publick profession of at their Baptism They were fully instructed in the excellent Moral Precepts of that Divine Religion which they were to practise the remaining part of their lives And then they were thought prepared for the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost CHAP. III. In what manner persons converted to Christianity were baptized to what Privileges they were admitted and to what Duties they were ingaged by their Baptism 1. WHen the person to be baptized was thus prepared and the time appointed come which was usually at Easter or Whitsontide the Commemorations of our Saviour's Passion and Resurrection and of the great Effusion of the Holy Spirit things principally respected in this Sacrament though it might also upon occasion be celebrated at any other time When the Person I say was thus prepared he was brought by the Priest to a convenient place where there was plenty of Water and being stript of all his cloaths he in the first place with stretched out Arms in a most solemn manner renounced the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all not only the absolutely sinful but also the lawful desires of the flesh so far as to keep them within the most strict bounds and most exact obedience to the Laws of Reason and Religion Then he made Profession of his Faith in One God the Father Almighty c. in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. and in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church c. After which he was baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost being immersed in the Water three times once at the Name of each Person in the ever Blessed Trinity Which being done he came up out of the Water and then according to the Custom of some Churches he was anointed with Oil with the addition of some other Ceremonies which as they were in their own nature indifferent so they were used only in some places and that diversly according to the different usage of particular Churches After all which he was clothed with a white Robe and so admitted among the Faithful to the Communion of the Church which last Ceremony the Greeks as a Learned Writer of our own observes keep up to this day putting upon the Child immediately after Baptism a white Garment with this Form Receive this white and immaculate Cloathing and bring it with thee unspotted before the Tribunal of Christ and thou shalt inherit eternal life 2. This was the Form and Manner in which Persons converted to Christianity were Baptized in the Primitive Church And by all these outward and visible Ceremonies were significantly represented certain inward and invisible things which were either the Privileges to the injoyment of which the Person Baptized was intitled or the Duties to the performance of which he was engaged by his Baptism 3. The first Grace or Privilege which God annexed to the right use of this Ordinance of Baptism and to which the Person Baptised was consequently intitled was Remission of all past sins The design of our Savior's coming into the World was by the Merit of his Death and Suffering to purchase Pardon and Remission for all those who should believe in his Name and obey his Gospel Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Now the Means by which this Pardon is applied and the Seal by which it is secured to all those who Believe and by Repentance begin to Obey the Gospel is Baptism Whosoever therefore was converted to Christianity and was baptized was baptised into the death of Christ i. e. was by Baptism intitled to the benefit of the Pardon purchased by his Death and Passion As his Body was washed with pure Water so his Sins were absolutely done away by the Blood of Christ and his Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 22. Hence Baptism is called the Washing of Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. and they who by the Apostles Preaching or by any other more extraordinary means were convinced of the Truth of the Gospel were exhorted immediately to be baptized and wash away their sins Acts 22. 16. And now why tarriest thou Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the Name of the Lord And Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins To which those Places also seem manifestly to allude Rev. 1. 5. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and Rev. 7. 14. These are they which have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. The plain meaning of all which passages is this That as a new-born Infant is without Spot Innocent and Sinless so every one that is born of Water i. e. regenerated by Baptism is in the account of God as if he had never sinned cloathed with the white and spotless Garment of Innocence which if he never defile by gross and wilful sins he shall walk in white with Christ for he shall be worthy 4. The next Privilege which Baptism principally and most significantly represented was the Admission of the Convert into the Church or Family of God All that received Baptism were thereby actually admitted into the Society of Christians and to the participation of all the benefits which God bestows upon his Church They were admitted to the Communion of the Saints of God and to the Fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 1. 9. They were made Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Eph. 2. 19. being come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant c. Heb. 12. 22. More particularly they were made first Members of Christ i. e. they were incorporated into that Body whereof Christ is the Head Secondly They were made Children of God i. e. they were enroll'd in the number of those whom God had chosen to be his Peculiar and Elect People and whom he designed to govern with the same tenderness as an affectionate and merciful Father does his most beloved Children which is what the Apostles express by our being called the Sons of God 1 John 3. 1. by our having received the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4. 5. and by our having power given us to become the Sons of God John 1. 12. Lastly They were made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. they who before were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and
