these blessed ends we must beg such necessaries of our life as the supportation of our natures for the work of God requireth And the forgiveness of all our sins through Christ which yet we cannot expect to receive if we from our hearts forgive not others And a gratious preservation from temptations or the power of them and from Satan and sin the greatest evils That so the holiness of our hearts and lives may shew that we are the loyal subjects of the Kingdom of our Lord and that we acknowledge and magnifie his Soveraign power and live as a people devoted to his glory And all this we must beg in an humble sense of our great unworthiness misery necessity and insufficiency to help our selves and in the name of Christ in understanding and faith and therefore not in a tongue that we understand not and with fervency and uncessant importunity as directed excited and strengthened by the Spirit of Christ 27. Our thanksgiving unto God must not be like the Pharisees in hypocrisie and pride or to make ostentation of things that we never had but in humility and holy joyfulness of mind we must declare our thankfulness for our Creation Redemption Justification and Reconciliation with God our Sanctification and all the parts thereof and helps thereunto For the Gospel and Ministery and the plantation preservation and propagation of the Church thereby for common and special works of providence for the good of the Church our brethren or our selves for mercies ordinary or extraordinary spiritual or corporal for prevention of evils or removing them for the quality and degree the suitableness and seasonableness of all our mercies with the rest of their aggravations especially for those that most promote our everlasting happiness and the publike good and glory of the Lord 28. The matter of our holy praises of the Lord must be his blessed and infinite Being and Nature and all his Attributes his infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness his Truth and Holiness and Love his absolute Dominion his Soveraignty and Fatherly benignity his Justice and his Mercy even as they are revealed in the works of the Creation and in the glass of the holy Scripture and in the person of Jesus Christ and in the Image of God upon his Saints And all these his works also must be praised in subserviency to his praise And because it is a most high and excellent duty to praise the Lord we must strive to do it with all the faith and reverence and admiration and love and delight and joy and cheerfulness that possibly we can attain and this with constancy as our daily work with our eye on heaven where we shall do it in perfection to all eternity 29. As the holy Scriptures should be read in a tongue that the people understand so should the purest exactest translation of them be used that can be had And though it be not of absolute necessity to the communion or peace of the Churches yet it is to be desired and endeavoured that all neighbour Churches that are of one language do all agree in the use of that one translation 30. Though in cases of necessity the Gospel may be publikely expounded and applied by the reading of the Expositions and Sermons of others yet as it is meet that the Preachers of the Gospel be able to perform this work themselves by the abilities given them from God in the use of just and edifying means so it is meet that by diligent studying meditation and prayer these abilities be improved and that from this holy and spiritual treasure within them the Ministers of Christ do draw forth sound Explication with pertinent lively Application of the truth 31. So also in the publike prayers though it be lawful in it self to read the words of prayer prescribed us by others yet as all Ministers should be able to pray themselves from the knowledge and feeling of their own and the peoples wants so it is meet that their graces and holy abilities be ordinarily exercised in such prayer and that they be not restrained from speaking to God in such sound and meet expressions as shall either presently or by the means of their preparations proceed from the sense of the matter of their prayers excited and drawn forth by the assistance of the Spirit of Christ But whether any particular Pastor should use a stinted form of words imposed by others or invented by himself or whether he shall pray without such stinted forms or both by turns is a point to be determined according to his own abilities and the state of his flock and other accidents but it is not to be made a matter of such necessity in it self as to lay the unity or peace of the Churches or the liberty of the Pastors and Worshippers of Christ upon it 32. The Publike Praises of God must be expressed by the Pastor in such words as are produced by that holy knowledge faith admiration love and delight with which his soul should be possessed that is so nigh to God and also by the recitation of sacred Psalms and Hymns and by the cheerfull singing of such by the Church wherein the melody must be spiritually and not carnally used for the assisting of our souls in the exercise of that holy alacrity and joy that is required in so high a work and not to draw off our minds from the matter nor to stop at the pleasing of our ears Such Psalms also may be recited or sung as contain matter of confession of sin petition thanksgiving and such narratives as tend to praise 33. The form of words to be said and sung must be taken especially out of the holy Scriptures to which use we have the Psalms of David and other Hymns And also we may use such as have been or shall be composed by wise and holy men agreeable to the doctrine of the Scripture and fuited to the Gospel frame of worship and as far as may be even in Scripture phrase And though it be not meet to insist upon a concord in lesser things when it cannot be attained without the violation of concord in greater things yet is it much to be desired and endeavoured that all the Churches of the same language especially that are near and in the same dominions should agree in using the same Psalms and Hymns for matter and meeter and that the version so agreed on be the best that they can have 34. The Eucharist or Supper of the Lord is a holy Sacrament instituted by Christ wherein bread and wine being first by consecration made Sacramentally or representatively the Body and Blood of Christ they are used by breaking and pouring out to represent and commemorate the sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood upon the Cross once offered up to God for sin and are given in the name of Christ unto the Church to signifie and solemnize the renewal of his holy Covenant with them and sealing it unto them and the giving of himself to
