profess the pure Religion and make it appear at least to the judgment of man that they are Godly in Christ Iesus this is an inseparable Mark of a true Church as we may see 1 Cor. 14.33 See further Mr Vines in his Treatise of the Sacrament p. 150 151. saith That the Separatists laid the foundation viz. That only Visible Saints are fit Communicants which is true as to the Churches Admission That real Saints only are worthy Communicants which is true too as to the inward Grace or Benefit And 151. There is a great difference between Christs real Members and Guests at this Table and as I may say the Visible Churches Members or Guests If he be a visible Professor of Faith unshipwrakt of capacity to discern the Lords Body of Life without Scandal he is a Guest of the Church And p. 205. Though I should rest in serious Professsion of Faith and Repentance which is not pulled down again by a wicked Life or scandalous Sin yet when a man lieth under the charge of our censure for some scandalous sin the case is otherwise c. Read the rest And p. 324 329. The Covenant of God with us is that all that believe in Christ that died and receive him for their Lord and Saviour shall have remission of sins c. Answerable to this act of God the Believer accepts of and submits to this Covenant and the Conditions of it viz. to believe and to have God for our God and thereof makes a solemn profession in this Sacrament giving up himself to Christ as Lord and Saviour restipulating and striking hands with him to be his and so binds himself and doth as it were seal a Counterpart to God again and not only so but comes into a claim of all the riches and legacies of the Will or Covenant because he hath accepted and here declares his acceptance of the Covenant The Seal is indeed properly of that which is Gods part of the Covenant to perform and give and is no more but offered until we subscribe and set our hands to it and then its compleat and the Benefits may be claimed as the benefit of any conditional promise may be when the condition is performed And lest you should stumble at that word I must let you know that the Will accepting and submitting to the Conditions is the performance of the Conditions required NB. And pag. 249 250 c. Though as to admittance which is the Churches part to the outward Ordinance he make Profession as I do sufficient yet to the question whether the Sacrament be a Converting Ordinance he concludes that It is not an Ordinance appointed for Conversion His Arguments are 1. Because no effect can be ascribed to this Ordinance which fals not under the signification of it c. as Vasquez 2. This Sacrament by the institution of it appears to praesuppose those that reap the sweet and benefit of it to be Converts and in grace namely to have faith in Christ and to be living members and if this be presupposed by this Ordinance then it is not first wrought by it 3. The Word is the only Instrument of God to beget Faith or work Conversion c. And he answereth the Objections of the contrary minded and to them that argue that the Lords Supper is a Converting Ordinance because its possible a man may be then converted he saith they may as well make Ordination or Marriage Converting Ordinances because by the words then uttered a man may be converted He citeth the words of learned Rich. Hooker Eccles. Pol. l. 5. pag. 5â—6 The grace which we have by it doth not begin but continue grace or life no man therefore receives this Sacrament before Baptism because no dead thing is capable of nourishment that which groweth must of necessity first live And for further Authority he addeth And to this purpose all our Learned Divines have given their suffrage And the Papists though they differ from us in denying remission of sins in this Sacrament in favour to their Sacrament of Penance yet they hold it to be an Ordinance of Nutrition and so do all their Schoolmen and so doth the Church of England The strengthening and refreshing of our souls c I need not number Authors or Churches It is so plain a case that I wonder they that have stood up in defence of it as a converting Ordinance have not taken notice of it There is an Army to a man against them and the antient Christian Churches are so clear in it So far Mr Vines Hooker in him Concerning the Distinction of Forum Dei Ecclesiae and its sense see that judicious Agreement of the Associated Ministers of Cumberlanâ— and Westmerland pag. 47. where they take notice of Mr. Blakes questioning it Since these Papers were in the Press I was told by a Reverend Brother that Mr Blake professeth to hold the Necessity of the Profession of a saving Faith as well as I and by one of his special acquaintance in the Ministry who heard me express my mind that Mr Blake's was the same I durst not omit the mention of this lest it should be injurious to him And yet how far the reporters are in the right and understand his meaning I am no further able to tell you but that they are credible persons For my part I defended my own Doctrine against the charge which in two Volumes he brought against it And I supposed he would not write so much of two Volumes against a Doctrine which he judged the same with his own And I medled only with his books and not his secret thoughts Whether I have been guilty of feigning an Adversary that took himself for none I am contented to stand to the judgment of any impartial man on earth that will read our books Surely I found it over each page that a Faith short of Iustifying entitleth to Baptism and I never met with any such explication in him as that by A faith short of Iustifying he meant A Profession of Iustifying faith And sure Faith and Profession be not all one nor Iustifying and Short of justifying all one Nor do others that read his books understand him any otherwise then I do so far as I can learn sure the Ministers that were Authors of the Propositions for Reformation of Parish Congregations Printed for the Norwich Bookseller understood him as I do p. 17. where they say thus Obj. 3. But a dogmatical Faith may entitle to Baptism as Mr Blake Treat on Con. speaks though there be no profession of a justifying faith repentance Answ. We cannot think so seeing the faith required to be professed before Baptism is such a Faith as hath salvation annexed to it Mar. 16.16 It is a Faith of the whole heart Acts 8.38 Repentance is also required to Baptism as well as Faith Acts 2.38 and the Church in the usual form of Baptism enjoyned the baptized person not only to profess the doctrine of Faith but
