A26911:155
The defence of the nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of the matter…
The defence of the nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of the matter of their nonconformity against Mr. J. Cheney's answer called The conforming nonconformist, and The nonconforming conformist : to which is added the second part in answer to Mr. Cheney's Five undertakings / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benjamin Alsop, 1680
A DEFENCE OF THE NON-CONFORMIST'S Plea for Peace, AGAINST Mr. J. CH… › Chapter 18
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. And it is considerable to me, that though Christ so extraordinarily Commissioned and Qualified his Apostles to record his Words and Acts in Scripture, and settle Church-Orders and Inferior Offices, and teach the Nations to observe all that he had Commanded them; yet even them did did he never Commission to make a new Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace; nor did they ever make one; but contrarily rebuked those that would but have kept up some of the old Ceremonies, Divine or Humane: And was not the Cross a stumbling and foolishness to the World in the Apostles Days? and yet they never made such a Sacrament. And who hath equal Power with them?
4. And it is considerable to me, that though Christ so extraordinarily Commissioned and Qualified his Apostles to record his Words and Acts in Scripture, and settle Church-Orders and Inferiour Offices, and teach the Nations to observe all that he had Commanded them; yet even them did did he never Commission to make a new Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace; nor did they ever make one; but contrarily rebuked those that would but have kept up some of the old Ceremonies, Divine or Humane: And was not the Cross a stumbling and foolishness to the World in the Apostles Days? and yet they never made such a Sacrament. And who hath equal Power with them?
§ 2. If any say the Church doth not make it a Sacrament, I answer: 1. It is not the Name that we contend about, but the thing. 2. I have before proved it by the Constitutive parts which you answer not. 3. If Christ had Instituted the Cross as the Church doth, [as a Badge of our Christianity, dedicating the Child to God as a solemn Covenanting Figure, by which the Minister in God's Name, and in the Persons, pronounceth him Consecrated and engaged, as signifying both God's part or Grace of the Covenant, and Mans part or Duty.] I ask, Whether you would not have c••led this a Sacrament? And if it want but Divine Institution and Benediction, it wanteth indeed a due Efficient, but it is still a Humane Sacrament, though not a Divine; and therefore an unlawful Sacrament. I would but know whether Men may make New Sacraments of the Covenant of Grace, or not? If yea, how many? and Quo jure?