Principle on which all sound Protestants do maintain and justifie the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism is beyond contradiction When the Most High and Soveraigne Lord God saw fit to make known his Will and Pleasure to be that his Covenant of Grace agreed on between himself and his Son Christ in Eternity should be Dispensed in an Ecclesiastical or Church way he singles out above all other men Abraham his Friend on whom he Confers the Honourable Title of the Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.11 Not that Abraham did or could possibly Beget a Believer as such or could convey into the Children he Begat according to Fleshly Generation that Noble Grace of Faith wherewith God's Free-Gift had Blessed himself But God opens and propounds his Everlasting Covenant of Grace and Salvation to him as a Publick Person who was to Personate all true Believers who in after Ages were to be Members of his Visible Churches to the second coming of Christ The Sum and Substance of that Covenant is briefly comprehended in the Words of Gen. 17.7 I will Establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee This Covenant hath Two Essential Parts as all Right Covenants have 1. God's part held forth in the Words I will be a God to thee c. The meaning whereof according to the Analogie of Faith must be thus understood Tho' thou Abraham whom I now call to become my Friend and Favoright and a Publick Head or Representative of all believing Church Members to the end of the World be'st an undon and guilty sinner polluted in thy Nature and born under Adam's Covenant of Works liable and obnoxious to its Curse and to the Wrath to come unable to recover or help thy self out of that deplorable Condition into which thy natural Birth as Adam's Child hath put thee And albeit thou be no way worthy of any Favour yet I think fit to let thee know what thoughts and purposes of Mercy and Kindness I have in store for thee Abraham And for the Rest of mine Elect whom I have Chosen to my self in Christ the Promised Messiah of whom that Son which I have Promised thee is to be a Type And in whose Person all mine Elect are to be Allegorically or Typically Represented and that as thy Son is to be a Type of mine in whom I have Elected and Chosen them I frankly and freely Pardon and Forgive thee all those Transgressions and Sins wherewith as Adam's Child thou standest Chargeable for breaking that Covenant of Works I made with Adam thy and all Mankinds Natural and Faederal Head I Account thee perfectly Just and Righteous in my sight not by or for that Principal of Inherent Holiness which the Spirit of Grace in effectual Calling hath wrought in thee which Inherent Holiness is ever the fruit and effect of a Justified State but never the Procuring or Meriting Cause But I account and esteem thee as Just and Righteous as if thou hadst in thy own Person exactly performed that Legal Righteousness which the Law Moral requires on the alone account of my Sons righteousness which as the Mediator and surety of this my Covenant of Grace he is to perform in the behalf of thee and all mine Elect I most freely impute to thee I Sanctifie and Renew thy vitiated and poluted Nature by my Sanctifying Spirit that thou maiest be capable of Communion and Fellowship with me both here in my Church Militant And here after in my Church Triumphant I Adopt thee to be my Son by Grace and by virtue hereof thou art restored to all the Blessings Rights and Priviledges which Adam thy Natural and Federal Head lost and forfeited by his Apostacy and Defection Hereby thou art Admitted as a Free Denizon into the Family and Houshold of God from whence thou wast cast out in Adam when he was ejected and cast out for his Rebellion witness his expulsion out of Earthly Paradice a lively Type of the Heavenly I Promise to Establish thee in Grace so as thou shalt never more be in danger of loosing thy self or forfeiting my Love and Favour any more For ever I will be a Sun and a Shield to furnish and supply thee with all necessary Accomodations for Life in this World I will Protect and Defend thee from all adverse Powers Spiritually and Bodily which shall contrive and seek thy Ruin And finally I will receive thee into Heaven when by Death thou goest hence where thou shalt Live and Reign with me Eternally And the very same Mercy and Favour which I have now expressed and shewn to thee I do oblige my self by the promise of this my Covenant that I will do to all mine Elect who are to spring from thy Loyns As also to all mine Elect who are to come of the Gentile Race to the end of the World 2. Man's Part As for thee Abraham this thou must do on thy part thou must walk Humbly and Uprightly before me thou must make the Moral Law Engraven by the Finger of my Spirit on the heart of Adam thy Natural and Federal Head the standing Rule of thy Obedience both Negatively and Positively In all the parts of thy Obedience thou must look exactly to three things 1. To the Subject Matter of thy Obedience let it be what I Command and Require not what Creatures Devise or Enjoyn 2. To the manner See that thou do it in Faith keeping thine Eye on Christ my Son for Acceptance and Acting all by Strength derived from him 3. To the end See that my Glory be that thou aimest at and designest in all thou goest about Thou shalt not do my Work and Service in a Mercenary way as a Servant that Works for Wages but thou must obey my Command as a Son with freedom of Spirit and from a Principle of Love and Gratitude knowing and considering that my Grace and Love hath made Provision of all that is needful to make thee every way Eternally happy both here and hereafter The dreadful Curse and Eternal Death to which by Sin thou becamest obnoxious My Son Christ Typ'd out by the Ram hath set thee for ever Free from it And that by his being made a Curse and undergoing Death for thee as being thy Sponsor or Surety at his Hands I have Received the full of that Debt whereto thou becamest liable by breaking my Law there remains not the least Mite for thee to pay so that now thou hast no cause to fear my Vindicative Justice the many and sharp Afflictions wherewith thou shalt meet in thy way to Glory shall be but the gentle Chastisements of thy dearly Loving and Reconciled Father who by them will Purge out the remains of thy indwelling Corruption and sweetly wean thee from the enticing Objects of the vain and bewitching World thou Livest in That Perfect and Spotless Righteousness which must Recommend thee to me and
the Laws demand as a man naturally dead is uncapable of raising or quickening himself or as a Sparrow is uncapable to remove or carry on its Back the greatest Mountain in the World To what end should the only Wise God make a Covenant of Works with such a fallen sinner Arg. 2. If to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace be a high Reflection on God and also destructive to the Souls of Men then is God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace is a High Reflection on God and destructive to the Souls of Men. Therefore God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works For rendring this Argument Unanswerable Two things want confirmation First That to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham is a Covenant of Works is a high Reflection on God And Secondly That the same is Destructive to the Soules of Men. The First of these will evidently appear to the unprejudic'd and Impartial Reader if he seriously consider how Inconsistent it is with the Divine Attributes of God to make a Covenant of Works with a Lapsed Polluted Sinner whom he knows to be altogether Dead in Trespasses and Sins and every way as unable to will or do any Work that is Spiritually good as a Dead Man is able to quicken and raise himself For Illustration sake let it be considered How unbecoming a Wise and Prudent Man it would be to strike a Covenant or Bargain for ten or twenty thousand Pounds with an Insolvent Person who is well known not to be worth ten Farthings in the World and which is yet worse who hath neither Wit to contrive nor Health or Limbs to Work to get a Penny towards paying such a vast Sum. I cannot so much as doubt of any worldly Wise Mans unwillingness to be guilty of such an oversight as this And shall the Unerringly Wise God be guilty of so great an Absurdity Sâ—condly As this Principle Reflects on God so it is Destructive to the Souls of Men. This appears beyond all contradiction in that it raseth the very Foundation of Men's Salvation by denying that Covenant to be a Covenant of Grace which Abraham and Isaac with Jacob and all the Old-Testament Believers depended on for Eternal Salvation and by which we Gentile Believers hope to go to Heaven For most plain it is that by this pernicious Principle Abraham is lost with all who died trusting to the Grace exhibited in that Covenant And if Abraham the Father of the Faithful be trusting to a Covenant of Works I cannot see how any of his Eccelsiastical Church Seed can be Saved any more than he is For by a Covenant of Works no meer Man ever was or shâ—ll be justified and Saved Arg. 3 If