has an Vnion with Him as being the Head of it so I believe there is a Common Vnion among the Members both those that are glorified in Heaven and those that in some degree are sanctified on Earth And this is called the Communion of Saints and is the first Priviledge of the Christian Church And by vertue of this all true Christians communicate in all Offices of Piety and Charity in doing good to one anothers Bodies and Souls And this they do upon the account that they have in common One God one Christ one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism one Hope ARTICLE X. The Forgiveness of Sins As the Communion of Saints genuinely ariseth from the Nature of the Vniversal Church so Pardon of Sins follows from both For none shall have their Sins forgiven but those who live and die in the Communion of the Church For unless I abide in this Ark I shall certainly perish Now Sin as I have been instructed is of two sorts the one Original which is the sin of my Nature the other Actual which is the sin of my Conversation The former I brought with me into the World the latter I commit while I live therein And both these sorts of sin deserve Eternal Death and can only be pardon'd by the Merits of Christ For sin being a Transgression of the Law of God it can only be forgiven by him whose Law it transgresseth For Remission of sins is the second Priviledge of the Church which is preached to all in the Name of Christ and sealed in Baptism wherein I believe my Original Sin is presently pardon'd and that my Actual Sins committed after Baptism shall be pardon'd if I truly repent me of the same Now this my Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins supposes that I believe That God graciously and freely without any Desert on Man's part gave his Son to die for the World and That for the sake of his meritorious Death he remits the Fault absolves from the Guilt and acquits from Punishment all truly penitent and believing Sinners And I do further believe That he imputes to them the Obedience of his own Son and his Righteousness and by means thereof accounts them just in his sight I believe That all who are justified and thus acquitted have Holiness in some degree according to the Condition of this Life Which Holiness tho' it cannot altogether discharge them from sin yet it doth not suffer it to reign over them So that a justified Person is not under its Dominion nor yields himself a Vassal to it but resists its Commands and makes it die daily And for the greater security of the Forgiveness of sins God hath committed to his Ministers an indispensible Power and Charge to preach Faith and Repentance as the Condition of this Forgiveness He hath likewise appointed them to pray and intercede and also to baptize for the Forgiveness of sins and to administer the Lord's Supper in memory of that Blood which was shed for the Remission of Sins And indeed all that God hath left in the Hand and Power of his Ministers especially tends to make Men capable of receiving what they believe namely the Remission of sins ARTICLE XI The Resurrection of the Body It was the Hope of the Fathers under the Old Testament as well as it is of Christians under the New That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust And if it were otherwise Christians of all Men would be most miserable and all that I have learn'd and you have taught me concerning Christianity would be in vain But I firmly and truly believe That my Mortal Body shall be raised from the Corruption of the Grave by Vertue of the Resurrection of Christ And this my Belief is founded upon the Power and good Pleasure of God who both can and will raise from the dead the very same Body that died ARTICLE XII The Life everlasting The Enjoyment of Everlasting Life is the last Christian Privilege and that which crowns the rest And I have learned to understand by this Life the Enjoyment of all true Happiness in Soul and Body For I believe that the Faculties of the Souls of just Persons shall be perfectly enlightned and sanctified and that their Bodies shall live after the manner of Spirits and be exceedingly glorified And opposite to this Life everlasting I believe there is an everlasting Death which is the Portion of the Wicked And that as Life everlasting consists in the Fruition so I believe everlasting Death consists in the Loss of God's Presence and all other Comforts and is the enduring of the sting of Conscience and Torments of Hell for ever But as my believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith as they are summ'd up in that which is called the Apostles Creed supposes that I am to learn not only the Words but likewise the Sense of the Creed so it also implies that I should live like them that do believe for otherwise my consenting to the Truth of the Articles will stand me in no stead And therefore not medling with remote and learned Inferences I will draw such from each Article as are near and familiar short and edifying As for Example From my believing that God created me I infer I am bound to be obedient and subject to him By my believing that Christ redeemed me I think it my Duty to yield up my self to him as his Purchase and to be wholly disposed by him and employed only in his Service My believing Christ's Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Birth of the Virgin should make me diligent to fit my Heart for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and for Christ to be born in it My