Infants are not made clean from their Pollutions and freed from Condemnation without having Faith and Repentance I say they may because God requires not these things of Infants But you argue further Mr. F. All the Members of the Kingdom of Heaven are holy but Children are Members of the Kingdom of Heaven Not by Birth it is by Regeneration Answ First Here I think you have given your Cause its deaths blow It seems now that the Infants of Believers are no more holy by their Birth of believing Parents than others and whether they be regenerated you cannot tell for you do not hold that all the Children of Believers are saved What is now become of the Birth-priviledg so much gloried in by Mr. Baxter and others We have been told Infants are holy by Birth if one Parent be but a Believer and that Children of Believers are holy by Prerogative of Seed But now you confess the Truth and I grant Infants are not holy by Birth let their Parents be never so Christian And I have already granted that Infants must be cleansed from all Sin before they come to Heaven But yet you touch not the Question Whether they cannot be cleansed from Sin without they have Faith and Repentance one would think you begin to be afraid of the Question and I am sure you have cause so to be Arg. 3. Mr. F. tells us If Adam had continued in Innocency his Children had born the Image of God from the Birth I never heard it denied That which I infer hence is that Children are capable of the Image of God and receiving the Seeds of all Grace it was so then why not now Answ What manner of the Image of God Infants should have born had Adam continued innocent is unknown to Man and 't is but vain to concern our selves about that which cannot be known but this we know it should not have stood in Faith and Repentance as now because in both these we confess our selves Sinners and this is enough to shew the vanity of your Question if so then why not now But you proceed thus Mr. F. Shall the sin of one Person be so mischievous to deprive Adam and all his Posterity of the Image of God and bring the Seeds of all Corruption into their Nature and shall the Grace of God be denyed to renew his Image in little Children when and where he pleaseth Children being a great part of the World shall the Spirit of God have nothing to do in their Hearts Answ I know no Man more faulty than Mr. F. in this matter for he will not allow the Grace of God to have any thing to do with the greatest part of Infants I doubt not but God doth all things needful for them to make them holy by the Blood of Christ his Grace and Spirit But all this shall be done without Faith and Repentance because God does not require it of Infants if he does name your Text. Mr. F. now tells us Adam's Disobedience far exceeds the Obedience of Christ which he compares in Justification Rom. 5. 16 17 18. for his Disobedience could defile all his Posterity but Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Answ Come St. Paul thou hast told us that such as thou art by Letters when absent such thou wilt be indeed when present 2 Cor. 10. 11. Wherefore I shall give place to thee to answer for thy self by the very places which Mr. F. has quoted out of thy Epistle to the Romans Chap. 5. 16 17 18. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the Gift for the Judgment was of one to Condemnation but the free-Gift is of many Offences to Justification For if by the Offence of one Death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ Thâ—refore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon All Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free-Gift came upon All Men unto Justification of Life And whereas Mr. F. boldly tells us that Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child I ask him whose Obedience then does cleanse Infants Let St. Paul answer again ver 19. As by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners SO by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Blessed Paul thou hast answered to the Life Mr. Firmin says Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Thou sayst Christ's Obedience made many righteous and they that are made righteous are clean and regenerated sufficiently Blessed Apostle thou hast turned the Wisdom of the Wise into Foolishness What follows in this Paragraph is answered before and for his uncivil Expressions in the close of it I shall pass them by Mr. Firmin's Arg. 4. If all Children dying such are justified and saved then there will be Millions in Heaven in whom the Spirit of God as the third Person in the Blessed Trinity had nothing to do in their Salvation Answ First I take notice that Mr. Firmin by this Argument would have Millions of Infants damned because in his Judgment the Spirit of God hath nothing to do with Millions of them in the business of Salvation This this is that wicked Doctrine which I oppose 2. But how will he prove that the Spirit hath to do in the business of the Salvation of any of them more than I shall prove he hath to do in the Salvation of all dying Infants He would prove it by two things 1. Because the distinct Subsistences have their distinct manner of working 2. Because Regeneration is given to the Spirit Now suppose this be true it does not prove that some Infants have the assistance of the Spirit and some dying Infants have no assistance from him Thus he beats the Air but proves not any thing at all relating to the Point in Question 3. But I will prove that all dying Infants have all that assistance of the Spirit in the business of Salvation which is any way needful for them I do it thus All those dying Infants for whom Christ shed his precious Blood have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation But Christ shed his precious Blood for all dying Infants Ergo All dying Infants have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation The Major is evident because no dying Infant does resist the Holy Ghost and because God is no Respecter of Persons The Minor is evident because Christ died for all tasted Death for every Man he bought them that deny him and bring upon themselves swift Destruction And seeing his tender Mercies are over all his Works the holy Spirit is not wanting to further the Salvation of any dying Infant Deut. 10. 17 18. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Heb. 2. 9. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Psal 145. 9. Come Mr. Firmin let me come near you it may be you have had some Children that died in their
