and Godmothers should be prescribed in Scripture the receiving of persons by Baptism there being upon their own actual Faith and before there was any National Church wherein this order could be observed and it was sufficient that the Children were then admitted to Baptism as they were in the Covenant that is by the Faith of the Parents I answer In these words there seems to me to be a plain contradiction in themselves but nothing of reason why Godfathers and Godmothers are not mentioned in Scripture for the baptizing of Infants There is a contradiction in them for you say Persons in those times were received upon their own actual Faith and yet you presently add further that Children were then admitted to Baptism by the Faith of their Parents There is nothing of reason in them for what they are propounded for though Parents were received by their own actual Faith and Children by the Faith of such Parents what is this of bar and impediment to Godfathers and Godmothers at the baptizing of Infants or why they should not be mentioned and appointed in Scripture Surely in my weak apprehension nothing at all But the Adult as you truly speak in Scripture-times were admitted into the Church by Baptism through their own actual Faith and their Children were invested with the same Priviledge by virtue of the Covenant as being there declared in that Royal Charter and Patent Fellow-Inheritors of the same Promise together with their Parents And are not Children in our days received by Baptism in the same way and upon the same terms and conditions as from the beginning Since therefore according to your own Concession their Children then had no Sureties when they were baptized neither need ours in the like Circumstances You would confute me and you confute your self But you say Abundans cautela should not be scrupled but rather commended I answer Let us not pretend to be more careful than God in the receiving of those into his Family whom he commands us to receive but leave him wholly to his own most Sapient Providence and admit of all such upon his own conditions and consult no better Secondly I objected that the Father of the Child is left out not mentioned nor at all taken notice of at the baptizing For the vacating of this Objection you say The receiving the Child supposes the Father concerned in it because it is through his Faith he is in Covenant I answer You speak so much in the Clouds that I am utterly at a loss what Arrow you let fly at me or what you intend Every Child I know supposeth a Father and every baptized Child a believing Parent yet this believing Parent is left out who notwithstanding is and ought to be the main Susceptor and Surety for his Child 's good abearing on him I say it is incumbent to promise and vow to bring up his Child in the knowledge and obedience of the Christian Faith much rather than upon Godfathers and Godmothers But you say As to the particular ingaging of the Father for the Childs Education he must be worse than an Infidel if he do not take care for those of his own House I answer Though I will not yet some would be ready to reply And therefore the Minister is worse than an Infidel if he do not mind him of his duty especially at such a proper and peculiar season when this Parent may well be supposed to bring his Babe to the Minister desiring him to receive it and make it a visible Church-Member But in the whole Office of Baptism the Father is not considered nor any thing of his duty signified unto him But you say Not to admit Godfathers and Godmothers might in some cases be totally to debar the Child of Baptism because it may so fall out that the Father may be dead before the Child is born and then how shall he be offered to Baptism I answer Though the Father of the Child be dead yet some one or other at all times either by Nature as being next of Kin or by Deputation from the Person deceased or some other way will appear as a Propater a second Father to the Child to offer him to Baptism but put the case that none should appear yet for want of such a Sponsor the Babe must not be debarred of its right but ought by the care of the Church both to be baptized and edoctrinated in the Christian Faith Thirdly I objected that Godfathers and Godmothers are generally brought to the Font to a vouch a great untruth and make themselves obnoxious of lying and Perjury in the Face of God and the Church You say If they be guilty of this this is their abuse of what is well intended I answer Whatsoever is found by along Quotidian experience to be the occasion of much sin if it be not in it self absolutely necessary to be done and continued in prudence and piety also it ought to be disused But say you The Child also may not answer the intents and purposes of that solemn Vow in Baptism neither the Father make good his promise on the behalf of him and therefore if Godfathers and Godmothers shall be detained from ingaging for fear and danger of falsifying their promises and ingagements with parity of reason the Child also upon the same account may be detained from being baptized and the Father likewise from being a Surety for him I answer What God commands is one thing and what Man commands is another Whatsoever God commands to be observed must be observed without regarding Consequences and such I hope you apprehend at least the Ordinance of Infant-baptism if not also of the Father his then being chief Sponsor but in all humane commands and appointments consequences are much to be weighed