knowing this we know our Gracious God will deny them no Supplies which is needful for them If this do not satisfie Mr. F. then let him give some account to the World now he is grown up how the Spirit did work in the business of his Regeneration in his Infancy and if he can give no account of his own Infant-Regeneration then I think it will be hard for him to give it of the manner of the Regeneration of other Infants Mr. Firmin 3. You must demonstrate that tho Infants have not actually sinned against the Covenant of Grace yet they have not unbelief and impenitency seminally which are quite opposite to the Covenant of Grace Answ 1. I conceive nothing can be spoke more irrationally nor unrighteously than to suggest that poor Infants have Unbelief and Impenitency in them And yet so 't is the seeds of those Impieties at least Mr. F. will have to be in them And I demand of him how he knows this And how he can tell when these Sins against the Covenant of Grace are purged from Infants Seeing he has told us they are not holy by their Birth I would know whether they be purged before their Birth or after But let us hear our Saviour's Judgment of little Children which all will grant to be more worth than Mr. Firmin's He speaks of some just Persons which need no Repentance whom he opposes to such as have gone astray I will not presume that this is only meant of Infants to whom our Lord tells us the Kingdom of Heaven belongs but I humbly conceive as it is true of them so it does include them as being of that Number Again He tells us Except we be Converted and become as little Children we cannot see the Kingdom of God. But if Infants be guilty of Vnbelief and Impenitency in such a degree as these Sins in them are quite opposite to the Covenant of Grace we should have but little benefit by such Conversion And thus he reflects upon Christ in his Directions to his Followers as if Christ gave not good Counsel herein St. Paul exhorts Christians as touching Malice to be Children in which Speech he is directly contrary to Mr. F. And St. Peter would have us like new-born Babes i. e. to lay aside all Malice Guile Hypocrisie and evil Speaking But if Unbelief and Impenitency be in them Seminally these Impieties are there also and then they are bad Presidents being as wicked as it is possible for them to be in Mr. F's judgment However Mr. F. is compelled to confess Infants are not guilty of any Actual Sin against the Covenant of Grace And then who made you a Judg of their Hearts Sir Sure this is an Attempt too high for any Man. But I must demonstrate that Infants have not unbelief seminally Well I will plead their Cause as well as I can and I Argue for them thus They who have no object of Faith propounded to them seminally can have no unbelief seminally But Infants have no object of Faith propounded to them seminally Ergo They can have no unbelief seminally If Mr. F. deny the Minor I will hold him to his own Law Affirmanti incumbit probatio If he affirm that Infants have an object of Faith propounded to them seminally let him prove it As for the Major our Saviour's words John 15. 22. do establish it and indeed This is the Condemnation that Light is come and Men love Darkness He that has no Light cannot be blamed because he cannot see Our Lord charges not the sin of Unbelief till means to believe was rejected And will he be more unkind to the Infant than to the grown Person Who can have so vile an opinion of the Almighty But I must demonstrate also that Infants have not Impenitency seminally yea such Impenitency as is quite opposite to the Covenant of Grace Well I reply first by way of Admiration That ever such wild Notions should issue from a Learned Head that so he might have some specious pretence to damn poor Infants But God hath said He will turn the Wisdom of Wise Men backward and make Diviners mad Isa 44. 25. 2. Impenitency supposes the Party charged first to be guilty of some Sin committed or desired or conceived But nothing of this can be justly charged against Infants Consider them acquitted of Original Sin by the Mercy of God in their Redeemer Who shall lay any thing to their charge What have they done Mr. Firmin Do you ask what have they done Did you never see Revenge Wrath Pride Envy Rebellion against and Striking of Parents acting in little Children Answ 1. These are not Infants of Eight days old c. but such who by the ill Example of their Tutors quickly may learn these things Otherwise if the Child thinks it has cause to be Angry and to make Defence it does no more than you will vindicate in your own Cause And why does not Charity make you think the best of Infants seeing you ought to think no evil of the weak actions of grown Persons O thou that canst see such Beams as Revenge Wrath Pride Rebellion c. in the Eyes of poor Infants pluck these Beams out of thine own