his Sermon before the Court of Aldermen Aug. 23. 1674. We have an Obligation to the Laws of God antecedent to those of any Church whatsoever nor are we bound to obey those any further than they are agreeable with these Separation from a Church is lawful 1. When she requires of us as a Condition of her Communion an Acknowledgment and Profession of that for a Truth which we know to be an Error 2. When she requires of us as a Condition of her Communion the joyning with her in some Practices which we know to be against the Law of God. In these two cases to withdraw our Obedience to the Church is so far from being a Sin that it is a necessary Duty Now this being our very case in the point of Baptism it would justify that Distinction which we hold needful between the Church of England and those of the baptized Believers but much more when there are some other things as pressing perhaps as this But now let us hear the Doctor Considering saith he what I have said upon the former Questions this Question must be answered in the negative whether we consider Infant-Baptism as a thing lawful or allowable only or as a thing highly requisite and necessary to be done And as a Foundation on which to build Infant-Baptism as a thing at least lawful and allowable he directly denies this Principle That nothing is to be appointed in Religious matters but what is warranted by Precept and Example in the Word of God accounting this Rule an Absurdity and inconsistent with the free and manly Nature of the Christian Religion and that it is an impracticable Principle c. p. 49 50. But that this great Principle well understood should be spoken against by a Protestant is something strange and especially that he does not suffer it to take place in that which is essential in a Church-state as who are and who are not to be baptized is such a case but he will have Infant-Baptism to be admitted as lawful and allowable tho it be not warranted by Precept nor Example To free this Principle from Abuse as here suggested against it we will explain it as we hold and maintain it 1. Then we do not say that every thing which is naturally or meerly accidental and circumstantial in the Worship of God must have Precept and Example in the Word of God. 2. Nor do we hold that things which are meerly indifferent if not imposed as Boundaries of Communion are therefore to be esteemed sinful because not expresly warranted by Precept or Example in the Word 3. But we apply this Rule always and so in our present Question to such things as are essential to Church-membership and Church-Government as true Baptism is to the first and cannot be admitted only as a thing indifferent and as such allowable or lawful only for it 's either necessary in the Constitution of a Church or it 's nothing and who are of Right and who are not to be baptized is of the Essence of Baptism and can admit of no lower a Consideration The Principle thus explained is clearly justified by the Word of God and if Protestants part with this Principle they will lose themselves Now thus saith the Lord Ye shall not add to the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that you may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God Deut. 4. 2. What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish ought from it Deut. 12. 32. Every Word of God is pure add thou not unto his Words lest he reporve thee and thou be found a Liar Prov. 30. 6. And it is observable that our Lord as he was sent to be a Minister of the Gospel claims no Authority to speak of himself John 12. 5. Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak How ought this to put an awe upon all that speak in the Name of the Lord about Religion Neither does the holy Spirit it self as sent to supply the personal Absence of Christ take upon himself to give or abrogate Laws but to bring things to the Apostles Remembrance John 14. 26. Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth FOR he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak And this is the Rule also by which the Spirit of Truth is known namely by his advancing the Things delivered by Christ and his Apostles He shall take of mine and shew it unto you he shall glorify me 1 Tim. 6. 3 4. If any Man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome Words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ he is proud knowing nothing 1 John 4. 6. He that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error Rev. 22. 18. If any Man shall add to these things God shall add the Plagues which are written in this Book and if any shall take away from the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God shall take away his Part out of the Book of Life And that this Text does establish as unalterable the whole New Testament our Adversaries do acknowledg See Diodate on the Place And Calvin upon Deut. 12. 