ones of remission of Sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost as appears from the verse immediately preceding And certainly these if any concerned them more immediately as a Church and may therefore by exact parity of reason be expected to be confined to the Christian Church now who have succeeded them in that capacity § XII BESIDES it seems exceeding clear from the whole current of the Apostles Discourse upon this Subject that the Gospel has only thrown down that partition wall as the Apostle calls it whereby the Jews as a particular Nation had been discriminated from the rest of Mankind so that the same Priviledges which had been appropriated then must by the tenor of this reasoning Eph. ii 14 be understood to be made common now Yet so as that this enlargement of the Gospel is not so to be understood as if every Individual Person of other Nations might immediately challenge these Priviledges by virtue of the Evangelical Covenant upon performance of the Moral Conditions but that now all are capable of being admitted into the Covenant it self which will consequently intitle them to those Priviledges without being obliged to leave their National Customs or to incorporate themselves into a particular Nation as they were then conceived obliged to incorporate themselves into the Nation of the Jews in order to the gaining a compleat Title to all those Spiritual Priviledges This as it fully satisfies the design of the Apostles Discourse so it still supposes a like confinement of the Promises to the Evangelical Covenant as had been to the Legal the only difference being that all are capable of being admitted to the Covenant now who had not been so formerly Thus again the Apostle St. Paul tells us that theirs were the Adoption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Glory Rom. ix 4 the Shechinah and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises And besides this mention of the Adoption which was clearly a Spiritual benefit as also that of the Shechinah was if by it we understand not that Glory which appeared on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law nor that which appeared in the cloud and pillar of fire during their journey through the Wilderness nor that which overshadowed the Mercy seat under the first Temple but failed under the second but that which according to the notions of the Rabbins is supposed to rest on every Israelite on account of his being so which seems to be the same with that which is called the Holy Spirit in the language of Christians but according to the language of the Jews which seems here to have been observed by the Apostle the Ruach Haccodesch seems rather reducible to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Gratiae gratis datae than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gratiae gratum facientes concerning which I am at present discoursing I say besides these it also appears further that the other Benefits implied in the general name of Promises were not only their Temporal Priviledges by the general design of the Apostle in that whole Epistle where he frequently mentions Remission of Sins and Justification as part of those Priviledges which were controverted betwixt them and the Gentiles Now if the Promises had been indefinite to all upon the bare performance of the Moral Duties of Repentance and even of Faith in the Jewish Religion as far as it could appear credible to other Nations that is indeed as far as it could be obligatory to them I do not understand what special interest the Jews could have had in them For whosoever reads their Story and considers the dull and sensual humour of the generality of that Nation cannot believe them more inclinable to Faith and Repentance than the generality of other civilized Nations so that they were not likely by bare performance of the Conditions to gain any advantage of the Gentiles in the Event if the Promises had been equally designed for them and others It must therefore have been from a designed limitation of the Promises themselves that they and not others otherwise than by becoming of their Community by Proselitism should have a singular Interest in these Promises Especially if we compare them with those Gentiles which lived among them and it was with them that the Apostle compared them to whom the Divine Revelations as to the directive part of them might have been as notorious as to themselves And the most rational way conceivable of confining them and which seems to have been alluded to in the Apostles Discourses on this Subject is this that the Promises were Gods part of the Covenant to which the Jews were admitted as the Gentiles were excluded from it § XIII NOW though the condition of the Jews was indeed singular in this that it was confined to one Nation so that no other Nations were admitted to it and even no particular Persons of other Nations were capable of being admitted to that favour without an Incorporation into that particular Nation by the compleat Proselitism of Justice whereby they became obnoxious to the Judicial Law which concerned them as a Common-wealth as well as to the Moral and Ceremonial which concerned them as they were a Church and upon that account it is that the Apostles teach us that in the New Evangelical Covenant God is no respecter of Persons that in every Nation he that feareth him Act. x. 34.35 Eph. ii 14 Ver. 15. and worketh Righteousness is accepted by him and that now the Partition-wall is broken down by Christ that he has abolished in his flesh the Enmity even the Law of Commandments conteined in Ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so making Peace Rom. x. 12 Gal. iii. 28 v. 6 vi 15 so that there is now no difference between Jew and Greek but they are all one in Jesus Christ and now neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision Yet all these Discourses seem only to aim at this that all sorts of Nations may now be admitted to the Evangelical Covenant by Baptism without remitting any of their National or Political Distinctives in compliance to any one which was not allowed them under the Mosaick Discipline But this Liberty cannot be urged from any design of the Sacred Writers in these Discourses so far as to excuse them from the external rites of Initiation into the New Covenant as if their fearing God and working Righteousness or the Faith working by Love or any other Moral Dispositions whatsoever should prove available to them in order to the procuring Supernatural rewards without an Interest in the Gospel-Covenant or that they alone should in an Ordinary way procure an Interest in the Gospel-Covenant without an external admission into it in a solemn way where this admission might be obteined on any tolerable unsinful terms as our Adversaries conceive But rather seeing the same Legal way of correspondence between God and Us is continued in a way of a
that particular gift of (h) 1 Cor. xii 10 discerning their Auditors Spirits whereby they were forced to confess that (i) 1 Cor. xiv 25 God was in them of a truth Not to mention their unwearied Zeal the great toils and dangers they endured in the employment the shame and contempt as well as the other inconveniences attending it which must needs possess their Auditors with very favourable thoughts of their Persons of their Sincerity and freedom from sinister designs and their hearty good will to them whatever they might think of the Prudence of their undertaking And if it was only this Extraordinary degree of Grace that was then sufficient for the Salvation of the Persons influenced by it that will certainly be no Precedent for what Men may Ordinarily expect now And where so much was undoubtedly extraordinary it will be very difficult to distinguish what was not so At least this will be impossible to be known from the bare Historical Records of these times wherein so many things in this very Case were extraordinary which will at least suffice to shew how unconcluding such Texts as these are must prove for our Adversaries purpose without either express Promises assuring us of their actual continuance or immutable reasons from the nature of the things Which will confine their Proofs within a narrow compass § XV AND this will the rather appear if it be considered further that according to the Notions of that Age and Nation wherein the Gospel was first Preached whoever had the Spirit of God was thereby thought immediately to be made a Prophet On this account Abraham is called a (a) Gen xx 7 Prophet and the Jews as they pretended all of them and they alone to have this Spirit so they do on that same account pretend to be a Nation (b) Cozri Part I. S. 95.103 109. of Prophets Nor are they only the modern Jews alone who make this challenge their Ancestors did the same So the Author of the Book of Wisdom among other effects of this heavenly Wisdom which with him is the same with the Divine Spirit reckons this that it (c) Wisd. vii 27 enters into holy Souls making them Sons of God and Prophets And it is very probable that the Christians who challenged to themselves all the Priviledges of Israel as being themselves that true Spiritual Israel for whom God principally designed these favours did accordingly challenge this Priviledg among the rest that they received not the Spirit by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith (d) Gal. iii. 5 and that this Spirit which they thus received by means of their Christian Profession made them Prophets according to the passage in (e) Joel ii 28 Joel thus applyed (f) Acts ii 16 18. by them And though the generality of Converts then being Heathens had not been favourable to Jewish Notions but those of the then prevailing Gentile Philosophy yet even so they had been inclinable to take this Divine Spirit for a Principle of Prophecy Every extraordinary Person was by them thought inhabited and influenced by a God to be capable of conversing with Spirits when thoroughly purged from matter to be conscious of the Divine Secrets to have a Theurgical power And what greater thing can be ascribed to true Prophets than these things especially when put together And it is observable that all the Language and Notions of Mystical Theology are borrowed from them which do plainly suppose that these Influences of the Spirit are Extraordinary and Prophetical in all Souls capable of receiving them And to this the Apostle seems to allude when he challenges in the name of all Christians to know (g) 1 Cor. ii 16 the mind of Christ and when from the nature of the Spirit he concludes the Spiritual man must know the (h) Ib. v. 10 11. hidden things of God because the Spirit of God with which he is endued is privy to them as naturally as the Spirit of every Man is privy to his own Secrets This discovery of the Divine Secrets is that which most properly belongs to the office of a Prophet So God is said to teach David the (i) Ps. LI. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and (k) Ps. xxv 14 the Secret of the Lord is said to be with them that fear him And this is a thing to which I suppose our Brethren will not so much as pretend § XVI ESPECIALLY considering 2. that there were some reasons why Persons in that Age should feel extraordinary emotions upon their hearing the Christian Doctrine preached to them which were certainly proper to that Age and cannot now be urged with any proportionable parity This was then to be made a proof of the Truth of that Religion whose proposal was seconded with such preternatural transports This was a proof of our Saviours veracity when they found the event so answerable to his Promises and Praedictions This proved him indeed to have a power over the Souls of Men and to have the disposal of those hidden influences of the other world when they found themselves so unaccountably animated and transported beyond what could have been expected from the rational evidence of the things themselves And therefore the Spirit thus given is said to be the (a) Eph. I. 13 IV. 30 seal of God the (b) Rom. VIII 23 first fruits of their new inheritance the 2 Cor. I. 22 V. 5 earnest of their promised future possessions a (d) Eph. I. 14 Rom. VIII 16 witness of God to the Spirits of them who had it that they were the Children of God And St. John tells them of this witness (e) 1 St. John V. 10 of God within them this Vnction (f) 1 St. John II. 20 27. that should teach them all things and particularly to distinguish between pretenders to the (g) 1 St. John IV. 1 2 3. Spirit whether their pretences were true or false And (h) 1 St. John IV. 13 hereby they might know whether they dwelt in Christ or Christ in them because he had given them of his Spirit By which it appears that their having the Spirit was more notorious to them who had him than their Interest in Christ. And accordingly the state of the new Covenant as it was then in the Apostles times is so described that God would (i) Joel II. 28 29. Acts II. 17 18. pour out of his Spirit on all flesh that all should see visions and dream dreams that (k) I. LIV. 13 all should be taught of God and so taught as that they should need (l) Heb. V. 10 11. no other Instructors that the word of God should dwell (m) Col. III. 16 plentifully in them in their (n) Deut. xxx 14 Rom. x. 8 mouths and in their hearts that even Tongues themselves should be no argument to them who (o) 1 Cor. XIV 22 believed but only to them who did not yet believe All which
as in little Anger 's in men though they be violent for the time yet they soon pass away and leave no great disturbance on the mind of him that is angry but in great ones the very mind is disordered and so the transports become more lasting as well as more vehement and the Person who is supposed to be so angry is also made by it more implacable and less capable of accepting any terms of reconciliation so the Scripture represents the Anger of God himself That the anger of men was thus expressed according to the form of speaking used in those Countries we have instances not only in our Saviour a St. Joh. xi 33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. xiii 21 when he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in b Psal. cvi 33 So Dan. ii 3 vii 13 Job vii 11 xxi 4 Psal. lxxvii 3 cxlii 3. Moses in the Old Testament it self who is said to have been provoked in his Spirit when he spake unadvisedly with his lips That it is hence also applyed to God instances may be seen in c Gen. vi 6 Genesis and d Is. lxiii 10 elsewhere And generally whenever this expression is used God immediately resolves on some severe temporal Punishment to be inflicted on the Persons who had thus provoked him and that so peremptorily as that even their Penitence it self should not prevail with him to change his resolution Then he makes his Decree and sometimes confirms it with an Oath Thus in Genesis e Gen. vi 3 when he had resolved that his Spirit should no longer strive with them he immediately resolves that their days should be an hundred and twenty years that is that that should be the respite he would allow them before the deluge And elsewhere when his Spirit is said to be grieved then follows the mention of the judgment which elsewhere he inflicted on them who had so provoked him And above all other sins for which God is said to be thus angry after the Law was settled Idolatry is by Maimonides observed to be the only one Mor. Nev. Part. i. cap. 36. And that we have seen in Deuteronomy to have been so described not as a violation of a single Precept only but as a breach of the whole Covenant And it is very observable further that whatever this might mean in the literal and immediate sense according to the custome of the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on other occasions ascribed to God yet the Hellenistical Jews who Allegorized their Law and who had the Notion of this Spirit of God as a subsistent Being and frequently take for less occasions than this was of bringing in their