I say it is necessary that we should use the Means appointed by Christ in Order to our Salvation and this is one of them If we would obtain the End we must use the Means it being no better then a Tempting of God to expect the one without the other 3. The neglect of this Ordinance is a Sin being a Disobedience to a plain Command of Christ who says Do this in Remembrance of me and unless God grant Repentance to those that are guilty of it it will prove damnable Now while Men continue in this neglect they do not truly repent of it for there is no true Repentance without Reformation 4. God hath no where promised Salvation to such as Live and Dye in the known and wilful neglect of this or any other Ordinance or Duty but threatens the contrary and who would hazard his Salvation by such a neglect Obj. 10. But say others we have heard of such ill things of some Church-Members that we think it a disgrace to us to Joyn with them though they make Holy Professions yet their Practices are unholy and prophane and scandalous and this keeps us off from their Communion Ans 1. It may be the Report you have heard is false and only raised by some Enemy to Religion and the Professors of it if so you wrong both your selves and the Persons concerned in believing of it before you have throughly examined the Truth of it it is sinful to Take up a Reproach against our Neighbour as Psalm 15.3 2. Suppose the Report appear to be true yet their Church-Membership is not the cause of those Immoralities but the Corruption of their own Hearts or the want of that Grace which they pretend to have 3. Their Sin is to themselves and shall not be charged on those that hold Church-Fellowship with them if they do their Duty in Admonishing and Reproving them for it and do no way Partake with them therein Such a Reproof Prudently and privately given by a Fellow-Member may be Blessed of God to the Conviction and Reformation of a disorderly Walker being a Means of Christs own Appointment to this End If not the Reprovers ought to acquaint the Church with it that they may use Church-Discipline upon them which if they neglect the Reproving Members will have this to satisfie them that they have discharged their Duty and delivered their own Souls as Mat. 18.15 16. 4. The Participation of all Gospel-Ordinances being the Priviledge as well as the Duty of all true Believers to be kept from any of them must be a Loss and Punishment so that if you are such and yet keep your selves off from any Ordinance of Christ because some of those that Partake of them are guilty of scandalous or disorderly Walking you punish your selves for the Faults of others which is Injustice 5. To keep off from any Ordinance of Christ meerly because some unworthy Persons partake of it is to make their Sin in one kind an occasion of your sinning in another kind Their Sin being a Sin of Commission yours a Sin of Omission 6. If all that truly fear God should keep off from Joyning with this or that Particular Church because there are some Members in it that are disorderly Walkers either all such Churches must be dissolved or else they must be made up only of such disorderly Walkers But I suppose no Wise and Good Man will say that either of these ought to be You must know the Visible Church of Christ on Earth hath Hypocrites in it as well as sincere Christians and when the Hypocrisie of any Member appears by their open and scandalous Sins that Particular Church to which they belong ought to use Church-Discipline upon them to bring them to Repentance and Reformation and to keep themselves free from a share in their Guilt But no Christian ought to keep from Joyning with a Particular Church because there are some such Peccant Members in it Obj. 11. But if this Ordinance is to be used only in Remembrance of Christ say some we can remember him well enough without it we think of him every Day the Reading and Hearing of the Word puts us frequently in Mind of Him How can any Christian forget him that hath done and suffered so much for them Therefore we see no such need of this Ordinance for this End Ans 1. This Objection savours rankly of Ignorance and Pride which are very Provoking Sins in the Eyes of God did you well understand the Nature Use and Ends of this Holy Ordinance and the spiritual Benefit of a right Participation of it you would not think it a needless Thing And were you not puffed up with Pride you would not account your selves wiser than Christ himself who Instituted this Ordinance which he had never done had he not intended it for the Spiritual Good of the Receivers Did Christ judge it needful and dare you say it is needless Doth it become sinful Dust contemptible Worms to slight an Ordinance of their Lord and Saviour 2. Though the Reading and Hearing of the Word are useful to put us in Mind of Christ yet the use of this Holy Supper may do it more Effectually For some Truths do more powerfully affect our Hearts when they are conveyed to us by the Eye than by the Ear The Sight of the Execution of a Man usually makes deeper Impressions on our Spirits and moves our Affections more than a bare hearing of it doth Now in this Ordinance Christ is represented as Crucified before our Eyes as Gal. 3.1 And our dull and dead Hearts need the most Heart-affecting and quickning Means and Ordinances 3. Know that this Ordinance is Instituted for other