Gen. 12.3 and elsewhere But yet this Promise which the Apostle deduceth from these Words must likewise be contained in this Covenant and so those Words must be also a Part of it though spoken at another time Because Circumcision that was the Token of this Covenant was a Seal to Abraham of this Promise Rom. 4.11 And he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Which must be founded on the Promise so that that Promise likewise belongs to this Covenant and therefore is sealed by it And this Covenant as delivered to Abraham the Apostle tells us also was confirmed in Christ Gal. 3.17 and therefore can be no other than the Gospel or New Covenant Yea and the Promise of divine Assistance for fulfilling the Conditions of the Covenant was contained also in the same Covenant with Abraham For so we find it was understood by the Church formerly Mic. 7.19 20. He will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast their Sins into the Depth of the Sea Thou wilt perform the Truth unto Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the Days of old Which must needs have Respect to God's Oath and Covenant with Abraham And so also the Apostle reckons that God's sending his Son Christ to bless them and to turn them from their Iniquities was a great Instance of the Accomplishment of the Covenant that God made with Abraham Acts 3.25 26. For the great Design of God in this Covenant at first as appears by the first Call that was given him Gen. 12.1 was to separate him and his Family and Seed from the rest of the Nations which were fallen into the vilest Idolatry and to preserve Religion and the Worship of the true God in his Family And the Promise of the Messiah in whom the Covenant is founded had this Design in it Luke 1.72 73 74 75. The Oath that he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Life So that the Covenant with Abraham was a Church-Covenant and contained in it all the Terms and Design that belonged to such a Covenant and was made with all the Family of Abraham in which his Infant-seed was also comprehended and were to partake of the Promises and Privileges that appertained to it It belonged to all his Family in the external Dispensation of it and none were excluded from the Benefits of it that did not exclude themselves by their own actual Unbelief and Disobedience to the Terms of it And Circumcision was a Seal of it to all with whom it was made as the visible Church of God and to the Infant-seed of Abraham as Parts or Members thereof For Sacraments or Signs are not appointed to the Church Invisible for who shall judg then to whom they are to be administred but to the Church as Visible Thus having cleared up the Nature of the Abrahamical Covenant which God made with him and his Seed even in their Infant-state I shall now go forward and shall observe how God hath shewn the same gracious Respects to Infants in the Progress of his Dispensations towards the Jewish People And thus we find afterwards that the whole Body of the Jewish People in Jacob's Line amongst whom Children also were contained are collectively stiled by God himself his Son Exod. 4.22 23. Say unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my Son even my First-born And I say unto thee Let my Son go that he may serve me Thus God speaks of them before they were formed into a Political Commonwealth only because he had chosen and called them out of the Nations to be a peculiar People to himself And in this Appellation their little ones were comprehended as appears because they were of the Number of those that were to go also For Pharaoh would have let the Men of Israel go but not their little ones Exod. 10.10 But we will go saith Moses with our Young and with our Old ver 9. So that the whole Body of Israel including little ones also was God's Son for God had chosen and called all the Seed of Israel to be his Covenant-People And therefore thus also Moses afterwards enters and engages all into Covenant with God one as well as another taking in the little ones likewise Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the Men of Israel your little ones your Wives and the Stranger that is in thy Camp from the Hewer of thy Wood to the Drawer of thy Water that thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this Day that he may establish thee to Day for a People unto himself and that he may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. So that this was but the renewing of the Abrahamical Covenant with the People as appears by the latter Clause of it running in the same Terms for the Accomplishment of the Promise and Oath made to Abraham and his Seed Deut. 3â— â— And in the next Chapter the Grace signified by Circumcision is there promised to Parents and Children to enable them to perform the Terms of it And it being promised to both it imports that the Covenant which Circumcision sealed belongs to both For the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed And after this again even when the People were fallen off also to the Worship of other Gods yet retaining still the Acknowledgment of the God of Israel though they joined others with him God challengeth and owns their Children for his Ezek. 16.20 21. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed thou hast slain my Children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the Fire Now it was upon this Account viz. by virtue of God's choosing and calling the Seed of Abraham and separating them from the rest of the World to the Knowledg and Worship of the true God that they were stiled his peculiar People and Children and not upon a mere Political Account or upon the Account of other carnal and temporal Respects For in this manner we find Moses speaking to them Deut 14.1 2. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God and therefore are not to follow or comport with the Customs and Practices of the Heathen For thou art an holy People unto the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar People to himself above all the Nations that are upon the Earth And so chap. 7.6 For thou art an
