Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World did by Baptism enter into that Covenant wherein God assured the promise of Eternal Life to all those who should believe and repent And this is what the Apostle intends by our having our Citizen-ship in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and by our being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. 5. Another Privilege which was represented and conferred by Baptism was the Influence and Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit All Persons that were baptized as their Bodies were washed and purified with Water so their Minds were sanctified by the Spirit of God But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. At their Baptism they received the Holy Ghost as a Gift constantly annexed to that Ordinance and unless they quenched and grieved it by their sins committed afterwards it always continued with them from thenceforward assisting and enabling them to perform their Duty strengthning and comforting them under Temptations and Afflictions and bearing witness with their Spirit that they were the Children of God At the first Preaching of the Gospel this influence of the Holy Spirit frequently discovered it self in those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles c. as appears in the History of the Acts of the Apostles But these by degrees ceasing it afterward continued to evidence it self in the strange and almost miraculous change which it made in the Minds of Men from the most corrupt and vicious to the most virtuous and heavenly Disposition almost in an instant upon their being baptized And when this effect also grew less frequent as the Zeal and Purity of the Christians declined it yet continued always by its secret Power to renew and transform Mens Minds to instruct Men in their Duty and to inable them to perform it Hence Baptism is called the Renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. and a being born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. and by the Antients frequently Illumination And Persons baptized are said to have been enlightned to have tasted of the heavenly Gift and to have been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. 4. 6. The last Privilege which Persons Baptized were intitled to by virtue of that Ordinance was an Assurance of a Resurrection to Eternal Life They received as hath been said the Holy Spirit of God and that Spirit so long as it dwelt with them was a Seal and Earnest of their future Resurrection For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8. 11. And this was most significantly represented by their descending into the Water and rising out of it again For as Christ descended into the Earth and was raised again from the dead by the Glory of the Father So Persons baptized were buried with him by Baptism into Death and rose again after the similitude of his Resurrection They were planted together in the likeness of his Death and they were by this Sign assured that they should be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Thus the Apostle St. Paul Colos. 2. 12. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the dead To which St. Peter seems likewise to allude 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto viz. to the saving of the Ark by the Water of the Flood even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Christ. 7. These are the Spiritual Graces or Privileges which were represented by the Outward and Visible Signs in Baptism and conferr'd by their means And These are what God on his part engageth and assures to us in that Great and Holy Covenant There are other things which the Persons Baptized obliged themselves to on their part in that Covenant and These are the Duties which by their Baptism they vow and take upon themselves to perform represented also by the same Outward and Visible Signs The first of these Duties which the Persons baptized promised and obliged themselves to perform was a Constant Confession of the Faith of Christ and Profession of his Religion They were admitted by Baptism into the Church and Family of Christ and they were bound at all times to own themselves his Disciples They were solemnly baptized into his Death and they were oblig'd not to be asham'd of the Cross of Christ and to confess the Faith of him crucified They owned publickly at their Baptism their Belief in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and they were bound at all times to make Profession of this Faith They had with the heart believed unto Righteousness and they thought that with the Mouth Confession was necessary to be made unto Salvation They were assured that if they confessed Christ before Men he would also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and before the Angels of God but if they were ashamed of him and denyed him before Men he would also be ashamed of them when he came in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels And so mighty an effect had this consideration upon the primitive Christians that in the times of Persecution when they were tempted to deny their Saviour and renounce the Faith which they had once Embraced they chose rather to endure the most exquisite Torments that the wit of Man could invent than either to renounce or dissemble their Christianity and those who out of Fear denyed or were ashamed to confess their Faith they looked upon to have forfeited and renounced their Baptism as having crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame 8. The Second Thing to which Persons baptized solemnly obliged themselves by their Baptism was a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness i. e. they engaged utterly and for ever to forsake all manner of Sin and Wickedness all Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship of false Gods all Injustice Wrong Fraud and Uncharitableness towards Men all the Pride and Vanity the Pomp and Luxury of this present World all the Lusts of the Flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Gluttony Drunkenness Revellings and such like And for the future they promised to make it the business of their lives to fulfil all Righteousness according to the strictest Rules of the Christian Doctrine and Discipline to Worship the only true God with all Devotion Reverence and Humility to be exactly just in their Dealings with Men and generously charitable upon all occasions in fine to be Temperate and Sober Chast and Pure as the Worshippers of
