A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, shewing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]

A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, shewing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]

Table of contents

Title page

§

The Preface.

ERRATA.

CHAP. I. The Assertions in Mr. Stoddards Sermon which are Offensive. The Question rightly Stated. The Negative to his New Notions maintained. The first Argument against them Produced. That his Sentiments are contrary to many Scriptures in both Testaments. Such as were Ceremonially Unclean might not meddle with Holy Things. The Gentiles would not Permit those whom they Esteemed Unholy to be concerned in their Sacred Mysteries.

CHAP. II. The Second Argument Propounded. They who are not fit to be admitted Members in Particular Churches, are not qualified for Admission to the Lords Table. Unsanctifyed Persons are not fit Materials for a Gospel Church; Proved by several Scripture Arguments. In the Primitive Times of Christianity none but Such as were thought to be Converted, and Godly were received in Particular Churches: Known Hypocrites may not be received.

CHAP. III. The Third Argument Produced. God allows of none to come to the Lords Supper, but such as have a right unto it, Unsanctified Persons have no right to that Ordinance, Coram deo, they are not really in Covenant with God; Therefore have no right to the Seal of the Covenant: The Grace Exhibited and Sealed in the Lords Supper they have no Title unto, therefore they have no Right to the Sign.

CHAP. IV. The Fourth Argument mentioned. There is in Scripture no Promise of Conversion by the Sacrament, nor Example of any One Person Converted thereby. The Pretences which some have made about this matter are Mistakes. A man may Possibly be Converted at the Administration of the Lords Supper, and yet not Converted by it. That may be an Occasion of Conversion, which is not appointed to be a Converting Ordinance.

CHAP. V. The Fifth Argument Produced. That if the Lords Supper were appointed to be a Converting Ordinance, it ought not to be with-held from the Profanest Men in the World. The oddness of that Nation, that the Sacrament is appointed to be a Converting Ordinance to Church Members, and to no body else but a Church Member. Mr. Gillespy, Judgeth this to be an Irrational conceit. Churchcensure is appointed for the recovery of a fallen Brother, rather then for the Conversion of an Unconverted Person.

CHAP. VI. A Sixth Argument Produced. That Opinion which a Contrary to the Profession and Practice of the Churches in the Primitive, and Purest Times of Christianity, and to the Judgment of the most Eminent Reformers in these Latter Ages, especially Presbyterians, & which agrees with the Doctrine of Papists, and a Looser sort of Protestants, ought not to be received among the Churches in New-England. But all this is true of Mr. S. his Opinion. Evinced by an Induction of Particulars. President Oakes his Judicious Assertions.

CHAP. VII. The Seventh Argument against the impleaded New Doctrine. That it is impossible for Unregenerate Persons, whilest such, to be Worthy Partakers at the Lords Table: Therefore God does not command nor Allow of their being there. Not having Grace, they cannot Exercise Grace, which is requisite in order to a Worthy & Profitable receiving.

CHAP. VIII. Mr. S. his Arguments brought under Examination. Most of them do as strongly Prove, That Scandalous Unregenerate Persons may be admitted to the Lords Supper, as that Non-Scandalous ones may. The Objection of Johns Baptism considered. Baptismal Regeneration an Error. A Minister that knows himself to be Unregenerate ought not to Administer the Lords Supper, whilest in his present State. The Example of Judas no Demonstration. It cannot be Proved that he was admitted to the Lords Supper.

CHAP. IX. The Argument taken from the Jews being all Admitted to the Passover, Examined and Refuted. Those Allegations that it is Lawful for Unregenerate men to give a Testimony to the Death of Christ; and that they need the Blessings Exhibited in the Sacrament, do as much Prove that Scandalous, as that NonSeandalous Unregenerates should come to the Lords Table. We must distinguish between a Right to Sacraments in foro Dei, in the sight of God; and in foro Ecclesiae, in the sight of Men. This distinction in according to Scripture, and improved by Learned Divines.

CHAP. X. Another of Mr. S. his Arguments Examined, viz. That there is no certain Knowledge who be true Sanctifying Grace. It may as well be argued, That Orthodoxy in judgment is not a necessary qualification for the Lords Supper, because that cannot be infallibly known to the Church, or to the Officers of it. His Objection, That our Doctrine hardens men in their Unregeneracy justly retorted on his own Doctrine. His Objection, That if Unregenerate Persons have no right to the Sacrament, they that come, must have Assurance, answered. His Plea, That in other Countries they are larger in their Admissions to the Lords Table, than in New-England, considered. His Mistake concerning Wendeline. The Solemn Advice of the last General Synod in NewEngland.

An Appendix, TO THE Preceding Dissertation: Shewing what Scripture Ground there is to Hope, that within these very few Tears, Glorious Prophesies and Promises will be fulfilled; with an account of some Great Things which are now doing in the World.

A SERMON SHEWING, That the Present Dispensations of Divine Providence declare that Wonderful REVOLUTIONS in the World, are near at hand.

Errata in the Preface.

A DISSERTATION Concerning Right to the Sacrament.

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

A Dissertation, WHEREIN The Strange Doctrine Lately Published in a Sermon, The Tendency of which, is, to Encourage Unsanctified Persons (while such) to Approach the Holy Table of the LORD, is Examined and Confuted.

WITH AN APPENDIX, SHEWING What Scripture Ground there is to Hope, that within a very few years there will be a Glorious REFORMATION of the Church throughout the World.

By I. Mather, D. D.

Job 8 8 9, 10. Enquire I Pray thee of the former Ages, and prepare thy self to the search of their Fathers, we are but of Yesterday, and know nothing, shall they not teach thee?

Ezek. 44. 9. Thus says the Lord God, no Stranger Uncircumcised in heart, shall enter into my Sanctuary.

Boston: Printed by B. Green, for Benj. [...] at his Shop under the Town-house, at the Head of King Street. 1708.

§

§

[Page]

SAcramenta non Largiuntur aliquid Gratioe sed renunciant et ostendunt quoe divina Largitate nobis data sunt.

Calvin. Instit. L. 4. cap. 14. S. 17.

Sacramenta tantum Conversis sunt instituta.

Pareus in Cat. Explicat. Q. 84.

The Preface.

[Page]

THERE are in Mr. Stoddards Preface to his Sermon, several Passages very Exceptionable. One is, his Complaining, That those Holy men who first Planted this Land, did not acknowledge a Publick Government in the Church. Which is a mistake. For they did declare in the most Publick manner that can be, That there is a Form of ChurchGovernment, which is of Divine Institution, and also what that Form is. Not only has Mr. Cotton done it, in his Book of the Keys of the Kingdom, and of the Way of the Churches in New-England; And Mr. Hooker, in his Survey. And my Father, in his Answer to Thirty Two Questions; which goeth under the Name of the Elders of New-England. And Mr. Norton, in his Answer to the Queries, Proposed by Apollonij, (a Famous Dutch Minister of the Presbyterian perswasion) a very Learned Book, and the First that ever was Written in New-England, or I suppose in America, in the Latin Tongue. But moreover, a Synod of the Elders and Messengers of the Churches, Meeting at Cambridge, 1648. has Published a Platform of Church Discipline, Gathered out of the Word of God. Blessed Mr. Norton, in his Dying Sermon, Expressed himself thus, ‘Remember that we have the Pattern in the Mount, I mean we have the Scripture as a Rule, & you have the Platform of Church-Discipline, given to you in way of [Page] Counsel, as the Confession of our Faith, in this way of Church-Government; that which for the Substance of it owns the Cause Congregational, if any are departed from it, let them look to it; I know none of the Elders that are receded from it. It was given many Years ago as the Confession of our Faith to this Countrey, and to the World. It is distinct from the Episcopacy, & from the Presbyterian Way; from the Morellian Way, and from that of Separatism; and is for the Substance of it, precisely the Way Congregational: We have the Pattern: only this is complained of, that it is not practised, tho' we had it many Years ago. Now Practice is the end of Doctrine;—Let the Churches look to it, we are all concerned herein. Our Fidelity in this cause is our Crown. See that it be not taken from us.’ Thus spoke that Learned & Holy man, who was in his time the Glory of Boston, in the Last Sermon that ever he Preached; and therefore his Words ought to have the more Weight with us. Were the Platform of Discipline, together with what was Unanimously agreed unto concerning the Conscociation of Churches, in the Synod which met in Boston, 1662, duely attended, we need no other, nor better Church-Government, than what our Blessed Predecessors have commended to us. It is true, That they never did acknowlege such a Scheme of Church-Government as Mr. S. and perhaps no man besides himself, would have. But there is no reason that therefore they should be Charged with Failure in not acknowledging a Publick Government in the Church.

Another Particular in his Preface, which has given Offence, is, The Conclusion of it, desiring [Page] the Reader, Not to act like those, who told the Prophet, As for the Word which thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee. But is he a Prophet Divinely Inspired? Is the not hearkening to his New, and Singular Notions, which are Contradictory not only to the Doctrine taught by the Former Ministers in New-England, (Prophets if ever there were any among us) but also by the whole Body of Protestant Divines in the most Reformed Churches, a Sin like that of the Jew, who regarded not what the Inspired Prophet delivered to them in the Name of the Lord. When we are satisfyed that his New Doctrine is according to the Word of the Lord, we will readily hearken to it, and say as a great Man among the Reformers did, Veniat, Veniat verbum Dei, et si nobis Essent Sexcenta colla, Subijceremus. In the mean time, we shall endeavour to Examine all things, and hold fast that which is good. There have been some who by reading the Books of their Antagonists, have been brought over to their Perswasion. Vergerius took Calvins Institutions into his hands purposing a Confutation of it, but was himself confuted by it. Dr. Owen designed an Answer to Mr. Cottons Book of the Keys, but upon a serious consideration of it, declared himself to be of the same judgment. Mr. Robinson (a Worthy Divine) by a Book which Dr. Ames Wrote against some of his Opinions, was brought off from his Rigidity in divers Points, Lately in Holland, a Learned man whose Name was Christopher Christopher, Published a Book in which he ascribes to Angels things Peculiar to the Holy and Eternal Spirit. Dr. Witsius, now Professor of Divinity in the University of London, [Page] Wrote against him, and he was thereby Reduced from his Errors. I Expect no such thing from Mr. S. He that has slighted Mr. Gillespies Arguments, will doubtless do so by mine. Yet would it be no Dishonour for him to change his Opinion, Nullus pudor ad mepiora transire. However, I hope that by this Collision the Truth will gain, and the Churches be more Established, in an adherence to the Doctrine which they have according to the Word of the Lord, been Taught by those Blessed men, who now rest from their Labours. And it is a rejoycing to me, in that I know I shall by what is here done, obtain the Blessing of the Prayers of many Godly Souls in these Churches, which I value above all the Gold in America.

Notwithstanding his Errors (for so I must account them) in the Controverted Questions, I esteem him a Pious Brother, and an Able Minister of the New Testament, a Serious Practical Preacher, in his Ministry designing the Conversion and Edification of the Souls of men; and as such, I do, & shall Love and Honour him: and hope that we shall in the Lords time, meet where Luther and Zwinglius differ not in their Opinions.

When Mr. Blake Published a Discourse, in which he maintains, that a Doctrinal Faith without a Justifying Faith, gives right to the Sacrament; Mr. Baxter said of him, If he be angry at my speaking these things, I cannot help it; I am bound to tell him as a Faithful Brother, that I doubt God is angry at his Doctrine, & the great Wrong he does the Church of God thereby. So say I to Mr. S. I believe that by his Sermon, he has grieved the Holy Spirit of God in the Hearts of many of his Children; and that he has pleased and gratified the Spirit of the [Page] World. If Blessed Cotton, Eliot, Mitchel & other Servants of the Lord, once among us, but now among the Spirits of Just men made Perfect, were still Living on the Earth, how would they be grieved to see such a Sermon Printed in New-England! But God for Wise and Holy Ends, has left this Brother to unhappy Mistakes. And there have been men of Eminent Piety, and in Learning much beyond him and me, and that in Serviceableness to the Interest of Christianity in the world, have far Excelled us both, who nevertheless have been left to greater Errors, than any thing Published in Mr. S. his Sermon, or in his Discourse of Instituted Churches; or in his Plea for Tithes. I might Instance in Tatian (who was Justin Martyrs Scholar) and in Origen Bardasenes, and Tertullian. Nor are any of the Fathers (as they use to be called) who have written much, free from mistakes; and some of them great ones. Austin (then whom there was not a greater among them) Published a Book of Retractions. So did Mr. Baxter, not long before he went unto his Everlasting Rest. In which Book, I perceived by Discourse with him a few Weeks before his Decease, he took great satisfaction. It would be no Dishonour to the Name of that great Man, if he had written more Retractions.

But let us abide in the Truth. The Lord help us all, especially those of us who are (as I am) hastning out of the World, To hold fast that we have, that no Man take our Crown.

As for the Quotations, in the subsequent Discourse, they are not mentioned as tho' the Cause did at all depend on Humane Authorities. To the Law and to the Testimony, if they speak not according [Page]to that, there is no light in them. But for two Reasons, I have thought it necessary to produce them. One is, That so the Churches may see, that the impleaded Doctrine is a New, Up-start, Singular Opinion. And the other is, Because several of the Authors cited, Confirm what they Assert with Solid and Irrefutable Arguments. In the mean time, they who have given out, That there is nothing but the Judgment of Authors, can be brought to Confute the Novel Doctrine, will here see that, and themselves too, Confuted from clear Scripture and plain Reasons.

Mr. S. his Sermon is a Melancholy Subject, since it tends to the Deformation of these Churches. I was the rather willing to Conclude my Dissertation, with a Comfortable Appendix, relating to the Great Reformation of the Churches in Europe, now (I hope) at the Door. It will (I doubt not) shortly appear, whether the design of Providence in Planting Churches in New-England, was not (according to Mr. Brightmans Prophesy, and as other Eminent men have Conjectured) to shew unto the World a Specimen, of what shall more Generally obtain in the Glorious Times Approaching.

There is a late Writer, who has made some Attempts on the Revelation. He would perswade the World, that Anti-christ shall Reign yet these Three Hundred Years. If he had said Six Hundred, he might have produced as good Reasons for it, as he has done when he tells us of 2018. He quarrels with Mr. Medes Apocalyptical Scheme: which farmore Learned and Judicious men than himself, yea, & Forreign Divines too, have not only approved but applauded & admired. In his own [Page] Opinion, he has out-done all the Men in the World, who have been before him. Old Joseph Mede, (as he speaks) and Mr. Whiston, & the Bishop of Wocester too,(Quanta Nomina!) are but Dwarffs in the Eyes of this Giant. He would have us think, that the Notion of the Saints of the First Resurrection, their Reigning with Christ a Thousand Years, not on Earth but in Heaven, was his [...]. Whenas the Learned A. B. Peganius, in his Explication of the Apostle Johns Visions, p. 242, 243, 259. asserted it long before him. And Piscator also in his Commentary on the Apocalyps, who brings strong Reasons for a Liternal Interpretation of the Resurrection spoken of, in Rev. 20. In which another singularly Learned man, (viz. Alstedius de mille Annis, p. 228, 229.) concurs with him, who nevertheless has endeavoured a Refutation of his Notion, that that Reign will be in Heaven only, but not on Earth. This new Writer Wonders that no body in the World but himself, should know that Popery began in the Year 758. And if it had been true, I should have wondred at it also. In the mean time, it is to be wondred at, that any one should think, that the Man of Sin was not Born into the world, until he was become a strong stout Man, able to supplant Kings, & overset Governments. I shall say nothing of this Authors Extolling several Corrupt Arminian Annotators, as the best Expositors; nor of his mis-interpreting clear Texts of Scripture, that prove Justification by the Imputed Righteousness of Christ only; which Doctrine Protestants generally have asserted & maintained against the Papists: nor of the Nestorianisme, which I understand is in another of his Books, that I have not seen; but I cannot but take notice of [Page] his having the vanity to tell the World, That he will veniare to Prophesy, that when he is Dead, the Divine Providence will raise up some or other, who will think that he has been a person Illuminated and Qualified, to discover the mind of his Master further than ever any had done before him; and that it will be matter of wonder to Posterity, that so many important Truths should continue unknown to the Churches, sc. Until he brought them to Light. P. 37. There is such a Nauseous tang of Vain-glory, scattered up and down in his Writings, as I must confess has made me quite Sick of him. And his Scheme on the Apocalyps, is the most Fanciful and Injudicious of any that I have met with.

He thinks, that the Tenth part of the City, spoken of, Rev. 11. 13. is fallen, and that it fell when Constantinople was taken, A. D. 1453. That the Seven Thousand Names of men, were the Eastern Nominal Christians: That the Dead Bodies of the Slain Witnesses, were the Calixtines in Bobemia, who complied with the Papists. He says, that the Witnesses are Risen long ago; that they Rose A. D. 1516. A World of such Phansies he has; the Recitation whereof is a sufficient Refutation of them. If the Resurrection of the Witnesses was past so long agô, how is it that there have been since that, such General Slaughters of the Witnesses? Alstaedius observes, that in the Space of Forty Years, from the Year 1540. the Papists Slew and Martyred, no less than Nine Hundred Thousand Protestants. Have not the Witnesses in these late Years been Slain in France, Piedmont, Hungary and in some Provinces in Germany? Not to speak of other Lands.

[Page]In the Appendix, I have mentioned that which of all Conjectures, when the Year of Anti-christs Reign will Expire, seems to me the most probable. It is not good to be Over-positive in the Computation of Times, since altho' the Scripture cannot Deceive us, Historians may. I remember that in Discourse with Mr. Beverly in London, about his 1697. He told me, that he did no more Doubt, whether his Conception in that matter would prove Solid, Than he Questioned whether Tomorrow would come after to Day. Yet he Lived to see himself mistaken, as to the main of what he then expected. And indeed when men are Extraordinary Confident in their Notions, they are usually Deceived. Mr. Jurieu speaks of his Interpretation of the Vials, with the greatest Confidence, yet I humbly conceive, That therein he has missed it, more than in any of his Expositions.

The Sermon with which this Dissertation is Concluded, was Preached some Years ago, and Transcribed by one who took it in Short-Hand, and brought his Copy to me for Perusal. The Design of it is the same with the annexed Appendix; and there is an Agreement of Thoughts in both. I was willing on this Occasion to commit it to the Press, because it is accommodated to the Capacity of Ordinary Readers, who I hope may (if the Lord shall so please) be Edified by it.

Boston, August 28, 1708.

ERRATA.

[Page]

PAge 16. line 5. read Sacramenta. l. 6. r. Nostrorum [...] p. 27. l. 8. r. Unregeneracy. p. 35. l. 15. r. Hominem. p. 41. in the Margin, r. Whiston. p. 53. l. 9. r. Poner [...]. p. 61. l. 3. r. est. p. 95. l. 12. dele at.

CHAP. I.
The Assertions in Mr. Stoddards Sermon which are Offensive. The Question rightly Stated. The Negative to his New Notions maintained. The first Argument against them Produced. That his Sentiments are contrary to many Scriptures in both Testaments. Such as were Ceremonially Unclean might not meddle with Holy Things. The Gentiles would not Permit those whom they Esteemed Unholy to be concerned in their Sacred Mysteries.

[Page]

IN Mr. Stoddards Sermon on Exodus xii. 47, 48. lately Published, there are many Passages which have given Offence to the Churches in NewEngland, as being contrary to the Doctrine which they have learned from the Scriptures, and from those blessed Servants of the Lord, who were the Instruments in the hand of Christ in building Sanctuaries [Page] for His Name, in this part of the Earth. But there are Especially two Heterodox Assertions therein; One is, That Sanctification is not a necessary qualification to Partaking in the Lords Supper. The other is, That the Lords Supper is a Converting Ordinance; Consequently, That Persons who know themselves to be in an Unregenerate Estate, may & ought to approach unto the Holy Table of the Lord, whilest they remain in their Sins. For the right Stating of the controversy, we must remember that the Question is not (as some of Mr. S. his Arguings do insinuate) Whether the Church must certainly know that those whom they admit to their Communion are Sincere in their Profession of Faith, and Repentance; for God only knows the hearts of all men. Nor is the Question, Whether a Christian must have Assurance of his being in a good Estate before his Partaking; for that Ordinance is appointed for true tho' weak Believers, that so their Faith may be Strengthened. And there are many weak but true Believers, who have not Assurance, and for them with due Preparation to attend upon the Lord in this holy Institution, is the way to obtain Assurance. Nor is the Question, Whether Persons Orthodox in Judgment, and not Scandalous in their Conversation, are not to be Esteemed as true Believers: [Page] To Affirm that would not be an Error comparable to Mr. S. his Positions. I conceive more than that, or then a meer Negative Righteousness, is requisite as a sufficient ground for Rational Charity, to conclude that there is a Work of Saving Grace wrought in the Soul: The Scripture acknowledgeth none to be Righteous, but such as Positively do Righteousness, 1 Job. 3. 7. And Mr. S. himself complains of those who judge men to be Converted because [...] carry themselves Civilly & Religiously. But the Question is, Whether God requires Unsanctified Persons while such, to come to his Table; and Consequently, Whether the Church may admit into their Holy Communion in Special Ordinances, such as are not in the judgment of rational Charity, true Believers? This being the Question, I maintain the Negative.

