^■i'^'-.M V^- 'x/ ^ s q! .^ <5 § 3 ^ 1 ^^^ Ic _ - 1 z^ »-D Q. ; .1 \^ - 1 ■> ■ri_r- 5zi' o fe $ g (U o c i- %^ o bfl p\ A &^ < ^ l^ g 1 |Zi E .§ *i M oj >>» ^ Ph 01 ■^ PL( ^ Oi o ^ ^ f c s V* a> ^ t (U g •^ CL ^ O R INF ANT- BAPTISM; , ^^> /^2c^^j:^^ "^^-^XAs tfe^nabaptlfts Iromcally term it,) Afferted and maintained ■ by the Scriptures J and Authorities of the Pr'tmitive Fathers. Together with a REPLY to a pretended ANSWER. To which is added, A SERMON PREACHED On Occafion of the AiJthcr's baptizing an Adult Perfon. With feme Enlargements. By J.^S. Redor G^^,^^«r in Comwal. (^ LO N DO N, Printed, and are to be Sold by Ji Taylor^ at the Shi^ in Sc. PauPs Church-yard , Philip Bi/Jjop at Exon^ and Benjamin Smitburft at Lancefion in Cornwall 1 700. ■•* « -'*-«»:/ To the Worfhipful Sir Jofepb rredenbam, kMI> T/5 w/ unknown, how you havd-^ '<-' vouchfrfedto effoufe my Cmfe%^% tn many dtjjiculttes I hdve firm. %■ /.^ with. Which is -very much my ^ml\v*l" '""rfy worthy and accoJ. Mt 4 Per fan and fo great a Votary of the Church ofEnghnA as rour Self, hath not oub ju^ed favour ably, but on many occa- Jms aSlually inter efied your felf on my be- half. It therefore behoves me to lay hold on ^ oportunity to demonftrate a grateful Mind tho^ ttbe accompanied with a new Ad- drefi for further Favour, as this at prefent *s, to countenance a fmaU Polemical Dif. ■ courfe-, fori cannot but call to mind, haL tngfo weU experienced its truth in you, rend Prelate lays down in the clofe of his Deit Friends, not to whom we have done S°°l' but who have done good to us g^^/M. theaboundinglodnefs^l: fM'^or Vpon this \round like 1 would be tedious to recount to you the various Motives that have induced rne A 2 thus DEDICATION. thus to engage in this Controuerjie^ when fo many Trails have been already fet forth of this Nature ; it may fujfice to clear me from all afferponSj tkat I can jujlly fay from the Obfervation of others^ as rvell as my own^ that ^tisj like the Quakers^ a growing SeB with whom I contend ; and that they have lately, in my Parifh of Up-OttQvy, built them a Synagogue of fuch a Structure ^ as if they meant it fhould out-vy the "Parochial Church there. Thefe things, I humbly conceive render it neceffary, and make it my mere pe- culiar Province, to endeavour with others to flop the growth of the Faction, that fo my own Flock may not be worried and mifs-led ; but that I may be affixing to them in my ne^ ceffary ahfence, as wtll as when I am frefent, amongfl them ; and by any means reduce fome^" and prevent others from going aflray from the holy Communion of our Church, whofe Peace and Profperity all its true Members, efpecially the Clergy, ought to Confult and Promote. Sir, my Prayers and Endeavours are intent upon thefe Things, and as far as I continue fie df aft in fuch labour s ^ 1 am fs* cure of your good Opinion, Your moft Obliged and moft devoted humble Servant, Ja??ies Roffingtort. ( o INFAl^rT BAPTISM} c-v Infant SprinKling, 6*^, I Nfant Baptifm, or, as the Anabaptifls Orrrr^fs fometimes call ir, Infant Sprinkling,is no Vindicaci- Popifli Tradition, much lefs is it, as they^^J^^^. ^^^ pretend, brought into the Church by c^m.^iffi- Innocent the Third, yea fo far is it from being on ofiQng any corrupt Innovation crept into the Church, Z-/^'^. De- that it agrees with the mind of God in the '^jj^^^^^^ ^^ holy Scriptures ; and confequently we need^f^ q^^^^ not queftion its agreeablenefs to thc^ pradlicemons, a- of the Church of Chrift even in the firll Ages bout tha of Chriflianity ; tho' it fhould be fuppoled Year 164-5 we have no exprefs Records of matter of Fad, ^j^'j^.^'^"^' which yet we have, and the fame authcnticknjty of* and undeniable. Neither is our way of ad-Chiidifh miniftring Baptifm, by pouring on of Water %^^i^^^^« novel, or to be diflik'd. To demonflrate the agreeablenefs of thisDo- drine to the revealed Will of God,! fhaii cake my rife from the Covenant God made with Abraham *, being by theApoftle's computation * Gen.T2. 'f-430 years before the giving cf the Law. And ^- ^7- 8. to this he elfewhere refers ||, where he fignifies^ '^ ^' that the Gofpel was before preached to him, n Gal. ^,8 that is to fiy in the words of the Promife, as " * containing in them a Breviary thereof, being B an ( o an Evaugejlical and not a legal Promife^ v$z,i Thai all Nations' df '*"thc^V¥orM;.aiid|4not only the jews, fkp^^ld^be iuilifie^d b,y Faith,and coniequenEiy the Gentiles novy ; and that without legal Mofaical performances j for after this mariner, and in'thefe exptrefs words, did rhePromi'ferun: In thee JjMlpl the^ na- tims of the earth he hkjjed^ and again, V will eftahlijh my Covenant to ' he a God unto * Gtn^iyJ^^^i ^y^dtothy feed after thee "*. And when 8, 9. God had thus enafted and eftablifhed his Co- venant with that holy Patriarch and his Seed; f ver. 10. he immediately thereupon, as you'l find '|~, j^ commanded them to keep that his Covenant, BurthoJ's "^^ °"^y ^^ ^^^ fubftance, but in the fign and Argiimenttokenof it, as 'tis immediately in one conti- for Infant nued Speech exegetically added, this is my Baptifm, Covenant^ or token of my Covenant, fo that '^Jmwid. ^^^ ^^"^^ ^"^ meaning of the Phrafe in either and^ wi:l' Verfe, is clearly the meaning of both, and fton's In- Circumcilion is fpecified to be the Covenant fant Bap- at that time to be kept, tho' not the only Co- J^^^^P'^3]"- venant to be kept. Prmte? ' "^^^ Obligation impofed upon y^braham and j^mio 78. his Seed was, as you may note in the firft Place, to keep the fign or token of the Cove- nant, or the Covenant in the fign of it *, and then to obferve Circumcifion as that fign or token. The former is of perpetual Obligation ; the latter is more pofitive and fecondary. Tho* then there be an alteration in the fecond Injundion *, it will not therefore follow, there mull be in the firft ; or that the Cove- nant ought not to be oblerved in the fign of it i if for certain reafons Circumcifion be no longer, but fomething elfe be that fign. So in the fourth Commandment, Remember ths Sabbath (?) Sabbath-day to keep it jtioly^ that is the firft thing which is principally Commanded ^ biiC the other the feventh Day, that is the lafl Day of the Week, is the Sabbath, that is but fecondary, fo that the Obligation to the firll, and that which is primary in the Command doth not ceafe, becaufe there is an alteration in the fecond, and that not the feventh, but the firft is now the Sabbath of the Lord, For a further explanation of this Truth, you may obferve, that the Command in the 9th verfe requires the keeping of the Cove- nant in general,but don't determine what the token of the Covenant fhould be, but obligeth to whatfoever token God fhould inflitute ^ 'tis not faid, Thou fhalt be circumcifedjOr be baptifed, but thou fhalt keep my Covenant ; that is, as afore, the token of the Covenant \ confequently when Circumcidon was appoin- ted, it obliged to that^ but Circumcifion be- ing laid afide, and another fign inflituted, which is Baptifm, it now obligeth to this ^ lince the Command in general is not revoked^ but only the fign is alter'd. Wherefore the Command at firft not determining the fign what it fhould be, but only enjoyning the keeping of it, whatfaever it fhould be, and being applicable to Baptifm, as well as to Circumcifion, and extending and reaching to all Abraham's Seed, to believing Gentiles as well as to the Jews, 'tis all one, as if God had faid : Thou fhalt Circumclfe under the firft Teftament, and Baptize under the fe- cond. Tfaefe being Tokens of the Covenant fuccefTively to be kept the one after the o- ther. B 2 And (4) And this Covenant being renewed to th€ Children of Jfrael in the Land of Moab^ (be- fides the Covenant which Mofes made with *Deut.29. them in Horeb "^) the command runs in thefe !• Terms : That they fhould all,even their little ones, enter into this Covenant, that is expli- citely by Ibme Rite or other ^ not that the lit- tle ones could then perfonally and exprefly indent with God, or that a perfonal or ex- prefs Stipulation was a Condition prerequi- lite to their Initiation *, but only an implicit, or vicarious, or an imputative fort of Stipula- tion by Sureties or WitnelTes, as the old Tellament word is -f- ; which at Years of vid Im^' underftanding they were bound to own by and zVm.'the reflipulation of a good Confcience, or by on the an open Profeffion of the Jewilh Religion, place. The manner then of entring into Co- venant with God, or keeping the Covenant in the fign or token of it, was by receiving of Circumcifion. Accordingly in the 17th of Gen, aforefaid, Abraham and the reft were circumcifed in the Capacities they were in, Abraham at 99 Years old, and Ifmael at 13, and the Children, as they were commanded. Neither did this Law concern only fuch as be- longed unto Abraham for the prefent, and his Pofteriry, but alfo Profelytes that in future times were to be received or adopted into his Family ; even to the time of John the Bap- till and Chrift,who were both circumcifed the 8^h Day, that is during the firfl Adminiftrati- on, fo long^ fays God, it /hall be for a fign be- ll Gen ijjT^^^^>^f^^ ^^^yoUj Ijviz. Thofe that belong to II. * 'thee, with thy felf for the prefent, and thofe that fhall defcend from thee according to the Flefh, or be adjoyned unto thee *, he adds not and and thy Seed after thee j which hints that Circumciiion was no longer to be the fign, but till the Seed fhould come. Whereas {peaking of the Covenant without limiting it particularly to Circumeifion, he fays, Thou /halt keep my Covenant^ thou and thy feed after thee^ in their generations ^ and again, This is my Covenant which ye [hail keep between me and you^ and thy feed after thee Neverthelefs the Seed Chrift myfticaJ, the believing Gentiles in af- ter Ages, are as abfolutely enjoy n'd to keep the Covenant in the fign of it, as the others. Thou (halt keep my Covenant ^ \ Q^d. thou * ibid, v, and all that thouownelt, and thy Seed and all9» that they own, fhall by way of Stipulation be dedicated unto me , and that in token of being fo, both you (hall obferve the Cove- nant, by wearing the Initiating fign thereof • your fell in your own Perfon ^.and by put^mg- it on all yours as far as they are capable of receiving it, which fhall be virtually and in- terpretatively the pucing it on all thy Seed, 'f- all fuch as have the benefit or advantage of the Covenant fhall ^ rhe whoh Nation of keep it in like manner, caufing the fdws are called the their Children and fuch as they a- cin-umcifion, the Women dopt to wear the like Badge and beirgr^<;\onedto be ch^ ^ * . , ...."_. cumctiedtn ike Msn. ani Cognizance, the. initiating Sign ^ereUminedto pamke and Seal. And as it cannot be of the Fajjover of which fuppofed, but that the believing f^o uncircumsifed Perfon Gentiles do retain a pi'opriecy ^oulieat, E:lql\.12. .^-j, and right for their Children, and ^ ' that under the Gofpel they are as much theirs,and in the fame right,as the natu- ral and adopted Ciiildr^n f cogethcr wirh the Servants and Slaves) of Abraham were his ^ ^o neither is it to be denied, but that as B 3 Circum- (O Circumcifion was the initiating Rite and Sign before the coming of Chrift ^ fo Baptifm is after it: And that now to dedicate and give up a Perfon unto God vifibly and folemnly, is by that Sign or Rite to enter him into the Church •, and that the command of keeping theCovenantin thefign of it, or of entMng into Covenant, according to the Rite that ought to accompany it, is Hill neceflary, and lays an Obligation upon all to whom the Co- venant extends. Now how far the Covenant reachetb, the Apoflie declares at large, ji^. 2. 39. where he infers the fame Conclufion, and on the like Premifes, as I have done, viz.. The Right of fuch Perfons,and confequently their Children's right to Baptifm 5 and the Obligation that is incumbent on Parents to have it adminiftred ; becaufe the Promife of the Covenant extends to polterity, without limiting it to thofe who were immediately and perfonally called, as the Anabaptifls would have it, but it belongs to them,and in them to theirChildren^without any Condition or Qiialification on their part,fave only their being Children of fuch Parents.Nor can we interpret the Apoflle, by reafon of that iaft Claufe in the verfe, even as many as the Lord our Godjhall call^ to have meant or intended any perfonal Call required, as to Children in order to Baptifm 5 uniefs we make him in effeci: guilty of very grofs Tautolo- gies: for ihould that be necefTarily implied, Vfith refped to the feveral particulars afore- going, it would make the Apoftle fpeak to ihis Purpofe ; The Promife is to you th^t is^ to as many of you as God hath called, and: to your Children, even to as many of them 3S God hath caDed 3 and to all a- C 7 ) fat ofF which God (hall call, even as many as the Lord our God fliall call ^ the impo- fing fuch afenfe, 1 fay^on the Apoftle's words, would render him very vain and Tautologi- cal ^ much lefs is there an inward Call abfo- lutely necelTary for every particular Perfon, in order to his fufception of Baptifm, or in- deed for any, but only an outward Call of the Parents fufficeth s not only in reference to themfelves, but to thofe Minors likewife who are under their Power ^ for 'tis not neceflari- ly requilite, that the party to be baptifed, muft be fuppofed to have an abfolute Right to the Rem foederis^ to what is promifed in the Covenant, but only to the conditional Grant or Covenant, as that fpeaks a mutual Engagement each to other. There bemg no fuch thing as a right in foro Ecckfta, contra- diilind to the right in /oro dei •, no one having a right to Sacraments in the judgment of Cha- rity, who hath none in the fight of God. If itbeotherwire,how fhall we have the Church's judgment, concerning the Individuals that are to be admitted unto Baptifm, or the Lord's Supper ? 1 hope they will not fend us to Rome for it ^ and there is not any general Council in being to decide the particularCafes, or any Court where the whole do fend in their Votes. And the like may be faid of a National Church ^ if it be meant of a Congregational Church, or rather particular Congregation, then this muft be of the whole Body too, or the judgment of the Ruler or Rulers •, ii the whole Body, we know there are many in rno^t Congregations, that never troubled their Heads about it^ and fcarce know their own Minds, what they would or fhould judge in fuch matters ^ and few of thofe that ufe this B 4 diilin- < ^ > diftinaion, did ever take their judgement in nj, If it be meant of the Paftors and Rulers then It feemsthe Pope is not very much out of the way to count himfelf, at Cleaft with his Cardinals.fo be the Church; if a finglePres- byter orDeacon with the ruling Elders may be the Church. Surely they come nearerto him. than they are aware of,who account the judg- ment of a particular Congregation, orPaftor. the judgment of the Cliurch; and plead that a Man hath a nrht to the Sacrament,if thatCon- gie.'i .tion or Kinifter judge fo ; tho' he hath none nuhedght -i God. But here is the Mif- chirf of It, hv tM* reckoning a Man may have • a um HI the judgment of the Church,and yet have no rigiu in the jodgment of the Church , rorhe^may havccigi.t in the judgment of one Min!.,CT or CO..S cgation, and yet another may at the fame time judge, that he hath no right at all. B.it v-hich fhali be the Church of the two ? Why rei tainly the one hath asgood iignr to clai.ni the Title, as the other : ex- cep.. one of than rob the Pope, and claim the Chaiu and condemn all other Churches and then ):.dgi.,erit, to fet up their own. The iiaUern Churches Rere lb wary to- prevent all I noughts rhu one's right to the Sacra- raenr should many wife depend on the Mini- Iter.tr.at they fay not baptiz.o^hm baptiz.etur N. mmmme Patm, &c. Thus 'the Apoftk; baptifing IS faid to b.Chvift'sBaptifln.'Tis true tlV-"K""r'n .'"'^["^^ ^'P''^^ tf'^^' Speaks iifelH V bi-r fci!l he b^ptizeth as a Minifter,and cannot cal. that his /iapti-Hn; but if the Mini- It ev s A.-1 be ail that inch Profellbrs have riglit to, uien he might fjy they have no otiier but my Baptifin, and that the party hath right to ha Baptifm,andnot Ghrift's. Wherefore the better (9) better to underftand any one's fundamental Right in this Point, we mufl diftinguifh be- tween the Grant or Promife, and the mutual Engagement which is in Covenants, and fo muft allow that the natural Seed of Abraham^ by virtue of God's gracious Promife, were in fome fenfe to be reputed a fpiritual Seed like- wife j tho' not fo flridly, as to create to them an abfolute right to the benefits of the Covenant, the bk-ffing of Abraham'^ yet e- rough to give them thePrei ogative of being in Covenant, and the Priviledges of being under fuch an Adminiflration ^ wLereofthe Apo- llle reckons eight which belonged to the Jews ^^ And who will fay, that Chriflians ^ j^qj^ have fewer and of lefs Confequence ? Don't 4^ 5. we find thofevery Perfons whom the Baptifl (upbraiding them for corning fo far fhort of Abrahamh Faith and Works jcalls a Generation of Vipers, admitted by him to Baptifm, and enftated in the aftirefaid priviledges ? -y ,^ , From thefe pjemifes, it apparently fol- j^;/^.' I'Jj lows, that not only believers, but profeflbrs of ChriRian'ty and their Children are proper Siibjcds of Bupcifm ^ yea f jch alfo as are born of prpfelTed intideis, whea they become Con- verts, and belong to fuch as are Members of the vifible Ch'irch, for fo runs the primitive Grant , and to thefe doth the Covenant ex- tend, Gm, 17. And \^ profeffing Jews, and fuch Servants and Slaves as are mentioned, V, I -i. have a right to enter into the Cove- nant.and to be circumcifed ^ it follows, ^'/or- tioyi^ that the Children of proftlling Cbrifli- an?, and fuch as they have a propriety in, have a true right to the like privilcdgc, and are new to be^baptized, othcrwife the Go- lijel ( lo) fpel doth not, nor muft Chriflians (hew Co much favour to the Children of the Jews, as the Covenant under the Law did, and as the Jews were to fhew to the Children of the Gentiles, while they were ftrangers in the general to the Common Wealth of Ifraei And if when they were in the Scripture account Grangers to the Covenant, yet fuch Chil- dren of th'^jrs might enjoy it, how much more now fin:? tl >e Partition- wall is taken down, ancj the enmity is done away ? Nor is this true only in the Theory, and according to the C 'mmandment, as it may be thus fairly conilrued j but the Pradice of the Church, Age after Age, fpeaks this to be the intent of the Law,6' Lex currit cum fraxi. So that for Men to exclude them now, as if they were greater Aliens and Forreingers than they were at that time ^ to (hut them out from the Covenant and Seal more than when they were under the Law, and to make a greater Partition-wall between Gentiles and Gentiles, than there was then between Jews and Gentiles, ("as thofe mull do that debar them of their Right to Baptifm j this mufl needs be contrary to the Gofpel ; and doth in efFed make void the Crofs of Chrill for tho' upon the coming in of the Gofpel the fign be changed, and Circumcifion, which was at firft the lign and token of that Co- venant, be taken away j it doth not follow, that the Obligation to obferve and keep the Covenant in any other Sign and Token doth ceafe with it, for the reafon and equity of the Command doth hold in Baptifm, as well as in Circumcilion, & Ratio legis & nexus confcien^ tia are reciprocal, and do mutually fuppofe one (") one the other. And this is the Topic that St. Paul ufeth, "^ arguing for the maintenance of* i Cor.9. the Evangelical Miniftry,from the Analogy of 8. Faith, and reafonablenefs of the thing. We are therefore to dillinguiih between the Obligation to keep the Covenant in the Sign and Token of it, which is of perpetual Ob- ligation and Exiflence, as the Covenant it felf is ^ and to keep it in the particular fign and token of Circumcifion, which being (e- condary and changeable, for certain Rcafons was to be no longer, but fomething elfe be- came that Sign and Token. For the further explanation of this, 'tis to be noted that Circumcifion was not abolifhed in the Gofpel, as 'twas of the Fathers, but as it was of Mofes ; ( a diftindion that Chrift - himfelf makes -[) not as it had relation to thefjoh.7.22 Covenant ofpromife, and the Sign of it, as if in that refped, it was a weak and carnal Thing *, for fo it was a Bond to Evangelical Obedience 11^ but as it was adopted by theuQ^nj^^ legal Mediator,and made a fign of that Admi- 1, that is niflration and Covenant in which he had to^^ ^'M^^ do. Wherefore if the Law ceafed, Circum- ^"^■^^'^'^''^% cilion could not continue ^ feeing whofoever^^^^^^-^ was circumcifed became a Debtor to keep Rom. 2. 