ready at the Font immediately after the second Lesson at Morning or Evening Prayer which still farther concludes for its being â—n the Church where alone the Prayers and Lessons are usually read And all this is abundantly confirmed by that which follows viz. And the Priest standing there at the Font shall say c. So far I think nothing can be more plain or undeniable But let us go on to the Office for Private Baptism of Children in houses for so 't is called The very Name or Title of which is enough to satisfy any sober man that this alone and not the Public Form is to be used in Houses But the Rubrick is more express There in the 2d Paragraph the Curates or Ministers of every Parish are required often to admonish and warn the People that without great Cause and Necessity to be approved by the Curates themselves they procure not their Children to be baptized at home And in Obedience to this Command of the Church I do now desire and beseech you of my Care not to do it But when need shall compel then the Rubrick expresly orders that Baptism be administred on This Fashion namely by that Form of Private Baptism which there follows and not by the Publick Form So that as the Ancient Church never did so neither does the Present Church of England allow of any Private Baptism except in danger of death and in such a case she has provided a Form for that purpose and required the use of that alone And upon the whole I think it undeniably follows that To Baptize Children in Private with the Publick Form and without just Necessity is as Dr. Sherlock tells us Rel. Assemblies p. 295. a plain transgression of the Rule and therefore such a disorder as no man should be guilty of who professes himself a Member of our Church 'T is a plain breach of the express Laws and Commands of our own Communion which was the thing to be proved Now as for this Argument it equally concerns all in general who own themselves of the Church of England Rich and Poor Laity as well as Clergy For by the 20th Article of our Church we all profess to believe That the Church has full power to decree and command all such Rites and Ceremonies as are not contrary to the word of God Nor did ever any yet deny this power but those who were professed Dissenters from us and against them it has been largely and unanswerably proved by many learned Divines of this Church whose Names I have set in the Margin By Dr. Stillingfleet Unreasonab of Separation Dr. Sherlock in his Vindication of that book and in his Answer to the Protestant Reconciler By Dr. Goodman in his Compass Enquiry By Dr. Scot Christian Life Part 2. Vol. 2. p. 433. And instead of all by the Venerable Hooker Eccl. Polity Lib. 3. and others if any one please to consult them Now then thus I argue if the Church has Power to make Laws in things indifferent and not forbidden by the Scriptures it hence necessarily follows that 't is our absolute duty to obey and submit to those Laws when once they are made For a Power to Command necessarily infers the duty of Obedience these are Relative things the one of which unavoidably follows from the other Nor can we disobey the Lawful Commands of the Church without disobeying Heaven at the same time and Christ Jesus himself from whom as from a Supream Head the Church has received this Legislative Power and how then can it become any true Member of the Church to be thus wilfully guilty of trangressing its plainest Laws Or why should any pious and genuine Son of the Church carry himself thus refractory to his spiritual Mother Or can there be any thing more absurd than to profess to believe that the Church has Power to make Laws in indifferent things and yet whenever those Laws come to be obeyed to dispute and deny its Authority Especially considering how pious and primitive a duty this is and what great reason the Church has to require it This certainly is not to do things according to Order that is as the great Dr. Hammond tells us upon the place According to the Order and Direction of the Church Dr. Rich. Sherlocks Practical Christian p. 85 I know not what low thoughts men may now have of this Disobedience But I am sure the pious Dr. Sherlock had another sense of things when he made this a part of his Form of Confession of Sin I have not made Conscience to obey the Laws and Orders of thy Church whether Universal or particular not acknowledging or submitting to the Authority of Either and I am justly therefore to be rankt amongst Publicans and Sinners My Ghostly Fathers and Pastors in the several orders of Bishop Priest and Deacon I have disbelieved disrespected disobeyed in their Callings in their Admonitions for my Souls health I have hated him that reproveth in the Gate I have hardned my heart and refused when admonished to return from the Errour of my ways Nor is this a Law of the Church only but of the Civil State too The whole Rubrick is confirmed by Act of Parliament as well as by Convocation and the Act of Uniformity before our Common Prayer Books expresly injoyns under the severest Penalty that No other Form of Prayer or Administration of the Sacraments be used beside that which is set forth and allowed by that Book So that whoever refuses Obedience to those Laws of the Church concerning Baptism does at the same time disobey a Law of