Original the Chaldee Paraphrast Junius c. which sheweth that it must be understood of them that are Adulti and not of Infants If Infants be not circumcised it is the Parents fault as may appear in the Example of Moses whom the Lord punished and not the Child for neglecting it 3. Concerning Baptism I do believe it to be a very solemn Ordinance and also very useful in the Church of God yet I do not find that it is the Hand of the Spirit to convey Grace to the Heart of any Infant seeing what it conveys it doth it by Faith and by its Figure representing the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ and ours with him c. of all which Infants know nothing being sprinkled as I formerly shewed very often when they are fast asleep and if awake they know nothing of the Mystery of Baptism But Mr. F. brought three Scriptures to prove his Doctrine we shall now consider them Ephes 5. 26. Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water through the Word I allow Baptismal Water to be here meant but then we see it does not cleanse but by or through the Word nor doth the Word profit unless it be mixed with Faith in them that hear it Heb. 4. 1 2. The Church is purified in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 22. And Baptism saves us as it is the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Christ And to this agree his other two Scriptures Tit. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now Infants being uncapable of being cleansed by Baptism according to the sense of these Scriptures we may in no wise apply them to Infant-Baptism Divis 2. And because it may be most convenient to treat of Regeneration in this place we will here consider Mr. F's Arguments to prove that Infants have Faith and Repentance His first Argument is as followeth Arg. 1. If all even adult Persons are passive in the work of Regeneration then Infants are capable of Regeneration But the Antecedent is true Answ 1. Here we are told that grown Persons are passive that is they do nothing at all in the work of Regeneration this is the meaning of his Antecedent Now if this be true as he says it is then if they do nothing they neither hear the Word nor believe it nor repent nor hate nor turn from Sin for these are at least some of the parts of the work of Regeneration Now I would fain know who is active in all this if the Party regenerate be not St. Paul tells us With the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 10. When Peter shewed the Jews their Sin and preached Christ to them they were pricked to the Heart Now observe they came to hear the Word they gave Audience they gave Credit to it God blessed the Word with Power Now they cry out What shall we do Peter exhort them to repent c. and they gladly receive his word and had the washing of Regeneration the same day Now let God have the Glory of this and all Conversions who is the first Mover in it and the Efficient Cause of it yet he is absurd that will say Man is as passive as an Infant that can neither hear nor receive any Instruction at all And therefore I deny his Antecedent it is not true the Adult are some way active in the work of Conversion yea all that know the work do know what wrestling with Corruption is and how unable they are to overcome in the Conflict with Satan and Flesh without Supernatural Strength or Aid from Heaven but yet They act and wait for help in all their actings 2. Men are commanded to hear that their Souls may live Isa 55. If they hear and obey not they sin against God Rom. 10. 16 17 18. We grant that the Power Converting is not of the Creature We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves All our Faculties are given us of God. It 's our duty to put these Faculties into Act to hear repent and believe is Man's Duty It is not the Duty of Infants to hear repent believe c. therefore they are not regenerated this way What you urge from the Shunamite's Son and Lazarus being both dead and so equally passive as to rise from Death is wholly impertinent and being put into Argument is false for thus you must argue if you say any thing Infants dead are as capable to rise as the Adult being dead Ergo They are as capable of hearing beleiving and repenting as the Adult The Consequence is false many Instances we have of the Adult who hear believe and repent but no Instance of one Infant ever regenerated this way 3. As for your captious Demands about our being quickned c. you may well spare them till you give better Evidence of your own Conversion for your Books do evidently shew that a jeering idle Spirit has dominion in you Howbeit this we say The Original Cause of our Conversion is the Love of God The meritorious Cause is the Blood of Christ The ministerial Cause is the Evidence of Truth or the Word of Truth The efficient Cause is the Power of God's Grace John 1. 12. The formal Cause is believing and obeying the Truth through the Spirit The final Cause is God's Glory and our Salvation to the obtaining of which all our Faculties of Hearing Understanding Will and Affection are given us of God to be put into Act. This is not required of Infants and how they are sanctified by the Spirit God only knoweth 4. But now saith Mr. Firmin I will not have him for my God who cannot most omnipotently make me both will and do what he will. But I reply These are great swelling words of Vanity and nothing to the purpose We dispute not what God can do for he can of a Stone in the Street make a better Man than either of us And we deny not but God hath sometimes and may still if he please convert some by miraculous Operations But to say that all Conversions are miraculous as Mr. F. does is very false Paul was converted miraculously so was not Lydia What I say upon Ephes 1. 19 20. is mistaken by you for I extend it further than to the Resurrection of the Body for I expresly say he has power to do whatsoever he pleases and so to raise us up c. but if I was short or obscure this is my meaning The Faith of Christians is agreeable to the power which God shewed in Christ when he raised him from the dead and I think 1 Pet. 1. 3. doth very well explain Ephes 1. 19 20. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead Mr.