2^. the whole Law ^ and fo it would infer, as if Gal. 5.3. Chrifl were not come in the Flefli. Nor can the abrogation or ceflation of Circumcifion be underftood to be any dimi- nution to the Promifes °, forafmuch as it was applied to theLegalGovenant out of a gracious Confideration, (as Dodor Burtho^ well ob- ferves) not in the derogation of the Promi- fes, or of any Priviledges or Duties arifing trom thence ^ but in confirmation of them .; God ( II ) God taking the token of the Covenant of Pro- mire,and putting it upon the Legal Covenant, fliews he had the Covenant of Promife ftill in remembrance ^ for doing fo he could ne- ver lock on, or fo much as think on the Law, but he muft alfo remember the Promife, the fign and memorial of the Promife being thus ^ annexed aad put to the Law. So that here is an exprefs command for baptizing Infants or little ones ; tho' not in the very term Bap- tifm, yei under this general Notion, as 'tis now the ^kea of the Covenant, for God*s Covenant with Alraham ftill continues, 'tis *GcD,i7.an everlalling Covenant, "^ in which blefled- 7. nefs was piomifed in and thro' Chrift the pro- mifed Seed ^ and by virtue, whereof the bkfTing of Abraham^ or the Promife made to that Patriarch, in like manner came on the Gentiles, as the Apoftle aflerts, GaL 3. 14. therefore 'tis faid, the Gofpel was preached + Ib.v. 8.^^ Abraham 'f^ and as it was long before the Law, and not difannull'd by the coming of the Law ^ fo 'twas to endure till the Seed (hould come, to whom the Promife was made; and confequently to the end of the World ; becaufe Chrifc came to eftablifh the Covenant 8. Now if the Covenant be the fame, the Pro- mifes of it mufl: needs be continued in the fame Tenure in, which they were at firfl: made, and run in the fame latitude and ex- tent, taking in Children with their Patents ; unlefs God himfelf had made any alteration or reftridlion, or pafled any Act of Exclufion. But 'tis remarkable, the Apoftle doth not fay * Aft. 2. the Promife was, but is ^ : And the Grace of 2^* the Gofpel is now more ample than before under under the Law ^ being then in its ordinary Difpenfation appropriated to the Jews 5 they were God's Favourites to whom his Grace in Chrifl: was manifefled ^ but now it reacheth to the Gentiles alfo, having appeared to all Men, to all forts and ages. Surely therefore Infants being in Covenant then are not to be excluded now, which if they be, let it be fhew'd how and when they were ejedted ? How thisMagna Charta came to be forfeited ? How they, who were once iMerabers of the myftical Body, came to be cut off? The Common Wealth indeed of Jfrael is at an End, and the Scepter is departed from Judah^ but the Olive-tree the Church continues, tho' under a different Adminiftration^ the Partition-wall is broken down, but the very Church is not deflroyed. And for this fee and confult Rom. 11. where the Apoftle compares the Jews to an Olive-tree, and the rejeding of them for a feafon, to the lopping off its natural Branches, as Branches which bore no Fruit ^ and the calling of the Gen- tiles he refembles to tht grafting upon that old Stock ) v;hich growing again a-frefh makes up one entire Oiive-iree, whofe. Root and Branches are nourifned by the fame Sap ^ which Similitude plainly intimates, that Jews and Chriilians make up bur. one Univerfal Church, of which our Lord Jefus is the Head *, and that Faith in him is the Sap, which gives. Life and Nourifhment to it ^ the confequence whereof is this that the fame Spiritual Privi- ledges, which belonged to the Children of the Jews, do belong to the Children of Chri- ftians:,and that if the forpicr were to be iniii- aced into the Church by Ciicumcilion, fo are ' the ( 14 ; the latter by Baptifm •, for being of the fame Church, and within the fame Covenant, they ihould receive a-like the Seal thereof, which tho' now changed from Circumcifion to Bap- tifm, yet the Church and Covenant is the fame (till ^ and therefore Church-memberfhip is as extenfive, and comprehends Infants un- der the Gofpel, as it did once under the Law , and unlefs a Law can be fhew'd, which con- fines Infants Church- member fnip to the Jew- ifh' State, and excludes them the Chriftian ; there is no reafon why we ihouid be frighten'd from our laudable Practice of initiating Infants into the Chriftian Church. ' What faith our Saviour, Job, 3. 5. If one be not Born again of Water and the holy Ghoft, he cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: Where we fee not only the unregene- rate are excluded Heaven, but as the Text is interpreted "^ by fome, even the unbaptized, with refped to the ordinary means of Salvation, and fo far forth as the omifllon of an inftituted Rite, or politive Duty may be faid to do fo ; now forafmuch as we cannot be too fure, but that this may be the true fenfe of the Place, and the mind of our blefled Saviour ^ and feeing he fpeaks it indefinitely, we can- not know for certain but he', had reference to unbaptized Infants, as well as others ^ therefore un- lefs God had plainly declared his Mind againft the baptizing of fuch, and exprefly excluded them ♦Nifi enim renatus fueritex aqua& fpiritu Sanao non poteft intro- jre in regnumdeiiitique nullum excipit non In- fantem nonaliqua pr«- vfentum necelTitate. D. Abrof. de Abrab, Patri- arch. /. 2. c, u. vid. etiam de voc. Gent. /. 2, c. 8. & D. Aug. /. 10. de Gen. ad literam/.i4« We hold Jays Bijhop An- drews, tk /^me nzcejfny of Baptifm, that the Fa- thers did hold, which is Via ordinaria, yet non alligando gratiam dei ad media, no more than the Schoolmev do, Bijhop Andrew'^ Anftoer to Peron, f, 12, ( 15) them from that Ordinance j how can we chufe, out of mere compafllonand zeal for their Sal- vation, but adminifler it to them ? Though then there be fome fo prepofleft with preju- dice, that they cannot fo earnellly believe with our Church, the interefl: Children have in Baptifm, yet fincc their not fo believing cannot alter the Infant's Cafe, neither can they be fo fure, but, as it hath been faid, they may be comprehended in that of St» John^ ac- cording to the aforefaid Interpretation ; therefore upon that other principle expreft by our Church, in the fame Paragraph "^^ they *rrW. of fhould look upon it as a charitable Work to f^^ for bring fuch to Baptifm. P^^^^^f^ But to return to the Argument, and to inxhe\x' illuftrate it, and render it more convincing '-tpofition u^ fuppofe there were an Ad of Parliament, on tbe wherein certain civil Priviledges are granted <^• to Day is Salvation come to thy Houfe^ foraf- much as thou alfo art the Son of Abraham '\\ t Luk. 19, So St. Peter told Cornelius wovds,by which iie 9- . and his Houfe fhould be faved jj. Thus it was ^ promifed to the Gaoler, that on his Faith not \\^ ' '^' only himfelf fhould be fav^ed but his Houfe, and upon his Profeffion he was baptized, and all that were his,or all that belonged to him ^^ * k^' hi therefore not only the major Part of Us^aJtS t^uv- Family, according to the falfe and corrupt '^^> ^^^' Glofs of the Anabaptifts, but fimply and ab- ^ ' ^''^^* folutely all that lived under hisPvoof. Moreover how reafonable is it to believe that there were Children in tliofe Families, as part of the Houfhold, for the word Houfe or Houfliold in Scripture, fignifies , .^ ^^-r;,^^ ^^ Children eminently, being the ' '.. '"^ ^ principal Materials, Ben a Filia^ a radice HJD Son, and Bath a Daughter, do cdtficavh Ahta.hjv. both come from the Root f de liherorum procn- Banah which fignifie to build, atione^ Deur. 25-. 9. and figuratively to procreate Buxt. So Grn. \6, Children , and fo to ' build ^. Margin, hs biulc an Houfe or Family. Thus by her ^ Stpt, God promifing to give Chil- 'nKvo7Tr^ti)jviicu'4J.^mu C 4 dren ( 24 ) dren unto David, is pleafed to^expr^fs him- himfdf in this Phrafe, . I will build thee an Houfe^ becaufe Children under God do build up the Houfe, and keep up the name of their ^ Father's Family, and fo to build an Houfe ot Family, being the ordinary Inftruments as to perpetuate and continue, and hold up the Houfe in Natural and Civil,fo in Religious and Ecclefiaflical Refpeds likewife ^ accord- ingly the Apoftle directing a Bifhop to rule '*iTim.3. fiis Houfe well, prefently names Children ^ 4. . as the moll confiderable part of his Charge and Care. Wherefore, as it often falls out, when fome parts of the Family are ex- prefly inflanced in, and the nomination of Children omitted, they are neverthelefs in- tended and included, as Gen, 14. 16. Neither do we^read of any laid aiide or excluded from Baptifm upon the account of their Non-age, yea 'tis highly probable that thofe Children, yea fucklings, as the original Word imports,which were brought to Chrifi: with a defire in them that brought them, that he fhould lay his hands on them, had been al- ready baptised y now 'tis faid exprefly that vLuk.18. ^'^ laid his Hands on them '1% but we never i<,,Tj}o(i- tead in the N. T. of the laymg on of Hands (pu^in dfor^ on any unbaptized Perfons, unlefs perhaps it ra&r Tran- y^^^Q [^ order CO the working fome miracn- BiT-s ^^'"^^ ^^^^ ii ' ^" ^^^ Other Cafes, impofition of II Mark 10. Hands was pradifed on baptized Perfons"^ 16. only, and the reafon given by Chrill to his * SesM^rk Dlfciples, why they fhould countenance and I's^LukV f"^^^^^ rather then reflrain their Accefs 4. io. I?, to ^ii^ fufHciently evinceth, that they wcvq 1 9.-Aa.9. brought upon a fpiritual Account rather than E7«28. 8„ for any bodily Cure, . . ..■ And ( 25 ) And as a further Argument to fhew^that the a, Vid. pradice was Apoftolical, I may add h'.reto c^pnder the Teftimonies-and Suffrages of the Ancient ^f^^/ll'a Fathers ^,both of the Greek andLatmeChurch. Jrn ani ' Origen affirms in exprefs Term?, that xh^Wefiem Church from the Apoflles days, received a churches. Tradition to Baptize Children ^,and that Bap- b in his tifm is to be given unto Infants, according to Comment the Tradition of the Church c , who yet was ^" .^^^ contemporary (according to Ofiander and Fu- ^^^^^cl^l nefius account) with TcrtuUian^ neither could /. ^. * * Tertullian himfelf be fo fottiOi, as to oppofe c in his 8 an imaginary abufive practice of having Sure- |:^omii« o» ties, or Hyginus Bifhop of Rome before ^'^^9 ^\^sel'vh- to order as he did about the Guardianfhip of tina in the Infants, in appointing fuch who lliould pro- ///^o/Hy- mife for their religious Education in that Sini^s the Faith whereinto they were batized <^, if the ?-''^ ^f/ baptizmg or them was not a thing m ufe be-peter ac- fore, and fo an Apollolical ordination dcri- cording to ved down to them, and from them tranf- ^^lan. mitted to the Church, v;here the prasftice of it hath been uninteruptedly continued ever fince. Why fhould Tertulliayi^ 1 fay, affright Perfons from being Sufceptors to Infants in their Baptifm, by the Hazard they ran in their Childiens liablenefs to Death and to^p^^^P^' Diftempers, if no fuch thing were in his|!^^f^'"°" time ? It had been dangerous to Itart fnch a f semper. Novellifm if never before pradifed. St. yiu- habuit, flin writ a Trad of Infant Baptifm c, and ^^^P^r te- fays the Church always had it, always held "'^^./^^^^'e it/. Juftin Martyr^ who lived as they caicu- verb. A- late ia St. JohyPs Day?, in his unquellioriable poil. Works gives feveral hints for Infant Baptifm^. S ^^ ^'» ^^'^ ]>^?7i;?:^; fpeaks of Infanis being; Born a;zaiiJn ^^"^(^"^iff. that IS by the Laver ot Regeneration, w^. Y^].cx\,pan Bap- a^^rop, 3. ( 26 ) ' ^Irenxus Baptifm a%Dr. Hammond underflands it h,JVa- l. 2.^. 29. z^ianz.. is for it not only in danger of Death, fjfoMh^i, ^^^ ^^"^P^y ^"^ abfolutely, expreffing himfelf Seft. 4. ' t:o this purpofe^Hafl thou a Child,let it be bap- pag. 212. tized from an Infant,let it be early confecrated i Orar. 3. to the Spirit /. St, Baftl gives Teftimony to it, s" I avacr" ^^^^^^^"S ^^^ Queftion, whether Infants may k'/.Vcon- be baptizedjin the Affirmative j for fo/ays he, tra Euno- we are by the Circumcilion of Children in- mium. 58. ftruded, there being a parity of reafon as for 1 Epj(i. the circumciiing of Children k. rojjius makes ^ Y^d. ^^^ Teftimony of St. Cyprian^ in his Epiftle:/ Na2. 6- to Fidus^ ('which for its authenticalnefs is rsLt.^Jn S. quoted by NauanTienfihryfojlom^ Ambrofe^ Je- rh^^^^'ft row,^^y?/w,and others w)beyond all exception, HomiLad^^^ 6'm/«j fays it makes the matter plain Neoph. that there was then no doubt of Infant Bap- Ambr. in tifm ^ accordingly the Magdeh, bring in Om- Luc. Hie-^^^^ Cypr, and other Fathers to avouch the Dklog ^*^^2^^c^» ^o ^^ve been even in the time of contr. Pe- ^he Apoftles n. Now what fays St. Aufttn^ lag. Auft. touching fuch immemorial ufages, ak the Ca- in his 28 tholick Church holds, and ever hath held, Epi{i,wSu 3jj^ j^^yg j^Qj. ^.Qj^g |j^|.Q ^j(g [)y j-j^g Inftitution ifx°^4 '^ of any Council,that they are fuch as are right- Serm. de \y believed, to have been delivered down to verb. A- us, by no lefs than Apoftolical Authority 0, ^^^'J\ and left there fhould be any wrefting of his cl"peccat. wo^^s, viz,, Traditum ah ApoftoUs^ or Apo- merit. &' ftolical Tradition, he peremptorily affirms, remiff.dwiffpeakingof the Church's Authority in this in his 3 Cafe of P^dobaptifm) that it was without all f r>n^f '^' queftion delivered by the Lord and his A- c. 4. pag.poftlesp. 0 In Donat. /. 4. c, 23. calling it an Ecclef. Cuflom or as he ex- plains himfdj^ an JpjloL Tradition^ fede Geneli ad Uteram, /. 10. f, 23. andhis 3 Epi(i. toVolufum. p /. i. De peccar. merit. & repiiff. c, 16. Proculdubioper Dominum 6c Apoftoios traditum. The ( 27 ) The word Tradition, the Fathers under- ftood not in the Popifh Senfe, for that which hath been delivered in Dodrine from Age to Age, above what is written, to fupply the fuppofed defed of the Scripture, but for • the very written word it felf, by which they delivered the truth, and for their examples and report thereof^ tending to the explication of their Dodrine, and not to the adding any new Dodrine. Calvin affirms the baptizing of Infants to be a holy Infdtution obferved in Chrift's Church q. All the Reformed Churches, ufe^ Inftit. 4. it, as you may fee by the Harmony of their ^- i^-Seft. ConfefTions r. The Greek Church, (who year- f'^^ ^ ly excommunicate the Pope,) Baptize their In- jefu dc fants s'^ fo th^ Cophti or native Chriltians of £- Converf. ^pt who have no Communion with theiS^w^;^ omnium Church. And the pradice being fo general p^"^'"J"» and Primitive ^ Erafmus wondered what evil 'J^\ ^^^' Devil entered them^ who denyed the Bap- s Pagh of tifm of Children ufed in the Catholick Church ^'erefics^ above 1400 Years, and he might the rather P^tj^J 7* for that it hath been the general Confenr, and almoft univerfal Pradice, not only of all dliiftendom, but of all the World , Jews, Gentiles, Mahometans, Chrillians of all Seds^ Proteftants , Papifrs ; Greeks^ Armenians^ Mufcovites^ Men^relians^ Indians of St. Tho- mas^ Ahyffines^ ere/ as a modern Author obferves, to ufe fome folemn initiating Cere- mony to admit their Children , not yet adulc,into the Society and Communion of their Religion. Thefc ( 28) ^ Thefe Authorities, (vnth others cited in Ckmen ^^^ Margin ^) I lay clown as I might have tis, tkre done many more, not to tye the Baptifm of 'm ^£tz?i- Children to the Tellimony of Men j but as ^gp J^' J- a Martyr for the Proteftant Religion did, to f^^ ^^ flievv how Mens Teftimonies do agree with ^/pu^e^' God's Word tp, and that Antiquity is on our your In- fide, and that the Anabaptifts have nothing fants,\.6.)jx[i falfe and new Imaginations, who feign ^•/^Mde"^^'^ Baptifm of Children to be the Pope's vit. can. X, Commandment, or any late Invention or In- ap'idMag- novation, deb. Cent. ^. cap. 9. col.835.Sz; Caranz./oZ. 123. Ambrof. 1. de Jlhrnh. Fatri arch, Hier. contra Pelag. lib. 3. Ut Chriftus Infantes ad fe venire juliit, ita nee Apoftoli eos excluferunt a Baptifmo & quidem dum baptifmus Circumcifioni xquiparat. Paulus Col. 2; aperte indi- cat etiam Infantes per baptifmum Ecclefias dei effe inferendos, ^c. Magdeb. Cent. 7.2. c. 4. ^ Magdeb. Cent. 2. 'n^/<2zV,nec ufquam legitur Infantes hcc fcculo a Baptifmo remotos efie. U'e don't read they roere tkn excluded B.iptifm, c. 4. p. 48.de Baptifmo; nor as 'tisfaid, until the 6th Cent, v:hcn 'twas excepted again ft by one Adri- anus. ThatTtvuW.himfelfrvas for Infant Baptifm appears, in that in his Book De anima cap. 39. Hepreffeth it when the child is in dan- ger ofDi'ath, and gives his reafon, lib. de Bapt. cap, 12. prxfcribi- tur nemini fine Baptifmo com:)etere falutem. Council of Trullo, Can, 48. rec^uires that all the Grecian little ones, rvithout delay jhould be baptised. One of the 8 Can^n% in tha Council of Carthage con- cluding ag^inft Pelagius decreed, that whofoever denyed Baptifm for the remiffion of fins to a new Born hifant, Jhould be a-jatheraati:{d, fee Cras^gs Arr pigment and Conviction of Anabaptifrn againfl Tombs, pag, 85. Photius, a learned Greek, produ^eth an Imperifll Conftitution, Tsherein it "was decreed that all baptiicd Samarit. and Grecians fiould be punified, who brought not their Children to holy Baptifm, apud Cras^gs, ibid, vn In a Letter that Mr, Philpot writ, whilft he was inFrifon, Nor is our manner of adminillring this facred Rite, by fprinkling or pouring on of Water novel, as I faid, or unjuflifiable , for the word to Baptize ufually flgnifies as much,, which ( 29 ) which as Dr. Featly x fays Hefychlus, Stepha-y-^-^^pper ms. Scapula and Bud^us^ thofe great Mafters^'i^ P^^§' of the Greek Tongue, makes good by many ^'^^^^ ^^y-^ Inftances and Allegations out of Claffick in his An- 'Writers. f^^^ to Danvcrs, pag. 24.2, Printed, Anno 74,. andW2i\kev*s I>ifcour[d of dipping and J pr inkling, wherein is Jlieron the hwfulnej's of other ways of Bapti^a- tion befidesthat of total Imrnerfion, Printed Anno, 78. And in this fenfe is it ufed in Scripture. So the Fathers were baptized in the Clould, not dipt therein , for they were under the Cloud ^, but were wet or fprinkled there- * i ^oi"* with. So Nebuchadnez,zar^ was wet or ^^* ^* fprinkled, or «/3rtf>n, as the Septuag. hath it, baptized with the Dew of Heaven. Hence we read of diverfe wafhings or Baptifms, as the vvord is. And what were thofe but fprink- lings ? Sometimes Blood was fprinkled f j f Hebr. 9. fometimes Water was poured forthj No Per- ^^* fon was dipt or plunged in Blood ^ yet thofe fprinklings were called Baptifms. So Mark 7. 4. except they wafh, the Original is, ex- cept they be baptized ^ and the manner of their wafhings before Meat, was not by dip- .. ^ j^. ^ ping but by pouring on of Water j] : We i^ ^^"^^ read alfo of wafhing or baptizing Tables "^ ^* Mark and other things many times a Day, which 7-4-^>t^« if done by dipping would make the labour ^^^^'S^^» of the Jews intolerable, befides many other [hhtfolt inconveniences. And *cis but reafonable vol. a. * that the outward Baptifm ftiould have allufi- p. 345- on to and an Analogy with the inward. We are faid to be baptized with the Holy GhoH", but not dipt into the Holy Gholt or his Gra- ces j but to be fprinkled therewith, as with clean '\- Water (in our Baptifm j and to have -i-Ezck.36. the 25. C 30 ) ^ * Ifaiah the Holy Spirit poured on us ^. And it 44. 