which evidently are thy Distempers from the Books which thou hast written in which not many Pages are free from Tincture of some of these Diseases But you add Blessed Austin observed a Sucking Child that was not able to articulate one word look with a Countenance even pale with Envy upon his fellow-Suckling which shared with him in the same Milk which made the holy Man cry out Ubi Domine Quando Domine Reply How did Austin know that the Child was pale with Envy Suppose this good Man himself had sat down to Dinner and another snatch it all away from him perhaps he would have look'd Pale also for such we must suppose the Child's case to be when another takes the Breast it thinks all is gone for it yet understands not the Rules of Hospitality or Good-fellowship being unsensible of the others Necessity The poor Child attended its own preservation as Nature taught it a poor ground on which to build so severe a Charge Should the best of God's People be tried how duly they make others sharers in their Blessings who have need of Relief they may perhaps be more justly charged than that Sucking Child Judg no poor Infants lest ye be judged To conclude Seminal Faith Seminal Repentance Seminal Vnbelief and Seminal Impenitency are things of which we have no account in Scripture And though I would not offend Mr. Firmin nor at all disparage his Scholarship which I acknowledg to be abundantly more than mine yet when I consider Learning in Saint Paul's sense 2 Tim. 3. 14. I cannot but think these to be very wild and unlearned Notions which no Man can be assured of nor give a good account that he learned them of any of the Master-Builders the holy Apostles And who ever asserts these things shall never
Infants are not made clean from their Pollutions and freed from Condemnation without having Faith and Repentance I say they may because God requires not these things of Infants But you argue further Mr. F. All the Members of the Kingdom of Heaven are holy but Children are Members of the Kingdom of Heaven Not by Birth it is by Regeneration Answ First Here I think you have given your Cause its deaths blow It seems now that the Infants of Believers are no more holy by their Birth of believing Parents than others and whether they be regenerated you cannot tell for you do not hold that all the Children of Believers are saved What is now become of the Birth-priviledg so much gloried in by Mr. Baxter and others We have been told Infants are holy by Birth if one Parent be but a Believer and that Children of Believers are holy by Prerogative of Seed But now you confess the Truth and I grant Infants are not holy by Birth let their Parents be never so Christian And I have already granted that Infants must be cleansed from all Sin before they come to Heaven But yet you touch not the Question Whether they cannot be cleansed from Sin without they have Faith and Repentance one would think you begin to be afraid of the Question and I am sure you have cause so to be Arg. 3. Mr. F. tells us If Adam had continued in Innocency his Children had born the Image of God from the Birth I never heard it denied That which I infer hence is that Children are capable of the Image of God and receiving the Seeds of all Grace it was so then why not now Answ What manner of the Image of God Infants should have born had Adam continued innocent is unknown to Man and 't is but vain to concern our selves about that which cannot be known but this we know it should not have stood in Faith and Repentance as now because in both these we confess our selves Sinners and this is enough to shew the vanity of your Question if so then why not now But you proceed thus Mr. F. Shall the sin of one Person be so mischievous to deprive Adam and all his Posterity of the Image of God and bring the Seeds of all Corruption into their Nature and shall the Grace of God be denyed to renew his Image in little Children when and where he pleaseth Children being a great part of the World shall the Spirit of God have nothing to do in their Hearts Answ I know no Man more faulty than Mr. F. in this matter for he will not allow the Grace of God to have any thing to do with the greatest part of Infants I doubt not but God doth all things needful for them to make them holy by the Blood of Christ his Grace and Spirit But all this shall be done without Faith and Repentance because God does not require it of Infants if he does name your Text. Mr. F. now tells us Adam's Disobedience far exceeds the Obedience of Christ which he compares in Justification Rom. 5. 16 17 18. for his Disobedience could defile all his Posterity but Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Answ Come St. Paul thou hast told us that such as thou art by Letters when absent such thou wilt be indeed when present 2 Cor. 10. 