the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 a Covenant of Works then it is a Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham a Covenant of Works Therefore the Covenant of God with Abraham is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works If it cannot be Demonstrated from the written Word or by Arguments Deducible therefrom that Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17.7 is called or can be proved a Covenant of Works They who so hold and Teach will be found ranked among those who call good evil and evil good and who put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light Esa 5.10 For Men to take on them to term Abraham's Covenant a Covenant of Works without any Warrant Divine is to me an Argument of an ignorant rash and presumptuous Spirit from which Charge let such Men see how they can Acquit and free themselves Arg. 4. If Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works then the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not of Works But Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works Therefore the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by works the Scripture is express and clear Rom. 4.2 3 4. Gal. 2.5 6 7. Arg. 5. If God hath made no other Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 then that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace but God made no Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 Therefore that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That which will determin the Point in Controversie is this let those who herein oppose me lay down a Scriptural definition of the Covenant of Grace and that in such Terms as best please themselves and in Case their own definition do not agree at least for Substance with Gen. 17.7 if it be according to God's Word then am I freely willing to own my self herein mistaken If they refuse to comply with so fair a Proposal let the Judicious and Impartial Reader Judge who is at the Loss herein they or I I conclude this Chapter with this Dilemma viz. Abraham the Father of the Faithful he is eâ—ther Sav'd or else he is Damn'd one of these two the Adversaries I now oppose must grant for there is no middle State for Souls Departed If they say he is Damn'd then is there no ground left us to hope that any of Adam's Posterity ever were or shall be Sav'd for we have no other Covenant whereby to expect Salvation but that of Abraham And if he Perished under that Covenant so must we If they grant that Abraham is in a State of Salvation as they must if they speak by the Spirit of Christ then Abraham was Justified and Saved by a Covenant of Grace and if by a Covenant of Grace then that Covenant mention'd in Gen. 17.7 must needs be the Covenant of Grace for besides that Covenant the Scriptures know no other Against what I have said and all Orthodox Protestants constantly â—old and affâ—â—m conceâ—ning Abraham's Covenant being a Covenant of pure and absolute Grace this is Objâ—cted by the Adversaries Object The Land of Canaan was a Temporal Blessing therefore such was the Covenant of which Circumcision was a Temporary Seal I Answer in two Particulars First The Promise of the Land of Canaan is no Essential part of the Covenant of Abraham Let the Words in the 7th Verse be Read without prejudice The last Clause of the Verse doth fully comprehend the sum and substance of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Promise of the Land of Canaan is only by way of Addition or Overplus No Essential part of the Covenant
God Bless the Reading thereof to the keeping thee back from Espousing the Errors herein decry'd or if it should prove the occasion of thy Vomitting up by sound Repentance and hearty Reformation the love and liking thou hast had to those Principles of Darkness give God the Glory of his own Grace and suffer thy self no longer to be impos'd on by such Preachers who are not only Intruders into the Sacred Office but also Heterodox and Unsound in what they Teach concerning God's Covenant with Abraham being a Covenant of Works concerning Infants-Baptism being but a Popish Invention and a piece of Will-Worship and what they Teach and confidently Affirm of Dipping being the only right Mode of Baptizing Commanded by Christ and Practised by John and all the first Baptizers By which Principles they Rase the very Foundation of Salvation to Grown Believers as well as to their Infants And disown that Christ hath any right Gospel Churches but themselves From which Principles I shall ever say and heartily pray Good Lord Deliver me and all the Families of thy Faithful People THE INTRODUCTION An occasional Discourse between a Minister and a Church Member concerning Infant-Baptism wherein sundry material Questions are put by the Church Member and plainly and particularly Answered by the Minister for the Information of the Ignorant and the satisfaction of such as are staggering in their judgments about the lawfulness of Infants-Baptism Minister Brother Edward By what I have heard from some of my Neighbours as also by the discourse which past between you and me when last together I suspect that some have been tampering with you to draw you away to Anabaptism is it so or no deal plainly to the end I might address my self to my duty in giving you satisfaction herein from Gods Word Church Member I must ingeniously acknowledge Sir that I am not without wavering and doubtful thoughts in my Mind about Infant-Baptism occasioned partly by discoursing with some of that way and perswasion partly by reading some Books which were put into my hand which to me seems full of clearness that Infant-Baptism is no way warrantable or justifiable by the Gospel of Christ Minist I find then that I am not mistaken in my apprehension of you in this matter but for your encouragement I must tell you that you are but tryed herein by a temptation for which I think never the worse of your Souls state neither are my hopes and confidence of your integrity towards God a jot or whit lessened by the inclination in your Mind to favour that Opinion for I have known some very Holy and upright Hearted Christians who in the simplicity of their Hearts have strongly enclined to favour and espouse that cause and principle as the most plausible and likely to agree with the Gospel there being no mention at all of Infant-Baptism in the Gospel neither in Precept nor yet in Example to recommend it yea I my self have in my first setting out in the ways of Christianity met with temptations to draw me to that Opinion and that by the very same means which hath occasioned your staggering herein And the main things which induced me to hanker after that Principle were 1. The high and charitable opinion I had of some of that Party being Men of high attainments in Grace and Gospel Holiness 2. There appearing to me no command for Infant-Baptism in all the Gospel nor yet any one instance where it is said that such were Baptized 3. The many Quotations of Learned Divines and Counsels which the Anabaptists Books assured me were all of their Judgment and Perswasion herein which much startled and sway'd me to kind apprehensions of their way 4 Their Branding Infant-Baptism with the Black Brand of Will-worship and Popery against both which I always had since I knew Christ in the Gospel of his Grace and ever shall have I humbly hope in Christ a Mortal Dislike and rooted Hatred By means of the 4 particulars now mentioned I was drawn to the very verge or brink of Anabaptism being just on the point of renouncing my Baptism received in my Infant State as being a meer Nullity or no Baptism at all My roving Spirit thus fluctuating and tossing between the Waves and Billows of doubtful and distracting Cogitations what I had best to do in this Case whether to offer my self to be Dipt yea or not or to address my self to Ministers of the contrary Judgment for resolution in so weighty and material a point Matters being thus I providentially and happily happened into the Company of some of the Congregational Perswasion Men no whit inferiour to those I so much admired for Piety and Holiness and who I very well knew were able to instruct and teach the others for matter of Learning and deep knowledge in the Mysteries of the Gospel These debating sundry points in Controversy between the Anabaptists and the Orthodox Protestant Reformed Churches concerning Infant-Baptism I apprehended and saw so far into the Mystery of Baptism that I was at a stand and began to question whether I was not under a delusion in disliking my Infant-Baptism received in Infancy by means hereof I was stirred up to Pray earnestly to God that his good Spirit might teach and guide me in the way of Gospel-Truth which was seconded by a diligent search into the Holy Scripture and a careful reading and weighing the Arguments brought by both Parties both for and against Infant-Baptism And in a short time through the special assistance of the Spirit of Christ I was enabled to see and understand that there was nothing of solid weight in the Reasons brought against Infant-Baptism but what are in reality repugnant and contradictory to the Word of God as will I hope in time most plainly appear to your understanding I have been the more prolix in speaking my experience herein that you might become sensible that even Godly Men might be entangled in erronious Opinions And to let you know what be the ordinary means to escape the Nets of Crafty Men who lye in wait to ensnare poor unstable though Honest and well meaning Souls Now as Christ my Lord and Master said to Peter after his recovery from his fall When thou art Converted strengthen thy Brethren Luke 22. So I am now come as my Duty binds me to endeavour your recovery and full satisfaction in these points about Infant-Baptim wherein you seem to stagger Church Memb. I hope I can say through special Grace that I am no way fond of Errour But what I do herein I do it really from my Conscience according to the light thereof I hope Sir you will not blame me for acting according thereto Minist I am far from arraigning your integrity to God being very sensible that herein you are but under a temptation as stronger Christians than you or I have been and now are neither shall I in the least attempt to press you to act herein against your Conscience Conscience I am sensible is a
