other places where his name is recorded and Exod. 20. 24. called his as namely Gods house Gods Church and the like and where his Rationall Church of holy people meet to remember him and to learn to be improved in all his holy wayes and service 3. Quest What scripture hast thou for sprinkling of Infants Answ I will tell thee 1. What the Scripture holds out touching sprinkling as no wayes condemning the use of it in baptizing and then I will 2. Tell the some scriptures injoyning the baptizing of Infants First know that though holy scripture requires that in baptizing a such an application of wtter unto the party baptized should be made as may expresse representatively or signifingly the vertue of Christs blood in washing a way sin yet seing it no where injoynes expresly that the manner of that application should be either by dipping and dousing in agreat quantity of water or by pouring or sprinkling a little water on the party baptized therfore the Scripture allowes that baptisme which is performed by Sprinkling as well as that baptisme which is donne by dipping I the rather thinke so because the Holy-â—hâ—st in those holy writings doth not make choice of the expression of dipping dousing or ducking to signifie the application of Christ blood but he have made choice of the word sprinkling to notifiy so much Thus the sprinkling of the uncleane with Hysop dipt Heb. 9. 13. 14 Numb 19 18 19 Isa 52. 15. Heb. 10 22 Heb. 12. 24 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1 Pet. 3. 21 in the water of purification did testifiy faith on Christs blood applying that blood for our clensing It was prophecyed of Christ that he should sprinkle many nations we are said not to have our hearts dipt but to have them sprinkled from an evil conscience Christs blood is called the blood of sprinkling and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is an expression whereby the Apostle intimates our justification whereof baptisme is the representation Secondly know that I have these scriptures warrantizing me and other Ministers to baptise Infants or little Children Math. 28. 19 Psâ— 117. 2. Psa 148. 12 13 Acts. 2. 38 39. Rom. 15. 8. 9. 10 Our Saviour commandes his Apostles to baptise all Nations excepting none of the Nations no not infants who are in the Psalmists opinion a very considerable part of them He having in one Psalm said Praise the Lord all ye nations in another he doth call on Kings of the earth and all People to praise God and he recounts children among the particulars mentioned both young men and maidens old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord. Againe Peter exhorts the Jewes to be baptized because the promise was made to them and their children and to all that are a farre of even as many as the Lord our God shall call seing then the promises of Grace belongs to the infants of believing Parents therefore according to holy scripture they are to be baptised Againe the Apostle saith Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God to confirme the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God foâ— his mercyes as he saith Rejoyce yee Gentiles with his people Christ discharged his ministeriall Office among those of the circumcision the Jews to confiâ—me the promise made to the fathers and that the Gentiles might have a portion in the same promise that so both Jewes and Gentiles might rejoyce together before God What Christ in discharging his ministry a-abolished in the Covenant made with the Fathers is abolished but that is still confirmed and to be in use what is therein specified and was not abolished either by himself or by any of his Apostles This scripture affords a double proof of the lawfulness of baptizing the Infants of believing Parents One is from the confirmation of signing those with the seale of the Covenant who where formerly signed The other is from Christs command injoyning Baptisme to be the seale of the Covenant and not exempting from it any Infant of believing Parents 1. God at the first making of the Covenant commanded that the Children of believing Parents or Parents in Covenant should be signed with the seale of the Covenant which command was not repealed by Christ the Lord of the house which is the Church but he confirmed the promises made to the fathers and 2. Christ himself commanded that Baptisme should be the seale of the Covenant and Infants not being exempt by him from the bond of the Covenant but being such as he would have brought unto him and of whom he hath told us that of such is the Kingdome of God are therefore to receiue the seal of the Covenant appointed by him which is Baptisme These Scriptures to name no more do justifiy the baptising of the Infants of Professional believers 4. Quest What scripture hast thou for the word Sacrament Answ The 28. of Math. v. 19. 26. Math. 26 27. 1 Cor. 11. 