answerable to the number of Weeks in the Year that the whole Law in that space might be read over correspondent to which Lessons out of the Law there were others out of the Prophets one of which the Holy Jesus took for his Subject at Nazareth when after the manner of the Jewish Doctors he made his Exposition St. Luke 4.16 And he did the like St. Mat. 9.35 where he is said to teach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Synagogue which might be done without any pretension to such Authority as was supposed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Preaching which in the Christian use of the word in the New Testament differs from Teaching Christ did both St. Mat. 9.35 He taught the Law and preacht the Gospel At Thirty years old he expounded Moses as a Doctor before which time the ancient Church made none Presbyters and at the same time he preacht the Gospel of the Kingdom But still the matter is plain enough that the bare reading of Moses in the Synagogues is Preaching in the proper meaning which sort of Preaching is still practised in the appointed Lessons of the Church The former out of the Old Testament being derived like many wholesom things from the Synagogue and the Second Lesson out of the New Testament which was appointed as most suppose by the 16th Canon of the Council of Laodicea celebrated in the year of Grace 364. Albeit Justin Martyr who lived in the Second Age seems to give the Lessons an elder date For in his second Apology he tells us how all those who abide in Cities and the adjacent Countries meet in one place on the day called Sunday and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Memoires and Records of the Apostles together with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writings of the Prophets are read unto them as far as the time and occasion serves And that the Reader ceasing the President in a Speech makes an Exhortation that they would imitate those good things which had been read From which it is evidently to be concluded that the Church in the first and best Ages of Christianity preacht as a Witness when she read and thereby attested the truth of the Holy Scriptures And all men are in some degree capable thereby to be edified For there is none understands the Scriptures so well but he may improve by hearing them read in the Church And if we look into the Efficacy of the Word it is wonderful that it should be less as it is read than as it is expounded seeing that the one is the Word of God as it was inspired by the Holy Ghost and the other can no farther be so accounted than as it keeps close to the sense and meaning thereof which is not so easie so long as Men are subject to Errors and Mistakes and have base Ends to serve and carnal Circumstances to be accomplished 2. But because all men ought to have such a knowledge in God's Word as may be sufficient to Salvation and because all will not attain to so much by bare reading thereof therefore the Church Preacheth as an Expositor by discovering and explaining what in Sacred Scripture is mysterious and obscure and by a seasonable application of those things which are more obvious and evident And in this sense Preaching is an Office in our own Church which cannot be too highly magnified nor too frequently celebrated if it be agreeable to those Homilies which were intended not only to supply those who have not the Gift of Preaching sufficiently to instruct the people committed to their Cure but also to be a wholsom Rule by which even those who are able to preach should guide themselves in that publick Ministry But if Discourses at this day made in Pulpits ought only so far forth to be accounted Preaching as they are agreeable to the Churches Sermons then all is not Preaching which bears that name and takes up the Circumstances thereunto allowed In the pious Sermons of the Church we find Principles of Christianity solidly explained Rules and Motives of honest and holy Life clearly laid down and Perorations and Perswasions to continue therein devoutly and charitably directed and applied I shall not draw this into comparison but only say That I hope there is none need think it any diminution or disparagement to his Parts and Learning to write after such a Copy And however the Homilies may be decried through popular Ignorance Prejudice and Passion yet no doubt but they are still necessary upon their first design which was to help the Inabilities of some to restrain the Indiscretions of others and to take away those strifes about what is fitting to be preacht caused by the variety of Mens Judgments the extravgance of their Fancies and the Byasses of several Interests And as for the Homilies of this Church they deserve a much better esteem than generally they receive and would need no elaborate Vindication if duly considered in their circumstances For in the first place they are be to looked upon as popular Sermons fitted unto the Capacities and Conditions of the Vulgar who being more led by Passion than Reason have need of such Discourses as will rather regulate their will than inform their judgment They standing in more need to have their Hearts and Consciences wrought upon for good Life and Conversation than their understanding and apprehension with any curious piece of Learning or Science And that the greatest share of the Church-Homilies deals herein there will need no other proof than their diligent perusual In the Second place The Church-Homilies are not to be looked upon as her Dogmatical Resolutions and Positions but as they contain godly and wholesom Doctrine Teaching and necessary for the times when they were composed For so much we are taught in the 35. Article And therefore I humbly suppose that every passage in the Homilies is not to be pressed for the Faith and Doctrine of the Church but that the whole ought to be considered as confronting the evil Opinions and Manners that at their composing were held and practised and if ought of either be remaining the Homilies may still be needful upon their Primitive account In the last place the very time in which the Homilies were compiled may excuse many a Period therein For our Ancestors were lately come out of Popery and conversed daily with Persons of that Perswasion and therefore severe dehortations were requisite to preserve them from Apostacy into those Practices out of which they had so lately been recovered which makes it no wonder if Enforcements and Exhortations to that purpose c. are sometime too hardly stretched And as for mine own part I am so far from undervaluing the pious Sermons of the Church that considering their circumstances I greatly esteem them for their own Worth and respect them above any other for their Authority And as to those who reject Homilies upon the account that Apochryphal Writings are not to be used in the Church it may
publick Audience and Judgment and the offer of open Disputation greatly assured the People of the soundness of their Cause when they saw they were ready to put it upon publick Tryal And more may be supposed to have followed the first Essays of the Reformation out of an Opinion that it was good and true being defended with such freedom simplicity and assurance than by the strength of those Arguments which were at first brought to assert it But then it is to be considered that the Reformers offer'd this kind of tryal to those with whom they began to be at no less distance than with members of a distinct and different Communion and in places where they were in hope to gain but in no danger to lose Proselytes For they wisely invaded the Adversary in his own Country and challeng'd him to a Dispute in his own Cities and in the throng of his Adherents But upon how different Terms Disputes can now be managed either with Dissenters or the common Enemy I leave the truly considerate to determine But since we are resolved to fight I could wish our valour were more discreet than to encounter the Enemy within our own Bowels to controvert our Religion in the place where it is legally established A thing not heard of in other Countries where there is a greater Peace and more outward Religion But I shall close up this Topick with setting down what is usually observed upon this Subject viz. 1. That Religion is like neither to get nor save by Disputes 2. That Disputes on this subject may have the ill-luck to make some suspect the truth of all Religion because it is so much controverted For weaker Heads seeing the Roof totter