that Covenant to Abraham and to the Nations hee gave withal a Commandment Gen. 17.12 that the initial mark of the Covenant should bee set upon all whom hee had taken into Covenant both Jews and Gentiles and their Infants The Covenant it self and the mark of the Covenant are alike extended to all the same persons whether yong or old Note farther that when Christ renewed and established that Covenant in his own blood though hee changed the Sign yet hee repealed not that Commandment Nay Mat. 28.19 hee added a new commandment enjoining the new Sign Baptism to bee given to all Nations without exception of any persons formerly received into Covenant so that wee are under a twofold Commandment to Baptize our Infants one of God who first made the Covenant and gave that Commandment the which is still so of force that if Christ the Lord of the hous had not changed it wee were all bound at this day to bee Circumcised and seeing hee hath changed that Sign into Baptism but not the Covenant it self nor the Commandment thereto annexed it followeth that by the old Commandment enjoining Infants to bee marked and by Christ's new Commandment enjoining Baptism to bee that mark all that are not excepted out of the Covenant stand bound to recei it In like manner as the fourth Commandment injoining one day of seven for an holy Rest to the Lord doth binde us to observ our Lords-day the Commandment stand's of force though the first day bee changed so the Commandment for signing of the Nations whom God received into Covenant and their seed doth still oblige us to set the New Seal upon them especially seeing wee are again commanded by Christ so to do without any exception of Infants Hence I thus argue Argument 1 All that are taken into the Covenant of Grace ought to receiv the judicial Sign of the Covenant what ever the Sign be that God shall chuse and that according to the Commandment of God and our Lord Jesus Christ But Infants are taken into Covenant with their Parents as is proved therefore by the Commandment of the Lord they ought to recev the Sign which God hath enjoined to bee used and that Sign is Baptism Or thus If Infants have a right to the Covenant and the initial sign thereof then it is a wrong to deny them But Infants have a right to the Covenant and the initial Sign thereof both by God's Original Grant Gen. 17.11 14. And by Christ's confirmation of that Covenant made with the Fathers Rom. 15.8 therefore it is a wrong to deny it to them The Covenant under which wee are is the Gospel-Covenant made long since with us Englishmen and our Infant-seed with a command of giving them the Sign which at first was Circumcision and now Baptism by the same Divine Autoritie enjoyned and commanded to bee given without any exception of any within the Covenant Argument 2 My second Argument is grounded on Act. 2.38 39. then Peter said Repent and bee baptized c. In which passage of Scripture I note three things 1. Who the persons were of whom Peter saith The promise is to you and to your children they were a mixt multitude of many Nations as appears vers 10. strangers of Rome Jews Proselyts Creets and Arabians Note 2. What promise that is of which S. Peter saies it belongs to such people and their children and is applied to his hearers as the ground of their beeing baptized It is that grand promise made to Abraham to bee a God to him and his seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Gospel-promiss of good tidings gratuitum Dei promissum quatenùs opponitur legi saith Beza in a word it is that promiss of blessedness Jer. 31.34 which consists in remission of sins to bee obtained by the promised Messiah Object Nay Why not rather understand it of the promise of the gifts of the holy Ghost promised Joel 2.27 and given by laying on of the Apostles hands especially becaus it is said in the end of vers 38. Bee baptized and yee shall receiv the gift of the holy Ghost Answ The promise here spoken of cannot bee understood I conceiv of the miraculous gifts of the holie Ghost 1. Becaus Peter's bearers received no such gifts and therefore S. Peter made no such promise to them for doubtless they received what was promised 2. Such a promise must here bee understood as belongs to Parents and their children and to all that shall bee called to the worlds end But there is no such promise in all the Scripture that the miraculous gifts of the holie Ghost shall fall upon Parents with their children and all that are to bee converted to the worlds end 3. A promise of such gifts seems not sutably applied to Peter's hearers comfort for their Question was what shall wee do to bee saved And Peter gives them 1. A direction 2. And a Promise A direction to repent and to acknowledg Christ to bee head and foundation of the Covenant of Grace and that life and remission of sins is in his blood where of Baptism is the Seal And then hee recites and applies to this comfort the promises of the Covenant q. d. yee shall receiv the benefit of