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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31095	A brief and plain discovery of the falseness and unscripturalness of anabaptism as the same is now practised by those of that perswasion, w[here]in are plainly proved from God's word the five particulars here handled, that God's covenant with Abraham, Gen. 17.7. is the Covenant of grace whereby all God's elect are saved ... / by Ja. Barry, an unworthy minister of the Gospel.	Barry, James, fl. 1650-1702.	1699 (1699)	Wing B968; ESTC R34200	57,378	134

A Brief and Plain DISCOVERY OF THE Falseness and Unscripturalness OF ANABAPTISM As the same is now Practised by those of that Perswasion W●●●●in are plainly Proved from God's Word the Five Particulars here Handled I. That God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace whereby all God's Elect are Saved II. That Circumcision was the Initiatory Seal of that Covenant to Abraham and his Church-Seed during that Dispensation III. That Water-Baptism is now under the Gospel succeeded in the room thereof IV. That the Gentile Believers and their Infant-Seed have as Real a Right to the same Covenant of Grace and the Seal thereof as had Abraham and his Infant-Seed V. That Sprinkling or Pouring-out Water on the Subject of Baptism is the Undoubted Right Way of Administring Baptism under the Gospel By Ja. Barry an Unworthy Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for the Author 1699. TO THE Impartial and Unprejudiced READER Who desires to be Rightly Inform'd in the Nature and Design of God's Covenant with Abraham his Friend in the behalf of Himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both among Jews and Gentiles to the End of the World Courteous Reader IF the Spirit of Grace Reigns in thy Heart thou wilt I doubt not readily believe me especially when I most Solemnly Profess as if I were immediately to be call'd to the Bar of the Great Judge that no Prejudice ' or Hatred against the Persons of the People who without any Warrant from God's Word Style themselves Baptists and Baptiz'd Churches of Christ hath stirr'd me up to appear in Print in Opposing those Pernicious Principles which the Men of that Perswasion do with so much Violence and unscriptural Zeal Teach and Maintain I sincerely Bless God that his good Spirit hath taught me to distinguish between Persons and the Errors which they hold and maintain Their Persons I love and am really griev'd that I love them no more than I do And I hope neither they nor any others will be Angry with me for so doing But their Errors in Religion I do from my Heart abominate and loath because hateful to God and all good Men who know and understand them so to be And for thus doing I neither fear a Frown from God nor yet Blame from any Man truly-wise who is able to distinguish Truth from Error That I shall be Censur'd and uncharitably Reflected on for what I have done in Printing this small Tract I am not Insensible I am very sure none will thus do but such as eitheir know not or care not what they say These kind of Blows I am taught to ward off with a Religious Scorn and a Holy Contempt resoluing in Christ's Strength to pursue and hold fast the Truth of God let who will Bark and Cavil against it It was the saying of Valerius Maximus Aequo Animo ferenda sunt Imperitorum Convitia ad Honesta vadenti Contemnendus est Iste Contemplus The Reproaches saith he of the Ignorant and Unskilful are to be born with an even or patient Mind And he that intends to advance towards Good and Honest things must Contemn their Contempt That somewhat will come out in answer hereto I question not if the Men of that Principle have not lost their old Wont but my Comfort and Confidence being built on the Rock of Ages I never fear a Confutation from any nay all of that Perswasion who Breath on the Earth until they procure from Heaven another Gospel which is Diametrically opposit to the Gospel delivered by the Son of God which I am sure will never be I have made no Deviation from the good old Way chalkt out by Abraham's God wherein the Prophets and Apostles with all the Primitive Churches who are gon to Heaven walkt in that I know of If I have I do faithfully promise that upon the discovery of my Error I will own my self therein mistaken I have been for several Years past importun'd by many Serious and Godly Christians to Print what now I expect to be Blam'd for but never found my self thereto inclin'd till of late not that I Question any part of what I have Printed being God's Truth but indeed the variety of Tryals and sharp Afflictions which ha●e Incessantly followed me since call'd to the Sacred Office both in my Native City Dublin and also in England have kept me back together with my own great Aversion to appear in Print in any Matters Controversal But observing of late how strangely Anabaptism spreads both in City and Country and being fully convinc'd that Ignorance of and Vnacquaintedness with the Covenant of Grace was and still is that which hath given advantage to the Preachers of that Way in drawing