and designed to be educated in the Christian Religion have by the general Practice of the Christian Church been baptized in their Infancy upon Promise made by Sureties that they should be instructed in the Faith and in the Obedience of the Gospel 2. And that Infants are rightly so admitted to this Ordinance besides the almost general consent and practice of the Christian Church I shall use but this One Argument to demonstrate Those who are fit to be admitted into the Kingdom of Christ in Heaven as our Saviour himself pronounces Infants to be Mar. 10. 14 and 15. are certainly qualified to be received as Members of his Church on Earth The Qualifications which fit Men for both are Repentance and Faith Now though Infants have not Repentance yet they have Innocence which is better than Repentance and which makes them that they need it not For if those who have been the most enormous sinners are yet by their Repentance qualified for Baptism how much more are Infants who have never sinned fitted for it by their Innocence And though Infants have not and cannot have actual Faith yet they are Sanctified by being born of Believing Parents they are already in some sense within the Limits of the Church and of the Covenant of Promise and are ready without Prejudice to be instructed in the Truth of the Gospel and in the Obedience thereof 3. Infants therefore are rightly admitted to Baptism and thereby to the Privileges appropriated by Christ to the Members of his Church But because Baptism is a Covenant wherein there is as well a Promise made on the part of the Person baptized of certain Duties to be performed as one on God's part of certain Graces and Privileges to be conferred and because Infants are not capable of making any Promise immediately by themselves it has therefore been the wisdom of the Church to appoint certain Sureties who should promise in the Name of the Child what it self should afterwards be obliged to perform i. e. who should undertake to see it instructed in the Nature and Obligation of those Duties which upon account of its being a Member of the Church of Christ it would at years of Discretion be bound to perform CHAP. VI. Of the Duty of God-Fathers and God-Mothers 1 THAT therefore which the Sureties undertake for a Child at its Baptism is briefly this That it shall be taught all the Articles of the Christian Faith with the reasonableness of their Belief that it shall be instructed in all the Duties of the Christian Life with the necessity of their Practice and that it shall be minded in convenient time to make a publick Declaration of its being hearty in this Belief and to enter into a renewed Engagement to continue constant in this Practice They promise that it shall be taught to Believe in one God the Father Almighty c. and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. and in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church c. They promise that it shall be instructed to renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh i. e. that it shall be taught to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And they promise that it shall in fit season be brought to declare solemnly in the presence of God and of the whole Congregation its firmness in the Faith of these Articles of Religion and its Resolution to continue in the Obedience of these Commands 2. This is what the God-Fathers or God-Mothers promise for a Child at its Baptism This they promise solemnly in the presence of God and in the face of the Congregation And is it a small thing to undertake for the Soul of a Person to be admitted into the Church of Christ Is it a light thing to enter into such a Promise solemnly before God and his Church I doubt not but whoever considers the matter seriously will hardly find any Duty of greater Importance or any Promise of more solemn Obligation yet is there no Duty more generally and more shamefully neglected nor any Promise more lightly regarded 3. If a Man be made Guardian to the Son of a deceased Friend and be intrusted with the Care of his Education how justly do we expect that he should be careful to have him instructed in all that necessary Knowledge on which depends the management of his Life and Conversation that he should be zealous to have him further indued with all those useful Accomplishments which may become his Quality and recommend him in the World but above all that he should spare no pains to secure to him his Estate and to improve his Fortunes And do we not look upon that Man as the vilest and most unfaithful of Men who having such a charge committed unto him should wholly neglect all or any of these things Yet how much a greater Trust does he betray who having the Soul of a Child committed to his care by God and the Church neglects wholly to have it taught those necessary Truths in the Knowledge and Practice of which consists its everlasting Happiness who takes no care at all to secure to it that Portion which God hath designed and prepared for it in Heaven and who seeing the Soul of an Innocent Babe perhaps meerly for want of good Advice and Instruction beginning to be over-run with the Seeds of those Vices which in time must drown it in destruction and perdition does yet show no Care or Concern for it What greater Uncharitableness can a Man possibly be guilty of towards the Soul of his Brother or what greater Mockery of God 'T is True the Education of a Child is not wholly committed to the Care of those who are its Sureties in Baptism but first and principally to the Parents themselves But undoubtedly they are bound to be Assistants and if the Parents either thro' Wickedness neglect to instruct it or by Death are taken away from it the Sureties must look upon this Care as chiefly devolved upon Them and of which they must give a strict Account 4. In what Station soever God appoints any Man over the Soul of his Brother either to warn the wicked or to instruct the ignorant if he neglects his Duty and his Brother perish through his default the Blood of him that perisheth will be required at his hands Ezek 3â— 8. When I say unto the Wicked O Wicked Man thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the Wicked from his ways that wicked Man shall die in his Iniquity but his Blood will I require at thine hand How much more when the Soul of an innocent Child is committed particularly to the care of any Person if thro' his neglect it be corrupted and perish shall its Blood be required at his hand With what Confusion and Amazement shall we at the day of Judgment hear those who have been committed to our Charge accuse us for having
Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World did by Baptism enter into that Covenant wherein God assured the promise of Eternal Life to all those who should believe and repent And this is what the Apostle intends by our having our Citizen-ship in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and by our being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. 5. Another Privilege which was represented and conferred by Baptism was the Influence and Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit All Persons that were baptized as their Bodies were washed and purified with Water so their Minds were sanctified by the Spirit of God But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. At their Baptism they received the Holy Ghost as a Gift constantly annexed to that Ordinance and unless they quenched and grieved it by their sins committed afterwards it always continued with them from thenceforward assisting and enabling them to perform their Duty strengthning and comforting them under Temptations and Afflictions and bearing witness with their Spirit that they were the Children of God At the first Preaching of the Gospel this influence of the Holy Spirit frequently discovered it self in those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles c. as appears in the History of the Acts of the Apostles But these by degrees ceasing it afterward continued to evidence it self in the strange and almost miraculous change which it made in the Minds of Men from the most corrupt and vicious to the most virtuous and heavenly Disposition almost in an instant upon their being baptized And when this effect also grew less frequent as the Zeal and Purity of the Christians declined it yet continued always by its secret Power to renew and transform Mens Minds to instruct Men in their Duty and to inable them to perform it Hence Baptism is called the Renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. and a being born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. and by the Antients frequently Illumination And Persons baptized are said to have been enlightned to have tasted of the heavenly Gift and to have been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. 4. 6. The last Privilege which Persons Baptized were intitled to by virtue of that Ordinance was an Assurance of a Resurrection to Eternal Life They received as hath been said the Holy Spirit of God and that Spirit so long as it dwelt with them was a Seal and Earnest of their future Resurrection For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8. 11. And this was most significantly represented by their descending into the Water and rising out of it again For as Christ descended into the Earth and was raised again from the dead by the Glory of the Father So Persons baptized were buried with him by Baptism into Death and rose again after the similitude of his Resurrection They were planted together in the likeness of his Death and they were by this Sign assured that they should be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Thus the Apostle St. Paul Colos. 2. 12. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the dead To which St. Peter seems likewise to allude 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto viz. to the saving of the Ark by the Water of the Flood even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Christ. 7. These are the Spiritual Graces or Privileges which were represented by the Outward and Visible Signs in Baptism and conferr'd by their means And These are what God on his part engageth and assures to us in that Great and Holy Covenant There are other things which the Persons Baptized obliged themselves to on their part in that Covenant and These are the Duties which by their Baptism they vow and take upon themselves to perform represented also by the same Outward and Visible Signs The first of these Duties which the Persons baptized promised and obliged themselves to perform was a Constant Confession of the Faith of Christ and Profession of his Religion They were admitted by Baptism into the Church and Family of Christ and they were bound at all times to own themselves his Disciples They were solemnly baptized into his Death and they were oblig'd not to be asham'd of the Cross of Christ and to confess the Faith of him crucified They owned publickly at their Baptism their Belief in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and they were bound at all times to make Profession of this Faith They had with the heart believed unto Righteousness and they thought that with the Mouth Confession was necessary to be made unto Salvation They were assured that if they confessed Christ before Men he would also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and before the Angels of God but if they were ashamed of him and denyed him before Men he would also be ashamed of them when he came in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels And so mighty an effect had this consideration upon the primitive Christians that in the times of Persecution when they were tempted to deny their Saviour and renounce the Faith which they had once Embraced they chose rather to endure the most exquisite Torments that the wit of Man could invent than either to renounce or dissemble their Christianity and those who out of Fear denyed or were ashamed to confess their Faith they looked upon to have forfeited and renounced their Baptism as having crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame 8. The Second Thing to which Persons baptized solemnly obliged themselves by their Baptism was a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness i. e. they engaged utterly and for ever to forsake all manner of Sin and Wickedness all Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship of false Gods all Injustice Wrong Fraud and Uncharitableness towards Men all the Pride and Vanity the Pomp and Luxury of this present World all the Lusts of the Flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Gluttony Drunkenness Revellings and such like And for the future they promised to make it the business of their lives to fulfil all Righteousness according to the strictest Rules of the Christian Doctrine and Discipline to Worship the only true God with all Devotion Reverence and Humility to be exactly just in their Dealings with Men and generously charitable upon all occasions in fine to be Temperate and Sober Chast and Pure as the Worshippers of
