A. May not a person, being a layman, administer the communion to himself?

T. He cannot: nor could that be deemed a sacrament, because he is no minister. They who administer this ordinance according to its nature, and agreeable to the will of God, must have the authority and commission of God so to do; otherwise they are not within the promise of God, and there can be no sacrament.

Archbishop of York. I disallow of private baptism altogether, and have forbidden the use of it in all my diocese. I have spoken to the queen about it, and I will not suffer it.

A. Calvin held that baptism was necessary, and reproved the anabaptists for deferring it so long.

T. Calvin did not otherwise account baptism necessary than it might not be omitted through neglect or contempt. He never acknowledged any other necessity, nor did any of the reformed churches abroad.

S. Circumcision was the same to the Jews as baptism is to us, which, by the appointment of God, was not to be performed till the child was eight days old; and if that sacrament was so necessary as some suppose, the child was all this time in great danger. If the want of the sacrament of baptism expose the child to endless misery, it were better to have it administered as soon as the child is born.

A. As to the doctrine charged upon the necessity of private baptism, it is so guarded in the articles, as will sufficiently clear the church of England of those errors.

T. The doctrine in the articles is good and holy; but the necessity of baptism, as laid down in the Prayer Book, is so great, that in a private place, by a private person, yea, by a woman, in a settled and peaceable state of the church, it may be administered, when, at the birth of the child, there is not so much time as to repeat the Lord's prayer, lest the child should be dead; nor, in some cases, hardly so much time as even to pour the water upon it, and to repeat those words, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, &c. To reconcile all this with the doctrines of scripture, appears impossible.

S. The interrogatories proposed in baptism, and another person's saying for the child, I believe, being a thing which the child cannot do, is extremely repugnant to scripture.

A. Augustin says, "The child may be said to believe, because it receives the sacrament of faith."

S. The question in baptism is asked before the sacrament is received.

A. Because the child is in the action of receiving, it may be said to have received.

T. This question and answer in baptism is an untruth; because the sponsor professeth, in the name of the child, that the child believeth, when in all ordinary cases it does not, and cannot believe.

A. The interrogatories are ancient; and it was the custom in the primitive church to have sponsors, who, in the name of the child, did promise and profess that the child did believe.

T. Can it then be credible to any man that children newly born do believe? How can they believe that which they have not heard? And if they had heard, how could they so understand, as with the heart to believe unto righteousness? And concerning the cross in baptism, and other ceremonies, were they ever so ancient, or ever so good in the institution, if they be now abused to idolatry, and unnecessary, or of no use in the church, they ought to be abolished. This appears from the case of the brazen serpent, which, though set up originally by the command of God, and a monument of his special favour; yet, being abused to idolatry, was afterwards broken in pieces and utterly destroyed; and all this was done according to the will of God. So the cross, being never of any use in baptism, and being as much abused to idolatry as ever the brazen serpent was, and always tending to promote superstition and give offence to persons of tender consciences, surely it ought to be abolished. To impose the necessity of the cross in baptism, is not only unsupported by scripture, and wholly founded in superstition, but a dangerous human appendage added to what God has wisely and graciously appointed. And this is not my opinion only, but the opinion of the foreign reformed churches, as appears from the Harmony of Confessions.

A. You are wont to find fault with dumb ceremonies, and you blame those which have any signification. But in the use of the cross, the learned Beza left the churches to their own liberty.

Treasurer. That was wisely done.

T. Beza would not condemn the churches for using the cross, nor oppose their liberty. But his opinion is, that it ought to be abolished; nay, he adviseth the ministers to

forego their ministry, rather than subscribe to the allowance of it.

Leicester. It is a pity that so many of the best ministers, and those who are the most painful preachers, have stood to be deprived for these things.

T. My lord, we acknowledge that the peace of the church ought to be dearer to us than our lives. But with your lordship's favour, I must say, in conscience towards God, and in the duty I owe to her excellent majesty, to your good lordships, and to the whole church and state, that the ministers, in so doing, have acted well. The things to which they were required to subscribe being so grievous, they ought not to have yielded, though they were deprived of their ministry.

A. From the letter of Dr. Ridley, now read to you, you ee that he approved of the habits.

S. Mr. Fox, in his "Book of Martyrs," reporteth that Ridley, at his degradation, scorned the habits, saying, "They are foolish and abominable, and too fond for a vice in a play."*

A. You will call in question the authority and jurisdiction of the bishops, as well as many other things.

T. We object against the Prayer Book, because it allows and attempts to justify an insufficient ministry, directly contrary to the word of God. This appears from 1 Tim. iii. and Titus i.

Treasurer. What scripture is there to prove that he who administers the sacraments should also preach?

T. "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them," &c. And Jesus Christ having joined these things together, it is not lawful for men to put them asunder. This is not our opinion only, but the opinion and practice of all the foreign reformed churches.