belief of Christ's Crucifixion should teach me to crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and to destroy the Body of sin My belief of his Death and Burial should make me content to die for the sake of Truth being assured that if I suffer for Christ I shall also reign with him It should also keep me from being disheartned by Death seeing that Christ by dying hath taken away the Stinâ— of Death which is Sin and maâ— it an Entrance into Life My bâ—lieving the Resurrection of Chrisâ— should make me actually rise froâ— Sin to a New Life and utterlâ— to forsake my Sins as Christ diâ— the Grave to which after â— was once risen from it he returned no more My believinâ— Christ's Ascension and sitting â— the Right-hand of God shoulâ— teach me to set my Affections oâ— things above and not on thing on the Earth The believing Judgment to come should makâ— me careful so to walk as that may not be condemned in iâ— My believing the Holy Catholick Church and Communion oâ— Saints should render me mightâ— circumspect to preserve Charity which is the Bond of Peace and to avoid all things destructive oâ— Catholick Unity The Remission of sins which I believe should make me highly to esteem all those Ways and Means which
Exaltation namely Resurrection Ascension and Glorification in Heaven ARTICLE V. The third day he rose again from the dead Tho' being a Christian I need no Proof of Christ's rising from the Dead yet to confirm my belief of so eminent an Article God has given me the Testimony of Angels of the Men that guarded the Sepulcher the many Apparitions of Christ after he was risen the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles the Miracles done by them in his Name So that I have just ground to believe and profess That the Body of Christ saw no Corruption as did the Bodies of the Patriarchs And because it was impossible he should be holden of the Power of Death I do believe that he did really rise again and that the very same Body and Soul of our Saviour which were separated by Death were by his own Divine Power reunited in his Resurrection And as to the time when he arose I have been taught and do believe That it was the Third day after his Death which hapned to be the First day of the Week Which Day we celebrate in memory of his Resurrection and which has immemorially been called The Lord's Day ARTICLE VI. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth c. I believe That Christ ascended by the same Power he rose And that this was no other Power than that of his own Divinity by which as an High-Priest of good things to come he once ascended visibly and locally into the Heaven of Heavens as the High-Priest once every Year entred into the Holy of Holies And the End of his Ascension was I believe to prepare a place for Believers and to receive them to it that where he is they might be also After Christ's Ascension into Heaven he took his Place at the Right-Hand of God Not that I think God who is a most absolute Spirit hath either Right or Left Hand but that this is spoken after the manner of Men who place those whom they will most honour upon their Right-hand And from Christ's being thus placed in Heaven I collect That he there took up his Abode in a State of Majesty and Power to shew that he was above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and that he is exalted to be the King of Saints and Judge of Sinners the Prince of our Salvation and High-Priest of our Profession and that in him there was an Union of the Regal Power and Priestly Office when he sat down at the Right-hand of the Father Almighty So that by the former he is perfectly able to subdue all his Enemies and by the latter he doth ever intercede for and eternally save those that are his ARTICLE VII From thence he shall come to judge c. As I believe that Christ redeemed me by his death and passion and that by his Ascension he is become my Advocate and Intercessor with God so I believe that he shall come the second time from Heaven with great Glory to judge the World For besides the particular Judgment that passeth upon every Man immediately upon his Death when the departed Soul is set at God's Tribunal and examined of all its Thoughts Words and Actions I say besides this particular Judgment I believe their shall be a general Judgment when all shall be judged as well the Quick that shall be alive at that day as the Dead who shall then be raised up And that this last Judgment Christ himself as a Supream Judge shall pass the final Sentence and that the Saints as Assessors shall pass their Sentence of Approbation I believe too That I and all Men shall be judged of all things done in the Body whether Good or Evil And that upon the pronouncing of the Sentence the truly penitent shall pass to an Estate of Eternal Happiness and finally the Impenitent to an Estate of Eternal Misery ARTICLE VIII I believe in the Holy Ghost Having briefly declared what my Faith is in God the Father and God the Son I am next to declare what I believe concerning God the Holy Ghost And first I believe That without Faith in the Holy Ghost I cannot believe in God the Father nor in his Son as my Lord. For no Man can call God Father but by the Holy Ghost nor can any Man say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Whom I believe to be the Third Person in the Divine Being and therefore True God And that as he proceedeth from the Father and the Son which I believe he doth he is a Person distinct from both