a spirituall strengthning and refreshing of the soul to cure those spirituall diseases to which the soul is subject These diseases are spirituall weakness and weariness faintings and defectiveness Apostacie and declination That this is so not only the frequent admonitions and exhortations in sacred Scripture do pre-suppose but also is confirmed by reason and evidenced by too wofull experience Reason to confirm this may be drawn from the nature of grace it self which is no part of the soul nor any faculty in the soul but only a quality dwelling in the soul as light in the Ayr heat in the water or rather as sap in the branches for as they dry up and wither if either the union of them to the root be cut off or the passage of the sap be hindred and interrupted so is it here that is except there be a conscionable use and attendance upon the word and Sacraments we cannot expect that grace should live The seed of the New-birth is termed incorruptible by S. Peter because by using the means appointed it is preserved from decay Not so is it in the naturall birth no use of means no food nor physick can preserv the liveliness of that beyond an appointed time Nay even the preparation of a Remedy is the supposition of a malady As therefore the ordination of Baptism to incorporate us first into Christ doth prov that by nature we are wild Olives so the ordination of this Sacrament to continue this Union and from this Union continued to convey spirituall strength and refreshing doth sufficiently prov what would become of us after we are in the state of grace if God should leav man to himself Behold then the goodness of our God who knowing our malady hath provided a Remedy this Remedy is to partake of the holy Sacrament of Christs most blessed body and blood for which cause our duty is to frequent the same both to prevent but especially to repaire the decays of grace in the soul so then dost thou keep thy standing in grace hast thou as yet not failed nor faultred yet be not high-minded but fear the worst thou knowst not what tentations may encounter thee nor how much strength thou shalt need Go therefore to the Sacrament that thy soul may be strengthned thy strength increased prevent a mischief But now hast thou failed stumbled fallen oh then make haste to this blessed Ordinance that thou mayst be refreshed and recovered See then how much they are Enemies to their own souls who suffer themselvs to be hindred and kept away from this blessed Ordinance whether it be through covetousness or consciousness While men covet revenge or as they use to speak while they desire to right themselves by following the Law they lose the benefit of Receiving not that they must needs forbear but Sathan doth so disturb the passion in them while they prosecute the Law that they cannot settle their thoughts to so holy a work Consciousness also keeps many back from the Sacrament when sinn hath gotten into the soul and guilt hath crept into the conscience we dare not present our selvs before God but like our father Adam do hide our selvs and prov the greatest enemies to our own souls To shut up this point see how each Sacrament doth work as a convenient means to produce that end for which they were ordained Baptism is appointed to admit us into the Covenant of grace to give us our first title and interest in Christ and in it we have wrought in us Remission and Renovation a death unto sinn and a new birth unto Righteousness The Lords Supper doth strengthen and refresh our souls and therefore fitly appointed and designed to this end to be the Sacrament of our Confirmation By Baptism as we heard the soul was regenerate and made partaker of the seeds of grace These seeds being watered and as it were hatched up by the Ministry of the word are strengthned ripened and confirmed by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and now is the faithfull soul confirmed in the state of grace and certain expectation of eternall Salvation For the close of all that hath been said touching the efficacy of the Sacraments peruse those few lines which our Church hath set down in the first part of that Homily which intreateth of the worthy receiving and reverend esteeming of the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. The words are these We need not to think that such exact knowledg is required of every man that he be able to discuss all high points of the doctrin thereof But this much we must be sure to hold that in the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent But as the Scripture saith the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annuntiation of his death yea the Communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very bond of our Conjunction with Christ is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithfull wherby not only their souls live to eternall life but they surely trust to winn their bodies a Resurrection to immortality The true understanding of this fruition and union which is betwixt the body and the head betwixt the true beleevers and Christ the Ancient Catholick Fathers both perceiving themselvs and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper some of them the salv of immortality and sovereign Preservative against death Others a Deificall Communion Others the sweet dainties of our Saviour the pledg of eternall health the defence of faith the hope of Resurrection Others the food of immortality the healthfull grace and the Conservatory to everlasting life All which sayings both of the holy Scriptures and godly men truly attributed to this celestiall banquet and feast if we often call to mind oh how would they inflame our hearts to desire the participation of these mysteries and oftentimes to covet after this bread continually to thirst for this food CHAP. X. Corollaries drawn from the Premisses FRom the observation of the particular and speciall ends of either Sacrament may the reason be givē why Baptism is administred and received but once the Lords Supper oftentimes The ground of which practice binding us to obedience under correction I speak it I take to be not any direct text of Scripture either commanding the one or prohibiting the other but the tradition of the ancient Church received and approved by the constitution of the present Church Neither is this therfore in the liberty of the Church to alter both because the Antiquity and Universality of it doth prov it to be Apostolicall and also because the originall of this custome may in a certain sence be said to be Divine This originall is the analogie and proportion which holdeth between the Sacraments of the old Testament and the
