Faith to teach many Mediators though inferior to Christ as to teach many Gods though subordinate to the Supreme God. So 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him In opposition to the Pagan Idolatry in worshipping many inferior Gods and Lords together with the Supreme God either as sharers with him in the Government of the World or as Mediators with him for Men. But we are to worship and in Worship to apply our selves to no other but this only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ For Acts 4. 12. Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved not yet in Heaven neither John 14. 6. I am the Way the Truth and the Life no Man can come unto the Father but by me And Vers 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And John 16. 24. That your Joy may be full This is the only direction which our Saviour gave his Disciples a little before his Death to ask in his Name and to come to the Father by him to which and to no other way of address is the Promise of Audience made So that for any to address themselves to Saints or Angels as Mediators must needs be presumptuous and vain Ephes 2. 18. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father And Ephes 3. 12. By him we have boldness and access with confidence through the Faith which we have in him There can be no need then of other Mediators since the Son renders the Father accessible and favourable to us so that we may come to him with an holy boldness and confidence Heb. 4. 15. For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are Sin only excepted We cannot address our selves to any one that knows our Necessities better who hath more compassion of our Miseries or who is better able to do us good or who is more nearly allied unto us For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bone Ephes 5. Vers 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace to the immediate presence of God whither we may immediatly direct our Prayers through the Merits and Intercession of Christ not to the Shrine of any Saint by the way that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need And Heb. 10. 19. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living Way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an High-Priest over the House of God let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith. But to use the Mediation of Saints and Angels and directly contrary to this boldness and assurance which we should have in our access to him by Christ For that sets us at a greater distance from God and implies as if we did not dare to approach his Presence without the Intercession of a Favourite Saint Heb. 7. 24 25. But this Man because he continueth for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Where the Intercession of our Saviour is made an act or part of his unchangeable Priesthood not to be imparted to any other And by this Intercession of his we obtain Eternal Salvation So that there can be no need of any others Intercession The Mediatory Intercession of Saints then is an invasion of Christ's Priestly Office and doth also plainly imply the insufficiency of our Saviour's Intercession contrary to the Apostle Heb. 12. 24. We are come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the Blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel Note that Jesus Christ is the Mediator in virtue of his Blood. Which doth not cry for Vengeance against his Brethren as Abel's did but by which he intercedes and calls for Mercy Grace and Peace for the greatest Sinners who have their Hearts touched with Repentance and therefore none should be discouraged from approaching this Mediator 1 John 2. 1 2. I write these things unto you that ye sin not but if any Man sinneth we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous For he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of whole World. Where Christ is described as the Advocate the only Advocate appointed for us in the Court of Heaven and the Advocate General of all Christians And the Holy Spirit joins Intercession and Propitiation together and founds the former upon the latter to teach us that whosoever is not a Mediator of Redemption and Propitiation cannot be an Advocate or Mediator of Intercession It is his Mouth alone then by which we speak to the Father and that in the virtue of the Propitiation which he hath made So again Rom. 8. 34. It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right Hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us The Intercession of Christ is founded upon his Death It belongs to none other but him who shed his Blood upon the Cross to appear for us within the Heavenly Sanctuary It is his part only to present the Prayers of the Church of God who can cover their Defects and render them acceptable to God which was formerly shadowed in the Person of the High-Priest who was to carry upon his Miter a Plate of pure Gold in which was engraven Holiness to the Lord. Exod. 28. 37 38. Thou shalt put it on a blue Lace that it may be upon the Mitre upon the fore-front of the Mitre it shall be And it shall be upon Aaron ' s Forehead that Aaron may bear the Iniquity of the Holy Things which the Children of Israel shall hallow in all their Holy Gifts and it shall be always upon his Forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. This is fulfilled in Christ alone who is the Substance and the Truth of all the ancient Figures All the Psalms of David and all other Prayers both in the Old and New Testament are directed to God alone and not one Supplication made or one Hymn bestowed upon any Tutelar or Patron Saint or Angel throughout all the Scripture Which is very strange among so many devout Men and their Devotions that are mentioned if the thing had been allowable 2 Kings 2. 9. Elijah said to Elisha Ask what I shall
