latter we do in every Act of Outward Devotion such as Bowing Kneeling Standing putting on Sackcloth c. all which represent our Duty and are professions of our Intentions to perform it Tho' therefore Mr. B. should prove by Scripture that the Sacraments represent our Duty as required by God yet it were nothing against me except he prove it to be proper and peculiar to Sacraments to represent our Duty as profest by us to the Exclusion of all other Signs However tho' I need not take Notice of the Scriptures he produces to this purpose they not being to the point in hand yet because they are all perverted from their true and genuine sense I think my self obliged to Vindicate them from his false glosses and shall with them likewise consider his other Arguments on this Head The first is John 3. 5. Except a Man be born of the Water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven This he produces Vind. 38. to prove that Washing with Water is by its Resemblance Instructive to us concerning the Priviledges and Duties of the Covenant we enter into But here is nothing concerning Instruction but the plain and litteral meaning of the place is That Baptism represents to us the Will of God to give us a New Birth by Water and the Holy Ghost The Water doth not only Instruct us in the Necessity of the Regenerating and purifying Vertue of the Holy Spirit as he seems to suggest but when duly used it carries that Vertue along with it The second place produced by him to prove the Water in Baptism to be an Instructing Sign concerning our Duty and Priviledges is Tit. 3. 5. He saved us by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost This fully proves that it is God's Institution that we shou'd be saved by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism if Mr. B. thinks that we are only Instructed in that Priviledge by the Water in Baptism as he seems to do he contradicts the very Letter of the Holy Scripture which says we are saved by it and he seems to be influenced in this point with Socinian Notions The third place is Acts 22. 16. Arise be Baptised and wash away thy sins This he produces to prove that Baptism is Designed to Instruct us concerning our guilt as well as pollution and the necessity of our being cleansed from it by the laver of our Mediators Blood But sure the place proves quite another thing not only that we are Instructed by Baptism concerning the necessity of being Cleansed but that we are actually Cleansed and Washed in our Mediator's Blood by it and have our Sins then and not before forgiven us So the Scriptures frequently Teach us and so the Church has ever understood it it is not for any Merit of our Faith or Repentance that our Sins are forgiven us and therefore God may as Justly and has as positively made Baptism a condition of our Pardon when it may be had as either of them Christ may apply the Vertue of his Blood to us on what terms he Pleases and since he has made Baptism a Condition the meaness of the thing ought to be no Exception any more than the washing in Jordan was a just Exception to Naaman the Syrian We are therefore as much regenerated by Baptism Cleansed Saved and Pardoned by it as Naaman was Cured of his Leprosy by Washing in Jordan And can no more be partakers of these benefits without it when we may have it then he cou'd without the other It is therefore of very ill consequence to interpret these places of bare Instruction and I hope Mr. B. will not say he meant so to interpret them as to Exclude the real force and efficacy The fourth place is John 6. 53. 54. Who so eats my flesh and drinks my Blood hath Eternal Life For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed This he produces to prove that in the Lords Supper There is not only a Commemorative Representation of the Death of Christ but also an Instructive Representation of our spiritual Communion with him in his Body and Blood And of Those Duties by which we are said 〈◊〉 Eat his Flesh and Drink his Blood Vind. p. 39. But there is no colour for such a gloss The Place speaks of feeding by Faith on the Flesh and Blood of Christ either in or out of the Sacrament 'T is certain and confessed by the Church of God that there is a peculiar Feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ by worthy Receivers in the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper and that there is not only a Commemorative and Instructive Representation of them as Mr. B. alledges but a real and true Communion of them your Confession of Faith uses the Words Really and Indeed Chap. 29. and therefore i◠is great perverting of those Words of St John to interpret them of such Commemorative and Instructive Representation only and a ready way to bring in the Socinian Notions of Sacraments The Fifth place Vind. p. 39. is Rom. 6. 3 4 5. So many of us as were Baptised into Christ were Baptised into his Death therefore we are Buried with him by Baptism unto Death that like as Christ was Raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also shou'd wà lk in Newness of Life He alledges Vind. p. 39. That dying unto Sin and walking in Newness of Life is not signifyed as the Benefit Conferred by God as I suppose but rather as the Duty required from us And to the same purpose he quotes Coloss 2. 12. Buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him and you being dead in your sins and the uncircomcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses It is manifest from the plain Words of these places that the Apostle here shews what God has done for us and from thence infers what we owe to him He has mortified Sin in us by Baptism he has buried us with Christ he has forgiven us all Trespasses he has quickened us together with him as he raised Christ and given us a New Life by his Holy Spirit let any one judge whether these are Benefits we receive from God as I affirm or rather Duties required from us as Mr. B. alledges Every one of these as the Church of God has ever Taught and as the generality of Christians except Pelagians of old and Socinians of late have professed to believe are Acts of God's efficacion Spirit upon us and not Duties required of us tho' they infer Duties to be perform'd by us We cannot quicken our selves or kill Sin in us till the Spirit of God deliver us from the Body of Death and quicken us by a new Principle and then when he has given us a New Life it is as the Apostle infers our Duty to walk in the Newness of that Life This is plainly the Apostles Reasoning Rom. 6. for after he
I find the Socinian Notions too much encourag'd by some have very much shaken I should think what I have before said alone sufficient to Answer Mr. B's whole Discourse concerning them and to shew it to be of no force But whilst Men are made to look on Sacraments as primarily designed to bind us to our Duty to God and not rather as Pledges and Conveyances of his Grace to us they are apt to be deterr'd by having their Duty set before them in so strong and the Grace to perform it in so weak a Light whereas if Men look on them principally as Tenders of Grace and Assistance to perform their Duty better and more easily than they did before and consider this as the proper and peculiar effect of them as Sacraments and that which distinguishes them from all other Signs as I have and shall prove it is this will encourage them to come to them cheerfully and bind themselves readily to that Duty which they here hope for Grace to discharge in which hopes God will not deceive them But Mr. B. has so order'd the matter that he has perverted most of those Scriptures that give us this hope and assurance to a quite different purpose so that in the relation I stand towards you I am obliged to instruct you in the orthodox sence of them and vindicate them from the Socinian glosses he thus puts on them I proceed therefore first to shew you That the Sacraments are primarily signs of God's Grace and not properly of our Duty tho' they imply it This I think necessary to do to make you understand the true nature of Sacraments for otherwise I must let you know it is not necessary to the point in dispute about the Sign of the Cross for whether the Sacraments are immediately signs of our Duty or no it is plain as I shall shew you in the Second place That the Scripture warrants us to use other signs of our Duty besides them And in the Third place That the Cross is such a sign as the Scriptures warrant Sect. II. That the Sacraments are Primarily Signs from God to us of his Grace and not properly of our Duty either as required by God or profest by us tho' they imply it I. THIS is plainly the Doctrine of our Church in her Catechism and Articles In the first She teaches That a Sacrament is an Outward and Visible Sign of an Inward and Spiritual Grace given unto us by God restraining the Sign to this Grace of God And in her Articles she declares That Sacraments be not only badges or tokens of Christians Profession but rather they be certain sure Witnesses and Effectual Signs of Grace and God's good-will towards us by which he doth work invisible in us Art 25. And again Baptism is not only a sign of Profession and Mark of difference whereby Christian Men are discerned from others that be not Christened but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church c. Art 27. And further The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have amengst themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's Death insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with Faith receive the same The Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ c. Art 28. In all which places our Church makes the Grace of God effectually Communicated to us in the due use of the Sacraments to be properly and principally signified by them To these Articles I suppose you do assent they being approved by the Heads of Agreement which Mr. B. asserts to be the Common Principles wherein both the Presbyterian and Congregational Divines are agreed Rem p. 142. II. Besides this Authority of our Church I think most Divines that have written to purpose on this Subject distinguish between the things signified by a Sacramental Sign The things pre required in us to the use of it and the Benefits Consequents and Effects of it Thus in the Lord's Supper the things properly and immediately signified are the Body and Blood of Christ which are therein communicated to us The things pre-required in us are to Examin our selves to