THE Christian Religion Expressed I. briefly in the ancient Creeds the ten Commandments and the Lords Prayer And II. more largely in a Profession taken out of the holy Scriptures Containing 1. The Articles of the Christian Belief 2. Our Consent to the Gospel Covenant 3. The sum of Christian Duty According to the Primitive Simplicity Purity and Practice Fitted to the right Instructing of the Ignorant the promoting of Holiness and the Charitable Concord of all true Believers Which whosoever sincerely Believeth Consenteth to and Practiseth shall certainly be saved It is also by prefixed Questions made a Catechism By Richard Baxter London Printed 1660. To fill up this vacant Page THE Papists Confession of the sufficiency of our Belief Concil. Basil. Orat. Ragus Bin p. 299. The Holy Scripture in the literall sense soundly and well understood is the Infallible and most sufficient Rule of faith Bellarm. de verbo Dei l. 4. c. 11. In the Christian doctrine both of Faith and Manners some things are simply necessary to salvation to all as the knowledge of the Articles of the Apostles Creed of the ten Commandments and of some Sacraments The rest are not so Necessary that a man cannot be saved without the explicite knowledge belief and profession of them These things that are simply necessary and are Profitable to all the Apostles preached to all All things are written by the Apostles which are Necessary to all and which they openly preaclot to all See the place Costenus Enchirid. c 1. p. 49. Non inficiamur praecipua illa fidei capita quae omnibus Christians cognitu sunt ad salutem necessaria perspicuè satis esse Apostolicis scriptis comprehensa The Ancient CREED I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into Heaven and sittteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen I Believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Iesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholike and Apostolike Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen WHosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholike faith Which faith except every one do keep wholly and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And the Catholike faith is this that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance For there is one person of the Father another of the Son and another of the holy Ghost But the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the Majesty coeternal Such as the Father is such is the Son such is the holy Ghost The Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the holy Ghost uncreate The Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the holy Ghost incomprehensible The Father eternal the Son eternal and the holy Ghost eternal And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal As also there be not three incomprehensibles nor three uncreated but one uncreated and one incomprehensible So likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty And yet they are not three Almighties but one Almighty So the Father is God the Son is God the holy Ghost is God And yet they are not three Gods but one God So likewise the Father is Lord the Son Lord and the holy Ghost Lord And yet not three Lords but one Lord For like as we be compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord So are we forbidden by the Catholike Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords The Father is made of none neither Created nor begotten The Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten The holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding So there is one Father not three Fathers one Son not three Sons one holy Ghost not three holy Ghosts And in this Trinity none is afore or after other none is greater or less then another But the whole three persons be coeternal together and coequal So that in all things as is aforesaid the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and man God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds and man of the substance of his mother born in the world Perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferiour to the Father touching his manhood Who although he be God and man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by Conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the manhood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ Who suffered for our salvation descended into hell rose again the third day from the dead He ascended into heaven and sitteth one the right hand of the Father God almighty from whence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire This is the Catholike faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved The ten Commandments Exod. 20. GOD spake all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage Thou shalt have no other gods before me Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy cattel nor the stranger that is within thy gates for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shat not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant nor his ox nor his ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours The Lords Prayer Mat. 6. OUR Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen The PROFESSION of the CHRISTIAN Religion I. The Articles of the Christian Belief It is a Catechism if you prefix to every Article the Question What do you believe 1 THere is one only God a in three persons * the Father Son and Holy Ghost b Who is Infinite in Being Power Wisdom and Goodness c The Creator of all things d Our most absolute Lord most Righteous Governour and most gracious Father e 2 God made man for himself f in his own image g with Reason and freewill h endued with wisdom and holiness i and put under him the inferior creatures for his use k and bound him by the Law of Nature to adhere to God his Maker to Believe him fear him love him honour him and obey him with all his powers l Moreover forbidding him to eat of the tree of Knowledge upon pain of death m 3 Man being tempted by Satan did wilfully sin and so fell from God and Happiness under the wrath of God a the curse of his Law b and the power of the Devil c And hence we are all conceived in sin and prone to evil d and condemnation is passed upon all e and no meer creature is able to deliver us f 4 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to be their Redeemer a who being God and One with the Father b did take our nature and become man being conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary and born of her and called Jesus Christ c and being free from sin he conquered the tempter fulfilled all righteousness d revealed the Gospel and confirmed it by Miracles e and gave himself a sacrifice for our sins and a ransome for us in suffering death on the cross to reconcile us unto God f and was buried and went among the dead g * and Rose again the third day having conquered death h and afterward ascended into Heaven i where he remaineth God and Man in one person k and is Lord of all in glory with the Father l the chief Priest and Prophet and King of his Church m interceding for us and teaching and ruling us by his Spirit Ministers and Word n 5 The Lord Jesus Christ hath ordained in his Testament that all they that receive him by a true effectual faith and by true Repentance do turn from the flesh the world and the Devil unto God shall freely receive the pardon of