to perfection in order whereunto unto this visible church Ephes. 3. 21. which though it exists in many several particular bodies each of which is independent on any other head then Christ and impowered from him to determine all its own affaires ultimately within it self yet since it endeavours to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace is said to be but one body because of one spirit one call one hope one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of them all who is above all and through all and in them all God hath given officers gifted for its service viz. some Apostles some Prophets some Pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of this visible body of Christ till we all come to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of â—…hrist Eph. 4. 3. 4. 5. 6. 11. 12. 13. As for that Catholique visible church I mean that voluminous body or part of the world commonly called Christ'ndome which was once all as it were of one language and one speech and is now rather three in one or a Triune treader of the truch viz. Papall Prelaticall Presbyterial yet to this day exists in those particular visibles as were never thus seperated and called and constituted upon the foundation of the doctrine of the Apostles but conglomerated by the lump by the Apostle Peters supposed successor into Nationall Provinciall Parochiall to call a spade a spade I can call it no other then the C C Catholique Beast that bears now in three parts a B B Babilonish C C Clergy Rev. 16. 19. i. e. indeed the very C C Catholique whore Rev. 17. As for particular persons though professing to be believers that yet are not baptized and added to some such particular visible society or church but are yet abiding in the capacity only of single though visible Saints till they are both baptizd and added as members to walk in fellowship with some particular assembly and congregation in breaking bread and prayers as every such a one as supposes himself to be a saint ought to be or else his saintship may be much suspected if he will not they are no visible members of the visible church but onely fitter materials then they were before their faith and in a neerer right to be both baptized and admitted to be members then when they had none they are better matter for the visible church but not yet formally of the visible church have jus ad reâ—… not in re ad ecclesiam not in Ecclesia a right to the church but not actual standing in it till entered and admitted Nor yet are they immediate matter for or in immediate right to membership though believing till baptized but materia remota and â—…n â—…re quodam conditionali remoto a certain remote matter though neerer then when meerly men and in a conditional and remote right For as believers are the immediate matter for or in immediate right to baptism so baptized believers after laying on of hands in prayer are the immediate subject i. e. in immediate right to be admitted yet neither are baptized believers actuall members till admitted the formality and most immediate entrance and way of becoming a visible member of a particular visible Church and so consequently of the generall visible if I may so call it which hath its existence in all the particular churches which are the immediate matter of which that is made up being not simply the act of baptism but the act of joining our selves after it Act 9. 26. and the constitutive form of a visible Church is not their being all baptized but their free falling into fellowship with each other and though we are said to be all baptized into one body t is an expression of the necessity only of every ones being baptized in order to a being in the visible Church for none hath right to be of the visible body unbaptized but though the baptized have immediate right to be of the body yet are they not meerly of it because baptized till added to it and as one cannot be said to be actually under baptism from an immediate right to it by faith till he have submitted so neither can we be said to be actually in the body from our immediate right to it by baptism till we are admitted Self condemned sinners have a right to believe in Christ believers a right to baptism baptized believers a right to the spirit of promise to have hands laid on with prayer that they may receive it according to the promise Asts 2. Acts 8. Acts 19. such as these to fellowship in the visible Church yet not in fellowship till assaying to join themselves they are accepted and yet in a visible state of salvation too both before baptized as the thief and after baptized before added to the Church visible as the Eunuch who both were seemingly members of the invisible Church and yet then when converted and baptized neither one nor the other as yet actual members of the visible stones though never so unhewn and ragged are remote matter hewn and polished stones immediate and fit matter for a building yet not a building till built together many sheep are fit matter to make a flock yet not formally a flock till they come neer together Christs visible church is Christs flock Gods house Temple building several sheep and single disciples that hear his voice believe in him and are baptized into his name for remission of sins are pecious materials and in potentiâ proximâ thereunto yet be they never so many of them not visibly actually nor formally a flock an house a Temple a Building his visible Church longer then imbodyed into fellowships nor till fitly framed together they are builded an habitation of God through the spirit Ephes. 2. 20. 21. 22. any more then many sheep that never came neer each other are a flock and a multitude of fitted and squared stones lying a long way a sunder each from other make a building Mr. B. shall be no Champion of my choosing to mannage the matter against the non-churchers of these times for all he flourishes his sword so against them at the end of his book if he plead the cause of them so that sit down satisfyed in single fellowship between God and themselves onely living up with him in the spirit contenting themselves to believe onely and renouncing all ordinances forsaking the assembling of themselves together and all fellowship in breaking of bread and prayers if he grant the denomination of the true visible Church to such as these as well as to those that continue stedfast in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship in breaking bread and prayers yet Mr. B. does not yet agree with me in this that the particular assemblies collectively taken are the only visible Church for indeed he is aware that it overturns all his visibilities from the bottom and layes
gift to them in any other the spirit works it but not without the use of means not per saltum and in 〈◊〉 ocul i. e. so suddenly as you fancy but by the discharge of that office he bears from the father to that end and purpose towards the whole world i. e. moving striving perswading inwardly whilest the word doth without inlightning convincing a man of sin in himself of righteousness to be had and of a judgement to come wherein we shall be saved or damned according as we believe or believe not accept or neglect so great salvation upon which motions and convictions which are stricter and stronger in some then in other foure some yield and believe and obey the Gospel and some for all this rebel and obey not so that t is true the spirit thus effects the business within us yet not so as that he is said wholly to do it without us he is the supreme efficient the operative cause of it but we are to be concurrent cum causa operante we have a part to do as well as he when he hath done his part towards us i. e. to believe which if we do not he will not force us he will go no further nor shall he be blamed but we and we not onely blamed but damnd for not doing it accordingly but if we do believe and turn at his reproof then indeed there is a promise of an infusion or rather effusion of the spirit in other i. e. those more special and peculiar offices of a witnesse to our spirits that we are Gods children a seal a comforter a reveâ—…ler of the things freely given us of God a supporter under sufferings c. all which it performes towards the Saints and in respect of which onely its called the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1. 13. in this manner the spirit of God in order to that sweet infusion of it self into us may be said if you will call it infusion for which a fitter word may be found to infuse i. e. to work faith other infusion of faith into men much lesse into infants or such a downright infusion as I suppose you dream on the Scripture makes no mention of at all Thirdly in that you say he is not bound to work it in all the children of Christian parent nor barred from working it in any of the children of infidels this indeed you must necessarily hold as you say for t is undeniable truth but in holding it you must wholly let go â—…ll you held before concerning believers infants appearing to have faith and that in contradistinction to the infants of unbelievers for first you use to say as p. 14. out of Act. 2. that the promise of it is to believers and their seed i. e. as believers seed and so consequently to all and onely their seed not the seed of unbelievers for quod convenit qua ipsum convenit omni soli semper belongs alwayes to all of one sort and not any man of another and thereby you use to bind the spirit unlesse he will bee unfaithfull to work faith as without which you think he cannot give them salvation in all the seed of believers for a promise that is made to such or such a seed quâ—… siâ—… must needs be sure as the Scripture saith Romans 4. 16. and made good or else God that cannot lie breaketh his word to all the seed to whom as such it is made But sith now you say that the spirit is not bound to give faith and salvation to believers seed nor barred from giving it to any of the seed of infidels which is as much as to say he is at liberty from all obligation of himself by promise to either of these above the other and to work it in which he pleases you will I hope unless you be more ashamed of seeming to have been ignorant then ashamed of your ignorance so as to give glory to God by confessing it relinquish that wonted position of a birth priviledge in this point in believers seed more tâ—…en in others which you ground and prove from that promise Aâ—…t 2. and ingenuously confesse that for ought you know the one hath no more ingagemeat of God to them by promise then the other so that unlesse there were more warrant then you have to single out one from the other as the special subjects of baptism and heirs of salvation you ought to baptize them all alike i. e. in very deed to let them all alone till you come as in infancy you confesse you cannot to presume what children have the habit of faith and what have not Fourthly whereas you say wheresoever the habit of faith is it inclines to holy actions when there â—…s opportunity and the season for bringing them forth whether this be necessary to be held or no yet wee l hold it to do you a pleasure in calling you thereby from your false cause for else its like to do you more displeasure in your cause of infants faith then you well considered when you penned and printed it for wheresoever faith is the opportunity and season for its bearing fruit and working by love and other holy actions is ever present and perpetual yea its never unopportune or unseasonable for him that hath faith to be acting obedience in one thing or other yea if any one say I have faith and have not works and holy actions much lesse if no inclinablenesse to holy actions that faith cannot save nor stand him instead faith without works being dead and profiting nothing therefore if where ever faith is it inclines to holy actions when opportunity and season for it is then I am sure there is no faith at all in infants for there is no opportunity or season at all in infancy wherein faith is found fruitfull in them and if you will say they have faith though you have no evidence of it and prove it is so because it is so then it is a faith without works and that faith is dead unprofitable and cannot save them Iames 2. and if so you would be better opinioned towards infants in my mind to hold them saved without faith then to hold they have a faith which cannot save them for better never a whit at all then never the better Fiftly whereas you say that this inclination to holy actions is not equally alike in all in whom the habits themselves are that may be so too yet Sampson and David are no such sufficient instances of it but that more sufficient might have been given for as there are many worthy things recorded which both these did by the power of faith Heb. 11. so he of whom you say he exceeded in acts of piety was in some things not to say as impious yet impious as well as the other besides to make comparisons between two such worthies as doing the one more good the other lesse both which by faith did no lesse the subdue and in their times fully deliver Israel from the