God and the Temples of the Holy Ghost This was indeed a Dying unto Sin and Living unto Righteousness This was properly a being Regenerated or Born again This was truly a being Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of Christ and by the Spirit of God And indeed this was the principal thing which was signified in Baptism and the principal end for which the whole Ordinance was designed This was what the Person to be baptized was to profess with his own Mouth when he renounced the Devil and all his Works and this was what was principally represented by that main part of the Ceremony the descending into the Water and rising out of it again For so the Apostle St. Paul most fully explains it Rom. 6. 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life Knowing this that our old Man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin that is the design of our descending into the Water to be baptized and rising again out of it was to mind us that as we then received remission of our past sins by Vertue of Christ's having died for sin so we our selves were in like manner to die and be buried to sin and rise again to walk for the future with Christ in newness and holiness of Life This therefore was the principal thing respected in Baptism and without this answer of a good Conscience towards God the washing or putting away of the filth of the Flesh could nothing avail in the sight of God Baptism is not the Washing and Cleansing of the Body but the Purifying of the Mind from every evil Work to serve the living God without which Baptism is so far from being available to the remission of sin that on the contrary it makes it far the more grievous and inexcusable But of this more in the next Chapter 9. The third and last thing to which Men were solemnly engaged at their Baptism was Self-denyal and Contempt of the World Our Saviour had told his Disciples That whosoever would come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him that whosoever was not willing to forsake all that he had Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he could not be his Disciple And therefore when any Man came to be baptized he was accordingly obliged to renounce the World and all its Glory the Pomps and Vanities the Splendor and Pleasures of it He professed himself a Candidate for the Glory that should be revealed hereafter and that therefore he would never be ambitious for that Honour which Men so earnestly contend for here He declared that he expected his Portion in those spiritual Joys which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive them and therefore he would never set his heart and affections upon any gross and sensual Pleasure He professed that from thenceforward his Treasure should be in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal and that therefore he would never be covetous of any Riches or Possessions on Earth In a word he engaged to make it the main business of his Life to prepare and fit himself to be partaker of those things which God had for them that love him laid up in the next World and that therefore he would never be extreamly solicitous after any thing in this This was what the Primitive Christians understood by their Renouncing the World They thought themselves obliged not only to forsake all gross and palpably sinful Lusts but also to be very sparing in their Enjoyments of what was Lawful They looked upon this World and the next as Enemies to each other and that they were to fight as Soldiers under the Banner of Christ against the Pleasures and Temptations of this VVorld for the Glories of the other And for an Emblem of this it was that in some Churches they anointed the baptized Person with Oil He was compared to a Combatant to a Runner just preparing to start in the Christian Race and they minded him that if those who strive for the Mastery only to obtain a corruptible Crown are temperate in all things much more ought he to confirm and strengthen himself to prepare and harden himself to be ready and expedite to be temperate and abstemious and to get perfectly above all those earthly desires which would hinder and clog him in that great race which he was to run for the Crown of Immortality 'T is true the forsaking all worldly Possessions for the Name of Christ was a condition more particularly required in those Primitive times of Persecution But how far it still obliges us as it most certainly does in some Sense shall be considered in its proper place CHAP IV. What was required of Persons after Baptism 1. WHEN the whole Ceremony was finished the Person baptized was cloathed as has been already observed with a white Garment and then he was admitted to the Communion of the Faithful And that which was afterward required of him was this One Great and Necessary thing To keep his Baptism Pure and Undefiled the remaining part of his Life 2 To the keeping a Man's Baptism pure and undefiled through the remaining part of his Life that which was thought absolutely necessary in the Primitive Church was this First That he from that time forward preserved himself from falling not only into the Habit but even so much as into the single Act of any of these gross and palpable Wickednesses Idolatry Perjury Blasphemy Murder Sedition Theft manifest Injustice Cheating Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Revelling and such like of which St. Paul expresly and peremptorily declares and repeats it with great earnestness over and over again that they who do such things shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God One that was born of God might be surprized into an unheeded sin but into the gross Act of any of these manifest and notorious Impieties they thought he was never to be seduced and if he were that he ceased to be the Servant of God For whosoever abideth in him sinneth not and whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God From the Acts therefore of any of these great and plain Wickednesses which stare Men in the Face and at the first view terrifie Mens Consciences they thought it indispensably necessary that a Man abstained wholly and that these things were not so much as to be once named among Christians
