is called a seale of the Covenant therefore our Sacraments are seales of the Covenant because circumcision might be administred but once being the seale of initiation therefore Baptism being also the seale of initiation is also to be administred but once But that circumcision was to be administred upon the eighth day onely was an accidentall thing and therefore bindes not us the Jewish Passeover being to be yearely repeated binds us to have a repetition of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which came in roome of it because this belongs to the substance of the Covenant both of them being Sacraments for spirituall nourishment growth and continuance in the Covenant as the other was for birth and entrance but that their Passeover was to be eaten in an Evening and upon one set Evening in the yeare was accidentall and so binds not us The like instance I give in our Christian Sabbath the fourth Commandement binds us for the substance of it as much as ever it bound the Jewes There God once for all separated one day of seven to be sacred to himselfe and all the world stood bound in all ages to give unto God that one day of seven which should be of his owne choosing Now untill Christs time God chose the last day of the seven to be his Sabbath and having by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus put an end to the Saturday Sabbath and surrogated the first day of the weeke in stead thereof to be the Lords day we need no new Commandment for the keeping of the Lords day being tyed by the fourth Commandment to keep that day of seven which the Lord should choose the Lord having chosen this the fourth Commandment binds us to this as it did the Jews to the former so in like manner I say in the Sacrament of Baptisme When God made the Covenant with Abraham and promised for his part to be the God of him and his seed what God promised to Abraham we claime our part in it as the children of Abrahams and what God required on Abrahams part for the substance of obedience we all stand charged with as well as Abraham we as Abraham are tyed to beleeve to love the Lord with all our heart to have our heart circumcised to walke before God in uprightnesse to instruct our children and bring them up for God and not for our selves nor for the Devill to teach them to worship God according to his revealed will to traine them up under the ordinances and institutions of Gods owne appointment all these things Gods command to Abraham charges upon all the children of the Covenant though there were no expresse reviving these commands in any part of the New Testament and therefore consequently that command of God to Abraham which bound his seed of the Jewes to traine up their children in that manner of worship which was then in force bindes the seed of Abraham now to traine up their children in conformity to such ordinances as now are in force And the same command which injoyned Abraham to seale his children with the seale of the Covenant injoynes us as strongly to seale ours with the seale of the Covenant and that command of God which expressely bound Abraham to seale his with the signe of Circumcision which was the Sacrament then in force pro tempore doth vertually binde us to seale ours with the signe of Baptisme which is the Sacrament now in force and succeeds in the roome of the other by his owne appointment There is one command by cleare consequence another you shall find Matth. 28. where our Saviour bids them goe and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sanne and of the Holy Ghost Where you have two things First What they were to doe Secondly To whom they were to doe it They were to preach and teach all things which he had commanded them that is they were to preach the whole Gospel Mark 16.15 The whole Covenant of Grace containing all the promises whereof this is one viz. that God will be the God of beleevers and of their seed that the seed of beleevers are taken into Covenant with their Parents This is a part of the Gospel preached unto Abraham and they were to Baptize them that is to administer Baptisme as a Seale of the Covenant to all who received the Covenant Secondly wee have the persons to whom they were to doe this all Nations whereas before the Church was tyed to one Nation one Nation onely were Disciples now their Commission was extended to make all Nations Disciples every Nation which should receive the faith should be to him now as the peculiar Nation of the Jewes had beene in time past In a word Nations here are opposed to the one Nation before Now we know when that one Nation of the Jewes were made Disciples and circumcised their infants were made Disciples made to belong to Gods Schoole and circumcised with them when that nation was made Disciples in Abrahams loynes and circumcised their seed also