descended from nothing else than Apostolical Tradition And such was the case of Infant-Baptism And this Custom and Practice is still continued in the Churches of Christ Vid. Dr. Walker's Plea for Infant Baptism c. 27. though of several Denominations unto this Day All the Protestant Confessions of Helvetia Bohemia Belgia Auspurg Saxony Wittenberg Sweveland France and Piedmont do universally give their Testimony to it And Histories give us the same Account of the Practice of it among the Russians Muscovites the Christians of St. Thomas in India those in Syria Cyprus Mesopotamia Babylon Palestine amongst the Cofti in Egypt the Abassins in Africa the Armenians in Turky the Maronites inhabiting Aleppo Damascus Tripoly of Syria Cyprus and Mount Libanus And many of these Churches are at vast Distance one from another and therefore can have but very little Intercourse or Communication one with another And as for the Abassine and Indian Churches they seem in all Probability to be Original Plantations and not to have derived their Faith and Practice from any other Churches and yet all retain and continue the Practice of baptizing Infants These things one would think should be enough to sway with all modest Persons And they would learn not to prefer the new upstart Opinions of those who because of the Smalness of their Number are fain to call themselves the little Flock before the universal consentient Practice of all the Churches of Christ besides in the World An humble Person should far more highly esteem of Godly Antiquity and the Universal Church than of such late and novel Singularity Objections against Infant-Baptism answered HAving thus with all possible convenient Brevity endeavoured to clear up and confirm the Doctrine and Practice of Infant-Baptism I shall now consider the Objections that use commonly to be raised against it and shall endeavour to give them a satisfactory Answer Object 1. That Infants are not capable of the Ends of Baptism that it doth them no Good but they are as well without it as with it because there is no Benefit that they can receive thereby Answ The contrary to this is most true For 1. They are capable of Baptism as it is an outward Badg or Mark of their Relation to God as his Children and peculiar People and of God's gracious Respect to them and owning them for such and so as it is a visible Rite of their Admission into the visible Church of Christ This is one of the Ends of Baptism and Infants are capable of this because for this End it may be administred to those that are meerly passive and do not understand any thing of the Matter As Infants are capable of Civil Adoption and of being entred into any Family Tribe College or other Society by such a Rite as shall be appointed for that end And thus Infants in the Jewish Church were baptized to this end together with their proselyted Parents as we have seen before and we do not find that ever any of the Prophets or our Saviour or the Apostles did find fault upon the Account of Infants Incapacity or otherwise therefore we may conclude that they were capable of Baptism and that their Baptism was likewise well approved of And so by God's own Appointment and Institution Infants were circumcised to the aforesaid Ends and Purposes And how are they uncapable then of Baptism to the same Ends to which they were capable of Circumcision 2. Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a Sign or Note or Seal on God's or Christ's Part to assure us of his gracious Favour to us and to consign over to us the Benefits of the Covenant of Grace Thus Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a Mark or Seal of the Remission or doing away that original Guilt and Obligation to Death which they derived from the first Adam and of their being brought into a new State of Regeneration and Life by Christ Jesus And so as it is a Seal of the Promise and Gift of the Spirit for the sanctifying and renewing them hereafter though for the present they understand nothing of it For it is sufficient also for this that they be meerly passive in the Administration As Baptism is to the Adult a Sign or Seal of the Remission or washing away of that original Guilt which they have from Adam and also of that which they have contracted by their own actual Sin so may Baptism be a Sign or Seal of the washing away of the original Guilt to Infants derived from Adam though they have no Guilt at all of any actual Sin of their own to be remitted or wash'd away And yet as Baptism is a Sign or Seal of the new Covenant for the Remission of all Sin to Believers not only of what is past but also of what is to come when they come to repent of it and to perform the Terms of the Gospel required to such Remission so may Baptism be to Infants a Sign or Seal of the Remission of all the actual Sin that shall ever be committed by them upon their future performing of the same Terms And so