Proselites after them I have in Conscience of my Duty both to God and Men Improv'd my poor Talent in Explaining and Opening up the Nature and Design of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 in hopes that God will Bless the Plainness and Brevity therein us'd to inform poor Ignorant and Vnthinking Souls how wretchedly they are imposed upon by Preachers of that Perswasion who have themselves as great need to be Instructed and Taught what the deep Mysteries of the Covenant of Grace be as the poor Tongue-ty'd Bades whom they in vain Labour to exclude and shut out from the Benefits and Seal of that Covenant in the Visible Churches of Christ As their denying Abraham's Covenant to be the Covenant of Grace administers just ground of suspecting whether they have any other than dark and confus'd Notions about the Doctrine of God's Free Grace so much spoken of in Pulpit and Print So their Vnmercifulness and Hard-heartedness to the Infants of Believing Parents in not allowing such to be accounted of the number of God's Elect meerly because of the Incapacity of such to make an open Profession of Faith and Repentance themselves administers just ground of suspecting whether they be Orthodox in the Doctrine of Election I am very sure the State of Infancy can neither null or make void the Electing Decree of God nor yet render the Elect Infant any way uncapable of that Grace of God's Covenant to which he is Elected or of the Seal of that Covenant of Grace in the Church Visible for any to hold or say it doth is to Reflect on the most High God and to make him a mutable Agent like to a Fickle Man contrary to Mal. 3.6 Rom. 11.29 and unavoidably to send all Elect Infants to Hell who Die Infants contrary to Mar. 10 14. Jo. 6.39 Rom. 11.7 All that I shall farther say is only to ●eg and Pray thee for the Lord's sake for thy own Souls sake and for that Love and Tenderness which the Law of Nature especially that of Grace obliges thee to have for poor Infants if thou be a Parent consider well and weigh Judiciously in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary the Arguments laid down in this small Tract to prove what I have therein undertaken If

present thee Blameless before the Throne of my Glorious Holiness in the Third Heaven is Subjectively Inherent in the Person of God-Man thy Mediator and Surety to this Mediatorial Righteousness of his thou shalt add nothing neither thy own Personal qualifications nor yet the Holiness of Saints or Angels as if thereby thou couldest be made more Acceptable than that Righteousness of his doth make thee Thou shalt keep my Covenant both thou and all thy Ecclesiastical or Church Seed throughout your Generations till my Son comes to Judge the World at the last day Thou and all thy Church Seed which Springs from thee by Fleshly Generation shall observe to have all your Males mark'd with Circumcision the visible Token and Seal of this my Gracious Covenant which I have now entred into with thee for thy self a stipulating Father and for all thy Children who are to be the Members of my Sons Mediatorial Kingdom or Visible Church on the Earth And when Christ my Son shall come in the Flesh and shall enter upon his Mediatorial Kingdom whatever visible Token or Seal he shal appoint to Succed in the Room of Circumcision thy Gentile Church Seed as well as Jews who are to believe in him shall carefully observe to be Sealed therewith both they and their Infants And that by Virtue of this my Covenant I now make with thee for thy self and them And to the end that neither thou nor thy Children in succeeding Ages may Be Ignorant of what my Will and Pleasure is concerning the Non-Elect who are to come and spring from Believing and Holy Parents in my visible Church or Churches I notifie to thee and thy Church Seed after thee throughout their Generations that my Soveraign Will and Pleasure is that all the Infants of my Believing Professing Church Membrs shall be markt with the Visible Token or Seal of this my Covenant in the Church whereof the Professing Parent or Parents are Members and that without any regard had to the Elect or Non-Elect For seeing that the Secrets of my Decrees and Counsels are known to my self alone I Will that thou and thy Church Seed after thee to the end of the World do in the Judgm●nt of rational Charity Judge all the Seed and Infant Posterity of my Professing People who have laid hold on my Covenant by an Eternal Visible Profession to belong to the Election and to own them for such untill they by open Apostacy and final Impenitency do manifest the contrary For albeit my Visible Churches do consist of Elect and Non Elect and the one as well as the other do partake of the Seal of my Covenant and are partakers of all Church Priviledges yet none shall ever partake internally and savingly of the inward Grace and Mercy Signified and Sealed by the Token and Seal of my Covenant in the Church Visible but the Elect only whose Names are particularly Registred in the Lamb's Book of Life And altho' the Non-Elect in my Church do fall short of the saving Benefits