My first Argument shall be that which being Cleared, may be Instar Omnium; it is this, Assertions which are contrary to many Scriptures, ought not to be received by the Churches. But the impleaded Assertions are contrary to many Scriptures. I begin with a Scripture, which is like a flaming Sword to keep all Unregenerate Persons from daring to approach unto the Holy Table of the Lord: It is in, Mat. 22. 11, 12. And when the King came in to see the Guests, he saw there a man [Page]which had not on a Wedding Garment; and he faith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a Wedding Garment? And he was speechless. When it is said, How camest thou in hither? It is as much to say, Thou art a bold Intruder, thou oughtest not to be here. It is then Evident, that they who come to the Lords Table without a Wedding Garment, are Guests more bold than welcome. The Church is the House where the Marriage Feast is [...]. 'Tis true, that the Servants were [...] added to Invite all; but (as our Great Cotton (a) observes) they were not commanded, to bring all into the House; but such as in Obedience to the Invitation put on the Wedding Garment. Otherwise the Servants themselves would displease the Lord by bringing in such unmeet Guests to his Holy Table. As he was offended with the Guest that presumed to come without the Wedding Garment, so he must needs be offended with the Servants for affronting him with such a Guest, had not they who are not able to discern as their Lord can, thought him to be adorned with that Garment. Could the Guest have said, The Servants found me in my Rags, and commanded me in their Lords Name to [Page] come; if they had not also required him to put on the Wedding Garment in order to his coming to their Lords Table, he would not have been speechless. For he might have said, I was commanded to come; and therefore why am I taxed for coming? The scope of the Parable is (as Mr. Baxter (b) observes) to show, that he who Invited them to come, did intend that they should come with that Preparation as is suitable to the Nature, & for the Honour of the Master of the Feast: otherwise they would be obnoxious to a greater Punishment than those that never came. Now by the Wedding Garment, Faith in the Righteousness of Christ, and Inherent Sanctification also, is doubtless intended. To Come in hither, is to come into the Church. It remains then, that the Lord will Condemn those men who come into his Church, and so to his Holy Table without true Faith and Holiness. Learned Mr. Gillespy (c) replies to Mr. Prin, who maintained (as Mr. S. does) that the Lords Supper is a Converting Ordinance; that if it were so, the intruding Guest needed not to have stood speechless, when the King said to him, how camest [Page] thou in hither? Mr. Prin's Divinity (Mr. S. his Divinity say I) might have put the answer into his mouth, I thought it to be a Converting Ordinance, and that thou wouldest not have Condemned those that came without a Wedding Garment, since here at the Marriage Feast they may get one. Another Scripture, (and a terrible one it is) which is very contrary to Mr. S. his impleaded Assertions, is that, 1 Cor. II. 27, 29. Whosoever shall Eat this Bread, & Drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body & Blood of the Lord. He that Eats & Drinks unworthily, Eats & Drinks Damnation (or Judgment) to himself. The last mentioned, Judicious and Learned Authors argues very rationally; that if the unworthiness of a particular Act in respect of the manner of doing it, may make a man Guilty, and expose him to Judgment, how much more the unworthiness of his Person? He that in respect of his state is an unworthy person, will not eat & drink worthily, or with a due meetness & preparedness for such an Ordinance: But this is true of every Unregerate man. He that is yet in his Sins without true Repentance for them, and that has not an interest in Christ by Faith is unworthy, and therefore will Eat and Drink unworthily at the Lords Table, if he shall presume [Page] to come thither. A particular act of Ungodliness may render a man unworthy; that is to say, unmeet to partake at the Lords Table. A Church-Member falling into a scandalous Sin is justly kept from the Sacrament, until he has manifested sincere Repentance: Then surely they that are in a state of Ungodliness, and that never Repented of any Sin, are not worthy or meet Communicants. If impenitence for a particular sin makes a man unfit for the Lords Supper, certainly impenitence under a state or course of sin does so much more. As long ago as the famous Council of Nice, it was given as a Rule, that they who are admitted to the Communion, should as to their inward State be true Penitents, which therefore should be Enquired into. And it is an Article in the Doctrine of the Church of England, that men who have not true Faith, do at the Lords Table Eat and Drink Condemnation to themselves. The Words of the Twenty-ninth Article are these, The Wicked and such as are void of a lively Faith, altho' they do carnally and visibly press with their Teeth, (as S. Austin sayes) the Sacrament of the Body & Blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, but rather to their Condemnation do Eat and Drink, the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing. In the Articles of Religion [Page] in Ireland, Anno 1615, are the same words. And is it not strange, that when Protestants in England and in Ireland insert among the Articles of their Religion, that if men who have not a lively Faith partake of the Sacrament, they Eat and Drink Condemnation to themselves, a Minister in NewEngland, shall say to those who have not a lively Faith, you need not fear any Condemnation for your coming to the Sacrament in your state of Unbelief? Moreover, the Apostles Words, in 1 Cor. II. 28. are contrary to the New Doctrine of the Sacraments being a Converting Ordinance, and that Unsanctified Men, notwithstanding they know their Unregeneracy, should venture to partake of it; Let a man Examine himself, and so let him Eat of that Bread, and Drink of that Cup. What must he Examine himself about? Is it not whether he has Grace in his Soul? And whether he is a person duely Qualified for so Sacred an Ordinance? If then upon Examination he finds that he has not any Gracious Qualifications, ought he to Eat of that Bread, & Drink of that Cup? Yea, (says Mr. S.) For 'tis not said, let him Examine whether he should eat or forbear; but the meaning is, That be should Examine what need he has of it. But does not the Apostle himself plainly enough tell [Page] us, what he means by this Self-Examination? 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your self whether you be in the Faith: Prove your own selves, know you not your own Selves: how that Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? That is to say, Persons not approved of. In the continuation of Mr. Pools Annotations, the Judicious Dr. Collings, (for I am well assured that he Wrote the Annotations on the Epistles to the Corinthians, as well as on a very great part of the New-Testament besides) has a solid Interpretation of the Scripture now under consideration. His Words are these: ‘He is to Examine himself about his Knowledge, whether he rightly understands what Christ is, what the Nature of the Sacrament is, what he doth in that Sacred Action; about his Faith, Love, Repentance, NewObedience, whether he be Such an One, as God hath Prepared that holy Table for, it is the Childrens bread, & not for Dogs, a Table Christ hath Spread for His Friends, not for His Enemies. And so let him eat, having so Examined himself, not otherwise. Whence it appears, that neither Children in Age, nor Understanding, nor Persons nor in the use of their Reason, nor Unbelievers, nor Persons under the guilt of Sins not repented of, have any Right to the Lords Supper accordingly [Page] was the Practice of all the Primitive Churches, and all Rightly Reformed Churches.’ This is sound Divinity, but not like Mr. S. his Sermon. The Name of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs (who when a Student in Immanuel Colledge, in the University of Cambridge, was our famous Mr. Hookers Pupil) is and ought to be Precious among the Churches in New-England. Because it is my design to endeavour the Establishment of the Churches in the Present Truth; I am willing to cause some Passages in an Excellent Book of that Gospel Preacher to be Transcribed. Thus he speaks: (d) ‘This Ordinance, it is the Ordinance of Spiritual Nourishment, of eating the Flesh of Christ, & drinking his Blood in a Spiritual way. Now it must needs Suppose that first there must be Life, before there can be any Nourishment received in. If it be appointed to nourish and increase Grace, then surely there must be Grace before; What nourishment can a dead Child take? The very first thing that is to be done is nourishment here: The Word hath power to convey Life, and then to nourish, but we Read of no such thing here, but that which is to be done here, is presently to [Page] feed, to Eat and to Drink, that is the End of the Sacrament; therefore it must be supposed, that thou must have Spiritual Life, there must come no Dead Soul to this Ordinance, but those who are quickned by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, they must come for nourishment. The act here required doth Note, That only those that are Holy & Godly can receive this Sacrament; we are required by the Apostle to Examine our Selves: To Examine our Selves of what? It must be of our Godliness, Examine what Work of God hath been upon the Soul, how God hath brought the Soul to Himself, and what Graces of the Spirit of God are there, & how we have been brought into Covenant with God. Now if only those can receive Worthily, and are to come that first Examine themselves, then certainly Such only as are Godly are to come, for they only can perform those acts that are required. It is a Sacrament of Communion with God, & Communion with the Saints, Now what Communion hath Light with Darkness? What fellowship hath Christ with Belial? If it be a Sacrament of Communion, of coming to the Table of God; will God have Enemies to come to his Table? You will invite no Enemies to your Tables, [Page] but your Children and Friends: So they must be the Children of God, and the Friends of God; those that are reconciled to God in the Blood of his Son, and those that are his Children, that must sit at his Table: therefore they must be Holy.’ Thus blessed Mr. Burroughs.

The Scriptures which have been already mentioned, are a sufficient Confirmation of the Truth, in opposition to Mr. S. Assertions. In another Discourse of his, he supposeth (as did Mr. Johnson, the famous Separatist in Amsterdam) that we must fetch our Schemes of Church Discipline out of the Old Testament, and not out of the New only. By the way, if it be so, why does he in that other Discourse, maintain that there is no Scripture for a ChurchCovenant, when the Old Testament speaks so much of it, as has rendred it needless to be expresly required in the New Testament. But let us consider, whether there are not Scriptures in the Old Testament, which his Notions do not at all comport with. What else shall we say to that Scripture, Cant. 4. 12. Where Christ compares his Church to a Garden inclosed, a Spring shut up, a fountain sealed? But Mr. S. his Doctrine has a tendency to break down the inclosure, and lay it open to the Wide World, [Page] for almost all comers to enter into it. Our Saviour Christ invites his Friends to Feast with him at his Table, Cant. 5. 7. Eat O Friends, Drink O Beloved. Unregenerate persons are not his Friends, nor does he take Complacency in them, so as to invite them to sit down with him at his Table. Christ would have the Gates of his Church set open that the Righteous Nation who keeps the Truth may enter in, Isa. 26. 2. How contrary is this to those that would open the Doors of the Church to a Nation of Unconverted men, and who invite those who they think have no Sincerity, or truth of Grace in their Hearts to enter in? There is another Scripture in the Old Testament, which relates to New Testament times, tho' expressed in Old Testament Phrases. It is that, in Ezek. 44. 7, 9. You have brought into my Sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in Heart, and uncircumcised in Flesh, to be in my Sanctuary, to pollute it, even my House, when you offer my Bread, the Fat, and the Blood, and they have broken my Covenant;—Thus faith the Lord God, No stranger uncircumised in Heart, shall enter into my Sanctuary. The Jewish Masters inform us, that their Fathers were very strict in their admitting Proselytes: (e) they say they admitted no Proselytes in Davids time, [Page] left they should joyn themselves to his People out of Fear: Nor in Solomons time, lest they should come because of the great Prosperity which Israel then had. They say, He that comes for any of the Vanities of the World, is no Righteous Proselyte. It seems by the Prophet Ezekiel, the Jews were grown remiss in their admitting Proselytes, and for this the Lord was offended with them. If the Lord was displeased with those Ministers, who brought into his Sanctuary men uncircumcised in Flesh, & uncircumcised in Heart, most certainly, He is not pleased with those Ministers under the New Testament, who would admit either Unbaptised or Unregenerate persons to his Holy Table. The Church is Gods Sanctuary. Unregenerate persons are Uncircumcised in Heart: The Holy God is offended with those Ministers that would fill his Church and his Table with persons which they themselves think are Uncircumcised in Heart. Moreover, We read in the Old Testament, That Porters were set at the Gates of the House of the Lord, that none who were Unclean in any thing should enter in, 2 Chron. 23. 19. Was not the Temple a Type of the Visible, as well as of the Invisible Church? Did not this signify, that Officers in the Churches should be careful [Page] that those who are Morally Unclean, either as to their Conversations, as Scandalous persons are, or as to their State, as Unregenerate men are, ought not to have the Church Doors set open to them? There are other Scriptures in the Old Testament inhibiting under severe Penalties, such as were Ceremonially Unclean from partaking of Holy Ordinances, Lev. 7. 20. The Soul that eats of the Flesh of the Sacrifice of Peace Offerings that pertain unto the Lord, having his Uncleanness upon him, that Soul shall be cut off from his People. Have not all Unregenerate persons their Uncleanness upon them? Is not the Lords Supper a Commemoration of a Blessed Sacrifice? Then this awful Commination concerns them, if they shall presume to Eat of that Sacrifice! We read particularly that such as were unclean might not Eat the Passover, Numb. 9. 6. Ezra 6. 21. Joh. 18. 28. Does not this Typifie that they who are Unclean either in course of Life or in State, should not come to the Lord's Supper? To this Mr. S. Answers, That the Ordinance, of the Old Testament, were not Types of the Ordinances of the New-Testament. Surely, He knows that all Divines who have Written on the Types affirm what he denies, he had need to bring some solid reason, for the Refutation [Page] of them all. But how does he prove his Tenet? By nothing but Pythagoras his Ipse dixit, his usual way of Demonstration is a meer Dogmatical Affirmation without any Proof at all. Fateor vetera Sacramento fuisse figuras non modo Christi sed et nostrarum Sacramentorum, saith the incomparable (f) Dr. Whitaker: He consesseth what Mr. S. denies. Dr. Goodwin (g) has evinced that the Ordinances of the Church of Israel were Types of ours. And the Apostle Paul does expressly declare it, notwithstanding Mr. S. has made bold to contradict him. The Apostle sheweth that both the Ordinances and Providences which the Children of Israel were Subject unto were [...] Types, instructive to Christians under the Gospel, 1 Cor. 10. ver. 6. & 11. The definition of a Type belongs to the Ordinances of the old Testament, with respect to those of the New-Testament: A Type is an instituted resemblance of Gospel Truths & Mysteries. The Children of Israel had Types of all New-Testament dispensations. Our Spiritual Sacrifices were shadowed forth by theirs, 1 Pet. 2. 5. If the Ordinances of the Old Testament were not Types of Gosple [Page] Ordinances, then Circumcision was not a Type of Baptism, but it was, Col. 2. 11. 12. If he denies this, Anabaptists it may be will give him thanks. If the Ordinances of the Old-Testament were not Types, then the Passover was not a Type of the Lords Supper: But it was so in many respects. The Israelites Eating the PaschalLamb, Typified our feeding upon Christ by Faith in the Lords Supper; they were to Eat it with bitter herbs, signifying that we should come to the Lords Supper penitently mourning bitterly for our Sins: The Jews might not have any Leaven in their Houses at the time of the Passover, signifying that those who eat the Lords Supper should come without the Leaven of Malice or Hypocrisy in their Hearts, 1 Cor. 5. 7. The Paschal-Lamb was to be Eaten by the whole Family, signifying the Spiritual Communion of the Church, as being one Body or Spiritual Family, 1 Cor. 12. 12, 13. (h) No Uncircumcised Person might Eat the Passover. Thus no Unbaptised Person, nor any who are Uncircumcised in Heart have a Right to the Lords Supper, nor may such as are apparently Unregenerate be [Page] received to that Holy Ordinance. It has by great Divines been thought a good Argument, if the Jews were kept from Partaking in the Sacrifices, and from entering into the Temple, and from Eating the Passover on the account of Ceremonial Impurities, then men now may be kept from the Sacrament in case of moral Impurities. A good Argument this must needs be, since the Apostle himself does Argue after that manner, 1 Cor. 6. 16, 17. compared with Lev. 26. 11, 12. Mr. S. Pretends, That this appointment that unclean Persons might not come to the Passover, did signify that those who are Spiritually Unclean shall be Excluded out of Heaven. Thus did Erastus (the most corrupt Writer on the subject of Church Discipline that ever appeared in the World) say long before him. Mr. Gillespy replies to him, that if the shutting one out of Heaven were the only thing signified thereby, there would not be a fit analogy between the Type and the thing Typified; for a Jew might be excluded out of the Temple and from holy Things, and yet be admitted again: but we cannot say so of Exclusion out of Heaven. To Conclude this Argument; the light of Nature dictates unto men, that unholy Persons should not meddle with Holy Things. Hence even the Gentiles [Page] would not suffer those whom they esteemed Unholy to be concerned in their Sacred Mysteries: They would say, Procul O Procul este Profani; the Eleusinian Mysteries (tho' most abominable) were by them accounted most sacred, and (i) one was appointed to make Proclamation.

[...]

[...]

If any man be a Sinner let him be far from approaching hither. Now shall Heathen Exclude Unholy Persons from their Sacrifices, and shall Christians admit them to their Sacraments!

Notes

(a)

Holiness of Church Members. p. 64.

(b)

Disputation of Right to Sacraments. p. 129, 144.

(c)

Aarons Rod. p. 570.

(d)

Gospel Worship, p. 233, 234.

(e)

v. Ainsworth on Gen. 17.

(f)

De Sacramentis. P 349

(g)

In his Discourse of Church Government. P 30, 31.

(h)

See my Brother Samuel Mather of the Types. P. 528, 529. In the first Edition.

(i)

Collier Dictionary, in verbo Eleusis.

CHAP. II.
The Second Argument Propounded. They who are not fit to be admitted Members in Particular Churches, are not qualified for Admission to the Lords Table. Unsanctifyed Persons are not fit Materials for a Gospel Church; Proved by several Scripture Arguments. In the Primitive Times of Christianity none but Such as were thought to be Converted, and Godly were received in Particular Churches: Known Hypocrites may not be received.

IF there were but one Scripture in all the Bible, that did clearly Contradict the [Page] Strange Doctrine, the Confutation whereof I have (by the help of Christ) undertaken, that were sufficient, how much more when there are so many? Nevertheless, I hope some Readers will remember what they have received and heard, and be Confirmed in the Old Truths, if we proceed to some further Arguments, which are built on a Scripture Foundation.

I then in the second Place argue thus, They that are not duly Qualified to be Members of Particular Gospel Churches, are not fit to be admitted to the Lords Supper. This will be readily yielded, so that it is needless to spend time in the Proof of it. I will not deny but that persons may be admitted to Baptism on the account of their being of the Visible Church, which many are, tho' not in Fellowship with any Particular Church. This was the Judgment of our Famous Dr. Owen; as himself assured me, in Letters I had from him Forty Years ago, and I remember that in one of his Printed Books he affirms it. ‘And that he is so far from confining Baptism to a particular Church, as that he does believe that no Member of a particular Church was ever regularly Baptised, because Baptism precedes Admission into a particular Church. Professing Believers and their Seed [Page] have right to Baptism, whether they are of any particular Church or no, on the account of their Relation to the Catholick Visible Church.’ Certain it is, that the Apostles Baptised many who were not joyned to any particular Church, as I have (k) else where many years ago more fully declared. But the Lords Supper may not be Administred to any, who are not Members of some particular Instituted Church: Nor indeed to them, except in a Church Assembly, 1 Cor. 11. 20. Papists allow the Dispensation of this Ordinance unlimited. They approve of Private Masses, supposing the Priest and one more to be enough for Administring the Eucharist. Episcopal Divines also allow of Private Communion. But Dr. Goodwin (l) has Solidly, and Learnedly discovered the Error of that Practice. I proceed to Assume, Unsanctified Persons are not fit to be Admitted Members in Particular Churches. None but such as are (so far as men exercising a due Charity are able to judge) Sincere Converts, or True Believers on Christ, ought to be received into tho Churches. Rough Stones were not laid in Solomons Temple, but such as were hewen, [Page] and prepared, 1 King. 6. 7. Surely then Unconverted, Unprepared Sinners ought not to be laid in Christs Temple. Every particular Evangelical Church is a Temple of Christ, 1 Cor. 6. 16, 17. The Church in Ephesus was the House of God, 1 Tim. 3. 15. To admit Unholy Persons into his House, cannot but offend him, who has said, That Holiness becomes his House for Ever, Psal. 93. 5. Unsanctified Persons are unbecoming his House, and unmeet to be there. Churches ought to receive into their Communion all and only such as they may reasonably hope that the Lord has received them, Rom. 4. 1, 2, 3. It is said concerning the Primitive Christian Church at Jerusalem, that the Lord added to the Church such as should be Saved, Acts 2. 47. Ought not the Lords Stewards to be faithful in his House, and to do nothing therein but as they see the Lord going before them, receiving whom He receiveth, and refusing whom He refuseth? But this they do not if they add to their Churches, such as they themselves Judge not to be in a State of Salvation. If (says that venerable man of God Mr. Cotton (m) we did find it affirmed in the Scripture, that the Lord added to his [Page] Church Ignorant, or Profane, or Unregenerate Men, we might venture to do so too. But there is no such Word in all the Bible: Altho' His Holy Providence permits many such to get into Churches, it is not with His good liking but the contrary. Were not the Servants guilty of a culpable and Sinful sleepiness, when Tares were manifestly appearing in the Lords Field: It pleaseth Christ to see good Seed in His Field, but it is pleasing to His Enemies to see Tares there, Mat. 13. 24, 25. They then that care not how many Tares spring up in the Lords Field offend him, and gratify his great Enemy who delights to see it so, and rejoyceth when he hears men pleading to have it so: Which truly is a sad Thought, and I wish men of such Principles would lay it to heart, and consider whom it is that such Unsanctifyed Principles Please, & who is displeased with them. But to go on: Were not those who were the Members constituent of Particular Churches in the Apostolical Times, in appearance and in the judgment of rational Charity, Godly Converted Persons? An old Puritan Minister (n) who was a Conformist has zealously Testifyed to this Truth. When [Page] (says he) They unto whom the Gospel came Embraced the Word Sincerely, or else to see to, as far as Paul, and others could Judge then they were a true Church. There must be a Congregation of People that do profess the Pure Religion and make it appear, at least in the Judgment of man, that they are Godly in Christ Jesus: This is an inseparable mark of a true Church as we see, 1 Cor. 14. 33. This was the Old Puritan Doctrine. The People of New-England are the Posterity of such Men: The Lord keep them true to the Holy Principles of their Predecessors. The Church in Rome is now degenerate, and become no Church of Christ, but an Habitation of Devils, Rev. 18. 2. But the Members of the first Church there, were such as the Apostle esteemed beloved of God, and called to be Saints, Rom. 1. 7. And such as had from their Hearts Obeyed the Gospel, Rom. 6. 17. The same is to be said of the Members in the Church at Corinth, They were Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to [...] Saints, 1 Cor. 1. 3. The Members of the Church in Colossi, Were Saints & Faithful Brethren in Christ, Col. 1. 2. Those in the Church at Ph [...]l [...]poi, Were Saints in Christ Jesus, & such as bad a good Work begun in them: Their Profession & Conversation was such, as that the Apostle judged that it was meet for him so to think of them, Phil. 1. 1, 6, 7. [Page] When there was a Particular Church first Gathered at Ephesus, the Members Constituent of it, Were Saints and Faithful in Christ Jesus, Ephes. 1. 1. These things cannot be denied. But Mr. S. has the strangest Notion that ever was heard of in the World. For (page 23.) his Assertion is, The Saints by calling are to be accepted of the Church, whether they be Converted or no. But did you ever hear of Unconverted Saints by calling before? Had he said, Visible Saints, and Seemingly Called, but not Really and Inwardly such in the sight of God, may be accepted by the Church, he would have affirmed, that which no body will contradict; but as he expresseth it, his Notion is Contradictio in adjecto, ae notorious Contradiction of it self. Certainly, so far as men are Sanctified, they are Converted. If they are called to be Saints, they are called out of their Worldly, and so out of their Natural Unconverted Estate, Joh. 15. 19. It is true, that Hypocrites were admitted into Churches in the Apostles days: But that was because they were not known to be such; for if they had they would not have received them. As soon as Simon Magus discovered his Hypocrisy, the Apostle Peter Excomunicated him, Act. 8. 20, 21▪ When Hypocrites got into the Churches, 'tis said, They were brought in unawares, Gal. [Page] 2. 4. And that they crept in unawares, Jude 4. Hypocrisy is a simulation of Sanctity. The reason why Latent Hypocrites were admitted into the Church, was because they Seemed to be Real Saints. When their Hypocrisy is discovered by any Fundamental Error in Judgment, or Scandal in Conversation, they ought to be cast out of the Church, Rev. 2. 2. And being out are not to be received, without a manifestation of Repentance. Known Hypocrites are not fit materials for a Church of Christ. Mr. Cotton, in his excellent Treatise of the Holiness of Church Members, argues thus; Such as are destructive to the state of the Church, are not fit Materials for the building of the Church: But this is true of Hypocrites. They are dead Members in the Body, like dead Branches in a vine, whom the Lord will cast off, and destroy the Church with them, when they grow numerous, Isa. 9. 17. He argues weightily, and in my apprehension, irrefragably, when he thus reasoneth, Such Members and such only are we to admit into the Churches, as in charitable Discretion we judge suitable to the Pattern of the Members of Churches Planted by the Apostles. But the Members of Churches Planted by the Apostles were such as were in charitable Discretion judged to be Saints by Calling, and [Page] faithful Brethren; therefore such Members and such only are we to admit into our Churches: Thus Mr. Cotton. Now if we may not admit any others into our Churches, than we may not administer the Sacrament unto them. When Unregenerate men desire to be of our Communion, if their Unregenacy be manifest, we should say to them as the Lords Servants did to those Hypocrites, who would have joyned with them in a Sacred Fellowship, Ezr. 4. 2, 3. They came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the Fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, and we do Sacrifice unto Him,—But Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the rest of the chief of the Fathers in Israel said unto them, You have nothing to do with us, to build an House unto our God, but we of our selves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel.

