demanded for themselves and for those of their own profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master what shall we do And he said unto them Exact no more then that which is appointed you 13 The soldiers also hearing his answer to the publicans desired the like particular instruction for themselves and for their commilitants and therefore demanded saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what shall we do And he said unto them Do violence to no man neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages 14 His preaching and baptisme were had in great admiration by all the people and much talk went concerning him they mused in their hearts and reasoned and disputed one with another concerning him whether he were the Christ or not whom all men then expected This gave him occasion to put them out of doubt concerning both his person and Baptisme and to inculcate that which he had said before to the Pharisees and Sadduces in his commination observed by Saint Matthew 15 For saith the text The people were in expectation and all men mused in their hearts of John whether he were the Christ or not 16 John answered saying unto them all I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier then I commeth the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire 17 Whose fan is in his hand and he will thorowly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner but the chaffe he will burne with fire unquenchable 18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people passed over by the Evangelists for that brevities sake which the Scripture every where affecteth Christ baptized by St. John the Baptist Bethabara While these things were thus transacted by Saint John at Jordan a fair river in Judea which divideth Galilee from the residue of Judea falleth into the dead Sea Jesus himself upon the sixth day of the month of January in the beginning of the thirtieth year of his age came from Nazareth the place of his education and abode with his parents unto Bethabara where Saint John baptized It was a town scituated upon the east-side of the river Iordan sixteen miles from Ierusalem and as they say fiftie and two miles from Nazareth where it seems was some bridge or ferry to passe over the river from whence the place had its name Bethabara for Beth signifieth an house and Abbara is transitus a passage as if you should say the house of the passage Thither came he who had no need of Baptisme to be baptized of his servant It was because it became him to fulfill all righteousnesse How in fulfilling the types for the Ark which was a type of Christ passed through Iordan and Elijah and Elisha who were typicall persons and types of Christ passed through Iordan prefiguring his Baptisme And not only to fulfill the types but to sanctifie Iordan it self and all other waters in a lawfull sacramentall use to the mysticall washing away of sin for so the Church of England with consent of the primitive Church believeth and confesseth as Saint Ambrose saith Cum salvator abluitur jam tum in nostrum baptismum tota aqua mundatur Serm. 18. in Epiphan When the Saviour is baptized then is all the water made clean for our Baptisme And no marvell for if the temple sanctified the gold and the Altar sanctified the gift surely Christ the Lord of the temple and the true altar must needs sanctifie and who shall doubt but that by his baptisme he sanctified the whole element of water for the sacrament of Baptisme It is Christs own prerogative to institute his sacraments by sanctification of the Elements Therefore it is fond and frivolous to object that Christ sanctified not all those things that he touched and therefore not the river Iordan by being baptized in it seeing that he hath instituted this great sacrament in the element of water for sanctifications are ex consilio destinato to the end that being taken off from common and ordinary uses by divine institution they may serve for that purpose to the which they are sanctified Therefore though he descended into hell he sanctified not hell nor yet the Palace of the high priest nor all or any of those places in the land of Palestina into which he came In a word he would be baptized of his servant for instruction to teach us neither to despise the Sacrament for the weakness of the Element nor for the unworthiness of the Minister and withall to give us to understand that like as he in old time brought the people of Israel the carnall seed into the earthly Canaan through the river of Iordan Even so in these last dayes doth he bring the spirituall seed into the heavenly Canaan through the sacrament of Baptisme For therein are we made members of Christ children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven Except a man be born of water S. Joh. 3.5 and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Now when he was come and tendred himself to be baptized of him St. John who knew him in his mothers wombe supernaturally and by such a knowledge as was never given to any other and leaped for joy and yet never knew him nor had seen him in all his life till that instant of time knew him then by divine inspiration S. Luc. 1.44 S. Joh. 1.31 and therefore thought himself altogether unworthy to baptize his Lord and for that cause forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee I who am a sinner and born in sinne of thee who art no sinner nor born in sin I who am thy servant of thee who art my Lord and comest thou to me Thou the immaculate lambe of God thou the eternall word of God thou the eternall God comest thou to me to me a servant to me a sinner O