there arose another Generation after them that knew not the Lord nor yet his Works which he had done for Israel And the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim And they forsook the Lord God of their Fathers which brought them out of the Land of Egypt and followed other Gods of the Gods of the People that were round about them and bowed themselves to them and provoked the Lord to anger And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth How was the Face of the Church disfigured at that Time when they publickly worshipp'd false Gods He that would see the several Ecclipses of the Church of Israel then let him read this History of the Judges particularly Chap. 2. 3 4 6 10. And 2 Chron. 15. 3. When Israel was for a long season without the True God and without a teaching Priest and without the Law. In the Reign of Rehoboam the Son of Solomon ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel revoked from the Service of God and publickly worshipp'd the Calves in Dan and Bethel which were made by the Commandment of Jeroboam 1 King. 12. And if you desire to see how much the Face of the Church was disfigured and how often the Service of God was interrupted read the History of the Kings The ten Tribes were the greatest part of the Church of Israel But in them the Church was so obscured in the Time of Ahab that Elijah complained 1 King. 19. 10. The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the Sword and I even I only am left and they seek my Life to take it away God had indeed reserved to himself 7000 Men that had not bowed their Knees to Baal And 1 King. 18. 4. When Jezebel had put to death the Prophets of the Lord Obadia took an hundred Prophets and hid them by fifty in a Cave and sed them with Bread and Water So that there was a Church then left in Israel but iâ— was so obscured that Elijah himself could not see it In the Kingdom of Judah also there was sometimes the same obscure State of the Church As in the Time of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. 24 25. For Ahaz gathered together the Vessels of the House of the Lord and cut them in pieces and shut up the Doors of the House of the Lord and he made him Altars in every corner of Jerusalem And in every several City of Judah he made high Places to burn Incense unto other Gods and to provoke to anger the Lord God of his Fathers Repeated again 2 Chron. 29. 6 7. There was no other Church of God then upon Earth but what was among the Children of Israel and Judah and there was not any one Temple dedicated to the Worship of the True God but that at Jerusalem But yet you see that was prophaned the Service of God banish'd Idolatry establish'd And what external Form of a Church then was there there where the true God was not acknowledged or served So in the Time of Manasseh 2 Chron. 33. 4 5. Who built again the high Places which Hezekiah his Father had broken down and he reared up Altars to Baalim and made Groves and worshipped all the Host of Heaven and served them Also he built Altars in the House of the Lord whereof the Lord had said In Jerusalem shall my Name be for ever Which was as great a Promise as ever was made to any Church and if there had been any Promise designed ever to secure the State and Splendour of the Church in any place 〈◊〉 â—ould think this had been such an one If 〈◊〉 had been but a like Promise made or half 〈…〉 said of the Church of Rome what confiâ—â—nt boasting and brags should we have had yet you see Jerusalem and the Temple filled with Idols And it is moreover to be observed that at this time the State of the Church was so corrupt that there were no Copies of the Law to be found extant among the People but the Book of the Law was found in the restoring of the Temple by Josiah at the reading of which as a new thing the King was mightily terrified 2 Chron. 34. 18 19 20. which is a plain Argument that the Law was but little known and the Copies of it generally lost And the Prophet Jeremy saith Jer. 11. 13. That according to the number of thy Cities were thy Gods O Judah And according to the number of the Streets of Jerusalem which is yet called the Holy City Matth. 27. 53. have ye set up Altars to that shameful thing to burn Incense unto Baal And what Corruptions did the Prophet Isaiah complain of before Chap. 1. In the time of the Captivity the whole Land was a desâ—lation and an astonishment Jer. 25. 11. the Temple of Jerusalem was demolish'd and the Service of God beaten down So in the New Testament there are Prophecies of great defections and much obscurity that there should be in the Church 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. For the time will come that they shall not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears And they shall turn away their Ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto Fables So 1 Tim. 4. 