256 The LIFE of the I.. I B. I § zr. Doth there need nomore to befaidfor the Ceremonies ? How little will fatisfie fome Men's Confciences ! Lawful Authority bath in other' Countreys caf out the fame Bithops and Ceremonieswhich are here received : Doth it follów that they are good in one Country, and diforderly and undecent in another ? Or that aar Authority only is infallible in judging of them ? Is not God's Worlhip perfe& without our Ceremonies, in its Integrals as well as itsEjntials ? gAs for Circumffantialswhenyou fawus allow ofthem,you need notplead for them as againft us. But the Queftion is,whether ouraldditionsbe. not more then Circumtances, § 22. We fuppofe thatyou.giveall to the Crofs in Baptifmwhich is neceffary to a Humane Sacrament : And this we are ready to try by jail Difpute. When you fay that never was Moral *Cal afcribed to them, you feem to give up all your Caufe : for by denying this afcribed Efficacy, you teem to grant than unlawfulif it be fo : And if it benot fo, let us bear the blame of wronging them. The informing and exciting thedull mind ofMan, in its duty to God , is a Moral Effed fromMoral Efficacy. But the informing and exciting the dull Mind of Man in its Duty to God is an Effe& afcribed to our Ceremonies : Ergo , a Moral Effe& from Moral Efficacy is afcribed toour Ceremonies. The major cannot be denied by any Man that knoweth what a Moral Effe& and Efficacy is : that which worketh not per medum Nature in genere Caufe efficientes naturalis only , but per mo- dam objelii, 'eel in genere carafe;nadir,. upon the Mind of Man, doth work morally: but fo do our Ceremonies : Ergo lure the Arminian, that deny' all proper Phy- frcal Operations ofGod's Spirit, as well as his Word, and reduce all to Moral Ef- racy, will not fay that Ceremonies have fuch a 'Phyf,cal Efficacy more than Moral. And if not fo, the goodEffe&s here mentioned can be from no lower Efficacy than Moral. And theminor which mull bedenied, is inthe words ofthe Preface to the Common PrayerBook, and therefore undeniable.The Wordof God it Pelf worketh butmoratiter proponendo objellum, and fo do our Ceremonies. § 23. There is a great difference between Sacramental Ceremonies, and meer Circumflances, which the Reformed Churcheskeep. Thefe we confoundnot, and could have withedyou would not. Our Crofe in Baptifm is [ A dedicating Jign (faith theCanon) or tranfient Image, made in token that thus Childfrail not be afbamed of Chrift crucified, but manly fight under his Banner againft the Flefh, the World, and' the Devil, and continue Cbrifi'sfaithful Servant and Soldier to his Lives end. So that z. It is a Dedicating Sign, performed by the Minifter, and not by the Perlin himfelf, as a bare Profefng Sign is. a. It engageth the Party in a Relation toChrift [as his Soldier and Servantj. ;. And in the Duties of this Relation againft all our Enemies, as the SacramentumMilitare doth a Soldier to his General; and that in plainer and fuller words than are annexed to Baptifm: ç. And it is no other than the Covenant of Grace or of Chriflienity it felf, which this Sacrament of theCrofs doth enter us into, as Baptifm alfo doth. It is not made a part of Baptifm, nor called a Sacrament, but as far as we can judge, made effentially a Humane Sacra- mentadjoynedtoBaptifm. The Reformed Churches which efe the Crofs,wemean theLutberan,, yet ufe it not in this manner. 524. This is but your unproved Affertion, That the Fault was not in the Cere- monies, but in the Contenders we are ready to prove the contrary : but ifit had been true, how far are you from Pail's mind, expreffed Rom. r¢. ett r;. and x Cor. 8. You will let your weak Brother perifh, and (pare not, fo you can but charge theFault on himfelf; and lay Stumbling-blocks before him, and then fave him by your effellual rigour, by Imprifonment or Punilhment. § 25. Thofe teem a few to you that teeth many to us : Had it been but one hundred fuchas Cartwright, Amefsue, Bradfhaw, Parker, Hilderfbam , Dod , Nicolli, Langley, Paget, Hering, Bayne,, Bates, Davenport , Hooker, Wilfon, Cotton, Norton, Shepbard, Cobbet, Ward, &c. they had been enough to have grieved the Souls of many Thoufand godly Chriftians; and enough for any one of the Reformed Churches, had they poffeffed them, to have gloried in; and many far meaner are yet the glory of the Ancient Churches , and called , and reverenced as Fathers. But we doubt, this fame Spirit will make you think that many Hundred more are but a few to be Silencedere long. And then your Clemency will comfort the poor People that have ignorant or deboift Readers inftead of Minifters ( for too many fuch wehave known) that it was their Paftors faults that obfhnately refufed to Conform, when they had promifedit; that is, that repentedof the Sinof their Subfcription when,they difcerned it: Andhad they never been ignorant enough _ to Subscribe, they had never entered : And the many hundreds which you thus keepfrom theMiniftry, you make nothing of. § z6.
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