keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him It was with Abraham as a Believer and true Worshipper of God that God treated and made this Covenant and so took his Children also into that near Relation to himself when the Children of the Heathen were neglected as their Fathers were And so this Blessing in like manner was to be continued to his Children and Posterity to successive Generations as Believers or Children of Abraham's Faith still continuing to believe in and worship the God of Abraham In this Respect God promised to be their God and the God of their Seed upon condition that they keep his Covenant and his Statutes But if they refused to do so they were to be cut off and to have no Part or Inheritance in God or the Blessings of his Covenant neither they nor their Seed But on the other side they that were not of the natural Seed of Abraham but were bought with his Money or were born of Gentile Parents in his House they being brought into this near Capacity to be instructed and brought up in the true Religion were likewise to share in this Covenant and to partake of the same spiritual Privileges with the natural Seed of Abraham and were to be reckoned and numbred with them as the People and Children of God and God promised to be their God likewise as well as of Abraham's natural Seed And so also afterwards all those Gentiles that were at any time proselyted and brought over to the Faith and Religion of Abraham were with their Children admitted to the same Privileges So that it appears that it was with Abraham only as the Father of the Faithful and consequently with all those that are the Children of the Faith of Abraham was this Covenant made that God would be their God and the God of their Seed though they are not Abraham's Children or Seed according to the Flesh by natural Generation The Covenant was made with Abraham and all his spiritual Seed and not with his Seed meerly according to the Flesh The Apostle hath cleared this to us Rom. 9.6 7 8. Not as though the Word or Promise of God hath taken none effect because he will reject and cast off those that were descended of Abraham for their Unbelief and rejecting the Gospel to whom you think that the Promises were made For they are not all the true Israel of God to whom the Promise belongs which are descended of Israel neither because they are the Seed of Abraham by natural Generation only are they all Children of God's Covenant but in Israel shall thy Seed be called and chosen to whom the Covenant and Promises shall belong That is All they which are the Children of the Flesh as proceeding from Abraham only by natural Generation these meerly as such are not the Children of God that he reckons amongst his Covenant-People but the Children of the Promise only as Isaac was that is that are Abraham's spiritual Seed are accounted for the Seed that God took into that near Covenant-relation to himself and these he will own still in the same Capacity as ever both they and their Seed And therefore the Covenant of God to Abraham and his Seed stands firm against all the vain Objections of the unbelieving Jews From this Discourse of the Apostle then it followeth that it was not with the Nation of the Jews only as being that natural Seed of Abraham that the Covenant was made and that the Adoption did belong to them and to their Seed but it was and is a Benefit belonging to all Believers as the Children of Abraham's Faith that did or ever should join themselves to the People of the God of Abraham All such are still an holy and peculiar People to God both they and their Seed till they cut themselves off by their own actual Rebellion and Apostacy as the Jews did in our Saviour's and the Apostles times by their not receiving him that was sent of God The same spiritual Privileges do belong to all believing Parents and to their Seed and Family or those they become Guardians or Tutors to to bring them up in the true Religion now in the Gospel-Ministration as did belong to the Children and Family of Jewish Believers formerly This appears yet further by the Apostle's Discourse Acts 2.39 For the Promise or Covenant for these are Terms that do mutually infer each other is unto you and to your Children Compare Acts 3.25 Gal. 3.16 17 18 29. Rom. 4.16 Heb. 6.17 upon your Faith and also to all the Gentiles that are afar off Yet even as many as the Lord our God shall call to the receiving and owning of the same Faith and so consequently to their Children and Seed also as well as unto your selves Here the old Grant to them and to their Seed is declared to be continued and so by Consequence to the Offspring of all those that should hereafter believe But this Matter may be rendred yet more clear from several Passages in the Apostle's Discourse in Rom. 11. for it appears there by the Apostle that the Jewish and Christian Church are radically and fundamentally the same Church the same Stock and Root and the same Terms and Conditions of Church-membership or Dischurching do belong to both Nor is the Christian Church any new Constitution distinct from the Jewish nor is the way of Church-membership in it any other now than what was before The Laws are indeed altered in many things but in this Matter there is no Alteration there is the same Covenant and the same Church and the Church is still constituted of Abraham's spiritual Seed as it was before so that the same Church-members also keep their Place in it as there did then And consequently as Infants or little Children of Believers were Members of it before their Parents became Christian so they continue to be still after they became so And so the Children