say Brethren that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption inherit Incorruption VVhere we must not understand the VVord Flesh Physically or in Point of Being for so we believe Christ is now in our Humane Nature in Heaven VVe believe also the Resurrection of the Body when the Saints shall in their Flesh see God Job 19.26 But Flesh here must be understood morally as corrupted as Gal. 1.16 Immediately I conferred not with Flesh and Blood in which Place he means he did not hearken to the corrupt Reasonings of the Flesh That this is the meaning seems clear for in the foregoing Verse he had been mentioning our Earthly Image which consists in the Depravity of our Nature and then concludes That Flesh and Blood that is such as retain that Earthly Image cannot inherit the Kingdom of God so Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no Man shall see God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no one no Body as it signifies Nor is it to be understood of actual Holiness in our Conversation only for should a Man die the same Moment that he closes with Christ he shall as surely see God to his Comfort as if he had liv'd a holy Life never so long our Title to Heaven arising from our Union to Christ and not from our Holiness tho' never so great nor do his good VVorks so properly render him meet for Heaven as that Holy Principle from whence they proceeded A clear Instance we have in the Thief on the Cross that was converted and in Heaven in a few Hours By his embracing of Christ he came to have a Title to Heaven and his inward Change of Heart rendred him meet for Heaven notwithstanding he had no time to spend in a Holy Conversation From all which it doth appear that as we are corrupt by Nature so this Nature till renewed can never enter into Heaven nor do I see what the Anabaptists can say to this unless they deny the Corruption of our Nature and I perceive some of them have fled thither for Refuge But this is so confuted by the former Scriptures that I judge it needless to add any more and I cannot but wonder how such as pretend so high an Esteem for plain Scripture dare cast such Contempt on those many plain Texts I have cited and more that I might cite to prove the Corruption of our Natures as we come into the VVold This gives us sad ground to Fear that whatever high esteem such may pretend to plain Scripture when it seems to make for them yet they prefer their own Fancies before it when it really makes against them Thus I hope I have sufficiently proved a necessity for Infants to have Grace if ever they get to Glory I come now to the close of my Argument Minor Proposition But some Infants do get to Heaven Now I need not spend much time to prove his for I hope the Anabaptists will not be so uncharitable as to Sentence all Infants to Eternal Destruction rather than receive the Truth of the Gospel And indeed I find some of them so far from denying that some Infants get to Heaven that they rather believe that none miss of Heaven But if any of the rest of the Anabaptists should so far differ from their Brethren as to deny it yet 't is our comfort the Scripture doth in most express words affirm it Mat. 19.14 Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven not that the Kingdom of Heaven consists only of such but that some such are of that Kingdom By the Kingdom of Heaven saith Marlorate we must understand the Eternal Felicity of the Elect. Some indeed understand it of the visible Kingdom of Christ on Earth But such do not understand it so in opposition to their Eternal Felicity and indeed if some of such as are in Christ's Visible Kingdom here on Earth do not get to Heaven I know not who shall come there Visible not being opposed to Invisible but only distinguished from it So that since some such do get to Heaven as I have proved but none get to Heaven without Renovation hence it unavoidably follows some such are renewed which Renovation takes in the Seeds or Habit of Faith and all other Graces And thus have I confirmed my Argument which I am confident stands so firm on Scripture ground that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it All I shall add shall be to Answer some Objections that may be made by some against it though indeed the truth is so clear that Objections are not worthy to be heard much less to to be answered But to the End that things may be made plain to the meanest capacity and nothing wanting for satisfaction to such as desire it I proceed Object 1. We see no such Ground to hope such have Grace Do not we see that oft-times the Children of Godly Parents prove wicked which they would not have done if they had Grace in Infancy unless they fall from Grace which we may suppose you do not Believe To which I answer That some Children of Believing Parents do prove Graceless and Wicked by too sad experience we find true Nor can we from hence