than that this Hand of mine should give the Holy Things of the Lord that is the Lords-Supper to the adjudged Contemners of God Melch. Adam in the Life of Calvin Now should not every faithful Minister of Christ be as careful to keep this Ordinance of Christ from Prophanation and their own Souls from Participation of other Mens Sins as he Doubtless they should 6. You do not forbear to Consult a Lawyer about your Estates or a Physician about your Bodies when occasion requires it for fear they will ask you such Questions as you cannot answer But you willingly submit to their Inquiries because you know it is necessary that they should understand your Case that they may give you proper and agreeable Counsel and Advice and should you not be as willing to submit to the Inquiries of Gospel-Ministers the Counsellors and Physicians of your Souls that they may know your Spiritual State and give you such Counsel as is suitable to it Obj. 4. But we are ashamed to come before Ministers and have not Confidence enough to Discourse with them nor are we able to express our Minds to them or give an account to them of our Knowledge Ans 1. You should be ashamed of nothing but Sin To be ashamed of Duty or of what is good is a sinful Shame and you have Reason to be ashamed of such a Shame and Repent of it and Pray against it until you are Cured of it Yet 2. It must be granted there is a natural Bashfulness in some especially in those of the weaker Sex and in Youth that is not easily Conquered this Ministers do well Understand and therefore Prudence will direct them to Treat such with the greater Tenderness and Mildness 3. Ministers will not expect that such should express the Sense of their Minds with that readiness that others of a bolder Spirit may but will wisely consider their Weakness and discern Sincerity under Imperfection Obj. 5. But others say we are afraid to come to this Holy Ordinance least we should Eat and Drink unworthily for we should thereby become Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and Eat and Drink Damnation to our selves as the Apostle says 1 Cor. 11.27 29. And we dare not run such an Hazzard as this Ans 1. It must be granted that it is very hazardous for all wicked and graceless Persons to meddle with this Holy Ordinance for they cannot but abuse and Prophane it and so bring themselves under great Guilt and become liable to great Punishment for it therefore none such should dare to Approach this Ordinance until they Repent of their Sins and are Converted this Ordinance being appointed not to work Grace where it is wanting but to Increase and Strengthen it where it is already wrought 't is Childrens Bread and not to be given unto Dogs Yet know 2. If you are yet in a graceless State you are already in danger of Damnation for your other Sins though you keep from the guilt of this and so should as much fear it as those that are guilty of this Sin Nor is this Sin unpardonable but upon true Repentance both hath been and may be forgiven 3. The Sin of Eating and Drinking unworthily lies in a Persons not discerning the Lords Body that is in not distinguishing or not putting a difference between Ordinary and Common Bread and this Sacramental and Holy Bread by which the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ is signified and represented and in using this Bread with as little Preparation Care Regard and Reverence as he doth the other Now gracious Souls know there is a great difference between Common Bread and this Holy Bread and therefore will take due care to use it in an Holy and Reverent Manner and so keep from the guilt of unworthy Partaking though they are not altogether free from sinful Weaknesses and Infirmities in this as well as in other Duties which yet should not keep them off from this Ordinance because upon their Repentance they are Pardoned to them for Christs sake 4. The Threatning mentioned in the Text of Damnation or Judgment is not designed by the Apostle to affrighten Christians from this Ordinance but to Caution them against the Prophanation of it 5. Consider that the neglect of a known Duty and turning your backs upon an Ordinance of Christ is a Sin and makes liable to Damnation or Judgment as well as the ill performance of a Duty or the Partaking of an Ordinance unworthily and you ought to fear the one as well as the other It is well worth your Consideration what Christ intimates to us in that Parable of the Marriage-Feast of the Kings Son Mat. 22. That those who made Light of the Gracious Invitation and refused to come were at last as blame-worthy as those who came without a Wedding Garment and therefore as he was Punished for his Defect so were they for their Disobedience And most deservedly for of the two they were the greater Sinners it being a greater Sign of Contempt wholly to neglect an Ordinance of Christ than to Partake of it without some due Qualifications as one well Observes so that the only way to avoid the Danger on both Hands is to examine your selves carefully concerning your Right to and fitness for this Ordinance and when you have an Evidence of these so Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup with Holy Care and Reverence Obj. 6. But we fear to come to this Holy Ordinance lest we should Sin again after it and then what will become of us Ans 1. It must be acknowledged