aquam quae adfuerit super caput nascentis dicens Ego te bapt Synod Colon sub Rudolpho Imper. apud Magd. Cent. 13. And consequently with so much precipitancy as speaks their laying too much stress as their manner is upon the Opus operatum and as if God ties himself to means as well as us Agreeable hereto Christ's Commission is as full for baptizing Infants as any others for if they be the natural or adopted Children of Believers or such as are proselyted they are Abraham's Seed and so are interested in the Covenant and belong to Christ which in Christ's own Dialect is the same thing with being his Disciples * Compare Matt. 10.42 with Mark 9.41 Yea they are called so by the Holy Ghost †Act. 15.10 with v. 1. And the Commission runs to Baptize all Disciples ‖ Matt. 28.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go Disciple all Nations baptizing them if then Infants be or are made Disciples together with their Parents or Proparents so as the Promise of Abraham reacheth to them they are to be baptized for there is nothing to interpose between discipling and baptizing Yea such is the near conjunction of the Commands that they seem to be coincident q. d. Whosoever are my Disciples or Relatives Partners of the Covenant or are in the Church's Power to stipulate for their Religious Education let them be consigned thereunto by this Sacrament of Baptism let this be the Rite of their Admission let this be the Badge and Cognizance of their Discipleship and who are we that dare in contradiction to this express order of our Saviour hinder any such out of our own Imaginations from entering in at this ordinary Gate or Door of Grace who do not exclude themselves Ananias finding Saul in the state of a Disciple baptized him * Act. 9.18 tho' neither he nor any Minister else had made him so Infants are Disciples not so much of Man 's as of God's making vouchsafing graciously in their believing Parents to accept them also into his Covenant †Rom. 11.16 1 Cor. 7.14 and so into the State of Disciples The Apostle also plainly declares that interest in the Promise is alone by it self a sufficient ground for the application of Baptism in that he exhorts those awaken'd Jews to be baptized upon this Ground or for this reason that the Promise did belong to them ‖ Act. 2.38 39. 'T is true he exhorts them to Repentance to which Faith must be conjoyn'd as necessary to their interest in the Promise but 't was their interest in the Promise on which he Grounds his Exhortation to them to be baptized Hence however Persons come to have an interest in the Promise whether it be by descent or adoption or by their own personal Faith and Repentance 't is all one to our present purpose And this is agreeable to the first Command to keep the Covenant that is the token of the Covenant the Command is grounded upon interest in the Promise Gen. 17.9 Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore that is upon this Ground because the Promise is unto thee and having the Promise thou shalt wear the Sign and Seal thereof for it follows à majori ad minus that the Children being in Covenant should not want the Sign and Seal that ensures the Benefits and Priviledges of the same Who then can forbid Water 'T is the Apostle's Argument * Act. 10.47 to those that have received the Grace of God the Promise by Virtue whereof they are in Covenant with God as well as we Now what have the Anabaptists to Object against what is here alledged for the putting on Infants the present Sign or Token of the Covenant Why nothing in effect but what they are beholden to the Papists for viz. That Circumcision was the Token only of a Carnal Legal Covenant and that such was the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed and renewed by Moses to the Children of Israel and that its being a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith was peculiar only to that Patriarch and that there is no such thing now as foederal holiness or any Right or Priviledge accruing by vertue of any Promise or Covenant from Birth or by being of such a Lineage or Descent but that the Children of Believers in their Infant Estate are in no better Condition than those of Heathens 'T is strange that they who in shew are so much against Popery should broach so much of it speaking the Language of Rome against the Protestant Doctrine maintained in the Church of England Is this to come out of Babylon thus to side with the Papists and Bellarmine * De Sacr. effectu l. 2. c. 13. alibi in particular Mr. Blake †Answer to Tombs p. 61. Printed Anno 46. declares that their Arguments against foederal Holiness are borrowed from them and that he hath not met with any either in Mr. Tombs or Blackwood which may not be found in Stapleton Cornelius a Lapide the Rhemists or some of that Party and that the Jesuits were the first Opposers of it 'T is likewise a great and much agitated Controversie between the Papists and those of the Reformed Religion concerning the Identity and Efficacy of John's Baptism compared with Christ the Papists thundering Anathema's against them who shall affirm the Baptism of John to have the same vertue and power with that of Christ Those of the Reformed on the other side are generally of Opinion that John's Ministry was the same that was afterwards delegated to the Apostles And his Baptism the same which was afterwards ministred by them This the Anabaptists deny to take occasion there-from to Ground their dipping again or Rebaptization and to this purpose draw most of their best Shafts out of the Popish Quiver and form most of their choicest Weapons on their Anvil yea in the whole conflict they have been necessitated to borrow help from these Philistine Artists But let them if they can produce any thing in the whole Bible to overthrow what is here laid down otherwise what I have retorted on them must be acknowledged to be very just Neither is there any doubt but that the Practice of Christ's Church hath been answerable to the Doctrine here represented They say there is not any express Instance of any Infant baptized in the whole History of the Gospel but is there any instance of any Infant of a Christian believer left unbaptized Are there not strong Presumptions that upon coming over of any to the Faith their Children together with themselves were received and baptized 't is said only of Lydia that she believed but of her and her Houshold that they were baptized * Act. 1◠15 yea our Saviour himself upon Zaccheus's receiving of him says to Day is Salvation come to thy House forasmuch as thou also art the Son of Abraham †Luk. 19.9 So St. Peter told Cornelius words by which he and his House should
