a spirituall strengthning and refreshing of the soul to cure those spirituall diseases to which the soul is subject These diseases are spirituall weakness and weariness faintings and defectiveness Apostacie and declination That this is so not only the frequent admonitions and exhortations in sacred Scripture do pre-suppose but also is confirmed by reason and evidenced by too wofull experience Reason to confirm this may be drawn from the nature of grace it self which is no part of the soul nor any faculty in the soul but only a quality dwelling in the soul as light in the Ayr heat in the water or rather as sap in the branches for as they dry up and wither if either the union of them to the root be cut off or the passage of the sap be hindred and interrupted so is it here that is except there be a conscionable use and attendance upon the word and Sacraments we cannot expect that grace should live The seed of the New-birth is termed incorruptible by S. Peter because by using the means appointed it is preserved from decay Not so is it in the naturall birth no use of means no food nor physick can preserv the liveliness of that beyond an appointed time Nay even the preparation of a Remedy is the supposition of a malady As therefore the ordination of Baptism to incorporate us first into Christ doth prov that by nature we are wild Olives so the ordination of this Sacrament to continue this Union and from this Union continued to convey spirituall strength and refreshing doth sufficiently prov what would become of us after we are in the state of grace if God should leav man to himself Behold then the goodness of our God who knowing our malady hath provided a Remedy this Remedy is to partake of the holy Sacrament of Christs most blessed body and blood for which cause our duty is to frequent the same both to prevent but especially to repaire the decays of grace in the soul so then dost thou keep thy standing in grace hast thou as yet not failed nor faultred yet be not high-minded but fear the worst thou knowst not what tentations may encounter thee nor how much strength thou shalt need Go therefore to the Sacrament that thy soul may be strengthned thy strength increased prevent a mischief But now hast thou failed stumbled fallen oh then make haste to this blessed Ordinance that thou mayst be refreshed and recovered See then how much they are Enemies to their own souls who suffer themselvs to be hindred and kept away from this blessed Ordinance whether it be through covetousness or consciousness While men covet revenge or as they use to speak while they desire to right themselves by following the Law they lose the benefit of Receiving not that they must needs forbear but Sathan doth so disturb the passion in them while they prosecute the Law that they cannot settle their thoughts to so holy a work Consciousness also keeps many back from the Sacrament when sinn hath gotten into the soul and guilt hath crept into the conscience we dare not present our selvs before God but like our father Adam do hide our selvs and prov the greatest enemies to our own souls To shut up this point see how each Sacrament doth work as a convenient means to produce that end for which they were ordained Baptism is appointed to admit us into the Covenant of grace to give us our first title and interest in Christ and in it we have wrought in us Remission and Renovation a death unto sinn and a new birth unto Righteousness The Lords Supper doth strengthen and refresh our souls and therefore fitly appointed and designed to this end to be the Sacrament of our Confirmation By Baptism as we heard the soul was regenerate and made partaker of the seeds of grace These seeds being watered and as it were hatched up by the Ministry of the word are strengthned ripened and confirmed by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and now is the faithfull soul confirmed in the state of grace and certain expectation of eternall Salvation For the close of all that hath been said touching the efficacy of the Sacraments peruse those few lines which our Church hath set down in the first part of that Homily which intreateth of the worthy receiving and reverend esteeming of the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. The words are these We need not to think that such exact knowledg is required of every man that he be able to discuss all high points of the doctrin thereof But this much we must be sure to hold that in the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent But as the Scripture saith the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annuntiation of his death yea the Communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very bond of our Conjunction with Christ is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithfull wherby not only their souls live to eternall life but they surely trust to winn their bodies a Resurrection to immortality The true understanding of this fruition and union which is betwixt the body and the head betwixt the true beleevers and Christ the Ancient Catholick Fathers both perceiving themselvs and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper some of them the salv of immortality and sovereign Preservative against death Others a Deificall Communion Others the sweet dainties of our Saviour the pledg of eternall health the defence of faith the hope of Resurrection Others the food of immortality the healthfull grace and the Conservatory to everlasting life All which sayings both of the holy Scriptures and godly men truly attributed to this celestiall banquet and feast if we often call to mind oh how would they inflame our hearts to desire the participation of these mysteries and oftentimes to covet after this bread continually to thirst for this food CHAP. X. Corollaries drawn from the Premisses FRom the observation of the particular and speciall ends of either Sacrament may the reason be givē why Baptism is administred and received but once the Lords Supper oftentimes The ground of which practice binding us to obedience under correction I speak it I take to be not any direct text of Scripture either commanding the one or prohibiting the other but the tradition of the ancient Church received and approved by the constitution of the present Church Neither is this therfore in the liberty of the Church to alter both because the Antiquity and Universality of it doth prov it to be Apostolicall and also because the originall of this custome may in a certain sence be said to be Divine This originall is the analogie and proportion which holdeth between the Sacraments of the old Testament and the
