Blood I beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for me preserve my Body and Soul unto Everlasting life And grant I may drink this in Remembrance thy Blood was shed for me and be Thankful Amen FINIS Advertisement THe Author of this Discoâ—â— being certified that mâ— Young Persons have made choice The Introduction to the Sacâ—â—ment Written by the Reverend Dâ— Addison Dean of Litchfield 〈◊〉 now Published with Devotions their Guide to the Communion-Talâ— as being best suited to their Capâ—cities He thought it conveniâ— that this small Piece be Printed a Volume fit to be bound up with 〈◊〉 said Introduction because it mâ— serve as a Prelude or Preparateâ— Discourse to the same And I haâ—â— taken care to Print it accordingly Farewel W. C. The Introduction to the Sacrament London Printed for W Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple Barre F. H. Van. Houe Saâ— An Introduction TO THE SACRAMENT OR A Short Plain and Safe way to the Communion-Table BEING An Instruction for the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper Collected for and familiarly addressed to every particular Communicant By L. Addison D. D. Dean of Lichfield To which is added The Communicants Assistant BEING A Collection of Devotions to that purpose LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar near Devereux-Court 1686. IMPRIMATUR Jo. Battely Reverendissimo P. ac D no. D no. Willielmo Archi-Ep Cantuar. à sacris domesticis Ex aedib Lambeth Apr. 1. 1686. TO THE Right Worshipful ROB. HYDE Esq My Truly Worthy And much Honoured Patron SIR THE following Papers were at first only designed for the Help and Service of my own Parishioners your Tenants and being resolved to expose them to publick Censure I needed not deliberate to whom they were due nor did any Thought interpose but this one That they were not worth your eye or owning However I conceived they might serve as a Witness of my deep apprehension of your Generous and Friendly Patronage And therefore with all heartiness and height of Gratitude I put these Papers into your hands hoping that when you read them over you may meet with something besides my Frailties even those Truths which will make you for ever happy And now Sir being no great Friend to the common Vanity of Letters Dedicatory pardon me that for making Court to you I humbly apply my self to your gracious Maker That you may enjoy Health and Prosperity and be long long happy in the inviolable Affection of that Honourable Lady your truly Noble and Pious Consort and that the God of Blessings may daily bless you both Your most obliged and most humble Servant An Advertisement OF THE BOOK-SELLER TO THE READER HAving twice printed the following Introduction with Success I now purely for the Publick Good commit it the third time to the Press In which Edition I have earnestly sollicited the Author for Enlargements but found him wholly deaf to any such Proposal Assuring himself he had in this small Book made good its Title and he hopes God will make good the Design However I have prevailed with him to add a Collection of Devotions inferiour perhaps to none of this kind which with the Reader he humbly recommends to Gods blessing As it was before without the Devotions it was so well liked by a great many Ministers that they gave them by dozens at aâ— time to their poor Parishioners being found to be the fittest and the most plain to the meanest Capacities yet very useful to all who desire worthily to be partakers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper I hope it will now prove more beneficial to thee W. 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has an Vnion with Him as being the Head of it so I believe there is a Common Vnion among the Members both those that are glorified in Heaven and those that in some degree are sanctified on Earth And this is called the Communion of Saints and is the first Priviledge of the Christian Church And by vertue of this all true Christians communicate in all Offices of Piety and Charity in doing good to one anothers Bodies and Souls And this they do upon the account that they have in common One God one Christ one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism one Hope ARTICLE X. The Forgiveness of Sins As the Communion of Saints genuinely ariseth from the Nature of the Vniversal Church so Pardon of Sins follows from both For none shall have their Sins forgiven but those who live and die in the Communion of the Church For unless I abide in this Ark I shall certainly perish Now Sin as I have been instructed is of two sorts the one Original which is the sin of my Nature the other Actual which is the sin of my Conversation The former I brought with me into the World the latter I commit while I live therein And both these sorts of sin deserve Eternal Death and can only be pardon'd by the Merits of Christ For sin being a Transgression of the Law of God it can only be forgiven by him whose Law it transgresseth For Remission of sins is the second Priviledge of the Church which is preached to all in the Name of Christ and sealed in Baptism wherein I believe my Original Sin is presently pardon'd and that my Actual Sins committed after Baptism shall be pardon'd if I truly repent me of the same Now this my Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins supposes that I believe That God graciously and freely without any Desert on Man's part gave his Son to die for the World and That for the sake of his meritorious Death he remits the Fault absolves from the Guilt and acquits from Punishment all truly penitent and believing Sinners And I do further believe That he imputes to them the Obedience of his own Son and his Righteousness and by means thereof accounts them just in his sight I believe That all who are justified and thus acquitted have Holiness in some degree according to the Condition of this Life Which Holiness tho' it cannot altogether discharge them from sin yet it doth not suffer it to reign over them So that a justified Person is not under its Dominion nor yields himself a Vassal to it but resists its Commands and makes it die daily And for the greater security of the Forgiveness of sins God hath committed to his Ministers an indispensible Power and Charge to preach Faith and Repentance as the Condition of this Forgiveness He hath likewise appointed them to pray and