pretend to Consecrate and Administer them As it would be considered farther whether it were not much more advisable to do so because he who omits the Consecration or Administration of a Sacrament that belongs not properly to him is certainly guilty of a far less error than he who arrogates to himself that which doth not appear to appertain unto him so if a Sacrament so Consecrated or Administred be either lawful or valid as I will not be very forward to deny it considering the Authorities (h) Vid. Tert. de Bapt. c. 7. quae annotavit Hookerus noster Eccl. Pol. l. 5. Sect. 62. it hath for it it must become so by the either express or tacit allowance of those to whom the Administration of it is regularly committed For the Institutor of a Sacrament and by whom alone it can become such having put into their hands the preparation of it I see not how any thing can become such which is not either mediately or immediately set apart by their Authority and Ministry It appearing from the Premises to whom the separation or Consecration of the elements doth belong and so far therefore also the producing of a sacramental relation in them Enquire we in the next place how those persons ought to be farther qualified to enable them to make that Separation or Consecration Which I shall not stick to affirm to be simply and only by keeping as to the outward work to the Institution of our Saviour For though much more may be requir'd of them yea undoubtedly is to make that Act of theirs available to their own welfare and acceptance Even the intending what they are about not only with a present mind but with a sound and religious one Yet cannot the like be supposed to be requir'd to make that Act of theirs available toward the Consecrating of those elements into a Sacrament Partly because if such an intention were requir'd in those that Consecrate no man could have any tolerable assurance of his receiving a valid Sacrament because having no such assurance of their intention And partly because that Act of theirs is a Ministerial Act and must not therefore depend for its force upon the personal intentions or qualifications of those that exercise it but upon that Authority from which it proceeds and upon its serving the ends and intentions of those principal Agents to which it is appointed to minister Which ends and intentions if it can serve in this affair by an outward conformity to the rules of Christ's Institution nothing more can be suppos'd to be requir'd either of it or those that exercise it to give it that force whereof we speak That therefore would in the next place be enquir'd into which accordingly I will now set my self to do For the clearing whereof we are first to know that as of old the Priests under the Law were ordained * Heb. 1.5 Philo de special lâ—g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by God for men in things pertaining to God partly to offer up to him in their names Gifts and Sacrifices for sin and partly to convey from God to them graces and benefits so we are in like manner to conceive of the Priests under the Gospel as being not only the Ministers of God and Christ but appointed too on the one hand to dispense their mysteries (k) 1 Cor. 4.1 and graces to the Church and on the other hand to offer up the Churches Prayers and Services to them From whence as it will follow that those principal Agents to which they minister are God and Christ on the one hand and Christs Church and People under the other so that the end of the former is to convey by their means their own graces and blessings of the latter to offer up those Prayers and other Services which are due from the Church to them Those therefore being the Principal Agents to which the Evangelical Priesthood ministers and those their respective ends and intentions the next thing to be enquir'd into is which of those Principal Agents it is to which the Evangelical Priesthood ministers in those acts which respect the Consecration of a Sacrament Which I shall not stick to affirm from what was before said concerning those Acts to be the Church and People of God For that which the Minister doth toward the Consecration of a Sacrament being principally at least the offering up of Prayers and Praises he must consequently because those are the duties of the Church to God and Christ be thought to minister to the Church in them and so have that for his Principal Agent From whence as it will follow thirdly that the end to which he is to serve is the offering up in the behalf of the Church such Prayers and Praises as are by the Institution of Christ impos'd upon it because that is the end of the Church in all such Administrations so he shall sufficiently serve that end who shall only rehearse such Prayers and Praises where-ever or whatsoever his intention be Because the Church may as well offer up its Prayers and Praises by the voice of him that intends them not as by the voice of him that doth And I have been the more particular in the Explication of this affair partly to make it farther evident that the validity of a Sacrament depends not upon the intention of the Minister but much more to shew from thence that those acts which are done by him toward the Consecration of the Sacramental elements do not by the either absence or perverseness of his intention cease to be religious and so incapable of inducing God to consider of them or give force unto them Because as those Acts are rather the Churches than his the Minister being in this affair but the Instrument thereof so his want of Intention and Devotion may be abundantly supply'd by the others and those Acts thereby become both Religious and valid From that Command which respects the elements before they put on the relation of a Sacrament pass we on to that Command which considers them as invested with it Which again we shall find to have a double reference For it may either concern those in special who have so set apart or Consecrated them or both them if they are also to be the receivers of them and all others for whose sanctification they are intended Upon the former of these it enjoyns the dispensing or bestowing of what they have so Consecrated as that too in such a manner and with such solemnities as the Institutor thereof hath prescrib'd It enjoyns upon them farther for their own souls health to dispense them with a sutable intention and devotion of soul As without which what they do cannot otherwise be profitable to themselves But it doth not so injoyn that intention and devotion that what they dispense shall for the want thereof be in like manner unprofitable to others Because as we already suppose the elements to have put on the relation of a
