Principle on which all sound Protestants do maintain and justifie the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism is beyond contradiction When the Most High and Soveraigne Lord God saw fit to make known his Will and Pleasure to be that his Covenant of Grace agreed on between himself and his Son Christ in Eternity should be Dispensed in an Ecclesiastical or Church way he singles out above all other men Abraham his Friend on whom he Confers the Honourable Title of the Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.11 Not that Abraham did or could possibly Beget a Believer as such or could convey into the Children he Begat according to Fleshly Generation that Noble Grace of Faith wherewith God's Free-Gift had Blessed himself But God opens and propounds his Everlasting Covenant of Grace and Salvation to him as a Publick Person who was to Personate all true Believers who in after Ages were to be Members of his Visible Churches to the second coming of Christ The Sum and Substance of that Covenant is briefly comprehended in the Words of Gen. 17.7 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 to thee and to thy Seed after thee This Covenant hath Two Essential Parts as all Right Covenants have 1. God's part held forth in the Words I will be a God to thee c. The meaning whereof according to the Analogie of Faith must be thus understood Tho' thou Abraham whom I now call to become my Friend and Favoright and a Publick Head or Representative of all believing Church Members to the end of the World be'st an undon and guilty sinner polluted in thy Nature and born under Adam's Covenant of Works liable and obnoxious to its Curse and to the Wrath to come unable to recover or help thy self out of that deplorable Condition into which thy natural Birth as Adam's Child hath put thee And albeit thou be no way worthy of any Favour yet I think fit to let thee know what thoughts and purposes of Mercy and Kindness I have in store for thee Abraham And for the Rest of mine Elect whom I have Chosen to my self in Christ the Promised Messiah of whom that Son which I have Promised thee is to be a Type And in whose Person all mine Elect are to be Allegorically or Typically Represented and that as thy Son is to be a Type of mine in whom I have Elected and Chosen them I frankly and freely Pardon and Forgive thee all those Transgressions and Sins wherewith as Adam's Child thou standest Chargeable for breaking that Covenant of Works I made with Adam thy and all Mankinds Natural and Faederal Head I Account thee perfectly Just and Righteous in my sight not by or for that Principal of Inherent Holiness which the Spirit of Grace in effectual Calling hath wrought in thee which Inherent Holiness is ever the fruit and effect of a Justified State but never the Procuring or Meriting Cause But I account and esteem thee as Just and Righteous as if thou hadst in thy own Person exactly performed that Legal Righteousness which the Law Moral requires on the alone account of my Sons righteousness which as the Mediator and surety of this my Covenant of Grace he is to perform in the behalf of thee and all mine Elect I most freely impute to thee I Sanctifie and Renew thy vitiated and poluted Nature by my Sanctifying Spirit that thou maiest be capable of Communion and Fellowship with me both here in my Church Militant And here after in my Church Triumphant I Adopt thee to be my Son by Grace and by virtue hereof thou art restored to all the Blessings Rights and Priviledges which Adam thy Natural and Federal Head lost and forfeited by his Apostacy and Defection Hereby thou art Admitted as a Free Denizon into the Family and Houshold of God from whence thou wast cast out in Adam when he was ejected and cast out for his Rebellion witness his expulsion out of Earthly Paradice a lively Type of the Heavenly I Promise to Establish thee in Grace so as thou shalt never more be in danger of loosing thy self or forfeiting my Love and Favour any more For ever I will be a Sun and a Shield to furnish and supply thee with all necessary Accomodations for Life in this World I will Protect and Defend thee from all adverse Powers Spiritually and Bodily which shall contrive and seek thy Ruin And finally I will receive thee into Heaven when by Death thou goest hence where thou shalt Live and Reign with me Eternally And the very same Mercy and Favour which I have now expressed and shewn to thee I do oblige my self by the promise of this my Covenant that I will do to all mine Elect who are to spring from thy Loyns As also to all mine Elect who are to come of the Gentile Race to the end of the World 2. Man's Part As for thee Abraham this thou must do on thy part thou must walk Humbly and Uprightly before me thou must make the Moral Law Engraven by the Finger of my Spirit on the heart of Adam thy Natural and Federal Head the standing Rule of thy Obedience both Negatively and Positively In all the parts of thy Obedience thou must look exactly to three things 1. To the Subject Matter of thy Obedience let it be what I Command and Require not what Creatures Devise or Enjoyn 2. To the manner See that thou do it in Faith keeping thine Eye on Christ my Son for Acceptance and Acting all by Strength derived from him 3. To the end See that my Glory be that thou aimest at and designest in