Gen. 12.3 and elsewhere But yet this Promise which the Apostle deduceth from these Words must likewise be contained in this Covenant and so those Words must be also a Part of it though spoken at another time Because Circumcision that was the Token of this Covenant was a Seal to Abraham of this Promise Rom. 4.11 And he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Which must be founded on the Promise so that that Promise likewise belongs to this Covenant and therefore is sealed by it And this Covenant as delivered to Abraham the Apostle tells us also was confirmed in Christ Gal. 3.17 and therefore can be no other than the Gospel or New Covenant Yea and the Promise of divine Assistance for fulfilling the Conditions of the Covenant was contained also in the same Covenant with Abraham For so we find it was understood by the Church formerly Mic. 7.19 20. He will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast their Sins into the Depth of the Sea Thou wilt perform the Truth unto Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the Days of old Which must needs have Respect to God's Oath and Covenant with Abraham And so also the Apostle reckons that God's sending his Son Christ to bless them and to turn them from their Iniquities was a great Instance of the Accomplishment of the Covenant that God made with Abraham Acts 3.25 26. For the great Design of God in this Covenant at first as appears by the first Call that was given him Gen. 12.1 was to separate him and his Family and Seed from the rest of the Nations which were fallen into the vilest Idolatry and to preserve Religion and the Worship of the true God in his Family And the Promise of the Messiah in whom the Covenant is founded had this Design in it Luke 1.72 73 74 75. The Oath that he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Life So that the Covenant with Abraham was a Church-Covenant and contained in it all the Terms and Design that belonged to such a Covenant and was made with all the Family of Abraham in which his Infant-seed was also comprehended and were to partake of the Promises and Privileges that appertained to it It belonged to all his Family in the external Dispensation of it and none were excluded from the Benefits of it that did not exclude themselves by their own actual Unbelief and Disobedience to the Terms of it And Circumcision was a Seal of it to all with whom it was made as the visible Church of God and to the Infant-seed of Abraham as Parts or Members thereof For Sacraments or Signs are not appointed to the Church Invisible for who shall judg then to whom they are to be administred but to the Church as Visible Thus having cleared up the Nature of the Abrahamical Covenant which God made with him and his Seed even in their infant-Infant-state I shall now go forward and shall observe how God hath shewn the same gracious Respects to Infants in the Progress of his Dispensations towards the Jewish People And thus we find afterwards that the whole Body of the Jewish People in Jacob's Line amongst whom Children also were contained are collectively stiled by God himself his Son Exod. 4.22 23. Say unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my Son even my First-born And I say unto thee Let my Son go that he may serve me Thus God speaks of them before they were formed into a Political Commonwealth only because he had chosen and called them out of the Nations to be a peculiar People to himself And in this Appellation their little ones were comprehended as appears because they were of the Number of those that were to go also For Pharaoh would have let the Men of Israel go but not their little ones Exod. 10.10 But we will go saith Moses with our Young and with our Old ver 9. So that the whole Body of Israel including little ones also was God's Son for God had chosen and called all the Seed of Israel to be his Covenant-People And therefore thus also Moses afterwards enters and engages all into Covenant with God one as well as another taking in the little ones likewise Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the Men of Israel your little ones your Wives and the Stranger that is in thy Camp from the Hewer of thy Wood to the Drawer of thy Water that thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this Day that he may establish thee to Day for a People unto himself and that he may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. So that this was but the renewing of the Abrahamical Covenant with the People as appears by the latter Clause of it running in the same Terms for the Accomplishment of the Promise and Oath made to Abraham and his Seed Deut. 3â— â— And in the next Chapter the Grace signified by Circumcision is there promised to Parents and Children to enable them to perform the Terms of it And it being promised to both it imports that the Covenant which Circumcision sealed belongs to both For the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed And after this again even when the People were fallen off also to the Worship of other Gods yet retaining still the Acknowledgment of the God of Israel though they joined others with him God challengeth and owns their Children for his Ezek. 16.20 21. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed thou hast slain my Children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the Fire Now it was upon this Account viz. by virtue of God's choosing and calling the Seed of Abraham and separating them from the rest of the World to the Knowledg and Worship of the true God that they were stiled his peculiar People and Children and not upon a mere Political Account or upon the Account of other carnal and temporal Respects For in this manner we find Moses speaking to them Deut 14.1 2. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God and therefore are not to follow or comport with the Customs and Practices of the Heathen For thou art an holy People unto the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar People to himself above all the Nations that are upon the Earth And so chap. 7.6 For thou art an
