Spiritual We say not For it is plain there was no such Inquisition concerning the good or bad qualities the Fruitfulness or Unfruitfulness of the Members of the former Church in 〈◊〉 to Admission thereinto It was enough barely to be of Abraham's Seed or Family to be so esteemed But now saith John the Axe is laid unto the Root of the Trees And they must all be hewn down under the Gospel that have nothing else to pretend unto but that of a Godly Parentage which plainly excludes Infants as well as all other unfruitful Branches from the Gospel Church And to this same purpose is it that he doth further assure them ver 12. That Jesus Christ was now resolved with the Gospel Fan to Purge thoroghly the Floor of the Gospel Church and to gather the Wheat into His Garner Under the Law and before also even in Abrahmam's time the Chaff and the Wheat remained together unsevered but now the Fan must go to Work We read of no such Fanning Work in the former Church state And to what purpose is it else that Christ told the Woman of Samaria as he doth Jo. 4. 23. The Hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to Worship Him Which plainly sheweth that God expecteth now greater Purity Exactness and Spirituality in such as were to approach His Presence in the Celebration of Gospel Worship And indeed of this the whole fifth of Mat. is a sufficient and convincing Proof giving clear evidence concerning the refinedness and spirituality of the Gospel Administration above and beyond that of the Law For then saith our Saviour it was thus and thus but I am come to tell you a New Doctrine and do call you up to greater Purity and Strictness § 4. Secondly We Answer That that Holiness which was ascribed unto the whole Body of the Jewish Nation was a Typical Ceremonial Holiness and was no other than was ascribed to the whole Land City Temple Altar and divers other things and is therefore now Abolished For if all things under the Law were but a Figure and Shadow of good things to come then such was the Holiness of the Jewish Nation and People also Now this the Apostle in the 9th and 10th Chapters to the Hebrews proves at large shewing that all things under the Law all the Priviledges of the Old Covenà nt with all the Perquisites Dependancies and Appurtenances thereunto belonging are called by such Names as make them evidently appear to be Typical As First they are called a Figure Heb. 9. 9. Which was a Figure for the time then present So verse 24. For Christ is not Entered into the Holy Place made with Hands which are the Figures of the true Secondly They are called a Pattern Heb. 9. 23. It was necessary that the Pattern of things in the Heavens c. Thirdly They are called a Shadow Heb. 10. 1. For the Law having a Shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the thing◠c. Now the Holiness of the Jewish Nation being an Appurtenance belonging to the Law or the Old Covenant It was but a Figure Pattern or Shadow of all good things to come and was therefore Typical and is now Abolished And if we will know what the Holiness of the Jewish Nation did serve to Typifie or Represent unto us It is evident that as it Typified the Holiness of Christ himself So of all Abraham's Spiritual Seed who are made Holy by Believing in Christ § 5. The Time of Reformation therefore spoken of in the forementioned Scripture Heb. 9. 8 9 10. being come wherein those Imperfect Gifts and Sacrifices with all those Carnal Ordinances which were for a Season Imposed on the Jewish Nation were to be done away and the Gospel-Church taking place in the Room thereof It cannot rationally be supposed but the one doth far exceed the other at least in Purity and Inward Glory For by how much Christ hath now obtained a more excellent Ministry than that of Moses and by how much also he is the Mediatour of a better Covenant Which is Established upon better Promises as the Apostle affirmes Heb. 8. 6. By so much of necessity must the gospell Church exceed in lustre beauty Refinedness and Spirituality the former Administration SECT VIII THE Second Argument in Mr. Allen's Book remaining to be Answered is this That all Persons and so little Children that were of the Legal Church must needs in one Respect or other have been Persons of a Religious or Spiritual Consideration And this considered saith he I know not upon what better to place the Visible Church-Membership of Infants or to Attribute it to than God's Electing and Calling them to his People and their Parents Dedicating and Devoting them to God and his Service And the Scripture useth to reckon little Children as having begun to do this or that when they are but placed in Circumstances that will bring them to it Actually in the Issue And thus the Children of the Kohathites of a Month Old were numbred with their Fathers as with them keeping the charge of the Sanctuary when they were but in a way of being trained up to it And for the same Reason little Children were said to enter into Covenant with God when their Parents did so Deut. 29. 