their sins a and shall become the Sons of God and heirs of everlasting Life b the Spirit of Christ shall dwell within them c and all that overcome and persevere to the death shall live with Christ in endless glory d But the Unbelievers impenitent and unholy shall be condemned to everlasting fire e And this he hath commanded his Ministers to preach to all the world f And hath told us that All that are given him of the Father shall come to him and that he will in no wise cast them out nor shall any pluck them out of his hands g 6 The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son did inspire and guide the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists that they might truly and fully reveal the doctrine of Christ and deliver it in Scripture to the Church as the rule of our faith and life a and by abundance of Evident uncontrouled Miracles and wonderfull gifts to be the great witness of Christ and of the truth of his holy word b 7 Where the Gospel is made known the Holy Ghost by it doth enlighten the minds of all that shall be saved and opening and softening their hearts doth draw them to believe in Christ a and turneth them from the power of Satan unto God b Whereupon they are joyned to Christ the Head and into one holy Catholick Church which is his Body consisting of all true believers c and are freely Justified and made the Sons of God d and a sanctified peculiar people unto him e and do Love him above all and serve him sincerely in holiness and righteousness f Loving and desiring the Communion of the Saints g Overcoming the Flesh the World and the Devil h and Hoping for Christs second coming and for
everlasting life i 8 At Death the souls of the Justified go to happiness with Christ and the souls of the wicked to Misery a And at the end of this world the Lord Jesus Christ will come again and will raise the bodies of all men from the dead and will judge all according to their works b And the Righteous shall go into everlasting life and the rest into everlasting punishment c All this I do unfeignedly believe II. Our Consent to the Gospel Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost by which we are Christians and members of the Catholick Church Quest Are you willing and resolved to Give up your self to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to the Gospel doctrine which your profess REpenting of my sins and renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil a I do take this one God to be my only God b and do heartily give up my self unto him c Even to the Father d as my Creator and Reconciled Father in Christ And to his Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and only Saviour to Reconcile and bring me unto God e And to the Holy Ghost as my Sanctifier that he may further illuminate sanctifie and confirm me and I may hold fast and obey the doctrine of Christ which was revealed by his inspiration and witnessed by his gifts and Miracles and is now contained in the Holy Scriptures and that he may be in me the earnest of my everlasting Happiness with God f III. The summ of Christian Duty Quest What are 1 CHrist hath appointed that fit men shall be Ordained his Ministers to preach the Gospel to the Nations of the world a and make them his Disciples Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost b and to congregate his Disciples c and to oversee and Guide the several Congregations and each member thereof d Particularly to Teach them the word of God e to Pray and Praise God with them and for them f to administer the Lords Supper in remembrance of him g h Especially on the Lords Day which he hath appointed for holy communion in such works i Also to Rebuke with authority the scandalous and unruly k and to bind and reject those that are obstinately impenitent and unreformed and to Absolve and Restore the Penitent and confirm the weak l It is therefore the Peoples Duty to joyn with such Churches for the aforesaid Worship of God a and to know hear submit to and obey these their Guides that are over them in the Lord b and to avoid Division and Discord and to live in Unity Love and Peace c 2 The Secret Duties of Holiness are these The exercise of Faith Repentance Love Hope Delight in God and all other graces a The mortifying of our sins especially Atheism Unbelief and unholiness hardness of heart disobedience and unthankfulness flesh-pleasing covetousness and Pride b The diligent Examining of our own hearts about our Estates our Duties and our sins c Meditating upon God and his word and works especially of our Redemption by Jesus Christ and of Death Judgement Heaven and Hell d Watching diligently over our Thoughts Affections Words and Actions e Resisting Temptations f And frequent and fervent Prayer to God in the name of Christ with Confession Thanksgiving and cheerful Praises g 3 Parents and Masters must diligently teach their children and servants the word and fear of God a and Pray with them and for them and hinder them from sin b and use all their power that they and their households may serve the Lord c children and servants must willingly learn and obey d We must seek instruction in the matters of our salvation especially of our Teachers e we must take heed of the company of tempting and ungodly persons and delight in the company and help of the Godly We must lovingly and faithfully give and thankfully receive admonitions and exhortations f Confessing our faults one to another g and by Prayer Psalms and edifying conference and a holy conversation provoking one another to Love and to good works h 4 Superiors must rule for God and the common good with Justice and Mercy a Inferiors must honour and obey them in the Lord b We must not injure but preserve the Life Chastity Estate Name and Rights of our Neighbour c Not seeking our Own against his welfare d but doing as we would be done by e forbearing and forgiving f and loving our neighbour as our selves g Yea loving our enemies and doing good to all according to our power h The Agreement of the Associated PASTORS I. WE do each one for himself profess our Resolution in the strength of Christ to be faithful and diligent in the works of our Ministry and to live an holy and exemplary life in Piety Justice and Charity according to the measure of our abilities Especially watching against those sins that tend to the corrupting or dividing of the Church and to the hindring of our Ministry and to the dishonour of the Gospel and of our holy profession II. We do profess our Agreement and Resolution in the strength of Christ to be faithful and diligent in publick Preaching the Gospel And in the personal instructing of all in our Parishes or undertaken limits that will submit thereto teaching the Ignorant the Principles of Religion endeavouring in Love Compassion and Meekness and yet with seriousness and zeal to convince the erroneous and opposers to awaken the presumptuous and secure and help them to try the state of their souls and to see and feel their sin and misery and return to God by Christ that they may live