of all Gentile Believers for the future For consider ver 17. the believing Gentiles are but grafted in amongst them and with them partake of the same spiritual Privileges and ver 20. it is because of Vnbelief that any of the Branches are broken off and they that believe are always in it So that the Church is the same and still remains without any Discontinuance or Dissolution of it only Unbelievers are broken off from it and others that believe are grafted in their room It is the same Olive-tree or the same Church still but some of the Branches are broken off sc the unbelieving Jews and others that is believing Gentiles are grafted in And none are shut out but only through Unbelief They that believe continue still of it and so also their Children in the same manner as before they having no Unbelief of their own by which they should be broken off nor yet any imputed to them from their Parents they being Believers And ver
is no actual Sin there being no need of Repentance it may be administred to them without Repentance to oblige only to Holiness and Purity of Life and keeping of the Commands of God which is a greater thing than Repentance and which Repentance it self is for and to lead to in those that have sinned Thus the Baptism of John though it was a Baptism of Repentance to others that had sinned and to that end he mainly preach'd it yet was administred to our Saviour without Repentance because he had no need of Repentance but he had perfect Holiness which was better than Repentance and it was to him also a Sign of Obligation to Holiness though not to Repentance So that it may be administred to those that have no Repentance because they have no need of it in their present State yet it may be administred to oblige to Holiness and to Repentance too hereafter when they shall come to have actual Sin And so it will be properly also to them a Baptism of Repentance which it could no way be to our Saviour and yet was administred to him it is a Baptism to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to future Repentance But as for Profession of Faith and Holiness which Infants cannot make I answer that the Baptism of Infants is not for Profession of it but for Obligation to it which we have seen before they are capable of 3. As for those Texts then that are urged to show what is prerequired of Persons that are to be baptized I answer That they are spoken of or to grown or adult Persons that are capable of performing those Acts and were obliged to it as the Condition or Proof of their Adoption and they do only concern them and no other but them And therefore they are no Bar to the Baptism of Infants whose Adoption or Sonship may otherwise be judged of without these Acts. As for the Adult we own and contend as much as they that make this Objection that grown Persons who are come to Years of Discretion that had been Infidels and Unbelievers before ought to be taught and profess Faith and Repentance before they be baptized there being no Judgment by the Church to be made any other way of God's receiving and owning them for his Children and Covenant-People And this is as much as these Scriptures do prove or hold out to us concerning this Matter but they are no Rule for all the Subjects of Baptism and as for Infants they are not at all concerned in them and therefore their Baptism is not prohibited by them there being not the same Qualifications required in them for Baptism as there are in others So that though there is a virtual Prohibition of the Baptism of grown Persons if they do not perform these Acts first here is no Prohibition of the Baptism of Infants though they do not perform them For the meaning of all such Expressions is to be judged of from the Nature and Capacity of those Persons to whom they are spoken And therefore as by the Apostle's Words 2 Thess 3.10 They that will not work neither should they eat the Relief of lazy Drones is forbidden that can work and yet will not but here is no Prohibition of the Relief or Susâ—entation of Infants or those that cannot work So by these Texts of Scripture that shew what is required of Persons to be baptized impenitent Unbelievers that are come to Age are prohibited from Baptism but not Infants there being other Grounds for their being baptized The Baptism of Infants indeed cannot be concluded from these Texts and whoever said it could but we have shewn there are other Scripture-Arguments for the Baptism of Infants And these Texts as they say nothing for it so they say nothing against it either directly or by Consequence And therefore Infants may and ought to be baptized notwithstanding what is said in these Texts Baptism as we have heard is an Ordinance of the same Use and to the same Purpose for the main as Circumcision was in the Respects mentioned Now as Circumcision was administred to different Persons of different Ages so may Baptism Circumcision was administred to Abraham as a Seal of the Righteousness of that Faith which he had before given Evidence and made Profession of so is Baptism a Seal of the same to grown Believers now upon their Profession of a like Faith with Abraham's But Circumcision was administred to Isaac and was a Seal of the same Righteousness which he should have without any such Profession made by him and why may not Baptism then be administred to Infants now without any such Profession made by them For Circumcision was administred to Isaac as being the Son of believing Abraham by virtue of God's taking him into the same Covenant-relation with Abraham without any such Profession of Faith required of him which could not be as was performed by Abraham And why may