washed in heart The Catechist did call upon and earnestly exhort them to Duty as well as instruct them in Doctrine as appears in the Catechetical Lectures of Cyrill of Jerusalem and also by Augustines Sermon ad Competentes wherein dehorting them from several vices he closeth with these words Serm. 116. Competentes nihil injustum nihil inhonestum exerceant ne fortè male agendo viscera materna concutiant ante legitimum partum velut aborsum eos mater sancta proijciat Sed magis omnes benigni sint humiles mansueti sobrii ut ad salutaris Baptismi Sacramentum ordine ligitimo conveniant The Competentes should exercise or do nothing that is unjust or dishonest least haply by ill-doing or mis-behaving themselves they trouble the bowels of their Mother and cause her before the time to cast them forth as abortive They should rather be kind humble meek sober that they may come in a due and orderly manner unto the Sacrament of saving Baptism You may see from hence how much it stands you upon to look carefully unto your lives and to labour so to demean your selves that when you offer your selves unto Confirmation there may be nothing found justly to be objected against you that might exclude you from admission to full membership and the injoyment of the singular priviledges of such which if there should would be no small Detriment unto you 4. There are other duties in order hereunto that are peculiar unto some persons viz. such as have the care and charge of others committed unto them which is the case of Parents and Masters of families in respect of their children and servants who may very much and therefore ought to facilitate and further the work of fitting them for confirmation There advantages are many through familiarity and continual converse with them and the power and authority which the Lord hath given them over those that are under them who are injoyned to honour and yeild obedience to them these are therefore as talents carefully to be improved and this way especially as being the chief end for which they are bestowed Their duty is therefore Plurimum enim intererit quibus artibus quibus hos tu moribus instituas Juvenal Satyr 14. Quo semel est imbuta recens c. Difficulter cradic atur quod rudes animâ— perbiberunt Hierony Epist 7. 1. To instruct them diligently in the principles of Religion They ought to be Catech sts in their own families to whom this work belongs as well as to the Pastor being common to both in their several capacities and indeed the fidelity of the one may very much ease and lighten the burden of the other The Scriptures are frequent in pressing this duty upon them These words saith Mises which I * Deut. 6.6 7 command thee shall be in thine heart and thou shalt diligently teach them unto or whet them upon thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou lest down and whin thou risest up Children saith Ainsworth upon this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Initiare Cartwright in loc are to be Catechized Solomon also Train up a child saith he in the way wherein he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Scopus est parentes ad piam liberorum institutionem excitare His scope is to stir up parents to the pious institution of their children The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leigh Crit. Sdc. Hinc apud Doctores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est Catechesis Carechismus Pagnin the saurus when ti 's spoken of men signifieth to Catechise i. e. Prima elementa inquit Lavaterus Religionis tradere To deliver to them the first rudiments of Religion Again Ye fathers saith the Apostle Paul bring up your children in the nurture and adminition of the Lord. This as is conceived Ephes 6.4 is the thing commended in Abraham Geu 18 19 and his practice herein recommended unto us I know saith the Lord that Abraham will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment Dicit Deus inquit Paraeus non modò quid sit facturus Abraham sed potiùs quid facere debeat God saith here not only what Abraham would but rather what he should and ought to do Whence he observes That parenrs were then and ought in this regard to be so now the Pastours and teachers of their families liberi domestici ingnit erant Catechumeni The children and rest of the houshold were the Catechumens and the heads of the Catechisme comprehended in that expression the way of the Lord were Fides Obedientia Faith and Obedience And may not Abrahams servants with whom he rescued his brother Lot Gen. 14.14 Pagnin interlvers be for this cause termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his trained servants so our translation renders it Initiatos suos his instructed ones i. e. Catechumenos suos his Catechumens or Catechized ones such as having been born in his house Pagnin thesau 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70 Instructos suos Buxrorf he had religiously edncated The word saith Ainsworth may be understood both of civil affairs and Religion Pellican in l. Iâ—â—is Exposit of the Moâ—al Law Command 5. exercit 5. wherein he had trained them Quos instituebat moribus usu rerum temporalium peritos arte bellandi alioqui etiam Religioni consecratos Thus also Mr. Weemes expounds this place his Catechized ones It is also observable that God saith not concerning Abraham I know that he will