to strengthen the weak to raise the faln to edifie and confirm the strong and to comfort such as need consolation and to help them all to prepare for death and judgement and for everlasting life And all this as frequently constantly and orderly as our strength and time and greater duties will permit III. That the Churches may be capable of the Discipline of Christ and constituted and ruled according to the Word of God and the ends of our Office and Labours may be attained we are Agreed and Resolved to take none for Adult members of the Churches committed to our special charge nor admit them as such to Church-Communion and Priviledges but those that have first made some personal credible Profession of true Christianity that is of Faith and Obedience and as members of those Churches submit to our Pastoral over-sight according to the Word of God But all that make this Profession of Christianity and Consent to live in Communion with the Church and under the Ministry and Discipline of Christ we shall receive though they be weak in knowledge and utterance and duties
and shall faithfully imploy our Ministerial abilities and care for their edification and salvation IV. We are Agreed and Resolved in the strength of Christ while we have ability and opportunity to Congregate the people and hold constant Assemblies especially on the Lords-Dayes and therein faithfully to perform the works of our office in Reading the holy Scripture Preaching Praying Baptizing Praising God celebrating the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and guiding the people in the whole publick worship of God And to manage our work with as much prudence and reverence and love and compassion to the peoples souls and with as much plainness and convincing evidence authority seriousness and zealous importunity as we can Avoiding as far as we are able such things as corrupt and dishonour Gods Ordinances and tend to corrupt the peoples minds with errour presumption deadness negligence or other distempers displeasing to the Lord V. For the ends of our Office in obedience to the Lord we Agree and Resolve in the strength of Christ to exercise so much of Church-Government and Discipline in the Churches committed to our charge as we discern to be our certain duty that is to keep order and decency in the holy Assemblies and see that all be done to edification Convicting seducers and stopping the mouthes of perverse gain-sayers Overseeing the several members of our charge and requiring them to walk obediently to Christ and do their duties towards each other to Reprove the gross and scandalous offenders and if they continue impenitent or unreformed to tell the Church or rebuke them before all and publickly pray for their recovery And if they hear not the Church but remain impenitent and unreformed after sufficient reproof and patience to put away such persons from among us declaring against them the threatnings of the Lord and requiring them to forbear Communion with the Church and requiring the Church to avoid them and have no familiarity or communion with them as persons unmeet for the communion of Saints And those that credibly profess Repentance we are to Absolve Ministerially in the name of Christ and comfort with the promises of Grace receiving them and requiring the people to receive them as Brethren into their Communion but warning them to watch and sin so no more lest worse befall them This holy Discipline by the help of God we shall exercise faithfully and impartially but yet with caution and moderation neglecting no necessary consultations with other Pastors or concurrence of the Church and consenting to be responsible for male-administrations VI For the Communion of Churches and the strengthening our selves for the work of God and helping one another therein and maintaining Unity Love and Concord We do Consent to hold a Brotherly communion and correspondency And to that end when necessity or greater duty hindreth us not we shall meet at such convenient times and places as shall be appointed or agreed on from time to time and shall labour to improve these meetings to our mutual edification in such consultations conferences or other holy exercises as our present case shall most require And we consent to deal faithfully in advising and admonishing one another and for the satisfaction of the Brethren to the fore-mentioned ends to be responsible if any shall charge us with Heresie scandal schism or male-administration And forbearing matters without our line to study and endeavour the promoting of Truth and Holiness and Unity among our selves and with other Churches as we have a call And also we agree by communicatory Letters upon all needful occasions to certifie our Brethren and other Churches of the state of our affairs and of particular members that those that justly have communion in one Church or are excluded may have communion with other Churches or be refused by them accordingly when there is just occasion And if any Brethren or Churches be prevailed over so far by temptation as unjustly to deny us their communion in this way of Association Assemblies or Correspondency we shall not therefore deny them to be our Brethren or Churches of Christ but shall Love and Own them and have so much Communion with them as their distance shall leave them capable of if they joyn with us in the Profession and Practice of true Christianity and of the points that are necessary to Church-constitution and communion and are not proved guilty of heresie ungodliness or such kind of schism or scandalous sins for which the Scripture commandeth us to reject men and avoid them But such as are thus guilty though they offer themselves to associate with us we shall refuse to hold communion with till they credibly profess Repentance and manifest a Reformation VII Because it is a matter of great concernment to the honour of Christ the propagation of the Gospel and the encrease and welfare of the Church that there be a Provision of able faithful Ministers and that unworthy persons be kept out and because deceivers and unworthy men are forward to intrude and the people ordinarily are insufficient of themselves to make such tryal of mens ability and soundness as is requisite to the safety of the Church and the Church in all ages hath received Ministers by the Ordination of other Ministers of Christ We do therefore Agree to be careful and faithful in the discharge of our duties hereabout so far as we can discern them Resolving that if any vacant Church desire us to recommend a fit person to be their Pastor or to Judge of any recommended to them we will not recommend or approve of any but such as we judge most agreeable to the will of Christ nor will we prefer less fit and worthy men for friendship or any carnal interest or respect And if any intollerably unworthy person be about to intrude or have intruded or any neighbour Church be about to choose or have chosen such if we have opportunity we shall faithfully acquaint them with their sin and danger and perswade them to a better course And if we shall be called to invest any by solemn Ordination in the sacred office of the Ministry we shall perform it as near as we are able according to the directions of the Word of God admitting none that Christ excludeth And if it may be we shall do it in that Congregation which the person is to Over-see that so we may the better discern their mutual Consent inculcate their duties and engage them to a faithful performance thereof And whereas it is much controverted of late Whether the Power of Ordination be given to the people or the Pastors of a particular Church or the Associated neighbour Pastors and whether a stated President among these should not have a negative voice herein We are Agreed that leaving the people their due Liberty of Consent in the reception of their proper Pastors We will none of us singly Ordain without the assistance of other Pastors Nor will we joyn with any Hereticks or others in unjust