not Baptism now be administred to Infants as being the Seed of believing Parents by virtue of the same Covenant made with them as with their Parents though they cannot themselves profess the Faith as their Parents do Circumcision and Baptism both were administred to Proselytes among the Jews after their Profession of the God of Abraham but then were likewise administred to their Infants and to the Infants of them when they were grown up and came to have Children And why may not Baptism be administred now to the Infants of profess'd Believers though the Infants themselves can make no such Profession To Mark 16.16 I answer particularly because it is so much insisted upon He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved From hence the Argument is That Faith must go before Baptism because of the Order of the Words To which I might answer that no Argument can reasonably be taken from thence in this Matter for then by the same Rule according to the Order of the Words in other Scriptures Baptism should go first before the Performance of some of those Acts which they say should go before it And so this Argument would be as much against them as for them Thus Mark 1.5 Baptism is placed before Confession of Sin in the Relation of the Story there of those that were baptized they were baptized confessing their Sins And the Order of the Words in the Text that is objected especially as likewise that in Acts 2.38 concerning Repentance and Baptism is altogether insignificant to the Matter in hand because here the Design of our Saviour is not to make Faith a necessary Prerequisite to Baptism as neither the Apostles in that other Place to make Repentance prerequisite to Baptism but Faith and Baptism that is the Profession of Faith by Baptism prerequisite to Salvation But I rather answer as before that this Text is nothing to the purpose because it hath no Respect to Children at all and therefore doth not exclude or prohibit their Baptism as appears by the second Part added by way of Opposition He
are born and are a part of the Church in Adam's Family Even Cain was so Gen. 4.1 3. till cast out from the Presence of God therein for the Murder of his Brother ver 14. being now manifestly one of the Seed of the Serpent 1 John 3.12 and so becoming the Father of a wicked unchurch'd Race But then God appointed unto Eve another viz. Seth in whom to continue the Line of her Church-seed Gen. 4.25 And how it did continue in his Seed in their Generations is shewed in Gen. 5. And hence the Children of the Church are called the Sons of God which is as much as Members of the visible Church in contradistinction to the Daughters of Men the Progeny of unchurched Cain Gen. 6.2 Again if righteous Noah be taken into the Ark then the only preserving Place of the Church to which the Apostle applieth Baptism as having a mystical Relation to it his Children also are taken in with him Gen. 7.1 though one of them viz. Ham after proved degenerate and wicked but till he so appears he is continued in the Church with his Brethren And as the Race of Ham or his Son Canaan Parent and Children are cursed Gen. 9.25 26 27. So likewise Shem Parent and Children is blessed and continued in the Place of Blessing the Church As Japhet also or Japhet's Posterity still Parent and Children shall in time be brought in And the holy Line mentioned in Gen. 11 10 26. shews how the Church continued in the Seed of Shem from him unto Abraham And when that Race grew degenerate as it is plain they did Josh 24.2 then God called Abraham out of his Country and from his Kindred and established his Covenant with him which still took in Parents and Children Gen. 17.7 And here was a Token or Sign ordered for the Confirmation of this Covenant which was to be applied to Children in their Infant-state even at eight Days old ver 10 11 12. Here indeed we have the first mention of Infants as owned by God and taken into Covenant by him together with their Parents as here we read of the first Token of the Covenant that was to be applied to them But the same is also to be held of those that are spoken of before though it be not particularly mentioned because there was no Sign then appointed for the confirming of this Covenant to them as there now was Yet forasmuch as they are reckoned still to be and continue in their Church-state till by their Wickedness or Apostacy they were cut off and are reckoned to be in this Church-state as coming and proceeding from such Parents as God had chosen and called into so near a Relation to himself they are therefore to be reckoned even from their Infancy to have been in this State And as for the Covenant made with Abraham and his Infant-seed I shall briefly observe for the preventing of Objections that it was the same which in the Gospel is called the new Covenant And Circumcision which was ordered to be the Token or Seal of it and to be applied to the same Infant-seed was a Token and Seal of it as such as appears by the Terms which in the main Article of it are the same with those which are reckoned by the Apostle to belong to the New Covenant Gen. 17.7 For I will establish saith God my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee This is the main Point And thus that which the Apostle calls the New Covenant runs in the same Terms in that main Article likewise Heb. 8.10 I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And the Psalmist hath taught us that this imports and signifieth much more than any kind of outward Prosperity whatsoever or all together For howsoever a People may be look'd upon happy that is in such a Case yet this is the chief Point the all in all the Sum of that Blessedness that can belong to a People Psal 144.15 Happy is that People whose God is the Lord. And our Saviour hath deduced the Promise of the Resurrection it self from God's being the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob Matth. 