1. The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter Times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils or rather Doctrines concerning Demons or a sort of under-Gods or angelical Mediators with God speaking lies in hypocrisy having their Consciences â—eared with an hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding 〈◊〉 abstain from Meats How well doth this agree to 4. Church of Rome Rev. 12. 6. The Woman by which the Church is represented fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God there to lie hid for a time during the rage of the Dragon It is very unjust and unreasonable then to demand that at all times we should shew the visible State of the True Church Rev. 13. 15 16 17. The time is prophesied of that the second Beast shall cause that as many as will not worship the Image of the former Beast shall be killed And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a Mark in their right hand and in their forehead and that no Man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or Name of the Beast or the Number of his Name And how should the Church then during this Tyranny have a visible and flourishing State And the Papists themselves allow that in the time of Antichrist there shall be an universal defection for a time It is certain in Fact that many Churches founded by the Apostles themselves have quite fallen away to Mahometanism And in the time of Athanasius the whole World almost was become Arian And in the Ages just before the Reformation the Purity of the Church was so
Christ for the edifying of the Church Ephes 4. 11 12. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith c. But not one word of such an Office as that of supreme Pastor or universal Sovereign over all Which we may be sure he would not have omitted if such an Office had been so necessary to the aforesaid Ends as is pretended CHAP. IX That the Pope hath power over Kings to Excommunicate and Depose them and can give Power to resist Soveraign Princes and can absolve Subjects from their Allegiance And that all Ecclesiastical Persons are exempted from the Jurisdiction of Secular Courts The 3d General Council of Lateran Cap. 27. 14. The 4th of Lateran Can. 3. de Haereticis Can. 43. Council of Lions Ann. 1245. Council of Constance Sess 17. Council of Trent Decret de Reformat Cap. 12. THis vast and exorbitant Power being founded upon the Pope's Headship over the Church which is refuted before there needs no new Arguments here for the confutation hereof For it is not pretended that the Pope hath a proper and direct temporal Soveraignty but as a necessary Consequent to and appendix of his Spiritual and for the promoting the Ends thereof The Pope can change Kingdoms take them from one and give them to another as the soveraign spiritual Prince if this be necessary to the Salvation of Souls Which are the words of Bellarmiâ—◠〈◊〉 Rom. Pontif. lib. 5. cap. 6. So that the same Arguments produced before to refute the spiritual Soveraignty serve also to overthrow the temporal and more strongly this having only relation to the former and inferr'd from it by far-fetch'd Consequences without the least intimation from Scripture And the exemption of all Ecclesiastical Persons from the Temporal Power is grounded likewise upon the same Papal Headship For he being supposed to be their supreme Governor and Soveraign is to take cognizance of all Causes that have relation to them as their proper Judg. And this being the Consequent of such a Principle the Principle being overthrown the Consequence must also fall with it And then there remains no other Power upon Earth to which the Clergy are to be subject as their supreme Governor under God and Christ but soveraign Princes and States in their several Dominions But yet this pretended Exemption of the Clergy may be likewise farther confuted from the following Texts Rom. 13. 1 2. Let every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers meaning the supreme Civil Authority whatsoever it is whether Emperor King c. in their several Dominions Here 's an universal Assertion respecting all Persons under such Authorities and no exemption of any For there is no such Power lawfully constituted but of God The Powers that be are ordainded of God. Wherefore he that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation So that there is no Power whatever that can absolve Subjects from their Allegiance to the supreme Magistrate or free them from his Jurisdiction lawfully constituted For he beareth not the Sword in vain 't is his part to bear and wield and Sword of Justice For he is the Minister of God to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil and to punish Offenders And therefore Ecclesiastical Persons as â—ell as others if they do evil against the Laws of God and a lawful Government are liable to the just execution of punishments inflicted by such Governours But it is well known that the Republick of Venice was put under an Interdict for having began a Process against an Abbot and a Canon who were notoriously criminal and punishable 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. See also St. Peter ' s Judgment Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil Doers and for the praise of them that do well He doth not say Submit your selves to me as the supreme Head of the Church neither saith he Submit your selves from time to time to my Successor in Rome but submit your selves to the King as Supreme And how could he more manifestly teach subjection which all Persons of whatsoever Condition and Quality should render unto him For he makes no exception of the Clergy but this Epistle is directed to them as well as others See Chap. 5. Tit. 3. 