teach but command them Paraeus in loc implying that parents ought to perform this duty with authority which thing is intimated in the holy resolution of Joshua As for me saith he and my house we will serve the Lord. And that this hath been the practise of Godly parents is evident from the Scriptures Thus did David carefully instruct his son Solomon as he acknowledgeth I was saith he Prov. 4.3 4. my fathers son tender and dearly beloved he taught me c. So did his mother Bathsheba also as appears Prov. 31.1 The words of King Lemuel no doubt saith Mr. Wilcox but this was Solomon the Prophecy that his mother taught hlm Cartwr in loc Nempe à teneris annis quòd blanda Lemuelis appellatio quales matribuserga liberos adhuc tenellos usitatae sunt â—stendit From his tender years which the pretty alluring appellation of Lâ—muâ—l such as are usual with mothers toward their children while tender and yong doth shew Religious education is the best character of paternal affection Such also was the pious care of the godly parents of â—â—mothy 2 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab ubâ—â—â— u. pendens a sucking child Leigh Espencaeus in loc by whose means it came to passe that from a child he had known the holy Scriptures Gremium
capacities and at length approving and establishing them in the truth of the Gospel cannot but be judged rational and Christian if wee take these Considerations 1. That the Light of Nature guideth as to help children according to capacity to natural perfections so to know above all the God of their Natures It is an opinion worse than Brutish not to season that tender age with some things of God as it can receive them It is not taking Gods Name in vain reasonably to make him known to the weakest understanding that it may grow therein 2. That the Ordinance of God in the Old Church for the appearing of the Males before him three times at least in the year was to nurture them and bring them to more acquaintance with God and Confirm them in his Truth And is there not need to keep Analogie with that for perfecting Souls toward God under the Gospel 3. That the many Exhortations in the Gospel for watching over the Flock to feed the lambs to perfect to stablish Souls in the truth cannot but imply the necessity and usefulness of such a practice in the Church for the nurturing of tender ages and at last Confirming them in Christ To the edifying whereof I am confident the Author hath his main scope and I shall pray he may not miss of his aim The Lord own that which is his in the Work and make it prosper In him I am Plymoth Aug. 10. 1657. Thine to serve thee G. HUGHES Christian READER IT is now many years since I wrote a passage in a book called The Sains Rest Part 4 Chap. 4. Sect 3. which since I printed some misunderstood as if I affirmed the sufficiency of Baptism alone for qualifying persons to be admitted by us to the Church-Communion of the Adult Whereas I there expresse that A Sober Profession of Repentance and Faith in Christ if they be adult is necessary to qualifie them first for that Baptism and that they must after produce that Evidence not blotted by Heresie or Scandalous sin In which I plainly supposed that those that were Baptized in infancy must also at age produce the Evidence of an Infant-Baptism upon the Parents profession with their own actual profession when adult But because I found some understood not that which is written in few words I have since divers times explained it in several Treatises especially in one of Infant-Baptism and one lately of Right to Sacraments In the former many years since I found it meet in dealing with the Anabaptists to plead for the restoring of Solemn Publick Confirmation of all that have bin Baptized in Infancy as their solemn entrance into the state of Adult Members and I presumed to make an humble motion to the Magistracy and Ministry to take it into consideration and pag. 120 121 122. gave in some proofs of the necessity of a personal Covenanting of the Adult besides the Infant-Covenant by their parents What others thought of this Motion I know not but my Reverend Brethren of this County who after Associated for the better managing of their Ministerial work did so far approve the matter that they readily concurred to make it one Article of their agreement at our Association in these words R. 7. We shall distinguish between Infant-Members and Adult and for the former we shall take their Parents profession and for the latter we shall expect their own And though it cannot be determined just to a day or year when any is past his Infant Church-estate yet none must be Enrolled and accounted among Adult and Perfect Members till they personally and publickly shall make their Profession whether it be only of their Faith and Obedience to Christ that they may be esteemed Adult Members of the Vniversal Church or also their consent to be Members of a particular Church We thought not meet to make Imposition of hands then an Article of our Agreement because its possible some good men might differ in it But the necessity of publick personal profession we agreed of But still the most are too slack in the execution Yesterday in the conclusion of a Discourse of Conversion I thought it my duty to motion such a thing to my Auditory as the publick owning of Conversion and lamenting the sins of