which how useful soever they may be and are so esteemed by our selves yet will not be found to be any more than such I alledge as to the former of these the no precept there appears concerning it which is one of those things which induce a necessity to Salvation And I alledge too which is another the no appearance there is of any tendency in it to procure some blessings for which no other means are appointed For the Eucharist having for its end the confirming and strengthning of our Graces which is all that Confirmation as now in use professeth to intend neither can there be any necessity of the means to oblige us to the use of the latter or endanger our Salvation by the omission of it In fine I alledge what is with me of no small moment the no mention there is in Justin Martyr * Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. of it even where he takes notice of their bringing the New Baptized person to the Assembly of the Faithful and to a Communion with them in their Prayers and Eucharist For though that Father doth not obscurely intimate that they had a particular regard in their Prayers to the welfare of the new Baptized person as well as to the more general welfare of the other Yet he takes no notice at all of any Imposition of hands upon him or any other ceremony that may be supposed to be analogous to it Which in all probability he would have done especially when he mention'd the Kiss of Peace as well as both the other Sacraments if either the Church had then us'd the Sacrament of Confirmation or he look'd upon it as a Sacrament of the same general necessity with the other Which things I have said not in the least to detract from the use of Confirmation for I think this very passage of Justin Martyr doth sufficiently warrant the more material part of it even prayer over the new Baptized person but to shew that the Church did not then look upon it as a Sacrament or at least not as such a one as was generally necessary for Salvation as our Catechism hath taught us to speak But it may be much more may be said for Absolution than Confirmation and so no doubt there may if we consider Absolution as comprehending within the compass of it the whole power of the Priest in remitting sins For comprehending within it in that sense the Administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper because the most effectual means the Church hath for absolving offenders from their guilt so far as those Sacraments or the Priests Administration of them is necessary to Salvation which no doubt they generally are so far also his Absolution must be look'd upon as such But so to consider Absolution is to make it the same with Baptism and the Lord's Supper and not as it is here propos'd a distinct Sacrament from them If therefore we will speak pertinently either to our own Catechism or the present Controversie we must consider Absolution as abstracting from those Sacraments which if we do we shall find it to consist either in declaring the word of reconciliation to Offenders or praying to God for their Pardon or pronouncing them absolved from their guilt or loosing them from the Censures of the Church If we consider Absolution in the first of these senses to wit as importing the declaration of the word of reconciliation to Offenders so we shall not stick to affirm that it is generally necessary to Salvation but then we must say withall that it is no Sacrament nor esteemed by the Papists themselves to be so If we consider it in the second sense to wit as denoting the Priest's praying for the Pardon of Offenders and in which form as Bishop Vsher (t) Answ to the Jesuits Chall p. 125. c. observes Absolution was antiently wont to be made so it will be found to have a respect to that Community over which he presides or to particular persons in it In the former of these regards it is no doubt as necessary to Salvation as it is for the Priest to celebrate or the people to joyn with him in the publick worship of God of which such prayers as those are a necessary part But as there is no presumption of that Offices being a Sacrament so it is not the Absolution our Adversaries intend That which they profess to advance being the Absolution of particular persons after a confession made by them of their particular offences And yet even here too they make a distinction because professing to restrain that Confession and Absolution to such sins only as are mortal But who taught them to distinguish in this affair between Mortal and Venial Or what is there in those words of Christ which convey the power of remitting sins which can be thought to restrain it to the former What have they to ground the general necessity of such a Confession upon but especially as to that form of Absolution whereof we speak For in praying for the pardon of Offenders the Priest is not to be considered as a Judge but as a person appointed to mediate between God and his People and whom that charity which belongs to him as such will oblige him to look upon as penitent if he knows them not to be otherwise especially if they beg his prayers for their own particular pardon And indeed neither is this the Absolution the Papists contend for nay they declare (u) Conc. Trid. Sess 14. cap. 3. those very Prayers which go along with their own not to be of the Essence of it Which will oblige us to pass on to A third sort of Absolution even pronouncing offending persons to be loosed from their offences A thing which though of signal use and comfort to men of afflicted minds and which no doubt such persons ought to seek when they cannot otherwise satisfie themselves yet cannot be look'd upon as generally necessary to Salvation Partly because none but desponding persons can be supposed to stand in need of it and partly because such an Absolution as that supposeth men to be already loosed from their offences and consequently not to want any thing but the sense thereof Which though it may be an infelicity yet is no sin in it self nor can prove so to him in whom it is unless it do otherwise take him off from the due performance of his duty Though even in that case such an Absolution will be necessary rather to prevent future offences than to procure the forgiveness of former ones And I shall only add that I conceive that form of Absolution to be such which occurrs in our Visitation of the Sick Partly because it is ordered by our Church to be applied to men of troubled minds and partly because it prompts the Priest to beg of God the forgiveness of the sick persons offences before it allows him to say I absolve thee from all thy sins That supposing the forgiveness of
first Religious Rite after Baptism and because of all the Five best deserving the name of a Sacrament A Rite which as our Church receives and enjoyns so the more sober sort of Protestants allow to have been an Institution of the Apostles and such as is of signal use to those who were baptiz'd in their Infancy by that examination which is to precede it and those solemn Prayers that do attend it But as the thing it self doth not appear to me to have been instituted by Christ which even by the Doctrine of the Trent Council (t) Ibid. is made a Character of a Sacrament so there is yet less appearance of its having any outward sign to which the blessings thereof may be supposed to have been annex'd which is of the very Essence of a Sacrament That which was at first administred by a bare Imposition of hands and afterwards by the addition of the Chrism coming at length to be perform'd by the sole ceremony of Unction as the practice of the Greek and Latine Church declares Of which variation what account can be given but that the Church it self did at first look upon the Rites of Confirmation as arbitrary and consequently not of the same nature with the signs of Baptism and the Lord's Supper For whatever additions or variations came afterwards to be made in these the Water of the one and the Bread and Wine in the other were ever preserved in them The next supposed Sacrament is that of Penance or rather because the form thereof