Operations of the Spirit did afterward by degrees cease yet the constant Influence of the Holy Ghost and the Blessing of God conferred by the Imposition of Hands did in all succeeding Ages express and shew forth it self in great and very remarkable Effects It filled Men with Spiritual and Internal Strength it indued them with Courage and Wisdom and Fortitude to confess boldly the Faith of Christ Crucified and to promote zealously the Service of the Church it wrought in their Minds an Ardent Love of God and a continual Joy in the Holy Ghost a perfect Purity of Heart and Contempt of all Worldly Enjoyments a boundless Charity towards all Mankind and an infinite desire of doing good in their Generation And were Young Persons taught Now to receive Confirmation with the same Preparation with the same Reverence and with the same Expectations that they did in the Primitive Times we might yet expect that God would annex the same Inward Blessings to the Use of the same External Means Were none esteemed Perfect Christians or looked upon as Compleat Members of the Church before Confirmation Parents and Sureties would be obliged to instruct and prepare Children in order to be Confirmed and we should not see the generality of Men esteeming themselves Perfect Christians and Faithful Members of the Church without ever knowing how or upon what Conditions they were admitted into it Were none admitted to Confirmation who had not first passed through such a regular course of Catechizing as to understand perfectly the Extent of their Duty and their Obligation to perform it this would breed in Young Persons a great Reverence and Esteem for Religion and a great Zeal in preparing themselves that they might be thought worthy to be admitted to the compleat Communion of the Church and to the Participation of its higher Mysteries By this means Children would be fully and distinctly instructed in the nature and design of Religion as soon as they came to the knowledge of Good and Evil and we should not see Men live all their Lives in the Communion of the Church and in the Participation of its Sacraments without ever understanding the very first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ or what it was that they promised at Baptism By this means that gross Ignorance in which so many thousand Christians live and die would in great measure be prevented and we should not see Children for want of Instruction so soon possessed and corrupted by Vice as to Lie and Swear to be Disobedient and Ill natur'd to be Vain and Idle in that tender Age wherein they might as easily be formed to all the contrary Virtues with the same advantage of Prejudice and first Possession Were none received to Confirmation who did not express a sincere Resolution to live from thenceforward according to the Purity and the Equity of the Gospel in all Holiness and godly Conversation or who did not with free Choice and a zealous Disposition of Mind desire to take upon themselves their Baptismal Vow and to make publick Profession of their Faith and Obedience in the presence of God and his whole Church this would give a mighty Reputation to Religion and Virtue this would prevent that Goldness and Deadness in Religion which proceeds from Mens taking up the Profession of it in course without due Preparation and Disposition of Mind this would make Men earnest and serious in the Profession of Christianity and solicitous not to contradict their Profession by their Lives such a Solemn Renuntiation of the World the Flesh and the Devil such a Vow solemnly confirmed and ratified by our personal Protestation in the presence of God and in the sight of the Congregation could not but be a mighty Bridle to restrain Men from Sin and a mighty Spur to provoke Men to Good Works The Fear of God and the Shame of Men in whose presence so sacred an Obligation was entered into could not but be of great force to bind men to live worthy of this great Vocation that they might answer the expectation of God and his Church and not become a blemish and dishonour to their Religion Lastly Were none admitted to Confirmation without being first fully perswaded that they came now to receive the Perfection and Strength of Baptismal Grace that they came now to receive the Seal of the Lord whereby they are separated unto the Service of God and to the Day of Redemption In a word that they came now to receive the Assistance of the Holy Ghost which should from henceforward continue with them to inable them to perform all the Commands of God and to resist and overcome all the Temptations of the Enemy we might have reason to hope that as in the Primitive Times so Now also these External Ordinances would be accompanied with such plentiful Effusions of inward and sanctifying Grace as would have a visible effect in the Lives and Manners of Men The time was when the Professors of True Religion could challenge the Unbelieving World to give them a Lustful Malitious Passionate Revengeful Man and they would by the Administration of Baptism and Confirmation transform him into the Purest the Meekest and the Gentlest Spirit upon Earth and since God has promised to be always with the Church by his Spirit even unto the end of the World I see no reason why Confirmation of Baptized Persons if it were celebrated by us with the same Preparation and Reverence as it was among the Antients might not be as effectual Now to Confirm Men in Virtue as it was Then to Transform them from Vice and have as proportionably great an effect upon the following part of our Lives as it had upon theirs By these means the Church would be again restored to its Antient Regular Constitution By these means many perplexing Scruples about the Worthy Receiving the Holy Communion would in great measure be removed no one being capable of being admitted to that Holy Sacrament without having been first Confirmed and no one being capable of being Confirmed without having first passed through such Preparation as would sit him for the Communion Lastly By these means if any one after Confirmation lapsed into the practice of any great and notorious Sin a fair opportunity would offer it self of restoring some degree of that Antient Discipline the want of which is so justly lamented by the Church this Solemn Preparation by which I suppose persons fitted for Confirmation being the most likely thing in the World to work in Mens Minds such a Dread of Sins to be committed afterwards as would dispose them to submit to and to profit under Discipline 7. These are the exceeding great Benefits which would arise from such a Solemn and Religious Use of Confirmation But till this excellent Institution can be restored to its Antient Solemnity and Reverence which as it is much to be wished so in the present degeneracy and corruption of Manners it is hardly to be hoped all that can be done is earnestly
