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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

winne upon them they grow in grace and submit unto Gods word in all duties And certainly God doth not ordinarily work by a false ministery and a false Sacrament I say God doth not thus ordinarily by false and unlawfull meanes though sometimes He brings light out of darknesse Now I challenge all the Brownists and Anabaptists in the world to answer me this one thing though nothing bee more rife with them then to condemne our Ministers and Baptisme as false and Antichristian Certainly God would not ordinarily give testimony to a false Ministery and false Sacrament by making them effectuall to the proper ends whereunto the true Ministery and Sacraments are appointed in the Gospell The Apostle Paul useth this very argument to prove his calling to be right and from the Lord. 1 Cor. 9.1 2. saying Am I not an Apostle Am I not free Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord Are not you my work in the Lord If I bee not an Apostle to others yet doubtlesse I am to you for the seale of mine Apostleship are yee in the Lord. 1 Cor. 4.15 Reason 5 Fiftly and lastly we baptize Infants of Christian parents because it is the practise of other reformed Churches which God hath blessed in that way with great increase of heavenly gifts Now if we should forbeare by virtue of a divine restraint as we pretend then wee should lay iniquity upon whole kingdomes and godly societies as taking liberty where God hath put a restraint And how should we justifie our practise and condemne theirs by the word of God For they would tell us that we put restraint upon mens consciences where God hath put none And that we misinterprēt the 28. of Matth. verse 19. And that our inter pretation of the text is absurd and ridiculous and that neither Christs Commission nor the Apostles practise doth any way countenance our cause Againe they would tell us that wee doe evade the evidence of 1 Cor. 7.14 against us by a base and beggerly shift plainly derogatory to the Majesty of the holy Scriptures in saying that children of a beleever are said there to bee holy in opposition to bastardy as if they were holy for no other more noble cause but for their being meer legitimates a notion too low for the Spirit of divine Oracles a notion plainly ridiculous in the apprehension of every ordinary capacity the Scriptures no where terming children holy but for the holy Covenants sake under which they were borne Now for us to pretend Apostolicall imitation and walking according to Christs primitive Commission and yet to put off Apostolicall Authority with such a bastardly glosse would give other Churches which we oppose just cause to think that our way is rather a diabolicall delusion then an ordinance of Christ and that phantasticall humours doe rather sway with us then conscience Againe they would tell us that our way of rebaptizing hath been alwayes condemned in all reformed Churches by the holiest and ablest Christians for an heresie and that paedo-baptisme was never so condemned in any reformed Church but practised and maintained an Ordinance of Jesus Christ under the Gospell and that God ordinarily hath blessed it by making the same effectuall to the comfort and sanctification of the baptized Furthermore they would tell us that denying Baptisme unto Infants of baptized parents is grounded upon an hellish foundation and is the inlet of many hatefull heresies which have been alwayes found with the abettours of this practise though at their first entrance into this trade they have not been so vile and loathsome Yet for the maintaining of this way when opposed by the Churches and Ministers of Christ they have been enforced to hold many grosse and palpable heresies which our Anabaptists will be driven unto though as yet they deny not the doctrine of predestination orginall sinne in Infants the morality of the Christian Sabbath the Person of the Holy Ghost c. I say though as yet they seem to be more tolerable they must be driven unto these and many moe such abominations or else they cannot hold up their trade Finally they would produce many learned authours that have condemned our practice and refuted our tenents which to this day are not answered by any of the contrary party Now for us to make so pitifull a schisme from all the Churches of God and not to refute those that have written against us would argue rather obstinate folly then conscience and zeale And so much for this first Generall THE COVENANTS Plea for INFANTS vindicated Anabaptist A Briefe answer unto Mr WYNNNELS arguments and reasons that hee delivered in publique for to prove the lawfulnesse of Infants Baptisme with propositions annexed Answer A full reply to your answer vindicating the arguments and reasons for paedo-baptisme against your frivolous exceptions with an answer to your annexed propositions Anabaptist First you argue from the difference of state and time of the Pagan Gentiles in the Apostles times and us now under the Gospell For you say that they were such as had their severall country Idols and