and his Visible Members In which Covenant God on his part promiseth to be their God in Christ to pardon them and to confer eternal life on them upon condition they take him only for their God and Christ Jesus for their Lord and Saviour by believing in him and obeying him And men on their part Covenant to perform the Condition of Gods Covenant in taking him for their God and Christ for their Lord and Saviour by believing in him and obeying him Those words I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People contain the substance of the Covenant of Salvation both on Gods part and mans part Heb. 8.10 The mutual Covenant between God and his Israel of old is thus described Thou hast avouched this day the Lord to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and his judgments and to hearken to his Voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar People as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldest keep all his Commandments Deut. 26 17 18. This mutual Covenanting is the Copulative or Bond by which the conjunction is made between the Head and his Members Christ and his Body the Church For the nature of it is to Vnite the Parties Covenanting and to convey a mutual interest in each other I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith God Ezek. 16.8 And this tying or knitting together by Covenant is called the Bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 I might multiply places to shew that mens being joyned to the Lord in the common notion of Scripture is by Covenanting with him to be his People Thus Jer. 50.5 Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant never to be forgotten Also Isa 56.6 The Sons of the Stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him to love the name of the Lord and to be his Servants every one that taketh hold of my Covenant c. That this Union is thus made by Contract and Covenant between God and men we may the rather believe and the more easily conceive because the Holy Scripture delights to resemble and illustrate the Union between God and his People Christ and his Church by the Union that is between Men and their Wives which is an Union by mutual Contract and Covenanting the one to take the Woman for his Wife the other to take the man for her Husband with promise to deport themselves towards each other according to the nature of the mutual relation between them Ephes 5.28 Isa 54.5 Jer. 31.31 Hos 2.19 And those who were Strangers to the Covenants of promise were said to be without God and without Christ that is not related to him nor he to them as his Church and People Ephes 2.12 And here let it be observed and remembred once for all that the same thing which Unites men to Christ Unites them to those also who are already one with him by Covenant Union with the Head is the Reason of Union with all those Members which make the body of that head like as a man by becoming a Covenant Servant to a Master becomes a Member of that Family and a Fellow-servant to all the rest of the Servants of that Master QUERY IV. HOw and when is the Covenant between God and men entred into by which People are externally Vnited to Christ and visibly made Members of his Church This Covenanting is transacted when People are Baptized For Baptism is a Sacred Rite instituted by Christ by which the Covenant we speak of is solemnly entred into As for Almighty God he has prevented men on his part in Covenanting with them and stands openly declared in his Word to be a God to all those to pardon and save them whoever they be that shall become a People unto him by believing in him and serving him And not only so but he has also Authorized his Ministers to transact with men in his Name according to that declaration by bringing them into Covenant with him by Baptism and thereby to receive them into his Church For to that end are the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven delivered to them viz. to open the door and to let such into the Church and this they do as Stewards of God's House Now whenever men take hold on this Covenant of God and openly and publickly Covenant with him to become a People unto him and to perform the condition of his Covenant with them in order to the obtaining the benefits promised on his part then and by that means is their visible Relation to God to Christ and to his Church constituted and made And all this a being visibly Baptized in his Name doth imply For this I conceive is the meaning of their being Baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 Not only that they are Baptized in their name as that signifies its being done by their Authority but also into their name as that signifies their being brought into a special Relation to them as then God whom they Covenant to worship and serve And therefore from thenceforth they are called by that name into which they are Baptized like as a Wife is called by the name of her Husband from that very moment in which the Marriage-Covenant is compleated Isa 4.1 Hence it is that S. Paul saith That as many as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 For by that they put on his Name and put on their Relation to him For this Visible Membership we speak of is nothing else but a Visible Relation to Christ the Head of Christians and to all those that are visily related to him By Baptism they are planted into Christ Rom. 6. which is another metaphor by which our External Union with Christ by Baptism is signified And by it they are Baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 Those words of St. Peter shew likewise that there was a Covenanting with God in Baptism when he says The like figure whereunto 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 1 Pet. 3.21 I find that which is here translated The answer of a good Conscience is rendred by others the promise or stipulation of a good Conscience and by some the question or questioning of a good Conscience Now if the Greek will bear or countenance these several readings Answer Stipulation Questioning yet the matter may be thus well accommodated The Answer of a good Conscience here spoken of was an answer to somewhat proposed or put questionwise to be resolved or answered to by them who were to be Baptized and that the Answer to it was of the nature of a Promise Stipulation or Covenant in reference to God As when it was proposed or put questionwise to the party to be Baptized whether he did believe Jesus
