and new-born persons whose very tears wherewith they enter'd the World seemed more to deserve it both from them and the divine mercy I omit for brevity sake the many testimonies of S. Augustine to the same purpose and his affirming †Aug. Serm. 10. de verbis Apost in particular that the Church always had it always retain'd it and receiv'd it from the faith of it's predecessors And shall content my self as to this particular with his and the Church's pressing the Pelagians †Vossi Histor Pelag. li. 2. part 1 Thes 5. with the practice of Infant Baptism and those Pelagians how much soever straitned by it yet choosing rather to evade the force of it than to deny in any measure the truth of the thing alledg'd It being not to be thought that if there had been any the least suspicion of the Antiquity of Infant Baptism or indeed of its being derived to the Church from the Apostles either the Catholicks would have so confidently alledged it against the Pelagians or the Pelagians so easily and without any the least opposition have admitted it III. Now as if we allow Infants to be capable of Baptism we must consequently allow them the graces of that Sacrament because Baptism was intended to convey them So I must needs say I do not see why supposing Original sin which hath been before sufficiently establish'd we should scruple to attribute to them the graces of that Sacrament and particularly remission and regeneration For if Infants are naturally under the guilt of Original sin there is so far forth place for and a necessity of remission And if the same Infants are naturally under the pollution of it or as our Catechism expresseth it are by nature born in sin and the children of wrath they are alike capable by Baptism of being regenerated or made the children of grace Not that there is or can be even in baptiz'd Infants any actual perception of or adhesion to that which is spiritually good but a disposition to both and by vertue whereof the soul is fitted and inclin'd to each when years and opportunity invite As the same soul is to reason and will when it arrives at years of maturity by vertue of those natural faculties that are from the beginning in it Which is a sort of regeneration that is most sutable to the state of Infancy and beyond which therefore whilst they continue in that state we are not reasonably to expect But is withal as true a regeneration as that which is wrought in those of riper years and by which the souls of the parties regenerated actually perceive and cleave to that good which the other is only disposed to That actual perception and adhesion being not so much any part of their regeneration or new birth as the effects or issues of it IV. But because how clear soever Infant Baptism may thus far seem yet it cannot be deny'd to be encumbred with many and great difficulties or at least such as appear so to men of prejudiced minds Therefore it will be but necessary before I leave this head to select such of them as seem to be most pressing and return a satisfactory Answer to them Whether they be such as relate to the grounds on which I have endeavour'd to establish it or such as strike more directly at the thing it self That which is most to be consider'd of the former sort is that (a) See Jer. Tayl Liberty of Proph. Sect. 18. num 13. which pretends to evacuate the Argument from the Circumcising of the Infants of Abraham's posterity to the Baptizing of the Children of Christians Which it endeavours in part from Circumcisions being but a Type or figure of Baptism and so either proving nothing at all without some express to signifie such a thing to be its purpose or after the nature of such things directing us rather to a spiritual childhood in order to Baptism than shewing a natural childhood to be a due subject of it And in part also from Circumcisions being not in all things a rule to the Christians Baptism and particularly not in the persons that are to be baptized Women as well as Men being confessedly the subject of the latter nor in the time of their receiving of it For if Circumcision be a sufficient direction for the baptizing of Infants why not also a like direction for the confining of it to the Males And if it were to be a direction as to the baptizing of Infants why not also as to the baptizing of them upon the eighth day which was the day of administring Circumcision as that Fidus whom S. Cyprian answer'd seemed to be persuaded and accordingly argued it from the like administration of Circumcision As to what is objected concerning Circumcisions being but a type of Baptism and so either proving nothing at all without some express to signifie such to be its purpose which is not pretended in the present case or if proving any thing as to the matter of childhood yet directing rather to a spiritual than a natural one I answer that as I see not why Circumcision should be look'd upon as only a type of Baptism nor indeed as any type at all unless it be in a general sense and as a thing that is like unto another may be look'd upon as a type of that to which it is so in which sense I my self have also us'd the word and allow it so to be so we do not at all argue from Circumcision as it may be supposed to be a type of Baptism but as a sign of the same righteousness of Faith of which Baptism is and of the same gracious Covenant that assures it And in this sense as nothing hinders us to argue from Circumcisions being bestowed upon Infants then that that which is a sign of the same righteousness of faith under the Gospel is in reason to be extended to the same persons So there is this in particular to enforce it that Christian Parents would otherwise fall short in the account of God of the priviledges of the natural descendants of Abraham Of which what account can be given when Abraham from whom they both claim is declared to be the Father of them both yea is said by S. Paul to have receiv'd the sign of Circumcision not only as a seal or assurance to himself of that righteousness of faith which he before had but a seal or an assurance also of his being to the same purposes a Father (b) Rom. 4.11 of those that believe though they be not circumcised as well as a Father of those that were There is as little reason to be stagger'd by what is alledged in the second instance that if Circumcision be a sufficient direction for the baptizing of Infants it may as well be a direction for the confining of it to the Males and for the confining of it too to the eighth day after the Infants birth Because first the Sacrament of Baptism hath nothing
Imprimatur Johannes Battely RRmo P. ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuariensi à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedib Lamb. Apr. 10. 1686. OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM In Pursuance of an EXPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND BY GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. and Rector of Welwynne in Hartfordshire LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD FRANCIS Lord Bishop of ELY AND LORD ALMONER TO His Majesty My Lord YOUR Lordship 's favourable acceptance of my Discourse of the Sacraments in General with the desire I have if it may be to put an end to the whole hath prompted me to make the more hast to present your Lordship and the World with this of Baptism in particular Two things there are in it which I thought my self most concern'd to clear and which therefore I have employ'd all requisite diligence on the Doctrine of Original Sin and Infant-Baptism The former being in my opinion the foundation of Christianity the latter of our interest in it For if there be no such thing as Original Sin I do not see but some persons heretofore might and may hereafter live with such exactness as not at all to stand in need of a Saviour And I see as little if Infant-Baptism be null what interest any of us can have in him according to the ordinary dispensation of the Gospel who have for the most part been baptized in our Infancy or at least have been baptized by those that were Throughout the whole Treatise I have endeavour'd to retrive the antient notion of Baptism to shew what advantages are annexed to it and what duties it either involves or obligeth to To either of which if I have given any light or strength I shall hope I have done some small service to the Church and which your Lordship in particular will take in good part from Your Lordship's Most obliged Most obedient and Most humble Servant GABRIEL TOWERSON Wellwyne Aug. 23. 1686. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Of the Rite of Baptism among the Heathen and the Jews THe Heathen themselves not without the knowledge of another World and of the insufficiency of natural Religion to bring them to the happiness thereof Occasion taken by them from thence to enquire after other ways of obtaining it and by the Devil to suggest the mysteries of their respective Deities as the only proper means of compassing it Those mysteries every where initiated into by the Rite of Baptism partly through Men's consciousness of their past sins and which they judged it but meet they should be some way purged from and partly through the policy of the Devil who thereby thought to procure the greater veneration to them That as it was a Rite which was in use among God's own people so naturally apt to represent to Mens minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Of what Service the Heathens use of this Rite is toward the commendation of the Christians Baptism and a transition from thence to the use of it among the Jews Which is not only prov'd at large out of the Jewish Writings and several particulars of that Baptism remark'd but that usage farther confirm'd by several concurring proofs such as is in particular the no appearance there is otherwise of any initiation of the Jewish Women the Baptizing of the whole Nation in the Cloud and in the Sea and a remarkable allusion to it in our Saviour's Discourse to Nicodemus The silence of the Old Testament concerning that Rite shewn to be of no force because though it take notice of the first Jews being under the Cloud and passing through the Red Sea yet it takes no notice at all of their being Baptized in them or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual Repast whereof S. Paul speaketh The Baptism of Christians copied by our Saviour from that of the Jews and may therefore where it appears not that he hath made an alteration receive an elucidation from it p. 1. The Contents of the Second Part. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it THe Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John. Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office. Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As in fine from Christ's telling S. Peter when he ask'd the washing of his Hands and Head as well as Feet that he who had been washed needeth not save to wash his feet An answer to the supposed silence of the Scripture concerning so early a Baptism and that shewn to be neither a perfect silence nor an unaccountable one p. 23. The Contents of the Third Part. Of the outward visible Sign of Baptism THe outward visible Sign of the Christian Baptism shewn to be the Element of Water and enquiry thereupon made wherein it was intended as a Sign Which is shewn in the general to be as to the cleansing quality thereof more particularly as to the use it was put to toward new-born Infants and that application of it which was first in use even by an immersion or plunging the Party baptized in it Occasion taken from thence to enquire farther how it ought to be applyed more especially whether by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Evidence made of an immersion being the only legitimate Rite of Baptism save where necessity doth otherwise require And enquiry thereupon made whether necessity may justifie the Application of it by an Aspersion or Effusion and if it may whether the case of Infants be to be look'd upon as such a necessity What is to be thought of those additions which were antiently made or continue as yet in being in the outward solemnities of Baptism Where the sign of the Cross in Baptism is more particularly considered and answer made to those Exceptions that are made against it as a Ceremony as an addition of Men to the Institution of Christ and as a supposed Relique of Popery or giving too much countenance to the Papists abuses of it p. 43. A Digression concerning Original Sign By way of Preparation to the following Discourses The Contents OF the ground of the present Digression concerning Original Sin and enquiry thereupon made what Original Sin is Which is shewn in the General to be such a corruption of