is by themselves (u) Conc. Trid. Sess 14. c. 13. made to consist in Ego absolvo te c. the Sacrament of Absolution An Institution which we willingly acknowledge to be an Institution of Christ and which our Church moreover confesseth (w) Hom. of Com. Pray and Sacr. to have the promise of the forgiveness of sins But differs from a Sacrament in this that it hath not that promise annexed and tyed to the usual visible sign thereof even Imposition of hands For for the use of any such visible sign in it we find no Command and much less any declaration from Christ that it should not be available unless it were convey'd by it or made to depend upon the usage of it But it may be much more may be said for that which they call the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction because affirmed by the Council of Trent (x) Sess 14. can 1. to have been instituted by our Lord and published to the World by St. James And I no way doubt that when our Saviour sent forth his Disciples by two and two (y) Mark 6.7 c. he gave them power to anoint sick persons as well as to cast out unclean Spirits and it may be too commanded them for that time to make use of that particular ceremony toward the healing of them I as little doubt for the mention that is made of it in St. James (z) James 5.14 that the same ceremony of Unction was continued in the Church and perhaps prescrib'd by other Apostles as well as by him to the Governours of the Church But it doth not appear to me to have been intended by Christ for perpetual use and much less for those purposes for which it is alledged For if it were intended by Christ for perpetual use how came the same Christ to promise to those that believe that if they only laid hands * Mark 16.18 on the sick they should recover How came he to give his Apostles power to cure diseases by the use of that only ceremony as in the case of Publius †Act. 28.8 by taking infirm people by the hand * Act. 3.5 yea by their bare (a) Act. 9.34 word This being to give encouragement to the neglect of his own Commands if the ceremony of Unction were to be look'd upon as such Though granting that Ceremony to have been intended for perpetual use what appearance is there of its having been intended for the purposes of a Sacrament yea to procure in an especial manner the forgiveness of sins For all that St. Mark says concerning the Apostles anointing with Oyl is that they thereby healed (b) Mark 6.13 those they did so anoint Yea it is if not the only yet the principal thing St. James assures to those whom he enjoyn'd the use of it As it appears by his ushering it in as an application to be made to sick persons his promising that that Prayer which went along with it should save the sick and procure God's raising of them in fine by his exhorting men to confess their faults one to another that they might be healed For these things shew plainly that if the healing of sick persons was not the only thing intended yet it was at least the principal one But so the Church it self appears to have understood this ceremony as is evident among other things from that Prayer which did accompany it That as Cassander (c) Consult de Artic. Rel. c. ubi de Unctione infirm agit informs us being I anoint thee with the holy Oyl in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost imploring the mercy of that one Lord and our God that all the griefs and incommodities of thy body being driven away there may be recovered in thee vertue or strength and health that so being cured by the operation of this mysterie and this Vnction of the Sacred Oyl and our prayer through the vertue of the Sacred Trinity thou mayest deserve to receive thy antient yea more robust health through our Lord. Which though it do not so directly oppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeks because design'd against Corporal (d) See Ricdut Pres State of the Greek Church c. 12. as well as Spiritual evils yet doth perfectly overthrow the Extreme Vnction of the Papists as which is so far from designing the recovery of the sick person that it is not allow'd to be administred to any who seem not perfectly desperate One only passage there is in St. James which may seem to give this Ceremony of anointing a higher and a far better design even his affirming that that prayer which did accompany it should procure for the sick person also that if he had committed sins (e) James 5.15 they should be forgiven him But beside that St. James doth not attribute that forgiveness to the ceremony of Unction but to the prayer that attended or followed it The design of the Elders visitation of the Sick being no doubt to procure as well their Spiritual as Corporal health it is not unreasonable to think that that very Prayer which they made over them did not only aim at God's accompanying the former ceremony with the blessing for which it was intended but extend farther to the imploring for them all those spiritual blessings which they wanted and particularly perfect remission and forgiveness Which if it did as is but reasonable to believe that Oyl cannot
set to denote also our being united to it thereby For as we cannot impose a more natural sense upon Baptized into that body than our being receiv'd by Baptism into it as the Baptized person is within the water and consequently some way united to it So much less if we consider what it was intended to prove even * 1 Cor. 12.12 that Christians how many soever are but that one body For how doth their being baptiz'd into it prove them to be that one Body but that that visible sign by which they are so unites them to one another and to the whole A meer sign of Union though it may shew what the partakers thereof ought to be yet being no just proof of what they are and much less as S. Paul seems to argue that they are so by the means of it And indeed as it will therefore be hard to make the sign here spoken of to be any thing less than a means of our Union to the Church So especially if we consider what is elsewhere said concerning those who first after the descent of the Holy Ghost were baptized in the name of Christ S. Luke not only affirming of those new baptiz'd ones that they were added to (a) Acts 2.41 the Apostles and their other company which he afterwards expresseth (b) Acts 2.47 by added to the Church but that they were partakers (c) Acts 2.42 with the rest in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in Prayers For this shews their having an interest in all the priviledges of that Body and therefore much more their being united to it But so it appears that the Antient Church esteemed of it whose determination is of the more force because it is only about the supposed means of Union to its own Body Justin Martyr after he had spoken of the baptizing of such as offer'd themselves to the Christian Church which he himself expresseth when so baptiz'd by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or conjoyned with themselves affirming that they were immediately brought where the brethren were assembled there to partake with them of the common Prayers that were then offer'd up of the kiss of peace and of the Lord's Supper Which last particular I have the more confidently represented the new baptized persons as then admitted to because the same Father doth not only make no distinction between them and the other brethren in it though he