admitted into the Church by Baptism before they had quite lost off their Idolatrous worship For some with conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered to an Idol and their conscience being weak is defiled saith St. Paul concerning some in the Church of Corinth whom he afterwards admonisheth to flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 8.7 10.14 Now if a judgment of mens being truly Regenerate had been the rule by which the Apostles and others had governed themselves in Baptizing of men suspicion would hardly have suffered Philip to have Baptized such an one as Simon the Sorcerer without some considerable tryal of him And considering what discerning men the Apostles were it is very strange that they should discern none of those unfit to be Baptized whom yet they did Baptize that were very bad before they were Baptized and proved to be so still shortly after I say this would seem strange in case nothing less had qualified them for Baptism than a reputation of their being Regenerate These circumstances considered together with the plain rule the Apostles had in their Commission whom to Baptize to wit Disciples as such it is more than probable that they governed themselves by that rule and Baptized those they did Baptize under the notion of Disciples or such as were learning to be Christians without tying themselves to a judgment that they were already Regenerate 5. Our blessed Saviour who does not judge according to outward appearance but according to his certain knowledge of things does account such to be of his Visible Church whom yet he knows to be none of the Invisible This I gather from his own words John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away By which he supposeth and plainly intimates that there would be many such branches in him by being in his Visible Church which yet being unfruitful and to be taken away are therefore not of the Invisible For by their being in him is doubtless meant of their being externally and visibly united to him as members of his body the Church as Visible And how can we conceive them to be united to him so as to be said to be in him but by Covenanting with him in Baptism For by that they are brought into him Baptized into Christ as St. Paul speaks Gal. 3.27 and planted in him by Baptism Rom. 6.5 And upon the same account and for the same reason for which our Saviour judgeth and accounteth men to be in him to be of his Visible Church we may we must so account them likewise The Scripture knoweth no other being in Christ but by being united and related to him either by external Covenanting with him or by internal Renovation In this latter sence such unfruitful branches as our Saviour speaks of in the Text aforesaid are not in him and therefore it must be understood in the former sence unless any third sence of mens being in Christ can be found out in Scripture which I never yet heard of 6. Our blessed Saviour in the Primitive times owned such to be of his Visible Church as were not of the Invisible by pouring out upon them miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost That there were such gifts poured out upon such men as tho they did believe yet not to the saving of the soul is evident by our Saviours own words Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity And the Author to the Hebrews plainly supposes that such as were partakers of the Holy Ghost might be so bad as quite to fall away from the Christian profession Heb. 6.4 5 6. And that our Saviour by pouring out such gifts upon such men did own them as related to him and as Members of his Visible Church will appear when we consider that the promise of these was made to such as should believe and only to such Mark 16.17 These signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues By conferring upon such Believers whose faith did not operate to Regeneration he set his Seal upon them as mark'd for his in a visible relation For the pouring out of miraculous gifts of the Spirit is called the sealing of the Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephe. 1.13 There was a two-fold seal of the Spirit the one by inward sanctification or renewing men to the Image of God Of this St. Paul seems to speak 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts This Sealing belongs to the Invisible state of the Church But then there was a sealing of the spirit which belonged then to the visible state of the Church by which a visible mark or seal was set upon them and by which God owned them as related to him as Members of his Visible Church and that was the conferring upon them some extraordinary or miraculous gifts And this was common to those that had but common grace and were unregenerate as well as to them that had special as appears by the 7th of Mat. and 6th of Heb. fore-mentioned These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost seem to be confined to the Visible Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in the Church Apostles Prophets and Teachers then Miracles gifts of Healing diversities of Tongues by which those that had them bestowed upon them were known to be of the Church and to be owned by God to be so The conferring miraculous gifts upon such men as yet shall be rejected by Christ at last as workers of iniquity argues these things First that they were Believers in Christ in a sence because they wrought their Miracles in his Name and by virtue of Faith in his Name And because our Saviour had said that such signs as they shew'd should follow them that believe Mark 16.17 Secondly that they professed the Christian doctrine for that miraculous power was conferred upon them for the confirmation of the doctrine they professed and Preached The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following vers 20. Besides our Saviour brings them in pleading that they had Prophesied in his Name Thirdly they being Believers Professors and Preachers of the Christian doctrine it argues that they had been Baptized and by Baptism made Members of the Visible Church and that our Saviour did own them for such by conferring on them such extraordinary gifts which he did not bestow upon Unbelievers 7. I might add in the last place that our Saviour owns some bad men to be related to him as his Servants Hence it is that he calls them Servants tho slothful Servants Mat. 25 26. unprofitable Servants vers 30. evil Servants Mat. 24.48 wicked
Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and whether he would reform his sinful life and in hope of Salvation by Jesus Christ henceforth live unto God according to his teaching in the Gospel The answer to this was assertory and promissory Covenant-wise made viz. that he did so believe and that through Gods assistance he would so reform and so live to the performance whereof he bound himself by being Baptized in his name Now when such a promissory answer as this proceeded from such a frame of mind as did produce or would produce effects sutable to such an answer or undertaking it might very well be called the answer of a good Conscience towards God And St. Peter might well say as here we suppose he does That the entrance into the Church by Baptism when accompanied with this answer of a good Conscience would as certainly be Salvation to them through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as ever Noah his Families enterance into the Ark was the means of their escaping perishing by water that being the figure to which St. Peter here likens Baptism And this way and method of bringing Persons into the Visible Church as Institutive by Covenanting with God in Baptism does but answer to what was done in Abrahams days and after for the gathering God a Visible Church out of the World for that was done by Circumcision then which is done by Baptism now For it was the Sacred Rite of entering Persons into Covenant with God to take God for their God and to be his People and for that reason it is called the Covenant of Circumcision by St. Stephen Act. 7. And it was the badge by which they were marked and differenced from others as belonging to God by Covenant and is therefore said to be the token of the Covenant between God and them Gen. 17.11 And just so is Baptism now which is come in the room of Circumcision We see then how excellently the Old and New Testament agree in this point That ever since God has had a Visible Church on Earth by Institution he has made the way and means of becoming Members of it to be a Covenanting with him by an initiating Ordinance QUERY V. HOW can Infants become Visible Church-Members by Covenanting with God since they seem naturally uncapable of doing such a thing while Infants This Inquiry seems necessary in this place upon occasion of the resolution of the former Query That the Infants of the Circumcised were to be engaged to God Covenant-wise by being Circumcised is past dispute But then there will another question arise and that is whether they were so by their own act and deed or by the act and deed of their Parents We cannot say that they were in their own Persons active in Covenanting with God and that therefore it must needs be by the act and deed of their Parents that they were by Circumcision engaged to God Covenant-wise But then yet a further question will arise and that is whether those Infants were obliged by their Parents entering them into Covenant by Circumcising them before they were in a capacity of consenting to it And the Answer is that there can be no doubt but that they were supposing they were obliged at all which none deny but they were The Children were obliged by what their Parents did in their Minority on their behalf with a purpose to oblige them supposing the thing lawful This was a thing commonly understood among the Jews and taken for granted and as it appears was so accounted by God also I will give some instances of both 1. The Jews did so esteem it and that appears by what they did to oblige their Seed after them to observe the days of Purim Esther 9.27 The Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their Seed and upon all such as joyned themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time every year and that these days should be remembred and kept throughout every Generation every Family every Province and every City and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews nor the remembrance of them perish from their Seed So again 1 Sam. 20.42 And Jonathan said to David Go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the Name of the Lord saying The Lord be between me and thee and between my Seed and thy Seed for ever 2. Almighty God did account and hold the Children obliged by what their Parents did or had done on their behalf with an intent to oblige them For proof of this I will instance in several cases First the Lord did hold the Children and Posterity of the Jews to be obliged by that Covenant which their Fore-fathers had made with the Gibeonites in the days of Joshua For there was three years of Famine sent by God in the days of David for that Saul and his House had slain the Gibeonites contrary to the Covenant which their Fore-fathers had made with them tho it was several hundreds of years before 2 Sam. 21.1 Secondly The whole Congregation of Israel Men Women and their little ones entred into Covenant with God by his appointment in the Land of Moab Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your little Ones and your Wives that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God And it must be by the act of their Parents since or some in their stead that their little Ones did so by obliging them as much as in them lay to observe and keep that Covenant when they should come to years of discretion to understand it For it is not easie to understand how the little Ones that were but Infants could otherwise enter into Covenant with God And if not then we see from this instance likewise that God did account the little Children obliged by what their Parents did on their behalf with an intent to oblige them Which is yet farther confirmed from what is said in the 14. and 15. verses in these words Neither with you only do I make this Covenant and this Oath but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us this day meaning their Posterity yet to come as is generally understood For it seems that God did intend to oblige the Posterity to come to take him for their God by bringing their Fore-fathers into Covenant with him Hence it is that the Jews defection to Idolatry is aggravated thus They rejected his Statutes and his Covenant which he made with their Fathers 2 King 17.15 And in this 29. of Deut. 25. Then shall men say because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the Land of Aegypt c. How could
