Mistake and demands some place of Scripture to prove this Notion of a Sacraments being a Sign from us to God See Admon p. 180. I shall endeavour herein to give him all reasonable satisfaction And this Account of Sacraments I shall particularly prove in reference to Baptism which is the Sacrament in dispute That Baptism is a Sign from us to God of our Obligation to the Duties of his Covenant as well as a Sign from God to us of the Truth of his Promises is evident from the Apostle Peter's excellent Description of that Internal and Saving Baptism which the External Washing is the Sign of viz. 1 Pet. 3.25 That 't is not the putting away the filth of the Flesh i. e. Baptism is not meerly or principally that but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God Which words manifestly allude to the Covenant-Transaction that passes between the great God and the Adult Person baptiz'd for of such the Apostle here speaks and to the Questions that were to that end propos'd to such as receiv'd this Seal of God's Covenant They were ask't If they believ'd in the Lord Jesus with all their heart See 8 Acts 37. or as some ancient Christian Writers propose the Question If they recounc'd the Devil and his Angels the World and its Pomps If they believ'd in If they devoted themselves to the Father Son and Holy Ghost c. And their sincere Profession and Promise of doing so which in Baptism they ratified by this External Rite of Washing with Water is that which the Apostle here calls the Answer of a good Conscience towards God So that the Apostle was so far from supposing that Baptism was not a Sign from us to God that he rather defines it by this part of its end and use viz. To be a Solemn Rite whereby we profess to engage our Hearts to the Duties of his Covenant And indeed since Baptism is the Solemnizing a mutual Covenant between the Blessed God on the one part and our Selves or our Seed on the other it is first a Sign from us to God of our Consent to the proposed Terms of his Covenant before it can be a Sign from him to us of our or our Childrens interest in those Benefits of his Covenant that presuppose our consent as the Condition thereof 'T is the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins 1 Mark 4. and is therefore first a Sign of our Repentance towards God before it can be a Sign from him of the Remission of Sins And so 't is propos'd by the Apostle Peter at the first time we read of its Administration to his Adult Converts 2 Acts 38 39. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Christ for the Remission of Sins for the Promise is unto you and your Children Where they were by Baptism first to profess their Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus and then receive the promised Benefit Remission of Sins Nay Christ's own Command to his Apostles first to Disciple or Proselyte all Nations and then to Baptize 'em plainly implys that one great use of Baptism was to be a solemn Bond upon 'em to the Duties of that Christian Profession they had embrac'd and the Baptizing 'em in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit has been always suppos'd to imply a Solemn Dedication of 'em by this Sacred Rite to the Faith Worship and Service of that Blessed Trinity into whose Name they are Baptized There is in that Institution a Seal set to the Covenant of God on our part as well as on his To which 't is not improbable that those words of the Apostle Paul refer 2 Tim. 2.19 Nevertheless the Foundation or as some reader the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabula contractus the Covenant of God stands sure having this Seal on God's part The Lord knows them that are his and this Seal on our part Let him that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity As the Covenant is mutual so the External Rite is intended to ratifie our Restipulation as well as God's Promise and accordingly our breach of the Baptismal Covenant by Apostasie or Infidelity is Perjury and therefore so often in the Scripture Language represented by the breach of the Conjugal Vow that the Adulteress is guilty of And this Notion of Baptism as an obliging Sign from God to us is the more unreasonably deny'd by the Bishop if we consider that 't is this very use of Baptism that chiefly occasion'd the Name of a Sacrament being given to it because Baptism was reckon'd like the Military Oath of the Roman Soldiers as a solemn Listing the Person Baptiz'd into the Service and Warfare of Christ against the World the Flesh and the Devil So that the Bishop has excluded that from the nature and notion of a Sacrament which was the chief if not the only ground of this Rite of the Christian Religion being called one And it were as easie to shew the same concerning the other Institutions that are call'd Sacraments Thus as Circumcision was a Token of the Covenant between God and Abraham and his Seed in their Generations so 't was an obliging Sign on their part as well as on God's part It oblig'd them to receive and obey the Revelations of the Divine Will to ' em And hence after the delivery of the Law of Moses Circumcision was an External Bond on those that receiv'd it to observe that Law as the Apostle Paul plainly intimates to us 5 Gal. 3. He that was Circumcis'd made himself a Debtor to the Law to do it i. e. brought himself under a solemn Tye thereto by this External Rite That the Feasts upon Sacrifices under the Law were Foederal Rites in allusion to the general Custom of those Eastern Nations to Confirm mutual Covenants by Eating and Drinking together See 26 Gen. 30 31.31 Gen. 44 45 46. 