Christ that have dedicated your selves by Covenant to his Honour and Service to break those sacred Bonds and to stand it out in your Impenitency and Rebellion against God and to live like Gentiles his professed Enemies to forsake him and his ways and to wallow in the impurities of an evil Conversation is unaccountable How dreadful will the Day be when the Lord shall come to avenge him of his Adversaries You shall not perish under such easie Circumstances of Wrath and Vengeance as do the Gentiles The Aggravation of your Sin and Judgment will be the treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant Thus far in general But to proceed to some particulars and so to make some further improvement by way of use of what hath been delivered on this Subject Doth holy Baptism admit us to a state of such high Priviledges and Advantages as I have observed Then we may see how injurious they are who deny Baptism to Infants and so as much as lies in them keep them from Christ I mean in the visible way in which we are brought unto Christ from that Grace which is the internal mystery of this sacramental Ordinance In which respect we are said to be baptized into Christ if they have any right to the grace and spiritual Benefits which are the Mystery the Spirit and Life of this Sacrament why not to the external Symbolical signification and Seal of it Shall Men hinder them from this visible application of the Grace of Baptism If we affirm they have no right to this Grace what greater uncharitableness and presumptuous straightning the favour of God and Christ For where has he debarred and excluded them from his Covenant and Promises and cast them out of that Body whereof he is the Head and the Saviour Certain it is this was one of the great Blessings of the Covenant with Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy Children after thee Thus ran the Promises of old He sheweth mercy unto thousands of generations of them that love him and keep his commandments the seed of the righteous is blessed Children are the heritage of the Lord. They had the Seal of the Covenant Circumcision externally applying the Promises And are the favours of Christ more narrow under the Gospel who is yet the Mediator of a better Covenant Has Christ only a love for the Parents and none for the Children and yet hath told us if the root be holy so are the branches Is not Christ the Redeemer of Infants Did he purchase no Pardon no Grace or remission of Sins for them How abominably injurious would this be to Christ and the fullness of his Oblation and Merit Will Christ give them no place in his mystical Body in his Church and Kingdom And yet when he was upon Earth commanded the little Children to be brought unto him and took them into his Arms and blessed them declaring that such did belong to his Kingdom of such is the kingdom of God Mark 13.14 If the Infants of Believers under the Gospel be not capable of the Grace signed and sealed then there will follow many sad unscriptural Consequences Then they belong not to the Church and Body of Christ they are in the same Case with the Children of Infidels left without as common and unclean This Principle mingles the holy Seed with the Heathens and renders the favours of the Gospel more narrow than those of the legal Covenant and the Christian Seed in much worse Circumstances than the Jewish Yea they would not only be without the Church but without the Covenant and so without Christ or any special relation to him So far without as are the Gentiles Dogs and Strangers While they are disputed out of the Covenant all well grounded hopes of their Justification and Salvation are disputed away dying in that State 'T is vain to recur to the secret Election of God for the grounds of this Hope Faith and Hope must be grounded upon some Word of God If God have excluded them from the Covenant of Salvation how shall we conclude that they belong to the Election of God And if the Case were so well may the Parents of dying Infants mourn over them as those that have no hope All those then are rash groundless uncharitable Conclusions highly derogatory to the Love of God to the infinite riches and freeness of his Grace But on the other hand if God and Christ have not excluded them from the Grace of Baptism the Mercy and Grace which is there signified who shall forbid Water the external sealing Application If God have not denied the greater who shall deny the less if God have not excluded them from the Substance and Mystery why shall they be denied the external Rite and Symbol Either then they must be highly uncharitable in denying Infants the Grace of Baptism and so leave them in an evil Case or else be very unjust in denying them the Seal where God grants them the substance Thirdly Let this serve to humble those that walk unworthy of this Priviledge of being baptized and thereby admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Religion initiated Members of his Church Can it seem a light thing in our Eyes that when God has passed