the State too his Civil as well as his Spiritual Parents and Governors and if this be not a plain Breach of the fifth Commandment Let every mans Conscience judge There is I foresee one fond pretence that may possibly be return'd to this Argument and that is the present Act of Toleration or Liberty of Conscience which may be thought to discharge the Duty of Obedience to the Established Laws of the Church But in answer to this vain Cavil I say First That I write not at present to those who are Dissenters from the Church but to those who profess themselves Members of our own Communion and what have such to do with the Toleration Let the Act it self be read and 't will appear that the Toleration was intended only for the Ease of those few for I verily believe they are not many who are sincerely persuaded in their Consciences that 't is not Lawful for them to obey the Orders or joyn in the Worship of the Established Religion Now whatever service the Plea of a Toleration may do such mistaken Persons yet certainly it looks very unaccountable in one of our own Communion to make this pretence in excuse for his Disobedience to those Laws and to that Constitution to which he himself belongs I envy no man the Liberty of Conscience My Charity is Universal I heartily wish well to and pray for all the World But
THE Indecency and Unlawfulness OF Baptizing Children IN PRIVATE Without Necessity and with the Publick Form Seriously recommended to the Consideration of both the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England By Martin Strong M. A. and Vicar of Yeovill in Somersetshire To which is added A brief Exhortation to the constant Receiving of the Lords Supper Let all things be done decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14.40 Administrari debent Sacramenta Coelu Ecclesiae non alibi quando scilicet congregata est tota Ecclesia vel illius pars magna non Extra Coelum Ecclesiae Gul. Bucani Instit Theol. p. 607. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. TO MY Honoured Friend and Patron Sir EDWARD PHELIPPS Of MONTACVTE Honoured Sir I need not make Apologies for devoting the ensuing Papers to your Patronage The triste I confess is too mean to be presented to so great a Name but yet not to have done it would have been both Vngrateful and Vnjust For 't was composed for the benefit of a place in which I am now happily fixed by your generous and uncorrupted Charity and in bestowing of which you made no other demands beside a promise under my hand of living on the place and taking care of the People So far were you from making Merchandise of Souls that you esteem'd your right of Patronage only as a sacred trust for which you must give account to Almighty God And may this pious Example never want its followers I desire that this Dedication may remain as a lasting Monument of my Gratitude tho I am very sensible it does not lessen but add to my obligations for the prefixing of your Name to this little Treatise will I doubt not supply the want of a Character in its Author and make it the more acceptable to the World May all the Blessings of Heaven attend your Person your Vertuous Lady and every member of your Family May your Vnwearied Assiduity in serving your Country never want encouragment May you continually enjoy the Advantages of doing good here on Earth and receive a glorious reward for all in a better World These Sir shall be the constant Prayers of Your most Obliged Humble Servant M. Strong To my Beloved Parishioners THE Inhabitants of YEOVILL My Dear Neighbours THE design of this little Book is purely to reform if possible a Bad Custom which has too long prevailed among you I mean The Baptizing of your Children in Private without Necessity and with the Publick Form You all know I have already from the Pulpit told you both of the Indecency and Unlawfulness of this Practice and solemnly protested to you that these were the only reasons that prevailed with me not to comply with it After all which I could not but hope that you would have granted the request I then made to you and not have pressed me any more to do a thing which I had so evidently proved to be against both your duty and my own But to my great concern I have found it otherwise In my own Vindication therefore as well as for your Satisfaction I have now committed what I formerly Preached to the Press with such additions and alterations as I thought necessary to make it fit for a Publick view And that I might not be wanting in any part of my duty to you I have printed these Papers to attend you at your houses hoping by this means to remove those mistakes and prejudices which some of you may have entertained in this matter and to convince you fully that the thing I here argue against is really an Errour Nor should any thing less than this unhappy necessity have ever tempted me to appear in Print In the management of this Argument I have endeavoured to be both as Brief and Plain as possible to set every thing in a clear and convincing light and to come down to the meanest Vnderstanding which I desire the Reader in general to remember and then I need not make Apologies for the Style which might easily have been of another nature but I was to consult chiefly the capacities of my own People and in a matter of