to their authority and the exercise of it over their Brethren CHAP. XXI Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day THE light of Nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and soveraignty over all is good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the heart with all the soul and with all the might a Ro 1.20 Act 17 14 Psa 119.68 Jer 7.10 Psal 31.23 Psal 18.3 Ro 10.12 Psal 62.8 Josh 24.14 Mar 12.33 But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself so limitted by his own revealed wil that he may not be Worshiped according to the imaginations and devises of men or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in holy Scripture b Deu 12.32 Mat 15.9 Acts 17.25 Mat 4.9.10 Deut 4.15 to 20. Exod 20.4 5 6. Col 2.23 II. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to him alone c Mat. 4.10 with John 5.23 and 2 Cor 13.14 not to Angels Saints or any other creature d Col 2.18 Rev 19.10 Rom 1.25 and since the fall not without a Mediatour nor in the mediation of any other then of Christ alone e Joh 14.6 1 Tim. 2.5 Eph 2.18 Col 3.17 III. Prayer with thanksgiving being one special part of Religious worship f Phil 4.16 't is by God required of all men g Psa 85.2 and that it may be accepted it is to be made in the name of the Son h John 14.13 14. 1 Pet 2.5 by the help of his Spirit i Ro 8.26 according to his will k 1 Joh 5.4 with understanding reverence humility fervency faith love and perseverance l Psa 47.7 Eccl 5.12 Heb 12.28 Gen 18.27 Jam 5.16 Jam 1.6 7 Mar 11.24 Mat 6.12 14 15. Col 4.2 Eph 6.18 and if vocal in a known tongue m Cor 14.14 IV. Prayer is to be made for things lawful n Joh 5.14 and for all sorts of men living or that shall live hereafter o 1 Tim 1.1 2. Joh 17.20 2 Sam 7.29 Rut 4.12 but nor for the dead p 2 Sam 12.21 22 23. with Luke 16.25.26 Rev 14.13 nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death q 1 Joh 5.5 V. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear r Act 15.21 Rev 1.3 the sound preaching Å¿ 2 Tim 4.2 and conscionable hearing of the Word in obedience unto God with understanding faith and reverence t Jam 1.22 Acts 10.33 Mat 13.10 Heb 4.2 Isa 66.2 singing of Psalms with grace in the heart u Col 3.16 Eph 5.19 Jam 5.13 as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the Sacraments instituted by Christ are all parts of the ordinary Riligious Worship of God w Mat 28.19 1 Cor. 11 23 to 29. Acts 2 12. beside Religious Oaths x Deut 6.13 with Neh 10.29 Vows y Isa 19.21 with Eccles 5.4 5. Solemn Fastings z Joel 2.12 Esther 4.16 Matth 9.15 1 Cor 7.5 and Thanksgivings upon special occasions a Psal 107. throughout Esth 9.12 which are in their several times and seasons to be used in an holy and religious manner b Heb 12.28 VI. Neither prayer nor any other part of Religious Worship is now under the Gospel either tyed unto or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed or towards which it is directed e Joh 4.21 but God is to be Worshiped every-where d Mal 1.11 1 Tim 2.8 in Spirit and in Truth e Joh 4 23 24. as in private Families f Jer 10.25 Deu. 6.6.7 Job 1.5 2 Sam 6.18 20. 1 Pet 3.7 Acts 10 2. daily g Mat. 6.11 and in secret each one by himself h Mat 6.6 Eph 6.18 so more solemnly in the publick Assemblies which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his word or providence calleth thereunto i Is 56.6.7 Heb 10.25 Pro. 1 20.21 24. Acts 13.24 Luk 4.16 Acts 2.42 VII As it is the Law of Nature that in general a due proportion of time be set apart for the Worshiping of God so in his Word by a positive Moral and perpetual Commandment binding all men in all Ages he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him k Exo 20.8.10.11 Isa 56.2 4 5 6 7. which from the beginning of the World to the resurrection of Christ was the last Day of the week and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week l Gen 2.2.3 1 Cor 16.1 2. Acts 20.7 which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day m Rev 1.10 and it to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath n Exod 20.8 10. with Mat 5.17.18 VIII This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering of their common affaires before hand do not onely observe an holy rest all the Day from their own works words and thoughts about their worldly imployment and recreations o Ex 20.8 Exod 16.23 25 26 29.30 Exod 31.15 16 17. Isa 58.13 Neh 13.15 16 17 18 19 21 22. but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and private exercises of his Worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy p Isa 58.13 Mat 12.1 to 13. CHAP. XXI Of Religious Worship and of the Sabboth Day examined IN the foregoing Chapters you gave us a scantling of your faith and here you exhibite a view of your piety or Religion but as your faith was many wayes unsound so your Religion for the greatest part will prove a will worship and both it and the time you allot thereunto are so ungrounded that we can neither Sabbatize in your worship nor worship your sabboth with you You have here touched many things that concern that worship as the object the rule the part or subject with which the supposed matter the Place and time of it after your manner but we cannot but wonder at four things first your strange omissions secondly some truths which break from you at unawares contradicting what you said before thirdly your gross mistakes and lastly your confident affirming of things most false and destitute of foundation For the first it is no small matter of wonderment to us that you neither shew us what the worship of God is nor of what latitude in the general nor how many kinds there be of it nor wherein Gods principal eternal and saving worship lieth especially since the holy Scriptures are so clear in all the four which set forth unto us First that to worship God is all one as to fear him serve him and glorifie him Mat. 4.10 It
