Blind Teachers to the Simple and Directors of Poor and perhaps neglected Infants into the Paths of Truth and Life By this means you may turn some to Righteousness and thereby increase your own Rewards for Ever It tends mightily to the interest and advance of Religion for did Sureties perform their Vows to God and it is their Sin if they do not we should find it would quickly give a mighty check to the growing madness of the Age. But in fine because Suppositions grant nothing let us suppose there may be still some evil in the having Sureties yet according to Mr. Baxter's resolution of a like case that supposed Evil cannot affect the Children or Parents For some of the Inhabitants of Daventre in Northamptonshire as themselves have confessed to me inquiring of Mr. Baxter what he thought of the Cross in Baptism or of signing Children with it He answered Baptism is a necessary Duty and in the Church of England we have all the Essential parts of it Now saith he I bring my Child as the Law Commands to be baptiz'd but if there be any sinful or unnecessary Additions without which I cannot have Baptism those Additions are nothing to me I desire not them but simply Baptism what evil there may be in any Additions being they are imposed and not my choice lyes upon the Church that Commands and on the Minister that uses ' em Therefore if we consider either the thing it self or Mr. Baxter's sense Parents have not a sufficient excuse for refusing to have their Children Catechised because the Catechism injoyn'd supposes they are baptized by Sureties Whence we come to consider the Catechism it self and I doubt not but I may speak it not only short but easie most comprehensive and every way most sufficient to it's end For 1. This Catechism teaches the Nature of our Baptismal Vow and Covenant which is to renounce the Devil and all his works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith and to keep God's holy Will and Commandments all the dayes of our life Where the whole Duty of Man is comprised in a few words and suited to the Capacities of the meanest Learner 2. It teaches the Apostles Creed whose Antiquity is such that some have thought it was made by the Apostles themselves and was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one of 'em being supposed to cast in his part toward the composing the whole It is observed from the Greek and Latin Fathers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Traditio Apostolorum was a Tradition supposed to come from some Apostle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or traditio Apostolica was only a very ancient Tradition which came if not from some Apostle yet from some other near those Times Now this hath been usually called the Creed of the Apostles and so Dr. D. in his Greek Version of our Liturgy calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but whether with respect to this Observation I cannot say or how Universally true it may be is not to be determined by any that have not made their Observations in numerous instances of this kind The least we can make of it is and no man will go to prove any more that it is a very ancient one else we may presume it had never been placed by any in the Apostles times we can trace it very far and find it Universally used in the first Ages of Christianity It was used by the followers of the Presbyterian Directory and the Assemblies Catechism nor do I remember any Objection then against it but in that Article viz. the Descent into hell which they wish was either altered or left out Yet the same Men own that descent Virtually though not Locally therefore according to them that Article is true and wants only an Explication Now the Ancient and Universal use of it speaks the esteem it hath ever had in the Christian World and the excellent choice our Catechism hath made in teaching this rather than that of Nice or Athanasius which are longer and not so suited to every Capacity And though the Presbyterian Party cavill'd at the Descent into hell yet they used this Creed rather than the Nicoean whose Antiquity is great and which speaks of no such Descent at all which is an Argument of their higher Approbation of the other Parts of it Here in the fewest words and plainest way are taught the great Mysteries of our Faith what we are to believe concerning God the Father who made the World God the Son who hath redeemed all Mankind and God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies all the elect people of God Which makes up a short but yet a most plain and excellent System of all the Credenda or Matters of pure Faith 3. It teaches what we are to do and that from the Decalogue or Ten Commandments which is the sum and breviary of all Morality This is the standing Rule given to the World The Lex nata as Cicero calls it the Law born with us and imprinted on the hearts of all Men by Nature was a Counterpart of this All the Moral Discourses of Moses and the Prophets were but Comments upon this Text the Sermon of Christ upon the Mount and the other practical Parts of the Gospels and Epistles are but an Explication and a Vindication of this from the false Glosses of the Pharisees and the Corruptions of the Gnosticks Therefore we have here the sum of all Practical Religion and as it is divided into two Tables so our Catechism gives us the most short plain and close Explication of each under those two Heads viz. Our Duty toward God and our Duty toward our Neighbor that can well be comprised in so few words 4. This Catechism teaches the Lord's Prayer which was given not only a Pattern for us to Pray by but as a Form for us to use Therefore he taught it the Disciples twice the first time was Mat. 6. 