The Four General Heads of Christian Religion, Part 12 – Doctrine
OF THE SACRAMENTS.
APHOR. 1. Sacraments, why ordain'd?
HE that made man and knew best how to instruct and teach him in the great interest of his salvation, thought fit to inclose apples of gold in pictures of silver, Pro. 25.11. Vel ut Pythagorei qui parvas res magna. rum rerum tesseras esse voluêrunt. Plat. Qu: Romanae. Gen. 28.12heavenly mysteries in earthly representations and objects: because it is natural * to man to a…cend to super-natural verities, by natural help…: and to …cale heaven by a ladder, whose rounds are made (as it were) of gross materials; and whose bottom (like that of Iacob) stands upon the earth, though the top reacheth to heaven.
Geom…ters do use certain Schems, and Diagrams (drawn in the sands,foreign. or on paper) to assist the weak capacities of their Scholars, to understand some Conclusions or problems of their Art: So,
God vouchsafes to instruct his Scholars, not onelyonly by words, but also by signs and symbols, to speak not onelyonly to the ear, but also to the eye:Vt prophe… tae olim prophetabant, non solùm sermone sed etiam visione & conversatione & actibus typicis quos faciebant. Iren: l. 4. c. 37. the preaching of the word was not thought *Providentia divina unicuique rei providet secundùm modum suum. Homini autem connaturale est, ut per sensibilia ad cognitionem intelligibilium perveniat. Aquin. 2.2.sufficient to inform mens dull capacities, and to stir up their other faculties to their proper duties but Sacraments are also added, which are a kinde of a visible word. Both have the same use, the one to teach the minde by the sense of seeing, as the other by the sense of hearing.
And to this purpose the Sacrament is more effectual than the word, having a greater energy *Quia infirma & languida est fides nostra, ideo deus, non contentus objectum ejus auribus nostris, per praedicationem Evangelii inculcâsse, insuper illud, per Sacramentum (tanquàm visible verbum) oculis ingerit, & auribus inserit. Tilenus Syntag: Theol: p. 851.and force upon the mind, because the eye is a better instructer than the ear*Hoc habent Sacramenta prae verbo peculiare, quòd promissiones velut in hac tabula depictas, nobis ad vivum representent, & fub aspectum graphicè foreign expressas statuant. Calv. l. 4. Inst. c. 24.
Segniùs irritant animos demissa per aures
Quam quae sunt oculis sub…ecta fidelibus.
Horat: de arte Poet:
APHOR. 2. Their efficacy from the Author alone.
THere is no such vertue inherent in the Sacramental symbols to work good upon the soul, as there is in herbs or mineral waters, to work good upon the body: the very applying of the Sacraments (as an active to a passive) or the opus operatum (a… the Romish writers express it,) the very action or deed done doth not do the deed, as is pretended.
God doth not tye his grace to the Means, nor to the Ministrators; whose worthiness doth not contribute to, nor unworthiness derogate from the Sacraments: but the work depends wholly upon the good pleasure of the Ordainer and Institutor of them, who doth preside in this grand Agend of the Church, and who doth exhibit grace therein to all; but it is not effectual and beneficial to any but to the worthy Receiver, qualified by previous dispositions, and expedients.
We do not depreciate the Sacraments, or make them lower, or lesser than what (indeed) they were intended to be, by asserting the efficacy and vertue derived from them, to him that ordained them. We do not over-value nor under-value them: we know who have offended in these extremes.
We do not make them empty Pageants, and bare shadows or dumb shews: the Church of England declares otherwise, in few words.
Sacraments are not onelyonly badges of Christian profession,Art. 23 but also sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace: agreeable to the Belgic confession; Sacramenta non sunt vana, & vacua signa ad nos decipiendos insti…uta, &c.
For where they are administred and received, in the due form and manner, we acknowledge that they really give what they promise, and are what they signifie: on Gods part, they give an investiture and possession of the heavenly promises, as firmly as a Bishop is invested in his Office, per baculum & annulum, as St. Bernard makes the simile, Serm: de Caena Dom.
The unworthy Receive… (indeed) doth frustrate, and defeat the good that is intended by them and presented in them, makes divorce between the sign and thing signified,Panem domini, non panem. dominium. Lambit petram sed inde nec mel sugit, ne▪ oleum Cyprian: eats the Bakers bread, not the bread that came down from heaven, Sacramentum, non rem Sacramenti.