it self Hence also is the translation of phrases that what is peculiar to the sign is translated to the signified and what is proper to the signified grace is applyed also to the externall sign Thus Baptism is said to wash the soul from sinn and the Lords Supper to feed the soul with grace because it is united and conveigheth that grace to the soul which indeed can work upon the soul and the blood of Christ is said to wash the body and blood are said to feed because they are united to and conveyed by these Elementall signs whose proper operation is to wash and feed Qu. Doth not this then prov the Reall Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament Ans. A Reall presence the Church of England holdeth if we rightly understand the phrase and against the Sacramentarians we maintain that the body and blood of Christ are verely and indeed taken and received of the faithfull in the Lords Supper Nor do we fear to say that as in Baptism water washeth the body and as in the Lords Supper the bread feedeth the body so also doth the blood of Christ wash the soul and the body of Christ feed it to eternall life Nor do we understand this to be a truth only thus that as the one washeth and feedeth the body so certainly doth the other wash and feed the soul nor thus only that at the same time when the one doth wash and feed the body the other doth wash and feed the soul both these are truths but neither of them enough to expresse the whole truth The first noteth no relation at all betwixt the sign and the grace the other only a relation of time not of causality more or less But thus we understand it That in that the body is washed with this water and nourished with this bread the soul is also cleansed by the blood of Christ and nourished with his body Thus I say and in this sence we grant a reall presence according to the Scriptures our Saviour saith of the bread this is my body and Saint Paul doth well explain the meaning of it in that Quaere of his The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ as who should say it is so indeed the same may be said of the water in Baptism that it is the Communion of the blood of Christ that is more than a bare sign of representation even a mean of receiving that grace which to the faithfull is really present and of them verily received in the Sacrament This is confessed of all both Romish and Reformed and had not the Curiosity of mens brains proceeded further to determin preremptorily of the speciall manner of this Reall Presence we might in this have held Communion But as in other matters of Religion and mysteries of Godlinesse so also in this mans restless head and curious brain ready enough to pry into things reserved and rash too much to determine of them and to defend his determinations hath put the Church to much toyl and labour and to continuall vexation And here by the way it may be worth the noting that the most of those hereticall pravities which have alwayes vexed the Church have been not of the truth of the thing but of the manner of explication The Articles of the Trinity of Christs Incarnation Descensâ—on Ascension personall Union Sacramentall presence The article of the Procession of the holy Ghost of Justification by faith of the concord and co-operation of Gods grace and mans will these and others of the same nature have not been so much denied or questioned of their truth as of the manner of truth And had not Curiosity been seconded by pertinacy we might happily have filled the Schools with questions not the Church with Heresies How much better had it been to have followed the modestie of our Church in this question which setteth down what is received from Scripture but wadeth no further Certainly as touching these modalities better it is Christianly to beleev than curiously to inquire And the use which we ought to make of all mysteries of Godliness when we meet with them and their inexplicable difficulties is 1. To admire the infinite and incomprehensible wisdome of God whose wayes are past finding out so Saint Paul Rom. 11.33.2 To be humbled in the sight and sence of our own Ignorance thus Agur Prov. 30.2.3 To sigh and long for the time of Revelation saying Oh when shall I come thither where I shall see and know as I am known 4. To cleav fast to the truth that is revealed blessing God for it and striving to gain the benefit therof Would men take this course when they meet with intricate positions they should provide much better for the practice of Piety Quest. What then must we sit down and rest with a generall and implicite faith Resp. Certainly an implicite Faith were it joyned with an explicite Obedience would be more beneficiall to many to whom it would be much more profitable if lesse time were spent in seeking knowledg and more in practising what they know But further I add that the Church and Ministery may yea ought to examine the curiosities of them that will determine and to censure them accordingly Thus because the Papist will peremptorily determine his Reall presence to be by the way of Transubstantiation The Lutheran his by the way of Consubstantiation we stand bound to examine what truth or falshood is in either of them This the Reformed Churches have done particularly the Church of England hath done and findeth that Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of the bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord that this I say cannot be proved by holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of the Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions The same may be said of Consubstantiation yea the Church findeth that this kind of reall presence doth overthrow the grounds of Reason and Religion 1. Of Reason and Philosophy Quoniam naturae humanae veritas c. Seeing that the verity of humane nature requireth that the body of one and the same man cannot be present in many places altogether but must needs remain in some definite and certain place therefore the body of Christ cannot be present in many and divers places at one and the same time 2. Of Religion and Divinity Quoniam ut tradunt c. Because according to the Doctrine of the sacred Scriptures Christ was taken up into heaven there to abide till the end of the world therfore no faithfull Christian ought either to beleev or profess any as they call it corporall presence of Christs flesh and blood in either Sacrament upon these grounds the corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament is refused yet is not therfore the Sacramentarians naked signification admitted because it commeth farr short of the
acquaint us with this Redemption is the ministery of the Word and Sacraments And here is the businesse and malice of Sathan that grand enemy of our Salvation Hee could not hinder the work of our Redemption but hee will do what hee can to hinder us from the knowledge and comfort of the same For this end one while hee seeketh to darken the light of the Sunne otherwhiles to oppresse the heat thereof sometimes to trouble the pure streams of knowledge running in the word sometimes to turne aside the waters of comfort streaming in the Sacraments Here then is the office of the Church and the members thereof to preserve as much as they can the text of holy Scripture and the Doctrine of the holy Sacraments free from all Corruption To preserve I say if it may be or else to vindicate both the one and the other from that which is contracted that in them and by them the Children of the Church may bee able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that so thâ—y may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Since the time that Popery truly so called hath beene discovered to be meere delusion rather than true Christian doctrine by the light of the glorious Gospell in this later age breaking forth like the Sunne from under some cloud It may be worth our labour to note how by little and little one point after another hath beene purged from corruption and by the labours of of the industrious learned brought to that light and perfection that we cannot readily see what more can be added If any thing bee yet wanting it is time that the labours of the faithfull Ministerie be applied to the doctrine of the Sacraments that it also may be