and impious Ordinations that tend to the corrupting or dividing of the Churches And to avoid Division upon a tolerable difference of Opinions where we may agree in Practice we Consent that the Associations that have no stated Presidents or that give not to such a Negative voice shall receive into their Communion those that are of the contrary opinion giving them leave if they desire it to profess or record their opinion in that particular so they will afterward walk among them in Love and Peace And that the Associations that choose a stated President and give him a Negative voice in Ordination shall in like manner and on like terms receive into their Communion such as dissent in that particular and having professed or recorded their dissent will walk submissively in Love and Peace Which liberty also of professing and recording their different principles we desire may be allowed them that joyn in Synods as being only for Communion of Churches and them that joyn in them as having a direct superiour Governing Power over the particular Pastors of the Churches VIII Though it be the surest way to Peace and Concord to take up with these necessary things and we cannot approve of the narrow dividing Principles of those men that will impose things unnecessary to the excluding of the necessary yet if our lawful Rulers shall command it or the peace of the Church through the distempers of the Brethren shall require it we shall obey and consent in things that God hath not forbidden and if we suffer for well-doing and for obeying God rather then men we shall endeavour to imitate our Lord who being reviled reviled not again and when he suffered threatned not but committed all to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. The Office of Christs Ministers more largely opened 1. THE Lord Jesus Christ having purchased our Salvation by his blood and stablished his Testament or Covenant of Grace and left us his example of perfect holiness ascended to the Father and is there the Glorified Lord of all and Head over all things to his Church all power being given him in Heaven and Earth that interceding for us with the Father he might be the Treasury of our Light and Life and offering salvation to the miserable world might gather and cleanse and save the Church which is his Body Communicating to them that grace that is here necessary to them in their way and warfare and perfecting them in Glory with himself when their warfare is accomplished 2. Christ Being thus invisible to us in Glory with the Father performeth not these works below by himself in person immediately and alone but by his Spirit Ministers and Word The Holy Ghost being his Advocate or Agent to these ends and his Ministers the Instruments used by his Spirit and himself to indite and bear witness to his word and to Preach it to the world as that infallible Truth which must guide them to Salvation 3. The first Prophetical and Apostolical Ministers being sent by himself and qualified by the inspiration conduct and miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost did found the Church and enlarge it unto many nations of the world and left them the holy Scriptures which contain the doctrine which they preached that it might be certainly and fully preserved and propagated till the coming of Christ And they setled by the appointment of Christ and his Spirit an ordinary ministry to succeed them not to deliver a new Law or Gospel but to preserve and preach the doctrine which in the holy Scriptures and conjunctly at first also from the mouths of the Apostles they had received as once delivered to the Saints and to guide the Churches by it to the end 4. Though Christ appointed Ministers that should have so far a charge or care of the whole Church as not to be limited to any one part but to extend their labour and oversight as far as their capacity and opportunities would permit yet did he never make any man his Vicar or Vicegerent as Head of the universal Church nor lay upon any one whether Peter Paul or any other the charge and oversight of the whole nor did ever Peter or any one Apostle exercise such an Office in governing all the Catholike Church especially when it ceased to be confined to Jerusalem and the adjacent parts and was dispersed through the world Never did the Apostles receive their Commissions from Peter or all the Ministers then in the world perform their work by his Commission or by any power received from him nor were accountable to him and judged by him for what they did Much less is this universal Head-ship committed to the Pope of Rome through all or any generations But because a certain Primacy of Order was granted him by Emperours and Councils within the limits of the Roman Empire long after the Apostles days therefore doth he take advantage thence to pretend a Title to the universal Head-ship As if the Roman and the Christian world had been the same or the Emperor and his Clergy had been the Rulers of all the Christian subjects of all other Princes or Pastors upon earth and his limited Primacy had been an universal Soveraignty This claim of the Pope of Rome to be the Vice-Christ or universal Pastor of all the Christian world is a tyrannical impious irrational usurpation contrary to the holy Scripture and the state of the Primitive Church and contrary to nature and common sense which declare his incapacity of the work far more then any Prince is uncapable of being the universal Monarch of the world And therefore all Christians should abhor this proud and impious usurpation and fly from the guilt of that horrible schism and those corruptions in doctrine worship and government which it hath introduced 5. Christ calleth his ordinary ministers to that office by enduing them with his gifts and disposing them thereunto and moving the hearts of the people to consent and by ordination of the senior Pastors and giving them opportunities for the work and sometime the Magistrates command hath a hand in the obligation 6. It belongeth to the Office of the Ministers of Christ to Preach the Gospel to the nations of the world and make them Christs Disciples Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 7. This Preaching or publishing the Gospel is done by voice or by writing that by voice is done by Reading by publike Sermons or interlocutory conference that by writing is either by translating the holy Scriptures into the languages used by the Nations or by expounding and applying them So that the holy Scriptures in the original languages are the word of God both as to the terms and sense Grammatical and Doctrinal The same Scriptures in a Translation are the word of God as to the sense both Grammatical and Doctrinal but not as to the Terms The holy doctrine of the Scriptures delivered in the writings and Sermons and conferences of the