Allegorical senses were very likely to ascribe these passages to this Spirit as a distinct subsistent Being And indeed these other two subsistences of the Son and Spirit are so described in the New Testament and in the passages of the Old applyed to them by the most ancient Fathers no doubt from the Cabalistical Mystical Expositions then received among the Hellenistical Jews as that it could be no great violence to apply them this way on supposition that a Mystical sense was to be allowed besides the Literal which was a supposition that seems to have been generally approved by these Hellenistical Jews of whom I am now discoursing Thus as the Son is taken for that intrinsick Wisdom of the Father in the Proverbs which he is said to have possessed from the beginning Prov. viii 22 and which the Fathers do accordingly make it as necessary that he should have possessed it from the beginning as that he should have been wise from the beginning so the Holy Spirit is by the Apostle made as intimate to God as the Spirit of a man is to a man For so he argues 1 Cor. ii 11 Who knoweth the secrets of a man but the Spirit of a man which is in him Even so no man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God As Properly therefore as the Spirit of a man is said to be grieved and disturbed when the man himself is grieved and disturbed so properly this subsistent Being may be said to be grieved and disturbed when the Spirit of God is said to be so And as when a man is said to be excessively grieved it is all to one purpose whether we say that he himself is grieved or that his Spirit is so because the grief of the man is supposed to be in his Spirit so also by the rule of the same proportion when God is said to be excessively grieved we are to understand all those places of a grieving of his Spirit as properly as if it had been expressly mentioned § IV AND it is farther yet Observable that in this way of speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is pleased to express himself as if he were under the same transport of humour as men are when they are in those Passions Thus in the Parable of the unjust Judg he is supposed to hear the Prayers of his People as well to avoid the trouble of being wearied by them Luk. xviii 5 as for the reason of the thing it self And particularly in this very Case of great provocation of his Spirit he is described as if he suffered the same transports as revengeful Persons do when they are under the like disturbances Thus as revengeful Persons ease themselves of their revengeful humour by executing their desired revenge Isa. i. 24 so God is said to ease him of his Adversaries to ease himself of this disturbance of his Spirit by inflicting that punishment on them which they had so justly deserved from him And in the dramatick way of acting these Passions which is so familiar with the Prophets he is described as implacable and as much bent upon revenge and delighted in it as revengeful Persons are when they are under the like disturbance No doubt his meaning is thereby to put us in the same expectations from him as we should naturally have from a revengeful Person under his highest transports and to assure us that though he himself felt no such transports as are there described yet he intends to deal with Persons so threatned by him exactly as such Persons would do who really felt such transports And therefore as such Persons who are so disturbed by great provocations at length resolve to relieve themselves by executing their desired revenge and when they have done so resolve also that no Prayers of their Adversaries shall appease them but that they will for the future as much insult over their miâ—eries as they have hitherto pitied them the like dealing we have reason to fear from God when his Spirit is the same way provoked And this seems to be the most natural account how this sin against the Holy Ghost comes to be unpardonable § V NOW there are two influences of the Spirit of God that without us in miraculous performances and that within us in secret emotions
Being by this concatenation of Spiritual Beings in the several parts of the World so that the several influences are to be taken for God's because it is from him that they originally proceed by which means also the contempt of them will also reflect on God himself How they are thus contrived that this may follow may be seen in Apuleius and in Philo's Explication of Jacob's Ladder Apul. de Deo Socratis Philo. Hierocl de Provident Fragm apud Phot. Biblioth num 251. And indeed there are who make the very Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be properly taken from the care of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within us rather than from that whereby the World is governed in general But the passage of Seneca an Author of the Apostles Age is very considerable to our purpose where he tells us that a holy Spirit which he calls a God is in us and that he deals with us as we deal with him if we deal ill with exactly as the Psalmist with the perfect man thou shalt be perfect Psal. xviii 26 2 Sam. xxii 27 but with the froward thou shalt learn frowardness Besides this there is also another way according to the Platonical Hypothesis how this participation of the Spirit may intitle us to the special Providence of God And that is that as long as men were good God kept the Government of the World in his own hands but as they degenerated so he was thought to leave it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he then took no further notice of it I might have shewn how this Notion seems also to have been taken up by the Primitive Christians See Hackw Apol. for Provid Act. xvii 30 Act. xiv 16 Luk. i. 68 78. that this was the reason why they thought the World to have decayed that for the time past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took no notice of the mannes of men but suffered them to walk on in their own ways that he had now looked down from Heaven and visited his People And possibly this might have been the reason why they expected the end of the World that is of that Iron Age of it and waited for a new heaven 2 Pet. iii. 13 and a new Earth wherein righteousness was to dwell For the Golden Age was immediately to succeed the Iron And the reason that made the Golden Age so happy was that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epinomid apu Euseb. Pr. Eu. L.xi. c. 16 as Plato calls him was to take the Government into his own hand And therefore seeing Christ whom they took for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had the Government of all things now committed to him by his Father it was very reasonable for them suddenly to expect those happy times which according to this Hypothesis were consequent to such a Government This seems to have bâ—â—n really the thoughts of the Author of the Sibylline Oracles and the Emperour Constantine in expounding the Eclogue of Virgil to this purpose And this must also make the sins committed under the Government of Christ to reflect upon him and would consequently concern him more particularly to take care to see them punished according to their desert § XVIII AND if the violation of particular Laws by this constitution of things be so great a sin and in which the Spirit is so concerned to see them punished who are guilty of that violation what shall we say of casting off the Legislative Power it self and disowning the Power which necessarily requires Subjection to Subordinate Governours as well as to the Supreme What of not only neglecting to perform the Conditions of it but casting off their Baptismal Covenant it self by which they were obliged to perform those Conditions What of dispossessing the Spirit of his interest in them not only by frequent grieving and provoking him in acting contrary to his Suggestions but also by a wilful neglect of those means which himself had appointed for continuing his possession of them These are certainly Crimes of the highest nature and most severely punishable by the Principles of Government And yet of these they were certainly guilty who in the Apostles times at least deserted the external Communion of the visible Church This will more particularly appear if we consider § XIX 4. That the whole Constitution even of the Government of the Church in that Age was Theocratical All the Officers of the Church were invested in their Office by the Holy Ghost himself He it was who qualified them for their Offices by his extraordinary supernatural gifts Eph. iv 11 He gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers And he it was who empowered them to exercise those Gifts by noting the very particular Persons who were to be empowered to them who had the Authority of committing that Power to them either by giving their Ordainers the Gift of discerning Spirits or by signifying his pleasure to them either by appointments as when he was consulted by Lots or without appointment by some sensible appearance relating to them as he did also afterwards in the Cases of Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem and Fabian of Rome It was he therefore that made the Bishops of the Church And so for all the Ecclesiastical Offices they were then generally performed by peculiar Inspirations 1 Cor. 14. their Praying their Prophesying their celebrating the office of the Eucharist their Spiritual Songs and Hymns their very Interpretation of what had been by others delivered in strange tongues In the very Prudential management of their affairs they had also particular directions from the Spirit Act. xiii 2.4 viii 29 x. 19 xi 28 29. xvi 6 7 10. xviii 9 xix 21 xx 23 xxi 4 11. xxvii 22 24. He usually told them where they should Preach and where they should not who were particularly to be chosen out for the employment he had for them and what should be the success of their undertaking And if in this regard it had been a fighting * Act. v. 38 against God for even the Pharisies themselves to venture to oppose themselves to the Apostles how could it have been less than a rebelling against the same God the Spirit for their own followers to have deserted them This I take notice of that none may think that the Author to the Hebrews should speak so severely against the desertors of their publick Assemblies And though indeed the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit be now ceased nay and several also of those extraordinary qualifications which were necessary for that Age peculiarly and could not then be gotten by the Persons who wanted them for the discharge of their Office in the use of ordinary means yet as long as the Holy Ghost is the Governour of the Church that is indeed as long as Christ himself is so who governs by the Holy Ghost as the Shechinah of his Throne
St. Joh. v. concerning the sin unto Death The Argument according to the Alexandrian MS. § VII According to the vulgar reading The sin unto Death is leaving the Orthodox Party § VIII IX X XI The same thing proved from 2 St. Joh. 10 11. § XII Pardon possible for Persons out of the Church's Communion upon their admission into it according to the Doctrine of those times but much more difficult for Relapsers than others The later part proved from 2 Pet. ii 21 § XIII And from Heb x. 25 26 27. § XIV XV. And from Heb. xii 15 17. 1 Joh. v. 16 § XVI And from other Arguments § XVII XVIII The actual practice of the Primitive Church not to pray for spiritual benefits for those who were not actual Members of the Church's Communion § XIX XX. An Application of what has been said § XXI Obj. That these things are spoken of a total relapse from Christianity not from one party of Christians to another § XXII That Life was properly ascribed to the true Christ as the Messias according to the Notions of the ordinary Jews § XXIII and according to the sense of the generality of the first Converts to Christianity That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was thought to be the proper Principle of Life § XXIV That the Messias as Messias was to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also § XXV Answ. 1. It were well our Brethren would allow the same candor in expounding other Texts produced by them as they do in these produced against them § XXVI 2. It is not likely that the Antichrists of those times did generally deny the true Christ to be so § XXVII XXVIII XXIX 3. Whatever the occasion was yet the reasoning used in those disputes is to prove their being separated from Christ from their being separated from the external Communion of the visible Church § XXX p. 212. CHAP. XII 8. This very pretence of absteining from the external Ordinances under the pretence of Perfection seems to have been taken up even in those Primitive Ages The Philosophical Nâ—tions of those Ages concerning the worship of the Supreme Deity § I. How this Hypothesis was received first into the Elective Philosophy thence taken up by the Hellenistical Jews and from them to the first Converts to Christianity § II. The several reasonings of the Primitive Christians that might make them in interest favourable to this Hypothesis § III. Particularly their pretending to a Mystical Priesthood might make them less solicitous for their dependence on the Levitical external Priesthood § IV. Instances of several like mistakes of those times in reasoning from Mystical titles § V. How the Genius of this Philosophy has inclined men to this way of reasoning wherever it has prevailed even among our modern Enthusiasts § VI. Inference 1. That what the Apostles did resolve in this particular they did resolve with a particular design upon our Adversaries case § VII That the prudential establishments of the Apostles are sufficiently secure § VIII Inf. 2. Hence may appear the insecurity of this way of arguing in general from Mystical Titles to the neglect of external Observances § IX X Inf. 3. It plainly appears to have been against the design of the Legislator in the very case of the Jews from whom the Christians borrowed it § XI Inf. 4. That the whole contrivance of things by the Apostles plainly supposes that they did also not allow of this plea for excusing any from the publick ordinances § XII Inf. 5. The Philosophers themselves never intended this plea for their exemption from the Mysteries and external Rites of Initiation then used to which the Sacraments are answerable among Christians § XIII XIV Inf. 6. The great design of this way of arguing was to excuse themselves from paying any external worship to the supreme being and so destructive to the very foundation of the Christian Religion § XV. And this very rationally on the Hypothesis then received § XVI But the reason of this Argument does not hold against those exteritors which are observed by the Christian institution § XVII It is very probable that our Adversaries case is particularly spoken to in Heb. x. 22 23. § XVIII p. 247. CHAP. XIII Lastly This sin of withdrawing from the publick Assemblies on any pretence whatsoever is highly condemned in the Scriptures and the condition of Persons guilty of it is described as extremely dangerous § I. This proved from Heb. vi The design of the sacred Authors in those kinds of discourses is to warn the Persons with whom they had to deal against Lapâ—â—s not from a good Life but from the true Communion § II.III. This proved particularly to be the design of this place Illumination put for Baptism both because of the interest Baptism gave them in Christ who was the true Light § IV. And in regard of the visible Glory which then seems to have accompanied Baptism in which regard this title was more likely to have been taken up in the Apostles Age than afterwards § V. How properly this title was given it as a lesser Purgative Mystery Fire the most Purgative Element § VI. And that by which the Purgativeness of our Saviours Baptism had been before particularly described § VII The other Expressions of this Text applied to Baptism § VIII That separating from the visible Communion of the Church was a breach of their Baptismal Obligations proved from the design of the Baptisms of those times Baptism a solemnity of admission into their Schools and an obligation to adhere to the Master § IX And not only to the first Masters but to the lawful Successors to their Chairs § X. The dishonour to Christ by falling away mentioned in the Text to be understood only interpretatively How this was proper to the Case of Desertors in those times § XI XII How it is applicable to our present Adversaries § XIII The punishment of this crime mentioned in the Text. § XIV The Application of this also to our present Adversaries § XV. What it is to baptize in the name of the Spirit § XVI XVII What is meant by the impossibility to râ—new the Lapsers here spoken of § XVIII An Objection § XIX Answered § XX. Application to our present Adversaries § XXI XXII p. 267. CHAP. XIV The danger of the sin of separation and the difficulty of its pardonableness are very prudent and lawful reasons for bearing with a lesser sin that is more easily pardonable § I II. What is meant by grieving Gods Spirit and how it comes to be unpardonable § III IV. Two influences of the Spirit resisted by the Israelites § V. This applied to the state of the Gospel How the Christians were likely to understand these things according to the Mystical way of expounding the Old Testament which prevailed among them § VI. Our Saviour used herein a way of speaking notorious to the Jews § VII Grieving the Spirit the same with grieving of Christ. § VIII 1. As to the testimony