3' had been more properly tranflated, baptized in Water, if it had been done only by dipping, rather than baptized with Water. Again, if we take a Survey of the feveral- Inftances and Examples of Perfons baptized in Scripture, we fliall find that 'twas proba- bly done by fprinkiing, or pouring on of Wa- ter, rather than by dipping. St. Paul was baptized by Ananias when Sick and Weak, having fafled three Days and was not flrengthened till he received Meat, which was f A£l. 9. after he was baptized -f-, and accord- 18, 19. ing to all Circumftances, it was done in his Lodgings. Sd when the Goaler and thofe that belonged unto him were baptized, it was at a time and place,that there could be no accommodation forWater and otherConVeni- ences for plunging and dipping,as the manner of ^ovdQ is ^ for 'tis not likely that the Apollle Ihould carry the Goaler, and all his in the dead of the Night to a River or Pond to Bap- tize them. 'Tis faid, Phillip and the Eunuch jj Aa. 8. went down into the Water, or to [j the Wa- 38.. €/? V- ter, but 'tis not faid after what manner he ^^* was baptized, and a Man may go down into the Water, and come up out of it too, and not be covered ad over with it^ if he wet but his Feet or Ankles, or wade but Knee deep, he goes down into the Water, and fo may come up out of it, and our Lord and the Eu- nuch might do no more, and then have their Faces waflied or fprinkled only in Baptifm j and if St. Bernard m^Y t)e believed, this way was Ghrift baptized, and as for the Eunuch, , ^^^2% if we'll believe St. Jerome * and Sir Geo, B.P.I3C3. Sandys, ( JI ) Sandys ^, he could not be dipped, becaufe the "^ De locis Fountain in which he was baptized, (which Hebr. in retains the name of the ^eivcPoLiu many Waters, viz.. Streams or Rivuletb ^ and Hiftory informs us, that they were fo (hallow as not to reach above V the Ankles and fo unapt for dip- t Non intereft quan- ping as their way is -jr The to quiique abiuatur, Eunuch, as ^ it hath been well qiiomodo m Euchariftia obferved, doth not fay here is a non quantum quifque t^. ,'. r, i,-' -„, comedat. Chamier. /. 5. River,here is a Pool,here is Wa- de bapt. c,i, p, 1404. ter enough for me to be dipt in- to, the quantity of the Water is not infilled on 7 which fairly in- ( ?5 ) ' , intimates to us, that where there is Water,' be it much or little, nothing hinders but one may be baptized therewith. I had need now to crave Pardon, for being fo very Prolix on this Head, but I hope St. ^uftinh^-A. ^d HI- Apology in the like Cafe, may pafs for mine : lar. Epift* Tanto magis pro Infantihus loqui cJebemus^ ^. quanta minus ^ pro fe loqui pojfmt. D2 THE C J7) PLY To a pretended ANSWER To the foregoing Difcourfe. IT will not be unnecefTary to premife, that this foregoing Difcourfe in oppo- fition to the Anabaptifls, contained at firft only eleven Pages in clofe writing, a Copy of which was tranfcribed and commu- nicated to a particular Friend j who fhortly after upon their confident Boafting, that they would get it anfwered, did by my Permifli- on, deliver it into their Hands, from whom after almofl a Years time, and through fre- quent importunities ^ I received an Anfwer in Manufcript, fuch as it is, confifling of 27 Pages. I think it needful alfo to premife, that I have fomewhat inlarged my Difcourfe, but not fo as to caufe the lead difference in my enfuing Reply, nor fhall I make the lead ad- vantage upon any Improvement or Addition I have ma^e, nor is there in truth any pcca- Jion for it. For I do folemnly, an4 with 3II lincerity protefl, that I don't find I had need to have had any word. Syllable, or Letter ad- ^ D I dedj (J8) ded left out, or altered in my Papers hv reason of any th,ng .„ the pretenS'A^n! My Argument in fhort is thic . 'tu.4- J oKen ct the Covenant to fWjews • So isR;,n ever the 4nh."' '" il?^ S'gn of it, what, ever the Sign be, was and is always Obligato-' ny Objcdions, now made ufe of by the An- gerer vvhch takes up abovehalf of'the aftel laid 1 1 Pages) whereto there is no manner of Reply, fave only fomewhat about t"e Sab- ba hor Lord's Day.but not to the purnofe as tT tf;'"'^ ^PP^^--' ''' ^^thaSe t;,o This i th rh^tar,ans i his with tne Preface takes up , Paees of f h^ Anfwer. Neverthelefs that he^may feem to fay fomewhat he turns Opponent ^ ^"■P, He endeavours to prove, that the Covenant whereof Circumcifion was he fiS was not the Covenant of Grace as haS rdation only to temporal Promifes tak "f a Branch for the whole; and reckon ngthaf Godmade two diHina Covenants witriS- T l"''5,^'^/3kesup2Pagesmore. ' Secondly , He labours to prove that Circum- afon can give no ground for Infant Baptifm nor bear a fu.table Parallel with it ; ufing Ar- guments which have been anlwere'd ovef and over and in a great Part obviated by me tho' he takes no notice of it. This reachTth 10 his loth Page. lais reacfieth Then ( 39 ) Then he takes notice of my citing Ji}. il 39. running out into a large Ramble, which win not bear any Tefl , and as introdudory thereto, he begins thus: You fay the Pro- mife in the -39. v, is fpoken to thofe in the 36". V, even the Houfe of Jfr at I, who had crucified the Lord Jefus Chrifl, and their Children , of which I had not faid a word. And adds, that by Children he doth not un- derfland them as they are in a flate of Infan- cy. But how doth he illultrate it ? Why ve- ry profoundly and unanfwearably with five or jfix Arguments, which to give them their full force, amounts to this : That there were none fuch then prefent, as he takes for granted •, neither could any of them be Children to whom St. Peter Preached, and faid. Repent and be baptiz^ed every one of you. For were this true, would it follow as he would fillily infer j that St. Peter neither did nor could fpeak of or concerning Children to them ? May it not then be as well argued, that the Promife did not belong to thofe afar off, that Ihould hereafter be called ? Unlefs we underftand thereby fuch of them as were then prefent, and had been St. Peterh Audi- tors ? Which would be a contradidion in ter^ minis. Now this, with fome grofs imperti- nence and fcnfelefs Stuff which immediately follows, comes home to the 14th Page of the fleply. So that there is above half of mine,and within a few Lines half of his pad over, and hitherto it cannot be pretented there is any kind of Anfwer. As^to what follows, he fays himfelf,Pag. 1 5. that what is written in my 8,9,10, it pages, fand I don't remember there were D 4 any ( 40 > any more in the Tranfcript-Copy they bad) concerning the Covenant and Infants right to Baptifm, he fljppofeth to be anfwered in what he had written aforegoing. He means, he had framed Arguments, which was not his Province. Moreover in thefe Pages he omits feveral Things, which muft needs be reckon- ed very material, whereto he anfwers no- thing, ril inftance in fome particulars. Firjl, That in Chrifl's Dialca;,to belong to liim, and to be his Difciple : Is all one. Secondly^ That Infants are called Difciples by the Holy Ghoft. Thirdly, That they are made fo by God himfelf, vouchfafing gracioufly in their be- lieving Parents to accept them alfo into his Covenant, and fo into the flate of Difci- ples. Fourthly^ That the Apoflle fhews that intereft in the Promife, is alone of it felf a fuilicient ground for the application of Bap- tifm. Fifthly^ That the Suffrages and Authorities of the Primitive Fathers are on our fide, which he overlooks as infignificant, tho' they are only produced to (hew what was their judgment in the Cafejand the pradice in their time. Sixthly^ That fprinkling or pouring on of Water, doth as well exprefs the My fiery as dipping, and better alludes to the inward Baptifm of the Spirit. And that 'tis very improbable that the 3000 baptized in one Day, and in all likelihood where they heard St. Teter'^s Sermon, were dipped. A^ain (4x) Agaia he neither denies, nor vindicates their concurrence with the Papifts, tho' I had reprefcnted it in fo many Inflances^ and whereas I faid exprelly, that the Fathers in avouching Infant-Baptifm to be an Apoftoli- cal Tradition, did not underftand the word Tradition in the Popilh fenfe, to fupply the fuppofed defed of the Scripture, Yet he pofitively affirms it is to be believed to do fo, and fo he runs on for above 2 Pages, prov- ing the Perfection of the Scripture, that is fighting with his own Shadow, for who de- nied it ? Once more I faid, we don't read in the New Teftament of laying on of Hands on any unbaptized Perfon, except in order to a bo- dily Cure. But the Anfwerer, pafleth by the exception, and then doubtlcfs he confuted his Adverfary, fpeaking fo home to the mat- ter. What hath been hitherto obferved, chiefly refers to the Method and Compofure of the Anfvver, and difcovers in it fo much of weaknefs and infufficiency, that no judi- cious Perfon can well allow it that denomina- tion. But taking liberty further to difplay its imbecility, I fhall offer fomewhat by way of Reply, to the matter and contents of the pretended Anfwer, that (if pofTible) I may provoke him or fome one for him to make a Rejoynder, that the point in Controverfie may be thorowly lifted, and the truth clear- ed,^'ar left to the World to judge how unable that Party is to maintain their way, or make any tolerable defence. He faith, Page the firfl:, that he cannot un- derftand that the weight of the Arguments for Infant- fprinkling, but rather thinks that the (42) the want of weight in themj is the Caufe an Anfwer hath been fo long negleded. It feems he is unfit to anfwer Arguments tho' they want weight, and others perhaps may think it was very meet and fit he fhould have let them alone, rather than prejudice his Caufe by an unfit Anfwer, and fhould not have put himfelf upon this Tryal of his Skill, unlefs he could have managed it better. But firfl an Anfwer as he faith is expedted, that is fome- thing raufl be done towards the giving an Anfvver,for the amufingthe expeding People, who otherwife ('cis likely) would have been more apt to have miftrufted the weaknefs of their Caufe. Secondly, 'Tis prefumed that af- ter the perufal of ray Difcourfe, by fome of the more learned and wifer Heads, 'twas thought more eligible to leave it to one that is unfit for it, to give an Anfwer ^ that the defed thereof may not refied on any of the Grandees ^ox rather 'tis fufpeded that fomeChief undertook it, but under the mask of one un- iir, that the lamenefs of the Anfwer, (of which the Preface feems confciousj may by thofe that perufe it, be imputed to the Au- thor j and the ftrength thereof, which their own Party will fuppofe, may be afcribed to the prefumed goodnefs of the Caufe they have efpoufed, however tho' he be unfit he will make an EfTay. Yea he will f which is morej give an Anfwer to fuch things as he thinks may have any thing in them that calls for an Anfwer. Now he who will difcharge the Office of a Refpondent, ought fairly to repeat his Ad- versaries Words, and then to apply his An- fwer, either by denying or diftinguilhing, or both J (4?) both; but how this hath been obferved by the Anfwerer, you will fee in the firft Para- graph. The firft thing/aith he, that I take notice of is in Page i. where you endeavour to prove that Infant-Baptifm came in the room of Circumcifion, although no pofitive Prefcript for it, bringing the change of the Sabbath- Day from the feventh to the firft, without prefcript. Reply ^ Thefe are fo far from being my words, that they contain not the fenfe of them. For (i.^ neither I, nor I think any Body elfe ever mdeavoured to prove, either that Baptifm came in the room of Circumci- fion^ without a pofitive prefcript, or that In- fant-Baptifm came in the room of Circumci- ' fion, but that Baptifm did, which non^ can juftlydeny. St. P^«/, CololT. 2. 12. affirms as much, viz,. That Baptifm in the New Te- {lament fucceeded Circumcifion, the initiating Sacrament of the Old Teftament, and that as plainly, as in i Cor, 5. 7, 8. he hath affirmed the Lords Supper to come in the room of the Paflbver •, for the Apoftle having told his ColoJJians ^that they had the Circumciilon made without Hands,the Circumcifion of the Heart; he further fignifies by way of implication,thac they had as good as the outward Circumcifion too, by being baptized, or he could have no occafion to add, {hsing buried with him in Baptifni] and his Argument had been nothing at all, a mere non fequitur^ unlefs he gives them to underfland thereby, that Baptifm fucceeded and came in place of Circumcifion. To evidence this to be the genuine fenfe and intention of the Apoftle ; know that he was here (44) here diffwading the believing Chriftians from the Rudiments of the World and Jewifh Ce- remonies, particularly from Circumcifion, upon this very ground, that they were com- pleat in Chrifl ^ but left the Jewifii Teachers fliould fuggeft, that the receiving the inward Grace of Circum.cilion, doth not make them fo compleat as the Jews were, becaufe they had alfo an outward vilible fign. As Abraham^ for inftance, had the inward Grace, and yet he received the outward Sign , and confe- quently, tho' Chriftians be made partakers of this great Benefit by Chrift, yet they may fland in need of an outward Seal, to afTure them of their partaking herein ^ he would have them know that neither is this Priviledge wanting to Chriftians, who have as excel- lent and exprefs a Sacrament of it ^ and tjha^ Chrift hath not left his People under the New Teftament deftitute of fuch an outward Sign and Seal ; for however Circumcifion be taken away, yet there is another Sacrament fubfti- tuted and appointed, a more excellent and lively one than ever Circumcifion was, a Sa- crament refembling it, and anfwering to it ^buried with him in Baptifm'^ wherein^ &c.] that is facramentally fignifying and fealing up both our mortification and our vivifica- tion. But if they had efpoufed Antipedo- Baptifm, they might have urged their dilla- tisfadion, and have again Reply ed, that tho' they needed not to be circumcifed them- felves, feeing Baptifm is fo happily come in the room of it, yet they would ftill Circum- cife their Children, becaufe according to their Dodrine, Baptifm is not to be applyed tp them. In (45) In the fecond Place, the Words have no pofitlve Prefcript for it, and withput a Pre- fcript, do fhew either that he did not under- ftand my Argument, ("tho' eafie to be under- ftood) or elfe that he wilfully altered and perverted my fenfe, that he might ferve fome other Delign, than the finding out the Truth, His own Confcience mull tell him, he hath fathered on me what I faid not. This Addi- tion of his, without Trefcrip^ inlinuates as if I had there argued, that the want of a Precept for the change from Circumcifion to Baptifm, is no more a reafon to deny Baptifm to In- fants, than the want of a Precept for the change from the feventh Day to the firfl, is a reafon for the rejeding, of the Lord's Day. That the Anfwerer did thus intend to repre- fent me, feems plain ^ becaufe after he had fhewed Reafons for the firft Day, he con- cludes, fo we have a plain Precedent, tho' not pofitive Prefcript for the firfl Day, but you want not only Precept but Precedent for Infant Baptifm. QPage 3.] Now the obvious meaning of my Difcourfe there, is, that the general Command of keeping God*s Cove- nant in its Sign, as alfo the general Command of obferving the Day of the Sabbath, one Day in feven is obligatory to Chriftians, as well as it was to Abraham and his Seed. The confideration what is the particular Sign, or whether it be altered from what was firfl fpecified j or whether with or without a Pre- fcript, being not there any part of the Argu- ment J its main ftrength depending on the general and primary Part of the Precepts ; the fubflance therefore of what I faid is, that the general and primary Command to Ahra- ham^ r 4<5 / ham^ (thou and thy feed /hall hep my Covenant intheftgnof it) is of perpetual Obligation ^ as in the fourth Commandment, the gene- ral and primary Command for fandi- fying the Sabbath, or keeping Holy one Day in fcven, obligeth now as well as then ; and that if Chriftians be difcharged from obfer- ving Circumcifion as the Sign, and the laft of feven, which was appointed to be the Sabbath at firft, Cwhich are fecondary pofitive Com- mands,) yet they are bound to obferve a fe- venth Day, and to keep God's Covenant in its Sign, (thefe things being of Primary obli- gation, j And now what is faid to all this ? Why truly as to the general Command to Abraham above mentioned, he pafleth it over at leaft for theprefent, and fays nothing about it, but as to the Sabbath, doth he deny that the general Command of keeping one Day in feven Holy continues obligatory ? Not at all , which he (hould have done, if he would have oppofed the force of my Argument. What doth he then do ? Why he gravely fays, (i.) He knows no pofitive Command for the change of the feventh Day to the firft. ('x.)He knows one Day of feven was commanded, (g J He gives fome account what we have to fay for the change of the feventh Day to the firft. Laftly^ That he dares not blame the Sabbatarians, By all this he confirms my Ar- gument j and that too more than it re- quired. And yet he hath fo mannaged the matter, blind-folding his ignoiant follow- ers, that thofe who heard only his Papers when they were read apart in their Congre- gation, doubtlefs thought that he anfwered what may be reafonably thought to call for an Anfwer. -f' He (47) He proceeds, (Page 5.) to obferve con- cerning the Covenant, which he faith, 1 have written feveral Pages about, fuppofing that as Ahrahamh natural Seed were in Covenant, and had right to Circumcilion, {o the Seed of Believers are in Covenant, and ought to be baptized. Re^ly^ The word Natural is not in theText ; neither was it put in by me : 'Tis rather their way to add to the Word, the better to glofs over their Error. Provided neverthelefs, it be not underftood qua tale^ as natural, I do admit it, and own the whole, it being that which I have fully demonftrated. But fo it is to be accounted for my Conclufion, rather than for my Hypothecs.. However it be, he makes two exceptions againft it , tho' it be very illogical to nibble as it were at the Conclufion, whilll he tacitly grants the premifes. But it mud be confidercd, that he hath ingenioufly acknowledged how unmeet and unfit he is to be a Refpondent , and he doth but go on to prove it. The firfl Exception that he makes is : That the Covenant in the 17 of Gen. is not a Co- venant of Grace .- This indeed would over- throw the very foundation of my Difcourfe, could it be proved, and duly applied. Nei- of which, tho' he Ads here the Part of ap. Opponent,is done by the pretended Anfwerer^ whereof he is fo Confcious, that he dares not depend upon it, fearing he fhould be drive a to his Shifts, fhould we put the matter in Controverfie to this ilTue. And therefore that he may have a Loop-hole to efcape, he faith TPage 8.) neither indeed were it that Covenant, meaning the Covenant of Grace, would ( 48 ) would it as to that help you : And he is not without a pretended Reafon, to help himfelf in it ; becauie forfooth Grace doth not go, lays he, in Generation from Parent to Child, Wifely argued / 'tis as much as to fay, fpeak- ing to the Point, God is not a God to Ahra- ham and his Seed too, his Promifb in that re- fped went beyond his Performance. Grace cannot go by Covenant from Parent to Child. And who are thofe that found defcent of Grace in natural Generation, or fay that Be- lievers Children are in this gracious ftate, be- caufe they are believers Children, that is by vertue of natural Generation. We only fay, 'tisbyvertue of the Covenant, the Promife that is made to the faithful and their Seed ^ whereupon are grounded fuch gracious Privi- ledges and Perogatives defcending from Pa- rent to Child. So that the Root being Holy, * Rom. the Branches are fo too ■^, yea if but one of If. 16. the Parents be a Believer -f-, the Children are f I ^or. in a Holy Separate- State j not common and ^' ^^* unclean with the reft of the World , but in fuch a State at leaft, as puts them into a more advantagious and fairer Profped of Heaven, and greater probability of obtaining faving Grace, than if they had bpen out of the Co- venant, that Holy State, fo as the Promife did not reach them. Hence Chrift fpeaking of the Jews Colledively, calls them the Chil- If Matt. 8, dren of the Kingdom ||, the Apoftle the Chil- 12. dren of the Covenant ^, the Margin refer- ^Aa. 3. ring it to that of Gen. ii, 3. which himfelf ^^' faith, f Page 5.J refpedts tiie Covenant of Grace. But to Reply to his Exception, as he goes on to demonftrate it here as his manner is, f ' he ( 49 ) he ASs the Opponent rather than the Refpon^ dent, and therefore thinks hirafelf not con- cerned to meddle with the Arguments pro- duced by me, tho' he pretended otherwife in his Preface, and Teemed to Promife to give Anfwer to fuch things as call for an Anfwer, but lince 'cis not his mind, I am content to anfvvcr his Allegations *, and moreover do purpofe to take occafion from thence, further to demonftrate the Identity of the Abraha- mical and Evangelical Covenant, that the Co- venant, Gen. 11. is a Covenant of Graces the more firmly to eflablifli the Scripture Foundation touching God's Covenant v;ith u4hraham^ on which, as himfelf fays truly, (Page 3,) I found the ftrefs of my Dif- courfe. He fays, f Page 4.) that he looks upon this Covenant, in the 1 7th of Gen. not to be the Covenant of Grace, but a Covenant God made with Abraham^ refpeding fome temporal Bleflings that God was pleafed to bellow up- on him, and his natural Seed, and the fame with, Deut, 29. i. and onward to the pCri but adds, that he underftands the Covenant in Gen. 12.3. and 18. 