it self Hence also is the translation of phrases that what is peculiar to the sign is translated to the signified and what is proper to the signified grace is applyed also to the externall sign Thus Baptism is said to wash the soul from sinn and the Lords Supper to feed the soul with grace because it is united and conveigheth that grace to the soul which indeed can work upon the soul and the blood of Christ is said to wash the body and blood are said to feed because they are united to and conveyed by these Elementall signs whose proper operation is to wash and feed Qu. Doth not this then prov the Reall Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament Ans. A Reall presence the Church of England holdeth if we rightly understand the phrase and against the Sacramentarians we maintain that the body and blood of Christ are verely and indeed taken and received of the faithfull in the Lords Supper Nor do we fear to say that as in Baptism water washeth the body and as in the Lords Supper the bread feedeth the body so also doth the blood of Christ wash the soul and the body of Christ feed it to eternall life Nor do we understand this to be a truth only thus that as the one washeth and feedeth the body so certainly doth the other wash and feed the soul nor thus only that at the same time when the one doth wash and feed the body the other doth wash and feed the soul both these are truths but neither of them enough to expresse the whole truth The first noteth no relation at all betwixt the sign and the grace the other only a relation of time not of causality more or less But thus we understand it That in that the body is washed with this water and nourished with this bread the soul is also cleansed by the blood of Christ and nourished with his body Thus I say and in this sence we grant a reall presence according to the Scriptures our Saviour saith of the bread this is my body and Saint Paul doth well explain the meaning of it in that Quaere of his The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ as who should say it is so indeed the same may be said of the water in Baptism that it is the Communion of the blood of Christ that is more than a bare sign of representation even a mean of receiving that grace which to the faithfull is really present and of them verily received in the Sacrament This is confessed of all both Romish and Reformed and had not the Curiosity of mens brains proceeded further to determin preremptorily of the speciall manner of this Reall Presence we might in this have held Communion But as in other matters of Religion and mysteries of Godlinesse so also in this mans restless head and curious brain ready enough to pry into things reserved and rash too much to determine of them and to defend his determinations hath put the Church to much toyl and labour and to continuall vexation And here by the way it may be worth the noting that the most of those hereticall pravities which have alwayes vexed the Church have been not of the truth of the thing but of the manner of explication The Articles of the Trinity of Christs Incarnation Descensâ—on Ascension personall Union Sacramentall presence The article of the Procession of the holy Ghost of Justification by faith of the concord and co-operation of Gods grace and mans will these and others of the same nature have not been so much denied or questioned of their truth as of the manner of truth And had not Curiosity been seconded by pertinacy we might happily have filled the Schools with questions not the Church with Heresies How much better had it been to have followed the modestie of our Church in this question which setteth down what is received from Scripture but wadeth no further Certainly as touching these modalities better it is Christianly to beleev than curiously to inquire And the use which we ought to make of all mysteries of Godliness when we meet with them and their inexplicable difficulties is 1. To admire the infinite and incomprehensible wisdome of God whose wayes are past finding out so Saint Paul Rom. 11.33.2 To be humbled in the sight and sence of our own Ignorance thus Agur Prov. 30.2.3 To sigh and long for the time of Revelation saying Oh when shall I come thither where I shall see and know as I am known 4. To cleav fast to the truth that is revealed blessing God for it and striving to gain the benefit therof Would men take this course when they meet with intricate positions they should provide much better for the practice of Piety Quest. What then must we sit down and rest with a generall and implicite faith Resp. Certainly an implicite Faith were it joyned with an explicite Obedience would be more beneficiall to many to whom it would be much more profitable if lesse time were spent in seeking knowledg and more in practising what they know But further I add that the Church and Ministery may yea ought to examine the curiosities of them that will determine and to censure them accordingly Thus because the Papist