that they were strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and without God in the world For answer unto this First we grant that this was the generall state and condition of the Pagan-Gentiles but there were many particular persons as Cornelius and others is the Acts who were men truly fearing God and such as were called out of the state of Paganisme unto the profession of the Gospell and therefore they were not all under Paganisme and yet we doe not find that any of the seed of those persons were baptized but only such that did heare the word and beleeve Act. 10. latter end Answer Well If this were their state in generall that is as much as I require And for particular extraordinary instances they cannot infringe the truth of an ordinary and generall canon However to the point Shew one example that any of the seed of Cornelius or of any Jew or Gentile converted to Christianity were baptized when they were able to answer for themselves and not before and then and not before then the cause is yours Iohn Baptist baptized a world of people And from Iohn Baptist to the end of the Acts was about forty yeares But shew that any one of the posterity of those John baptized or of those the Disciples baptized who were more then those Iohn baptized Jo. 4.12 I say give one example of any one such baptized when growne up and then you speak to the purpose Else give over calling for examples Anabaptist Againe further Admit we grant you that this were the condition of them all in particular as well as in generall yet this would make nothing for your purpose For wee Gentiles are all Generally as bad in our naturall condition as they were and we are such as know not God nay are open and professed enemies to God as well the seed of beleevers as other stand therefore seeing our condition by nature

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

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

holinesse of the children spoken of here can be no other but that which is opposed to bastardy Here this wise man maintains the contradictory of your opposites conclusion He saies that the holines of the children doth not arise from that one parent was a beleever But how proves be this Surely testimonium dicentis is full en●ugh he being a man of such an infallible a spirit that a bare I say must serve your turne But whence then doth this holinesse arise From this saies he that the unbeleever was sanctified to or by the beleever Very good because the unbeleever was sanctified to the beleever therefore the children of such were holy And why was the unbeliever sanctified to the believer Was it not because hee was a beleever and so made pure by faith and then unto the pure all things are pure Tit. 1.15 Now then because hee was a believer therefore the infidell was sanctified to him for conjugall societie and because the infidell was sanctified to the beleever for conjugall societie therefore the children of such were holy and so by necessary consequence because one of the parents was a beleever therefore the children were holy Faith made the conjugall societie holy the holy conjugall society made the children holy and therefore faith made the children holy Quest But how can the faith of the parent make the children holy Answ Surely not by infusing of sanctifying grace into the children but by putting the parent into Christ Now faith puts the parent into Christ and Christ puts the parent so put into Him into the Covenant of grace and the Covenant of grace is I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and hence is it that the children of such parents are holy namely because of the holy Covenant And therefore the holinesse spoken off here may be and is somewhat else then that which is opposed to bastardy namely the holinesse of the Covenant which the saith of the parent puts him into for himse●fe and his seed For Goodman-Cocks-combe how can the children of those be bastards that are lawfully married But you acknowledge that the parents of the holy children here spoken off were lawfully married before you meane while in the state of infidels And therefore it must be the holinesse of the Covenant of grace which the faith of the parent put himselfe and his children under But you say in the last paragraph of your letter to your Disciples that Infants were in the Covenant legally but not Evangelically and that when the law ceased this being in Covenant ceased with it But for so saying you deserve a pillory not a Pulpit You might be better imployed in looking to your Sope or Candles then in filling mens heads with such hellish notions If this be your care and diligence that you shew for your Disciples as you say in your foresaid letter you may sit still The devill himselfe can shew such care and diligence fast enough But how prove you that childrens being in Covenant with their parents is now ceased under the Gospell You say so And your I say must stand as an Oracle with such as are willing to be seduced by you And personall faith in your sense is no more requisite to the being of Infants in Covenant with their parents under the Gospell