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death_n	day_n	die_v	year_n	8,996	5	5.0082	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57955	A vindication of the baptized churches from the calumnies of Mr. Michael Harrison, of Potters Pury in Northampton-shire. Being an answer to his two books, intituled, Infant baptism God's ordinance. By William Russel, M.D. A lover of primitive Christianity.	Russel, William, d. 1702.	1697 (1697)	Wing R2360A; ESTC R218555	79,105	138

preaching to hear him tell them Beloved If your Children dye in their Infancy unless they are elected I can assure you they shall go to Hell and be punished there to all Eternity for that they could never help God hath so ordered it by his Secret Decree unknown to me and all the World Do you think God ever sent him of this Message Especially when he tells you in his Book he knows not who belongs to the Election of Grace Now Mr. H. might have been truly inform'd of this matter if he had minded what Mr. Collins told him in page 35. of his Book in answer to Mr. Mence and him That one of the first Arguments of the Church of Rome for Infant-Baptism is which I suppose is Mr. Harrison's also if he knows what he is talking of that it washes away Original Sin We can saith Mr. H. Collins tell you of a better way of washing away Original Sin namely by the imputation of Christ's Righteousness to Infants dying in Infancy Add to this what Mr. Claridge saith in his Epistle to the same Book And here I would inform all the Readers of Mr. Mence's Book that whereas he charges Mr. Collins for maintaining Infant-damning Doctrine it is altogether a mistake for Mr. Collins is rather inclined to think That all dying Infants are saved by the imputed Righteousness of Christ Notwithstanding all this and much more that hath been said before upon this Subject he still goes on in his confident way of writing and saith he will prove That all by Birth or Nature are by the sin of Adam liable to the condemnation of Hell by plain Scripture He is a bold man at asserting but he commonly fails in his Proof Let us now examine those Scriptures he alledges for probation of this confident assertion Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Now this was the threatning but in Gen. 3.17 18 19. we have the Sentence denounced against Adam by God himself which serves to explain the former threatning to be only the first Death with its Concomitants Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy Life Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the Herb of the field In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return Here you see that what is called Death in the threatning is called returning to the Ground and unto Dust in the Sentence but not one word of punishment in Hell so much as intimated therein As for the other Texts he mentions they are no proofs of what he brings them for and therefore I shall pass them and proceed to his three Arguments Argu. 1. If Children need Regeneration and a Second Birth before they can go to Heaven then they are liable to Eternal as well as Temporal Death But Children do need Regeneration therefore c. John 3.3 5. Except a man be born again c. Now it 's plain Nicodemus understood our Saviour in this sence by his answer viz. not of Children newly born but of adult Persons for he saith How can a man be born when he is old But to answer directly to his Argument I deny his Minor and say they do not need Regeneration and a second Birth in the Sence there intended before they can go to Heaven and if they did they were in a bad Case indeed for they are not capable either of Repentance or Faith both which are comprehended in those words Except a Man be born again Thus you see when he should have brought a Text to have proved Infants must be born again this only proves that a Person of grown years a Man must be born again Let him not imagine that I feign an Interpretation of my own for Mr. Firmin a great Pedo-baptist saith They must be regenerate they must have Faith c. They who are regenerated have Faith and Repentance all saved Infants are regenerated therefore they have Faith and Repentance they must be born of Water and of the Spirit according to John 3.6 else there is no Heaven for them Now that God does cleanse dying Infants from all Impurity and fits them for Heaven I readily grant But this Regeneration they talk of from this Text and apply to Infants I positively deny And certain I am if he had read those Quotations upon that Argument given by Mr. Claridge he might have been sensible of this his Error before he had wrote this his 2d part Whether Infants have Faith or no is a Question saith Dr. Taylor to be disputed by Persons that care not how much they say and how little they prove which is the very case of Mr. Harrison when he hath denyed them to have either personal and actual or habitual Faith he concludes thus This strange Invention is absolutely without Art without Scripture Reason or Authority but the men are to be excused unless there were a better And again we desire saith he no more advantage in the World against such men than that they are constrained to answer without Revelation against Reason Common-sence and all the Experience in the World Dr. Taylor 's Liberty of Prophecy page 240 242. Mr. H's 2d Argum. is this If Infants are not liable to the damnation of Hell for Adam's sin then they may be saved without Christ by vertue of the Covenant of Works But c. This is a strange Assertion What can Infants be saved by Works that are wholly uncapable to Perform any this is meer trifling But I shall deny the Consequence of his Major For If Infants by virtue of Adam's sin must return to the dust and cannot raise themselves to life again but must have remained in that state for ever unless Christ had come in the flesh dyed and rose again and by vertue of his Resurrection raised them again by his mighty Power then it had been impossible for them to have been saved So that it 's a Non-sequitor for altho' they are not condemned to eternal Punishment in Hell yet there is a necessity for them to be saved by Christ if ever they get to Heaven But besides this they stand in need of Christ to purifie their Natures from Original Corruption as I have shewed above His 3d. Argu. is this Such as are by Nature Children of Wrath are liable to the Condemnation of Hell but all are so therefore Infants Eph. 2.1 2 3. Answ In this he hath dealt very unfairly and neither like a Gentleman nor a Scholar for his Argument is not in due form For 1. Infants are no where expressed but in the Conclusion 2. He hath put the word all into the Minor tho' he hath not told us what all he means And in the major it 's only such as are c. I suppose he would have framed a Categorical Syilogism if

