which is given for you this do in remembrance of me Likewise the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you The Apostles were the visible Church at that time and to them doth he appoint the Supper Ordinance and from the Appointment of Christ doth Paul recommend the Practice and the continuance of this Ordinance to the Church of Corinth After he had condemned their sinful abuse of the Ordinance 1 Cor. 11. from ver 20 to 23. at ver 23 24. he lays before them how that Ordinance was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to be continued in his Church For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betray'd took Bread And when he had given Thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me As the Ordinance of Baptism was appointed by Christ to be administred to those who were qualified according to the Rule of the Word to be Members of the Church so it was appointed likewise to be the entering Ordinance into a visible Church-state and the Ordinance of the Lord's-Supper to these that were visible Members Which serves to clear up the former part of this Chapter what the Ordinances are and what is required to fit for the partaking of them The second branch of this Chapter is what they do hold out when administred according to the Rule of the Word First To have the Ordinances administred according to the Rule of the Word there is required that the Administrator the Subject to whom the Ordinance is administred and the Way of the Administration have its Warrant from the Word of God for God is a God of Order and not of Confusion In the second Part of this Book and the third Chapter I shew'd that there was an extraordinary and ordinary Qualification The extraordinary Qualification was that of the Apostles who had a large extensive Power accompanying them granted by Christ for the first planting of the Churches That this Office of Apostleship is ceased is clear seeing there is no appearance of the Qualifications to that great Work in any of the Dispensers of the Gospel in these latter Ages so that for any Person either to preach or administer the Ordinances as sent out by Christ as Apostles favours of Pride and Presumption But there is a more ordinary Qualification from Christ to dispense the Gospel which depends upon the Inlightnings of the Spirit in the Word and a Gift of Utterance to declare it unto others and for the carrying on of this Work God hath pleased to raise up several Persons to dispense his Truth before they bore any Office in the Church or over it But the Administration of the Ordinances of Christ being that which particularly concerns the Church it seems to me by the Rule of the Word that before such Administration of the Ordinances there should be a setting apart of fit Persons for Office by the Church and an Approbation of their Choice by the Elders of other Churches together with the laying on of Hands and likewise a solemn and earnest seeking unto Almighty God through Jesus Christ for a Blessing upon the Persons whom they have chose And this is to be done as a previous Qualification whereby to invest such Persons into a Right duly to administer the Ordinances I do remember that after God had fully convinced me of the Ordinance of Believers Baptism I went a great many miles to come under the Ordinance but the Person to whom I went not being able to give me a satisfactory account of his regular Admittance as an Administrator I was constrained to return unbaptized although at that time I had a very great desire to have been made a Partaker of that despised Ordinance This may serve to shew that to have the Ordinances administred according to the Rule of the Word there should be a fit Administrator Secondly To the orderly Administration of the Ordinances there is required a right Subject or such a Person as the Rule of the Word doth require And first I shall shew the Qualifications required of those that come to the Ordinance of Baptism and that is Repentance for Sins that are past Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a seeking unto God through him for pardoning Grace and Power to walk with him Acts 22.16 And now why tarriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy Sins calling on the Name of the Lord. Compared with Chap. 8.37 38. And Philip said If thou believest with all thine Heart thou mayst and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And he commanded the Chariot to stand still and they went down both into the Water both Philip and the Eunuch and he baptized him As the Rule doth require a Qualification to fit Persons for the orderly admittance to the Ordinance of Baptism so doth it likewise for the orderly admittance to the Lord's Supper 1 Cor. 11.27 28 29. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup For he that eateth aad drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's Body He that eateth and drinketh unworthily that is as an ignorant Person not discerning the Lord's Body that is not having any inward apprehension of him by Faith upon their own Souls or come not with that holy humble Reverence and with that due regard which belongs to such an holy Action If it be so that the Rule doth require Qualifications of those that come to the Ordinances then it doth condemn the Practice of such who do administer without any regard whether the Qualification be there or no. And secondly It greatly condemns such who under the pretence of a spiritual Baptism and a spiritual Supper do lay aside the Ordinances which Christ hath appointed in his Church The more clear the Evidences are of the Work of the Holy Ghost upon the Heart it tends to hold forth the Persons right to the Ordinance of Baptism Acts 10.47 Can any Man forbid Water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we We may in these words behold the different Path that Truth and Error doth walk in Error makes a pretended Enjoyment of the inward a ground to lay aside the outward Truth makes the real Enjoyment of the inward the Qualification it self to partake of the outward and the more clear that the Enjoyment of Christ by the Holy Ghost doth outwardly