Externals of Religion are not to be regarded in comparison of its inward Life and Substance The Circumcision of the Flesh when the Commandment was most in force was nothing to that of the Heart Secondly We are given to understand that Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament and so succeeds Circumcision which was the initiating Sacrament of the Old Thirdly We may note that our Baptism represents Christ's Burial and Resurrection in the manner of its Administration or if not in the symbolical Ceremonies yet at least it doth and must in its spiritual Concomitants and Effects And it behoves us to exemplifie Christ's bodily Actions and Passions in a spiritual way that as he died and was buried so should we die and even be buried unto Sin and as he rose so should we rise to newness of Life Mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living as our Church exhorts For the First That the Externals of Religion are not to be regarded in comparison of its inward Life and Substance In the former Verse the Apostle declares to his Colossians that they are circumcized in Christ that is by his Spirit as the Margin of your Bibles of the Geneva Translation hath it and therefore they need not be so scrupulously Zealous after an external Rite much less this of Circumcision which is now antiquated Since withall they want not an outward Rite in this respect they have Baptism tho' Circumcision be laid aside and abolished they have another Sacrament instituted in its room Buried with him in Baptism Now should you compare the Circumcision of our Saviour the inward Circumcision of the Heart with that of Moses the outward Circumcision of the Flesh you will without difficulty perceive that it infinitely surpasseth it in Dignity and Excellency that wounded the Body this enlivens the Soul The one pared away a little Skin and markt the Flesh the other mortifies the whole Body and quickens the Spirit And therefore they were extravagant who notwithstanding that excellent and Divine Circumcision which Christians have received are yet so sollicitously bent upon that which is but the Figure and Shadow Nevertheless to shew how rich that sanctifying Grace is which we have in Jesus Christ he adds that besides our being circumcised in heart and so divested of the Body of the Sins of the Flesh we have moreover been buried with him in Baptism in which we are also risen again with him which is a more excellent and lively Sacrament than ever Circumcision was a Sacrament resembling it and answering to it signifying and sealing up both our Mortification and Vivification But then there is both an outward and an inward Baptism or there is in Baptism the Body and the Spirit as I might have said in effect concerning Circumcision and the internal spiritual Part is the most material and ought to be more especially minded by us The thing that saveth us is by St. Peter said to be Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 But that in Baptism which doth most contribute to our Salvation next to the vertue of Christ's Resurrection is not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God Which shews the outward washing is the least considerable q. d. 't is not so much the outward Administration as the Conversion of the Soul to God that is the effective disposition in which Baptism saveth us God will have mercy and not sacrifice as he said by his Prophet Hos 6.6 that is rather than Sacrifice Not that he did then renounce Sacrifice but would rather have Acts of Mercy and Charity shewn to Man than any such Sacrifices or Oblations offered or made to himself He preferred not Mercy or Charity before inward Devotion or the adoration of the Heart the Sacrifice of a contrite Spirit which he 'll in no wise despise but before any outward Acts or external Performances in his Service which is of little or no account at all with him where the inward spiritual Part is wanting which is the very Soul and Life of Religion But it cannot be supposed he would not have Sacrifice too seeing he had given so many Commands concerning it And therefore the Prophet immediately adds that he desired the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings q. d. he did not desire either Sacrifice or Burnt offerings in the same degree with other more material Duties So when St. Peter says that 't is not the outward washing with Water that saveth us but the inward Purification of the Spirit we are not to suppose his meaning to be that the outward washing is of no vertue or that the Baptism of Water is wholly excluded being an Ordinance of God but that if we would approve our selves unto God we must not rest in an outward formal Worship No not in Circumcision though the Law was never so much in being or were renewed or reinforced But we must Worship him inwardly with the Circumcision of the Heart So the sealing of the Covenant in our Baptism will be of little advantage to us unless we make good our Stipulation and can return some satisfactory Answer touching the Faith we have entertained and the Resolutions we have taken up to live according to that Religion we are initiated into Circumcision availeth not neither the outward Lavour of Baptism without the inward Sanctification and renewing of the Holy Ghost Hence ariseth our great Miscarriage and the frustration of all the hopes and advantages of those blessed Relations we are admitted to by Baptism when from time to time we mind only the external Rite and Ceremony which is low and mean without considering the substance and reality which is high and excellent The Figure the outward Element is poor and beggarly The thing signified is rich and heavenly The Seal is mean the Inheritance is great It hath differently fallen out with the carnal Jew and the carnal Christian the outward Glory of their Ordinances was a stumbling Block to them which made them rest in the Type and look no further the meanness of ours is a stumbling Block with us we look not for such Treasure in Earthen-Vessels Nor indeed can we so long as we make the Ordinance a customary Piece of formality But here I would not be thought to insinuate the Non-necessity of the Ordinance of Baptism which God hath appointed as the way in the common Order of means to bring to Grace and Glory for in this way he ordinarily brings us to Salvation And therefore makes it our Duty But he has not bound himself to outward means and instruments and consequently it cannot be said to be of that universal absolute necessity as if there were no Salvation without it The Covenant we know can convey Pardon and Salvation without the Seal Abraham was justified before he received the sign of Circumcision The seal of the Righteousness of Faith And the Thief upon the Cross was saved without