The Spirit in whom I believe is called Holy because in himself he is without all Pollution and sin and because he is the Author of all Holiness in me and all who truly believe in him So that all my Holiness is but a Ray or Effusion of the Holy Ghost which doth furnish my Heart with spiritual and saving Graces by the Work of Sanctification ARTICLE IX I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints After this plain Account given by me of the Articles which concern the Blessed Trinity I will now give the like Account of those that follow which respect such only as truly believe in and obey and Worship the Trinity in Unity and who are here called the Church Which I plainly take to signifie all those whom Christ hath called out of the World to be his peculiar People Over whom he hath a Sovereign Authority in regard of which they willingly and chearfully pay him Homage and obey his Law and Ordinances For by Church I have been taught to understand the Corporation and General Family of all true Believers which Family truly deserves to be called Holy in respect of its Head which is Christ who is Holy in himself and whose Holiness is imputed to all sincere Believers And who through the Grace given to them do labour study and endeavour to be Holy And the Church in this familiar acception I believe is Universal as well as Holy and that there are in all the Quarters of the World those who by Baptism are admitted into it and so made Members of Christ's Mystical Body who are guided by his Spirit nourished by the Word and Sacrament and who are obedient to the Rule and Government of the Bishops and Pastors lawfully called to their Offices And of this Society of Believers which constitute the Church some are in a state of War continually fighting against their own and Christ's Enemies but yet in daily expectation of Triumph and a Crown And these are called the Church Militant which is on Earth And some are in a state of Peace for having fought the good Fight of Faith and finished their Warfare they are entred into their Master's Joy And these make the Church Triumphant which is crowned in Heaven Now these I hold are not two divers Churches but the same Church under a different State and Condition For I believe the Church to be essentially but one And as Christ's Mystical Body the Church
God hath ordained in his Church to convey unto me this Remission and to perform the Condition on which it is promised My believing the Rising again of my Body should make me watchful against all things that may keep it from being in a fit condition to rise to Glory and to practice all such Vertues as may prepare it for that Heavenly Condition to which I expect it should be raised And my believing the Life Everlasting should make me diligent to employ my short moment of Time here that my Everlasting Life hereafter may be a Life of Joy and not of Misery And thus from all the Articles of the Creed I am to draw Motives to strengthen me in all Christian Practice to which end my learning and believing of them is designed And till I do this I cannot rationally pretend to make good what I promised when I was baptized namely To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And without this I think my self unfit to partake of the Lord's Supper I now proceed to Obedience which you have frequently taught me is the second Head of my Christian Profession and that it has the Ten Commandments for its Rule and of these as well as of the Creed I ought to have a convenient Knowledge both as to the Words and Meaning before I come to the Lord's Table Because the keeping of God's Commandments is one part of that Vow which I have broken and come thither to renew And first I have been Catechised That in eaâ—h Commandment there is something required and something forbidden so that I may be guilty of transgressing it either by doing what I ought not to do or by leaving undone what I ought to do As to the things forbidden by the First Commandment I have learned that they are chiefly Atheism or the Denial of God's Being and the multiplying and serving of false Gods as also the not serving the only true God aright And of this last I look upon my self to become egregiously guilty when I suffer any thing to share with God in my Worship of him and when I am guilty of Hypocrisie Irreligion Indevotion Lukewarmness Heresie Schism Apostasie Infidelity Presumption Despair Carnal Security Pride Disobedience Impatience and Murmuring and wilful Ignorance of his Word And I have been taught That by this same Commandment it is required of me to acknowledge but One God and to have him for my God and to love fear obey and trust in him above all others and to serve him truly all the days of my life And as to the things forbidden in the Second Commandment I doubt not but they are The appointing of any kind of Image for Religious Worship the representing of God by a visible likeness of any thing the worshipping of Creatures the neglect of the Worship of the True God or the worshipping him after a false manner And the Duties enjoined in this Commandment are to worship the only True God according to his own Prescription to worship him both in my Body and Spirit to bear a due regard to all the Parts of his Worship as Prayer the Word and Sacraments to come to them with suitable Preparation and to yield a due Veneration to all Places Times Persons and Things rightly set apart for God's Worship And to such as thus worship him he hath