BAP/ 
 T2*34<r 
 
v 
 
 °( 
 
 <2* FRINCETON, N. J. *" 
 
 Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Agnciv Coll. on Baptism, No. 
 
 I0&7. 
 
 
DISCOVRSE 
 
 O F 
 
 aptifme, 
 
 ITS INSTITUTION, 
 
 and Efficacy upon all Believers. 
 Together with 
 
 A CONSIDERATION 
 
 of the Pradlife of the Church 
 
 I N 
 
 BAPTIZING INFANTS 
 
 of Beleeving Parents: 
 And the Pradlife juftified 
 
 By J er: Taylor D. D. 
 
 Suffer little children to come unto me^ and forbid them not, &C. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by f. fle(her for JL Roy {lon, a t the Angel in Ivy-Lane. 
 
 MVCLJL 
 
To the Reader. 
 
 
 £Sg^£%Bfkdjld to take notice, That this 
 Difcourfewas not intended by the 
 Author to have been fent abroad 
 thus by it felf but was fitted by 
 him to the ayr and mode of other 
 Difcourfes, wherewith he hadde- 
 figned it to be joyned. Butfome perfons of judgement, 
 to Tbhofe perufal it was committed, fuppoflng that if this 
 Jhould be kept in till thofe other could be finijhed, fome 
 dij advantage might ari/e to the caufe which it afferts, 
 w'tfbed and advifed it might be publiflied by it felf To 
 whofe defires the Author (againji his firji defign) hath 
 condefcended, upon thit perfwajion, Tint though it ap- 
 pears thus without fome formalities and complements 
 requifite to an intire Treatife, yet, as to the thing it 
 felf there is nothing wanting to it which he believed ma- 
 terial to the Que/Hon, or ufeful to the Church. And as 
 for thofe Arguments which in The Liberty of Pro 
 phecying, Setl. 18. are alleaged againft Paedo- 
 baptifm, and in the opinion of fome r do feem to 
 fland in need of anftoering, he had it once in thought to 
 have anfaered them : but upon thefe confederations he 
 
 A z forbore , 
 
To the Reader. 
 
 forbore, i . Becaufe tbofe Arguments are not good in 
 them/elves , or to the Queflton precifely confidered : 
 but onely by relation to the preceding Arguments there 
 brought for Ttfdobaptifm , they may feem good one 
 againjl another, but tbefe in the Tlea for the Anaba- 
 baptifls, haVe no flrength, but what is accidental (as 
 he conceives.) z. Becaufe in this Difcourfe he hath 
 really laid fuel? grounds, and proved them , that upon 
 their fuppofition all thofe Arguments in The Liberty 
 of Prophecy ing, and all other yvhicb he ever heard 
 of will fall of tbetnf elves. 3. Becaufe thofe Argu- 
 ments, to his fenfe, are fo weak, and fo relying upon 
 failing and deceitful Principles, that he was hath to do 
 them fo much reputation, as to account them worthy 
 the anfwering. 4. 'But becaufe there may be fomi ne- 
 cefities "toUch he knows not of, and are better obferVed 
 by thern'toho live in the midfi of them, then by himfdf 
 whoisthrujl into a Retirement in Wales, therefore he 
 accounts himfelfat reft in this particular, becaufe he 
 hath underftood that his (very worthy fiend Vr. H.- 
 Hammond hath in his charity and humility defended 
 to an fiver that ColletJion > y and hopes, that both their 
 hands being fo fafl clafyed in a mutual complication, 
 will do fome help and aftiflance to this Queflion , by 
 which the Ark of the Church is fo violently fhaken. . 
 
 A DIS- 
 

 A DISCOURSE 
 
 Of Baptism. 
 
 §. t. 
 
 $.2* 
 
 Hen the holy Jefus was to begin his Pro- 
 phetical Office, and to Jay the founda- 
 tion of his Church on the Corner-ftone, 
 he firft temper'd the Cement with vrate r 
 and then with blood , and afterwards 
 built it up by the hands of the Spirit : 
 Himfelf enter 'd at that door by which 
 his difciples for ever after were to foilow 
 him ; for therefore he went in at the door 
 of Baptifm, that he might hallow the entrance which himfelf 
 made to the Houfc he was now building. 
 
 As it was in the old, fo it is in the new Creation ; out of the 
 waters God produced every living creature : and when at firft 
 the Spirit moved upon the waters, and gave life, it was the type 
 of what was defigned in the Renovation, Every thing that lives 
 now, is born of water and the Spirit ; and Chrift, who is our 
 Creator and Redeemer in the new birth, opened the fountains 
 and hallowed the ft ream : Chrift who is our life went down in- 
 to the waters of Baptifm, and we who defcend thither finde 
 the effects of life ; it is living water, of which whofo drinks, 
 needs not to drink of it again, for it fall be in him a well */ Job, 4. 14. 
 water Jpringing up to life eternal. 
 
 But becaufe every thing is refolved into the fame principlef 
 from whence they are taken, the old world which by the powct 
 of God came from the waters, by their own fin fell into the 
 waters again, and were all drowned, and onely eight perfons 
 were faved by an Ark : and the world renewed upon the (lock 
 and referves of that mercy, configned the Sacrament of Baptiim 
 in another figure ; for then God gave his fign from Heaven, 
 that by water the world fliould never again perifti: but he 
 rueant that they fhould be faved by water : for Baptifm, which 
 
 B is 
 
 §•3 
 
2 A Difcourfe 
 
 i Pec3.11. is 4 figure tike to thts 9 doth alfo now fave m by the refurretlion 
 of Jeftts Chrifi. 
 §.4. After this, the Jews report that the world took up the do- 
 
 ctrine of Baptifms, in remembrance that the iniquity of the old 
 •world was purged by water ; and they wafhed all that came 
 to the fervice of the true God, and by that baptifm bound 
 them to the obfervation of the Precepts which God gave to 
 Noah. 
 §.. J« But when God feparated a family for his own efpecial (ervice, . 
 
 he gave them a Sacrament of initiation, but it was a Sacra- 
 ment of blood, the Covenant of Circumcifion : and this was 
 the fore-runner of Baptifm, but not a type ; when that was 
 abrogated, this came into the place of it,and that configned the 
 fame faith which this profefles;but it could not properly be a type, 
 whole nature is by a likenefs of matter or ceremony to repretent 
 "Umbra m lege, the famemyftery. Neither is a Ceremony, as Baptifm truly is, 
 imago m Evan- properly capable of having a type, it felf is but a type of a 
 VhOiVtraas m greater myfterioufnefs : and the nature of types is, in Ihadow 
 todeicribeby dark lines a nature lubitance ; lo that although 
 Circumcifion might be a type of the effects and graces beftowed- 
 in Baptifm, yet of the Baptifm or ablution it felf, it cannot 
 be properly ; becaufe of the unlikenefs of the fymboles and 
 configurations, and becaufe they are both equally diftant from 
 fubftances, which types are to confign and reprefent. The 
 firftBifhops of Jerufalem, and alltheChriftian Jews for many 
 years retained Circumcifion together with Baptifm; and Chrift 
 himfelf, who was circumcifed, was alfo baptized ; and there- 
 fore it is not fo proper to call Circumcifion a type of Baptifm : 
 it was rather a feal and fignof the fame Covenant to Abraham 
 and the Fathers, and to all Ifrael, as Baptifm is to all ages of 
 the Chriftian Church. 
 * £. And becaufe this Rite could not be adminiftred to all per- 
 
 sons, and was not at all times after its inftitution, God was 
 plea fed by a proper and fpecifick type to confign this Rite of 
 Baptifm, which he intended to all, and that for ever : and God, 
 when this family of his Church grew feparate, notorious, nu- 
 merous and diftin&, he fent them into their own Countrey by 
 a Baptifm through which the whole Nation pafsM : for all the 
 
 fathers 
 
of Bap t i sm, 3 
 
 fathers were under the Cloud, and all pajfed through the fea y 
 and -were all baptised unto Mofes in the Cloudy and in the fea ; 
 fo by a double figure foretelling, That as they were initiated 
 to Mofes Law by the Cloud above and the Sea beneath: fo i Cor.io.i? 
 fhouldallthe pcrfons of the Church, Men, Women and Chil- 
 dren, be initiated unto Chrift by the Spirit from above and the 
 Water below : for it was the defign of the Apoftle in that dif- 
 courfe, to reprefent that the Fathers and we were equal as to the 
 priviledges of the Covenant ; he proved that we do not exceed 
 them, and it ought therefore to be certain that they do not ex- 
 ceed us, nor their children ours. 
 
 But after this, fomething was to remain which might not onely §. 7. 
 confign the Covenant which God made with Abraham, but be 
 as a pafTage from the Fathers thorough the Synagogue to the 
 Church ; from Abraham by Mofes to Chrifi : and that was 
 Circumcifion, which was a Rite which God chofe to be a mark 
 to the pofterity of Abraham^ to diftinguifh them from the Na- 
 tions which were not within the Covenant of Grace, and to be 
 a feal of the righteoufnefs of faith, which God made to be the 
 fpirit and life of the Covenant. 
 
 But becaufe Circumcifion although it was miniftred to all §, 8 # 
 the males, yet it was not to the females ; and although they and 
 all the Nation was baptized and initiated into Mofes in the 
 Cloud and the Sea, yet the Children of Ifraei by imitation of the 
 Patriarchs the pofterity of Noah, ufed alfo Ceremonial Baptifms 
 to their women and to their Profelytes, and to all that were cir- 
 cumcifed ; and the Jews deliver, That Sarah and Rebecca when 
 they were adopted into the family of the Church, that is, of 
 Abraham and Ifaac, were baptized : and fo were all Grangers 
 that were married to the fons cf Ifraei. And that we may think ^ 
 this typical of Chriftian Baptifm , the Doctors of the Jews had 
 a Tradition, that when the Melius would come, there fhould 1 
 be fo many Profelytes that they could not be circumcifed, but 
 fhould be baptized. The Tradition proved true, but not for ' 
 their reafon. 
 
 But that this Rite of admitting into myfteries, and inftitu- 
 tions, and offices of Religion by Baptifms, was ufed by the po- 
 fterity of Noah, or at leaft very early among the Jew s > befides 
 
 B z the 
 
•TcrtuII. de 
 prxfcrip. c. 40. 
 "Schollaft.in 
 Ju.fat.i. l.i. 
 *0 nim'mmf id- 
 les qui tr'ijlia 
 trimma. cadis 
 Telli flum'mca 
 fotfe pUtAtH 
 aqua. 
 
 §. 9- 
 
 Joka 4.1. 
 
 $ ie. 
 
 A Difcourfe 
 
 theteftimonies of their own Doctors, I am the rather induced to 
 believe, becaufe the Heathen had the fame Rite in many places 
 and in feveral Religions: lb they initiated difciples into the 
 fecrets of a Mithra • and the Priefts of Cotyttttt were called 
 b Baptte, becaufe by Baptifm they were admitted into the Re- 
 ligion ; and they ■ thought Murthcr, Inceft, Rapes, and the worft 
 of Crimes, were purged by dipping in the Sea, or frefh Springs'; 
 and a Profelyte is called in Arriawu, BsCct^fw©-, intinttfis r a 
 baptized pertbn. 
 
 But this Ceremony of baptizing was fo certain and ufual 
 among the Jews, in their admitting Profelytes and adopting in- 
 to institutions, that to baptize and to ma"ke difciples are all 
 one ; and when John the Baptifi by an order from Heaven 
 went to prepare the way to the Coming of our bleffed Lord, 
 he preached Repentance , and baptized all that profeflcd 
 they did repent. He taught the Jews to live good lives, and 
 baptized with the Baptifm of a Prophet , fuch as was not 
 unufually done by extraordinary and holy perfons in- the 
 change or renewing of Difcipline or Religion. Whether 
 Johns Baptilm was from heaven, or of men, Chrift asked the 
 Pharifees. That it was from Heaven , the people therefore 
 believed, becaufe he was a Prophet, and a holy perfon : but 
 it implies alfo, That fuch Baptifms are fometimes from men, 
 that is, ufcd by perfons of an eminent Religion, or extra- 
 ordinary fame for the gathering of Difciples and admitting 
 Profelytes : and the Difciples of Chrift did fo too, even be- 
 fore Chrift had inftituted the Sacrament for the Chriftian 
 Church, the Difciples that came to Chrift were baptized by his 
 Apoftles. 
 
 And now we are come to the gates of Baptifm. All 
 thefe till John were but types and preparatory Baptifms , 
 and John's Baptilm was but the prologue to the Baptifm of 
 Chrift, The Jewifh Baptifms admitted Profelytes to Mojes 
 and to the Law of Ceremonies ; John's Baptifm called them 
 10 believe in theMeflias now appearing, and to repent of their 
 fins, to enter into the Kingdom which was now at hand, and 
 Preached that Repentance which (houldbefor the remiflion of 
 fins* His Baptifm remitted no fins, but preached and con- 
 signed 
 
^"Baptism. 1$ 
 
 f>ned Repentance, which, in the belief of the **& f«W Sfriptw/e doctant : 
 Meflias whom he pointed to,fhould pardon fins. <F«M»?« bafti/ma non tampecca- 
 Bucbecaufe he w£ taken f-n his office be- ^^2^ 
 fore the work was compleated, the Diiciples of idqrmfuturamremijjioneqtt^cjjet 
 Ghtift finilhed it : They went forth preaching, poftca per fanttificationem ahrifii 
 the lame Sermon of Repentance, and the ap- Jubfcquutura.. Hieronym. adv, 
 proach of the Kingdom, and baptized or made Ll,c " cnan - 
 Profelytes or Difciples, as John did ; onely they (as it is proba- 
 ble) baptized in the Name of Jefa r which it is not fo likely 
 John did. a And this very thing might be thecaufe of the dif- *yide fuprh- 
 rerent forms fc of Baptifm recorded in the ABs i of baptizing In Seft.9- »•«• 
 the Name of hfut, and at other times In the Name of the Fa- b Afts 8 - * 6 - 
 ther, Son, and holy Ghojl ; the former being the manner f A " s2 " 5 ' 
 doing it inpurfuance of the defign of John's Baptifm; and 
 the latter the form of inftitution by Chrift for the whole Chri- 
 ftian Church, appointed after his- Refurre&ion : the Difciples at 
 firft ufing promifcuoufly what was ufed by the fame authority, 
 though with fome difference of Myftery. 
 
 The Holy Jefus having found his way ready prepared bjrthe * x ^ 
 preaching of John^ and by his Baptifm, and the Jewifh manner 
 of adopting Profelytes and Diiciples into the Religion, a way 
 chalked out for him to initiate difciples into his Religion, took 
 what was fo prepared, and changed it into a perpetual Sacra- 
 ment. He kept the Ceremony, that they who were led onely 
 by outward things, might be the better called in, and eafierin- 
 ticed into the Religion, when they entred by a Ceremony which 
 their Nation alwayes ufed in the like cafes : and therefore with- 
 out change of the outward aft, he put in:o it a new fpirit, and 
 gave it a new grace and a proper efficacy : He fublim'd it to 
 higher ends, and adorned it with ftars of Heaven : He made it 
 to fignifie greater myfteries, to convey greater bleflings, to con- 
 sign the bigger Promifes, to cleanfe deeper then the skin, and 
 to carry Profelytes further then the gates of the inftitution. For 
 fc> he was plealed to do in the other Sacrament ; he took the Ce- 
 remony which he found ready in the Cuftom of the Jews, where 
 the Major domo after the Pafchal Supper gave Bread and Wine 
 to every peribn of his family; he changed nothing of it without, 
 but transferred the Rite to greater myfteries, and put his own 
 
 B 3 Spirit- 
 
£ A Difcowfe 
 
 Spirit to their Sign, arid it became a Sacrament Evangelical. 
 It was Co alfo in the matter of Excommunication, where the 
 Jewifli pracYife was made to pafs into Chriftian difcipline: with- 
 out violence and noife old things became new, while he fulfilled 
 the Law, making it up in full meafures of the Spirit. 
 §. 12. By theie fteps Bapulm parted on to a divine Evangelical in- 
 
 ftitution, which we finde to be consigned by three Evangelifls. 
 Mat. 28.19. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations, baptising them in the 
 Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. Ic 
 was one of the laft Commandments the Holy Jefus gave upon 
 the earth, when he taught his Apoftles the things which con- 
 Mark 16.16. cernedhi* kjngdome. For he that believeth and is baptized, Jball 
 John 3.5. y e faved : but, Vnlefs a man be bom of water and the holy Spi- 
 rit^ he cannot enter into the kjngdome of Heaven • agreeable to 
 the decretory words of God by Abraham in the Circumcifion, 
 to which Baptiim does fucceed in the confignation of the fame 
 Gen.17.14. Covenant and the fame Spiritual Promifes • The uncircumcifed 
 childe vehofe fie ft is not circumcifed, that foul Jhjll be cut off 
 from his people ; he hath broken my Covenant. The Manichees, 
 S.Jugitft.btercf. Seleucus, Hermias, and their followers, people of a dayes abode 
 4 6 « 5S>. and fmallintereft, but of malicious doctrine, taught, Baptifm 
 
 not to be neceflary, not to be ufed ; upon this ground, Becaufe 
 they iuppofed that it was proper to John to baptize with water, 
 and referved for Chrifi as his peculiar, to baptize with the holy 
 Ghoft and with fire. Indeed Chrift baptized none otherwife. 
 He lent his Spirit upon the Church in Pentecoft and baptized 
 them with fire , the Spirit appearing like a flame : but he 
 appointed his Apoftles to baptize with water , and they 
 didfo, and their fuccefTors after them, every where and for 
 ever , not expounding , but obeying the prsceptive words of 
 their Lord , which were almoft the laft that he fpake upon 
 earth. And I cannot think it neceflary to prove this to be ne- 
 ceflary by any more Arguments. For the words are lo plain, 
 that they need no expofition ; and yet if they had been obfeure, 
 -7 the univerfal pra£tife of the Apoftles and the Church for ever, 
 is a fufficient declaration of the Commandment : No Tradition 
 is more univerfal, no not of Scripture it felf ; no words are 
 plainer, no not the Ten Commandments: and if any'fufpicion 
 
 can 
 
of B A P T I S M. y 
 
 can be fuperinduced by any jealous or Ids difcerning perfon, i: 7 
 will need no other refutation, but to turn his eyes to thofe lights 
 by which himfelf fees Scripture to be the Word of God, and ^ 
 the Commandments to be the declaration of his Will. 
 
