unto you and to your children and to all that are afarre of even as many as the Lord our God shall call where they say Peter witnesseth that the divine promise belongs to those which by reason of their birth are farre of but by the wonderfull providēce of God are called to that ordinance by lawfull meanes such as these before named and Chamier the great protectour of our religion against Bellarmine not to trouble you with what the Papists say affirmes that if our servants vvere truely servants such as Abrahams vvere they then drevv a right from their masters for Baptisme for vve read sayes he that Abraham circumcised all his servants but such servants as for the most part vve have novv a dayes because indeed they are free men hee thinkes should not be so handled in the same capacity hee thinkes to be also such as by the right of vvarre are subjected to Princes for such kind of subjects also remaine free which if it be true and that that exception onely lyes against their Baptisme with all the great things it seals and conveighes to us I should much bewayle the losse of slavery to the Christian world since one good man by that tenure might have made a hundred and a hundred infidels by being subjected to one man might have bene Christians in a moment Thus you see how farre they make the covenant extend indeed the parallell of circumcision carryes it strongly and for one as well as another you see therefore that which qualifies for infant Baptisme is some good and pertinent relation to a beleever but if you aske me now what denominates this beleever and qualifies him for communicating this Christian qualification Chamier sayeth vvee allovv not all infants to be baptized but those onely of beleevers that is of baptized persons So that as the Baptisme in the parent qualifyes for baptisme in the infant Tom. 4. p. 270. Not to inlarge in this the charity of the world is very great and if Mr. Davenport mistooke not in his complaint in his writing to the Classis of Amsterdam hee saith that there was required of him an unlimited baptizing of all infants which were presented in the church of what nation or sect soever although that either of the parents were Christians were not otherwayes manifest then by answering Yea at the reading of the liturgie of Baptisme publikely or by nodding their head or some other gesture they seemed to be willing Booke of complaints 1.2 And that you may see this further cleare in the authority of a learned man who speakes not onely his owne judgement but the judgement of other orthodoxe with him VValleus a reverend Professor of Leyden in his treatise De Baptis infant p. 494. saith thus Quaeritur ergo de infantibus eorum quorum parentes sunt impij etsi nomine Christiani c. It is demaunded concerning the children of them whose parents are wicked although Christians in name or whose parents are excommunicated or whose parents are hereticks or Idolaters as the infants of Papists Anabaptists c. By way of answer hee allowes all such children to be baptized VVe thinke saith he that Baptisme is not to be denyed to those qui ex stirpe sunt Christiana which are of a Christian stock and which without an interruption of a publike Apostasy from the faith may referre their kindred to the faithfull such as in Christian common-wealthes are those procreated of Christian and baptized parents onely he would not have them baptized against their parents consent because they be their goods and possession and hee would have their parēts or those which offer them to baptisme answer that they will bring them up in the Christian profession vvhich if they doe vve judge sayes he that all infants vvhich come from a Christian stock should be baptized if they be offered to baptisme according to the order of the Church although their next parents should labour vvith unholines of life or heresy or the crime of idolatry And this hee goes on to proove strenuously as well he may from the manifest perpetuall practise of the whole Church of Israel in the administration of circumcision which as in a maine proportion it helpes to the baptizing of infants so it will help also to severall such consequences as those are from this opinion so stated of the learned and orthodoxe you may see that it is no such great honour to be able to intitle infants to baptisme which is common to you with unholy persons with excommunicate and with Idolaters And secondly that it is an effect of great charity to intitle the children of such a parentage to regeneration and the Holy Ghost For to proceed Though now in the derivative title for the chayne of Baptisme they all agree that what ever title the child hath comes by vertue of the fathers covenant yet the immediate qualification is inherent in the infant for they affirme that Christian infants have repentance faith and regeneration The Lutherans are so much of this opinion if you will beleeve Bellarmine Tom. 2. p. 294. f. that they beleeve that infants vvhilst they are baptized use reason heare the vvord of God beleeve love vvhich as hee affirmes vvas publikely determined in the Synode of VVittenbergh An. 1536. Which as hee saith doth so openly repugne to the truth as it doth injury to humane sence for how is it credible saith he that an infant which cryes and resists what he can when hee is washed or sprinkled should understand what he doeth The Calvinists and more orthodoxe Divines receive it generally and assuredly that infants bring to baptisme as their immediate qualification regeneration faith repentance c. though not actuall or by way of declaration to others they argue thus If infants naturally are some way capable of Adams sinne so of unbeleefe disobedience transgression then Christian infants supernaturally and by grace are someway capable of Christs righteousnes and so of faith obedience and sanctification