the Laws demand as a man naturally dead is uncapable of raising or quickening himself or as a Sparrow is uncapable to remove or carry on its Back the greatest Mountain in the World To what end should the only Wise God make a Covenant of Works with such a fallen sinner Arg. 2. If to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace be a high Reflection on God and also destructive to the Souls of Men then is God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace is a High Reflection on God and destructive to the Souls of Men. Therefore God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works For rendring this Argument Unanswerable Two things want confirmation First That to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham is a Covenant of Works is a high Reflection on God And Secondly That the same is Destructive to the Soules of Men. The First of these will evidently appear to the unprejudic'd and Impartial Reader if he seriously consider how Inconsistent it is with the Divine Attributes of God to make a Covenant of Works with a Lapsed Polluted Sinner whom he knows to be altogether Dead in Trespasses and Sins and every way as unable to will or do any Work that is Spiritually good as a Dead Man is able to quicken and raise himself For Illustration sake let it be considered How unbecoming a Wise and Prudent Man it would be to strike a Covenant or Bargain for ten or twenty thousand Pounds with an Insolvent Person who is well known not to be worth ten Farthings in the World and which is yet worse who hath neither Wit to contrive nor Health or Limbs to Work to get a Penny towards paying such a vast Sum. I cannot so much as doubt of any worldly Wise Mans unwillingness to be guilty of such an oversight as this And shall the Unerringly Wise God be guilty of so great an Absurdity Sâ—condly As this Principle Reflects on God so it is Destructive to the Souls of Men. This appears beyond all contradiction in that it raseth the very Foundation of Men's Salvation by denying that Covenant to be a Covenant of Grace which Abraham and Isaac with Jacob and all the Old-Testament Believers depended on for Eternal Salvation and by which we Gentile Believers hope to go to Heaven For most plain it is that by this pernicious Principle Abraham is lost with all who died trusting to the Grace exhibited in that Covenant And if Abraham the Father of the Faithful be trusting to a Covenant of Works I cannot see how any of his Eccelsiastical Church Seed can be Saved any more than he is For by a Covenant of Works no meer Man ever was or shâ—ll be justified and Saved Arg. 3 If the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 a Covenant of Works then it is a Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham a Covenant of Works Therefore the Covenant of God with Abraham is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works If it cannot be Demonstrated from the written Word or by Arguments Deducible therefrom that Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17.7 is called or can be proved a Covenant of Works They who so hold and Teach will be found ranked among those who call good evil and evil good and who put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light Esa 5.10 For Men to take on them to term Abraham's Covenant a Covenant of Works without any Warrant Divine is to me an Argument of an ignorant rash and presumptuous Spirit from which Charge let such Men see how they can Acquit and free themselves Arg. 4. If Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works then the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not of Works But Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works Therefore the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by works the Scripture is express and clear Rom. 4.2 3 4. Gal. 2.5 6 7. Arg. 5. If God hath made no other Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 then that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace but God made no Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 Therefore that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That which will determin the Point in Controversie is this let those who herein oppose me lay down a Scriptural definition of the Covenant of Grace and that in such Terms as best please themselves and in Case their own definition do not agree at least for Substance with Gen. 17.7 if it be according to God's Word then am I freely willing to own my self herein mistaken If they refuse to comply with so fair a Proposal let the Judicious and Impartial Reader Judge who is at the Loss herein they or I I conclude this Chapter with this Dilemma viz. Abraham the Father of the Faithful he is eâ—ther Sav'd or else he is Damn'd one of these two the Adversaries I now oppose must grant for there is no middle State for Souls Departed If they say he is Damn'd then is there no ground left us to hope that any of Adam's Posterity ever were or shall be Sav'd