the different condition of those children who dye baptized and of them who dye unbaptized Ireneus who lived in the same Century lib. 2. cap. 29. saith Christus venit per seipsum omnes salvare omnes 〈◊〉 qui per eum renascuntur in Deum Infantes parvulos pueros c. Now it 's well known say the Glossers upon that Text renascentiae nomine Dominica Apostolica phrasi Baptismum intelligi Origen who lived in the beginning of the third Century in his Treatise upon Rom. 6. lib. 5. saith The Church received this tradition of Baptizing of Infants from the Apostles and Homily 8. upon Leviticus Secundum Ecclesiae observantiam Baptismum parvulis dari concedit Hom. 14. in Lucam Parvuli baptizantur in remissionem peccatorum he cals it indeed a Tradition according to the expression of the Ancients who ordinarily called the greatest points of Faith by the name of Traditions received from the Apostles Traditions being onely such things as are delivered from one to another whether writen or unwriten And so did the Apostle himselfe 2 Thess. 2.15 when he charged them to hold the Traditions which they had been taught either by word or Epistle However his calling it a Tradition received from the Apostles gives us a sufficient proofe that time out of mind it had been received in the Church that it was delivered over to the Church in his time and was of antient use in the Church before his time Gregory Nazianzen Orat. 40. in Baptismum cals Baptism signaculum vitae cursum ineuntibus and commands children to be baptized though afterward he seemed to restraine it to the case of necessity Cyprian one of the Antientest Writers amongst the Latines handles it at large in Epist. 59. Ad Fidum upon this occasion Fidus denyed not the Baptisme of Infants but denyed that they ought to be Baptized before the eighth day Cyprian assures him that by the unanimous consent of 66. Bishops gathered together in a Councell Baptisme was to be administred to Infants as well as to growne men and not to be restrained to any time and proves it by such Arguments as these They are under originall sinne they need pardon are capable of grace and mercy God regards not age c. This testimony of Cyprians is cited and approved by August Epist. 28. lib. 3. de Merit Remiss pecca cap. 5. lib. 3. contra Pelag. and by Hierom contra Pelag. lib. 3. Of the same judgment was Ambrose lib. 2. cap. 11. De Abraham Patriarcha and many other of the Ancients which I relate not to prove the truth of the thing but onely the practise of it and indeed although some in those times questioned it as August grants in his Sermons De Verbis Apostol. yet the first that ever made a head against it or a division in the Church about it was Baltazar Pacommitanus in Germany in Luthers time about the yeere 1527. and since that time multitudes in Germany have imbraced his opinion who because they opposed Paedo-baptisme were forced to reiterate their owne Baptisme and thence were called Anabaptists and soone proved a dangerous and turbulent Sect against that Reformation not onely working a world of mischiefe about Munster and other parts of Germany but have with this opinion drunk in abundance of other dangerous Heresies and Blasphemies and quickly grew into such divisions and sub-divisions among themselves that Bullenger notes that they were growne to no lesse then fourteene severall Sects in his time which in truth is the common lot of all Sectaries who when once they have departed from the Church upon every small occasion they come to bee divided againe among themselves and one from another As the Ecclesiasticall Story lets us see in the Novatians Macedonians Eunomians Arians c. which divisions also opened a way to their totall destruction in the end their mutuall bickerings among themselves being as the beating of the waves of the Sea one against another till all were changed as the Historian notes of them And because this Opinion and divers others which depend upon it begins unhappily to take place and spread among our selves in this Kingdom and so the work of Reformation without Gods mercy likely to bee much hindred by it I shall God willing handle this Question more largely then I have done any other in this place and the rather because of three other great mischiefes which goe along with it First I see that all who reject the Baptizing of Infants doe and must upon the same ground reject the Religious observation of the Lords day or the Christian Sabbath viz. because there is not say they an expresse institution or command in the New Testament Verily I have hardly either knowne or read or heard of any one who hath rejected this of Infants but with it they reject that of the Lords day now God hath so blessed the Religious observation of the Lords day in this Kingdome above other Churches and Kingdomes that such as indeavour to overthrow it deserve justly to be abhorred by us Secondly the Teachers of this Opinion where ever they prevaile take their Proselytes wholly off