but the forner is true therefore the latter The consequence they proove hence that else they would not see the kingdome of God Iohn 3.5.6 Iesus ansvvered and sayd unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be borne of vvater and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God that vvhich is borne of the flesh is flesh and that vvhich is borne of the spirit is spirit but Christian infants dying in infancy shall see the kingdome of God and not be damned therefore they are borne againe of the spirit and so must needs in some measure have repentance faith and holynes Againe they say that if wee cannot object Gods worke in nature but doe beleeve that our infants are reasonable creatures and are borne not bruit beasts but men though actually they can manifest no reason nor understanding more then beasts then neither can we justly object Gods worke in grace but are to beleeve that our infants are sanctified creatures and are borne
unbaptized since it is not my part here to proove that infant Baptisme as well as many other unwarrantable practises crept not in betimes but to shew by story what was the most usuall and authenticke practise of the administration of this ordinance or what was the opinion and judgement of the most antient and learned men about it The next authority I shall bring is of Nazianzen another Greeke Father a man of great esteeme authority he plainly councells that Baptisme should be differred Donec pueri de fide sua aliquid possint respondere till children should be able to ansvver something of their faith and therefore councells to deferre Baptisme at least till the third yeare of their age Wherein although hee made hast not being altogether perhaps free from the superstition of the daunger of dying without Baptisme which crept in betimes yet overcome by the truth and the reason of the ordinance hee judged it fit to deferre it till such time as they were capable of having manifesting actuall faith This famous authority of a man so great and learned Bellarmine answers onely thus That other Fathers vvere of another minde and that the commodity is very little but the daunger to wit according to his opinion of the necessity of Baptisme to salvation is very great The next and last authority I shall bring shall be that of Tertulliā who flourished about 203. yeares after Christ the most famous of the Latin Fathers of him Hierom in an epistle of the Christian writers affirmes that nothing vvas more learned or acute a man of that authority with the famous and antient Cyprian that hee called him his master and as Hierome affirmes of him hee never past a day vvithout the reading of Tertullian This Tertullian in a treatise that hee hath of Baptisme towards the end hath these expressions first in the generall Baptismum non temerè credendum esse sciant quorum officium est That Baptisme is not slightly or rashly to be committed to any let them knovv vvhose duty it concernes To give to every one that asketh belongs to almes rather consider this Give not that vvhich is holy to dogs nor cast your pearles to svvyne And lay hands suddainly on no man least you partake of their sinnes then hee apologizeth why the Eunuch Paul were so soone baptized then goes on Itaque pro cujusque personae conditione ac dispositione etiam aetate cunctatio baptismi utilior est praecipue tamen circaparvulos Therefore in regard of the condition and disposition of each person the differring of Baptisme is more proffitable especially for young children for vvhat necessity is it sayth hee for the vvitnesses to expose themselves to daunger c. It is true the Lord saith do not forbid them to come to me let them come therefore vvhen they grovvolder vvhen they learne vvhen they are taught vvhy they come Fiant Christiani quum Christum nosse potuerint Let them be made Christians vvhen they can knovv Christ Then he tells them They deale more vvarily in secular things that divine thinges are given vvhere they vvould not betrust earthly And lastly concludes that they vvho understand the vveight of Baptisme vvill rather feare the attaining then the differring of it adding that Fides integra secura est de salute An intier faith is secure of salvation Thus the excellent antient Tertullian Nor can that stand to any purpose which some who are loath to have so great and antient an authority against them in the point of infāt Baptisme alleage that parhaps Tertullian speakes here of the Baptisme onely of those infants whose parents were unbeleevers because hee speakes of the daunger of the witnesses or suerties for where the parents are Christians there the witnesses seeme not to be exposed to that daunger To which I answer that the witnesses were not freed from daūger though the parents were Christians for though the parents may help with the witnesses to the education of the child yet they cannot secure themselves nor others that they shall stand to that covenant which is made for them Besides the reason of his assertiō against infant Baptisme runnes upon principles common to all infants of what ever parents they be borne for hee would have none come till they be capable of learning being taught why they come hee would have none declar'd Christians by that ceremony till they can know Christ and concludes that hee would not have divine mysteries be trusted with infants whom wee would judge it improper uncomely to be trust with earthly and secular affaires I shall content my self with what hath bene said already to this head having neither the desire nor the commodity to make a large and generall search besides that a few of the most authentique most antient writers after the Scriptures ought to be of more authority then many hundreds if there could so many be found of latter times it being my undertaking to proove that most antiently beginning with