I hope they will not send us to Rome for it and there is not any general Council in being to decide the particular Cases or any Court where the whole do send in their Votes And the like may be said of a National Church if it be meant of a Congregational Church or rather particular Congregation then this must be of the whole Body too or the judgment of the Ruler or Rulers if the whole Body we know there are many in most Congregations that never troubled their Heads about it and scarce know their own Minds what they would or should judge in such matters and few of those that use this distinction did ever take their judgement in it if it be meant of the Pastors and Rulers then it seems the Pope is not very much out of the way to count himself at least with his Cardinals to be the Church if a single Presbyter or Deacon with the ruling Elders may be the Church Surely they come nearer to him than they are aware of who account the judgment of a particular Congregation or Pastor the judgment of the Church and plead that a Man hath a right to the Sacrament if that Congregation or Minister judge so tho' he hath none in the sight of God But here is the Mischief of it by this reckoning a Man may have a right in the judgment of the Church and yet have no right in the judgment of the Church for he may have a right in the judgment of one Minister or Congregation and yet another may at the same time judge that he hath no right at all But which shall be the Church of the two Why certainly the one hath as good right to claim the Title as the other except one of them rob the Pope and claim the Chair and condemn all other Churches and their judgment to set up their own The Eastern Churches were so wary to prevent all Thoughts that one 's right to the Sacrament should in any wise depend on the Minister that they say not baptizo but baptizetur N. in nomine Patris c. Thus the Apostles baptising is said to be Christ's Baptism 'T is true the Minister in saying I Baptize thee speaks right but still he baptizeth as a Minister and cannot call that his Baptism but if the Minister's Act be all that such Professors have right to then he might say they have no other but my Baptism and that the party hath right to his Baptism and not Christ's Wherefore the better to understand any one's fundamental Right in this Point we must distinguish between the Grant or Promise and the mutual Engagement which is in Covenants and so must allow that the natural Seed of Abraham by virtue of God's gracious Promise were in some sense to be reputed a spiritual Seed likewise tho' not so strictly as to create to them an absolute right to the benefits of the Covenant the blessing of Abraham yet enough to give them the Prerogative of being in Covenant and the Priviledges of being under such an Administration whereof the Apostle reckons eight which belonged to the Jews * Rom. 9.4 5. And who will say that Christians have fewer and of less Consequence Don't we find those very Persons whom the Baptist upbraiding them for coming so far short of Abraham's Faith and Works calls a Generation of Vipers admitted by him to Baptism and enstated in the aforesaid priviledges †Luk. 3.7 and v. 16. From these premises it apparently follows that not only believers but professors of Christianity and their Children are proper Subjects of Baptism yea such also as are born of professed Infidels when they become Converts and belong to such as are Members of the visible Church for so runs the primitive Grant and to these doth the Covenant extend Gen. 17. And if professing Jews and such Servants and Slaves as are mentioned v. 13. have a right to enter into the Covenant and to be circumcised it follows à fortiori that the Children of professing Christians and such as they have a propriety in have a true right to the like priviledge and are now to be baptized otherwise the Gospel doth not nor must Christians shew so much favour to the Children of the Jews as the Covenant under the Law did and as the Jews were to shew to the Children of the Gentiles while they were strangers in the general to the Common Wealth of Israel And if when they were in the Scripture account strangers to the Covenant yet such Children of theirs might enjoy it how much more now since the Partition-wall is taken down and the enmity is done away Nor is this true only in the Theory and according to the Commandment as it may be thus fairly construed but the Practice of the Church Age after Age speaks this to be the intent of the Law Lex currit cum praxi So that for Men to exclude them now as if they were greater Aliens and Forreingers than they were at that time to shut them out from the Covenant and Seal more than when they were under the Law and to make a greater Partition-wall between Gentiles and Gentiles than there was then between Jews and Gentiles as those must do that debar them of their Right to Baptism this must needs be contrary to the Gospel and doth in effect make void the Cross of Christ for tho' upon the coming in of the Gospel the sign be changed and Circumcision which was at first the sign and token of that Covenant be taken away it doth not follow that the Obligation to observe and keep the Covenant in any other Sign and Token doth cease with it for the reason and equity of the Command doth hold in Baptism as well as in Circumcision Ratio legis nexus conscientiae are reciprocal and do mutually suppose one the other And this is the Topic that St. Paul useth * 1 Cor. 9.8 arguing for the maintenance of the Evangelical Ministry from the Analogy of Faith and reasonableness of the thing We are therefore to distinguish between the Obligation to keep the Covenant in the Sign and Token of it which is of perpetual Obligation and Existence as the Covenant it self is and to keep it in the particular sign and token of Circumcision which being secondary and changeable for certain Reasons was to be no longer but something else became that Sign and Token For the further explanation of this 't is to be noted that Circumcision was not abolished in the Gospel as 't was of the Fathers but as it was of Moses a distinction that Christ himself makes †Joh. 7.22 not as it had relation to the Covenant of Promise and the Sign of it as if in that respect it was a weak and carnal Thing for so it was a Bond to Evangelical Obedience ‖ Gen. 17.1 that is be upright and sincere so the Margin Rom. 2.25 Gal. 5.3 but as it was adopted by the legal Mediator