9 Jos 14.41 Psal 9.5 Lam. 6. Obad. 7. v. is so largely prov'd by the Learned Dr. Cudworth in his excellent Treatise on the Lord's Supper and Feast upon a Sacrifice that I shall refer the Reader to it for fuller satisfaction And that one passage in the 50 Psalm v. 5. is sufficient to put it out of doubt Gather my Saints together those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Now the Covenant was made and celebrated not meerly by Offering it up but chiefly by their Religious Feast upon it And as the Lord's Supper succeeds in the place and stead of those Jewish Feasts upon Sacrifices so 't is evidently design'd as such a Foederal Rite whereby we renew our League of Peace with God upon the Memorials of the Attoning Sacrifice of his own Son by our renewed Consent to the Terms of his Covenant And hence the Apostle Paul warns his Corinthian Converts against the Idolatrous Practice of Feasting in the Temples of the Heathen Idols as inconsistent with the Obligations which their Feasting at the Lord's Table had laid upon
we thereby are invested in All these uses of 'em must be carefully and distinctly consider'd 1. These Sacred Rites are us'd in these two Ordinances as Representing Signs for Instruction The infinitely wise God condescending herein to our infirmity and weakness Thus washing with Water which is the Rite appointed in Baptism is by its resemblance instructive to us both concerning the Priviledges and Duties of the Covenant we enter into Concerning the Priviledges Thus 't is design'd to represent our Natural pollution and defilement and the necessity of the Regenerating and Purifying Vertue of the Holy Spirit And hence we are said to be born of Water and the Holy Spirit 3 John 5. i. e. formed to a new and divine Life by that sanctifying efficacy of the Holy Spirit which is compar'd to the purifying Vertue of Water And elsewhere in allusion to this Baptismal Rite we are said to be Saved by the Laver of Regeneration and the Renewing of the Holy Ghost 3 Tit. 5. Nay this Rite seems also design'd to instruct us concerning our Guilt as well as Pollution and of the necessity of our being Cleans'd from it by the Laver of our Mediatour's Blood For the most judicious Expositors understand those words of Ananias concerning the Remission of Sins when he saith to Saul upon his Conversion Arise and be Baptized and wash away thy Sins or be thou washt from thy Sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus 22 Acts 16. And accordingly such a cleansing virtue is ascrib'd to the Redeemer's blood and that Expression of his Washing us from our Sins in it seems to carry an Allusion to this Sacred Baptismal Rite See 1 John 1.7 1 Rev. 5. The same Sacred Rite is designed to represent our Duty to us viz. To renounce the Defilements of Sin and of the World and to consecrate our selves to a Life of Holiness as Christ's purified peculiar People And this use of it the Bishop omits in his Account To this Rite those Expressions seem to refer Such were some of you but ye are washed ye are sanctified 1 Cor. 6.11 And thus the Apostle supposes in our Baptism that there is a Resemblance of our Dying with Christ and our Rising with him that should instruct us in our Duty to Dye to Sin and Live to Righteousness 6 Rom. 3 4 5. 2 Col. 12. For our Dying to Sin and Walking in newness of Life is not signified in Baptism as the Benefit confer'd by God as the Bishop seems to suppose but rather as the Duty requir'd from us tho' the renewing and purifying efficacy of the Holy Spirit whereby we are enabled to do so is signify'd as a Benefit which we receive from God The same I might observe concerning that other Institution of the Lord's Supper in whose Sacred Rites there is not only a Commemorative Representation of the Death of Christ but also an Instructive Representation of our Spiritual Communion with him in his Body and Blood viz. in the precious Fruits of his Sacrifice and of those Duties or Exercises of our Faith and Devotion to him by which we are said to Eat his Flesh and Drink his Blood 6 John 53 54. I might observe the same concerning those two paralel Institutions under the Old Testament Circumcision and Religious Feasts upon Sacrifices But this use of Sacraments being so obvious I shall not insist any farther upon it but only add That tho' I suppose