alone but to you also that the prophecy and promise of Ioel foremētioned ℣ 16.17.18 is to be accommodated yea to all who ever God shall call but with this difference by these degrees that it is first to you which are Iewes which are night then though you may wonder at it to the gentiles also which are afarre of and that you see in the event prooved a wonder for it is said Acts 10.45 that they of the circumcision vvhich beleeved vvere astonished as many as came vvith Peter because that on the Gentiles also vvere povvred out the giftes of the holy Ghost Now these gentiles are called afarre of suitable to the expression of Ephes 2.13 Yee that is the gentiles vvho sometimes vvere farre of are made night by the blood of Christ where the same expressions of nigh farre of are used that are here now hee makes mention particularly of their children under which also he intends the childrē of the gentiles when by calling they should be made nigh to accommodate to them more fully the mentioned place of Ioel as if he should say those are the last dayes when this promise vers 16.17.18 is to be fullfilled both to Iew and gentile as a consequence of their faith in the Messiah that they shall receive that eminent gift of the holy Ghost as a badge of their profession the glory of God by which they shall be able to doe such thinges as wee have done but with this difference that according to what is foretold the spirit will accommodate and vent it self proportionable to their states and capacity some things are proper to old mē they shall dreame dreames others to young men they shall see visions and according to the manner of their revelatiō shall their gift be and the venting of it by prophecy But all you and your childrē shall receive gifts of the holy Ghost and so be made partakers of that illustrious promise here therefore ye have that which might first and especially comfort them the remission of their sinnes so as no man can object against Peter for comforting them onely with giftes Secondly as a consequence of this and as Christ elsewhere saith a signe of them that beleeve they shall have the same gift of the holy Ghost both Iewes Gentiles in their order that the Apostles had this should be just accommodated according to the prophecy of Ioel to fathers and children to young men old according to their proportions and capacities for prophecy Now that by the gift of the holy Ghost and so consequently the promise of Ioel is meant abillity of speaking tongues prophecies as it is cleare by the context in it self so according to the judgement of Calvin who sayes clearly that this ought not to be understood of the grace of sanctification but of those primitive gifts vvhich though vve novv receive not yet vve have something analogicall and proportionable to them Now as the gift was not the grace of sanctification so neither the promise by which it is made ours for all gifts are ours by promise this is the generall judgement of expositers Protestant and others and is most cleare by Acts 10.45.46 where sayes hee they of the circumcision vvhich beleeved vvere astonished because that on the gentiles also vvas povvred out the gift of the holy Ghost for they heard them speake vvith tongues c. where the gift of the holy Ghost the same words used that is here is discribed by speaking with tongues Peter therefore calleth them that were pricked at their hearts were weary and heavy laden to repentance and Baptisme in the name of the Lord Iesus that they might receive and have sealed up to them the remission of sinnes which was the great thing they desired as a symbole and signe of which they should partake also of the effect of that illustrious promise made in Ioel and mentioned formerly that they should receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost so as nothing could be spoken more to the harts of distressed men then this nor nothing could more incourage them to repentance and Baptisme then the remission of sins sealed to them in that ordinance and yet more further signified and sealed by that famous promise of extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost which for that time Christ himself made a signe and effect of beleeving to them that were nigh and farre of that is both to Iewes and Gentiles and so you see the Iewes incouraged to repentance and Baptisme upon great and noble and most considerable grounds with this distinction difference that the offer of all those great things according to the way of God and the Gospel comes first to them and after to them which are afarre of that is to the gentiles who indeed were afarre of being aliens and in the estimation of Peter so farre that God was forced to give him a particular vision as you shall heare Acts 10. to persuade him to looke upon them as those nigh And thus wee have what the Iew as a naturall sonne of Abraham may pretend to Baptisme and new Testament ordinances to wit a priority in respect of the offer whereby the way wee have taken occasion to cleare that place that some have indeavored to bring to prove infant Baptisme by then which truely nothing seemes to be lesse properly raised out of it The next considerable thing is where the stop lyes where the Iewes goe equall with others Now for that wee will consider that place of Matt. 3. chap. ℣ s 7.8.9 VVhen hee savv many of the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his baptisme hee sayd unto them O generation of vipers vvho hath vvarned you to flee from the vvrath to come Bring forth therefore fruites meete for repentance And thinke not to say vvithin your selves vve have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham The Pharisees and Sadduces men especially the Pharisees strict in their religion come many of them to Iohns Baptisme upon this pretence and clayme that they were descended from Abraham and were his children that they come in this confidence and pretence was manifest by what Iohn said unto them Luke hath it Luk. 3.8 Begin not to say vvithin your selves that is doe not take this subterfuge to oppose to repentance change of heart which onely qualifies for Baptisme that you have Abraham to your father Matthew sayes thinke not to say vvithin your selves which notes a persuasion of a prerogative of carnall generation that you have Abraham to your father such carnall and birth prerogatives stand you in no steed in this covenant for of these stones God can raise up children to Abraham that as when Isaack was borne who was the sonne of promise Abrahams body and Saraas wombe were dead as a stone so those which are now to be accounted the sonnes of Abraham God can raise from nothing evē from stones from the