by the greatest part of the World as strangers from his Family and Kingdom and hath left them under the Kingdom of Satan and taken us no better by Nature than they are to be his peculiar ones into Covenant with himself and to train us up under such heavenly Ordinances We should notwithstanding walk as Rebels and Enemies unto him like the unbaptized World Do we know into what a Covenant he hath taken us what he hath done for and expects from us What means then our Conversation so repugnant to our Profession Is it because we renounce the Covenant as being made when we understood it not If there be any such Apostates let them take their Course serve the God they have chosen But say what iniquity what ill is there in this Covenant of your Baptism what disadvantage have you met withal Or how or where do you hope to find better things than what are here exhibited and ensured Than for instance for God to be your Father Christ your Saviour the Spirit your Comforter than to have your Sins pardoned and remitted than to be adopted justified sanctified and every way comfortably provided for here and in the end eternally saved Do the Gods you have chosen to serve provide better things than these that you renounce Christ for their sake If you say God forbid you should so do you hope to be saved by him as well as any other then tell me seriously do you expect that Christ should stand bound to perform his Part of the Covenant and you left at liberty whether you discharge your part or no That he should love you and you hate him That he should be your God and you remain the Devil's Servants That he should provide Heaven for you and you
and made a sign of that Administration and Covenant in which he had to do Wherefore if the Law ceased Circumcision could not continue seeing whosoever was circumcised became a Debtor to keep the whole Law and so it would infer as if Christ were not come in the Flesh Nor can the abrogation or cessation of Circumcision be understood to be any diminution to the Promises forasmuch as it was applied to the Legal Covenant out of a gracious Consideration as Doctor Burthog well observes not in the derogation of the Promises or of any Priviledges or Duties arising from thence but in confirmation of them God taking the token of the Covenant of Promise and putting it upon the Legal Covenant shews he had the Covenant of Promise still in remembrance for doing so he could never look on or so much as think on the Law but he must also remember the Promise the sign and memorial of the Promise being thus annexed and put to the Law So that here is an express command for baptizing Infants or little ones tho' not in the very term Baptism yet under this general Notion as 't is now the oken of the Covenant for God's Covenant with Abraham still continues 't is an everlasting Covenant * Gen. 17.7 in which blessedness was promised in and thro' Christ the promised Seed and by virtue whereof the blessing of Abraham or the Promise made to that Patriarch in like manner came on the Gentiles as the Apostle asserts Gal. 3.14 therefore 't is said the Gospel was preached to Abraham †Ib. v. 8. and as it was long before the Law and not disannull'd by the coming of the Law so 't was to endure till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and consequently to the end of the World because Christ came to establish the Covenant made to the Fathers ‖ Rom. 15.8 Now if the Covenant be the same the Promises of it must needs be continued in the same Tenure in which they were at first made and run in the same latitude and extent taking in Children with their Parents unless God himself had made any alteration or restriction or passed any Act of Exclusion But 't is remarkable the Apostle doth not say the Promise was but is * Act. 2.39 And the Grace of the Gospel is now more ample than before under the Law being then in its ordinary Dispensation appropriated to the Jews they were God's Favourites to whom his Grace in Christ was manifested but now it reacheth to the Gentiles also having appeared to all Men to all sorts and ages Surely therefore Infants being in Covenant then are not to be excluded now which if they be let it be shew'd how and when they were ejected How this Magna Charta came to be forfeited How they who were once Members of the mystical Body came to be cut off The Common Wealth indeed of Israel is at an End and the Scepter is departed from Judah but the Olive-tree the Church continues tho' under a different Administration the Partition-wall is broken down but the very Church is not destroyed And for this see and consult Rom. 11. where the Apostle compares the Jews to an Olive-tree and the rejecting of them for a season to the lopping off its natural Branches as Branches which bore no Fruit and the calling of the Gentiles he resembles to the grafting upon that old Stock which growing again a-fresh makes up one entire Olive-tree whose Root and Branches are nourished by the same Sap which Similitude plainly intimates that Jews and