The defence of the nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of the matter…

And whether as to the new Article of Faith, it had not been enough for us to have said as the Synod of Dort. Art. 1. c. 17. [Quandoquidem de voluntate Dei ex verbis ipsius nobis est judicandum, quod testatur liberos fidelium esse Sanctos, non quidem Natura sed beneficio faederis gratuiti, in quo illicum Parentibus comprehenduntur; pii Parentes de electione & salute suorum, quos Deus in Infantia ex hâc Vita evocat, dubitare non debent.]

And I dissent not from the old Rubric, [That no Man shall think if any Detriment shall come to Children by deferring of their Confirmation, he shall know for truth, that it is certain by God's Word, that Children being Baptized, have all things necessary for their Salvation, and be undoubtedly saved.] That is, without any other Sacrament, supposing them to be the Children of the Faithful: And I am sorry any Dispute of mine occasioned ⟨p. 53⟩any one to endeavour the altering of these words so much for the worse. But I have long digressed.

And I dissent not from the old Rubrick, [That no Man shall think if any Detriment shall come to Children by deferring of their Confirmation, he shall know for truth, that it is certain by God's Word, that Children being Baptized, have all things necessary for their Salvation, and be undoubtedly saved.] That is, without any other Sacrament, supposing them to be the Children of the Faithful: And I am sorry any Dispute of mine occasioned ⟨p. 53⟩any one to endeavour the altering of these words so much for the worse. But I have long digressed.

§ 12. If God's Word were not the sufficient Law by which your Cause and ours are to be tried, I would vie with you against your Plea from Humane Opinion, or Authority: And show you, 1. That the Apostles not using it, will weigh down the Ancients and others using it. 2. That the Ancients used it not so ill as we must do, as a Sacrament of the Covenant; but as a mere professing Sign of their not being ashamed of Christ; till it did degenerate by degrees. 3. That the Learning and Piety of them that have refused it, hath been equal to theirs that so used it. 4. That he that readeth Bernard, Gerson, Kempis, Thauluus, Gerhardus, Zutphaniensis, Sales, and abundance such (yea, Persons of Resolution) will think there have been very holy Papists; and for number they exceed the Protestants: And yet that proveth not Popery to be lawful. 5. That the Baptized's White Garment, Milk and Honey, not kneeling on Lord's Days, &c. were more generally used of old, and yet are not now so well thought of: Nor the giving the Eucharist to Infants, nor the Millenary Doctrine, much the Ancients Language, like the Arians, which Ptavius citeth.