sin and born in iniquity he did pray to the Lord that he would create in him a clean heart and renew within him a right Spirit Psal 51.5 10. In this he did but pray for the inward circumcision of the heart according to the word of Promise to which he had already obliged and bound himself to look after in the time of his outward circumcision The like reason may be given of the times of the New-Testament where the Lord doth command us to be renewed in the spirit of our mindes to wash to clense our selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit In this case we are not to take it as though we had an inward power to wash or clense our mindes but we are to consider when the Lord doth lay such a Command upon us it is in correspondence and relation to the Promise sealed in the Sacrament of Baptisme Because he hath promised to give his Spirit inwardly to wash and clense our Natures when we receive the outward washing we for our parts do oblige and bind our selves inwardly to wash by and through the supply of his holy Spirit Therefore to shut up all though Baptisme doth not confer Regeneration yet by that Ordinance the Lord doth bind himself to give his Spirit toward that inward Regeneration so far forth as we do and shall endeavour to look after his Promise And thus far I have gone in clearing the Text from two great mistakes I do not plead from the words except ye be born of Water and of the Spirit an absolute necessity of Baptisme by the outward Element of Water but only a conditionall I do not plead that all who are outwardly baptized are inwardly Regenerated But that the Lord doth enter into Covenant with them to give his regenerating Spirit so far forth as they look and wait for it in the use of those means which he hath appointed This is all that I do desire to speak concerning this matter and I do it the rather because I would not give offence I hope then that I shall be more willingly heard when I prove a precept both for the Baptisme of Infants and for the necessity of their Baptisme from this Scripture The probation of the Precept doth lye in two particulars First by Water is meant the outward water in Baptisme as it doth referre to the inward washing of the Spirit Secondly because children are born in Originall sinne there doth lye a necessity upon the Parents to bring them to Baptisme the Seal of their Regeneration That the outward Baptisme of Water is here meant the reasons that move me so to judge are these First the generall consent of all antiquity together with many late Writers agree in it that the externall elementarie Baptisme is here intended as a Seal of the inward washing Secondly it is more immediate to the words of the Text to take the washing of water as the outward signe and the washing of the Spirit as the inward grace Thirdly other places of Scripture do carrie but one and the same sence The washing of Baptisme is called the washing of Regeneration Tit. 3.5 And the reason is this because the inward washing of the Spirit in Regeneration is sealed with the outward washing in Baptisme Now is this all one with the birth by Water and by the Spirit But if any man shall stand in it that these and many other Scriptures cannot be meant of water-Baptisme then I would intreat him to show me the reason why the work of Regeneration in the New Testament is so often called by the title and by the name of washing There is a purging by fire so mettalls are refined Mal. 3.3 There is a purging by wind so the corn is clensed Math. 3.12 Why then is the clensing and purging and the inward renewing of the heart so frequently set forth by the washing of water I think all will easily agree in it because the outward washing is appointed as a Seal of the inward washing of the new birth If this be so the birth by water must needs refer to the water of Baptisme as to the outward signe Fourtly that which hath moved some late Writers to depart from this interpretation for the reason that hath moved them we can clearly make it appear that other Scriptures have the like show of dfficultie of which no question is to be made but they speak of outward Baptisme If some of them apprehend that the present text Except a man be borne of water and of the spirit cannot be meant of outward baptisme because then the baptisme of water would be absolutely necessary to salvation He that is troubled with this difficulty let him consider that place He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 In these words no man doubteth but the Lord Christ doth point to the outward baptisme by water and in a sort he doth say that this baptisme is necessary to salvation How then are the words to be expounded We must take them in this sence that faith is more absolutely necessary to salvation yet in a sort it is true that baptisme is necessary as the outward meane Why else should our Saviour say He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved We may in the present case give the same exposition According to the manifest course of divine dispensation we come to salvation by the new birth and in the ordinary way so farre as it may conveniently be had the outward washing is a seale of the inward washing of the Spirit These and many more reasons might be brought to prove that the outward Baptisme is intended in the words Except a man be borne of water and of the Spirit But in so plaine a case these shall suffice Now we come to prove the Precept First If it be granted that the outward elementary baptisme is here intended I think it will easily follow in the conscience of every beleeving parent that there is a necessity lyeth upon him to bring his child to baptisme