yet further cleared from the misconceits of errour and ignorance and the people taught to yeeld that respect and honour which is due to that sacred ordinance For this cause have I tho the unablest of many set pen to paper that what light my selfe have gained by perusing the doctrine of our Church touching this argument I may not envy it to others a fault too frequent in this age but rather present it to their view that others also may see the same and so receive more fruit and comfort by the Sacraments than hitherto At least that hereby they may be stirred up to dig deeper and seek further than happily as yet they have done into the doctrine and usefulnesse of these sacred mysteries To come to the knowledge of the nature and use of the Sacraments three things are especially to be learned viz. What a Sacrament is Why it was instituted and what qualification is required in the Receivers To these three heads may well bee reduced whatsoever is needfull especially for the vulgar for whose sake I undertook this task needfull I say to be known In the handling of which I will precisely follow the doctrine of the Church of England not only because by subscription I am bound to acknowledge it for a truth but also because indâ—ed it doth best agree with the text of sacred writ and doth most fully and clearly explicate the sacred truth of this most usefull doctrine CHAP. I. What a Sacrament is THE Notation of the word we leave to Criticks together with the common use thereof in humane Authors As it is used by Divines we are to speak of it And so the Church defineth Sacraments to be not only badges of Christian mens profession but rather they bee certain sure testimonies and effectuall signes of grace and Gods good will towards us By which he doth work invisibly in us and doth not only quicken but also strengthen and confirme our faith in him Thus in the Articles of Religion enacted and established Anno 1562. Afterward in the second book of Homilies viz. in that of Common-prayer and Sacraments out of Saint Augustine is confirmed the common description of a Sacrament which saith the Homily is that it is a visible signe of an invisible grace that is to say that setteth out to the eyes and other outward senses the inward working of Gods free mercy and doth as it were seal in our hearts the promises of God A little after distinguishing of Sacraments according to the exact signification of the word from the generall acception of the same it sheweth that in the exact signification of the word Sacraments are visible signes expresly commanded in the new Testament whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgivenesse and of our holinesse and joyning to Christ. To the same effect and almost in the same words hath Mr. Nowell in his larger Catechisme set down the definition of a Sacrament Out of all which when in the conference at Hampton Court Anno 1603 in the first yeare of King Iames of blessed memory it was motioned granted and appointed that something should bee added to the Catechisme in the Communion book for the doctrine of the Sacraments this definition was collected viz. That a Sacrament is an outward visible signe of an inward and spirituall grace given unto us ordained by Christ himselfe as a mean whereby we receive the same and as a pledge to assure us thereof In which description beside the end of the Institution which I reserve to speak of by it selfe in the second part wee have a cleare expression of the Quiddity and Essence of the Sacraments together with the Author and Originall of them Of which in order The Essence of a Sacrament THis is conteined in the Genus and Species The Genus or common nature of a Sacrament is that it is a sign The Specificall nature or difference of a Sacrament is that it is externall and visible A SIGN This I say sets forth the common nature of a Sacrament The word is a note of Relation and puts us upon this question Whereof is it a sign The answer is ready A sign of grace The Article addeth signs of grace and Gods good will towards us What this Grace this effect of Gods good will to us ward is wee shall best determin when wee find it in the severall Sacraments For the present the Church saith it is Inward and spirituall that is such a Grace as resteth not in the body but reacheth to the inner man the Soul and Spirit Moreover it is a grace given unto us not only reported or proffered but also given and put into our possession OUTVVARD and VISIBLE This word puts a difference betwixt this and other signs of grace This is a signe for Representation and therefore must be obvious to the senses By these is knowledge conveyed into the understanding Thus is the Body a loving yoke-fellow and helper to the Soul Neither is this sign only outward but also visible and subject to the Eye Herein differing from the word Grace maketh way into the Soul by the Eare by the Eye By the Eare in the
Repentance viz. By shewing us our naturall corruption which must be washed before wee be acknowledged for members of Christ meditate of this when thou seest the Infant baptised and see it I advise thee so often as it is done that so thou mayst often take notice of the spirituall pollution of the soul of the soul I say for this washing in Baptism is not in respect of the bodie but of the soul in the body he that resteth in the washing of the body loseth al. The forme of words used in the Administration of Baptism hath in it somthing essentiall and something accidentall and alterable Essentiall it is that with the name of the Action there bee joyned a recitation and rehearsall of the severall persons of the blessed Trinity The reason of this will appeare if we once understand what it is to baptise in the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost Note here that the word NAME used in this place may have three significations 1 To signifie the authority by which the Minister doth baptise As wee say in the Kings name that is by authority from the King Thus the phrase is used in Mar. 16.17 Iohn 5.43 Acts 4.7.10 So that this phrase I baptise in the name is as much as Authoritate mihi commissâ By that authority which I have received do I baptise thee 2 To intimate the service of the persons named and so to baptise in their name is to dedicate and consecrate to their service to adopt into their family So the Minister prayeth Grant that whosever is here dedicated to thee by our office and ministery To dedicate unto God what is it but to adopt into the family to consecrate to the service of God 3 To remember the faith and profession of this Article of the Christian Religion and consequently the whole profession of Christianity And well may this Article bee given for instance of the whole because it is the first poynt wherein the Christian religion differeth from others It is also the summe of the whole and virtually comprehendeth all the residue This is the substance and method of the Creed wherof not the Church but Christ himself was the Author Now according to this the phrase to baptise in the name doth note forth the end of baptising viz. why he doth baptise him even to enter him into the faith and profession of the Christian Religion and this may seeme to be the sence and meaning of the phrase in the judgement of the Church for after the solemn profession of the Christian faith according to the articles of the Creed which is exacted of the partie baptised the Minister demandeth of him wilt thou be