accounted of God as uncircumcised himselfe if his children were uncircumcised for so it is written in Exod. 12.48 that if a man will come and keepe the Passeover all the males in his house must be circumcised and the reason given is for no uncircumcised Person shall eate thereof which plainly argueth that a man is uncircumcised himselfe and as an uncircumcised person is to be debarred from the Passeover untill all his males be circumcised If then our Lords Supper come in the roome of the Passeover and our Baptisme in the roome of Circumcision looke as he that had not circumcised his males was accounted as one uncircumcised himselfe and so to be debarred from the Passeover so hee who hath not baptized his children is accounted of God as not baptized himselfe and so to be debarred from the Lords Supper If therefore you forbid Baptisme to children you evacuate the Baptisme of their Parents and so make the commandment of God and the Commission of the Apostles and the Baptisme of believers of none effect In the Apostles Commission by Disciples is meant beleevers Silvester for so when the Evangelist Marke recordeth the same Commission he rehearseth it thus Go saith Christ into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. So that unlesse children were believers they are not subjects capable of Baptisme no Faith no Baptisme If children have no Faith to be baptized Silvanus then have they no Faith to be saved For the words of the Apostles commission are as plaine and pregnant for the one as for the other He that beâ—ieveth and is baptized saith Christ shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned Mar. 16.16 If therefore children as being unbelievers cannot be baptized then as being unbeleevers they cannot be saved Silvester It is very doubtfull to me neither hath the Scripture revealed it that such as dye Infants are in a state of salvation for without the hearing of the word no faith and without faith no salvation Silvanus See what uncomfortable and desperate conclusions these ways of error drive men unto Jacob while he was yet in his mothers womb was in a state of election Rom. 9.11.13 and therefore in a state of salvation though he had dyed then John Baptist was filled with the holy Ghost from his mothers wombe Luke 1.17 and if he had then dyed the spirit of life which dwelt in him had quickened him to immortality To what end were the children who dyed Infants in the old Testament circumcised what did their circumcision seale to them Canaan they did never live to see much lesse to inherit if it did not seal unto them spirituall and saving blessings it was to them a seale without a thing signified what though children do not receive faith by hearing of the gospel as the Nations of the Gentiles do of whom the Apostle speaketh in the place whereto you allude yet as children can see the light and be taken with it and turn their eyes to it so the Lord can shine into the dark hearts of children and give them faith to see his light and to be taken and affected with it though they never heard of it by the hearing of the eare Silvester What the Lord can doe in inlightening Infants is a secret known to himself the Lord can even of stones raise up children unto Abraham Matth. 3.9 In which sense children may also bee said to be capable of the Spirit to wit as well as stones But if children should be said to be capable of the spirit so as to comply with the Spirit in hearing receiving and beleeving the Spirits testimony and so to be capable of regeneration faith and repentance this I deny and to affirm this to be the way to bring persons to the faith by working so upon them by his Spirit in their infancy argueth some ignorance of the true nature and work of graces as the Gospel holdeth it forth Silvanus There is a middle way between both these two in which God can and doth convey the spirit of grace unto infants for neither are infants so uncapable as stones for stones must first have a reasonable soule conveyed into them before they can be capable of the spirit of grace whereas Infants have a reasonable soul already Neither yet are infants so capable of complying as you call it with the Spirit as to heare beleeve and repent yet nevertheless Infants being reasonable creatures they are also capable though not of apprehending yet of receiving the holy Ghost from their mothers wombe for even then John Baptist was filled with him Luke 1.15 It is one thing to be filled from the mothers wombe Silvester with the holy Ghost as John was another thing to believe Act. 6.5 and 4.31 Secondly all such so testified of as John was I shall acknowledge but to affirm that what God testified of John Baptist in the wombe holdeth true of all other infants likewise this indeed were weaker then infancy to affirm it and grosser then ignorance to believe it Iob is said to be a guide to the distressed from his mothers womb Iob 31.18 shall it thence be concluded that in his infancy he was a guide to such or if he were so must it needs follow that all infants are capable guides also because it was so said of him To be filled with the holy Ghost Silvanus doth always imply thus much at least as to be filled with the gifts of the holy Ghost or if men had received the gifts of the holy Ghost before yet when it is said againe they were filled with the holy Ghost it implyeth they were filled with a greater and fuller measure of those gifts then before And that is the meaning of those places which you quote out of the Acts whence it will follow that Iohn being filled with the holy Ghost from his mothers womb was therefore filled with the gifts of the holy Ghost as the gift of faith the gift of wisdome and zeale and patience c. Although he was no more able to exercise them or put them forth then he was able to put forth any act of reason and yet his soul wanted not the faculty of reason from his Mothers wombe There is no man so weak or ignorant as to beleeve or affirm that all infants are in the like sort filled with the holy Ghost as Iohn Baptist was But yet if you believe or affirm that none else were filled or sanctified with the gifts of the holy Ghost but Iohn Baptist onely or that all infants are not alike capable of those gifts as well as he I may say as Christ said in another case You erre because you know not the Scriptures nor the power of God David saith as of Christ in substance so of himselfe in type Thou didst make me to hope or trust at my mothers
breasts Psal 22.9 Esay saith in like sort The Lord hath called me from the wombe Esa 45.1 and the Lord saith the same of Ieremy I sanctified thee before thou camest forth of the wombe Ier. 1.5 Yea little children are so farre forth capable of receiving the holy Ghost or which is all one the kingdom of God for by his Spirit he setteth up his kingdom in us that our Saviour expresseth it generally that whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child to wit as a little child receiveth it for so the syntax carryeth it he shall not enter therein Mar. 10.15 What though it bee said that faith commeth by hearing so it is also said the Spirit commeth by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 And yet you see as some have received the Spirit that never heard of faith so the same hâ—ve received faith that never heard the word As for Iob the place which you quote Iob 31.18 argueth the like of him that hath been said of the former that Iob from his mothers wombe was indued with an indoles or inbred disposition and affection to pity and succour the fatherlesse and widow which dâ—ubtlesse was wrought in him by the holy Ghost as all other good gifts be And all other infants as well as he are capable of the same and the like gifts if the spirit of the Lord be pleased to work them Silvester I am not against any that have faith but am absolutely for all that believe whether infants or others so that their faith appeare by such effects as the word of God approveth of But whereas some say that infants are capable of the Spirit of God and of the grace of the Covenant though not wrought in the same way and by the same meanes yet the same things and by same Spirit so farre as is necessary to union with Christ and justification of life thereby else children were not elected nor should be raised up in their bodies to life I wish it may be minded that touching union with Christ three things are essentiall to the same 1. Gods revealing and tendering of Christ as the al-sufficient and onely way to life 2. An heart fitly disposed by faith to apprehend and receive Christ so tendered 3. The spirit of grace uniting and knitting the heart and Christ together And this I understand to be that effectuall and substantiall union with Christ to the justification of life which the word of God approveth of For justification to life ever presupposeth the parties knowledge of the thing beleeved Rom. 10.14 Heb. 11.6 Now let this be well examined by the rule of truth and then see how capable infants are of union with Christ and justification to life thereby As for some evill consequences which some to darken and obscure the truth doe say would follow thereupon that then infants were not erected nor should then their bodies be raised again to life c. I would first enquire of such whether infants with reference to their nonage were the subjects of Gods election Secondly if infants so considered are capable subjects of glory And if not as I suppose none will affirme then why are they any more capable of grace then of glory The word of God sheweth that he hath elected persons to the meanes as well as to the end the meanes being the way unto the end and that was the adoption of sonnes to bee called and justified by believing on Jesus Christ Ephes 1.4 5. Rom. 8.29 30. 1 Pet. 1.2 2 Thes 2.13 14. c. And to return free obedience unto him again as Rom. 9.23 24. Ephes 1.6 12. And for the raising of infants it is the power of God that raiseth the dead and not union with Christ 1 Thess 4.16 And when any of Gods electcan by the Scriptures be shewed to dye in their infancy then it will be granted their bodies are raised to life eternall When you say you are not against any that have faith Silvanus whether infants or others so that their faith appeare by such effects as the Word approveth I demand what if their faith appeare not by the effects is it not enough if it appeare by divine testimony Christ hath said that of such is the kingdom And that all that receive his kingdom must receive it as little children doe as hath been shown above and is not his testimony of their faith as good an evidence of their faith as the effects of their faith can be As for the 3 things which you would have to bee minded as essentiall to union with Christ The first of them the revealing and tendering of Christ as the al-sufficient and only way of life if you meane the revealing and tendering of him by the Ministery of the gospel you know the Ministery of the gospel is but an outward instrumentall cause of faith and no outward instrumentall cause is essentiall to the effect whether we speake of naturall or supernaturall effects certaine it is that the spirit of God who is the principall cause of faith though he be wonted to work it by the Ministery of the Word yet he can also work it without the Ministery or else how came the Wisemen from the East to seeke after Christ and to worship him by the sight of a starre If you say that was extraordinary but you speake of ordinary meanes that will not serve for that which is essentiall to a thing the thing cannot be without it neither ordinarily nor extraordinarily a thing cannot be and be without his essence or that which is essentiall to it Besides Christ speaketh of it as no extraordinary thing for infants to receive the kingdom of God and they cannot receive it without Christ nor without faith in Christ and yet they never received either Christ or faith by their own immediate hearing of the Woâ—d And for the second thing which you make essentiall to union with Christ an heart fitly disposed by faith to apprehend and apply Christ Be not unwilling to understand that which is the truth The heart is fitly disposed by faith to apprehend or apply Christ when faith is begotten in the heart for by this gift of faith begotten in us Christ apprehendeth us and by the same gift of faith the heart is fitly disposed to apprehend Christ even in infants for when faith is wrought in infants the heart is quickned with spirituall life and made a sanctified vessell fit to receive Christ which reception of Christ though it be passive as Dr. Ames calleth it in Châ—p 26. de Vocatione lib. 1. Medullae Theologiae yet it is all one with regeneration wherein not infants onely but all men are passive which gave the Lord Jesus occasion to say That whosoever receiveth not the kingdom of God as a little child hee can in no wise enter into it Luk. 18.17 It is true in men of years the Spirit as you speake worketh faith by the hearing of the Word and by revealing and tendering Christ