Notes

(k)

In my Discourses of the [...] Baptism. chap 10.

(l)

Of Church Government. chap. 7.

(m)

[...] Supra P. 57.

(n)

Mr. Fenner Alarm. 2d part P. 92, 93.

CHAP. III.
The Third Argument Produced. God allows of none to come to the Lords Supper, but such as have a right unto it, Unsanctified Persons have no right to that Ordinance, Coram deo, they are not really in Covenant with God; Therefore have no right to the Seal of the Covenant: The Grace Exhibited and Sealed in the Lords Supper they have no Title unto, therefore they have no Right to the Sign.

WE have done with the Second Argument, which refutes Mr. S. his [Page] Assertions, and proveth the contrary. We proceed to a third Argument, which is this;

If men meddle with that which they have no right unto, they have not a Divine allowance for their doing so. We cannot suppose that the Presumption of men in laying a claim unto that which they have no right unto, has a Divine Approbation. But Unsanctified persons have no true right to the Lords Supper. They that have a right to the outward Sign, have also a right to the inward Grace signified thereby. The Lord has joyned the Exhibiting Sign, and the Grace Exhibited thereby, together. But Unregenerate persons have no right to the Grace signified in the Lords Supper. It does Seal to the worthy partaker, all the Blessings promised in the New Covenant, and in particular the Remission of Sins. When our Saviour instituted this Holy Supper, he said to his Disciples, This is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins, Mat. 26. 28. The Sacrament ought not to be Administred unto those, to whom we cannot in charitable Judgment say, You are in Covenant with God, and the Blood of Christ has obtained for you, the Remission of your Sins. But an Unconverted person his no real interest in the Covenant, Ephes. 2. 12. As long as he's to be Converted, [Page] he has nothing to do with Gods Covenant, Psal. 50. 16, 17. He has no right to any of the saving Blessings promised in the Covenant. It is Faith in Christ which giveth a right thereunto. They then who are in a state of Unbelief, have no right to the Salvation of the Covenant; and consequently, no right to the Seal of that Salvation. The Question is not, (as in the stating of it has been declared) Whether some Unregenerate men have not a visible right to the Sacrament Coram [...], so as that the Churches charitably judging them to be Sanctified persons, cannot refuse them; but whether they have a right Coram Deo; or whether God bids them come to his Table, before they have repented and turned from their Sins? The Old Protestant Doctrine, was, That it is only a Justifying Faith, that gives right to the Sacrament in the sight of God: It is the Visibility of that Faith, which giveth a right before men. The reason why some Unregenerate persons have a right to Sacraments before men, is because they seem to be Regenerate, & to have that Faith, which giveth them a right unto the Grace Exhibited therein. Men look on the Outward appearance, but cannot look on the Heart, as the Lord does, 1 Sam. 15. 7. To give the Sacrament to those who are not, [Page] so far as men can Judge, in a Regenerate Estate, is to set the Lords Seal to a Blank: It is to Seal a Pardon to those whom the Lord has not Pardoned, and whom we are not by any rule of Charity bound to believe that he has Pardoned.

CHAP. IV.
The Fourth Argument mentioned. There is in Scripture no Promise of Conversion by the Sacrament, nor Example of any One Person Converted thereby. The Pretences which some have made about this matter are Mistakes. A man may Possibly be Converted at the Administration of the Lords Supper, and yet not Converted by it. That may be an Occasion of Conversion, which is not appointed to be a Converting Ordinance.

JUdicious Divines have reasoned thus, If the Sacrament were a Converting Ordinance, and that therefore Unregenerate Persons should come to it in order to their being Converted, there would doubtless be some Promise, or some Example recorded in the Scripture of Person, so Converted, for the Encouragement of others. But this there is not: There are Promises that the Word of God shall be blessed for the Conversion of his Elect, Psal. 110. 2. Isa. 52. 15. & 55. 12. But there is no promise of Conversion annexed to the Sacrament, which supposeth [Page] Conversion. Another Ordinance is spoken of as the Ordinary means appointed for Conversion, viz. The Preaching of the Gospel, Rom. 10. 14. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If Faith should come by partaking at the Lords Table, would rather come by Seeing then by Hearing, which the Scripture says not. Nor is there any example there, of Faith ingenerated by the Sacrament. Mr. Prin confidently affirms that many have been Converted by the Sacrament, and that they had never been Converted, if for their scandalous Lives they had been debarred from that Ordinance. Mr. Gillespy (o) replies to him, that he does confidently deny it, and withal adds, that if any man should come to him, and affirm that his very receiving the Sacrament did effectually Convert him, he Durst not give Credit to him. But suppose There have been some Persons in the World, whose Conversion has been occasioned by their coming to the Sacrament; that does not at all prove that it was their Duty to come in their Unconverted Estate. A mans doing a Sinful Act may by the Providence & wonderful Mercy of God be an occasion of his Conversion. An Eminent Divine speaks judiciously [Page] in affirming that it is one thing to Prove that the Sacrament may be a means of Conversion, and that eventually it has so come to pass; and another thing to prove that it is Commanded to the Unconverted, or allowed them to be used for that end. Reverend Mr. Baxter (p) says that he never knew of any Converted by Receiving the Sacrament, but he knew some who having been instructed concerning the danger of coming to the Lords supper in an Unconverted estate (other kind of Doctrine then that taught by Mr. S.) were so awakened in their Preparations for the Sacrament, as that their Conversion was occasioned thereby. And some that by the serious Speeches and Prayers, of the Minister at the Administration have been Converted, but none that were so by receiving it self. Thus that great Man. It may further be added, that some who have come to the Sacrament in their Unregeneracy, the thought of their great sin and guilt contracted on their Souls thereby, has been such a Terror to them, as has occasioned their true Repentance & Conversion to God. But this does not Prove the Lords Supper to be a Converting Ordinance, but the contrary rather.

Notes

(o)

Ubi supra. P. 936.

(p)

Second disput. P. 138, 139.

CHAP. V.
The Fifth Argument Produced. That if the Lords Supper were appointed to be a Converting Ordinance, it ought not to be with-held from the Profanest Men in the World. The oddness of that Nation, that the Sacrament is appointed to be a Converting Ordinance to Church Members, and to no body else but a Church Member. Mr. Gillespy, Judgeth this to be an Irrational conceit. Churchcensure is appointed for the recovery of a fallen Brother, rather then for the Conversion of an Unconverted Person.

[Page]

ANother Argument which is a clear Confutation of what Mr. S. affirms, is this, If the Lords Supper is a Converting Ordinance, then Profane Persons ought to be admited to partake of it. For we may not withold from the Profanest Person in the World that which is appointed to be the means of his Conversion. Nay, the more Wicked any are, the greater reason there is that the means of Conversion should be applied unto them. Therefore it is that the Gospel is to be Preached unto the worst of Sinners, yea, to Publicans the worst of men, and to Harlots the worst of Women, because that is an Ordinance appointed for Conversion, Mat. 21. 31. But such are not to be admitted to the Lords Supper. Mr. S. [Page] himself confesseth that. But then how do's he Answer this Unanswerable Argument? He has Excogitated a new notion and an odd one; viz. That the Sacrment is a Converting Ordinance for Church Members only, & not for other men. P. 27, 28. I think the honour of this Invention belongs to himself alone. For in my small reading, I have not met with it in any other Author. His alledging that it is an Ordinance appointed for the Conversion of Non-Scandalous Church Members and none others, is that which Logicians call Petitio Principij, or a begging of the Question. I should rather think as Learned Gillespy does, whose Words are these: If the Sacrament is a Converting Ordinance for known Impenitent Scandalous Profane Persons within the Church, (to make it a Converting Ordinance for Non-Scandalous Persons only, is a Phansy peculiar to Mr. S.) What reason is there imaginable why it is not also a Converting Ordinance for Heathen, Pagans, Turks, Jews, or have we the least hint in the Scripture that an Ordinance which may convert the Profanest Un-excomunicated Person within the Church, cannot Convert both Heathen and Excommunicated Christians? What rational Reply Mr. S. can make to this I know not, unless he will Pretend that a Church-censure, and why not a Sacrament, [Page] is an Ordinance appointed for the Conversion of one within the Church; but not for any other: But then Disputat ex non concessis, he takes it for granted that the Person under censure is Unconverted; whenas that Ordinance is appointed for the Recovery of a fallen converted Brother, 2 Thes. 3. 15. It is charitably supposed, that the Subject of it has Spirit in him as well as Flesh, 1 Cor. 5. 5. That the Spirit may be saved. Pareus his Interpretation of that Scripture is, Ut mortificetur vetus, et vivificetur novus home, ut spiritus sit salvus, h. e. ut miser Peccator tandem fiat salvus spiritu, vel juxta spiritum, h. e. juxta novum et spiritualem bominum. He supposeth, that the Corinthian notwithstanding the scandalous & hainous Sin, he was fallen into, had a principle of Regenerating Grace in his Soul, which needed reviving, as well as the Old Man in him, to be further mortified. He giveth a solid Reason for his so Expounding the Apostles Words. Mr. Cotton faith concerning the Incestuous Corinthian, ‘Tho' the Apostle commanded him to be cast out of the Church, yet neither his crime nor his censure does convince him to be an Hypocrite: he might be nevertheless a Saint by calling, and sincere in heart too, tho' in that act wicked & scandalous in Life. In the Second Epidle, when [Page] Paul Exhorts the Church to restore him to former communion, he does not speak of his censure as the means of his first Conversion to Christ; but only as the means of his Humiliation and Repentance. The Incest which Lot committed was as odious and foul a Sin as that of the Incestuous Corinthian, yet the Scripture does not brand him for an Hypocrite; but acknowledgeth him for a Righteous Soul.’ Thus Mr. Cotten. It remains that the new devised Distinction, of the Lords Supper being appointed to be a Converting Ordinance for Church-Members; but not a Converting Ordinance for Non-Members, is not Solid nor Scriptural.

CHAP. VI.
A Sixth Argument Produced. That Opinion which a Contrary to the Profession and Practice of the Churches in the Primitive, and Purest Times of Christianity, and to the Judgment of the most Eminent Reformers in these Latter Ages, especially Presbyterians, & which agrees with the Doctrine of Papists, and a Looser sort of Protestants, ought not to be received among the Churches in New-England. But all this is true of Mr. S. his Opinion. Evinced by an Induction of Particulars. President Oakes his Judicious Assertions.

ALtho' there may be, and often is a New Discovery of Old Truths, on [Page] which account every Doctrine which may to some seem New, is not to be rejected as Erroneous. Nevertheless, such Notions as are really Novel, and Singular, should be Examined before they be received. I proceed therefore to a sixth Argument, which shall be this;

That Opinion which is contrary to the Profession & Practice of the Churches in the Primitive & Purest Times of Christianity; and to the Judgment of the most Eminent Reformers in these Latter Ages, and which agrees with Papists, and a Looser sort of Protestants, ought not to be received among the Churches in New England. It would be an hainous Apostasy should it be so. But all this is true of Mr. S. his Opinion now impleaded. An Induction of Particulars will clear the Argument before us. We have already Evinced from the Scripture, that the Holy Apostles Admitted none into the Churches by them Gathered, but such as they in judgment of Charity supposed to be true Penitents & Believers on Christ. And very many of the Church-members in the Primitive Christian Church, were real Converts. Altho' there were Three Thousand Members added to the Church in one day, such a character is given of them in general, as giveth sufficient ground to believe, that they were truely Converted and real [Page] Christians. For they were pricked at the Heart with a sense of their Sins, they received the Word gladly. They are commended for their singleness of heart, Act. 2. 46. They willingly parted with their Estates towards the Propagation of the Gospel and of Christianity; they submitted to Baptism, and owned themselves to be Christians, when their doing so, brought not only their Estates, but their Lives into Peril. What greater Evidences of a real Conversion could there be desired? And it is wonderful that in so many Thousands in the first Christian Church at Jerusalem, not above two persons were discovered to be Hypocrites. How it was with Christians in the next Ages to the Apostles, the Holy Writings do not inform us, the Apostle John having Written the Two last Books of the Sacred Canon. But from the Ancient Fathers (as they use to be called) we know, that there was a very strict Discipline Exercised in the Admission of Members into Church Fellowship, & to the Lords Supper. Justin Martyr who lived in the very next Age to the Apostles, and not Fifty years after John's Death, (r) testifieth that in those Days, such as were admitted unto the Sacred Communion, were [Page] Examined whether they could or would in all things conform themselves, to the Word & Will of God? This is what none but Regenerate Persons, or real Converts do. The same Author speaking of the Lords Supper, has these Words, This Food is with us called the Eucharist, which is lawful for none others to partake of, but for him that believeth these things to be true, which are taught by us; and is washed in the Laver for the Remission of Sins, and for Regeneration, and that Liveth as Christ has commanded. Now I ask, Were not such Christians real converts so far as men can judge? Origen who lived in the next century, says, That in those Days (s) ‘Christians did initiate none but Converted ones in their Mysteries, & that they did all that possibly they could do, that their Churches might consist of none but such as were Endued with Spiritual Wisdom, and that therefore they that joyned to them submitted to severe Examinations.’ It is evident from the Writings of Tertullian & Cyprian, that in their Time the Churches were exceeding careful not to admit Unregenerate Persons to the Sacrament: They would keep them as Competentes, & enquire into the sincerity of their Repentance, & this a long time before they [Page] would so much as receive them to Baptism. There was in the more Primitive Times of Christianity, when the Temple of God was measured, and the Altar and them that Worship therein, were according to the Divine Rule; and before the outer Court was given to the Gentiles, [...] between four and five hundred years of the Christian AEra, a very great strictness in Admitting to Sacraments. Not only Protestants, but some Popish Authors have acknowledged this. That very Learned Bishop Gabriel Albaspineus (who dyed when he was but thirty years old, has (t) Elaborately cleared this. And Durandus (u) acknowledgeth, That there was wont to be a Proclamation in the Church when the Sacrament was to be Administred, the Proclamation was, Sancta Sanctis, Holy Mysteries are only for holy Persons: If any is not holy let him not come to the Table of the Lord. How does this agree with Mr. S. his Doctrine, that Sanctification is not a necessary Qualification to partaking in the Lords Supper? Debasing the matter of particular Churches, and Laxness in Admission to all special Ordinances will unavoidably bring in great Corruption. Dr. Owen has evinced that [Page] the letting go this Principle, That particular Churches ought to consist of Regenerate Persons; brought in the great Apostacy of the Christian Church, therefore let the Churches in New-England beware of it. There were in the midst of Antichrist's reign, when the Church and true Christianity all Europe over was overwhelmed with Popish Darkness, holy Churches in Bohemia. A late (w) Excellent Writer, who has made notable enquiries and discoveries in Apocalyptical Mysteries, supposeth that the Bohemian Churches are in special intended, by the Hundred Forty Four Thousand, who stood with the Lamb on Mount Sion, being the first Fruits unto God; a large harvest of Professors of the true Religion being to appear a Hundred Years after them. These Bohemian Churches made great Conscience not to admit Persons into their Communion, except they were in the Judgment of rational charity Godly Persons. Comenius, (x) who had reason to know it, giveth us an account how very strict they were in admissions to the Lords Supper, requiring not only a Profession of Christianity, but Sincere repentance appearing in the Fruits of it. The [Page] Reformation which began in Germany by Luther, was at first very Imperfect: All forts of Persons were admitted to the Sacrament; Luther was at first much disaffected towards the strict Discipline of the Bohemian Churches: But afterward he changed his Judgment, and greatly admired the Gospel Order among them. This was a change for the better, tho' Popish Authors have sufficiently abused him for it. Many of the most Eminent Reformers were for a strict Discipline respecting Admissions to the Lords Table. Calvin began it in Geneva, (y) altho' he thereby made some of the greatest men in the City to become his Enemies. Beza (z) laments the remissness of the Protestant Churches in this matter, and adviseth that the Persons admitted to the Lords Table should be Men with Converted Hearts. Bucer (a) finds fault with the English Congregations for their want of due care therein, and that Persons who had been Baptised, were admitted to the Lords Supper before they were duly qualified. He insists on it, that there should be manifest signs of Repentance in them before they Partake at the Lords Table. Chamior, [Page]Chemnitius, & Gerhard, commend the Strictness of the Primitive Times in the Probation of their Communicants and wish it were restored, & revived in all the Churches of the Reformation. And shall it be Preached down in New-England? The Good Lord pardon the Man that has done so! Mr. S. pretends to be a Presbyterian, I wish he were so, one like the Presbyterian, I wish he were so, one like the Presbyterians of the Union in London,& I should have no contest with him, as to the Question now before us. But sure I am, that his Notions are some of them as Contrary to the Presbyterian Principles as any thing can be. Nor are there any Men in the World who have Written more Strenuously against that Error of the Sacraments being a Converting Ordinance, then Presbyterians have done. Mr. Gillespy a Famous Presbyterian in Scotland, has by twenty Arguments Proved that the Sacrament is not by Divine Institutions a Converting, but a Confirming Ordinance. Mr. S. has been heard saying that those Arguments were weak Childish things. A greater deference to so Learned and holy a Man would better have become him. Mr. Baxter (whom the World must acknowledge to be a Man of a great Acumen) was as able to Judge of the strength of an Argument as Mr. S. Yet he has defended Mr. Gillespies [Page] Twenty Arguments against Mr. Prins Exceptions, Mr. Gataker a most Learned Presbyterian has proved (and confirmed his Assertion by a Cloud of Witnesses among the Ancients) the Sacraments are not Converting Ordinances. Mr. Vines was also a Learned Presbyterian, who in his Treatise of the Lords Supper demonstrates, that it is not a Converting Ordinance. For thus he reasoneth.

1. ‘No effects can be ascribed to this Sacrament which fall not under the signification of it, they do not Exhibit any grace, but what they signifie or figure out the sign and the Thing signified are not such Strangers, as that one thing be signified, and another wrought: But the Conversion of a Sinner is not signified in the Sacrament, or Sealed. There is no outward Element that sets it forth to us. Bread, and Wine speak Nourishment, but not the giving Life. Does Bread and Wine give life to one that is Dead; Meat is not set before Dead Folks.’

2. ‘This Sacrament by the Institution of it, Presupposeth those that reap the benefits of it to be Converts, and in Grace, to have Faith in Christ, and to be living Members, And if this is presupposed by this Ordinance, then it is not first wrought [Page] by it. They are Children whose Bread this is: Living Members, and not Wooden Legs that are capable of this benefit.’

3. ‘The Word is the only Instrument to beget Faith. And therefore men without Faith may be invited to Hear the Word. If they come not With Faith, they may come Far Faith. If they come Unclean, they may yet come to be Cleansed: But the Lords Supper is not of that Nature. It supposeth some Foundation laid by the Word, that it may have Effect. The Converting Ordinance must go before the Confirming.’ Thus Mr. Vines. To that Objection, that a man may possibly be Converted at the Lords Supper, he answers; ‘That it is possible that a man may be Converted by some words uttered at the Ordination of a Minister; but will any one thence infer, that Ordination is a Converting Ordinance.’

But to go on. The Reverend Mr Richard Baxter, a Man Famous throughout both 'Englands, was an Eminent Presbyterian.' He declares his concurrence with Mr. Vines. And he further argues thus; ‘It is one and the same Covenant by which God bestows Christ, and right to the Sacrament, and on the same condition. But the Covenant bestows Christ only on the condition of saving Faith; therefore it bestows [Page] right to Sacraments only on the condition of Saving Faith.’ Again, he Argues; ‘God giveth a right to Sacraments to none, but to those to whom, he giveth right to Remission of Sins. But he gives right to remission of sins, to none but true Believers, therefore he giveth a right to Sacraments to none others. He proceeds further to maintain this Proposition; (c) God has not commanded or allowed any that have not Saving Faith to claim, receive the Sacrament in that condition, but has made it the necessary order of their Duty, first to repent and believe, and then to claim, and receive the Sacrament. Argu. 1. If no man is commanded or warrented to receive the Sacrament, without a Profession of true Faith, then not without that Faith it self. But the Antecedent is true, therefore the Consequent. The Consequence is plain, because no man is commanded or warranted to make a False Profession. But to Profess that Faith which they have not, is to Lye or make a False Profession. Argument 2. No Commandments are produced in Scripture which will Warrant a man to receive the Sacrament, without a saving Faith. Object. Every Jew and his Children were commanded to be circumcised, [Page] though they had not Faith? Answ. They were not commanded to be circumcised, whether they consented to the Covenant or not. For circumcision was a Token of the Covenant, and it was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith, Rom. 4. 11. The Parent professed an hearty consent to the Covenant: An hearty sincere consent to the Covenant, is Saving Faith. He that does really chuse the Lord to be his God, is a true Believer.’ Thus Mr. Baxter.