Covenant of Grace Now suppose the Land of Canaan be the main matter Promised to Abraham in the said Covenant it may not follow that 't is only a temporal Blessing because under temporal Promises Spiritual Blessings were veild and consigned by a temporal Possession of the promised Land an eternal Inheritance in the heavenly Canaan was assured to them Besides you take a part for the whole that which is but an Adjunct or an appendix for an entire Covenant as if God made two distinct Covenants with Abraham when as there is not the least hint for it in the whole Bible which speaks only of one Covenant made with that Holy Patriarch even that which Circumcision did consign which was a Spiritual Covenant under a Veil but now 't is one and the same without a Veil as Doctor Taylor who is so often quoted by them expresseth it * Discourse of Baptism p. 37. and so could not respect only as the Answerer saith God's blessing him with a numerous Issue and them with the Land of Canaan there being in that no sensible Blessing to Abraham seeing neither he nor his Posterity enjoyed the Promise as a mere earthly Blessing for near 500 Years after doubtless therefore this must be made good to him as before premised or there was a Blessing for him which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise Besides there were others than Abraham's Seed and Ismael who were to be circumcised †Gen. 17.11 12. to whom the Land of Canaan did not belong The Mysteriousness of this Transaction we are further instructed in by St. Paul Heb. 11.13 They all dyed in the faith having not received the Promises as he observes viz. of a Temporal Possession in Canaan They saw the Promises that is the Spiritual Part afar off they embraced them and looked through the Cloud and temporal Veil and desired a better Country that is an heavenly or the same in an heavenly State This was the Object of their desires and the secret of their Promise And therefore Circumcision was a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had before * Rom. 4.11 and so must relate principally to an Effect and Blessing greater than the generality of the Jews apprehended or was exprest in the surface of the Temporal Promise Wherefore when God promised pardon and forgivness of Sins he promised to remember this Covenant †Levit. 26.42 what stay could it be to Moses's Faith when God appeared to him in the Bush in saying I am the God of thy Fathers of Abraham c. ‖ Exod. 3.6 if it only concern'd temporals Agnoscatur says Chamier * Lib. 5. de bapt let it be granted that the Promise of the Land of Canaan together with the Multiplication of Abraham's Posterity is annexed to this Covenant yet says he this is not the Covenant but an appendage to it as to Godliness the promises of this Life are annexed Earthly things were indeed under that dispensation promised more fully and distinctly suitable to the Jewish Pedagogical Estate to allure them to the service of God and heavenly things more generally and sparingly On the contrary spiritual Blessings are more fully and clearly and earthly Things more generally and sparingly held forth and promised to us under the Gospel Administration And the Land of Canaan was more particularly insisted on in the first Dispensation being design'd for the Type of Heaven and an explanation of the Primary grand Promise to be their God Denoting that he would as certainly bring them to the Celestial Canaan and to the spiritual and glorious Rest there as to that temporal and corporeal Rest from their servitude and captivity in Egypt Hence it was that Jacob gave such a solemn Charge to Joseph and Joseph to his Brethren the one to Bury his dead Body in Canaan the other for the Transportation of his Bones thither which they would never have done for an earthly Inheritance but to nourish in the Hearts of their Posterity Faith and Desire of rest in Heaven in the Communion of Saints whereof Canaan's rest was a Type into which not Moses the Law-giver but Joshua or Jesus the Type of Christ was to bring them So that the whole Tenour of the Ahrahamical Covenant speaks it a Covenant of Grace and the Apostle giving us the substance of it in the Gospel doth it in these Words * Heb. 8.10 I will be to them a God and they shall be my People But such is this Man's Confidence that he prays me to take notice whether there be any thing else in the 17th of Gen. but temporal Blessings But what saith he to v. 4. as the Apostle applies it Rom. 4.27 whereto 't is referred in the Margin Or to v. 7. denoting the quality of the Covenant that 't is not temporary but everlasting respecting spiritual good Things Or to the following Words To be a God to thee and thy seed after thee Bellarmine indeed says that God when he enjoyned Circumcision to Abraham did Promise only earthly Things i. e. the Propagation of his Posterity and the Land of Palestine as this Answerer doth and again I will be a God to thee and thy seed holds forth says Bellarmine only a Promise of a peculiar protection But Amesius well observes in his Answer to him that our Saviour gathered from thence a Resurrection to Bliss or his Argument against the Sadducees †Matt. 22.32 had not been Conclusive In short this Covenant is so much the Covenant of Grace that it contains in it the great Mystery of Man's Redemption as is plain from the Comment of Zachary upon it * Luke 1.71 the belief whereof was the justification of Abraham †Gen. 15.5 6. Rom. 4.3 wherefore 't is expresly said that when God enacted this Covenant with Abraham he preached the Gospel unto him ‖ Gal. 3.8 that is he made a Covenant with him concerning Christ and Salvation by him and he saith further that it was preached to the Jews as it is to us * Heb. 4.2 Thus we see what that Covenant with Abraham was that 't is substantially the same that we are now under or by what means else did any of the Jews before Christ came obtain Grace or Glory It was before Christ's coming into the Flesh cloathed with many Shadows of now abolished Ceremonies Types and Sacrifices in its Administration having upon Mount Sinai the Covenant of works adjoyned to it or the first Covenant so termed for that in the substance thereof it represented the first Covenant So that by Reason of these adjuncts 't is sometimes distinguished from its very self as it was administred by Christ after his Incarnation But if not the same how are the Gentiles said to be grafted in amongst them †Rom. 11.17 as Grotius hath it or according to Beza and Piscator pro ipsis instead of them or in their Place or how doth the same Olive-Tree continue still It