be able to prove them viz. That some Infants have Faith and Repentance seminally and others have Vnbelief and Impenitency seminally And which is another Impossibility no Man can distinguish the Infants one from another Nor can it ever be proved that Seminal Faith and Repentance if yet any Body can tell what it is do give us any ground to baptize any Body For Suppose we take this Seminal Faith and Repentance to be the faculties of Credence and Sorrow Or suppose some take them to be some secret Inspirations of the Spirit yet sith they appear not to us it is as if they were not For that Rule is good in this Case Deâ— non apparentibus non existantibus eidem est ratio It is the profession of Faith and Repentance that qualifies a Person in respect of us for Sacred Baptism the Church is not judg of of Hearts they are only known to God infallibly Division 4. Concerning Original Sin. It would even grieve a Sober Christian to read the strange Immaginations which Men have Published about Original Sin and the Extreams they have run into on the Right Hand and on the Left censuring one another very severely for their differing apprehensions in this Matter And it is remarkable how cruelly Censarious Mr. Firmin is against my self in particular representing me as a Master among the worst sort of Anabaptists who he says denies Original Sin. Concerning which he tells you we are Rotten That the foundation of Anabaptism lies in denying Original Sin. That in this we are given up to more blindness than the Heathens c. To all which I Answer 1. If I be one of the worst of my Brethren in this Point I hope the rest will be better thought of by Men of Moderation for my sake when they have had what violent Mr. Firmin hath not patience to consider what I have published upon the account of Original Sin and that long before I heard there was such a Man in the World as Mr. Firmin in my Christianismus Primitivus Book 2. Pag. 77 78. thus you read me 2. For the better attaining to a powerful conviction of Sin and a sence of Man's wretchedness by reason of Sin it is necessary to understate the general state of Transgression into which Mankind is involved concerning which we find the Scripture gives this Testimony That all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. And that by one Man Sin entred into the World for that all have sinned And that the whole World lieth in wickedness which is also evident by common Experience every Nation being greatly corrupted through the abounding of Iniquity and the universality of the ways of Sin does evince the same that the Apostle might well say Both Jew and Gentile are all under Sin. 3. The Sin of Mankind is either Original or Actual The first is come upon all even the very Infant-state of Mankind lie under it of whom that saying is true They have not sinned after the similitude of Adam ' s Transgression yet Death reigning over them proves the Transgression of Adam to be upon them This is that Root-Sin called the Sin of the World John 1. 29. whereof none are free Nor is it convenient to extenuate or lessen this Sin either in its nature or the punishment it brings with it it being indeed the Filum certissimum or Leading-Thred to all other Iniquities Mankind being hereby corrupt Ab Origine and wholly deprived of the Glory of God without the intervening Mercy of a Saviour And hence we find David when complaining of his sinful state looks back to his corrupt Original amongst the rest of his Iniquities complaining Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me Knowing as Job saith None can bring a clean thing out of an unclean one So that they are not to be despised who say that in our Humiliation for Sin we ought to bewail this our Sinful Original which had been to Adam's Posterity like the Sin of Traytors which bringeth with it corruption of Blood to their Off-spring for which they must bear the shame of such Transgressions How do we find that the Sin of Progenitors was wont to be lamented by their Off-spring among the Israelites And is there not the same reason Adam's Children should do the like as being sensible of the evil Consequences thereof We also may say Our Father hath sinned and we have born his Iniquity 4. And hence I like the saying of Irenaeus well which I will give in English because Mr. F. is pleased to lock it up in Latine Omnes enim venit c. Christ came to save all by himself all I say who are born again in God Infants Little ones Boys and Young Men and Old Men But as for his Ideo per omnem venit aetatem I let that alone for I do not find that Christ passed through the age of Old Men yet I say he came to Sanctifie every Age and therefore every Age who do not profane the Blood of Christ by which they were Sanctified as I am sure no Infant doth they shall certainly be Saved by him and hence the Salvation of all dying Infants is apparent enough But how Infants are born again in God is a secret and not to be Demonstrated by Mr. Firmin nor any other Surely had I written as Irenaeus doth he would have said I exclude the Operation of the Holy Ghost for Irenaeus says he came to save all by himself yet as 't is certain that the Holy Spirit is not wanting to the Aged Sinner there is no ground to doubt of his care of poor Infants Division 5. Of Free-Will Concerning Free-Will Mr. F. calls it our Diana and an Imperial Majesty representing us to deny God to be most Blessed because if his Will be resisted he failing of his End is to want a degree of Blessedness c. I Answer 1. Then it seems according to Mr. F. all that God wills to be saved must and therefore shall be Saved and the rest he wills to be Damned and they shall therefore be Damned But how he can reconcile his Doctrines to these Scriptures I cannot tell which saith I live I Will not the death of the Wicked And that this is good in the sight of God c. who will have all Men to be Saved 2. Was it God's Will that when he brought Israel out of Egypt that their Carcases should fall in the Wilderness If it were not then he wanted a degree of Blessedness Was it God's Will that Adam should fall and bring himself and his Posterity into so many Miseries If not God was not most Blessed because he failed of his End. If you say it was God's Will that Adam should fall and that Israel must fall in the Wilderness you had as good tell us that God has Decreed all the evil Actions that Men do and that they must do them else God cannot be most