capacity On the same ground did Peters Converts receive their Baptism Acts 2.41 For they baptized them suddenly and the Scripture mentioneth no further search that was made by the Apostles after their sincerity nor is it probable it could be done upon three thousand souls The same may be said of the Eunuch Acts 8. and the Jaylor Acts 16. and other Scripture Examples It is past question that they then took up with a present profession and therefore so must we For if any will be so overwise as to give reasons why they may swerve from these Presidents let them consider whether they teach not the licentious a way as effectually to avoid other Examples of the Apostles and so to destroy the order and Discipline of the Church Object In those times Profession did hazard mens Lives and therefore it was then a greater Evidence of sincerity then it is in prosperous times Answ. It 's true that often it was hazardous yet 1. When 3000 were converted at a time and when the Rulers durst not persecute for fear of the people and when the Churches had rest and were so edâ—fied walking in the fear of the Lord Act. 9.31 then it was not so dangerous 2. This Difference is but gradual and altereth not the case For as still they that will Live Godly shall suffer persecution so Profession is taken in Scripture for a satisfactory Evidence Arg. 2. The Law of Nature which is the ground of humane converse requireth that we believe men till they have apparently forfeited their Credit therefore so we must do here and therefore must take their Profession as a sign of the thing Professed and consequently valid Deny the Antecedent and you must overthrow all Communities and Societies which is contrary to Gods Will revealed in Scripture and in Nature They that will not believe others must not expect that others should believe them and so humane Converse will be overthrown and all men must live by themselves or live as enemies in constant diffidence of each other Obj But wicked men have forfeited their Credit and therefore their word is not to be taken Answ. They have not made such a total forfeiture quâ wicked as to warrant our unbelief For 1. There are such remnants of Common honesty in mans Nature that commonly makes a Lye to be odious and a matter apparently evil among unconverted men 2. They Profess themselves to be turned from their Wickedness and therefore you cannot refuse Credit to them upon the supposition of their wickedness which they disclaim without proof 3. The Apostles took their Profession who within a few hours before had been persecutors and guilty of the murther of the Lord of life therefore a mans wickedness before is not enough to invalidate his following Profession of true faith repentance and reformation Argum. 3. We must not censure our Brother to be a Lier without clear evidence that he is so indeed therefore we must take his Profession to be true and consequently to be valid The Antecedent is plain in Scripture No man may Judge that is ungroundedly or without a Call that would not be Judged Who art thou that Judgest another mans servant Rom. 14.4 Therefore we may not Judge them to tell a lye when we cannot prove it till they have quite forfeited their credit no more then we may lawfully Judge a man to be a thief or murderer or adulterer or Heretick when we cannot prove it If the slander of the tongue be a sin so is the slander of the heart And for the Consequence it is most clear that either the Minister must believe the mans Profession or take him for a Lyer there is no third way that can be pretended save one and that is that we must suspend our belief and neither Judge his Profession to be true or false But this cannot be here pretended with any tolerable appearance of reason For 1. God would never make mens profession necessary to their admittance and put the Minister in the power of Baptizing upon such a Profession and consequently of requiring receiving and Judgeing of that profession if we might wholly suspend our Judgement of it whether it be true or false It cannot be that I can be required as an officer of Christ to require and receive a mans Profession without any respect of the truth of it for it is therefore required that it may declare the mind or else why may not an Infidel be received without Profession 2. And if I be not to Judge of the truth of a Profesâ—ion or of the falshood then a Professâ—on apparently false may be received but that may not be as hath been manifested 3. It is denyed by learned Philosophers that the mind can possibly hang in equilibrio in such cases 4. It s one half the uncharitable sin of rash Censures to suspend the Judgement of Charity and not to Judge the person to speak truth when he hath not forfeited hâ—s credit as it is the other half to Judge him positively to speak falsly 5. A pari We must not suspend our judgement of the truth of mens Profession of Penitence that they may be Absolved and Re-admitted to Communion but must discern whether probably their Profession be true or false nor may we suspend our judgement of the Truth of that Profession which we may have occasion to require in order to the Lords Supper or to the private comforting of an afflicted conscience c. Therefore not here neither seeing the Profession is the same and the reasons at least as urgent In this point I find a learned sober Divine Mr. James Wood Professor of Theologie at Aberdeen in Scotland hath with much Christian moderation manifested his dâ—ssent from me by name in a book against Mr. Lokier concerning the matter of the visible Church pag. 149.150 151 c. A book that I never saw till a day or two before the writing of these words June 12. 1656. This Reverend man agreeth with me in the main points wherein I differ from Mr. Blake He owneth fully he necessity of the Profession of a saving Faith and alloweth of no lower Profession as a tittle to Baptism he frequently owneth the distinction between forum Dei vel interius forum Ecclesiasticum exterius and consenteth too to the application that I make of it But he thinketh that though the profession of true Faith is necessary to Baptism yet not as an Evidence of Regeneration but that we are to abstract the Profession wholly from Conversion or non conversion Pag. 8. he saith 2. when he saith Hypocrites have no Right to be in the Church or as afterward should not be there if the meaning were that men though they make a Profession of Religion yet continuing Hypocrites and graceless in their hearts do sin in adjoyning themselves to the visible Church and that they have no Right in foro interiori this we should not deny but if his meaning be that no Hypocrites have a
jus Ecclesiastiâ—um and in foro exteriori to be in the visible Church we deny it and he shall never be able to prove it And pag. 20. He hath the like And pag. 23 and 25. passiâ—o the like And pag 20.30 He saith Concl. 2. A serious sober outward Profession of the Faith and true Christian Religion together with a serious Profession of former sinfull courses a serious consideration of these things as such considered abstractâ—vely abstractions simplici from the work 〈◊〉 saving Grace and heart-conversion by true Repentance Faith is sufficient qualification in the Ecclesiastick Court to constitute a person sit matter to be received as a member of the visible Church accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Among these that are within If I be asked what I mean by a serious Profession I Answ. Such a Profession as hath in it at least a moral sincerity as Divines are wont to distinguish though happily not alwaies a â—upernatural sincerity i. e. that I may speak more plainly which is not openly discernably simulate histrionick scenical and hypocritical in that hypocrisie which is gross but all circumstances being considered by which ingenuity is estimate among men giving credit one to another there appears no reason why the man may not and ought not to be esteemed as to the matter to think and purpose as he speaketh from whatsoever habitual principle it proceedeth whether of saving Grace or Faith or of faith historical