as Baptism is to the Adult a Sign or Seal of their being brought into a new Regenerate State and of having a Right to Life by virtue of their Adoption their Sin being done away by the Blood of Christ so may it likewise be to Infants a Sign and Seal of God's gracious Favour in giving them a Right to the Heavenly Inheritance As Infants by virtue of any Civil Adoption may be Heirs to a Temporal Estate and are capable of any Acts of Favour from Man and to be instated in any Privileges Case of Infant-Baptism p. 34. before they come to understand what they are As suppose the King should send for a Traitor's Child out of the Cradle and in the Presence of several Persons assembled for that purpose should say You know the Blood of this Child is attainted by his Father's Treason and by Law he hath forfeited all Right to his Ancestors Estate and Titles and is quite undone though he be not sensible of his wretched Condition But I will pardon this Infant freely and here I restore him to all his forfeited Rights I justify him freely and declare my self reconciled unto him and moreover do adopt him into my Royal Family and do settle part of my Dominions upon him and as a confirmatory Sign of this my Respect unto him I do order and command before you all that he be washed with pure Water to signify that he is cleansed from his original Attainder and Corruption of Blood and that I am perfectly reconciled unto him Who would say that this were an insignificant or useless Sign because the Child did not understand the meaning of it Or who could say that the Child who was capable of the thing signified viz. the removing the Attainder and being vested in a Right and Title to a noble Inheritance should be uncapable of the washing with Water for a Sign
their Infant-state but it may come to affect them as soon as any thing else can that is of such a Nature that is as soon as their Reason comes to be of use to them Whereas if this had not been done for them betimes there would have wanted this Argument to deal with them And it may be it would have been very long before they themselves might have been brought to consent to enter into such an Obligation as we read it often was among may that yet were brought to the Profession of the Christian Faith in the Primitive Times Dr. Walker 's Preface to his Plea for Infant-Baptism Some staying off for this some for that carnal Reason or Fear for a long time to the great Scandal of their Profession Some keeping off for fear of sinning after Baptism and so forfeiting the Grace of it as they thought thereby Some from the Love of the World and the Pleasures thereof being loth to part with their Sins and their vain Pleasures which they were sensible this obliged them to notwithstanding they owned themselves Christians Some again deferring it out of want of Leisure Some pleading the Inconvenience of the Time and others because they could not have it done in the Place they desired or by the Person they most affected Some taking Exception at the mix'd Company they were to be baptized with And some delaying it for fear of Perfecution from the Heathen And some for fear lest they should be accounted Tritheites Some on pretence that their Relations were not present And some hanging back because of the little Charge they did use to be at at that time These things gave Occasion to such vehement and sharp Expostulations of the Fathers of that Age to reprove their Slackness as are to be found in their Writings And how many do you think upon one or other of these Pretences there would be that would put it off in like manner still if they were not baptized in Infancy and it may be some would hardly ever bring themselves into so near a Covenant-Engagement to God at all Whereas this being done for them so early in their Infant-state it may be a powerful and prevailing Motive to engage them betimes to a sincere and upright walking with God which otherwise they might not probably have been brought so soon to If it be objected that this would be more apt to prevail with them if it had been their own Act when they came to Age. It is plain by Experience that those that are sincere or have any Sense of Honour or Gratitude among those that have been baptized in their Infancy do hold themselves as much obliged by it and do stand to the Obligation that they were then brought under and as faithfully discharge it as any of those that are baptized at Age and do look upon it a great Blessing that they were brought under so early a Pre-engagement And those that are not sincere that are baptized at Age do as little perform or discharge the Obligation that they brought upon themselves by an Act of their own as any of those that were baptized in Infancy Object 2. That Infants are not capable of performing those Acts or having those Conditions that are pre-required in Scripture in Persons that are to be baptized For asmuch as they cannot learn or be taught or confess their Sins or believe or repent or make any visible Profession of their doing so And yet these things are required in Scripture of Persons that are to be baptized and were always performed by Persons before the Apostles did baptize any According to these and the like Texts Mark 16.15 16. Go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Matth. 