manifest it self it leads the Administrator unto a chearful administring the Ordinance to such Persons And he Peter commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord. Those that do lay aside the Supper-Ordinance do say that Christ is come and therefore the Supper-Ordinance is of no longer continuance But if such Persons would seriously consider what the coming of Christ is which they speak of they would do well for if by coming inwardly into the Soul and the Holy Ghost's manifesting him in the Soul by the Glass of the Gospel be meant this is the Qualification to come to the Ordinance and so he is come to every sincere Christian 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Compared with Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith This dwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith is the inward discerning of him in his Sufferings which being wholly wanting in those that do partake of the outward part of the Ordinance they eat and drink Damnation to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body But if by being come they intend such a coming as to exclude the Expectation of the second Personal Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Whom the Apostle tells us Acts 3.21 the Heaven must receive until the Restitution of all things then they destroy one of the Articles of the Christian Faith The Saints in this day do in a measure witness with the Apostles the inward Enjoyment of him by Faith and by the same Faith that they liv'd in do expect the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ The Apostle John speaks fully to this in 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is They could not be brought into the state of Children without the inward Enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith for this is the Evidence of Sonship and it doth not yet appear what we shall be in Eternity we do but as in a Glass behold the Glory that the Children shall there be made partakers of but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Not alone we know that he is ours but we know that he will hold and keep us till we enjoy eternal Glory with our Head the Lord Jesus Christ at his second personal Appearance then shall our vile Bodies be changed like his glorious Body and we be ever with the Lord. The next thing to be treated of is that the way of administring the Ordinances be kept to according to the Rule of the Word and that is as to the Ordinance of Baptism a burial of the Body in Water in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Buried with him by Baptism into Death Leigh in his Note upon the words of Rom. 6.4 The Apostle saith he alludes to the manner in which Baptism was then administred which was to plunge the Baptized in the Water after which they put on new Garments whence those manners of speaking used in Scripture to put on Christ to put off the old Man and put on the new Mr. Perkins agrees with Leigh as to the manner of Administration of the Ordinance of Baptism in the Primitive Church and tells us that it was altered from plunging of the Body under Water to sprinkling in the Face by reason of the Coldness of this Northern Climate but from whence the Power is derived to make any alteration in the Ordinance from its Primitive Institution this that holy Man shews not as if the Elements were not subject to the Power of God and he were not sufficient to preserve his Children in their Obedience to him in his own Appointments Secondly The way of administring the Supper-Ordinance we have set down by the Lord Jesus who was the first Administrator Mat. 26.26 27 28. And as they were eating that is the Passover Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to his Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body The Bread put for the thing signified by it which was the Body of Christ Ver. 27. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it Ver. 28. For this is my Blood that is a Sacrament or figure of his Blood poured forth of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of Sins This leads me to the next thing What the Ordinances do hold forth when administred according to the Rule of the Word I shall first treat of the Ordinance of Baptism which consists of two parts the one outward the other inward the outward part I have spoken to already which is a Burial of the Body in Water the inward part figured out by the outward is the Burial and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 6.4 5. Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection As the outward Declaration of the Gospel is the instrumental Means in the hand of the Holy Ghost to convey that which is held forth by it which is the Lord Jesus Christ unto the Soul so is the Ordinance of Baptism the Means appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ and made use of by the Spirit to convey that which is held forth by it The outward of it self conveys nothing it is only made use of by the holy Spirit to set before the Soul what is figured out by it The Burial of the Body holds forth the Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Benefits which we receive by it which is a discharge from the Penalty of Sin and our rising out of the Water his Resurrection and the Benefits which we receive by it which is to walk with God in newness of Life by Power received from the Father through the Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ The holy Spirit accompanying the Ordinance doth let the Soul see what Christ hath gone through to free it from Hell and to procure for it the Enjoyment of Heaven which inward sight by Faith knits the Soul to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ The Apostle calls it a being planted into the likeness of his Death and into the likeness of his Resurrection The Believer is let into Christ so as to draw that spiritual Life by which he lives unto God from the Lord Jesus Christ he not only lives in the Enjoyment of the Father but doth likewise convey of that spiritual Life unto all his Members in a measure For