all Nations your selfe doe truly expresse it in generall termes That God is now a God not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles But to speake more particularly and fully the Gospel is summed up in these heads of doctrine 1. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5.19 by world is meant Jews and Gentiles 2. That God hath committed this word of reconciliation to his Ambassadors and Ministers to perswade all the Nations of the world to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.19 20. 3. That God hath given the Ministration of this gospel to bee the ministration of the Spirit of grace to worke faith whereby we receive Christ and reconciliation with God through him and all the gifts of the Spirit from him 2 Cor. 3.8 Gal. 3.2 4. This is another head of the glad tydings of the gospel that to whomsoever he giveth faith to receive Christ and his gospel to them he giveth himselfe to be a God to them and to their seed or house For so Paul and Silas preached the gospel to the Jaylor Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thine house Act. 16.31 And so when Zacheus was become a child of Abraham to wit by faith the Lord Jesus promised salvation to him and his house Luke 19.9 And this was the very same gospel which God preached before unto Abraham when he gave him that Covenant of grace to be a God to him and his seed for this was the Covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3.16 17. And the Covenant confirmed by Christ is no other then the gospel of Christ And this Covenant to a believer and his seed is glad tydings not onely to the believer touching himselfe but touching his seed also As it was indeed exceeding glad tydings unto David that God had promised not onely mercy to himself but as if that had been a small thing in Gods sight to his house also for a great while to come 2 Sam. 7.19 which though it concerned a Kingdome yet that also was a branch of the Covenant of grace and concerned the spirituall kingdom of Christ And surely the promise of salvation and of the kingdom of heaven which by the Covenant of grace is granted to us and our children is a greater blessing then the Kingdom of Israel and maketh us partakers of the kingdome of Christ Thus have we seen what is meant by the gospel which the Apostles were to preach to all Nations Now what is it to preach this gospel as Marke calleth it or as you translate it out of Matthew To teach all Nations to preach the gospel is so to publish and apply it in the demonstration and power of the Spirit as that disciples may be made by it for so the word in Matthews own language expresseth it Go and make disciples all Nations Now who are Christs disciples Disciples are all one with Scholars and Christs disciples or Scholars are such as Christ taketh into his schoole to teach And they are not onely believers but their seed also whom according to the tenor of the gospel opened even now Christ undertaketh to teach and teach them he doth taking his own time from the belly to their old age Christ taught John Baptist from his mothers wombe though not by the hearing of the eare yet by the holy Ghost Luke 1.15 He sanctified Jeremy before he came forth of the wombe Jer. 1.5 And was the God of the Psalmist from his mothers belly and caused him to hope when he was upon the breasts Psal 22.9 10. Doe not thinke that though God took the pains to teach such little ones in the old Testament yet now in the dayes of the new Testament he will no more teach such petties The great Doctor of his Church is not ashamed now no more then of old to stoop to such meane worke No verily Christ in the new Testament affecteth lesse state and pompe in all his dispensations then he was wont to use in the old Testament He putteth forth as much hidden Majesty and glory in riding upon an Asse as ever he did by ruling his people by Solomon in all his royalty Hee requireth still little children to bee brought unto him and knoweth still how to ordaine praise to himself out of the mouth of babes and sucklings And though it be recorded in the old Testament yet it is a prophecy of the estate of the children of the Church of the new Testament All thy children shall bee taught of God Esa 54.13 Which hath beene proved above to be meant not onely of the members of the church of riper yeares but even of infants so that an argument from this Text in Matth. doth easily conclude it self into this form All the disciples of Christ are to be baptized Parents that are brought on to heare and believe the gospel preached they and their children are the disciples of Christ Therefore they and their children are to be baptized But you straiten and darken the counsell of God and commandement of Christ when you limit his meaning to such disciples so taught as to have understanding and faith in that which is taught For though such a description doe agree to the Parents who are disciples and Scholars of a higher forme yet when Christ receiveth the parents who receive him by faith hee receiveth also their seed even from the least to the greatest to bee his disciples and all his disciples to be baptized But that you may see you fight against God in seeking to thrust out infants out of Christs schoole and out of the number of Christs disciples Observe I pray you how God leaveth you to such a forced mis-interpretation of the Text and therein of the very form and essence of baptisme as utterly overthroweth the nature of it Make disciples say you by teaching them and such so taught them baptize in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost that is into the true and orderly profession of that which they have been taught and believed What is it now come to this passe That to bee baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost is to bee baptized into the true and orderly profession of that which they have been taught and believed Why the true and orderly profession of that which we have been taught and believed that is of our faith is but a worke of our owne though wrought in us by Gods spirit Faith it selfe is but a created gift and so a creature And the profession of it is but the exercise of faith And are we now come to be baptized into the name of Creatures It is easily granted a man by his baptisme may be engaged to the performance of this or that duty but can it be given for the exposition of the forme of baptisme to be baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost that is into the true and orderly performance of this or that duty But
time before the effect And therefore it cannot be but that the elect children of God are under grace before their effectuall calling and regeneration It is not our Doctrine therefore but yours that maketh void many heavenly and divine truths even the fundamentall truths of the free grace of Christ which your predecessors in this way did plainly discerne and therefore they thought it best not to contradict themselves as you doe To say that children are not under grace nor under a Covenant of grace till they be called by Christs heavenly voice and by his Spirit begotten from above and yet withall to grant election and regeneration to be of grace But they seeing plainly these could not stand together the utterly denyed election to bee of grace but of foreseen faith or works And they denyed also regeneration to bee of Gods free grace but of mans free will which whether it make void many heavenly and divine truths of grace let the word and Spirit of grace judge Well thus at large wee have examined the exceptions which you wilâ—â— to be considered against some of those proofes from Scripture which were alledged to confirme that as in the Old Testament God made a Covenant with Abraham and his seed so now in the New Testament the faithfull inherit the same Covenant with us and our seed But you said above you had heard sundry exceptions against the rest of the proofes from Scripture which were alledged to the same purpose If you please then let us now consider of those other exceptions if there be any more weight in them then the former Silvester It is true I remember you alledged above that speech of Christ to Zacheus Luke 19.9 to prove that when Zacheus was converted his houshold was received unto a Covenant of grace and salvation Because Christ said This day is salvation to this house in as much as hee also is the son of Abraham you alledged also Rom. 11.27 28. to prove that the Jewes the posterity of Abraham shall be converted to the faith out of respect to the Covenant of their Fathers And likewise you alledged the Apostles speech in 1 Cor. 7.14 to prove that the faith of either Parent did bring their children under the holinesse of the Covenant And I said no more but truth that I have heard some exceptions against all these proofes Silvanus Let us hear and consider of them And first what have you heard alledged against that proofe from Luke 19.9 Silvester I cannot say that I have read the exception in any printed Book but in conference I have heard it interpreted thus This day is salvation come to this house that is Christ who is salvation came into Zachâ—us his house to dine with him because Zacheus was now become a penitent and faithfull child of Ahraham Silvanus This glosse if it had been printed had been never a whit the more authentique interpretation but onely the more notorious corruption of the Text. For 1. it is not said in the originall this day is salvation come to this house though it be so translated but this day salvation is to this house which argueth Christ spake not of his commiâ—g to dine in Zacheus his house but of his salvation resting upon the family 2. The reason which Christ giveth why salvation is to the house will not stand with the glosse for saith hee salvation is to this house inasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham Now if Zacheus his becomming the son of Abraham had been the reason of Christ his comming into his house to dinner it would have argued that unlesse hee had been a penitent convert Christ would not have come into his house to dine But the same evangelist telleth us the contrary That Christ went into the House of one of the Pharisees to dine with him whom yet hee sharply reproveth as one whose inside was full of ravening and wickednes Luke 11.37 38 39. But what exception have you heard or read against the conversion of the Jews out of respect to the Covenant of their Fathers according to Rom. 11.26 27 28 I have read that there be divers difficulties that will not bee granted about the Jews comming in Silvester I shall therefore let that stand by untill that time commeth or till it bee revealed from some Scripture how the same shall be The Books in which you read of divers difficulties about the Jews comming in they speake not without cause Silvanus there be difficulties indeed about the same And I may tell you more they are difficulties impossible to bee assoyled according to the Tenents and Principles of those Books For grant that for truth which the Apostle expressely teacheth for a Mystery That after the fulnesse of the Gentiles bee come in to wit come in from their Antichristian Apostasle that then all Israel shall bee saved upon whom in the meane time blindnesse lyeth Rom. 11.25 26. And grant this also for a truth which the Apostle likewise expressely addeth Verse 27 28. that this shall bee out of respect of Gods love Covenanted with their Fathers then this will prove a difficulty inexplicable how God in the New Testament shall convert the posterity of Abraham Isaac and Jacob out of his love to their Fathers and yet no man is partaker of grace by the Covenant of his Fathers till himselfe doth actually believe For can men actually believe till they be converted And is not conversion it selfe made a fruit and effect of Gods love his Covenanted love unto their Fathers and for the Fathers sake unto their seed Besides this will be another difficulty and as hard to be resolved as the former how the Apostle can call the Jewes the naturall branches of the good Olive tree and make their conversion much more kindly and as it were more easie and naturall then the conversion of the Gentiles was and yet hold as your Bookes doe that in the New Testament God hath not respect in his Covenant to the naturall seed or branches at all It is easily acknowledged and justly bewayled by the fall of our first Parents corruption of nature is alike in all men Conversion unto grace is as much above and against the corrupt nature of the Jews as of the Gentiles But yet presuppose a covenant of grace with the believing Ancestors of the Jews to continue in the dayes of the New Testament to their natural posterity And then it wil be easie to conceive how the Jewes though by corrupt nature they are as averse to be graffed into Christ as the Gentiles be yet by nature of the Covenant they are much more easily graffed in then the Gentiles More easily I say not in respect of their owne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the goodnesse of their owne nature or naturall disposition and propension to grace for they are naturally as stiffenecked as any people but in respect of the nature and kinde of the Covenant of grace given to their
darknesse in such a dark time might bee capable of Circumcision yet in the light of the Gospel our children are not capable of Baptisme till they become children of light This is a carnall reasoning not savouring of the Spirit of God or speaking the language of the Scripture For though the Spirit of God in Scripture do call the children of God the children of light in opposition to their former carnall estate whether in their Pagancy or in their unregeneracy 1 Thess 5.5 Ephes 5 8. yet God never called the children of God in the Old Testament nor the children of his children children of darknesse Neither doth hee use such a phrase as to call the children of the New Testament children of the light in opposition to the children of the Old Testament as children of darknesse Neither is it altogether a true speech that faith in Christ and grace in the new birth cannot bee where there is not first a begetting by the immortall seed of the word of life For it hath been shewed above that the grace of the new birth and so faith were not wanting in John Baptist Jeremy and others in their mothers wombe who yet had never heard the Word of life Though the hearing of the Word of life bee the ordinary instrument which the Spirit of God is wont to use in begetting the grace of the new birth in men of understanding yet the Spirit himselfe being a principall part of the immortall seed of the Word hee can beget the grace of the new birth without the Word when yet the Word cannot doe it without him And yet I will not deny that in some sense though not in yours it may be granted that the Spirit ordinarily never worketh the grace of the new birth in the children of the faithfull but by the immortall seed of the Word of life For when the Spirit begetteth the grace of the new birth it is by the Ministery of the Word of life to their Parents one of them at least For they hearing the Word of life promising grace and life to themselves and to their seed the Spirit co-working with that Word begetteth faith in them to believe for themselves and for their seed And according to their faith it is done The Spirit begetteth the grace of life as well in their seed as in themselves The greater is the danger of those infants whose Parents like you doe not beleeve the grace of Christ can reach unto your infants and so it is no wonder if your children be deprived of the grace of the new birth for your unbeliefs sake Be it therefore granted which you take for granted in your next words That for this end to wit for begetting the grace of the new birth God hath ordained in the Gospel preaching and believing to goe before baptizing Mat. 28.9 with Mar. 16.15 16. yet this only proveth that the preaching of the Gospel and the begetting of faith by the Gospel is requisite to enstate the hearer in the grace and blessing or which is all one in the Covenant of the Gospel But if the hearer be a Parent of children and so doe believe the Gospel and Covenant of grace to belong to him and to his seed both hee and they according to the order of the Gospel and Covenant of grace are rightly baptized into the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost All which persons do joyne together in making this Covenant and sealing to it to be a God to the believer and his seed And if it were not so the place which you quote out of Mark Chap. 16. v. 15 