Infant-Seed of Believers are the proper Subjects of Baptism not to exclude Adult Proselytes and in proving this I shall Answer all Mr. B. K's Twenty Seven Arguments as fully and effectually as if I had confuted them one by one for the Ground of all his Arguments is to prove that all Children are excluded the Ordinance of Water-baptism in their Infancy And to effect my Purpose I shall take this Method viz. 1. I shall prove from the Sacred Scriptures that there is a Command from our Saviour Christ for the baptizing young Infants 2. There are undeniable Examples for it 3. I shall prove it from the peculiar Promises that are made to the Seed of Believers 4. From the Renowned Titles that are given unto them 5. From their being under the care conduct and Ministry of the blessed Angels 6. And Lastly From the tender care and sweet condescending Carriage and Behaviour of our blessed Redeemer to the Children of Believers above all other Mens Children in the World 1. There is a positive Command for the baptizing of Infants as well as of others in Christs Commission in Mat. 28.19 20. Go and disciple all nations that is Baptize them for if you observe Teaching comes after Go and disciple all nations make them disciples by baptism Now either Children are no part of a Nation or else there were no Children in all these Nations to whom Christ sent his Apostles and Ministers to preach the Gospel or else Children are every whit as much concerned in the Commission with a respect to Baptism as the Adult But Children are a great part of a Nation and for any to imagine that there were no Children in all these Nations is ridiculous and therefore Children are included in this Commission of our Lords and so they come under the Power and Authority of Christs positive Command to be baptized 2. They Object Children must be taught before they ought to be baptized and Children are not capable of being taught and therefore not capable of baptism Pray hear what God saith in Isa 59.21 As for me this is my covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Isa 54.13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children Heb. 8.11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest This Teaching of God proceeds from his Covenant Love as appears by the aforesaid Scriptures 2. In Mark 16.15 there is Christs positive Command to preach the Gospel to every creature that is to some of all Ages and Sects of the Rational Being therefore Children are concerned in this Command as being a very great part of the Rational Being and they have a great benefit by the Ministry of the Gospel which benefit lyeth principally in their Parents being so disciplined and taught as to be made Believers at which Instant their Children are also initiated and planted into the Covenant of Grace and are holy Children in Gods account 1 Cor. 7.14 and so have a Right to the holy Discipline viz. Water-baptism the Initiating Seal of the Covenant 3. And Lastly There is a Command for Children to hear the Word of the Lord as well as Adult Persons in Jer. 2.4 Even as Moses summoned all Israel Man Woman and Child to appear before God and renew their Covenant with him in Deut. 29.9 to 13. Thus I have proved A Command for the baptizing all the infant-Infant-Seed of Believers 2. I will prove Infant-Baptism from clear Examples First From the Example of John the Baptist Mat. 3. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions round about Jordan And were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come c. John baptized all the Natural Seed of Abraham that came to his Baptism he refused none though at the same time he exhorted them to Repentance and not to rely upon their Covenant-Relation to Abraham Ver. 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance c. So that it doth not appear that John baptized none but them which were truly penitent 1. Here you see all the Jews Men Women and Children that came unto John were baptized by him for all came to his Baptism for Children were a great part of Jerusalem and of all Judea c. And therefore Children were not excluded but were baptized 2. The Ordinance of Baptism was first Instituted among the Jews and their Seed before it was among the Gentiles and theirs many Years for the Gentiles must first be proselyted and taken visibly into Covenant by Discipline 3. And Lastly If John had not baptized all Children how could it be said that Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Region round about Jordan went out to him and were baptized of him Therefore it is plain that all were baptized by him Now if I should say All my Houshold are baptized and yet none of my Children are baptized who are almost double in number the rest of my Family How could that be true So that it is very plain from the Example of John the Baptist we have unquestionable Authority to baptize all our Children in their Infancy 2. There are Examples of Infant-baptism from the Apostles practice for they baptized whole Housholds wherefore if there had been but one Child in all these Housholds that was not baptized it could not properly have been said that the whole Houshold were baptized for children are the principal Upholders of the House for where there are no children that House is but of short duration and it is plain that believing Parents and their children make a holy House a sanctified Husband or a sanctified Wife and holy children make one Body and therefore they ought to be baptized 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body c. 3. Here are whole Housholds that were baptized by the Apostles Acts 18.8 Acts 16.14 15. and ver 30 31 33. and some others and also whole Housholds that were Believers which we read nothing at all of their Baptism 3. That Children are a great part of the Houshold is very clear for by our Saviours Words Parents and their children onely make the Houshold Mat. 10. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother c. And a mans foes shall be they of his own houshold These were Parents and Children not one Servant mentioned And the Widow of Zarephath 1 King 17.15
