Phil. 2. 3. Though the Act of Faith may be said to be the Believers yet the Habit of Faith is Gods for the Believer is wholly passive in the reception of Grace and there must be Habits before there can be Acts there must be the Root of Grace before there can be the Fruit of Grace and a young Infant is as capable of receiving the Habits of Grace wherein the Subjects are wholly passive as an Adult Person is 4. John the Baptist could never have leaped in his Mothers Womb for joy had he not known God in Christ the only true Object of Joy Sir You have measured these Profound Mysteries by the Rule of carnal Reason which is a very false Rule to measure it by The Faith of God doth not stand in the Wisdom of Men. 2. Saith Mr. K. in p. 14. We say the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal in pag. 78. of his Book which you recited in the 24th pag. of yours viz. That Vnion betwixt Christ and the Soul is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we can Act Faith in the reception of Him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is inclined to an active receiving of Christ Pray Mr. K. did worthy Mr. Marshal say no more If he did how dare you be so unjust to deal thus unfairly by Mr. Marshal as to leave out the conclusion of his Sentence without an c. as if he had said no more Pray Reader look into the Pages Mr. K. hath quoted both of Mr. Marshal's Book and mine and there you will find the conclusion of his Sentence thus viz. And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants which have the Spirit of Faith because they are not come to the years of understanding Is this to say the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal But this is as true as that I spent 20 Leaves in my former Book to prove that which No body denies But pray what hath Mr. Marshal said in this to destroy or enervate the Notion of Habitual Faith in Elect dying Infants For though he hath not used the very same Words yet it is to the same effect and carrieth an Equivalent in it with that of Habitual Faith Now if Mr. K. saith the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal then Mr. K. and I am agreed 3. Saith Mr. K. Is Regeneration in your Infants that are Regenerated the Fruit or Product of this Spirit of Faith or Habits which you plead for to be infused into them when Infants Sure if they had any such Habits when Infants they need no other inspired Habits when they are grown up Where the Habits and Principles of Grace are once infused into a Soul they can never be lost neither shall they need any other inspired Habits of Grace when they are grown Persons for where these Habits are once planted they can never be destroyed for once in Christ by Regeneration and for ever in Christ by Justification and Sanctification for that Soul is in a State of Grace and hath the Life of Christ in him and that Life can never be lost because it is in Christ the Son of God it is in the keeping of Christ and therefore to speak with Reverence Christ himself may as soon be lost as that 2. We may conclude that many children of Believers that did not die in their Infancy have had the Habits of Grace infused into their Souls in their Infancy and that may be the reason why so many of them when they are grown Persons can tell they have Grace but know not how nor when they came by it No doubt Timothy had Grace infused into him in his Infancy because we read not any thing of his Conversion no more than we do of his Baptism wherefore both might be effected in his Infancy being the Son of a godly Mother But the Apostle Paul could tell the time of his own Conversion and also his Baptism Acts 9. 3. All Infants are conceived in sin Psal 51.5 There are all the Habits or Seeds of sin in an Infant in its first Conception or Formation even as many as there are in an Adult Sinner for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God therefore Elect dying Infants must be regenerated they must be begotten and born of God for God will be a reconciled Father to none but them which he spiritually begets for God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them Thus you see as young Infants are brought into the same Ballance of Original Guilt and Pollution with Adult old Sinners so they must be brought into the same Ballance of Justification Adoption and Sanctification with Elect Adult Believers or they can never be saved 4. Mr. K. doth own That all Infants are under the guilt and stain of Original Sin by Nature And he also saith We do believe that all those dying Infants who are saved God doth in some way or another which is not known to us sanctifie them for no unclean thing can enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem There is no other way but this viz. Children must be justified and acquitted from the guilt of Original Sin And secondly they must be sanctified and cleansed from the filth and pollution of sin they must be regenerated and made Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 For without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord The Fallen Angels may as well expect to be saved as any unregenerate Soul may either Old or Young that dyeth in that State and Condition 2. All Children are elected and chosen of God that are saved dying in their Infancy and therefore they must have the Grace of Faith to unite them to Christ which is the Faith that is peculiar to Gods Elect Titus 1.1 For all Mankind by Nature are in a state of Unbelief for it was that Sin that brought Man into a State of condemnation for had our first Parents believed God when he told them if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they should die Man had never fell into a State of Sin and Condemnation Now the opposite Grace to the Sin of Unbelief is Faith and Habitual Faith by the powerful Agency of the blessed Spirit of Grace is sufficient to subdue and conquer original Unbelief and to justifie and sanctifie them by the application of the Righteousness Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ to their Souls It is not Man's acting Faith that justifies him but it is the Habit of Faith in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ that doth that The Act of Faith in a sense may be said to be the Creatures but the Habit of Faith is Gods own Free Act in the Creature wherefore if Man cannot be justified without his acting of Grace then Justification depends on the Acting of the Creature Though a Believer may be said to have a hand in his own Sanctification yet he hath none at all in his