then under the law For it 's the same Covenant of free grace in Jesus Christ now as then And thus for ought I see your master and you are in hot emulation who shall excell in speaking of non sense And yet you are so confident of the truth of your cause that had you a 1000. lives you would lay them all downe for the confirmation of the same Stout words But should you lay downe that one you have for it it would bee judged rather madnes then martyrdome and you not a Martyr but a mad-man in so doing And truly if you can say no more for your cause give over writing and take Physick Talke no more of your conscience but see your folly Now say on Anabaptist For we have examples in Scripture where children that are borne of two parents that were lawfully yoked together were called to bee holy and a godly seed by birth As for instance Mal. 2. Ezra Levit. and other examples Answer The meer being of the two parents lawfully yoked together is not sufficient to denominate the children of such parents holy by birth but their being within the holy Covenant The Covenant under which the parents are is the cause why the children of such are holy by birth and so called by the Spirit of God in the Scripture and for that reason only And those very instances where you find them in the old Testament where children are said to be holy will cut the throat of your owne cause for you cannot shew that the Scripture doth so much as once call the children of the Gentiles and Pagans an holy seed as is doth the children of the Church The holy Covenant of God I say under which the parent or parents is or are is the onely cause why the Scriptures terme children holy And I challenge you to bring me one instance where children of parents are said to be holy for any other reason Anabaptist Againe we doe not find any warrant in Scripture for to give the seales of the Covenant of grace upon imputed holinesse but upon personall holinesse and confession Acts 16. Mat. 3. Mark 1. For the signe of circumcision was not given by vertue of any imputed holinesse in the child that it did draw from the parents but by vertue of Gods Commission unto Abraham that he gave him for to circumcise his seed and so ought the seale of Baptisme to be given by vertue of Christs Commission and not by vertue of any holinesse that is imputed unto the child Answer By imputed holinesse I conceive your meaning to be imputative righteousnesse And by personall holinesse inherent righteousnesse or holinesse in a mans personall practice and confession And by seales the initiall seales of Gods Covenant Now I finde the initiall seale of the Covenant of grace to be given upon the ground of imputative righteousnesse for the righteousnesse of faith is imputative righteousnesse but I find it to be administred upon this ground and therefore upon the ground of imputative righteousnesse And circumcision unto the Infants of the Jewes was a seale of righteousnesse but not of righteousnesse in their personall practice and confession and therefore of imputative righteousnesse And thus I have brought unto your hand what you could not finde And then for your instances Act. 16. Matth. 3. Mark 1. they will not serve to help you For the matter in controversie is whether children of parents already in the state of Christianity bee to bee baptized in their infancy or no And now you bring instances of such whose parents were not in the state of Christianity which is a quite contrary case But prove by Scripture that the children of the

conscience can well dispense withall as appeares by your usuall practice and whether you turne to us or New-England you must turne from your owne way Our agreement is such that we are all one in the point of Paedo-baptisme against you We in this Land hold that children of all baptized parents are baptizable in their infancie by vertue of the Covenant of Grace under which such children were borne as children of all circumcised parents were circumcisable in their infancie by vertue of the same Covenant of Grace under which they were borne and this is the opinion and practice of all reformed Churches that I know as the French Scottish Dutch High and Low c. But what they doe in New-England I know not The Records of their Church orders and tenents are not in print But they which say they follow New-England way will not baptize all children of beleevers neither except they be in their Covenant Except beleevers enter into their Covenant they shall have no commons with them at the Lords table neither shall their children be baptized by them But their warrant for this practice we desire to see for we think it unjust and impious that persons under Gods Covenant of Grace should be deprived of gods seales which he hath inseparably annexed unto that Covenant And moreover for them to deny baptisme unto children of baptized parents I see no reason though such parents are vitious in their lives as long as such parents remaine within the Church and are orthodox all in the faith I am sure that the children of the Jewes whose parents were profane in life were not kept backe from the Sacrament of circumcision