intercede and also to baptize for the Forgiveness of sins and to administer the Lord's Supper in memory of that Blood which was shed for the Remission of Sins And indeed all that God hath left in the Hand and Power of his Ministers especially tends to make Men capable of receiving what they believe namely the Remission of sins ARTICLE XI The Resurrection of the Body It was the Hope of the Fathers under the Old Testament as well as it is of Christians under the New That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust And if it were otherwise Christians of all Men would be most miserable and all that I have learn'd and you have taught me concerning Christianity would be in vain But I firmly and truly believe That my Mortal Body shall be raised from the Corruption of the Grave by Vertue of the Resurrection of Christ And this my Belief is founded upon the Power and good Pleasure of God who both can and will raise from the dead the very same Body that died ARTICLE XII The Life everlasting The Enjoyment of Everlasting Life is the last Christian Privilege and that which crowns the rest And I have learned to understand by this Life the Enjoyment of all true Happiness in Soul and Body For I believe that the Faculties of the Souls of just Persons shall be perfectly enlightned and sanctified and that their Bodies shall live after the manner of Spirits and be exceedingly glorified And opposite to this Life everlasting I believe there is an everlasting Death which is the Portion of the Wicked And that as Life everlasting consists in the Fruition so I believe everlasting Death consists in the Loss of God's Presence and all other Comforts and is the enduring of the sting of Conscience and Torments of Hell for ever But as my believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith as they are summ'd up in that which is called the Apostles Creed supposes that I am to learn not only the Words but likewise the Sense of the Creed so it also implies that I should live like them that do believe for otherwise my consenting to the Truth of the Articles will stand me in no stead And therefore not medling with remote and learned Inferences I will draw such from each Article as are near and familiar short and edifying As for Example From my believing that God created me I infer I am bound to be obedient and subject to him By my believing that Christ redeemed me I think it my Duty to yield up my self to him as his Purchase and to be wholly disposed by him and employed only in his Service My believing Christ's Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Birth of the Virgin should make me diligent to fit my Heart for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and for Christ to be born in it My belief of Christ's Crucifixion should teach me to crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and to destroy the Body of sin My belief of his Death and Burial should make me content to die for the sake of Truth being assured that if I suffer for Christ I shall also reign with him It should also keep me from being disheartned by Death seeing that Christ by dying hath taken away the Stinâ— of Death which is Sin and maâ— it an Entrance into Life My bâ—lieving the Resurrection of Chrisâ— should make me actually rise froâ— Sin to a New Life and utterlâ— to forsake my Sins as Christ diâ— the Grave to which after â— was once risen from it he returned no more My believinâ— Christ's Ascension and sitting â— the Right-hand of God shoulâ— teach me to set my Affections oâ— things above and not on thing on the Earth The believing Judgment to come should makâ— me careful so to walk as that may not be condemned in iâ— My believing the Holy Catholick Church and Communion oâ— Saints should render me mightâ— circumspect to preserve Charity which is the Bond of Peace and to avoid all things destructive oâ— Catholick Unity The Remission of sins which I believe should make me highly to esteem all those Ways and Means which
Government I need not represent to your Lordship the many and great Evils which are befaln this Church through a want of duly observing what this Discourse commends For as your Singular Prudence labours to redress and your Pious Soul deeply resents them so your Great Discernment plainly sees that they are scarce now to be removed by any other Method but a timely diligent and Regular Catechising And that the most likely means to establish Truth and Holiness with Posterity is firmly and early to imprint the Younger Minds who are the hopes of Religion with that Catechism which our Church out of her singular prudence and affection hath provided for them But I may not pursue this lest I should too much faulter in the Laws of Dedication which oblige me to admire and praise that Apostolical Care Prudence Candor and Severity which are Eminent in your Lordship's Government and which I dare scarce name for fear I should offend that Heroick Modesty and Lowliness so conspicuous in your Great Conduct Besides I am so averse to the usual Modes of Dedication that I cannot comply with them in any thing unless in my hearty Prayers for your Lordship 's Good Health and Long Life and in testifying to the World that I am MY LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble and most Devoted Servant LANC ADDISON TO THE READER THE Condition of this small Treatise is so little agreeable to the present Genius of the Age that there needs no great Sagacity to foretel its Entertainment But those who value Books not by their Dress and Fashion but Matter and Vsefulness and who look not so much upon what will take with a corrupt Generation as help to amend it when they maturely weigh the Subject and Design of the Ensuing Papers instead of censuring will be ready to resent the weak manaâ—â—ment of so concerning a Theme â—nd pity to see it faln into the hands of 〈◊〉 unâ—kilful an Artificer For which this is the only Apology 〈◊〉 what is here written was not 〈◊〉 for Perfection but Essay and that it had never left its retirement had it not been forced thence by impulse of the present Necessity For it is too evident that this is a Season which not only warrants but exacts our greatest endeavours to perswade to such things as may beget restore and establish Truth and Union among us And that Catechising by a more peculiar Energy is thereunto subservient appears upon this account that