have been smothered in your Account and gave life to it indeed onely to vindicate the truth of it from your mis-reports Pre. Onely to vindicate its innocency from their injuries c. Post. It s innocency is a matter which It was never too much guilty of in one sense though it had enough of it in another for howbeit Deo prohibente it neitheir could nor did ever do any yet it wanted no will to have done a mischief to the truth and in that respect as very an Innocent as it was most honest men do hold it guilry Pre. Besides the importunities of many friends desiring copies of it not without much reluctancy for a good while prov'd the mid-wives to this hasty birth c. Post. This hasty birth me thinks indeed it looks like some untimely issue that brake forth in hâ—…st into the world as one born out of due time order and proportion that slipt out at the rash request of some few friends whilst those whose work it was and care it should have been to have look't better to it were asleep and therefore who ere were the mid-wives may I be one of the Gossips I shall freely allow it among others that are answerable to its nature this name of hasty birth and had you signed it in the forehead with capital letters instead of A True Account by the name of THIS HASTY BIRTH you had done the world more right by th' half then now you have for then your frontispice had been at least A true Account of your Book though your Book no True Account of the Disputation Canis festinans caecos parit catulos hasty Bearers seldome bring forth other then such blind businesses as this which may not be seen for shame without much Reluctancy nor when they must without much Apology This hast Sirs makes you make wast in your Papers as well as wast sometimes in your practises as Saul who in hast made havock of the Church you came in hast to the Disputation and that made you leave Innumerable Arguments behind you for there might be innummerable Arguments brought but the hast of the Disputation forbad the Ministers to be so throwly provided c. say you p. 11 12. you ran in hast to give Account on 't and for hast left it all out but a little THIS HASTY BIRTH of yours was born about six moneths after it was in semine at the Disputation had you forborn three moneths longer and spent more time in recalling raking reviewing there had not been such a miscarriage your birth would have had some substance more then now it hath some more suitableness to sense and Reason you would have accounted for some Answers as well as but some Arguments and sav'd your selves that acknowledgement which upon the after sight of your hast defect and oversight you are fain to make in most parts of this Epistle But Insipientis est dicere non putâram Sapientis discere per non putâram though it be no wise mans part to fall unawares into folly yet is it a wise mans part to learn wisdome by his own folly and so I hope you will shew your selves wisemen at least viz. in learning by the more hast then good speed of this hasty birth festinare lentè for the time to come and never to bring forth so hastily any more Pre. It had nothing to boast of but the sober and silent demeanour of the Congregation while it lasted it being a thing scarce credible that so many some have guessed them about 3000 and so qualified should attend with so much devotion without any interruption by the space of six hours c. Post. Tâ—…s a thing scarce credible indeed to him that hath either seen or heard how much commotion the Testimony of the true Baptism hath been elsewhere entertained and attended with that it should here among so many and those so qualifyed too i. e. with great prejudice against it as Heresie and that so long too be attended with so much devotion and therefore it hath much more to boast of then such disputations as have been held in some parts of England which I am loath to shame so as to name even of old England it self in this juncture of its growing new but specially of New-England that is now growing old again apace as old England did in the Bishops times in order I hope to its growing newer then ever where horesco Referens I tremble to relate it after many incivilities and much barbarous behavior not long since used toward them this was added above all that three witnesses to this truth were shut up in prison and not only so but according to Mâ—… Cottons Bloody tenet of persecution for conscience which even he himself abhorred in the Bishops meerly for no other fault then that of the Apostles at Phillippi Act. 16. instead of a disputation with them which was pretended to be desired but never intended to be performed by the Anti-Baptists the Baptists had a dispensation granted them by the Court at Boston either to pay one five one twenty another thirty pound or to be well whipt which they pleased upon refusing of which fine to be paid or by himself or by others for him who would as well have set him free at their own charge if he had accepted it as they did the others one of the three submitting patiently to their cruelty in order to his being restored in the spirit of meekness aliâs Romish mercilessness towards that Romish childishness of Infant rantism received thirty stripes at the whipping post in such wise as may well make the cars of every on that hears it to tingle and the hearts of Christs Disciples to stand amazed and bleed within them that ever such a thing should be heard out of New-England as is to be seen at large in a book lately extant stiled Ill News from New England Lord where shall thy Servants live at peace salvâ conscientiâ if thou lend them not a full liberty to declare against Tythes and all other truth-voiding traditions in Old England when they are so bloodily handled in New where Father forgive them they know not what they do Nevertheless had the demeanour of you the Priests at Ashford been as sober and silent as that of the people as it seldome is when a Classis of you get together much less was it at Ashford where you grew into a Chaos of conference and a confused croud of disputation it had had much more to boast of then it hath Pre. The Scandals that have since been cast upon it were expected c. Post. And well they might unless you reckoned without your Host if you scand the Scantines of the provision you made both for your credit and the proof of your practise but what Scandalls I trow were cast upon your Disputation here 's a great talk of Disgraces Scandals Injuries that its under as from us but unless summum jus be summa injuria we
I say viz. we he or you are most cruel and desperate and do most justly deserve the censure which you Priests put upon us p. 15. of your pamphlet of damning infants dying contrary to evident testimony of Scriptures and of damning innumerable innocents such as infants of infidels are whose right to the Kingdome of heaven our Saviour declared I propound it to be considered by your selves and all other men at leasure at present seeing this Argument of yours makes also more against then for you whose plea is for some infants against other if your Minor in it viz. that denial of baptism to infants destroyes all hope of their salvation were true as it is not and speaks for a necessity of baptizing all infants and not a few onely I 'le Syllogize it back upon you in much what your own terms and so pass hence to the other That opinion which destroyes all hopes of the salvation of many dying infants to one in the world yea in the very Christian world too is a most desperate ungodly uncharitable opinion But the opinion of you Priests who deny all hopes of salvation to those to whom baptism is deni'd and yet deny it doctrinally your selves to all unbelievers infants which are many to one in the Christian world and dispute for its dispensation to believers infants onely is such as destroyes all hope of the salvation of many dying infants to one as well in the Christian world as elsewhere Ergo the opinion of you Priests is a most cruel desperate ungodly uncharitable opinion Another fine fancie whereby you would fain juggle men into a belief that believers infants and these onely are to be baptized runs thus else say you the Gospel Covenant is worse then that under the law forasmuch as then litle infants were circumcised Now Sirs when I come to meddle with this Argument ore again I shall shew you plainly the imbecillity of it to prove the baptism of any infants at all and the meliority of the Gospel-Covenant above that of the law though infants be not now baptized as Circumcised then at present I am to shew how if it would prove any thing it would prove the right of baptism to unbelievers infants to whom you deny it as well as to believers infants whose baptism onely you seem to plead by it I say suppositively that this is to make the Gospel-Covenant worse then that of the law to deny baptism to infants now sith they then admitted infants to Circumcision then the denial of it to believers infants which is your own opinion makes it worse then it was under the law as well as the denial of it to infants of believers for under the law the infants of unbelievers which were many to one believer among the Iews Is. 53. 1. were both de jure and de facto circumcised as well as those of the believing Iews and so by your own rule ought the one to be baptized now as well as the other Again by the denial of baptism to the infants of unbelievers not onely a moity but the most of Christendome as in which are by far more unbelievers infants then others are cut off at once from baptism and membership I conclude therefore thus If thaâ—… opinion which denies baptism to little children makes the Gospel-covenant worse then that under the law then the opinion of those Priests who deny baptism to all unbelievers infants whereby not a moity onely but most of the Christian world in which the most are unbelievers are cut off from being members of the Church makes the Gospel-Covenant worse then the law But though not veraciter yet secundum te O Presbitâ—…r that opinion which denies baptism to little children whereby a moity of the Christian world is so cut off makes the Gospel-Covenant worse then that under the law Ergo thy opinion which denieth baptism to all unbelievers infants whereby more then a moity of infants is so cut off makes it worse under the Gospel then under the law Another curious conceit whereby you undertake to clear the right of baptizing the infants of believing parents above others is the being and plain yea more plain appearing of the holy spirit to be in these children then in others or then in men whom we baptize that make profession which plain and sufficient appearance so you stile it p. 5 of the spirits being in these children is made say you many waies First by these infants faith Secondly by these infants holiness Thirdly by those Eulogies that are given to these children in Scriptures not inferiour to those of the best Saints Fourthly by that Scripture in special 2 Cor. 13. know you not that the Spirit that Christ you should have said is in you except ye be reprobates lastly and mainly by these childrens non-appearing not to have the spirit by these childrens not appearing to be evil by these infants not appearing by any actuall sin to have barr'd themselves or deserved to be exempted from the general state of little infants declared in Scripture by all which on pain and guilt of the breach of Christian charity whose rule is praesumere unumquenque bonum nisi constet de malo we are bound to believe that these infants of believing parents not of others have evidently enough the holy spirit Now Sirs the Lord help you to your eye-sight if it be his will for I le be bold to say these Seers are as blind as a beetle what ever they seem to themselves to see who by any thing at all that is here brought do discern the holy spirit to be in any infants but this which is to the present purpose may be more safely asserted that all this proves it not one jot more to be in the infants of believers then it proves it to be in unbelievers infants to whom you deny baptism as well as we in plea pretence and prate at least but not altogether in practise for verily these have as much promise of the spirit as the other those parents Acts 2. being yet unbelievers while Peter spake to them saying the promise is to you and your children yea these have as much capacity for the spirit as much manifestation of the spirit as much capacity to believe as much holyness as much Eulogie in Scripture for Christ commends not the infants of some parents above the infants of others but indefinitly the whole age of infancy alike as little appearance yet of being reprobates and so consequently as much appearance that Christ is in them as in the other as little appearance of evill of actual sin whereby to bar themselves or deserve exemption from the generall state of little children declared in Scripture as is in the infants of believers all which shall plainly appear out of hand and much of it out of your own handy work in my handling of your first Argument in particular which now I am return'd to again I shall begin with and so pass through it