tender thing which is to be informed not violently impell'd or forced I hope you have the same Charity for me as to believe that what I do act in Baptizing the Infant-Seed of encovenanted Parents and Pleading for such I do the same from my Conscience being fully perswaded that what I do herein is according to the Word of God But though I do not take on me to force or Lord it over your Conscience I hope you will without offence give me leave to use the freedom of a Pastor with you in doing two things in order to recover you The first is to reprove you for going out of the way of Duty in exposing your Conscience to those Soul deluding entanglements which hath occasioned your present disturbance and unsettledness in your Principles by deluding entanglements I mean your going out of the way of your Calling to stare and gaze out of curiosity at the plunging of Persons under the Water which albeit you and others may think may be done without either offence to your Brethren or any kind of danger to your self hath in it an infatuating charming Energie to allure and draw into a liking of it Your frequent discoursing with Men of that Principle who you very well know glory not a little in Proselyting People to that way And your so much delighting to Read their Books being not able to grapple with such subtle Enemies the Deceipt of whose Arguments lyes covered under a false Vizzard By these your Practises you have filled the Eyes of your Conscience so full of that dust and smoak which is always raised by doubtful Disputations that for want of your Monitor your Conscience I mean you are now at an apparent stand in those ways of Truth wherein you ought to run swiftly and well it were if you had been at a stand before you had so far advanced in these unscriptural Tenents But however seeing you are not ascended so high in these Errors as to be Seated in the Scorners-Chair to laugh at and deride Baby-sprinkling as a piece of Will-worship and meer Popery as the Anabaptists are well known to term and account Infant-Baptism Not for want of ignorance and prejudice the Lord knows I shall now in the second place endeavour to help you out of this Quagmire into which your own incautelousness and sinful curiosity hath by the Art of a subtle Adversary involved you in order then to a speedy helping you herein I desire you will reduce those things wherein you desire to be satisfied about Infant-Baptism to as few Heads and in as plain a method as you possibly can and then I shall endeavour to Answer your Objections wherein I faithfully promise you I shall most freely refer my self to the Word of God and to the Writings of those Divines now in Glory At whose Writings the Wisest of Anabaptists are glad to light their Candle though in the point of Baptism they are accounted neither able nor worthy to teach them And when you and I are come to Conclusion You in Objecting and I in Answering it will then appear whether Infant-Baptism be any part of Will-worship or meer Popery as it is represented by its Adversarys Church Memb. Sir I like your Proposal very well and in complyance with your reasonable Request as also in order to my own satisfaction I shall reduce those particulars wherein I desire to be satisfied to 3 General Heads under each of which I hope you will give me liberty to Propose by way of Objection what I think convenient and fit to start Minist I like very well to hear you name but 3 General Heads I hope you will observe Order and Method in what you intend to Object under those 3 Heads Church Memb. I will observe Order and Method as well as I can and shall I hope with becoming Candor weigh in the Ballance of an impartial and unprejudicate consideration and judgment what strength appears to be in your Answer and in case I find my Conscience satisfied by the strength of your Answer I shall readily own it and give Glory to God Minist I desire you to name the 3 General Heads for fear we should forget them when we come to be earnest in our Dispute Church Memb. The 3 General Heads which I propose to be satisfied in are as follows 1. The Covenant which God made with Abraham mentioned in Gen. 17.7 2. The Seal of that Covenant And 3. The Subjects who have a visible Right to that Covenant and the Seal thereof Under these 3 Heads I suppose may be brought in all that I need to say Minist As touching your first General Head viz. The Covenant which God made with Abraham What would you be at about it Church Memb. I would pray you to clear it up from the Word of God that that Covenant is a Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works for the apprehension I always had till of late that that Covenant was the Covenant of Grace was the foundation whereon my former Principle viz. Infant-Baptism was founded but being informed and taught otherwise both by Mens Preaching and also by their Books I am much in doubt as touching the lawfulness of Infant-Baptism Minist I perceive then you apprehend that Infant-Baptism is like to stand or fall as the Covenant of God with Abraham is proved to be either a Covenant of Grace or otherwise what if it be made good from the Word of God that the Covenant of God with Abraham is a Covenant of meer Grace Church Memb. Truly to be plain and ingenious I cannot see how Infant-Baptism can stand if that Covenant be a Covenant of Works as I am sensible the Baptists hold and teach it is and which I am inclined under my present light to judge it must be as they say But in case it be proved otherwise I plainly see the Anabaptists are like to suffer a miserable Shipwrack for their holding and teaching that Gods Covenant with Abraham is a Covenant of Works is the principal Pillar on which almost all their Arguments against Infant-Baptism lean If that Pillar then be shaken and overthrown by Scriptural Arguments the whole structure will tumble of course Minist I am very glad that You and I do in any measure agree in our Sentiments about this matter To let you see then how Sandy a foundation the Anabaptists Build on I shall bgin to lay down some Scriptural Arguments to prove them most heterodox and unsound in this point of Abraham's Covenant wherein they do most evidently rase the very foundation of Life and Salvation to Abraham himself and all his Seed CHAP. I. Of God's Covenant with Abraham wherein is plainly proved that that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace THat God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 was and still is the Covenant of Grace dispensed in a Church way None of the Orthodox ever did or do deny that I can find That the taking that Covenant in this Sense is the Foundation