16. would utterly cut off the children of believers dying in their infancy from all hope of salvation which you said even now you were far from For if infants for want of hearing the Word in their owne persons want faith and for want of faitsh may not bee baptized then for want of faith they cannot be saved For so run the words in Marke He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved hee that believeth not shall be damned If for unbeliefe they must not be baptized for unbeliefe they must then bee damned But if by the Gospel we understand as the Scriptures meane the glad tydings of the Covenant of grace and so of redemption and salvation by Christ preached and proclaimed to believers and their seed then al such as doe believe these glad tydings to themselves and to their seed they are commanded by the Order of the Gospel to be baptized themselves and their children with them for their children are by the faith of their Parents wrapped up in the Covenant and so are become capable subjects both of the Covenant and of the seale thereof For though the infants themselves be not it may be then actually believers when their Parents are baptized and themselves with them yet God who calleth things that are not as though they were Rom 4.17 He accepteth them into his Covenant by the faith of their Parents and so they are no longer Pagans and infidells but the children of the faithfull and holy in whom God hath covenanted to worke faith and the grace of the new birth in the elect seed and to offer it and the meanes thereof unto all the seed till they utterly reject it And requireth therefore of the Parents by his Covenant to neglect no meanes of grace for the holy institution of their children And for this end the seale of the Covenant is administred to the Infants to confirme the same to their children on both parts If therefore we delighted in returning reproaches for reproaches as you say to us give the baptizing of believers to Christ and the baptizing of infants unto Antichrist so might we more truly and justly returne it to you Give the baptizing of believers and their seed unto Christ For the Covenant of Christ is to believers and their seed and the seale of the Covenant is due where the faith of either Parent is fit to receive it to their holy seed but give the denyall of baptisme of Infants to Infidels onely and out-laws from the Church where neither of their Parents being believers their children also are Infidels and outlawes like their Parents neither believers nor holy according to Covenant You need not therefore ask what advantage will it be to Infants to come before they bee called For Christ called for little children to come unto him and was displeased with such as did forbid them Marke 10.14 If calling for Infants to come will suffice they cannot bee said to come before they be called Suffer saith he little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God And they being such hee put his hands upon them and blessed them If you ask why he did not baptize them too for who can forbid Baptisme to such as are blessed of Christ and by imposition of hands set apart to a blessing and to the Kingdome of God I
establish their owne righteousnesse which is by the law And though some of them received Christ as did the false Teachers in the Churches of Galatia and did also acknowledge their freedome from the sacrifices and burnt offerings and from many other Leviticall Ceremonies of the Law yet so long as they looked to be justified by the works of the moral law and retained circumcision as still necessary by the law they still pertained to Hierusalem that now is as the Apostle calleth it and all of them were children of the bond-woman that is of the Covenant of the Law given on Mount Sinai It is therefore a grosse error and withall a notorious injury to the godly Saints that lived in the dayes of the Old Testament to account them the children of Hagar and to make it a part of their bondage that their Infants were received into the fellowship of the Church with themselves No no whilst themselves believed in the promised seed for righteousnesse and salvation and their children were circumcised into the grace of the Covenant the righteousnesse of faith they and their seed were accounted the children of the Covenant of grace the free-woman till any of them rejected that grace as Ishmael and Esau did By this which hath been said may easily bee understood what is meant by Sarah not the state of the Church of the New Testament as you confine it rather then define it but the Covenant of Grace by which God of his Grace gave himselfe to bee a God to beleevers and to their seed both in the Old and New Testament till any of them should afterwards grow up to renounce him and the Grace of his Covenant which if they doe then their Circumcision is made uncircumcision and they renouncing the Covenant of Grace fall under the Covenant of the Law and come to bee accursed by the Law But for the children of this Covenant of whom Isaac was a type they are not onely such as are Regenerate above the ordinary course of Nature by vertue of the Covenant of Grace and so doe beleeve in the promise of Grace for righteousnesse and salvation but also the children of such beleeving Parents whom their Parents doe beget in the Faith of the Covenant and Promise of Grace to themselves and their seed For Isaac himself when he was an Infant born hee was not as then born anew of the promise and spirit of Grace but his Father begot him in the Faith of the Promise And his Mother Sarah by Faith received strength to conceive seed because shee judged him faithfull who had promised Heb. 11.11 The second main pillar upon which your glosse on this Text is held up is that the two sons Ishmael and Isaac type out the different subjects of these two states of Churches Ishmael being a type of the estate in generall of the Church of the old Testament and Isaac being a type of the state of the Churches of the New Testament But neither will this glosse stand with the Apostles words For the Apostle maketh these two sons to bee the children engendred or bred of these two Mothers Now children as they are engendred or bred of their Mothers they are not properly the subjects of their Mothers though they bee subject to them but their effects The Mothers therefore being not the twofold state of the Churches of the Old and New Testament but the two Covenants of the Law and of Grace Ishmael the son of Hagar the bond-woman is the type of all those Members in the Church whether of the Old or New Testament as who look for righteousnesse and salvation by the works of the Law and doe therefore lye under the bondage and curse of the Law such were those in Micah 6. who thought God would be pleased and appeased with thousands of Lambs and ten thousand Rivers of oyle v. 6 7. Such also at that time was the whole body generally of the Priests and Rulers and People of Hierusalem in the Apostles dayes which hee calleth the Hierusalem that now is And such were all the false Apostles and false Teachers and their Disciples in the Churches of Galatia Philâ—ppi and Colosse who refused the righteousnesse of God by faith in Christ Jesus and sought to establish their owne righteousnesse by the works of the law on the other side Isaac being the sonne of Sarah the free-woman and Sarah representing the Covenant of Grace he is the type of all those members in the Church whether before Christ in the Old Testament or since Christ in the New as are begotten and bred of the promise and Covenant of grace wherby by God giveth himselfe to bee a God to the believer and his seed who therefore looke for all their righteousnesse and salvation to themselves and their seed not from the workes of the Law nor from all their outward priviledges but from the grace and righteousnesse of God in Christ Jesus Onely thus much further I will not stick to grant you That as the two Covenants are the two mothers that are represented by Hagar and Sarah so those Churches that are begotten and bred of either of these Covenants and so are themselves the children of the one or of the other of these Covenants they may be said to bee the mothers of those particular members which by their Ministery are engendred and bred whether of the carnall seed of the Covenant of the Law or of the spiritual seed of the Covenant of Grace For in the Hebrew language any whole Society is called a mother and the particular members thereof are called children sons or daughters And this may somewhat further help to cleare the words and meaning of the Apostle in this place For the Apostle here maketh the Covenant of the Law to answer to Hierusalem that now is v. 25. as if so bee the Covenant of the law and the Church of the present Hierusalem which stood for the Covenant of the law were both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one rank and either of them might be called an Hagar a mother ingendering their children unto bondage And indeed the Church engendereth and breedeth her children by dispensing and administring the seed of that Covenant of which themselves are begotten In like manner the Apostle maketh the other mother Sarah the Covenant of grace to be all one with the true Church of Christ which he calleth the Hierusalem which is above and maketh her the mother of us all v. 26. Because though shee bee her selfe begotten and bred of the Covenant of grace yet shee dispensing and administring the same spirituall seed begetteth children like her self partakers of the libâ—rty of the sons of God And yet to adde a word more which may tend further to clear the words and meaning of the Apostle as this seed of the Covenant of Grace dispensed and administred by true and pure Churches is rightly called spirituall seed in which the Spirit of grace delighteth to breath and worke and therefore they that are begotten
And then what difference is there betweene promise and Covenant in this case 2. It is false which you say that Christ came onely to the Jewes by promise For though he came to the Jewes to the Jewes first and to them by promise yet God gave a more antient promise of the comming of the Messiah to our first parents Gen. 3.15 And they were then the common stock and roote both of Jewes and Gentlies If Job had not a promise of Christ his comming to be his Redeemer how doth he challenge him to be his Redeemer I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 Againe It is a very truth which you falsly deny to wit an absolute conclusion as you call it of any persons to be in the Covenant whether they have faith or not For what think you of Isaac and Iacob and all other elect infants borne of faithfull parents may not a man say that all such are absolutely under the Covenant even before they beleive yea their very beleiving which in Gods appointed time is given to them is it not the effect of the grace of the Covenant and not the cause of it It is also another falshood to say That the concluding it of persons meaning of Infants who may want faith to be in the Covenant of grace and life doth keepe the wicked from leaving his way by promising him life For wee doe not promise life to any by the Covenant unlesse they be elect And though they be elect yet because it is unknown to them and to us too till they doe repent and beleive we tell them they cannot partake in any saving benefit of the Covenant till they be regenerate and quickned by the Spirit as Christ told Nicodemus And it is yet another falshood to say That God did not conclude absolutely any in Covenant of grace when he first made it nor that the Apostle did so apply it at the last For when God first made the Covenant he did absolutely conclude Isaac and in him all the Elect seede under the Covenant For it is a branch of the meaning of that promise of God when he first made the Covenant My Covenant saith he will I establish with Isaac Gen. 17.21 And yet it doth not appeare that Isaac had any faith much lesse visible And for the Apostle his applying of the Covenant or the promise call it whether you will all is one to me certain it is the Apostle doth not suspend the childrens being in Covenant upon their owne faith but upon the faith and repentance of their Fathers Repent saith he speaking to the fathers and so let every one of you be baptized c. For the promise is made to you and to your children Whence the scope of the Apostles exhortation fitly ariseth into this argument and concludeth after this manner as hath been shown above To whom the promise is made they ought to be baptized every one of them But to you repenting and to your children the promise is made Therefore you and your children ought to be baptized every one of you And besides the Apostle in his next Sermon so expoundeth the Covenant as given not onely to them that are converted and so brought on to believe but to them who yet want faith and conversion And therefore he saith Acts 3.25 26. Ye are the children of the Covenant unto whom God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to blesse you in converting or turning away every one of you from his iniquities Their being in Covenant who were the children of the faithfull was not the fruit of their own turning to God but their turning to God is held forth by him as a blessing and fruit of their being in Covenant 3. This is fraudulent that you hold forth the comming of Christ in the gospel to be for this end to call upon men to repent and believe and submit themselves to his State and government Which though it be very true yet it is like the fraudulent practice of Ananias and Saphira to pay part of the price that they might more cunningly conceale the rest So you in like manner hold forth this end which is indeed part of Christs comming in the gospel the more closely to conceale another part of it which is to give faith and salvation to the children of beleevers and accordingly to call their parents to submit their children and housholds as well as themselves to the state and government of the Lord Jesus For why should Christ encourage children to come to him Marke 10.14 if it were no end of Christs comming to come to save them 4. These things are very confused in your answer that you put it for all one Christ to come to save men from their sins and to call men to believe For though these follow one another yet they require a farre different state of the subject unto whom this different grace is tendered For if you speake of saving from sin or justifying Christ justifieth or saveth none from sin but believers or such at least as have faith But when he calleth men to believe or to repent he commeth to them not as having faith or repentance but as wanting both And yet when he commeth to call them unto faith and repentance he doth it out of respect of his Covenant with their Fathers whose children they were yea and in this call of them hee commeth to give them repentance and forgivenesse of sinnes Acts 5.31 And in giving it to their Fathers he promiseth also to give the same unto their children Acts 16.31 Lastly there is one thing alledged out of the context which may seeme pertinent to the purpose if it were fitly applyed You truly alledge that in Acts 2.41 It is said As many as gladly received his word or as you call it glad tydings they were baptized or as you say the same was sealed and confirmed unto them by baptisme But this will not prove that which you alledge it for that therefore it is manifest that by the promise Acts 2.39 is meant the sending of the Messias For the text will every way as fitly and more fitly carry it to be meant of the promise of remission of sins and of receiving the gift of the holy Ghost so the words run directly Repent ye saith he and bee baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost for the promise is to you and to your children What promise Here is no promise mentioned before but the remission of sins and gift of the Holy Ghost And the gift of the Holy Ghost is called a promise verse 33. Acts 1.4 5. But it is not materiall to the purpose whether by the promise you understand the comming of Christ or the gift of the Holy Ghost or remission of sinnes purchased by the one and sealed by the other For all these promises are given by one and the same