to all the rest with which I must deal once over again as they ly in order in your Relation and Review which first argument of yours is laid down in this form viz. Disputation No man may forbid water to those that have received the holy Ghost Acts 10. 47. But little children have the holy Ghost Disproof In which Syllogism of yours how be it I then did and do still deny your Minor as the main matter that is amiss the falsity of which I shall discover yet there is much fault to be found with your Major in that you repeat the words of Peter but lamely and by the halves out of that Scripture whence you quote it which you adulterate and abuse unless you had inserted the whole sentence the chief clause of which viz as well as we which is most needfull to be exprest to the true proof of any ones right to baptism therfrom you whether more forgetfully or fearfully least the falsity of your Minor should be the more discried by it I say not do yet leave out alltogether In the absence of which clause the falsity of your Minor lies undiscerned which upon the putting in thereof would appear if it be possible for it so to do more palpably false then now it doth specially to every common capacity whereupon very probably you left it out for if your Major had been thus viz. no man may forbid water to those that have received the holy spirit as Peter and other adult Disciples had i. e. visibly and apparently unto others by the acts fruits and effects of it as the words as well as we do import your Minor then must have ran thus viz. but little children have the holy spirit as well as Peter and those adult Disciples Act. 10. 47. i. e. visibly undoubtedly apparently to others and then it had been more apparently false in the eyes of all for verily how perspicuous soever it is to you Clergy men who for your own ends seemingly see what you see not as well as sometimes see not what you see and to your implicit criditors that will seem to see that you see whether it be to be seen or no yet to such as are resolved to see with their own eies and not yours it is so far from being so visible and apparent that infants have the holy spirit as t was that Peter and the rest had received it that it is a thing invisible to you and more then ever did or yet doth or ever will appear to any but the blind and the blind leaders of the blind while the world stands by all you have here stitcht up together to make it appear by the inefficacy of all which to any such purpose as you use it for having thus hinted the crafty quoting and cunning coining of your Major besides the sence of the Scripture you fetch it out on I shall God willing make sufficiently to appear in my Examination of your Minor the proof of which I now come to consider As therefore to your Minor which is this viz. little children have the holy Ghost I lay two evils to the charge of it first a faultering in the terms secondly a falsity in the thing testified in it First it s delivered in tam dubiis terminis such a dubious and indefinite form of speech viz. little children not at all expressing what children nor believers children distinctly from others but all alike which muddling expression of the subject of whom you praedicate this that they have the holy spirit is made well nigh every where else throughout your book and possibly on purpose to shelter that absurdity from being too apparent which unless you dream'd out this Disputation a more determinate delivery of your selves all along in these terms viz. infants of believers you foresaw would light upon it Nevertheless as indefinitely and implicitly as you set down your subject you cannot hide the nakedness thereof let your meaning be what it will for you must take it in some or other of these senses viz. all little children have the spirit or unbelievers little ones onely have the spirit or believers little ones have the spirit or some children have the spirit but we cannot tell which nor whether these more then those or those more then these the spirit being neither bound to all the children of believing parents nor barred from any of the children of infidels you cannot understand it of unbelievers children only nor yet of all children nor yet of unbelievers and believers children promiscuonsly so as to say some of these and some of those but in particular it cannot certainly be presumed which though he that reads your eighteenth page where you confess there can be no conclusion made which have it and which not can hardly tell how to take you handsomely in a better sense for then all men will say fie upon it how miserably do these Logicians labor all along besides their question they propound the baptism of believers infants only but proceed to prove the baptism of all children or of unbelievers children onely or at least of unbelievers children equally with the other they plead to have none but believers infants baptized yet affirm the holy spirit the supposed being of which in these infants is the main ground on which they would have these only baptized to be in all infants at least in other infants for ought they know as well as these yea even in those infants even Infidels infants whom yet they would not have baptiz'd so partial and cruel are they to these though the denial of baptism to poor infants in their own opinion destroies all hope of their salvation but if you take it for little infants of believers only concerning which only the question was stated then every wise man will wound you as much on the other hand and say thus how miserably do these men fumble about their business both proving and practising more then themselves believe to be the truth they assert infants of believers only have the holy spirit and undertake to prove it in contradistinction to other infants yet produce nothing more towards the proof of it then what tends if it do tend indeed to such a purpose to prove it to be in all infants as well as those how egregiously do these Priests gull and cheat their people they profess the holy spirit to be in no infants save those onely that are born of believing parents and that these onely are thereupon to be baptized and yet practise another thing under the name of baptism to unbelievers infants in their parishes whom they truly judge not to have the spirit in common with those whom as blindly they judge to have it i. e. not the seed of true believers only but the seed of true and apparent unbelievers also The second fault I charge upon your Minor Proposition is an utter falseness in the matter affirm'd in 't for take the term little children for what little ones
consequence as this in hand and therfore I will wave it here yet not so as to decline the discourse of it with you upon occasion any more then of the other well then that they are not all Reprobates it is asserted by you and us too but what is this at all to your purpose For First is there no Medium between being a reprobate and a present having the holy spirit there were twelve Disciples at Ephesus which had not so much as heard of the holy spirit so far were they from having it yet yet dare you say they were all reprobates there were many men and women that believed the things spoken by Philip pertaining to the Kingdome upon which the holy spirit had not yet fallen were they all reprobates because they had not yet received it or those thousands Peter promised the holy spirit to were they all reprobates because they yet had it not when he spake to them yea millions of men ly yet in wickedness and so far from having that at present they rather scoff at the holy spirite yet dare you not say they are all reprobates for some of them may turn at Christs reproof for ought you know therefore what consequence is there from not being reprobates to a present possession of the holy spirit Secondly do you know so precisely which infants are Elect and which Reprobate as to take upon you to distinguish them by baptism or are all infants of unbelievers reprobate so that you may accordingly denominate them for such by whole sale as you do Do not the infants of unbelievers very often prove believers and so elect and precious and as ordinarily believers infants when they come to years I mean prove reprobates were not Asa the son of wicked Abia and Iosias ofâ—… wicked Ammon elected both when Ishmael and Esau the sons of Abraham and Isaac themselves were in Scripture secundum tâ—… o Accountant p. 13. both branded for reprobates Lastly to the plain perverture of the words of the the text you quote to your own ends instead of Iesus Christ between whose and the spirits being in men there is no small difference for Christ may be in us by faith I mean we may be in the faith when yet he is not in us by his spirit I mean before the spirit is yet given witness all the disciples that believed and were baptized with water some while before Christ gave them the holy spirit Act. 8. Act. 19. instead of Christ I say you insert the spirit of God you also wholly pervert the sence of the Apostle in that place 2 Cor. 13. 5. who speaks it not to infants nor of them neither but of persons that could both know and prove and examine their own selves of all which infants were uncapable by your own confession he wrote it of them to whom he wrote it and so indeed though you are slow of heart to consider it the whole Gospel was written viz. de adult is adultorum officiis of grown persons whether parents or children and their duties but not for the use of infants in infancie at all In the next place upon occasion of my denial that it can be made appear that infants have the holy spirit to the making of them subjects of baptism you argue it on thus Disputation The report of Scripture concerning them and the necessary consequences of the former Arguments do make it more plainly appear to any one that will not deny Scripture and reason then the Profession of any particular person who perhaps may be an hypocrite as Symon Magus can make it appear of himself Gods testimony being to be preferred before mans ' Disproof Here is one of the most prodigious pieces of absurditie and contradiction of your selves as you speak in other places that was ever discerned to pass from men that cried out so loud as you do for libertie to reason logically since the art of Logick was found out In that you here call the consequences of all your former Arguâ—…ents necessary consequences which is as much as to say such as conclude the thing in hand i. e. that infants have the holy spirit necessarily universally and infallibly for that and no other were you so well skilled in Logick as you would seem to be is a necessary consequence which proves the matter concluded certainly so to be yea certo it à esse nec alitèr sâ—…abere posse a necessary consequence is when there is tam necessarius nexus indissolubilis dependentiâ—… c. such infallible dependence between the subject and the praedicate that the conclusion must be universally and perpetually true whereas your conclusion which is this viz. That little Children have the holy spirit as it followes not so much as probably nor possibly from all that you have here premised toward the proof on it witness all the Disproof made of your Disputation hitherto so much less doth it follow from them necessarily to be true for then it must bâ—… at least truly denominated de omni i. e. universally true concerning all little children that they have the bospirit de omni being the very lowest degree of necessity but this for shame you cannot say that all little children of every sort have holy spirit no nor yet so much as all of that sort of whom you so peculiarly assert it viz. the little children of believers among whom when they are at years there are as many destitute of the holy spirit as are indued with it And in further evidence hereof that it follows not necessarily from any thing you have said that those little infants you sprinkle have the holy spirit I appeal from your selves to your very selves for howbeit you here affirm as also p. 16. â—…ch necessity in the consequences whence you conclude that infants of believers have faiâ—… and the holy spirit yet to the utter confutation of your selves herein you elsewhere confesse that at the best your proof can be no more then probable viz. p. 18. where you write concerning the infants of Christian parents having faith and the spirit as if notwithstanding all that was said before to prove the certainty of it you could not now tell well what to say to it for as in p. 16. you acknowledged that all infants have it not so these are your own words p. 18. viz. the spirit is not bound to work it in all the children of Christian parents nor barr'd from working it in any of the children of infidels so that no judgemâ—…t of science can be passed till the acts themselves be seen and examined for a poâ—…ori onely and yet by the way be it known unto you that every necessary consequence demonstrates a priori the discovery of habits it made that unlesse iâ—… could be certainly presumed what children have the habit what have not for tâ—…w â—…ing of the spirit is not known to us he is not bound nor yet bard thâ—…re â—…a conclusion made In which words