beleevers not infidels though outwardly they can manifest no faith or sanctification to us Ainsworth pag. 49.50 whom I quote as being by all acknowledged a learned man in this opinion wherein hee concurres as wee shall see with the streame of our Divines not to be suspected The like to this saith Walleus de Bapt. Infant p. 493. Infants are to be reckoned amongst beleevers because the seede or spirit of faith is in them vvhich some call a habit others an inclination from vvhence by degrees through the hearing of the vvord actuall faith is formed sometimes sooner sometimes later This in the next pag. 494. hee prooves Because else they vvould not be saved Rom. 8.9 If any have not the spirit of God he is none of his And Iohn 3.5 No uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven but infants by nature are uncleane are purged by the blood of Christ the kingdome of heaven belongs to them they please God c. This is layd for a ground amongst the Calvinists concerning Baptisme That Baptisme is onely a signe and seale of regeneration already wrought Oecolamp de verb. Dom. cap. 3. Aqua mystica in Baptismo non regenerat nec efficit filios Dei sed declarat the mysticall vvater in Baptisme doth not regenerate nor make men sonnes of God but declares So Zwinglius Baptismus non aliter Ecclesiae Christi signum est quam exercitus aliquis signatur non quod signum hoc conjungit Ecclesiae sed qui jam conjunctus est publicam tesseram accipit Baptisme is the signe of the Church as the ensigne of an army it doth not joyne you to the Church but it declares you joyned So Beza Nihil obsignatur nisi quod jam habetur nothing is seald but vvhat is there already of this opinion is Calvin fully as it were easy to quote him saving that in answering the Anabaptists he sayth This objection is ansvvered in a vvord by saying that children are baptized into faith and repentance to come actuall he meanes for he addes according to the first opinion quoted of vvhich though vvee see not the appearance neverthelesse the seede is planted there by the secret operation of the holy Spirit so as hee would have faith and repentance there in the habit that God may not seale to a blanck nor give a lying signe The like saith Pemble a late and able Divine That vvhich is signified in our baptisme is our justification by the blood of Christ and our sanctification by the Spirit of Christ Baptisme is the seale of both unto us and infants may be partakers of both being vvasht from the guilt of sinne by the blood of Christ in vvhom they are reconciled to God and actually justified before him and also purified in part from the uncleannesse of sinne by the infusion of grace from the Holy Ghost vvhat then should hinder vvhy those infants should not be vvashed vvith the vvater of the Sacrament So also Davenant in his comment upon the 2. chapt of the Colossians to quote no more where conflicting with the Anabaptists he saith As for infants because they are not sinners by their ovvne act but by an hereditary habit they have the mortification of sinne and faith not putting forth it self but included in an habituall principle of grace Novv that the Spirit of Christ can and doth ordinarily vvorke in them an habituall principle of grace no vvise man vvill deny From all those testimonies wee may observe that the cleare reason of the thing inforces men to allow as necessary to Baptisme in generall the qualification of regeneration faith c. how this now will fit infants Baptisme wee shall consider hereafter for the present wee joyne issue with them in these three things First that a personall holynes not derivative or imputed onely must be the ground of Sacraments 2 That this holynes must be regeneration 3 That the habits of faith and repentance are to be esteemed such I proove not these things because they are cleare in themselves and taken for graunted by those already quoted onely in these things wee joyne with them and so farre agree together CHAP. VIII In which are contained severall queries and considerations raised from the premisses declaring what little ground there will appeare from their owne principles and concessions to conclude for Infant Baptisme THese things thus supposed I make these doubts about the baptizing of the infants of beleevers First I would aske whether all infants of beleevers have necessarily and assuredly those habits which must of necessity be concluded since it is their personall qualificatiō for Baptisme and therefore you must have good grounds to judge that they have it one as well as another First of all Peter Martyr sayes that I vvill be the God of thee and of thy seede is not an universall promise but hath place onely in the predestinate and therefore upon 1. Cor. 7.14 else vvere your children uncleane but novv are they holy he saith Promissio non est generalis de omni semine sed tantum de illo in quo rectè consentit electio alioquin posteritas Israelis Esau fuerunt ex Abraham And therefore