the Nature of every Man that is naturally engendered of the off-spring of Adam whereby it becomes averse from every thing that is good and inclinable to every thing that is evil The nature of that corruption more particularly enquir'd into and shewn by probable Arguments to be no other than a Privation of a Supernatural Grace That there is such a thing as we have before described evidenced at large from the Scripture and that evidence farther strengthned by the experience we have of its effects and the acknowledgments of the wiser Heathen Enquiry next made from whence it had its beginning which is shewn to have been not from any evil Spirit or Daemon the pravity of matter or the evil habits the Soul contracted in a praeexistent state but from the pravity of our first Parents This last at large confirm'd out of the Doctrine of the Scripture and followed by some light reflections upon the means by which it is conveyed A more just account from the Scripture of its being truly and properly a sin partly from its having the title of a sin but more especially from its being represented as such upon the account of our Obligation to the contrary A consideration of those Objections which are commonly made against the Doctrine of Original Sin Which are shewn either not to be of that force whereof they are esteem'd or however not to be a sufficient bar to what the Scripture hath declar'd concerning it p. 89 The Contents of the Fourth Part. Of the things signified by Baptism on the part of God or its inward and spiritual Grace THE things signified by Baptism are either more general or particular More general as that Covenant of Grace which passeth between God and Man and that body of Men which enter into Covenant with him More particular what the same God doth by vertue of that Covenant oblige himself to bestow upon the Baptized and what those Baptized ones do on their part undertake to perform These latter ones proposed to be considered and entrance made with the consideration of what God obligeth himself to bestow upon the Baptized called by the Church An inward and spiritual Grace Which inward and spiritual Grace is shewn to be of two sorts to wit such as tend more immediately to our spiritual and eternal welfare or such as only qualifie us for those Graces that do so To the former sort are reckon'd that inward and spiritual Grace which tends to free us from the guilt of sin called by the Church forgiveness of sin That which tends to free us from the pollution of sin called by our Catechism A death unto it And that which tends to introduce the contrary purity and hath the name of a New birth unto righteousness To the latter sort is reckoned our union to that Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head and by means whereof he dispenseth the former Graces to us Each of these resum'd and considered in their order and shewn to be what they are usually stil'd the inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism or the things signified by the outward visible Sign thereof p. 185 The Contents of the Fifth Part. Of Forgiveness of sin by Baptism OF the relation of the sign of Baptism to its inward and spiritual Grace and particularly to Forgiveness of sin Which is either that of a means fitted by God to convey it or of a pledge to assure the Baptized person of it The former of these relations more particularly considered as that too with respect to Forgiveness of Sin in the general or the Forgiveness of all Sin whatsoever and Original Sin in particular As to the former whereof is alledged first the Scriptures calling upon Men to be Baptiz'd for the remission or forgiveness of sin Secondly the Church's making that Forgiveness a part of her Belief and Doctrine Thirdly the agreeing opinions or practices of those who were either unsound members of it or Separatists from it And Fourthly the Calumnies of its enemies The like evidence made of the latter from the Scripture's proposing Baptism and its Forgiveness as a remedy against the greatest guilts and in special against that wrath which we are Children of by Nature From the premises is shewn that the sign of Baptism is a pledge to assure the Baptized of Forgiveness as well as a means fitted by God for the conveying of it p. 203 The Contents of the Sixth Part. Of Mortification of sin and Regeneration by Baptism OF the relation of the sign of Baptism to such inward and spiritual Graces as tend to free us from the pollution of sin or introduce the contrary purity And that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby they are convey'd This evidenced as to the former even our death unto sin which is also explain'd from such Texts of Scripture as make mention of our being baptiz'd into it and buried by Baptism in it or from such as describe us as cleansed by the washing of it The like evidenc'd from the same Scripture concerning the latter even our new birth unto righteousness As that again farther clear'd as to this particular by the consentient Doctrine and practice of the Church by the opinion the Jews had of that Baptism which was a Type and exemplar of ours and the expressions of the Heathen concerning it The Doctrine of the Church more largely insisted upon and exemplified from Justin Martyr Tertullian and S. Cyprian p. 217 The Contents of the Seventh Part. Of our Union to the Church by Baptism OF the relation of the sign of Baptism to our Vnion to the Church and that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby that Vnion is made This evidenc'd in the first place from the declarations of the Scripture more particularly from its affirming all Christians to be baptiz'd into that Body as those who were first baptiz'd after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles to have been thereby added to their company and made partakers with the rest in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship in breaking of Bread and in Prayers The like evidence of the same Union to the Church by Baptism from the declarations of the Church it self and the consequences of that Vnion shewn to be such as to make that also to be accounted one of the inward and spiritual Graces of that Baptism by which it is made p. 237 The Contents of the Eighth Part. Of the Profession that is made by the Baptized Person THE things signified by Baptism on the part of the baptized brought under consideration and shewn from several former discourses which are also pointed to to be an Abrenunciation of sin a present belief of the Doctrine of Christianity and particularly of the Trinity and a resolution for the time to come to continue in that belief and act agreeably to its Laws Our resolution of acting agreeably to the Laws of Christianity more particularly consider'd and the Profession thereof shewn by several
Arguments to be the intendment of the Christian Baptism What the measure of that conformity is which we profess to pay to the Laws of Christianity and what are the consequences of the Violation of that Profession p. 249 The Contents of the Ninth Part. Of the right Administration of Baptism AFter a short account of the Foundation of the Baptismal relation and reference made to those places from which a larger one may be fetch'd Enquiry is made touching the right Administration of Baptism as therein again First Whether Baptism ought expresly to be made in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly whether Schismaticks and Hereticks are valid Administratours of it Thirdly to what and what kind of persons it ought to be administred Fourthly Whether it may be repeated The two first of these spoken to here and first Whether Baptism ought to be expresly administred in the form propos'd Which is not only shewn to be under obligation from the express words of the Institution but answer made to those Texts which seem to intimate it to be enough to baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus only The Baptism of Schismaticks and Hereticks more largely shewn to be valid unless where they baptize into a counterfeit Faith and the several objections against it answer'd p. 265 The Contents of the Tenth Part. Of the Baptism of those of riper Years TO what and what kind of persons Baptism ought to be administred Which as to those of riper years is shewn to be unto all that come duly qualified for it What those qualifications are upon that account enquir'd into and Repentance and Faith shewn from the Scripture as well as from our own Catechism to be they That Repentance and Faith more particularly considered the definitions given of them by our Church explain'd and established The former whereof is effected by shewing what Repentance doth presuppose what it imports and to what it doth naturally dispose us The latter by shewing what those promises are which by the Catechism are made the object of our Faith or Belief what that Belief of them doth presuppose what is meant by a stedfast Belief of them and what evidence there is of that being the Faith or Belief requir'd to the receiving of Baptism p. 287 The Contents of the Eleventh Part. Of the Baptism of Infants WHat ground Infant-Baptism hath in Scripture and particularly in what it suggests concerning Christ's commanding his Disciples to suffer little Children to come unto him S. Paul's giving the Children of the faithful the title of Holy and the Circumcision of Infants The concurrence of Antiquity therein with the Doctrine of the Scripture and that concurrence farther strengthned by the Pelagians so freely admitting of what was urg'd against them from thence A brief account of that remission and regeneration which Infants acquire by Baptism and a more large consideration of the Objections that are made against it More particularly of what is urg'd against the Regeneration of Infants in Baptism or their ability to answer what is prerequir'd to it on the part of persons to be baptiz'd or is to be performed by them in the reception of it Where the Regeneration of Infants is more largely considered and what is promis'd for them by others shewn to be both reasonable and sufficient p. 309 The Contents of the Twelfth Part. Whether Baptism may be repeated WHat the true state of the present question is and that it is not founded in any suppos'd illegitimateness of the former Baptism but upon supposition of the baptized persons either not having before had or forfeited the regeneration of it or fallen off from that Religion to which it doth belong Whereupon enquiry is made whether if such persons repent and return they ought to be baptiz'd anew or received into the Church without What there is to perswade the repeating of Baptism and what the Church hath alledg'd against it The Churches arguments from Eph. 4.4 and John 13.10 proposed but wav'd The Churches opinion more firmly established in the no direction there is in Scripture for re-baptization in those cases but rather the contrary and in the no necessity there is of it The Arguments for rebaptization answer'd p. 365 ERRATA In the Title over the Pages PAg. 253. for Baptism r. Baptized TEXT Pag. 57. l. 16. after do add not p. 134. l. 11. after of add that p. 228. l. 17. corruption p. 244. l. pen. embodied p. 262. l. 22. violaters p. 306. l. 14. for boyl r. bogle p. 324. l. 7. for force r. face p. 330. l. 24. faithful p. 354. l. 18. r. as was Margent Pag. 6. l. penult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 7. l. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 16. l. 1 2. Exo. 16.32 p. 61. l. 8. for Sacramentum r. incrementa p. 235. l. antep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. l. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 291. l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 335. l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM PART I. Of the Rite of Baptism among the HEATHEN and the JEWS The Contents The Heathen themselves not without the knowledge of another World and of the insufficiency of natural Religion to bring them to the happiness thereof Occasion taken by them from thence to enquire after other ways of obtaining it and by the Devil to suggest the mysteries of their respective Deities as the only proper means of compassing it Those mysteries every where initiated into by the Rite of Baptism partly through Men's consciousness of their past sins and which they judged it but meet they should be some way purged from and partly through the policy of the Devil who thereby thought to procure the greater veneration to them That as it was a Rite which was in use among God's own people so naturally apt to represent to Mens minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Of what Service the Heathens use of this Rite is toward the commendation of the Christians Baptism and a transition from thence to the use of it among the Jews Which is not only prov'd at large out of the Jewish Writings and several particulars of that Baptism remark'd but that usage farther confirm'd by several concurring proofs such as is in particular the no appearance there is otherwise of any initiation of the Jewish Women the Baptizing of the whole Nation in the Cloud and in the Sea and a remarkable allusion to it in our Saviour's Discourse to Nicodemus The silence of the Old Testament concerning that Rite shewn to be of no force because though it take notice of the first Jews being under the Cloud and passing through the Red Sea yet it takes no notice at all of their being Baptized in them or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual repast whereof S. Paul speaketh The Baptism of Christians copied by our Saviour from that of the Jews and may therefore where it appears not that he hath made an alteration receive an
