sequitur pontificem malum non esse câ—put ecclesiae alios episcopos si mâ—li sunt non esse capita suarum ecclesiarum Caput enim non est humor aut pilus sed membrum quidem praecipuum This put him on distinguishing and yet at last he could bring it but to this Dico episcopum malum presbyterum malum Doctorem malum esse meÌ„bra mortua perinde non vera corporis Christi quantuÌ„ attinet ad rationem meÌ„bri ut est pars quaedam vivi corporis tamen esse verissima membra in ratione instrumenti id est papâ—m episcopos esse vera capita c. ratio est quia membra viva constituuntur per charitateÌ„ qua impâ—i carent at instrumenta operativa constituuntur per potestatem sive ordinis sive jurisdictionis And what is this more then the wooden leg or silver teeth which our Divines compare them to But the new Papists since Bellarmine do see a necessity of a further distinguishing the Church as a visible political society from the Church as truly sanctified But that which we and all the ancients do make to be but the Profession distinct from the thing professed the body distinct from the soul the chaff distinct from the wheat the shell distinct from the kernel they make to be as the lower order which is the way to a higher as the Alphabet or lower Rudiments which are the way to Grammar as an apprentiship to a trade I mean as a state of preparation to a state of infallible salvation And because it favoureth their main design they seem to draw near to the same conceit which they were wont falsly to fasten on the Protestants viz. that there are two â—hurches one Political and visible the other regenerate Invisible And Bellarmine confesseth that some of them were of this mind in his time And all this stir is that they may advance their visible Church in the estimation of men thereby the more easily keep the rule in their own hands and exalt themselves above Scripture and draw as many as may be into their society and therefore they drive the poor ignorant Americans by hundreds to be baptized as we drive our beasts to watering or our sheep to be washed and in stead of staying till they make Profession of a saving faith with any seeming seriousness they make Baptism an entrance into the state of the Catechumeni which was wont to be the passage thence into the state of Christians that per fas aut nefas they may engage people to themselves under pretence of engaging them to Christ therefore it is that they so over extoll the visible Political state of the Church as Dr. Prideaux saith Lect. de visibil eccles pag. 128. Experti demum perciperunt externam ecclesiae pompam speciosos titulos apud instabiles plus lucrari quam non lectam vel saltem non intellectam scripturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hinc ecclesiam ad ravint usque crepant Catholicam quam admissam statim restringunt ad Romae synagogam suco quidem veteratorio sed conspicuo satis ridiculo ut ex conficta ecclesia formeiur doctrina non ex veritate doctrinae reformetur firmetur ecclesia The chief adversaries therefore we have here to deal with are the Papists who over-magnifie the visible face of the Church make the faith of men unjustified to be true faith though not formatacharitate and make Hypocrites and and wicked Professors to be truly and properly fideles and members of the Church whom the Protestants affirm to be but secundum quid materially analogically yea equivocally called members or fideles and therefore they make Baptism to be an appointed means to admit men into this visible Political Church as into the ordinary way and passage to the state of saving grace or justification but not ordinarily into the present possession of it And therefore in conformity to all this they maintain that we must admit persons to Baptism upon the bare Profession of faith that is Assent with consent to be under the Government of the Church and the use of ordinances in order to be a better state For saith Bellarmine it is not Charity but Faith which makes a Christian which our divines admit as true in our sense of the word Faith which includeth the will and is proper to the truly regenerate but they deny it in his sense of it who maketh faith to be the only Assent of the intellect Against this adversary therefore I shall principally bend the force of my Arguments though to my great trouble I must be forced to deal also with a Reverend Brother of our own especially in answering his many fallacious arguments which he hath lately heaped up for that part which I must oppose 4. Before I can positively answer the question in hand I must premise these few necessary Distinctions 1. We must distinguish between a Profession of faith according to the Ministers sense of the words and a Profession according to the speakers sense 2. Between the Children of those that profess not saving faith as theirs and claiming Baptism on the account of some lower Profession and the same Children as owned by some other that do profess saving faith 3. Between the unlawfulness of Baptizing and the Nullity of the Baptism Those distinctions that are necessary for the answering of the objections will come in their places Upon these few I answer the question negatively explained in the following Propositions 1. It is not a Profession of saving Faith in the real intention of the Professor that we affiâ—m necessary but in the Apprehension of the Minister judging of the words according to their common use and acception For we know not the heart of the Professor and therefore know not certainly whether he intend those words as a Profession or not I do not mean whether he be sincere in his Profession and intend the thing Professed for that 's no part of the Profession it self but I mean whether he use the words which he speaks in the sense which they seem to us to import and which they are used in by those that best understand their common signification For example a Papist presenteth a Child to be Baptized Professing to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost I know that these words according to the Scripture use of them signifie a true saving faâ—th but I am not sure whether the speaker do understand any more by them then a lower faith of meer Assent If I knew he meant no more I would require him to express a saving faith before I would Baptize his Child on his account but if I know it not nor have just reason to question it I must take the words as they are commonly used and seem to be intended by him and so if it appear to me to be a Profession of saving faith though I err and my errour be innocent it is my duty
and of no great ill repute it is possible for a godly man to be long guilty of them as it is known that many well reputed of for Godliness are in Scotland Reputation doth much with many even that are Godly to make sin seem great or small with us now a Swearer is reputed so great a sinner that he is reckoned with Adulterers and Drunkards but Censoriousness Backbiting Church-division disobeying those that rule over us in the Lord spiritual Pride c. that are greater then some swearing do not so brand a man nor make him odious with us But God judgeth not of sin thus by the custom of Countries but according to the nature of the thing In England a Sabbath-breaker is taken for a sin inconsistent with Grace In the Low-Countries Helvetia France and most other of the Reformed Churches much of it taken for no sin at all but we are censured for superstitious herein Every one is not ungodly there that lives and dies in that sin without particular Repentance Men that have not heard much of the evil of some petty oaths may not understand the evil of them and custom may do much And it is not inconsiderable as to the extenuation of some mens sin that it s not a little doubtfull whether it be indeed swearing if a man do use those words which are the ordinary matter of an oath and doth not know it to be an oath nor intend the form of an oath in it As if one use the terms of an oath in Latine or another Language which he understandeth not he is not formally a Swearer And if men do know it and yet do not at that time intend any such thing as a calling any creature to witness or appealing to them as sufficient to avenge a lye but only use a customarie term inobservantly it is a sin but whether formally swearing may be questioned But if it be the Name of God that they abuse in swearing or if they indeed put any creature in his stead appealing to it as the Avenger of a lye or perjurie that is a hainous sin and cannot easily be done in ignorance 2. It is judged by Divines that David lay a twelve moneth in his sin of Adulterie and Murder unrepented of Certain it is that he was long contriving and executing that horrid murder of Vriah that his own shame might be covered and he might enjoy his wife How long Asah or Solomon sinned we know not Nor can any man possibly determine just how long a man may live in the practice of such a sin and yet have true special Grace and a state of Justification Qu. 10. But what if they are Neglecters of Gods Worship as Prayer in their families or the keeping of the Sabbath or publike hearing the Word or godly discourse is it possible that in such there should be saving Grace They that love God will seek him in his Worship Answ. It is not enough for the certain knowledge of a mans ungodliness or gracelesness to know that he neglecteth this duty of outward worship unless it be known with what mind and on what reasons he neglecteth it For example Many a man neglecteth Prayer in his Family as supposing himself unable to perform it and that this alone is not a certain sign of gracelesness appeareth thus 1. God hath not said that all that neglect it are graceless or shall perish As for the Text of Jer. Pour out thy wrath on the Heathens thaâ— know thee not and the Families that call not on thy name It s past question that by Families is meant Tribes or Nations and calling on Gods name is put for Owning and Worshipping the true God without any mention of the special sort of prayer in a Familie though I believe the dueness of that may be hence gathered 2. Many that we have reason to hope are godly have of late years given over Familie prayer as supposing though very blindly that it is not a duty required by God 3. Many godly people do as much neglect Teaching their Families as some of these in question do Praying in their Families and yet it is more expresly commanded Deut. 6 11 c. And for the Observation of the Sabbath I answered before that most of the Godly in the Reformed Churches as far as I can learn by their Writings or by Report are against it in strictness And therfore I suppose that sin is consistent with godliness And for Godly Discourse I would no godly people were not so neglective of it that their company becomes too unprofitable thereby Some are much disabled to good discourse by natural impediments as Bashfulness c. want of words through ill Education and disuse may hinder much It is only those that privately live and converse with people that will be able to judge of them certainly on this account and not all such neither And Lastly For hearing the Word it will not alone make a certain discovery For 1. we know not what may keep a man away till we speak with him 2. It s possible for a godly man to be of the opinion of the Separatists that think it unlawful to hear our Ministers or in our Assemblies and having no other to joyn with may hear none at all as I have known it the case of some in the Bishops times So that the Certainty of Ungodliness is not discernable by this alone Quest. 11. But there are some that will scorn and deride or revile the Godly yea and persecute them where they have power Is not that a certain Note of one Graceless Answ. It is one thing to scorn or persecute a Godly man and another to scorn at Godliness Or it is one thing to persecute and scorn a man as he is Godly directly on that account and another thing to scorn and persecute him for something else as upon some personal falling out or for some sin or false opinion or the like cause The later can be no certain discovery of an Ungodly man Quest. 12. But what if they deride and persecute Godliness it self or a man because he is Godly Answ. It is certainly a heinous sin But we must distinguish between the deriding of a man for the Essentials of Christianity or for Godliness as such and deriding him for some doctrine or practice of Godliness which is not essential also between a known Truth and Duty and an unknown It is too possible for a Godly man to persecute and deride the Godly for some Truths which he took to be Errors or some Duties which he mistook to be Sins or to be no Duties or for the manner of some Duties which he took to be wrong Alas I how common is it for the Separatists and Anabaptists many of them to deride our Ministry Assembles and Duties and many among us to deride theirs And they are the bitterest taunts and persecutions that come from blinde zeal These times have by sad experience convinc't us that men seeming otherwise
