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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96995	The covenants plea for infants: or, The covenant of free grace, pleading the divine right of Christian infants unto the seale of holy baptisme. Against the rusticke sophistry, and wicked cavillations of sacrilegious Anabaptists: being the summe of certaine sermons had in the parish-church of Cranham, neere the city of Gloucester, in Gloucester-shire, with the exceptions of certaine Anabaptists against the foresaid sermons, and the authors answers thereunto. Very seasonable for weake consciences in these unsettled times of schisme and apostacie. By Thomas Wynell minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.	Wynell, Thomas, b. 1599 or 1600.	1642 (1642)	Wing W3778; Thomason E115_17; ESTC R8440	86,631	137

children of the Prophets and of the Covenant because borne under the holy Covenant Act. 3.25 And how were not the Jewes sinners of the Gentiles Surely Divines whom you may seem sooner to refute then understand tell us that such as were borne Jewes had not their sinnes imputed unto them otherwise they were borne in originall sinne as well as the Gentiles but the holy Covenant of Grace was establisht upon them which Covenant was appointed as a remedy to fre e them from originall corruption and to restore them to Gods favour But this is a kind of language which you Anabaptists haply doe not understand For had you any knowledge this way you would not reason so wildly and turne Gods Covenant out of doores by putting no difference by nature between such as are born Christians in the Church under the holy Covenant and such as are born Pagans out of the Church strangers from the covenant And therefore seeing by nature there is so wide a difference between such as are born Christians and such as are born Pagans you in effect as good as say nothing For God bath engraven His Covenant upon the Infants of Christians and made this knowne unto his Church and therefore the Infants of Christians are to have the priviledge of Baptisme in their infancy But God hath not engraven His Covenant upon children of Pagans therefore they are not to have it untill they testify faith and repentance And this covenant written upon children of Christians in their infancy is the Commission that the Holy Ghost hath given in Scripture for baptizing Infants of Christians in their infancy 1 Cor. 7.14 And now I pray put your heads all together and let me heare what you can say against this But goe on Anabaptist Againe further This argument of yours is but from humane conception and doth tend to the overthrow of a divine institution which may not nor ought not to be unles you can prove where and when the holy Ghost hath or doth expresly lay down or give commission for the alteration of that expresse institution that Christ gave unto His Disciples to teach and instruct all Nations to observe and follow the rule that they left them And therefore the alteration of times and state is not sufficient to alter a divine institution untill it be altered by divine Authority by which it was at first commanded As for instance Suppose the King should establish a Law and an Act of Parliament for the practising of any particular action in the Land and the cause may be removed for which this Law was established yet this Act doth still remaine in force to be practised untill the Author thereof doth disanull it by proclamation or alteration So in like manner Christ hath established an Institution for Baptisme and confirmed it by the Apostles practice according to their commission and therefore untill Christ doth disanull this Institution or alter it wee may not nor dare not to alter it upon paine of open rebellion against the King of Heaven let the time alter never so much that is not a ground sufficient to alter an Institution And this for answer unto your first and chiefest Argument Now to passe by many groundlesse and sensuall arguments which are not worth answering because they savour of nothing but censuring we desire to come to your chiefest reasons wherefore Infants should be Baptized Answer No Argument that is truly deducted from the Scriptures of God is from humane conception But this Argument of mine against which you except is truly deducted from the Scriptures of God Ergo This Argument of mine against which you except is not from humane conception And then againe thus viz. No Argument that is deducted from the Scriptures of God can overthrow a divine Institution But this Argument of mine against which yee except is truly deducted from the Scriptures of God Ergo This Argument of mine against which you except cannot overthrow a divine Institution Now let mee but prove the Minor Proposition and you are overthrowne irrecoverably though you seeme to be armed with Law and Gospell against us Well the point that I have to make good is this namely that the Argument I here used was truly deducted from the Scriptures of God And to make this good the very rehearsall of what I said will be enough without any more adoe The summe of what I said was that the state of the Pagan Gentiles before the Apostles planted the Gospell among them