3.6 They were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their Sins Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ And ver 41. They that gladly received his Word were baptized Acts 8.12 When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God they were baptized Ver. 13. Then Simon himself believed and was baptized And ver 36. The Eunuch said See here is Water what doth hinder me to be baptized And Philip said If thou believest with all thine Heart thou mayst Acts 18.8 And many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized From these and such like Texts it is argued that here is a Prohibition laid and a Bar put against Infants Baptism because they have no Reason or Vnderstanding about what they ought to be or do and can neither hear learn repent or believe or make Profession of either in their Infant-state and therefore are not capable of Baptism before the Administration of which these things are required and used to be done Answ 1. That it is by vertue of that Covenant-relation to God as his People and Children which God is pleased to admit Infants to though themselves do not believe they being the Seed or Pupils of profess'd Believers with whom this Covenant is made and with their Seed and Family that Baptism is to be administred to them The Ground then which I build the Baptism of Infants upon is God's Election or choosing of them together with their believing Parents or those that shall undertake for them to be his own peculiar Covenant-People as likewise their Parents or Susceptors are For this was always God's Method and the way of his Grace to own and receive the Children of his Covenant-People into the same Covenant with their Fathers and so to treat with them and to seal the Covenant and Promise to them in the same manner and by the same Rite as he did to their Parents So that it is not the Childrens own Faith or Profession that qualifies them for Baptism but it is God's Election or Choice of them for his People though they have not actual Faith or Repentance of their own upon their descending of such Parents or being taken into such Families or undertaken for by such Persons as stand in a Covenant-relation to God And out of Respect to them and in Prospect of that Religious Education that they shall afterwards receive from them God is pleased to own them for his and to confirm his Promise and Covenant to them So that their Parents or Susceptors Faith is as it were vicariously imputed to them for a while till they come to Years and is reckoned accordingly for their Good though they do not yet actually believe themselves because hereafter they are to do it through their Parents Instruction As the Children of the Levites of a Month old are said to keep the Charge of the Sanctuary Numb 3.28 because they are so designed and are to be brought up to it and are in a near Capacity for it And Levi is said after a Sense to have paid Tithes in Abraham being in the Loins of Abraham when he paid it to Melchizedek Heb. 7.9 And why should these things
hereof especially considering that a bit of Flesh was appointed and ordered by God to be cut off by Circumcision when the Child was but eight Days old to the same Intent and Purpose though he understood as little of the meaning of that as Infants do of the meaning of Baptism now for this end 3. Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a Mark or Sign on our part of their Dedication to God and to the Service of Jesus Christ and of their entrance into and coming under a Covenant-Engagement to be the Lord 's for the future even whilst they are under the Age of Consent to concur hereto by any Act of their own As Infants are capable of being entred into a School or College and of wearing a Badg belonging to it in order to future Instruction and Learning though at present they understand nothing of it And as it is usual by Wills and Contracts to bring Infants under an Obligation to perform certain Conditions when they come to Age. This is plain from the Covenant-Engagement that the Seed of Abraham was brought under as well as Abraham himself and received the Sign of Circumcision to confirm this at eight Days old For that Rite laid an Obligation upon them to observe all the Laws of Moses though the Rite was administred to them in their Infancy by the Act of their Parents long enough before they themselves came to Age of Consent Gal. 5.3 For I testify to every Man that is circumcised that he is a Debtor to do the whole Law Circumcision though primarily the Rite of the Abrahamical Covenant yet being incorporated into the Political Law of Moses also and so was withal an obligatory Rite to the Observance thereof Thus also in like manner Deut. 29.11 The little ones are likewise said to enter into the Covenant with the Lord and into his Oath as well as all the Men of Israel And it hath been ever reckoned that the Parents may lay an Obligation on the Children as Esth 9.27 The Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their Seed and upon all such as joined themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep the Feasts of Purim And thus Hanna dedicated Samuel to the Service of the Lord from the time of his weaning 1 Sam. 1.28 And Samson was a Nazarite from the Womb Judg. 13.15 And the Covenant was made between David and Jonathan both for themselves and their Seed 1 Sam. 20.42 And the Covenant that Joshua and the Men of Israel made with the Gibeonites obliged all their Posterity And thus as hath been said all the Jewish Infants were consecrated and devoted to God by the Rite of Circumcision For Children are look'd upon as Parts of their Parents and what their Parents do for themselves or them especially when