the further clearing up and confirming the truth of what is held forth by the Ordinance of Baptism I shall open the Apostle's words in 1 Pet. 3.19 20 21. By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison He the Lord Jesus Christ in his Divine Nature went by Noah's Ministry and preached Repentance while the Ark was building to those Souls who for their Impenitency were cast into the Prison of Hell Which sometime were disobedient when once the Long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing the Forbearance of God towards the old World continued and Noah preached Repentance to them wherein few that is eight Persons were saved by Water The like Figure whereunto even Baptism doth now save us not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The outward part which is Water and which puts away the filth of the Flesh by the burial of the Body in it is not that which saves but it is a Figure of that which doth save the Spirit accompanying the Ordinance when it is administred by the answer of a good Conscience towards God that is the answer of a believing Heart which by Faith lays hold of that which is figured out by it the Lord Jesus Christ in his Death and Resurrection The Lord's Supper hath likwise two parts an Outward and an Inward the Outward part is the Bread broken and eaten the Wine poured forth and drunk by the Believer the Inward part is his Flesh crucified and his Blood shed for the sake of his Members Luke 22.19 20. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you The Martyrs being press'd by the Papists to shew how the Lord Jesus Christ was present in this Ordinance owned that as Bread and Wine was apprehended by the Body in feeding upon it to its Nourishment so the Flesh and Blood of Christ was apprehended by the Soul in feeding upon him to the nourishing of the Soul The Bread and Wine is not the Body but a Sacramental Figure by which the Body of Christ is represented to us 1 Cor. 11.26 For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink of this Cup ye do shew the Lord's Death till he come PART IV. Being an Appendix which the Author leaves for a Legacy to his Children GEN. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him WHAT I shall leave with you my Children I shall comprehend under these two general Heads First Lay before you the way that God hath taken to bring my Soul to the Enjoyment of himself by Faith Secondly The Counsel and Direction which I recommend unto you if I should be shortly removed from you First I shall lay before you the way that God hath taken to bring me to the Enjoyment of himself by Faith I was in my younger years exceedingly beloved of my Mother so that her very Life seem'd almost bound up in me and tho I do believe she had a Work of Grace upon her Soul yet her Love to me did not run in that pure Channel which it ought to have run that is to have made my immortal Soul the great Object of her Love and Care But her Indulgence to me in my tender years tended greatly to heighten Sin and Corruption in my Soul for I chose for my Companions the profanest Boys in Bridlington and altho I was not gotten to such a pitch of Profaneness as some of them yet I took delight to hear them belch out their Wickedness and frequently at our Meetings we had profane Ballads which I was as industrious to learn to sing as any of them my poor Mother did know of my Companions but I do not think that she did believe that they were altogether so wicked as they were for they generally appeared moderately sober before her I do think that it is one of the greatest Duties that belongs to Parents to endeavour to cast their Children among other sober Children for what avails all Admonition that can be given to a Child if as soon as we have done we deliver it up into Temptation I do not think that it is in Parents power to give a Principle of Grace to their Childen but it may be in their power to give a check to the outbreakings of Corruption which may greatly hinder its growth Prov. 22.6 Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it When I was about seven years old and a Scholar at the Free School a wonderful Providence did befal me Being at play with about forty Scholars with me in the Green before the Church and a poor Woman at the Well-side drawing Straw I laid my Breast over the great blue Stones that lay about the Well to sail my Ship in it it being full of Water and so went head forward down into the Well neither my Play-fellows seeing me fall into it nor the poor Woman that was by but altho no Eye saw me yet the Eye of the Almighty was over me and his sparing pitying Love was towards me being very unfit to go into Eternity having no knowledg of God neither of the worth of my precious Soul and he by his Wisdom open'd a way to save me in such a manner that all concern'd in me might know that he had done it A poor old Woman whose Name was Alice Brown that liv'd right against the Well had hung on a Pan with Water to lay Leven but a lump of Soot fell down out of the Chimny which had been swept but three days before into her Pan so that she cast out the Water and came to the Well for more and seeing me gave a sudden skreek the poor Woman who was a common Harlot that was drawing Straw supposing it to be her Boy my Mother having a little before given her some of my old Clothes laid her hand upon the Stones and leapt directly into the Well which was up to her Breast in Water and catching me in her Arms handed me out with very little discovery of Life in me This amazing Providence had not the least effect upon me to frighten me out of my Sins but being well recovered I became more sinful than before and that which tended to heighten it was that I made this Harlot's Son who had been the Instrument in saving me my chief Companion In this course I continued until I was about thirteen years of Age. Being a dull Scholar and my Master churlish to me and
