Baptism IT is a matter of great Importance rightly to determin who are the Subjects and what is the form of Gospel Baptism to prevent error in that administration and the lamentable Church-dividing Consequences thereof It is the Covenant Interest and Baptism of the Infant Seed only of Visible Believers that I plead for and there are such vast numbers even Millions of these that if Men unduly exclude and rase out the names of so many out of that great Charter of Heaven they will have a dreadful account to give thereof to God. Those who deny Infant Baptism often call upon us to give express Scripture for it and speak slightly of Consequences But let them know that Scripture Consequences i. e. naturally deduced are valid arguments for Jesus Christ proveth an Article of Faith viz. the resurrection Mat. 22. v. 31. 32. from Ex. 3. v. 6. where is no express word of it and so the proof is only by consequence See others Joh. 7. 38. Joh. 5. 46. 47. Luk. 24. 44 45 46. Act. 10. 43. and 28. v. 23. it would destroy almost all preaching to deny Consequences Besides what express Scripture have they for admitting Women to the Lords Supper as to 1 Cor. 11. 28. if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may rarely be extended to the female yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself limits it to the male So what express Scripture have they for Baptizing again those who were Baptized as with us in Infancy I conclude things may be forbidden by good consequence but to those who are otherwise minded for ever to silence this weak Objection I add That there is nothing against Infant Baptism but by consequence and that not good If the Command to Baptize Professed Believers did forbid to the Baptizing of Infants as it doth not yet it were only by consequence I argue thus There is no express Sctipture against Infant Baptism if there were the Controversy were presently at an end Therefore Infants may be Baptized for where there is no Law there is no Transgression Rom. 4. 15. Undeniably then either Scripture Consequences must be owned or else Infants may lawfully be Baptized for there is no express Scripture or Law against it § 1. The Proof of Infant Baptism Position That Infant Baptism is an Appointment of Christ Or That it is the will of Christ that some Infants should be Baptized Argument 1. Some Infants are Discipled so as to have the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit upon them Therefore by the will of Christ they are to be Baptized For that is the Commission Mat. 28. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disciple ye all Nations Baptizing them All then who are discipled by the Will of Christ are to be Baptized and they are Disciples not only who actually learn but who are in the School of Christ his Church in order to their future Learning Saul made havock of the Church Act. 8. 3. Which is expressed Act. 9. 1. by the Disciples of the Lord. So then to be a Church-member is to be a Disciple Thus Act. 15. 10. The Yoke of Circumcision was laid upon the Disciples Doctrinely imposed upon the Parents but Practically upon the Infant Seed at eight days old for so was the Institution Gen. 17. v. 10 12 13. And so they are Disciples See also Act. 21. 4 5. where Children seem to be numbred among Disciples And as to the Name of the Trinity that of being Holy is attributed often to Father Son and Spirit Lev. 19. 2. and 20. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 15. Heb. 7. 26. Eph. 1. v. 13. and 4. 30. 1 Thess 4. 8. And it is given also to the Church and its Members Exod. 19. 6. Deut. 7. 6. and 14. v. 2. 21. and 26. 19. and 28. v. 9. Rom. 11. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 9. And this very Name of the Lord Holy he hath imposed upon the Children of Believers 1 Cor. 7. 14. Else were your Children Unclean but now are they Holy i. e. Holy by a Separation unto God and his Service which often in Scripture denominateth Persons or Things Holy as the Church and it cannot be meant of Legitimation for if both the Parents were Unbelievers yet the Children might not be Illegitimate For Marriage is honourable in all Heb. 13. 4. Nor is it meant of being only Sanctified to use for there is a vast difference between being Sanctified to and being Holy as Mr. Cotton saith Afflictions Temptations yea Sin it self is Sanctified to Believers And yet none will say that Sin is Holy. Therefore it must be meant of Relative Faederal Holiness and so that Name of God is upon the Children of Believers and consequently they are to be Baptized Arg. 2. If some Infants be visibly or externally in the Govenant which God made with Abraham then by the will of Christ they are to be Baptized But some Infants are visibly or externally in the Covenant which God made with Abraham Therefore by the Will of Christ they are to be Baptized The Consequence that those who are so in Abraham's Covenant are to be Baptized I prove For 1. All the Seed of Abraham in their Generations are expressly Commanded to keep the Covenant by applying the Token of it which is Baptism Gen. 17. 9. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations So long then as Abraham hath a Seed which undeniably he hath in Gospel Times even in all their Generations here is a standing Command to keep the Covenant And how keep it v. 10. 11. This is my Covenant And mentioning Circumcision he saith It shall be a Token of the Covenant between me and you So then the keeping it is by applying the Token of it But he varieth the Phrase as Mr. Whiston excellently observeth an Intimation that he purposed a change in the Token of the Covenant It is not said That the keeping of it in all their Generations should be by Circumcision as the Token of it The Covenant in Gospel Times cannot be kept by Circumcision for that is abrogated and ceaseth to be a Token of it and therefore it must be kept by Baptism which now is the Sign or Token of it that being for the Remission of Sins Act. 2. 38 39. which is a great Blessing of the Covenant Heb. 10. v. 16 17. This then is a full Command to Baptize all in Covenant now for the keeping it as it did command of old to Circumcise them when that was the Token of the Covenant The alteration of the Sign is no hindrance at all as the Second Commandment of Old did require Circumcision Sacrifices and Passover and now these are abrogated it doth equally require the observing Gospel Institutions as Baptism and the Lord's Supper and is kept thereby And the Fourth Commandment required the Observation of the Seventh Day as a Sabbath yet now is kept by observing the First Day of the Week as a Sabbath So the Command of keeping the Covenant was observed of old by
Circumcision but is now by Baptism since that is become the Token of it and cannot be obeyed otherwise 2. Baptism is the first Sign of the Covenant and no Scripture Warrant is found to delay the applying of it to Persons visibly in the Covenant Some call it an Initiatory Sign which is so far true as that speedily after coming under the Covenant it is to be submitted to and is urged early Act. 2. 38. and practised v. 41. Act. 13. 24. Act. 22. 16. such then who are faederatiare to be signati Mat. 28. 19. Yea Baptism followeth a being Externally and Visibly in Covenant as in Simon Magus Act. 8. 13. Simon himself believed and when he was Baptized yet he was not internally and savingly in the Covenant for he was in the gall of bitterness still v. 21. 22. 23. wanted faith and repentance his heart was not right And let this ever be remembred that some are internally invisibly and savingly in that Covenant so as to partake of special grace blessings and priviledges as Justification Adoption Sanctification c. Rom. 4. v. 2 3 13 16 17. Gal. 3. v. 16 17 18 26 29. and these shall never totally and finally fall away Jer. 32 40 41. Joh. 10. 28. Rom. 11 2 7. Others are Externally and Visibly in that Covenant and many of these are branches in Christ that may be taken away cast forth and burnt Joh. 15. v. 2. 6. may be broken off Rom. 11. v. 17. 20. thus the Jews for positive unbelief were broken off which those who are internally in it cannot be And hence though the Children of some Godly Parents may degenerate and prove wicked yet this is no more against their former visible Covenant Interest and Baptism then the same in Professed Believers who may degenerate also as Simon Magus did who before was duly Baptized only upon a Visible External Interest in the Covenant 3. There is a Connexion between the Covenant and Baptism Act. 2 38 39. whence I argue thus Those to whom the Promise is made are Commanded to be Baptized Be Baptized for the promise is to you But the Promise is to Repenters and their Seed Therefore Repenters and their Seed are commanded to be Baptized All that have the Promise to them are to be Baptized seeing the for doth intimate that to be the ground motive and inducement to the applying Baptism that the promise is to them And undeniably they are the Jews which he speaketh to v. 36. Let all the house of Israel know them he commandeth to repent and be Baptized v. 38. and addeth for the promise is to you and your Children So then in Gospel times there is a promise which the Jews and their Seed had a joynt Interest in before their rejection which was sufficient to entitle them to Baptism All repenters and believers are noted by you but here are two not only you but also your Children within the promise it is still double as it was of old to Abraham and his Seed Gen. 17. and it tended greatly to their Comfort that such a promise of antient date was still to them and their Seed although they had Crucified and Slain Jesus Christ the Lord of Life yea if for the present they were but externally in Covenant yet it might be a great support in their Soul distress that yet it was hopeful that they might obtain the special internal blessings of it as remission of sin seeing an external Interest is a great advantage that way telling that their condition was not yet hopeless And this promise extending to the Jews and their Seed must also reach to the Seed of believing Gentiles else the Jews should have more priviledge then they whereas there is no difference in Gospel times And those words as many as the Lord our God shall call are not a limitation of the former part of the verse but of the words immediatly foregoing and to all that are afar off if that be meant of the Gentiles as Eph. 2. 