not under the promises made to Gospell administrations I wonder at it that such Ministers would be accounted the only men that patronize free grace and the only Gospell Preachers and yet forget that Christ came into the world to save sinners and to give repentance and remission of sins to seek and to save that which is lost as all were and are untill he finde them and gather them to himself by a blessing of spirit and power in the use of his own ordinances The Scriptures distinguish indeed between the Church and the World but these men will be making a world in the Church and a world out of the Church and make Infidels of the baptized and such as were born in the Church and make a profession of faith and that truly too an to the object at least and yeeld externall conformity in the materials of worship and Christian obedience But you that are so bold to unchurch Christians and to make spoile in Christs Kingdome did you ever read any such thing approved in the Scriptures I confesse these are bold times but let not men make too bold with Jesus Christs interest suffer him to have his full possessions and dominion over all his subjects that professe loyalty and homage unto him in the world Let us wish grace and peace to all that call on the name of the Lord Jesus both theirs and ours and let us have union with them and communion too in all the Lawes and ordinances of Jesus Christ He hath spirit and grace sufficient to answer all the wants to prevent all the evils of all that seek after him according to his own institutes Oh brethren hinder none in seeking after Jesus discourage none because they are sinners from coming under the most ingaging ordinances to preserve Christian obedience do not act so contrary to the Apostolicall daies The Apostles did what they could to convert the world unto Christianiâ—â— and rejoyced in bringing sinners to the obedience of faith and were all for the inlarging of Christs kingdome for which end they put themselves upon the greatest hazards And will many of you pervert Christianity into the world ' Christ into Belial unchurch and unchristian such as the Apostles did generally imbrace and receive to communion upon as slender grounds as ours are desired to be received Did you over read that they refused any one that imbraced the Doctrine of faith and was willing to be baptized Did you ever read that they required more to breaking of bread then they did to Baptisme Did you ever read that they called any in the Church Unbeleevers Heathens Belial Dogs c. Did you ever read of this distinction of Church and World in any of those Churches the Scriptures speak of I would you would prove a twofold world one in the Church another out of the Church and a twofold Kingdome in the visible Church of Christ where men and women generally submit to the Lawes and Ordinances of Jesus Christ Will you confound things that so much concern the Lord Christs interest can you put no difference between the unregenerate under Covenant lations and administrations and the infidel world that are left to wander from all these and to sacrifice to the Devill and not unto the true God at all Will you allow them no better titles and priviledges then you will allow to Heathens I wonder what rule you walk by and judge by and what spirit it is that you act so vigorously from Suppose the Indians in America should generally embrace the Christian faith and disavow their worshipping of Devils and desire to imbody themselves with those that professe the Christian religion would you not offer them Baptisme and upon their coming under it would you not admit them to all the ordinances of Christian profession and communion Whether you would or no the Apostles have done it in the like case Or suppose the infidell Jewes should be convinced of their mistake and should now confesse that Jesus whom their fathers crucified is the true Messiah and Saviour of the world and upon that account renounce their errour and desire the Baptisme of Christ professing their resolution to submit unto his administrations and come under Christian obedience would you refuse them and not baptize them untill they were so qualified as to come up to your termes of communion I think you would not And I pray then why will you separate from the most of ours that are lawfully baptized and come up to the same profession and are of no other religion but the Christian religion and expect salvation by Christ alone Is it because they have this by education and the helps of tradition which in the other case is not so I pray you do not undervalue any benefits and helps that are the consequences of the Covenant of grace Remember how sadly the Apostle laid it to heart when the Jewes by their infidelity in denying Christ to be the Son of God did unchurch themselves and apostatize Rom. 10.1 and the 11. compared It was not their being carnall and otherwise ignorant and wicked but their not beleeving that Christ was the Messias promised unto their fathers that did unchurch them and their posterity to this day for that unbelief was the thing that barr'd them from his administrations so are said to be cut off although by birth priviledge they were the only naturall branches or Church members Were they refused by the Apostles or cast off or did they eject cast out themselves from being branches of the true Olive Christs coming in the flesh not discerned by them was the occasion of their fall from being the Israel of God he was the stumbling stone and the rock of offence that made them fall from their Church state and relation They would not own any other administration but that of Moses and upon that account undid themselves and perished What think you would have been the issue had they owned Jesus Christ to be the true Messias and so had come under the Gospell administrations as ours are and would not be under any other that they should have been refused and separated from as being none of the Church of Christ I beseech you consider of it did not thousands of the Jewes come in and offer themselves to Baptisme at the preaching of one short word or sermon Act. 2. And can we imagine that they were all true Converts in your sense was any refused that desired to be one in the Christian profession Suppose that all the common people in England were unbaptized as some reproachfully and slanderously report they are and were sensible of that condition and should come and desire Baptisme upon no other account then their present capacity would admit of confessing themselves sinners and promising obedience to the word of God professing hope of mercy and happinesse through the merits of Jesus Christ which all that have learned their Creed are capable to do I would fain know whether you could
bold to present to consideration these necessary queries in reference to a discovery of the most probable sense of the place humbly praying the Reader when ever he think of me to think seriously and impartially of them 1. Enquiry is to be made whether the Apostle intends any such thing as personall worthinesse or unworthinesse in order to the Sacrament 2. Whether the unworthinesse the Apostle speaks to were not meerly their miscarriages and actuall offending in or about the externals of Sacramentall actions and order 3. What were those sins that provok'd the Lord so immediately to punish them for the present and made them liable to be further punished for the future 4. Whether they were chastised for unworthinesse of person or other sins they were guilty of before they came together to celebrate the holy Supper 5. What is the remedy the Apostle prescribes to that Church to prevent future judgement and to enjoy present benefit 6. Whether the unregenerate and most ignorant person professing and owning the true Religion among them were not in a capacity so to use the remedy as to prevent the judgement and receive benefit by the ordinance where God gave a blessing 7. Whether the duty of self-examination in order to the Sacrament is not to be restrained to the premises treated on in the context 8. Whether a carelesse neglect or incapacity of this duty of self-examination before do excuse and give a writ of ease from that precept of publique duty and service Do this in remembrance of me 9. Whether there be any thing in the institution nature end language action of the Sacrament in the context or elsewhere incongruous to the receiving of the unregenerate in the Church I doubt not but an ingenuous answer to these Queries would much moderate the unchristian rigour of these times about Sacramentall communion if not to make the controversie to cease among sober godly men And therefore pardon my boldnesse in adventuring to present to publick view my confused apprehensions in answer to these queries and that with as much brevity as I can Something must be done and if I can discover the truth or give occasion unto some more able to doe it I shall blesse God and think my labour well bestowed For the first I conceive there is not the least hint or sound of unworthinesse of persons in the Church of Corinth spoken to by the Apostle in reference to the Sacrament nor are they blamed or punished for their reall unworthinesse as to God visible to the Church though it 's probable they had such amongst them in that communion For in the beginning of this Epistle the Apostle gives them the titles of the Church of God sanctified in Christ Jusus called to be Saints c. And of those that were punished for profaning the ordinance the Apostle speaks very hopefully nay confidently that their persons were justified they were chastened of the Lord that they might not be condemned with the world But it may be said Object The Church of Corinth were all of them at least visibly worthy in respect of their persons and therefore their free admission is no warrant for us seeing many of ours want that visible worthinesse And if those that were visibly worthy did through their miscarriage eat judgement to themselves what may we think of ours that have not so much as that visible worthinesse which they had 1. I answer Solution If there be nothing against personall unworthinesse in persons professing the true religion in the context in order to the Sacrament then unworthinesse of person in such can be no bar against them but the former is true therefore the latter is true also 2. If the Apostle upon so weighty occasion meddle not with their unworthinesse of person in reference to their receiving then neither need we to meddle with it it is sufficient that those we admit be baptized and of the true Religion under Church indulgence to entitle them to all the ordinances which they are to use as means of their spirituall good they being given to the visible Church to that very end 3. If our Baptisme were rightly administred according to the Word then ours of years that are of the same with them of the Church of Corinth have as much externall priviledge in the Church as they had till either by Apostasie they fall off or by the right exercise of Discipline they be put out And had we the same charity the Apostle had we would allow them the title of Saints beleevers brethren by profession and calling as they did