you have Cause enough to fear sinning after this Ordinance as well as before while you are liable to Temptations from without and have Corruption remaining within you inclining you to close with them The Sense of your danger should make you to watch against Temptations and Occasions of Sin and nourish in you a fear of Caution Such a fear while it keeps within its due Bounds is your Duty and of great use to prevent Sin But it is immoderate and sinful if it makes you neglect another known Duty as Receiving the Lords-Supper is and no better than being guilty of one Sin to avoid another 2. There is not a Child of God on Earth that is perfectly free from the danger of sinning while he is in this imperfect tempted State and you may not expect to be freed from it any more than others so that if none should come to this Ordinance but such as live without Sin we must all lay aside the Use of it for there are no such Persons on this side Heaven Eccl. 7.20 1 John 1.8 James 3.2 3. Know that the right Use of this Ordinance is a good mean to keep you from sinning being a solemn renewing your Covenant with God and a new Bond laid on your Souls to love and serve the Lord and walk the more Circumspectly and a means to strengthen Grace in you 4. If you do Sin after your Partaking of
the comfortable Priviledge of Christian Parents to bring their Children unto Christ in their Infancy and to see them owned as in the same Covenant with God together with themselves by receiving Baptism the Sign and Seal thereof so it is their unquestionable Duty to instruct them as soon as they are capable to Learn in the Knowledge of God and of the Covenant solemnized in Baptism the Nature Use and Ends of it and the Seals thereof and to acquaint them when grown up to Years of Understanding and competently instructed in the Christian Religion that it is their Duty and will be their Interest to give their own actual and hearty Consent to their Baptismal-Covenant seeing the Consent of Parents in their behalf will serve them no longer then until they are capable to Consent for themselves which if they refuse or neglect to do they forfeit the Benefits and Blessings of the Covenant And that they ought to desire and prepare for the Renewing of their Covenant with God by receiving the Lords-Supper that being the other confirming Seal thereof But alas The Generality of Parents sinfully and shamefully neglect the Souls of their Children and their own Souls too at this Day breeding them up in gross Ignorance of the very Foundation-Truths of Christianity by which means the most of our Youth either regard not Religion at all or only content themselves to be now and then present in our Publick Religious Assemblies to which they are led more by Custom and Example then by any Sense of Religion or Conscience toward God little minding what is said or done there because indeed they understand little of it and so are little the wiser or better for what they hear Continue Strangers to the Life and Power of Godliness lie open to Temptations and are easily carried away to Error or Prophaneness The Lord convince such Careless and Cruel Parents of this crying Sin give them Repentance and quicken them to their neglected Duty toward the Souls of their Children or else I fear the next Age will degenerate into down-right Heathenism and Atheism If any of them shall cast their Eyes on this Paper I intreat them to spend one hour in the serious Consideration of these few Particulars First Consider the preciousness of your Childrens Souls they are Heaven-born Immortal Spirits capable to know fear love and serve the God that made them here and to see and injoy him for ever hereafter And so are more worthy of your Love and care than their Bodies yea one Soul is of greater value than the whole World and should you not be much more concern'd for their present and future Welfare and Happiness What Will you suffer so precious a Thing as the Soul of a Child to be lost for ever through your sloth and carelesness when your Love to them will make you ready to hazzard your own Lives to save their Bodies from a Threatning Danger Secondly Consider the need they have of Instruction for they come into the World spiritually Blind and Ignorant of God and Christ yea of themselves too they know not their sinful miserable and dangerous State by Nature the need they have of a Saviour nor what they must do to be saved The future Happiness of Saints in Heaven nor the dreadful Punishment of Sinners in Hell and that which yet makes their Condition the more deplorable is that usually they desire not the Knowledge of these Things but are rather unwilling to be Instructed and Love Darkness rather than Light Now one would think you that have the Bowels of Parents should Pity the Blind Compassionate your Ignorant Children and do what you can for their Cure though you were under no other Law but that of Nature to do it Thirdly Consider God hath made it your indispensible Duty by his Positive and express Command to Teach your Children his Revealed Mind and Will with the greatest Care Constancy and Diligence Read and weigh those Scriptures Deut. 6.6 7. Prov. 22.6 Eph. 6.4 So that it is no Arbitrary Thing nor left to your Pleasure to do it or not your neglect of it is a direct Disobedience to the Law of God and how will you be able to Answer it to God in the Day of your Account Fourthly Consider God hath intrusted you with Authority over your Children to Command them to Learn the Knowledge of God and of his Will and to obey it and hath commanded your Children to Honour and Obey you herein and expects you should use your Authority over them especially to this End and Godly Parents have so done and are commended in Scripture for it Read and Consider Eph. 6.1 2 3. 