remains then that there are not two Covenants of Grace differing in substance but one and the same under various Administrations Camero * Thes 7. makes three Covenants one of Nature one of Grace and one subservient to that of Grace But ubi unum propter aliud ibi unum tantum But lest I be thought too general in my Procedure I shall further demonstrate that God's Covenant with Abraham consists of those very substantial Parts which are assigned to the Evangelical as 't is in this 17th of Gen. and elsewhere more fully expressed by Moses interpreted by the Prophets and applyed by the Apostles In Gen. 17.1 he tells Abraham what a God he will be unto him viz. A God all-sufficient Which Promise you have Gen. 15.1 divided into two Parts and in other Places among the Prophets into these Three first All-sufficient to pardon the Penitent secondly To give his Holy Spirit thirdly To give eternal Life In each of these respects was God lookt upon as all-sufficient in the Old Testament In Isaiah 55.7 God says I will forgive and multiply my pardons Hence the Jews are exhorted to repent †Act. 2.39 Ezek. 36.25 for that the Promise of the Pardon of Sins by the Blood of Christ belongs to them and he promiseth further to put his Spirit within them and to cause them to walk in his Statutes ‖ Ezek. 36 27. and as 't is in Deut. * 30.6 to Circumcise the Heart So Zachary speaking of God's Covenant and his Oath to Abraham †Luke 1.71 74. makes mention of this two-fold Mercy which accrues to us by vertue thereof viz. First Deliverance from the Power of our Enemies Sin and Satan Secondly Grace and Strength to serve him that he would grant or as the Word is rendered ‖ Rev. 11.3 give Power to wit his Grace and Holy Spirit for the amending of our Lives See also Psal 103.3 and Esa 44.3 And that these Places refer to God's Covenant with Abraham is yet more evident from Gal. 3.16 where the Promise of the Spirit is called the blessing of Abraham And tho' the Promise of eternal Life is not any where in the Old Testament plainly expressed yet it was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise wherein all the Prophets do unanimously declare there was an excellency of Blessing far exceeding what Believers outwardly enjoyed in their Peace Prosperity Kingdom and Temple-Worship which could be no other than the spiritual and eternal Deliverance of their Persons from Sin and its curse with the enjoyment of the Favour of God here and eternal Life in the World to come as 't is observed by St. Paul in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews In like manner the Condition on Abraham's Part is the same that is required of us Christians i. e. to observe the Evangelical Precepts to believe and obey that Gospel which was preached to him as much as to say Faith and Obedience Not that Righteousness which is of the Law exact legal Obedience but that which is of Faith that which is truly Evangelical as is evident by comparing Deut. 3.11 with Rom. 10.6 and of the same nature with that of a Christian How otherwise could Abraham be the Father of them that believe and his Faith the pattern of Faith to others and we be admonished to walk in the steps of his Faith and to do his works Neither do the Prescript Rules given to the one or the other make any alteration therein so long as they are all of the same Nature and Kind Now that they are so appears from the fore-quoted Places where 't is said that the Commandment is not hid in the Hebrew and Septuagint not too heavy but as Christ's Yoak and Burthen light and easie Neither is it in Heaven or beyond the Seas it will cost no great Pains to come to the knowing and practising of it very agreeable and consentaneous to every one's Nature very nigh and in the Heart very easie to Learn and Practise and what this is is punctually set down * Rom. 10.9 to be confessing of Christ and a Cordial belief of his Resurrection shewn forth in the Practise of those Rules that he hath left us and God had before Prescribed And for that Commandment which Christ calls New 't was from the beginning but being buryed as it were in a Law of Ceremonies it seemed wholly laid aside and neglected insomuch that few attained to so right a meaning of the Commandment as that Scribe †Matt. 12. who our Saviour saith was not far from the Kingdom of Heaven But suppose the Divine Precepts are found to vary in number and perspicuity or the like in respect of Abraham and us yet that puts no distinction betwixt his Faith and Obedience and ours for so the Faith and Obedience of one Christian would not be the same with that of another when in different Circumstances We conclude therefore that Abraham's Faith and so his Obedience is of the same Nature with ours Accordingly runs the Precept Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect that is upright or sincere as the Margin shews which implies that tho' he should be subject to infirmities yet so long as he hath a single upright Heart there is no more required than such an Evangelical Obedience the Righteousness of Faith Hence the Apostle discoursing of justification by Faith * Gal. 3. v. 5. instanceth in Abraham and argues that we are justified on the same Terms with him and that neither Jews nor Christians are otherwise justified than he was who was justified or accounted Righteous not only for that particular Act of Faith by which he believed that he should have a Son which should be his immediate Heir †Gen. 15.6 but that habit that Grace of Faith that is chiefly and primarily whereby he was able to believe that Promise with the same Faith he believed the Promise of the Messiah that a certain Seed should be given to him In whom all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed And 't is the same Faith to believe that God would send such a Messiah before the Law as that he hath exhibited and sent him since and consequently what is now required of us as the Condition of the Covenant on our part is the same and no more in effect than what was required by God of Abraham as the Condition on his Part. Forasmuch then as hath been shewn that God's Covenant with Abraham hath the same mercies on God's Part made over to Man and the same Conditions on Man's Part required of God with those of the New Covenant the Abrahamical Covenant cannot be denied to be the Covenant of Grace and so my Foundation stands sure and unshaken and beyond all doubt will so remain notwithstanding the utmost efforts of such Assailants His other exception toucheth Circumcision Which he says to repeat his very words can give no grounds for Infant Baptism nor bear suitable Parallel with