all along For the second and third Quere I am sure the Text is clear for the affirmative namely that their unworthinesse was meerly their miscarriages and actuall offending about the externals of Sacramentall actions and order And they did eat and drink unworthily not discerning the Lords body and they profaned the holy Ordinance in that they put no difference between their own supper and the Lords Supper their own bread and the instituted signs And for persons to make the consecrated signs appointed by Jesus Christ to spirituall ends as in the institution a common or civill thing to please and satisfie the outward man must needs be a great evill and was that high and provoking sin for which they are there punished as well they might For indeed it was a sin worse then carrying the Arke of the Covenant contrary to order and yet for that the Lord made a breach upon them And Nadab and Abihu were destroyed for offering strange fire which the Lord commanded not so dangerous a thing it is not to come up to or to adde to or to profane divine institutions Doubtlesse the Corinthians were very rude unreverent and disorderly in the present observance some were hungry and some drunk some had too much and others could get none or but little as is intimated in the remedy or direction given to that particular case To tarry one for another as to order and if any hunger let him eat at home not make the holy Supper a meer businesse of eating and drinking that they come not together to condemnation for time to come as they had done before To the fourth Query I answer They were not chastened for unworthinesse of person or for any other sins they were guilty of before but for unworthy actings in the act of receiving or at that time For this cause some are weak and some are sick and some are fallen asleep that is for eating and drinking unworthily contrary to order and decency the which word unworthily respects their manner of doing not their persons It 's no were said Whoso eateth and drinketh being unworthy is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord. And I think it is no where else the language of Scripture to require reall worthinesse of person before they be sit to come under precepts of duty and service Doth not Baptisme lay ingagements upon all to observe all the commands of Christ
Mat 28.19 20. And do this in remembrance of me is a precept for the baptized of years to observe they being under Church indulgence otherwise we shall be driven to question our Baptisme and then our Church ministry and run mad to the separations or begin again if we could tell how In the mean time how injurious to Church members doth our ungrounded rigour and private interpretations cause us to be To the fift Querie I say The remedy is both by instruction and direction by these waies the Apostle applies himself to them for the cure of their maladie He repeats the first institution comments upon it the better to give them to understand the nature end and use of the ordinance which before they were ignorant of or did not well consider And having taught them the minde of Christ in what was necessary to that service then he gives direction what they must doe First to examine themselves whether they understand what these things of God did mean as they had been taught and then to tarry one for another that the ordinance may be carryed on with order decency and reverence becoming worship and then he assures them they shall not be judged of the Lord. To the sixth Querie I answer The Apostle intends the remedy to the good of the whole Church which comprehends every particular member of years that did actually receive and offend therein And he taught them not any thing but what was easie to be understood by any reasonable man owning the true Religion among them He directed them not to do any thing but what was easie for them to do externally And their offending was so obvious and apparent that they were easily convinced and yeelded to the reproofe Gods blessing concurring with the means and indeed we read no more of their offending in that manner afterwards nor any other Christian Church But they were a Church consisting of members under better qualifications then ours Object therefore the same remedy which was sufficient for them is not sufficient for most of ours 1. Solution I answer The Apostle writing to them That if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such they should not eat intimates that there were such among them that were as bad as ours But secondly if we be a true Church our members we admit true Church members even as theirs then ours come under the same rules with them unlesse we can finde different rules for the same Church in the same things and respects if not then ours are under the same rule in reference to the Sacrament untill they be legally ejected and cast out and are bound to act according to those rules and that order prescribed in hope of a blessing even the worst member among us To the seventh Querie whether the duty of self-examination in order to the sacrament be not properly to be restrained to the premises treated on in the context I answer That whether it be to be extended in this place so farre as most do urge in respect of their reall state unto God competent measure of knowledge in the many fundamentals of Religion the having and acting every grace necessary to salvation c. or to be restrained to the particulars there mentioned I dare not peremptorily determine though strongly inclined to beleeve the latter Not because I think self-examination touching the former may carelesly be neglected by any but I question whether the Apostle had any respect thereto in this place in reference to the Sacrament because I conceive the Apostle here sutes the remedy to the malady and that unworthinesse of person was not any part of malady nor ignorance in the fundamentals of Religion but their not discerning the Lords body and that put them upon other unworthy carriages as is shewed before And therefore as examination is part of the remedy prescribed it seems to me most probable that it properly refers to the rule of institution and those other directions given in the context The eighth Querie is whether a carelesse neglect of this private duty of self-examination before do give a writ of ease and excuse such negligent persons from the precept of publique duty and service Do this in remembrance of me To this I say I cannot conceive how the neglect of a private duty can excuse any in the neglect of publick worship that are Church members of years under the obligation of all that Christ commands The Apostles being sent to preach and baptize those that received their Doctrine the Doctrine of the Gospell and came under the baptisme of Christ were bound to teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ had commanded and in so doing they had a promise of his presence and blessing upon their endevours And loe I am with you alwaies to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. What can be more plain except we shall say the observance of the holy Supper is none of his commands I think Christ commands nothing for the hurt of his visible subjects they observing it according to their present capacity Can an instance be given in the Old or New Testament of any that came under Circumcision or Baptisme whether proselyte or native of years that as private members were admitted to all other ordinances in the Church and yet were forbidden the use of the other Sacrament the Passover or the Lords Supper There is but one Law for the stranger and home-borne If our Baptisme be the Baptisme of Christ I say if it be the baptisme of Christ by which we are consecrated to Christ why should any be exempted from any obedience and priviledge being of years and under Church indulgence at least more then the circumcised under Moses or the Baptized under the Apostles Our not acting according to Scripture presidents in this particular will I fear in time unchurch us We blame the Separations when we our selves maintain the first principles of setting up distinctions and separations in the Church But it is dangerous to be partiall in the lawes of Christ Why may not the wofull neglect of Sacraments visible pledges of divine love be one thing that makes ministers be so contemptible and vile in the eyes of many as they are Well but to return I say this comming to the Sacrament is one of Christs commands and he that breaks the least of his commands and teaches men so shall be called the least in the Kingdome of God But I think Mr. H. hath said enough to this to satisfie any sober impartiall Christian to whom I must still referre the reader for further satisfaction herein The Doctor hath many quillets about this particular which are more like to puzzle then to satisfie the reader He strives to put an inclosure to some duties as not common to all and he instances in relations and sex that come under the obligations of the second Table the which
of discretion and professing the true Religion The Doctor hath written very understandingly and informingly concerning the Covenant and the manner how it is sealed and yet he fals off in his conclusions and applications excluding the unregenerate in the Church from the Sacramentall seals whom yet he allowes to be objects of Covenant grace saying that only the elect and persons effectually called are the objects and yet he intimates that the elect unregenerate are the object of initiall grace and that grace and faith be a part of the Covenant sealed by the Sacrament and yet he would not have those receive that have not this faith and grace though promised in the Covenant and sealed in the Sacrament But if the elect before conversion be in the writing and in the Church then Sacraments seal to them but doubtlesse God hath his elect to call in the Church else we cannot tell where they are if not under the ordinary means of their calling And therefore there can be no danger in sealing that part of the Covenant to such And doth not the Doctor himself and others act accordingly in administring the seal in Baptisme Are they within the Covenant then by vertue of a visible profession in their parents and upon that account sealed with the Sacrament of Baptisme and yet grown to years denyed the same seal of the Supper If they had right then how comes it to passe they have none now The Doctor saith Because of their antifederall wickednesse they prejudice themselves and deprive themselves of covenant right and that those that are in the state of nature are out of the Covenant and the grosly ignorant are such c. And therefore to be denied the sacramentall Seal To which I answer It 's hard to such that any born in the Church of Christian Parents they continuing to uphold an externall profession of the true Religion are out of the Covenant how ignorant or wicked so ever they be For if there be a more immediate object of those promises of giving the first grace in the Church where the ordinary means of working that grace are then persons in the state of nature and unregenerate in the Church are the immediate object of those promises before others out of the Church