wonderfull and mysterious Christ submonisheth him of his dispensation and that he came to fulfill all righteousnesse wherefore being presently admitted without further contradiction or delay he descended into the water and was baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and straight way He went up straight way out of the water presently without delay he went up out of the water for he made all possible speed to pray unto the Father and that the Holy Ghost might descend upon him and that he might receive the Fathers testimony from heaven And therefore St. Luke saith That when all the people were baptized and that Jesus also being baptized and praying the heaven was opened And the holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said Thou art my beloved sonne in thee I am well pleased I shall not doubt but that he did pray for the holy Ghost and that the element of water which he had sanctified in the lawfull use of it might become
Holy Ghost whereby the believer giveth his assent or credence unto Gods holy word and doth apprehend and apply to himselfe in particular as well the Originall promise as also all other promises of the saving good will and grace of God in Christ the promised seed to his glory and to the salvation of his own soul The efficient cause of which justifying faith primarily is God himself The efficient of justifying faith who is one divine essence distinguished into three persons the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost for faith is the gift of God as St. Paul saith Unto you it is given in the behalfe of Christ not onely to believe on him Phil. 1.29 but also to suffer for his sake Yet so as that instrumentally it is either internall or externall The internall is the Holy Ghost by his speciall working the shining of God in our hearts whereby faith is begotten in us 2 Cor. 4.6 while that he doth dispose our understanding to the saving knowledge of Christ and moveth our will to give assent and adhere thereunto The externall is the administration of the Gospell in the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments whereby the Holy Ghost doth ordinarily forme and confirm the work of faith in us although it must not be denyed that for the liberty of the power of his will God without the use of this ordinary meanes when and where he shall so please doth beget and work faith in the hearts of men Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greeke 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written The just shall live by faith The matter of faith The matter of Faith if considered subjectively the proper subject thereof is the understanding and will of man so farre forth as each faculty is regenerate by the supernaturall grace and power of the Holy Ghost whereby the understanding discerneth those supernaturall benefits of faith offered in Christ to be true and the will applyeth them assuredly as good and saving O fooles and slow of heart of understanding and of will to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luc. 24.25 But the matter of faith considered objectively in respect of the understanding is divine verity and in respect of the Will the sole singular grace of God promised in Jesus Christ both which are contained and circumscribed in the written word of God all which and onely which faith respecteth and embraceth as its adequate object and therein Christ crucified as its principall first and proper object Let us draw neare with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience Heb. 10.22 23. and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithfull that promised The matter of faith in respect of the parts of it The matter of faith in respect of the parts thereof are diversly considered as well in regard of the subject as of the object For in respect of the understanding and divine will it is knowledge and assent knowledge whereby a man understandeth the whole word of God according to the principall heads thereof for the measure of grace revealed Assent whereby a man taketh it for granted and is firmly perswaded in his heart that all those things which he knoweth out of the Law and the Gospell are so certainly true that in them as in divine truths is setled rest to be found Rom. 7.16 I consent saith the Apostle unto the Law that it is good In respect of the will of man the principall and primary part of faith is confidence which is a most firm perswasion of the heart whereby all the faithfull doe appropriate the generall promise of Grace to themselves in particular Which confidence produceth a two-fold effect whereof the first is a sure ground or foundation upon which a mans faith standeth in opposition of all dangers internall and externall The second is a full trust in God S. Mat. 7.25 whereby a man doth depend on him that he may be saved It is the testimony of the Spirit which as St. Paul saith beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 The forme of faith The form of faith consisteth in Relation whereby the believer doth apply unto himselfe the word of truth and the divine promises of the grace of God in particular So that look what the Scripture promiseth and propoundeth generally the believer appropriateth to himselfe by a firme perswasion As for example God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son S. Joh. 3.16 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And this is it which the Scripture speaketh in generall termes and was first spoken to Adam after his fall and is further spoken in all the old and new Testament which yet the believer appropriateth to himselfe God so loved