11 12 § 2. To this we Answer First By granting that it was in a Religious Consideration that Children were then Admitted Members of the Legal Church But yet it doth not therefore follow that they are to be admitted Members of the Gospel-Church for the Reasons before rendered The Terms of Admission into that being far more strict and Spiritual than were those under the Law Secondly Whereas he tells us That the Reason of their Admission into the Legal Church was God's Electing and Calling them to that Priviledge This we also grant But then we also say that though the Call and Election of God in Reference to the Inward Substance of the Covenant of Grace or to an Invisible Membership in the Invisible Church is Invariable It doth not follow that the Gifts and Callings of God in Reference to External Membership are therefore also Invariable or Irrevokable as is afterward by Mr. Allen Asserted and unto which we have already in the Second Part of this Discourse given a sufficient Answer For we find by undeniable Evidence that those External Gifts and Priviledges that the Natural Posterity of Abraham were once Invested with are now Rescinded Repealed and Repented of and it cannot be affirmed that in any Religious Capacity whatsoever they are now at all owned by God as his Church and People as once they were neither Parents nor Children But for the most part remain broken off and Unchurched to this Day And if you say That they and their Children being broken off We and our Children are Ingraffed in their Room This is that which remains to be proved and indeed the
and Participles You see we have diligently considered the general Scope of the Commission by comparing Mathew and Mark together and the consequent Practice of the Apostles thereon who were best able to understand the meaning of it wherein we have plainly proved to you the Antecedency of Teaching or Preaching to Baptism And therefore unless you can produce another Commission for the Baptism of Infants who are uncapable of being thus Taught all you can say besides will avail you nothing Mr. Allen's Second Argument is derived from those Words of our Saviour Mat. 19. 14. Suffer Little Children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven From whence it is Inferred that if little Children are capable of a Membership in the Kingdom from the gracious Respect Christ bears unto them then they are equally capable of the Sign or Cognizance thereof which is Baptism For Answer Frst it must be considered that it remains as yet unproved that the little Children here spoken of were Infants the Context both here and elsewhere giving shrewd ground of Conjecture that they were rather such little Children as were capable of making an Actual Profession of their Faith in Cbrist which seems to be intimated by our Saviour Mat. 18. 2. When having called a little Child unto him and set him in the midst of them he saith Ver. 6. Whoso shall offend one of these little Ones that believe in me c. Which after an ordinary rate cannot with any shadow of pretence be intended of Young Sucking Infants For Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God which such little Children according to an ordinary Reckoning are utterly uncapable of Nor doth the Greek Word used Luke 18. 15. Which is translated in English Infants prove it For the Greek Word which is there translated Infants as Piscator himself tells us signifies a Child capable of Teaching As when it is said Timothy knew the sacred Scriptures from a Child that is ever since he was a Boy not an Infant it being the same Greek Word that is used in both places It is an ungrounded Supposition therefore that these were sucking Infants of whom Christ here speaketh which till it can be proved the Inference that is hence drawn concerning the Baptizing of such must needs be acknowledged to have a very infirm and slender bottom Secondly Though it should be granted that they were indeed Young Infants that are here spoken of as such unto whom belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven It may be as Piscator also observes referred not to their present state as if for the present they were in the Kingdom of God that is Believers and Justified but that they were Elect Persons and so in time of them should be the Kingdom of God Now that which gives right to Baptism is the present state of a Person And Thirdly It ought also to be duly considered that the little Children here spoken of whatever they were are expresly ordered to be brought unto Christ who himself Baptized not and not unto his Disciples whose proper Work that was Nor is there any mention made at all of their Baptizing but his laying his Hands upon them and blessing them And from the Action of Christs blessing them to infer that they are to be Baptized proves nothing so