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C Secondly, Notwithstanding this [i. e. notwithftanding their not having the Church's Lawful Authority to Baptize]" their Baptifms, if done in "due Form, are Valid, and not to be repeated. But the Discipline of the Cyprianick Churches did not allow this; for as they vacated their Commiffions, fo in confequence thereof they null'd their Baptifins too; but the other Churches, as they did not null their Commiffion and Authority, fo neither did they make void their Baptifms; and fince they were Commiffion'd Baptifms, no wonder they ftood good and valid in thofe Churches. Mr. Bingham proceeds,

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Yet, Thirdly, Thofe Baptifms have great Deficiencies, particularly, that they do not minifter Remiffion of Sins, and other invifible Graces of the "Holy Spiritwhich Deficiencies are to be 1 Cupply'd by Impofition of Hands, and Invocation of the Holy Spirit, upon their [i.e. the Baptized's] "Repentance, and return to the Catholick "Church: And this, whether Hereticks acting in "that Capacity be confider'd,

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Fourthly, Either as Clergy-men or Lay-men, in a middle State betwixt both, &c." But our Reverend Hiftorian do's not here diftinguish: For the Great Deficiences he fpeaks of, are not in those Baptifms themselves, properly speaking; for he may remember, what himself fays of Baptifms wickedly circumftantiated, even in the Church it felf, viz. that "the fame Deficiency was many times "in the Baptifm of those who were baptiz'd in the "Church, because they were baptized in Enmity "and Hatred of their Brethren, and in that State "could not have Forgiveness of Sins. See his 81ft Page. Mr. Bingham fure do's not mean that

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thefe Baptifms in the Church, have in themselves, this great Deficiency; no, they have certainly no Deficiency at all, the Fault is only in the Circumftance, not in the Baptifm; the Perfons baptiz'd, as himself acknowledges, are hereby "made Partakers of all fuch Privileges, as the "receiving the outward and visible Sacrament

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of Baptifm can give to fuch as Debar them"felves (by fome Obstacle of their own) from "the Invifible and Spiritual Grace of it, Page 77. The Invisible and Spiritual Grace of it, is the Inwifible and Spiritual Grace of the Baptifm it felf, that which is infeparably annex'd to it. "But this Grace is not receiv'd." That is very true; but the reafon why 'tis not receiv'd, is not from any Deficiency in the Baptifm, for 'tis [according to Mr. Bingham] the Sinner's Own Dhita"cle," and by this he "Debars" himself from the Invifible and Spiritual Grace of the Baptifm. This Circumftance of Wickedness in the Sinner is the Caufa impediens, the Obftacle or Impediment which Obftructs the Divine Influence of the Spiritual Grace, and therefore hinders the Baptized from receiving it; the Baptifm it felf is Efficient, and has no Defect; but the Recipient is not at prefent capable, by reafon of his Sin, to receive the Spiritual Benefits annex'd thereto; take away this Obftacle, by a fincere and hearty Repentance, and the inward Spiritual Grace will be received by Virtue of the former Baptifm. This is the Cafe of fome wicked Perfons who are baptiz'd even in the Church it felf; and Mr. Bingham cannot deny, but in the Senfe of thofe Churches, this alfo was much the fame, with refpect to the Heretical and Schif matical Baptifms we are fpeaking of; for he, from St. Auguftin's Authority," fuppofes fuch as are

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Baptized by Hereticks and Schifmaticks to be "much in the fame State as bad Men in the Church" Nay, more he fays, "They need only Repentance and Abfolution to return to the Church again; the Seal and Character of t their Baptifm remaining in this respect for ever Indelible upon them, fo as to qualify them to be admitted ever after to Pardon and Forgivenefs upon a true Repentance. These are Privileges • that a wicked Man has by Virtue of his having "receiv'd the outward Form of Baptifm, or the vifible Sacrament in the Church, tho' all the Time, by his own Fault, he be deftitute of Pardon of Sins, and all the invifible Graces and Operations of the Holy Spirit. As the Baptifm of Simon Mae gus was a true Baptifm, tho' he was an Unworthy, "and therefore an Unp2ofitable Receiver of it; "and as the Sacrament of the Eucharift is a true Sacrament, tho' many Men eat it, not to their "Soul's Health, but to their own Damnation, because they are unworthy Receivers of it. Now as the Cafe was with wicked Men, who thus re"cerv'd Baptifm in the Church. So the Ancients fuppofed the Cafe of those to be who were baptized by Hereticks or Schil"maticks, &c. Their Baptifm, if done in due « Form was the vilible Sacrament of Baptifm and qualified them for fome, if not all of the forementioned Privileges, fo that upon their Repentance and return to the Church the Church by Impofition of Hands and In"vocation of the Holy Spirit, might obtain for them thofe Bleffings and Graces, which might have been "had in Baptifm, if they themselves had not been "the Obstacle, and put in a Bar against them. This "Mr. Bingham takes to be the true State of this

