Anti-Paedobaptism Part 3, Section 88
SECT. LXXXVIII. Austins saying about Apostolical traditions is not to be rested upon, nor his testimony about the antiquity of Infant Baptism.
AFter his own Epistle, and the Epistle of I. T. P. and the reprinting of the conference between me and Mr. Vaughan, and the dispute between me and himself, Mr. Cr. leaving out the former Epistle of I. T. P. begins with a descant on the title of my reply, which he vainly makes to imply a suit against the universal Church, though it be onelyonly an action against innovators, who have left the plain way of Christ and his Apostles, and (as they have done in many other things) brought in infant Baptism, to the great corruption of the Church of God: And for Mr. Halls inditement, it is such as is fit for boys onelyonly to make sport with; and were Mr. Hall or Mr. Cr. of such serious and grave spirits as they should be, they would have buried it in silence, or been humbled for handling things of God so lightly, such writings being fitter for light wits in the University, then for Preachers and Pastors over Churches of Christ. My calling Mr. Baxters book a cheat and mock titled book, is proved here to be right; and that Mr. Ms. is no impregnable Defence, is here shewed. The rest of Mr. Crs. light Poetry in sect. 1. &c. par. 1. I let pass as the scum of his wit, and onelyonly take notice, that he terms from Stow Sir John Oldcastle a traitor, who was hanged on a gibbet and burned in St. Gyles field, whom Mr. Fox in his book of Martyrs in the time of Henry the 5th. hath against Alan Cope vindicated, and by sundry arguments particularly by the manner of his death mentioned by Mr. Cr. made it probable, that he died a Martyr oppressed by popish Prelates. Whose case is a good document how little credence is to be given to the censures of men, when the relations of them are made by their prevailing adversaries. What I think of laying on hands, may be seen part 2 of this Review, sect. 23. Dr. Featly was a man with whom I had sundry times conference when he was in his greatest esteem, but never found him such as I durst not look in the face when living, and sure his book of Baptism is (beside… what Denn hath done) shewed here and elsewhere not to be unanswerable. With what spirit Mr. Cr. and other Paedobaptists, and my self, have written on this subject, must be left to the cognizance of our Judge.
If Austins saying, l. 4. de Bapt. contra Donat. c. 23. That what the universal Church holds▪ nor was instituted in Councels, but always retained, is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other then Apostolical authority, were meant as Mr. Cr. sect. 5. p. 67. expounds it, including the Apostles, I should yeeld it. But 1. I do not conceive that to be Austins meaning; for 1. then the speech would be an inept tautology to say, that what the whole Church including the Apostles holds, is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other then Apostolical authority; it were as if he had said, what the Apostles held the Apostles held: 2. The very speech shews that Austin meant it of the universal Church of his time, the word [tenet] being in the present tense, and the Councels meant being such as were since the Apostles, and that he counted that to be instituted in no Councels, but to have been always held, of which he could not shew any beginning or any interruption: 3. Elsewhere his speeches shew this was his mind, as Epist. 118. ad Joann. Illa quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus, quae quidem toto terrarum orbe observantur dantur intelligi vel ab i…sis Apostolis vel plenariis Conciliis quorum est in Ecclesi… saluberrima autoritas commendata atque statuta retineri, and he instanceth in the anniversary solemnities of Good Friday, Easter day, Holy Thursday, and Whitsunday, and adds; and if any other thing hath occurred which is kept by the whole Church where ever it spreads it self. And accordingly he makes the necessity of the Communion to eternal life as of Baptism to the Kingdome to be from Apostolical tradition, tom. 7. de pecc. mer. & remis. l. 1. c. 24. Mr. Crs. conceit is not right, as if the words, And if any man seek for Divine authority in this thing, did intimate that his following rule was meant of what was held in the Apostles time: for in them he means that which he after fetcheth from Circumcision out of Scripture, besides that which the whole Church holds, not instituted in Councels, yet still held. In this sense it is urged by Canus, l. 3. loc. Theol. c. 4. as a rule to know genuine unwritten traditions Apostolical from spurious, and rejected by Chamier, paustr. cath. tom. 1. l. 8. c. 14. §. 13. as impossible, sith what hath been in all ages and Churches from the Apostles cannot be known; and it is urged by Bellarm. de bonis oper. in part. l. 2. c. …4. for Lent fast, and refuted by Chamier, paustr. cath. tom. …. l. 19 c. 7. §. 36.
