Infant-Seed of Believers are the proper Subjects of Baptism not to exclude Adult Proselytes and in proving this I shall Answer all Mr. B. K's Twenty Seven Arguments as fully and effectually as if I had confuted them one by one for the Ground of all his Arguments is to prove that all Children are excluded the Ordinance of Water-baptism in their Infancy And to effect my Purpose I shall take this Method viz. 1. I shall prove from the Sacred Scriptures that there is a Command from our Saviour Christ for the baptizing young Infants 2. There are undeniable Examples for it 3. I shall prove it from the peculiar Promises that are made to the Seed of Believers 4. From the Renowned Titles that are given unto them 5. From their being under the care conduct and Ministry of the blessed Angels 6. And Lastly From the tender care and sweet condescending Carriage and Behaviour of our blessed Redeemer to the Children of Believers above all other Mens Children in the World 1. There is a positive Command for the baptizing of Infants as well as of others in Christs Commission in Mat. 28.19 20. Go and disciple all nations that is Baptize them for if you observe Teaching comes after Go and disciple all nations make them disciples by baptism Now either Children are no part of a Nation or else there were no Children in all these Nations to whom Christ sent his Apostles and Ministers to preach the Gospel or else Children are every whit as much concerned in the Commission with a respect to Baptism as the Adult But Children are a great part of a Nation and for any to imagine that there were no Children in all these Nations is ridiculous and therefore Children are included in this Commission of our Lords and so they come under the Power and Authority of Christs positive Command to be baptized 2. They Object Children must be taught before they ought to be baptized and Children are not capable of being taught and therefore not capable of baptism Pray hear what God saith in Isa 59.21 As for me this is my covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Isa 54.13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children Heb. 8.11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest This Teaching of God proceeds from his Covenant Love as appears by the aforesaid Scriptures 2. In Mark 16.15 there is Christs positive Command to preach the Gospel to every creature that is to some of all Ages and Sects of the Rational Being therefore Children are concerned in this Command as being a very great part of the Rational Being and they have a great benefit by the Ministry of the Gospel which benefit lyeth principally in their Parents being so disciplined and taught as to be made Believers at which Instant their Children are also initiated and planted into the Covenant of Grace and are holy Children in Gods account 1 Cor. 7.14 and so have a Right to the holy Discipline viz. Water-baptism the Initiating Seal of the Covenant 3. And Lastly There is a Command for Children to hear the Word of the Lord as well as Adult Persons in Jer. 2.4 Even as Moses summoned all Israel Man Woman and Child to appear before God and renew their Covenant with him in Deut. 29.9 to 13. Thus I have proved A Command for the baptizing all the Infant-Seed of Believers 2. I will prove Infant-Baptism from clear Examples First From the Example of John the Baptist Mat. 3. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions round about Jordan And were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come c. John baptized all the Natural Seed of Abraham that came to his Baptism he refused none though at the same time he exhorted them to Repentance and not to rely upon their Covenant-Relation to Abraham Ver. 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance c. So that it doth not appear that John baptized none but them which were truly penitent 1. Here you see all the Jews Men Women and Children that came unto John were baptized by him for all came to his Baptism for Children were a great part of Jerusalem and of all Judea c. And therefore Children were not excluded but were baptized 2. The Ordinance of Baptism was first Instituted among the Jews and their Seed before it was among the Gentiles and theirs many Years for the Gentiles must first be proselyted and taken visibly into Covenant by Discipline 3. And Lastly If John had not baptized all Children how could it be said that Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Region round about Jordan went out to him and were baptized of him Therefore it is plain that all were baptized by him Now if I should say All my Houshold are baptized and yet none of my Children are baptized who are almost double in number the rest of my Family How could that be true So that it is very plain from the Example of John the Baptist we have unquestionable Authority to baptize all our Children in their Infancy 2. There are Examples of Infant-baptism from the Apostles practice for they baptized whole Housholds wherefore if there had been but one Child in all these Housholds that was not baptized it could not properly have been said that the whole Houshold were baptized for children are the principal Upholders of the House for where there are no children that House is but of short duration and it is plain that believing Parents and their children make a holy House a sanctified Husband or a sanctified Wife and holy children make one Body and therefore they ought to be baptized 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body c. 3. Here are whole Housholds that were baptized by the Apostles Acts 18.8 Acts 16.14 15. and ver 30 31 33. and some others and also whole Housholds that were Believers which we read nothing at all of their Baptism 3. That Children are a great part of the Houshold is very clear for by our Saviours Words Parents and their children onely make the Houshold Mat. 10. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother c. And a mans foes shall be they of his own houshold These were Parents and Children not one Servant mentioned And the Widow of Zarephath 1 King 17.15
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
A REPLICATION TO A Late BOOK Written By Mr. Benjamin Keach AGAINST Infants-Baptism INTITULED A Counter-Antidote c. By Gyles Shute of Lime-house LONDON Printed for the Author Published and Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall and Nath. Hiller in Leaden-hall-street 1694. Price Three Pence A REPLICATION TO A Late BOOK Written By Mr. Benjamin Keach AGAINST Infants-Baptism SIR I have carefully perused your Book and I find that you have dealt very disingenuously by me and have made several unkind Steps upon my Credit and Reputation which is not at all becoming a Christian especially one of your Figure Secondly Your whole Book is reducible to five General Heads The First is against our Mode of Baptism viz. sprinkling or pouring water in Baptism and to prove that Dipping or Immersion is the only Mode in Baptism Secondly To invalid the Notion of Habitual Faith in Elect dying Infants and to prove they are saved without it Thirdly To prove the Dissolution of the Everlasting Covenant God made with Abraham and all his Seed calling it a Covenant of Circumcision only Fourthly To prove that none but Adult Believers are the Subjects of Baptism Fifthly and Lastly To prove that the Church-State before the coming in of the Gospel was only a carnal Legal Church-State and therefore destroyed and dissolved by the coming in of the Gospel Now upon these Five Pillars your Opinion is built and from these five Topicks are all your Arguments raised and deduced against us Paedo-baptists wherefore to confute these five Heads is to Answer all your Book But before I enter upon the controversie I must acquaint the Reader with some of Mr. Keach's unkind Steps he hath made upon my Credit and Reputation which I conceive was to render me as black and odious in the Eye of the World as possibly he could So that what I have written in Vindication of Infant-baptism and the Everlasting Covenant God made with Abraham might meet with the less esteem among People of all Perswasions But however Truth will be Truth still notwithstanding all the opposition that is made against it by Men of corrupt Principles 1. Saith Mr. B. K. This Man hath come too near to the Expressions and bitter Reflections John Child uttered against us falsely called Anabaptists who soon after fell under fearful horrour of Conscience and Desperation c. And pray observe how his Reverend Brother 〈◊〉 as he calls him and he are agreed for In pag. 11. of his late Book he saith Is not this the Man David spake of that travelled with Iniquity conceived Mischief and brought forth Falsehood Remember remember John Child whose chief cause of desperation was his speaking and writing against those very People of God you now do Here you see these two Reverend Brethren are both agreed in their Verdict against me wherefore in Answer unto it I will lay down some of the chief things which were the cause of his Desperation and it may be we may find one Mr. H. C. among the Witnesses unto it in Print and then I will leave it to all those who have read my Book to judge whether I am not most horribly abused by these two Gentlemen And for the full clearing up of this Matter I have procured their own Parties Testimony to witness against them in that Book which was written and attested by Mr. Thomas Plant and Mr. Benj. Dennis concerning the cause of Mr. John Child's Desperation First Mr. Dennis in pag. 10. saith He freely discoursed the Grief of his Mind expressing and setting forth his Condition to be most deplorable as having no hope of Salvation I laid before him with the greatest tenderness the Freeness and Riches of Gods Grace chusing to argue from his own former declared Opinion against Limiting of it but could fasten no word of consolation or hope upon him Secondly Here is the Testimony of Mr. H. C. himself in pag. 18. Mr. Child I am informed your Trouble arises from the Publishing a Book Intituled The Second Argument c. What part of that Book troubles you most Mr. Child taking up the Book began to read where he saith The greatest number of Dissenters do hold Principles dangerously Heretical and most abominably abusing the most Holy and Blessed God