affirmes that the children of the saints are borne holy vvhen they are predestinate and this agreeth with reason for if you make that holynes as before the infusion of gratious habits yee must suppose election without which such gratious habits are never infused unlesse to make good this opinion you will allow falling from grace which I am sure our selves and those we desire to satisfy will not do This being said I would aske upon what ground the Saints can suppose all their children to be elected or why they should deny any infants baptisme since experience tells us that the children of many unbeleevers if we will judge by the fruites and effects which is the surest judgement are elected and many children of beleevers reprobated especially now since the sluce is taken up the Gospel preached to every creature under heaven Againe consider how cold a ground this is for infants baptisme your children are holy by being borne of you that is regenerated and so qualified for ordinances if at least they be elected and I seale to them their holynes the kingdome of heaven if they be elected as if a King should say I confirme this towne to you and yours if at least it hath pleased me or shall please me to give it you But if you say wee have reason to hope well of them according to that else vvere your children unholy but novv are they holy for so saith Peter Martyr upon that place Bene sperantes quod ut sunt secundum carnem semen sanctorum ita etiam sunt electionis divinae participes Spiritum Sanctum gratiam Christi habeant Hoping vvell that as they are according to the flesh the seed of the Saints so they are also partakers of Divine election and have the Holy Spirit and the grace
the hands of the Holy Spirit for edification and salvation the word is a dead letter without the Spirit and so also is Baptisme it speakes no more then it is bid the blessed Angels that are so farre above sinne and corruption have no quickning vertue in themselves the flesh of Christ hath no vertu but from his Godhead Now if there be no vertue in the flesh of Christ but by the personall union how shall bodily actions about bodily elements confer grace but by the mediation of the Spirit Thirdly they agree in the principall matter for the same Christ with all his benefits is offered and confirmed to us in the word and Sacraments the same union the same communion in the death the resurrection of Christ and they which looke for more in the Sacraments then the word promises and holds out makes an Idoll of them Fourthly they agree in the end for God by them builds up and edifies his Church till it come to be perfect Fifthly they agree in the instrument which renders both profitable to us both word and Sacrament are ineffectuall without faith 3. Iohn 36. Hee that beleeveth on the Sonne hath everlasting life Sixthly they agree in the effects They are the savour of life unto life or the savour of death unto death c. So He that beleeveth is baptized shall be saved From the first you learne coroll 1 not to depart from the institution but as to preach the Gospel according to the analogie of faith so to administer the Sacraments according to Gospel institutions for it is alike sinne to transgresse in the administratiō of the one as in the preaching of the other since they both hold of the same Lord institutor and as hee which in preaching the Gospel shall add workes to faith in the point of justification perverts the word and preaches another Gospel and therefore is accursed Gal. 1.1 So he that shall alter in the administration of the Sacraments but in a ceremony since the ordinance lyes in a ceremony and shall be bold to inlarge the subject of this ordinance or contract it will be found a breaker of Gods boūds be found guilty of the cursse that is the portion of such as add or detract so as what wee doe herein is of great moment and consideration coroll 2 From the second to exspect successe from the Spirit to be in the Spirit that you may receive it Secondly the Sacraments worke not Phisically From the third coroll 3 to be lead by all administrations into the knowledge of Christ to judge them best that hold out most of Christ and most purely Secondly to magnify Christ the head and end of all institutions coroll 4 From the fourth to be comforted and confirmed in this way of salvation wherein wee are for wee have enough till wee come to God and need no more coroll 5 From the fifth not to rest in the worke done to thinke it enough when you have heard or communicated if it be not mingled with faith it profits not vvithout faith it is impossible to please God coroll 6 From the sixth then play not with these tooles it is a great matter you have in hand when you meddle with the ordinances of Christ and when you are under them it cannot be without much good or hurt to you it is a blessing or a cursse to the persons upon whom it falleth even the greatest light meanes are the greatest agravations of sinnes Heb. 2.1.2.3 Wee come now to the difference of these ordinances which will contribute more of light to what wee have proposed They differ first in the manner of the administratiō of the same Gospel The one is an audible word the other is a visible word the word signifies according to such expressions as men have given a vallue unto to signify thinges by but the Sacraments represents by such similitudes and proportions as the signes have with the things signified therefore we read the word and heare the word but we see feele the Sacraments In a word they are Hierogliphicks it was the custome of the Egyptians to teach by visible representations which signify such and such things these are of that nature that whereas the word strikes the eare onely which is the usuall and ordinary sence of discipline those signes and visible elements affect the sences outward and