elucidation from it THough the Baptism of Christians be my proper business and ought accordingly to be made the subject matter of my Discourse yet I think it not amiss to premise something concerning the use of the like Rite among the Heathen and which is of much more consideration among the people of the Jews Partly because Christianity may seem to have borrowed her Baptism from the Baptism of the latter and we therefore may borrow some light from it toward the clearing of our own And partly because it may appear both from the one and the others Baptism that Christianity hath laid no other imposition on us than what the general reason of Mankind or a more early Tradition prompted others to the imbracing of For the understanding whereof we are to know that as the Heathen themselves were not without a presension of another World wherein the Souls of Men should be treated according to their demeanour here So they alike saw or at least suspected that they could not expect a happy futurity by a bare compliance with those rules which natural Religion suggested to them Partly because they saw but too well that they could never arrive at a perfect compliance with them by which means they should always stand in need of the divine favour and forgiveness And partly because they knew it to be in the power of their offended Deities to prescribe what ways and means they thought good for Men's obtaining a reconciliation with them This therefore being the general and indeed natural sense of Mankind and not a little quickned at the first by what they might learn from God's own people concerning the Sacrifices and other Rites whereby he appointed them to atone him Men began to look out every where for proper means to obtain the favour of their Gods and the Devil who was willing by all means to precipitate them into destruction did either by himself or his Agents suggest such as might gratifie those their hopes but withal not only no way profit them but debauch their minds so much the more Only lest too gross a deceit should come to be discern'd he took care among other things that what he suggested should be concealed from the generality of Men and indeed even from those who were desirous to understand them till they had approv'd themselves by a long expectation and the undergoing of all those things which were preparatory to them From hence it was that the mysteries of the several Heathen then Deities came to have their beginning and name Those of the Mother of the Gods in Samothracia and of Hecate in many places Hence those famous ones of Ceres and Proserpina at Eleusis in Attica of Bacchus in Boeotia and of Mithras in Asia In fine hence those of Orpheus almost all over Greece and of Isis in Aegypt and many other places They * Clcero de leg lib. 2. Mihi autem cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenae tuae peperisse atque in vitam hominum attulisse tum nihil melius illis mysteriis quibus ex agresii immanique vita exculti ad humanitatem mitigati sumus initiaque ut appellantur ita revera principia vitae cognovimus neque solum cum laetitia vivend rationem accepimus sed etiam cum spe meliore moriendi who were not without a due esteem of piety and vertue making the end of those mysteries to have been the procuring to those that were initiated into them a possibility of living happily in the other World whilst nothing but extremest miseries attended the neglecters of them Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But because mysteries of this nature were not to be communicated to all no nor yet to any before they were purged from their past sins Therefore care was taken first of all as we learn from Clemens Alexandrinus †Strom. lib. 5. p. 424. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that they should pass through certain purgations or washings and which though as Tertullian * De Baptismo c. 5. speaks perform'd viduis aquis that is to say with such as had not the incubatition of God's Spirit yet were as he afterwards (a) Ibid. Certe ludis Apollinaribus Eleusiniis tinguntur idque se in regenerationem impunitatem perjuriorum suorum agere praesumunt affirms both administred and receiv'd as effectual Symbols of a new Birth and a freedom from the punishment of their offences It was thus in particular that Men were initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis even the lesser ones and such as were preparatory to the greater and he who initiated them into them entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) Hesych 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Waterer It was thus as we learn from Tertullian (c) De Bapt. c. 5. Nam sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur Isidis alicujus Mithrae that they initiated Men into the rites of Mithras and so too into those of Isis The Chief Priest of that Goddess as Apuleius (d) Milesi 11. citat à Seldeno de success ad leg Hebr. c. 26. describes his own initiation leading the party that was to be initiated in the Company of that Religious band to the next Bath Where having first delivered him to the usual washing and ask'd pardon of the Goddess he sprinkled him all about and bringing him back to the Temple after two parts of the day were spent plac'd him before the feet of the Goddess How this way of initiation by Baptism came to prevail so generally is hard to say and I will not therefore be over positive in defining That which seems to me to be the most probable is that those mysteries to which this way of initiation belonged came all out of the same forge even the contrivance of the Devil and his dependants to whom though ignorantly the Heathen offered (f) 1 Cor. 10.20 Sacrifice That he suggested such an initiation to them partly in imitation of those Baptisms or washings which God had appointed among his own people and partly as a Symbol which did most naturally represent to their minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Sin by reason of the odiousness thereof coming to have both the esteem and name of Pollution and that therefore which professed to do it away best represented by that Element which was most proper to purge away the natural one In fine that they to whom that form of initiation was propos'd being thereby possess'd with a good opinion of the sacredness of those mysteries to which it led and a hope of its also purging them from their former guilt greedily embraced it and made it as sacred in their own esteem as it seemed to be in the design of those that instituted it Which moreover they were more easily persuaded into because they found it much more easie thus to wash away their Sins
were not capable of Circumcision yea even in them that were capable of it after the Rite of Circumcision was over if it were only to put them in mind of that deliverance they receiv'd by it Especially when their Eucharistical Manna though thence forward not enjoyn'd to be us'd because it ceased from among them was yet laid up in the Ark of God (o) Exod. 32.16 c. to put them in mind of God's nourishing them by it I say Thirdly that though Baptism might not be enjoyned at the first or at least enjoyn'd only for the use of those who were not capable of Circumcision yet it might by the advice of their Governors and the approbation of those Prophets whom God raised up among them be afterwards added to Circumcision both upon the account of their Fore-fathers being commanded to sanctifie themselves and wash their Cloaths when they appear'd before God at Mount Sinai and as a farther declaration to them of the impurity of their Nature and of that pure and holy estate which they entred into For if their forefathers were even by the command of God to sanctifie themselves with washings toward their entring into Covenant with God at Mount Sinai what should hinder such of their posterity as presided over that Nation to make an addition of the like Baptism Especially when all was little enough to admonish them of their own natural impurity and of the necessity that lay upon them of purging themselves from it I observe Fourthly that though there be not any express mention in the Scripture of that Baptism whereof we speak nor indeed of any like it beside that of John the Baptist which being immediately from Heaven ought not to be drawn into example yet is it sufficiently intimated by our Saviour where upon Nicodemus's wondring how a Man could be born of Water and the Spirit he with equal wonder demanded (p) Joh 3.10 Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things For as that is a sufficient indication that the notion our Saviour advanc'd was no stranger to the Israelites and therefore neither such a Baptism as was the subject of it So it became yet more clear by the Jewish Writers representing the Baptism of a Proselyte as giving a new birth unto him That as it is the same in effect with the product of Christ's Baptism so making it yet more reasonable to believe that our Saviour had an eye to it when he wondred so much at Nicodemus for stumbling at that property in his All which put together because tending toward the same thing will make it yet more reasonable to believe that the Jewish Writers spake not at adventure when they represented the Rite of Baptism as a Rite of their own Nation and by which both themselves and their Proselytes had been of old initiated no less than by the Rite of Circumcision If there be any thing to hinder the admission of it it must be the silence of the Old Testament concerning it or at least concerning the Institution of it But as we find no great mention even of Circumcision it self after the five Books of Moses and may therefore the less wonder at the no mention of Baptism especially if as it might be instituted after his time As we find as little mention even where it might have been more reasonably expected of the first Jews being baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual repast whereof S. Paul speaketh (q) 1 Cor. 10.3 4. So there is as little reason therefore to wonder at its silence concerning this Rite especially considering what is notorious enough from thence that God from time to time rais'd up Prophets among them For their Authority and Preaching might suffice to constitute or confirm a matter of greater moment than the Rite of Baptism as added to Circumcision can be supposed to have been There being therefore no great doubt to be made of a Baptism among the Jews antecedent to that of John the Baptist and our Saviour it will not be difficult to believe first that our Saviour had an eye to it when he appointed the same Rite to initiate Men into his Religion Partly because it was his avowed Profession that he came rather to reform than destroy their former Oeconomy and partly because he might the more reasonably hope to bring them over to that faith which it was an initiation into It will be as easie to believe Secondly upon the score of the same condescension and compliance that Christ departed as little as might be from their manner of Administration of it or from the ends which it was appointed for among them such a compliance being equally necessary to carry on his design of bringing them over to his Religion The consequence whereof will be thirdly that where it doth not very plainly appear that Christianity hath made an alteration in it we interpret the Baptism thereof conformably to that of the Jews from whence it appears to have been transcrib'd How much more then where there are any fair hints in Christianity of its symbolizing with the Doctrine of the other The result of which will be fourthly our having recourse upon occasion to the Baptism of the Jews for the better clearing or establishing the Doctrine of our own Which as I shall therefore not fail to do as often as their Writings shall furnish matter for it so having said thus much concerning their Baptism and that of the Heathen I will pass on to the Baptism of the Christians and confine my self yet more strictly to the consideration of it PART II. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it The Contents The Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew * Matt. 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John. Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office. Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As in fine from Christ's telling S. Peter when he ask'd the washing of his Hands and Head as well as Feet that he who had been washed needeth not save to wash his feet An answer to the supposed silence of the Scripture concerning so early a Baptism and that shewn to be neither a perfect silence nor an unaccountable one NOW the first thing to be enquired after is the Institution of it and so much
