co } (Impoïition of rands ) to the utmofl that they durff, but in- Read ofapplying it to Infants they made it the owningof the Bap- tifmal Covenant, and appointed Catechizing to go before it, and call for a folemn performance of it. Andwere it ufed as a ratio- anal fober owningof the Baptifmal Covenant indeed in an under- [landing, ferious manner, for tranfition into the State of Adult Communicants, it would be thegreatefl means ofa true Refor: Illation, and of Union with the parties that now differ about Church order that can be ufed. Divers of the higheft Epifcopal Divines write as earneflly for this as any ofus : Efpecially Mr. Elderfeld and Dr. Hammond, and yet wereit to prevent our continueddivilìon, and our ruin, .there is no hope ofobtaining ir. L. Why, what hinders if all fides defire it ? M. It is deúre as Holinefyis defied ; ferioufly by, the ferions 5 refervedly,. and by halves by the half Chriflian, and only the Name, Imageand Ceremony by the grofs Hypocrite, who hateth it at the Heart, becaufe it is above him, and againft his carnal mind and intereff. And indeed it is here made impoffible to be done any otherwife ordinarily than as a Ceremony. For I. The Dioceffes are fo vafl that the.Bifhop cannot do this and other his Offices for the hundredth part of his undertaken Flock. Suppofe this Diocefs have but five or fix hundred thoufand Souls (. for when an hun- dred thoufand died the lafl Plague,. I hope it was not above the fixth part :.) Do you think that the Bithop is able ( did he work as hard as anyNonconformifl) to confirm fix hundred thoufand Perlons, or the twentieth part ofthem, or the hundredth, in that ferious manner as belongs to the binding ofa Soul to Chrift in fo fplemn aCovenant. It becometh me not to inquire whether Bithops be men that are for fo much ferioufnefs m Chriflianity themfelves, and fo much labour to attain it : Some are far better than others : You know them as well as I. But I muff fay i. That as far as I can learn there is not oneof anhundred confirmed at all. 2. All the thoufands that are unconfirmed live in the Par foes asreputedChriftians, and may come to theSacrament when they will. 3. I never knew one Minifter of all that Covenanted it, to keep one man from the Sacrament for not being Confirmed, or not
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