Three Practical ESSAYS VIZ. On Baptism Confirmation Repentance CONTAINING Instructions for a Holy Life With Earnest Exhortations especially to young Persons drawn from the Considerarion of the Severity of the Discipline of the Primitive Church By Samuel Clark M. A. Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of Norwich And Fellow of Cains College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. To the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of Norwich My Lord AS the many undeserved Favours with which Your Lordship has already been pleased to honour me oblige me not to omit any Opportunity of testifying publickly the grateful Sense which I ought always to have of Your Lordship's Kindness so they encourage me to presume further upon Your Lordship's Candour in publishing these short Discourses under the Patronage of Your Lordship's Name The singular Zeal which Your Lordship has shown in making frequent Confirmations gives us reason to hope that if the Directions which Your Lordship has formerly given for the preparing Persons to be Confirmed be as strictly observed as the regular and pious Use of that excellent Institution seems to be a most probable means of promoting true Religion and Holiness that Part of the Church over which God has placed Your Lordship may become exemplarily eminent for the Restoring of Primitive Piety and Order To which State that it may effectually arrive and that Your Lordship may long see it continue therein and that these short Discourses may contribute their Mite towards the promoting so Noble and Excellent a Design is the Prayer of My LORD Your Lordship 's most Dutiful Chaplain and most Obedient Servant S. Clarke THE PREFACE ST Chrysostom observes concerning the ancient Hereticks that though their Opinions were never so widely different both from the truth and from each other yet every one pretended that his particular Opinion was agreeable to the Scripture and founded in it and that all different Opinions were discountenanced by it and might be confuted out of it He observes also further That the true reason of this their Confidence was because every one picked out of the Scripture all those Passages which according to the letter and sound of the Words seemed to favour his particular Opinion without at all regarding their cohaerence and connexion or the occasion and design of their being written Thus from those Passages which speak of Christ as a Man and in his state of Humiliation some were so unreasonable as to collect that he was but a meer Man and so denied his Divinity Others on the contrary from those Passages which speak of him as God and in his state of Exaltation did as weakly take occasion to deny his Humanity asserting that the humane Nature was wholly swallowed up by the Divine I wish the same Observation might not too truly be made of most of the later Disputes which have arisen among Christians in our Days For thus I believe if we search on the one hand into the ground of many of those Mens Assertions who love to aggravate the Corruption of humane Nature and the natural Misery of Mankind we shall find the true Foundation of them to be the applying those places of Scripture to the whole bulk of Mankind which are evidently and expresly spoken of some of the worst of Men On the other hand the reason why others have so magnified the natural Faculties of Men as to diminish and detract from the Grace of God is because they applied those Texts to the generality of Men which are meant only of the most perfect Christians Again the Foundation of those Mens Opinion who have extolled some one particular Virtue in opposition to or as an equivalent for all other Duties is their having interpreted those places of Scripture concerning some one particuler Virtue which are plainly meant of the whole Christian Religion and the reason why others have thought no moral Virtues at all necessary to be practised by Believers is because they have applied those Texts to the most Essential and Fundamental Duties of the Christian Religion which were intended only of the Ceremonial Performances of the Jewish Law And thus to come to the subject of our present Discourses in the great Business of Repentance and Conversion the reason why some Men have attributed the whole of Mans Conversion to such an extraordinary and uncertain Grace of God as has given Men occasion to sit still in their Sins in expectation of the time when this extraordinary Grace should be poured down upon them is because they have fixed that Assistance of God's Grace to an uncertain Period which God himself has constantly annexed to his Ordinances and which he certainly bestows upon Men at their Baptism or at their solemn taking upon themselves the Profession of Religion And the reason why others have made Repentance so short and so easie a business is because they have too largely applied those great Promises in the Gospel to the circular and repeated Repentences of Christians which are at least in some measure confined to the great Repentance or Conversion of Unbelievers My design in the following Essays is to endeavour briefly to set this great and most important Matter in its true Light from the Analogy of Scripture and from the Sense of the purest Ages of the Primitive Church To show that at Baptism God always bestows that Grace which is necessary to enable Men to perform their Duty and that to those who are Baptized in their Infancy this Grace is sealed and assured at Confirmation That from henceforward Men are bound with that Assistance to live in the constant practise of their known Duty and are not to expect except in extraordinary Cases any extraordinary much less irresistible Grace to preserve them in their Duty or to convert them from Sin That if after this they fall into any great Wickedness they are bound to a proportionably great and Particular Repentance And that as the Gospel hath given sufficient assurance of such Repentance being accepted to comfort and encourage all true Penitents so it has sufficiently shown the difficulty of it at all times and the extreme danger of it when late to deter Men from delaying it when they are convinced of its Necessity and from adding to their Sins when they hope to have them forgiven There is nothing with which the Devil more effectually imposes upon Men in these latter Ages of the World than with false notions of Repentance And if it must be confessed that many in the Primitive times were too severe in their apprehensions concerning it 't is certain there are many more in our Days not severe enough At least I am sure there is no Man who has a true Sense of Religion and a just apprehension of the vast concern of eternal Happiness or Misery but will be much more desirous to know the utmost strictness of the Conditions upon which so mighty a Stake depends