from the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and all other acts of Christian communion both publick and private from any but those who are of their owne opinion condemning them all as Limbs of Antichrist worshippers and followers of the Beast And so not onely labour to cast the godly Ministers out of the hearts of those people whom they have wonne to Christ but leave the people whom they insnare without any hope of recovery whilst they impose upon their consciences to heare none but such as may confirme them in their errors An old trick of Satan which hee taught the Papists long agone a meere politick device to keep their Disciples fast unto themselves which unchristian course how prosperous soever it may seeme to bee at the first cannot bee blessed by God nor indeed is it the Lord giving them up almost every where to other most dangerous vile and abominable opinions I deny not but some few who are of this opinion are otherwise minded but all our experience teacheth us that the generality of them doe runne this way Thirdly this opinion puts all the Infants of all Beleevers into the self-same condition with the Infants of Turkes and Indians which they all readily acknowledge and from thence unavoidably one of these three things must follow 1. Either all of them are damned who die in their Infancy being without the Covenant of grace having no part in Christ Or 2. All of them saved as having no originall sinne and consequently needing no Saviour which most of the Anabaptists in the world doe owne and therewith bring in al Pelagianisme Universall grace Free-will c. Or 3. That although they bee tainted with originall corruption and so need a Saviour Christ doth pro beneplacito save some of the Infants of Indians and
is called a seale of the Covenant therefore our Sacraments are seales of the Covenant because circumcision might be administred but once being the seale of initiation therefore Baptism being also the seale of initiation is also to be administred but once But that circumcision was to be administred upon the eighth day onely was an accidentall thing and therefore bindes not us the Jewish Passeover being to be yearely repeated binds us to have a repetition of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which came in roome of it because this belongs to the substance of the Covenant both of them being Sacraments for spirituall nourishment growth and continuance in the Covenant as the other was for birth and entrance but that their Passeover was to be eaten in an Evening and upon one set Evening in the yeare was accidentall and so binds not us The like instance I give in our Christian Sabbath the fourth Commandement binds us for the substance of it as much as ever it bound the Jewes There God once for all separated one day of seven to be sacred to himselfe and all the world stood bound in all ages to give unto God that one day of seven which should be of his owne choosing Now untill Christs time God chose the last day of the seven to be his Sabbath and having by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus put an end to the Saturday Sabbath and surrogated the first day of the weeke in stead thereof to be the Lords day we need no new Commandment for the keeping of the Lords day being tyed by the fourth Commandment to keep that day of seven which the Lord should choose the Lord having chosen this the fourth Commandment binds us to this as it did the Jews to the former so in like manner I say in the Sacrament of Baptisme When God made the Covenant with Abraham and promised for his part to be the God of him and his seed what God promised to Abraham we claime our part in it as the children of Abrahams and what God required on Abrahams part for the substance of obedience we all stand charged with as well as Abraham we as Abraham are tyed to beleeve to love the Lord with all our heart to have our heart circumcised to walke before God in uprightnesse to instruct our children and bring them up for God and not for our selves nor for the Devill to teach them to worship God according to his revealed will to traine them up under the ordinances and institutions of Gods owne appointment all these things Gods command to Abraham charges upon all the children of the Covenant though there were no expresse reviving these commands in any part of the New Testament and therefore consequently that command of God to Abraham which bound his seed of the Jewes to traine up their children in that manner of worship which was then in force bindes the seed of Abraham now to traine up their children in conformity to such ordinances as now are in force And the same command which injoyned Abraham to seale his children with the seale of the Covenant injoynes us as strongly to seale ours with the seale of the Covenant and that command of God which expressely bound Abraham to seale his with the signe of Circumcision which was the Sacrament then in force pro tempore doth vertually binde us to seale ours with the signe of Baptisme which is the Sacrament now in force and succeeds in the roome of the other by his owne appointment There is one command by cleare consequence another you shall find Matth. 