for we have no other Covenant whereby to expect Salvation but that of Abraham And if he Perished under that Covenant so must we If they grant that Abraham is in a State of Salvation as they must if they speak by the Spirit of Christ then Abraham was Justified and Saved by a Covenant of Grace and if by a Covenant of Grace then that Covenant mention'd in Gen. 17.7 must needs be the Covenant of Grace for besides that Covenant the Scriptures know no other Against what I have said and all Orthodox Protestants constantly â—old and affâ—â—m conceâ—ning Abraham's Covenant being a Covenant of pure and absolute Grace this is Objâ—cted by the Adversaries Object The Land of Canaan was a Temporal Blessing therefore such was the Covenant of which Circumcision was a Temporary Seal I Answer in two Particulars First The Promise of the Land of Canaan is no Essential part of the Covenant of Abraham Let the Words in the 7th Verse be Read without prejudice The last Clause of the Verse doth fully comprehend the sum and substance of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Promise of the Land of Canaan is only by way of Addition or Overplus No Essential part of the Covenant
A Brief and Plain DISCOVERY OF THE Falseness and Unscripturalness OF ANABAPTISM As the same is now Practised by those of that Perswasion Wâ—â—â—â—in are plainly Proved from God's Word the Five Particulars here Handled I. That God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace whereby all God's Elect are Saved II. That Circumcision was the Initiatory Seal of that Covenant to Abraham and his Church-Seed during that Dispensation III. That Water-Baptism is now under the Gospel succeeded in the room thereof IV. That the Gentile Believers and their Infant-Seed have as Real a Right to the same Covenant of Grace and the Seal thereof as had Abraham and his Infant-Seed V. That Sprinkling or Pouring-out Water on the Subject of Baptism is the Undoubted Right Way of Administring Baptism under the Gospel By Ja. Barry an Unworthy Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for the Author 1699. TO THE Impartial and Unprejudiced READER Who desires to be Rightly Inform'd in the Nature and Design of God's Covenant with Abraham his Friend in the behalf of Himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both among Jews and Gentiles to the End of the World Courteous Reader IF the Spirit of Grace Reigns in thy Heart thou wilt I doubt not readily believe me especially when I most Solemnly Profess as if I were immediately to be call'd to the Bar of the Great Judge that no Prejudice ' or Hatred against the Persons of the People who without any Warrant from God's Word Style themselves Baptists and Baptiz'd Churches of Christ hath stirr'd me up to appear in Print in Opposing those Pernicious Principles which the Men of that Perswasion do with so much Violence and unscriptural Zeal Teach and Maintain I sincerely Bless God that his good Spirit hath taught me to distinguish between Persons and the Errors which they hold and maintain Their Persons I love and am really griev'd that I love them no more than I do And I hope neither they nor any others will be Angry with me for so doing But their Errors in Religion I do from my Heart abominate and loath because hateful to God and all good Men who know and understand them so to be And for thus doing I neither fear a Frown from God nor yet Blame from any Man truly-wise who is able to distinguish Truth from Error That I shall be Censur'd and uncharitably Reflected on for what I have done in Printing this small Tract I am not Insensible I am very sure none will thus do but such as eitheir know not or care not what they say These kind of Blows I am taught to ward off with a Religious Scorn and a Holy Contempt resoluing in Christ's Strength to pursue and hold fast the Truth of God let who will Bark and Cavil against it It was the saying of Valerius Maximus Aequo Animo ferenda sunt Imperitorum Convitia ad Honesta vadenti Contemnendus est Iste Contemplus The Reproaches saith he of the Ignorant and Unskilful are to be born with an even or patient Mind And he that intends to advance towards Good and Honest things must Contemn their Contempt That somewhat will come out in answer hereto I question not if the Men of that Principle have not lost their old Wont but my Comfort and Confidence being built on the Rock of Ages I never fear a Confutation from any nay all of that Perswasion who Breath on the Earth until they procure from Heaven another Gospel which is Diametrically opposit to the Gospel delivered by the Son of God which I am sure will never be I have made no Deviation from the good old Way chalkt out by Abraham's God wherein the Prophets and Apostles with all the Primitive Churches who are gon to Heaven walkt in that I know of If I have I do faithfully promise that upon the discovery of my Error I will own my self therein mistaken I have been for several Years past importun'd by