Of (h1y[me, the White Garment, Milk and Honey. <2.!:!elt. 5o. Wbence came t!Je antient ttniwrfal cuftome of Anointimr at 'Baptifm, · m1d putting 011 a White Garment, and taftrng Milk and FLney ! 6 And whether they are laiV{ul to 111 ! . 'Anfw. I· WE mufl remember that the fignification of thefe .w~s not by 3 new infiirLHiofl of Pfal. 2>·~S· &. theirs, but by forrntr cuth;>mc of the Counueys where they lived. As I· Anoint- Luke --:';6~0• iHg in Jud.e& was likeB~thing at Rome: It was taken in thofe fcorching Countreys for a wholfumc, 1\-f.mh. 6. t7• and eating, and comforting thing; And therefore ufcd to refrdh the weary limbs of travellers, and ~,mos 6. 6. ro comfort the fick. . t~1." ~~: ~~: >• And it was the long accul\omed Ceremony alfo ufed o-n Officers ac'ounted facred, Kmgs and Luke 1 6. Priefis, who were anointed at their entrance and invdlitur('. . 3· White Cloathing and Purple were then and rhcre takm for the nobltft attire; Not appropnated Rev. 3·4, s-. to facred things and perfons ; but as Scarlet lately in England, the g·ub only of great men : On y;J:Y{halt :calf: which account, not as a Sacred Veftmext, but as an hm10ur~able cloathing, when the Bithop.; began to w~.h me 111 be advanced, rhey were allowed ro wear Wh'ite Clo.ithinL, ~not only when they officiated, bur at w JU. other times. 4· The Mil~ and H1ney w<re there highly efteem~d for food, and accounted the chaiaeler of the J'""' r. ••· Land ofPromife. Muk6. •3· z. Hereupon by application the Churches ufed thefe figns in th~ Sa<red Ordinance of baptifm: Not by new inftitution of the fignific•tion, I fay, but by application of the old well known fig– nificition. 3• As Natural Signi are commonly allowed to be applyed to holy .things, fo jigns whole fignifi– cation is of old and commonly .fiated and we11 known by Agreement or Cujfome, do feem in rhis not to be diffirent from Natural Sigm. Such are all Words, as hgns of our minds; No word fignify– ing any thing Naturally, but by Agreement or C1.j!ome only. .And fuch is kneeling in prayer ; and . being u>ICo>ered ; and many the like : About fome of which Paul appealeth to the cullome of the r Cor. t r. t6- <:hurches of God. 4• lt is moft probable thatthefe two things together brought in Anninting; t. The common ufe of Anointing then, in both the forefaid .Cafes, ( Common Rifrefhment and Sacred Inveftiture ). 2. Atld the mifi:akc of all thofe Scripture 'fcxts, which command or mention Anointing Metap~o· rical; As I John 2. 27· The Anointing which y ou havt received--ttacbeth you all thing 1 • Rev. '&6. & Ezek. 16. p. I wtJjhcd thee, I anointed thre with Oyl, &c. Pfal. 105. IS· 1Chron. 16. 22· ':foucb not i·~:r: 2.. ~~:: miHe anointed. Rev. 3· 18. ' And withal reading that we arc made Kings and Pritfts to God, and a Roy•l Prieftbosd, they thought this might be fignified by the ufual honourary figns of fuch, as well as by words to be calkd futh. So that they rook it as n in our age, the baptized fhould be fet in a Chair ofState a~d furnptuoufly ~ppate\lcd, a~d a fta(\ ma~~ to folc:m~i:e ir, as ~hey do ar Weddings, and the bap~ ·tlzed perfon fet at the 'upper end, &c. whtr;h are ftgmhcant ACbons and Cerelllonies ; But they in. tended them not as new Sacraments, OJ any part of the Sacrament, but as a pompous celebration of theS.;:cramcnt by fuch'additional ceremonial accidents. 5· And you mull remember that they lived among Infidels, where their profeffion was ~ade the common fcorn, which tempted them by fuch ofienration and pomp to feek to make ir honourable -and to (hew that rhey fo accounted ir, and to encourage thofe who were difcouragableby the fcorn:' On which account alfo they ufed the Crofs, and the Memorials of the Martyrs. 6. Yet Come, yea, l)'lany aftellWards ;tfid feem to ••ke the Anointing for a Sacramental Adion. "When tlrey read that tl1e Laying "' •f "ba>i!ls 1 was the fign of Giving the Holy Ghoft, as dillihd from baptifm, and that the Spirit is called in Scripture the Anointing, they joyned both together and made that which they now call the Sacrament of Confirmation. ' 7· Whether the Anointing, Milk and Honey, and the White Garment, were then finful in them– felves to ihc ufers, !-determine not. 'But-ocrtaioly they proved very ill by accident, while£\ ar this d6or rhefe nume-rous INld unlawful Ce.r.ctflonics have entered, which have fa troubled the Churches and c:orruptc~ Re1tgion;, and among rhe P.apifis, Greeks, Armenians, Abaffines, and many others, hav; made the fauce to become themtat, and the lace to go for clwhing,and turned too mu•h of Gods wor– fhip into Imagery, fhadows and pompous fhews. · Nnnnn Qyefl.
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