But there is a present and immediate object of those promises in the Church that are under covenant ordinances except the day of Gods giving the first grace be past in the Church Therefore those in the State of nature and unregenerate in the Church are the present and most immediate object of those promises in the Covenant of Gods giving the first grace As for those in the Church that have the first grace already they cannot be the proper objects of it in the promise and those that are out of the Church not having the ordinary means of putting those promises into performance cannot be the present and most immediate or most likely objects For as touching the state of Paganisme the Apostle intimates plainly That they are strangers from the Covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world Ephes 2.12 Therefore the unregenerate in the Church are the present and most proper objects of those promises and consequently of Sacraments that seal to the truth of those promises And for those that will not allow men in the state of nature and unregenerate to be of the Church they will allow the Covenant a full object in the Church And for particular sins and personall miscarriages in the Church we are to make no difference in the regenerate and unregenerate there being the same rule to guide us in dealing with both But let none mistake me when I say the unregenerate in the Church are the immediate and proper objects of the promises of the first grace I do not mean that all such in the Church must necessarily have that grace given them but such there are in the visible Church which by nature are as bad as any others and in no consideration differ from the worst of men considered in themselves but are simple sinners wholly lost with the rest of fallen mankinde That which makes the difference is out of themselves it 's the meer good will and pleasure of him that worketh all things after the counsell of his own will giving grace to whom he will of those that in all respects are equall in sin and misery So that when we shall come to judge of persons in the Church under the most evident characters of unregeneracy yet we may not exclude them from being objects of covenant grace and mercy nor from the seals and pledges of that grace and mercy during their abode in the Church and the Churches indulgence toward them In a word nothing excludes from covenant relation but the sin against the Holy Ghost which I fear many of our blasphemous Sectaries are guilty of and positive unbelief such as was in the hardned and obstinate Jewes who denyed the holy One and true Messiah sent among them obstinacy and Apostasie in the justly excommunicated renouncing the Christian Religion hating to be reformed by the Churches censures these things exclude and nothing else And this might suffice for answer to the Querie but I shall adde two or three arguments more 1. The very nature of the Sacrament of the Supper is a visible Gospell representing Christ crucified to sight and all the other senses by instituted signs which more ordinarily is carryed to the ear by the word but in this all the senses are made the inlets to the soul carrying the knowledge of Christ crucified to the understanding heart and conscience And I think the unregenerate in the Church have as much need of being taught Christ crucified by the visible signs as any others and they have as much need of the benefit and advantage of their outward senses as the regenerate and more they being more dull and slow of spirit to understand or to be affected with the meaning and end of this service then they are 2. The main end of this service is to keep a continuall fresh remembrance of the death of Christ and that satisfaction made by him by which all the same blessings of the Covenant are procured to fallen man Christs bloud was shed for many for remission of sins that he might gather into one the children of God scattered abroad in all the world and in all ages of the world is the end of his death Joh. 11.52 And the Sacrament is to be observed in remembrance of that by all those that professe hope of being saved through the merits of his death which the unregenerate in the Church do and cannot be excluded from the number of those many Christ shed his bloud for and therefore it is proper for such to remember the death of Christ in order to their spiritual good whom we cannot exclude from being the sheep he died for 3. The actions of taking eating and drinking are naturall actions of the body in reference to
committing of some grosse and scandalous sinne is made by God an occasion of conversion shall any take warrant therefrom to commit scandalous sins c. To all which I answer That all which he hath to that purpose is argued from meer mistakes he taking for granted all along that the unregenerate in the Church do necessarily eat and drink unworthily in the Apostles sense whereas I conceive the contrary hath been already fully declared And therefore it would be well if he would see his mistake and alter his judgement that others might not be in danger of being misled by him In the mean time what he hath charged Mr. H. with in point of excommunication untruly may be retorted upon himself justly It is a cruell assertion a bloudy tenent c. And that not only in his depriving many souls of the benefit and spirituall good of so blessed an ordinance but in his detracting also from the goodnesse grace and power of God in that ordinance as if Christ had appointed it in the Church rather for the hurt then for the spirituall good of his visible subjects they partaking thereof conformly according to their present capacity Object But then saith the Doctor If it be a convering ordinance we may administer the Sacrament to the Heathen to convert them to Christianity for if it will convert those in the Church that have but the form to the power of Religion then it will sure convert the Heathen at least to the form if it will do the greater much more the lesser To this I answer Solution That an argument drawn from the greater to the lesser must be of things of the same kinde and so of men under an equall capacity else it will not hold I can throw a stone over a house can I therefore throw a feather this is lesse then the other and yet though the same arme and strength be put forth it will not do it The fallacy of the argument lies in this That there is not the same capacity of receiving good by the Sacrament in both the formall professing Christian is not in such an incapacity of receiving good by that ordinance as the Heathen are We know that to Heathens that never heard of Christ or at least do not acknowledge him their redeeming Lord so as to come under his Lawes no not so much as Baptisme the outward elements are but meer civill things And they might be easily perswaded to take and eat of those elements of Bread and Wine in order to the good of their bodies but not for the good of their souls before they own Christ to be their Lord Redeemer and Saviour till then they know not what these things mean But those among us educated in the true Religion do acknowledge Christ their redeeming Lord and they do know in some measure what these things of God mean so that the Sacrament in an ordinary way may work some proper effect upon the one but can have none upon the other without a miracle Besides it is clear enough that as no uncircumcised persons were to enter into the Sanctuary or to eat of the Passeover so no unbaptized person is to partake of the holy Supper in that Communion Were there the like ground of denying the Sacrament to the ignorant and scandalous persons under Church indulgence that there is of denying it to infidels this controversie had been at an end before this time It cannot be denyed but excommunication is appointed in the Church to convert and reduce the obstinate and wilful sinners therein doth it therefore follow that we may exercise this means of conversion to Heathens out of the Church What can be more absurd Nay what have we to do to judge them that are without 1 Cor. 5.12 The Doctor knowes well enough that different premises will not bear the same conclusions and the truth is for want of making premises equall according to Scripture presidents we have run upon false conclusions to instance in some 1. Because we finde in Scripture the distinction of beleever and unbeleever used to distinguish the Church from the World how commonly is the same used to make a distinction in the Church amongst us who in Scripture sense are all beleevers for it is evident that an unbeleever in the Scripture sense is either a Pagan infidell or an unbeleeving Jew that absolutely renounces Christ under the notion of a false Christ a deceiver a devill c. refusing to obey his Lawes or to expect salvation by him 2. Because we finde that these unbeleevers are under wrath Aliens from the common-wealth of Israel strangers to the Covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world Ephes 2.12 Which was true of the Ephesians before they received the Gospell that therefore the unregenerate in the Church are under the same condition though they beleeve in a true sense though not sincerely and are under the Covenant and persons to whom the adoption and the giving of the Law and the service of God pertains as once to the Jewes Rom. 9.4 34. finding warrant in the word to separate from the Infidell and idolatrous world especially in matter of worship therefore they conclude we must separate our selves from the unregenerate in the Church 4. Because we finde that some beleevers have by their unworthy and undecent behaviour in time of administration profaned the Sacrament to their own perill and judgement therefore we conclude First That those whose persons are unworthy as not being regenerate eat and drink unworthily Secondly That some other unworthy actions of Christians committed before their comming to the Sacrament renders them uncapable of worthy receiving and consequently renders them liable to judgement therein 5. Because we finde in the Scripture some excommunicated for foul and scandalous sins and blasphemous opinions therefore we conclude we may exercise Church censures for any sin even for omission of such duties as are dubious whether injoyned in the word or no but I have done with these false conclusions There is one objection more which the Doctor makes against Mr. H. Free Admission to which I desire to speak something The objection is this Object That Mr. H. Free Admission strengthens the hands of the wicked by promising them lies in the Name of the Lord and makes sad the hearts of the righteous whom God would not have made sad by their profaning the ordinance c. And this he endevours to back with the language of the Sacrament or words which the Minister uses in the delivering of the Sacrament to particular persons by his words and action giving and tendring Christ and all his benefits of grace and glory to the wicked as well as to the godly the which grace and glory the Sacraments are appointed to assure and confirm c. When as in the preaching of the word it is farre otherwise the Minister therein not dispensing the same to all alike but preaching comfort to whom comfort belongs and terrour to whom