baptised in this faith to which when he hath answered this is my desire he is baptised in the name of the Father c. So that by submitting himselfe to Baptism he doth subscribe to the Christian faith adde this also that when the Minister doth crosse the childs forehead he useth these words In token that he shall not bee ashamed to professe the faith of Christ crucified which words do plainly expresse the end wherfore it is done neither doubt I but that the Church appointed this to be done in imitation of the other ministeriall Act and so by the variation of the phrase shewed what they conceived to be the meaning of that phrase used in Baptism viz. to bind the partie to the profession of this Faith By this now we see the reason why it is Essentiall to the form of Administration that with naming the action there bee a recitation of the Trinity viz. because the mention of the holy Trinity doth determinate the end and use of the act which being of it selfe indefinite and appliable to many other ends is by these words limited to this alone Consequently such a form of words wherein this is omitted is not to be allowed It is objected out of Acts 2.38 there is another form of words delivered But we answer that these words do not set down the form of Baptism but the end and use of it viz. to assure them of Remission of sinnes by Christ or if they do intimate the form yet not the whole form but only part of the form used by the Apostles and that either by Apposition of the name of Christ to the second person as thus in the name of the Father and of his sonne Iesus Christ and of the holy Ghost or else by a Ceremony superadded as doth our Church for explication of that faith which was required to be placed in the second Person under the name of Iesus Christ. Whatsoever it was that they did or said it must not be received that they left out the names of the other persons doubtlesse they did expressely name them all both because that else the words had been lesse plain and distinct than the sign it selfe and also because that else they had transgressed the precept of Christ Matt. 28. thus much for the Essentialls in the administration ACCIDENTALL in the form of Administration it is to insert the Pronouns I and THEE yet usefull and profitable to note the different persons Minister and Receiver EGO I noteth the Person baptising who must be a lawfull Minister such a one who hath received authoritie to preach or publish the Gospell A troublesome question there is among the Schoolmen and their followers about the Minister of Baptism whether a Layick a Woman yea an Ethnick might not well and lawfully do it in case of Necessitie The Anabaptists also dispute this question against their brethren of the Separation Something also there hath been to do in our Church about it see Cartwright denying women and Layicks any power Whitgift and Hooker pleading for it at last King Iames determined the question in the conference at Hampton Court and caused the Rubrick of private baptism in the Communion book to appropriate the act of baptising to the lawfull Minister and that justly it being most properly the office of the Minister to stand in the place of God and to seale his children in their forheads TE THEE noteth the partie baptised which is another not the Minister so that no man may baptise himselfe wherein is detected the folly of Smith the Se-baptist who having runne the wild-goose-chace separating first from the Church of England then from the Brownists came at last to the Anabaptists yet not as a disciple but as a Father and founder of a new Church and therefore baptised himselfe which neither Iohn Baptist nor any other did before him To end this discourse wee see what is Essentiall in the forme of Administration what is accidentall wee in our Church retain that form of words which hath been used in the Church of Rome and justly too it being confessed and acknowledged to be as well as it could be framed wherein we may do well to note the providence of God over his Church who even in the corruptest time hath preserved intire
for the Sacrament of Baptism that which is signified by the water to speak exactly is the blood of Christ not the blood in the living bodie but the blood that was spilt and shed upon the ground prefigured in the Law by the blood of the sacrifices which was sprinkled upon the unclean for the purifying of the flesh The blood of Bulls and Goats were shaddows of prefiguration but the body is Christ whose blood doth wash and cleans the soul from sinne and is signified by the water in Baptism Q. How can this be may some say when as the blood of Christ is signified by the Wine in the Lords Supper For answer hereunto we shall do well to remember what Saint Iohn hath related in his Gospell viz. That upon the peiâ—cing and goring of Christs side there came forth blood and water what water was this not any miraculous humour much lesse the corruption of blood in Pleuritick bodies but that watery substance which Anatomists do find in the Pericardium placed there by nature as it may seem for the refrigeration of the heart Now for the full manifestation of the death of Christ it pleased the providence of God to make use of the malice of the Souldier to peirce the Pericardium and gore the heart which being done it is impossible for any one to live And this watery substance is that which the water of Purification and the water of Baptism doth properly signifie the which tâ—o in propriety of nature it differ from the blood of the vitall vessels viz. the heart and the liver running in the veins and arteries yet in common phrase it is called the blood of Christ which blood of Christ is represented in both the Sacraments Hence there is a different respect of the blood of Christ shed for expiation and a two-fold use of it after the effusion viz. partly for Nutrition in the Supper partly for ablution and purgation as in the Sacrament of Baptism hence are those phrases of washing and cleansing so frequent in the new Testament this is that fountain which is set open for sinne and for uncleannesse thus in the new Testament as well as in the old all things are purged by blood Hebrews 9.22 Thus both Sacraments have speciall Relation to the death of Christ which the phrase of Scripture doth manifest for of Baptism it is said that by it we are baptised into his death and buried with Christ Rom. 6.4 Col. 2.12 and the Supper is the remembrance and commemoration of the death of Christ 1 Cor. 11 26. and this doth fully manifest unto us what that grace is which is signified in the Sacrament and how the word Grace used in the definition of a Sacrament is to be understood Doubtlesse hereby is meant not a quality infused but a gracious gift bestowed upon us Now of Gods gracious gifts some are corporall and reach no further than the body Others are spirituall touching the state and welfare of the soule and such is that Grace or gracious gift presented in the Sacraments Again whereas there be divers sorts of these spirituall graces that Grace which is the ground-work of the Sacraments is not any among the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit but the gracious Gift of the Father who gave his own Sonne for us indeed Christ himselfe is that gracious gift of God which is presented to us in the Sacrament Christus quâ passus the body and blood of Christ given for mankind in the work of redemption are by the Sacrament given to mankind