all Sacramental Signs to be Representing ones and to carry such an Instructive Resemblance and Allusion yet I do not suppose all barely instructive Signs to be Sacramental or Foederal ones For there seems to be more requisite to such 2. The Sacred Rites in Baptism and the Lord's Supper are intended also as obliging Signs to Confirm and Ratifie that Covenant that is then Enter'd into or Renew'd between God and us 'T is evidently so in Baptism for the Sacred Rite there us'd is both 1. An obliging Sign on God's part whereby he confirms and ratifies the Promises of his Covenant to all that are interessed therein even that grand comprehensive Promise of being the God of the Faithful and of their Seed and particularly that eminent Promise of the Remission of Sins See 17 Gen. 7 11. and compare it with 2 Acts 38 39. Repent and be Baptiz'd every one of you for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost for the Promise is to you and your Children c. And our being Baptiz'd into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit implys his engagement to be a reconcil'd Father Redeemer and Sanctifier to all that sincerely devote themselves to him So in that other Foederal Rite of the Lord's Supper 22 Luke 20. 't is said of the Cup That 't is the New Testament in the Blood of Christ i. e. This Sacred Memorial of his Blood is like an Authentick Seal set to the New Testament wherein so many precious Legacies are convey'd to us as the Fruits of his Death and Sacrifice And the same may also be observ'd concerning Circumcision both in the place fore-quoted 17 Gen. 7 11 and in its being call'd by the Apostle Paul the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith viz. of that right to impunity and life which Abraham was as a Believer entitled to thro' the Merits of that Redeemer who was his promised Seed 4 Rom. 11. So in their Religious Feasts upon Sacrifices God's admitting the Offerers or Guests to his Table was a solemn Ratification of the League of Amity and Peace renew'd between em thro' the virtue of that future attoning Sacrifice of Christ of which the Legal ones were only Types and Figures 2. This Sacred Rite of washing with Water in Baptism is no less an obliging Sign from us to God whereby we bind our selves to the Duties of his Covenant Now this important use of a Sacrament the Bishop not only omits in his Description of it but plainly Denies that it belongs to its nature For Admon p. 180. he asserts it to me a Mistake concerning Sacraments to suppose That they are Signs from us to God whereas he affirms 'em to be wholly for only Signs from God to us I confess this seems very surpriâ—ing because if this be a Mistake 't is such a Mistake as he himself has run into in his Discourse For there p. 4. he gives this reason Why the Celebration of the Sacraments is a part of Outward Worship viz. because in them we not only express our dependence on God for his grace but likewise oblige and bind our selves to serve him Now how this can be true without making the Sacramental Rite a Sign from us to God of that obligation to his Service I cannot comprehend So that his Lordship seems to me in this Particular inconsistent with himself and speaks more accurately of these Matters where his Partiality to his Cause does not mislead his Judgment But since he now asserts this to be a
'em to be the Worshippers of the only true God who was too jealous of his own Honor to admit of any Rival in it See 1 Cor. 10 ch from the fourteenth to the twenty third verse 3. These Foederal Rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper must be consider'd as intended also to be distinguishing Signs of our Christian Profession and the Relations which we are thereby invested in Thus our Baptism is the honourable Badge of our Discipleship whereby we are discriminated from the Infidel World We do hereby put on the Livery of Christ as those words of the Apostle Paul imply 3 Gal. 27. For a many of you as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And therefore he adds they were no more to be distinguish'd into Jew or Greek c. but all were one in Christ Jesus This one Livery was to be the common Sign of their belonging to him as their one Lord and Master And accordingly our partaking of one External Baptism is made a Mark and Character of those that belong'd to that one visible Body or Church of which Christ is the Lord and Head as our partaking of one Internal Baptism is the certain Mark of our belonging to the one invisible Church or mystical Body of Christ See 1 Eph. 4 5 6. To the same purpose we read elsewhere that we are by one Spirit baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit The latter words of being made to drink into one Spirit according to the general consent of the best Expositers refer to the Lord's Supper as the former do to Baptism And the words plainly imply that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the Symbol and the Bond of