terrour belongs c. I shall in answer to this objection Solut. promise severall things 1. That Sacraments are of no other signification then what they are appointed to signifie by the Word 2. That what Sacraments signifie that only they do necessarily teach and nothing else 3. That the subject of Sacramentall teaching or that which they chiefly teach is Christ crucified together with all the benefits that come thereby to the visible Church included in that particular blessing of remission of sinnes 4. That the main end of the whole service is to bear in our mindes a continuall remembrance of the death of Christ the meriting and procuring cause of all grace and glory bestowed upon baptized man 5. That the Administration of the Sacrament is appointed in the Church as well to be a means of grace as a pledge to assure thereof To all this adde what hath been said before concerning the unregenerate in order to the Sacrament and then make it out he that can that the language or administration of the Sacrament to the wicked or unregenerate remaining in the Church doth strengthen the hands of the wicked more then the Word may do or promise them lies in the name of the Lord. I grant that false conclusions and applications may be drawn from the truest premises in the Word and so likewise from the use of the Sacrament through mistake of our selves but it doth not therefore follow that the Word or Sacrament promiseth lies to the hearer or receiver when through an ignorant deceitfull heart they misapply the Word or Sacrament For there are generall truths held forth indefinitely to all in both though all do not rightly apply the same And the very same that is said of the Sacrament may be truly said of the Word as to the particular in hand when rightly dispensed to men in the Church Is not this the great and most true assertion of the Gospell worthy to be received of all men That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And also to seek and to save that which is lost to call to repentance to justifie the ungodly and to die for enemies who yet in other places are called sheep his Church and friends according to Gods electing love and gracious purpose And is not this Gospell to be preached to every creature in order to the working and effecting these ends of grace and salvation in such as are sinners absolutely and lost in themselves and simply ungodly And dare any say this is to promise lies to the ungodly and sinners in the Church and so to strengthen the hands of the wicked that they may not return from their wickednesse And what is the Sacrament given and received but a visible representation of the death of Christ and satisfaction made by him for sinners to put us in remembrance of all this and which opens a door of hope to all in generall and a peculiar comfort to them that can from their experience of grace received with Paul apply this to themselves Christ came into the world to save sinners whereof I am chief I know what is usually put in against this generall assertion of the Gospell limiting the same to penitent sinners sensible of their being lost and of being enemies c. But doubtlesse out of some mistake and such as doth reflect somewhat upon the publick Ministery to which I would not be any way in the least degree injurious but because such like quotations in Mr. H. are excepted against by the reverend Doctor I shall crave leave to expresse some of my thoughts in vindication of him The Doctor saith Christ came not to call the righteous that is such as think themselves so but sinners to repentance that is saith he such sinners that are sensible of their sinfulnesse sick and lost c. But will not this then follow that all naturall men dead in trespasses and sins thinking themselves righteous whole and in the right way and that they have need of nothing with the Laodiceans not knowing that they are wretched and miserable poor and blinde and naked are out of the number Christ came to call and so by consequence he came to call none at all because all by nature are sinners under the forementioned Characters and black qualification of insensiblenesse of sin and misery and high thoughts of themselves And therefore the Doctors sense is not like to be the true sense and meaning For we know what counsell Christ gives to the Laodiceans who were such conceited senslesse sinners Rev. 3.18 And how that he gives life to quicken them that are dead in sins and trespasses Ephes 2.1 And is sent to give repentance to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and remission of sins Act. 5.31 For to say he gives repentance to the penitent and life to the living as he doth if the Doctors sense be right is not the sense of the Gospell nor indeed a truth in its proper sense without the advancing of the power of nature too high And therefore such supernaturall conditions or qualifications are not required to put persons into a capacity of receiving the benefits of the Gospell Covenant it being the supernatural benefits and blessings of the Covenant that make any to be such It 's true supernaturall grace precedes glory and the first grace precedes the growth and increase therein but it is naturall depravity sinfulnesse and miscry that necessarily precedes the first saving grace so that that cannot be a condition of the first grace that is either the first grace it self or growth therein The Covenant in this case is absolute and inconditionall but then I conceive the Covenant to be conditionall in other respects in an easie and favourable sense thus The tenour of the Gospell to people that never yet imbraced nor owned the Doctrine and ordinances of the Gospell runs thus He that beleeves shall be saved but the wrath of God abides upon those nations people and persons that either have not the Gospell in the tender of it or being tendred receive it not But those that upon the tender receive the Gospell so as to credit the truth thereof and willingly come under the lawes and worship injoyned forsaking all false religions and joyn with the professors of the true such are reckoned for beleevers and come under the promises of grace and glory upon that account And therefore the Apostle sends salutations to all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord both theirs and ours and he applies that of the Prophet in this case Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.2 Rom. 10.13 That is such people are under the promises of salvation in opposition to those that call not upon the Name of Christ Jesus the Lord at all as Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy Name I look upon belief
second chapter of this second Epistle they are set forth in their colours to be such as had escaped the pollutions that are in the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and by apostasie were intangled again therein and overcome and so their latter end was worse then the beginning They that have been converted from their heathen sins by receiving the knowledge and faith of Christ and then again relapse and turn to them again this latter estate of theirs this Christian Heathenisme is worse then their bare Heathenisme at first They had knowledge enough to bring in damnable heresies and wicked loose opinions to wrest the Scriptures to trouble the Church and unsettle many but they were willingly ignorant of the Word of God they had the knowledge of Scripture but against their knowledge did pervert the same and wrest all the Scriptures to their own destruction as the learned Papists and our Apostate Sects do But what is this to the simple ignorant among us that out of carelesnesse meerly or incapacity and weaknesse are so and yet adhere to the true religion by profession amongst us These are strange mistakes and applications of Scriptures but I hope the Doctor is not willingly ignorant By this he may see how severe he is against that in Mr. H. which he is more guilty of himself But I have done with this intreating him and all others into whose hands this shall come to make a charitable sense and construction of what I have here written and not to be offended or prejudiced at the plainnesse of the matter or rudenesse of the expressions and method because I want those advantages that should help all this The Lord knowes that I herein intend plainnesse and so farr as I know my own heart I have thus declared my judgement in these things in uprightnesse and sincerity hoping they may be a means of the Churches good tending to her peace and unity and I am perswaded will be so if prejudice or some other thing do not hinder the serious consideration right understanding and use of what I have here written And so I have done with the reverend Doctor And I shall now from the grounds and principles laid down in the foregoing discourse crave leave to hint a few things to the dissenting brethren of the Congregationall way and the rather because if the Presbyterian way as some do practise will not hold and stand good much lesse will the Independent novelty in point of separation and gathering Churches out of Presbyterian congregations or others and therefore give me leave you that are for that way to speak freely unto you in a few words If you judge the Ministry and the ordinances and particular congregations lawfull as to the main why do you separate from them and gather out their best members from them would you be content to be so served by other separated Churches Doth not this sensibly insinuate to the world that those gathered Churches are the only Churches of Christ and so all other congregations not after your moulding thereby called into question whether they be Churches of Christ or no Are you for order and edification and for the peace of the whole or are you not Do you intend the reformation of the whole or of a part only If you be only for the reformation of a part and your desire be to draw up some to purity of ordinances and spirituall communion with Christ their head and one with another what must become of all the rest that are not of your minde nor indeed in a capacity of admittance unto you upon your termes and qualifications of members what will you make of them that are not so qualified will you account them members of the true visible Catholick Church and yet not fit to be of particular congregations and enjoy communion with Christ in all his holy ordinances Are they by vertue of the holy Covenant of grace Church natives and members borne and declared to be such by publick testimony on the Churches part in administring of Baptisme unto them a great Church priviledge of right belonging to none but such as are in externall Covenant with God at least either by profession of faith in themselves or by their parents and yet not fit to be owned or received into communion by any particular congregation Why what a case are we in then Your selves were equall with the rest in your Baptisme and under the same administration of worship and service that others were and if you have found a blessing in your regeneration and effectuall calling keeping in that station why doe you forsake it now Hath the Covenant of grace in the use of