all that were in it But saith Mr. K. Might they not in that hour go a little way out of the House and be baptized This is begging the Question and yet he thus concludes viz. 'T is evident he abuses the Sacred Text. But hitherto you may see it is plain they did not go out of the House Ver. 33. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway Ver. 34. And when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and they rejoiced believing in God with all his house This was to bring them into some more peculiar Place or Dining-Room in his House for you see it is clear they were not out of the Prison before for so it appears by the next Verse viz. Ver. 35. And when it was day the magistrates sent the sergeants saying Let those men go But the Apostles refused to go out of the Prison And they came and besought them and desired them to depart out of the city Thus you see here was 1. The Jaylors bringing the Apostles out of their close confinement after his conviction 2. There was preaching the Word of the Lord to all that were in his House and not out of his House 3. Here was washing their stripes after they were taken out of their close confinement into his House at large 4. And Lastly Here was their Baptism And all this was done in the same hour of the Night straightway and then when this was done he invites them into his own peculiar Appartment or Dining-Room and set Meat before them And in the last place it doth plainly appear that they did not go out of the House or Prison all night because they were there in the Morning and refused to go out when the Magistrates sent to the Jaylor to release them therefore there is no manner of ground to imagine that they went out of the Prison and out of the City a little way in the Night to be baptized in a River or a Pond of Water but besides the Gates of Cities use to be shut in the Night and Guard kept at them who would have secured them had they attempted to go out in the night Ergo they were baptized in the House So that I have not abused the Sacred Text but it is evident that Mr. K. hath abused me in charging me falsely 12. And Lastly I shall give some Reasons to Evince that the Face of the Subject is the properest part to be baptized Because by the Face both God and Man are described 1. God is described by his most glorious face Psal 51.9 Psal 44.24 〈◊〉 18.10 Not that we are to conceive of God as of any Form or Shape who is a most Glorious Immense Spiritual Being in himself but it is in condescension to our weak capacities 2. Man is described and best known by the Face Gal. 1.22 Psal 84.9 And how common a thing is it among Men to say I never saw such an Ones Face That is they never saw the Person 2. The Face is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because the Face represents the whole Man 3. The Face ought to be baptized as the properest part because the part baptized ought to be naked for these Reasons viz. 1. Because otherwise the Cloaths and not the Person are baptized 2. Because it maketh the truest Figure of Man in his natural laps'd State before he is washed in the Water of Regeneration and renewed by the Holy Ghost by which the Soul puts on these two blessed Garments of Salvation namely Christs Righteousness for Justification and the Robe of Holiness for Sanctification Every Soul in a laps'd State you have set forth in these two Texts in the old and New Testament first in the Old Testament Ezek. 16.4 5 6. Here you have Man in his natural State which is unsavoury loathsome polluted and helpless and in the New Testament Rev. 3. there he is set forth to be wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This is the State and Condition of all Men by nature before they are washed in Regeneration 4. And Lastly The Face of the Subject is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because Nature it self teacheth us that the Face is the most delightful comely part of Man for Conversation We do not care to converse with a Man that turns his back upon us Thus much for the part of the Subject that ought to be baptized and the posture the Subject ought to be prepared in and that is the naked Face Thus I have confuted Mr. Keach's Arguments which he hath produced to prove that Dipping is the only Infallible Mode for Baptism whereas there is neither Precept nor Example for it no not so much as a bare May be for it in all the Book of God but you see there is a great Analogy between those many Sprinklings and Baptism though the Mode is not absolutely determined declaratively II. I will prove that all Elect dying Infants must have the Grace of Faith or they can never be saved 1. But saith Mr. K. in p. 14 16. How doth God sanctifie dying Infants I speak as to the Mode of it No mortal Man I am sure can tell if it is by infusing Grace let it be so though it can't be proved while the World stands yet Gods design therein could not be the same in them as in others c. Though the Grace is given by which we do believe yet is not the Act ours Can God be said to believe for us or can there be Faith in any Subject and yet no knowledge of the Object To which I answer that the Mode of sanctifying Elect dying Infants must be by Infusion of Grace by the Holy Spirit into their Souls is as clear as the Sun because there is no other way for Old or Young to be savingly sanctified by 2. God hath promised it Isa 44.3 I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring c. 3. Gods design is the same in the infusing Grace and Holiness into an Elect Infant as it is in an Adult Elect Sinner for God hath no other End nor higher Design then the glorifying his own Free Grace in the salvation of both Old and Young therefore that part of your carnal Argument is already destroyed Pray Sir in your next let us know if God hath any other or differing Design or End in the saving Adult Elect Sinners from that of sanctifying and saving Elect dying Infants and let us also know what way that is 2. Faith is the Gift of God though the Act of Faith may be said to be the Believers yet if God do not Act in the Believers Faith his Acting will signifie nothing for God is the authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. And it is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed of his good pleasure