will peremptorily determine his Reall presence to be by the way of Transubstantiation The Lutheran his by the way of Consubstantiation we stand bound to examine what truth or falshood is in either of them This the Reformed Churches have done particularly the Church of England hath done and findeth that Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of the bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord that this I say cannot be proved by holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of the Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions The same may be said of Consubstantiation yea the Church findeth that this kind of reall presence doth overthrow the grounds of Reason and Religion 1. Of Reason and Philosophy Quoniam naturae humanae veritas c. Seeing that the verity of humane nature requireth that the body of one and the same man cannot be present in many places altogether but must needs remain in some definite and certain place therefore the body of Christ cannot be present in many and divers places at one and the same time 2. Of Religion and Divinity Quoniam ut tradunt c. Because according to the Doctrine of the sacred Scriptures Christ was taken up into heaven there to abide till the end of the world therfore no faithfull Christian ought either to beleev or profess any as they call it corporall presence of Christs flesh and blood in either Sacrament upon these grounds the corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament is refused yet is not therfore the Sacramentarians naked signification admitted because it commeth farr short of the
full nature of a Sacrament which serveth not only to represent but instrumentally to convey Christ and all his benefits So that well may the Church determine that verely and indeed Christ is present and consequently verely and indeed taken yet after an heavenly manner and received of the faithfull in the Sacrament Verily tho not carnally Really tho not corporally but spiritually in in the Sacrament that is in the exercise of that sacred action not otherwise Provided also that we understand this efficacy of the Sacraments to have place in them only qui sibi non ponunt obicem as the School speaketh which do not barr themselvs or to speak more plainly in the phrase of the Church only in the faithfull But of this herafter viz. cap. 11. CHAP. VII The speciall End of either Sacrament THE speciall end of Baptism is to communicate unto us the blood of Christ for washing the soul from the guilt of sinn and consequently our Admission into the Covenant of Grace The speciall end of the Lords Supper to communicate the body and blood of Christ for feeding and nourishing the soul unto eternall life and consequently our Confirmation in grace and holiness Hence we have the ground of that choice of Elements which our blessed Saviour made viz. not meerly the analogy which is betwixt the sign and the signified but also the excellency and exquisitness of that analogy and proportion In Baptism water is used and none other liquor because none other so proper for washing none other doth wash so clean as doth water and therfore none other so fit to signifie the blood of Christ which cleanseth the soul from all sinn In the Lords Supper bread and wine is used to represent the body and blood of Christ and see I pray you the excellent proportion that is betwixt them specially in the effects bread and wine nourish the body nothing better the body and blood of Christ nourish the soul nothing better yea nothing else So also in the manner of their preparation The bread is made a food for the body of many grains of corn bruised and baked the wine of Grapes trodden and pressed So the Body and blood of Christ became our spirituall food by being bruised and broken upon the Crosse Add this bread and wine do no good nay much harm except the stomack be prepared to digest them nor doth this spirituall food profit the soul nay it doth much hurt to the soul except the soul be worthily prepared BAPTISM is the Sacrament of our Admission nor is there any other ceremony or rite of admitting any into the Covenant of grace but only by Baptism The Church of Israel was admitted by Circumcision But since the time of Christ which we call the time of the new Testament all that will be admitted must be baptised hence that of our Saviour to Nicodemus Except a man be born of water and the spirit c. that is except by submitting himself to Baptism he do receiv the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven for which cause when he sent forth his Apostles he gave them charge to joyn Baptism with their teaching Goe teach and baptise Matt. 28. The Persons that have right of admission are as of old Beleevers and their children The Ceremony of Admission is altered but still as the Covenant is the same so the parties are the same beleevers and their children this is plain Act. 2.39 You and your children By beleevers we understand such as are converted to the faith Converts and Proselites these have right of Admission because faith is the condition of the new Covenant Mar. 16.16 and Iohn 3.16 You will happily say to me that if they beleev they are already in the Covenant partakers of it by faith and therfore need no further admission yes they are not compleatly within the Covenant till baptised Faith giveth them title and interest but the Sacrament admission Add this that it is one part of their faith to beleev the necessity of the Sacrament as a means to give them full possession of Christ And this doth cause them to seek for it in the Sacrament Children of Beleevers also have a right of Admission becaus they are part of their Parents and heirs of the promise due to their Fathers The faith of the parent intitleth the child unto the Covenant so much the more unjustly do