 But that which will be of grcateft concernment in this affair, §.13. 
 is to confider the great benefits are conveyed to us in this Sacra- 
 ment ; for this will highly conclude, That the Precept was for 
 ever, which God fo feconds with his grace and mighty bleflings; 
 and the fufception of it neceflfary, becaufe we cannot be with- 
 out thofe excellent things which are the graces of the Sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 1. The firft fruit is, That in Baptifm we are admitted to the §, 14.. 
 Kingdome of Chrift, prefented unto him, consigned with his 
 Sacrament, enter into his Militia, give up our understandings, 
 and our choice to the obedience of Chrift, and in all fenfes that 
 we can, become his Difciples, witneffinga good confeffion, and 
 undertaking a holy life : and therefore in Scripture paQnTivstp, 
 and gsLTrlifyiv, are conjoyn'd in the hgnifications, as they are in 
 the myftery : it is a giving up our names to Chrift, and it is 
 part of the foundation or the firft Principles of the Religion, as Hcb.£n 
 appears in S. Pauls Catechifm ; it is fo the firft thing, that it is 
 for babes, and Neophytes, in which they are matriculated and 
 adopted into the houfeof their Father, and taken into the hands 
 of their Mother. Upon this account Baptifm is called in anti- 
 quity, EccleftA janua, Porta gratis, & primus introitus fanBo- & Amufl.l.z-, 
 rum ad aternam Dei & ecclefi<t confuetudinem- The gates of the c. 1. die Cats. 
 Church, the door of Grace, the firft entrance of the Saints to mdib* 
 an eternal converfation with God and the Church. Sacramen- 
 tum initiations, dr intrantium Chriftianifmum inveftituram, 
 S. Bernard calls it : The Sacrament of initiation, and the inve- 
 fiiture of them that enter into the Religion ; and the perfon fo 
 entring is called 7n.mi<ryuiv©- and ffi/jWJa-nflwfAe?©-, one of the Re- j u ^ Martyr 
 ligion,or a Profelyte and Convert, and one added to the number Apol.i. 
 of the Church, in imitation of that of S. Luke, wJp/©- "st? oai~ 
 lihi pufytAvKi tv IjoaWct, God added to the Church thofe that a&s 2.47; 
 fhould be faved ; juft as the Church does to this day and for 
 ever, baptizing Infants and Catechumens : cm^'voi >af>ov\ifov\&t % . 
 they are added to the Church, that they may be addded to the 
 
 Lord, 
 
8 A Difcourfe 
 
 Lord, and the number of the inhabitants of Heaven. 
 15. 2. The next ftep beyond this, is Adoption int-o the Covenant , 
 
 •rf (itt7r}t<r[Mt, w hich is an immediate confequent of the firft prefentation,this 
 ifiufofa, being the firft ad of man , that the firft z& of God. And 
 K<J?GynuUie. r ^ ls * s ca ^ C( ^ ky & f**t% a being baptized in one jpirit into one 
 rofol. Catec. 1 £<>4y, t ^ iat IS > vve arc made capable of the Communion of Saints, 
 1 Cor. 1 i.i j. " the bleflings of the faithful, the priviledges of the Church : by 
 Afts 13.48. this we are, as S. Luke calls it, n1a.fiji.ivot elf t^ah ciidytov,ordain- 3 
 ed, or dijpofed, put into the order of eternal life , being made 
 members of themyftical body under Chrift our Head. 
 § 16. 3. And therefore Baptifm is a new birch, by which we en- 
 
 ter into the new world, the new creation, the bleflings and fpi- 
 ricualities of the Kingdomc ; and this is the expreflion which our 
 John 3 5. Saviour himfelf ufed <o Nicodemus , Vnlefs a man be born of 
 Water and the Spirit: and it is by S. Paul called terpov -m.- 
 Timsj.j. hifyiv£<h*b the laver of Regeneration ; for now we begin to be 
 reckoned in a new Cenfw or account, God is become our Fa- 
 ther, Chrift our elder Brother, the Spirit the earnefl of our i»he- 
 tance,thc Chureh our Mother, our food is the 
 flf §**J l $ptv «W * T W, &* body and bloodof our Lord ; Faith is our Icam- 
 ^wS^lSX^fv^ ? ing. Religion our imployment, and our whole 
 lio-ixof. Damaic. I. 4. oiui. fid. hte re lpintual , and Heaven the object of our 
 «. *«. Hopes,and the mighty price of our high CaiUng. 
 
 And from this time forward we have a new principle put into 
 us, the Spirit of Grace, which befides our foul and body, is a 
 principle of action, of one nature, and (hall with them enter 
 into the portion of cur inheritance. And therefore the Primitive 
 Chriftians, who configned all their affairs and goods and wri- 
 tings with lbme marks of their Lord, ufually writing !»*•»* xj>j- 
 S5* 8«« Cioi 2«1np, leftu Chrift the Son of Cod our Saviour; 
 they made it an abbreviature by writing onely the Capitals,thus: 
 $ I. x. 0. T. 2. which the Heathens in mockery and derifion made 
 /\ *X^ f 9 which fignifies a Fijh, and they ufed it for Chrift as a 
 name of reproach : but the Chriftians owned the name, and 
 turned it into a pious Metaphor, and were content that they 
 (hould enjoy their pleafure in the Acroftich ; but upon that oc- 
 Lib. dcBaptif. cation Tertullian fpeaks pertinently to this Article, Nospifcicu- 
 **«■ lifecundum i^Owr noftrum Jefum Chrifium, in aqua tutfeimur. 
 
 Chrift 
 
of Bapt ISM.' q 
 
 Chrift whom you call a fifti, we knowledge to be our Lord 
 and Saviour ; and we, if you pleafe, are the little fifties, for we 
 are born in water; thence we derive our fpiritual life. And becaufe 
 from henceforward weare<i#«*> creation, the Church ufes to 
 aflign new relations to the Catechumens, Spiritual Fathers and 
 Sujcepters-, and at their entrance into Baptifm, the Chriftians 
 and Jewifti Profelytes did ule to cancel all fecular affections to 
 their temporal relatives, Nee quicquam prim imbuuntur quam Lib. y. Htf. 
 contemnere Deos, exuerepatriam, parentes, Uberos,fratres vilia 
 habere, kid Tacitus of the Chriftians : which was true in the 
 fenle onely as Chrift laid, He that doth not hate father or mo- 
 ther for mj fake y is not -worthy of me ; that is, he that doth not 
 hate them pt& me, rather then forfake me, forfake them, is un- 
 worthy of me. 
 
 4. In Baptifm all our fins are pardoned, according -to the I7» 
 
 words of a Prophet : / will jprinkje clean water upon you, and Exe £-*f •** ; 
 Jt jbatl be clean from all jour filtbinefs. » The Catechumen J^" iv $*' 
 » defcends into the font a finner, he arifes purified ; he goes down ^ m ^ 
 » the fon of death, he comes up the fon of the refurrection ; he dfx*,j\tav. 
 « enters in the fon of folly and prevarication, he returns the Symb. Niceii. 
 » fon of reconciliation ; he Hoops down the childe of wrath, I • l * c, *» m 
 » and afcends the heir of mercy ; he was the childe of the De- a ' 
 " vil, and now he is the fcrvanc and the ion of God. They arc 
 the words of Fen. Bede concerning this Myftery. And this was 
 ingenioufly fignihed by that Greek intcripuon upon a Font, 
 which is fo prettily contrivM, that the words may be read after 
 the Greek or after the Hebrew manner* and be exactly the fame, 
 i'14-ov dv'o.uMUtt, fm fxavov o-^tv, Lord wa/h my fin, and not my face 
 onely. And lb it is intended and promiied, » Arife and be A&sn.itf. 
 » baptized, and wajbaway thy fins, and call on the Name of the 
 " Lord, laid Ananias to Saul', for, Chrifi loved the Church and 
 » gave himfelf for it, that he mi^ht fanttifie and cleanfe it f 
 " tk A.»7f<£ re v^dLTvf iv pi)(*ctli, with the wajbinfr of water in the Eph. %.i6. 
 « word, thatis, Baptifm in the Chriltian Religion : and there- .., . 
 » fore Tertullian calls Baptilm lavacrumcompcndiatum, a com- j^ aY ' Cm c 9 . ' 
 » pendious laver • that is, an intire cleaning the foul in that one Qakaoso. h>j! 
 action juftly and rightly performed : In the rehear lal of which C» -m-fl*. iwv 
 doctrine it was not an unpleaiant Etymology that Anaftafius AV .^yruv w 
 
 C Sinaiu^' ^ ' 
 
10 A Difcourfe 
 
 'Annmxucn&'mwi quia erne gems pec- Sinaita gave of Baptifin y M:** 
 
 Cali fiim ad Jul it: are lavacrum vtnmus an- /wet quafi ^A<7r\ttic^.(t , cv Z [i&KkZT&t* 
 
 fdtur .? Q i^cn.homil. if. in Jefu. < faux ttitPIh to ^cCum*. , in wh.cll 
 
 EcceqHuquidin^uttaiimfemitemujg- our f ins are thrown off. and they fall 
 
 z7Tfl£,m^k^%k >*? **« wh - *? •« «•« i hi °? 
 
 bnvtflimo lava.cn compendia cum indulgm- and water, or like the chains rrom J>. 
 
 iiflimo credit ore tranj actum eft. Ambrof. l.i. Peters hands at the prefence of the An- 
 
 c. 7. de pcen. gel. Baptifm is dwo&ym fym £* 
 
 ^»^Vf^^^m^¥ ^ p W,an intire full forgivenefs of 
 ditmttudicatmmarirubrooEaptios nonve- *Z " r ' , _ ., o A 
 
 ratitir mortuos. S. Greg. M.L <,. c P . 39. w«i fo that they (hall never be calie<B 
 
 again to fcrutiny- 
 Pbavor'm. ■ ■ Omnia Damonis arma 
 
 yj.. ator / t Hi* werguntur aejHU^quibusille renafciturlnfans 
 
 Hifi, ApoftoU jQuicattivHserat the captivity of the foul is- 
 
 taken away by the blood of Redemption, and the fiery darts 
 of the Devil are quenched by thefc (alutary waters; and what 
 the flame'? of Hell are expiating or punifhing to eternal ages, 
 that is wafhed off quickly in the Holy Font, and an eternal 
 debt paid in an inftant : for lb fure as the Egyptians were 
 drowned in the Red fea , fo fure are our fins wafhed in this holy 
 flood : for this is a Red fea too ■ thefe waters fignifie the blood 
 Hcv. 7.14. of Chrift, thefc are they that have wafhed their robes, and 
 a John 1.71 m ade them white in the blood of the Lamb, to */pt ^9*f»^e/, 
 vy. . to v<T«p xao*f iC^ii , Xj to 7niv y.a. ctyviQu' t% &i\xa. <Pia, miv[XAio{y 
 
 Heb.9.14. tv TnivpAftdLvfttltf. The blood of Chrift cleanfeth us, the wa- 
 ter cleanfeth us, the Spirit purifies us ; the Blood by the Spirit, 
 the Spirit by the Water, all in Baptifm, and in purfuance of 
 that baptifm al ftate. Thefe three are they that bear record in 
 1 John 5.8. earthy the Spirit, the Water, and the blood, ^ ol t^Is «? n iv 
 s/W, thefe three agree in one, or are toonepurpofe ; they agree 
 in Baptifm, and in the whole purfuance of the afTiftanceSjWhicli 
 a Chriftian needs all dayes of his life : And therefore S. Cyril 
 calls Baptilm t&v t5 Xp/r? Tutfap&tav &vVnu7nv j the Antitype of 
 the Paflions of Chrift : it does preconfign the death of Chrift 5. 
 and does the infancy of the work of grace, but not weakly ; ic 
 brings from death to life ; and though it brings us but to the 
 birth in the new life, yet that is a greater change then is in all the 
 .periods of our growth to manhood, to a perfect man in Chrifi 
 fef/4/. f, Ba- 
 
of Bap t i sm. 1 1 
 
 5. Baptifm docs not onely pardon our fins, but />«*.* us into §• 18. 
 « ft ate of pardon for the time to come. For Baptifm is the be- 
 ginning of the New life, and an admiflion of us into the Evan- 
 gelical Covenant, which on our parts confifts in a fincere and 
 timely endevour to glorifie God by Faith and Obedience: and 
 on Gods part, he will pardon what is paft, aflift us for the fu- 
 ture, and not mealure us by grains and icruples, or exa6t our du- 
 ties by the meafure of an Angel, but by the fpan of a mans ^ « 
 hand. So that by Baptifm we are configned to the mercies of 
 God and the graces of the Gofpel ; that is, that our pardon be 
 continued, and our piety be a ftate of Repentance. And therefore 
 that Bapt/fm which in the Nicene Creed we profefs to be for 
 the remiffton of fins, is called in the Jerufalem Creed, The Ba- 
 ptifm of Repentance ; that is, it is the entrance of a new life, 
 the gate to a perpetual change and reformation, all the way con- 
 tinuing our title to. and hopes of forgivenefs of fins. And this 
 excellency is clearly recorded by S. Paul, The kindenefs and Titus $«4j*. 
 love of God our Saviour toward man hath appeared • not by 
 workj in righteou(nefs which we have done: that's the formality of 
 the Gofpel- Covenant,not to be exacted by the Ariel: meafures of 
 the Law,but according to his mercy he faved us, that is, by gen- 
 tlenefs and remiflions, by pitying and pardoning us, by relieving 
 and fupporting us, becaulehe remembers that we arc butduft; 
 and all this mercy we are admitted to, and is conveyed to us, 
 fi& a«tj mtofysvefUfy by the lavcrof regeneration, and the 
 renewing of the holy Ghoft. And this plain evident doclrine 
 was obferved, explicated and urged againft the Afeffalians ,who 
 faid that Baptifm was like a razor,that cut away all the fins that 
 were paft, or prelently adhering, but not the fins of'our future 
 life ; »/i }S tk7d [a'qvov STmfykfoiTttt tv pivweAW, «M<£ tu tk7wj> fx,U' fheodorct Elf. 
 £#, Kj 7i\na7iecf.. appxCuv $ «$? t&v (juiXovvvv dy*.$£v > ^ vis dedivin.Decret. 
 i<rv(A,i.i>tit dv&stZaias tCto( k) xjoivavia tuv fiCTro-muuv ■m%*iJA'iwv % ca£,dcBapt)f. 
 
 ivppoovviis * x) sbam QUTcu^rit, (j&H\ov £i «i/n> <p«V. This Sacra- 
 ment promifes more and greater things, »Ic is the earneft of 
 "future good things, the type of the RefurrecYion, the column- 
 s' nication of the Lords Paflion, the partaking of his Relurre- 
 >* ftion, the robe of Rightcouihefs, the garment of gladnefs, 
 
 C 2 «« the 
 
12. A T>ifcourfe 
 
 a veftmerit of Light, or rather Light it felf. And for this reg- 
 ion it is, that Baptifm is not to be repeated, became it does at 
 once all that it can do at a hundred times : for it admits us to 
 the condition of Repentance and Evangelical Mercy, to a ftate 
 of pardon for our infirmities and fins, which we timely and ef- 
 fectually leave : and this is a thing that can be done but once, 
 as a man can begin but once ; he chat hath once entred in at 
 this gate of life is alwayes in fallibility of pardon if he be in a 
 poffibility of working and doing after the manner of a man, that 
 which he hath promjled to the Son of God. And this was, ex- 
 iib.de NuptiU. piefly delivered and obfervedbyS. Anfiin. » That which the 
 t^/?* ^ ' "Apoftle. fayes, Cleanfing him with the wa/bing of water in » 
 Joban. " *he word, is to be underftood, that in the fame laver of re- « 
 
 v generation, and word of fan&ification, all the evils of the" 
 "regenerate are cleanfed and healed : notonely the fins that are 
 * pafr,which all are now remitted in Baptifm ; but alfo thole that 
 n arc contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and infirmity : 
 " Not thatBaptifm be repeated as often as. we iin,but becaufe by 
 yiJeSalmevon. i». this which is once adminiftred, is brought to pals thatpardon 
 ^^..13.^.487. y> of all fins, notonely of thofe that are part, but alfo thofe 
 3? which will be committed afterwards, is obtained.. The Afef- 
 f Alians denyed this, and it was part of their Herefie in the un- 
 dervaluing of Baptifm ; and for it they are moft excellently con- 
 futed by Ifidore Pelafiot, in his third Book, 195- Epiftlc to the 
 Count Hermin : whither I refer the Reader. 
 & 10. Inproportiontothis Do6trine it is, that the holy Scripture 
 
 calls upon us to live a holy life, in purfuance of this grace of 
 Baptifm. And S.. Paul recals the lapfed Galatians to their 
 Covenant, and the grace of God ftipulated in Baptifm : Te art 
 GaU.a.6. *!l children of God by faith in Iefas Chrijl* that is, heirs of 
 the prcmife, and Abrahams feed : that promife which cannot 
 Verfc j.o. ^e d$MIWfc4t increafed or diminifhed, but is the fame- to us as 
 it was to A(?rah*m ; the fame before the Law and after. There- 
 fore do. not you hope to bzjuftifiedby the Law, for you are en- 
 tred into the Covenant of Faith, and are to be juftified there- 
 by. This is all your hope, by this you muft ftand for ever, or 
 you cannot ftand at all ; but by this you may : for you are Gods 
 children by faith j that is, not by the Law, or the Covenant of 
 
 Works: 
 
^"Baptism; 13 
 
 Works: And that you may remember whence you are going, 
 and return again, he proves, that they are the children of God 
 by faith in Jefus Chrift, becaufe they have been baptized into 
 Chrift^ and fo put on Chrift. This makes you children, and 
 fuch as arero be favedby faith, that is, a Covenant, not of 
 PVorkj, but of Pardon in Jefus Chrift, the Author and Efta- 
 blifher of this Covenant, For this is the Covenant made in Ba- 
 ptifm, That being juftified by his grace, we fball be heirs of 
 life eternal : for by grace, that is, by favor, remiflion and for- 
 g'tvenefs in Jelus Chrift, ye are faved. This is the onely way 
 that we have of being juftified, and this muft remain as long as 
 we are in hopes of heaven : for befides this we have no hopes, 
 and all this is ftipulated and consigned in Baptifm, and is of 
 force after our fallings into (in and riungs again. In purfuance of 
 this, the fame Apoftle declares, That the feveral ftates of fin, 
 are fo many reccflions from the ftate of baptifmal grace ; 
 and if we arrive to the direct Apoftafie and renouncing of, or a 
 contradiction to , the ftate of Baptifm , we are then un- 
 pardonable, becaufewe are fain from our ftate of pardon. This 
 S. Paul conditions moft ftri&ly, in his Epiftle to the Hebrews • Heb.io. \6> 
 This is the Covenant J will make in thofe days, J will put my laws & c * 
 in their hearts , and their fins and iniquities will I remember no 
 more. Now where remijfion of thefe is, there is no more offering 
 for fin ; that is, our fins are fo pardoned, that we need no 
 more oblation, we are then made partakers of the death of 
 Chrift ; which, we afterwards renew in memory and Eucharift, 
 and reprefentment-But the great work is done in Baptifm : for fo 
 it follows ; Having boldnefs to enter into the Holieft by the blood 
 of Iefut,by a new and living way, that is, by the vail of his 
 flefb, his Incarnation. Bnt how do we enter into this ? Baptifm 
 is the door, and the ground a*" this confidence for ever : for fo 
 he addes ; Let us draw near with a true heart, in full ajfurance 
 of faith j having our hearts Jprinkjed from an evil confidence, 
 aud our bodies wafhed with pure water. This is the confignation 
 of this blefled ftate,and the gate to all this mercy : Let us there- 
 fore hold f aft the prof eftion of our faith; that is, the Reli- 
 gion of a Chriftian; the faith into which we were baptized : 
 for that is the faith that jrtftifies and faves vs ; Let us there- 
 
 C 3 fore 
 
14 A Difcourft 
 
 mi iKviJo;, fore hold fafi this profeflion of this faith, and do all the inter- 
 
 fcil. au rucurum me jj a i works, in order to the conservation of it, fuch as are af- 
 
 re p Ll( .ns femblinv in the Communion of Saints* (the ufe of the word and 
 677701/ vaytyii J _ • • i j j • i_ » t~ ; , 
 
 me?KXn<nt Sacrament is included in the precept; mutual Exhortation, good 
 
 X&tvlv'mw Example, and the like -• For if roe . fin wilfully after we have 
 received the knowledge of the truth, that it, if we fin againft the 
 profeflion of this faith,and hold it not faft >but let the faich and the 
 profeffion go w r ilrully,^which afterwards he cals a treading under 
 foot the Son of God, a counting the blood of the Covenant where- 
 with he was fanttified, an unholy things and a doing dejpite to 
 the Spirit of Grace ; viz. which moved upon thefe waters, and 
 did illuminate him in Baptii'm) if we do this, there is no more fa- 
 crifice for fins, no more deaths of Chrilt, into which you may 
 be baptized j that is, you are fain from the (rate of pardon and 
 repentance, into which you were admitted in Baptifm, and in 
 which you continue, Co long as you have not quitted your ba- 
 ptifmai Rights, and the whole Covenant. Contrary to this, is 
 that which S- Peter calls makingour calling and eletlion fure; 
 that is, a doing all that which may continue us in our ftate of 
 I Baptifm, and the grace of the Covenant. And between thefe 
 two ilates, of abfolute Apofiafiefrom-, and intirely adhering to, 
 and Securing this ftate of Calling and Election, are all the in- 
 termedial fins, and being overtaken in fingle faults, or declining 
 towards vitioas habits ; which in their feveral proportions, are 
 degrees of danger and infecurity; which S.Peter calls, Awflw 
 z Tet. 1.9. <yy v&Sa,eto-pv twv 7mKa.i urns A^Tiav, a forgetting our Baptifm, 
 Vide part. 2. or purification from our fins. And in this fenfe are thofe words, 
 difc.ct.otRe-The jufi JJjaU live by faith ; that is, by that profeflion which 
 permnce, num. they made in Baptifm : from which, if they fwerve not, they 
 ?.<rrfji. fhall be fupported in their Spiritual life. It is a grace, which 
 
 by vertue of the Covenant configna in Baptifm, does like a 
 Centre, tranfmit effluxes to all the periods and portion of our life sj 
 our whole life, all the periods of our fucceeding hopes, are kept 
 alive by this. This confederation is of great ufe, befides many 
 other things, to reprove the folly of thofe who in the Primitive 
 Church deferr'd their Baptifm till their death-bed : Becauie 
 Baptifm is a laver of fan&ification, and drowns all our fins, and 
 buries them in the grave of our Lord, they thought they might 
 
 fin 
 
o/E 
 
 APTUM. 
 
 fihfecurety upon the ftock of anafter-Baptifm* for unlefs they 
 were ftrangely prevented l-y a iudden accident, a death-bed Ba- 
 ptifm they thought would lecure their condition : but early ibmc 
 of them durft not take it, much lefs in the beginning of their 
 years* that they might at leaft gain impunity for their follies 
 and heats of their youth. Baptifm hath influence into the pardon 
 of all our fins committed in all the dayes of our folly and infir- 
 mity ; and folong as we have not been baptized, fo long we are 
 out of the ftate of pardon, and therefore an early Baptifm is not - 
 to be avoided, upon this miftaken fancy and plot upon Heaven : -, 
 it is the greater iecurity towards the pardon of our fins., if we 
 have taken it in the beginning of our dayes. N 7 
 
 5 .The next benefit of Baptifm,which is alfo a verification of §. 20 # 
 this, is a fanflification of the baptized perfonbj the Spirit of 
 Grace : 
 
 SanBtu in hunc ccelo defcendit fpirittts amnein t Taulln. Ep, i i t 
 
 CxUfHq\ facras fonte muritat aquas : ad Smnum. 
 