many Serious and Godly Christians to Print what now I expect to be Blam'd for but never found my self thereto inclin'd till of late not that I Question any part of what I have Printed being God's Truth but indeed the variety of Tryals and sharp Afflictions which haâ—e Incessantly followed me since call'd to the Sacred Office both in my Native City Dublin and also in England have kept me back together with my own great Aversion to appear in Print in any Matters Controversal But observing of late how strangely Anabaptism spreads both in City and Country and being fully convinc'd that Ignorance of and Vnacquaintedness with the Covenant of Grace was and still is that which hath given advantage to the Preachers of that Way in drawing Proselites after them I have in Conscience of my Duty both to God and Men Improv'd my poor Talent in Explaining and Opening up the Nature and Design of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 in hopes that God will Bless the Plainness and Brevity therein us'd to inform poor Ignorant and Vnthinking Souls how wretchedly they are imposed upon by Preachers of that Perswasion who have themselves as great need to be Instructed and Taught what the deep Mysteries of the Covenant of Grace be as the poor Tongue-ty'd Bades whom they in vain Labour to exclude and shut out from the Benefits and Seal of that Covenant in the Visible Churches of Christ As their denying Abraham's Covenant to be the Covenant of Grace administers just ground of suspecting whether they have any other than dark and confus'd Notions about the Doctrine of God's Free Grace so much spoken of in Pulpit and Print So their Vnmercifulness and Hard-heartedness to the Infants of Believing Parents in not allowing such to be accounted of the number of God's Elect meerly because of the Incapacity of such to make an open Profession of Faith and Repentance themselves administers just ground of suspecting whether they be Orthodox in the Doctrine of Election I am very sure the State of Infancy can neither null or make void the Electing Decree of God nor yet render the Elect Infant any way uncapable of that Grace of God's Covenant to which he is Elected or of the Seal of that Covenant of Grace in the Church Visible for any to hold or say it doth is to Reflect on the most High God and to make him a mutable Agent like to a Fickle Man contrary to Mal. 3.6 Rom. 11.29 and unavoidably to send all Elect Infants to Hell who Die Infants contrary to Mar. 10 14. Jo. 6.39 Rom. 11.7 All that I shall farther say is only to â—eg and Pray thee for the Lord's sake for thy own Souls sake and for that Love and Tenderness which the Law of Nature especially that of Grace obliges thee to have for poor Infants if thou be a Parent consider well and weigh Judiciously in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary the Arguments laid down in this small Tract to prove what I have therein undertaken If
Principle on which all sound Protestants do maintain and justifie the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism is beyond contradiction When the Most High and Soveraigne Lord God saw fit to make known his Will and Pleasure to be that his Covenant of Grace agreed on between himself and his Son Christ in Eternity should be Dispensed in an Ecclesiastical or Church way he singles out above all other men Abraham his Friend on whom he Confers the Honourable Title of the Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.11 Not that Abraham did or could possibly Beget a Believer as such or could convey into the Children he Begat according to Fleshly Generation that Noble Grace of Faith wherewith God's Free-Gift had Blessed himself But God opens and propounds his Everlasting Covenant of Grace and Salvation to him as a Publick Person who was to Personate all true Believers who in after Ages were to be Members of his Visible Churches to the second coming of Christ The Sum and Substance of that Covenant is briefly comprehended in the Words of Gen. 17.7 I will Establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee This Covenant hath Two Essential Parts as all Right Covenants have 1. God's part held forth in the Words I will be a God to thee c. The meaning whereof according to the Analogie of Faith must be thus understood Tho' thou Abraham whom I now call to become my Friend and Favoright and a Publick Head or Representative of all believing Church Members to the end of the World be'st an undon and guilty sinner polluted in thy Nature and born under Adam's Covenant of Works liable and obnoxious to its Curse and to the Wrath to come unable to recover or help thy self out of that deplorable Condition into which thy natural Birth as Adam's Child hath put thee And albeit thou be no way worthy of any Favour yet I think fit to let thee know what thoughts and purposes of Mercy and Kindness I have in store for thee Abraham And for the Rest of mine Elect whom I have Chosen to my self in Christ the Promised