faith and Repentance that the most strictest Ministers do for the obtaining the Spiritual Benefits thereof I apprehend no such Cause as they For here is Holiness and here is Peace joyned together Neither am I taken off with that worn-out Arguing That because the Sacraments are not Administred as the Word without the Church unto Heathens to convert such to the Faith therefore they cannot tend within the Church to any Vnregen rate Member's Edification Joh. 3.14 15. Joh. 4.22 It is a more Generous Spirit methinks St. Paul shews when the Corinthians seem to value themselves upon their External Christianity without Care of a Holy Life I would not have you ignorant says he that all our Fathers were Baptized in the Cloud and passed through the Sea and eat of the same Spiritual Meat and drank of the same Spiritual Drink But with many of them God was not well pleased The Apostle appears here to make but very little of the admitting Men unto Baptism and the Supper when he makes no more of their Coming to it than the Israelites passing through the Sea and eating of the Mannah and drinking of the Rock which things yet he declares to be Symbolical or Types even of the Blood of Christ as our Sacraments He could hardly have had a Heart to have spoken thus if his Thoughts had been cast in the Mould as many of our good Men's now are I will add Had the Apostles been so strict about admitting Persons to Baptism in their Days as they were after when they kept Men so long upon Tryal as Catechumens upon peculiar Reasons then and had look't on Baptism as so great and chief Work of the Ministry and Exercise of the Keys wherein so singular Care was to be taken I wonder that this Zealous Doctor of the Gentiles should profess himself to be no more concern'd about it when he tells us how few some Three or Four or so were all that he ever Baptized and that God sent him Not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel Not but I fear God and reverence his Institutions and the Panting and Breathings of the Hearts of good Men after more pure Communion even on Earth hath been to me of deep Consideration But we must not for all that make the same Conditions unto Coming into the Church as unto the Getting into Heaven In actione Coenae Dominicae non debemus says Cyprian attendere quid aliqui ante nos faciendum putaverint sed quid ille qui ante omnes est prior fecerit faciendum mandaverit In these Actions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper we are not to attend what some before us have thought fit to be dome but what He who is before all hath Himself first done and commanded us to do The Author THE Cause of our Mixt Churches AGAINST SEPARATION SECT I. IT is in vain to write Books for the Satisfaction of People concerning the Lawfulness of the Liturgy and Ceremonies and coming to Church To think of Terms for Von and Concord or to endeavour any the like good things which many Considerate Ministers about London have lately done if the Churches unto which We Go and would Bring Others cannot be maintained to be True Churches or Churches agreeable to the Institution of Christ It is This is the First Stone to be Laid It is This is the Cause must be made Good For the doing hereof I shall offer some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating or Building it Vp some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Confirming it some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Refutation of Objections And the Discourse shall contain Three Sections To begin with the First The Building Vp our Cause in This and to fetch the Matter from the Bottom I must lay my Thoughts together in these Theses and Method following As God made all things so is He universal Governour of his Creatures The Government of God over his Creatures that are Reasonable must be a Moral Government requiring Obedience from them upon Motives of Reward and Punishment The Insirument of this Government must be his Law The Law of God is either the Law of Nature or his Revealed and Positive Laws The Government of God is likewise double Natural or Conventional The Natural Government of God over Men and Women which He hath by Right of Creation is over all the World as they are particular Persons giving them the Law of Nature to live by that they may please Him and be saved This Law of Nature is either the Law of Innocent or Lapsed Nature The Law of Innocent Nature is that perfect Rule of Righteousness that was writ in Adam's Heart when created requiring him to preserve his Innocency and Integraty upon Pain of Death and it is called the Law of Works The Law of Lapsed Nature is the same Law with mitigation requiring the same Duty but not as the Condition of Life accepting of the imperfect Service of Man according to his present State so long as it is performed in Sincerity of Heart towards God and this is called the Law of Grace As Man in Innocency had the Notices of the most Holy God and his Duty writ in his Heart or could gather it from the Light of his Reason being to live perfectly in that State So must the World after Man's Fall and the Loss of his Innocency have some the like Notices implanted there or arising naturally from the Exercise of his Faculties That God is Good and Merciful and will not punish him if he Repent but consider him according to his frail Condition and consequently that he must now have no Government at all over him for Life and Salvation or else that he must be under another Law than that of Innocency or under other Conditions in obeying it for else must every Man on the Earth everlastingly perish Upon what Account or upon what Ground or Foundation the Righteousness of God could stand in dealing with Man when faln by another Law than that at first implanted in him in Innocency was a Mystery hidden from the Foundation of the World and not revealed but darkly till the Times of the Gospel But the Belief that God was Good and would pardon the Sinner upon his Repentance though they could not tell how or upon what ground it was the way of Reconciliation through Christ being beyond the Ken of all Human Understanding was general in the World