for the application of that redemption Bellarmin is deceived while in the heat of his scholasticall discourse he will needs have the Grace of Justification or as we do better stile it sanctification to be the thing which is principally signified in the Sacrament That is an effect and consequent but Christ crucified is the speciall signification of the Sacrament Reason giveth it for it is against the nature of the cause especially of the instrumentall cause to represent the effect which it self produceth Adde this the nature of a sacramentall sign consisteth in analogicall proportion now this is most apt betwixt these Elements and the body and blood of Christ so also of the operation of the one upon the body and of the other upon the soul but no similitude at all betwixt these Elements and the grace of Justification To conclude this both the doctrine of the Schoolmen and that common saying of the ancients received from Saint Augustine doth shew that Christus passus Christ on the Crosse is that grace which is primarily and principally signified in either Sacrament CHAP. V. A Corollary drawn from this part of the Definition NOvv from this first part of the Definition wherein we have heard the Essence and Originall of the Sacrament we may justly collect this Corollary viz. That if either part be wanting that is if either there want a visible sign or an invisible grace there can be no Sacrament And thus doth the Church teach her children that the parts of every Sacrament are and must be two the outward visible sign and the inward spirituall grace How can this be might some curious Critick say is the Genus and and common nature of a Sacrament the sign of grace and is grace now become part of the Sacrament Is not this all one as if the man should be called a part of the picture which is the representation of the man in very deed to speak properly grace is no part of the sign but Subjectum or Substratum praesuppositum the ground-work thereof but when we speak in the vulgar phrase we call those things parts which are any way Essentiall and so grace is a part of the sign that is essentiall to it for except it be a sign of grace it is not a Sacrament adde this also that howsover the School saith that the sign is properly as indeed properly it is the Sacrament and doth relatively oppose it to the grace signified yet the Church speaking to the capacity of the simple calleth the whole sacred action of Baptism and of the Supper by the name of the Sacrament which taken in this larger signification is as it were compounded of two things one earthly the other heavenly and these vulgarly are called the parts of the Sacrament as being both of them essentiall to the constitution of a Sacrament Hence is an argument fetcht to overthrow Transubstantiation which by changing the bread into the very body of Christ hath taken away the sign and so spoyled the Sacrament for as the soul departed and the body separated is not the man so neither the sign without the grace nor the grace without the sign but being both together considered relatively do make a Sacrament there may be therfore no change of the one into the other Hence also fetch arguments to convince those five obtruded by the Roman Church to be no true born Sacraments properly so called
a separate Ceremony tho in this use Chamier sheweth that it is not appointed at all but only taken up lately by some private spirits but admit it as a separate Ceremony It is used also in Absolution and Ordination take it as a relative Ceremony i. e. as it is used to apply the Element to the party so it is used in Baptism at least when in case of necessity the water is powred upon the childs forhead Lastly add this that every Sacrament of Christs Institution is common to every Minister of the Gospell this therfore say the same of Ordination being reserved to the Bishop of the Diocesse can be no Sacrament properly so called UNCTION hath a materiall Element grant it also to have been of divine Institution for the text of Saint Iames as Interpreters do agree is a repetition of what was done by the command of Christ himself Mark 6.13 yet can it be no Sacrament because it was temporary not perpetuall And whilst it lasted it was appoynted for the cure of the bodie not of the Soul It signified not the Passion of Christ nor doth it conferr the grace of Justification consequently is no Sacrament Ob. Yes Saint James saith if he have committed sinns they shall be forgiven him Sol. True but he saith before the prayer of Faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up this pertaineth to the body which was the principall end of appointing that Ceremony the benefit of the Soul was adventitiall and consequently tho for the time i.e. so long as the power of miracles lasted in the Church there might be something extraordinary in this Ceremony yet no proper Sacrament not then much lesse now since miracles have ceased To conclude these five Sacraments as the Papish call them were they purged from superstition and abuse might happily at least some of them be tolerated for ecclesiasticall rites and are excellent and profitable customs Thus the Church of England reteineth them all having cast away those adulterate Elements of Chrism and Oyl and findeth the use of them profitable for the furtherance of that religious care that ought to be found in all that professe themselvs Children of the Church and members of Christ. But never may these hope to be acknowledged for the great Sacraments of the Gospell no more Sacraments but two generally necessary to Salvation one for Admission another for Preservation sc. Baptism and the Lords Supper which is further manifested by the end why Sacraments were ordained THE SECOND GENERALL PART CHAP. VI. The end why Sacraments were instituted THis doth our Church expresse in those words of the Definition to be as a meanes by which we receiv the same that is the Grace signified and as a pledge to assure us thereof Note here two Branches of this end why they were ordained 1. A MEAN OF CONVEYANCE and so of receiving the Grace signified Herein differ Sacraments from other signs in that they do not only signifie and represent to the understanding and memory that gracious gift of God but also as Instruments do convey the same Like the Turf and the Twig in Livery and Seiz in like the Sergeants Mace in receiving his office Such are the Sacraments not unfitly compared to Chanells and Conduit pipes which derive the water from the Spring to the Cistern for even so do the Sacraments convey Christ with all his benefits to the worthy receiver 2. A PLEDG OF ASSVRANCE to assure us therof note that word therof must be referred to the verb Receiv not to the noun Grace Sacraments do not only assure us that such a benefit there is but that it is received by receiving the sign and indeed this doth depend upon the former for as by that legall instrument of Livery and Seizin the full possession of the purchase is known to be taken in taking and receiving that Instrument so here whosoever doth as all must and ought acknowledg the Sacrament to be an Instrument of conveying a mean of receiving cannot choos but acknowledg the same Sacrament to be a pledge of assurance Briefly they are first Instruments of conveyance and means of receiving consequently seales and pledges of assurance Prove the first and the later doth follow without constraint Excellently therfore hath reverend Master Perkins in three