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sacraments, though no express mention is made of them in the Scriptures.

II. It would be an act of too great boldness to affirm what those sacraments were: Yet if any should say, that the first of them was the offering of the infant recently born before the Lord, on the very day on which the mother was purified from childbearing; and that another was, the eating of sacrifices and the sprinkling of the blood of the victims; his assertion would not be utterly devoid of probability.

DISPUTATION LXII.

ON THE SACRAMENTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN GENERAL.

I. THE sacraments of the New Testament are those which have been instituted for giving testimony to the covenant, or the New Testament confirmed by the death and blood of its Mediator and Testator.

II. Wherefore it was necessary that they should be such as were adapted to give significance and testimony to the confirmation already made; that is, that they should declare and testify, that the blood had been shed, and that the death of the Mediator had intervened.

III. There ought therefore to be no shedding of blood in the sacraments of the New Testament: Neither ought they to consist of any such thing as is or has been partaker of the life which is in the blood. For as sin has now been expiated, and remission fully obtained through the blood and death of the Mediator, no further shedding of blood was necessary.

IV. But they were to be instituted before the confirmation of the New Covenant was made by the blood of the Mediator and the death of the Testator himself; both because the institution and the sealing of the Testament ought to precede even the death of the Testator; and because the Mediator himself ought to be a partaker of these sacraments, to consecrate them in his own person, and more strongly to seal the covenant which is between us and Him.

V. But as the communion of a sacrifice unto death offered for sins is signified and testified by nothing more appropriately, than by the sprinkling of the blood and the eating of the sacrifice itself and the drinking of the blood; (if indeed it were allowable to drink blood;) hence likewise no signs were more appropriate than water, bread and wine, since the sprinkling of his very blood

and the eating of his body could not be done, and, besides, the drinking of his blood ought not to be done.

VI. The virtue and efficacy of the sacraments of the New Testament do not go beyond the act of signifying and testifying: There can neither actually be, nor be imagined, any exhibition of the thing signified through them, except such as is completed by these intermediate acts themselves.

VII. And therefore the sacraments of the New Testament do not differ from those used in the Old Testament; because the former exhibit grace, but the latter typify or prefigure it.

VIII. The sacraments of the New Testament have not the ratio of sacraments beyond that very use for the sake of which they were instituted, nor do they profit those who use them without faith and repentance; that is, those persons who are of adult age, and of whom faith and repentance are required. Respecting infants, the judgment is different; to whom it is sufficient that they are the offspring of believing parents, that they may be reckoned in the covenant.

IX. The sacraments of the New Testament have been instituted, that they may endure to the end of time; and they will endure till the end of all things.

COROLLARY.

The diversity of sects in the Christian religion does not excuse the omission of the use of the sacraments; though the vehemence of the leaders of any sect may afford a legitimate and sufficient cause to the people to abstain justly and without sin from the use of the sacraments of which such men have to become partakers with them.

DISPUTATION LXIII.

ON BAPTISM AND PÆDO-BAFTISM.

I. BAPTISM is the initial sacrament of the New Testament, by which the covenant-people of God are sprinkled with water, by a minister of the church, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; to signify and to testify the spiritual ablution which is effected by the blood and Spirit of Christ. By this sacrament those who are baptized to God the Father, and are consecrated to his Son by the Holy Spirit as a peculiar treasure, have communion with both of them, and serve God all the days of their life.

II. The Author of the institution is God the Father, in his Son the Mediator of the New Testament, by the eternal Spirit of both. The first administrator of it was John; but Christ was the confirmer, both by receiving it from John, and by afterwards administering it through his disciples.

III. But as baptism is two-fold with respect to the sign and the thing signified,-one being of water, the other of blood and of the Spirit, the First external, the Second internal ;-so the matter and form ought also to be two-fold,-the external and earthy of the external baptism, the internal and heavenly of that which is internal.

IV. The Matter of external baptism is elementary water, suitable according to nature to purify that which is unclean: Hence it is also suitable for the service of God [significandum] to typify and witness the blood and the Spirit of Christ; and this blood and the Spirit of Christ is the thing signified in outward baptism, and the matter of that which is inward. But the application both of the blood and the Spirit of Christ, and the effect of both, are the thing signified by the application of this water, and the effect of the application.

V. The Form of external baptism is that ordained administration, according to the institution of God, which consists of these two things: (1.) That he who is baptized be sprinkled with this water. (2.) That this sprinkling be made in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Analogous to this is the inward sprinkling and communication both of the blood and the Spirit of Christ, which is done by Christ alone, and which may be called "the internal form of inward baptism."