32 Sith they saith he cannot deny that this was spoken to the Church what do they else but report the Stubbornness of the Church which they boast to have been so bold as after such Prohibitions nevertheless to add and mingle of her Own with the Doctrine of God. And Luther doth aver that no Doctrine ought to be taught or heard in the Church besides the pure Word of God. Beza upon Levit. 10. 3. speaking in the Person of God I will punish them that serve me otherwise than I have commanded not sparing the chief that the People may fear and praise my Judgments Mr. Borroughs in his Gospel-Worship p. 8. All things in God's Worship must have a Warrant out of God's Word must be commanded It is not enough that it is not forbidden and what hurt is there in it but it must be commanded In a Book called A brief Account of the Rise of the Name Protestant p. 12. printed 1688 we read thus Protestantism doth mainly or rather only consist in asserting the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule the only Rule by which all Christians are to govern and manage themselves in all Matters of Religion so that no Doctrine is to be owned as an Article of Faith on any account but what hath very plain Warrant and sound Evidence from the Scriptures Nor no Instance of Religious Worship to be owned or submitted to as necessary nor any thing to be determined as a part of Religion but what the Scriptures do appoint and warrant Thus our Adversaries themselves do say as much for this Principle which the Doctor condemns as absurd as we do And
not to chuse them nor refuse them they know not their right hand from the left they know neither Good nor Evil whom the Devil cannot tempt them he cannot damn A learned Protestant tells us God will not damn any Person for that which they 〈◊〉 help This Sentence must needs be as true in the case of Infants as any 〈…〉 World. And indeed the Equity of that merciful Law Deut. 22. 25 26. may suffice to convince any Man that in the Judgment of the Almighty there is no Sin in Infants worthy of Damnation seeing what Sin soever is upon them it was impossible for them to avoid it They therefore shall not be damned for it When Christ puts the Question How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell He speaks to incorrigible Sinners that the Fear of Damnation should not overwhelm weak Persons but never did he speak a Word against poor Infants He never told them they were of the Devil Satan is not the Father of Infants Ergo they are not his Children 4. Christ loved and gave himself for all dying Infants therefore not one of them shall be damned Christ gave himself a Ransom for all He loved and dyed for the chief of Sinners Therefore he loved and died for the poor innocent Babes He bought them that deny him 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. How should he despise the helpless Infant Object If God be so good to all Infants why then is he not so good to let them be baptized I answer God is good to Infants in that he accepts them without Baptism And I appeal to any considering Man whether he was not as good to the Infants of the Righteous before Abraham as he was to the Infants of Abraham and whether God was not as good to an Infant in Israel of 7 days old as to an Infant of 8 days old And whether God be not as good to us in that he accepts us in the use of a very few Ceremonies as he was to Israel accepting them in the use of many Ceremonies And whether if he had pleased to accept of us upon Repentance and Faith without Baptism he had not been as good to us as now that together with Repentance and Faith he does require Baptism The Truth is Baptism is therefore good because it is commanded It is not good in it self no more was Circumcision nor indeed any Ceremony Now Repentance and Faith are good in themselves it 's absolutely necessary that those that sin be humbled for it and forsake it It 's absolutely necessary for the Creature to believe and to depend upon the Creator Now Baptism though it be not good in it self yet Heavens Authority enjoyning it and Divine Mysteries being contained in it and Priviledges conferred by it it is therefore good to those to whom it is appointed But where God requires is not but extends his Goodness without it it is a like Vanity in us to give it where he does not appoint it as it would have been in Abraham to give Circumâ—â—â—â—â—â— to every Male Child as soon as it was born or at 6 or 7 days old 〈◊〉 to his Females also because it was a sign of a great Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom it did belong by Appointment And therefore I consider further that as those had no Loss of any Priviledg that was necessary for them in Israel who by the Law were not required to be circumcised as in the case of all Females So neither shall any lose God's Favour for not being baptized when he requires it not The Danger lieth on the other side For had Abraham out of a conceit of making Infants Male of 7 days old and all his Females also Sharers in