reverence and respect to Men of Wisdom Piety and Learning Yes May we envy those who are above us or do exceed us in any thing No. Should we out of envy go about to lessen any man's worth or excellency No. Should all men bear a respect and reverence to those that are of a higher rank and quality than themselves Yes May a man behave himself proudly or scornfully towards his Betters No. Dues to thosâ— in any sort of want Should a Christian supply the needs of all men according to his ability Yes If a man be ignorant and wants knowledge should he not instruct him if he can do it Yes Should not a Christian endeavour to comfort them that are in sâ—dness and affliction Yes If a man be under any slander are we bound to clear him if we know he be innocent Yes To the Poor If a man be in Poverty and Need may they refuse to relieve him who are in Plenty No. Should we not labour to imploy all our abilities to the glory of God and the good of our Neighbour Yes If we refuse so to imploy them will not God take them from us Yes Thankfulness to Benefactor May a Christian refuse to be thankful to his Benefactors or those who have done him any good No. Ought he not to pray for them Yes Admenition and Reproof May a Christian refuse to be thankful to them who reprove him or admonish him or advise him for his Soul 's good No. Should not a man admonish another when he sees him going on in a course of sin Yes But then should he not do it mildly and privately Yes Should we be angry with those who reprove or admonish us No. Should not he who is reproved reform and amend after Reproof Yes If a man owe any thing or have borrowed any thing or have promised any thing is he not bound to pay it Yes Should not Creditors deal charitably and Christianly with their Debtors if they are not able to pay Yes Sunday XIV Duties to Parents To the King Honour Triâ—ute Prayers SHould not a Christian honour all lawful Magistrates especially the King Yes Should we grudge or refuse to pay them Tribute No. Are we bound to pray for them Yes Must we obey all the lawful commands of our King Yes â—bedience Suppose he command us any thing plainly against the Word of God must we obey then No. Must we not in such a Case patiently suffer what he shall inflict on us Yes May we rebel or rise up against him for any cause whatever No. 〈◊〉 our Pastors Must we Love and Honour the Bishops who are the Governours of the Church Yes â—ove Esteem Are we bound to have a great love and respect and esteem for our Ministers Yes May we with-hold from them their just maintenance Maintenance without sin No. Are we bound to obey those Commands of God â—bedience which they preach to us Yes â—â—ayers for â—â—em Should we pray for them Yes May we forsake our own Minister to go to hear Factious Nonconformist Teacher No. Natural Parents Reverence Are we to honour and behave our selves with respect and humility to our Parents Yes If they have any Infirmities must we conceal and cover them Yes May a Child be stubborn and irreverent toward his Parents No. Should Children love and pray for their Parents Love Prayers and endeavour to bring them Comfort Yes Obedience c Must not a Child obey all the lawful commands of his Parents Yes If a Parent command a Child to Lye or Steal should the Child obey in that Case No. If the Child refuse to obey an unlawful Command should he not refuse it humbly modestly and respectfully Yes May a Child despise the Counsel of his Parents or mock at them No. Is it not a dreadful sin to curse our Parents Yes May a Child without a great sin desire his Parents Death for Love of their Estate or for any other thing No. Should not a Child help his Parents in their needs Yes Should the Child marry against the Consent of the Parent No. Is a child bound to perform these Duties to his Parents though they be unkind or wicked Yes Parents Duâ— to children Are Parents bound to sustain and nourish their Children Yes To nourish and bring them to Baptism May Mothers refuse to nurse them without a just Cause or Impediment No. May Parents delay to bring their children to Baptism No. To educate and instruct them Is it not the Parents Duty to instruct them early in the ways of God Yes Ought not the Parent to bring up the child in some honest Trade or Employment Yes Should not Parents try to make them in Love with their Duty by Invitation and Encouragement Yes May Parents discourage or provoke them by harsh and cruel Usage No. Should not Parents if need require correct them timely Cirrection moderately and gently Yes Should a Parent permit any vice to get the least root in a child No. Should a Parent watch over their souls when they are grown up Yes To provide for them Should Parents provide for their subsistence according to their Ability Yes May Parents provide for their children by any unjust dealings No. Is not that the way to leave a Curse with them