they are in their Infant-state and under the Age of Consent themselves is reasonably esteemed as laying an Obligation upon them as if it were done by them when the thing it self is just and reasonable and may be beneficial to them For though we cannot lay a Burden upon others without their own Consent yet we may procure a Favour for them and oblige them to the Performance of certain Conditions for their future Participation thereof when it is for their Benefit to be so obliged Indeed if they will they may afterwards renounce the Obligation but then they must renounce and quit the Benefit too which if it be considerable there is no wise Man that is in his Wits will ever do but will stand to the Obligation under which he is brought for his own Advantage and will esteem it a great Advantage that he was brought under it And now is all this no Benefit They shall be saved without it they will say But what then Is there nothing to be ever esteemed a Benefit but Salvation it self alone Is all this that hath been said of Infant-Baptism no Benefit Is it no Benefit to be enrolled thereby into the Number of God's peculiar People to have the Mark and Badg of his Children and to be reckoned amongst those that he hath called to a Covenant-relation to himself Is it no Benefit to partake of the Rite of visible Admission into the Church of Christ Is this no Privilege no Benefit If the contrary would be a great Evil to be cast out as common and unclean amongst the rest of the World is it not then a Benefit to have the Badg and Mark of an holy Separation to God as the People of his Adoption and Grace Is it no Benefit to partake of the Mark and Seal of the Blessings and Promises of God of the Removal of the Guilt and Death which they were liable to by Adam and of the Promise of the Spirit for their Regeneration and Sanctification whose Assistance therefore to that end they may comfortably hope for and expect from God as they have need of it whether there be any present Operation or Work of the Spirit upon them or no And is it no a Benefit to them that they have a Seal and Assurance of the Forgiveness of all their actual Sins also afterwards upon their Repentance and Return to God As Baptism is a Benefit to grown Persons as it is a Sign and Pledg both of present and future Blessings so it is also in the same manner to Infants as being a Seal both of all those Blessings which they have need of or do partake of at present and also of those which they have or may have need of afterwards So that suppose they may be saved without it yet this is a Mark or Seal of their Salvation if they die in their Infant-state and of all the Blessings and Privileges that belong to them now or are to belong to them afterwards if they live according to the Terms of the Gospel just in the same manner as it is to grown Persons So that if upon these Accounts it is a Benefit to grown Persons it is upon the same Account also a Benefit to Infants that is it is a Benefit both to one and the other as far as a Sign or Seal or Pledg can be a Benefit And lastly Is it not a Benefit to partake of that Ordinance that is a Mark or Note of their early Consecration and Devotedness to God and to the Service of Christ whereby they are brought betimes into a Covenant-Engagement to be his For that this is so hath been proved and accordingly God so looks upon them and thereupon there is to be all Care taken about their Christian Education that they may be instructed and brought up in the Knowledg of those things which belong to the People and Children of God And this will be useful to them as an Argument to prevail with them to live to God betimes as they grow up because of the Oath and Covenant that they are so early entred into and engaged in This Consideration indeed doth not affect them immediately whilst they are in
be thought unreasonable If God is pleased to own and adopt little ones for his why should our Eye be evil because his is good Or why rather should we not rejoice in his Mercy and Grace in behalf of our little ones If Infants may contract Guilt or lie under an Obligation to Death by the Sin of their Parents why may it not likewise be supposed through the Grace and Goodness of God by Christ that they may be invested with a Right and Title to certain Privileges and partake of the Mark and Seals of them through the Faith of others So that as God visits the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him so he may also shew Mercy to Thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments Mat. 8.13 Mark 9.23 John 4.50 And as some were brought to be healed by Christ and were healed through the Faith of others so why should we not think that Infants may partake of the Favour of God through Christ and of the Badg or Sign of this Favour with respect also to others Faith So that the Faith of their Parents may be said to be their Faith whilst they are in their Infant-state they being as Parts of their Parents and having no Use of Power Understanding or Will to provide for themselves till they come to Years of Discretion As the Parents Act in taking a House or making a Bargain or Covenant may be called the Child's Act as no less beneficial and obliging to the Child than to the Parent and binding the Child to the Performance of the same Conditions And what indeed is more common than for such things to be required of Parents before they be admitted to certain Privileges that when they are admitted to belong alike to their Children though