the Sign of the Cross You know not what remark to make on this but leave it to my self and every impartial Reader to think on it Though you do not know what Remark to make on my Objection yet I know what Remarks to make on your Confutation for plainly I observe in it falseness and weakness First there is a great untruth in it for though you say The Church of England has expresly ordered in that private form of baptizing to baptize Children without Godfathers and Godmothers or the Sign of the Cross yet there is no such thing expressed or mentioned in the Order but at the uttermost it is only supposed by a Mute and will you call silence expression Here I leave you to your self and serious thoughts so likewise to the thoughts of the impartial Reader how far you can stretch to bring in an Accusation If the Minister in private Baptism should sign the Infant baptized with the Sign of the Cross would he cross the intent of that silent which you call express Order yea or not I believe nothing at all which to do had it been an expressed or declared Order would have been a manifest violation of the same And then as to Godfathers and Godmothers they are both mentioned and interrogated and as clearly brought in for the Consummation of private Baptism as in publick Secondly There is a great weakness in our Confutation for my Objection lies against the manner of baptizing in ordinary and you answer me from the manner of baptizing in extraordinary as in case of any apparent danger of death What can only Parents whose Children are in danger of death have these scruples mentioned by me against Godfathers and Godmothers and against the Sign of the Cross and not multitudes besides them How shall the Children of these how scrupulous soever they be as you avouch they may come to their Christendom What shall these whether these Children be in imminent peril of death yea or not come with a lye in their mouths to the Minister and say Pray Sir baptize our Children according to the private order of Baptism for they are ready to die though they are not Well he comes and on the contrary sees their Children strong and well ought he now to baptize them according to the private or publick form Surely according to the publick because the pretended necessity of the private is found a falsity Here ergo the scrupulous Parents are at the same Bar as at the beginning and their Children as far from being baptized as ever and this too because the Minister will not and according to order ought not to baptize their Children without Godfathers and Godmothers and the Sign of the Cross Now what I have here spoken is not an idle Supposition and â— meer Imagination but I have reason to believe it a real truth iâ— matter of fact for I know the Person very well who has again and again been desired by Parents to baptize their Children and being unwilling and averse to intermeddle in that affair hath sincerely counselled the said Parents to have a recourse to their own Parish-Minister to do it for them whose proper office it was but they have replied He will not baptize our Children without Godfathers and Godmothers and we know not where to get them My last scruple was against the Order and Office for the Burial of the Dead wherein we have as much said as can well be signified and expressed by word or tongue concerning the most certain salvation and happiness of every one buried by the Minister though of the worst of men though of the most flagitious and facinorous persons so living and so dying What think you of S. Coleman the Traytor I am assured from an Eye and Ear-witness that he was buried in S. Giles's Church-yard by one of the Readers and by the Common-Prayer Book and so perhaps were the rest not of the Loyal but Liolan and lying Saints after him At every such Interment the Minister saith Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother here departed c. What can more plainly signifie the safety and bliss of such a Soul what can more fully declare the love and favour of God towards it and place it in Heaven You say It is no more than that of Solomon in the Ecclesiastes Chap. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it But surely in my judgment God his taking to himself and this too in mercy in great mercy every such particular soul whose body is committed to the ground sounds and imports much more than Solomon intended by his returning of the Spirit unto God after death for the whole verse is but a general description of death and to give us to understand that after death the Body goes one way and the Soul another the Body to the Ground and the Soul unto God that is ad Deum Judicem unto God as unto a Judge before whose dreadful Tribunal the Soul immediately after death shall be brought to appear and there shall be sentenced according to desert either to weal or woe for ever and ever This is quite another thing from God his receiving of every Soul departed in great mercy to himself which implies the happy and setled state and abode of such a Soul in the place of Gods abode to all Eternity You say To return to God and to be taken to him signifies to be put in the immediate disposal of God and for your Authority and Vouch you quote one Mr. Falkner I see by your often quotations of him you securely rely upon him as if he were an unerring Oracle and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unanswerable demonstration nevertheless I know not the man nor ever yet set eye upon any of his learned Lucubrations and therefore how truly or how falsly you have quoâ—ed or perhaps transcribed him I can neither affirm or deny I freely grant him to be a Reverend Person of great Abilities according as you have reported him notwithstanding my Faith and Perswasion depend not upon his sense and judgment nor indeed of any mans else though otherwise the most Renowned for Learning in the Age but only upon the Infallible Truth of Gods Word and therefore will follow him and you also as far as ye follow that but no further He saith according to your quotation Our Church acknowledgeth to be an act of mercy in God through the Grace of Christ who hath the Keys of Hell and Death that dying persons do not forthwith go into the power of the Devil who had the power of Death but do immediately go into the hands of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to be disposed of by him according to the promises and conditions of the Gospel-Covenant c. These are his words but can these be verified