which the Spirit gave him by miracles § IX How our Saviours threatning was fulfilled § X. The sin against the Holy Ghost a resisting of the Gospel-Dispensation § XI 2. Murdering of the Prophets a sin against the Holy Ghost as he is particularly a Spirit of Prophesie § XII This particularly applied to our Saviour and the state of the Gospel § XIII 3. Resisting the influences of the Holy Ghost in us Applied to the Jews § XIV to the Christians § XV. According to the Hellenistical Philosophy § XVI XVII XVIII 4. Resisting the Government of the Church which was then ordered by the Spirit § XIX Separation from the Canonical Assemblies of the Church a sin against the Holy Ghost § XX. Concerning the punishment of this sin against the Holy Ghost and the way of arguing used by the Writers of the New-Testament from Old-Testament precedents § XXI XXII p. 294. CHAP. XV. 2. Directly That Salvation is not ordinarily to be expected without Sacraments § I. This proved 1. concerning Baptism 1. By those Texts which imply the dependence of our Salvation on Baptism 1. Such as speak of the Graces of Baptism § II. 1. The Spirit of God is said to be given in Baptism and so given as that he who is not baptized cannot be supposed to have it § III. The Spirit it self is absolutely necessary to Salvation as to his actual influences § IV. as to his constant presence as a living and abiding Principle § V. That the Spirit is first given in Baptism This proved from our new Birth 's being ascribed to our Baptism § VI. It is safe to argue from Metaphorical expressions in a matter of this nature St. Joh. iii. 5 considered § VII Water to be understood in this place Literally § VIII These words might relate to our Saviours Baptism § IX The Objection concerning the supposed parallel place of baptizing with the Holy Ghost and with fire § X. The fire here spoken of a material fire and contradistinct to the Holy Ghost § XI Our Saviours baptizing with the Holy Ghost and with fire as well applicable to our Saviours ordinary baptism as to that of the Apostles at Pentecost § XII The true reason why this descent of the Holy Ghost in Pentecost is called a Baptism was because it was a consummation of their former Baptism by Water § XIII The reason why this part of their Baptism was deferred so long § XIV Other instances wherein the Holy Ghost was given distinctly from the Baptism by Water § XV XVI XVII Our Saviour alluded herein to the Jewish Notions concerning Baptismal Regeneration § XVIII What the Rabbinical Notions are § XIX How agreeable to the Doctrine of the New-Testament § XX. The Notions of the Hellenistical Jews and of the Philosophers § XXI XXII XXIII How imitated by our Saviour § XXIV An Objection § XXV Answered § XXVI XXVII 2. Grace of Baptism forgiveness of sins § XXVIII XXIX XXX That unbaptized Persons cannot be supposed to have received the benefits of the washing of the blood of Christ or of the Mystical Baptism proved from two things 1. That all who would be Christians are obliged to receive even the Baptism by Water § XXXI 2. That every one who comes to Baptism is supposed to continue till then under the guilt of his sins § XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV 2. The same dependence of Salvation on Baptism proved from those Texts which speak of the Priviledges of Baptism § XXXVI The same thing proved 2. from those Texts which expresly ascribe our Salvation to our Baptism § XXXVII A sum of the Argument from 1 Pet. iii. 21 § XXXVIII from other Texts § XXXIX The Application § XL. p. 321. CHAP. XVI Things to be premised § I. 1. That this dependence on the Episcopal Communion for a valid Baptism will alone suffice so far for my purpose as to discourage the perpetuating any opposite Communion § II III IV. Inference 1. That if this were granted even the absteining of pious Persons from the lawful Communion would be very rare § V. Inf. 2. That even those few pious Persons who after all diligence used to inform themselves and all lawful condescensions could not submit to the terms of the lawful Communion would yet never perpetuate so much as their Non-Communion § VI VII 2. Premisal That it cannot be expected that this Sacrament of the Lords Supper should be as necessary as that of Baptism § VIII The necessity of the Lords Supper to Salvation proved from the Mystical style by which this whole matter is expressed in the Scripture And that by these degrees 1. The Life of particular Members of the Mystical Body of Christ is in the Scripture supposed to depend on a constant repetition of vital influences from the common vital Principle as the Life of particular Members in the Natural Body does § X. 2. The Scripture also supposes the Life of particular Members to depend as much on their conjunction with the whole Mystical Body in order to their receiving these repeated influences as the Life of particular Members in the natural Body depends on their conjunction with the whole natural Body § X. 3. The Church with which it was supposed so necessary for particular Members to be united in order to their participation of this Spiritual Life is plainly supposed to be the Church in this World and that visible Society of them which joyned in the same publick exercises of Religion in that Age when these things were written § XI XII 4. The Reasons used by the Sacred Writers for this purpose are such as concern the Church as a Church and so as suitable to the later Ages of the Church as those earlier ones wherein they were used first § XIII 5. In order to this Mystical Union with the Church it is absolutely necessary as far as an ordinary means can be so that we partake of the Lords Supper This proved from 1 Cor. x. 17 § XIV The same thing proved from the true design of the Eucharist rightly explained This done by these degrees 1. The design of our Saviour seems to have been the Mystical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much spoken of in the Philosophy then received as the peculiar Office of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. In this Union the reason of our being in Christ is his being in us 3. Two things according to the Scripture to be distinguished in Christ his Flesh and Spirit and in both regards we are concerned that he be united to us § XV. 4. There are very material reasons why our Saviour should require this bodily Union in contradistinction to the Spiritual viz. the benefits which our Bodies in contradistinction to our Spirits may receive by it 1. That by this Corporal Union with Christ we may be made sensible of the interest he has in our Bodies and of our Obligation to serve him with our Bodies and to abstein from those sins which are seated in the Body The great necessity
the Feet I have no need of you but by so much the more those Members which seem to be weaker are yet necessary and as upon those Members of the Body which seem to be less honourable we yet bestow the more abundant honour and our more uncomely parts have the more abundant comeliness So by the same proportion of reason he plainly implies that the more noble and more perfect gifts and Members must yet not be understood to be so perfect as to stand in no need of the Assistance of the least perfect ones And he after tells us that God has therefore followed our example in the Body Mystical also in bestowing (m) v. 24 25. more abundant honour on those Members which most wanted it for this very reason that there might be no SCHISM in the Body From whence our Brethren may be pleased to observe the original of this term which will be of great consequence for stating the true Notion of it But of this I may possibly discourse more largely in the Second Part. At present I only observe that this independence of one Member on another and the consequent withdrawing of the correspondence of any particular Member from the rest how perfect soever he pretends to be is that which the Apostle stigmatizes here expressly by the name of Schism § XVII BUT that I may bring this whole Discourse yet more close to my present design it is yet further observable that among these gifts of the Spirit which are reckoned as necessary for the whole the (a) Rom. xii 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequently given to the Governours of the Church and the (b) Cor. xii 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are expressly mentioned And in all likelihood this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was then reputed so necessary for Persons to be ordained the (c) 1 Tim. iv 14 2 Tim. I. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Timothy received by imposition of hands And to know who had this gift there was also in in those Ages given another gift the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the (d) 1 Tim I. 18 IV. 14 Prophesies mentioned concerning St. Timothy in relation to his Ordination the tryal by the Spirit in (e) Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. Clemens Romanus and the (f) Clem. Alexandr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Ews I.III. Eccl. Hist. c. 23. signification of the Spirit in him of Alexandria For if it had been any natural gift which they were then so careful should be in Persons to be ordained by them it had not been necessary that their Ordainers should have been endued with another gift to know it And particularly this gift of the Spirit to fit Men for Government was a thing the Jews had been so well acquainted with in the Old-Testament-instances of (g) Numb xxvii 18 19 20 21 22 23. Joshua and (h) 1 Sam. x. 9 Saul and (i) 1 Sam. xvi 13 David and many others nay was the very Mystical Vnion which the external Vnction did only signifie and convey from which their Governours were called the (k) 1 Sam. xvi 6 XXIV 6 10. XXVI 9 11 16 23. 2 Sam. I. 14 16. XIX 21 XXIII 1 Lam. iv 20 1 Sam. II. 25 1 Chron. vi 42 XVI 22 Ps. CXXXII 10 17. LXXXIV 9 LXXXIX 38 51. Hab. III. 13 Lords Anointed Pursuant whereunto it is that according to the rules of the Philosophy then current which ascribed the Truth of names rather to the Spiritual things which were represented than to the sensible signs and Types which represented them the Spirit it self is called Vnction by (l) 1 John II. 20 27. St. John that upon these considerations it is very unlikely that this gift should have been wanting in those times where every thing was so fitted to the Jewish Notions and wherewithal it was so very necessary for the Christian themselves though they had less regarded the Jews in this particular than we find they did in many others Nay how near a Title even Ecclesiastical Governours as well as others how little Spiritual soever they were as to their Persons were then thought to have even to the Extraordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on account of that gift of the Spirit which they were supposed to receive upon their investiture into their Office appears from this that the Evangelist gives this as the reason why even Caiaphas Prophecyed because he was High Priest (m) S. John XI 51 that time when he did so If therefore this was a gift which obliged all that wanted it to a dependence on them who had it how much less perfect soever they were in other regards then it will plainly follow that no pretence of Perfection whatsoever could exempt from a dependence on their Governours Which will more immediately reach my purpose than if they had depended on the Sacraments themselves or any other Exercises or Solemnities of the Ecclesiastical Assemblies § XVIII AND the same thing seems very probable from hence that among the Members which are instanced in as necessary the Head is mentioned as one Certainly there is no office in the Body Mystical so suitable with that of the Head in the Body natural as that of Governing Nor can it here be understood of Christ who is indeed frequently called the Head of the Church because such a Head is here spoken of as (n) 1 Cor. XII 21 cannot say to the Feet I have no need of you that is such a Head as is capable of receiving necessary offices from the other Members as well as of performing necessary offices for them And though it should he understood of particular Governours yet it cannot be thought more strange that in this Allegory all particular Governours should be represented under the Metaphore of one Head than it is that all their Churches are frequently in the Scripture called one Church and here are represented in a Metaphore exactly answering the other that of one Body And the utmost that can be made of this expression will only amount to the one Episcopacy in St. (o) de Vnit Eccles. Cyprian which he makes common to all particular Bishops And it deed when one Body had been mentioned before it had spoiled the suitableness of the Metaphore to have mentioned any more than one Head Though indeed a shorter way might have been taken for giving an account of this whole matter that it is not distinction of Persons but distinction of (a) Rom. XII 4 Office which is here taken notice of by the Apostle for the constitution of a distinct Member And therefore though the Persons of Governours be different yet so long as their office is undoubtedly the same and it is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that qualifies them for that office that is sufficient to shew how they may be here all accounted for under the Notion of one Head And if we
