more than touched upon three things specially the Word preached how they pressed to that place and listned to it when they came thither Secondly the Covenant of Gods free grace by Jesus Christ blessed for ever Thirdly Faith upon that we were the more large all beareing upon that being the hinge of all Now Sir this is our earnest desire That you with your Brethren would looke over this againe and lay your doctrines manner and practise before your people to that Standard for we choose to speake in that number And 1. Doe ye presse upon your people the necessitie of heareing and before you admit them to the Lords Table doe ye take time and place to search them to the bottome what they have profitted by heareing You know hereby they are hewen and made polished Stones and so fitted to be laid in the Lords building we trust you doe not doe as the Master of your Lord doth Polish your people at the Lords Table Surely they are to be made readie as those Stones were before they should have your admittance to 1 Kings 6. 7. Come thither And to proceed doe you aske what is that grace they must have before they can profit In our zeale for the Lords Christ yours and your peoples precious soules we shall question you in these grave points and so returne in all thankfullnesse your godly jealousies touching us and our way by putting it upon your thoughts what your way is with your people and how with them They with you walke therein You know but have you as you can made your people know it That preaching is the Chariot that carrieth Christ all about the Nationall Church we had almost said the world And the onely Appointment of God in the Spirits Hand to plucke them out thence as Lot out of Sodome It is the Ordinance sanctified of God for the begetting of faith in the beginning or Alpha of it so in the encreasings of it to the Omega or perfecting of the same It is that â—hereby that which is begun is perfected and that maintained which is begun It is that whereby the abundant riches of Grace through Jesus Christ are Conveyed unto us by Covenant we have said all 2 Tim 1. by Covenant life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospell preached the Ministery thereof there is not onely an unfolding of the gloriously excellent things of Christ but there is grace given by the Spirit to beleive them Thereby th' understanding that everlasting dore is opned to Jesus Christ Him that is true the true God and eternall life Now th' understanding closes with 1 Joh. 5. 20. Him or rather He by His Spirit with the understanding He is Truth The will and affections are drawn-out to Him also Oh how good is He to the Soule what a lovely object altogether desires By preaching all this is done it is the Chariot of the Cant. 5. Spirit it is the meanes that worketh faith which is the marriage of the Soule to Christ uniteth the soule to Him planteth it in Him maketh it one with Him And now she begins to know the abundant riches and glorious excellencies of Her Husband and the way of Conveyance of all these unto her by Covenant but still the first doore that is opned to all this is the eare and it is opned by heareing by heareing the eare is made able to heare we meane by the word the Spirit boreth it and now faith comes-in and fetcheth all-in the soule stands in need of Christ and all and all as sure as a Covenant of God with His people in Christ can make it Hold you to this still we meane hold your people to it faith comes by heareing it hath the stamp and institution John 10. 17. of God upon it and heareing by the word of God This was the ground of the Apostles faith not all the miracles they had seene John 2. 22. They Beleived the Scriptures and the word which Jesus had said Eph. 1. 13. The ground of the Ephesians faith also In whom ye also trusted after that ye HEARD the word of truth the Gospell of our Salvation The very end of all that is written touching Christ John 20. 31. and is preached of Him that ye might beleive c. Chaâ—ge this point home so your Lord Chargeth you and examine your people about their faith in God They will say they beleâ—ve Numb 22. 18. They will say as Balaam did My God and so will they say our God Hosea 8. 2 we know Thee Tit. 1. 16. Heare them now how they can make out what they say Doe they know Him whom they call theirs here you are like to find your people as grossely ignorant as were their fore-fathers of whome ye say saith our Blessed Lord That He is your God Joh. 8. 