9. And some time after as St. Luke relates Chap. 11. 2. they come to him again Master teach us to pray as if they looked upon that short form suited indeed to the Infancy of their Discipleship but not so fitting now they were taught farther and came more near the stature of Men but he gives 'em the very same again a tacit reproof of their ignorance and reach after Novels And if we only suppose he might design it as a form he could not well have express'd himself more aptly to that purpose for Mat. 6. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic vel ita orate Pray thus viz. in these very words which is better rendered so than as our Translation doth viz. after this manner which looks somewhat like a Geneva cast as if it was intended only as a Pattern to form our conceived Prayers by And Luk. 11. 2. when ye Pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. say Our Father
only taught by St. Peter and St. Paul under Nero the Monster of Mankind but was sealed by their Blood under the same Emperor To this did the Fathers and Primitive Churches all agree whose steps the Church of England follows both in Doctrine and Practice This is so great and evident a part of Christian Religion that it was as Catholick as the Church it self till first Popery and from thence Presbytery began to appear and disturb the World This is imply'd in the very Nature and Reason of Society which is an Union or imbodying of particulars for mutual preservation For this very Union is it self a tacit and mutual Compact to be governed by the Laws and Rules of that Society The making and execution of which must be intrusted into a few hands and in case any thing shall be ordain'd or imposed that is unlawful in it self or destructive of the first ends of Society there is no Remedy but either Patience or a quiet remove into some other Society where those Evils cannot reach 'em even as the Members of a Family as Children Servants or others must conform to the Rules of that Family or remove Whence the same word Honor doth import the Duties we owe both to Civil Magistrates and Natural Parents Thus our Saviour ordered the Disciples that when they were Persecuted in one City they should fly to another and not look there to complain of Grievances to make Parties and Plots upon the Government indeavoring to secure the best things viz. Religion and Property by the worst Methods viz. Rebellion and Blood Nor is there any other Doctrine that gives either Magistrates or People any security of their Religion Estates or Lives For leave but any hole for refusals resistance or self-defence as some call it to creep in at and you give but an opportunity to every State-Mountebank and Knavish Politician to put tricks upon the People in perswading 'em to a necessity of slighting or resisting the Laws either for the removal or prevention of those Evils which are supposed to licence such refusals or resistance By which means all Government would be set upon hinges and Men would quickly do only what they have a mind to do and a Society would be more dangerous than many wild and ungoverned Parts of the World Inquire of this and the Nations about us Examine the Times that are past and you will find that this Doctrine of resistance hath made more Differences Wars and Bloodshed than all the Controversies among Princes in the like space of time have done What Calamities and Devaslations may we then imagine there would have been and would yet be had Men liberty upon any account whatever to slight and resist the Government Therefore the God of Peace Unity and Order hath given us such Rules and Precepts of Universal Obedience that there is no room left for any reasonable Plea to the contrary We must therefore submit either Actively or Passively 1. Actively by doing the thing commanded where it is not contrary to any Law or Ordinance of God For God bids us submit to every Ordinance without exception and therefore to every thing which himself hath not forbidden And if any Plead a Prohibition it must not be from illogical Inferences sound of Words and misapplication of Phrases but from a Rule as plain and satisfactory as the Command And if this be produced yet it can licence 2. Only to a Passive Submission in suffering the Penalty of Non-obedience Now we have here a Precept directed to us from my Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as one of our Parishes is under this Jurisdiction and another from my Lord Bishop of London as the other Parish is a Member of his Lordship's Diocess Which Orders even this very Text doth oblige us to observe and do unless you can find any Evil in the things commanded in which case you are quietly to submit to those Penalties with which the Law shall punish your Refusals or Neglects For your Information and Satisfactions in so important concerns I shall observe in these Letters these three things 1. What is required of you 2. What of the Churchwardens and 3. What of me It is required of you 1. That you frequent the Prayers of the Church 2. That you send your Children and Servants to be Catechized And 3. That you receive the Sacrament of the Supper The First of these I intend to discourse on another Subject And therefore begin 1. With Catechising where we have 1. The thing in Command which is Catechising 2. The Parties who Children and Servants and 3. The Persons that must Prepare and send 'em and they are Parents Masters and Mistresses 1. It is required that we Catechise A thing as some think founded on that of St. Paul to Tim. 2 Ep. 1. 13. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exemplar some have taken to be a System or short Catechetical Discourse on the fundamental Points of Religion However it is certain it was a thing very early and Universally Practised in the Christian Church And Origen with other Learned Men condescended to this work There was an Order of Professors called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Catechumens who were the Persons that learned these Catechises Indeed we sometimes find in the Fathers and Church-Historians that these Catecumens are described to be Christians by Prafession but not yet Baptiz'd Which sort were either Children of Heathen who were not received into the Church by Baptism till instructed in the Christian Religion which is the Practice of our Church in the case of Jews Mahometans c. and is agreeable to our Saviour's rule Mat. 28. 19. that all Nations being then Gentile must be taught or discipled before Baptism Or else the Children of those Christians who were newly converted themselves and defer'd Baptism till Easter or Whitsontide which in some times and places were the stated Seasons of Baptism Or of such who delayed it till the time of Death as many did out of a conceit that Sins after Baptism are unpardonable But the Children even of Christians whether Baptized or not were obliged to this exercise And the Sons of Constantine the Emperor were put out to Masters and Tutors to be train'd up in the Principles of Christian Religion Whence it appears 2. That the Persons to be Catechifed were Neophytes or young Professors which among us are Children or younger Servants as my Lord of Canterbury expresses it or Children and Apprentices as my Lord of London words it Or Persons whose Age and Condition may suppose 'em little acquainted with the Doctrine of the Gospel and the less they are so still the more need of this instruction Chtechism is in order to Baptism in the Children of Infidels who are yet unbaptiz'd but it is in order to Confirmation and the Sacrament of the Supper in the Children of Christians who are baptiz'd already therefore quoere whether not only those
under Sixteen but Persons of all Ages whatever that have not received Confirmation and the Sacrament may not in strictness be required to this Exercise The Rubrick obliges all Children Servants and Apprentices who have not yet learn'd the Catechism without determining the Age but because the Law obliges those above Sixteen to receive the Sacrament therefore it is presum'd these Servants are under Sixteen and accordingly our Orders command those above to the Sacrament and consequently those called to be Catechised must be presumed under that term 3. The Persons required to prepare and send 'em are Parents Masters or Mistresses And the Reasons are because you have both a commanding Power over 'em and also a trust reposed in you that way it being your Duties not only to feed and cloth their Bodies but to provide things wholsom and necessary for their Souls too Parents and Masters stand as Priests to their own Families where they are to perform all the Duties and Offices of Christian Religion those only excepted which are restrain'd to the Publick Ministry as Preaching Administration of Sacraments c. Though they be yours yet they stand related to God he saith you have born 'em to him Ezek. 16. 20. and v. 21. thou hast slain my Children Whence he aggravates the Sin of ill Education and abuse of 'em from this very Topick the relation they stood in to him Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou Sacrificed these hast thou debauched by wicked Opinions and Prophaness of Life Or left disposed to every evil way and work for want of better Principles As they are committed to your care so he will require what you have done with that Depositum as one calls it which he hath put into your hands Whence Joshua undertakes both for himself and Family Chap. 24. 15. as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. For which causes as well as for the Perswasive Arguments from Natural Affections even Constantine the Great as Eusebius relates De Vitâ Constant lib. 4. cap. 51. not only divided his Empire amongst his three Sons but took care to inrich 'em with a better Portion viz. of Divine and Spiritual things being a Tutor and Example to 'em himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walking before 'em in the Paths of Virtue and Religion and he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He provided 'em the best Masters and Tutors You are as Kings and Priests to 'em having the Power to Command Teach and Excommunicate those that are stubborn and impure whence both God and Man require that at your own Peril you see those under your Charge do perform those Duties that do lye upon themselves For which cause David did resolve Psal 101. 