Messiah of whom that Son which I have Promised thee is to be a Type And in whose Person all mine Elect are to be Allegorically or Typically Represented and that as thy Son is to be a Type of mine in whom I have Elected and Chosen them I frankly and freely Pardon and Forgive thee all those Transgressions and Sins wherewith as Adam's Child thou standest Chargeable for breaking that Covenant of Works I made with Adam thy and all Mankinds Natural and Faederal Head I Account thee perfectly Just and Righteous in my sight not by or for that Principal of Inherent Holiness which the Spirit of Grace in effectual Calling hath wrought in thee which Inherent Holiness is ever the fruit and effect of a Justified State but never the Procuring or Meriting Cause But I account and esteem thee as Just and Righteous as if thou hadst in thy own Person exactly performed that Legal Righteousness which the Law Moral requires on the alone account of my Sons righteousness which as the Mediator and surety of this my Covenant of Grace he is to perform in the behalf of thee and all mine Elect I most freely impute to thee I Sanctifie and Renew thy vitiated and poluted Nature by my Sanctifying Spirit that thou maiest be capable of Communion and Fellowship with me both here in my Church Militant And here after in my Church Triumphant I Adopt thee to be my Son by Grace and by virtue hereof thou art restored to all the Blessings Rights and Priviledges which Adam thy Natural and Federal Head lost and forfeited by his Apostacy and Defection Hereby thou art Admitted as a Free Denizon into the Family and Houshold of God from whence thou wast cast out in Adam when he was ejected and cast out for his Rebellion witness his expulsion out of Earthly Paradice a lively Type of the Heavenly I Promise to Establish thee in Grace so as thou shalt never more be in danger of loosing thy self or forfeiting my Love and Favour any more For ever I will be a Sun and a Shield to furnish and supply thee with all necessary Accomodations for Life in this World I will Protect and Defend thee from all adverse Powers Spiritually and Bodily which shall contrive and seek thy Ruin And finally I will receive thee into Heaven when by Death thou goest hence where thou shalt Live and Reign with me Eternally And the very same Mercy and Favour which I have now expressed and shewn to thee I do oblige my self by the promise of this my Covenant that I will do to all mine Elect who are to spring from thy Loyns As also to all mine Elect who are to come of the Gentile Race to the end of the World 2. Man's Part As for thee Abraham this thou must do on thy part thou must walk Humbly and Uprightly before me thou must make the Moral Law Engraven by the Finger of my Spirit on the heart of Adam thy Natural and Federal Head the standing Rule of thy Obedience both Negatively and Positively In all the parts of thy Obedience thou must look exactly to three things 1. To the Subject Matter of thy Obedience let it be what I Command and Require not what Creatures Devise or Enjoyn 2. To the manner See that thou do it in Faith keeping thine Eye on Christ my Son for Acceptance and Acting all by Strength derived from him 3. To the end See that my Glory be that thou aimest at and designest in all thou goest about Thou shalt not do my Work and Service in a Mercenary way as a Servant that Works for Wages but thou must obey my Command as a Son with freedom of Spirit and from a Principle of Love and Gratitude knowing and considering that my Grace and Love hath made Provision of all that is needful to make thee every way Eternally happy both here and hereafter The dreadful Curse and Eternal Death to which by Sin thou becamest obnoxious My Son Christ Typ'd out by the Ram hath set thee for ever Free from it And that by his being made a Curse and undergoing Death for thee as being thy Sponsor or Surety at his Hands I have Received the full of that Debt whereto thou becamest liable by breaking my Law there remains not the least Mite for thee to pay so that now thou hast no cause to fear my Vindicative Justice the many and sharp Afflictions wherewith thou shalt meet in thy way to Glory shall be but the gentle Chastisements of thy dearly Loving and Reconciled Father who by them will Purge out the remains of thy indwelling Corruption and sweetly wean thee from the enticing Objects of the vain and bewitching World thou Livest in That Perfect and Spotless Righteousness which must Recommend thee to me and