have a lively sense of God's Mercy in Christ to have a thankful remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all men These are the Wedding Garments to make us acceptable Guests at this Feast Lastly the Benefit or Effect of this Sacrament is The refreshing our Souls by the Body and Blood of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine I might instance the same in the other Sacrament of Baptism but an Example will make it plainer for both We will suppose then a King grants a Pardon to a Rebel under the Great Seal Now the Great Seal in this case signifies as every body knows the King's Favour and Grace to the Person to whom it is granted this is the direct proper and immediate signification of it But it is supposed or pre-required that the person so favoured is willing to accept of the Pardon granted by it and that he is resolved to be a faithful Subject for the future The Consequent of this Pardon is that he who has it shall enjoy his Liberty Estate and Life as formerly Now if any should argue from this that the Great Seal is a sign of our Submission and Allegiance and of the enjoyment of our Liberty Property c. it would be in effect the same as if they should say that a red Sky at Evening in Harvest which properly signifies a fair day to follow is a sign of the Obligations which Husbandmen lye under to imploy their diligence in the season offer'd to preserve the Fruits of the Earth and of full Barns and encrease of Wealth because these are all Antecedents or Consequents of the fair day which such a Sky properly and immediately signifies III. Mr. B. in opposition to this Doctrin takes some pains to prove the Sacraments designed to represent our Duty to us and to signifie our Obligation to perform it and applies several places of Scripture to this intent But I desire you to observe that the thing Mr. B. ought to prove is that they are Signs from us to God for tho' they represent our Duty to us they may still be Signs from God to us signifying his Will requiring us to perform such Duties and not from us to God signifying our Intention and Resolution to perform them for it is necessary carefully to distinguish between God's signifying his Will to us by certain signs which require or represent our Duty and our professing Obedience to him in such significant Actions as are proper to express it The former God doth in many Types and Signs in the Old and New Testament besides the Sacraments which signifie them only by Consequence and Implication not directly and the
by the Christian at Baptism and that Name in the Primitive Church was entred in the Diptycks or Church Roll they were called by it to receive the Holy Communion and when cut off from the Church their Names were blotted out of these Sacred Tables or Rolls and therefore their Names given them in Baptism were effectual obligations and badges of their profession 3. I do not find any Authentick declaration of your Party against this use of Names nor any Authority Mr. B. has to declare your sense in the matter Your Directory orders a Name to be given at Baptism which shews the Authors thought it material and not meerly a civil thing for the design of the Directory is to order the worship of God and there was no reason for them to appoint a civil Ceremony in so material a part of Gods worship as Baptism is Mr. B. says that it is that the Person may be Notifyed to the Congregation that is that they may distinguish him to be the Person that was Baptised Now that which distinguishes and makes it known through his whole Life that he is a member of Christ is surely a badge of his profession and obliges him to do nothing unworthy of it You call the Name you receive at Baptism your Christian Name and as your Surnames shew your Family so your Christian Names shew your Profession I may add to this that some of your party have been very nice in giving Names and have called their Children by such Names as they thought wou'd most likely put them in mind of their Duty to God and oblige them to perform it thus some called their Children Grace Charity Prudence Faithfull Praise God to what purpose but to be a Badge Token Memorial and Obligation to them to practise these Graces Lastly the Notes of the Assembly on Gen. 17. 5. Observe on God's giving Abraham a Name that some take the giving of a new Name to note a Sacramental Renovation in the new sence of Circumcision which now was first added to the Covenant and thence hath it been the Practice of such as profess Religion to give Names to their Children at their Circumcision upon which they pass no censure And Mr. Ainsworth for whom I suppose you likewise have a value has this Observation on it Abraham is the first Man in the World whose Name is changed of God And it signified a change of Estate and a renewing with increase of Grace from God therefore this is after mentioned as one of his Favours Neh. 9. 7. So Jacob's Name is made new Gen. 32. 28. and all true Christians Esay 62. 2. Rev. 2. 