washt with Christ's Blood how can they deny to wash them with that water that is appointed to signifie and invest Moreover Infants are capable of many other Priveledges and of being the Adopted Sonnes of God the Members of Christ the Heirs of Heaven as having Right thereto and being the members of the Church and being under the Special Protection and Provision of God and in a special sort partakers of the Prayers of the Church with divers more As in the Commonwealth an Infant is capable of having Honour and Inheritance in Right though not Actally to use them and of the protection of the Laws for Life Reputation and estate and of being Tenant and obliged to pay a certain Rent and Homage when he comes to age and in the mean time to have Provisions from the Estate that he hath Title to But all this I have fuller exprest elsewhere And I have altely read Mr Tombes's last and large Reply to part of my Book and many others and must needs say that it leaves me still perswaded that it is the will of Christ that the Infants of his Servants should be Dedicated to him in Baptism and members of his visible Church and though upon the review of my Arguments I find that I have used too many provoaking words for which I am heartily sorry and desire pardon of God and him yet I must say that I am left more confident then before that the cause is Gods which Mr Tombes opposeth Of which if God will I intend yet to give some further account In the mean time I deal with this but as a Supposition that is already sufficiently proved though all men yea all good men see not the sufficiency of the proofe Prop. 2. There are many Priveledges belonging to the Adult Members of the Church which Infant members are not capable of THis is true both of Natural and Moral Capacities The Priviledges which I mean are the pardon of many actual sinnes committed since they are Adult the exercise of all Holy Graces Knowing God Loving him Trusting him Serving him the Communion that we have with God herein as particularly in Prayer in holy Praises and Thanksgivings in Heavenly Meditations The Peace and Joy that followeth Believing and the Hopes of Everlasting Life the Communion which we have with the Church of Christ in hearing praying Praises the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ in distribution by giving and receiving and an endearing holy Love within These and many more Priveledges are proper to the Adult That Infants are not Naturally capable of these is as needless to prove as that they are Infants And then that they are not Morally capable is an inseparable consequent For though Natural Capacity may be without Moral yet Moral cannot be without Natural In point of Duty Infants are not bound to the work as to Hear Pray Prayse c. beyond the Natural Capacity of their Intellects and bodies And so in point of Benefit we must have more sobriety then to suppose God to make over any Benefit to them which they are not capable of All this is plain Prop. 3. The Continuation of Priveledges received in Infancy is part of the Priveledges of the Adult or the Restoration of them if they be lost IF the cause discontinue the effect will cease Adult Priveledges comprehend the Infant Priviledges partly as that which is Perfect comprehendeth the Imperfect and partly as the whole comprehendeth the parts and partly as the thing Continued is the same with the thing Begun Infant Priviledges would all cease with Infancy if the Causes or Conditions cease and there be no other Cause for their continuance God never took Infants into his Church and Covenant with a purpose so to continue them without any other Condition then that upon which they were admitted This is past denyal and will be more cleared in the next Prop. 4. The Title-Condition of Infant Church-membership and Priviledges is not the same with the Title-Condition of the Church-membership and Priviledges of the Adult so that if this new Condition be not performed when men come to Age their former Title ceaseth and there is no other that ariseth in his stead 1. WE are agreed I think that our Title which is Fundamentum Juris is Gods Covenant Graunt or Guift As it is his Precept that constituteth our Duty so it is his Promise or Deed of Gift which is our title to the Benefit 2. And we are agreed I hope that this Promise or Grant from God is Conditional For if Church-membership and Priviledges he Absolutly Given then it is to All or but to Some Not to All for then the Church and the world are all one and then it is not Ecclesia caetus evocatus and then Heathens and Infidels have right which are things that no Christian I think will grant If it be but Some that have Title then there must be some Note to know them by or else the some will be equal to All or to None And if they be Marked out then it must be by Name or by Description Not by Name for we find the contrary Scripture doth not Name all that have Title to Church Priviledges If it be by Description it is either by meer Physical or by Moral Qualifications that they are described The former none doth imagine that I hear of If they are Moral Qualifications then either they are such as are prerequisite to our Right and Priviledges or not That they are prerequisite all must confess that read the Promise and all do confess that they are prerequisite to all the following Priviledges And if Prerequisite then either as Means or no Means The later none can affirm without going against so much light as ordinary Christians have still ready at hand to confute them with And if they are required as Means then either as Causes or Conditions And I think you will sooner yield them to be Conditions then Causes though either Concession sufficeth to the end that is before us But of this we need to say no more both because it is commonly confessed and because that the words of the Promises are so plaine and undenyable being uttered in Conditional terms Nor is this either inconsistent with or any way unsuitable to an Absolute Decree For as a Threatning so the Conditionality of a Promise are Instruments admirably suited to the accomplishment of an Absolute Purpose or Decree He that is fully Resolved to save us or to give us the Priviledges of his Church will deal with us as men in bringing us to the possession of the intended benefits and therefore will by Threats and Conditional promises excite us to a careful performance of the Condition and that Grace which is resolved to effect the very Condition in us is also resolved to make a Conditional Promise yea and a Threatening the Instrument of effecting it 3. Note that the great Question whether all the Infants of true Believers are certainly Justified or