13. 17. then it telleth us that the promise is not to all Gentiles universally and without exception but only to such of them as shall be called or believe and their Seed else they were less priviledged then the Jews Or if as some think it referreth to the Jews because the calling of the Gentiles was as yet a great mystery unto Peter Act. 10. and might have been a stumbling block to these Jews then these afar off must be the posterity of the Jews to succeed in ages to come who were then afar off in time and if so then by Children must be understood not the posterity of the Jews which was to come after but their present Children even Infants to them belongeth this promise And this Promise is not to them only in the tender or offer of it for that may extend to all afar off this is limited to those of them which the Lord shall call This Promise is not absolute absolute it is so far conditional as to individuals of the Seed as all the Children of Believers may not and such as reject the Covenant shall not be saved but it is absolute as to the Species as they are in a Covenant-state with God as the Seed of others uncalled are not and are under a greater probability of obtaining spiritual blessings as remission of sin and eternal Salvation have higher advantages that way than the Seed of those who are out of Covenant It is mentioned as a great priviledge that the promise is to them and their Children it is then to oppose God for any Man to say he doth not make the promise any otherwise to them and their Children then he doth to all others in the World and especially seeing Baptism is here entailed to it I now shall prove That some Infants are visibly or externally in the Covenant which God made with Abraham For Some Infants for many hundreds of years in all Old Testament times were so in that Covenant made with Abraham and God hath never repealed it or cut them off Therefore they are in it still That they were in it is undeniable for at the Eighth day they were to be Circumcised else the Lord saith they have broken his Covenant Gen. 17. v. 14. it could not have been broken by neglecting that token of it if they had not been in it It is impossible to break that Covenant that they are not in And let any prove that God hath repealed it or cut Infants out of it in Gospel times if they can To evade this they tell us that the Infants of believing Gentiles are not the Seed of Abraham I shall prove Posit That the Infant Seed even of believing Gentiles are visibly and externally in the Covenant which God made with Abraham For 1. The Infant Seed of believing Gentiles in the days of the Old Testament were so in that Covenant with Abraham and therefore they are in it still unless God hath repealed it The Scripture witnesseth that
is not temporary but by an everlasting Covenant and faileth not Infants Covenant Interest is no branch of those priviledges which he saith are expired but on the contrary Dr. O. mentioneth this as one promise to the Church that God will be a God to them and their seed for ever Exercit. 6. on Heb. Neither doth this make three parties in the Covenant Abraham and his seed and their Infant seed any more than it did before the coming of Christ when Parents and their Infants made one joynt Subject all along as Isaac and his Children and Jacob and his and those Circumcised Josh 5. and theirs The Jews ungroundedly claimed all promises by their being the fleshly seed of Abraham but the spiritual seed may duly claim that promise for their Children there being nothing for the nulling of it Besides Dr. O. once and again there declareth that the Church is one and the same not one Church taken away and another set up in the room the Olive-tree is the same only some branches are broken off c. Infants were of the Church shew when they were all cast out the same that the Jews were broken off from the Gentiles were graffed into Rom. 11. Let any prove that the Church-state in the Substance of it was any part of that which was abolished by the death of Christ They were added to the Church Act. 2. 