inward the sences conveigh the object to the understanding there the Holy Ghost takes them and brings us into the present enjoyment of things as if we saw Christ with our eyes toucht him with our hands felt him by our tast and injoyed him with our whole man all this in a rationall and discoursive way raysing an analogy proportion betweene the signe and the thing signified Secondly they differ in the measure of their signification the word especially teacheth the Sacraments especially seale and confirme the word indeed signifies and applyes spirituall things but the Sacraments more efficatiously represent apply Thirdly the word is simply necessary to actuall beleevers and so to the salvation of beleevers and sufficient as in Cornelius for faith is by hearing and hearing by the vvord of God but the Sacraments are not absolutely necessary to all nor without the word are they sufficient to salvation for to what purpose are seales without the writing Fourthly for I will not trouble you with many the word belongs to all mankind the Sacraments belong onely to beleevers therefore for preaching ye have preach the Gospell to every creature under heaven But for the Sacraments teach them saith Christ that is disciple them and hee that beleeves and is baptized shall be saved so for the other Sacrament let a man examine himself and so let him eate and drinke and the people vvere baptized in Iordan confessing their sinnes of vvhich they repented and after the Eunuch was taught there was faith required before hee was baptized if thou beleevest vvith all thy heart thou mayest and no Baptisme or Sacrament find we administred otherwayes in the new Testament the reason is evident because the word begets faith the Sacraments confirmes it the word is the writing the Sacraments is the seale for it carries this with it and speakes this language as certainly as thou usest this ceremony and eates this bread so assuredly Christ dwells in thee and as thou entrest this water and art therein buried so assuredly thou art made one with Christ planted into his death thou art buried with Christ and thou risest with Christ as thou risest out of the water every thing speakes this thou art Christ and Christ is thine and therefore supposes faith which is the tye and the union on our part and you see how curious Paul is Rom. 4. to proove that Abraham vvas justified by faith before hee received the signe of circumcision which was to him a seale of his faith his righteousnes thereby ℣ 10.11 Hovv vvas it reckoned vvhen hee vvas in circumcision or in uncircumcision Not
unto you and to your children and to all that are afarre of even as many as the Lord our God shall call where they say Peter witnesseth that the divine promise belongs to those which by reason of their birth are farre of but by the wonderfull providēce of God are called to that ordinance by lawfull meanes such as these before named and Chamier the great protectour of our religion against Bellarmine not to trouble you with what the Papists say affirmes that if our servants vvere truely servants such as Abrahams vvere they then drevv a right from their masters for Baptisme for vve read sayes he that Abraham circumcised all his servants but such servants as for the most part vve have novv a dayes because indeed they are free men hee thinkes should not be so handled in the same capacity hee thinkes to be also such as by the right of vvarre are subjected to Princes for such kind of subjects also remaine free which if it be true and that that exception onely lyes against their Baptisme with all the great things it seals and conveighes to us I should much bewayle the losse of slavery to the Christian world since one good man by that tenure might have made a hundred and a hundred infidels by being subjected to one man might have bene Christians in a moment Thus you see how farre they make the covenant extend indeed the parallell of circumcision carryes it strongly and for one as well as another you see therefore that which qualifies for infant Baptisme is some good and pertinent relation to a beleever but if you aske me now what denominates this beleever and qualifies him for communicating this Christian qualification Chamier sayeth vvee allovv not all infants to be baptized but those onely of beleevers that is of baptized persons So that as the Baptisme in the parent qualifyes for baptisme in the infant Tom. 4. p. 270. Not to inlarge in this the charity of the world is very great and if Mr. Davenport mistooke not in his complaint in his writing to the Classis of Amsterdam hee saith that there was required of him an unlimited baptizing of all infants which were presented in the church of what nation or sect soever although that either of the parents were Christians were not otherwayes manifest then by answering Yea at the reading of the liturgie of Baptisme publikely or by nodding their head or some other gesture they seemed to be willing Booke of complaints 1.2 And that you may see this further cleare in the authority of a learned man who speakes not onely his owne judgement but the judgement of other orthodoxe with him VValleus a reverend Professor of Leyden in his treatise De Baptis infant p. 494. saith thus Quaeritur ergo de infantibus eorum quorum parentes sunt impij etsi nomine Christiani c. It is demaunded concerning the children of them whose parents are wicked although Christians in name or whose parents are excommunicated or whose parents are hereticks or Idolaters as the infants of Papists Anabaptists c. By way of answer hee allowes all such children to be baptized VVe thinke saith he that Baptisme is not to be denyed to those qui ex stirpe sunt Christiana which are of a Christian stock and which without an interruption of a publike Apostasy from the faith may referre their