me that he hath given his onely begotten Sonne that I believing in him should not perish but have everlasting life The finall cause of faith for the first and principall end of it The finall cause of faith is the glory of God the Author of our faith and the Redeemer of our Souls But the next or secundary end is out owne salvation which the scripture therefore calleth the end of our faith and the reward of it as the Apostle St. Peter sayeth 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules Here note by the way Observation that faith towards God is one and yet divers One in the species for though there are many sorts of Christians yet there is but one Catholique faith for faith is species specialissima One in regard of the object for the thing believed is one and the same upon which ground St. Athanasius in his Creed doth conclude peremptorily This is the Catholique faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved And the scripture accordingly One Lord one Faith one Baptism Divers both in number and in degree Eph. 4.5 In number Every believer hath his own faith proper and peculiar to himself which is his own faith and is not the faith of any other In degree for faith is in some more in others lesse according to the measure of the divine grace of God There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God so cloth the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloth you O ye of little faith But the woman of Canaan had a great faith S. Mat. 15.28 O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Now this
figuratively set forth the Evangelicall priesthood that although they have a true and a reall priesthood convenient to the new testament yet inferiour and of a second order to the priesthood of Christ That by their office and function they descend and derive a spirituall and evangelicall pedigree from Christ the first and the great high priest The conditions of their capability to wit of the priests of the second order did mystically shew what manner of men the evangelicall priests ought to be that they must be without all blemish not in respect of sin as Christ was for that is impossible but of scandall for that is requisite Therefore some things were permitted to the priests of the second order which were absolutely forbidden to the high priest The office of the priests of the second order to whom it was appointed that they should conserve the oyle oversee the vessells offer incense and sacrifices yet might they not go within the vail nor make the expiation did mean that although the evangelicall priests should be ordained to preach the gospell to offer up spirituall sacrifices and to intercede for the people as priests or ministers yet that it is Christ alone who by his own blood should enter once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us To his superiority therefore belonged all that which was meant and intended by the peculiar robes and ornaments of the high priest and to their ministrie all that which was meant and intended by the other vestes The feminalls or linnen breeches and the strait linnen coat that they must be expedite and diligent to do the duties of their calling the girdle of needle work that they must be bound about with verity and truth the cap or mitre of fine linnen that they must in all things save and preserve their head which is Christ and the linnen Ephod that they must be of a pure and unspotted conversation That whereas the priests of the second order were distinguished into their classes and appointed to their offices by lot it gave them to understand that the priesthood of the new testament should be of divine providence and allotted unto his Church by Christ The Levites the Nethinims the Singers and the Porters did signifie the inferiour clergie of the new testament and all others employed in the Church to glorifie God to promote and set forth religion with decency and order And whereas the officers and judges were of the tribe of Levi it gave them to understand that in the Church of Christ the scriptures must be expounded and questions and controversies of religion decided by those onely who in respect of their office and function do properly pertain to the Leviticall tribe By the distinct orders and offices of the high priest the priests of the second order the levites the singers the porters the officers and judges was signified that Christ in his Church would have distinct orders and officers to attend severally upon their severall offices and not to clash or interfere one with another Let the layicks or lay-officers be subject to the Deacons the Deacons to the Priests the Priests to the Bishop the Bishop to Christ as Christ himselfe is subject to the Father saith Saint Ignatius Epist ad Smyrnens There were yet others who by their office and function did give their attendance upon holy things Concerning the Prophets and were organs or instruments in or by whom the word came in whom God was by his most holy and most blessed spirit and did regulate their mouths and pens so that look what they delivered to the Church either by preaching or by writing it was none of their word but the word of God in and by them delivered For God spake unto the fathers of old time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 in or by the Prophets as the Apostle saith And these Prophets whether they obtained to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prophets from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to predict because they did predict and foretell things to come especially concerning Christ and his kingdome