and considered either as a Motive for them or a Bar against them and therefore such humane commands should not be imposed which are never likely to be performed much less those which as such and such circumstances may and often do arise and occur are tantum non next to an impossibility now of this nature are those duties required of Godfathers and Godmothers with reference to their God-children and of this kind is the task imposed upon them which yet rashly and inconsiderately enough they undertake to make good and fulfil You know the charge then given them by the Minister and have given it your self I suppose many and many a time in these words Forasmuch as this Child hath promised by you his Sureties to renounce the Devil and all his works to believe in God and to serve him Ye must remember that is your parts and duties to see that this Infant be taught so soon as he shall be able to learn what a solemn promise and profession he hath here made by you And that he may know these things the better ye shall call upon him to hear Sermons and chiefly ye shall provide that he may learn the Creed the Lords
the Pharisees and some other people who are very like them I understand your Elegant Periphrasis and the biting Sarcasme in it Oh how sweet are your lips Honey and Milk are under your tongue yet what is the reason of all this rancour and bitterness what is the cause ye cannot speak peaceably of us or to us what is our desert what our provocation are we not abased sufficiently have ye not all in possession do ye envy our being and breathing amongst you Death hath eased you of many of us already and cannot you quietly expect a little longer and we shall all retire and trouble you no more I grieve and am sad to see you of this spirit but rejoyce and am glad my Soul is not under your power for if it were I might fear unplacable wrath never to be appeased would never forgive me neither in this world nor in the world to come But to come to our business you say I am much mistaken in the temper of the Church of England verily I am not at all mistaken for I see it evidently in her Children the Sons of the Church especially if all be of your temper for the Church of England neither does any thing nor leaves any thing undone meerly for a note of distinction and separation I know not what weight and stress you put upon the word meerly or else as good a Church and better than ever the Church of England was notwithstanding its Grandeur and Glory with the Pomp of that name has and that too by the counsel and command of infinite wisdom and reason upon the account of distinction and separation from others not more idolatrous and sinful than the Papists in their worship left off several Rites and Customs not only sinful and unlawful so some will dare to say of signing with the Cross but in themselves otherwise innocent and harmless I have a most unhappy memory and cannot recover the name of the Author a Christian Jew who apodictically and most elaborately discovers that many things were directed in their Law by God both to be done and left undone by the Nation of the Jews chiefly to difuse and take them off from the ways and practices of the Gentiles that were round about them But let infallible truth be the judge in this matter Levit. 18.3 After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt ye shall not do and after the doings of the Land of Canaan whither I bring you shall ye not do neithet shall ye walk in their Ordinances Then Moses all along the Chapter enumerates many of those Heathenish doings from which the people of God were most religiously to abstain but in the next Chapter following some other things are mentioned which in themselves absolutely considered were neither sinful nor unlawful yet upon the score of Non conformity were forbidden them ver 27. Ye shall not round the corners of your Heads neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy Beard But why what evil in it Ainsworth gives us the true reason of this Inhibition This saith he is likely to be the manner of the Heathens especially in their mourning as these Laws compared with Chap. 21. v. 5. seem to imply and he brings in the Authority of Maimonides in these words It was the manner of Idolatrous Priests to mar their Beards therefore the Law forbiddeth to mar the Beard So again v. 28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the Dead nor print any marks upon you The aforesaid most Learned Expositor here again out of the same Maimonides informs us what these prints or marks were viz. When one did cut open his flesh and filled the cut place with Stibium or with Ink or some other colour and this was the custom at the Heathens and particularly this they were wont to do in sorrow and mourning for a Sâ—ul departed as it is in Thargum Jonathan Now from these and other like Heathenish Rites God will keep his people and therefore it is said Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the Dead I could easily produce much more to the same purpose but I think it needless I excepted against what is annexed at the end of the Sacrament It is certain by Gods Word that Children which are baptized dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved You say Had you a mind you might wave the dispute Surely it would be your prudence so to do for though you affirm it evidently to be the Doctrine of your Church as appears from the Homilies and several passages in the Office of Baptism it self yet I apprehend it beyond the