Service of God that they are by Confirmation assured of the Assistance of the Holy Spirit and that their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which if they keep here in Temperance and Purity in Sanctification and Honour they shall hereafter appear with them in Glory but if they abuse them by any Intimperance or defile them with any Lust they drive away the Spirit whereby they are sealed unto the Day of Redemption and shall forfeit their Life Again on the other hand Those whose Age or Temper or Company or Business places them beyond the Follies and Extravagancies of Youth and out of the way of those Temptations with which others are hurried away continually must not esteem of themselves by their not running into those excesses of Riot to which perhaps they have little or no Temptation but must examine whether they be exactly Just in the Business they are employ'd in whether they be truly Useful and Charitable according to their Ability and whether they be sincerely Careful to resist those Temptations to which their particular Circumstances whatever they be do more especially expose them This is the true Trial of every Man's Sincerity and the most certain Rule by which every one may judge of his own State CHAP. XIII Of Growth in Grace and of Perfection 1. LAstly Strive continually to grow in Grace and press forward towards Perfection So long as we continue in these Houses of Clay encompassed perpetually with the Infirmities of the Flesh the Allurements of the World and the Temptations of the Devil we shall all offend indeed in many things and can never arrive at the Perfection of Virtue Yet unless we strive and press forward towards Perfection we shall never make any tolerable progress He that has no more Zeal for Religion than to desire just to keep within the Borders of Virtue and to escape the Punishment of Vice will in all probability be deceived in his Expectations and find when it is too late that those who are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot are but wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and shall have no Portion among them that are arraied in fine Linnen which is the Righteousness and the good Works of the Saints He whose Heart is inflamed with an ardent Love of God and a truly zealous desire of the Happiness of Heaven will with St. Paul never think he has already attained or is already perfect enough but forgetting those ihings which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before will always press forward towards the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus He will never think himself good and holy enough but getting continually a more compleat Victory over his Frailties and Infirmities will go from strength to strength in the Improvements of Virtue here till he appear before God in the Perfection of Holiness and of Glory hereafter 2. Think not when you have once attained a clear knowledge of your Duty and framed hearty Resolutions to perform it and begun to live according to that Knowledge and those Resolutions that you are presently in a perfect and confirmed State of Virtue You must frequently review and meditate upon the Particulars of your Duty You must frequently renew and strengthen your good Resolutions and you must always be correcting and amending your Practice Till that which was well resolved upon and bravely begun arrive by the degrees of a diligent and perpetual Improvement to a confirmed Habit and settled Temper of Mind 3. Think not when you have performed your Duty according to the common Measures of Obedience and the vulgarly reputed Bounds of the Obligation of the Christian Laws and when you are by others looked upon as a good and just and holy Person that you are now arrived at the Perfection of Virtue For the Judgment of God is very different from the Opinion of Men and such a Life as is now look'd upon as very good and creditable would in the Times of the Apostles or Primitive Christians have been thought if not scandalous yet at best very cold and indifferent He that will be perfect must be above all Laws and Customs and Opinions and must not limit his Purity of Mind his Contempt of the World and his Desire of doing Good to any Degrees or Rules but must exalt them in proportion to his love of God and his hopes of Happiness 4. Further Think not when upon a loose and general view of your Life your Conscience does not accuse you of any scandalous and deliberate Sins that therefore you have attained to the highest pitch of Virtue There are many Sins with which Men easily impose upon their own Minds much indifferency in Religion and coldness of Devotion many omissions of Duties and neglects of opportunities of doing Good many faults of surprize and indecencies of Passion much sensuality and over-fond Love of the things of this present World many excesses and small degrees of Intemperance which are not to be discovered and overcome without entring into a more strict particular and impartial examination of our Actions and making repeated Resolutions and using constant unwearied Endeavours to correct whatever upon such strict search shall appear to be amiss 5. Many there have been and some even among the Heathens themselves who have every Night strictly examined into the Actions of the past Day that if they had done any thing for which they could reprove themselves they might resolve to be more careful in that Particular for the future and if they found they had in all Points performed their Duty they might confirm and incourage themselves to continue to perform it Others have done this yet more frequently and habitually never going about any thing without a short Thought how they might best act for the Honour of God for the Good of Men or for the Improvement of the Virtues of their own Mind and never having done any thing without a short Reflection whether they had acted so as was most agreeable to these great Ends. 6. These indeed are things not to be imposed upon any Man by any particular Rules but such as must be wholly left to the Discretion of every Man to be used according to each ones Prudence or Zeal Only in general 't is certain That by how much the more frequently a Man examines the Actions of his Life and by how much the more strictly he observes his smaller Failures and by how much the more particularly he resolves and endeavours to correct them by so much the more will his Religion be Uniform and his Obedience Perfect He that uses himself often to consider and to recollect the Particulars of his Duty will perform many things which others know indeed and understand in general but through habitual careless and inconsiderateness omit And he that often searches strictly into the smallest Errors of his Life and prays against them and resolves