see how plainly you acknowledge that no conclusion can be made of it that infants of Christians have the habit of faith i. e. it is a thing that doth not necessarily follow and cannot appear in infancy at all nor be certainly presumed whether they have or have it not till they come to years and be seen to act so that then it may be known by your own confession and yet in this place I am now in hand with you say no more nor lesse but in effect the clean contrary as also p. 16. where you seem to wonder almost and fault the difficulty in mens understandings that there are at all any doubts in them abouâ—… their having it avouching that the Scriptures by necessary consequences confirme the thing viz. that they have it That the report of Scripture concerning littâ—… children and the necessary consequences of the former arguments do make it appear yea plainly yea more plainly then the profession of any particular persâ—… at years can make it appear of himself O Earth Earth hear the reasonlesse round abouts of these Logicians they tell us in one place that it is to be concluded by no lesse then necessary consequences that believers infants for of such onely they assert it have faith and the holy spirit by and by to go round again they tell us that it cannot be certainly presumed what children have it what have not that the working of the spirit is not known to us he is not bound to work it in all the children of Christian parents nor barr'd from working it in any of the children of In fidels so that there can be no conclusion made in one place they tell us that no judgement of science concerning these or those infants having the holy spirit and faith can be passed in their infancy till the acts themselves be seen and examined i. e. till they come to years and shew forth some fruits and it appear 〈◊〉 some acts and professions of it for a posteriore onely the discovery or habits is made but elsewhere to go round again they tell us that it doth more plainly appear concerning believers infants in their infancy that they have faith and the holy spirit to any one that will not deny Scripture and reason then the profession of any particular person at years admitted to baptism can make it appear of himself as if it could not half so well appear a posteriore when we are at years and capable to profess and act faith and shew forth the fruits of the spirit whether we have faith and the spirit yea or nâ—… as it may do a priori i. e. in infancy before any act of faith or fruit of the spirit can be discovered seen or examined Moreover to animadvert this present passage of yours yet a little further wheras you say here that the report of Scripture concerning little infants which is Gods testimony and to be preferred before mans doth more plainly prove it that infants have faith and the holy spirit then any particular mans testimony doth prove it concerning himself I answer first by denying that God in Scripture gives any such testimony at all concerning little infants litterally taken that they have faith and the holy spirit Secondly if that phrase Mat. 18. 6. viz. these little ones which believe in me could have any such construction as of little infants litterally yet I deny that he speaks of them any otherwise then by a Prosopeiâ as I said before Thirdly if it were to be proved as it never can be that he speaks there of infants and not figuratively neither but plainly and properly yet t is most plain that he speaks but indifinitely not particularly of one infant more then another oâ—… of Christians infants more then of infidels so as that you can thereupon take on you as you daily do to distinguish which have the spirit which have not and accordingly to admit these to baptism and debar those yea you your selves do ore and ore express it p. 5. 6. that what the Scripture declares Infants to be it declares them so to be in generall specially while any particulars of them have not yet barrd themselves by actual sin or deserv'd to be exempted from what the Scripture hath in general declared them to be so that all this that you have brought thus far hath not the weight of a feather to warrant your good opinion of one infant above another and your practise of baptism to this or that particular infant suppose a believers rather then an unbelievers It would be no plain but a muddy totter'd confus'd implicit shufling kind of argumentation for me if I were to give account why I baptize this or that particular man or woman and not others to argue thus indifinitly as you do all along viz. No man may forbid them to be baptized that believe and have the spirit But the Scripture declares that men and women may believe and have the spirit Ergo men and women must be baptized If I should I say go on thus in generals onely not making it appear that ther 's any faith at all in these individuals whom I baptize more then in others I should take him for little better then a fool who should take me for a wise man in so arguing yet so and no otherwise do you argue whilst when we put you to prove that those infants whom you baptize have title to it in contradistinction to heathens infants whose right to baptism you deny you give us your account in these indeterminate terms viz. Those that have faith and the holy spirit may be baptized But the Scripture testifies that little children have faith c. Ergo little children may be baptized I say what a bald way of arguing is this wherein you conclude no more concerning the particular infants whose right to baptism we put you to plead while you shut out other then concerning those very infants also whom you so shut out This is just as silly as if you being put to prove your own particular salvation before Iudas's should do it thus viz. Such as believe shall be saved But men believe Ergo men shall be saved Without making any proof of your own faith in particular whose salvation you would so prove above his whereas you should of right argue onward from the Major thus viz. We believe and Iud as did not Ergo we shall be saved and not he And so had you dealt down rightly and plaid above board in your Disputation sith believers infants in particular is the subject in hand between us you should have spoken plainly thus viz. All and only those infants that believe are to be baptized But all the infants of believing parents and those infants onely believe Ergo all and onely those infants are to be baptized But you know of your own selves this would be too broad a discoverie the Minoâ—… being so appâ—…rently false that ' you cannot hide your haking by it from the
little below Sect. 22. he saith thus Infants are not shut out of the kingdom of heaven that dye before baptism therefore there will no small injury be done to the Covenant of God unlesse we rest in that alone as if it were not valid enough of it sâ—…lf when its efficacy depends neither on baptism nor any other matters accessary to it By all this it may be easily perceived not onely who they are that streiten the Grace of God under the Gospel and make it narrower then of old under the law viz. not our selves as you feign but your selves who say denial of baptism to infants destroyes the hope that else might be had of their salvation but also what an individuum vagum your Pamphlet is wandering and swarving clear aside from the stars you direct us to for light and would sâ—…em to steer your own course by Thirdly to the doctrine of the Church of England which though it own baptism as a sign and falsely enough as a seal of the Covenant of Grace that may lawfully at least be dispensed to infants yet rejects that tenet however as spurious and popish that makes salvation and damnation depend so much up the dispensation or denial of it to infants that there 's no hope of the salvation of those infants that dye without it witnesse Râ—…gers his Analysis of the 39. Articles of the Catholick doctrine of the Church of England p. 167. 168 we condemn saith he the opinion of the Russeis that there is such a necessity of baptism that all that dye without the same are damned we may see how well the Church of England is serv'd among you whose own ministers swerve from the sense of those Articles she makes them sweare to If you mean that a denial not de facto but de jure i. e. not of baptism it self to infants but of their right to baptism damns them and that doctrinally onely not really they dying without it you might have said so then if you had pleased but your blunt delivery of your selves here without any modification of your meaning makes it out as if you meant to fright the whole Countrey to baptiz all their infants in all hast as ever they mean to have any hope they shall be saved besides if they be but doctrinally damned and not really by the denial of baptism to them the matter is so much the lesse for as they are not one straw the betâ—…er whether living or dying in infancy if they have it so they cannot be as to salvation one straw the worse if they want it and die without it and then what need such thundring out of terror to the parents as if there were no way but one that is damnation to their dying infants out of hand if they do not see to the baptizing of them in infancy before they dye moreover if it be doctrinally to damn all infants to deny their right to baptism then how damnable is your doctrine to that innocent age who deny it to no lesse then 20 to one viz. all the dying infants of unbelievers but the best out is though your doctrine is so desperate and ungodly as to declare nought but damnation to all such as the Pope doctrinally damnes i. e. all that are not born within the pale of the Church yet there is salvation enough for these infants as well as for the other in Christ Jesus whereby till they deserve exemption by actuall transgression they may be saved really though with you they are doctrinally damn'd and with us as well as you deny'd to have or so much as to have any right at all to baptism Thus Sirs I have done with your deep Disputation there remaining no more but a certain magisterial moderation or determination in which you are your own carvers taking upon you to manage it by the mouth of him whose onely arguments all these are in which piece of your Pamphlet I shall briefly take notice of some passages wherein you speak very fairly of your selves very fowly falsly and injuriously of your respondent very conrradictorily to what you said before very ignorantly of the word very impertinently as to the proof of faiths being in and baptisms belonging to those infants you plead for more then those you plead against and then come to consider your Review you speak as followeth Determination Sinâ—…e it hath been proved that little infants have the holy Ghost c. here let there be a recapitulation of the former arguments therefore baptism is not to be denied unto them Detection Doubting belike whether any stander by can find in his conscience to give so good a testimony as you afford and such ample approbation to your Arguments as you desire and they deserve not you ingrosse the dijudiâ—…ation of the disputation between your selves and me into your own clutches and then claw your selves in the face of the world and bestow such commendatories upon your simple shuffles as if it were proved and put out of doubt thereby that believers infants have the spirit faith holinesse and such apparent right both to heaven and baptism as no creatures have in the world besides them but having shewed how shallowly sillily and slenderly you have argued all this above I decline detest and disclaim this your positive dijudication and make my appeal from the high Commission Chair of you Clergy men who for ages and generations have sate judges in your own cause unto the people whom you have ever mis-led by your blind guidance to judge between us among whom not they who have so long commended themselves as Orthodox will be approved at last but those whom the Lord commendeth Determination If any doubt be raised concerning particular infants the judgement of Charity will cast that out especially considering no other judgement can be past upon those that are Adulâ—…i Detection That the judgement of charity concerning faith the holy spirit and right to the kingdom can in infancy be past no mâ—…re upon believers infants then upon all infants is told us so plainly by your selves that if you be not resolved that you will never learn any thing that is truth from your selves you must needs see it as well as we since you say p. 18. there is no discovery of the habit of faith but by the asts and none by the acts in any infants at all in infancy and that the spirit is neither bound to work it in all the children of Christians nor barred from working it in any children of infidelâ—… and p. 5. that the judgement of charity must so pass that we are to presume well of all who by actuall sin have not barred themselves and deserved exèmption and that there 's better ground to build a judgement of charity concerning faith and the spirit in adultis then â—…ibus viz. profession and visible manifestation by the fruits and acts and a better judgement then that of charity viz. of certainty is to be had of adult persons