good What think ye now Friend of all your other Arguments which you say are contained in this one Are they not swallowed up by the Gospel even as Aaron's Rod swallowed up the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians 4. Saith Mr. K. in pag. 24. The Gospel Covenant ran first to all the Elect that were the natural Off-spring of Abraham and then to the Gentiles and from hence it is said Rom. 11. that when the Jews are called and brought in again they shall be graffed into their own Olive-tree 1. I Answer that if the Jews are to be graffed into their own Olive-tree again as indeed they must then the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed is not Repealed nor Dissolved 2. That the Elect Jews were principally concerned in the Covenant I do own but that none but such were concerned in it I deny for had it been so then none had ever been cast out of Covenant for God never broke Covenant with his Elect nor never will I will produce you not only his Word but also his Oath for it in Psal 89. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David 3. The Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed was but one is the very same now in substance to the believing Gentiles their Children though it is under a new Dispensation and the Middle-wall of partition is broken down and taken away and nailed to Christs Cross Eph. 2.11 12 13 14. And the Gentiles are Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel so that the Covenant is enlarged as to the Priviledges thereof for whereas before the coming in of the Gospel it was restricted to the Jews and their Seed now it is to both Jew and Gentile Acts 2.39 Whereas it was clog'd before with Material costly Sacrifices and burdensome Ceremonies and smarting Ordinances now it is Meliorated and made easier and better all these Shadows are done away which was the taking away the first to establish the second viz. to take away the Ceremonial Law to Establish the Gospel 4. And lastly If none but Elect Jews were in the Covenant God made with Abraham and his Seed at which time the Gentiles were rejected and cast off for in Noah's Time all the New World were in the Covenant of Grace How came the Jews to sin themselves out of it again when the Elect Gentiles and their Seed were taken in Rom. 11.17 For if those Jews had been Elected of God they could never have sinned to such a degree as to provoke God to cast them out of Covenant though they might sin so as to provoke God to punish and chastise them for it Psal 89. 5. And lastly Saith Mr. K. in pag. 27. And farther to prove the Promise of the Covenant of Grace did not belong to Abrham 's Natural Seed as such Paul shews in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and to his seed was the promise made He saith not to seeds as of many but to thy seed which is Christ Friend though you have charged me falsely with abusing the Sacred Scriptures yet give me leave to tell you you have horribly abused this Text by adding unto it and diminishing from it for the Words are these in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not And to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ Mr. K. hath placed was the promise made which is in the singular instead of were the promises made Friend Was not Christ who is stiled this One here in this Text of the Seed of Abraham And was not the Covenant made with him before the Foundation of the World for all the Elect and their Seed And are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in Christ Which are the Promises in this Text which you call the promise So that this Text intends quite another thing â—hen what you seem to infer from it 2. Let us observe what strange Absurdities to follow 1. Would it not be a very absurd thing that God who is a Covenant-keeping God should keep his Covenant with Believers and their Seed from Adam to the coming of Christ in the Flesh which was about 4000 Years and so often renew and establish it with Believers and their Seed by Repeated Promises and Sacred Oaths and that then God should cast them all off and Repeal and Dissolve the Covenant Pray hear what the Apostle saith to this in Gal. 3.15 Brethren I speak after the manner of men Though it be but a mans covenant yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Viz. Is a Covenant which is made between Man and Man so sacred a thing as that nothing ought to disanul it or make it void and that nothing ought to be added unto it How much more Sacred is Gods Everlasting Covenant and not to be disanulled made void nor added unto by Men 2. Is it not an absurd thing for any Mortals to imagine that the Son of Gods Love John 3.16 and the Gospel of his Grace should bring more Grace to Adult Believers then the Law and at the same time destroy that Grace which their Children enjoyed under the Law John 1.17 For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 3. If this Doctrine were true then all the Seed of these believing Jews which kept Covenant were all cast out and broken off with the unbelieving Jews and their Seed Rom. 11 17. 4. It will follow that none but Adult believing Gentiles were taken into Covenant and all their Children excluded which is repugnant to Acts 2.39 For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call This Promise here is the same God made with Adam Gen. 3.15 and Noah Gen. 9.9 and Abraham Gen. 17.2 7. which was made to Believers and their Children 5. These Gentlemen that Assert the Dissolution of the Covenant wherein are contained Believers and their Seed never yet undertook to tell us what the personal actual Sin was which these poor Babes did commit against God that did provoke him to cast them all out of Covenant who had been in it Four Thousand Years successively wherefore when you write next about this Subject be so ingenuous as to tell us what the Sin was which these young Infants were guilty of which brought them all under this dreadful condemnation as to be cast out of Gods Favour For unless you can do that all the Arguments you can raise against our Principles will only serve to prove that you are in a very great Errour for the Covenant God made with Adam Noah Abraham and their Seed is an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure IV. I will by Gods Assistance prove that the