 Concipitunda Deum, fanc~bHmq' y liqwribus at mis 
 Edit ab&ter*o femine progemem, 
 • 
 
 The holy Ghoft defcends upon the waters of Baptifm, and 
 makes them prolifical, apt to produce children unto God : and 
 therefore Saint Leo compares *he Fontof Baptifm, to the Womb 
 of the blefled Virgin, when it was replenifhed with the holy 
 Spirit. And this is the Baptifm of our deareft Lord : his mi- 
 nisters baptize with water ; our Lord at the fame time verifies 
 their Miniftery, with giving the holy Spirit : They are joyned 
 together by S. Paul, Wearebyonefyirit baptized into one body j * Cor.n.13. 
 that is, admitted into the Church by Baptifm of Water and the 
 Spirit. This is that wheh our blefled Lord calls a being bom of John ?.$. 
 Water and of the Spirit ; by Water we are facramently dead SDa fi' & $&?* 
 and buried,by the Spirit we are made alive. But becaufc thefe s ' ca ^' 1 P 
 aremyfterious expre(fions,and according to the fiyle ofScripcurej 
 high and'fecrec in Spiritual Significations, therefore that we may 
 underftand what thefe things fignifie , we mult confider it by 
 its real eftedts , and what it produces upon the Soul of a 
 man. 
 
 1. It is the fupplctory of original Rightcoufhefs, by which §>lli- 
 
 Adam' 
 
\G A Difcourfe 
 
 Adum was at firft gracious with God, and which he loft by his 
 prevarication. It was in him a principle of wiidome and obe- 
 dience, a relation between God and himfelf, a title to the extra- 
 ordinary mercies of God, and a flute of friendjhip : when he 
 fell, he was difcompofed in all, the links of the golden chain 
 and blefled relation were broken * and it fo continued in the 
 whole life of man, which was ftained with the evils of thisfolly, 
 and the confequent miichiers : and therefore when we began 
 the world again, entring into the Articles of a new life, God 
 gave us his Spirit, to be an inftrument of our becoming gracious 
 perfons, and of being in a condition of obtaining that luperna- 
 tural end, which God at firft designed to us. A nd therefore as 
 our Baptifm is a reparation of us from unbelieving people : Co 
 the defcent of the holy Spirit upon us in our Baptifm, is a con- 
 signing or marking us for God, as the (heep of his pafture , as 
 the fouldiers of his Army, as the fervants of his houfhold : we 
 are lb fepa rated from the world, that- we are appropriated to 
 God, io that God expects of us duty and obedience ; and all 
 fins are a6ts of rebellion and undutifulnefs : Of this nature was 
 the ian&ification of Jeremy and John the Baptififrom their mo- 
 thers womb ; that is, God took them to his own fervice by an 
 early designation, and his Spirit mark'd them to a holy Mini- 
 ftery. To this alfo relates that of S. Paul, whom God by a de- 
 cree leparated from his mothers womb to the Miniftery of the 
 Gofpel : the decree did antedate the aft of the Spirit, which 
 did not defcend upon hii-n until the day of his Baptifm. What 
 thefe perfons were in order to exterior Minifteries, that all the 
 faithful are in order to faith and obedience, consigned in Ba- 
 ptifm by the Spirit of God, to a perpetual relation to God, in a 
 continual fervice and title to his Promises. And in this fenfc the 
 * z. Cor. I.**. Spirit of God is called fpgfotu * a f eA K * n whom alfo after that 
 Eph. i.i j. ye believed^ yevpere fealedtvith that holy Spirit of Promt 'fe, tb 
 , . 2 (jlIv v«T<yf xa.Da.ips/ to aay-A, 70* eTe wnvfXA f<p&P}i£ii wv -^.vyjiv. 
 
 s. Cy/U Himf. The Water waflies the body, and the Spirit feals the foul ; viz., , 
 Catecb.$. to a participation of thofe Promifes which he hath made, and 
 to which we receive a title to our Baptifoi. 
 §.22. 2. The fecond effect of the Spirit, is Light or Illumination ; 
 
 that is, the holy Spirit becomes unto us the Author of holy 
 
 thoughts, 
 
©/"Baptism. 17 
 
 thoughts, and firm pcrfwafions, and fcts to his feal that the 
 Word of God is true ; into the belief of which we arc then 
 baptized, and makes Faith to be a grace, and the Undemand- 
 ing refigned, and the Will confident, and the Aflfent ftronger 
 then the premifes, and the proportions to be believed, becaufe 
 they are belov'd, and we arc taught the wayes of godlinefs af- 
 ter a new manner, that is, we are made to perceive the fecrets 
 of the Kingdome, and to love Religion, and to long for heaven 
 and heavenly things, and to defpife the world, and to have new 
 refolmions, and new perceptions, and new delicacies, in order 
 to the eftablifliment of Faith, and its increment and perfeve- 
 rance, r» ha.\Arxk>sv\ \vyjAamn Y&r&iXvcyS &vifyv%u{ o bibf htovii s. Bafil. in 
 Spbvov awmv Icarm yjmpj*£e/- God fits in the foul when it is il- PfaU8. 
 luminated in Baptifm, as if he late in his Throne j that is, he 
 rules by a firm perfwafion, and intire principles of obedience. 
 And therefore Baptifm is called in Scripture, <pcm<riu>(, and the 
 baptized, ipavMvlef, illuminated: Call to minde the former Hcb.10.3t. 
 dayes, in which ye were illuminated : and the fame phrafe is in 
 the 6. to the Hebrews, where the parallel places expound each 
 other. For that which S.Paul calls, *jm| <pe,>7i&iv%{, once illu- 
 minated j he calls after, ka.Cof%t tvv k^annv tt)V *ah9«j«^, a re- 
 ceiving the knowledge of the truth : and that you may perceive 
 this to be wholly meant of Baptifm, the Apoftle cxprefles it Heb.tf.4. 
 ftillby its Synonymas, Tafiingcf the heavenly gift, and made 
 partakers of the holy Ghoft, fprinkjed in our hearts from an 
 evil confeience, and wajhed in our bodies with pure water : All 
 which alfoare a fyUabus or collection of the fcveral effects of 
 the graces beftowed in Baptifm. But we are now inftancing in 
 that which relates mofl properly to the underflanding, in which 
 refpect the holy Spirit a Mb is called anointing or untlion ; and 
 the my ftery is explicated byS.John, The anointing which ye ijoh. 1.10,17. 
 have received of him abideth in you , and ye need not that 
 any man teach you ; but as the fame anointing teachethyott of 
 all things. 
 
 5. The holy Spirit defcends upon us in Baptifm, to become §.2?. 
 the principle of a new life ; to become a holy feed^ lpringing 
 up to holinefs,. and is called by S. John, cftit>t*a. fls», the feed of \ John j 91 
 God ; and the purpofe of it we are taught by him, whofoever is 
 
 D born 
 
i8 
 
 £ib, dc Sp'u. S. 
 
 H.om.6.7. 
 
 ver. 5» 
 
 6. 
 
 %&?", 
 
 A Difcourfe 
 
 bom of God (that is, he that is regenerated and entred into this 
 new birth J doth not commit Jin j for his feed remaineth in him, 
 and he cannot fin y becaufe he is born of God. The Spirit of God, 
 is the Spirit of life ; and now that he by the Spirit is born anew, 
 he hath in him chat principle, which, if it be cherifhed, will 
 grow up to life, to life eternal. And this is the Spirit of Santli- 
 ficatien, the vitlory of the world, the deletery of concupifcence, 
 the life of the foul, and the perpetuall principle of grace fown in 
 our fpirits in the day of our adoption to be the ions of God, 
 and members of Ghrifts body. But take this myftery in the 
 words of S. Bafil ; » There are two ends propofed in Baptifm* 
 " to wit, to abolifh the body of fin, that we may no more bring 
 " forth fruit unto death ; and to live in the Spirit, and to have 
 " our fruit to Sanclifi cation. The water reprefents the image of 
 » death, receiving the body in its befome, as in a fepulchre. But 
 »the quickning Spirit fends upon us a vigorous JWtf^up, power 
 » or efficacy, even from the beginning renewing our fouls from 
 "the death of (in unto life. For as our mortification is perfeft- 
 " ed in the water, fo the Spirit works life jn us* To this pur- 
 pofe is the difcourfe of S. Paul • having largely difcourfed of 
 our being baptized into the death of Chrift, he addes this as 
 the Corollary of all, He that u dead, is freed from fin* ; that 
 is, being mortified, and buried inthe waters of Baptifm, we 
 
 ii\ivvvydu 
 Rutar. vide 
 Difc.9. of Re- 
 pentance.n.46 
 
 §.24. 
 
 Tniwfx.A-m- have a new life of righteoufnefs put into us; we are quitted 
 from the dominion of fin, and are planted together in the like- 
 nets of Ghrifts Refurre&ion , that henceforth we ftiould not 
 ferve fin. 
 
 4. But all thefe intermedial bleflings tend to a glorious Con- 
 clusion, for Buptifm does alfoconfign us to a holy Refurrettion, 
 It takes the fting of death from us, by burying us together with 
 Chrift; and takes off fin, which is the fting of death, and then 
 we fhall be partakers of a bleffed Refurre&ion. This we are 
 
 Rom.6.3 j5. * taught by S. Paul, Know ye not thatfo many of us as are baptised 
 into Jefus Chrift : , were baptised into his death ? For if we have 
 been planted together in the lihenefs of his deatfa we /ball be alfo 
 in the likenefs of hus refurretlion. That declares the real event 
 in its due feafon. But becaufe Baptifm configns it, and admits us 
 
 C0U.1 *. to a title to it, we are faid with S. Panl y to be rifen with Chrift 
 
 w 
 
of Bap t ism. 19 
 
 in Baptifm \ buried with him in Baptifm, rvherin alfo you are 
 rifen with him, thorough the faith of the operation of God } which 
 hath raifed him from the dead ; which expreflion I defire to be 
 remembred, that by it we may better underftand thofe other 
 fayings of the Apoftle, of putting on Chrift in Baptifm^ putting 
 on the new man, &C« for thefe onely fignifie ewr;^'pH<tws, or the de- 
 sign on Gods part, and the endeyour and duty on mans : we 
 are then configned to our duty, and to our reward ; we under- 
 take one, and have a title to the other : and though men of 
 ripenefs and reafon enter inftantly into their portion of work 5 and 
 have prefent ufe of the afTiftances, and fomething of their re- 
 ward in hand ; yet we cannot conclude, that thofe that cannot 
 do it prefently 5 are not baptized rightly* becaufe they are not 
 in capacity to put on the new man in righteoufhefs, that is, in 
 an actual holy life : for they may put on the new man in Ba* 
 ptifm, juft as they are rifen with Chrifi : which becaufe it may 
 be done by faith, before it is done in real event, and it may be 
 done by Sacrament and defign, before it be done by a proper 
 faith ; fo alfo may our putting on the new man be. It is done 
 facra mentally, and that part which is wholly the work of God, 
 does onely antedate the work of man, which is tofucceed in its 
 due time, and is after the manner of preventing grace : but this 
 is by the by : In order to the prefent article, Baptifm is by Theo- 
 doret called (xtlxoia. tUs ^irrnnms cLvasdnw > a participation of 
 the Lords Refurre5tion. 
 
 5. And laftly, by Baptifm we are fated ; that is, we are §. 25. 
 brought from death to life here, and that is the firft Refurrec"ti- 
 om and we are brought from death to life hereafcer, by vertue 
 of the Covenant of the ftate of Grace, into which in Baptifm 
 we enter, and are preferved from the lecond death, and receive a 
 glarious and an eternal life : He that believeth and is baptised, Mark 16.16, 
 Shall be faved, faid our blefled Saviour; and, according to his Tic.j.f. 
 mercy he faved us, by the wafhing of regeneration., and renewing 
 of the holy Ghoft. 
 
 After thefe great bleflings fo plainly teftified in Scripture, and 
 the DocVine of the Primitive Church, which are regularly con- 
 signed and beftowed in Baptifm, I {hall lefs need to defcend to 
 temporal bleflings, or rare contingencies, or miraculous events^ 
 
 Da or 
 
20 A Difcourfe 
 
 or probable notices of things lefs certain : of this nature are 
 thole ftories recorded in the writings of the Church, that Con- 
 
 Niccffb. 1. 7. fiantine was cured of a Leprofie in Baptifm, Theodojim recover- 
 
 Socl'.l *. c.6. et * °^ ^is difeafe, being baptized by the Bifhop of Theffalonica; 
 
 idem iih.is cj. and a paralytic Jew was cured as foon as he became a Chriftian, 
 and was baptized by Aniens of C.P. and Bifhop Arnulph 
 baptizing a Leper,allb cured him, faid Vincentius Bellovacenjis. 
 It is more considerable, which is generally and pioufly believed ^ 
 by very many eminent perfons in the Church, That atourBa-^ 
 ptifm Cod afligns an Angel Guardian: for then the Catechumen 
 being made a Servant and a Brother to the Lord of Angels, is r 
 
 Pfal.347* fure not to want the ai^s of them who fitch their tents round ^ 
 about them that fear the Lord : and that this guard and mini- 
 fteryisthen appointed, when themfelves are admitted into the 
 inheritance of the Promifes, and their title to Salvation is hugely 
 
 JJeb.1.14. agreeable to the words of S.Paul, Are they not all ' miniji ring 
 fpirits, fent forth to minifler to them who Jball be heirs of fal- 
 vatioK ? where it appears, that the title to the inheritance is 
 the title to this miniitery, and therefore muft begin and end to- 
 gether. But . I infift not on this> though it feems to me hugely 
 probable. All thefe blefltngs put into one fjllabus, have given 
 to Baptifm many honorable appellatives in Scripture , and o- 
 
 Bafil. Tbcodor. ther divine Writers, calling it dmyivv»<nv,Titthifycvicna.v,o^tif^ 
 
 an%.Col^.i, ffi\eiat twv ipaj/av > (uyhtfv 7net\ouMV , 7neMouwv etv.«£?7ro/tf7W, 
 Cyril. Hero]. > / . ' /. »><./>»># » '* y » A T 
 
 iy'amf A-o» tvctys-ivnoiv, S77sp&>TO/«#, a.f>pa,Gava, 9 tvtyy&Vi e,7nJ"Ht;iv y avctKliaiVa 
 
 Jmuft. U%* %v$viaa <pcoTtivlv a Sacr amentum vita ejr aterna falutis. A new 
 
 €. 13; birth, a regeneration, a renovation, a charet carrying us to God, 
 
 contra Crefcon. the great Circumcifion, a Circumcifion made without hands, the 
 
 Gram. k CV f t ^ e Ki n gdome, the Paranymph of the Kingdome, the 
 
 earneft of our inheritance, the anlwer of a good Confcience, the 
 
 robe of light, the Sacrament of a new life, and of eternal fal- 
 
 vation. aetsw }mv «/»?. This is caeleftial water, fpringing from 
 
 the fides of the Rock, upon the which the Church was built, 
 
 when the Rock was fmitten with the Rod of God. 
 
 c. 27. It remains now, that we inquire what concerns our duty, and 
 
 in what perfons, or in what difpofitions Baptifm produces all 
 
 thefe glorious effe&s ? For, the Sacraments of the Church work 
 
 in 
 
o/Bapti ^m* 2I 
 
 in the vertue of Chrift,but yetonely upon fuch as are fervants 
 of Chrift, and hinder not the work of the Spirit of grace. For 
 the water of the Font, and the Spirit of the Sacrament, are in- 
 deed to wafh away our fins, and to purifie our fouls : but not 
 unlefs we have a minde to be purified. The Sacrament works 
 pardon for them that hate their fin, and procures grace for them 
 that love ir. They that are guilty of fins, muft repent of them, 
 and renounce them, and they muft make a profeflion of the faith 
 ofChrift.and give,or be given up to the obedience of Chrift, and 
 then they are rightly difpoled. He that believeth and is bapti- Mark 16. 16. 
 z.ed } fbxllbe faved, faith Chrift ; and S. Peter call'd out to the Afts 2.x8. 
 whole affembly, Repent s and be baptized every one of you. Con- 
 . cerningthis,jF»7?i» Martyr °\vz$ the fame account of the faith 
 
 and prattife of the Church. "Oovt av mi&an ^ m&vxw, &c. Apol.ad Anton. 
 " Whofoever are perfwaded, and believe thofe things to be true, c<ef. 
 » which are delivered and Ipoken by us, and undertake to live 
 » accordingly, they are commanded to faft and pray, and to ask 
 » of God remiflion of their former fins,, we alfo praying toge- 
 ther with them, and fafting. Then they are brought to us 
 » where water is^ and are regenerated in the fame manner of re- 
 's generation, by which we our felves are regenerated. For in 
 Baptifm, S. Peter obferves there are two parts, the bodj, and the 
 jpirit ; that is, ov.%ym <lm%i<ns puT?, the putting away the filth of 
 the flefb, that is, the material wafhing : and this is Baptifm, no 
 otherwife then a dead corps is a man: the other is, nvHMma< 1 Pet.j.aii 
 «3a5«5 {77sf«7»/>fct, the anfvoer of a good confeience towards God' 
 that is, the converfion of the foul to God, that's the effective 
 difpofition in which Baptifm does fave us. And in the fame lenie 
 are thole fayings of the Primitive Doctors to be underftood, 
 Anima non Uvatione fed rejponjione fancitttr. The foul is not TcrtHtl. de 
 healed by wafhing, viz. alone, but by the anfwer the i-m^nuA re * lfu Ccm ' 
 1inS. Peter, the correfpondent of cur part of the Covenant: for 
 a that's the perfect fenfe of this unufual expreflion. And the effe& 
 is attributed to this, and denied to the other, when they are di- 
 ftinguifhed: So J ufiin Martyr affirms ; the onely Baptifm that Ad Trypkon. 
 can heal #*, is Repentance, and the knowledge of God. For what J H( ** 
 need is there of that Baptifm that cap onelycleanfe the fie fh and 
 the body ? Be wafhedinyonr flejh from wrath and covetoufnefs, 
 