23. c. are scriptures which doe positively injoyne those holy institutions and actions which are called among the most of Christians Sacraments however some stiles them the seals of the Covenant and though the word sacrament be not in Scripture yet seeing what is thereby meant is fully set down in holy Scriptture and the word is not used by any true Protestant in their Theologically writing to signify any thing which disagrees from No men nihil hahet Criminis quod non perturbat sensum Religionis Hilarius lib. de synod contra Arium rope finem what the scripture asserts therefore none ought to blame this and other Theological terms used for explanation of some scriptural truths and never used to be additions of something unto the holy scripture which it mentions not nor to be perversions of the true sence meaning and intent of any part of holy scripture concerning any of the Ordinances and truths which it injoynes and conteines 5. Quest Hast thou heard Gods Voyce immediately from heaven as Prophets and Apostles did or Christs Voyce Answ Though I have neither heard Gods voyce immediately from heaven as did the Prophets and Apostles whome he extraordinarily inspired and sent with his immediate messages to his people nor Christs Voyce immediately as did the Apostles and Disciples who conversed with Christ while he lived on earth yet as it becomes the Ministery which I have received fom him in his ordinary way of mission I have in all these doctrines which I taught to his people communicated to them that very voyce or mind of God and Christ which was heard immediately by the Prophets and Apostles and have tighrly informed them concerning these for I have said no other things then those that the Prophets and Moses and Christ and his Apostles said and taught God in these Heb. 1. 1. 2 latter dayes hath ceased to speake any more as he did of old to the father by immediate voyces and other extraordinary
had threatned them to be destroyed by a Nation mighty and ancient whose language was unknown to them and not understood by them ver 12 14 15 16 17. 8. For their revolting and rebellious heart in forsaking the true God and serving strange gods 9. For their foolishnesse in not considering either Gods greatnesse his mighty power manifest in the world nor yet his special goodness manifest towards themselves to be hereby moved to fear him verse 19 20 21 22 23 24. 10. For their crafty circumventing others unlawfully getting their states from them And 11. For their not judging aright in matters of judicature the Lord saith shall I not visit for these things and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this verse 26 27 28 29. These are the sins recorded for which God doth threaten to visit that people but paying unto Priests their due maintenance or means was no sin for what God hath commanded to be done and had not repealed it was a Duty and the not doing it or the not paying maintenance to the Priests had been a sinne so also the lawful rule of the Priests was no sin because it was appointed and not reversed in Jeremiahs time I say as these was no sin so the Prophet could not and doth not threaten either the Priests for receiving due maintenance from the people or the people for paying it unto them neither doth he nor could he threaten the Priests for exercising that orderly government which by appointment was charged their Tribe to observe Fifthly I now come to answer thy demand concerning my self and concerning thy self and concerning the Prophet Touching my self thou dost ask Art not thou one of them that beare rule by meanes Answ 1. If by the word meanes in this thy demand thou understands that maintenance or portion of temporal livelihood which God and the Laws of my Nation allots me then I must tell thee that as there is no man on earth neither worldly nor Church-rulers nor any other of any other sort of men who can subsist in it altogether without any temporal maintenance or meanes as thou calls it for substract from any food and man raiment and other necessaries befitting him to have for the discharge of his calling in which God hath placed him And he will soon be disenabled from performing both the acts of it and from continuing among men in acting as a man so I acknowledge that while I tread upon the earth I am and must be in the condition of all mortals just as the Prophets were of old subject to like passions as Iam. 5. 17. other men I am not exempt from that ordinary state sufferings and way of temporal living in the world to which God hath subjected all men All men are Gods beggars a company of indigent creatures depending on him daily and hourly both for the having and for the continuing unto them that temporal livelihood which he thinks fit to distribute to every several man in his station and therefore though I and other Ministers shall stand in need of all temporal things which are necessary for our temporary subsistence as we are men and for the performance of our calling as we are Ministers ruling in the Church of Christ yet neither thou nor any other can justly blame us more then your selves or other other men for having maintenance or meanes in our temporal condition And it is a very false conceit that we rule in the Church by maintenance or meanes because we cannot without maintenance or meanes live in the world For as a King rules in a Common-wealth not by the revenues maintenance Eccl. 5. 