I have cited these Testimonies, to shew that Mr. S. his New Doctrine, is not only contrary to what Divines of the Congregational Perswasion, (such as the Pastors of the Churches throughout New England have formerly been) but also most opposite to what has been Taught by our Presbyterian Brethren. I shall from among them produce but one Witness more against him, viz. that super Eminent Preacher of the Gospel, Mr. Stephen Charnock. In his Excellent Discourse of the Lords Supper, (d) he lays down this Proposition: Only Regenerate Men are fit to come to the Lords Supper. This Proposition he Demonstrates. ‘It is Evident, For, 1. A man in his Natural Estate retains his Enmity against God. This Bread belongs [Page] to Children: Unregenerate men are not in a state of Son-ship. 2. For such to approach the Lords Table is a mocking of God. For to come to God and Seal the Remission of Sin, when they have no mind to come up to the condition on which the Pardon is proposed, is to mock him. 3. An Unregenerate man is not in Covenant with God; because he has no Faith, the condition of the Covenant, Eph. 2. 12. Therefore he has no right to the Seal of the Covenant. 4. An Unregenerate man is Dead, Eph. 2. 1. What has a Dead man to do with a Feast? The very end of the Sacrament is perverted, when the Richest viands are taken by a man spiritually Dead. 5. The Sacrament is an Ordinance of inward Communion with Christ. Christ must be let into the Heart, before he Sup in it, Rev. 3. 20. The Door must be opened by Conversion, before Christ will Feast with the Soul. 6. This Ordinance is to be received by true Christians only. But Renewed men only are such. Free men only have a right to the Priviledges of the City; and true Christians to the Priviledges of the Church. The Lords Supper is not a Converting Ordinance, neither in the Intention of God, nor the Ordination of Christ in the first Institution. No man can reasonably expect [Page] his Conversion, by coming in such a posture whereby contracting more than ordinary Guilt of the Blood of Christ, he incurs a greater Damnation. It is not likely to be a Converting Ordinance. For, 1. Baptism is not a Converting Ordinance, much less this of the Supper. That supposeth Faith, Rom. 4. 11. It is appropriated for the Covenant, it supposeth that condition in the Receiver which the Covenant requires. 2. This Ordinance is appointed for Nourishment, and that supposeth Life. Bread and Wine are not to Enliven a Dead man, but to nourish & maintain Life in a Living man. Christ in this Ordinance is offered as Spiritual Food; and Spiritual Food supposeth a New Birth. 3. Pre-examination implies it to be no Converting Ordinance. If it were so, what need this Bar, So let him come, not otherwise? He must Examine, whether he has true Repentance and Faith. That which is Pre-required in the Lords Supper, it is not properly instituted to Effect. 4. The nature of Excommunication speaks as much. Had it been a Converting Ordinance, should not the Incestuous person rather have been kept in the Corinthian Church for his Reformation, than thrown out? Converting Ordinances may be dispensed [Page] to known Impenitent sinners. Christ Preached the Word to the Pharisees; but he Administred the Supper only to his Disciples. Christ Washed the Disciples feet before the Supper; thereby signifying that only Sanctified persons are meet Guests for his Holy Table.’ Thus Mr. Charnock.

These are Plain & Weighty Arguments. They may be Cavilled at, but not easily Answered. I omit to say that Mr. Doolittle, another Worthy Presbyterian Divine, in his Treatise of the Lords Supper; which has been lately Reprinted at Boston, holds forth a Doctrine before the Churches, very contrary to Mr. S. his Sermon. The Churches in Scotland are Presbyterian: But they are wont to Examine their Communicants concerning their Interior Spiritual State, before they admit them to participate in the Lords Supper. Several of their Ministers in London, have assured me that they do so. The Author of the Present State of Scotland, Printed the Last Year, speaking of the Kirk-Session, which is their lowest Ecclesiastical Court, informs us, that this Court is Judge of Admissions to the Lords Table, or Debarring from it, in their respective Parishes. (e) The [Page]Communicants are Examined by them as to their Knowledge and Conversation, and their Resolution to Renew and Perform their Baptismal Covenant. They that are really resolved to perform their Baptismal Covenar have a Work of Grace wrought in their hearts. For such a Resolution, if sincere, is Grace; and argues Regeneration. Let me further add, that several Pious Divines of the Church of England, have Taught their People sounder Doctrine than this in Mr. S. his Sermon. For (f) Dr. Kidder (a worthy Divine) has these words, He that is fit to receive the Sacrament, is fit to Dy; and he that is fit to Dy, is fit to receive the Sacrament.—We must put away our Sins by a true and hearty Repentance; unless we do this, we shall eat and drink Damnation to our selves. Another Conformist says, (g) We must Examine our selves, whether we be in the Number of the Faithful or not. For as our Bodies can receive no strengthning from the Food we receive, unless they have some Life in them before, so neither can our Souls, if they be void of the Life of Grace, receive any comfort by the spiritual Food in the Lords Supper; which does increase Life where it finds it, but works none where there is none before. To say no more, Mr. [Page] Baxter in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments, has produced above Three-score Protestant Divines, all who assert, that it is a Justifying Saving Faith which giveth right to Sacraments; and that therefore they who are judged not to have that Faith, may not be admitted unto that which they have no right to lay a claim unto. These things being so, the Godly & Learned Mr. Vines might well say, That the Opinion of the Sacraments being a Converting Ordinance, is a new up-start Opinion; & that he wondred any one will stand up for it, since there is among Orthodox Divines an Army to a Man against them. And as Mr. S. his Notions are against the stream of the most Eminent, and Orthodox Divines, so they agree with those who are in other Points very Heterodox in their Judgments. Popish Writers say as he does. They are mighty sticklers for the Sacraments being Converting Ordinances. Bullinger (h) (that great Reformer) his account of them is this, Docuit vulgus Sacerdotum et Monachorum Sacramenta, non tantum esse signa Gratioe sed Gratioe causas, h. e. quoe habent virtutem Conferendi Gratiam: Their Priests teach that the Sacraments are not only Signs, but Causes of Grace. Which he [Page] confutes, by shewing that men ought first to have the thing Signified, before they have the Sign, Greg. de valentia. Estius & other Papists, mention this as one difference between the Calvinists and them, that the Calvinists held that Sacraments are only a sign of Grace, and not a cause of it: Whenas Catholicks maintain, that the Sacraments work Grace in those that do not obicem ponere, withstand their operation. Some Lutherans also, who are a looser sort of Protestants, and in the Doctrine of the Sacrament come nearer to the Papists than the Reformed do, make the same complaint against the Calvinists. Brockmond (a bitter Lutheran) mentions it as a Calvinian Error, that Sacraments are not Instituted to be means of conferring Grace: he chargeth Zuinglius, Beza, Daneus, Musculus, and Piscator, as Guilty of this supposed Error. If some Prelatick Writers in our own Nation say as Mr. S. does, shall Christians in New-England conform to such Principles, when their Fathers came into this Land whilest it was a Wilderness, that so they might Enjoy a more Pure Discipline? And yet in the beginning of the English Reformation, there were Principles avowed by those Reformers contrary to Mr. S. his Doctrine. They would have a visible Church to be a Congregation of [Page]Faithful Men; whenas Mr. S. his Doctrine allows them to be a Congregation of Unfaithful or Unsanctifyed men. The English Liturgy requires the Minister to give Warning to the Congregation before the Sacrament is to be Administred, and that be should say to them, that it will be dangerous for them, if they presume to come unworthily. My Duty is to Exhort you to consider the Dignity of that holy Mystery, & the great Peril of Unwortby receiving; and so to search, and examine your own Consciences, and that not lightly, after the manner of Dissemblers with God, but so that you come holy, and clean to such an heavenly Feast, in the Marriage Garment required by God in the holy Scripture, and be received as worthy Partakers of that holy Table: Otherwise the receiving of that holy Communion does nothing else but increase your Damnation. Repent you of your Sins, else come not to that holy Table, lest after the holy Supper the Devil enter into you, as he did into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquity, and bring you to Destruction both of Body & Soul. Verily, this is holy & excellent Doctrine which those Pious Reformers taught the Nation. Just such Doctrine as this used to be Preached in New-England by those blessed Souls, who are now among the Spirits of Just men made Perfect; nor did any man dare to Preach it down, except one of late. Did those Reformers in England [Page] teach, That men should not presume to come to the Lords Table without a Wedding Garment; and does a Minister in NewEngland teach, That they may come without that Garment, & that it is no Presumption in them to do so? Do the Reformers say, You that truly Repent of Sin take the Holy Sacrament; and is there a Minister risen up in New-England, who says to his Congregation, yea, to all the Congregations throughout the Land, You that do not truly Repent of your Sins, come take this Holy Sacrament, you may lawfully do it, nay God commands you to do it, as much as he commanded the Children of Israel to Eat the Passover? Did the Reformers teach, That if Persons did come to the Sacrament without the Wedding Garment, they would increase their Damnation; and does a Minister in New-England say, it will probably be their Conversion, and not their Damnation? Did the Reformers instruct those that came to the Lords Table, first to Examine their Consciences, and that not lightly after the manner of Dissemblers with God; and is there a Minister in New-England that has both Preached and Printed, that no man need to Examine himself whether he should eat or forbear, only Examine what need he has of the Sacrament? What will become [Page] of the Churches in New England, if such Doctrine should take with them?

I shall conclude this Chapter, with the Testimony of an Eminent and now Blessed man of the Congregational Perswasion, Famous in these Churches. I mean Mr. Urian Oakes, my intimate and most dear Friend & Predecessor in the Presidentship of the Colledge in Cambridge. There has lately been communicated to me a Sermon of his, on Eph. 1. 8. Preached August 2. 1674. wherein I find these words following, written with his own Hand; ‘Hereby you may judge aright for your own meetness for ChurchFellowship and Full Communion in the Ordinances of Christ. Examination of the Application of Redemption will be of great use in this case. I make it out unto you thus: The Church (that is the Church Mystical) is, both the Subject and the Effect of Application. Now none have a real right in the sight of God to ChurchFellowship and Ordinances, but such as are real Saints, real Members of the ChurchMystical, and so the real Subjects of the Application of Redemption. Indeed Churches have Right & Warrant to admit to Church Fellowship & Ordinances, such as are but Visible Saints, and have Redemption applied to them in appearance only, [Page] because they are not Heart-searchers, have no judgment of Certainty concerning other men; but must proceed by Rule according to the judgment of Charity. But such as are only Visible Saints, unto whom Redemption is applied in Appearance only, have no real right in the sight of God to demand Church-Fellowship and Ordinances. A meer out-side Visible Saint, that has a goodly appearance of a work of Application and no more, sinneth in demanding Church Fellowship and Ordinances, but the Church does not sin in granting his desire in that respect. Therefore before you demand Fellowship with this or that Church, Examine the work of Application; what Experience you have had thereof. And tho' you can not get absolute Assurance, yet endeavour to get some comfortable Perswasion, & grounded Hope of it; that Redemption is in part applied unto you: And then get within the Gates of Jerusalem, as soon as you can. It will be worse for your own Souls, than for the Church, if you rush upon Ordinances when you are unfit for them.’ Thus Mr. Oakes has Rightly and Judiciously stated the Controversy.

There has likewise been brought to me, several very Judicious Sermons on [...] [Page] 122. 2. Written by the same Hand, which I heartily wish the Publick had the benefit of them. That Excellent Preacher Wrote Largely, I think all that he delivered in the Pulpit, altho' being blessed with a strong Memory, he there made no use of his Notes. In one of those Sermons, I find these words Written with his own Hand; (they are in a Lecture Sermon, Preached Sept. 4. 1672.) ‘Be sure of your fitness in some measure for Church Fellowship; that you are competently Qualified for the Communion of Saints in an instituted Church before you desire & sue for it. It is the Certain Duty indeed of all under the Gospel-Call, to joyn themselves to Churches, and get into Church-communion. But their first Duty is to get Gospel-qualifications, for such Fellowship. Oh I therefore make sure of this in the first place. Consider seriously, and you will find it to be a clear Truth; that as it is commonly said, to be fit for a mercy is better than meerly to have and enjoy the mercy; so to be fit for this Priviledge of Church-communion, is in some respects, yea absolutely a greater mercy, and more desirable than to enjoy it. And let me deal faithfully with you, & tell you plainly, Unless you [...] duly Qualified, it's much better for the Church & for [Page] your selves too, that you forbear. Better for your selves in that case to be Out than In; for you would but aggravate your sin and misery by abusing Church-Priviledges, & profaning Gods Glorious Name, by a careless formal Use of Holy Ordinances that you have no right unto; and God will certainly call to a sad Account for such things one Day. You go the next way to undo your selves, if you press into Church Fellowship when God and Conscience tell you, that you are unfit and unworthy. And it is much better for the Church of God, that Un-qualified persons be kept out. For they are good for nothing, but to pester Churches and create Trouble, and be a burden and grief of Heart to the Godly in such Societies. Therefore it is promised to the Church of God as a singular mercy, in the Day of the best & most glorious Reformation & Condition of it in this World, that there shall be no Canaanite in the House of the Lord, Zec. 14. 21. You will say, What are the Qualifications which must be found in such as are Admitted into Churches duly Reformed? Answ. A man is duly Qualified for Church-communion, when he is Qualified in Gods Account, & in the Churches Account. 1. In Gods Account: and that is when a man is [Page] Converted and Regenerated in Truth. He that has indeed an Interest in Christ, has Married the Son of God, has his Sins Pardoned, his Person Accepted, and Adopted, Sanctified, made a New Creature. Such an one as he is a Member of the Invisible Church, so he is inforo Dei, truly Qualified for Communion with any Church Visible. I do not press the absolute necessity of full Assurance: But, Oh! get a comfortable Perswasion of your fitness in this respect. What good would it do you, if all the Saints and Churches in the World should Admit and Embrace you as duly Qualified, and God himself should judge otherwise? Make sure that you joyn to Christ, before you joyn to the Church: Get Faith in Christ, & then Footing in the Church. Room within the Gates of the City of Refuge the Lord Jesus, and then room within the Gates of Jerusalem. Right to ChurchOrdinances in the sight of God, and then orderly. Admission to the Possession and Participation of them. 2. In the Churches Account. In foro Ecclefioe, such are Qualified for Admission, as are Visible Saints, or Saints in Appearance, or to the judgment of Charity. As true Faith & Grace Qualified a man for Member-ship in the Mystical Body of Christ, or the Church Invisible; so an Appearance of Faith and Grace to [Page] the rational Charity of the Church Qualifies a man for Admission into a Visible Church. Here Idem este esse et apparere, to be a Saint, or appear to be a Saint is all one to the Church, that are required to pass a Judgment of Charity, and not of Certainty and Infallibility on those that tender themselves to their Communion. But what are those [...] or Evidences the Church must look at, and acquiesce in? Answ. 1. A competent Knowledge. There may be much Knowledge where there is no Grace, but there can be no Grace, where there is no Knowledge of those Truths that ly within the Foundation of Religion. Such a measure of Knowledge as may let Christ into the Soul, as Mr. Hooker speaks. 2. A credible Profession, or Assent to the substance of the Doctrine of Religion. He that Embraces a Fundamental Error in Religion, is an Heretick; and therefore to be rejected, Tit. 3. 10. 3. Some manifestation of an Experimental Saving Work of Grace upon the Soul. Grace probably wrought in the Heart, or credible Expressions, Manifestations, Discoveries of a Work of Grace, qualifies for Acceptance with the Church. 4. A blameless Conversation. Not Living in the practice of any Known Sin; or Neglecting the practce of [Page] any Known Duty, at least Impenitently, and as to a Course.’

Thus did our Renowned President Preach to his Flock, and to all the Churches in these parts. And now by the Publication of these Fragments of his Sermons, being Dead be yet Speaks. How most contrary is this Doctrine, to that lately Published in another Sermon? These few words of his, do sufficiently refute the Sophistry in Mr. S. his Arguments. Mr. OAKES was a man of Rare Learning; another Drufius, and of Great Piety, & every way True to the Interest of Christ in these Churches. Happy was the Colledge, and all the Churches when he was the President; thus to Instruct and Principle the Young Scholars, in order to their being made Serviceable in Building up, and not Pulling down the Sanctuaries of God.

Notes

(r)

Apol. 2.

(s)

Centra Ce [...]juna. I. 3. p. mihi. 142, 147.

(t)

De ritibus Veteris Ecclesioe

(u)

Rational. Divin, I. 2. cap. 55. Num. 1 [...].

(w)

Mr. Whitson Essay on the Revelation, P. 266.

(x)

De Eccles. Discipline Bohem. P 45.

(y)

Melch. Adam in vita. Calvin.

(z)

Epist. 14.

(a)

Script. Anglic. Chap. 17. P. 482.

(c)

See right to Sacram, Disput. 4. P. 350, 359, 370.

(d)

See his Works, vol. 2 P 781, 791, 792.

(e)

See the Present State of Scotland. Printed 1707.

(f)

Discourse of the Lords Supper. P. 49, 69.

(g)

Mr. Tozer of Communicating. P. 56, 57.

(h)

Dread, Serm. 7.

CHAP. VII.
The Seventh Argument against the impleaded New Doctrine. That it is impossible for Unregenerate Persons, whilest such, to be Worthy Partakers at the Lords Table: Therefore God does not command nor Allow of their being there. Not having Grace, they cannot Exercise Grace, which is requisite in order to a Worthy & Profitable receiving.

AN enlargement on the former Argument, was necessary for clearing the [Page] Truth under Consideration. Before we proceed to Answer Mr. S. his Allegations, one Argument more against the Impleaded new Doctrine shall be briefly touched upon. It is this, If it is impossible for Unregenerate Persons whilest such to be worthy Communicants at the Lords Table, then they have no Command or allowance from God to be there whilest in their Sins. For God approves of worthy and not of unworthy Partakers at his Table, but it is impossible for Unregenerate Persons whilest in their Natural Unconverted Estate to be worthy Receivers. They that cannot Exercise Grace cannot be worthy Communicants at the Lords Table. One reason why Children and Distracted Persons may not come to the Lords Table, is because; they are not capable of Exercising Grace: Altho' it may be there is the habit of saving Grace in their Hearts. Such Communicants as are acceptable to Christ, Exercise Grace when at his Table. The Spices in his Garden Flow out there. Cant. 4. 16. But this Unregenerate Persons are not capable of. How should they Exercise Grace who have none? The worthy Communicant does Exercise the Grace of Thankfulness to God, for His Infinite Mercy in sending his Son to be our Saviour, and for all the Benefits of Redemption. The Lords Supper is therefore usually [Page] called the Eucharist. The Graces of Faith, and Repentance, and of love to Christ, and to his Saints, and the Grace of an hearty forgiveness of Injuries (which Unregenerate Persons are Strangers unto) ought to be Exercised by those who approach to the Holy Table. And Christians should come from the Lords Table with confirmed resolutions to walk with God, and to keep all his Commandments, and with holy longings for Heaven, and to be with Christ. These are things which Unregenerate Souls are Strangers unto, and therefore are not such Communicants at the Lords Table as Christ approves of, or that can receive with Profit and Spiritual advantage to their own Souls.

CHAP. VIII.
Mr. S. his Arguments brought under Examination. Most of them do as strongly Prove, That Scandalous Unregenerate Persons may be admitted to the Lords Supper, as that Non-Scandalous ones may. The Objection of Johns Baptism considered. Baptismal Regeneration an Error. A Minister that knows himself to be Unregenerate ought not to Administer the Lords Supper, whilest in his present State. The Example of Judas no Demonstration. It cannot be Proved that he was admitted to the Lords Supper.

HAving Proved the Negative, (notwithstanding, Affirmanti in cumbit probatio) in [Page] the Question before us, it remains that we take into consideration what Mr. S. does alledge for his new Tenet, he confesseth that Scandalous Unregenerates ought not to be admitted to the Lords Supper, which is a good confession so far as it goeth. Yet most of his objections against the Doctrine commonly received in the Churches, do as much enforce the admission of Scandalous as of Non-Scandalous Unregenerates to the Sacred Table, as in the Sequel of our Discourse will appear. He pretends (page 10) that it is not to be imagined that all Baptised by John were Regenerate, or judged by him to be so. But with what reason does he confirm his Assertion? With none at all. Why might not John judge all the Persons by him Baptised as Regenerate? I doubt not but John had more Charity for his Disciples then Mr. S. seems to have, considering that those Baptised by him confessed their Sins, and Professed Repentance, and brought forth fruits meet for Repentance: He would have been uncharitable in not judging them to be Regenerate, Mat. 3. 6, 8. There is a difference between judging a Multitude to be Regenerate as considered Collectively, & as considered Distributively. A Minister that has a great Flock may fear that there are some Hypocrites among them, nevertheless if he should be enquired [Page] of concerning any particular person among them, do you not judge that person to be a true Believer? His charity would make him say, I do so. But Mr. S. adds further, If Unregenerate Persons might not be Baptised, the Pharisees would not have been blamed for Neglecting Baptism. But in this I take him to be under a Mistake: For the thing that the Pharisees are blamed for, is, Their rejecting the Counsel of God, viz, the Counsel which God gave them in Johns Ministry to repent & bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance, but they are not blamed because they did not offer themselves to Baptism, notwithstanding their rejecting the Counsel of God, Luk. 7. 30. What Mr. S. sayes implies that John would have Baptised them, but that they refused to be Baptised by him, when as the truth is otherwise; that they would have been Baptised, but John refused to Baptise them. Thus say the Centuriators, Pareus, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Gillespy, and among our New-England Divines, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Norton, and Mr. Cotton, (i) His Words are these: ‘Either John Baptist Excluded the Scribes and Pharisees and profane People from his Baptism, or else he made himself more unfaithful in Gods house then the [Page] Scribes & Pharisees. For this was a great part of their Temple Pollution, that they made the House of God a Den of Thieves, Mat. 11. 17. But if John Baptist received them to his Baptism, he then made the Church (or house of God) not only a Den of Thieves, but which is worse, a Generation of Vipers. The Scribes & Pharisees were Hereticks in Doctrine, Superstitious in Worship, Notorious Hypocrites in Profession, and Covetous Worldlings in their Conversation.’ Thus Mr. Cotton. It is not at all probable, or to be believed that John would call them a Generation of Vipers, & Baptise them in the same Breath. But Mr. S. further objects, That the Children of Gods People should be Baptised, who are generally at that Time in a natural condition. The Answer to which, is, That we are to judge as charitably of the Child as we do of the Parent: we Baptise them as being Disciples, and Believers, and visibly belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven. Dr. Goodwin says that the Infants of Believers are Purissima pars Ecclesioe the purest part of the Church. (k) Mr. Baxter has these Words: ‘It is unrevealed whether God giveth Infants usually any Inherent Special Grace or not, but if he [Page] does, it is far more likely that He does it before Baptism, by vertue of the Covenant, which says, the seed of the Righteous is blessed and Holy, than that Baptism should be instituted to confer it, which is instituted to other ends to all others:’ I suppose Mr. S. does not concur with Dr. Burgess, Dr. Ward, Mr. Bedford, & other Writers Epispocally inclined, who maintain Baptismal Regeneration, as a ground for Infant Baptism. If that were a true notion, then (as (l) Dr. Whitaker observes) Children ought to be Baptised tho' against the consent of their Parents, which some of the Popish School men, because they believe Baptism to be a Regenerating Ordinance, are so absurd as to affirm. But to proceed: Mr. S. (p. 13) asserts, That a Minister who knows himself Unregenerate may nevertheless lawfully Administer Baptism & the Lords Supper. Men who are destitute of saving Grace may Preach the Gospel, & therefore Administer and so partake of the Lords Supper. I am mistaken if in this Logick there is not Sophistry. And I am afraid that this passage in Mr. S. his Sermon, will encourage ungodly Men to usurp the Sacred Calling of the Ministry; & to continue in their usurpation. That an Unregenerate man supposed to be Regenerate [Page] may Preach the Word is not denied. An Hypocrite may have great Gifts, which Talents he ought to improve to the Glory of God, and the Good of Men. One that is himself Unconverted may be instrumental in Converting of others. I once had the happiness of a Singular accquaintance with a very (†) Eminent Minister in England, whose Effectual Conversion was brought about by means of a Sermon, which himself Preached. But the Argument from Natural to Instituted Worship will not hold, Nor can I Easily be of Mr. S. his Opinion, That a man who knows himself to be Unregenerate may lawfully, or without offending God, administer the Lords Supper. It is true that he ought to attend the duties of his Office, but it is no less true, that he ought to be qualified for his Office, before he undertakes it, which he is not, if he knows himself destitute of Saving Grace. He cannot have a Divine approbation to meddle with that which he is not qualified for; the Lord says to the Pastor of a Church, seed the Flock with the Word, & with Sacraments, but he says withal, do it in Sincerity and not in Hypocrisy. As for Judas, he was a man not only miraculously gifted, but by all good men thought [Page] to be a true Believer. Only Christ knew him to be a Devil, Job. 6, 70 Considered as such an one, the Lord [...] new it could not approve of his meddling with Holy Things, nor did he please God [...] it, Heb. 11. 6. His immediate Duty [...] himself sincerely to believe on the Name of Christ, & then to Baptise others into His Name. A Polluted Jew was Commanded to Eat the Passover, but not in his Pollution. His immediate Duty was to cleanse himself from his present Impurities and so to Eat. The like is to be said as to a Christians Eating, or a Ministers Administring the Sacrament, 1 Cor. 11. 28. It is fearful Impiety and Atheism for a Man that liveth in Secret Wickedness to Administer the Sacrament. Guilt and horror of Conscience will at last be the Fruit of it. There was an amazing instance of it in a Bishop in Ireland, (m) who indulged himself in secret unnatural uncleaness, which was after some time strangely Discovered, and he was Tried, Condemned, & Executed: He Died very Penitently, but complained bitterly of the horrors his Conscience was in, at the remembrance of his having [Page] not only Partaked, but Administred the Sacrament, when he knew himself to be Wicked. Should the Churches in New-England consist generally of Unconverted Members, and be under the Guidance of an Unconverted Ministry, what may we suppose will be the dire Effects of it! The Lord will then say to us, as Jer. 2. 21. I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right Seed, how then art thou turned into the degenerate Plant of a Strange vine unto me? But not to Divert from the Subject before us. It has been objected by some, (and I expected that Mr. S. would have insisted on it, which he does not, only mention his Baptising) that Judas did receive the Sacrament, and that therefore Unregenerate Persons may claim an admission to it. But it was never yet proved that Judas did Partake in that Ordinance. The contrary seems evident from, Joh. 13. 30. Nor is it credible that Christ would say to Judas, My Body is broken, and my Blood shed for the Remission of thy Sins. It is the Judgment both of (n) Ancient & Modern Divines, that our Lord Jesus Christ in saying to Judas, What thou doest do quickly, Excommunicated him before he Administred the Lords Supper. But if it should be granted, (which is datum sed non Concessum) [Page] that Judas was admitted to Partake: That proveth not that unregenerate persons should come to the Lords Table. It does not at all follow that since Christ chose Judas to be an Apostle, when he knew him to be a Devil; that a Church may chuse one whom they know to be a Devil, to be their Pastor. Christ knew Judas to be a Traitor, and a Devil, by his Divine Knowledge as he is God, and so knows the hearts of all men, Job. 2. 25. Rev. 2. 23. We may not thence infer, that this act of Christ is to be Presidential to those who have only an Humane Knowledge. Some of the School-men have argued Rationally & Orthodoxly about this matter. (o) They say, It is not Lawful for us to follow the Example of him who is the Supream Lord, in giving Holy things to them who are before him unworthy. God permits Sin when he has power to hinder it; but it does not therefore follow, that we may permit Sin to be committed, when we are able to prevent it. To that objection, how could Christ give the Sacrament to Judas, when he himself had commanded, Not to give Holy things to Dogs? Their Answer is, That this Prohibition does indeedly upon Dispensers of the Sacraments, but binds not the Law-maker.