17. So that what I said concerning giving of a Name to your Children and particularly God's giving one to Abraham is not suggested by my own Fancy as Mr. B. alledgeth I wish he would adhere to the literal sence of Scripture and the best Commentators as I am assured I endeavour to do But secondly he objects that if this were true then this is a Scriptural Warrant for giving Names to Children at Baptism as a token of their admission into Gods Family Vind. p. 53. and then it is a Ceremony of Gods own appointment To which I answer that this is a full proof that a Sign appointed by God to signifie our admission into his Family of giving up our names to him and engaging to be his Servants is no Sacrament and then it follows that it is so far from being a principal use of a Sacrament to be a binding Sign only that on the contrary it is no proper or peculiar use of it at all but common to other Signs and then our using the Sign of the Cross for an obliging Sign on our parts is not to ascribe any thing of a Sacramental nature to it From the whole I suppose it fully appears both from Scripture and your own practice that we may use some other Signs besides the Sacraments to Oblige Ratify and Confirm our Covenant with God and bind our selves to his service and that our doing so doth not make those Signs Humane Sacraments And I desire you to remember that the whole design of our using the Sign of the Cross is onely to declare and testify to the World that we look on our selves as persons thus Bound obliged and dedicated to Gods service and that we are resolved not to decline that Service or be ashamed of it for any danger or infamy that may attend it tho' it should expose us as it did our Saviour to the painful and shameful death of the Cross. To Bind Oblige and Dedicate our selves to Gods service are properly acts of our minds all that outward Signs can do is to declare and express these inward Acts and surely there cannot be any outward Action that more properly or naturally doth declare our resolution and purpose to dedicate our selves to the service of a Crucifyed Saviour than making the Sign of the Cross if then it be lawful as I have proved both from Scripture and your own practice to express and declare these Acts of our minds by other Signs than the Sacraments our using the Sign of the Cross to this purpose can never make it a new Sacrament or unlawful Sect. VI. Concerning Distinguishing Signs I. I Shall now proceed to the Third sort of Signs which Mr. B. mentions which he calls Distinguishing I have shew'd you That these may be of two Sorts and come under the Seventh and Eighth Considerations of Signs as I have laid them down Sect. 3. of this Appendix The Seventh is That a Sign may be called Distinguishing because it signifies and conveys to us some Privilege or Benefit which effectually distinguisheth us from the rest of the World and obliges others to own us as so privileged Thus the King's Patent to a Noble-man distinguisheth him and obliges others to take notice of him And thus the Regenerating Principle of Grace convey'd to us in Baptism makes an effectual distinction of Christians from other Men and the Privileges convey'd to us thereby oblige all other Christians to own us as Fellow-members and Heirs of the same Hope with themselves And thus the Lords Supper doth likewise distinguish us by communicating to us the Body and Blood of our Saviour by which our Union with Christ is preserved and encreased and the Graces and Privileges received in Baptism are renew'd strengthen'd and confirmed to us I grant therefore that the Sacraments are Distinguishing Signs in this sense and this use of them is plainly contained under the first thing that I shewed to be necessary to make them up that is an outward and visible Sign instituted by God signifying some spiritual Grace or Benefit which we expect from Him Such an inward and spiritual Grace or Benefit granted to us in the Sacraments doth indeed Distinguish us from all others and entitle us to the Privileges of Children and the Sacraments are Conveyances and Badges of that Grace or Privilege as much as the King's Patent is of
believe Mr. B. means here that the adult Members of our Church are order'd to wear Crosses on their Breasts or Forehead to profess their Remembrance of and Renewed Dedication to the Service of Christ there being no such Order or Practice amongst us But when all is done I see no great difference between bringing a Ticket in my hand to profess that I intend and have a Title to participate of the Body and Blood of a Crucified Saviour Which is your use of a Ticket And carrying a Cross on my Forehead if there were any such Custom or Order to profess and shew that I am not ashamed of him and intend to persevere in his service Nor do I see that a King who carries it in his Banner when he Fights for the Preservation of his Religion and Subjects against Infidels makes it a Sacrament more than you do your Ticket which is another Name for a Badge To conclude this Point It is very observable in what manner Mr. B. treats it and me in effect for producing it 'T is I confess says he a very dangerous Ceremony in which he has found out abundance of very strange and mysterious significations If all these wonderful Spiritual Significations assigned to this Poor Ticket c. p. 53 54. If indeed this perilous Ticket had had a Cross upon it c. By these and several other Scoffing Expressions he endeavours to expose the mention