Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A30637
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Vindiciæ pædo-baptismi, or, A confirmation of an argument lately emitted for infants baptism in a letter to a reverend divine of the Church of England / by R.B. ...
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Burthogge, Richard, 1638?-ca. 1700.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing B6157A; ESTC R40304
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32,736
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88
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Vindiciae Poedo-Baptismi OR A CONFIRMATION OF AN ARGUMENT Lately Emitted for Infants Baptism IN A LETTER To a Reverend Divine OF The Church of England By R.B. M.D. LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Prince's Arms in Ludgate Street 1685. SIR I Was at the Point of making a Resolution before I receiv'd yours of June 9. wholly to neglect that Libellous Disputation as it is called between a Doctor and an Apothecary as a thing that doth not only betray the Unsincerity the Artifices the Impotent Passions of him that wrote It but that to a Prudent and Judicious Reader doth as is said of the Viper carry in its own Bowels Causes that in time will destroy it But seeing you Advise me that it may not be unfit that something be said to it and I know we ought not to have too good an Opinion of the World which generally being malicious and invidious is apter to take impression from a witty Calumny and Detraction than from the soundest and most solid Reasoning and Argument on these and the like considerations I now resolve to Reply But in doing so that I resemble not my Adversary whom not only I but many sober and indifferent Persons do condemn for Impertinence for Falsehood for Bitterness for Peremptoriness and Presumption and for such other Courses as to use the Expression of a Noble Person tend rather to Rumor and impression in the Vulgar sort than to the likelihood of any good Effect For this Reason I am determined in Replying to him to propose unto my self for my Example That wise and Religious Bishop of whom when he returned Answer to a Pamphlet much it seems of a nature like to this before me My Lord Bacon says That he remembred that a Fool must be Answered but not by becoming like unto him and considered the matter which he handled and not the Person with whom he dealt The Points therefore that I will go upon shall be only these First To shew nakedly and truly the Occasion of my engaging with my Adversary in this Controversy Secondly To shew the Unfairness of his Proceeding in the Publick Management of it together with the motives which as I suppose induced him to the Unfairness Thirdly To Note but as it were in passing and by the By the Undue Aspersions which he casts upon me in reference to my Argument together with the Malice is in them Fourthly Briefly again to state the Argument I made and to demonstrate That as it is not a Log as he calls it nor Vncouth so that he is still extreamly Affrighted at it for he dares not touch it and still hath cause to be so As for my Engaging with him the first Occasion as I have said already was purely Accidental and it was drawn on I scarce know how he says by the importunity of the Lady my readiness to comply with it and his unwariness and let it be so But a casual passing undesigned Discourse it was a Discourse that as it did begin so I thought it would have ended in the same place for my part I scarce had one Thought of it afterwards But as for any Insulting upon him of which he now complains and never before that I know of and with which he thinks to bespeak the Affections of his Readers for indeed he needs them and to excuse his own Acerbity he cannot produce one Witness of any I am sure by me I can many even of Persons that were present at the whole Discourse to Attest the Contrary But that he was Insulted upon and that in his own Terms his Sword was as it were broken over his Head and with Triumph you must believe it and yet all the while the Weapons on both sides They were but Words and you can hardly think He lost His THEN who still speaks Swords and Daggers But you will tell me Well All this hitherto was but a Transient Accidental Discourse such as might happen every day when Persons meet who are of different Perswasions and there is an End But how came it afterwards to be so Solemn and so Deliberate as from Words that are but Birds in the Air to become Writings which are as Bears at the Stake Truly as to this one would think by what my Adversary writes and by the Fashion in which he writes in his Epistle and in Pag. 16. 17. that nothing but Resentment on his part of the Insolence and Affront that then was offered Him and a motion of Vanity on mine to Answer his Challenge drew on this second Engagement Little else can be inferred from what he hath written concerning it But indeed on my part it was nothing less than so and nothing less on his neither Pretendedly for all was Conscience nothing but Conscience and enquiry after further Light with which in a Letter that he sent me above a year and half he calls it in his usual figure Sometime after he importuned my Answer and prevailed For who is there but would have believed as then I did that it was Conscience pure Conscience that Acted him if he had received from him as I had a Letter so concernedly Penn'd and with so much movement with so much importunity and so much seeming sincerity and if he knew him not any better than I did at that time for thus his Letter bearing Date Sept. 9. 