THE GROUNDS OF Infant-Baptism Briefly EXPLAINED GOD's Word plainly declareth That it is sufficient Qualification for Baptism if Persons be Believers If thou believest withal thine heart thou mayest be baptized Act. 8. 36 37. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Mark 16.15 16. Now the Infants of Christian Parents are either Believers or Unbelievers or neither Believers nor Unbelievers but a third kind middle between both A third kind of Persons who are neither Believers nor Unbelievers but middle between both cannot be the Scripture knoweth none such it is contrary to the Tenour of God's Word and to the Grounds of Religion and to the Common Belief of Christendom and will Ubi ponis parvulos baptizatos Profecto in numero credentium August de Verbis Apostoli Ser. 14. infer one of these two impious Absurdities either that Infants are bruit Beasts or that dying in Infancy they are neither saved not damned but remain in a Third State middle between Heaven and Hell for ever If you suppose the Infants of Christian Parents to be Unbelievers then in reason you must suppose that they be all so and dying in Infancy Unbelievers they must needs be damned For Christ plainly saith That he which believeth not shall be damned he is condemned already he shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mark 16. 16. John 3. 18 36. And if all the Infants of Christian Parents dying in Infancy are damned Unbelievers we have much more reason to conclude that all the Infants of Heathen Parents dying in Infancy are so too But sure that Doctrine cannot be true which adjudgeth all Infants taken away in Infancy to inevitable Damnation for ever It remains then that the Infants of Christian Parents are Believers and therefore baptizable § II. Though Infants are not capable of actual Faith after the similitude of vigilant grown Men yet they are capable of the inward Seed and Root thereof after the similitude of grown Men in their Sleep while their Sleep 1 Joh. 3. 9. Luk. 1. 15 35. Jer. 1. 5. lasteth and as Jeremy and John Baptist were sanctified from the Womb and as the Infant Jesus was holy and as David was made to hope when he was upon his Psal 22. 9. mothers breasts The Soul of each Infant is a Spiritual Substance and being so it must needs be immortal and some way or other in act from the time that it is put into the Body and while it is in the Body it doth animate and quicken the Body and is the Life thereof and is always upon its way to Eternity without 1 Cor. 7. 14. all stop or stay and either it is by supernatural Grace inwardly holy in the sight of God and so in the way to Heaven or it is destitute of supernatural Grace and then it is inwardly unholy and unclean in the sight of God and so in the way to Hell Our Brethren the Opposers of Infant Baptism confess That from Their Confession of Faith p. 24. Adam and Eve the Common Parents of us all corrupted Nature was conveyed to all their Posterity descending from them by ordinary Generation being now conceived in Sin and by Nature Children of Wrath the Servants of Sin the Subjects of Death and all other Miseries Spiritual Temporal and Eternal unless the Lord Jesus set them free Now Infants being inwardly infected and defiled with Sin and Corruption as the Great Disease of lapsed Humane Nature they must needs be by Divine Grace capable of Cure and Remedy which Cure and Remedy cannot be without super natural Regeneration whereby their Souls are inwardly renewed and made Partakers of the Divine and Godly Nature conformably to the Image of the Infant Jesus whose Soul while he was an Infant did overflow 2 Pet. 1. 4. H b. 1. 9. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8. 29. Joh. 20. 17. Luk. 1. 35. 2.40 Joh. 3. 3 5 6. with the Seed of Divine Faith Hope Love Meekness Piety and all other Coelestial Graces a degree and measure whereof God worketh in all Elect Infants in respect whereof the Infant Jesus and they are Brethren and Fellows there is spiritual similitude between them The Infant Jesus is considerable two ways First In respect of the Natural Substance of his Soul and Body and so there is similitude between him and all other Infants for they also have Souls and Bodies no less than the Infant Jesus this similitude is natural and common Secondly In the Infant Jesus besides the natural Substance of his Soul and Body there is by supernatural Grace and gracious Donation and Endowment the Seed and Root of all Divine and Heavenly Vertues which are the Life of the Soul like as the Soul is the Life of the Body these Divine and Heavenly Vertues did emidently shine forth in the Life of Christ when grown up Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man The Seed and Luke 2. 52. Root of all Heavenly Vertues was by supernatural Grace in his Soul while he was in the Virgin 's Womb and as soon as he was born of her but did not appear till he was arrived to some maturity When he was grown to Man's Estate he did use to take his Rest in Sleep and while be slept the inward Heavenly Vertues and Graces of his Mind did not appear but the Seed and Root thereof lay hid in his Soul Now between such Infants as Jeremy and John Baptist who are by supernatural Grace born of God and holy from the Womb and the Infant Jesus there is spiritual and special similitude But between Infants unregenerate and unholy and the Infant Jesus there is no spiritual and special similitude Gen. 3. 