Body as Baptism is sometimes and in some places administred into its Bosom as into a Sepulchre Rom. 6.4 whereby we are said to be buried with Christ but raised from the Water the Grave gives up her dead and we are risen with Christ renewed again to life by the quickning power of the Spirit in the efficacy and operation of his grace Rom. 6.3 So that as we are Baptized into Christs death so are we baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Theodoret into a participation of the Lords Resurrection Very fitly then is the Font of holy Baptism compared by Leo to the Womb of the Blessed Virgin in which the Holy Ghost is powerfully present for our Spiritual Conception 1 Pet. 1.3 In begetting us again unto God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ For as of Christ risen Acts 13.33 so of the Infant Baptized does God seem to say This day have I begotten thee And to them who are thus begotten again hear St. Chrysostome reckon up the several Divine Benefits and Blessings Quasi tot Baptismatis largitates honores As so many acts of grace and titles of honor accompanying their Baptism They are become not onely Citizens but also Saints and not onely Saints but also sons and not onely sons but also heirs and not onely heirs of God but also brethren of Christ Rom. 8.17 and not onely brethren of Christ but also coheirs with Christ and not onely coheirs of his Kingdom but also members of his body and not onely members of his body but also temples of his presence and not onely temples of his presence but also organs of his Spirit Et hac de causa etiam Infantes Baptizamus And for this cause also we Baptize Infants that they may be sanctified that they may be justified and that they may be adopted Chrys Tom. 5. Hom. ad Neophyt recited by Aug. l. 1. cont Julian c. 6. Cassand de Bapt. Infant so St. Chrysostome as he is recited by St. Augustine Justification and Adoption being relactive acts the admitting them in Infants is no difficulty but concerning Sanctification as a real work by infusion of inherent holiness whether we shall allow that to Infants in Baptism is a great dispute Cassander from the Antients he makes the Baptismal Regeneration of Infants to consist in the remission of original sin which is Justification and in the acceptation to eternal life which is Adoption But now what the Sacramental Sanctification which accompanies this Justification and Adoption is St. Augustine resolves Difficile est dicere Aug. con◠Donat. l. 4. c. 23. Episc Satisb Epist ad D. Ward It is hard to say yea he that shall undertake the cause as to quit it of all difficulties Ego me Auditorem libentissimè profiterer says our English Augustine I would most willingly profess my self an Auditor and yield the chair Even they who deny Grace inherent habits infused do yet acknowledge the presence and habitation of the Holy Ghost now sure we are the Holy Ghost dwells not but in an holy Temple yet how far the baptized Infant is sanctified to be this Temple and wherein expresly that Sanctification doth consist Explicet qui intelligit ego fateor me non intelligere saith that Learned Author Episc Satisb ibid. and Reverend Father much the honor of our Nation and Ornament of our Church Let him unfold it that understands it for my part I confess mine ignorance That Children are capable of real Sanctification we must needs grant believing them liable to original Pollution For that doubtless the grace of the second Adam is as effectual to make holy as the sin of the first Adam is to make corrupt Besides we say original Righteousness should have been inherent in children transmitted from their Parents by natural propagation if Adam had stood and if so sure children must needs be capable of receiving a superinduced principle of spiritual life from Christ now that Adam and we in him are fain To close then of this we may be assured Baptized Infants have their effectual manner and real measure of Sanctification by the Holy Ghost because pro conditione parvulorum according to the condition of their tender age they are stated in a present ordination to eternal life for that Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 Having thus explained unto you with the original and use the benefits and effects of Baptism I shall seasonably resolve you these three Quares 1. What the Judgment of the Church is as to the state of those Infants which die baptized 2. As to the state of those children which die before Baptism being children of the Orthodox 3. As to the state of those children which die before Baptism being children of the Anabaptists Quest 1 First What the Judgment of the Church is as to the state of those Infants which die baptized Answ I answer Though there is some dispute among the Ancient Fathers a hot contest in the after Schoolmen and a more moderate debate in Modern Divines as to the nature and manner of Infants Regeneration the nature of its being and the manner of its causation yet all consent in this all Primitive Popish and Protestant Writers Fathers Schoolmen and