faithfully be paid and discharged shall not this Chief and indeed sole Debtor be called upon and that too in the first place to pay his Debt In right reason he should and you your self would be of the same mind were you in some great Bond only Collateral Security to a Friend and this too in little more than a Complement Now therefore that the Principal and sole Debtor is not once mentioned or called upon for the payment of the Debt but only the Collaterals this is my Exception and I think not without cause But you say Nature and Religion call upon the Principal Debtor viz. the Father of the Child and that is sufficient without any further Call from the Minister I know what you would reply in the case but I am not so spirited Nature and Religion call upon us to keep the Moral Law or ten Commandments and therefore the Ministers Call to keep them is needless and out of doors This is to make composita to be opposita The more Obligations are upon us from Religion and Nature to fulfill any duty the more we are to be called upon by Arguments out of those Topicks to perform the same and all little enough If not always Nature yet always Religion does bind Godfathers and Godmothers quae tales to perform the promise made on the behalf of the Child baptized for if it be not from Religion there can be no tye in the case yet the Church thinks not Religion enough to bind them without the further help of additional Exhortation why therefore should not the same be thought necessary to the Father himself to bind him also to his duty notwithstanding any preceding Obligation of Nature I approve not of the Sign of the Cross nor that Sacramental mystical way of signing with this Sign as if baptizing with Water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost were not sufficient but moreover the Sign of the Cross needful to bind the Conscience and confer the Blessing You say The sum of my Argument against signing with the Cross is because lest by a perverse interpretation it may seem to the vulgar people what it is not and what I my self dare not affirm it to be but herein you are either wilfully blind or grosly in the dark for though I mentioned my fear lest the action then done by the Minister for then the Priest shall make a Cross upon the Childs Forehead and the words then uttered by him We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christs Flock and do sign him with the sign of the Cross in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue Christs faithful Souldier unto his lives end might be taken in a wrong sense and mistaken by the generality and do fear it still yet the presumptuous addition of the Cross to Baptism and this too after the manner of another Sacrament the devised Sacrament of man to the instituted Sacrament of God was the grand cause of my exception against it for if we may add at our pleasure the Sign of the Cross why not also with some others Cream Salt and Spittle yea whatsoever else the daring invention of man shall think meet to devise and conjoyn Who in this case shall set the limits and say Ne plus ultra As for mine own part I would sooner yield to have my Child baptized with Cream Salt and Spittle yea though Snow and Sope also were put into the Laver than to have it signed with the Sign of the Cross in such a mystical manner We are neither to add nor diminish in the matter of Gods Worship and particularly this holds good in the Sacraments of the Gospel which in their own nature are Signs and Ceremonies wherefore if we shall arrogate to our selves the license of adding Sign to Sign and Ceremony to Ceremony in so doing we boldly set Threshold against Threshold and proudly usurp no less than the place and Dictatorship of God himself This likewise more than faintly and covertly speaks the Baptism of Water to be lame and wanting of it self alone which I have the courage to speak out in the hearing of all according to your command yea I promise you if you will be at the charge to procure me one of Sir Samuel Moreland's Stentorean Tubes I will take the pains to go up to the Monument and at the top of it I will trumpet it out as a truth all over the City and if I could I would cause it to ring and eccho from one end of the Nation to another Why else is this dedicating sign of the Cross at the time of the Infants Dedication by washing in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost thought so necessary and constantly co-applied But you have a Church-Canon by you mounted and bent on purpose to discharge upon me prim'd with the Rubrick and ready to give fire upon all occasions with a loud contrary report Well be it so yet after all it is but brutum fulmen I mean only protestatio contra factum and therefore ipso facto void and of none effect As if you should vow and protest you were no Idolater and yet at the same time worship a Crucifix adore the Host or bow your knee to the Image of Baal You indeed baptize the Child with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and you say the Child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized yet notwithstanding at the same time you sign him with the sign of the Cross in token hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil c. Now this is the answer of a good Conscience and the main End and Obligation of Baptism as to the party baptized which the Cross and the signing him with that sign and not washing alone must at least mind him of if not spirit him in and ingage him to with the greatest manhood and courage else signing with the sign of the Cross is a meer insignificancy and a ridiculous nothing Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate What need the Cross if washing with water could sufficiently bring about its own ends The Cross therefore as it is there used loudly proclaims washing of and by it self incompleat and imperfect Something was spoken further by me about laying aside the use and custom of signing with the sign of the Cross to distinguish our selves from the Idolatrous Papists who superstitiously adore the Cross foolishly fondly and wickedly signing themselves with it upon every occasion putting no little confidence in it to free them from evil and to furnish them with all good But upon this score to leave off Crossing you call it vanity and affectation which is peculiar to