And Christ's coming must have rendred the condition of Children worse than before Whatever then be the Priviledges of being within the Pale and the Promise of the visible Church they must belong to the Children of Believers now as they did to the Seed of Abraham heretofore By being such they have jus ad rem a right thereunto and by being baptized they have jus in re and are as it were put into the possession of the same So that denying them Baptism we do as much as lies in us debar them of the outward means the enjoyment of the Priviledge of being in the Church and the benefits thereunto appertaining Should a like Question be put concerning a baptized Christian a member of Christ's Church with that which the Apostle proposeth Rom. 3.1 touching a circumcised Jew What advantage the Answer may be the same with his v. 2. Much every way And in Rom. 9.4 5. are reckoned up no fewer then eight Priviledges or Prerogatives belonging to a Jew upon the score of that Relation The same advantage that there was then to the Jews as God's visible Church is now common to the Gentiles also and if Children were sharers therein with their Parents during the former Administration how are they excluded now Those Children more particularly whose Parents kept their Station * Rom. 11.5 17. and if some Children continued within because their Parents so continued what hinders but others should be admitted whose Parents are re-instated or have gained a like Priviledge with those that are The Prophet Elisha wept when he looked upon Hazael because he foresaw he would dash the Infants of Israel against the Wall and even Hazael thought himself worthy to be esteemed a Dog if ever he should do such a thing But certainly to dash all the Infant Children of Believers out of the Covenant of Grace as much as in them lies and to deprive them of the Seal of it is in a spiritual Sense far more heavy and I dare appeal to the tender Bowels of any believing Parents whether it were not easier for them to think that their Children should be dashed against the Stones and yet in the mean time to die under Christ's Wing as visible members of his Kingdom rather than to have them live and behold them to have a visible standing only in the Kingdom of the Devil We read of Herod the Tyrant that he destroyed all the Children in Bethlehem and the Coasts thereof from two Years old and under But is it not a far more cruel sentence to set these in no better state than Pagans and Infidels without Christ Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the World How far Heaven extends its mercy to those that are without means and cannot use them is a Mystery hid from us and known only unto God 'T is our Happiness that he hath not left us destitute of the ordinary means of Salvation with respect to our Children as well as to our selves and therefore whatsoever means of Grace God has appointed as Instrumental to that end that they are capable of are to be afforded them unless God hath made any particular exception in the Case And Baptism being appointed by God as such a means we cannot well Administer it too early to our Children for tho' it doth not confer Grace ex opere operato yet it always doth so when God is pleased to vouchsafe the concurrence and co-operation of his Holy Spirit with it And we know not how soon the operation may be how soon God may by his Grace pre-dispose their Souls to an aptness for good through the means it may be long before they are in a capacity to Act any and therefore the Ordinance ought by no means to be withheld from them or neglected Pag. 16. He questions what a Disciple is whether he be not a Scholar or one taught and whether Infants can be said to be Disciples till they are taught To this I Answer That a Disciple in the New Testament is the same with Christian * Act. 11.26 any one that hath a Relation unto Christ and so of as large an extent as the word Israel in the Old Testament Infants therefore having a Relation unto Christ are of his Body not Heathens but Christians and so consequently Disciples infieri not for that they are actually taught of God but because they are as I may say retainers to Christ and designed for his School into which when they are admitted or initiated by Baptism they are more compleatly Disciples Disciples in facto esse having then not only a right to but are invested with the Priviledge of those that are properly and actually Scholars or Disciples not as being personally instructed but as consecrated and set apart for the service of Heaven placed so as to be reckoned Scholars of Christ being entered into his School tho' they be no Proficients And thus they are commonly reputed of the number of the Scholars or Disciples who are admitted into a School and only entered there to learn tho' they have not learnt a Lesson or a Letter As John the Baptist baptized to Repentance or in order to it Who should limit God May not he make Disciples several Ways By the Administration of the Ordinance of Baptism and so by putting on them his Livery or by teaching them by his Spirit from the greatest to the least by writing his Laws in their Hearts or by graciously accepting them into his Covenant with their Parents or bringing them under a Religious Government Page 18. He would know whether I can tell Lydia was a Maid Wife or Widow or whether there were any Infants in her House I answer 'T is plain she had a Family and that upon her Faith alone they were brought into God's ordinary way of Salvation and were forthwith baptized * Act. 16.15 unless they 'l understand by her House the Stone-Walls By Salvation coming to Zacheus's House he understands Page 19. the Messiah Answer Christ would have rather said I am the Messiah which had been true whether Zacheus was the Son of Abraham or no and so there had been no occasion of giving that Reason that the Covenant of Abraham reached him But why doth he so perversely understand by Salvation the Person only of the Messiah but purposely to avoid the Argument which yet is no other but what the whole Current of the Scripture holds forth viz. That the blessing of Abraham immediately descends to an House or Family upon the Conversion of the Head or Chief thereof But none are more blind than they that will not see In the forementioned 18 and 19 Pages he endeavours to render it probable there were no Infants in the Housholds I had instanced in but there is enough said in these instances that the blessing of Abraham viz. Salvation came to an House especially to the Children if any such there were upon the Faith