a point as the Covenant that men make with Christ We have wares that deserve the light and need not a dark shop We have a Master that we need not be affraid or ashamed explicitly and publickly to confess It beseemes not so high and honourable a Profession as that of a Christian to be lapt up in obscurity Such a Glorious state as Sonneship to God to be an Heir of Heaven c. should be entered into with great solemnity and owned accordingly at our first rationall acceptance and acknowledgment Kings are Crowned more solemnly then poor men take possession of their cottages Christ will be ashamed of them before the Angels that are ashamed of him before men and will confess them before his Father that confess him before men Christianity is not a game to be plaid under board Why then should any be against an open Professing and Covenanting with Christ If it be needfull that we Covenant certainly the plainest and most explicite Covenanting is the best And what will be his portion that hath a male in his flock and offereth the worst yea the halt and blind to God Let us therefore deal as openly and plainly and understandingly in the Covenant of God as we can and not contrive it in the greatest darkness that is consistent with the Essence of a Church Nay let us not tempt men to unchurch us or separate from us by leaving our cause to such Arguments as this such a man sitteth among other hearers in the Congregation therefore he maketh a Profession of the Christian Faith lest they think it followeth not therefore he seemeth to understand the Christian Faith much less he Professeth it especially when it 's known that so many understand it not and that the Papists in their writings maintain it lawfull for them to be present at our Assemblies and Infidels tell us that they can hear any man and do come thither Nehemiah caused the Jewsto subscribe the Covenant and seal it c. 9 v 38. Even under the Law it was the character of visible Saints to make a Covenant with God by Sacrifice Psal 50. 5. At least now God hath caused us to pass under the Rod. Let us yield to be brought under the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20. 37. And let us as weeping Israel and Judah Seek the Lord our God and ask the way to Zion with our faces thitherward saying come and let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten Jer. 50 4 5. Let us take hold of his Covenant and choose the things that please him that he may bring us into his holy Mountain and make us joyfull in his house of Prayer and our Sacrifices may be accepted on his Altar Isa 56. 4 6 7. Are not these the daies of which it is said Isa 44. 3 4 5. I will poure water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will poure my Spirit on thy seed and my blessing on thine offspring and they shall spring as among the grass as willows by the water courses One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel I would have as little Covenanting for doubtfull or needless or mutable things in Church or State as is possible but in the great things of our Salvation even the Essence of Christianity we cannot be bound too fast nor deal too understandingly and openly with God Prop. 6. It is not every kind of Profession that is the Condition or necessary qualification of those that are to be admitted to the Priviledges of Adult members but such a Profession as God hath made necessaery by his express Word and by the Nature of the Object and the Vses and Ends to which be doth require it THe Negative is not controverted among us If any were so quarrelsom or ignorant it 's easily proved And I shall do it briefly but satisfactorily in the opening of the Affirmative I have proved in my first Disputation of Right to Sacraments which I desire the Reader that would have further satisfaction to peruse the Necessity of these following Qualifications of this Profession 1. In General as to the Object of our Faith it must be a Profession of true Christianity and no less It must be a Profession of our entertainment both of the Truth of the Gospel and of the Good therein Revealed and offered More particularly it must be a Profession that we believe in God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost as to the Nature persons and works which they have done or undertaken for us Yet more particularly and explicitly It must be a Profession 1. That we Believe in God the Father and so the pure Deity as our Creatour Soveraign and chief Good who gave us the Law of Nature by breaking of which we have lost our selves and all our part in Everlasting Life 2. That we Believe in Jesus Christ God and Man that taking our Nature fulfilled the Law overcame the Devil dyed as a Sacrifice for our sinnes Rose again and conqured death ascened into Heaven where he is Lord of all and the King Prophet and Priest of his Church in Glory with the Father That he hath offered himself with Pardon and Eternal Life to all that will accept him on his terms and that he will come again at last to Raise us from death and judge the world and Justifie his Saints and bring them to Eternal Glory and cast the wicked into utter misery 3. That we Believe in God the Holy Ghost that Inspired the Prophets and Apostles to deliver and confirm the Word of God and who is the Sanctifier of all that shall be saved illuminating their understandings changing their hearts and lives humbling them for their sinne and misery causing them to believe in Christ the Remedie and heartily and thankfully accept him Possessing them with an hearty Love of God and a heavenly mind and a hatred of sinne and Love of Holiness and turning the principal bent of their hearts and lives to the Pleasing of God and the attaining of Eternal Life This much must be believed and the Belief of this much must be somehow Professed 2. As to the Acts of the thing Professed it must be not only the naked Assent of the Understanding but both this Assent that the Gospel is true and a Consent of the Will to take God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to the forementioned Ends in the forementioned Relations and to give up our selves unfeignedly to him renouncing the flesh the world and the Devil 3. As to the Nature of the Profession it self 1. It must in General be Credible For no man is bound to Believe that which is Incredible The words are the signs of the mind and as such they are to be uttered and received If they be contrary to the mind they are false and
Scripture that the Holy Ghost is in a special manner promised to Believers over and above that measure of the Spirit which caused them to believe 3. We find that Prayer with Laying on of hands was the outward means to be used by Christs Ministers for the procuring of this blessing 4. We find that this was a fixed Ordinance to the Church and not a temporary thing Lay all this together and you will see as much as my Proposition doth affirm Let 's try the proof of it I. Though the proof of the first be not Necessary to the main point yet it somewhat strengtheneth the cause Mark 10. 16. Christ took the Children up in his armes put his hands upon them and blessed them so Math. 19. 