54 55. yet ye have not knowne Him We that have accustomed our tongues to lying ever since we were borne must not be credited in what we say till you have heard us making out what we say by giving a reason of the hope that is in us for truely thus it is with us for the most part We understand neither what we say nor what we affirme in God's matters Yea we commonly say we know the Father and the Son when we oppose the meanes appointed by God to convey this knowledge to us Now you shall doe well to tell us rebus sic stantibus That we are as well qualified to have Communion with Christ at His Table as a Wadd of dried stubble is to have Communion with a Consuming fire and doe no more enjoy Him there than midnight enjoyes the Sunne And that we doe indeed and in truth no more desire Communion with Christ the King at His Table or in any other place than darknesse can desire Communion with light or Beliall with Christ We are grossely ignorant of what we doe when we approach by your allowance the Lords Table It is not possible Fruimur Cognitis Ignoâ—i multa Cupido we can enjoy that we have no knowledge off or acquaintance with nor can our desires move towards an unknowne object Good Sir speake these things out to us your people we meane We are somewhat the larger here a point of so high concernment being Confident also of this very thing That you find your people cleane crosse to their Rule as your Brethren doe every where slow to heare and swift to speake for the Lords Supper We conceive the reason thereof to be this In a heareing place they cannot heare one word if it be the true word of God which is pleasing to flesh and blood it speakes death to their lusts if ever it speakes life to their soules Therefore they hate the word a killing word deadly because they love their lusts dearely They will have none of that meate which endureth to everlasting life none of the wine of the Gospell but as much bread and wine as you
they are admitted in their Parents right to Baptisme begotten as is notoriously knowne in Vid Ames de Const cap. 27. l. 7. adultery and the Parents not so much as professing repentance for the sin And so giving some satisfaction to the Congregation thereby Sir The Lord will require this at these Parents hands for so we may call them so also at his hands who so presumptuously baptizeth their Infants Nor shall it helpe him or them That though the Child was begot in Adulterie yet it was borne in wedlocke So have they plaistered over that horrible sin for which the Minister must be as responsible we meane for marrying them as he shall be for Baptizing their Infant before an acknowledgement was made openly before the Congregation for so openly had they sinned But the Lord lookes upon this and tells us with a voyce as loud as thunder that sith man doth not He Himselfe will be the avenger of these things And if the people Levit. 20. 4. of the Land c. for we would leave it upon your thoughts that if you or any brother in office with you have been or are faulty in this matter ye may heare and feare and doe no more presumptuously In the shutting up of this we humbly remind you of your owne Principles every head of a family being by our â—nf Bap. 61. principles an Abraham to his family But how if he be an Ishmaell worse than an Infidell to his family how then in point of admission of his Children to Baptisme or himselfe to the Lords Table must he having blasphemed the one Sacrament be priviledged thereby to blaspheme the other or having denied and renounced his Baptisme as the manner of some is by his workes making full proofe he hath very ill husbanded that pretious Talent must he be priviledged thereby to deale so with the other Yes say you and accordingly you deale-out unto him But did your Lord Christ deale so with His Talents Math. 25. 28. But wee referre it to the sixt Treatise 2. Now as to admission to the Passeover which you are pleased to say was free to all which pleads for the like free admission to the Lords Table That spoken before might serve here But to let that passe we verily beleive there was not such free admission to the Passeover as you would seeme to hold-out or take for granted And this our beleife wee ground on the Scriptures of God as we ought and you expect we should and indeed Commanded us which needed not for God commands us so to doe We humbly conceive there is much in this Scripture we reade When your Children shall say unto you what meane Exod. 12. 26 27. you by this service That ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lords Passeover Wee Collect from hence That the persons were to be knowing and understanding persons in the matters of their God the great Concernments of their soules and so knowing and understanding as that they must be able to instruct and Catechise their Children in those High points Now if you finde the Parents such knowing and understanding persons you may finde reason and warrant enough to admit them to the Lords Table But if very ignorant yea Brutishly ignorant for such they are whom you have admitted then seeke your warrant elsewhere for your admission to the Lords Table for wee are verily perswaded you will not finde it from the Passeover The free admission they had to that Sir be well aware what you say and as well aware what you doe Take heed of admitting we advise you in worthy Hildersam's wordâ— such as are knowne to the Congregation to be ignorant malicious uncleane unjust persons drunkards Blasphemers Make not the house of God as a Common Inne that receives Guests of all sorts and entertaines all alike The Gates of Gods house are called the Gates Psal 118. 19 20. of Righteousnesse None should presume to enter into them at least you should suffer none but such as in profession and endeavour are righteous men But to your Alligation from their free admission to the Passeover To our seeming it was not so free as yours is to the Lords Table For first some were to be Cut-off as we read Numb 15. 