Universal concern I was willing All might understand me As for other imperfectians they may justly be imputed to my multiplicity of business diversions and avocations in a large and populous Town I am conscious enough how many they are but yet I have this satisfaction that these papers had at least as was protested the Undissembled approbation of a worthy and judicious Friend a person of a considerable Character and Authority in the Church for whose particular favours I cannot but take this occasion of making a publick and grateful acknowledgment And now Neighbours I have only one thing to desire of you that in reading this discourse you would consider every thing calmly and impartially without passion humour or prejudice Read it with that simplicity and indifferency of mind that becomes humble teachable and Charitable Christians Do not Nickname or misconstrue what is by me well intended Almighty God the searcher of hearts knows that I aim at nothing but your benefit and Conviction I have worded every thing after the mildest and most inoffensive manner I was able If any thing seem closely or severely spoken 't is no more than what I thought absolutely necessary for the exposing of the weakness of those objections which are usually urged in justification of what I here oppose And after all if you find that the Arguments here insisted on are such as cannot be answered then as you love your own Souls let me beseech you not wilfully to resist the truth but be glad and thankful rather that you are freed from your mistakes I have added at the end a Brief Exhortation to the constant receiving of the Lord's Supper which is a duty too much neglected amongst you as well as in other places In return for all which I desire nothing but your Prayers as you ever have mine And God Almighty follow you all with his Blessings and give you hearts willing both to learn and obey the truth Your Sincere Friend and Servant M. Srong The Indecency and Vnlawfulness of Baptizing Children in Private without Necessity and with the Publick Form c. 'T IS a strange prevailing power that Custom has upon the minds of all mankind The very Custom and Commonness of dying seems to have taken off the thoughts of death from the World Manna itself was slighted when 't was rained down every day And that most sacred and venerable rite of Christianity the blessed Sacrament itself by being daily administred in the Primitive Church in a little time began to be despis'd And be the thing never so apparently vicious or evidently unlawful yet such is the bewitching force of an habitual Customary Practice that it hinders men from perceiving it and begets such inveterate prejudices in their minds as darken the Reason and corrupt the Judgment and bear down
And all those who have writ any thing in Defence of the Churches Power to make Laws in things indifferent have in effect done the same for if the Church has Power to command with Submission it must be our duty to obey Thirdly Tho this had been a Custom of longer date and caused by better means yet what signifies a bad Custom against a known Rule and the express Laws of the Church What Sins what Errors and Offences may not be justified if Custom be allowed as an Arguument for them So Swearing is a Custom and Drunkenness is a Custom and I have known some Persons so impudent as to urge the Commoness of those crying sins in their Defence But is it any lessening of a Sin that a great many are guilty of it Certainly he who commanded us not to follow a Multitude to do Evil thought otherwise Sodom was destroyed not the later but the sooner for that they were Vniversally wicked I shall always be glad to follow a good Example in any Person but in that which is amiss the Greatest Man in the World shall never be the Pattern of my imitation I reverence the Persons and Writings too of several great and learned men whose Practice we are upbraided with in this Particular as much as any man living but considering what ill use is made of their Examples I heartily wish that they would either joyn with us in reforming this bad Custom or else condescend so far as to let us know how it may be justified In short I think the Question in this case ought to be whether the Custom of Baptizing Children in Private without just Necessity and by the Public Form be a decent or indecent a Lawful or Vnlawful Custom Now that 't is both indecent and Vnlawful I have undeniably proved in the foregoing Discourse And therefore all that can follow from its being a Custom is only this that the longer it has been continued the more has been the fault and the sooner it ought to be amended We have seen how this Custom came first to be introduced and 't is no difficult matter to guess at the causes of its Continuance Some perhaps have complyed with it out of an immoderate love to their own Ease and an Unwillingness to be at the pains and trouble of reforming a bad Custom tho they knew it to be illegal Others it may be have been tempted to it by Poverty which has made them forget the Dignity and Sacredness of the Ministerial Character by sacrificing both their Duty and Promises at once to a piece of Gold or Silver and to be guilty of such sordid mercenary Compliances as to sell their Birth right I mean the Dignity of the Priesthood