Declaration I have that Charity as to believe did Men well study what the Church injoyns and her Reasons and Motives why they would be asham'd of their own scruples 2. Obj. Some are against the Administration of it by a set Form of Prayer for Christ Blessed the Bread c. but the form of Blessing is not set down Ergo he never intended it should be given by set forms but that all should be left to their own conceptions in imitation of him We answer That had he repeated the Sacrament he might perhaps have used the same form again For he that gave a form to his Disciples and that twice and did himself Pray the same words three times in the same day Mat. 26. 39. 42 44. cannot in reason be supposed to be against a form in the Sacrament If what Christ hath not done in this case be so obliging what he hath done in the like case must be much more obliging because there is a fairer Expression of his Will in this than can be supposed in that therefore if because Christ hath not given us a form for the Sacrament the Church may not appoint one it must needs be that since he hath given us a General Form and indeed a Common Prayer suited to all Times Persons and Places that therefore we may use no other Therefore while they argue against a Form they do but put us in a way to establish that most perfect Form Christ hath taught us to the exclusion of all other Some private Teachers have at this very Sacrament as well as at Baptism used the same Prayer without any material Alterations of which some instances may be given now this though of their own making is as much a Form as that appointed by the Church yet these Men never judge this unlawful why then should they judge the other so Unless because injoyned which brings the dispute to another Question viz. from Forms to the injunction of 'em Even Presbyterian Writers as Calvin Jenkins c. tell us that where there is the Word taught or as some sound Doctrine and Administration of the Sacraments there is a true Church Ergo according to them the manner of Blessing is not material to the being of a Church The truth is Christ hath given us the Substance but hath left the Circumstances to the Church as when how c. and for several Reasons the Church thought fit to appoint very early Forms and Luther tells us that they of the Reformation still retain'd the Publick Prayers and Administration of the Lord's Supper He speaks this by way of Purgation and saith that their Church is falsly accused in that it is said she hath abolished the Missa This is one difference he makes between themselves and that Spirit of Phanaticism which he elsewhere saith is crept into the World that delights in corners c. And such was the sense of the Augustane Confession presented to the Emperor Charles the Fifth by the Duke of Saxony in the Name of the Protestant Princes c. of Germany Therefore these Men do reproach and condemn not only the first Reformers from Popery beyond the Seas whom they pretend to admire and call the Lights of the World But our Reformers and that Reformation too which even themselves are apt to speak the greatest Mercy that God hath done to his Church in these Nations And indeed such scruples serve only to evidence to what Unreasonable excesses a wild and roving spirit is apt to run Men and how destructive a lawless Liberty is to all Religion and Government in the World And if any Form for the Communion be allowed there can be no Objection against that appointed by our Church for however some Parts of our Liturgy be cavill'd at this hath escap'd as free as any For those Men who put in their Objections against the Common Prayer to the Convocation called by His Majesty An. Dom. 1662. had nothing material in this Service to fix upon but that they may say something they plead a little impropriety of speech in the Prayer after Receiving viz. may be fulfill'd with thy Heavenly Grace Which is but a composition signifying satisfactory measures of Divine Blessings a being filled full with thy Heavenly grace While Mr. Baxter himself hath acknowledged that he hath sometimes heard such Extempore Prayers from his Non-Conforming Brethren that no wise man could say Amen to ' em 3. Object Is mixt Communions To which we plead that our Saviour who knew the hearts of all men gave the Sacrament to Judas even after he had Covenanted to betray him For Luke 22. 14. he sat down with the Twelve of which number Judas was one V. 19. 20. he institutes and gives this Sacrament which done he faith V. 21. The hand of him that betrays me is with me on the Table Therefore Judas was present when it was given and consequently did receive with the rest unless excluded or suspended by our Lord which cannot be supposed because 1. There is no mention of any such thing and we ought not to presume beyond what the Text may seem to bear And 2. When our Saviour said that one of them should betray him V. 21. they are surpriz'd and inquire Master is it I But such an Exclusion and such a Declaration immediately upon it would have given 'em a just suspition who it was The Condition of the Church in this World is mixt and therefore is compared to a field of wheat full of tares which Argument Calvin speaks largely to in his Institutions against the Anabaptists and Novatians It is contray to that Right which Baptism gives to every Person till suspended by the Minister or excluded by the Church Therefore though the impure Corinthian was meritoriously Excommunicate upon the commission of the Fact yet he was not legally shut out till it was made the Act of the Church till which time he had a Right still to come For which reason St. Paul was so pressing to that Church to purge out that leaven And in the interim we do not find any Precept or Example of a Separation from the Communion of that Church because that Person was not yet shut out Nor from the Church of Galatia where there was such a defection to Mosaick Rites that St. Paul saith I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain None from Laodicaea or Thyatira And therefore what Texts soever they found this Opinion on are abused for we must not expound any place contrary to the Practice of Christ his Apostles and the Churches of God These Men make themselves more pure than Christ himself and greater Precisians than the very Apostles It is a most Pharisaical Doctrine that saith to others like the Hypocrite in the Prophet stand off for I am Holier than thou The wickedness of this conceit will appear from hence viz. 1. That it adds to the Commands of God for which cause Calvin saith that these Men are rigidiores