1 Chron. 28.9 Gen. 18.19 You Use this Power over them for your selves in requiring them to Obey your Wills and will you not also use it for your God who gave it and for the good of your dear Childrens Souls Fifthly Consider if your Children Live and Dye in Ignorance of Soul-saving Truths they will perish for ever and if they do so through your default or neglect of Instructing them their Sin will hereby become yours and God will require their Blood at your Hands See Isa 26.11 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. Now do you not cry out of those as Monsters in Nature Wolves and Tygers in humane Shape yea worse than Beasts who Murder their own Children and imbrue their Hands in their own tender Infants Blood How much greater Monsters are those Parents who starve the Souls of their Children by with-holding spiritual Food from them and so help them forward toward Eternal Destruction And are you willing to be found in the number of such bloody Parents at the last Day and to have your Portion with them for ever If these Considerations have convinced you how sinful your neglects of instructing your Children and Families have been and impressed your Souls with such a Sense of your Duty that you resolve upon it in the Strength of Christ for the Time to come This will prepare you to accept of and hearken to a Word of Counsel which I will offer you also in a few Particulars First See that you are well acquainted with the Knowledge of God and Christ his Will and Worship your selves that you may be capable of Teaching your Children Remember God requires Parents first to get his Word into their own Hearts and then to Teach them diligently to their Children Deut. 6.6 'T is impossible for you to instruct others in that which you have not learnt your selves It 's very sad to observe that many Parents are but Children in Understanding and that when for the Time they have lived under the Means of Knowledge they might have been such good Proficients or Schollars in the School of Christ as to be able to Teach their Families they themselves need to be taught the first Principles of the Oracles of God as Heb. 5.12 I am perswaded this is the Grand though not the only Reason why Family-duties are so generally disused at
this Day 't is not so much out of a dislike of or a Malignity against the work it self in many as for want of Ability to perform it and this Impediment can be no ways removed but by the Blessing of God on a diligent use of due Means for the obtaining such an Ability Therefore if you are indeed too Ignorant of the Will of God be ashamed of your Ignorance and Sloth but not ashamed to Learn though Late yet better late then never Secondly Having got a competent Measure of Knowledge your selves begin your Work of Teaching your Children betimes be dropping and instilling some of the plainest easiest and most necessary Truths into them as soon as you find them capable to Learn and to remember Be frequent at it to Impress them the more firmly on their Memories when they can Read put Catechisms into their Hands and require them to Learn them to Read the Holy Scriptures daily Hear Sermons and take Account of them what they Remember and Discourse with them about the Truths heard to help them to a clearer Understanding of them and labour to affect their Hearts with those Truths that chiefly concern them and Charge them especially to commit such to their Memories encouraging the Diligent by your Commendations and Rewards and quickening the Negligent by Reproofs and moderate Corrections Thirdly Be much in Prayer to God both for and with your Children begging a Blessing on your Instructions Pray your selves and teach them to Pray that God would second your endeavours and succeed all the Means used for their Instructions by the Inward and Effectual Teaching of his Holy Spirit to open their Understanding strengthen and sanctifie their Memories Write his Law in their Hearts and put his Truth into their Inward Parts that they may understand spiritual Truths spiritually and be made wise to Salvation Fourthly Set before your Children a good Example of Sobriety Righteousness and Holiness in your own Lives second your Godly Instructions with a Godly Conversation let them see by your own Obedience to the Will of God that you believe the Truths which you teach them and press no other Duties on them than what you make Conscience to perform your selves Then will your Instructions be most like to prove Effectual for your Children are naturally prone to imitate you in their Practice more apt to be led by the Eye then by the Ear and more inclinable to do as you do than as you say or Command Could you be perswaded to follow these plain and necessary Counsels your Children would have the Benefit you would have the Comfort the Church would be Enlarged and God would be Glorified And what should you not be willing to do within your