the Anabaptists deal with beleevers and their children in shutting Infants out from Baptism thus questioning that ancient and long approved custome of the Church in all ages ever since Christ and his Apostles Traditions Apostolicall are authenticall and not to be refused because not written if found to be Apostolicall Apostolicall customs mentioned in the Scripture have a more unquestioned certainty than traditions but not greater authority Neither is this to set up Tradition as do the Papists to the prejudice of the Scripture because we admit none as Apostolicall which either are contrarie to the customes mentioned in the Scripture or which may not be confirmed as reasonable from the Scripture And such is the custome of baptising Infants which thus we confirm against the fore-mentioned Sectaries The infants of Christians are as capable of present Incorporation into Christ and Admission into the Covenant of grace as were the Infants of the Jews and if so which we prov out of Cor. 7.14 who shall barr them whom God hath not barred If not then hath not grace abounded in the new Testament but is rather shortned in comparison of the old as being restrained only to the Parent wheras before Infants also were comprehended and admitted The strength of this argument will appear more fully by taking away the cavills which they make against it Object 1. That text of Cor. 7.14 sheweth indeed that children are holy but how As the wife not otherwise viz. as she is sanctified to the use of her husband so the children to the use of their Parents Thus they but they falsifie the text for the text saith not of the children as it doth of the wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sanctified but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy which is more emphaticall neither doth the text speaking of the wife say she is sanctified to the husband but in or by the husband Nor is the text to be understood of the legitimation but of the sanctification of the bedd namely of federall sanctification or the holiness of the Covenant for it appeareth that the pretence of them that repudiated their wives was a fear lest the infidelity of the wife should deprive the husband of the covenant of grace which he had imbraced Saint Paul denyeth this and sheweth that rather the faith of the Beleevers should so farr prevail as to draw the other after a sort within the Covenant his reason is because the children of such are holy that is heirs of the Covenant Now I pray you mark well
suppose that one of the Corinthians should have been so wilfull as to deny this medium this argument of Saint Paul what is there to confirm the argument and to convince the gainsayer but only the practice of Infants-baptism this must of necessity be here presupposed else doth the Argument fall to the ground and overthrow it self 2. Object Circumcision was but a seal of the old Covenant even the law which was made to Abraham and to his children after the flesh this fleshie covenant had a seal in the flesh viz. Circumsion but what is this to the covenant of Grace touching life and salvation which is made only with beleevers thus the Anabaptist to the end he may elude the argument drawn from the Circumcision of Infants and wheras the text of Saint Paul doth directly cross this his base esteem of circumcision honouring it with that worthy title A seal of the righteousness of faith The Anabaptist expoundeth it thus A seal of his faith not in the Messiah but in that promise That he should be the father of the faithfull Wherin he bewrayeth a twofold ignorance First in disjoyning these two viz. his faith in the Messiah and his faith in the promise which are subordinate For in Gen. 12.1.4 divers promises are made to Abraham to wit of the land of Canaan of a numerous off-spring of the Messiah in whom all nations should be blessed these doth Saint Paul in Rom. 4.13 joyn in one and calleth it the promise that he should be the heir of the world Of these three the first and second only are mentioned Gen. 15. but questionless the third included and ratified by a formall Covenant to Abraham who beleeved and was thereupon justified Afterward in Gen. 17. the second alone mentioned but questionless the other included and all ratified by the Sacrament of Circumcision which was to him the seal of the righteousness of faith which Abraham had before he was circumcised That all are included in both places tho not all mentioned may yet further appear by this that in Gen. 22. when God would lastly manifest how his covenants and seals had built up Abraham in faith by that sore triall they are again all three repeated his faith accepted and commended This did not or would not the Anabaptist receiv but disjoyneth those which should be conjoyned as being all apprehended by the same faith Another part of his ignorance is the misinterpretation of that phrase The righteousness of faith A phrase twice used in that fourth chapter equivalent to and therfore to be expounded by that phrase The righteousness which is by faith and that also the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 Both which are joyned in one Rom. 3.22 The righteousness of God which is by faith which betokeneth not the Essentiall righteousness of God but the benefit of justification or imputed righteousness which he bestoweth on beleevers for their justification This benefit God having bestowed upon Abraham did seal it up to him afterward by circumcision which is therfore called not the seal of his faith as the Anabaptist speaketh full ignorantly but the seal of the righteousness that is of justification which commeth by faith and not by works We conclude therfore that infants of beleevers may be lawfully baptised that by Baptism they may be admitted into the covenant of grace Nay inasmuch as Baptism