THE SECOND PART OF THE VANITY CHILDISHNES OF INFANTS BAPTISME WHEREIN The grounds from severall Scriptures usually brought for to justifie the same are urged and Answered AS ALSO The nature of the divers Covenants made with Abraham and his Seed briefly opened and applied A. R. May 3. 1642. Gala. 3. 1 3 4 6 7. O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth dre yee so foolish that after yee have begun in the Spirit yee would now be made perfect in the flesh Have yee suffered so great things in vaine Was not Abrahams beleeving God accounted to him for righteousnesse Know you therefore that they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham LONDON Printed Anno Domini 1642. THE SECOND PART OF THE VANITY CHILDISHNES OF INFANTS BAPTISME HAving formerly Treated of the Baptisme of the Nationall Church I have now thought it meet likewise to consider the grounds upon which the Separated and some other Churches doe Baptise their Infants which are from severall places of Scripture especially these five which I will examine in order The first is that in the Acts. 2. 39. where it is said The promise is to you and your Children which Text although it be to no purpose in the point and so confessed by the ingenuous yet because many inconsideratly do still alledge it I shall for their sakes shew their great weaknesse in their thus reasoning thence If the promises be made to us and our Children then the Seales of the promises To which I answere it is not there said of Infants but to your Children not promises but promise it is therfore worthy inquirâ— to finde out what is there meant by you and your Children in both these we shall be satisfied if we looke back into the former part of the Chap. where when the gifts of the holy Ghost were given forth upon the 120. and they speaking in divers tongues and the Jewes thereupon some marvailing some mocking and saying that they were full of New wine ver 13. Peter hereupon stands up and speakes to these Jewes thus These men are not drunke as yee suppose but this is that which is spoken by the Prophet Joel that in the last day saith God I will powre out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sonnes and Daughters shall Prophecy c. ver 15. 16 17. And immediatly when he had thus spoken he preached unto them Iesus Christ whom they had murthered and whom though dead and buried yet God had raised up and who being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of his Father the promise of the Holy Ghost had shed forth this which they then did see and heare ver 33. As if Peter should have said to the Jewes thus we are not filled with wine as yee suppose but are fil'd with the Spirit promised to our Fathers long since that should be poured forth in these our daies And that their Sonnes and their Daughters should Prophecy which is now fulfilled upon us their Sonnes and Daughters and may be also poured out upon you and your Children to make you all Prophecy and speake with tongues as we do for you and your Children are all the Sonnes and Daughters of the Jewes our Forefathers to whom this Prophecy was spoken aswell as any of us If you repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of thiâ— Lord Iesus whom you have crucified for the remission of your sâ—nne notwithstanding your dealing so wickedly with him and moreover yee shall also receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is to you and to your Children aswell as unto us ver 38. 39. So then by this time we may see what is meant by the promise to wit The gift of the holy ghost mentioned in the 17. ver to be prophecyed of by Ioel and in the 33 verse to be received of the Father and to be shed forth by Iesus Christ and also recited in the 38 ver thus And yee shâ—ll receive the gift of the holy Ghost for the promise is to you and your Children And likewise we may see who are meant by you and your Children to wit the very same which are mentioned in the 17 ver under the termes of Sonnes and Daugheers that should Prophecy therefore no Infants are meant in this place nor is there so much as any colour for the Baptizing of Infants from hence for the text is not be Baptized for the promise is to you and to your Children as many in Print do falsely alledge But repent and be Baptized c. and yee shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is to you and to your Children Object If they say then surely these Children were in the Covenant seeing the promise is said so plainly to be to them Answ To this I answere that this objection hath no colour of footing in the Text as appeareth by that which is already said thereto yet neverthelesse I will further demonstrate the same by these reasons First The Promise is made equally to them and to their Children and to them that are a farre off But these which are a far off are not within the Covenant by the promise untill they beleeve the same Secondly If they were in the Covenant by having this promise made to them then were they of the New Covenant and Church of the Gospell for there were no other people to be accounted in Covenant with God save those which be of this Church but those were not of this Church but they were afterwards added thereunto as appeares ver 41. and therefore were not of it before and consequently notwithstanding the Promise being so to them and their Children yet neither they nor their Children were of the Covenant nor Church untill they did beleeve alâ—hough they were Jewes and so the children of faithfull Abraham Their second Argument is from those places which speake of Baptizing whole Households for say they there may be Infants in the Household thence they conclude that Infants may be Baptized To which I answere that there might be no Infants there and my negative is as good as their affirmative without any proofe and more probable for it is said Act. 18. 