are apt to suspect there is no firmness in the foundation and to conclude nothing is certain if any thing be question'd 3. That in so great a mist of Disputes many may grow halting and luke-warm and think it their only safety to stand still or sit down in Neutrality 4. That for one sin Disputes have cured they have begot innumerable 5. That the strength and practice of Religion have been sensibly impaired since by the distemper'd heats of Mens Spirits it hath been rarified into subtil Controversies 6. That suspence of Judgment and exercise of Charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of those Controversies wherein they that are most fervent to dispute are not always the most able to determine But what is more natural to the present purpose it should seriously be considered That the People are neither to be confuted of their false nor established in the true Notices of Religion by Doubtful Disputes but plain Catechistical Doctrines And as to our selves of this Church seeing there can come nothing of our Contentions but the mutual waste of the parties contending till a common Enemy dance in the Ashes of us both I shall ever wish and most heartily pray that the strict commands of Peace and Unity so frequent in the Gospel may at the last so prevail in this Nation to the burying and utter oblivion of strife together with the causes that have either bred or brought it up That things of small moment never disjoyn them whom one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptism bands of so great force have linked together That a respective Eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not unable to speak peaceably one to another Finally that no strife may ever be heard of again but who shall hate strife most and pursue peace with the swiftest paces CHAP. XI Preaching what it is the several ways thereof used by the Church What kind of Preaching among the Old Jews and Primitive Christians The Homilies considered HAving in the antecedent Chapter discharged Disputes and Controversies from being any suitable and proper means of reducing the Dissenters of our own Church or winning the Members of the Roman The next thing pretending to our healing is Preaching which I here take to be An open solemn and Authoritative publication of Divine Mysteries And this the Church doth two several ways 1. As a Witness 2. As an Expositor And first The Church Preacheth as a Witness by publick reading the Sacred Scriptures and by relating and testifying the Divine Truths which God in the inspired Volumes hath consigned her And that this is no spurious sense of Preaching we have him to assure us who well understood the sense and importance both of the Word and Thing For in Acts 15.21 the reading of Moses in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day is by St. Paul in the genuine and native signification of the Word styled Preaching That this Preaching of Moses was a naked reading of his Law we have a whole cloud of Expositors to attest it besides the clearness of the thing it self But I cannot be of their judgment who assert That neither the Ancient nor Modern Jews had any such thing as weekly Preaching upon any part of the Law of Moses and that upon this ground solely conclude the preaching of Moses to be meer reading For we find that the Old Jews had divers Men among them who used to contribute their Talents to the Exposition of the Lesson that was read and these in ordinary course were the Sons or Schollars of the Prophets who were trained up in learning of the Law and at the age of Thirty received the Title of Doctors and till they obtained the Grace of immediate Inspiration or the Spirit of Prophesie they continued to expound the Scriptures not by Revelation but according to that knowledge which the ordinary blessing of God upon their Studies was able to compass Answerable whereunto as some think was that custom among the Christians mentioned 1 Cor. 14.29 And also those Disciples of the Prophets of the New Testament called Doctors because they were admitted to teach in the Church But for mine own part I rather understand the Word Doctor in St. Paul of all such Presbyters as had abilities of Preaching and Teaching the People in their Assemblies And that Presbyters and Doctors were all one we may conclude from Tertull. de Prescript c. 3. Quid ergò si Episcopus c. What then if a Bishop if a Deacon if a Widow a Virgin if a Doctor if even a Martyr shall fall from the Rule In this Catalogue of principal Ecclesiastick Orders Presbyters must be understood by Doctors unless we will deny them to have any room among the chief Ranks of the Church which were both false and absurd And that incestuous person with an Opinion of whom the Corinthians were puft up was as is observed out of Chrysostom and Theoderet one of their Doctors that is one of the Presbyters of that Church that exercised the Office of Preaching and by that means bore a great sway among the People But to return to the reading of Moses which began with the Moral Service of the Synagogue when we find that the Mosaical Law was distinguished into Divisions
Hearers of Sermons have proved wavering and unconstant in their judgments for want of a timely and through Catechizing so likewise upon the same ground they have been very erroneous and Opiniative For this want of a plain Institution in the Principles of Truth hath left them destitute of a proper Test whereby they might be able to explore and try what is preacht and to separate the pretious from the vile Through the want whereof they as greedily imbibe a false as true Doctrine and are ready to change their Opinions according to the impression which the affectionate noise of the last Sermon has made upon their Senses Nor are they happier in their reading Holy Scriptures than in hearing of them thus preacht The Un-catechized run upon the same Rock in both For albeit the Divine Word is in it self the pure Fountain of all saving Truths yet persons not trained up in a competent apprehension of Catechistical Principles make it a sink of pernicious Errors sucking Contention from the Breasts of Peace turning the sincere Milk of Gods Word into the Poyson of Asps and perverting the Scripture to their own destruction while they make the Oracles of God not to speak their own but such a Sense and Language as may best adjust their Designs and Interests And as no malice proves more implacable than that which ariseth out of the Ashes of an Apostate love So no Errors are more dangerous than those which proceed from a wrong interpreting and application of the Word of Truth And as those whose fancy has been playing with sounds think every thing they hear is tunable to their fancy So those whose minds are once infected with evil Opinions think every Text speaks according to the Opinions wherewith they are infected And it is an Hypothesis will meet with few Adversaries That Men who are prejudiced and prepossessed with Errors in Religion cannot be reduced but by getting them therein rightly principled which was never yet attempted but by solid and perspicuous Catechizing it being by this that Men prove in Religion like the House in the Gospel founded upon a Rock which by no force of storms and winds could be subverted And therefore if this ground-work be not surely laid all superstructures in Religion lie upon the loose Sand and are easily washt away by the insinuating suggestions of false Teachers And what is yet further to be considered we see the rest of the Building sink with the Foundation if that be shaken all will go to ruine And Christians not well grounded in the Elements of Truth and Holiness will quickly be perswaded to give themselves up to any wild Opinion or loose Practice and turn Schismatick or Traytor to the great hazard and confusion both of Church and State But if it be objected that Catechizing is a Plaister too narrow for our Sore because it cannot reach those whose Age or some other Circumstance excludes them the number of those for whom this sort of Instruction is appointed notwithstanding they have no less need thereof than others To this it will be enough to return the succeeding considerations viz. 1. That the Church obviated this Scruple when in the last Edition of the Liturgy she appointed the Catechism to be learned of every person And in her Fifty ninth Canon enjoyn'd the Clergy to instruct all the ignorant Persons of their Parishes in the publick Catechism And that those who bear the heavy load