yet it is not prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer that is it is never to be used and we assent and consent only to the use of those things which are both contained in and prescribed by that Book This word both thrust in by your self as you imagine gives you your quietus est Hitherto I have taken you for a Divine but now one would think you some cunning subtil Lawyer with your Tricks and Quirks you have found out an unexpected Loop-hole to escape and baffle your Bond which hath lost all force and vertue of Obligation in sensu diviso because it only binds in sensu composito Yet pardon me Sir for I must assume the liberty to keep this Yoke still upon your Neck shake it off how you can But how Thus You dare not but acknowledge that the great and learned Sages of the Church who composed and worded this Declaration were compotes mentis and understood what they did better than your self or any such Expositor and therefore had as it hath been shewn already when they put in these words assent and consent into the said Declaration credenda as well as agenda in their thoughts and intentions they had equally an eye to both these in the time of the composing it Besides what is there spoken for the clearing of this truth I am now further confirmed in my Opinion by the two following Participles contained in and prescribed by which very naturally and almost necessarily answer the foregoing Substantives Assent and Consent to such an end and purpose as thus I declare my unfeigned assent to all and every thing as truth and right to be believed which is contained in the Book of Common-Prayer and I declare my unfeigned consent to all and every thing as good and eligible to be practised and observed which is prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer Here is Grammar and sense and I suppose the very sense intended by the Law-makers Surely they well weighed every several and distinct word in such a set and solemn Protestation and therefore every several distinct word in it hath its several distinct weight and purpose for far be it from me to charge such considerate Composers as guilty of any Tautology much less of Battology unto which you will cause them to approach too near if assent and consent unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book c. do refer to and terminate upon use and practice only without any further aim then it had been fully enough to say I declare my unfeigned consent to all and every thing prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer and no need at all either of the word assent or of the word contained in to be once mentioned or thought upon You therefore deserve a rebuke from your Superiours for your presumptuous intrusion who made you of their counsel why should you leave out or put in any thing without their Commission why should you insert the word use which they never inserted But then you go further for having inserted the word use you say confidently enough that assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by centre wholly upon the word use and have no other matter to respect and then again from hence you think you have gained another point concesso uno absurdo c. of freeing your self from the difficulty and pressing force of the Exception against Christned Infants their certain and undoubted Salvation dying without actual sin by saying You are not bound to give assent and consent to this Rubrick because though it be contained in yet it is not prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer that is it is never to be used and we assent and consent only to the use of those things which are both contained in and prescribed by that Book But this is a deep fetch and a fine subtilty of your own never to be allowed What think you of the Church Catechism wherein we have a Compendium of the Churches Faith what does not the Declaration bind you to believe it your self as well as to teach it the Children what think you of the Creed does the Declaration only bind you to rehearse the Articles of it before the Congregation and not believe them your self Surely to the latter as well as the former Every Collect every Prayer has in it a Credendum as well as an Orandum and without the first the last cannot be performed since Faith is of the very essence of Prayer properly so called But what do you imagine the Declaration binds the Minister only to say over those Prayers and not to pray them or pray in them that is not to believe what he prays for to be right and according to Gods holy will and pleasure This seems to me highly Paradox and of a most dangerous consequence Grant you this Postulate and you spoil the whole Declaration as to the great intents and purposes of it for who may not declare in these words I assent and consent to all and every thing c. if nothing of belief but only use and submission be intended by them I have heard of some Jews continuing such without any change of their Religion officiating as Priests among the Papists and Celebrating Mass now why may not such Jews yea Turks also thrust in among our Clergy if by declaring their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer they signifie no more than that they will read over those Prayers perform those Offices and Ceremonies and submit to the use and doing of every thing enjoyned but in the interim without being obliged at all to believe the things so contained in and prescribed by the Book and so said and done by them to be right good and justifiable They may act as upon a Stage for a livelihood and have no concern about the thing acted or whom they personate Therefore Sir I tell you again you cannot wave the dispute but are bound to believe as well as to do all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer and to believe this in particular concerning the undoubted Salvation of Children baptized and dying before actual sin and this too as a truth asserted plainly and evidently out of Gods Word past all cavil or gain saying Wherefore I humbly and earnestly entreat you as a most learned Textuary to quote the place and satisfie my scruple for until then I dare not declare my unfeigned assent and consent unto such a doubtful and questioned Proposition contained in the Book But you would know of me whether nothing be undoubtedly certain by Scripture but what we have an express Text for Yes many things are undoubtedly certain by Scripture not only in terminis expressâ—s but also by an undeniable consequence wherefore let what is asserted concerning the undoubted Salvation of such Infants be confirmed and