Power for such desirable Ends as these But if any Christian Parents remain yet unperswadable by these Arguments to set about this Duty their sinful neglect will become the more inexcusable and themselves the more unworthy of that Honourable Name by which they are called Blessed be God there are yet some Pious Parents left among us who have a Sense of their Duty and endeavour to bring up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and I hope the late unanimous Labours of the Ministers of Christ in and about this City pressing their respective Congregations to the Revival of Family-worship have been signally Blessed for the Increase of the Number of such and that this is one good presage of Gods continuing his Candlestick in the midst of us For Religious Families are the Seed-Plots of Piety and the Nurseries of the Church so that if these flourish which God grant the Church will from them be supplied and enlarged There are also some Adult Persons whom though their Parents wretchedly neglected their Souls in their Minority yet God is pleased to awaken and Inlighten Convince and Convert by the Publick Ministry and so are brought into Christ and joyn themselves for full Communion with the Particular Churches of Christ Though alas the Number of Converts in our Days is small in Comparison with what hath been in former Ages as Gospel-Ministers generally observe to their Grief and this proves us to be upon the decaying Hand And though it be the certain Duty of all Adult Persons that make a serious Profession of Christianity to joyn themselves to some Particular Church in Order to a Participation of all Gospel-Ordinances and Church-Priviledges yet the far greater Number live in the shameful neglect hereof some to thirty forty yea fifty Years of Age and yet never received the Lords-Supper These may properly be call'd Christians at large or loose Professors if not for the Looseness and Immoralities of their Lives yet for sitting so loose from the stricter Rules of Religion and for their backwardness to come wholly under the Yoke of Jesus Christ though it be really a far easier Yoke than that of Sin To such as these I would in the next Place make an Address attempting to Convince them of and dissuade them from their Sin and to instruct them in and persuade them to their Duty For your Conviction I offer you these following Considerations First Consider until you are Joyned to some Particular Church of Christ you come not under the special Care Guidance and Oversight of any Pastor and so lose the Spiritual Benefit of that Relation which may be a greater Dammage to your Souls then you are aware of for in divers Cases you will need their special help by Way of Councel Instruction Support or Comfort to Answer your Doubts Encourage you against your Fears Succour you under Temptations c. The want of a skilful and faithful Soul-friend in such Cases would be greatly Prejudicial to you Secondly Consider until you are thus Joyned you neglect one of the Holy Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ his Supper the last that he Instituted left as a standing Monument of his Matchless Love to his Church in Dying for it and as a means to Perpetuate the Memory thereof in all Future Ages and as another Sign and Seal of the Covenant of Grace An Ordinance wherein he proposeth himself as the spiritual Food of Believers to refresh and satisfie their Souls increase their Grace and nourish them to Life Eternal so that by the neglect of this Ordinance 1. You Contract the guilt of great Sin upon your Souls for it is a direct Disobedience to the express Command of Christ who saith Take Eat c. Drink ye all of it and Do this in Remembrance of me Therefore to neglect it is practically to forget Christ and if you forget him how can you Hope he will remember you 2. You lose the Spiritual Benefit and Comfort of this Ordinance the nourishment and strengthening of your Souls in Grace which you need as well as others and hereby give God just Cause to withhold his Blessing from other Ordinances And is this a loss that you can easily bear Is it much at one with you whether you Profit by the
unworthiness that you deserve it not this should not keep you from it for all that are Partakers of it are thus unworthy We are all unworthy of our common Food for our Bodies much more unworthy of this Holy Food for our Souls and the deeper Sense you have of this unworthiness the more Worthy you are in Gods account 2. If you have a Gospel-right to this Ordinance and a Gospel-sitness or Preparedness for it you are worthy in a Gospel-sense to be Partakers of it See then that you are thus qualified and come Obj. 2. But we fear we are not fitted or prepared enough to approach this Holy Table and this keeps us off Ans 1. It may be you do not rightly understand what that Fitness or Preparedness is that you ought to have and so your Ignorance may occasion your fears If so your next Duty is to get the Knowledge thereof and then Examine your selves whether you have it or no. The Sacramental Catechism will instruct you herein 2. Your Unfitness and Unpreparedness is your Sin because you ought to be fit and have sufficient means to make you so therefore to Plead this for your forbearance of this Ordinance is to excuse one Sin by another which is a Plea that God will not allow of 3. It may