If this Romish fansie of the opus operatum were current, I marvel why the Sacraments of the old Testament did not confer grace as well as those of the new, which they deny, making that the main difference between them: whereas the truth is, they differed onelyonly in the outward symbols, not in the inward sense, and substance, nor yet in the effects: for their Sacraments had the same materiam substratam, the same invisible grace presented in them, though the visible signs were not the same; and the worthy partakers did feed on Christ as lushiously and savourly then, as others do now; they did eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spirituall drink, which was Christ, as St. Paul doth expressely teach, 1 Cor. 10.3, 4.
APHOR. 3. They are Seals as well as Signs.
THe Gospel is the Grand Charter of mans Salvation, and the Sacraments are (as it were) seals appendant thereunto, they are not onelyonly signs of some grace exhibited,Nou tantum signa signantia, sed etiam obsignantia. but also seals to ratifie and confirm the promises contained in the Instrument before mentioned: As seals are put to civil Contracts and Indentures for a full and final ratification of them.
This comparison is used by most Writers of the Reformation,Comparatio tam inepta ut nihil inoptius. l. 1. de Sacram. c. 14. but it is so foolish in Bellarmine's conceit, that nothing can be more; and which ought with all diligence (saith he) to be beaten down.
Sacramenta dici sigilla vel signacula, nusquam legimus nisi in Evangelio secundum Lutherum, is the Cardinals witty sarcasm in the forecited Treatise: that the Sacraments are called seals (saith he) we read no where, but in the new Gospel, according to St. Lather.
But he might have read it in an old Epistle according to St. Paul, who calls Circumcision foreign the seal of the righteousness which is by faith, Rom. 4.11that is, a seal whereby it was ratified and made sure unto Abraham, that he was justified or made righteous before God, through faith in Christ.Rom. 4.3.
Nay, the Cardinal himself to prove the Septenary number of the Sacraments doth fetch an argument from the book with seven seals, Rev. 5.1. which was the new Covenant with seven Sacraments appendant thereto, as he interprets the place: if that Text will be of force to evince the Sacraments to be seven in number, it will also evince them to be seals for use.
APHOR. 4. Absolutely necessary where they may be had.
THe Divine Precept hath layed the highest obligation (that may be) upon us of using the Sacraments, Medull: Theol: l. 1. c. 20.and that with reverence and religion, saith Dr. Ames.
If the Sacraments be wanting unto us through our own default, it involves us in guilt (saith Augustin) neither can that man pretend to a sincere conversion or love to God, L. 4. contrà Donat. c. 25that contemns any Sacrament of his institution *Sacramentorum vis inerarribiliter valet plurimùm, & ideo contempta sacrilegos facit: inipiè quippe contemnitur, sine quo non potest perfici pietas. Aug: l. 19. contra Faustum Manich. c. 11..
Faith will not avail any man, who receives not the Lords Lords Sacraments when he may, saith St. Bernard.
If this be a duty commanded, why may we not slight any other (and all other) duties as well as this?
What reasonable hopes hath any man that God will save him by some other means (or without means) when he hath declared, that by these means (in conjunction with some others) he intends to save?
Ames calls Baptism one of the ordinary means of Salvation;Bellarm: Enervat: l. 2. & ex istâ hypothesi, upon that account, he affirms it to be absolutely necessary to Salvation, where it is to be had*Baptismus est necessarius non rantùm ut res praecepta, sed etiam ut medium salutis ordinarium; it a tamen ut non desperandum est de salute non-baptisatorum. Amesius Bellarm: enervat. l. 2..
Except a man be born of water and the Spirit (saith Christ) he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Joh 3.5.From hence the antient Fathers did infer the necessity of Baptism: But some later Writers have ratified this water into spirit; and interpret the words tropically: except a man be born of water, that is, of the Spirit: for water is here but an emblem of the Spirit (say they, as fire is elsewhere, Mat. 3.11.
But to these, I shall oppose the sense, and censure of the learned Hooker, Eccl: pol: l. 5 §. …9.you shall have his own expressions, for they cannot be mended.
I hold it an infallible rule in the Exposition of Scripture, that where a literal construction will stand, the farthest from the Letter, is commonly the worst: there is nothing more dangerous than this licentious and deluding are which changeth the meaning of words, as Alchimy doth or would do Metals, maketh any thing what it listeth, and in the end, bringeth all truth to nothing.