was not the same in point of religion as is the state of the Christian Gentiles where the Gospell is embraced and they baptized Now I represented the state of the Pagan-Gentiles unto you in two particulars 1. I told you that before the Gospell came among the Pagan-Gentiles they were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world Ephes 2.12 And I am sure this is no humane conceipt unlesse the Oracles of God are humane conceipts 2. I said againe that before the Gospell came among the Pagan-Gentiles they were carried away to dumbe Idols even as they were led 1 Cor. 12.2 Neither is this any humane conceipt Then finally the Gentiles where the Gospell is planted are not of this condition in point of religion but in covenant with God and of Gods family and houshold as you may see in any Sermon-notes prefixed If this Argument doth overthrow the sense that you give of Matth 28.19 then you doe not give the right sense of the text For no argument truly deducted from the Scripture can overthrow the true meaning of any Scripture And so if your manner of baptizing which you would have to be warranted by that of our Saviour Matth. 28.19 will not stand with the nature of Gods covenant of Grace among the Gentiles where the Gospell is planted then Christ meanes not your way of baptizing in Churches where the Gospell is planted So then this argument of mine tends not to the overthrowing of any institution of Christ in Mat. 28.19 but layes a ground for the refuting of your wrong interpretation of the text the true meaning of which text you may afterwards see in due place For it should seem this is the keeping of your song and afterwards iterated againe and againe And for me to run over the same things againe and againe would argue me to be as void of mater as you are of reason But I pray one thing more What are those sensuall and groundlesse arguments of mine that you so sleightly passe over as not worth the answering I termed Anabaptists indeed a monstrous broode sacrilegious theeves Bellarmines Disciples c. Doe these savour of nothing but censuring Are these the sensuall and groundlesse arguments you mean But I argued that the promises of God made unto the Jewes in the Messias were spirituall and eternall promises Mat. 23.32 Act. 3.25 26. Heb. 11.16 And this you passe by untouched

THE COVENANTS Plea for INFANTS OR The Covenant of FREE GRACE pleading the Divine Right of Christian Infants unto the Seale of holy Baptisme Against the Rusticke Sophistry and wicked Cavillations of Sacrilegious Anabaptists Being the Summe of certaine Sermons had in the Parish-Church of Cranham neere the City of Gloucester in Gloucester shire with the exceptions of certaine Anabaptists against the foresaid Sermons and the Authors answers thereunto Very seasonable for weake consciences in these unsettled times of Schisme and Apostacie By THOMAS WYNELL Minister of the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST OXFORD Printed by Henry Hall for the Author 1642. TO MY MOST INDVLGENT mother the Famous VNIVERSITIE of OXFORD all flourishing encrease of Divine Graces and Commendable Literature be wished and multiplyed Men Fathers and Brethren I Have with a mournfull eye and a sad heart beheld the distractions of these times and seene the devill that Mille-artifex taking the opportunity as alwaies he doth to erect his throne upon our wofull miseries They say Rome must packe out of England so 't is credibly reported and now the Envious-one labours to bring-in Amsterdam The KINGS power in causes Ecclesiasticall must be taken from the Pope and reason good and now the devil labours strongly to lay it upon the people so that if the devill can do it Caesar must alwayes behold his Glory in Captivitie Ceremonies must downe and let them fall if they and the Gospell may not stand together but let not American novelties ponere obicem to the Covenant of free Grace Stand fast yee Worthies and acquit your selves like men View over this Treatise I beseech you and if it may not be to your disparagement vouchsafe it your Patronage Nay more if you thinke it may any way further the Protestant cause joyne with me I pray in presenting it to the Honourable Court of PARLIAMENT Nothing is herein for ought I know dissonant to the Orthodox faith It is the first fruits of my labours that ever saw light and I Dedicate it to my deare Mother knowing that hereby I shall have an affectionate construction put upon all mine assertions I pray let it not be thought ambition in me that I sue unto you for Patronage but accept all in favour as I present all in love What is amisse I pray correct and what is right I pray allow And thus not to retard your more weighty imployments I commit you all to the good dispose of Israels Keeper who can do for you beyond what I can aske or thinke and so I rest Your most obedient sonne THOMAS WYNELL TO THE CHRISTIAN READER Grace Mercie Peace Strength Stability and Settlednesse with a blessed encrease of all heavenly gifts from the Sanctuary by Gods Ordinances of Grace to the perfect edification of the Soule c. Christian READER HE that puts himselfe in Print in matters of Controversie doth not onely bid battell to the opposite