the Covenant equally with those of 8 days old circumcised them he had hazarded both his own and their Loss of the Covenant In like manner whoever will presumptuously at least baptize any Person whom God does not require to be baptized is so far from bringing him into Covenant that he runs the hazzard of losing his own part in the Covenant Rev. 22. For I testify unto every Man. If any shall add unto these things God shall add to him the Plagues which are written in this Book But 4. All dying Infants are under the Blessing of the Covenant of Grace therefore no dying Infant shall be damned This how strange soever it may seem must be a Truth or else poor dying Infants are the worst of Creatures When therefore we say all dying Infants are in the Covenant of Grace we mean it as God hath vouchsafed to interess them in his Mercy by Christ That as Condemnation came upon them by Adam's Sin so Justification of Life has abounded towards them by the Obedience of Christ and he himself that best knew God's Design concerning them has declared without excepting so much as one of them that to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven And what then is he that should except them as the manner of some is and in their cruel Judgment send them by Millions to Hell Torments Now either Infants even all of them are thus in or under the Blessing of the Covenant through the Mercy of God or they are not concern'd in any Covenant at all for the Covenant of pure Nature as made with Adam in Innocency concerns not Infants but as the Breach of it is imputed to Mankind but here they are lost The Covenant of Works concerns them not it cannot be said of them the Man that doth these things shall live in them And to say that Infants are under the Blessing of no Covenant is to rank them with the vilest of Men yea which the Devils themselves who are therefore most accursed because there is no Saviour no Mercy for them They are shut up in Chains under Darkness to the Judgment of the great day Now far be it from all Christians to have such Thoughts of God whose tender Mercies are over all his Works The very Devils had a State wherein they might have been happy but presumptuously fell from it Jude v. 6. But poor Babes before they had a being were exposed to Condemnation through the Offence of another Shall these Objects of Pitty perish eternally too without Remedy O God forbid let them be pressed with all the Inconveniences consequent to Original Sin yet either it will not be laid to the charge of Infants so as to be sufficient to condemn them or if it could yet the Mercy and absolute Goodness of God will secure them if he takes them away before they can glorify him with a free Obedience Dr. Taylor 5. No Man is able to prove that any Infant ever was or ever shall be damned to hellish Torments therefore none of them dying such shall be damned We should hold nothing as a Point of Faith but upon clear Proof and especially things of so high a Nature as this is Some Men talk of some Infants as if they were little better than Devils But could never yet bring a just
charge against any one of that innocent part of Mankind The Instance of Esau is all that looks like an Enemy to Infants but mind it well there is no such matter in it God knew that Esau should not dy an Infant he knew he would be a bad Man and is judged as such Esau is not to be ranked with dying Infants and this Instance failing there is not the Shadow of any Proof that God will damn poor dying Infants But because the Doctor whose Book we are to examine has some Kindness for all dying Infants as I conceive though the Quality of his Subject does sometimes enforce him to drop such Sentences as may seem to deny all Mercy to unbaptized Infants yet he corrects all such Passages by saying they may be saved by uncovenanted Mercy c. A strange Speech it is but there is some Kindness to poor Infants dying without Baptism I shall therefore insist no farther at present upon the pâ—int of Infants Salvation but make my way to the Book itself by premising a few things Our late Assertors of Infant-Baptism seem to me to be ready to yield that Christ has not commanded to baptize Infants yea some of them grant it in totidem verbis yet they think themselves safe because in their Judgment Infant Baptism is not forbidden And with this Apprehension away they go to the Jews for Relief who out of their Talmud Gemara and Maimonides give them an account of some such Vsage among the Israelites And now from Dr. Hammond who has searched much into the Rabinical Doctrine they grow confident that Baptism was a Jewish Ceremony originally though they grant it was but of humane Institution and that the Christian Baptism is but the Copy which is taken from that Original Yea the learned Author of the case of Infant Baptism does tell us boldly That our Saviour being obliged to lay by Circumcision consecrated this Custom of the Jewish Church to be the