186 BAXTER'S DYING THOUGHTS. Arg. 1. There can be qo effect without an adequate cause ; but in nature there is no cause that can make all men agree to as- sert a known falsehood, or deny a known truth, against all their known interest; therefore there can be no such effect. Arg. 2. A necessary cause' will necessarily effect ; but where men's known interest obligeth them toagree of a known truth, this is anecessary cause of certain credibility ; therefore it hath a ne- cessary effect. You know who were your parents, and when and where you were born, &c., by such tradition in a lower degree. This de- pendeth not on pretended authority, nor on mere honesty; but on natural necessity. Having premised this, I come to prove, thatwe have such tra- dition of physical, infallible evidence, that the faith of the present church, in the essentials, is the same which the first churches re- ceived infallibly from the apostles. 1. The world knoweth that ever since Christ's ascension, all that believed in him were baptized, as all Abraham's covenant seed were circumcised. And what is baptism, but a profession of belief in Jesus Christ, as dead, risen, and glorified ; and a devot- ing ourselves in covenant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"? All that ever were Christians by solemn vow professed this same faith; and this is such a tradition of Christianity as hu- man generation, down fromAdam, is of the same humanity in the world. 2. They that were baptized were catechised first; in which the three articles of baptism were open to them ; of which Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension were part ; and this hath been an undeniable tradition of the same faith. 3. The sum of the Christian faith was, from the beginning, drawn up in certain articles called the creed, which expounded the three baptismal articles ; and all churches on earth had the same in sense, and most in words ; and all at age that were baptized, professed this creed ; which is as full a tradition ofthe same belief in Christ's birth, death, and resurrection, ascension, and glory, as speaking is a tradition of the same human nature. 4. Before Christ's ascension, he instituted the office of the sa- cred ministry, which, friends and foes confess, bath continued ever since. And what is this ministry, but an office of publishing the gospel of Christ, his life, death, miracles, resurrection, grace, &c. ? What else have they done in all ages in the world? so that the of- fice is an undeniable tradition. 5. Christ and his apostles instituted theweeklycelebrationof the remembrance of his resurrection on the Lord's days : friends and foes confess the history, that the first day of the week
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