is the Sacrament of admission and no time fitter to incorporate the buds of Christians into Christ than while they are buds that so betimes grace may prevent the growth of naturall corruption Infancy is the fittest time for Baptism nay the only time in the successive ages of the Church So far is God from barring infants from Baptism that he may rather seem to have allotted them to it and it to them We conclude also touching Baptism that it doth not only admit the baptised into the roll of Christians this indeed is done in Baptism wherupon there is a necessity of witnesses and a conveniencie of publike administration but this is not all it is also an admission into the Covenant of grace here is the ground of Assurance that they are indeed within the Covenant and to be dealt withall by the ministerie as men in covenant with God The LORDS SUPPER is the Sacrament of our preservation and confirmation in the covenant of grace Not enough that men be born living and lively except a care be had of their preservation so in the case of spirituall life not enough that we be admitted into the covenant of grace except we be confirmed in grace we may lose our former hopes of future glorie to begin in the spirit doth not profit them who end in the flesh For which cause as the Scripture is full of exhortations to constancy and perseverance to make our calling and election sure So hath God ordained also a Sacrament for our preservation and certain confirmation in grace and holiness This is to us the tree of life and immortality here is provided for us that bread of life of which who so eateth shall live for ever here is that true Nectar and Ambrosia which doth continually renew the youth and the strength of the spirit of grace within us But of this more when we come to the benefits Now let this only be added That this Sacrament being ordained for this end it will hence follow that all those are to be barred from this Sacrament which without breach of charity may be thought as yet not admitted into the covenant of grace Such I count all persons unbaptized these must be sent first to the Laver of Regeneration before they be admitted to this Sacrament of confirmation In vain is food sought where there is no life This also must be thought upon by them that address themselves to this Sacrament This Sacrament was ordained to this end Do I propound the same end to my self in my partaking if not what good can I expect thence Should I propound to my self another end than that which God hath propounded Is then mine end to gain my confirmation in the state of Grace Doth not preservation presuppose admission and initiation How doth it appear to me further than by Register that I have been incorporated into Christ What fruits of my Baptism do I find and feel in my self Were I unbaptised in the flesh the Church would barr me shall I not barr my self till I find and feel my soul baptised with the blood of Christ Such meditations as these would help to dispose the soul and fit it for the Sacrament and for the benefits This is the next thing that we are to speak of CHAP. VIII The Benefits of Baptism THe Church in the book of Articles doth thus explain her self touching this particular That by Baptism as by an instrument the promises of Remission and of our Adoption to be the sonns of God by the holy Ghost are visibly sealed faith is confirmed and grace increased In the second
to be baptised not to confirm them in grace but to conferr grace upon them that they are presented to Baptism rather to be initiated than to be confirmed in the possession of grace But in as much as my purpose is not to dispute with hereticks but to set down the Doctrin of our Church touching the Sacraments which our Church hath done with respect unto the use of the Sacraments in the plantation of the Church and first conversion of men to the faith following herein the lines of the Scripture the passages wherof do still look that way as may appear by all those texts which the Anabaptists ignorant of this have mis-applied to cry down the baptising of infants Since I say this is my purpose let me proceed in the search of that qualification which is required of them that come to the Sacraments Touching Baptism the Catechism saith this is required of them that come to be baptised Repentance and Faith Touching the Lords Supper the same Catechism saith It is required of them To examin themselves whether they do truly repent them of their sins steadfastly purposing to lead a new life whether they have a lively faith in Gods mercies through Christ with a thankfull remembrance of his death and whether they be in charity with all men In the Homily teaching the worthy receiving of the Sacrament saith the Church we must certainly know Divell still in use ever since the Primitive Ages of the Church What Repentanâ—e is THe nature of this Repentance will appear in the Name and in the Act thereof both expressed in the words of the Catechism The Name doth in our language betoken sorrow to repent of any thing is to be sorrowfull for it so that Repentance may not unfitly be called a godly sorrow for sin Note here first it is not Anger but Sorrow hence it is that humiliation more or less is a perpetuall adjunct of Repentance David mourned Peter wept all penitents do griev and mourn for their sins So that tho all sorrow be not Repentance yet all Repentance is sorrow this affection is indeed the very root from whence all the branches of Repentance and Reformation do spring This affection we know to dwell in the heart as it is fit it should the heart is the proper seat of grace and therfore of Repentance that which is true and saving Repentance is and must be in the heart an hearty sorrow not hypocriticall Secondly Repentance is not every sorrow but sorrow for sin The proper object