15. Isa 42. 1. Rom. 9 8. but contrariety as between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman between Non-Elect and Elect. No reason can be rendred why the Infants of Christian Parents should not be as truly capable of being Believers as the Infant Jesus was of being a Saviour Vnto you is born this day in the city of Luk. 2. 11. Mat. 1. 21. David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins As if you suppose the Infant Jesus Christ not to be the Saviour of Souls it cannot be declared when he comes to be the Saviour of Souls So if you suppose the Infants of Believing Parents not to be a kind of Believers it cannot be declared when the Children born of Believing Parents come to be in the Number of Believers in what Year of their Lives If the Infancy of Jesus Christ could not barr him from being Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and Men the Head of the Church and the Saviour thereof when he sucked his Mother's Breasts By the same reason the state of
Children pertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises But they by Unbelief breaking themselves and their Children off from the God of Abraham and his true Religion this gave occasion for the calling of the Gentiles who were wild by Nature and Branches of the wild Olive-tree but being by supernatural Grace and Regeneration united to Christ endued with the Faith of Abraham and so graffed contrary to Nature into a good Olive-tree Now the Infants of Believing Gentiles are become the Natural Branches and together with the Infants of believing Jews partake of the root and fatness of the olive-tree and consequently of Baptism as coming in the room of Circumcision By this good Olive-tree I understand Christ the Saviour of all Men specially of those that believe who hath with his own Blood purchased Temporal Mercies for all Men in general and Eternal Mercies for the Elect in special and Baptism in common for all Christian Parents and their Infants § XVIII As they are not all Israel which are of Israel so they are not all Rom. 9. 6. the Church which are of the Church nor all internally in Covenant with God that are externally in Covenant with him And yet all that are of the Church and externally in Covenant with God may be admitted to such external Priviledges as do in common pertain to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Simon Peter and Simon Magus to visible Christians and their Seed suitably to their Age and Capacity § XIX Baptism in its own nature is the Laver of Regeneration a saving Tit. 3. 21. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Rom. 4. 11. Act. 22. 16. Figure a divine Sign Seal and Token of Pardon of Sin Adoption Justification and Eternal Life according to God's gracious Covenant in Christ But as one and the same Sun doth harden Clay and soften Wax and as one and the same Gospel is to some through God's special Grace in Christ the Savour of Life unto Life and unto others through their own Sin the Savour of Death unto Death so is Baptism In receiving Baptism Persons receive 2 Cor. 2. 16 17. 2 Cor. 6 1. the Grace of God but too many receive the grace of God in vaih and so what in its own nature is the Laver of Regeneration a saving Figure a divine Sign Token and Seal of the greatest Blessings and Favours is not so to such as receive it unworthily and in vain § XX. The Papists generally and many Protestants hold That the Sacraments confer Grace Non ponentibus obicem to such as do not put in a barr Roffens Cont. Luther Art 1. Le Blane Thes Theol. de usu efficacia Sacram. Novi Testam Luther in the beginning of the Reformation did censure and oppose this Sentence and Opinion as Heretical Certain it is that there cannot be a Sacrament without Faith For all sound Divines unanimously approve that excellent Saying of St. Augustine's Accedit verbum ad Elementum fit Sacramentum The Word comes to the Element and it is made a Sacrament This Saying is grounded upon these and the like Scriptures Rom. 4. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 21. So that without the Word of Divine Institution there is no Sacrament no Baptism no Lord's Supper But the Word of Institution cannot be without Faith either common or special For the Word of Institution and Faith are related as principal and Instrumental and as related they are by Nature together and do mutually prove and infer each other There may be Words and Washing without Faith but not Christian Baptism Common Faith such as Simon Magus had is sufficient to the Validity of Baptism and for entring the Person baptized into the Lord's Oath and Covenant and into the Number and Society of visible Christians as to external Fellowship and Communion but it is not sufficient to Pardon of Sin and a State of Salvation for this there is an absolute necessity of special Faith even the Faith of God's Elect as to the Adult and the Divine Seed thereof as to Infants No Christian Faith no Church no Sacrament no Gospel-Ministry no Difference between us and Heathens nothing but Practical Atheism and the Kingdom of the Devil and Eternal Despair § XXI Many hold that God's Promises are of two sorts Absolute and Conditional and that Baptism is but a Seal of his Conditional Promises and that the eternal Salvation of Infants is not absolutely and entirely by the Grace of God in Christ but partly by it and partly by somewhat else as a condition thereof or cause Sine quâ non without which Infants cannot be saved But the Scripture hath no such Doctrine and therefore it may not be received 1. We read That all the Promises of God in Christ are Yea and in him Amen And that godliness is profitable unto 2 Cor. 1. 