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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	proper_a	sense_n	signification_n	2,806	5	9.7840	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65671	Infant baptism plainly proved a discourse wherein certain select arguments for infant baptism, formerly syllogyistically handled, are now reviewed, abbreviated, and reduced to a plain method, for the benefit of the unlearned, and persons of weaker capacity / by Joseph Whiston ; with a large epistle to the pious and learned among the anti-pædobaptists, especially the authors of the late confession of their faith.	Whiston, Joseph, d. 1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing W1694; ESTC R1322	72,861	137

answerably were admitted and incorporated thereinto this way viz. by Baptism That Baptism was appointed for this end and purpose is plainly exprest 1 Cor. 12.13 And that there is any other way appointed for that end and purpose is not neither can be affirmed by any Now that Infants as under or as the Subjects of the Promise do appertain to the visible Church Kingdom or Body of Christ and were owned and look'd upon so to do both by Christ and his Apostles is plain 1. Because as under the Promise and in Covenant with God they are as personally and particularly considered the actual Subjects of the Promise of Salvation Now whosoever is as personally and particularly considered an actual Subject of the Promise they must needs appertain to the visible Church Kingdom or Body of Christ Christ is only the Saviour of his Body Eph. 5.23 Though it is true Christ in a large sence may be and is in Scripture said to be the Saviour of all Men and the Saviour of the World yet none but such as are Members of his Mystical Body at least do appertain thereunto and have a right of Admission thereinto are under the Promise of Salvation by him as personally and particularly considered Hence all others are said to be Strangers to the Covenants of Promise Eph. 2.12 So that the Infant-Seed of Believers being under the Promise of Salvation by Christ and that as personally and particularly considered and he being only the Saviour of his Body they must needs appertain to his Body and answerably ought to be admitted and incorporated into it which can be no other way but by Baptism 2. That the Infant-Seed of Believers do appertain to the visible Church Kingdom or Body of Christ and were owned and looked upon so to do by our Lord Christ and his Apostles is evident because the Apostle expresly tells us that the Promise was made unto Christ meaning it of Christ Mystical that is the Mystical Body of Christ And that the Apostle here speaks of the Mystical Body of Christ as visible is sufficiently evident because particular and individual Persons might be ordinarily known to appertain to the Body of Christ as here spoken of Hence saith the Apostle vers 28. speaking to the Galatians as visible Members of the Church Ye are all one in Christ Now it cannot be supposed that every individual Person among the Galatians were really of the invisible Body of Christ The Apostle sufficiently implieth his Fears of the contrary Gal. 3.4 so again chap. 4. vers 11 20. But yet not being so far apostatized as to disanull their Membership in the Body of Christ he tells them they were all one in Christ which undeniably shews the Apostle speaks of the Mystical Body of Christ as visible Now we evidently see he owns all to whom the Promise appertains to appertain to the visible Body of Christ or as the Promise constitutes of the Body so it appertains to them as Members of it Now I say they appertaining to and being owned by Christ and his Apostles so to do to the visible Church Kingdom and Body of Christ they undoubtedly may and ought to be and answerably were by Christ and his Apostles or by others by their allowance and direction admitted and incorporated thereinto by Baptism 3. That Infants as under this Promise may an ought to be and answerably were in Primitive Times baptized is yet further evident because the Apostle Peter plainly declares that Interest in this Promise is alone by it self a sufficient Ground for the application of Baptism Hence he exhorts those awakened Jews to be baptized upon this Ground or for this Reason that the Promise did belong unto them Acts 2.39 saith he Be baptized for the remission of Sin for the Promise is to you It is true he exhorts them to Repentance with which Faith must be conjoin'd as necessary to their Interest in the Promise but it was their Interest in the Promise that he grounds his Exhortation to them to be baptized upon Hence however Persons come to have an Interest in the Promise whether it be by their descent from Covenant-Parents or by their own personal Faith and Repentance it is all one as to our present purpose 'T is their Interest in the Promise that is the proper Ground and that alone is a sufficient Ground for the application of Baptism Be baptized for the Promise is to you not be baptized because you have repented but because the Promise is to you And this is agreeable to the first Command to keep the Covenant that is the Token of the Covenant the Command is grounded upon Interest in the Promise Gen. 17.9 Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore that is upon this Ground because the Promise is unto thee and having the Promise thou shalt upon thy Interest therein keep my Covenant So that Interest in the Promise is a sufficient Ground for the application of Baptism and Infants having an Interest in the Promise they have a sufficient Ground for the application of Baptism to them and answerably may and ought to be baptized And that which may yet further assure us that it is Interest in the Promise that is the alone Ground and that that is a sufficient Ground for the application of Baptism is the Reference that Baptism hath to the Promise It hath no necessary reference to Repentance nor Repentance any necessary reference unto it and hence Baptism may be applied where Repentance goes not before as is evident in the case of John Baptist and our Lord Christ himself 'T is the Promise alone that Baptism hath a necessary reference unto Hence whoever have an Interest in the Promise they are the true and proper Subjects of Baptism and answerably ought as in Primitive Times they had to have it applied to them IV. For the further Confirmation of this last Proposition namely That the Seed of Believers as being under the Promises of the Covenant may and ought to be baptized let the several Instances of Housholds being baptized be duly weighed That whole Housholds together with the Heads or Governours of them respectively were frequently baptized is expresly declared in Scripture Acts 16.14 15 33. So 1 Cor. 16.16 Now that we may see what Evidence these Instances give to the Truth pleaded for let three things be considered 1. That there is a very great Probability if not an absolute Certainty that if not all yet some in or of these Housholds were baptized as the Seed of believing Parents without respect had to any personal Qualifications of their own And the Probability if not Certainty of this will appear if we first consider that we must comprehend all the natural Seed in those Housholds said to be baptized Whoever were comprehended yet none of the Children ought to be excluded We must take the words of the Holy Ghost according to their proper sence and signification Now the words do necessarily include their Children 2. These House or

evident that it seems impossible that any pretending Sobriety should deny it For 1. 'T is undeniable from the very Letter of the Promise I will saith God be a God to thee and to thy Seed Now this Term Seed in the first and most proper Signification of it must needs intend his natural Children And had not the Holy-Ghost himself shewed us that Abraham was to be the Father of a Spiritual Seed and that this Seed was included with his natural all Men must have rationally understood it of his natural Seed only and it had been the highest presumption to have applied it to any other And though the Holy-Ghost hath shewed us that Abraham was to have a Spiritual Seed and that that Seed was intended yet for any to exclude his natural Seed when they have no warrant from Scripture so to do savours of no small Presumption It is a known Rule for the Interpretation of Scripture that when a Word that admits of various Interpretations and is applicable to various things is put absolutely it must at least firstly and primarily be understood according to its most proper Intent and Signification Hence for any to understand this Term Seed in this Promise of Abraham's Spiritual Seed to the excluding of his Natural Seed when they have no warrant from Scripture so to do is unreasonable and absurd And as it must most properly signify his natural Seed so it cannot without the greatest affront to common Speech and all Rules of Interpretation be understood of his Posterity in after Ages to the excluding of his natural Children immediatly proceeding from his own Loins so that as for any to have understood this Promise of Abraham's Spiritual Seed had not the Scripture warranted them so to do had been Presumption So to understand it of them to the excluding his natural Seed when there is no warrant so to do is unreasonable And to understand it of his remote Posterity to the excluding his Children descended immediatly from his own Loins is alike presumptuous unreasonable and absurd with either of the former And hence would but the contrary-minded keep to the Letter of Scripture which sometimes they stand so much upon a good Foundation would be laid for the ending of this Controversy 2. That Abraham's natural Children were firstly and immediatly intended in this Promise by this Term Seed is evident from Abraham's application of the Token of the Covenant wherein this Promise is one special Article on God's part and that under that very Notion viz. as the Token of the Covenant to them And this also according to the express Will and Appointment of God Himself that God did appoint Abraham to apply the Token of the Covenant and that under that very Notion and Consideration as the Token of the Covenant to his natural Children immediatly proceeding from his own Loins and that to all of them without any limitation or exception of the one or the other is in so many words expresly declared in that Gen. 17.9 10 11. In ver 9. the Command is given in more general Terms Thou shalt keep my Covenant