Holy Ends besides that of remembring Christ as to be a Seal of the Covenant of Grace To be a means to nourish and strengthen Grace c. as you have heard before and so is needful and to be used for those Ends as well as for that 4. Gracious Souls have sometimes met with some peculiar Manifestations of Christ and of his Love in this Ordinance and such Spiritual Refreshment Strength and Comfort as they found not in Reading or Hearing the Word For Christ will not be wanting to bless his own Ordinances to their proper Ends and their Experiences should be Arguments encouraging others to use this Ordinance in hopes of the like Benefits Obj. 12. But say others we are so Incumbred and Distracted with the Cares and Troubles of this World that we cannot be enough Composed in our Spirits to approach this Holy Ordinance could we once get well through them we would then endeavour to prepare for it and come to it Ans This is no Just Plea or Excuse for your neglect of this Ordinance for Consider 1. God allows you sufficient Time for necessary Cares about your Worldly Matters and appoints you proper time also for the care of your spiritual Concerns and it is your Duty to see that every Thing be minded in its due Time and Place
this Day 't is not so much out of a dislike of or a Malignity against the work it self in many as for want of Ability to perform it and this Impediment can be no ways removed but by the Blessing of God on a diligent use of due Means for the obtaining such an Ability Therefore if you are indeed too Ignorant of the Will of God be ashamed of your Ignorance and Sloth but not ashamed to Learn though Late yet better late then never Secondly Having got a competent Measure of Knowledge your selves begin your Work of Teaching your Children betimes be dropping and instilling some of the plainest easiest and most necessary Truths into them as soon as you find them capable to Learn and to remember Be frequent at it to Impress them the more firmly on their Memories when they can Read put Catechisms into their Hands and require them to Learn them to Read the Holy Scriptures daily Hear Sermons and take Account of them what they Remember and Discourse with them about the Truths heard to help them to a clearer Understanding of them and labour to affect their Hearts with those Truths that chiefly concern them and Charge them especially to commit such to their Memories encouraging the Diligent by your Commendations and Rewards and quickening the Negligent by Reproofs and moderate Corrections Thirdly Be much in Prayer to God both for and with your Children begging a Blessing on your Instructions Pray your selves and teach them to Pray that God would second your endeavours and succeed all the Means used for their Instructions by the Inward and Effectual Teaching of his Holy Spirit to open their Understanding strengthen and sanctifie their Memories Write his Law in their Hearts and put his Truth into their Inward Parts that they may understand spiritual Truths spiritually and be made wise to Salvation Fourthly Set before your Children a good Example of Sobriety Righteousness and Holiness in your own Lives second your Godly Instructions with a Godly Conversation let them see by your own Obedience to the Will of God that you believe the Truths which you teach them and press no other Duties on them than what you make Conscience to perform your selves Then will your Instructions be most like to prove Effectual for your Children are naturally prone to imitate you in their Practice more apt to be led by the Eye then by the Ear and more inclinable to do as you do than as you say or Command Could you be perswaded to follow these plain and necessary Counsels your Children would have the Benefit you would have the Comfort the Church would be Enlarged and God would be Glorified And what should you not be willing to do within your Power for such desirable Ends as these But if any Christian Parents remain yet unperswadable by these Arguments to set about this Duty their sinful neglect will become the more inexcusable and themselves the more unworthy of that Honourable Name by which they are called Blessed be God there are yet some Pious Parents left among us who have a Sense of their Duty and endeavour to bring up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and I hope the late unanimous Labours of the Ministers of Christ in and about this City pressing their respective Congregations to the Revival of Family-worship have been signally Blessed for the Increase of the Number of such and that this is one good presage of Gods continuing his Candlestick in the midst of us For Religious Families are the Seed-Plots of Piety and the Nurseries of the Church so that if these flourish which God grant the Church will from them be supplied and enlarged There are also some Adult Persons whom though their Parents wretchedly neglected their Souls in their Minority yet God is pleased to awaken and Inlighten Convince and Convert by the Publick Ministry and so are brought into Christ and joyn themselves for full Communion with the Particular Churches of Christ Though alas the Number of Converts in our Days is small in Comparison with what hath been in former Ages as Gospel-Ministers generally observe to their Grief and this proves us to be upon the decaying Hand And though it be the certain Duty of