of many years might not decline this way of Institution they may see it founded in the Apostolical practice which was to Catechize the adult as before was observed 2. To be duly instructed in the Principles of Christianity is a duty incumbent upon all who by the Knowledg and Practice thereof hope to be eternally saved And therefore if the Aged be therein ignorant they have more reason to blush at their ignorance than to be thus instructed and with diligence and humility to wait at this Gate of Knowledge rather than with scorn to disdain it 3. If the Elder sort have either not been taught at all or have forgot the chief Heads and Catechetical Fundamentals of Christianity they now meet with a fair occasion boâ—h to learn and call them to mind For by beiâ—g present and attentive in hearing the Younger Catechized the Ancient and all may be brought to know what they do not understand to remember what they have forgot and to be inform'd in what they have erred So that at the same time Catechising will instruct the Ignorant remember the Forgetful and inform the Erroneous and therefore administer a Physick proper and sutable to our several Maladies which cannot be pretended to by those other Methods that have hitherto been so eagerly pursued CHAP. XIII The Benefits of Catechizing 1. In respect of the Civil State 2. The Clergy 3. The People The Mischiefs of private Schools Objections against the constant practice of Catechizing removed BUt besides what has been discoursed there are other good Effects of Catechising which at least may be as so many motives to enforce its practice And in the first place Catechising is in an eminent manner conducive to the Peace and Welfare of the State because it takes care that the Younger sort who are the hopes of a Nation be duly educated in those Principles on whose practice the safety and happiness of a State depends For to sowe in the pure minds of Youth the Seeds of Vertue and Truth before the Tares of Vice and Error and the Weeds of the World have canker'd and spoiled the Soil is by the consent of all wise men a point of incomparable force and moment for the well ordering and Government of all kind of Societies and for making Common-wealths ever flourishing and happy For by the means of Catechising the Younger sort will be planted and grow up in a due Conformity and Obedience to the Laws in being which is undeniably a proper expedient to uphold States in the Terms wherein they are and to free them from the danger of being so easily obvious to alteration and change For the Opinions of what nature soever wherewith we are first season'd are of double force to any second Perswasion and Usages And this makes the Spanish Nation early and careful in Catechising their Children by which Method ever since its use they have not suffer'd the least disturbance and alteration in Church or State That serious people having largely experienced the Truth of their own saying No es menos importante el ser de la Doctrina que el de la Naturaleza And in confirmation of this remark it were easie to load the Margin with a numerous Quotation and the Line with a tedious recital of many excellent Passages out of Plato Aristotle Socrates Seneca Tacitus Agell and almost all the learned Heathen Plutarch's Education of Children doth abridge them all But we need not go sharpen our Tools with the Philistines seeing an Israelite can do it better For Solomon is plain That the way to
THE Christian's Manual In Three Parts 1. The CATECHUMEN Or an Account given by the Young Person of his Knowledge in Religion before his Admission to the LORD's SUPPER as a Ground-Work for his right understanding the Sacrament 2. An INTRODUCTION to a plain and safe way to the COMMUNION-TABLE with Prayers fitted for the Communicant before at and after Receiving 3. The Primitive Institution Shewing the great Benefit and Necessity of Catechising to save the Souls of particular Persons and heal the present Distempers of the Church By L. Addison D. D. and Dean of Lichfield London Printed for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1691. THE CATECHUMEN OR AN ACCOUNT Given by the Young Person to the Minister Of his Knowledge in RELIGION Upon his first Admission to the LORD'S-TABLE But sanctifie the Lord in your Hearts and be ready to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Account to every Man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear 1 St. Pet. 3.15 With the Epistles of Two Eminent Divines of the Church of England Licensed Dec. 2. 1689. Z. Isham The Second Edition London Printed for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1690. TO THE AUTHOR SIR I Have ever had a peculiar esteem for all such Discourses as Peaceably tend to beget in Mens Hearts a right knowledge of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Which I look upon as the highest Mystery in Religion and the best Instrument to convey Vertue and promote it in a Christians Soul And seeing the small Piece you sent to be perused by me is designed to instruct the younger sort who are the hopes of the Church in such Principles of Christianity as are necessary to be known by them before they be admitted to the Holy Communion you may well presume not only of my Approbation but earnest Desire to have it made Publick Yours c. L. A. TO THE BOOKSELLER SIR I Have carefully perused these Papers and though I know not the Author of them yet seeing you desire my Opinion I think my self obliged to do them this Right As for the Matter contained in them I think it very Orthodox and fully agreeable with the Doctrine of our Church and as for the Composure I think it very Regular and Clear Judicious and Instructive and as for the whole I think it of very great use for all that have honest and teachable Minds and do sincerely inquire after the Truth as it is in Jesus but more especially for such as have gone through their Catechize whose Understandings I doubt not will be very much opened and enlarged by a careful and diligent perusal of it That God Almighty may prosper the Design of it and make it a Blessing to the Souls of Men is the hearty Prayer of Sir Your truly Affectionate Friend JO. SCOTT From my House in Broadstreet THE CATECHUMEN OR The Young Person 's Account of his Knowledge in Religion c. THE following Account being only a Taste of the Proficiency I have made under your pious Diligence in Catechising I have no apprehension it will be unwelcome to you Many things I know might be said in disfavour of it but the Piety of the Design is all I offer in excuse Besides I understand not the Use or Benefit of Apologies and therefore I will begin this Account without them It was my singular Happiness not only to be born of Christian Parents but of such as were true Members of the Church of England whose Piety took care to make choice of fit Persons to present me to Holy Baptism the first Sunday after my Birth according to the Rule and laudable Practice of this National Church The Persons I say who presented me to Holy Baptism were Canonically qualified for that Charitable Office being of good Report and such as had received the Holy Communion These I call my Godfathers and Godmother whom I bear a Reverence suitable to that Appellation And by my Parents approbation these gave me that Name which puts me in mind of the Christian Faith in which I was baptized and by which I was listed under Christ and became his Soldier and Servant And it is called my Christian Name because by it I stand related unto Christ and distinguished from Men of all other Religions as Jews Pagans and Mahumetans This Name was given me at Baptism whereby being made a Christian I was entitled to all the Priviledges appertaining to those who truly bear that Name So that I who by Nature did not belong unto the Church of Christ which is his Mystical Body being baptiz'd became a Member of the same And being a Member thereof I am no more as I was by Nature a Child of Wrath but a Child of God by Adoption through Christ who is the Son of God by Nature And being thus a Child I am also an Heir of God and Joint-Heir with Christ to a Kingdom of Glory But these Priviledges were conferr'd upon me in Baptism not absolutely but on Condition that I would perform what my Godfathers and Godmother did vow and promise in my behalf when I was baptized For notwithstanding that both mine and all Parents are expresly commanded to be diligent in teaching their Children God's Holy Word