30 31. The soule that doth ought presumptuously whether he be borne in the Land or a stranger the same reproacheth the Lord and that soule shall be Cut-off from among his people because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken His Commandement that soule shall be Cut-off his iniquity shall be upon him Add to this how deep the Lord Chargeth His Priests Ezek. 44. 7 8. Yee have not kept the Charge of mine holy things In that ye have brought into my Sanctuary Children of a Stanger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh Then at the 9th verse Thus saith the Lord God No Stranger uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary which was a type or figure of the Spirituall Sanctuary the Church of the living God in Gospell times Whence it may be cleared we think That if some were to be Cut-off for their wickednesse and others to be kept off from the Sanctuary as well for legall and rather for morall uncleannesses scandalous sinnes then also were they kept off from the Passeover Yet we thinke the example of Good Rulers as to this mâ—tter cleares this further They had under the Law by Gods appointment at the time of their solemne assemblyes certaine Levites that were porters set by the Gates 2 Chro. â—3 â—5 of the house of the Lord that none that was unclean in any thing should enter-in And it Commands our marke what diligence was enjoyned them in their office The porters waited at every Gate 2 Châ— 5 15. and might not depart from their service And hath the Lord Christ lesse Care of His service under the Gospell than He had under the Law Judge you And take this also along with you if please you that you may make righteous Judgement None that had any legall uncleannesse upon them might eate the Passeover Numb 9. 6. And may they be admitted to eate at the Lords Table who have reall uncleannesse upon them Give your judgement here also but looke up to God and into His Scriptures before you judge And if it please you let the Scriptures be 2 Chron 30. 5. 7. They had not done it a long time in such sort as it was written They had not done it as their first fathers did it who had the pure truth Committed to them and so worshipped the Lord God purely But they had done it as their immediateforefathers who were corrupt in their worship and so in their practise as these had done it so did they Bee you not like your Fathers and like your Brethren which trespassed against the Lord God of their Fathers who therefore Gave them up to desolation as you see vers 7. This was good
be troubled about it no nor regard it in the least If our Minister would give us the Lords Supper before this killing worke were done what he did in the Pulpit he would undoe all at the Table If he would preach hell to us from th' one place we would take heaven to us at th' other he shall never make us beleive That we are heathen and worse not that we are all Children of wrath and are every day and houre of the day damneing our soules while we are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath he shall never make us beleive this while he puts a Cup of Blessing into our hands And yet if he doth not thus he shall be the white and marke for wrath envy to shoote all their arrowes against you which flesh and blood cannot endure yet doe not Conferre with it it is our Jealousie â—e doe ye shall never please God then nor your people for their good to Edification It is the greatest enemie we have in the world the Devill and Satan himselfe not excepted ye are no debtours to the flesh and owe it nothing but mortification as ye tell your people we hope Well thus we judge of the Holy way and blessed are they that walke in it flesh and blood must never be Consulted with about it it is an adversary yea a torment to it as the holy way is an adversary to the flesh and a Torment to the same Thus we have heard you argueing the affirmative for free admission to the Lords Table you will allow us the same patience while we argue the Negative That this free admission to the Lords Table so ordinary amongst us is not according to the mind of God and prescript of His word holding forth our Rule before us and thus we Argue it CHAP. III. SECT I. THey are not to be admitted to feast at the Lords Table who turne their backes upon the feast of the Gospell we meane thus They must not be suffered to Come to Tâ—â—t feast to which sinners are invited is oneâ—â— the declaration of the Word and mind of God in the Gospell The word of grace iâ— the greatest feast which God makes his people Mr Caâ—yl upon Job 23. p. 411. the Lords Table there to receive Christ Jesus the Lord in the bread and wine who reject Him and make light of Him in the tenders and offers of the Gospell We ground this upon those knowne Scriptures whereon we shall dwell a little Math 22. 2. Luk 14. 