47. i. e. to the Church under its new administration By breaking down the partition wall the former confinement of the Church to the Natural seed of Abraham was taken off and it hath enlargement by the access of the Gentiles but is not straitned by excluding so vast a number as all the Infant seed The degenerate obstinate unbelieving Jews were broken off for the reformation of the Church but it was not dismembred by cutting off all the Infant seed who had actually done neither good nor evil nor had their Parents rejected the Covenant Some ordinances of worship expired and new were appointed as D. O. well observeth but I cannot find that God cast out any who formerly were members of it as Infants were without a forfeiture of their privilege Obj. 5. Infants are not capable of entring Covenant with God and if they were absolutely in it then God did not perform his promise because many prove wicked and if only conditionally then it is no more to them then others and what advantage by it A. 1. Infants were of old in Covenant and so are capable Gen. 17. v. 10 11 12. Deut. 29. v. 10 11 12. ye stand this day all of you your little ones that thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God So then little ones are in a capacity to be engaged by Covenant for the Lord. I may ask were they absolutely in it or conditionally 2. Some answer the Infant seed of Believers are in Covenant absolutely in the Species conditionally in the individuals Cobbet Many promises run to a Collective body as the Church and are accomplished there and yet may not be made good to every member particularly as it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church Mat. 16. 18. and yet Satan may prevail against particular Members or Churches So the Covenant of not drowning the World doth not secure every particular Man from drowning 3. As to advantages there are many as a Covenant-state is a state of greater nearness unto God then others are in is declared to be a priviledge Rom. 3. 1 2. and 9 4. and it is a misery to be strangers from the Covenants of promise Eph. 2. 12. many advantages I could discover of being externally in Covenant and thus Men may be in it and may so miscarry as to be rejected as Ishmael Esau the Jews Rom. 11. and yet God not break Covenant against Infants Baptism it is objected thus Obj. 6. Faith and Repentance are required before Baptism Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Act. 2. 38. Repent and be baptized If the Jews the natural seed of Abraham might not be baptized without Faith and Repentance much less others And such affirmative Precepts have their negative and so Infants not believing or repenting may not be baptized Ans 1. I freely grant that those which believe and repent are to be baptized but I deny the consequence that therefore Infants may not be baptized Such Texts conclude affirmatively that such may they do not conclude negatively that none else may as for example it is said Act. 8. 37. If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest i. e. be baptized This doth not conclude negatively that none else may if any will say hence none may be baptized who do not believe with all their heart then they can baptize none for they cannot know that another doth believe with all his heart and Simon Magus who did not so yet was duely baptized Act. 8. 13. If it could be proved that it is intended exclusively then 2. It importeth that none but those who believe and repent of adult ones may be baptized it is not to be understood in opposition to Infants often affirmative Commands intend only capable Subjects and the negative part extendeth no further Thus as believing and repenting are commanded before Baptism so confession with the mouth is commanded before Salvation Rom. 10. v. 9. 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Will any hence deny that any Infants can be saved because they do not confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus It is meant of adult ones only who are capable subjects So labour by a general term is commanded before eating 2 Thes 3. 10. We command you that if any would not work neither should he eat Will any conclude thence that Infants shall not eat because they will not labour So some commands about eating the Passover as with sower herbs are intended only for capable subjects not sick Persons or Infants That of preaching the Gospel to every creature Mark. 16. 15 16. is meant not to Infants but others So as to Baptism the command to believe and repent before it concerneth capable subjects only and the negative part only saith that adult Believers and impenitent ones may not be baptized it concludeth nothing against Infant Baptism That new Institution of Baptism was firstly to be received by the adult being given to a Church where many such are found and so it was proper to preach to them believe repent and be baptized and thus we going to Turks Indians or others where Baptism hath not come we may preach in the same language believe repent and be baptized without excluding Infants from it Yea of old the Proselites and Strangers must own the Jewish Religion make a profession of Faith and Love as Isa 56. v. 3. to 8. Exod. 12. and then had Circumcision for themselves and their Infant seed 3. Faith and