Communion in the instituted Ordinances of worship That particular Churches are Constituted or to be Constituted only of such But others do think that these do make the Visible Church much narrower than the Scriptures do and do hold that all that are visibly in Covenant with God are thereby joyned in Relation to him and are made Members of his Visible Church as well those which have no saving grace as those that have Our business then for the present will be to consult the Scriptures in this case Before God had a Church in the World by Institution mans visible relation to God was known by their worshipping of him only whether they had any other signs of saving grace or no and tho they were in no visible Covenant with him They were known to whom they did belong by whom they worshipped Every man walked in the name of his God as the Prophet speaks Mica 4.5 and those that worshipped a strange God were the Children of a strange God Mal. 2.11 as those that worshipped the true God were counted his Children Natural Religion especially in point of worship was then the measure of judging mens visible relation to God But when Almighty God was pleased to set on foot and begin the gathering him a Visible Church out of the rest of the World in a way of divine Institution he laid the foundation of it in his transaction with Abraham by instituting and ordaining two things 1. That as God by Covenant engaged to Abraham to be his God and the God of his Seed so Abraham and his Seed must engage to God by Covenant to be his Servants and a People unto him 2. That this Covenant should be entred into by Abraham and his Seed by observing such a Sacred Rite as God instituted and appointed for that purpose and that was Circumcision And this was continued for this use until the Messias came and instituted Baptism another Sacred Rite for the same end Now in Gods thus founding his Visible Church there was no such thing as the appointing saving Grace in the judgment of charity to be the condition of mens admission into his Church by Circumcision But the Lord absolutely commanded that Abraham and his Male Seed after him and all Born in the House or bought with their money should be Circumcised without any limitation or condition in reference to the appearance of saving Grace By which it is evident that God did not design to have no others of his Visible Church than such as had saving Grace Now the Posterity of Abraham when they came out of Egypt were by virtue of their Covenanting with God all of them bad as well as good visibly related to God as his People and so his as no other people were And I hope we may safely say that God himself accounted them to be what Moses and others by divine inspiration said they were And if so then we may say that Almighty God did account them all bad as well as good tho not in the most emphatical sence to be his chosen elected and adopted People Deut. 4.37 Rom. 9.4 his Called Isa 48.12 a People near unto him Psal 148.14 his Saints his holy People Deut. 7.6 33.3 Psal 50.5 his Children Deut. 14.1 a special and peculiar People unto himself Deut. 7.6 14.2 his Inheritance Deut. 9.29 his Portion Deut. 32.9 his peculiar Treasure Psal 135.4 All these Titles and Appellations given them by God or by man inspired by God in giving them do with as much plainness as words can express shew that God himself owned them for his People his Children and related to him in such a sence as other People not in Covenant with him were not Now that they were not thus called or accounted for any such reason as because they had saving grace or because they were reputed to be of the Church as Invisible will appear with full evidence For the same inspired Man Moses at the same time and in the same Book in and by which God owned them for his People under many of the foresaid appellations did from God charge them with such and so much guilt as no man can with any colour of reason say was consistent with an Invisible Church-state Thus in Deut. 9. Thou art a stiff-necked People vers 6. From the day thou didst depart out of the Land of Egypt even until ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord vers 7. They have corrupted themselves they have quickly turned aside vers 12. I have seen this People and behold it is a stiff-necked People vers 13. You have been Rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you vers 24. I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck chap. 31.27 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked generation chap. 32.5 When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters vers 19. A froward Generation Children in whom is no faith vers 20. They are a Nation void of Counsel neither is there any understanding in them vers 28. These things are charged on them generally and in the gross And considering some other passages there is great cause to fuspect that much the major part of them at least were thus guilty For in Numb 14.2 its faid That all the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole Congregation said Would God we had died in the Land of Egypt or would God we had died in the Wilderness And vers 10. All the Congregation bade stone them with stones And vers 33. Your Children shall wander in the Wilderness forty years and bear your Whoredoms until your Carcases be wasted in the Wilderness And vers 35. I will surely do it to all this evil Congregation that are gathered together against me And vers 29. Your Carcases shall fall in this Wilderness and all that are numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me All these things considered they will not suffer us with any plausible pretence to say or to think that God owned this People in the bulk of them as his Visible Church for any such reason as because they seemed to be Invisibly related to him by special grace And if not then it must be upon some or all of these accounts following unless any other more likely can be thought of which I am not able to foresee nor to suspect 1. They were in some sort holy and separated unto God as they were Born of Parents who were in Covenant with him Upon which account they were called a holy Seed Ezra 9.2 Now the holiness of persons always signifies some such special relation to God which is not common to all persons as such Almighty God has another kind of right to the Children of such as are his by Covenant than he has to the Children of