 Dj from- 
 
iz A T>ifcomfe 
 
 from envy and hatred, and heboid the body it pure. And Clement 
 Alexandrine upon the Proverbial faying, i&i ^ *« T p<y **** 
 vo$ w&t&f, be not pure in the laver, but in the minde ; adcies, 
 / fupfofe that an exac~l and a firm repentance^ it a fuffcient 
 purification to a man ; if judging and conjidering our felvet for 
 the fails we have done before, we proceed to that which it before 
 w t conjidering that which follows t and cleanjing or wajbing our 
 minde from fenfual affections, and from former fins. Juft as 
 we ufe to deny the effect to the inftrumental caufe, and attribute 
 it to the principal in the manner of (peaking, when our purpole 
 is to affirm this to be the principal, and of chief influence. So 
 we fay, It is not the good Lute, but the skilful hand that makes 
 the mufick : It is not the body, but the foul that is the man ; and 
 yet he is not the man without both. For Baptifm is but the ma- 
 terial part in the Sacrament, it is the Spirit that giveth life • 
 whofe work is faith and repentance begun by himfelf , without 
 the Sacramentjandconfigned in the Sacramenc,and actuated and 
 increaied in the cooperation of our whole life : and therefore 
 ViaUum Trypb. Baptifm is called in the Jerufalem Creed,^- ffJ^tfffjut (mtuvoio( \n 
 a<pz<nv twv ct^*p77«f, one Baptifm of repentance for the remifTion/ 
 of fins ; and by Juflin Martyr, kmt^ov t»< utlttvoittt jy ™s yv*- 
 otas <ra 6s* o Cm? ivf dvofuey twV h&ay rk hv y^onv^The Baptifm of 
 Repentance and the knowledge of Godjvhich rras made for the fins 
 of the people of God. He explains himfelf a little after, tv /3*t77<t- 
 (jla tv fJtvov K&Sttplcmi t»? (utav oficncvrct ( <Pwd.(/.i'Jov> Baptifm that 
 can onely deanie them that are penitent. » In facramentis Tri- 
 »» nitati occurrit Fides credentium ejr profeff; qu* apud acta 
 '» confeitur Angelorum, ubi mifcentur coeL'flia & fpiritualia 
 »femina, ut fantlo germine nova fojpt renafctntium indoles 
 « procreari, ut dum Trinitas cum fide concordat \ qui natusfue- 
 »j rit ftcuhy renafcatur fpiritualiter Deo. Sic fit hominum Pa- 
 pb. x. adv. » terDeus, fan&a fit Mater ecclefia, faid Optatus. The faith 
 m ' « and profeflion of the Believers, meets with the ever-bleiTed 
 
 « Trinity, and is recorded in theRegifter of Angels, where hea- 
 »> venly and fpiritual feeds are mingled; that rroni io holy a 
 « Spring, may be produced a new nature of the regeneration, 
 « that while the Trinity (viz. that is invocated upon the bapti- 
 " zed) meets with the faith of the Catechumen, he that was 
 
 » bora 
 
tf B A PT I SM. 23 
 
 »' bom to the world, may be born fpiritually to God. So God 
 is made a Father to the man, and the holy Church a Mother. 
 Faith and Repentance ftrip the old man naked, and make him 
 fit for Baptifm j and then the holy Spirit moving upon the wa- 
 ters, cleanies the foul, and makes it to put on the new man,who 
 orows up to perfection and a fpititual life, to a life of glory, by 
 our verification of the undertaking in Baptifm on our part, and 
 the graces of the Spirit on the other. For the waters pierce no 
 further then the skin, till the perfon puts off his aflfe&ion to the 
 (in that he hath contracted ; and" then he may fay, A^h*. intra- 
 verttntHfq; adanimammeam , The waters are entred even un- 
 to my foul, to purifte and cleanie it, by the wafhing of water, 
 and the renewing by the holy Spirit : The fum is this, /3««#/£6- Clem. Alex. UK 
 
 (JLiVOt QawtylXiQct , yaTJ^bfViVOI U077D/*£w9ot, ^OTOtitHiVOl r nX&it}JU&A y l, $'* C *ag' C.6» 
 
 ?i\eixy.<voi eLSamyfyiuQa, being baptized, we are illuminated ; 
 being illuminated,we are adopted to the inheritance of fons ; be- 
 ing adopted, we are promoted towards perfection ; and being 
 perfected, we are made immortal. 
 
 ^uifquis in bos fontes vir venerit^ exeat inde 
 SemideftSjtattis eito nobilitetur in undis* 
 
 This is the whole Doctrine of Baptifm, as it is in it felf con- $. 18, 
 fidered, without relation to rare circumftances, or accidental ca- 
 fes : and it will alfo ferve to the right understanding of the rea- 
 lbns why the Church of God hath in all ages baptized all per- 
 fons, that were within her power, for whom the Church could 
 ftipulate that they were or might be relatives of Chrift, fons of 
 God, heirs of the Prornifes, and partners of the Covenant, and 
 fuch as did not hinder the work of Baptifm upon their fouls-- 
 And fuch were not onely per fons of age and choice, but the In- 
 fants of Chriftian Parents. For the underftanding and verifying 
 of which truth, I (hall onely need to apply the parts of the for- 
 mer Difcourfe to their particular cafe ; premiiing firft thefe Pro- 
 portions. 
 
 0/ 
 
M 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Of 'Baptising Infants. 
 
 i - f • IK8K1? A P T I S M is the Key in Chrifts hand, and there- 
 fore opens as he opens, and ftiuts by his rule : and as 
 Chrift himfelf did not do all his blcflings and effects 
 unto every one, but gave to every one as they had 
 need, fo does Baptifm. Chrift did not cure all mens eyes, but 
 them onely that were blinde : Chrift came not to call the righ- 
 teous, bnt finners to repentance ; that is, they that lived in the 
 fear of God, according to the Covenant in which they were 
 debtors, were indeed improved and promoted higher by Chrift, 
 but not called to that repentance to which he called the vitious 
 Gentiles, and the adulterous perfons among the Jews, and the 
 hypocritical Pharifees. There are fome fo innocent, that they 
 need no repentance (faith the Scripture) meaning, That though 
 they do need contrition for their (ingle a&sof fin, yet they are 
 within the ftate of grace, and need not repentance, as it is a con- 
 version of the whole mart: and fo it is in Baptifm, which does 
 all its effects upon them that need them all ; and fome upon them 
 that need but lome : and therefore as it pardons fins to them that 
 have committed them, and do repent and believe j fo to the 
 others who have not committed them, it does all the work which 
 is done to the others, above or befides that pardon. 
 §.2. 2 - When the ordinary effect of a Sacrament is done already 
 
 by fome other efficiency or inftrument, yet the Sacrament is ftill 
 as obligatory as before, not for fo many reafons or neceflities, 
 but for the fame Commandment. Baptifm is the firft ordinary 
 Current, in which the Spirit moves and defcends upon us ; and 
 where Gods Spirit is, they are the fons of God : for Chrifts 
 Spirit defcends upon none, but them that are his ; and yet Cor- 
 Ads 10.47. neiitu, who had received the holy Spirit, and was heard by 
 
 God 
 
Of Baptising Infants. 2 5 
 
 God, and vifitedby an Angel, and accepted in his alms, and 
 faftings, and prayers, yet was tyed to the fufception of Baptifm. 
 To which may be added, That the receiving the effe&s of Ba- 
 ptifm before-haad, was ufed as an argument the rather to mini- 
 iter to Baptifm. The effect of which consideration is this. That 
 Baptifm and its effect may be (eparated, and do not alwayes go 
 in conjunction ; the effect may be before, and therefore much 
 rather may it be after its fufception ; the Sacrament operating in 
 the vertue of Chrift, even^r the Spirit Jhall move; according 
 to that faying of S. Auftin, Sacrofantto Uvacro inchoata inno- dug. de moribm 
 vatio novi hominis perfciendo perficitur in aliis citius, in aliis ^ cclc f- Catb ' , 
 tardius. And S.Bernard, Lav art cjuidem cito pojfumus, fed j' , slm.de 
 ad ftnandum mu/ta curatione oput eft. The work of regene- cma D m% 
 ration that is begun in the Miniftery of Baptifm, is perfected in 
 fome fooner, and in fome later : we may foon be waftiedj but to 
 be healed, is a work of a long cure. 
 
 3. The difpofitions which are required to the ordinary fa- §.3. 
 fception of Baptifm, are not neceffary to the efficacy, or requi- 
 red to the nature of the Sacrament; but accidentally, and be- 
 caufe of the fuperinduced neceflities of fome men. And there- 
 fore the conditions are not regularly to be required, but in thofe 
 accidents. It was neceffary for a Gentile Profelyte to repent of 
 his fins, and to believe in Mofes Law, before he could be cir- 
 cumcifed ; but Abraham was not tyed to the fame conditions, 
 but onely to faith in God ; but lfaac was not tyed to fo much : 
 andCircumcifion was not of Mofes , but of the fathers : and 
 yet after the fandlion of Mofes Law, men were tyed to Condi- 
 tions, which were then made neceffary to them that entred into 
 the Covenant, but not neceffary to the nature of the Covenant 
 it felf. And fo- it is in the fufception of Baptifm : if a (inner 
 enters into the Font, it is neceffary he be ftrippM of thofe appen- 
 dages which himfelf fewed upon his Nature, and then Repen- 
 tance is a neceffary difpofition. If his understanding hath been 
 a ftranger to Religion, polluted with evil Principles, and a falle 
 Religion, it is neceffary he have an actual faith, that he be given 
 in his underftanding up to the obedience of Chrift : and the 
 reafonof thefe is plain, Becaufein thefe perfons there is a difpo- 
 fition contrary to the ftate and effects of Baptifm ; and therefore 
 
 E they 
 
26 Of Baptizing Infants, 
 
 they muft be taken off by their contraries, Fa/r A and Reptntanct, 
 that they may be reduced to die ftate of pure receptives. And 
 this is the fenfe of thofe words of our blefled Saviour, Vnlefs 
 ye become liks one °f theje little ones, ye fh ill not enter into the 
 kjngdome of heaven ; that is, ye cannot be admitted into the 
 Gofpel-Covenant, unlefs all your contrarieties and impediments 
 be taken from you., and you be as apt as children to receive the 
 new immilTions from heaven. And this Proportion relies upon 
 a great Example, and a certain Reafon. The Example is our 
 bletVed Saviour,who was N ullitu pecnitenti^ dtbitor^\t had com- 
 mitted no fin; and needed no repentance ; he needed not to be 
 laved by faith, for or faith he was the Author and Fin'tfter, and 
 the great obje«5t> and its perfection and reward, and yet he was 
 baptized by the Baptiim of John, the Baptifm of Repentance* 
 And therefore it is certain, that Repentance and Faich are not ne- 
 ceflary to the fulception of Baptiim, but neceflary to fome per- 
 sons that are baptized. For it is neceflary we fhould muchcon- 
 fider the difference. If the Sacrament in any perfon may be 
 ju'ftly received, in whom fuch ditpofitions are not to be found, 
 then the difpofitions are not neceflary or intrinfecal to the iu(cc~ 
 ption of the Sacrament ; and yet fome perfons coming to this Sa- 
 crament, may have fuch neceflities of their own, as will make 
 the Sacrament ineffectual without fuch difpof.tions ; Thefe I call 
 necejfary to the perfon, but not to the Sacrament ; that is, ne- 
 ceflary to all fuch, but not neceflary to all ablblutely. And faith 
 is neceflary iometimes where Repentance is not, and fometimes 
 Repentance and Faith together,and fometimes otherwife. When 
 A&S8.37. Philip baptized the Eunuch, he onely required of him to be- 
 A&S1.38. Iieve, not to repent. But S. Peter, when he preached to the 
 Jews, and converted them, onely required Repentance : which 
 although in their cafe implyed faith, yet there was no explicit 
 AAS3.15. ftipulation for it : they had crucified the Lord of life, and if 
 they would come to God by Baptifm, theymuft renounce their 
 fin : that was all was then flood upon. It is as the cafe is, or 
 as the perfons have fuperinduced neceflirics upon themfelves. In 
 children the cafe is evident, as to the one part, whkh is equally 
 required ; I mean, Repentance : The not doing of which, can- 
 not prejudice them as to the fufception of Baptifm ; becaufe 
 
 they 
 
Of Baptising Infants. 27 
 
 they having done no evil, are not bound to repent; and to re- 
 pent, is as neceffary to the fufception or Baptilin, as Faith is : 
 but this fhews, that they are accidentally neceffary ; that is, not 
 ablblutely, not to all,not to Infants : and if they may be excufed 
 from one duty, which is indifpenfably neceffary to Baptifm, 
 why they may not from the other, is alecret which will not be 
 found out by thefe whom it concerns to believe it. 
 
 And therefore when our bleffed Lord made a ftipulation and §. 4. 
 exprefs Commandment for faith, with the greateft annexed pe- 
 nalty to them that had it not, He that believeth not Jh-.il I be 
 damned, the proportion is not to be verified or underftood as re- 
 lative to every period of time ; for then no man could be convert- 
 ed from infidelity to the Chriftian faith, and from the power of 
 the Devil to theKingdomeof Chrift, but his prefent infidelity 
 fhall be his final ruine. It is not therefore y*dtut<, but^pf**, not 
 a fentence, but a ufe, apr<ediclion and intermination. It is not 
 like that faying [jGodu true, and every man a lyar] [Every 
 good, and every pcrfetl gift is from above :] for thefe are true in 
 every inftant, without reference to circumftanccs : but He that 
 believeth not Jh.ill be damned, is a prediction, or that which in 
 Rhetorick is called x?«'«, or a u f e * became this is the affirmation 
 of that which ufually or frequently comes to pafs : fuch as this. 
 He that fir ikes with the [word, fhall perijh by the /word 3 He 
 that robs a Church, Jhall be like awheel, of a vertiginous and 
 unliable eftate ; He that loves whte and oyle,Jhall not be rich : 
 and therefore it is a declaration of that which is univerfally or 
 commonly true ; but not fo, that in what inftance foever a man 
 is not a believer, in that inftant it is true to fay he is damned ; 
 for Jbme are called the third, fomc the fixth, fome the ninth hour, 
 and they that come in, being fir ft called, at the eleventh hour, 
 fhall have their reward : lb that this fentence ftands true at the 
 day and the Judgement of the Lord, not at the judgement or 
 day of man. And in the fame neceffity as faith ftands to fal- 
 vation, in the fame it ftands to Baptifm ; that is, tobemeafu- 
 red by the whole latitude of its extent. Our Baptifm fhall no 
 more do all its intention, unlefs faith fupervene, then a man is in 
 poflibility of being laved without faith ; it muft come in its due 
 time, but is not indifpenfably neceffary in all inftants andpe- 
 
 E 2 riods. 
 
28 Of fcitytizing Infants. 
 
 riods. Baptiim is the feal of our Election and Adoption ; and 
 as Election is brought to effect by faith, and its confequents; fo 
 isBaptifm : but to neither is faith ncceflary, as to its beginning 
 and firft entrance. To which alio I adde this Confideration, 
 '1 That actual faith is neceflary, not to the iufception, but to the 
 confequcnt effects of Baptifm, appears, Becaulc theChurch,and 
 particularly the Apoftlcs, did baptize forne perfons who had not 
 faith, but were hypocrites, Rich as were Simon Afagw, Ale- 
 xander the Copper- imith, Dcmot, and Diotrephes ; and luch 
 | was Judas when he was baptized, and luch were the Gnoftick^ 
 Teachers. For the effeft depends upon God, who knows the 
 heart, but the outward Iufception depends upon them who cio 
 not know it ; which is a certain argument, That the fame faith 
 that is neceffary to the effect of the Sacrament, is not neceflary 
 to its fulception ; and if it can be adminiftred to hypocrites, 
 much more to Infants; if to thole whoreally hinder the effect, 
 much rather to them that hinder not. And if it be objected, 
 That the Chnrch does not know but the pretenders have faith, 
 but fhe knows Infants have not. I reply, That the Church 
 does not know but the pretenders hinder the effect, and are con- 
 trary co the grace of the Sacrament ; but fhe knows that Infants 
 do nor. The firft pcfiibly may receive the grace, the other can- 
 not hinder it- 
 ^, J,. But befide theie things, it is considerable, That when it is re- 
 
 quired, perfons have faith : it is true, they that require Ba- 
 ptifm, fliould give a reafon why they do : foit was in the cafe 
 of the Eunuch baptized by Philip, But this is not to be re- 
 quired of others that do not ask it, and yet they be of the 
 Church, and ef the Faith : for by Fait h is alfo underftood the 
 Chriftian Religion, and the Chriftian Faith is the Chriftian Re- 
 ligion , and of this a man may be, though he make no confeffion 
 of his faith; as a man may be of the Church, and yet not be of 
 the number of Gods fecrets ones : and to thus more is required 
 then tot hat - y to the firft it is fuffcient chat he be admitted by a 
 Sacrament or a Ceremony : which is infallibly certain, becaufc 
 hypocrites and wicked people ate in the vifible Communion of 
 the Church, and are reckoned as members of it, and yet to them 
 there was nothing done but the Ceremony adminiftred ; and 
 
 • • there- 
 
Of Baptising Infants. 2 9 
 
 therefore when that is done to Infants, they alfo ate to be rec- 
 koned in the Church Communion. And indeed in the examples 
 of Scripture, we finde more inferted into the number of Gods fa- 
 mily by outward Ceremony, then by the inward grace : of this 
 number were all thofe who were circumcifed the eighth day, 
 who were admitted thither, as the wamans daughter was cured 
 in the Gofpel, by the faith of their mother, their natural parent-, 
 or their fpiritual : To whole faith it is as certain God will take 
 heed, as to their faith who brought one to Chrift who could not 
 come himfelf, the poor Paralytick ;. for when Chrift faw their 
 fifth, he cured their friend : and yet it is to be obferved, That 
 Chrift did uic toexait faith, actual faith, of them that came to 
 him to be cured [According to your faith be it unto -you.'] The Mat 9.29, 
 cafe is equal in its whole kinde. And it is considerable what 
 Chrift iaithto the poor man that came in behalf of his lbn, All 
 things are pojfiblc to him that bdicveth, it is polTible for a fon to Mark $>.zj, 
 receive the blefling and benefit of his fathers faith : and k was 
 fo in his cafe, and 'a poflfible to any ; for to faith all things are 
 fojjible. And as to the event of things, it is evident in the ftory 
 of the Gofpel, That the faith of their relatives was equally effe- 
 ctive to children, and friends, or fervants, abfent or fick, as the 
 faith of the interefted perfon was to himfelf: As appears be- 
 1 yondall exception in the cafe of the friends of the Paralytick, let Mat. 8. 13. 
 down with cords thorough the tyles 3 of the Centurion in behalf 
 of his iervant : of the noble man, for his fon fick at Capernaum; John 4. 50. 
 of the Syrophcemcian, for her daughter : and Chrift required 
 faith of no fick man, but of him that prefented himfelf to him, Mat.^.zS.. 
 and defired for himfelf that he might be cured, as it was in the 
 cafe of the blir.de men. Though they could believe, yetChrift 
 required belief of them that came to him on their behalf. And 
 why then it may not be fo, or is not lo in the cafe of Infants Ba- 
 ptilm, 1 confefsit is paft my skill to conjecture. The Reafon 
 on which this further relies, is contained in the next Propo- 
 rtion. 
 