wisdom and learning of all the Fathers and Sons of the Church together to make good the Enunciation especially it being so indefinite and unlimited concerning the Children baptized without all restriction and yet so positive and peremptory in the Predicate I called for the Uâ—i out of Gods Word viz. wherein I might be satisfied beyond all doubt of Christened Childrens Salvation before actual sin You should have designed the Holy Page this had been a direct and easie way of Confutation by which I must have been convinced and silenced and there had been an end of the Contest But I see you cannot bring your proof nor indeed offer any thing like unto it out of Scripture wherefore my Objection is just and I suppose unanswerable Secret things belong unto the Lord and surely the Salvation of Infants even as of the Adult is inter arcana one of Gods Secrets Why therefore should any presume to intermeddle with it and confidently pronounce concerning the whole Genus of such a sort of Infants that they are all undoubtedly saved Though they are young do they not make a number in computation which if they do certainly their number is great very great especially if that Observation be true that well nigh half of all born and Christned among us depart this life before they have committed actual sin These are a swarming multitude and yet shall all these undoubtedly be saved Far be it from me to limit the grace and mercy of God yet methinks even from this consideration we have some ground of a contrary suspition out of Gods Word at least of suspending our judgment in the matter before us For though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea a Remnant shall be saved Rom. 9.27 There are few that are saved only a Remnant a little end of the whole Piece some few choice ones only among those who are stiled the Israel of God shall be thought worthy of eternal life But I forbear to bring in any new Objections only give me leave to ask you this question How you can fairly wave this dispute how can you think it not incumbent upon you to make good the Assertion and justifie what you have assented and consented unto You tell me upon what account Because though it be contained in
demonstrated out of Gods Word in the true sense and meaning of it or by any certain and necessary Inâ—erence and Reason from it and our business is at an end This therefore you attempt as it were Syllogistically If those who are regularly admitted into the Church of Christ have a right to the blessings of the Covenant then they have a Title to Salvation I answer There is no such word in the Rubrick as regularly admitted which makes me wonder at your confidence to add what you please from time to time to serve your turn 'T is an hard question whether all Children in England be regularly admitted as you may expound the words by Baptism into the Church yea or not I cannot divine what are your thoughts in the case nor what an Avenue and Start-hole you would find from regularly admitted rather than be set up and Mated There is a great ambiguity in the word regularly admitted which must be ascertained wherefore we must suppose all Infants baptized in the Church of England according to the Liturgy are regularly admitted into the Church of Christ for the Rubrick intends at least all of them yea it speaks of Children indefinitely wherefore if these being regularly admitted as we suppose they are into the Church of Christ have a right unto the blessings of the Covenant then they have a Title to Salvation I answer If by having a right to the blessings of the Covenant you mean all the blessings of the Covenant even to the ultimate and great blessing of all viz. Salvation then there is Petitio Principii not to be granted until it be proved as being the Bone of Contention But if by having a right to the blessings of the Covenant you mean some blessings of the Covenant I shall readily concede for even their admission into the Church as visible Church-Members is a great Covenant-blessing immediately investing them with the actual priviledge of having God for their God in a more peculiar manner than those without the Pale besides with a foundation right of enjoying the Oracles Ordinances Communion of Saints c. Their admission into the Church by Baptism gives them from that time forward jus in re though not jus ad rem by reason of their present incapacity But you further argue If they have not a right to the blessings of the Covenant through a regular admission into the Church by Baptism then Baptism is an insignificant Ceremony and not the Seal of the Covenant I answer They have many blessings of the Covenant as I have now shown though yet they may fall short of the greatest of all and therefore Baptism notwithstanding is not an insignificant Ceremony but a Seal of the Covenant Shortly Baptism supplied the room of Circumcision which was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith yet we cannot avouch that all who were regularly circumcised should have been undoubtedly saved had they died in their Infancy for Esau was Circumcised as well as Jacob concerning whom without all respect either of their doing good or evil that the Purpose of God might stand according to Election it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Esau was hated both before and after Circumcision which therefore could never have been his sure Convoy to happiness had he immediately expired upon the receiving of this Seal Salvation depends upon Election and not