15. This is not I confess a Confirmation upon personal Profession which I am now pleading for But this is a Benediction by laying on of hands And the subjects of it were such Children as were Members at least of the Jewish Church being before Circumcized II. But to come neerer the matter let us enquire what this Gift of the Holy Ghost was that is promised to Believers Whatsoever the Pelagians say the Scripture assureth us that Faith and Repentance which go before Baptism in the Adult are the gifts of the Holy Ghost and yet for all that the Holy Ghost is to be given afterward And though very often this afterâ—gift is manifested by Tongues and Prophesie and Miracles yet that is not all that 's meant in the promise of the Holy Ghost Gad hath not tyed Himself by that promise to any one sort of those extraordinary Gifts no nor constantly to give any of them But he hath promised in General to give Believers the Spirit and therefore there is some other standing gift for which the Spirit is promised to all such And indeed the Spirit promised is One though the gifts are many and the many sorts of gifts make not many Spirits If any man therefore shall ask whether by the Promised Spirit be meant Sanctification or Miracles or Prophesie c. I Answer with Paul There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit as there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and diversities of operations but the same God 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6. It is therefore no wiser a question to ask whether by the Spirit be meant this gift or that when it is only the Spirit in General that is promised then to ask whether by the Lord be meant this or that administration and whether by God be meant this or that opâ—ration To one is given the word of Wisdom by the Spirâ—t and to another the word of Knowledg by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit c. vers 8 9 10. Now I confess if any man can prove that this promise of the Spirit to the faithfull is meant only of the extraordinary gift of Miracles then he would weaken the Argument that I am about But I prove that contrary 1. Cor. 12. 12 13. It is the gift of the Spirit by which we are One body which is called Christs by which we are all baptized into this one body and such members as have a lively fellow-feeling of each others state vers 26. 27. Yea such as giveth to the Elect the excellent durable grace of Charity vers 31. and Chap. 13. Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father Note here that it is not only the gift of Miracles but the Spirit of Adoption that is here mentioned and that it 's given to Believers because they are Sonnes And all the first part of Rom. 8. to vers 29. doth shew that it is the Spirit of Adoption Supplication and that by which we mortifie the flesh that is given to Believers 2 Cor. 1. 21 22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts It is not the common gifts of the Spirit only that are here spoken of nor is it the first gift of Faith but it is Confirmation or inward establishment in Christ and that Spirit which is the Fathers Seal upon us and the earnest of the Inheritance I believe not that it is outward Anointing or sealing with the signe of the Cross that is here mentioned as many Papists dreame but inward unction seal earnest and confirmation by the Spirit are here exprest So 2 Cor. 5. 5. Zach. 12. 10. It is the Spirit of Grace and Supplication that is promised to the Church And see the pattern in Christ our head on whom after Baptism the Spirit descended and to whom it is promised Matth. 12 18. Ephes 1. 13 14. In whom also after yee believed yee were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance Here it 's evident that it 's such a gift of the Spirit which is an Earnest of Heaven that is given to men after they believe Joh. 7. 39. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given them because that Jesus was not yet Glorisied Yet the Apostles had Faiththen And that it is not meant only of the Apostles extraordinary gifts of Miracles the foregoeing words shew He that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow living waeters but this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive By all this it is evident that there was an Eminent gift of the Holy Ghost promised to them that had already the grace of Faith and Repentance and Love to Christ wrought in them by the Holy Ghost and that though this Eminent Gift did very much consist in gifts of Languages Prophesie and mighty works for the Confirmation of Christs Doctrine which was then to be planted in the world yet was it not only in those gifts but as some had only those common though extraordinary gifts for the good of the Church so some had an Eminent addition of Special Gifts to seal them up to the day of Redemption and be the earnest of the Inheritance to the saving of the Soul If you ask Wherein these special Eminent Gifts of the Holy Ghost do consist I Answer 1. In a clearer knowledg of Christ and the rsteries of the Gospel not an uneffectual but a powerful affecting practical Knowledge 2. In a fuller measure of Love agreeable to this Knowledg 3. In Joy and Peace and sweet Consolation 4. In establishment and corroboration and firmer resolution for Christ and everlasting Life For the understanding of which we must know that as the Doctrine is the Means of conveying the Spirit so the Spirit given is answerable to the Doctrine and Administration that men are under It 's a very great question whether Adam in Innocency had the Spirit or not But as the Administration according to the meer Light and Law of Nature is eminently in Scripture attributed to the
fidei plane instructi id est de Dei magnitudine potestate rebusque quae in Evangeliis continentur uno excepto Eucharistiae mysterio neque baptizabantur nisi post quam ea omnia se credere jurassent quorum fides a fide poenitentiae incipiebat c. Et in sequ Jucabant in Baptismo solennibus verbis se nunquam peccaturos deinde renunciabant Diabolo pompis ejus Denique Censurâ si peccarent post baptismum coercebantur So that men that are engaged in covenant with God must keep Covenant or manifest themselves Penitent for the violation of it before they are admitted to further Priviledges There is a long time in which they grow up from an Infant-state to an Adult and how they live in that time must be enquired after 2. Otherwise the Apostate would have equal Acceptance and Priviledges with the Faithfull 3. And so Penitence and Absolution would be excluded and confounded with meer Confirmation 4. Moreover the Baptized are obliged to be responsible for their lives being under the Government of Christs Ministers and among his Saints 5. For the sake of their own Souls and of the Church and Ordinances we must endeavour to preserve them from Corruption which lying Professions would introduce and therefore must not overlook or neglect such Evidence as is within our reach 6. Else Ministers that are by office to judg of their Profession would be unfaithfull Judges and forfeit their trust if they shall wilfully neglect any Evidence within their cognisance by which they may be enabled to judge But yet it is not the certainty of inward saving Grace that we must find out by mens lives for no man can have such certainty of another but only that their lives be not such as Null and Invalidate and confute their Profession and they live not in the perfidious violation of their Baptismal Covenant Prop. 15. It is not of flat Necessity that the Profession of the Expectant be made in the open Congregation or before many in order to his Confirmation and Admittance PRoved 1. It is not of Necessity that Converted Infidels be admitted by Baptism into the state of Adult-members upon a Publique Profession in a Congregation therefore it is not of Necessity that others be so admitted in Confirmation The Antecedent is proved by the instance of the Eunuch Acts 8. whom Philip Baptized in their way and the Jaylour and his houshold Acts 16. Baptzed in the night at home The Consequence is proved by the propriety of reason and case 2. If a man may by Confirmation be admitted into the Number of Adult Christians in the Church Universal without being admitted into a particular Church then his Profession and Admission need not in that case to be before the Congregation But the Antecedent is