be able to prove them viz. That some Infants have Faith and Repentance seminally and others have Vnbelief and Impenitency seminally And which is another Impossibility no Man can distinguish the Infants one from another Nor can it ever be proved that Seminal Faith and Repentance if yet any Body can tell what it is do give us any ground to baptize any Body For Suppose we take this Seminal Faith and Repentance to be the faculties of Credence and Sorrow Or suppose some take them to be some secret Inspirations of the Spirit yet sith they appear not to us it is as if they were not For that Rule is good in this Case Deâ— non apparentibus non existantibus eidem est ratio It is the profession of Faith and Repentance that qualifies a Person in respect of us for Sacred Baptism the Church is not judg of of Hearts they are only known to God infallibly Division 4. Concerning Original Sin. It would even grieve a Sober Christian to read the strange Immaginations which Men have Published about Original Sin and the Extreams they have run into on the Right Hand and on the Left censuring one another very severely for their differing apprehensions in this Matter And it is remarkable how cruelly Censarious Mr. Firmin is against my self in particular representing me as a Master among the worst sort of Anabaptists who he says denies Original Sin. Concerning which he tells you we are Rotten That the foundation of Anabaptism lies in denying Original Sin. That in this we are given up to more blindness than the Heathens c. To all which I Answer 1. If I be one of the worst of my Brethren in this Point I hope the rest will be better thought of by Men of Moderation for my sake when they have had what violent Mr. Firmin hath not patience to consider what I have published upon the account of Original Sin and that long before I heard there was such a Man in the World as Mr. Firmin in my Christianismus Primitivus Book 2. Pag. 77 78. thus you read me 2. For the better attaining to a powerful conviction of Sin and a sence of Man's wretchedness by reason of Sin it is necessary to understate the general state of Transgression into which Mankind is involved concerning which we find the Scripture gives this Testimony That all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. And that by one Man Sin entred into the World for that all have sinned And that the whole World lieth in wickedness which is also evident by common Experience every Nation being greatly corrupted through the abounding of Iniquity and the universality of the ways of Sin does evince the same that the Apostle might well say Both Jew and Gentile are all under Sin. 3. The Sin of Mankind is either Original or Actual The first is come upon all even the very Infant-state of Mankind lie under it of whom that saying is true They have not sinned after the similitude of Adam ' s Transgression yet Death reigning over them proves the Transgression of Adam to be upon them This is that root-Root-Sin called the Sin of the World John 1. 29. whereof none are free Nor is it convenient to extenuate or lessen this Sin either in its nature or the punishment it brings with it it being indeed the Filum certissimum or Leading-Thred to all other Iniquities Mankind being hereby corrupt Ab Origine and wholly deprived of the Glory of God without the intervening Mercy of a Saviour And hence we find David when complaining of his sinful state looks back to his corrupt Original amongst the rest of his Iniquities complaining Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me Knowing as Job saith None can bring a clean thing out of an unclean one So that they are not to be despised who say that in our Humiliation for Sin we ought to bewail this our Sinful Original which had been to Adam's Posterity like the Sin of Traytors which bringeth with it corruption of Blood to their Off-spring for which they must bear the shame of such Transgressions How do we find that the Sin of Progenitors was wont to be lamented by their Off-spring among the Israelites And is there not the same reason Adam's Children should do the like as being sensible of the evil Consequences thereof We also may say Our Father hath sinned and we have born his Iniquity 4. And hence I like the saying of Irenaeus well which I will give in English because Mr. F. is pleased to lock it up in Latine Omnes enim venit c. Christ came to save all by himself all I say who are born again in God Infants Little ones Boys and Young Men and Old Men But as for his Ideo per omnem venit aetatem I let that alone for I do not find that Christ passed through the age of Old Men yet I say he came to Sanctifie every Age and therefore every Age who do not profane the Blood of Christ by which they were Sanctified as I am sure no Infant doth they shall certainly be Saved by him and hence the