others all consent in this judgment and determination from Grounds of Scripture and Divine Reason That Infants lawfully baptized are in such an estate of Justification Sanctification and Adoption as that so dying they are undoubtedly saved And herein our own Mother the Church of England In the Rubrick before the Catechism she is most clear and full Onely observe in those children that live what by Divine Ordination was sufficient to state them capable of Salvation whilst Infants does become insufficient when adult and come to the use of Reason for then is required their actual Faith and Repentance actual Conversion unto God and obedience unto the Gospel of Christ without which they cannot then be saved Quest 2 Secondly What the Judgment of the Church is as to the state of those children which die before Baptism being children of the Orthodox Answ I answer Herein the Judgment of the Church is not so generally one St. Augustine and some in his time and since most of the Roman Church resolve That such Infants so dying they are not saved they have paena damni though not paena sensus they have a punishment of loss though not of sense they enjoy not Gods blissful presence and yet are not cast into hellish flames they have a Limbus Infantum for them but it is of their own fancying not of Gods providing The truth is the Scripture hath not clearly revealed whereby this Quaere may be so convincingly determined And therefore when some sudden surprise of death doth nip those Buds snatch away our tender Babes our duty is to submit with humility to Gods dispensation resigning them up to his mercy and comforting our selves with this resolution of the Orthodox That as in the
hell upon earth O God! who knows whither that man goes to his confusion who is once gone out of the Church by separation especially if it be that of Anabaptism It is the known observation of the Exorcists Sancta ecclesia uniformiter agit ut exertismis spiritus immundus abigatur Aug. de eccle dogmat c. 31. That whom Satan possesseth he first tempts them to renounce their Baptism in which they renounced him and till this be done he cannot have power to possess them Now that too many miserable wretches are possest with an Evil spirit is too unhappily apparent by their quakings and trances by their rantings and ravings their impudence and filthiness their diabolical blasphemies and hellish execrations Aquam ingressi renunciasse nos Diabolo Angelis ejus ore nostro coâ—testamur Tert. de spect c. 4. And how come they thus possest Why sure whereas they renounc'd the Devil in their Baptism in renouncing their Baptism they have too too much given way to the Devil and God by a just judgment given them up to his delusions But O God! thou who art more gracious then man is impious 2 Thess â— 9.10 11 12. O do thou yet restrain Satan and preserve their souls in the day of the Lord Jesus It being then too endless a task to encounter each Sect and Heresie of our times in particular I have thought it best to give you a soveraign Antidote and Preservative in the general and it is this even in discharge of duty to God the Church and your souls to fortifie your judgments and strengthen your faith in what concerns the nature and manner the duty and benefit of Infants Baptism hereby to keep open the door of the Church for entrance into her communion and yet shut it too against those who otherwise running out by Anabaptism would find themselves departed from Christ in departing from his Church and subjected by Satan to all horrid profaneness by their quitting subjection to Christ in his holy ordinance that ordinance for which he here gives commission and instruction to his Apostles in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye disciple all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. Having given you the former branch of our Saviours instruction to his Apostles the Institution of Baptism we proceed to the latter Explicat the manner and form of Baptisms administration viz. in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And here we shall consider the administration of Baptism in a twofold respect 1. In what is necessary as to the essence of the Sacrament and 2. In what is requisite as to the solemnity of the Church 1. In what is necessary as to the essence of the Sacrament and this is the application of the Water and of the Word The application of the Water whether it be by immersion or aspersion or effusion The application of the Word that the immersion or dipping the aspersion or sprinkling the effusion or pouring out be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost In the administration then of Baptism the first thing necessary as to the essence of the Sacrament is the application of the Water and this in an outward washing whether that washing be by a dipping in or a sprinkling on or a pouring out of the water All which forms of washing exprest in the one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have in S. Mark where we read concerning the Pharisees and others of