Sacrament of Initiation into his Church But certainly John's Baptism of Repentance for Remission of Sins which was from Heaven and not of Men was more fit to be established by our Lord Christ for a perpetual Ministery in his Church than such a Jewish Custom Pitty it is that we should yet be contending about Infant-Baptism from this supposed humane Institution of the Jews When our needful Work is to do our Endeavour to prepare our Youth and many aged Persons too for an orderly Admission to that Holy Laver for Remission of Sins and not to blind their Eyes by fabling to them that they were regenerate and born again as soon almost as they came into the World. We have certainly as much need of good Schools to catechise our Youth and to prepare them thereby for the Profession of the most sacred Religion as the ancient Christians had This is the way to have our Posterity to receive the Truth in the Love of it when their Judgments are informed to understand it in the Beauty and Excellency as well as to see the Necessity of it This is the way to have them stand fast under all Revolutions when they have been radicated in the first Principles of Cathechism Heb. 6. 1 2. These Principles of Christianity are plain and easy to be understood and yet God knows there are but a few that have a competent Vnderstanding of them in this Nation And it is but a bad way to promote Christian Knowledg in Principles of Catechism as that of Baptism is such by Stories out of the Talmud or other Jewish Books which if we had them we cannot understand them why then are we sent unto them Is the Holy Scripture less able to make us wise to Salvation than the Talmud Let us take to the good old way and diligently teach our Youth the Rudiments of Religion so shall Goodness and Mercy follow us all the days of our Life and we shall dwell by our Posterity in the House of the Lord for ever One main thing in the Book now under Consideration is the Covenant of Circumcision which the Doctor will have to be a Gospel-Covenant and Circumcision a Gospel-Ordinance Now as all this were true it would come short of proving it our Duty to baptize our Infants For seeing there is a proper time for our Participation of all Gospel-Priviledges so we must learn what time this is not from Circumcision for then the 8th day must precisely be the time but from Christ and his Apostles who are our only infallible Instructors herein But that the Doctor is mistaken in this thing which he makes a Pillar to his Building is I hope sufficiently made manifest Nor shall it be amiss in this place to give you the Judgment of a very learned Jew lately converted and baptized in the City of London bicause he may rationally be thought to understand the Nature of the Covenant of Circumcision being a great Student in all Jewish as well as Christian Theology as any other Man. And this is the account we have from him of this matter in his printed Exposition upon the Acts of the Apostles chap. 2. 40. The Jews saith he who were circumcised in Infancy before Circumcision was abrogated were here baptized by the order of Peter from whence it appears that by Baptism and Circumcision two Covenants altogether differing were to be sealed of which the one was with those who by the Law of Nature were born of the Seed of Abraham the other with those who were spiritually reborn by the Gift of Faith. And whereas one main hinge upon which the Doctors Discourse for Infant-Baptism is supported is the Custom of the Jewish Church and the Custom of the ancient Christian Church the said learned Jew speaks very well to that Plea in these Words The Customs of Churches ought to submit to the Words of Christ not the Words of Christ to be wrested to the Customs of the Church in regard the Words of Christ are the Foundation upon which all Church-Customs are to be built that they may be safe and laudable Whatsoever savours against the Words of Christ savours against the Truth and as Tertullian says what ever savours contrary to Truth is Heresy though it be an ancient Custom It is in the Power of God to pardon those that err out of Simplicity but because we erred once we are not always to go on in our Errors The Doctor divides his Book into a previous Discourse and into the Resolution of five Questions In stating and resolving his Questions he repeats much of the previous Discourse I have endeavoured to take his sence and have set down many of his Words and my Reply to his previous Discourse may serve as a Supplement to my Reply to the Resolution of his Questions because the same Arguments are handled in both What I have added about the Sign of the Cross in Baptism I have collected chiefly from a learned Protestant Writer in a Book intituled A Scholastical Discourse against Symbolizing with Antichrist