and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord yet because Parents may die and so be uncapable to do this or they may be negligent and so either not do it at all or not as they ought the Church as 't were took Bond or Security of my Godfathers and Godmother for my pious Education Who are therefore called my Sureties and who were encharged to have a Religious Care to teach me as soon as I was able to learn what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession I made by them in Baptism Now the things which these Sureties avouched to be performed by me are Three answerable to the Three Benefits assured to me when I was baptized The first was an utter renouncing of all those Spiritual Enemies that incessantly war against my Soul namely the Devil the World and the Flesh So that the first Spiritual Enemy I am to renounce forsake and fight against is the Devil that evil Spirit that lost Angel whose malignity against me appears in his continual solliciting and tempting me to Sin and accusing me when I have sinn'd and resisting and hindring me when I am about to do good Whom according to my Sureties Bond I stand obliged to renounce together with all his Works which in general are all Sins committed by his instigation and in particular all Sins committed after his Example or which bear his Image such as Murder Lying Pride Malice and the like I am also bound by vertue of the Bond my Sureties gave in my Name to renounce this present evil World By which I understand those wicked Men who are Enemies to Godliness and all those other Creatures which the Devil the Prince of this World useth as Baits and Snares
Government I need not represent to your Lordship the many and great Evils which are befaln this Church through a want of duly observing what this Discourse commends For as your Singular Prudence labours to redress and your Pious Soul deeply resents them so your Great Discernment plainly sees that they are scarce now to be removed by any other Method but a timely diligent and Regular Catechising And that the most likely means to establish Truth and Holiness with Posterity is firmly and early to imprint the Younger Minds who are the hopes of Religion with that Catechism which our Church out of her singular prudence and affection hath provided for them But I may not pursue this lest I should too much faulter in the Laws of Dedication which oblige me to admire and praise that Apostolical Care Prudence Candor and Severity which are Eminent in your Lordship's Government and which I dare scarce name for fear I should offend that Heroick Modesty and Lowliness so conspicuous in your Great Conduct Besides I am so averse to the usual Modes of Dedication that I cannot comply with them in any thing unless in my hearty Prayers for your Lordship 's Good Health and Long Life and in testifying to the World that I am MY LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble and most Devoted Servant LANC ADDISON TO THE READER THE Condition of this small Treatise is so little agreeable to the present Genius of the Age that there needs no great Sagacity to foretel its Entertainment But those who value Books not by their Dress and Fashion but Matter and Vsefulness and who look not so much upon what will take with a corrupt Generation as help to amend it when they maturely weigh the Subject and Design of the Ensuing Papers instead of censuring will be ready to resent the weak manaâ—â—ment of so concerning a Theme â—nd pity to see it faln into the hands of 〈◊〉 unâ—kilful an Artificer For which this is the only Apology 〈◊〉 what is here written was not 〈◊〉 for Perfection but Essay and that it had never left its retirement had it not been forced thence by impulse of the present Necessity For it is too evident that this is a Season which not only warrants but exacts our greatest endeavours to perswade to such things as may beget restore and establish Truth and Union among us And that Catechising by a more peculiar Energy is thereunto subservient appears upon this account that the Church in all Ages has used it to that purpose The raising up of which Institution so disastrously faln in our Borders in hopes of the great edification which thereby will accrue unto this Church as it was the first motive of this Essay so it is the last Design for which I shall think my self largely recompenc'd if by this contributed Mite I may provoke the more able to cast richer gifts into the same Corban If what I now write of were to be backt with the Example either of professed Infidels or Romanists I could from a long Conversation with both produce their unwearied care in Catechising to which I ever thought the paucity of Converts both from Infidelity and Romanism ought chiefly to be imputed The Mahumetans as in another Discourse I have observed have their Mustadarif out of which the younger sort are trained up in the Principles of a Mussulman And the Jews Sepher Chinnuck and Sepher Ikkarim yield sufficient attestation that they are no Truands in this School The Romanists from being our Rivals in this particular are become our Masters for not only the Jesuits but also other Religious glory to have made Catechising their Profession only with this difference That the Jesuits Catechise the Rich and Ingenious and other Orders the Poor and Dull But their Diligence herein herein first sprang from an imitation of ours For till on Sundays and Holy-days we both preach'd in the Morning and Catechis'd in the Afternoon the Papists did neither And it was undeniably happy with the Protestant Religion when diligent Catechising was the chief Engine imployed to supplant Popery and give deeper Roots to the Reformation But Catechising as all things else whereof human weakness hath the Custody and Government is greatly faln from that Observation which it had once in this Church yet methinks if nothing else this alone should provoke us to a little more diligence in this excellent Institution to see our Adversaries manage it to our reproach and damage But Reader in Mercy to your Patience I will only add That the Author is none of those who impose upon others what they will not do themselves for he is a constant Labourer in that Vineyard wherein he desires his Brethren to take a little more pains Next That he is really of Opinion the Minister may sleep with a good Conscience of having well discharged his Duty when every Lords-day he observes as he is bound the Churches 59. Canon And as for those who do otherwise he leaves them to the Reflexions of their own Brests ADVERTISEMENT 1. THE Catechumen or an Account given by a Young Person to the Minister of his Knowledge in Religion upon his first Admission to the Lords Table with the Prefaces of Dr. Addison and Dr. Scot. Price stitch'd 6 d. 2. The Case of Resistance of Supreme Powers Stated and Resolved according to Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures by W. Sherlock D. D. Master of the Temple Price 2 s. bound 3. The Righteous the best Subjects to the King Or Godliness no Friend to Rebellion or Enemy to Civil Government 40. P ice 6 d. THE Primitive Institution The INTRODUCTION THat in the same Church and Nation there should be no less Ostentation and Noise of Religion and Holiness among some than of Profaneness and Impiety among others will prove a matter of no great wonder to such as duly enquire into the causes of both Especially when it is considered that as Ignorance may be the Mother of blind Devotion so it may be likewise of desperate Presumption because all Iniquity among Men proceeds from the want of a right knowledge of God And as the Foundation of all true Happiness and of all true Religion which is the proper means of attaining it grows â—rom a right Opinion touching things Divine so the misapprehension thereof is the ground of all Misery and of all those Vices by which it is occasioned But that which may justly awaken in us a greater wonder is to see all those Methods proving ineffectual which have been so powerfully manag'd for the removal of this pernicious misapprehension and that we should be still as much under the same Distempers both in Judgment and Manners as if nothing had been administred for the cure of either That our own Church in this Age which for its wickedness seems to be the last doth make careful Provision both for the present and future welfare of her Children is a truth apparent to all that with unprejudiced Minds peruse her holy Offices Catechism Articles
