But the Giving the Chriftian Name in Baptifm હેડં to the Perfon baptifed, you very seriously urge "as another folid Argument of Ceremonies amongst "us," and, ask, "Is it not an Addition to the Sa"crament? Is it not an Impofition?" You add, "Now I fee you fmile y." Excuse me, Sir, I could not help it! your Argument is quite new, and really surprised me with its Solidity and Weight. Yes, Sir, I own it an Addition, an Impofition, and a very ridiculous one too. And fhould any Minister of ours pretend to add, or to impofe, this Ceremony upon his People; and forbid them to call the Child by its Name till it was baptifed; you may be af fured he would foon meet with the Difregard and Contempt his Impertinence deferv'd. When you baptife adult Perfons, do you give their Names in that Ceremony? Or do you not only call them by Names before given? The fame, I apprehend, is the Cafe as to Children amongst us,

As for the Ceremonies in Marriage; thefe, you justly obferve, we confider only as civil Ceremonies, and the Prieft as a civil Officer, appointed by the Magiftrate to officiate in this Affair. And what ever decent Rites the Migiftrate prescribes in Matters of a civil Nature, we think it our Duty reverently to obferve. But, "the Magiftrate prescribe!" you with Aftonifhment reply. For GoD's Sake how

does the Magiftrate here prescribe the Rites and "Ceremonies of Marriage, more than the other "Rites and Ceremonies of the Church z!" But could not a Gentleman of your Difcernment perceive a Difference here? Is the Form of Marriage any where inftituted by our SAVIOUR; or a Part of Chris fiian Worship; as Baptifm and the Lord's Supper are? May we not therefore own the Power of the civil Magiftrate to appoint Rites and Forms for the Celebration of the one, but not fo as to the other? By prescribing Rites of Marriage, the Magiftrate

y Lett, III. p. 10.

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#Lett. III, p. 6

acts

acts in Character, and rules in his own Kingdom: but by authoritatively prefcribing Rites in Baptifm and the Lord's Supper, we humbly apprehend, he extends beyond the Sphere affign'd him by GoD, and attempts to rule in CHRIST's Kingdom and that therefore here we are to obey GOD, rather than Man.

You further ask with furprize"What civil Ce"remonies in the Church of GeD! in the midst of "the Adminiftration of a divine Inftitution: inter"mix'd with paftoral Exhortations, holy Prayers, "folemn Benedictions a.". But why, Sir, fo afton fh'd? Did you never take an OATH in a civil Court of Judicature? And did not the Perfon who adminiftred this SACRED Rite, give you a paftoral Exhortation, accompanied with an boly Prayer, and a folemn Benediction, piously invoking on you GOD'S Bleffing and Help? And as to the PLACE, which you call the Church of GOD, where Marriage is folemnized; you might have pleafed to remember, that the Confecration of Timber, and the Sanctity of Walls, is a Point too fublime for Diffenters Underflandings; and that in their Opinion all Places are alike holy, and that no Building on Earth merits the high Honour of being called the Church of God.

The fame Reply we make as to the Ceremonies of Burial, our Compliance with which you allo briskly retort upon us. Is Burial of the Dead, Sir, a CHRISTIAN Inflitution? Any Part of the Religion or Worship of Chrift? Is it not purely a political or civil Thing? Yes; and as fuch only we view it : and confider the Perfon who officiates, as one appointed to this Office, directed, inftructed, and maintained by the STATE,

But as you are here profeffedly" anfwering our great and popular Objections," how came you, Sir, to flide over, in confummate Silence, one of the greatest and most popular, to this Office of Burial? which, indeed, is not ours only, but an Objection of

a Lett. III, p. 6,

0

of fome of the most illuftrious Members of your own Church. Were you confcious the Objected Paffages were incapable of Defence, and therefore prudently let them drop?