be some that make this Objection are better prepared then they take themselves to be For there are many sincere Christians who being naturally of a Melancholly Temper or of a Timerous Spirit and having mean Thoughts of themselves are full of Jealousies and Fears concerning their own Sincerity and afraid of being found Hypocrites at last Whereas this is one good Sign of their Sincerity that they are Self-suspicious and such though they come Trembling to this Ordinance are more fit and worthy and so like to be more Welcome Guests at the Lords-Table than many of those who approach it with great Confidence but over-looking or not clearly discerning the Grace of God in themselves they want the Comfort and so give not God the Glory of his Grace Now such as these should not rest satisfied in their own Judgment of the State of their Souls but seek to some Judicious Minister for spiritual Counsel and help herein 4. If you are not yet fit when will you be so Hath not God given you many Years to prepare for this Ordinance And are you not still as unfit as ever Yea more unfit now then you have formerly been Whereas in a few Days well improved you might have gotten a Gospel-fitness 5. If you are not prepared for this Ordinance doubtless you are not prepared for Death and how dare you live unprepared for that one Day or Hour seeing you know you must Dye e're long and you may dye soon even this Day or Hour and should you dye in an unprepared State must you not be miserable for ever O let the serious Consideration of this Danger quicken you to prepare for Death and then you will be prepared for this Ordinance also 6. What hath hitherto hindred your Preparation Hath it not been want of a Sense of your Duty to wait on God in the Use of this as well as of other Ordinances And of your need of it for spiritual Ends Your worldly Cares and Incumbrances your Love to some Sin or other and loathness to leave it or your Sloath and Carelessness about your Souls Concerns Doubtless these have been the Obstructions that have kept you back from your Duty and these are Sins and must be repented of and turned from if ever you be saved Therefore set upon this Work presently Obj. 3. But others say some Ministers will not admit us to this Ordinance without a strict Examination of us they require we should have a great deal of Knowledge and we fear they will ask us such Questions as we shall not be able to Answer and then we shall be turned away with Shame Ans 1 The Ministers or Pastors of Churches are under Christ your spiritual Guides and Overseers and solemnly Charged to take heed both to Themselves and to their Respective Flocks as Acts 20.28 And Heb. 13.17 They are entrusted by Christ the Chief-shepherd with the Care of your Souls and must give an account to him of them in the Great Day He hath Empower'd them to teach and Rule his Church under him and by his Laws and will you not allow them to do their Duty And inquire into the State of your Souls and take heed whom they admit to meddle with these Holy Things Would it not be great unfaithfulness both to your Souls and their own too if they neglect their Duty 2. No Prudent Minister will ask you any Questions but such as you should be able to Answer If you are Adult or grown Persons and Educated under the Ministry of the Gospel and such as relate to Things necessary to be known to make you Wise unto Salvation They only inquire whether you understand in some Competent Measure the Religion you profess and Soul-saving Truth desiring to know what need you have of their Help by Way of Instruction and have you any Reason to be against this Surely did you well understand your own Interest and Wants you would beseech the Ministers of Christ to give you their Assistance in your Souls-concerns and thankfully accept it when offered to you 3 Inquire of those that have been with Ministers on this Occasion and have been Examined and Instructed by them and so admitted when duly qualified and hear what they say concerning this Matter and whether they Repent of their Applications to them and Converses with them Or whether they have found spiritual Benefit thereby If so let that encourage you to go and do likewise and suffer not Ministers to be Misrepresented and your Selves abused and prejudiced against them by flying and false Reports or your own evil Surmises 4. Suppose the worst that Ministers upon Conversing with you should not find you duly qualified for this Ordinance will it do you any hurt to be brought to a better Knowledge of the State of your own Souls and to be counselled and directed by those that are wiser than your Selves what to do that you may get due Qualifications And this is the worst Treatment you are like to find at Ministers Hands 5. Consider this seriously if any Prophane or Unworthy Persons should be admitted to this Holy Ordinance thro' the neglect of Ministers their Prophanation of it would be justly chargeable on such Ministers and therefore Love to their own Souls as well as to the Souls of others should make them careful in this Matter This made Holy Calvin that Blessed Instrument of the Reformation deny the Lords-Supper to one Bartherius and other Servetians who were most unworthy of it tho some called Protestants rose up against him for it so that he was ready if not altogether forced to leave Geneva for a Time yet bearing up his Christian Courage he said I like Chrysostome will rather suffer Death