of this thing and my Argument from it for the Use of the Cross as matters too slight and inconsiderable to be Offer'd or to have any Words made about them and yet doth not consider how momentous he thinks it to make so many Words about the Sign of the Cross which in it self and in our Use and Application of it is not of greater moment or so like a Sacrament as your Ticket this seems to me a very great Instance of the power of Partiality and Prejudice for the wonderful Spiritual Significations as Mr. B. is pleased to call them Assigned by me to your Ticket are in effect no more than upon examination he owns to belong to it and pleads to be necessary for the decent and orderly Celebration of the Lord's Supper and therefore are more Justly Assigned to it by me than those which he Assigns to our use of the Cross. And there is this difference that we disown those Significations which he would Affix to the Cross whereas he cannot deny those that I Assign to your use of a Ticket as I have already shew'd And this gives me occasion to put you in mind of a Book printed 1607 written by one Parker with great seriousness and a great shew of Learning with several thousand Quotations and in it he charges the Cross with the breach of all the Commandments and has Chapters under these several titles The Murther of the Cross The Adultery of the Cross The Wrong of the Cross The Slander of the Cross The Concupiscence of the Cross. I think every one of them is as well founded as Mr. B's Charge of its being a Human Sacrament and I doubt not but when Faction is a little cooled and Men allow themselves to think it will appear full as unreasonable as Mr. Parker's Charges do to all impartial Men. And were Men so disposed they might make as great a stir about this Ticket and pretend as Just Cause for a Schism from you on account of it as you do from us on account of the Sign of the Cross for a very little thing has always served factious Men for an opportunity of disturbing the Peace of the Church Upon the whole I think it fully appears that both Scripture and your own Practice warrant us to use other Signs which are not Sacraments for the uses ascribed to Sacraments by Mr. B. so far as the Sign of the Cross is concern'd in those uses and I hope that what I have said concerning Representing Obliging and Distinguishing Signs may help to give you a clear Notion of the true uses of Sacraments which Mr. B. has rather Obscured than Explained by expressing them in such words as are no way proper or clear but of a very uncertain and ambiguous signification Sect. VII Concerning the Crosses being Warranted by Scripture I. HAving thus Justified the Use of the Cross from Mr. B's Charge of being a Humane Sacrament I shall now consider what he hath said against its being warranted by Scripture I shew'd in my Admonition That 1st We are Obliged to express the inward Reverence and Sense of our Minds concerning God by some outward Means 2dly That the Scriptures Command us to express those inward thoughts and sense of our Minds by Actions as well as Words where it may properly be done 3dly That the Scriptures teach us to express our thoughts and sense concerning Religious Matters in such Words and Actions as on other serious Occasions serve to express the like sense and disposition of our Minds 4thly That Glorying in the Sufferings of Christ and professing our selves ready to follow him even to the most ignominious Death on the Cross is a Duty incumbent on us by Scripture 5thly That it is very proper at Baptism to make this Profession 6thly That we are not only Warranted to do it by Words but likewise by Actions 7thly That making the Sign of the Cross is an Action which Universal Custom in all Ages and Churches since the Apostle's time has apply'd to this purpose These I proved by Scripture and Reason and he that would confute me must prove it unlawful to express the particular Duties we undertake in the Sacraments by Actions that are by general Custom expressive of these Duties II. To all these Mr. B. makes several Replies I shall first consider his Replies and then proceed further to confirm my own Proofs First then he argues This doth not reach the main Uses of the Cross which I was concerned to Defend that is its being a Dedicating and Distinguishing Badge For this says he pretends to prove no more than that it is an instructive Sign to signifie or express this particular Duty of Glorying in the Sufferings of Christ Vind. p. 40. I have observed that when Mr. B. is to answer an Argument of Force he often puts it off with an unscriptural hard Word or a Jest. Thus when I shewed the reasonableness of directing all our Praises expresly to the Father Son and Holy Ghost whom we equally are oblig'd to Glorifie he turns it off with a Jest Rem p. 22. calling it A Wonderful Knack of turning the Psalms of David into Christian Hymns And yet it doth so effectually answer that end that no Iew or Socinian will joyn in them when so used So when I urged a plain and literal Proof of Scripture to shew that the People may joyn their Voices in the publick Prayers of the Church as plain as any is for their joyning in singing Psalms Acts 4. 24. They lift up their Voice with one accord and said