c. But before he could end that Paragraph being under extream agony of mind and weeping bitterly put the Book from him and spake to this effect viz. I have represented those of Calvin's Principles beyond what ever they conceived strained their Opinions beyond their Intentions and drawn such Consequences as never were in their Mind and striking his Breast with much anguish said These words lie close I shall never get over this I writ in prejudice against them calling them a Villainous Body of People which was unjust Thirdly and Lastly to name no more in pag. 26. said one of the Company that was with him It may be your Endeavours heretofore too much to advance Free-will and the Power of the Creature may be one reason why the Lord hath permitted you thus to fall Mr. Child replied You have hit it Sir I once thought there was a power in Man but now I find it otherwise for I cannot pray the Lord hath taken away the Gift of Prayer from me I have no desire after any thing that is good I cannot repent Mr. Child did not write against the Anabaptists as such but he writ against the Calvinists among all perswasions that hold Election and Predestination therefore how could these Men declare to the World in Print contrary to their own Testimony that Mr. Child's chiefest cause of Desperation was his speaking and writing against those very People of God I now do Pray who is the Man David spake of they or I Did I ever write against the Free Grace of God Pray do me the Justice as to read the Vindication of the Antidote pag. 167 to 173. and see whether I am an Arminian or not as both these Gentlemen slily insinuate for Mr. Child was so to whom they have compared me 2. In pag. 2. saith Mr. K. I think few men who have had to do with us in this Controversie shewed a more sour Spirit than Mr. Baxter And yet did he ever deny us to be True Churches or call our Baptism counterfeit To which I Answer He hath called it worse Let any Man read Mr. Baxter's Book of Plain Scripture-proof of Infants Church-membership and Baptism in chap. 13. pag. 136 and 137. there Mr. Baxter hath charged the Anabaptists with being guilty of breaking the Seventh Commandment in their Dipping Women and Maids as he Phrases it either naked or as the Modestest of them do next to naked and he calls their Baptism it self Intolerable Wickedness and not Gods Ordinance and if your Baptism be Intollerable Wickedness then your Congregations cannot be True Churches So that in this Mr. Baxter denies your Churches to be True Churches and affirms your Baptism to be worse than counterfeit 3. In pag. 23. saith
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
the Jews did for the Covenant of Grace consists of two parts an Inner Court and an Outer Court So it was under the Law Ezek. 8.16 And so it is under the Gospel Rev. 11.1 2. And it hath Internal and External Members or Worshippers in it Rom. 11.17 John 15.1 2. And there are Spiritual and Temporal Blessings and Priviledges belong unto it Rom. 3.1 2. Mat. 6.33 2. In the second place let us take a View of the Lineal Descent of the Covenant of Grace viz. After our first Parents fell into a State of Sin and Misery by which the first Covenant was broken namely that of Works then God made a Second or New Covenant with Adam and his Seed the Covenant of Grace in Gen. 3.15 But Cain sinned himself out of it and God Excommunicated him with a Curse Gen. 4.10 11 13 14. And God gave Adam Seth in the room of Abel whom Cain slew ver 25 26. 2. The Covenant of Grace continued from Adam to Noah a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 that is he was a Gospel Preacher for he preached the Righteousness of Christ for Justification and Salvation and God confirmed and ratified the Covenant with Noah and his Seed before the Flood Gen. 6.18 But with thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee Now was not this distinguishing peculiar Love and Grace that God should spare and preserve Noah and all his House when all the rest of the World were drowned and utterly destroyed Therefore they were in the Covenant of Grace 2. God renewed his Covenant with Noah and all his Seed after the Flood Gen. 9.9 And I behold I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you And we have the Token of the Covenant in the 12 and 13 Verses And God said This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth 3. This Covenant was principally made with Noah and his Seed and consisted of special and common Mercies both to Man and Beast 2. The Token of this Covenant is extended to all good and bad Saints and Sinners but chiefly and principally it is for God himself to remember his Covenant Verse 16. And the bow shall be in the cloud and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant c. The Rain-bow is a Token that God will never destroy the World by Water again as in ver 11 12 13. and that Token remains as a Witness unto this Day In which Token we may see the Goodness and also Severity of God Goodness to Noah and his Family which is extended unto us for had Noah and his Family been drowned also we had never been and Severity against sin in that he destroyed all the ungodly