9. or means which he receives from his Subjects Solomon saith a King hath maintenance from the field as well as other men the profit of the earth is for all the King himself is served by the field but a King rules by the Authority wherewith he is invested from God and by the Laws of the Nation over whom he rules So likewise Ministers rule in the Church of Christ not by that temporal means or maintenance which God and the Laws of the Nation hath appointed them to receive but by that Authority which they have received from the Lord to rule and by those Laws which Christ hath prescribed unto them in his holy Word to rule people by I answer then plainly to thy demand I am not one of them that bear rule by any temporal maintenance or meanes though while I continue in the world discharging duties required of me as I am a man and as I am a Minister of Christ I shall need outward means or mainteance as well as all other men shall have need of the like while they live and are to do duties as men and as they are men in such callings wherein it pleaseth God to imploy them 2. I answer If by the word means thou understand by this thy demand the very same thing which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry against then I directly answer I am not one of them that bears rule by the hand help or meanes of any false Teacher which are in these our dayes I neither do nor can as the Priests against whom Jeremy cried did and could protect any of them in their falshoods I never was magnified by any such as the Priests were of whom Jeremiah speaks in his fifth Chapter I never did conspire with false teachers as did the Priests foremention either in persecuting and suppressing the true Ministers or Teachers of Christ nor yet in teaching as these Priests did falshoods unto the people and therefore I am not one of them who bears rule by means according as the Prophet understood and as all ought to understand the meaninâ— of the word means in that place of the Prophet to which thy demand relates Touching thy self thou asks I in holding up such do I obey the Prophets Voice Answ The people in Jeremiahs time holding up their Priests in their due maintenance was in that act no wayes at all disobedient to any voice of the Prophet but they were obedient unto Gods command which no holy Prophet durst condemn them for and so if thou hold up the Ministers of Christ set over thee in the Lord in paying unto them their dues which both God and mans Law requires should be paid unto them thou dost not in so doing disobey any voice of the Prophet in that particular for in his Prophecy he no where forbids paying unto Priests their due maintenance of tithes and offerings neither doth condemne any people for doing so But if thou art one of those who will not believe the word preached by faithful Ministers but will slight them and not endure the sound doctrine which they teach believing and loving rather the flatteries and falshoods of those false teachers whom thou heapest to thy self if thou wilt turne from 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. the truth and be turned unto the fables or lies of those false teachers
to the publick holy Assemblies may be there partakers of some spiritual gift which he imparts to their edification in that publick house belonging to them all which is commonly called the Church It is also well known that he is ready upon timely notice at all times night or day to come to thine and to any other of his peoples private houses and there to minister such spirituals as the present emergencies of your families doth justly require from him And though he sees well enough who do cordially and who do onely superficially value those spirituals which he dispenseth yet he counts any house worthy which desires his Ministerial service and which doth not put it away from them and judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life All thy expressions are now fully answered which have been used by thee to declare the kinde of maintenance which thou deemes is only to be allowed unto a Minister of the Gospel and an answer is also given to thy promise relating in what manner thou will entertain at thine house such a Minister The language which I must expect from thee in case I come and demand things tythable is thus related by thee But if thou come to a Towne or come to an House and quetie for tythes and Augmentations and tythe Wool Hey Pigs Bees Gardens and money for smoak passing up Chimneys Fowles Egges Geese Chickens Calves Lambs and other creatures And thou canst not shew me by Scripture where the Apostles did so I must say thou art one of those evil beasts that minds earthly things and thy own belly if thou cannot prove to the contrary Answ It hath been already again and againe proved that tythes in general and that the tythes also of those very