infer that such fall from Grace for I know none that hold that all such have Grace I mean of Unbaptized Infants for as to Baptized Infants the Papists and Church of England both hold That all such have Grace though for my own part tho' I hope well of all such as are Baptized de jure of right yet to affirm that all such have Grace I dare not neither do I think any from Scripture have good ground so to do Should none have Grace among the Seed of Believers but such as Die in Infancy or who do in time appear Gracious but know not so exactly the time of their Conversion who may be supposed to be wrought upon in Infancy they would amount to a vast number And perhaps as many by the Rule of Proportion as may be found to have Grace in the great Day when all must be weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary in our particular Churches But if we must not hope of any because some prove wicked what shall we say of Adult Professors who are Members in Churches Do not many of them prove Hypocrites Must the Eleven therefore be condemned for Hypocrites because a Judas was among them Would not this be to Judge before the time Sure I am at this rate we must hope of none Adult or Infants But if you say notwithstanding some professors prove Wicked yet we are to hope well of others till such time as their Wickedness discovers it self So say I as to Infants though some prove wicked yet till others appear so we ought to hope well of them if we see nothing that doth cut off our hope and not so to do must be judged the greatest uncharitableness Oject 2. But Adult Persons make a Profession of Christ so do not Infants Answ All their Profession is but
a Priviledge to their own Children and so rob them of their Birth-right Such may fitly be compared to the Ostridge a filly Creature Job 39.16 who is said to be hardned against her young Ones as if they were none of hers Suppose a wicked Parent have godly Children grown up and should confine them from the Ordinances of God's House tho' he could not destroy their Souls thereby yet because he did what he could in order thereunto any godly Person would judge such a one an unmerciful Parent how much more may believing Parents be so counted while they deny the Infant Seed the Ordinance of Baptism which God hath given them a Right unto tho' they cannot destroy their Souls So that as you would not be charged for not having natural Affection as you would not contract Guilt upon your Souls and pluck down Judgments upon your selves by not walking in all the Ordinances of the Lord blameless bring your Infant Seed to be Baptized be found in God's Way doing for them what you can and then you may with the more Comfort expect God should do for them that which you cannot and that while you lay them at the Pool side the Waters may be made healing to their diseased Souls for we can never without Presumption expect the Blessing of God in Neglect or Contempt of those Means he hath appointed in order to enjoy it Were your Children sick Corporally Nature would stir you up to use the Means which God hath appointed in order to their Recovery and if you believe your Infant Seed stand in need of Mercy one would think Grace should excite you to use the Means which God hath appointed for the Good of their Souls that so they may not curse you in Hell for not doing what you might do and ought to have done in order to the bringing them to Heaven Obj. But against the Practice of this Duty I have heard some argue thus Tho' they cannot answer the Arguments brought to prove it a Duty yet they cannot see into it and because whatever is not of Faith is Sin hence conclude it would be Sin in them so to do Ans Suppose it is so I would ask such whether it may not be a far greater Sin that it is not of Faith Or do you think that your Sins of Ignorance when Light shines so clear must not be accounted for Paul hath declared that once he was so ignorant that he verily thought he ought to do many things contrary unto the Name of Jesus as in Acts 26.9 And he did so and made Havock of the Church and Blasphemed And here we will suppose it would have been his Sin not so to have done because he verily thought he ought and so had it been absolutely a Duty he would have neglected it But I would ask such Objectors if they think it was not his Sin that he was so perswaded Nay was it not a far greater Sin than we can once suppose it to have been had he in that Case acted contrary to his Faith or Perswasion If you deny it you are guilty of as great Blasphemy as ever he was Well then it seems there is Danger of Sin on either Hand thou may'st we will suppose sin in doing it and thou may'st sin also in not doing it Now in this Case there is a Rule for ever carefully to be observed That when two Evils lye before us and one of them cannot possibly be avoided the least is to be chosen and if this Rule is to be observed