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A42248
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The grounds of infant-baptism briefly explained
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1693
(1693)
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Wing G2138C; ESTC R222580
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20,167
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16
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present in the Assemblies of his Saints and with his Ministers in the right Dispensation of Baptism according to his Word alway Rev. 2. 1. Mat. 18. 20. 28. 19 20. even unto the end of the World But Christian Charity binds us to judge all the Infants of Christian Parents whilst they are Infants to be in a State of Salvation till being grown up they manifest the contrary Who can doubt but that the Infants of godly Parents are as dear to God as beloved by Christ as holy as fit for Heaven as much in a State of Salvation as Simon Magus as multitudes more such grown Persons baptized by the Apostles and as many baptized by the Opposers of Infant Baptism Can any Man forbid Water that the Infants of pious Parents should not be baptized which belong to the Kingdom of God as well as their Parents § XIV There is difference between the Doctrine of Baptism and Baptism Heb. 6. 1 2. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 1 Pet. 3.21 itself as between Morals and Rituals between Substance and Ceremony between Mercy and Sacrifice between Principal and Appendix For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel The Doctrine of Baptism is the Doctrine of the New Covenant of which Baptism is a Divine Sign Seal and Token The Sum of it is this That all Men are reducible to Two the First and the Second Adam and all such as descend from the First Adam by Natural Generation are conceived and born in Sin 1 Cor. 15 45.47 Joh. 3 3 5. Gal. 3. 21. Act. 4. 12. Rom. 8. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 2. from the Guilt whereof they cannot be saved and set free without supernatural Regeneration through the Grace of Christ the Second Adam and all such as God from everlasting did fore-know would by his special Grace in Christ be Regenerate and have Spiritual Life in their Souls them he did predestinate to eternal Salvation This Doctrine of Baptism is the Foundation of true Religion the Marrow of the Scripture the Sum of Practical Truth and the Compendium of Divinity But Baptism as distinct from the Doctrine thereof is but a Divine Figure Ceremony or Token annexed to the Gospel or New Covenant a Ritual Ordinance the Contempt whereof is perllous but Infants are not capable of contemning it § XV. There are Three sorts of Blessings and Favours vouchsafed by God to Fallen Man some common to Christians and Heathens some not common to us and Heathens and yet common to good and bad Christians some peculiar to God's Elect. Of the First sort are Rain and fruitful Seasons having our Hearts filled with Food and Gladness Magistracy Civil Order and the necessary Supports of Humane Society whereby the worst on Earth are in better case than the Devils and damned Ones in Hell and are capable of being saved by God's Grace in such sort as our first Parents and the Angels which fell were capable of Perseverance Of the Second sort are the Word and Sacraments being born of Christian Parents Education in the Christian Religion and Communion in external Ordinances and Priviledges common to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Peter and Judas to Paul and Simon Magus to Elect and Non-Elect Christians suitably to their Age and Capacities Of the Third sort are Regeneration Adoption Pardon of Sin Justification Perseverance Eternal Life these are peculiar to God's Elect and not common to them and others And then doth God Elect Persons in Christ when according to his own Eternal Purpose and Fore-knowledge he doth for the sake of Christ and his meritorious Cross and Intercession without all precedent Merit of their own by his Gospel-work in them Divine Faith and thereby pardons their Sins and seals them with his Holy Spirit and so sets them apart for himself and of Dead in Sin the Slaves of Satan and Reprobate to every Good Work makes them alive unto Righteousness the Children of God his Elect Ones a peculiar People to himself Thus the Death of Christ is the meritorious cause of our Election to Salvation but not of God's Eternal Purpose to Elect us for Divine Purpose to Elect and Election itself are clearly distinct as Cause and Effect as Antecedent and Consequent and may in no wise be confounded § XVI I conceive that all the Three forementioned sorts of Blessings and Favours are proper Fruits and Effects of Christ's meritorious Cross and Passion though they are not all equally so but most eminently and principally the Third sort peculiar to the Elect and the other as subservient For Christ is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe and whom he saves he saves by the merit of his Cross God doth not now Govern the 1 Tim. 4. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Heb. 2.9 World barely as Creator before Adam's Fall but as Redeemer in and through Christ unto whom all Power is given in Heaven and Earth and his Kingdom ruleth over all both Angels and Men for the everlasting Good of all Militant Saints and in order to carrying on the Great Work of Redemption by Faith in all such as belong to the Election of Grace And therefore whatsoever Blessings and Mercies whether common or special any of fallen Mankind partake of subsequently to Creation and Permission of Original Sin they are proper Fruits and Effects of Christ's Death And wherein Col. 1. 20. Eph. 1. â—0 21.22 23. Phil. 2. 8 9 10. 〈◊〉 28. 18 19. Jâ—m 5 â—2 23 2â— Hâ—b 9. 1â— Rev. 5. 9 1â— 13. any Intellectual Creatures whether Angels or Men are capable of being serviceable to God and to Christ our Mediator in promoting the Work of Redemption they are bound to serve to the utmost of their power and Christ may be said to have purchased their Service with his Blood and to have right thereto by the Merit of his Cross For in purchasing Eternal Redemption which is the principal end he must needs be supposed inclusively to purchase all the necessary helps and means requisite and conducing thereto Et qui adimit medium dirimit finem § XVII Concerning Heathen Parents the Scripture plainly declares That for the present they are without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth Eph. 2. 12. of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the world We cannot think that the Infants of such are in Covenant with God As of old it was rightly said Salvation is of the Jews so now it is rightly said That Salvation is of the Christians Joh. 4. 22. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved But we cannot say that the Infants of Heathen Parents are added to the Church Act. 2. 47. While the Jews continued in the Faith of Abraham their Infants were the natural branches and partaked of the root and fatniss of the Olive-tree Gal. 2. 15. Rom. 9.4 11. from 16. to 25. Act. 2. 39. Isa 44. 3. to them and their