for a Mess of Pottage I wish this thing called Interest has not too much prevailed with some who can pretend no real want of any thing which makes the crime so much the more unpardonable tho after all it is to be feared that whatever is thus unlawfully got is no better than Aurum Tholosanum Money put into a Bag with Holes and like the Coal which the Eagle stole from the Altar that consumed both her Nest and her young to Ashes Others perhaps have done it purely out of an obliging disposition and upon prudential Considerations thinking it the best way to break a bad Custom where they have found it not too rashly but by Degrees to lay it aside by that means as decently with as little noise and disgust and with as much satisfaction to their Neighbors as possible Hoping by this Condescension to win their good Opinion and in time to bring them by those mild Methods to a through Conformity to the Laws of the Church and their own Duty which was no more than the great St. Paul did toward the Jews in laying aside the old Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies This has been my own case and I verily believe the Case of a great many of my Brethren And that the continuance of this Unlawful Custom is to be imputed not to the Justice of the thing it self but to some one or other of these causes I am fully convinced from hence because even of those Ministers who do or have complyed with this Practice I never could hear any one pretend to justify it but frankly confess it ought not to be done And thus I think I have abundantly answered that clamorous Objection from Custom which indeed did not deserve the Expence of so much Ink and paper as has been thrown away upon it but some things must be answered tho not for their real weight yet because of the Noise they make in the World tho at best it is but like the sound of an empty Vessel Sonus praterea nihil Secondly I am afraid Another thing which keeps some Persons from bringing their Children to the Church to be baptized is Riches and Greatness Such Persons look upon it as a piece of State to have their Children baptized at home and fancy that something more ought to be done for them than for poorer People Now I readily grant that there is a different civil respect due to men according to their various Degrees and Qualities and so there is to Friends the same and God forbid but in all lawful things they should have it to the utmost Degrees in which 't is due And that I may not be condemned neither of Incivility nor Ingratitude which I naturally abhor I here publickly profess that I shall always look upon it as my great unhappiness that some of those whom I have been forced to deny in this matter were of this Number But it must be considered that in matters of absolute duty such as this is proved to be all Persons are Equal and in such cases there ought to be no respect of Persons Rich and Great Persons are no more above their duty than Poor and Mean men are below it If it be a Duty 't is so to all alike Even a Heathen Pericles could say when his Friend desired him to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arch. Atticae Lib. 3. cap. 3. Hence the Prov. Amicus usque ad Aras Omne animi vitium c. Juven Sat. 8. testify a Lye I am your Friend as far as Honesty and a good Conscience will permit And I must take leave to say that he is not a Friend that desires more And a Pagan Poet has taught us that Offences are aggravated by the Greatness of the Offender Riches and Greatness do not lessen but increase Mens Obligations to Duty These Blessings are a mighty trust with which men may do a great deal of good and for which Almighty God will demand a severer account than Ordinary And such Persons should consider that their Examples are visible and conspicuous and have a great influence upon those whom Providence has placed below them and that therefore it becomes them to help to reform a Custom so undeniably unlawful by giving a good Example and by leading
hope that they will think the better and not the worse of us for being just to our Rule and true to our Promises Nor will they be so unreasonable as to expect our compliance in a thing so manifestly unlawful Much less conceive any Pet or Prejudice against us only because we cannot make the plainest Laws of the Church and our own Promises too bend and bow to their humors And since the London Clergies Practice is most taken notice of in this affair it would be happy if they would joyn with us in this Reformation 5. The Form of Public Baptism is so composed that it cannot be used in Private Houses without manifest Absurdities which is another demonstration that the Church never intended it should be so used The forementioned Mr Arwaker reckons up four several instances of this Nature in the Office of Public Baptism where he that has a mind may see them pag. 29. I shall only mention One at present and that is in the Preface to the Baptismal Covenant in these words Dearly beloved Ye have brought this Child here to be Baptized How can this be truly or rationally spoken when instead of the Childs being brought by the Sureties the Minister himself comes home to the house and is brought into the very Chamber were the Child was born We have already proved that the Church at the beginning of this