words set forth the nature of a Sacrament only I would a little invert the order of his words and fit them to the true meaning of our Church thus that Sacraments are signs to represent Instruments to convey and seals to confirm the conveyance of Christ with all his benefits Come we to particulars Baptism doth convey the blood of Christ and the other Sacrament both body and blood Hence and hereupon is the Necessitie of receiving the Sacrament even because the Elements do not transferr the grace as they are consecrated but as received The Turf and Twig the Mace must be received else nothing is done Nor to the Spectator but to the Receiver doth water in Baptism the Bread in the Lords Supper instrumentally convey the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Vse They therefore are deceived who make no more account nor acknowledge any further end of the Sacraments than to be naked signs of representation and Commemoration Or to be badges of our Profession to distinguish the Assemblies of Christians from the Synagogs of Iewes Turks and Pagans to unite the members of the Christian Church into an holy society Truth it is that all these are considerable in the Sacraments they are Signs Badges Cognizances Ligaments externall Ceremonies of Religion and testifications of our piety towards God But all these come short of that speciall and prime end for which they were ordained Distinctive badges they are in respect of the publike Administration which is the act of the Church Uniting badges they cannot bee except first they be instruments for wee are not united to Christ mediante Ecclesia that is in being first united to the Church but rather wee are united to the Church the body of Christ mediante Capite in being first united to Christ the head and by him one to another So then consider the Sacraments in their Administration and so they be Badges and Cognizances but in respect of their ordination and institution and so they are Means and Instruments Q. Whence is it that Sacraments are means of receiving Resp. Even from that Sacramentall union of the sign and the thing signified which being inseparable hence it is that in receiving the sign we receiv the grace also As by virtue of that personall Union of the two natures he that entertained and worshipped the sonn of man did also entertain and worship the sonn of God he that blasphemed and persecuted the sonn of man did the same to the sonn of God So here by reason of this Sacramentall union who so worthily receiveth the sign receiveth the grace who so unworthily handleth the sign doth also dishonour and dedignifie the grace
full nature of a Sacrament which serveth not only to represent but instrumentally to convey Christ and all his benefits So that well may the Church determine that verely and indeed Christ is present and consequently verely and indeed taken yet after an heavenly manner and received of the faithfull in the Sacrament Verily tho not carnally Really tho not corporally but spiritually in in the Sacrament that is in the exercise of that sacred action not otherwise Provided also that we understand this efficacy of the Sacraments to have place in them only qui sibi non ponunt obicem as the School speaketh which do not barr themselvs or to speak more plainly in the phrase of the Church only in the faithfull But of this herafter viz. cap. 11. CHAP. VII The speciall End of either Sacrament THE speciall end of Baptism is to communicate unto us the blood of Christ for washing the soul from the guilt of sinn and consequently our Admission into the Covenant of Grace The speciall end of the Lords Supper to communicate the body and blood of Christ for feeding and nourishing the soul unto eternall life and consequently our Confirmation in grace and holiness Hence we have the ground of that choice of Elements which our blessed Saviour made viz. not meerly the analogy which is betwixt the sign and the signified but also the excellency and exquisitness of that analogy and proportion In Baptism water is used and none other liquor because none other so proper for washing none other doth wash so clean as doth water and therfore none other so fit to signifie the blood of Christ which cleanseth the soul from all sinn In the Lords Supper bread and wine is used to represent the body and blood of Christ and see I pray you the excellent proportion that is betwixt them specially in the effects bread and wine nourish the body nothing better the body and blood of Christ nourish the soul nothing better yea nothing else So also in the manner of their preparation The bread is made a food for the body of many grains of corn bruised and baked the wine of Grapes trodden and pressed So the Body and blood of Christ became our spirituall food by being bruised and broken upon the Crosse Add this bread and wine do no good nay much harm except the stomack be prepared to digest them nor doth this spirituall food profit the soul nay it doth much hurt to the soul except the soul be worthily prepared BAPTISM is the Sacrament of our Admission nor is there any other ceremony or rite of admitting any into the Covenant of grace but only by Baptism The Church of Israel was admitted by Circumcision But since the time of Christ which we call the time of the new Testament all that will be admitted must be baptised hence that of our Saviour to Nicodemus Except a man be born of water and the spirit c. that is except by submitting himself to Baptism he do receiv the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven for which cause when he sent forth his Apostles he gave them charge to joyn Baptism with their teaching Goe teach and baptise Matt. 28. The Persons that have right of admission are as of old Beleevers and their children The Ceremony of Admission is altered but still as the Covenant is the same so the parties are the same beleevers and their children this is plain Act. 2.39 You and your children By beleevers we understand such as are converted to the faith Converts and Proselites these have right of Admission because faith is the condition of the new Covenant Mar. 16.16 and Iohn 3.16 You will happily say to me that if they beleev they are already in the Covenant partakers of it by faith and therfore need no further admission yes they are not compleatly within the Covenant till baptised Faith giveth them title and interest but the Sacrament admission Add this that it is one part of their faith to beleev the necessity of the Sacrament as a means to give them full possession of Christ And this doth cause them to seek for it in the Sacrament Children of Beleevers also have a right of Admission becaus they are part of their Parents and heirs of the promise due to their Fathers The faith of the parent intitleth the child unto the Covenant so much the more unjustly do the Anabaptists deal with beleevers and their children in shutting Infants out from Baptism thus questioning that ancient and long approved custome of the Church in all ages ever since Christ and his Apostles Traditions Apostolicall are authenticall and not to be refused because not written if found to be Apostolicall Apostolicall customs mentioned in the Scripture have a more unquestioned certainty than traditions but not greater authority Neither is this to set up Tradition as do the Papists to the prejudice of the Scripture because we admit none as Apostolicall which either are contrarie to the customes mentioned in the