A. The apostolic rule which you have alleged, is an idea of a minister.

T. To make it merely an idea would overturn the religion of God's word; because, for the same reason, the duties of magistrates, churches, parents, children, and all others, might be made duties merely in idea.

Treasurer. That is impossible.

T. If the churches, even in times of bloody persecution, have observed this order, that they who minister the sacraments shall also preach; it cannot be difficult for us in a

*See Fox's Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, vol. iii, p. 427.

state of peace. (Here the conference closed, and the company departed.)

Mr. Strype observes of this conference, that the ministers were convinced of their error, and persuaded to conform; but it is evident he knew not the persons, and he even acknowledges that he never saw the debate.+ Mr. Travers continued a decided nonconformist to his death; and Dr. Sparke appeared at the head of the nonconformists at the Hampton-court conference, nearly twenty years after this period.‡

Mr. Travers continued lecturer at the Temple, with Mr. Hooker the new master, about two years, though with very little agreement, the former being a strict Calvinist, and the latter a man of larger principles; after which, he was at length brought into trouble. Many of their sermons were upon points of controversy, relative to the doctrine, discipline, and ceremonies of the church. The forenoon sermon often spoke the language of Canterbury, and the afternoon that of Geneva. Fuller observes of Mr. Travers, "that his utterance was agreeable, his gesture graceful, his matter profitable, his method plain, and his style carried in it the flowings of grace from a sanctified

*MS. Register, p. 508-514.

+ Strype's Whitgift, p. 170.

Dr. Thomas Sparke was born at South Somercoates in Lincolnshire, and was chosen perpetual fellow of Magdalen college, Oxford. He was afterwards presented by Lord Gray to the rectory of Bleachley in Buckinghamshire, where he was held in great esteem on account of his piety and diligence. About the year 1575 he became chaplain to Bishop Cooper of Lincoln, who preferred him to the archdeaconry of Stow; but this he resigned for conscience sake," and contented himself with his parsonage. He was a learned man, a solid divine, well read in the fathers, and much esteemed for his gravity and exemplary life and conversation. He united with the leading puritans in subscribing the "Book of Discipline." For writing a book upon the succession, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, he was brought into trouble; but, on the accession of James, "his majesty gave him a most gracious countenance for what he had done." He died at Bleachley in the year 1616, when his remains were interred in his own church. Wood denominates Dr. Rainolds and Dr. Spatke "the pillars of puritanism, and the grand favourers of nonconformity." But Sparke afterwards renounced his nonconformity, and published a book upon the subject, entitled, "A Brotherly Persuasion to Unity and Uniformity in Judgment and Practice, touching the received and present Ecclesiastical Government, and the Authorized Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England," 1607. This was answered by "The Second Part of the Defence of the Ministers' Reasons for refusal of Subscription and Conformity to the Book of Common Prayer," 1608. Also by a work entitled, “ A Dispute upon the Question of Kneeling in the Act of receiving the Sacramental Bread and Wine," &c. 1608.-Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 290, 351, 352.-Neal's Puritans, vol. i. p. 423.

Walton's Life of Hooker, p. 90. Edit. 1665.

heart." This is certainly a very high character from a zealous conformist.

The sermon in the morning was oftentimes controverted in the afternoon, and again vindicated the following Lord's day. Mr. Hooker, therefore, complained of this usage, when Archbishop Whitgift, without the least warning, silenced Mr. Travers from preaching at the Temple, or at any other place in the kingdom. The manner in which the archbishop proceeded to inflict this heavy sentence, proved no small reproach to his episcopal character, and gave great offence to most men of wisdom and moderation. For as Mr. Travers was ascending the pulpit to preach on the Lord's day afternoon, Whitgift's officer served him with a prohibition on the pulpit-stairs; upon which, instead of a sermon, he acquainted the congregation with his suspension, and dismissed them. The reasons given for this proceeding were, "That Mr. Travers was not ordained according to the rites of the church of England. That he had preached without a license. That he had broken the orders of the queen, That disputes should not be brought into the pulpit.""+ But the chief reason, says Mr. Strype, was the first.

Mr. Travers, in vindication of himself, presented "A Supplication to the Council," in which he complains of being judged and condemned before he was heard; and of being silenced, which to him was the most grievous of all, before he was examined, contrary to reason and equity. He then proceeds to answer the objections alleged against him in the prohibition as follows:

"First, it is said, that I am not lawfully called to the ministry, according to the laws of the church of England.

"To this, I answer, that my call was by such methods as are appointed in the national synods of the foreign reformed churches, testimonials of which I have shewn to my lord of Canterbury; so that if any man be lawfully called to the ministry in those countries, I am.

"It is further said, that I am not qualified to be a minister in England, because I am not ordained according to the laws of this country.

"I beseech your lordships to weigh my answer. Such is the communion of saints, that whatever solemn acts are done in one true church of Christ, according to his word, are held lawful in all others. The making of a minister,

*Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 216.

+ Ibid. p. 217.