and conviction wrought by some common operation of the Spirit A man that hath such a Profession as this and desireth Church-Communion the Church ought to receive him as a member And all be it I deny not but where there is just or probable ground of suspition that the Profession hath simulation and fraudulent dealing under it as in one new come from an heretical Religion or who hath been before a Persecutor of the Faith and Professors thereof there may be a delay in prudence and time taken to try and prove if he dealeth seriously and ingenuously c. And in Page 150 speaking of my self he saith 1. The Learned Author and I are fully agreed upon the mater concerning the outward ground upon which persons are to be admitted and acknowledged members of the visible Church viz A serious Profession of the faith including a Profession of subjection to the commands and Ordinances of Christ is sufficient for this and that persons making this Profession are without delay or searching for tryal and Discoveries of their heart-conversion to be admitted I do heartily approve his weighty Exhortation subjoyned But I cannot yet agree with him in this that men are not to be received into the visible Church but under the notion of true Believers and positively judged to be such though but probably And Pag. 151. I confess also that were a mans outward carriage and way such as did discover him to be an unregenerate man he were not to be received into the fellowship of the visible Church but wiâ—hall I say He were not to be debarred or not received not upon the account of non-Regeneration or upon that carriage considered under this formality and reduplication as a â—â—gn and discovery of non Regeneration but materially as being contrary to the very outward profession of Faith My reason is because I conceive it is Gods revealed Will in his Word that men be received into the visible Church that they may be regenerate and converted and that the Ministerial dispensation of the Ordinances are by Gods revealed will set up in the Church to be means of Regeneration and Conversion as well as Edification of such as are Regenerate 3. I conceive that between such as are in a course discovering certainly non-regeneration there are a middle sort of whom there is no sufficient ground probably to judge them regenerate My reason is because to gâ—ound a positive act of Judgement that a man is regenerate in foro exteriori there is requisite some seemingness of a spiriâ—ual sincerity in a mans profession i. e that he doth it from a spiritual principle upon spiritual motives to a spiritual End But a meer sober not mocking serious Profession without more is not a positive appearance of spiritual supernatural sincerity I humbly conceive there cannot be had positive probable Evidences of this ordinarily without observation of a mans way after Profession for a time wherein notice may be taken of his walking equally in the latitude of Duties and constantly in variety of cases and conditions To conclude Mr. Baxter and are at agreemâ—nt upon the Matter concerning the quâ—lification that is sufficient for admitting persons into the visible Church viz. Serious profession without delay to enquire for more and so we are agreed in the main about the matter of the visible Church We differ in this that he thinks persons are not to be admitted but under consideration of persons judged at least probably converted and regenerated My mind is that they are to be admitted under the name of serious sober outward Professors abstracting from Conversion or Non-conversion I have thus at large recited the words of this Reverend Brother that the Reader may perceive the true state of the Controversie and how we are agreed in the main and on what grounds he proceedeth and that if there be any that consent not with me in the point wherein he and I differ they may yet be perswaded to take up in his way and not remove so far from the truth as I conceive Mr. Blake hath done And as to the difference it self 1. The main thing wherein I perceive that I differ from this Reverend man and some other about such matters is that my Judgement of Charity is much more extensive then theirs seems to be I confess that when it comes to a confident perswasion of another mans sincerity I am apt to be jealous as well as they and also when we speak of the Profession of men collectively considered I am forced to some harder thoughts of many then some have but when I have to do with Individuals I am apt to extend this charitable Judgment further then I see many do not by making the way to heaven any broader than they For when we are upon the point in thesi what is the proper qualification of a Saint I think there is no difference among us but when we speak of it in hypothesi and of the actual qualification of this Individual person whether he have the foresaid life or not I am apt to think it my duty to judge the best till I know the worst and to hope well though with much fear where some think they see no ground of hopes I confess it seems to me but cold charity that can afford men our good thoughts so far as to take them for visible Church members but can find no room for a hope of their being in a state of Salvation I have hopes of the Salvation of many thousands that I perceive some
I give you not better then either Dr Molin or the two Arminian Divines give let me be branded for a factious Calumniator of the dead whose name is so honourable that the forgery is the greater sin First there is a Manuscript of his own in many mens hands dated March. 3. 1617. at Dublin which I intend to print if no one else do it first which asserteth this Doctrine in the same middle way as Davenant and Camero do And I askt him whether he yet owned it not long before his death and he said He did and was firm in that judgment I asked him to whom he wrote it and he told me as I remember to Mr Culverwell I am certain it was to him or to Mr Eyr who he told me was the man that fell so foul on Mr Culverwell 2. If my own word be not sufficient Dr Kendal can bear witness that he was present once when he heard him own this judgement of Universal Redemption in the middle way and intimated that Dr Davenant and Dr Preston were minded of it by him as reioycing that he sooner owned it and that we cannot rationally offer Christ to sinners on other grounds Now because the Bishop went this middle way when he speaks against the Arminians some feign him to speak against his own doctrine And when he spoke for Universal Satisfaction the Arminians say he was turned to them This is the faithfulness of the world It shames and grieves me to say Of siding Divines and as much almost to say Of a publick Professor of History in Oxford For the principal honour of a Historian is his veracity and impartial fidelity and how much of that this Preface to the Paraenesis is guilty of I leave to consideration upon the taste that is here given But enough of this The fourth and last particular in which I offend some few Brethren by my judgement is that which is the subject of these ensuing Disputations But I can truly say of this as of the rest 1. That if I should change my judgement and please these Brethren its like I should displease many more For 2. I take it for granted that I go in the common rode that the Church of