he had known how and then it should have run thus All such as are by Nature Children of Wrath are liable to the Condemnation of Hell All Infants are by Nature Children of Wrath Ergo All Infants are liable to the Condemnation of Hell which is the thing I suppose he meant And then I deny his minor Proposition and let him prove it if he can As for his Text he brings for probation thereof I deny that Infants are either expressed or intended therein For the design of the Apostle in that place is to set before them what a miserable condition they had been in before Conversion by their own personal transgressions viz. Dead in trespasses and sins who in times past walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience Among whom also we all had our Conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfiling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature i. e. by the corrupt and fleshly Inclinations that were within us Children of wrath even as others Meaning thereby other Gentiles who were still in an unregenerate Estate wallowing in their Iniquities So that as Infants are not here exprest neither can they be intended as being free from all personal transgressions and not capable to transact those Evils there spoken of I shall now offer some Reasons why I do not believe that any Infants dying in their Infancy shall be tormented for ever in Hell-fire 1. Because there is no such thing exprest either in the Threatning or Sentence Gen. 2.17 Gen. 3.17 18 19. as I have already shewed 2. Because God himself hath disclaimed such an Opinion as Erroneous and declared the contrary Ezek. 18.2 3 4 20. 1. Hear what the first Founder of your Sect from whence you have your denomination viz. John Calvin saith upon this Subject speaking of all others besides the Elect so many Nations of Men together with their Infants were involved without remedy in eternal punishment by the fall of Adam for no imaginable reason but that so it seemed good in the sight of God Calvin's Instit l. 3. cap. 23. Sect. 7. 2. Hear what God saith in the fore-mentioned place The soul that sinneth shall dye the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father this must intend eternal punishment for as to temporal punishment Children do often suffer for their Fathers faults and we all suffer for the fault of Adam both temporal Miseries and Death it self But whereas these People of Israel had such a blind Notion as that of Mr. H. That the Fathers had eaten sowre grapes and the Childrens Teeth were set on edge God tells them As I live saith the Lord God ye shall not have occasion any more to use this Proverb in Israel for the Son shall not bear the Fathers iniquity the soul that sinneth it shall dye 3. Because the Lord who best knew hath declared that Infants belong to the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.14 4. I will add to these the Opinion of the Learned Poole that he would rather believe that all Infants dying in their Infancy were elected than conclude that any of them were damned and his reason was because as no man knew the contrary so they ought not to affirm what they did not know But I suppose Mr. Poole must be a blasphemous Heretick in Mr. H's Opinion as well as the poor Anabaptists But it 's our mercy he is not to be our Judge in the Great Day The 2d Heresie or Error this man of might charges us with is 2. That Christ dyed alike for all men and that all Persons in the World c. This doth necessarily divide it self into two General Parts 1. That Christ dyed alike for all men 2. That all Persons in the World are by the Death of Christ put into a Capacity of Salvation I shall answer to both of them distinctly 1. That Christ dyed for all men I do with the Pen-men of the Holy Scripture affirm and that it 's a great and fundamental Truth this appears from these following positive assertions 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransom for all 2 Cor. 5.14 15. He dyed for all Heb. 2.9 He tasted death for every man 1 Tim. 4.10 Who is the Saviour of all men 1 John 2.2 He is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world So that to deny this is to deny the very express words of Scripture And therefore Mr. Harrison being aware of this hath owned it to be true in some sence but not content with this he puts in the word alike thinking to puzzle us with that and lays down some Arguments to prove he did not dye for all alike and thinks we are obliged to prove it I answer It 's an Unscriptural term a man of Straw of his own setting up for in all our Confessions of Faith that I remember to have been published there is not the word alike to be found in any of them As for that last he refers to printed 1691. the words are these Article 3. That Christ freely gave himself a ransom for all tasting death for every man a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World So that the word alike is not by them inserted And it being a term of Art of his own Coyning I return it to the mint from whence it came The Question therefore betwixt us is this not whether Christ dyed for all men for that he owns but whether all persons in the World are by the death of Christ put into a capacity of Salvation This he denyes and we affirm Article 4. Of the aforesaid Confession of the Baptists they have these express words No man shall eternally suffer in Hell that is the second death for want of Christ that dyed for them but as the Scripture saith for denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2.1 or because they believe not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God John 3.18 Unbelief therefore being the cause why the just and righteous God will condemn the Children of Men it follows against all contradiction that all men at one time or other are put into such a capacity as that through the Grace of God they may be eternally saved 1. The Scriptures of Truth do affirm this in as plain words as a matter of this kind can well be exprest John 3.14 15 16 17. here is set down the design of God in the Gift of Christ for the World 1. Negatively that they should not perish that God sent not his Son to condemn the World 2. Affirmatively That whosoever believeth in him should have eternal life and everlasting life and that the World through him might be saved And in 1 Tim. 2.4 speaking of God our Saviour he saith who will have all men to be