much as that there is a want of better Arguments For the Conclusion would with more probability be derived thus Christ blessed Children and so dismissed them but Baptized them not therefore Infants are not to be Baptized But let this Argument be as weak as its Fellow sure we are that Christ hath other ways of bringing them to Heaven than by Baptism And as we are sure that God hath not commanded Infants to be Baptized So we are sure God will do them no Injustice nor damn them for what they cannot help viz. If the Parents Baptize them not Many Thousand ways there are by which God can bring any reasonable Soul unto him but nothing is more unreasonable than because he hath tied all Men of Years and Discretion to this way therefore we of our own Heads shall carry Infants to him that way without his Direction So to conceive is groundless and the Action consequent to it is too bold and venturous Let him do what he pleases with our Infants we must not But it is Objected That as it cannot be denied but that it is our Duty to bring our Children unto Christ in the Arms of Faith and Prayer at least in order to their receiving the Holy Spirit so we are assured that in all the things that we ask of him according to his Will he heareth us And if so who can forbid Water that these should not be Baptized that have received the Holy Spirit as well as we Act. 10. 47. To this we Reply That though it is indeed our Duty to be Wrestling with God for our selves our Children and others also in Order to our obtaining the blessings of the Holy Spirit for our selves and them yet we have no ground certainly to conclude that God heareth our Prayers in this respect for others than our selves Of this we are assured that if we sincerely desire it for our selves God will not deny us the same having to this purpose given us his most faithful Promise That he will give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him Luk. 11. 13. But we have not the same Assurance in respect of others the Promise being only to those that ask it for themselves He saith not that he will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him not or that desire not the Knowledge of his Ways True it is that God is found sometimes of them that do not seek him and he may accordingly give the Holy Spirit to them that do not desire him when so it pleaseth him But he hath no where bound himself so to do What he may do is one thing and what he hath promised is another and 't is God's Promise only that we are to build upon in this respect 'T is true we are to ask Gods Spirit as for our selves so for others also that if peradventure they may receive the same benefit with our selves And much more are we bound to become Petitioners to Heaven for our Children upon that Account But till they are able to give some Convincing Evidence that our Prayers are heard we have no just Reason to conclude that they are actually possest of so rich a Benefit there being no Promise giving us Assurance to this purpose As for that Promise Isa 59. 21. which is mentioned by Mr. Allen upon this Account It cannot without palpable streining be applyed to the Natural Off-spring of Believers now as he supposeth It having a most plain and absolute Reference to the Redeemer spoken of in the foregoing Verse and can be applyed unto none other than unto him and his Spiritual Seed and that at the time of his second Appearance according to Rom. 26.
not only to the Father but to the Children yea to all his Family And the Father of the Family did not only give Himself but all his Children and even his Servants all His to GOD to take his Sign upon them and so it must be now To which We Reply that it is indeed the unspeakable Blessedness of the Believing Gentiles to be Graffed in upon such a Stock not upon the Legal Branch but upon the Root Olive which affordeth all the Nourishment that either the Jews had or the Gentiles have that Root Olive being no other than Christ Himself who was given for a Covenant of the People and a Light to Lighten the Gentiles The Gospel of whose Grace was indeed Preached to Abraham 430 Years at least before the Law was given But what then Doth it therefore follow that the Believing Gentiles are put into that very State of things as under Circumcision Where is that Scripture that affirms it Evident it is that though Circumcision was in use before as well as under the Law and though Jesus Christ Himself is by the Apostle Stiled the Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers yet as it cannot be denied but that it was adopted into the Legal Family And that it was also adopted unto the Nature and Quality of the Legal Dispensation So it is as evident that it is now Abolished And we can meet with no one Text in all the New Testament that tells us that Baptism is appointed to have the same Place and Vse in the Church of God that Circumcision had but rather much to the contrary as