of my Covenant of Grace yet shall they find that I am no way behind with them for altho' I the Absolute Soveraign of the World be no way obliged to the Creature especially fallen Rebels yet seeing it is my Pleasure to Employ the Non-Elect in the Service of my Church while it is in a Militant State that those common Gifts of my Spirit wherewith they are to be endowed might be laid out and improved for the good and wellfare of my Elect and Chosen I will give them a Place in my Church that they shall be called by my Name and shall have an equal Right with mine Elect to the Seal of my Covenant and all outward helps and means of Salvation in the Church Visible whereby it shall plainly appear in the day of Judgment that their missing Heaven and falling short of Eternal Life was of their own Procurement Notwithstanding As is the Service wherein they are Employ'd in my Church I will give them a plentiful Recompence viz. a Temperal Reward in Lieu of a Temporal Service Such as Bodily Health Worldly Wealth Pleasures and Honours c. which are every way more suitable to their Spirit and are more sought and delighted in by them than are the things laid up for my Chosen Plain Instances hereof I have seen fit to leave on Record in the Persons of Ishmael and Isaac both born of Abraham according to the Flesh the one a Reprobate the other Elect both must be of the Church Visible and Sealed with the Visible Token and Seal of Gods Covenant with Abraham Of the same Nature is that of Esau and Jacob both born of Isaac according to Fleshly Generation yet the one a Reprobate and the other Elect both must be of the Visible Church and Sealed with the Seal of the Covenant and pass currant for Church Members before men untill they themselves make the contrary to appear As did Ishmael Esau c. And thus having as plainly and as briefly as I could for the information of those who are yet Ignorant of Abrahams Covenant Explained and shewn the Substance and Tenure of Gods Covenant with Abraham for himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both Jews and Gentiles to the end of the World I come now to lay down some Scriptural Arguments to Prove that Gods Covenant with Abraham as now Explained is the Covenant of Grace which God Propounded to Abraham in Gen. 17.7 And not a Covenant of Works as the Anabaptists Teach it is That it is the Covenant of Grace and no other will evidently appear to any who look not asquint on the Arguments following Arg. 1. The first Argument is this If God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any mee● Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Then God's Covenant with Abraham is the Covn ant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any meer Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Therefore Gods Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and no other Plain it is and none without Lying against God can deny it that God made a Covenant of Works with Adam and in him with all Mankind The Condition whereof was do and Live sin and Dye And as plain it is that Adam Fell by Transgressing that Covenant by which Fall he lost the Blessed Image of God to himself and all his Posterity whereby he and his Posterity became utterly uncapable of Life and Salvation by that Covenant Now Abraham being by natural Birth a Son of the first Adam and as such born under the Curse of Adam's Covenant and partaker of a sinful and polluted Nature which rendred him as uncapable of performing any Work which as a condition can Answer

be Justified by God's Word should they Judiciously acknowledge that Abraham's Covenant is the Covenant of Grace and that Circumcision was the Seal thereof and that Water Baptism is now come in the room thereof 2. In that some have reflected on that Covenant calling it a carnal Covenant of Works and the Church which was to Observe and Practice Circumcision the Seal thereof a carnal Church all I need to say by way of Reply is to bewail the carnallity of their Uncircumcised Hearts and Lips who have no better or higher Apprehensions of God's Holy Covenant the Grace whereof must bring them to Heaven if ever they come thither and of his so highly Honoured Friends Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the rest of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Godly Believers of that Day than to call it a carnal Covenant and them a carnal Church 3. If Abraham's Covenant was a Covenant of Works to him and his Children then it must needs he so to us Gentile Believers and to our Children now And if so let the Adversary Demonstrate if he can how Abraham or any of that carnal Church as they falsely term it can be supposed to be now in a Saved State Or what ground of hope we Gentile Believers and our Children have that we or any of ours shall go to Heaven when we Die seeing that we are still under the very same Covenant with Abraham which Covenant if it be a Covenant of Works and not of Grace no Salvation can be expected and if the Believers under that dark Dispensation were Carnal and not Spiritual how comes the unerring Wisdom of God