them for the shame is to be referred to the kind of suffering by the Cross with which it is also frequently joyned on other a Heb. xii ◠occasions rather than to the shame of their disowning him nay this very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is elsewhere ascribed to the Cross was no more than he had deserved This was indeed as the same Author elsewhere expresses it b Heb. x. 29 a trampling under feet the Son of God that is indeed a shewing the greatest possible contempt of him which is elsewhere c Psal. xci 13 Isa. xiv 19.xxviii.3 Matt. vii 6.v.13 Rev. xi 2 importance of that Phrase a counting the Blood of the Covenant by which they bad been sanctified an unholy thing that is indeed so far from being fit to expiate the sins of others as the Blood of the Covenant ought to do as that it needed expiation it self as it must needs have done if it had been shed for Crimes of his own that had justly deserved it a doing despite to the Spirit of Grace that is of the Gospel which they had received d Gal. iii. 2 not by the works of the Law but by the Obedience of Faith accounting that it self an evil and deceiving Spirit as they must needs have accounted it if it had been given them by the means of a Deceiver § XIII THESE are aggravations I confess unapplicable to our Brethrens Case Their departure from the Church does not imply their taking Christ himself for a Deceiver but their thinking them deceived from whom they depart in pretending to a Succession from him And therefore as far as this special aggravation of the crime is a particular reason of the severity of the Punishment so far I shall ingeniously confess that I think our dissenting Brethren unconcerned in it But then withall it will be fit to be considered that this disparity of their Case can only be as to the intention of the Persons not as to the nature of the Thing They who in those times and circumstances deserted the School of Christ to go over to his professed Adversaries must have been more sensible of this consequence of their doing so because the party to which they went did in terms profess to believe our Lord an Impostor which was the Principle from which all these dreadful consequences followed And their knowing this must needs have been an extreme aggravation of their Crime But as to the nature of the thing the Case is the same now as then Whosoever deserts Christ's School must necessarily imply that he is not such as he pretended to be that is not so Authorized from God as himself pretended for if they thought him so they could never pretend any reason why they should desert him And then all the other consequences follow out of Course For whoever pretends an Authority from God when he has it not must be supposed so wicked for doing so as that there is no other crime chargeable on him by his greatest Adversaries but it may then prove likely for him to have been guilty of it So that in this regard the Cases of our present Adversaries and those of the Apostles times would be like that of two Persons assisting a Rebel who should pretend a Commission from his Prince but falsely The one of them I suppose knows the falshood of his pretence the other does not but thinks that whilest he serves him he serves his Prince Both of them are alike guilty of the same Crime and both are as real Enemies to the Royal Authority and may do as much real mischief in prosecuting the Rebellion Only the Crime is not alike imputable to him who knows what he does to be Rebellion as to him who mistakes it for Loyalty So if they be as really Enemies to Christ whom our Adversaries mistake for his Friends as they were in the Apostles times who did not so much as pretend to be his Friends if they really disown the Chair of Christ in disowning his Regular Successors in that Chair though they pretend only to disown the Men who are at present possessed of the Chair the Crime of deserting this Chair now will prove as grievous as it was in the Apostles days though it be not now so imputable to the Persons guilty of it as it was then when they had better information However it will highly concern our Brethren by no means to neglect the real guilt whatever they may think of the imputation if for no other reason yet for this that the neglect will certainly aggravate the imputation Besides that the imputation it self may prove really greater than they are aware of § XIV THIS therefore being the guilt here spoken of let us now consider the Punishment of it from whence it will both appear how great the guilty is and how liable our Adversaries are to the Punishment suitably to their proportion of the guilt And this is rather implyed here than exprest when it is said to be so great as to need a Renovation For it is hereby intimated that all they enjoyed before is so totally lost by this fall as that nothing remained of it and if they would recover any of the advantages of the former state they must recover them by a new admission into that state and an admission so intirely new as if they never had been of it so little benefit they could expect from their former Admission even in order to the making their second Admission more easie and compendious Now this Renovation it self does also refer to Baptism So Baptism it self is expressly called the laver of Regeneration and of the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. iii. 5 by which we are also said to be saved The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in both places From these things therefore it follows that the Holy Spirit of our Master which is his internal Teacher which must open the understanding of his Disciples and make them capable of understanding his sublimer Doctrines his Acroamaticks which according to the methods of Teaching in those times were only intrusted with those of their Scholars whom they found to be of extraordinary capacities which method was also punctually observed by our Master himself I say it follows that this Spirit by which the Scripture usually signifies all the good things of the Gospel is so intirely lost by this lapse of theirs from their Baptismal State as that it is not recoverable but by a new admission into Christ's School again such a one as that was whereby they at first became his Scholars Which would be so far from fitting them for the Mysteries of Christianity for which it is the great design of this Author to perswade them to fit themselves in this whole Chapter that they might be the better capable of apprehending the mystical discourse concernig Melchizedec which occasioned this whole digression and which he immediately resumes in the following Chapter as that it would only be a
laying the foundation again a reducing to their beggarly Elements Heb. vi 1 as he elsewhere expresses it as rambling Scholars who have absented themselves from School are usually degraded lower than they were before upon their return to it But this holds more severely in learning Christianity than in the Discipline of ordinary Schools For because the things learned in ordinary Schools are such as are capable of being both learned and retained by the natural faculties of the Scholars therefore though their deserting one School and going to another must needs put them backward in the method of the Master whom they had deserted yet not so backward as to oblige them upon their return to him again to begin a-new at his first Elements But the Mysteries of Christianity are suppoâ—ed not intelligible otherwise than by the Spirit nor retainable without the help of the same Spirit which at first assisted to the understanding of them And therefore where this Spirit is lost as it is plainly supposed to be lost by deserting the School and following any other Master besides him all their former learning and all the new learning they may have since got elsewhere must on this supposition signifie nothing and therefore they who have left the Spirit of Christ must upon their return to his School be degraded to their first Elements and especially that of recovering the Spirit which they are by this means supposed to have lost This Exposition as it will make the reasoning of the Apostle cogent so it will be found exactly agreeable with his whole design as they will find who shall be pleased to compare them § XV BUT to make application of it to our Adversaries with whom I am at present dealing it is very observable that this Punishment thus expounded will not suppose any of those peculiar aggravations of their Case against whom this Author wrote but is plainly grounded on the contrivance of the things themselves and the manner of their establishment by Christ which will as exactly reach our Adversaries Case now as it did the Case of those Adversaries of the Apostles For the reason given here as that which brought this loss upon them is not so much their going over to the School of Christ's nototorious professed Adversaries wherein indeed their Case was different from that of our present dissenting Brethren but as their leaving the School of Christ by forsaking the Communion wherein they had received that Baptism which could only validly initiate them into that School and intitle them his Disciples which is also exactly the Case of our present Brethren And this very desertion of Christ's School is here supposed not only to be the merit though that were sufficient for my present design against our modern Adversaries who as they are thus far at least guilty of the same Crime in deserting the School of Christ so do thus far also deserve the same punishment that is they do equally deserve that degree of punishment which is proper and proportionable to this degree of guilt but the means on which this loss does naturally follow according as things are settled by Christ's own establishment He supposes that their falling away from Christs School must deprive them of his Spirit which is his internal instruction and so proper to his School and his Disciples as any inferiour means of Teaching are proper to ordinary Schools as well as the Teaching of the principal Master Whoever leaves one School to go to another does as necessarily lose the Teaching of the Vsher as of the Master of the School which he is supposed to leave And therefore as our Brethren by their deserting the School of Christ are supposed in the way of arguing used by this Sacred Author to lose the Title they had to Christ as their Master who by this means ratifies the Acts of his Successors in his Chair that they who are not of their School shall not be of his as the same thing was observed in Successions in other Schools from whence the precedent was taken in the first establishment of Christianity and as it is also necessary that they who have not Christ for their Master must also lose all the particular means he makes use of for communicating his instructions to his Disciples so necessary it is by this way of Arguing which this Author proceeds on that our present Adversaries as they are also guilty of the same desertion of Christ's School should also lose this internal Teaching of the Spirit which he makes use of for communicating his instructions to them For plainly the Spirit seems to have been designed to supply the Office of Christ as a Master And when the Holy Ghost is called a Paracletus I cannot think the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence he is called so to be only comforting or exhorting or interceding only but rather instructing I am much more inclinable to think this to be the Notion of it where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mentioned and where the Disciples of Antioch are said to rejoyce Act. xiii 15.xv.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for the instruction they had received from the Apostles concerning their disobligation from the Law of Moses I am sure this Notion of the word is most agreeable with that account which is given of him where he is called by this name Joh. xvi 12 13. that he should teach them all things and shew them things to come besides the many things which our Saviour had to say to them which as yet they were not able to bear but should be able when this Paracletus should come upon them And this seems to be the thing which this very Author had in his mind when he observes it as the Priviledg of the new Covenant that men should under it be taught by God St Joh. vi 45 Joel ii 28 29. Act. ii 17 18. 1 Joh. ii 20 that is no doubt by this Spirit which he would then pâ—ur out upon all flesh I need not mention that St. John appeals to this Vnction as that which should teach them all things to whom he writes and many other things which might have been observed from other passages of Scripture § XVI I shall at present only mention one thing more which as if it should prove true it will very much confirm what I am now proving so possibly it may not be ungrateful to the Reader and the rather so because it is not that I know of commonly observed That is that I verily believe this to be the true reason of Baptizing in the name of the Spirit because Baptism did admit Scholars to the School of the Spirit For as our Saviour himself professes that the Doctrine preached by him was not his St. Joh. xvi v.14 15. but his Fathers that sent him which will very justly intitle the Father to the Title of a Master in the School we are speaking of so he withal tells us of the Spirit whom he
designed to send that he should take of Christ's no doubt of his Doctrine as he immediately says that whatever the Father hath is his and he had elsewhere told us that it was his Doctrine which he had received from the Father and shew it unto them So that Baptism in the name of the three Persons will imply an admitting Disciples not as the ordinary Baptisms of those times did pretend to do only to some eminent men who were to be the Masters of the Sect to which Baptism did admit them but to God himself in all the three Persons who yet were not to be taken for three Masters but one For as our Saviour by preaching his Fathers Doctrine is said to glorifie his Father in owning him as the original Master so the Spirit by inculcating the Doctrine of the Son is said to glorifie the Sun by still owning the Son as the Master of those instructions which were thus inculcated by him And as the Son 's receiving his Doctrine from his Father does not derogate from his enjoyning the Title of a Master also so neither will the same reason of the Spirits receiving his Doctrine from the Son hinder him also from the same Title of a Master And this I take indeed to be the useful reason why it is so frequently inculcated by our Saviour that he and his Father were a Joh. x. 30.xvii.11 22. one and by St. b 1 Joh. v. 7 John that these three are one not so much to prevent any danger of Polytheism for that was a thing the Jews to whom he preached were not so much in danger of nor to prevent any scandal that the Jews might have taken up against the Christian Religion as if it had by this means countenanced a thing to which they were so averse for it might have been shewn that this Notion of the Trinity was not new to them and that our Saviour asserted nothing more concerning it than what had been asserted by their most eminent Hellenistical Doctors and during our Saviours own Life time he did not speak things so clearly in this matter as his Apostles did afterwards but to prevent all danger of taking them for three Masters and under that pretence erecting three Schools and making Divisions and Emulations among their Scholars which they were otherwise very likely to have done in consequence to the Notions then current concerning these Baptismal forms And accordingly the Gnosticks who by living nearer to those times had better means than we have now of knowing the meaning of the Forms and Customs when they Baptized into the name of the Mother of all Iren. L. 1. c. 18. seem also to have owned that Mother for their Mistress on account of those Seeds by her infused into them by which they pretended to come by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that knowledg of Mysteries they boasted of And if this were so it was very agreeable that they who had thus deserted Christ's School should also be deprived of the Instructions they might have received not only from Christ himself but also from the Holy Spirit who was to preach nothing to them but what he had received from Christ. § XVII BUT this will appear yet less strange to them who shall be pleased to consider how often the Spirit is called by the name of Christ himself I shall elsewhere have occasion to produce instances and therefore shall forbear them now I only observe at present that if this be so the Mastership of the Spirit is no other than the Mastership of Christ. And so indeed it should seem that the Spirit is to Christ as the Shechinah was to God in the Tabernacle and the Temple and accordingly these Shechinahs or visible appearances are more frequently ascribed to the Spirit than to any other Person