Justification 3. The State of a young Child by Nature is as much depraved by the Fall of Adam as the oldest Sinner upon Earth therefore it must be by the very same Grace for kind though it may not be for degree that must justifie sanctifie and save a young Infant dying in his Infancy as is to justifie sanctifie and save an Elect Adult Believer and that is by Faith For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Now is not a young Babe in the Womb or Cradle as capable of this Salvation as the oldest Saint upon Earth And is there any other way for the saving of any either old or young but this Even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3. 4. And Lastly Young Infants that die in their Infancy must have the Image of God restored unto them and enstamped upon them which was blotted out by the Fall of Adam or they can never be saved and that must be by Infusion of Grace and Holiness into their Souls and so make them partakers of the Divine Nature which is the new Creation in the Soul and the new Creature must have all his Lineaments or else the new Creature would be imperfect it must have Eyes or else it would be blind and Faith is the new Creatures Eyes Heb. 11. To conclude The Righteousness of Christ and Faith in the justifying sanctifying and saving a Sinner ever goeth together therefore none can be saved by the Righteousness of Christ without the Grace or Spirit of Faith for they are all brought into the Ballance of Redemption together 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption Now where is that differing way or many ways for the saving Elect dying Infants from that of sanctifying and saving Elect old Sinners Mr. K. saith in his Title Page that I am an unskilful Person in Polemical Cures but I am sure those that Assert That there are more ways than one for the sanctifying and saving young Infants differing from that of Adult Believers are very unskilful Physicians and I pitty those poor People that have no skilfuller Physicians than these are to take care of them 5. Mr. K. brings in a Caution by way of Argument viz. Saith he 'T is forbid and a sinful thing for any to pry into Gods Secret All they that pry into the way how God applies the Merits of Christ to dying Infants and sanctifies them do pry into Gods Secrets Ergo. But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our Children for ever The justifying sanctifying and saving all the Elect of God is a revealed thing as I have sufficiently proved therefore it is not a sinful thing to pry into the way how God applies the Merits of Christ to dying Infants and sanctifie them This is like the P. that forbids the Laicks the use of the Bible because they should not detect their Errours and false Doctrines 1. The Scripture hath revealed unto us that we are all Children of wrath by nature Eph. 2.3 and conceived in sin Psal 51.5 Here is our Epidemical Malady revealed 2. Here is also the Remedy revealed 1 Tim. 2. For there is one God and one mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all that is especially for all the Elect and if so then Christ died as much for all Elect dying Infants as for all Elect old Sinners Acts 4.12 Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Eph. 4. One Lord one faith one baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all And this one Faith is the Faith of Gods Elect Titus 1.1 And by this Faith they shall get the Victory because they are born of God Children of the most High Heirs of Glory made meet to partake of the Inheritance with the Saints in Light Thus you see this Doctrine of Implicite Faith overthrown and your Argument against prying into the way of Gods sanctifying and saving Elect dying Infants destroyed O but saith Mr. K. in pag. 3. I hope his Reverend Pastor whom I have more cause both to love and honour than Ten Thousand Instructors in Christ he being the blessed Instrument in my Conversion almost Fourty Years agoe gave no encouragement to him thus to write and abuse his Brethren But my Reverend Pastor who is worthy of double honour he never taught you any such kind of Doctrine for though he might be an Instrument in Gods Hand of making you a Christian yet he never had any hand in making you an Anabaptist neither is he a Person of such a weak Capacity as not to see through and beyond your little kind of Insinuations and Flattery by which you endeavour to ingage him to side with you and justifie your corrupt Doctrines and Principles in opposition to his own but that will not do 5. Saith Mr. K. Little Children may have Faith if God please to work a Miracle and inspire them with his Spirit I Answer All that Faith that is in a Soul that is not wrought by a miraculous Power is no better than the Faith of Fallen Angels Jam. 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble 2. It is no less a Miracle to work Faith in a dead Sinner in raising him from the Grave of Unbelief then it was to raise a dead crucified Saviour Eph. 1.19 20. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places It was always counted a Miracle to raise the Dead Eph. 2.1 And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins What is become of this carnal unbelieving Proposition 6. And Lastly Saith Mr. B. K. If Children be part of their Parents then certainly if the Parents go to Heaven all their Children must likewise for the whole of Believers shall be saved This Argument like the former is lighter than Vanity It doth not follow that because I am a Believer and my Children a part of me they shall therefore be saved But yet notwithstanding the Children of Believers have a peculiar Priviledge above all other Mens Children in the World and if you ask me what Priviledge that is I must refer you to the Apostles for Answer Acts 2.39 and 1 Cor. 7.14 Here you see all the Children of believing Parents are
