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cils and Fathers; for, thefe latter can pretend to no more Divine Authority than the former; and it may be, upon a Juft Examination, will be found to have much lefs; tho' I have no need to dwell upon this, becaufe this, because my Province is only confin'd to Lay-i. e. unautho riz'd Baptifm-fuch as is perform'd by Perfons who never were authoriz'd for that purpofe; who act in direct Oppofition to that Order of Men who are impower'd by Chrift to authorize others to Baptize; against Such Baptizers, I have produc'd Several Teftimo, nies from the Pureft Times; and the Adver fary can bring forth, in their behalf, not One Council, either General or Provincial, till the Corrupt Ones of the Church of Rome.

I am very well fatisfied that there is but ONE TRUE CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, which ought not to be repeated upon thofe who have receiv'd it: I find my 16 felf under an Impoffibility to believe, that this ONE BAP. TISM is any other, than what Chrift himself Inftituted Juft before his Afcenfion into Hea, ven; I reckon an Effential Part of this Inftitution (and I humbly hope in the Sequel of this Difcourfe to prove it) to be the DIVINE AUTHORITY of the ADMINISTRATOR as well as the Water, and the Form of Ad miniftration....

I cannot be fatisfied, that the Perfon who is faid to have Baptiz'd me, ever had this Au thority; nay, I am fully convinc'd of the con

trary;

trary; and alfo, that he was actually in oppofition to it; and tho' his meaning were never fo good, yet I cannot think God concurr'd with fuch an Ufurpation, when it was done without Any Neceffity at all, in a Chriftian Country, where truly Authorized Minifters might have been had with as much, if not greater eafe and speed than he: For which Reafons I find no folid Foundation for believing, that I have received this ONE BAPTISM, efpecially fince I my self should with great Reafon have refus'd his Adminiftration, as it would have been my Duty, if I had been put to my own free Choice; which, it's certain, I could not then, being but an Infant. I doubt not but fome will fay, "That I need not concern my self so much about "that which I had no hand in, and wherein I 66 was wholly Paffive; if there was any Fault in "fuch my Baptifm, 'twas none of mine, but theirs

who had the Care of me: To whom I return this fhort Anfwer, That the Parent's, or Godfather's and Godmother's Act and Deed is interpretatively the Child's, and he muft make it really his own when he comes to Years, by taking it upon himfelf; fo that if THEN he owns their Sinful Act (knowing it to be fuch) he makes himself PARTAKER with them in the Sin.

But to return once more to the Dispute in St. Cyprian's time, and the Decrees then and fince made about it; I cannot Diffemble my Thoughts, that the Arguments and Deter

minations

minations against his Doctrine and Practice, having nothing of that Reafon and Solidity, which an Inquifitive Perfon might juftly expect in them: And that on the contrary, St. Cyprian and his Colleagues defend their Affertion [that the Baptifms of Hereticks and Schifmaticks are Invalid] with fo much Judgment and Cogency of Argument, (founded upon the Topick of fuch Hereticks and Schifmaticks, being deftitute of Holy Orders while they were out of the Church of Christ) that I wonder how it could poffibly have come to pafs, that their Doctrine fhould be afterwards exploded; efpecially when I confider, that what they taught and practic'd herein, was confirmed by NUMEROUS COUNCILS in thofe earlier Days, wherein Truth was more prevalent than afterwards; and Tertullian long before affirm'd the fame thing, "That Baptifm is refer'd to the "Bishop Hereticks are not able to give it, "because they have it not; and therefore it "is that we have a RULE to Re-baptize "them.

Here Tertullian talks of a Rule to Baptize fuch Perfons; which plainly fhews, that he is not fpeaking fo much of his own Private Opinion as of the Law and Practice of the Church. This is his relation of Matter of Fact; and as fuch, to be receiv'd for a Teftimony of the Church's Opinion concerning the Baptifm of Hereticks, in his Days. But his ftrange odd Notions (in his Exhortation to

Chastity,

Chastity, and his Book of Baptifm)" That "Laicks are Priefts,because it is written, "Chrift "hath made us Kings and Priefts unto God " and his Father: That when Three are ga"ther'd together altho' they be Laicks they make a Church; and that Laymen may Baptize in Cafe "of Neceffity and Absence of a Prieft"; thefe appear to be only his own particular Sentiments, and he cannot be call'd a Witness of the Churches Custom and Allowance in these things; for he talks of no Rule, no Law of the Church relating to them, as he does when he speaks of the Baptifm of Hereticks, by faying we have a Rule to re-baptize them. And 'tis certain, that no Church, till the 4th Century, can be produc'd to have any Rule for the allowance of Lay Baptifm, and then, none but the Council of Eliberis, which I have before obferv'd and remark'd on Pag. 11. On the contrary, againft Lay Baptifm we have the Teftimonies of St. Bafil, St. Chryfoftome, and the Catholicks difputing with the Luciferians in the fame Century, which is more than a Ballance against Tertullian's private Opinion concerning fuch Baptifm, &c. But to go ftill further backward to the Days wherein fome of the Apostles might be ftill living; St. Ignatius, a Glorious Martyr, and Bishop of Antioch, Anno Dom. 71. in his Epiftle to the Smyrneans, fays, "Let that SACRAMENT be "judg'd effectual and firm, which is difpens'd 66 by the BISHOP or him to whom the Bishop

"has

"has committed it. It is not LAWFUL "without the Bishop, either to Baptize or "Celebrate the Offices; but what he approves of, according to the good pleasure of God, that is FIRM AND SAFE, and fo we do 66 every thing SECURELY.

66

This is fo exactly agreeable to St. Cyprian's Doctrine, that 'tis no wonder he adher❜d to it all the Days of his Life; and it seems to me, that nothing could have given Credit and Reputation to the contrary Opinion, but the monftrous increase of HERESY and SCHISM afterwards, which, together with many other Caufes concurring, brought into the Church of Rome, and the reft of the Western Churches, whom she had fubjected to her Vaffalage,abundance of Damnable Doctrines and Practices, infomuch, that at laft there was but little of Solid and Subftantial Religion to be found in the Churches of Her Communion. And 'tis very obfervable, that even among fome of us who have reform'd from Her Errors, there is too much of Her Leaven ftill remaining; for one of Her very Great and Peculiar Corruptions, in the Matter of Lay Baptifm and Midwives Baptifm, is ftill efpous'd by too many who ought to oppofe it; and not only fo, but rather than part with it, they will fwallow another of Her Errors too, and affert the abfolute Neceffity of Baptifm to all; and what is worse than Popery it felf, affirm, that the want of it Peoples Hell with many Millions, as

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