deservedly Eminent seems to be that great rigour with which they insisted upon Mens living in a constant course of Piety from the time of their entring into this solemn Covenant In those who have been educated from their Infancy in the Christian Religion the Period from whence their Religious Life ought to be dated is Confirmation the time from their Baptism being only their Preparation or time of Instruction But then for those who have neglected this great and solemn Opportunity or have since fallen into any great and wliful sins the only remaining time from whence their Religious Life can be reckoned is Repentance i. e. the Time since which they have so perfectly had the Conquest over all their Temptations as not to have been seduced by them any more into any gross or wilful sin Of Baptism I have already spoken in the former Essay of Confirmation I shall treat in this of Repentance in the next 3. In the Primitive Church those who upon Profession of their Faith and Repentance were by Baptism admitted into the Church of Christ had this their Admission compleated or perfected afterwards by the Imposition of Hands When the Samaritans had received the Word of God and many of them were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus only the Holy Ghost was as yet fallen upon none of them we find that two of the Apostles were sent to lay their hands on them and then they received the Holy Ghost Acts 8. 17. This was the constant practise of the Apostles stles to perfect or compleat Baptism by the Imposition of Hands which two things are therefore laid down together among the Principles or Foundations of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6. 2. and were accordingly practised jointly by the Church in succeeding Ages This Custom saith St. Cyprian is also descended to us that they who are baptized be brought by the Rulers of the Church and by our Prayer and the Imposition of Hands may obtain the Holy Ghost and be consummated with the Seal of the Lord. And Tertullian After Baptism the hand is imposed by Blessing calling down and inviting the Holy Spirit Then that most Holy Spirit willingly descends from the Father upon the Bodies that are cleansed and blessed 4. But of this Confirmation of Persons baptized at riper years which was anciently administred immediately after Baptism and is therefore by many not without reason look'd upon as a Part of the Ceremony of Baptism it self it is not my purpose to speak now more largely That which I am at this time more especially to consider is that Confirmation as it is now in use in the Church whereby those who have been baptized in their Infancy are at Years of Discretion perfected or made compleat Members of the Church And the Design and Use of Confirming such Persons is plainly this Baptism being a Covenant wherein there are as well certain Conditions promised to be performed on the part of the Person Baptized as certain Privileges assured to be conferred on God's part and Infants though they be capable of being admitted to the Privileges of Members of the Church yet not being capable of promising or performing any Conditions any otherwise than by means of certain Sureties who ingage to instruct them in the Nature and Obligation of the Promises made in their Name at their Baptism 't is manifest that these baptized Infants when they come to Years of Discretion if they desire to continue to be Partakers of the Privileges which God has appropriated to the Members of his Church they must be willing also to perform the Conditions which God has indispensably required of all those Members That they may enter therefore into these Obligations with the advantage of greater Solemnity and Choice it has most wisely been instituted that as soon as they be of Age to understand the Nature and the Obligation of that Promise which was made in their Name at their Baptism they should be brought to make a publick Declaration in the presence of God and his Church of their taking freely upon themselves that Vow and of their Resolution to live from thenceforward conformably to the Conditions of that great and solemn Covenant and that upon this publick Profession of their Faith and most solemn Purposes of Obedience they should by Imposition of Hands have the great Privileges of Baptism sealed anew and secured to them 5. And that this might be done the more solemnly and effectually so as to have a lasting effect upon the Minds and Lives of Men as the solemn Administration of Baptism had antiently among the Primitive Christians it were very much to be wished that as in those Primitive Times Persons converted to Christianity were not before Baptism admitted as compleat Members to the Communion of the Church but were esteemed only as Candidates desirous to be instructed in the Christian Religion so those who have now been only baptized in their Infancy should before Confirmation be looked upon by others and by themselves too as no other than Catechumens It were to be wished that no one might be admitted to the Communion before he were confirmed and that no one might be admitted to Confirmation before he had attained a perfect Knowledge of the extent and obligation of all the Duties of Religion and given sufficient evidence of his Resolution to live suitably to that Knowledge It were to be wished that as in the Primitive Church there were certain solemn Times appointed for Baptism as Easter and Whitsontide at which those who were before prepared by a regular course of Catechizing were admitted with great solemnity into the compleat Communion of the Church so there were now such solemn seasons appointed against which Ministers of particular Parishes should for some time before-hand diligently instruct and prepare those who were of Age to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed And above all it were to be wished that the whole Process might be performed with so much Reverence and Solemnity that all the Persons confirmed might understand and be convinced that they came now to have all the Privileges which God hath promised to the Members of his Church sealed and assured to them that they now received the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to enable them effectually to perform their Duty and that they now solemnly undertook for themselves before God and the Church what their Sureties promised for them before at Baptism to Live from henceforward in all Holiness and Purity and in constant Obedience to all the Commands of God the remaining part of their Lives 6. Were this excellent Institution thus solemnly and religiously observed exceeding great would be the Effects which we might justly hope to see produced by the use of it The Effect that the Imposition of the Apostles hands had upon the first Converts to Christianity was no less than the induing them with those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles and the like And though these mighty