party but also expose himselfe to the criticall censure of all beholders and standers by And by how much any VVriter seekes the applause of men in publishing his workes by so much the Righteous God makes him a looser And that worke mostly is most prosperous wherein least of fame and most of conscience is sought and aimed at This poore Treatise of mine though meane for phrase style and artifice yet needfull in these times of schisme and heresie for the subject matter thereof as that which may occasion my faithfull brethren more able to crush the insolencies of a dangerous faction the daughter of the Separation and the Mother of Libertinisme As for my call to this imployment it is this viz. There were nere unto my dwelling a company of the Separation who under tooke to erect a Church by entring into a Covenant and these carried on their resolutions hand-smooth untill they were grown into a great faction And as it is the property of that Schisme to speake at randome they began to let flie against the Church assemblies of England as false Antichristian and out of Gods way VVhereupon I began to enquire into the nature of their Covenant and told them that if it were a Covenant of first entrance into the true visible Church of Christ then of necessity the parties so entring must have the seale of first entrance imprinted upon them which under the Gospell is Baptisme For if the Ministery which they leave be false in the very constitution thereof then the Sacraments by them administred must needs be nullities and so now they having a lawfull ministery constituted and set in Christs way they must begin all anew Baptisme and all Thus by way of arguing I spake unto diverse of them which did so puzzle them that not long after some of them fell upon this practice of sealing their covenant by Baptisme renouncing their Baptisme in their infancy as a nullity and an Idoll and being demanded by the Magistrates of the City of Gloucester before whom they were convented who it was that advised them unto this practice they nominated mee to be the first that put them upon it whereas I was so farre from it that I held that the dangerous Covenant of the Separation would necessarily lead unto this And moreover one Walter Coles of Painsewicke a Taylor a man of good behaviour a long time and well esteemed by the godly and best Christians This man I say fell off first to the Separation where he had his bane And God having given him another child he refused to have it baptized untill it could answer for it selfe This matter fell into debate in Mr Wels his Congregation at Whaddon Pastor to the Separation there where the said Coles was a member Now Mr Wels and the Church-officers of his division foreseeing the ill consequence of this businesse had resolved to determine against the said Walter but this being perceived by the said Coles he desired to goe out of the company And happy had it beene for him if hee had returned to his former godly and profitable courses of doing good But he goes further and turnes plaine Anabaptist And so making a journey to London hee brings downe one Thomas Lambe a chandler as it is reported and one Clem Writer a Factor in Blackwell-hall London both Anabaptists into this Countrey And I being in London these two travellors by Walter Coles his directions came on the Lords-day to Cranham where I did and doe serve in the worke of the Ministery and there the said Lamb being in a grey-suit offers to preach in publike but being disappointed by Gods good providence of his wicked purpose he retires to a private house in Cranham abovesaid and by Preaching there he subverted many And shortly after in an extreame cold and frosty time in the night season diverse men and women were rebaptized in the great river of Severne in the City of Gloucester And so at length returning from London I found the face of things much altered and many strangely leaning to the heresie of the Anabaptists

And they put on the businesse with such peremptory boldnesse as if all the world had beene unable to gain-say their practice or refute their doctrine VVhereupon to clear my selfe and to satisfie others I undertooke the controversie at Cranham where they had left their poyson And when I undertooke it the Anabaptists from Gloucester and Painswicke came to heare mee and set upon mee in the open face of the Congregation as soone as I came downe out of the Pulpit I desired them to forbeare publique tumults and to send in their exceptions against what I had laid downe for Poedobaptisme And at first they sent mee in a paper with no hand to it but this I rejected and delivered back to them againe because I knew no one of them would stand to it when once the folly thereof was declared At length I received about two sheetes of paper and yet though it came in the names of them all there was but one hand unto the same and this Champion doth so stoutly mannage the matter that surely if his cause were suitable to his stomacke neither men nor Angels could stand before him It is high time then for us to bestirre our selves when condemned heresies shall find such bold abettours and that in the Land of light and truth The Lord put it into the heats of