bow us we are incorrigible and deplorate Isa 1.5 6. Isa 9.13 yea and are sure to perish in the end Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth hss neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Other means are named and commended unto us in the word which shall work upon some when the word will not As the good conversation of the wife towards an unbelieving husband or disobedient to the word 1 Pet. 3.1 2. But Gods most usual and powerful way of converting sinners is by his spirit and severe chastisements those especially upon mens consciences which we elsewhere call the work of the Law though ofttimes wrought without the written Law or Word of which the Psalmist speaks Psal 94 13. A fourth mistake of yours there is That you say all men are by nature in the state of sin and death For we have already proved that to be false And doth not the Apostle say Rom. 2.27 That if the uncircumcision which is by nature fulfil the Law taking it for granted that some may do so he shall judge thee who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the Law True it is that the word nature is not always taken in one notion by the Apostle himself but as by nature here he understands a state of men without the written word so by nature Ephes 2.3 where he saith that we were by nature the children of wrath as well as others he intends either corrupt nature or a reality of the thing as Gal. 4.8 you did service to them which by nature are no Gods that is not really such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fifth errour of yours in that Section is that you say God in this his effectual calling of men determines the will to that which is good wherein as we said before he should overthrow that course and order which himself hath set up making us free Agents and leaving our wills free and interminate Yet we grant that the Lord bowes and inclines the wils of men from evil to good by illumination in the understanding and working upon the judgement as we said before but he laies no violent hands upon the will immediately Finally you have other mistakes in the first Section also as when you say that God in his effectual calling of men takes away the stony heart and gives them an heart of flesh for that is not wholly done in our first conversion but in process of time by our cleansing from sin and renewing in Jesus Christ according to the Covenant Ezek 36.25 26 27. Nor are all converts brought to Jesus Christ at the first as you here dream for the father hath his work of regeneration upon us ere we are brought to know or beleeve on the Son for his worke of spiritual redemption which is the second step or degree of our regeneration as we shew in the sequel of this tractate Yea whosoever resists the father in his work or doth not continue in it he is not brought by the father to the son to be saved by him from sin and Satan John 6.44 Nor is your second Section so sound or Orthodox in all points as we could wish it For you say there but not truly That he who is called of God is altogether passive until quickned and renewed by the holy Ghost For though in the works of illumination correction and reproof he is passive yet afterward in the turning of his will and desires to God and goodness he is active as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 2.19 For they themselves shew of us what mannor of entrance we bad unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God So Acts 11.21 And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great many beleeved and turned to the Lord. Wherefore doth the Lord require this motion at our hands so often if we cannot turn after inlightning and convincing grace Ezek. 18 30. Wherefore repent ye and turn ye from all your transgressions and verse 32. Wherefore turn ye and live see Eze. 33.11 Joe 2.12 13 14 c. In your third Section you abate something of your wonted rigour in saying That all other elected persons besides infants who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth If you grant then that there is an elect people among all nations as John saw an infinite or innumerable company of such standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb cloathed with white rober and palms in their hands Re. 7.9 you have here yeilded that they may be called without the ordinary means of the word and this is no other thing in effect then what ye have here maintained For if the Lord could do this in Elihu Job Rahab the widow of Zarephta and Paul all which were converted without the word what hindereth but that he can do the like all over the world in all ages and generations of mankinde if they obstruct not his working In this Section we pass over that which you spake in the beginning of it concerning