promised Mercy and Kindness but has threatned to be a severe Punisher of them that do otherwise In the Third Commandment I am forbidden all irreverent Thoughts of God all Blasphemy or dishonourable mention of his Name all Perjury or Breach of lawful Oaths all occasioning the Name of God and True Religion to be blasphemed And on the other side I am enjoyned to think and speak reverently of God's Name and Attributes to glorifie him in his Holy Word and Ordinances to use his Name with Reverence in taking Religious Oaths to obâ—â—â—â—â— such Oaths with an holy Care and Conscience and to glorifie his Name by a pious Conversation The Fourth Commandment requires me to keep holy or to sanctifie all such days which are separated from a Common to a Religious use After God had in six days finished the Works of the first Creation he sanctified the Seventh Day and commanded his People to sanctifie it But after the Resurrection of Christ instead of the Seventh Day from the beginning of the Creation the First Day of the Week was hallowed and called emphatically the Lords-day And the Observation of it has been the universal practice of the Christian Church And I think my self bound to spend this day in an especial attendance on God's Service such as Prayer Preaching Participation of the Sacrament Relieving the Poor Meditating upon the Works of Creation and Redemption c. And on this day I have been taught that I am forbidden all Worldly Undertakings and Employments vain Sports and Recreations and all actions but those of Piety Mercy Necessity and Decency Now these four first Commandments respect my Duty toward God and the six that follow regard my Neighbour and my self And the first of these six which is the Fift of the Ten Commandments may be called the Commandment of Relations For it teaches me first my Duty to my Natural Parents and that I am to honour them Which implieth that I am to fear reverence succour and obey them It secondly teacheth me my Duty to my Political Parents namely the King and all in lawful Authoritâ— under him Whom also I am to honour and obey It thirdly teaches me my Duty to my Ecclesiastical Parents Spiritual Pastor and Teachers And it likewise binds me to carry my self lowly and reverently to all my betters In short I have been taught that this Commandment doth concern all the mutual Duties among all sorts and degrees of Inferiours and Superiours from the King to the Master of a Cottage And there is an especial Promise annexed to this Precept to encourage all to obey it in performing their respective Duties one to another In the Sixth Commandment which concerns Man's life all those things are forbidden me which any way tend to the injury of the same as Hatred causless and revengeful Anger contrivance of Man's Death occasions of and actual and wilful Murder And at the same time this Commandment requires me as far as I am able to preserve the life of Man and that I sustain it with Food and Raiment that I prudently avoid all Dangers and conscientiously fly from all such Vices whereby Humane Life is hazarded and which are destructive both of the Body and Soul of him that commits them Such as Drunkenness Uncleanness c. In the Seventh Commandment which concerns a chaste Conservation I am forbidden all acts of Adultery and Fornication together with unlawful Marriage And likewise all such Thoughts Looks Attire and Words as prompt and inveigle to Uncleanness I have further been taught that by this Commandment all such things are forbidden as may occasion any of these as Idleness Excess in Eating and Drinking
been prayed for and that by so doing I challenge a share therein And indeed if I neglect this I can scarce expect any part or interest in the Prayers that are made To conclude In this word Amen all the Prayer is summ'd up and abridg'd and it was as I have been taught of such singular importance with the Primitive Christians that they spoke it with so great Zeal as that he who heard their Voice would have thought it had been a roaring Sea or Thunder which should awaken my drowsiness and move me with Vigour and Warmth to declare my fervent desires to have those Prayers heard of God to which I say such an earnest hearty humble and zealous Amen The Doctrine of the Sacraments In the Creed I have been taught that God by his Son hath redeemed me and all Mankind and in the Doctrine of the Sacraments which makes the last part of my Catechism I have been taught how that by them God doth exhibit and seal unto Believers that Redemption which Christ purchased for them And as to the Number of these Sacraments I have learned they are but Two and only Two namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper And I am convinced that all Men ought to receive these Two who desired to be saved Which I do not so understand as if God could not save without them but that they are the Instrumental Means and ordinary Seals by which God hath promised to convey and assure Christ's Merits to me and commanded me this way to receive them so that wilfully to neglect or to want the Sacraments when they may be had is to cast aside God's Ordinance which every Christian is bound to obey And as I have been taught so I look upon the Sacraments as the Conditional Means which God requires to be observed of them unto whom he imparts his Grace Not as if this Grace whereof a Worthy Receiver partakes were a Natural or Supernatural Quality in the Sacrament but that it is from God himself which is