Christ hath gone in from the beginning to this day so far am I from singularity 3. I am most certain that my thoughts were so far from intending singularity or the disturbance of the Church by these or other points in Controversie that I apprehended them strongly to be the truths that must be instrumental to the Churches peace when ever God seeth us meet to attain it And though I never took a point for true eo nomine because it was in the middle or tended to peace yet I purposely chose out these truths rather then other to vindicate because they tend to peace And to the praise of God I speak it that in those antient common disturbing Controversies between the Arminian and Antiarminian Lutheran and Calvinist Iesuite and Dominican I have discerned those Principles which quiet my own mind and which I am confident were they received according to their evidence would quiet the now-contending Christian world But I am past doubt to be derided as arrogant for this confidence and should the Principles in a Method with Evidence be propounded though purposely to heal the divisions of the Church many of the several parties would but rage at the Reconciler and pour out their impotent accusations and reproaches against him because he would attempt the healing of their divisions and would feign him to be the Author of some new Sect for seeking to put an end to Sects But let any man make good my just demand that the Principles propounded shall have an impartial reception according to their Evidence and I will give you security to make good my confidence that they shall quiet the Chrstian world hereabouts But I know this is to be expected from none but God nor at all on earth in any perfection As to the present Controversie it seemed good to Mr Blake to begin it with me and to my Defense he hath opposed an angry Reply not to my whole Book as I did to that part of his which concerned me but to here and there a scrap disordered and maimed and parcelled as he thought good I was in doubt whether to make any rejoinder or further Defense but while I doubted divers Reverend Brethren from several parts wrote to me to move me neither to be silent nor to answer all his words which would be tedious to the Reader but to handle the Controversies by way of Disputation and to bring in Mr Blake's Arguments under them so far as shall be thought necessary Though at first I scarce liked this way as seeming not a full answer but such a course as he took with me yet I did acquiesce in the judgement of my Brethren But yet indeed I think I had never printed a word at all in Defense of my self against Mr Blake but for another providence The third Disputation as here printed was written before Mr Blake's Book against me was printed or in the press as I have reason to think A Copie of this I lent about two years ago to a friend But by what means I know not about three quarters of a year ago I received tidings from a pious learned Minister in the West writing to a friend of his not far from me that there were such abundance of Copies of that Disputation in those parts and some were so purposed that it would be printed if I did not do it my self I confess I was much offended at the news because the Disputation was imperfectly written and on such a subject as to the later part which shews what sins may consist with Godliness that I would have been loath it should have been by them made publike as knowing how unfit it was for the eyes of the Profane But when there was no remedy the best I could do was to add some cautions and annex the other Disputations here adjoyned which were hastily written that the former might not go alone without that company that seemed necessary And this is the occasion of this present writing For the Matter of it I have manifested that I hold the common Doctrine of the Church And many another could I mention as consenting in it besides those particularly there cited Mr Wil. Fenner in the second part of Christs Alarm p. 92 93. saith Another inseparable mark of a true Church is a sincere Profession of the word of God and true Christian religion either in truth and uprightness of heart or else so far as man can judge For though the preaching of the Word come to a place yet it doth not follow presently that there is a Church of God but when divers of them embraced the Word either sincerely or else to see to as far as Paul and others could judge then they were a Church There must be a Congregation of People that do
their house yea or will not come to him considering he is made the Ruler over them in order to their spiritual good and they commanded to obey him Heb. 13.17 especially when a Ministers weakness or the multitude of his Parishioners and business will not permit him to seek after them I may conclude therefore that for all the word Dogmatical faith in the Title page this Gentleman is not like to be my Adversary To conclude the Jesuits themselves do witness that the Doctrin which I have in this Book maintained is the ordinary Protestant Doctrine while they concurr in opposing part of it under that title without our disowning it and tell the Iansenians that their Doctrine by which they make the Church to consist only of those that have charity and true Grace is the doctrine of the Protestants as Petavius de Lege Gratia passim p. 28. Auâ—â—enim unà cum charitate ac justitiâ necessario fidem amittebant quicunque lethale aliquod crimen incurrerant dut si fides in illis haerebat adhuc ea minimè suffiâ—iebat ut in Ecclesiae parte aliqua numerarentur Horum utrùm dÃxerint nihil ad haeresim Catholicae fidei â—abem interest Nam utrumque pro haeretico damnatum inter caetera Lutheri Calvinique ante hos Wiclefi nefaria dogmata jampridem Ecclesiasticâ censurâ notatum est Vid. p. 118. de Gratia initiali But it s in regard of the Catholick Church as invisible and in the properest acception that we own this to be our Doctrine As to the rest of Mr Blake's Book and also Dr Owen's Mr Roberts I have said as much as I now intend in the Conclusion of these Disputations If any Papists or other Adversaries shall conclude that we are not of the true Church or Religion because we thus differ and are of so many minds they may as well prove a man to be no member of an Hospital or no Patient to a Physitian because he is not in perfect health or none of the Scholars of such a Master because he knows not as much as his Teacher or as those of the highest form Or that Paul and Barnabas were not both of the true Church because they fell out even to a parting asunder Or that Peter Paul were not both of the true Religion because one of them was to be blamed and the other withstood him to the face because he walked not uprightly and according to the truth of the Gospel an high charge Gal. 1.11 12 13 14. yea they may as well conclude that no man is of the Church while he liveth on earth because while we are here we know but in part and see but darkly or enigmatically as in a glass 1 Cor. 13.9 11 12. and because we account not our selves perfect or to have attained but follow after and reach forth to the things which are before us and press toward the mark and where any is otherwise minded we wait till God reveal this to us Phil. 3.12 13 14 15. Or as if they would make us believe that there are not more differences among the