Brotherly Persuasion to Unity and Uniformity, Tract · Chapter 11
CHAP. 11. Concerning the interrogatories in Baptiſme.
THe next thing of any moment, that I find troubles and hinders men from yeelding to conformity, is the order of the booke for the interrogations and anſweres in the tract of baptiſme, wherat I the leſſe muſt needs maruail, for that I find by the 23. Epiſtle of S. Au: that one Boniface a learned Biſhop in his time, was alſo troubled therwith: but then I muſt needs ſay againe, that I find in the ſaid Epiſtle, that it firſt appears, that they were euen then in vſe in baptiſing of Infants, in effect as they are now, and that there the ſaid S. Aug ſets himſelfe earneſtly in the beſt manner that he could, to defend the vſe of them, againſt all the obiections of the ſaid Boniface; yea further certaine it is, let any man read Dioniſius eccleſiaſticall Hierarchy. Cap. 7. & he ſhall there find, that in that Authors time (whoſoeuer & whatſoeuer he was) they were alſo in vſe, and likewiſe of ſome miſliked, and that therfore he to defend them, expounded then the promiſes there, that the godfathers make, as alſo our late Archbiſhop doth, defending the ſame Page. 611. as made onelyonly to ſignifie that they will vndertake to doe aſmuch as ſhall lye in them, that after, the child liuing to yeares of diſcretion, it ſhall performe that which they promiſe and vow in the name thereof, which therefore in the firſt entrance into our Catechiſme; eueryevery one is taught to profeſſe, that thereby he taketh himſelfe bound to do, and therefore accordingly that he will. And ſurely hereupon it is alſo that in the new addition to the Catechiſme alſo it is ſayd, that the child performes faith and repentance, in that they promiſed them both in the name therof, ſo ſpeaking for that ſo they are both vowd and profeſſed in the name thereof, and not as ſome hardly take it, as though now therein, it were the meaning of our booke, to teach either that both theſe are actually in eueryevery child that is baptized, or that one may beleeue and repent by another, but only ſo to ſhew that their good hope was, in ſo promiſing in the name thereof, that in time it ſhould and would. To this effect S. Auſtin in the latter end of his 105. Epiſtle, hauing an eye to the like vſe in his time in anſwering for the child, moſt plainly writes, that truly the child ſo anſwers by their mouths, and beleeues by their hearts and mouths that ſo confeſſe for it; as it is there new borne, by the miniſterie of the baptizer. See him alſo, to this purpoſe: de verbis Apost. ſer. 10. And indeed who ſo only conſiders the words of the booke, not only in the queſtions and anſwers themſelues, eſpecially as they are ſet downe in priuate baptiſme, but alſo in the exhortation, precedent, and conſequent, in the tract of publike baptiſme, as alſo what is ſet downe concerning the ſame in the entrance into the old part of the Catechiſme, ſhall be enforced to ſee, that the ſaid queſtions are propoſed to the infants, and that the anſwers are made only by the godfathers and godmothers thereunto in their names, for & of the hope, which they in chriſtian charity hauehave of them (which teacheth them to hope alwayes the beſt, 1. Cor. 13.7. of ſuch as are ſo borne in the Church, & deſcended, & come of Chriſtian parents, 1. Cor. 7.14) becauſe they are not able then ſo to anſwer for themſelues. The reaſon and ground of which cuſtome is, that in the adminiſtration of this Sacrament the Church alwayes hath thought, there is to paſſe a mutuall ſtipulation & couenant betwixt God & eueryevery partie to be baptized; and therfore ſeeing children born or deſcended of parents, wherof but one is a chriſtian, ſo far herby are ſanctified, as that they are admittable to, and capable of baptiſme, 1. Cor. 7.14. & yet not able either to offer themſelues thereunto, or expreſly thēſelues to make the ſame, they that in the name of the parents & congregation preſent thē therunto, ſhould in this ſort and maner, as our booke appoints it, do it in their names; thereby not only ſhewing what they hope they after will do, but ſo binding thēſelues alſo to be what means to them they can, that whē they come to age & to diſcretiō, they ſhal perform al which they promiſed for them, or in their names. Which as his Maieſtie ſaid in the foreſayd conference, when queſtion was about theſe, ought the leſſe to ſeeme ſtrange vntounto vsus, for that it is an vſuall thing for gardians to orphans and children, to aunſwere and to promiſe ſundry things in the names of their ſayd pupils and wards, and that yet the foreſayd pupils and wards, are after to thinke themſelues bound as well to performe the ſame, as if they had their owne ſelues being of yeares of diſcretion ſo anſwered and promiſed. Whereof alſo another experience his Highneſſe gaue vsus in his owne ſelfe, and that when he was crowned king of Scotland, being then but an infant, yet then his nobles anſwered in his name, as he himſelfe would and ſhould hauehave done, if he had then bene a man, and therefore whereof he had euer ſince bene and would be hereafter as carefull to performe the ſame, as if he had himſelfe made the ſayd anſwers. It may be at the beginning this forme was preſcribed to be vſed, onelyonly as ſome thinke, to ſuch as when they were baptized were of diſcretion and vnderſtanding, thus to anſwer for themſelues, and yet very likely is it alſo (that ſo the rather it might appeare that the Church would hauehave all men to vnderſtand that the baptiſme of ſuch and of infants alſo was one and ſelfe ſame baptiſme, and that they therein aſwell as the other entred into couenant with the Lord) that it was thought fit and neceſſarie, that the ſame anſwer, ſhould be made by ſome of the congregation alwayes in their names, that the other made themſelues. Wherefore to conclude this point, in my opinion, well and iuſtly hath againe our late Archbiſhop, Pag. 602. of his anſwere to Maiſter Cartwright concerning this obiection ſayd, why ſhould it not be as lawfull for the Church of England by publike authoritie to appoint godfathers and godmothers, thus to anſwer in the name of the child, as for the writers of the admonition, to allow vponupon their priuate fancies, that parents or ſome in their roomes in caſe of their neceſſarie abſence, ſhould in the childs name, make confeſſion of the Chriſtian faith and deſire to be baptized therein? Thus therefore in the name of the child they profeſſing and deſiring, what is it but in the true meaning of the booke in Chriſtian charitie, and hope ſo to do, for that they are perſwaded, that if the child were of age, it would euen ſo do, profeſſe & deſire, & therfore that they in the mean time do ſo in the name therof, in full expectation, that when it ſhall, it will account that by them it ſelfe ſo did, that ſo the Couenant betwixt God, and it may in this Sacrament ſtand ratified therein. And yet in ſome ſence according to Chriſts ſaying, Math. 18. it might well bee defended, that ſuch little ones beleeue in him, as habitually they are reaſonable, not actually.