do Christ's Institutions Christ's Positive Laws and Officers belong and consequently the Ordinances of Baptism which is appointed to Admit Men into the Same That Door now which admits Hypocrites as well as Sound Believers cannot Admit Men into the Mystical Church for there are no Hypocrites There But Hypocrites as well as Sound Believers are Baptized and it cannot be otherwise The Mystical Body then is One thing and the Political Body which alone concerns our Dispute is Another They are Two Things though called by One Name The Objection consequently being founded on the contrary Supposition does fall There is One Thing yet puts me most to it It is the Form of Baptism in the Liturgy which I suppose very Antient by Tertullian where the Covenant is Entred by every one that is Baptized in the way of Question and Response And when That Question is askt Doest thou Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh in the Words as there express'd and no less an Answer is required than I Renounce them all it appears that the Church of England receives none for her Members but Such as She supposes Regenerate Persons If none but Such as make that Profession which none but the Regenerate can Make are Admitted to Membership and Baptism it is evident what is the Churches Judgment To this purpose are Thanks given for every Child upon its Baptism That God hath pleased to Regenerate it by his Holy Spirit not only by Water When these Children come of Age they must be Confirmed and All as supposed in a State of Grace are to come to the Communion When any Die they are likewise as being in the Church supposed to go all to Heaven Neither ought the Words in the Burial give Offence to any being spoken according to a Church-Judgment of Charity of every Body upon that Supposition In the First place therefore for Answer I acknowledge my self a Non-Conformist And as All who are Such have some particular Reasons above others why they Assent and Consent not to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Liturgy I am content that this be alledged for My Reason though it be not my only Reason I Assent and Consent not that this Abrenuncio be imposed in Baptism And not only because no Child can make that Profession but because I cannot find in my Heart to receive such a Tenent by Consequence from the Liturgy for Conforming to the Church which must lead me if I be true to it to Separate from Her Not but really if any Body can make this Profession it is well but to impose it on every one as necessary to Baptism without Liberty of a Man 's own Words and to suppose it of every one that is Baptized This is the Point We intend our Mixt Churches to be of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate This Profession intends them to be of the Regenerate only These are inconsistent things and This is no little matter therefore for which I Dissent and She may the better bear with me We can never maintain our Parochial our National our Mixed Churches against the Congregational Party in my Judgment if we give them This Ground That the Churches of Christ's Institution do consist ex intentione Instituentis of the Regenerate only In the Next place I must say this Though the Church by requiring such a Profession of the Baptized must indeed by Consequence be interpreted to be of the common Opinion which I oppose for the great Reason mentioned Yet does She by allowing this Profession to be made by Infants vere again from it An Infant can make no Profession de praesenti And as the Abrenuncio therefore is well interpreted by a Polliceor in her Catechism I could wish accordingly if ever there be another Emendation of the Common-Prayer-Book that these Words in the Baptism of the Adult as of the Infant were changed and instead of I Renounce them all some such words were put in I engage to it God being my Helper If they were you may say How would this mend the Matter No Man can say I engage to do a thing Hereafter but he must resolve upon it Now or he lies If the Baptized resolve Now to Repent or to live Holy for the Time to come he must be Regenerate all one as if he professed He did already I Answer There is no doubt but a Man may really Intend or Purpose to Repent Hereafter or sometimes Before his Death as he may Desire Wish and Hope it lest he be Damned who at the Present is for Injoying yet the Pleasures of the World for a Season And whether such an Engagement de futuro will save the Adult Person as well as the Infant from a Lie when it will not save him from Sin and Desert of Wrath if he makes any Delay Heb. 3.7 8. I leave to Others to judge that will I must Offer yet farther The Baptized is supposed to be Entring Covenant in these Responses and there is Difference between an Absolute and a Covenant-Engagement A Man cannot engage Absolutely to do any thing but he must at Present be Resolved or he Lies But a Man may make a Conditional-Engagement without a Lie before he be Resolved upon the Performance A Covenant-Engagement is no more but I Engage to perform my Part of the Covenant as ever I expect God should perform His or as ever I expect the Benefit of it or if I do not that is if I Never do Perform the Condition I consent to go without what is Promised The Lord Jesus will be sure for his Part to perform his Promise wherefore this Infant must also for its Part promise by You to Renounce the Devil to Believe to Obey says the Priest to the God-Fathers in Words more at large And if the whole Form were so moulded as to make the Engagement of this Baptismal Vow to be Conditional that the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate might make these Responses and the Thing be Justified there is nothing I judge could be done Better and nothing I think ought to be done Less for maintaining our Mixt Churches Against or saving them Fâ—â—m Separation If This satisfie not I have yet Something more laid in In the Covenant there are the Precepts the Promises and the Threats As the Person Covenanting engages himself to the Precepts as ever he hopes to enjoy the Blessings So he consents to Vndergo the Penalty in case of Non-Performance There is no question now but a Man may Engage to Do a Thing or Bear the Penalty when he is not yet Resolved either To Do or Not to do it No question but he may Engage himself to the Loss and Punishment without the Resolution of Doing that which is the Condition of avoiding of it At Vniversity when we were Matriculated we swear to Keep the Statutes No one that Vnderstands them does think of always Keeping them and yet they tell us We are not to Scruple the Oath because it is a