2. This rule cannot stand the Epistler in any stead for proving infant Baptism without the Apostles writings, 1. because there is no way without them to know what was universally held, there being no man able to know what the Church holds in all places in his own time, much less what in former ages was held; and many things have been taken even by Austin as universally observed which were not, and many Councels held which are unknown, and many corruptions crept very early into the Church whose original cannot be s…t down determinately, of which Ushers general answer to the Jesuites challenge ▪ gives reasons. 2. Infant Baptism cannot bee proved to have been universally observed, but as now it is taught and used hath been opposed by some of the Ancients, and is now rejected by Protestant Divines, as it was by the Ancients taught and used. Nor is Austins testi…ony Se…m 10. de verb. Apostoli (not Serm. 15.) that the Church always had and held Infant Baptism, valid for Mr. Crs. purpose; 1. because the term [hoc, this] may bee rather referred to t…e doctrine of infants being born with original sin, rather then the practise of their baptism, and to this sen…e both t…e scope, words precedent, consequen…, and the terms, had, held, perceives from the faith of Elders, keep to the end (which are most fitl… appli…d to doctrine) make more prob…ble, as I noted in my Apology §. 16. pag. 83. 2. Were the meaning of Austin about infant baptism, yet there were no cause to rest on this testimony as credible, 1. because it is but a speech in a popular Sermon, in which men speak not exactly as in other writings. 2. The words [hoc Ecclesia usque in finem perseveranter custodit] could be known onelyonly by guess and conjectural presage, it being of a contingent matter not by Divine revelation fore-told, and therefore the other speeches (as likewise other speeches, as that tom. 7. de pecc. mer. & remiss. l. 1. c. 24. shew was his wont) are to bee conceived as spoken not out of any good records, but from that which he found observed in his time, where he had been. 3 Because serm. 14. de verbis Apost. he saith, that Cyprian Epist. 59. ad Fidum quid semper Ecclesia sensit monstraverit; though he onelyonly set down what wa… determined in that Council of Carthage, which was in the third Century. 4. There are so many speeches of the ancients false, uncertain, contradicting each other concerning Apostolical traditions, universal observations, that many Protestants have discredited them, of which some testimonies are set down by me in my P…aecursor sect. 3. Salmasius appar. ad libr. de primatu p…pae, men…ions some other, as pag. 134. All the Fathers with one accord make Paul and Peter founders of the Roman Church, and yet were deceived; Hierome saith, it was in all the world decreed, that one should be a Bishop over others: and yet the Preface of Selden before Twisdens Collection of ancient British Histories, shews it wa… otherwi…e in Scotland of old. And for Austin Epist. 118. ad Janu. c. 1, 6. hee makes the anniversary solemnities of Easter, &c. of eating the Lords Supper fasting, as always universally observed, in which he was mistaken. Mr. Cr. doth abuse me in making my argument, as if I had said Easter was always held, my words were; If Austins rule were true, then Easter should be from the Apostles; not because I thought it true, but because Austin thought so, and so by his rule Easter must bee counted to come from the Apostles, and his testimony is as good for it, as for the universal observation of in…ant Baptism. 5. Not onelyonly Protestants but Papists also do now reject things observed by the Ancients, as amply as infant Baptism. Jewel Sermon at Pauls Cross, p. 48. Usher answer to the Jesuits challenge, p. 23. It was the use of the ancient Church to minister the Communion to infants: which is yet also practised by the Christians in Egypt and Ethiopia. The Church of Rome, upon better consideration hath thought fit to do otherwise. The putting milk and honey into the mouth of th… …aptized, the standing at prayer on Lords days between Easter and Whitsontide, the baptizing at Easter persons catechised in Lent, with many more are now left; though Bellarmin. l 2. de bonis operibus in particulari c. 17. tels us, Abolitam esse consuetudinem baptizandi catechumenos & absolvendi p…nitentes in pascha…e verum est apud Lutheranos: caeterùm apud Catholicos, ac praesertim in urbe Romana nullus est annus, quo non multi Catichumeni in paschate baptizentur; which I mention to shew, that there ar… some foot-steps yet remaining of the old baptizing. …p. Jewel De…ense of the Apology of the Church of England, part. 2. ch 16. div. 1. saith, there have been errours and great errours from the beginning: hee mentions there and in the Sermon at Pauls cross, baptizing for and of the dead, giving the Communion to the dead body, and therefore there and in his reply to Dr. Cole, he rejects customs of the ancient Church, and condemnes carrying home to the absent the Communion; mixing water with the wine, and many more things; and still requires the Lords Supper and Baptism to bee administred according to the institution of Christ; which if Mr. Cr. or any other can ever shew to have been of infant Baptism, I will say as Bp. Jewel did concerning the 27. Articles propounded at Pauls Cross, I am content to yeild and …o subscribe: otherwise Mr. Cr. and other Paedobaptist… by accusing mee as opposing the universal Church in Austins sense (though I deny it to be true) do but con…emn themselves, who with Papists d… reject things counted by the writers of the … a…es Apostolical, and of universal observation near the Apostles tim…s.