Scripture or which may not be confirmed as reasonable from the Scripture And such is the custome of baptising Infants which thus we confirm against the fore-mentioned Sectaries The infants of Christians are as capable of present Incorporation into Christ and Admission into the Covenant of grace as were the Infants of the Jews and if so which we prov out of Cor. 7.14 who shall barr them whom God hath not barred If not then hath not grace abounded in the new Testament but is rather shortned in comparison of the old as being restrained only to the Parent wheras before Infants also were comprehended and admitted The strength of this argument will appear more fully by taking away the cavills which they make against it Object 1. That text of Cor. 7.14 sheweth indeed that children are holy but how As the wife not otherwise viz. as she is sanctified to the use of her husband so the children to the use of their Parents Thus they but they falsifie the text for the text saith not of the children as it doth of the wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sanctified but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy which is more emphaticall neither doth the text speaking of the wife say she is sanctified to the husband but in or by the husband Nor is the text to be understood of the legitimation but of the sanctification of the bedd namely of federall sanctification or the holiness of the Covenant for it appeareth that the pretence of them that repudiated their wives was a fear lest the infidelity of the wife should deprive the husband of the covenant of grace which he had imbraced Saint Paul denyeth this and sheweth that rather the faith of the Beleevers should so farr prevail as to draw the other after a sort within the Covenant his reason is because the children of such are holy that is heirs of the Covenant Now I pray you mark well
Baptism as it were by an ante-dated pardon is dangerous no no we may not say so what is past before Baptism is pardoned and mortified viz. originall sin in children actuall in men-grown not sins to come and uncommitted these are not pardoned we speak not of the intention of God to pardon but of actuall Remission not actually remitted till by repentance the soul of man be as it were re-baptised in the blood of Christ Briefly then to the question propounded I would give this Answer that Baptism doth profit us in respect of sinns committed afterwards not becaus they are pre-remitted or that in Baptism there is an ante-dated pardon granted but becaus in Baptism the blood of Christ is communicated to be a remedy at hand ready for application which application must daily be made by the hand of faith if we desire dayly pardon hence we are taught in the fift petition to pray for our daily pardon wherin doubtless we pray for what we want and not for what we have already yet because this remedy is not de Novo given every day but once for all in Baptism therefore we say That the Efficacy of Baptismall Remission doth in some sence extend it self to the sinns of afterward This for Remission REGENERATION is intended in those words of the Church A new birth to Righteousness As sinn is purged away so also the Spirit of grace bestowed in Baptism to be as the habit or rather as the seed whence the future Acts of grace and holiness watered by the word of God and good education may in time spring forth This Spirit is promised to be conveyed by Baptism Act. 2.38 wherupon Saint Paul calleth Baptism the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost This was confirmed visibly in the Baptism of Christ. The holy Ghost descended on him comming up out of the water Matt. 3.16 Nor only then but in the Acts of the Apostles we find the sensible manifestations of the Spirit still mentioned with relation to Baptism which doubtless the providence of God did so order and dispose of that by their sight and sence their faith might be established touching the efficacy of the Sacrament This is that immortall seed wherof Saint Peter speaketh and which Saint Iohn mentioneth as the preservative of the faithfull from the sinn of finall Apostacy the sinn unto death Hereupon our Church remembring that our Saviour joyneth water and the spirit in the work of Regeneration doth in her Liturgy of Baptism pray for the Infants that they may be baptised with water and the holy Ghost that God would please to sanctifie them and wash them with the holy Ghost that they may receiv Remission of sinns by spirituall Regeneration that God would give his holy Spirit to these Infants that they may be born again that not only the old Adam and all carnall affections may dy in them and be buried but also that the new man and all things belonging to the spirit may be raysed up may live and grow in them that so they may have power and strength to prevail against to triumph over the Divell the World and the flesh finally that they which are then baptised in this water may receiv the fulness of his grace hereupon our Church looking upon the gracious promise doth after the act of Administration of Baptism give thanks for this benefit that it hath pleased God to regenerate the Infant with his holy Spirit Thus much for the Benefits of Baptism CHAP. IX The Benefits of the Lords Supper AS by Baptism we are incorporated into and made one with Christ So by the Lords Supper is this Union continued It is the exhortation of our blessed Saviour to his Disciples whom he compareth to branches ingrafted into the Vine saith he Abide in me and I in you using this as a Motive As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can yee except yee abide in me And his prayer for them he concludeth with this That the love wherwith thou O righteous Father hast loved me may be in them and I in them By which places and passages is intimated a mutuall and reciprocall incorporation of Christ in us and of us in Christ. Now if we ask how this is wrought and how discerned heare Saint Iohn hereby saith he we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given unto us and again more fully hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit It is then the spirit which is the immediate worker of this mutuall union betwixt Christ and his Church But further would we know how and by what ordinance the spirit doth work this union The Apostle Paul helpeth us saying by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit Thus plainly manifesting the Sacraments to be the Instruments of the Spirit in working this Union and Communion but of all the rest most full is that text of our blessed Saviour he that â—ateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him that is becometh one with me and I with him This is so much more manifest in this Sacrament if we mark the analogy betwixt the sign and the thing signified bread and wine the food of the body becometh one with the body So is it here Christs body and blood united to us and made one with us by an un-speakable and unseparable conjunction Only here is the difference that bread of Earth is changed into thy body because thou art more excellent than it but this bread which came down from heaven is more excellent and active than thou art and therfore by little and little doth spiritualize and as it were change thee into it By all which it is evident that the primary grace and benefit conferred by the Sacrament is as I said before our incorporation into Christ our union with him The secondary and so the peculiar grace of the Lords Supper is as the Catechism hath well expressed it the strengthning and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ as our bodys are by the bread and wine Bread doth nourish and strengthen the body Psal. 104.15 Hence that phrase the staff of Bread becaus as a staff doth uphold and strengthen the weak and feeble knees so doth bread strengthen the drooping spirits So doth the body of Christ well and worthily received strengthen the soul in grace and holiness Wine cheareth the heart and quickneth the spirits So doth the blood of Christ revive the drooping soul gladdeth the heavy heart causeth spirituall joy and exultation Thus that naturall quality which God hath placed in the Elements to work upon the body doth most excellently manifest that spirituall efficacy which is in the body and blood of Christ to work upon the soul even to produce
