Some Helps for Young Scholars in Christianity, Part 7
THE THIRD PARTE OF our familiar Examination, before the Lords Supper.
NOw ſeing our reconciliation to God and eternall ſaluation, …nds in our vnion and true coniun…n with Chriſt: we are to learn in the third part, by what meanes this ſtrait communion is made betweene him and vsus. Meanes is their nane that properly ioyneth vsus with Chriſt but onelyonly Faith, whilk is ane harty receiuing of Chriſte crucified and riſen againe: our alone and ſufficient Sauiour, as he is offered to vsus in the goſpell: whilk is wrought by the holy Spirite through the preaching of Gods word, heard and receiued of vsus: Whereby wee are made aſſured of reconciliation to God, & life euerlaſting through him alone: yea, we are made ane with him, and he becomes ours, and we his: in ſik ſorte, that euerie ane that hath this faith, maye ſaye, neither death nor life,Rom. 8.38.39. Phil. 3.8. Gal. 2.20. thinges preſent nor things to come, &c. falbe able to ſeparate mee from the louelove of God, whilk is in Chriſte Ieſus my Lord, who hath loued me and giuen himſelfe for me. Now wee ſay, that faith onelyonly receiues Chriſt, whereby he dwells in our harts. Becauſe neither hope nor louelove, nor any vther heuinly guift hes that office but onelyonly faith.…. P…. 2.9 Hope as a watchman luiks for the end or our faith, whilk is the ſaluation of our ſouls. And louelove is faiths handmaid and ſteward, diſpoſing the graces and gudes of faith, by euident demonſtration, as it were, witneſſeth and declareth to our ſelues and to vthers, that wee poſſeſſe Chriſte by faith, and hauehave ſure hope of enioying ſaluation by him.Ioh. 1.11.12.5.38.…3 And heirfore it is, that to beléeue in Chriſte, and to receiue Chriſt, is all one thing. So that when we ſay, faith onelyonly makes vsus partakers of Chriſt & his righteouſnes, wee ſeparate not Hope & Charitie from Faith, but diſtinguiſhing them, giues eueryevery ane of them thair owne proper office, and namely, to faith her proper office: whilk is, to make a true and preſent coniunction with Chriſt crucified, and riſen againe to our aſſured reconciliatioun with God. As when we ſay, the Son only and not the Father, nor the holy Ghoſte, was incarnat for the redemption of man. We ſeparate not the Sonne from the Father, and the holy Spreit: but giues vntounto him his awin diſtinct and proper office. So The Papiſts ſophiſtry ſerueth for nothing: ſaying, Faith onelyonly iuſtifieth not, becauſe Faith is not allone when it iuſtifieth, but hath Hope and Charity ioyned with it: but they make little of hope, ſa they may hauehave ſome cloake of charity, whilk ſéemes to make ſomthing for their ſtinking merites: for the whilks they make mair adoe, then for Chriſt himſelfe. We are ſaid then to be ſaued or iuſtified by Faith only: becauſe Faith is the onelyonly inſtrument that receaueth Chriſt, wha ſaued vsus by thoſe things whilk he did for vsus in his awin perſon, and not by any thing whilk hée worketh in or by vsus, in our awin perſons, or the perſon of any other. And ſo the merites of men & Angels, are excluded from being any cauſe of the leaſt part of our ſaluation. For God willing to make the ſaluation of his elect ſure, in the perſon of his Sonne Ieſus Chriſt, wald not commit the credite thereof to our ſelues, or to any other: for it is not méete that we ſhould hauehave the credite of our owin ſaluatiō in our awin keping any mair, ſeing when we had frée-wil and power of the kéeping of our firſt gude eſtate in Paradiſe, ſa ſodanely, and vponupon ſa ſmall occaſion we loſt it. For a remembrance and caſtigation whairof, and for humbling of man, God wil hauehave a remanent of ſinne to remains during this life, euen in his choſen children, whilk may euer kéep them vnderunder ſcare of condemnation in themſelues, and make them ſéeke ſaluation in him only, in whome only it is to be found, that is, Chriſt Ieſus his only Sonne, our Lorde, of whome truely wée are made partakers by Faith only: whilk is that beginning, as the ſcripture ſaith,…eb. 3.14 wherby we are made partakers of Chriſt and are vphaldin ſa, that no doubting that arriſeth through our awin infirmity, can deface the aſſurance of our ſaluation in Chriſt, poſſeſſed by true Faith, whilk findes euer in Chriſt …he full ſatisfaction for our ſinnes, & full reſtoring to righteouſneſſe and Gods fauour, and neuer any of either of them, nor of any part thereof, in our ſelues, nor in our warks, nor in any creature elſe. And this coniunction with Chriſt by Faith is moſts ſure and certaine, thoght it be not naturall, ciuill, nor artificiall: but méere ſpirituall, myſtick, and ſecreit: and ſa altogidder vnknawin to the naturall warldly, and carnall man, wha perceaueth not the things of the ſpirit of God, whome the warlde cannot receaue.1, Cor. ….14. Iohn. 1….17. And certaine it is, that both ye enlightning of the mind to acknawledge the trueth of the promiſe of ſaluation to vsus in Chriſt: and the ſealing vp of the certaintie thairof in our hearts and mynds (of the whilk twa parts, as it were, faith conſiſts) are the works and effects of the Spirite of God, & neither of nature, nor arte: the preaching of the word, and adminiſtration of the Sacramentes interuéening,Eph. 1.1… 17. as meanes and inſtruments whereby the haly Spirit begetteth and confirmeth Faith in our