of the Earth be blessed and among them was born that Messias of whom so great things had been Prophesied and who was therefore the expectation of all the Ends of the Earth These were the great and glorious Privileges which by the peculiar Favour of God the Nation of the Jews enjoyed before the preaching of the Gospel these were the Grounds upon which that People so highly valued themselves above the rest of Mankind And most justly might they have done so with an humble and thankful acknowledgment of the Mercy and Favor of God But they look'd upon these high Privileges not as the free Gift of God but as a Right and Propriety to which they only had a just Claim who could reckon their Descent from Abraham and the Patriarchs All other Nations in the World they look'd upon with the utmost Scorn and Contempt as Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Strangers to the Covenant of Promise and scarce worthy of the Protection of the Divine Providence The Establishment of their Law and Ceremonies they imagined to be such as was designed by God to continue for ever and the Promises contained in the Law and the Prophets they thought to belong so peculiarly to themselves that they would not believe any other People could ever come to be partakers of them When the Messiah himself should appear they were persuaded that he was to establish an everlasting Kingdom over the Jewish Nation only and so become indeed the Wonder and Amazement but not the Salvation of the Gentiles This Opinion was so firmly rooted among them in our Saviour's time that even those who believed in his Name and were convinced that his Kingdom was not to be a Temporal but a Spiritual Kingdom did yet imagine that the Jews only were to be admitted to be Subjects of this his Spiritual Kingdom and that the Gospel was not to be preached to the Gentiles Till St. Peter having an express Command from Heaven not to count any Man common or unclean as you may read Acts 10. went and preached the Gospel to Cornelius the Centurion and his Preaching being seconded by the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentile Converts convinced them that God was of a truth no respecter of Persons but that he had unto the Gentiles also granted Repentance unto Life The great Mystery of the receiving in of the Gentiles being thus discovered and God having himself declared by such a remarkable Miracle that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him there immediately arose a question whether those who by being converted to Christianity were admitted into the Number of the elect People of God and thereby became partakers of all the Privileges which had hitherto been confined to the Jewish Nation were not thereupon obliged to become Proselytes also to the Jewish Law The converted Jews who had not yet laid aside their old Prejudices but retained an extreme fondness for their Ceremonial Law contended most earnestly that it was necessary that the Jewish Religion should be continued together with the Christian teaching the Brethren every where and saying Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved Acts 15. 1. Upon this the Apostles and Elders which were gathered together at Jerusalem held a Consultation where St. Peter having delivered it as his Opinion That since God himself had born witness to the Gentiles by giving them the Holy Ghost 't would be no better than tempting God to put a Yoke upon their Necks which neither themselves nor their Fathers had been able to bear they immediately agreed to write unto them that they did not think it necessary to lay upon them any such Burden as you may see at large Acts 15. And now the Question being decided by such an authoritative Sentence as this It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us the Apostles and Elders c. one would have thought there should have been no more Debate about this Matter But the restless Jews moved with envy that the Gentiles should be admitted into the Number of the elect People of God as well as themselves persisted still in their Obstinacy notwithstanding this positive Determination persuading the Gentile Converts that they must needs observe the Law of Moses and constraining them to be circumcised insomuch that St. Paul who as far as he could lawfully conformed himself to the Humours of all men that he might by all means gain some was forced to circumcise Timothy at Derbe because of the Jews that were in those quarters Acts 16. 3. Though at other times as being the Apostle to whom was especially committed the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles he always earnestly exhorted his Gentile Converts to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free and particularly his Epistle to the Romans and that to the Galatians were written upon this very Occasion as will be evident to any one who shall impartially consider the Matter 3. For that there are abundance of Passages in these Epistles which so evidently relate to this Controversie that they cannot possibly be interpreted to any other Sense is manifest from but cursorily reading the Epistles themselves A great part of the Epistle to the Romans is professedly about the casting off the Jews and the coming in of the Gentiles particularly the 9th 10th and 11th Chapters And the 14th Chapter is wholly spent in shewing the unnecessariness of the Jewish observation of Days and distinction of Meats One Man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Verse 5. and I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean Verse 14. and so on In the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle tells his Gentile Converts that he was amazed they should so soon be drawn away from the Truth by some that troubled them and would pervert the Gospel of Christ Chap. 1. ver 7. He gives them warning that the reason why those perverters of the Gospel persuaded them to Judaize was only that they might make a fair shew in the Flesh they constrain you says he to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the Gross of Christ For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh Ch. 6. Ver. 12 13. He assures them that in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature Ch. 6. ver 15. He urges them earnestly to stand fast in their Christian Liberty and not to be intangled again with the yoke of Bondage protesting that if any man would be circumcised Christ should profit him nothing but he should become a debtor to fulfil the whole Law Ch. 5. ver 1. He tells them also how he openly rebuked St. Peter at Antioch for