the Church in all Ages has used it to that purpose The raising up of which Institution so disastrously faln in our Borders in hopes of the great edification which thereby will accrue unto this Church as it was the first motive of this Essay so it is the last Design for which I shall think my self largely recompenc'd if by this contributed Mite I may provoke the more able to cast richer gifts into the same Corban If what I now write of were to be backt with the Example either of professed Infidels or Romanists I could from a long Conversation with both produce their unwearied care in Catechising to which I ever thought the paucity of Converts both from Infidelity and Romanism ought chiefly to be imputed The Mahumetans as in another Discourse I have observed have their Mustadarif out of which the younger sort are trained up in the Principles of a Mussulman And the Jews Sepher Chinnuck and Sepher Ikkarim yield sufficient attestation that they are no Truands in this School The Romanists from being our Rivals in this particular are become our Masters for not only the Jesuits but also other Religious glory to have made Catechising their Profession only with this difference That the Jesuits Catechise the Rich and Ingenious and other Orders the Poor and Dull But their Diligence herein herein first sprang from an imitation of ours For till on Sundays and Holy-days we both preach'd in the Morning and Catechis'd in the Afternoon the Papists did neither And it was undeniably happy with the Protestant Religion when diligent Catechising was the chief Engine imployed to supplant Popery and give deeper Roots to the Reformation But Catechising as all things else whereof human weakness hath the Custody and Government is greatly faln from that Observation which it had once in this Church yet methinks if nothing else this alone should provoke us to a little more diligence in this excellent Institution to see our Adversaries manage it to our reproach and damage But Reader in Mercy to your Patience I will only add That the Author is none of those who impose upon others what they will not do themselves for he is a constant Labourer in that Vineyard wherein he desires his Brethren to take a little more pains Next That he is really of Opinion the Minister may sleep with a good Conscience of having well discharged his Duty when every Lords-day he observes as he is bound the Churches 59. Canon And as for those who do otherwise he leaves them to the Reflexions of their own Brests ADVERTISEMENT 1. THE Catechumen or an Account given by a Young Person to the Minister of his Knowledge in Religion upon his first Admission to the Lords Table with the Prefaces of Dr. Addison and Dr. Scot. Price stitch'd 6 d. 2. The Case of Resistance of Supreme Powers Stated and Resolved according to Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures by W. Sherlock D. D. Master of the Temple Price 2 s. bound 3. The Righteous the best Subjects to the King Or Godliness no Friend to Rebellion or Enemy to Civil Government 40. P ice 6 d. THE Primitive Institution The INTRODUCTION THat in the same Church and Nation there should be no less Ostentation and Noise of Religion and Holiness among some than of Profaneness and Impiety among others will prove a matter of no great wonder to such as duly enquire into the causes of both Especially when it is considered that as Ignorance may be the Mother of blind Devotion so it may be likewise of desperate Presumption because all Iniquity among Men proceeds from the want of a right knowledge of God And as the Foundation of all true Happiness and of all true Religion which is the proper means of attaining it grows â—rom a right Opinion touching things Divine so the misapprehension thereof is the ground of all Misery and of all those Vices by which it is occasioned But that which may justly awaken in us a greater wonder is to see all those Methods proving ineffectual which have been so powerfully manag'd for the removal of this pernicious misapprehension and that we should be still as much under the same Distempers both in Judgment and Manners as if nothing had been administred for the cure of either That our own Church in this Age which for its wickedness seems to be the last doth make careful Provision both for the present and future welfare of her Children is a truth apparent to all that with unprejudiced Minds peruse her holy Offices Catechism Articles
Homilies Rubricks and Canons For how meanly soever some may think hereof yet if they were once thoroughly considered in their circumstances we shall find that such a pâ—udent and affectionate care is taken therein that both our Opinions and Lives may be duly informed and regulated as in no Church of a particulaâ— Denomination can be parallel'd So that it cannot but be admired how any of this Church should be eitheâ— Vicious or Erroneous considering thaâ— there is nothing wanting on the Churches part that may keep our Actions Vertuous and Sentiments Orthodox But as in matters of the Civil State many Evils arise from a neglect or remiss execution of those Laws which are appointed to prevent and suppress them So in the Church a lack of seeing her Institutions duly observed when there wanted no circumstances to exact it may claim a large share in her present Disorders For the letting of Discipline be too loose emboldened not a few to break it However leaving the mischiefs that accrue from this and the unhandsom and cold Celebration of the Divine-Service the neglect of guiding Sermons by the Articles the almost utter disusage of the Homilies the lame observance of the Rubricks and slight execution of the Canons of the Church leaving I say these for the Animadversion of others I shall only take notice that the omission or lazy and lukewarm use of Catechising ought to be blamed for much of that Visciousness and Error which is so sadly visible both in Conversation and Judgment And I am deeply ingaged in this Perswasion that till publick Catechising fall under a diligent constant and unanimous Practice there is but little likelihood of ever seeing that Union and Holiness Peace and Truth flourish in this Church for which she was once so famous Now that those to whom the great charge of Souls is consigned may be awaken'd to a little more vigour and diligence in Catechising and that they would shake off that Supineness which