ordinary means brought quickning grace and life to your souls which is the main in order to eternall blessednesse whither will you go to mend your selves Why should you be so offended at the presence of such as you your selves once were Did such kinde of persons hinder the power and blessing of ordinances from doing you good before that you are so zealous in separating from them now Will not the effects of free grace which you have already received convince you that it is good for you to keep your former station and wait upon the same God in covenant for increase and compleating of what he hath begun What fault can you finde with Word Sacraments and Prayer the main essentials of holy worship they being the same both with us and you only you are grieved that sinners should enjoy the benefit of all these though you as bad as they have found good in the use of all these Would you have Jesus Christ save no more then those that are already saved or in a saving state Would you have the effects of Covenant love flowing from a bleeding Saviour unto sinners now to cease Had not meer grace and mercy prevented when you were sinners you had been impenitent sinners still like to the worst Will not the remembrance of what you once were beget some bowels of tendernesse toward such sinners Is this your separation the way to draw on others that are weak ones and to recover offending brethren Is this the way to do their souls good to rail and revile them with reproachfull speeches and slanders calling them the World in opposition to the Church and unbeleevers aliens profane ones dogs and swine and the like Nay is not this the way rather to cast stumbling blocks before the blinde and to destroy many weak brethren whom Christ hath died for by hardning them in an evill way Is it not a means to make them apostatize from the true Religion and turn Papists or any thing to keep the name of Christians rather then to be under that reproach of Infidels Heathens the profane world c. You would have them left to wander in their own waies and so you make them objects of the threatnings but not of the grace of the Gospell and promises under the commands but
lawfully refuse to baptize them at the present without any long deferring of it although they had been Heathens born I would I did but understand your answer to this supposition I conceive that all those that being of years are in a capacity for Baptisme are in a capacity also of all other Christian communion I presume the Apostles baptized upon as easie termes and so might you except you have a different commission or understand the Apostles commission in some other sense then they themselves did But I must contract my self aske you once again whether you ever found any president in the Word for what you practise in this point what Church under the administration of the Gospell will afford a president for your practise Do you separate according to Apostolicall order and rule or by vertue of some new commission or light the Scriptures never taught you I pray you again consider you had need be sure of good warrant to bear you out for you have been the cause and means of our being without discipline Sacraments union and communion with other reformed Churches indulgence to you hath been the occasion of an unlimited Toleration the misery of all those factions Schismes Heresies Blasphemies now abounding in every corner of the Land Well if your foundation be only the wisdome of the flesh and a worldly interest time will discover more of the Babel you are building when the consequences of your principles practise and design are come to full maturity It may come to that passe and it is much to be feared it will that you would retreat if you could tell how In the mean time the wilde beasts of the wildernesse come into Gods vineyard and by heresies destroy the tender grapes and many follow their pernicious wayes by reason of whom the way of truth is evill spoken of Men arise from among our selves speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them 2 Pet. 2.2 Act. 20.30 But mark them thut cause divisions and avoid them Rom. 16.17 But let me speak one word more in order to discipline which as you were never yet willing to come under as to the reforming of the whole so have your indevours been all along most fierce to obstruct and retard the discipline debated on in order to that end Again when the fittest way in Christian prudence according to rule was agreed upon as a means to reforme the whole and confirmed by the supreme Authority of this Nation designs were driven on to obstruct it and such things attempted as are the greatest scandals to the Protestant Religion that ever it suffered under And thirdly notwithstanding many symptomes and sad omens of a carnall design tending to the confusion and ruine of the whole and those the proper products of your own miscarriages do already appear yet you persist in your own contrivances and will not retract untill not only the Church but also the flourishing state of the Common wealth be involved in the same confusion and ruine The very sinewes of the Common-wealth are the fear of God and divine order in carrying on the same in all its parts uniformly different parties and factions too much indulged do ever beget jealousies and fears the common nursery of sedition and rebellion And that which cannot be held without gratifying of all factions and parties cannot in reason and policy hold long Why may not men truly fear God and carry on the power of godlinesse in their several functions and places under an establishment of Doctrine worship and order the only way to honour God And the best expedient to preserve the whole uniformity in the Church is a good foundation of peace and tranquillity in the Common-wealth And that is ever the best policy amongst Christians that is subordinate to true piety and our greatest freedome desired will be soonest attained in the way of religiousnesse when sin will be a snare to any people I confesse it is meerly occasionally that some things have dropped from my pen of this nature I would not offend any nor have I undertaken to meddle with the Independent way strictly taken they have been sufficiently answered by divers learned and reverend Gentlemen and the inconsistences contradictions absurdities and mistakes of their way discovered and not yâ—t vindicated by any that ever I heard of I only have hinted some things tending as I conceive to the Churches peace and unity in vindicating Church members from reproach and slander and inference to the preceding discourse And therefore I shall end with Mr. Humphreys wishes adding some of mine own 1. I wish we had a government establisht in the Church the nearest in Christian prudence that may be to the word of God 2. I wish the duty of fraternall correption a watching over and admonishing one another in love were better known and practised amongst us 3. I wish that men would look more to their own consciences and leave the judging of others spirits heart and reins alone to the judgement seat of Christ 4. I wish though there may be some judging by the fruits that wise religious men would be more cautious of countenancing the separations in the visible Church seeing upon the same ground that you go to gather a Church out of any mixt congregation another will gather a separation out of your Church and so continue as I have intimated from our sad experience an endlesse separating untill this first separation shall in a few years be able to take up the saying of that greatest Grand-mother unto those many Schismes shee shall see issuing as her naturall off-spring out of her owne bowels Rise up daughter go to thy daughter for thy daughters daughter has a daughter for this separations separation has a separation so farre Mr. Humfrey I adde 1. I wish that the distinction of beleevers and unbeleevers Church and world Christ and Belial holy and profane worthy Church members and unworthy were used in the Church of God according to Scripture meaning and with due caution and no otherwise 2. I wish that Sacraments were more clearly understood in respect of their nature and end attributing unto them their due according to the Scripture avoiding all humane boldnesse either in adding to advance them or in diminishing them so as in the least degree to debase them 3. I wish that the Lord Jesus may have the liberty and full scope of his own instituted ordinances given for the spirituall good of his Church that he may use them as instruments of his Spirit in order to that end upon the spirits of all his subjects according to their necessities and spirituall wants 4. I wish that a godly care may be taken in the education of all borne in the Church that being instructed in the plainest way of faith and obedience in the Christian religion they may be prepared to profit by every ordinance in the Church when they come to years 5. I wish that all of years may be made to understand their duties
and Church priviledges and be incouraged unto Church communion in all the waies of Christ that so they may come under Church discipline the best remedy to reclaim the obstinate and wilfull offenders 6. I wish the gifted brethren were better imployed then in unchurching our Churches and gathering Churches out of them it were a work more proper and acceptable either to be content to exercise their gifts to the edifying and building up of that Church in which they received them or else to goe into the infidell world as the Apostles did and preach the Gospel and plant Churches there The Scripture Raile Examined REader since I parted with what I had written in answer to Doctor Drake in the foregoing discourse there came to my hand Mr. Humfreys Rejoyner in vindication of himself a work very well performed by him wherein the truth formerly by him asserted is better cleared and confirmed to the satisfaction of many souls fearing God and breathing forth their earnest desires after the settlement reformation and uniformity of the Church of God in England according to the Word of God Be not prejudiced against his book by other learned men who have and still do appear with much bitternesse and passion against him more to affright with words and humane dictates meerly then with matter of grounded truth according to the sense of the holy Scripture witnesse that book put forth by some Ministers of Glocester-shire intituled A Scripture Raile to the Communion Table I confesse the title is good for we do acknowledge there ought to be such a thing but not in their sense as I hope shall appear by the discovery made in this short discourse following in which I shall wave what hath been already written in answer to D. Drake by Mr. Humfrey and my self and take notice only of some things in the Scripture Raile which have not yet been spoken to that I know of And this I shall do as briefly as I can because I would not anticipate him whom it doth more nearly concern And first of all because I would not leave the weak and incautelous Reader deceived with vain and groundlesse words in reading this Scripture Raile let this be noted that I take Scripture discipline to be the only Rail for the Communion