themselves descended of those Old Gnosticks who were so pestilential to the Primitive Church being notoriously addicted to Blaspheme rail at and speak evil of the things they know not and in a peculiar manner are gifted with Maliciousness Avarice Schismaticalness Rebellion and Contumacy According to their description in St. Jude 10.11.12 c. And the want of having been duly acquainted with the true grounds of Religion is one main reason why they are in that Divine Science such Smatterers and half-witted whereof there is small hopes ever to have them cured but by a full Institution in those Elements which are undeniably requisite to sound Knowledge But Catechising is not only necessary upon the account of a regular entrance and encrease of Knowledge in Religion but also to give us a clear intuition of those particular Truths whereof we cannot be ignoranâ—â—ut with the peril of our eternal Happiness For notwithstanding that all things necessary to Salvation are clear and plain in Scripture yet the Scripture it self is so spacious a Field that even a wary Traveller may therein lose himself And besides this the things necessary to be known by us in order to our future Welfare are in Sacred Writ so often mingled with things that are otherwise that it exceeds the generality of Capacities to find them out and rightly to sever Those that are idle as the most are in this Study will not take pains and those that are ignorant have not the ability to distinguish collect and reduce such necessary Points to their respective Chapters And yet till such Points be plainly digested into several Heads many at least the the illiterate Multitude will unavoidably want a competent Knowledge of what is necessary both to their Temporal and Immortal Happiness Now that the gathering of these necessary Truths into Sums and Models is the proper Work of Catchism is visible in all those Systems which have ever born that Name And of this Truth our own Church-Catechism yields a sufficient Testimony In which all things that concern Faith Practice Prayer and Doctrine are collected into such short and plain Sums that the weakness of no Mans Wit can either hinder altogether the Knowledge or excuse the utter ignorance of things necessary to Salvation For whosoever with a mind free from Prejudice shall impartially peruse the Church Catechism he therein may observe all saving Truths reduced to such short but full Heads that the weak are not left to the hazardous nor the slothful to the laborious re-search thereof in Holy Scriptures CHAP. VII Catechising the most sutable means to heal the Distempers of this Church Seveveral Propositions to be supposed A short digression concerning our Disorders BUT we will yet suppose that all which hitherto has been delivered ought to receive no better estimation than meer ordinary Discourse and that we are to proceed upon a new Ground and examine the necessity of Catechising in respect of the present Temper and Disposition or indeed rather Distempers and Disorders of this Church and People And in order unto this it will not be altogether impertinent and useless a little to consider what our present Disorders are And in the First Place we cannot but observe that our Declension both from the Design and Rule of the Gospel â—s not conspicuous only in those grand Debauchees who grow weary of the Name of Christ or profess it only to disgrace it But also in those who seem strict and severe in performing all the Formal and Exteriour part of Discipleship Even those I mean who are zealous Hearers of Christs Word and constant Communicants at his Table not professing Devotion to any other For even these are content as occasion serves to abandon that Purity Continence Meekness Humility Candor Mercifulness and other instances of a sweet Nature so vehemently urged by our Divine Law-giver and which are the genuine result of true Christian Principles for that one Law of sordid Interest brutal Passion and churlish Self-preservation although they cannot but acknowledge that all these are totally opposite to the true Spirit of Christianity And besides professed Politicians there are others who seem to look upon Religion as a meer Engine of State and a thing that is as tractable for Battery as Defence And who notwithstanding their contrary Pretences live as if they regarded not what Christ chiefly aimed at by his Incarnation Death and Resurrection And how that he gave himself for us both in his Birth and Death to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works And that he rose from the dead to bless us in turning every one of us from our Iniquities And that the main design of our inspired Christianity is the entire Reformation of our Lives and to make us as good as our Profession But besides this sort of Nominal Christians there is another which are so far transported with the opinion of that Union which they fancy already to enjoy with Christ that they dream to be in present Possession of that Vision which is peculiar to the future State And they are so dazled with the supposititious Glory of their Spiritual Perfection that they contemn the means ordained to make them truly perfect because they fancy they have arrived at it already And with these may be joyned all such who are so closely addicted to their own Opinions that they think it a matter of Conscience Piety and Religion to oppose and condemn whosoever are not of their Mind and Perswasion Since whose rise we have been under a sensible decay of Charity and as a natural consequent thereof an encrease of wickedness But if these ingross not all the occasions of our Disorders there is another sort of People who will fill up their measure Those I mean who pervert the plainest Scriptures to such a meaning as doth best help to carry on their Designs And what is yet worse who make it matter of Conscience to assert that Sense of the Text which they have perversely mistaâ—en And this deifying our own Interpretations and tyrannically enforcing â—hem upon others This restraining of the Word of God from that Latitude and Generality and the Understandings of Men from that liberty wherein Christ and his Apostles left them is and hath been the only Fountain of all the Schisms of the Church and that which makes them Immortal The common Incentaries of Christendom and that which â—ears into pieces not the Coat but the â—owels and Members of Christ Ridente â—urcâ nec dolente Judaeo Take away these Walls of Separation and all will quickly be one Take away the damning of Men for not subscribing to the Words of Men as the Words of God require of Christians only to believe Christ and to call no Man Master but him only Let those leave claiming Infalibility who have no Title to it and let them that in their Words disclaim it disclaim it likewise in their Actions In a word take away tyranny in
Opinions by which the Devil withstands the Power of Truth and restore Christians to their just and full liberty of captivating their Understandings to Scripture only and as Rivers whose Passage is not interrupted run all to the Ocean so it may well be hoped by Gods Blessing that Universal Liberty thus moderated may quickly reduce us to Truth and Unity These thoughts of Peace may come from the God of Peace to whose Blessing I recommend them And that this may not be looked upon for some singularity in my own Perswasion I have transcribed the Words out of Mr. Chillingworth and he out of another and enclosed them in a Parenthesis But taking no delight to travel further in search of those Distempers which I am unable to remedy the only comfort is that they cannot be looked upon as the Issues of our Religion nor any way be charg'd upon the Principles we profess And therefore we must seek elsewhere to lay the Imputation and I shall go no further than to what I mentioned in the Introduction even the Omission or Luke-warm use of Catechising And here in the First place it cannot be denyed how that the generality of the People of this Kingdom have for many Years at least during the time of our Intestine Wars either been destitute of all Catechising or have been Catechised only in such Principles as were good for nothing but to establish the Elder in a cursed Schism and Rebellion and to infect the Younger with the same Contagion The sad effects whereof are still visible in the unpeaceable Tenets of some and in the want of a due understanding of Religion in most In respect of which we have need to be taught again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God