Chuâ—ch These are both so groundlesly pleaded and by so few that are neer us that I think it not meet to trouble you with them any more 3. A condition pretended to be necessary is A true Justifying faith This also is a mistake but yet how far it is necessary to a true Right I shall open anon none of these three are meant by us in the question for these are not short of saving faith though we exclude the necessity of these as is said 4. Another qualification pleaded necessary and sufficient to the ends expressed in the question is A Profession of a saving Faith which is it that we are to defend 5. A fifth claim is laid upon the pretended sufficiency of a Faith short of Justifying But you will perhaps say what faith is that Those words tell us what Faith it is not viz. It is not justifying faith but they tel us not what faith â—t is To which I must say I know not my self nor can I learn of all the writings of those that go that way so perplexed and confounded or uncertain are they saying sometime one thing and sometime another But I shall have a fitter opportunity to enquire further into their mind or words anon 6. Another claim is laid upon the pretended sufficiency of the Profession of a faith short of that by which we are juâ—â—ified I say the Profession as distinct from that faith it self which the former claim made mention of Some other there are that yet go lower and think we may Baptize any that consent to be Baptized though they profess no faith at all nor their Parents nor pro-Parents neither And there have been so some foolish as to think that it is a work of charity to catch them and Bapâ—ize them whether they will or not But it is not our present business to deal with these The great adversary that we have here to deal with is the Papists And I shall in few words shew you part of their doctrine which we are now to oppose Their great Fundamental error on which they build their tottering Babel and tyrannical usurpation is this that the Catholike â—hurch is one Political society united in one visible head and governed by those that hold their power from him or at least are ruled by him and are conjoyned under these overseers in one Profession of faith and use of Sacraments Bellarmines words are these De Eccles. lib. 3. Nostra autem sententia est ecclesiam unam tantum esse non duas et illam unam et veram esse coetum hominum ejusdem Christianae fidei Professione et eorundem sacramentorum communione colligatum sub regimine legitimorum Pastorum ao praecipue unius Christi in terris vicarii Romani Pontificis And he addeth afterward Hoc interest inter sententiam nostram et alias omnes quod omnes aliae requirunt internas virtutes ad constituendum aliquem in ecclesia et propterea ecclesiam veram invisibilem faciunt nos autem et credimus in ecclesia invâ—niri omnes virtutes fidem spem charitatem et caeteras tamen ut aliquis aliquo modo dicipossit pars verae ecclesiae de qua scripturae loquuntur non putamus requiri ullam internam virtutem sed tantum externam professionem fidei et sacramentoruÌ„ communionem quae sensu ipso percipitur Ecclesia enim est coetus hominum ita visibilis palpabilis ut est coetus populi Romani vel Regnum Galliae aut respublica Venetorum Yet other Papists be not so strict with us but that they will distinguish between the professing Church and the true believing Church And Bellarmine in the next words citeth a passage as Austins which he commendeth which maketh Faith Hope and Charity to be the soul of the Church and the external profession of faith and use of sacraments to be the Body of it and some persons to be in it in one respect only some in the other only and some in both They confess indeed that of duty men should be found Believers at the first but ordinarily they say that is not to be expected and therefore they are first to be entered into the Church this visible Church by Baptism that this may be a means to bring them higher and by this entrance they are put under right guides and into the true body and so are fed with true ordinances yea with Christs body and blood and so are in the way to a true spiritual state The terms on which they must be admitted they say into this Political Church which is not the holiest of all is a Profession of faith and a consent to be a member of the society and to be under those Pastors and use those ordinances in order to further growth so that these they suppose to have a true faith and to be such as have right to this Church state but yet to be but in the way to a special saving faith for theirs is but fides informis or meer faith which is onely Assent say they joyned with the foresaid consent to live in a Church state but when Love is added then it is fides charitate formata and then they are become of the true spiritual society and have part in the soul as well as in the body of the Church so that though they desire fidem formatam in all yet it is not to be expected that so much as a Profession of it be exacted of those that enter into the first order by Baptism but when they enter into a retired monastical life then it must be expected and it is found in all that are fully justified For say they Baptism which entreth men into the visible Church doth put away their original sin and justifie them that is change them in tantum viz. from Heathenism or infidelity if they lay in it before but it doth not justifie them from their more spiritual latent sins such as lie in the heart and keep out the power of Grace but it is the work of special Grace which is given upon the good use of their Church state and Ordinances that doth this by giving them fidem formatam with charity and hope Among all this there is some truth and some error we confess that the Church is one Political society or Republâ—ck but not headed by men but only by Christ the several particular Churches being as so many distinct corporations that all make up this one Republick and are conjoyned internally by faith love and obedience to the same Lord and laws and externally by the use of the same confession worship c. and holding correspondency and brotherly communion as far as occasion and natural capacity shall enable them but not united in one visible frame of policy so as to be under the same Governors some as subordinate and one person or a General council being the supream No more then all the schools in England or in the world must have such a Political constitution and Government
by combinations of schoolmasters We confess also that the Church is but one as well as they that they are to make the same profession and use the same worship in regard of which they are called visible members and the Church a visible Church as by reason of their faith and the spirit within them it is called invisible as if we should distinguish a man into visible and invisible in respect to his body and soul which make not two men we confess also that there is an ineffectual faith of assent that goeth without a hearty consent and that many are to be admitted by us into the visible Church by Baptism by solemnization upon a bare Profession who have not faith either of one sort or other And we confess that such as so remain in the Church do live under those benefits and means which have a special tendence to their true conversion But yet we very much dâ—ffer in this The Papists make the Primary sense of the word Church to be of the visible Church as the samosius significatum and therefore they say that to be entred by Baptism 1. Into a Profession of assent 2. Into communion in Ordinances and 3. Under one and the same Government or external policy is all that is requisite to make a Church-member But we say that the first and famosius significatum is the whole multitude of true Believers that have the spirit of God and his saving Grace and that it is one and the same Church that is called first mystical as being called out of the world to Christ by true faith and then visible because of their Profession of that same faith and therefore if any Profess that faith who are without it these are members but secundum quid or equivocally as the hair and the nails are members of the body which indeed are no members in the proper and first sense or as a wooden leg is a member or as a body without a soul is a man or as the peas or chaff and straw are corn The body may be said to be part of the man when it is animated but a corps or body that never was animated is not properly a part the straw and chaff are called part of the corn-field though indeed but appurtenances to the corn but if there were no corn they should have no such title and when they are separable they shall lose it Moreover t is not a Profession of the same faith that the Papists and we maintain to be necessary to Church entrance For they require as necessary only a Profession of the Dogmatical or Historical faith of Assent aforesaid with a consent to subjection and use of Ordinances But we require a Profession of that faith which hath the promise of pardon and salvation They take their Church-entrance to be a step towards saving conversion and formed faith we take it quoad primam intentionâ—m Christi ordinantis to be an entrance among the number of the converted true Believers and that it is accidental through their failing and hypocrisie that any ungodly are in the Church and so enjoy it's external priviledges and that if we could know them to be such they should not be there it being the work of the Gathering Ministry to bring men to true faith and repentance and of the Edifying perfecting ministry to build them up and bring them on And the Papists themselves having received by Tradition a form of words to be used in Baptism which are sounder then their doctrine and which in the true sence do hold forth all that we say are put to their shifts by palpable mis-interpretation to deprave their own form They do themselves require of the Baptized a Profession that he believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost and when we prove that this is justifying faith and that to believe in doth signifie Affiance the Papists say it is but a naked Assent or Historical faith and when themselves require the â—aptized to â—enounce the Devil the world and the flesh they say that this signâ—fieth no more but that at present they profess so far to renouâ—ce them as to enter into the visible Church as the way to a future saving abâ—enunciation And when themselves do dedicate the person to Christ they say it is but directly to his Church that is to leave the world of Infidels and be numbred with the visible Church as the means to a saving sanctification And these notions they have filed and formed more exactly of late than heretofore to make the snare more apt to catch the simple still magnifying to the uttermost the visible church-Church-state as the only way to a state of justification and salvation But yet as our Divines have observed against him Bellarmine himself when he hath superficially pleaded his own cause doth frequently in the pleading it let fall such words at unawares that do destroy it and grant what we say As lib 3. de Eccles. cap. 10. he saith Verissime etiam dici potuisse ecclesiam fidelium id est eorum qui veram fidem habent in corde unam esse ecclesia enim praecipuè ex intentione sideles tantum colligit cum autem admâ—scentur aliqui ficti qui vere non credunt id accidit praeter intentionem ecclesiae Si enim eos nôsse posset nunquam admitteret aut casu admissos continuò excluderet yet I confess it is but his nudus ascensus or fides informis that he seemeth here too mean I pray you read over especially his 9. Chap. ibid. There pag. 227 he answereth one of our Objections thus Ad ultimum dico malos non esse membra viva Corporis Christi hoc significari illis scripturis Ad id quod addebatur igitur sunt aequivocè membra c. a multis solet concedi malos non esse membra vera nec simpliciter corporis ecclesiae sed tantum secundum quid aequivocè Ita Johan Turrecremata l. 1.57 ubi id probat ex Alex. de Ales Hugone D. Thoma idem etiam docent Petrus à Soto Melchior Canus aliiâ—qui tamen etsi dicant malos non esse meÌ„bra vera dicuÌ„t nihilominus verè esse in eeclesia sive in corpore ecclesiae esse simpliciter sideles sen Christianos neque enim solae meÌ„bra sunt in corpore sed etiam humores dentes pili alia quae non sunt membra Neque sideles aut Christiani dicuntur tales à charitate sed à side sive ù fidei profesâ—ione It appeareth then that the Papists are put of late to refine this fundamental doctrine of theirs from the soundness that it formerly had among themselves and to fit it more to their own turns And I blame them not because their whole kingdom lyeth on it and would be subverted utterly if the foresaid exposition hold which is so much like to ours It s a cutting objection which turned Bellarmine out of his rode At si ita est