if he granâ— that Circumcision was the Seal of Abrahams Covenant I have what I was to prove if he deny it to be the Seal of that Covenant then it lyes at his Door to demonstrate what was the Seal of that Covenant If he say that that Covenant had no Seal at all He will thereby not only gainsay the Word of God but also speak against reason for all Men know it is an essential property of a Covenant to have a Seal to confirm the matter contained in the Covenant Arg. 2. If Circumcision is by God himself called the Seal of the Covenant then is it beyond all Controversy the Seal of the Covenant But Circumcision is by God himself called the Seal of the Covenant Therefore Circumcision is beyond all controversy the Seal of the Covenant For Proof of the Argument compare Acts 7 8 with Gen. 17 10. To which I will only add Rom. 4 11 which will put the matter in Dispute beyond the reach of all Dispute The Words are plain and express in calling Circumcision the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which plainly proves two things First That Circumcision is a Seal of the Covenant made with Abraham Secondly That the Covenant of which Circumcision was the Seal was the Covenant of Grace and no other CHAP. III. That Water-Baptism succeeded or came in the room of Circumcision under the Gospel Dispensation I prove by 3 convincing Arguments Arg. 1. IF there be no other Initiatory Seal appointed by Christ â—nder the Gospel but Water-Baptism then is Water-Baptism come or suceeeded in the room of Circumcision to be the initiating Seal under the Gospel But there is no other initiatory Seal appointed by Christ under the Gospel but Water-Baptism Therefore Water-Baptism is come or succeeded in the room of Circumcision to be the initiatory Seal under the Gospel The truth and strength of this Argument will the more clearly appear by duly considering that Circumcision was under the dark Dispensation of the Law the initiating Seal of the Covenant which will not cannot be denyed unless by Men who understand or care not what they say That Water-Baptism is and must be so now must of necessity be acknowledged by all who own that the Lords Supper succeeded or came in the room of the Passeover I humbly conceive no Wise Man will oppose me in saying that the Churches of the New-Testament have as great need of an initiating Seal of the Covenant of Grace as had the Church of the Jews under the Old And if Baptism be not that Seal I know not what is for that Circumcision is now abrogated and abolished under the Gospel none can deny and that some other visible sign must succeed or come in its room must be granted by them who acknowledge that the Lords Supper succeeded or came in the room of the Passeover Arg. 2. If the Adversaries themselves do practically own Baptism to be the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant then Baptism is the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant But the Adversaries themselves do â—ractically own Baptism to be the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant Therefore Baptism is the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant Those I here dispute against before they can overthrow this Argument must abandon their own practice in making Baptism by Dipping the Door of Entrance into their Churches by which Practice they Unchurch all other Churches who are not of their own Perswasion It is well known in London and else where where Anabaptism is practised that they make Baptism by Dipping the form of a right Gospel Church on which account it is they refuse Communion in the Lords Supper with the most Sanctified Believers if they are not Dipt after their Mode 'T is true that some of that Perswasion would seem more moderate and charitable than others of that way while they make Saintship the only term of Church Communion These seem not to lay such stress on Baptism as the rest of that Perswasion do they will admit to the Lords Supper with them those of other Perswasions though not Baptized in their way but how such will be able to justify their practice in admitting Unbaptized Persons to the Lords Supper I cannot understand to me it is plain that there is the same parity of reason for keeping back an Unbaptized Person from the Lords Table as there was for keeping back an Uncircumcised Person from the Passover of Old The first of these viz. Baptism is the visible Badge of our Union with Christ in Regeneration as Circumcision was to the Believing Jews The other viz. the Lords Supper is the visible Badge of our Communion and Fellowship with Christ as the Passover of Old was to the Believing Circumcised Jews Now as Communion is a fruit of Union and follows after it so no Person ought to be admitted to the second that is not actually a visible Partaker of the first It is not to be doubted that these who in Charity invite us to the Lords Table with them do account us as Unbaptized Persons while they reckon our Baptism received in Infancy and by Sprinkling but a meer nullity that is no Baptism at all Arg. 3. If Water Baptism have the same end and use assigned it by God as Circumcision had of old viz. to signifie and Seal to Believers and their Infants Elect the truth of their Regeneration c Then Water Baptism hath Succeeded in the room of Circumcision But Water Baptism hath the same end and use Assign'd it by God as Circumcision had of old viz. to signifie and Seal to Believers and their Elect Infants the truth of their