For if the Lord Christ that giveth salvation doth require the outward baptisme of Water and the inward baptisme of the Spirit both these as the ordinary meane to salvation in such a case for a parent that is mindful of the salvation of his infant it is not for him curiously to dispute whether an Infant unbaptized may be saved But it lyeth upon him to do that which is required and so to avoid the danger But let us more particularly insist upon the Baptisme of Infants the word of command must necessarily be applyed because of the pollution of their natural birth The scope of the text is chiefly concerning these three particulars First that all by nature are defiled with Original sin Secondly there is a necessity of the new birth Thirdly the outward washing in baptisme is a seale of the inward washing This being laid as a ground that the Infant is borne in Original sin and that the outward baptisme is a seale of
the washing away of the pollution of sin by the Spirit of Christ upon such a supposition I think we may not use many arguments to the beleeving parent to bring his Infant to the washing of baptisme No man can be ignorant where the disease is there is a need of the remedy And therefore when our Saviour doth presse a necessity of washing both by Water and the Spirit he doth not urge this so immediatly in reference to actual sinne as in reference to birth-sinne and to the naturall pollution in which infants are born The consideration of the guilt and the pollution of the birth-sin doth draw in the necessitie of Infant-Baptisme And therefore in the former ages of the Church we shall find all along that they that vnderstood the vilenesse of the naturall pollution as Augustin and others they were more forward for baptisme in infancie On the other side those that thought infants to be free from all Originall pollution as derived from Adam for of this Judgment were the Pelagians of old and Mr. Everard and his followers of late they both were and now are most laxe and carelesse in the performance of that dutie to their own children But if this will not convince let it be considred in the feare of God wherefore there was such a strict command given to the Jewes to circumcise their infants in their dispensation If the like reason doth hold that Infants have now one and the same need of the seal of the new-birth vnder this last aswell as they had under their dispensation why should not parents now make the same conscience to bring their children to the seal of regeneration or the new birth now as well as then That the Lord did so strictly command circumcision and that the foreskin should be cut off by this the Jewish infant did declare that the verie nature was defiled which he received by carnall generation from his parents and which by generation he was like to traduce and conveigh unto his children By this the Jewish infant did signifie the pollution of his naturall birth and that he needed to have Originall corruption or the uncircumcision of the flesh to be done away by the Spirit of Christ Now is not the case all one with the Christian Infants born in Originall sin have not they the same need of the washing of Regeneration whereof the washing in Baptisme is a Seal The reason being the same I know nothing to the contrary but that a Beleever in the last dispensation may take these words Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit as a Precept for Infant-Baptisme Now that Circumcision in the former and Baptisme in the latter dispensation do point to one and the same thing to the clensing away of the pollution of the naturall birth by the Spirit of Christ we have a clear testimony for this from Col. 2.11 12 13. In the words immediatly going before the Apostle did exhort them beware lest any man spoyle you through Philosophy c. By Philosophy we are not to understand the spurious and the bastard kind but he doth mean the best Ethicall Philosophy in Aristotle or Plato when men put it in the place of a Christ The principles of the best Philosophy are these That a man new born into the world is like a white sheet of Paper that he hath no Originall pollution that he hath in him the seed of all morality that he hath liberty of will that the habite of vertue is attainable by the repetition of many acts These are the cheif elements of the best morall Philosophy Now the Apostle showeth that these Rudiments of Philosophy are most destructive to the faith of Christ For the prime foundation of the Christian faith is contrarily to beleeve that all are defiled with Originall sinne by the naturall birth that there is no other way of clensing but by the regenerating spirit of Christ For the consirmation of this he doth referre them to the first Rudiments of Baptisme in this last and of Circumcision in the former dispensation For circumcision he saith in effect that the foreskin of the flesh was cut off to signifie the putting away of the uncircumcision of the flesh in the heart Ye also are circumcised with a Circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the lusts of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ And for Baptisme he saith in effect that they were doused and washed in water to signifie the washing and clensing of the naturall birth by the regenerating spirit of Christ Therefore Circumcision and Baptisme do both agree in this that Infants are born in their naturall pollution and that this pollution is only to be done away by the clensing vertue of the holy Spirit Therefore if any man demand of us a Precept for the Baptisme of Infants I cannot see but in a sence it is true that the same necessity doth lie upon us to baptize