elect infants because we know no other sort of infants And that such need no regeneration we have shewed before In your fourth and last Section you have heaped up together many untruths as these by name First That there are some persons that are not elected which being understood of a special and final election is true but being taken of Gods general and conditional election is false as before Secondly You say That such as are not elected and so not saved though they may be called by the ministry of the word yet they receive onely the common operations of the spirit It is most certain that many who are not finally elected and saved besider a true and effectual calling vouchsafed from the father have in some measure received a true faith bringing forth repentance for a time a true love turning them to God and bringing forth a temporary obedience a true hope which brought forth patience yea and some proportion of purifying and sanctfying grace as is evident out of these Scriptures and others 1 Tim. 1.19 and chapt 5.12 and chapt 6.10 Heb. 6.4 5 6. and chapt 10.28 29. 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. Thirdly You say That such never came truly unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved where it is true that such can never be saved from the power of their spiritual enemies who never came to Christ nor Christ to them yet many of them which were never chosen out of the furnace nor in the end partake of eternal life yet were brought for a time both to beleeve in Christ and in some measure to obey him who yet afterward fel from him and lost all that which they had wrought with their future hopes of which number were those apostate Disciples of Christ mentioned John 6.66 with Judas Demas
the seeking of them Rom. 10.14 15 c. A second let is a depraved judgement Act. 26.9 for I verily thought with my self thâ—t I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus A third impediment is the want of due remembrance and serious consideration of what we know in generall Lam. 1.9 He filthiness is in her skirts she remembred not her latter end A fourth bar is the power of Temptation of which the Apostle complaines 2 Cor. 12.7.8 A filth and a powerful obstacle is habit and custome in sin of which that is verified Qui non est hoâ—iè erà s minùs aptus erat Lastly Gods final desertion one of the heavyest of Judgements is an unremovable obstacle to the willing of good because seconded with Satans power Hence we may take a view how far the faln man can will good convert himself or prepare himself thereunto namely so far forth as men have some light of nature left or new illumination and convincing grace the which of all other is most necessary for the work of a true conversion Jer. 23.24 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Secondly This may be done with the more facility so far as they are chastned by the hand of the Lord and make a good use of it which made the Prophet Jeremy to pray as he doth Jer. 10.24 Correct me O Lord yet in judgement and not in thine angor lest thou bring me to nothing Howbeit in all this the Lord seems to lay no violent hand upon the will but works upon it by understanding judgement and reason with the use of sense and because he is the Author of the new understanding and judgement which leads and drawes the will he is said to work the will also Phil. 2.13 for Causae causae est etiam causa causaei But the main way whereby the man after illuminating or preventing grace can prepare himself to turn his heart or will is by frequent meditation and deep consideration of what he knows by grace or nature In your two last Sections First according to an ordinary distribution you distinguish the condition of converted sinners into a State of Grace and a State of glory but albeit there be different degrees in their new Metamorphosis or change yet their least estate in regeneration is a State of Glory as on the contrary the highest degree of that change and exaltation is a state of Grace For the proof of the first of these consider what the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord are transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the spirit of the Lord. 2 Pet. 1.3 Through the knowledge of him who hath called us unto Glory and Vertue And for the evidencing of the latter weigh well what Saint Peter writeth 1 Pet. 1.14 wherefore gird up the loins of your minde be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ See also 1 Pet. 3.7 as heirs together of the Grace of life But more particulary for your fourth Section As in the beginning of it you attribute too much to the first work or degree of our regeneration so you detract too much from the last and highest period of the same in the end of that Section For first you say but not truely That when God converts a sinner and translates him into the State of Grace he presently freeth him from his natural bondage under sin and by his grace alone enables him to will and to do that which is spiritually good Here brethren you go too far for the Apostle in the behalf of the young Babes or converts complains thus Rom. 7.8 9. For to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good Lâ—nde not for the good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not that do I. How then are they freed