 4. No difpofition or a&of man can deferve the firrt grace, or §, <$.. 
 the grace of pardon : for fo long as a man is unpardoned, he is 
 an evemy to God, and as a dead perfon; and unlefs he be pre- 
 vented by the grace of God, cannot do a fingle a& in order to 
 
 E 3 his 
 
jo Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 his pardon and reftitution : fo that the firft work which God 
 docs upon a man, is fo wholly his own, that the man hath no- 
 thing in it, but to entertain it, that is, not to hinder the work of 
 God upon him : and this is done in them that have in them no- 
 thing that can hinder the work of grace, or in them who remove 
 the hinderances ; of the latter lore are all finners, who have 
 lived in a ftate contrary to God ; of the firft are they who are 
 prevented by the grace of God, before they can choofe, that is, 
 little children, and thofe that become like unto little children. 
 So that Faith and Repentance are not neceflary at firft to the re- 
 ception of the firft grace, but by accident. If fin have drawn 
 curtains, and put bars and coverings to the windows, thele muft 
 be taken away ; and that is done by faith and repentance : but 
 if the windows be not fhut, fo that the light can pafs thorough 
 them, the eye of heaven will pafs in and dwell there. No man 
 
 John 6.44. " : can come unto me, unlefs my Father draw him • that is, the firft 
 
 acceft to Chrift is nothing of our own, but wholly of God ; and 
 
 I it is as in our creation, in which we have an obediential capacity, 
 
 but cooperate not ; onely if we be contrary to the work of grace, 
 
 ^ that contrariety muft be taken off, elfe there is no neceflity : and 
 
 Mark 10.15. if all men according toChrifts laying, mufi receive the King- 
 ' dome of God as little children, it is certain, litrlc children do re- 
 ceive it; they receive it as all men ought, that is, without any 
 1 impediment ordbftru^ion^without any thing withiiTthatTF 
 contrary tTo^haTftatcT~ 
 7. i 5-. Baptifm is not to be eftimated as one a&, tranfient and ef- 
 fective to fingle purpofes, but it is an entrance to a conjugation 
 and a ftate of bleflings. All our life is to be tranfactcd by the 
 meafuresof theGofpel-Covenant, and that Covenant is con- 
 signed by Baptifm • there we have our title and adoption to it, 
 and the grace that is then given to us is like a piece of leaven put 
 into a lump of dow : and faith and repentance do in all the pe- 
 riods of our life, put it into fermentation and activity. Then the 
 leedof God is put into the ground of our hearts, and repentance 
 waters it, and faith makes it fubaElum folum, the ground and 
 furrows apt to produce fruits : and therefore faith and repentance 
 are neceflary to the effect of Baptifm, not to its fufception ; that 
 is, neceflary to all thofe parts of life in which Baptifm does ope- 
 rate,' 
 
Of Baptizing Infants. ^ ! 
 
 rate, not to the firft fan&ion or entring into the Covenant. The 
 feed may lye long in the ground, and produce fruits in its due 
 ieaibn, if ic be refrefhed with the former and the latter rain t 
 that is, the repentance that firft changes the ftatc, and converts 
 the man, and afterwards returns him to his tide, and recalls him 
 from his wandrings, and keeps him in the ftate of grace, and 
 within the limits of the Covenant : and all the vvay^faith gives 
 efficacy and acceptation to this repentance, that is, continues our 
 title to the Promife, of not having righteoulnefs exacted by the 
 mcafures of the Law, but by the Covenant and Promife. of grace, 
 into which weentrcd in Baptiim, and walk in the fame all the 
 dayes of our life. 
 
 6. The holy Spirit which defcendsupon the waters of Ba- §..$, 
 ptifm, does nor inftantly produce its effects in the foul of the 
 baptized j and when he does, it is irregularly, and as he pleale : 
 The Spirit bloweth where it lifteth, and no man kjiowerh whence 
 it comet h y nor whither it goeth ; and the Catechumen is admit- 
 ted into the Kingdome, yet the Kingdome of God cometh not 
 with obfervation : and this faying of our blelTed Saviour was 
 fpoken of the Kingdome of of God that is within us y that is, Luke 17.20, 
 the Spirit of Grace , the power of the Gofpel put into our «• 
 hearts, concerning which, he affirmed, that it operates. Co le- 
 cretly , that it comes not with outward fhew , neither Jhall 
 tbej faj, Lo here, or lo there : which thing I defire the rather 
 be obferved , becaufe in the fame difcourie which our blef- 
 fed Saviour continued to that affembly, he affirms this King- Luke 18.16.. 
 dome of God to belong unto little children, thisKinsdome that 
 cometh not with outward fignincations, or prefent exprefles;this 
 Kingdome that is within us. For the prefent, the ufe I make of 
 it is this, That no man can conclude that this Kingdome of 
 Power, that is, the Spirit of Saniftification, is not come upon 
 Infants, becaufe there is no fign orexpreffion of it. It is within 
 us, therefore it hath no fignification. It is the feed of God ; ancl 
 it is no good Argument to fay? Here is no feed in the bowels of 
 the earth, becaufe there is nothing green upon the face of it. For 
 the Church gives the Sacrament, God gives the grace of the Sa- 
 
 crament. But becaule he docs not alwayes give it at the inftant 
 in which the Church gives the Sacrament, (asif tjjeie be afe- 
 
 cret 
 
3 2 
 
 Of 'Baptizing Infants'. 
 
 cret impediment in the fufcipient) and yet afterwards does give 
 it, when the impediment is removed (as to them that repent of 
 that impediment) it follows, that the Church may adminifter 
 rightly, even before God gives the real grace of the Sacrament ; 
 and it God gives this grace afterwards by parts, and yet all of 
 it is the efte& of that Covenant which was configned in Ba- 
 ptifm : he that defers fome may defer all, and verifie every part 
 as well as any part. For it is certain, that in the inftance now 
 made, all the grace is deferred ; in Infants it is not certain but 
 that iome is collated or in tufed : however, be it lo or no, yet 
 upon this account the administration of the Sacrament is not 
 hindred. 
 §. 9. 7« When the Scripture fpeaks of the effects of, or difpori- 
 
 tions to Baptilm, it fpeaks in general expreffions, as being m®ft 
 apt to figmfie a common duty, or a general effect, or a more uni- 
 verfal event, or the proper order of things : but thofe general ex- 
 pressions do not fuppomre univerfaliter, that is, are not to be 
 underftood excluftvely to all that are not fo qualified, or univer- 
 fally of all fufcipients, or of all the fubje&s of the proportion. 
 When the Prophets complain of the Jews, that they are fain 
 from God, and turned to Idols, and walk not in the way of their 
 Fathers; and at other times, the Scripture fpeaks the fame thing 
 of their Fathers, that they walked perverfly toward God, part- 
 ing aftde like a broken bow : In thefe and the like exprefiions the 
 holy Scripture ufes a Synecdoche, or fignifies many onely, under 
 the notion of a more large and indefinite exprefiion ; for neither 
 were all the Fathers good, neither did all the- Ions prevaricate : 
 but among the Fathers there were enough to recommend to po- 
 ikrity by way of example ; and among the Children, there were 
 enough to ftain the reputation of the age : but neither the one 
 part nor the other was true of every fingle perfon. S.fohn the Ba- 
 ptift fpake to the whole audience,faying, O generation of vipers! 
 and yet he did not mean that all Jerufalem and Jadea that went 
 out to be baptized of him, were fuch ; but he under an indeter- 
 minate reproof, intended thofe that were fuch, that is, efpecially 
 the Priefts and the Pharifees. And it is more considerable yet, in 
 the ftory of the event of Chrifts Sermon in the Synagogue, upon 
 Luk.4- ll >*8. his Text takeout of Ifaiah, All wondrtdat his gracious words, 
 
 and 
 
Of Baptizing Infanti. - 3 j 
 
 and bare him witnefs* And a little after, ^// they in the Syna- >- 
 gogue were filled with wrath, that is, it was generally fo j but 
 hardly to be fuppofedtrue of every (ingle perfon, in both the 
 contrary humors and ufages. Thus Chrift faid to the Apoftles, 
 Ye have abidden with me in my temptations ; and yet Judas was 
 all the way a follower of Intereft and the Bag , rather then 
 Chrift : and afterwards none of them all did abide with Chrift 
 in his greateft Temptations. Thus alfo to come nearer the pre- 
 fent Queftion, the fecret effects of Election and of the Spirit, 
 are in Scripture attributed to all that are of the outward com- 
 munion. So S. Peter calls all the Chriftian ftrangers of the 
 Eaftern difperfion, Elect, according to the fore-knowledge «/iP«,i,iJ 
 God the Father : and S. Panl faith of all the Roman Chrifti- 
 ans, and the fame of the Thejfalonians, that their faith was 
 Jpoken of in all the world j and yet amongft them it is not to 
 be fuppofed, that all the profeflbrs had an unreproveable faith, 
 or that every one of the Church of Thejfalonica was an excel- 
 lent and a charitable perfon : and yet the Apoftle ufeth this ex- 
 preflion, Tour faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of eve- iTheff. i.z: 
 ry one of you all towards each other , aboundeth. Thefe are ufu- 
 ally Significant of a general cuftomeor order of things, or duty 
 of rnen,ordefign, and natural or proper expectation of events ; 
 fuch are thefe alfo in this very Queftion. As many of you as 
 are baptized into Chrift, have put onChrift ; that is, fo it is re- 
 gularly, and fo it will be in its due time, and that is the order of 
 things, and the defigned event : but from hence we cannot con- 
 clude of every perfon, and in every period of time ; This man 
 hath been baptized 3 therefore now he is clothed with Chrift, he 
 hath put en Chrift : nor thus, This perfon cannot in a Jpiritual 
 fenfe as yet put on Chrift, therefore he hath not been baptized, 
 that is, he hath not put him on in a facramental fenfe. Such is 
 the faying of S. Paul, whom he hath predeftinated , them R om ,8.-»o' 
 he alfo called ; and whom he called , them he alfo juftifi- 
 ed j and whom he juftified , them he alfo glorified : this alfo 
 declares the regular event , or at lea ft the order of thing?, 
 and the defign of God, but not the actual verification of it to all 
 perfons. Thefe layings concerning Baptifm, in the like manner 
 are to be fo underftood, that they cannot exclude all perfons from 
 the Sacrament, that have not all thofe real effects of the Sacra- 
 
 F men 
 
54 Of (Baptizing Infant si 
 
 ment at all times, which fome men have atfome times, andaH 
 men rmift have at fome time or other, viz,, when the Sacrament 
 obtains its laft intention. But he that fh all argue from hence, 
 that Children are not rightly baptized, becaufe they cannot in a 
 fpiritual fenfe put on Chrift^ concludes nothing, unlets thefe pro- 
 portions did fignifie univerfally, and at all times, and in every 
 perfon, and in every manner : which can no more pretend to 
 truth, then that all Chriftians are Gods Ele6t, and all that are 
 baptized, are Saints; and all that are called, are juftified ; and 
 all that are once juftified, fhall be laved finally. Thefe things 
 declare onely the event of things, and their order, and the ufu- 
 all effect, and the proper defign, in their proper feafon, in their 
 limited proportions. 
 
 8. A Negative Argument for matters of fact in Scripture, 
 cannot conclude a Law, or a neceffarj, or a regular event. And 
 therefore fuppofmgthat it be not intimated, that the Apoftles 
 did baptize Infants, it follows not that they did not : and if 
 they did not, it does not follow that they might not, or that the 
 Church may not. For it is unreasonable to argue: The Scripture 
 fpeaks nothing of. the Baptifm of the holy Virgin- Mother, there" 
 fore flie was not baptized. The words and deeds of Chrift are 
 infinite which are not recorded ; and of the acts of the Apoftles 
 we may fuppofe the fame in their proportion : and therefore 
 what they did not, is no rule to us, unlefs they did it not becaufe 
 they were forbidden. So that it can be no good argument to 
 fay, the Apoftles are not read to have baptized Infants, there- 
 fore Infants are not to be baptized : but thus ; We do not finde 
 that Infants are excluded from the common Sacraments and Ce- 
 remonies of Chriftian Inftitution, therefore we may not prefume 
 to exclude them. For although the Negative of a Fa6t is no 
 good Argument, yet the Negative of a Law is a very good one. 
 We may not fay, the Apoftles did not^therefore we may not: but 
 thus,they were not forbidden to do it, there is no Law againft it, 
 therefore it may be done* No mans deeds can prejudicate a Di- 
 vine Law expreffed in general terms, much lefs can it be preju- 
 Ecclef. i. diced by thofe things that were not done. That which is want- 
 ing cannot be numbreA^ cannot be effectual ; therefore, Baptize 
 all nations , muft fignifie all that it can fignifie, all that are 
 reckoned in the Capitations and accounts of a Nation. Now 
 
 fmce 
 
Of Baptizing Infants* \ * 
 
 finceall contradiction to this Queftion depends wholly upon 
 thefe two grounds ; The Negative Argument in matter of Faclr, 
 and the Pretences, That Faich and Repentance are required to 
 Baptifm : fince the firft is wholly nothing, and infirm upon an 
 infinite account, and the fecond may conclude, that Infants can 
 ro more be faved then be baptized ; becaufe Faith is more ne- 
 ceffary to Salvation then toBaptifm; it being faid, He that be- 
 lieveth not Jhall be damned^ and it is not laid, He that belie- 
 veth not jhall be excluded from Baptifm: it follows, that the 
 dodtrine of thofe that refufe to baptize their Infants is upon 
 both its legs weak and broken, and inefficient. 
 
 Upon the fuppofition of thefe grounds, the Baptifm of Infants, § . 1 1 , 
 according to the perpetual pra&ife of the Church of God, will 
 ftand firm and unfliaken upon its own bafe. For, as the Eunuch 
 faid to Philip, what hinders them to be baptised ? If they can 
 receive benefit by it, it is infallibly certain, that it belongs to 
 them alfo to receive it, and to their Parents to procure it : for 
 nothing can deprive us of fo great a grace, but an ttnworthinefs 
 or a disability. They are not difabled to receive it, if they need 
 it, and if it does them good ; and they have neither done good 
 nor evil, and therefore they have not forfeited their right to it. 
 This therefore fhall be the firft great argument or combination " 
 of inducements ; » Infants receive many benefits by the fufcepti- 
 55 on of Baptifm , and therefore in charity and in duty we are to 
 5' bring them to Baptifm. 
 
 i. The firft effect of Baptifm is, That in it we are admitted 1 §• I*. 
 to the Kingdome of Chrift, offered and prefented unto him. In 
 which certainly there is the-fame a£t of worfhip to God, and the 
 fame bleflingto the children of Chriftians, as there was in pre- 
 fentingthefirft-born among the Jews. For our children can be -7 
 Gods own portion , as well as theirs ; and as they prefented' 
 the firft- born to God, and fo acknowledged that God might 
 have taken his life in Sacrifice, as well as the Sacrifice of the 
 Lamb, or the Oblation of a beaft : yet when the right was * 
 confelfed, God gave him back again, and took a Lamb in ex- 
 change, or a pair ©f Doves. So are our children prefented to 
 God as forfeit, and God might take the forfeiture, and not ad- 
 mit the babe to the Promifes of Grace : but when the prefenta- A 
 
 F 2 cioh 
 
2 £ Of Baptising Infants. 
 
 ' don of the childe, and our acknowledgement is made to God, 
 God takes the Lamb of the World in exchange, and he hath 
 
 - paid our forfeiture, and the children are holy unto the Lord. 
 And what hinders here ? cannot a creeple receive an alms at 
 
 4 the Beautiful gate of the Temple, unlefs he go thither himfelf ? 
 Or cannot a gift be prefented to God by the hands of the owners, 
 and the gift become holy and pleafingtoGod without its own 
 confent? The Parents have a portion of the poffeflion : Chil- 
 
 ■i dren are blefiings,and Gods gifts,and the Fathers greateft wealth, 
 and therefore are to be given again to him. In other things we 
 give iomething to God of all that he gives us ; all we do not- 
 becaufeour needs force us to retain the greater part, and the lefs 
 
 .? fan&ifies the whole : but our children muft all be returned to 
 God ; for we may love them, and fo may God too, and they are 
 the better our own, by being made holy in their prefentation : 
 whatlbever is given to God is holy, every thing in its proportion 
 and capacity; a Lamb is holy, when it becomes a Sacrifice ; and a 
 
 ^ Table it &<?/?, when it becomes anv^/ta^and a Houfe is W^when 
 it becomes a Church ; and a man is holy, when he is confecrated 
 to be a Prieft ; and fo is every one that is dedicated to Religion.* 
 thefeareholy perfons, the others are holy things ; and Infants 
 are between both : they have the fancVification that belongs to 
 them, the holinefs that can be of a reafonable nature, offerM and 
 
 * deftin'd to Gods fervice ; but not in that degree that is in an un- 
 derftanding, choofing perfon. Certain it is, that Infants may 
 be given to God ; and if they may be, they muft be : for it is not 
 here as in goods, where we are permitted to ufe all or fome, and 
 
 A give what portion we pleafe out of them ; but we cannot do our 
 duty towards our children, unlefs we give them wholly to God, 
 and offer them to his fervice and to his grace. The firfl does 
 honour to God, the lecond does charity to the children. The 
 effects and real advantages will appear in the fequel : in the 
 
 ^mean time this Argument extends thus far,that Children may be 
 prefented to God acceptably, in order to his fervice. And it was 
 highly praeceptive,when our blefTed Saviour commanded,that we 
 
 * {howld fufer little children to come to him-And when they came, 
 they carried away a blefling along with them. He was defirous 
 shey jfhould partake of his merits ; he is not willing, neither is 
 
 r k it 
 
Of Baptising Infants] ■>-, 
 
 it his Fathers will, that any of thefe little ones /hould peri/k. And 1 
 therefore he dyed for them, and loves, and blefled them : and 
 fo he will now, if they be brought to him, and prefented as Can- 
 didates of the Religion and of the RefurreCtion. Chrift hath a ' 
 blefling for our children, but let them come to him, that is, 
 be presented at the doors of the Church, to the Sacrament of 
 Adoption and Initiation ; for I know no other way for them 1 
 to come. 
 
 a. Children may be adopted into the Covenant of the Gofpel, §. 1 3 . . 
 that is, made partakers of the Communion of Saints, which is 
 the fecond effect of Baptifm ; parts of the Church, members of 
 Chrifts Myftical body, and put into the order of eternal life. 
 Now- concerning this, it is certain, the Church clearly hath power 
 to do her offices in order to it. The faithful can pray for all 
 men, they can do their piety to fome perfons with more regard 
 and greater earneftnefs : they can admit whom they pleale in 
 their proper difpofitions, to a participation of all their holy 
 prayers, and communions, and preachings, and exhortations : 
 and if all this be a blefling, and all this be the actions of our 
 own charity, who can hinder the Church of God from admit- 
 ting Infants to the communion of all their pious offices, which 
 can do them benefit in their prefent capacity ? How this does r 
 neceffarily infer Baptifm, I fhall afterwards difcourfe*. But for * §. 2<$,&cl 
 the prefent I enumerate , That the bleflings of Baptifm are 
 communicable to them ; they may be admitted into a fellow- 
 fhipof all the Prayers and Priviledges of the Church, and the 
 Communion of Saints , in bleflings , and prayers , and holy 
 offices. But that which is of greateft perfwafion and convin- 
 cing efficacy in this particular, is, That the children of the Church 
 are as capable of the fame Covenant, as the children of the 
 Jews : But it was the fame Covenant that Circumcifion did con- 
 fign, a fpiritual Covenant under a veil, and now it is the fame 
 fpiritual Covenant without the veil, which is evident to him that 
 confiders it ; thus : 
 