hath been already proved And it being manifest that the External Administration of the Covenant is changed to what it was in Abraham's Time it plainly follows that there is an Alteration of the Rule that must direct us in our Practice in that Respect Obj. 2. If this Interpretation hold good there would be a very great Change in the Extent of the Covenant narrower under the Gospel than it was under the Law and yet no notice in all the Book of God given of such a Change We Reply First That the Covenant of Grace hath one and the same Extent before under and since the Law in Respect of the Substance of it or considered singly in its self as hath been already declared In Respect of the Administration of it indeed it is Changedble and hath been often Changed Secondly we say that the Administration under the Gospel is not narrower than that under the Law because it admits not Infants Baptism The Administration under the Law was Circumscribed to a little Land and a small People the Bounds of the other are stretched from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth That was restrained to the Seed and Family of Abraham the other extends to the Seed and Family of Christ That had its Existence but 2000 Years upon an Occasional Temporary Principle the other is suited to Answer a Principle existing from Everlasting to Everlasting That Administration was the Shadow Figure and Example the other the Substance That was the Handmaid the other the Mistress And if the Case be thus between these two Administrations can we Reasonably Charge the Gospel Administration with more narrowness than the Law because of the Discontinuance of the Birth-Priviledge Thirdly Although the Grace of the Gospel be extended far beyond the Grace under the Law yet as to Persons the Children of the Gospel are formed to so strict and refined a Qualification that in that Respect we grant that the Law had a Latitude beyond the Gospel But yet with this Mark that the Indulgence of the Law was one of the great Imperfections which the Gospel came to Reform Mat. 3. 10 11 12. And of this Change the Book of God doth give abundant Notice Gen. 21. 10. Cast out the Bond-woman and her Son c. Shortly after the Institution of the Ordinance of Circumcision for the Priviledge of the Seed according to the Flesh The Lord brings forth a Prophetical Instance in the very Family of Abraham wherein this great Change of Church Priviledge was revealed viz. That it was to be taken from the Carnal Seed and that it should be given to the Seed according to Grace under the Gospel Administration And to put that matter out of Question we have the unvailing of this Prophetical Instance to the very same purpose in Gal. 4. 30. So also Isa 14. 1. Sing O Barren thou that bearest not What she was the Apostle tells us Gal. 4. 26 27. ver 5. Thy Maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel At ver 13. We have the Refined Qualification of her Children and People And all thy Children shall be Taught of the Lord Where we have a Prophetical Description of the Gospel Church State which the People of a Fleshly Extraction only from the most sanctified Saints cannot possible compare unto It must therefore necessarily be understood of another Seed even of a Seed begotten of God by the Word of Truth Jam. 1. 18. the Gospel People And this was a fair Notice given of the Change in Question to wit narrower as to the Qualifications of the Persons but more extended in Grace Another fair warning for the Fleshly Seed is Isa 65. 15. For the Lord God shall slay thee and call his People by another Name In all which we find plain notice given of the Change of the Old Administration which gloried in the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh and as plainly foretelling the Cessation of that Propagation to give place to the New Administration and the true Seed of Abraham the Seed according to the Spirit And indeed the Change of the Administration necessarily removes the fleshly Seed because it hath a standing by no other Right than what it had under that Covenant As for the New Testament it every where abounds with Evidence to the Proof hereof as appears from the several Scriptures that have in part been already opened and discussed in the former part of this Discourse Wherein it hath been proved that though Infants were comprehended with their Parents in the Jewish Church yet none but such as are capable of making an Actual Profession of Faith and Repentance with some competent Measure of Fruitfulness answerable thereunto are to be admitted to the Priviledge of Church-Membership under the Gospel To this purpose we are told Mat. 3. 7. That when many of the Pharisees and Sadduces came to be Baptized of John Though their being of the Natural Seed of Abraham was a sufficient ground why they should be Circumcised yet it was no sufficient ground why they should be Baptized And therefore their Birth-Priviledge notwithstanding John rejects them as a Generation of Vipers and bids them bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance 'T is true those that John had now to deal with were Men at