a relation to all our past sins so it relates in particular to Original Sin and consequently tends alike to the cancelling of its Obligation Witness not only the Churches applying this sign of it to Infants as that too as was before noted for the remission of sins but S. Paul's making that quickning (d) Ephes 2.1 c. which we have by Baptism to save us as well from that wrath which we were the Children of by Nature as from our own vain conversation and the punishment thereof For other sense than that as the generality of the Latins (e) Vid. Voss Pelag. Hist li. 2. part 1 Thes 2. did not put upon the Apostles words so neither is there indeed any necessity for or all things considered any probability of Partly because the Apostle might intend to aggravate the sinfulness of Men's former estate from their natural as well as contracted pollutions even as David aggravated his (f) Psal 51.5 where he deplores his Adultery and Murther and partly because there is sufficient evidence from other Texts of Men's being sinful by their birth as well as practice and which as S. Paul's Children of wrath by Nature is more strictly agreeable to so is therefore more reasonable to be interpreted of And I have insisted so much the longer both upon this particular and the Text I have made use of to confirm it because as Original Sin is one main ground of Baptism and accordingly in this very Catechism of ours represented by our Church as such so she may seem to make use of that very Text to evidence the being of Original Sin and the efficacy of Baptism toward the removing of it Her words being that as we are by nature born in sin and the Children of wrath so we are by Baptism made the Children of Grace From the Grace of forgiveness of sin pass we to that which tends to free us from its pollution entitled by our Church a death unto it A grace which as the corruption of our Nature makes necessary to be had so cannot in the least be doubted to be signified by the outward sign of Baptism It being not only the affirmation of S. Paul that all true Christians are dead (g) Rom. 6.2 to sin but that they are buried by Baptism (h) Rom. 4 into it that they are by that means planted together into the likeness (i) Rom. 5 of Christ's death and that their Old Man even the Body of sin is crucified (k) Rom. 6. with Christ in it For as that and other such like Texts (l) Col. 2.12 of Scripture are a sufficient proof of Baptism's having a relation to our death unto sin as well as unto the death of Christ So they prove in like manner that it had the relation of a sign unto it and consequently make the former death to be one of the Graces signified by it Because not only describing the Rite of Baptism under the notion of a death and Burial which it cannot be said to be but as it is an image of one but representing it as a planting of the Baptized person into the likeness of that death of Christ which is the exemplar of the other For what is this but to say that it was intended as a sign or representation of them both and both the one and the other therefore to be look'd upon as signified by it The same is to be said upon the account of those Texts of Scripture which represent the Water of Baptism as washing (m) Acts 22.16 away the sins of Men or if that expression may not be thought to be full enough because referring also to the forgiveness of them as sanctifying and cleansing (n) Eph. 5.26 27. the Church to the end it may be holy and without blemish For as that shews the Water of Baptism to have a relation to that grace which tends to free the Church from sinful blemishes so it shews in like manner that it was intended as a sign of it and of that inward cleansing which belongs to it There being not otherwise any reason why the freeing of the Church from sin by means of the Baptismal water should have the name of cleansing but upon the account of the analogy there is between the natural property thereof and the property of that Grace to which it relates One only Grace remains of those which tend more immediately to our spiritual welfare even that which our Catechism entitles a new birth unto righteousness Concerning which I shall again shew because that will be enough to prove that it is a Grace signified by it that the Water of Baptism hath a relation to it and then that it hath the relation of a sign I alledge for the former of these S. Paul's entitling it the laver of regeneration (o) Tit. 3.5 as our Saviour's affirming (p) Joh. 3.5 before him that we are born again of that as well as of the Spirit For the latter what hath been before shewn in the general concerning its having been intended as a sign of the things to which it relates For if the Water of Baptism were intended as a sign of those things to which it relates it must consequently have bin intended as a sign of our new birth because by the former Texts as manifestly relating to it But so we shall be yet more fully perswaded if it carry in it a representation of that new birth to which it doth relate Which that it doth will need no other proof than its being an apt representation of that spiritual purity which the Soul puts on at its first conversion and wherein indeed its new birth (q) Eph. 4.24 consists For so it is in part by that cleansing quality which is natural to it and which induceth a purity in those bodies to which it is applied But especially by the use that was formerly made of it toward the washing of new-born Infants from those impurities which they contracted from the Womb This last serving to set forth the first beginnings of our spiritual purity as well as the former doth that purity it self And I shall only add that as a resurrection from the Dead is also a kind of new Birth and accordingly so represented by the Scriptures themselves witness their entituling our Saviour upon the account of his Resurrection the first-begotten (r) Col. 1.18 from the dead yea making that Resurrection of his to be a completion (Å¿) Acts 13.33 of that signal prediction of God (t) Psal 2.7 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee So the same Scriptures do not only represent our new birth unto Righteousness under the notion of a Resurrection but sufficiently intimate that whether Birth or Resurrection to be a Grace signified by it Because not only admonishing us to look upon our selves as a live unto God by Baptism (u) Rom. 6.11 as well as dead unto sin in it but as risen (w)
well as either For beside that both the one and the other might have been declar'd by themselves as well as in the tenour wherein they are now exhibited Had it not been a thing otherwise certain that remission of sins was an effect of Baptism to have subjoyn'd it to Baptism as it is now would have been a means to render it uncertain and consequently all the hopes of a Christian together with it Again if there had been any the least doubt in the Church concerning this relation of Baptism I mean as a means to convey remission of sins to the Baptized party How could she have made use of the simple Baptism (a) Voss Hist Pelag. li. 2. Part 2. Antithes 4. of Infants to establish against the Pelagians the being of that Original sin which they call'd in question For that Argument of hers proceeding upon the supposition of remission of sins by Baptism as that again upon the supposition of something to be remitted in the party baptized which in Infants could be no other than that Original Sin which she asserted If Baptism had not been certainly intended for the remission of sins that argument of hers had been of no force yea rather weakned than any way strengthened that Original Sin which she maintain'd Especially when it was a like certain and accordingly reply'd by the Pelagians (b) Voss ibid. Thes 4. that Baptism had other uses and for which it might be suppos'd to have been conferr'd upon Infants though they had nothing at all of sinful in them III. But beside the suffrage of the Church of God which both publish'd this Doctrine in her Creed and argued others from it It is farther to be observ'd that those who were none of the soundest members of it nor indeed as yet perfect ones confirm'd it by their opinions and practices as they also did in some measure who yet separated from it in this affair Witness for the former their deferring their Baptism to their death beds Whether as the Fathers (c) Tertal de Poenitent c. 8. sometime charg'd them that they might sin so much the more securely in the mean time or as I rather think for the most part because they were not well assur'd of the like efficacious means for the forgiveness of them For which soever of these two were the occasion of that delay manifest it is even from thence that they had a high opinion of the forgiveness of sin by Baptism but much more from the hazard they ran of going out of the World without it and the contrariety of that their delay to the practice of the first Christians (d) Acts 2.41 as well as to the sentiments (e) Cod. Eccl. Vniv can 57. of their own times concerning it It being not to be thought that Men of ordinary prudence would run upon so great an irregularity as well as danger unless they also believ'd that if they hapned to obtain Baptism they should obtain together with it so plentiful a forgiveness as would make ample amends for the other And though we cannot so reasonably expect the like evidence from Hereticks and much less from those whose business was in a great measure to depretiate the value of Baptism as it is certain the Pelagians was Yet as even they as was before (f) Expl. of Bapt. Part 4. observ'd allow'd the Baptizing of Infants into the same rule of Faith with those of riper years and consequently into remission of sins So they denyed not as to Men of riper years (g) Voss Hist Pelag. li. 2. Part. 2. Thes 4. that Baptism was efficacious toward it and that as they were baptiz'd into the belief of remission of sins so they receiv'd that remission by it IV. In fine so notorious as well as prevalent was the Doctrine of forgiveness of sin by Baptism that the adversaries of the Church and of Christianity took occasion from thence to calumniate them for it and made that Doctrine of theirs one of their greatest crimes Of which to omit others we have a remarkable proof in Julian (h) Orat. cui tit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 53. who makes Constantius or rather Christianity in him thus to bespeak the World. Whosoever is a corrupter of Women or a Murtherer or impure or abominable let him come with confidence For having wash'd him with this water I will make him presently clean And though he be afterward guilty of the like crimes yet I will take care to cleanse him from them if he will but smite his breast and knock his head The former part whereof is a manifest allusion to Baptism and its effects the latter to the penitential discipline of the Church And it ought the rather to be taken notice of because as it bears witness to that forgiveness of sin by Baptism which hath been hitherto our design to advance so it will contribute in part toward the proving what comes next in order even That the outward visible sign of Baptism hath that relation whereof we speak to the forgiveness of all sins whatsoever and particularly of Original Sin There being little doubt as to the former of these if as Christianity is there made to speak adultery and murther were wash'd away by the waters of it But so that Christianity it self taught as well as was affirmed by this its adversary to do is not only evident from what hath been elsewhere said (i) Expl. of the Creed Art. The forgievness of sins concerning its tendering forgiveness of sins indefinitely and particularly in the laver of Baptism but from the quality of those criminals whom it invited to forgiveness by it For thus we find it to have done those Jews (k) Acts 2.38 whom it before charg'd (l) Acts 23. with the murther of our Lord and him in particular (m) Acts 22.16 who elsewhere (n) 1 Tim. 1.13 confesseth himself to have been a blasphemer a persecuter and injurious yea was intent upon that execrable employment at the time he was first invited to forgiveness But therefore as I cannot either conceive or allow of any other abatement in this forgiveness than that which is to be made upon account of the sin against the Holy Ghost and which what it is hath been elsewhere (o) Expl. of the Creed Art. The forgiveness c. declar'd So I shall need only to take notice of the reference it hath to that Original Sin which is the unhappy parent of all the rest Not that there can be any great doubt as to the pardon of that where it appears that the most heinous actual sins are pardoned but because Baptism hath been thought by our Church (p) See the Office of Bapt. and the Catechism to have a more peculiar reference to it and because if it can be prov'd to have such a reference to its forgiveness it will be of signal use to shew the necessity of baptizing Infants in whom that sin doth alike predominate