Or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to shew because they did shew forth future events but more especially because they did shew Christ to come and were themselves typicall persons of Christ Or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they did interpret obscure oracles and declare deep and profound mysteries especially such as lay hidden in the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law Certain it is that they were more anciently by the Hebrewes called Seers because they had their prophecies and predictions by divine visions and revelation from God and because by them men did enquire of God 1 Sam. 9.9 Definition of Prophets These Prophets therefore must be defined to be holy men who being inspired by Gods most holy and most blessed Spirit did see and had divine visions and revelations from God and did interpret obscure oracles and declare great mysteries and did prophesy and foretell things to come specially concerning Christ and his kingdome seeking only the glory of God and the good of his Church Of these Prophets there was no continued succession neither did the son succeed the father in the office of a Prophet as the Priests did yet we finde them almost from the beginning of the world For although I shall make no doubt but that Adam himselfe had the gift of prophecie and was able to prophesy and predict things to come especially concerning that blessed seed whom God had promised to break the serpents head and that his sons also had the same gift Jud. v. 14 15. Yet Enoch the seventh from Adam is expresly noted a prophet and that he did see and did prophesy and predict things to come concerning Christ so far off as his second comming Neither were these Prophets all of the Jewes but there were prophets also of other nations as Balaam Job and the Sibylls whose fatidick verses are well known and remembered by the Fathers in their learned Writings But our definition holdeth good specially of those Prophets in and by whom the word of God came unto his people the Jewes and which were raised up among them and of their own nation although they were not all of them of the tribe of Levi. Of these some were before the law as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph whose prophecies are extant in the Scripture Gen. 20.7 and Abraham is affirmed to be a Prophet by God himselfe Some of them were under the law first and principally Moses to whom God spake not in visions and dreams as to other prophets but mouth to mouth apparently and not in dark speeches and to whom it was given to behold the similitude of the Lord. Then the seventy Elders Num. 12.7 8. who had the same spirit of prophecy put upon them though not to the same measure that Moses had In the time of the Judges there was Deborah a prophetesse
before the Commissioner himself or such as were appointed by him their names surnames parentage alliances estate and condition of life or what else should be demanded of them that so they might be taxed or inrolled accordingly And being come thither they find themselves prevented of lodging and entertainment in the Inne wherefore they turn into a certain Cave as all antiquity affirmeth where was a Stable and a Manger cut out of a Rock and in that Cave they made their present abode which Cave as Beda in the description of Beth-lehem lib. de locis sanct cap. 8. saith was at the East end of the Town seeming to be naturall and in the form of a Semi-center which of all likelyhood was without the city walls the providence of God so disposing it to the end that the shepheards to whom the glad tydings should first be made known might easily have access thither by night though the city gates were shut and see the truth of all that which the Angel had told them And it was so that while they were there S. Luc. 2.6 the dayes were accomplished that she should be delivered 7. And she brought forth her first born sonne and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne It was upon the five and twentieth day of the moneth of December according to the account which the Church maketh Christ his nativity which also celebrateth the blessed nativity yearly upon that day that the blessed virgin St. Mary the daughter of Eliachim and Hanna espoused to Joseph did in the night bring forth that holy thing which vvas called and vvas indeed the sonne of God The time appointed and praedetermined of God for that vvonderful birth being in or about the year of the vvorld three thousand nine hundred threescore and ten and in the tvvo and fortieth year of the raign of the Emperour Augustus at vvhat time the Scepter vvas departed from Judah according to the prophecie of Jacob Gen 49.10 and Herod in the three and thirtieth year of his raign The place also preordained for that purpose being no other but the city of Beth-lehem and there also that Cave and Stable vvhere such a Manger vvas provided for his Cradle Nihilominus fulget etiam novus ille conceptionis modus ut non in iniquitate quemadmodum caeterae omnes sed superveniente Spiritu Sancto sola de solâ sanctificatione Maria conciperet Yet notwithstanding that nevv manner of conception shineth that Mary alone concâ—ived not in iniquity as all other vvomen but by the Holy Ghost vvho came upon her and by sole sanctification saith St. Bernard ser de beata Maria. For the scripture affirmeth and the Church believeth and confesseth that blessed conception to be not of human seed and geniture but by the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost who sanctified the Virgins wombe for such a birth A Childe is borne unto us saith St. Gregory Nyssen by