Salvation of all dying Infants is apparent enough But how Infants are born again in God is a secret and not to be Demonstrated by Mr. Firmin nor any other Surely had I written as Irenaeus doth he would have said I exclude the Operation of the Holy Ghost for Irenaeus says he came to save all by himself yet as 't is certain that the Holy Spirit is not wanting to the Aged Sinner there is no ground to doubt of his care of poor Infants Division 5. Of Free-Will Concerning Free-Will Mr. F. calls it our Diana and an Imperial Majesty representing us to deny God to be most Blessed because if his Will be resisted he failing of his End is to want a degree of Blessedness c. I Answer 1. Then it seems according to Mr. F. all that God wills to be saved must and therefore shall be Saved and the rest he wills to be Damned and they shall therefore be Damned But how he can reconcile his Doctrines to these Scriptures I cannot tell which saith I live I Will not the death of the Wicked And that this is good in the sight of God c. who will have all Men to be Saved 2. Was it God's Will that when he brought Israel out of Egypt that their Carcases should fall in the Wilderness If it were not then he wanted a degree of Blessedness Was it God's Will that Adam should fall and bring himself and his Posterity into so many Miseries If not God was not most Blessed because he failed of his End. If you say it was God's Will that Adam should fall and that Israel must fall in the Wilderness you had as good tell us that God has Decreed all the evil Actions that Men do and that they must do them else God cannot be most
Firmin argues thus They who are regenerated have Faith and Repentance but all Infants saved are regenerated Therefore all Infants saved have Faith and Repentance Answ 1. Here is a fault in your Logick your Major should have been universal or else you conclude nothing rationally 2. Therefore I deny the Major and say Some may be regenerated I mean cleansed from Sin renewed by Christ and made fit for Heaven without Faith and Repenuance namely Infants and sure I am Mr. F. shall never be able to prove his Major being taken universally and if he like not to mend his Major I reject his Argument and retort it thus 3. They that are regenerated do continue in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers But all Infants saved are regenerated Ergo All Infants saved continue stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Now as this Argument is fallacious so certainly is yours Again 4. You that make all Conversion miraculous how can you tie Regeneration to Faith and Repentance as it respects Infants Do not you contradict your self Mr. Firmin in this May not God sanctify Infants what way he pleaseth but must be limited to your Methods Sir what he doth in the Regeneration of Infants is a Secret let it alone to him 5. But let us hear Dr. Taylor one of your own Mind as to Poedo-baptism yet he saith Let Infants be pressed with all the Inconveniencies which are consequent to Original Sin yet it will not be laid to their Charge so as to condemn them Or if it could yet the Mercy and absolute Goodness of God will secure them if he take them away before they can glorify him by a free Obedience For as Infants without their own consent contracted the Guilt of Adam ' s Sin and are liable to all the Punishments which can with Justice descend upon his Posterity who are personally innocent so Infants shall be restored by the second Adam by the Redemption of Jesus Christ by his Righteousness and Mercies applied either immediately or how or when he pleases to appoint And here Mr. F. may learn from Dr. Taylor how Infants may be guilty of Sin and yet Innocent which he would make a Contradiction in me Mr. F. tells us his Major last denied is clear from our own Confession in that we say Faith and Repentance are the two parts of Regeneration but he that grants this extends it only to the Adult of whom these are things required and not to Infants of whom they are not required so that this is a meer Caption unbecoming a grave Disputant But let us hear how he proves his Minor. They saith he who are born unclean that are sinful and corrupt by Nature must be regenerated before they can be saved But so are Infants born Therefore c. Answ It is not denied by us that Infants are born unclean and we grant that before they come to Heaven they must be cleansed so that you might have spared this Argument The thing you are to prove is That Infants cannot be cleansed without Faith and Repentance But this you cunningly slide over and you will find it to be an undertaking too hard for you and I think you are the first Man that ever attempted it It is not your telling us again of your Seminal Faith that will do it which as you refer it to Infants is a meer Chimera of your own Brain But when you speak of the Adult you seem to speak sense in these words When God regenerates an Adult Person he doth first infuse the Principles Seeds Habits of all the Graces of the Spirit When the Sower went out to sow Mat 13. 