will appear to be yet harder if we consider the opinion of the Jews concerning that which may seem to have been both it's Type and exemplar For as I have made it appear before (w) Part 1. that even they were not without their Baptism and such a one as was moreover intended for the same general ends for which both their Circumcision was and our Baptism is So I have made it appear also (x) Ibid. that the persons so baptiz'd among them were accounted as persons new-born yea so far that after that time they were not to own any of their former relations In fine that that new birth was look'd upon as so singular that it gave occasion to their Cabalistical Doctors to teach that the old soul of the Baptized Proselyte vanished and a new one succeeded in its place For if this was the condition of that Type of Christian Baptism how much more of the Antitype thereof Especially when it is farther probable as hath been also (y) Part 2. noted from the discourse of our Saviour to Nicodemus that he both alluded in it to that Baptism of theirs and intimated the conformity of his own Baptism to it in that particular And though after so full an evidence of this relation of Baptism to regeneration it may seem hardly worth our while to alledge the expressions of the Heathen concerning it Yet I cannot forbear for the conformity thereof to the present argument to take notice of one remarkable one of Lucian (z) Lucian Philopatr p. 999. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who brings in one Triepho thus discoursing after his scoffing manner But when saith he that Galilean lighted upon me who had a bald Pate a great Nose who ascended up to the third Heaven and there learn'd the most excellent things meaning as is suppos'd S. Paul he renewed us by water made us to tread in the footsteps of the blessed and deliver'd us from the Regions of the ungodly In which passage under the title of renewing men by water he personates the Christian Doctrine concerning their being regenerated or renewed by Baptism and accordingly makes it the subject of his reproach PART VII Of our Union to the Church by Baptism The Contents Of the relation of the sign of Baptism to our Vnion to the Church and that relation shewn to be no less than that of a means whereby that Vnion is made This evidenc'd in the first place from the declarations of the Scripture more particularly from its affirming all Christians to be baptiz'd into that Body as those who were first baptiz'd after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles to have been thereby added to their company and made partakers with the rest in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship in breaking of Bread and in Prayers The like evidence of the same Union to the Church by Baptism from the declarations of the Church it self and the consequences of that Vnion shewn to be such as to make that also to be accounted one of the inward and spiritual Graces of that Baptism by which it is made HAving thus given an account of such inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism as tend more immediately to our spiritual and eternal welfare It remains that I say somewhat of that which though of no such immediate tendency yet is not without all because qualifying us for the reception of the other That Vnion I mean which we thereby obtain to Christ's mystical body the Church and by which we who were before Aliens from it as well as from God and Christ become members of the Church and partakers of the several priviledges thereof Which Vnion if any Man scruple to reckon among the inward and spiritual Graces of Baptism properly so call'd I will not contend with him about it Provided he also allow of it as a thing signified by it on the part of God and Christ and as moreover a Grace and favour to the person on whom it is bestow'd For as that is all I ask at present concerning the Union now in question So what I farther mean by it's being an inward and spiritual Grace shall be clear'd in the process of this Discourse and receive that establishment which it requires In order whereunto I will shew the outward and visible sign of Baptism to be a means whereby that Union is made and then point out the consequences of that Union That the outward visible sign of Baptism is in the nature of a means whereby we are united to the Church will appear if we reflect upon what the Scripture hath said concerning it or the agreeing declarations of the Church it self For what else to begin with the former can S. Paul * 1 Cor. 12.13 be thought to mean where he affirms all whether Jews or Gentiles or of what ever other outward differences to have been baptiz'd by one spirit into one body For as it is plain from the foregoing †1 Cor. 12.12 verse or verses that S. Paul entreats of Christ's Body the Church and consequently that the baptizing here spoken of must be meant of our Baptizing into it So it is alike plain from what it was designed to prove as well as from the natural force of the expression that it was set to denote also our being united to it thereby For as we cannot impose a more natural sense upon Baptized into that body than our being receiv'd by Baptism into it as the Baptized person is within the water and conseqently some way united to it So much less if we consider what it was intended to prove even * 1 Cor. 12.12 that Christians how many soever are but that one body For how doth their being baptiz'd into it prove them to be that one Body but that that visible sign by which they are so unites them to one another and to the whole A meer sign of Union though it may shew what the partakers thereof ought to be yet being no just proof of what they are and much less as S. Paul seems to argue that they are so by the means of it And indeed as it will therefore be hard to make the sign here spoken of to be any thing less than a means of our Union to the Church So especially if we consider what is elsewhere said concerning those who first after the descent of the Holy Ghost were baptized in the name of Christ S. Luke not only affirming of those new baptiz'd ones that they were added to (a) Acts 2.41 the Apostles and their other company which he afterwards expresseth (b) Acts 2.47 by added to the Church but that they were partakers (c) Acts 2.42 with the rest in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in Prayers For this shews their having an interest in all the priviledges of that Body and therefore much more their being united to it But so it appears that the Antient Church esteemed of it whose determination is
as well as those who were baptiz'd out of the Church And indeed as it appears by the same Father (g) Ad Quintum Ep. 71. that those who oppos'd him and the Bishops that took part with him argued the validity of the Baptism of Hereticks from the Churches receiving those without a new one who had fallen after her Baptism into Schism or Heresie So if we will allow the Baptism of the latter we must allow the Baptism of the former or find out some other reason to overthrow it For if the rightly baptized Schismatick or Heretick were a Sheep though a wandring one notwithstanding his Schism or Heresie The Schismatick or Heretick whom that wandring Sheep ran after might as well be a Pastor though a wandring one too and consequently be in a condition following the order of the Institution to bring new Sheep to the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls That which I suppose occasion'd that Father's mistake for so I hope I may now have leave to call it because the Church of God hath generally done so since but that I say which occasion'd S. Cyprian's mistake was his not distinguishing between being fully and perfectly out of the Church which I should think none but Apostates can be if they also are and being only partly and imperfectly so as Schismaticks and Hereticks are For as Schismaticks and Hereticks must be suppos'd to retain so far to the Church as they do not separate from it in Communion or belief So it is but a just piece of charity to think that Christ who knows men's infirmities and prejudices will not invalidate such acts of theirs as are purely charitable ones and wherein moreover they consent with the Church of God whatever they may do as to other things and with his own blessed Institution I deny not indeed but that to be even so out of the Church as Schismaticks and Hereticks are is a very dangerous thing and doth without a special mercy of God make them liable to Damnation But as I do not therefore think that we ought to look upon it as a desperate one So there may be so much of honest simplicity of mind even in them and a readiness to embrace the truth whensoever they are convinced of it that Christ who laid down his life for the worst of men may so far at least consider them as to give his blessing to those acts of theirs which are both charitable in themselves and manag'd with a just consent to his own institution and the practice too of that Church from which in other things they have departed And this answer with a little variation will furnish one to that objection which represents Schismaticks and Hereticks as sinners before God and whom therefore we cannot suppose God will hear for the person to be baptiz'd For though I grant that such persons are sinners before God yea that whatever they do by way of separation from the Church is to be look'd upon as of the same nature and consequently that their very baptizing also may be Yet as I do not think that every thing that is sinfully done is therefore invalid for so for ought I know many true Churchmens good actions also might be So Christ may hear even such persons when they act agreeably to his own Institution both for the regard he bears to that and for that honest simplicity and good meaning which is if not in them that administer Baptism yet in those that joyn with them and whose Minister I have before said (h) Expl. of the Sacram. ingen Part. 3 the Consecratour to be in that affair One only Objection remains on the part of Hereticks and that is their depraving that Faith into which Baptism is requir'd to be made and consequently thereto as is suppos'd baptizing into a false and counterfeit one And I no way doubt that if Hereticks baptize into a false and counterfeit Faith their Baptism is null because contrary to that Institution which gives validity to all Upon which account we must look upon the Baptism of those persons as null who have baptiz'd in any other form than in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Of which sort was that of the Hereticks spoken of by Irenaeus (i) Adv. Haeres li. 1. c. 18. who instead of baptizing according to the form of the institution did baptize their Disciples into the name of the unknown Father of all things into truth the Mother of all things into him that descended into Jesus for the union and redemption and communion of powers To which others it seems added certain Hebrew names the better to amuse those that were initiated by them The like may reasonably enough be thought of the Baptism of many other of the Antient Hereticks although we have not it may be so certain grounds from Antiquity for their depraving the very form of Baptism For being as appears from their tenents Christians in name rather than in reality and beside that advancing such uncouth and monstrous ones it is not easie to think they should have such a regard to Christ or his Institution as to keep to that form which he prescrib'd Which suppos'd there is not the least difficulty in giving an account of those 46 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 47 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Canons of the Apostles which do so far reprobate the Baptism of Hereticks as to require a reiteration of it For if the Hereticks there intended were such as are before described as is not unreasonable to believe even from the words of the Canons themselves there is no doubt their Baptism was and ought to be look'd upon as null because deviating from that Institution which gives validity to all But because it appears from a passage of S. Augustine (k) Caeterum quis nesâ—it non esse Baptismum Christi si verba Evangelica quibus symbolum constat illic defuerint Sed facilius inveniuntur haeretici qui omnino non baptizant quam qui illis verbis non baptizant De Bapt. contra Donat. li. 6. c. 25. that whatever the antienter Hereticks did yet later ones or at least for the most part kept to the words of the Institution Therefore we must go on to enquire whether Hereticks may not however be presum'd to baptize into a false and counterfeit Faith even that which they themselves advance and consequently give such a Baptism as is null and void And to speak my mind freely though with submission to better judgments I conceive such Hereticks may be presum'd to do it who advance a Heresie that directly and manifestly contradicts the Faith of Baptism and particularly the Faith of the Holy Trinity Which I do in part upon the Authority of the Nicene Council (l) Can. 19. and in part also upon the Authority of Reason For though there be not the least presumption that the followers of Paulus Samosatenus made use of any other form