of sorrow is Evill of all evills sinn is the greatest of all sorrow the sorrow of the penitent soul is the greatest fittherfore that the greatest sorrow should be placed upon the greatest evill Repentance therfore is sorrow for sin where note that this confession must be made alwayes to God many times to the Minister and in some cases to the Church and congregation Thirdly In the hand perswading men to Reformation and Satisfaction Reformation respecteth the practise of righteousness towards God Satisfaction hath reference to the wrongs of man which is made by submission in case of detraction and slander by restitution in case of fraud and violence Touching Restitution note the persons and things for the persons all are bound to make restitution who have had any hand in causing the losses dammages and injuries of their neighbours Lev. 24.18.21 these ought to make restitution to the person damnified if it may be to his heirs if he be dead to God himself in case the other parties be not known or cannot be found Num. 5.5.8 For things the thing it self would be restored in kind if it be to be had or else the full value of it if it be altered together with sufficient recompence for the wrong susteined Lev. 6.5 Num. 5.7 The necessity of satisfaction is great for we cannot be assured in conscience that our Repentance is sound and good except we make satisfaction if it ly in our power Say the same of Reformation CHAP. XIII Of Faith the second Branch of the Qualification common to both Sacraments THE Nature of this grace will appear in the Act and in the Object The Act here mentioned is stedfastly to beleev The Object is the promise of God made in the Sacrament So that hence we may gather what faith is even a stedfast beleef of the Promise of God Where is to be noted that this definition doth not comprehend the whole nature of faith but only that use and exercise of it which is Sacramentall yet hence we may discern the nature of it in generall for if instead of this word the promise we substitute this word the truth of godliness wherof the promise is one branch then have we a full definition of faith viz. That faith is a stedfast belief of the truth of godliness By the truth of godliness we understand that holy truth which in the word of Scripture is revealed whether for knowledg as the history of the Creation Redemption c. or for practise as the Precepts Threatnings Promises all which by faith we stedfastly beleev and then is it manifest that our beleef is stedfast indeed when the truth of godliness doth leav an impression upon the soul for this is the property of this holy truth that where it is received and beleeved as it ought there doth it new mould and frame the soul and change it into the image of it self ex gr Beleef of the precept if stedfast frameth the soul to obedience of the threatnings to fear and trembling of the promise to trust and confidence Thus we say that beleef of the precept is an obedientiall assent beleef of the promise is a fiduciall assent This fiduciall assent or stedfast beleef of the promise the Scripture doth other while express by these phrases To rest and rely or lean upon God to stay to roll upon to trust to place confidence in him c. The reason whereof is because in Scripture phrase he is not accounted to beleev the promise of God who doth not therupon put confidence in God Say the same touching the precepts and threatnings Not he that subscribeth to the truth of them but he that feareth and obeyeth is the beleever Thus we see how Faith is a mother-grace viz. the Mother and Nurs of Reverence Obedience and Confidence So then stedfastly to beleev the promise is but one act of faith and so the Church saith Faith by which we stedfastly beleev the promise This is one act but not the only act of faith Note further that the Church addeth The promises made to them in that Sacrament which is no less true in the Supper than in Baptism Sacramentall faith that is the exercise of faith as a qualification to fit us for the Sacrament must specially look upon the Sacramentall promise and stedfastly beleev that speciall promise which is made to the Receiver in the Sacrament As in the Sacraments so also in the
not unfitly termed Beleevers because they are born within the Profession of Christianity As also the Infants of Pagans are justly accounted Infidels because they are born in the Profession of infidelity And if Saint Paul had disputed the cause I doubt not but as he said of Levi that in Abraham he paid tithes to Melchisedec so he would have said that the seed of the faithfull do in their Parents profess the faith of Christ Add this that this virtuall profession is actuated by the promise of the Sureties and Parents at Baptism And this is the answer of our Church to the former objection And it is plain that that Ab-renunciation is the profession of Repentance in the name of the child so also the Recitation of the Articles a profession of Faith and reputed his according to that well known saying of Saint Austin peccavit in alio credit in alio as his offence so his profession is the act of another but his by Imputation Yea but saith the Anabaptist this is the blasphemous Invention of Pope Higinius where mark I pray you the spirit of Envy and Detraction that can speak well of nothing that is not framed in the modell of his own brain Higinius is said indeed to have appointed Godfathers and Godmothers But the Interrogatories in Baptism were yet more ancient might be the sponsion and profession of Parents in behalf of their children in use long before Higinius The profession of faith as it appeareth by records was at the first direct and plain by recitation of the Creed and forms of Confession Afterward it seemeth that for help of memory to provide a remedy against bashfulness that which the