present thee Blameless before the Throne of my Glorious Holiness in the Third Heaven is Subjectively Inherent in the Person of God-Man thy Mediator and Surety to this Mediatorial Righteousness of his thou shalt add nothing neither thy own Personal qualifications nor yet the Holiness of Saints or Angels as if thereby thou couldest be made more Acceptable than that Righteousness of his doth make thee Thou shalt keep my Covenant both thou and all thy Ecclesiastical or Church Seed throughout your Generations till my Son comes to Judge the World at the last day Thou and all thy Church Seed which Springs from thee by Fleshly Generation shall observe to have all your Males mark'd with Circumcision the visible Token and Seal of this my Gracious Covenant which I have now entred into with thee for thy self a stipulating Father and for all thy Children who are to be the Members of my Sons Mediatorial Kingdom or Visible Church on the Earth And when Christ my Son shall come in the Flesh and shall enter upon his Mediatorial Kingdom whatever visible Token or Seal he shal appoint to Succed in the Room of Circumcision thy Gentile Church Seed as well as Jews who are to believe in him shall carefully observe to be Sealed therewith both they and their Infants And that by Virtue of this my Covenant I now make with thee for thy self and them And to the end that neither thou nor thy Children in succeeding Ages may Be Ignorant of what my Will and Pleasure is concerning the Non-Elect who are to come and spring from Believing and Holy Parents in my visible Church or Churches I notifie to thee and thy Church Seed after thee throughout their Generations that my Soveraign Will and Pleasure is that all the Infants of my Believing Professing Church Membrs shall be markt with the Visible Token or Seal of this my Covenant in the Church whereof the Professing Parent or Parents are Members and that without any regard had to the Elect or Non-Elect For seeing that the Secrets of my Decrees and Counsels are known to my self alone I Will that thou and thy Church Seed after thee to the end of the World do in the Judgmâ—nt of rational Charity Judge all the Seed and Infant Posterity of my Professing People who have laid hold on my Covenant by an Eternal Visible Profession to belong to the Election and to own them for such untill they by open Apostacy and final Impenitency do manifest the contrary For albeit my Visible Churches do consist of Elect and Non Elect and the one as well as the other do partake of the Seal of my Covenant and are partakers of all Church Priviledges yet none shall ever partake internally and savingly of the inward Grace and Mercy Signified and Sealed by the Token and Seal of my Covenant in the Church Visible but the Elect only whose Names are particularly Registred in the Lamb's Book of Life And altho' the Non-Elect in my Church do fall short of the saving Benefits of my Covenant of Grace yet shall they find that I am no way behind with them for altho' I the Absolute Soveraign of the World be no way obliged to the Creature especially fallen Rebels yet seeing it is my Pleasure to Employ the Non-Elect in the Service of my Church while it is in a Militant State that those common Gifts of my Spirit wherewith they are to be endowed might be laid out and improved for the good and wellfare of my Elect and Chosen I will give them a Place in my Church that they shall be called by my Name and shall have an equal Right with mine Elect to the Seal of my Covenant and all outward helps and means of Salvation in the Church Visible whereby it shall plainly appear in the day of Judgment that their missing Heaven and falling short of Eternal Life was of their own Procurement Notwithstanding As is the Service wherein they are Employ'd in my Church I will give them a plentiful Recompence viz. a Temperal Reward in Lieu of a Temporal Service Such as Bodily Health Worldly Wealth Pleasures and Honours c. which are every way more suitable to their Spirit and are more sought and delighted in by them than are the things laid up for my Chosen Plain Instances hereof I have seen fit to leave on Record in the Persons of Ishmael and Isaac both born of Abraham according to the Flesh the one a Reprobate the other Elect both must be of the Church Visible and Sealed with the Visible Token and Seal of Gods Covenant with Abraham Of the same Nature is that of Esau and Jacob both born of Isaac according to Fleshly Generation yet the one a Reprobate and the other Elect both must be of the Visible Church and Sealed with the Seal of the Covenant and pass currant for Church Members before men untill they themselves make the contrary to appear As did Ishmael Esau c. And thus having as plainly and as briefly as I could for the information of those who are yet Ignorant of Abrahams Covenant Explained and shewn the Substance and Tenure of Gods Covenant with Abraham for himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both Jews and Gentiles to the end of the World I come now to lay down some Scriptural Arguments to Prove that Gods Covenant with Abraham as now Explained is the Covenant of Grace which God Propounded to Abraham in Gen. 17.7 And not a Covenant of Works as the Anabaptists Teach it is That it is the Covenant of Grace and no other will evidently appear to any who look not asquint on the Arguments following Arg. 1. The first Argument is this If God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any meeâ— Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Then God's Covenant with Abraham is the Covn ant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any meer Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Therefore Gods Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and no other Plain it is and none without Lying against God can deny it that God made a Covenant of Works with Adam and in him with all Mankind The Condition whereof was do and Live sin and Dye And as plain it is that Adam Fell by Transgressing that Covenant by which Fall he lost the Blessed Image of God to himself and all his Posterity whereby he and his Posterity became utterly uncapable of Life and Salvation by that Covenant Now Abraham being by natural Birth a Son of the first Adam and as such born under the Curse of Adam's Covenant and partaker of a sinful and polluted Nature which rendred him as uncapable of performing any Work which as a condition can Answer
it self The Covenant is briefly comprehended in these Words I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee For in these Words God Engages himself by free and absolute Promise to Abraham and to his Elect Church-Seed that he will be a God to him and them to do all things for them which are needful to compleat their Happiness both here and hereafter Secondly The Land of Canaan was promised not as it was any Essential part of the Covenant of Grace or as if real Blessedness consisted in the actual Enjoyment thereof But as the same was a Temporary Type of Heaven And for want of understanding and considering this very thing many who have thought themselves Wiser in the Mysteries of the Gospel than their Neighbours have prov'd themselves short of true Wisdom in this Particular at least To convince of this Mistake let that of our Saviour in Mat. 6.33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness there of and all these things shall be added to you be weighed in the Ballance of an unprejudiced Consideration and to an Impartial Eye that looks not Asquint at these two places of Holy Scripture Gen. 17.7 and Mat. 6.33 it will most plainly appear that Temporal Blessings are held forth in one as well as in the other And if it must needs be granted that because God made the Promise of the Land of Canaan to Abraham c. that therefore God's Covenant with him and his was a Covenant of Works It will as necessarily follow that Believers to whom Christ directs his Speech in Mat. 6.33 are now under a Covenant of Works as well as Abraham was And so neither Abraham the Father of the Faithful nor any of his Seed the Elect I mean either of the Jewish or Gentile Race are like to be Saved or Enjoy God for their Portion And by this way of Arguing it will evidently appear to any seeing Man who shuts not his Eyes for fear of being convinced that while the Adversaries I now Oppose in this Controversy were employed in devising this Shift to prove God's Covenant with Abraham to be a Covenant of Works and that on purpose to exclude poor Infants from that Covenant and from Baptism the now Seal thereof they have insensibly shut both Abraham and themselves too out from being Saved And what advantage will hereby accrew to their Cause let it be improved to the utmost Object 2. It is again Objected If the Covenant in Gen. 17.7 be a Covenant of pure Grace and not a Covenant of Works and that all Abraham 's Children be alike Interested therein then doth Grace come by natural Generation contrary both to Scripture and Reason Answ The ground of the Objectors mistake Lyes in two things First His not distinguishing or considering that the Children of Believing Abraham are said to be in Covenant two Ways or in a twofold Respect First Internally by Virtue of God's Election And thus none are or ever shall be in Covenant but Abraham's Seed viz The Elect who are in Scripture by way of distinction styled the Children of Promise Typ'd out in the Person of Jsaac Gal. 4 28. These and they alone Partake in the saving benefits of the Covenant and have also a right to the visible Sign or Seal of the Covenant in the visible Churches of Christ under the Gospel Dispensation Secondly Externally by Virtue of the External Profession made in the Church And thus the Non-Elect as well as the Elect are said to be in Covenant with God in his Churches Visible here on Earth These Albeit they never partake in the saving Blessings of the Covenant yet by Virtue of the External Profession made they and their Infant-Seed though not Elect have an External Right in the Church Visible to the Token or Seal of Abraham's Covenant and to all other Priviledges and Ordinances in the Church whereof they are capable according to the Revealed Will of God By Virtue hereof it is that God calls such his People and he will have his Church to call and own them for such too until they manifest themselves to be otherwise and that by a voluntary Defection and final Apostacy Plain Instances hereof are Graphically