18. to have a refpeft to the Covenant of Grace. Now fuppofe the Land ofC^w^^^^be the main matter Pro- mifed to Abraham in the faid Covenant, it may not follow, that 'tis only a temporal Bleffing ; becaufe under temporal Promifes, Spiritual BlefFiiigs were veild and conligned, by a temporal Pofleflion of the promifedLand, an eternal Inheritance in the heavenly Canaan^ was aifured to them. Befides you take a part for 'the whole, that which is but an Adjun6, or an appendix, for an entire Covenant 5 as. ± Er fi ( 5° ) if God made two diftinft Covenants with Abraham^ when as there is not the leafl hint for it in the whole Bible, which fpeaks only of one Covenant made with that Holy Patriarch, even 'that which Circumcifion did confign, which was a Spiritual Covenant under a Veil, but now 'tis one and the fame without a Veil, as Dodor Taylor^ who is fo often quoted by them, exprefleth it ■^, and fo could not re- ^Difcourjefytdi only, as the Anfwerer faith, God's 0} Baptijh, blefllng him with a numerous IITue, and them P* 37- vvith the Land of Canaan ; there being in that no fenfible BlefTing to Abraham^ feeing nei- ther he nor his Pofterity enjoyed the Promife as a mere earthly Blefling Ifor near 50c Years after, doubtlefs therefore this muft be made good to him, as before premifed, or there was a Bleffing for him, which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promife* Be- fides there were others than Abrahamh Seed, and Ifmael who were to be circumcifed 'f*, tGen.17. to whom the Land of Canaan did not be- 11,12. lon^. The Myfterioufnefs of this Tranfadion, we are further inftrudied in by St, Paul^ Heb.i i. 13. They all dyed in the faith^ having not re^ ceived the Fromifes^ as he obferves, viz. of a Temporal Pofleflion in Canaan, They faw the Promifes, that is the Spiritual Part, afar off: they embraced them^and looked through the Cloud and temporal Veil, and defired a better Country, that is an heavenly j or the fame in an heavenly State. This was the Ob- Jed of their dellres, and the fecret of their Promife : And therefore Circumcifion was a Seal of the Righteoufnefs of the Faith, which he ( 50 he had before *, and fo mud relate princi- '^ Rom, 4. pally to an Effed: and BleflTing greater than "• the generality of the Jews apprehended, or was exprell in the furface of the Temporal Promife. Wherefore when God promifed pardon and forgivnefs of Sins, he promifed to remember this Covenant 'f% what ftay could f Levlto it be to Mofes^s Faith, when God appeared 26. 42. to him in the Bufh, in faying I am the God of thy Fathers oi Abraham^ &:c.l{, ifit only con- U ^^°^- 2. cern'd temporals, ^gmfcatur^ fays Cbamier * ^ J*^^-^ ^ let it be granted that the Promife of the^^ebapEe-^ Land of Canaan^ together with the Multipli- cation of Abraham^ Pofterity is annexed to this Covenant, yet fays he, this is not the Co- venant but an appendage to it, as to Godli- nefs the promifes of this Life are annexed. Earthly things were indeed under that difpen- fation promifed more fully and diftindly^ fuitable to the Jewifh Pedagogical Eftate, ta allure them to the ferviceof God •, and hea- venly things more generally andfparingly:On the contrary, fpiritual BlefUngs are more fully and clearly, and earthly Things more gene- rally and fparingly held forth, and promifed to us under the Gofpel Adminiltration : And the Land of Canaan was more particularly in- filled on in the firft Difpenfation ;, being de- fign'd for the Type of Heaven, and an ex- planation of the Primary grand Promife to be their God : 'Denoting, that he would as certainly bring them to the Celellial Canaayi^ and to the fpiritual and glorious Refl: there j as to that temporal and corporeal Refl from their fervitude and captivity in Bgy^t, Hence it was that J^coi; gave fuch a foleinn Charge to Jofe^h^ and Jofe^h to his Brethren^ the E % on^ ( 5t ) one to Btiry his dead Body in Canaan^ the c> ther fortheTranfportationof his Bones thi- ther, which they would never have done for an earthly Inheritance, but to nourifh in the Hearts of their Pofterity Faith and Defire of f cfl in Heaven, in the Communion of Saints, whereof CanaarPs reft was a Type, into which, not Mofes the Law-giver, but Jojhuci or Jefus the Type of Chrift was to bring them. So that the whole Tenour of the AhrahamkalCovtx^dinifytdks it a Covenant of Graces and theApoflle giving us the fubflance of it in the Gofpel, doth it in thefe Words *, * H b 2 ^ Tp/// he to them a God^ and they /hall be my 10/ * 'Peofle. But fuch is this Man^ Confidence, that he prays me to take notice, whether there be any thing eife in the 17th of Gen. but temporal Ekfilngs. But what faith he to v.. 4. as the A- pofMe applies it, P.om. 4. 27. whereto 'tis referred in the Margin ? Or to v. 7. denoting the quality of the Covenant, that 'tis not tem- porary but everkxling, refpedthig fpi ritual good Things ? Or to the following Words : To be a Gcd to thee and thy feed after thee? Bellarmine indeed fays, that God when he enjoyned Circumcifion to Abraham^ did Pro- mife only earthly Things, i. e. the Propaga- tion of his Pofterity and the Land of Paleftine^ as this Anfwerer doth ^ and again, 1 will he a God to thee and thy feed^ holds forth, fays Bellarmine^ only a Promife of a peculiar pro- tedion. But Amefius well obierves, in his Anfvvcr to him, that our Saviour gathered from thence a R'wfurrcc^ion to Blifs ^ or his t Matt. Argument againll the Sadducees f had not 22. 32.* been Gonclufive. In ( 5? ) In fliort this Covenant is fo much the Co- venant of Grace, that it contains in it the great Myflery of Man's Redemption, as is plain from the Comment olf Zachary upon it "^^ the belief whereof was the jiifti fi cation ^j^, oi Abraham -f-, wherefore 'tis expreily fsid, 71. that when God enaded this Covenant withf Gen.i^. Abraham^ he preached the Gofpel unto him ii,5, 6.Rom. that is, he made a Covenant with him, con- jl'J- cerning Chrifl: and Salvation by him j and he g, ^ * ^' faith furtiier, that it was preached to the Jews as it is to us ^, *Heb.4. Thus we fee, what that Covenant with 2* Abraham was, that'cis fubllantially the fame that we are now under, or by what means elfedid any of the Jews before Chrifl came, obtain Grace or Glory ? It was before Chrifl's coming into the Flefh cloathed with many Shadows of now abolifhed Ceremonies, Types and Sacrifices, in its Adminillration, having upon Mount Sinai the Covenant of works adjoyned to it, or the firfl Covenant \ ^ {6 termed, for that in the fubltance thereof it reprefented the firfl Covenant. So that hj Realbn of thefe adjuncts, 'cis fometimes di- flinguifhed from its very felf, as it was ad- miniflred by Chrifl after his Incarnation. But if not the fame, how are the Gentiles faid to be grafted in amongfl them 'f^ as , j Grotius hath it, or according to Bcza and P//- \^^ "'"* cator^ pro ipfis inflead of them, or in their Place*, or how doth the fame Olive-Tree continue flill ? It remains then, that there are not two Covenants of Grace, differing in fub- fiance, but one and the fame under various Adminiflrations. E 3 CamerQ ( 54) ^ Thcf. 7. Ca7nero ^ makes three Covenants, one of Nature, one of Grace, and one fubfervient to that of Grace. But ubi unum propter aliud^ ihi unum tantum : But lefl" I be thought too general in my Prccedui e, 1 fhall further de- monllrate that God's Covenant with Abraham ^ confifts of thofe very fubftantial Parts which are afligned to the Evangelical, as 'tis in this lyih of Gen. and elfewhere more fully ex- prefled by Mofes^ interpreted by the Pro- phets, and applyed by the Apoftles. In Gen, 17. i. he tells Abraham what a God he will be unto him, viz.. A God all-fuffi- cienr. Which Promife you have Gen, 15'.!. divided into two Parts \ and in other Places among the Prophets^, into thefe Three j iirft, All-fufficient to pardon the Penitent*, fecondly. To give his Holy Spiric j thirdly, To give eternal Life. In each of thefe re- fpecls, was God lookt upon as all-fufficient in the Old Teftament. In Ifaiah 55.7. God fays, ] mil forgive and multiply my pardons, Kence the Jews are exhorted to repent '|% for that ? ^ ^^'J^]^^ the Promife of the Pardon of Sins by the ?o*. 25. * Blood of Chrifl belongs to them, and he pro- raifeth further to put his Spirit within them \ , Ezck. 36 and to caufe them to walk in his Statutes j, ^7- and as 'tis in Deut,^ to Circumcife the Heart. -^' ^' So Zachary^ fpeaking of God's Covenant, and -f-Luke I. ^^s Oath to Abraham -J-, makes mention of ■71, 74. this two- fold Mercy, which accrues to us by vertue thereof, vi^. Firll, Deliverance from the Power of our Enemies, Sin and Satan. Secondly, Grace and Strength to ferve him, that he would grant^ or as the Word is ren- .^^,,^ jj^dered |{ give Power ^ to wit his Grace and 'y "' ' Holy Spirit, for the amending of our Lives. See ( 55 ) Seealfo TfaL J03. 3. and £/^. 44. 3. And that thefe Places refer to God's Covenant with Abraham^ is yet more evident from Gak 3. 1 5, where the Promife of the Spirit is called the blefling of Abraham, And tho' the Promife of eternal Life is not any where in the Old Teftament plainly exprelled, yet ic was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promife, wherein all the Prophets do unanimoully declare, there was an ex- cellency of Blefling, far exceeding what Be- lievers outwardly enjoyed in their Peace, Pro- fperity, Kingdom and Temple- Worfhip, which could be no other than the fpiritual and eternal Deliverance of their Perfons from Sin and its curfe, with the enjoyment of the Favour of God here, and eternal Life in the World to come, as 'cis obferved by St. Paul in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews, In like manner the Condition on Abraham's Part, is the fame that is required of us Chriftians, /. f. to obferve the Evangelical Precepts j to believe and obey that Gofpel which was preached to him j as much as to fay Faith and Obedience. Not that Righteoufnefs which is of the Law, exad legal Obedience, but that which is of Faith, that which is truly Evan- gelical ;as is evident by comparing Deut,^.\ i. with Rom. 10. 6. and of the fame nature with that of a Chriftian. How othefwife could A- hraham be the Father of them that believe, and his Faith the pattern of Faith to others, and we be admonifiied to walk in the fteps of his Faith, and to do his works ? Neither do the Prefcript Rules, given to the one or the other, make any alteration Jherein, fo long as they are all of the fame E 4 Nature Natare gnd Kind. Now that they are fo, ap- pears from the fore-quoted Places ^ where *ti§ laid, that the Commandment is not hid, in the Hebrcvv and Septuagint not too heavy ^ but as Chrift's Yoak and Burthen light and eafie. Neither is it in Heaven or beyond the Seas, it will coil no great Pains to come to the knowing and pradifing of it, very agreeable and confentaneous to every one's Nature, ve^ ry nigh and in the Heart, very ealle to Learn and Pradife •, ancj what this is, is pundually V^Rom.To. fit down % to be confejjtng of Chrift, and a 9- Cordial belief of his Refurredtion, fhewn forth in the Pradife of thofe Rules that he hath left us, and God had before Frefcri- bed. And for that Commandment which ChrifE calls New, 'twas from the beginning, but be- ing buryed as it were in a Law of Ceremo- nies, it feemed wholly laid afide and neg- leded, infomuch that few attained to fo right a meaning of the Commandment, as that 4Matt.i2. Scribe -f^ who our Saviour faith, was not 'far from the Kingdom of Heaven. But fuppofe the Divine Precepts are found to vary in number and perfpicuity, or the like, in refped of Abraham and us, yet that puts no diftinction betwixt his Faith and O- bedience and ours ^ for fo the Faith and O- bedience of one Chrillian would not be the fame with that of another, when indifferent Circumflances. We conclude therefore, that Ahrahanis Faith and fo his Obedience is of the fame Nature with ours. According- ly runs the Precept, Gen, 17. I. Walk before tne and he thou ptrfe^^ that is upright or yJ«- cere as the Margin fhews j which implies that tho' ( J7) tho* he fiiould be fubjed to infirmities, yet fo long as he hath a fingle upright Heart,there is no more required than fuch an Evangelical Obedience, the Righteoufnefs of Faith. Hence the Apoltle difcourfing of jullification by Faith ^, inftanceth in A)raham^ and argues » ^^^ that we are juflified on the fame Terms with y^ ^^ ' ^' him 5 and that neither Jews nor Cbriftians are otherwife juftified than he was, who was juflified or accounted Righteous, not on- ly for that particular Ad of Faith by which he believed that he fliould have a Son which Ihould be his immediate Heir '}^, but that ha- j^ ^ bit, that Grace of Faith, fthat is chiefly and 5^ ^"'^^^ primarily) whereby he was able to believe that Promife with the fame Faith he believed the Promife of the Mejftah^ that a certain Seed fhould be given to him. In whom all the Jj.y^35 inftituted. And 'tis as requifite that we fhould in fonie fucb manner feal to the Co- venant now as Abraham before, we being 35 much unable to give ananfwerable afliirance to Almighty God for our felves and Children, as ever Abraham v/as for himfelf and Pofte- rity *, or if you will, may it not be thought as highly necelfary that we (houid be by fome Rite matriculated members of the Chriftiai), as they were folemnly initiated into the Jew-^ iih Church ? Now what other way is prefcri- bed to us of Matriculation, than Baptifm ^ the only moil; proper Rite for this purpofe, as it hath been in all Ages accounted ^ infomuch that all the feveral Baptifms that were be- fore ( 59 ) fore Chrifl:, were all meant for initiating forms. So the Jews had a Cuftom long be- fore the coming of Ghrift, to make profelytes or converts to their Religion, not only by CircunuJifi^n but by baptizing, or wafhing them with w^^er.The fame was the meaning cf Johnh Baptii^Pto make Men Difciples un- der his Adminiftration. And the fame was the meaning of Chrifl's Baptifm, to initiate Men into the Chriflian Religion, and make them Difciples of Chrift. Hence baptizing and making Difciples, means the fame thing, John ^, I. John made and baptized more Di- fciples, that is baptized them Difciples, which was the form of making them fuch. All the inllances of Baptifm in the New Teftament were ufed as initiating Formsj and to no other Purpofe, being therefore never repeat- edjno more than' men were twice circnmcifed or admitted into the Church before Chriil-, Nor do we find fince the coming in of the Gofpel, any other Rite or Ceremony of initi- ation permitted, much lefs enjoynM. Sure I am, there was at firil no framing of dillind Covenants for each Congregation, according to the fancy and humour of the refpeclive Teacher, a mode which fome of our late up- ftart Sefts have boldly introduced without any Divine Authority, or Foundation in the Word of God, And as there is no mention in the Gofpel of any Covenant, but one, of Grace, fo neither of any other Signer To- ken thereof, or any other form of entering into the faid Covenant, than Baptifm ^ but as Circumcifion was heretofore, fo Baptifm is now the initiating Rite. But ( ^o ) But to R^ply to his Inftances, whereby he ! would prove the Parallel not fuitable : His firft Inflan.ce or Reafon is, becaufe the natural Seed of Abraham^ without any token of ^ vyork of Grace on them, ought to be .circum- cifed ; but the natural Seed of Believers, without fome token of a wor]i of Grace up- on them, ought not to be baptized. For which he cites Matt, 3. 6, to v. 10. That fome had a fenfe of their Sins, and were brought to a confeflion is plain, v. 6, But what token was there of a work of Grace on them, whom the Baptift calls there a Generation of Vipers ? :Matt. 3. -^nd yet of them he f(;ys, I indeed Baptize 7. you. And St. Mark fays, they were all bap^ ^'* II- tizcd of him ^ he refu fed none of them. So Mark, i.that they were only thePharifecs andLawyers^ Luke ^^^^^ ^^^^ "°^ baptized of him, who exemp- 3q" '^' ted themfelves. Or what token of a work of Grace appeared on thofe that were baptized of Lydiah Houlliold ^ befides what was ob- Aa. i5. ferved on her felf? And yet not fhe only M» ^ was baptized, but her Houfhold ppon her ^^^Ij'^j^Q Converfion. And if others of the Houfe were mine ip- thereupon baptized, much rather her Infant- fam inrel- Children, if (he had any fuch. This is cer- ligimusfa-tain, llie had a Houfhold, a Family, and they im^^ri^is ^^^^ baptized as well as her felf. To alledge veK)"Libe-^^'^^t fome had fuch a. work of God wrought ros & ne- upon their Souls, before they were baptized, potes,yhofoever fhnU not receive the Kj}jgdont of God, as a little Child, &c. infuire enlm, as Marlor. /efi doxon further. Anabap. puero$ excludunt a quibus initium fieri debebat. And ejfewhere, piorum liberos di- cimus Eccleiiae filios nafci & ab utero reputari in Chrifti membriSj' q'uia hac lege deus nos adoptat ul fit etiam feminis noftri pater. Again what ground af comfort can fuch as he give to their Parents, in cafe of their Death, that they forrovv not as Men without hope ? Seeing chey don't appear to fuch to belong to Ghriil. And if withal they have na means to bring them to Chrift, they may well be thought to be in a defperate Eitate, while in their Infancy. Certainly ic hath been lookt upon as a great advantage, to be in God's ordinary way of Salvation. In the time of the Jews, before and under the Law,- 'twas a greau preference to be of the num- ber of God's People, members of the vilible Church, Branchesof the Oliye-Trce ^ and isf (66) it not now as great a Priviledge and Advan- tage to be in a like Covenant-relation, grafted into the fame Olive-Tree ? Or can it be rea- fonably fuppofed that God would fo often, and fo emphatically make Promifes to the Righteous and their Seed, to be a God to them and theirs, if there was not fomewhat ofpeculier preference intended them beyond thofe of the Wicked, or thofe that are out of God's vifible Church ? But if no more bs intended, but upon condition of Faith and Repentance \ this is equally true of the Chil- dren of the molt profligate, and of Heathens, as of Jews and Chriftians ; And Chr ill's coming mull have rendred the condition of Children worfe than before. Whatever then be the Priviledges of being within the Pale, and the Promife of the vifible Church, they muft belong to the Children of Believers now, as they did to the Seed of Abraham here- tofore .