8. That Crispus the chiefe ruler of the Synagogue beleeved on the Lord with all his Household and that many of the Corinthians hearing it beleeved and were Baptized And it is said of the Goaler who was Baptized and all his Act. 16. 32. That Paul and Sylas first preached the word of the Lord to them and to all that were in his House And in the 33 ver it is said that he and all his were Baptized and in the 34 ver it is said that hee with all his Household beleeved in God So then it is plaine that they first beleeved and then were Baptized and although it be barely spoken of Pauls Baptizing the Household of Stephanus 1 Cor. 1. 16. And of the
waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water the like figure whereunto Baptisme doth now also save us by the resurection of Iesus Christ These then being only figures and allusions cannot serve at all to prove the point in hand Object There be divers other Baptismes as that of the Holy Ghost being inward and spirituall and the effect of the other which if a man hath that in water being an outward thing is not needfull Answ To which I answer that this in water being commanded us of God it must needs be our duty to submit thereunto unlesse we will reject the counsell of God against our selves as the Pharisees and Lawyers did Luke 7. 30. And deeme our selves wiser then God who commanded it and by slighting and neglecting the same become guilty of disobedience which is as the sinne of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 23. Object But now as Circumcision is nothing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature so Baptisme is nothing for Christ is now all in all Answ It 's true that now Circumcision is nothing nor Vncircumcision whereby to difference or preferre one man before another now in time of the Gospell but a new creature yet hence to conclude that therefore Baptisme is nothing is very absurd it being commanded us unlesse to obey and disobey Christ were all one and yet in some sence Baptisme is nothing but it s in the same sense as Prayer hearing and Preaching is nothing yea and as Faith it selfe is comparatively nothing to Christ who is all in all For in all our duties of obedience wee ought so to make and esteeme him but by our slighting of his commands instead of making him all in all we do make him nothing in all and all in nothing and our selves nothing at all But these and the like Aeriall Notions I thinke scarce worth answering holding firmely this conclusion that as Christ hath redeemed us both bodies and Spirits 1 Cor. 6. 20 so he requireth us and it is our duties to worship him in both not onely to believe him in the heart but to confesse him also with the mouth and with the whole man to yeeld him obedience to all his Ordinances and Commands without which we cannot approve our selves to love him nor be his Disciples indeed and truly Io. 15. 10. 15. 22. And it much pitties me to see such curious conceits and sublime Notions should be the ruine of so many precious Spirits as it is to be feared they will be 5. But their fifth and maine argument is yet behinde from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and with his seed Gen. 17. And hence thus they reason as the Covenant and promises were made to Abraham being a faithfull man and his seed and thereupon all his seed were circumcized in time of the Law so the same Câ—venant and promises are made to them being Beleevers and their seed And therefore their seed may now upon the same ground be Bapâ—ized To which I answer that neither Abraham nor his seed were circumcized because the Covenant was made with him for the Covenant was made with him above twenty yeares before Circumcision was Instituted as may appeare by comparing Gen. 12. 2 3. with Gen. 16. 3. and 17. 25. And yet all this time Abraham was not circumcized neither had he or any of his seed ever bin circumcized for his being in the Covenant had not the Lord afterwards expresly commanded the same Nor was that Covenant made with Abraham and his seed meerely for his being a faithfull man for then should it have bin made with Noah being a faithfull man but for his being such a faithfull man whom the Lord pleased to chuse and set out as a Patterne to all Beleevers Rom. 4. 23 24. And to be a Father of many Nations Rom. 4. 17 18. And in whose seed all the Nations in the world should be blessed Act. 5. 25. and 13. 