Papists then with us But of these things I purposely speak in some Disputations against Popery which with this are in the Press And lastly for those that will convert the truths which I here maintain into the nourishment of divisions when their nature is to heal either making men Notoriously ungodly that are not and so rejecting them and their Children or withdrawing into separated Churches because such are Baptized or admitted to Communion of whose qualifications they are unsatisfied their guilt is upon themselves The doctrine is not made guilty by their abuse As the ignorant and unlearned have still wrested the Scripture to their own destruction so have the self-conceited and erroneous always misused the Truth it self to the disturbance of the Church It s matter of double Lamentation that yet there should be such Divisions and Parties and Distances when B p Hall's Peace-maker and Mr Burrough's Irenicum have been extant so long Were there but those two Books on that Subject extant in England they will heal or inexcusably condemn our distances And indeed they are Volumns of accusation against us proclaim the shame let me speak what must be spoken even of the Godly yea of the most of the Godly Ministers of these Nations that have yet done no more in this healing work And I intreat all those Ministers People that have time and any regard to my advice that they would diligently read over and over again those two books though they cast by twenty such as this for it And for those that will censure the following disputations as being not levelled to the inâ—erest of their several Parties I shall be no further solicitous to remove their offence And of the foresaid abusers of these reforming reconciling verities I now only crave the sober perusal conscionable Practice of Mr Burrough's 2d 3d 4th and 5th Propotion in in his Irenic Ch. 23 p 163. Had there been but that one healing Leaf or Page in England our wounds would be our shame as truly as they are our hurt and danger Mr Meade on Eccl. 5.1 pag 130 131. Offer not the Sacrifice of Fools for they know not that they do evil MY third Proposition was this That when Sacrifice was to be offered in case of sin yet even then God accepted not thereof primariò primarily and for it self as though any refreshment or emolument accrewed to him thereby as the Gentiles fondly supposed of their Gods but secondarily only as a testimony of the Conscience of the Offerer desiring with humble Repentance to glorifie him with a present by that rite to renew a Covenant with him For Sacrifice was Oblatio foederalis Now Almighty God renews a Covenant with or receiveth again into his favour none but the Repentant sinner and therefore accepts of Sacrifice in no other regard but as a token and effect of this Otherwise its is an abomination to him as whereby men professed a desire of being reconciled unto God when they had offended him and yet had no such meaning Hence God rejects all Sacrifices wherein there is no contrition nor purpose to forsake sin and keep his Commandments which are the parts of Repentance so is to be taken that Isa. 1. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination to me And Isa. 62.2 3. And surely he that blesseth an Idol is so far from renewing a Covenant with the Lord his God that he breaks it so did they who without conscience of Repentance presumed to come before him with a Sacrifice not procure atonement but aggravate their breach According to one of these three senses are all passages in the Old Testament disparaging and rejecting all Sacrifices Literally to be understood namely when men preferred them before the greater things of the Law valued them out of their
inquit ex toto corde licet quasi non baptizaturus nisi id ille porfiteretur ipseque Charitatis saltem judicio ita credere credat Read the rest And pag. 66. Ad hos sines Sacrationem Remissionem peccatorum vel alterutrum horum consequendos Baptisma mihi minimè institutum videtur quum in institutione ipsa eis primariò administrandum ordinetur qui ex praedicatione Evangelii side in Christum imbuti disciplinam Christianam jam amplexifuerunt Mar. 16.15 16. Matth. 28.18 At hi sanati ex parte reatu omni exoluti ad Baptismum suscipiendum accedebaent aut ejusmo ii saltem esse praesumebantur antequam ad Baptismum admitterentur Quin Johannis baptismae ejusdem fuisse efficaciae cum illo qui ab Apostolis ex Christi instituto administrabatur adversus Pontificios nostri omnes tuentur At in Joannis Baptismo praevia exigebatur poenitentia quam peccatorum venia necessariò inseparabiliter consequitur See his Defens of this against Dr. Ward 's Answ. pag. 67 68. And as to the pretended different use to Infants pag. 69. 1. Principali effecto imò principalibus effectis caruisse baptismum c. 2. Si quem in parvulis alium effectum statuere libuerit quà m in adultis obtineat id mirum valdè S.S. nusquam insinuâsse nec de eo certi quicquam constare poterit quo fides nostra nitatur donec Verbulo salâ—em Divino aliquo illud nobis innotescat Steph. Tzegedinus Loc. Commun de Sacram. Tab. 2. saith Sacramenta non conferre gratiam quia sancti priùs Justificati receptique in gratiam quà m initiati sint Sacramentis Lamb. Danaeus Resp. ad Tom. 2. Bellarm. de Sacram. pag. 167. Bellarminus putat absurdè hic oportuisse Baptismum praecedere Fidem non autem Fidem Baptismum Promissio enim praecedit sigillum ergo est mediatum subsequent fidem verbum Sacramenti utroque posterius He speaks of Justifying faith Leg. pag. 78. Many such passages he hath too long to be cited Ravanellus Biblioth de Baptism pag. 184. In nomine vel in nomen Patris Filii Spiritus sancti baptizari dicimur quia per baptismum S.S. Trinitas nor in gratiam recipere testificatur nos vicissim spondemus ac profitemur ei nos totos dicare consecrare Et col 2. Adulti ad baptismum admittendi sunt modò fidem prositeantur Act. 2.41 8.12 13 37 38. 9 18 6 11 17. 16 15 14 33 32. peccata publicè confiteantur se agnoscentes ex gratuita remissione salutem consequi Mat. 3.6 Marc. 1.5 Et de Sacram. pag. 512. Col. 2. Terminus vel finis Sacramenti est vel Cui nempe soli foederati Inter foederatos autem Dei censentur omnes illi qui sunt in external Ecclesiae communione prositentur se in Christum credere vero cum inter hoc quidam possint esse hypocritae impii ideo Sacramenta in Ecclesia communia sunt piis impiis Ita tamen ut impii pro Piis probabiliter habeantur Thus commonly speak Protestants on this Subject The Church of Scotland in their Heads of Church Policy recited by Spotswood in his History l. 6. pag. 289. thus begin 1. The Church of God is sometime largely taken for all them that profess the Evangel of Jesus Christ and also it is a company not only of the Godly but also Hypocrites professing outwardly one true Religion 2. At other times it is taken for the Elect only and the Godly So that here are none acknowledged Church-members but those only that are truly Godly and Elect or seem to be so and are Hypocrites if they be not so The Helvetian Confession as in the Harmony translated p. 287. of Bapt. faith To be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled entered and received into the Covenant and Family and so into the Inheritance of the sons of God and called the sons of God and purged also from the filthiness of sins and to be indued