that believeth in him as a Teacher only for that is no more then to believe in him as in Moses or Elias 4. He that is sincerely a Disciple in heart must take Christ for his only Teacher in the way to everlasting life renouncing all other except as they stand under him and must be willing to be taught and guided by him in all things therefore he that is a professed Disciple must profess all this And that is to profess saving Faith For without saving faith no man can so believe in him or be heartily willing to be taught by him The lessons that they are to learn of him are self-denial and the contempt of this world and the love of one another and to be meek and lowly in heart that they may find rest to their souls Mat. 11.27 28. And these he proclaimeth when he inviteth men to his school But no ungodly man is willing to learn any of these and therefore unwilling are they to be his Disciples Argum. 8. We ought not to baptize those persons or their Infants as theirs who are visible members of the Kingdom of the Devil and his children or that do not so much as profess their forsaking of the child-hood and Kingdom of the devil But such are all that profess not a saving faith Ergo. The Major is proved thus If we must Baptize none but for present admission into the Kingdom of Christ then we must baptize none but those that profess a present departure from the Kingdom of the devil But the former is true therefore so is the latter The Antecedent is granted by those that I have to do with The reason of the consequence is evident in that all the world is divided into these two Kingdoms and they are so opposite that there is no passing into one but from the other The Minor of the first Argument I prove thus All they are visibly in the Kingdom of the Devil or not so much as by Profession removed out of it who Profess not a removal from that conditionâ— in which the wrath of God abideth on them and they are excluded by the Gospel from everlasting life But such are all that profess not a justifying faith Therefore I express the Major two waies disjunctively lest any should run to instances of men that are converted have not yet had a cal or opportunity to profess it If such are not visibly in the Kingdom of the Devil at least they are not visibly out of it The Major is proved in that it is the condition of the covenant of grace performed that differenceth the members of Christs Kingdom from Satans and so it is that condition profest to be performed that visibly differenceth them before men It is the promise of grace that bringeth them out of Satans Kingdom therefore it is only done invisibly to those that profess the performance of the condition Moreover to be out of Satans Kingdom visibly is to be visibly from under his Government but those that profess not saving faith are not visibly from under his Government Lastly to be visibly out of Satans Kingdom is to be visibly freed from his power as the Executioner of Gods eternal vengeance But so are none that profess not saving faith The Minor is proved from John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son or obeyeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him where it is plain 1. That the unbelief spoken of is that which is opposed to saving faith even to that faith which hath here the promise of everlasting life 2. And that this leaves them visibly under the wrath of God So in Mar. 16.16 compared with Mat. 28.19 In the later Christ bids them make him Disciples and in the former he describeth those that are such and those that remain still in the Kingdom of Satan He that blieveth and is Baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Here it is evident that the unbelief threatned is that which is contrary to and even the privation of the faith that Salvation is expresly promised to and that all that profess not this saving faâ—th are not so much as professedly escaped a state of Damnation and that this is the differencing Character of Christs Disciples to be baptized of which yet more afterward so Acts 26.18 It is the opening of mens eyes and the turning them from darkness to light and the power of Satan to God that they may receive Remission of sins c. which is the true state of them that are Christians in heart and the Profession of this that proveth them professed Christians and they that do not profess to be thus enlightned and converted do not profess to be brought from under the power of Satan for that is here made the terminus à quo So Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Here the passing into the Kingdom of Christ is by passing from the Kingdom of darkness so that he is not Cordially in one that is Cordially in the other and consequently he is not by Profession in the one who is not by Profession past from the other He that professeth not such a faith as proveth men in Christs Kingdom professeth not so much as may prove him out of Satans And expresly it is said 1 John 3.8 10. He that committeth sin is of the Devil In this the Children of God are manifest the Children of the Devil he that doth not righteousness is not of God c. These passages will be further touched when we come to the Argument from the true visible Church Argum. 9. If it be the appointed use of all Christian Baptism to solemnize our marriage with Christ or to seal or confirm our union with him or ingraffing into him then must we baptize none that profess not justifying faith Because this is necessarily prerequisite and no others can protend to union marriage or ingraffing into Christ But the Antecedent is true Both Antecedent and consequence are evident in Gal. 3.27 28 29. For as many of you as have been baptized into Chrâ—st have put on Chrâ—st Ye are all one in Christ Jesus And if ye be Chrâ—sts then are ye Abrahams seed and heirs acccoding to promise Here 1 We see that it is not an accidental or separable thing for baptism to be our visible entrance into Christ our putting him on our admittance by solemnization into the state of Gods Children and heirs acording to promise For this is affirmed of all he baptized with true Christian Baptism If we be truely baptized we are baptized into Christ. If we we are baptized into Christ then are we Christ's and have put on Christ and are all one in Christ and are Abrahams seed and heirs according to promise If any object that the Apostle speaks this but of some of them even of the
Scripture so connexed to salvation I know no Regenerate ones but the justified or those that profess to have a justifying faith Nor hath he proved any more Argum. 11. All that are meet subjects for Baptism are after their Baptism without any further inward qualification at least without another species of faith meet subjects for the Lords Supper having natural capacity by age But no one that professeth only a faith short of justifying is meet to receive the Lords Supper therefore no such a one is a meet subject for Baptism Or thus Those at age whom we may baptize we may also admit to the Lords Supper without any other species of faith But the Professors of a meer common faith short of justifying we may not admit to the Lords Supper Ergo c. The duty of a particular examination before the Lords Supper is nothing to our purpose because 1. that makes a man fitter than he was but the want of it is not in the cognizance of the Minister alwaies nor will not justifie our refusal of a godly man excepting some apparent gross evils 2. And it is the necessity of another faith and state that we are enquiring after which will not be proved by the necessity of an actual examination or excitation of our present grace The Major Mr. Blake will easily grant me and if any other deny it I prove it thus 1. It is the same Covenant that both Sacraments Seal one for initiation the other for confirmation and growth in grace therefore the same faith that qualifieth for the one doth sufficiently qualifie for the other For the same covenant hath the some condition 2. They are the same heresies that are conferred in baptism and the Lords Supper to the worthy Receiver Therefore the same qualification for kind is necessary for the reception The Antecedent is commonly granted Baptism uniteth to Christ and giveth us himself first and with himself the pardon of all past sins c. The Lords Supper by confirmation giveth us the same things It is the giving of Christ himself who faith by his Minister take eat drâ—nk offering himself to us under the signs and commanding us to take himself by faith as we take the signs by the outward parts He giveth us the pardon of sin sealed as procured by his body broken and blood shed 3. A member of Christs Church against whom no Accusation must be brought from some contradiction of his first profession must be admitted to the Lords Supper but the new baptized may be ordinarily such at age therefore if he can but say I am a baptized person he hath a sufficient principal title to Baptism coram ecclesia I mean such as we must admit though some actual preparation be necessary unless he be proved to have disabled his claim on that account either by nulling and reversing that profession or by giving just cause of questioning it 4. The Church hath ever from the Apostles daies till now without question admitted the new baptized at age to the Lords Supper without requiring any new species of faith to entitle them to it I take the Major therefore as past denial All the controversie between Mr. Blake and me is like to be about the Minor whether the profession of his common faith short of justifying make people fit for or capable of the Lords supper 1. No man should be admitted to the signal profession of Receiving Christ as he is offered who will not orally profess to receive him as he is offered But all that are admitted to the Lords supper are admitted to the signal profession of receiving Christ as he is offered Therefore no man that will not orally so profess to receive Christ should be admitted to the Lords Supper The Major is plain because 1. Else we cannot know who is fit if he will not make profession of it 2. His refusal shews that he either understandeth not what he doth in the Sacrament or is wilfully uncapable by infidelity or impenitency 3. The Minor is evident in the nature of the Sacrament The offer of the bread and wine with the command Tade eat drink is signally the oâ—fer of the Lord Jesus himself with a command to take him He that puâ—s forth his hand to take the bread professeth thereby to Accept of Christ as offered If it be said that Mr. Blakes professor of a lower sort of faith doth profess to take Christ as offered I say No This proposition I here suppose as evident in it self that no man but the sound Believer doth take Christ as offered no not as Christ. He is offered as a Saviour from the Guilt and Reign of sin and so Mr. Blakes professor doth not so much as profess to accept him For I hope we are agreed that so to accept him heartily is saving faith 2. No man should be admitted to receive a sealed pardon of sin or have it delivered to him that doth not profess that faith which is of necessity to make him capable of a sealed pardon but he that only professeth a faith short of justifying professeth not that faith which is of necessity to make him capable of a sealed pardon Therefore he is not to be admitted to the Lords supper It is a present sealed pardon that they profess there to receive by the very actual receiving God presently offereth and they presently profess to accept it signally and therefore must do so verbally 3. No man is to be admitted to the Lords supper that professeth not true Repentance for sin But Mr. Blake's Professor doth not so for that is inseparable from saving faith Therefore Mr. Blake must deny the Major or say nothing that I can imagine but what is to no purpose And if he do deny it 1. I would desire him once to give us a just Description of that Repentance short of saving which he will be satisfied with the Profession of in his Communicants 2. I must confess as much as I am against separation I never intend to have communion with Mr. Blakes Congregation if they profess not saving Repentance and faith And if he exact not such a Profession I say still he makes soul work in the Church And when such soul work shall be voluntarily maintained and the Word of God abused for the defilement of the Church and Ordinances of God it is a greater scandal to the weak and to the Schismaticks and a greater reproach to the Church and sadder case to considerate men than the too common pollutions of others which are meerly through negligence but not justified and defended And if Mr. Blake be angry at my speaking these things I cannot help it I am bound to tell him of it as a faithful Brother that I doubt not but God is angry at his Doctrine and the great wrong that he doth the Church of God while he is so angry at his Brother for resisting it For my part I would not have done his work no nor justified it as some of his