almost wholly Moral and Spiritual respecting the inward disposition of the Heart and Mind whereas on the contrary the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were for the most part external and as the Apostle to the Hebrews calls them Carnal Ordinances respecting chiefly the outward purification of the Body therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Religion Spirit and the Jewish Religion Flesh. Thus in the Epistle to the Romans ch 8. ver 3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is whereas the Jewish Religion because of its outward and carnal Ordinances was weak and insufficient to make Men truly Righteous God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Man to offer up himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind established the Christian Religion which purifying throughly the whole Heart and Mind and purging the Conscience from dead Works might through the Grace and Mercy of God avail to justifie Men from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law Thus also in the Epistle to the Galatians ch 3. ver 3. Are ye so foolish Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh that is Are ye so foolish as to think that after ye have embraced the Truth of the Christian Religion you can become yet more perfect by observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law 8. These are the Terms which the Apostle expresses the Christian and Jewish Religion by in these Epistles And according to this Interpretation the substance of both these Epistles may clearly be resolved into certain Arguments by which the Apostle plainly and strongly proves against the Judaizing Believers that Obedience to the Christian Religion is sufficient to Salvation without observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish 9. His first Argument is this The Jewish Religion having proved insufficient to make Men truly good as the Natural Religion had before done there was a necessity of setting up another Institution of Religion which might be more available and effectual to that End now the setting up a new Institution of Religion necessarily implying the abolishing of the old it follows that Christianity was not to be added to Judaism but that Judaism was to be changed into Christianity that is that the Jewish Religion was from thenceforward to cease and the Christian Religion to succeed in its room This Argument the Apostle insists upon in the 1st 2d 5th 6th and 7th Chapters to the Romans and in the 1st and 4th Chapters to the Galatians In the 1st and 2d Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans he shows that the Jewish Religion had proved insufficient to make Men truly Holy as Natural Religion had also done In the 5th and 6th Chapters of that Epistle to the Romans and in the 1st to the Galatians he gives an account of the Institution of the Christian Religion as more available to that End in the 7th Chapter to the Romans he shews that this new Institution of Religion necessarily implies the abolishing of the old one and this he does from the similitude of a Womans being bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he lives but if her Husband be dead she is free from the Law of her Husband which Similitude he applies ver 4. Wherefore my Brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God In the 4th Chapter to the Galatians he proves the same thing from the Similitude of a young Heirs being under Governors or Tutors ver 1. I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant tho' he be Lord of all but is under Tutors and Governors until the time appointed of the Father even so we when we were Children were in bondage under the elements of the World But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem those that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons that is The Jewish Law was an Institution of Religion adapted by God in great Condescention to the weak Apprehensions of that People but when the fulness of time was come God sent his Son Jesus Christ to institute a more perfect Form of Religion after the settlement of which in the World the former Dispensation was to be disannulled for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof 10. The second Argument by which the Apostle proves that the Christian Religion is sufficient to justifie a Man without mixing therewith the Rites of the Jewish is this The Summ and Essence of all Religion is Obedience to the moral and eternal Law of God since therefore the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were instituted only for that very reason that they might promote this great End and prepare Mens Hearts for the reception of that more perfect Institution of Religion wherein God was to be worshipped and obeyed in Spirit and in Truth 't is manifest that when this more perfect Institution of Religion was settled the former which was designed for no other reason but to be a preparatory to this must be abolished This Argument the Apostle insists on in the 2d Chapter to the Romans and in the 3d to the Galatians In the 2d to the Romans he shows that every Institution of Religion and particularly the Jewish was no otherwise of any esteem in the sight of God than as it promoted that great end of Obedience to his Moral and Eternal Law For Circumcision saith he verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Uncircumcision Therefore if the Uncircumcision keep the Righteousness of the Law shall not his Uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision And shall not Uncircumcision which is by nature if it keep the Law judge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of Men but of God v. 25. to the end In the 3d to the Galatians he argues that the Jewish Religion having been thus instituted only to prepare Men for that Obedience to the Eternal Law of God which was to be the sum and essence of the Christian Religion it follows that when this latter and more perfect Institution took place there was no need of continuing the former The Law saith he was added because of transgressions till the Seed should