with the manifold Grace of God for to lead a new and innocent life We therefore by being baptized do confess our faith and are bound to give unto God obedience mortification of the flesh and newness of life yea and we are listed souldiers for the warfare of Christ that all our life long we should fight against the World Satan and our own flesh And none but sound believers truly consent to this and therefore none but Professors of sound belief do profess consent to it I shall pass over the Confessions of other Churches containing the same doctrine The Professors of the Protestant University of Saumors in France in their excellent Thes. Vol. 3. are full on the point Pag. 58. Thes. 27. Obsignat autem illam certè ut quia nos profitentur habere per fidem communionem cum Morte Resurrectione Christi fructum utriusque ad nos pertinere testificetur Fructus autem ille primùm in Justificatione situs est At quemadmodum professio illa habet in se inclusam promissionem de per severantiâ in eâ fide sic obsignatio pariter habet stipul itionem quandam tacitam illius perseverantiae Thes. 29. pag. 59. Sacramenta verò non conferuntur nisi itâ— qui vel fidem habent vel saltem eum prae se ferunt adeò ut nullis certis argumentis compertam esse pâ—ssit eam esse ementitam Pag. 50. Thes. 7. Est tamen inter ea notabile discrimen quod penè in omnium sensus incurrit scilicet ut jam alibi animadvertimus sacramenta quidem nemini tribuuntur nisi qui censeatur implevisse conditionem quam Deus ab hominibus foedere suo exigit This is the doctrine that Mr. Blake will not be entreated to understand viz. that the very Covenanting on our parts is the first and great condition imposed and required in the Covenant or promise of God and so when we sincerely covenant we perform the condition of his Promise Heart-covenanting is by consenting and Consent joyned to Assent is Justifing faith At Conditionis impletio dupliciter consideraâ—ur nimirum vel in iis momentis quibus praestatur pâ—imùm vel in eo tempore quo conservatur perseverat Conditi nis autem Evangelicae ea natura est ut praestari nequeat quin illico introducat eum à quo praestatur in Christi coÌ„munionem societatem Ecclesiae atque adeò quin ei acquirat adoptionem per quam numeratur in Dei filiis Joan 4.11 Cum vero conservatur atque persistit nihil aliud facit nisi quòd easdem illas praerogativas retinet ne iis excidamus Baptismus autem in eum finem comparatus est ut ea omnia obsignet quatenus communicantur primùm Coena verò ut retineantur Thes. â— Sunt enim duo certè genera hominum quae ad participationem foederis Evangelici à Deo admittuntur
docuimus non primúm baptismo nos justificari sanctificari sed hoc sigillo Remissionem peccatorum Christique Justitiam jam per sidem nobis imputatam ut Sanctificationem nostraÌ„â—am per Spiritum sanctum in nobis inchoataÌ„ in cordibus credentiuÌ„ obsignari Et pag 762. col 2. He expoundeth 1 Cor. 7.14 sanctitatem esse Jus illud quod habent ad Deifoedus gratuitum bona spiritualia in Foederis promissione comprehensa nempe ut Ecclesiae membra censeantur remissionem peccatorum vitam aeternam in per semen illud benedictuÌ„ nempe Jesum Christum Mediatorem unà cum-Piis parentibus vel saltem eorum altero consequantur Jus inquam quod ex gratuita Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dependet qui non tanùum cum ipsis parentibus sed cum ipsoruÌ„ semine foedus suum pacisci bona in eo promissa usque ad fidelium parentuÌ„ posteros extendere dignatus est ut norint se non sibi tantuÌ„ credere ad Deum converti sed instrumeÌ„ta esse divinitùs ordinata ad eandem Foederis GratiaÌ„ in liberos posteròsque suos derivandaÌ„ donec ipsi in eam aetatem adoleverint quâ possint actu ad Deum toto corde converti Christum mediatorem vivâ veráque fide amplecti eáque ipsi praestare quae parentes susceptores pro ipssis eorum nomine sposponderunt Nec tamen Dei gratiaÌ„ erga infantes fidelium sic parentuÌ„ fidei alligamus ut ullum liberae arcanae ejus electioni praejudiciuÌ„ faciamus c. sed hoc tantum asserimus ex Dei voluntate nobis in foeâ—ere suo gratiose patefactâ nobis constâ—re iâ—fantibus ad hoc ut ad Baptismum admittantur Ecclesiae Christi membra censcantur donec in annos maturiores adoleverint idem prorsus esse ac valere ad nostrum judicium quod attinet è Piis pâ—rentibus nosci vel natos esse quod adultis fideique capacibus fidem hanc proficeri Nam sicut ex his Deus solus novit qui verâ salutaeâ—i in Christum praediti sunt side vel non sunt ac proinde quinam ad suam electionem pertineant nostrum tantùm est Charitatis judicium secundum quod eos omnes qui Christo fidem obedientiam profitentur pro sidelibus electis habere debemus nisi sese factis reapse alios ostenderiâ—t ita etiam ex illis novit Dâ—minus solus quosuam elegerit nostrum autem est ex eâdem Charitatis regulâ eos omnes pro Dei foederatis Christi membris habere quos videmus esse pioruÌ„ fidelium semen sobolem sive baptismo fuerint obsignati sive c. See more there So that he takes it to be a profession of a saving faith that is necessary in the adult which must give us ground in the Judgement of Charity to judge them true believers and elect and that we suppose the like of their Infants in the same judgement and therefore suppose them justified before we baptize them Perkins Order of Causes of Salv pag. 71. c. 32. A Sacrament is that whereby Christ and his saving Graces are by certain external rites signified exhibited and sealed to a Christian man pag. 72. The holy use of a Sacrament is when such as are truly converted do use those rites which God hath prescribed to the true ends of the Sacrament Therefore 1. the Reprobate though God offer the whole Sacrament to them yet they receive the signs alone without the things signified by the sign because the sign without the right use thereof is not a Sacrament to the receiver of it Rom. 2.25.2 The Sacrament received before a mans conversion is afterward to the Penitent both ratified becometh profitable and that use of the Sacrament which before was utterly unlawful doth then become very lawful Leg p 74. The action of the party to be baptized is twofold the first is To offer himself to be baptized before the Minister c. This signifieth that he doth consecrate himself to the Lord and thâ—t he utterly renounceth the Flesh the World and the Devil 1 Pet. 3.21 And pag. 73. Within the Covenant are all the seed of Abraham or the seed of the faithful These are either of riper years or Infants Those of riper years are all such as adjoyning themselves to the Visible Church do both testifie their Repentance of their sins and hold the foundation of Religion taught in the Church Anton. Fayus in Rom 4.11 pag. 239. saith Fides ergò praecedit Sacramenta quae absque side sunt tantùm inania signa eandem sidem Sacramenta fovâ—nt augent And he fully shews that he speaks of Justifying Faith Et in Rom 6.3 pag. 3â—1 Baptismus non facit nos Christianos Filios Dei peccato mortuos sed tales nos esse indicat Lud. de Dieu in Rom 4.11 saith Nisi Abrahami praeputio praeextitisset sides vanum fuisset signum Circumcisionis Itaque vel eo quòd signum ei fuit datum colligitur jam ante habuisse fidem Et in Hebr. 6. pag. 305. Adde quòd ablutio Baptismi repurgatae à tenebris peccati adeòque illuminatae mentis sit indicium obsignaculum ut reipsâ illuminationem