7. that not a wicked man should dwell in his house And indeed they that do not do so fall short of that great Duty Prov. 22. 6. of training up a Child in the way he should go And Eph. 6. 4. of bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Such are worse than the very Heathen who sent their Children to Isocrates and others to be taught Moral Wisdom which was their Divinity and fall short of a Plutarch who hath left us a Tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the right Education of Children Such leave 'em unable to judge of Doctrines whether they be of God and therefore lyable like the Apostles Children to be toss'd to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine And this is one reason as some think why the Church of Rome loses few but gains many Proselytes viz. because she is more careful than others to Catechize and settle Youth in her Faith and Principles Therefore we have here an Ordinance from the most Reverend Fathers of our Church that commands only an antecedent Duty a thing founded on Eternal Reason on Scripture and the Laws of the Land A Duty so plain and so Natural to train up Children in Virtue and all laudible Knowledges that the very Heathen did Court and Practise it and as Plutarch hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good Education out-lives Death travels beyond the Grave and abides with us through all the Tracts of Eternal Ages and therefore being the greatest and most lasting good we can do 'em even common Nature prompts us to it There can be therefore no objection against the thing it self the Matter lies only in reference to that Catechism injoyn'd by the Church Which some object against upon the account it supposes Children baptized with Sureties which they cannot away with This Point we will fully answer and then consider the Parts of the Catechism it self 1. They plead that Sureties undertake more than they can perform therefore they can neither make use of them nor teach a Catechism which supposes their use We Answer That the Primitive Christians whose Faith and Martyrdoms were famous in the World thought no such Matters for then Infants had their Sponsores or Susceptores and Susceptrices Undertakers or Sureties and because 't was thought there was a Spiritual Relation arising between the Parents and Sureties therefore the Child called 'em God-father c. that is Father-in-God and the ancient Saxons Godsibs by corruption Gossips Sib signifying akin implying that they were akin in God Now these answered in behalf of the Child the very same Questions that are used by our Church viz. Doest thou renounce the Devil c. DoEst thou Believe in God the Father the Son the Holy Ghost This was the Universal Practice in the time of Tertul. Now those Men who for a good Conscience suffered so cruel Persecutions that Lactan. de Just cryes out Quis Caucasus Quae India What place the most fruitful in Monsters ever bred such cruel and savage Beasts as their Persecutors were yet never censured this part of Baptism as a sinful addition or corruption of this Institution But because some Men have cheap thoughts of Antiquity I will consider the thing it self and argue from the very Nature of it as 1. What it is they Undertake and 2. For how long 1. They undertake that the Child shall renounce the Devil and all his works and believe God's Holy Word and keep his Commandments Whence it follows Doest thou in the Name of this Child renounce the Devil c. Doest thou believe in God c. Wilt thou be Baptized c. Wilt thou obediently keep God's Holy Will and Commandments c. Which is but the first Matter explain'd and put into the form of Questions Whence the Child saith in the Catechism that they did Vow Three things in his Name viz. 1. That he should renounce the Devil c. 2. That he should believe the Articles of the Christian Faith 3. That he should keep God's Holy Will and Commandments c. The meaning of which is only this that the Child shall be brought up a Christian and not a Jew or Heathen
and that it shall take this Vow and Profession upon it self Therefore in the Exhortation to the Sureties after Baptism the whole Charge is comprised in Two things 1. That they shall teach the Child what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession it hath there made by them the Matter of which Vow is contain'd in the ingagement above viz. That it shall renounce the Devil Believe the Articles of the Christian Faith and keep the Commands as a means to which they are directed 2. To Call upon it to hear Sermons and provide that it may learn the Creed the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments which things viz. the Creed Lord's Prayer and Commandments do comprise all the Matter of this Promise To which it is added 3. That when the Child can say these things and the Church Catechism which Catechism I therefore presume the Sureties are obliged to see it learn they shall bring it to the Bishop to be Confirm'd Now here is the whole Matter of Suretiship which is confessed by those very Men that Dispute against it For they sometimes Plead that the reason of Sureties in the First Ages of Christianity where there was a mixture of Christians and Gentiles together was that there might be a sufficient number ingaged to see the Child brought up a Christian Therefore according to them the bringing up the Child in the Profession of the Gospel doth comprise the whole