when the Apostle saith ver 23 He findes another Law in his members not only warring against the Law of his minde but bringing him captiue to the Law of sin in his members whereupon he cryes out verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of deaâ—h Is a bondage then against your wils no captivity yea it is the most grievous bondage of all others in our sense and feeling though not so perilous to the soul as a willing subjection unto sin Indeed it is true of the young in Christ which the Apostle writs to them of that age 1 John 2.14 I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one But the Babe in Christ cannot attain thereunto while he is a chide Now in the close of that Section you flag and fall as much too short saying That this convert at his highest pitch for so you mean by reason of his remaining corruption doth not perfectly nor only will that which is good but willeth that which is evil also The which though it be true of the Infants aforesaid and perhaps may sometimes be verified of the middle ort yet it is not true of the old or aged men in Christ such as the Apostles themselves were as we have proved before In your last Section you do as you are wont wholly transferring the state of Glory in which the will of man is made immutably good out of this world but herein you are some what mistaken if we may give credit to these Scriptures Rev. 3.12 21. C. 1.2.3 4 5 6. CHAP. X. Of effectuall calling ALL those whom God hath predestinated unto life and those onely he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call a Rom 8.30 Rom 11.7 Eph 1.10 11. by his Word and Spirit b 2 Thes 2.13 14. 2 Cor 3.6 out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ c Rom. 8.2 Eph 2.1 2 3 4. 2 Tim. 1.9 10. inlightning their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God d Act 16.18 1 Cor 2.10 12. Eph 1.17 18. taking away their heart of stone and giving unto them an heart of flesh e Ezek 36.26 Eze 11.19 Phil 2.13 Deut. 36.6 Ezek 36.27 renewing their wils and by his Almighty power determing them to that which is good f and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ g Eph 1.19 John 6.44 45. yet so as that they come most freely being made willing by his grace h Cant. 1.4 Psal 110.3 John 6.37 Rom. â— 16 17 18. II. This effectual call is of Gods free and special grace alone not from any thing at all foreseen in man i 1 Tim 1.9 Tit. 3.4 5. Eph 2.4 5 8 9. Rom â— 11. who is
is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalts thou serve with Deut. 6.13 and 10.20 See Revelations 14.7 Secondly that our obedience to God and his worship in general are of equal latitude John 9 13. Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of him and do his will him he heareth Thirdly that there are many kinds and degrees of divine worship as the worship of Angels which they owe to God Psal 97.7 Worship him all ye gods and the worship due from men Rev. 19.10 worship thou God This humane worship is manifold As first either Typical or real Rom. 7.6 That we should now serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter Secondly A glorifying or worshipping him inwardly and another which is done only in an outward manner Isa 29.13 14. For as much as this people draw neer unto me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work c. Matth 15.8 and 7.6 c. Thirdly that there is a primary and secondary Worship the former instituted for it self and accepted in it self the other for and in the former only Hos 6.6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledg of God more then burnt offerings Fourthly and lastly the primary immutable and salutiferous worship of God of which you speak no one word either in this your Confession of Faith or in your directory for worship in the name of a divine worship stands in the following of God and walking with him in his loving and everlasting righteousness as these places fully evict God created man in his own Image and similitude Gen. 1.27 to wit that therein he should serve and worship his God and Christ is given for this end Luk. 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life and not in one day in seven as you imagine Thus Enoch walked with God Gen. 5.24 So did Noah Gen. 6.9 Thus God required of Abraham that he should walk before him or with him and be perfect in that way Gen. 17.1 this was the Religion that Abraham taught his family even by Gods own testimony Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing which he hath spoken of him Thus the Prophets Catechised and instructed the people Micah 6.6 Wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the most higâ—h God that is the question to which he answers ver 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to humble thy self to walk with thy Godâ— Thus Phynehas and the holy priests both walked and taught Malachy 2 6. The Law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lipps he walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many from iniquity This is that worship in the Spirit or work of the Spirit which is required by the father John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth where the word Spirit is by a metony my put for the work of the Spirit for the whole fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth Eph 5.9 and the word Truth there implies the whole divine nature or new creature in opposition to the typicall services Thus the Apostle shews both wherein the Kingdom of God and his acceptable worship lyeth Ro. 14.17 18. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousand peace and joy in the holy Ghost And he that in these things serveth the Lord Christ is accepted of God and approved of men Thus far concerning your omissions whereof this last is a most gross defect in them that would teach a whole Kingdom the way of Religion rightly For the truths which you have here at unawares confessed they are principally three all which reflect upon your selves The first is that where in the first Section you affirm That the very light of nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and Soveraignty over all who is good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might If then the light of nature extend so far why may not all men be saved if they walke according to that light in turning to that God thus made known unto them in following him and serving him in all the wayes of his righteousness and goodnes in calling upon him for the pardon of their sins the healing of their errors and corruptions the leading of them into all truth and righteousness especially if illuminating grace be added thereto which truth you have denyed before Secondly you say in the same Section That Gods worship is so limited by himself and his revealed will that he is not to be worshipped after the imaginations and devices of men which is most true but it fals soul upon your worship here described which is for the most part a meer imagination and humane invention or tradition as it is obtruded upon us for a worship which we will shew by and by Thirdly in you fourth Section you say that prayer is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of men living or that shall live hereafter who sin not the sin unto death but not for those that are dead If prayer should and must be made for all sorts of men that do or that shall live hereafter then either there is no absolute decree in God to debar men of salvation or we must pray expresly against Gods will or in our prayers not seek mens salvation which how it contradicts your former doctrine we shall report it to your selves and others Thirdly for the mistakes they are neither smal nor few in this place For first you take it for granted that there is an outward worship of God instituted by Christ in the new Testament in lieu of that ceremonial worship of the old Testament new accomplished and abrogated by Christ Secondly That there hath been an outward worship of God instituted from the Creation and a set time even the seventh day from the Creation appointed thereunto all which are meer dreams For though the Fathers before and after the Flood sometimes sacrificed voluntarily or by instinct it were as a monument of Christs inward sufferings with his future passion and to represent the way wherein we must follow
and Psal 34.9 O fear the Lord all ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Secondly there are Saints in God the Son who are called to know him and believe on him for salvation from their spiritual enemies deliverance from the curse Jude 1. To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called which is the common Classis of the Saints in the new Testament Rom. 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 1.2 And thirdly there are Saints in the holy Ghost as the Apostles were made in the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the holy spirit of promise Act. 2.1 2 3 c. Secondly All those have neither the same degree of fellowship with God nor with each other but have their respective communion either with the father alone as the first or with the Father and the Son as the second or with the Holy Ghost also and so with the whole Trinity as the third John 14.25 Jesus answered and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love and we will come unto him and make our abode with him See 1 John 1.3 4 5. And as the Saints have different degrees of communion with God according to their several ages and growth so they all have not alike fellowship with each other in communicating spiritual guifts for the Saints in Christ Jesus can condiscend to those in God the Father and those in God the Holy Ghost can stoop to both the other to do them service but the first cannot communicate much in spiritual things to the second nor either the first or second to the third though all may in outward things be serviceable to each other upon earth These things premised for order and distinction sake We finde then in your first Section these three errors First That you make none to be Saints but those that are actually united unto Jesus Christ their head hereby excluding out of that number and communion all those who as yet are onely bgotten by God the Father as were Cornelius Act. 10.1 2 3. and many other Secondly You untruly affirm that all those which are united to Christ by his spirit and saith have actual communion in his sufferings death resurrection and glory for none of them have fellowship in his resurrection and glory till they be dead with him and that the holy Ghost be poured down from Heaven upon them as he was upon the Apostles Act. 2. See Ro. 6 5. For if