the Covenant remission of sins and also the gift of the holie Spirit the Seal thereof those first motions now begun in your hearts shall bee followed with increas of Sanctification of spiritual light of joy comfort and assurance This interpretation doth exactly agree with the Apostles discours Gal. 3.14 where speaking of the blessing of Abraham to com on the Gentiles hee saith that wee being delivered from the Curse and restored into God's Grace by Christ shall receiv the promise of the Spirit through Faith i.e. the spirit of Grace which is the Seal of the promises of the new Covenant the gifts of the holie Spirit which had been so often and so solemnly promised by the Prophets Es 44.3 I will pour water upon him that is thirstie as Peters hearers now were and Floods upon the drie ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring and one say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob with Ezek. 11.19 cap. 36.27 A new spirit will I put within you I will take the stonie heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh Act. 2.38 Gal. 3.2 14. So that the gift of the Spirit in Peter's Sermon and the promise of the spirit in the Galatians and in the Prophets is all one thing for substance As for that place Joel 2.27 S. Peter expounds it Act. 2.17 of the descending of the holy Ghost upon the Apostles in fierie Tongues and it may well have relation to all those upon whom in like manner it did descend But if any man conceivs that that place hath a farther accomplishment in the New Testament in the larger pouring forth of the gifts of the spirit of illumination
Conference Answ If Baptism belong but to one Infant it is enough to confute them who deny it to all becaus they are Infants 2. And if it belong to som Infants why not to all for who shall judg which are elected and which are not It concerns not us to know who are and who are not Elected becaus the Sacraments do belong to the Elect not as Elect but as visible members and Professors upon which account S. Peter baptized Simon Magus And Abraham by God's appointment circumcised Ismaël though a reprobate Esau and all the children of the flesh were circumcised 3. Lastly by your reason Men of years should not bee baptized becaus wee cannot tell whether they bee Elected or not Object 2 But where have you any Example of children baptized Answ There is no need of example when wee have the Doctrine of the holie Ghost for it which is of greater Autoritie and force then bare Example Howbeit the practise of the Apostles may go for an Example their baptizing of whole housholds is an Example of baptizing all within the hous old and yong that are not excepted Even as under the name of Abraham's houshold are comprehended his Infants Abraham and his houshold were circumcised so the Jailor and his houshold were baptized the phrase is the same the case the same and why not the persons Object 3 Yea but the Scripture saies Go Teach and Baptize and they that gladly received the Word were baptized and again they were baptized confessing their sins therefore men must bee capable of teaching of Faith and repentance before they bee baptized Answ T is true When wee first bring the Gospel to a People they must bee first Taught confess their Faith and their Repentance and then bee baptized But it as true that when the Parents have received the Faith and are baptized their children also are taken into Covenant Thus Abraham was first taught and then circumcised But his Infants were first circumcised and then taught This one Error doth much bemist your understandings you conceiv that the Covenant take's in onely actual Believers That is indeed a part of the Covenant but not the whole extent of it as hath been proved For as wee by deeds do purchase and convey Lands holden in Leas or Copie to our children yea to children which shall bee born as well as to them that bee already born and though our children at that age knew not what their Fathers did for them yet when they come to age they claim those Lands by virtue of the Land-Lord's Grant and Seal annexed paying their Rents and doing their covenanted Services and Homage So doth the great Land-Lord of Heaven put both us and our children into the Copie of Heaven and confirms it by Seal of Baptism And when our children com to have Faith they may claim the good things covenanted by virtue of God's Grant and Covenant made with their Fathers they performing the conditions of their Father's Covenant From Scripture I proceed to som Reasons for Infant-Baptism Reasons 1 Infants are capable of the thing signified in Baptism viz. of the blood of sprinkling therefore of Baptism it self If they have the thing signed which is the greater why should they bee debarred the Sign which is the less It cannot bee denied them upon any just ground of Faith or Reason Object Yes Say they becaus Infants have not Faith nor Repentance Answ You must add 1. that have not Faith nor ever will com to have Faith 2. You must