saved and in ver 6. how God hath demonstrated this good will of his to all men by asserting that Christ gave himself a ransom for all and in the same Epistle Chap. 4.10 who is the Saviour of all men Now this must be understood of his putting men into a capacity of Salvation by the death of his Son as having afforded all men thereby a Sufficiency of means to obtain it otherwise it is not true for it 's manifest that eventially all men are not saved which by the way proves that God did not absolutely but conditionally will their Salvation by putting them into a capacity to obtain it through Christ I know that all this stir about and opposition against the Death of Christ being sufficient for all and every man is founded upon that false Notion which some have of late licked up from the Stoicks Doctrine of Fate That God hath so determined the Actions of all men by an absolute Decree that there can nothing come to pass in the world without it and that he hath made the greatest number of Men on purpose to damn them and that their sins foreseen were not the cause of his Decree but his Decree the cause both of their Sin and Punishment And that God did not intend any of these should enjoy any saving benefit by the death of his Son and from thence it is they have formed this fancy in their own Imaginations Christum mortuum pro solis electis that Christ dyed only for the Elect. Now this Opinion of theirs hath been Anathemized above 1200 years ago as I find it recorded by a very Learned Author in these words Synodus Arelatensis habita circa annum 490. Anathema illi qui dixerit quod Christus non pro omnibus mortuus sit nec omnes homines salvos esse velit Besides I suppose Mr. Harrison hath qualified himself by Law for a Presbyterian Teacher and then he hath subscribed to the 39 Articles of the Church of England The 31st Article thereof is The offering of Christ once made is a perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the sins of the whole World both original and actual And agreeable to this Bishop Vsher saith We may safely conclude that the Lamb of God offering himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole World intended by giving sufficient satisfaction to God's Justice to make the Nature of man which he assumed a sit Object for mercy and to prepare a Medicine for the sins of the whole World which should be denyed to none that intended to take the benefit of it And he also assigns the reason why all are not saved notwithstanding this purchase in these Words But all do not obtain actual remission because most offenders do not take out and plead their pardon as they ought to do Why doth not Mr. H. quarrel with and rail at the Church of England and her Doctors and Bishops have not they given him as much cause as the Baptists But alas he knows full well they esteem such a one as he below their Anger All the Arguments he brings to prove his position being founded upon that word alike they all vanish like smoak before the Wind For suppose that were granted which he labours so much to prove viz. That Christ did not in some sence dye alike for all I do not see how that would in the least hurt the cause we contend for i. e. That he dyed with an Intention to save all if they repent and believe and that he hath afforded a sufficiency of means to all Let them allow this and I will not contend about the other 3. The third Error of the Anabaptists saith he and why not of some of the most Learned and Eminent Doctors of the Church of England is this That God affords all men universal and sufficient Grace and consequently a power of Free-will to be saved if they will The former part of this Charge I own according to the 4th Article of our Confession in the Words by him cited All Men are at one time or other put into such a capacity as that through the Grace of God they may be eternally saved And he rails bitterly at us for saying that if any perish it is not for want of the means of Grace but for the non-improvement of the Grace of God freely offered through Christ And in this Doctrine saith he Papists Socinians Arminians and Anabaptists are all agreed Is it not as true in this Doctrine also that there is but one only true God and one Lord Jesus Christ in which Papists Socinians Arminians Baptists and Presbyterians are all agreed Doth their agreement make it a false Doctrine Surely no. As for his two Reasons I shall speak to them in their order 1. For his instance of the Pagan Heathen World he saith many of them have never heard of Christ c. And therefore concludes they have no sufficient Grace nor means of Salvation Now saith he of these we boldly deny this Monstrous and Erroneous Assertion Answ But as monstrous as it is in his Eyes what if I sorce him to acknowledge his reasoning from it to be wholly groundless from his own Principle viz. That some persons may be saved by Christ without a particular knowledge of him or an explicite Faith in him then some of these Heathens may be saved by Christ and may have a sufficiency of means for their Salvation notwithstanding his contrary Assertion That he holds such an Opinion I prove thus because he asserts That all Elect Infants dying in Infancy are saved Now this must be by Christ altho' they are no more capable to know him and believe in him than those Heathens he speaks of What he says about their incapacity because they have no Preachers to instruct them c. those sayings relates to such as have the Gospel among them upon whom those Duties are enforced and do not relate to Heathens that lye under an invincible Ignorance no more than they do to little Infants For as Dr. Tho. Goodwin saith in his Aggravations of Sin c. Positive Laws come to be in force only where they are promulgated God doth not exact impossible things from his Creatures and then punish them because they do not obey him therein for it is an act of high Injustice shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Let Mr. H. take care to ensure his own Salvation and not trouble himself with those Secrets which belong only to God Who made him I pray a Judge of Heathens that he presumes to sentence them thus by whole-sale to the torments of Hell fire For the Lord our God is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his Works He is the God of the Spirits of all flesh And he hath sent his Son to dye for them all which bespeaks his great Love towards them from whence we have reason to hope better things than that he made so many thousand millions of Souls