deservedly Eminent seems to be that great rigour with which they insisted upon Mens living in a constant course of Piety from the time of their entring into this solemn Covenant In those who have been educated from their Infancy in the Christian Religion the Period from whence their Religious Life ought to be dated is Confirmation the time from their Baptism being only their Preparation or time of Instruction But then for those who have neglected this great and solemn Opportunity or have since fallen into any great and wliful sins the only remaining time from whence their Religious Life can be reckoned is Repentance i. e. the Time since which they have so perfectly had the Conquest over all their Temptations as not to have been seduced by them any more into any gross or wilful sin Of Baptism I have already spoken in the former Essay of Confirmation I shall treat in this of Repentance in the next 3. In the Primitive Church those who upon Profession of their Faith and Repentance were by Baptism admitted into the Church of Christ had this their Admission compleated or perfected afterwards by the Imposition of Hands When the Samaritans had received the Word of God and many of them were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus only the Holy Ghost was as yet fallen upon none of them we find that two of the Apostles were sent to lay their hands on them and then they received the Holy Ghost Acts 8. 17. This was the constant practise of the Apostles stles to perfect or compleat Baptism by the Imposition of Hands which two things are therefore laid down together among the Principles or Foundations of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6. 2. and were accordingly practised jointly by the Church in succeeding Ages This Custom saith St. Cyprian is also descended to us that they who are baptized be brought by the Rulers of the Church and by our Prayer and the Imposition of Hands may obtain the Holy Ghost and be consummated with the Seal of the Lord. And Tertullian After Baptism the hand is imposed by Blessing calling down and inviting the Holy Spirit Then that most Holy Spirit willingly descends from the Father upon the Bodies that are cleansed and blessed 4. But of this Confirmation of Persons baptized at riper years which was anciently administred immediately after Baptism and is therefore by many not without reason look'd upon as a Part of the Ceremony of Baptism it self it is not my purpose to speak now more largely That which I am at this time more especially to consider is that Confirmation as it is now in use in the Church whereby those who have been baptized in their Infancy are at Years of Discretion perfected or made compleat Members of the Church And the Design and Use of Confirming such Persons is plainly this Baptism being a Covenant wherein there are as well certain Conditions promised to be performed on the part of the Person Baptized as certain Privileges assured to be conferred on God's part and Infants though they be capable of being admitted to the Privileges of Members of the Church yet not being capable of promising or performing any Conditions any otherwise than by means of certain Sureties who ingage to instruct them in the Nature and Obligation of the Promises made in their Name at their Baptism 't is manifest that these baptized Infants when they come to Years of Discretion if they desire to continue to be Partakers of the Privileges which God has appropriated to the Members of his Church they must be willing also to perform the Conditions which God has indispensably required of all those Members That they may enter therefore into these Obligations with the advantage of greater Solemnity and Choice it has most wisely been instituted that as soon as they be of Age to understand the Nature and the Obligation of that Promise which was made in their Name at their Baptism they should be brought to make a publick Declaration in the presence of God and his Church of their taking freely upon themselves that Vow and of their Resolution to live from thenceforward conformably to the Conditions of that great and solemn Covenant and that upon this publick Profession of their Faith and most solemn Purposes of Obedience they should by Imposition of Hands have the great Privileges of Baptism sealed anew and secured to them 5. And that this might be done the more solemnly and effectually so as to have a lasting effect upon the Minds and Lives of Men as the solemn Administration of Baptism had antiently among the Primitive Christians it were very much to be wished that as in those Primitive Times Persons converted to Christianity were not before Baptism admitted as compleat Members to the Communion of the Church but were esteemed only as Candidates desirous to be instructed in the Christian Religion so those who have now been only baptized in their Infancy should before Confirmation be looked upon by others and by themselves too as no other than Catechumens It were to be wished that no one might be admitted to the Communion before he were confirmed and that no one might be admitted to Confirmation before he had attained a perfect Knowledge of the extent and obligation of all the Duties of Religion and given sufficient evidence of his Resolution to live suitably to that Knowledge It were to be wished that as in the Primitive Church there were certain solemn Times appointed for Baptism as Easter and Whitsontide at which those who were before prepared by a regular course of Catechizing were admitted with great solemnity into the compleat Communion of the Church so there were now such solemn seasons appointed against which Ministers of particular Parishes should for some time before-hand diligently instruct and prepare those who were of Age to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed And above all it were to be wished that the whole Process might be performed with so much Reverence and Solemnity that all the Persons confirmed might understand and be convinced that they came now to have all the Privileges which God hath promised to the Members of his Church sealed and assured to them that they now received the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to enable them effectually to perform their Duty and that they now solemnly undertook for themselves before God and the Church what their Sureties promised for them before at Baptism to Live from henceforward in all Holiness and Purity and in constant Obedience to all the Commands of God the remaining part of their Lives 6. Were this excellent Institution thus solemnly and religiously observed exceeding great would be the Effects which we might justly hope to see produced by the use of it The Effect that the Imposition of the Apostles hands had upon the first Converts to Christianity was no less than the induing them with those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles and the like And though these mighty