a belief in that Jesus into whose Religion he is admitted That Profession of his supposing Repentance and Faith to have been before in him as without which otherwise he could not there make a sincere Profession of renouncing sin or of believing in the name of the Lord Jesus But so that I may add that by the way the Antient Church appears to have requir'd before she admitted men to the participation of Baptism Justin Martyr where he professeth to give a sincere account of her doings in this affair telling those he wrote his Apology to that such as were persuaded and believ'd that the things taught and said by the Christians were true (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. p. 93. and moreover took upon them so to live were taught to pray and ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their former sins and then and not till then brought by them to the place of Baptism and there regenerated after the same manner with themselves Which is so clear a proof of the Antients believing Repentance and Faith to be prerequisites of Baptism that nothing need to be added to it For the clearing of the first of which we are to know that though Repentance in strict speech be nothing else than a sorrow of mind for those sins we stand guilty of before God Yet as even so it presupposeth a right apprehension of those sins as without which we could never be brought to a due sorrow for them so taking Repentance as our Catechism and the Scripture also sometime doth as one of the two prerequisites of Baptism For S. Paul in one place (b) Acts 20.21 makes that Repentance and Faith the sum of his Preaching to the Jews and Greeks and in another (c) Heb. 6.1 the foundation of our Christianity it will be found to imply in it whatsoever that sorrow for sin doth naturally dispose men to as well as that sorrow it self The same S. Paul elsewhere professing that he shewed both to the Jews and Gentiles that they should turn unto God as well as Repent and do works meet for Repentance as well as either To attain therefore a due understanding of this Repentance as well as to clear that definition of it which our Catechism hath given us it will be necessary for us to enquire what this Repentance doth presuppose what it imports and to what it doth dispose us That which Repentance doth most manifestly presuppose is a right apprehension of that sin about which it is to be conversant And may be fetch'd in part from the dictates of our own reason but more especially from the declarations of Christianity concerning it Such as are that sin is the transgression of a Law and particularly of that of God and that as such it justly exposeth us to his wrath and indignation Partly as it is a violation of his Authority to whom we are naturally subject and partly as an equal affront to his goodness who gives us our being and all things else and who therefore ought more diligently to have been attended to In fine that it hath for its wages Death both temporal and eternal and under each of which without the mercy of God in Christ the sinner must necessarily fall For as these are known in part from the dictates of our own reason to be the properties of that sin whereof we speak So they are much more known to be so from the Doctrine of Christianity and consequently to be known by us toward a right apprehension of that which ought to be the matter of our sorrow But from hence it will be easie to collect what that sorrow for sin doth import which is requir'd of all those that take upon them the Profession of Christianity Even that it importeth such a sorrow of mind as hath a regard to the violation of God's Authority and Goodness by it as well as to the evils which are like to arise to it from our selves Our sorrow being in reason to be suited to that which is most considerable in the object of it And indeed as otherwise it will be rather a sorrow for punishment than sin because sin as such is a transgression of God's Law and consequently our sorrow for it to have a more especial regard to the affront that is offer'd him thereby So it will much less deserve those titles which are given it by the Scripture of being a sorrow or repentance toward (d) Acts 20.21 God for so it is sometime stil'd and a sorrow (e) 2 Cor. 7.9 according to God or a Godly one as it also is That being neither toward God nor according to God which hath not a regard to that affront which is offer'd to him by sin as well as to the evils which are like to accrue unto our selves But because even such a sorrow will not qualifie us for Baptism unless we add thereto what the same sorrow doth naturally dispose us to Therefore to make out more fully the true nature of Repentance as well as to clear our Churches definition of it I will proceed to that and shew what those things are Of which nature I reckon first an ingenuous confession of sin and earnest prayer to God for the pardon of it Sorrow for sin when considered only with reference to its appendant punishment being likely enough to dispose us so to confess and ask pardon of it if it were only to unburthen our selves and free our selves by that and prayer from the punishment we have deserv'd How much more then when consider'd as a sorrow for that affront which we have by means of our sin offer'd to God's both Authority and Goodness He to whom such an affront is matter of sorrow being likely enough to be thereby dispos'd so far to acknowledge that Authority and goodness as to own them upon the postfact by confession and prayer for pardon He who confesseth and asketh pardon of God acknowledging that God had and hath an Authority to command and punish him as he who doth the latter that God is of equal goodness as of whom otherwise it would be in vain for him to ask pardon for his offences Whence it was that when the Church proceeded by strict and safe measures she not only taught those that offer'd themselves to Baptism to ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their forepast offences but as we learn from Justin Martyr (f) Vbisupra added her own prayers and fasts to theirs so the better to encourage and give force unto the others I reckon of the same nature secondly a resolution to forsake sin and pursue the contrary vertues Which I do not only upon the Authority of the foremention'd Father who reckons that (g) Loco prius citato also as a prerequisite to Baptism but as it is a thing to which sorrow for sin doth alike naturally dispose us He to whom sin is so irksome needing no other motive than that irksomeness to oblige him to
ground it hath in Scripture II. What countenance from Antiquity III. What Infants acquire by it IV. What the principal objections against it are and how they are to be solv'd I. Now as it is plain to me both from Tertullian's * De Baptismo c. 18. Ait quidem Dominus Nolite illos prohibere ad me venire Veniant ergo dum adolescunt veniant dum discunt dum quo veniant docentur Fiant Christiani qaum Christum nosse potuerint arguing against that Text and the Apostolical †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 li. 6. c 15. Constitutions alledging it that the Antient Church grounded the Baptism of Infants upon Christ's * Mark 10.13 c. commanding his Disciples to suffer little Children to come unto him and blessing those that came So I am yet more confirmed in it by the unprofitable pains Tertullian took to take off the force of that Text or rather the pitiful evasion he made use of in order to it For had not the Church laid great stress upon that passage of the Scripture why did not he as the World hath since learn'd to do wholly omit the mention of it as a Text no way pertinent to the business of Infant-Baptism Or if he thought good to take notice of it why did he not turn the force of it another way and say as others have that nothing more was intended by it than to let men know they must put on the property of little Children if they meant to enter into Christ's Kingdom For either of these certainly had been more proper than what we find him to alledge in these words as to the delaying of the Baptism of Infants The Lord indeed saith Forbid not Children to come unto me Let them come therefore when they are grown let them come when they may learn and when they may be taught whither they are to come Let them be made Christians when they may be able to know Christ For what is this to the purpose of our Saviour who checked his Disciples for hindering those from coming to him who were brought to him before they were in a condition to learn who in all probability were brought to him in their Parents arms and were both taken by him into his own and blessed by him even then For if the Disciples were check'd for going about to hinder such Children his meaning was that they should suffer such to come unto him and not keep them back from coming till they ceased to be such But of such force it seems was that Text then thought that some reply however must be made to it Or the deference men had for the Church that urged it would have spoil'd his device of delaying the Baptism of them till they came of years Which will make it so much the more reasonable to enquire what there is in the Text it self which might justifie the confidence of the one or give occasion to the impertinent answer of the other For the better discovery whereof we are to know that when certain persons not named but it seems who look'd upon our Saviour as a man of God brought their Children to Christ that he might touch them that is to say as our Saviour expounded their meaning that he might lay his hands upon them and bless them His Disciples whether as looking upon it as no way beseeming their Master to concern himself about Children * Aret. in locum Primum rem Christo indignam judicare videntur nam judicio ratione carent Christum non intelligunt Deinde majora sunt quae agat adsunt enim turbae quas docere debet Major hic fructus major etiam dignitas labor or that he had greater business then in hand even the instructing of the Elder sort rebuked those that brought them for that their suppos'd unreasonable desire and offer But as our Saviour who better understood †Aret. ubi supra Sed expendi debet Christi officium qui pro omnium salute natus est in hunc mundum Deinde infantes etiam ad foedus dei pertinent Nam Abraamo dixit Ero tui seminis tui post te Deus Et quia una est ratio salutis unum ostium una janua debuit etiam infantum haberi ratio his own salutary office and Childrens pertaining to the Covenant did with as much or more displeasure rebuke them for that their rebuke and signified it both by his countenance and voice So he charged them that they should by no means hinder Children from coming unto him * Aretius iterum Est enim ratio cur arcendi à Christo non sint Quia talium est regnum coelorum hoc est sunt haeredes vitae aeternae â—â—go à Christo qui janua est ad vitam non debent arceri Deinde cum talium sit regnum dei ergo horum magis est ad quorum similitudinem alii ut accipiant iidem redire debent because the Kingdom of God belong'd to such as they Thereby intimating that even those Children had a right unto it and were not therefore to be hindred from coming to him who was the way or rather the gate into it For if the Kingdom of God belong'd to such as they much more to those Children to whom elder persons ought to become like that they might be in a capacity of obtaining it As indeed otherwise what force is there in the reason alledg'd for the suffering and no way forbidding young Children to come unto him For they who have in purpose of heart what the other have only natuturally may both be invited to tend toward and be possess'd of the Kingdom of Heaven though the other be no way brought to Christ nor receive any blessing from him In as much as their humility and innocency is the result of God's spirit and of their own will and consequently more likely to be acceptable whereas the other 's is only the result of their constitution and age And I cannot therefore but think that the true reason of our Saviour's making use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or such instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or these for of such saith our Saviour is the Kingdom of heaven was not in the least to exclude Children from having a right to the Kingdom of Heaven as who alone were directly and immediately concern'd in the present Argument But to let the World know at the same time * Aret. in Matt. 19.13 c. Nec juvat quod aliquid hic urgent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 talium non horum Nam communem ostendit modum justificationis c. Amplius igitur aliquid dicere voluit hos pueros vitae haeredes esse ad illorum similitudinem nobis etiam redeundum esse that elder men ought to put on the properties of Children to make them partakers of it As he afterward (a) Mark 10.15