all that were in it But saith Mr. K. Might they not in that hour go a little way out of the House and be baptized This is begging the Question and yet he thus concludes viz. 'T is evident he abuses the Sacred Text. But hitherto you may see it is plain they did not go out of the House Ver. 33. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway Ver. 34. And when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and they rejoiced believing in God with all his house This was to bring them into some more peculiar Place or Dining-Room in his House for you see it is clear they were not out of the Prison before for so it appears by the next Verse viz. Ver. 35. And when it was day the magistrates sent the sergeants saying Let those men go But the Apostles refused to go out of the Prison And they came and besought them and desired them to depart out of the city Thus you see here was 1. The Jaylors bringing the Apostles out of their close confinement after his conviction 2. There was preaching the Word of the Lord to all that were in his House and not out of his House 3. Here was washing their stripes after they were taken out of their close confinement into his House at large 4. And Lastly Here was their Baptism And all this was done in the same hour of the Night straightway and then when this was done he invites them into his own peculiar Appartment or Dining-Room and set Meat before them And in the last place it doth plainly appear that they did not go out of the House or Prison all night because they were there in the Morning and refused to go out when the Magistrates sent to the Jaylor to release them therefore there is no manner of ground to imagine that they went out of the Prison and out of the City a little way in the Night to be baptized in a River or a Pond of Water but besides the Gates of Cities use to be shut in the Night and Guard kept at them who would have secured them had they attempted to go out in the night Ergo they were baptized in the House So that I have not abused the Sacred Text but it is evident that Mr. K. hath abused me in charging me falsely 12. And Lastly I shall give some Reasons to Evince that the Face of the Subject is the properest part to be baptized Because by the Face both God and Man are described 1. God is described by his most glorious face Psal 51.9 Psal 44.24 〈◊〉 18.10 Not that we are to conceive of God as of any Form or Shape who is a most Glorious Immense Spiritual Being in himself but it is in condescension to our weak capacities 2. Man is described and best known by the Face Gal. 1.22 Psal 84.9 And how common a thing is it among Men to say I never saw such an Ones Face That is they never saw the Person 2. The Face is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because the Face represents the whole Man 3. The Face ought to be baptized as the properest part because the part baptized ought to be naked for these Reasons viz. 1. Because otherwise the Cloaths and not the Person are baptized 2. Because it maketh the truest Figure of Man in his natural laps'd State before he is washed in the Water of Regeneration and renewed by the Holy Ghost by which the Soul puts on these two blessed Garments of Salvation namely Christs Righteousness for Justification and the Robe of Holiness for Sanctification Every Soul in a laps'd State you have set forth in these two Texts in the old and New Testament first in the Old Testament Ezek. 16.4 5 6. Here you have Man in his natural State which is unsavoury loathsome polluted and helpless and in the New Testament Rev. 3. there he is set forth to be wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This is the State and Condition of all Men by nature before they are washed in Regeneration 4. And Lastly The Face of the Subject is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because Nature it self teacheth us that the Face is the most delightful comely part of Man for Conversation We do not care to converse with a Man that turns his back upon us Thus much for the part of the Subject that ought to be baptized and the posture the Subject ought to be prepared in and that is the naked Face Thus I have confuted Mr. Keach's Arguments which he hath produced to prove that Dipping is the only Infallible Mode for Baptism whereas there is neither Precept nor Example for it no not so much as a bare May be for it in all the Book of God but you see there is a great Analogy between those many Sprinklings and Baptism though the Mode is not absolutely determined declaratively II. I will prove that all Elect dying Infants must have the Grace of Faith or they can never be saved 1. But saith Mr. K. in p. 14 16. How doth God sanctifie dying Infants I speak as to the Mode of it No mortal Man I am sure can tell if it is by infusing Grace let it be so though it can't be proved while the World stands yet Gods design therein could not be the same in them as in others c. Though the Grace is given by which we do believe yet is not the Act ours Can God be said to believe for us or can there be Faith in any Subject and yet no knowledge of the Object To which I answer that the Mode of sanctifying Elect dying Infants must be by Infusion of Grace by the Holy Spirit into their Souls is as clear as the Sun because there is no other way for Old or Young to be savingly sanctified by 2. God hath promised it Isa 44.3 I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring c. 3. Gods design is the same in the infusing Grace and Holiness into an Elect Infant as it is in an Adult Elect Sinner for God hath no other End nor higher Design then the glorifying his own Free Grace in the salvation of both Old and Young therefore that part of your carnal Argument is already destroyed Pray Sir in your next let us know if God hath any other or differing Design or End in the saving Adult Elect Sinners from that of sanctifying and saving Elect dying Infants and let us also know what way that is 2. Faith is the Gift of God though the Act of Faith may be said to be the Believers yet if God do not Act in the Believers Faith his Acting will signifie nothing for God is the authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. And it is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed of his good pleasure