provoked to inflict some Judgment upon them 4. Seeing the Lords-Supper is appointed for the increase and strengthening of Grace where it is and not for the working of Grace where it is not and so those that approach it should be only Gracious Persons if they would receive Benefit thereby for we must first live spiritually as well as naturally before we Eat and Drink therefore it is needful that the Pastor inquire also into the State of the Candidates Soul What experience he hath had of the workings of Gods Word and Spirit upon him What Reason he can give of the hope of Salvation that is in him What Evidences he hath of a saving change or work of Grace upon his Heart 1 Pet. 3.15 And for the better discovery of his Souls Condition direct him in that needful and useful Duty of Self-examination and Exhort him to a diligent performance of it and to an Holy Jealousie over his own Heart least he should be deceived by it in a Matter of so great Importance 1 Cor. 11.28 29. The Sacramental Catechism may be very helpful to him in this Work in which he will find the Marks or Signs of saving Grace and thereby may the better Judge of his own Case 4. When the Pastor hath received Satisfaction in these Points and in the Judgment of Charity believes him to have a Gospel-right to and fitness for this Ordinance it seems necessary at least on a prudential account and for the fuller Satisfaction of the Church that the Person be propounded to the Church when met together by Name and Place of Habitation and held as an Expectant for some convenient Time at least from the Time of his Proposal to the next Sacrament-day That the Members may have liberty and opportunity to Inquire whether he be well reported of and unblameable in his Conversation And that they first give the Pastor an Account of what they hear more Privately that if any thing be objected he may further inform himself as to the Truth of it and the Person be kept off until the Objection shall be removed and all concerned receive Satisfaction 5. When the Expectant is actually to be admitted and come before the Church The Pastor may signifie him to be the Person formerly propounded to them desiring to be joyned to them and admitted to full Communion with them requiring that if any Member remain yet unsatisfied he would Now speak or by their silence lifting up the Hand or other Signal testifie their unanimous Consent to his Admission which being done the Pastor may next desire him to make Profession of his Faith and own his Baptismal-Covenant addressing himself to him in these or such like Words Seeing you desire to be admitted into full Communion with this Church of Christ to walk with it in all Gospel-Ordinances and Duties and to partake with it in all Church-Priviledges and it being fit the Church should satisfied that every Person admitted a Member thereof do own and profess the same Principles of the Christian Faith which the Church professeth In Order to this Satisfaction you are desired to make true Answer to these following Questions Q. 1. Do you believe there is but one only Living and True God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which are Three distinct Persons and each of them God and yet all of them but One God Infinite Eternal and Unchangeable in his Being Wisdom Power Holiness Justice Goodness and Truth A. I do believe this Q. 2. Do you believe that this God from all Eternity ordained whatsoever comes to pass in Time and that in the beginning of Time he Created and made the whole World and all Things therein out of nothing by the Word of his Power in the space of six Days and all very Good and that he doth still uphold preserve and govern it according to his own Will and for his own Glory A. I do believe this Q. 3. Do you believe that God made Man upright after his own Image in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness with Dominion over the Creatures here below and that he entred into a Covenant of Life with him upon Condition of Perfect Obedience forbidding him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil upon Pain of Death A. I do believe this Q. 4. Do you believe that our first Parents being left to the Freedom of their own Wills and hearkening to the Temptation of Satan Transgressed the Commandment of God by Eating the forbidden Fruit and so brake their Covenant with God and thereby brought themselves and all their Posterity descending from them by ordinary Generation into an Estate of Sin and Misery A. I do believe this Q. 5. Do you believe that Man thus fallen was not able to recover himself and that God having out of his meer good Pleasure elected some to Everlasting Life did enter into a Covenant of Grace to deliver them out of that Estate of Sin and Misery and to bring them into an Estate of Salvation by Christ as a Redeemer A. I do believe this Q. 6. Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ being the Eternal and only begotten Son of God became Man also in the fulness of Time by taking to himself a true Body and a reasonable Soul being Conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her Humane Substance and born of her yet without Sin both in his Nature and Life and that so he was and continueth still to be both God and Man in Two distinct Natures and one Person for ever A. I do believe this Q. 7. Do you believe that this Redeemer of God Elect as a Prophet doth Teach his Church by his Word and Spirit the Will of God for their Salvation And as a Priest hath satisfied Divine Justice for their Sins and reconciled them to God by his once Offering up himself as a Sacrifice unto God in Suffering the Cursed Death of the Cross and now continually interceeds for them in Heaven and as a King subdues the Elect unto himself Ruleth and Defendeth them and Restrains and Conquers all his and their Enemies A. I do believe this Q. 8. Do you believe that though this Jesus Christ was put to Death and Buried yet he rose again from the Dead on the Third Day shewed himself to his Disciples and Conversed with them alive and afterward in the sight of divers of them ascended into Heaven where he still remaineth sitting at the Right Hand of God the Father from whence he shall come at the Day appointed by God to Judge the World in Righteousness A. I do believe this Q. 9. Do you believe that God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son hath fully and sufficiently Revealed the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the perfect perpetual and only Rule of our Faith and Obedience And that the same Holy Spirit doth Effectually apply the Redemption purchased by
Christ with all the saving Benefits of his Mediation Death and Merits to the Elect by working Faith in them and thereby uniting them to Christ in their Effectual Calling A. I do believe this Q. 10. Do you believe that this Holy Spirit of God dwelleth and worketh in all that are Effectually Called and drawn to Christ And that all Gods Elect being united unto Christ as to their Common Head make up one Catholick Church or Mystical Body of Christ the Members whereof having Fellowship with God the Father Son and Spirit by Faith and one with one another by Love do in this Life partake of Justification Adoption and Sanctification with all the Benefits that do accompany or flow from them And that their Souls at Death are made perfect in Holiness and do immediately pass into Glory but their Bodies being still united to Christ do rest in their Graves till the Resurrection A. I do believe this Q. 11. Do you believe that these precious Benefits purchased by Christ are dispensed to the Elect by the Holy Spirit of God in the Use of his Sacred Ordinances the Word Sacraments and Prayer as being the means appointed by God for the Working Increasing and Perfecting of Grace in their Hearts and that therefore these Ordinances are duly and reverently to be used and carefully improved by Christians to these spiritual Ends until Christs second Coming A. I do believe this Q. 12. Do you believe that in the general Resurrection at the last Day all the Righteous shall be raised up in Glory by Vertue of their Union unto Christ their Head and shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted by him their Judge and so made perfectly Blessed in the Full and Eternal Enjoyment of God in Heaven whereas the Wicked also shall be raised by the Power of Christ but shall be condemned by him and sent into Everlasting Punishment in Hell A. I do believe this Q. 1. Do you also own and heartily Consent unto your Covenant with God in Baptism that is repenting of your Sins against God and renouncing the World the Flesh and the Devil Do you take the only Living and True God for your only God and Chief Good God the Father to be your God and Father God the Son to be your Redeemer and Saviour and God the Holy Ghost to be your Sanctifier Guide and Comforter And do you sincerely give up your whole Self Soul and Body to this one God as his Covenant-Servant to Believe Love and Obey him constantly and faithfully according to his Word and that unto the Death A. I do this sincerely as far as I know my own Heart Q. 2. Are you desirous to partake of the Holy Ordinance of the Lords-Supper as being a Seal of the Covenant of Grace That thereby this Covenant between God and you may be Renewed and Confirmed and that you may thereby keep in thankful Memory the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ A. This is my unfeigned Desire Q. 3. Do you truly Consent and Promise to submit to the Holy Discipline and Government which the Lord Jesus Christ the only Head and Law-giver of his Church hath ordained for his own Glory and his Churches good and in particular to submit to the spiritual Guidance and over-sight of the Pastor of this Church according to the Mind of Christ A. I do truly Consent and Promise so to do Q. 4. Will you also patiently submit to the Christian Admonitions and Reproofs of your Fellow-Members in this Church and conscientiously perform the same Duty towards them if occasion so require according to Christs own command for Church Order A. I will do so the Lord enabling me These Questions thus Proposed and Answered The Pastor may apply himself to the Person concerned in these or such like Expressions Upon this serious and credible Profession of the Christian Faith which you have now made before God and this Church the Renewing of your Covenant with God and the Satisfaction I have had concerning the suitableness of your Conversation * Here I humbly conceive the Imposition of the Pastors Hands may properly take Place I Receive and