22. So that consequently the Resurrection of all others to whom God is a God may be concluded from the same Covenant-relation likewise So that the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed in their Generations was the Gospel-Covenant for the main Articles of it and contained in it the greatest Gospel-Blessings The Promise and Giving of Canaan was but an Appendix or Appurtenance to it and not the principal thing respected but under that a better Country was intended And so Abraham understood it for he looked for a City which had a Foundation whose Builder and Maker is God Heb. 11.10 But he sojourned in that earthly Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise ver 9. So that neither he himself nor many others to whom the Promise was made did enjoy the earthly Canaan for an Inheritance But they confess'd themselves that they were Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth and they desired a better Country that is an heavenly ver 13 16. which they did no doubt by virtue of the Promise as they understood it And this the Apostle looks upon a verifying and making good that Relation that God engaged himself in to them for therefore saith he he was not ashamed to be called their God because he had prepared for them a City ver 16. So that Abraham had that which the Apostle calls the Promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9.15 For if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but now the Apostle saith God gave it to Abraham by Promise Gal. 3.18 So that the Promise of eternal Life and Happiness in Heaven is contained in the Covenant that God made with Abraham and his Seed together with those that were born in his House Gen. 17.12 13. who yet had never any share with his Seed in the Land of Canaan as an Inheritance at all nor was the Messiah to descend from their Loins And what was this then less than the Gospel-Covenant And it the Promise of eternal Life was contained in this Covenant then we may be sure it contained also the Promise of Justification or Remission of Sin And if so then what was it less than the Gospel-Covenant And thus the Apostle assures us likewise it was and that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham Gal. 3.8 For the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith preach'd the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed It is true this Clause which the Apostle quotes is not in Gen. 17. wherein the Covenant is made with Abraham and his Seed which we have insisted upon but in
Gen. 12.3 and elsewhere But yet this Promise which the Apostle deduceth from these Words must likewise be contained in this Covenant and so those Words must be also a Part of it though spoken at another time Because Circumcision that was the Token of this Covenant was a Seal to Abraham of this Promise Rom. 4.11 And he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Which must be founded on the Promise so that that Promise likewise belongs to this Covenant and therefore is sealed by it And this Covenant as delivered to Abraham the Apostle tells us also was confirmed in Christ Gal. 3.17 and therefore can be no other than the Gospel or New Covenant Yea and the Promise of divine Assistance for fulfilling the Conditions of the Covenant was contained also in the same Covenant with Abraham For so we find it was understood by the Church formerly Mic. 7.19 20. He will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast their Sins into the Depth of the Sea Thou wilt perform the Truth unto Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the Days of old Which must needs have Respect to God's Oath and Covenant with Abraham And so also the Apostle reckons that God's sending his Son Christ to bless them and to turn them from their Iniquities was a great Instance of the Accomplishment of the Covenant that God made with Abraham Acts 3.25 26. For the great Design of God in this Covenant at first as appears by the first Call that was given him Gen. 12.1 was to separate him and his Family and Seed from the rest of the Nations which were fallen into the vilest Idolatry and to preserve Religion and the Worship of the true God in his Family And the Promise of the Messiah in whom the Covenant is founded had this Design in it Luke 1.72 73 74 75. The Oath that he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Life So that the Covenant with Abraham was a Church-Covenant and contained in it all the Terms and Design that belonged to such a Covenant and was made with all the Family of Abraham in which his Infant-seed was also comprehended and were to partake of the Promises and Privileges that appertained to it It belonged to all his Family in the external Dispensation of it and none were excluded from the Benefits of it that did not exclude themselves by their own actual Unbelief and Disobedience to the Terms of it And Circumcision was a Seal of it to all with whom it was made as the visible Church of God and to the Infant-seed of Abraham as Parts or Members thereof For Sacraments or Signs are not appointed to the Church Invisible for who shall judg then to whom they are to be administred but to the Church as Visible Thus having cleared up the Nature of the Abrahamical Covenant which God made with him and his Seed even in their Infant-state I shall now go forward and shall observe how God hath shewn the same gracious