abominate also the Christian education of their children so as in this respect the unbeleevinge husband or wife and the children also though themselves for the present unbeleevers by reason of the willingnes of the one to cohabite and the subjection of the other to Christian education may in that sence be said to be sanctified or made holy being as it were deputed to it and in the way of preparation for it so as the unbeleeving parent the childrē of that mixt birth may be called as Tertullian sayes Candidati timoris and as afterward by others Candidati fidei Probationers or compettitors for feare and faith the words following vers 16. seemes to favour such an interpretation For vvhat knovvest thou O vvife vvhether thou shalt save thy husband or hovv knovvest thou O man vvhether thou shalt save thy vvife there being already wrought a good pleasure or willingnes to abide and cohabite on the unbeleevers part husband or wife and the children in that respect being subjected to Christian education and to the beholding of holy examples true cōversion and faith which brings them into estate of salvation may be in time accomplisht in them to which they seeme in some sort destin'd by the providence of God in such a yoake-fellow or such parents So sanctification is predicated of those who are destined or prepared to such an end so God sayes of the Medes and Persians Esay 13.3 I have commanded my sanctified ones that is such as I have prepared for so Calvin upon that place sayes that sometimes sanctification is referred to regeneration which is peculiar to the elect of God sometimes it signifies to prepare or destine to a certain end so those unbeleeving parents by their willingnes to abide with beleevers their children in regard of the opportunity of a holy education seeme to be as it were destined or prepared for regeneration and for that state which accompanies salvation and in that respect as in a large sence may be called sanctified or holy Which consideration if it may give them a greater accesse to ordinances proper for them or stirre up others to lay out themselves in a more peculiar and particular manner for their conversion I shall not hinder it but on the contrary thinke that such providences speake much and that as they give grounds of hope and so of endeavour so there may be much of duty towards them in regard of the opportunity that families and churches that parents masters ministers have to doe good to such who though strictly they may not be called church members no more then strictly sanctified that is regenerated by the holy Spirit yet so farre as in the respects before mentioned they may be tearmed sanctified that is by a providence destin'd as it were and prepared for God so farre the church within whose pole they seeme by a providence to live and to be cast ought to have a more especiall eye after them and care of them by vertue at least of that generall injunction As you have opportunity doe good to all men especially to the houshold of faith under the shadow of which these are come But whether you take either of these sences or both for they may both stand in severall respects and regarding the text with a different aspect you will surely find nothing to ingraft Baptisme upon For whether the children are sanctified to the beleeving parents use as all other things are not unholy in themselves which to the unbeleever are not or whether in the second sence they are sanctified that is as it were destined for holynes of which by vertue of a great providence in respect of their education they are made Candidati that is probationers or competitors as when men stand for a place or office and as the Catechumini of old were called yet can they by no meanes in either of these respects be qualified for or made the subject of Baptisme which presupposeth as hath formerly bene shewed another kind of holynes proper to and inherent in the party namely regeneration and nevvnes of life not such an one as is competible to an unbeleever either parents or children It was but necessary to speake something to this place which beares amongst many the weight of so great a building as infant Baptisme though if I could find here such a holynes for infants as wee all wish to ours namely justifying faith regeneration yet I should no more judge it meete to baptize them then to preach to them or to administer the Lords supper to them they being as capable of the word as baptisme and of one mysterious ceremony as well as another which hath bene a reason I doubt not why many formerly and many at this day doe administer the Lords supper to infants by vertue of a parallell ordinance to Baptisme Nor doe I know the reason why the one should be refused where the other is deem'd a due But enough I hope for