in this case they cannot retain but to the aggravation of their own Guilt and the encrease of the Churches Misery And that every Station of Men moved with the Sense of Duty and Emolument may contribute to the raising up of the faln Practice of Catechising is the Design and Aim of the ensuing Discourse wherein no Method at all was projected but every thing spoken to as â—t â—â—eely offered it self And as for Ends the Searcher of Hearts knows there was none other purposed in the Publication hereof but Gods Glory and the Edification of his Church CHAP. I. Of Catechising It s Name Vse Secular and Religious AND the first thing that comes to be spoken of concerning Catechising is its Name And â—the rather â—â—use to begin here because that the true notice of the Name will help us â—o that of the thing Now that there â—s a peculiar Force and Significancy in Words and that we cannot thereof be safely ignorant is but too evident by those many Errours that have in all Ages risen from meer Verbal Mistakes And therefore if we could once be so â—appy as to find out the true Imporâ—ance of Words and to hit upon such an agreement between them and things â—s not to cloud in Speech what is clear in Nature but plainly to express things as they are in themselves that then â—â—e great cause of Error in all sorts of Learning would be removed For it is an Observation that will not quickly be â—ntiquated That the confounding those â—hings in Language which in their Nature are distinct and the expressing of different Matters by the same or Words of near affinity and likeness hath in all Sciences been a fruitful Mother of Erroneous Apprehensions And this is also plain in the Affairs of Religion in which not only a perverse mistake in old Words but a liberty of introducing new has ever proved fatal and destructive For out of new words New Opinions insensibly creep into the Church and with Age grow too strong for her Discipline which being foreseen by the Holy Nicene Fathers it moved them to decree against the use of such Words in matters of Faith as were not easily to be deduced from or directly found in Sacred Scripture And upon the same account Tertullian would not have our Ears accustom'd to New words Socrat. lib. 1. c. 6. Advers Haeret. Cap. 16. And for the like reason St. Basil could not be induced to forego one Iota in the old Form when he was sollicited by the Arians A cautiousness which we may conceive was wisely made use of by those Reverend Persons through whose means by Gods Blessing we enjoy our Religion in its present Reformation For we find that they had an especial care not to innovate in Words or Forms when they could with due security retain the old And â—o instance in what has nearest affinity with our present Subject we see that they have stiled that Breviary of Religion which they compiled or rather collected out of the best and most ancient Models of that kind by the name of Catechism Which in its general notice signifies a familiar and easie Method of instilling the rudiments of any Art Science or Faculty Which being done by a frequent repetition of the same thing Catechising is derived from a Word importing the reciprocation of the Voice after the manner of an Eccho And in this Sense it is often to be met with in Secular Authors from whom it was adopted into Religion and there retains the same Notion and Office For by Catechising the Church hath always taught the Fundaments and chief Principles of Religion vivâ voce And those that were thus taught the Greek Writers usually call Catechumens and the Latine Hearers which might as well respect the manner of their Instruction as their Fellowship and Communion with the Church in which they went no further than to be admitted to hear the Principles of Christian Faith made plain unto them And to Catechising thus understood there will be no inconvenience to affirm that St. Paul alluded Rom. 10.17 the Ear being as properly the Door of Religion as of any other Science That Catechising was a way of Instruction not to be restrain'd to those Catechumens so frequently mentioned in Church History and the Ancient Canons but that all Believers did therein Communicate will be made good in another Place of this Discourse But if it be doubted whether this be the native meaning of Catechising it then follows that we have recourse unto the occasion whence it arose For if Words are notes of that which the Speaker conceiveth and Conceptions are Signs representing that which is spoken of it is necessary that he who would rightly understand Words should have recourse unto the things whence they come Now the Church which is Gods School hath ever used Catechising as a Term of Art and we are therefore to understand it with restraint to such matters as the Church is accustomed thereby to instruct Following herein the Rule of Thomas that
publick Audience and Judgment and the offer of open Disputation greatly assured the People of the soundness of their Cause when they saw they were ready to put it upon publick Tryal And more may be supposed to have followed the first Essays of the Reformation out of an Opinion that it was good and true being defended with such freedom simplicity and assurance than by the strength of those Arguments which were at first brought to assert it But then it is to be considered that the Reformers offer'd this kind of tryal to those with whom they began to be at no less distance than with members of a distinct and different Communion and in places where they were in hope to gain but in no danger to lose Proselytes For they wisely invaded the Adversary in his own Country and challeng'd him to a Dispute in his own Cities and in the throng of his Adherents But upon how different Terms Disputes can now be managed either with Dissenters or the common Enemy I leave the truly considerate to determine But since we are resolved to fight I could wish our valour were more discreet than to encounter the Enemy within our own Bowels to controvert our Religion in the place where it is legally established A thing not heard of in other Countries where there is a greater Peace and more outward Religion But I shall close up this Topick with setting down what is usually observed upon this Subject viz. 1. That Religion is like neither to get nor save by Disputes 2. That Disputes on this subject may have the ill-luck to make