true as I prove thus A man may by Adult Baptism be admitted first into the Universal Church only As was the Eunuch the Jaylour Lydia Sergius Paulus and every first Convert in any City where the Apostles came Therefore a man may by Confirmation be admitted into the Number of the Adult in the Catholick Church only For the reason is the same and the former admitteth them into the same number The Consequence of the Major is plain For no one Congregation more then another can claim the cognisance of the Admission of a member into the Universal Church or Confirming them in it 3. Scripture hath no where made such Publique Admission to be of constant Necessity therefore it is not so 4. Else none could be Admitted or Confirmed when persecution hindereth Church Assemblies 5. The Church is to believe and trust the Pastours to whom it doth by office belong to try and admit them 6. General unfixed Ministers may thus try approve and confirm who are not Pastours of any particular Church such as Apostles Evangelists and others were therefore they are not alwaies to do it before a particular Church Nor indeed did they alway do so Prop. 16. When a Person is admitted among the Adult-members af a Particular Church as well as the Vniversal his Profession and Admission must be either before the Church or Satisfactorily made Known to the Church at least who must Approve of it by a Judgment of Discretion in order to their Communion with him and this among us is the ordinary case because it is the duty of all that have opportunity to joyn themselves to some particular Church and it is in such Churches that Communion in publique Worship and Order must be had either statedly or transiently and temporarily 1. THe solemnity it self of our Transition into the number of Adult-members and their Communion is of very great advantage as I shall manifest more anon 2. We that are commonly against the private Admission of Infants at least except in some urgent case have less reason to be for the private Transition and Admission of men among the Adult and that into a particular Governed Church 3. The whole Society among whom such a person is entered do owe him much duty and brotherly assistance They must Love him with a special Love They must live though not in a Levelling yet in a Charitable Community with him not shutting up the bowels of Compassion from him when they see him in want but relieving him as if they sufferd with him They are not only to Love him and Relieve him as a man but as one of Christ's little ones or friends yea as his brethren yea as loving and relieving Christ in them Matth. 25. 35. to the end They must receive and relieve a Disciple in the name of a Disciple Besides this they must have Church-Union and Communion with him as one Body and must pray for him and rejoice with him in Gods Praises and the Lords Supper and watch over him and admonish and reprove him in sinne for his recovery and avoid him if he walk disorderly and be impenitent in scandalous sinne c. Now 1. No man can perform all this duty to a man that he knoweth not to be thus related to him If he know not that he owes him this duty any more then to any one else in the world how shall he pay it him To say that we are bound to take all men that converse with us to be such is to say that Christians must renounce their witts and turn the Church into Bedlam 2. And as this proves that the Church-members must be made known to one another so it proves that they must have a Judgment of Discretion in receiving them though the Pastours have the Judgment of Governing Direction For 1. God hath not left the Pastours at liberty to take in whom they Please but hath described what Profession they shall accept or what persons they shall admit and whom they shall reject If therefore the Pastours go against the Word of God then this following is the peoples duty 1. If they know not the errour or the case be doubtfull they
are to rest in Obedience to their Pastours for that 's undoubtedly their duty the work being the Pastours and not theirs 2. But if the case be plainly contrary to the Scripture as if he would admit an Impenitent Drunkard Fornicatour c. they must disown his sinne that it lie not upon them and refuse private familiarity with that person but not withdraw from publick Ordinances because of his presence For when they have done their duty and rid themselves of the guilt by a dissent the person is to them as Morrally absent though Locally and Physically present and the Ordinance is not defiled to them by his Corporal presence but the guilt will lie on the Rulers of the Church otherwise all Churches should be broken in pieces if the people must seperate when every one that they are confident is unworthy is Introduced and the Governed will become the Governours 3. But if it be not a few that the Pastours thus introduce against the certain Word of God but so many and such as will corrupt the substance of the Church and make it an uncapable matter for the form and so to become another thing and destroy the very Ends of Church-association so that it is no longer a Communion of Saints then the people fearing God are bound to stop this before it have quite corrupted the Church by admonishing the Pastours and advising with neighbour Churches to admonish them and if that prevail not by rejecting them and if they cannot do so by reason of a Major Vote of uncapable persons they ought to withdraw themselves and worship God in such a Church as is truly capable of the Name and Ends And this is a Lawfull and Necessary separation of which as it is a duty God is the Cause and as it is a forsaking of the rest the culpable cause is only in themselves I can easily prove all this but that I think it needless tediousness 4. And indeed it would be very hard measure if at the corrupt administration of a carnal or carless or erroneous Pastour all the Church must be under an Obligation to give their estates by way of relief to every one that he will put the name of a Christian and Church member upon unworthily Then may he force them to maintaine all the beggars and rogues about them though they were Infidels and impious men I speak not of the common relief of the needy for that I know they owe to an Infidel but of the special Community which Charity must make among the Disciples of Christ It 's against all Reason that an erring or careless Pastour shall thus Command all the Peoples estates by introducing such without their consent whom they are bound thus to maintaine 5. Yea indeed the Spirit of God is in the Saints a Spirit of discerning so that it is not Possible that all the Church should in their Affections obey such a corrupt Administratour by Loving all the notorious ungodly men as Saints with the special Love of brethren whom he will carelesly or erroneously put in the place of Saints I cannot possibly Love that man as a Saint or Disciple of Christ that I am certain is his enemy and none such I conclude therefore that though the people be not Church-governours by a Vote that 's a great errour yet they have a Judgment of Discerning according to which they must obey or reject their Pastours administrations And he that denyeth this and would have them yield an Absolute obedience without trying choosing and refusing would not only make the Pastours to be of a Papal streine but would give them a Jesuitical Obedience above what the