Christ and the Holy Spirit they are washed in Water 3. In the third Age Mr. Baxter tells us out of Tertullian Origen and Cyprian That in the Primitive Times none were baptized without an express Covenanting wherein they renounced the World c. and engaged themselves to Christ 4. In the fourth Age Basil saith That none were to be baptized but Catechumens and those that were duly instructed in the Faith. 5. In the fifth Age Chrysostom saith The time of Grace or Conversion was the only sit time for Baptism which was the Season in which the three thousand in Acts 2. and others afterward were baptized 6. The African Churches commonly called Donatists taught That none should be baptized but those that believed and desired the same 7. The Waldensian Churches tell us That by Baptism Believers were received into the Holy Congregation there declaring their Faith and amendement of Life 8. The Churches in Germany own'd the same Faith and Practice 9. The Churches in Helvetia asserted the same and suffered for their Testimony 10. The Bohemian Churches by great Sufferings bore witness to the same Truth 11. The Churches in Thessalonica did the same 12. The Churches in Flanders suffered for the same cause 13. The Hungarians did the same 14. And so did the Churches in Thessalonica 15. The Churches of the Ancient Britains did the same and died for their Testimony Here some will be ready to say We value not Mr. Danvers he was mistaken in his Quotations But let me reply Would Men but impartially read his Defence they would see cause to justify him from most of the Clamours which have been vented against him Neither do we censure good and pious Men in the darker Times above us who perhapps had not opportunity as we have to see and avoid the Error God Almighty indulging the oversights of his sincere Ones in all Ages as we trust he will do ours in this for some may yet come after us to restore some Truth which we have not minded being so much busied both by Writing Preaching and Suffering in defence of some particular Truths which are the Controversy of our Age. And this was the Case of our worthy Predecessors who were called to contest with the Spirit of Error And we doubt not but all sincere Christians who have not wilfully opposed themselves to any Truth shall find Mercy in the Day of Christ and receive a Reward according to the Infinite Goodness of God who will not suffer any to go without a Reward who have been but so kind to any because they belonged to Christ as to give them a Cup of cold Water to drink And in the mean time I am for so much Communion with all Christians as will do them and my self good But seeing it is impossible for any to maintain full or ample Communion with all sorts professing the Christian Name at this Day There is a necessity either for some powerful Party to kill all the rest that she may be the only Church or else Brotherly to agree to permit all to chuse their Communion where they can most comfortably enjoy it and I heartily desire that none for any cause but true inward Peace would make use of this Liberty But about this we have more fully treated in the fifth Chapter that here we shall add no more at present but shall conclude with our humble Request to the Church of England to consider how great a Pressure it must be upon our Conscience to break up our Assemblies which we believe to be truly constituted Churches and to unite with Hers which we believe to be so defective in her Constitution as to have no Baptism at all Now that the Baptism of Repentant Believers is of Heavenly Original is granted on all hands that it stands clear both in Scripture and unquestionable Antiquity next to the Scripture is altogether undeniable and that this Baptism is to be continued to the end of the World cannot be spoken against And on the other side Does not even Mr. Baxter and other Learned Assertors of Infant-Baptism confess 't is a very difficult Point to prove by Scripture And do not the Learned Papists and some Learned Protestants acknowledg there is no Scripture for Infant-Baptism Neither Precept nor Practice in Scripture for Infant-Baptism That it was brought in without the Commandment of Christ That it is only a Church Rite and not of Divine Institution These Things cannot be hid from you and therefore there is a necessity that some speedy and prudent way be taken by the Church of England to restore this Holy Ordinance to its purity in respect of the Subject to be baptized For though the Church of England does retain the Doctrine of Baptism with respect to its precedency to other Ordinances its Utility and Dignity in the Church of God yet this is to little purpose still so long as another thing is substituted in the room of it both in respect of the Subject and manner of Administration Concerning the latter let the Church of England be intreated to consider the Reflections which have been made upon this Alteration of Immersion to Sprinkling by the learned Bossuet in his Book of Communion c. And the Conviction which some learned Protestants in France have lately met with upon that occasion