we have been planted in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection 2 Tim. 2.11.12 neither have all that beleeved in Christ for the present proceeded so far as to suffer with him and much more to pertake with him in his death he is a good proficient in Christianitie that knows what Christ hâ—th suffered in him and for him and is come to suffer with him not onely outward afflictions but inward sorrows in resisting temptations without yeelding to them in their solicitations wherein lies the main part of our fellowship of Christs sufferings And as for our becomming wholly dead with Christ you your selves hold it a thing not fully attainable in this life wherin you greatly wrong the grace and power of Christ in his saving work and office and are not onely injurious to others who give ear unto you but fall short of that happy conquest and salvation ensuing which is held forth unto you in the Gospel almost everywhere as hath been shewed before See Luke 1.74.75 Rom. 6.5 and 14. Ephes 5.25 26 c. Titus 2.11 12 13. Rev. 16.7 11 17.26 and Revel 7.14.15 c. And thirdly you here make no distinction betwixt interest and actual communion where you say That the Saints have communion in each others graces which is true of the first not of the last where the place which you cited out of Epbes 2.5.6 speaks of the Apostles high attainments rather then of the present state of the Ephesians and other common beleevers In your second Section you seem tacitely first to imply that there are two sorts of Saints the one by profession onely such as the members of your Church Catholick were in your former Chapter and some that are really such but we are sure that the Lord admits of no Saints for his Church or people but such as are truely sanctified and continuing such he rejects them not Secondly You truly say that Saints are bound to maintain an holy communion in the worship of God but this must be understood with diverse limitations to fence it from error For first it must not be Saints living remotely from each other Secondly It holds not concerning an outward worship unless the Church set up one that is pious and profitable or lawful at the least for Christ himself hath instituted no such worship as we said before Thirdly Yet must all the Saints wheresoever they live joyn in one true spiritual worship of the living God in his living righteousness Lastly We grant notwithstanding that such as conveniontly can come together ought as frequently as their occasions and safety will bear to meet together for the edification and comfort of each other and especially if the Christian Magistrates and spiritual Governours command such meetings But the residue of this Section about the relief of the Saints is sound and good In your third and negative Section you truly and upon good grounds disavow two things First That the Saints are coequal with Christ for no creature in his highest perfection can be equal to Christ the one being finite the other infinite in his divine essence And Secondly that the Communion of Saints upon Earth doth not abolish no nor infringe the title or propriety which each man hath in his goods and possessions which is clearly imported in those Scriptures of Exod. 20.15 Ephes 4.28 and Acts 5.4 which you point us unto as also in many other places of the Old and New Testament But whether that estate which the Saints attain at length when with the Apostle they are raised up together with Christ and made sit together with him in the Heavenly places or things Ephes 2.5 6. be a bare quality or accident or whether it be a spiritual life power and substance we will not dispute sure we are the Apostle calls it the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and our Saviour or Wisdom calls it substance in one notion or other Prov. 18.21 And I will cause them to inherit substance whatsoever that estate is the Platonists called him that had attained it not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deified man and not onely some of the modern but even of the ancient writers of the Church use the word codeifying in a good sense of such as are made pertakers of the Divine nature according to the capacity of creatures CHAP. XXVII Of the Sacraments SAcraments are holy Signes and Seales of the
betwixt the second and the third because the Apostle speakes of the Doctrine of Baptismes Hebrews 6.2 as also for that some were said to be Baptized for the dead 1 Corinthians 15.29 the former of which places implies that the acts of Baptism might be a plurality though all at one time successively performed The other That some were Baptized to become dead with Christ which we take to be the genuine meaning of that Text and that the Baptizer there paused if he went any further at that time The other is Whether those that were ignorant of what was done to them in their Infancy by death of Parents or Sureties may not lawfully be Baptized again at the time of their Repentance and Conversion to God and that for their further edification or comfort though otherwise we neither see what necessity there can be of Persons once Baptized and knowing they were so to be rebaptized or what warrant the Anabaptists have from God or men to reiterate this Sacrament or administer it at all CHAP. XXIX Of the Lords Supper OVR Lord Jesus in the night wherein he was betrayed instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood called the Lords Supper to be observed in his Church unto the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance of the Sacrifice of himself in his death the sealing all benefits thereof unto true Beleever their spiritual nourishment and growth in him their further ingagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him and with each others as members of his mystical body a 1 Cor 11.23 24 25 26. 