the Jews Mar. 7.4 that when they come from the market they eat not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless they be baptized that is except they wash as our English reâ—ds it Yea from the tradition of the Elders they are said to hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Baptisms so the Original the washings so our English the washings of cups and of pots brazen vessels and of tables or of beds From which baptisms or washings it is most certain and evident there can be no strength of argument from the propriety of the word to prove a necessity of dipping or plunging in the water seeing that baptism doth equally signifie a washing by sprinkling or pouring out the water And as there is no strength of argument from the propriety of the word so nor from the signification of the ceremony For that the sprinkling and pouring out of the water is aptly significative of the sprinkling of Christ blood and the pouring out of his Spirit the very inward grace and thing signified in Baptism whereby it is rightly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.5 1 Pet. 1.2 the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost yea the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus And as it is in the Gospel Ezek 36.25 Joel 2.28 so it was in the Prophecy There says God unto his people I will sprinkle clean water upon you and I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh Object Ay but does not Baptism signifie the death and burial of Christ And if so what more proper then that the person baptized be received into the bosom of the water Answ as into his grave Ans Baptism may signifie the death of Christ without exposing the person baptized to the danger of death yea it may signifie Christs burial too without sending the baptized to his grave as in colder Countries we certainly know dipping and plunging in the waters do for so the experience of some more ignorantly zealous then religiously wise hath lately assured us Even in sprinkling and pouring out of the water then upon the Child which is under it there is signification enough of Christs death and burial this being the main thing intended in the sign to represent the actual efficacie of Christs blood and spirit to wash away our guilt and renew us again to righteousness thereby giving us an interest in the merits of his passion Rom. 6.3.4 and power of his resurrection But further yet as it is not from the propriety of the word nor from the signification of the ceremony so nor thirdly is it from the prescript of Christ that any strength of argument can be drawn to prove a necessity of dipping or of plunging in the water For examine the whole of what concerns our Saviours institution of Baptism and we shall find no more of positive command in this Sacrament for the measure of water or manner of washing then in that other for the quantity of bread or quality of wine This is infalilble Christs evangelical ordinance does in nothing oppose his moral command and therefore the ceremony of his Sacrament must not be made such as may hazard the life of the person celebrating that Sacrament and ceremony Besides Baptism is prescribed to all Nations and sure its manner of ministration being common to all must be possible to all Which yet it cannot be if as some Anabaptists would have
have the conformity of the Universal Church and I know not what more can be required 1. As for the Apostles practice we can have no surer testimony then St. Pauls Argument 1 Cor. 7.14 Therefore are your children holy Holy in a known and common account of the Church which could be none other then that of Church Communion admitted thereunto by Baptism For observe This of the children being holy the Apostle makes a convincing argument That the unbelieving Parent is sanctified by the believing Wherefore this of the childrens holiness must be a known holiness otherwise the Apostles argument were no argument And whereby was the childrens holiness known but in order to Church Communion Into which Communion there is no known entrance and visible admission but by Baptism 2. Pass we from the Scriptures and consult we the very next ages after the Apostles Orig. l. 5. ad Rom. c. 6. in Luc. Hom. 8. For the usage of the Church And here Origen witnesseth That Traditionem ab Apostolis suscepit etiam parvulis dare Baptismum the Church received a Tradition from the Apostles to give Baptism even to children About the next age after Origen for later he could not be the Author of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite he pleads for Infants Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys Eccles Hier. c. 7. as being of those things which the divine Ministers the Apostles from the beginning had delivered down to the Church I might give you the testimony of those first Fathers and Doctors both of the Greek and Latin Churches Irenaeus Tertullian Nazianzen Basil and others but we will insist awhile upon two Testimonies most full and convincing the one of St. Cyprian the other of St. Augustine