party repeated was put into questions propounded by the Minister and answered briefly as now the form is by the party And what the Men grown answered by themselvs the same did Parents for their children before the time of Higinius But why doth his blackmouth call this custome blasphemous why calls he Higinius by the name of Pope had it not bin enough to have stiled this custome of Interrogatories in Baptism answered by deputed Sureties to have stiled it I say as some others do ridiculous and unreasonable had it not been enough to have stiled this Higinius Bishop of Rome as he was indeed but he must call him Pope But this is the vehemency of the Anabaptisticall spirit to lay on load of rayling words when there wanteth weight of solid reason By the Anabaptists own confession the custome is very ancient for Higinius was the eighth Bishop of Rome lived in the year of Grace 150. long before the Pope was bred and born ever since when it hath continued in the Church Boniface in his Epistle to Saint Augustin seemeth to acknowledg that in his dayes it had Antiquity only to plead for the continuance But neither he nor any since till of late years counted it ridiculous much less blasphemous But passe we over the bitterness of words examine the matter Why should Infants be catechised and asked for a profession of their faith Answer out of Lombard and Bonadventure that it is done not for their instruction but for their obligation not as if the Infant should therby be taught but that therby he may be bound to the profession of Religon So that this is the meaning of the words I forsake I beleev that is I bind my self to do these hereafter And this interpretation I preferr before others as being more reasonable and more agreeable to that which our Church doth resolv upon for the Minister speaking to the Sureties saith This Infant must promise and afterward hath promised In the Catechism they did promise and vow and again they did promise and vow them both in their names Hence the Church doth stile Godfathers and Godmothers not by the new-fangled name of Witnesses but Sureties which doth intimate an obligation the which is so much the more apparent to be the intent of our Church because that in private Baptisms where there is a present expectation of death neither are these interrogatories used nor sureties appointed By all which it is manifest that this is the sense and meaning of interrogatories in the judgment of our Church which Lombard and Bonaventure do give and confirm out of Dyonisius Hard it may seem and harsh I grant thus to explain these phrases which being of the present tense are strained to the future but he is over-squeamish which will not bear with the harshness of a speech when the explication of it given cannot be rejected To shut up this point since partly in their propagation partly by their Sureties a profession of Repentance and Faith is made the want of actuall profession is no barr to hinder infants from the Sacrament of Baptism The second thing objected is this that there is no more reason why children should be admitted to Baptism than to the Lords Supper in as much as if the profession of faith made by Sureties may admit them to the one Sacrament it may also qualifie them for the other True indeed so it might if this were all that were required but there is much difference betwixt the two Sacraments and so divers reasons why infants may be admitted to the one and not to the other Baptism is for Admission and Regeneration the Lords Supper for Confirmation and Preservation they are fit to receiv the beginnings â—hat as yet are not fit to receiv the ending and consummation Baptism requireth no Sacramentall actions from the party so doth the Lords Supper in that he is a meer patient in this he must be an agent he must take and eat which the infant cannot do Lastly tho Repentance and Faith be required in the way of qualification to both Sacraments yet to fit a man for the worthy partaking of the Lords Supper other graces and gracious actions are required which are incompatible with the age of infancy To the handling of which I now return having thus fairly rid my hands of these brain-sick and froward spirits the Anabaptists and their Abetters CHAP. XVI Of the Qualification peculiar to the Lords Supper and first of Thankfulness THankfulnes for the Death of Christ is a speciall branch of our Qualification for the right and worthy receiving of the Supper of the Lord for which cause the Church hath put words into the mouth of the Minister that after he hath exhorted the people to Repentance Faith and new-obedience he should add this And above all things you must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father Sonn and holy Ghost for the Redemption of the world by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and Man And in the Catechism amongst other things touching which a man ought to examin himself before he come to the Lords Supper the Church hath interserted this A thankfull Remembrance of the Death of Christ. Note here 1. A REMEMBRANCE The reason