of every wicked and profligate Wretch buried by the Liturgy Truth saith concerning such persons 2 Tim. 2.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that while they were alive as the word imports they were taken captive by the Devil Who therefore can believe that they made an escape from him and got out of his Clutches by death and not rather then fell under his power in a more fearful manner The Devil had and has still the power of Death in respect of all impenitent sinners as the Carnifex or Executioner has power over those who are condemned to die and accordingly put into his hands that the Sentence may be actually fulfilled But now are the Condemned ever known to escape from the Hangman after he has Noosed them in the Halter and actually trussed them up I think not So again who can believe that abominable wicked workers against whom I make the objection go immediately after death into the hands of the great God to be disposed of by him according to the promises of the Gospel-Covenant when the said persons had never the least qualification of Grace and Holiness to entitle them to the Covenant of Grace or the promise of the Gospel but utterly the contrary What therefore is this Harangue and flourish of words were they not only uttered by Mr. Falkner but also by an Angel to satisfie my scruple or give me a Licence when I am to bury the worst and most vile amongst men to say Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother Neither is there then place or season to mention any thing of a sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life unless to imbolden wicked livers to continue stilâ— in their sins much less to use any such expression in prayer That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him Christ as our hope is this our Brother doth Alas what well-grounded hopes can either Minister or people have and hâ—rbour of Drunkards Whoremongers Adulterers cursed Swearers and the like their resting in Christ who every day are brought unto the ground and buried by the Liturgy You say There are various degrees of hopes and some of them so little that we can hardly deny them to any person though never so wicked I confess in this particular your Charity and Hope is much beyond mine and yet I think mine is regulated according to the Gospel But your fullest justification of your Church in this matter is by supposing this Office of Burial to be performed only to persons dying in Communion with the Church I look upon it as the best Apology and I have heard it again and again yet it is not equal nor satisfactory because it supposeth if not an impossibility yet the greatest improbability For it is known upon matter of fact that Excommunication was never duly exercised nor Church-Discipline ever duly administred nor indeed likely to be for the future while in the interim multitudes multitudes of ungodly men are brought to the ground and there the last Office done unto them as if they were the most Godly and approved by the Church The Church supposeth or maketh a Foundation which is not and then buildeth her practice upon it against all right and seemliness It is as if I certainly knowing such and such persons to be really mad and out of their wits by a long Quotidian experience and yet from time to time would treat and converse with them as persons most sober and discreet because being men it must be supposed that they have exercise of reason and understanding But rather than not justifie the Office for the Dead and not to help out the defect of due Excommunication you say I doubt not but whosoever shall leave out that sentence as our hope is this our Brother doth at the burial of some notorious profligate sinners complies with the intention of the Church and may justifie himself to his Superiours for doing so I answer Antiquum obtines you are semper idem beginning and ending with the same mind and in the same way You can put in and leave out to serve a turn according to your pleasure and yet not be a Transgressor but comply with the intention of the Church Surely there is no such matter for the Church hath expresly ordered concerning the last prayers for the Office whereof these words as our hope is this our Brother doth are a part in this manner Then the Priest shall say shall say that is he must and ought to say them and never omit them Here the Minister is expresly commanded and much more than to baptize without the Sign of the Cross as you could urge in the case of private Baptism though most illogically and most remotely from true reason as far as a privative is from a positive and a Non-entity from a Being To conclude if you do not when you bury the dead though known beyond all peradventure to die in their sins use these very words as our hope is this our Brother doth you are a Transgressor against the Church inasmuch as you directly disobey her express order and rule and you contradict your own Declaration and little less than give the Lye to your own solemn Oath and Asseveration for then and there you declared your unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book entituled the Book of Common-Prayer and therefore to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the said Book for the Burial of the Dead which yet you like not nor approve in such and such cases that too often occur as to such and such persons which are every day upon the Biere but rather you think it right and meet to omit and skip them over as not proper to be applied not good to be mentioned On the other side if you use these words as our hope is this our Brother doth viz. rest in Christ at the Sepultures of the Sons of Belial while you obey the Churches order you are a transgressor against your own Conscience in uttering what you believe not and a transgressor against God in mentioning this your hope before him in your prayers as if you had good ground and authority for it out of his holy Word concerning the persons deceased when as in reality there is nothing in the Scriptures of Truth to intimate or countenance such an hope but altogether on the contrary to strike a fear in our hearts of their most miserable restless state under eternal death and damnation Sir What in your Conclusion you are pleased to stile the only piece of ingenuity in me is still my mind and judgment and I do not retract from it in the least let it displease whom it shall displease as I believe it will do many And what you say I acknowledge to be a great truth whether properly and directly inferred from my Concession yea or not
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.