Cypr. Epist ad Fid. Presbyt That of St. Cyprian we have in his Epistle to Fidus the Presbyter who propounds the Question Whether Infants might be baptized before the Eighth day urging the Instance and Analogy of Circumcision Cyprian gives his own judgment and that of a Council of Sixty six Bishops for the resolution resolving That Baptism be not deferred any long time and yet not confined to any certain time and if necessity required That there be a present Administration Now St. Cyprian lived within few years more then a hundred of St. John so that he and a Council of Sixty six Bishops could not be ignorant of what was the Apostolical practise as to Infants Baptism seeing some of their Fathers and many of their Grandfathers in all probability yea without all doubt did live in the Apostles times and were baptized by some Apostolical hands Now as for the testimony of St. Augustine it is of the more credit and esteem being spoken against his profest Adversaries the Pelagians who wanted neither wit nor will to have retorted the Error if he had not delivered the truth when he sayes of them Aug. de peccâ—t mer. rem l. 1. Parvulos Baptizandos esse concedunt qui contra authoritatem Universae Ecclesiae proeuldubio per Dominum Apostolos traditam venire non possunt They grant children ought to be baptized because they cannot go against the Authority of the Universal Church without all doubt delivered by Christ and his Apostles The Non-Baptism of Infants had been a strong argument for Pelagianism as their Baptism was an invincible argument against it so that either to defend themselves or offend the Orthodox certainly the Pelagians would have denied Infants Baptism had they not well known the practise of the Universal Church was warranted by the Authority of Christ and the Ministry of his holy Apostles I might yet further enlarge and give you infinite Testimonies for Infants Baptism as to the constant practise of the Universal Church for above these One thousand six hundred years that of the Prophet being perfectly fulfilled Isa 49.22 That God having lift up his hand to the Gentiles and set up a standard to the people they have brought unto the Church her sons in their arms she having few Members of her Communion but who were admitted in their Infant-Baptism So that certainly our Saviour was so far from excluding Infants that he chiefly intended them in the commission and instructions he gives his Apostles and in them all the Ministers of his Church saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye disciple all Nations baptising them c. Having given you the original and use of Baptism we proceed to the benefits and effects thereof all applicatory to Infants Know then the Sacraments are no empty and bare signs to signifie but they are sacred and moral Instruments to convey real and effectual Seals to confirm yea gracious and Evangelical pledges to assure For so we are catechised by the Church if we have not forgot our Church-Catechism in which we have this most clear most full definition of a Sacrament That it is an outward visible sign of an inward invisible grace which grace is given and which sign is ordained ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive that grace and a pledge to assure us thereof So that in Baptism then where the subject and person baptized does not ponere obicem put a bar and hinderance as the School speaks from St. Augustine as of Infants we are assured they do not In their Baptism then as the Water gives the outward sign so the Spirit gives the inward grace and when the Minister pronounceth saying I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost then is the power and vertue of the Blessed Trinity present to justifie and to sanctifie to cleanse and renew the inward man as sure as the Sacramental Water is present to sprinkle and to wash to cleanse and to purifie the outward man And now that the Sacraments are thus effectual is not by any natural causality or physical operation in themselves but by vertue of the gracious promise and voluntary institution of Christ whose Spirit still accompanies his Word to the quickning sanctifying and saving of his Church and chosen Tert. de Bapt. c. 8. Very aptly then does Tertullian call the waters Pristinam sedem Spiritus Sancti the ancient Seat of the Holy Ghost by whose quickning power they become prolifical both in nature and in grace For that the renovation of the Church was typified in the Creation of the World as in the Creation The Spirit moved upon the waters Gen. 1.2 and by a quickning power did produce the living Creatures so now in the renovation the Spirit moves upon the waters still in that by a quickning power of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are renewed by Baptism that Laver of Regeneration to become an holy and heavenly Off-spring alive unto God in Christ Jesus St. Cyril of Jerusalem calls Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antitype of Christs sufferings the Water indeed that represents the Image of Death receiving the