the Author of the Sacrament so that Grace is receiv'd from God by means of the Sacraments And this I have learned not only from you who are our Parish-Divine but also from Mr. Hooker whose Judgment I have heard much praised by many of our best Clergy This saith he is the Necessity of Sacraments That saving Grace which Christ Originally is or hath for the General Good of his whole Church by Sacraments he severally derives into every Member thereof Sacraments serve as the Instruments of God to that End and Purpose Moral Instruments the Use whereof is in our Hands the Effect in his For the Use we have his express Commandment for the Effect his Conditional Promise So that without our Obedience to the one there is no apparent assurance of the other As contrariwise where the Signs and Sacrament of his Grace are not eitheâ— through Contempt unreceiv'd or not receiv'd with Contempt We are not to doubt but they really give what they promise and are what they signifie I fully acquiesce as to this Point in the Judgment of this Considerable Author The Sacraments of the Christian Church are as I said Two namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper By Baptism I have my Admission and Entrance into the Church and it is the washing of Regeneration by which I am new born And by the Lord's Supper to which I now earnestly desire to be admitted I believe I shall be nourished preserved and grow up in Christ And these Two Sacraments I am sure were of Christ's own appointment And seeing that by the one I am entred into the Christian Profession and by the other I am therein strengthned and made perfect I see no neep of any more And not to trouble my self with the secular use of the Word Sacrament it serves my turn to understand it in the Sense of the Church which tells me it is an outward and visible Sign of an inward and spiritual Grace Ordain'd by Christ himself and a means whereby we receive the same Grace and a Pledge to assure us thereof Now this Description of a Sacrament I have been often told is the uneasiest Point in all my Catechism I will therefore in order to be better inform'd set down my sence of this Description And first By an Outward and Visible Sign I understand that which presents its self to my Eye and represents somewhat else to my Understanding As for Example in Baptism the Outward and Visible Sign is Water wherein the Person is dipped or sprinkled And the inward and spiritual Grace which is thereby signified is a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness both which by the means of Baptism are convey'd to the Baptized I have heard you Catechizing upon this Point declare that it was the ancient manner of Baptism to put the Person baptiz'd under Water and then to take him out again and that this was done to signifie his dying unto Sin and rising again to Newness of Life The first declared the weakning the deading and putting off of sin The latter shewed the performance of those Actions of Men who being quickned by the Spirit endeavour to serve God all their days in Righteousness and true Holiness And in the Lord's Supper there is also an Outward and Visible sign namely Bread and Wine and an inward Part or Thing signified to wit the Body and Blood of Christ which are spiritually received by all Worthy Communicants and which being so received their Souls are strengthned and refreshed and the same Effect is wrought in the Inner Man by the Holy Mysteries which is in the Outward by these Elements And as strength is from Bread and chearfulness from Wine so I hope and expect that when I am admitted to the Lord's Supper my Heart will be established by Grace and my Soul strengthned and my Conscience made chearful and light with the Blessings and Benefits that the Sacrament will exhibit seal and convey unto me still supposing that I am in some competent measure fit to communicate And in order to be so I have learned from my Catechism that these following Duties are required of me namely Self-Examination Repentance Faith Thankfulness and Charity And for my assistance in the Knowledge and Examination of these Graces I have chosen The Introduction to the Sacrament written by Doctor Addison Dean of Litâ—â—field on purpose for such if Capacities as my own And after this familiar account of my knowledge in Religion you to whom I commit the care of my Soul shall judge me competent to be admitted to the Lord's Table I shall esteem my Condition happy as being perswaded that I have no other means to repair my Vow of Baptism which by numerous ways I have broken and to renew the Covenant I made with God when I was Christen'd and to be restored to all the Benefits of Baptism forfeited by the sins I have committed since I was baptized I say I am perswaded that I cannot obtain these things by any