Table which I hope both the Author reproached and my self earnestly desire may be set up and all our indevours tend as conducible means to that end as being assured that the first stone in the building of the reformation as to our case is holy discipline And whether their principles or ours tend most to that I hope to make appear to sober and unprejudiced Christians And the way I shall take shall be to discover some of these Gentlemens unbrotherly dealings with Mr. Humfrey first in perverting his sense Secondly in setting up a Raile to the Lords Table by perverting Scripture and so making that Raile to be a pretended discipline meerly 1. They have damned and censured his Book to be an ungodly pamphlet in which is a masse of perverting Scriptures tending to destroy all Church reformation little better then carnall and profane reasoning sophistry a heterodox piece abomination a vile piece with divers other such hard censures language enough to affright any from ever looking into it that have any care of their souls to avoid their own destruction in complying with that soul damning practise of maintaining mixt communion as they call it I must confesse these men seem very confident in reproaching and censuring both the Book and the man but in this their indeavour to make it thus vile and odious to the world they have not the least evidence of truth or strength of reason to evince it that I can finde in their Book And it will so appear if you minde what is Mr. H. scope and end in his discourse and what are the principles upon which it is founded As 1. That the visible Church of Christ consists of men making a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and so are Saints by calling what ever they are in truth while they so professe and adhere to the true worship the means and matter of which are hearing the word receiving the Sacrament and prayer and of these many are called and few are chosen 2. That all of these of years come under the obligation of Christs commands and are bound to do their duty homage to Christ their Lord as well as they can according to Mat. 28.19 20. 3. That all such ought to submit to Church discipline and not to be excluded from any observance nor denyed any Church priviledge untill they be judicially proceeded against and debarred by vertue of positive excommunication 4. That Ministers by vertue of their function and office may lawfully administer the Sacraments to Church members though they be ignorant and scandalous he doing his duty as well as he may in preparing them in the want of Church discipline These I dare boldly affirme are the main things asserted in that little despised piece which with a sober spirit the Author hath soberly discussed and cleared from the common exceptions made against it by men of different mindes for which his pains first and last I verily beleeve the Church of God in England have great cause to be thankfull to the Lord of the harvest for sending such a faithfull plain-hearted labourer amongst us the sweet temperature of his spirit so adorned with wisdome charity and such a peaceable frame bespeaks him taught of God the true sense of his will in his holy Scriptures rather then his reproachers 1. Touching the visible Church what evill hath he done in asserting it to consist of men making a profession of faith in Christ Wherein doth he dissent from the most orthodox writers in all ages in judging the Church of England a true Church It is confessed by the adversaries and also that a parochiall congregation where the Word is truly preached and the Sacraments administred according to order being a part of the whole is a true Church likewise And this is also confessed by these Gentlemen for they grant that our parochiall Churches are true Churches in a large sense and that is enough as to this and so I hope there is no evill in this first position 2. For the next thing by him asserted namely that all of years in a parish being baptized come under the obligation of all Christs commands it is proved by the text before cited Mat. 28.19 20. And that in order to the Lords Supper Do this in remembrance of me is a known duty belonging to every particular member of the Church in common with all other parts of the worship and service of God And is it then profane reasoning to urge Church members to do their duty and homage in this particular more then in all others To this these Gentlemen have said but little that I can finde to take off what is urged by Mr. H. As for that of the Passeover Mr. H.
H. provided it be done by the just censures of the Church so that these Gentlemen may see what a noise they make about nothing But they go on and tell us what Gelaspy saith on 1 Cor. 10. in his Book called Aarons Rod budded concerning those Israelites that did eat of the Manna and drank of the Rock that followed them that they falling into idolatry whoredomes murmurings and the like the wrath of God came upon them hence they inferre They did not eat of the Manna and drink of the Rock after the committing of those sins and so were excluded for morall uncleannesse as good a consequence as the former For first I deny that all that were guilty of those sins were cut off from the congregation for the whole congregation murmured c. yet were they not all destroyed their carkasses fell in the wildernesse not all at once in one day but by degrees for many years and yet those that were spared did eat Manna otherwise they must needs have perished with hunger Secondly For those that were destroyed and cut off was it that they might not eat Manna any more What a strange and absurd consequence is this They were destroyed for their idolatry whoredomes and murmurings therefore they were cut off that they might not eat of that Sacramentall Manna What a strange fancy is this as if a malefactor were put to death that he might not live to come to the Sacrament any more me thinks it were more rationall to say they were cut off by death that they might not dishonour God by the committing of those sins of idolatry whoredomes and murmurings any more In the same page from the false and absurd premises as they are already discovered to be those Gentlemen urge Mr. H. with an argument but it is so long flat and false that I shall passe it by having already cut the legs it stands upon And the truth is the Author whom they reproach hath said enough concerning this Scripture to stop the mouth of very malice and envie it self if any thing would do it But let us remember what we are upon These Gentlemen have denied that all the Israelites were admitted to their Sacraments especially the Passeover and to prove this they have brought some Scriptures I have examined them you see and their interences and conclusions drawn from them and all they have said and make a shew of amounts to no more but this 1. That some were denyed the Passeover for a moneths space by reason of their legall uncleâ—nnesse 2. That some have been cut off by death for morall uncleannesse or that some have otherwise been separated from the congregation and so from all ordinances of divine worship for scandalous sins And all that can possibly be gathered hence is no more then what Mr. H. hath all along granted for he excepts the excommunicate in his Free Admission to the Lords Supper and this is by them yeelded unto if he mean right according to the word the matter is ended So that one would think they granted this and in another place that our parochiall congregations are true Churches in a large sense that the whole difference between Mr. H. and them were only in point of discipline And if so then the fault Mr. H. is chargeable with in this point is his not setting up discipline but exercising the ordinances of worship without it But M. Joanes hath said enough to take off this in urging and proving a necessity of administring the Sacrament of the Supper in congregations not Presbytered Thus we have considered the admission to the Passeover among the Jewes Now seeing there is such analogie between the Passeover and the Lords Supper the admission to the one seems to be a good rule for admission to the other and seems to be granted on both sides in that it is urged by both And therefore I shal assert some things from the law of the Passeover for further confirmation and strengthning of the duty of free admission to the Lords Supper 1. The Passeover was the same for substance with the holy Supper signifying the same things 2. It was a service commanded the whole Church that whosoever should neglect it in his season should be cut off from his people 3. The people of Israel were a mixt people and many of them as uncapable of making a spirituall use of the Passeover as ours of the Supper 4. The Church under the Gospell administration is under the same Covenant and is but added to or graffed into the Church of the Jewes and their constitution Rom. 11.18 5. The Church of Christ since the comming of Christ in the flesh is under the same principles and in some respects greater then under Moses and the Prophets And therefore why should not admission to the Lords Supper be as free as the Passeover First I say the Jewes Passeover was the same for substance with our Sacrament of the Lords Supper both signifie the same things 1. The Paschal Lamb appointed for that holy service was a lively type of the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world to take away the sins thereof 2. The offering of this Lamb whole without dismembring or breaking a bone of him did shew that whole Christ must suffer that his suffering might be sufficient to satisfie divine justice 3. The bloud of the lamb was to be stricken on the lintels and side posts of every ones door as a token upon those houses where the Israelites were that when the Lord passed through the land of Egypt to destroy the first born both of man and beast the plague might not smite those houses which was to instruct them that this Lamb of God Christ Jesus whose bloud was shed upon the crosse was the only Saviour of his Church and people from the wrath which the Egyptian world lies under and not having any knowledge of him nor means of coming unto him must needs perish And all this concerning the Passeover was to be observed yearly at the time appointed through their generations for ever for a memoriall of their deliverance out of Egypt which though it were but bodily and temporall yet it was to lead them to the understanding of their spirituall and eternall deliverance by the bloud of Christ And hence it is that the Apostle saith Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 We in the Supper have the signs of Christs own death held out as already accomplished they in the type had him held forth as decreed and promised to be accomplished and both to be observed in that remembrance And as it is well observed that Christ having kept the last Passeover did immediately institute the Sacrament of the Supper that it might succeed in the room and stead of the Passeover A change in the thing typified Christ then to come and suffer death now already come and suffered was the cause of the change in the externals of this service Secondly That the Law of
