Mixture of Scholastical Divinity with Practical Part 2, Excerpt and reply 17
Dr. Hammond. sect. 25, 26, 27, 28.
And the Crosse on which … was crucified, the Embleme also of that … that every Christian enters into, a constant, courageous patience for all afflictions, was by the Primitive Christians thus used, as their Symbol or Ensigne, and every man that is inrolled in the Christian Militia, is by him that inrolles him, signed with it; and this practise being thus founded, and revived in the Church, Saint Augustines words are worth remembring, and cannot be denyed to have truth in them: Signum crucis nifi adhibeatur, sive … credentium, sive ipsi … quâ regenera … &c. nihil ritè perficitur: Unlesse the sign of the Grosse be used either to the foreheads of the beleevers (who are baptised) or to the water it self by which we are regenerate, it is not duly performed. i. e. with such ceremonies as by custome of the Church, the rule of decency, belong to it; and, crucis signo in fronte … tanquam in poste … es, omnesque Christiani signantur (de Catechiz. rud. cap. 20. rom. 4. p. 915.) thou must be signed now in the forehead with the sign of the …, as the Israelites on their door-posts, and so must all Christians. In the forehead particularly cTom. 10. p. 289. B.in fronte figat, ubi sedes …, because the seat of shame is there, which we render, in token that the baptized shall not be ashamed.
26. The usage of this ceremony of signing with the Crosse, was, we … know, frequent in the Church (while the gifts of healing continued) in (d)See Aug. de Civit Dei. l. 2. c. 8.curing …, and casting out Devils, to that Athanasius frequently affirms of it, (e)De Incarnat. Tom. 1. pag. 84. So pag. 101. D. foreign. And pag. 102. 6. foreign. And contr. Arian. Or. 1. pag. 285. A. `O foreign. And Praesente signo crucis … it Paganitas. Aug. T. 4. 229. B. And 832. B. Daemonia nominatâ cruce Christi …, si … fiat, fugantur. Dii Paganorum … crucis responsa dare non possunt.foreign; by the sign of the Crosse all Magick, and Witchcraft is brought to nought, all the Idol Temples laid waste and empty.
27. And then Baptisme being the … of Devils (the ancient Catechists wee know were called Exorcists) the rescuing of a person from the power of Satan into Gods Sonship and Family, what can be more proper, or agreeable, or exactly symbolical, than the use of this in Baptisme, according to that of …. de Resurr Carn. Caro sig. natur, ut anima muniatur, the flesh or body is signed, that the soul may be defended or fortified?
28. And if instead of the (f)Ad omnem progressum … crucis signaculo. Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3.frequent use of it among the ancients, even (g)Vide Narrat. Hippolyti Apostolorum foreign, apud Pallad. Hist. …. pag. 1049. foreign.before the cumbersome weight of Ceremonies came in, (foreign, saith the Author of the Quest. and Resp. ascribed to Justin …, Qu. …. pag. 364. in time of prayer we sign those that are any way ill affected) we in our Church retain it onelyonly in our solemne entrance into Christs' camp, in token that we mean … to fight under his banner, and in confidence that he that thus signed to Constantine victory from Heaven (foreign, in this overcome) will thus give grace, and seal … us victory over our … enemies: what question can there ever be of the perfect decency of this usage among us?
Jeanes.
Here you heap up many Testimonies of the Fathers for the Sign of the …, unto which it is no difficult … to adde more, but you … very wel have spared all this labour; for first, it is not unknown unto you, … … … hold, that the … … of the …, … the Crosse, are no waies justifiable; hear what Bishop … quotes out of the …, and Mr. Hy, pag. …, 238. … … the … put … … the Sign of … Crosse, and wrote of it very superstitiously. Some telling us that it was a … … …, attributed a power thereunto of … …; What shall we …? … that the … hath been as … … … the Fathers, as by … … …, … that the … have … it with divine worship, and … … … … … … ever the Fathers did … it. Bishop … … … to give an Answer hereunto, but Dr … hath so replyed unto him, as that hee hath sate down, and neither he, or his Second, have in this rejoyned any thing unto Amesius.