this purpose as is so generally supposed And give me leave to speak of these two freely and first of Disputation which is a meer empyrick prescription in order to heal our present distempers For though Disputation as it is managed by the Pen may have got a great Vogue in the World yet we can never hope that our Dissenting Judgments should hereby be reconciled if with due seriousness we consider First the manner of their conduct Secondly the matter to be disputed Thirdly the persons thereby to be wrought upon And First If the conduct of disputes fall under a calm unprejudiced and reflexive review as they appear in Print the Pen-men thereof seem to have intended rather the defamation than conviction of each other and to have been of an opinion that men were to be refuted as Mercury of old was worshipt by throwing dirt and stones in their Face But we have been taught by miserable experience that the lashing of a Few hath been subservient to no better end than to exasperate the whole Party And that our keenest Arguments if we may judge by the Event have only served to alarm the Adversary into a better provision for future resistance and to strengthen their opinion in that part wherein the Attack had discovered it to be the weakest But grant as indeed we must that the Dissenters to whom this Paragraph chiefly relates are not able to stand in Argument before their Opponents yet we must also grant that there is a want of Decorum in the Victors carriage while his Argument loseth its efficacie through the looseness luxury or rigour of its expression For it is too apparent to conceal that there are so many unmanly reflections in most of our late Controversies that discreet and sober persons loath the reading of those Pages where they occur Which gives occasion for doubting that such arguings so managed proceed not from that Spirit of meekness wherewith the overtaken Brother should be restored nor were designed to procure Unity and Concord among us seeing that so little of that Charity can therein be discerned which is the bond of Peace and sure ground-work of all true Reconcilement And if the conduct of our Debates were throughly considered we might find this Church complaining like the Eagle in the Greek Epilogue which seeing her Breast wounded with a feather'd Dart cryed out with Tears Alas my own kind hath destroyed me But to proceed It cannot be doubted but that some opinions sooner die by being contemn'd than taken notice of And I am perswaded that this National Church is now troubled with many Opinions which long ere this would have found their own Graves if they had not been kept alive with opposition In so much that it may be said of this particular Church what was of the Catholick That if she had stopt and damn'd up the Originals and Springs of Controversies rather than determining for one part to give them as it were a Pipe and Conduit to convey them to Posterity she had not suffer'd that Inundation of Opinions with which at this day she is over-run A policy still in practice in the Popish Countries where those Books of Controversies are scarce to be met with wherein their Religion is maintained against Reformed Churches By which means they live free from those Dissentions wherewith their Neighbours are afflicted to their scandal and ruin And I hope we may safely imitate their Wisdom whose Errors we abhor But if Controversies were as necessary as by some they are pretended to be yet their conduct ought so far to be reformed as that at least there be a cessation from hostile Expressions which have hitherto been of no better use than to exasperate Men into a petulant and peevish vindication of that Name under which they conceived themselves to be reviled Next that the Disputers would not vent and foam out their personal Piques and Animosities under the pretence and cloke of asserting Religion and the Church Lastly that they would aim at Peace and not Revenge For how seemly soever the present carriage of Disputes may be accounted in persons of another Character yet it is very ill-becoming those who are stiled Embassadors of Reconcilation and who ought to express the Emphasis of that Title in reconciling Mens Wills with their Duties and their Understandings with the Truth in bringing the wicked to repentance and the malicious to Charity and to win all to a holy compliance with the design and Rule of the Blessed Author of Christianity which was to heighten our Conversation to the most elevated pitch of true Vertue Peace and Holiness and that our Righteousness should exceed all theirs that ever went before us CHAP. IX The Just Matter and Subject of Controversie in Religion examined How by Catechising and not Dispute we are therein to be reconciled AND not only the present conduct of Disputes render them unsutable Medicines for our Disease but also the things concerning Religion which can with any Reason be pretended to be the matter thereof Now whatever in Religion can be pretended to be disputable must either respect its Dress and Ornaments or its Body and essential Parts the Exteriour Appendages or the Principles of Religion If the Scruple or the Dispute be about the Dress outward Rites Circumstances and Fashion of Religion than no contrivance seems more rational or method more probable to assoil and remove it than a due Catechising and instructing the scrupulous in the indispensible Duties of the Fifth Commandment and to tender him a plain Scheme of the Obligation that lies upon his Conscience To honour and obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him to submit himself to all his Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters How the Supreme Powers have Authority in the Externals of Religion How in Religion things indifferent in themselves may pass into a Law which ought to be obeyed as much as any Laws in indifferent things which relate to the good of the Civil State How things of never so low a stature or indifferent concernment having once received the Image and Superscription of a Law ought to be obey'd both for the sake of God and Conscience How it can no way comply with the design of Government to make good their Institutions by dint of Argument For if Authority were obliged to satisfie every medling and capricious Brain they would have little or no time left to be obeyed c. And when indiscretion of zeal or pride of Wit engage to vindicate every thing that is lawfully commanded it is to have a better opinion of our own than the Magistrates Prudence to think our Arguments will be more prevailing than their Commands or that the former were requisite to support the latter c. That these and the like things are proper for Catechism and thereby the most gently and indiscernably to be infused none I presume will gainsay For they naturally fall in with those Truths which belong to our duty toward man