I will set down the words of the learned Author who calls himself Anonymus as they are translated by Dr. Duveil upon the Acts of the Apostles p. 292 293. It is most certain that Baptism hath not been administred hitherto otherwise than by Sprinkling by the most part of Protestants but truly this Sprinkling is an Abuse This Custom which without an accurate Examination they have retained from the Romish Church in like manner as many other things makes their Baptism very defective it corrupteth its Institution and ancient use and that nearness of Similitude which is needful should be betwixt it and Faith Repentance and Regeneration This Reflection of Mr. Bossuit deserveth to be seriously considered to wit that this use of plunging hath continued for the space of a whole thousand and three hundred Years that hence we may understand that we did not carefully as was meet examine things which we retained from the Roman Church and therefore since the most learned Bishops of that Church do teach us now that the Custom established by most grave Arguments and so many Ages was abolished by her this self-same thing was very unjustly done by her and that the Consideration of our Duty doth require at our hands that we seek again the primitive Custom of the Church and the Institution of Christ Though therefore we should yield to Mr. Bossuet that we are convinced by the force of his Arguments that the Nature and Substance of Baptism consisteth in Dipping what may he hope for from us but that the Professors see themselves obliged to him by no small Favour and thank him that he hath delivered us from Error when we greatly erred in this
Vision is not certain the Story giving it both ways yet who so absurd to turn the Visions of St. Stephen and St. Paul into Rituals or to assix them to Christ's Ordinances When Men do assume this Liberty without Divine Warrant many Evils do follow upon such doings How much innocent Blood has been shed about this sign of the Cross is not easily to be estimated and indeed for the sake of this and other such Inventions Christians have hated one another with cruel Hatred as late Years have shewed Men more account of those Tradions than of the Word of God by far We have seen it with our Eyes A Man might be a common Drunkard and yet permitted to preach in the Pulpit But if he would not use the sign of the Cross and the Surplice away with him This kind of Zeal shews that it 's from beneath it is not of God. And so long as these things remain and are forced on by Authority there will be continual Strife Contention and Devouring amongst Christians as it was so from the Beginning of them so it will be to the end of them because an evil Plant will bring forth according to its Nature We have more sacred Institutions then we can well observe Why do we seek to burthen our selves or others in matters of Religion with the Commandments and Doctrines of Men all which are to perish and God in Mercy hasten the time that God's People may have but one Heart and one Way Amen POSTSCRIPT SECT I. Of the Manner of Marriages among the Baptized Believers and that they are warrantable by God's Law. SOme of the Baptized Believers having been prosecuted as Offenders for not conforming to the Ceremonies of the Ring and kneeling to the Altar in the Celebration of Marriage we shall therefore humbly offer our Reasons why we dissent from these Ceremonies and why also our Marriages are good in the Eye of the Law for the Substance of them the omission of these Ceremonies c. notwithstanding But first the Reader is desired to take notice that we are not against but for the publick Solemnization of Marriage according to the Law of the Land save that there are some Ceremonies used therein which we cannot comply with And because some of the Priests will not marry us at all and others will not do it unless we conform to all the Ceremonies required in the Service-Book this puts us upon a necessity to have it done without them and the manner thus The Parties to be married being qualified for that State of Life according to the Law of God and the Law of the Land as to the Degrees c. therein limited They call together a competent number of their Relations and Friends And having usually some of our Ministry present with them the Parties concern'd do declare their Contract formerly made between Themselves and with the Advice of their Friends if Occasion require it And then taking each other by the Hand do declare That they from that day forward during their natural Lives together do enter into the State of Marriage using the Words or the substance of them which are appointed for the Words of Marriage in the service-Service-Book as acknowledging them Words to be very fit for that purpose And then a Writing is signed by the Parties married to keep in memory the Contract and Covenant of their Marriage to this effect These are to testify to all Men that we A. B. of c. and C. D. of