moderate Papists give the Pope And therefore seeing that ad finem there is a Necessity that the People consent or else they cannot Obey nor hold communion with the person therefore there is also the same Necesity ad finem that they have satisfaction offered them and have either the cognisance of the Profession and admission of the person or that they be satisfied in the fidelity of their Pastours in Administration and that he seek their consent or which is best that some chosen persons do Represent them and be present at such Professions with the Pastours and the Pastours and their own Delegates together do acquaint the Congregation of all that are Admitted and of their Satisfactory Prfession that they may hold Communion with them This I speak of those which are very many that are fit for Church-communion and yet through bashfullness or want of utterance are unable to make a Publike Profession before all The choisest Christians that I have known have been such But those that are able should rather in Publike make their own Profession Object But what if one part of the Congregation approve of the Person and Profession and the other disallow it Answ 1. They are to be governed by the Pastours 2. And consult with the Pastours of Neighbour Churchâ—â— in rules of great weight aed danger 3. And the lesser part of the Church in doubtfull cases and tollerable differences is to yield to the greater part Not as if a Major Vote had the Government of the rest much less of their Governours but in Order to Vnity the fewer must submit Quest But what if the people would have the Pastour Baptize Confirm or introduce an open hereticke or wicked person in his impenitency Answ The Pastour must obey God and refuse to obey them Quest And what if the People think a man unfit whom the Pastour would Approve and Introduce Answ 1. He may admit him into the Universal Church notwithstanding their unjust refusall 2. He hath power to Admit him into that particular Church against their unjust dissent as he is the Ruler of the Church and the Administratour of the Ordinances 3. He hath Authority to perswade and command them from Christ to hold communion with the person and do their duty to him which if they do not they commit a double sinne one of unjustice and uncharitableness in a causless rejecting of a member of Christ and another of disobedience against the fifth Commandement 4. But yet the Pastours cannot force the people to obey their advice and command nor effectually procure it perhaps 5. And therefore their forementioned Power is not alwaies to be exercised For it is in vaine to use a means that will rather hinder the End then attain to it and so is at that time no means Sometimes the Pastour may see just cause to exercise all this Power and execute his part of Church communion with the person in administring the Ordinances to him and leave the people answerable to God for refusing their part But this is not an usual case Usually if he see the People resolve against Communion with that person how fit soever he is publickly to cleare himself by disallowing them in their sinne and reproving them for it and leaving the blame on them and then in Prudence to forbear the Intruding
the Souls of our poor people are deluded and they are made believe that they are Christians when they are not and in a state of Salvation when it 's no such thing As Mr Thorndicke saith as aforecited No man is to be admitted to the Assemblies or visible societies of Christians till there be just presumption that he is of the Heavenly Jerusalem that is above And admitting to and excluding from the Church is or ought to be a just and Lawfull presumption of admitting to or excluding from Heaven It is morally and legally the same act that entitleth to Heaven and to the Church that maketh an heir of life Everlasting and a Christian And if so then what greater mischief can we do the Soul of an ungodly man then so to delude him by our admitting him into the Church and make him believe he is in a state of Salvation when it 's no such thing False faith and false hopes are the things that fill Hell and are the common undoing of the world And all that ever we can do is too little to cure it When I bend all my studies and labours but to make a wicked man know that he is wicked I cannot procure it I can make him believe that he is a sinner but not that he is an unconverted ungodly sinner and in a state of Condemnation O the power of blinding self-self-love that will not suffer them to see themselves miserable when they see themselves sinfull and all because they would not have it so when yet it 's most visible to others And shall we all joyne to strengthen this potent Enemy and lay this share and thrust men headlong into Hell that are running down-hill so fast already and all under pretence of Charity and Compassion 7. We shall put them by this means into a way not only of losing the fruit of Ordinances but of misapplying all to the increasing of their deceit When we preach Peace to the true believer the wicked will misapply it and say it belongs to them When we speak against the unbelievers and ungodly they 'l think that this is not their part but bless themselves because they are Christians In our praises they are tempted with the Pharisee to thank God and perhaps for mercies which they never had as Justification Adoption Sanctification c. The Sacraments by misapplication will confirm them in Presumption And thus as they enter by deceit among Adult-believers so will they turn all the Ordinances of God and the Priviledges of the Church to feed that deceit more effectuall then among the expectants it would have been 8. But the greatest mischief that troubleth me to think of is this that by this hastening and admitting all the unprepared into the Number of Adult-Christians and members of the Church we do either put a necessity upon our selves to throw away Church-discipline or else to be most probably the damnation of our peoples Souls and make them desperate and almost past all hope or remedy I must confess that what I am saying now I was not sensible of till lately that experience made me sensible While I medled not with Publike reproofs or censures I disputed of these things without that experience which I now find is one of the greatest helps to resolve such doubts which makes me bold to tell the Church that the Practice of so much Discipline as we are agreed in is a likelyer way to bring us all to agreement in the rest then all our Disputings will do without it And that I resolve hereafter to take that man for an incompetent Judge and unmeet Disputer about Church-discipline that never exercised it or lived where it was exercised And I shall hereafter suspect their judgments and be almost as loath to follow such as to follow a swimmer that never was before in the water or a Pilote that was never before at sea or a Souldiour that never saw warres before but have only learned their skill by the Book Our case stands thus If we take all our Parishes according to the old Church-constitution to be particular Churches and all the Parishiones to be members then either we must exercise the Discipline which Christ hath commanded or not If not then we disobey our Lord and Master and own such a Church as is utterly uncapable of Church-ends and consequently of the essence seeing that it is a Relative being For it 's supposed