set down in God's Word in the Persons of Ishmael and Esau in whose Persons the Reprobate Seed of Abraham were Allegorically typ'd out as the Elect Seed were Allegorically and Typically represented in the Persons of Isaac and Jacob The former of these Sprang from the Flesh of Abraham as well as the latter And on this account they had a place in the Visible Church and were marked with the Seal of God's Covenant as well as the latter They were esteemed and reckoned as God's Children and true Members of the Church until by Defection and Apostacy they discovered themselves to be otherwise If this Distinction be not allowed I cannot see how God can be orderly Worship't by any Visible Church on Earth This is the Summ and Substance of God's Covenant made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 and with his Elect Seed c. And by Virtue of this Promise Abraham and with him all his Elect Seed would have been most Happy and eternally Blest had no Promise been made of the Land of Canaan So in like manner shall all true Believers with their Elect Seed be eternally Happy and Blest being made Partakers of the Righteousness of Christ intended in Mat. 6.33 Albeit such Believers and their Elect Seed should with Lazarus Die on a Dunghil for want of those Temporal Blessings held forth by Christ in the above-mentioned Promise which plainly demonstrates that the Promise which God made to Abraham of giving to him and to his Seed the Land of Canaan was no more an Essential part of the Covenant made with him and his Seed than the Promise held forth by Christ in the place above-named proves that Believers and their Elect Seed are now under a Covenant of Works All the difference which I can find between these two places is that the Promise in Gen. 17.7 was Typical of the Kingdom of Heaven The other is not so Were this Covenant of God made with Abraham the Father of the Faithful as he was a Stipulating and a Covenanting Representative in a Church Visible but rightly understood and believ'd with Application to Mens own Souls I am perswaded there would be neither Anabaptists nor Arminian in the World The Church of Rome Holds and Teaches that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion I am not ashamed to say it is the Mother of all Errors in Religion Neither am I afraid to affirm it to be both the Mother and Nurse of Anabaptism and Arminianism CHAP. II. Proving that Circumcision was a Seal of Gods Covenant of Grace made with Abraham and his Seed Arg. 1. EIther Circumcision was the external Token or Seal of Abraham's Covenant of Grace mentioned G. 1â— 7. Or else that Covenant had no Seal at all The Adversary cannot avoid here H must either Grant or Deny
if he granâ— that Circumcision was the Seal of Abrahams Covenant I have what I was to prove if he deny it to be the Seal of that Covenant then it lyes at his Door to demonstrate what was the Seal of that Covenant If he say that that Covenant had no Seal at all He will thereby not only gainsay the Word of God but also speak against reason for all Men know it is an essential property of a Covenant to have a Seal to confirm the matter contained in the Covenant Arg. 2. If Circumcision is by God himself called the Seal of the Covenant then is it beyond all Controversy the Seal of the Covenant But Circumcision is by God himself called the Seal of the Covenant Therefore Circumcision is beyond all controversy the Seal of the Covenant For Proof of the Argument compare Acts 7 8 with Gen. 17 10. To which I will only add Rom. 4 11 which will put the matter in Dispute beyond the reach of all Dispute The Words are plain and express in calling Circumcision the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which plainly proves two things First That Circumcision is a Seal of the Covenant made with Abraham Secondly That the Covenant of which Circumcision was the Seal was the Covenant of Grace and no other CHAP. III. That Water-Baptism succeeded or came in the room of Circumcision under the Gospel Dispensation I prove by 3 convincing Arguments Arg. 1. IF there be no other Initiatory Seal appointed by Christ â—nder the Gospel but Water-Baptism then is Water-Baptism come or suceeeded in the room of Circumcision to be the initiating Seal under the Gospel But there is no other initiatory Seal appointed by Christ under the Gospel but Water-Baptism Therefore Water-Baptism is come or succeeded in the room of Circumcision to be the initiatory Seal under the Gospel The truth and strength of this Argument will the more clearly appear by duly considering that Circumcision was under the dark Dispensation of the Law the initiating Seal of the Covenant which will not cannot be denyed unless by Men who understand or care not what they say That Water-Baptism is and must be so now must of necessity be acknowledged by all who own that the Lords Supper succeeded or came in the room of the Passeover I humbly conceive no Wise Man will oppose me in saying that the Churches of the New-Testament have as great need of an initiating Seal of the Covenant of Grace as had the Church of the Jews under the Old And if Baptism be not that Seal I know not what is for that Circumcision is now abrogated and abolished under the Gospel none can deny and that some other visible sign must succeed or come in its room must be granted by them who acknowledge that the Lords Supper succeeded or came in the room of the Passeover Arg. 2. If the Adversaries themselves do practically own Baptism to be the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant then Baptism is the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant But the Adversaries themselves do â—ractically own Baptism to be the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant Therefore Baptism is the initiating Seal of the Gospel Covenant Those I here dispute against before they can overthrow this Argument must abandon their own practice in making Baptism by Dipping the Door of Entrance into their Churches by which Practice they Unchurch all other Churches who are not of their own Perswasion It is well known in London and else where where Anabaptism is practised that they make Baptism by Dipping the form of a right Gospel Church on which account it is they refuse Communion in the Lords Supper with the most Sanctified Believers if they are not Dipt after their Mode 'T is true that some of that Perswasion would seem more moderate and charitable than others of that way while they make Saintship the only term of Church Communion These seem not to lay such stress on Baptism as the rest of that Perswasion do they will admit to the Lords Supper with them those of other Perswasions though not Baptized in their way but how such will be able to justify their practice in admitting Unbaptized Persons to the Lords Supper I cannot understand to me it is plain that there is the same parity of reason for keeping back an Unbaptized Person from the Lords Table as there was for keeping back an Uncircumcised Person from the Passover of Old The first of these viz. Baptism is the visible Badge of our Union with Christ in Regeneration as Circumcision was to the Believing Jews The other viz. the Lords Supper is the visible Badge of our Communion and Fellowship with Christ as the Passover of Old was to the Believing Circumcised Jews Now as Communion is a fruit of Union and follows after it so no Person ought to be admitted to the second that is not actually a visible Partaker of the first It is not to be doubted that these who in Charity invite us to the Lords Table with them do account us as Unbaptized Persons while they reckon our Baptism received in Infancy and by Sprinkling but a meer nullity that is no Baptism at all Arg. 3. If Water Baptism have the same end and use assigned it by God as Circumcision had of old viz. to signifie and Seal to Believers and their Infants Elect the truth of their Regeneration c Then Water Baptism hath Succeeded in the room of Circumcision But Water Baptism hath the same end and use Assign'd it by God as Circumcision had of old viz. to signifie and Seal to Believers and their Elect Infants the truth of their Regeneration c. Therefore Water Baptism hath Succeeded in the room of Circumcision This Argument depends on the Right and Genuine Explication of that Text in Colos 2.11 In whom also ye are Circumcised with the Circumcision made without Hands in puting off the Body of the sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ Buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are Risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead I shall not here meddle with Explaining this because I shall have occasion to speak to it when I come to Answer the Objections brought against Baptism being come in the room of Circumcision whereto I refer my Reader Against what hath been said concerning Circumcision being the Seal of the Covenant of Grace c. it is Objected thus Object Circumcision was only a Seal of a Temporal Carnal Covenant Sealing only Earthly and Temporal Blessings to the Carnal Church of the Jews Ans To this Objection I Answer in three Particulars 1. I have already proved that God's Covenant with Abraham of which Circumcision was the Seal was and still is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works as some Ignorant and Injudicious Teachers would fain have it to be And that meerly on the account of keeping Poor Infants from Baptism which they know could never