Churcher All the Churches of the Gentiles were not only converted to the faith by the Apostles but also put into an holy order and way by ordaining them officers to rule and feed them in the Lord. And as it was in the Jewes Church under Moses and the Prophets there was a receiving of Proselytes aliens converted and they became Jewes by religion so it was in the times of the Apâ—stles they made nations and cities and countreys proselytes and they became Christians with the Jewes and there was but one law rule and way for all that wâ—â—e imbodied into the Church And there was graâ—â—ing int◠〈…〉 off from the same Church still all along to this day I have been too long in this but I will be shorter in the next Fifthly that the Church of Christ since the coming of Christ in the flesh is under the same and in some respects greater â—riviledges then under Mâ—ses and the Prophets This will appear to be a truth if we conâ—â—der thâ—â— Jesus Christ is and ever was the mâ—â—â—ting â—â—ule of all blessings and privilâ—dges unto the Church in all times and ages of the world that the Church hath ever been in possession or expectation of On the account of his transaction with the Father all the promises of covenant blessings of grace and glory made to Abraham and his seed are founded and thereby confirmed and so consequently to all that are of his faith for so saith the Apostle They that are of the faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham even all the Gentiles that receive the Doctrine of faith so as to initiate them into that Church of which Abraham was the father it being first formed up in his family and the Govenant freely made with him and sealed to him by the Sacrament of Circumcision I say all that are of Abrahams faith are blessed with him Hence it is that the Apostle to the Ephesians hath many expressions to the same purpose Chap. 1.3 Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in Christ And in the second chapter it is clearly intimated that there was a time while they were in their state of Paganisme that they were Aliens from the Common wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world But now saith he you that were afar off are made nigh by the bloud of Christ Ephes 2.11 12 13. But now in Christ Jesus you are of the Commonwealth of Israel children of the Covenants and Promises and have as much interest hope of good from God through Christ as the Jewes who by descent were the naturall seed of Abraham And therefore were now no more strangers and foreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God vers 19. The reason of all is Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever in spirituall things as to the Church and their seed And therefore he is said to be the Minister of circumcision for the truth of God to confirme the promises made to the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercies Rom. 15.8 9. as being made sharers in all those promises of free grace made to the fathers and their naturall seed Nay we may observe how the Apostles do usually apply the severall promises in the Prophets to particular cases in the Churches of Christ in their times But it may be asked Quest what were the priviledges of the Jewes Church under Moses and the Prophets The Law of the Passeover did oblige all the congregation of Israel upon their lives to observe it in the season Our Supper of the Lord is the same to us that the Passeover was to them for the substance as hath been proved having the same meaning and end The people of the Jewes as mixt as ours are if not worse in respect of good and bad regenerate and unregenerate and so as uncapable to make a spirituall use thereof The Church under the Law and the Prophets before the coming of Christ in the flesh and since the same which Jesus Christ and his Apostles only reformed in point of externall administration first owned by the Jewes unto which Church so reformed all beleeving Gentiles are added and graffed into it as the stock and so partake of the same spirituall and externall priviledges with them they and their seed so long as they continue to adhere and cleave to the outward means of salvation in order to that end and from these premises will follow these conclusions First that the same obligation lies now upon all Christians to observe the Ordinance of the holy Supper that did lie upon the whole congregation of Israel to observe the Ordinance of the Passeover and the Law of the Passeover may teach us so much and in some respect is still in force For so long as the equity and reason of a command or law remains the command and law it self remains for the substance of it but the equity and reason of that command concerning the Passeover still remains in respect of the Lords Supper succeeding in the room of the Passeover and therefore should guide and direct us in the administration thereof as touching the subjects or persons that ought to receive And then secondly if all that were in the Church of the Jewes came under the obligation of all the commands of God to that Church respecting the members in common and that both good and bad then all that are grassed into the same Church come under the obligation of all the Lawes given to the same Church and respecting the members in common now as well as then even all good and bad Thirdly the same exceptions that which all as he hath stated the thing are bound to observe I need not stand upon this Answ because I have already been somewhat large upon that Scripture where they say the Apostle requires such qualifications in my former discourse to which I reserre the reader Yet because these men have something which the Doctor hath not I shall hint a little at something of theirs I must confesse I judge the main stresse of the controversie to lie in that eleventh chapter of the first to the Corinthians And there need be no question but the Corinthians were injoyned by the Apostle to observe this ordinance of the holy Supper in remembrance of Christ for vers 2. he commends them for remembring him in all things and keeping the ordinances as he delivered them to them So that their keeping and observing of this ordinance as well as the other as to the thing it self was well done by them but then when he speaks to their miscarriages about the manner of performance he praises them not but reproves them for their wofull abuse of the ordinance in their excesse disorderly and unreverent behaviour in the very act of receiving or while they were together for that end They made a breach upon the very externals of that service using the
it consisted wholly of them for they undertook to cast out of the Synagogue Joh. 9. 12. And when Saul breathed out threatnings against the Saints in zeal of reducing them to the Church from which they were departed and seduced as he thought he went to the chief Priests and all the estate of the Elders for his commission and he received anthority from them to bring both men and women unto Jerusalem to be punished Act. 22.15 And that estate of Elders in the originall is called a Presbytery which also shewes that it was made up of chief Officers of the Church called Presbyters some of which were chief Priests the other Pharisees and some subordinate Presbyters were joyned with them to make up that assembly having authority to judge of manners according to the Lawes of God however upon mistake they punished the true professors of the Christian Religion yet not under the notion of professors of the true Religion but out of zeal to reduce the beleeving Jewes to conformity to the old administration as judging it still in force as it was delivered by Moses If any make question whether this Presbytery according to the Text were the Church to whom complaint was to be made concerning stubborn offenders I answer that Councell or Presbytery was made up of the chief Officers of the whole Church and so the Church representative on whom alone all the authority of the Church was involved for the punishing of sin and preserving the peace of the whole And for the word Church they that are acquainted with the Original language know it is used for any assembly or congregation called together whether to civill or sacred ends and so these Elders and Rulers of the Jewes assembled together for the ends aforesaid are not unproperly called a Church And for the latter thing propounded before namely that the Christian Churches in after ages are to proceed by the same rule and in the same order the Church of the Jewes then did that is to say by a Presbytery seems to me very probable For first of all there were in use in the Christian Church in reference to the rule and government thereof the same names that were in the Church of the Jewes which is a sign that there was the same thing Saint Paul who was well acquainted with the nature of the Presbytery at Jerusalem from whom he received authority to trouble the beleeving Jewes cals an assembly of Elders or Church officers a Presbytery of which what better reason may be conceived then this the resemblance that was between this Eldership and the great Councel in the Church of the Jewes It is clear the Apostles themselves did order all things in the Church ordained Elders and authorized them in the Name of Christ to ordain others c. And they were as much Rulers and Officers over the Catholick Church as the chief Priests and Elders were to the Jewes And hence in the Apostolical Churches Ordination of Ministers was derived from them that were Officers to the whole Church and in a most immediate manner by Jesus Christ were constituted so to be which makes me inclinable to beleeve that those still that are ordained Officers for the good and benefit of the whole should be ordained by such a Presbytery that are intrusted with that power by the Officers of the whole as much as may be So farre am I from consenting to these men that take it for granted that the common members of a particular society may chuse and install their own officers Now what is there in all this for that pretended way of discipline which these Gentlemen commend to their reader here is not the least warrant for any to separate from the Church or withdraw for all is one nor for the people to rule and chuse their own Officers nor for imposing a Church Covenant explicitly to be professed in the congregation and those that will not come up to this and such like termes must not be admitted unto Sacramentall communion Nor is here any warrant for sentencing Church members before a regular triall nay here is no warrant for any single Minister to set up discipline over his people without the consent and conjunction of the reverent brethren of the Ministry with them The key of discipline is not at all in one alone but rather in the whole together A word more on that Scripture as it is directed to the Apostles vers 18 19 20. and so in them to the officers of the Church in succeeding ages to the end of the world Verily saith our Saviour there if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall aske it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them These words seem to have reference unto what was spoken before concerning the