at all upon our sooner or later dying after we are baptized These are your Arguments unto which I will not say with a just return in your own Dialect The man is mad and raving but his Logick is weak and will not do the work Yet it may be from your civility and good nature thus to mollifie and lenefie your hard speeches with soft arguments In the interim we are now still under the same doubt about the undoubted Salvation of Christned Infants dying before actual sin as we were in the beginning and so shall continue until we see better reasons to the contrary and therefore cannot assent and consent My following Queries are neither captious nor impertinent but natural and apposite if we look upon the words of the Rubrick as considered in themselves viz. It is certain by Gods Word that Children which are baptized dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved for here is the Opus Operatum Children baptized and dying before actual sin here is the effect at least the sure consequent of it such are undoubtedly saved here is nothing mentioned concerning the Modus how and in what manner the work is or ought to be done to produce such an effect or fore-signifie such a Consequent Now therefore if such a Consequent do necessarily follow after such a Cause then if it be in the power of Man to be such a Cause as to kill a poor Infant presently after Baptism it will be in his power also to bring about such an effect viz. the Salvation of such an Infant But you say Regularly admitted by Baptism which the Church of England supposes answers most of my captious Queries I answer Let me have liberty to put in and out and suppose what I please in all cases as you do from time to time and I will nullo negotio untye every Gordion Knot I will affirm or deny any Proposition be it in it self true or false right or wrong without any scruple or hesitation no Priest or Jesuite shall be able to out-do me How know you that the Church supposeth these words Regularly admitted by Baptism Why should you presume to set such limits to put such a close Hedge about the Rubrick when it lies open and in common But if you will thus incroach presumptuously from your own head and heart why am I bound to give credit unto you or govern my Faith and Practice by your private Sentiments Yet I wish these words Regularly admitted by Baptism had been expressed in the Rubrick which perhaps might have saved me the trouble of objecting and so you of confuting But granting the truth of the Rubrick in its latitude I said That a Minister would be very cruel and unmerciful to deny any Children their Christendom though their Parents out of weakness or tenderness of Conscience scrupled Godfathers and Godmothers and the Sign of the Cross and durst not upon that score bring their Children to be baptized yet as I added if he were a true Son of the Church and punctually observed his prescribed Rule he must not baptize any Infant without Godfathers and Godmothers without signing of it with the Sign of the Cross whether it be saved or damned Here you say I am a man of Conscience that is of no Conscience at all of a tender Conscience that is cauteriz'd But why for bringing in such a false and unjust Charge against the practice of the Church of England which as plainly appeareth in the form of private Baptism has expresly ordered her Ministers to baptize Children without Godfathers and Godmothers or
Enemy alone and fights against his own shadow as if it were an armed man and then triumphs like a Thraso in his wonderful Manhood for vanquishing such an Appearance But say you Do we not think we may safely assent and consent to the Contents of any Writings that pass an Estate for fear of Errata which by frequent copying out and transcribing the enrolled Deeds may happen to be there I answer I never yet heard of any such Writings of Conveyance or Charters of Liberties and Properties where the Parties concerned were called to declare their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in them or else should be punished with the loss of their Temporal Rights which yet is the penalty of all those who will not assent and consent to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer I have sometimes seen the Accounts of Merchants adjusted and subscribed by their names but with this Proviso saving all errours in them unknown to our selves Now upon this condition you and I will quickly compromise the difference let me insert these words Saving all errours which may be found therein as your Fore-man was good at inserting and I will readily declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer But I charge my Governours at least by insinuation with a pretending to an Infallibility in their requiring an unfeigned assent and consent to all things devised and prescribed by them but this is an odious Inference I answer How odious soever yet if the Charge be true the odiousness is not at all to be imputed to the Insinuation but wholly to the Injunction But say you This is destructive to the reason of all Laws and by this Argument every Law-giver must be supposed to be Infallible the end of all whose Injunctions are to be assented and consented to I answer This is nothing destructive to other Laws because Law-makers in making those Laws never require of the people any such unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by their Institutes but only submission and obedience Secular Laws reach only to compliance of the outward man and not meddle