some suspect the truth of all Religion because it is so much controverted For weaker Heads seeing the Roof totter are apt to suspect there is no firmness in the foundation and to conclude nothing is certain if any thing be question'd 3. That in so great a mist of Disputes many may grow halting and luke-warm and think it their only safety to stand still or sit down in Neutrality 4. That for one sin Disputes have cured they have begot innumerable 5. That the strength and practice of Religion have been sensibly impaired since by the distemper'd heats of Mens Spirits it hath been rarified into subtil Controversies 6. That suspence of Judgment and exercise of Charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of those Controversies wherein they that are most fervent to dispute are not always the most able to determine But what is more natural to the present purpose it should seriously be considered That the People are neither to be confuted of their false nor established in the true Notices of Religion by Doubtful Disputes but plain Catechistical Doctrines And as to our selves of this Church seeing there can come nothing of our Contentions but the mutual waste of the parties contending till a common Enemy dance in the Ashes of us both I shall ever wish and most heartily pray that the strict commands of Peace and Unity so frequent in the Gospel may at the last so prevail in this Nation to the burying and utter oblivion of strife together with the causes that have either bred or brought it up That things of small moment never disjoyn them whom one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptism bands of so great force have linked together That a respective Eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not unable to speak peaceably one to another Finally that no strife may ever be heard of again but who shall hate strife most and pursue peace with the swiftest paces CHAP. XI Preaching what it is the several ways thereof used by the Church What kind of Preaching among the Old Jews and Primitive Christians The Homilies considered HAving in the antecedent Chapter discharged Disputes and Controversies from being any suitable and proper means of reducing the Dissenters of our own Church or winning the Members of the Roman The next thing pretending to our healing is Preaching which I here take to be An open solemn and Authoritative publication of Divine Mysteries And this the Church doth two several ways 1. As a Witness 2. As an Expositor And first The Church Preacheth as a Witness by publick reading the Sacred Scriptures and by relating and testifying the Divine Truths which God in the inspired Volumes hath consigned her And that this is no spurious sense of Preaching we have him to assure us who well understood the sense and importance both of the Word and Thing For in Acts 15.21 the reading of Moses in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day is by St. Paul in the genuine and native signification of the Word styled Preaching That this Preaching of Moses was a naked reading of his Law we have a whole cloud of Expositors to attest it besides the clearness of the thing it self But I cannot be of their judgment who assert That neither the Ancient nor Modern Jews had any such thing as weekly Preaching upon any part of the Law of Moses and that upon this ground solely conclude the preaching of Moses to be meer reading For we find that the Old Jews had divers Men among them who used to contribute their Talents to the Exposition of the Lesson that was read and these in ordinary course were the Sons or Schollars of the Prophets who were trained up in learning of the Law and at the age of Thirty received the Title of Doctors and till they obtained the Grace of immediate Inspiration or the Spirit of Prophesie they continued to expound the Scriptures not by Revelation but according to that knowledge which the ordinary blessing of God upon their Studies was able to compass Answerable whereunto as some think was that custom among the Christians mentioned 1 Cor. 14.29 And also those Disciples of the Prophets of the New Testament called Doctors because they were admitted to teach in the Church But for mine own part I rather understand the Word Doctor in St. Paul of all such Presbyters as had abilities of Preaching and Teaching the People in their Assemblies And that Presbyters and Doctors were all one we may conclude from Tertull. de Prescript c. 3. Quid ergò si Episcopus c. What then if a Bishop if a Deacon if a Widow a Virgin if a Doctor if even a Martyr shall fall from the Rule In this Catalogue of principal Ecclesiastick Orders Presbyters must be understood by Doctors unless we will deny them to have any room among the chief Ranks of the Church which were both false and absurd And that incestuous person with an Opinion of whom the Corinthians were puft up was as is observed out of Chrysostom and Theoderet one of their Doctors that is one of the Presbyters of that Church that exercised the Office of Preaching and by that means bore a great sway among the People But to return to the reading of Moses which began with the Moral Service of the Synagogue when we find that the Mosaical Law was distinguished into Divisions
Hearers of Sermons have proved wavering and unconstant in their judgments for want of a timely and through Catechizing so likewise upon the same ground they have been very erroneous and Opiniative For this want of a plain Institution in the Principles of Truth hath left them destitute of a proper Test whereby they might be able to explore and try what is preacht and to separate the pretious from the vile Through the want whereof they as greedily imbibe a false as true Doctrine and are ready to change their Opinions according to the impression which the affectionate noise of the last Sermon has made upon their Senses Nor are they happier in their reading Holy Scriptures than in hearing of them thus preacht The Un-catechized run upon the same Rock in both For albeit the Divine Word is in it self the pure Fountain of all saving Truths yet persons not trained up in a competent apprehension of Catechistical Principles make it a sink of pernicious Errors sucking Contention from the Breasts of Peace turning the sincere Milk of Gods Word into the Poyson of Asps and perverting the Scripture to their own destruction while they make the