And by this short account of what the Godfathers and Godmothers do for the Infant in Baptism it is easie to apprehend that none need withdraw from this Pious Work for the supposed Difficulty of its Discharge And therefore those who rightly understand this Suretiship and yet refuse it they may be thought rather to want Charity than Power and that they are unwilling and not unable to perform it Nor doth it less reflect upon their deportment who turn this pious Custom into an idle Ceremony by privately devolving upon the Parents what they publickly undertook for their children which doth at once frustrate and contradict the intendment of the Ohurch and delude the Congregation of God's people But it may be further objected That the Vow of Baptism being made by others renders the Performance and Observation thereof by the Child a thing of constraint and not of election for the baptized when grown up doth not follow his own choice but his Sureties and allows of what was at Baptism promised in his behalf not out of willingness but pre-engagement all which is oppposite to the genuine Nature of a Vow And in Answer to this Objection it will be convenient to observe That the Vow and Promise made by Sureties in Baptism is not absolute for in an absolute sense no man can undertake for another But the Vow is conditional and the Child when come to age must either own it or forfeit the benefits of Baptism And as those who are married being Minors when come to mature years may chuse whether the Marriage shall be ratified or rescinded So it is in the power of the Baptized at years of discretion to acknowledge or renounce the Vow of Baptism If he allow of and consent to what at holy Baptism was vowed in his Name which is still supposed at the making of the Vow then he is bound actually to believe and do it But if he disclaim it which is in his power then he disowns all Interest and Priviledge in Christ with all the benefits of that Society into which by Baptism he became incorporate The Catechism teacheth us out of the Creed to believe That God the Son hath redeemed all mankind which cannot be true say many because he died only for the Elect. But they would have no reason to impugn the Churches Doctrine in this particular if those Scriptures were impartially considered by them Ezek. 18.23 32. S. Joh. 3.16 Heb. 2.9 Rom. 1.4 5. S. Joh. 4.42 1 Tim. 4.10 S. Joh. 1.7 2 S. Pet. 3.9 whereon this Position is founded A few of which are here barely quoted in the Margin on purpose to shew the ground of the Churches Doctrine and to guide those to the Topicks of their confutation who gainsay this I believe in God the Son who hath redeemed me and all mankind That his death was both sufficient and intentional to save all mankind but is effectual and efficacious for none but true Believers is a distinction which being wisely and soberly understood would remove that clashing which some fancy there is betwixt the Catechism and the Seventeenth Article of the Church Many other Scruples brought against this excellent Catechism are purposely omitted because they will easily be obviated in its intended Exposition Besides I have bound my self to observe the Laws of an Essay which I must unavoidably violate if I should venture upon all such Enlargements as the Subject would naturally endure I had rather be censured for having said too little than too much Deus dedit his quoque finem THE CONCLUSION WE have hitherto examin'd the Age and Advantages of Catechising and found it to stand above the imputation of being either Novel or Superfluous So that the only remaining Enquiry concerns its Practice And this will exact no long disquisition seeing every Station of men are therein so perfunctory and negligent Now as in a common Contagion no less care must be had of the sound than infirm and the cure of single persons is required to the removal of the Epidemical Disease So remissness in Catechising being become a common Malady it behoves every one to look after amendment to the end that the Church may be healed of all those Distempers faln upon her through lack of Catechising and which if not prevented with a timely interposition thereof will effect that destruction which they threaten and prognosticate And if we look into the persons who are capable herein to be delinquent they may be reduced either to such as the Church has ordained to administer or receive this Sovereign Medicine The former are the Clergy in the whole denomination for he among them who excepts deceives both himself and the Church And notwithstanding that the Clergy in Sacred Writ bear divers appellations importing the Dignity Power Holiness Excellency Care Tenderness Discretion and Incommunity of their Functions yet there is no Title wherein they are more