be saved ‖ Act. 11.14 Thus it was promised to the Gaoler that on his Faith not only himself should be saved but his House and upon his Profession he was baptized and all that were his or all that belonged to him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 16.31 33. therefore not only the major Part of his Family according to the false and corrupt Gloss of the Anabaptists but simply and absolutely all that lived under his Roof Moreover how reasonable is it to believe that there were Children in those Families as part of the Houshold for the word House or Houshold in Scripture signifies Children eminently being the principal Materials Ben a Son and Bath a Daughter do both come from the Root †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filia à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 edificavit Metaphor de liberorum procreatione Deut. 25.9 Buxt So Gen. 16.2 Margin be built by her Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Banah which signifie to build and figuratively to procreate Children and so to build an House or Family Thus God promising to give Children unto David is pleased to express him-himself in this Phrase I will build thee an House because Children under God do build up the House and keep up the name of their Father's Family and so to build an House or Family being the ordinary Instruments as to perpetuate and continue and hold up the House in Natural and Civil so in Religious and Ecclesiastical Respects likewise accordingly the Apostle directing a Bishop to rule his House well presently names Children * 1 Tim. 3.4 as the most considerable part of his Charge and Care Wherefore as it often falls out when some parts of the Family are expresly instanced in and the nomination of Children omitted they are nevertheless intended and included as Gen. 14.16 Neither do we read of any laid aside or excluded from Baptism upon the account of their Non-age yea 't is highly probable that those Children yea sucklings as the original Word imports which were brought to Christ with a desire in them that brought them that he should lay his hands on them had been already baptized now 't is said expresly that he laid his Hands on them †Luk. 18.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a former Translation Babes but we rever read in the N. T. of the laying on of Hands on any unbaptized Persons unless perhaps it were in order to the working some miraculous Cure ‖ Mark 10.16 In all other Cases imposition of Hands was practised on baptized Persons * See Mark 8.23.16.18 Luke 4.40.13.13 Act. 9.17.28.8 only and the reason given by Christ to his Disciples why they should countenance and further rather then restrain their Access to him sufficiently evinceth that they were brought upon a spiritual Account rather than for any bodily Cure And as a further Argument to shew that the practice was Apostolical I may add hereto the Testimonies and Suffrages of the Ancient Fathers a Vid. Cassander de bapt of the Eastern and Western Churches both of the Greek and Latine Church Origen affirms in express Terms that the Church from the Apostles days received a Tradition to Baptize Children b In his Comment on the Epist to the Rom. c. 6. l. 5. and that Baptism is to be given unto Infants according to the Tradition of the Church c In his 8 Homil. on Levit. who yet was contemporary according to Osiander and Funesius account with Tertullian neither could Tertullian himself be so sottish as to oppose an imaginary abusive practice of having Sureties or Hyginus Bishop of Rome before him to order as he did about the Guardianship of Infants in appointing such who should promise for their religious Education in that Faith whereinto they were batized d See Platina in the life of Hyginus the 8th Pope from St. Peter according to Caran if the baptizing of them was not a thing in use before and so an Apostolical ordination derived down to them and from them transmitted to the Church where the practice of it hath been uninteruptedly continued ever since Why should Tertullian I say affright Persons from being Susceptors to Infants in their Baptism by the Hazard they ran in their Childrens liableness to Death and to Distempers if no such thing were in his time It had been dangerous to start such a Novellism if never before practised St. Austin writ a Tract of Infant Baptism e De Bapt. parvulorum and says the Church always had it always held it f Semper habuit semper tenet in his 5 Serm. de verb. Apost Justin Martyr who lived as they calculate in St. John's Days in his unquestionable Works gives several hints for Infant Baptism g As in his Dialogue with Triphon part 2. prop. 3. Irenaeus speaks of Infants being Born again that is by the Laver of Regeneration viz. Baptism as Dr. Hammond understands it h Irenaeus l. 2. c. 29. Dr. Ham. resolution Sect. 4. pag. 212. Nazianz is for it not only in danger of Death but simply and absolutely expressing himself to this purpose Hast thou a Child let it be baptized from an Infant let it be early consecrated to the Spirit i Orat. 3. and 40. in S. Lavacr St. Basil gives Testimony to it answering the Question whether Infants may be baptized in the Affirmative for so says he we are by the Circumcision of Children instructed there being a parity of reason as for the circumcising of Children k l. 3. contra Eunomium 58. Vossius makes the Testimony of St. Cyprian in his Epistle l Epist to Fidus which for its authenticalness is quoted by Nazianzen Chrysostom Ambrose Jerom Austin and others m Vid. Naz. Orat 3. in S. Lavacr Chrysost Homil. ad Neoph. Ambr. in Luc. Hieron l. 3. Dialog contr Pelag Aust in his 28 Epist to St. Jerom in his 14 Serm. de verb. Apost in his Book de peccat merit remiss and in his 3 Book c. 5. beyond all exception and Grotius says it makes the matter plain that there was then no doubt of Infant Baptism accordingly the Magdeb. bring in Origen Cypr. and other Fathers to avouch the Practice to have been even in the time of the Apostles n Cent. 3. c. 4. pag. 57. Now what says St. Austin touching such immemorial usages as the Catholick Church holds and ever hath held and have not come into use by the Institution of any Council that they are such as are rightly believed to have been delivered down to us by no less than Apostolical Authority o In Donat. l. 4. c. 23. calling it an Eccles Custom or as he explains himself an Apostol Tradition se de Genesi ad literam l. 10. c. 23. and his 3 Epist to Volusiam and lest there should be any wresting of his words viz. Traditum ab Apostolis or Apostolical Tradition he peremptorily affirms