Oracles of God not to speak their own but such a Sense and Language as may best adjust their Designs and Interests And as no malice proves more implacable than that which ariseth out of the Ashes of an Apostate love So no Errors are more dangerous than those which proceed from a wrong interpreting and application of the Word of Truth And as those whose fancy has been playing with sounds think every thing they hear is tunable to their fancy So those whose minds are once infected with evil Opinions think every Text speaks according to the Opinions wherewith they are infected And it is an Hypothesis will meet with few Adversaries That Men who are prejudiced and prepossessed with Errors in Religion cannot be reduced but by getting them therein rightly principled which was never yet attempted but by solid and perspicuous Catechizing it being by this that Men prove in Religion like the House in the Gospel founded upon a Rock which by no force of storms and winds could be subverted And therefore if this ground-work be not surely laid all superstructures in Religion lie upon the loose Sand and are easily washt away by the insinuating suggestions of false Teachers And what is yet further to be considered we see the rest of the Building sink with the Foundation if that be shaken all will go to ruine And Christians not well grounded in the Elements of Truth and Holiness will quickly be perswaded to give themselves up to any wild Opinion or loose Practice and turn Schismatick or Traytor to the great hazard and confusion both of Church and State But if it be objected that Catechizing is a Plaister too narrow for our Sore because it cannot reach those whose Age or some other Circumstance excludes them the number of those for whom this sort of Instruction is appointed notwithstanding they have no less need thereof than others To this it will be enough to return the succeeding considerations viz. 1. That the Church obviated this Scruple when in the last Edition of the Liturgy she appointed the Catechism to be learned of every person And in her Fifty ninth Canon enjoyn'd the Clergy to instruct all the ignorant Persons of their Parishes in the publick Catechism And that those who bear the heavy load of many years might not decline this way of Institution they may see it founded in the Apostolical practice which was to Catechize the adult as before was observed 2. To be duly instructed in the Principles of Christianity is a duty incumbent upon all who by the Knowledg and Practice thereof hope to be eternally saved And therefore if the Aged be therein ignorant they have more reason to blush at their ignorance than to be thus instructed and with diligence and humility to wait at this Gate of Knowledge rather than with scorn to disdain it 3. If the Elder sort have either not been taught at all or have forgot the chief Heads and Catechetical Fundamentals of Christianity they now meet with a fair occasion boâ—h to learn and call them to mind For by beiâ—g present and attentive in hearing the Younger Catechized the Ancient and all may be brought to know what they do not understand to remember what they have forgot and to be inform'd in what they have erred So that at the same time Catechising will instruct the Ignorant remember the Forgetful and inform the Erroneous and therefore administer a Physick proper and sutable to our several Maladies which cannot be pretended to by those other Methods that have hitherto been so eagerly pursued CHAP. XIII The Benefits of Catechizing 1. In respect of the Civil State 2. The Clergy 3. The People The Mischiefs of private Schools Objections against the constant practice of Catechizing removed BUt besides what has been discoursed there are other good Effects of Catechising which at least may be as so many motives to enforce its practice And in the first place Catechising is in an eminent manner conducive to the Peace and Welfare of the State because it takes care that the Younger sort who are the hopes of a Nation be duly educated in those Principles on whose practice the safety and happiness of a State depends For to sowe in the pure minds of Youth the Seeds of Vertue and Truth before the Tares of Vice and Error and the Weeds of the World have canker'd and spoiled the Soil is by the consent of all wise men a point of incomparable force and moment for the well ordering and Government of all kind of Societies and for making Common-wealths ever flourishing and happy For by the means of Catechising the Younger sort will be planted and grow up in a due Conformity and Obedience to the Laws in being which is undeniably a proper expedient to uphold States in the Terms wherein they are and to free them from the danger of being so easily obvious to alteration and change For the Opinions of what nature soever wherewith we are first season'd are of double force to any second Perswasion and Usages And this makes the Spanish Nation early and careful in Catechising their Children by which Method ever since its use they have not suffer'd the least disturbance and alteration in Church or State That serious people having largely experienced the Truth of their own saying No es menos importante el ser de la Doctrina que el de la Naturaleza And in confirmation of this remark it were easie to load the Margin with a numerous Quotation and the Line with a tedious recital of many excellent Passages out of Plato Aristotle Socrates Seneca Tacitus Agell and almost all the learned Heathen Plutarch's Education of Children doth abridge them all But we need not go sharpen our Tools with the Philistines seeing an Israelite can do it better For Solomon is plain That the way to