Nor is the … pr…p…sition of Mr. Cr. p. 67. true, That the whole Church … the …postles in all ages, collectively considered, cannot err either in do…rine or discipl…ne. For if the wh…le Church might err so in one age, it may also in all …ges c…llectively considered, the promises being no more … the Church in all ages colle…ively considered, then in each age distri…utively considered, nor an… means given to them after the Apostles colle…ively considered, to keep from errour, then to each, distributively; yea the Churches nearer the Apostles, had more meanes to keep them from errour then other ages, yet they erred in doctrine and discip…ine, as many writers shew, about Easter, the Millenary opinion, an… many other. As for the promise Matth. 16, 18. it is not true of the whole Church visible, the gates of hell have and do prevail against them, but of the invisible, and yet the promise is not to the invisible that they shall not err, but that they shall not erre finally to damnation, which if they did, then indeed the gates of hell or of death should prevail against them, that is (as Cameron rightly in his pr…lection) they should not rise to life eternal Nor is there a promise Joh 16.13. to the wh…le Church, but to the Apostles, the promise being as well to shew them things to come, as to lead them into all truth: And yet the promise i… not so ma…e to the Apostles▪ but that they might err as Peter did Gal. 2. though when they taught the Church by writing or preaching, they were so guided as that they should no… err. But of this point of the militant Churches erring, I need say no more, but refer Mr. Cr. to his own Author Dr. Rainold thesi 3.
6. Were it granted that antiquity did universally p…actise infant Baptism, yet nei…her were the present doctrine or practise justified by it, but condemned; and Mr. Cr. as truly may be said to p…ea… against the universal Church as my self. For it is manifest from the places wh…re there i… mention of it in the Ancients, that they …aught it and pra…i…ed it, onelyonly upon the opinion of the necessity of i… to save an infant from perishing, and because the very baptism did give grace, remission of original sin, made believers, heirs of the …ingdome of heaven, and accordingly they practise… it onelyonly in case of danger of death, very seldome, and this they did to unbelievers children, as well as believers, … a work of charity, not of institution or right by their birth to either But these things Mr. Cr. pleads against them … well as my self, and both the doctrine and practise of Paedobaptists now is against the Ancients as well as mine: Yea more, in that they had a constant course of baptizing the catechized persons upon a solemn profession of faith, and did in all baptisms, except that of the Clinici, that is sick persons baptized in their beds, plunge the whole body, or dip it so as to be under water▪ which are now clean otherwise and things unknown among Paedobaptists. So that as Bp. Usher in his answer to the …esuites challenge, in the article about praying for the dead, p. 245. proves the Romanists to have rejected the ancient prayer for the dead, because they pray not for Martyrs and others in bliss for their resurrection, but for persons in Purgatory to be delivered thence; so I may truly …ay, the Paedobaptists now have rejected the ancient infant Baptism, sith they deny Baptism necessary to salvation, or that it gives grace, and they do it onelyonly to believers infants, by sprinkling or perfusion, without mersion, scarce to any but infants, without any solemn course of catechising ordinarily in order to future Baptism, and to infants ordinarily out of the case of danger of death, upon pretence of a federal holiness by birth, and ordinance of visible Churchmembership unrepealed, unknown to the Ancients, and therefore their doctrine and practise hath no patronage from them.
Mr. Cr. p. 98. saith, that I cunningly alter the subject of the question, when I say infant-sprinkling was not held of the whole Church; and tels me, that he and others do not say so. Which intimates that hee and others desert the maintainance of sprinkling infants as ancient; which diffidence is some argument that the late Assembly have forsaken the ancient way of Baptism by dipping, having in the Directory determined sprinkling as sufficient, and in the practise of many of them taken away the old Fonts, more agree…ble to antiquity, and brought in little stone Basons near the Pulpit or Readers Pew, like Popish holy water pots▪ fit onelyonly for the novelty of sprinkling after the Scottish mod…. N…r is Mr. Crs. way of powring water on the face, or dipping in part of the head, any more the baptizing Christ appointed, or antiquity used, exc…pt in the case of the Clinici. 'Tis true Gods ordinances are not destructive to nature, who requires mercy and not sacrifice; But this proves … Baptism should be omitted altogether, and not the ordinance …, and people mocked as they are by the preacher, that saith falsly, he baptizeth the person, when he doth onelyonly sprinkle or powr water on the face, or dip in part of the head.