to live with all the Strictness and Purity of the Gospel in the constant Practice of every one of those Duties of which I have briefly set down the Heads in the former Chapter 3. And consider that you promise all this most solemnly in the Presence of God and before the whole Congregation Consider that you enter into this Promise with such solemnity as lays upon you the strongest possible Obligations to Virtue Consider that you so enter into this Promise with Knowledge and Deliberation that if you shall afterwards fall into any Course of sin in contempt of such repeated Obligations to the contrary the Guilt thereof will be extreamly increased and that therefore you ought now to affect your Mind deeply with a sence of the heinousness of sin and to strengthen mightily your good Resolutions Antiently every one that was baptized was taught to look upon himself as entring into so solemn an Obligation of Religion that if after that Great and Sacred Vow he should fall into any wilful and known sin it could not be forgiven him but upon a proportionably great and long Repentance And the same Reason there is now why every one that by Confirmation dedicates himself to the Service of God and makes publick Profession of his being a Disciple of Christ should look upon himself as entring into such a solemn Obligation as should make him exceeding fearful of falling for the future into any great sin the Guilt of which will be extreamly increased by being committed after such repeated Vows and Promises to the contrary 4. Yet is this no Reason why any one should defer being Confirmed as if by omitting to bind himself by this New and Solemn Promise he might continue to sin with less guilt and less danger For though the guilt of sin be indeed mightily increased by being committed after repeated Obligations to the contrary yet if any one omits to renew his Obligations only for that reason that he may continue in sin his sin is then equally heinous and against Knowledge as if he had renewed his Obligation Baptism is a solemn Obligation to be Religious and many of the Antients because they thought sin would be more heinous after so solemn an Obligation did therefore defer to be Baptized till the end of their Lives The Lord's Supper is also a solemn Obligation to be Religious and many in our days because they think sin will be more heinous after so solemn an Obligation do therefore defer receiving the Communion all their Lives But 't is plain these men run into a very great Errour For the reason why sin after repeated Obligations to the contrary becomes more heinous is because it is committed with greater Deliberation against clearer Convictions When therefore a man who Believes Religion and Understands its Obligations omits these Duties for no other reason but that he may sin as he thinks with less danger his sins are then equally deliberate and against equally clear Knowledge and he moreover adds to them a contemptuous neglect of the means of becoming more Religious CHAP. VII Of the Certainty of God's Grace and the Assistance of his Holy Spirit 1. SEcondly Consider that you come now to have Sealed and Confirmed to you all the Privileges which the Condition of your Baptismal Covenant intitles you to receive At Baptism we are admitted into the Church of God and have a Title to the Graces and Assistance of the Holy Spirit and at Confirmation this Grace is Sealed and Assured to us by the external Sign of Imposition of Hands When therefore you come in this solemn manner to make Profession of your Religion and to dedicate your self to the Service of God be sure to come with earnest desires and a longing Soul with firm Faith and a well-assured Hope with a pure Heart and a Mind prepared for the reception of the Holy Ghost and God will not fail to pour down upon you the abundance of his Grace to give you strength from thenceforward to overcome both the inward corruption of your Nature and the outward temptations of the World and the Devil to inable you to continue firm in the Faith of Christ and in the Obedience of his Commands to preserve you always from the Dominion of Sin and to bring you safe unto his Kingdom of Glory 2. There is nothing more pernitious to the Souls of Men than an Opinion of the Uncertainty of the Grace of God and it s not being annexed constantly to the use of means If we imagine that our Nature is so utterly corrupted that we can no more do or will any thing that is good than a dead Body can move or bring it self to Life till we be acted by such a mighty and extraordinary Grace of God as nothing that we can do can in the least prepare us to receive If we imagine that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are so strong that we cannot possibly overcome them without such a powerful Assistance of the Holy Spirit as God has not annexed to the use of any Ordinances or Means of Religion If we imagine that the Commandments of God are so impossible to be kept that after all we can do we must sit still in expectation of being converted suddenly by an irresistible Grace this must needs make all our Indeavours weak and faint dead and without heart and we shall certainly never be able to overcome our Temptations and to Persevere in Well-doing 3. It must indeed be confessed that the Corruption of our Nature is really so great that we cannot do any thing as of our selves It must be confessed that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are really so strong that we can never meerly by our own strength be able to stand and Persevere unto the end It must be confessed that the Commandment of God is so exceeding broad that by all that we can do by our own power we can never be justified in the sight of God But then if our Saviour has deliver'd us from this Corruption of our Nature and has broken all the Powers of Sin and Satan If Christ by his Death has purchased this Grace for us that upon our attending the Ordinances and Means of Religion which he hath appointed God will as certainly bestow upon us the sufficient Assistance of his Holy Spirit as a tender Father cannot deny his Child any reasonable Request If God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape and whenever he requires more of us than we are naturally able to perform will certainly afford us an extraordinary Assistance proportionable to the difficulty we are obliged to encounter as he constantly did to the Primitive Christians who through the mighty Power of the Spirit were enabled to bear all the most exquisite Torments that either the wit of Man or the Malice of the Devil could invent with less concern than we can even