23. to wit in Christ who was to come of his flesh And therefore although the Covenant and Promises were made to Abraham and his seed yet the consequence will not follow that the Covenant is likewise made with all Beleevers and their seed for Beleevers only are the seed and the seed only and none of them a Father in the Gospell sence nor any other save only Abraham to whom and his seed the Covenant and Promises are made wherefore to affirme that every Beleever hath now the same Covenant and Promises made to him and his seed as Abraham had to him his seed is very absurd and is all one as to say that now every Beleever by his beleeving doth immediately become a father of the faithfull as well as Abraham And if so I demand then where are any seed if all be Fathers For their seed and their seeds seed are all members of the Church and to be accounted faithfull and so to be all Fathers of the faithfull as well as Abraham from Generation to Generation to the worlds end Or more plainely thus promising onely this truth that there is now no difference betweene any Circumcision or Vncircumcision Iew or Gentile bond or free Male or Female But all are one in Christ Iesus Gal. 3. 28. I thus expresse my selfe if every beleever by his beleeving doth become a father of the faithfull as well as Abraham then it must be at the very instant of his beleeving that he doth become a father of the faithfull as well as Abraham and if so where then will be any Children to all these Fathers for none can be Children before they be faithfull and also at the same instant cease to be Children and become Fathers which implies a flat contradiction and then how can Abraham himselfe be father of all Beleevers Rom. 4 11 12. Or how then can the Promise be sure to all the seed if Beleevers Children be the seed for they will not affirme that all their Children are saved But this is affirmed of all the seed to whom the Promise is made Rom. 4. 16. Heb. 6. 16 17. compared with Gal. 3. 29. Now then if the Promise be sure unto all the seed unto whom it is made and all Beleevers and onely all Beleevers the Promise is sure to Then all Beleevers and onely all Beleevers are the seed unto whom the Promise is made and then none of Abrahams owne naturall seed nor the naturall seed of any other in the world are to be accounted the seed unto whom the Promise and Covenant is made untill they beleeve Rom. 9. 7 8. Rom. 4. 13 14. Gal. 3. 7. 9. This then being a most evident truth it may in no wise be granted that the Covenant is made with all Beleevers as with Abraham or that the Promise is made unto all these as unto Abraham or that all these are fathers as Abraham for all these are the seed and the onely seed and Children of Abraham And those to whom the Covenaâ—t and
any rule for baptizing They yet further say that Infants were then members of the Church and do demand when they were cast out To which I answer that they were cast out when the Iewes Church State and old Covenant was abrogated by the comming of Christ and preaching of the Gospell and planting other Churches farre different from that of the Iewes in many respects That constituted upon nature and the naturall seed of Abraham this upon grace and the spirituall seed of Abraham That therefore termed Israel according to the flesh and of the Circumcision of the flesh this Israel according to the Spirit and of the Circumcision of the heart Rom. 2. 28 29. Rom. 9. 6 7 8. Col. 2. 11. That a state of servants and Bond-men so as in that state an heire or Beleever differed nothing from a servant though be were Lord of all but was under Tutors and Governours untill the time appointed of the Father which is the comming of Christ in the flesh and his setting up the state of Churches under the Gospell which is a state constituted not of Servants but of Sonnes and Free-men this is plaine Gal. 4. 7. first verses and is also evident by Christ his discourse with the naturall Iewes Io. 8. 31. for Christ there tells them That if they continue in his word they then were his Disciples indeed and should know the truth and the truth should make them fâ—ee They answered that they were Abrahams seed and so were free already and were never in bondage to any man Christ then tells them That whosoever committeth sinne is the Servant of sinne and the Servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Sonne abideth for ever If therefore the Sonne make you free you shall be free indeed I know yee are Abrahams seed but yee seeke to kill mee because my word hath no place in you If you were Abrahams Children yee would doe the works of Abraham but yee now go about to kill mee a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard of God this did not Abraham yee are of your father the Divell and the lusts of your father yee will doe As if Christ should have reasoned with the Iewes thus it is true yee are indeed the naturall seed of Abraham and by that your naturall birth and circumcision of your flesh yee were admitted free and did abide as Members of Gods Church or House in that State under the old Covenant or law whereof Moses being a servant was the Mediator which state was but a state of bondage for Abrahams nature could produce no other but servants of sinne such as your selves are and such must not abide in the house for ever nor stay therein any longer but must be cast out for I am now come to abolish that old and first Covenant and to establish a better new and second Covenant Hebr. 7. 