Christ and the Apostles times the subjects of Baptisme were persons professing faith and repentance not infants and that the most authentique and primitive Fathers were of this minde and judgement We have done therefore with this head wherein if the most authentique antient authority be ours and the rest necessitated to their opiniōs by false premises and principles by no meanes to be received or allowed and which also as rationally produce other cōsequences which in these times men are loath to admit of no men I hope will blame us for our present beleefe concerning the subject of Baptisme nor object hereafter as an argumēt against us the authority of the fathers CHAP. XVI In which is handled whether Baptisme be to be repeated but more especially whether such as were baptized in infancy should be accounted baptized or are to have that ordinance administred to them HAving givē the due bounds to the ordinance of Baptisme in respect of the subject of it and sayd what I judged cōvenient to that purpose there is a very considerable question yet remaining and which cannot be left out in this discourse and that is If infants ought not to be baptized whether such as were baptized in infācy should be baptized againe Wherein first will come to be considered whether Baptisme be to be repeated or no I answer there have bene some of that opinion as Mercion and his followers who had their first second and third baptisme Also a religion called the Hemerobaptistae that is the every day baptizers that avowed because wee sinned every day therefore wee should be every day baptized and practised accordingly Secondly according to the received opinion that I conceave it is not to be repeated First because the covenant of grace is but once made and struck with every man this is the seale of the Covenant it is the Sacrament of regeneration initiation and incorporation but these things are not capable of being reïterated therefore the seale and
reasons he gives to that purpose so as if you will sprinkle ye must fall upon a new question which may for ought I know be much disputed and that is what part is to be sprinkled or if you will sprinkle the whole man which cannot be done exactly to be sure not easily it were better to follow the ceremony of immersion but by what reason aspersion or sprinkling came into use in the world instead of immersion or dipping ye shall find fastned upon two considerations of charity to sicke and weake persons and charity to tender children although as the same Author affirmes mersion was more usuall even for children to the dayes of Gregory who was Bishop of Rome Anno 590 and Isiodor For Gregory giving an account of the threefold dipping hath these words Vt dum tertiò infans ab aquis educitur resurrectio triduani temporis exprimatur vvhilst the child is dravvne out of the vvater three times the resurrection after three dayes buriall may be signified Epist Greg. lib. 1. Epist 41. An account of this charity for sicke persons ye have exprest in an epistle of Cyprian to Magnus lib. 1. Epist 6. In the times of Cyprian there was a question mooved concerning Baptisme by aspersion or perfusion that is powering water to wit hovv they vvere baptized vvho in respect of infirmity or sicknes could not be dipt vvhether such sprinkling vvere to be accounted for true baptisme by which demaund you may perceave that in Cyprians time immersion or dipping was so much the usuall and received forme for Baptisme as it was made a great question whether they were rightly baptized who desired Baptisme and yet by reason of infirmity could not receive it but by sprinkling or aspersion Cyprian answers modestly and sayes Hee vvould not have his opinion be a prejudice to any other mans either opinion or practise but his charity extends rather to thinke that in such cases Baptisme may be received by sprinkling it were to long to quote his expressions wherein he is large But to conclude all you see by a current of authority from Scripture especially and after by Authors antient and moderne that dipping or immersion hath bene the old way of Baptizing even for children in the dayes of Gregory a reason of the alteration I have in part shewed you from the quotation out of Cyprian A more particular account Iacobus Pamelius shall give you as you may read in his annotations upon the 76 Epist of Cyprian his words are these pa. 215. Quum propter aegritudinem immergi sive intingi quod propriè Baptizari est aegri non possent aqua salutari perfundebantur sive aspergebantur eademratione ab Ecclesia occidentali primum observari caepisse consuetudinem adspertionis qua nunc utimur existimo ob teneritudinem nempè infantium quum jam rarissimus esset adultorum baptismus VVhen in respect of vveakenesse those vvho vvere sicke could not be dipt or plundged vvhich is properly to be baptized they had vvater povvred upon them or vvere sprinkled vvith it from the same reason I suppose the custome of sprinkling vvhich vve novv use to have bene first observed by the vvesterne church to vvit for the tendernesse of infants vvhen as novv the baptisme of those of age vvas very rare then he goes one Olim certè tum in occidentali tum in orientali Ecclesia immergi solere veteres suis scriptis manifestum faciunt Romae id adhuc usitatum aetate Gregorij manifestum sit ex ipsius Sacramentorum libro idque apud Anglos etiamnum observari ad marginem adnotavit Erasmus Certainly that of old time in the easterne and vvesterne church they vvere used to dipp the antient make manifest by their vvritings and that it vvas used at Rome in the time of Gregory is manifest from his booke of the Sacraments and that it vvas yet used amongst the English Erasmus hath noted in the margent So Pamel I have bene large in this subject but I hope it will be of use to us both for the assuring of our practise in this