with our thoughts and Conscience whereas this Declaration requires the inward approbation of the mind will and heart as well as the outward observation in matter of practise which is one great ground of our Quarrel against it But say you If it be necessary there should be a Rule of Uniformity 't is necessary that men subscribe to it not as an absolute Rule of Conscience but as a Rule of Peace and Ordor and this is all the Church requires that they so far submit their wills and understandings to their Governours as for these ends to conform to what they have prescribed I answer We must and ought to submit our will and understanding to the prescription of our Governours both in Conformity and in every case so far forth as Conscience will allow us and no further Conscience will intermeddle and be inquisitive into all our actions whether we will or no and if Truth and Right be not at the bottom Peace and Order which otherwise in general should prevail much with us will never be able to free and justifie us from the inward severe censure and condemnation of it The Composers of this Book of Common-Prayer thought all things therein right and good in every particular but unto this I replied Though this was their perswasion yet it might not be every mans perswasion and therefore I said I thought it not equal to compel all others jurare in verba Magistri to declare themselves to be fully of the same mind and judgment with them my reason was Hast thou Faith have it to thy self force it not upon others compel them not to think as thou thinkest and to declare as thou declarest Now you would know of the scrupulous Non-conformist whether this rule be given to the publick Officers of the Church or to the private Christian I answer This Rule is given to all Christians whether publick or private according to the several occurences which may befal them You should have rather queried About what this rule is given I would have told you that it was given concerning things which are not evidently and certainly true and good in their own nature beyond all doubtful disputation now such are many things contained in the Liturgy as the reading of Apocrypha signing with the sign of the Cross c. these things are not of an infallible truth nor are we sure of the goodness of them in their own nature by the Word of God wherefore here the forementioned rule is most apposite and necessary Hast thou Faith have it to thy self in these uncertain doubtful matters compel not others to judge as thou judgest nor to affirm what thou affirmest But say you Why or how then can there be any publick Sanctions in the world I answer There should be no publick Sanctions especially in the matters of God and his Worship unto which every private Professor shall be called and necessitated to give his unfeigned assent and consent as we are bound to do in all things with reference to the Liturgy but the truth and goodness of them in their own nature should instantly and apparently be seen by every eye beyond all scruple or doubtful hesitation for otherwise whosoever shall so declare his unfeigned assent and consent will either do it blindly at all adventures or else unfaithfully with a wavering uncertain judgment or else wickedly against his own mind and thoughts Wherefore the highest of publick Magistrates may not abuse their Power into any oppressive compulsion but are bound for Peace sake and for Conscience sake not to bind the Consciences of the people to believe and imbrace their private particular Sentiments as if they were Oracular and beyond all questioning but leave them to their own liberty to judge as they please until such time as they are better informed and more fully convinced But say you A publick Church-Officer may reject an Heretick I answer What is this to the matter before us Because he may reject an Heretick that is one who denies the Fundamentals of Religion and Godliness therefore he is above this rule Hast thou Faith have it to thy self and may compel those under him to believe what he believes and say what he saith From such a kind of wild reasoning libera nos I profess I am at my wits end here as in several other places to find what you drive at how then shall I fence my self against you I wished as to the Liturgy our Law-givers had required no more than use and submission as preceding Governours hâ—d done before them You say And what is more required I answer Very much for when I declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing c.
I speak as much as can be spoken in words to express my love approbation and choice concerning all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book as most true and unquestionable to be believed as most eligible and desirable to be observed in every Office Service Rite Ceremony and Circumstance thereof but when I only submit to the use of the Liturgy I yield for peace and order's sake to my Superiours in things not simply sinful and unlawful though in themselves far from perfection and far from my desire in my own free choice and election And what I have now asserted with little less than a contradiction to your self you have acknowledged already in your foregoing discourse Paragraph 4. And in this very Paragraph you do it again when you say 'T is our Zeal too they are offended at that beyond what our preceding Governours did with reference to this Book of Common-Prayer we thus strictly enjoyn that Ministers do declare their unfeigned assent and consent but are not the men