Blind Teachers to the Simple and Directors of Poor and perhaps neglected Infants into the Paths of Truth and Life By this means you may turn some to Righteousness and thereby increase your own Rewards for Ever It tends mightily to the interest and advance of Religion for did Sureties perform their Vows to God and it is their Sin if they do not we should find it would quickly give a mighty check to the growing madness of the Age. But in fine because Suppositions grant nothing let us suppose there may be still some evil in the having Sureties yet according to Mr. Baxter's resolution of a like case that supposed Evil cannot affect the Children or Parents For some of the Inhabitants of Daventre in Northamptonshire as themselves have confessed to me inquiring of Mr. Baxter what he thought of the Cross in Baptism or of signing Children with it He answered Baptism is a necessary Duty and in the Church of England we have all the Essential parts of it Now saith he I bring my Child as the Law Commands to be baptiz'd but if there be any sinful or unnecessary Additions without which I cannot have Baptism those Additions are nothing to me I desire not them but simply Baptism what evil there may be in any Additions being they are imposed and not my choice lyes upon the Church that Commands and on the Minister that uses ' em Therefore if we consider either the thing it self or Mr. Baxter's sense Parents have not a sufficient excuse for refusing to have their Children Catechised because the Catechism injoyn'd supposes they are baptized by Sureties Whence we come to consider the Catechism it self and I doubt not but I may speak it not only short but easie most comprehensive and every way most sufficient to it's end For 1. This Catechism teaches the Nature of our Baptismal Vow and Covenant which is to renounce the Devil and all his works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith and to keep God's holy Will and Commandments all the dayes of our life Where the whole Duty of Man is comprised in a few words and suited to the Capacities of the meanest Learner 2. It teaches the Apostles Creed whose Antiquity is such that some have thought it was made by the Apostles themselves and was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one of 'em being supposed to cast in his part toward the composing the whole It is observed from the Greek and Latin Fathers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Traditio Apostolorum was a Tradition supposed to come from some Apostle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or traditio Apostolica was only a very ancient Tradition which came if not from some Apostle yet from some other near those Times Now this hath been usually called the Creed of the Apostles and so Dr. D. in his Greek Version of our Liturgy calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but whether with respect to this Observation I cannot say or how Universally true it may be is not to be determined by any that have not made their Observations in numerous instances of this kind The least we can make of it is and no man will go to prove any more that it is a very ancient one else we may presume it had never been placed by any in the Apostles times we can trace it very far and find it Universally used in the first Ages of Christianity It was used by the followers of the Presbyterian Directory and the Assemblies Catechism nor do I remember any Objection then against it but in that Article viz. the Descent into hell which they wish was either altered or left out Yet the same Men own that descent Virtually though not Locally therefore according to them that Article is true and wants only an Explication Now the Ancient and Universal use of it speaks the esteem it hath ever had in the Christian World and the excellent choice our Catechism hath made in teaching this rather than that of Nice or Athanasius which are longer and not so suited to every Capacity And though the Presbyterian Party cavill'd at the Descent into hell yet they used this Creed rather than the Nicoean whose Antiquity is great and which speaks of no such Descent at all which is an Argument of their higher Approbation of the other Parts of it Here in the fewest words and plainest way are taught the great Mysteries of our Faith what we are to believe concerning God the Father who made the World God the Son who hath redeemed all Mankind and God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies all the elect people of God Which makes up a short but yet a most plain and excellent System of all the Credenda or Matters of pure Faith 3. It teaches what we are to do and that from the Decalogue or Ten Commandments which is the sum and breviary of all Morality This is the standing Rule given to the World The Lex nata as Cicero calls it the Law born with us and imprinted on the hearts of all Men by Nature was a Counterpart of this All the Moral Discourses of Moses and the Prophets were but Comments upon this Text the Sermon of Christ upon the Mount and the other practical Parts of the Gospels and Epistles are but an Explication and a Vindication of this from the false Glosses of the Pharisees and the Corruptions of the Gnosticks Therefore we have here the sum of all Practical Religion and as it is divided into two Tables so our Catechism gives us the most short plain and close Explication of each under those two Heads viz. Our Duty toward God and our Duty toward our Neighbor that can well be comprised in so few words 4. This Catechism teaches the Lord's Prayer which was given not only a Pattern for us to Pray by but as a Form for us to use Therefore he taught it the Disciples twice the first time was Mat. 6. 9. And some time after as St. Luke relates Chap. 11. 2. they come to him again Master teach us to pray as if they looked upon that short form suited indeed to the Infancy of their Discipleship but not so fitting now they were taught farther and came more near the stature of Men but he gives 'em the very same again a tacit reproof of their ignorance and reach after Novels And if we only suppose he might design it as a form he could not well have express'd himself more aptly to that purpose for Mat. 6. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic vel ita orate Pray thus viz. in these very words which is better rendered so than as our Translation doth viz. after this manner which looks somewhat like a Geneva cast as if it was intended only as a Pattern to form our conceived Prayers by And Luk. 11. 2. when ye Pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. say Our Father