that it is not for any unusual accident that we cannot exercise this Discipline but from the very Church constitution or incapacity of the matter And then 1. We shall be Traitours to Christ under the name of Pastours if we will wilfully cast out his Ministerial Kingly Government 2. We shall betray the Church to licentiousness And 3. We shall set up a new Church-way which is contrary to that which hath been practised in all ages from the Apostles daies till Impiety had overspread the Christian world He that dare take on him to be an Overseer and Ruler of the Church and not to oversee and rule it and dare settle on such a Church-state as is uncapable of Discipline is so perfidious to Christ and ventureth so boldly to make the Church another thing that I am resolved not to be his follower But if we shall exercise the Discipline of Christ upon all in our ordinary Parishes what work shall we make I will tell you what work from so much experience as that no reasonings can any more perswade me to believe the contrary then that wormwood is not bitter or snow not cold 1. We shall have such a multitude to excommunicate or reject that it will make the sentence grow almost contemptible by the commonness 2. We shall so extreamly enrage the spirits of the people that we shall go in continual danger of our lives Among so many that are publikly reproved and cast out it 's two to one but some desperate villains will be studying revenge But all this is nothing but that which sticks upon my heart is this 3. We shall be the cruellest enemies to the Souls of our poor people in the world and put them the very next step to Hell For as soon as ever we have rejected them and cast them under publique shame they hate us to the heart and either will never heare us more or heare us with so much harted and malice or bitterness of spirit that they are never like to profit by us If you say that doubtless Discipline will have better fruits if it be an Ordinance of God I Answer 1. It 's no time now in the end of the world to question whether that be an Ordinance of God which Scripture speaks for so fully and so plainly and which the Catholike Church hath so long practised and that with such severity as it hath done 2. I know the Discipline is of excellent use and is likely to have excellent effects But upon whom Upon such as are fit to come under Discipline and with
family by which you may the better know them and prepare them for Church-Communion and have opportunity to quiet them and answer their Objections and they may see that you cast them not off as Heathens but only prepare them for the state and Priviledges which they are yet unfit for And especially let us by all possible condescension meekness loving carriage blameless lives and charitable contribution to the utmost of our abilities endeavour to win them and take off that Offence or at least abate it or hinder the success of the reproaches of those that will undoubtedly be offended by our Reformation and Discipline And let us have a vigilant eye upon any Seducers especially Infidels and Papists that may creep in among them to take advantage of their discontents that we may prudently and effectually counterwork them This much faithfully done by Ministers might be an admirable mercy to the Church 2. THe Peoples duty in order to this Reformation before mentioned is 1. Of the godly and such as are fit for Church-Communion 2. Of the grosly ignorant and ungodly that are unfit 1. The duty of the first sort lyeth in these Particulars 1. They must highly value the benefit of Pastorall oversight and Church-Communion and therefore be ready to promote any work of Reformation that is necessary to their more fruitfull and comfortable enjoyment of them 2. They must so behave themselves as may honour and further the work and take heed of that by which it may be hindered least they weaken our hands and be a stumbling block to others For what can a Minister do himself if the Church assist him not much less if they hinder him Especially 1. They must take heed of scandalous sinnes which may be a shame to their Profession and open the mouthes of the enemies of the Church 2. They must take heed of Sects and Divâ—sions and quarrellings among themselves which will break them in pieces or hinder their Edification and make them a stumbling block to the weak and a laughing stock to the wicked 3. They must take heed of surâ—yness and pride and domineering carriage towards those that are yet without And must be as eminent in meekness and humility and patience and forbearance and self-denyal as they are in the Profession of Religion For a proud domineering spirit or strangeness and unnecessary distance doth lose the ungodly whom you should be means to win 4. They must study to do all the good they can to those without be as little as may be in executing penalties on them and as much as may be possibly in speaking kindly and familiarly to them and relieving them in wants and visiting them in sickness and think it not much to purchase their love in order to their Salvation with the loss of your right or with the price of much of your worldly goods For all men love those or at least will less dislike them that do no hurt to any but do good to all or as many as they can To be the servants of all is the highest Christian dignity and the way to winne them 5. Take heed of falling out or contending with any of them or of giving them any harsh provoking words to their faces or behind their backs But put up any wrong that is meerly your own and is in your power to forgive for the sake of Peace and your own neighbours good 6. Be not men of common spirits or common speech or a common conversation but as we must make a difference between you and others in our communion and Church-administrations so let the rest see that it is not without cause For if you be but like other men we shall seeme to be partial in making a difference between you and other men Let your Light therefore shine before men to the Glory of your Heavenly Father Let them see that you despise the world and live above it and can easily part with it that you can forgive and bear a wrong that your heart is in Heaven and your treasure there and that you are the heires of another world Let all men heare and see by you that you have a higher designe in your eye then the ungodly and that you are driving on another trade then the men that have their portion in this life Heaven is your Reall Glory and to be Heavenly is your true Reputative Glory not only in the eies of the wiâ—e but of the common earth-worms of the world 7. Set your selves in the most diligent and faithfull improvement of all your parts and Interests to help on the Work of God on mens Souls Though you preach not you have work enough in your own places to do to further the Preachers work Speake to poore people prudently seasonably and seriously about the state of their Souls and Everlasting Life and consult with the Ministers how to deale with them Tell them in what state you find the people and take their advice in further dealing with them O if our neighbours would but helpe us in private and do their parts and not cast all the burden on the Minister there would much more be done then is Nay alas to our grief and hindrance some of our Professing people are so hot and self-conceited and proud that unless we will outrunne our own understandings