good What think ye now Friend of all your other Arguments which you say are contained in this one Are they not swallowed up by the Gospel even as Aaron's Rod swallowed up the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians 4. Saith Mr. K. in pag. 24. The Gospel Covenant ran first to all the Elect that were the natural Off-spring of Abraham and then to the Gentiles and from hence it is said Rom. 11. that when the Jews are called and brought in again they shall be graffed into their own Olive-tree 1. I Answer that if the Jews are to be graffed into their own Olive-tree again as indeed they must then the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed is not Repealed nor Dissolved 2. That the Elect Jews were principally concerned in the Covenant I do own but that none but such were concerned in it I deny for had it been so then none had ever been cast out of Covenant for God never broke Covenant with his Elect nor never will I will produce you not only his Word but also his Oath for it in Psal 89. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David 3. The Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Seed was but one is the very same now in substance to the believing Gentiles their Children though it is under a new Dispensation and the Middle-wall of partition is broken down and taken away and nailed to Christs Cross Eph. 2.11 12 13 14. And the Gentiles are Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel so that the Covenant is enlarged as to the Priviledges thereof for whereas before the coming in of the Gospel it was restricted to the Jews and their Seed now it is to both Jew and Gentile Acts 2.39 Whereas it was clog'd before with Material costly Sacrifices and burdensome Ceremonies and smarting Ordinances now it is Meliorated and made easier and better all these Shadows are done away which was the taking away the first to establish the second viz. to take away the Ceremonial Law to Establish the Gospel 4. And lastly If none but Elect Jews were in the Covenant God made with Abraham and his Seed at which time the Gentiles were rejected and cast off for in Noah's Time all the New World were in the Covenant of Grace How came the Jews to sin themselves out of it again when the Elect Gentiles and their Seed were taken in Rom. 11.17 For if those Jews had been Elected of God they could never have sinned to such a degree as to provoke God to cast them out of Covenant though they might sin so as to provoke God to punish and chastise them for it Psal 89. 5. And lastly Saith Mr. K. in pag. 27. And farther to prove the Promise of the Covenant of Grace did not belong to Abrham 's Natural Seed as such Paul shews in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and to his seed was the promise made He saith not to seeds as of many but to thy seed which is Christ Friend though you have charged me falsely with abusing the Sacred Scriptures yet give me leave to tell you you have horribly abused this Text by adding unto it and diminishing from it for the Words are these in Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not And to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ Mr. K. hath placed was the promise made which is in the singular instead of were the promises made Friend Was not Christ who is stiled this One here in this Text of the Seed of Abraham And was not the Covenant made with him before the Foundation of the World for all the Elect and their Seed And are not all the Promises Yea and Amen in Christ Which are the Promises in this Text which you call the promise So that this Text intends quite another thing â—hen what you seem to infer from it 2. Let us observe what strange Absurdities to follow 1. Would it not be a very absurd thing that God who is a Covenant-keeping God should keep his Covenant with Believers and their Seed from Adam to the coming of Christ in the Flesh which was about 4000 Years and so often renew and establish it with Believers and their Seed by Repeated Promises and Sacred Oaths and that then God should cast them all off and Repeal and Dissolve the Covenant Pray hear what the Apostle saith to this in Gal. 3.15 Brethren I speak after the manner of men Though it be but a mans covenant yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Viz. Is a Covenant which is made between Man and Man so sacred a thing as that nothing ought to disanul it or make it void and that nothing ought to be added unto it How much more Sacred is Gods Everlasting Covenant and not to be disanulled made void nor added unto by Men 2. Is it not an absurd thing for any Mortals to imagine that the Son of Gods Love John 3.16 and the Gospel of his Grace should bring more Grace to Adult Believers then the Law and at the same time destroy that Grace which their Children enjoyed under the Law John 1.17 For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 3. If this Doctrine were true then all the Seed of these believing Jews which kept Covenant were all cast out and broken off with the unbelieving Jews and their Seed Rom. 11 17. 4. It will follow that none but Adult believing Gentiles were taken into Covenant and all their Children excluded which is repugnant to Acts 2.39 For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call This Promise here is the same God made with Adam Gen. 3.15 and Noah Gen. 9.9 and Abraham Gen. 17.2 7. which was made to Believers and their Children 5. These Gentlemen that Assert the Dissolution of the Covenant wherein are contained Believers and their Seed never yet undertook to tell us what the personal actual Sin was which these poor Babes did commit against God that did provoke him to cast them all out of Covenant who had been in it Four Thousand Years successively wherefore when you write next about this Subject be so ingenuous as to tell us what the Sin was which these young Infants were guilty of which brought them all under this dreadful condemnation as to be cast out of Gods Favour For unless you can do that all the Arguments you can raise against our Principles will only serve to prove that you are in a very great Errour for the Covenant God made with Adam Noah Abraham and their Seed is an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure IV. I will by Gods Assistance prove that the