unregeneracy and profession of Resolutions for a Holy life And presently the same day this Treatise came to be offered to my perusal though my judgment be not of that weight as to add much to the reputation of it yet the Treatise hath that Evidence which I hope hath added somewhat to my judgment The Reverend Author I am utterly unacquainted with but in this Learned Judicious Pious Exercitation I see much more of him than the face The subject I take to be of very great usefulnesse and the manner of handling it needs not my commendations I hope the Lord hath in compassion to this distempred Church sent them this Reforming Healing Truth by the hand of this our Reverend Brother It is a point that should be entertained with universal alacrity upon several accounts 1. Because it is so commonly received by Protestants and therefore among us the lesse lyable to opposition though unhapily the practice of too many hath overlooked it yet by the easier cheaper way of writing and speaking for it the most have given it a fair complemental entertainment 2. Because it is so excellently suited to the joint promoteing of Holinesse and Unity that it seems a salve just fitted to our sore where one part runs away from Purity for fear of Divisions and the other runs away from Unity for fear of Impurity 3. And withall our great sin against God and his Church by so long and common a neglect of this Duty should awake tender consciences to penitency and the readier obedience for the time to come Though the Papists themselves do agree with us for Confirmation yet their Confirmation and ours is not indeed the same thing The Council of Trent were so much offended at the Protestants difference from them about Confirmation that they thundred against them divers Anathema's Si quis dixerit Confirmationem Baptizatorum otiasam Ceremoniam esse non potius verum proprium sacramentum aut olim nihil aliud fuisse quam Catechesin quandam qua adolescentiae proximi fidei suae rationem coram Ecclesia exponebant Anathema sit 3. siquis dixerit sanctae Confirmationis ordinarium Ministrum non esse solum Episcopum sed quemvis simplicem Sacerdotem Anathema sit But these Fathers might have lest out the nihil aliud when they read our Divines maintaining the use of Exploration Prayer Approbation with Imposition of hands also in this duty But I hope no Protestants now will disown or cast by that sort of Confirmation which the Papal Council cursed our Ancestors for maintaining I confesse this duty was so timely corrupted that hath given the Papists the greater pretence to Antiquity for their way They did betimes make such haste to it as that
ignorance or negligence of those that should have done otherwise unlesse upon due trial you have approved your selves meet Had they eyed as they ought and kept close to the rule that should have guided them herein you might haply have come to see your condition to be otherwise then you deemed it to be and have entertained other thoughts of your selves then you did which might have proved of no small advantage unto you So that if things be duly weighed and considered you will say That they did you an injury rather then a courtesie in dealing with you as they did and be so far from liking and allowing of such a course whereby you were occasioned to sooth your selves in a state that was neither good nor safe that you will see cause of blaming them for their unfaithfulness in a matter of great concernment and to blesse God for those that shall endeavour the rectifying of your mistakes and to let you know that the case is far otherwise with you then you imagined it to be And as for the priviledges that you injoyed viz. the Ordinances belonging unto compleat members only alas what could more indanger your precious souls you being not rightly qualified for them For instance 'T is true that nothing is more sweet and refreshing then the Lords Supper to a gracious soul drawing nigh to the Lord therein as he ought for therein he feeds and feasts upon the Lord Jesus and all his fulnesse unto eternal life But now the unworthy person presuming to approach unto and partake of that Ordinance in stead of Blisse 1 Cor. 11.29 meets with his Bane eating and drinking Judgment to himself and becoming guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And so according to the Prophet Davids imprecation the Table of the Lord proves a snare before him Psal 69.23 and that which sbould have been for his Welfare a trap and ruine to him And now tell me Is this a priviledge worth the pleading and contending for Object 4. You conceive it will be a disparagement and disgrace unto you to submit unto such a course whereby you should discover your ignorance in the very principles of Religion having lived so many years under the Gospel Solut. And will you to avoid this seeming inconvenience expose your selves to inevitable perdition You have hitherto been estranged from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you and can you be contented to live and die so and lose the fruition of the Lord for ever rather then men should know your condition to be such as indeed it is If the fear of a little supposed disgrace from men and those but a few that you live and converse withall of such force as to cause you to your Eternal hazard to neglect a necessary duty Should not a destre to avoid