concerned than that of Catechist For it doth first more immediately relate to that Errand on which from the beginning they were sent into the world Go teach c. And next unto the want and supply of those over whom God hath made them Overseers And while they own themselves to be the Churches Ministers they should take care to serve her in her own way For since that was left for paths of their own and more oyl and labour has been spent in arguing than in teaching the Principles of Christianity it is sadly visible how Religion has thriven among us For from endeavouring to support Christianity with Buttresses of our own captious and malitious Enemies take occasion to conclude that it cannot stand without them The superstructure seems to be the proper matter of our care where we believe the Ground-work lies immoveable And blessed be the Author and Finisher of our Faith that he has founded it upon a Rock and maketh it so strong that the Gates of Hell the strength and subtilty of her greatest Enemies can never be able to prevail against it Were we to deal with open Adversaries of the Faith Jew Mahometan Pagan the Ancient Fathers have shewn us an excellent way of procedure but having to do with Professors whose evil manners have corrupted their Understanding not the proving of the verity of the Christian Religion but the enforcement of its Practice seems to be the only necessary prescription But without being decisive or stinting the spirit of any man I hope it may be lawful to wish that the Clergy out of a true sense of what they are enjoyn'd and bound to obey by the 59th Canon would return to the good old way of Catechising for since this was shoulder'd out by Sermoning the people have been possessed wâ—â—h strange Whimsies in Religion and hurried on by the Spirit of Schism and Sedition into all manner of Villanies A learned and pious Bishop of this Church doth as I am told in his own Person and Cathedral perform this Office A few such leading Examples would soon raise the sunk Esteem of Catechising and vindicate it from being thought a Drudgery fit only for children and Curates And I humbly conjecture that there is no Clergy-man need think it any lessening of his Greatness and Learning to be seen teaching God's People after the manner of the Holy Apostles and Primitive Bishops Our Ancestors who knew something as well as we were not ignorant of the necessity and benefit of what is now most affectionately recommended when Queen Elizabeth made it her 44th Injunction and King James his command That afternoon-Lectures should be converted into Explanations of some necessary Rudiments of the Catechism out of a prudent fore-sight that this would be more advantageous to the People than some ex tempore irruptions or enlarging a few contrived Breviates upon desultory Texts The Laity are the next sort that herein can he faulty to whose attentive thoughts I would most earnestly recommend first the serious perusal of the Rubrick adjoyned to the Catechism together with the 59th Canon Next the examination of their knowledge in Religion that by that former they may know their Duty and by the latter their want of being catechised And by both be induced to embrace what to their own damage and the Churches affliction they have undutifully neglected FINIS THE CONTENTS The Introduction Fol. 1. CHAP. I. OF Catechising It s Name Use Secular and Religious p. 5. CHAP. II. The Age of Catechism The Institution of Adam's and Abraham's Family The Schools of the Prophets The continual use of Catchising among the Jews particularly after the Erection of the Synagogues Their Benefit thereby p. 9. CHAP. III. Catechising in times of the Apostles Evidences thereof in St. Pauls Epistles The Contents of their Catechism p. 25. CHAP. IV. The Apostles Catechists in several Provinces The Declension and Restauration of Catechising Catechists Styled Exorcists c. p. 32. CHAP. V. The Antiquity of Catechism probable upon the account of its convenience In respest of the Object Method of Instruction p. 35. CHAP. VI. Catechism necessary in respect of the encrease and advancement of Spiritual Knowledge To have a distinct Understanding of things necessary to Salvation c. p. 39. CHAP. VII Catechising the most sutable means to heal the Distempers of this Church Several Propositions to be supposed A short digression concerning our Disorders p. 42. CHAP. VIII The Methods used for our reclaiming surveyed proving ineffectual p. 57. CHAP. IX The Just Matter and Subject of Controversie in Religion examined How by Catechising and not Dispute we are therein in to be reconciled p. 62. CHAP. X. Disputation unfit for the capacity of the generality of Dissenters Catechising proper c. Reasons against Disputes p. 68. CHAP. XI Preaching what it is the several ways thereof used by the Church What kind of Preaching among the Old Jews and Primitive Christians The Homilies considered p. 80. CHAP. XII Preaching insufficient to restore our Dissentions Catechising proper for that purpose c. A Scruple removed p. 92. CHAP. XIII The Benefits of Catechizing 1. In respect of the Civil State 2. The Clergy 3. The People The Mischiefs of private Schools Objections against the constant practice of Catechizing removed p. 99. CHAP. XIV The Church-Catechism to be preferr'd before others for its Authority Usefulness Accomplishment Contents c. p. 102. CHAP. XV. An Account of some Objections usually brought against the Church-Catechism 115 The Conclusion p. 135