all Adult Persons that make a serious Profession of Christianity to joyn themselves to some Particular Church in Order to a Participation of all Gospel-Ordinances and Church-Priviledges yet the far greater Number live in the shameful neglect hereof some to thirty forty yea fifty Years of Age and yet never received the Lords-Supper These may properly be call'd Christians at large or loose Professors if not for the Looseness and Immoralities of their Lives yet for sitting so loose from the stricter Rules of Religion and for their backwardness to come wholly under the Yoke of Jesus Christ though it be really a far easier Yoke than that of Sin To such as these I would in the next Place make an Address attempting to Convince them of and dissuade them from their Sin and to instruct them in and persuade them to their Duty For your Conviction I offer you these following Considerations First Consider until you are Joyned to some Particular Church of Christ you come not under the special Care Guidance and Oversight of any Pastor and so lose the Spiritual Benefit of that Relation which may be a greater Dammage to your Souls then you are aware of for in divers Cases you will need their special help by Way of Councel Instruction Support or Comfort to Answer your Doubts Encourage you against your Fears Succour you under Temptations c. The want of a skilful and faithful Soul-friend in such Cases would be greatly Prejudicial to you Secondly Consider until you are thus Joyned you neglect one of the Holy Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ his Supper the last that he Instituted left as a standing Monument of his Matchless Love to his Church in Dying for it and as a means to Perpetuate the Memory thereof in all Future Ages and as another Sign and Seal of the Covenant of Grace An Ordinance wherein he proposeth himself as the spiritual Food of Believers to refresh and satisfie their Souls increase their Grace and nourish them to Life Eternal so that by the neglect of this Ordinance 1. You Contract the guilt of great Sin upon your Souls for it is a direct Disobedience to the express Command of Christ who saith Take Eat c. Drink ye all of it and Do this in Remembrance of me Therefore to neglect it is practically to forget Christ and if you forget him how can you Hope he will remember you 2. You lose the Spiritual Benefit and Comfort of this Ordinance the nourishment and strengthening of your Souls in Grace which you need as well as others and hereby give God just Cause to withhold his Blessing from other Ordinances And is this a loss that you can easily bear Is it much at one with you whether you Profit by the
propose this following Method for the Passage of Church-Members from their Infant-state to the State of the Adult and Admission to full Communion being what is already practiced in some and easily practicable in other Churches of Christ if their respective Pastors would come to a mutual Agreement herein which I humbly conceive might without much difficulty be obtained If attempted by prudent and proper Hands to whose Thought this well-meant-Motion is heartily Recommended in hopes that it might prove in Time a good Expedient to restore Confirmation to its Primitive Use and for the present be an equivalent First Seeing the Title-Condition of Infants Church-Membership is not the same with that of the Adult as the Learned Baxter hath plainly proved that of Infants being this That they be the Children of Believing Parents and Dedicated to God by them in their Baptism That of the Adult being this that they be actual Believers and Dedicate themselves to God in Baptism I think it requisite that when any Person signifies his Desires of Admission to full Communion the Pastor of the Church should Inquire which of these Titles he pretends to and deal with him accordingly if the former Then to acquaint him with the Manner of Transition from the Infant to the Adult-state by renewing his Baptismal Covenant and Profession of the Christian Faith and Exhort him to it If the latter to enquire into the Sincerity and Credibility of his Profession as far as may be and to admit or refuse him according to the Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction he shall receive herein Secondly Seeing many of those who were Baptized in their Infancy are bred up in Ignorance of the very Principles of Religion others Corrupted with Error others Immoral and Prophane in their Lives it is also necessary that the Pastor inquire both into the Knowledge Faith and Life of him that seeks Admission I say 1. Into his Knowledge Whether he be competently acquainted at least with the Fundamental and necessary Truths of Christianity and if he be found grosly and culpably Ignorant the Pastor may endeavour in a prudent and loving Way to make him sensible of the greatness of this Sin of Ignorance in those that enjoy such excellent and plentiful Means of Knowledge as we of the necessity excellency and usefulness of spiritual Knowledge in order to the pleasing of God and saving his own Soul of the danger of living and dying in Ignorance c. And seriously press him to a more careful Use and improvement of the means of Knowledge for Time to come such as Reading the Holy Scriptures and other good Books Hearing of and Conferring with Ministers of the Gospel and Praying for the Teachings of Gods Holy Spirit