all thou goest about Thou shalt not do my Work and Service in a Mercenary way as a Servant that Works for Wages but thou must obey my Command as a Son with freedom of Spirit and from a Principle of Love and Gratitude knowing and considering that my Grace and Love hath made Provision of all that is needful to make thee every way Eternally happy both here and hereafter The dreadful Curse and Eternal Death to which by Sin thou becamest obnoxious My Son Christ Typ'd out by the Ram hath set thee for ever Free from it And that by his being made a Curse and undergoing Death for thee as being thy Sponsor or Surety at his Hands I have Received the full of that Debt whereto thou becamest liable by breaking my Law there remains not the least Mite for thee to pay so that now thou hast no cause to fear my Vindicative Justice the many and sharp Afflictions wherewith thou shalt meet in thy way to Glory shall be but the gentle Chastisements of thy dearly Loving and Reconciled Father who by them will Purge out the remains of thy indwelling Corruption and sweetly wean thee from the enticing Objects of the vain and bewitching World thou Livest in That Perfect and Spotless Righteousness which must Recommend thee to me and
be Justified by God's Word should they Judiciously acknowledge that Abraham's Covenant is the Covenant of Grace and that Circumcision was the Seal thereof and that Water Baptism is now come in the room thereof 2. In that some have reflected on that Covenant calling it a carnal Covenant of Works and the Church which was to Observe and Practice Circumcision the Seal thereof a carnal Church all I need to say by way of Reply is to bewail the carnallity of their Uncircumcised Hearts and Lips who have no better or higher Apprehensions of God's Holy Covenant the Grace whereof must bring them to Heaven if ever they come thither and of his so highly Honoured Friends Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the rest of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Godly Believers of that Day than to call it a carnal Covenant and them a carnal Church 3. If Abraham's Covenant was a Covenant of Works to him and his Children then it must needs he so to us Gentile Believers and to our Children now And if so let the Adversary Demonstrate if he can how Abraham or any of that carnal Church as they falsely term it can be supposed to be now in a Saved State Or what ground of hope we Gentile Believers and our Children have that we or any of ours shall go to Heaven when we Die seeing that we are still under the very same Covenant with Abraham which Covenant if it be a Covenant of Works and not of Grace no Salvation can be expected and if the Believers under that dark Dispensation were Carnal and not Spiritual how comes the unerring Wisdom of God to Propound them to Believers under the Gospel for Examples and Patterns of Faith Patience c. Heb. 11. Heb. 12.1 Ja. 5.10 Let it be farther considered that Albeit the Seal of Circumcision Sealed no saving Blessings to the Non-Elect it doth not hence follow that it Sealed no other than Temporal Blessings to the Elect seeing that to them the Heavenly were Typically included in the Earthly As touching the Earthly Blessings which Circumcision Sealed to the Non-Elect they were greater and better than God was any way obliged to give them I am sure than they savingly improved Object We utterly deny that Water-Baptism did succeed and come in the room of Circumcision Answ For confirmation of the Affirmative let the three Arguments already laid down under this Head be seriously and without prejudice considered To which I will only add the Explication of Colos 2.11 12. whereon I have grounded a fourth Argument to prove that Water-Baptism succeeded and came in the room of Circumcision In the place above quoted the Apostle plainly sets forth to the believing Colossians and in them to all believing Gentiles to the Worlds end two things necessary to be known and believed by all true Believers First That they who by a true lively Faith have Embrac'd the Lord Jesus Christ as held forth in the Gospel evidencing their Faith by the Truth of Gospel-Sanctification They and none else who are Adult are made actual Partakers of the true and saving Circumcision effected in the Soul by the Spirit of Christ And which was Externally signified by the outward Circumcision These Believers having now obtained the Spiritual Circumcision are not at all to be Concerned or Troubled that they are not outwardly Circumcised with the Circumcision made with Man's Hands Forasmuch as that which was Externally Signified and Seaâ—ed to the believing Jews by the outward Circumcision is now Internally and Powerfully wrought in their Hearts by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly The Apostle sets forth in this place that Water-Baptism is Instituted and Appointed by Christ under the Gospel Dispensation to be to believing Gentiles the same that Circumcision was to the Jews viz. A Visible Sign and Seal of Abraham's Covenant to all his Ecclesiastical Church-Seed among the Gentiles viz. All of that Race who on God's calling them Believe in and Obey the Lord Jesus Christ To these and their Infant-Seed and none else among the Gentiles Baptism doth now under the Gospel Signify and Seal the very same Spiritual Blessings and