The Communicants Guide, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. How to examine our Selves about our Baptismal Covenant.
THE faithful keeping of our Baptismal Covenant is our Christianity. We are therefore impartially to enquire both how we understand it, how we have kept it, and how we resolve to keep it.
1. To help us to understand it, we must know four things; viz.
1.Gen. 1. 27. That our Good God having made man a rational Creature in his own Image, Eccl. 7. 29.and given him an immortal Soul, void of any Inclination to Evil, with sufficient Knowledge to understand his Duty, and Power enough to do it, did command him to live in perfect Obedience to God his Maker, whereby he and his might live for ever happy in the Love of God.
2. That Adam, Gen. 3. Rom. 5. 12.the first Man and common Father of us all, by the Temptation of the Devil, disobey'd this Command, and thereby brought us all into a state of Weakness, Sin, and Death: And now in such a Condition we come into the World,Rom. 8. 7, 8. that, left unto our selves, we would do nothing but sin against God, and run upon our own Destruction.
3. That our gracious God, when he might justly have cut off at once the whole Race of Mankind in Adam and Eve, or have left all their Posterity to perish by their own Doings; of his wonderful Goodness and Mercy took pity on Sinners, and opened … to us a new way to Salvation, by providing for us a Saviour, even GOD the SON, the only begotten of the FATHER, who in our Flesh having taught us what God now requireth of us if we will be saved, laid down his Life for us to satisfie for our Sins and free us from Vengeance,Mat. 1. 21. 1 Thes. 1. 10.Mar. 16. 16.and offereth us a full Pardon on Condition that we will believe in him and be baptized, so signifying our Consent to the new Covenant which God is pleased to make with us in him.
4. The meaning of which Covenant is this: That though we cannot now be innocent, and so can never hope for Life by obeying and fulfilling the Law of Innocence given to Adam; yet, if we will first, Act. 3. 19.truly repent, and secondly, Ioh. 3. 36.believe the Gospel of CHRIST,Heb. 5. 9. and thirdly, Heb. 8. 10.sincerely obey his Commands, God will yet be our God, and take us for his People; and for his beloved Son Iesus Christ's sake pardon our Sins, and sanctifie us by his holy Spirit; and finally, glorisie us with himself in Heaven.
II. Next we must examine how we have kept this Covenant. And here, seeing we were baptized in our Infancy, and what was promised on our parts, was promised by others in our Name; we are to examine,
1. Whether we have, since we came to Understanding, at any time own'd and confirmed this Engagement, and taken upon our selves the Performance of it. Our Church hath well provided, that no Person shall be admitted to the LORD's Supper till he be Confirmed, or have declared his willingness to be confirmed; that is, till he have satisfied the Church, that he understands the Covenant of Baptism, and declareth his Resolution to keep it.
2. If we have thus own'd our Baptismal Engagement, we must diligently examine how we have hitherto performed it in all the Parts of it, viz. Repentance, Faith, and sincer… Obedience. And this we are to do by posing our selves in the several Articles of our Christian Faith, and in the Commandments of God. If we find that we have not been faithful to God in this Covenant, we must not come to this Sacrament till we have unfeignedly repented of our unfaithfulness, and seriously renewed our Engagement to keep it henceforward Therefore,
III. We must examine how we resolve to keep it for the time to come: And here we are to see to these things:
1. That it be a serious, deliberate, and well grounded Resolution, not taken up dissemblingly, nor rashly, nor for weak Reasons. But being clearly convinced and become sensible of God's absolute Right in and to us and all our Services, his sovereign Authority to govern us and command us, and his wonderful Goodness and Love to us, more especially declared in his Son Iesus Christ; this Sense and Conviction of God's being our Maker, our Governour, and our Benefactor, should be the reason and ground of our Resolution to be wholly his, to be ruled by him, and love and honour him above all.
2. That it be a full and compleat Resolution, that we use no Ifs or Ands, or rest in some faint Purposings; but we must be throughly determined and fixed upon it. That whatever we may lose or suffer by it in this World, we will by God's help go through with it, without any Exception or Limitation whatsoever, doing the whole Will of God from the Heart.
3. That it be a humble and pious Resolution, without any proud Trust or Confidence in our own natural Strength to make it good; but yet with all Trust and Confidence in the Goodness of God, that if we conscientiously use the means of Grace and Strength which he hath ordained, as he hath wrought in us to will, so he will strengthen us to do his good Will, and finally, reward us according to his infinite Mercy.
When we have thus considered our Covenant of Baptism, and are thus resolved, by God's help, to keep it, we should earnestly pray unto God for his Assistance: and, if we are not already Confirmed, it is fit that we humbly offer our selves to Confirmation so soon as we can. The very sense of Shame to break a Covenant after this solemn Engagement in the Face of the Church to keep it, and the Fear of drawing a greater guilt upon our Souls, by breaking a Covenant so renewed, must needs be some Restraint upon us to keep us from breaking it. And besides this, we have good Cause to hope, that the Prayers of the Church, and the Blessing of God's Minister, the Bishop, who by his Office blesseth in God's Name, shall very much conduce to our greater Strength and growth in Christianity.