the Holy Ghost and by the power of the highest neither hath the Virgin suffered any thing at all neither hath the spirit been diminished nor hath the power of the highest been dissected into parts For the spirit is whole and the power of the highest remained entire without any manner of immutation And a whole sonne is born unto us neither hath he impaired the integrity of his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moreover flesh was procreated of flesh but yet without perpession Cont. Eunom Orat. 2. The Gospell is the glad tydings of the word made flesh for the redemption of man-kind The Gospell first preached by Angeâ—s upon Christmas day Christ therefore being born God would that the Gospell should be immediately preached I say immediately the same night which was the night of the day following for the Jews did reckon their day to begin when the sun went down and was the first part of that day which we commonly call Christmas day Opus diet in die suo The work of the day upon its own proper day No day more proper to preach and publish the glad tydings then that day The fittest Ministers for the work of the day were the blessed Angells For like as Christ was sent out of the Father's bosome to be incarnate in the Virgin 's wombe and by divine dispensation to be born upon that day Even so were the blessed Angells sent forth from the Fathers glorious presence by divine dispensation to preach and publish the glad tidings of his birth upon that day I should think that great and glorious Angell who by way of excellency is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the angell of the Lord to be no other then the Angell Gabriel himselfe who first brought the glad tidings of so great a mystery and grace of God to the blessed Virgin But because neither the Angell nor the place nor the shepheards are either numbred nor named it will be sufficient to deliver the story thus Not far from Beth-lehem about a mile as is said there were fair and fruitfull pastures convenient for the feeding depasturing and folding of sheep where David also fed the sheep of Jesse his father It was on the east of Beth-lehem 1 Sam. 12.15 where was that tower which of antient times was called the tower of Edar that is to say the tower of the flock where Jacob sometimes dwelt and not far from which place he buried Rachel his wife and retained the name still Gen. 35.20 21. for that many flocks of sheep resorted thither At that time there were certain shepheards three shepheards saith the tradition whether the owners of the sheep or their servants or hirelings that makes no question who abode in the field keeping watch over their flock by night in that very place Where they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping their watches whether under the shelter of the tower in the sheep-coats or in the open aire that differs not Peradventure because that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a word which may not unaptly be compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost thereby also intimating what they were doing at that time while they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sing and pipe with flutes and pipes in the field an usuall recreation of shepheards in the night to keep themselves awake and to beguile the time the Angel Gabriel or some other great and glorious Angell came upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stood over them and nigh unto them in glory and great brightness At which great glorious and unusuall apparition and for that the Jewes also retained an opinion that if at any time they should see those divine and heavenly spirits they should die the shepheards being in a great fear Jud. 6.22.23 13 22. the Angel first dehorteth them from fear and then telleth them what his message was and what God had given him commission to do it was to preach unto
of Jordan S. Mat. 3.6 Act. 8.38 and that Saint Philip baptized the Eunuch in the same manner it is altogether as probable that those three thousand who were baptized by Saint Peter and the other Apostles in one day Act. 2 41. and that at Hierusalem were not dipped but sprinkled with water If any will object against the use of our Church which baptizeth by aspersion the custome of other Churches which baptize only by immersion let him learn to know that which Saint Gregory to Leander a bishop layeth downe as a rule In una fide nihil officit sanctae ecclesiae consuetudo diversa So long as the faith be one and the same a different custome bringeth to the holy Church no detriment at all The internall part The internal part or thing of the signe communiter is Christ for he is res sacramenti the thing exhibited in that sacrament and in every sacrament and that upon three principall respects 1st In respect of his person for Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God and man is exhibited as well in regard of his divinity as of his human nature 2ly In respect of his merit in that the variety and utility of the death of Christ whereby he purchased life for us is propounded and confirmed 3ly In respect of his benefits for look what Christ had and what Christ did he setteth forth by his sacraments testifying by the visible signes that he had them and did them for us which benefits Saint Paul reduceth to foure heads wisdome 1 Cor. 1.30 righteousnesse sanctification and redemption But the internall part or thing of the signe properly is 1st The precious blood of Christ shed for the remission of sins whereby our souls and bodies are so clean washed from originall and all actuall sins that they shal never be imputed