instead of a Blessing Yes Good example Should not Parents give them a good example by that to win them to Vertue Yes To bless them by their Prayers and Piety Should they seek a Blessing on their Children both by their Prayers and their Christian Life Yes May Parents consume their Portion in their own Excess and Riot No. Or should Parents reserve all till their death and let them want or put them upon unlawful shifts in the mean time No. May Parents oppress them with harsh and unreasonable Commands No. May a Parent marry them utterly against their Will No. Sunday XV. Dues to Brethren SHould Christians bear a great Love and Kindness toward their natural Brethren Yes Should not natural Brethren and Sisters beware of Envyings and Heart-burnings toward each other Yes Natural Should we not have a great love and affection for our Spiritual Brethren Yes Spiritual Are not Spiritual Brethren our fellow-Christians Yes Should we not join with them in holy Duties in Prayers hearing the Word and receiving the Sacraments Yes May we despise or hate a Fellow-Christian because he differs from us in some Opinions No. If a Brother be overtaken in a fault should we not do our best to bring him to Repentance Yes Should we triumph over him in respect of our own Innocence No. Should we Christians have a fellow-feeling of one anothers sufferings and afflictions Yes May we rejoice at the Sins or afflictions of any Man No. Wives Duty-Obedience Is the Wife to obey the Husband in all lawful Commands Yes But what if the thing commanded be inconvenient
what he Commands with that Love that Zeal that Readiness that Chearfulness that Sincerity Universality and Constancy as may make our Obedience like the Holy Angels above in Heaven We pray also in this Petition That we may be enabled not only to do his Will but that we may submit to his holy Will and his Wisdom in all things That his Will may be done by us and his Will may be done in us That so instead of murmuring at his Providence we may humbly submit to and patiently acquiesce in his Will and instead of inclining to do the Will of the Flesh or the Devil we may ever chearfully readily and faithfully obey his Will here below as the Angels do above Give us this day our daily bread THE meaning is We pray that God would give us all the Necessaries of this Life Health Serength Food and Raiment and a competent Portion of the good Things of this World That he would bless our lawful Endeavours to this End and Purpose That seeing by our own Industry alone we cannot procure the outward Comforts of this Life he would so bless that Industry as to give us what may conveniently support and suffice us here and bear our Charges to Heaven That seeing these our Bodies are liable to hunger and thirst cold and nakedness inconveniencies and dangers weariness and want he would by his providential Care and fatherly Provision supply all our Needs and give us such a portion of Temporal Things as may enable us with Comfort to do our Duty Here then we are taught to beg but for Bread that is such a competency as our Father sees fittest for us not for Vanities Excesses and Superfluities Daily bread this Day that we may be content with our present Portion and not be anxiously distractedly and distrustfully careful for the Morrow That as we shall need it again to Morrow so we may be put in mind and invited too to beg it again to Morrow Our Bread that is that which is our own by lawful Labour or a lawful Title and not the Bread of others We pray also in this Petition not only for Bodily Bread but for the Bread or Food of the Soul that is the Food of continual Grace For as the Body cannot sustain it self without daily Food so neither can the Soul sustain its self in its daily Temptations without the constant supply of Grace We therefore beg in this Petition that God would give us day by day for the remainder of our Days all Things necessary for our Souls and Bodies And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive them that trespass against us BY Debts and Trespasses is meant Offences or Sins against God So that the meaning is We pray that through the Satisfaction of the Holy Jesus we may be acquitted from the Guilt and Punishment of all our Sins whether of Omission or Commission thought word or deed known or secret But in this Petition here is a caution or a qualification to be in us whereby we may be capable of receiving God's Pardon As we forgive them that trespass against us That is as we forgive them that have injured us so freely as not to desire to revenge our selves on them But on the contrary do endeavour sincerely to love Enemies and to do good upon all occasions to them that hate us whenever they need our relief or assistance Now although in weightier and considerable matters we may seek and sue for reasonable Satisfaction for Damages and Injuries yet if it be not