they could not do those things Thus those of a foreign Nation must take the Oaths of Allegiance required to a Prince before they become his naturalized Subjects or partake of the Privileges of such but after they have taken the Oaths and are admitted to the Privileges of Naturalization their Children also are admitted to the same Privileges though they cannot take the Oaths so that their Parents Act is imputatively theirs or to their Benefit or Advantage And so why may it not likewise be here And as those that are born of Parents that are admitted into a Corporation shall partake of the Privileges likewise of that Corporation which those that are born of other Parents shall not so if such be the Grace and Goodness of God may the Infants of Covenant-Believers likewise partake of their Privileges which the Infants of Heathens and Aliens are to have no Right unto And yet all this while the Infants understand nothing of the Matter but are vested in these Benefits before they come to Understanding 2. Therefore I say as to those things that are said to be pre-required to Baptism that either they have no need of them at all in their Infant-state and so may be baptized without them or by virtue of God's Grace and Covenant they have the same Benefit without them to qualify them for Baptism which others have by them and therefore may be baptized without them though others cannot As for Regeneration in the most common Sense of the Word it would be very rash in any to say that they cannot have it in the Seed or Root of it For who can tell what the Operations of the Holy Spirit are or can be upon them But though they should not or could not have it in that Sense that we commonly take it viz. for an internal Change and Sanctification of Heart and Mind yet they have that which may denominate them regenerate Persons and so they may be mark'd and signed as such as being brought into a new and saving State by the Death of Christ which they shall not fail of the Benefit of unless they fall from it by their own actual Rebellion afterwards They may be said to be delivered from the Death of Sin or from the prevailing Power of that Death which Sin brought in there being the Forgiveness or Dissolution of that Death to them And so they may be said to be quickned together with Christ and so to partake of a new Birth by being put into a new State wherein they have through Christ as immediate a Right and Title to Salvation as those have that have been regenerate in the common Acceptation of the Word And why may they not then be qualified for the Sign or Seal hereof For how can there be any more required to qualify for the Sign than for the Thing signified which they possess or have a present Right to And though they have not Faith properly speaking yet being brought into the same Condition of Sonship and put into as immediate Capacity for Salvation as adult Believers are through Faith why should they not partake of Baptism which is the Seal of these Blessings as they do For though they have no Faith properly speaking yet being by Christ redeemed from Death and put into a State of Sonship and Life as actual Believers are though without actual Faith till actual Sin takes place they may be numbred in respect of the Benefits of Faith with Believers And if Believes are baptized to seal the great Grace of Adoption to them through Faith why should not they likewise be baptized for the Sealing and Confirmation of the same Grace seeing in that respect they may well be reckoned with Believers as partaking of the same Favour with them through the Grace and Covenant of God in Christ towards them For what Faith is to adult Persons through the Covenant and Grace of God in Christ that the Covenant it self is to Infants without Faith And so what Baptism is to adult Persons upon their Faith that it may be to them without Faith through God's Covenant with them alone by the Blood of Christ So that upon the Account hereof they may full as well be baptized as those that do believe because they have the same Privileges without Faith as Believers have by their Faith It being not Faith it self or Profession of Faith that is to be the immediate Ground of Baptism but that Sonship or Relation to God of which Faith is the Means or Evidence and when this can be evidenc'd without Profession of Faith there being no necessity of that Profession to qualify for Baptism as was shewn before in Cornelius and his Company And then as for Repentance while they are in their Infant-state they have no need of it and therefore may be baptized without 〈◊〉 they have no need of Repentance for Sin because they have no actual Sin to repent of and therefore their want of Repentance can be no Bar to their Baptism To those indeed that have actually sinned Baptism is a Baptism of Repentance signifying it already to be in some measure and obliging to it farther But where there