• By being fuch, they have jus ad rem^ a right thereunto \ and by being baptized, they have jus in re, and are as it were put into the pofTeffion of the fame. So that denying them Baptifm, we do as much as lies in us de- bar them of the outward means, the enjoy- ment of the Priviledgeof being in the Church, and the benefits thereunto appertaining. Should a like Queftion be put concerning a baptized Chriftian, a member ofChrifl's Church, with that which the Apoflle pro- pofeth, Rom, 3. i. touching a circumcifed Jew, What advantage. — . the Anfwer may be the fame with his. v,i. Much every way : And in Rom, p. 4, 5. are reckoned up no fewer then eight Priviledges or Prerogatives be- longing to a Jew upon the fcore of that Re- lation. ( 67 ) lation^ The fame advantage that there was then to the Jews, ('as God's vifible GhurchJ is now common to the Gentiles alfo v and if Children were fharers therein with their Pa- rents, during the former Adminiflration, how are they excluded now ? Thofe Chil- dren more particularly, whofe Parents kept theirjStation ^ ^ and if fome Children continu-^ ^ ed within, becaufe their Parents fo continu- jj|:^^'i edi what hinders but others fliould be ad- mitted, whofe Parents are re-infiated, or have gained a like Priviledge with thofe that are ? The Prophet Eli/ha wept when he looi:- cd upon Hazael'^ becaufe he forefaw he would dafh the Infants of Ifrael againfl: the Wall j and even Haz^ael thought himfelf wor- thy to be efleemed a Dog, if ever he Ihould do fuch a thing. But certainly to dafh all the Infant Children of Believers out of the Cove- nant of Grace fas much as in them liesj and to deprive them of the Seal of it, is ina fpiri- tual Senfe far more heavy j and I dare appeal to the tender Bowels of any believing Parents, whether it were not eafier for them to think that their Children fhould be dafhed againlt the Stones, and yet in the meantime to die, under Chrifl's Wing, as viUble members of his ' Kingdom ^ rather than to have them live, and behold them to have a vifible ftand- ing only in the Kingdom of the Devil. We read of Herod the Tyrant, that he defl-royed all the Children in Bethlehem and the Coafts thereof, from two Years old and under .• But is it not a far more cruel ieatence, to kz thefe in no better ftate th^n Pagans and Infi- dels, without Chrift, Aliens from the Com- F 2 mon- 26. (68) mon-wcalth of Jfrael^ llrangers from the Covenant of Promife, having no hope, and without God in the World ? How far Hea- ven extends its mercy to thofe that are with- out means, and cannot ufe them, is a My (le- vy hid from us, and known only unto God. 'Tis our Happinefs, that he hath not left us deititute of the ordinary means of Salvation, with refpeft to our Children as well as to our felves ^ and therefore whatfoever means of Grace God has appointed, as Inftrumental to that end that they are capaple of, are to be afforded them ^ unlefs God hath made any particular exception in the Cafe. And Bap- tifm being appointed by God as fuch a means, we cannot well Adminifler it too early to our Children ^ for tho' it doth not confer Grace, ex opere operato^ yet it always doth fo, when God is pleafed to vouchfafe the concur- rence and co-operation of his Holy Spirit with it. And we know not* how foon the operation may be, how foon God may by his Grace pre-difpofe their Souls to an aptnefs for good through the means j it may belong before they are in a capacity to Ad any, and therefore the Ordinance ought by no means to be withheld from them or negledted. Pag. i5. He queftions what a Difciple is, whether he be not a Scholar or one taught, and whether Infants can be faid to be Difci- ples, till they are taught ? To this I Anfwer, > That a Difciple in the New Teftament is the Aa. ii.f^j^e with Chriftian *, any one that hatha Relation unto Chrifl, and fo of as large an extent as the word JJrael in the Old Tefta- ment. Infants therefore having a Relation ijnto Chrifl: are of his Body, not Heathens but (^9) but ChriftiansJ and fo confequently Difci- pies infieri j not for that they are adually taught of God, but becaufe they are, as I may fay, retainers to Chrilt, and defigned for his School ^ into which when they are ad- mitted or initiated by Bapti(m, they are more compleatly Difciples, Difciples in fa^o ejje^ having then not only a right to, but are invefled with the Priviledges of thofe that are properly and adually Scholars or Difci- ples, not as being perfonally inftruded, but as confecrated and fet apart for tbe fervice of Heaven ; placed fo, as to be reckoned Scho- lars of Chrifl, being entered into his School, tho' they be no Proficients. And thus, they are commonly reputed of the number of the Scholars or Difciples, who are admitted in- to a School, and only entered there to learn, tho' they have not learnt a Leffon or a Letten As John the Baptift baptized to Repentance, or in order to it. Who fhould limit God ? May not he make Difciples feveral Ways ? By the Adminiflration of the Ordinance of Baptifm,and fo by putting on them his Livery j or by teaching them by his Spirit from the greatefl to the leafl j by writing his Laws in their Hearts^ or by graciotll/ accepting them into his Covenant with their Parents \ or bringing them under a Religious Govern- ment ? Page 18. He would know, whether 1 can tell Lydia was a Maid, Wife, or Widow, or whether there were any Infants in her Houfe ? I anfwer, 'Tis plain fhe had a Family, and that upon her Faith alone they were brooghc into God^s ordinary way of Salvation, and F 3 were (70 *Aa. id.were forthwith baptized ^j unlefs they'i ^^* underftand by her Houfe the Stone- Walls. By Salvation coming to Zacheus\ Houfe, h« nnderflands (Page 19.J the Mejftah, Anfwer, Chrifl would have rather faid I am the Mejftah^ which had been true, whether Za- cheus was the Son of jihraham or no, and fb there had been no occafion of giving that Reafon, that the Covenant of Abraham reach- ed him : But why doth he fo perverfely un- derftand by Salvation, the Perfon only of the MeJJiah^ but purpofely to avoid the Argu- ment ^ which yet is no other but what the whole Current of the Scripture holds forth, viz.. That the blefling of Abraham immediate- ly defcends to an Houfe or Family, upon the Converlion of the Head or Chief thereof. But none are inore blind than they that will not fee. In the forementioned 18 and 19 Pages, he endeavours to render it probable, there were no Infants in the Houfholds I had inllanced in V but there is enough faid in thefe inflan- ces, that the blefling of Abraham^ viz. Sal- vation, came to an Houfe, efpecially to the Children, if any fuch there were, upon the Faith or Converfion of the Chief ; that ^Cwas ufual for the whole Family thereupon to be put into the ordinary way of Salvation, ad- ded to the Church to be faved; and efpecially Children that have not committed adual Sins, nor could rejed the Counfel of God againft themfelves. Whereas there might have been perchance fome others in the Families, who with thofe Pharifees and Lawyers might have fo done, and fo have rendred themfelves un- worthy (71) worthy of the bleffing ; but this could nof have been incident unto the Children. The ftrcfs then of the bufinefs lies not in this : Whether it can be proved there were Infants in thofe Families, where 'tis recorded whole Houfholds were baptized j but the truth of the Cafe is this. That in all Families^ whatfoever, were there never fo many In- fants they were all baptized, when their Pa- rents were baptized. Which fhews the va- nity of this repeated faying. Not one word of an Infant in this Houfe, Not one word of Infants in all thofe Houfholds, and the like. Now to retort this their negative Argument upon themfelves, let it be demanded, where they find mention in Scripture of any Children of Chriflian Covenanting-Parents that were baptized, when they came to Years of Di- fcretion, and not before. That they were baptized I fuppofe they'l not deny ; and if fo, let them fhew where and when, for this let all the facred Regilter be fearched, from the time that John the Baptift began his Mi- niftry, to the time that John the Lvangelifl: ended his, (which was above 60 Years,during which time thoufands, if not millions of Children of fuch Parents were grown up to Maturity) and if in all that time they can but fhew any one Inllance of any Child fo priviledged, whofe Baptifm was deferred till he came to Years of Difcretion, and that then he was baptized, it may then be acknowledg- ed, that there is fome llrength in their Ne- gative Allegations. In the mean time hav- ing fuch general Inftances of baptizing whole Families, furely we have more reafon to believe thatlnfants were comprehended,and F 4 ar€f ( 7* ) are to be reckoned in the number, than they have for the contrary. I ^faid we read of none laid afide or excluded Baptifm upon the Account of their Non-Age. To this he anfwers, Page zo. We never read in the whole Word of God, that ever any Infant was commanded or offered to be bapti2ed,and if fo, how fhould we read of any laid afide or excluded, that were Non-fenfe. But I fay again, Is there any Direction given in the Gofpel to lay them afide, in cafe they be of- fered to Baptifm ? And who can fay they were not offered ? Where then is the Non- fenfe ? Can it be imagined, but that the Jews brought their Children with them to the Bap- tift, to lave them as well as themfelves from the wrath to come, who were fo tender of their Children, and fo zealous for their Cir- cumcifion, they who had been always ufed to have their Infants admitted into the fame Co- venant with themfelves, by vertue of a Di- vine Law, would have raifed great Argu- ments againft the Divine Authority of Ghrilt, if he or his Difciples in his Name, had refu- fed to admit their Children together v>^ith themfelves into this Covenant, of which they taught God's Mcjfiab to be the Mediatour. So that *tis no Non-fenfe, to iuppofe that we fhould have heard in the Gofpel of Children being excluded, if they had not been of courfe admitted. I ask therefore again, (hew us in any place of Scripture^ where any one was excluded Baptifm upon the account of Non- age, particularly luch a one whofe Parents were admitted thereto ^ for if in tiiaX facred i3ook5 fuch are not exprelly excluded, we are to take it for granted, they are not to be ex- cluded (7?) eluded at all *, fince it hath been God's eon- ftant Method to take Children into his Co- venant, when he took in the Parents, Thus for inflance^the Covenant made with innocent j4dam included his Infant Children. The Co- venant made with Abraham (which hath been already proved to be the Gofpel Covenant) included his Children. So the legal Cove- nant of which Mofes was Mediatour, included thejewifh Infants alfo : Therefore they ftiould fliew us^ where God hath altered this Method in the Gofpel ; or elfe we are to take it pro^ confeffo^ that God hath not altered this his conllant Method. And the uibrahamkal Co- venant which included Infants (feeing it could not be difanull'd by the legal Covenant)conti- oal. 3, nued till Chrift unrepealed. If therefore 17. they can'c fhew, that 'tis repealed by Chrift, we are to conclude that 'tis not repealed at all. Wherefore our negative Argument is more cogent from Scripture, for Infants being in Covenant with their Parents, and that they have a right thereupon to Baptifm, than theirs is againfl it, and proceeds on the fairefl and molt credible Grounds. As firfl. That there were Children in fome at leafl of thofe Houlholds that arefaidtobe baptized upon the Converfion of the Chief of the Family. Secondly, That if the Jewifh Converts In- fants had been forbidden Biiptifra, they would have made fuch a noife about it, that the fa- cred Hiltory of thofe times mufl needs have taken notice of it. And laftly, It having been God's confiant Method, when ever he made a Covenant before Chrifl came, to include the Jnfants in it, and particularly God having by an (74) an cxprefs Law commanded Infants to be admitted to the lign and feal of the Gofpel Ahrahamical Covenant, it mufb be fuppofed that God, if he had intended to exclude In- fants from the fign and feal of the Gofpel-Co- venant under Chrifl-, would have fignified his Pleafure, that his former Method of dealing with Infants was altered, or that the afore- faid Law in the Covenant with Abraham was as to Infants repealed. Whereas the Anti- p^do-Baptiils jiegative Argument proceeds upon all rhe contrary improbable Grounds, and therefore their objeding, that we have no certain inftance of the Baptifm of any fuch, and that we don't read that ever they were offered to be baptized, is of no force j for it Ihall be prefuraed by vertue of that Law which is unrepealed, viz.. That Children fhould keep the Covenant in the fign of it, that they were both offered and admitted of Courfe. How highly had the Jews been fcandalized, if thefirft Planters of Chriflianity had deny- ed an admiiTion of Infants into the Covenant under the Gofpel defpenfation, when they had ever been allowed it under the Mofaick (Eco- nomy, and had wholly fhut them out like the Children of Infidels ? This mufl in all proba- bility have galled them, to fee their Infants fo treated, to have had no vifible difference put between the Infants of thofe that embraced, and thofe that relifted the Faith, having al- ways reckoned upon Pagans Children as com- mon and unclean, but their own as feparate and holy. St. Paul makes the fame difbindi- on, that tho' but one of the Parents be a Be- liever, yet they are fo far fandified each to other, that their Children are thereby entitled to (75) to the Covenant of Grace, which they had 'not been, if both the Parents had been un- believers. Had St. Pcful taught a contrary Dodtrine, or any other of the Apoflles, T/im. That the Children of Chriflian Parents had no more right to Baptifmal Initiation, than thofe of Heathen Idolaters, it would cer- tainly have offended them more than all they preached againfb Circumcifion, and keeping the Ceremonial Law. Page the 17. He hath thefe Words: The nearer you are to theTruth,the further offyou are from the Papifts, and the further ofFfrom the Truth the nearer to them. Which is fo falfe, that 'tis not in the leafl deferving a confutation ; fince they hold mod, if not all the fundamental Articles of Faith, how e're they may endanger the Foundation by their building Hay and Stubble thereon. But it fig- nifies nothing it feems, to retort upon theni for fymbolizing with the Papifts, tho* in. points diametrically oppofitc to the Prote- ftant Religion ; it don't affed them, as he gives us to underftand in the Words juft be- fore J neither will they be concern'd to take notice of any fuch charge. At this rate they themfelves may fall into thegrofTefl Principles of Popery, and yet be nearer the Truth, and it muft pafs for found Proteftant Dodrine. And no refiedion muft be made, as if they had a Prerogative peculiar to their Sed, that whatfoever opinion they efpoufe fthey are fo infallible in their Tenets^ though it be never fo Erroneous and Popifn^it immediately commenceth Orthodox. To my faying and proving that Antiquity is on our fide , inftead of anfweri.^g rhe Au- (76) Authorities^ he fays, Page 23. that 'tis my great Miflake, and wonders how I could aflert fuch a thing \ fince they can go back as far as John^ and Chrift, and his Apoflles. Now I mull and do acknowledge, that no Argument or Antiquity is equal to the Scrip- tures, when the Interpretations are not doubtful j yet when they are fo, I appeal to any fober DilTenter of whatfoever Sedt or Par- ty,whether the harmonious Praftice of the an- cientChurches,and the undivided confent of A- poftolical Fathers,be not the molt fure and au- thentick Interpreters that can be betwixt Men and Men , they thought Infant Baptifm law- ful and valid, and no abufe of the Ordinance of, Baptifm. And let any modeft or mode- rate Man judge whether it be likely that thole famous Saints and Martyrs, fo near the Apo- flles times, fhould fall into fuch a delufion, as yfi^f to confpire in the Dodlrine and pradice of a Mock-Baptifm, and of making multitudes of fuppofititious Chriftians and Churches ? Or whether it be not more probable, that a little Sed, repugnant to all the Ancient as well as modern Churches, fhould be in an Error. The very Scriptures, whofe fufficiency we admire as well as they, cannot be prov- ed to be the Word of God without Tra- dition ^ and though they„ are fufficient, v/here they are underflood, to determine any Controverlle ; yet the right Underlland- ing and Interpretation of them in many Points, the pr^ftice of the Church is as requi- fite, as the pradice of the Court is to under- Hand the Bopk of the Law. I may further obferve to them, that they themfclves cannot defend, according to their own (77) own Poftulatunij the baptising of fuch grown Perfons, as were born and bred in the Church, from the Scripture j for that the very Infli- tution there, of BapHfm, hath a fpecial regard to Profelytes^ who from Judaifme or Genti^ lifme were coming over to the Chriftian Faith. Neither can they produce a Prece- dent of fuch an one baptized in the New Teftament, but all the baptized Perfons wc read of in it, were Jews or Gentiles of an ex- piring or falfe Religion newly converted 5 and therefore according to their own de- mands, if to juflifie their own pradice, they mud produce fuch a particular Diftind Pre- cept or Example j they cannot defend them- felves againft the Quakers, who for this and other Reafons have quite laid afide Baptifm 7 nor againfl: the opinion of the Socmians^ who ufe this very way of Argumen- ^ ^-^^ j,^,,^;, y^j^ tation for the Non-necefiity of M/i, Mifnici ck ver^ Re- Water-Baptifm. Though they ligione Lib.6.€ap. 14. dc think good in their prefent Cir- Aqua-Baptifmo ab Apo- cumftances to pradife it ^. ^^^^^ Ufurpato,],^^, 663, In the fame Page he faith, 'tis flrangc rea- foning to Argue, that 'twas not likely that St. Paul was dipt when he was baptized, feeing he was Sick and Weak, having fafted three Days, &v. Methinks he (hould rather have faid ftrong reafoning, being it would be fo unfuitable to the eafinefs of Chrift's Yoak j who will have Mercy and not Sacrifice. Ay, but faith this Aniwerer, he being command- ed to be baptized, clofed with the Command ^ and did not confult with Fle/h aud Blood. Very good, it would ill become him to di- fpute God's Commandment, but was the manner prefcribed ? That it muft be by dip- ping (1^ ) ping the whole Body under Water, or plung- ing it as they do with their Cloaths on, which would be rather a baptizing of Gar- ments than of Bodies j nothing of this ap- pears. All Circumftances agree, that he was not fo baptized / Such a penance to St. Paulin his Condition, had perhaps been more Unfup- portable than Circumcifion, and more dan- gerous than whatever the Ceremonial Law required , to thofe therefore who are fuch ftubborn Aflertors of the Dodrine of dip- ping, that of St. Teter may be well applyed : Why tempt ye God to put fuch a Yoak on the Necks of Chriftians, that are not able to bear it? And let them fear who fubmit there- to, that God fay not unto them at lafl, who hath required this at your Hands ? What he faith to the Inftance of the Coa- ler, is in fhort this : If they had not gone forth out of his Houfe, how could he fay, Vhen he had brought them into his Houfe ? As if the Keeper had not, or might not have an Apartment in the Prifon peculiar to himfelf, and diftind from that of the Male- faftors ? He is again with my llrange reafoning. Page 24.. about the manner of P///7/f's baptiz- ing of the Eunuch. It feems 'twas too diffi- cult for him to Anfwer to any purpofe ; and therefore he bids me to leave off fuch Carnal Reafonings. But what doth he feem to fay to it, he endeavours to fhew that Philip and the Eunuch's meeting could not be accidental, as I had obferved, for this very Reafon : Becaufe it was eminently Providential, which argues that he is fo very Simple and Ignorant, that he uGderitands not what accidental Means, or that (79) that he moft erroneoufly thinks that fome things may happen or fall out without the Divine Prefcience, and in which the Provi- dence of God is not concerned. He hath a mere Figment of his own Invention, though he don't apply it, which would argue, that their Meeting was not altogether accidental, but that Philip at lead had fome previous Knowledge thereof ^ for he fays, ^lit. S, 26. The Angel of the Lord bids him, arife ay:d go to meet him: When as there is no fuch thing in the Text. And therefore he may juftly fear, left that Curfe he more than once caufelcfly alludes to,Page 22. as of fo tremen- dous and dangerous a Gonfequence, fhould light upon himfelf, for having fo palpably and fo grofly added to the Word, and to the be- lying of the Angel, making him fay what he did not. But he faith 'tis hard for him to believe, that I really think that they were baptized fo by fprinkling, though I fo write, and ap- peals to me, whether the word Baptize doth not lignifie to dip or plunge and not to Sprin- kle ? I have fhewn that the Word fignifies not only to dip,but to wafh or pour on Wa* ter, or to Sprinkle, and is often fo ufed in Scripture •, and gave initances of which he takes no notice. Ghrift no where requires dip- ping but baptizing. And as to the method or manner how it fhould be done, the Scrip- ture is filent ^ nor can there be an Example produced abfolutely for dipping : I believe that fome were baptized in Scripture, by pouring on of Water, or by Sprinkling ; o- thers by dipping : But I queftion, whether after the manner of our Anabaptifts. We don't. ( 8o ) doa'c deny dipping as in it felf unlawful, a^ they do pouring on of Water, or Sprink- ling ^ but we fay, the pradice is Schifmatical when done in oppofition, and dangerous in luch a cold Climate, and in fome feafons of the Year. And when too the Party is of a weak and fickly Gonflitution : And troubled with Catarrhs, Confumptions, and the like. Page the 25. He pleads for dipping from the fignificancy of the Ceremony, referring to Colof, 2. 