admit you into full Communion with this Church of Christ to walk with it in all Gospel-Ordinances and Duties and to partake with it in all Gospel-Priviledges And I as the Pastor thereof Exhort and Beseech you yea I Charge and Command you in the Name of the Chief Sheppard our Lord Jesus Christ That you hold fast this Christian Faith which you have now professed and be faithful and stedfast in that Covenant with God which you have now Renewed And that denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts you live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this present World that you may also be received by Christ and owned by him in the great Day as a living Member of his Mystical Body and God in Covenant may be your God and Portion for ever When Imposition of Hands shall be used it seems proper to joyn a short Prayer with it at the close of this Exhortation for Christs gracious Reception of the Person thus admitted Gods favourable Acceptance of him through Christ the Confirming of his Covenant with him and bestowing the Grace of the Covenant upon him c. Mean while the Pastor may put up such Petitions for him in his Prayer before the Celebration of this Ordinance Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti Si non His utere mecum If thou know'st what doth more with Rule agree Kindly impart it Or use this with me FINIS BOOKS Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside A Treatise of the Institution right Administration and receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord 's upper By Mr. Richard Vines A True Touch-stone of Grace and Nature or a Discourse concerning Self-examination with Meditations relating to the Lord's Supper By Mr. N. Vincent late Minister of the Gospel A Communicant Instructed or Practical Directions for worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper By Fran. Roberts M. A. Convivium Caeleste or a Discourse concerning the Lord's Supper shewing at once the Nature of that â—acrament as also the right Way of preparing our selVes for the receiving of it c. by the Right Reverend Father in God Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells Sacramental Discourses on several Texts before and after the Lord's Supper By John Shower Sacramental Discourses upon several Subjects to which is added a Discourse of the Life of Faith By Christopher Amirant Minister of the Gospel in Norfolk The Welcome Communicant or a Brief Discourse directing the weakest Christian proceeding from Grace to Grace how he may come with cheerfulness to the Lord's Table The Worthy Communicant or a Treatise shewing the due Order of receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Jeremiah Dyke The Fountain of Life opened Or a display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty Sermons on various Texts 4 to Pneumatologia Or a Treatise of the Soul of Man 4 to Both by Mr. John Flavel Late Minister in Dartmouth Scripture-Light about the Gospel-Ordinance of Baptism in a Letter to some Scrupulous Friends A Treatise of the Lord's Sufferings By Tho. Doolittle M. A. Monthly Preparations for the Holy Communion By R. B. To which is added suitable Meditations before in and after Receiving with Divine Hymns in Common Tunes A Treatise on the Sacrament By Tho. Watson The Poor Mans Melp and Young Man's Guide An Argumentative and Practical Discourse of Infant-Baptism These two by W. Burkitt Rector of Dedham in Essex An Allarm to unconverted Sinners By Jos Alâ—â—â— Discourses concerning the Rich Man and Laâ—arus By Tim. Cruso Late Minister of the Gospel â—n London The Golden Snuffers a Sermon Preached to the Society for Reformation of Manners By Dan â—urgess Proofs of God's Being and of the Scriptures Divine Original with Twenty Directions for the profitable Reading of them By D. Burgess Holy Confidence well improved by Nehemiah and the Jews whose Faith and Spirit were consider'd and applied to the Societies for Reformation oâ— Manners In a Sermon at Salters Hall in London Aug. 16. 2697. By Mat. Sylvester A Looking-Glass for the Unmarried wherein they may see these five Things viz. 1. Thâ— Benefits Helps and Comforts of Marriage 2. How they may proceed regularly in Order to Marriage 3. How to make a Happy Choice 4. How to demean themselves to each other in Order to Family Peace and Concord 5. The Relative Duty of Husband and Wife The Righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel Or an impartial Enquiry into the genuine Doctrine of St. Paul in the great but much controverted Article of Justification to which are prefixed the Epistles of the Right Reverend the Bishops of Ely Worcester and Chester By Mr. John Humfrey Mr. John Humfrey's Friendly Interposer between the Authors of those Papers the one called A Report the other A Rebuke of that Report in Order to a sound Reconciliation between the Presbyterian and the Independents in Doctrinals by preparing a Third Way when both of them are out in theâ—â— own Way The Swearers Doom or a Discourse against Vainâ— and Rash Swearing By John Rost A. M. Rectoâ— of Offwel and Gittisham in Devon A Body of Practical Divinity containing a hundred seventy six Sermons upon the Assemblies shorteâ— Catechism By Tho. Watson Folio An Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Philip Henry Minister of the Gospel near Whit-church in Shropshire