The general consent of antiquity, concurres in the literal interpretation, and must the received construction be (now) disguised with a toy of novelty? We may by such Expositions, attain in the end (perhaps) to be thought witty, but with ill advice; so he.
Non possum quin simplicissimam Theologiam, hoc est, Dan. Heins. exercit: in Mar. 13.30.quae minimè recedit a litera, caeteris ut commodiorem, praeferam.
APHOR. 5. Infant-Baptism more antient than the Apostles.
TO secure the interest of children in this Sacrament,Lib. de Baptismo. who (ex praerogativâ s…minis, as Tert: speakes) are entitled thereto, enough hath been spoken (of late years) by our English Writers, to the conviction of all gain-sayers; more particularly by the excellent Dr. Hammond, in his Quaer…s.
When we find the practice of baptizing Infants in the Christian Church to be so antient, as the very next age to the Apostles: and so universal, that it was received through all parts of the world, where Christ had a Church, I cannot see, how it could have any other original than from the Apostles who founded the Churches through the World.
St. Augustine speaking of this usage or custom,Serm: 10. de v. Ap. saith, That the Church of God ever had it, ever held it, and received it Hanc praxin Ecclesia Catholica ubique diffusa tenet Home de Adamo & Eva. from the Religion of former ages: and Calvin saith, That the antientest Writers that we have of our Religion, do (without any scruple) refer the original of this practice to the Apostles.
L 4. Inst. c 16.Nullus Scriptor tam vetustus qui non ejus originem, ad Apostolorum tempora pro certo, referat.
But this practice did not begin with, or by the Apostles neither: for they did but continue what was before in use in the Jewish Church, who admitted Proselytes into their Religion by this Rite or Ceremony of Baptizing, besides that of Circumcision; as hath been observed unto us by men well verst in Rabbinical Wirtings, and the Rituals of all ages, as Ainsworth on Gen. 17.12. Heins. his Ex…r… : on Act. 18.3. Lud: de Dieu his Append: on Matth. 23.15. and more fully and copiously Doctor Hammond in his fourth Quaere.
But indeed, the Jewish and the Christian Baptisms had different purposes and designations: by the one, the Proselytes were baptised into Moses, that is, the Mosaic Law and O…conomie: by the other, into Christ, that is, into his Faith, Rule and Discipline.
And it is farther observed by the forementioned Writers, that of the Jewish proselytes, not onelyonly men of years were baptized, but their young Children were also baptized with them, and received into the bosome of that Church, to be instructed in their Law, when they should come to years.
Which usage was taken up by John the Baptist, and afterwards by Christ and his Apostles, and continued in the reformed Common wealth, though to another purpose and design, as we touched before; and this Ceremony was thought sufficient to be retained for that end, when Circumcision was abolished.
If the issue of the Question touching Infants-baptism lay upon this: Whether the Apostles of Christ did baptize Infants? The Scripture (by its own light) doth not clear the doubt, it tells us they baptized whole housholds, which testimonies do (of themselves) make it but probable, that they baptized the children of those housholds: but if Catholic tradition, and the voice of the Church he allowed so much civility and credit with us, as to be believed for a matter of fact and story; then the business would soon be put beyond all pretensions of scruple, and made as secure and firm to our sense, as any Article of our Creed: As upon the testimony of Travellers, and credible men, I might be induced to believe firmly and undoubtedly, that there is such a City as Constantinople, though I neither saw it, nor doth the Scripture make any mention of it.
APHOR. 6. Where it may not be had, desire supplies the defect.
THis must be understood of the adulti or men in years, that have not participated of the holy mysteries, but do earnestly desire and long for them, but by some impediment and invincible necessity, cannot obtain them: If the fault be not on their side, there is no danger, but the internal benefit of the Sacrament, is communicated to them, without the external symbols.
The penitent Thief on the cross went to heaven without Baptism, when Simon Magus went to hell with it: the children of Bethlehem that were baptized in their own blood, were qualified for heaven by that Baptism, without the Baptism of water; and Martyrdom in any other, doth entitle them to a crown, even a crown of glory, though unbaptized.
When the Emperour Valentinian died without Baptism, but had determined to receive it, but that he was prevented by death; St. Ambrose doth state his case thus; Quem regeneraturus eram, In Orat: funebri.amisi, sed ille no… amisit gratiam quam poposcit. I lost him (saith he) whom I was about to regenerate or baptise: but he hath not lost the grace o… fruit of that Ordinance which he desired.