those that are not as indeed he is in some sort more a God to such Children than he is to the Children of others God has a Right to all Children and is related to them and they to him as he is their Creator and they his Creatures But he has a more special right to the Children of them that are in Covenant with him tho such Parents have taken Covenant with God And thus the Children of those Jews which were offered in Sacrifice by the Parents unto their Idols were claimed by God as his Children and as Born to him Ezek. 16.20 Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these thou hast sacrificed to them to be destroy'd vers 21. Thou hast slain my Children to cause them to pass through the fire chap. 23.37 They caused the Sons whom they bare unto me to pass for them through the fire Tho these wicked Parents had forfeited their right to the benefits of the Covenant in Gods part through their defection from him to Idolatry yet they had not thereby made void his right to them and to their Children which he had by their having entred into Covenant with him to be his and therefore he calls them his Children and says they were born unto him And it was in this respect in all likelihood that St. Paul called those Children holy that had one believing Parent tho the other were an unbeliever 1 Cor. 7.14 The Children became related to God in some fort as his for that 's the meaning of their being holy by the Parents having devoted themselves to God by Covenant How else could the Females among the Jews be related to God as his when they were not Circumcised By which yet the Males became Gods by right of Covenant and so his as that their Children became his and to be related to him in an inferiour degree by right of birth And in this sence those words of St. Paul may be understood when he says If the root be holy so are the branches Rom. 11.16 And thus Jews by nature or by birth are opposed to Sinners of the Gentiles as Saints are opposed to Sinners Gal. 2.15 And we shall find that Almighty God did not only claim a right to the natural Seed of Jewish Parents by virtue of their being in Covenant with him but also a right to those Strangers of which they were absolute owners whether they were born in the house or bought with money both Fathers and their Children and accordingly he commanded them to be mark'd for his and to be brought into Covenant with him by Circumcising all the Males both Fathers and Children Gen. 17.12 13 23. And thus again when any other Strangers did voluntarily joyn themselves to the Lord to be his Servants in a way of Proselytism the Lord by virtue of the Fathers doing so laid claim to their Children and required them to be brought into Covenant with him by their Males being Circumcised And thus we see why the whole body of the Jewish Nation might be all called Gods holy People and yet not upon account of inherent sanctification By the way then all these things considered we may observe one reason why as we may well conceive the Apostles in their times Baptized the Housholds of Christian Parents when they Baptized the Parents themselves For the Children of Christian Parents became holy unto God with a Relative holiness by their Parents being his by Covenant as well as the Children by Jewish and Proselyted Parents had been in times before as I shewed before from those words Else were your Children unclean but now are they holy 1 Cor. 7.14 And they being so I cannot apprehend any reason why they should not be as capable of being brought into Covenant with God by Baptism as ever the Children of Jews Proselytes and of the Bond-men of the Jews had been by Circumcision And until there can be a good reason assigned for the contrary it is but reasonable to believe that the Apostles in Baptizing Housholds did Baptize little Children For such Children being born of Parents in Covenant with God were qualified for being entred into Covenant themselves because they were thereby called by God to profess the true Religion supposing they should live to be instructed by their Parents who always teach their Children to be of the same Religion which they profess themselves And this was under the Old Testament and has been under the New Gods ordinary way of calling men to profess the true Religion as I have formerly shew'd 2. Another reason why the whole body of the Jews were called Gods Children his Saints or holy People might be because they were such by Covenant in an external consideration that is they had Covenanted with God to be such and by that they were also separated from other People that were not called by his Name 3. Because of a partial performance of Covenant on their part For they worshipped the true God and him only as yet except in the case of the golden Calf who therefore was called the God of Israel when almost all the world besides worshipped Idols They also worshipped him with a worship of his own appointment the matter of their worship consisted of Gods own instituted Ordinances when the worship of all the rest of the world in a manner consisted of Superstitious and Idolatrous inventions And by these they were a People separated to God and differenced from the rest of the world and thus far they glorified the God of Israel when the rest of the world generally dishonoured him by false worship both in the object and subject of it That which they were chiefly wanting in was Morality a true love to God confidence in him and submission to him and in justice and charity towards men and humility temperance and sobriety in respect of themselves Notwithstanding which God did not put this People of his out of his special protection by delivering them into the hands of Spoilers as in the days of the Judges until they so grosly broke Covenant with him as to serve other Gods And when the Lord did at last put them away from him as it were and cast them out of his sight by sending them into Captivity the ten Tribes into Assyria and the two into Babylon yet this did not befall them until they had forsaken the Covenant they had made with God and that in the highest in worshipping other Gods and in observing the Statutes of the Heathen Tho their immoralities were otherwise very great yet God did not give this People a Bill of Divorce until they had horribly corrupted themselves with spiritual Whoredome in point of worship See how their being cast off by God is charged in special upon this kind of breach of Covenant Deut. 29.25 31 20. 2 King 17.15 16 35 38. Jer. 22.9 Ezek. 16.59 and other places All which does intimate that Almighty God owned them for his People externally so long