20. all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come But of two sorts of Divine Promises some absolute and some conditional 1 Tim 4.8 we read nothing at all 2. The Sum of all the Blessings and Good Things contained in God's Promises is Eternal Life as begun on Earth and perfected in Heaven In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Tit. 1. 2. And this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2. 25. Now Eternal Life is God's own Life even the Life of God But the Life of God cannot Eph. 4. 18. be conditional for if it be conditional then God himself must needs be conditional uncertain of his own Life an impotent and precarious God dependent upon Men for his very Life and it is at their courtesie whether he shall be God or no. 3. If the Eternal Salvation of Infants from first to last be not absolutely and entirely by God's Grace in Christ then we must be bound to pray for Infants after this manner Lord do not save them but almost save them the matter is divided into certain parts part belongs to thee and part belongs to some other Lord do thine own part it pertains not to thee to do more and therefore we may beg no more thou art but a half Saviour an imperfect Saviour there be others co-equal and co-ordinate with thee in this matter But this kind of praying is rather blaspheming than praying 4. If Infants eternal Salvation from first to last be not absolutely and entirely by God's free Grace in Christ then it must needs be wholly of Debt and not of Grace and so Infants shall have ground of glorying against God after this manner and to this effect We thank God indeed for making us Infants and for bare universal Grace in common with Cain Judas and the rest of damned Men in Hell when they were upon Earth but for our Eternal Salvation as begun on Earth and perfected in Heaven we owe God no
Infancy cannot hinder the Children of Believing Parents from being a kind of Bellevers and Members of the Church when they suck their Mother's Breasts Christ plainly says Whosoever shall offend one Mat. 18.6 Luke 18. 15. Mark 9. 36. of these little ones which believe in me c. And by comparing the Evangelists it will appear that by these lettle ones which believe in Christ he means Infants such as Christ took in his arms at least he doth not exclude Infants § III. The Adversaries of Infant-Baptism express their Doctrine in these words Those who do actually profess Repentance towards God Faith in and Obedience to Their Confession of Faith p. 97. our Lord Jesus are the only proper Subjects of Baptism And for proof hereof they refer us to two Scriptures in the Margin namely Mar. 16. 16. Act. 8. 36 37. Now from these very Scriptures it is already proved That it is enough for Baptism that Persons be Believers and that the Infants of Believing Parents are a kind of Believers and therefore proper Subjects of Baptism But no Scripture declares that those only who actually profess Belief are the proper Subjects of Baptism this is plainly an addition to God's Word and therefore to be rejected § IV. Christ's Commission to his Apostles is Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. That is Go ye and Christianize all Nations make all Nations Christians Saints Believers Disciples of Christ get them into Covenant with God through Christ and then Baptize them and solemnly enter them into the Church of Christ by the Rite of Baptism For like as Jesus made and baptized Disciples first made and then baptized Disciples so we may reasonably think that Joh. 4. 1 2. Christ's Commission to his Apostles was That they should first make all Nations Christians Saints Believers Disciples and get them into Covenant with God through Christ and then baptize them At the time when Christ gave forth this Commission the whole World was either Jews or Gentiles The generality of the Gentiles were for the present Worshippers of Idols under the Power Acts 26. 17 18. Eph. 2. 