then to me it seems far safest for such to Baptize their Infant Seed since their doing that which they are not fully satisfied in may be but accidentally a Sin but their not doing that which God hath made known to be a Duty whether they thro' Ignorance see it to be so or no is directly a Sin and more especially is it safest for such as are Members in such Churches where the Pastor and Majority of the Church are of that Judgment because then by not doing it they not only are in Danger to say no more of contracting Guilt to their Souls by not being found in their Duty but hereby take the ready way to cause Strife and Contention in that Church whose Peace they are obliged to seek if our Perswasion touching the Lawfulness of a thing will make it Lawful then this is to measure our selves by our selves and to esteem our own Fancies above the Word of God Since let the Word of God hold forth what it will it no ways obliges in those Person 's Judgment unless I am perswaded 't is a Truth Cursed Doctrine What is this but grand Quakerism to preferr the Light within before the Word of God in the Scripture But if as Christ saith the Light within be Darkness as sure it is when it opposes the written Word then how great is that Darkness Thus Christian Reader I have in all Plainness of Speech taken Liberty freely to express my Sentiments about the Doctrine of Infant Baptism and whatever the Effects may be if I know my Heart I designed nothing in it but God's Glory and thy Good and to put an end to our unprofitable Differences and should I miss my Aim in this latter Respect yet I hope this will not indirectly cause our Differences to be wider for what if we cannot fully agree in this yet since we agree many of us in Fundamentals and hold one Lord and one Faith this Consideration should surely more unite us than our Differences in smaller Matters should divide us we cannot suppose while so much Darkness remains upon our Understandings that we should all be fully of one Mind in all things any more than we can suppose we should all be of the same Complexion or Stature of Body but as it is enough in order to bring us into a rational Converse that we are all Men and Women tho' we may vastly differ in Features and Proportion of Body so it should be enough to reconcile us in Love and Affection that we are Christians tho' not in all things of the same Mind and same Judgment and that we are all Fellow-Travellers to the New Jerusalem Tho' we may not walk in the same Path or tread exactly in each others Steps sure I am when we get to Heaven we shall sweetly agree O desirable Day when Ephraim shall no more envy Judah nor Judah vex Ephraim when we who now know but in part and see but darkly shall then see Face to Face and know even as we now are known when all our dark and confused Conceptions about the Mysteries of the Gospel shall all vanish and disappear as the Mists and Fogs before the rising Sun And when that time much of which was spent in Striving and Contending shall wholly be spent in Praising and Admiring him that loved us and washed away our Sins in his own Blood how shall we then all be imployed who are Saints in the same Work sing all the same
Song all joined in the same Assembly all behold and love the same Object Yea how shall we then hugg and embrace each other as Fellow-Heirs of the same Kingdom and Children of the same Father and Members of the same Body I am fully satisfied our Differences are not so great here as our Love to one another will be there we shall no more strive about the Way when we enjoy the End And since we are so unlike fully to agree here and so certain to agree there how should it make all the sincere Lovers of Peace who have been mourning for these Divisions which are among the People of God cry out with the most Earnest and Longing Desires come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS A QUESTION Briefly Handled CONCERNING What State or Condition the Soul is in in the very Act of Coming unto Christ A QUESTION Briefly Handled CONCERNING What State or Condition the Soul is in in the very Act of Coming unto Christ READER we live in a Luxurious Wanton Age when many even of Professors who instead of Offering Violence to the Kingdom of Heaven instead of giving all Diligence to make their Calling and Election sure who instead of earnestly contending for the Faith once delivered to the Saints are spending most of their Precious Time no better than those Athenians Acts 17.21 either to tell or to hear some new Thing To mention all those new Opinions which have been vented of late by Men of Corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Truth would be tedious to me to Write and unprofitable to you to Read I shall only Discourse Briefly upon one which is this That Sinners wreeking in their Lusts must come to Christ as they are 'T is too well known how this Notion hath been