of the Trinity And indeed when the Spirit is called the Spirit of Glory and of Christ it seems to be called so as being indeed it self the Glory by which Christ manifests himself in the Soul As therefore God himself was said to be present with the Israelites when his Shechinah was present with them and as he is said to remove his presence when that was withdrawn or removed from them so according to this way of explication wheresoever the Spirit of Christ is present Christ himself will be present also And therefore if they who desert his School must thereby lose the presence and Mastership of Christ they must by necessary consequence lose his Spirit also Now the deserting of the School of Christ I have already shewn to concern our present Adversaries as nearly as it did them who lived in the times of the Apostles § XVIII TO proceed therefore in my Explication of this passage of this Divine Author I now come to that which is indeed most difficult in it That is the impossibility of renewing such Lapsers as are here spoken of to Repentance And here it will be convenient to shew 1. What is meant by renewing them to Repentance And then 2. What is meant by the impossibility of it As to the former we have already seen that the fall here described is a fall from their Baptismal state and therefore the renewing them implying a putting them in the same state wherein they were before the renewing here spoken of will be most obviously intelligible of a restitution of them to the state of their Baptism And not to lay any stress on the Critical importance of this term Renovation I have also shewn that Renovation of the Spirit is peculiarly ascribed to Baptism though it be given there to Persons who never had it before as it is a Renovation of that Spirit which Adam had in his Innocence and we might all have had from him if he had continued in his Innocence And that the Renovation here described is said to be to Repentance that also very well agrees with this Notion of our being hereby restored to the state of Baptism For Repentance and Baptism are always joyned together Act. ii 38 Repent and be baptized every one of you says St. Peter And it seems to have been the design of the common Baptisms there used to expiate them from their former impurities as well as to admit them to a purer way of living for the future So St. John Baptist before his Baptism preaches Repentance and he charges those who were baptized by him to bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance And the same was the design of the lesser Mysteries among the Heathens to which Baptism was thought answerable among the Christians They were Purgative as the greater were Perfective These things therefore being thus supposed both these terms of Renovation and renewing to Repentance will be conveniently intelligible of Baptism it self And so the force of the Argument will be that a Restoration to their Baptismal state that is their being again admitted as Christ's Scholars and so the entitling them to the priviledges of Christs School among others that of
the internal instructions of the Spirit is not regularly to be expected without a repetition of their Baptism it self because that is the Ceremony of admission into it so that as they who were not at first baptized were never Christ's Disciples so they who cannot be baptized the second time are not capable of becoming Disciples a second time on supposition of a Relapse But Christs Institution admits of only one Baptism Whence the Author might infer the same Argument for the difficulty of the restitution of Lapsers to the Church Communion here as he does in the tenth Chapter As he there infers that they who had their sins once forgiven them upon their coming to Christ on account of his Sacrifice being offered for them could not expect that they be a second time forgiven if they fell away from their first state which intitled them to forgiveness because the Sacrifice of Christ is not like that of the Law repeated often but offered up once and that for ever so here Christ having instituted but one Baptism by which men are to be admitted into his School they who forfeit the benefit of their first admission by deserting the School can never expect the benefit of a Second And if remission of sins be the effects of this Baptism which is here described as a renewing to Repentance it will then follow that they who cannot be admitted to a new Baptism must on that account be excluded from those hopes which a second Baptism might have given them of the remission of their sins If this Exposition be admitted for the true sense of this Author then the impossibility will be understood strictly and properly that as it is really unpossible for them to get a second Baptism so it will be also impossible to gain that Renovation which cannot be expected without it § XIX IT may be replyed that besides Baptism here is another Ceremony of admitting Disciples mentioned in the Text that is Heb. vi 2 imposition of hands which was not thought so uniterable as Baptism was And that this might supply all the defects of a second Baptism to Persons who had forfeited their interest in the first by forsaking the Discipleship into which they had been admitted by it That this was thought to have all the virtue of Baptism that it made them Disciples of the School of Christ according to the customs of the Schools of those times that it gave them the Holy Spirit and that more properly than Baptism it self for the Samaritans received the Spirit not by the Baptism of St. Philip but by the impositions of the hands of St. Peter and St. John that it was also a means of remitting sins and was accordingly practised in the reconciliation of Penitents That this was the very Ceremony made use of by the Church in the reconciliation of Penitents for all the ends now mentioned in opposition to the Novatians That this Divine Author does suppose that the foundation may be laid again Ver. 1. when he so disswades the Persons to whom he writes from running the hazard of it and therefore cannot suppose a restitution of Lapsers to their Baptismal state so impossible as is here supposed That he seems plainly to suppose this as his own sense and not only as the sense of those with whom he had to deal when the reason he insists on to disswade them from this hazard is only that they would thereby lose so much of the progress they had already made to Perfection by suffering themselves to be by this means reduced to their first beginnings That their sayling thereby in point of Perfection is sufficient for the Authors design in this whole Chapter to shew how much they would thereby unfit themselves for that strong meat which he makes proper for perfect Persons that is for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in both senses as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Person full grown in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom milk was more proper and as it signifies a Person come to a nearer familiarity with the Deity in the Mystical style for it was to such that the Mysteries were communicated and they were only such who were capable of being benefited by them in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those who had only been purged from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they should by this means degrade themselves from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the very first Cathartick Mysteries and if they were Children who had need of milk they must then be reduced to the imperfection of new-born Babes and that if the thing may be done that is if Persons who have forfeited their Baptismal state may be again restored to it it is no great matter how they come to be restored whether by another Baptism or only by imposition of hands whether to the same degree of Perfection they had attained to before or whether only to an inferior § XX I could heartily wish that this were the whole danger that though Persons Lapsing from their Baptismal Obligations might not expect a new Baptism yet they might be restored gradually to the state in which they were before they fell and that this Restitution by imposition of hands though less intire and slower than that of Baptism yet might at length prove the same way beneficial to the Persons thus restored What the Church has thought in this matter even since the opposition to the Novatians is abundantly sufficient for my design If our Brethren did believe now as they did then that in Baptism all former sins were intirely remitted in a moment without any further satisfaction than their Covenant there undertaken that they would not commit them for the future but that the restitution by imposition of hands after a Lapse from their Baptismal state was not to be obtained but by a course of long and severe Penances for several Crimes for several years according to the Penitential Canons then in force for some not till the time of their Deaths if even then it self if they did believe that the sin of Schism was of as piacular a nature as they believed it then of which in my second Part Conc. Elibertin and thought themselves obliged upon their return from it to grieve and humble themselves for having ever been guilty of it as Moses and Maximus and other holy Persons of St. Cyprians Age did The very impossibility of being restored by a second Baptism and their being consequently obliged to endeavour a Reconciliation by a way so much more tedious and rigorous as this was of the imposition of hands would have been taken for Considerations so weighty as that very few things else would be thought sufficient to contervail them Even this hazard of their Salvation by their Separation from Christ's School would by the Principles already proved oblige them rather to submit to all unsinful impositions of his Chair than they would suffer themselves to be exposed to
desertion it self Can they shew any thing peculiar in the Christian Religion why Lapsers to Judaism should not be received again into the Christian Communion rather than the Lapsers into any other Sect Nay is not Baptism equally denyed to the Penitents who return from other Sects as from them and are they not received and reconciled upon their Repentance by the Absolution of the Church as familiarly as other Sectaries And if it were only on account of the general establishment of one only Baptism that they were then discouraged to hope for a reconciliation Why should not our present Adversaries think themselves as much concerned in that as the Primitive Apostates to Judaism CHAP. XIV Separation from the Church proved to be a sin against the Holy Ghost THE CONTENTS § I The danger of the sin of Separation and the difficulty of its pardonableness are very prudent and lawful reasons for bearing with a lesser sin that is more easily pardonable § I II. What is meant by grieving God's Spirit and how it comes to be unpardonable § III IV. Two influences of the Spirit resisted by the Israelites § V. This applyed to the state of the Gospel How the Christians were likely to understand these things according to the Mystical way of expounding the Old Testament which prevailed among them § VI. Our Saviour used herein a way of speaking notorious to the Jews § VII Grieving the Spirit the same with the grieving of Christ. § VIII 1. As to the Testimony which the Spirit gave him by Miracles § IX How our Saviour's threatning was fulfilled § X. The sin against the Holy Ghost a resisting of the Gospel Dispensation § XI 2. Murdering of the Prophets a sin against the Holy Ghost as he is particularly a Spirit of Prophesy § XII This particularly applyed to our Saviour and the state of the Gospel § XIII 3. Resisting the influences of the Holy Ghost in us Applyed to the Jews § XIV To the Christians § XV. According to the Hellenistical Philosophy § XVI XVII XVIII 4. Resisting the Government of the Church which was then ordered by the Spirit § XIX Separation from the Canonical Assemblies of the Church a sin against the Holy Ghost § XX. Concerning the Punishment of this sin against the Holy Ghost and the way of arguing used by the Writers of the New Testament from Old Testament Precedents § XXI XXII ANOTHER sin that our Brethren are usually troubled with when they are under any anguish of Conscience is that against the Holy Ghost concerning the irremissibility whereof the expressions are indeed very dreadful If therefore they be in danger of the guilt of this by their falling away from the Communion of the Church this I presume themselves will account such as ought not to he ventured on but on very great and very real necessity not on so mean accounts and so little probabilities as those are whereby they usually defend their Separation And if the fear of a little sin in obeying their Superiors be taken for so just a reason to excuse their disobedience to their Superiors and not only their disobedience but their resistance and Separation from them they certainly when they shall find that by their suffering themselves to be cut off from the Church and much more by their voluntary separating themselves from their Superiors rather than they will pay them the obedience which is due unto them they shall bring themselves into the danger of being guilty of a sin incomparably greater in it self and more difficultly pardonable than that is which themselves can fear they should prove guilty of by their obedience this will certainly oblige them in all Prudence when they find themselves put upon the necessity of a venture to venture on a lesser evil rather than a greater and to account that evil no evil at all at least not such as shall be imputed to them as an evil when they find themselves forced upon it by the unhappy necessity of so hard a choice I know it is a Plea of late much insisted on by them that even the appearance of a sin nay the suspicion of it is sufficient to excuse them from the otherwise lawful commands of their Superiors as long as their private Consciences cannot free themselves from that Suspicion And this pretence would have indeed a greater appearance of Truth if their Obedience to their Superiors were indeed as indifferent a thing as they suppose it to be when they make this pretence to excuse themselves from it No doubt a suspicion of sins especially if that suspicion be thought probable by the Person who is under the suspicion is sufficient to excuse him from a performance otherwise indifferent § II BUT if our dissenting Brethren would state the Case right they should suppose a sin in both Cases on the one side the sin of doing the things required from them and on the other the sin of disobedience to their Superiors and dividing the Church of Christ. And then no doubt they would not scruple but the securest resolutions of their Consciences in such a Case would be to choose that which were likely to prove less sinful and more pardonable Nay when themselves say that in this Case of probable evidence or at least of the appearance of such probable evidence their disobedience can be no sin it can only be on this account that they can pretend it that their Duty to obey God in such an instance is greater than their Duty of obedience to their Superiors if indeed they own them as Superiors and acknowledg any Duty to them If therefore it may appear on the contrary that the sin they are in danger of by dividing themselves from the Church is greater and less pardonable than the sin they would incur by submitting or at least by paying passive Obedience to a seemingly sinful imposition if they may be convinced that the sin of setting up or countenancing opposite Conventicles is greater and more difficulty pardonable than the sin of wearing a Surplice or kneeling at the Sacrament c. Then by the Rules of their own reasoning it will follow that these instances which otherwise had been sinful are notwithstanding in this Case no sins at all and therefore can be no sufficient reason to excuse their Separation from being sinful And that this is so as I have proved already so I now proceed to shew particularly from this Topick of the sin against the Holy Ghost which I presume themselves will not deny to be a sin both greater and more difficultly pardonable than any of those which they pretend to excuse their Separation from being sinful § III NOW for clearing this sin which seems hitherto to have been so little understood I consider that it is usual in the Old Testament when it is to express a provocation of God of the highest kind to express it by a commotion of mind suitable to that which is in men when they are extremely angry And therefore