12. I do not in the leafl deny,- but that it feems to follow from thence, that there was fach a Gudom in thofe Days as to Baptise by immerfion, which carryed a very fenfible (hew of a Burial and a Refurredion, but the Negative cannot be thence concluded, - that there was no other way of baptizing but that, nor is it probable there was no other way ^ becaufe there are other Texts of Scripture, which allude to fprink- ling in Baptifm, as this doth to dipping : And the like Colledtion mud be allowed to be made from the one, that is made from the other, and farther, becaufe there ^ YoKms cites feveral ^^^y be and is a Baptifmal re- /;:&SJrit^ prefentation made of a Burial, required, the thing being and ot a Refurrection in afper- as tkt:y fay but accidental fion and affufion of Water, as and77ot effintial to Bup^ ^^^ ^g jj^ dipping^. He thaG :S ,Tl;itijS 1-^i] Water poured on him as firrMirude of that Mature, well aS he that IS dipt, IS put this hcre'Lsus, is exprtft under Water : And the Water in afpei-none, etiam vel falling on him that is fprinkled, pertuuone, quia cu)us ^^j^.j .eprefents the Earth fall-- caput, as he aids , a- . ^ ^ , . , • n> • j fpergiturvelpcrfnaditur, mg upon ^him that is Buried, is aquis iRis quali fcpeli- and fpeaks the fimilitude of a tuf. Thefes Thcolo- Burial. And by the one as well to (8i ) to be buried with Chrifl by Baptifm into Death. The Reprefentation then is made both ways, tho' in the one 'cis more lively and fen- fible than in the other *, and the appearing a- gain after, and from under that affulion, re- prefents alfo a Refurredlon ^ fo that the Symbol is not fpoiled here. Accordingly in the Provincial Council of Colm^^ fprinkling as *SubHer. well as dipping is indifferently fpoken of, as "i^nno . exprelTive of a Type of Ghrift's three Days ^^|^^j^^^°^' Burial,and our conformity to him in that and i^^^^ his Refurredion. Moreover Ch rift's bodily Adions dnd PalTions muft be imitated and re- .prefented by us after a fpiritual way *, and 'tis a vain thing to. imagine, that every Me- taphorical ExprefTion ufed in the Scripture, fignifying our Communion with Chrift and conformity to him, fhould pundually exprefs the Myftery in the Sacrament, both as to the Letter and Spirit. The Metaphorical Expref- iions are various : Putting him on, buried with him, fprinkling with his Blood. And what hinders but that the Symbolical Ceremo- nies and the Sacramental Signs may be fo too, or at leaft varioufly ufed, or accompani- ed with various circumftantial Ceremonies ? One Sign after one, and the fame way admi- niftred, cannot exprefs our Communioa with Chrift and our conformity to him ini his Death and Refurrrection, as to all the foregoing Metaphors. Our Communioa with Chrill in his Death and Refurredion, and our conformity to him therein is the fa- cramental Grace, and that being reprefented as well b/ fprinkling or pouring on of Wa- ter, as by dipping ^ it follows, that Water iii either way of application is Sacramental. A- G gain^ ( 82 ) gairi,our wafhing and cleanfing from Sin by th^ Blood of Chrift, and the raifing up our Souls to a fpiritual Life, being the principal efFefts of Chrifl's Death and Refurredtion reprefen- ted and fealed in the Sacrament, is truly fet out as hath been ihewed by fprinkling as well as by dipping. Hence under the Law the facrificial cleanfing was done by fprink- «^ Numt). ling in fome Cafes, and by dipping in others ■^, 19. 1 8,1?. gj^^ t-j^g purifying by Chrift^ Blood is equally J ^^ * ^* reprefented by both, called therefore the Blood of fprinkling , and fprinkling of fHcb.T2. Blood f. 24.^ I Pet. j^ j^-g Conclufion, not to fpare me, but to tell me my own, he reminds me of his old Item, formerly given, that we have nei- ther Precept nor Example for Infant-Baptifm. So fay the Papifts as well as the Anabaptifts, tho' in other Words : That 'tis a mere Ec- clefiaflical Conftitution, no Divine Apoftoli- cal Ordinance. In this they are not unlike Sa?npfonh Foxes joyned together by the Tails, whilil their Heads look feveral ways j both afierting the fame Pofition ; tho' to diffe- rent Ends ^ the one to eftablifh human Tra- dition, the other to undermine a Divine Or- dinance. But I reply, nothing is more cer- tain,'than that the Ordinance of Baptifm h inllituted and appointed us in the Gofpel. But there is no diftind Precept, that parti- cularly determines us to adminiller it to thofe offuch orfuchan Age, or more to Perfons of one Age than another, but 'tis left to us to apply the Ordinasice to thofe we find qua- lified, according to the rules and diredtions given us in the Word of God,without any re- fped to the Age, Neither do I know the par- ticular ( 8j ) ticular Age of any one baptized in Scripture, llnlefs that our Saviour was tlien about thirty Years old ^ ^ but who will fay, that we are * Luke 5, bound precifely to obferve that Time in our 2 1,22,230 reception of Baptifm? If ybu fay in general ^^/^^'^^ Terms, it muft be when we are come to the J^^^/^TVp^ Age of Maturity or Difcretion, let it be prov»of t}>e ed, that the Scripture either by Precept or Priefis und Example iiath limitted it to that only, or ^'^"^'^^^^y . that the adult or grown Perfons are declared ^^^u^f^}^ in Scripture to be the only qualiF.eJ Perfons hmel vot or that thofe in the ftate of Infancy are de- tkir Fun- dared not be qualified or capable, and you ^^on nil at have gained the Point. But the Scripture t^'^^^"^-^^* ihews that the one fort are in this refpect as ^^\^] qualified and capable as the other: And therefore the Precept makes it as much our Duty, to adminiftcr Baptifm to fuch as are in theftate of Infancy, as to the Adult. We don't Baptize Infants as excluding grown Perfons, nor grown -Perfons as excluding In- fants : Before and under the Law they were commanded Circumcifion precifely the eighth Day, but not fo as to exempt others of other Ages. For Abraham was circumcifed at 99, and Ifmael at 13 Years old -f- ^ and after- ^ Gen. 17^ wards, if through negled or otherwife the 24, 2^, time laps'd, as in the inftance about which Mofes jj was concerned, "^ or that of the Jews, .. , while in the Wildernefs, they were not excu- 5^. 2^7 fed altogether from being circumcifed. * joihua Now I have deraonflrated that that Com- 5. 2, mand of God, to keep his Covenant in the Sign thereof, whatfoever it be^is ftill offeree j and that as Children and others were con- cern'd to keep this Command, when Circum- ciiicn was the Token ^ fo Children and others Q ^ mt C S4 ) sre in like manner bound to do fo, now Bap- tifm is the Token. 1 have alfo fhewed that Children are as fully commanded to be bap- tized, as any others by Chrill's CommiiTion. Go Dtfciple all Nations^ baptising them : Their Difciplefhip is their qualification for the fuf- ception of Baptifm. And that Children, whofe natural or adopted Parents are Believ^ ei s, are Difciples, 1 have aboundantly prov- ed. Firft, In that they have an intereft in the Promife or Covenant. Secondly, In that they ar€ made fo, by God's gracioully calling them in their Parents. Thirdly, Becaufe they are reckoned as fuch by Chriit, for that they belong to him. And Fourthly, Becaufe they are fo called by the Holy Ghofl. To all which he hath not returned a word in Anfwen Seeing then fuch are Difciples, who can for- bid Water, that they fliould not be baptiz- ed ? There being nothing in the Commiffion, as I have obferved, to interpofe between di- fcipling and baptizing. If k be faid the Command don't run to Baptize all Difciples, but to make Difciples : And to Baptize thofe that they make, and that 'tis not in the Power of Man to make Children Difciples. I anfwer, this alters not the Cafe, as appears in the inftance of Saul being baptized of Ananias^ who yet was not made a Difciple by him, but immediately by God. And they had it in their CommiiTion to DifcipleChildren,as being part of a N.uon j and 'cis not to be fuppofed that they were commanded Impoffibilities. The plain truth of the matter is this, fome Infants are and o- thers maybe made Difciples, otherwife a Na- tion cannot be difcipled, whereof Infants are no (85) no fmall part ^ or Chrifl gives in his Com- miflion what is impofllble. To underfland ic of as many or few as Men lift of a Nation, is ^gainft the fenfe of the Scripture, which plain* ly is. That the whole of the Nations where- ever they came was in their Commiflion to Difciple ■^. To this purpofe compare Scrip- ^ jy^^^^ ture-Prophefles '(-, with this Commiflion gi-28. v'lii ven in charge by Chrift jj, and what the Spi- 2. 8. 72! rit of God hath foretold in thofe Prophelles, ^ V S^- 9. that in fucceflion of time mnft be effected ? .lq^^j'^^;-' V IVhen the Kingdoms of the Earth /hall became on^jj^s ^^ the Kingdoms of our Lord^ and hts Chrifl j|. nullos ex- And in Europe^ to look to no other parts of cludit ne- the World, it hath been happily accomplifli- ^"f Pf" ed. If they think to evade this by that di- ^".^ ^m^^^^^^ Hindlion of the Apoftle ^, they are not rt/ZjlRevMi*, Ifrael which are 0/ Ifrael : That diftincf^ion M* can be no otherwife applicable to the Chrifti- * ^^°""'' ?• an Nations, than to the Nation of Ifrael^ and * fo 'twill ftiil entitle Chriftian Nations to the Covenant of God, and to the Priviledge of Ordinances, notwithftanding there be a- mongft thefeDifciples who are called, many that are not chofen. They have then the whole of the Nation in their Comniiflion \ and it muft be their endeavour in the utmoft extent of the Word to Difciple it ; yet this Work in no one Nation can be done in an inftant. As a Nation cannot be born, fo it cannot in a Day be difcipled : The meaning therefore is, to Difciple Nations, that is the whole of any Nation, and being difcipled to Baptize them-, yet they are by degrees to Baptize, as they can Difciple, till the whole of the Nation be difcipled and baptized*, v/hich can never come to pafs,unlefs Children, G 3 who (86) who are a conflderable part, may be difci- pled. But if this will not fatisfie, unlefs they may underftand too how they can be difcipled : I Anfwer, Some are made Difciples in their Parents ^ fo that in dilcipling the Parents we Difciple them. Orhers are made Difciples by adopting them into the Family of Chrift's Church ^ that is bringing them under a Chri- flian Government and Tuition ; who are hence forth no more common or unclean, but feparate and holy,within the Covenant^and confequently to be baptized; as thofe that were adopted into Ahraham^s Family were v;ithin the Covenant with others, and to be circumcized, tho' they were not of the Seed, ^ Gen 17. ^^ '^^^ noted in the fame verfe ^, being they i2. * * were under his Power and Education. Thus, I hope, I have evinced, beyond all contradiction, that Chriil's Commifllon is as full for baptizing Infants, as any others. Therefore how many untruths may he bejuft- iy charged with and convided of, who hath fo often laid in his Papers, that we have not one Word of God, not one Precept or Pre- cedent in Scripture for baptizing Infants ? THE (8? ) THE S E R M ON Preached on Occafion of the Author's baptizing an Adult Per- fon. With fome Enlargements. COLOS. IL 12. Buried with hi?n in Baptifm^ wherein dfo ye are rifen with him. ALmighty God finding his ancient Peo- ple the Jews too intent upon the Externals of Religion, v/ithout any due regard to the viral and fubitan- tial part thereof, the better to take them off from, this their grofs and carnal way of wor- ftipping him, was pleafed to declare by his Prophets againft the very Rites and Vfages of his own Inftitution *, not that he did abfo- iutely prohibit them, and countermand wl,at he had enjoyn'd, but difclaimed and rejedcd thefe external^ thefe leHer matters, rather than the Spirit and Life of Religion fhould be negieded by them ^ or the more weighty con- cerns of the Law be left undone. Thus St. fan] gives his Colojjians here to underftand, G 4 ;hac ( 88) that the inward Circumcifion of the Heart, k infiniteiy preferable to the outward Circum- cifion of the Fiefh ^ and that tho' the Circum- cifion of the Flefh be now no more, yet God hath not left himfelf without a \X^itnefs in this Cafe, bijt has appointed another external Rite in its Room, viz,, Baptifm. Buried with him in Baptifm^ fays the Text, whence we may note thefe following particulars. Firfi^ As the Words bear a Relation to, and are occafionally introduced from tjje verfe foregoing ^ we may infer, that the Externals of Religion are not to be regarded in compari- fon of its inward Life and Subflance. The Circumcifion of the Flefh, when the Com- mandment was moft in force, was nothing to that of the Heart, Secondly^ We are given to underlland that Baptifm is the initiating Sacrament of the New Tellament, and fo fucceeds Circumcifi- on, which was the initiating Sacrament of the Old. Thirdly^ We may note that our Baptifm reprefents Ghrill's Burial and Refurredion, in the manner of its Adminiftration, or if not in the fymbolical Ceremonies, yet at leaft it doth and muft in its fpiritual Concomitants and Effeds. And it behoves us to exemplifie Chrifl's bodily Adions and Paflions in a Spiri- tual way 5 that as he died and was buried, To ihould we die, and even be buried unto Sin ^ and as he rofe, fo fhould we rife to newnefs of Life, MoYtify'tng all our evil and corrupt (iffeCmns^ and daily proceeding in all vertue and godlinefs of livings as our Church exhorts. For the Firfl", That the Externals of Reli- gion are not tp be regarded in comparifon of (89) of its inward Life and Subflance. In the for- mer Verfe the Apoftle declares to his ColoJJir ans^ that they are circumcized in Chrift, that is by his Spirit^as the Margin of your Bibles of the Geneva Tranilation hath it ^ and therefore they need not be fo fcrupuloufly Zealous af- ter an external Rite , much lefs this ofCircum- cilion which is now antiquated. Since with- all they want not an outward Rite in this re- fped, they have Baptifm tho' Circumcifion be laid aiide and abolifhed, they have ano- ther Sacrament inllituted in its room, Buri- ed with him in Ba^tifnii Now (hould you compare the Circumcifion of our Saviour, the inward Circumcifion of the Heart, with that of iMofeSy the outward Circumcilion of the Flefh, you will without difficulty perceive, that it infinitely furpafTeth it in Dignity and Ex'cellency ^ that wounded the Body, this en* livens the Soul .- The one pared away a little Skin, and markt the Flelh \ the other morti- fies the whole Body, and quickens the Spirit, And therefore they were extravagant, who notwithftanding that excellent and Divine Circumcifion which Chriftians have received, are yet fo follicitoufly bent upon that which is but the Figure and Shadow. Neverthelefs to fhew how rich that fanclifying Grace is, which we have in Jefus Chrifl j he adds, that befides our being circumcifed in heart, and fo divefted of the Body of the Sins of the Flefh , we have moreover been buried with^him in Baptifm, in which we are alfo nfen again with ^/w,which is a more excellent and lively Sa- cramentjthan ever Circumcifion was *, a Sacra- ment refembling it, and anfwering to it ^ fignifying and fealing up both our Mortifica- tion (9o) tion and Vivification. But then there is both an outward and an inward Baptifm ^ or, there is in Baptifm the Body and the Spirit ; (as I might have faid in effed concerning Circum- cifion^ and the internal fpiritual Part is the moft material, and ought to be more efpeci- ally minded by us. The thing that faveth us is by St. Peter faid to be Baptifm. i Pet. 3. 21. But that in Baptifm which doth moll contribute to our Salvation, next to the ver- tue of Chrill's Refurredion, is not the put- ting away the filth of the Flefh, but the An- fwer of a good Confcience towards God/ Which fiievvs the outward wafhing is the leall confiderable, q, d. 'tis not fo much the out- ward Adminiftration as the Converfion of the Soul to God, that is the efFedlive difpofition in which Baptifm faveth us. God will have mercj/ and not facrifice ^ as he faid by his Prophet, Hof, 6: 6. that is rather than Sa- crifice. Not that he did then renounce Sa- crifice, but would rather have Ads of Mer- cy and Charity fhewn to Man *, than any fuch Sacrifices or Oblations offered or made to himfelf. He preferred not Mercy or Charity before inward Devotion, or the adoration of the Heart, the Sacrifice of a contrite Spirit, which he'll in no wife defpife j but before any outward Ads, or external Performances in his Service: which is of little or no account at all with him, where the inward fpiri- tual Part is wanting, which is the very Soul and Life of Religion : But it cannot be fuppofed he would not have Sacrifice too ; feeing he had given fo many Commands con- cerning it : And therefore the Prophet imme- diately adds, that he defired the knowledge of God (9t ) God more than burnt offerings^ q. d. he did not defire either Sacrifice or Burnt offerings, in the fame degree with other more material Duties. So when St. Veter fays, that Ws not the out- ward wafhing with Water, that faveth us, but the inward Purification of the Spirit, we are not to fuppofe his meaning to be, that the outward wafhing is of no vertue, or that the Baptifm of Water is wholly excluded ; being an Ordinance of God ^ but that if we would approve our felves unto God, we mufl not reft in an outward formal Worfhip : No not in Circumcifion, though the Law was never fo much in being, or were renewed or re- inforced. But we muft Worfhip him in- wardly with the Circumcifion of the Hearts So the fealing of the Covenant in our Baptifm, will be of little advantage to us, unlefs we make good our Stipulation, and can return fome fatisfadory Anfwer touching the Faith we have entertained, and the Refolutions we have taken up, to live according to that Re- ligion we are initiated into : Circumcifion a- vaileth not, neither the outward Lavour of Baptifm*, without the inward Sandification and renewingof the Holy Ghofl. Hence arifeth our great Mifcarriage, and the fruftration of all the hopes and advantages of thofe blefled Relations we are admitted to by Baptifm, when from time to time we mind only the ex ■ ternal Rite and Ceremony ^ which is low and mean, without confidering the fubilance and reality V which is high and excellent. The Figure, the outward Element is poor and beggarly .