particular the answering of such whose peremptory persuasion the other way for some there are so persuaded give themselves and their friends trouble I shall take a knit from this to observe with which I shall conclude what a tyrant custome is that dares stand up contradict a thing so evident in it self so agreable to the reason of the ordinance to the cleare phrase and expression of Scripture to the practise of antient times in so much that in Cyprians time it was a question mooved in the Church whether those that in respect of infirmity could not receive baptisme the antient and usuall way and yet earnestly desired it might be rightly baptized by sprinkling vvhether such as Cyprians vvords are to Magnus might be accounted lavvfull Christians that is whether their Baptisme so administred were right or a nullity I say you see here the tyranny boldnesse of custome that having shaped as it is apt to doe our mindes to one way dares now pretend for that alone with the exclusion of others and would persuade us that nothing should be but what wee have seene to be and counts every thing error that hath not fallen under our sence or experience In things civill and indifferent I can be content that custome shall be my guide shall take that for good coyne that the world stampes but in matter of ordinances and things sacred the rule of which lies in institution and not in our liberty or choise and the blessing of which lyes in conforming to the rule and institution I beseech you let us be wairy to judge with righteous judgement and not by that appearance which the customes of this world upon their worldly and carnall though seeming wise considerations hold forth to us CHAP. VI. Wherein is shewed the agreements and differences that the word preached hath with the Sacraments together wïth certain Corollaries giving light to the present controversy HAving out of the Scripture considered the use ends of Baptisme to which the ceremony appeares to be extreamely proper and opposite wee will now to bring further light to this ordinance and in order to a discours of the proper subject of Baptisme and of the controversy thereabout consider the agreements that are common to it with the administration of the word and that wherein these two ordinances seeme to differ They agree first in the efficient cause Baptisme and the other Sacrament have the same author and institutor that the word hath scil the King Priest and Prophet of his church and as the same efficient so the same administring causes those that were to teach had order to baptize Mat. 28.19 Goe therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. And 1. Cor. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and stevvards of the mysteries of God Secondly they are both instruments in
what hee doth and what he receives that that ordinance which ought to be administred but once and is of so great an use and influence may be received to his best advantage whilst in the interim hee is in the hands of God fit and exposed to receive the preservation of his spirituall being in the same way in which it was wrought and by those unalterable bonds of election conversion safe enough till he shal be capable of setting his seale and receiving Gods visibly to that which in a secret and unknowne way was wrought in him CHAP. IX In which entrance is made into the consideration of the great argument for Infant Baptisme drawne from the circumcision of Infants by way of answer whereunto five particulars are handled the first whereof is treated on in this Chapter namely what circumcision was to the Iewes and whether the qualification requisite to it was regeneration or the infusion of gratious habits HAving thus layd downe the state of Baptisme and cōsidered severall things about it sufficient for my owne satisfaction and clearely also design'd the right subject of that ordinance I come now in order to a more full discharge of my self to this controversy for a more generall satisfactiō to consider the particular reasons by which the patrons of Infant Baptisme would inforce it The first whereof which seemes to be a great one is that the seede of Abraham with whom and whose seede God was in covenant received ordinances and particularly circumcision by vertue of their birth and that wee being ingrafted into that stock have power to derive a capacity of ordinances to our children else the priviledges of Christians the New Testament would be lesse then those of the Iewes of the old Testament which is not to be imagined I take this to be the summe of that argument which seemes to carry the greatest weight to speake lowdest for Infant Baptisme of any other Here divers things by way of answer are to be considered first what circumcision was to the Iewes whether the qualification required to it was regeneration or the infusion of gratious habits for if not then there will be found to be this great and essentiall difference namely the qualification of the subject Secondly what ever that should proove how far the ordinances of the old Testament should regulate determine by way of rule and institution those of the New if not then the parallel of circumcision is not fit to beare the weight of an institution Thirdly how we are ingrafted into Abrahams covenant and by what tittle wee are called Abrahams children for we are not to clayme the same things by different tenures Fourthly how far the Iewes by vertue of their being Abrahams seede could pretend to New Testament ordinances and if they by their birthright could not then neither can we by any such birthright or carnall generation Fifthly whether though Infant Baptisme should not be the priviledges of Christians their churches might justly be said to be as great or greater then the priviledges of the Iewes and their Churches and state For the first I must professe