come to partake of them the Promises run to him and fix in him as in an immoveable Rock that can never be shaken 2dly He is the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person because they are given to him as a Seed Psal 89.27 28 29. Also I will make him my first-born higher than the Kings of the Earth My Mercy will I keep for him for evermore my Covenant shall stand fast with him His Seed will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven Compared with Heb. 2.13 And again I will put my Trust in him And again I and the Children which God hath given me As the first Adam conveys natural Defilement to all his Seed and that which causeth the loss of Communion with God so the Lord Jesus Christ that conveys to all the elect Seed which removes that which hinders Communion and restores Communion to them John 6.57 As the living Father sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me Here is three Livers here is 1. The Life of the Godhead 2. Here is the Man Christ living upon the Godhead 3. Here is the Believer living upon the Lord Jesus Christ as God-man in one Person the Divine Nature putting Life into the Manhood and conveying of that Life to the Elect. Gal 3.16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not To Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ Is Christ mystical here meant saith Leigh then the Elect are comprehended in him To Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made to Abraham in Christ and not to Christ in Abraham saith Kendal against John Goodwin 3dly It doth appear that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person from the Experience of the Saints from Abel to this very day The Elect that were in the World before his appearance in the state of his Humiliation did all by Faith look at him and through him were brought to the enjoyment of God and upon him lay their hope of persevering with God Heb. 12.1 2. Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith This Cloud of Witnesses that look'd unto Jesus were the Saints from Abel's time in the 11th Chapter The Saints that have been and are in the World in the times of the New Testament through Jesus do go to God through Jesus do enjoy Communion with God 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined into our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ To sum up this Chapter Was the Lord Jesus Christ comprehended in the Womb of the Decree of Election Was the Union of the two Natures in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ comprehended in the Decree as the Head of the Elect and by the Decree appointed to be the Conveyer of Grace to every elect Person Then whatever was acted and done by him was subservient to the Decree and proves the Covenant of Grace and Redemption to be but one Covenant Joh. 4.34 Jesus saith unto them My Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me and to finish his work CHAP. II. Of the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ in two parts First Perfect Obedience to the Law Secondly Satisfaction to the Penalty of it for the Elect subservient to the Decree of Election and leading to answer the great Designs of it THE great God that he might make good that threatning against Satan That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents Head doth by the incomprehensible Power of the Holy Ghost first sanctify that Matter of which the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ was made and then without the help of Man's Seed did create or form it into the shape of Man to which a living Soul was given that so he might appear to be like his Brethren the Elect. To this second Man so wonderfully made was the eternal Word the second Person in the Godhead united in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and brought forth into the World our Emanuel the Mighty God the everlasting Father the wonderful Counsellor the Prince of Peace His Divine Nature being the express Image of his Father's Substance and in respect of it it was no Robbery in him to be the Father's equal and one with the Father That he might be one with the Elect he is wonderfully united to their Nature in the Womb of the Virgin and that he might figure out the Misery that all the Elect were in by Generation he is born in a Stable and laid in a Manger typifying out that by reason of their natural Pollution they were like their first Father Adam who was driven from the Presence of God amongst the Beasts He is put under the first Covenant that he might fulfil the Righteousness of it Gal. 4.4 5. Made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons And he is not only put under the first Covenant to give it a perfect Obedience that in that Obedience of his the Elect might appear before God but he is likewise put under the first Covenant to give Satisfaction to the Wrong done to it by the Elect as they successively come into the World Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree Compared with Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he the eternal Word also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil Those that stood in the Decree of Election as Children coming into the World in such a way by Generation as brought them under the defilements of Sin and so under the Penalty of the first Covenant the eternal Word takes hold of their Nature and by sanctifying of it in Death perfuming the Sacrifice by his Divine Nature the Penalty of the first Covenant is removed and a Pardon laid in for the Children as they shall successively come into the World and have it applied to their Souls by the Spirit They being interested in this Satisfaction the Penalties of the first Covenant are removed and the executive Power of it taken out of the hands of Satan Having now by way of Introduction opened the door into the Work of Redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ I come in the next place to consider this Soul-amazing