as it usually falleth out maketh strongly for it the words are plaine thou foundest his heart faithfull before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give to his seed the lâ—nd of the Canaanites And your self with your Leaders doe easily acknowledge that in the old Testament the Covenant of Abraham admitted his carnall seed into the fellowship of it And doubtlesse Nehemiah speaketh of Abraham and of his faithfull heart and holy Covenant as it stood in the dayes of the Old Testament How commeth it then to passe that his faithfull heart whereby he received the Covenant to himselfe and his seed should be alledged to prove that the faith of Abraham admitted him into the Covenant but not his seed But proceed to your third thing which you woulâ— have to bee well considered and consider I pray you how far off it is from concluding your purpose Silvester The third thing to be considered is who are the approved subjects of this Covenant and they are onely such as believe For God in his Word approveth of none in Covenant with him out of Christ nor of any in Christ without faith Nay God denyeth his approving of any in fellowship with him that doe not believe as John 3.5 6 36. Heb. 11.6 Nor doth he approve of any subjects of his gracious Covenant but onely such as hee hath elected and chosen in Christ and so appearing by some fruits and effects of the same as these Scriptures with many other witnes Rom. 8.9.29 30. Rom. 11.7 Ephes 1.4 5 6. 2 Thes 2.13 14. 1 Pet. 1.2 Acts 2.47 13.48 Silvanus There is a broad difference between these two who are the true approved subjects of this Covenant and who are approved to be the true subjects of this Covenant For it is certain and your selfe admitted it above that God approved all the seed of Abraham even his carnall seed to be admitted as subjects of the covenant and of the seale thereof But it as certain that God never approved such true subjects of the Covenant whom himselfe never elected nor themselves ever received the gift of faith without which it is impossible to please God Many are truly called to the fellowship of the Covenant and of the seale thereof who were never elected nor approved in their spirituall estate as heires of salvation It is in the same sense that Paul speaketh Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Jew which is one without neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but hee is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit whose praise or which is all one whose approbation is not of men but of God But dare any man therefore inferre that God did not approve it that any should bee admitted unto the Covenant of Abraham or unto the seale thereof Circumcision unlesse he were a Jew or Israelite within and circumcised with the circumcision of the heart To what purpose then are all the texts of Scripture alledged by you which prove no more then wee acknowledge that by naturall generation all men are carnall that without faith it is impossible to please God that whom God electeth hee calleth that the election obtaineth what they seeke for that the elect are chosen to be holy and partakers of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that the elect are brought on to faith But what is all this to prove that such as are carnall by naturall generation cannot be holy by the grace of the covenant or that it may not please God to admit them to the outward dispensation of his Covenant whose inward spirituall estate hee is not pleased with Surely all the Israelites in the wildernesse were sometimes admitted into Covenant with God yet with many of them God was not pleased 1 Cor. 10.5 What though those whom God elcteth he calleth to wit by an effectuall calling according to his purpose yet may hee not yea doth he not call many to place in his vineyard the Church yea to office also whom he hath not chosen Matâ—h 20.16 What though the elect obtaine what they seek for the sure mercies of the Covenant and the rest come to be hardened May not therefore the non-elect partake in the outward dispensation of the Covenant and yet afterwards bee hardened in hypocrisie What though the elect onely come on to believe though not with a justifying faith yet with an historicall and temporary faith May they not bee holy by Covenant who yet are not holy by the Spirit of Regeneration May they not be sprinkled with the blood of sprinkling unto the common graces of the Spirit Heb. 10.29 who yet are not sprinkled therewith to the remission of their sins Finally what though it bee said the Lord added to the Church daily such as should bee saved Acts 2.47 were not Ananias and Sapphira added also and Simon Magus too who yet for ought that appeareth were none of them saved Proceed wee theâ— to the fourth thing which you wiâ—h might be well considered and see if there be any more weight in that The fourth and last is Silvester whether that all persons now in the Gospel have not one and the same way of entrance into the covenant let the holy Word of God bee judge and I finde the Gospel of Christ to approve of none in the Lords holy Covenant of grace but such as believe nor any approved of to be in the way of life but such as are in Christ by Faith And therefore no other way of comming into the Covenant of grace and salvation but onely by Jesus Christ for in him are all the promises confirmed and made over onely unto such as doe believe as 2 Corinth 1.20 Rom. 10.4 1 John 5.11 12. Rom. 8.9 You now labour againe of the same fallacy which was noted in you before It is readily granted you that the Gospel of Christ approveth of none in the Lords Covenant but such as believe Neither did the Old Testament approve any in the Lords Covenant but such as believed But as hath been said it is one thing to approve them in the Covenant another thing to approve them to be in the Covenant See it in a similitude God did never approve either Saul or Jehu in the Kingdome of Israel yet hee did approve it that both of them should be admitted to the kingdome So is it here God did never approve Ismael in Abrahams house nor Esau in Isaacs And yet he approved it that they should be in their Fathers houses and also bee admitted to the Covenant of their Fathers and to the seale thereof till their own prophanenesse cast them out And therefore what though there bee no other way of comming into the Covenant of grace but only by Jesus Christ And what though in Christ all the promises are confirmed and made over onely to such as believe Yet neverthelesse Christ hath opened a way for the comming of the Covenant and promises through himselfe not
therefore hee admits not of any dead plants to be set in his spirituall vineyard nor dead members to bee joyned in his mysticall body but onely such as are capable by faith to comply with the head Neither tooke he for himself a compound body consisting both of living and dead members which all are that have not a living principle of grace and faith in him which unbelievers have not no nor all the Infants of believers nor any at all untill they are born again of the Spirit Joh. 3.5 6. The Church of God which is the mysticall body of Christ is not a mixt company but onely one substantiall and royall substance suitable to her head and matter by which she was produced being the immortall seed of the Word And therefore one holy spirituall uniforme compacted body both for nature and forme Cant. 6.9 Mal. 2.15 Ephes 2.14 to 22. Job 4.23 All which considered proves the body of Christ or Church of God under the New Testament not to consist of unbelievers nor of Infants neither in whole nor in part and so the branches aforesaid not to be understood of unbelievers or infants but of believers onely That which you say Silvanus that the Jewes were the people of God in a twofold consideration First as a nationall people descended from the loynes of Abraham by naturall generation according to the flesh Secondly some of them owned in a more speciall manner with reference to his gracious Covenant made with Abraham and established with Isaac c. This is not rightly spoken according to the tenor of Scripture language For none of the Jews much lesse the whole Nation was the people of God as they descended from the loynes of Abraham by Naturall generation according to the flesh but onely with reference to his gracious Covenant made with Abraham and with his seed after him If you set aside the consideration of the Covenant the seed of the most holy of Gods Saints are children of wrath and not a people of God Neither let this seem to you of dangerous consequence that if God accounted the whole Nation of the Jewes to bee his people with reference to his gracious Covenant then all the whole Nation must have been in a true and saving estate of grace and so all of them either saved or fallen from a state of grace For this consequence will not follow as hath been shewed above But it is true that you say that God did in a speciall manner owne Isaac and so all the elect seed with whom he established his Covenant not so with Ismael And yet it may not be denyed that God did establish his Covenant to all the seed of Isaac by Jacob and that not onely to the elect seed but to the whole Nation till the ten Tribes rejected not onely the house of David and the Worship of God in the Temple where God had put his name but also the Ministery of the Prophets whom God sent to reclaime them as afterwards the two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin commonly called the Jewes rejected Davids Lord the Lord Jesus and his righteousnesse and the Ministry of the Apostles But before that rejection evident it is that in the wildernesse God did by his gracious Covenant even establish the whole Nationall posterity of Jacob to be a people to himselfe Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. And the Word used in the originall for the establishing of the whole Nation to become Gods people ver 13. is the very same which God used when he promised to establish his Covenant with Isaac Gen. 17.19 And therefore it is not true which you say That in the naturall children of Abraham God onely respected his chosen in Christ with whom he confirmed his Covenant with Isaac in reference to Christ For the words of the Text doe plainly expresse that God by Covenant did confirme or establish the whole house of Iacob to be a people to himselfe according to the Covenant which he had sworn to Abraham Isaac and Iacob Deut. 29.13 whence it was that as the Apostle saith to the Israelites one and other pertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the law and the service of God and the promises c. Rom. 9.4 where he speaketh of such Israelites as for whom he had great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in his heart in respect of their unbelief vers 2. Neverthelesse this I willingly grant you that God had a speciall respect to the elect and faithfull seed as to whom hee reserved the effectuall application of the spirituall and sure mercies of the Covenant though the externall dispensation of the Covenant and of the seales of the Covenant and of all the Ordinances of Gods worship was generally granted to all the seed whether elect or non-elect faithfull or hypocrites But to passe by your generall discourse of the state of the people of the Jews in the Old Testament let us attend to that which commeth nearer to the argument in hand to wit to the generall scope of the Apostles discourse in the 11. Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans which you say is concerning the breaking off of the Jewes and the occasion thereof as also their calling by the Gospel wherein you tell me the Apostle ever defends the faithfull seed of the Jews against the generall rejection of that Nation And it is true he doth so in the former part of the chapter from ver 1. to 10. but that is not his generall scope throughout the whole Chapter For his general scope is to declare three things touching the rejection of the Jews First that it is not universall ver 1. to 10. Secondly that it is not unprofitable ver 11. Thirdly that it is not irrecoverable which he prophecyeth proveth and amplifyeth v. 12. to the end of the Chapter For the 1. That their rejection was not universall he proveth first from his owne example who was an Israelite ver 1. 2. From Gods fore knowledge which is immutable ver 2. 3. From the like reservation which God made of a remnant in the dayes of Elijah ver 3 4 5 6. And this reserving of a remnant he amplifieth by the cause the election of grace ver 5 6. And by the contrary the rejection of the rest which he proveth by the testimony of Isay 7.8 also of David ver 9 10. And thus farre he defendeth the faithfull seed of the Jewes against the generall rejection of that Nation 2. He proveth that their rejection is not unprofitable by giving an instance in an unspeakable blessing which thereby redounded unto the Gentiles to wit the salvation of the Gentiles ver 11. 3. That their rejection is not irrecoverable or finall but on the contrary that their restoring and conversion is to be expected He proveth first from the great benefit which hee prophecyeth shall thereby redound to the Gentile-churches which will be our riches and fulnesse and as it were our life from the dead And that he proveth by an