our Parliament to settle a Government among us with speed that out-facing impudencie may be called to an account that truth and peace may dwell in our Land And now Gentle Reader peruse the ensuing tractate wherein if thou find any benefit give God the glory and afford mee thy help at the Throne of Grace And so I have done and do thou begin Thine in the Truth T.W. ERRATA PAg. 6. line 1. for Cor. read King p. 8 l.7 for up r. upon p. 10. l. 21. r. Gods Covenant of Grace p. 11. l. ult adde of Gods command but because p. 16. l. 31. for their God r. th● God p. 36. l. 22. for under r. of p. 42. l. 16. dele not p. 81. l. 4. let Petitio principii be put in the Margin Ib. for disputationibus r. disputations Ib. l. 20 for well by r. well as p. 107. l. 14. for profession in the r. profession of faith in the. p. 110. l. 16. for as whatsoever r. as if whatsoever p. 111. l. 20. dele or p. 114. l. 17. dele saved and. p. 115. l. 22. for certifie r. rectisie p. 116. for to r. of p. 119. l. 6. ●or hearts 6.1 heart p. 122. l. 28. for not r. not the. THE COVENANTS Plea for INFANTS MATTH 28.18 19 20. All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth Goe yee therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all whatsoever I have commanded you And loe I am with you alwayes even to the end of the world AMEN THE monstrous brood of Anabaptists in former ages and now in these our dayes have made and doe make this portion of Scripture their maine Fort and strongest Barricado to beat back poore helplesse and harmlesse infants from being consecrated into Gods peculiar by baptisme though born of Christian parents Now against these unjust oppressours and sacrilegious theeves I am now come into the field to maintaine the christian birth-right of infants whose parents are sealed unto God and of His Family And to set them into their own border possession and inheritance And because some of Satans troopers of late in mine absence have made an in-rode into this Parish and by perverting of this Scripture have carried away some and staggered many others therefore I have chosen to insist upon this Text to let all men see how it makes nothing at all for the establishing of their wicked purpose This whole Chapter contains the History of our Saviours resurrection and a Rehearsall of what He did on earth between the time of His triumphant resurrection and His glorious Ascension The former we omit for brevities sake In the latter the Spirit of God relates how Christ being risen from the dead by vertue of His resurrection possessed of all power and authority over all things and persons in heaven and in earth gave a command and commission unto his Apostles to goe out among the Pagan-Gentiles and plant the Gospell among them and not confine themselves any longer within the precincts of Iudea And why Because all power is given unto Christ in heaven and in earth which before was not given unto him This is our Saviours preface and it is a materiall passage and the ground of our Saviours sending of His Apostles to plant the Gospell among the Pagan-Gentiles Now all power and authority concerning the Church of God was conferred on Him for ministring the kingdome of heaven among Jewes and Gentiles And hence observe this point for your instruction Doct. Viz. That all power and authority concerning the Church of God was given unto Christ and conferred on Him by vertue of His meritorious death and triumphant resurrection from the dead Eph. 1.19 23. Ps 2.6 9. compared with Acts 13.33 Heb. 2.9 10. Luk. 24.46 47. Reason And the reason is because thereby Christ vanquished the enemies of our salvation led captivity captive received gifts for men and became the head of the Church among Jewes and Gentiles Quest But had not Christ this power from the beginning Ans 1. He had it in the mind and decree of His Father for we were chosen in Him and He was still the head of His the Church 2. He had it vertually in His sufficiency to vanquish enemies and to deliver His chosen for Hee was a lambe slaine from the beginning 3. Actually and by way of execution among Iewes and Gentiles without difference He had it not untill the time of His glorious resurrection Acts 2.32 36. For then was Hee declared to be the sonne of God and the Jewes Messiat Rom. 1.4 Now this point may be put to sundry good uses Vse 1 It may serve to pierce the hearts and soules of all wicked men and move them to repentance and amendment of life Acts 2.36 37. Vse 2 It may serve to deterre all Church-enemies from their furious and vaine attempts against Christ and His Gospell Psal 2.1 8. Vse 3 This should teach us to yeild divine honour and worship unto Christ We are to set him up as the Lord of our faith having His warrant for what wee doe in His worship under the Gospell making Him our King and Law-giver and obey him in all things that He shall say unto us depending upon him alone for salvation as our All-sufficient Saviour Vse 4 Let us then labour to be so qualified and so to live as that all this power of Christ may be improved for our advantage Now if we would bee so qualified wee must see that wee are true members of Jesus Christ And the truth of this may be discerned by our threefold