utter shame and confusion of face before all men and angels be much more prevalent with you to neglect no lo ger but speedily to set about it Do but seriously weigh the words of the Apostle Paul and then say whether you can brook to continue in your grosse ignorance and blindness to avoid any thing that may possibly betide you here below 2. Thes 17 8 9 The Lord fesus saith he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ the inseparable concomitant of such ignorance Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory ef his power See here ignorance of God is as dangerous and destructive as disobedience to the Gospel which is the consequent of it and goeth accompanied with it Prov. 1912 For without knowledg the heart is not cannot be good and if that be naught which is the spring and root of all your actions surely your lives must needs be so whatever your fancies and pretences may be to the contrary You would account it and iustly so a great discovery of weakness and folly in any one that should chuse to conceal a grief or disease in the body though mortal least it should be commonly known from the Chirurgeon or Physician and refuse to put himself into their hands for the cure of it and to prevent the mischief that else would certainly insue upon it And are not they much more blame-worthy that shall do so by their spiritual maladies which threaten the life of their far more precious souls the Eternal ruine whereof must needs inevitably follow unlesse some effectual course be taken for the healing of them You plainly see and will readily confesse the great folly of the one Oh! be not guilty of greater in the other The longer you have continued in such a condition under the Gospel the more haste ought you to make in the use of all good means to get out of it And seeing the Lord hath spared you all this while and winked as it were at the time of your former ignorance Let the consideration of this his goodnesse and forbearance now at lenth lead you to repentance Account the long-suffering of the Lord Salvation Rom 2.5 2 Pet. 3.15 Piscator i.e. Ad salutem vobis conducere to conduce to your Salvation the gracious end of God herein and the use that you ought to make of it being this that men should not perish 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 but be saved by coming to repentance and the knowledge of the truth 2. Another duty incumbent upon the people is this Diligently to labour after knowledge in the principal doctrines of religion especially for without your own industry added there unto the pains of the Ministry will but little profit you You have seen the absolute necessity of it in order both to your own eternal good and also to the Churches satisfaction for your admission to full membership Wisdom in this regard is the principal Pro. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first thing to be looked after therefore get wisdom and with all your getting get understanding and if accordingly you cry after knowledge and lift your voice for understanding if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures then shall you understand the fear of the Lord Prov. 2.3 4 5 Prove 3. â—3 and find the knowledg of God And happy is he that finds it Which that you may do your duty is 1. To attend and watch diligently at Wisdoms gate Prov. 8.34 Lavater in loc Wilcoxe and daily i. e. often to wait at the posts of her door Postes sunt Sapientiae doctores These Posts are the teachers of Wisdom As painful Scholars watching the School doors that they may be first in upon the opening of them that you may hear her voice by her Messengers speaking unto you whose instructions you ought readily to receive and carefully to lay up making your hearts the store-houses of the word
shall the son of man also confess before the Angels of God Equivalent to that of God to Eli 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour The like hereunto is that of Paul Rom. 10.9 10. If saith he thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Hence the Apostle Peter exhorts unto it as a duty incumbent upon all Christians being one principal way whereby they give glory to God Sanctifie saith he 1 Pet. 3.15 Deodat the Lord God in your hearts i. e. Give glory to him truly and heartily How be ready alway to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason or an account of the hope that is in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Fidei in Deum in Christum Jesum Winckleman in loc quae fundamentum est spâ—i de futurâ coelesti haereditate Of your Faith in God and Jesus Christ which is the foundation of our hope of the future and celestial inheritance Paraeus in loc An answer not to all curious questions that may be demanded but such as do appertain unto the fundamentals of Religion which both the learned and the unlearned ought to know And this not to every one that out of curiosity or a captious humor to ensnare you do demand it but unto those who by their office may require it or out of a will and readinesse to learn and be informed do desire it of you So that that which the Apostle here intends is this That Christians should he alwaies ready to make confession of their faith Calvin in lec as often as there is occasion for it that God may have his glory from them And there are two cases especially wherein this is