28. where our Saviour bids them goe and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sanne and of the Holy Ghost Where you have two things First What they were to doe Secondly To whom they were to doe it They were to preach and teach all things which he had commanded them that is they were to preach the whole Gospel Mark 16.15 The whole Covenant of Grace containing all the promises whereof this is one viz. that God will be the God of beleevers and of their seed that the seed of beleevers are taken into Covenant with their Parents This is a part of the Gospel preached unto Abraham and they were to Baptize them that is to administer Baptisme as a Seale of the Covenant to all who received the Covenant Secondly wee have the persons to whom they were to doe this all Nations whereas before the Church was tyed to one Nation one Nation onely were Disciples now their Commission was extended to make all Nations Disciples every Nation which should receive the faith should be to him now as the peculiar Nation of the Jewes had beene in time past In a word Nations here are opposed to the one Nation before Now we know when that one Nation of the Jewes were made Disciples and circumcised their infants were made Disciples made to belong to Gods Schoole and circumcised with them when that nation was made Disciples in Abrahams loynes and circumcised their seed also was the same when that Nation was taken out of Egypt and actually made Disciples their children were also with them and we know that in every Nation the children make a great part of the Nation and are alwayes included under every administration to the Nation whether promises or threatnings priviledges or burthens mercies or judgements unlesse they be excepted so are they in Cities in Families it being the way of the Scripture when speaking indefinitely of a People Nation City or Family to be either saved or damned to receive mercies or punishments expresly to except Infants when they are to be excepted as we see in the judgement that befell Israel in the Wildernesse when all that rebellious Company that came out of Egypt was to perish by Gods righteous doome their little ones were expresly excepted Num. 14.31 and in the Covenant actually entred into by the body of the Nation Neh. 10. it is expresly limited to them who had knowledge and understanding And the Disciples who received this Commission knew well that in all Gods former administrations when any Parents were made Disciples their children were taken in with them to appertaine to the same schoole and therefore it behooved the Lord to give them a caution for the leaving out of Infants in this new administration that they might know his mind if that he intends to have them left out which that ever he did in word or deed cannot be found in the Scriptures If it be said they are not capable of being Disciples I answer even as capable as the Infants of Jews and Proselytes were when they were made Disciples and beside they are devoted to be Disciples being to be trained up by the Parents who are from their infancy to teach them the knowledge of Christ and at the present they are capable of his owne teaching and sure I am in Christs owne dialect to belong to Christ and to
been guilty of it in time past be deeply humbled for it crave mercy and pardon and for time to come indeavour to do the part of a nursing Father or Mother for Christ looking upon thy children as being Christs more then thine yea as not being thine but Christs to whom thou hast consecrated them and therefore as wise and loving Nurses use to doe carry them often to their father for his blessing and he will blesse them and reward thee also we find in the second of Joel that in the day of their Fast they were to bring their children and set them before the Lord that he might be moved to compassion for the childrens sake whom he used to call his owne set thou thy children often before him intreat him as Joseph did his father for his two sonnes and as they did our Saviour Marke 10. that he would put his hands upon them and blesse them Doe it heartily humbly frequently tell him how deare they are to thee and the dearer because he is pleased to owne them tell him their wants and thy own inability to supply them in any thing and how easie it is for him to doe it by his Spirit and Grace Oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight said Abraham Say thou so also Lord let these children live before thee thine they are and thou gavest them me to bring up for thee Oh blesse my labour among them and make them such as thou wouldest have them to be And doe not onely pray for them but discipline them and instruct them acquainting them with the Scriptures and Catechising them in the Principles of