being become such as have need of Milk and not of strong Meat The greatest part of the common People being so far unable to reap any benefit from the handling of abstruser Mysteries in Eloquent and Elaborate Discourses which is so studiously pursued by our Junior and Florid Theologues that they want instruction in the plainest parts of Catechistical Doctrines For notwithstanding that we boast much of our Knowledge of Christ and that our Proficiency is so great in Religion that we conceive our selves wiser than our Teachers yet if the Tree may be judged by its Fruits we shall be found shamefully ignorant of what we assume to know and to have little of that Wisdom which descends from above which Christ came to teach and infuse and which is Pure Peaceable Gentle easie to be entreated merciful without Hypocrisie and Wavering In the Second place we cannot but with deep Resentments observe that since the time God turned again our Captivity and restored this Church to the free use of his Ordinances Catechising has met but with cold Entertainment even from those by whom it ought to have been most lovingly caressed For in most places it has been looked upon rather as a Foreigner than a Native of the Church and as Fruits of their Mouth never in Season but for a few Days in Lent And even then too the Church-Catechism is generally taught without any such explanation as is needful in respect of those slender Capacities to whose instruction it is chiefly devoted And if in the Third place we consider who those are which on the one hand hinder the progress and settlement of Unity Peace and Concord in this Church by an undutiful froward resisting of her Laws Or who they are that on the other hand Apostatize and utterly forsake her Communion it will be found upon due examination that we have laid the ground of the Disobedience of the one and of the defection of the other in a want of a timely and diligent Catechising And as for the First sort namely the disobedient and refractory who are now known by the very candid Name of Dissenters they cannot pretend to a more plausible excuse of their Undutifulness than that they were never duâ—y Catechised to the contrary For granting them to be Persons not totally forsaken of all Ingenuity and right Reason we cannot imagine that they should so foully violate their bounden Duties both to God and Man had they ever been fully taught or did clearly retain any thing but an imperfect and prejudicate knowledge of those Duties as they are plainly set down in the Church-Catechism And as for the Latter sort to wit those who have Apostatized and faln from ours to the Roman Perswasion they have been so far from having their first Tinctures and Foundation in Religion according to our publick Catechism that they might say thereof as those in Acts 19.2 did of the Holy Ghost But we must limit this Observation chiefly to those who had the unhappiness to be born in this Church when she was under the Cross and wore the Marks of her great Master And as for those who had been instructed in our Church Catechism yet before they left us they had so far unlearnt it as that they had retain'd of that System of our Religion such loose rambling and incoherent Notions as if it were wholly Enthusiastick or had been compiled by Persons deeply Hypochondriacal And for closure of this Paragraph I shall only add That none could ever be met with who for Ends truly Spiritual and Religious did ever abandon this for the Roman Church who had been throughly grounded in her Catechism And there will want no Reasons to â—upport this Assertion if it be duly conâ—idered how the very Frame and Conâ—exture of the Catechism doth obviate and oppose all the main Errors of Poâ—ery as they relate either to Faith or Practice to Prayer or Doctrine And First he that has been duly Caâ—echised in the Apostles Creed will not only be armed against a spurious Explication of the Old Articles of our Faith but also against a needless addiâ—ion of New ones For he will find that the first Twelve contain such a perfect Summary of all saving Truths simply necessary to be believed that those Articles added thereunto by the Council of Trent ought to be rejected upon the account of being Superfluous And â—t the same time he will find ground enough to explode that Implicite Faith so much relyed upon in the Romish Church who considers the necessity of a personal Belief as it is clearly required in the â—irst Word of the Creed which in Laâ—ine gives name to the whole And in the next place as to those Errors of Popery that concern our Practice they will be certainly discovered and refuted by a right understanding of the Decalogue which by all is granted to be a clear and perspicuous Rule of what we are to do both toward God and our Neighbour And a Man that is well grounded in the Doctrine of the First Commandment knows that he must reserve all Divine Honour Trust Devotion to God alone and that he may bestow no part thereof upon the Creature and therefore cannot but avoid and abhor those Romish Doctors
that would make him a Client to the Saints and a constant Votary to the Blessed Virgin and his Guardian Spirit He that is well grounded in the Doctrine of the Second Commandment will never be induced to believe that the Image is to be adored with the same Worship that is due to what is worshipped He will be wary of admitting any bodily representations of the Holy Trinity and look jealously upon all the Doctrine of Image worship which he sees to be vindicated with a few remote and suspicious Distinctions devised by the Fathers of that Doctrine on purpose to maintain its Credit He that is throughly instructed in the Doctrine of the Third Commandment and hath thence been taught to tremble at and reverence the Holy Name of the Almighty will never be induced to believe that frequent Cursing and Swearing if customary is Venial or a Sin which is pardonable in its own Nature and for which the Favour of God cannot be forfeited That equivocating in Oaths is â—awful That our most Solemn Oaths may be dispensed with That the dreadful Name of God may be used in the unwarrantable exorcization of the Creatures That Understanding and Devotion are not necessarily required to our Invocations upon God He that has been throughly informed of the mind of its eternal Author in the Fourth Commandment will never give up himself to a Religion that prefers a Mans Day before Gods or a Saints Day before the Lords Which would alter the Institution of God himself as was designed by Pope Silvester who decreed that Thursday should be kept for the Lords Day He that hath well learned the Fifth Commandment must do great Violence to his Understanding before he can chuse to be of a Religion that loves to drink the Blood of princes That absolves Subjects from their Allegiance to their Lawful Sovereign That gives Power to a Vicar to depose Princes at Pleasure That Arms Subjects with Power to murther their King The like may be said of all the Precepts of the Royal Law of God which is the most perfect Rule of our Obedience and which we are Taught to violate so soon as we have given up our selves to Popery and to the Service of the Roman Moloch And though these are Mysteries which the Romish Seducers carefully conceal and sometime zealously inveigh against while they are compassing easie Proselytes with whom they deal in the most specious Pretences yet they have no sooner deluded them to give up their Names to Popery and thereupon to shake Hands with all liberty of judging for themselves than by degrees they let them know what is to be done And if they startle at doing what is commanded them this is presently censured for a Relick of their Old Heresie and that there was something wanting in their Conversion which cannot be supplied but by acting throughly all the most horrible Injunctions of their New Faith And by the same means of being well Catechised in the Lords Prayer a Man will be able to apprehend and reject the many Errors Popery would impose upon him in that high concern For thereby he will clearly perceive that Prayer ought be made to God only and that none to can share with him in that or any other part of Divine and Religious Worship And that for this reason he ought not to embrace a Religion which enjoyns him to pray unto Saints and Angels and that too not only to have them intercede to God for him but also to help him in his Necessities and to deliver him both in Bodily and Ghostly Dangers And that this