Church-Priviledges which Circumcision of old did Signify and Seal to the believing Jews and their Infant-Seed This I take to be the Sense and Meaning of the Apostle in that so much controverted place In this Sense I hope I shall Die satisfied And herein I humbly conceive none of the Orthodox will differ from me which Sense being granted it is beyond the reach of all Scriptural contradiction that Water-Baptism was Instituted and Appointed by Christ on purpose to succeed in the room of Circumcision CHAP. IV. Shewing and proving that the Infants of Believing Gentiles now under the Gospel have as real a Right to the Covenant of Grace and to Baptism the now Visible Sign and Seal thereof as had the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh to it and to Circumcision the then Seal of the Covenant of Grace And that they are as capable of the Grace and outward Seal of the Covenant as are the most Adult grown Believers I shall lay down Four Arguments to evince and make good against all Opposition what I now assert Arg. 1. THE first Argument is thus fram'd If God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father and never since Repeal'd that Gracious Act of his Then the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interested in the Covenant of Grace and have as great Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever But God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father which Gracious Act of his was never since Repealed Therefore the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interessed in the Covenant of Grace and have as great a Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever I cannot see how this Argument can possibly be overthrown but by proving that God did alter and change that Covenant he made with Abraham his Friend for himself and for his Church-Seed The which when the Adversary doth by Evidence of Scripture not abused and perverted I shall then yield the Cause and bewail my Mistake But two things cause in me an unshaken Confidence that this can never be done First The Immutability and Unchangableness of God on which very account he is styled a Covenant-keeping God who never yet cast off any poor Sinner until that Sinner did first actually cast God off the which I think the Adversary dares not deny Secondly The Impossibility of poor Infants actually casting God off and that because of their Incapacity in respect of Age. Arg. 2. If Infants be at all Saved they are Saved by the Grace of God's Covenant made with Abraham which Covenant and the External
A Brief and Plain DISCOVERY OF THE Falseness and Unscripturalness OF ANABAPTISM As the same is now Practised by those of that Perswasion Wâ—â—â—â—in are plainly Proved from God's Word the Five Particulars here Handled I. That God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace whereby all God's Elect are Saved II. That Circumcision was the Initiatory Seal of that Covenant to Abraham and his Church-Seed during that Dispensation III. That Water-Baptism is now under the Gospel succeeded in the room thereof IV. That the Gentile Believers and their Infant-Seed have as Real a Right to the same Covenant of Grace and the Seal thereof as had Abraham and his Infant-Seed V. That Sprinkling or Pouring-out Water on the Subject of Baptism is the Undoubted Right Way of Administring Baptism under the Gospel By Ja. Barry an Unworthy Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for the Author 1699. TO THE Impartial and Unprejudiced READER Who desires to be Rightly Inform'd in the Nature and Design of God's Covenant with Abraham his Friend in the behalf of Himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both among Jews and Gentiles to the End of the World Courteous Reader IF the Spirit of Grace Reigns in thy Heart thou wilt I doubt not readily believe me especially when I most Solemnly Profess as if I were immediately to be call'd to the Bar of the Great Judge that no Prejudice ' or Hatred against the Persons of the People who without any Warrant from God's Word Style themselves Baptists and Baptiz'd Churches of Christ hath stirr'd me up to appear in Print in Opposing those Pernicious Principles which the Men of that Perswasion do with so much Violence and unscriptural Zeal Teach and Maintain I sincerely Bless God that his good Spirit hath taught me to distinguish between Persons and the Errors which they hold and maintain Their Persons I love and am really griev'd that I love them no more than I do And I hope neither they nor any others will be Angry with me for so doing But their Errors in Religion I do from my Heart abominate and loath because hateful to God and all good Men who know and understand them so to be And for thus doing I neither fear a Frown from God nor yet Blame from any Man truly-wise who is able to distinguish Truth from Error That I shall be Censur'd and uncharitably Reflected on for what I have done in Printing this small Tract I am not Insensible I am very sure none will thus do but such as eitheir know not or care not what they say These kind of Blows I am taught to ward off with a Religious Scorn and a Holy Contempt resoluing in Christ's Strength to pursue and hold fast the Truth of God let who will Bark and Cavil against it It was the saying of Valerius Maximus Aequo Animo ferenda sunt