conversion of the Jewes to holinesse But the Apostle here speaketh of such a root who being holy argueth that his branches though now broken off will come on againe to holinesse which cannot bee argned from the holinesse of Christ For take Christ for the root and will the Apostles Argument then follow If Christ be holy then the Jews though now broken off are or shall be holy also Is there any soundnesse in such an inference If you say Nay but all that you would infer from thence is this that if Christ the root bee holy then the Jewes when they shall come to bee graffed into him againe they will be also holy That is true indeed and needs no proof But that is not the Apostles scope to shew that they shall be holy when they are engraffed into Christ but to prove that they shall be engraffed into Christ and become holy because their root is holy which will indeed strongly follow by vertue of the Covenant with Abraham and his seed if Abraham bee here taken for the root but not so if Christ What then will you say is Abraham better then Christ Not so neither but Christ doth more delight to communicate his grace rather in the way of the Covenant of his grace then out of it Neither will it appeare though you say it will that Christ is here meant by the Apostle to be the root of the Jews if we consider what was the Jews own naturall root and olive tree whereof they were naturall branches onely by faith as the Apostle so declareth them 〈◊〉 20 21 24. which was union and communion with God in all his Divine Ordinances of Worship the manner and forme whereof was Mosaicall and typicall in the Old Testament which is now changed in the New but not the matter c. as above Answ It is utterly untrue which you say that the Jews were the naturall branches of their owne naturall root onely by faith and that the Apostle so declareth them v. 20 21 22. For it is evident the Apostle expressely declareth the naturall branches not to be spared of God but to be broken off for their unbeliefe v. 19 20 21. And therefore unbeliefe was found in the naturall branches and then they were not naturall branches onely by faith for then no naturall branches could have been broken off Neither could the naturall branches bee said to bee graffed in againe much more readily then the Romans v. 24. for the Romans standing by faith had equally as ready accesse unto union and communion with Christ in his Ordinances which you take to bee the root as the Jewes when they shall bee converted to the faith It is readily granted and needed no proofe that the Jewes of old enjoyed union and communion with Christ in the Mosaicall Ordinances of the Old Testament whereof some were typicall and some morall And it is a confessed truth also that God changed the Order and manner of that Worship but not the matter in the New Testament But that the Jewes were broken off for their opposing and rejecting that new order is not safely spoken For they were broken off for resisting and opposing the righteousnesse of Faith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.3 which was no new order brought in by Christ in the New Testament but was the principall matter of all their Typicall and Mosaicall Worship which your selfe confesse was not changed Besides it cannot be denyed That the faithfull and their seede was the subject matter of the Church and so part of the Order of the Worship in the Old Testament And this was neither Mosaicall nor Typicall but before both And if the matter of the worship bee not changed though the manner be then as the faithfull and their seede whether Iews or proselyte Gentiles were the subject matter of the Church and a Morall part of church order of old then are they so still and neither of them to be excluded It was wholly needlesse and impertinent to prove that the Iews were cast off from Communion with God in his worship for their unbeleife and that the Gentiles who submitted to the Gospell of Iesus Christ are taken in and doe stand in relation to God by Faith in him And that the Iews when God shall please to call them by the Gospell to beleive in his Son they shall be received in againe to fellowship and Communion with God in his service as worship as of old But take all this for granted and yet it reacheth not neare the Apostles Words and discourse in this chapter who proveth that the Iews shall be called in againe to Faith and Holinesse by reason of their relation as branches to their root Which though they be broken off from it by their enmity against the the Gospell yet they still belong to it according to the Election of God and according to his love which by his everlasting Covenant he bare and promised to beare to their Fathers and to their seed after them throughout all Generations To proceede then As your discourse of the roote hath not hitherto proved Christ to be the roote So neither will your discourse of the Branches prove either Christ to be the root or the Branches to be such and can be no other then such as doe subsist and grow in Christ onely by Faith For 1. It hath beene as I conceive cleared already that Christ is not the roote here meant by the Apostle 2. If the branches be such and can be no other but such as doe subsist and grow in Christ onely by Faith how then came it to passe that the branches were broken off can such as doe subsist in Christ as in a roote onely by Faith can they be broken off What is then become of Christs prayer for all that doe or shall beleive on him Joh. 17.20 21 22 23 24. But say you the Apostle speaketh of such branches as are in him by faith and he in them by his spirit without which Faith and Spirit there is no holinesse in the Apostles sense Answer It is true the Apostle speaketh of such an Holinesse in the branches v. 16. as proceedeth from the Spirit and Faith But that is an holynesse which is not found in all Branches for then no branches should be cut off but which shall be found in the Iews at their conversion as the Apostle proveth by reason of their relation to Abraham as their root through the grace of his Covenant But will not prove that there is no way for the branches to subsist in the root but onely by Faith and Spirit For these branches who shall be converted to holinesse were in Abraham before by Naturall Generation and did pertaine to Abrahams Covenant by the grace of Election by vertue of both which both of the Election of grace and of the Covenant of grace they shall come at last to be converted to the fellowship of the Spirit and of the faith of Abraham But 2. Say you There is no branch that is
infant to be solemnly presented and offered to him in that seale of the Covenant till the seven dayes were fulfilled However it was certaine it is that the limitation of the eighth day was not a morall appendant to the Covenant of grace And therefore the Infants of believers both in those former times and in these now partaked in the Legacies of the Covenant of grace as well before eight days as after Nay say you in the New Testament as the last Will of Christ the Legacies therein contained as the Priviledges and blessing of Abraham are given onely to such as believe and to none else Two things let me here answer you 1. It implyeth a contradiction to say the blessing of Abraham is given to believers and onely to believers and to none else intending thereby to exclude the infants of believers For what is the blessing of Abraham Is it not this promise of grace that God will bee a God to him and his seed If this blessing then come upon believers then this promise commeth upon them That God will be a God to them and their seed You must therefore either deny the blessing of Abraham to come upon believers or else you must grant the promise of grace to come upon them and upon their seed also Yea say you upon their believing seed such as succeed them in the same faith and truth not upon others If that were the meaning of the promise it could not bee said with any congruity of speech that the promise commeth upon the seed of believers at all For when the children of believers come to be believers the promise commeth not to them at all as the seed of believers but as believers themselves The children of Pagans when they come to beleeve may as well claim the promise to belong unto them as may the children of believers when themselves doe believe The second thing that I would answer you is that all the places which you alledge to prove that the priviledges of the Kingdom of Christ doe belong only unto believers they onely speake of saving priviledges flowing from faith All which wee readily grant you as a point out of controversie doe all of them belong to believers and not immediately to the children of believers till they come on themselves to believe likewise But this wee further claime in the behalfe of the children of believers which wee have proved before though you are willing to take no notice of it that the children of believers doe come on themselves to believe by reason of the Covenant of grace which God hath made with believers and their seed for by that Covenant hee hath promised to write the law of faith as of all other saving graces in their hearts that they also may come in Gods time and way to enjoy all the other saving priviledges of the Covenant as did their Fathers before them To take a short survey of the places which you quote that Text in Gal. 3.22 holdeth forth that the promise to wit the promise of eternall life of which he spake in the next verse before is given by faith to them that believe So is also the righteousnesse of faith given to them that believe as the other places you quote shew Rom. 4.11 12. Gal. 3.6 7. So likewise the inheritance of glory is given to sonnes even the regenerate sonnes of God who have received the spirit of adoption as your other place sheweth Rom. 8.17 But what doth all this prove That no Legacies of the New Testament no priviledges of the Covenant of grace no blessing of Abraham belongeth to the children of believers It proveth indeed that the righteousnesse of faith and eternall life and glory doe belong to believers and to such as are regenerate by the spirit of adoption But what thinke you of faith it selfe and the spirit of adoption Are they not also Legacies of the New Testament Are they not the Priviledges of the Covenant and of the blessing of Abraham And these when they are first given they are not given to believers who have them already but to such as have them not And therefore the children of believers are capable of these Legacies and priviledges by the blessing of Abraham in the new Covenant For this is a promise of the new Covenant they shall all know mee from the least of them to the greatest of them Jer. 31.34 And that knowledge is faith upon which sinnes are forgiven Isa 53.11 And this is another promise of the same Covenant I will poure my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Isa 44.3 If then the Spirit and Faith be given by the New Testament or which is all one the new Covenant then all the Legacies and priviledges and blessings of the Covenant are not given onely believers but some also to the children of believers that they may receive the spirit and faith also It is therefore a slender evasion to alledge as you doe that the children and off-spring of believers are such onely as succeed them in the same faith and truth and so are called the generation of the righteous For they did not succeed them in the same faith and truth and righteousnesse till it was given them and given them it was by a legacy of the New Testament when they were onely the children of the faithfull and had neither faith nor truth nor righteousnesse in them The other places which you quote do shew that men of yeares as well as children are sometimes called the seed of the Church And that the godly ones amongst them are begotten of the immortall seed of the word and are regenerate by the spirit of grace have a seed of God dwelling in them are maligned by the carnall seed are approved of God and acknowledged as heires of the Kingdome of glory All which are truths out of question But none of all the places doe exclude the Infants of believers nor their growne naturall children from being subjects of this grace of the Covenant to have the Spirit of grace and faith poured upon them by vertue of the Covenant One onely place of all the rest might seem to look that way which you quote out of John 3.5 6 where it is said that the carnall seed as being flesh and destitute of the spirit cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And indeed if by the Kingdome of God were meant the Church as oftentimes it is the objection would bee more difficult to resolve But the truth is in that place by the Kingdome of God is plainly meant the Kingdome of Glory not the Church For Nicodemus did not scruple his Church estate nor enquire how hee might enter into the visible Church but how hee might bee saved and inherit the Kingdome of Glory And therefore Christ directeth him to Regeneration and to beleeve in his Name that hee might attain unto everlasting life Joh. 3.5.14 15 16. And though hee speak of water as co-working with the Spirit in Regeneration