* The thing fignified is rich and heavenly. The Seal is mean \ the Inheri- tance is great. It hath differently fallen out with (92) with the carnal Jew, and the carnal Chrifti- an ^ the outward Glory of their Ordinances was a ftumbling Block to them '-, which made them reft in theType,and look no further j the meannefs of ours, is a flumbling Block with us ^ we look net for fuch Treafure in Ear- then-VefT^-;. Nor indeed can we, fo long as we rnake the Ordinance a cuflomary Piece of formality. But here I would not be thought to infinuate the Non-necelTity of the Ordi^ nance of Baptifm, which God hath appointed, as the way, in the common Order of means, to bring to Grace and Glory •, for in this way he ordinarily brings us to Salvation. And thcrci^ore makes it our Duty : But he has not bound himfelf to outward means and inftru- ments, and conf::quently it cannot be faid to bspfth^t univcrial abfolute necefllty ^ as if there were no Salvation without it. The Co- venant we know can convey Pardon and Sal-^ vation without the Seal. Ahraham was jufti- iied before he received the (ign of Gircumci- lion : Xhe feal of the Righteoufneft of Fajth. And the Thief upon the Crofs was faved without Baptifm. But the Seal cannot do it ivithout the Covenant, that is the great In- ilrument of ponatiqn and Conveyance. Our Saviour prefcribing the ordinary way of Sal- vation, Mark i5. 1 6. fays. He that helieveth and is baptized^ /hall be faved -^ but adds, He that believeth not^ /hall be damned : Not he that is not baptized. The Covenant or Grace, and our being in Chrifl is abfolutely necelTa- ry. But the Sign, the external Seal, is not of a like necelTity. And yet it is of fuch necefli- ty too, that it cannot be negleded without Sin and Danger. To fpeak fummarily and ' ' briefly^ ( 9? ) briefly, 'tis neceflary, as a Law of Chrifi-, as a part of his external Worfhip, as a Seal of the Covenant of the Promife of remiflion of Sins, as a means of exhibiting and conveying of Grace, necelTary as the ordinary way, by which in Gonjundion with the Covenant, and the Grace of it, God doth fave, And there- fore none can negledt it, without great indig- nity to Chrifl, and great ingratitude for fuch an high Priviledge and eminent Advantage. But Hill we muft take along with us this Cau- tion : That this facred Ordinance be not pad over, as a mere cuftom.ary Thing, as an ex- ternal Rite only, or Ceremony, without mind- ing the thing fignified ^ and the correfpon- dent of our part of the Covenant, which our Baptifm Signs and Seals. Our common Neg- ligence in the Duties incumbent on us, and in thofe Conditions which our Baptifm oblig- eth us to, is certainly one of the great Preju- dices that hath hardned the Anabaptifls, and made them look upon our Infant-Baptifm, as a trifling Bufinefs, a mere inflgnificant thing. I proceed now to the next thing I noted, as the fecond general Head, which I am in or- der to conflder, viz.. That Baptifm is the initiating Sacrament of the New 1 eflamenr, and fo fucceeds Circumcifion, which was the initiating Sacrament of the Old. And to dif- cufs this the more fully and methodically; I will endeavour to fliew you, Firil, What Baptifm or the Sacrament of Baptifm is. Se- condly, What it is to be baptized, or what are the Priviledges and Advantages that do accrue to us by our Baptifm. And then in the Third Place, 1 Ihall endeavour to prove that ( 9^) that Baptifm is the initiating Sacrament of the New Teftament. As to the Firft, The word Sacrament in its original intendment, had the iignification of fuch a Military Oath as was at- tended with facred Rites, and fuch as led Men, by fenlible refemblances, to things of an higher nature. As for the Sacraments of the New Teftament, particularly that of Baptifm ^ we may confider it in divers Re- fpeds j and fo may take up various and di- ftind Notions and Conceptions concerning it. If we confider it with refped to the Di- vine Grace, fo it may and ought to be con- ceived by us, to be fuch an outward and vifi- ble Sign thereof, as is moreover ordained by Chrift to be a means of conveying it unto us, and a pledge to afTure us of the fame. Se- condly, With relation to our Virtue, or the embracing the Conditions on our Part : So 'twill be fuch an outward vifible Sign thereof^ and ought to be fo reputed, as is appointed by Chrift for us to make a Declaration of it, and an Obligation to continue this our Profeffion, and to pradife what we fo publickly declare and profefs. Thirdly, With reference to that New Covenant, by which the Divine Grace, and our Duty are as it were tied to- gether, fo it muft be defined fuch an outward and vifible Sign, as is ordained by the fame Chrift for God and Man to declare their mu- tual Confent, and by that Rite explicitely to enter into^the faid Covenant. Laftly, As to thofe who are joyned together in the lame Covenant, and fo are conneded to Chrift, and to one another, then 'cis fuch an outward and vifible Sign, as is by Chrift ordained and fitted as a general Badge of their common 4 ■ Pro^ ( 95 ). t'rofeflion : And a means of bringing particu- lar Men into Society, Communion, and Fel- lowfhip one with another. In fum, 'tis an out- ward and vifible Sign ordained and fitted by Chrilt, to fignifie and convey and aflure the Divine Grace unto us, and on our part to de- clare the Duty we owe to God, and to Chrif!:, and to one another, and to oblige our felves to the conftant Profeffion and Practice of it "^. • Sec Having thus feen what we are to under- '^^^^'^|?" fland by the Sacrament of Baptifm ; lee us Z!Z^.f' conlider, fa.) What it is to be baptized. What are the Priviledges and Advantages, that do redound to the party baptized. JP/V/?, Then to be baptized is by a folemn Rite to be explicitely admitted into Co- venant with God *, a Covenant of Grace,Par- don and Salvation, which Chrift hath pur- chafed with his Blood. And furely 'tis no fraall Advantage to be brought into fiich a State ^ whereby we are confignM to the Grace of . the Gofpel, and the mercies of God : Who thereupon don't meafure our performances by Grains and Scruples, by perfedt unlinning O- bedience ; but with the allowances of the ba- lance of the Sandluary. Not exadling from us according to the ftrid meafures of the Law, but faving us by his Grace, or as it is elfe where in Scripture exprefTed : According to his mercy. That is by pitying and pardon- ing us, by relieving and fupporting us ^ be- caufe he remembers that we are but Dull. Some fay that Baptifm only wafheth away all the Sins that are paft ^ or at prefent adhering -, but not the Sins of our future Life. But this Sacrament promifeth more and greater Things, Things, tven in futurum^ and thereford is not repeated, becaufe it doth all at once, which it can do at a hundred times. For it admits us to a flate of Pardon, to the condition of Repentairlce, and the Evangelical Mercy. He that hath entred into this gate of Life, is al- ways in the ready way of having his Sins for- given, unlefs he turn's afide out of this Path, by renouncing his Baptifm, and by utter A- poftacy. The Meffalians denied this, and 'twas psirt of their Herefie to undervalue their "^whom Baptifm, and to lefTen the Grace thereof"^. you'l find. But it was in purfuance of this Grace of Bap- confutedbyti[ai^ that St. P^«/ calls the lapfed Galatians Pdufiot ^^ ^^^^^ Covenant of Baptifm, and the Grace //^ :^^ ,p^ of God llipulated in that Sacrament -J-, and EpijK ad therefore wifht them not to hope to be jufti- HerniATj, fied by the Law j feeing they are entred into f Gal. 3. ti^e Covenant of faith, and to be juftified thereby. And this he proves, for that they have been baptized, this being the Covenant made in Baptifm, the gate to all this Mercy. Wherefore he exhorts us to hold fait the ProfeiHon of our Faith, the Faith into which we were baptizedj when we had not only the Truth of God's Promifes abfolutely Staled and Confirmed to us*, but likewife an afFu- rance of what God is ready to do for us, in a way of Grace and Mercy, on condition we be faithful in the duties of the Gofpel. For we mufl know that the Gofpel-Govenant,- of which Baptifm is the Sign, is not without its Conditions, which Baptifm feals in a way of particular application, not only that upon the performing our part of the Covenant, we ihall obtain the Grace ^ but fc Icals up to e- very receiverj their partlciular right in th« '[- Graces (97) Graces promifed. If we do not forfeit all by violating and breaking the Covenant, and rendering our felves unworthy of the benefits of it. Hence the Sacrament of Baptifm is faid by the Schools to be gratia exhihitivum^ an Ordinance of exhibiting and conferring Grace to thofe that are rightly baptized j noE by its own Operation, but through the Ope- ration of God alone : who in the right ufe of Baptifm does always perform what he hath promifed : For who can deny the effed when we have God's fiat for it. Some in- deed afcribe too much to Baptifm, others leave it as a mere naked Sign. The bare Element, 'tis true, hath not a power and ver- tue to convey Grace. The Water is not a fubjed capable to receive it, andiconfequent- ly cannot convey it^ it toucheth not the Soul» it cannot operate upon that, to infufe real Grace \ this would be to afcribe that to the external Inftrument, which is peculiar only to the great efficient Caufe. What it con- veys and confers is not from any vertue of its own, by its bare application, but by vertue of Chrill's Inftitution, and its relation to the Covenant. For this Reafon its efFeds are not confin'd to the inftant of its Adminiflration. But it extends its efficacy and influence throughout our Lives, it continues a feal to the Covenant and the promifes of Grace and Mercy ; till the Covenant be utterly violated by abfolute Apoftacy, or finsti Unbelief.* And fo in continues an Inftrument to convey Grace during our whole Lives ; not only re- miffion of Sins for the time prefent, but upon our perfeverance in the conditions of Faith and Repentance, it continues this Grace cf H Pardon ( 98 ) Pardon to us to the laft Period. So that we are but once baptized for the remiffion of Sinsj though we daily contraft Guilt j be- caufe being once received it remains a perpe- tual Pledge and Teftimony of the everlafting Covenant of God ^ and of the continual wafli- ing away of Sin by the Blood of Chrill. 'Twas therefore a caufelefs fear,occafioned from the Novatian Errour, that made fome of the Ancients defer Baptifm till near their death, as tho' it did not continue to exhibit and con- vey the Grace of Pardon. But from what I have already noted, there is no refting on the bare work done : All are not upon the receiving the external Baptifm regenerate, and made partakers of internal Grace , as if it were neceflarily annexed to the outward Ordinance. Real Sandification doth not al- ways accompany the Miniftration of Baptifm : Nevertheless the Ordinance is not without its effed, in a way of Grace ; it doth confer onus in a Sacramental Way what it doth ex- hibit, and Seal to. And till there be a Bar put by Men's adual Rejedion, thofe that are truly baptized have a right to the Grace and Mercy fealed. And tho' Baptifm be not always an Inltrument of infufing real Grace : Yet hereby we are aduaWy ^ & de pre fenti^madt partakers of relative Grace ^ and have a right to real fandifying Grace, in that way that God gives it ^ and fo are partakers of relative Regeneration : Being as it were, born again into a new State of gracious Re- lations, PriviledgeS) and Hopes : And our Baptifm is the Charader and Sacramental Seal of this new blefled State of Adoption and Salvacion. And this continues, as I have faid, till ( 99 ) till there be a forfeiture on our Part ; and he that will not call this Grace, knows not how to value things Spiritual. But how rich fo ever this Baptifmal Grace may be in its felf and efFeds, for the benefit of Infant-Innocen- cy ; 'tis not that which is the terms of our Salvation in riper Age, when we come un° der the guilt of adual Sins .• Thofe that ar- rive to the Years of Reafon and Choice, to them the Gofpel tenders Salvation upon con- dition of adual Faith and Repentance. What is fealed to us in our Infant-ftate is continu- ed to us, upon other conditions at Age : The Grace that is made over by the free Cove- nant of God, and fealed in Baptifm, confers a right to the bapti:^ed. So that if he dies in this State, he dies in this right : But there are other things required for the continuance of it, at years of Knowledge and Reafon^ which as it is a great Foundation of comfort touching the Salvation of dying Infants, and jiiftifies that Claufe formerly in the rubick for Baptifm -, fo it deftrpys the vain pre- fumptions of others, and takes Men off from refting on the Grace of Baptifm, as if it were fufficient for their Salvation ^ not conlidcr- ing whatever Mercy or Priviledge Baptifm doth confirm, is continued to us upon other conditions, after we come to Age, and fall under the guilt of adual Sins. Again, To be baptized, is to be enrolled a Member of the Church ^ incorporated into the Communion of Saints j ingrafced into Chrift^ Myflical Body. The Apoftle fpeak- ingof Chrill Myftical, under the fimilitude of a natural Body, i Cor. 12. 13. faith, IVe H 2 are ( loo ) are baptiz^ed into Jefus Chrijl^ into that noble bkfTed Society ot which Chrifl is the Head \ and to which belong the Adoption and the Covenant, and the Promifes. It would be too large a digreflion, particularly to infift up- on the Priviledges and Advantages of the Church of Chrift, beyond the reft of the World. Sure 1 am, of all the judgments that God inflicted upon the Jews, none had comparably that fire of Fury, that terrour of Wrath in It, which was executed in the ac- complifhment of the threatning mentioned, Zach, 1 1. 9, ID. upon their heinous Provo- cation, in crucifying the Lord of Life,which filled up the number of their Sins. Upon which they were rejeded, cut off from the Olive-Tree , and their Church-enclofure pluckt down : So that they were no longer his peculiar People, but were left in com- mon with the reft of the World ; without God, without Chrift, and fo without all hope ot Salvation. Whereas they only that are ad- ded to the Church, that are feparated to be God's peculiar Inheritance among all the Tribes of the Earth ^ are in the way to be faved ^ as being the Ible objeds of his fpeci- al Care and Providence ; And therefore it muft needs be a blefled Priviledge to be brought within the Pale ^ to be owned by God under fuch a Relation : Now into this Body, this Society, this holy Corporation, we are baptized. And as the Church, in ks Conftitution is blefled of God, beyond all I he World ; So all its Members have the ad- vantage of other benefits flowing from the Communion of Saints, in order to their fpiri- tual ( 101 ) tual and eternal Good. As the labours and fer vices of God's Minifters and AmbafTadors all are theirs, whether Paul or ApUos^ or Cephas^ they are all Servants ,of Chrift, for the edifying this his Body, and the building of them up, till they come to Perfedion. A- gain, they have the invifible guard of Angels, watching over, and miniilring for the good of fuch as are Heirs of Salvation ; they have all an interell in the Charity, Love, and Pray- ers of the whole Myftical Body • all Joyning in common in their Liturgies for every fingle Member, how e're divided from one another, by Countries and Languages , yea every fin- gle Member of this Body hath the unitied ftrength of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth ; and I donbt not but in a general man- ner, the Prayers of all the glorious Society ; the crowned part of the Church in Heaven j our elder Brethren ^ who have finiflied their warfare, and do now pofTefs the Kingdom of Glory. Should we go no further, we may refled, and thankfully acknowledge, this hap- py Priviledge j to be called to this f^ate of Salvation. Hence we are brought into a ftate of Union with Chrift ^ made Members of his Myftical Body, and partakers of the influences of his favour, in all the means and ' ordinances, helps and advantages, whereby he declares himfelf the Saviour of the Body : By vertue of this Union, all the fpecial lav- ing Graces of his purchafe are freely offered, the doors of Mercy ftand open to us, and the gate of Life and Glory is ready to receive us J provided we abide in him. Hold the head from which all the body, as the Apoftle fsys, H 3 Colof, ( ( 101 ) Colojl i, Yp. by joynts and hands have nouri/h- ment miniftred^ and Co don't feparate from hiua by Apollacy, and fall off by an evil heart of unbelief ^ by an impenitent courfe of Sin and Wickednefs ; fo long I fay as we main- tain this Union, we Ihall not fail to receive influences of Grace, and fpiritul Life, till we come to Glory. Having confidered what the Sacrament of Baptifm is, and the Priviledges and Advan- tages that redound from thence, I come to evince the truth of the general Propofition , Tjfz, That the Ordinance of. Baptifm, is the initiating Sacrament of the New Teftament, ^ and fo fucceeds Circumciiion, which is gene- rally granted to be the initating Sacrament of the Old. In order to this, let it be premifed, that there can be no Reafon given, v/hy welhould not be by Tome rite matriculated Members of the Chriftian as well as heretofore, they were thus folemnly initiated into the Jewifh Church. Now what other way is prefcribed to us of doing this, than by Baptifm j the moll proper rite for this purpofe, as it hath been in a manner all along accounted ? This rite of Initiation, of admitting Perfons into religious Societies, was ufed by the Pollerity of i^- vid took the fraooth Stones out of the Brook of Water, with which he (lew Goliah^ i Sam. 17. 40. So ought we to draw help and di- redions, from the Water of Baptifm, to deaden the force of the raoll Giant-like Sin, and to lay it at our Feet : Yea our Baptifm doth not only dired us herein, holding forth the conditions on our Part, what Duty is in- cumbent upon us, and likewife impower and enable us for the Encounter, as it conveys unto us the Grace of God,and the alliftance of his Spirit \ but moreover it obligeth us there- to in the highefl nature, by the mofl fc- lemn and the flrongefl: Bonds that may be *, in that we Vow to God through Chrift to perform it.The firmeil Obligation imaginable j upon the deepefb penalty, as ever we hope to have an intereft in Chrift, or in the Death of Chrift, ci,d, wedifclaimall hope and in- tereft in Chrift, and his Death, if we be not the Death of every ruling Sin in us. This furely is enough to make us beftir our felves ; and ("5) and fetupon it, and even to compel us to it. When the forty Jews, (Ali. 23. \i.) Bound themf elves with an Oath^ that they would mi- ther eat nor dririk^ till they had killed Paul j how did the confcioufnefs of this Oath urge them to' lie in wait for him I v. 16, and how refolved were they upon his Death with all fuddennefs ! ^nd we^ faith they, e^re he come near ^ are ready to kill him^ v. 1$. We are under fuch an Oath to God by our Vow of Baptifm, to mortifie and kill our prevail- ing Sins i as thefe were to kill Paul j theirs was unjuft, to murther an Innocent *, ours mod juft and necefTary, to Execute the great- eft Tray tor in the World. And therefore let us remember, when our hearts would fain fpare our Sins, and any w^ay indulge them : That this facred Vow is upon us. What was the Reafon Jonathan durft ven- ture to taft of the Hony in the Wood, when the Ifraelites dnrit not touch it, 1 Sam, 14. 