of his Temple would have done them and might accordingly expect as severe a Punishment And the reason of the thing will require it For when we consider the Holy Ghost as a living and abiding Principle residing in us we must suppose every wilful sin we commit as done in as peculiar a presence of his as that was which consecrated those Holy places but this special aggravation besides that our sins now are not only done presumptuoussy in his presence as those were then but also in resistance of his contrary motions and influences in every particular act of Guilt Which is an aggravation proper only to the Mystical Israelites that is to Christians who because they alone can be supposed under the care of the Holy Ghost in every particular act they do who have him as a living and abiding Principle can therefore only be supposed to resist him in every particular deliberate Guilt § XVI NOR is this account of things agreeable only to the Notions of the modern Jews but also to those of the Hellenistical Philosophy when then obtained in the times of the Apostles They also thought that in the golden Age as long as the Divine seed continued among men that is as long as they lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so long the Gods themselves appeared and conversed familiarly with men till the degeneration of mens lives to Irascible first and then to the Concupiscible degree of the Souls by degrees exiled them back to Heaven again so that Astraea was the last of them that staid below Yet she also departed at last according as the provocations of men grew more and more intolerable And it is observable that this was made to be the Age of the Giants who in the Poets Mystical way of expressing things are said to have fought against the Gods themselves as it seems most probable for resisting these Divine influences which are then supposed to have been so familiar And these Giants are not only supposed to have brought the deluge but to have been cast into Tartarus and so to have been punished in the World to come as well as in this for their great impleties I need not observe how exactly these things agree with the Notions of the Hellenists and the Primitive Christians concerning the old World that strove with God's Spirit and were therefore destroyed by the Deluge The sense of the Hellenists appears sufficiently from the Translation of Gen. VI. and Job And the account of these things in Philo and Josephus The sense of the Primitive Christians from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Peter from the Sibylline Oracles 2 Pet. ii 4 and Bogan Praef. ad Dickinson Delph Phâ—niâ—iss Winder de vit functor statu the Book of Enoch and all that followed it as I think the Fathers did unanimously for the first three Centuries They all give the same account and in the same language as the Heathens do concerning their Giants which perished in the Deluge of Deucalion according to them who make the Deluge of Deucalion as general an one as that of Noah was And I have already noted how the New Testament compares the sin of the Apostates from the Gospel with the sin of those who perished in the old World and makes the Punishment by fire which should be inflicted for the sin of these exactly answerable to the Punishment by the Deluge which those suffered for a guilt of the like nature But if we will Critically distinguish the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Angels on the Deluge which was said to come on those who were born out of the blood of those Giants yet the Parallel will yet hold more exactly in this Case For this instance of these Angels who are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Peter and are therefore answerable to the Giants in the Poets given as a Precedent what these desertors of the Gospel were to expect And accordingly Enoch's Prophesie which in all likelihood was spoken expresly concerning these Giants yet applyed by St. Jude to the Apostate Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 14. Ver. 13. And the blackness of darkness which was reserved for those Christian Apostates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Saviour seems plainly the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Giants which is described in the Poets as the lowest part of Hell Hesiod Theog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which way of Explication as their Punishment is made the same with that of the Giants and that is the severest imaginable the very depth of Hell which is therefore as severe as can be thought of for the sin against the Holy Ghost so their sin must be supposed of the same nature too And therefore their resisting these motions of the Spirit which they had received by the Gospel must in proportion be supposed to be the same fighting against God of which the Giants were guilty which is also as great a guilt and as properly ascribed to the Spirit as any one can conceive that to be which is called the sin against the Holy Ghost § XVII AND particularly that Christianity was a restoring men to that Divine seed which those before the Deluge enjoyed till they lost it by their misdemeanours and therefore consequently that it must expose men to the guilt of sinning against the Spirit as they did appears from Justin Martyr's making that living 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the same thing with being a Christian from Constantines's applying all the Eclogue of Virgil where he describes the return of the golden Age according to the Principles of Hesiod and Plato to the state of Christianity from their making the Spirit to be a Divine Nature as that was then and their supposing it to make us the Sons of God as Plato calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who lived then Nay so far did the Primitive Christians follow this Philosophical Hypothesis as that several of them thought the souls of men derived from the Stars as they did and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the restitution of them to the Stars from whence they had descended if not their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and coalition with the fontal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which they had been derived to the Stars themselves However it appears that according to this Notion concerning Christianity they must have conceived Christians to have been under a peculiar care of Providence in regard of these communications of Intellectual influences as the Jews suppose themselves to be And accordingly the Hellenistical Philosophers made this to be the image of God exactly as the Scripture does and made the following of the suggestions of this good Daemon to be the following of God himself and must therefore make the resisting it to be a resisting of God also So the Pythagorean verses wish that men would know the Daemon they enjoy and indeed they derive the influences of the supreme
of Glory by which he is pleased to presentiate himself so long even the subordinate Governours must be presumed to be Authorized by him For it is an inseparable Royalty of the supreme Governour to have the nomination of subordinate Governours either by himself or by his Laws And where the nomination is made of the Persons by the Laws it is always to be presumed as much the Act of the supreme Governour as if it had been performed by him in his own Person and will as strictly oblige Subjects to Obedience to them and will make their resistance as properly a disowning of the supreme Authority The King does not concern himself in Person in the nomination of every inferior Officer nay many times knows not what is done by others in his name Yet the resisting of such Persons who are Legally invested in their Office the Law looks on as a resistance to the Royal Authority it self And though it may be lawful in some instances to deny them active Obedience when they require it in Cases wherein the Law who gave them their Power gave them no power to require it yet even in those Cases to gather Parties against them and to disown dependence on them and to separate from them would also be taken for a Rebellion against the supreme Authority where-ever it is Passive Obedience must be paid to them where Active cannot and upon no pretence of recourse to the supreme Prince can be denyed them without a violation of the Authority of that Prince to whom they pretend to have recourse Nor is this only necessary by the Principles of secular Government much less of that only which is proper to our Kingdom It is absolutely necessary by the Principles of Government as it relates to a visible Society without this no external Society can be maintained And even in the reason of the thing what a man does by his substitute is the same thing in Law as if it had been done by his own Person If therefore the supreme Authority delegate his Power by Legal Rules settled by him as such a Delegation is properly his Act and therefore properly obliges him so the Power so delegated is his also and the resistance made against it does properly affront him in his own Authority This I note to shew that our Adversaries present opposition to Persons Legally Authorized by the Holy Ghost according to the Rules settled by him for maintaining a Succession must be a Rebellion against the Holy Ghost himself though such subordinate Governours should prove mistaken and though they received no other gifts by their Ordination for the discharge of their Office but their bare Office alone And yet the Church has always thought that even such Gifts were given them at their Ordination But that not being necessary for my present design I shall not now enlarge on it § XX IN all these instances it appears that all sins against the Gospel-Dispensation are very properly sins against the Holy Ghost If were easie now to shew further that a separation from the Canonical Assemblies of the Church is a sin against the Gospel-Dispensation I say against the Dispensation it self and not only against particular Provisions of it It is an interpretative disowning Christ for our Master when we leave his School and his Chair It is a disowning his Royal Authority when we resist his subordinate Governours who have succeeded Canonically according to the Rules by him established for Succession It is a violation of that Peace which it was the great design of his Death to settle among us and of that Vnity of the Spirit which I have shewn to be necessary for deriving the influences of the Spirit to particular Members It is a violation of our Baptismal Promise and Covenant when we cut our selves off from being Members of that Society of which we professed our selves Members in our Baptism Most of these Arguments I have shewn to have been made use of by the Apostles themselves And undoubtedly the charges if true will strike at the Gospel-Dispensation § XXI AND for the Punishment assigned by the sacred Writers for this great sin And the way of reasoning used by them in applying the instances of the Old Testament to this purpose I consider that the Authors who were then for the Mystical Expositions of the Old Testament as we have seen that the Christians both by their Genius and their interest were for these Mystical Expositions those Authors I say supposed that even the Historical parts of it were not delivered by the sacred Writers purely for the sake of the Histories themselves but with relation to future Ages wherein they might be useful and yet more especially with relation to the times of the Messiah Now on this supposition it was not proper for them to mention any Histories but such as were designed for Precedents even to Posterity when Circumstances should prove exactly the same Nor was this only supposed to have been designed by the sacred Writers themselves but also by the Holy Ghost by whom they were inspired nay by him rather than by the Writers and these Mystical secondary applications were thought more principally disigned by him than the concernment of the Original History as to the Persons who were at first concerned in it So that on this supposition it was as rational even to ground Arguments for present Expectations on those past Histories how Personal soever they might otherwise seem in their Original design as no man doubts but it is rational to plead Precedents in our ordinary Courts because they were at first designed for that very purpose But more especially this was rational in the â—imes of the Messiah because the whole Old Testament was thought to have a pecular regard to those times Thus it was as rational for the Author to the Hebrews to apply the Promise made to Joshua Heb. xiii 5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee to the Christian Hebrews to whom he wrote as it was for Jushua to whom it was made to apply if to himself because according to this supposition it was more principally designed by God himself for them than for him and indeed for him no otherwise than as his was to be a leading Case And this will give an account of the reasonableness and Prudence of many of the like reasonings from the Histories of the Old Testament thus applyed in the New And that they did really proceed on this supposition St. Paul himself assures us when after he had reckoned up several of the Judgments that befell Apostates in those times he tells us 1 Cor. x. 11 All these things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the Worlds are come And though all the New Testament Writers use this way of reasoning yet none more frequently than St. Paul § XXII And as this Observation cleares the reason and the Prudence of such reasonings at least ad homines in regard of the