In such cases, Baptismus flaminis supplet baptismum fluminis, the Baptism of the Spirit doth supply the want of water-baptism; and the Spirit himself doth officiate for the Minister sometimes.
From hence we may infer, that the case of children dying without Baptism, is not forlorne and disperate: we may not be such Rhadamanths as to passe damnatory sentences upon them, for want of that which was not in their power to compass: God doth not tye any to those ordinary Laws and methods whereby he saves man, but such as may have them, and are capable to use them. If the Parents be wanting to their child in this duty, the sin (sure) lyes at their door and not the child's; and God will require it at their hands, as he did at the hands of Moses.
In like manner the Church of England, hath declared her judgement, touching the want of the Eucharist, if there be no more than the bare defect. If any person by extreme sickness, or any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, if he truly repent him of his sins, and stedfastly believe that Christ died for him, he doth eat, and drink the body and blood of Christ profitably, to his souls health, though he do not eat the Sacrament with his mouth.
So the Rubric for the communion of the sick.
A Prayer occasionally conceived,1655. upon the entring into a ruinous Church, where no Prayers or Sermons had been, in many years before.
O Eternal Holinesse and immense Goodness! how sad and desolate is this place, which was (lately) frequented by a people called by thy name, to call upon thy name; to seek thy face, and to find thee here, in thine own appointments and holy dispensations: how forlorne is it now become, being made a Court of Owls, and a place for Satyrs to dance in?Aula ululantium. Isa. 34.13: Isa. 13.22.
I acknowledge the hand-writing upon the walls, and the charactets of thy just displeasure, who doest proportion punishments to the offences, and makest the one legible in the analogy, and suitablenesse of the other.
Lord,Isa. 34.11. if my sins have drawn th…se lines of confusion and of stones emptiness; if by any remisness or perfunctoriness in holy Ministeries, if by want of zeal for thy glory, or any other way, I have awaked thy justice, lo, here (in all humility,) I prostrate my self before thee, imploring mercy and pardon, and confessing to thy glory, that thou art just in all that is come upon us.
And if the sins of the Congregation (that used to meet here,) have contributed to this judgement, and turned away thy presence from this place, either by sleighting the Mysteries that were here dispensed, or the Dispensers of them: we must say again, that righteous art thou, O Lord, and true are thy judgements. Thou hast been just in shutting up the doors of thy House against them, that did shut their ears and hearts against thee; and in taking away that food from before them, which they loathed or lightly regarded.
Yet, O Lord, be mercifull both to Priest and People, and turn not away thy face utterly (in displeasure) from them; as we confesse thy justice, so we implore thy mercy, Lift up the light of thy countenance upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate, Dan. 9.17.and cause thy face to shine upon it. Lam. 5.21Turn thee unto us, O Lord, and renew our dayes as of old. Have mercy upon a distressed Church, and a distracted …tate: Behold thy Ministers that are smit…en into Corners, and their respective Congregations that wander like sheep without a shepherd,Amos. 8.11 that travel to and fro, …o seek the word of the Lord, and cannot …ind it.
Gather them O thou Shepherd of Israel, …nd do thou guide and lead them forth, …nd let thy rod and staff comfort them.
Pi…ty the ruins of thy Church, build up …he old wasts, it is time that thou have mer…y upon them, yea the time is come.
Let not the Watch-men that are set upon …he wals hold their peace day nor night, Isa. 62▪6.nor those that make mention of the Lord keep silence, nor give him any rest, until he establish his people, and make this Church a praise on the Earth, that it may no more be termed desolate or forsaken, but make it an eternal excellency, and a joy of many generations.
And so shall we learn by thy punishments to amend our lives, and for thy Clemency, to give thee praise and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
PSAL. 123. Mr. Sands▪
1.
THou mover of the rolling Sphears,
I through the glasses of my tears,
To thee my eyes erect.
As servants mark their masters hands,
And maids their mistresses commands,
And liberty expect:
2.
So we, deprest by enemies,
And growing troubles, fix our eyes
On God who sits on high;
Till he in mercy, shall descend
To give our miseries an end,
And turn our tears to joy.
3.
O save us Lord, by all forlorne
The subjects of contempt and scorn,
Defend us from their pride,
Who live in fluency and ease,
Who with our woes their malice please,
And miseries deride.
FINIS.
End of the text · Thomas Powell, The Four General Heads of Christian Religion (1657)