from 1. Pet. 3.21 I be like figure whereto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God Whence I thus argue If Baptism be appointed for out solemn admission into a state of salvation as Noahs Ark received men into a state of safety from the deluge then none should be baptized but those that profess that saith which entereth them into a state of salvation But the former is true therefore so is the later 1. Here it is implyed plainly that this is quoad finem Instituentis the common appointed use of Baptism which the Text mentioneth though eventually it prove not the common effect through the error of the Receivers And this appeareth 1. In that it was spoken plainly in the Text of the very Nature and appointed use of Baptism and so of Baptism as Baptism without any Exception Limitation or Distinction Therefore it is not spoken of any dâ—fferent use that it is appointed for to the Elect as distinct from its common use to others It s spoken of that signification and common use to which Baptism is appointed viz. to save Else we shall never be able to understand the use of it or any Ordinance from Scripture if we shall take liberty to say It is this to one but not to another when the Scripture saith no such thing but speaks of the nature and use of it without distinction Else when it saith Câ—rcumcision is a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith we may lay with the Anabaptists It was so to Abraham but not to all others And when the Lords supper is said to be appointed for the remembrance of Christ we may say That 's but to some and not to others when as the Text plainly speaks of the stated use of the Ordinances to all 2. And in the type its clear for it was not some only but all that entered Noahs Ark that entered into a state of salvation from the deluge therefore so it is here as to the commanded use 2. When Baptism is said to save us it s plainly meant of the state of salvation that Baptism entereth us into and not of Baptism ex â—pere operato effecting our salvation And so Baptism comprehendeth the state into which we are solemnly by it initiated As a woman that is married to an honourable man or a Souâ—dier listed under an honourable Commander is said to be honoured the one by marriage the other by listing Where antecedent consent is the great foundation on both sides of the honorable relations and the subsequent state is the condition or state it self which is honourable but the solemn signification is but the expression of the former and passage to the latter 3. Hereby its apparent that though the answer of a Good conscience be the principal thing intended and that saveth yet the external Baptism is here included as the sign and solemnization so that when the Apostle saith Not the putting away the filth of the flesh he means not the bare outward act of washing alone or as such but baptism as it is entire having the thing professed on our part together with the professing sign 4. It is therefore but by way of signification obsignation and complemental exhibition that Baptism saveth it being neither the first or principal efficient or condition of it But is valid as it is conjunct with the principal causes and condition for the attainment of these ends 5. It is not a meer remote means leading towards a state of salvation that Baptism is here affirmed to be but an enterance or means of entrance into that state of salvation it self As the heart covenant or Faith doth it principally so Baptism signally and complementally This is plain 1. Because it is not said to help us towards a state of salvation but expresly to save 2. Because the Type which is here mentioned viz. The Ark was such a means that all that entred into it for preservation from the Flood were actually saved from it All this laid together doth confirm both the Antecedent and Consequence of my Argument Calvin on the Text saith Hoc in baptismo liquidò apparet ubi Christo consepelimur ut mundo carni mortui Deo vivamus ergo sicut Noe vitam adeptus est per mortem quum in Arcâ non secus atque in sepulcro inclusus fuit toto mundo pereunte servatus fuit cum exigua familia sic hodic Mortificatio quae in Baptismo figuratur nobis ingressus est in vitam nec salus speranda est nisi à mundo simus segregati Poterat quispiam objicere baptismo Noe nostrum esse longè dissimilem quia plerosque hodie baptizari contingat Respondet autem Non sussicere externum symbolum nisi verè efficaciter baptismum suscipiant mark verè Atqui ejus veritas in paucis reperietur And least you should think that Calvin takes it for a means towards a state of salvation and not the solemn entrance into it mark what follows Nec hic docere voluit Petrus inane inefficax esse Christi institutum that is as to salvation sed tantum excludere hypocritas à spe salutis qui Baptismum quantum in se est depâ—avant ac corrumpunt Mark here that no Baptized men are excluded from salvation but Hypocrites 2. That they that are excluded from salvation for all their Baptism are such as did deprave and corrupt it and not justly use it I conclude my sentence in his following words Quid ergò agendum est Nè separemus quae à Domino conjuncta sunt Debemus in baptismo agnoscere spirituale lavacrum debemus illìc testimonium remissiâ—nis peccatorum renovationis nostrae pignus amplecti sic tamen relinquere Christo Spiritui sancto suum honorem c. His verbis docet Baptismum praecipuâ sui parte spiritualem esse deinde peccatorum remissionem reformationem veteris hominis in se complecti Beza in loc Hoc loco Bâ—ptismus dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejus liberationis qua contigit ecclesiae in diluvio Nam haec liberatio Baeptismus adumbrant ecclesiae sanct sicationem emerfionem à peccati mortis gurgite Yet another Argument may hence be raised thus Argum. 2. If according to the Institution the Answer of a good Conscience must be joyned with Baptism for the attaining of its end then must we admit none that profess not that answer of a good conscience But the former is certain from the Text For Baptism is said to save that 's its appointed use yet not the external washing but the answer of a good conscience doth it therefore this is of necessary conjunction and without it Baptism cannot attain its end But it is to be administred received only in order to the attainment of its end and therefore never in a way by which the end is apparently not attainable What this answer
of a good conscience is we shall further enquire anon Both the common expositions fully confirm the point which I maintain The Assemblies Annot. recite both thus Hence by the answer of a good conscience we may understand that unfeigned faith whereof they made confession at their Baptism and whereby their consciences were purified and whereby they received the remission of their sins c. Some understand by the Answer of a good Conscience that Covenant whereinto they entered at their Baptism the embracing whereof they testified by their unfeigned confession of their Faith viz. such a Faith as is aforesaid so that I conclude that this Texâ— doth plainly shew that Baptm is for the saving of the Baptized as to the instituted use and may not be used meerly to any lower ends then to put them into a present state of Salvation Aâ—gum 18. No one may be admitted to Baptism who may not be admitted a Member of the Church of Christ. No one may be admitted to be a Member of the Church of Christ without the profession of a saving faith by himself or Parents or Proparents therefore no one may be admitted to Baptism without the profession of a saving faith I speak of such admission to Church-membership as is in the power of the Ministers of Christ who have the Keyes of his Kingdom to open and let in as well as to cast out The Major is past question because Baptism is our solemn entrance into the Church who were before entred by private consent and Accepted by the Covenant of God All the question is of the Minor which I shall therefore prove 1. It is before proved that all the Members of the Church must be such as are visibly solemnly or by profession sanctified from former sin cleansed justified persons of God the Heirs of the Promise c. But this cannot be without the profession of a saving faith Ergo c. 2. This also is before proved where it was shewed that no others are Christians or Disciples 3. In Acts 2.41 42 c. The many thousands were added to the Church were such as received gladly the doctrine of saving Faith and Repentance and continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and Prayer and so far contemned the world as to fell all and make it common And doubtless no man continued in those wayes of doctrine fellowship prayer c. without the profession of saving Faith Repentance for the very use of these is such a profession Of which saith Calvin in Act. 2.42 Quaerimus ergò veram Christi ecclesiam Hìc nobis ad vivum depictum est ejus Imago Ac initium quidem facit à doctrinâ quae veluti ecclesiae anima est not as barely heard but as professed or Received Nec quamlibet doctrinam nominat sed Apostolorum hoc est quam per ipsorum manus filius Dei tradiderat Ergo ubicunque personat pura vox Evangelii ubi in ejus professione manent homines ubi in ordinario ejus auditu ad profectum se exercent illic indubiè est Ecclesia c. Quare non temere haec quatuor receâ—set Lucas quum describere vult nobis ritè constitutum ecclesiae statum Et nos ad hunc ordinem eniti convenit si cupimus verè censeri Ecclesia coram Deo Angelis non inane tantum ejus nomen apud homines jactare And ver 47. It is said that the Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved Obj. It saith not that all shall be saved that are added to the Church Answ. But it describeth them that were added to the Church viz. that were such as should be saved or as Beza yielded to another reading and so Grotius and many others such as saved themselves from that untoward Generation quisese quotidie servandos recipiebant in Ecclesiam The Church is the Body of Christ Col. 1.18 24. and none are members of his Body but such as either are united to him and live by him or at least seem to do so The Church is subject to Christ and beloved of Christ and cherished by him we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephe. 5.24 25 30. And those that are against the General Redemption me thinks should be moved with the consideration that it is the Church that Christ gave himself for even the visible Church which he purchased with his own blood Act. 20.28 Ephe. 5.25 and he is the Saviour of his body ver 23. But so he is not effectively the Saviour of the Professors of a Faith that doth not justifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the effective Saviour of those that profess a Justifying faith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the sincere but of others neither way Hitherto Divines have gathered from the plain texts of Scripture that there is but One Church One Faith and One Baptism and that those that had this Faith really were to be baptized and were real members of the Church and that those that professed this faith and so seemed to have it when they have it not are visible members of the Church and are so taken because their Profession is sensible to us and by that they seem to have the thing professed But the Opponents are fallen into a new conceit in all these 1. They feign a New Christian faith to themselves viz. A faith that is short of Justifying which Scripture and the Church of God have taken to be but a preparatory to the Christian faith subjectively or but a common part of it objectively considered so that before there was but one Christian faith and now they have made two 2. And so before there was but one sort of real serious or sincere Christians consisting of such as had that real Christian faith and now they have found out another sort of them that hold another sort of faith 3. So have they feigned a new Baptism for the Old Baptism was for Remission of sin and Burial and Resurrection wiâ—h Jesus Christ and to engraff men into the Church wich is the body of Christ upon the profession of a saving faith but the new feigned ends of Baptism are far different 4. And they have feigned also a new kind of Church For the Church of Christs constitution is but one which is called visible from mens Profession and invisible from the faith professed But they have made a Church which consisteth of a third sort of members that is of men that neither have saving faith nor profess it but only have or profess to have a faith of a lower orb 5. To this end they have confounded the Church and the Porch the Vineyard and the adjacent part of the Wilderness those that heretofore were but Catechumeni or men in preparation for the Church are now brought into it and are annumerated to true Christians before they once profess themselves such and that upon a lower profession 6 And hereby also the