word of God Review 5. They lose it again when they come to more years else why are they taught the element of faith By the same reason they should lose the faculty of understanding also because after they are set to learning learning is for the brinâ—…ing forth into act and perfecting of the degrees otherwise one that is at 24. years of age having received faith once might give over learning more for if this argument might hold either they lose it or why do they learn Re-Review Hâ—…op Sirs what pretty cutted stuff is here as if you did not know well enough but that for advantage sake to your crooked cause you rather chuse here to seem ignorant of it that teaching and learning is not onely for the further bringing forth of habits that are in us into their acts and perfecting of them in their degrees but also for the begetting of some habits in us that never were before viz. noâ—… natural and innate habits as the faculty of reason and understanding for instruction is not for the engendring but improving of these in us but all such kind of habits as faith is viz. acquired habits teaching tends not onely to the perfecting of such a posteriori after they are once begun but a priori also to the very being and begetting of these whether they be habits about matters of this life or that to come t is true therefore learning is to be continued for the perfecting of habits begun and begotten in a man otherwise indeed as you say one of 24 years having once received the faith need be taught no more but it is to be also for the beginning and begetting of faith in him otherwise to one at 24 years of age having not yet received it the faith is preacht by you in vain that he may receive it There is a teaching to beget grace and faith where it is not and a teaching to increase it where it is Mat. 28. 18. 19. a teaching before and a teaching after faith and baptism and if you ask a reason of both these the one is to beget faith into both the habit and the act the other to build it up into higher degrees the second teaching indeed supposes a being of it in men the first teaching no being of it as yet when you begin first to preach to them for your preaching speaks to them as to unbelievers whereupon this argument holds good that if ever they had faith in their infancy they have lost it now for why else are they taught the element of it why taught in order to the receiving it for reason in this objection must be understood as speaking suppositively onely i. e. in case persons had faith in infancy it s now lost why else are they taught to this end that they might have it but not so positively as your expressions represent it as if reason did really assert that infants do lose any faith they had in infancy for howbeit reason acknowledges that such in whom faith is may lose it if they look not to it yet reason knows well enough that those can never be said to lose faith in whom faith never was at all Review 6. Habits encline more towards their proper actions but children of Christians are not more inclined to actions of faith then infidels An Argument from comparison is subject to many exceptions caeteris paribus being to be proved before it can hold if the objector had considerd that among chil dren born of the same Christian parents under the same education one gives a better specimen not only in acts of piety and religion but knowledge he would not have concluded to the denyal of the habit of faith in one more then of the faculty of understanding in the other We must necessarily hold 1. The habit of faith must be before it can work 2. That the Spirit of God infuses this habit 3. That he is not bound to work it in the children of Christian parents nor barred from working it in any of the children of infidels 4. Whersoever this habit is it inclines to holy actions when there is opportunity and the season for bringing them forth 5. This inclination is not equally alike in all in whom the habits themselves are Sampson and David are sufficient instances David for exceeding in acts of piety and relegion 6. Instruction of the understanding in matter of faith in some sort must go before any act of faith can be discovered Lastly that no judgement of science can be passed till the acts themselves be seen and examined for a posteriore onely the discovery of habits is made These premised the answer is 1. That unlesse it could be certainly presumed what children have the habit what have not for the working of the Spirit is not known to us he is not bound nor barred there can be no conclusion made 2. That in those children where there is lesse promptnesse to acts of faith then in others we cannot argue ad negationem habitus because they work not equally Lastly by this cross interrogatory are those children of infidels with which the objector makes his comparison being called and instructed inclined to acts of faith or not If the former it presupposes they have the habit and so the working in them and those born of believing parents may be one If the later the Argument is deny'd for the children of Christians are more inclin'd Re-Review This is wit whether wilt thou I think he is wise that well knows either what you say or what to say to what you say so reasonless are severall pieces of the return that is here rendred to reasons objection I speak not of a few faults which in the first part of it escaped the presse and made it nonsence for those you corrected in the copy you sent to me so that I might do no less then do you right so far as to transprint it as I have done according to your own emendation Nec tibi Typographi crimina dem vitio But of the faults which escaped the pen or rather the pates of those that composed this rambling responsion the major part of which whether it past from you willingly and ingenuously or rashly and unadvisedly rather I know not is a most flat unsaying of most of that you have said before and much of what you say again in the next page after and an acknowledgement of the clear contrary to that which you have hitherto tugged for and which you persue the proof of well-nigh throughout your whole Pamphlet an absolute overturning of the basis on which your book builds infants baptism which is this assertion viz. That it sufficiently appears that these little infants in particular have faith meaning infants of believers in contradistinction to those of Turks and Pagans whom as concerning their original condition and their birth-right to salvation you rather rank with the Devils then with the children of Christians I say a plain
that in many more places then those alledged by your selves as namely to add to your store Act. 2. 27. thou wilâ—… not leave my soul in hell Luke 11. 7 my children are in bed with me But is it so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in and is so rendred in that place and many more then I am sure hat here it doth not signify out of for he that is in a City put a Nazareth or Capernaum is at that time when said to be in it not out of it nor only by it but in it money that is truly denominated to be in a purse is at that time truly in it and neither out of it nor beside it leaven hid in three pecks of Meal whilest hid is in it overwhelmed covered with it and not on the outside with a few dusts of meal sprinkled on it only He that is in hell i. e. the grave in bed while he is truly said to be in it he is in it and not at it only and so he that is truly denominated to be baptized in water or in Iordan in the River Jordan is not ouâ—… of it not at it not by the side of it not neer it only as you fancy them to have bin that were baptized of John in Jordan He I say who is said truly and the spirit lies not to be baptized in Jordan must needs be whilest he was in the Act of this baptizing not out of Jordan nor just by it only but truely in it and that 's more then he needs to be in order to baptism if he can be baptized as well standing by it only in that fiddling way of sprinkling Whereas therefore you contend against baptizing i. e. dipping into Jordan into Rivers and plead for a baptizing in water onely by the Example of Christs baptism which you yield in Jordan but not into it I marvel what wide difference you see in these two that you should grant it to be in and yet be affraid to grant it to be into Jordan you cry out not into not into by any meanes for that is no way consistent indeed with your dry washing but by all meanes let it be in only viz. in water in the River in Jordan let it be in water then as much as you will for me so it be in water that you are baptized and not out of it and not well nigh without it as most of yâ—…ur christened Creatures are whilest little or none in comparison of such a measure of water as must necessarily be in order to a true baptizing of them doth once come neer them Fourthly it appears plainly that the way of baptizing in the primitive times was by totall dipping not sprinkling in that they chose to do it in places where there was much water or many waters which they need not have done if sprinkling might then have past for baptizing Iohn baptized in the River Iordan and was baptizing Iohn 3. 23. in Enon neer to Salem and the reason is rendred thus viz. because there was much water there and there they came and were baptized and as the reason why they went to be baptized there was because there was much water or many waters for the word is Plurall so surely the reason why they went to such a place was that they might be baptized i. e. dipped in water as they could not conventently be elsewhere at least not every were for where might they not easily have bin sprinkled and upon this account no doubt as Iohn chose to preach about those River sides viz. Iordan and Enon that their converâ—…s might conveniently be baptized Paul and Silas being at Philippi and abiding in that City certain daies to preach the Gospel on the Sabbath the most likely time of vacuity from other occasions for people to assemble to hear in went out of the City by a Rivers side and there sate down and spake to as many as resorted thither to hear viz. certain women for men for the most part were more shy of the Gospel as now they are that they might conveniently dispense baptism to them as should imbrace the Gospel as a certain woman named Lidya and her houshold did and thereupon out of hand were all baptized Act. 16. 12. c. Rantist Their baptizing where there was much water for this reason that they might do the work so effeâ—…ually to every person as by dipping is a frivolous conjecture as if there could be no reason why Iohn should chose a place where many waters were but that he might dipp the whole man in the water the cause rather seems to be this because waters in those hot Countryes were rare and in some places could not be had in a great distance and because there came multitudes to be baptized for the dispatching of which they might well seek places of many waters where John and his disciples might at once be imployed one water of depth sufficient would have served for the use of dipping for dipping sake he might have sought for a deep but needed not to seek many waters Baptist. So saies Mr. Cook indeed to A. R. p. 15. 16. and Mr. Blake to Mr. Blackwood who jumps as just with Mr. Cook as one that never saw nor heard of any sprinkled can likely do with another who maintaines sprinkling to be the onely way of baptizing but both weary themselves to little purpose The question is not whether Iohn had no reason but that which we alleadge of baptizing where there was much water but whether that which we alleadge viz. that he might dipt the whole man be not one reason as for that you bring viz. because there came multitudes to be baptized and that Iohn and his disciples might at once be imployed in baptizing that can be no reason at all of their running into rivers to baptize nor of their dispensing in Iordan In Enon and in places of much water or in many waters and therefore for ought I see yet ours is the onely one for verily were it not for the sake of totall dipping they need not for the multitudes sake that came to be baptized nor yet for the multitudes sake who did baptize I mean Iohn and his disciples who no doubt were all at once imployed in that work have sought for a place of much water or many waters for as one bason of water may well serve to sprinkle a whole parish of many persons or if not it s easily replenisht so many persons imployed at once in sprinkling might easily put their hands into one or if not might they not easily have it in many basons what a poor shift is this Rivers Iordan Enon many waters and why because many were baptizing and many to be baptized one water of depth quoth Mr. Blake would have served for the use of dipping for dippings sake they he might have sought for a deep but needed not seek many waters but would not one water of no great depth as a bason