done without rigour spite malice and desires of Revenge it cannot be lawful for a Christian If in this seeking satisfaction and legal reparation where the Loss and Damage is great and considerable we give way to revengeful Desires or do it only to satisfie our revengeful Humour it is still vnlawful As for the Prosecuting a Malefactor as Murtherer Thief Robber or the like this is not made utterly unlawful by Christ nor inconsistent with the safe and devout use of this Petition provided it be not done barely to satisfie our own revengeful Humour But in Obedience to the King and the Laws who command it for the good of the Common-wealth which is injured by the Impunity of Malefactors for an example to others and alway with Pity Compassion and Charity to the Person Prosecuted For although we may and ought to forgive Injuries done to our selves yet we may not dispose of the Rights of the Prince and the Community Besides in criminal Cases the Plea is in the behalf of the King and not the injured Person So that at least in greater Cases not to Prosecute is Disobedience to the King a plain Breach of the Laws and an Act of Injustice and Uncharitableness to the Community Further yet 't is a known Rule That the Receiver is as bad as the Thief and the Accessary in some proportion is punishable as the Principal and the Concealer is certainly an Accessary Though still when all is done we should have a very watchful Eye upon our selves that we neither desire nor design the gratifying our own revengeful Humour in such Prosecutions and to that end alway labour to subdue and mortifie all such vile Affections as incline us to Revenge So that we pray in this Petition that God would forgive us our Offences against him as we forgive our Brethren so as not to desire to revenge our selves on them here or that they may fare the worse for their wrongs toward us in the Day of Judgment We pray also in this Petition for the Grace of Charity and Forgiveness That God would vouchsafe us Hearts to forgive others their Offences against us according as we expect forgiveness from God That we may see and consider the easie condition of Pardon that is set us to forgive our Brother a few Pence in this Life to have Ten thousand Talents forgiven us in the next So that this Petition cannot piously and safely be used by us unless we lay aside all hatred malice and desires of Revenge towards our Brethren And if ever in Case of great and considerable Damages we do seek for legal Satisfaction it ought to be without such hatred spite and intentions of Revenge and managed with a charitable and friendly temper and disposition toward the Person or else it cannot be innocent Behold here the absolute necessity of Humility and Charity Meekness and Self-denial Forbearance and Forgiveness in a Christian or Disciple of the Holy Jesus who cannot so much as sue rightly for reparation or satisfaction for Losses and Damages done him by others unless it be without hatred of the Person and for considerable Matters not for trifles and without Malice Spite Rigour or intentions of Revenge And may the good God grant us the Knowledge and the Practice both of the true Christian Charity and Meekness that by this Character the Holy and Meek Jesus may discern us to be his Sons and Servants And that the difficulty of this Duty may never
and stick to if they hope to receive and enjoy the benefits of their Baptism As we shall see presently Question Why then are Infants baptized when by reason of c. Answer Because they promise them both by their Sureties c. THE meaning is They promise this Repentance and this Faith which is to be shewn by a holy Obedience by their Sureties by their Mouths which Promise if they will themselves faithfully stand to and take upon themselves when they come to Knowledge they shall receive all the Benefits that can be conveyed by the Holy Sacrament of Baptism Their Baptism shall be as effectual or in as full Power Force and Vertue as any advantageous Bargain which was or could be made for them by their Trustees or Guardians when they were under Age And if they persevere in this Faith and this Obedience shall not fail to receive their Crown and Kingdom But yet notwithstanding all this this is the great Objection made by the Anabaptists against baptizing Infants That they do not believe can understand nothing of the Christian Religion nor promise Faith or Repentance or Obedience for the future I shall therefore in a word or two as we pass along shew that Infants are to be Baptized from Scripture although it be not commanded there in express Words from the Practice of the Church of Christ and from Reason 1. As to Scripture That command given to the Apostles to baptize all Nations who are no where forbidden to baptize the Children of Christian Parents seems to look favourably enough this way Thus when we read of a whole City as Samaria or a Family as the Jaylor's and Crispus's and Stephanas's baptized though none be expressed to be baptized but those that believed yet what other can be thought but that even the Children also of these Believers if they had any in their Town or Family were baptized Since it was agreeable with the Jewish Baptism wherein our Saviour's was founded and from which in that particular it is never said in the least to have differed to receive to Prospelytism by Baptism the Infants of those that were converted and baptized as well as the Converts themselves 2. The Scripture seems rather to command it St. Mark x. 14. Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Which intimates that their coming to him was for entrance into that Kingdom and to be made Members of his Church And what shall we forbid these to be brought to Christ to come to him whom he calls God forbid 3. 'T is said Acts ij 38 39. That Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is unto you and your Children When he here bad the Parents be baptized for the Remission of Sins can it be thought his meaning was That the Children should rather go without Remission than have Baptism as if he had some compassion indeed for the Parents but none for the Children Ay but he bids them Repent which Children could not do 'T is hard-heartedness indeed and that to a high degree for want of that Duty which they have not need nor ability to perform to deprive them of that Benefit which they have need of and capability to receive to deny them the means of being made partakers of the Holy Ghost who as they do not act Repentance so they need not to repent and need not to repent because they act no Sin 4. To mention among others but one Scripture more 1 Cor. vij 14. For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they holy If Children of a believing Parent are Holy surely then they have a right to Baptism For none can be said to be Holy without the Merits of Christ and Baptism is the way to apply and convey Christ's Merits to us Now that Infants of Christian Parents should have a right to Christ's Merits and Holiness and yet no right to the means of conveying them is not to be supposed As for what the Anabaptists object from St. Matthew xxviij 19 20. that 't is said Teach all Nations and baptize them it makes little or nothing for them but rather against them For 1. the word Teach is after the word Baptizing as well as before it and that makes the Case even But 2. the exact rendring of the place is this Go ye therefore and make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them In the name c. teaching them to observe all things c. Now 't is certain there were Three things formerly in Use in the Jewish Church for the admitting of Disciples viz. Circumcision Sacrifice and Baptism and our Saviour did lay aside the Two former Circumcision and Sacrifice and did think fit only to continue the latter namely Baptism Now put the Case he had continued Circumcision to be the only Ceremony to be used in his Church for the admitting of Disciples and had laid aside Sacrifice and Baptism See Walker's Modest Plea for Infants Baptism cap. 30. §. 15. and that instead of saying Go ye therefore and make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them c. he had said Go ye therefore and make Disciples of all Nations circumcising them c. who then remembred that Infants as well as others had usually in that Case been circumcised would ever have interpreted his Words to the excluding of Infants from Circumcision or ever have once imagined or phansied any other but that Children should now and henceforth as well as formerly be circumcised Even so now our Saviour having discontinued Circumcision and Sacrifice and continued Baptism alone to be the Sacrament of the initiation of Disciples into his Church who that remembers that it was the use before our Saviour's time to admit Infants into the Church by Baptism can imagine any other but that his mind was they should still be so admitted or but rationally phansie that in saying Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them he meant to exclude Infants from Baptism II. As to the Practice of the Catholick Church 'T is now above Sixteen hundred and fifty Years ago since our Saviour after he had wrought out our Redemption ascended up to Heaven And in every Age of the Church home to the very Age wherein the Apostles lived Church-Histories tell us it was the Practice of the Church of Christ to Baptize the Children of Christian Parents which has been continued to this Day So that this Custom is Catholick or Universal in point of Time And no less Universal or Catholick is it in point of Place For all Parts of the Church Militant on Earth excepting the few Anabaptists of this and the last Age ever did and still do Baptize their Infants All Parts both of the Eastern and