1 Cor 10.16 17 21. 1 Cor 12.13 II. In this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father nor any real Sacrifice made at all for remission of sins of the quick and dead b Heb 9.22 25 26.28 but only a commemoration of that once offering up himself by himself upon the Cross once for all and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same c 1 Cor 11.24 2â— 26 Matth 26.26 27. So that the Popish Sacrifice of the Mass as they call it is most abominably injurious to Christs one onely Sacrifice the alone Propitiation for the sins of the Elect d Heb 7.23 24 27. Heb 10.11 12 14 18. III. The Lord Jesus hath in this Ordinance appointed his Ministers to declare his word of institution to the people to pray and bless the Elements of bread and wine and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use and to take and break the bread to take the cup and they communicating also themselves to give both to the Communicants e Mat 26.26 27 28. Mark 14.22 33.24 Luke 22.19 20. with 1 Cor 11.23 24 25 26. but to none who are not present in the Congregation f Act 20.27 1 Cor 11.20 IV. Private Masses or receiving this Sacrament by a Priest or any other alone g 1 Cor 10 6. as likewise the denial of the Cup to the people h Mark 14.23 1 Cor 11.25 26 27 28 29. worshiping the Elements the lifting them up or carrying them about for adoration and the reserving them for any pretended religious use are all contrary to the nature of this Sacrament and to the institution of Christ i Mat 15. â— V. The outward Elements in this Sacrament duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ have such relation to him crucified as that truely yet Sacramentally onely they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent to wit the body and blood of Christ k Mat 26.26 27 28. albeit in substance and nature they still remain truly and onely bread and wine as they were before l 1 Cor 11 2â— 27 28. Mat 26.29 VI. That Doctrin which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christs body and blood commonly called transubstantiation by consecration of a Priest or by any other way is repugnant not to the Scripture alone but even to common sense and reason overthroweth the nature of the Sacrament and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions yea of gross Idolatries m Acts 3.21 with â— Cor 11.25.26 Luke 24.26 39. VII Worthy receivers outwardly pertaking of the visible Elements in that Sacrament n 1 Cor 11.28 do then also inwardly by faith really and indeed yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually feed upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in with or under the bread and wine yet as really but spiritually present to the faith of beleevers in that ordinance as the Elements themselves are to the outward senses o 1 Cor 10.16 VIII Although ignorant and wicked men receive outward Elements in this Sacrament yet they receive not the thing signified thereby but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord to their own damnation wherfore all ignorant and ungodly persons as they are unfit to injoy communion with him so are they unworthy of the Lords table and cannot without great sin against Christ while they remain such pertake of the holy mysteries p Cor 11.27 28 29. 2 Cor 6.14 15 16. or be admitted thereunto q 1 Cor 5.6 7 13. 2 Thes 3.6 14 15. Matth 7.6 CHAP. XXIX Of the Lords Supper examined BRETHREN to give you your due you have here truly set forth the Author of this Sacrament the time of its institution with some of the ends for which it was ordained in the first Section and some part of the Ministers duty in the right administration of it in the third Section you have learnedly detected and confuted many of the gross abuses of the Papists in or about this Sacrament in your second fourth fifth and sixth Sections endeavoured to comfort the receiver of it in the seventh and set Railes about the Communion Table in the eighth Section to keep back ignorant profane and unworthy Communicants but if we here convince your selves with your Authors and guides of gross ignorance and error in the main Mystery of this Sacrament we hope you will the sooner yeeld that it was possible for you to erre in other things even in the most of these we have mainly challenged you for yea peradventure you will be hereupon induced to beleeve these things That there is a departure from the faith come into the Church 1 Tim. 4.1.2 2 Thes 2.24 That the man of sin errour and delusion is crept in 2 Thes 2.3 4 That much saving truth hath been lost for many hundred years That your Authors were not sent of God to preach the true Gospel which they never understood rightly in its chief mysteries concerning Christ That it was needful that the Gospel should be preached a new to the whole world before the end of the