that score deny his Babe Christendom He saith in such a Case the answer is plain that he ought not Though here he speaks without Book I mean the Common-prayer Book and against the Order of it in the Baptizing of Infants Whereas you say on the contrary in these words That odium he meaning me would load the Minister with that shall deny to Administer Baptism to them who come not according to the Rule of the Church are surely it should be is referring to odium besides our Argument 't is sufficient he the Minister hath no Title I think you mean hath no right for I am often at a loss to unriddle you so to do it that he is more serious in his function than to be knowingly unjust either to the trust the Church or God himself as I may say hath reposed in him If a Father come to have his Child Baptized but not according to the Rules of the Church The Minister has no Title so to do it and therefore in such Circumstances will be more just to the trust reposed in him than to Baptize the said Child If this be not the purport and intention of your words you speak unintelligibly but if they be you fight against your fellow Souldier yea and against Truth it self Shall we obey God or Man Christ hath said Go and disciple all Naions Baptizing them in the name of the Father c. and among others the Children of believing professing Parents simply because they are so This is the True Gospel trust put into the hands of Gospel Ministers well but the Church or man commands to Baptize them with God-Fathers and God Mothers and the sign of the Cross meer accidents and accessories forreign from the Nature and Essence of Baptism but only invented and imposed from Humane Tradition which therefore some weak and Scrupelous believers question and fear as a profanation of that Holy Ordinance and accordingly dare not so address themselves with their Children unto Baptism But now shall their Babes upon this account be denyed their birth-right Shall they be denyed a priviledge so excellent and so desirable Shall a pitiful order of the Church in Comparison over-rule and obtain Shall it be heeded and observed by the Minister more than the Regia placita of heaven it self God forbid I Objected against the order for the burial of the dead because what is there spoken to God and man though often at the interment of the worst of sinners is spoken of them as if they had been Saints and most devout Holy persons and their Souls then in a safe and happy State For first the Congregation by the mouth of the Minister speaks as it were to themselves one to another concerning the party deceased Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear brother He is a Brother a dear Brother his Soul is now taken by God taken in mercy in great mercy and it is taken to himself And then when Corps is put into the Grave he continues his speech in these words we therefore commit his body to the ground in a sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to Eternal life Then Secondly the Congregation in the close of the Office by the mouth of the Minister speaks unanimously to God we meekly beseech the O Father to raise us from the death of sin to the life of righteousness that when we shall depart this life we may rest in him Christ Jesus as our hope is this our Brother doth What can be said more if the most Holy Martyr or confessour if Stephen again were carried to his Burial Let him be a Nabal a Cain a Judas yet here is if I might use the Word his Apotheosis his enthronization among the Crowned in Celestial glory You say I have only this to say That it is in the judgment of Charity we prenounce this of all I answer Charity with judgment is a gracious Excellency but without judgment it is the greatest absurdity and nothing else but the vain opinion of an over-pittiful simplicity But if Charity be with judgment then it must have some Rule of judging and if the right Golden Rule then this Rule is the Word for I know no other Now if Charity hath this Golden Rule of the Word to judge by then Charity can have no hope for some many flagitious abominable sinners so living and so dying when they are brought to be buried as suppose two Hectors falling out and fighting for a Miss and both killing one another in the place or let it be one of them which happens too too often suppose some High-way Gentlemen in the very Act of Robbery shot down stark dead the same moment by the Honest Traveller and thus I might instance in many like Cases Here if we will speak soberly and according to Truth we can have no hope nothing being written in the whole Bible from end to end to ground the least of any such hope upon Here to mention what happened to the Thief upon the Cross and what may be the dealings of God with the most profane wretch at the last Minute as you do and what may befall the most profligate persons inter pontem fontem as some others is a vain execuse and cannot afford the least shew or shadow of a just Apology As for the Thief upon the Cross a wonderful Act of mercy was extended to him at the last by an extraordinary priviledge at an extraordinary occasion but withal we