World From hence I shall make some Observations 1. If the Token of that Covenant had disappeared at the coming in of the Gospel in its Splendor and full Latitude it might have been concluded that the Covenant God made with Noah and Abraham had been Repealed and Dissolved and so the Infant Seed of Believers cast out and in no Covenant at all for that was the Token of the Covenant in the largest Extent both with a respect to God and Man For if we do but observe the Terms and Tenure of the Covenant God made with Noah before the Flood and after the Flood it is much the same with a respect to Noah and his Family and so likewise with Abraham's Covenant to him and his Seed wherefore let us compare them together and also the Tokens Gen. 6.18 But with thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark c. Gen. 9.9 And I behold I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you 2. Abraham's Covenant runs thus Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee c. 2. For the Tokens of the Covenant Gen. 9.12 And God said This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations Gen. 17. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations c. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you Mark that of Noah's Covenant is called The Token but this of Abraham's Covenant is called A Token The first might be called The Token because it was to have no Successor and that of Abraham's might be called A Token because it was to have a Successor namely Baptism for the Token of Noah's Covenant is to perpetual Generations but so is not Circumcision it self though it is said in Gen. 17. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant So that when Circumcision was abolished the Covenant remained in the flesh therefore Baptism succeeded Circumcision for no Ordinances but them two have to do with the Flesh in the Covenant in Initiation as Circumcision had and Baptism hath Thus you see the Analogy there was between the Covenant and the Tokens thereof God made with Noah and Abraham 3. Let us bring this Covenant God made with Noah and Abraham down into Gospel-Times 1. Let us observe what that Gospel-Prophet saith in Isa 54.8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer Ver. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee Ver. 10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Ver. 13. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children This is a Prediction of the conversion of the Jews in Gospel-Times Heb. 8.10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord that is after the days of their Captivity I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people Compare to Jer. 31.8 9 27 to 34. and Ezek. 36.22 to 27. 2. Noah's Covenant or the Dispensations of God towards Noah is set forth in the Gospel in a two-fold manner 1. By way of Figurative Allusion 2. By way of clear Expression 1. By Figurative Allusion Rev. 4.2
good What think ye now Friend of all your other Arguments which you say are contained in this one Are they not swallowed up by the Gospel even as Aaron's Rod swallowed up the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians 4. Saith Mr. K. in pag. 24. The Gospel Covenant ran first to all the Elect that were the natural Off-spring of Abraham and then to the Gentiles and from hence it is said Rom. 11. that when the Jews are called and brought in again they shall be graffed into their own Olive-tree 1. I Answer that if the Jews are to be graffed into their own Olive-tree again as indeed they must then the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed is not Repealed nor Dissolved 2. That the Elect Jews were principally concerned in the Covenant I do own but that none but such were concerned in it I deny for had it been so then none had ever been cast out of Covenant for God never broke Covenant with his Elect nor never will I will produce you not only his Word but also his Oath for it in Psal 89. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David 3. The Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed was but one is the very same now in substance to the believing Gentiles their Children though it is under a new Dispensation and the Middle-wall of partition is broken down and taken away and nailed to Christs Cross Eph. 2.11 12 13 14. And the Gentiles are Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel so that the Covenant is enlarged as to the Priviledges thereof for whereas before the coming in of the Gospel it was restricted to the Jews and their Seed now it is to both Jew and Gentile Acts 2.39 Whereas it was clog'd before with Material costly Sacrifices and burdensome Ceremonies and smarting Ordinances now it is Meliorated and made easier and better all these Shadows are done away which was the taking away the first to establish the second viz. to take away the Ceremonial Law to Establish the Gospel 4. And lastly If none but Elect Jews were in the Covenant God made with Abraham and his Seed at which time the Gentiles were rejected and cast off for in Noah's Time all the New World were in the Covenant of Grace How came the Jews to sin themselves out of it again when the Elect Gentiles and their Seed were taken in Rom. 11.17 For if those Jews had been Elected of God they could never have sinned to such a degree as to provoke God to cast them out of Covenant though they might sin so as to provoke God to punish and chastise them for it Psal 89. 