Imperitorum Convitia ad Honesta vadenti Contemnendus est Iste Contemplus The Reproaches saith he of the Ignorant and Unskilful are to be born with an even or patient Mind And he that intends to advance towards Good and Honest things must Contemn their Contempt That somewhat will come out in answer hereto I question not if the Men of that Principle have not lost their old Wont but my Comfort and Confidence being built on the Rock of Ages I never fear a Confutation from any nay all of that Perswasion who Breath on the Earth until they procure from Heaven another Gospel which is Diametrically opposit to the Gospel delivered by the Son of God which I am sure will never be I have made no Deviation from the good old Way chalkt out by Abraham's God wherein the Prophets and Apostles with all the Primitive Churches who are gon to Heaven walkt in that I know of If I have I do faithfully promise that upon the discovery of my Error I will own my self therein mistaken I have been for several Years past importun'd by many Serious and Godly Christians to Print what now I expect to be Blam'd for but never found my self thereto inclin'd till of late not that I Question any part of what I have Printed being God's Truth but indeed the variety of Tryals and sharp Afflictions which haâ—e Incessantly followed me since call'd to the Sacred Office both in my Native City Dublin and also in England have kept me back together with my own great Aversion to appear in Print in any Matters Controversal But observing of late how strangely Anabaptism spreads both in City and Country and being fully convinc'd that Ignorance of and Vnacquaintedness with the Covenant of Grace was and still is that which hath given advantage to the Preachers of that Way in drawing Proselites after them I have in Conscience of my Duty both to God and Men Improv'd my poor Talent in Explaining and Opening up the Nature and Design of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 in hopes that God will Bless the Plainness and Brevity therein us'd to inform poor Ignorant and Vnthinking Souls how wretchedly they are imposed upon by Preachers of that Perswasion who have themselves as great need to be Instructed and Taught what the deep Mysteries of the Covenant of Grace be as the poor Tongue-ty'd Bades whom they in vain Labour to exclude and shut out from the Benefits and Seal of that Covenant in the Visible Churches of Christ As their denying Abraham's Covenant to be the Covenant of Grace administers just ground of suspecting whether they have any other than dark and confus'd Notions about the Doctrine of God's Free Grace so much spoken of in Pulpit and Print So their Vnmercifulness and Hard-heartedness to the Infants of Believing Parents in not allowing such to be accounted of the number of God's Elect meerly because of the Incapacity of such to make an open Profession of Faith and Repentance themselves administers just ground of suspecting whether they be Orthodox in the Doctrine of Election I am very sure the State of Infancy can neither null or make void the Electing Decree of God nor yet render the Elect Infant any way uncapable of that Grace of God's Covenant to which he is Elected or of the Seal of that Covenant of Grace in the Church Visible for any to hold or say it doth is to Reflect on the most High God and to make him a mutable Agent like to a Fickle Man contrary to Mal. 3.6 Rom. 11.29 and unavoidably to send all Elect Infants to Hell who Die Infants contrary to Mar. 10 14. Jo. 6.39 Rom. 11.7 All that I shall farther say is only to â—eg and Pray thee for the Lord's sake for thy own Souls sake and for that Love and Tenderness which the Law of Nature especially that of Grace obliges thee to have for poor Infants if thou be a Parent consider well and weigh Judiciously in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary the Arguments laid down in this small Tract to prove what I have therein undertaken If
who shall embrace the Son of God by Faith and their Infant-Seed if any they have That this is the true sense and meaning of Christ in that place is clear to any who do not wilfully shut their Eyes for evident it is and none can deny that he there commands to Baptize all Nations not excepting against or forbidding the Disciples to Baptize little Infants He knew that he spake to Men who after the sending of the Holy Ghost should know and consider that Abrahams Covenant with Believers and their Infant-Seed was to remain and continue the same to the end of the World And this together with the sharp rebuke he gave to his Apostles for offering to hinder Little Ones being brought to him and his laying before them such a convincing reason wherefore such should not be kept from coming to him Mar. 10.14 was the principal if not the only reason wherefore his infinite Wisdom saw it not needful to mention Infants in particular they being most certainly included in the general term all Nations All Men who know any thing of Learning understand that Omne majus continet in se minus every greater includes or contains in it the lesser is a sure and standing Rule both in Logick and Divinity Agreeing with this sense I have given off the Grand Commission is that of Peter Acts 2.39 For the Promise is to you and to your Children c. which affords an invincible Argument to prove