Religion as the Mother and Grandmother of Timothy did him training him up from his infancy in the knowledge of the holy Scripture and be assured if thy children may learne from thee to know their heavenly Father to beleeve in him to love him and feare him betimes that being taught the trade in their youth they may not forsake it when they are old they will then more blesse God for thee then if thou couldest leave them all the world for their inheritance it was for this that Solomon gloried in his father and mother Prov. 4.2 3. and for this will thy children rise up and call thee blessed Thus shalt thou approve thy selfe a true sonne of Abraham Thus shall thy children be blessed with faithfull Abraham Thus shall the Covenant the spirituall part and benefit of it as well as the outward rest upon thy posterity from generation to generation Thirdly and lastly This serves for use to all children whom God honours so farre as in their Infancy to bring thus neare unto himselfe and to use them thus as his owne and that three severall wayes First to incourage and comfort them to beleeve in him and rest upon him for all the good things which he hath promised in the Covenant of Grace The Papists as in some things they give and ascribe too much to Baptisme making it to take away originall sinne ex opere operato So in other things they rob Gods people of the comfortable use of it because they say that when once we commit actuall sinnes we make shipwracke of Baptism and then Penance must be secunda tabula post naufragium a Cockbot after our shipwrack but this blessed Sacrament seekes for a more durable and comfortable use even to be an Arke as my Text cals it to carry to heaven Know then that whensoever thou findest thy selfe at a losse sensible of thy undone condition findest thy guilt and filth and bondage through sinne and flyest unto Christ and thy conscience witnesseth with thee that thou wouldest walke for time to come according to the rule of the Covenant in uprightnesse to make God in Christ thy portion and his word thy guide So often I say as thou doest this maiest thou fly to thy Baptisme and plead it for thy comfort as we may plead the Rainbow in foule weather against the worlds destruction by water I have often heard a story of a great Queen who gave a Ring to a Nobleman while he was her Favourite and willed him to send it to her when he should stand in greatest need of her favour who afterward falling into her displeasure sent the Ring which through the treachery of the bearer was not delivered till it was too late But it shall never happen so to thee doe thou in all thy extremity shew or send by the hand of faith thy Seale which God hath given thee plead it confidently and to thy dying day it may be an Arke unto thy soule in all cases of relapse desertion temptation or whatever else may betide thee upon the renewing of thy repentance and faith in Christ Jesus Secondly This great love of God in taking us thus neare into his own Family as his own Children should make many of us blush to remember our unworthy conversation in times past yea it might make our very hearts to bleed and make us not only wish we had been unbaptized but even unborn rather then to pollute the holy Covenant and the seale of it as we have done with our unhallowed lives Can it seem a light thing in our eyes that when God hath left the greatest part of the world as strangers from his Family and Kingdom to be under Satans kingdom and taken us no better by nature than they are to be his peculiar ones into Covenant with him that he should sweare unto us to be our God and hitherto to train us up under such heavenly Ordinances and we to walk in the meane time as rebels and enemies unto him like the unbaptized world can we think our condemnation not to be greater then theirs Let me a little reason the case with you Doe you know into what a Covenant the Lord hath taken you what he hath done for you and expects from you have not your Ministers and Parents instructed you in it Now tell me what is the reason of your unanswerable conversation is it because you renounce the Covenant as being made when you understood it not if so that you do indeed renounce it Take your course serve the God you have chosen yet tell me I beseech you what iniquity is in the Lords Covenant what hurt is there in it what disadvantage have you met withall or where and how do you hope to find better things then God to be your Father Christ Jesus to bee your Saviour the Spirit to bee your Comforter to have your sins pardoned and healed to be adopted justifyed sanctifyed and every way comfortably provided for here and saved for ever Doe the Gods you have chosen to serve provide better things then these that you renounce Christ for their sakes If you say God forbid you should renounce Christ No you hope to bee saved by Christ as well as any other Then tell me in good sadnesse doe you expect that Christ should stand bound to perform his part of the