5. And lastly Saith Mr. K. in pag. 27. And farther to prove the Promise of the Covenant of Grace did not belong to Abrham 's Natural Seed as such Paul shews in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and to his seed was the promise made He saith not to seeds as of many but to thy seed which is Christ Friend though you have charged me falsely with abusing the Sacred Scriptures yet give me leave to tell you you have horribly abused this Text by adding unto it and diminishing from it for the Words are these in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not And to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ Mr. K. hath placed was the promise made which is in the singular instead of were the promises made Friend Was not Christ who is stiled this One here in this Text of the Seed of Abraham And was not the Covenant made with him before the Foundation of the World for all the Elect and their Seed And are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in Christ Which are the Promises in this Text which you call the promise So that this Text intends quite another thing â—hen what you seem to infer from it 2. Let us observe what strange Absurdities to follow 1. Would it not be a very absurd thing that God who is a Covenant-keeping God should keep his Covenant with Believers and their Seed from Adam to the coming of Christ in the Flesh which was about 4000 Years and so often renew and establish it with Believers and their Seed by Repeated Promises and Sacred Oaths and that then God should cast them all off and Repeal and Dissolve the Covenant Pray hear what the Apostle saith to this in Gal. 3.15 Brethren I speak after the manner of men Though it be but a mans covenant yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Viz. Is a Covenant which is made between Man and Man so sacred a thing as that nothing ought to disanul it or make it void and that nothing ought to be added unto it How much more Sacred is Gods Everlasting Covenant and not to be disanulled made void nor added unto by Men 2. Is it not an absurd thing for any Mortals to imagine that the Son of Gods Love John 3.16 and the Gospel of his Grace should bring more Grace to Adult Believers then the Law and at the same time destroy that Grace which their Children enjoyed under the Law John 1.17 For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 3. If this Doctrine were true then all the Seed of these believing Jews which kept Covenant were all cast out and broken off with the unbelieving Jews and their Seed Rom. 11 17. 4. It will follow that none but Adult believing Gentiles were taken into Covenant and all their Children excluded which is repugnant to 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 This Promise here is the same God made with Adam Gen. 3.15 and Noah Gen. 9.9 and Abraham Gen. 17.2 7. which was made to Believers and their Children 5. These Gentlemen that Assert the Dissolution of the Covenant wherein are contained Believers and their Seed never yet undertook to tell us what the personal actual Sin was which these poor Babes did commit against God that did provoke him to cast them all out of Covenant who had been in it Four Thousand Years successively wherefore when you write next about this Subject be so ingenuous as to tell us what the Sin was which these young Infants were guilty of which brought them all under this dreadful condemnation as to be cast out of Gods Favour For unless you can do that all the Arguments you can raise against our Principles will only serve to prove that you are in a very great Errour for the Covenant God made with Adam Noah Abraham and their Seed is an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure IV. I will by Gods Assistance prove that the
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah and she and he and her house did eat many days Here was the Woman and the Prophet and her House that was her Son did eat many days for she had no more in her Family as in the 12th Verse Heb. 11. By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house c. That was himself Wife and Children Gen. 6.1 7. So that it is impossible Children could be excluded if they had any because the word Houshold includes them but it would be very strange if there were no children in all those baptized Families that are mentioned in the Gospel only occasionally for no doubt but there were many thousands of Housholds more that were baptized in the Apostles Time which they had not the same occasion to mention in particular which we do not read of 4. And Lastly Though all the Infant-Seed of Believers are Holy Children in Scripture account yet they are not all savingly sanctified neither is Water-baptism it self such an Ordinance as to convey or infuse Grace and Holiness into the Subject baptized so as to unite them to Christ by Regeneration No