the recompence of the reward so the Man Christ Jesus for the Hâ—b 11. 26. Hâ—b 12. 2. Isa 49 4 53.11 Phil. 2. 8 9. joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God according to the Covenant between God and him Now the Covenant between God and the Man Christ Jesus is for substance the same with the Covenant between God and all godly Christians they are specifically but one everlasting Covenant because Christ considered as Man Heb. 1. 9. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8. 29. Joh. 20. 17. Col. 1. 18. and all godly Christians are Brethren and Fellows only he in all things hath the pre-eminence as being the First-born among many Brethren and anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows § VII What advaniage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision Rom. 3. 1 2. Much every way Certainly the Christian now hath not less advantage then the Jew anciently had and there is not less profit now by Baptism then was of old by Circumcision Christian Parents and their Seed are not Losers but rather Gainers by the Coming of Christ and the New Testament in his Blood because he is a surety of a better testament the mediator of a better covenant But this cannot be if the Infants of Christian Parents be not admittable to Baptism Heb. 7.22 8 6. For how can that be a better Covenant and Testament which abolisheth Circumcision whereby there was much Profit and Advantage to the Infants of Believing Parents anciently and gives them nothing in lieu thereof but excludes them from Baptism coming in the room thereof § VIII That Baptism comes in the place of Circumcision is evident for the Heb. 7. 12. Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law For thô the Law for Circumcision was in force some Hundreds of Years before the Institution of the Levitical Priesthood yet were they both but temporary Institutions designed to last but for a time until the time of Reformation which being come Heb. 9. 10. they cease and have an end and in their room comes Baptism and the Priesthood of Christ and the New Covenant in his Blood Plain it is that as there is a change of the Levitical Priesthood so is there also of Circumcision If ye be Gal. 5. 2. circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Now there cannot be a change of Circumcision but there must needs be another Sign and Token of God's gracious Covenant in its room for therein consisteth the nature of a change and the change here must needs be for the better because Christ is the Mediator of a better Covenant and the time of the New Testament is the time of Reformation more glorious than the time of the Old Testament Accordingly Baptism 2 Cor. 3. 10 â—â— is better then Circumcision as better suiting with the State of the Church under the New Testament 1. It is more easie Circumcision was bloody and painful 2. It is more plain and significative of our Communion and Fellowship with Christ in his Death and Resurrection and of the washing away of all our sins in his Blood 3. It is equally applicable to Males and Females 4. It is not limited to the Eighth Day 5. It is enjoyned to all Believers both Jews and Gentiles throughout the World 6. It is to continue to the End of the World 7. It is to be done by none but a Valid Minister of Christ 8. It is to be done publickly in the Assembly of God's People if it may be Look then as we have the Lord's Supper in the room of the Passeover and the Lord's Day in the room of the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Priesthood of Christ in the room of the Levitical Priesthood and the New Testament in Christ's Blood in the room of the Old Testament in the Blood of Beasts So we have Baptism in the room of Circumcision a change every way for the better Either Circumcision is changed for Baptism or for nothing for no other thing imaginable comes in its room But a change there must needs be otherwise the Scripture will be found erroneous in saying The Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law § IX The Opposers of Infant-Baptism deny Baptism to be the Seal of God's Covenant with every Believer and affirm That the Scriptures are altogether silent thereof and conceive the Seal of that Covenant is the Indwelling of the Spirit of Their Confession of Faith p. 117 Christ in the particular and individual Persons in whom he resides and nothing else But this is a manifest Error for before Abraham was Circumcised he was a true Believer in Covenant with God and sealed with the Spirit of Christ afterward he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised So that besides the Indwelling of the Rom. 4. 11. Spirit there was then clearly another Seal of God's Covenant namely Circumcision The difference between these two Seals stood in this the Indwelling of the Spirit is an internal Seal peculiar to the Elect of absolute Eph. 1. 13 14. 4 30. 2 Cor. 1. 22. necessity to the Salvation of each Person from the Fall of Adam to the end of the World but Circumcision was an external Seal common to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Elect and Non-Elect Persons not ordained before Abraham's time neither to all then but to some only and to no Infant before the Eighth Day and upon special Reasons dispensed with or omitted for Forty Years in the Wilderness and never esteemed by God of equal excellency and necessity with Regeneration Moreover it is undeniably plain that Circumcision was a token of the covenant between God and Abraham together with his seed after him in their generations And being so it was a Seal thereof Gen. 17 9 10 11. for a Token of God's Covenant and a Seal thereof for substance denote the same thing This Covenant did assure the earthly Canaan to Abraham and all his Natural Seed in common by Sarah and the heavenly Canaan to Abraham and all his Spiritual Seed Those of Abraham's Seed who rested in the Letter of Circumcision without the Spirit in the Circumcision of the Flesh without the Circumcision of the Heart and minded the earthly more than the heavenly Canaan were Abraham's degenerate Seed Children of the Devil born after the Flesh and not after the Spirit ungodly and liable to eternal Damnation But such as together with the Circumcision of the Flesh had the inward Circumcision of the Heart and by supernatural Grace and Regeneration were truly holy before God these were Abraham's Spiritual Seed Elect in Christ Children of God and Christians really though not so called and unto them Circumcision was principally a Seal and Token of God's