to live with all the Strictness and Purity of the Gospel in the constant Practice of every one of those Duties of which I have briefly set down the Heads in the former Chapter 3. And consider that you promise all this most solemnly in the Presence of God and before the whole Congregation Consider that you enter into this Promise with such solemnity as lays upon you the strongest possible Obligations to Virtue Consider that you so enter into this Promise with Knowledge and Deliberation that if you shall afterwards fall into any Course of sin in contempt of such repeated Obligations to the contrary the Guilt thereof will be extreamly increased and that therefore you ought now to affect your Mind deeply with a sence of the heinousness of sin and to strengthen mightily your good Resolutions Antiently every one that was baptized was taught to look upon himself as entring into so solemn an Obligation of Religion that if after that Great and Sacred Vow he should fall into any wilful and known sin it could not be forgiven him but upon a proportionably great and long Repentance And the same Reason there is now why every one that by Confirmation dedicates himself to the Service of God and makes publick Profession of his being a Disciple of Christ should look upon himself as entring into such a solemn Obligation as should make him exceeding fearful of falling for the future into any great sin the Guilt of which will be extreamly increased by being committed after such repeated Vows and Promises to the contrary 4. Yet is this no Reason why any one should defer being Confirmed as if by omitting to bind himself by this New and Solemn Promise he might continue to sin with less guilt and less danger For though the guilt of sin be indeed mightily increased by being committed after repeated Obligations to the contrary yet if any one omits to renew his Obligations only for that reason that he may continue in sin his sin is then equally heinous and against Knowledge as if he had renewed his Obligation Baptism is a solemn Obligation to be Religious and many of the Antients because they thought sin would be more heinous after so solemn an Obligation did therefore defer to be Baptized till the end of their Lives The Lord's Supper is also a solemn Obligation to be Religious and many in our days because they think sin will be more heinous after so solemn an Obligation do therefore defer receiving the Communion all their Lives But 't is plain these men run into a very great Errour For the reason why sin after repeated Obligations to the contrary becomes more heinous is because it is committed with greater Deliberation against clearer Convictions When therefore a man who Believes Religion and Understands its Obligations omits these Duties for no other reason but that he may sin as he thinks with less danger his sins are then equally deliberate and against equally clear Knowledge and he moreover adds to them a contemptuous neglect of the means of becoming more Religious CHAP. VII Of the Certainty of God's Grace and the Assistance of his Holy Spirit 1. SEcondly Consider that you come now to have Sealed and Confirmed to you all the Privileges which the Condition of your Baptismal Covenant intitles you to receive At Baptism we are admitted into the Church of God and have a Title to the Graces and Assistance of the Holy Spirit and at Confirmation this Grace is Sealed and Assured to us by the external Sign of Imposition of Hands When therefore you come in this solemn manner to make Profession of your Religion and to dedicate your self to the Service of God be sure to come with earnest desires and a longing Soul with firm Faith and a well-assured Hope with a pure Heart and a Mind prepared for the reception of the Holy Ghost and God will not fail to pour down upon you the abundance of his Grace to give you strength from thenceforward to overcome both the inward corruption of your Nature and the outward temptations of the World and the Devil to inable you to continue firm in the Faith of Christ and in the Obedience of his Commands to preserve you always from the Dominion of Sin and to bring you safe unto his Kingdom of Glory 2. There is nothing more pernitious to the Souls of Men than an Opinion of the Uncertainty of the Grace of God and it s not being annexed constantly to the use of means If we imagine that our Nature is so utterly corrupted that we can no more do or will any thing that is good than a dead Body can move or bring it self to Life till we be acted by such a mighty and extraordinary Grace of God as nothing that we can do can in the least prepare us to receive If we imagine that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are so strong that we cannot possibly overcome them without such a powerful Assistance of the Holy Spirit as God has not annexed to the use of any Ordinances or Means of Religion If we imagine that the Commandments of God are so impossible to be kept that after all we can do we must sit still in expectation of being converted suddenly by an irresistible Grace this must needs make all our Indeavours weak and faint dead and without heart and we shall certainly never be able to overcome our Temptations and to Persevere in Well-doing 3. It must indeed be confessed that the Corruption of our Nature is really so great that we cannot do any thing as of our selves It must be confessed that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are really so strong that we can never meerly by our own strength be able to stand and Persevere unto the end It must be confessed that the Commandment of God is so exceeding broad that by all that we can do by our own power we can never be justified in the sight of God But then if our Saviour has deliver'd us from this Corruption of our Nature and has broken all the Powers of Sin and Satan If Christ by his Death has purchased this Grace for us that upon our attending the Ordinances and Means of Religion which he hath appointed God will as certainly bestow upon us the sufficient Assistance of his Holy Spirit as a tender Father cannot deny his Child any reasonable Request If God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape and whenever he requires more of us than we are naturally able to perform will certainly afford us an extraordinary Assistance proportionable to the difficulty we are obliged to encounter as he constantly did to the Primitive Christians who through the mighty Power of the Spirit were enabled to bear all the most exquisite Torments that either the wit of Man or the Malice of the Devil could invent with less concern than we can even