1681. doth speak in so many words UPon this Occasion Honoured Sir and that Occasion was a motion he made me about Perfecting the Printing and Publishing of a Book of Dr. Worsley's I shall also take the boldness to remind you of a Conference you were pleased sometime since to entertain with my self upon the subject of Infants Baptism when you were pleased to insist upon the Covenant made with Abraham wherein God Promised to be a God to him and to his Seed after Him from whence you Argued that in as much as by Vertue of that Covenant both Abraham and his Seed after him were to receive the Sign of Circumcision and in as much as the Apostle doth expresly tell us that the Blessing of Abraham was to come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ it thence followed that the Believing Gentiles and their Posterity also as being the Spiritual Seed of Abraham had a Right to Baptism which is the Seal of the same Covenant under the New Testament Administration Having since that time therefore Revolv'd this Argument of yours in my Thoughts over and over I could not satisfie my Conscience till I could either come to some satisfactory clearness in my own mind concerning the Cogency thereof or otherwise till I had drawn up something or other in writing that might at least be a sufficient Justification unto my Self in the way of my present Practice And after many fervent Addresses and Petitions to Heaven that as I might not mistake my way so that I might not Oppose or neglect any part of the Heavenly Truth I have at length drawn up the Inclosed paper which I do
Reward given to Abraham for his Believing How else was it that his Faith was Accounted unto him for Righteousness for though the Reward was Infinitely much Superior to any Desert of his Faith and was a Thing that God in Justice was no ways Oblig'd to make yet a Reward it was and a Reward in the very Idea and Notion of it is of and For something A Reward it was but a Reward of Grace not of Debt God gave it as a Gratuity for what Abraham did but Abraham could not have Demanded it as his due or a Debt After this He tells me P. 129. that all that follows to the close namely in my last Letter from P. 169. to the End is but strife about words In which he finds not any thing but what doth Nauseate But you Sir will find a Vindication in it of that But incerted in my Paraphrase and also a Demonstration in it that ye in Genesis 17. 10. even from his own Concessions cannot be understood of Abraham and that his Seed which is in verse the 9 th but must be meant of Abraham Ishmael and the Rest of the Then Present Family and Consequently that Circumcision was not then Enjoyned on the Seed as it stands in the 9 th verse for the Believing Gentiles but only on the Natural Family which was the Main thing to be Proved I do not know I have omitted any thing of Moment for his Scoffs Jears Gibes c. are of none among his Reflections no nor any thing in His Last Letter that is to the purpose Except a Sophister will think I should consider his Logick P. 120. and because Stierius and Sanderson and indeed other Logicians Generally do say and he must be a very Mean One that doth not know so much that Members of a Division must be Opposite Meaning not properly that they must be Enemies but that they must not Interfere and be Coincident That therefore it must be concluded That All Distinction is Opposition that Disparates are Opposites and that God Abraham and his Seed cou'd not be Distinct Partys if they were not Opposites and even Enemies to one Another But if any think so I Leave him to the Care of this Apothecary and to Hellebore You may be pleas'd to see what I have said in my Argument P. 153 c. as to This. Upon the whole Sir you cannot but Observe how Little Reason there is to Trust my Adversary in Citations and how much cause I have to make you and All his Readers this Request that you never believe that I Affirm or deny any thing which he hereafter though with never so much Confidence shall Report I do unless you first consult my own Writings and see it there And I would also desire of Him that seeing he is so much given to mistake my Meaning He would never Report my sence But in mine own Terms and That is but a fair Request In fine I am not much Afflicted that my Adversary gave me this Occasion of Writing again on this Subject I know that Truth Like silver will appear the Brighter for being Burnished The more He presses this Controversy the more the Subject of it will come in Discourse and Discourse in Time will Ripen and Mellow Notions in the Minds of Men which At First seem hard and Harsh Nor will his Pious Frauds His Rayling upon Arguments instead of Answering of them His unsober Reflecting on His Adversary instead of Arguing with him His Base Hints or his Direct Scurrillitics which Even now Dis-serve his cause with Wise and Good-men Uphold it Long with any These are mean Unmanly and Unchristian Methods and Let him Note it never used but in Extremity and when a Case is Deplor'd which His being I hold it time to End this Trouble From Sir Your Faithfull Friend and Servant R. B Bowdon July 4. 