Pray while unregenerate as not come to the Sacrament while they are so For they are required to do both the one and the other in a right manner as well as to do them at all But yet no judicious Man will say that all unregenerate Men ought to restrain Prayer before God or to be restrained from it For it is possible and to be hoped that their Praying may have that good effect upon them as to make them better And the same may be said of such mens coming to the Sacrament 3. Though the Scripture directs that by Church-Censure Men should be debarr'd from the Sacrament for open Acts of Scandal yet I know not where it directs to keep them from it for want of saving Grace so long as not guilty of such Scandal 2. Obj. It is again Objected that this Ordinance is appointed for the Confirmation of the Converted but not for the Conversion of the unconverted Answer I grant indeed that this Sacrament is not appointed for mens first Conversion to Christianity or for unbaptized Persons But yet it may be very useful together with other means to carry on the work of Conversion from common Grace to special And yet such is the Conversion generally which is wrought in such as are Educated in the Christian Religion The use of this Sacrament in conjunction with Christian Doctrine may very well contribute its share in carrying on this progressive change in Men by improving common Grace into special The Preaching of the Cross is to us who are saved the Power of God to Salvation saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1.18 And Christ as Crucified is by the Lords Supper Preached to the seeing of the Eye as well as by Word and Doctrine he is Preached to the hearing of the Ear And the Eye affecteth the Heart as the Prophet speaks as well as the Ear And therefore the one may help on the work of Conversion from common Grace to special as well as the other And in all likelyhood it often does so as we have reason to think when we see Men who as may be seared have no more than common Grace upon occasion of their going to the Sacrament to become more serious both before and after than usually they are at other times And if such would but frequent it often it might well be hoped that it would work a great alteration in them by making them often more serious and considerate about the things of their Souls And indeed what is more likely to beget a love to our Blessed Saviour than such a lively representation of his wonderful love in dying for us as is made in the Celebration of that Sacrament 3. Obj. The giving this Sacrament to such as by a saving Faith are not in Covenant with God is but like setting a Seal unto a blank To which it is answered First That this Sacrament is not a Seal of Mans Faith but of Gods Covenant and the Seal that is set to that is not set to a Blank The Lords Supper is not a Seal to assure such as receive it that they have Faith but to assure them of Gods Faithfulness in his Covenant and to work in them a confidence in that Circumcision which was a Seal of the Covenant was not set to a blank when applyed to Children before they had Faith Secondly though this Sacrament be indeed a Seal of Gods Covenant directly yet it must be acknowledged that the end and design of its being so is to help Mens Faith in Gods Faithfulness and Goodness in reference to what he has promised in his Covenant But then though this be so yet the giving this Sacrament to such who have but common Faith cannot be said to be like setting a Seal to a blank because a common Faith such as unregenerate Men may have is more than no Faith at all and yet it is the having no Faith at all which can only answer to the setting a Seal to a blank in this case For a common Faith may be improved until it become special as I have shewed and upon that account this Sacrament being a Sacrament for Mens improvement in Faith and Love may as well belong to them who have but common Faith as to those whose Faith is special and saving And indeed what is more likely to make a Faith which is but dull and unactive as a common Faith is to become lively and vigorous than that which with great Advantage is to this end represented to the Mind in this Sacrament as I said before Thirdly I might add that the Covenant made in Baptism is Recognized and renewed in the use of the Lords Supper and this doubtless may be done by such as have but common Faith as well as by those who have that which is special and saving 4. Obj. The saying of St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup is alledged against mens being admitted or presuming to come to the Lords Supper who have not saving Grace though otherwise free from Scandalous Offences They suppose Saving Grace Repentance Faith and Love to be the Matter about which the Apostle would have Men to examine themselves as necessary to qualifie them for Lawful Communion in that Sacrament Now that for Men to examine themselves whether they have saving Grace or no is very necessary for their Preparation for coming to the Sacrament is granted because thereby they will the better come to know the state of their own Souls and what it is that hinders their assurance of having such Grace and the necessity of removing it and their need of such a Saviour as he is whose Love they are to commemorate in that Sacrament And God forbid that I should in the least encourage any to neglect the best Preparation they can make for so concerning a business as the approaching to the Table of the Lord is And except by examination they can find in themselves some knowledge and belief that Christ Jesus is the Saviour of Sinners by dying for them and of the Nature and End of this Sacrament in general I do not understand how they should receive any benefit by coming to it But to conclude from this saying of the Apostle that Men are to forbear coming to the Table of the Lord until by self-examination they can satisfie themselves that they have saving Grace I think to be more than ever the Apostle intended in those words For such satisfaction and assurance is hardly attainable while Christians are but weak and unexperienced though known to God to be sincere And for this cause it seems to be more than is fit to be imposed upon Men as a condition of their coming to the Lords Supper But by the reason which St. Paul gives in verse 29. why he would have Men to examine themselves before they eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup it appears that the thing in special and in particular concerning