wherof is this because this Sacrament was ordained for the continuall Remembrance of the Sacrifice of Christs Death His Death was a Sacrifice this Sacrifice must be remembred God made it remarkable at the first by those prodigies in Nature the Sunns eclipsing Earths-quaking Vail-renting graves opening But we must remember it in respect of the Commandement of Christ Do this in Remembrance of me yet is not this a repetition of that Sacrifice what need that be daily renewed that was at the first compleat and perfect whatsoever needeth daily repetition and renewing is in it self imperfect and incompleat As therfore this Sacrifice doth agree with the legall propitiations in this that it was a bloody Sacrifice so in this doth it differ and super-excell them that it being at once compleat needeth not as did they daily renewing and reduplication 2. A THANKFULL REMEMBRANCE must there be that is so must we remember the Death of Christ as that therby we be stirred to thankfulness for it The reason wherof is becaus the Death of Christ was not only a meer separation of the body and soul but a sacrifice yea a propitiation that is a sacrifice for expiation of sin and reconciliation Indeed it was the substance of all the legall shaddows the perfection and accomplishment of all the Typicall expiations under the Law Nay more it was the grand and great deliverance of the Church If therfore the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt deserved a yearly feast of thankfull remembrance if the Reduction of the Church from the captivity of Babylon was so thankfully acknowledged as that it almost drowned the memoriall of their Exodus ought not the death of Christ by which our Redemption from sin and Sathan was wrought ought not this I say to be thankfully remembred The practise of the Church doth plainly manifest it whence had the whole sacred action that famous name of the Eucharist so frequent in the writings of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church but from the sacrifice of thanks and praise at that time offered to God the Father Son and holy Ghost for the Redemption of the world by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ For this cause it is that in the Liturgie of the Church this is so carefully remembred that by the Minister the whole Congregation should be exhorted to give thanks to our Lord God adding that as it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to the Lord God our heavenly Father so for the present with Angels Arch-angels and all the holy company of Heaven we laud and magnifie his glorious Name c. But to proceed The way and means to stir us up to thankfulness for the Death of Christ is seriously to consider of the benefits which we receiv therby Here is a large field of meditation here cannot the devout soul want matter wherin to inlarge it self if we take notice of these particulars First what we had been without it Secondly what our hopes are by it Thirdly how unworthy we either were of it or as yet are Fourthly by how worthy a person this was wrought Fiftly how bitter the cup was which he drank how painfull and shamfull the Death was which he suffered Here therfore and in these meditations let the soul dwell till admiration of the benefit so good so great so freely so undeservedly bestowed cause the heart to burst forth into that of David Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him Oh dear Saviour who would not love thee Oh heavenly Father who would not bless thee Oh blessed spirit who would not obey thee Oh eternall God! who would not devote himself soul body all to the honour and service of this glorious Trinity that hath done so great things for so unworthy so wretched sinners Well Thankfulness is a branch of the Qualification of our souls for the worthy partaking But how is it to be expressed Answer briefly by bearing our part in the Psalms and Alms of the congregation For the first we read that after the Passover our Saviour and his company sung a Psalm It is Saint Iames his rule in the time of mirth to sing Psalms when have we more cause of spirituall mirth than at this sacred banquet all dull and earthly is that heart that is not now even filled with holy and heavenly raptures Did Moses sing and Miriam dance and shall not we sing forth the praises of our dearest Saviour For the other viz. the Alms of the Congregation we have the laudable custome of the Church in all ages and the ground therof is taken from that of David Psal. 16. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight What we cannot therfore return to our blessed Saviour himself in token of thankfulness and who would not in this kind even part with all that he hath that must we for his sake bestow upon his poore members Collections for the poore are perpetuall attendants upon Communions the illiberall hand is the evidence of an unthankfull soul freely we have received freely let us give and Christ shall thank us Mat. 10.42 25.34 To say nothing of Deo-dands most proper also upon this occasion CHAP. XVII Of Love and Charity BY love and charity we do not in this place understand that loving affection which we owe to God our heavenly Father by virtue of that great commandement Matt. 22. nor that generall act of love to our Neighbours enjoyned in the second Table which manifesteth it self in a mutuall and reciprocall interchanging of affections with them viz. that we rejoyce with them in their causes of joy and greev with them when God calls them to it nor yet that speciall act of sanctified love which is terminated in and upon the holy brethren whose truth is thence discerned if it be as it ought indifferent to all without respect of persons and constant without respect of times if neither penury and necessity nor trouble and adversity can cool the heat of our affections but notwithstanding these we love them in whomsoever we find grace and holiness this is brotherly love indeed yet is not this nor any of these that love which is here properly understood all these are pre-required But by love and charity we do properly understand a reconciled affection towards all even our enemies much more toward others which is indeed the perfection of all love and the Nil ultra of that affection So much we know is intimated by that phrase to be in Charity malice and heart-burning must be laid aside when we address our selvs to the holy Communion If in hearing the word Iam. 1.21 Pet. 2.1 if in praying Tim. 2.8 how much more when we approach the Table of the Lord God hath appointed this Sacrament in a speciall