from the Mystical style by which this whole matter is expressed in the Scripture And that by these degrees 1. The Life of particular Members of the Mystical Body of Christ is in the Scripture supposed to depend on a constant repetition of influences from the common vital Principle as the Life of particular Members in the Body Natural does § IX 2. The Scripture also supposes the Life of particular Members to depend as much on their conjunction with the whole Mystical Body in order to their receiving these repeated Influences as the Life of particular Members in the Natural Body depends on their conjunction with the whole natural Body § X. 3. The Church with which it was supposed so necessary for particular Members to be united in order to their participation of this Spiritual Life is plainly supposed to be the Church in this World and that visible Society of them which joyned in the same publick exercises of Religion in that Age when these things were written § XI XII 4. The Reasons used by the Sacred Writers for this purpose are such as concern the Church as a Church and so as suitable to the latter Ages of the Church as those earlier ones wherein they were first used § XIII 5. In order to this Mystical Union with the Church it is absolutely necessary as far as an ordinary means can be so that we partake of the Lords Supper This proved from 1 Cor. x. 17 § XIV The same thing proved from the true design of the Eucharist rightly explained This done by these degrees 1. The design of our Saviour seems to have been the Mystical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much spoken of in the Philosophy then received as the peculiar Office of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. In this Union the reason of our being in Christ is his being in us 3. Two things according to the Scripture to be distinguished in Christ his Flesh and Spirit and in both regards we are concerned that he be united to us § XV. 4. There are very material reasons why our Saviour should require this Bodily Union in contradidistinction to the Spiritual viz. The benefits which our Bodies in contradistinction to our Spirits may receive by it 1. That by this Corporal Union with Christ we may be made sensible of the Interest he has in our Bodies and of our obligation to serve him with our Bodies and to abstein from those sins which are seated in the Body The great necessity of this in that Age. § XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX. 2. That by this means they might be assured of the Resurrection of their Bodies § XXI 5. Therefore according to the Practices and Conceptions then prevailing the Eucharist was the most proper means whereby this Bodily Union with Christ could have been contrived whether it be considered 1. As a Sacrifice And that either as an ordinary Sacrifice § XXII XXIII XXIV Or as a Federal Sacrifice § XXV Or 2. As a Mystery and this of the greatest sort The likeness between the design of the Heathen Mysteries and of the Blessed Sacrament The Mysteries were Commemorative and that generally of the sufferings of their Gods § XXVI They were performed by external Symbols Particularly Bread was a Sacred Symbol of Unity Observed in the Rites of Mithras among the Pythagoraeans § XXVII XXVIII In the antient way of Marriage by Confarreation and in Truces § XXIX And among the Jews § XXX The Mysteries designed particularly for the good of the Soul and that in the state of Separation § XXXI In the Mysteries they were obliged to Confession of sins and to undertake new Rules of living well § XXXII In the Mysteries it was usual to change the names of the things used in them without any thought of a change of Nature § XXXIII 6. Vpon these Principles and according to the nature of these Mystical contrivances this Bodily Union may very well be supposed to be made by our Saviours changing the name of Bread into that of his own Body § XXXIV XXXV XXXVI I HAVE hitherto shewn that the Grace conveyed in Baptism is necessary to Salvation and that it is confined to the external Sacrament of Baptism as the only ordinary means appointed whereby we may receive it I now proceed to prove the same thing concerning the other Sacrament that of the Lords Supper But before I set upon this it will be convenient to promise two things § II 1. THAT this dependence on the Episcopal Communion for a valid Baptism will alone suffice so far for my purpose as to discourage the perpetuating any opposite Communion All those Arguments which prove the Eucharist necessary will much more prove Baptism necessary without which the Eucharist cannot be had though on the contrary Baptism might be necessary if the Eucharist were not so Besides that our Adversaries themselves are more sensible of the necessity of Baptism than they are of the necessity of the Eucharist if not for Salvation it self absolutely yet at least for our comfort and assurance of it If therefore the validity of Baptism it self depend on the Authority of him who administers it and this Authority cannot be had without Episcopal Ordination thus much at least will follow that valid Baptism can only be expected in the Episcopal Communion Whence it will follow that the true Notion of a Church must also be confined to the Episcopal Communion Though a multitude invisibly united in the belief of the Christian Doctrines may be called a Church in a sence wherein that word is ordinarily used by our Adversaries for the Church of the Elect that is of Elect also in their ordinary Notion of that word for the Elect according to God's secret undiscernable purpose yet understanding a Church for an external Body Politick united among themselves by a visible confederation and as it is a priviledged Society of whose priviledges we may assure our selves by being Members of it and of whose Membership we can best assure our selves and as it is the seat of visible Discipline none can think that a Multitude of unbaptized Persons how penitent or believing soever can make up such a Church as this is Yet this is the sence of the Church of which it can be any comfort to any that he is a Member of it And this is the sence which is principally concerned in this present dispute § III THEY say indeed that God does not confine his Graces to his Sacraments Admit it were so But can they therefore say that whole Multitudes of Persons depending on Gods extraordinary favours can make up that priviledged Society which we call a Church or can they say that such Multitudes as these may have all the ordinary means of Salvation though they want the Sacraments If so what obligation can there be to receive the Sacraments at all when men may enjoy all the ordinary means of Salvation without them and be withall assured that they do enjoy them But indeed the Sacraments are the
of our Saviour could be so detained And when he therefore calls this Bread the true Bread from Heaven in opposition to the Bread of Moses I am apt to think that it was meant according to the usual meaning of this Mystical way of arguing It is sufficiently clear from Philo that the Platonical Ideas were received by the Hellenistical Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 3 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 169. Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 5. ex Numino Didymo Philone Clemente Alexandrino Euseb. Pr. Eu. xi 22 23 24 25. especially by those of them who were for expounding the Scripture Mystically and that these Ideas were by them as well as the Platonists placed in Heaven and particularly in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that those Ideas were the only Truth and that all other resemblances of them were only * Vid. Viger not ad Euseb. Praep. p. 528. D. 845. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from them only as impressions from the Seal and therefore were not the true things themselves but only the appearances of them § VII HENCE it came to be the design of the Primitive Christians in the great use they made of Mystical Judaism for their purpose to shew that all the externals of the Law were only Ectypal resemblances of those original Archetypal Ideas which were reserved in Christ as being that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom the Platonists and the Mysticizing Jews themselves placed their Ideas and that they were reserved with him in Heaven before his descent on earth So the Priests of the Law are said to have served 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. viii 5 to the example and shadow of heavenly things Which is proved from that same place from whence Philo also proves these Heavenly Exemplars and from whence Justin Martyr supposes Plato himself to have borrowed them Justin. Paraenet p. 28 29. Exod. xxv 40 Heb. ix 1 Ver. 9. Heb. ix 23 24. For see that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount So the worldly Sanctuary in opposition to the heavenly which was only a figure for the time present So the holy places made with hands are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the patterns of things in the Heavens and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the figures of the true to which are opposed the heavenly things and Heaven it self So the Law is said to have had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. x. 1 a shadow of good things to come but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the very image of the things Heb. viii 2 So in opposition to the earthly Tabernacle there is the heavenly which is called the true Tabernacle And Christ as he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so he is said to be the truth very frequently Joh. xiv 1 especially by St John who of all the New Testament Writers seems to have been most punctually observant of this Mystical style and whoever would know the Truth indeed must know it as it is in Jesus Eph. iv 21 § VIII THIS therefore being supposed there will also be reason to suppose that Manna must also have been understood Mystically and the rather so Psal. lxxviii 26 because the Psalmist calls it the Bread of Angels who could not according to the Hellenistical Hypothesis of Philosophy then received be supposed capable of partaking of material Bread And accordingly our Saviour when he would prove himself to be no Spirit he does it by eating S. Luk. xxiv 41 42 43. and the Apostles who were witnesses of his Resurrection when they would urge their own Testimony more unexceptionably in that matter this is the most convictive evidence on which they insist that even after his Resurrection they had eaten and drunk with him Act. x. 41 a plain sign that they took it for a Principle granted them by those against whom they reasoned that Spirits could not eat and drink And this is the reason why Philo who takes up Mystical sences many times upon less considerable exceptions against the Letter than this is does grant a * Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 176. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And else where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he speaks concerning the Manna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 470. And elsewhere he again makes it come from Heaven p. 449. Mystical Manna and places it in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes exactly home to our Saviours reasoning and shews the prudence and cogency of it at least as to this part of his Discourse that he was the true Bread of which the Corporal Manna which had been eaten by their Fathers in the Wilderness was only a Type and resemblance For supposing the Adversaries with whom he had then to deal to have been of Philo's mind as plainly Philo in most of his Allegories does not pretend himself to be an inventer but a deliverer of the Traditions of those who had studied Allegories and whoever compares his not only with Clemens and Origen who succeeded him in the School of Alexandria and in the way of Allegorizing but also with the Scripture it self will find that they did not take that liberty that some may conceive but kept constant to one way of Allegory though I confess they sometimes give several Allegorical Expositions of the same Scriptures I say supposing that they granted that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Archetypal Manna he had nothing more to convince them of in order to the proving that he was the true Bread but only that he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was to appear from those many Credentials which he afterwards produced of his being so § IX THIS was very apposite to our Saviours purpose and might very probably have been part of his design but I cannot think that it was the whole of it For the benefit here spoken of is plainly corporal and not such as could agree to the Angels viz. the intitling their Bodies to a Resurrection unto bliss as I have already observed If it had been otherwise the reason given by him why this Bread should make their Bodies immortal had been very improper For what relation had flesh to the food of Angels How could they receive nourishment from it or be made immortal by it Nay indeed what need was there of proving that the Archetypal Manna should make its receivers immortal seeing that by the Hypothesis then received all Archetypal â—eings were supposed to be immortal Or if he would be pleased needlessly to put himself to that trouble yet why should he make use of so unlikely an Argument for proving it They know not of any flesh that was to be immortal At least they were much better assured that all Archetypal Beings were immortal than that any flesh was so And therefore how could the immortality of his own flesh pass with them for an Argument of the immortality of this Archetypal Bread
his rights in order to the procuring that Assistance § VIII AND as on these accounts there can be no reason obliging him to wave any right on any pretence of Prescription whatsoever so in the reason of the thing we cannot conceive how any Creature can gain a right in process of time which was not good at first especially where there is no reason to ascribe any virtue to these implicite compacts for the security of the common interest which may convey a right Nor can we conceive in this case how that which was once the right of God can cease to be so without a deed of Gift So that if this be proved that this right of administring the Sacraments is originally Gods right and that they who first made the Separation invaded it without any Authority derived from God to administer them this will prove a Nullity not only in the Acts of the first Dividers but in all the Orders and Ordinances which have been since derived from them and on which all their pretensions to the name and priviledges of a Church must be founded if they have any solid foundation at all § IX AND that this is so that all Authority of administring the Sacraments must be derived from God and from him alone in opposition to all origination from Men as I have now explained it I shall endeavour to prove both from the reason of the thing and from the actual institution of God 1. From the reason of the thing To this purpose it is to be remembred that the great end of instituting the Sacraments being the conveyance of the Spiritual benefits designed by the Sacraments this is the difference between Sacraments administred with Authority and those which are not so administred that by this administration of them with Authority these benefits are conveyed which cannot be expected where they are administred without Authority And therefore he only has the power of giving this Authority who has the power of ratifying what is done in his name by Persons so Authorized by him that is who has the original Right of disposing of the benefits so conveyed But it is God alone who has the right of disposing of these Spiritual benefits conveyed in the Sacrament and no Creature can pretend to it by any of those rights with which God has invested it by his general Rules of Providence antecedently to actual Revelation And this as to both regards both as to the right and as to the possession of the benefits here conveyed If the Multitude can neither dispose of the right of these benefits nor without the right put the Person to whom they would pretend to give right in possession of them then certainly they can have no pretence of a power of ratifying what should be done by Persons Authorized by them nor consequently can they have any power of giving them any lawful Authority which is perfectly unintelligible without a lawful power of ratification And that no creature has any right to dispose of either of these things and that God alone has the power to dispose of them will easily appear in discussing the particulars which because I have had occasion to touch formerly I hope I may be allowed to dispatch at present with the greater brevity and the rather because I conceive them so clear as that I do not foresee any thing considerable that our Adversaries themselves can object against them when they shall be pleased throughly to consider what may be said against them on this Argument § X 1. THEN it is God alone not any Creature that has the right of disposing of the Spiritual benefits here conveyed It is be alone that can forgive sins or regenerate or give the Holy Spirit or apply the Mystical benefits of Christs death and passion He alone can unite us to Christ and it is his judgment of us as one Body and Spirit with Christ which intitles us to all the consequential benefits of that Vnion These are the essential designs of the Sacraments without which they would be very little