was the same when that Nation was taken out of Egypt and actually made Disciples their children were also with them and we know that in every Nation the children make a great part of the Nation and are alwayes included under every administration to the Nation whether promises or threatnings priviledges or burthens mercies or judgements unlesse they be excepted so are they in Cities in Families it being the way of the Scripture when speaking indefinitely of a People Nation City or Family to be either saved or damned to receive mercies or punishments expresly to except Infants when they are to be excepted as we see in the judgement that befell Israel in the Wildernesse when all that rebellious Company that came out of Egypt was to perish by Gods righteous doome their little ones were expresly excepted Num. 14.31 and in the Covenant actually entred into by the body of the Nation Neh. 10. it is expresly limited to them who had knowledge and understanding And the Disciples who received this Commission knew well that in all Gods former administrations when any Parents were made Disciples their children were taken in with them to appertaine to the same schoole and therefore it behooved the Lord to give them a caution for the leaving out of Infants in this new administration that they might know his mind if that he intends to have them left out which that ever he did in word or deed cannot be found in the Scriptures If it be said they are not capable of being Disciples I answer even as capable as the Infants of Jews and Proselytes were when they were made Disciples and beside they are devoted to be Disciples being to be trained up by the Parents who are from their infancy to teach them the knowledge of Christ and at the present they are capable of his owne teaching and sure I am in Christs owne dialect to belong to Christ and to
A SERMON OF THE BAPTIZING of INFANTS PREACHED In the Abbey-Church at Westminster at the Morning Lecture appointed by the Honorable House of Commons By STEPHEN MARSHALL B D. Minister of the Gospel at Finchingfield in Essex ACT. 2.39 The Promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afarre off even as many as the Lord our God shall call ROM. 11.16 If the roote bee holy so are the branches 1 COR. 7.14 The unbeleeving husband is sanctifyed by the wife and the unbeleeving wife is sanctifyed by the husband else were your children unclean but now they are holy LONDON Printed by Richard Cotes for Stephen Bowtell at the signe of the Bible in Popes-head-Alley 1644. TO The Reverend and Learned the Prolocutor Assessors the Commissioners of the Church of Scotland and the rest of the Assembly of Divines now sitting in Westminster SOme few of us who are of your number freely bestowing our Labours in the Abbey-Church every Morning we agreed among our selves to instruct our Auditors in all the necessary Truths of that Doctrine which is according to godlinesse One taking for his Subject the Articles of Faith Another the Ten Commandements Another the Lords Prayer c. My lot of late hath been to handle the Doctrine of the Sacraments and comming in order to this Point I indevoured to cleere it as fully as I could in one Sermon and was thereby compelled to borrow a little more time then is usually allotted to that Exercise Importunity of many Friends who conceived it might give some light to that which is now made a great controversy and might through the blessing of God be a meanes to reclaime some deceived Soules or prevent the deceiving of others hath brought it thus into Publick view And although I know my selfe the unworthyest and unablest of many yet because I am assured that it is Gods Truth which I have Preached and which hee will blesse I was the more easily overcome by that importunity if it may contribute any thing to the helping forward of the great Work now under your hands and may ease you of any part of that Labour which so exceedingly presseth you therein I shall rejoyce And in the opportunity I have by Dedicating this to your Names to testify that I am Your unworthy Brother and Servant in the Lords Work STEPHEN MARSHALL A SERMON OF THE BAPTIZING of INFANTS 1 PET. 3.21 The like figure whereunto even Baptisme doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ IN this Morning Lecture I have formerly in my course out of severall Scriptures handled the Doctrine of the Sacraments in Generall and then proceeded to speake of the Sacraments of the Old Testament and therein their number their agreement and disagreement with those of the New Testament And now lately have begun to open the Sacraments of the New Testament The first of them is now in hand And I have already out of this Text made foure or five Sermons concerning the nature and use of the Sacrament of Baptisme wherein I have cleared unto you First