of such is his Kingdome Mar. 10.14 whose divine testimony of them is as clear an evidence to us that God giveth them right unto the fellowship of the Church and to the seal thereof as the testimony of men can give unto themselves or others by their verball profession or any other visible effects of Faith Doe not say that you are farre from denying in the least measure salvation unto Infants For if Infants dye in their Infancy you have apparently declared it above that you doe not acknowledge them to bee subjects capable either of election to grace and glory or of Union with Christ or the Covenant of Grace And then how wee should beleeve you when you say you doe not in the least measure deny salvation to Infants and yet deny all such meanes of salvation without which it is impossible they should bee saved judge you But to come to the ground you work upon in denying to them Baptism whereas Circumcision was granted to them of old and in both a promise of salvation sealed up to them untill they came to reject it Though Baptisme you conceive succeed Circumcision yet you put a great difference between them both in matter and manner in persons and things And what might that great difference bee in so many particulars Circumcision say you sealed to things temporall and carnall as well as to spirituall and so were the subjects carnall as well as spirituall Baptisme onely sealeth to Faith in Christ and to Grace in the New Birth I pray you doth not Baptisme seale to the Covenant of Grace as well as Circumcision in whose room it succeedeth And doth not the Covenant of Grace contain promises of temporall and carnall or outward blessings as well as spirituall Hose 2.18.21 22 23. Hath not godlinesse in the New Testament as well as in the Old the Promises of this life as well as that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Doth not Baptisme expressely seale up unto us our deliverance out of Affliction as well as out of corruption yea to the raising up of our bodies out of death in the grave as well as of our soules out of the death in sin 1 Cor. 15.29 It is therefore utterly untrue that Baptisme sealeth onely to Faith in Christ and to grace in the New Birth For it sealeth to all the blessings of the Covenant as well those of this life as of that which is to come That which sealeth to this grand blessing of the Covenant that God will bee a God to such or such sealeth unto all other gifts of God also God never giveth himself alone but hee giveth his Son and his Spirit also And hee that giveth us his own Sonne saith the Apostle shall hee not with him give us all things else also Rom. 8.32 Yea where Christ is given hee giveth Repentance unto Israel and conversion or turning of the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and of the Children to the Fathers and both of them to the Lord. Act. 5.31 and Luk. 1.16 17. And Baptisme is a seale of these promises as of the whole Covenant And therefore Baptisme is not onely as you say a seale to Faith and to the Grace of the New Birth as if it onely confirmed our own Faith touching our own estates and our own New Birth But it confirmeth also our Faith that God will give Faith and Repentance to our Children and turn their hearts both to the Lord and to us And therefore hee powreth the water of Baptisme upon our Children that hee may confirme this promise of Grace the powring out of clean water of his Spirit and of his blessing as well upon our seed and off-spring as upon our selves Isai 44.3 Another difference which you put is that Circumcision sealeth to things to come as under Types and shadowes and so to subjects in a cloud and darknesse whereas Baptisme confirmeth Faith in things come and already done and hath for its subjects Children of the light in the clear evidence of the Spirit with face open Suppose this difference were true That Circumcision sealed to things to come and Baptisme to things come Circumcision to things vailed Baptisme to things open Yet this is but a circumstantiall difference in the manner of revealing the blessings promised but this argueth no materiall difference at all in the persons the subjects of the seale It will onely argue thus much that whereas the same Christ and the things of Christ were sealed up to them and to their seed more darkly they are sealed up to us and our seed more clearly and plainly Besides it is not altogether true that Circumcision sealed up to them things to come For both Baptisme and Circumcision doe seale to both things come and things to come Circumcision sealed to Abraham God to bee his God and the righteousnesse of Faith both which were already come to Abraham before hee was circumcised It sealed up also sundry things to come to him and his seed as their deliverance out of Egypt their inheritance of Canaan and the comming of the Messiah But when the Israelites came to enjoy Canaan Circumcision did not then seal to their deliverance out of Egypt or to their inheritance of Canaan as things to come but as to things come and already done Circumcision sealed to the children of Israel that God would circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their seed Deut. 30.6 which was a thing to come to such of them as were unregenerate But after they were Regenerate the same Circumcision was a seale of that blessing which God had already done for them So is it with Baptisme Now that Christ is come in the flesh Baptisme sealeth that to us as a thing already done which to them was a thing to come And yet the comming of Christ into our hearts is a thing partly done in the Regenerate and yet more fully to bee done even to us and to many of our children it is a thing to come To the children of God that walk in darknesse and see no light which is the case of many and at some time or other of all the return of the Comforter is a thing to come and Baptisme is a seale thereof and yet it is a seale also of the first fruites of the Spirit which are already come Baptism is a seale of the Redemption of Christ which is already wrought for us And it is a seale of our deliverance from all afflictions and from all temptations and from all corruptions and from all enemies even from death it self and many of these are yet to come So that I can but wonder why such a difference as this should bee alleged to prove a personall difference of the subjects of Baptism and the subjects of Circumcision If it bee said as you partly expresse and partly imply that wee who live under Baptisme are the children of light but they that lived under Circumcision were the children of darknesse and therefore though their children being in
it is not as you say first faith and then to the Covenant but first the Covenant and then faith written and wrought in their hearts by his Spirit to fulfill his Covenant The place which you quote in Gal. 3.29 doth not prove that none are the seed of Abraham save those that be in Christ by faith But that those who be in Christ by faith they are that seed of Abraham who partake in the sure mercies of the Covenant who are therefore called heires according to promise The faithfull seed of Abraham they onely partake in the sure mercies of the Covenant so it is now in the New Testament and so it was and no otherwise in the Old But that doth not at all hinder but that all the seed of Abraham though yet destitute of faith in their own persons have right to the outward dispensation of the Covenant and to the seale of it When you say none are approved by the Gospel to be the seed of Abraham but onely such as walke in the steps of his faith the place whereto you alude is in Rom. 4.12 which only holdeth forth that such as walke in the steps of the faith of Abraham they are the seed of Abraham who are justified in the sight of God for Abraham himselfe was so justified And thus it is in the new Testament and thus also it was in the Old And yet Abraham then had and so have the faithfull now other seed who are partakers of the covenant and of the seale of the covenant and yet are not justified for want of faith You say none invisibly before God are by him approved at all to have right to any priviledge of grace but onely as he looketh upon them in his Son no more are there any before men visibly to be approved of so as to have right to the same This saying that none have right to any priviledge of grace before God but as he looketh upon them in his Son it is true rightly understood but nothing availing to your purpose If you mean by grace saving grace it is true none have right to any priviledge of saving grace but as God looketh at them in his Son either by faith or by election unto faith If you meane by grace the outward dispensation of the covenant of grace and of the seal thereof it is true none have right to any priviledge of the covenant or of the seale of it but as they are in Christ either by faith or by election unto faith or by their fellowship with the church whereof Christ is the head In which respect all the members of the church and their seed are in Christ as branches in the vine or olive and may be cut off from him for want of faith to make them fruitfull in him But what avayleth this to your purpose Thus it is in the new Testament and thus it was in the Old But when you say none have right to the same but as they appeare to be in Christ by some effect of faith declaring the same This you cannot make good from Scripture light For though you say that God excludeth all from his holy covenant so as to have right in the outward dispensation thereof but onely such as believe And to prove that you alledge many Scriptures yet none of them beare witnesse to any such matter All the Scriptures which you alledge will easily prove one of these two things both which we willingly grant First that some branches in Christ were broken off from Christ though not through want of faith but yet through infidelity rejecting the faith of Christ either in themselves or in their parents Secondly that through faith wee receive the spirituall saving blessings of the covenant and through want of faith fall short of them both which are everlasting truths as well before Christ as since To runne over all your places briefly that you may see how your Leaders mis-leade both themselves and you In Rom. 11.20 it is said the Jewes were broken off through unbeliefe So the word is translated but the true sense of it is through infidelity and so the same word is translated 2 Cor. 6.15 What part hath a believer with an infidell The meaning of that place in the Romans is the Jews were broken off from Christ and from their church-estate and Covenant in him by their professed infidelity their open rejection of Christ and his righteousnesse and that not out of ignorance but out of wilfull obstinacy against the light of the gospel revealed to them For the Apostles still kept communion with them as with a church a people in covenant with God notwithstanding their want of faith in Christ yea notwithstanding their crucifying of Christ untill they wilfully obstinately rejected and persecuted the Gospel of grace and the righteousnesse of it Acts 13.45 46. And persisting therein then indeed they were broken off but yet this argueth that they were in Christ before or else how could they now be broken off Your next place is quoted out of Heb. 3.18 where the Israelites are said to fall short of their entrance into Canaan because of their unbeliefe the word is as before because of their infidelity For it is not likely that all the Israelites who wanted saving faith were kept out of Canaan Acban who troubled Israel doth not appeare to be a true believer But the body of them who were kept out of Canaan had carryed themselves like infidels they thought scorne of the land of promise and preferred Pagan Egypt before it And therefore for rejecting the promise and the faith of it were justly rejected from entring into Canaan But what maketh this to the purpose in hand how doth this prove that in the Gospel God excludeth all from his holy Covenant and from right in the outward dispensation of it save onely such as believe For all these were in the Covenant and had been circumcised in Egypt and so had the priviledge of the outward dispensation therof though they believed not Besides this concerned the times of the Old Testament of which your selfe and your leaders confesse that the outward dispensation of the Covenant and of the sâ—ales of it pertained not onely to the spirituall bâ—lieving seed but to the carnall also Your next place in Heb. 4.1 2 3. proveth only that such as do not mixe the word with faith will fall short of entring into Gods rest So it was in the Old Testament as well as in the New And the Apostle himselfe doth so expresse it The Word saith he which was preached to them to wit the Israelites in the old Testament did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it From whence he also argueth that neither will the Word preached to us now profit us if it be not mixed with faith But what maketh this to prove that God excludeth all from the outward dispensation of his holy Covenant but onely such as believe Is it all
doth not regard nor esteeme the outward washing of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21 So neither was the circumcision of the flesh without circumcision of the heart of any account before God either before Christ or since It was not only so adjudged in Pauls time in the New Testament that Circumcision of the flesh was nothing without Circumcision of the heart but also in Ieremies time in the Old Testament For Ieremy threatneth â—hat God will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt Edom Ammon and Moab with Iudah for all these Nations are uncircumcised al the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart Ier. 9.25 26. It hath been said of old shall a man make Gods to himself and they are no Gods So may it be said in some proportion shall a man make differences to himself to turn him off from the way of God and they are no differences To the third there is as little difference in that as in the former for as the seale of that Covenant confirmed faith in things to come but the seale of this confirmes faith in things already done so the seale of that Covenant confirmed the faith of Abraham in the righteousnesse of faith which he had already received and the faith of those that were in Canaan of the possession of it And our Baptisme sealeth up to us mortification of sin deliverance out of affliction resurrection of the body whereof some are yet to come in part some wholly The like may bee said of the other Ordinances of the Covenant But what is it to the purpose what if sundry ordinances of the Covenant as it was dispensed in the old Testament confirmed faith in things to come and what if the Ordinances of the New Testament confirmed faith in things past yet what is this to argue that children of believing Parents are excluded from the Covenant of grace in the new testament though not in the Old To the fourth when you say that Covenant was Nationall and admitted all of the Nation to the seales thereof But this personall and admitteth of none but such as believe This difference is founded in an untruth for it is untrue that the Covenant given to Abraham was Nationall it was rather domesticall at first and did not comprehend the whole Nation of any of Abrahams seed till Iacobs time And Iacob speaketh of his blessing which was a proper adjunct and peculiar priviledge of the Covenant that it did exceed the blessing and so the Covenant of his progenitors Gen. 49.26 For whereas in Abrahams house though Isaac was received to the blessing of continuance in the Covenant yet Ismael and the seed of Keturah were excluded and in Isaac's house though Iacob inherited the blessing yet Esau was excluded yet in Iacobs family all his sonnes were received to the blessing of continuance under the outward dispensation of the Covenant and not themselves onely but all their posterity the whole twelve Tribes which proceeded from them Now it is not said in Scripture that the blessing of Jacob is come upon the Gentiles for then none of our posterity might cut themselves off from the outwaâ—d dispensation of the Covenant and then our Covenant would be Nationall and admit all of the Nation to the seales thereof but the Scripture saith that the blessing of Abraham and so the Covenant of Abraham is come upon the Gentiles Gal. 3.14 that is upon the believing Gentiles and their seed whereby it commeth