our Infants born in Originall sinne as did upon them to circumcise For though we are not to follow the Jew in things peculiar to his own dispensation yet those actions that are done by him upon such grounds that are of morall perpetuall and common concernment to one person aswell as another to one Church aswell as another in one age aswell as another none can deny these actions to be obligatory to all as a standing Rule for after generations Therefore seeing the birth in Originall sinne and the clensing of nature by the Spirit of Christ are of common concernment to the Jewish and to the Christian Infants there is a morality in it that our Infants should be made partakers of the Seal of Regeneration in Infancy as well as theirs If the reason did not hold one and the same something might be said to the contrary But seeing that Infants are now born in Originall sinne and Baptisme is now also the Seal of the new-Birth I cannot see but the same necessity in substance as upon them to Circumcise so it doth lie upon Beleevers now to baptize their infants The necessity so farre as I apprehend doth lie couched in these words Except ye be born of Water and of the Spirit Therefore Infants being involved in their naturall pollution have now a need of the Seal of the new-Birth But if all this will not satisfie I will come to the Original Promise in the institution of circumcision The promise is contained in these words I will be thy God and the God of thy seed Gen. 17.7 Here I say how could God be a God to Abraham and to his natural seed seeing the seed of Abraham is no better by nature then the rest of the lost sons of men seeing the seed of Abraham must needs be brought forth in Original sin how could God be a God to such a polluted seed that had equally the pollution of the whole corrupted masse The answer is plain that he did never make this promise to Abraham and to his
acknowledge but that he is the only subject of Baptisme to the excluding of Infants under the Christian education this I deny And I know no reason why we should tye up the sence of the Commission a law to continue in all ages to that particular instance of our Saviours making and baptizing Disciples in those first times Give me leave to proceed in the like manner and see whether by the rigor of some examples in appearance at least I may not be able to break the force of any generall rule Therefore let us take it as a granted maxime that a Disciple outwardly professing that every such a one is the lawfull subject of Baptisme In such a case as this is what if a man would be peevish against Disciple-baptisme might he not find out many colourable showes What if he should say that such as are able to speak with divers languages by the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost such only ought to be baptized Will he not have a fair plea from the example of Cornelius and his company They were not baptized till the Holy Ghost fell upon them Act. 10.44 45 46 47. Again what if he should say that a Minister at the entrance of his function that he is the only subject of Baptisme Was not our Saviour baptized at 30 years of age at the beginning of his Ministery Further what if he should affirme that they that have tasted of the spirit of bondage ought only to be baptized Did not Ananias baptize Paul after great horrors And were not the body of the people baptized by John in Jordan confessing their sinnes Last of all what if he should stand upon it that only a beleever of the heart can be baptized How plausibly may he reason from the speech of Philip to the Eunuch What doth hinder me to be Baptized If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou mayest Act. 8.36 37. So then if you take 500 Disciples of the Doctrine in ordinary experience you will scarce find 50 that have a true faith in the heart By the strictness of this Rule not only Infants but the greater part of Disciples that make outward profession must needs be excluded from Baptisme For of the greater part that make outward profession who can rationally or probably or in the judgment of Charity at least by their fruits conceive that the greater part have a true faith wrought in the heart And thus you see how Disciple baptisme which the Separation themselves allow is torne down by the precisenesse and rigour of particular examples I say then that there lyeth a truth in all the forenamed examples there lyeth a particular truth that men so and so qualified were the lawfull subjects of Baptisme but it doth not prove them to be the adequate and full subjects of Baptisme He that doth beleeve in the heart with a true faith may lawfully be baptized but we must not say that a true justifying faith is necessarily required to the administration of Baptisme So in the present case when our Saviour first made and then baptized Disciples in the first plantation of the faith there is no doubt but he did lawfully baptize such as made actuall profession But the Question is in the severall successions of the Church when Religion is once planted whether such actuall profession is necessarily required in all them that are baptized In this case I say the Apostles and their successors having the whole of the Nations to bring to the faith they must needs carry on the work by degrees by the joynt acts of teaching and baptizing In this sence teaching must needs go before baptizing when the Gospel is to be planted and baptizing before teaching after the first plantation And so both acts teach baptizing and baptize teaching are to continue together in fluxe and succession in all Christian Nations to the end of the World Therefore when our Saviour