1. See here again to the same purpose St. Paul Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Who were these that Titus was to put in mind to be subject but those who by St. Paul's direction were committed to his care and teaching among which we find the Elders and Bishops of the Churches Chap. 1. 4 5. these were some of those then whom Titus was to put in mind to be subject Aaron was Elder Brother to Moses and chief Priest yet nevertheless he was subject to Moses and called him his Lord Exod. 32. 21 22. And Moses said unto Aaron What did this People unto thee that thou hast brought so great a Sin upon them viz. of the Golden Calf of which they spake And Aaron said Let not the Anger of my Lord wax hot thou knowest the People that they are set on mischief And Numb 12. 11. Aaron said unto Moses Alas my Lord lay not this Sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned for he and Miriam had murmured against Moses The chief Priests were subject to the Kings of Israel For which you need but read the Books of Kings See one Example hereof to which no reply can be made 1 King. 2. 26 27. Vnto Abiather the Priest said King Solomon Get thee to Anathoth unto thine own Fields for thou art worthy of Death but I will not at this time put thee to death because thou bearest the Ark of God before David my Father c. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being Priest unto the Lord. But now under the New Testament saith Cardinal Bonaventure the Temporal Rule is subject to the Priesthood and Popes may now degrade Kings and depose Emperors as this hath often come to pass But wherein is the difference and where is the proof of this impious Assertion St. Paul pleadeth his cause before Felix a secular Judg and doth not except against the Jurisdiction of the Court Acts 24. And so again before Festus Acts 25. But now the meanest Priest and the poorest Monk of them all where he can refuseth to appear before the secular Judges And it is a received Maxim The Pope ought to judg all the World and be judged himself of no Body Distinct 40. Can. Si Pape At last St. Paul appeals unto Cesar Acts 25. 10 11. Then said Paul I stand at Cesar
be justified and by thy Words thou shalt be condemned Yet we do not say that all Sins are equal or equally deserving the same degree of Death or Pain but all deserving the Death and exclusion from God. So that 't is not possible for the Sinner to offer a sufficient Recompence or Satisfaction for the least Sin. Mich. 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God Shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings with Calves of a Year Old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil Shall I give my First-born for my Transgression the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul So by what means shall I satisfy the Justice of my God Shall I Fast in Lent Shall I make Prayers of forty hours long Shall I give all my Goods to nourish the Poor But all these things cannot expiate my Sins these have no proportion or equivalence to his Justice And moreover as to those Penitential Works which are said to be Satisfactions as Prayer and Fasting and Alms c. they are Debts already to which we are obliged by virtue of the Law there being no Works of supererrogation beyond or above the Precept of the Law as is proved afterwards and therefore they cannot be Satisfactions for other Debts or Sins or Defects of Obedience For that which is a Duty already due before the commission of the Fault can never satisfy for the Fault committed We are obliged indeed to Repentance and to practise some Acts of Discipline to shew our indignation against our selves for our Sins and to deter us the more from sinning for the future And sometimes we must make some Satisfaction to the Church for the Scandals that we have committed and to testify the truth of our Repentance and sometimes to particular Men in case of particular Instances And we do not doubt but these things are very pleasing to God and may averâ— his Displeasure according to his Covenant and Promise made to us Penitens and are tending to his Honour But we deny that they are proper and equivalent Satisfactions to the Justice of God or that any Sufferings are so which we can undergo or that there can be any such performed or undergone by us at all As for the Sufferings and Punishments inflicted by God himself upon Men after their Sins are forgiven these are not designed by him as vindictive Punishments upon them and Compensations to his Justice but either for Example to others that they sinning may not presume upon impunity from his sparing of others or as Acts of mere Discipline and fatherly Correction to deter his own from falling into the like Sins for the time to come For Psal 103. Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that serve him What a Father doth is for his Childrens amendment he doth not inflict Torment or Suffering on them for his own Satisfaction nor doth delight in giving them any trouble were it not needful for themselves Or if any earthly Parent does so yet God doth not Heb. 12. 10. Nor is it true always that these temporal Inflictions are or are to be inflicted upon good Men but only in some certain Cases when God sees it meet and fitting for them or others CHAP. XVIII That some Persons may satisfy over and above what is needful for themselves and their own Sins so that their Satisfactions may serve for others that want them or have not enough of their own Catech. Rom. par 2. cap. 5. p. 61. And that these are put into the Treasury of the Church to be dispens'd by Indulgences Decret de Indulg BUT by what is said in the foregoing Chapter it appears that no Man whatsoever can offer an equivalent Satisfaction or Compensation to the Justice of God for any one Sin of his own and that he can never by his Sufferings exhaust the demerit of any one Sin the Wages of Sin being Death everlasting And Psal 130. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark Inquities O Lord who shall stand The Psalmist's Question implies that no Man can stand in Judgment if God should be strict with him And how can he be supposed to suffer more than he deserves Psal 143. â— Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord. The Psalmist is afraid to put himself upon an equal Trial before God. But according to these People one may not only reckon with the Justice of God but that God will be indepted something over and above Psal 90. 7 8. We are consumed by thine Anger and by thy Wrath are we troubled Thou hast set our Iniqui-quities before thee our secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance The Prophet Moses here speaks of the Calamities of this Life and refers them all to our Sins So that whatsoever we suffer is but a just infliction for our Sins Dan. 9. 7. O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Face The Prophet reckons that whatsoever God inflicts upon Men he is righteous therein and that an utter confusion of Face is but what we deserve It was his own Sin as well as the Peoples that he was confessing Vers 20. Ezra 9. 13. After all that is come upon us for our Evil Deeds thou our God hast punish'd us less than our Iniquities deserve Must not we always say the same And what is become then of Satisfaction and superabundant Satisfaction Lamen 3. 39. Wherefore doth a living Man complain a Man for the punishment of his Iniquity But if God should punish him more than he deserves he would have cause of complaint But Job 34. 23. God will not lay upon Man more than is right that he should enter into Judgment with God as it is implied he might do if he should So that whosoever suffers suffers but what is due and yet doth not satisfy much less over-satisfy The Penitential Works of the Saints are but what are due also before as was before observed and therefore are not Satisfactions And the Afflictions that are laid upon them are for other ends and not to be an equivalent Satisfaction to Divine Justice It is Christ alone who hath offered himself a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice for all our Sins He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World. Who his one self bare our Sins in hiâ— Body on the Tree The only Propitiation 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all This is no Man's Business but his nor can be done by any but him For Acts 4. 12. There is not Salvation in any other For there is no other Name given among Men by which we must be saved But if others may satisfy and their Satisfactions may serve for us they are so far made our Redeemers and Saviours Which is to put them into Christ's Office and stead
pure from Sin Psal 19. 13. Who can understand his Errors Psal 130. 2. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquities who shall stand Therefore Psal 143. 3. Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified Job 9. 2. I know it is so of a truth For how should Men be just with God If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand Job 15. 14. For what is Man that he should be clean or he that is born of a Woman that he should be righteous Isa 64. 6. For we are all as an unclean Thing and our Righteousness as filthy Rags 1 Joh. 1. 8. If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves Jam. 3. 