that is the Work of the Holy Ghost alone in the Baptism by Fire Indeed this I do believe that God may nay many times doth while the external Sign of Regeneration and Sanctification is applying without work the thing signified by his holy Spirit internally within Thus you see here are clear Examples of Infant-Baptism and good Authority for it unless it can be proved that there were no Children in all these Nations that Christ commissioned his Apostles to preach the Gospel unto 3. It is clear that all the Infant-Seed of Believers have a Right unto the Ordinance of Baptism in their Infancy from the peculiar Promises of God made unto them above all other Children in the World 1. God hath promised to be their God Gen. 17.7 Psal 112.2 His seed shall be mighty upon the earth The generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 102.28 The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee And in Isa 29.23 Isa 44.3 Isa 65.22 Act. 2.29 Here you see are Precious Promises made to the Children of Believers to be fulfilled and accomplished in Gospel-times and is it rational to conceive that God would not allow them the Ordinance of Baptism that is now the Seal or Token of the Covenant wherein all these Promises are contained which God hath made to the Seed of Believers Therefore all the Children of Believers ought to be baptized in their Infancy 4. We may infer that the Infant Seed of Believers have a Right to Baptism from the Renowned Titles that are given them First they are called Disciples Acts 15.1 10. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved They did not say After the manner of Abraham No for they were zealous of the Ceremonial Law These Men came from Judea where John had been baptizing all that came to him ver 10. Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear But it may be Objected Those were Adult believing Gentiles Which in part is true but it was to their Children principally for they which taught them that they themselves must be circumcised did also teach them that their Children must be circumcised and that the Jews Children must be circumcised likewise as doth clearly appear from Acts 21. Thou seest brother how many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the law And they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children c. Pray when was this that the Apostle did thus teach the People Why do but look back into Acts 15. and you will find it was when the Men came down from Judea and preached up Circumcision and were such Zealots for the Law of Moses as that they told the People they could not be saved without keeping of it So that it is clear that these Children in Acts 11. were of the number of those Disciples in Acts 15.10 And therefore the Infant-Seed of Believers are Disciples and ought to be baptized as being in Christs Commission Matth. 28.19 20. Now a little by way of Query and Expostulation 1. Is it any ways likely that the believing Jews would have been brought off from circumcising their Children without an Ordinance that was equivalent or better in the room of it Especially if we do but consider how hard a Task the Apostles had to bring them off from it for they thought they should be damned if they did neglect it Acts 15.1 2. If we do but consider what a great Esteem the Jews hath for the Ordinance of Baptism which may be measured by the Question our Saviour put to those Great Men when they came to him to question his Authority in Mark 11. 29 30. They did not dare to say that John's Baptism was of Men for fear that the People would have stoned them 3. If it were such a dangerous thing for those Priests Scribes and Elders to have denied John's Baptism to be of divine Authority what a dangerous thing would it have been for any Man to have Asserted that all their Children had been cast out of Abraham's Covenant or to have opened their Mouths against Infant-baptism seeing the Apostles had so much adoe to bring them off from Circumcision which was the Seal or Token of the Covenant and did Typifie our Saviours bloody Baptism namely his Death and Sufferings 1. It was a bloody Ordinance Exod. 4.25 26. So was Christs Sufferings Luke 12.50 2. It was a painful Ordinance so was Christs Sufferings 3. It was an Ordinance wherein all the Subjects were passive so was Christ in his bloody Baptism 4. It was an Ordinance of Incision or cutting off the Flesh so was the Sufferings of Christ Dan. 9.26 After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself 5. And Lastly The Male Children were only to be circumcised which did Typifie that Christ our Redeemer must be a Man and that of sorrow and the Pascal Lamb did Type out the same It must be a male of the flock without blemish so must Christ be a Male of the Flock or Tribe of Judah without sin But the Females must not be circumcised because they could not make a True Figure of Christ our Passeover which was sacrificed for us But the Females have the Ordinance of Child-bearing which is the True Figure of Regeneration without which there could have been no Circumcision 2. When Christ the Antitype came in the Flesh and was offered up a Sacrificeâ— for