gave forth the Commission teach all Nations baptizing them we are not to think that he did look only to the time being but to the continuation of a Christian progenie and posterity upon the Earth If this be so a Discipled Nation is the lawfull subject of Baptisme and the beleeving Father in the sence of the Commission is to be baptized with his Child But seeing they that dissent from us are so willing to expound the Commission by parallel Scriptures I am content to apply my self to that method And therefore when the Prophets all along speak of the call of the Gentiles and of the bringing in of the body of the Nations I would know the time when these Prophecies did begin to be fulfilled They that dissent from us must needs say at that time when our Saviour bid his Disciples go teach all Nations baptizing them they must needs say at that particular time he did begin to put the forementioned Promises and Prophecies in execution If this be so we cannot imagine when he said teach all Nations baptizing them that his meaning was to gather a few Disciples out of all Nations by teaching and baptizing This might have been done in two or three of a Nation only without the bringing in of the body of the Nations But the words of the Commission containe a Promise a swell as a Precept for our Saviour doth promise that the body of the Nations first or last should be brought to the faith and this we find more particularly declared in the whole book of the Revelation and verified in our own experience From all that hath been said we gather that not only all Disciples so made by actuall Teaching but all Nations so far forth as they are under Discipling and Teaching and so far forth as they submit themselves to be discipled and taught they and their Children living under the Christian education are a Discipled Nation and in the sence of the Commission the lawfull subject of Baptisme Object 4. Fourthly If it be demanded what certain rule can be given to know a Discipled Nation Sol. There is nothing more easie to know then the publike profession of a Nation We may easily discerne how far forth they do acknowledge the Christ come in the flesh how far forth they look to have remission of sinne by his blood how far forth they are willing to have their Children brought up in the Faith These things are in the publike veiw of men and therefore as of old in one Nation of the Jews when the Fathers were made proselites by teaching there was a command in that dispensation to circumcise Father and Child as members of a discipled Nation So in the Church gathered out of all Nations as the Parents do now receive the Faith and do enter into Covenant to professe the Christ come in the flesh so far they and theirs must go under the account of a discipled Nation And for the evidence of this to the administrator of Baptisme they may be known to be such by the badg of their outward profession But
do erre in the other extreme For the hope of Salvation doth not lye so much in the Seal as in the Promise to which the Seal is annexed Indeed the Lord having made a Promise to Beleevers concerning their Children born in Originall sinne That he will be their God and the God of their seed in this case they must beleeve his word and where he hath ordained a Seal for the confirmation of their Faith they must take heed how they neglect to apply it they must not as more then too many do in these dayes think it a superfluous or an idle figure All that we plead is this that there is a necessity that lyeth upon beleeving Parents to baptize their Children born in Originall sinne But how the necessity is not absolute but conditionall In case the Child dye before Baptisme he may be saved by the Covenant and by the Promise of God yet I think such a Parent that doth carelesly omit his duty he will very hardly answer his neglect to God himself his Church and I think at last to his own conscience Secondly To my understanding also they go too far whosoever they be that do conclude that Baptisme doth Regenerate or that it doth confer grace by the work done It is a difficult point rightly to divide the matter between two extremes If therefore I may deliver my thoughts concerning this matter I do beleeve that as the Word preached so the Seals administred according to the minde of Christ in this they are the conduit pipes to carry the Spirit into the soules of men But how not alwayes in all men and at all times but only when it pleaseth the Lord to work by them But as to the particular of Baptisme what that Ordinance doth conferre we will resolve in answering these severall Quaeries Quaer 1. What doth Baptisme conferre to the pardon of Originall sinne in Infants Answ It is certain all that are born in the ordinary way since the fall of Adam are born in the guilt of Originall sinne Rom. 5.12.13 14. Now this is the comfort to Beleevers that in Christ the promised Seed there is pardon of this sinne to their naturall Seed Therefore if the Children of Beleevers dye before Baptisme there is hope of their Salvation by the Promise But if they dye after Baptisme the hope is not only grounded upon the Promise but it is also ratifyed by the Seal Therefore the Infants that dye unbaptized the hope of their Salvation is by Promise but the baptized Infants of beleevers have hope of Salvation both by Promise and by Seal Thus far as I conceive Baptisme doth conferre to the pardon of Originall sin in Infants Quaer 2. What doth Baptisme conferre to the pardon of Actuall sinne in men of ripe years Answ It is a sure rule that Baptisme doth not only Seal the pardon of Originall but also the pardon of Actuall sinne Ananias said to