piece remarkable or worth recording of it self or in any other respect in the world save for this end onely as it was an expression of the malice that Saul who was afterward converted and called Paul did at that time bear against the truth for surely had there not been that good reason wherefore the laying aside of their clothes had not been worth our notice nor should it ever have been mentioned simply for it self sake but now there was no such weighty end as this nor any end or purpose at all in order to which it was needfull to mention the circumstance of their clothing and unclothing about the administration of baptism it is enough that we have recorded of the thing in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that and how and why it was done but it would have been frustraneous and even every way endlesse to have minded us of such impertinent appertenances to baptism as the dressing and undressing of the disciples if any one tell me a story that such and such infants were sprinkled at such places is not that relation sufficient and compleat unlesse he tell me how the infants were drest in their blankets and what a fidling was made by the midwife and the minister about the unpinning and turning up of their face clothes is not the story of Naamans washing himself seven times in Iordan full enough to our use because there is no mention of his putting off and on Christ washt his disciples feet and wiped them it may well be supposed they put off their shoes first and put them on again yet there is no mention of that Mr. Blake thinks that among all the multitudes that were baptized there must have been some words about their unclothings and clothings and specially that there was reason that we should have heard that Paul had dry and warm clothes put on him after his baptism as well as mention of meat given him if he had been baptized by immersion because he had been weak but what crude conceits are all these it was related that he was weak through fasting three daies and that was but proper and answering to the other to tell how after he eat his meat and gathered strength but the other must have come in for ought I see without either sense or reason and sith he stranges that among so many baptized no mention should be made of their preparations viz. the seponing and resuming their garments I wonder what mention he finds of the accommodations that those multitudes had that were circumcised in Ahrahams family in one day and in the City of the Shechemits and those thousands in the wildernesse after the long cessation both before and after circumcision and yet that was such a tedious bloody sore and painfull piece of service as required no question ten times more attendance with clothes and other accomplishments till it was whole then this of baptism even in that so troublesome way to you wherein we dispense it Rantist But pray give me leave a little Now we talk of their Cloaths I remember that no sooner was Christ come out of the water but immediately the spirit drove him into the wilderness the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the Eunuch went on his way rejoicing Act. 8. whence I argue thus viz. if they put off their Cloathes they did not stay to put them on but went away naked 〈◊〉 they had them on then being as you say dipped over head and ears they must have worn them wet but the first had been unseemly the later prejudiciall to their health Baptist. Well argued Mr. Simpson again as sure as can be you have got his Arguments by root of heart for these also are Mr. Simpsons very words in that letter of his above mentioned Rantist Whose Argument this is it matters not I suppose it is past your answer and here is reason enough in it to disprove Christ and the Eunuchs total dipping as a meer groundlesse and reasonlesse conjecture and crotchâ—…t of your own coining or if you have any thing to say to it I pray let us have it out of hand Baptist. Reason say you it were well if there were so much as common sense in it for my part I suppose it a senselesse fancy but I am sure there is so little truth in the ground of it that its stark rotten at the very rooâ—… it is a dispute Ex falso suâ—…posit is t is taken by you for granted as necessary when it shall never be yielded to by us for so much as probable that Christ and the Eunuch were baptized either naked or else in the cloathes they ware immediately both before or after either for both Christ comming purposely to be baptized and the Eunuch though not thinking of baptism till Philip met him yet returning homeward from Jerusalem where he had been for some time were undoubtedly accomodated otherwise and with change sutable enough to such a businesse Secondly it supposes that both Christ Philip and the Eunuch posted all so immediately several waies from the water that they staied not so much as to cover themselves with other Cloathes then those they went with into and came up with out of the water whereas as nature it self â—…orbids us to believe they went in much more that they went away naked for common sense forbids us to take the word immediately in so strict a sense as to think they departed in such extremity of hast as was no way consistent with the shifting and so fitting of themselves for departure Immediately doth seldome sound forth such a suddennesse as admits of no intertime nor invening action at all yea sometimes it signifies no sooner then some howers some daies some years after according to the nature of the matter asserted in the sentence wherein it hath its use as Matth. 24. 29. nor doth it expresse any other in Mark 1. 13. where it is said Immediately the spirit drave Christ into the Wildernesse then within a while after his baptism as appears not only by Matth. 4. 1. where it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which woâ—…d is there per act is praedict is ordinative of another story but specially by Luke 4. 1. where iâ—…s said plainly that he was returned from Iordan before it is said he was led into the wildernesse and had you or Mr. Simpson compared Scripture with Scripture or heeded the harmony of the Evangelists you had saved your selves the labour of all those lines and lost nothing by it but what is worth nothing viz. the Argument it self for as if I should say immediately after the child was sprinkled the Gossips and friends went along with it home it were absurd to understand me so as if I meant that they did not stay so long after as to wipe the childs face and put the face cloathes over it and lap it up again in the loose blanket to keep it warm
saies God is not more prone to severity then to mercy and shewes it no other way as to his dealing with innocent infants then by saying he saves no more dying of infants then those few i. e. some of the dying infants of believers and from the Mothers womb damns eternally all the rest may say over that his creed in my hearing 500 times and ten before I shall learn to believe it after him once Thirdly as to threatnings of damnation I find none at all to insants in their ininfancy from one end of the book of God to the other but all that ever is spoken as concerning eternal wrath the second death everlasting damnation the Lake of fire is declared as the portion of those onely that do and do not that which was never at all much lesse in order to salvation and on pain of eternal fire enjoined by infants either to be done or forborn yea this is the condemnation and nothing else that I know of that light more or lesse comes to persons and they love darknesse more then light because their deeds are evil those that Christ speaks nothing at all to as he does to heathens themselves Rom. 1. Rom. 2. but not to infants that yet know not the right hand from the left much lesse either good or evil they have not sin for sin is the transgression of that law that is lent us to live by whether a law within onely or without also Rom. 2. but when he hath spoken and they obey not when they know God and glorify him not as God then they are without excuse and have no cloak at all for their sin and the word he hath spoken to every one being rejected that same word shall judge him at the last day I find it said no whoremonger fornicator c. no actual impenitent sinner shall â—…ver enter or hath any inheritance at all but not no unbelievers dying infants in the kingdome of God or of Christ and that the Loâ—…d shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Christ c. and yet on no dying infants though they neither know him nor obey him for if he should then believers infants should therefore to the pot as well as others as who in infancy obey no more then their fellows that the fearful and unbelieving and dogs and socerers and murderers and all liars c. but not liars dying infants shall have their portion in the lake of fire burning with brimstone which is the second death and that the unprofitable servant that traded not with his talent and not infants that in infancy have no talent to trade with shall be cast into utter darknesse that those on whom Christ called and they would not hear and to whom he stretched out his hands and they regarded him not and would none of Christs councel nor reproof shall call on him at that day and not be heard and not infants on whom he never called that the Lord added to the Church dayly such men and women Act. 2. not at all such infants as should be saved that he that believeth not the gospel shall be damned but not infants to whom he never preached that it shall be said to the wicked go ye cursed into into everlasting fire for I was hungry and you fed me not c. among which if there were any that died infants they might justly reply indeed as no wicked men at years can do Lord when saw we thee in distresse and neglected thee and did not come and minister unto thee In a word the whole body of the new Testament or covenant in the promissory praeceptory and minatory parts of it saving some two or three such gentle touches about infants as those above named whereby we may have hopes that none of them dying such are for ever lost was written and given to and concerning men and women and not infants to declare unto them the way of everlasting salvation and in what wayes God would and would not accept of them and he that with an unprejudiced spirit observes all this will trouble himself no more about his infants to inchurch and baptize them for remission of sins which is the prime use of baptism to sinners and utterly lost when diâ—…penst to infants that have not sins not indeed to do more then instruct them as they grow up and pray for them while they live infants and hope well of them if they dy in their minority but it pitties my heart for them to see what moyl and toil the Priests create to themselves and the people and what much ado they make about their poor infants even much more then about themselves As for Iacobs being Lovd before he was born he means in contradistinction to Esau with is Mr. Bâ—… tenth ground of hope that believers infants are from the womb in a hopeful way I suppose he takes it to be so declared but is miserably mistaken if he think the ninth of the Romans saies so for t is true the elder shall serve the younger which relates to the posterity of those two and not their persons for Esau was mostly Jacobs Lord was said before they were born by God who foreseeing it might easily foretell how it should be and did so too but for the woâ—…ds Iacob have I loved Esau have I hated as they also were spoken of the two Nations that came out of their loines viz. the Edomites and Israelites and that not without respect to Edoms being the border of wickednesse so far was it from being spoken of them before they were born that t was hundreds of years after they were dead and rotten Mal. 1. But if it were just as Mr. B. understands it that before they were born and without any respect to their personal rebellion and obedience in time it had been said Iacob have I loved Esau have I hated would it prove that article in Mr. Bs. creed that God hath promised to be merciful to Godly mens seed in general in contradistinction to the seed of the wicked in no wise I suppose since as godly as Isaac was even one of his Sons was hated from the womb if Mr. Bâ—… con ceit were true aswel as the other of them from the womb beloved but surely had not Esaâ—… sinned and set so light by the heavenly blessing â—…e had not lost it much less if he had dyed from the womb Fourthly as for the universallity of redemption which is by Jesus Christs dying as Mr. Ba. saies ttuely for all for every man for the sins of the whole world which he had meant to have drawn an Argument from but did â—…ot he might easily have drawn one that would have served my turn in this place viz. to have proved that very age even the whole species of infants to be savd by Christ from wrath and ruine except they live to rejâ—…ct his grace a frâ—…sh as in infancy they do not but