great a part of our duty that we should do it with much diligence prudence and constancy And the general precepts of doing all to edification and in order oblige us ordinarily to appoint a stated time and place where every family may come in order And if we are able we should go to them that cannot or will not come to us if they will but hear us 18. Those that are Baptized in Infancy and there engaged to God in the holy Covenant should with all possible care and diligence be educated by the Parents or any that have the tuition of them in the Nurture and admonition of the Lord and taught betimes to know the doctrine of the Gospel and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to Love God above all and their neighbours as themselves and to hate iniquity and live to God and first to seek his Kingdom and righteousness To which end Parents should Catechize their Children and daily be teaching them the word of God and acquainting them with his fear and holy worship And ministers must with special care and diligence oversee the several families of their charge and excite the Parents to this necessary duty And also should themselves assist them herein and Catechize such youth as well as all others that are Ignorant as often as they can especially where Parents do neglect it 19. As Infants are by baptism admitted among the Infant-members of the Church upon their Parents profession of Christianity and dedicating them to God so must they personally make a profession of their own faith and own their baptismal Covenant and give up themselves to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost before they are to be admitted into the number and Communion of the Adult members of the Church Which profession is to be tryed and approved of by the Pastors of the Church And so excellent a duty to be carefully and seriously and solemnly performed that the transition into the state and communion of the Adult may appear to be so great and observable a thing as may excite all to an answerable care and diligence in preparation thereunto and to look after that saving faith and holiness which they must so solemnly profess And Ministers should have a special care that they take nothing for a credible profession that is not so and corrupt not the Church by letting in uncapable members that must either be cast out again to the grievous exasperating them against the Church and way of God and so to the apparent hazzard of their souls or else must live ungoverned in their wickedness to the great dishonour of God and the provocation of his wrath against them and the Church 20. For the publike worshiping of God and our own Edification the Pastors where there is opportunity must congregate the people in a solemn Assembly in a convenient place and time And all that can must constantly there attend preferring the publike worship of God before the private much more before their worldly businesses that are not of flat necessity to themselves or others 21. In these publike Assemblies it is lawful for us to admit even Infidels to be present and such Catechumen's as are yet unfit to be members of the Church and there to teach reprove and exhort them and pray for them according to their state though we may not receive them to be members of the Church nor admit them to our special communion 22. Because it is the holy Scriptures that containe that Gospel of which we are Ministers and because the honour of Gods holy word is to be preserved and the people to be instructed in it and taught to know it it is therefore our duty in the solemn Assemblies to read the word of God to the people in a known tongue as Moses and the Prophets were read every Sabbath day in the Synagogues of the Jews Such portions being chosen and order observed as the Pastors discern to be most for edification 23. Our publike preaching of the Gospel should be from faith and holy experience with plainness and perspicuity with reverence and gravity with convincing evidence and authority with fervent zeal and perswading importunity with the tenderest love and melting compassion with faithfulness impartiality and prudence suiting both matter and manner to the necessity of the hearers and with frequency and unwearied patience waiting on God for the success 24. The Pastor is to lead and the people to consent and joyn in heart in the publike prayers and unanimously to pour out their souls unto the Lord in penitent confession of sin and fervent petition and joyful thanksgiving and praise and this according to the direction of the holy Scriptures and especially of the Lords prayer which is the most perfect comprehensive summary form and pattern of our prayers 25. Confession is to be made both of our own sin and the sins of the Church and Nation of Magistrates Ministers and People yet so as that we turn it not into a reproaching and dishonouring of our superiours or an abusing of mens persons by venting our malice or distempered passions or uncharitable censures against them we must confess our original and actual sin The great corruption of our hearts and lives our sinful thoughts affections words and actions our privative and positive sin out omissions and commissions our secret and unknown sins in general and our known and open sins by name our sins of ignorance and sins against knowledge our sins before and since conversion our sins against the Lord himself consisting in our unholiness contrary to the first table and our unjustice and uncharitableness against our neighbour and our folly and injury against our selves The sins of our relations and of our more private life our sins against the light and law of nature and our sins against the Gospel and grace of a Redeemer Against the outward means of Grace and against the inward motions of the Spirit and of our consciences against mercies and judgements against the examples of Christ and his servants and the warning-falls of others especially those sins by which we have most dishonoured God and our holy profession and have most scandalized hardened or tempted others And all our confessions should proceed from true contrition and hatred of the sin 26. Our petitions must be only for things agreeable to the revealed will of God And principally for the hallowing of his name and the coming of his Kingdom and the doing of his will in earth as it is in heaven And therefore we must have compassionate thoughts of the dark and miserable parts of the world where by Heathenism Infidelity and Mahometanism the name of God is grievously dishonoured and his Soveraignty denied or rejected and Satans Kingdom doth prevail and where the will of God is partly unknown and partly willfully disobeyed And our eye and heart must be on the state of the universal Church that all this interest of God-in-Christ may be there preserved and advanced And in order to