necessary to be done by all without exception 1. In time of persecution if by those in authority thority they be called thereunto In this case ought they to do it freely and boldly not fearing the faces of men nor any thing that they can do unto them Isa 8.12 13 but as the Prophet Esau speaks from whom the Apostle Peter borrowed that passage fear not their fear nor be afraid but sanctifie the Lord of hosts and let him be your fear remembring well those words of Christ Whosoever shall deny me before men Mat. 10 33 him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven 2. When the Church shall require it for their satisfaction concerning their knowledg in the mysteries of Christianity and let not any say They are ashamed so to do least Christ be ashamed of and refuse to own them when he shall come in his glory They ought rather to account it an honour that an oportunity is afforded unto them of glorifying God in so eminent a way which consideration should make all persons ready so to do willingly and chearfully And as thus by the confession of their faith they glorified God so do they also no lesse by the dedication of themselves to him and his service wherein disclaiming all right in themselves they freely professe that they are and will be the Lords offering up both soul and body to be an holy Temple and habitation for him to dwell in and to be wholly at his dispose and imployed in his work and doing his Will According to those exhortations of the Apostle Paul I beseech you brethren Rom. 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preâ—…nt by way of Dedication Leigh Beza 2. Cor. 6.19 20 saith he by the mercies of God that you â—ffer up or present your bodies i. e. your whole man by a Synechdoche a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God Again You are not your own but ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods And this he did greatly commend in these Corinthians as that whereby God had more glory then from their liberal almes and contributions 2 Cor. 8.5 And this you did saith he not as we hoped but first gave your selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God As David and other of the Lords people did give glory to him by the dedicate things viz. the silver and gold c. which they consecrated to the building and service of the Temple which was to honour the Lord with their substance Prov. 3.9 So do persons much more honour the Lord by giving up themselves to him having no greater nor better gift to bestow nor more especial acceptable sacrifice that they can bring to God which being Solemnly done at Confirmation it 's that whereby God is especially glorified 2. From them and the rest of his people also by the praises which this will occasion them to render unto him which is another special way whereby the Lord hath his glory from them as those words of God himself by the Prophet David do fully declare Stephanus in 1. He saith he that offreth me praise he glorifieth me Summo me honors afficit yeeldeth me the highest and most excellent honour As for the Confirmed themselves well may the high praises of God be in their mouths being advanced to the injoyment of the highest priviledges that the Church can confer upon them If David saw cause why he should prefer the lowest room even a door-keepers place in the house of the Lord Psal 84.10 before the most pleasant dwelling any other where Well may these then being now admitted into the innermost rooms thereof cry out blessing the Lord for so great a favour and say in the words of the same Prophet Psal 16.6 The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage It is a blessed condition in Davids account and therefore deserves the best of their praises For so he Blessed are they that dwell in thine house Psal 84.4 they will still be praising thee having still cause so do And again Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple And for the rest of the Lords people it cannot but much quicken them to this duty to give the Lord the glory that is due unto his name and to blesse him greatly for his truth and faithfulnesse in building up and inlarging the borders of his Sion when they shall behold the goings of God in and toward poor souls his wonderful power and various wisdom shewed and seen in bringing them in and making them willing to submit unto the Scepter of Christ hiding the glorious mysteries of the Gospel from the wise and prudent the rich and honourable of the world and revealing them to babes obscure and simple ones making them wise unto salvation Surely it must needs give them great cause of saying as Christ did We thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth who hast done this of thy good pleasure And with the Apostle Paul to break forth into admiration saying O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledg of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his wayes past finding out For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counceller Or who hath given unto him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever AMEN Gloria tota Deo nostri conaminis hujus Paxque inter fratres firma sequela siet Quisquis haec legit ubi pariter certus est pergat mecum ubi pariter haesitat quaerat mecum ubi errorem suum cognoscit redeat ad me ubi meum revocet me August de Trin. lib. 1. cap. 3. FINIS