Regeneration c. Therefore Water Baptism hath Succeeded in the room of Circumcision This Argument depends on the Right and Genuine Explication of that Text in Colos 2.11 In whom also ye are Circumcised with the Circumcision made without Hands in puting off the Body of the sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ Buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are Risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead I shall not here meddle with Explaining this because I shall have occasion to speak to it when I come to Answer the Objections brought against Baptism being come in the room of Circumcision whereto I refer my Reader Against what hath been said concerning Circumcision being the Seal of the Covenant of Grace c. it is Objected thus Object Circumcision was only a Seal of a Temporal Carnal Covenant Sealing only Earthly and Temporal Blessings to the Carnal Church of the Jews Ans To this Objection I Answer in three Particulars 1. I have already proved that God's Covenant with Abraham of which Circumcision was the Seal was and still is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works as some Ignorant and Injudicious Teachers would fain have it to be And that meerly on the account of keeping Poor Infants from Baptism which they know could never
change lyes or consists which in Divinity is called Justification The Second is Goâ—s quickening and renewing the inward Powers and Faculties of the Soul by communicating a principle of Spiritual Life to the Sinner in every of the Souls faculties within I do not mean or intend that in this work of Regenerating the Sinner the Natural faculties concreated with the Nature of Adam are destroyed or annihilated but that the Predominancy of those vitious qualities inhering in the Souls faculties is overpowered by the Sanctification of the Spirit and a contrary Principle of saving and unloosable Grace is communicated to every of these faculties in the Soul whereby the new Principle communicated maintains its own Being in those respective Faculties and this through the continual supply of the Spirit which produced the change and making continual resistance against that Vice and Corruption as yet remaining in the same Faculties where the new Creature is appointed to War and Combat until that Sinless Perfection promised in the Covenant of Grace supersede and dispossess that indwelling Corruption in the Soul under which the new Creature continues to groan until a perfect release come This is called Sanctification and when the set time prefixt in Gods Decree for calling an Elect Sinner is come what produceth this great change I will suppose the Sinner to be come to the Years of Manhood capable of acting or exercising his natural Faculties doth his will or his reason help the Almighty in producing so miraculous a change can the Eye of this Sinners blind reason and understanding see into or comprehend the hidden Mystery of that Wisdom manifested and set forth in that stupendious and astonishing contrivance of Gods justifying and reconciling to himself an Apostate Rebel Sinner by the imputed Righteousness of another can the Eye of blind reason be capable of this can the Will of this dead Sinner incline or move it self towards the Sinners own Conversion to be a Coadjutor or Fellow-helper to forward or help the Almighty in effecting this strange and miraculous change can it possibly be that Spiritual or Corporal Blindness can cure it self or that Enmity and Rebellion can change its own Nature Let the experience of every rightly assured Believer speak to this If then nothing in the poor dead Sinner neither the use of his natural reason nor yet any activity in his unrenewed Will doth contribute any help to produce so wonderful a change the work must needs be entirely Gods own work From which I argue in the behalf of poor Infants if God can and doth freely pardon and blot out the Millions of actual Sins added to the original guilt of an adult Sinner if he can and doth freely and most graciously impute the Righteousness of his Son and by thus doing justifies an adult Sinner If God can and doth by the irresistable efficacy of his own Holy Spirit renew the faculties of the Soul of an adult Sinner which is as I may say steeped and even soaked in Vitiosity and actual Pollution cannot the same Almighty Just Wise and Gracious God do and effect the like change in and upon a poor helpless Infant though that Infant understand not what is done to it neither is capable of contributing any help towards so great a change From what hath been here offered to consideration to me it is evident and plain that when Men cry out and say Infants while Infants are uncapable of Regeneration because they want the use of reason c. they speak most injuriously and ignorantly against God himself as if he could not or would not effect that in and for an Elect Infant which he doth for an adult Sinner as the justifying and renewing an adult Sinner