subjoyns the business of the Eucharist to the former Prayers and kiss of peace but affirms the same Eucharist presently after to be lawful to none to partake of but those that believ'd their Doctrine receiv'd the laver of regeneration and liv'd as Christ delivered For as he intimates there by the admission of those that believ'd and were baptiz'd if they were also such as liv'd as Christ deliver'd which the new baptized were in reason to be accounted till they had given proof to the contrary So there is reason to believe from the use of Excommunication in the Church that that addition of living as Christ deliver'd was not made to bar the new baptized from it till they gave farther proof of such a life but to intimate the exclusion of those who after they had been admitted to it liv'd otherwise than Christianity prescrib'd So making the persons excluded the unbaptiz'd or ill living Christians and consequently the contrary thereto admitted I deny not indeed that the Rite of Confirmation did very antiently come between the receiving of Baptism and the Eucharist I deny not farther because of what was before (d) Expl. of the Sacrament in general Part 4. quoted from Justin Martyr concerning the particular Prayer that was made for the new baptized person that the substance thereof was then in use even prayer for grace for him to live as he had but now profess'd But as the design of Confirmation appears to have been to procure for the new baptiz'd a more plentiful effusion of God's Graces which is no intimation at all of his having been before no perfect Christian or not perfectly united to the Church so Baptism may for all that be look'd upon as the means of our Union to the Church which is all that I have taken upon me to assert For the farther evidencing whereof I will in the next place alledge a passage of Tertullian (e) De Bapt c. 6. which will though not so directly prove the same thing That I mean where he saith that when the profession of our faith and sponsion of our salvation are pledged under the three witnesses before spoken of there is necessarily added thereto the mention of the Church because where those three are even the Father Son and Holy Ghost there is also the Church which is the body of the Three For as it is evident from thence that Men were even from his time baptiz'd expresly into the belief of the Church as well as into the belief of the Trinity So it will not be difficult to inferr that they were also baptiz'd into the unity thereof and made members of the Church by it Because as he affirms the Trinity to become Sponsors of our Salvation in Baptism as well as either Witnesses or objects of our Profession So he affirms those Sponsors to be as it were embodyed in the Church and consequently to exert their saving influences within it which supposeth Men's being united to it by Baptism in order to their partaking of the salutariness of the other And indeed though in that form which our Saviour prescrib'd (f) Matt. 28.19 for Baptism there is mention only of baptizing in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost yet inasmuch as he prescrib'd that very form for the making of Disciples (g) Ibid. by he must consequently be suppos'd to propose it for the aggregating them to that body which he had already begun to frame and making them alike members of it There being therefore no doubt to be made of the outward visible sign of Baptism being a means of our Vnion to Christ's mystical body the Church it may not be amiss if it were only to manifest the great advantages thereof as to that particular to shew the consequences of that Vnion Which we shall find in the general to be a right to all those priviledges which Christ hath purchas'd for it More particularly to the partaking of its Sacred Offices and in and through the means of them of those inward and spiritual Graces which those Sacred Offices were intended to procure or convey For every member of a Society being by that membership of his entituled to all the priviledges that belong to it as such He who becomes a member of Christ's Body the Church as every Man who is united to it by Baptism doth must in his proportion be entituled to all those priviledges which Christ hath purchas'd for it and particularly to the priviledge of partaking of its sacred Offices and in and by the means of
it who are qualified as Christianity requires for the receiving of it So the only thing therefore farther necessary to be enquir'd into on this Head is how men ought to be qualified for it or as our Catechism expresseth it what is required of them For supposing those praerequisites of Baptism he who enjoyns the discipling and baptizing all Nations must consequently be suppos'd to enjoyn the administring of it to all such in whom those praerequisites are Now there are two things again as our Catechism instructs us which are requir'd of all those that are to be baptized Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises made to them in that Sacrament And for these two things at least it hath the astipulation of the Scripture and I may add also of that Profession which is made by the baptized person in Baptism and which having before establish'd I may now the more securely argue from Witness for the Scripture S. Peter's †Acts 2.38 enjoyning those Jews who demanded of him and the rest what they ought to do in order to their salvation to repent and so be baptiz'd in the name of the Lord Jesus And Philip's replying upon the Eunuch who ask'd what did hinder him to be baptiz'd that if he believ'd * Acts 8.37 with all his heart he might Thereby more than intimating that if he did not he could not be baptiz'd at all though all other things concurred to the receiving of it And indeed what less can be suppos'd to be requir'd of such persons when as was before †Expl. of Bapt. Part 8. observ'd the baptized person makes Profession in his Baptism of renouncing all sin and wickedness and of a belief in that Jesus into whose Religion he is admitted That Profession of his supposing Repentance and Faith to have been before in him as without which otherwise he could not there make a sincere Profession of renouncing sin or of believing in the name of the Lord Jesus But so that I may add that by the way the Antient Church appears to have requir'd before she admitted men to the participation of Baptism Justin Martyr where he professeth to give a sincere account of her doings in this affair telling those he wrote his Apology to that such as were persuaded and believ'd that the things taught and said by the Christians were true (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. p. 93. and moreover took upon them so to live were taught to pray and ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their former sins and then and not till then brought by them to the place of Baptism and there regenerated after the same manner with themselves Which is so clear a proof of the Antients believing Repentance and Faith to be prerequisites of Baptism that nothing need to be added to it For the clearing of the first of which we are to know that though Repentance in strict speech be nothing else than a sorrow of mind for those sins we stand guilty of before God Yet as even so it presupposeth a right apprehension of those sins as without which we could never be brought to a due sorrow for them so taking