may not be thought the fault of Rosaries Hours and Books of private Devotions for which the Church of Rome is accountable as having confirmed them by her Authority it is also the Tenor of her publick Service as is plainly to be seen in the Collects Hymns and Litanies of that Breviary which was restored by the Council of Trent and authorised by several Popes and which is at this day in uncontroulable use through all the Papal Dominions And we might also observe the like concerning the Doctrine of the Sacraments in which whosoever is once fully instructed according to the Catechism of this Church will quickly discern the Abuses thereinto introduced by Popery To mention no more than what belongs to the Author of a Sacrament which our Catechism asserts and which is an undeniablle Truth to be only Christ And therefore all those things are to be excluded the number of Sacraments that are not of his immediate and clear appointment And that Orders Penance Confirmation Marriage Extream Unction all Romish Sacraments are not of Christ's Institution is easily discernable to Men but slenderly versed in the Holy Bible and therefore not to be received for the Sacraments of Christ but Inventions of those who teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. Now by these imperfect intimations we may safely infer That those who have had their Foundation in Religion surely laid according to the publickly allowed Catechism of this Church must have other Ends to serve than those of Religion and drive other projects than Gods Honour and their own Salvation who forsake her Communion for that of Rome But to return What ever hath unhappily contributed to our Revolting to the one hand or the other from the Established Religion of this Church there is none that will deny but that the lack of a plain and solid Catechising has had therein a very large share And therefore we may conlude That the careful practice of that will be a chief means to restore Union and Peace the Omission whereof hath occasioned the contrary And indeed Catechising seems the only proper way not only to strengthen those that do stand but to raise up those that are faln if we consider how ineffectual all other ways have proved which have been managed to this end Which now come to be surveyed CHAP. VIII The Methods used for our reclaiming surveyed proving ineffectual c. AND here we need not be told how Indulgence and Clemency Acts of Amnesty and Grace have been so far unable so much as to work us up to a good Humour that like fresh Pastures to unruly Beasts they have only served to strengthen us for a sturdier resistance Nor need we be told of making Converts with the Churches Patrimony for though by this means some may be invited to bear the Ark of God yet they do it but like the Philistins Kine who were still lowing after the Calves they had left behind them It needs not be demonstrated that our frowardness and opiniastrè are not to be cured by such Methods But that which I would chiefly take notice of is that Disputation and Preaching which out of an agreeableness that they are generally thought to bear to our distempers and the powerfulness of their management have obtained a Name to be the only proper remedies But the continuance of the Malady is a convincing Argument that these are not so proper for
much to respect the Peoples Fancies as proficiency in Religion the informing of their judgments and directing their Consciences and not the humouring of their caprices ought to be their chief aim and travel 3. That they cannot deserve the Name of Guides who are ruled by those whom they should rule the issue whereof will be no better than that of the blind leading c. 4. That if Catechising be a way of Instruction which will best preserve the Unity and Peace of the Church and most solidly and securely advance the edification of the people then there is no need to be sollicitous for any other ends or interests 5. And as for the constant repetition and audience of the same Truths necessary to Salvation as they are the Contents of the Church-Catechism it may be justified by that old saying Nunquam satis docetur quod nunquam satis discitur Those Lessons can never be too much taught which can never be too much learned For repetition in this case is to make the Catechism what indeed it is the Words of the Wise fastned like Nails by the Masters of Assemblies And though in all the blows of the Hammer the act be the same yet there is no stroke superfluous while every one tends to compleat the Work We may bring the same quarrel against reading Books and hearing Sermons for they are but old matter in new words and if stript of Dress and Disguise they would easily be discerned to be but so many varied repetitions In Religion if any thing be pretended to be new we may safely conclude it is false 6. But to evacuate the whole Objection a diligent Catechist will find enough in the Church-Catechism to entertain his Congregation with variety and to delight and profit all but itching Ears For it wants nothing that is requisite to defend us in our Journey or to save us when come to our long home And those who are therein duely instructed will find themselves so sufficiently guarded that no Machinations of Heresie or Schism will be able to batter or undermine them Indeed the diligent use of Catechising will be its best Vindication and most effectually answer all Objections against it And without all Controversie there was never a greater necessity of enforcing what we now treat of than the conjuncture wherein we live For we see Satan is let loose and lays hard at the Souls of Christians not only by such Opinions as disturb our Peace but would utterly destroy our Christianity Insomuch that we have great need to speak to every one as that famous Anchorite to his Pillars upon the approach of an Earth-quake Stand fast for ye shall be shaken And stand fast we cannot if we want a sure Foundation in Religion and this cannot be expected where it is not laid in a full and timely Catechising CHAP. XIV The Church-Catechism to be preferr'd before others for its Authority Usefulness Accomplishment Contents c. BUt if after all that hath been or can be said concerning the antiquity and benefits of Catechising in general or more particularly in regard of its necessity and advantages in respect of the present temperament of our own Nation it should be disputed what Catechism ought to be of publick use I shall return first that although there are many excellent Catechisms both in our own and Foreign Languages composed by private persons out of the consideration of the great emolument accrewing to the People from this of Teaching yet there is none which with those of this Communion ought to be of equal esteem with the Catechism of the Church if we consider as we ought its Authority Usefulness and Accomplishment And in the first place as for its Authority the Church-Catechism hath no less pre-eminence above others than the Decrees of Councils above the Instigations of a private Spirit For the difference betwixt this and Catechisms penn'd by particular persons is like that between the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom and the advice and judgment of private Subjects This is not to cast any imputation or disrespect upon those Catechisms penn'd by grave and learned Divines which are good in themselves and useful in their station but to shew that the Church-Catechism commands of us a peculiar Veneration by reason of its publick Authority In the next place by virtue of its Authority the Church-Catechism hath an especial Usefulness in being the common Test by which we may try who are of or against our Communion It is likewise an excellent Form of Religion whereby particular persons may examine their own Opinions and Sentiments and give an account of their Faith to those who would therein either establish or subvert them In the last place the Accomplishment of the Church-Catechism greatly enhaunseth its Commendation For if its Contents fall under an upright Review it will merit no less praise than those Composures which are so exact that they are neither defective nor redundant For although some have objected its deficiency as not taking any notice of the great Points of Faith Justification Sanctification c. It may hereunto be truly answer'd That these Points are rather briefly exprest than totally omitted and that it is not the omission but the short and Orthodox Expression thereof which is the