them to expiate their sins by his sacrifice and sanctifie them further by his Spirit and confirm their right to everlasting life and they are received eaten and drunk by the Church to profess that they willingly receive Christ himself to the ends aforesaid their Justification Sanctification and Glorification and to signifie and solemnize the renewal of their Covenant with him and their holy Communion with him and with one another 35. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper containeth in it these three parts 1. The Consecration of the Bread and Wine 2. The Representation and Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ 3. And the giving to and participation by the Church The Consecration hath chief respect unto God the Father the Representation and Commemoration to the Son as sacrificed and the Giving and Participation to the applying operations of the Holy Ghost As it must first be the Body and Blood of Christ before it be sacrificed and first offered in sacrifice to God before it is offered for nourishment and salvation unto men so is it in the order of Sacramental representation 36. The Consecration is performed by the Churches offering up the Creatures of Bread and Wine to God to be accepted to this holy use and by Gods acceptance of them as dedicated thereunto The Churches dedication is expressed by the present action and Gods acceptance is expressed by his command and promise and the ministerial acception and benediction The Minister in this action is the agent of the people in offering or dedicating these creatures unto God and he is Gods Agent or Minister in receiving and blessing them 37. In this dedication of the Bread and Wine to God to be the consecrated matter of the commemorative representative sacrifice the Church acknowledgeth the three grand relations of God to his people 1. We acknowledge him the Creator and Owner of all the Creatures 2. We acknowledge him our Righteous Soveraign Ruler whose Law we have offended and who hath received the attonement and whose Laws we do herein obey And 3. We acknowledge him our Father or bounteous benefactor by whom we are sustained and whose love we have forfeited and with whom we desire by Christ to be reconciled 38. This consecration maketh not the Bread to be no Bread or the Wine to be no longer Wine nor doth it make any addition to or change upon the glorified real Body of Christ but it maketh the Bread to be Sacramentally Christs Body and the Wine to be Sacramentally his Blood that is representatively as an Actor in a Tragedy is the person whom he representeth or as in Investitures a sword is the honour of Knighthood or a key is the house or a twig or turf is the land 39. Because Christ was to be invisible to us and the heavens must receive him till the restoration of all things therefore as he hath sent his Spirit within to be his Agent in his members so hath he appointed his Ordinances without and especially this visible solemn Representation and Commemoration of his sacrifice that our faith might hereby be helped and our souls might be raised to such apprehensions of his love and the mercy of our Redemption as if we had even seen him crucified before our eyes and this till his glorious return when we shall enjoy him visibly in his glory 40. As Christ in his Intercession as our high Priest in the heavens procureth and conveyeth his benefits of salvation upon the account of his sacrifice once offered on the Cross so doth the Church in this Commemoration present him unto God the Father as the sacrificed Lamb in whom they profess themselves to believe and by whom alone they expect salvation and all the blessings tending thereunto 41. In this Commemoration the Minister is chiefly the Agent of Christ in representing his voluntary offering up himself unto the Father in sacrifice for sin And he is the Agent of the people in that part of the Commemoration in which they profess their Believing in a crucified Christ and thankfulness for him and dependance on him as their hope 42. Jesus Christ having finished the work of Redemption which he was to do on earth in the days of his flesh ascended and is glorified with the Father and being become the perfect head and treasure of the Church hath in his Testament or new Covenant made a free gift of himself and life to all that will receive him as he is offered and he hath appointed his Ministers not only to proclaim this gift unto the world but also in his name to deliver it to the Church And it is a great encouragement and comfort to Believers that it is a Minister or Agent of Christ himself that by his command and in his name doth say to them Take ye eat ye this is my Body which is broken for you And this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you drink ye all of it Christ himself with his saving benefits being herewith as truly offered to their faith as the signs and representations are offered to their hands and mouths Though it be still but consecrated bread and wine that doth represent yet is it the very Body and Blood of Christ that is represented and Christ himself as the Head of the Church and fountain of our renewed life and as our spiritual nourishment that is truly given us and received by us 43. It is therefore unmeet for any but a lawful Minister of Christ who is authorized hereunto to administer this holy Sacrament both because no other are called to it in the holy Scripture nor can shew any warrant for such an undertaking and because it is very injurious to the comfort of the Church when they know not that the person hath any authority to deliver them so great a mercy from the Lord nor whether Christ will own his ministration 44. The Ministers must partake of this holy Sacrament with the Church not as they are the Agents of Christ for the delivery of it but as they themselves are his Disciples and members of the Chruch 45. Before the receiving of this holy Sacrament we ought to examine our selves that we may come preparedly with repentance for all known sin and faith in Christ and an humble feeling of our own necessities and a thankful sense of the love of God expressed in our redemption by Christ and a hungring and thirsting after him and his righteousness and with an unfeigned love unto our brethren and a high estimation of the union and communion of the Saints and with a resolution to walk in holy obedience to God in patient hope of the coming of Christ and of the everlasting Kingdom where we shall be perfectly in him united which holy affections are also to be exercised in the time of our Communion in this Sacrament and afterwards upon the review of what we have here received and done 46. The Word and Prayer must be joyned with the Sacrament The nature and use of it
