stles was of the nature of a promulgation made by he- ART. ralds; it was an act of a special authority, by which he in XXVII. particular was to convert the world from Idolatry and Judaism, to acknowledge Jesus to be the true Messias.

Acts viii.26.

Now when men, by the preaching of the Apostles, and to the end. by the miracles that accompanied it, were so wrought on, as to believe that Jesus was the Christ; then, according to the practice of Philip towards the Eunuch of Ethiopia, and of St. Paul to his Jailor at Philippi, they might im- Acts xvi. mediately baptize them; yet most commonly there was a 31, 32, 33. special instruction to be used, before persons were baptized, who might in general have some conviction, and yet not be so fully satisfied, but that a great deal of more pains was to be taken to carry them on to that full assurance of faith which was necessary. This was a work of much time, and was to be managed by the Pastors.or Teachers of the several Churches; so that the meaning of what St. Paul says was this, that he was to publish the Gospel from city to city, but could not descend to the particular labour of preparing and instructing of the persons to be baptized, and to the baptizing them when so prepared. If he had entered upon this work, he could not have made that progress, nor have founded those Churches that he did. All this is therefore misunderstood, when it is applied to such preaching as is still continued in the Church; which does not succeed the apostolical preaching, that was inspired and infallible, but comes in the room of that instruction and teaching which was then performed by the Pastors of the Church.

The last head in this Article relates to the baptism of Infants, which is spoken of with that moderation, which appears very eminently through the whole Articles of our Church. On this head, it is only said to be most agreeable with the institution of Christ, and that therefore it is to be in any ways retained in the Church. Now to open this, it is to be considered, that though Baptism and Circumcision do not in every particular come to a parallel, yet they do agree in two things: the one is, that both were the rites of admission into their respective covenants, and to the rights and privileges that did arise out of them; and the other is, that in them both there was an obligation laid on the persons to the observance of that whole law to which they were so initiated. St. Paul, arguing against circumcision, lays this down as an uncontested maxim, that if a man was circumcised, he became Galat. v. 3. thereby a debtor to the whole law.

Parents had, by the Jewish constitution, an authority

ART. given them to conclude their children under that obligaXXVII. tion; so that the soul and will of the child was so far put

in the power of the parents, that they could bring them under federal obligations, and thereby procure to them a share in federal blessings. And it is probable, that from hence it was, that when the Jews made proselytes, they considered them as having such authority over their children, that they baptized them first, and then circumcised them, though infants.

Now since Christ took Baptism from them, and appointed it to be the federal admission to his religion, as Circumcision had been in the Mosaical dispensation, it is reasonable to believe, that except where he declared a change that he made in it, in all other respects it was to go on and to continue as before; especially when the Apostles in their first preaching told the Jews, that the Acts ii. 39. promises were made to them and to their children; which the Jews must have understood according to what they were already in possession of, that they could initiate their children into their religion, bring them under the obligations of it, and procure to them a share in those blessings that belonged to it. The law of nature and nations puts children in the power of their parents; they are naturally their guardians; and if they are entitled to any thing, their parents have a right to transact about it, because of the weakness of the child; and what contracts soever they make, by which the child does not lose, but is a gainer, these do certainly bind the child. It is then suitable both to the constitution of mankind, and to the dispensation of the Mosaical covenant, that parents may dedicate their children to God, and bring them under the obligations of the Gospel; and if they may do that, then they certainly procure to them with it, or in lieu of it, a share in the blessings and promises of the Gospel. So that they may offer their children either themselves, or by such others of their friends, to whom for that occasion they transfer that right which they have, to transact for and to bind their children.

All this receives a great confirmation from the decision which St. Paul makes upon a case that must have happened commonly at that time; which was, when one of the parties in a married state, husband or wife, was converted, while the other continued still in the former state of idolatry, or infidelity: here then a scruple naturally arose, whether a Believer or Christian might still live in a married state with an Infidel. Besides the ill usage to which that diversity of religion might give occasion; an