Who was the Authour and Institutour of it Secondly Who is to bee the 〈◊〉 of it Thirdly The Essence of it the matter and forme of it both the res terrena and the res Coelestis the earthly and the spirituall part and now Fourthly it remaines that I treat of the subject of it or the persons who are to be Baptized and they are of two sorts either grown men who being instructed in the Doctrine of Christ and professing their Faith in him and their willingnes and readines to live according to his will and do desire to bee partakers of this blessed Sacrament These whether Jews or Gentiles Male or Female bond or free are to bee admitted to the participation of this Ordinance of the Baptizing of such as these there is no question The other sort are Infants of whose right to this Sacrament I shall by Gods assistance treate this day And concerning these there are two sorts of questions First Whether any Infants at all are to bee Baptized Secondly Supposing some have right to it yet it 's greatly disputed whose Infants may bee Baptized viz. Whether the Infants of Excommunicate persons of Hereticks of Profane men of meerly civilly Righteous whether Bastards whether the Infants of Heathens who are to bee brought up by Christians and whether these may not be Baptized with some caution used thereby to make distinction betwixt the pure and the impure I shall for the present baulk all these latter questions and handle only the former viz. 〈◊〉 any at all are to bee Baptized or as the Question uses to bee stated Whether the Infants of beleeving Parents the Infants of Saints are to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament And here also ariseth another question Who are to bee meant by Beleevers and Saints whether only such as have the inward vertue of faith and holinesse who are really beleevers and sanctifyed ones or whether by Beleevers and Saints may be meant such a faith and sanctity as is outwardly professed although possibly the inward grace it selfe which only God can judge of bee altogether wanting Concerning which question although for my owne part I beleeve wee are to understand it of that which man may judge of and that God hath not made that the condition of his servants applying his Ordinances which can be infallibly known to none but himselfe and that therefore the profession of Faith and holinesse is sufficient to make men passe for Beleevers and Saints in the Churches judgement yet I shall at the present baulk the handling of this also and will take it in the surest sense in the Apostles sense what the Apostle means by Beleevers and Saints when he writes unto the Churches that I will take to bee the state of the Question if by Beleevers and Saints the Apostle meane visible professors of faith and holinesse then the Question is whether their Infants are to bee baptized if the Apostle by beleevers and Saints mean such onely as are inwardly holy inwardly beleevers then the question is whether their Infants are to be Baptized in a word whether the Infants of such as were or might have been stiled beleevers and Saints in the Apostles daies and writings are to be admitted to the Sacrament of Baptisme This priviledge of the baptizing of such Infants the Christian Church hath been in possession of for the space of fifteen hundred yeers and upwards as is manifest out of most of the Records that we have of antiquity both in the Greek and Latine Church which I the rather mention in the beginning because many of the Anabaptists blush not to say that the Antients especially the Greek Church rejected it for many hundred yeers Justine Martyr who lived about Anno 150 in a Treatise which goes under his name Question 56. disputes
Covenant and you left at liberty for your part that he should love you and you hate him that he should bee your God and you remain the Devils servant that he should provide Heaven for you and you walk in the way which leads to Hell O how much are you deceived I tell you he hath sworn the contrary he hath heaped up tribulation and wrath for every soule which doth evill for the Jew first for the baptized first and you will one day find that it had been better you had never lived in his house nor been trained up under his Covenant then thus to profane it and make the blood of it as an unholy thing This great priviledge should ingage us all for time to come to make our Baptism a continual motive to an answerable conversation to live as men who are dead unto sinne and alive unto God to account that it ought to bee as strange to see a baptized man walke in a sinfull course as to see a Spectrum a walking Ghost Wee are buried with Christ in Baptisme and how can wee who are dead to sinne live any longer therein We are planted into his family made his Children have his Spirit dwelling in us yea thereby made one