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"Matter, as generally deliver'd by fuch of the Ancients, as defended the Validity of Heretical Baptifm. See his 77th, 78th, and 79th Pages. And to this alfo we do agree, in confideration, that those Ancients did likewife acknowledge the Validity of the Epifcopal Orders of the Baptizers, confequently that their Baptifm was Epifcopally Authorized Baptifm; therefore that it had no Deficiency in it felf, all the Fault being only in the Circumftance of the Herefy, or Schifm, wherein their Ministrations were perform'd; fo that this finful Circumftance, this Obftacle, which (to ufe Mr. Bingham's own Words) Put a Bar against' the Spiritual Graces of thofe Baptifins, and hinder'd the receiving of them, being remov'd and taken away by the Repentance of the Baptized and their return to the Church; by Impofition of Hands, and Invocation of the Holy Ghoft, thofe Spiritual Graces then took place, and were receiv'd by the Baptized, without a Second Baptifm, because the First had no Deficiency in its Miniftration, but was whole and entire, being Commiffion'd Baptifm with Water, In the Name of the Trinity : And when our Advocates, for the Baptifms we are difputing againft, Baptifins by Perfons never Commihion'd at all to Baptize, can prove, that these false Baptisms given by our Lay-Diffenting-Teachers, are fuch Epifcopally Commiffion'd Baptifms, as thofe Ancient Heretical and Schifmatical Baptifms were, then we shall have done with this Difpute; but till then, it must be acknowledg'd, that whatfoever can be fairly faid for the Validity of those Heretical and Schifmatical Baptifms, which were Epifcopal, is no ways applicable to thefe, which are not only without an Epifcopal Commiffion, but are also in the most direct and proper Senfe of the

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word Anti-Epifcopal, in oppofition to the very Order of Bishops; a Ufurpation, this of fo unheard of a Nature till of late, that the Ancient Catholick Church had no Experience of it; and confequently, could never have any Tradition or Cuftom in favour of its pretended Validity.

§ VI. By all that has been faid, 'tis plain that our Church of England always had Valid Baptifms, because the always had an Epifcopal Commiffion to baptize. Even when fhe was [as Mr. Bingham calls her] an Heretical and Schifmatical Church, while under the Slavery of the Romish Yoke, her Epifcopal Commiffion was good and valid, because there were no Ecclefiaftical Laws or Canons of the Catholick Church, or of any Church to whom fhe may be fuppos'd to have ow'd Subjection, that made her Epifcopal Commiffion null and void upon the Account of her [fuppos'd] Herefy or Schifm; therefore all her Baptifms were even then good and Valid in themfelves, being Commiffion'd Baptifins In the Name of the Trinity: They had no Defect, as they were the Sacrament of Baptifm; whatsoever Deficiencies of Spiritual Graces fhe is fuppos'd to have then labour'd under, were not owing to the Imperfection of the Sacrament, but to the Sinfulnefs and Uucharitablenefs of the fuppos'd Herefy or Schifm fhe is faid to have been in: 'Twas only by this Obftacle, that those Spiritual Benefits can be fuppos'd to have been obftructed, which Obftacle being remov'd by her Repentance and Reformation, thofe Spiritual Graces take effect; but her Commiffion it felf is no more than it was before, the Validity thereof is juft the fame, only the Obftacle is now remov'd, which before [is fuppos'd to have] hinder'd the receiving

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