Unto this of the Abridgement, and Mr. Hy, let me adde whatMr. … of the …, will tell thy hath observed in the Fathers speeches concerning the Crosse, Treat. part. 1. pag. 90. Chew a little upon these speech s, it may be they taste how unsavoury the Fathers are, in the matter of the Crosse:oAugust. de …. 181. With the sign of the Crosse it is that the Body of our Lord is …, and the … of Baptism sanctified. WithpIdem Cont. …. lib. 6 c. 8. the Sign of the Crosse is the wave of Baptisme consecrated.q…. in Mat. 16, …. 55. By the Sign of the Crosse is the Lords Body consecrated. The Font of Baptisme sanctified, and all things whatsoever are made holy, they are made holy with the sign of the Lords ….rCypr. lib. de …. we glory in the Crosse of the Lord, whose … worketh throughout all Sacraments: without which sign nothing else is holy, nor any other consecration that commeth to ….sAug. de Sanct. Serm. 19. With the sign of the Crosse is the Fonte of Regeneration made holy; and to speak fully, all Sacraments are perfected by his virtue.tAug. in … …. 18. Unlesse the sign of the Crosse be applyed to the … of the Beleevers, or to the water whereby they are …, or to the sacrifice whereby they are fed, none of these are rightly performed.uAug. de utilitat. …. The water of salvation is not the water of salvation, unlesse being consecrated in Christs name, it be signed with his Crosse. Againw…. de … … …. …. cap. 3, The water is good for no use of future health, without the Preaching of the Lords Crosse. But when it is consecrated with the … of the saving Crosse, then it is … to the use of a spiritual washing, and of a saving Cup. As therefore Moses threw the wood … the … of …, and made them sweet, so the Priest sends the Preaching of the Lords Crosse into this …, and the water thereof is made sweet unto grace.
By this you may see that … allegations out of the Fathers are in vaine, unlesse you had added a proof of their infallibility, or that they are to be a rule of our faith in matters of this nature.
2. One Papist is found (saith Parker, part 1. pag. …) who …, the Fathers meant … of the outward sign, but of the thing …, which is Christs death: It is well, that we … this … from him, that the Fathers cannot be justified, in case they mean the outward sign, which they mean undoubtedly, or else our opposites doe us great wrong, who object the Fathers against us in the Outward ceremony of the Crosse, &c.
3. Those that are but tolerably versed in the Fathers, cannot but confesse, that they ascribe very strange things unto the sign of the Crosse; as that it is a necessary requisite of Baptisme, that it was an … against the Devil, and an instrument of Miracles, a fence or fortification of the soul against all spirituall adversaries; but these …, however you may excuse them, yet they are so grosse, as that they are utterly … of any just Apology to be made for them; and this without more adoe might … for answer unto sect. 25, 26, 27, 28. But I shall farther give you some general exceptions against those testimonies of the Fathers you alledge, and next, say something unto them taken severally and apart.
My general exceptions shall be six.
The first, the not using of the Crosse by Christ and his Apostles, is a greater prejudice against it, than all the … can be given unto it by the Fathers of after ages; … what are Augustine, …, …, &c. whom you …, in comparison of our blessed Saviour: unto them the Spirit was given but in measure, unto him without measure, Joh. 3. 34. And, it was a … of wisdome and understanding, a spirit of counsel and knowledge, Isa. 11. 12. and so was able to make … and … provision for any religious Ceremonies in his Church that he thought requisite: Why should … we … our selves with those few that he hath ordained? … … no mortal men can produce a patent from him for the … of any other: and why should we think the omission of the Cross in Baptism undecent? seeing it was omitted by Christ himself and his Apostles; for that it was … by them, is confessed by a learned Conformist, Dr. Fulk, in answer unto the …, pag 252. Neither was the sign of the Crosse, saith he, in any estimation with the Apostles, or the faithful in their time. … indeed, … signing with the Crosse to be an old Tradition, which yet is no more certain to have been used by the Apostles, than other like Ceremonies which he there …, as the … of Milk and Honey by them that were baptised, and the abstinence from washing for a week after baptism, … for birth dayes, and such other, … since abolished, which they should not have been, if they had been ordained by the Apostles as necessary for Christian Religion. As a man runneth to the Fountain, saith Cyprian, when the channels are defiled, so must we repair to the practise of the … Church, which is the Fountain of all piety: non est attendendum (saith he) quid aliquis ante nos … putaverit, sed quid, qui ante omnes est, Christus fecerit, & faciendum praeceperit. Agreeable hereunto is that which Mr. Parker part. 1. pag. 100. quotes out of Sadeel against the Monks of Burdeaux. When the Monks of Burdeaux affirm the signs which are added to Baptisme, are an ornament to it, we thus reply: Are they wiser than Christ Jesus, who hath ordained his Sacrament in so great purity and simplicity, and who knoweth better than all the men in the world, what ornament was fittest for it? If it be but the covenant of a man, when it is confirmed, no man abrogateth it, or addeth any thing to it: What arrogancy is it then to adde to the institution of Christ?
A second exception of the Non-conformists against the Testimonies of the Fathers for the sign of the Crosse, is, that they doe not contribute so much honour thereunto, as the suspected infamous birth and original of it doth discredit: In all probabilities, say they, that Devillish Heretick, Valentinus, was the first Author and Father of it, the first that advanced it unto any religious use; and this they prove out of …. Parker part. 1. pag. … …, that it … by the Text of …, that … did use the figure of the …, … expresse one of his … by; and as … was the Father of it, so …, say they, was the Nurse of it. …. …, as I told you, was a Conformitant …, and no enemy unto the sign of the Crosse, so he prosesseth of himself in his confutation of the … pag. 87. As … the sign of the Crosse, so it be … superstition, we can abide well …. And yet this man pag. 252. tels us, that Valentinus the … … … … that made any great account of it; and … for it too …, as well as the Non-conformists.