 The words of the Covenant are thefe \I am the Almighty §. \q, , 
 God 9 wall^ before me, and be thou perfect ; I will multiply thee Gen.^.ij&c* 
 exceedingly. Thou /halt be a father of many Nations : Thy 
 name /hall not be Abram, but Abraham^ Nations and Kings 
 
 F.3 /hall: 
 
38 Of Baptizing Infants! 
 
 /hall be out of thee. 1 will be a God unto thee, and unto thy feed 
 after thee ; and I will give all the Land of Canaan to thy feed,, 
 and all the Males Jball be circumcifed, and it Jhatl be a ti\en 
 of the Covenant between me and thee : and he that is not cir- 
 cumcifed, Jhall be cut off from hi* people. The Covenant which 
 Was on Abrahams pare was : To walk^ before God, and to be per- 
 fect : on Gods part, To blefs him with a numerous iflue, and 
 them with the Land of Canaan ; and the fign was Circumci- 
 Jion, the token of the Covenant. Now in all this, here was no 
 duty to which the pofterity was obliged, nor any bleffing which 
 Abraham could perceive or feel, becaufe neither he nor his po- 
 fterity did enjoy the Promife for many hundred years after the 
 Covenant : and therefore as there was a duty for the pofterity 
 which is not here exprefTed ; fo there was a blefling for Abra- 
 ham, which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Pro- 
 mife, and which we ftiall better underftand from them whom 
 the Spirit of God hath taught the myfterioufneis of this tranf- 
 adtion. The Argument indeed, and the obfervation is wholly 
 Heb.i ill 3 . S. Pauls, Abraham and the Patriarchs died in faith, not having 
 received the Promifes, viz. of a pofleflion in Canaan. They J aw 
 i 4 , the Promifes afar off, they embraced them, and looked through 
 the Cloud, and the temporal veil, this was not it ; they might 
 have returned to Canaan, if that had been the ©bjeel of their 
 defires, and the defign of the Promife : but they defired and did 
 i j. feek^ a Countrey, but it was a better, and that a heavenly. This 
 was the object of their defire, and the end of their fearch, and 
 the reward of their faith, and the fecret of their Promife. And 
 &om.4.i J . therefore Circumcifion was a feal of the righteoufnefs of faith, 
 which he had before his Circumcifion, before the making this Co- 
 venant ; and therefore it muft principally relate to an effect and 
 a blefling, greater then was afterwards expreffed in the temuo- 
 r „ ral Promife : which effect was forgivenefs of fins, a not impu- 
 ting to us our infirmities, Jufiification by faith, accounting that 
 for righteoufnefs : and thefe effects or graces were promised to 
 l2 Abraham, not onely for his pofterity after the pjb, but his 
 children after the Jpirit,even to all that ftiall believe and walf^ 
 in the fteps of our father Abraham, which he walked in, being 
 yet uncircumcifed* 
 
 This 
 
Of Baptizing Infants] j ^ 
 
 This was no other but the Covenant of the Gofpei, though §. ij. 
 afterwards otherwifeconfigned : for fo the Apoftle exprefly af- 
 firms, that Abraham was the father of Circumcifion {viz.. by 
 venue of this Covenant) not onelj to them that arecircumeifed, RonM$u,**, 
 but to all that believe : for this promife was not through the 
 law of work*, or of circumcifion, but of faith. And therefore 
 as S. Paul obferves, God promifed that Abraham Jbould be a V. i 7 . 
 
 father (not of that Nation onely.but) of many Nations, and the 
 heir of the world ; that the blefftngof Abraham might come on y. 1 5 . 
 
 the Gentiles through Jeftts Chrifi; that we might receive the 
 promife of the Spirit through faith. And, if ye be. Chrifi s, then Gal. 3. 14,19. 
 ye are Ahrahams feed, and heirs according to the Promife.. Since 
 then the Covenant of the Gofpcl, is the Covenant of Faith, and 
 not of jvorkj ; and the Promifes wzfpiritual, not fecularyznd 
 Abraham the father of the faithful Gentile 7, as well as thec*V- 
 cumcifed Jews ; and the heir of the world, not by himfelf, bu: 
 by his feed, or the Son of Man, our Lord Jefus : it follows,that 
 the Promifes which Circumcifion did feal, were the fame Pro^ 
 mifes which are configned in Baptifm ; the Covenant is the 
 fame, onely that Gods people arc not impal'd in Palefiine, and 
 the veil is taken away, and die tempo- nt , , r , ? . M , , 
 ral is patted into fpintual, and the re- ^ ^ ^ hmit^'m 38 » *k<M 
 fult will be this> That to as many per- oo.<>kik\i vani^fnsttsa ^ova'iai -$$ ^g- 
 fins, and in as many capacities, and in ^Ktifmeiv>fA%f i T\iTk&'&(2a.x}i<riJu(]o{ 
 the fame difbofitions as the Promifes «m«Tt^o^ »^ Wa^pVwi' 
 w« « PP lUda»d didreUe in Circum. | *J« '[T. £ffi. I'fZ'Z. 9 "' 
 cifion, to the fame they do belong, and 
 may be applied in Baptifm. And let it be remembred, That 
 the Covenant which Circumcifion did fign, was a Covenant of 
 Grace and Faith ; the Promifes were of the Spirit, or fpi ritual, 
 it was made before the Law, and could not be refcinded by the 
 Legal Covenant. Nothing could be added to it, ortak?n from 
 it-, and we that are partakers of this grace, are therefore par- 
 takers of it by being Chrifts fervants, united to Chrift, and fo 
 are become Abrahams feed fas the Apoftle at large and profef- 
 fedly proves in divers places, but efpecially in the 4. of the Ro- 
 mans, and the 3. to the Galatians.) And therefore if Infants 
 were then admitted to it,, and configned to it by a Sacrament 
 
 which 
 
40 Of Baptizing Infants] 
 
 which they underftood not any more then ours do, there is hot 
 any reafon why ours fhould not enter in at the ordinary aate 
 and door of Grace as well as they. Their children were cir- 
 cumcifed the Eighth day, but were instructed afterwards, when 
 they could enquire what thefe things meant. Indeed their Pro- • 
 feijtes^'etc firfi t2L\io\xt t then circumcifed ; fo are ours, bapti- 
 zed : but their Infants were configned firfi , and fo muft 
 ours. 
 
 §.16'. 3» In Baptifm we are born again ; and this Infants need in 
 
 the prefent circumftances, and for the fame great reafon, that 
 men of age and realbn do. For our natural birth is either of it 
 felf inefficient, or is made fo by the fall of Adam, and the con- 
 sequent evils, that nature alone, or our fir ft birth, cannot bring 
 us to heaven, which is a fupernatural end, that is, an end a- 
 bove all the power of our nature as now it is. So that if nature 
 cannot bring us to heaven, grace muft, or we can never get thi- 
 ther ; if the firfi birth cannot, a fecond muft : but the fecond 
 birth fpokefi of in Scripture, is Baptifm ; A man mufi be born 
 
 it, j.j. of "water and thejpirit. And therefore Baptifm is \vTfov -mxtyyi- 
 v£or^,the laver of a new birth. Either then Infants cannot go to 
 heaven any way that we know of, or they muft be baptized. 
 To fay they are to be left to God, is anexcufe, and no anfvver : 
 for when God hath opened the door^ and calls that the entrance 
 into heaven, we do not leave them to God, when we will not 
 carry them to him in the way which he hath defcribed, and at 
 the door which himfelf hath opened : we leave them indeed,but 
 it is but he Iplefs and defiitttte : and though God is better then 
 Man, yet that is no warrant to us,what it will be to the children, 
 that we cannot warrant, or conjecture. And if it be objected, 
 That to the new birth is required difpofitions of our own, which 
 are to be wrought by and in them that have the ufe of reafon ; 
 betides that this is wholly againft the Analogy of a new birth^ 
 in which the perfon to be born is wholly a pamve, and hath put 
 into him the principle that in time will produce its proper acti- 
 ons : It is certain, that they that can receive the new birth, are 
 capable of it • the effect of it is a poflibility of being faved, 
 and arriving to a fupernatural felicity. If Infants can receive 
 this effect, then alfo the new birth, without which they cannot 
 
 receive 
 
Of Baptising Infants"* 4 1 
 
 cannot receive the effect. And if they can receive falvation, the 
 effect of the new birth, what hinders them, but they may re- 
 ceive that that is in order to that effect, and ordained onely for 
 it ; and which is nothing of it felf, but in its inftitution and re- 
 lation, and which may be received by the fame capacity in 
 which one may be created, that is, a paflivity, or a capacity 
 obediential. 
 
 4. Concerning pardon of (ins, which is one great effect: of $.I7« 
 Baptifm, it is certain, that Infants have not that benefit which 
 men of fin and age may receive. He that hath a fickly ftomach 
 drinks wine, and it not onely refreshes his fpirits, but cures his 
 ftomach, He that drinks wine and hath not that difeafe, re- 
 ceives good by his wine, though it does not minifter to fo many 
 needs ; it refrefhes him, though it does not cure him : and when 
 oyle is poured upon a mans head, it does not alwayes heal a 
 wound, but lbmetimes makes him a chearful countenance,fome- 
 timesitconfigns him to be a King or a Prieft. So it is in Ba- 
 ptifm : it does not heal the wounds of actual fins, becaufe they 
 have not committed them ; but it takes off the evil of Original 
 fin: whatfoever is imputed to us by Adams prevarication, is R.om,$.i7j*8. 
 waflied off by the death of the fecond Adam, into which we 
 are baptized. But concerning Original fin, becaufe there are fo 
 many difputes which may intricate the Queftion, I {hall make 
 ufe onely of that which is confeffed on both fides, and material 
 to our purpofe. Death came upon all men by Adams fin, and 
 the neceflity of it remains upon us, as an evil confequent of the 
 difobedience. For though death is natural, yet it was kept off 
 from man by Gods favour, which when he loft, the banks w r ere 
 broken, and the water reverted to its natural. courfe, and our na- 
 ture became a curfe, and death a puniftiment. Now that this fide Ateyift. U 
 alfo relates to Infants lb far, is certain, becaufe they are fick, 4.fjtfw duas 
 and dye. This the Pelagians denied not. But to whomfoever this f*$f c %%*' 
 evildefcended, upon them alio a remedy is provided By the fe- { w , Ct ^, 
 cond Adam, That as in Adam all dye, even fo in Chrifi JhaU 
 all be made alive ; that is, at the day of Judgement : then death 
 JhaU be destroyed. In the mean time, death hath a fting and a 
 bitternefs, a curie it is, and an exprefs of the Divine Anger : and 
 if this fting be not taken away here, we jfhall have no participa- 
 
 G tion 
 
4 2 Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 tion of the final viBorj over death. Either therefore Infant* 
 muft be for ever without remedy in this evil confequent of their 
 Fathers fin, or they muft be adopted into the participation of 
 Chrifts death, which is the remedy. Now howcanti.ey par- 
 take of Chrifts death, but by Baptifm into his death > For if 
 there be any ipiritual way fancied, it will by a ftronger argu- 
 ment admit them to Baptifm : for if they can receive Ipiritual 
 effects, they can alio receive the outward Sacrament ; this being 
 denyed onely upon pretence they cannot have the other. If there 
 be no Ipiritual w r ay extraordinary, then the ordinary way is One- 
 ly left for them, if there be an extraordinary , let it be fhewn, 
 andChriftians will be at reft concerning the r children. One 
 thing onely I defire to be oblerved, That Pelagim denyed Ori- 
 ginal fin, but yet denyed not the necelTity or Infants Baptifm ; 
 and being acculed of ic in an Epiftle to Pope Innocent the firft, 
 he purged himfelf of the fufpicion, and allowed the pra£tife» but 
 denyed the inducement of it : which fhews, that their arts are 
 weak that think Baptifm to be ufelefs to Infants, if they be not 
 formally guilty of the prevarication of Adam : By which I alfo 
 gather, that it was fo univerfal, fo primitive a pra<5tifc, to ba- 
 ptize Infants, that it was greater then all pretences to the contra- 
 ry : for it would much have conduced to the introducing his opi- 
 nion againft Grace and Original fin, if he had deftroyed that 
 ptacYUe which feemed fo very much to have its greateft neceffity 
 from the doctrine he denyed. But againft Pelagius^znd againft 
 all that follow the parts of his opinion, it is of good ufe which 
 S. Auftine, Projper, and Fulgentius argue ; If Infants are pu- 
 nifhed fat Adams fin, then they are alfo guilty of it in fome 
 fenfe. Nimis enim impium eft hoc de Dei [entire juftitia cjuod a 
 Krofptv. emtra pravaricatione liberos cum reU voluerit ejfe damnatos. So Pro- 
 CtUaHYtm. ctf. /p en j)ijp e ndia qu& flentes nafcendo teftantur,dicito cjho merits 
 fub ]ujliJfimo & omnipotentijfimo judice eu, ft nullum peccatum 
 attrahant, arrogentur, faid S. Auftin. For the guilt of Cm figni- 
 fies nothing but the obligation to the punifhment : and he chat 
 feels the evil confequent, to him the fin is imputed ; not as to 
 all the fame difhonour, or moral accounts^ but to the more ma- 
 terial, to the natural account : and in holy Scripture the taking 
 ©flf the punifhment, is the pardon of the fin • and in the fame 
 
 degree 
 
Of Baptizing Infants. 4 3 
 
 decree the punlfhment is abolilhed,inthe fame God is appea- 
 ied, and then the perlon ftands upright, being reconciled to God 
 by hi* "race. Since therefore Infants have the puniftiment of 
 fin, it is certain the fin is imputed to them ; and therefore they 
 need bein<* reconciled to God byChrift : and if lb, then when 
 they are baptized into Chrifts death, and into his RefurrecTion, 
 their fins are pardoned, becaufe the punifhment is taken off, the 
 fting of natural death is taken away, becaufe Gods anger is 
 removed, and they fhall partake of Chrifts Refurre&ion : which 
 becaufe Baptilm does fignifieand confign, they alio are to be ba- 
 ptized. To which alio adde this appendant Confideration, 
 That whatlbever the Sacraments do confign^ that alio they do 
 convey andminijler : they do it, that is, God by them does it; 
 left we fhould think the Sacraments to be mecr illufions, and 
 abufing us by deceitful ineffective figns : and therefore to Infants 
 the grace of a title to a Refurreclion y and Reconciliation to God 
 by the death of Chrift is conveyed, becarufe it fignifies and con- 
 fions this to them more to the lire and analogy of refemblance, 
 then Circumcifion to the Infant lbns of Ifrael. I end this Con- 
 fideration with the words of Nazianz,en y « yantit Im, fa-fiir- Orat.40.inSt 
 {xa}o< ttolv ami yiviaios ^Au/t/ft* •met7ipvti, x) <&ej f ruv eLva ^af»v Bapttf. 
 \7ntveLyti. Our birth by Baptijm does cut off every unclean appen- 
 dage of our natural birth, and leads us to a celeflial life : and 
 this in children is therefore more neceffary , becaufe the evil 
 came upon them without their own a£t of reafon and choice, 
 and therefore the grace and remedy ought no" to ftay the 
 leilure of dull Nature , and the Formalities of the Civill 
 law. 
 
 5. The Baptifm of Infants does to them the greateft part of §. i8« 
 that benefit which belongs to the remiflion of fins. For Bapcilrn 
 is a ftate of Repentance and pardon for ever. This I fuppoie to 
 be already proved, to which I onely adde this Caution, That 
 the Pelagians to undervalue the neceflity of (iipervening grace, 
 affirmed, That Baptilm did minifter to us grace lurficient to live 
 perfectly , and without fin for ever. Againft this S. Jerome 
 fharply declaims, and affirms,* Baptifmum pr&terita donare * L'b.^adv. 
 peccata s non futuram fervare jufiitiam : that is, non flatimju- . . & **• 
 ftum facit & omni plennnt jufiitia, as he expounds his mean- 
 
 Ga ing 
 
44 Of Bapttzing Infant*. 
 
 ing in another place. Vetera ptccata confcindit, novas virtuttf 
 non tribmt ydimktit a carcere, & dimijfo,Ji laboraverit 9 pramia 
 pollicetnr. Baptifm does not fo forgive future fins, that we may 
 do what we pleafe, or fo as we need not labour and watch, and 
 fear perpetually, and make ufe of Gods grace to actuate our en- 
 devours, but puts us into a ftate of pardon, that is, in a Cove- 
 nant of Grace, in which fo long as we labour and repent, and 
 ftrive to do our duty, fo long our infirmities are pityed, and our. 
 fins certain to be pardoned upon their certain conditions j that is, 
 by virtue of it we are capable of pardon, and muft work for it, 
 and may hope it.. And therefore Infants have a mott certain 
 ^ capacity and proper difpofition to Baptifm : for fin creeps before 
 it can go,and little undecencies are foon learned,and malice is be- 
 1 fore their years, and they can domifchief and irregularities be* 
 times ; and though we know not when, nor how far they are 
 /-» imputed in every moneth of their lives, yet it is an admirable art 
 of the Spirit of grace, to put them into a ftate of pardon, that 
 their remedy may at leaft be as foon as their neceflity. And 
 therefore Te rtullian and Gregory Naz,ianz,en advifed the Ba- 
 ptifm of children to be at three or four years of age ; meaning, 
 that they then begining to have little inadvertencies & hafty fol- 
 lies,and actions fo evil as did need a lavatory .But if Baptifm hath 
 an influence upon fins in the fucceeding portions of our life, then 
 it is certain, that their being prefently innocent, does not hinder, 
 and ought not to retard the Sacrament ; and therefore Tertnl- 
 
 Lib.de Baptlf. Han's Quid feftinat innocens atas ad '■■ remijftonem peccatorum? 
 
 *• what need Innocents haft en to the remtjjion of fins ? is foon an- 
 
 fwered. It is true, they need not in refpecl of any actual fins, 
 for fo they are innocent : but in refped of the evils of their na- 
 ture, derived from their original, and in refpecl of future fins in 
 the whole ftate of their life, it is neceffary they be put into a ftate 
 of pardon before they fin, becaufe fome fin early, fome fin later; 
 and therefore unlefs they be baptized fo early, as to prevent the 
 firft fins, they may chance dye in a fin, to the pardon of which 
 they have yet derived no title from Chrift. 
 T P» 6. The next great erfeft of Baptifm, which children can have, 
 
 is the Spirit of Santlification, and if they can be baptized trith 
 Water and the Spirit , it will be facr'Jedge to rob them of fo holy 
 
 treafures. 
 