an Initiating into the Church though as the Church it self is a different Church from that under the Law so it hath different Subjects and Church Members and those to be Admitted upon different Grounds and to different Ends and in a different manner The one to be done in a private House and by a private Hand the other in some publick Place by the hand of some publick Minister appointed by the Church to administet the same But it follows not that because there is some Analogy between Baptism and Circumcision therefore one cometh in the room stead and use of the other For by the same reason we may as well conclude that Baptism cometh in the room and stead of the Ark Manna Rock c. And from such like Arguments drawn from Analogy what Jewish Rites may not be Introduced to the Justification of the Roman Church in their High Priest-hood and all other their innumerable Rites and Ceremonies which without any Institution of Christ or New Testament Authority they have Introduced upon the account of Analogy with Old Testament Rites and Ceremonies And therefore if we will follow this way of Reasoning from Infant Circumcision to Infant Baptism we must fall back not only to Popish but Jewish Ceremonies also Nor is that Plea sufficient to avoid it to say we bring not in a new Rite in Baptizing Infants if we use it not as Christ appointed So they might say of Bell Baptism and the Pharisees of their washing of Hands Cups and Vessels of Brass yet condemned by Christ because not Commanded but after Mens Traditions taught Papists say they bring not in a New Rite in their Mass yet we charge them with a great Sin in making it a Propitiatory Sacrifice and the Priest a Sacrificing Priest as the Jews The Corinthians did not bring in a new Rite yet when they used it otherwise than Christ appointed it was not to Eat the Lord's Supper 1 Cor. 11. 20. It being the Apostles Rule to use it as it was received by him of the Lord. And they that admitted Infants to the Lord's Supper or shall do it may say as much as you for Infants Baptism that they do only apply an Instituted Ordinance by way of Proportion to such Subjects though they are not Expresly called to a Participation thereof Object 12. But it is yet further Objected That though 't is true when God made a Promise to Abraham to be a GOD to him and to his Seed The Seed there mentioned is applyed to Christ Gal. 3. 16. He saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ Yet this is not to be understood of Christ Personal but of Christ Mystical as in 1 Cor. 12. 12. And so is to be understood of the Visible Church of which Infants Born of Believing Parents are a part To this we Reply That we must not be put off with bare Affirmations but we expect Solid Proof from Scripture as to the point in hand it being evident that the Apostle Gal. 3. 16. refers not to Gen. 17. 7. but to Gen. 12. 2. 3. and Gen. 22. 17 18. as shall be afterward made manifest And whereas you say that the Promises are to be considered as made to Christ Mystical that is to the Visible Church the contrary appears Gal. 3. 16. where the Apostle affirms that Christ was the Seed to whom the Promises were made And in Verse 19 He saith the Law was added because of Transgressions 'till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made Where it is Observable that the Law that is the Mosaical Administration is said to be before the Seed was come and was to have its Period then Now if by the Seed Christ be not to be understood Personally but Mystically for the Visible or Invisible Church take which you will then the Law could not have been before the Seed For God had His Church in Abraham's Family 400 Years at least before the Law was of which Christ was the Head and they His Mystical Body And so by this Interpretation the Seed should have been before the Law contrary to the Apostle who makes the Law to have been before the Seed and to have its Period when the Seed to whom the Promise was made was come And now the Promises running to Christ Personal GOD makes Him over for a Covenant to the Elect and all the Promises in Him Isa 42. 6. So that in Christ he is Our GOD and in Christ He takes us to be his People In Christ and a right to the Promises Out of Christ and Strangers to the Covenants of Promise Eph. 2. 