authority of the Jewes Church Officers and our Saviour would have his Apostles to know that though their authority may seem to the world yea and to themselves to be weak and contemptible in respect of that great bench of Elders generally submitted unto by the Jewes yet they should have as great authority to binde and loose as the other nay two of them by the authority given them by the Lord of the Church should be equivalent to their great authority And we know it came so to passe They had power to work miracles and were inspired with an extraordinary spirit and had some speciall promises peculiar to them alone as well as gifts They had power to give the holy Ghost by imposition of hands and an extraordinary power in prayer and power to punish and kill the bodies of men for sacriledge and hypocrisie And we know the very Church it self is said to be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone Now what is this to these Ministers in Glocester-shire Dare two or three of them assume this power for I suppose all the Ministers of the County are not of their minde and way to do as the Apostles did Suppose they be Ministers of the Gospell is the Church built upon them or their Doctrine Where have they any such promise that they shall not erre and whatsoever they shall agree to aske shall be done for them of the Father of Jesus Christ They plead their serious and solemn seeking of God and commend unto us their model of Discipline as the result of their serious debates and returns of their prayers but that authority will not satisfie judicious Christians when the thing it self is so inconsistent with the generall rules of the Word as hath been shewed Besides it is well known that in many places the Ministers of the Gospell have used the like means in behalf of themselves and their people yet but few have run into their waies but either fall into some association of Churches and Presbyteries
framing such expedients as in a manner bring in all under a capacity of Sacramentall communion and discipline as in Worcestershire and other places or else carry on the Ordinances of Jesus Christ by vertue of their office as well as they can without Discipline as being convinced of their incapacity for the present so attain unto the true end and exercise thereof notwithstanding all their search disquisition and indevours to satisfie one another therein And the serious debates and seeking of God concerning this should move to own and assent to what is concluded thereupon I conceive it more safe to adhere to the greater part of sober Divines that have been serious in the use of these and all other means to satisfie themselves and others as well as those men and yet dare not in the least degree countenance their way and practise I would aske them this question whether they did ever read of any such practise that a few particular Ministers by their own authority have had the boldnesse to withdraw from the greatest part of their flocks and set up a way of Discipline of their own framing and upon the matter unchurch the greatest part of their congregations allowing them no other priviledge in the Church then they would to Pagans Did the Apostles ever make so bold with any Christian congregation that adhered to the Gospell administrations or did they ever authorize ordinary Presbyters to do so Nay did any ordinary Presbyter in the Apostles time exercise Discipline but upon the command of the Apostles or do we finde them any where blamed because they did not do it I verily beleeve these Gentlemen may not assume such an interest in the exercise of the Key of Discipline as the Apostles had and yet they are more busie with the rod then ever any of the Apostles were Alas it's pity some care is not taken to restrain their imperious usurpation over their severall flocks I think since the ceasing of the Apostles office it is more sutable to the Scripture alledged and other Scriptures to elect such Presbyteries to judge of manners in the Church as were constituted in the Church of the Jewes which our Saviour approved of which yet would come short of being equall with the Apostles in respect of the authority which they had in the Church of Christ though they were in all places men of the best qualifications for Rule that any attain to in our times and so I have done with that Scripture Mat. 18. I will trouble the reader but with two or three passages more about their new modell for I have a good minde to draw to an end and my other occasions will not permit me to do much in these waies Pag. 4. they tell us of the drawing up a profession of faith wherein they acknowledge their former Abominations in worship professing their repentance before the Lord for them Concerning which I say It is a strange expression of Christians except they were such as came newly out of Paganisme or Popery at least What abominations of worship have been established or practised in our Church since the reformation of it Is it not strange that the Ministers of the Church who should be ready to defend the Church from the wicked slanders and reproaches of Anabaptists and other Separatists should thus publickly join with them and that in such a publick way before the world too How many powerfull and successefull Ministers of the Gospell now with Jesus Christ in glory have justified all the ordinary parts of Gods worship as it was practised in our publick assemblies all along and conformed thereunto chearfully in respect of the substance of our worship Indeed there were some needlesse ceremonies used about worship which were declared by the Church to be no part of the worship now these were born as burthens which many of the godly desired to be eased of by their removall but it never came into their thoughts that they were guilty of abominations in worship because of them How doth Mr. Hildersham in his Lectures upon Joh. 4. justifie the Church of England as a true Church and the severall parts of worship practised therein as being according to the institution of the Lord And how doth he from thence blame those that separated or neglected the publick prayers of the Church and yet himself was one of the old non-conformists And Mr. Cotton that went into new England writing an Epistle to that Book doth therein highly commend the Author for many things but in a speciall manner for confuting the separations of the Brownists and he repeats what another reported of him styling him the hammer of Schismaticks commonly called Brownists Those Gentlemen talk of the Covenant established in Christ into which they require a profession to enter of those they admit to partake of the Seal of that Covenant pag. 10. Concerning this I say it were well if they would act according to their own words for 't is certain all Church communion is sounded upon covenant relation And those whose admittance to the Sacrament we plead for are supposed to have entred Covenant relation either in their parents or in their own personall profession of the true Religion that holy Scriptures teach or both and their voluntary adhering to the administrations of the Covenant doth attest their entring the Covenant and their continuing and abiding in that relation let them say what they can to the contrary But they say Object Persons that have entred Covenant may back-slide and so that relation cease and they instance in Simon Magus but those that brake bread were such as continued in the Apostles doctrin Act. 2.42 And back-sliders are not to be admitted to surther communion 1. Answ How do they know that Simon Magus fell off rom the Christian profession when the last we read concerning him is his retracting his erroneous the uphts desiring the Apostle to pray for him that none of those evils might come upon him 2. Suppose he did backslide and renounce his Baptisme and profession would he then have desired Christian communion in the Ordinances of Christ what more absurd 3. We only plead for such to break bread that continue in the Apostles Doctrine which we say all do that adhere to the administrations of Jesus Christ set up in his Church as the ordinary means of obtaining Covenant grace And for what they say concerning renewing of our Covenant with God after defection from him we heartily allow of it provided it be done according to the Scripture Deut. 29.10 11 12 c. Nâ—hem 10.29 Where in the persons of the chief the whole ingaged to walk in all the waies of the Lord and to observe and do all his commandements and his judgement and his statutes This is contrary to these men that would set up a Rail to hinder Christians from observing all Gods Commands nay rather to uncovenant a people in Covenant then ingage them to renew Covenant and walk worthy their Covenant relation in their observance of all covenant Ordinances in hope of blessing And I wish that if the Church cannot the Magistrate would take down the high places that hinder the Lords people from worshipping at the only place of worship If some have liberty to worship at Dan and Bethel why should any be restrained from worshipping at Jerusalem and doing their homage and service in remembrance of Christ who died for sinners I had thought to have added a word concerning the fourth and last thing proposed in the beginning of this Examination as it was urged by Mr. Humfrey namely that Ministers ought to do their duties as they are Ministers though Discipline be wanting and cannot well be attained as things stand of which duties the administration of the Sacrament is one which by their office they are bound to performe as they will answer the neglect thereof to Jesus Christ himself who commands the observance of all his holy Ordinances in the Church for the feeding of his flock And those that love him will make conscience in their places to be faithfull to him that hath appointed them But I fear I have been too tedious already And Mr. Humfrey in his Rejoynder to Doctor Drake hath abundantly given satisfaction in the vindication of this and other truths asserted in his former Book And if he shall think these Gentlemen worthy of any further answer I shall rather leave it to himself then do any thing that may hinder the Church of God of the faithfull and profitable labours of him or any others FINIS ERRATA PAg. 1. line 7. for reprove read reproach p. 4. l. 24. put out may p. 12. l. 8. f. when r. what p. 21. l. 25. f. many r. main p. 32. l. 12. put out be p. 33 l. 14 f. such r. say p. 34. l. 28. r. not allow p. 35. l. 16. r. simply p. 39. l. 16. in the margin for 42 2. r. 42. p 49 l. 5. l. 34. r. 3. which should begin the line and senâ—ence p. 51. l. 3. r. premise l. 22. f. baptized r. lapsed p 60. l. 26. r. guest p. 65. l. 27. f. the r. by p. 67 l. 8. f. communication r. communion p. 71. l. 13 put a period after worship p. 74. l. 25. f. all r. and p 75. l. 12. f. also r. and so p. 91. l. 18. r. relation p. 99. l. 9. r. reference p. 110. l. 29. f. and Gentiles r. assembilies p. 116 l. 1 2. r. Gillespy p. 117. l. 22. put in the margin 1 Cor. 10.7 8 9 10. p. 120 l. 10. f principles r. priviledges p. 127. l. 5. f. God r. Gospel p. 151. l. 1. s no r not p. 164. l. 14. s drived r. derived p. 173. l. 7. put out the stop after sense