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah and she and he and her house did eat many days Here was the Woman and the Prophet and her House that was her Son did eat many days for she had no more in her Family as in the 12th Verse Heb. 11. By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house c. That was himself Wife and Children Gen. 6.1 7. So that it is impossible Children could be excluded if they had any because the word Houshold includes them but it would be very strange if there were no children in all those baptized Families that are mentioned in the Gospel only occasionally for no doubt but there were many thousands of Housholds more that were baptized in the Apostles Time which they had not the same occasion to mention in particular which we do not read of 4. And Lastly Though all the Infant-Seed of Believers are Holy Children in Scripture account yet they are not all savingly sanctified neither is Water-baptism it self such an Ordinance as to convey or infuse Grace and Holiness into the Subject baptized so as to unite them to Christ by Regeneration No that is the Work of the Holy Ghost alone in the Baptism by Fire Indeed this I do believe that God may nay many times doth while the external Sign of Regeneration and Sanctification is applying without work the thing signified by his holy Spirit internally within Thus you see here are clear Examples of Infant-Baptism and good Authority for it unless it can be proved that there were no Children in all these Nations that Christ commissioned his Apostles to preach the Gospel unto 3. It is clear that all the Infant-Seed of Believers have a Right unto the Ordinance of Baptism in their Infancy from the peculiar Promises of God made unto them above all other Children in the World 1. God hath promised to be their God Gen. 17.7 Psal 112.2 His seed shall be mighty upon the earth The generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 102.28 The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee And in Isa 29.23 Isa 44.3 Isa 65.22 Act. 2.29 Here you see are Precious Promises made to the Children of Believers to be fulfilled and accomplished in Gospel-times and is it rational to conceive that God would not allow them the Ordinance of Baptism that is now the Seal or Token of the Covenant wherein all these Promises are contained which God hath made to the Seed of Believers Therefore all the Children of Believers ought to be baptized in their Infancy 4. We may infer that the Infant Seed of Believers have a Right to Baptism from the Renowned Titles that are given them First they are called Disciples Acts 15.1 10. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved They did not say After the manner of Abraham No for they were zealous of the Ceremonial Law These Men came from Judea where John had been baptizing all that came to him ver 10. Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear But it may be Objected Those were Adult believing Gentiles Which in part is true but it was to their Children principally for they which taught them that they themselves must be circumcised did also teach them that their Children must be circumcised and that the Jews Children must be circumcised likewise as doth clearly appear from Acts 21. Thou seest brother how many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the law And they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children c. Pray when was this that the Apostle did thus teach the People Why do but look back into Acts 15. and you will find it was when the Men came down from Judea and preached up Circumcision and were such Zealots for the Law of Moses as that they told the People they could not be saved without keeping of it So that it is clear that these Children in Acts 11. were of the number of those Disciples in Acts 15.10 And therefore the Infant-Seed of Believers are Disciples and ought to be baptized as being in Christs Commission Matth. 28.19 20. Now a little by way of Query and Expostulation 1. Is it any ways likely that the believing Jews would have been brought off from circumcising their Children without an Ordinance that was equivalent or better in the room of it Especially if we do but consider how hard a Task the Apostles had to bring them off from it for they thought they should be damned if they did neglect it Acts 15.1 2. If we do but consider what a great Esteem the Jews hath for the Ordinance of Baptism which may be measured by the Question our Saviour put to those Great Men when they came to him to question his Authority in Mark 11. 29 30. They did not dare to say that John's Baptism was of Men for fear that the People would have stoned them 3. If it were such a dangerous thing for those Priests Scribes and Elders to have denied John's Baptism to be of divine Authority what a dangerous thing would it have been for any Man to have Asserted that all their Children had been cast out of Abraham's Covenant or to have opened their Mouths against Infant-baptism seeing the Apostles had so much adoe to bring them off from Circumcision which was the Seal or Token of the Covenant and did Typifie our Saviours bloody Baptism namely his Death and Sufferings 1. It was a bloody Ordinance Exod. 4.25 26. So was Christs Sufferings Luke 12.50 2. It was a painful Ordinance so was Christs Sufferings 3. It was an Ordinance wherein all the Subjects were passive so was Christ in his bloody Baptism 4. It was an Ordinance of Incision or cutting off the Flesh so was the Sufferings of Christ Dan. 9.26 After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself 5. And Lastly The Male Children were only to be circumcised which did Typifie that Christ our Redeemer must be a Man and that of sorrow and the Pascal Lamb did Type out the same It must be a male of the flock without blemish so must Christ be a Male of the Flock or Tribe of Judah without sin But the Females must not be circumcised because they could not make a True Figure of Christ our Passeover which was sacrificed for us But the Females have the Ordinance of Child-bearing which is the True Figure of Regeneration without which there could have been no Circumcision 2. When Christ the Antitype came in the Flesh and was offered up a Sacrificeâ— for