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"Baptism is a sacrament wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our engrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord's. "What is the Lord's supper?

"The Lord's supper is a sacrament wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth, and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace."

"A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England, agreed upon and consented unto by their elders and messengers in their meeting at the Savoy, October 12th, 1658," includes these articles :

OF BAPTISM.

"1. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his engrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life; which ordinance is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world."

"4. Not only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptized, and those only.

"5. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it; or that all that are baptized, are undoubtedly regenerated.

"6. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered, yet notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and confirmed, by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God's own will, in his appointed time."

66 OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

"1. Our Lord Jesus in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's supper, to be observed in his churches unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance and showing forth of the sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their farther engagement in

and to all duties which they owe unto Him, and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him and with each other."

"5. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit in substance and nature they still remain truly and only bread and wine as they were before."

"7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death; the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread or wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

"8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot without great sin against him whilst they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto; yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves."

Dr. Owen composed and published two catechisms, a lesser and greater, both of which may be found in vol. v. of Russell's edition of his Works.

In the lesser catechism, designed to be learned by children, these questions and answers occur, p. 9:

"What is baptism?

"A holy ordinance, whereby, being sprinkled with water according to Christ's institution, we are by his grace made children of God, and have the promises of the covenant sealed unto us.

"What is the Lord's supper?

"A holy ordinance of Christ, appointed to communicate unto believers his body and blood spiritually, being represented by bread and wine blessed, broken, poured out, and received of them.”

The greater catechism, intended to help parents to instruct their families in the lesser, contains these statements, pp. 33—35 :—

"How doth God, by the sacraments, bestow grace upon us?

"Not by any real essential conveying of spiritual grace by corporeal means, but by the way of promise, obsignation, and confirming the grace wrought in us by the Word and Spirit, Heb. iv. 2; 1 Cor. x.; Rom. iv. 11; i. 17; Mark xvi. 16; Ephes. v. 26.

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What is baptism?

A holy action, appointed of Christ, whereby, being sprinkled with

water in the name of the whole Trinity by a lawful minister of the church, we are admitted into the family of God, and have the benefits of the blood of Christ confirmed unto us, Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15, 16; Acts ii. 41; viii. 37; ii. 38, 39; John iii. 5; Rom. vi. 3, 5 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13.

"What is the Lord's supper ?

"A holy action, instituted and appointed by Christ to set forth his death, and communicate unto us spiritually his body and blood, by faith, being represented by bread and wine, blessed by his word and prayers," &c.

sentation.

On the subject of baptism, the Doctor adds in another work, "Of this regeneration, baptism is the symbol, the sign, expression and repreWherefore, unto those who are in a due manner partakers of it, it giveth all the external rights and privileges which belong unto them that are regenerate, until they come unto such seasons, wherein the personal performance of those duties whereon the continuation of the estate of visible regeneration doth depend, is required of them. Herein, if they fail, they lose all privilege and benefit by their baptism."-Dr. Owen's True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government, chap. I.

J. G.

ON PRIVATE JUDGMENT.

BY THE LATE T. WEMYSS, ESQ.

EVERY man's view of the doctrines and duties of religion ought to be determined by his own private judgment, and not by the authority of any person, party, sect, or church on earth. If a man once give up either the right or the exercise of private judgment, there is no saying what wild delusions he may embrace. An erroneous decision of the judgment at one time may be rectified by a right decision of it at another, when the subject is brought more clearly or closely before it, but the man who resigns up his judgment to the authority of another, there are no means left to put him right, but he must fall into a succession of errors, according as his guide leads (or perhaps misleads) him. The man's principle is to go on blindfold, without examination. It is not, however, in the power of any one entirely to abandon his private judgment, for to retain it in some measure is inseparable from human nature. Though considerable inconveniences may arise from the exercise of private judgment, in regard to the production of controversies and wranglings occasioned by it, yet these are no argument against it, any more than against free-will, or any other composition of our nature. Because some men use their hands in theft, we must not therefore deprive men in general of their hands.

And it would be still worse to attempt to divest men of their understanding, because their private judgment sometimes misleads them.