There are but three Cafes, you know, Sir, in which your Church refuses this folemn Office of Burial, viz. to those who die unbaptifed, to Self-Murtherers, and to those who are under Sentence of the greater Excommunication. As for all other Perfons which are brought to the Church-yard, it very strictly commands you, even under pain of Sufpenfion, by Canon 68, that you ufe over them the Form prefcribed by the Common Prayer. Now, hence it comes to pass, that over fome of the most abandon'd and profligate of Mankind; over Men who have been cut down in a Courfe of open Impiety by a fudden and untimely Death; or who even fell by the Hand of Justice for fome black and atrocious Crime; over thefe, I fay, your Church, and I fay it with Aftonishment, directs and commands you moft folemnly to declare, That almighty GOD of bis GREAT MERCY has taken to himself the Soul of this your dear Brother. You give GOD hearty Thanks that it hath pleased him to deliver him out of the Miseries of this finful World: And you pray God, that when you yourselves fhall depart out of this Life, you may REST IN CHRIST, as your HOPE is this your Brother doth. This is what your Church commands you folemnly to fay over EVERY Perfon brought to be buried, the three Cafes above excepted. So that if the Man happen'd to be killed in the very Act of committing Murder, Adultery, or a Rape: Or for either of thefe Crimes dies upon the Gallows an impenitent hardened Wretch, whom Vengeance fuffer'd not to live; yet concerning him you are to declare, that Almighty GOD bath in GREAT MERCY taken him to himself: Tho' he died a Victim to public fuftice, and was taken away in Wrath. You are to give GOD hearty Thanks, that he bath taken this your BROTHER out of the Miseries of this

E 2

finful

finful World: Tho' you have the strongest Reafon to believe, that he is gone down to Realms of greater Mifery below. And you are to profess before GOD that you HOPE the Man RESTS IN CHRIST, and pray that you yourselves may reft in Chrift in the fame manner as this your Brother doth when you have all the Grounds in the World to think he died in his Sins, and is therefore not gone to be with CHRIST, where nothing that is defiled can ever be admitted. Strange! and extremely fhocking! what can the People think, Sir! what muft Infidels and Deifts think when they hear you in the Morning denouncing from the Scriptures certain Death and Deftruction from the Prefence of God, to all vicious and corrupt Perfons; and affuring them that without Holiness NO MAN fhall fee the Lord: Buc in the Evening from the Common Prayer, fhall hear You, the SAME PERSON, declaring before GOD your HOPE of the eternal Happiness of one of the moft debauch'd and profligate Men your Parifh affords; and fending him hence with all the lofty Expreffions of Confidence and Hope, as you would a Perfon of the most shining and exemplary Life.

Do you imagine, Sir, People do not think? Can you wonder DEISM prevails? That the Priesthood is ridiculed? And that your good Sermons are no more effectual to reform a corrupt World? To me this appears (and doubtless it does the fame to thoufands of your own Church) a moft indecent Proftitution of your facred Character and Office, a Trifling and Prevarication in Things of everlafting Moment; and a fatal Snare to the Souls of Men: Who feeing their debauch'd Neighbour difmifs'd to the other World with fuch Confidence of his good Eftate, fupprefs their juft Fears, and fay, I shall have Peace, tho I add Drunkenness to Thirst.

But there is a further very range and extraordinary Circumftance attending this Matter, viz. That it makes your Church perform, not to fay a Mi

racle,

racle, but fomething very like it, if not greater than that, for it damns and saves the fame individual Perfons. Whom it damns when living, it faves when dead. Arians and Socinians, you know, Sir, your Church declares WITHOUT DOUBT to perifh everlaftingly. But let these very Men die, and your Church as folemnly declares that God hath in GREAT MERCY taken them to himself, and that it HOPES they REST IN CHRIST. Can any Thing be more transcendant and marvellous than this! That the Man whom I pronounce WITHOUT DOUBT to be damned, I yet HOPE that he is faved, i. e. I hope without Hope.

But you would establish, not only the Use, but the Church's divine Right, of MAKING Ceremonies from the Inftance of the holy Kifsb. "The Kifs of

Charity used in the Apoftolic Church, you ask, "was it a Rite of divine Appointment, or was it "not?" I answer, that I apprehend this Kils of Charity cannot properly be called a divine Inflitu tion, nor be faid to be ordained by the Apoftles. The greeting with a Kifs, was an ancient established Ufage, not only amongst the Jews, but the Gentile Nations alfo. This Ufage therefore, or Ceremony, was not ordained by the Apostles, but only by their Advice regulated and directed to a moral and religious End. 'Tis as if they had faid, 'Tis your Custom when you meet, to falute each other with a Kifs, fee that it be a pure, a chafte, or holy Kiss, a Token of unfeigned Charity, Friendship and

Peace.

"But if this Ceremony of the holy Kifs, was not "of divine Appointment. (which probably, you fay, is the Truth of the Cafe) but a merely ec"clefiaftical prudential Inftitution, ordained by the "Apoftles without any Precept from the Lord, or 66 any particular Direction of the Holy Spirit +."Then, Sir, I without the leaft Hefitation fay, it

† Lett. III. p. 2.

was