tion, as one of his Authors, we fee, fancied it to have been; and 'twas also without any Precedent or Canon to Authorize it, and fo had neither Divine or Human Law, whereby to determine its Validity. And, certainly, when neither God nor his Church, had by any Law, given Validity to fuch Acts; The firft Determiner of their Validity must have run a great risk of Prefumption, in pronouncing that Valid, which neither God nor his Church had ever before declar'd to be fo: This would have been a Determination without any Rule; And if fuch Determinations are fit to be made, and good and valid when done, then we fhall have no Security for the Continuance of Divine Inftitutions; fince Man's arbitrary Will and Pleasure, without any Law, may substitute fomething else instead. of them. It is not therefore enough for Mr. Bingham to fay, that we can produce "no Ancient Canon directly to Confront fuch Determination, by Declaring fuch Baptifmns to be utterly Dull and Hoid, tho' they have the Poftnate Allowance of the "Church. For if the Canon of Holy Scripture, and alfo the Canons of the Ancient Church, do conftantly restrain the Miniftration of Baptifm, to those who have a Divine Commiffion, as they moft certainly do; this reftraining of the Miniftration to the Commiffion, is a Confequent Nulling of pretended Miniftrations, which are done by those who never had that Commiffion; (as I have largely endeavour'd to prove * elsewhere :) And therefore, 'till there fhall be produced fome Law of God, or fome Canon of the Catholick Church, agreeable thereto, for the making Valid fuch Uninftituted

66

cr

* Diffenters Baptifm Null and Void, &c.

Miniftrations; it will ftand good, that they are Null and Void in themselves: And how, or by what Law, either of God or the Church, any Poftnate Allowance of the Bishop do's make them to be good and Valid, let our Reverend Hiftorian inform us, if he can, for as yet he has not.

cr

He fays, indeed, "There feem to be Two Ways of allowing any A&, either by an antecedent Authority given to a Man to perform it; or, by a fubfequent Confirmation of the Thing, when done irregularly and without Authority, which is, ex poft facto, an Allowance of it. And thus (fays he) "it is plain, the Baptifms given by Athanafius, 16 were Allow'd and Confirm'd by Alexander in the Church," pag. 33. But here Mr. Bingham is not Certain; he fays, "There Seem to be "Two Ways of Allowing," &c. This is not coming clofe to the Point; either there are certainly Two fuch Ways of Allowing Baptifin, or there are not: We must have no Medium in this Cafe; there is no contenting with Day-be Baptifmis, thofe who would be fure of True Baptifin. If there are really Two fuch Ways in the Church, of Allowing, &c. as Mr. Bingham fpeaks of, let him prove them ; let him give good Reafons why One of them, viz. the Allowing of an Uninftituted Miniftration of Baptifm, by a Poft-Fact, is Valid; as, we are fure, Baptifm perform'd by virtue of an Antecedent Commiffion, is; and then we fhall have an end of the Dispute about the Conftant and Unalterable Neceffity of a Previous Commiffion. But, 'till our Reverend Hiftorian, or fome other, shall produce good Proof for this, we fhall acknowledge but One Valid Way in the Church of Allowing Baptifm, viz. by an Antecedent Authority given by the Bishop, to a Man to Baptize.

The

The Other Way which Mr. Bingham propofes, of allowing Baptifm, perform'd without a Commiffion, "by a fubfequent Confirmation of it, which (he fays) is, ex poft facto, an Allowance of it,

is

a Power which none can claim but Chrift the Supreine Head and Sovereign of the Church, and those who have receiv'd that Power from him. Let Mr. Bingham prove, That Bishops have receiv'd that Power from Chrift; and then alfo this Point fhall be given up to him. "Till then, it is evident, that Bifhops are only Chrift's Deputies, and as fuch, are bound up to the Obedience of his Laws, and can validly act (in this Cafe) no farther than he has Commiffion'd them: And fince the Commiffion for them to allow fuch Baptifms, by an After-Act, do's not appear, we muft conclude, that it is not in being, and confequently, that they cannot Validly allow of fuch Baptifms as are perform'd by Perfons who never were Commiffion'd to Baptize. "And thus, 'tis plain," Alexander had no Authority to Confirm the Baptifins faid to be given by the Boy Athanafius in Play. And in Fact, by what has been largely faid before upon this Story, he never did confirm this Suppofititious Ludicrous Baptifm; nor was it ever confonant to the General Senfe and Practice of the Church, that he should confirm fuch a Baptifin.