wherof is this because this Sacrament was ordained for the continuall Remembrance of the Sacrifice of Christs Death His Death was a Sacrifice this Sacrifice must be remembred God made it remarkable at the first by those prodigies in Nature the Sunns eclipsing Earths-quaking Vail-renting graves opening But we must remember it in respect of the Commandement of Christ Do this in Remembrance of me yet is not this a repetition of that Sacrifice what need that be daily renewed that was at the first compleat and perfect whatsoever needeth daily repetition and renewing is in it self imperfect and incompleat As therfore this Sacrifice doth agree with the legall propitiations in this that it was a bloody Sacrifice so in this doth it differ and super-excell them that it being at once compleat needeth not as did they daily renewing and reduplication 2. A THANKFULL REMEMBRANCE must there be that is so must we remember the Death of Christ as that therby we be stirred to thankfulness for it The reason wherof is becaus the Death of Christ was not only a meer separation of the body and soul but a sacrifice yea a propitiation that is a sacrifice for expiation of sin and reconciliation Indeed it was the substance of all the legall shaddows the perfection and accomplishment of all the Typicall expiations under the Law Nay more it was the grand and great deliverance of the Church If therfore the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt deserved a yearly feast of thankfull remembrance if the Reduction of the Church from the captivity of Babylon was so thankfully acknowledged as that it almost drowned the memoriall of their Exodus ought not the death of Christ by which our Redemption from sin and Sathan was wrought ought not this I say to be thankfully remembred The practise of the Church doth plainly manifest it whence had the whole sacred action that famous name of the Eucharist so frequent in the writings of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church but from the sacrifice of thanks and praise at that time offered to God the Father Son and holy Ghost for the Redemption of the world by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ For this cause it is that in the Liturgie of the Church this is so carefully remembred that by the Minister the whole Congregation should be exhorted to give thanks to our Lord God adding that as it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to the Lord God our heavenly Father so for the present with Angels Arch-angels and all the holy company of Heaven we laud and magnifie his glorious Name c. But to proceed The way and means to stir us up to thankfulness for the Death of Christ is seriously to consider of the benefits which we receiv therby Here is a large field of meditation here cannot the devout soul want matter wherin to inlarge it self if we take notice of these particulars First what we had been without it Secondly what our hopes are by it Thirdly how unworthy we either were of it or as yet are Fourthly by how worthy a person this was wrought Fiftly how bitter the cup was which he drank how painfull and shamfull the Death was which he suffered Here therfore and in these meditations let the soul dwell till admiration of the benefit so good so great so freely so undeservedly bestowed cause the heart to burst forth into that of David Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him Oh dear Saviour who would not love thee Oh heavenly Father who would not bless thee Oh blessed spirit who would not obey thee Oh eternall God! who would not devote himself soul body all to the honour and service of this glorious Trinity that hath done so great things for so unworthy so wretched sinners Well Thankfulness is a branch of the Qualification of our souls for the worthy partaking But how is it to be expressed Answer briefly by bearing our part in the Psalms and Alms of the congregation For the first we read that after the Passover our Saviour and his company sung a Psalm It is Saint Iames his rule in the time of mirth to sing Psalms when have we more cause of spirituall mirth than at this sacred banquet all dull and earthly is that heart that is not now even filled with holy and heavenly raptures Did Moses sing and Miriam dance and shall not we sing forth the praises of our dearest Saviour For the other viz. the Alms of the Congregation we have the laudable custome of the Church in all ages and the ground therof is taken from that of David Psal. 16. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight What we cannot therfore return to our blessed Saviour himself in token of thankfulness and who would not in this kind even part with all that he hath that must we for his sake bestow upon his poore members Collections for the poore are perpetuall attendants upon Communions the illiberall hand is the evidence of an unthankfull soul freely we have received freely let us give and Christ shall thank us Mat. 10.42 25.34 To say nothing of Deo-dands most proper also upon this occasion CHAP. XVII Of Love and Charity BY love and charity we do not in this place understand that loving affection which we owe to God our heavenly Father by virtue of that great commandement Matt. 22. nor that generall act of love to our Neighbours enjoyned in the second Table which manifesteth it self in a mutuall and reciprocall interchanging of affections with them viz. that we rejoyce with them in their causes of joy and greev with them when God calls them to it nor yet that speciall act of sanctified love which is terminated in and upon the holy brethren whose truth is thence discerned if it be as it ought indifferent to all without respect of persons and constant without respect of times if neither penury and necessity nor trouble and adversity can cool the heat of our affections but notwithstanding these we love them in whomsoever we find grace and holiness this is brotherly love indeed yet is not this nor any of these that love which is here properly understood all these are pre-required But by love and charity we do properly understand a reconciled affection towards all even our enemies much more toward others which is indeed the perfection of all love and the Nil ultra of that affection So much we know is intimated by that phrase to be in Charity malice and heart-burning must be laid aside when we address our selvs to the holy Communion If in hearing the word Iam. 1.21 Pet. 2.1 if in praying Tim. 2.8 how much more when we approach the Table of the Lord God hath appointed this Sacrament in a speciall