know what a wonderful extraordinary Testimony he gave of his Faith and of the Change of his heart before expiration The order for the burial of the dead might have been proper enough at his interment but would it also have been as proper at the interment of the other his Copartner in sin Had he suffered in England supposing all things then as now he might have then been buried according to Liturgy For I see none else excluded but the unbaptized Excommunicate and laying violent hands upon themselves and yet even these also upon your grounds may equally be admitted to Christian burial I am sure the first of them the unbaptized may upon far better and as for the worst of the other who knows how gracious God may be in his dealings with them in the last Minute Who knows None can know and because none can know therefore none can hope for hope without knowledge is a meer Nullity As for what we know concerning such abominable wicked workers if we believe the Holy Scripture which saith Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor revilers nor Extortioners shall ever inherit the Kingdome of God which saith without regeneration and holiness no man shall see the Lord and every where to the like purpose it speaks their condition desperate and damned and therefore with silence but without hope we must leave them wholly to the disposition and
stood he still but the Angel bound him Alas poor Asmodeus this was very severe after such sore Travail but Asmodeus must patiently endure it for bound he was not able to move hand or foot not able to stir or turn himself this way or another but perhaps continue in the same place and posture unto this day But it is now more than high time to be serious Has therefore a Spirit flesh and bones our Saviour saith it hath not Has a Spirit corporal parts and bodily members has a devil the Organs of carnal sense has he eyes to see as man seeth has he ears to hear as man heareth has he fingers to touch as man toucheth has he a palat to taste as man tasteth or has he a nose to smel as man smelleth Thou shalt make a smoak with the liver and heart of the fish and the devil shall smel it and flee away very true his smelling and fleeing are both of the same certainty no sooner did he one but he did the other also But is the devil capable of smelling even as much as the great huge stone in an open street of the Town wherein I was born is capable of hearing whereof it was commonly said as I well remember to poor little Children That whensoever it heard the Clock strike twelve it turned thrice round and it was puzling enough to them But is it possible for smoak or any material fume to affect and excruciate an immaterial and spiritual being or essence or put such an existency under the least consternation Oh how does the devil laugh behind the curtain Oh how is he pleased that such ludicrous representations and ridiculous stories should be given out and credited concerning himself Here is the old heathenish Doctrine revived and continued under Gospel light which teacheth us better things of the Gods or Daimons their burning in love their burning in filthy lust with young beautiful Virgins and women as Jupiter was deeply in love with Danae the daughter of Acrisius Apollo with Daphne the daughter of Peneus and others in like manner So here this Daimon or Devil is with Sarah the daughter of Raguel An evil Spirit loveth her saith Tobias unto Raphael when he first mentioned the match unto him Chap. 6. v. 14. But why because the maid was fair and witty v. 12. So here again we have the Doctrine of binding of Spirits and of keeping them from walking and haunting our houses and chambers with several other Ethnick poetical tales All which how they may admit of a fair solution from being pure fable and impure imposture and be reconciled to truth and reality as to matter of fact you have it in a readiness and as for all objections to the contrary you have promised to consider In the interim I would gladly learn what profit and edification can be propounded to the people in reading and in hearing the whole Legend of Tobit so likewise of Judith Bell and the Dragon and the rest which you say are fit to be read in the Christian Assembly Shall this Christian assembly believe what is read unto them or shall they not believe If they believe their minds are corrupted from the truth and they believe lyes if they believe not what spiritual good and advantage can they reap and receive from such light frothy vain yea even almost defiling Romances but that such stuff to use your own word in another Case such paultry pitiful stuff should be named and avouched to serve for instruction comfort and reproof as the Parables of our Saviour do filles me with wonder and astonishment What shall the fable of the Virgin sweet-heart and Miss to the Devil who flew several innocent persons in the nuptial chamber lest they should touch her serve as much for instruction as the Parable of our Saviour concerning the Ten Virgins whereof five were wise and five foolish and these last shut out and eternally repudiated for want of watchfulness