Baptism But the Seal cannot do it without the Covenant that is the great Instrument of Donation and Conveyance Our Saviour prescribing the ordinary way of Salvation Mark 16.16 says He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but adds He that believeth not shall be damned Not he that is not baptized The Covenant of Grace and our being in Christ is absolutely necessary But the Sign the external Seal is not of a like necessity And yet it is of such necessity too that it cannot be neglected without Sin and Danger To speak summarily and briefly 't is necessary as a Law of Christ as a part of his external Worship as a Seal of the Covenant of the Promise of remission of Sins as a means of exhibiting and conveying of Grace necessary as the ordinary way by which in Conjunction with the Covenant and the Grace of it God doth save And therefore none can neglect it without great indignity to Christ and great ingratitude for such an high Priviledge and eminent Advantage But still we must take along with us this Caution That this sacred Ordinance be not past over as a mere customary Thing as an external Rite only or Ceremony without minding the thing signified and the correspondent of our part of the Covenant which our Baptism Signs and Seals Our common Negligence in the Duties incumbent on us and in those Conditions which our Baptism obligeth us to is certainly one of the great Prejudices that hath hardned the Anabaptists and made them look upon our Infant-Baptism as a trifling Business a mere insignificant thing I proceed now to the next thing I noted as the second general Head which I am in order to consider viz. That Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament and so succeeds Circumcision which was the initiating Sacrament of the Old And to discuss this the more fully and methodically I will endeavour to shew you First What Baptism or the Sacrament of Baptism is Secondly What it is to be baptized or what are the Priviledges and Advantages that do accrue to us by our Baptism And then in the Third Place I shall endeavour to prove that Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament As to the First The word Sacrament in its original intendment had the signification of such a Military Oath as was attended with sacred Rites and such as led Men by sensible resemblances to things of an higher nature As for the Sacraments of the New Testament particularly that of Baptism we may consider it in divers Respects and so may take up various and distinct Notions and Conceptions concerning it If we consider it with respect to the Divine Grace so it may and ought to be conceived by us to be such an outward and visible Sign thereof as is moreover ordained by Christ to be a means of conveying it unto us and a pledge to assure us of the same Secondly With relation to our Virtue or the embracing the Conditions on our Part So 't will be such an outward visible Sign thereof and ought to be so reputed as is appointed by Christ for us to make a Declaration of it and an Obligation to continue this our Profession and to practise what we so publickly declare and profess Thirdly With reference to that New Covenant by which the Divine Grace and our Duty are as it were tied together so it must be defined such an outward and visible Sign as is ordained by the same Christ for God and Man to declare their mutual Consent and by that Rite explicitely to enter into the said Covenant Lastly As to those who are joyned together in the same Covenant and so are connected to Christ and to one another then 't is such an outward and visible Sign as is by Christ ordained and fitted as a general Badge of their common Profession And a means of bringing particular Men into Society Communion and Fellowship one with another In sum 't is an outward and visible Sign ordained and fitted by Christ to signifie and convey and assure the Divine Grace unto us and on our part to declare the Duty we owe to God and to Christ and to one another and to oblige our selves to the constant Profession and Practice of it * See Towerson on the Sacraments Having thus seen what we are to understand by the Sacrament of Baptism let us consider 2. What it is to be baptized What are the Priviledges and Advantages that do redound to the party baptized First Then to be baptized is by a solemn Rite to be explicitely admitted into Covenant with God a Covenant of Grace Pardon and Salvation which Christ hath purchased with his Blood And surely 't is no small Advantage to be brought into such a State whereby we are consign'd to the Grace of the Gospel and the mercies of God Who thereupon don't measure our performances by Grains and Scruples by perfect unsinning Obedience but with the allowances of the balance of the Sanctuary Not exacting from us according to the strict measures of the Law but saving us by his Grace or as it is elsewhere in Scripture expressed According to his mercy That is by pitying and pardoning us by relieving and supporting us because he remembers that we are but Dust Some say that Baptism only washeth away all the Sins that are past or at present adhering but not the Sins of our future Life But this Sacrament promiseth more and greater Things even in futurum and therefore is not repeated because it doth all at once which it can do at a hundred times For it admits us to a state of Pardon to the condition of Repentance and the Evangelical Mercy He that hath entred into this gate of Life is always in the ready way of having his Sins forgiven unless he turns aside out of this Path by renouncing his Baptism and by utter Apostacy The Messalians denied this and 't was part of their Heresie to undervalue their Baptism and to lessen the Grace thereof * Whom you 'l find confuted by Isidore Pelusiot lib. 3. 195 Epist ad Herman But it was in pursuance of this Grace of Baptism that St. Paul calls the lapsed Galatians to their Covenant of Baptism and the Grace of God stipulated in that Sacrament †Gal. 3.26 and therefore wisht them not to hope to be justified by the Law seeing they are entred into the Covenant of Faith and to be justified thereby And this he proves for that they have been baptized this being the Covenant made in Baptism the gate to all this Mercy Wherefore he exhorts us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith the Faith into which we were baptized when we had not only the Truth of God's Promises absolutely Sealed and Confirmed to us but likewise an assurance of what God is ready to do for us in a way of Grace and Mercy on condition we be faithful in the duties of the Gospel For we must know that the