Notes

(i)

Holiness of Church-Members. P. 97.

(k)

Of Infant-Baptism. 3d. Edit. P. 301.

(l)

De Sacramentis. p 88.

(†)

Mr. Ben. of Dorchester.

(m)

John Atherton Bishop of Waterford in Ireland. Set the account of his Penitent Death. Published by Dr. Barnard. P. 52.

(n)

Chrysoft. Hom 71. in Job Gerhard Harm. Cap. 172.

(o)

V. Gillespy. B 3. [...]. 10.

CHAP. IX.
The Argument taken from the Jews being all Admitted to the Passover, Examined and Refuted. Those Allegations that it is Lawful for Unregenerate men to give a Testimony to the Death of Christ; and that they need the Blessings Exhibited in the Sacrament, do as much Prove that Scandalous, as that NonSeandalous Unregenerates should come to the Lords Table. We must distinguish between a Right to Sacraments in foro Dei, in the sight of God; and in foro Ecclesiae, in the sight of Men. This distinction in according to Scripture, and improved by Learned Divines.

[Page]

THE Cardinal Argument which Mr. S. his Discourse mainly turns upon, is taken from the Law of the Passover. Such Persons, (he says) as might Lawfully come to the Passover, may also if they have Knowledge to Discern the Lords body: (he intends no more than a doctrinal discerning, or he says nothing) come to the Lords Supper. But Unregenerate Persons might come to the Passover, therefore to the Lords Supper. Answ. Negatur Major omnino. The first Proposition is denied. The Passover was appointed for the National Church of Israel. A Learned (p) Doctor in Subjects of this Nature, has [Page] Evinced, That the Church under the Gospel is Congregational, and not National. When there was a National Church, there was a Worship for the whole Nation, as a Nation to come unto. If a National Church is of Divine Institution under the New-Testament, then there must be National Officers. This will bring us to an High Priest. A late (q) Apostate Independent Anabaptist, who is turned a Zealous Conformist, & become Osor sui Ordinis, as Apostates use to be, thinks that the Christian Church should for Orders sake be under an High Priest. This will infallibly bring us to the Pontiff at Rome. So then this Argument from the Passover, which was Proper to the Israelitish Nation, does not demonstrate what it has been produced for. Altho' Gospel Mysteries were Typifyed by the Passover, Nevertheless, it was Instituted in Special to be a Commemoration of a wonderful Deliverance to that Nation, on which account the whole Nation were to observe it. But to reason from thence, that therefore all who are called Christians, should come to the Lords Supper, is inconsequent Argumentation. But if Mr. S. had reasoned thus, the whole Nation of Israel being [Page] the Subjects of a Redemption out of Egypt, they and they only might eat the Passover, which was Instituted as a Commemoration of that Redemption. In like manner, the holy Nation of true Believers, being the Peculiar People, who are the Subjects of the Redemption of Christ, all & only they have a right to Partake of the Lords Supper, which was Instituted to be a Commemoration of that blessed Redemption; his Argument would have been Sound & Solid, and Gospel Truth: But what does his arguing Prove, as by him Propounded! If it Proves any thing, it Proves that Scandalous, as well as Non-Scandalous Unregenerates, should be admitted to the Lords Table, which he is not arrived to that Latitude, as to maintain it. I do not believe, that he is of that extensive Charity, as to think, that none of the Males belonging to the Jewish Nation, were Scandalous Persons. It is past doubt, that very many of them were Adulterers, Thieves, Liars, Slanderers, and Perjured Persons: Jer. 7. 9, 10. Now if a man should argue thus, All the Males of the Jewish Nation were to come to the Passover, Deut. 16. 16. But many of those Males were of very Scandalous Lives, therefore men of very Scandalous Lives ought to come to the Lords Supper. How would Mr. S. answer him? [Page] If he will say (as Mr. Cotton, and from him our famous Mr. (r) Mitchel does) That more Positive fruits of Regeneration, are required in the Church Members of the New-Testament, than of the Old: He giveth up the cause, & answers his own strongest Argument, and this he must say or admit very Scandalous Persons, to the holy Table of the Lord. Why does not Mr. S. argue, That all Children of thirteen years old should come to the Lords Supper, for the Jewish Writers tell us they did to the Passover. But Mr. S. goes on, (P. 11, 12.) in Saying, It is Lawful for an Unregenerate man to Celebrate the Memorial of Christs Death, and to give a Testimony to the Death of Christ; and that which God Teacheth us in this Ordinance is very needful for Unregenerate men to Learn; that which we Profess in this Ordinance is very needful for Unregenerate men to Profess, Namely, their need of Christ, and the Saving Vertue of His Blood. Therefore Unregenerate men have right to come to the Lords Supper. Now is not all this weak arguing? Can a Superstructure of Truth stand upon such Feeble reasoning? It is answer enough to say, That these things may be applyed unto very Scandalous Persons, yet they have no right to the Lords [Page] Supper, by Mr. S. his own confession. But he Proceeds, If it is Lawful for all the Adult Members of the Church to Partake of the Lords Supper, then it is lawful for some Unregenerate men to do it. But Ergo: But he should remember that, Qui bene distinguit bene docet. There is a fallacy in the Argument for want of a Distinction often mentioned, between a right to Sacraments in the sight of God, and a right before men, or as to the Churches Approbation. If this is not remembred, the true State of the Question is forgotten: The Argument ought to be formed thus, All the Adult Members in the Church have in the sight of God, a right to the Sacrament: But some Adult Members in the Church are Unregenerates and Hypocrites, therefore some Unregenerate men, and Hypocrites have in the sight of God, a right unto the Sacrament. Now the Proposition, or Major of his Syllogism is denyed. Nor has Mr. S. in all his Sermon said any thing to Prove it: His confounding a right to Sacraments, in foro Poli, as Divines express it, in the sight of Heaven, with a right in foro Solt, in the sight of men, has led him into Mistakes. Hence he argues, It is Lawful for Unregenerate men to keep Covenant with God. Who can deny that? But they must really be in Covenant with God, before they can Keep His Covenant. If men come to the [Page] Lords Supper in their Sins, they will not thereby keep Gods Covenant, but Profane and Pollute it. Men may be visible Saints, and Pollute it. Men may be visible Saints, and externally in Covenant with God, and often renew their Covenant by coming to His Table, and yet God not approve of their medling with his holy Institutions, but says of them, That they have nothing to do, to take His Covenant into their Mouths, because they hate Conversion & Godliness, in the Power of it. Let not this seem strange, (s) for it is Plain clear Scripture, Psal. 50. 5, 16, 17. When Mr. S. argues, That it is the Churches duty to receive Unregenerate men, Nay, to require them to come to the Lords Table, and it would be very strange (he thinks) that it should be the Duty of the Church to require them to come, and yet their Duty to stay away because Unconverted. (p. 12, 24.) But let it not seem a Paradox, to say, it may be the duty of the Church to receive those, who nevertheless ought not to come to the Lords Supper, because, De occultis non judicat Ecclesia. Some men know that by themselves which if the Church knew of them, they would never receive them. Who ought to come, and Who are to be received, are two distinct Questions; as (t) Ursin & Pareus have [Page] rightly determined. Another great Divine (u) distinguisheth these two things, Who ought to come to the Sacrament, and who ought to be admitted. None ought to come, except those who truly Believe and Repent; none ought to be admitted, except such as are supposed to be Believers and Penitent. Mr. Vines also in his Treatise of the Lords Supper, distinguisheth between Christs Guests, and the Churches Guests: Visible Saints are the Churches Guests: Real Saints are Christs Guests. The reason why Churches admit Visible Saints to the Lords Table, is, because they suppose that Christ has done it, else they would not do it. God does not approve of the Hypocrites act in coming to the Lords Table, Matt. 22. 12. Yet he approves of the Churches act in admitting him, because they took him to be a Sincere Believer, and were by the rule of Charity bound to think so of him. Why then should Mr. S. think it strange, that it should be the Churches Duty to receive some Unregenerate Persons, and yet their Duty to stay away; there is no strangeness in it, since the Persons have a right before men, altho' not in the sight of God. Suppose a Church-Member in esteem for his appearing [Page] Saint-ship, yet Living in Secret Theft, Adultery, Beastiality; such horrid Instances there have been in some Churches, not only as to Members, but as to Officers in them, as long as their Sins were Secret, it was the Churches Duty to admit them to the Lords Table, yea to admonish them of their neglect, in case they did not come: Yet nevertheless, these vile Hypocrites did very wickedly in coming, and made themselves thereby the more Guilty before the Lord, Jer. 7—9, 10.

Notes

(p)

Dr. Goodwin of Church Government. P. 161.

(q)

Lamb, in his Suit against Dr Owen, and Independency. P. 127, 128.

(r)

Ans. to Apol. Preface. P. 41.

(s)

See Mr. Pools Annot. on Psal. 50.

(t)

Catech, in Quest. 131.

(u)

Gillespy. Ubi Supra sic etiam, Rutherford apud Baxter. p. 390.

CHAP. X. Another of Mr. S. his Arguments Examined, viz. That there is no certain Knowledge who be true Sanctifying Grace. It may as well be argued, That Orthodoxy in judgment is not a necessary qualification for the Lords Supper, because that cannot be infallibly known to the Church, or to the Officers of it. His Objection, That our Doctrine hardens men in their Unregeneracy justly retorted on his own Doctrine. His Objection, That if Unregenerate Persons have no right to the Sacrament, they that come, must have Assurance, answered. His Plea, That in other Countries they are larger in their Admissions to the Lords Table, than in New-England, considered. His Mistake concerning Wendeline. The Solemn Advice of the last General Synod in NewEngland.

CHAP. X.
Another of Mr. S. his Arguments Examined, viz. That there is no certain Knowledge who be true Sanctifying Grace. It may as well be argued, That Orthodoxy in judgment is not a necessary qualification for the Lords Supper, because that cannot be infallibly known to the Church, or to the Officers of it. His Objection, That our Doctrine hardens men in their Unregeneracy justly retorted on his own Doctrine. His Objection, That if Unregenerate Persons have no right to the Sacrament, they that come, must have Assurance, answered. His Plea, That in other Countries they are larger in their Admissions to the Lords Table, than in New-England, considered. His Mistake concerning Wendeline. The Solemn Advice of the last General Synod in NewEngland.

IT is reasonable that all Mr. S. reasons for his new Tenent, should be weighed in [Page] the ballance of the Sanctuary. He objects, That there is no certain Knowledge who has Sanctifying Grace; and that if only Godly men were to be admitted to Communion, there is not Knowledge enough on the Earth in order to the Practice of it. If the Church were only to receive those that are Converted, God would have given a certain Rule, whereby Converted Men might be discovered from those that are Unconverted: To this purpose he speaks, p. 14, 15, 23. A Solution to this Objection may be given, [...] by Proposing another Objection for himself to answer. He maintains, That none but such as have a Dogmatical and Historical Faith, may come to the Sacrament. Heterodox or Heretical Persons erring in any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion, may not come: Then according to his Notion, there must be a certain Rule whereby it may be discerned what mens inward Sentiments, and the belief of their Hearts is, Whether they do not speak falsely, when they say, That they believe such Articles of the Christian Faith, as they pretend to believe. Julian before his open Apostasy Professed, that he believed all the Doctrines of Christianity, because he thought he should not obtain the Empire without such a Profession. But afterwards he declared, That he never believed [Page] any of them. Arius Pretended, and by an Oath made others think, that he believed the Deity of our Saviour, that so he might have Communion with the Churches. And yet all was a deceit, he believed it not. If then only Orthodox Christians must be admitted to the Lords Supper, There is not (as Mr. S. Speaks) Knowledge enough on Earth to order our Practice in this matter. Let him answer this, and he will answer his own Objection concerning our Ignorance, of the Spiritual Estate of men, whether they have true Saving Grace or no. No doubt he will say, If men are Knowing, and Profess they believe the Principles of true Religion, and do not Profess any Error that is inconsistent therewith; the Rule requires that Churches who cannot Know the hearts, and inward Perswasions of men, should accept of their outward Profession. And why then should we not believe, That men that give us an account of their Conversion, & whose Conversations are outwardly blameless and holy, are really according to what they seem to be? If Mr. S. Argument is put into form, it will run thus, If it is true that None but Regenerate Persons have in the fight of God a right to the Sacrament, then it is necessary that the Church before they admit them into their Communion, should infallibly know that they are Regenerate: [Page] But it is not necessary that the Church should before they admit them into their Communion, infallibly know that they are Regenerate; therefore it is not true, That none but Regenerate Persons have in the sight of God a right unto the Sacrament. Now the consequence is denyed. The Church may and ought to admit those into Communion, of whom they have no infallible knowledge, of their being in a Regenerate Estate. Because, as we have shewed they may have right before the Church, and yet not before God. The Hypocrisy of a mans Profession, is a sufficient bar in the sight of God, but it is not so in the sight of Men, if there is no evidence of it, Deut. 29. 29. Mr. S. has another objection, page 21. viz. That they who maintain that only Converted Persons, should come to the Sacrament, by that Doctrine harden Men in their Natural Estate, and hinder their Conversion, by making them believe that they are Converted already. Whenas this Doctrine has no such tendency, but rather the contrary, that men should endeavour to make sure of their Conversion, that so they may Eat and Drink Salvation, and not Damnation to themselves, when they approach to the Holy Table. But the other Doctrine does rather tend to harden [Page] Unregenerate men in their Sins, by not only promising but Sealing Life unto them, and thereby hindring them from turning from their Evil way, Ezek. 13. 22. In the next Page he objects, That if only Saints are allowed to come to the Sacrament, then a man must know himself to be a Saint, before he can know that he is allowed to come. Answ. Altho' it is true that if a man does know that he is not a Saint, but in a State of Sin, he ought not to come; it does not follow that a real Saint should neglect coming, because, he wants Assurance. There is a difference between a mans knowing that he is Unconverted, and having some doubts about it. If after serious Self-Examination, he cannot but hope that there is a Good Work begun in his Soul, he ought to come altho' his Hopes are not Assurance. The Jews if after they had searched for Leaven within their Houses, could find none, they were to Eat the Passover. So if Christians upon Self-Examination, cannot find that they are in a State of Hypocrisy, which is Leaven, 1 Cor. 5. 8. they ought to come to the Lords Table. Every man ought to judge of himself according to what he is really. If he is Regenerate he ought to judge so of himself: If he judgeth otherwise, he sins & wrongs himself. This will not Justifie his forbearing the [Page] Sacrament: (w) For one sin will not excuse another. One Thing more in Mr. S. Sermon I cannot but take notice of: In pleading for the Admission of Unsanctified men to the holy Table of the Lord; he argues, That the Worship of God must be carried on, & that there is a great Scarcity of Godly men, it may be there may be but two or three, sometimes in a Parish, & that no Country does neglect this Ordinance as we in New-England do, that in our own Nation at home, so in Scotland, Holland, Denmark, Sweedland, Germany, France, they do generally Celebrate the memoral of Christs Death. Thus he Writes, Page 15, 16, 26. But would he bring the Churches in New-England back to the Imperfect Reformation in other Lands, and so deprive us of our Glory for ever? As for Scotland, it was before shewed, that they use great Strictness in Examining their Communicants, before they are admitted to the Lords Table: In the account of the Ecclesiastical Government there, Printed in the Year 1696. We are told, that Persons admitted to the Lords Supper, are interrogated whether they have seriously considered the ingagements which are upon them by their Baptism: And whether they Worship God in Secret as well as in their [Page]Families, &c. As for the Protestants in Frances altho' their Practice has been as large as what Mr. S. pleads for, nevertheless, the Doctrine of their Eminent Divines has been otherwise. Beza, (x) has taught them, that none should be admitted to the Lords Table except they give such an account of their Faith, as that their Pastor may probably gather, that they are real Christians. The like is to be said concerning the Divines in Holland, as is to be seen in the Writings of Voetius, & Zepperus, and Dr. Hornbeck, (y) who maintains, that Church Members ought to be holy Believers, and Decries Bellarmines Assertion, that nothing internal is requisite for a Church Member: And he commends Mr. Cottons Arguments, whereby he proves that Particular Churches ought to consist of those who are in Judgment of charitable discretion, Regerate Persons, and declares his concurrence with what Mr. Norton has on that subject Written, in his Answer to Domine Appollony. There is lately Published by a Dutch Minister in Leyden, with the approbation of a Classis, a Catechism, in which is this Question, For whom is the Lords Supper Instituted? Ans. For them only who are truly Penitent. And [Page] this Question, Who should keep themselves away from the Table of the Lord? Ans. Hyopocrites, and they that do not truly Repent. Thus does the Catechism of the Reformed Churches, instruct their People in Principles directly contrary to Mr. S. his Sermon. But as for the Lutheran Churches in Denmark, Sweedland, and in Germany, they are horribly guilty of profaning the Sacrament. That learned, and Holy Man Dr. Pareus, told them, that he did not Wonder at the Judgments of God, which were upon them, when he considered how the Lords Table was profaned by unworthy Communicants. And must such Churches as these be mentioned to upbraid the Churches in New-England, for their strictness in Admission to the Lords Table? Must the practice of the Church of England be likewise produced, when our Fathers left a pleasant land, and came into a Vast & Wast Wilderness, for no other reason, but that so they might have a purer Discipline & Churches, then what in their Native Land they had then (altho' through the Favour of God, their Successors have now) Liberty to enjoy. Where will the degeneracy end? If there are but two or three Godly men in a Parish, (as Mr. S. speaks) must we have Churches gathered, and the Body of the People admitted [Page] to the Lords Table, when there are but two or three among them fit to be there? If it should come to be generally so, the Holy Lord will go far off from his Sanctuaries, and remove these once Golden Candlesticks out of their places, which the Mercy of Heaven avert. Mr. S. concludes with telling us, that Wendeline acknowledgeth, that Sacraments may be Instrumental in beginning Faith: 'Tis well if he has one Calvinian Divine on his side. It is true that the Learned Man by him mentioned, does in several of his Exercitations against the Lutherans own, that Sacraments may be the Organs of Grace, but then he adds that they are, not Physical, only Moral Organs of it. But since Mr. S. has appealed to Wendeline, to Wendeline he shall go, who in his Christian Theology, (z) says expressly, ‘That the Apostles admitted none to the Sacrament, but such as were Believers, at least in the Judgment of Charity, taken to be true Believers, and that therefore the Sacrament was not the Instrument by which Faith and Regeneration was began, and therefore (sayeth he) neither is it now such an Instrument.’