profiteatur qui baptismum suscipit that is such illumination as hath mentem à tenebris peccati repurgatam Michaël Ragerus though of that party that give too much to Sacraments saith in Rom. 4.11 pag. 104. Obsignatio confirmatio praesupponit gratiam vel collatam jam vel mediante sacramento conferendam quibus verò gratia non confertur illis non obsignatur per sacramentum Ità igitur gratia Regenerationis hypocritae adulto per baptismum neque confertur neque obsignatur Et in Rom 6.3 Vide plura Hemmingius in Rom. 4.11 putteth true faith into the Definition of a Sacrament Sacramentum est visible signum mandatum institutum à Deo quo ut Deus hominibus suam gratiam testatur obsignat ità homines vicissim suam in Deum sidem profitentur cà mque usu Sacramentorum confirmat The Context shews that its Justifying faith which he means Hinc etiam apparet quis sit principalis finis Sacramentorum videlicet obsignare promissam gratiam quae fide accipitur possidetur Vide plura in Rom. 6.3.4 ex Ambrosio pag. 142. Yates Model of Divin pag. 330 331. Christ in the Sacrament profiteth not except he be eaten by faith A Reprobate may receive bread but the sign seal and thing signified are none of his for he hath no experience of this mysterie that wants the first part of Divinity without which the second cannot work So Christ with all his benefits being received and the fruits thereof being truly received by faith is our happy communion with the body and blood of Christ Otherwise we communicate no more with Christ in the Sacrament than we
Congregations which the Countrey knoweth to be such as you have done pag. 142 143. upon the credit of your false reporters If I have deserved such dealing from you the Christian Assemblies of Worcestershire have not Restrain your indignation to me and abuse not your Brethren that meddle not with you And what is it that is denyed unanimously by other Congregations Surely not the necessity of professing a faith that 's more than Dogmatical at least I know no such Congregations and I hope I shall never know such For all your frequent and confident intimations that yours is the common opinion of Divines and mine is singular If paper could blush abundance of such passages would confute themselves and prevent the delusion of your credulous reader who will believe you to save the labor of a tryal Pag. 185. The words of mine that are cited as against my self are these Vocation which is effectual only to bring men to an outward profession of faith is larger then Election and makes men such whom we are bound to baptize true How unhappy am I that must contradict my opinion in the very words which contain it But still will you perswade men that an outward professing of true saving faith is all one with another kind of faith no man I think knows what which you are busily promoting to be the Title to Sacraments I shall not stand to search Mr. Blake's book for more of my self-contradictions or trouble the Reader with a further vindication For in thus much he may see the face of the rest and discern the judiciousness and equity of the Charge But as Mr. Blake dealeth by me so doth he by the Authors whom he alledgeth for his opinions as pag. 152.153 154 155. and elswhere He sticks not to cite them as owning his cause who in the very words recited by him do condemn it For in those words they make the Church as visible to consist of professors as distinct from true believers and know no members but true Christians and Hypocrites who therefore pretend to that Faith which they have not or else how are they Hypocrites And what 's this to Mr. Blake's new visible members that profess only some other kind of faith or how will this warrant his new kind of Baptism which must be administred upon the Profession of another sort of Faith The Lord illuminate us and pardon all the wrong we have done to his Church and Truth through our darkness and self-conceitedness The third Disputation Quest. Whether the Infants of Notoriously-ungodly baptized Parents have Right to be Baptized Tertullian Apologet. cap. 16. Sed dices Etiam de nostris excedere quosdam à Regulâ Disciplinae Desunt tum Christiani haberi penès nos Philosophi verò illi cum talibus factis in nomine honore sapientiae perseverant Thes. Salmuriens Vol. 3. Pag. 59. Thes. 39. Sacramenta non conferuntur nisi iis qui vel fidem habent vel saltem eam prae se ferunt adeò ut nullis certis argumentis compertum esse possit eam esse ementitam Aaron's Rod Blossoming pag. 514. I believe No conscientious Minister would adventure to baptize one who hath manifest and infallible signs of Unregeneration Sure we cannot be answerable to God if we should minister Baptism to a man whose works and words do manifestly declare him to be an unregenerated unconverted person And if we may not Initiate such a one how shall we bring him to the Lords Table Rutherford Due Right of Presbyteries pag. 231. n. 2. But saith Robinson most of England are ignorant of the first Rudiments and Foundation of Religion and therefore cannot be a Church Answ. Such are materially not the visible Church and have not a Profession and are to be taught and if they wilfully remain in that darkness are to be cast out The third Disputation Quest. Whether the Infants of Notoriously ungodly Baptized Parents have Right to be Baptized THE Question is of the greater moment because about Matter of Practice and that in a Point wherein the Honor of God on one side and the Rights of mens Souls on the other are so much concerned It supposeth first that Baptism is Gods Ordinance of continued Use and that some are to be Baptized Secondly that it is a Benefit or else we could not in the sense now used be said to have Right to it Thirdly It supposeth that some Infants have Right to be Baptized This Question therefore is not to be disputed with the Anabaptists who deny the presupposed And they that are so indifferent in the former as to take it for an inconsiderable matter Whether Infants be baptized or not must needs judge this Question of the Infants of the Ungodly to be much more inconsiderable Fourthly Yet doth it not suppose that the Infants of any ungodly persons have this Right as if it were only the Right of Notorious ones that were disputable but the word Notorious is added to limit our present Dispute to that sort for several Reasons at this time passing by the other but not taking it for granted Fifthly Nor doth the Addition of the term Baptized to Parents take it for granted that no children of unbaptized Parents have such Right But it limits the Question to that sort only as fitter in several respects for our Dispute For the explication of the terms 1. By Infant we mean Children not yet come to the use of Reason so that as they are not sui Juris but at anothers dispose so they are uncapable naturally in any Contract to dispose of themselves being unfit to give consent through a natural defect of that understanding which is pre-requisite By a natural Defect I mean of nature in it self considered and not as corrupted by sin nor as neglected sinfully by our selves or others So that I see not but that Ideots are in the same condition as Infant children But of that let every one think as they see cause In Law homo primae aetatis is an Infant even after he can speak though as to the Etymologie he be called an Infant quia fari nescit i. e. loqui non potest ut Isidor lib. 11.2 2. By Parents we mean principally Natural Parents those who begat those Infants but secondarily also as I suppose those that have Adopted them or bought them or received them as given or delivered to them so that they any way become Their Own and they have the dispose of them and are enabled to enter them into Covenant so as to oblige them on the highest terms Though I know it is not properly that these are called Parents The word Parent is primarily applicable to the Mother only as not being à Parendo but à Pariendo and thence to the Father also because of the Relation between Gigno Pario and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometime used for Genero And though the word Parens be not usually applied to those that Adopt yet Pater is And not unfitly