of Peace and Charity and to the hurt of mens souls thereby and to the great dishonour of our Religion and to the hinderance of its good effects upon the minds and lives of men 3. Altho the Publick Worship should be set up in all places of a Christian Nation yet if men should be under no Obligation by Law to attend it it would doubtless be much more neglected by many than when there is But the more men are brought to attend the means by which God works Grace in them tho it be but by virtue of the Law they are brought to it yet the more hope and probability there is of their being savingly wrought upon 4. If whosoever shall pretend himself qualified for it should have liberty to gather a Congregation it would be the leaving open a door of opportunity to Seducers to subvert mens Souls and to fill a Nation with variety of Sects and the mischievous effects of them And yet so it would be if there were no publick Government in the Church to restrain men And to this day we feel the very sad effects of so great a liberty sometime indulged Thus we see for what reason true Religion should be promoted by National Authority And as to matter of fact it is sufficiently known that those who have had the Supream Power in all Nations have been wont always to promote by their Authority that which they have thought to be the true Religion whether it hath been true or false And whence comes this but from the light and Law of Nature which directs men to use the Power and Interest they have to further the Worshipping of the God whom they serve And indeed Christians of all pesuasions are willing enough to have the Civil Power to exert it self in furthering their own way of Worshipping God The People of New England who once were as much for Liberty of Conscience as any yet soon found it convenient to incorporate the Civil Power with the Ecclesiastick for the defence and propagation of their Religion Now as the great usefulness of a National establishment for the purposes aforesaid does sufficiently appear from the reason and nature of the thing it self and has the light and law of Nature on its side so it is not destitute of countenance from supernatural Revelation 1. When Almighty God said to Abraham Thou shalt be a Father of many Nations a Father of many Nations have I made thee Gen. 17. He declared his intention of Reforming the world by degrees from Idolatry and false Worship in a National way if we may judg what he intended to do afterwards by the first instance he gave of his performance herein and if we may judg of the true meaning of this as of other Divine Predictions by the after Events which answer them in point of fact which yet is the best and most approved way of understanding Predictions when such events take place Almighty God made Abraham first a Father of a Nation which issued out of his own Loyns For when his Posterity who by Circumcision Covenanted to take Abrahams God only for their God grew very numerous in Egypt God brought them out thence that they might worship him openly and publickly in a National way And by this means and by his visible owning them for his people by extraordinary favours shew'd them he designed to make himself more known to the rest of the world to be the only true God and to be so acknowledged Now in that Abraham was promised to be the Father of many Nations it was not so much for that God intended that many Nations should descend out of his Loyns by natural generation as that many Nations in time should after his example come to acknowledge and worship him only for their God as the only true God For so St. Paul understood this promise of God to Abraham when he makes Abraham in respect of his believing in the true God to be the Father of all Nations that should be of the same belief as well those of the Vncircumcision as that which was of the Circumcision as it is written saith he I have made thee a Father of many Nations Rom. 4.16 17. And it was in this spiritual or religious respect and sense that St. Paul had before in this Chapter asserted Abraham to be the Father of all that shall believe in the true God as he did in all Nations as well those who were never Circumcised as those that were Ver. 11 12. And thus God made Abraham a blessing to the World as he promised he would and a Father of Nations not only for that the Messias was to be born of one descended from him for so he was born of one that descended from Abrahams Predecessors and Successors as well as from Abraham But he was a blessing to the World and the Father of Nations by being made by God the Head the beginning and great example of reforming the World from Misbelief and Idolatry and other consequent evils so as his Progenitors were not To encourage which work in the world God invested Abraham that led the way herein with the honour of being counted the Father of Nations and a publick blessing to the world both in himself and in his Seed 2. That God did design farther to carry on the reformation of the world from Misbelief and Idolatry in a National way and in that way to bring the world by degrees to the Worship of the true God only appears by other Predictictons of the Prophets such as that Isa 55.5 Behold thou shalt call a Nation that thou knowst not and Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee Chap. 52.15 He shall sprinkle many Nations the Kings shall shut their mouths at him Chap. 49.23 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their Queens thy nursing mothers Zech. 8.22 Many people and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts Chap. 2.11 Many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people The formal nature of mens Visible Church-Membership consists in their being visibly joyned to the Lord as I have shewed and therefore when many Nations are Nationally joyned to the Lord they may well be counted Nationally his people or Churches And Nations are then Nationally joyned to the Lord when Nations do incorporate the Christian Religion with their Civil Government and make it part of the National Government as the Ecclesiastical Polity of the Jews together with the Judicial Law of that Commonwealth was And by this means the Christian Religion becomes commodiously and with more certainty to be transmitted to future Generations in a Nation as well as practised for the time being by that which is existent just as the Jews Religion was For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Children which should