other difficulty might be made, whether a person defiled ART. by idolatry did not communicate that impurity to the XXVII. Christian, and whether the children born in such a marriage were to be reckoned a holy seed, according to the Jewish phrase, or an unholy, unclean children, that is Heathenish children; who were not to be dedicated to God, nor to be admitted into covenant with him for unclean in the Old Testament, and uncircumcised, signify sometimes the same thing; and so St. Peter said that in the case of Cornelius God had shewed him, that he should call no man common or unclean; in allusion to all which St. Paul determines the case, not by an immediate reve- 1 Cor. vii. lation, but by the inferences that he drew from what had 14. been revealed to him; he does appoint the Christian to live with the Infidel, and says, that the Christian is so far from being defiled by the Infidel, that there is a communication of a blessing that passes from the Christian to the Infidel; the one being the better for the prayers of the other, and sharing in the blessings bestowed on the other: the better part was accepted of God, in whom mercy rejoices over judgment. There was a communication of a blessing that the Christian derived to the Infidel; which at least went so far, that their children were not unclean; that is, shut out from being dedicated to God, but were holy. Now it is to be considered that in the New Testament Christians, and Saints, or Holy, stand all promiscuously. The purity of the Christian doctrine, and the dedication by which Christians offer up themselves to God, makes them Holy.

In Scripture, Holiness stands in a double sense; the one is a true and real purity, by which a man's faculties and actions become holy; the other is a dedicated holiness, when any thing is appropriated to God; in which sense it stands most commonly in the Old Testament. So times, places, and not only persons, but even utensils applied to the service of God, are called Holy. In the New Testament, Christian and Saint are the same thing; so the saying that children are Holy when one of the parents is a Christian, must import this, that the child has also a right to be made Holy, or to be made a Christian; and by consequence, that by the parents dedication that child may be made Holy, or a Christian.

Upon these reasons we conclude, that though there is no express precept or rule given in the New Testament for the Baptism of Infants, yet it is most agreeable to the institution of Christ, since he conformed his institutions to those of the Mosaical Law, as far as could consist with

ART. his design; and therefore in a thing of this kind, in which XXVII. the just tenderness of the human nature does dispose parents to secure to their children a title to the mercies and blessings of the Gospel, there is no reason to think that this being so fully set forth and assured to the Jews in the Old Testament, that Christ should not have intended to give parents the same comforts and assurances by his Gospel, that they had under the Law of Moses: since nothing is said against it, we may conclude from the nature of the two dispensations, and the proportion and gradation that is between them, that children under the New Testament are a holy seed, as well as they were under the Old; and by consequence that they may be now baptized as well as they were then circumcised.

If this may be done, then it is very reasonable to say what is said in the Article concerning it, that it ought in any wise to be retained in the Church: for the same humanity that obliges parents to feed their children, and to take care of them while they are in such a helpless state, must dictate, that it is much more incumbent on them, and is as much more necessary, as the soul is more valuable than the body, for them to do all that in them lies for the souls of their children, for securing to them a share in the blessings and privileges of the Gospel, and for dedicating them early to the Christian religion. The office for baptizing infants is in the same words with that for persons of riper age; because infants being then in the power of their parents, who are of age, are considered as in them, and as binding themselves by the vows that they make in their name. Therefore the office carries on the supposition of an internal regeneration; and in that helpless state the infant is offered up and dedicated to God; and provided, that when he comes to age he takes those vows on himself, and lives like a person so in covenant with God, then he shall find the full effects of Baptism; and if he dies in that state of incapacity, he being dedicated to God, is certainly accepted of by him; and by being put in the second Adam, all the bad effects of his having descended from the first Adam are quite taken away. Christ, when on earth, encouraged those who Matt. xix. brought little children to him; he took them in his arms, and laid his hands on them, and blessed them, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. Whatever these words may signify mystically, the literal meaning of them is, that little children, may be admitted into the dispensation of the Messias, and by consequence that they may be baptized.

13, 14.

ARTICLE XXVIII.

Of the Lord's Supper.

The Supper of the Lord is not only a Sign of the Love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's Death: Insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with Faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ, and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ. Transubstantiation (or the Change of the Substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holp Writ, but it is repugnant to the plain Words of Scripture, overthroweth the Nature of a Sacrament, and hath given Dccasion to many Superstitions. The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper only after a Heavenly and Spiritual Manner; and the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's Drdinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, and worshipped.

In the Edition of these Articles in Edward VI's Reign, there was another long Paragraph against Transubstantiation added in these words: Forasmuch as the Truth of Man's Nature requireth that the Body of one and the self-same Pan cannot be at one time in divers Places, but must needs be in one certain Place; therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present at one time in many and divers Places: and because, as Holy Scripture doth teach, Christ was taken up into Heaven, and there shall continue unto the End of the World; a Faithful Man ought not either to believe, or openly confess the Real and Bodily Presence, as thep term it, of Christ's Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.