Office requires the Child to be brought to the Font and that the Priest standing at the Font shall say From whence 't is manifest that by the word Here in this place is meant the Church where alone the Font stands And how then can the Minister in the very place where the Child was born say to the Sureties Ye have brought this Child here viz. to the Font to be Baptized Or ought he not rather to alter the words to a quite contrary sense and say Ye have brought me here to baptize this Child For this is true and proper but the former is evidently false and absurd and the Absurdity is so plain that I am verily perswaded that he that does not perceive it 'T is not because He cannot but because He will not understand it Now whether it becomes either Minister or People to use such gross Absurdities in so solemn a part of Gods sacred Worship is a Question to which I would beg a serious Answer There is the same Absurdity in the Office for Churching Women when 't is used in Private houses The very Title proves this Practice to be absurd It ought to be called Chambering or Houseing of Women But Churching of them it can never be in any place out of the Church But not to insist on that the Rubrick before this Office says The Woman shall come into the Church decently apparalled and there shall kneel down in some convenient Place c. than which no command can be more plain The Rubrick at the End of the Office directs the Woman to receive the Holy Communion if there be any which still farther argues it to be done in the Church and the last Verse of the Psalm appointed to be read in this Office makes the Absurdity undeniable 'T is this I will pay my Vows now In the Courts of the Lords house How can this be said in any Private Chamber Was ever any Place beside the Church called the Lords house Or can any other Place be so called without a manifest and daring Absurdity An Absurdity too gross to be offer'd to the great God in return for a Mercy which deserves not only a Private Acknowledgment See Bp. Sparrow and Dr. Comber on this Office but a most solemn Thanksgiving in the Public Assembly of Christians which is both a greater Honour and more acceptable to God than any Private returns can be And now a modest man would think that after all this there should be no possible Objectious against so undeniable a truth Dr. Sherlock tells us Rel. Assemb p. 290. That he could never hear any thing that deserved a serious Answer But lest the Pretences should be thought unanswerable let us hear what they are And the first grand Pretence is Custom 'T is objected to us that 't is generally practised in most parts of the Kingdom and by many great and eminent Divines of the City of London too and therefore why may it not be continued This Objection tho it make a great deal of Noise yet it signifies just nothing as will be evident to any one that considers these things First That however prevailing this Custom now is yet 't is but of very late date even in this Church Dr Sherlock tells us Rel. Assemb p. 290 That this unhappy Custom was begun by as unhappy a Cause Namely by our late Civil Wars and a tyrannical Usurpation When our Laws were all subverted and our Religion ruined When the Orthodox Clergy were all turned a begging and their Churches usurped by their Enemies then 't was that the Loyal Party being first banished from the Church were forced and compelled to Baptize their Children in their own Houses There was a Necessity then of doing it privately or not at all But this Necessity is now removed our Churches now thanks be to Almighty God are at Liberty And therefore this can be no Argument to excuse us But it becomes us rather to abhor a Custom brought into the Church by such Vngodly means and to remember that our Forefathers would have been glad and thankful too to have injoyed that Liberty and Priviledge of bringing their Children to the Church which we now despise And yet 't is very observable that even in those times when the Common-Prayer Book was abolished and the Presbyrerian Directory established in its room by what was then called an Ordinance of Parliament Anno 1644. Even that very Directory expresly decrees That Baptism is not to be administred in Private places or privately but in the place of Public Worship and in the Face of the Congregation as may be seen p. 19 And this is the more remarkable because the Compilers of this Directory do in their Preface declare that they composed and agreed upon it after earnest and frequent calling upon the Name of God and after much consultation not with Flesh and Blood but with Gods holy word 'T is well known that our Brethren of this Perswasion were always great Enemies to all Needless and Superstitious Ceremonies in the Worship of God from whence I infer that even in their Opinion The Administration of Baptism in the Public place of Gods Worship is not a Needless Ceremony but a Necessary Circumstance to the due and decent Performance of that divine Sacrament What their Practice now is it concerns not me to inquire 't is plain This is their Rule and This their Judgment Secondly Tho many eminent Divines and particularly of London do comply with this Custom yet some others no less eminent refuse to do it Dr Sherlock and Mr Arwaker have both writ expresly against it