A third exception against the pretended antiquity of the Crosse, and the Testimonies of the Fathers in that behalf, is, that divers Ceremonies … wi h the Crosse are not urged, but abolished, and yet they were … prostituted … such superstitions and … abuses as the Crosse hath been: And therefore why should the Crosse be such a …, as to be …? This exception you may see thus managed by …, part. 1. pag. 39. If our Opposites must needs drink of this Cistern of …, then lot theqBeat. … … … …. …. Oyle it self of Baptisme, be …: Yea,r…. ex … …. Baptizing by Lay-men; for these be as ancient as the Crosse, and sprang about the same time with it. Sure with farre better reason may…. …. 3. …. …. …. …. …. they take out of their graves, the ceremonys… lib. 3 Epis. 8. of Kissing the Infant Baptised; the ceremony of thet…. de pudicit. Ring given in Baptism, for an obsignation of Faith and Profession; the … of … uTertul. lib. de coron. ….Milk and Hony into … mouth; And lastly … Ceremony of thewIdem de Bapt. & Beat. …. in lib. de coron. …. White Garment, wherewith the … was wont to be clothed. These being equal to the Crosse, both for Antiquity, and for profitablenesse of signification, and … it in other respects, as that they were never so much abused as the Crosse hath been, nor now import so much perill as the Crosse bring eth with it, may give wise men cause to wonder, why … should … buried in a tomb sealed up, while the Crosse not onelyonly …, but also ….
A fourth exception against the ancient use of the Crosse by the Fathers, is that it is over-ballanced by the Papists abuse of it unto …: The Brazen Serpent was ordained by God, and yet when it was abused unto Idolatry, … did well to break it in pieces, 2 King. 18. 4. And therefore the Crosse being a humane invention altogether unnecessary in Gods worship, is for the … abuse of it rightly abolished. The force of this consequence may be gathered from what two English Bishops say.
1. From what Bishop … hath from a translation of a passage out of the Canon Law, Def: of Mr. Perkins part. 1. pag. 168. … our … … done some things, which at that time might be without …, and … be … to errour, and superstition, we are … (saith the Law) by … breaking the Brazen Serpent, that the Posterity may abolish the same … any delay, and with great authority. The very same … are … in the like manner by Dr. John … in his … with …, page 510. As also by … in his Ecclesiastical …, pag. 347.
2. From what Jewel … for the abolition of …, because of their Adoration, … to … … 14. pag 383. The best remedy in this behalf, and most … with Gods Word, is utterly to abolish the cause of the ill. So the godly King … took down, and … in pe ces the Brazen Serpent; notwithstanding … … by … … commandment had … …; notwithstanding it were an … figure of Christ hanging upon the Crosse; notwithstanding it had … so many years; notwithstanding God by it had wrought so many …. So the … Bishop … … in sunder the Image of Christ painted in a cloth; and said, It was against Gods commandment … thing … and … for the Church, and people of God; notwithstanding it were the … of Christ. So the godly Emperour … made his … over all his Dominions in this sort; Signum Servatoris …, … … reperietur, … …: We … command, that the … of our Saviour be taken down, in what place soever it shal be found: notwithstanding it were the … … our Saviour. So it is decreed in the late Council of … that, when Images happen to be … by the people, they be either notably …, or … abolished.
Unto these two I shall adde the testimony of …, De Civitate Dei … 10. …. 8. … … Serpentem … … … … cum … … … Idolum … …, … … … … … …, cum … … … …. Suppose then, though not grant, that the Ancients lawfully and laudably used the sign of the …, as a … sign of Christs death, and a monitory sign of their duty, yet seeing it hath been made by the Papists such an … Idol, there is very good reason for the utter … it out of Gods worship.
A fifth exception is, that our Crosse is not the Fathers Crosse, who never annexed any word unto it, and therefore ours is the more Sacramental; for this see Ames in his Reply to … particular Def page 27, As also Mr. Parker part. 1. pag. 114.
My sixth exception I shall give you in the words of Mr. Parker, part. 1. page 133. What though the custome of the Fathers, who used the Crosse for a sign of Christ, were on all sides good, the times doe differ. They lived in an age when it was despised; wee in a time when it is adored. … in a time when it professed the Faith; we in a time when it is common to Papists. They in a time when it was used over all the Church for the sign of Christianity; we in an age, when out of our own Church it is no where used but for a … of Antichristianity. In regard whereof we may wel appeal to the old Canons, Regulae Patrum … sunt (… Gregory) prout res … videbatur, …, loci personarum, reique … habitâ …. And Leo, … … sunt, quae nulla possunt ratione convelli, … multa sunt, quae pro … temporum, ac confideratione … … ….
But I shall proceed to the examination of your testimonies apart.