to the Assurance of Pardon They taught that the Holy Word and Church of God always admitted of true Repentance That he that had fallen might yet recover and escape if he repented truly of what was past and for the future amended his Life and made satisfaction to God That God not only gave full Remission of Sins in Baptism but allowed also to those who should afterward sin a further place of Repentance That to every one who heartily and sincerely repents God readily sets open a Door of Pardon and the Holy Spirit returns again into a Mind purified from the pollutions of Sin That all Men who repent even those who by reason of their great Sins did not deserve to have found any more Pardon shall be saved because God out of his great Compassion will be patient towards Men and keep the Invitation which he hath made by his Son That God will judge every Man in the Condition he finds him and that therefore as it will nothing avail a Man to have been formerly Righteous if he at last grows wicked so one who has formerly lived wickedly may afterwards by Repentance and renewed Obedience blot out his past Transgressions and attain to the Crown of Virtue and Immortality 6. Thus that God admits even the greatest of Sinners to Repentance is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of the Gospel from the Practice of the Apostles and from the constant Doctrine of the Primitive Church But then to make this Repentance such as will be acceptable to God and effectually available to obtain Pardon there are several considerable Circumstances required And these I think may be reduced to these Three First That it must be Early Secondly That it must be Great and Thirdly That it must be constant and persevering in its Effects CHAP. III. That true Repentance must be Early 1. FIrst That Repentance may be true and available to obtain Pardon it is necessary that it be Early that is The Sinner must forsake his Vices so timely as to obtain the Habits of the contrary Virtues and to live in them Otherwise he can have no security that his Repentance is hearty or if it be that it will be accepted by God 2. First We can never have any security that a late Repentance is hearty and sincere A Man may very well at the amazing approach of Death and Judgment be extreamly sorry that he has lived wickedly he may strongly wish that he had lived the Life of the Righteous and resolve if he were to live over again that he would do so and yet all this may be meerly the Passion and not at all the Duty of Repentance The Duty of Repentance is an entire change of Mind and an effectual reformation of Life But the Passion of Sorrow and Remorse is such as accursed Spirits shall be for ever tormented with in vain and such as a dying Penitent can never be secure that this late Repentance will exceed Many upon a Bed of Sickness have made all the holy Vows and pious Resolutions that could be desired nay perhaps there is hardly any wicked Man who when he thinks he is about to die does not desire and design to amend yet how few are there of these who if they recover do ever make good those Vows and Resolutions And no late Penitent can ever be sure that this would not be his own Case When an habitual Sinner is in Time convinced of the evil of his ways and resolves and endeavours in earnest to reform while he has Life and Health and Strength to do it yet seldom does he at the first trial work himself up to such an effectual and prevailing Resolution against his Sin as to change his whole course of Life in an instant and at once deliver himself out of the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God Usually he proceeds by degrees and after many Relapses and renewed Resolutions arrives at last to a settled and steady course of Piety How much less then can a late Penitent who labours under all the contrary disadvantages ever be secure that his Repentance will be sincere and his Resolutions effectual enough to translate him at one effort from the Power of Darkness into the Kingdom of God 3. For this Reason the Ancients never admitted any to the Peace and Communion of the Church who began not their Repentance before the time of Sickness Those saith St. Cyprian who would not in time repent and by publick Lamentation testifie their hearty Sorrow for their Sins we utterly reject from all hope of Peace and Reconciliation if in the time of Sickness and Danger they begin to intreat because then 't is not true Repentance for their Sin but the fear of approaching Death that drives them to beg for Mercy and no one is worthy to receive any comfort in Death who never considered before hand that he was to die 4. But Secondly Supposing a late Repentance to be hearty and sincere yet have we no positive and absolute Promise that it shall be accepted The plain and express Condition of the Covenant established by Christ is a Holy Life that is a constant and persevering Obedience to all the Commands of God in a Gospel and Merciful Sense allowing for humane Weaknesses and Imperfections from the time of our Baptism or of our coming to the knowledge of the Truth until the end of our Lives And the least that can possibly lay Claim to the Reward promised upon this Condition is such a Repentance as produces the actual Obedience of at least some proportianable part of a Man's Life 5. To say that the Original Condition of the Christian Covenant is such that a Man may safely live wickedly all his Life and satisfie all his Lusts and Appetites to the utmost provided he does but leave off and forsake his Sins at the last is really to take away the necessity of a Holy Life and to undermine the very Foundation of all Virtue For considering on the one hand how prevailing the Custom of the World how deceitful the Temptations of the Devil and how powerful the Assaults of Lust and Passion are and on the other hand how seldom sudden Death happens and how little the Excellency of the Christian Life is understood it will be hard according to this Doctrine to find Arguments sufficiently strong to move Men to repent and to reform immediately If there be no other danger but in sudden Death and no greater malignity in Sin than what may be cured by an easie and short Repentance at last most Men will venture to be wicked at present and trust to the opportunities of growing better afterward Though therefore God may possibly have reserves of Mercy which in event he may exercise towards Men in their last extremity yet Originally 't is certain the Gospel Covenant gives no assurance of Comfort but either to a constant and persevering Holiness