kindred to the faithfull such as in Christian common-wealthes are those procreated of Christian and baptized parents onely he would not have them baptized against their parents consent because they be their goods and possession and hee would have their parēts or those which offer them to baptisme answer that they will bring them up in the Christian profession vvhich if they doe vve judge sayes he that all infants vvhich come from a Christian stock should be baptized if they be offered to baptisme according to the order of the Church although their next parents should labour vvith unholines of life or heresy or the crime of idolatry And this hee goes on to proove strenuously as well he may from the manifest perpetuall practise of the whole Church of Israel in the administration of circumcision which as in a maine proportion it helpes to the baptizing of infants so it will help also to severall such consequences as those are from this opinion so stated of the learned and orthodoxe you may see that it is no such great honour to be able to intitle infants to baptisme which is common to you with unholy persons with excommunicate and with Idolaters And secondly that it is an effect of great charity to intitle the children of such a parentage to regeneration and the Holy Ghost For to proceed Though now in the derivative title for the chayne of Baptisme they all agree that what ever title the child hath comes by vertue of the fathers covenant yet the immediate qualification is inherent in the infant for they affirme that Christian infants have repentance faith and regeneration The Lutherans are so much of this opinion if you will beleeve Bellarmine Tom. 2. p. 294. f. that they beleeve that infants vvhilst they are baptized use reason heare the vvord of God beleeve love vvhich as hee affirmes vvas publikely determined in the Synode of VVittenbergh An. 1536. Which as hee saith doth so openly repugne to the truth as it doth injury to humane sence for how is it credible saith he that an infant which cryes and resists what he can when hee is washed or sprinkled should understand what he doeth The Calvinists and more orthodoxe Divines receive it generally and assuredly that infants bring to baptisme as their immediate qualification regeneration faith repentance c. though not actuall or by way of declaration to others they argue thus If infants naturally are some way capable of Adams sinne so of unbeleefe disobedience transgression then Christian infants supernaturally and by grace are someway capable of Christs righteousnes and so of faith obedience and sanctification but the forner is true therefore the latter The consequence they proove hence that else they would not see the kingdome of God Iohn 3.5.6 Iesus ansvvered and sayd unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be borne of vvater and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God that vvhich is borne of the flesh is flesh and that vvhich is borne of the spirit is spirit but Christian infants dying in infancy shall see the kingdome of God and not be damned therefore they are borne againe of the spirit and so must needs in some measure have repentance faith and holynes Againe they say that if wee cannot object Gods worke in nature but doe beleeve that our infants are reasonable creatures and are borne not bruit beasts but men though actually they can manifest no reason nor understanding more then beasts then neither can we justly object Gods worke in grace but are to beleeve that our infants are sanctified creatures and are borne
faith of Abraham that is beleeve as hee did if they would pretend to the sonneship wee speake of so as in this 16. verse the opposition is onely betweene the faithfull under the Law the faithfull under the Gospel so as the law and faith are not opposed here simply but as circumcision was an adjunct or no adjunct to faith that is as true beleevers were either of the Iewes or Gentiles and so these words are not to be taken as the 14. vers If they vvhich are of the lavv be heires faith is made voide and the promise made of none effect Here you see one fatherhood Abraham is the father of all beleevers whether Iewes or Gentiles So in another consideration you have Sarah said to be the mother of all good obedient women who are called her children 1. Pet. 3.6 But besides this Abraham may be considered under the notion of another fatherhood of which the Iewes were apt enough to bragge namely a carnall generation that they had Abraham to their father as appeares by the reproofe that Iohn gave them Mat. 3.9 Thinke not to say vvithin your selves vvee have Abraham to our father Now in opposition to this fatherhood considered alone is that added verse 17. of 4. Rom. where the Apostle quoting the promise Gen. 17.5 I vvill make thee a father of many nations adds this before him vvhom hee beleeved even God vvho quickeneth the dead c. As if he should say Abraham is the father of us all not in respect of his carnall paternity but of his spirituall which is before God vvhom hee beleeved it is said to be before God because founded in faith by which wee are commended to God He adds also VVho quickneth the dead and calleth those things vvhich are not as though they vvere by which wee have all a patterne or glasse of our vocation by which is proposed a beginning or entry not into our first birth but into our hope of life to come to wit that when wee are called by God wee goe out of nothing as not having the least sparke or seede of good in us which may render us capable of the kingdome of God but on the contrary must dye to our selves that wee may be proper for Gods call whose call is so effectuall as a simple will of his or signe thereof produceth the greatest and highest existencies The like distinction of a double paternity sonneship to