ct

It is now high time for me to beg the Reader's pardon, for detaining him fo long upon the Refutation of this Fable. Mr. Bingham is fo very zealous for it's Credit and Reputation, as a genuine Piece of Hiftory," and his Name and Character are fo advantagious for the Recommendation of it, that I thought it well worth while to be thus copious, in difcovering the Weakness and Infufficiency, of the Foundation upon which 'tis built, that Men

may

may avoid the Danger of trufting and relying on it. I fhall conclude my Obfervations upon this Fable, by remarking; That if it had been a real Truth, If Athanafius the Boy had sportively Baptiz'd his Play-fellows, and If Alexander the Bishop had, by the Advice of his Clergy, appointed that thofe Children fhould have no other Baptisin yet, nothing to the Purpose could be juftly and fafely inferr'd from it. For, 1ft, We are feeking for the General Senfe and Practice of the Church; and this Act of one Bishop, never once taken notice of by the Ancient Catholick Church in Council, by way of approving it, or any thing like it, could not juftly have been faid to be the General Senfe and Practice of the Church, and therefore it would have been nothing to the purpose of our Enquiry. 2dly, Neither could any thing have been fafely concluded from it; for the natural Inference would have been only this, That Alexander reckon'd the sportive Baptifin perform'd by the Boy, in the Name of the Trinity, to be Good and Valid, even tho' done without any Neceffity, where Priefts were to be had. Now, if Men will venture to affirm, that Alexander's fuppos'd Opinion was juft and right, and that therefore all fuch fportive Baptifins, are equally good and valid, and this they muft affirm, if they will maintain the other; then it will unavoidably follow, That the facred and tremendous Inftitutions of the Deity, and the most profound Reverence and Respect which we owe to the Mediatorial Authority of our Lord Jefus Chrift, in the appointed Ministration of them, by those who bear his Commiffion, will be of no greater Value and Efteem, than Childrens Play; because, as the prefent Lord Bishop of Oxford has excellently well ob

serv'd,

*

ferv'd, There is no Majis and Minus, in the “Validity or Invalidity of Sacraments, which cannot "be partly Valid, and partly Invalid." And therefore Childrens Sport and Play, in Imitation of Chriftian Sacraments, is advanc'd to an equal Dignity with the inftituted Miniftration of them; and what is this, but taking off our Obligation which we owe to the Divine Institutes, and making God's own Appointments to be but of a trifling Nature, fince all the World agrees in this, That the Play of Children, is no better; and that we are under no Obligation to their Sports and Paftimes. This is an unavoidable Confequence of the fuppos'd Truth, and imaginary Right and Juftice, of the ftory'd Determination of Alexander: And how fafe and fecure it is, let all good Chriftians judge, when it cuts the very Sinews of all Divine Inftitutions, and carries on the accurs'd Defign of Atheists and Deifts, to reprefent all revealed Religion, as needlefs, ridiculous, and childish, and confequently to be defpis'd and trampled on by the beedlefs, unthinking, and deceiv'd Multitude. For my part, I would not (to gain the whole World) be concern'd in propagating or defending Premiffes fo dreadfully dangerous, in their Confequences And I fincerely pray to God, that none of his Ambaffadors, who are by him intrufted with the facred Depofitum of his Divine Sacraments, may ever proftitute these ineftimable Jewels, nor caft thefe invaluable Pearls before Swine, by debafing the Miniftration of them fo low, as to make the giving of them, to amount to no more in Worth and Value, than the inconfiderate Play of filly Children.

Bishop of Oxford's Charge, 1712. pag. 14.

But

not