[Page]It is a sad Consideration that any of those who should set themselves to Promote a Reformation, in the Collapsed Churches in NewEngland, by reducing them to their Primitive Purity, endeavour the contrary. I shall conclude with the Testimony of a whole Synod, the last General Synod that was in this Colony, and according to all appearing Probability, the last that ever will be. This Synod consisting of the Elders and Messengers of Churches, met in Boston in the year 1679. To consider of two Questions. 1. What are the Evils which have Provoked the Lord to bring his Judgments on New-England? 2. What is to be done that so these Evils may be Reformed? In Answer to the latter Question, there are these two Paragraphs. 1. Inasmuch as the Present standing Generation (both as to Leaders and People) is for the greater Part another Generation, than what was in NewEngland Forty years ago, for us to declare out adherence to the Faith, and Order of the Gospel, according to what is from the Scripture expressed in the Platform of Church Discipline, may be a good means to recover those who have erred from the Truth, and to prevent Apostacy for the future. 2. It is requisite, that Persons be not admitted unto Communion in the Lords Supper, without [Page]making a Personal and Publick Profession of their Faith, & Repentance, either orally, or in some other way, so as shall be to the Just Satisfaction of the Church, & that therefore both Elders, & Churches, be duely Watchful, & Circumspect in this matter, 1 Cor. II. 28, 29. Act. 2. 41, 42. Ezek. 44. 7, 8, 9. Thus has Mr. Stoddards Doctrine been Condemned, by a whole Synod of Elders, and Messengers of the Churches.

THE END.

Notes

(w)

See Mr. Baxter ubi Supra. P. 374.

(x)

In Quest. de Sacramtis.

(y)

Epist. ad Duroeum. P. 296.

(z)

L. 1. Cap. 22. p. 461. Citante, Baxter. p. 215.

An Appendix, TO THE Preceding Dissertation:
Shewing what Scripture Ground there is to Hope, that within these very few Tears, Glorious Prophesies and Promises will be fulfilled; with an account of some Great Things which are now doing in the World.

[Page]

THE Bold attempts, which have of late been made, to Unhinge and Overset the Congregational Churches in New-England as such, by Decrying the Holy Covenant, whereby they are Formed and Distinguished; and by Endeavours to debase the Matter of them, that instead of Golden Candlesticks, (as they have been) they should become Brass, and Tin: Like as in Rehoboams time, the Shields of Gold which Solomon had made were taken away, instead of which, Rehoboam made Shields of Brass, 2 Chron. 12. 10 Giveth us just cause of Trembling for the Ark of God; and left his Glory should depart from us: Considering the Dark [Page]Aspect which the Churches are at present under, I should be ready to Conclude, that in less than one Generation, these Bethels will become Bethavens; were it not that the Happy Time draws near, when there will be a Great Reformation of the Churches throughout the Earth. When the Glorious things spoken concerning the City of God, shall be accomplished, the Holy Oracles have assured us, That the Churches as to the Matter of them, shall consist of Godly Sanctified Persons. Then the Lord will purely Purge away the Dross, and Take away all the Tin: And the Members of the Church shall be Converted Persons. The Gates will be Opened for the Righteous Nation to enter in; there shall no more come in the Uncircumcised, and the Unclean. Jerusalem shall be Holy, and Strangers shall pass through no more. The People shall be all Righteous: There shall be no more a Canaanire in the House of the Lord, Isa. I. 25, 27 & 26. 2. & 52. I. & 6021. Zech. 14. 21. The Sanctuary will be Cleansed; And there will be Purity, both as to the Worship and the Worshippers, in the Lords Temple, Dan. [...]. 14. Rev. II. I. Now that within a very few Years, these Divine Predictions will begin to be fulfilled Wonderfully, and so as the like has not been known in any Former Generations, I cannot but from the Scriptures, in Consideration with the present Disposition of Providence, hope and believe. No longer since than Eleven Years ago, a very Remarkable thing has been done; which, ( if Conjectures fail not ) giveth us to understand where abouts we are, as to what the Revelation has told us, shall be fulfilled in the Latter Ages of the World. If the Second Wo is indeed [Page] past away; behold the Third Wo comes quickly, Rev. 11. 14. And the Seventh Angel will Sound the Trumpet; and when he shall begin to Sound, the Mystery of God shall be finished. As he has Declared to his Servants the Prophets, and the Kingdoms of the World will Gradually become the Kingdoms of Christ, until the whole World is become Christendom, Rev. 10. 7. & 11. 14, 15. But that the Second Wo is past, and that the present Great Earthquake among the European Nations is a Sign of it, there is great reason to believe. It is generally agreed among Interpreters, that by the Second Wo, the Turkish Empire is intended, which has for many Ages been a Woful Plague to the Third Part of men, by which Europe, a Third part of the formerly known World may be meant. It is said of the Turkish Empire, That it is prepared for an Hour, and a Day, and a Month, and a Year: Which according to the Prophetical account, is Three Hundred Ninety Six Years, Rev. 9. 15. (a) Mr. Brightman, above an Hundred Years ago, did from thence conclude, that the Turk, who began his Reign Auno Domini 1300. would cease to be a Wo to the Apostate Christian World, in the Year 1696. Of this I made mention, in (b) a Discourse Published Twenty Six Years ago; then hoping that Mr. Brightmans Conjecture would prove true, which it seems to me to Admiration it has done. But if we can find that this Remarkable Prophecy has been in our Time fulfilled, even to a Day, it [Page] will be wonderful indeed. A Learned (c) Divine, (who is now also a Professor of the Mathematicks, in the University of Cambridge) and who has given a greater Light into many Dark Scriptures, than any Writer that I have met with, has endeavoured to clear this matter. An Hour, in the Prophetical Style, is Fifteen Days: A Day, is a Year: A Month, is Thirty Years: A Prophetical Year, is Three Hundred Sixty Five Years. The Total is, Three Hundred Ninety Six Years, and a Hundred and Six Days. This Author, by a diligent search into Histories and Chronologies, finds that the Beginning of the Turkish Empire, is to be Dated from May, 19. Anno Dom. 1301. To which add, 396 Years, and 106 Days, and we shall come to September the first, Anno Dom. 1697. On which very Day, by a famous Victory over the Turk, it seems as if an End was put to the Second Wo; and immediately followed the Peace at Carlowitz; which no Temptations have prevailed with the Turk to Violate. This (says my Learned Author) is the more to be taken notice of, because it is so exact as to correspond to a single Day, an accuracy not elsewhere to be observed in the Prophetical Writings.

But to proceed; When the Reign of Antichrist is Expired, a Glorious Reign of Christ will take place, and prevail in the World. To Anti-christs Reign, there is allowed Forty Two Months; or which is the same, a Time, Times, and Half a Time: or (which is also the same) [Page] 1 [...]60 Prophetical Days. All the Difficulty is, to find the Time when the Ten-Horned Beast began his Reign. Concerning this, the Infallible Oracle has given us a Character, Rev. 17. 12. The Ten Horns which thou sawest, are Ten Kings; which have received no Kingdom as yet: but receive Power as Kings one Hour with the Beast. If we can find when there were Ten Distinct Kingdoms in the Roman Empire, we are to reckon the Beasts Reign from that very Hour. Of these Kings, Cluverius, Mede, Lee, and of late, Monsiour Jurieu, and Dr. Allix, have Written. They did not at all rise at once, but Gradually. Nor are we to count from the appearance of the First King, but of the Last. Now as the Empire, in respect of its Real Power and Compleat (d) Authority, ceased at the Death of Valentine III. which was Anno Dom. 455. So in the Year, 456. all the Ten Kings did plainly appear. I do not Write these things for the Information of Learned Men, who have addicted themselves to Apocalyptical Studies: But it may be it will be a Satisfaction to some Readers, to see when these Ten Kingdoms began. I shall therefore mention the Year of their Rising, and the Names of every one of these Kings. (e) 1. The Kingdom of the Greeks began, Anno Dom. 337. under Marcianus their King. 2. The Kingdom of the Romans, Anno Dom. 402. under Avitus their King. 3. The Kingdom of the Suevi, Anno Dom. 409. under Rioiarius their King. 4. The Kingdom of the Burgundians, Anno Dom. 413. under Gunderious their [Page] King. 5. The Kingdom of the Visigoths, Anno Dom. 418. under Thoeodoricus their King. 6. The Kingdom of the Vandals, Anno Dom. 435. under Gensericus their King. 7. The Kingdom of the Britans, Anno Dom. 447. under Vortimer their King. 8. The Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, Anno Dom. 454. under Theodomirus their King. 9. The Kingdom of the Saxons, Anno Dom. 455. under Hengistus their King. 10. The Kingdom of the Franks, Anno Dom. 456. under Childericus their King. So that in the Year 456. There were Ten Distinct Kingdoms in the Roman Empire; Consequently from that Year, we are to Date the Commencement of Anti-christs Reign: which is to continue from First to Last, but 1260. Years, which added to 456. brings us to the Year, 1716. Which is but Eight Years hence; when it is to be hoped that Beast will no longer be able to Domineer, nor to Oppress, and Persecute the Church of God. It is true, That these Kingdoms have been subject to great Mutations since their first Rise, nor have they been always exactly Ten. Nevertheless, They were so without any alteration for a considerable Time; and it is observable, that they are become so at this Day: For there is now in Europe, 1. Hungary. 2. Muscovy. 3. Sweden. 4. Denmark. 5. Poland. 6. France. 7. Spain. 8. Portugal. 9. Great Britain. 10. Prussia. The Creating of a King over that Dukedom, has made the Crowned Heads in Europe to be Ten. Some of the Ten Kingdoms mentioned, altho' in Europe are not within the Limits of the Old Roman Empire. Nevertheless, there are now Ten Sovereign States within those Bounds, which is [Page] observable, viz. 1. The Hereditary Dominions of the Emperor of Germany. 2. The Electorate of Bavaria. 3. The Switz Cantons. 4. The Dukedom of Savoy. 5. The States of Holland. 6. The Republick of Venice. 7. The Kingdom of France. 8. The Kingdom of Spain. 9. The Kingdom of Portugal. 10. The Kingdom of Great Britain. [See Mr. Whiston P. 235.] Several other things may be mentioned, which confirm our Hopes that Anti-christs Reign will Expire in the Year 1716. It is an Ingenious Observation, which Villalpandus (and from him Mr. Mede) has, and is improved by Mr. Whiston, (f) That the Inner Court of the Temple, was to the Outward Court as, 12. to 42. or 360. to 1260. Of this he (who being Mathematical Professor, was able to do it) has given a Mathematical Demonstration. The Inner Court, which was to be Measured, Rev. 11. 1. Relates to the Purer State of the Church, in the Primitive Ages of Christianity for 360 Years after John had his Apocalyptical Visions. The Outer Court, Relates to the Anti-christian State of the Church, which was to succeed, and continue 1260 Years. The Apostle had his Vision, A. D. 96. Which added to 360, makes 456. at which Period ends the Pure State of the Church; and the Anti-christian State begins, and continues 1260 Years, until 1716 When we may expect a Notable Downful of Anti-christs Kingdom, and a Glorious Exaltation of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. The but now mentioned Author, [Page] has another acute Observation (g) viz. That the famous Number of Two Thousand and Three Hundred Days, spoken of by the Prophet Daniel, (ch. 8. v. 14.) will Expire in the Year, 1716. This Vision (he says) which Determines the Period of the Churches Pollution, to 2300. Days: from the time that it was seen, does most Exactly and Surprizingly agree with the Computation above, h. e. to A. D. 1716. For 2300 Chaldean Years, of 360 Days, are Equal to 2266 Julian Years, and 344 Days, or in a round Number to 2267 Julian Years, & the Date of the Vision is in the Third Year of Belshazzar King of Babylon. If we add to that Year, 2267 Julian Years, it brings us to A. D. 1716. One Observation more. The Pope of Rome, who is by the Apostle called, the Man of Sin, and in the Revelation, the False Prophet, and the Second Beast, who has Two Horns; and in Daniel, the Little Horn, who was to be Diverse from the Ten Horns, & was to obtain his Dominion some time after them: And should Domineer for a Time, and Times, and the dividing or part of Time, Dan. 7. 24, 25 By the Division of time, (as our (h) Author observes) a Prophetical Month, (and not half a Year as has commonly been supposed) is intended. For the most Eminent and Remarkable Division or Part of a Year is a Month, as the most Eminent part of a Month is a Week; and of a Week a Day; and of a Day an Hour. So then a Time, and Times, & a Division of Time. makes a Thousand, an Hundred, and Ten Years. Now that the Pope of [Page] Rome has Domineered ever since the Year 606 cannot be doubted. For then he was Declared to be, the Universal Bishop and Head of the whole Church; which ambitious Title Proclaimed him to be Anti-christ: As also some of his Predecessors Bishops of Rome had confessed, that no one but an Anti-christ would usurp that Title. Add to Six Hundred and Six, Eleven Hundred and Ten Years, allowed for the Dominion of that Horn, and it brings us to A. D. 1716 for the Expiration of his Reign. Let me add further, That my worthy Friend, Mr. Samuel Putto (who is (if Living, as I hope he still is) the Reverend and Aged Pastor of a Church on Sudbury in Suffolk,) has a peculiar Notion, which nevertheless falls in with 1716. He (†) apprehends, that the Epocha of the Number of the Beast 666. begins not from the first Rising of the Beast, but from his first Marking time, Rev 13. 17 or his first causing his Followers to receive a Mark in their Foreheads or Hands, as a note of Distinction of the Bestian, from the Opposite Party. This Mark he thinks began, in the Year 1050. Add to that 666, and it brings us to 1716.

But these things may not be so understood, as if there should be no Anti christ or Pope in the world after that time: For he must continue in being, to the Second coming of Christ; when that flaming Fire, in which the Lord shall be Revealed from Heaven will utterly consume him, Dan. 7. [...]. 2. Thes. 2 8 After the Seventh Trumpet [Page] shall begin to Sound, there are Vials (containing the Woes of that Trumpet) to be poured out on the Anti-christian World. How long a space of time the Vials, or any one of them will take up, the Scripture has not Revealed. I know there is an Anonymous Author, who pretends, that the pouring out of each Vial, will comprehend the space of Thirty Six Years. The Author was (as I have been informed) Mr. Cussion, a Minister at Denwar, in Norfolk. But his Applications are perfect Mistakes; nor is there any Solidity in his Foundation. We must distinguish between the Reign of Anti-christ, and his Life. The Power of the Beast, is his Power of making War, and Overcoming the Saints, Rev. 13. 7. This we may hope, will within these very few Years come to a Period. But his Life will be prolonged still. The Tyranny of the Beast ends with the Sixth Trumpet. But his utter Destruction is not before the Conclusion of the Seventh Trumpet. Rome was not Built in a Day, nor will it Fall in a Day.

Toente [...] erit Romanam perdère Gentem—

Its true, that things are now hastning to their Centre; hence swift Revolutions are to be Expected. Nevertheless, since every one of the other Trumpets has a considerable space of Time, we may not think, that the work of the Seventh Trumpet, which contains Seven Vials, and Seven Thunders will be dispatched in a few Days. That Trumpet ends with the Resurrection of the Dead, and Conflagration of the World, 2 Pet 3. 12, 13. Rev. 11. 18. The Scripture speaks of a [Page]Twofold Fall of Babylon. The first is Partial, and to be expected in less than Ten Years. The other is Total, under the Last Vial of the Seventh Trumpet which is yet to Sound, Rev. 16, 17, 19. Altho' the utter Abolition of all Anti-christian Power, is not to be expected in our Days Nevertheless, we have Scripture Ground to Hope for the speedy Accomplishment of Great things, e. g.

1. That at the Period so often mentioned, there will be an End of the Tyranny both of the Ten Horns, and of the Little Horn. They shall not have Power to do any more such mischief in the world, as for many Ages past they have done.

2. That the Church shall then put off her Sackloth. That the 1260 Years for the Witnesles to Prophecy in Sackloth, will then Expire. Yea, that they shall obtain an Happy Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven, their Enemies to their nolittle Amazement beholding them; the Supream Powers where they have been Slain, putting great respect upon them, Rev. 11. 11, 12. We have reason to expect.

3. That One (and a principal one) of the Ten Kingdoms whereby the Beast at Rome has been supported, shall undergo a marvellous Revolution, Rev. 11. 12, The same Hour there was a great Earthquake, and the Tenth part of the City fell. By the Tenth Part of the City. I understand one of the Ten Kingdoms, into which Babylon the Great City, i. e. Rome has been divided. Which of those Ten Kingdoms it is, a very few Years will Determine. Dr. Goodwin (†) Conjectured long since, [Page] it would be the Kingdom of France; for that very many Witnesses and Martyrs have been there. Cocceius also thinks, that by the Tenth part of the City, France is intended. Several things may incline us to be of that Opinion. For France has been the greatest of all the Ten Kingdoms. And it was as Mr. Whiston (k) observes, the T [...] the Tenth and Last of the Kingdoms in order of its Rise, that it therefore Denominated the Beast, a Beast with Ten Horns, arising exactly the very same time with the Beast, and that it alone of all the Ten, has never been Conquered since its first Rise, and as it all along has hitherto continued, so probably it is not to Fall in the Prophetical phrase, till the End of that Grand Period, 1716

4. It is to be hoped that the Restauration of the Jews is near at hand. Does not the Prophet Daniel tell us, that when the Time, Times, and Half a Time is expired, the dispersion of the Holy people (so are the Jews called) shall be finished, Dan. 12. 7. And our Saviour has told us, that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luk. 21. 24. When the time, times, and half a time is accomplished, the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled, then Jerusalem shall be no longer [...] down. To this agrees that of the Apostle, Rom. 11. 25, 26. Blindness is hapned to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall come its, so all Israel shall be Saved. It is foretold by one of the Prophets, that when the Jews shall be called, the Great Trumpet shall be blown, [Page] Isa. 27. 13 That Great Trumpet, I take to be the same with the Seventh Trumpet in the Revelation; John Expounds Isaiah, in Rev. 10. 6, 7. But concerning the Salvation of Israel, I have Written largely, in a Discourse which was Printed at London, Forty Years since; and have not seen cause to alter my Judgment on that Subject, and therefore shall not add more at present. And I am still of the Opinion, that the Jews Conversion will be brought to pass in an Extraordinary manner, as Pauls was, by an Appearance of Christ to them. The Reasons for this mentioned in my Dia triba de signo filij Hominis, Printed at Amsterdam, 1682. are of weight with me, notwithstanding I proposed it only as a Problem. Several things very Remarkable, have lately come to pass, which are a great Encouragement unto Faith and Prayer, that the Glorious things to be done in the Latter Days, make hast upon us; e. g.

1. The passing away of the Second Wo, before mentioned, at least wise, videtur quod sic.

2. Some Protestant Princes have of late been Valiant for the Truth upon Earth, & have given a Check to the Persecutions, & Tyranny of the Popish Anti christian Party. This has the King of [...] done. Providence has smiled on the Pious Endeavours of that Prince, to Unite the Lutherans & the Calvinists, which has obtained among those in his Dominions; and other Forreign Churches express a greater desire of Union, than ever was observed in the former Age. Also, that Kings being Declared the Sovereign of Newfchatel, has secured the Protestant Religion in that Country. It is Remarkable, that this was done on the same [Page] Day, that the Popish Religion was banished from that Country 177 Years before. And the King of Sweden, has caused 800 Churches of Protestans in Silosia, to be restored notwithstanding the obstinate Resistence of the Popish Clergy against it. That K. also being thereunto advised, by (the Best of Queens) the QUEEN of Great Britain, insists upon it, That Calvinists, as well as Lutherans shall have Liberty of Conscience, and that if any Papists being convinced of the Falsity of their Religion, shall embrace the Protestant (which is the only true) Religion, they shall not on that account be Persecuted. These hopeful Beginnings are a Sign that Anti-christ is falling, and the Kingdom of Christ on the rising Hand. The truth is, the Popes Kingdom has been falling for these several Ages. And notwithstanding his regaining some Countries which had rejected him, the Pope is a Little thing at this day, compared to what he was in some former Ages; when all the Princes in Europe stood in awe of him. Within this Year or two, Notable Shakes have been given him. His Espousing the Interest of the French King, has justly provoked not only the King of Spain; but the Emperor of Germany also: and what the issue of those Resentments may be, Time will discover. Moreover, Some Letters inform us, that very lately a considerable Number of People within the Venitian Territories, are grown sick of Popery; and incline to the Protestant Religion: And a misunderstanding there is, between that Republick and the Court at Rome. The Pharisees of Old would compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes for Hell. So have their genuine Off-spring the [Page] Jesuits, done to make Proselytes for Anti-christ. But signal Rebukes have lately attended them, For the Roman Catholicks in Armenia, are brought to Confusion. And the Emperor of China, has caused the Popes Legat to be put to Death. These are Remarkable Providences.

3. Of Late God has wonderfully Animated many Good men to endeavour a Reformation of Manners. The first Christian Emperor came out of Great Britian, and his Mother Helena, the first Christian Empress was born there, viz. at Colchester in Essex. And the first Christian King Lucius was Born there also. And this Holy Design for a Reformation of Manners began in England. The present Generation has been unhappily Debauched by those who made England to Sin; but of late great care has been taken for the Education of a Young Generation, in the ways of Piety, whom it is to be hoped the Lord will acknowledge for a Generation to Serve Him. It may be the Lord will visit the Land of our Fathers Sepulchres with sore Judgments, because of the Crying Sins which have been, and are still there; yet surely He hath Mercy in Store for the Isles afar off, This attempt for the Reformation of Manners begins to take in other Protestant Countries also, which is an happy Omen.

4. That which is most worthy our taking notice of, is what has lately been done in Germany. We that live in a remote American Wilderness may well be strangers to some considerable motions & transactions in other Parts of the World. Nevertheless, we are informed of a Notable Reformation advanced in several Provinces in Germany. Not [Page] long since, a number of Students in the University of Lipsick, gathered into a Private College for the Promoting of Scripture Knowledge, by means whereof real & practical Christianity was much advanced. As this New Reformation has obtained a footing in divers Provinces in Germany, so especially in that part of Saxony, which belongs to the King of Prussia, & in other Parts of the Dukedom of Branderburge. The chief instrument in Promoting this work was, that Excellently Learned, and Holy Man Dr. Spener, he is lately Deceased, to the unspeakable Loss of the Churches in that part of the world. Next to him, Dr. Frank has been an Eminent Instrument. Not above Fourteen years ago, viz. in the year 1694. there was by the Favour of the King of Prussia, an University opened in the City of Hall in Saxony. This is in a few Years time (which is wonderful) become the most flourishing of all the Protestant Academies in Germany; Four Years since, there were above 3000 Students there. This Famous Academy is under the Inspection of Three Learned Doctors in Divinity, who make it their business to promote Religion, as well as Learning; and Enquire into the Spiritual State of the Young Scholars, especially of such as are designed for the Ministry; Admonishing them, that they are not to take up the Ministry as a Trade, or to get a Living thereby, but to Promote the Glory of God in the World, & the Salvation of the Souls of men. By means thereof, many happy Instruments are sent forth, who make it their Design to promote Christian Knowledge & Practice. There has also been an Hospital lately Erected at Glauca near Hall, wherein many [Page] poor Children are advantaged with a Pious Education. Concerning this Hospital, many things little less than miraculous, have been credibly reported. Such Instances of the Power of Faith and Prayer, as have been very Remarkable. It can not be supposed, but that Satan & his Instruments will rage at these Attempts for a Greater Reformation, in the Churches which are called Reformed. The Chief Instruments in Promoting it, having declared, that a Corrupt Clergy, who had only a Form of Godliness without the Power of it, were the great Obstructors of that Purity and Piety which ought to be Endeavoured after, they brought upon themselves a Storm of Indignation from that Tribe of men, who in a way of Derision called the Reformers, by the Name of Pietists. And Antipietists charged them with Fanaticism, nay with Heresy: Hereupon the King of Prussia appointed Commissioners, to enquire into the Doctrine, Principles, & Practices of those who were Nick-named Pietists, & the Commissioners found them to be men Solid & Orthodox, and such as really deserved to be Esteemed Pious men. The History of these things is that which very few in New-England have had any Knowledge of; and I have therefore been the more willing to take notice thereof. There has been nothing Parallel to it, since the First Reformation, near Two Hundred Years ago. The Relator, in a Book Translated into English & Printed at London 1705. Declares these things to be of indubitable Truth, and judgeth them to be among the Greatest Transactions at this Day in the World.