1684 BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Tho. Simmons at the Prince's Arms in Ludgate-street THe History of the Old Testament methodized according to the order and series of Time wherein the several things therein mentioned were transacted In which the difficult Phrases are paraphrased the seeming Contradictions reconciled the Rites and Customs of the Jews opened and explained to which is annexed a short History of the Jewish Affairs from the End of the Old Testament to the Birth of our Saviour and a Map also added of Canaan and the adjacent Countries very useful for the understanding of the whole History by S. Cradock B.D. fol. The Lives of sundry Eminent Persons in this latter Age in Two Parts First Of Divines viz. Mr. Hugh Broughton Mr. R. Boid Dr. Twist Mr. Tho. Wilson Dr. Sam. Bolton Mr. Richard Vines Mr. Richard Blacherhy Mr. Ralph Robinson Mr. John Janeway Mr. John Machia Dr. Sam. Winter Mr. Thomas Tregas Mr. Rich. Mathew Mr. John Allein Dr. Staunton Mr. Samuel Fairclough Mr. Thomas Wadsworth Mr. O. Stochton Mr. T. Gouge To which are Added some Remarkable Passages in the Lives and Deaths of divers Eminent Divines in the Church of Scotland viz. Mr. John Scringer Mr. Robert Blair Mr And. Stewart Mr. John Weleb Mr. Hugh Kennedy Mr. Robert Brute Mr. Davidson and Mr. Patrick Simpson Together with an Account of several Providences strange and Extraordinary Secondly Of Nobility and Gentry of both Sexes viz. Mr. Philip Sidney Sir Charles Coot Mr. John Lamot Sir Nath. Barnadiston Mr. John Rowe Sir Matthew Hale Mrs. Mary Hunter Lady Alice Lucy Lady Mary Vere Mrs. Kath. Clark Countess of Warwick Mrs. Margaret Baxter Lady Armine Lady Langham and Countess of Suffolk By S. Clark sometime Pastor of Bennet Finek London to which is Added the Life of the Author fol. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with Annotations Containing First An Interpretation of all difficult Phrases and words Secondly Parallel Scriptures both as to Matter and Words to which is Annexed the Harmony of the Gospels By Samuel Clark I. f. 4 to Church History of the Government of Bishops and their Councils abreviated including the Chief Part of the Government of Christian Princes and Popes and a True Account of the most Troubling Controversies and Heresies till the Reformation By Richard Baxter a Hater of False History in 4 to A Treatise of Episcopacy confuting by Scriptur-Reasons and the Churches Testimony that sort of Diocesian Churches Prelacy and Government which casteth out the Primitive Church Species Episcopacy Ministry and Discipline and Confound the Christian World by Corruption Usurpation Schism and Persecution meditated in the Year 1640. when the c. Oath was imposed written 1671. and lastly published 1680. by the importunity of our Superiors who demand the Reasons of our Non-Conformity By Rich. Baxter in 4 to Forgetfulness of God the great Plague of Mans Heart and Consideration of the Principal Means to cure it By W. D. M.A. once Fellow of King's Colledge Cambridge in Octavo Londinum Triumphans or An Historical Account of the grand influence the Actions of the City of London haue had upon the Affairs of the Nation for many Ages past shewing the Antiquity Honour Glory and Renown of this Famous City the grounds of the Rights Priviledges and Franchises the Foundation of the Charter the improbability of its Forfeiture or Seisure the Power and Strength of the Citizens and the several Contests that have been betwixt the Magistracy and Commonalty Collected from the most Authentick Authors and illustrated with variety of Remarks worthy of the perusal of every Citizen By W. Gouge Gent. 8â— The Samaritan shewing that many unnecessary Impositions are not the Oyle that must heal the Church together with the way or means to do it by a Country Gent. who goes to Common Prayer and not to Meetings in Octavo The Plea for Children of Believing Parents for their interest in Abraham's Covenant their right to Church-Man ship with their Parents and consequently their Title to Baptism The cause of Publishing this Discourse after so many Learned men have laboured in this province is declared in the preface to the Reader by Giles Freeman in Octavo Peaceable resolution of Crioscience touching our present Imposition wherein Loyalty and Obedience are proposed and setled upon their true foundation in Scripture Reason and the Constitution of this Kingdom against all Resistance of the present Power and for compliance with the Laws so far as may be in order to Union with a draught in specimen of a Bill for Accomodation in Octavo Moral prognostications 1 what shall befall the Church on Earth till their concord by the restitution of their primitive Purity Simplicity Charity 2. How that Restitution is like to be made if ever and what shall besall them henceforth unto the End in the Golden Age of Love written by Richard Baxten when by the King's Commission we in vain Treated for Concord 1661. and now publisht in 1680. FINIS