hearts. Now as this ſaith is ordinarily wrought by the halye Spirite through the preaching of the word, & by the Sacraments increaſed & confirmed: ſo it is certaine, where no preaching is, thair, ordinarly can be no faith, and where there is no faith, there is no Chriſt, and wher there is no Chriſt, there is no ſaluation. And …owheit Faith cannot bée wrought (wée ſpeake ay ordinarly) without hearing of the word, yet the preching and hearing of the worde may bée without Faith in manye. For all men hauehave not Faith, and without the mixture of Faith,2. Theſ. 3 2. Rom, 10, 16. Hob. 4.12. the preaching and hearing is vnprofitable. Heir of it is plaine, that neither Turkes, Iewes, Pagans, nor they that heare not the worde at all, as alſo neither Papiſts (who are enemies to true Faith, not knawing, but aboliſhing the liuely nature thereof, and preferring the dumbe guyſe of their Maſſe, whilk is neither miniſtration of any ſacramēt, nor preaching of the word, but contumelious to both, before the preaching of the word) neither Atheiſts, nullifidians, bare and idle hearers, nor temporarie beléeuers, & wha heare not with ane honeſt and gude hart, wanting the gift of true Faith, can be partakers of ſaluation in anywiſe. And therefore we are earneſtly to praye to the Lorde of the Harueſt, that he would thruſt out faithfull labourers into his Harueſt, ye is, true Miniſters and teachers in his Kirk. and that he would giuegive vsus honeſt and reuerent hearts, to be profitable and faithful hearers of them by true faith. Now, we hauehave ſik a coniunctiō with Chriſt, by vertue of our vnion with him by iuſtifying Faith only: that as our ſinnes onelyonly are the ch…ſe of his death, and that condemnation wherunto he was ſubiect: ſo his death and righteouſneſſe onelyonly is the cauſe of our ſaluation. And ſo the cauſe of our ſaluation is onelyonly in him, and the effect whilk is our ſaluation, commeth to vsus through him only, poſſeſſed by Faith: whairby he becōming ane with vsus, and taking our cauſe vponupon him, he deliuered vsus from all ſin and condemnation, and preſents vsus faultleſſe and righteous before God. Neither aucht this to ſéeme ſtrange to vsus, as though héereby we were not made frée, & truely holy in Gods preſence, and méet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saintes in light: or as though we coulde not get the effect in vsus, wherof he is the cauſe ſéeing the payment of ane man for another, where ther is no ſik vniō nor coniunction, but the méer right of ſouerty-ſhip, doth make the pairty indebted for payment, frée, and able to enioy his freedome, as law, practiſe, & dayly experience teacheth vsus. But we by vertue of our marriage, and coniunction with Chriſt by Faith, hauehave iuſt title and right to him, and ſo to all that is his. As concerning the ſowme of our faith, contained in the articles of the Beliefe, whilk is continually rehearſed amongſt vsus, wée are to vnderſtand, that it ſets downe to vsus, that there is one God, and thrée perſons in the Godhead, the Father, the Sonne, and the haly Gaiſt: the Father the maker and preſeruer of all creatures, and fountaine of grace and gudeneſſe. The Sonne, made man, the Redéemer and ranſome for man. The holy Spirite, the ſanctifier & worker of the coniunction betwixt Chriſt and the Faithfull. The ſowm of all is, that eueryevery Chriſtian is ſure and certaine, that his ſaluation is ſoundly & throughly wrought & performed by Chriſt crucified and riſen again. So that nothing reſts for mā or ony other creature to doe, for purchaſing or meriting his ſaluation, or ony of the leaſt part thereof, for héere Chriſt receaued by faith, is all & in all things. For the greater confirmation of vsus in this Faith, beſide the worde preached, are added twa holy actions, with outwarde ſignes & ceremonies ſealing vp the ſame ſaluation & faith in Chriſt, to them that beléeue, called the Sacraments: that is, holy ſignes ordayned by Chriſt in the newe Teſtament, to ſeale vp ſaluation in him, who is ſignified, repreſented, and really, though ſacramentally, exhibited to them that beléeue. Shortly, they may be called the ſeales of the righteouſneſſe of Faith.Rom. 4, 11 Theſe Sacramentes are twa in nomber: to wit, Baptiſme, and the Lords Supper. Baptiſme, importing waſching, and cleanſing: and the Supper féeding & nouriſhmēt in Chriſt. For the whilk cauſe the outward ſigne in Baptiſm is water, repreſenting the blud-ſhed of Chriſt, for drowning, waſhing away, and remiſſion of our ſinnes, and planting vsus in Chriſt, to growe vp with him in newneſſe of life. In the Supper are the twofolde ſignes of bread and wine, ſetting out Chriſt crucified to bée the onelyonly true fude of our ſaules to life euerlaſting. Our entres into Chriſt and his Kirk is ſet downe by Baptiſme, and ſo to be miniſtred but once to eueryevery one: the ſupper importeth our nouriſhment and continuance in the family & kirk of Chriſt, and ſo is to be reiterata, and ofte celebrate, for kéeping vsus in freſh memory of Chriſt his Paſſion, as the continuall fude of ane Chriſtian ſaul, all the dayes of this our life. And ſo both the Sacraments (as doeth the word preached) lead vsus to Chriſt crucified onelyonly, for our full redemption wrought in his awin perſon, as that onelyonly cauſe of our ſaluation, and ſeale vp the ſame more ſenſibly to all that beleeue.