that there is now under the Gospel no change of Abrahams Covenant any other than in the external administration of it The Covenant in its substance abides the same for ever By the Grace thereof all Gods Elect both of the Jewish and Gentile Race are to be Saved Rom. 3.29 What I have said will yet receive farther confirmation by what is laid down by Paul in Gal. 3.14 That the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ c. The places now quoted out of Acts 2.39 and Gal. 3.14 presuppose a command to all whether Jew or Gentile who by Faith receives Jesus Christ for a Saviour that they shall be Signed with the Seal of Abrahams Covenant according to Gen. 17.9 For if the Gentiles who believe in Abrahams Saviour do expect that they and their Infants should be made actual Partakers of the Blessings of Abrahams Covenant they must be sure to observe and keep Gods Covenant with Abraham throughout their Generations Secondly seeing that Christ himself words the Commission so in general terms which undoubtedly includes the particular not excepting against Infants It must necessarily follow that if Infants be a part of those Nations which the Apostles c. are commanded to Baptize that Christ commands them to Baptize Infants as well as any others Reader observe the Words of the Commission Go and Teach all Nations c. Here is no more mention of grown Persons Men or Women than there is of Infants If then Anabaptists cannot deny that Infants are a part of Nations and that they can no way prove how Abrahams Blessing can come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus any other way than by and through the Covenant of Abraham It will unavoidably follow all the Wit in Man cannot oppose it with success that Infants as well as adult Persons are as the proper Subjects of Baptism intended by Christ in the Grand Commission Object 2. None are the proper Subjects of Baptism but such as are first taught Go and Teach c. Infants are not capable of Mans Teaching therefore they are not the proper Subjects of Baptism Answ This with the Objection already spoken to seems to weak and injudicious People to be unanswerable for excluding Infants from Baptism but he that looks into it with a Spiritual Eye will find nothing in it against Infants In order to discover the weakness and mistake of the Objector let it be observed with care that the Word Teach is twice mentioned in the Words of the Commission Go and Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. And in Ver. 20 Teaching them to observe c. The first Teach is in the Original Matheteusate and the other is Didaskontes which I choose to set down in the English rather than in the Greek Character to the end the Unlearned may Read them and in Reading observe the great difference which is between the two Words and that both in the Letters and Sound of the Words if this be taken notice of it will afford to the Unlearned who would not be impos'd upon ground to suspect not only the Skill in Tongues but also the Honesty and Faithfulness of those Guides whom they Judge come nearer to Infalibility in what they Teach than do the other eminent Servants of Christ who differ from them and at whose Labours the ablest Preachers of that Party are glad to Light their Candles As these two Words differ in Letters and Sound as the Unlearned themselves will find if they be but Faithful to themselves so they differ also in their Sense and Signification as the Orthodox and Learned well know I begin with the first viz. Matheteusate which signifies properly to Disciple or to make Disciples in all Nations where the Gospel shall be gladly received How is this to be done Answ Even as God Taught Abraham when he Instructed him in the great Mystery of the Covenant The which when Abraham Embrac'd for himself and his Infant-Seed he received gladly the Visible Token or Seal of that Covenant of Grace viz. Circumcision and marks out his Infant-Seed by putting the same Seal of the Covenant on them and that in compliance with God's Command It is but Rational to suppose and grant that the first Subjects of an Ordinance should be Persons Adult and Grown up to the use of Reason that they may be capable of Acting for not only themselves but for their Off spring and Posterity also who are not while Infants capable of Acting for themselves This was God's Way and Method with Abraham his Friend he Propounds his Covenant of Grace to him and in him to his Seed as their Stipulating and Covenanting Head and Representative In Instructing Abraham God in Abraham's Person Instructs his Infants so as by that Instruction his Infant-Seed became Disciples and were accordingly Sign'd with the Seal of their Stipulating Father's Covenant This undoubtedly was the Method which the Apostles went in when they were sent forth to make Disciples to Christ in every Nation They Instructed Adult and Grown Persons in the Mystery of God's Grace by Christ and when such laid hold on Christ in the Covenant by an External Profession of Faith in him they were Baptized with their Infants if any they had Hence we Read of the Jaylor in Acts 16.33 who on his Believing was Baptized he and all that were of him viz. His own Personal Off-spring so the Greek Word signifies Hence also we Read of whole Families who were Baptized by the Apostles on the Faith of such as were