spread abroad of late and received too even with such full satisfaction and content that it is a Gospel Truth that by such all others are despised as no Gospel Preachers that dare open their Mouths to oppose it And sure I am when Error thus abounds it highly concerns such as are set for the Defence of the Truth to open their Mouths in Vindication of it I confess I have a long time only bewailed these things to see the Truths of the Gospel Despised and Precious Souls lye Entangled in the Snare of the Devil and unwilling to be delivered But while I refrained my Speech the Fire kindled and now of necessity I must speak in Defence of the Truth as it is in Jesus come on what will and I do it for these Reasons First Because I have been judged Erroneous by some who have been too empty of Knowledge or full of Prejudice who have heard me oppose this Doctrine who I have reason to think are no less concerned than those Ephesians Acts 19.34 who without consulting the Truths the Apostle had Preached or proving the Lawfulness of their Idolatrous Practice cry out like Mad-Men for the space of two Hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians and no wonder because they Lived upon the Silver Shrines and had their Goddess been contemned their Craft had been ended And since I have delivered my Sentiments on this Point it stands me in hand to Vindicate it since I have Truth on my side for otherwise I should rather take shame to my self And since it must needs be difficult for any or at least for most to judge of such deep Mysteries and Niceties upon a Transcient hearing I am willing to expose my Sentiments that so I may either silence my Opposers or they may shame me For my part as I never durst utter any thing rashly in so weighty a Point before I had exactly weighed it in the Ballance of the Sanctuary so I am so far from recanting any thing I have delivered on this Point notwithstanding all the Calumnies of my Adversaries whose Eyes the God of this World hath in part blinded that I hope I shall be able to defend it to my last Breath and I am the more encouraged to defend this Truth That no Man can or ought to come to Christ in his Sins by the good Success I have had in many private Conferences about it for I never yet Conversed with any that opposed it but either I have convinced them of their Error and brought them to embrace the truth they once despised or at least so stopped their Mouths that they have been able no longer to be Gainsayers and indeed what can be said against the Truth That will stand when Errors will like the Chaff be driven away Errors are but Windy Doctrines Second Reason moving me to clear this Point is because 't is so weighty a Doctrine and even the turning Point of Christianity the Foundation Stone of all the Building and Errors in the Foundation are dangerous what greater concern than to know how a Soul must close with Christ Since that Soul that closes not with him shall never be Saved by him For he that Believes not shall be Damned Mark 16.16 And how unmerciful must that Minister be to Souls and unfaithful to Christ that canst see a Multitude at once running on with such a Lie in their Right Hand and not inform them If we see one going to Drink down some Deadly Poison though the Person through a Distempered Brain or by violence of some strong Temptation desire to Drink it yet if we know it and do not our utmost to prevent it we cannot be clear of his Blood so when we see Persons imbibing Damnable Doctrines we ought speedily to provide an Antidote and that though we cannot inform all in all the deep Mysteries of the Gospel by reason of that gross Darkness that hath covered many yet that we might not shun to declare the whole Counsel of God whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Third Reason Because the Error I oppose not only passes for a Truth with many but for such a Truth as doth most magnifie the Grace of God and so is like to do the more harm When Error appears with a bare face it will seem so Deformed that but few will fall in Love with it but when the Devil wraps himself in Samuel's Mantle it 's hard toknow him This Doctrine sets up Free-Will by Craft and that under a Notion of Free-Grace and though nothing differs more than those Two yet the Patrons are minded to let the World see what they can do by Art and whether they cannot make some take bitter for sweet Is 5.20 But because that Monster of Free-Will is but of low esteem with some therefore for love they have to this Creature they have bestowed a new Garb upon it and have changed its Name too calling that which always went by the Name of Free-Will now Free-Grace whereby they have so altered the Property of the thing that the owners thereof scarce know it and so Gild over their Poisonous Pill that it may go down the better Fourth Because this Doctrine I oppose suiting so with our Corrupt Nature