I am not Iew enough to understand the full drift of that ordinance and although men are bold in commenting and interpreting all types and ceremonies of the old covenant after their owne apprehensions yet it is safe to be sober and to advance no further then the Scripture guides This I am persuaded of that as they were formed particularly to that state of the Iewish church so they had meanes to understand them for their comfort edification to better advantage then we have but it would not be hard to tell you what some have thought and perhaps to as much purpose as those who are of a different opinion for this notion received that the parallel of circumcision must be the pillar of infant Baptisme hath I am afraid to much determined streightned the interpretation of that ordinance the places which speake concerning it Ambrose upon the 4. of the Rom. saith Circumcisio aliquid habet dignitatis sed signum est tantum quod signum ideo accipiebant filij Abraham ut scirentur ejus filij esse qui credens Deo hoc signum acciperet ut aemuli essent paternae fidei Circumcision hath something of dignity but it is a signe onely vvhich signe the children of Abraham did therefore receive that they might be knovvne to be his seede vvho beleeving in God received this signe that they might be emulators of their fathers faith Ierome upon the 3. of the Gal. saith Because Christ vvas to spring from the seede of Abraham and many ages vvere to passe from Abraham to Christ the vvise God least the seede of beloved Abraham should be mingled vvith other nations and should by degrees be joyned more familiarly distinguisht the flock of Israel by a certain marke or circumcision then for 40. yeares together in the vvildernesse none vvere circumcised because they vvere out of the daunger of such mixtures being alone but assoone as they vvere past the banks of Iordan circumcision prevented the error of mingling vvith others vvhereas it is vvritten that they vvere circumcised that second time by Ioshua it signifies that circumcision ceased in the vvildernesse vvhich vvas rationally used in Egypt The Apostle Rom. 4. doth not call circumcision a seale of the covenant or promise but of the righteousnes of faith which sayes Origen upon this place vvas to seale shut up the righteousnes of faith vvhich in its time vvas to be revealed that is under the figure and types of that carnall circumcision was secretly signified and vayled the circumcision of the heart which is the true justification that Christ was to bring or as Chrysostome Theophilact and others it vvas called a seale of the righteousnes of faith because it vvas given to Abraham as a seale and testimony of that righteousnes vvhich hee had acquired by faith Novv this seemes to be the priviledge of Abraham alone not to be transferd to others as if circumcision in vvhom ever it vvas vvere a testimony of divine righteousnes for as it vvas the priviledge of Abraham that hee should be the father of all the faithfull as vvell circumcised as uncircumcised and being already the father of all uncircumcised having faith in uncircumcision hee received first the signe of circumcision that hee might be the father of the circumcised novv because he had this priviledge in respect of the righteousnes vvhich he had acquired by faith therefore the signe of circumcision vvas to him a seale of the righteousnes of faith but to the rest of the Ievves it vvas a signe they vvere Abrahams seede but not a seale of the righteousnes of faith as all the Ievves also vvere not the fathers of many nations This appeares first because Paul joynes these two together he received the signe of circumcision a seale of the righteousnes of faith that he might be the father of all that
the spirituall seede and heires according to promise then they and we pretend both alike in new Testament ordinances with this difference onely to the Iew first and then to the Gentiles CHAP. XIII Wherein is handled the fifth and last question in answer to the argument drawn from circumcision scil whether Infants not prooving the subject of Baptisme the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great as the priviledges of the Iewes and their state QVestion 5. Though infants should not proove to be the subject of Baptisme yet whether the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great and greater then the priviledges of the Iewes and their state No man is willing to loose by change and our children are so great a peece of us as that what they loose wee feele It must first be affirmed that the Iewes had this peculiar honour proper both to their persons and the land of their habitation and dwelling their Temple also other ordinances that they were types of thinges to come and in that respect were many thinges performed by them and many thinges predicated of them which else would not have beene as the land was holy but typically and the Temple holy but typically and all the inhabitants of all ages and degrees unlesse under a particular defilement and uncleannesse were denominated holy but typically also Now what ever was a type in that wherein it was a type whether persons or ordinances c. of all such things as types it may be affirmed First that they are inferiour to their antitypes that is to the thing figured or shewed by them Secondly that they are not true in themselves being a shadow of thinges to come but in the body or truth which they figure or type out Thirdly that when the antitype or truth is fullfilled or performed the type ceaseth now it seemes to be agreed by all hands that not onely places and persons ceremonies and events were types but the Sacraments of the Iewes and former times were types and shadowes of our Sacraments not to instance in any but in circumcision as relating to typising out Baptisme which is agreed on all sides to be a