16. where we have the Lord of Heaven and Earth the King of Glory intending to His Church and people the highest preferment that is imaginable He will give His Son the Heire of the Kingdome to be His Bridegroome Now because there is a marveilous disproportion as her present Case is betwixt this Bridegroome and the Bride as vast a disproportion as is betwixt Heaven and Earth yea we may say Heaven and hell and at as huge a distance they stand too This Bridegroome and this intended Bride as heaven and hell doe and such a gulfe betwixt them Beside all this This intended Bride is a very ill-favoured and froward peice and as proud as she is uncomely and as willfull also as will it selfe and as sure as death she will refuse life she will have none of the match He shall not be her Bridegroome who then Any but Hee and the truth is but nullum tempus occurrit Regi The Lord of time may take His own time and when He pleaseth shee hath made her own choice and is married already and wonderously shee is satisfyed in her match But now here 's much to doe first to breake this match and make it null then to make it an abhorring to her soule that shee was so hasty carried-on so headlong in the buisinesse of so high Concernment and then to make her fitt and prepared for her Bridegroome then to give her free and full and hearty consent to Come together never to be parted more Now to effect all this God the Father maketh a sumptuous and glorious feast like Himselfe the Lord of glory wherein He holds forth to the world the abundant riches of grace and of glory by His Sonne Jesus Christ And this we doubt not to call the feast of the Gospell whereby this Bridegroome maketh love to His Bride That shall be and because He is too high and stately yea and too glorious too to woe in His owne person besides that His terrour would make her afraid Prov. 9. 3. He hath His Para-nymphs and spokes-men for Him who are His Maidens Ministers and Preachers of His Gospell And this we take to be the scope of this Parable which you know Nihil probat ratione circumferentiae sed tantum ratione Centri we must observe whereat it drives and wherein it Centers And we take in two rules here first for the sensing of parables and similitudes and then one thing which is spoken against the arguing therefrom 1. We observe their true scope and intendment and not to In ilâ—is quae metaphoriâ—è dicuntur non oportet accipere similitudine â—â— secundum omnia wrench and tenter it beyond that which were against the Rule we not angariari parabolam in Compelling it to goe farther then it would 2. What things are spoken of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men are to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a sense becomeing God now in the third place 3. We would take off an objection here before we proceed to our Argument drawne from this Parable That there is no argueing Theologia Symbolica non est argumentativa Dr. Owen p. 440. from Parables Similitudes are not argumentative True saith that excellent man Similitudes argue not beyond th'extent of that particular wherein their nature as such doth consist The intendment of Christ in every parable is warily to be observed Therefore though a Learned man Aquinas himselfe as we have heard hath said as aforesaid and better Divines than he yet by his leave and their favour we thinke the speech is neither Logicall nor Theologicall that is as we are told neither good Logicke nor good Divinitie Not good Logicke for Comparata etiam ficta arguunt and if they doe argue then they are argumentative and prove something as sure as operating is working Nor Good Divinity for if all Scripture be profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 12. 1 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for doctrine and reproofe then Symbolica also arguing by parables If not why would Christ and some Prophets 2 Tim. 3. 16. before Him and John th' Apostle after Him delight so much in Symboles and parables if they were not doctrinall and argumentative These things we thought necessary to premise before we could argue from the Scriptures first to cleare the sense of them and what their scope is and that we have good warrant to argue from them and secondly to make it cleare
good roote or rather the roote him he is planted in Him he beares upon Him Come when all is said this must stand Let a man beleive truely and truth of beliefe will bring forth truth of holinesse A true faith a true hope true love true obedience all in Truth when faith is in Truth that is truely set and fixed upon its chiefe and proper object Christ Jesus the Lord. O how doth man boast himselfe to be some body when he is nothing nay worse than nothing but knowes it not A Beleiver when he is worse than an Infidell And how secure doth he lye he is many under the shadow of a false faith more secure such is his presumption he is very Confident than a true beleiver such is his infirmity lyes under the shadow of a true faith You may heare these speake like Saints and see them if you narrowly marke them live like Devills so that if their wordâ— doe not bewray them their workes quickly will outside Christians iâ—side Heathens O it is good and but your duty Sir to observe men and search them narrowly before you admit them to the Lords Table for all men have not faith no not they many of them that 1 Thes 3. 