c. which seems a confining 'em to those very words as well as to that matter Indeed those Men must think very highly of themselves that look upon that Prayer which was composed by Christ himself and given to the Twelve whom he had chosen and was training up for the Discipleing all Nations to be fit only for Children if for any but to stand much below their own improvements We do not read that ever our Saviour made use of any other Prayer himself unless some short Ejaculation or particular Petition suited to a present exigence as when in his Agony and bloody Sweat If it be possible let this cup pass from me And though there may be many Reasons given why Publick Service ought to be much longer yet our Church uses this very form in every distinct Part of her Service Here then Youth is taught a Prayer short plain comprehensive and suited to the Divine Will being given us by the Son of God and Captain of our Salvation who best knew how and what we ought to pray for a Prayer suited to all Persons Times and Places and therefore given for the use of all Posterities which none but gifted Men and Pharisaical Spirits who love much babling ever yet despised And this our Catechism doth explain in a few words and to the Capacities of every Learner in the Answer to this Question What desirest thou of God in this Prayer 5. We have the Explication of the Nature of a Sacrament that it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace given to us c. Whence it descends to the two Sacraments severally And tells you that the outward and Visible sign or form in Baptism is Water wherein the Person is baptiz'd in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that the inward and Spiritual grace is a death unto Sin and a new birth unto Righteousness c. Hence it descends to the Sacrament of the Supper and tells you that the outward part or sign is Bread and Wine c. And that the inward part or thing signified is the Body and Blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper By which the Child is led from the conceits both of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation at once For 1. It tells you that in the Sacrament and therefore after Consecration or Blessing for till then it is not a Sacrament there are two distinct Parts viz. the sign which is Bread and Wine and the thing signified which is the Body and Blood of Christ therefore the one is not changed into the other but remain distinct still because the sign and thing signified while such cannot be the same 2. It saith that this Body and Blood of Christ is taken and received by the faithful which is spoke exclusively of all others but if the Bread and Wine was really changed into the Body and Blood of Christ or if they did consist together and remain in and under the outward Elements although still distinct yet this Body and Blood of Christ would then be verily and indeed taken and received by every Communicant and not by the faithful only Ergo according to our Catechism there is neither Transubstantiation nor Consubstantiation in this Sacrament And in the last Answer you have a full and most excellent account of what is required of a worthy Communicant and that is to examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in God's Mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all men Here then are Homer's Iliads in a Nutshel a little Body and System of Divinity that comprises the Substance of mighty Volumes Here the deepest Points and most mysterious parts of our Faith are by easie and familiar Expressions brought down to puerile Capacities Whereas the Assemblies Catechism is longer and runs upon second Notions which do themselves suppose some preceding Knowledges and therefore Children need an Explication of 'em and is burthened with numerous Quotations which are apt to confound and tire a young beginner This then ought to be prefer'd for its own sake and excellency which lyes both in the Matter it contains and it 's suitableness and sufficiency to it's end if it had not been injoyn'd by any Ordinance of Man But since it is so we have a double Obligation first from it self and then from the Authority that Commands it Therefore if we refuse we sin against both at once and in one Act we are doubly guilty And certainly Men have the less reason to do so because this very injunction doth yet leave room for every one to teach another at home 2. It is required of you that you receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Persons under obligation are all above Sixteen and both the Canon and Rubrick say that they shall receive at least three times in the year whereof Easter shall be one There are several Statutes that oblige the Subject to this Duty which Laws the People have made themselves in and by their Representatives therefore they can no more complain of the thing than they can that they have had Parliaments or at least such that have brought 'em under this Obligation Nor is this founded merely on Humane Laws but on a Divine Institution and Command of Heaven it being the last Precept our Saviour gave his Disciples before he was made an offering for Sin Do this in remembrance of me Therefore the observance of it must be a means to Salvation else he lays a needless burthen upon us and if Nature doth nothing in vain we cannot imagine that the God of Nature should give us Laws to no purpose If men may be safe under the customary neglect of this Sacrament why not of the other And if of these why not of any other Rules and Precepts of the Gospel since they all come with a Divine Authority impress'd upon ' em They are his Laws one as well as another But some may plead from the Nature of the things themselves that the Matter of some Commands is intrinsecally good and necessary and therefore was a Duty even antecedent to a Divine Precept but this is a pure Positive that hath no goodness in it self and therefore had not been a Duty unless injoyn'd and consequently though they are all Commanded yet they are not all alike obliging because the one hath a double Obligation viz. both from it's own Nature and Precept too the other from Precept only We answer that some will not allow the two Sacraments to be purely Positive but that they are founded partly on Nature and Reason But suppose 'em such and I cannot see the advantage they can make of it For pure Positives under the Law such as was Circumcision were as severely punished as Transgressions in things morally Good and Evil. For