c. have the day of the Date hereof entred into the Covenant and State of Marriage according to a solemn Contract heretofore made between our selves and with the Consâ—nt of such as are concern'd in order thereunto And we do now in the Presence of Almighty God and the Witnesses hereafter named ratify the said Contract and Covenant Act of Marriage this day verbally made in both which we do in the Fear of God mutually and solemnly and for our Pares respectively promise in the Strength of God to live together in the State of Marriage according to God's Ordinance from this day forward to love each other as Husband and Wife and faithfully to perform all the Duties to which we are bound by God's Law and the good Laws of the Land in that Case provided till the Lord by Death shall separate us In Testimony whereof we have hereunto set our Hands the day of c. Then is annexed a Certificate of the Witnesses thus WE whose Names are subscribed do testify That the above-said A. B. and C. D. the Day and Year above-said did mutually take each other into the State of Marriage acknowledging the Contract and Covenant and ratifying the same by Word and by the Subscription thereof as above-said In Witness whereof we do hereunto set our Hands the Day and Year above-said After these things some suitable Counsel or Instruction is given to the Parties but no Man takes upon him the Office to marry any that being the proper Act of the Parties themselves and then Prayer is made to God for his Blessing upon the Parties married c. And now whether Marriages thus made are justifiable by the Law of God is first to be considered To begin with the Institution of Marriage Gen. 2. 23 24. there we find all that is essential to Marriage For he that had the right to dispose of the Woman was pleased to bring her and give her to Adam And Moses tells us That they who are thus joined together are one Flesh and are to forsake all other Relations in comparison of that Relation The Marriage-Covenant is explained by God himself Mal. 2. 14. She is thy Companion and Wife of thy Covenant of which he himself says the Prophet had been a Witness For whoever else are Witnesses in this Case God is the Principal and will punish such as break their Marriage-Covenant And thus it appears that a Marriage-Covenant between Persons who may lawfully marry with Witness upon it are the Essentials of this Ordinance which is yet more evident in the Case of Boaz and Ruth Ruth 4. 9 10 11. And then we may be sure that God appointed no Ceremony in the Institution of Marriage nor do we find any Ceremony made necessary to the Celebration of Marriage in the Old and New Testament for that passage of loosing the Shoe Deut. 25. 7 9. and Ruth 4. 7. pertains not to Marriage but concerns him that refuses to raise up Seed in Israel to his deceased Brother And as there is no Ceremony ordained so there is no one certain Form for the Celebration of Marriage appointed by the Word of God but this seems rather to be left to Liberty as appears in the Case of Isaac Gen. 24. 67. and the Marriage of Jacob Gen. 29. 21 22 23. and many others The chief Things to be observed in Marriage since the Earth was replenished with Inhabitants are these That regard be had to Religion that a Believer marry not with an Infidel
Ministerial Authority thereunto namely to catechise defend and propagate the Gospel Such were Origen Aristides Hegesippus Justin and many others see his Book of Resolut p. 265. chap. 10. Those who called themselves Catholicks in Augustin's time did allow the Baptism and other sacred Acts of the Donatists c. to be valid It is strange then that the Marriages of the present Dissenters should be made Nullities by the common Protestants who themselves are esteemed but Dissenters in a Neighbour Nation and therefore their Marriages are as liable to censure there as ours are here but these are Hardships and Cruelties in the Opinion of that learned Lawyer the late Lord Chief Justice Hale SECT IV. Of the Rituals of the Church of England concerning Marriage and the Reasons why the Baptized Believers comply not with them HOW gladly we should be to see an end of all Contention amongst Christians about unnecessary Ceremonies we have shewed in our Friendly Epistle and our late Apology wherein also we have professed our earnest Desire for Concord with all that love the Lord Jesus and more particularly with the Church of England But it seems all that we can offer below a full compliance even with the most useless Ceremonies is not thought worth the notice of the present Clergy who now do many of them wonderfully exalt themselves despising such as dissent from them and that so much the more as by how much we seek to them for Peace Marriage-Covenants we confess are things of that nature and importance that they are worthy the care of the Laws of all Nations But such has been the unhappiness of the Churches which are National as to ordain