hath no dependence on the reason will or speech of a grown Sinner even so the want of actual reason activity of Will or Speech in an Infant cannot possibly hinder God from effecting this great and gracious work in and upon an Elect Infant though the poor Infant can do nothing towards so great a change The Subject Recipient of this work of Regeneration is every way Passive the adult as well as the Infant Agreeable to this Act of Gods in changing a Sinner is that Ordinance of Water-Baptism whose principal use is twofold First to signifie and represent his own gracious dealing with the Sinner Baptized in Pardoning all his Sins for Christs sake whose Blood represented by the Water in Baptism was shed for the Remission of the Sins of all comprehended in that Covenant of Grace whereof Baptism is a Seal And Secondly that it may be a Seal to confirm to the Baptized if Elect all the gracious Promises of the same Covenant of Grace as Gods work upon the Soul of a true Convert is in respect of the Sinner wholly Passive so Baptism the outward Sign and Seal of Gods Covenant of Grace is altogether Passive And as the Wisdom of Christ saw fit to appoint the Element of material Water to be used in Baptism as above all the other Elements most suited to the design of that Ordinance because of the Analogie and resemblance which is between Water and the Blood of Christ so no mode or way of administring this Water-Baptism doth so exactly and to the life set forth the freeness of Gods Grace and Mercy exhibited in the Covenant of Grace then the act of Sprinkling or pouring out the Water on the Party Baptized By this way of Sprinkling under the Gospel there is a sweet and orderly Harmony kept between the Pen-men of Gods Word both under the Old and New-Testament Dispensation with whom whoever studys to agree in applying the Water of Holy Baptism they will be at length found to be in the right how many and black Censures soever are heapt on them by injudicious Spirits The Spirit of God in the work of Regeneration applys the Spiritual Baptism by Sprinkling or pouring out of his Graces on the Soul There must be an Analogie kept between the thing signified and the outward Sign Against what hath been laid down to prove Infants right to Baptism the Seal of Gods Covenant many things are objected I will for brevity sake contract the Objections with my Answers to as few particulars as possibly I can Object 1. In the Words of the Grand Commission there is not one word concerning Infants Mat. 28.19 Go ye and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name c. This seems too weak though well meaning Minds to be unanswerable But in the strength of him who gave out this Grand Commission I hope to shew how wretchedly the Objector is mistaken herein In order whereto let two things be seriously and warily considered First that albeit Christ the Lord doth not mention Infants in particular yet he includes them in the Words of the general Commissionâ— Go Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Here the Lord commands expresly that all such as belong to Gods Covenant with Abraham Gen. 7.7 shall be Baptized Namely all
the Heads of such Families It was no more necessary that Infants should be made mention of as being in such Families when Baptized than it was that they should be nam'd in the Grand Commission the Spirit which gave out the Grand Commission was in and with the Apostles when they Baptized and it is to me convincing that Infants are intended in both seeing they are excepted against in neither which the Adversary must needs be convinc'd of unless he be able to prove that Infants are neither a part of Nations or of Families The other Word Teach in the Commission is Didaskontes which properly signifies a Teaching or Instructing Doctrinally those who are already made Disciples by the former way of Teaching Neither can it without Lying be said to be Nonsense and folly to term Infants who are by the first Teaching made Disciples Schollars or Disciples seeing that Infants in Age are by the Spirit of Truth so styl'd witness Acts 15.10 where such are called Disciples who were made so by the Initiating Ordinance of Circumcision who afterwards when grown up were taught Doctrinally what they were to know and practice neither is this any whit repugnant to the Method God took with Abraham but rather agreeing with it as appears by Gen. 18.19 and even among Men nothing more common and frequent than to call our little Children Schollars or Disciples and that from the very first day of their being entred into a School And as in Mens Schools there are sundry Ranks or Classes of Schollars some lower and some higher so in the School of Christ the great Prophet of his Church there are several Ranks or Degrees of Church Members It is well known how ignorant in the Mysteries of the Gospel the very Apostles themselves were when they first entred into Christs School yet Christ calls them his Disciples for all that The