significant and to these the Multitude cannot lay any plausible claim And if our Brethren would but be as well pleased to consider the Ministers as conveyers of these benefits to men as they are pleased to consider them as they are representatives of men whose Petitions are by them offered to God certainly they could not think it in their power in regard of any natural inherent right to make promises of things which are not in their power or to empower representatives to act in their name in making such promises And if they would but consider the nature of a Covenant and the Ministers as common representatives of both parties of this Covenant of God in some things as well as of the people in others though they might think themselves at liberty to name their own representatives yet they could not but think it presumptuous to assume a right of imposing representatives on God beside the Rules of his own appointment They could not in reason think God obliged to ratify such presumptuous proceedings § XI AND it is very considerable to this purpose that according to those Notions which prevailed among the Jews who had always been brought up under a Theocracy the right of Government was thought grounded on the Spirit of Government Thus the seventy Elders derived Moses Authority by their partaking of his Spirit So Joshua Saul and David were the same way inaugurated by the Spirit of God which came upon them This was the thing intended to be signified by their material Vnction the conveyance of this Spirit of Government as the Mystical Vnction Psal. xlv 7 Luk. iv 18 Accordingly whereunto the Spirit alone without material Oyl is called Oyl And the very power of Christ is derived from his being Mystically annointed with the Holy Ghost Which is by so much the more to be expected under the state of the Gospel because the power it self is purely Spiritual and in relation to the other World And accordingly when our Saviour empowered his Apostles it was by breathing on them and giving them the Holy Ghost Joh. xx 22 Act. viii 18 And as the Apostles gave the Holy Ghost by the imposition of their hands so it was by that Ceremony that they conveyed the Ecclesiastical power 2 Tim. i. 6 And though the extraordinary manifestations that then accompanied this gift have long since ceased yet the reason of the gift it self does still continue Still the administration of the Government of Christ is performed by his Spirit Still our participation of Christ is by partaking of his Spirit and if his Authority was derived from his Vnction then they who would partake of his Authority must partake of his Unction too And still the presence of the Spirit is as necessary to support the burden of Government as ever And therefore the Multitude can have no inherent right to dispose of the Government because they have none to dispose
Vnion with him is expressed in both regards not only that we are made one Spirit with him but that we must become one Body a Eph. iv 4 with him also And as his Body in opposition to the Spirit is called his flâ—sh b Col. i. 22 1 Tim iii. 16 1 Pet. iii. 18 1 Joh. iv 2 3. 2 Joh. 7. so we are also said to be one c Eph. v. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. flesh with him the same way as married Persons are on account of that institution made one flesh as Eve was from Adam flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone in allusion whereunto we are also said to be Members of his Body of his flesh and of his bones Which is a clear account of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ignatius * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Magn. p. 10. Ed. Usser 1646. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. p. 15. the fleshly as well as the Spiritual Vnion with and similitude to Christ which hence appears to have been very agreeable to the Notions of those times So far it is from being an Argument against the genuineness of those Epistles as Blondell makes it because he did not understand those Principles I do not at present intend to discourse of our Vnion with Christ in Spirit because I may hereafter have occasion to do it when I shall explain the true notion of our Vnion and Communion with him All that I shall now observe concerning it is only this that though our Vnion to Christ in Spirit be indeed the most immediately beneficial Vnion without which our fleshly Vnion could be of little or no advantage to us yet that this fleshly Vnion is more immediately necessary to us because without it we can expect no interest in his Spiritual Vnion For as his own sufferings in the flesh intitled him to the glory of the Spirit so plainly this very instance of likeness is thus applied by the Apostle that we must first be like him in his sufferings that we may expect to be like him in the glory of his Resurrection Besides the Allegory of this Mystical language holds exactly to my purpose that as in the Natural Body no Member can expect to partake of the Spirits and other vital influences of the whole Body that is not first united to it carnally so none can expect this Vnion with Christ in the Spirit which is answerable to those vital influences in the Natural Body till he be first united to him in the body and flesh § XVI BUT besides this consequential necessity of our bodily Vnion with him in order to our participation of Spiritual influences it is further observable 4. That there are very material reasons why our Saviour should require this bodily Vnion in contradistinction to the Vnion of the Spirit I mean such reasons as concern the Body in contradistinction to the Spirit that is the benefits which the Body in contradistinction to the Spirit might expect by this corporal but Mystical Vnion with Christs Body One was that by this Corporal Vnion with Christ we may be made sensible of the interest he has in our Body as well as our Souls and therefore of our obligation to serve him also with our Bodies and to abstein from those carnal sins which had their seat in the Body This was particularly necessary for the misunderstandings of that Age wherein this Sacrament was first instituted and for whose use it was peculiarly contrived They had been inured to believe that the Body was no part of the Man but only a troublesome load and prison of the Soul Whence it naturally followed that what care was had of the Body would not be on any account of respect to the Body it self but for the Souls sake as far as that might suffer by the impurity of the Body But for that they were not very solicitous For several of those who were Philosophically disposed especially of those with whom the Apostles had to deal were so far from thinking that the Soul was like to suffer by any impurity of the Body as that they rather thought that several bodily pollutions did rather contribute accidentally to the purity of the Soul in as much as they might possess it with a greater abhorrence of the Body and a greater inclination of leaving it which might be increased it by the resistance it met with in it § XVII TO this they must therefore then have been the more inclinable when they considered the obscenity of the publick Mysteries which were then celebrated as most effectual means of purging the Soul not only by the vulgar Nay it is Juvenals observation concerning all the Mysteries of those times that they were all performed with obscenity Quo non prostat fâ—mian templo Sat. ix 24 vid. Min. Felic Octav. p. 237.237 249. Not. but even the Philosophers themselves those of Succoth Benoth and Thamuz or Adonis and Baal Peor or Priapus among the Converts of Palestine and of the Orphaick Aegyptian and Eleusinian among those of the dispersion These were the famous Mysteries that were known to these Persons and as long as these were supposed conducive to the purity of the Soul they must have been encouraged to the greatest bodily impurities as the most likely means of obteining the greatest Spiritual purity § XVIII AND they were also the rather less inclinable to be solicitous for the Purity of the Body because they took it self to be the greatest Principle of impurity All pollution and filth of the Soul was supposed derived from matter and therefore they who endeavoured to be pure endeavoured also to free themselves from all adhesions of the Body And the contrary impure Daemon the evil Principle was taken for the Lord of matter and was thought to have power over them who did partake of matter as long as they did partake of it on account of their partaking of it So that on this supposition the taking any care of their Body or shewing any respect to it was so far from the freeing themselves from impurity as that it must have been taken for the most likely means of involving them deeper in it Eunap in vit Porph. Therefore it was that Porphyry on hearing Plotinus's Lectures grew so much out of love with his being a Man that is so far as a Body was necessary to the constitution of a Man as that he thought of starving himself out of his Body Porph. vit Plotin Therefore also Plotinus was so ashamed of his Body as that he would by no means endure that any Picture should be taken of it when that favour was desired from him by his friends Thus in Trismegistus when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes to holy minds one effect among others is said to be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poem c. 1. And accordingly he makes it a requisite for Baptism where according to him this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is received to
hate the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. c. 4. And if this had been granted them that the Body it self was such a Principle of pollution to the Spirit how could they be solicitous for preserving it from such pollutions as were only capable of being transacted in the Body How could they think themselves concerned to preserve that pure which was it self supposed to be nothing but a pollution § XIX AND that these were particularly the sentiments of those Persons with whom the Apostles had to deal plainly appears from hence that the Principles on which they depend were generally owned by the Hereticks of that Age. They generally took the God of this world for a distinct coeternal contrary Principle to the God of Heaven They also took this World for his peculiar Province and thought themselves obnoxious to his influences as long as they were in it They thought it also the proper employment of the Angels of this World to tye their Souls to terrestrial Bodies and consequently that the best way of freeing themselves from subjection to them was to free themselves from that tye They thought that their Bodies were the creatures of this contrary wicked Principle and therefore that Marriage which was intended for the purgation of Bodies was an intention of the Devil and accordingly that Adam was damned for introducing the first precedent of the exercise of it though it was with his own wife And accordingly we find these greatest pretenders to the Spirit to be withal charged with the most abominable pollutions of the flesh 2 Pet. ii 10 Jud. 8. and that they accordingly performed the Christian Mysteries as much of them as they were pleased to retain with the same obscenity which had before been practised among the Heathens The particulars cannot be mentioned without immodesty On this account it is that we have so many exhortations to those whom the Apostles would secure from those seducers that they would purifie themselves in the flesh as well as the Spirit 2 Cor. vii 1 Rom. xii 1 and that they would offer up their Bodies as well as their Souls as a living and a reasonable Sacrifice and that their whole Man might be kept unblamable 1 Thes. v. 23 their Bodies as well as their Souls and Spirits § XX BY this it appears how very necessary it was for that great design of intire Purity and Reformation which was intended by the Christian Religion to oblige them particularly to Purity of their Bodies in contradistinction to the purity of the Spirit because whilest these Principles were believed they who were never so desirous of Spiritual Purity must have been at least negligent of this Purity of the Body if they had not utterly given themselves up to carnal Impurities on the account now mentioned And considering that it was a Principle granted among them that they were obliged to purifie that part which belonged to God and their only pretence for neglecting the like Purity of the Body was that they conceived it not to belong to him but to an adverse Being whom they were neither so obliged to please nor if they would please him was it so probable that he would be pleased with Purity what could be a properer means to convince them of their mistake in this particular and to oblige them to Corporal Purity than to perswade them to give up their Bodies as well as their Souls to Christ and to give him an interest in them by a particular and distinct Donation And accordingly this was the way which was observed and this is the Argument professedly made use of by the Apostle for this purpose 1 Cor. vi 15 Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an harlot Ver. 19 20. God forbid And What Know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirits which are Gods And because it was by the filthiness of the Heathen Mysteries that their Bodies had been defiled therefore it was very proper and agreeable to the honour of the Christian Religion that they should be obliged to this Purity of their Bodies more distinctly and particularly in the Christian Mysteries § XXI BUT there was also another reason which made it necessary that they should be united to Christ bodily as well as spiritually That was that by this means they might be assured of the Resurrection of their Bodies This was the Article of the Christian Religion on which above all others the comfort and encouragement of new Christians principally depended and which was indeed the principal inducement to them to undertake all the other Duties of the Christian Religion and which notwithstanding met with the most difficult reception of all others and wherein God was therefore pleased to give the greatest Assurance for the satisfaction of Persons concerned And particularly the Argument used for this purpose is this that Christ is risen 1 Cor. xv 12 Whence it is inferred as a necessary consequence that we must rise also And this is plainly so inferred as if it were impossible that one could be true unless the other were so too And it is urged both ways Negatively Ver. 14 17. if Christ be not risen all Preaching is in vain our Faith is also vain we are yet in our sins We have only hopes in this Life and Ver. 19. in regard of the little enjoyment we can pretend to here are become of all men most miserable And if he be risen he is risen as the first fruits and as the Head Ver. 20 2◠And as the whole Harvest is consecrated in the first fruits and the whole Body is concerned in what befalls the Head so it is supposed impossible that he can have risen but that we must thereby gain a Title to a Resurrection We as Members are said already to have risen and to have sate down in Heavenly places because he who is our Head has already done both And he as our Head is supposed uncapable of a compleat Resurrection unless we rise also who are his Members Now this benefit being such as only properly belongs to our Body therefore the force of this consequence must be grounded on this supposition that our Bodies are his Members as well as our Spirits And our Bodies must the same way be united to his Body by partaking of his Body as we are made one Spirit with him by deriving from that fullness of the Spirit which properly agrees to him as he is our Head And accordingly this participation of his Body in the Eucharist is urged by the Fathers as the greatest assurance of our hope that we shall also partake with him in his Resurrection To return therefore to my method § XXII THIS being thus