our External Communion as Members of the visible Church as by partaking of the sanctifying Operations of the same Holy Spirit we become Members of one mystical Body of Christ So that by our Baptism we are incorporated into the Christian Community and thereby discriminated in our right to its External Priviledges from them that are without who are yet Aliens and Foreigners And so by the Lord's Supper we are as partakers of Christ's Holy Table distinguish'd from them that partake of the Table of Devils and are in fellowship or Communion with them 1 Cor. 10.20 21. Thus was Circumcision the discriminating Mark of these that embrac'd the Faith of Abraham from such as were Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and Strangers to the Covenants of Promise Circumcised and Vncircumcised was equivalent to one that did or did not own the Jewish Religion Having thus far clear'd the general Nature and Vses of these two Institutions in the Christian Religion which we call Sacraments for all the particular uses of each of 'em I am not now concern'd to consider I come to apply this Account to the Matter in Debate And accordingly 't is obvious to any that shall consider the foregoing Account that there is one Vse of these Foederal or Sacramental Rites that does necessarily presuppose Divine Institution viz. Their being obliging signs on God's part to ratifie his Promises For it were too absurd for any to imagine that God will oblige himself by signs he never appointed for that end And therefore the Papists themselves pretend their new Sacraments to be Divine ones by feigning God's Institution for ' em When therefore I speak of a Human Sacrament I mean no more by it than an External Rite set up by meer Human Authority without any pretence of Divine Institution for several Sacramental Uses such as conconstitute it as truly a part of Religious Worship as Baptism and the Lord's Supper are So that it wants nothing but God's Instituting it to be a Seal to his part of the Covenant as Men have made it a Seal to their part to render it as proper a Sacrament as either of the two former And 't is only in this sense that I suppose the Cross to be made a Human Sacrament by the establisht Church 'T is made by 'em a Sacrament as far as Men can make one of a Religious Rite that they can pretend no Divine Authority for And this is sufficient to prove it a sinful Human Invention as I shall now show in prosecuting the Particulars here suggested I. The Cross is set up for several Sacramental Uses even the like Vses as Baptism and the Lord's Supper are appointed for For according to the foregoing Account of these Foederal or Sacramental Rites 1. 'T is set up as a Representing or Instructive sign And that both in the Duties and the Benefits of the New Covenant 'T is set up as Instructive in the Duties of it And this the Bishop grants when he owns Admon p. 178. That the Cross is us'd to signifie the Return we ought to make to God for the Benefits receiv'd in Baptism And indeed the words of the Service-Book put this out of doubt We sign this Child c. in token that he shall not be ashamed to Confess the Faith of Christ crucified c. 'T is set up as Instructive in the Benefits of the New Covenant This indeed the Bishop denys in the place last quoted and tells us The Cross is not us'd by 'em to signifie any Grace or Benefit communicated from God But I think there is just ground to conclude the contrary from the Reason which the Convocation alledges for Retaining the use of the Sign of the Cross viz. That the Holy Ghost by the Mouth of the Apostles did honour the name of the Cross so far that under it he comprehended not only Christ crucified but the force effect and merit of his Death and Passion with all the comforts fruits and promises we receive or expect thereby See the Thirtieth Canon of the Church of England Now I would gladly know what this Reason can signifie to vindicate their retaining the use of the Cross unless they supposed it a fit external Sign to signifie the same things which the Holy Ghost had honour'd the Name of the Cross to signifie And this Inference seems the more just from the account they give of this Ceremony of Crossing as practis'd by the Primitive Christians viz. That they signed their Children with the Sign of the Cross when they were Christen'd to dedicate 'em by that Badge to his Service whose Benefits bestow'd on 'em in Baptism the name of the Cross did represent And consequently the Sign of it is design'd to represent too But 2. Which is more considerable The Cross is made by the establisht Church an obliging and ratifying sign on our part to bind us to the Duties of God's Covenant even to the same which Baptism is appointed to oblige us to viz. To confess boldly the Faith of Christ crucified To fight manfully under his Banner against the Flesh the World and the Devil and to continue Christ's faithful Soldiers and Servants to our lives end And I may still renew