4. For in many things we offend all none excepted Of Baptism CHAP. XXIV That Baptism is absolutely necessary to Salvation so that those who die without Baptism are damned Concil Triden Sess 7. Can. 5. Bellarm. de Amiss grat stat peccat lib. 2. cap. 6. THE Necessity of Baptism we constantly maintain and that it is a Law of Christ which he hath establish'd in the Gospel to be for ever observed But we think it very uncharitable to determine that all those that die without it are absolutely excluded from the Grace of Christ nor have all of the Church of Rome been of this uncharitable Opinion But it is supposed that Martyrdom or Penance and Acts of Faith Hope and Charity may supply the Defects of it But if Children which are not capable of these die without Baptism they very uncharitably hold that they are excluded from all part in Jesus Christ Which being the general Opinion the Sense of the Council of Trent is to be supposed to intend it But by what hath been said in the foregoing Chapter it appears that the Grace of God is not absolutely tied to the Sacraments but is rather presupposed unto them So that there is sometimes Sanctification Justification and the other Graces before the use of the Sacraments As Abraham believed and was justified before he was circumcised Rom. 4. 10. Cornelius received the Holy Spirit before he was baptized Acts 10. 19. And our Adversaries are forc'd to grant that there may be Acts of Faith and Hope and Charity without or before the Application of them As the Thief on the Cross believed though he was never baptized Luke 23. 42. Even after those words were spoken by our Saviour Except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Now if there may be this Grace of Faith without Baptism then so likewise there may be Salvation For John 3. 16. God so loved the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life So that if they may believe without Baptism then so likewise they may be saved as we see the Thief on the Cross was who entred into Paradise without being baptized Sacraments are Seals of Grace which they serve to increase and confirm as being before but they do not give Grace or Salvation any other ways than as they confirm the Covenant by which it is promised to them who are in it It is not the Sacraments then which make Children to have part in the Covenant of God and the Fruits thereof tho by these Rights they are visibly initiated into the fellowship of the Catholick Church But on the contrary they receive the Sacraments because they belong to the Covenant of God before Gen. 17. 7. God made a Covenant with Abraham for himself and his Seed to be a God unto thee saith he and thy Seed after thee and upon this they were to receive the Token of Circumcision as a Seal of the Covenant vers 11. So that Circumcision followed the Clauses of the Covenant and did not give them a right to it nor make them the Children of God out presupposed their being so So in the New Testament God hath taken Children into Covenant together with their Parents that believe so that their Children are holy already before they are baptized and that from the very Birth as being born within the Covenant of Grace 1 Cor. 7. 13 14. The unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they holy By which he cannot understand Legitimate in opposition to Bastardy for so they would have been being born in Matrimony though neither of their Parents had believed But he means they are holy to God by virtue of the Covenant by which he is the Parent 's God and the God of their Posterity Gen. 17. 7. And if the Lord be the God also of Children and if they be holy being sprung from the Righteous Seed how can they possibly perish though they die unbaptized For though it be a federal Holiness only which can be directly argued from words yet it must be supposed to be such a federal Holiness as intitles them to saving Benefits contained in the Covenant which therefore if they die before their actual breach of the Covenant they shall not fail to attain Mat. 19. 14. Our Saviour therefore â—aith Suffer little Children to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Note that as the Crown which is put on the Head of the Children of Kings doth not acquire to them a right to the Kingdom but because the Kingdom belongs to them the Crown which is the Symbol thereof cannot be denied them So Baptism doth not acquire to Infants a right to the Kingdom of Heaven but because the Kingdom of Heaven is obtained for them by the Blood of Jesus Christ Baptism which is the Sacrament thereof is administred to them But the Promise of God for not being sealed with the outward Sacrament is never the less true nor less constant Baptism succeeded Circumcision and cometh in the room of it and is of the same use to us as Circumcision to the Jews as the Apostle teacheth Col. 2. 11 12. And Circumcision was as necessary to the Israelites as Baptism is to us But now behold the Ordinance of Circumcision Gen. 17. 12. Every Child that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you Luke 12. 3. In the eighth day the Flesh of his Foreskin shall be circumcised It was not to be done before the eighth day there is no exception made in case of necessity Yet shall we say that if they died before the eighth day being uncircumcised that then they were not saved What a cruel Law had that been then to limit Circumcision to the eighth day David's Child died on the seventh day and therefore before it was circumcised 2 Sam. 12. 18. And yet he doth not doubt of the Child's Salvation vers 23. I shall go to him but he shall not come to me Sure he doth not mean in Limbus or in Hell but in the place of the Blessed And many of the Children of Israel in