other Reasons those that have been thus briefly intimated may at least assist to clear the first question and answer of the Catechism from the guilt of Trivialness Vanity and Impertinency As to what is objected against the Second question and answer it will be sufficient to reply That our Church therein is confo mable to the Primitive For Tertullian a Father of the Third age saith positively That it was the custom of the Church in his time to adm t none to the benefit of the Scriptures or to any dispensation concerning sacred and divine things or to the scanning and examination of particular Questions of Religion who could not first give a clear account of all material circumstances of their Reception into the Ark of Christ's Church By whom at what time and after what manner they were received which are the Ingredients of the second answer in the Church-Catechism and whether they did stedfastly believe and maintain all those general Principles wherein there ever was an universal an unanimous agreement among all Christians And those who could not give an account thereof were looked upon as such who had no right to the Communion of Christ's Church and the Priviledges of his Kingdom This Testimony of the Churches practice is to be seen in Tertullian's Praesc advers Haeretic A piece which was written by him as I conceive before the provocations of the Roman Clergy tempted him to turn a Montanist and to be led away with the Enthusiastick delusions of that Sect. He lived in the third age and was so high in the esteem of the humble and modest St. Cyprian that he usually called him his Master Hierom. in Cat. Script Eccles Abraham Buchol Chronolog The imposition of the Name being confined to the precise time of Baptism is by some looked upon as an impertinent Rigor and tasting highly of Superstition But they would be of another mind if without prejudice they would have recourse to the Use of the Church which hath always given Names to those Children she admitted into her Fellowship at the punctual time of their admission And this will be plainly discerned if we look back unto Circumcision the first Characteristical Sacrament for from the time of its Institution to that of its legal abolishment the Male received his name at the Celebration of that truly primitive Initiatory Nor doth it any way evacuat this Assertion that we read of some who had names before they were circumcised after that admissory Rite was appointed as Benoni Gershom and the Israelites born in the Wilderness Gen. 35.18 Exod. 2. 4. Josh 5.2 whom we may suppose not to have wanted Names as they did Circumcision But as touching the Example of Benoni it affords little of Objection seeing that at Circumcision his Name was changed And what happen'd concerning Gershom it was as the instance of the Israelites in the Desart in this case not at all argumentative because it was extraordinary and when necessity forced them to dispence with Law So that notwithstanding all this we may conclude that Circumcision was the usual time for the imposition of Names And the like custom has always been observed at Christian Baptism the Church thinking it most convenient that the Baptised should at the same time receive his Christian Name whereat he became a Christian But that for which the Church seems least accountable and which makes the greatest noise and which is objected with the fairest plausibility is that which concerns Sureties in Baptism whose Office is decri'd as unwarrantable because they undertake what they cannot discharge And the very name of Godfathers and Godmothers is spoken against as a prophanation of the most Holy Name being a Transgression of the Third Commandment And this is an Objection which cannot be better assoiled than by laying down a clear Scheme of the Antiquity and Reasonableness of Sureties in Baptism And in the first place the antiquity of Sureties at and for the reception of Persons into the Church is indisputable For if we look into the Jewish Church when she was in her best Purity we shall find that ever since the institution of Circumcision there were still some appointed to be present and hold out the Male to the Mohel to be circumcised And the person allotted for this Office was some special Friend of the Fathers who is called the Master of the Covenant but usually in Latin Initiationis Arbiter Susceptor Compater who at the Door of the Synagogue receives the child from the women who are permitted to go further and entring the Synagogue the Susceptor holds the child till the Hammohel Circumciser has taken away the Foreskin And how this custom was primitively observed among the Jews and in point of Sureties derived to the Christians may be collected from what Junius has intimated upon Esay 8. compared with Saint Luke 1. from the 57 to the 60 Verse Now this custom of Sureties in the Jewish Church need not at all reflect upon the like in the Christian Being it was in the power of the latter to retain any Rite of the former that was apparently decent significant and edifying For if every thing used by the Jew were to be rejected by the Christian then most of our Religion must be cast out of doors For it was not the design of our great Law-giver to abolish Judaism but to amend supply and heighten it Besides we find not that those who were or are the greatest Impugners and most impetuous gainsayers of Sureties in Baptism ever did it upon the account that it was a Rag of Judaism But how dark and questionable this custom may seem to some in its derivation and pedigree yet its practice is clearly to be found in the first times of Christianity As they must needs know who have observed how frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occur in the Greek Fathers and Susceptores Sponsores and Fide jussores in the Latin And how in both the words signifie and refer to Undertakers at Baptism Platina ascribes the Institution hereof unto Hygin who saith he ordain'd that at the least one Patrimus or Matria should be present at Baptism and there hold the Infant till he was baptised Patrimus and Matrima are old Words which by new imposition denoted those who undertook for the Vertuous and Pious education of the Baptised Now if it be granted that Hygin Bishop of Rome was the Author of Godfathers and Godmothers then this custom is of an uncontroulable ancientness for Hygin lived in the Second Age and was a Martyr in the 144 of Salvation And it is generally granted that this good Bishop took occasion from those Persecutions which were heavy upon the Church to appoint Sureties in Baptism That in Case the Parents should fall into violent restraint banishment or death there might be some to take care of their childrens instruction in the truth of that Religion into which they were initiate But whatever was the first