Repentance as our Catechism and the Scripture also sometime doth as one of the two prerequisites of Baptism For S. Paul in one place (b) Acts 20.21 makes that Repentance and Faith the sum of his Preaching to the Jews and Greeks and in another (c) Heb. 6.1 the foundation of our Christianity it will be found to imply in it whatsoever that sorrow for sin doth naturally dispose men to as well as that sorrow it self The same S. Paul elsewhere professing that he shewed both to the Jews and Gentiles that they should turn unto God as well as Repent and do works meet for Repentance as well as either To attain therefore a due understanding of this Repentance as well as to clear that definition of it which our Catechism hath given us it will be necessary for us to enquire what this Repentance doth presuppose what it imports and to what it doth dispose us That which Repentance doth most manifestly presuppose is a right apprehension of that sin about which it is to be conversant And may be fetch'd in part from the dictates of our own reason but more especially from the declarations of Christianity concerning it Such as are that sin is the transgression of a Law and particularly of that of God and that as such it justly exposeth us to his wrath and indignation Partly as it is a violation of his Authority to whom we are naturally subject and partly as an equal affront to his goodness who gives us our being and all things else and who therefore ought more diligently to have been attended to In fine that it hath for its wages Death both temporal and eternal and under each of which without the mercy of God in Christ the sinner must necessarily fall For as these are known in part from the dictates of our own reason to be the properties of that sin whereof we speak So they are much more known to be so from the Doctrine of Christianity and consequently to be known by us toward a right apprehension of that which ought to be the matter of our sorrow But from hence it will be easie to collect what that sorrow for sin doth import which is requir'd of all those that take upon them the Profession of Christianity Even that it importeth such a sorrow of mind as hath a regard to the violation of God's Authority and Goodness by it as well as to the evils which are like to arise to it from our selves Our sorrow being in reason to be suited to that which is most considerable in the object of it And indeed as otherwise it will be rather a sorrow for punishment than sin because sin as such is a transgression of God's Law and consequently our sorrow for it to have a more especial regard to the affront that is offer'd him thereby So it will much less deserve those titles which are given it by the Scripture of being a sorrow or repentance toward (d) Acts 20.21 God for so it is sometime stil'd and a sorrow (e) 2 Cor. 7.9 according to God or a Godly one as it also is That being neither toward God nor according to God which hath not a regard to that affront which is offer'd to him by sin as well as to the evils which are like to accrue unto our selves But because even such a sorrow will not qualifie us for Baptism unless we add thereto what the same sorrow doth naturally dispose us to Therefore to make out more fully the true nature of Repentance as well as to clear our Churches definition of it I will proceed to that and shew what those things are Of which nature I reckon first an ingenuous confession of sin and earnest prayer to God for the pardon of it Sorrow
for sin when considered only with reference to its appendant punishment being likely enough to dispose us so to confess and ask pardon of it if it were only to unburthen our selves and free our selves by that and prayer from the punishment we have deserv'd How much more then when consider'd as a sorrow for that affront which we have by means of our sin offer'd to God's both Authority and Goodness He to whom such an affront is matter of sorrow being likely enough to be thereby dispos'd so far to acknowledge that Authority and goodness as to own them upon the postfact by confession and prayer for pardon He who confesseth and asketh pardon of God acknowledging that God had and hath an Authority to command and punish him as he who doth the latter that God is of equal goodness as of whom otherwise it would be in vain for him to ask pardon for his offences Whence it was that when the Church proceeded by strict and safe measures she not only taught those that offer'd themselves to Baptism to ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their forepast offences but as we learn from Justin Martyr (f) Vbi supra added her own prayers and fasts to theirs so the better to encourage and give force unto the others I reckon of the same nature secondly a resolution to forsake sin and pursue the contrary vertues Which I do not only upon the Authority of the foremention'd Father who reckons that (g) Loco prius citato also as a prerequisite to Baptism but as it is a thing to which sorrow for sin doth alike naturally dispose us He to whom sin is so irksome needing no other motive than that irksomeness to oblige him to forsake it and pay a more perfect submission to that Authority and goodness of God which he hath before so shamefully violated I reckon thirdly as a thing to which sorrow for sin doth equally dispose us a present forsaking of those sins which we are under a temptation to commit as well as a resolution to do so for the time to come There being the same force in a due sorrow for sin to dispose men to that as there is to a resolution of afterward forsaking it For which cause the Antient Church did not only refuse such persons Baptism as were of any unlawful Profession (h) Introd concern Catech c. till they actually abandon'd it but made proof (i) Ibid. also for a considerable time of the resolutions of others and till they had given her such proofs did not admit them to it They finding no doubt by manifold experience that many that offer'd themselves to Baptism made little Conscience afterward of avoiding those sins which they had before so solemnly resolv'd against and made publick profession of abandoning And though it do not appear that the Apostles themselves took this course they baptizing men immediately upon the bare profession of their Repentance and a resolution afterward to bring forth fruits meet for it Yet as the reason of that possibly might be either because of that exuberance of Grace which was then bestow'd upon their new Converts or because by means of their Ambulatory life they could not well deferr the Baptism of those that offer'd themselves till they had made some considerable trial of them which will exempt such Churches from their example where there is no such exuberance of Grace and where moreover they have setled Pastors to intend the affairs of them So we cannot think the Apostles would have ever given Baptism to such persons as should before that Baptism of theirs have fallen into those sins which they erewhile made profession of abandoning Sorrow for sin where it is hearty and real no doubt disposing men as well to a present forsaking of it as it doth to a resolution concerning it Which will make the Repentance pre-required to Baptism to be as our Catechism expresseth it a Repentance whereby as occasion offers we actually forsake sin as well as resolve for the future to abandon it An account