Of Baptising Infants. 4 5 
 
 treafures- And concerning this, although it be with them, as 
 S. Paul fayes of Heirs, The heir fo long as he is a childe differ- 
 eth nothing from a fervant, though he be lord of all ; and chil- 
 dren, although they receive the Spirit of Promife, and the Spirit 
 of Grace, yeiin refpetl of atlital exercife, they differ not from 
 them that have them not at all, yet this hinders not but they 
 may have them. For as the reafonable foul and all its faculties 
 are in children,^'// znd'V nderftanding^PaJfions, and Powers of 
 . Attratlion and Propuljion, yet thefe faculties do not operate or 
 come abroad till time and art, obfervation and experience have 
 drawn them forth into action : fo may the Spirit of Grace, the 
 principle of Chriftian life, be infufed, and yet lye without action 
 till in its own day it is drawn forth. For in every Chriftian there 
 are three parts concurring to his integral constitution, Body, and 
 Soul, and Spirit; and all thefe have their proper activities and 
 times, but every one in his own order , firfi that which is natural, 
 then that which is fpiritual. And as Arifiotle laid, A man frfl 
 lives the life of a plants then of abeaft % andlafily of a man, is 
 true in this fenfe: and the more fpiritual the principle is, the 
 longer it is before it operates, becaufe more things concur to fpi- 
 ritual actions, then to natural : and thefe are neceffary, and 
 therefore firft ; the other are perfect, and therefore laft. And ' 
 who is he that fo well understands the Philofophy of this* third . 
 principle of a Chriftians life, the Spirit, as to know how or when 
 it is infufed, and how it operates in all its periods, and what it J 
 is in its beeing and proper nature ; and whether it be like the ^ 
 foul, or like the faculty, or like a habit, or how or to what pur- 
 pofes God in all varieties does difpenfe it ?• Thefe are (ecrets 
 which none but bold people ufe to decree, and build proporti- 
 ons upon their own dreams. That which is certain , is, that 
 
 * The Spirit is the principle of a new life, or a new birth. * That 
 Baptifm is thelaver of this new birth. * That it is the feed of 
 God, and may lye long in the furrows before it Springs up. 
 
 * That from the faculty to the ac~t, the paflage is not alwayes 
 fudden and quick. * That the Spirit is the earneft of our inheri- 
 tance,that is,of Refurre£tion to eternal life; which inheritance be- 
 caufe children we hope fhal havcthey cannot be denied to have 
 ks Seal and Earnefr chat is ; if they fhall have alJ, they are not to 
 
 G3 be 
 
a $ Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 be dehyed a part. * That children have fome effect* of the Spi- 
 rit, and therefore do receive it, and are baptix.edvcith the Spirit, 
 and therefore may with fVater .• which clung is therefore true 
 and evident, becaufe fome children are fa net iried asferemjrand 
 the Baptift, and therefore all may. And becaufe all figmfica- 
 tion of perfons is an cfte6t of the holy Ghoft, theie is no perad* 
 venture buc they chat can be fancied by God- can in that capa- 
 city receive the holy Ghoft : and all the ground of diflenting 
 here, is onely upon a nxftake, becatfe Infants do no a6t of ho- 
 linefs, they fuppofe them incapable of the grace of Sanftifica- 
 tion. Now Santl if cation of children, is their adoption to the 
 inheritance of ions, their prefentation to Chrift, their configna- 
 tion to Chrifts fervice- and to Refurre£tion, their being put into 
 a portability of being laved, their reftitution to Gods favour, 
 which naturally, that is, as our nature is depraved and punifhed, 
 they could not have. And in fhort the cafe is this : * Original 
 R gliteoufnels was in Adam after the manner of nature, but it 
 t-x ' - i , , -. o v * was anacl or effect of ^race.andbv 
 Snctv Jyt$£, ivormx t^oKihimnv » wr 1C men Were *°f rnade ,but born ngh- 
 ?.v7i*5i&tT* £<y» J)xJ>ij$*t x) n ?9ag??re/2 teons ; the inferior faculties obeyed 
 $*vatv -oi&ls. DionyLAreop. ecdef. Hier. t he fuperior, the minde was whole 
 cap. j. part. $. an( j right, and conformable to the 
 
 Divine Iiuage,theReafonand the Will alwa yes concurring, the 
 Will followed Realbn, and Reafon followed the Laws of God, 
 and fo long as a man had not loft this he was pleafing to God, 
 and fhould havepafled to a more perfect ftate. Now becaufe 
 this, if Adam had ftood, fhould have been born with every 
 childe, there was in Infants a principle which was the feed of 
 holy life here, and a blejfed hereafter ; and yet the children 
 fhould have gone in the road of nature, then as well as now, 
 and the Spirit (hould have operated at natures lcifure ; God 
 being the*giver of both, would have made them instrumental to, 
 and perfective of each other, but not deftrucVive. Now what 
 was loft by Adam, is reftored by Chrift, the fame RiohteouC- 
 VI quod ferdidcramm in Adam, i.e. nefs, onely it is not born, but fuperindue'd, 
 ficHfidum imgmem & fimlituimm ef- not integral, but interrupted, but fuchas ic 
 /, pAk*m fcfu cbnfio miftrtmus. is there is no difference, but that the fame 
 
 lanarus lib. 3. cjo, ' ■ 
 
Of Baptizing Infants. * - 
 
 •r the like principle may be derived to us from Chrift, as there 
 fhould have been from sJdam, tUt is, a principle of obedience,. 
 a regularity of faculties, a beauty in the foul, and a ftate of ac- 
 ceptation with God. And we lee alio in men cf understand- 
 ing and realbn, the Spirit of God dwells in them, (which Tatia- 
 nut defer bing, ules thefe words, « <Te \wx}\ «V-af» 'tvAvrptt -n/V 
 J*ixoa(Atof cuu-n fjnviviAAT®^] jux7«^*V»» The foul is poflefied with 
 fparks, or materials of the power of the Spirit) and yet it 
 is fometinies ineffective and unadtive, fometimes more, iome- 
 times lefs, and does no more do its work at all times, then the 
 foul does at all times understand. Adde to this, That if there 
 be in Infants naturally an evil principle, a proclivity to fin, an 
 ignorance and pravity of minde , a dilbrder of afreclions (as 
 experience teaches us there is, and the perpetual doctrine 
 of the Church, and the univerfal mifchiefs ifliiingfromman- 
 kinde , and the fin of every man does witnefs too much) 
 why cannot Infants have a good principle in them , though 
 it works not till its own fealbn.as well as an evil principle? 
 If there were not by nature fome evil principle, it is not 
 poflible that all the world fhould choole fin : In free agents 
 it was never heard, that all individuals loved and chofe the 
 fame thing, to which they were not naturally inclined. Nei- 
 ther do all men choofc to marry, neither do all choofe to ab- 
 ftain : and in this lnftancc there is a natural inclination to one 
 part; but of all the men and women in the world, there is no 
 one that hath never finned. If we fay that we have no Jin, we -r , R 
 deceive our felves, and the truth is not in us, laid an Apoflle. 
 If therefore nature hath in Infants an evil principle \ which ope- 
 rates when the chiide can choofc, but is all the while within the 
 foul ; either Infants have by grace a principle put into them, or 
 elfe fin abounds where grace does not fuperabound,' exprefly a- 
 gainft the doctrine of the Apoftle. The event of this difcourfe 
 is, that if Infants be capable of the Spirit of grace, there is no 
 reafon but they may and ought to be baptized, as well as men 
 and women ; unlcfs God had exprefly forbidden them, which 
 cannot be pretended : and that Infants are capable of the Spirit of 
 grace, I think is made very credible. Chriftpu infantibus infans Ep. adF'tdeti. 
 fa&iv fanttifitans infantes fold I re n<ttfs:Chrift became an Infant w.J. ep.S. 
 
 among 
 
4^ Of Baptizing Infants! 
 
 among the Infants^ and does fantJife Infants : and S.Cyprian 
 affirms, Etfe apud omnes five infantes five majeres natu unam 
 divini muneris tquitatem. There is the fame difpenfation of the 
 divine grace to all alike, to Infants as well as to men. And in 
 this Royal Priefihood, as it is in the fecular, Kings may be an- 
 S. Aug. lib. de ointed in their Cradles, Dat (Dens) fui Spirit ft s occultiffimam 
 pec. Mer.& re- gratiamfluam etiam latent er infunditin parvulis, God gives 
 miff. c$. ' t h e mo ft fecret grace of his Spirit, which he alfo fecretly infufes 
 into Infants. And if a fecret infufion be rejected, becaufe it 
 cannot be proved at the place and at the inftant, many men that 
 hope for heaven will be very much to feek for a proof of their 
 earned, and need an earneft of the earneft. For all that have the 
 Spirit of God cannot in all inftants prove it, or certainly know 
 it : neither is it yet defined by how many indices the Spirits pre- 
 fence can be proved or fignified. And they limit the Spirit too 
 much, and underftand it too little, who take accounts of his fe- 
 cret workings, andmeafure them by the material lines and me- 
 thods of natural and animal eflfedts. And yet becaufe whacfo- 
 ever is holy, is made fo by the holy Spirit, we are certain that 
 the children olbelievin^ that is, of Chrifiian parents, are holy., 
 S. Paul affirmed it, and by it hath diftinguifhed ours from the 
 children of unbelievers, and our marriages from theirs : and be- 
 caufe the children of the Heathen when they come to choice and 
 realbn, may enter to Baptifm and the Covenant if they will, 
 our children have no privilege beyond the children of Turks or 
 Heathens, unlefs it be in the prefent capacity, that is, either by 
 receiving the holy Ghoft immediately, and the Promifes, or at 
 leaft having a title to the Sacrament, and entring by that door. 
 If they have the Spirit, nothing can hinder them from a title to 
 the water ; and if they have onelfy a title to the water of the 
 Sacrament, then they fhall receive the Promife of the holy Spi- 
 rit, the benefits of the Sacrament : elfe their privilege is none at 
 all, but a difh of cold water, which every village nurfe can pro- 
 vide for her new bom babe. 
 §.2o- But it is in our cafe as it was with the Jews children : our chil- 
 
 dren are a hoi) feed; for if it were not fo with Chriftianity, how 
 could S. Peter move the Jews to Chriftianity, by telling them 
 the Promife was to them and their children? For if our children 
 
 -be 
 
Of Baptizing Infants! ^ 
 
 be not capable of the Spirit of Promife and Holinefs, and yet 
 their children were holy, it had been a better Argument to have 
 kept them in the Synagogue, then to have called them to the 
 Chriftian Church. Either therefore I. there is fome holinefs in 
 areaionable nature, which is not from the Spirit of holinefs; or 
 elfe 2. our children do receive the holy Spirit, becaufe they arc 
 holy ; or if they be not holy, they are in worfe condition under 
 Chrift then under Mofes : or if none of all this be true, then our 
 children are holy by having received the holy Spirit of Promife, 
 and confequently nothing can hinder them from being baptized. 
 
 And indeed if the Chriftian Jews, whofe children are circum- 3, 3 1 . 
 cifed, and made partakers of the fame Promifes and Title, and 
 Inheritance and Sacraments, wjiich themfelves had at their con- 
 version to the faith of Chrifl, had feen their children nowftiut 
 out from thefe new Sacraments, it is not to be doubted but they 
 would have railed a (torm, greater then could eafily have been 
 iupprefled : fince about their Circumcifions they had raifed fuch 
 Tragedies and implacable difputations : and there had been 
 great reafon to look for a ftorm ; for their children were «V- 
 cumcifed, and if not baptised, then they were left under a bur- 
 then which their fathers were quit of, for S. Paul faid unto you, 
 jvhofoever is circnrncifed, is a debtor to keep the whole Law. 
 Thefe children therefore that were circumcifed, flood obliged . 
 for want of Baptifm to perform the Laws of Ceremonies, to be 
 prefented into the Temple, to pay their price, to be redeemed 
 with filver and gold ; to be bound by the Law of pollutions and 
 carnal ordinances : and therefore if they had been thus left, it 
 would be no wonder if the Jews had complained and made a 
 tumult : they ufed to do it for lefs matters. 
 
 To which let this be added, That the firft book of the New §,22 
 Teflament was not written till eight years after Chrifts Afcen- 
 iion, and S. Markj Gofpel twelve years. In the mean time, to 
 whit Scriptures did they appeal ? by the analogy or proportion 
 of what writings did they end their Queftions? whence did 
 they prove their Articles ? They onely appealed to the Old 
 Teflament, and onely added what their Lord fuperadded. Now 
 either it muft be faid that our blcflfed Lord commanded that In- 
 fants fhould not be baptized, which is no where pretended; 
 
 H and 
 
- c Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 and if it *V¥*re, cannot at all be proved : or if by the proportion 
 of Scriptures they did ferve God, and preach the Religion, it 
 is plain, that by the Analogy of the Old Teftament, that is, of 
 thofe Scriptures by which they proved Chrift to be come, and 
 to have fuffered , they alio approved the Baptifm of Infants, 
 or the admitting them to the iociety of the faithful Jews, of 
 which alfothe Church did then principally confift. 
 & IX 7' ^^ at Baptifm (which configns men and women to a blef- 
 
 fed Refurreclion) doth alfo equally confign Infants to it,hath no- 
 thing, that I know of, pretended againft ic, there being the fame 
 fignature and the fame grace, and in this thing all being alike 
 paflive, and we no way cooperating to the consignation and pro- 
 mife of grace : and Infants have; an equall neceflity, as being 
 lyable to ficknels and groaning with as lad accents, and dying 
 fooner then men and women, and lefs able to complain, and 
 more apt to be pityed and broken with the unhappy coniequents 
 of a fhort life, and afpeedy death, & inf elicit ate prifcorum 
 hominum, with the infelicity and folly of their firrt Parents : 
 and therefore have as great need as any, and that is capacity 
 enough to receive a remedy for the evil which was brought 
 upon them by the fault of another. 
 $. 2A» 8. And after all this,if Baptifm be that means which God hath 
 appointed to fave us, it were well if we would do our parts to- 
 wards Infants final intereft ; which whether it depends upon the 
 Sacrament and its proper grace, we have nothing to relye upon, 
 but thofe Texts of Scripture which make Baptifm the ordinary 
 way of entring into the ftate of falvation : fave onely we are to 
 addethis, that becaufe of this law Infants are not personally 
 capable, but the Church for them, as for all others indefinitely, 
 we have reafon to believe>that their friends neglect fhall by fome 
 way be fupplyed ; but Hope hath in it nothing beyond a Pro- 
 bability, 'This we maybe certain of, that naturally we cannot 
 1 be heirs of Salvation, for by nature we are children of wrath, 
 1 and therefore an eternal feparation from God 3 is an infallible con- 
 fequenttoour evil, nature : either therefore children muft be 
 put into the ftate of grace, or they (hall dwell for ever where 
 ; Gods face does never ihine. Now there are but two wayes of 
 being put into the ftate of grace and falvation • the inward, by 
 
 the 
 
Of Baptizing Infant?. j* 
 
 the Spirit ,and the outward, by water, which regularly are to- -j 
 gether. If they be renewed by the Spirit, what hinders them 
 to be baptized, who receive the holy Ghoft as well as we ? If 
 they are not capable of the Spirit, they are capable of Water ; 
 and if of neither, where is their title to heaven, which is nei- 
 ther internal nor external, neither fpiritual norfacramental, nei- 
 ther fecret nor manifeft, neither natural nor gracious, neither ori- 
 ginal nor derivative ? And well may we lament the death of 
 poor babes that are aQarfot, concerning whom if we neglect 
 what is regularly prefcribed to all that enter heaven, without 
 any difference expreffed, or cafe referved, we have no reafon to Xtfiqm ventou* 
 
 be comforted over our dead children, but may weep as they that ' umt „ utl " 
 1 1 ,„ 1 1 ' J , cF 1 W nullum ex- 
 
 have no hope. We may hope when our neglecr was not the <W mn \ n f Anr . 
 
 hinderance, becaufe God hath wholly taken the matter into his tern, non aliquli 
 own handj and then it cannot mifcarry ; and though we know praventnm ne° 
 nothing of the children, yet we know much of Gods goodnefs : e $f? *-* mbr * 
 But when God hath permitted it to us, that is, offered and per- Jj % *\ ,'" B 
 snitted children to our miniftery, whatever happens to the In- 
 nocents, we may well fear left God will require the fouls at our 
 hands : and we cannot be otherwife fecure, but that it will be 
 faid concerning our children, which S. Ambrofe ufed in a cafe 
 like this, Anima ilia pot nit falva fieri, ft babuijfet purgatio- Lib.t»e.n. de 
 new, This foul might have gone to God, if it had been purified Abrah.pMwc* 
 and wafhed. We know God is good, infinitely good, but we 
 know it is not at all good to tempt his goodnefs : and he tempts 
 him, that leaves theufual way, and pretends it is not made for 
 him, and yet hopes to be at his journeys end, or expects to 
 meet his childe in heaven, when himfelf fhuts the door againft 
 him, which for ought he knows is the onely one that ftands 
 open. S. Auftin was fevere in this Queftion againft unbaptized 
 Infants, therefore he is called durtu Pater Infantium : though I 
 know not why the original of that opinion fhould be attributed 
 to him, finceS. Ambrofe faid the fame before him, as appears in 
 his words above quoted in the margent. 
 
 And now that I have enumerated the bleflings which are con- f 
 fequenttoBaptifm, and have alfo made apparent, That Infants 
 can receive thefe bleffings, I fuppofe I need not ufe any other per- 
 fwafions to bring children to Baptifm. If it be certain they rr *&S> 
 
 Ha r 
 
 ^ay 
 
5* 
 
 Of fBaptizjng Infants. 
 
 receive thefe good things by it, it is certain they are hot to be hin- 
 dred of them without the greateft impiety, and facriledge, and 
 uncharitablenefs in the world. Nay, if it be onely probable 
 that they receive thefe blelTings , or if it be but poflible they 
 may, nay unlets it be impoffible they fhould, and fo declared by 
 revelation or demonstratively certain, it were intolerable unkind- 
 nefs and injuftice to our pretty innocents, to let their crying be 
 unpityed, and their natural mifery. eternally irremediable, and. 
 their forrows without remedy, and their fouls no more capable 
 of relief, then their bodies of Phyfick, and their death left with" 
 the ftingin, and their Souls without Spirits to go to God, and. 
 no Angel guardian to be affigned them in the Ailemblies of the 
 faithful, and they not to be reckoned in the accounts of God and. 
 Gods Church. All thefe are fad ftories. 
 §• *(£• . There are in Scripture very many other probabilities, to per- 
 
 fwade the Baptifm of Infants, but becauie the places admit of 
 divers interpretations, the Arguments have fo many diminutions, 
 and the certainty that is in them is too fine for eafie underftand- 
 ings, I have chofen to build the ancient doctrines upon fuch prin- 
 ciples which are more eafie and certain, and have not been yet 
 fullied and rifled with the contentions of an adverfary. This 
 onely I iliall obferve, That the words of our bleffed Lord 
 '^Unlefs a man be born of Water and the Spirit i he cannot enter 
 into the Kingdome of heaven^ cannot be expounded to the ex- 
 clufion of children, but the fame expositions will alio make Ba- 
 ptifm not neceffary for men : for if they be both neceffary in- 
 gredients, Water and the Spirit, then let us provide water, and 
 God will provide the Spirit ; if we bring wood to the Sacrifice, 
 he will provide a Lamb. And if they fignifie diftinCily, one 
 is ordinarily as neceffary as the other, and then Infants muft be 
 baptized, or not be laved. But if one be exegetkal and expli- 
 cative of the other, and by Water and the Spirit is meant onely 
 the purification of the Spirit, then where is the neceffity of Ba- 
 ptifm for men r It will be as the other Sacrament, at moft but 
 highly convenient, not (imply neceffary, and all the other places 
 will eafily be anfwered, if this be avoided. But however, thefe 
 words being fpoken in fo decretory a manner, are to be ufed 
 with fear andreverence ; and we muft be infallibly fure by fome 
 
 cer- 
 
Of Baptising Infants. ^ , 
 
 certain infallible arguments, that Infants ought hot to be bapti- 
 zed , or we ought to fear concerning the effeft of thefe decretory 
 words. I fhall onely adde two things by way of Corollary to 
 this Difcourle. 
 
 That the Church of God ever (ince her numbers are full, have §. 37, 
 for very many ages confifted almoit whoKy of Aflemblies of 
 them who have been baptized in their In&tncy : and although in 
 the firft callings of the Gentiles, the chieteft and mod frequent 
 Baptifms were of converted and repenting perfons and believers, 
 yet from the beginning alio the Church hath baptized the In- 
 fants of Chriftian Parents; according to the Prophecy of Ifaiah, 
 Behold, J will lift up mj hands to the Gentiles, and fet up a Ife.49. ". 
 fiandard to the people, and they {hall bring thy fons in their 
 arms, and thy daughters Jhall be carried upon their fhoulders. 
 Concerning which, I fhall jiot onely bring the teftimonies of 
 the matter of fa 61 ,£ut either a report of an Apoftolical Tradi- 
 tion, or fome Argument from the Fathers, which will make their 
 teflimony more effectuall in all that fhall relate to the Que- 
 ftion. 
 