to passe that believing Gentiles and their Infant-seed are admitted to the Covenant and to the seale of the Covenant as Abraham and his Infant seed were But if when they bee growne up to yeares they shall grow to mocke and sleight the Covenant as Ismael and Esau did then they and their seed are cast out of the Covenant and that keepeth the Covenant from being national And so it was in Abrahams time so it is now When you say this Covenant with us is personall and admitteth onely of such as believe It hath been refuted above and this truth cleared that upon the faith of the Parents the grace of the Covenant is promised also unto their seed And if the Covenant did admit onely of such as believe then the faith whereby we believe were not given to any by Covenant Whereas it hath been shown above that faith and the saving knowledge of God by faith and the writing of the Law of faith as well as of love in our hearts is given by Covenant Jer. 31.33.34 Your fifth difference is like the rest devised in your own imagination not founded in Scripture That Covenant say you begot children after the flesh but this onely begets children after the Spirit and onely approveth of such as are begotten and born from above c. Answ Doe you any where read in Scripture that the Covenant of Abraham approved of any then more then now but such as are begotten from above Did not Abraham and Israel of old renounce the owning and acknowledgement of such children of theirs as were degenerate from their faith and obedience Esay 63.16 When you say that that Covenant begot children after the flesh doe you not meane that men under that Covenant begot children after the flesh And if that be your meaning doe you thinke it is not so now that men under the Covenant of grace now in the dayes of the New Testament as well as in the Old doe beget children after the flesh It is true those believing Parents who doe beget children by believing the Promise and Covenant of grace to them and to their children they doe bring forth and bring up spirituall children or as you call it children after the Spirit But so did Abraham and other faithfull parents in the Old Testament as well as now The places which you quote out of Ier. 31. Ezek 36. Heb. 8. Ioh. 3.5 6. doe neither prove your assertion nor disprove ours but rather approve it For in Ier. 31. the Law of faith and saving knowledge is written in our hearts by the Covenant so it is now in the New Testament and so it was in the Old In Ezek. 36. God takes away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh and a new spirit so hee doth now to his chosen and so he did then Numb 14.24 The place in the Heb. 8. is the same with that in Ieremy 31. That in Iohn 3.5 6. argueth that none born of flesh can enter into the kingdome of heaven but are carnall and fleshly But thus it was in the Old Testament as well as in the New there is no difference in this point Your sixth difference is that that Covenant with Abraham and his posterity before Christ comprehended a civill state and a worldly government with the like carnall subjects for the service of the same But this Covenant now under Christ comprehendeth onely a spirituall state and an heavenly government with the like spirituall subjects of this also Answ 1. The Civill State and worldly
is to performe his Covenant and all that he promised to them in their father Abraham with reference to Christ in whom as the root God established his Covenant for these his holy branches Rom 11.12 verse 26. Now the lump generally considered comprehends all both the first fruits and the latter For except the first fruits were part of the lumpe it could not give testimony that the lumpe was holy which lumpe is Gods elect in Christ with reference to their believing in him and so the approved subjects of Gods gracious Covenant and heires aprarent to the Kingdome of Christ as were Abraham Isaac and Jâ—cob believing the first fruits of that lumpe They first appearing in the Covenant of grace in a visible way by faith they were holy And so that remnant which God had still among them was holy with reference to the same estate the first fruits were in The same consideration is to bee had of the lumpe with reference to that estate which God in his time shall call them unto by his Gospel and so are holy also for this must respect a visible holinesse suitable to that in the first fruits otherwise it maketh nothing to the thing in hand Now a word or two also of the root and branches the root here is that from which the Jewes were cut off and the Gentiles graffed in And that is not onely believing Parents and so the same with the first fruits but Christ mystically considered with reference to the rules of Order Ordinances and Government laid downe in the New Testament for all such to believe and submit unto whom God approveth true subjects of the same In which respect Christ is called a vine a root and the foundation Joh. 15.1 Rom. 15.12 Rev. 5.5 22 16. Isa 28.16 1 Cor. 3.11 Ephes 2.20 That the root is meant Christ as aforesaid appeareth First in that he is the root or olive tree out of which the Jewes are cast and the Gentiles graffed in Rom. 11.17 19 23 24. Secondly in that the Apostle chargeth the Gentiles that if they boast themselves against the Jewes they beare not the root but the root them vers 18. That is thou appearest not to have the truth of grace and so not the true nature of the truth and life of Christ in thy heart but onely an outward forme of the profession of him as John 15.2 Thirdly from the consideration of that which the Jewes refused and the Gentiles received which was Christ aforesaid Therefore it is Christ in his mysticall Order and Government amongst his Saints that is here the root and olive tree with his Spirit in his Ordinances issuing forth sap and fatnesse of life and comfort into every believing heart as a branch of the same This will yet more clearly appeare if we consider what was the Jews owne naturall root and olive tree whereof they were naturall branches onely by faith as the Apostle so declares them Vers 20 21 24. which was union and communion onely with God in all his Divine Ordinances and Worship which in the Old Testament was Mosaicall and typicall in which respect the Jewes were the first that ever God tooke in communion with himselfe in such an holy way of Worship and therefore called the first fruits of his love and naturall branches which order and manner of Worship but not the matter was changed at the comming of Christ in the flesh and a new forme and order set up by him called the Gospel or New Testament which order the Jews opposed and were rejected Christ the sure foundation laid in Zion becomming a stumbling stone and rock of offence to the Jews the Kingdome of God was taken from them that is they were cast out of fellowship and communion with God in respect of his Worship for their unbeliefe and the Gentiles that did submit to the Gospel were taken in by faith in Christ to bee his worshippers and heires both of grace â—â—d glory And when God pleaseth to call the Jews by the Gospel to beleeve in his Son and to submit to him as he is the Mediator of the New Testament then shall they be received in againe into their old fellowship and communion with God according to the order of Moses And thus the Apostle proves their first estate to be holy as the first fruits of thâ—t holy and blessed relation wherein they stood towards God by faith From which they for their unbelief are cut off and the Gentiles by faith admitted in of meere grace and not to boast And yet there is a remnant of them to be called as the Lumpe and a second fruit which are also holy in reference to the same holy root as aforesaid And as the root is holy so shall these branches be when they come to bee graffed in againe to their own root and olive tree as at the first which is union and communion with God in his holy way of Worship And so much of the root or olive tree which must bee understood of Christ mystically considered and not of beleeving Parents as aforesaid Now a word of the branches which being holy are believers onely in the Apostles sense First they are branches onely as they subsist and grow in the root or vine and so beare the true nature of the same by which they appear to be holy by the fruits therof Christ being the root or vine as aforesaid the branches can no way be said to subsist and grow in him as their root but onely by faith and hee in them by his Spirit without which there is no holinesse in the Apostles sense who speaketh of such an holinesse as is produced in the branch by the holy root in which it ingrows and so partakes of the nature of the root by vertue of union and communion which it hath with the same All which is by faith as the word revealeth Secondly there is no branch that is alive in the vine but partakes of the sap and life of the same by vertue of which the branch though never so young and small is discovered to be alive and inabled to bring forth in its season such fruit as whereby the same may be discerned So it is hereby the spirituall branches they cannot properly bee called branches in the Apostles sense but as they partake of the life and grace of Christ their true vine and olive tree by which they appeare at the least to bee alive in him by faith and enabled by the same to bring forth such fruits as may discover them to bee in Covenant of grace and so to be admitted â—â—to the priviledges thereof as John 15.1 7. Nature it self teacheth as much for no man will admit of dead plants to be set in his vineyard or graffed into a stock but onely such as are capable to comply with the same in the sap and nourishment thereof to the end it may grow and bring forth fruit and so it is with Christ who commeth not short of nature And
them Christ himselfe acknowledgeth one Churth to bee all Faire and to have no spot in her Cant. 4.7 and that is interpreted by some Expositors and as I take it most fitly of the Primitive Apostolick Church at Hierusalem described Acts 2. and Acts 4. towards the end of both chapters And yet even in that Church were found Ananias and Saphira who were but dead members and neither suitable to their head Christ nor to the immortall seed of the word of which that Chuch was begotten The place in Mal. 2.15 speaketh lesse to the purpose for what though God sought a godly seed doth hee alwayes finde what hee is said to seeke God sought for one to stand in the gap but hee found none Ezek. 20.30 Besides the godly seede there spoken of is in the Originall the seed of God which is not meant of every Church-member for what is the marryage of one man with one woman in our first Parentes unto that Seeing it is a patterne that bindeth Pagans as well as Christians but it is meant of Christ Jesus The place in Ephes 2.14 to 20. sheweth what the Church of Gods Redeemed bee and all the spirituall members thereof but neither proveth that all the members of the Church are such or that the Infants of beleevers are not such The Church of God in Zion was built upon the foundation of the Prophets and it was an habitation to the Lord. Psal 102.13 yet infants were members of it The place in John 4.23 sheweth as I said before what God seeketh not that hee findeth all such in every Church much lesse that hee excludeth Infants out of the Church till they can make it appeare by open profession of their faith that they doe worship him in Spirit and truth It hath bin proved above that of Infants is the Kingdome of God Mar. 10.14 that is the Church and yet they cannot professe and declare any such worship in their owne Persons though indeed the Acts of their godly parents in that case are there accepted of Christ as the Acts of the Infants For Christ accepted their Parents bringing of them to him as if they had come to him in their owne persons Suffer saith hee little children to come unto mee and yet they came not but as they were brought Silvester There is a large difference betweene the Iews and Gentiles in respect of outward Priviledges The Infants of the Iews had a speciall reason for their admittance into the fellowship of the Iewish Church which doth not now continue in Christian Churches Of the Iews came Christ the Saviour of man and therefore salvation is said to bee of the Iews Rom. 9.5 Iohn 4.22 In respect of which there was a blessed promise passed upon the Iews for the bringing forth of the Messiah and the promised seede in whom all Nations should be blessed And therefore all of that Nation were admitted to the outward Priviledges as figures of him whom that Nation was to bring forth So that a fruitfull wombe was counted a great blessing among the Iews as not knowing who might be so honourable as to bring forth that blessed and all blessing seede And therefore God honoured the Naturall birth with such outward blessings and priviledges which belong not to the Gentiles at all The Gentiles now are to looke for their bringing forth Christ according to the Spirit as the Iews did then according to the flesh and likewise their birth and their seed and all things suitable to the same as Joh. 3.3.5 6. Ioh. 1.12 13. And therefore wee are said now to know no man after the flesh 2. Cor. 5.16 And Circumcision was one Priviledge of the flesh Phil. 3.4 5. Therefore though the Iews Infants were admitted to all those outward Priviledges being a Nationall people and so a Nationall body with a naturall birth and the like seede in generall yet the Gentiles Infants cannot bee admitted to their spirituall priviledges they being a personall People called by the word of Grace and so a spirituall body with a spirituall birth and the like seed It is true there is some difference between the Iews and the Gentiles Silvanus in respect of outward Priviledges for not to â—over in generalities wherein lyeth deceit the Iews or rather the house of Israel being Gods first borne Exod. 4.24 and so our elder brother they were the excellency of Dignity and the excellency of power glorious and mighty wonders the Lord often wrought for them they had the preheminence of them was Christ of them were the Fathers the Patriarchs and the Prophets and to them were committed the Oracles of God And if you will so account it a double portion to injoy both a Congregationall Church and a Nationall they injoyed both a Congregationall Church in their Synagogues and a National Church at Hierusalem in their solemne feasts But two things let mee here put you in minde of first that when the Elder brother for his demerit is disinherited of his Birth-right as Reuben sometime was his preheminence of honour and double portion is divided amongst his younger brethren no part of it is lost So is it here The Church of Israel being disinherited all the spirituall priviledges all the honour and power which they injoyed either in their Synagogue or in their Nationall Assemblies is now set over to our Congregationall Churches and as for the outward Priviledges which the house of Israel injoyed as a wordly Kingdome and the power and glory thereof they were no part of the priviledges of their Church estate but accessories and additaments thereunto For in the Covenant of Abraham God spake nothing of a worldly kingdome but of affliction for 400. yeares Gen. 15.13 as therefore worldly power and glory were cast in as accessorie to the Church of the Old Testament so they may be also in the New If the Churches of the New Testament shall bind Kings in chaines as is prophecyed Psal 140.8 and execute upon them the judgement written then surely Christian Churches shall have some Kings to bee members of their body else what have they to doe to judge them that are without the Apostle saith Godlinesse hath the promises of this life as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 What though Church power bee not administred with worldly pompe and what though all the children of the Church bee equall in Church-Priviledges yet some or other of the children of the Church ate capable of great preheminence even in outward Priviledges They may be Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 which though some understand of spirituall power yet not so properly for spiritual power is not princely in the earth Besides if civil Magistracy be lawful amongst men which you deny not some of the children of the Church may bee as fitly employed in such a principality as Pagans And surely the time shall come when according to the prophecy of Daniel chapt 7.27 the Kingdome and the Dominion and the greatnesse of the