sanctification here spoken of not as an inward but an outward one and such an outward one too by which the party sanctified attains only the priviledge of being accounted of as a Christian Husband and accordingly of conveying to those Children that descend from them both a right to the Sacrament of Baptism For what less can be expected from a merciful God where the unbeliever though continuing such yet takes pleasure notwithstanding that in his Christian Consort And she on the other side though abominating his Infidelity yet in compliance with that marriage wherein Christianity found her cohabits with him notwithstanding and no doubt both doth and will employ all her kindness and endeavours to gain him to a farther approbation both of her and of the Religion she hath espous'd Which suppos'd a way will be open to give a clearer account of the thing intended and withal of the force it is of to persuade the believing Wifes continuing with the unbelieving Husband if he as is suppos'd in the present case is as willing to dwell with her The force thereof lying in this that the believing Wife should in that case be so far from being polluted by the converse of the unbelieving Husband which was no doubt these Corinthians fear when they put this case to S. Paul that on the contrary the unbelieving Husband should be so far sanctified by her as to be to her in the place of a Christian one and enjoy all the priviledges of such The unbelieving Husband by becoming one flesh with the believing Wife becoming so far Christian also and so accounted of both by God and the Church Of which they had this undeniable proof that the Children of those matches were not look'd upon as unclean or heathen which they must have been in part if the unbeliever had not been someway sanctified as well as the believer but accounted of as so far holy or Christian as to be admitted to those priviledges to which the Children of Christian Parents were and particularly to that Baptism by which a better holiness is convey'd This I take to be a fair and clear account of the Apostle's words and particularly of that holiness which he attributes to those Children that descend from the forementioned Parents And I am yet more confirmed in it by the fondness of that notion which hath been set up to supplant it and by which the Children of such matches become the issue of a lawful marriage and not of an unlawful mixture For beside that they who advance this notion make the words Else were your Children unclean c. to referr rather to the precept of the believer's cohabiting with the unbeliever than to the unbeliever's being sanctified by the believer to which last yet it apparently referrs and is assign'd by S. Paul as a proof of They suppose that in this notion of theirs which there is not the least ground for and which indeed this very place doth sufficiently confute For who ever said or could say that the marriages of the Heathen were unlawful which yet they must have been if there needed the cohabitation of the faitful to make them lawful and the Children that were born of them to be legitimate Nay who seeth not that S. Paul supposeth those marriages to be lawful when he requires the believing party to cohabit with the unbeliever For otherwise no doubt he would rather have advis'd to break off all commerce with the Infidel or proceed to a new contract Both which yet he is so far from that he seems to me not very willing to allow of a perfect breach even when the unbeliever doth depart from the believer For though he faith (l) 1 Cor. 7.15 that a brother or sister is not in bondage in such a case and may therefore if they please look upon themselves as loos'd from the unbeliever Yet he tells them (m) Ibid. withall that God hath called us to peace and therefore as I understand him that breaches of that nature would be avoided as much as might be And he tells them too (n) 1 Cor. 7.16 that if they would not be over forward to make use of that liberty which the unbeliever gave them by deserting them there might be hopes of the unbelieving Wife or Husband being wrought upon by the believer's patience and forbearance and reconcil'd both to them and their Religion However as there is no pretence from this place of the believer's making the marriage between the unbeliever and themselves to be a lawful one as which was so before Nor therefore for making the holiness of their Children to be no other than a civil one and by which they only became a legitimate issue So there is the more reason still to understand the holiness of that match and the issues of it as one that entitles them to the outward priviledges of Christianity and by which the unbelieving whether Husband or Wife comes to be accounted of as a Christian one and the Children of both parties as having a right to that Sacrament by which all are to be initiated into Christianity and partake of its Regeneration and Remission My third and last argument for the baptizing of the Infants or Children of Christian Parents shall be taken from the Circumcision of those Infants or Children which descended from the posterity of Abraham and after which I do not see what doubt can be well made of the other Partly upon the account of the Analogy there is between Circumcision and Baptism and partly upon account of the Children of Christian Parents having as good a right to the blessings exhibited in them as the Children of those who were of the posterity of Abraham For supposing as was before (o) Expl. of the Sacram. in general Part 4. shewn and may hereafter (p) Answ to the object against Infant-Baptism be farther clear'd that Circumcision relates to the same spiritual blessings with Baptism and particularly to the righteousness of Faith And supposing farther that the Children of Christian Parents have as good a right to those blessings and that righteousness as the Children of those that were of the posterity of Abraham By the same reason that the Children of these were intitled to that Circumcision which was intended to exhibit those blessings and that righteousness among them the Children of the other shall be admitted to that Baptism which was intended to exhibit them among us Those Children which have an equal right to the blessings exhibited having an equal right to those means which were intended for the exhibition of them Now that the Children of Christian Parents have as good a right to the former blessings and righteousness as the Children of the Posterity of Abraham will appear from those Parents of theirs being equally the Children (q) Rom. 4.11 of Abraham with those that were of his posterity For being equally his Children they must consequently be suppos'd to give their Children as good a right to the former
blessings and the means that was intended to exhibit them among us as the posterity of Abraham did their Children to the like blessings and that means which among them was intended for the exhibition of them II. The Baptism of Infants being thus made out from the Scripture and by such passages thereof also as cannot be easily avoided Pass we on to enquire what countenance it hath from Antiquity as which if it be any thing considerable will the more firmly establish it Where the first that I shall take notice of is a passage of Justin Martyr I do not mean what is commonly quoted out of his Questions and Answers ad Orthodoxos (r) Quaest 56. it being questionable enough (Å¿) Vid. Coci Censur quorund Script in Script Just Martyr whether that Book were his or at least as we now have it but what may be found in his second Aplogy (t) Pag. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and concerning which there is not any the least controversie in the Church In which Apology speaking of the excellency of the Christian Law above that of any humane ones in setting bounds to the carnal desires of men he hath these words And there are many men and women of sixty and seventy years of Age who having from their Childhood been discipled unto Christ have all their time continued uncorrupt or Virgins And I boast that I can shew such among all sorts of men For why should we also speak of that innumerable multitude of men who have chang'd from intemperance and so have learnt these things For Christ called not the just or temperate to repentance but the ungodly and intemperate and unjust Which words to an unbiast Reader cannot well signifie less than Childrens being then baptiz'd into Christianity That Father not only making mention of certain persons who had from their childhood been discipled unto Christ which we know from our Saviour (u) Matt. 28.19 to have been effected by Baptism and continu'd too all their time uncorrupt or Virgins which yet is a comtent proof of their being baptiz'd when Children but opposing them to such persons as had chang'd from intemperance and rather learnt that purity afterward than been discipled into it at the very first That opposition of his making it yet more evident that he meant such persons as were discipled to Christ from their very childhood and before they were in a capacity of learning him and his doctrine by instruction To this is Justin Martyr subjoyn we another of Irenaeus which is yet more clear for the Baptism of Infants For Christ saith that Father (w) Omnes enim venit per semetipsum salvare Omnes inquam qui per eum renascuntur in Deum infantes parvulos pueros jâ—venes seniores Ideo per omnem venit aetatem infantibus infans factus sanctificans infantes in parvulis parvulus sanctificans hanc ipsam habentes aetatem Adv. haeres li.a.c. 39. came to save all persons by himself All I say who by him are born again to God Infants and little ones and Children and Young Men and Old Therefore he came in every Age and was made an Infant to Infants sanctifying Infants and a little one among little ones sanctifying those of that age c. Where we have him not only affirming Christ to have come to save Infants as well as others yea to have been made an Infant himself to sanctifie them which shews them in his opinion to have had a general right to the blessings of Christianity but speaking of several of them as born again unto God by Christ which is as much as to say baptiz'd That as it is the way by which all are to be so born even by the Doctrine of (x) Joh. 3. â— our Saviour so the way too by which the Antients apprehended it to be effected For thus where Justin Martyr intreats of the Baptism of those of his time he tells us (y) Apolog. 2. p. 93. 4. that they who were to partake of it were brought by the Christians to a place where water was and there regenerated after that manner of regeneration wherewith they themselves had been And to the same purpose also this very Irenaeus (z) Adv. haereâ— li. 1. c. 18. because not only attributing the same regeneration to it but representing it as the Doctrine of the Gnosticks as to that Baptism which they set up against our Saviour's that it was necessary for those who had received perfect knowledge to be so regenerated into that vertue or power which is above all things Which passage with the former one makes it yet more manifest that Irenaeus meant by such Infants as were born again by Christ unto God such as had been regenerated by Baptism and consequently that the Baptism of such was no stranger in his days I think I shall not need to insist upon the days of Tertullian because what the practice of that time was is evident from his disputing against Infant Baptism or at least advising to delay it There being no place for such a dispute or advice if the thing it self had not been then in use and in use too as he himself intimates in obedience to that precept of our Saviour which enjoyn'd the suffering little Children to come unto him in order to their partaking of his blessing and Kingdom And indeed as Origen who liv'd not long after him doth not only assert the same practice of infant Baptism but affirm * In Rom. 16. the Church to have receiv'd it as a Tradition from the Apostles So Tertullian's Scholar and great admirer S. Cyprian †Epist 59. gives such an ample testimony to it that I know not what need to be added to it For one Fidus having question'd him concerning the cause of Infants who he thought ought not to be baptiz'd till the eighth day according to the law of Circumcision S. Cyprian in a Council of sixty six Bishops made this following Answer to his demand That he and the whole Council that was with him had quite other thoughts of that affair they universally judging that the mercy and grace of God was to be deny'd to none that was born of men And again that if remission of sins were upon the faith of the parties given to the greatest Offenders neither was any of them debar'd from Baptism and grace how much less ought a new-born Infant to be debarred of it who had no other sin to answer for but what he drew from Adam and who came so much the more easily to receive pardon of sin because it was not his own proper sins but those of others that were to be forgiven him For which cause the opinion of the Council was that no one ought to be debar'd by them from Baptism and the Grace of God and that if that were to be observ'd and retain'd as to all persons whatsoever it was much more to be observ'd and retain'd as to Infants