Profession of a common faith short of saving or with that common faith it self What should a man say to such a confuter but advise him to joyn with us his weak Brethren in desiring God to pardon us for such troubling and abusing the Church 1. As to his Description of the persons to be Baptized I shall add 1. That his last Description pag. 173. containeth nothing but what may stand with First an open refusal of God and Christ. 2. And that which is commonly taken for the sin against the Holy Ghost For its past doubt that men may both be convinced of Duty and confess the Necessity of it and yet may openly profess that the world and their lusts are yet so dear to them that they will not yet have God to be their God Christ to be their Saviour on the Gospel terms And I think a man that openly refuseth Christ at the present should not be baptized at the present though he be convinced of Duty and acknowledge the necessity of it As to his other Description pag. 172. the word Engagement to it either signifieth an engagement savingly to believe from that very instant forward and this doth Necessarily import a present Profession of consent and so of present saving faith For man can so engage that doth not Profess such consent and believe And this destroyeth Mr. Blakes cause Or else it signifieth such an engagement to believe for some distant future time which is consistent with a non-profession of present consent to have Christ as offered And this is the same with that before confuted If such may be Baptized then they may say we are convinced that we must savingly believe in Christ and we do engage our selves to do it as soon as we can spare the world and forsake the Flesh and the Devil but yet we cannot and will not do this Baptize such who dare for me But for a further search of Mr. Blakes mind observe his words pag. 175. Where he answers to what I now object And first he citeth these words of mine Where you say that an acknowledgement of the Necessity of such faith with engagement to it is sufficient for a Title to the state I reply Then those that at present renounce Christ so it be against their knowledge and Conscience and will engage to own him sincerely for the future have a Title to Baptism To which he replyeth How comes I pray you that future in you manifest much reading in the Law and I have heard this as a Maxim In obligationibus ubi nullus certus statuitur dies quovis die debetur There is no day overtaken but engagement is for present c. To this I rejoine 1. It is the first time that ever I heard of an engagement that was not de futuro as to the performance We are agreed that the Engagement is present but the question is whether it be to a present or future performance And it is by Covenant or Promise that Mr. Blake supposeth this engagement made And is there any which is not de futuro If the Church cannot hit the Right way of Baptizing till such elucidations as these direct them to it If you Promise to believe de praesenti either you do at that present believe or you do not If you do your Promise as to that present act which you already perform is vain as if I Promise to give you that which I have given you already or in that instant give you which were no promise but a donation or profession If you do not then believe then your promise as you call it is a falshood And to tell a lie is no such a duty as can give right to Baptism No man should say he believeth when he doth not 2. But if it may be he means not futurum remotius but futurum proximum That cannot well be neither because he saith the engagement is for present But suppose he do mean by present the futurum proximum either this importeth a profession of saving faith as well as an engagement to believe the next instant or it doth not If it do I have the thing I seek and Mr. Blakes cause is given away If not then Mr. Blake doth feign God to require such a kind of promise or engagement as our titile to baptism which I believe the common vote of reason will pronounce to be vain ridiculous if not impossible by most Vain it must needs be to make so solemn a promise of performing that in the next instant which he may actually perform save all that ado Should I cause covenants to be solemnly drawn up and witnesses called and seals affixed that I will give such a thing in the next Minute after the sealing why then may I not as well give the thing it self The Minister may stay one minute longer before he go to Church to baptize the person or he may use one word or two more in prayer and exhortation and by that time the instant would be come And Ridiculous it seems to me that any man should be admitted upon such a promise as this I will not yet leave my sin for God nor renounce the world the Flesh and the Devill for Christ or take him for my only Lord and Saviour but I engage my self to do it or I will do it as soon as the word is out of my mouth or I am not yet willing to have Christ as he is offered but I will be willing the next instant If any say so to me I will hold my hand from baptizing one minute and ask him whether now he be willing For certainly the man must break his promise between the making and the sealing of it if he be not a sound Believer already For there must go more then one instant between his promise and the Act of baptizing unless we had greater velocity of action If therefore Mr. Blake's professor shall say I promise to believe savingly the next instant then if he do not the promise is broke before it is sealed If he do I know no reason but why I may require him to profess that which he hath And is it not a kind of impossibility for any unregenerate man rationally and soberly to promise to be regenerate the next minute or instant Or for any that is destitute of saving faith to promise to believe savingly the next instant If he hath grace of such command and can believe the next moment why not now And doth not that man shew his heart unfound that can believe the next moment and will not do it at the present If it be so in his power let him not stand promising but do it But perhaps some will say that Mr. Blake meaneth not the next instant or hour or day or any determinate time but only an indeterminate time some time hereafter To which I answer 1. He expresseth himself by the terms present and quovis die debetur therefore it expresly includeth the next instant or day
I have no true faith I cannot believe Faith is a perswasion of Gods love to me or a resting on him for salvation and I cannot be perswaded of his love to me nor can I rest upon him And when I have convinced them that the Gospel is 1. a Narrative of what Christ is and what he hath done and suffered for us and 2. an offer of Christ and life to all that will accept the offer And therefore that faith is 1. an Assent to the truth of his Report and 2. a Consent to be Christs and that he shall be ours And when I have asked them whether they do these two things or not whether they believe the Gospel to be true and are willing that Christ and Life be theirs and that they be Christs they profess very cheerfully both this Assent and Consent they are wâ—lling to have Christ if they know their own hearts and yet they dare not say that they are true believers partly through general fears and partly because they know not that this which they profess is saving faith Now in such a case we are to let them know that it is the thing and not their Certainty of the thing that God hath mâ—de necessary And therefore we do not nor must not ask them in Sacramental Administrations whether they have saving faith by meer name without description but whether they believe in God the Father Son and the Holy Ghost and renounce the World Flesh and Devil and whether they are willing to have God for their only God and Christ for their only Saviour and the Holy Ghost their Sanctifier And he that saith yea doth profess a saving faith though he know it not so to be And what would Mr. Blake do with him if he say neither Yea nor Nay Having thus vindicated the Proposition against their Objections and shewed the vanâ—ty of all other waies and that we can have no certainty what Profession to expect if we expect not a Profession of saving Faith I may well sum up all and still insist on the 19th Argument that we must expect the profession of a saving Faith seeing if we take up with any other we are utterly at a loss Mr. Blake cannot agree with himself what faith to require nor hath given any certain description of it when he hath so voluminously talkt for it and what he or others seem to require as a thing distinct from saving faith we see sufficient Reason to reject as being wholly unproved and by us proved insufficient to this use I shall now therefore proceed to my 20th and last Argument for the Proposition which is drawn from the constant practice of the Universal Church of Christ. It hath been the constant practice of the Catholike Church since the Apostles daies till now to require that Profession of saving Faith and Repentance as necessary before they would baptâ—ze and not to baptize any upon the Profession of any lower kind of Faith Therefore it must be our practice also And here I must confess my self in as great an admiration at the words and dealings of Mr. Blake and some godly learned Divines that go with him in this Cause as ever I was brought to by the groundless confidence of such men He must shut his eyes against the fullest Evidence of Historie and Church-practice that will deny that it hath been the practice of the Universal Church of Christ to baptize upon the profession of a saving faith and not otherwise Insomuch that I must profess that I am not for my own part able to prove that ever any one person since the daies of the Apostles was baptized upon the profession of any other faith by any save the gross Hereticks even those whose Baptism was accounted invalid I desire Mr. Blake or his Neighbours of his mind to help me to an instance of any one approved Baptism since Christs time or his Apostles upon the account of a faith that was short of justifying and not upon the Profession of a justifying Faith Hitherto this is not done by them the contrary is fully done by others and yet to my admiration they as confidently affirm that all the Church of Christ hath gone their way or that it hath been their constant practice and that they should forsake the example of the Church if they should do otherwise and they except against my Opinion as novelty I must confess that such Experience hath brought me to lower thoughts of the credit even of good men than formerly I have had and to resolve to try before I trust One would think that the matter of fact in such a point as Baptism which we all pass through should have been out of question before this day For the proof of the Churches practice 1. I have already said enough about the Apostles own practice and the Church in their daies Even when they describe the faith which they require expresly by assent alone yet they shew that it is a saving Assent which they require and the promise of pardon and salvation is in the same or other Scriptures affixed to that Assent But this I shall not recite now 2. The constant practice of the Church since the â—postles to this day is undoubtedly known 1. by the very form of words in Baptism and 2. be the historie of their proceedings therein 1. It is certain that the Church did ever Baptize into the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost And as I have proved before the voluntary seeking and reception of that Baptism containeth the actual profession of a saving Faith 2. It is certain that the persons to be baptized if at age did profess to believe in the Father Son and holy Ghost whâ—ch as is shewed is saving faith 3. It is also certain that they did profess to renounce the Flesh the World and the Devil which is a profession of saving Repentance 4. And it is certain that they promised for the future to live in new obedience which is the consequent of saving faith and thus they publikely entered the three stipulations Crediâ— Credo Abronuncias Abrenuncio Spondes Spondeo And no man can do this that hath not saving faith therefore the professing of it is not without the professing of a saving faith Nay indeed it containeth the profession of that faith 5. Moreover it is a known case that the ancient Churches commonly took all those that were duly baptized to be in a state of salvation That they supposed them to have the pardon of all their sins I think none doubteth that ever read much of their writings Davenant in his Epistle of Baptism giveth many proofs and many hundred more may be given if any be so blind as to deny it All the doubt is Whether they also ascribe Regenerating Renewing Grace to all the rightly baptized And though Davenant deny that they ascribe the infusing of habits to it as to infants yer 1. he denieth it not as to the Adult nor 2. that they ascribed