concerning the needfulnesse of water baptism to all who will not be under a just account of rejecting the counsell of that Prophet and rebelling against the command of King Jesus among which I shall set down none but such as to my own knowledge have been made and among them I shall not fail to set down if not all yer at least â—…hose that by the opposite party in this point are called and counted the principal for so is one parcel of the ensuing reasons stiled in a certain coppy of them which was given to me lately while I was at the presse viz. The principall Reasons why believers need not be baptized whereby you may ghesse how little worth answering the lesse principal are are on this wise Ranterist The Baptism mentioned Mat. 28. 18 19. 20. was not water baptism but the baptism of the spirit Baptist. Your blind boldnesse and buzzardly blindnesse in this I inwardly blush at when I as I hope your self will also when you consider 1. that it was a baptism enjoined and commanded to be dispensed and that 2. By meer men Who never were yet since the world stood so highly prerogativ'd from the Father as to be made administrators of more then water baptism or to be baptizers with the spirit for that was ever yet now is and ever will be the peculiar prerogative royal of Christs own royal person never to be imparâ—…ed to any other to give i. e. to baptize persons with the holy spirit the father by him and he immediately by himself without imparting any of that power which he only had to do it to others to give it in his name is the sole giver of every good and perfect gift Iam. 1. 17. So Luke 9. 13. Your heavenly Father will give the holy spirit to them that ask him So Act. 5. 32. the holy spirit which God hath given to all them that obey him 2 Cor. 5. 5. God who hath given us the earnest of his spirit 1 Ephes. 13. 14. sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest c. The Baptism with the spirit is the inward seal upon the heart that only God sets and not any meer man meer man is commissionated and impowerd from God to dispense no more but the outward sign i. e. water baptism which is not the seal of the New Covenant as the Priests call it for that 's the spirit which God onely gives throw Christ the Son for him onely hath God the Father sealed i. e. authorized honoured with that priviledge viz. to be under himself the sole dispenser of the spirit Iohn 6. 26. which wherever it s given gives gifts in such wise as seems good unto him 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit all these worketh that one and the self same spirit distributing to every one severally as he will There are differences of administrations diversities of operations meaning internal administrations and operations upon the soul for there be outward administrations and operations ad extra as preaching praying water baptism laying on of hands with prayer breaking bread in which men act to God ward in order to his acting toward us in the other for men may promise us the spirit and shew us what to do and baptize us in water in order to our having the spirit and pray for us that we may receive the holy spirit c. and minister to us outwardly in the ordinances of divine service which this new Testament hath which in respect to the old Testament is called the ministration of the Spirit because God gives down to them that wait on him sincerely and believingly in these outward waies of the Gospel which are to see to but foolish instruments earthen vessels in some measure here the heavenly treasure of his spirit and hereupon as they hold forth the word of the gospel in the hearing of which the spirit is received as t was not in the hearing of the law for the spirit was not the promise of that Covenant of Circumcision but the old Canaan for I will circumcise thy heart c. was a Gospel promise though made in the time of the law and in these respects viz. as preaching and dispensing gospel ordinances they may be stiled and in such a sense onely are they so stiled 2 Cor. 3 6. Ministers not of the Letter i. e. the Law but of the spirit i. e. the Gospel But thereis but one and the same Lord and t is one and the same God who worketh all in all All in All is Christs own glorious title Paul and Apullos and the Ministers by whom we believe may work and do all that is to be done without to all men they may baptize in water by commission from Christ for so he himself baptized not but his disciples viz. Iohn Baptist and the rest and wicked men may by his permission baptize i. e. overwhelm us with suffering shame c. But himself onely baptizes us with that holy spirit of his that must support us under suffering he sends the comforter he was the onely baptizer of them upon whom the spirit fell in the Apostles ministration of baptism with water in which case the spirit was promised Act. 2. and of laying on hands with prayer in which way though not ever yet ordinarily it was dispensed I indeed baptize you in water saies Iohn i. e. we men can minister no further to you being but messengers from him to do that but he shall baptize you with the holy spirit and fire Mat. 3. 11. so see how Iohn peculiarly indigitates him Iohn 11. 33. as in sole right to that service the same is he that baptizeth with the holy spirit and as Iohn did baptize onely with water so with no more then water did all the disciples and Apostles after Christ crucified baptize not with the spirit for that Christ onely did in their due dispensation of the other they had no promise any where that I find of such a priviledge I find it promised to them Act. 1. 9. that they should be baptized with the holy spirit not many daies thence but never that they should baptize with the holy spirit Christ keeps himself the right of powring that out upon all men as they turn to him Proverbs 22. 23. I am ashamed therefore at the cloudy conceits of such as say that was not water baptism with which Christ commanded his disciples to baptize the Nations after teaching Mat. 28. 18 19. 20. And the rather because Secondly it s as clear as if it were written with a beam of the sun that what was done most immediately and more remotely by the disciples in obedience to that commssion when once power was come on them to go forth till when they were to stay and forbear their testimony Luke 24. 47. 48. 49. Act. 1. 8. which was no more but teaching and as to baptism the baptizing in water for Act. 2.
observe it and teach all Nations to observe the same as Mat. 28. 18. 19. 20. he would rather have confiâ—…cated it instead of causing it to continue by giving new and fresh commission for it he would have caused it to cease by some intimation or other that when the holy spirit should be given and men begin to be baptized therewith then there should be no longer attendance given to the baptism with water he would have said go teach all Nations beginning at Ierusalem that there must be now no more bapzing with water but that in the way of repentance and faith onely without that baptism they shall be baptized with the spirit Peter knowing his mind would have said to them Act 2 39. when they askt what they should do repent you of all your sins and believe in Christ in order to the remission of them but in the name of Jesus Christ be not baptized in water as some while since every penitent was used to be for that was a dispensation and baptism of Iohn that had its time a while meerly to prepare the way of Christ but is now abolished and out of date we must forsake Iohn now and not be baptized nor walk after those customes but expect a baptism with the spirit onely also Act. 10. 47. who can require these persons to be baptized in water that have received the spirit and are baptized with the spirit as well as we Thus I say they would have said and done as Paul when circumcision and the Law was to cease as much as he condescended in the case of Timothy yet never commanded it to continue but taught all the Jewes that were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they should not circumcise their children nor walk after the customes Acts 21. 21. if there had been such opposition such inconsistency between the baptism in water and that of the spirit that they must not stand together if baptism in water must not have remained rather in a certain continual subserviency to the other if it were not to be according to Christs will an inseperable companion of his doctrine but we find not the least hint or intimation of the mind of Christ when expressed either by his own mouth or the mouth of his Apostles that were to deliver and command nothing to people but what they had received of the Lord Jesus and what was commanded them of the Lord as concerning the cessation of that service or any toleration of any one person to omit it but as we find it a part of Christs Gospel and Testament even from the very beginning of it which was in Johns baptizing with water So for ought I find it was as jure to continue as a part of his Testament among other things not a tittle of which Testament is yet annihilated till he whose will and Testament the whole is shall come to take account of all men how as to the preceptory part of it they have observed it Whereas therefore you seem to be of this opinion that Christ was not commanded i. e. not commissionated from the Father to baptize with water as well as Iohn because it s said by Iohn I verily baptize you with water but he shall baptize you with the holy spirit as if Christ had had nothing to do to meddle with that water baptism as any ordinance of his or to give any order about it as if he had had no more power to dispense or enjoin that then Iohn had power to meddle in Christs peculiarity or to take on him to baptize with the spirit I must tell you that Christ had command and commission from the Father to that service of water baptism though it being the external inferiour matter he committed the actual administration of it to his disciples and Ministers among whom I look on Iohn as the chief or else sith he commanded others to do it and so baptized per alios at least if not per se Iohn 3. 22. 4. 12. his testimony of himself Iohn 12. 49. 50. Iohn 16. 31. is not true which indeed were blasphemy to think for 〈◊〉 there professes that he spake nothing of himself but the Father which sent him gave him commandment what he should say and what he should speak â—…nd that whatever he spake even as the father gave him commandment so he spake and likewise that as the Father gave him commandment so he did whereupon since he did by his disciples baptize with water in Iudaea while Iohn and his disciples in Aenon Ioh. 3. 22. 23. and made and baptized more disciples then Iohn for all came and flockt to his dispensations of water baptism at last and left John in somuch as he in his Ministry even of water baptism increased and Iohn decreased Iohn 3. 26. 27. 28 29 30 those words of Iohn as much as you think it absurd to understand them so must necessarily run so in any solid understanding though the terms onely and also be not expressed viz. I verily baptize you with water onely i. e. I can go no further then to that outward administration of water but he shall baptize you also with the holy spirit i. e. he is impowered to dispense higher matters to you then water only with which he baptizes too as well as I i. e. not himself but his disciples viz. that baptism with the holy spirit in which words you cannot say properly that Iohn opposeth his baptism to the baptism of Christ as if that which is called his were none of Christs but rather that John magnifies the person of Christ above himself as who should say I can dispense no more then the bare outward sign but Christ who though he came after me yet was preferred before me in whose name and not in my own I baptize and whose the baptism is that I dispense and not mine he is able besides the sign to vouchsafe you the very thing signifyed thereby This baptism then of water in the name of Christ together with repentance from dead works and faith in his name Iohn Baptist was the first Minister to begin in which respect it is sometimes stiled his but he left it after a while to Christ himself and his disciples to carry on who all 〈◊〉 Christ was actually crucifyed preacht and practised the self same things that Iohn did viz. repentance and saith in a Christ yet to suffer for remission of sins and baptism in water in token thereof and saving some circumstantiall difference the very same in substance even afâ—…er Christ was crucified too For herein onely the baptism with water which was Christs and of which Iohn was but a Minister as we are differs since Christ crucified from what it was before he was crucified viz. that then it was the baptism of repentance and faith for remission of sins by a Christ that was ere long to suffer for so Iohn preached Act. 19. 4. and baptized Matth. 3. 2. saying repeat for the