such things in order to the Celebration of Marriage which becomes a Snare to many this the Protestants found true by Experience when under the Papal Yoke and therefore have exploded part of their Ritual whereof we have an account from Dr. Willit and the manner thus 1. They who are to be joined in Matrimony must be blessed by the Priest 2. Oblation must be made for them in the Sacrifice of the Mass 3. They are covered with a Vail 4. They are coupled together with a Ribbon partly white and partly blew 5. They Bride giveth to the Bridegroom a Ring hallowed first and blessed by the Priest 6. The Priest commendeth them to God in Prayer 7. He admonisheth them to their mutual Duties Dr. Willit Synops p. 713. Now this use of the Ring amongst the Papists is condemned by this Learned Doctor of the Church of England for a superstitious Toy partly for that it must be hallowed by the Priest and partly for that the Man holding the Woman by the Ring their Fingers a-cross some inchanting words says he are then muttered but the words he sets not down And now because the use of the Ring in the Church of England and the kneeling at the Altar and to the Priest for his Blessing are very doubtful to us we shall here take a view of the matter And 1. The Ring must be laid upon the service-Service-Book 2. The Priest must then give the Ring to the Bridegroom 3. The Bridegroom must put the Ring upon the fourth Finger of the Woman 's left Hand 4. And holding the Woman by that Finger must say these strange Words With this Ring I thee wed with my Body I thee worship with all my worldly Goods I thee endow In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Now these things so far as we are able to understand them do look as much like Superstition as any thing which the Protestant Doctor has to object against the Popish use of the Ring For why must the Ring be laid upon the Service-Book and so pass through the Priests hand before it be fit for the use it is to be made of Certainly the Ring is hereby supposed to be made more fit to wed the Woman and this it cannot be unless it be supposed to be sanctified or if there be nothing of all this it seems to be wholly superfluous And for the Man to say he weds her whom he has married sufficiently before with that Ring in the Name of the Father c. is so like a Sacramental form of Words as that we are sure none more solemn are appointed to be used in Holy Baptism nor can any higher form of Words be devised Had Almighty God appointed this form of Words to be annexed to the use of a Ring all Men would and surely might have concluded Marriage among Christians to be a Sacrament as well as Baptism but seeing he hath not done it it seems to us too bold an attempt for any Church to impose such a Rite or Ceremony in so great a Name and therefore in Conscience we dare not conform to the Church of England in this thing for it is dangerous to speak a Word much more to make an Institute in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which he hath not commanded Let us consider whence the Ring in Marriage was derived that we may the better judg of the matter 1. Then it is reckoned among the Heathen Roman Rites in their Marriages and the manner thus The Man gave in token of good Will they say a Ring unto the Woman which she was to wear upon the next Finger to the little Finger on the left Hand because unto that Finger alone proceeded a certain Artery from the Heart Here seems to be the Radix or Spring of the Ring in Marriage unless perhaps it might be before this among the superstitious Jews for thus we read The Wedding-Ring among the Jews had this Inscription MAZAL TOB which the Learned say is to wish good luck and it was given to the Bride-wife and the Hebrews called the Planet Jupiter Mazal whose Influence they thought to be of great force for Generation Godwin Antiq. of the Rom. and Jews Now which of these soever was the Spring-Head though there seems to be something of Superstition or Folly in the Business yet I think an impartial Man must needs say the Ring has attracted more of that kind among the Christian Nations than it had among the Jews or Heathens The short is Were the Ring used only as a Civil Ceremony without this seemingly sacred Solemnity we should say nothing But for Christians to adopt either the Heathen or Jewish superstitious Rites into the Service of the Church and to make the Celebration of them ministerial Acts is the Business for the serious and thinking Christian to consider And assuredly till it turn to the Lord to encline the Hearts of his People with one accord to restore his Holy Ordinances and amongst the rest this of Marriage to their Native Purity and Simplicity there will be continual cause of Sorrow Discontents and Animosities amongst Christians and occasion thereby given in all Christian Nations for the more Carnal and Ceremonious to persecute the more spiritual and serious sort of Christians And the