18. 19. and 8. 13. and 10. 9. whereof I my selfe being the Sonne am the Mediator If therefore yee will be free indeed and be made subjects of this Covenant and State which I am now to set up your naturall birth serves not to admit you but you must be borne a new of the spirit and so by faith become the true seed and heires of the promise Gal. 3. 7. 29. without which yee cannot be admitted into this State for the promises were made to Abraham and his seed not to seeds as of many but to seed as of one which is my selfe Gal. 3. 16. If therefore I make you free yee shall be free indeed and then you shall abide in the house for ever being made sonnes of God by faith in mee Gal. 3. 26. For the promise that Abraham should be heire of the world was not to him or to his seed by nature or through the law but through the righteousnesse of faith for if they you Israel according to the flesh that are of the Law be heires then faith is void and the promse is made of none effect Rom. 4. 13. 14. And my comming in the flesh would be made utterly frustrate for if the Law could have given that life promised then Righteousnesse should have beene by the Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under Sinne that the Promise and righteousnesse by faith in me should be given to them and to them onely that believe Gal. 3. 3 21. 22. And that this is so is evident by the Covenant of circumcision made with Abraham and you his naturall seed which was also a signe received by him as a seale that Righteousnesse should be by the faith which hee had when hee was yet uncircumcised that so hee might become the father of all Believers that Righteousnesse might be imputed unto them all whether they be circumcised or uncircumcised for now all is one in mee Rom. 4. 11. 12. You see then how that Covenant of circumcision made with Abraham and you his naturall seed was to be an everlasting Covenant in your flesh to wit in mee who was to come of your flesh Gen. 17. 13. And to this end also to this Covenant of circumcision was the Covenant of the Law added not to bring righteousnesse to you but to shew you your unrighteousnesse was to be unto you a Schoole-master with all it's Ceremonies and Shadowes to point out mee untill I should come but now that faith and I that promised seed and true sonne and heire being come you are no longer to be under a Schoole-master but are all to be sonnes and heires with mee onely by faith Gal. 3. 18 19. 23 24 25 26. And which was also prophesied Hab. 2. 4. That the just by his faith should live by which you may plainly see how that circumcision was to you naturall Iewes both a Covenant and yet also but a signe Gen. 17. 11. of another Covenant to wit of that everlasting Covenant made with Abraham and all his spirituall seed and of that everlasting inheritance promised them Gen. 17. 7. 8. which is only to be enjoyed through faith therefore yee cannot be admitted into this State to be partakers in this new and everlasting Covenant and Gospel priviledges which I am now about to establish but are to be cast out as servants and not to abide in the house any longer and this your casting out was long since prefigured to you by Abrahams casting out Ismael the sonne of the bond-woman and borne after the flesh together with his mother who were figures of the Law and old Covenant and all it's sonnes which are Israel according to the flesh to be cast out and not to be heires with Isaack the sonne of the free-woman and borne by promise who were likewise figures of this new Testament and also the spirituall seed which I am now to establish and bring in as the onely and true heires and children of the promise Gal. 4. 22. c. of which sort you are not for if you were Abrahams seed in this sense yee would then doe the
workes of Abraham but yee seeke to kill me who tell you the truth this did not Abraham I must therefore tell you whose children you are yee are of your father the â—â—vâ—ll and his workes yee doe repent yee therefore and bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life and thinke not to say with your selves you have Abraham to your father for now the Axe is laid unto the root of the tree and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is to be hewne downe and cast into the fire Matth. 3. 10. 11. which is you must not now thinke to profit your selves by pleading your naturall descent or birth from faithfull Abraham But you must be borne againe and have faith in your owne person as he had and doe the workes which he did else you are to be cut downe and cast out as unprofitable trees for now every naturall branch of all that natural tree or stocke of you Iewes whereof Abraham is your roote if it be not transplanted by my spirit into me the true Vine and so to be inabled to bring forth fruit in mee is to be taken away by my Father the husbandman but such as in me bring forth fruit he will purge that they way bring forth more fruit Jo. 15. 1. 