and be ruled by them and shut out abundance that the Word of God allows us not to shut out and be Righteous overmuch and shut up the Church of Christ as in a nut-shell they presently murmure and rebell and separate and must betake themselvel to a stricter Congregation And others of them must have us cast off Discipline and cut up the hedge and admit all to the Communion and Priviledges of the Church and all under a blind pretense of Charity and some Learned Gentlemen by words and writings do enrage our ignorant and ungodly neighbours against us and make them believe that we do them some grievous wrong because we will not indeed deceive them and undo them and set up new Church-orders or disorders now in the end of the world so contrary to all the ancient Canons and Orders of the Church I honour and deerly love the names of many of these studious pious Gentlemen But seriously I must tell them that they want humility and in their good meanings do the Church a world of wrong And though they may be more learned even in Theology then we yet it is a great matter to have or to want experience They have not been so much in Church-administrations as we nor had so much to do with ignorant Souls And verily I must say againe that the bare Theory maketh but a bungler in this work I must much suspect the Judgment of that man in matters of Church-government or dealing with poor Souls that wants experience Let these Gentlemen but turn Ministers be it known to their faces there 's none of them too good for it nor too great and let them but try our life
but in lighter matters may waite upon the Lord in this good service for the greâ—t blessing of Vnanimity promised also Object But he addeth the proviso that Coâ—firmation be not thought to have any ingrediency into the nature or being of our membership and that the temper of the people be found such as will admit of such a change Answ We shall easily grant that Confirmation as it is a solemn Reception of the person by Imposition of hands or without Imposition in a purposed solemnity commonly known by that name is not of necessity to the Being of our membership and that all those that are received upon profession of Faith may be Church-members and that the ordinary use of Christian Assemblies and exercises of worship is a Profession though obscure and that a baptized person that never was called to a Verball Profession may be taken for a Christian or Church-member upon such a Practical sort of Profession joyned with a not denying of Christ in word or life But yet we are far from thinking that the Infant-Title-condition of such a one serveth to prove his present Church-state and Title now he is at capable age The Infant-Title ceaseth if he continue it not by a Personal Profession at age And as there is no middle betweene Believers and unbelievers so there is no such thing in a capable subject as non-dissenting in a moral sense but true Consenting It is not possible for the Soul to be neuter when the thing is offered to our consent but we must either will or nill consent or dissent though if it were yet not willing or not consenting is Infidelity and Rebellion in such a Subject And accordingly we maintaine and must maintaine that Profession of some sort or other is a necessary Condition of the Title and Church-state of the capable Adult and of Right to the Priviledges And as an obscure kind of Profession may serve when a man is called to no more to prove his Right so a clearer sort of Profession is necessary to the clearer proof and ad bene esse Ecclesiae And I have shewed what great and weighty Reasons we have to require an open cleare intelligible Profession And he that is justly called to for such giveth cause to the Church to question him of Apostacy if he refuse without cause So that of the three Conditions in question the first which is our Infant-condition is utterly insufficient to the capable Adult and the second which is an obscure signification of our mind by our Christian practises may serve ad esse at least when no more is required and the third which is an open approved Profession by word or subscription is necessary ordinarily ad bene esse Thus farre we are agred But what if we were not Must we therefore refuse to agree in the practice of the aforesaid Confirmation Will any good and peaceable man refuse to joyne with those that think it necessary to Adult Church-membership If this opinion of the said Non-necessity had been an Article of Faith and among the necessâ—ry Credenda of the Church we should have had it in some Creed or heard more of the necessity of it then we have done from the Ancient Churches If we meet about the agenda in our practice let men take head how they divide from such as differ in the Reasons of their Practice till they can prove that they deny some Article of the Faith which is of necessity to be believed And as for the peoples unfitness or any disturbance that will follow thereupon 1. If there be such a thing it will be much long of the Ministers Let them unanimously agree and they may do well enough with the people or much the better But when Ministers themselves are the bellows of faction and think they can never sufficiently vilifie dissenters and so have themselves taught the people to take such a Practice for a Prelaticall foppery or formality or for an Independent rigidity and extreamity no wonder if when they come to practice their duty they meet with such reproaches from the people as they have taught them 2. But suppose that people would disturb us that may in some cases excuse us as to the mode of Confirmation or Profession but no unfitness of the people can excuse us as to the substance of the duty the requiring and approving their Profession We are false to our trust and the Church of God if to avoid disturbance we will confound Believers and Infidels and destroy the nature of the Church and Ordinances under pretence of the peoples good Object But it would be your only sure and happy course to exercise Discipline upon all that are baptized in their Infancy whether at age they consent or no And finding them in the Church you must do so Answ I have said enough to this before Have they that talk thus tried this course or have they not If they have not we will beare with them as well meaning men that talk of what they never tryed as we would do with a confident man that would condemn the actions of Souldiours and Seamen that himself was never in at warres nor at Sea But if they have tryed it what kind of Discipline do they exercise Would they make us believe that they are able in a Parish of 4000 or 5000 or 6000 Souls to exercise the Discipline mentioned in Scripture and the Canons of the Ancient Churches and that upon such persons as our Parishes commonly consist of I know they cannot do it I have had tryall to tell me what a man can do With the help of divers Ministers and many hundred godly people to watch over others and promote this work I am not able to do it on all this Parish if I might There is so many offendours weekely to be dealt with and so much time required to heare witnesses and admonish them that it 's more then I could pâ—ssibly do How Bishops deale with Diocesses let them see themselves And if we could do it yet the people will not consent If you send for them they will not come neer you If you admonish them in the Congregation by name they will have an Action at Law against you if they can However you will have such a multitude enraged by the exercise of Discipline if it be faithfully though never so tenderly done that the Church will be in a flame and your Mâ—nistry hated and the people undone as I have before declared So that it is but a name of Discipline to the destruction of discipline that this Objection pleadeth for or else it dishonoureâ—h it self and the Authors And as they do by Discipline so they do by Christian Charity which is a greater thing Of old the Visible members of the Church were the Objects of brotherly Christian Love And so as they seemed to them to be Believers and penitent persons the living members did love all the body with that special Love that was the matter of the new Commandment