all almost are baptized in their Infancy and thereby admitted Church-Members they are therefore so still esteemed and so the Churches of the Pedobaptists are overloaded with such Persons which defile their Communions Answ But what are there no such Persons to be found among those of the other Perswasion I heartily wish indeed for the Honour of our holy Master and the Credit of his Religion that there were no such either among them or us or those of any other Denomination But this is not to be expected in this imperfect State of the Christian Church Matth. 13.47 which is as a Net cast into the Sea that receives of every kind where good and bad are mix'd together and so we must expect it will be till the End of the World when the Angels shall come forth and sever the Wicked from among the Just But let us not blame that for this which is not to be blamed It is not to be laid to the Charge of Baptism either in Infancy or in Age nor to that in Infancy more than to that at Age. For if once the Baptism of adult Persons were the general Fashion and as commonly received and as much encouraged as Infant-Baptism now is I doubt not but the Church would be as full of Hypocrites then and carnal Gospellers for any thing that Baptism at Age would do more to prevent it than Infant-Baptism now doth For it is no great Matter to make such a Confession of Faith as may serve turn for Baptism and if once it were Mens Interest to do so it would be easily enough gone through As for so many profane Persons which they say are in the Church by reason of Infant-Baptism because so many are look'd upon of the Church that were once baptized and these are for the most part bad I answer However that be yet Infant-Baptism is not to be blamed for it but generally it is the want of Care in Parents and Godfathers about the Instruction and Education of Children that have been baptized and want of Discipline in the Church to expel those that are profane out of it when they once become scan dalous in it It is not Infant-Baptism that is to be blamed for that is a proper Means rather to make Persons good and that betimes That will do its Part well if it be rightly adverted to when they grow up to Understanding by Reflection upon it and full as well as if Baptism were administred at Age. This tends to continue and help forward the Conveyance of Religion down to after-Generations by laying a strict Engagement upon Children to be good betimes and upon Parents to educate them and bring them up well in order to it so that there might be still a young Nursery of tender Plants growing up in the Vineyard of the Lord. And to say otherwise is a Refiection upon the Wisdom of the Jewish Church in admitting the Children of Proselytes together with their Parents yea and of the Wisdom of the holy God himself who loves the Purity and Glory of the Church certainly more than any of us can do and knoweth best what most tends to further it who himself ordered the Token of his Covenant to be applied to Children at eight Days old For according to this Opinion it had been much better to have let it alone till all had come to Age. And the same Censure will lie upon the Jewish Church for admitting of Members then in their infant-Infant-state as much as it can now upon the Churches of the Pedobaptists But let not us go to teach God or instruct him what Means are best to promote the Churches Purity I can make no doubt but Infant-Baptism is as great an Advantage to the Church now as Infant-Circumcision was then in all the spiritual Respects of it or as the Baptism then of Proselytes Infants was But if there be other Ordinances and Duties neglected which God hath appointed which should be for the procuring of a pure Church or for the cleansing of it when it is impure it is the Neglect of those Ordinances and Duties that is the true Reason of that Impurity in the Church and not the keeping up of that Ordinance which rather helps towards its Purification as well as admits into the Communion of it They of the other way when profane Persons are at any time found among them don't blame their Baptism at Age for it as if that were the Reason of their Badness which would rather tend to make them good and if these Persons continue still in their Church no doubt it is the Churches Neglect and not the Fault of their Baptism And so if profane Persons be sound in the Church wherein the Members are admitted by Infant-Baptism let not Infant-Baptism be blamed for that but the Neglect of those other Ordinances and Duties that should tend to promote the Churches Purity Object 5. Why may not the Lord's Supper be administred to Infants as well as Baptism that being as well a Seal of the Covenant as Baptism is and was likewise administred to them in some of the first Ages of the Church Answ If the Lord's Supper should be administred to Infants it could be of no other Use to them than Baptism is viz. to be a visible Badg or Mark of their being owned and received by us as the Children of God and Members of the Church of Christ and a Seal of the Blessings of the Covenant and of their Communion therein These things are sufficiently confirmed to them by the Ordinance of Baptism and the Ordinance of the Lord's-Supper could be of no further use to them than what this comes to And therefore the Administration of the Lord's-Supper to them would be supervacaneous and needless because it can do no more for them than Baptism doth Nor is the Ordinance of the Lord's-Supper so fit and proper to be administred to them for the Ends aforesaid as Baptism is Because Baptism is a Sacrament or Ordinance particularly designed or appointed for this purpose to be for their visible Initiation or Insition into the Church of Christ and is therefore to be administred to all the Members of it as a Token or Sign of their being the Children of God and Members of Christ and so to seal to them the Blessings of the Covenant and to engage them on their part to the performance of the Conditions And Infants being capable of all these Ends and Uses of it which are the chief Ends of Baptism it is therefore proper and fit to be administred to them Whereas the Lord's-Supper is a Sacrament of Growth or Perfection for the strengthening and refreshing of our Souls and for our Growth and Progress in Grace which is promoted and furthered by an Act of Reflection on our parts upon the Death of Christ and the Benefits that he hath purchased thereby and is to be a thankful Memorial or for solemn Thanksgiving to Christ for this great Grace and Love of his that he hath