and what he intended by Covenant in this 9th verse he explains in the 10th viz. the Token of the Covenant which under the First-Testament Administration is expresly declared to be Circumcision Every Man-child among you shall be circumcised And that God appointed and enjoyned it under this Notion as the Token of the Covenant is evident in that God tells them expresly it should be the Token of the Covenant between him and them And that Abraham did apply this Token of the Covenant to all his natural Seed immediatly proceeding from his own Loins and that as the Token of the Covenant is undoubted 't is expresly declared both of Ishmael and Isaac Gen. 17.13 21. Gen. 4.8 Though the Circumcision of his Children by Keturah is not mentioned yet that they were circumcised cannot be questioned seeing the Circumcision of some others as of Jacob and his Sons who yet past all doubt were circumcised is not mentioned The Command of God to circumcise them considering the Testimony that God Himself gives of Abraham's Faithfulness as also his circumncising his Servants who were more remote from him than his own Children sufficiently assure us that they were circumcised though their Circumcision be not mentioned in the Story And to suppose that he should apply the Token of the Covenant under any other Notion than as the Token of it seeing under that Notion it was commanded would be unreasonable and absurd Now Abraham's applying the Token of the Covenant wherein this Promise was a special Article on God's part and under that very Notion puts it past all scruple that by Seed in the Promise his natural Seed and that as immediatly proceeding from his own Loins were intended otherwise the Token of the Covenant and that under that very Notion as the Token of it would and that according to the appointment of God Himself have been applied to some utterly uninterested in the Covenant which is most unreasonable to imagine yea then God should have spoken that which had been utterly false to say of Circumcision it is the Token of my Covenant between me and you in case any to whom it was applied had not been in Covenant which in case this Promise took them not in they had not been had been utterly false so that to imagine God should appoint Abraham to apply the Token of the Covenant and that as the Token of it to any uninterested in it would be to imagine him not only guilty of Irrationality but Falshood Hence nothing can be more evident than that they were Abraham's natural Seed immediatly proceeding from his own Loins that were firstly and immediatly intended in that Promise 3. This might be further evidenced were it at all necessary by instancing in such of Abraham's natural Children as upon supposition of whose being intended in this Promise it will undeniably follow that all his immediate Children were intended in it And proving that they were indeed intended thus we might instance in Isaac and Ishmael that they two were intended in this Promise is evident from Scripture As for Isaac that of Gen. 21.12 expounded by the Apostle Rom. 9.7 8. fully declares it hence he is said to be an Heir with Abraham having respect to this very Promise Heb. 11.9 And as for Ishmael the Apostle puts it out of doubt that he was intended in this Promise when he tells us that upon his persecuting Isaac he was cast out Ga. 4. latter end Now he could not have been cast out of Covenant had he not been before in it and that he was not only cast out of Abraham's Family but together therewith out of Covenant is evident as other ways so from Abraham's grief for the same Now if those two were intended in the Promise it will undeniably follow that all Abraham's natural Children were alike intended in it We see the Promise is made in universal Terms not

carefully observed that in case it had been disanull'd at any time before our Lord Christ came in the Flesh yea or by him when he was come and that it hath been disanull'd at any time since or by any other I suppose no Man will affirm it had been all one as to the Apostles design for if it had been disanull'd before Christ came or by him when he was come the Apostle could not have proved that the Blessing of Abraham was come upon the Gentiles through Christ as believed in as we see he doth from the tenour of that Covenant any more than if it had been disanull'd by the Law So that undoubtedly this Covenant is the very Covenant under which Believers still are 2. Let is be considered that it is by virtue of this very Promise contained in this Covenant that Believers are Heirs of the Blessing of Abraham thus vers 29. So that not only the Blessing of Abraham is come upon believing Gentiles but is come upon them through this very Promise and that as they are considered under the Notion of Abraham's Seed which puts the matter out of doubt When Believers are under this very Promise or Heirs to the Good or Blessing contained in it as they are Abraham's Seed who can doubt whether the Covenant the grand Promise of which they are under and that as they are become Abraham's Seed be that Covenant that they are now under So that that Covenant establish'd with Abraham is the very same Covenant of Grace that Believers are now under is too evident to be denied by any that are but