12. So that it is evident that the Promises were first made to Christ Personal and in Him to His Mystical Body the Church who are united to Him by Faith Secondly As to that Scripture 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the Body is One and hath many Members and all the Members of that One Body being many are one Body So also is Christ It rather seems also to be meant of the Invisible Church of true Believers than of the visible For the Apostle there calls none the Body of Christ but such as had received the Gifts of the Spirit And such as by one Spirit as the concurring Cause had been Baptized into one Body yea such who had received the Spirit to profit withal such that had a real Sympathy one with another Verse 26. If one Member suffers all the Members suffer with it If one Member be Honoured all the Members rejoyce with it All which cannot in any tollerable Sense be applyed to the visible Church amongst whom there are many Hypocrites that never received the Spirit nor by the Spirit could sympathize one with another But however it be most certain it is that Infants are not called the Body of Christ if it be meant of the visible Church Indeed by Virtue of the Grace of Election some of them may be Members of the Mystical Body the Invisible Church but not at all Members of the Visible Especially from this Chapter where it is said that if one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it and the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal which cannot be applicable to Infants For none in this Chapter are counted the Body of Christ but such as are useful to the Body as an Eye an Ear a Hand a Head c. as v. 21. The Eye cannot say to the Hand I have no need of thee nor the Head to the Foot I have no need of you From whence we draw these two Conclusions First every Member in a Church stands in need of the help of all the other Members Secondly That every Member in a Church must be useful in his place to the rest of the Members But of what use are Infants to the rest of the Members in respect of Edification So that notwithstanding this Objection It is plain that all the Promises respecting Spiritual
the sprinkling of a little Water upon the Face Thirdly It appears to be so from the Practice and Usage we find hereof in Scripture and the Opinion of the Learned upon it First in the Story of Christ's Baptism we read Mat. 3. 5. That Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be Baptized of him And ver 16. When he was Baptized he went up straitway out of the Water The Learned Cajetan upon the place saith Christ ascended out of the Water therefore Christ was Baptized by John not by sprinkling or by pouring Water upon him but by Immersion that is by dipping or plunging in the Water A Second Scripture considerable is that of John 3. 23. And John was Baptizing in Aenon near Salim And the Reason why he pitch'd upon this place is given because there was much Water there Piscator upon the place tells us This saith he is mentioned to signifie the Ceremony of Baptism which John used in Dipping or Plunging the whole Body of a Man standing in the River Whence he saith Christ being Baptized by John in Jordan is said to ascend out of the Water A Third Scripture worthy our notice is Acts 8. 36. 38. As they went on their way they came unto a certain Water and the Enuch said See here is Water and they went down both into the Water both Philip and the Enuch and he Baptized him And when they were come up out of the Water c. Upon which place Calvin saith We see what Fashion the Ancients had to Administer Baptism for they Plunged the whole Body into the Water The use is now saith he that the Minister casts a little Water only upon the Body or upon the Head A Fourth Scripture we shall mention is Rom. 6. 4. Buried with Him in Baptism Where the Apostle elegantly alludes to the Ceremony of Baptizing into Death and Resurrection with Christ Cajean upon the place saith Thus we are Buried with Him by Baptism into Death by our Burying he declares our Death from the Ceremony of Baptism because he who is Baptized is put under the Water and by this carries a Similitude of him that is buried who is put under the Earth Now because none are buried but dead Men from this very thing that we are buried in Baptism we are Assimulated to Christ buried or when he was buried Keckerman Syst Theol. l. 3. c. 8. Says that Immersion not Aspersion was the first Institution of Baptism as it doth plainly appear from Rom. 6. 3. The Assemblies Annotations upon the place do say That in this Phrase the Apostle seemeth to allude to the Ancient manner of Baptizing which was to dip the Party Baptized and as it were to bury them under Water for a while and then to raise them up again out of it to represent the Burial of the Old Man and our Resurrection to newness of Life The like saith Piscator and Diodate upon the place Dr. Cave also a great Searcher into Antiquity in his late Book called Primitive Christianity saith p. 320. That the Party Baptized was wholly Immerged or put under Water which was the almost constant and universal Custom of those times whereby they did most notably and significantly express the great end and effect of Baptism c. And most remarkable is the Testimony that Mr. Baxter himself gives to this Truth As to the manner saith he It is commonly confessed by us to the Anabaptists as our Commentators declare That in the Apostles times the Baptized were dipped over Head in Water though we have thought it lawful to dis-use the manner of dipping and to use less Water In his Third Argument against Mr. Blake All which Arguments from the Genuine Sense of the Word Nature of the Ordinance usage of the Ancients were excellently Inculcated by the Learned Dr. Tillotson in a Sermon Preached at the Lecture in Michael's Cornhill London April 15 1673. From Rom. 6. 