we have to deal with those that are gone off from all obedience to Church and State and is it not reason we take some pledge of them for their future integrity Is any man found guilty of a much less hainous Indictment and yet discharged without giving Sureties for his behaviour Shall men who have broken through Oaths of Allegiance shall such men be displeased if we cannot take the Viper into our Breast without pulling out the Sting That we dare not admit men of these Principles and Practices to come into the Church without giving such Caution of their being in good earnest as may justifie those in admitting them who have the care of the Publick Now what is the purport and meaning of all these words and many more of the same nature but plainly to tell us that an harder Yoke is now put upon our Necks than upon Ministers in former days and that our Governours had all reason to make our Bonds stronger as for the punishment of by-past miscarriages so for the prevention of future relapses Here therefore you forget your self But you say It is not necessary to the assent and consent here required that every particular person should take upon him expresly to determine in all these points 't is sufficient that nothing is sinful much less doth it become his humility to oppose the Opinion he hath of a thing 's being good and expedient to the sense and reason of his Governours 't is matter of obedience belongs unto him c. I answer Though this be your mind and judgment I am clearly of another Opinion I must determine in all points whether the things be right and good yea or not before I can assent and consent unto them I must be well ascertained what I affirm for a truth to be a truth indeed else I may be guilty of some degree of lying in speaking the very truth It is not contrary to humility but the just and due exercise of reason to search into the goodness and expediency of whatsoever I am called to assent and consent unto by whomsoever commanded yea and to oppose my private Opinion to the sense and reason of my Governours if what they stile sense and reason shall evidently appear to be without sense and reason and at the widest distance in a contrary way Every man is bound to see with his own eyes and to judge from his own understandings if he will act like a rational Creature it is not the part of Gospel-humility but of Sheepish stupidity to follow our Leaders not at all considering or judging of the way but by a blind Implicit Faith and submission yielding to be turned into every path meerly because it is their pleasure and appointment Thus far in general now in particular I excepted against the order and appointment for the reading of the holy Scriptures because many Books of Apocrypha are commanded to be read for the Lessons of the day as the Book of Tobit Bell and the Dragon c. while some of the Sacred Canon are wholly left out c. Now for the removing this Exception you say We desire that our Governours be not blamed if according to their best discretion they have chosen out such parts of Scripture to be read in the Congregation which are most intelligible and if they have omitted others which they thought would not be for the edification of a vulgar Auditory and if they have mixed some of Apocrypha as may be of wholesome instruction I answer Though you would not have your Governours blamed for this mixture yet some others will question their zeal and discretion herein and think they have just reason so to do For who shall presume to be wiser than Christ for the good nurture of his Church who shall take on them to determine which is most intelligible and most edifying to the people either the holy Scripture or any other writings I am sure he that knows it hath said All Scripture and therefore that part of Scripture also which is left out of the Kalendar is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to all good works There is no such testimony left on Record concerning any of the best parts of Apocrypha though some of those appointed to be read in the Congregation are far from the best to say no more Therefore this appointment by our Governours may well be scrupled but then the other appointment upon this appointment is most highly to be blamed I mean in their requiring all Ministers to declare an unfeigned assent and consent to this their appointment though in their own hearts at least many of them do not approve of this order but wish it were otherwise But is this a reason say you to break Communion with a Church let any man judge To this I have answered already for though I would read some Books of Apocrypha rather than break Communion with the Church as possibly not being in it self sinful and unlawful yet I would rather break Communion a thousand times over with the best Church in the world than be a wilful transgressor and such should I be in a notorious manner if a Lye be a transgression and I should lye most egregiously to declare my unfeigned assent and consent that is my will and desire to read the Apocrypha rather than Scripture in the hearing of the people for in the bottom of my Soul and in the truth of my Reins I am utterly against it I excepted against the order appointed for the Ministration of Baptism because of the strict requiring of Godfathers and Godmothers to stand as Sureties and Undertakers for the Child brought to his Christendom and this upon several accounts as First Because it is unscriptural Unto this you say It cannot be supposed that this order of Godfathers