12. of Satan drowned in Ignorance Infidelity and false Religion The Jews had been long used to Circumcision the Passeover and the rest of the Old Testament-Ministry and Pedagogy too many of them were Unregenerate though Worshippers of the true God the rest who were truly Godly did yet need Instruction concerning the true Messias and that this same Jesus whom we Preach is the Christ of God the Saviour of the World the sole Mediator between God and Men foretold by the Prophets and prefigured in ancient Types and Sacrifices and that all the Old Testament-way of Worship was now to cease and give place to the New Therefore the scope and true meaning of Christ's Commission may well be thought to be this Go ye my Apostles and Ministers into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Person capable thereof reduce them from their Ungodliness and State of Damnation to a State of Grace and Salvation make them Christians Saints Disciples Believers Members of the Church get all both Parents and Children into Covenant with the true God through Jesus Christ throw down the Middle Wall of Partition between Jew and Gentile and make both One Holy Society in Christ and having so done Baptize them and let Baptism be the Token Sign and Seal of the Covenant between God in Christ and them If then the Infants of Christian Parents be a kind of Christians Saints Believers Disciples Members of the Church in Covenant with God through Christ all which for substance denote the same thing and are convertible then by the Tenour of Christ's Commission they are to be Baptized Now the Opposers of Infant-Baptism own and declare that Their Confession of Faith p. 115 116. the Infants of Believing Parents under the Old Testament were in Covenant with God and therefore they must needs own and agree That the Infants of Believing Parents under the New Testament are no less in Covenant with God unless they can prove that God's way is not equal which they never can For certainly his way is equal as himself declares but the ways of Sinners are Ez. k. 18. 25. unequal § V. It is plain from Deut. 29. 10 11 12 13. that Little Ones together with their Parents did enter into Covenant with the God of Israel And from the time of Abraham God ordained that all his Male-Seed successively in their Generations should be Circumcised the Eighth Day by that Rite a Divine Bond and Engagement was laid upon the Infants Circumcised to be the Lord 's faithful Acts 7. 8. Gen. 17.9 10 11. Servants all their days it was a token of the Covenant between God and them And long before Circumcision even from the Beginning there were by Divine Appointment Sacrifices which were typical and symbolical of Eternal Redemption through Faith in the Death of Christ as future In those Sacrifices Believing Parents did Covenant with God Gather my saints together unto me those Psal 50. 5. that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice They did also inter their Infants into Covenant with God they did first devote and consecrate themselves to the Service of the true God and engage Themselves to him and then their Infants the resolution of every pious Parent being the same with Joshua's As for me and Jos 24. 15. my house we will serve the Lord. The mutual Oath and Covenant between the Nation of Israel and the Gibeonites did bind their whole Off-spring and Posterity Jos 9. 2 Sam. 21. which because King Saul some Hundreds of Years after did presume to violate therefore God did severely revenge the Breach thereof by Three Years Famine in the Reign of King David and would not be pacified but by the Death of Seven of Saul's Sons the Gibeonites so desiring From all which it is plain that Parents may by Authority from God lay a Divine Bond Oath and Covenant upon the Souls of their Infants which when grown up they are bound inviolably to observe § VI. There was a Covenant between God and Christ considered as Man That he should be obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross and be therefore Rewarded and Crowned with supereminent Joy and Glory in Heaven for ever The Foundation and Corner-stone of this Covenant was laid in Christ's Incarnation according to the Eternal Purpose and Fore-knowledge of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost And hereupon the Infant Jesus was Circumcised the Eighth Day in Token of the foresaid Covenant between God and that blessed Babe And about the Thirtieth Year of his Age he was Baptized by John in Jordan which was another Token and Confirmation of the same Covenant And look as Moses bore up his Heart in all his Sufferings by having respect unto
the recompence of the reward so the Man Christ Jesus for the Hâ—b 11. 26. Hâ—b 12. 2. Isa 49 4 53.11 Phil. 2. 8 9. joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God according to the Covenant between God and him Now the Covenant between God and the Man Christ Jesus is for substance the same with the Covenant between God and all godly Christians they are specifically but one everlasting Covenant because Christ considered as Man Heb. 1. 9. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8. 29. Joh. 20. 17. Col. 1. 18. and all godly Christians are Brethren and Fellows only he in all things hath the pre-eminence as being the First-born among many Brethren and anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows § VII What advaniage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision Rom. 3. 1 2. Much every way Certainly the Christian now hath not less advantage then the Jew anciently had and there is not less profit now by Baptism then was of old by Circumcision Christian Parents and their Seed are not Losers but rather Gainers by the Coming of Christ and the New Testament in his Blood because he is a surety of a better testament the mediator of a better covenant But this cannot be if the Infants of Christian Parents be not admittable to Baptism Heb. 7.22 8 6. For how can that be a better Covenant and Testament which abolisheth Circumcision whereby there was much Profit and Advantage to the Infants of Believing Parents anciently and gives them nothing in lieu thereof but excludes them from Baptism coming in the room thereof § VIII That Baptism comes in the place of Circumcision is evident for the Heb. 7. 12. Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law For thô the Law for Circumcision was in force some Hundreds of Years before the Institution of the Levitical Priesthood yet were they both but temporary Institutions designed to last but for a time until the time of Reformation which being come Heb. 9. 10. they cease and have an end and in their room comes Baptism and the Priesthood of Christ and the New Covenant in his Blood Plain it is that as there is a change of the Levitical Priesthood so is there also of Circumcision If ye be Gal. 5. 2. circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Now there cannot be a change of Circumcision but there must needs be another Sign and Token of God's gracious Covenant in its room for therein consisteth the nature of a change and the change here must needs be for the better because Christ is the Mediator of a better Covenant and the time of the New Testament is the time of Reformation more glorious than the time of the Old Testament Accordingly Baptism 2 Cor. 3. 10 â—â— is better then Circumcision as better suiting with the State of the Church under the New Testament 1. It is more easie Circumcision was bloody and painful 2. It is more plain and significative of our Communion and Fellowship with Christ in his Death and Resurrection and of the washing away of all our sins in his Blood 3. It is equally applicable to Males and Females 4. It is not limited to the Eighth Day 5. It is enjoyned to all Believers both Jews and Gentiles throughout the World 6. It is to continue to the End of the World 7. It is to be done by none but a Valid Minister of Christ 8. It is to be done publickly in the Assembly of God's People if it may be Look then as we have the Lord's Supper in the room of the Passeover and the Lord's Day in the room of the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Priesthood of Christ in the room of the Levitical Priesthood and the New Testament in Christ's Blood in the room of the Old Testament in the Blood of Beasts So we have Baptism in the room of Circumcision a change every way for the better Either Circumcision is changed for Baptism or for nothing for no other thing imaginable comes in its room But a change there must needs be otherwise the Scripture will be found erroneous in saying The Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law § IX The Opposers of Infant-Baptism deny Baptism to be the Seal of God's Covenant with every Believer and affirm That the Scriptures are altogether silent thereof and conceive the Seal of that Covenant is the Indwelling of the Spirit of Their Confession of Faith p. 117 Christ in the particular and individual Persons in whom he resides and nothing else But this is a manifest Error for before Abraham was Circumcised he was a true Believer in Covenant with God and sealed with the Spirit of Christ afterward he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised So that besides the Indwelling of the Rom. 4. 11. Spirit there was then clearly another Seal of God's Covenant namely Circumcision The difference between these two Seals stood in this the Indwelling of the Spirit is an internal Seal peculiar to the Elect of absolute Eph. 1. 13 14. 4 30. 2 Cor. 1. 22. necessity to the Salvation of each Person from the Fall of Adam to the end of the World but Circumcision was an external Seal common to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Elect and Non-Elect Persons not ordained before Abraham's time neither to all then but to some only and to no Infant before the Eighth Day and upon special Reasons dispensed with or omitted for Forty Years in the Wilderness and never esteemed by God of equal excellency and necessity with Regeneration Moreover it is undeniably plain that Circumcision was a token of the covenant between God and Abraham together with his seed after him in their generations And being so it was a Seal thereof Gen. 17 9 10 11. for a Token of God's Covenant and a Seal thereof for substance denote the same thing This Covenant did assure the earthly Canaan to Abraham and all his Natural Seed in common by Sarah and the heavenly Canaan to Abraham and all his Spiritual Seed Those of Abraham's Seed who rested in the Letter of Circumcision without the Spirit in the Circumcision of the Flesh without the Circumcision of the Heart and minded the earthly more than the heavenly Canaan were Abraham's degenerate Seed Children of the Devil born after the Flesh and not after the Spirit ungodly and liable to eternal Damnation But such as together with the Circumcision of the Flesh had the inward Circumcision of the Heart and by supernatural Grace and Regeneration were truly holy before God these were Abraham's Spiritual Seed Elect in Christ Children of God and Christians really though not so called and unto them Circumcision was principally a Seal and Token of God's