 The Author of the book of Ecclefiaftical Hierarchy, attri- * 2 2, 
 buted to S. Denis the Areopagite, takes notice, that certain un- 
 holy perfons. and enemies to the Chriflian Religion.think it a ri- 
 diculous thing that Infants, who as yet cannot underftand the 
 Divine Myfteries, fhould be partakers of the Sacraments ; and 
 that prcfeflions and abrenunciations fhould be made by others 
 for them and in their names. Heanfwers, that Holy men, Go- 
 vernors of Churches, have fo taught, having received a Tra- 
 dition from their Fathers and Elders in Chrift : by which an- 
 fwerof his, as it appears, that he himfelf was later then the 
 Areopagite ; fo it is fo early by him affirmed, that even then 
 there was an ancient Tradition for the Baptiimof Infants, and 
 the ufe of Godfathers in theminiftery of the Sacramenr. Con- 
 cerning which, it having been lo ancient a Conftitution of the 
 Church, it were well if men would rather humbly and modeft- 
 ly obferve, then like fcorners deride it, in which they fhew their 
 own folly as well as immodefty. For what undecency or in- 
 congruity is it, that our parents natural or fpiritual fnould ftipu- 
 late for us, when it is agreeable to the praftife of all the laws 
 and tranfa&ions of the worldj an effect of the Communion of 
 
 H 3 Saints 
 
r* Of Baptizing Infants] 
 
 Saints and of Chriftian Oeconomy ? For why may not Infants 
 be ftipulated for as well as we ? all were included in the ftipu- 
 lation made with Adxm ; he made a lofing bargain for him- 
 felf, and we imarted for his folly : and if the faults of Parents, 
 andKings, andrelatives, do bring evil upon their children, and 
 fubje&s, and correlatives, it is but equal that our children may 
 have benefit: alio by our charity and piety. But concerning ma- 
 king an agreement for them, we finde that God was confident 
 concerning Abraham, that he would teach his children : and 
 there is no doub: but Parents have great power, by ftri<St edu- 
 cation and prudent difcipline, to efform the mindes of their chil- 
 dren to venue. Jojhua didexprefly undertake for hishoufhold, 
 1 and mj houfe -will ferve the Lord : and for children we may 
 better do it, becaufe till they are of perfect choice, no Govern- 
 ment in the world is fo great, as that of Parents over their chil- 
 dren, in that which can concern the parts of this Queftion : for 
 they rule over their underftandings, and children know nothing 
 but what they are told, and they believe it infinitely : and it is a 
 rare art of the Spirit, to engage Parents to bring them up well 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; they are perfons 
 obliged by a fuperinduced band, they are to give them inftru- 
 6tions and holy principles, as they give them meat ; and it is 
 certain that Parents may better ftipulate for their children, then 
 the Church can for men and women ; for they may be prefent 
 Impoftors and Hypocrites, as the Church ftory tells of fome,and 
 confequently are Tnt^d^ji^tt, not really converted, and ineffe- 
 ctively baptized : and the next day they may change their re- 
 folution, and grow weary of their Vow : and that is the moft 
 that children can do when they come to age : and it is very much 
 in the Parents, whether the children {hall do any fuch thing, 
 or no ; p urtu & infons 
 
 [Vt me collaudem~~\ft & vivo carta amicis, 
 
 Caufa ftiit Pater hi* 
 
 Ipfe mihi cttfios incorruptijftmus omnes 
 CircumVefiores aderattfuid multa ? pudicum 
 ( £l*ti primus virtutis horns') fervavit ab omni 
 Non folum failo, verum opprobrio quoq', turpi: 
 
 ——oh hoc nunc 
 Law illi debetur, & a me gratia major, Horat. 
 
 For 
 
Of Baptising Infants. * - 
 
 For Education can introduce a habit and a fecond nature, againft 
 which children cannot kick, unlefs they do fome violence to 
 themfelves and their inclinations. And although it fails too often 
 when ever it fails, yet we pronounce prudently concerning future 
 things, when we have a lei's influence into the event, then in the 
 prefent cafe, (and therefore are more unapt perfons to ftipulate) 
 and leis realbn in the thing it felf (and therefore have not Co much 
 reafon to be confident.) Is not the greateft prudence of Gene- 
 rals inftanced in their forefeeing future events, and guefling at 
 thedefigns of their enemies, concerning which they have lefs 
 reafon to be confident, then Parents of their childrens belief of 
 the Chriftian Creed ? To which I adde this consideration, That 
 Parents or Godfathers may therefore fafely and prudently pro- 
 mife, that their children (hall be of the Chriftian faith, becaufe 
 we not onely fee millions of men and women who not onely be- 
 lieve the whole Creed onely upon the ftock of their education ; 
 but there are none that ever do renounce the faith of their Coun- 
 trey and breeding, unlefs they be violently tempted by intereft 
 or weaknefs, antecedent or confequent. He that fees all men 
 almoft to be Chriftians, becaufe they are bid to be fo, need not 
 queftion the fittingnefs of Godfathers promifing in behalf of the 
 children for whom they anfwer. 
 
 And however the matter be for Godfathers, yet the tradition §. 29. 
 of baptizing Infants paffed through the hands of Iren<ms,Omnem L.i.c.19, 
 atAtem fanclificans per Mam qua ad ipfam erat fimilitudinem. 
 Omnes n. venit per femetipfum falvare, omnes inqnam qui per 
 turn renafeuntur in Deumjnf antes ,& parvulos, &pueros,& j«- 
 venes>& feniores. ldeo per omnem venit dttattm,& infantibus in- 
 
 fans fatltu fantlificas infant esjnparvulu parvultu &c.»Chri{\ Y n" 1 ^? 
 
 i.j/- tx-c 1 v- rr • c- 1 r i Conine. Cie- 
 
 «did ianaifie every age by his own lulception of it, and fimili- menc j s# /w,'_ 
 
 "tude to it. For he came to fave all men by himfelf, I fay all ^{\i 'd'vuaux* 
 
 » who by him are born again unto God, Infants, and children, ja vim*-, kj 
 
 "and boyes.andyongmen^and old men. He was made an Infant to s* 7 "?*?^ *«/" 
 
 » Infants, fan&ifying Infants, a little one to the little ones, &c. 'f c/ i 7r ?,"*' 
 
 And Origen is exprels, teclepa tradmonem ab Apojtolis jxjcepit Lib.5. ad Konu 
 
 etiamparvulis dare baptifmum. The Church hath received zc.6.idemhomil. 
 
 Tradition from the Apoftles to give Baptifm to Children. And l jfjf L ^am& 
 
 S, Cyprian'm. his Epiftle to Fidm, gives account of this Article : J ■ bm ' S - in 
 
 for . " 
 
5« 
 
 Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 5.30. 
 
 lrciueus. 
 
 §.32. 
 
 Tdtitllian. 
 
 L'b. de amma. 
 
 5. Cypiia-a epifl 
 ad fiium. 
 
 * Cyprian* 
 
 for being queftioned by fome leffe skilfull .perions, whether ic 
 were lawfull to baptize Children before the eighth day; he gives 
 account of the whole queftion, an J a whole Councellof fixty lix 
 Bifhops upon very good reafon decreed, that their baptifm (hould 
 at no hand be deferred/.hough whether fix,or eight, or ten dayes, 
 was no matter, fo there be no danger or prelent neceflky. The 
 whole epiftle is worth the reading. 
 
 But befides thcfe authorities of iuch who writ before the ftart- 
 ing of the Pelagian Queftions, it will not be ufelefs to bring their 
 difcourfes, of them and others, I mean the reafon upon which 
 the Church did ic both before and after. 
 
 Iren&us his argument was this ; Chrift tooke upon him our na- 
 ture to fanclifie and to lave it ; and paffed thorough the fe- 
 verall periods of it, even unto death , which is the fymbole 
 and effect of old age ; and therefore it is certaine he did fan- 
 £tifie all the periods of it'.and why fhould he be an infant,but that 
 infants (houid receive the Crowneof their age, the purification 
 of their ftained nature, the fantti fixation of their perions, and the 
 favingoftheir loules by their Infant Lord and elder Brother ? 
 
 OMnis enim anima eoufque in Adam cenfetur donee in Chrifto 
 recenfeatur : tamdiu immunda quamdiu recenfeatur. Every 
 foul is accounted in Adam till it be new accounted in Chrift; 
 and fo long as it is accounted in Adam, folongic is uncleane ; 
 and we know no uncleane thing can enter into heaven ; and 
 therefore our Lord hath defined it, Vnlejfe ye be born of water 
 and the fpirit, je cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven : 
 that is, ye cannot be holy. It was the argument of Tertullian • 
 which the rather is to be received, becaufe he was one Iefle fa- 
 vorable to the cuftome of the Church in his time ofbaptizinc 
 Infants, which cuftome he noted and acknowledged, and hath 
 alio in the preceding difcourfe fairely proved. * And indeed 
 (that S.Cyprian may fuperadde his Symbol ) God who is no 
 accepter of perfons will alfo be no accepter of ages. * For if to the 
 greateft delinquents finning long before againfl God, remijfion 
 uf fins be given when afterwards they beleive, and front Baptifme 
 and from Grace no man is forbid.de n, how much more ought not 
 an Infant be forbidden, who being new born, hath finned nothing, 
 fave enelj that being in the flefh t born of Adam in his fir ft birth, 
 
 he 
 
Of Baptising Infants! 5 7 
 
 he hath contracted the contagion of an old death, who therefore 
 comes the e after to obtain remiffton of fins, becaufe to him are 
 for qiven not his own, but the fins of another man. None ought to 
 be driven from B apt ifm and the Grace of God, who ismercifull, 
 and gentle y and pious unto all - y and therefore much leffe Infants, 
 who more deferve our aid t and more need the divine mercy, be- 
 caufe in the firfi beginning of their birth crying and weeping , 
 they can do nothing but call for mercy and reliefe. For this reafon 
 it was (faith Origen) that they to whom the fecrets of the Divine Origen. lib. ?. 
 myfteries were committed, did baptise their Infants, becaufe a d Kom. c. 6. 
 there was born with them the Impurities of 'fin , which did need 
 material abfolution as a Sacrament of fpiritual purification ; for 
 that it may appear that our fins have a proper analogy to this 
 Sacrament, the body itfelf is called the body of fin : and therefore 
 the wafhing of the body is net ineffectual towards the great 
 work of pardon and abolition. Indeed after this abfolution there 
 remains concupifcence, or the material part of our miferyand 
 fin : For Chrift by his death onely took away that which when 
 he did dye for us, he bore in his own body upon the tree. Now 
 Chrift onely bore the punifhment of our fin, and therefore we 
 {hall not dye for it, but the material part of the fin Chrift bore 
 not. Sin could not come fo neer him ; It might make him fick 
 and dye, but not difordered and ftained He was pure from 
 Original and A£tual fins ; and therefore that remains in the 
 body,though theguiltand punifhment be taken off,and changed 
 into advantages and grace ; and the Atlual are received by the 
 Spirit of grace defcending afterwards upon the Church, and fent 
 by our Lord to the fame purpole. 
 
 But it is not rationally to be anfwered what S. Ambrofe 
 fayes, quia omnis peccato obnoxia, ideo omnis atas Sacramento 5 Ambrofe 
 idonea : For it were ftrange that fin and mifery fihould feize up- de Abraham 
 on the innocent andmoft unconlenting perfons ; and that cbey/wfciw.fe.tf.11.' 
 onely (hould be left without a Sacrament, and an inftrument of ^Greg.N?*. 
 expiation. And although they cannot confent to the prefent fuf- 'V 6 '^*"' ^f " 
 ception, yet neither do they rerule ; and yet they confent as a £r7veu } 3 *'- 
 much to the grace of the Sacrament, as to the prevarication ofmK^uv 
 Adam and becaufe they luffer under this, it were but reafon &*$?*}<<& xj ^ 
 thev fttouidbe relieved by that. And fit were better (as Gregory c "" e . AS * tt ' 0r ?r 
 
 J J\aztanz.en 
 
r 3 Of Baptizing Infants. 
 
 Naz,Unnen affirms) thatfhouldbe conjigned and fanttified with- 
 out their own knowledge , then to dje without their being fanUi- 
 fied iforfo it happened to the circumcifcdbabes of Ifrael: and if 
 the confperfion and wafhmg the doore pofis with the blood of a 
 lamb, didfacramentallj preferve all the firfl-born ofGojhen, it 
 cannot be thought impoflible or unreafonable that the want of 
 underftanding in children fliould hinder them from the blefling 
 of a facrament, and from being redeemed and wafhed with the 
 blood of the Holy Lamb, who was (lain for all from the begin- 
 ning of the world. 
 §.34. After all this it is not inconsiderable that we fay the Church 
 
 hath great power and authority about the Sacraments ; which 
 is obferveable in many inftances. She appointed what perfons 
 {he pleafed, and in equal power made an unequal difpenfation 
 and miniftery. The Apoftles firft difpenfed all things, and then 
 they left off exteriour minifteries to attend to the word of God 
 and prayer ; and S. Paul accounted it no pait of his office to 
 baptize, when he had been feparatedby impofition of hands at 
 Antioch, to the work of preaching and greater minifleries ; 
 and accounted that act of the Church, the ad of Chrifl, laying, 
 Chriftfent mee not to baptize, but to preach the Gojpel : they 
 ufed various forms in the miniftration of Baptifm, ibmetimes 
 baptizing in the ntme of Cbrift, Ibmetimes expretfely invocating 
 the Holy and everBlefled Trinity: one while [ I baptize thee J 
 as in the Latine Church , but in Greek, [Let the fervant of 
 Chrifi be Baptized:] and in all Ecclefiaftical minifleries the 
 Church invented the form?, & in moft things hath of:en changed 
 them, as in abjolution, excommunication, and fometimes they 
 baptized people upon their profeflion of repentance, and then 
 taught them ; as it hapned to the Jaylor and all his family ; in 
 whole cafe there was no explicit faith afore hand in the myfteries 
 of Religion,fo far as appears ; and yet he, and not onely he, but 
 all his houfe were baptized at that hour of the night when the 
 earthquake was terrible,and the fear was pregnant upon them,& 
 *Non tit del'm- this upon their Afaflers account, as it is likely : but others were 
 querc defmant bapcized in the conditions of a previous faith, and a new begun 
 M**as Tcrtt'! re P entance ** They baptized in rivers or in lavatories, by dipping 
 phra'fah i\ c r by fprinkling ; for fo we finde that S, Laurence did as he went 
 
 to 
 
Of Baptizing Infants. «.p 
 
 to martyrdom,and To the Church did fometimes to CIinicks,and 
 fo it is highly convenient to be done in Northern Countries ac- 
 cording to the prophecy of Ifaiah,^ Jhrflhe Jprinkje many Nati- Ifa.52.1y. 
 o/^according as the typical expiations among the Jews were usu- 
 ally by fprinkling: and it is fairly relative to the myftery, to 
 the jprinkjing with the blood of Chrift- and the watering of the l P^« x . 2 * 
 
 furrows of our fouls with the dew of heaven, to \ A . A « . .A. ., . 
 , . . . r . r . , ..*■■. Aqua, rcftciioms & baptifmi 
 
 make them to bring torch fruit unto the Spirit Uvacmmquowimajlcrilnark- 
 and unto holineffe. The Church fometimes dipt tatcpcccatiadbonosfaittushife* 
 the Catechumen three times ; fometimes but once. nndos dizinis mmmbui m'tggr 
 fome Churches ufe fire in their baptifms,fo do the m ' Caffidor. m. *j. pf. a. 
 Ethiopians, and the cuftome was antient in fome places. And fo 'iviot w uto, 
 in the other Sacrament ; fometimes fhe flood and fometimes ™ v <r<Pesw<m-- 
 kneeled, and fometimes received it in the mouth, and fometimes ^? a ? wnwr 
 in the hand : one while in leavened, another -while in unleavened ^■aelcnt apud 
 bread: fometimes the wine and water were mingled, fometimes ckm. Alex.. 
 they were pure ; and they admitted fome pcrfons to it fometimes, 
 which at other times fhe rejected : fometimes the Confecration 
 was made by one forme, fometimes by another : and to conclude, 
 fometimes it was given to Infants, fometimes not : and fhe had 
 power fo to dojfor in all things w r here there was not a Command- 
 ment of Chrift exprefied or imployed in the nature and in the end 
 of the inftitution, the Church had power to alter the particulars, 
 as was moft expedient, or conducing to edification : and although 
 the after ages of the Church which refufed to communicate In- 
 fants, have found fome little things againftthe lawfulneflfe, and 
 thole ages that ufed it found out fome pretences for its neceffity ; 
 yet both the one and the other had liberty to follow their own 
 necejpties, fo in all things they followed Chrift. Certainly there 
 is infinitely more reafon why Infants may be communicated, 
 then why they may not be baptized. And that this difcourfe 
 may revert to its firft intention; although there is no record ex- 
 tant of any Church in the world, that from the Apoftles dayes 
 inclufively to this very day ever refufed to baptize their children, 
 yet if they had upon any prefent reafon they might alio change 
 their praftife, when the reafon iliould be changed ; and therefore 
 if there were nothing els in it, yet the univerfal pra&ife of all 
 Churches in all ages, is abundantly fufficient to determine us,. 
 
 and 
 
6q Of Baptizing Infantsl 
 
 Can. 
 
 and to legitimate the pra&ife, fince Chrift hath not forbidden it. 
 It is fufficient confutation to difagteeing people to ufe the words 
 of S. Paul, we have no fitch cuftome, nor the Churches of God, to 
 fuffer children to be ftrangers frojm>thp Covenant of Promife, till 
 they fhall enter into it as Jews or Turks may enter, that is, by 
 choife and difputation. But although this alone to modeft and obe- 
 dient, that is, to Chriftian Spirits, be iufficient » yefthis is more 
 then the queftion did need. It can (land upon its proper foun- 
 dation. t 
 concil. Mileitit. Quicunque parvujos receyites ab uteris matrum baptizandos 
 negat, anathema eft. 
 
 He that refufeth to -baptize his Infants, fball be in danger 'of 
 the Councel. ' " \ * : • 
 
 The Prayer. - 
 
 OHoly and Eternal Iefus y who in thy own perfon wert pleafed 
 tofanctify the waters of baptifm and by thy inftitution and 
 commandment didft make them effectual, to excellent purpofes of 
 grace and remedy, be pleafed to verify the holy effeBs of baptifm 
 to me and all thy ferv ants whofe names are dedicated to thee in an 
 early and timely prefentation, and enable us with thy grace to ve- 
 rify all our promife s, by which we were bound, then when thou 
 didft firft make us thy own portion and relatives in the confumma- 
 tion of a holy covenant. O be pleafed to pardon all thofe undecen- 
 cies and unbandfome interruptions of that (late of favour in which 
 thou didft plant us by thy grace, and admit us by the gates of bap- 
 tifm : and let that Spirit which moved upon thofe holy waters ne- 
 'e er be abfent from us., but call upon us and invite us by a perpe- 
 tual argument and daily folicit ations and inducements to holi- 
 nefs - that we may never return to the filthinefs of fin, bnt by the 
 aifwer vf a good confeience may pleafe thee and glorify thy name 
 and doe honour to thy religion and inftitution in this world, and 
 may receive the bleffings and the rewards of it in the world 
 to come , being presented to thee pure and jpotlefs in the day of 
 thy power when thou fbalt lead thy Church to a Kingdome, and 
 endlefs glories. Amen. 
 
 The End.