4. Therefore we are Buried with Him by Baptism into Death c. Proving from thence that Dipping or Plunging was the proper Ceremony and Rite in the Ordinance And how naturally Arguments did arise from that Sign in Baptism to inforce Holiness and Mortification the Thing Signified thereby Therefore to alter this Rite from Dipping to Sprinkling spoils quite the Symbole and makes it another thing And you may as well take a Wafer Cake or a whole Loaf to represent Christ's broken Body as sprinkling a little Water to represent or figure out his and our Death Burial and Resurrection by And how cometh it to pass that many are so exactly curious about that other Ordinance of the Supper so as to make the gesture of Kneeling a ground of Separation and yet to be so Negligent and Inconsiderate in this And if it be Evil in Papists not to break Bread nor to Eat but to lift up shew and Swallow down whole the Host when Christ did break Bread and bade eat it then it necessarily follows that it is as Evil when He bids Baptize not to do it but to Rantize and instead of Baptizing into the Name of Christ Dead and Risen to Water him that hath no Understanding thereof So that when the Minister saith I Baptize thee to an Infant and doth no more he speaketh that which is not true and deceives those that take it at his Word for Christian Baptism So that thus then we have distinctly and plainly proved you to be defective both in respect of the Internal and External Constituent parts of this great Ordinance that is both in Matter and Form both which are Essentially requisite to the true Constitution or Being of it by which it is manifest that Infants Baptism is a meer Nullity and that which Christ will not own And if it be said that the right Words of Baptism were used it being done in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit We Answer that so there was also in Baptizing of Bells and Churches which yet in your own Judgment is so far from making it a right Ordinance the true Subject being wanting that it is no less than a great Prophanation thereof and a miserable taking the Name of God in vain And therefore certainly Jesus Christ one Day will discover that he takes it not kindly at the Hands of his Professed Friends that of their own Heads and without his Warrant upon a Presumptuous Supposition of unwritten Indulgence having taken it upon them to alter the Subject as well as the manner of the Administration of an Ordinance so Sacred and Venerable as Baptism is As for the Cavils of unseemliness and hazarding of Health to the weak in the way of our present Practice as they are the Fruits of Carnal Wisdom and Vnbelief so it is no other than to reproach the Wisdom of Christ that so Ordained it telling us however the World may call it undecent yet that thus it becometh us as it did himself to fulfill all Righteousness And as they that have or shall see the
the words of this Law to do them The promises I now make you are full and Glorious enough But these are the Terms on which you must Expect if ever you come to the Fruition of them This is the Substance of the Preface and after Explication that God himself makes unto and concerning the Covenant which he now made with Moses and with Israel even with the whole Body of that People which was by the Finger of God himself Written and Ingraven in Stones And is accordingly mentioned at large Exod. 20. In the several ten Branches Commandments or main Heads thereof § 4. In the next place if we Enquire into the Nature of this Covenant What sort of Covenant it was Whether a Covenant of Grace or a Covenant of Works As it is Evident that it could be no other than a Covenant of Works since we see it required perfect Obedience as the condition of obtaning the mercies therein promis'd wherein the very Essence of that Covenant Consisted So in order to a further discovery of the true nature of the Covenant in question We must compare some passages in Exod. 34. with 2 Cor. 3. and Col. 2. 14. In Exod. 34. 