The Badges of Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 12
Chap. 12. Of the fourth inward part of a Sacrament.
THe aThe last invvard part of a sacrament is the faithful receiuer.last inwarde part of a Sacrament is the faithfull receiuer, desiring, apprehending, receiuing, hungring and thirsting after Christ. There is required a faithfull receiuer, if wee woulde receiue Iesus Christ, faith must of necessity goe before, without this there is no iustification, without this, there is no saluation, as Rom. 14. Whatsoeuer bRom. 14. 23 Heb. 11. 6.is not of faith, is sunne. And Heb. 11. Without faith it is vnpossible to please God. Iudas executed the function of an Apostle, he was partaker of the Passeouer: yet he ceased not to remaine an Hypocrite, a deuill, and the child of perdition, cIohn 17. 12.that the scripture might be fulfilled. Neither was he bettered or sanctified by that sacrament, or by the vse therof Ananias and Sapphira his wife, dact. 5. 4. 9.being in the number of Disciples, wer no doubt baptized of the Apostles, and had also receiued ofttimes the Lordes supper, yet they continued in their wickednes, lyinge, and hypocrisie, the sacrament did not take away their wickednes, nor giuegive them a iustifying and sauing faithe, eact. 15. 9.which purifieth the hart by repentance and woorketh newe obedience in the soule. The like we hauehave said of Simon the sorcerer, fact. 8. 23.who albeit he were baptized, yet remained in the gall of bitternes, and in the bond of iniquity. Wherefore, the Apostle teacheth, that the worde profited not, gHeb. 4. 2.because it was not mingled with faith in those that heard it. If the signes be receiued without faith, they hurt: not that Gods giftes and ordinances hurt of themselues, but not being receiued aright, they hurt through our sin and default. As the worde not receiued by faith is an empty sound without force: so the sacrament is an vnprofitable and a naked shew without substance. Wherefore, the Sacraments in regard of the vnbeleeuers and vngodly are no Sacraments to them, because to them they are not seales of the righteousnesse of faith. True it is, they remaine Sacraments, in respect of God who offereth his owne sonne, but they lose their strength and force toward the vnfaithfull, that do abuse and contemne them, hRom. 2, …as the Apostle expresly teacheth, Circumcision verilyts profitable if thou keepe the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become vncircumcision, the same Apostle speaketh of such i1 Cor. 11, 20as vsed the Lords Supper without true godlinesse and due preparation, saith, This is not to eate the Lords Supper, denying that to be, which was not done as it ought to be.
Wherefore, seeing the right vse of the Sacraments is, Vse. 1.when such as are truely conuerted vse them aright, we learne diuerse instructions that flow & follow from hence. First, that the reprobate (though God offer the whole Sacrament to them) doe receiue the signes alone without the things signified: they hauehave the bare title without the thing, the vanishing shadow without the body, the outward letter without the spirit, the empty box without the oyntment, and the creature without the creator. They are washed with the element of water, but not with the grace of regeneration. They eate the bread and drink the wine: but they are not partakers of the body and blood of Christ Iesus to saluation. They eate kPanem domini, non panem dominum. August, hom, in Ioh. 65,the bread of the Lord, but they eate not the bread and the Lord: because the signe, without the right and holy vse thereof, is not an auailable Sacrament to the receiuer of it. Wee see therefore the wicked partake not CHRIST, although they partake the signes of Christ, lIoh, 20, 6, 7,as they that found his clothes, but missed his body.
Secondly, we see heereby, that the elect ordained to eternall Vse. 2.life, but not yet called and conuerted to the Lord, & to the obedience of his will, though they come often to the sacraments: yet do in like manner receiue the bare signes without the things signified, because as yet they want faith and repentance. What then? Do they nothing differ from the reprobates? In this they differ not for the present time from the reprobate. Not with standing, that receiuing of the Sacrament which for the time present was vnfruitfull and vnprofitable, shall after in them hauehave his good effect, as the corne that lieth long couered in the earth, at the length doth come vp and florish. For the Sacrament receiued before a mans conuersion, is afterward to the beleeuer and penitent sinner ratified, and so becommeth profitable: wherby the vse of the Sacrament, which before was vtterly voide and vnlawfull, doth then become lawfull and comfortable, as we see in the word heard without fruit & faith by an vnbeleeuer, is made a word of saluation afterward when he is conuerted. Lastly, the elect already conuerted Vse. 3.and sanctified by the spirit of God, do to their profit, comfort, and saluation receiue both the signe and the thing signified together: yet so, as that for their vnworthy receiuing thereof (which hapneth through their manifold infirmities and often relapses into sin) they are subiect to temporall punishments for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Iesus, m1 cor. 11, 30For this cause many are licke and weak among you, and many sleeps: for if we would iudge our selues, we should not be iudged of the Lord. Where the Apostle teacheth, that God brought a iudgement vponupon his owne house, and punished this church with weakenes, sicknesse, and death it selfe, for their vnreuerent, vnworthy, and disordered receiuing of the Lords Supper. Although, many among them (no doubt) were elected, and all of them professed the Gospel of the kingdome: yet god visited their want of preparation & reuerence with diuerse diseases and great mortality, nLeuit, 26, 14 15, 21 Deut, 28 15 16, 20, 21according to the threatning annexed to the law, If ye will not obey me, nor do all these comcaundements, if ye shall dispise mine ordinances, or your soule abhor my lawes, then wil I do this vntounto you, I wil appoint ouer youfearfulnes, a consumption, and the burning ague to consume the eies and to make the heart heauy. And if ye walke stubbornly against me and will not obey me, I wil then bring seauen times moe plagues vponupon you, according to your sinnes. Wherefore, when we hauehave receiued grace to beleeue, and hauehave tasted the first-fruites of the spirit to the comfort of our soules, we must not be puffed vp in our knowledge, we must not grow secure, but stir vp the giftes of God in vsus when they begin to wax faint: let vsus seek to preuent his iudgments before they com, which we may do, by iudging our selus, by making inquiry into our own waies, and by searching the reines of our hartes, with purpose to condemne all ignorance, error, security, and vngodlinesse, and as it were to take punishment of our selues: then this would follow thereupon, we should not be iudged and punished of the Lord. This then is the remedy to avoid the sin of vnworthy receiuing. A man thus visited with sicknes, weakenesse, and diuerse kinds of diseases, and smitten with the stroke of Gods own hand, cannot possibly be restored by any creature in heauen or earth: & yet behold the Lord hath not left vsus without meanes to remoue them and take them away, to wit, by taking away the cause, that we may remoue the effects. The cause of these punishmentes is taken away by iudging our selues. Now a man in iudging of himselfe oWhat we are to do in iudging our selues.must performe foure things 1. he must examine himselfe of his sinnes 2. he must confesse them, and himselfe to be guilty, as the poore prisoner that standeth at the bar. No denying of the fact, no defending of the fault, no hiding of the offence, no iustifieng of our person can procure our pardon: the way to hauehave for giuenes, is to acknowledge our own wickednes 3. he must condemn himselfe, and giuegive sentence against himself without partiality, 4. he must plead pardon for the remission of his sins, and neuer rest, vntil he giuegive him peace of conscience, and restore him to the ioyof his saluation.