being thus given of the first thing pre-requir'd to Baptism and our Churches definition of it both explain'd and established Pass we on to that which is alike pre-required to it even that Faith whereby we stedfastly believe the promises made to us in that Sacrament Where again I will enquire I. What those promises are which we are so to believe II. What that belief of them doth pre-suppose III. What is meant by a stedfast belief of those promises IV. What evidence there is of that being the Faith or belief which is pre-requir'd by Christianity to the receiving of that Sacrament I. Now though that Catechism which I have chosen to explain give no other account of those Promises than that they are such as are made to us in that Sacrament Yet is it not difficult to collect from thence and from what is before said concerning the Parts of a Sacrament that the Catechism means no other promises than those which make a tender of its inward and spiritual Graces For a Sacrament being before divided into an outward and visible sign and an inward and spiritual Grace as the only proper parts of it And the outward and visible sign being in like manner represented in it as no farther of value than as conducing to possess us of the other No other promises can be suppos'd to be intended here than such as make a tender of those inward and spiritual Graces as which indeed are the only things considerable in it Which will consequently make the promises here intended to be those which make a tender for the present of remission of sins and sanctification and in the end of everlasting life II. Those therefore being the promises which are to be the object of the Catechumens Faith and which accordingly he is stedfastly to believe It will not be difficult to shew what that belief of them pre-supposeth which is the second thing to be enquir'd into For that belief of them must at least pre-suppose a belief of all that which is necessary to bring us to the belief of the other More particularly it pre-supposeth as to our selves that we believe our selves to be naturally under a state of sin and death as without which there could be no place for that sanctification and remission which is promised in Baptism And that we are yet farther off from any title to Everlasting life as which if we had there would have been no need of a Promise in Baptism of it It presupposeth again as to Christ in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen a like stedfast belief that there was such a person as Jesus Christ and that he was appointed by God to convey such graces to us That agreeably to the predictions of the Scripture and the will of God concerning him he took upon him our nature and suffer'd in it to purchase those Graces and that he ever since intends the exhibiting
words Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine Which said he first of all tasted of it himself and then reach'd it out to all that sate with him Presently after he took a Loaf of Bread and holding it with both his hands consecrated it in these words Blessed be thou O Lord our God who bringest Food out of the Earth Which said he brake it and after he had eaten a piece of it himself gave the like to each that sate with him Thus that Learned Man informs us that the Father of the Family did at their sitting down at their more solemn Feasts As after the Feast was over that he or some other person to whom he committed it taking a second time a Cup full of Wine into both his hands prayed Let us bless him who hath fed us of his own and by whose goodness we live Passing on from thence to other Blessings and Prayers and particularly to bless God for the Food which he had afforded to them all and for all the Benefits bestow'd either on their Fathers or themselves and to pray unto him in like manner for the state of their Nation for the restoring of Jerusalem for the coming of Elias and the Messiah and particularly for their Domesticks and Kindred After which the same person began as before Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine and thereupon again drank a little of the Wine himself and then gave it in order to his Guests Now as it is easie to guess by the likeness there is between our Sacrament and this Usance that our Sacrament or rather the Author thereof took his Pattern from thence if that Usance be ancienter than the Sacrament it self So there is just ground to believe it was both from what we find in St. Luke's account of Christ's celebration of the Passover and this Sacrament and from the manner wherewith this Sacrament was celebrated in the first Ages of Christianity For St. Luke in his account of the former Solemnities takes notice of our Saviour's taking a Cup giving thanks over it and distributing it among his Disciples (d) Luke 22.17 18. with this farther Remark that he said he would not drink any more of the fruit of the vine the particular title here us'd until the kingdom of God should come And the Ancients in their mention of the celebration of the Lord's Supper speak of the Symbols thereof as alike intended for memorials of their thankfulness to God for the Blessings of this World as well as for the Blessing of their Redemption For thus Justin Martyr first affirms the Bread of the Eucharist to have been given by our Saviour to us (e) Dial. cum Tryph. pag. 260. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we might at the same time give thanks to God for having made the World with all things in it for the sake of Man and for delivering us from the evil in which we sometime were by him whom he made passible for us As Irenaeus (f) Adv. haeres lib. 4. c. 32. Sed suis discipulis dans consilium primitias deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est corpus meum Et calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem confessus est novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in novo Testamento in like manner that Christ giving his Disciples counsel to offer to God the First-fruits of his Creatures not as to one that wanted them but that they themselves might not be ungrateful or unfruitful he took Bread and gave thanks saying This is my Body And the Cup in like manner which is of that Creature which is according to us he confessed to be his Blood and taught a new oblation of the New Testament Which Oblation the Church receiving from the Apostles offers in all the World to God even to him who gives us Food the First-fruits of his Gifts in the New Testament Agreeable hereto is that of Origen though not so clearly express'd as the former passages were For these Reasons saith he (g) Contr. Cels lib. 8. p. 399. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Celsus who knows not God pay the testimonies of his thanks to Devils even for the Benefits of this World But we being desirous to please the maker of the Vniverse eat even those Loaves which are offered with Thanksgiving and Prayer over the things bestow'd upon us being now made by Prayer a certain Holy Body and one which sanctifies those who use it with a good intention Plainly intimating by the opposition he there makes between Celsus's paying the testimonies of his thanks to Devils for the Benefits of this World and our eating of the Eucharistical Bread with respect to the maker of the Vniverse that the Christians of old ate of it with regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof as well as with respect to the redemption of it by the Body of his Son Now from whence I pray considering the no intimation there is of any such thing in the Institution of Christ or Saint Paul's rehearsal of it from whence I say that regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof but from those Thanksgivings which from old descended to them from the Jews together with the Institution of Christ And which being so will prove the Usance before remembred not to have been the Usance of the latter Jews only but of those who were as old as our Saviour's time and that Passover which he celebrated among them Add hereunto what is apparent from the Ancient Liturgies of the Church the Prayers of the Eucharist descending to such Intercessions for all sorts of men as the Prayers of the Jews over their Eucharist appear to have done For these are a yet farther proof of the Antiquity of that Jewish Service and that our Saviour copied his own Institution by it What use these Observations may be of will be more fit to declare elsewhere neither shall I therefore at this time set my self to the investigation of it At present I desire only it may be remembred that in this Exemplar of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper both the one and the other Element thereof were consecrated with Thanksgivings and the Bread of it though consecrated in the mass or lump was yet carefully broken off from it in order to a distribution of it That as the Cup as well as the Bread had a place in that Eucharist so it was alike distributed among the Communicants yea distributed at the end as well as at
receiving God's Creatures of Bread and Wine according to his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy Institution may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood In fine it gives us to understand * Art of Rel. 28. which is yet more express that to such as rightly worthily and with a true Faith receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the Bread which we break is the partaking of the Body of Christ and likewise the Cup of Blessing a partaking of the Blood of Christ For what more could have been said unless it had made use of that particular Expression which yet it doth use where it declares the general nature of a Sacrament what more I say could have been said to shew that this Sacrament is no naked or ineffectual Sign of the Body and Blood of Christ but such a Sign as is also ordained as a Means whereby we receive the same and so sure and certain a one that if we rightly and worthily receive that Sign we do as verily receive the Body and Blood of Christ as we do the Sacrament thereof How well the Scripture agrees with the Doctrine of our Church in this Particular will not be difficult to shew whether we do consider its making use of the most emphatical Phrase which our Church doth concerning this Sacrament or the Effects which it attributeth to it For it is St. Paul (a) 1 Cor. 10.16 as well as our Church that affirms that the Bread which we break is the Communion of the Body of Christ and that the Cup which we bless is the Communion of his Blood Words which considering the place they have in that Chapter from whence they are borrowed cannot admit of a lower sense than that the elements of this Sacrament are at least a Means of that Communion because alledged by him as a proof or at least as an illustration of their really having fellowship with Devils that partook of the Sacrifices that were offer'd to them For if the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament were not a Means as well as a sign of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ Neither could the Gentiles Sacrifices be a Means of their or other Men's Communion with those Devils to whom they were offer'd and therefore neither charge them with any real fellowship with Devils but only with a sign or semblance of it Which how it agrees with St. Paul's charging the partakers of those Sacrifices with having fellowship with Devils as that too upon the account of the Gentiles Sacrificing to Devils and not to God I shall leave all sober Men to judge Such evidence there is from that one place of St. Paul concerning the Lords Supper being a Means as well as a Sign whereby we come to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ And we shall find it no less confirm'd by an effect which the Scripture attributes to one of its Symbols and which is in that place by an usual Synecdoche set to denote the whole Sacrament That I mean where St. Paul affirms (b) 1 Cor. 12.13 that we have been all made to drink into one Spirit For as the foregoing mention of Baptism makes it reasonable to believe that these words ought to be understood of the Cup or Wine of the Lord's Supper So we cannot without great violence to the words understand less by being made to drink into one Spirit than our partaking by Means of that Cup of the Blood of Christ and the Benefits thereof of which the Spirit of God is no doubt one of the principal ones To be made to drink into that Blood or the Spirit of God importing somewhat more even in common understanding than to receive a naked sign of them And though I know that some of the Reformed Churches and particularly those of Zuinglius and Oecolampadius's institution have been charg'd with meaner thoughts concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Yet whosoever shall take the pains to peruse what our Cosins (c) Hist Transubstant Papal cap. 2. hath collected upon this Argument and particularly what he quotes from Bucer (d) ibid. will find that they always thought or at least now do that Christ's true Body and Blood are truly exhibited given and taken together with the visible signs of Bread and Wine as well as signified by them But because the question is not so much at present concerning this Sacrament's being a Means whereby we receive the Body and Blood of Christ as what kind of Means it is how it conveys to us the Body and Blood of Christ and how we receive them by it Therefore enquire we so far as we may what our Church delivers in these particulars and what evidence there is from the Scripture of our Churches Orthodoxy therein Now though we may not perhaps find in any Monument of our Church a distinct and particular Answer to the questions before propos'd Yet we may find that in the eight and twentieth Article of our Church which may serve for a general Answer to them all and for a particular answer too to the last of them The Doctrine thereof being that the Body of Christ and the same mutatis mutandis must be said of his Blood is given taken and eaten in the Supper after an heavenly and spiritual manner only and again that the mean whereby the Body of Christ is receiv'd and taken in the Supper is Faith For if the Body and Blood of Christ be given taken and eaten or drunken in the Supper after a heavenly and spiritual manner only that Supper must so far forth be a means purely heavenly and Spiritual the conveyance thereof of the same heavenly and spiritual nature and the reception of it also And if again the Mean whereby the Body and Blood of Christ are receiv'd and taken in the Supper is Faith then do we in the opinion of our Church receive them by Faith which will serve for a particular answer to the last of the questions propos'd To all which if we add our Churches teaching us to pray to God even in the prayer of Consecration that we receiving the Creatures of Bread and Wine according to our Saviour Jesus Christ's Holy Institution may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood so we shall be able to make out a more particular answer to the questions propos'd and such as we shall find reason enough to allow For it appears from the premisses and particularly from the prayer of Consecration that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is such a spiritual Mean as depends for the force of it not upon any vertue that is infus'd into it and much less upon any natural union there is between that and the Body and Blood of Christ but upon our receiving it on the one hand according to our Saviours Holy Institution and God's bestowing on the other hand Christ's Body and Blood upon such a reception of it It appears therefore that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