and proved them to be Christ's Disciples No man knew the hearts of others and therefore knew not whom to Love as Christians infallibly discerned But the Profession of Saving Faith and Holiness being then and ever the test of Adult-members they took all the members of the Visible Church as credibly of the invisible though with different degrees of Credibility And accordingly they loved them all with a Christian special Love of the same species though with different degrees of that Love Whereas this Popish new found trick of making a new common sort of Faith and Visible membership that hath no respect to saving Faith doth teach all Christians to Love the members of the Visible Church but with a common love and relieve and help them but with a common Charity And so the device is to confine our special Brotherly Love and Charity to a corner of the Visible Church to a few whom we will please to think to be godly I have oft marvelled in observing some Learned Divines that bend that way that they think compassion and Christian Charity is on their side What Charity can their Doctrine glory of They will be so mercifull to Infidels that are uncapable of a Church-state as to plead them into the Church and when they are there they leave them under the curse and in a state of damnation in their own judgments teaching us to judge uncharitably of the Visible Church in general for their sakes and to look on them as without respect to any saving grace and so without any special Love A cold comfort I to bring them into no more capacity of Gods Mercy nor of our Charity but into much more capacity of aggravated damnation which they might better have prevented by being kept in their proper station till they were capable of more I confess though my belief of mens Profession have different degrees as I see in them different degrees of Credibility yet I have Charitabler thoughts of the members of the Visible Church then these that make so low and miserable a description of them And though I know that there are abundance among them that are Hypocrites and unsanctified yet know I none but Saints and Hypocrites that are tolerable in the Church nor will I accuse particular persons of Hypocrisie till I have cause Neither in my secret or open censures will I pluck up the tares upon any such terms as will not stand with the safety of the wheate but rather let them grow together in my esteeme in the Church till the time of harvest And that I may think charitably of the Church and walk charitably in and towards it therefore I would not have it consist of such notorious ungodly or heretical men as are uncapable objects of Christian Brotherly Love For Heresie the foresaid learned Brother tells us that it cuts men off from the Church I say so to meritoriously at least if by Heresie be meant the exclusion of any essential Article of the Christian Faith But pag. 199 where he saith the Controversie may be easily ended by parting stakes viz. that some Heresie which absolutely denyeth some particular fundamental truth and taketh up some one or few stones thereof is consistent with Church interest and other Heresie which raiseth up the very foundation of Religion denying most or the most chief if not all of the Articles of our Christian Faith is inconsistent therewith I must humbly but very confidently say that this answer will not serve the turne If by Fundamentals be meant as commonly the Essential Articles of Christian Faith then the absolute denying of any one Article doth prove that person to be no Christian nor capable of a Church state For the form is wanting where any Essential part is wanting But if any thing else be meant by Fundamentals no man can decide the Controvesie by it till it be known what it is And it will be hard to fasten it on any thing where the absolute denyal of many points shall unchurch and the absolute denial of one or two points of the same rank and kind not do it Saith he p. 198. The Jews held that an heretical Isralite had no communion with the Church of Israel and why but because Communion supposeth union and union with Israel or the true Church is lost with Faith They also held as Selden noteth that an Israelite turning an Heretike i. e. denying any of the thirteene fundamental Articles to be as an Heathen man And a few lines before he saith that historical Faith which hath the Doctrine of Faith for its Object none do doubt to be an Essential requisite to a true Church-member Yet that with me is a Visible member that hath not this much which is said to be Essential no man doubting of it If they Profess true Faith though they are stark Atheists at the heart and have not so much as historical Faith I shall believe them till they nullifie their own Profession But if they profess not also to consent to have Christ to be their Saviour I shall not take it for a Profession of Christianity Certain I am that the ancient Doctours with one consent did look on the baptized generally as pardoned justified and adopted and therefore thought that Visible Church-membership did imply a credibility at least of a state of saving grace Saith Cyprian Epist 76. Magn. In Baptismo unicuique peccata sua remittuntur And upon this supposition run the Arguments of the councell of Carthage and Firmilian Epist ibid. Saith Augustine De Catechizandis rudibus cap. 26. His dictis interrogandus est an haec credat atque observare desideret Quod cum responderit solemniter utique signandus est ecclesiae more tractandus Obedience it self was promised and a consent to it professed before Baptism then and ever since Christian Baptism was known Idem Epistol 119. Ad Januar. cap. 2. Secundum hanc fidem spem dilectionem quâ caepimus esse sub gratia jam commortui sumus cum Christo consepulti per baptismum in morte c. Baptism then supposeth credibly Faith Hope and Love Idem Epist 23. Having shewed why Parents Faith profiteth Infants and yet their after-sins hurt them not saith Cum autem homo sapere caeperit non illud Sacramentum repetit sed intelligit ejusque veritati consonâ etiam voluntate coaptabitur Hoc quamdiu non potest N. B. valebit Sacramentum ad ejus tutelam adversus contrarias potestates tantum valebit utsi ante rationis usum ex hac vita emigraverit per ipsum Sacramentum Ecclesiae charitate ab illa condemnatione quae per unum hominem intravit in mundum Christiano adjutorio liberetur Hoc qui non credit fieri non posse arbitratur profecto infidelis est etsi habeat fidei Sacramentum longeque melior est ille parvulus qui etiamsi fidem nondum habeat in cogitatione non ei tamen obicem contrariae cogitationis opponit undè Sacramentum