A BRIEF DEFENCE OF Infant-Baptism WITH AN APPENDIX Wherein is shewed that it is not necessary that Baptism should be administred by Dipping By JOHN OLLYFFE Rector of Almer in the County of Dorset LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard and are to be sold by John Woolfryes Bookseller in Blandford MDCXCIV TO THE READER THE following Treatise is the Substance of some Discourses which I delivered in my Parish-Church for the Establishment of my Hearers in the present Truth which I now publish partly for their sakes to put them in remembrance thereof and that they may have something still by them to oppose to the restless and importunate Insinuations of those that are of the other Perswasion And partly in hopes that it may be of some Vse to others that either need or desire Settlement or Information herein If it shall fall into the Hands of any of those of the other way I only desire this of them that they will endeavour to read it with as little Prejudice as they can For I can assure them that I have no mind either to deceive or to be deceived But as I have learned and am perswaded of the Truth as it is in Jesus so do I desire to speak and preach and live If any shall think that this had been a Province fitter for others to have undertaken I shall readily join with them in the same Opinion But yet I shall add this that I have some Reasons to incline me to do as I have done And I doubt not but to find Excuse at least among all those that are truly candid and sincere Lovers of Truth If thou receivest Reader any Benefit thereby give God the Praise and pray for me JOHN OLLYFFE A Brief Defence of Infant-Baptism THAT I may proceed with all imaginable Plainness in this Matter I shall first set down what I have to say by way of Argument for it which I shall endeavour to clear up and confirm and then I shall afterwards endeavour to remove the Objections that are most commonly made and most usually rais'd against it To begin with the first That which I have to say by way of Argument in the Defence of Infant-Baptism is this viz. They that are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong ought to be baptized But there are some young Children or Infants who are to be received and owned by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong Therefore there are some young Children or Infants who ought to be baptized For the clearing and confirming of this Argument two things are to be made out and confirmed I. That there are some young Children or Infants who are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong II. That being to be so owned and received by us they are therefore to be baptized I. That there are some young Children or Infants who are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong For there are some young Children or Infants that have been so received and reckoned and declared by God himself for his peculiar and Covenant-People and Children and Members of his Church and this their Church-Membership and Relation to him as his peculiar Covenant-People and Children hath never been abolish'd or taken away by him but is still continued and rather confirmed to some young Children or Infants still therefore there are some young Children or Infants that are likewise still to be owned and received by us for such 1. I say that some young Children or Infants have been owned and received and declared by God for his Children and Members of his Church and have been reckoned and taken by him into the Number of his peculiar Covenant-People By the Church of God I mean that Body and Number of Persons which God hath chosen and called and set apart in a separate manner from the rest of the World to be brought nearer to himself in Relation and learning the true Religion in order to the partaking of those spiritual and eternal Blessings by Christ which he hath promised in the Covenant of Grace And they that are of the Number of or do belong to this Body or Society of Persons I call the Members of the Church as being Parts or Members of this Body And these being such as God is pleased to take into a nearer and more appropriate Relation to himself than he doth others are therefore also called his Children or Covenant-People and he is their Father and Head So that to be a Child of God and Member of his Church and of the Number of his peculiar Covenant-People is all one that is doth denote one and the same Person Now I say that some young Children or Infants have been of the Number of those that have been thus chosen and taken by God into this near Relation to himself as his Covenant-People and Children so that he hath had a peculiar and separate Respect to them as well as to their Parents and other adult Persons in another and distinguishing manner from what he hath had to the other People of the World and this his Respect to them he hath openly declared and testified that others in like manner might accordingly own and receive them Such hath been the Grace and Goodness of God to choose and take the Infants of such as he hath called into a near Covenant-Relation to himself that they might partake also of the Blessings of the same Covenant It is to be observed from the Beginning that the Seed of those who have been God's Covenant-People have been likewise owned and taken by God into Covenant with him and so have continued in that State till by their own Wickedness and Apostacy they have fallen from it and so have been discovenanted or rejected by God And the whole Current and Harmony of Scripture sheweth that ever since there was a visible Church on Earth Propositions concerning the Subject of Baptism c. by a Synod at Boston p. 12. the Children thereof have by the Lord 's Appointment been a Part thereof Eve the Mother of all Living hath a Promise made Gen. 3.15 not only of Christ the Head-seed but through him also of a Church-seed to proceed from her in a continued lineal Succession which should continually be at visible Enmity with and stand at a Distance and be separated from the Seed of the Serpent Under that Promise made to Eve and her Seed the Children of Adam