burthen of Suretiship Then the time this Obligation lyes upon the Sureties is 2. Till the Child be of Age to take it upon it self as in the Publick Baptism which is at Confirmation as anon We will now see how and when the Child takes this Vow from his Sureties upon himself and that is 1. At the very learning of these things for he declares in the Catechism that he looks upon himself bound to believe and do as they have Promised for him and ingages that by God's help he will do so And 2. At Confirmation where the Bishop asks the Children and that in order to Confirmation Do you here in the Presence of God and of this Congregation renew the solemn Promise and Vow that was made in your Name at your Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in your own Persons and acknowledging your selves bound to believe and to do all those things which your God-fathers and God-mothers then undertook for you To which the answer is I do It is evident then that all that charge which the Church laid upon the Sureties at the Child's Baptism the Church takes off from the same Sureties at the Child's Confirmation And because Confirmation of the Child is a discharge of the Sureties it follows that the fitting this Child for and the bringing him to Confirmation doth comprise the whole Duty of Sureties And the Rubrick at the end of the Catechism tells us that the Child shall be confirm'd when it can say the Creed Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments and answer the other Questions in that Catechism which is adaequate to the Charge given Ergo the teaching the Child those things and the bringing him duely to Confirmation is a Plenary and total Discharge of the Sureties But it will be farther objected that the Sureties ingage and the Catechism doth express it that the Child shall keep the Commandments and walk in the same all the days of its life Ergo the Obligation seems to lye on the Surety so long as the Child doth live We answer That that Clause respects the Nature of the Baptismal Vow the Covenant the Child makes with God by its Sureties at Baptism and by it self at Confirmation but doth not respect the ingagement of the Surety any farther than that the Child shall take this Vow upon it self whereof this of Perseverance is a part But in case the Child be uncapable or will not learn or is not suffered by Parents Guardians or Masters or that Providence removes the Parties so far asunder that there is no means or opportunity left of performing such ingagements the will is accepted for the deed for God requires no more of any man than what he is able to do But where Men have any reasonable prospect of such Impediments they ought not to ingage but an honest ingagement is not made Sin by an accidental impossibility of Performance But if Parents shall as in Duty bound do this of themselves the Sureties have no more upon 'em but to see that the thing be done 2. It is objected That Heathenism still abounding in the Christian World the Church required Sureties lest one or two Persons dying the Child might fall into Gentile hands and be brought up as such But now amongst us Heathenism is rooted out therefore the reason of the thing ceasing the thing it self ought to cease too as it did in that case of abstaining from things Strangled and from Blood We answer 1. This runs upon a false Supposition and is no better than a fallacy called Petitio Principii which is a taking for granted what ought to be proved For the danger of Heathenism was not the only reason of Sureties For those first Ages of Christianity did ground it much upon that Text 1 Pet. 3. 21. where he calls Baptism an Answer of a good Conscience toward God Whence they conjectured he hinted at Interrogatories and Responses in that Office How truly conjectured is beside my Business to inquire it is enough to the Objector that there were other Reasons than what he assigns 2. Though the Prosession of Heathenism is not found amongst us yet the Practice of Heathenish Debaucheries doth abound and this Religious Education of Children was design'd to keep 'em not so much from the Name as from the Thing 3. Suretiship was also design'd as a fence against those Schisms and Heresies that perplexed the Church which things obtain amongst us perhaps as much as in those antient Times and Places where Suretiship was never scrupled Therefore the reason of Sureties is as great as Ever and consequently may be as profitably and prudently continued as at first used 3. Object Some think it absurd that the Charge is not given to the Parents but that others are thrust into their place and bound to do those Duties which themselves owe their Children Answ This is a Plea merely from Ignorance for Parents have an antecedent Charge laid upon 'em both by God and Nature which they stand as much bound to perform as if there had been no Surety at all Therefore the Church layes the Charge upon others who had none before to the end that they may not exclude or excuse the Parents but be joyn'd with them for the more certain and easie carrying on of the work The Parents never matter how many Undertakers the Child hath in Temporal concerns and that they think otherwise in Spirituals must be from Ignorance or a mighty Prepossession or from too easie and indifferent thoughts of Religion it self This is a very Christian and charitable Work to be Guides to the