the Gift of the Holy Ghost to it as to Infants And yet as long as they put all duly baptized both Infants and Adult into a state of salvation it matters not as to our question whether Infants had habitual Grace And yet Mr. Graker hath brought so many proofs out of the mounments of Antiquity even for this also that the Fathers uno ore took all the Baptized to be regenerate or renewed by inherent grace that when his Amanuensis had transcribed them he fâ—und them near four times as big as his whole Book besides and the very naming of the Auâ—hors and Books and Pages takes up near ten or eleven Pages Stâ—iâ—tur in Davenaâ—â— Epist. pa. 53. to the end of 63. He begins with Justin â—arry Irenaeu c. I will not so much as trouble the Râ—ader to name the Authors seeing he may there have them with the places together And lest Mâ— Blake should say that it is but common sanctification which they assert he may there see the placeâ— qâ—oâ—ed where â—hey aâ—cribe to all the dulâ— baptized peccatorum remissionem mentis illumiâ—ationem vâ—ii sordiumque ablutionem expurgationem animae purgationem purificatinem emaculationem totius hominis verant integram Circumcisionem refectionem renovationem recreatioâ—eÌ„â—nnovâ—tionem animâ—tionem emundationem sanctificationem internam reformationeÌ„ ad divinaÌ„ imagineÌ„ similitudineÌ„ restitutioneÌ„ regenerationeÌ„ geâ—erationis nativae correctioâ—eÌ„ acâ—reparationeÌ„ veteriâ— hominis mortem sepulturam noviâ—nativitatem vetustatis abstersionem exutum despoliatioâ—em dâ—positionem vitii omnis evomitionem peccati interfectionem criminum mortem sepulturam viâ—tutis vitam Spiritus sancti infusionem gratiae coelestis consecutionem hominis mentis immutationem in melius transformationem Hinc Baptismum appellant Vndam genitalem aquam salutarem rorem purificum sanativum vivificum sanctificumq lavacrum Et Sacramentum hoc asserunt peccatis exuere peccata expurgare spiritualem lepram auferre gratiae ac virtutum Spiritus sancti donis atque primitiis induere vim generativam habere Dei siitos generare corpus peccuti destruere vertutem vitalem indere gratiam spiritualem conferre atque infundere divinam imaginem instaurare novam facere massam condere creaturam dealbare nive candidiorem facere purum justum sanctum novum facere hominem peccatum radicitus evellere justitiam sanctitamque tribuere animae sordes maculasque abluere ulcera morbosque sanare aestus sedare febres extinguere putredines exuere vitia exinanire oculos aperire aures reserare vigorem dare vires addere formam floremq Deo dignum conciliare in vitam primordialem animam restituere textum novum contexere animas reparare viventes spiritu informatas utì aqua olim reptilia producere esse baptizâ— to quod matrix Embryoni eo modo effigiare quo infans in utero essingitur pari modo ex aqua resingere reficere quo ex terra primó fingebatur refundere refingere prout statua solet tingere ut lanum purpurâ purgare emollire fulgidum facere ut ignis ferrum charactereÌ„ effigiemque imprâ—mereâ—ut cerae sigillum vitium solvere absumere peccata exurere ut ignis ceram homineÌ„ terreum ut terraÌ„ metallicaÌ„ in auruÌ„ transmutare crassos animales in coelestes spirituales transformare infantiam juventutem revocare puritati originali restituere vel eâ etiam praestantiorem splendidiorem reddere Typos baptismatis affirmant fuisse Naaminis purgationem Pharaonis submersionem Cataclysum Noathicum piscinaÌ„ BethesdicaÌ„ aquatilium creationem formationem protoplasti I have recited all these terms Mr. Gataker telleth you where to find them all least Mr. Blake should not be able to find any one that certainly signifieth saving Grace if we named not all For though he abhorreth to impute equivocation to the Scripture as I do yet he sticks not to do it much more where it serveth his turn Regeneration Renovation Adoption Sanctification Disciples and I doubt Justification and what not are all equivocal terms with him in Scripture if I can understand him and so is the Church the body of Christ and many such like Perhaps therefore it will not move him that Mr. Gataker nexe addeth pag. 63. De baptismo denique exponunt illas sacras Scripturea Periochas Psal. 34.5 juxta Graec. Ver. Psal. 103.5 Isa. 1.16 Ezek. 36.25 26. Psal. 51.10 Joh. 1.13 3.5 6. Rom. 6.3 6. 1 Cor. 6.11 Gal. 3.27 Ephe. 4.22 24. 5.26 Col. 2.11 13. Tit. 3.5 Heb. 6 4 10.22 Quae loca IlluminationeÌ„ purificationem renascentiam regenerationem refectionem sanctificationem mortificationem vivisicationem cordis renovationem imaginis restaurationem spiritus infusionem hominem veterem exutum crucifixum abolitum hominem novum Christum ipsum indutum loquuntur nec aut ad solam reatus amotionem possunt accommodari aut de ea sola saltem ab ullo opinor unquam interprete sunt exposita Constat itaque Patres antiquos tam Regenerationem propriè dictam quae in hominis renovatione interná consistit quà m peccati sive originalis sive actualis remissionem sacramento isti tribuisse Constat ex iis quae suprà indicavimus aevi itideÌ„ inferioris Scriptores plerosque cùm in eadem sententia fuisse tum in candeÌ„ menteÌ„ patruÌ„ priscorum dicta cepisse So far Gataker If all these terms be equivocal and none of them signifying saving Grace we must even give up the use or certainty of Language But it may possibly be Objected that this was the Fathers error who ascribed too much to Baptism Answ. What ever they did in that it proveth the point in hand and sheweth us what persons the baptized and the visible Church were taken for by the Fathers Object But doth it not rather shew that saving Faith was not presupposed because they supposed that Baptism did give the spirit and sanctification and therefore found not men sanctified before Answ. 1. It is undeniable that they took all that were duly baptized to be presently in a state of salvation without any delay and therefore they did not take Baptism as a common Ordinance to lead men up to the use of other Church Ordinances as the Supper c. which is also common to the notoriously ungodly and so to saving grace 2. And if the â—atholike Church hath in all ages thus annexed saving Grace to Baptism and made any common faith the condition qualifying the person for this Baptism then it would be plain that they all affixed saving Grace to the preparation of common Grace and so the Catholike Church hath been Pelagian which he that shall affirm will do that for the Pelagian Cause which will better please the Jesuites than any considerate Reformed Divines It is therefore not to be doubted oâ— but that it was some Antecedent special Grace to which they thus confidently affixed other saving Grace Which will the more appear in that Austine himself and those that followed him against the
seal of the righteousness of that faith which they had or professed to have being yet uncircumcised Gen. 17.11 12. Rom. 4.11 That is the Parent for himself and his child professed a true consent to the Covenant And this Consent I have before proved to be saving faith or inseparable from it And so Covenanting was then as strictly required as Circumcision Object But every male was to be cut off that was not circumcised Answ. I shall not now stand to enquire into the meaning of that cutting off But whatever it was it is certain that there is as much threatned to them that did not covenant with the Lord. Obj. But that cannot import a sincere Covenanting in saving Faith For then how great a part of the people must be cut off Answ. It plainly speaks of the profession of sincerity in Covenanting 2. Chron. 15.12 13. And they entred into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and with all their soul that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman Obj. But saith Mr. Blake though they covenant to believe savingly yet they do not profess that they do so and it is not covenanting that proves men in a state of justification and salvation but keeping the Covenant Answ. He that covenanteth from that time forward to take the Lord for his God sincerely doth by that Covenant at present express that he consenteth to have the Lord for his God upon the Covenant terms but he that professeth such a Consent doth eo nomine profess saving faith which is nothing else but Assent and that consent producing affiance There is no act proper to saving faith if Consent be not 2. As therefore faith which is or is inseparably joyned with as others confess the hearts consent doth justifie a man before he express it in works of actual obedience so it is but the same thing which we say that heart-covenanting or consent doth justifie or prove a man justified before he do any further keep that Covenant by any positive effects of it For it is the performance of the conditions of Gods promise that first prove us justified and God promiseth Christ and Justification with him to all that believe or receive Christ or accept him as offered And this receiving or accepting is the same thing with consent or heart-covenanting So that all that we oblige our selves to for the future in our sincere covenanting with Christ are not any means of our Justification as begun but only of the continuance or not losing of it 3. Yet still we easily grant that or all covenanting without the hearts consent will save none Ob. Is it credible that all Israel must be forced to profess themselves true believers when many were not Answ. God required them first to be such and upon pain of damnation and then to profess themselves such and seal it by his Sacrament He warranteth no man to profess a falshood but that they truly consent and then profess it Though Asa and the other Rulers could search no deeper then an External Profession or Covenant and their practice in seeking God because they did not know the heart And that it was indeed no other then that which then was saving faith which was professed and so required in that Covenant doth appear in the terms of it It was to take God to be their only God and to give up themselves to be his people and the mention of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage and the nature of Circumcision shew that it was in Deum Misericordem Redemptorem they that professed to believe with such respect to the blood of the Messiah as those darker times required The terms in Deut. 26.16 17 18. do plainly express that faith which then was proper to the saved The Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgements thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thy heart and with all thy soul Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgements and to hearken to his voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee c. Sincerely to take the Lord for our God is the sum of all Religion and the very nature of Sanctification For it is not the bare Name of God but God himself that is here meant And this can be no less in any tolerable sense then to take him by Assent and Consent for our absolute Lord and Soveraign and chief Good or End And that the Jews themselves thus understood the Covenant of Circumcision Ainsworth on Gen 17. sheweth out of their Rabbies in these words Ex lib. Zohar At what time a man is sealed with this blessed seal of this sign thenceforth he seeth the holy blessed God properly and the holy soul is united with him If he be not worthy that he keepeth not this sign what is written By the breath of God they perish Job 4.9 For that this seal of the holy blessed God was not kept but if he be worthy and keep it the Holy Ghost is not separated from him And after v. 12. ex Maimonid By three things did Israel enter into the Covenant by Circumcision and Baptism and Sacrifice c. And so in all ages when an Ethnick is willing to enter into the Covenant and gather himself under the wing of the Majesty of God and take upon him the yoke of the Law he must be circumcised and baptized and bring a Sacrifice c. When a man or woman cometh to joyn a Proselite they make diligent enquiry after such lest they come to get themselves under the Law for some riches that they should receive or for dignity that they should obtain or for fear If he be a man they enquire whether he have not set his affection on some Jewish woman or a woman her affection on some young man of Israel If no such like occasion be found in them they make known unto them the weightiness of the yoke of the Law and the toil that is in the doing of it above that which people of other Lands have to see if they will leave off If they take them upon them and withdraw not and they see them that they come of love then they receive them as it is written When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her Ruth 1.18 Therefore the Judges received no Proselites all the dayes of David and Solomon Not in David's dayes left they should have come of fear Nor in Solomon's lest they should have come because of the Kingdom and great prosperity which Israel then had For who so cometh from the Heathens for any thing of the vanities of this world he is no righteous Proselite Notwithstanding there were