occasion or ground of this Suretiship we are certain that for its great standing in the Church it may take place among those Primitive Rites which were in all descending Ages to be retained And this will appear from the very Nature and Reason of the thing it self And a custom or Law though it cannot be elder yet it may safely be supposed to be as old as its chief Motive and Reason Now the nearest Method to prove the reasonableness of this custom of Baptismal Sureties is to examine both what they do for the Child at the instant of his Baptism and what they undertake for him for the future And as to what the Sureties do for the Child at the time he receives this Sacrament Platina tells us that was no more than to hold it in their arms till it was baptised and to give it a name according or at least not contrary to the Parents Directions And this is a thing so harmless that none can have any colour to quarrel or reject it And as for what the Sureties undertake in the childs stead for the future it can merit no just reprehension seeing it is no more than to be careful that the child be vertuously brought up to lead a Godly and a Christian Life and be taught such things as are necessary to the attainment of Eternal Happiness according to the Exhortation of the Office of Publick Baptism And to the end that this might not be over-burthensom to the Sureties the Church provides that her Curates shall diligently teach whom she has baptised and so to instruct them that they may be fit for confirmation At which time the Sureties are discharged of their Bands because at Confirmation the Baptised answer and undertake in their own Names what their Sureties have done in their stead But it may still be replied That the Parents are fittest to engage for their Children and that so weighty a concernment ought not to be transferr'd unto Strangers I must confess this was once my own Perswasion out of which I could not argue my self till I consider'd 1. That by the Law both of God and Nature Parents are obliged to instruct their children in the things of God and therefore need not to enter into Bonds 2. That Parents may die before their Children arrive to a capacity of being instructed or they may be ignorant and unable or negligent and careless to instruct them 3. That the Parents may be corrupted with Schism and Heresie and by reason thereof be altogether unfit to perform this Office And indeed if we reflect upon the temperament of the Age we live in the Church may seem never to have had more need of Sureties for their Orthodox instruction whom she takes into her Communion For so many Parents are infatuated with erronious Opinions that none are more improper to engage for the regular Catechism of their children than themselves And if there were none of these Reasons herein argumentative yet the thing it self is of so great importance that the Church hath ever thought it insecure to have none bound but the Parents And there are who upon no contemptible account esteem it very incongruous that those should present the Child to be washt of that pollution which it derived from them And upon this score it might be that the Father was wont not to be admitted to be present at the Baptism of his Child but stood at the Church-door while the Infant was carried in and baptized Zanchius who was well read in the Writings of the ancient Fathers of the Church speaking of this custom of Godfathers and Godmothers in his Commentaries upon the Ephesians assures of its antiquity that it opposeth no period of Holy Writ that it is an Effect of the Parents love and care to their children thus to make all possible provision for their Religious Institution That it is beneficial for the Infant in case of the Parents death and an assistance to the Parents if they live That it is a means to beget and increase mutual kindness among Neighbours because hereby a spiritual alliance is contracted which may greatly conduce to the propagation and maintenance of Christian charity And we may add to all this that not a few children would inevitably be debarr'd of Holy Baptism if none but their Parents could be admitted thereunto to present them and to stipulate in their Names But it is in the next place strongly objected against what is vowed by the Sureties in behalf of the Baptized as also that it looks very contrary to the Nature of a Vow for one to make it in behalf of another And here not to meddle with the Nature of Vows in General nor particularly of that of Baptism it may sufficiently evacuate all Scruples plainly to consider that no more is done in this Baptismal Suretiship than is both done and approved in Secular affairs in which it is allowed that Infants act by their Tutors Proxies and Guardians and that too in matters of no smaller concernment than Espousals and Estates c and at a time when they are as uncapable to understand and perform what is undertaken in their Names as here at Baptism It has also been ever thought both just and reasonable for debtors to procure others to be bound with them for payment of that for which at present they are insufficient And we may safely suppose that God will be as merciful in such cases as our selves and that he will as readily accept of Sureties for the Christian Education of an Innocent Infant as we for an insufficient Debtor But for a more evident comprehension of the whole case I conceive it may be thus stated At the Font when the Infant is brought to Holy Baptism the Sureties put on his Person and substitute themselves into his place They represent his Voice and answer in his stead All which is to be seen in the demands and answers in the administration of Publick Baptism of Infants to be used in the Church And the Infant engageth under this Personation That when he comes to years he will perform the Vow and Promise thus made by his Substitutes He and they being by interpretation but as one person and therefore the Infant when grown up is as much bound to discharge what at Baptism was promised in his Name as if he had done it himself Now by this Substitution the Sureties perform a great act of Charity for they do that for the child which by no means he could do for himself for they get him an early interest in the priviledges of Christianity which in the ordinary way of procedure cannot be had without Baptism and this cannot be had without making the Vow thereof and it is impossible for the Infant to make this Vow but by its Proxies who oblige themselves no further than to see that the Infant be taught so soon as he shall be able to learn what a Solemn Vow Promise and Profession he has made by his Substitutes or Sureties