Respects to Infants in the Progress of his Dispensations towards the Jewish People And thus we find afterwards that the whole Body of the Jewish People in Jacob's Line amongst whom Children also were contained are collectively stiled by God himself his Son Exod. 4.22 23. Say unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my Son even my First-born And I say unto thee Let my Son go that he may serve me Thus God speaks of them before they were formed into a Political Commonwealth only because he had chosen and called them out of the Nations to be a peculiar People to himself And in this Appellation their little ones were comprehended as appears because they were of the Number of those that were to go also For Pharaoh would have let the Men of Israel go but not their little ones Exod. 10.10 But we will go saith Moses with our Young and with our Old ver 9. So that the whole Body of Israel including little ones also was God's Son for God had chosen and called all the Seed of Israel to be his Covenant-People And therefore thus also Moses afterwards enters and engages all into Covenant with God one as well as another taking in the little ones likewise Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the Men of Israel your little ones your Wives and the Stranger that is in thy Camp from the Hewer of thy Wood to the Drawer of thy Water that thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this Day that he may establish thee to Day for a People unto himself and that he may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. So that this was but the renewing of the Abrahamical Covenant with the People as appears by the latter Clause of it running in the same Terms for the Accomplishment of the Promise and Oath made to Abraham and his Seed Deut. 3â— â— And in the next Chapter the Grace signified by Circumcision is there promised to Parents and Children to enable them to perform the Terms of it And it being promised to both it imports that the Covenant which Circumcision sealed belongs to both For the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed And after this again even when the People were fallen off also to the Worship of other Gods yet retaining still the Acknowledgment of the God of Israel though they joined others with him God challengeth and owns their Children for his Ezek. 16.20 21. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed thou hast slain my Children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the Fire Now it was upon this Account viz. by virtue of God's choosing and calling the Seed of Abraham and separating them from the rest of the World to the Knowledg and Worship of the true God that they were stiled his peculiar People and Children and not upon a mere Political Account or upon the Account of other carnal and temporal Respects For in this manner we find Moses speaking to them Deut 14.1 2. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God and therefore are not to follow or comport with the Customs and Practices of the Heathen For thou art an holy People unto the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar People to himself above all the Nations that are upon the Earth And so chap. 7.6 For thou art an
holy People unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special People unto himself above all the People that are upon the Face of the Earth Which are the Appellations that are likewise given to the Members of the Christian Church in the New-Testament-Times by the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light which in time past were not a People but are now the People of God So that these Titles being given to the Jews import their like Covenent-relation to God in a Church-sense as they here belong to Christians in the same Sense Now the whole Body of the People of the Jews being called by God into this holy Covenant-relation to himself are stiled by the Prophet Israel his called Isa 48.12 And as thus he chose and called them so he chose their Seed after them Deut. 4.37 The great Design of this Election and Call of God being to preserve pure Religion among them which was extinguish'd in the rest of the World and therefore he took and adopted their Seed likewise to be as a Nursery to the Vineyard of the Church And therefore as the Psalmist saith Psal 78.5 He established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make known unto their Children that the Generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children According to Deut. 4.9 and chap. 6.7 the great Care and Design of God being to raise up an holy People to himself among the Nations to preserve the true Religion in the World and it being of great Import to this to have Children and little ones well educated and brought up in the Belief and Owning and Worship of the true God he therefore ordered them a visible Admission or Partnership and Membership in his Church that they might be also owned and received as his People and Children that their Parents and Guardians might be obliged to take the more Care of their Education for the promoting the great End of the Covenant Thus the Adoption and the Promises as the Apostle tells us Rom. 9.4 pertained to all Israel amongst whom the young Children also were included they being all God's Chosen and Called and so continued till they were rejected and cut off through their own actual Apostacy and Rebellion against God and then they were discovenanted both they and the Children of those that were guilty of this Apostacy But for others that continue still in a profess'd Adhesion to God and persist in the Profession of the true Religion this their