A BRIEF DEFENCE OF Infant-Baptism WITH AN APPENDIX Wherein is shewed that it is not necessary that Baptism should be administred by Dipping By JOHN OLLYFFE Rector of Almer in the County of Dorset LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard and are to be sold by John Woolfryes Bookseller in Blandford MDCXCIV TO THE READER THE following Treatise is the Substance of some Discourses which I delivered in my Parish-Church for the Establishment of my Hearers in the present Truth which I now publish partly for their sakes to put them in remembrance thereof and that they may have something still by them to oppose to the restless and importunate Insinuations of those that are of the other Perswasion And partly in hopes that it may be of some Vse to others that either need or desire Settlement or Information herein If it shall fall into the Hands of any of those of the other way I only desire this of them that they will endeavour to read it with as little Prejudice as they can For I can assure them that I have no mind either to deceive or to be deceived But as I have learned and am perswaded of the Truth as it is in Jesus so do I desire to speak and preach and live If any shall think that this had been a Province fitter for others to have undertaken I shall readily join with them in the same Opinion But yet I shall add this that I have some Reasons to incline me to do as I have done And I doubt not but to find Excuse at least among all those that are truly candid and sincere Lovers of Truth If thou receivest Reader any Benefit thereby give God the Praise and pray for me JOHN OLLYFFE A Brief Defence of Infant-Baptism THAT I may proceed with all imaginable Plainness in this Matter I shall first set down what I have to say by way of Argument for it which I shall endeavour to clear up and confirm and then I shall afterwards endeavour to remove the Objections that are most commonly made and most usually rais'd against it To begin with the first That which I have to say by way of Argument in the Defence of Infant-Baptism is this viz. They that are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong ought to be baptized But there are some young Children or Infants who are to be received and owned by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong Therefore there are some young Children or Infants who ought to be baptized For the clearing and confirming of this Argument two things are to be made out and confirmed I. That there are some young Children or Infants who are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong II. That being to be so owned and received by us they are therefore to be baptized I. That there are some young Children or Infants who are to be owned and received by us as the Children of God and his Peculiar and Covenant-People and Members of the Church of Christ to whom the promised Blessings of the Covenant do belong For there are some young Children or Infants that have been so received and reckoned and declared by God himself for his peculiar and Covenant-People and Children and Members of his Church and this their Church-Membership and Relation to him as his peculiar Covenant-People and Children hath never been abolish'd or taken away by him but is still continued and rather confirmed to some young Children or Infants still therefore there are some young Children or Infants that are likewise still to be owned and received by us for such 1. I say that some young Children or Infants have been owned and received and declared by God for his Children and Members of his Church and have been reckoned and taken by him into the Number of his peculiar Covenant-People By the Church of God I mean that Body and Number of Persons which God hath chosen and called and set apart in a separate manner from the rest of the World to be brought nearer to himself in Relation and learning the true Religion in order to the partaking of those spiritual and eternal Blessings by Christ which he hath promised in the Covenant of Grace And they that are of the Number of or do belong to this Body or Society of Persons I call the Members of the Church as being Parts or Members of this Body And these being such as God is pleased to take into a nearer and more appropriate Relation to himself than he doth others are therefore also called his Children or Covenant-People and he is their Father and Head So that to be a Child of God and Member of his Church and of the Number of his peculiar Covenant-People is all one that is doth denote one and the same Person Now I say that some young Children or Infants have been of the Number of those that have been thus chosen and taken by God into this near Relation to himself as his Covenant-People and Children so that he hath had a peculiar and separate Respect to them as well as to their Parents and other adult Persons in another and distinguishing manner from what he hath had to the other People of the World and this his Respect to them he hath openly declared and testified that others in like manner might accordingly own and receive them Such hath been the Grace and Goodness of God to choose and take the Infants of such as he hath called into a near Covenant-Relation to himself that they might partake also of the Blessings of the same Covenant It is to be observed from the Beginning that the Seed of those who have been God's Covenant-People have been likewise owned and taken by God into Covenant with him and so have continued in that State till by their own Wickedness and Apostacy they have fallen from it and so have been discovenanted or rejected by God And the whole Current and Harmony of Scripture sheweth that ever since there was a visible Church on Earth Propositions concerning the Subject of Baptism c. by a Synod at Boston p. 12. the Children thereof have by the Lord 's Appointment been a Part thereof Eve the Mother of all Living hath a Promise made Gen. 3.15 not only of Christ the Head-seed but through him also of a Church-seed to proceed from her in a continued lineal Succession which should continually be at visible Enmity with and stand at a Distance and be separated from the Seed of the Serpent Under that Promise made to Eve and her Seed the Children of Adam