Publick Worship at least in part should be performed by a Liturgy appears by their having ordered that so it should be And this ought to weigh much with humble and modest men remembring what St. Paul hath said in another case to shew what esteem ought to be had of the Usages and Customs of the Churches of God If any man seem contentious we have no Such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 2. To satisfie yea to convince such as are under a prejudice against worshipping God by the use of our English Liturgy that there is no such difference as they fancy between the worshipping God according to that in conjunction with Pulpit Worship and that way of Worship which they so much prefer before it I shall offer this to their consideration viz. That there have as worthy men for Piety and Learning both Conformists and Non-conformists as perhaps ever England bred lived and died in Communion in that Whorship which has been performed by our English Liturgy from the beginning of the Reformation downward And we may well conclude that their Souls would never have prospered and flourished so as no mens more if there had been any such difference as some men imagine between the way of their Communion and that of others Men do not gather Grapes of thorns nor Figs of thistles That the souls of many prosper no better under it proceeds not from the nature of the provision for them but from their own gross neglect both of it and of themselves who doubtless would be such as they are whatever the manner of Worship is in the places where they live 3. If we have in the place where the providence of God hath set us means of worshipping God publickly competently useful and sufficient to the ends of such Worship tho it should in some respects be inferiour to some other yet if we can have no better without breaking Order and running into confusion nor without breaking one Commandment to observe another nor without making our selves guilty of an unlawful separation and all the dreadful consequences of it we may be said to worship God in the best manner we can tho we content our selves with this provided we be not wanting to improve it the best we can to its end And the reason is because we then perform the best Worship we can that will consist with edification Publick Order and the peace of the Church and a Worship wherein all these concur does best answer to general Rules for the manner of Publick Worship taken together 4. For men to separate from Parochial Communion in the Worship performed according to the Liturgy to the end God may be worshipped by them after a better manner in separate Assemblies is to do evil that good may come of it unless they can prove a necessity so to separate or to sin For that to separate without such a necessity is to do evil is a Protestant Maxim assented to on all hands among them And that they are under no such necessity as to sin if they do not so separate I have shewed before by shewing that the said Worship is neither corrupt in the essence of it nor is the external manner of performance of it deficient as to its end and use one of which must be proved against it before separation from it can be justified 5. By such a separation as that we speak of men really do much more disservice to God and the great concerns of Religion and the Souls of men than they can with any colour of reason pretend that by worshipping God without the Liturgy they honour him or Religion or advantage the Souls of men The effects of such a Separation are very visible which do too naturally flow from it such as the destruction of Peace Charity and Humility the engendering of Envy Hatred Strife and Contention to the great reproach of Religion and dishonour of Almighty God and the hurt of mens Souls But how these great evils can be pretended to be counter-ballanced by their Worship being performed without the Liturgy I understand not but do take it to be a matter past doubt that the benefit which those that separate get by their Communion without a Liturgy over and above what they might have gained by Communion where that is used will never equal the hurt they draw upon themselves and others and the wrong they do to Religion by their separation And if not then when ever the account comes to be made up and their loss to be compared with their gain they will be found exceeding great losers by their separation notwithstanding all the advantages they promised themselves by it Thus far to shew that there is no just cause of separating from Communion in the Worship performed by the Liturgy every Lords day As for the gesture of kneeling in the act of receiving the Lords Supper so much hath been written to prove it no sin and so little that looks like an Argument to prove the contrary that if men of understanding would but lay aside prejudice and impartially compare and consider what hath been said on both sides I cannot think that after this any could be long without satisfaction touching the lawfulness of complying with publick Order in that matter especially considering how much is declared at the end of the Office for administration of the Lords Supper in the Liturgy to clear that gesture in that action from all suspicion of Bread-worship more than in the Liturgy in use in the old Non-conformists days when they scrupled it But if any after they have done thus shall not for all that be satisfied yet that can be no more an Argument to them than it was to the old Non-conformists why they should not hold Communion in the rest of the Lords-day Worship as they did and not only so but pressed it also on others as their duty to do so and zealously inveyed against separation from it as a great evil as their Writings do abundantly shew And that for such to hold Communion with their Brethren so far as they can is plain matter of duty I have shewed before And in case they should thus hold Communion in the other parts of Worship they need no more to live without the use of the Lords Supper than the old Non-conformists did since I doubt not but they know how to be therein accommodated as well as they did and as they were And so for Baptism in case they cannot be active in the use of the Cross after it yet they may be passive in as much as it is not used as any sign of Gods conveying grace as Sacraments are but only as a token of duty nor as any Rite in Baptism neither but only in receiving the Persons baptized into the Church after they are baptized and seems to be no more ground of scruple than laying the hand upon and kissing the Book in swearing is which is a piece of Divine Worship which none scruple