with Christ All this we lay claim to by our Baptism shall not this inforce us to live answerably Luther tels a Story of a gracious Virgin who used to get the victory over Satan when he tempted her to any sinne Satan I may not doe it Baptizata sum I am Baptized and must walk accordingly So should we argue Let base persons live basely noble and generous men must live nobly let Turkes and Pagans live wickedly the holy seed must live holily and righteously keepe it daily in thy thoughts what thy Baptism ingageth thee unto and that if thou walk otherwise it will rise up extreamly to aggravate thy condemnation in the last day It was a custome in the latter end of the Primitive times That such as were baptized did weare a white Stole a humane Ceremony to signifie their purity of life which the baptized was to lead Fulgentes animas vestis quoque candida signat Now there was one Elpidophorus who after his baptism turned a persecutor Muritta the Minister who baptized him brought forth in publick the white Stole which Elpidophorus had worn at his Baptism and cryed unto him O Elpidophorus this Stole doe I keep against thy comming to Judgement to testifie thy Apostasie from Christ doe thou in like manner assure thy selfe the very Font wherein thou wast baptized the Register wherein thy Name is recorded will rise up against thee if thou lead not a holy life The Covenant is holy the Seale is holy let these provoke thee to study to be holy yea to draw holinesse from them Consider what I say And the Lord give you understanding in all things FJNIS ERRATA P. 22. l. 1. for legitimate r. illegitimate p. 39. l. 4. r. had he intended The Question stated The Infants of Beleevers ought to bee Baptized The Primitive Church owned it When the Sect of the Anabaptists began Niceph. 12.35 Niceph. 12.30 And the danger of their opinions First Argument they are under the Covenant of grace and therefore must have the seale of the Covenant This Argument made good by five Conclusions 1. Conclusion The Covenant of grace alwaies the same for substance Wherein lies the substance of the Covenant Gen. 17.1 c. Gal. 3.15 Rom. 4.3 Iohn 8.56 Gal. 3.6 Gen. 17.1 Gen. 18.19 Gal 3.17.19 Though not the same for manner of administration 2 King 17.18 Heb. 3.11.4 5 8. Heb. 3.17 18 19. with 4.2 Lev. 20.2 c. 26.36 Deut. 10.12.13 with 11.1.8 9 22. c. 1 Cor. 10.5 6 7. The Identis of the Covenant to Jewes and Gentiles proved Jerem. 31.33 Esa. 59.21 Joel 2.32 Luke 1 54. c. Luke 2.31 Mat. 21.41.43 Rom. 11. Gal. 3.8.14 15 16. Ephe. 2.13 c. Rom. 10.3 Gal. 4.29 2 Conclusion Infants taken into Covenant with their Parents Hosea 2.2 Exod. 12 48 49. Act. 2.38 39. opened and cleared Luke 19. Object Answ. Object Answ. 3. Rom. 11.16 opened 1 Cor. 7.14 opened and vindicated Ezra 10.4 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Nehem. 13.24 c. Mal. 2.15 1. Argument Because uncleannesse and holinesse no where taken for civilly lawfull 1 Tim. 4.5 Object Answ. Acts 10. 2. Argument The Apostles answer had not contained a truth 3. Argument Nor had the Apostles argument had any reason in it if interpreted as they would have it 4. Argument Nor could have satisfied their doubt Deut. 23.2 Esa. 56.3 4. Acts 8.27 Object Answer {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Greek preposition signifying to as well as in as Gal. 1.16 2 Pet. 1.5 Act. 4.12 1 Cor. 7.15 2. Object Answ. Reason why God will have such Infants accounted his Eccles. 2 7. 3. Conclusion Col. 2.11 12. opened Gal. 5.3 4 Conclusiun Gen. 17. Exod. 12.48 Object Gen. 17.18 19 20 21. Answ. Rom 4.11 Deut. 32.8 Lev. 25.13 c. 5 Conclusion Heb. 8.6 2 Cor. 3.10 Gal. 4.1 c. Object Answ. Object Wee want a command and example Answer Though there be no expresse command or example Which is not necessary Yet by good consequence we have command for it Both in the command given to Abraham which reacheth us And in Mat. 28 19. opened and explained Fumb. 14.31 Nehem 10.28 Object Answ. Math 10 42. Mark 9 41. Matth. 18.5 Act 2.38 39. 2. Argument Act. 10.47 11.17 Mark 10. 1 Cor. 7.14 Mark 10.14 Luk. 18 17. Matth 3. 1 Cor. 12 13. Gal. 3.27 Tit. 3.5 Mark 1.3 Object 1. Answ. Object 2. Answer Mark 16.16 Object 3. Answ. Object 4. 1 Pet. 3.21 Answ. Heb. 7.22 Object 6. Answ. Exod. 12.3 4 26 27. 1 Cor. 11. Application First for reproof of the Anabaptists 1 Sam 1. Mat. 2 16. Ephe. 2 1◠Psal. 131.8 9. 2. Vse To Parents First for their comfort 2 Sam. 7. Esa. 16. Ezek. 16.5 2. For their duty to provoke thē to be ashamed for their carelesnesse c. in time past Ezek. 16.20 Psal. 106.37 Exod. 2.19 And to nurse them up for Christ in time to come Praying for them Ioel 2.16 2 Tim. 1 5.3.15 Prov. 4.2 3. To all baptitized ones for comfort when they beleeve and repent To humble such as walke unworthy of this priviledge Col. 2.12 To provoke to a holy life for time to come