Some have observed, That in these Latter Ages, each Century has been attended with considerable [Page] Motions in the World, respecting Religion. So it was Three Hundred & Fifty Years ago in England, when Wickliff was raised up to testify against the Idolatries of the Church of Rome. And his great Patron, the Duke of Lancaster, said to the Bishop of London, (†) I will bring down the Pride, not of you alone, but of all the Prelates in England. And Great Commotions there were near the beginning of the next Century, when John Huss, & Jerom of Prague were Martyred, & Perfidiously Murdered, contrary to the Emperors promise of safe Conduct, through the Instigation of a Popish Council. Some have thought, that Huss was inspired when he said at his Death, You may Kill the Goose, (Huss in the Bohemian Language, signifieth a Goose) but an Hundred Years hence, a Swan (Luther signifieth a Swan) will appear, and you shall not Kill him: Which came to pass accordingly. Also Jerom of Prague told them, You shall Answer for this an Hundred years hence. In the following Century, Luther & Zwinglius were the principal Instruments in Reforming Germany & Switzerland. The beginning of the Last Century was Remarkable, as for the Wars in Germany, especially in Bohemia on the account of Religion; so for the attempts of some Eminent Divines to revive Primitive Christianity. In that Pious design, Dr. Gerhard, and Dr. Meisner, Professor in the University at Writtenberg, were ingaged. He had an intention of opening a Practical Colledge, for the Students in that University, or a Collegium Pietatis; but the obtaining of what he desired, was reserved for another Age.

[Page] In Mag [...] voluisse sat est.

As for this Present Contury, it begins wonderfully: And will probably be the most wonderful Age that ever was since the World began. It is a little surprizing, that a Cardinal, who lived 250 Years since, should be aware of this. Yet so it was: For [...] (m) so long ago, building his Opinion on Daniels Numbers, concluded that soon after the Year 1700, Anti-christ will be Destroyed, & the Church have a Glorious Resurrection.

There are some Learned men, who begin the Rise and Reign of Anti-christ (and consequently his Ruine) Later than I have done. They supposing his Rising to be upon the Deposition of Augustulus, the last Roman Emperor, which was A. D. 476. Conclude that the Beasts Dominion will end 1736. When also according to the Chronology of the Samaritane Pentateuch, which exceeds the Hebrew 311 Years, it will be Just 6000 Years since the World was Created. If the time should be protracted so long, 28 Years will soon be Expired.

That the Time for the fulfilling of Glorious Prophesies is near, we have Scripture ground to Hope, because of that Light in Apocalyptical Mysteries, which has in the Last Age broke forth. Mr. Mede has in my Opinion, Excelled all (and yet there are above 30.) who have Written on the Revelation. Which has often made me think, of what an Aged Gentleman many Years since affirmed to me, viz. That when he was a Student in the University of Cambridge, it being known that Mr. Mede was Studying the Revelation, the Puritans of those Days, (as Good men were then honourably [Page] Nick-named) in their Private Meetings used to Pray much for him, that the Lord would discover to him the meaning of that Mysterious Book. Of late, many other Learned men have bent their Studies that way; particularly Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Moar, Dr. Cressener, Dr. Allix, Mr. Lee, Mr. Jurieu, Mr. Phillipot, Mr. Garret, Mr. Cradock, Mr. Petto, and last of all Mr. Whiston: And they have made happy Discoveries. Now the Un-sealing of these Mysteries, is a sign that the Time of the End is at hand, Dan. 12. 9.

For my own part, I do not expect to Live to the accomplishment of these things, which I have now mentioned as not far off. Nor can I desire to continue so long in this Sinful World. Nevertheless, I am comforted in seeing the Day is approaching, when the Kingdom of Anti-christ will receive an happy fatal blow, & the Holy Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will prevail, & break in pieces all that shall stand in opposition thereunto. That Pious man, Mr. Carter, [See his Life, P. 10.] (who was a Minister of Christ at Bramford in Suffolk) was often heard saying, I have had a longing desire to see or bear of the Fall of Anti-christ, but I check my self, I shall go to Heaven, & there the News of it will quickly arrive. Undoubtedly, the Glorified Spirits in the Heavenly Jerusalem, altho' they are not concerned in our Particular Affairs, nevertheless, are not Ignorant of the Great Things done on the Earth, wherein the Church in General is concerned And the Tidings of the Downfal of Mystical Babylon, when they shall hear of it, will cause them to Rejoyce. Rejoyce over her, thou Heaven, and ye Holy Apostles and prophets. AMEN!

Notes

(a)

In Apoc. 9. 15.

(b)

Of Comets. P. 137, 138.

(c)

Mr. William Whiston, in his Essay on the Revelation p. 187.

(d)

Howel Hist. P 692. Paul. [...]. P. 15.

(e)

v. Whiston. p. 228.

(f)

Ubi Supra. P. 80, 81.

(g)

P. 237

(h)

P. 4 & [...]44.

(†)

In his Revelation Unvailed. P. 35, 36.

(†)

In his Exposition of the Revelation, P. 116.

(k)

Pag. 235.

(†)

Fuller Hist. B. 4. P. 135.

(m)

Citante Whiston. P. 236.

A SERMON
SHEWING, That the Present Dispensations of Divine Providence declare that Wonderful REVOLUTIONS in the World, are near at hand.

[Page]

PSALM LXXV. 1.

That Thy Name is near, Thy Wondrous Works declare.

SOME Passages in this Psalm give us to understand, that it was Written by David after the Death of Saul, and probably after the Death of Is [...]besheth Saul's Son and Successor, whereby, way was made for David to have a peaceable Possession of the Kingdom, which God had long before promised unto him, And we find him here promising God, that when Power shoul'd be put into his Hands, he would use it for these ends, that it was given to him for. Namely, To protect and encourage righteous Men, to suppress Vice, & to punish Sinners. This verse is Gratulatory, it doth contain matter of Thanks giving, not only David, but those that did adhere to his Interest in opposition to the House of Saul, are here brought in as giving Thanks to God, in the beginning of this verse 'tis said, we give Thanks unto Thee, O Lord. All the Godly People throughout the Land, who were firm to Davids [Page] Interest gave thanks, as being affected with the consideration of what God was about to do for him, they bless the Lord for the Mercy, which they should all have in such a King and Ruler as David. The Reason why they gave Thanks is exprest, in the Words that have been read. viz. In that Gods Name was near, we give Thanks unto thee for thy Name is near. Gods Name is often put for himself, in the Scripture, Thy Name is near, i. e. Thou thy self art near, The Attributes of God (which are Himself) His Power and His Truth were very speedily to be revealed by His Fulfiling of what He had promised, thus was His Name near. And this was Evident from the Works of God. They were then in the beginning of a Wonderful Revolution. A wonderful change of the State of Affairs, throughout the whole Nation. And they did conclude that God would go on with his own Work, Thy wondrous Works declare that Thy Name is near, that Thou art about to perform the Wondrous Things promised concerning Davids Kingdom. The works of God towards David were very wonderful, his being preserved, when there were such attempts against him, from time to time, and God's removing those, that were the chief enemies of David's Interest, first Soul, then Abuer and after that Isbbosheth, Gods removing them in such wayes, as he did. These were wondrous Works, and did shew that God was about to perform His Gracious Promises.

The Doctrinal Truth, at present, before us, is, That when God's Time for the Accomplishment of Glorious Promises, is near, His Wondrous Works will declare it.

Joseph said unto Pharaoh, Gen. 41. 25. God hath shewed unto Pharaoh, what he is about to do. When God is about to do wonderful Things in the World, He is wont to shew it, His Works in Consideration with His Word, do then declare it. The Doctrine may be confirmed in Three Propositions.

[Page]PROP. I. That whatever God hath promised will in the appointed time be certainly performed. Gods Promises are all true Promises, 2 Sam. 7. 28. Thou hast promised, and thy Words are True, faith David. There is no Deceit, nor is there any mistake in Divine Predictions or Promises, Rev. 22. 6. These sayings are faithful and true, what ever God hath spoken shall faithfully and truly be performed, if God hath promised, the thing is as certain to be done, as if it were already accomplished. Hence as to the great Promise concerning the coming of Christ, the Prophet speaks, as Isa. 9 6. Unto us a Child is born: Altho' he did utter those Words above seven Hundred years, before Christ was born into the World, yet he faith, unto as a Child is born, the Thing is as certain to be done, as if already done. Altho' it may seem Improbable, and to the Judgment of Men Impossible, that such a Thing should ever be, yet if God has promis'd it, his Wonderful Works will accomplish it. It was very unlikely, that David should come to enjoy the Kingdom, such an obscure man as he was, when Soul had a Mighty Army to oppose him, and Children of his own to be his Successors, all these things notwithstanding, God, that had promised it, did bring it to pass. And this God also doth in the Time which He had prefixed, Isa. 60. ult. One shall become a Thousand, and a little One shall become a great Nation, the Lord will hasten it in its Time. A very Improbable thing, that a little One should become a great Nation, nevertheless this was to be in the Time appointed. Hence it is said Ha [...]. 2. 4. The Vision is for an appointed Time, it will speak and not Lie, tho' it Tarry, wait for it, it will come and not Tarry. It will not Tarry beyond the appointed Time. Altho' it may Tarry longer than Men have supposed or desired, notwithstanding that, it will not tarry a Day, or an Hour longer than Gods appointed Time, then it will come, and will not lye. Exod. 9. 5, 6. The Lord appointed[Page]a set Time, saying, to morrow the Lord shall do this Thing in the Land, and on the morrow God did that Thing, He did not only do the Thing He said He would do, but on the very Day He said it should be Done. But the Truth of this Proposition is evident from several Things.

1. From the Name, and glorious Attributes of the Blessed God. When God doth fulfil His Promises He doth make it known that He is Jehovah, and in as much as His Name is Jehovah, it is Impossible that any Word, that He hath spoken should fail as to the Accomplishment of it. The Lord said, that He was not known unto Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, by His Name Jehovah. Exod. 6, 3 but by that Name, He would then be known unto the Children of Israel. The meaning is, not that Abraham was Ignorant of that Glorious Name as a Title peculiarly belonging to the True God, for he called the place where a Lamb was provided for a Sacrifice instead of Isaac, by the Name of Jehovah Jir [...]h, therefore the meaning is, That God was not known to the Fathers, by Fulfilling the Promises He had made, to the Patriarchs, & which were to be performed to their Children after them, but to Israel, He would make known, that He was Jehovah, by giving a Being, and Actual Existence to those Promises. God is a God of Infinite Power, & a God that keepeth Truth for ever. When Men fail in the Performing of what they have Promised, the reason is because they want Truth or Power to do, as they have said they would do. Men that have no truth in them will promise what they never intended to do, like the Devil who promised the Lord Jesus Christ, that if He would Worship him, he would give Him all the Kingdoms in the World to be his. The Devil never intended to do any such thing, nor was it in his Power to do it; but now as to the blessed God, It is Impossible that He should Lye, He is God that cannot Lye, Rom. 3. 4. Let God be True, and every Man a Lyar, i. e. Every [Page] Man that doth call the Truth of God into Question, let that man be called a Lyar, for so he is and a Blasphemer too. So then, that Attribute of Divine Truth proves this. And as for the Power of God, that is Infinite, He is the Omnipotent God, He is (as some have observed) above Seventy Times, in the Scripture stiled the Almighty, he has Power to do, whatever He will do, Job 42. 2. I know that Thou canst do every Thing, and that no Thought can be withheld from the [...] God can do Things that are above the Power of Nature when he pleaseth; and will do so, rather than [...] Word, His Promise shall not be made good. When God Promised that Sarah should have a Son, because it was above the ordinary Course of Nature, she could not believe it, the Angel does therefore Rebuke her saying, Gen. 18 14. Is any thing [...] hard for the Lord, tho' this be above what is usual, yet if the Lord hath spoken it, is it too hard for him to cause it to be so? It was a Thing very unlikely, that the Children of Israel should be brought out of the Land of Egypt, considering that they were a poor unarmed People, & were dispirited by the Slavery and Cruel Bondage which they had, for a long time, been in, & their Enemies were more in Number than they, nevertheless, since God had made such a Promise, He did bring it about to shew His Power, He saved them for His Name sake, that He might make His mighty Power known. That the Jews should be brought out of Babylon, was more Improbable than their deliverance out of Egypt, because the King of Babylon was a far more potent Prince, than Pharaoh King of Egypt; nevertheless, in as much as God Promised it, His Power did effect it, Jer. 50. 34. Their Redeemer is Strong, the Lord of Hosts is his Name. Gods Strength & Power is such, as He could do that Wondrous Thing. So, that the Jews who at this Day, are the most forlorn Nation in the World, should again be called & become the People of God, is Incredible to many, but the Apostle proves that it shall be so, from the Infinite [Page] Power of God, Rom. 11. 13. God is able to Graft them in again, because He is able, and hath so Promised, it shall surely be done.

2. This is evident from, The Stability, and Immutability of the Divine Decrees. Psal. 33. 11. The Counsel of the Lord shall stand for ever, & the Thoughts of his Heart unto all Generations. What God hath Promised, He hath certainly Purposed to perform, His Promise is the effect and declarative of his Decree. The Purpose of God shall stand, yea, and it shall stand forever. Men do oftentimes purpose & change their mind, but God doth not so. Therefore the Apostle speaks of the Immutability of his Counsel, Heb. 6. 17. When men 'purpose, & do not accomplish what they intended, the reason of their not doing of it, is either for want of Wisdom or of Power; many times for want of Wisdom, because they did not at first see the inconveniency of such a Resolution, which they have taken up, therefore upon second thoughts that are wiser they change their minds, but God is Infinitely Wise, and therefore, He doth not change His Mind. The Decrees of God are so wise, as that wiser cannot possibly be, and thence they are Immutable. And as for the Power of God you heard, that was Infinite, and therefore His Purposes and consequently His Promises must needs hold good. Hence Samuel said to Saul, 1 Sam. 15. 29. The Strength of Israel, is not as a man that He should repent, as for what God hath spoken of Ruine to come on the House of Saul, He will not Repent of it, and as for what God hath promised concerning David, and his House, He will not change His mind, for if He should, that would Argue Weakness in Him, whenas He is the Strength of Israel, the Strength of Israel will not change His mind. The Decrees of God are in Zech. 6. compared to mountains of Brass, the Prophet there sees Four Chariots which came from between two Mountains of Brass, signifying the Judgments of God coming upon His Enemies, in order unto the deliverance of His People, [Page] and these Judgments are but the effects of the Decrees of God, compar'd to Mountains of Brass, for that they cannot be removed, or Frustrated.

3. The experience of all Ages confirms this to be so. Psal. 119. 160. Thy Word is True from the Beginning, ever since the World began, in all Ages of it, God hath made Good His Word, & truly performed what He hath promised. Particular Saints have always found it so. There were peculiar Promises made to David that God would give him the Kingdom, and after that, God promised that a Son of his should succeed him in the Throne, & particularly that Solomon was the Son, that should be his successor, now Solomon doth with great affection take notice how God had performed His Word, 1 King. 8. 24. Thou hast kept with my Father, (saith he.) that thou promised'st him, and what thou hast spooken with thy mouth, thou hast fulfilled with thy hand, as at this Day. Thou didst tell my Father David that I should succeed in the Throne, and Build this Temple, and so it is this Day. So the Promises God hath made Concerning His Church, we have seen them fulfilled in all Preceding Ages, God hath verified His Word, as when He did Promise to Abraham, that his Posterity should be brot' out of Egypt after a long time of affliction there; this Promise that God made to Abraham, Four Hundred & Thirty Years before, it was, at last fulfilled, and God kept His Word to a day. And therefore 'tis an observable Scripture which you have to this purpose in, Exod. 12. 40, 41. It is said, It came to pass at the end of the Four Hundred and Thirty Years, in the self same day it came to pass. You see, that God kept His Promise made to Abraham, to a day, in bringing His Posterity out of the land of Egypt. So the great Promise which all the Fathers lived upon, concerning the coming of Christ, and his Dying to save His People, it was Declared unto Daniel, that within Seventy Prophetical Weeks, that is Four Hundred and Ninty [Page] Years, this should be accomplished, and we know that it was so. The Promises made concerning the Calling of the Gentiles, and the enlargement of the Church, the pouring out of the Spirit in the Days of the Messiah, we know how these Things are fulfilled, and therefore what Glorious Things are yet remaining to be done in the World, God will certainly do them in the Time thereof. That's the first Proposition.

PROP. II That the Works of God, especially some of his Works, are very Wonderful! Thy Wondrous Works! Saith the Psalmist here, in the Hebrew it is Nipbleothecs, Mirabilia tua, thy Marvels. The work of Creation is indeed, a wonderful work, 'tis Wonderful, to consider, what variety of Creatures, the great & glorious God hath given a Being to. If we look here, on the Earth, what variety of Creatures are there? That (as some have observed,) among the Beasts of the Field, there are no less, than an Hundred and Fifty Beasts of several kinds, that God hath made; and of the Fowls of the Air, no less than Five Hundred sorts of them; and as for Insects, Creeping and Flying Things. No less than Ten Thousand of them have Naturalists taken notice of. And as for Plants, they are innumerable, some Writers say, more than Eighteen Thousand differing in kind. If we look into the wide Sea, what Innumerable Creatures are there! And if we look up to Heaven among the Stars of God, we Ignorant Mortals do not know what Creatures may be there; so that the Works of Creation, are wondrous Works. But the Works that my Text refers to, are the Works of Divine Providence, these are Wonderful! Psal. 107. 8. And several times in that Psalm it is said, Oh! that men would praise the Lord, for his goodness, and for his Wonderful Works unto the Children of men. The Works of Gods Providence, towards the Children of Men are exceeding Wonderful! In His Preserving and Providing for them. But most of all the Works [Page] of Providence with respect to the Church of God, as in Psal. 87. 3. Glorious things are spoken, concerning thee, O thou City of God! And God doth Wondrous Things, in order to the Accomplishment of those Glorious Things. The Churches preservation is one of those Wonders. He hath promised that He will uphold His Church in the World; even to the end of it: That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail to destroy His Church on Earth; and His Providence in that respect is Wonderful! The Churches Preservation is a continual Miracle, considering how small they are, and the number of their Enemies, how many & Mighty their Enemies are! And how few the Lords People are if we look all the World over; Yet altho' they have so many Enemies, that do hate them, and that would be glad, that there might not be one Godly man upon the Face of the Earth; still God keeps a number in the World, that do fear Him, and serve Him, and a Wonderful Thing it is. Gods Wonderful Dealings with David, in carrying him safe, through so many Enemies and dangers was an Example, a Type of His Providence towards His Church in all Ages of the World. I have formerly shewed you how the Church of God is like the Bush that Moses beheld, that was Burned and yet not Consumed. It is said Act 7. 31. That Moses did Wonder [...]! he wondred to see a dry shrub, all on a flame and yet not Consumed. The Church of God is that Bush that hath been all on a flame, for these Five Thousand Years, and not Consumed! No, nor shall it be while the World stands. This is a Wonderful Work of God! And the Work of God in delivering His Church, is also very Wonderful. He uses to beliver His people in such a way as they never dreamed of in such a way as men never thought of, Isa 64. 3, 4. [...] [Page] against their Enemies, which the Children of Israel never thought of: They did not look for such Things; they little thought that God would deliver them. First by bringing Ten Plagues on the Land of Egypt; and, when that would not do, by destroying the King of Egypt, and all his Nobles in one day, that so His People might besaved. These were terrible Things, that were not looked for, till God did them. So doth the Lord deliver His people by such Instruments (many times) as were very unlikely to be Saviours, His Works are Wondrous in that respect. When the Children of Israel were oppressed by the Midianites, God wrought Salvation for them by Gideen, an obscure Man, of a poor Family in Manasseh, and he the least of his Fathers Family, this Gideen, with Three Hundred Men must deliver the Lords People from more then an Hundred Thousand Enemies that came in Arms against them, this was a Wondrous Work. So that David must be a Deliverer was Wonderful, David (the Son of Jesse) a poor Shepherd must deliver the Lords people from the Syrians, and Ammonites, and other Nations. And I am perswaded, that there is, at this Day, some David keeping the Sheep, whom God will raise up to do Great Things for His Name: Remember, that I told you so, for some of you may live to see it. And the Work of God in Reforming and Refining His Church, is not less Wonderful, than that of Delivering them. When the Church is exceedingly Degenerate, when there is a general and deep Apostacy, that, Now, there must be a Recovery, is a Marvellous thing. The Antichristian Apostasie was a General Apostasie, The whole World Wondred after the Beast, and the Reformation, that was begun near two Hundred Years ago, was a most Wonderful Work of God. Hence Rev. 15. 2, 3. There was seen a Company with Harps of God in their Hands, standing on a Sea of Glass mingled with Fire: A Company that was Washed from Antichristian [Page] Pollutions; and then it is said, Great and marvellous are thy Works, O Lord! It was a Great, and Marvellous Work of God, thus to begin, and carry on the Work of Reformation. That's the Second Proposition.

PROP. III. That when God's Time to accomplish the glorious Promises made to His People us near, His Wondrous Works will declare it. Hence the Scriptures speak of the signs of the Times, whereby we may discern that God is about to do Great Things in the World, Mat. 16. 3. Christ tells the Jews that they did not discern the signs of the Times; and what were the signs of those Times? Truly the Wondrous Works that were done by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Blind were made to see, the Lame marvellously made whole; these were the signs of the Times, these were signs that God was now coming to fulfill the Glorious Promises made concerning what should come to pass in the days of the Messiah. So with respect to Christs Second Coming, there will be signs of that, Wondrous Works of God, which, when we see them, we may conclude, that the Lords Name is near. Thus hath Christ, our Lord, instructed us, Luk. 21. 30, 31. When the Fig-Tree buds forth, you know that Summer is near, so, when you see these Things come to pass, then knew that the Kingdom of God is near, yea, at the Door. And will hasten on the World er'e Men are aware of what is Coming on them. But then it will be Enquired.