wit after the flesh and after the spirit that is by carnall generation by faith yee have Rom. 9.6.7.8 Not as though the vvord of God hath taken none effect for they are not all Israel vvhich are of Israel neither because they are the seede of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seede be called that is they vvhich are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed Where the Apostles intention is to make it appeare that notwithstanding the great defectiō of the Iewes yet the truth of the divine promise is not diminished For they are not all Israel sayes hee vvhich are of Israel because they are not the children of the promise but of the flesh and can pretend title onely to Israel their father by a carnall generation vers 7. Neither because they are the seede of Abraham are they children that is the like may be said also of Abraham It is not their carnall generation of which they are apt to boast that gives them a true notion of sonneship in respect of the spirituall promises made to Abraham for so onely by faith they gave the title of Abrahams seede as before But in Isaac shall thy seede be called this he explaines vers 8. that is they vvhich are the children of the flesh those are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seede The sence is That promise of God made to Abraham by which hee made so great a difference amongst his children that Ishmael laid aside and rejected onely the posterity of Isaac should be called his seed saying in Isaac shall thy seede be called teacheth us thus much that neither they all nor onely are to be reputed for the true seede of Abraham which according to the flesh are issued from Abraham but those which are the sonnes of the promise that is which are regenerated according to the spirit by faith according to that promise In thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Here you have a distinction as it were of two Abrahams a begetting Abraham and a beleeving Abraham and also of two seedes the children of the flesh that is by carnall generation onely and the children of the promise This allegory hath its foundation in that which the Apostle saith Gal. 4.22.23 For it is vvritten Abraham had tvvo sonnes the one by a bond mayd the other by a free vvoman but hee vvho vvas of the bond-vvoman vvas borne after the flesh but he of the free vvoman vvas by promise where hee affirmes that Ishmael was borne according to the flesh but Isaac according to the spirit that is he onely by a naturall power of generation but Isaac not so much according to the flesh but miraculously as it were by the restoring of a generative vertue to Abraham for the making good of the promise Now saith hee those onely which according to that of which Isaac was a type are borne by promise those and those onely are counted for the seede Rom. 9.8 They vvhich are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seede According to which is that which is affirmed Gal. 3.7.9 Knovv yee therefore that they vvhich are of faith the same are the children of Abraham and vers 9. So then they vvhich be of faith are blessed vvith faithfull Abraham In the first of those verses out of the former reasonings he bids them conclude take it for granted that not those which are of workes which hold by that tenure but those which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham Againe hee perstringeth the Iewes who gloried in their carnall generation that they were Abrahams sonnes according to the flesh the 9. verse is a reason of the 8. where hee sayes that the Scripture that is the spirit that writ the Scripture foreseeing that God vvould justify the heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all nations be blessed that is either in thy seede which is Christ who onely is apprehended made ours by faith or as many of the antients expound this place and Calvine is of the same judgement In thee that is according to the imitation and after the similitude of thee hee being as Calvin sayes in this the patterne rule of us all and therefore is called our father as being the primitive patterne made by God and this
gentiles which you despise and for their hardnes and distance not in place but in the knowledge of God are as stones of such can God raise children to Abraham for the ordinances I pretend to are not bottomed upon carnall generation or priviledges but thinges of another nature namely true holynes which is seene and manifested by the fruit it brings forth Bring forth therefore fruit meete for repentance The next place considerable to this purpose is that Iohn where hee shewes that this excellēt person the sonne of God that came to bring life light was rejected by the world and after by his owne not onely the vvorld vvhich hee had made and in which he had shewed great sufficient evidences of himself knevv him not by which the miserable blindnes of corrupt nature appeares they can doe nothing spirituall but by a light of another kind then theirs is to wit spirituall and divine But vvhen he came to his ovvne they received him not The people of the Iewes were his peculiar hee vvas in the vvorld but hee came to them that is first hee presented himself to them they received him not that is though he were offered and shewed they tooke him not to them which shewes a great deale of mallice joyned to blindnesse by which they resisted the holy Spirit offering to inlighten them by words and miracles But least Christ should suffer as a person generally neglected and slighted he tells you Christ came not in vayne there were those that received him and made much of him As many as received him for now the hedge was pulled up the partition wall brokē down those he magnifies wonderfully they had this povver that is this dignity this priviledge as in the margent given them to become the