type of our baptisme yea so far some urge it as a type that they would therefore have infants baptized because infants were circumcised the antitype being to answer the type but upō how great a mis-take they so urge it we shall shew hereafter when wee shall make that manifest that a great reason of the difference and not baptizing infants of beleevers ariseth from the consideration of the typicalnes of circumcision for the present though it be generally graunted yet wee further make it manifest to be a type of Baptisme by examining that place Coll. 2.11.12 In vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him through the faith of the operation of God vvho hath raysed him from the dead In this second chapt Paul seemes to contend with divers impugners of Christian religion vs 1. For I vvould that you knovv vvhat great conflict I have for you and first vers 4. hee contends against oratory and inticing words by which their hearts might be led away and seduced And this I say least any man should beguile you vvith inticing vvords c. then vers 8. hee argues against Philosophers as a vayne deceit who would judge of the thinges of Christ by the elements or rudiments of the world for none of those things extend themselves to the mysteries of Christ which wee hold by faith and therefore Philosophicall demonstrations any farther then they are proportionable to the analogie of faith are extreamely deceitfull and to be bewar'de of In the third place hee contends against those who laboured to retaine Iewish ceremonies and types vers 10.11.12 And yee are compleat in him vvhich is the head of all principalities and povver in vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him c. For here hee shewes that circumcisiō which was the profession of the whole Law was fullfilled as a type or figure to Christians by Christ in Baptisme and therefore that was to vanish away as types ought to doe when they were fullfilled therefore hee shewes how wee are circumcised in Christ which is sealed and effected by Baptisme first it is without hands which the legall circumcision was not as Baptisme in some sence may be said also to be God being the great Baptizer Secondly this circumcision doth not deprive you onely of a little skin of the flesh which was typicall but of the whole body of sinne Thirdly this is not the circumcision of Moses or of the fathers but of Christ for onely Christ can effect this Lastly all this is sealed to us and made ours by Baptisme by Baptisme is effected this circumcision in which we are assimulated to Christ buried risen againe and are sealed one with him in our death to sinne and life to holynes so as Baptisme is Christian circumcision and then we are said to be circumcised with the circumcision of Christ when wee are rightly baptized Now therefore if circumcision be a type of Baptisme as it is acknowledged and prooved then examine it by the former properties of a type And first if circumcision be a type of Baptisme then it is inferior to Baptisme as types are to their antitypes of which they are shadowes and figures But if Baptisme be to be administred for a seale and signe in infancy as circumcision was to teach and instruct hereafter then on the other hand their priviledge was far above ours who carryed a marke in the flesh visible and sensible by which they knew assuredly they were circumcised whereas that any of us have bene sprinkled or dipt in infancy we must receive by a humane faith having never our selves seene it nor no markes to shew it us or convince us of it and it may well fall out that no body may be able to assure us of it neither so as that ceremony may well not worke upon us with any power of which wee have so little assurance whether it have bene administred to us or no. Besides that a man had a Iew to his father was the assured qualification for circumcision which a man might know as well as his owne father but for Baptisme I must beleeve my parents was godly if I will be assured of my qualification which ariseth from the faith as they say of one parent for it will not now goe downe so easily as it hath done that a profession of Christianity onely at large will qualify for deriving right to Baptisme now this
necessitated to the mistake of their building To conclude if there were any force left in these authorities for infant Baptisme as I conceave there is not why should it not regulate our practife in the other Sacrament to give that to infants which was ancient and of use in many churches as well as the other as it remaynes also in some to this day and it is like would in more had not Popish superstition given the supper the start of Baptisme to such a degree as to make it not so much the signe and representation of Christ as Christ himself and the very Protestants themselves are so respective to this Sacrament of the Supper above the other as to give it as a reason vvhy it should not be administred to infants least it should fall in contempt Hosp Hist Sacram. p. 60. Wee shall produce some testimonies that the Supper was administred to infants as well as Baptisme as necessary to salvation if antiquity be to be esteemed a great argument for the administring of one Sacrament why not of the other For this Hospinian in his second booke Histo Sacram. pa. 59. quotes Cyprian Se. 5. de lapsis and affirmes also that Ierome Aust and other Fathers witnes that those vvhich vvere baptized not onely of age but also infants vvithout any delay received the holy mysteries under both signes So Ierome against the Luciferians Non potest inquit Baptima tradere sine Eucharistia Baptisme must not be given vvithout the Eucharist And Aust lib. de Dogm Eccles cap. 52. Siparvuli sunt ait vel hebetes qui doctrinam non capiant respondeant pro illis qui eos offerunt juxta morem baptizandi sic manus impositione at Chrismate