Church-state and Covenant-relation to God as his peculiar People is continued still both to them and their Seed and was never taken off from either unto this Day Which is the second thing I am now to come to shew 2. I say that this Adoption of the Infants or young Children of his Covenant-People into this near Relation to himself as the Children of God and so their Partnership or Membership in the visible Church of God was never abolish'd or taken away by God but is still continued and rather confirmed For how indeed can it be imagined or supposed that now in the Gospel-Administration which is an Administration wherein there is a greater Extensiveness and Enlargement of God's gracious Respect to the World in respect of spiritual Privileges and Mercies than there was before that his Goodness and gracious Respect should be more restrained in reference to Infants and young Children than it was formerly For the Infants of Jews and Proselytes formerly were taken into the Number of God's Covenant-People and Children and had the Seal of the Covenant applied to them for the Confirmation thereof And if this Privilege and Benefit should be now taken away their Condition after Christ would be worse than before and they should be Losers by the World 's becoming Christian This one would think none should ever imagine Neither when we speak thus do we complain against God but against them who would exclude whom the Lord hath not excluded For we do not find that ever God hath repented of any Grace or Favour that he hath shewed to the little ones of his Covenant-People in respect of their being to be reckoned of his Church But in those Prophecies which we find in the Old Testament concerning the future Discoveries and Declarations of his Favour we find that there was the same Grace and Kindness foretold and intended to be shewn to the Children as to the Parents So that in this manner the Church should be propagated from Parents to Children and so the true Religion preserved in this way as the most proper means for it Thus in that Prophecy which hath relation to the Calling of the Jews in Gospel-times as appears by the Apostle's quoting some part of it to that purpose Rom. 11.26 viz. Isa 59.20 As for me this is my Covenant saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever And so in like manner it is a Prophecy of Gospel times Isa 44.3 I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thy Offspring And they shall spring up as among the Grass as Willows by the Water-Courses And Ezek. 47.22 The Tenour and Intendment of God's Favour to little ones is always the same as it ever was in reference to their being of his Church and People nor is there the least Indication of any Design of the Dissolution or Alteration thereof For first for clearing of this Matter let us consider that when God first shewed this Respect to Abraham and his Infant-seed to take them near to himself as his peculiar People God's Election and Call of them to this peculiar Covenant-relation to himself as his Children and People and so his giving them a Partnership or Membership in the Abrahamical Church was not with Respect merely to their Proceeding by natural Generation from Abraham but from Abraham as a Believer and Worshipper of the true God there being a fair Prospect upon this Account that Abraham would take care to train them up and educate them in the true Religion Whereas the Children of Heathens where there was no such Prospect had no such regard shewn them by God This seems to be much upon God's Heart as we may express it in his treating with Abraham and giving of him those great Promises Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall
29. For the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance He will never repent of any Favour that he hath ever by Promise conferred upon any of Abraham's spiritual Seed or their Children So that when those Jews that are now Unbelievers and so cast out and broken off from the Church shall at length be brought to believe they shall then partake of the same Privileges and Benefits as they have ever done that continued in it and as they should have done if they had so continued and so also their Children For ver 16. If the first Fruits be holy the Lump is also holy and if the Root be holy so are the Branches Where the Parents are in Covenant or Church-Members so are the Children till they sall off through their own Unbelief So that here is no Alteration diminishing or repealing of any Church-privilege or Promise that ever did belong to the rightful Subjects of it And this is further clear from the Apostle Rom. 15.8 9. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers and not to lessen or abolish them And so also a Saviour through his Mercy to the Gentiles that the Gentiles might glorify God also for his Mercy because partaking of the same Benefits and Privileges that were confirmed unto the Jews So that as the Apostle saith Eph. 2.12 13. they that were Aliens from the spiritual Commonwealth of Israel and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise and were sometime afar off are now in Christ Jesus made nigh And Eph. 3.6 the Gentiles are now Fellow-heirs and of the same Body with the believing Jews and Partakers with them of God's Promise in Christ by the Gospel So that belonging to the same Church and partaking of the same spiritual Promises and Privileges those that did belong to Jews and the Jewish Church and their Seed formerly do likewise belong to Christian Believers now and so in the same Extent and Latitude to their Children also there being no Alteration made in that respect more than in any