First-Born which are enrolled in Heaven Heb. 12.23 the Church that is so washed in Christ's Blood as to be without Spot or Wrinkle which none are but those that enter into Glory Ephes 5.27 So we read of that Chain of the Apostle Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified Rom. 8.30 Nevertheless when the Scripture speaks of the Church to the Purpose which concerns us which is as it is that Corporation of Christians unto which the World is to be brought in by Preaching of the Gospel it must consist of Regenerate and Vnregenerate that is of Multitudes whereof the Elect are but few only The whole Body of the Israelites brought out of Egypt are expresly called the Church The Church in the Wilderness Act. 7.38 The whole Body of them Man Woman and Child enter into that Covenant which denominated them God's peculiar People Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. It is yet more significant with me that it was the Outward Jew and not the Inward only unto whom belong'd that Advantage which the Jew is accounted to have above the Gentile Rom. 3.1 that is the Advantage of the Oracles of God and consequently those Ordinances whereby that People were distinguished as by Tokens from other People There is the Mystical Church then and Congregate Church or Church Political It is not the Regenerate and Elect but the Congregate Church which according to the Contexture of this Discourse is and must be the immediate Recipient of the Outward Ordinances It is in regard to his Voluntary Government which I call Conventional that God did institute any or give any Laws at all but what are of Nature And those Persons who are the Subjects of that Government must be the Recipients of these Appointments Neither is it a Man's being Born again but his Willingness to come under this Government that is a Willingness to come in and joine with the Church that gives him title to the Institutions thereof This Priviledge of the Congregate Church is One thing and the Priviledge of the Regenerate or the Church Mystical is Another The External Ordinances are the Privilege of all Christians as they were of all the Jews the Outward Jew and Christian as well as the Inward unto whom they belong in opposition to the Gentile and Heathen But the Privilege of the Inward Christian and Mystical Church is not the Ordinances being common to them with the Vnregenerate but the saving Benefits of the Ordinances which I say is another Matter There is the General and Special Grace of the Gospel The Church of Christians in the first Notion of it should not be defined by the Participation of the Special but the General Grace of the Gospel And it is the Number of the Called into Christ's Kingdom or under the Conventional Government of God to the Participation of those Ordinances which He hath appointed as Means of Grace and Exercises of Piety by way of Advantage above others as the Jew is said to have above the Gentile in order to their obtaining or farthering their Eternal Salvation That there is the General Grace of God and of the Gospel as well as Special is received by Eminent Divines But how this General Grace accordingly is also to be defined I find not many that can tell That Christ died for All as for his Sheep and that God would have All to be saved as well as his Elect is express in Scripture But is this General Grace What if a Man Repent not and Believe not will God have such to be saved Not so certainly There is thus much more therefore must come into the Definition if they Repent if they Believe Christ hath died and God would have Christ to die for All so that if they Believe and Repent they shall be Saved Well! Is this the Definition then of General Grace No it is not this is not yet enough Dr. Twisse indeed and all Men grant This but it is short by Two Steps For as God is said to will all Men's Salvation so is He said that He would have all Men to Repent and come to the Knowledge of the Truth This then is also to be taken in But hath He given Christ to die for All that they may Repent By no means This would bring in Origen's Vniversal Grace that All at last must be Saved When God then is said to Will that any should Repent it must be understood without doubt as to the Means which He offers them for Repentance And thus does the Lord expostulate with his People What could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done There is one Mr. Cottier a French Protestant seems to have studied this Point of General Grace more accurately than others who thus defines it Gratia Vniversalis est nobis actus liberrimus quo eligendo eos quos praecognovit simul alios respexit uti Creaturas suas Sathanae malignitate seductas quousque fas jura tulêre pari jure seu invitandos seu vocandos ad Dei cultum consequentiâ cultus Here is One Step farther then towards the Definition of Vniversal Grace That God does not only Will the Salvation of All in giving Christ to die for them upon condition but that He does also vouchsafe the Means to All so far as is meet for their Performance of that Condition The Other Step is To lay down the Specifical Difference it self wherein this Vniversal Grace does consist as it is distinguished from Special for without the Specifical Difference of any thing there can be no exact Definition I will therefore humbly offer this full Definition The Vniversal Grace of God is that free Act Love or Favour of his whereby together with his Elâ—cting some to be infallibly saved by Him He does respect all others as his Creatures with the Vouchsafement of the same Means of Salvation so far as Right and Equity requires Quousque fas jura tulère says that cautious Divine which I must therefore six and establish as that alone which is wanting to compleat the Definition and that is so far as they will Behold When there are no Means of Salvation which God does vouchsafe his Elect but He vouchsafes the same to the Non-Elect and so to All according to the State they are in if or as they will who can deny this Grace to be indeed Vniversal If Christ hath Died for all Men if God would have all Mâ—n Return and Live and if according to the State they are in they have their Means of Return and if any Know and Desire more they are not Refused who can deny I say this Grace to be Vniversal And when this Grace is adjusted according to Men's Will who does not see the true Difference between that Grace which is Special and This Vniversal Grace is God's vouchsafing the same Means to All Hâ—ct and Reprobaâ—â— so far as they Will Special Grace is