Christians make up but one Universal Church of which our Lord Jesus is the Head and that Faith in him is the Sap which gives Life and Nourishment to it the consequence whereof is this that the same Spiritual Priviledges which belonged to the Children of the Jews do belong to the Children of Christians and that if the former were to be initiated into the Church by Circumcision so are the latter by Baptism for being of the same Church and within the same Covenant they should receive a-like the Seal thereof which tho' now changed from Circumcision to Baptism yet the Church and Covenant is the same still and therefore Church-membership is as extensive and comprehends Infants under the Gospel as it did once under the Law and unless a Law can be shew'd which confines Infants Church-membership to the jewish-Jewish-State and excludes them the Christian there is no reason why we should be frighten'd from our laudable Practice of initiating Infants into the Christian Church What saith our Saviour Joh. 3.5 If one be not Born again of Water and the holy Ghost he cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Where we see not only the unregenerate are excluded Heaven but as the Text is interpreted * Nisi enim renatus fuerit ex aquâ spiritu Sancto non potest introire in regnum dei utique nullum excipit non Infantem non aliquâ praeventum necessitate D. Abros de Abrah Patriarch l. 2. c. 11. vid. etiam de voc Gent. l. 2. c. 8. D. Aug. l. 10. de Gen. ad literam c. 14. We hold says Bishop Andrews the same necessity of Baptism that the Fathers did hold which is Viâ ordinariâ yet non alligando gratiam dei ad media no more than the Schoolmen do Bishop Andrew 's Answer to Peron p. 12. by some even the unbaptized with respect to the ordinary means of Salvation and so far forth as the omission of an instituted Rite or positive Duty may be said to do so now forasmuch as we cannot be too sure but that this may be the true sense of the Place and the mind of our blessed Saviour and seeing he speaks it indefinitely we cannot know for certain but he had reference to unbaptized Infants as well as others therefore unless God had plainly declared his Mind against the baptizing of such and expresly excluded them from that Ordinance how can we chuse out of mere compassion and zeal for their Salvation but administer it to them Though then there be some so prepossest with prejudice that they cannot so earnestly believe with our Church the interest Children have in Baptism yet since their not so believing cannot alter the Infant 's Case neither can they be so sure but as it hath been said they may be comprehended in that of St. John according to the aforesaid Interpretation therefore upon that other principle exprest by our Church in the same Paragraph * Vid. Office for publick Baptism in the exposition upon the Gospel they should look upon it as a charitable Work to bring such to Baptism But to return to the Argument and to illustrate it and render it more convincing suppose there were an Act of Parliament wherein certain civil Priviledges are granted to all English Subjects and their Children without any limitation of time for their continuance and afterwards there comes a New Act of Parliament wherein more
have the invisible guard of Angels watching over and ministring for the good of such as are Heirs of Salvation they have all an interest in the Charity Love and Prayers of the whole Mystical Body all joyning in common in their Liturgies for every single Member how e're divided from one another by Countries and Languages yea every single Member of this Body hath the united strength of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth and I doubt not but in a general manner the Prayers of all the glorious Society the crowned part of the Church in Heaven our elder Brethren who have finished their warfare and do now possess the Kingdom of Glory Should we go no further we may reflect and thankfully acknowledge this happy Priviledge to be called to this state of Salvation Hence we are brought into a state of Union with Christ made Members of his Mystical Body and partakers of the influences of his favour in all the means and ordinances helps and advantages whereby he declares himself the Saviour of the Body By vertue of this Union all the special saving Graces of his purchase are freely offered the doors of Mercy stand open to us and the gate of Life and Glory is ready to receive us provided we abide in him Hold the head from which all the body as the Apostle says Colos 2.19 by joynts and bands have nourishment ministred and so don't separate from him by Apostacy and fall off by an evil heart of unbelief by an impenitent course of Sin and Wickedness so long I say as we maintain this Union we shall not fail to receive influences of Grace and spiritul Life till we come to Glory Having considered what the Sacrament of Baptism is and the Priviledges and Advantages that redound from thence I come to evince the truth of the general Proposition viz. That the