and due preparation Or as the parable of our Saviour concerning a certain King making a Marriage for his Son and inviting many to the wedding who would not come but spightfully intreated the Messengers and were therefore destroyed and their city burnt up What shall the fable of the smoak and fuliginous steam from the heart and liver of the fish frighting and quite routing the devil serve for Consolation as the Parable of our Saviour concerningthe strong man armed and keeping the Palace yet overcome and cast out by a stronger than himself Or like that Parable of our Saviour for so I think it may be stiled when he said to his Disciples I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the power of the enemy What shall the Condescension of Raphael one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy one shall I say his stooping down to become a serving man to young Tobias or the humility reported of Raguel his mother in taking woman's work to do serve for reproof to those proud and haughty ones who will not stoop down to the lowest and meanest services for the good of others as the infinite abasement of our blessed Saviour when be made himself of no reputation but took upon him the form of a servant and when he took a towel and girded himself poured water into a bason washed his disciples feet and wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded Certainly such comparisons are not only odious but most execrable and accursed Wherefore what you have here spoken and uttered was only I hope in a Transport of indiscret zeal to your cause in hand and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your second and more considerate thoughts will bring you into a better understanding God grant it Amen A word or two more to my last Confuter and I have done Sir In your large introduction towards the close of it you tax me as one guilty of Sacriledge and who when time was according to common fame would have greedily swallowed down a Steeple only I could not do it either with the spire downward lest it should have pricked my Conscience nor with the Tower downwards lest the weather Cock should have appeared at the Top and shewn how the wind blew a very witty conceit I promise you And then you charge the whole generation of Non-conformists as making no scruple of swallowing Church and Church Lands yea you say They have already if they be not belied that is well put in divided the spoil and taken into their possession the houses of God by a Sacrilegious prolepsin But as for you and your party ye can wash you hands in innocency from any thing every thing of like imputation and nothing can tempt you to such an hainous wickedness Wherefore I would humbly and peaceably enquire of you Whether Conformists may not be Sacrilegious as
substitutes and under-feeders many of them sorry feeders God wot pitiful hirelings whose salaries are so smal as utterly to discourage and disenable them from any chearful and vigorous attending upon sacred things Alas several of them are necessitated to turn petty scriveners writing bills and bonds and stoop to such servile offices to patch up a livelihood What reverence and honour can be paid to such persons by the people which is most absolutely necessary for the success of their Ministry Hobb and John the meanest plowman in the Parish is ready to behave himself insolently against them and thinks himself as good a man as he who talks to him out of the Pulpit why he is but the poor Curate and not the principal man he is but the Usher and the School-boys regard him not for the Master whom they only fear and reverence is absent and elsewhere A noble Lord then lately returned from his long travail among other things told me that the French did wonderfully vilifie and set at naught such substitutes sent amongst them to officiate from the Lord Abbots and great Clergy-men styling them commonly Poures Diables Poor Devils in scorn and derision But now shall these be thought worthy to be the Embassadours of God and the Representatives of Christ can these rule over the house of God can these be supposed to have a throne in the hearts of the people and to speak unto them with all authority and power Alas their persons are vile their preaching vaine and their oratory contemptible Oh what disservice instead of service is hereby done unto Christ and his Church Oh how are the people hereby prompted to atheism and impenitency and so sent thronging to Hell rather than awfully awakened with fear and repentance and so brought home unto God! I wonder conscience flies not in the face of some persons concerned who cannot but be sensible that what I now write in great measure is according to truth I would not bring such guilt of the blood of Souls upon mine own Soul to reap the whole profit now in the hands of all the Church-men of England put together But in the interim are not they guilty of Sacriledge I think if any other these may be arraigned for it with a witness and stand charged with it in a most notorious manner Suppose a Knight or Gentleman has a Parsonage or Living in his gift of two or