Parc 1II. Reverend Mr. Riclard Baxter. But that they are inftituted to operate on the /dude. any any otherwife than Morally and this Effential to them ; I deny upon three Renions : t. There is no Scripture that afferteth it : Et quad Scriptum non eft , Credendum non eft, about filch Matters. z. Elfe not only the Armenians but the greatelt part of Chrittians fhoulddeny the Sacraments, who deny filchufe andoperations of them : And fpecially all thofe Protestants who dealing with the Papists opal Operatur, largelywrite toprove that Sacraments work but Morally. 3. And the Nature of the thing fheweth it impofbble without a Miracle. For the Grace to be conveyed is the At or Habit or Difpofition of Love to God ( and the Conjun& Graces ) with that Antecedent Lightof knowledge and faith which muff excite it : And howbut Miraculouf/y Water in Baptifmfhould be an Inftrument_of conveying holy Love or Knowledge, no Man conceive. For t. Our Love of God is not put into theWater. z. Ifit were, the Water doth not touch the Soul. 3. If it did ; Corporal Contaa, orattingencie would not taufe Love. The fame is Paid of theEucharill. And the truth is many Papists are byProtestants miltaken in their Do&rinede Opere Operato, who fpeak butas diftinguifhing it ab Opere Operantio. And when they have puzled them- felves to tellwhat the IndelibleChar,alter given by Ordination ís, they can fatisfa&o- rily carry it no higher than with Durandus to fay, it is a Relation; that is, Afixed Relation to the 'Undertaken Work, anda power, right andobligation to it. And they that tell us as fofepb Anges, dre. ) that Ordination is a true Sacrament ( though finfelly ufed) whengiven to an Infant anda Bedlam, and that none hut Durandus denieth it, (a falfe Do&rineno doubt quia shaft difpofitio recipientis ) yet cantell us of no more that it Both convey to the Infant or Bedlam-Prieft, or Bifhop, but a Relation. Nor can they, that fay [ Receive the HolyGboft ] afilare us that any more is' given by Ordination. And fo of Baptifm. Andifthey fay that [If the Water be not the Inflrument ofgiven-grace to theAdult yet it may be to me other means, let them tell us if they can what theymean ; and what means befides a Moral means it can be. If they fay that if God give not grace ( qualitative or Active) by it as a means, yet he giveth grace with it, without any fecond taufe, I anfwer, God can do fono doubt : He can give grace while we are bearing, though inconfiderately, without anyufe of theWord heard; And fo in the time of baptizing, without any tail-. fality of Baptifm : But he, that will affect as in any Miracles and Immediate Opera- tions, as Sacraments, mutt bring very clear proof ofhis affertion. Sure we are that Faith and Repentance are prerequifitein the Adult, and therefore theSacrament is not fo much as the Time of firft-giving them (by Institution : ) Andwe are all agreed that in the Sacraments, Sacred truth and Goodnefs, Chrifr,and his Gracious benefitsare objectively fet beforeus, as Moral means of our Information, Excitationand increafe of faith and hope and love. And whenwe are fare that the Word and Sacraments are initituted for one way of giving graciousMrs or Qualities, he that will add another Inuit prove it, 4. And thecafe being thus with theAdult; the inftance ofInfants will not prove the Sacraments, no Sacraments to the Adult, the Nobleft Subje&s. And though Godmay immediatly or Miraculouflyat the fame time give holy Habits or Ales to Infants; yet it ispaft Man's Conception how 'Water or Words fhould be any'Caufe of them, anymore an them; than on the Adult, as aforefaid: And he that will fay that yetfo it is though We know not how, as the Papists do about Tranfiabftantt- ation, mull lira prove that it isfo indeed. We grant that the Parents are to ufe it Morally in dedicating their Children to God, and believing'andCovenanting for them : And that God ufeth it as his invefting or deliveringfign, morally to give the Infant all the Redr.tive Grace, which the Covenant as the Principal Inftrument giveth, , that is, Right and Relation to the Father, Saviour and Sanfifier, and Right to par- donandAdoption and the Heavenly Inheritance, which, fet together, areRelative Regeneration, as Judicious Bithop Davenant de Bapt. Infant. well openeth it : And that it is the badg of his Chriflianity and an apt objeáive means of moral Opera- tions on him as he cometh to theufe of'Reafon. When you have told us whatmore it loth, and,proved it, and proved that, without that, it is no Sacrament, you have done fomething. Your non ponenti Obicem is no Scripture Notion, ambiguous if not unfound. If you mean it as the Words found, of force pofntive ná, which ispanere obicem, it is certainly falfe as to the Adult (towhom the Sacraments are true Sacraments, For God bath made their pofttive Canfideration, perception, Faith andRepentance, a Q99 9 necefi'ary 121
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