11. Wherefore I shall give place to thee to answer for thy self by the very places which Mr. F. has quoted out of thy Epistle to the Romans Chap. 5. 16 17 18. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the Gift for the Judgment was of one to Condemnation but the free-Gift is of many Offences to Justification For if by the Offence of one Death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ Thâ—refore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon All Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free-Gift came upon All Men unto Justification of Life And whereas Mr. F. boldly tells us that Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child I ask him whose Obedience then does cleanse Infants Let St. Paul answer again ver 19. As by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners SO by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Blessed Paul thou hast answered to the Life Mr. Firmin says Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Thou sayst Christ's Obedience made many righteous and they that are made righteous are clean and regenerated sufficiently Blessed Apostle thou hast turned the Wisdom of the Wise into Foolishness What follows in this Paragraph is answered before and for his uncivil Expressions in the close of it I shall pass them by Mr. Firmin's Arg. 4. If all Children dying such are justified and saved then there will be Millions in Heaven in whom the Spirit of God as the third Person in the Blessed Trinity had nothing to do in their Salvation Answ First I take notice that Mr. Firmin by this Argument would have Millions of Infants damned because in his Judgment the Spirit of God hath nothing to do with Millions of them in the business of Salvation This this is that wicked Doctrine which I oppose 2. But how will he prove that the Spirit hath to do in the business of the Salvation of any of them more than I shall prove he hath to do in the Salvation of all dying Infants He would prove it by two things 1. Because the distinct Subsistences have their distinct manner of working 2. Because Regeneration is given to the Spirit Now suppose this be true it does not prove that some Infants have the assistance of the Spirit and some dying Infants have no assistance from him Thus he beats the Air but proves not any thing at all relating to the Point in Question 3. But I will prove that all dying Infants have all that assistance of the Spirit in the business of Salvation which is any way needful for them I do it thus All those dying Infants for whom Christ shed his precious Blood have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation But Christ shed his precious Blood for all dying Infants Ergo All dying Infants have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation The Major is evident because no dying Infant does resist the Holy Ghost and because God is no Respecter of Persons The Minor is evident because Christ died for all tasted Death for every Man he bought them that deny him and bring upon themselves swift Destruction And seeing his tender Mercies are over all his Works the holy Spirit is not wanting to further the Salvation of any dying Infant Deut. 10. 17 18. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Heb. 2. 9. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Psal 145. 9. Come Mr. Firmin let me come near you it may be you have had some Children that died in their
THE Infants Advocate AGAINST The cruel Doctrine of those Presbyterians who hold That the greatest part of Dying Infants shall be DAMNED In Answer to a Book of Mr. GILES FIRMIN'S entituled Scripture Warrant c. By THO. GRANTHAM Exod. 32. 32 33. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their Sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book which thou hast written And the Lord said unto Moses Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my Book Matth. 18. 10 11 14. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost Even so it is not the Will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little Ones should perish London Printed by J. D. for the Author 1688. The PREFACE Honest Reader I Could not have thought that a Man reputed wise an old Professor and one who so bears himself upon his Father's Covenant whom he will have to be a Son of Abraham and so himself to be Abraham's Son also could have given such evident Proof of the contrary as by his Book he has brought forth Sure I am I answered his two Questions in much Love and Faithfulness according to my Ability being thereunto desired by some of his Neighbours And I hope no Impartial Reader will censure me to be a Scoffer as Mr. Firmin does But truly I think he was pleased to throw that Dirt that he might have some pretence to give scope to his ill Spirit to exercise it self that way I confess I use these words upon the occasion of his talking so high of his Father's