three hundred pounds per annum he puts in a Parson or Minister but yet by some clancular pact and condition reserves a third of the profits to himself the Clerk presented is of most approved abilities for the place and carries himself worthily in it Notwithstanding if this thing be known the Patron shall be sharply and severely censured as one that hath unpardonably violated the rights of the Church and bainous Sacriledge shall be imputed to him the poor Minister shall be outed for Simony and another will quickly force in upon the Premises But who is the man perhaps some great Doctor who has several Church-promotions already but he must and will have another since it falls so luckily in his way Well he comes and according to Law takes full and quiet possession but then he being elsewhere richly accommodated and pleasantly seated cannot think of removing but sends his Curate to do the work for him and for his Salary allows him not half so much as the true Patron did the former Incumbent he has found out a Ten pound Levite and that shall suffice all the rest must come to his own purse to keep up his port and for other certain uses best known to himself nevertheless here is nothing of Sacriledge in the case who dares to think or speak such a word No here is nothing but what is right and praise-worthy in the whole procedure Fye upon it How does covetousness blind our eyes How does evil custom impose upon our reason and judgment is it odious and detestable Sacriledge in one person and not in another can meerly taking holy Orders take away the name and thing of what we call Sacriledge can the putting on a canonical habit put off all guilt and demerit in that kind then let the aforesaid Knight or Gentleman be made a Clergy-man and immediately he is rectus in Curia and no longer Sacrilegious Be not deceived God is not mocked To conclude the Curate or person substituted who ever he be that actually performs the office and does the duty of the Minister either he is worthy or else he is unworthy of the place If he be unworthy then much more unworthy you to thrust such an unable and unmeet man upon the people to their apparent ruin and destruction He said haughtily like himself Viderit utilitas hang gain I will look to mine honour and you say in your actions not only sordidly but impiously Viderint animae let Souls be damn'd if they will I must and will look to my gain and to have a good income But if he be worthy then the dues and profits arising from the said place both by the Law of God and of the Land if pure justice and right might not be wrested from its direct and first intention do ipso facto belong unto the said Minister or Curate as in the reward of his service and I think it both oppression and sacriledge by any plea or pretext though of being legally the Rector or Parson of the parish to detain them from him Thus much in requital for your charge of Sacriledge and my swallowing down a Steeple when time was with the Spire upward or downward whether you please Farewell FINIS Page 1. p. 2 l. 16. p. 2 l. 7 10 11. p. 2. l. 17. 2. l. anpenult â— 10.23 p. 2. l. 21. p. 9. l. 10 p. 7. l. 18. p. 7. l. 23.24 p. 7. l. 2â— Act. 24.9 Gen. 34.23 Ro. 7.16 p. 17. l. 33. p. 8. l. 21. p.o.l. 3. p. 9. l. 5 6 7. p. 3. l. 20. p. 5. l. 2. 1549. 1552. p. 9. l. 30. p. 11. l. 2. l. 15. p. 13. l. 11. p. 10. l. 23. p. 10. l. 33. p. 9. l. 29. p. 9. l. penult â— 13.22 23. â— 14. l. 20. l. 22. l. 23. l. 25. p. 15. l. 1 2. â— 14. â—â— 4 5. p. 14. l. 8. p. 14. l. 13. p. 16. l. 23. p. 16. l. 10. p. 16. l. 16. l. 17. p. 16. l. 19. p. 17. l. 21. p. 17. l. 18. l. 19. l. â—0 p. 17. l. 27. l. ult p. 18. l â— 17. â— 29 30 â— p. 17. l. 30. p. 18. l. 8. p. 18 l. 13. p. 18. l. 15. p. 19. l. 14. l. 23. p. 18. l. 20. p. 20. l. 6. p. 20. l. 11. p. 2. l. 19. p. 20. l. 14. p. 20. l. 15. p. 21. l. 14. â— 21. â— 19. â— 21. â— 21. â— 21. â— 22. p. 22. l. â—â— p. 23. l. 14 15. p. 23. l. 20. p. 2. l. 54. p. 2. l. penult p. 3. l. 5. l. p. 3. l. 1. p. 3. l. 10. p. 3. l. 11. p. 3. l. 16. â— 3. l. 40. Rom. 14.1 p. 3. l. 55. p. 3 l. 43. p. 4. l. 2. p. 4. l. 18. p. 4. l. 59. p. 5. l. 9. p. 5. l. 16. p. 5. l. 37. p. 5. l. 41. p. 5. l. 45. p. 5. l. 47. p. 5. l. 5 p. 5 l. 51. p. 5. l. 54. Deut. 6.6 p. 5. l. 48. p. 5. l. 63. p. 6. l. 11. Col. 1.24 p. 6. l. 23. p. 6. l 44 p. 6. l. 51. p. 6. l. 46. Mark 1.4 p. 61.48 p. 6. l. 50. p. 19.26 p. 7. l. 9. â— 7. l. 15. p. 7. l. 17. p. 7. l. 17. p. 3. l. 7. p. 7. l. 23. l. 27. p. 4. l. 38. p. 7 1 22. p. 2. l. 22. p. 10. l. 16. 〈…〉 p. 7. l. 13. C. 12.15 C. 5. v. 12. * Hoc autem mendacium est quo neque deus neque veriipsius Angeli in Canonicis libris leguntur usi quodmendacium ut excusemus non magnopere puâ—amus esse laborandum quiâ—â—â—ut multae rationes â—inc inde comportentur mendacium est mendacium a deo ab Electis ejus Angelis alienissimum So a true Expositor upon the place C. 2. v. 4.10 * Plinie in his natural history having spoken of the Crocodile saith further Major altitudine in eodem Nilo Bellua hippopotamus editur caudâ dentibus aprorum tergorisad scuta galeasque impenetrabilis C.p. 3. v. 3. 6.7 V. â— â— 12.15 Job 39. â—9