Apostle Paul could not write or speak unto the Corinthians but as unto Babes as unto Carnal Men yet they were Church Members for all that These things duly considered forces me to conclude those Men profoundly ignorant in the Mystery of Gods Holy Covenant who because Infants are uncapable of being taught and instructed Doctrinally as adult and grown Men are peremptorily deny that Infants are capable of being made Disciples to Christ by the Ministry of Men. This Principle came no doubt from the same Spirit which teaches that Infants while Infants are uncapable of Regeneration which are both manifestly false because contrary to Gods revealed Will. Object 3. Baptism is a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith to which none have a right but he or she who is a real true Believer Answ I answer in three particulars First If Baptism be a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith then must it needs succeed and come in the room of Circumcision And so the truth is here granted which else where is denied that Circumcision is a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith is most plain from Rom. 4.11 Now if Baptism be a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith as the Objector grants and as I believe and affirm it is then Baptism did undeniably come in the room of Circumcision that the same might be to Believing Gentiles under the Gospel what Circumcision was of Old to Abraham viz. a Seal of the Covenant of Grace Secondly If none but actual Believers have a Right to that Righteousness of wâ—ich Baptism is a Seal then must it follow unavoidably that all Infants who Dye in Infancy are Eternally lost And how cruel this Doctrine is and how inconsistâ—nt with the Doctrine which teacheth that all Infants Dying Infants are saved all Men may see Thirdly If none but real true Believers have a Right to Baptism I would gladly see how those I Dispute against can justify their own practices in admitting so many poor ignorant Folk to that Ordinance in their way who with some who admit them are as ignorant of the Mystery of Regeneration and of Baptism the external Seal thereof as was Nicodemus Can they without a Divine Revelation know that those whom they admit to Baptism are infallibly real true Believers Object 4. To apply Baptism the Seal of the Covenant to an unintelligent Subject who neither knows what is done to him nor yields consent thereto It is all one as to present a Picture to a Blind Man which to do is most absurd and ridiculous Answ To this I shall reply in four particulars And first I say with a Learned Man this is at best but a blind Comparison and which is far worse a high and fancy Reflection on the infinite Wisdom and uncontroulable Soveraignty of the most high God for most certain it is that nothing can be offered as an Argument to keep Infants from Baptism meerly on the account of their being unintelligent Subjects and uncapable of yielding their consent to what is done to them in Baptism But what will be of as great force to keep them back from Circumcision And so the Objector may see plainly how herein he arraigns the Wisdom and Soveraignty of God at the Bar of a shallow and corrupt Creatures Reason which demonstrates him to be more Brutish I am sure more proud end wicked than those Non-intelligent Subjects which the Objection is levelled against This will appear by considering Gods dealing with Abraham in that he commanded him to Mark or Seal his Son Isaac with the Seal of Circumcision at Eight Days old Had Isaac the use of reason at that Age Had he actual Faith or Speech to express his consent to what was then done to him No sure what then must God be charged with weakness or unreasonableness for applying the Seal of his Covenant to an unintelligent Subject By these kind of Objectors Gods Act herein stands charged with weakness and folly but I conclude with Paul Rom. 3.4 Yea let God be true but every Man a Lyar. God commands nothing in vain and the reason is because his Ordinance hath no kind of dependence on the Creature to give it power or to make it effectual to accomplish what he hath appointed it to but on his own free Spirit which works most powerfully yea irresistably where he himself hath purposed to confer the Spiritual Good signified by the outward Ordinance Object 5. The Promise of Gods Covenant is made to the Elect and none but they have a Right to the Seal No Man can affirm that an Infant brought to Baptism is Elect. Answ I Answer to this in two things First I grant that none shall ever reap any saving Benefit by the Covenant but the Elect and that in the right of Election yet doth it not hence follow that none but they have a right to the Seal of the Covenant in the Church Visible seeing that by the very Constitution of Gods Covenant with Abraham the Ecclesiastical Father and pub ick Visible Head of all the Seed of Believing Church-Members God commands that the Seal of his Covenant shall be equally apply'd to