ground of the Exception But if the nature of a Catechism were rightly weighed it would be no Objection against the Churches that some things are therein either more darkly or more succinctly set down For if every point of Doctrine were in a Catechism discuss'd at length it would lose and forfeit its Name But besides all this it is easie for a Clerk of ordinary Industry and Letters to make all those Points plain and obvious out of the Church-Catechism whose want is objected against its compleatness And we have no reason to wonder or repine that the Church hath left something to exercise the labours and abilities of her Clergy But to conclude If we maturely examine the Catechism we shall find therein such a natural evenness in the Method and Stile and such a consistency and soundness in the Matter as is not in any like composition easily to be matcht As for the Introduction it naturally carries us to all the circumstances of our admission into the Church shewing when by whom after what manner and by what means we became Christians Next it acquaints us with the great Priviledges Benefits and Duties of Christianity as also how by solemn Vow we stand obliged to perform them The Question is plain and short the Answer full and pithy wnd the Compilers thereof have manifested a singular wisdom and care in delivering the Rule in the fewest and plainest words For if they had loaden it with long indicative Periods they might at once have both puzzl'd the understanding and oppressed the memory of those tender Capacities for whom chiefly it was designed If we look into the principal Chapters of the Catechism the Church therein has followed the Copy of the best and
other Reasons those that have been thus briefly intimated may at least assist to clear the first question and answer of the Catechism from the guilt of Trivialness Vanity and Impertinency As to what is objected against the Second question and answer it will be sufficient to reply That our Church therein is confo mable to the Primitive For Tertullian a Father of the Third age saith positively That it was the custom of the Church in his time to adm t none to the benefit of the Scriptures or to any dispensation concerning sacred and divine things or to the scanning and examination of particular Questions of Religion who could not first give a clear account of all material circumstances of their Reception into the Ark of Christ's Church By whom at what time and after what manner they were received which are the Ingredients of the second answer in the Church-Catechism and whether they did stedfastly believe and maintain all those general Principles wherein there ever was an universal an unanimous agreement among all Christians And those who could not give an account thereof were looked upon as such who had no right to the Communion of Christ's Church and the Priviledges of his Kingdom This Testimony of the Churches practice is to be seen in Tertullian's Praesc advers Haeretic A piece which was written by him as I conceive before the provocations of the Roman Clergy tempted him to turn a Montanist and to be led away with the Enthusiastick delusions of that Sect. He lived in the third age and was so high in the esteem of the humble and modest St. Cyprian that he usually called him his Master Hierom. in Cat. Script Eccles Abraham Buchol Chronolog The imposition of the Name being confined to the precise time of Baptism is by some looked upon as an impertinent Rigor and tasting highly of Superstition But they would be of another mind if without prejudice they would have recourse to the Use of the Church which hath always given Names to those Children she admitted into her Fellowship at the punctual time of their admission And this will be plainly discerned if we look back unto Circumcision the first Characteristical Sacrament for from the time of its Institution to that of its legal abolishment the Male received his name at the Celebration of that truly primitive Initiatory Nor doth it any way evacuat this Assertion that we read of some who had names before they were circumcised after that admissory Rite was appointed as Benoni Gershom and the Israelites born in the Wilderness Gen. 35.18 Exod. 2. 4. Josh 5.2 whom we may suppose not to have wanted Names as they did Circumcision But as touching the Example of Benoni it affords little of Objection seeing that at Circumcision his Name was changed And what happen'd concerning Gershom it was as the instance of the Israelites in the Desart in this case not at all argumentative because it was extraordinary and when necessity forced them to dispence with Law So that notwithstanding all this we may conclude that Circumcision was the usual time for the imposition of Names And the like custom has always been observed at Christian Baptism the Church thinking it most convenient that the Baptised should at the same time receive his Christian Name whereat he became a Christian But that for which the Church seems least accountable and which makes the greatest noise and which is objected with the fairest plausibility is that which concerns Sureties in Baptism whose Office is decri'd as unwarrantable because they undertake what they cannot discharge And the very name of Godfathers and Godmothers is spoken against as a prophanation of the most Holy Name being a Transgression of the Third Commandment And this is an Objection which cannot be better assoiled than by laying down a clear Scheme of the Antiquity and Reasonableness of Sureties in Baptism And in the first place the antiquity of Sureties at and for the reception of Persons into the Church is indisputable For if we look into the Jewish Church when she was in her best Purity we shall find that ever since the institution of Circumcision there were still some appointed to be present and hold out the Male to the Mohel to be circumcised And the person allotted for this Office was some special Friend of the Fathers who is called the Master of the Covenant but usually in Latin Initiationis Arbiter Susceptor Compater who at the Door of the Synagogue receives the child from the women who are permitted to go further and entring the Synagogue the Susceptor holds the child till the Hammohel Circumciser has taken away the Foreskin And how this custom was primitively observed among the Jews and in point of Sureties derived to the Christians may be collected from what Junius has intimated upon Esay 8. compared with Saint Luke 1. from the 57 to the 60 Verse Now this custom of Sureties in the Jewish Church need not at all reflect upon the like in the Christian Being it was in the power of the latter to retain any Rite of the former that was apparently decent significant and edifying For if every thing used by the Jew were to be rejected by the Christian then most of our Religion must be cast out of doors For it was not the design of our great Law-giver to abolish Judaism but to amend supply and heighten it Besides we find not that those who were or are the greatest Impugners and most impetuous gainsayers of Sureties in Baptism ever did it upon the account that it was a Rag of Judaism But how dark and questionable this custom may seem to some in its derivation and pedigree yet its practice is clearly to be found in the first times of Christianity As they must needs know who have observed how frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occur in the Greek Fathers and Susceptores Sponsores and Fide jussores in the Latin And how in both the words signifie and refer to Undertakers at Baptism Platina ascribes the Institution hereof unto Hygin who saith he ordain'd that at the least one Patrimus or Matria should be present at Baptism and there hold the Infant till he was baptised Patrimus and Matrima are old Words which by new imposition denoted those who undertook for the Vertuous and Pious education of the Baptised Now if it be granted that Hygin Bishop of Rome was the Author of Godfathers and Godmothers then this custom is of an uncontroulable ancientness for Hygin lived in the Second Age and was a Martyr in the 144 of Salvation And it is generally granted that this good Bishop took occasion from those Persecutions which were heavy upon the Church to appoint Sureties in Baptism That in Case the Parents should fall into violent restraint banishment or death there might be some to take care of their childrens instruction in the truth of that Religion into which they were initiate But whatever was the first