3. it was but the Seeds of Faith and Repentance which he did sow which was first received and these Seeds grew up Mark 4. 27. Now Sir if you will stand to this and these Texts to govern your Speech we may very well come to agree What then is the Seed here spoken of Our Saviour tells us it is the Word of God which Men hear preached unto them Is this the Seminal Faith and Repentance which you talk on Then this Seminal Faith is not in Infants for as they cannot hear the Word so no Sower or Preacher is sent to them And I suppose you would not baptize an Adult Person tho he has heard the Word unless you see some effect of it at least that the tender blade appear for Persons are not made Disciples or Christians by being baptized but they are baptized because they are made Disciples John 4. 1. Mat. 28. 19. Mathetusate panta ta ethne Baptizantes autous And Disciples may be called Christians Acts 11. Now with what Conscience then can you baptize an Infant that never to your knowledg received this Seed at all But Mr. F. bids us twy-fallow and try-fallow our Ground and sow no seed for according to your Doctrine saith he you may have a Crop without it But by his favour this is not our case but his own for he sows no Seed to Infants and yet he will have a Crop of them for he will have them baptized asleep or awake by force Now Baptism is an Act of Obedience springing from the Word the Seed sown Acts 2. 38 40. Act. 8. 12. Nay more he exacts this Crop of Infants not only before he sow any Seed or before any be sown by any other that he knows of but also before he so much as Twy-fallow or plow at all And thus whilst he thought to kick the Husbandman on the breech he hath kick'd up his own Heels Mr. F. quotes 1 John 3. 9. It is the Seed which remains Peter ' s Faith failed sadly saith he as to the Act but the Seed remained This would lead us to another Question as it is his manner to confound his Discourses with Diversities but I shall hold him to the Parable of the Sower alledged by himself Mat. 13. And then I may tell him the Seed only remains in good and honest Hearts but not in every place where it is sown nor in every place where it is received remember the High-way and the Stony and Thorny Ground Mr. F's Arg. 2. No unclean Person shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But Infants by Nature are unclean If the Scripture be believed they must bear the Image in which they were created by God that ever see the face of God. Answ Should I retort this Argument I might shew the infirmity of its form But I shall take your Sense I suppose by the Major you mean no unclean or wicked Person as such shall see God. And by the Minor you mean that Infants are born of sinful Parents polluted by Original Sin and so under Condemnation And therefore before they can come to Heaven they must be cleansed from these Pollutions c. If this be your Sense I agree with you But then your Argument touches not the Question which is Whether
so fierce against us for extending the Grace of God to all Men as being therein no respecter of Persons and yet shewing to Sinners the necessity of actual Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ as necessary to their Membership in the Church Militant by the Baptism of Repentance for Remission of Sins I say none so fierce against us as those who boast they are Abraham's Seed because descended from Gentiles who they suppose to be Believers But let me have a care I must now Answer for my self for Mr. Firmin demands of me Page 21. By what Scripture-Warrant do you reduce our Children into the state of the Children of Adam or Noah c. since we are never called their Children but only Abraham ' s whose Seed differ from theirs by a special Covenant made with Them and sealed with Them. To which of them did God say I will be the God of thy Seed and I will seal it But I reply These seem to me to be great swelling words of Vanity much worse in a Gentile than in a Jew And I would know what special Covenant hath God made with Mr. F. and his Seed which he hath denied to Tho. Grantham and his Seed But to the Question 1. I am far from denying Abraham's Fatherhood over the Faithful Christians but I deny that every Believer that hath an Infant is the Father of the Faithful And I deny many to have any right to that Title who boast much of it because they do not the works of Abraham but despise those that worship God according to his Will. Thus did not Abraham But thus does Mr. Firmin 2. I find that Adam was the Son of God Luke 3. Whether called so meerly for his Creation or for that after the Promise Gen. 3. 