to be inconsistent if reduced into practice with the Purity of the Church and such as is unworthy the patronage of Godly learned men Yet in this I perceive his writings have success For I hear that some Reverend Godly men of his acquaintance are so confident that he is in the right that they marvel that ever I should hold the contrary and blame me as defending a principal point in the Independent cause The Lord enlighten us and pardon it to us which soever of us it be that is mistaken and doth wrong the Church of God There are four several Titles that are or may be produced to Baptism The first is sincere Saving Faith The second is the profession of such sincere Faith The third is a Dogmatical Faith short of Justifying Faith The fourth is a profession of that Dogmatical Faith I say that only they that have the Justifying Faith have a Promise-Right to Baptism properly so called which I called a Right Coram Deo but that the professors of such a Faith and their seed have an Analogical Consequential Right which followeth on Gods Precept to a Minister to Baptize them This I called Right Coram Ecclesiâ and is less properly a Right And that the bare word Right might be no occasion of quarrel I distinguished of Right and shewed how far I affirmed or denyed it But such distinctions and conclusions are nothing to the business with Mr. Blake but fittest to be passed by I conclude in a word that every professor of a Justifying Faith that doth not invalidate his own profession hath such a claim to Baptism for himself if unbaptized and his seed as the Church must admit But only the sincere Believer hath a Right from the Promise and shall be taken by God for one to whom he is actually as it were obliged by his Covenant But for the two later pretended Titles viz. A Dogmatical Faith not Justifying and the Profession of such a Faith I say they are no just Titles at all Not but that a man who hath meerly a Dogmatical Faith within may have a Title in Foro Ecclesiae but this Faith is not his Title but the profession of a Saving Faith so that if he profess only his Dogmatical Faith and not a Saving Faith the Minister ought not to Baptize him This is the brief of the state of the Controversie between Master Blake and me And did I think that any such Reverend Brethren would ever have approved his Judgement in such a cause Yea and some of them plead from the same effectual mediums which are alone sufficient to prove the contrary It s the course of Hilary and others against the Arrians Hierome Augustine and many more against the Pelagians and other hereticks to call them to the constant practice of the Church in Baptizing for the proving of the nature of that Belief that we are Baptized into and the quality of the subject I appeal to Christs institution of Baptism and the uninterrupted practice of all Churches that ever I read of on the face of the earth to this day and to the continued practice of the Churches in England and all the Reformed parties and all the rest of the Christian world If they do not generally Ethiopians Greeks Papists Protestants with one consent require the profession of a Justifying Faith I will quit this cause and tell Mr. Blake that I have been mistaken and cry him mercy Nay if Mr. Blake himself do not require the profession of a Justifying Faith in the Parent of all that he admits to Baptism I shall think him the only singular man I know alive in this business But if he practice contrary to all his confident Argumentations which shall we have respect to his opinion or his practice Where is the Church on earth that doth not Baptize into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and require in the adult or the Parent of Infants that they profess themselves at present to Believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil And therefore they commonly cause them to profess the Articles of the ancient Creed before they do Baptize them which though it hath been lately disused by some I gladly heard some Reverend Ministers in London yet use which Creed as Parker de Descensu hath learnedly shewed is the exposition of the words of the Baptismal Institution and the sum of it is I Believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost I think not only Perkins but our Divines commonly against the Papists have proved sufficiently that the words I Believe in God the Father in Jesus Christ in the Holy Ghost do signifie Affiance as well as Assent And I should hope that I need not be put to maintain it that to Believe with Assent and Affiance in God the Father Christ the Redeemer the Holy Ghost the witness and Sanctifier renouncing the Devil the World and the Flesh is certainly Justifying Faith at least If they that say they thus Believe do so indeed I dare not be he that shall tell them they are yet condemned and deny them to be the justifyed members of Christ. If they will not so much as profess thus to Believe yea and to Repent I will never Baptize them or theirs upon theâ—r account Will Mr. Blake himself Baptize them that will not thus profess would ever the Church of Christ Baptize any but such and yet some Reverend Brethren tell us that the Church universally hath gone Mr. Blakes way against that which I insist on Now the Lord have mercy upon all our infirmities and pity his poor Church and bring his servants to so much Unity that the universal practice of the Church in all ages and Nations even among our selves which we daily hear and see and our own selves practise may not be among us a matter of controversie for then what are we likely to be agreed in Again I must crave pardon of this confidence but if it seem to them to come from self-conceitedness and pride of my own judgement or a loathness to let go what I have once received as I willingly confess that I find such sins within me and am no Christian if I blame them not and hate them not in my self so I will be bold to tell Mr. Blake and the world the very truth in this business which is that the partiality that I have felt in the study of this point hath been for Mr. Blakes opinion against my own and I had rather a great while till the light convinced me have found his opinion true than my own As I knew I should be taken for a defender of the Independants which is a censure that I little regard so I thought that I should the better comply with some Texts of the old Testament which Mr. Blake much urgeth and some other reasons did cause Mr. Blakes opinion sometime so far to smile upon me that I strove against the contrary truth and studied
of that will say that wicked men may come to Baptism for these advantages But the most Learned of them conclude that no man ought to come that hath not a purpose to forsake all his mortal sins at least and that they are not to be Baptized that profess not this and that others get into the Church praeter intentionem Ecclesiae as Bellarmine saith so that in this the chief of their Doctors own the cause that I maintain Aquin. 3. Qu. 68. ar 4. doth purposely dispute it Vtrùm peccatores sint Baptizandi And resolves it negatively that though Peccator quoad reatum may be Baptized yet not Peccator ex voluntate peccandi proposito persistendi in peccato he gives three good Reasons 1. Because such are unmeet to be incorporated into Christ which Baptism doth 2. Because Baptism with them cannot attain its end to take away their sin and in the works of God and the Church nothing must be done in vain or that cannot reach the appointed end 3. Because else there would be falshood in the sacramental signs which must not be And one would think by his Answers ad 2 m 3 m that he saith as much as I is for the necessity of a fides formata and Conversion it self before Baptism Saith he ad 2. Ideo sacramentum baptismi non est exhibiendum nisi ei in quo interioris conversionis aliquod signum apparet sicut nec medicina corporalis adhibetur infirmo nisi in eo aliquis motua vitalis nature appareat And ad 3 m answering those objectors that I intended p. 51. he saith Dicendum quod Baptismus est fidei sacramentum Fides autem informis non sufficit ad salutem nec ipsa est fundamentum sed sola fides formata quae per dilectionem operatur ut Aug. l. de sid oper Vnde nec sacramentum baptismi salutem conferre potest cum voluntate peccandi quae fidei formam excludit Non est autem per impressionem Characteris baptismalis aliquis disponendus ad gratiam quamdiu in eo apparet voluntas peccandi he here plainly speaks de fide formata ut afferendâ and not ut recipiendâ per baptismum So that he is here fully for me in the main cause of these Disputations and so must they all that do affirm a true death to sin to be one of the prerequisites if they will not contradict themselves and that 's common For it 's a vain conceit that preparatory grace kills sin and special grace afterward giveth a new life that which expelleth death is life and that which expelleth darkness is nothing else but the light it self Add also what Aquinas saith sup Qu. 2. a. 3. c. Nullum peccatum dimittitur nisi quis justificetur sed ad justificationem requiritur contritio And what he saith 3. Qu. 49. a. 1. ad 2 m Per fidem applicatur nobis passio Christi ad percipiendum fructum ipsius Fides autem per quam à peccato mundamur non est fides informis quae potest esse etiam cum peccato sed est fides formata per Charitatem ut sic passio Christi nobis applicetur non solùm quantum ad intellectum sed etiam quantum ad effectum Yet I know they here confound themselves by their sophistry telling us that Contrition is before Charity materially and after it effectively and that Contritio se habet ut ultima dispositio ad gratiam consequendam and that Poenitentia quae est sacramentum is before Poenitentia qâ—â— est virtus and is the instrument of effecting it as though a dissembling Ceremony or false profession would work grace so that there is no hold of them at the best for they have lost themselves in contradictions I know also that they make the Sacrament of Baptism to justifie and sanctifie infallibly all Infants that are offered by the Church on their allowed Titles let the Parent be never so bad because they think the Churches Faith may serve instead of the Parents as the Churches Intention may serve instead both of the Ministers saith Aquinas and the Infants yea and the Church it self need not lend an Infant any Contrition for they are agreed that neither other mens sins nor our own Original sin which is all that the Infant hath are the Object of Contrition but only our own actual sin Yet one would think that the ordinary doctrine that the votum vel propositum may save without Baptism should imply that before Baptism the desires of it are supposed to have Charity or special Grace The Roman Catechism saith Par. 2. pag. 142. Baptismi suscipiendi propositum atque consilium malae acta vitae pâ—enitentia satis futura sit ad gratiam justitiam si repentinus aliquis Casus impediat quò minùs solutari aquâ ablui possint And they confess that none can be saved without Charity therefore those that die before Baptism must be supposed to have Charity But ordinarily they make Attrition sufficient and by the Sacrament give to the attrite justification and so Charity is conferred And thus by an outward act a man that hath but common grace may get special grace Yea if they Counterfeit Attrition it self yet they receive the foresaid indelible Character which gives them the jura Ecclesiae and as the Roman Catechism saith Par. 2. qu. 19. pag. 125. by this Character ad alia sacramenta percipienda redduntur idonei And then the other Sacraments at least by the help of Attrition will sure justifie and save them And thus they make a common grace sufficient to let them into the Church by Baptism yea the meer Baptism it self without any grace at all and so make their Character and church-Church-state the way to justification which is the thing I charge them with Pag. 50 51. And those that do seem exceedingly to comfort and encourage their proselytes by telling them of the certain efficacy of the Sacraments and that they surely put away all sin and guilt open heaven to them so that one would think there were assurance of Salvation or exceeding comfort reached forth yet they take it all away again and do but Tantalize and delude the people For they that with us require Contrition before the Sacrament do withall tell us that no man can know by any ordinary means but only by Revelation whether he be Contrite or not and consequently whether he shall be justified pardoned or saved ever the more for all the Sacraments And those that take up with Attrition do both confound themselves and their followers with their many degrees of Attrition and quarrels about it and also assure them that they cannot know whether they have the necessary degree and so after all Sacraments they cannot tell whether they be justified This much I thought meet to add for further explication of the Papists doctrine and the state of our Controversies with them herein Which I shall conclude in the words