sonnes of God that is though they were strangers and afarre of naturally yet the honour of adoption was given them to be made be the sonnes of God If you aske now but what was this receiving or how came this about Hee tells you this was effected by faith by beleeving in his name But now whereas the fashion of this world in adopting children is to respect either the greatnes of their birth or the excellency of their parts or some glory of their actions he tells you nothing of all this mooved God but his meere grace and will which provoked him to doe this great good to the vyldest and unworthiest for sayes hee those vvere borne not of bloods The Iewes pretended the dignity of their race that they were the seede of Abraham because they drew their originall from Abraham by a series of many successions so they were more noble by their antiquity therefore he sayes bloods this blood saith he did them no good and by consequence the carnall generation from godly and just parents will doe no good simply considered to intitle us to become the sonnes of God or consequently to the ordināces which seale up that sonneship therefore they vvere borne not of bloods nor of the vvill of flesh nor of man that is no free-will no resolutions no morall indeavours though they should ingage never so much can effect this birth Nor the vvill of man no heroïcall workes no excellency or dignity can effect this adoption this title but onely God this proceeds onely from the will of God Iames 1.18 Of his ovvne vvill bégate he us by the vvord of truth which by the way should cause us to love God who finding nothing in us hath so freely loved us Here you see in the second place that in respect of adoption and sonneship to God of which baptisme is especially in the first place a seale the birth of bloods the descending of such parents whether Iewes or gentiles saving for the order of the offer as before doth no good but wee all in that matter lye open exposed to the free will and grace of God so as whē a Iew comes to baptisme he must come even as wee and bring other characters with them then of having Abraham to his father if hee will pretend to this or any new Testament ordinance The equality in this respect will appeare by that place also of Acts 10.34.35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons But in every nation hee that feareth him and vvorketh righteousnesse is accepted vvith him God seemed formerly to have bene a respecter of persons some men as some meates were borne cleane insomuch as circumcision other ordinances were their due as a birth-right those which were Iewes by nature were holy and those that were gentiles that is by birth were accounted sinners now this acception of persons was not a vice in God contrary to distributive justice because God was not obliged to dispense his ordinances as in any certain manner so nor to any certain men or to all in generall because no man had right to them or could merit them at his hands but hee is free as a rich man at a doale to give to whom he will or a King to his subjects so as the acceptance of persons in this sence was once just and according to the will and pleasure of God But now Peter was taught by God by the meanes of the vision hee had seene to admit men to ordinances upon other considerations then legall denominations of cleane or uncleane namely upon fearing of God and vvorking righteousnes and no other which is a thing not generated and conveighed by birth but by the new birth and the spirit of the living God Now this Peter expresses I perceive of a truth the word signifies to gather or collect by reasōs signes and conjectures as Calvin expounds it to wit the signes hee saw before viz. that of the vessell vers 11. Now then you see new qualifications to denominate a man accepted of God qualified for ordinances this in this covenant and way of worship was common to both without any difference for so you have it Acts 15.9 And put no difference betvveene us and them purifying their harts by faith the purity is not by birth as formerly Thus you see the Iewes come to Baptisme and be called the sonnes of God not by their pretention to Abraham for their father nor for the honour and advantage of their descent and blood And the Gentiles they were admitted without any consideration of persons or personall prerogatives in respect of their birth but upon their fearing God working righteousnes and having their hearts purified by faith therefore the old way advantage of birthright and in that respect of accepting of persons is ceased long agoe on both sides alike To conclude in a word all birth priviledge is by the title of Abrahams covenāt if therefore the naturall seede of Abraham could not at all pretend to new Testament ordinances a right by that title much lesse the adopted seede by any such way of naturall generation but if you speake of
publike cognisance upō persons qualified by publike authority for the administration of it Next we consider in this discourse primitive practise and example for according to this power commission you will find it runne in the example The first Baptizer who introduced that ordinance from thence drew his name Iohn the Baptist to be sure had commission for that and all other parts of his ministry according to the prophecies went on him in Esay and Malachy Hee came in the spirit and povver of Elias vvas the great restorer of Israel this no man will deny Then Christ in the 4. of Iohn is said to baptize but by his Disciples who received commission for that administration from his person presence himself either intending to the greater workes of miracles or teaching or else might abstaine purposely that those baptized by him might not vaunt of a greater priviledge then others In like manner it is probable Peter the Apostle communicated of his