It is that blood of sprinckling Heb. 12.24 that speaketh better things than that of Abel Abels blood was vox sanguinum the voice of blood and it cryed aloud but it cryed for vengeance Eph. 1.7 not for remission of sins but the voice of Christ his blood is remission of sins 2ly The spirituall efficacy of the same blood whereby we are regenerate and born again by the mortification of the flesh and by the vivification or quickening of the spirit For these things doth God require by the very text and tenour of his covenant of all those who are initiated to Christ and consecrated and by the signe or seal of the covenant Rom. 6.3 4. do give their names to him 3ly That neer union and conjunction betwixt Christ and us whereby we are so joyned unto Christ and Christ to us that we have put him on Gal. 3.27 and are verily and indeed made partakers of his person of his merit and of all his benefits The analogicall and sacramentall relation The analogicall or sacramentall re ation betwixt the signes and the things signified consisteth in three things 1st In signification for by a most convenient proportion or similitude the water of Baptisme doth signifie the blood of Christ and the dipping of the person baptized into that water or the sprinckling of that water upon him the death of the old man by mortification of the flesh and the life of the new man by the vivification of the spirit And the communion of the Baptisme of the faithfull with Christ doth fitly set forth that neer conjunction which is betwixt Christ and them in that he also was baptized This is a new birth if we die unto sin which is signified and represented when we are dipped into the water or when the water is sprinckled upon us for then we are as it were laid into the grave and are given to understand that we die unto sin by vertue of Christ his death who was buried in the grave And if we live unto righteousnesse which is signified and represented when we are taken up from the water for then we do as it were rise out of the grave and are given to understand again that we live unto God by vertue of Christ his resurrection Hos 6.2 who was raised again from the dead upon the third day 2ly This analogicall or sacramentall relation consisteth in obsignation And that because as well the verity of that similitude which is betwixt the signe and the thing of the signe is confirmed as also because that the power and efficacy of them both in the lawfull use of that sacrament is assured by the seal For when the Eunuch said unto St. Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to he baptized Act. 8.36 to receive a full assurance by the seal St. Philip said If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest 37. 3ly In Praebition For the things signified and represented in Baptisme the same by baptisme are made good unto the person baptized not by virtue of the outward act of baptisme ex opere operato but sacramentally and by faith 1. Because by that sacrament he doth exhibit them to the minds of those that believe as if they were visibly present And again because he doth thereby as by his own seale assure them that those things are certainly made good in the soule which are shewed and promised by the visible signe When they cryed out to the Apostle St. Peter and to the rest of the Apostles saying Men and brethren what shall we do St. Peter sends them away to the Sacrament of baptisme saying Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost Act. 2.38 Rebecca who was a type of the Church found Abrahams servant at the well of water and the Church it self as St Augustine saith found Christ at the sacrament of Baptisme The ends for which the sacrament of Baptisme was instituted and ordained For what causes Baptisme was ordained are either primary and antecedent or secundary and consequent The first respect our faith towards God the second our confession before men Upon the first respect the end of baptism is to signifie to seal to deliver in a sacramental manner the remission of our sinnes the benefit of our regeneration and our union with Christ I say first the remission of our sins for howsoever it must be affirmed that sinne for so the state of nature doth remain in those that have received remission of sinnes in baptisme as touching the matter the root and disease of sin like the head of an arrow sticking still in the flesh though the deadly wound be cured yet for the state of the person baptized it is taken away in as much as concerneth the guilt or forme of sin Act. 2.38 which is not imputed to the believer For baptisme is given for the remission of sinnes And is as Tertullian saith The ablution of sins which faith obtaineth sealed up in the Father the Son and the holy
kingdome of heaven from the legall to the Evangelicall priesthood according to his own word and promise S Joh. 16 22. S. Mat. 16.17 18 19 cap. 18.18 have now those keyes committed unto them the use whereof was from the beginning of the world which God himself did then first administer by his own authority when he made unto Adam the originall promise and which succeeded in all ages before the resurrection of Christ in that ministery which God gave unto his Church Gen. 3.15 to be administred by them and by their successors in another manner yet by them more excellently then by their successors unto the end of the world Then said Jesus unto them again peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me S. Joh. 20.21 even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the holy Ghost whosesoever sins ye remit 22 they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain 23. they are retained He giveth unto them his peace to have it in themselves and among themselves and to impart it to the world by the Gospell which they should preach He sendeth them as his Father sent him in like manner not with equall power He sent them to do the same things but not in the same manner He gave unto them the same spirit but not to the same measure He gave unto them to remit and to retain sins but not with the same excellency He sent them to the end that they also should send others that so the keyes of the kingdom of heaven might remain with the Evangelicall priesthood to the end of the world By virtue of which sending every priest rightly and lawfully ordained into his function hath the keyes of the kingdom of heaven unto him committed to the end that he should administer the same in remitting and retaining the sins of men nor can any one have that grace but by an orderly ordinary mission Nor must any man think to have his sins remitted and heaven opened without the keyes dispensed by the Evangelicall priesthood Nor yet that the Church can be without such a priesthood The Evangelicall priesthood began or such a priesthood without the Church Thus began the Evangelicall priesthood in the persons of the Apostles Christ the high Priest giving unto them of his fulness which he had by the hypostaticall union a ministeriall power of remitting and retaining sins not by denunciation only but by application Which power they received not personally for themselves only but really for the whole priesthood to the end that every priest rightly and lawfully ordained might by the word of absolution no less truly and really remit sins in the Church to them that are truly penitent although not in their own names nor with the same liberty power and authority then Christ himself For Tabitha whom Saint Peter raised from the dead by the power of Christ was no less truly and really raised then Lazarus Act. 9.40 whom Christ called out of the grave by his own word and power It is because Christ is with his Church S. Joh. 11.43 to do it in his Church by them and by their ministery Commest thou to man or doth man remit thee thy sin Thou commest unto the Lord and to God the king of all who doth remit sins unto thee by the priest saith Saint Chrysostome And yet we must not say but that the Apostles themselves had a personall power by those superabundant gifts with which they were endowed to do it in a more excellent manner then any of their successors in the ordinary way by the immediate mission and commission which they had But St. Thomas called by interpretation Didymus that is to say St. Thomas inaugured to the priesthood the twinne because peradventure he was a twinne by his biâ—th was not with them when Jesus came for he was gone out before therefore he had not his mission and inauguration to the priesthood at that time together with the other ten his colleagues Nor is it said expresly when he had it Yet that he had it no man must deny because he received the same commission with the other Apostles to preach and to baptize and consequently to administer the keyes of the kingdom of heaven all the world over Therefore it will be safe to say that he had it at the next apparition of his Lord which was thus When he was come again unto the Apostles they told him that they had all of them seen the Lord no doubt but they told the manner relating every thing in particular That he came in when the doors were shut and stood in the midst visibly That he spake and gave them his peace That they were terrified and affrighted supposing that they had seen a spirit That he had told them their thoughts That he had shewed them his hands and his feet bidding them to handle and to see that it was he himselfe and to know and discern by his flesh and by his bones That he called for meat and did eat before them That he had told them what he had spoken unto them while he was with them That he had opened their understanding and made them to know by authority of the scriptures the necessity of his death and of his resurrection upon the third day That they were filled with joy by his presence That he gave them his peace the second time That he had breathed on them the holy Ghost That he had ordained them into the Evangelicall priesthood transferring the keyes of the kingdom of heaven unto them and giving power unto them to remit and retaine sins All this Saint Thomas hears with a deaf ear and replyeth with resolution that he would not believe except he should see in his hards the print of the nayls S. Joh. 20.25 St. Thomas his incredulity and thrust his hand into his side He was incredulous and his incredulity cannot be excused although some in times past have gone about to excuse it as also Saint Peters denyall that he did but simulate and was not faithless indeed His incredulity was accompanied with blindnesse of mind whereby he did not understand what Christ had taught him concerning his resurrection upon the third day with hardnesse of heart not to be perswaded by all the Apostles with obstinate wilfulnesse that he will not believe unlesse he shall see in his hands the print of the nayls and put his finger into the print of the nayls and thrust his hand into his side and in this obstinate wilfulness he doth pertinaciously persist eight days Christ also leaves him for such a time Ut in medio à discipulis admoniâ—us accendatur in majus desiderium ac fidelior fieret in futurum Chrysost apud Aquin. in Catena That in the mean space being admonished by the Disciples he should be inflamed into a greater desire and be made more faithful for the future