Paul Why tarriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sinnes calling upon the name of the Lord. Act. 22.16 So then if the person baptized continue after Baptisme in clensing and purging out of sinne in judging and condemning himself daily for sin he may be fully assured that the Lord will continue a daily pardon of sinne As sinne is daily confessed so it shall be daily pardoned upon true confession If any doubt should arise in the Conscience concerning the continuation of pardon by the blood of Christ whether the Lord would continue to pardon such sinne as is committed after justification the Apostle saith If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to clense us from all unrighteousnesse 1 Joh. 1.7 8 9. Why doth he say that he is faithfull and just to forgive sinne This doth imply that he hath somwhere bound himself by Promise to forgive sin to them that truly repent It is true he hath bound himself to the Person baptized at the time of Baptisme to forgive and to pardon sinne so far forth as sinne is repented of The Person baptized may say I am assured of this I have had it Sealed to me fourty fifty sixty years ago at the time of my Baptisme Where the Conscience doth make a question whether God will continue to pardon sinne the washing of Baptisme doth Seal the assurance thereof Quaer 3. What doth Baptisme confer to the taking away of the pollution of Originall sin in Infants Answ Though the Pelagians of old and Mr. Everard pag. 127. of late do strongly dispute that Children have no naturall pollution derived from Adam yet in this we cannot yeeld to them It is plaine from the Scope of Scripture that assoone as men have a being they have a polluted and a sinfull being In case therefore they die in infancie how is this pollution done away In this we leave them to the extraordinarie grace of God He can clense them in an extraordinarie way whom he will not suffer to come in the ordinary way to Salvation And this is all that we will say of that Question Quaer 4. What doth Baptisme confer to the taking away of the pollution of Nature in men of ripe years Answ It is plaine by experience that all that are baptized are not Regenerate Therefore we cannot look upon Baptisme but only as on a Seal of Regeneration Forasmuch as the Lord for his part doth promise to give his Spirit to the Person baptized that he may be regenerated The Person baptized for his part doth solemnly ingage himself that he will look for the Spirit which the Lord hath promised to give that so he may come to the inward washing In this as I conceive the efficacy and the use of Baptisme doth principally stand It doth principally stand in the agreement betwixt God and the Beleever the Lord for his part in the first place under his Seal doth promise to give inward grace to the clensing away of the pollution of Nature and the partie baptized doth set to his Seal that he will endeavour to clense and wash by the power and help of grace received The reason that moveth me so to think is this When the Lord saith Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and be no more stiff-necked Deut. 10.16 Here if you go strictly to work how could he require the circumcising of the heart as spirituall and supernaturall duty how could he require this to be performed by weak and sinfull men To speak truly in all the time of that administration he did never require them to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts by their own naturall ability but he required them to look to the Promise sealed to them in the outward Circumcision of the flesh Because he required them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart in the word of Command He doth say I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed in the word of Promise Deut. 30.6 And therefore the Psalmist finding by experience that he was conceived in
speak with divers kinds of languages What a weak support would this be if this be all the comfort contained in the Promise On the contrary if you take the Promise for the Covenant of grace for the ordinary word of promise concerning free remission of sinne by the blood of Christ sealed in the Sacrament of Baptisme there is nothing more proper then to comfort a languishing spirit by such a Promise Secondly if the Promise to you and your children be meant of extraordinary gifts how will the parts of the Text agree with each other The Apostle doth exhort them be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sinne And then he giveth this reason for the Promise is to you and your children If therefore the Promise be meant only or principally of extraordinary gifts then the Command be baptized every one of you will stand in immediate relation to such a Promise And so the matter will come to this issue that all that are baptized and particularly they that renounce their old to take up a new Baptisme they will have a promise made to them and to their children to speak with divers kinds of languages On the other side if the Promise be taken for the Promise of Christ and for remission of sinne by his blood in this case it will be easie to shew the connexion of the words For what can be more aptly spoken then this Be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of your particular sinne for the promise of the pardon of sinne by the blood of the Christ doth belong to you and your children Thirdly if the promise to you and your children be only meant of extraordinary gifts how can the words of the Apostle be made good when he saith to all that are afar off to as many as the Lord our God shall call Will any man avouch that to as many as the Lord our God