15. He walked with God or for both I will not dispute And I find that Christ's Descent is reckoned from Adam and the Saviour of the World was first promised to him and to proceed from him and therein was the Covenant of Grace in the first place made with him and in him with all Mankind who then were in him Nor do I find that this gracious Covenant was ever repealed but is in force to this day as is granted by Mr. Baxter 3. I find that Noah found Grace in the sight of the Lord being righteous before God. And I know that Mr. Baxter and other Learned Christians acknowledg the Covenant made with Noah and his Generations to be a Covenant of Grace and of perpetual Duration being indeed the renewal of the Covenant made with Adam I find also that Noah became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith and that his Faith did lead him to believe that which was as difficult to Sense as that Abraham should have a Son viz. That the whole World should be Drowned His Faith also was made perfect by Works for Whatsoever the Lord Commanded that did Noah 4. I find that all men from the time of the Flood are the Generations of Noah and that he was perfect in his Generation a Just Man and one that walketh with God and as one of his Sons proved wicked so did one of the Sons of Abraham I do also find in Scripture that we are all called the Sons of Adam To you O Men I call and my Voice is to the Sons of Adam or Man Prov. 8. 4. And as the Sons of Adam God shews them what is Good even to do Justly to love Mercy and to walk humbly with their God Mich. 6. Now from these Scripture-Warrants I honour my Great Grandfather Adam because to him was committed the first Oracles of God making known the Covenant of Grace I honour my Grandfather Noah because he was Heir of the Righteousness of Faith and had the second Edition of the Covenant of Grace extended to all his Generations till by Sin they eject themselves I likewise honour my Father Abraham because he had the third Edition of the Covenant of Grace as a Blessing to all Nations or to all the Families of the Earth Gen. 12. And also for that God was pleased to choose his Posterity as the People from whom Men should look for their Saviour with respect to his Descent according to the Flesh and of this Covenant as also of the Land of Promise was Circumcision given as a Sign to his Posterity that they might not mix with other Nations in Life or Religion but to Abraham himself as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which he had near 30 Years before he was Circumcised But for all this I know that in Gospel-times unless we crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts we cannot be Abraham ' s Seed nor Heirs according to the Promise Gal. 3. 29. And the Seal of our Sonship and Right to the Inheritance is the Holy Spirit Ephes 1. 13. Gal. 4. 6. Ephes 4. 30. Mr. Firmin Now suppose that were true which is the great business of your Pamphlet to prove that all dying Infants are saved That thereby you may take off the Odium which lies upon you for shutting the Children of Believers out of the Church and denying them Baptism they being under the Covenant of Grace made with Adam as you say Tell me Is this Covenant of God with Abraham's Seed in vain Does the holy One make vain Covenants As to his Seed they were well enough before If Isaac die before the 8th day he is saved so that this Covenant might have been spared Answer 1. I havâ— said enough to shew that Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17. was not in vain but I am sure you here make a vain use of it For had Isaac died before he was Eight Days old in your Judgment he had not been saved and consequently no Male Infants which died before they were Circumcised were saved This is that wretched Doctrine which I oppose And seeing you make Baptism as necessary to Salvation as Circumcision was and call it the Seal of the Covenant you either make Infants which die unbaptized saved by an unsealed Covenant as you speak or else you damn all Infants which die unbaptized No other sense can be made of your strange Questions P. 73. Your Question is this Are they all Justified and Saved then it must be by a Covenant of Grace And shall they be under the Covenant so as to be in a justified and saved state by it and not have the Seal of the Covenant As if the Covenant of Grace were of no use to poor Infants without the Crossing Sprinkling or as you Pouring a little Water on their Forehead for which you have no Rule at all in the Word of God. I cannot but admire your great Blindness 2. The Covenant of Circumcision might not now be spared because God had now designed to honour Abraham's Faith and to make him and his Posterity famous both for Multitude Religion and other Excellencies but chiefly to point out all Nations from whence to look for a Saviour which