or else by some of those which himself had first baptized which still makes the case the same and evidences that unbaptiz ed persons may possibly be right ad ministrators and that the non baptiza tion of the person that does it nulls not the dis pensacion of it to believ ers * As Châ—…ist also doth Mar. 16. 16. saying he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved for true he that believeth not whether he be baptized or no shall be damned * 1 Peâ—… 4. 11. * for he that 〈◊〉 not to his voice in all things whatever he saith shall be cut off from among his people Act. 3. 22 â—…3 Major Minor * for no man can of himself by name prove expresly that he shall be save the Scripture promising life to neither Peter not Paul by name save as they were believers but onely by an inference from the Scripture and in the ballance of right reason comparing Scripture with Scripture or by arguing in some such manner out of it viz. he thâ—… believeth and is baptâ—…zed continuing in that his faith and obedience till death shall be saved Mâ—…k 16 16. Rom. 2. 7. Hâ—…b 10 35. 38. but I believe and am baptized and continue in that faith and Gâ—…d essisting will never draw back Ergo I shall be saved No condemnation to them that walk not after the flâ—… but after the spirit so dying but I walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Ergo so doing so dying there 's no condemnation to me and so consequently still I shall be saved Rom. 8. 1. * witnesse a paper newly extant subscribed with 15. hands and sent to my self in particular by one of the subscribers while I am just beginning this very treatise of Anti-ranterism which occasions a more distinct handling of this point of laying on of hands then I otherwise intended stiled Questions about laying on of hands with the grounds why they are demanded lovingly propounded to all those churches of Iesus Christ in London or elsewhere or to any one member of the body of our Lord who pleadeth or preacheth for the necessity or usefulnesse of laying on of hands to be practised by all baptized believers The ad query of which is on this wise viz. We desire to be directed by them unto some place of Scripture if they know of any where our Lord Iesus Christ or any of his Apostles or disciples preached this doctrine viz. that all baptized bellevers ought to practise or submit unto laying on of hands * Heb. 5. 12. 6. 1 2. Act. 19 6. Act. 8. 12. 15. 16 17. Act. 2. 40 42. * because many blame and reprove baptized believers because they do not practise sub mit to or come under laying on of hands Therefore we desire to know of them if they can tell of any of the servants of Christ that ever did reprove or blame any sort of people whether baptized or â—…ot because laying on of hands was not practised or submitted to by them * As if women were not under the promise of the holy spirit repenting believing and being baptized as well as men when as Peter saies Acts 〈◊〉 39. to the whole multitude of women as well as men repent and be baptized and ye shall receive the holy spirit for the promise is to you and to your children and them that are a far off even as many as the Lord shall call as if John Baptist also did not speak promiscuously to the multitudes of both men and women and to the women as well as the men whom he baptized when he said I indeed baptize you with water but he shall baptize you with the holy spirit and if baptized believing women be under a promise of being baptizd with the spirit as well as men pro. 1. 23. then why they should not have hands laid on them and be prayed for that they may receive it as well as the other according to the promise he is a wiser man then I am that knowes any reason s Viz. seeing that many draw inferences and deductions as they call them from Heb 6 2. to maintain one laying on oâ—… hands onely and none of them upon the forementioned considerations neither in the end purpose or event Therefore we desire to know wheâ—…her you judge it a command of our Loâ—…d Christ that any mans inference or deduction should be of a binding â—…orm in point of faith and obedience and because we have seen some 〈◊〉 our darly beloved brethren in the Lord to the grief of our hearts much offended at us because we believe not the inferences or deductions as they call them from Heb. 6. 2 Therefore we dâ—…e â—…o know of them what they will reâ—…er us to as the sure rule to try inâ—…erences or deductions by because the best of men are liable to mistakes * witness his reproving and threatning of lost labour to those that so do Mat. 15. 9. x John 5. 30. 8. 16. 17. 12. 49. 50. 14. 31 * Act. 1. 1. 2 3. 10. 33. * Act. 2. 42. 1 Cor. 14. 37. Eph. 2. 20. Heb. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 Pet. 3. 2. Jude 17. 〈◊〉 * For there was a certain form of Christs doctrine delivered by the Apostles to persons as from him which they were to obey and after obedience unto which and not before they were counted unto Christ as now his servants which till they had obeyed they were coâ—…ted none of his but unto sin as its servants standing in several particulars whereof its most evident that water baptism was one for obedience in baptism and obedience to that form of doctrine delivered are both urged as arguments and â—…gagements to the Romans now to reckon on themselves or from thenceforth i. e. their obedience thereunto as in foro dei hoâ—…inum et ecclesiae Christs servants that had formally owned him and whether the rest viz faith repentance laying on of hands belief of a resâ—…ection and judgement which are Heb. 6. all called the foundation which was at fiâ—…st to be laid altogether with baptism called by the name of the form of doctrine Rom. 6. 17. which was at first to be obeyed by every beginner in Christs school is worth our serious consiâ—…erations * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6. 1. * so the Enquirers seem to me to do while they teach men that as yet have not that they need or ought not to submit to prayer and laying on of hands for the holy spirit and unâ—…each such again as have been taught it till they disown that first principle oâ—… the doctrine of Christ after they had once even practically owned it * who would fain be our own carvers and either have such visible gifts as some call them as he was pleased to give them or else we will be blind and not see nor believe though we see it that he gives any gifts of his spirit now at all * John 14. 17 28. Gal. 5. 17. John 16 13. R m. 8. 13. 1 Cor.
do when the Kingdome appointed by the Father to him in reward of his for them and by him to his disciples in reward of their sufferings for him Luke 22. 28. is come this I utterly deny nay rather he is yet in his Saints an underling to the civil powers the miserable ignorance of which time wherein Christ shall take unto himself his great power and reign and be de facto as he was de jure before King of Kings and Lord of Lords makes the Divines so dote as to Interpret that place Isa. 49. 23. of Kings being nursing fathers and Queens nursing mothers and bowing down and licking the dust of the Chuches feet and a hundred more as fulfilled now in this his day of small things in this his personal absence which when the divel is blind at least and bolted up in the bottomless pit Rev. 20. they l surely see are not in esse actuali till then and to suppose Magistrates to be now Christs chief Church officers Supremely under him to rule in it when as were they not already blind themselves they could not but see it to be contrary unto truth for women may be Magistrates but not Church Ministers and may be Supreme in authority in a State as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but are bid to be under obedience and fordid in Church matters so much as to speak much more to usurp authority in the Church 1 Tim. 2. 11. 12. 1 Cor. 14. 34. 35. viz. in refusing to be judge in matters of faith and religion * For Custoâ—…s et vindex ut ciusque tabulae under the Gospel because it was sounder that typical standing of the Law is but a tale and a trick of our Priests whereby to curry favour with their princes the truth is that whole Jewish State which was also a Church as no one whole nation under heaven now is was a type and both the Kingly Priestly and Prophe tical office that then headed that Church were typical of that tripple true head of the Gospel Israel Christ Jesus and are no more to be drawn in as an example so as to argue more warrantably from the Kings then to the civil Rulers now then from the High-Priest-Hood to the Popedome * my Petition to the powerâ—… on behalf of the Church is that it may have as much peace and as little preferment as they please for ever Cum Ecclesia peperit divitias silia devoravit matrem y Twospritualties whereof as bad as the first is the latter will be more sensuall then the former having not the Spirit Jude 17. though pretending to it more supremely then the other under which last the devil now acts as under a new vizard to the deceiving of people from the way of truth perceiving his old vizard worn so thin that all men begin now to see through it * Luk. 9. 53. 54 55. * Witness the Iesuites that 〈◊〉 kil Kings if Hereticks the Northen presbitery that may lawfully sight England if it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ctory and the Episcopal war against the State * So Iulius the second who seeing himself vanquisht threw away Saint Peters keyes into the River Tyber protesting he would thence forth help himself with S Pauls sword * The contrary towhich where ere t is well may men submit out of fear till they can help themselves but never out of love while the world stands for consci ence is a tender thing and though but a woâ—…m yet if trod upon wil turn again * Howbeit they shall never want flatterers to perswade them that they are Abj. Ans. * Vid. â— Tho. Beacons Reliquâ—…s of Rome sâ—…t forth cum privilegio 1563. Pope Servitius ordained that Hereticks should be banisâ—…t An. 588. fol. 214. Pope Pelagius the first that all Hereticks and Schismaticks should be put to death by the secular power provided that the Bishops in their spiritual courts do first prosecute convict and condemn them for Hereticks and then commit them to the temporal Magistrate to dispaâ—…ch them out of the way by fire sword or halter for they say as the chief priests to Pilate it is not lâ—…wful for us to put any to death In the councel of Lateran by Innocent the third 2 Patriaâ—…s 70 Aroh-bishops 400 Bishops twelve Abbots 800 Priests the Legates of the Greek and Roman Empire the Embassadors of Spain Jerusalem France England Cyprus it was decreed that all Hereticks and so many as should in any point resist the Catholique faith should be condemned that the secular power of what degree soever should be compelled openly to swear for the defence of the Catholique faith and to the utmost of their power to root out and destroy in their kingdomes all such persons as the Catholique Church should condemn for Hereticks and if any King should be a Heretick or defender of them and not reform within a year then his subjects should be absolved by the Pope from yielding any further subjection or obedience to him or keeping any fidelity with him and so t was in the case of John here in England who resigned to the Popes Legate his Crown kissing his knee as he came into England which John was after poisoned by a Monk who having his pardon from the Pope poisoned himself first to poison the King and also that the Pope may give that land to Catholiques to possesse peaceably and without contradiction all Hereticks being rooted out of it Obj. Ans. * 1 Sam 5. 24 * which he hath more saith then I that believes they ever will for surely the CCClergies Win all or lose all will pull them down at last * 〈◊〉 Es. 15. 5. to the 12. 49. to 57. Rev. 11. 〈◊〉 6. 19. 2. * for howbeit it was the Roman civil power in Potius Pilate passing sentence yet it was the Priestly malice that caused him to be crucified or else Pilate had re leased him so its Princely power but PPPriestly malice crying out crucifie him crucifie him that hath caused himunder the Gospel be crucified in his truth and Saints or else many of the civil Powers would release him â—…om 13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—… 2. 13. Magistâ—…es are called 〈◊〉 â—…dinance oâ—… Godâ—… the mâ—… tâ—…it oâ—…â—…he thing we 〈◊〉 goâ—…ern nâ—… is oâ—… him the ordinâ—…ce of 〈◊〉 to â—…he 〈◊〉 form of governmâ—… viz. whâ—…her it shall be by Kings Parliâ—… c. and also the paticular persons that shall execuâ—…e that form is alâ—…ogether in choice of the people * Act. 18 12 13. 14 * â—…e supra p. 279. * For that name Clergy however by themselves improperly impropriated to themselves as if they onely were the heritage of God for that 's the plain English of that Anglico-greek word Clergy yet in plain truth pertains properly to all Christs people and that in contradistinction too from the Ministry for the spirit speaking of the Elders and Pastors of the Church charges them not to Lord it over the heritage i. e. in other locution not