Ordinance of Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament and so succeeds Circumcision which is generally granted to be the initating Sacrament of the Old In order to this let it be premised that there can be no Reason given why we should not be by some rite matriculated Members of the Christian as well as heretofore they were thus solemnly initiated into the Jewish Church Now what other way is prescribed to us of doing this than by Baptism the most proper rite for this purpose as it hath been in a manner all along accounted This rite of Initiation of admitting Persons into religious Societies was used by the Posterity of Noah at least very early among the Jews Their Enquiry John 1.25 28. sounds as much as a tacit acknowledgment of their practising it Vid. Wills against Danvers pag. 7. though not as a Sacrament till the Messiah had confirmed it for which we have the Testimonies of their Rabbies cited by the learned Doctor Hammond * In his Query of Infant-Baptism And Bishop Taylor is inclined to give the more credit to such Authorities because the Heathen as he saith had the same Rite in many Places and in many Religions Hence a Proselyte is called in Arrianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one baptised Baptism being his solemn Investiture who should enter into any Sect or Religion being thereupon reckoned one of that Sect or Religion A Proselyte or Convert in the Apostle's Phrase such an one is said to be added to the Church The Jews have a Tradition that Sarah and Rebeckah when they were adopted into the Family of the Church that is the Church respectively as it was in Abraham's and Isaac's House were baptized In St. Paul's Catechism Baptism is reckoned as part of the Foundation of the first Principles of Religion and so proper for Babes Whereby they are matriculated and adopted as a late Reverend Prelate expresseth it into the House of their Father and taken into the hands of their Mother This then is the ordinary method God hath taken of adding to the Church such as should be saved And therefore it cannot be denied but that Baptism as an initiating Rite succeeds Circumcision And my Text will avouch for the truth thereof For the Apostle having told the Colossians that they had the Circumcision made without hands the Circumcision of the Heart He further signifies by way of implication that they had as good as the outward Circumcision too by being baptized or he could have no occasion to add buried with him in Baptism And his Argument had been a mere Non sequitur unless he gave them to understand thereby that Baptism succeeded and came in place of Circumcision And that this was the genuine Sense and intendment of the Apostle I have I conceive not only more fully illustrated but demonstrated in the foregoing Discourse * Pag. 43. whereto I refer the Reader I proceed in the third Place to shew that as Christ's Death so his Burial and Resurrection are not only exemplified in the Ceremony and manner of its Administration but that they ought to be exemplified after a spiritual manner in the blessed effects and fruits of that Holy Sacrament viz. In our Mortification and Vivification First As to the Symbol or Ceremony Christ's Burial and Resurrection may be and are represented in the external Action of that Sacrament or manner of its admistration And the Apostle seems to allude to a Practice which might then be used by some in those hot Countries viz. Of dipping or putting the whole Body under Water in Baptism But forasmuch as the Word Baptize carries not always that signification or import and for that there is no Command that Baptism should be always administred exactly after that manner such a Practice cannot be binding to us So that should it be granted that there are some very probable instances and examples in Scripture of dipping and immerging the whole Body in Baptism as it must be granted there are as likely examples and instances of only sprinkling and pouring on of Water This will only argue that we cannot thereby be bound up to either way But are at liberty to administer it according to the more prevailing custom where we live Moreover this Ceremony of dipping cannot be practised towards Infants without great inconvenience and even danger of their Lives in so tender an Age and in so cold a Country as ours is especially in the Winter Season But here the Anabaptists step in and urge from hence their way of dipping and think this is enough for them not only to plead in their own justification but to confute our way of baptizing only by sprinkling or pouring on of Water Accordingly a certain Person who takes upon him to Answer my foregoing Discourse hath these very words Baptism must be by dipping not sprinkling because Baptism rightly administred doth figure out the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ But I know not wherein sprinkling doth it And then citing Rom. 6.3 4. he immediately subjoyns When the Body is put down under Water O what resemblance is this of the Burial of