And that his Knowledge may be the more Methodical and Distinct advise him first to take some good Catechism in Hand especially that of the Assembly of Divines and the Explications of it the Communicants Instructor or Sacramental Catechism c. and persuade him to familiarize the precious Truths contained in them and make them his own getting them if possible into his Memory which a little Pains and a willing Mind might soon obtain in the most I have known some of Forty Fifty yea sixty Years of Age who in a few Months Time have by this means got more Understanding in the Things of God as they have freely Confessed than ever they had in their whole Life before And though I know it is no easie Matter to perswade some grown Persons to this who being Proud and Idle as well as Ignorant account it a Disgrace to be put like Children to a Catechism yet every one that is so far awaken'd and inlighten'd as to see his own Ignorance and need of Knowledge and to have a sincere Love to and Desire after it will readily follow the spiritual Counsel of such as are Wiser than themselves in Order to the attaining of it And as many as have a just and deep Concern for the Eternal Salvation of their own Souls will think no Pains too much to take for the furthering and securing thereof It may possibly be a little difficult at first but when they have been Inured to it for some time their Desires after Knowledge and the sweetness of it will facilitate or make it easie to them Could we prevail on those Adult Persons amongst us that need it to take this faithful Advice their Minds would be much more inlightned in the Knowledge of Christ and the better prepared for profiting by Reading and Hearing the Word Were such a Form of sound Words well learnt and thereby the Foundation of Christianity well laid in the Minds of Men the superstructure of Knowledge would be carried on with greater facility firmness and success but until this be done Ministers have little Reason to wonder that they Work at the Labour-in-Vain in Preaching though they may be Instant in Season and out of Season if Milk be not given to Babes in Christ as well as strong Meat to grown Christians the Younger may starve while the Elder thrive and flourish O that all the Ministers of the Gospel would seriously think of this and take due Care to feed Christs Lambs as well as his Sheep but this by the Way Yet in inspecting the Knowledge of Persons due regard must be had to their different Capacities the Means and Helps they have had to get Knowledge the Time they have enjoyed them their different Abilities to express themselves their Bashfulness c. That no sincere though weak Christian be discouraged and that such as have arrived but at a tolerable degree of the Knowledge of and belief in God the Father Son and Spirit of their Baptismal-Covenant with God and other Points of absolute Necessity to Salvation though their Apprehensions in some Things are but rude and imperfect be not Rejected but Treated with all Tenderness Love and Prudence and helped forward in the Ways of Christ But if the Pastor find the Candidate furnished with a competent Measure of Knowledge he should next inquire 2. Into his Faith whether he be sound in the Faith of Christ or believes the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion that if the Pastor find him under any Error he may endeavour by better Instruction to Cure him of it before his Admission least he should Infect others therewith and occasion a Schism in the Church When the Pastor is fatisfied as to this Particular he should further Inquire 3. Into his Life and Conversation whether it be agreeable to his Holy Profession and such as becometh the Gospel of Christ of this Neighbouring Christians should be the Observers and Witnesses for the better Satisfaction of the Pastor and the whole Church Great Care should be taken also in this Matter least such as are scandalous in their Lives be admitted and thereby this Holy Ordinance be prophaned the Godly offended and grieved the Mouth of the Wicked opened to speak Evil of the Ways and Servants of Christ and God dishonoured and
provoked to inflict some Judgment upon them 4. Seeing the Lords-Supper is appointed for the increase and strengthening of Grace where it is and not for the working of Grace where it is not and so those that approach it should be only Gracious Persons if they would receive Benefit thereby for we must first live spiritually as well as naturally before we Eat and Drink therefore it is needful that the Pastor inquire also into the State of the Candidates Soul What experience he hath had of the workings of Gods Word and Spirit upon him What Reason he can give of the hope of Salvation that is in him What Evidences he hath of a saving change or work of Grace upon his Heart 1 Pet. 3.15 And for the better discovery of his Souls Condition direct him in that needful and useful Duty of Self-examination and Exhort him to a diligent performance of it and to an Holy Jealousie over his own Heart least he should be deceived by it in a Matter of so great Importance 1 Cor. 11.28 29. The Sacramental Catechism may be very helpful to him in this Work in which he will find the Marks or Signs of saving Grace and thereby may the better Judge of his own Case 4. When the Pastor hath received Satisfaction in these Points and in the Judgment of