be Justified by God's Word should they Judiciously acknowledge that Abraham's Covenant is the Covenant of Grace and that Circumcision was the Seal thereof and that Water Baptism is now come in the room thereof 2. In that some have reflected on that Covenant calling it a carnal Covenant of Works and the Church which was to Observe and Practice Circumcision the Seal thereof a carnal Church all I need to say by way of Reply is to bewail the carnallity of their Uncircumcised Hearts and Lips who have no better or higher Apprehensions of God's Holy Covenant the Grace whereof must bring them to Heaven if ever they come thither and of his so highly Honoured Friends Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the rest of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Godly Believers of that Day than to call it a carnal Covenant and them a carnal Church 3. If Abraham's Covenant was a Covenant of Works to him and his Children then it must needs he so to us Gentile Believers and to our Children now And if so let the Adversary Demonstrate if he can how Abraham or any of that carnal Church as they falsely term it can be supposed to be now in a Saved State Or what ground of hope we Gentile Believers and our Children have that we or any of ours shall go to Heaven when we Die seeing that we are still under the very same Covenant with Abraham which Covenant if it be a Covenant of Works and not of Grace no Salvation can be expected and if the Believers under that dark Dispensation were Carnal and not Spiritual how comes the unerring Wisdom of God to Propound them to Believers under the Gospel for Examples and Patterns of Faith Patience c. Heb. 11. Heb. 12.1 Ja. 5.10 Let it be farther considered that Albeit the Seal of Circumcision Sealed no saving Blessings to the Non-Elect it doth not hence follow that it Sealed no other than Temporal Blessings to the Elect seeing that to them the Heavenly were Typically included in the Earthly As touching the Earthly Blessings which Circumcision Sealed to the Non-Elect they were greater and better than God was any way obliged to give them I am sure than they savingly improved Object We utterly deny that Water-Baptism did succeed and come in the room of Circumcision Answ For confirmation of the Affirmative let the three Arguments already laid down under this Head be seriously and without prejudice considered To which I will only add the Explication of Colos 2.11 12. whereon I have grounded a fourth Argument to prove that Water-Baptism succeeded and came in the room of Circumcision In the place above quoted the Apostle plainly sets forth to the believing Colossians and in them to all believing Gentiles to the Worlds end two things necessary to be known and believed by all true Believers First That they who by a true lively Faith have Embrac'd the Lord Jesus Christ as held forth in the Gospel evidencing their Faith by the Truth of Gospel-Sanctification They and none else who are Adult are made actual Partakers of the true and saving Circumcision effected in the Soul by the Spirit of Christ And which was Externally signified by the outward Circumcision These Believers having now obtained the Spiritual Circumcision are not at all to be Concerned or Troubled that they are not outwardly Circumcised with the Circumcision made with Man's Hands Forasmuch as that which was Externally Signified and Seaâ—ed to the believing Jews by the outward Circumcision is now Internally and Powerfully wrought in their Hearts by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly The Apostle sets forth in this place that Water-Baptism is Instituted and Appointed by Christ under the Gospel Dispensation to be to believing Gentiles the same that Circumcision was to the Jews viz. A Visible Sign and Seal of Abraham's Covenant to all his Ecclesiastical Church-Seed among the Gentiles viz. All of that Race who on God's calling them Believe in and Obey the Lord Jesus Christ To these and their Infant-Seed and none else among the Gentiles Baptism doth now under the Gospel Signify and Seal the very same Spiritual Blessings and Church-Priviledges which Circumcision of old did Signify and Seal to the believing Jews and their Infant-Seed This I take to be the Sense and Meaning of the Apostle in that so much controverted place In this Sense I hope I shall Die satisfied And herein I humbly conceive none of the Orthodox will differ from me which Sense being granted it is beyond the reach of all Scriptural contradiction that Water-Baptism was Instituted and Appointed by Christ on purpose to succeed in the room of Circumcision CHAP. IV. Shewing and proving that the Infants of Believing Gentiles now under the Gospel have as real a Right to the Covenant of Grace and to Baptism the now Visible Sign and Seal thereof as had the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh to it and to Circumcision the then Seal of the Covenant of Grace And that they are as capable of the Grace and outward Seal of the Covenant as are the most Adult grown Believers I shall lay down Four Arguments to evince and make good against all Opposition what I now assert Arg. 1. THE first Argument is thus fram'd If God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father and never since Repeal'd that Gracious Act of his Then the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interested in the Covenant of Grace and have as great Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever But God himself did by absolute Soveraign Grace comprehend Abraham's Church-Seed in the Covenant of Grace he made with believing Abraham their Stipulating and Covenanting Father which Gracious Act of his was never since Repealed Therefore the Infants of Abraham's Church-Seed are still Interessed in the Covenant of Grace and have as great a Right to and are as capable of the Grace and Seal of that Covenant as ever I cannot see how this Argument can possibly be overthrown but by proving that God did alter and change that Covenant he made with Abraham his Friend for himself and for his Church-Seed The which when the Adversary doth by Evidence of Scripture not abused and perverted I shall then yield the Cause and bewail my Mistake But two things cause in me an unshaken Confidence that this can never be done First The Immutability and Unchangableness of God on which very account he is styled a Covenant-keeping God who never yet cast off any poor Sinner until that Sinner did first actually cast God off the which I think the Adversary dares not deny Secondly The Impossibility of poor Infants actually casting God off and that because of their Incapacity in respect of Age. Arg. 2. If Infants be at all Saved they are Saved by the Grace of God's Covenant made with Abraham which Covenant and the External
Seal thereof in the Visible Church must belong to them also But Infants are Saved by the Grace of God's Covenant made with Abraham and in no other way Therefore the Covenant of God's Grace by which they are Saved and the Seal thereof in the Visible Church must belong to them also This Argument hath been constantly maintained by the Orthodox against the Enemies of Infant-Baptism with such success that I never yet heard the Man's Name who was able to answer or overthrow the same by sound or solid Argument To deny Salvation to Infants is a Principle so monstrously Cruel and Uncharitable exposing to the Judgment of God and to the deserved Frowns of all Tender-hearted Parents that some who account it a point of great Skill and Wisdom in the Mystery of the Gospel to Decry and Witness against Infant-Baptism have declared themselves strongly inclin'd to believe that all Infants are Saved and that without distinguishing between Elect and Reprobate or between the Seed of Professing Godly Believers and that of Mahometans c. a Principle altogether as silly and groundless as that of denying the Right of Believers Infant-Seed to the Covenant of Grace and the Visible Token or Seal thereof in the Church And at what Door this Heterodox Dream should enter or from what Root or Principle it should spring I know not unless from that Popish Arminian Principle of general Redemption and universal Grace Here by the Concession or Grant of the very Adversaries Infants are Saved but how or in what way whether by a Covenant or without a Covenant Here they are profoundly silent not daring to mention any Covenant at all fearing an Advantage may be thereby given to discover or prove the Right of Infants to the Covenant It is sufficient such Dreamers Judge to leave poor Infants to the general Mercy and Grace of God as those do who Dream and Conceit that the very Damned in Hell shall at length be delivered from the Torments of that Place For which Chymerical Whym there is as much to be said from the Word of God As there is to prove that God will extend