it in a rational way What is spoken of their regeneration is not to be drawn into example here unless the same Scripture did any where intimate that there was no other way of regeneration than that or it could not be otherwise produced Which beside the affront it offers to the omnipotency of God's spirit and which even in men must be supposed to have the chiefest stroke will need no other confutation than Gods creating man at first after his own image without any concurrence of his and producing in our Saviour even in his conception that perfect holiness which was in him For why may not God produce in an Infant that imperfect regeneration whereof we speak as well as he did that more perfect Righteousness and true Holiness wherewith our first Parents were created or that more excellent as well as more durable one which he did in our Saviour from the very beginning and which the Scripture it self attributes to the Holy Ghost's overshadowing his Mother's Womb But it may be though Infants are not incapable of regeneration and so far forth cannot with reason be debarr'd the Sacrament of it Yet there is evidence enough upon the postfact that no such thing is collated in their Baptism and that Baptism of theirs therefore not to be look'd upon as a legitimate one For if the regeneration we speak of were collated in the Baptism of Infants it would because all Infants are alike qualifi'd for that Sacrament be collated in some measure upon all of them which yet the future behaviour of many of them doth render justly questionable Many of them being untoward enough when they first come of years though advantaged by a sutable education and others as before said taken away early from their Christian Parents and both educated in a contrary Religion and made zealous Proselytes of it Which things how they should be consistent with that regeneration whereof we speak is at least very difficult to apprehend And possibly these two things have stuck more with considering men than most of the other Arguments that have been brought against Infant Baptism and have perhaps given as much trouble to all those who have duly consider'd them But whether they are in truth of that force which they seem to be of may well be doubted by those who shall consider this regeneration as the state of Infants requires or at least makes it reasonable enough to do I mean as a weak and imperfect thing and rather as the seed of a more strong and perfect regeneration than a throughly form'd and well setled one For so if we conceive of it we shall find no great difficulty to apprehend first that where there is not only nothing of a Christian education to excite and improve it but a contrary one from the very beginning and such a one in particular as Christian Children have from the Turks So I say it will not be difficult to apprehend but it may be perfectly overwhelm'd and choaked by it As that seed in the Parable was that was sown among Thorns or as that may be suppos'd to be that is covered over with rubbish and hindred by it from sprouting forth And though I cannot say the same of the regeneration of such persons as have afterwards had a Christian and it may be a careful education to excite it for here one would think it should every where more forcibly exert it self yet this I may which will be of equal force that in that case it may equally fail for want of those persons exciting it in whom that seed is sown or of their answering by their care and endeavour that education which is made use of in order to it For Baptism as hath been often said being in the nature of a stipulation or Contract where somewhat is to be perform'd by the party Baptized as soon as he is in a capacity to do it as well as by him with whom the contract is made No wonder if when the baptized person comes to be in a capacity to perform his part and doth not he with whom the Contract is made do first withdraw his blessing from that which he hath before sown in him and afterward the seed it self For in either of these cases we cannot expect such indications or effects of the Baptismal regeneration as otherwise we might and as do actually shew themselves in many of those who have been made partakers of it It may be enough that God hath furnish'd such persons with a regeneration which during their minority will qualifie them for and secure them to his Kingdom and a regeneration too which if well improv'd will grow into a more complete and effectual one and in fine bring them to a due holiness and unto God. If the baptized persons will when they are in a capacity to do better neglect to excite it or will oppose it they must thank themselves if they miscarry and not lay the blame upon any failure on Christ's part and much less deny his having conferred it on them The third and last great Objection against the Baptism of Infants is their being incapable of answering what is prerequired to it on the part of the persons that are to be baptized or is to be performed by them in the receiving of it Which incapacity they argue as to the former of these from the Scripture's pre-requiring Faith and Repentance to it as the latter from that stipulation which Baptism involves and which Infants are equally incapacitated to make The Answer which our Catechism makes to these difficulties or at least to the former is that they promise them both by their sureties which promise when they come to Age themselves are bound to perform And possibly this Answer might be better digested than it is if the minds of those who argue against Infant-Baptism were more free and unprejudic'd than they commonly appear to be Because first what is urg'd against Infant-Baptism upon the account of its being a stipulation or Contract is equally of force against the Circumcision of Infants because that was equally a Covenant or rather a sign of it and a means of entring into it Which notwithstanding the Infants of Abraham's posterity were by the Command of God himself admitted to it and thereupon reckon'd as in Covenant with him Now if the Infants of Abraham's posterity were by the Command of God admitted into Covenant with him What should hinder the Infants of Christians from Covenanting in like manner with him and so far forth from being admitted to the participation of that Sacrament which is a sign of the same gracious Covenant and a means of entring into it Again Secondly though Infants cannot in strictness Covenant with God because neither having reason enough to apprehend the terms of it nor will to determine themselves to the performance of them Yet as they may by favour be admitted to a partnership in a Covenant and where God or Christ is the person with whom they contract
obliged when they come of years to answer their part in it so by the same favour of him with whom they contract what is done to them or for them may be interpreted as a promise on their part for the performance of it By which means though they should not be capable of a strict and proper stipulation yet they may of that which is interpretatively such The only farther doubt in this affair is whether God accepts of such a stipulation which his accepting of it under the Covenant of Circumcision and from the Children of Abraham's natural posterity will easily remove For the Covenant of Baptism being no way inferior in it self to or rather but the same Covenant in a different dress with the Covenant of Circumcision nor the Children of Abraham's spiritual seed inferior to those of the natural one What was accepted of under the Covenant of Circumcision and from the Children of Abraham's natural seed may as reasonably be presum'd to be accepted of under Baptism and from the Children of his spiritual How much more when as was before shewn his Son and our Saviour Christ (g) Mark 10.14 hath commanded Children to be brought to him for his benediction and grace and his Apostle and our great Instructer S. Paul declar'd the Children of Christians to be holy yea where but one of the Parents is so Thus we may rationally answer what is objected against the stipulation of Infants and consequently against their taking upon them what is requir'd of them in the receiving of Baptism Which will leave nothing to us to make answer to but their supposed incapacity for that faith and repentance which seem to be pre-required to it and which one would think they that are to be baptiz'd should bring with them in some measure as well as make a promise of But beside that those Texts (h) Mark 16.15 16. Acts 2.38 Acts 8.37 which speak of these prerequisites do all manifestly relate to adult persons and such as are brought to Baptism by the preaching of the Gospel and therefore not lightly to be urg'd in the case of Infants There are these three substantial reasons to make a difference between Infants and Men as to this particular First that Infants are not admitted to Baptism and the graces of it upon the account of any right in themselves but of the right of their Parents Secondly that they are admitted for the present to a lesser portion of the Divine graces than adult persons are and such as are rather the seeds of them than any throughly form'd or well setled ones Thirdly that what right they receive by their Baptism to future and more perfect priviledges depends for their actually attaining them upon their exhibiting that faith and repentance which at the time of their Baptism they only made a promise of For if as is alledged in the first reason Infants are not admitted to Baptism and the Graces of it upon the account of any right in themselves but of the right of their Parents What should hinder the Church from lending * Accommodat illis mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant aliorum cor ut credant aliorum linguam ut fateantur ut quoniam quod aegri sunt alio peccante praegravantur sic cum hi sani sunt alio pro eis confitente salventur Aug. de Verb. Apost Serm. 10. or Infants from borrowing from it the feet of other men that they may come the heart of others that they may believe the tongue of others that they may confess that because in that they were sick they were pressed down by anothers sin they may when they are made whole be saved by the confession of another If again as is alledged in the second reason and prov'd before in the matter of regeneration Infants are admitted for the present to a lesser portion of the divine Graces than adult persons are and such as are rather the seeds of them than any throughly form'd or well setled one Who can think but that a like difference ought to be between them as to the pre-requisites of their Baptism and that therefore not to be urg'd as to the case of Infants which was prerequired of the other In fine if as is alledged in the third reason what right Infants receive by their Baptism to future and more perfect priviledges depends for their attaining of them upon their exhibiting that Faith and Repentance which at the time of their Baptism they only made a promise of It may be time enough when that right is to be actuated to exhibit that Faith and Repentance and so make way for it as they who are of years do Otherwise more shall be suppos'd to be requir'd of Infants than is of adult persons themselves Because that Faith and Repentance is not requir'd of the latter till the full priviledges of Baptism are to be bestow'd upon them And I shall only add that if care were taken that the Faith and Repentance of those who were baptiz'd in their Infancy were as well enquir'd into and prov'd as their knowledge in the Catechism is before they were allow'd to be confirm'd The Church would not only better discharge the trust that is reposed in her as concerning those persons whose Faith and Repentance were not before prov'd nor could be but more effectually stop the mouths of the Anabaptists than all the Arguments she or her Sons offer for Infant Baptism will ever be able to do For so she would make it appear that though she contented her self in their Baptism with the promise that was made for them or rather with that tacit stipulation which their very Baptism involves Yet she was as mindful when they came of years to oblige them to the performance of it and to give due proofs in their own persons of all those things which Baptism in adult persons doth either pre-suppose or oblige to the performance of PART XII Whether Baptism may be repeated The Contents What the true state of the present question is and that it is not founded in any suppos'd illegitimateness of the former Baptism but upon supposition of the baptized persons either not having before had or forfeited the regeneration of it or fallen off from that Religion to which it doth belong Whereupon enquiry is made whether if such persons repent and return they ought to be baptiz'd anew or received into the Church without What there is to perswade the repeating of Baptism and what the Church hath alledg'd against it The Churches arguments from Eph. 4.4 and Joh. 13.10 proposed but wav'd The Churches opinion more firmly established in the no direction there is in Scripture for rebaptization in those cases but rather the contrary and in the no necessity there is of it The Arguments for rebaptization answer'd IV. THE fourth and last question relating to the right Administration of Baptism is whether it may be repeated Which question is not founded in any suppos'd illegitimacy of the former