1. The Lord said unto Moses hew the two Tables of Stone like unto the first And I will Write upon these Tables the words that were in the first Tables ver 4. And he hewed two Tables of Stone like unto the first And Moses went up unto the Mount Sinai as the Lord Commanded him and took in his hand the two Tables of Stone ver 28. And he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights and he Wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two Tables of Testimony in Moses's hand when he came down from the Mount that Moses Wist not that the Skin of his Face shone while he talked with him And when Aaron and all the Children of Israel saw Moses behold the Skin of his Face shone and they were afraid to come nigh him If we will know therefore the true Nature of the Covenant we shall find that the Spirit of God by the Apostle doth give us a clear determination thereof in the fore-mentioned 2. Cor. 3. 5 6. Our Sufficiency saith he is of God who hath also made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit that is not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Letter Killeth but the Spirit giveth Life But saith he ver 7. If the Ministration of Death Written and Engraven in Stones was Glorious so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the Face of Moses for the Glory of his Countenance which Glory was to be done away how shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather Glorious So again ver 9. If the Ministration of Condemnation be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in Glory Wherein we cannot but observe that the Apostle doth evidently Reflect upon the fore mentioned Passage in Exod. 34 28 29 c. Where we are told that Moses Received from God the two Tables of Stone wherein the words of the Covenant even the Ten Commandments were Written and Engraven by the Finger of God himself and this Expresly under the Denomination of the Covenant which God then made with Israel Deut. 4. 13. Which made Moses his Face to shine so that Aaron and all the Children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him 'T is clear then that this is the Covenant that Paul hear speaks of And what Character or Description doth he give thereof Why saith he The Law Written and Engraven in Stones how Glorious soever it was in it self was of a Killing Nature it was the Ministration of Death and Condemnation and that which was to be done away To which same purpose the same Apostle also tells us Col. 2. 14. That Christ hath Blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and hath took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross Where the Apostle speaks plainly of the same thing and to the same purpose as he doth to the Corinthians for there he speaks of the Law Written in Stones which saith he was a Ministration of Death and Condemnation And hereof the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and contrary to us as the Law must needs be if it was indeed no other than a Ministration of Death and Condemnation as the Apostle describes it But is the Covenant of Faith of this Nature Or was the Covenant of Grace a Ministration of Death and Condemnation as the Apostle Affirms the Law written in Stones to be Was the Covenant of Grace against us Contrary to us and therefore now Blotted out done away taken out of the way and Nailed to the Cross of Christ as the Apostle speaks of the Hand-writing of Ordinances or the Law written in Stones These are Solâ—cisms too strong for Digestion It can never be imagined And yet all this must needs follow if the Law was a Covenant of Grace as is Affirmed 'T is true there was a Covenant of Grace that ran Current therewith as hath been before declared whereby Moses and all the Elect among that People were delivered from the Curse of that Fiery Burning Law that was thus given them But shall we therefore call the Ministration of Death a Ministration of Grace Or the ministration of Condemnation a Ministration of Life and Righteousness which the Apostle doth so plainly set in Opposition thereunto Or shall we say that that which was against us and contrary to us was a Covenant of Grace or for the Substance of it such The Apostle as we have already seen tells us the quite contrary And so he doth Rom. 7. 9 10. When the Commandment came saith he Sin Revived and I Died And the Commandment which was Ordained to Life I found to be unto Death And how then can it be justly Affirmed that the Law was a Covenant of Gospel-Grace or that it was such for the Substance thereof when the Apostle found it by Experience to be a Ministration of Death § 5. Indeed the World Groans under the Burthen of such Subtile Sophistical Distinctions whereby the Truths of the Gospel have been so long Obscured as they have been and are in respect of the present Point a Point of such vast Consequence and Concernment to the Church of God For what can be of greater Moment than the Two Covenants the Truths concerning which are as the two Master Veins that branch themselves forth and lye dispersed up and down throughout the whole Body of the Scriptures If therefore it shall be found that we have been all this while Mistaken in our Notion about the Covenants what they are and which they be or that we have given the Appellation of the Covenant of Grace to a Covenant of Works and hereon