By what Wondrous Works dath God declare, that his Name is near?

For Answer Briefly,

1. By prodigious Signs. Thus when the Lord was about to save His Israel of old, Psal. 135. 9. He shewed Tokens and Wonders in the Land of Egypt. Prodigies are called Wonders, in that they cause Men to Wonder, & there were many of these when God came down to deliver His People. It is an old Observation, That when the Lord is about to bring Changes on the World Predigious[Page]Signs precede, as Indications of the Strange things that must happen. And that Observation is according to Scripture, for so Christ Intimated unto His Disciples, that before the Wonderful Changes coming on the Jewish Nation, there should be Prodigious Signs, that they might from thence Conjecture what God was about to do. Luk. 21. 11. There shall be fearful Sights, and great Signs from Heaven. The Jewish Historian doth give us an Account concerning those fearful sights; He says, that ever Jerusalem there was a Blazing Star, in the Form of a Sword, impending over the City, an whole Year together. And that, in the Air, there were seen Armies Encountring one another. And in the Temple there was a Voice heard, saying, Let us depart from this Place. The Great God, doth Commission His Angels to do such Things, as these are, that so men may prepare for what is coming, or, if found unprepared, be left the more Inexcusable.

2. When we see, That God is removing these Things out of the way, that would obstruct the Accomplishment of His Promises we may then conclude, that His Name is near, 1 Sam. 3. 12. When I begin, I will also make an end; saith the Lord. When God doth begin in a way of Judgment towards His Enemies, He is wont to go on in that way, and work, as sure as He begins He will make an End. Hence the Scripture speaks of the beginning of revenges, on the Enemy, Deut. 32. 42. So when God does begin in a way of Mercy towards His People, He is wont to go on, in that way. Now God usually begins His Work by removing those Things, that stand in His way, by strange Providences He doth remove them. He doth cause Earth-Quakes, which make Mountains to fall down before Him, Zech. 4 7. What art thou O great Mountain! Thou shalt be made a plain before Zerubbabel. There was a Baby lexian Mountain; God made it a Plain, that His people might be delivered. There was a [...] Mountain, that did oppose their going on [Page] with the Building of the Temple. God made that Mountain to fall down before Him. There are Things that obstruct, & there are Persons which obstruct the Work of God, & commonly the greatest in the World are the chief obstructers thereof. But now when Gods time is come to save His People, He takes them out of the way, and thereby shews what He is about to do. When Gods Time was come that David must be seated on the Throne, Saul must die. & Abner die, & Ishbosheth also, these were admirable Providences, that so way might be made for God to perform what he had Promised unto David. And when the Children of Israel, were near their Deliverance, God removed their chief Enemies. There was Pharaoh the King of Egypt to oppose, but him did the Lord dethrone. The Prophet Habbakkuk takes notice of it, Hab. 3. 13 When thou wentest out for Salvation to thy People, thou didst wound the Head, in the house of the Wicked. Was not Pharaoh that Head in the House of the Wicked? When we see such Things in the World, when we see God Wounding, & drowning the Pharaohs of the World, in the Red-Sea of His Wrath, we may Conclude that His Name is near.

3. Strange unaccountable Impressions on the Spirits of men de declare that His Name is near; for God doth Spirit men according to what he designs to bring to pass in the World. He doth raise up Instruments, & Spirit them for that Work, that He hath designed them unto. So that this or that Instrument, whom God will make use of, shall be strangely Inclined to engage in such a Work, and all the World shall not disswade the Man from being concerned in that Work God Spirits him unto. Thus when God delivered His People of old, by Othniel and Gideon. It is said, The Spirit of the Lord came upon them. He filled them with Courage & Resolution, that venture they would, God & His Angels were with them, & Spirit them, in those great undertaking. Soul in the beginning of his Reign [Page] did well, he was an Instrument to deliver the Nation from Arbitrary Power, which the Ammonites did exercise over them, God did wonderfully Spirit Him for that Service. It is said I Sam. 11. 6. That the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and then he was full of indignation & Zeal to deliver the Children of Israel from those that did oppress them, This now was the Finger of God. And the Lord doth not only Spirit a few choice Instruments whom He singles out to do His Work by, but He doth Influence the Spirits of Men generally after a strange manner. There are sometimes unaccountable Impressions on the Spirits of the Multitude Inclining to do what God has decreed shall be done, which declare that His Name is near. A very strange thing it was that the Egyptians should shew kindness to the Children of Israel; that they who were their Inveterate Enemies, should furnish them with Gold, & Jewels: but the hand of God was in it, Exod. 11. 3. God gave them favour in the eyes of the Egyptians. God shews His Soveraignty most eminently, by His Ruling in the Hearts, and over the Spirits of Men, Psal. 29. 10. God sits upon the Floods, He sits King forever! He overules the Tumultuous Spirits of men, so that they shall be byassed and inclined to the very Thing, that Heaven hath appointed to bring to pass. When Gods time was come to set David in the Throne, the Spirit of the Nation generally was Inclined to make David their King. Such Things as these mentioned are intimations to us of the Lords Name being near. Thus have you heard the Doctrine explained and confirmed, in the Particulars, which have been Insisted on: All I shall say by way of Application is only a Word of EXHORTATION.

What should the Exhertation be? Let it be in the Words of Christ to Thomas, Joh. 20. 27. Be not faithless, but believing. As to Gods Promises, be not faithless but believing. As to Promises made to particular [Page] Believers, & as to the Promises made to the Church of God, & the Glorious Times that are hastening on the World, be not faithless but Beliveing. Something by way of Encouragement let me speak; and something by way of Caution and Counsel.

Consi. 1. It is certain that the Church of God upon Earth shall have a happy Day of it. Great shall be the Peace and Prosperity of the People of God, throughout the World. Those Things shall come to pass that will make the Times Happy. Good Rulers make happy Times; and God hath Promised that Blessing to His People, Isa. 49. 23. Kings shall be thy Nursing Fathers, & Queens thy Nursing Mothers, & that Promise of Judges, as at the First, and Counsellors as at the Beginning, is yet to be fulfilled in a more glorious manner than ever has been known upon the Earth. What an Happy Change have we seen of late, in our own Land & Nation? What sad Times were there a few Years ago, when the vilest Debaucheries were openly Practised. When Prisons were filled with Good men. When faithful Ministers of God were not permitted to Preach the Gospel. Things are much better there, now; & they will be better than they are. The First Christian Emperour that ever was in the World came out of Britain, viz. Constantine the great. I am perswaded God has signal Mercy in store for that Land. Yea, & a Revolution is hastening on the whole World, which will make it look with quite another face than it does at present, For, The Mountain of the Lords House shall be Established in the Top of the Mountains, and shall be exalted above the Hills, Isa. 2. 2. They, that are now under Foot shall be above the Hills, & the Nations shall flow to the House of the Lord. It is said, Rev. 9, 10. We shall reign on Earth. It is not said we do reign, no, but we shall reign on Earth; such a Day there shall be, when the People of God shall reign, not only in Heaven forever; but upon this very Earth. [...] [Page] have been Persecuted, & Oppressed, & Here they shall Reign. Again, it is Sin and Unrighteousness that makes the Times to be Evil; but there are Holy Times a coming, Zech. 14. 20. Holiness to the Lord shall be written on the Bells, & Horse Bridles, and on every Pot in Jerusalem; very Holy Times there shall be throughout the World; & therefore happy Times.

Consi 2. This happy Blessed Day is near at hand. When the man of Sin shall be once removed, then the Church of God shall see good Dayes, & that will be er'e long. He hath but Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years allowed him to Reign in, and that Time is almost Expired, I doubt not, but that it may be demonstrated from Scripture & History, that more than 1200. of those Years are past. We see the beginnings of what the Scripture hath spoken with respect to the Destruction of Antichrist. 2. Thes. 2. 8. It is said, That the Lord will consume him with the Breath of His mouth, & Destroy him, with the Brightness of his Coming. So that there is a Consumption to come upon Antichrist by the Breath of the Lords Mouth, as a forerunner & certain Symptom of his utter destruction by the Brightness of the Lords Coming. The Man of Sin has been in a consumption almost these 200 Years Bellarmins complains that ever since Protestants have Preached that the Pope is Antichrist, his dominions have been lessened. Thus has he been consuming a long time. We may therefore hope that his final Ruine draws on apace. We are now come to the extremity of Times, and therefore Motions, and Revolutions in the World will be exceeding quick; when things come near to the place where they must center, they move very swiftly. All the great Revolutions in the World shall center at last in the Kingdom of Christ. That and that only is the Kingdom that cannot be shaken. The Lord will overturn, overturn, overturn until he comes, whose right it is to have the Crown on His Head, & the Scepter in His [Page] Hand, and to Him will He give it. Revolutions will therefore be very quick & amazing to the Nations. By that time the Work of one Revolution is well over, another comes on the back of it. The Lord will make greater Changes in the World, in one Age now, than in many heretofore. The Scripture speaketh of Christs Davidical Kingdom, God hath Promised, that He shall Sit on the Throne of David, Ezek. 37. 24, 25. There is Reason to believe, that this Generation shall not wholly pass away, before that Promise be fulfilled in a more Glorious manner than ever yet. I will mention one Reason to you, which is of weight with me, whatever it may be with others. It makes me to rejoyce in Hope that the Glorious Times we look for are not far of. It is this: The Light concerning these Truths is wondrously broke out upon the World in this last Age. In the former Ages, few of the Lords Worthies had their Hearts inclined to study the Revelation Great Calvin though one of the best, and most Judicious Interpreters that ever wrote on the Bible, professed, he could not tell what to make of that obscure Portion of the Sacred Book. But in this Century, in the which God hath cast our Lot, to be, many have been searching into those formerly sealed Mysteries, & have made great discoveries. It is said, Dan. 12. 4. Seal the Book till the Time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and Knowledge shall be Increased. In this Last Age, there have been many Discourses, & Knowledge is Increased. A Sign that the Time of the End is at hand, Rev. 22. 10. Seal not the Sayings of the Prophesie of this Book, for the Time is at Hand. Do we not see, That the Day Star is risen. The light begins to prevail, a Blessed Sign, that the Glory of the Lord will shine upon the World er'e long. I might have added, that the expectations which are raised in the minds of men, concerning some great Work of God, near to be accomplished, seem to be Ominous. Travellers say, that the Turks & Jews have strange Sentiments in their Spirits of [Page] Great Changes hastening on the World. And which is more, there are many amongst the Fearers of the Lord that have so. When the Time of Christs first coming drew nigh, there was Waiting and great expectation of it, Joh. 4. 25. There was then a looking for Redemption in Israel, Luk. 2. 26, 38. That might be the inducing cause, which made many Jews about this Time come from all parts to dwell at Jerusalem. Act. 2. 5. So doubtless there will be in many the like hopes before the great Redemption, when the Lord will appear the second time to Salvation.

Consi. 3. The Works of God, at this Day, declare that His Name is near. That God is about to do some Wonderful Thing, in the Earth. Yea, that our David shall now in a little time have the Kingdom which God has promised him. Is not the Lord making way for it? Is not the Lord shaking Heaven & Earth? Is not the Lord shaking all Nations, at this day? Do not our Eyes behold those very things, which Christ Himself has mentioned as the Signs of His Coming, and Kingdom being at the Door? Is there not Distress of Nations with great perplexities, the Sea, and the Waves Roaring? Is there not a Storm amongst the European Nations, the Sea and Waves thereof Roaring so Loud, that we in America, Three Thousand Miles Distant, are Amazed with the Noise they make? Had such Things as these Happened a Thousand years ago, we could not from thence have argued that the Kingdom of Christ was near: But since they come to pass towards the End of the Fourth Monarchy, under it's last Head, they are a great Argument, that the Lord is Near, His Works declare it. And you must Give me Leave, (tho' I have done it when discoursing on another Scripture) again to put you in mind (once mentioning such Wondrous, and Astonishing Works of God is not enough) let me therefore again remind you of the Dreadful EarthQuakes, [Page] which these late Times have been attended with. Earth-Quakes, are sometimes Prognosticks of State-Quakes, Kingdom-Quakes, Nation-Quakes; Historians speak of an Universal Earth-Quake perceived in all the Parts of the Known World; the like never sampled in any Age which happned, at the Death of Julian the last Heathen Emperour of Rome, after which were great Commotions and Devastations throughout the Empire. Judicious Interpreters have thought that this very Earth-Quake was Predicted Rev. 8. 5. That the Prophesie was fulfilled both in a literal and a Mystical sense, the former being an Indicating Sign of the Latter. Our Lord speaks of Earth-Quakes in diverse Places, as precedaneous to His Coming, Luk. 21. 11. That is, say some before His Providential Coming to destroy the Temple, and Burn the City of Jerusalem, so hath the Prophesy in part, been accomplished. [...] speaks of five famous Cities in Asia, that perished by Earth-quakes 6 years before the fatal ruine of Jerusalem. Other Historians mention twelve Cities, which at one time, & thirteen Cities which at another time, were swallowed up by fearful Earth-quakes, all in the Reign of Tiberus Nero. But the like signs will appear again, when the Name of the Lord is near as warnings to the world, that the Great & Notable day of the Lord is near, it is near. And have not such awful Signs as these been multiplied in our days? Have there not been Earth-quakes, & that in diverse places? Has America been free from them? Has not the Island of Jamaica been trembling? Are not many hundreds there, gone down into the grave, in a moment? Was not Lima in Peru ruin'd by an Earth-quake? And have there not been Earthquakes in Asia, not long since? Did not 5000. Souls in Smyrna, lately perish by an Earth-quake? But most of all in Europe. Did not the Lord shake Naples a few years ago? But what has been done in the garden of Europe? What has been in Sicily! How many Cities and thousands of Souls, (an hundred and forty [Page] thousand, as some have computed) have the Earthquakes swallowed up within these few years? The Lords wondrous works shew that his Name is come near to Babylon. He has shaken terribly the Earth, in one of the Territories thereof. And I am perswaded, it is portentous that ere long the Voice of the Angel will be heard, saying, Babylon is fallen! is fallen! And what shall I say more? Are there any other wondrous Works of the Lord, for me to Commemorate this Day? Has not God been doing wonders in England, in some late Years? I have received it from very good hands, That Miraculous Cures have been there, wrought by the Finger of God! And what does the Lord say to us, and to the whole World, that shall hear of his marvellous Doings? Does he not say, that there is some Extraordinary work of God as the very Door? Does He not say, That rather than his Enemies shall not be Destroyed, or the Promises made to his People not Performed. He will bring them to pass in a Miraculous way. When one was restored to Life, by touching the Dead Boxes of Elisha, 2 King. 13. 21. that Miracle was a Sign that the Children of Israel, who were in a Dead Estate, should be Revived. The Church of God has been in a Sick Estate a long time. May the late Miraculous Cures be a sign of its speedy Recovery! Several late Writers are of Opinion, That when the Kingdom of God shall appear in its Glory, the Gift of Miracles will return; & that these late Wondrous Works, are Drops before a Shower. Miracles are called Powers. If the Lord is come with Power, we may hope that He will appear in Great Glory.

Now, then let me proceed to set before you some Cautions and Counsels.

1. We are to be Cautioned against being Perc [...]ptory, and Particular in our Timing of Future Events. Some Good men have been so, by whose Mistakes, Atheists [Page] and Adversaries of the Truth have been Harden'd in their Infidelity. A Jesuit writing on the Revelation does bitterly Insult over Mr. Brightman, because of his Mistaking in some Apocalyptical Computations. When men who are disaffected see those who have been mighty Confident in their Timing future Events, deceived, they conclude that all that has been Written about Prophesies, to be fulfilled in these last Days, is meer Phansy and Delusion. We may safely upon clear Scripture grounds affirm, that the Morning of the Great Day of Judgment is Near, but for any to fix on the Particular year, when that Day shall begin, is too much Boldness and Presumption. What the Holy Angels of Heaven, who will be Eminently concerned in the Glorious Transactions of that Day, know now concerning it, is not for us to say, but our Lord before his Ascension said, Of that Day and Hour knoweth no man, No, not the Angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son of Man, but the Father only, Mark 13. 32. Let not us Sinful Creatures, then take upon us, to Determine the Hour. when this shall be. Some who have done so, have Exposed themselves to just Censures, for their arragant Rashness Again, We may boldly Assert, That Anti-christs Time is well nigh Expired. And Modest Conjectures, as to the Year of his fatal Overthrow, are to be Encouraged; but Peremptoriness therein, is not Commendable. It is very clear from the Scripture, that the Reign of Anti-christ, from first to last, shall not continue for more than a Time, Times, and Half a Time: or Forty Two Months; or Twelve Hundred & Sixty Prophetical Days; which are all the same. And I conceive that it is very clear from the Scripture, That Antichrists Reign begins from the time, when the Roman Empire being broken, Ten Kings rose up thereon, not Subject to the Power of Rome; as before all Princes in the Empire had been. The Ten Horns receive their Power as Kings, one Hour with the Beast, Rev 17 12. [Page] This notwithstanding, we are in the Dark, as to the Particular Year, when the Ten Horned Beast began his Reign. For the Empire was not Dissolved, nor did the Ten Horns all appear, in one Day. There was the space of no less than an Hundred Years, between the appearance of the First and of the Tenth Horn. Anti-christs Reign could not begin with the First Horn; for then it would have been out, above an Hundred Years ago: If it begun with the Last of the Ten Horns, than he has still more than Ten Years to Reign. But it may be, we must not know, till the Event shall be the Interpreter. The Babylonian Captivity, was to last but Seventy Years; yet the Jews were at a loss, as to the Beginning, and consequently as to the Expiration of those Years. For there were three Steps or Degrees of that Captivity the First, in the Dayes of Jebeiaki [...], when Daniel went Captive: the Second, under Jeronias, when Ezekiel went Captive: the Last under Zedekiah, when the Temple and City was Burn't. It is to this day Disputed amongst Learned men, at which of these Three Captivities, did the Seventy Years Commence. Very Judicious Writers, conceive, that it was not at the First, nor at the Last of them. A little time will now make a more clear Discovery, when the Churches Captivity under the Spiritual Babylon began, and consequently when it will end. When the Disciples were very desirous to know, whether at that Time, the Kingdom should be Restored to Israel, the Lord, willed them to understand, that it was not for them to know the Article of Time, which the Father had put in His own Power, Act. 1. 7.

2. Remember, That a little before the Glorious Times come, there must be Great Troubles in the World. Just before the Death of Saul, whereby way was made for David to posses the Kingdom, he was in the greatest Distress, that ever in all his Life; namely, when [Page] Ziklag was burnt, and his own friends begun to speak of Stoning him. A little before break of Day, is the Darkest time of all the Night. That's one of the Mysteries of Providence. The Lord causeth the Light to shine out of the Greatest Darkness. What a miserable, what a forlorn, and hopeless, Estate, were the Children of Israel in, when the Time of their Deliverance out of Egypt, was near. The Christian Church was never in more Imminent Danger of an utter Extirpation, than in the Reign of the Emperor Dioclesian, the most Cruel Persecutor that ever was, who Resolved to Extirpate Christianity out of the World, and thought he had done so, Erecting Pillars with that Inscription, Deleta Superstitione Christiana: Not unlike the French Dioclosians Boasting, that he has Extirpated the Protestant Heresy out of his Dominions: But these things were done by that Emperor, when the Churches Glorious Deliverance and Advancement under Constantine was very near. When the Seventh Day came, and the Trumpet Sounded, the walls of Jeriche fell even with the Ground. In like sort, when the Seventh Trumpet Sounds, Mystical Babylon, typified by Jericho utterly ceaseth. But before that, towards the end of the Sixth Trumpet, there is a sad Slaughter of the Witnesses. There are that now make it a Question, Is the Last Slaughter of the Witnesses past, or future? I will freely Declare my own thoughts to you concerning it. I hope there will be no more a General Slaughter of them. It seems to me, that the Lord by wondrous works, has in diverse Lands, as a first Fruits begun their Resurrection. Is not a Spirit of Life from God, wondrously entred into the Vaadois of late? Yea, and into those Protestants in Great Britain, who have witnessed against the Remainders of Popery; and this after they had been under a Civil Death, from the Sixth [Page] Month, in the Year One thousand Six hundred and Eighty three, to the First Month, in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Seven; which is three Prophetical Dayes, and an Half. Liberty (which is Life) was then Restored, and is since Confirmed to them; and that by wondrous Providences and Revolutions. So that I hope (especially Considering, that the Second Wo seemeth at the same time to be passing away) we may Conclude, That the Winter is past, and the Singing of Birds is come. Nevertheless, Great troubles are to be Expected in the world by Wars, and other tremendous Judgments of God. There is a Scripture in Daniel yet to be fulfilled; Namely, that in, Dan. 12. 1. where it is said, There shall be such a time of trouble, as never was since there was a Nation, to that same time; and at that time thy People shall be Delivered. The Third Wo-Trumpet is yet to Sound; and it will Sound quickly; and the Clangor of it will be terrible over all the Earth.

Lastly. Oh! Be much in Prayer to God, every soul amongst you that Feareth His Name. Glorious Prophesies and Promises are come to the Birth: You may hasten them by Fervent Prayers to the Lord, Day and Night continually. When Daniel understood by Books, the Number of the Years whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet, that He would accomplish Seventy Years, in the Desolation of Jerusalem; he [...] his Face unto the Lord, to seek by Prayer and Supplication. So now, when we understand, that the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years, for the Churches being in Sackloth, are to be shortly Fulfilled; Let this Meditation, but Life into our Prayers. And if the Lord from on High, Pour out a Mighty Spirit of [Page] Prayer on His People, for the Accomplishment of His Promises. THAT it self will be a Blessed Evidence, That His Name is Near. You therefore that make Mention of the LORD, Keep not Silence; Give Him no Rest, till He Establish, and till He make Jerusalem a Praise in the Earth.

FINIS.

Errata in the Preface.

Page 4 l. 6. r. Meliora. P. 5. l. 21, and l. 27. r. Retractations.

Information about this book

Title statement

A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, shewing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]

Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2005-03.

ID [DLPS]

N01147

ID [TCP]

N01147

ID [STC]

Evans 1366

ID [NOTIS]

APZ0521

ID [IMAGE-SET]

1366

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99038140

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 1366.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N01147)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 1366)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 1366)

Source

— A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, shewing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts], Mather, Increase, 1639-1723..

Extent

[12], 135, [1] p. ; 15 cm. (12mo)

Printed by B. Green, for Benj. Eliot, at his shop under the Town-House, at the head of King Street.,. Boston: :: 1708.. (Running title: A dissertation concerning right to the sacrament.) (Errata notes, p. [12], 1st count, and p. 135.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.