One great reason why the HEATHEN go on in the track of their forefathers is, not the want of the right of private judgment, but the want of the exercise of it. They examine not the grounds and reasons of their religion. They do not listen to the voice of the firmament, so beautifully described by the Psalmist, (Psalm xix.) They do not attend to the voice of conscience, which secretly condemns many of their practices. They are at no pains to retrace the letters of the law written in their heart, to which the apostle elegantly alludes in his epistle to the Romans; and they disregard the language of tradition, which in many heathen countries is striking and remarkable.

One great reason why the Jews stand out against the evidence of Christianity is, because they have given up their private judgment to the authority of their church; and because Messiah was rejected by the Sanhedrim, they reject him too. All the evidence of his miracles and doctrines, and of the prophecies concerning him in the Old Testament, go for nothing with them, because (say they) the church, that is, the chief priests and elders, determined against Christ, and said that he wrought his miracles by the assistance of Beelzebub-that he was a deceiver in his doctrine-and that he was not the Messiah of whom the Scriptures spoke; and that, though many of the rabble followed him blindly, yet "did any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees believe on him? but this people who know not the law are cursed."

One great reason why the churches called CHRISTIAN make no greater progress in real Christianity is, that their religion is, like the others, considered hereditary and geographical; so that a man's religion is determined by the district he is born in,-and being early instructed by catechism in a certain partial view of Scripture truth, he never after troubles himself much about the exercise of his own understanding in matters relating to religion, but is content to follow the footsteps of his predecessors and contemporaries, who are for the most part equally indolent.

There is no church on earth has a right to interpose her authority in matters of faith and practice, for, I will venture to assert, there is no church on earth, either descended by regular succession from the apostles, or strictly formed on the apostolic model. The apostles themselves disclaimed all authority of this kind, and said, "Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." And again, "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good."

But some may ask, by what is our private judgment to be regulated, and where are we to appeal for a final decision? The answer is plain : "To the law and to the testimony." But how shall we interpret the law and the testimony? I answer, By itself, and by the principles of common sense. Where one part is obscure, let it be illustrated by

another part that is plain. Where one account is concise, let it be supplied by another that is more full. Where one part appears antiquated or abrogated, let another be sought which is substituted in its place, and so on. But may not men, after all the pains they can take, disagree about the meaning of Scripture? No doubt they may. And their duty then is, either mutually to confess the infirmity of their own minds, or each to choose that which appears to him nearest the truth, but not to reprobate or persecute the other because he does not agree with him.

It is evident every one ought to have his judgment rightly and well informed about truth in general, and be constantly exercising it on some useful subject. And the moment we have discovered the truth on any point, our language to those who would authoritatively call us to surrender our conviction should be, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." The same authority which enacts and promulgates a law can alone have a right to interpret it. Apply this to the Scriptures—

"God is his own interpreter,
And he will make them plain,"

in a manner that no church can do. God has given every man his own talent, and assigned him his peculiar situation and advantages; and He alone knows the sincerity of every man's intentions, and what endeavours he has used towards the right informing of his judgment. But to illustrate the superiority of private judgment over all human authority, let us make use of the following supposition, which is very easy and familiar. Suppose a Suppose a man walking through London, a stranger to the place, having a map of the city in his hand to direct him through the streets; he comes to a place where three roads are, each of which he examines in his map, but knows not, after all, which to take as the direct and safe one. He sees some men standing idle, and applies to them for direction. Each of them says very confidently he knows the right way, at the same time allows the map to be correct, if the man understood it. One of them tells him, Sir, you have good many streets and alleys to go through, and some of them inconvenient enough; I am well acquainted with the whole road, and if you will give me your map, which is quite superfluous, and trust yourself altogether to my guidance, I will undertake to bring you very soon to your journey's end." But another tells him "that if he will keep his map open in his hand, and would give him leave to examine every step of the way by it, then (says he) your own eyes will be judge whether I am leading you right or not."

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Or, to borrow the happy illustration of Dr. Campbell, suppose a person to have in his hands an ancient manuscript, the contents of which he is anxious to know. A friend steps in, and says to him,

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