other As the spiritual Seed of Abraham were ever holy and God's Covenant-People so were their Children and so it is now still with Gentile Believers and their Seed To this purpose speaks the Apostle concerning the Seed of Gentile Believers even where but one of the Parents are such 1 Cor. 7.14 For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by or to the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by or to the Husband that believes to the holy Use of such an one in the Sight of God for to the Pure all things are pure else were your Children common or unclean as the rest of the World are now in their Heathenism to whom therefore God hath no Regard as to his Children but now are they holy relatively and of a Religious Consideration before God as separated and dedicated to God and so are part of his Covenant-People It is not a Matrimonial Holiness that the Apostle intends or that the Children of Believers are therefore holy because they are no Bastards for the Children of Pagans are as well holy in that Respect that were born in Wedlock though the Parents neither of them were Believers So that this Interpretation would make the Apostle speak impertinently and untruly It is a relative or federal Holiness therefore that the Apostle must intend and by this he shews that such Children are of an holy Consideration in the Sight of God and are of the Number of his Holy and Covenant-People So that we can no where find any Dissolution or Discontinuance of the Church-membership of Infants under the Gospel which they once had but it still remains the same as ever and is rather more confirmed It being the same Church Covenant spiritual Privileges and Members as ever and these still keeping by the same Grant the same Place and standing in the Church as ever they did And as this therefore was once the Privilege of Infants of Abraham's spiritual Seed to stand in an holy Relation to God as his peculiar Covenant-People and Children so it is still But for a further Confirmation and clearing of this Matter we may observe also from our Saviour some such Indications of the same Respect had to them in choosing calling and esteeming of them as ever To this purpose we find Mark 10.14 They brought young Children to him that he should touch them or as St. Matthew hath it Matth. 19.13 that he should put his Hands on them and pray and his Disciples rebuked those that brought them but when Jesus saw it he was much displeased and said unto them Suffer the little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God And he took them up in his Arms put his Hands upon them and blessed them All which sheweth Christ's good Will and Respect and dear Affection to them as Members of his Church and part of his Kingdom And which way soever the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven as St. Matthew expresseth it be here taken which they are said to be of either for Heaven it self or the Church on Earth their Church-membership in the visible Church will hence be concludable For if it be meant of the Church on Earth as that Phrase is often taken for that then it is the next and immediate Sense of the Words of our Saviour Or if it be to be understood of Heaven properly yet then it will follow from it For if the Kingdom of Heaven receive them and they have a Portion in that the visible Church on Earth then may not exclude them For none are of the Kingdom of Heaven above that are not first of the Church on Earth Acts 2.47 There were daily added to the Church such as should be saved And our Saviour's Reason here for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven sheweth that he meant this of such Infants properly taken and not only of Men like them in Humility For that could be no Reason why they should be brought unto him because others that are like them in Humility are of the Kingdom of Heaven unless they are also of the same And his pronouncing this as a Reason why they should be brought unto him and his imbracing them also in his Arms and his laying his Hands upon them and blessing them sheweth a great deal more Respect to them than what was required for the healing them of any bodily Distemper for neither was this Reason nor all that Demonstration of Affection to them needful for that when if they had not been of the Kingdom of Heaven they should no doubt have been healed by him if they had been brought unto him and when they had been brought a Word or a Touch would have effected that without so much imbracing praying and blessing them So that what can we conclude from all this but a more than ordinary Respect of our Saviour to little Children
descended from nothing else than Apostolical Tradition And such was the case of Infant-Baptism And this Custom and Practice is still continued in the Churches of Christ Vid. Dr. Walker's Plea for Infant Baptism c. 27. though of several Denominations unto this Day All the Protestant Confessions of Helvetia Bohemia Belgia Auspurg Saxony Wittenberg Sweveland France and Piedmont do universally give their Testimony to it And Histories give us the same Account of the Practice of it among the Russians Muscovites the Christians of St. Thomas in India those in Syria Cyprus Mesopotamia Babylon Palestine amongst the Cofti in Egypt the Abassins in Africa the Armenians in Turky the Maronites inhabiting Aleppo Damascus Tripoly of Syria Cyprus and Mount Libanus And many of these Churches are at vast Distance one from another and therefore can have but very little Intercourse or Communication one with another And as for the Abassine and Indian Churches they seem in all Probability to be Original Plantations and not