the Grace of his Covenant to all Infants Dying so The Adversary I dispute against knows very well that should it be granted in Terminis in plain Terms that Infants are Saved by the Grace of the Covenant it can no way be avoided but that Infants must be in that Covenant and must have an Indisputable Right in foro Ecclesiae to the outward Seal thereof But this must be deny'd and its contrary asserted for the most Glorious Gospel-Truth viz. That Believers only excluding their Infants are Interested in the Covenant and have a Right to the Seal thereof and that in the Right of the Profession they make before Men. Now how absurd and contrary to the very Tenure and Design of God's Covenant with Christ in the behalf of the Elect this Principle of Anabaptism is I leave to every Unprejudiced Reader who understands any thing in Religion to Judge And whether to restrain the Promise of God's Covenant which equally extends to all the Elect to that part of the Elect which are Adult and Grown up to make a Profession and to extend the Grace of God beyond the bounds of his own Covenant be not equally to Rase the Foundation of Gospel-Truth and to Usurp the Throne of God or to Invade his Prerogative in the Church I leave to Wise Men to determine If thus to do falls not under that dreadful Commination or Woe threatned in Rev. 22.18 I am greatly mistaken Arg. 3. If Infants do stand in as real need of the Grace of God's Covenant as the Adult do and be every way as capable thereof as the Adult are then must they of necessity be allow'd the Seal thereof in the Church But Infants do stand in as real need of the Grace of God's Covenant and are every way as capable thereof as the Adult are Therefore the Seal of God's Covenant in the Church must of necessity be allow'd them That Infants are Partakers of Adam's Guilt and also of that Pravity and Pollution of Nature which came by Adam's Fall I am confident will be deny'd by none unless by downright Dreamers now to own this And at the same time to Teach and Hold that Infants are because not Grown up to the use of Reason and actual Faith uncapable of Regeneration is to deny Salvation to all Infants who Die Infants And how well this Principle accords with all Infants being Saved who Die Infants is not difficult to understand If this be not Contradictio in Terminis viz. A Contradiction in plain Terms I know not what a Contradiction means The Lord Christ who can neither lye nor be deceived in what he saith assures us that except one be Born again he cannot possibly see the Kingdom of God Jo. 3.8 wherein the absolute need of Regeneration is discovered and asserted and the Subject of which this is predicated in that Text being indefinitely and universally exprest we are taught that neither Adult nor Infant shall ever enter Heaven till that work of Regeneration pass on the guilty polluted Soul And to say that an Adult or grown Person by reason of his Age is capable of this great Change but that an Infant because he wants the use of reason c. is uncapable of it What is this but interpretatively to hold and say that the Creatures own will and reason must concurr to the producing the New Creature in a Dead Soul And how advantageous this Principle is to Papists Arminians Pelagians and Socinians the Learned and Orthodox well know The Enemies themselves do with us acknowledge that Water-Baptism is a Passive Ordinance and strange it is that those of that Party who are concerned to deck and adorn the Frontispiece of their Books against Infant-Baptism with such Ornate Florishes of Greek Hebrew and Latin Sentences do not in their way of arguing about this matter give us to understand that they understand and know the meaning and proper signification of the word Passive better than it appears they do certain it is and the Learned know it that the term Passive signifies and imports a Non-agency in the Subject when a change is passing on it or a work producing in it to the effecting of which change or work the Subject Recipient neither wills nor acts any thing towards the production of such a change If I understand any thing of Gods Mind revealed in the Sacred Scripture or was ever experimentally acquainted with the Spirits method in passing that great change on a Sinner in effectual Calling The work consists of two parts First Gods Gracious Acts in freely Pardoning all the Rebels Sins and Transgressions committed against the Law imputing to him that spotless Righteousness of Christ his Son the Sinners Sponsor or Surety as truly and really as if that spotless Righteousness had been acted performed by the Sinner himself Personally This is the first part wherein that great
change lyes or consists which in Divinity is called Justification The Second is Goâ—s quickening and renewing the inward Powers and Faculties of the Soul by communicating a principle of Spiritual Life to the Sinner in every of the Souls faculties within I do not mean or intend that in this work of Regenerating the Sinner the Natural faculties concreated with the Nature of Adam are destroyed or annihilated but that the Predominancy of those vitious qualities inhering in the Souls faculties is overpowered by the Sanctification of the Spirit and a contrary Principle of saving and unloosable Grace is communicated to every of these faculties in the Soul whereby the new Principle communicated maintains its own Being in those respective Faculties and this through the continual supply of the Spirit which produced the change and making continual resistance against that Vice and Corruption as yet remaining in the same Faculties where the new Creature is appointed to War and Combat until that Sinless Perfection promised in the Covenant of Grace supersede and dispossess that indwelling Corruption in the Soul under which the new Creature continues to groan until a perfect release come This is called Sanctification and when the set time prefixt in Gods Decree for calling an Elect Sinner is come what produceth this great change I will suppose the Sinner to be come to the Years of Manhood capable of acting or exercising his natural Faculties doth his will or his reason help the Almighty in producing so miraculous a change can the Eye of this Sinners blind reason and understanding see into or comprehend the hidden Mystery of that Wisdom manifested and set forth in that stupendious and astonishing contrivance of Gods justifying and reconciling to himself an Apostate Rebel Sinner by the imputed Righteousness of another can the Eye of blind reason be capable of this can the Will of this dead Sinner incline or move it self towards the Sinners own Conversion to be a Coadjutor or Fellow-helper to forward or help the Almighty in effecting this strange and miraculous change can it possibly be that Spiritual or Corporal Blindness can cure it self or that Enmity and Rebellion can change its own Nature Let the experience of every rightly assured Believer speak to this If then nothing in the poor dead Sinner neither the use of his natural reason nor yet any activity in his unrenewed Will doth contribute any help to produce so wonderful a change the work must needs be entirely Gods own work From which I argue in the behalf of poor Infants if God can and doth freely pardon and blot out the Millions of actual Sins added to the original guilt of an adult Sinner if he can and doth freely and most graciously impute the Righteousness of his Son and by thus doing justifies an adult Sinner If God can and doth by the irresistable efficacy of his own Holy Spirit renew the faculties of the Soul of an adult Sinner which is as I may say steeped and even soaked in Vitiosity and actual Pollution cannot the same Almighty Just Wise and Gracious God do and effect the like change in and upon a poor helpless Infant though that Infant understand not what is done to it neither is capable of contributing any help towards so great a change From what hath been here offered to consideration to me it is evident and plain that when Men cry out and say Infants while Infants are uncapable of Regeneration because they want the use of reason c. they speak most injuriously and ignorantly against God himself as if he could not or would not effect that in and for an Elect Infant which he doth for an adult Sinner as the justifying and renewing an adult Sinner hath no dependence on the reason will or speech of a grown Sinner even so the want of actual reason activity of Will or Speech in an Infant cannot possibly hinder God from effecting this great and gracious work in and upon an Elect Infant though the poor Infant can do nothing towards so great a change The Subject Recipient of this work of Regeneration is every way Passive the adult as well as the Infant Agreeable to this Act of Gods in changing a Sinner is that Ordinance of Water-Baptism whose principal use is twofold First to signifie and represent his own gracious dealing with the Sinner Baptized in Pardoning all his Sins for Christs sake whose Blood represented by the Water in Baptism was shed for the Remission of the Sins of all comprehended in that Covenant of Grace whereof Baptism is a Seal And