ought will be excluded or suspended And the fruit of Discipline its like will be judged scarce worth the trouble so few causes will be brought as will bring it to be strange But Discipline must not be so eluded Ergo. Argum. 5. Christ telleth us that by their Fruits we should know them therefore by fruits of Godliness or ungodliness we must judge of men as Godly or Ungodly as to these acts of administration and communion We must judge that to be a Vine which hath Grapes and that to be no Thistle that hath Figgs We judge not usually of the certainty of mens Impenitency or Infidelity but of the strong probability It s possible a mans own words may be false Argum. 6. We must admit of a weak presumption or probability for admitting men to Priviledges therefore we may admit of strong presumption for denying them If we must take a probability in one then in the other only allowing the difference as aforesaid that we must have a stronger presumption for denying than for granting is necessary For we must be content with less evidence for a man than against a man Quest. 1. But what is that we may take for a sufficient reason of a mans claim And. 2 Quest What must we take for a violent presumption of the unsoundness of his claim To the first I say in brief 1. If a Heathen that yesterday was guilty of the grossest sin do come to me this day and with seeming sorrow confess his fault and with seeming seriousness profess to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost that is to believe all the essential Articles of Christian Religion and profess his consent to take God for his only God and portion Christ for his only Redeemer and the Holy Ghost for his Sanctifier renouncing the World Flesh and Devil I shall take this Verbal profession for a sufficient Reason of his claim unless any just Bar of exception be put in against him to invalidate it 2. The same Title I shall take for valid for the Baptism of his Infants 3. If a man have made the same profession and after long continuance in the Church doth offer his Child to Christ in Baptism and offer to renew that profession and enter his child into the same Covenant I shall suppose his claim just till some sufficient reason be brought to prove it unjust 1. I find that the Apostles took such a profession as a sufficient proof of the justice of the claim at the Parents own baptism Not as being it self the Condition called by many the Title but as being such an evidence of the Title to us as we are bound to accept 2. In equity and reason if the condition of a mans interest or his Title as they call it do lie in the heart out of mans reach we must take his own profession as evidence sufficient unless he give himself the lye and give us other reason to discredit him If a man say he is a Believer and profess himself to be a godly man that is a Lover and Honorer of God I will take him for a Believer and a godly man till I can disprove his profession I am not not bound to believe an evident Lye but I am bound to believe a man till the falshood of his speeches be evident Charity believeth all such things and thinketh not evil without sufficient evidence I need not go to a mans life for his evidence of his first Title And for his Right to after-communion and priviledges though other mens Testimony of a Godly conversation be a good confirmation yet I am not alwaies bound to seek or require that nor yet to have a personal knowledge of it But if any from his life will bring a cross evidence to disprove his own verbal profession of faith and obedience I will take it into consideration And I could wish that all Christians would proceed according to this Rule and call no man ungodly when they cannot prove hâ—m to be such at least so far as to a strong presumption But that they would take all for Godly that say they are Godly till they can disprove them I know they will say then you will miscall men and call those Godly that are not and then you must not difference the Precious from the Vile this is large charity indeed To which I answer 1. We call them but what they seem and 2. what God warranteth us to call them the Apostles telling such themselves that they were all the Sons of God by faith heirs saints justified c. Gal. 3. 1 Cor. 1.1 6.2 We difference as far as we have evidence to lead us and further we must not As I said before we must imitate God in this where the mixture is such that the Tares cannot be pulled up without pulling up the Corn both must grow together till the Harvest we must not think to difference so exactly and search and sift so neer to the bran as God will then do If the case be so uncertain and inevident that we may on such Grounds condemn the Righteous with the wicked we must let Righteous and wicked go together as if all were Righteous and call the whole field a Corn field for all the Tares Obj. Then must we judge falsly for we must judge men to be what they are not Answ. 1. If it were so it is no sin in you but in them that profess falsly When ever you judge the most glorious hypocrite to be Godly you judge falsly but not sinfully for every mistake is not our sin 2. But I say you are not to judg falsly neither For you are not to judge that it is certain that these are Godly men but only that its probable And note well that there is a difference to be made within the Church between the better and worser Members as well as between the Church and those without And observe that there are divers degrees of this probability of mens sincerity some do so fully second their profession by a Godly life that we have a very strong confidence of their sincerity though not a certainty Some do give us some good hopes but not so strong a perswasion Some are so dull and negligent and faultie in their lives that we have much fear of their perdition though we are bound because of their profession to keep up some hopes of them as being not without some probability of their honesty I doubt the common sort of Christians are but such as these And therefore we may even in the Church preach for mens Conversion and Regeneration because though we know not certainly who they be that are unregenerate yet we know that many such there are that profess Religion and have great cause of fear and jealousie concerning many in particular So that we must place a great difference between those whom we must permit in the same Church-communion and must administer the same Sacraments to we rejoyce in our hopes of some we