no way fitted for it to become to all intents and purposes the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood The Romanists as is very well known make the words Hoc est corpus meum c. to be the words of Consecration and that it is to them and them only that this great relation is owing and which is more a substantial change of the Elements into the very Body and Blood of Christ For though the Council of Trent is no way clear in this particular as may appear to any that shall take the pains to consult it †Sess 13. cap. 1. Yet as it is the general opinion of their Writers and the only one that can safely be maintain'd among them so it is that which the Roman Missal doth sufficiently confirm Because entitling those words and those alone the words of Consecration A man would willingly see something like a Reason for this Assertion that so he might return something like an Answer to it But if you look into the Master of the Sentences (a) Lib. 4. Dist 8. or his great Commentator Aquinas (b) Summ. tert parte qu. 78. Art 1. you shall find no other than this that in the other parts of this Service there is only Praise given to God or Prayer made unto him But when this Sacrament comes to be made the Priest doth not then use his own words but the words of Christ himself therefore the word of Christ even Hoc est corpus meum c. makes this Sacrament I say nothing at this time that this Argument such as it is is drawn from the Service of the Church and not as one would have thought and had been but reasonable from the words of the Institution or from some other words of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles But I say which will be enough that let the Service of the Church be as legitimate as may be yet there is nothing in it to perswade what is endeavour'd to be inferred from it For what though in the other parts of the Service there is nothing but Praise given to God including therein as I suppose the giving of Thanks and Prayer to God Yet how will it thence follow that there is nothing in it tending to the Consecration of the Elements For it appears by St. Luke and St. Paul's making use of the word gave Thanks for what the other Evangelists express by blessed that our Saviour blessed by giving Thanks And why might not he then or we now bless the Sacramental Elements in like manner and by that blessing change them into a Sacrament which is as much as to say Consecrate And it appears also that as little as the Romanists seem to esteem of Prayer in this particular Yet as there is even in their own Missal a Prayer to God that he would vouchsafe to make their Oblation a blessed One c. that it might become to them the Body and Blood of his Son So Prayer it self so far as Man is capable of blessing is no contemptible one yea such a Blessing as God himself thought no improper one for a Priest or rather (c) Num. 6.23 c. for the High Priest himself But it may be there is more in what they alledge that when this Sacrament comes to be made For still they will take that for granted the Priest doth not then use his own words but the words of Christ himself The Priest as Aquinas afterwards (d) Vbi supra tells us speaking as it were in the Person of Christ to let us understand that in the perfection of this Sacrament he doth nothing but pronounce the words of Christ But first if the Priest's using not his own words but the words of Christ be that which makes what he saith to have the force of Consecration How comes it to pass that his using the words Accipite manducate which are as certainly the words of our Saviour comes to have no part in it Especially when Hoc est enim corpus meum for so they express it in their Missal do so manifestly referr to the former and are as manifestly a Reason of what is exhorted to in them I say secondly that though it be true that the Priest doth not then use his own words but those of Christ himself Yet he doth not use them as one speaking in the Person of Christ as Aquinas would insinuate but as a bare reciter of them and a reciter of them too as spoken the Night before he suffer'd and with respect to that particular Eucharist which he gave to his Disciples Which how it should convert the Elements then before him into the Body and Blood of Christ is a thing as hard to be understood as that conversion it self Words being in reason to be construed with relation to that and that alone to which they are applied by the Author of them Neither will it avail to say that though the words considered in themselves respect only that particular Eucharist which our Saviour gave to his Disciples yet as applied by the Priest to the Elements that are before him they may affect them also For if they are any otherwise applied to them than to shew what our Saviour intended this Sacrament for and consequently what we may expect in those Elements which we set apart for it if we follow his directions in the Consecration of them They are no more the words of our Saviour Christ but of the Priest who so applies them and from which therefore no such effect can be expected This I take to be a sufficient Bar against placing the Power of Consecration in those words yea though when uttered by our Saviour they should be thought to have had that force in them How much more if even so they were rather declarations from Christ of what the Elements were already become than any way productive of a Sacramental relation in them For neither could our Saviour have truly said This is my Body unless at that instant when he spake those words it were really such And much less could that have been any reason why he should exhort them to take and eat what he then offer'd them as both the tenour of the words and the Hoc est enim corpus meum in the Roman Missal doth yet more plainly declare Because if the words Hoc est corpus meum make the change it must have been Bread and not his Body which our Saviour offer'd his Disciples before he uttered them and willed them to take and eat of But not any longer to insist upon the destruction of that sort of Consecration Let us enquire if it may be after a more legitimate one and such as shall not only be free from the like Exceptions but better answer those Sacramental relations which it is to give birth unto In order whereunto I will consider the Sacramental Elements first as being to become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood and then as also a Means to communicate