Charity believes him to have a Gospel-right to and fitness for this Ordinance it seems necessary at least on a prudential account and for the fuller Satisfaction of the Church that the Person be propounded to the Church when met together by Name and Place of Habitation and held as an Expectant for some convenient Time at least from the Time of his Proposal to the next Sacrament-day That the Members may have liberty and opportunity to Inquire whether he be well reported of and unblameable in his Conversation And that they first give the Pastor an Account of what they hear more Privately that if any thing be objected he may further inform himself as to the Truth of it and the Person be kept off until the Objection shall be removed and all concerned receive Satisfaction 5. When the Expectant is actually to be admitted and come before the Church The Pastor may signifie him to be the Person formerly propounded to them desiring to be joyned to them and admitted to full Communion with them requiring that if any Member remain yet unsatisfied he would Now speak or by their silence lifting up the Hand or other Signal testifie their unanimous Consent to his Admission which being done the Pastor may next desire him to make Profession of his Faith and own his Baptismal-Covenant addressing himself to him in these or such like Words Seeing you desire to be admitted into full Communion with this Church of Christ to walk with it in all Gospel-Ordinances and Duties and to partake with it in all Church-Priviledges and it being fit the Church should satisfied that every Person admitted a Member thereof do own and profess the same Principles of the Christian Faith which the Church professeth In Order to this Satisfaction you are desired to make true Answer to these following Questions Q. 1. Do you believe there is but one only Living and True God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which are Three distinct Persons and each of them God and yet all of them but One God Infinite Eternal and Unchangeable in his Being Wisdom Power Holiness Justice Goodness and Truth A. I do believe this Q. 2. Do you believe that this God from all Eternity ordained whatsoever comes to pass in Time and that in the beginning of Time he Created and made the whole World and all Things therein out of nothing by the Word of his Power in the space of six Days and all very Good and that he doth still uphold preserve and govern it according to his own Will and for his own Glory A. I do believe this Q. 3. Do you believe that God made Man upright after his own Image in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness with Dominion over the Creatures here below and that he entred into a Covenant of Life with him upon Condition of Perfect Obedience forbidding him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil upon Pain of Death A. I do believe this Q. 4. Do you believe that our first Parents being left to the Freedom of their own Wills and hearkening to the Temptation of Satan Transgressed the Commandment of God by Eating the forbidden Fruit and so brake their Covenant with God and thereby brought themselves and all their Posterity descending from them by ordinary Generation into an Estate of Sin and Misery A. I do believe this Q. 5. Do you believe that Man thus fallen was not able to recover himself and that God having out of his meer good Pleasure elected some to Everlasting Life did enter into a Covenant of Grace to deliver them out of that Estate of Sin and Misery and to bring them into an Estate of Salvation by Christ as a Redeemer A. I do believe this Q. 6. Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ being the Eternal and only begotten Son of God became Man also in the fulness of Time by taking to himself a true Body and a reasonable Soul being Conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her Humane Substance and born of her yet without Sin both in his Nature and Life and that so he was and continueth still to be both God and Man in Two distinct Natures and one Person for ever A. I do believe this Q. 7. Do you believe that this Redeemer of God Elect as a Prophet doth Teach his Church by his Word and Spirit the Will of God for their Salvation And as a Priest hath satisfied Divine Justice for their Sins and reconciled them to God by his once Offering up himself as a Sacrifice unto God in Suffering the Cursed Death of the Cross and now continually interceeds for them in Heaven and as a King subdues the Elect unto himself Ruleth and Defendeth them and Restrains and Conquers all his and their Enemies A. I do believe this Q. 8. Do you believe that though this Jesus Christ was put to Death and Buried yet he rose again from the Dead on the Third Day shewed himself to his Disciples and Conversed with them alive and afterward in the sight of divers of them ascended into Heaven where he still remaineth sitting at the Right Hand of God the Father from whence he shall come at the Day appointed by God to Judge the World in Righteousness A. I do believe this Q. 9. Do you believe that God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son hath fully and sufficiently Revealed the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the perfect perpetual and only Rule of our Faith and Obedience And that the same Holy Spirit doth Effectually apply the Redemption purchased by