2. Now then to shut up all put case it be granted which is not true that all the children of Believers are those to whom the promise belongeth are within the Covenant are elected yea and had faith also yet notwithstanding can they not warrantably be baptized untill they doe manifest and declare the same by profession this is apparent by the doctrine and practice first of Iohn Matth. 3. 6. 8 9. Mark 1. 4. Secondly of Christ and his Apostles Ioh. 3. 22. compared with 4. 1. 2. Act. 2. 38. 41. and 8. 12. 36. 37. and thirdly by the tenor of the Commission Matth. 28. 29. Mar. 16. 15. 16. 1. By this we may partly see the grosse mistake of all such great Clerks of our times which confound these two Covenants of Law and Gospell and make them both as one in substance and different onely in circumstance as in administration or in degrees the one more darke the other more light c. whereas indeed they are no lesse different then old and new workes and faith nature and grace then the Administration of condemnation and the administration of righteousnesse or than the letter killing and the spirit giving life 2 Cor. 3. 6. 7 8 9. or than a state of bondage and a state of sonnes Gal. 4. 21. c. And from hence this errour comes that in their teachings and writings they make such a kinde of hodge podge of the doctrine of the Gospell and so intermix Grace and Workes Truth and Error and distill thereby such a spirit of giddinesse into the hearts of their hearers that for the most part they walke in a circular maze or as in a twilight left between legall terrors and Gospel hopes betweene consolations and consternations of spirit all the dayes of their lives and never come to find that spiritual life brought to light by the glorious Gospel nor that rtyumphant state of son-ship and freedome purchased them by Jesus Christ through faith in his blood The Apostle tels the Church of the Romanes Chap. 6. 14. That sinne should not have dominion over them the reason hee addes because they were not under the Law but under grace whence it is evident to be under the Law is to be under the dominion of sinne and consequently of death Now therefore by how much any by their teachings doe confound Law and Gospell by so much they seeke to bring us or rather deteine us in Bondage to sinne And hence also followes that grosse error of admitting of Infants and a naturall seed as right Subjects of Paptisme and of the Gospell Priviledges These two errors like Hypocrites Twynnes smile and weep stand and fall together For if the doctrine of free grace by Iesus Christ in its native luster were once distinctly set out and the Spirituality thereof in its fullnesse of Beauty and glory clearely laid open It would then evidently appeare to all men that none ought to partake of such a spirituall estate and worship without being made sutable thereunto by Regeneration manifested by their Faith and Obedience to the Gospell But how sutable such Spirituall worship and Churches would be to a Priestly Levitical gay Clergy let the wise judge I cannot but much suspect that they do finde farre more sweetnesse and relish in their revenewes of hundreds per annum gleabes tithes c. Though it be from the world in a Church then they have hopes to finde in any thing from any such Church in the world I conceive therefore that there is no more hope to see that Tribe stoope so low or forget themselves so much as to owne and beare witnesse to this truth then there is to see them to allow the Doctrine and Practise of blessed Saint Paul Act. 20. 17. 34 35. to be now of use and immitation in our times or then to allow the speeches of Iesus Christ Mar. 12. 38 39 40. Luk. 11. 44. 52. Mat. 15. 14. To appertaine aswell to the Clergy of this Age as to them of any former age yea and aswell as to the learned Scribes c. of whom they were immediately spoken Wherefore to prevaile with these men in this point there is yet one Argument onely wanting to wit certaine revenews of 3. 4. or 500. per annum for each of them with which Argument I doubt not But one might convince the Judgements of a hundred in one day easier then a hundred can one in a whole yeare without it So prevalent is the world with our corrupt natures as by dayly experience is seene But these Arguments are of the earth earthly and sutable to earthly affections which men ought to mortifie and to have their conversation in Heaven Phil. 3. 19. 20. Col. 3. 2 3. And seriously to consider Christs Arguments who reasons quite contrary telling us of denying our selves and taking up our Crosses dayly Luk. 9. 23. Of being sent as Sheep amongst Wolves Mat. 10. 16. Of being hated of all men Mat. 10. 22. Of suffering hunger and nakednesse 1 Cor. 4. 11. 2 Cor. 11. 27. Persecution tribulation affliction reproach imprisonment distresse yea death it selfe for his sake Mat. 24. 9. Io. 15 20. Luk. 21. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 12. 2. Cor. 6. 4 5. and 12. 10 And that except we first count our Costs and forsake all for Christs sake and the Gospells we cannot be his Disciples here in this world nor raigne with him in the Kingdome and world to come Luk. 14. 26 27 28. 33. Io. 12. 25. 2 Tim. 2. 12. 2. And from confounding of these two Covenants and States of Law and Gospell ariseth another great error and that of no small consequence For from hence as I conceive the Papists have brought in many disorders into