27? He conlidered not the Oath by which he and they were obliged not to eac of ir. So why do you thus follow and puiTue fuck and fuch apleafing profitable Sin ? You mind not the Oath, the Sacrament, the Vow, in which you are obliged, not to tafl: fuch for- bidden Fruit *, but on the contrary toremuncie the devil and all his works^ the pomps arid vani- ties of this wicked world^ and all thi' fwful hifts of the fte/h. But to come more near and home in the way of Application ^ Is Baptifm an Ordinance that engages us to Duty, and that as the Condition of the continuance of the Benefits contained in the Promifes and I 2 Cove- ( "'5 ) Covenant to which it is the Seal ? We fee what a Fourdation ot loofe vain hope, a bare Baptifmal Chriftiaaity is : What (light tin- ftured Cbriftians thole are, that have only tlie outward wafhing of Baptifm, but aban- don the pradlice of a Chiidian Life: Who pleafe themfelves in a Sign,withoutthe effecfl -, and boaft ihemfelves in a Figure and Shadow, without the Subfiance and Grace of it. The Baptifm of Water, howfoever it may avail us in the ftate of Infancy, in which ftate God requires no adual Performance of Duty : Yet when we grow up to Years of Knowledge and Reafon, and come under the Law of Duty, it availeth nothing, without the Baptifm of the Spirit in adual Regeneration and Sandification ; I mean without an adual Repentance and Abrenunciation of Sin and Satan, and the pradice of a Holy Life. Our Baptifm will but renlain as a Teftimony sgainft us of our perfidious violation of the Covenant of God, and of the falfenefs and treachery of our evil Hearts, who pretend to be and own our felves the Subjedls and Ser- vants of Jefus Chrifl, and yet bafely revolt from and difobey him: This is to fpeak Chrift fair, and then to betray him. Mens receiv- ing the name of Chrifl's Difciples and Ser- vants in Baptifm, makes the Difobedience of their finful Lives more hateful and abomina- ble. In this refped fome had an erroneous conceit of Old, which made them defer their Baptifm, thinking they had a greater Liber- ty before than after their Baptifm , and therefore were wont to fay in St. Aufi'm^s time. ( "7 ) time, Sine ilium facert^ nondum baptizatus eft \ let him alone, he is not yet baptized ', imply- ng the ftrid Obligation that lies upon Men by Baptifm unto Holinefs of Life ; What is Chriftian Baptifm without a Chriilian Life ? 'Tis not this external Badge or Cognizance, 'tis not a common profeflion that follows it, that will be a Title to Heaven. 'Tis in vain to pretend that we have been baptized into Chrift, or are buried with him in Baptifm, and have made profeflion of his name ; if we be workers of iniquity *, our doom at lalt will be to depart from him* That which is moll material and confiderable in our Baptifm, and which moll contributes to our eternal Interell and Salvation, is not (as at firll I noted from St. Peter) the putting away the filth of the Flelh : But the Anfwer of a good Confcience towards God. What then doth our Confci- ence anfwer, touching the performance of the Conditions on our Part ? We build our hopes and confidences upon the Sands, unlefs we keep the Faith whereinto we are baptiz- ed,and perform the Duty to which our Bap- tifm obligeth. How vainly do Men bear themfelves up, upon the Title of an out- ward Baptifm, as if thereby they were good Chriftians ! though the courfe of their Lives be a fiat Contradiction to the holinefs and purity of the Chriftian Religion, and in efFeift the renouncing of it ! The truth is, there is a fad anfwer ing of this Engagement, in the generality of thofe that are baptized. What backfliding from, and violations of the baptifmal Covenant ! From the obfervation 1 3 of ( "8 ) of whofe Lives, a Heathen might conclude, as Salvian complained of old. Si Chriftus fanCta docuijjet^ if Chrift had taught holinefs, why don't Chriflians praclife it ? Either,as he goes on, your Chrift is no God, who allows fuch evil Lives, or you are no Chriftians who pradife fuch Things. Are they Chri- ftians, are they dedicated to the honour and fervice of God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghoft, who lead fuch impure Lives, who flight the ways of Religion, and fet at nought the Laws and Commands of Chrifl, and are fo devoted to the ways of their own evil hearts ? Would Men but conlider how they have performed their Covenant with God, into which they were entered by Bap- tifm, and what an aggravation of the Sin of their unholy unchriftan Life arifeth hence, this muft needs give a check to their linful Carreer, If Infidels, and they that know not God do Blafpheme his holy Name, and fight againft Heaven by their open Impieties, this is no fuch great Wonder ; but for you that have given up your names unto Chrift, that have dedicated your felves by Covenant to his Honour and Service, to break thofe facred Bonds, and to ftand it out in your Impeni- tency and Rebellion againft God, and to live like Gentiles, his profefled Enemies \ to forfake him and his ways, and to wallow in the impurities of an evil Converfation, is un- accountable. How dreadful will the Day be, when the Lord fhall come to avenge him of his Adverfaries ? You fhall not perifh under fuch ealle Circumftances of Wrath and Ven- geance^ ( 119) geance, as do the Gentiles. The Aggrava- tion of your Sin and Judgment will be the treading under Foot the Blood of the Cove- nant, Thus far in general. But to proceed to fome particulars, and fo to make fome further improvemeut, by way ofufe, of what hath been delivered on this Subjeift. Doth holy Baptifm admit us to a flate of fuch high Priviledges and Advanta- ges, as I have obferved ? Then we may fee how injurious they are who deny Baptifm to Infants; andfoas much as lies in them keep them from Ghrift, I mean in the vifible way, in which we are brought unto Chrift v from that Grace, which is the internal myflery of this facramental Ordinance. In which refped we are faid to be baptized into ChriJ}^ if they have any right to the grace and fpi ritual Be- nefits, which are the Myftery, the Spirit and Life of this Sacrament, why not to the exter- nal Symbolical fignification and Seal of it ? Shall Men hinder them from this vifible ap- plication of the Grace of Baptifm ? If we af- firm they have no right to this Grace, what greater uqcharitablenefs and prefumptuous ftraightning the favour of God and Chrift ? For where has he debarred and excluded them from his Covenant and Promifes, and caft them out of that Body, whereof he is the Head, and the Saviour, Certain it is, this was ©ne of the great Bleffings of the Covenant with Abraham ^ I will be thy God^ and the God of thy Children after thee. - Thus ran the Promifes of old. He pjeweth mercy unto thoufands of generations of them that love him^ I 4 and ( I2C ) and hep his commandments ^ the feed of the righteous is bleffed : Children are the heritage of the Lord, They had the Seal of the Cove- nant, Circumcifion externally applying the Promifes: And arc the favours of Chrift more narrow under the Gofpel, who is yet the Mediator of a better Covenant ? Has Chrift only a love for the Parents, and none for the Children ? and yet hath told us, // the root be holy^ fo are the branches ^ Is not Chrift the Redeemer of Infants ? Did he purchafe no Pardon, no Grace, or remiffion of Sins for them ? How abominably injurious would this be to Chrift, and the fullnefs of his Oblati- on and Merit ! Will Chrift give them no place in his myftical Body, in his Church and Kingdom ? And yet, when he was upon Earth, commanded the little Children to be brought unto him, and took them into his Arms, and bleUed them, declaring that fuch did belong to his Kingdom j of fuch is the X hngdom of Gody Mark i^. 14. If the Infants of Believers under the Gofpel be not capa- ble of the Grace figned and fealed, then there will follow many fad unfcriptural Confequen- ces : Then they belong not to the Church and Body of Chrift, they are in the fame Cafe with the Children of Infidels, left with^ out as common and unclean. This Princi- ple mingles the holy Seed with the Heathens, and renders the favours of the Gofpel more narrow than thofe of the legal Covenant, and the Chriftian Seed in much worfe Cir- cumftances, than the Jewifh. Yea they would not only be without the Church, but with- ( 121 ) without the Covenant ; and fo without Chri/?:, or any fpecial relation to him. So far with- * out as are the Gentiles, Dogs and Strangers : While they are difputed out of the Covenant, all well grounded hopes of their Juftification and Salvation are difputed away, dying in that State. 'Tis vain to recur to the fecret Eledion of God, for the grounds of this Hope. Faith and Hope mud be grounded upon fome Word of God : If God have excluded them from the Covenant of Salvation, how (hail we conclude that they belong to the Election of God ? And if the Cafe were fo, well may the Parents of dying Infants, mourn over them as thofe that have no hope. All thofe then are rafli groundlefs uncharitable Conclufions, highly derogatory to the Love of God, to the infinite riches and freenefs of his Grace. But on the other hand, if God and Chrift have not excluded them from the Grace of Bap- tifm, the Mercy and Grace which is there fig- nified, who fhall forbid Water, the external fealing Application ? If God have not denied the greater, who fhall deny the lefs j if God have not excluded them from the Subflance and Myllery, why fhali they be denied the external Rite and Symbol ? Either then they muft be highly uncharitable, in denying In- fants the Grace of Baptifm, and fo leave them in an evil Cafe -, or elfe be very un- juft, in denying them the Seal, where God grants them the fubftance. Thirdly^ Let this ferve to humble thofe that walk unworthy of this Priviledge ot be- ing baptized, and thereby admitted into the fcllovv- ( 122 ) fellowfhip of Chrifl^ Religion, initiated Members of his Church. Can it feem a light thing in our Eyes, that when God has pafTed by the greateft part of the World, as ftrangers from his Family and Kingdom, and hath left them under the Kingdom of Satan, and taken us, no better by Nature than they are, to be his peculiar ones, into Cove- nant with himfelf, and to train us up under fii ch heavenly Ordinances : We fhould not- withHaiiding walk as Rebels and Enemies unto hnn, like the unbaptized World? Do we knc v^' into what a Covenant he hath taken us, what he hath done for, and expeds from us ? What means then our Converfation, fo repugnant to our Profeffion? Is it becaufe we renounce the Covenant, as being made when we underftood it not? If there be any fuch Apoftates, let them take their Courfe, ferve the God they have chofen. But fay what iniquity, what ill is there in this Covenant of your Baptifm, what difadvantage have you met withal? Or how,or where do you hope to find better things, than what are here exhi- bited and enfured ? Than, for inftance, for God to be your Father, Chrill your Saviour, the Spirit your Comforter ; than to have your Sins pardoned and remitted j than to be a- dopted, juflified, fandified, and every way comfortably provided for here, and in the | end eternally faved. Do the Gods you | have chofen to ferve provide better things ^ than thefe, that you renounce Chrifl for their fake? If you fay God- forbid you (hould fo » do, you hope to be faved by him, as well as ] any - ( 1^3 ) any other ; then tell me ferioufly, do you car- ped that Chrift fliould (land bound to per- form his Part of the Covenant, and you left at liberty, whether you difcharge your part or no ? That he fhould love you, and you hate him ? That he Ihould be your God, and you remain the Devil's Servants ? That he fhould provide Heaven for you, and you walk in the way that leads to Hell ? Be not de- ceived, he hath , fworn the contrary, and hath heaped up Tribulation and Wrath for every Soul that doth Evil. For that Perfon more efpecially, who, though baptized, hath profa- ned and made the Blood of the Covenant as an unholy Thing. Fourthly^ Let the confideration of this great Priviledge excite us to a Holy Life, to live as Men who are dead to Sin, and alive unto God . To make account, that it ought to be as itrange, to fee a baptized Perfon walk in a finful Courfe, as to fee a Spedrum a walk- ing Ghoft at Noon-day : We are buried with Chrift in Baptifm ; j^nd how can we^ who are dead to Sin^ live any longer therein'^ faith the Apoftle. So that we are or fhould be at leaft as it were dead and buried to Sin ; and that this may be the rather effeded, and brought to pafs, we muft be mortified as to the World. To this ufe the Apoftle feems to apply the Argument of the Text in the following Chap- ter, to call off Mens affedions from earthly Things, towards the Things that are above. There is aded a kind of Similitude upon the baptized to the Burial and Refurredion of Chrift. And we profefs in a fpiritual Scnfe to ( »24 ) to be dead to the World, and to be rifen a- gain to a more Noble and Divine Life, fo as to be above the World : And 'tis the Engage- ment of Baptifm to be as it were dead and buried, with refped to the Things here be- low. Thus fome interpret that of the i Cor, 15.39. where the Apoftle arguing againft the Atheifts and Sadducees who denied the Refurredion, and the hopes of Glory in ano- ther Life, fays, What/haU they do that are bap- tized^ vTTc^ Tuv viK^Zy, for dead Men, or as dead Men, into a mortification of this World, fo as to run all LofTes, Dangers and Hazards for the Profeflion of Chrifl •-, fuch would then be of all Men moft miferable, if things were fo as the Sadducees and Atheifts fuggeft. But certainly, there is a glorious ftate of eternal Life hereafter, and therefore let us not be befooled with the Snares of earthly Vanities, to negled things Eternal : Our Baptifm en- gages us to live above the World, to be dead to it, to have mortified Affedions to the things thereof. The World indeed affords lawful comforts for the living, and convenient reft- ing Places for the dead ; but their Souls are above : So fhould Chriftians be in the World j ufe it, as it doth adminifter to their neceffi- ties, and conveniences, but the Soul, the affe- dions fhould be above. We are not dead Naturally, and fo there is need^ and there muft be a ufing of the World -, but we muft be dead fpirituaily to every thing in it, that is matter of allurement and temptation, to draw us afide from God ^ and muft be ftrangers to fuch immoderate cares and de- iires, ( »25) fires, as drown multitudes of Men in Per- dition. Laftly^ Let this ferve to comfort thofe whom God Honours fo far as to bring them thus near unto himfelf *, as to adopt them in- to his Family, and to take them for his own. Let this encourage them to believe in him, and to rely upon him for all the good things, that he hath promifed in the Covenant of Grace. They of the Church of Ronie^ as ia fome things they give and afcribe too much to Baptifm, making it to take away original Sin, by the mere applying of the Ordinance j fo in other things, they rob God's People of the comfortable ufe of it, becaufe they fay, when once we commit adual Sins after the fufception of Baptifm, we make Ship- wrack of our Baptifm,and then Penance muft hzfecunda tabula pft naufragium-^ the only Pinnace or Plank which we can fafely catch hold of in this extremity. But this biefled Sacrament is of a more durable and comfortable ufe, even to be an Ark, f whereto 'cis ^ITimuiated, 1 Pet. 3. i\,) to carry us to Heaven. 'Tis not a bufinefs pafl and finifhed in the very Ad of its Adminiftration. There are in it Promifes of fuch Grace as we may fliil have need of, and by its engaging us to Mor- tification and Holinefs, (^the mod comprehen- five Duties of Ghriftianity,) v/e may experi- ence it to be an Inftrument of Grace through- out the whole tranra(fVion of our Lives: That is, when 'tis from time to time improved,and a(^uated by a fober Confideration, and a fe- rious Recognizing of the Bapcifmal Covenant, and ( ii6 ) and reflediing on the Terms and Conditions upon which we ftand with God, with refped to Juflification and Glory : And when the fame is prefb home by the convidtion of the Spirit. Thefe things being premifed, we may readily Conclude, what an effectual In- ftrument and Means it may prove of conver- ting the Souls of Men, and regenerating them long after the time of its reception. So that Holy Baptifm continues flill to be altogether as effedual to apply the Blood of Chriil, for walhingawayofSin, upon true Repentance, as when we firll received it. Know then, that when ever we find our felves at a lofs, fenfible of our undone Condition, confcious of our Guilt and Bondage through Sin, and fo do fly by Faith unto Chrift, and our Confci- ence bears us Witnefs, that we would fain Walk for the time to come, according to the rule of the Covenant, in Uprightnefs and Sincerity j as often, I fay, as we do this, we may have recourfe to our Baptifm, and plead it for our Comfort j as we may plead the Rain-bow in great Inundations againft the World's deflrudion by Water.Thus upon the renewing of our Repentance, and Faith in Chrifl:, Holy Baptifm will be as an Ark to the Soul in all Cafes of Relapfe, Defertion, and Temptation. For the like figure wheremto doth bapttfm aJfo now fave us^ ^ith the Apo- ftle. Which that it may fo prove to every one of us, and particularly to the Perfon that hath even now received ir, God oj his infinite mercy Grant^ for Jefus Chrifi his fake. To whom^ &c. FINIS. ERRATA, PAge 5. line 19. redi putting, p. 12. /. 12. r. token p, 17./. 18. r. Gentiles, p. 18. /. 16. r. the Cafe. p. jg.in marg, r Rodolpho.p. 28. nxrg. /^ ^o. r. Canon, p. 3i.wi<2rg. /. i^.r. eadem.p. 35. /. 3^. r. Independent. p. 34. /. 32. hht out has. p. 76. /. 20, i>/ot 6u( as. p. 83. /. 1 2. r. not to be. -/^ Catalogue of Books Frintedfor^ and fold hy John Taylor, at the Ship in St, Paul'i Church-yard. pOOL*s Annotations on the Holy Bible, in 2 VoJJ •*• The 4th Edition : Much correcfled. Folio. Philips s New World of Words ; or an Univer- sal Englijh Dic5tionary, containing the Proper Signi- fications, and Derivations of all Words from other Languages, ^c. The Fifth Edition, with large Ad- ditions and Improvements from the beft Englifo and Foreign Authors. Folio. Archbilhop V/hc/s Life, and Letters, Publiflied by Dr. Parr, his Grace's Chaplain. Folio. Archbilhop Vfloers Sermons. Folio. The Hiftory o^ England, By Dr. Frankland. Folio. loves whole Art of Surveying, and Meafuring of Land, made eafie : With plain and pradiical Rules, how to furvey, protradt, caft up, i educe or divide any Piece of Land whatfoever. ^to. Strode s New and Eafie Method to the Art of Dy- alling. ^to. His Arithmetical Treatife of the Permuta- tions, Combinations, Eledlions, and Compciirions of Quantities, ^to. Miracles performed by Money. A Poem. 4^^. Goodvpin% J Catalogue of Books, Godvpins ^pman and Jevpijh Antiquities, ^to. Bilhop Hopkins on the Lord's Prayer and Com- mandments, ^to. Happy Union betwixt England and "Holland, ^to. Lord Shannons Letter to an Atheiftical Acquaint- ance. 4^0. Reafons why a Proteftant fhould not turn Pa- pift. 4?o. I{ich*s Epiftle to the feven Churches, /^to, B^llgio Ml lit is, ^to. Archbifhop Cranmers Judgment on the Holy Scriptures, Publilht by Dr. Gee. Afto. Baxters Church Hiftory and Epifcopacy. 4^^. Mr. Boyle's free Enquiry into the Vulgarly re- ceived Notion of Nature. In Englifo and Latine, 2vo, ' His Difquifition of the Final Caufes of Natural Things, ^vo, Of Languid and Local Motion, ^vo. Ahbadie of the Truth of the Chriftian Reli- gion. Sx'd. Quintilians Declamations, ^vo. Dr. A'(?Ti?/-o«'sCompleat Arithmetician. %vo, Counlelior Manners Legacy to his Son %vo. B^ys Nomenclator ClaJJiciis^ five DiElionariolum Trilingue. A Claflical Nomenc/ator, with the Gen- der and Declenfion of each Word, and the Quan- tities of the Syllables, C^c. For the ufe of Schools. i^VO. B^hertfons Large and General Phrafe-Eook. %vo. Dr. Oxvens Meditations of the Glory ofChrift. 2ir(5-/t//s whole Arcof Practical Diftiilation. %vo. Bifhop Hopkins Sermons and Difcourfes, in Four Volumes. %vo. Dr. Salmons Pradfcical Phyfick, (hewing the Me- thod of curing the moft ufual Difeafes happening to Humane Bodies j the whole compleatcd in Three Books. %vo. Lord Shannons Difcourfes for the Modifli Ladies and their Gallants. %vo. Mrs Eli:{. ff^all^ers Life and Charader ^z>o.- ^^^'i^.