putative ad illam pertinere Quae in contrarium disputantur a Bellarmino plane futilia ficulnea sunt 26. Altingius Loc. Com. Part. 1. Loc. 11. pag. 180 181. Item Part. 2. Loc. 11. pag. 580.581 582. Cum solis Pontificiis certamen superest 1. An â—raeter electos vocatos etiam Reprobi Infideles sive occulti sive manifesti peccatores verae Christi Ecclesiae membra sint Pontificii affirmant Nos negamus Rationes nostrae Ex natura subjecti 1. Qui nec Spiritum sanctum nec sidem habent verae Christi Ecclesiae membra non sunt Reprobi infideles nec Spiritum sanctum habent nec fidem c. 2. Qui non sunt ex sive de Ecclesia non sunt vera ejus membra Reprobi infideles non sunt ex sive de vera Ecclesia ergo 3. Qui sunt membra Diaboli non sunt membra verae Ecclesiâ— c. Ex natura Praedicati 1. Omnia membra verae Ecclesiae vocantur secundum propositum Dei c. 2. Omnia membra verae Ecclesiae sunt membra Christi c. 3. Omnia membra verae Ecclesiae sunt Oves Christi agnoscunt audiunt sequuntur ipsum c. See the proofs and the confutation of the Papists reasons drawn from the Parables of the Field the Net the Wedding Feast from Baptism from the Example of the Apostolical Churches the uncertainty of Members c. Idem in Explicat Cateches Palat. Part. 2. pag. 255. Item proprie Univoce competit veris sinceris ejus membris quae sunt vere sideles Improprie Aequivoce membris simulatis qualia sunt omnes hypocritae qui ut paleae inter triticum zizania inter bonum semen pisces putridi inter bonos versantur in Ecclesia propter externae confessionis gloriationem ejusdem membra censentur 27. These Salmuriens Vol. 3. de variis Ecclesiae partibus Thes. 28. Equidem mihi dici velim quid sibi voluerit subtilissimus Disputator qui partes veras appellavit membra arida atque mortua Illa autem forma quae in corporibus viventibus anima appellatur semper vitam comitem habet neque potest ab ea separari haud magis quà m à seipsa Ideo neque rami in arbore demortui partes ejus censentur neque in animantibus quae loco sunt excrementorum quaeque vitam non participant ut pili ungues ab ea parte qua sunt privati sensu habentur pro corporis partibus neque in corpore humano crus aut brachium quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penitus occupavit membrum ejus censetur ampliùs haud magis quà m homo pictus pro homine judicatur ideoque extirpatur tanquam nihil cum corpore commune habens 28. Lucas Trelcatius senior in Opuscul Theol. Loc. Com. de Eccles pag. 430. Ob hoc enim ipsum Ecclesiae nomen singulis coetibus fidem Christi ex illius Verbo profitentibus rectè tribuitur quòd scilicet Ecclesiae invisibilis ibi membra esse verè credantur nam propter electos propriè coetus aliquis vocatur Ecclesia etiamsi sint minima illius pars A potiori enim non autem saepè majori fit hîc rei denominatio scilicet ab eo quo res est quod est ut acervus tritici tritici tamen dicitur non palearum Pag. 429. Visibilis verò Ecclesiae membra sunt hominibus nota sed judicio Charitatis saepe non Veritatis propter vocationem professionem externam sed saepe hypocriticam Pag. 427. Visibiles inquam non ab illâ formâ internâ quae dat proprie esse rei sed à formâ externâ c. See more there Pag. 448. Resp. Neg. Nec enim mortua membra corporis vivi sunt membra nisi homonymôs vivae Dei Ecclesiae nullum est membrum mortuum Vid. L. Trelcat jun. Instit. lib. 2. page 254 255. 29. Th. Cartwright contr Rhem. in Joh. 15.1 Branch in me Rotten branches and dead members branches and members in shew and not in truth And therefore that which they have not indeed and yet seem to have in their own and other mens opinion shall be taken from them 30. Bucer and Marlorate citing him on Joh. 15.2 Quomodo ergo zizania sunt in regno Dei putres pisces in reti Evangelico carens veste nuptiali in nuptiis Christi ita in Christo est qui non fert fructum Nomine tenus scilicet secundùm externam speciem tantùm non etiam verâ fide 31. Joan. Camero Praelect de Eccles. pag. 246. 3. Negandum est posse sciri distinctè certò qui sint verae Ecclesiae membra quae sit vera Ecclesia at concedendum est tamen posse id sciri distinctè probabiliter quae scientia vulgò dicitur Judicium Charitatis ergo Ecclesiae dicitur quemadmodum homo Nam homo pictus coloratus à Philosopho dicitur homo verus homo dicitur homo homini picto vero quedam sunt communia secundùm quae tam hic quà m ille homo dicitur attamen nemo cavillabitur constitui sic duo genera hominum Et pag. 258. Negamus in ullâ re externâ sitam esse Ecclesiae Essentiam ideoque nulla vis est quae cogat ut fateamur Essentiam Ecclesie eandem Notam esse c. Consequens est ut quaecunque Deus pollicetur Ecclesiae suae seu ea pertineant ad fidem seu ad mores intelligenda sint eâ de parte quae proprie sine tropo Ecclesia dicitur neque convenire Ecclesiae illi quae synecdochicè Ecclesia dicitur nisi per accidens respectu scilicet illius partis quomodo vivere is dicitur cujus aliqua pars computruit quanquam pars putrida quod Aristoteles nos docuit non est proprie pars sed homonymos propter similitudinem figuram nam reâpse non est pars quando non est formae totius particeps Were it not that I think the labour needless I should add many testimonies collected and at hand from Zuinglius Bullinger Piscator Paraeus Bucanus Rivet with many more yea many score I doubt not might be added But I shall spare my self and the Reader that labour till I perceive it necessary and shall only conclude with two of our own One in a book not past a month old that it may appear that we yet hold to the old Protestant Doctrine as easie as it is to turn some from it by specious pretences Mr. H. Jeanes in Scholast practic Divinity pag. 18.19 saith thus Vse Inform. Is the Church the outward fulness of Christ considered as Head we may then be informed what is the nature and quality of the true members that they are effectually called and truly sanctified linkt unto Christ with an internal union by the bond of the Spirit on his part and of faith on theirs Indeed
as in the body natural there are hairs nails evil humors and many other things which yet belong not integrally thereunto as proper members So if we regard not the inward and invisible Essence but the visible state or outward manner of the Churches being there adhere unto her many uncalled unjustified and unsanctified persons but it is only as excrements or ulcers For every true member of the Church is a part of Christs fulness and therefore must receive of his fulness grace for grace must be endowed with all saving and sanctifying graces otherwise how can it concur to the making of Christ full and compleat Vse 2. Refut Whence secondly may be inferred the gross Error of the Papists in avouching that external profession and conformitie outward subjection to the Pope of Rome are sufficient to constitute one a true member of the Catholick Church although he be a Reprobate an unbeliever an hypocrite so gross as Judas or Simon Magus a professed and notorious impious wretch that is utterly devoid of all spiritual life and grace whatsoever If he take up a room in the Church it matters not with them though he neither do nor can perform vital actions yet he shall pass for a true part thereof Pag. 19. He confesseth that they are united to the Church but by an outward Conjunction And was ever any man so deprived of common sense and understanding as to call a woodden leg a part of the body to which it was annexed as to term wens warts and moles sores and botches members of the body in which they were 33. The other is Mr. Perkins in whom the Judgement of other English Protestants of his time may be discerned Expos. on the Creed in Vol. 1. pag. 308. Hence we learn 1. That the Church of Rome erreth in teaching that a wicked man yea such a one as shall never be saved may be a true member of the Catholick Church c. But lest you should say that he speaks this only of the Invisible Church though our Divines say that there is but one Church which is Visible and Invisible in several respects I shall desire you to consider what he saith of the Visible Chuhch expresly pag. 303 304. The visible Church may be thus described It is a mixt company of men professing the faith assembled together by the preaching of the word It is called a Church of the better part namely the elect whereof it consisteth though they be in number few As for the ungodly though they be in the church yet they are no more parts of it indeed than the superfluous humors in the veins are parts of the body Again because the profession of faith is otherwhiles true and sincere and otherwhiles only in shew Therefore there be also two sorts of Members of the visible Church Members before God and members before men A member of the Church before God is he that beside the outward profession of the Faith hath inwardly a pure heart good conscience and Faith unfeigned whereby he is indeed a true member of the Church Members before men whom we may call reputed members are such as have nothing els but the outward Profession wanting the good conscience and the Faith unfeigned the Reason why they are to be esteemed members of us is because we are bound by the Rule of Charity to think of Men as they appear unto us leaving secret judgement unto God so far Perkins And so much for these testimonies By what hath been said it is evident that it is the judgement of the Protestants that reprobates and wicked men are not properly members of the Church but only Equivocally and that the Church is but one which in some respect is visible and some invisible and that it is denominated Invisible because its Essential form is Invisible and denominated visible only from an External Accidental form and therefore that those members that are only visible or have only the Accidental form of Members or are only of the Church as visible are but Equivocally members of the Church properly so called as from its essential form This they commonly maintain against the Papists I confess I think that somewhat more should be said for the explication of this point which is fullyest done by the Thes. Salmuriens vol. 3. but though I am not now delivering my own apprehensions but the words of others yet that the true Church as also Holynes Faith Christianity Adoption are Equivocal as applied to the Regenerate and unregenerate I wholly agree with the common judgement and am past doubt of it though Mr. Blake contradict it with Abhorence Bellarmine confesseth that many of their own as Johan de Turre cremata Alexander Hales Hugo Thomas c. did take the wicked to be but Equivocally called members of the Church And our Divines as Dr. Sutlive pag. 23.24 mention also Peter à Soto Melchior Canus and divers others et p. 29. And Bellarmine himself saith they are but Membra Mortua And for the judgement of the Fathers herein other Divines against the Papists have produced them at large See Dr. Sutlive de Eccles lib. 1. c. 7. fol. 28. c. 6. fol. 22.23 Now let us hear Mr. Blake Mr. Blake p. 150. Then it seems there is no Reality in such separations Camero tells us otherwise that there is a Reality in this Saintship by separation Ans. This is the first time that ever I heard that Equivocal terms express not Realityes Is there no Reality in a picture or a corps It sufficeth that the Reality is not the same that in a man and a corps is expressed by the same word Man Camero's judgement of our controversie is declared before in his own words Mr. Blake And it seems the Scripture is still under the charge of Equivocal speeches all over Ans. This anger flyes too high I beseech you make not the undeniable Equivocal terms which you finde in Scripture the Matter of a Charge It s is ill judging the Law that must Judge us Is there a Divine on earth that will deny that there are Equivocal terms in Scripture or that there are hundreds if not thousand numerical words that are such And do you not fear to make these the Grounds of a charge Scripture shall not go uncharged except it speak so as to please us In the highest matters about the Attributes and Works of God how common are Equivocal terms But do you indeed think that all Equivocal terms are Culpable yea or unnecessary or not intelligible I pray you distinguish between Jesuitical dissembling Equivocation and the laudable yea necessary use of Equivocal words when either the transcendencie of the matter the incapacity of men the paucity of terms the custom of speech c. hath made them fit or needfull Let God have the forbearance and justice in your interpretations as every writer and Speaker is allowed without any accusation the Scripture hath accusers enow already Mr. Blake I would know