for that cause And the reason is because that Covenant was the Covenant of Grace and not of Workes There are two Covenants that God hath made with men viz. the Covenant of Workes and the Covenant of Grace And of these Covenants there were two heads namely the first Adam and the second Adam With the first Adam God did strike a Covenant of Workes and Adam the head of this body in Covenant did transgresse and so destroyed the Covenant and thereby deprived himselfe and all his members of the priviledges thereof and so death entred upon all m●n in that all had sinned in their Head With the second Adam viz. Christ God did strike a Covenant of Grace and Christ the head of his body in this Covenant remaines just and the justifier of his members and therefore his members cannot be deprived of the priviledges of this Covenant for the default of immediate parents Now for th●se men in this way as they say of New-England to put a stop unto the Covenant of Grace in denying baptisme unto children of baptized parents I see no warrant For first This practice destroyes the nature of this Covenant For the parents by their miscarriage have broken the Covenant of Workes but not the Covenant of Grace this remaines entire in Christ who is the head of the children borne under this Covenant And these children though by naturall generation they are the off-spring of such wicked parents yet by reason of the Covenant under which they were borne they are the children of the Covenant This practice then is a presumption of an higher nature than these men are aware off And albeit their intent be a reformation yet the meanes is diabolicall Secondly This practice doth vertually accuse Christ the Head as a violater of this Covenant of Grace for as long as the Head remaines just and the justifier of his members his members are not to be debarred of their priviledges whereof under the Gospell Baptisme is the first And the vitious carriage of immediate parents can no more exclude a childe from Baptisme now than could formerly the vitious carriage of Jewish parents exclude their children from the priviledge of Circumcision Now some to evade this say that the Church of the Jewes was a Nationall Chruch but the Church of England is not so But this is but a meere shift to evade what they cannot answer for Proselytes who were not of that Nation were to have their children circumcised and circumcision was enjoyned and practised before the Jewes were a Nationall Church even when and while they were a Family-Church But to the point I say that the Church of the Jewes was a Nationall Church in some things after a peculiar manner as First God had tyed himselfe to remaine with that Nation by his Ordinances of grace untill Shiloh came Secondly that Nation was once a yeare in the representative body thereof to meet at one common place viz. at Hierusalem about the worship of God by divine appointment Now God hath not tyed himselfe to the Church of England for any set terme of time nor is there by divine appointment any set place of worship for the whole Nation to meet in once a yeare about the worship of God But thirdly the Church of the Jewes was a Nationall Church because the whole Nation had received the Doctrine and Covenant of grace and in this sense I hope England is a Nationall Church And if in this sense the Church of England be a Nationall Church that 's as much as I require But surely these men have some other meaning when they say that the Church of the Jewes was a Nationall Church and the Church of England is not than as yet they dare to utter though among them you shall seldome finde a man tongue-tyed Their meaning is that the whole Nation of the Jewes pell-mell were by course to be admitted to the priviledges of that typicall ministration and so the children of vitious parents too because of that Nation but under the Gospell since Christ onely the children of godly parents are to be sealed into Gods peculiar by baptisme and others are not and here they would bring in their Covenant as the forme of the Church But the children of the Jewes were not circumcised because of that Nation but because of gods Covenant with that Nation And so our children are not to be baptized because of such a Nation but because of Gods Covenant with such a Nation and the children of all baptized parents are borne under Gods Covenant of grace and whether their parents be vitious or religious in life the childes title stands good to the Covenant The religious lives of his parents being workes doe not entitle him to the Covenant and initiall seale thereof And the vitious life of parents baptized being workes cannot make voyde the childes title to the Covenant and initiall seale thereof For his title unto the Covenant and initiall seale thereof lies in Christ who remaines just and the justifier of his members and the elect seed may passe through the loynes of vitious parents and often doe whereas godly parents may have reprobates to their children If then these men have any thing to object against Christ as a violater of the Covenant of Grace let them say on and they shall bee answered but