communiti Eucharistiae mysteriis admittantur If they be little sayes he or dull vvhich are not capable of doctrine let those ansvver for them vvhich offer them according to the custome of baptizing and so being fortified by Chrisme and imposition of hands let them be admitted to the mystery of the Euchariste Also Epist 107. hee speakes thus Infantes si in illa parva aetate moriuntur utique secundum ea quae per corpus gesserunt id est tempore quo in corpore fuerunt quando per corda ora gestantium crediderunt vel non quando baptizati vel non baptizati sunt quando carnem Christi manducaverunt vel non manducaverunt quandò sanguinem biberunt vel non biberunt secundum haec ergo quae per corpus gesserunt non secundum ea quae si diu hic viverent gesturi fuerant judicantur Infants if they dye in that young age are judged according to that vvhich they have done by the body that is in the time in the vvhich they vvere in the body vvhen by the heartes and mouthes of those that carried them they beleeved or not beleeved vvhen they vvere baptized or not baptized vvhen they did eat the flesh of Christ or not eat it vvhen they drunke his blood or not drunke it according therefore to those things vvhich they did by the body they are to be judged not according to those vvhich if they had lived long they vvould have done So lib. 5. Hypognosticôn cont Pelag. Quomodo inquit vita regni caelorum parvulis promittitur non renatis ex aqua Spiritusancto non cibatis carne atque non potatis sanguine Christi qui in remissionem peccatorum fusus est Hovv saith he is the kingdome of heaven promised to children not renevved by vvater and the holy Ghost not fed vvith the flesh and made to drinke of the blood of Christ vvhich is shed for the remission of sinnes This custome received of old so farre prevayled afterwards especially in the time of Charles the Great that not onely the Eucharist was communicated to infants in the publike assembly of the church after Baptisme or at other times when they were wont to come together for the Lords Supper but also the bread of the Supper was kept to be communicated and given to sick children as well as to those of yeares for this Hospinnian quotes Canonem Carolinum lib. 1. de legib Francorum in these words Presbyter Eucharistiam semper habeat paratam ut quando quis infirmatus fuerit aut parvulus infirmus fuerit statim eum communicet ne sine communione moriatur Let the Presbyter have the Eucharist ever ready that vvhen any is vveake or vvhen a little child shall be vveake or sicke hee may presently communicate him least he should dye vvithout communion Amongst the Aethiopians as Osorius witnesseth in his 9. booke de gestis Emmanuelis Infants in the same day that they are initiated to holy thinges take the Eucharist in a bitt of bread Hospinian also affirmes that not many yeares agoe there vvere reliques of this custome in Lorrayne and the places adjoyning for vvhen an infant vvas to be baptized the Priest vvho baptized him brought a little boxe in vvhich vvas the Sacrament to the Alter and shevved one Host as they call it to the people then he put it in the boxe againe and reatches forth his tvvo fingers vvith vvhich hee had tucht it to be vvasht vvith vvine by the Clarke or Church-vvarden and distills of that vvine into the mouth of the baptized Infant saying The blood of our Lord Iesus Christ proffit thee unto eternall life Also at this day as Brerewood in his learned inquiries touching the diversity of Religion affirmes The Supper is admninistred to Infants immediately after their Baptisme in both kindes by the Iacobits a people called by that name vvhich are in great numbers in Syria Cyprus Mesopotamia Babylon and Palestine for the Patriarch of Ierusalem who keepeth his residence still in Ierusalem in which City there still remaine ten or more churches of Christians is also a Iacobite Also the Cophty which are the Christians in Aegypt for it is a name of their nation rather then of their religion doe the same namely give the Sacrament of the Eucharist to infants presently after Baptisme The like doe the Christians tearmed Habassines which are the midland Aethiopians As also the Armenians Christians dispersed for trade through the Turkish Empire but inhabiting especially Armenia the greater and the lesser and Cylicia More might be quoted and are by Brerewood in those his collections Now the reason why the Papists have quitted this practise out of whose rubbish we drew our reformation as being once involved in that lumpe confusion seemes to me to appeare out of their Tridentine constitutions Trid. Concil sec 5. where it is affirmed Parvulos usu rationis carentes nulla obligari necessitate ad Sacramentalem Eucharistiae communionem si quidem per Baptismi lavacrum regenerati Christo incorporati adeptam suam Filiorum Dei gratiam in illa aetate amittere non possunt That children vvhich vvant the use of reason are by no necessity obliged to the Sacramentall communion of the Eucharist for as much as being regenerate