faith think you be built upon the word of man for the truth of his baptisme But be willing to call to mind the Lord Jesus upbraided his eleven Apostles with their unbelief and hardnesse of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after hee was risen from the dead Mar. 6 14. And yet some of them mentioned in the former part of the Chapter were but women and others of them were private disciples neither sort of them were Apostles The truth is if one Proposition in a Syllogisme be found in the Word of God and the other Proposition be found certaine and evident by sense or reason the conclusion is a conclusion of faith As for example it is a proposition found in Scripturâ— Thâ—t the City which raigned over the Kings of the earth â—n Iohns time is that woman the great Whore Babylon which shall bee destroyed Revel 17.18 But Rome is that City which reigned over the Kings of the earth in Johns time This proposition wee have by certaine and evident testimony of the histories of those times Therefore Rome is that woman the great whore Babylon which shall be destroyed This Conclusion is a Conclusion of faith not built upon the word of men but upon the word of God Apply the like manâ—â—r of arguing to the point in hand thus Every disciple of Christ that is every believer and his sâ—ed that is baptized by a Minister of the Gospell in the name of the Fathâ—r Son and holy Ghost is truly baptized This Proposition iâ— delivered in the Gospell But I the child of a bâ—liever was baptized by a Minister of the Gospell in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost This Proposition is confirmed by so many eye-witnesses and such approved records that no reasonable man can doubt of it The conclusion then is a conclusion of faith Therefore I the child of a believer was truly baptized CHAP. X. Silvester FOr a seventh Argument against the Baptisme of Infants I have met with this To baptize Infants maketh the holy Ordinance of God a lying signe because none of those things can bee expected in an Infant which the said Ordinance holdeth forth or signifieth in the administration thereof which is the parties Regeneration and spirituall new Birth a dying and burying with Christ in respect of sin and a rising with him in a New life to God and a confirmation of Faith in the death and Resurrection of Christ and a free remission of sin by the same as Rom. 6.3.4 Col. 2.12 1 Pet. 3.21 Act. 2.38 None of all which can bee expected in an Infant Silvanus That which hath been found in some Infants as in John Baptist and Jeremiah and many moe that they have been sanctified by the holy Ghost from their Mothers wombe there is nothing hindreth but the same may bee desired and expected in any Infants of beleeving Pâ—rents The Faith of beleeving Parents hath prevailed with Christ to cast out an evill spirit out of their children And wheresoever the good spirit of grace entreth there wanteth not Regeneration fellowship with Christ in his death buriall Resurrection there wanteth not Faith nor Remission of sins But besides suppose that none of these things were found in Infants yet it is a profane and blasphemous speech to say that the Baptisme of Infants maketh the holy Ordinance a lying sign because none of those things are found in Infants which the Ordinance holdeth forth and signifyâ—th unlesse you were able to make it good that Baptisme holdeth forth and signifieth nothing but what is already found in the Infants But you cannot bee ignorant that Baptisme signifieth and sealeth up not onely good thingâ— found already in the baptized but also good things promised and as yet to come as Resurrection from the dead 1 Cor. 15.29 Saving out of afflictions and persecutions which were then ready to overwhelme all the Churches in the Romane Empire as Noahs flood did the wholâ— world which is the meaning of Peters words in the place which you quote 1 Pet. 3.21 To say nothing that â—aptisme signifieth and sealeth up the growth of all spirituall gifts and blessings as well as the gift of them And growth is a blessing future to the baptized as well as the gift may bee future to some Infants baptized Yea it is an holy truth of God that Baptisme is as well the signe and seale of the promise of God as the signe and seale of any gift of God already bestowed Now Promises are of blessings to come Circumcision was a signe and seale of the Land of Promise to bee given as well as of the righteousnesse of Faith to Abraham which hee had already received Yea the same Circumcision which was to Abraham a signe and a seale of the righteousnesse of the Faith which hee had already received waâ— to Isaac a sign and seale of the righteousnesse of Faith promised but not received Yea that gracious Promise of God that hee would circumcise the hearts of his people Israel and of their seed Deut. 30.6 what was it else but an exposition and declaration of the meaning of their Circumcision that as they had received the outward signe in the flesh so they should receive they and their seed the thing signified in their heart and spirit It is no lying signe that holdeth forth and sealeth that which is done or which is promised to bee done in due time as much as iâ— meet for him to doe that promiseth The Baptisme of Ananias and Sapphira of Simon Magus and Demâ—s was no lying signe though they neither were Regenerate when they were Baptized nor ever afterwards came on to bee Regenerate because the lye lay not in the Lords Covenant nor in the signe of it but in their affected hypocrisie which would not bee healed CHAP. XI THe eighth Argument against the Baptisme of Infantâ— is because the subject of Baptisme is to bee Passive but an Infant is no way passive as that Ordinance requirâ—th I mean a passive subject threefold 1 A thing uncapablâ— and thus is a stone 2 A thing forced and thus is an Infant who opposâ—th his Baptisme to the utmost of his ability so farre is it from being passive in the same 3 A thing is passive by a subjecting power producing thâ—â—ame in the subject by bringing it to a free and voluntary subjection And thus is the true subject of Baptisme None can bee passive to receive grace Silvanus but by grace because it consisteth of self-denyall Obedience to Christ ought to bee free but Baptisme is forced upon an Infant against its will I will not examine the termes of your Distinction of a threefold passive subject though I would not have you taken with it which is indeed neither Naturall nor Artificiall nor spirituall For when you make the first sort of a passive subject a thing uncapable as is a stone I might demand whether you mean uncapable lawfully or unlawfully If you mean a stone is uncapable
Christ himself speaketh of branches in him the true vine the fat olive tree which yet bare no fruit in him and so are cut off from him cast out and wither John 15.2 6. And such branches though they were in Christ by the fellowship of the Church and by the Spirit conveying from Christ common graces to them yet they were never elect in him to everlasting life nor united to him by a lively faith For if they had been so in him they had never been cut off from him It is true the Covenant of grace was not to all the seed of Abraham without exception that is to such of the seed as rejected the Covenant or the faith of it as Ismael and Esau did in riper years But the Covenant was to all the infant seed of Abraham without exception and to all the infants of his believing seed And the seale of the Covenant was in like sort dispensed to them all without exception to Ismael as well as to Isaac to Esau as well as to Jacob. Yet neverthelesse it will not therefore follow that some of the seed of Abraham were comprehended in the Covenant and admitted to the seale thereof in one sense whom God excepted against in another sense For hee excepted not against the infant seed of Abraham or his family in any sense but onely against the seed apostate in elder yeares In respect of which Apostacy which God fore-knoweth all the non-elect seed of Abraham will fall into though God receive all the infant-seed of Abrahams family that is of the Church into the fellowship of the Covenant and of the seale thereof yet he giveth a peculiar blessing to the elect seed even the sure mercies of his Covenant Esa 55.2 And though you say that between these two seeds God ever held forth a distinction in all generations from Adam to Christ yet that distinction was onely this the seed of all the flesh and the seed of the promise Rom. 9.8 But he excluded neither of them in their infancy from the Covenant or from the seale of it Indeed the children of the promise being the elect of God God hath not onely given his Covenant to them and the seale thereof but hath also established it unto them for ever But the seed of the flesh though the Lord gave his Covenant even unto them also and the seal therof yet he hath not established it unto them for ever whence afterward it commeth to passe that they reject the Covenant and the faith of it But when you further say that Christ hath put an end to the type and to the flesh and to all priviledges thereunto belonging so that now all is laid up in Christ onely for such as believe and for that end quote 2 Cor. 5.16 Phil. 3.3 4 5. It is readily granted you that Christ hath put an end to all types and to fleshly Ordinances and to the purifying of the flesh by the Ceremonies of the Law Heb. 7.16 9.13 But that Christ hath put an end to all priviledges either of the Covenant or of the seale of the Covenant to the seed of believers there is no word in the New Testament that teacheth us any such doctrine the places alledged opened above by me prove the contrary and those alledged by you will not make good what you say for the place in 2 Cor. 5.16 that a man regenerate knoweth no man after the flesh argueth onely thus much that a man in Christ resteth in no outward priviledges no not in seeing and knowing Christ in the flesh nor in eating and drinking in his presence nor in hearing him preach in their streets but in the spirituall and lively fellowship of his death and resurrection which maketh him whosoever knoweth Christ a new Creature And so say we too and so it was with the faithfull in the Old Testament as well as in the New It was not the outward participation of the Covenant nor of the seale of it that a sincere Israelite could rest in but in the grace of the Covenant and Circumcision of the heart in the Spirit not in the Letter But this doth not at all argue that the children of the faithfull who are yet in the flesh are not partakers of the Covenant of grace nor of the seale of it now in the New Testament as well as they were in the Old But only argueth that though before regeneration men are apt to rest and boast in the outward Letter of priviledges and Ordinances yet after regeneration they doe not acknowledge such things as their comfort and confidence John Baptist endeavoured to beat off the Jews from resting in such outward priviledges Matth. 3.9 And so did the Prophets before Christ Jerem. 9.25 26. as well as Paul after him both in this place of the Corinthians and that other which you quote out of Phil. 3.3 4 5. When you say that now all is laid up in Christ onely for such as believe If you meane all spirituall blessings of life and salvation you say true but nothing to the question For so it was in the Old Testament as well as now But as it was then the seed of believers partaked of the outward dispensation of the Covenant and of the seale of it so is it still unlesse you could shew us some Scripture whereby they are more excluded now then in the old Testament Silvester Now first in Christ by faith and then to the Covenant and priviledges thereof Gal. 3.29 None by the Gospel are approved to be the seed of Abraham but onely such as walke in the steps of his faith For as none invisibly before God are by him approved at all to have right to any priviledges of grace but onely as he looketh upon them in his Son no more are there any before man visibly to be approved of so as to have right to the same but as they appeare to be in Christ by some effect of faith declaring the same And so much the more in that God excludeth all from his holy Covenant so as to have right in the outward dispensation thereof but onely such as believe Rom. 11.20 Heb. 3.18 4.1 2 3. 11.5 6. Rom. 9.7 8. Gal. 3.22 26 29. Silvanus Surely in the old Testament the children of believers had first Christ by Covenant and then faith also to receive him For in the Covenant with Abraham when God gave himselfe to be a God to him and his seed the Father gave himselfe to bee their Father the Son to be their Redeemer the holy Ghost to bee their Sanctifier when yet the children were unborn without life and therefore without faith And surely in the New Testament God hath not changed this order of his blessings For in rehearsing the Covenant which continueth in the New Testament he giveth the writing of the law in their hearts by Covenant Heb. 8.10 Amongst which laws surely the law of faith is one and indeed the chiefe of all other laws And therefore