add that they have not Faith nor any other means of applying Christ's blood els your exception is not sufficient In men of years it is applied by the Spirit of God and by Faith in Infants by the Spirit alone which is given unto them It is the Application of Christ's righteousness that justifieth us not our Act of apprehending it the thing applied not our Act of applying God by his Spirit in Infants doth all things on our part which Faith should do Joh. 3.8 the wind bloweth where it listeth thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is everie one that is born after the spirit i. e. As the power of God is seen in the wind moving the aër so it is in the changing and renewing of us though the manner bee bid from us Thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child Eccles 11.5 Thus much wee know from Christ's own mouth that Infants are blessed for hee blessed them Mar. 10.16 Shall wee denie it becaus wee know not the manner how they are blessed Or shall wee deny them to bee reasonable creatures becaus wee cannot discern in them the use of reason Or shall wee deny them to bee sinners becaus they know not what the Law is nor what the transgression of the Law is Wee need not trouble our selvs about the manner how Christ's righteousness is applied to them seeing God is as gracious to apply unto them the righteousness of the second Adam as in justice hee did the sin and condemnation of the first Adam 2. That Exception about Faith and Repentance is no more a barr against the Baptism of Infants then against the Circumcision of Infants forasmuch as in Circumcision were required all the same qualifications which you say are required to Baptism viz. the inward Circumcision of the heart Little children must bee brought unto Christ and none forbid them and by Baptism they do com unto him where the Minister in Christ's stead receiveth them and blesseth them and the Lord sealeth up unto them their receiving into his favor and grace for his own mercies sake without any merit of ours Reason 2 Christ confirmed the Covenant made unto the Fathers Rom. 15.8 Hee bettered it and no way worsted it And when hee commanded a new Seal to bee set in stead of Circumcision hee did it without altering the substance of the Covenant in the least degree but now the very substance of the Covenant would bee altered to the wors if som persons formerly received into Grace should by Christ bee excluded yea and Believers children are in wors condition then in the Jewish Church which to affirm were not onely derogatorie to Christ's Grace but against Scripture it self which saith Ephes 3.6 that the Gentiles are Fellow-heirs with the Jews and of the same bodie and partakers of his Promise in the Gospel of which they are not partakers nor Fellow-heirs if so great a part of the Gentiles as their children should bee excluded The Infants of Jews and Proselyts at the coming of Christ had interest and right to the Covenant of Grace And if that right bee taken away then their condition after Christ is wors then before Shall they bee loosers by becoming Christians This no sober man will affirm Neither is this a complaining against God but against them who would exclude whom the Lord hath not
not bee known but by examination therefore the Apostle will have those Prophets Teaching submitted to the judgment of others that have the spirit of Prophecie that so by the harmonie and consent of their Doctrines the unitie of the spirit by which they all speak 1 Cor. 14.37 may bee evidenced and approved Now this could not befal the Pen-men of holy Scripture who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost and not of their own spirits at any time when they preach't or writ any part of Scripture Whatsoëver the Apostles preached or wrote it is of Divine Autoritie becaus they wrote it Conclus 3 Object 4 Som be so inconsiderate as to plead for their pattern and warrant Christ's making Preachers of Fishermen why therefore may not Tradsmen preach Answ Nothing can make more directly against you 1. Christ called them from their Trades to an higher imploiment to bee Fishers of men and they left their Trades to do this Work But you say keep on your Trades and preach too 2. Christ who is the Autor of the Ministerie of New Testament Called them trained them up in his School as Disciples then hee Ordained Twelv that they should bee with him that hee might send them to preach Mark 3.14 But you preach without any such Calling Training up Ordaining or sending 3. Christ sent them out two and two to preach and gave them power to heal the sick cleans the Leapers rais the dead cast out Divels Christ enabled them for the work which hee sent them about But you have no such mission nor new abilities Here is the difference between Christ and men hee doe's not finde men fit but make's them fit and so send 's them But wee must finde them fit or els not send them Neither must any run before they bee sent Jer. 23.21 