2. make a profession and a shew of it You may meete with not a few sottish and brutishly ignorant and then not so meete to sit at the Lords Table as a swine properly so called is to sit â—t yours You may meete with some also that have a pearle of knowledge in their heads their hearts as full of poyson and deadly hatred against the Gospell of the Kingdome and true heires thereof in Christ true Gospellers as the most venomous Serpents are Protestants in doctrine Recusants in lives having a tongue professing for the Truth and a life professing against it faire outsides but within as noysome as a dunghill or an open Sepulchre which yet savoureth with them as a Garden of Spices or bed of Roses something resembling an Heaven in shew when they have an Hell with-in the heart we meane so you may say have the excellent of the Earth too but to them it is an Hell as their dunghill smells like a dunghill but to those their hell is their heaven here as their dunghill smells with them as aforesaid a most certaine Character of a polluted wretch We would not be mistaken here we censure no man we judge him not we dwell at home and our selves must we judge But upon due search thus you 'le finde it to be even as we have said and ye may have found it so by experience we may put downe this for a Conclusion If faith bring Christ the fountaine of Grace into the heart of a man he can no more walke in darknesse of sin and ignorance there is a darknesse of Spirit of sorrow wherein a Childe of light may walke and you have an excellent booke of it but no more walke in darknesse than he can doe that could Isaiah 50. carry the Sun in his hand and he may as well carry fire in his bosome and not feele it burne as carry true Grace in his heart and not cleanse his life But Counterfeits in Grace and contented to continue such and to hold sin the least sin-fast shall become Saints when an Ape comes to be a man and Copper becomes Gold which is never rejected but when it would looke like Gold Beleive it you doe a beleiver can no more be without Holinesse than can a godly man be without godlinesse or a true Christian without Christ or than can the Sunne be darke or the fire Cold. We shall crave leave to speake further to you about these three grave matters The feast of the Gospel The Covenant And Faith but we shall deferre it till the Last and therewith close-up this Treatise We proceed now in our argueing against this free admission to the Lords Supper In the fourth place SECT IV. IT is not according to the practise of Christ He gave it to Disciples onely it is not possible we conceive to make it out That He gave it to Judas yet if it could be made out we have enough to say were this a place for it He gave it to Disciples onely Judas himselfe if there looked like a Disciple being very like one and by so doing he prescribes his Ministers what they are to doe so we conceive as to those administrations to Ea quae perspiâ—ua sunt difficilia sunt â—â—â—â—ticis Mark 14. 23. the worlds end And here we are not bold to say that Mr H s your Champion doth fearefully pervert Scripture wrest and Crooke His blessed Lords practise to the Countenancing of his owne cursed and crooked doings and they all dranke of it Well what then his inference now hold your Nose if you cannot endure the deadly stinke of the Dragons excrements Therefore let all Come that will Come to the Lords Table Good Sir Give us leave to pause a little while we take these things into our thoughts is there not a Cause we should so doe When we heare this Reasonable Creature we call a man a schollar and a Minister too as he calls himselfe and would be called speake thus unreasonably as if he was as much wanting of Reason as he is of Grace unreasonably said wee Is it not too slight a word doth not he speake blasphemy doth he not blaspheme the Blessed practise of our Lord and Saviour which He hath set as a patterne for all His people to practise after And they all dranke of it So may ye all ye drunkards and yee all ye uncleane persons and you all you worse than Infidells and you all despisers of the Gospell and yee all that never thought of any other Covenant but that which ye have made with sin death and hell And ye all that have faith though it have no more life than a polished Stone hewen timber or a doore-naile no-matter how dead it be 't is a faith that will serve the turne to entitle them to these holy things drinke ye all of this as we read those Disciples did and they all dranke of it But Sir is not this Blasphemy Wee are willing to make you Judge here because you judge so well of the man Come in here all ye of the world for whome that sacred person John 17. 9. never opned His mouth and prayed Come in hither ye knowne enemies of the Crosse of Christ ye belly-servers ye that minde Earthly things drinke ye all of this ye that Crucifie to your selves the Son of God afresh and put Him as they doe by their Heb. 6. vile usage and abhominable Conversation to an open shame drinke ye all of this and ye all who have trodden under-foote as they can The Son of God and have counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith they professed themselves sanctified an unholy Heb. 10. thing and have done little lesse than despight to the Spirit of Grace All ye