things which thou mentions are all due from the taught to him who teacheth It hath also been proved that Ministers have right to all such augmentations which shall at any time arise unto them either from moneys or from other things which are given unto them or from the increase either of fruits or of rents or of improvements which those lands houses and other temporalities which are dedicated to the upholding of the publick service and honour of God and to his Ministers maintenance do yeeld and therefore it is lawful for a Minister to come to a Town and House and there to querie after his dues of tythes and other dues of them who have them and are to pay them unto him even as the Apostle Peter did querie or demand of Ananias and Saphira about that Act. 5. 2 3 c. part of dues which they had deteined and had not laid it at the Apostles feet If notwithstanding all that clearnesse of holy Scripture which is brought and proves fully my right as I am a Minister of the Gospel unto tythes and the lawfulnesse for me to demand my dues of tythes from thee I say if notwithstanding this when I come to thy house thou will say that I am one one of those evil beasts that minds earthly things and mine own belly I shall be therewith onely moved to pray unto God to pardon thee all that and the like uncomely and unmanly language which hath in it not a word of truth and soberness and that he would grant unto thy very reason so much freedome from being blinded by any covetous desires of with-holding other mens dues that thou may truly understand that neither thy Minister nor others are therefore evil beasts that mindes earthly things and their own bellies because he and they come to thy house he inquiring after his dues and they after the debts which thou owest them and both demanding from the payment of what is theirs Thy fourteenth Demand hath now received a full and ample Answer CHAP. XV. Thy fifteenth Head of Demands is thus exprest IF any people had followed the false Prophets false Apostles and such as made a prey upon them for filthy lucre and covetousnesse and took their money and bear rule by their meanes And divined for money and sought for their fleece and the Priests that preached for hire and come to Christ from the hirelings that will flie who hath laid down his life for the sheep who saith Learn of me I am the way to the Father and witnesse the word in them and the anointing in them to teach them are they to maintain and uphold such before mentioned that Christ the Prophets and Apostles cryed against or maintain such Prophets and Priests in their way yea or nay as Priests and Ministers and Teachers Answ I have already fully proved that though there were false prophets and false Apostles among the Jews who made a prey upon the people for filthy lucre and covetousnesse and took their money and did bear rule by their meanes and divined for money and sought for their fleece and though there was carnal covetous Priests who would be hired to teach falshood for advantage against whom the true Prophets and Christ and his Apostles in their dayes cryed yet during that time of these false Prophets and Apostles and corrupt Priests there were also as hath been shewed holy Levites and Priests true Apostles and faithfull Ministers against whose lawfull setled publick maintenance neither any of the true Prophets true Apostles nor Christ spake one word neither was their tithes and their other setled publick maintenance that prey on people nor that meanes by which rule was borne nor that mony and filthy lucre and covetousnes for which some divined nor that fleece which some sought for nor that hire for which some taught which was spoken against by the Prophets Apostles and Christ And therefore thy demand needes no large answer Thy demand in breife is this If any people had followed the false Prophets and false Apostles and Priests that taught for hire and come to Christ from hirelings are they to maintaine and uphold such before mentioned or are they to maintain such Prophets or Priests in their way yea or nay as Preists Ministers and teachers Answ If any such should have come to Christ from hirelinges while he was on the earth he would not because they were come to him discharge them ftom paying those publick dues and rights which apperteined to the setled Ministers of holy things among them in that Nation though among such Ministers also their were some who were corrupt and covetous My reason of this assertion is Because though Christ commanded such who came to him not to follow any pernicious practise of the publick teachers Math. 23. 3 yet he never perswaded any of them to deteine from those publick Ministers who were then Preistes and Levites their dues but he commanded one who had come to him viz. the Leper whom he had clensed to go and shew himself to the Priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded as Math. 8. 4. a testimony unto them A part of that maintenance whereby the subsistence of the Priests arose was from offerings which Christ would