the thing For Scripture rule ye have Teach all nations and baptize them Mat. 28.19 make disciples and baptize Marke 16.16 Hee that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved You see here the ranke of Baptisme immediately after teaching after beleeving it holds the first place of ordinances properly Christian ye may see it againe in the rule in Peters preaching Repent and be baptized Acts 2.38 which was instantly put in practise which is our second head of proofe namely Scripture example for they that gladly received his vvord vvere presently baptized to the number of three thousand ver 41. after which they continued constantly in the liturgicall vvorkes of the Apostles doctrine and breaking bread in prayer ver 42. In the example of the Eunuch you have the same assoone as ever Iesus was preached and hee discovered water vvhat hinders me saith he to he baptized nothing saith Philip if thou hast faith so he was instantly baptized Acts 8.38 The like ye have of Cornelius who upon the first preaching of Christ before the assembly was dissolved was baptized he and his Acts 10.48 The like you have of the Iaylor Act. 16. to whom at midnight being astonished by a miraculous action the vvord vvas preacht and to all in his house and he and all his beleeving vvere forthvvith all of them baptized Here was no losse of time and for the order it was after faith and before any other administration more examples might be brought of this kind out of which that which I conclude is the order and time of Baptisme namely the next ordinance to beleeving not but that I would have fit time allowed for the tryall of faith wherein to be sure the Apostles were not negligent of their duty For the primitive times wee can have no better instances then what we heare of the Catechuminy who were excluded not onely from the Eucharist but from the very sight thereof and therefore after the word Sancta Sanctis they went out not because they were without faith for there were two sorts audientes competentes or electi the first were beginners which heard sermons had a desire to Christ the other were such as desired Baptisme and had given up their names for it as Austin mentions in libro de cura pro mortui cap. 12. and others also Now these were supposed to have faith and wayted onely a fit time for the administration of Baptisme during which time they were farre enough from being admitted to the Lords Supper though beleevers judged but on the other side assoone as ever they were baptized they had Baptisme confirmation or laying on of hands and the Lords Supper on the same day And of this the Fathers give a reason In all respects the order of the mystery is kept that first by remission of sinnes a medicine be prepared for their vvounds and then the nourishment of the heavenly table be added Ambrose c. And as this was observed strickly to the catechuminy so every body will grant me that to infant Baptisme this order is surely maintayned If you passe from precept example of all times to reason there you will find that what ever makes for the not repeating of Baptisme in the ordinary use of it makes also for this as fully or more that it should be the first For first if it be not to be repeated because this is the seale of initiation regeneration and incorporatiō then by the same reason this must be first as initiation admission incorporation and regeneration are the first internall acts in us upon us by which we are made Christians Secondly if the signification and use of Baptisme be for ever and of constant perpetuall use then this ordinance is to lye as the bottome stone in the building of ordinances which is to have a durable and constant influence into the whole edifice Or thirdly if this be not to be repeated because neither in precept nor example you find it so then must this be the first because in precept example you find it so and never otherwise or if the ends of Baptisme on our parts not to mention further those on Christs be that there should be a formall externall contract past with God by which wee are visibly handfasted in this mysticall marriage or secondly to distinguish our selves by this badge and charracter of our professiō from the evill world which we renounce with all its works then certainly this peece is to be first administred before we goe further and the Sacrament of our spirituall life and birth is to be given before that of our nourishment and growth In a word Baptisme hath bene called of old not without reason Sacramentorum janua and is for all these considerations which are as many as can concurre to any one thing to keep that name nature still which is to be the first and primitive Sacrament in which a converted person man or woman is to communicate Now thē if the timeing and order of instituted worship be any thing as it is of great moment a great part of it lying in nothing else but the right and orderly administration of ceremonies and if the Scripture rule and example be any thing which is all we have to shew for any practise then Baptisme is to be the first Sacrament after beleeving Besides the reason of the thing that which makes it unlawfull to baptize before teaching is because the Scripture hath rankt it otherwise that sayes teach and baptize not baptize and teach as the Papists and others doe the same reason will hold for the giving it its preference in time to any other ordinance because it is rankt immediately after teaching before any other thing againe you have the fullest concurrence of all example reason also for the timeing and ranking of this ordinance as for any thing can be thought To what hath bene said in this laste point I shall onely ad by way of caution with which I conclude it that when I give Baptisme the first place in the ranke of ordinances after beleeving I intend not such expressions to the prejudice of church-fellowship which I conceave is properly the state for instituted ordinances and the subject of them as will more fully appeare by what will be sayd in the following chapter CHAP. XVIII Wherein by way of conclusion is treated of the Minister of Baptisme and shewed where that power rests which is to conveigh to us that blessed Ordinance which hath bene all this while the subject of our discourse WE have found out the subject of Baptisme to be a beleever onely that is one professing faith in Christ and subjection to his ordinances upon which consideration wee have found cause to reject the Baptisme of infants as a vanity of mens invention and our owne received then as voyde null we have also found in the order of Sacraments Baptisme to be the first the next thing we are to speake of is the Minister