VI. The Primary End of baptism is, that it may be a confirmation and sealing of the communication of grace in Christ, according to the New Covenant, into which God the Father has entered with us in and on account of Christ. The Secondary End is, that it may be the symbol of our initiation into the visible church, and an express mark of the obligation by which we have been bound to God the Father, and to Christ our Lord.

VII. The Object of this baptism is not real, but only personal; that is, all the covenanted people of God, whether they be adults or infants, provided the infants be born of parents who are themselves in the covenant, or if one of their parents be among the covenanted people of God; both because ablution in the blood of Christ has been promised to them; and because by the Spirit of Christ they are ingrafted into the body of Christ.

VIII. Because this baptism is an initiatory sacrament, it must

not be frequently repeated; because it is a sacrament of the New Testament, it must not be changed, but will continue to the end of the world; and because it is a sign confirming the promise, and sealing it, it is unwisely asserted, that, through it, grace is conferred; that is, by some other act of conferring than that which is done through [significationem] typifying and sealing: For grace cannot be immediately conferred by water.

DISPUTATION LXIV.

ON THE LORD'S SUPPER.

I. AS IN the preceding Disputation we have treated on Baptism, the sacrament of initiation; it follows, that we now discuss the Lord's Supper, which is the sacrament of confirmation.

II. We define it thus: The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of the New Testament immediately instituted by Christ for the use of the church to the end of time: In which, by the legitimate external distribution, taking, and enjoyment of bread and wine, the Lord's death is announced, and the inward receiving and enjoyment of the body and blood of Christ are signified; and that most intimate and close union or fellowship, by which we are joined to Christ our Head, is sealed and confirmed on account of the institution of Christ, and the analogical relation of the sign to the thing signified. But by this believers profess their gratitude and obligation to God, communion among themselves, and a marked difference from all other persons.

III. We constitute Christ the Author of this sacrament: For He alone is constituted, by the Father, the Lord and Head of the church, possessing the right of instituting sacraments, and of efficaciously performing this very thing which is signified and sealed by the sacraments.

IV. The Matter is, bread and wine; which, with regard to their essence, are not changed, but remain what they previously were; neither are they, with regard to place, joined together with the body or blood, so that the body is either in, under, or with the bread, &c.; nor in the use of the Lord's Supper can the bread and wine be separated, that, when the bread is held out to the laity, the cup be not denied to them.

V. We lay down the Form in the relation and the most strict union, which exist between the signs and the thing signified, and the reference of both to those believers who communicate, and by which they are made by analogy and similitude something [unum]

united. From this conjunction of relation, arises a two-fold use of signs in this sacrament of the Lord's Supper: The First, that these signs are representative: The Second, that, while representing, they seal Christ to us with his benefits.

VI. The End is two-fold: The First is, that our faith should be more and more strengthened towards the promise of grace which has been given by God, and concerning the truth and certainty of our being ingrafted into Christ. The Second is, (1.). that believers may, by the remembrance of the death of Christ, testify their gratitude and obligation to God; (2.) that they may cultivate charity among themselves; and (3.) that by this mark they may be distinguished from unbelievers.

DISPUTATION LXV.

ON THE POPISH MASS.

I. OMITTING the various significations of the word "MASS" which may be adduced, we consider, on this occasion, that which the Papists declare to be the external and properly called "expiatory sacrifice," in which the sacrificers offer Christ to his Father in behalf of the living and the dead; and which they affirm to have been celebrated and instituted by Christ himself when He celebrated and instituted his Last Supper.

II. FIRST. We say, this sacrifice is falsely ascribed to the institution of the Lord's Supper: For Christ did not institute a sacrifice but a sacrament; which is apparent from the institution itself, in which we are not commanded to offer any thing to God, at least nothing external. Yet we grant, that in the Lord's Supper, as in all acts, is commanded, or ought to exist, that internal sacrifice by which believers offer to God prayers, praises and thanksgiving: In this view, the Lord's Supper is called "the Eucharist."

III. SECONDLY. To this sacrifice are opposed the nature, truth and excellence of the sacrifice of Christ. For, as the sacrifice of Christ is single, expiatory, perfect, and of infinite value; and as Christ was once offered, and "hath by that one oblation perfected for ever them who were once sanctified," as the Scriptures testify, undoubtedly no place has been left either for any other sacrifice, or for a repetition of this sacrifice of Christ.

IV. THIRDLY. Besides, it is wrong to suppose that Christ can be or ought to be offered by men, or by any other person than by Himself: For He alone is both the Victim and the Priest, as

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