Covenant that it would even make a well Man sick to see what pitiful work he makes of it And here I will give thee an account of it and then judg of me as thou pleasest Saith Mr. F. When I could not tell where to lay hold meaning in his dismal Temptations my Parental Covenant and Infant Baptism was a support to me So that I bless God 1. For Abraham ' s Covenant 2. I bless God that I had Godly Parents 3. I bless God my Parents were no Anabaptists c. Only a word some may think you had Godly Parents mine were not so It may be I had a Godly Grandfather or a Mother Had you so no doubt but you may improve the Covenant from him The second Commandment will help you others may say Baptized I am but my Parents bad enough Well art awake and art in earnest for Christ and the saving Blessings come by him you may improve your Covenant A Woman putting a Question how she might know whether ever she had these Qualifications Mr. F. tells us that whilst he was troubled about making out these Qualifications there comes a Motion into my Mind saith he What say you to your Father's Covenant you know your Parents were Godly will you stand to your Father's Covenant Here my Qualification was the choice of my Father's God who was mine before by an external Covenant But now to have him my God my Portion by an internal Covenant and Efficacy here I was pent up Will you chuse or refuse him c. Now whether this Discourse will not almost make a well Man sick I mean a serious Christian troubled to hear a wise Man talk at this rate And whether he does not lay his Foundation upon his Qualification for by that saith he was the choice of my Father's God. And does he not also set up his Will as high as ever any did in chusing or refusing God to be his God his Portion by internal Covenant and Efficacy Sure he doth Mr. F's great business is to abuse and disgrace me by false and foolish Stories which have been told him by others which I pass by as unworthy observation And then he falls in with the Papists against me in the case of abstaining from or eating Blood justifying himself and them in the latter Tho he confesses the believing Gentiles were forbidden to eat Blood by that Decree Act. 15. 29. And when these Decrees were repealed he cannot tell and whilst he makes us for observing them such as do not believe the Blood of Christ to be our Atonement and that we hold some things to be unclean of themselves he condemns also the Primitive Christians who religiously abstain'd from Blood for several hundred Years after Christ and makes himself wiser than the Apostles for had they known such to be the consequence they would not have made them nor have deliver'd them to be kept as they did Acts 16. 4. We know that that which goes into the Man defiles not and therefore Blood defiles not but acting against God's Word defiled Evah even by eating that which was good for Food and so may Mr. F. defile himself for he says he will eat Blood Puddings S. A. by which he means Sir Anabaptist and indeed a scornful Spirit breaths in many Pages of his late Books He is pleased to throw Dirt upon me very freely about an escape of the Pen or Press I am not sure which and yet he being a Scholar and acquainted with such over-sights could not but discern unless Malice blinded him that it was an oversight The Passage is about the time when Transubstantiation came into the World and the Book which he quarels has it thus How rigidly do they impose the Decrees of the Trent-Councils Where note the word Councils being plural he might easily have supposed Lateran which was wanting for thus it stands in the Catechism of the Papists of which I give notice Pag. 55. The Lateran and Trent Councils and from thence I took the date of Transubstantiation Not but that I have read the same in other Authors But here he brands me with gross Ignorance and I grant I am not so well read as himself if that will please him And my rejoycing is this that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity I wrote that Book which he despises and I hope God will bless my Endeavours in which I trust I have no other scope but his Glory and the good of all Men heartily desiring that all Truth were restored to its Primitive Purity and Simplicity As to his three first Chapters I shall say little to them at present being very well satisfied with my Answers to his two Questions notwithstanding all that he has said to render them invalid The chief thing which I design in this Reply is to maintain what in me is the Mercy of God to all dying Infants against Mr. F. and others whose cruel Doctrine sends them by Millions to Hellish Torments as appears by this Book of Mr. Firmin's p. 8. If all dying Infants shall be saved there will be Millions in Heaven saith he in whom the Spirit of God had nothing to do in their Salvation I say to maintain the Salvation of