to Propound them to Believers under the Gospel for Examples and Patterns of Faith Patience c. Heb. 11. Heb. 12.1 Ja. 5.10 Let it be farther considered that Albeit the Seal of Circumcision Sealed no saving Blessings to the Non-Elect it doth not hence follow that it Sealed no other than Temporal Blessings to the Elect seeing that to them the Heavenly were Typically included in the Earthly As touching the Earthly Blessings which Circumcision Sealed to the Non-Elect they were greater and better than God was any way obliged to give them I am sure than they savingly improved Object We utterly deny that Water-Baptism did succeed and come in the room of Circumcision Answ For confirmation of the Affirmative let the three Arguments already laid down under this Head be seriously and without prejudice considered To which I will only add the Explication of Colos 2.11 12. whereon I have grounded a fourth Argument to prove that Water-Baptism succeeded and came in the room of Circumcision In the place above quoted the Apostle plainly sets forth to the believing Colossians and in them to all believing Gentiles to the Worlds end two things necessary to be known and believed by all true Believers First That they who by a true lively Faith have Embrac'd the Lord Jesus Christ as held forth in the Gospel evidencing their Faith by the Truth of Gospel-Sanctification They and none else who are Adult are made actual Partakers of the true and saving Circumcision effected in the Soul by the Spirit of Christ And which was Externally signified by the outward Circumcision These Believers having now obtained the Spiritual Circumcision are not at all to be Concerned or Troubled that they are not outwardly Circumcised with the Circumcision made with Man's Hands Forasmuch as that which was Externally Signified and Sea●ed to the believing Jews by the outward Circumcision is now Internally and Powerfully wrought in their Hearts by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly The Apostle sets forth in this place that Water-Baptism is Instituted and Appointed by Christ under the Gospel Dispensation to be to believing Gentiles the same that Circumcision was to the Jews viz. A Visible Sign and Seal of Abraham's Covenant to all his Ecclesiastical Church-Seed among the Gentiles viz. All of that Race who on God's calling them Believe in and Obey the Lord Jesus Christ To these and their Infant-Seed and none else among the Gentiles Baptism doth now under the Gospel Signify and Seal the very same Spiritual Blessings and Church-Priviledges which Circumcision of old did Signify and Seal to the believing Jews and their Infant-Seed This I take to be the Sense and Meaning of the Apostle in that so much controverted place In this Sense I hope I shall Die satisfied And herein I humbly conceive none of the Orthodox will differ from me which Sense being granted it is beyond the reach of all Scriptural contradiction that Water-Baptism was Instituted and Appointed by Christ on purpose to succeed in the room of Circumcision CHAP. IV. Shewing and proving that the Infants of Believing Gentiles now under the Gospel have as real a Right to the Covenant of Grace and to Baptism the now Visible Sign and Seal thereof as had the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh to it and to Circumcision the then Seal of the Covenant of Grace And that they are as capable of the Grace and outward Seal of the Covenant as are the most Adult grown Believers I shall lay down Four Arguments to evince and make good against all Opposition what I now assert Arg. 1. THE first Argument is thus fram'd If God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father and never since Repeal'd that Gracious Act of his Then the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interested in the Covenant of Grace and have as great Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever But God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father which Gracious Act of his was never since Repealed Therefore the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interessed in the Covenant of Grace and have as great a Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever I cannot see how this Argument can possibly be overthrown but by proving that God did alter and change that Covenant he made with Abraham his Friend for himself and for his Church-Seed The which when the Adversary doth by Evidence of Scripture not abused and perverted I shall then yield the Cause and bewail my Mistake But two things cause in me an unshaken Confidence that this can never be done First The Immutability and Unchangableness of God on which very account he is styled a Covenant-keeping God who never yet cast off any poor Sinner until that Sinner did first actually cast God off the which I think the Adversary dares not deny Secondly The Impossibility of poor Infants actually casting God off and that because of their Incapacity in respect of Age. Arg. 2. If Infants be at all Saved they are Saved by the Grace of God's Covenant made with Abraham which Covenant and the External