An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

Sacraments are Symbols of our Union with Christ,¹ and why not of an immediate Union? the Elements are immediately applied to individuals, and why may not the signified Union be immediate? else how doth it correspond to the Sign? But to clear this point; first for Baptism: Unbaptized Believers are really united to Christ, even before their Baptism; how else should the Thief on the Cross ever arrive at Paradise? Or which way should the unbaptized Martyrs get thither? Baptism admits men into the Church Visible, but, if Believers, they are in the Church Catholic, that one Body of Christ, before; nay, Baptism supposes them to be so, because it is a Seal of the Covenant: If thou believest with all thine heart, saith Philip to the Eunuch, thou mayest be baptized, Act. 8.37. and after the holy Ghost poured down on the Gentiles, water could not be forbid them, Act. 10 47. And on the other hand, baptized ⟨p. 187⟩persons may yet not be really united to Christ, they may be admitted into the visible Church, and yet not in that one body of Christ, which is made up of Believers: Simon Magus was baptized Acts 8. but for all that, in the bond of iniquity; many are partakers of baptismal water, in whom appears not a Scintilla Spiritûs Sancti; In like manner for the Lords Supper, men may be, nay, should be in union with Christ before their receiving of it; and yet many outwardly receive it, who are not in union with him, receiving only Panem Domini, and not Panem Dominum (as S. Austin speaks) and eating only forès non intùs, in Sacramento tantùm, non usque ad Spiritûs participationem. To conclude; Sacraments and visible Churches must not be disparaged, yet truth must be owned; a real union to Christ may be before the use of Sacraments, nay, before entrance into the Church visible, and therefore it must be immediate, or else it could in no case be before them.

Sacraments are Symbols of our Union with Christ,¹ and why not of an immediate Union? the Elements are immediately applied to individuals, and why may not the signified Union be immediate? else how doth it correspond to the Sign? But to clear this point; first for Baptism: Unbaptized Believers are really united to Christ, even before their Baptism; how else should the Thief on the Cross ever arrive at Paradise? Or which way should the unbaptized Martyrs get thither? Baptism admits men into the Church Visible, but, if Believers, they are in the Church Catholick, that one Body of Christ, before; nay, Baptism supposes them to be so, because it is a Seal of the Covenant: If thou believest with all thine heart, saith Philip to the Eunuch, thou mayest be baptized,