shall call the Promise shall be to them and their children to speak with divers kinds of tongues then the Promise will be to all the Saints from the comming of Christ to the end of the world that they shall speak with divers kinds of languages On the other side let the Promise be taken for that promise made to Abraham In thy seed shall all the families of the Earth be blessed this Promise at least in the general priviledges offers tenders and workings doth passe to all that do beleeve and their children whether they be near as beleevers of the Jews or whether they be afar off as beleevers of the Gentiles the Promise doth passe to all as long as they are no worse then Beleevers Children These were the reasons that moved me to affirm that the Promise to you and your children could not be meant of extraordinary gifts First this Promise alone could not comfort Peters hearers in their trouble Secondly it could not answer the word of Command be baptized every one of you Thirdly it could not be said to extend to as many as the Lord our God shall call On the other side if this be applyed to the Covenant of grace all circumstances will agree that the Promise is to Beleevers and their Children And to this doth the Apostle referre the word of Command to Fathers and Children bee baptized every one of you For the words Ye shall receive the holy Ghost I confesse they are meant of extraordinary gifts the appendant annexed to the primitive Baptisme which were peculiar to those times of the Church only For the Apostles having to do either with Gentiles to bring them out of Paganisme or with Jews to bring them out of Judaisme these extraordinary gifts were given to men for their more abundant confirmation in that Faith which they were to receive Acts 10.44 45 46. with Acts 11.15 16. This I do willingly confesse but when the Apostle saith for the Promise is to you and your children he doth point here to the grand fundamental Promise made to Abraham In thy seed shall all the families of the Earth be blessed His meaning is that if these Jews which had crucified Christ would come in and take him as the promised Seed if they would take him as the Messiah the Promise should still continue to them and to their natural seed aswell as in the former dispensation This is his meaning when he saith for the promise is to you and your Children and in relation to this Promise did he exhort them to be baptized Father and Child Thus far I went in the vindication of both propositions and in restoring of the force of my argument against the first assault On the third of Junne I delivered the substance of this reply into the hands of Mr. Everard since that time he hath been known to me and hath undertaken the matter But to say the truth I received no answer from him till the fifth of September Then I received a Paper full fraught with scornfull language and the next newes about three or four weekes after was that we had put his answer in print with a title prefixed Baby Baptisme routed In this I take my self to have none of the best usage from him First that he should put the matter publickly In print when wee were onely in a private way of inquirie Secondly that he should give his pamphlet the title of Baby Baptisme routed before we came to the tryall Thirdly that he should slight the maine body of my paper with all the inforcements and yet glory of a totall conquest when of many parts he had scarce brought one to the incounter For these reasons I think he hath not delt well with me Because his Book was lately printed for WILLIAM LEARNER at the Blackmoor in Bishops-gate street and because now it is in the hands of all men I will forbear to insert it Only my reply to the cheif particulars of his answer is as followeth The Argument of Nathaniel Stephens Minister for the Baptisme of Beleevers Children recruited and vindicated from the exceptions of Mr. Robert Everard in his book intituled Baby-Baptisme routed GOod Sir since the arrivall of your answer I have taken it into consideration and so far as I apprenend it may be conveniently divided into three parts First you endeavour to prove that my Argument hath no ground from the words of Peter Secondly you would bear me in hand that the structure of it is not good and that the premises do not hold due proportion with the conclusion Thirdly you do lay down terms of consent how far we agree and terms of dissent how far we disagree And so state the Question in the close of all Sir This is a strange kind of method that hath been in part the cause of your Wilde Discourse Yet neverthelesse as the course of the matter doth require I will only take the liberty to lay down the state of the Question as you your self do expresse
consider that Scripture The sonnes of God saw the daughters of men were faire Gen. 6.2 By sons of God you are not to understand them in that sense as they are meant Rom. 8.14 There it is said If ye be led by the spirit of God then ye are the sons of God The sons of God in the Text of Genesis cannot be taken in this sense that they had the Spirit of God and were led by his Spirit but they are called the sons of God because they were the naturall posterity of beleeving Parents because they were the children of Seth and other holy men who in those times are mentioned to call upon the name of the Lord Gen. 4.26 This sheweth plainly in the time of the first exhibition of the promise that Beleevers children as such had a right to Church-membership with their Parents and I may say also to the seal of admission if any such had been in those first times The second edition of the Promise is for two thousand years from Abraham to Christ And here though the Lord did not go so far with them as to show the promised Seed in person as he hath done to us yet he went further with them then with the Beleeevers of the first dispensation He did not only show them the blessed Seed to come but the particular familie and nation from whence he should come And therefore they that did beleeve under this dispensation were not only bound to beleeve the general promise made to Adam concerning the lost sonnes of men but they were to beleeve the promise made to Abraham they were more particularly bound to joyn themselves to that familie and to make publick profession of the Promise as revealed in the time of that exhibition They that did this the promise did belong to them and to their children and so consequently the children had a right to be admitted into the Church that then was by the initiall seal or by circumcision the seal of admittance Now the third edition of the Promise is from Christ unto the end of the world And here the Lord doth not only show the general promise made to the lost sons of men nor the promised Seed to come of the particular familie of Abraham but he goeth further to show the Messiah individually and in person who he is Iesus Christ conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate c. he is the promised Seed They therefore that beleeve under this dispensation they are not only bound to receive the Promise as generally made in the two former dispensations but they are further required as may appear by the Apostles Sermons to beleeve the Christ come in the flesh and that he is the promised Seed Now they that do receive the Promise as exhibited in this manner have a right to Baptisme the seal of admission into the Church in the times of the New Testament And not only so but as to beleevers in the two former dispensations so in this last and best exhibition of the Covenant the Promise doth hold one and the same in substance to Beleevers and their Children This is the true sense of Peters words and this is the force of my argument Having thus laid down the several exhibitions of the Promise and how in each exhibition the Promise variously dispensed is the ground of Faith Faith the ground of Profession Profession the ground from whence Beleevers in any dispensation have a right to Church membership and so consequently to the seal of admission in each dispensation respectively Having laid down these grounds I come now to answer your objections You say pag. 9. lin 32. If the Commission be so large to baptize all to Whom the Promise doth appertain why doth the Apostle lay such a precise taâ—k upon them to repent before they could be baptized Seeing the Promise did belong to the Nation of the Iewes Rom. 9. Why did not the Apostle baptize the whole Nation Why did he not baptize these particular Iewes that had crucified Christ before they were awakened by the word Why did not hee his endeavour to baptize them against their wills and to take them napping while they were asleep as you do with your Infants in England Sir this is the substance of your cavils To all which I answer those priviledges mentioned Rom. 9. to wit The Covenants the giving of the Law the service of God and the promises all these priviledges dib belong to the Jews not as they were a Nation but as they were a Covenanting Nation For you may find by the scope of the Scripture that these things did not only belong to the naturall Jews but also to the Proselytes and their children as well as to them Exod. 12.48 Secondly When you have all done the naturall Jews were but beleevers and so capable of the seal of admission in their own particular dispensation Nay for the most part these Jewes that looked for the promised Messiah that had the promise and the seal of the promise in their own dispensation formerly they were and as yet are the crucifiers of the particular Messiah and the greatest enemies of the promise as exhibited and revealed in the last times For this very cause Peter did bring the word so sharply home to the conscience to awaken them seeing they could not possibly receive the promise in the last exhibition who had been before the crucifiers of the particular Christ Whereas you say That the Apostle might have baptized them against their wills and have taken them napping as we do with our Infants in England Sir Your comparison will not hold for the Infants of this Church though they have no actuall understanding yet they are the children of such as do beleeve at least such as professe they do beleeve the particular Christ They do not only beleeve the promised Messiah that he should come of the stock of Abraham as did the Beleevers of the Jewish Church but they beleeve at least they professe they beleeve the particular Christ which the Jewish Nation had crucified and slaine Further they professe that they will bring up their Infants at least they are willing that their Infants should be taught by the publick Ministery under which they live by and through it to be brought up in the Christian Faith and so to look after the Christ For this reason Sir your comparison will not hold betwixt the Infants of this Nation and the Jews that were the crucifiers of the Christ Further you go on and reason pag. 10. lin 17. If the promise did belong to the Jews and their children why did not the Prophets baptize this is to call the Prophets accursed for the neglect of the dutie that appertained to them To which I answer I should have called the Prophets accursed if they had neglected to call upon the people to beleeve the promise and to apply the seal of the promise to themselves and to their children so far as it