Secondly that it may be a Seal to confirm to the Baptized if Elect all the gracious Promises of the same Covenant of Grace as Gods work upon the Soul of a true Convert is in respect of the Sinner wholly Passive so Baptism the outward Sign and Seal of Gods Covenant of Grace is altogether Passive And as the Wisdom of Christ saw fit to appoint the Element of material Water to be used in Baptism as above all the other Elements most suited to the design of that Ordinance because of the Analogie and resemblance which is between Water and the Blood of Christ so no mode or way of administring this Water-Baptism doth so exactly and to the life set forth the freeness of Gods Grace and Mercy exhibited in the Covenant of Grace then the act of Sprinkling or pouring out the Water on the Party Baptized By this way of Sprinkling under the Gospel there is a sweet and orderly Harmony kept between the Pen-men of Gods Word both under the Old and New-Testament Dispensation with whom whoever studys to agree in applying the Water of Holy Baptism they will be at length found to be in the right how many and black Censures soever are heapt on them by injudicious Spirits The Spirit of God in the work of Regeneration applys the Spiritual Baptism by Sprinkling or pouring out of his Graces on the Soul There must be an Analogie kept between the thing signified and the outward Sign Against what hath been laid down to prove Infants right to Baptism the Seal of Gods Covenant many things are objected I will for brevity sake contract the Objections with my Answers to as few particulars as possibly I can Object 1. In the Words of the Grand Commission there is not one word concerning Infants Mat. 28.19 Go ye and Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name c. This seems too weak though well meaning Minds to be unanswerable But in the strength of him who gave out this Grand Commission I hope to shew how wretchedly the Objector is mistaken herein In order whereto let two things be seriously and warily considered First that albeit Christ the Lord doth not mention Infants in particular yet he includes them in the Words of the general Commissionâ— Go Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Here the Lord commands expresly that all such as belong to Gods Covenant with Abraham Gen. 7.7 shall be Baptized Namely all
Ancestors were Initiated by Water-Baptism and in maintaining of which they seemed for many years very Zealous The second thing I shall Premise is this viz. That Heterodox and Corrupt Underminers of the Gospel are then to be most of all lookt after and watcht against when they lay about them to advance the Fame and Credit of the Devil's Ministers by Ecclipsing and Darkening the Credit and deserved Fame of Christ's Worthys whom Christ hath Honoured with being the chief Combatants in the Lord's Battels against the Powers of Darkness in this World My design in this is to discover to the unwary Reader this Doctor 's Design of Blackening that Renowned and Incomparable Servant of Christ Mr. John Calvin than whom I verily believe the World hath not since the Apostles left the Earth seen a Greater Divine A Man who for his high and excellent Endowments in all manner of Learning especially his Eagle-eyedness in penetrating into the Sense of Scriptures was more like a Prophet or an Apostle than an ordinary Preacher This Doctor that he might put a Lustre on Michael Servetus his Name draws the Pencil of horrid and black Reproach across the Name and Reputation of Holy and as I said Incomparable Calvin The Devil in his Ministers being deeply sensible how the famous and elaborate Works of that one Man stand in the way to prevent and hinder the Devil growing Rampant in advancing his Kingdom of Darkness among the Sons of Men. Calvin is by the Dr. represented as an ambitious Self seeking Man and which is far worse a bloody Persecuter while his Servetus is deckt and adorned wiâ—h the Robes of a Glorious Martyrdom The Drs. Words will shew whether I be mistaken in what I say of him see Page 4 of the Drs. Epistle where he saith with a Spirit of virulency and at last I concluded it must certainly proceed from the very Spirit and Principle of the first founder of your Sect meaning the Presbyterians Master John Calvin who burnt the Books of Servetus a Learned Baptist and afterwards perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva to Burn him alive which Sentence was executed upon him as Castellio testifies who was a contemporary with him In these words Michael Servetus was burnt alive for his Opinion at Geneva 1553 upon the 27th â—ay of October Besides this The Dr. tells his Reader with an ungodly design to lessen and blacken the Famous Calvin and to Extol his Servetus that one well observes that Mr. Calvin did acknowledge of Servetus that he was a Learned Charitable Man notwithstanding which he wrote a Book to Justifie Servetus being put to Death When I See and Reaâ— these things from a better and more Impartial Testimony than Castellio was I shall then say somewhat to it But indeed I must Ingeniously assure the Dr. that I shall neither believe him nor his Castellio in the Reports they spread abroad of Calvin and others of Christ's Worthys who Detect and Decry their Heretical Doctrines Not him because sad Experience Teaches that those of his Judgement are pretty well Skilled in Misrepresenting and Belying the most Holy Orothodox and most Learned of Divines on purpose to gain Ground among the less Intelligent whom they know to be strangers to Authors and who will be easily drawn to Credit those Reports which they are not able to contradict Especially when Represented to them by the Mouth and Pen of such as they take to be good Men. Not his Castellio because I look on him every way as unfit to be a Witness against so Orthodox and great a Propugnator of Gospel Verities as Calvin is known to be And that on the Account of the Testimonies given of Castellio by good and Learned Men who better knew what Castellio was than Dr. Russel doth The Great and Learned Scaliger charges Castellio with holding many corrupt Opinions of the Anabaptists And the Learned Hoffman Accused him for being one of the first Sowers of the Seed of Arminianism Tar. Faber another Great and Learned Author Charged him with saying that the Song of Solomon was a Wicked Book And he held that Paul Taught a more Mysterious Divinity to some perfect Disciples than he left in Wri ing this is to be seen in his Book on the First Epistle to the Corinthians Now if the Impartial Reader seriously weighs the Account given of Calvin and Castellio by the Orthodox and Learned he will soon conclude with me That had the Parts and Learning of Servetus and Castellio both Concenter'd in one Head Calvin's Orthodoxy in the Faith and his Excellency in all manner of Learning had never been in danger of Suffering an Eclipse Nor yet his Books of receiving a Solid Answer much less a Confutation by such Men as Servetus and Castellio whatever Dr. Russel and his Bigotted Proselites think or believe to the Contrary That Eagle Eyed Calvin soared too High in Penetrating into the Arcana Imperii of Heaven for such Glow-worms to reach his Sense or to understand the Spirit by which he Speaks and Writes Wisdom is Justified of none but her own Legitimate Off-spring Mat. 11.19 And here I desire the wary Reader to take notice of the fraudulent design of Dr. Russel which is to Iâ—pose on his Reader a believing that Servetus who dy'd at Geneva for his Opinion did Dye for bâ—ing an Anabaptist which inded is a notorious Piece of Falsâ—ood as the Learned and Godly who look into Antiquity well know who give that Account of Servetus that he was Executed at Geneva for his Blasphemy agâ—inst the Holy Trinity he Denying the God-Head of Christ and the Personality of the Holy Ghost This the Dr. well knew would have spoiled his design had he honestly told his Reader what an Heterodox and Blasphemous Wretch his Servetus that Learned Baptist who Dy'd at Geneva for his Opinion was And truly to be plain had Servetus Dy'd for being an Anabaptist which I utterly deny he did yet I am far from thinking the better of Anabaptism therefore Or Judging Servetus or any others who on that Account loose their Lives to be true Martyrs of Jesus That saying of Cyprian will ever be true that Causa non Mors facit Martirem The Cause not Death makes a Martyr As the Blessed Jesus hath his Witnesses who Seal the Word of his Patience with their dearest Blood So the Devil hath his Witnesses yea many more than Christ hath who Seal their Infernal Heresies and Damnable Doctrines with their Hearts Blood yet I am far from Believing that such Martyrs will ever be owned by Christ at their going off the Stage Or that such Sufferings will make better the horrid Lyes and Blasphemies Men Suffer for be their Constancy seeming Zeal and Courage what it will Having Premised these things I now proceed to Examine the Four Particulars whereon his Fabrick of Anabaptism seems to be Founded The Dr. and with him all Anabaptists Hold and with great Confidence Assert that Dipping and â—lungeing the whole Body under Water is the