I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran c. These are the chief Arguments for preaching without Ordination for farther satisfaction wherein and of all Mr Chillenden's Objections I refer the Reader to that acute solid short Treatise entituled Church-members set in joint written by Filodexter Transylvanus and I the rather recommend that Treatise becaus my people have grounded their Opinion and Practice upon Mr Chillenden's Book The second Question WHether Baptism belong's and bee rightly administred to Infants of Christian Parents in the New Testament Affir Baptism is the first visible Act of God's Grace whereby hee doth receiv us into his favor and familie And the first visible means whereby hee doth apply to us by Word Sign and Seal the blood of Jesus Christ for remission of sins Now the Question is to whom this Seal of mercie doth belong Anabaptists have sundrie pretences to scorn and deride Infant baptism in their account the Baptism of Infants is no Baptism becaus according to Christ's Institution as they conceiv true Baptism doth alwaies presuppose actual belief in the receivers and is otherwise no Baptism therefore they rebaptize Others allow of Infant-baptism they esteem it as an Ordinance which Christ hath instituted in special love and favor to his people onely they restrain this priviledg to the Infants of Parents who joyn themselvs in Church-Covenant to som particular Congregation My debate is with the former who deny all Infant-baptism the which if it be proved to belong to any Infants it is enough for my purpose and the same Arguments which prove it to belong to Infants of this or that Congregation do prove it to belong to the whole visible Church and their Infants it being a vain pride and great presumption to make new conditions of Church-membership which God hath not made and to ascribe to the inventions of men a power to supersede the Ordinances of God to cast both us and our Infants out of the Covenant us that were baptized into that one bodie if wee subscribe not to their Articles and our children becaus wee subscribe not thus making voide the Commandment of god by the commandments and Ordinances of men I the rather force my self to speak somthing of this beaten point becaus there bee three yong heathens in my Parish and three others dead out of the Covenant through their Parents frowardness Now for the convincing and satisfying if it may bee of theirs and other poor peoples judgments in the present Controversie I shall content my self with five Arguments the first will depend upon a clear positive Answer to another question viz. Quest Did God make the Covenant of grace onely with actual Believers or with them and their Infant-seed Did God take into Covenant the Parents with their children or the Parents onely Answ Not the Parents onely but with them their Infant-seed this is the express Tenor of the Covenant Gen. 17.7 between God and Abraham between mee and thee and thy seed to bee a God unto you What seed meaneth hee his Infant-seed vers 12. Hee that is eight daies old whether it bee a child of thy loines or of a stranger a proselyte which is not of thy seed this Covenant was first made with Abraham Gen. 12.3 wherein God promised that in his seed shall all the Nations of the Earth bee blessed Of God's Covenint i. e. in Christ And it was renewed with the Sign of Circumcision added unto it Gen. 17 7 12. Wherein observ three things 1. That the Covenant made with Abraham was the Gospel-Covenant wherein blessedness was promised in and through Christ the promised Seed for God preached the Gospel to Abraham when hee said In thy seed shall all Nations bee blessed as S. Paul reasoneth Gal. 3.8 the which Covenant seeing it was 430 years before the Law and not disanulled by the coming of the Law it was to endure till the Seed should com to whom the promiss was made vers 17.19 and consequently to the end of the World becaus Christ came to establish the Covenant made to the Fathers Rom. 15.8 and after Christ no more changes to bee expected 2. Note that the Persons with whom that Gospel-Covenant was made were Abraham and his Infant-seed and all Nations even us Englishmen and our Infant-seed as appear's Gen. 17.4.12 My Covenant is with thee and with thy seed in their Generations and with the stranger that is not thy seed all of them must bee Circumcised Compared with Rom. 15.8 15. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision i. e. of the Jews for the truth of God to confirm the promises of the Covenant made unto the Fathers and that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercie beeing made partakers with them of the same promises according as it is written Rejoice yee Gentiles with his People c. Now this Covenant of promises made with the Fathers Christ should not confirm but clip and curtail it if so great a part as all our Infants bee left out and excluded But if God take our Infants into Covenant who shall dare to exclude them 3. Note when God at first gave