shall have of things at the conclusion of our Lives when Death and Judgment approach and let us view things now in the same Light as we know certainly we shall be forced to do then We know we shall then lament the loss of every opportunity of doing good which we have omitted and shall grutch every minute of Folly and Vanity which might have been employ'd to the increase of the Portion of our future Happiness We know we shall then look upon all the past pleasures of Life as emptiness and nothing and be convinced that there is no Pleasure but in true Virtue and no Fruit in any thing but in having done much Good And if we do indeed know this what can be more miserably and more inexcusably foolish than not to make the same Judgment of things now as we know assuredly we shall do afterwards The reason why Men die full of Fears and Uncertainties full of dark Suspitions and confused Doubts is because they are conscious to themselves that they have lived carelesly and indifferently without having taken any Pains either for the Service of God or for the Good of Men and without having used any zealous Endeavours to overcome the present World or to obtain the future But if Men would consider things in time if they would pass true Judgments of things and act accordingly with Resolution and Constancy they might then know certainly their own State and might live with Comfort and die with Assurance CHAP. XII Of our Obligation to be particularly careful to avoid those Sins to which we are most in danger to be tempted 1. FIfthly Be particularly careful to resist and avoid those Sins to which either your Constitution Company or Employment make you most in danger to be tempted This is the great Trial of every Man's Sincerity and of his Growth in Virtue He that for the Love of God and the Hopes of Heaven can mortifie and deny his most darling Lusts can quell and keep under his most natural Passions can resist and constantly overcome those Temptations by which he is most in danger to be seduced into Sin such a one has an infallible Assurance of his own Sincerity and is very near to the Perfection of Virtue But if there be any one Instance wherein a Man habitually falls short of his Duty or indulges a Lust a Passion a sinful Desire 't is certain whatever other Virtues he may be indued with that he either acts upon wrong Principles and is not sincere or that his Resolutions are hitherto too weak and ineffectual to intitle him to the Comfort of Religion here or to the Assurance of Happiness hereafter 2. There is no Man whom either the Constitution of his Body or the Temper of his Mind the Nature of his Employment or the Humour of his Company does not make obnoxious to some particular sort of Temptations more than to any other And in this thing it is that those who have something of Sincerity and will not with others run into all excess of Riot do yet make shift to deceive and impose upon themselves They think they are indued with many good and virtuous Qualities they hate Profaneness and professed enormous Impiety they know themselves innocent of many great Sins which they see others continually commit But something to which they are particularly tempted they indulge themselves in and the fatal Mischief is that those Sins which they see others commit and to which themselves are not violently tempted seem most absurd and unreasonable and easie to be avoided but that to which they are themselves addicted they think to be either so small as not to be of any very evil Consequence or so difficult to be resisted as to be allowed for among the unavoidable Infirmities of Nature Thus to many who have little or no Dealings in the World the Sins of Fraud Injustice Deceit Over reaching and the like seem very heinous base and unreasonable while at the same time they allow themselves in habitual Intemperances and Impurities as either harmless Vices or almost insuperable Weaknesses On the other hand there is no less a Number of those who applaud themselves in their own Minds that they are not as other Men Intemperate Debauched Drunkards Revellers and the like while at the same time they look upon Fraud and Deceit Tricking and Over-reaching as the necessary Art and Mystery of Business 3. But this is a very great and a very fatal Cheat. No Man can have any true and solid Peace in himself no Man can have any just Confidence in his Addresses to God no Man can have any Title to the Promises and Comforts of Religion here much less to the Glory and Reward of it hereafter before his Obedience be if not Perfect yet at least Universal God will not share with any Impiety nor ever accept of any Man's Obedience so long as 't is mixed with the accursed thing If there be any Sin that we can hardly part with if there be any Lust that is like a right Hand or a right Eye this is the thing that God hath proposed to us to Conquer this is the good Fight which we must fight through Faith this is the Victory to which Heaven is proposed For this we must gather together all the Forces of Reason and Religion for this we must strengthen our selves by Prayer and Consideration In this Warfare we must resolve strongly persevere obstinately and though we be conquered yet resolve to overcome always remembring that this is the Stake for Life or Death Happiness or Misery Heaven or Hell 4. Here therefore let every Man consider with himself and let him well observe his own Temptations and his own Strength Let him consider not how many Sins he can easily avoid but by what Temptations he may most easily be seduced and let him make it his Business to guard himself there Let those who are young and not yet entred into the hurry and business of the World not value themselves upon their being innocent from the Sins of Fraud and Injustice of Covetousness and Extortion or the like for that perhaps they may be without any Pains and without overcoming any powerful Temptation but let them try themselves whether they be firm against the Temptations of Vanity and Lightness of Heat and Passion of Intemperance and Impurity and let them judge of themselves by their behaviour in these Instances wherein they are most obnoxious Let them consider that their peculiar Task is to overcome the wicked one 1 John 2. 13. to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit to conquer and get above those Pleasures which sensualize the Soul and inslave the Mind to the Body and thereby bring it under the Power of Death and Destruction And in fine to strive continually to cleanse themselves from all Impurity not only of Body but even of Mind and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Let them consider that they are by Baptism dedicated to the