to have derived their Faith and Practice from any other Churches and yet all retain and continue the Practice of baptizing Infants These things one would think should be enough to sway with all modest Persons And they would learn not to prefer the new upstart Opinions of those who because of the Smalness of their Number are fain to call themselves the little Flock before the universal consentient Practice of all the Churches of Christ besides in the World An humble Person should far more highly esteem of Godly Antiquity and the Universal Church than of such late and novel Singularity Objections against Infant-Baptism answered HAving thus with all possible convenient Brevity endeavoured to clear up and confirm the Doctrine and Practice of Infant-Baptism I shall now consider the Objections that use commonly to be raised against it and shall endeavour to give them a satisfactory Answer Object 1. That Infants are not capable of the Ends of Baptism that it doth them no Good but they are as well without it as with it because there is no Benefit that they can receive thereby Answ The contrary to this is most true For 1. They are capable of Baptism as it is an outward Badg or Mark of their Relation to God as his Children and peculiar People and of God's gracious Respect to them and owning them for such and so as it is a visible Rite of their Admission into the visible Church of Christ This is one of the Ends of Baptism and Infants are capable of this because for this End it may be administred to those that are meerly passive and do not understand any thing of the Matter As Infants are capable of Civil Adoption and of being entred into any Family Tribe College or other Society by such a Rite as shall be appointed for that end And thus Infants in the Jewish Church were baptized to this end together with their proselyted Parents as we have seen before and we do not find that ever any of the Prophets or our Saviour or the Apostles did find fault upon the Account of Infants Incapacity or otherwise therefore we may conclude that they were capable of Baptism and that their Baptism was likewise well approved of And so by God's own Appointment and Institution Infants were circumcised to the aforesaid Ends and Purposes And how are they uncapable then of Baptism to the same Ends to which they were capable of Circumcision 2. Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a Sign or Note or Seal on God's or Christ's Part to assure us of his gracious Favour to us and to consign over to us the Benefits of the Covenant of Grace Thus Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a Mark or Seal of the Remission or doing away that original Guilt and Obligation to Death which they derived from the first Adam and of their being brought into a new State of Regeneration and Life by Christ Jesus And so as it is a Seal of the Promise and Gift of the Spirit for the sanctifying and renewing them hereafter though for the present they understand nothing of it For it is sufficient also for this that they be meerly passive in the Administration As Baptism is to the Adult a Sign or Seal of the Remission or washing away of that original Guilt which they have from Adam and also of that which they have contracted by their own actual Sin so may Baptism be a Sign or Seal of the washing away of the original Guilt to Infants derived from Adam though they have no Guilt at all of any actual Sin of their own to be remitted or wash'd away And yet as Baptism is a Sign or Seal of the new Covenant for the Remission of all Sin to Believers not only of what is past but also of what is to come when they come to repent of it and to perform the Terms of the Gospel required to such Remission so may Baptism be to Infants a Sign or Seal of the Remission of all the actual Sin that shall ever be committed by them upon their future performing of the same Terms And so as Baptism is to the Adult a Sign or Seal of their being brought into a new Regenerate State and of having a Right to Life by virtue of their Adoption their Sin being done away by the Blood of Christ so may it likewise be to Infants a Sign and Seal of God's gracious Favour in giving them a Right to the Heavenly Inheritance As Infants by virtue of any Civil Adoption may be Heirs to a Temporal Estate and are capable of any Acts of Favour from Man and to be instated in any Privileges Case of Infant-Baptism p. 34. before they come to understand what they are As suppose the King should send for a Traitor's Child out of the Cradle and in the Presence of several Persons assembled for that purpose should say You know the Blood of this Child is attainted by his Father's Treason and by Law he hath forfeited all Right to his Ancestors Estate and Titles and is quite undone though he be not sensible of his wretched Condition But I will pardon this Infant freely and here I restore him to all his forfeited Rights I justify him freely and declare my self reconciled unto him and moreover do adopt him into my Royal Family and do settle part of my Dominions upon him and as a confirmatory Sign of this my Respect unto him I do order and command before you all that he be washed with pure Water to signify that he is cleansed from his original Attainder and Corruption of Blood and that I am perfectly reconciled unto him Who would say that this were an insignificant or useless Sign because the Child did not understand the meaning of it Or who could say that the Child who was capable of the thing signified viz. the removing the Attainder and being vested in a Right and Title to a noble Inheritance should be uncapable of the washing with Water for a Sign