authority to those who were with him for the baptizing of Cornelius and his family for it is sayd vers 48. of Acts 10. He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord unles it were either that of those brethrē there were inferiour officers or that by commanding is ment the warrant he gave to Cornelius his companie for Baptisme of which notwithstanding hee himself might be the Minister Of the Apostles commission you have heard already you may find it in the execution in divers passages For others who baptized saving those who drew their commission from Church power of whom wee shall speake afterward wee read of Philip and Ananias the one to wit Philip was an Euangelist an order as it is taken of a publike authority and commission as the Apostles were Besides he had an especiall authority and provocation from the spirit at that time for the ministry hee had to performe about the Eunuch by which spirit also he was miraculously taken away after the worke done as you may read Acts the 8. And for Ananias of whom wee read in the 9. of the Acts that he baptized Paul he was also deputed in an extraordinary manner to that ministery by the Lord who spoke to him in a vision And such extraordinary and peculiar manner of workings where the ministery of conversion lay in a miracle and the Ministers were men acted to it as appeares by divine revelation must not be drawn into ordinary examples and here we find also particular commission but thus farre in the example it makes cleare for what wee say that the administration of Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission That it hath bene since the Apostolicall times so is as cleare out of all story of which the notion of the Catechuminists will give an assured witnes Christians in the Church were antiently distinguisht by three degrees Catechumini Fideles and Poenitentes the Catechumeni or such as were principled in the Christian religion the faithfull the penitents the faithfull were such as being past the forme of Catechists were admitted to all ordinances the penitents were such as had fallen into some scandall were under censure The Catechumeni were such as Origen cont Cels lib. 3. sayes vvho vvere nevvly admitted into some degree of communion but not yet baptized of these mention is made in the most ancient writers Ireneus Clemens Alexand. Tertullian Of these Clemens saith Sine catechismo nulli datur credere vvithout catechising no body can beleeve Of this number some as I have formerly had occasion to speake were called Audientes some Competentes The Audientes were such as submitted themselves to teaching by the hearing of the word and being instructed in the principles of religion which by their submission and pretence to farther ordinances got the name of Catechists for otherwise neither Iew nor Gentile nor any were excluded from hearing the word Conc. 4. Carth. Can. 84. The competentes or competitors were such as being well instructed in the Christian religion desired Baptisme and gave up their names of these Austin sayes Post sermonem fit missa Catechumenis manebant fideles Ser. de Temp. 137. After the sermon the Catechumini were dismist the faithfull remayned to partake of the Supper other ordinances which partained to full membership Out of all this besides the purpose for which I especially bring it two things may be observed by the way First that of old men were not lightly admitted to the communion and fellowship of the Church but after due instruction and examination Secondly that it was usuall of old to stand as competitor for Baptisme as a Candidate as we call them to seeke and desire it before they had it But the end for which I especially bring this here is to shew that in all times of the Church Baptisme hath bene a thing of publike cognisance and the commission for the administration of it hath rested since the times of the Apostles no where but in Church power nor hath bene no where else sought nor never by any otherwise pretended to it I know saving of late yeares by those upon whom the name of Anabaptists was primitively and properly fixt who erring greatly in many other things of as great consequence might easily be mistaken in this These two things in a word I suppose out of this discourse is evinced which will directly point out the Minister of Baptisme First that Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission Secondly that as of old since the Apostles times so now and alwayes till Christ come the Church is the dispenser of such commissions and administrations That which remaynes now therefore is to find out what a Church is wherein I hope wee are not to seeke A Church in a word may be said to be an assembly of saints knit together to a fellowship with Christ their head I intend not here a discourse of this subject it is enough to my purpose that this be considered and allowed that beleeving and saintship gives a qualification for Church fellowship and Church fellowship for acts of power that Baptisme doth no more enter the definition of a church as if a church state could not be without Baptisme then the communion of the Lords Supper doth or officers Pastors Elders and Deacons All these are but certain acts by which they make good their fellowship with Christ and one another are church ordinances and church dues thinges they have power for may justly pretend to Though it will ordinarily be that a church will consist of baptized persons for what should hinder them who have assembled for the injoying of ordinances and who have power for all ordinances from administring to themselves in a way of order that ordinance which is as it were the gate of the rest and as wee may call it for ought I know according to the old name the ordinance of initiation since it is the first of church ordinances the Church covenant