must be opend and the people excited to the exercise of the duties before mentioned Sin must be confessed and lamented and mercy implored and thankfully acknowledged and the goodness of God especially manifested in the work of our Redemption must with the greatest admiration alacrity and joy that we can attain to be magnified and praised till this unspeakable love of God in Christ hath drawn out our hearts in fervent love to him again And it will be most suitable to this Eucharistical Ordinance that the Church do sing some Psalm or Hymn of praise to God for the mercies of our Redemption 47. Those are to be invited to the Supper of the Lord that have these necessary qualifications in some degree and the rest to be acquainted with the danger of eating and drinking unworthily Those only are to be admitted to the Table of the Lord that have the use of reason and can examine themselves and are members of the Church and have made a personal credible profession of faith and holiness and are not justly for heresie or any scandalous sin removed from present communion with the Church 48. The using or not using of forms of prayer in the administration of this Sacrament is to be determined of as aforesaid in the other parts of worship according to the different abilities of Ministers and state of the several congregations and other accidents that should weigh in such indifferent things But as in the Administration of Baptism it is ordinarily meetest and most safe to use the express form of words which Christ hath directed us to and the Church hath still used viz. I Baptize thee in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost so in the Administration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is safest and meetest that we use the words that Christ by his example hath directed us to use As Matth. 26. 26 27 28. Luk. 22. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 24 25. viz. Take ye eat ye this is my Body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me and This is the Blood of Christ even of the New Testament or this is the New Testament in the Blood of Christ which is shed for many for the remission of sins drink ye all of it in remembrance of him 49. As it is not unmeet for the Church at other times when they assemble to make a solemn profession of the Christian faith and of holy obedience to manifest their constancy therein and to declare what doctrine it is that we assemble to profess and to preserve it in the minds of all so is it more especially meet that at Baptism and the Lords Supper when we are solemnly to renew our Covenant with the Lord the Covenanters do renew this solemn Profession To which end it is most safe to make use of the ancient forms of Confession called The Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed and also to recite the Ten Commandments with a profession of our consent to the terms of the Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost To which if we at lest sometimes adjoyn some fuller Explication of the Creed and Decalogue such as is our Profession here before set down it will not be unprofitable or unmeet And in such manner it may all be managed and such signs or expressions of consent required as the Pastors shall judge meet for the attainment of the desired ends with liberty for such variations as are necessary to prevent a dead formality 50. At the dismission of the Assembly it is meet that the Pastor do solemnly bless them in the name of Christ to which he is authorized as an act of his Ministerial Office 51. Deacons are Church-Officers instituted by the Holy Ghost to be serviceable to the Pastors and the Church by the distribution of the Creatures dedicated to the Church-Communion and taking care for the supplying of the necessities of the poor out of the contributions or stock of the Church 52. The first day of the week is appointed or separated by the Holy Ghost for the holy Assemblies and publike worship of the Church and other holy exercises and is herein to be improved to the honour of God and the edification of our selves and others and all other imployments are therein to be avoided that any way hinder the holy duties of the day except such as become a greater duty upon the account of Piety Justice or Mercy That some stated time be separated to the publike service of God and the benefit of our souls is a thing that the law of Nature doth command that this stated time should be at least one day in seven the reason and equity at least of the fourth Commandment doth acquaint us that this day should be every first day of the week the Holy Ghost in the New Testament hath revealed to us acquainting us with Christs rising on that day which laid the foundation of the change and of the Assembling of his Disciples on that day and his owning their Assembly by his appearing to them and teaching them and blessing them and giving them their commission and the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. 19 to 24. The same they did the next first day where he again appeared and owned their Assembly and revealed himself unto them Joh. 20. 26 27. And that this was the practice of the Apostles and the Primitive Christian Churches directed by them appeareth Act. 20. 7 8. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. so that it was called the Lords Day as the last day before was called the Sabbath Rev. 1. 10. And to put us out of all doubt of the matter of fact and consequently of the meaning of these texts of Scripture the certain Tradition and most Concordant history of the Church assureth us that ever since the days of the Apostles the universal Church in all parts of the world hath constantly observed the Lords Day in Commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ which it is not possible that they could have done without contradiction and rebukes from the Apostles themselves or some of the Churches which they planted if it had not been a certain truth Those therefore that will be against the holy observation of the Lords Day must either impudently deny the Testimony of all Church History and Tradition which with one consent assure us that it was observed universally in the Christian Churches from the Apostles daies as a thing by them established and practised or else they must imagine that all the dispersed Churches through the world conspired in the teaching and practising of such an error without any known rebuke wherein it had been most easie for any to have convicted them to be slanderers of the Apostles or the Ages that were before them Having therefore so much in Nature in the fourth Commandment in the New Testament and the Doctrine and Practice of the universal Church for our holy observation of this day it ill beseems any Christian to forsake all or any of these and think