holy Children nay if there be but one of their Parents that is a Believer it intituleth them to this Great Honour and Priviledge of being holy Children 2. All the Children of Israel were called holiness unto the Lord Jer. 2.3 And they are called Gods Son in Exod. 4. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my son even my first born And I say unto thee Let my son go c. 3. Here you see all Israel as one Man are called Gods Son and Holiness to the Lord also and yet it is no breach of Charity to conclude that all Israel were not saved though they were all a part one of another as Members of one Body are so neither will all the Children of Believers be saved though they are a part of their believing Parents as Members of a Body are and called holy Children So that this Argument is clearly pluckt up by the Roots Thus you see I have clearly proved that there is no Justification nor Sanctification nor Salvation for dying Infants without the Grace Habit or Spirit of Faith and also that there is but one way of sanctifying and saving all the Elect of God both Old and Young therefore all the Arguments which are raised against it are utterly destroyed III. In the third place I will prove that the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed in Gen. 17. was but one Covenant and that it was the same God made with Adam after the Fall Gen. 3.15 and with Noah after the Flood Gen. 9. And it is the same now and all Believers and all their Seed both Spiritual and Carnal are in it in the full substantial Latitude of it notwithstanding all that can be said against it But saith Mr. K. in pag. 23. 'T is evident there was two Covenants contained in those Transactings of God with Abraham one peculiar respecting onely his natural Seed or Off-spring as such for the Covenant of Grace promised to him did not peculiarly relate to Abraham's Natural Seed that were Elected Persons but to all the Gentiles also who believed in Christ 1. There is no such declared distinction in the Covenant God made with Abraham in Gen. 17.2 7. For though the Elect Jews and Gentiles are principally intended yet all the Seed of Believers both Spiritual and Carnal are included and ought to partake of the External Benefits and Blessings thereof But it may be objected The Seed of believing Gentiles are not to be circumcised neither have they a Right to the Land of Canaan therefore they cannot be in Abraham's Covenant Pray what Part or Lot had the Seed of Adam and Noah in either of these and yet they were in the same Covenant which God confirmed and ratified with Abraham Nay Multitudes of the Seed of Abraham never saw the Land of Canaan for the Seed of Abraham were not possessed of that till 430. Years after the Covenant was made with Abraham Gal. 3.17 2. The Covenant which God made with Abraham was out one and that is an Everlasting Covenant but if it had been two it should have been Everlasting Covenants therefore I will lay down the Terms of it fairly and let us see if any such Deduction can be made Gen. 17.2 7 10 11. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee Every man-child among you shall be cirunmcised And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you Here you see it is but one Covenant and Circumcision is only the Token thereof but not the Covenant 2. Saith Mr. K. in pag. 25. Observe also that as these things peculiarly appertained to his Natural Seed as such so Circumcision is expresly called Gods Covenant Gen. 17. If this be so then Ishmael was in the Covenant and yet Mr. K. doth own in his Book that Ishmael was not in the Covenant nor his Seed but if Circumcision be the Covenant then he was in it because he was circumcised Gen. 17.20 21 23. So that this Text with his own Argument do utterly destroy that Notion of his That there were Two Covenants made with Abraham and that one of them was Circumcision because then Ishmael must have been in it Indeed it is expresly called the Token of the Covenant but it is no where expresly called the Covenant in all the Holy Scriptures as I know of and if it be he should have done well to have cited it that others might have seen it as well as himself Thus having premised these things I shall proceed 1. In the first place I will begin with that Text in Acts 2.39 For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Here in the first part of this Verse the Apostle informs these Jews that had a hand in crucifying our Saviour of their Covenant Priviledge and their Children also for the Promise which the Apostle here speaks of that did belong to them and their Children is no other then that which God made with Abraham and his Seed therefore the Covenant was not repealed at the coming in of the Gospel nor dissolved like an old useless Act of Parliament neither were it two Covenants 2. If we mind the latter part of the Verse we shall find that whatever the Extent of that Promise was to the Jews and all their Children it is the same to all believing Gentiles and all their Children for it is not said To you Jews and your Children and to as many Adult Gentiles which are afar off c. No but the latter part of the Verse is an exact Counterpane to the former part thereof so that whatever the Promise was to the Jews and all their Children is the same to all believing Gentiles and their Children for the latter part of the Verse is to be measured by the former part thereof 2. This Promise is Christ who was first declared and promised unto Adam and his Seed in the new Covenant God made with him when the old one was broken Gen. 3.15 Which Promise or Covenant hath been a Standing-Dish for Believers and all their Seed to feed upon in all Ages and ever will be while the World stands 3. There ever hath and ever will be a gracious Entail in this Covenant unto all Believers and their Seed from Generation to Generation Psal 105.8 He hath remembred his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations It runs in a Line from Parents to Children until any of them sinned themselves out of it personally as Cain and Judas and Multitudes of