indued with human Modesty And whereas some may yet say The Scripture seems evidently to distinguish between that Covenant the Jews were under during the Old-Testament-Administration and that Believers are under since the Gospel-Administration calling the one the Old Covenant the other the New The Answer is at hand viz. That it is readily granted that the Jews were under a Covenant that Believers now are not under but that was not that Covenant made with Abraham but the Covenant made at Mount Sinai Hence the Covenant the New-Testament calls the Old Covenant was that made at Mount Sinai and not this made with Abraham The words are plain Gal. 4. latter end Heb. 8.8 So that it is past all rational doubt it was the Covenant of Grace that very Covenant that Believers are now under that was establish'd with Abraham the Establishment of which is recorded Gen. 17.7 And here we might further confirm what hath been hitherto pleaded for namely that the grand Promise of the Covenant is continued to Believers under the New-Testament in the same extent and latitude viz. as including their Infant-Seed with them in which it was at first made to Abraham for if the Covenant be the same the Promises of it must needs be continued in the same tenour in which they were at first made unless God himself and made any alteration which it is certain in this respect he hath not done These things appear with so much evidence that it is to admiration how they should meet with any Contradiction from any that pretend to take the Scripture as the Rule of their Faith and Practice Object 3. It may be some will yet further say That suppose it be granted that the Covenant then establish'd with Abraham was not only a Covenant of Grace but the Covenant of Grace under which Believers always have been and still are ye the Infant-Seed of the People of God under the First-Testament might be only under the external Administration of it and not taken in as Parties in the Covenant it self and hereupon that Administration ceasing they are no ways concerned in the Covenant either in regard of the Administration or the Substance of it Answer 'T is true some seem to think so but their Discourses are cloathed with such Confusion and Obscurity that it is hard to find out what they mean But that Infants were not only under the external Administration of the Covenant but were taken in as Joint-Parties with their Parents in the Covenant it self is superabundantly evident from what hath been already said Those that were under the most essential Promise of the Covenant must surely be under or in the Covenant it self Now I have sufficiently proved that Infants of Govenant-Parents were from the first establishment of the Covenant under the Promise of God's being a God to them which is the most essential Promise of the Covenant yea a Promise that virtually comprehends the whole Good contained in the Covenant So that undoubtedly they were not only under the external Administration but in the Covenant it self Possibly some will yet say Grant them to have been under this Promise and answerably in Covenant yet might not this Promise at least as appertaining to Infants be an Appendix to the Covenant of Grace and not of the Essence or Substance of it as the Promise of the Land of Canaan was To that I answer No 't is a Promise that undoubtedly appertains to the Essence of the Covenant 't is that which as I have said virtually includes the whole Good of the Covenant And how absurd and unreasonable would it be to take the Promise as made to Parents as of the Essence of the Covenant when yet as made to their Infants as only an Appendix to it especially when it is but one Promise consisting of two Branches made to one and the same Person Neither doth the Scripture give the least Ground for such an Imagination Now these Objections being answered I shall proceed to the third Proposition only as previous thereto let it be observed That I have been hitherto only proving the Interest of the Infant-Seed of Believers in the Covenant and in special in that grand Promise of it concerning God's being a God to them And this was absolutely necessary to be proved before their Right to Baptism be proved seeing their Right to Baptism follows upon cheir Interest in the Covenant and is applied to them on that Ground CHAP. IV. The third subordinate Proposition laid down proved three ways further confirm'd from those Instances of whole Houses being baptized recorded in Scripture Prop. III. THe third Proposition then is this That all those that are under or are the actual Subjects of that grand Promise of the Covenant wherein God promiseth to be a God to Abraham and his Seed in their Generations are the due Subjects of Baptism and ought according to the revealed Will of our Lord Christ to be baptized That the Infant-Seed of Believers are the proper Subjects of that Promise hath been already proved I am now to prove that they being under or the proper Subjects of the Promise are the due Subjects of Baptism Now this may be evidenced past all rational Contradiction these three ways I. From the Command of God enjoining and expresly requiring all Abraham's Seed in their Generations to keep the Covenant The words are express Gen. 17.9 And God said to