this which truely the contests of others rather then any scruple which hath fallen upon my spirit from these words hath made me say so much of CHAP. XV. In which the authority of the Fathers and the practise of antiquity touching the subject of Baptisme is considered THe authority of the Fathers and the practise of ancient times is to many a great argument for the Baptizing of infants to me that looke upon such argumentations as not of the first magnitude collaterall and such as may truely and as often be brought for the patronising of errors as truth they are of no great consideration yet to satisfy others more then my self there must be something spoken to this head In which I shall consider especially these two things first whether by the witnesse of story Infant Baptisme have injoyed a quiet and peaceable possession in the church from the Apostles times downeward till of late it was interrupted by some few evill spirits in the times of Luther as some men would give us to beleeve Secondly upon what grounds those Fathers which are alleadged for the chief patrons of Infants Baptisme went for if they have erred in the reason of the foundation it will be easilyer beleeved that they did also in the building We will consider first of this latter I will give you their grounds either as I have reade them my self or as I find them quoted by Bellarmine Tom. 3. lib. cap. 8. whose quotatiōs I shall take for truth till I find the contrary for here hee hath to doe with the Anabaptists enemies in this point alike common to him with most of those that are tearmed Protestants First hee quotes the testimony Dionisij Areop qui lib. Eccles Hier. c. ult part ult ab Apostolis traditum affirmat ut infantes baptizentur Iusti five quicunque est auctor earum quaest qu. 56. parvulos baptizatos salvari alios non item That infants baptized are saved others not Orig. lib. 5. in cap. 6. ad Rom. Ecclesia inquit ab Apostolis traditionem
accepit etiam parvulis dare Baptismum The Church sayes hee received a tradition from the Apostles to give Baptisme to infants Cypr. lib. 3. Ep. 8. ad Fidum scribit Non solum sibi sed etiam integro consilio visum esse parvulos baptizariposse That it seemed good not onely to himself but to a vvhole councell that infants might be baptized even before the 8. day In other places the same author affirmes Baptisme simply necessary to salvation that it vvashes avvay originall sinne so as it is never more to be imputed page 470. a. Hierom. lib. contr Pelag. Infantes baptizari dicit tum ommpeccato carere That infants are to be baptized and then they are vvithout all sinne Aust lib. 10. de Gen. cap. 23. Consuetudo inquit matris Ecclesiae Baptizandis parvulis nequaquam sparnenda est nec illo modo superflua deputanda nec omnino credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio The custome of our mother the church in Baptizing little children is not to be despised nor to be judged superfluous nor to be beleeved at all unles it vvere an Apostolicall tradition The same Austin As for the authority of infant Baptisme he flyes to tradition so for the reason of it hee bottomes it upon this that they neither have faith to save them nor a Sacrament instead of faith vvithout Baptisme and therefore judges them to eternall death unles they be taken out of the vvorld by martyrdome as the learned Forbes hath observed in his 10. booke Instruct Histor in Theol. cap. 5. lib. 7. onely Austin sayes they shall be in damnatione omnium mitissima multum autem fallere falli qui eos in damnatione praedicat non futuros They shall be in the easiest damnation of all others but hee much deceaves himself and others that teaches they shall not be condemned lib. 1. de peccat meritis remissione cap. 16. lib. 5. contra Iulian cap. 8. but as gentle or as easy as damnation is it is such as the vvrath of God remaines upon them lib. 3. de peccatorum meritis remissione cap. 20. They goe into the second death lib. de bono perseverantiae cap. 12. And they are children of vvrath lib. 6. contra Iulian cap. 3. Bernard also was of this same minde Epist 77. Sanè inquit omnes infantes qui hanc prohibente aetate non possunt habere fidem hoc est cordis ad Deum conversionem consequentè nec salutem si absque baptismis perceptione moriuntur Certainly saith hee all infants vvho their age hindring them cannot have this faith that is the conversion of their hearts to God neither consequently can they have salvation if they dye vvithout the partaking of Baptisme More of this and of the same kind might be alleadged but these shall suffice Before wee goe any farther we must consider here what is meant by traditions which in the former quotatiōs you heare so often mentioned The name of Tradition in it self is generall and signifies all doctrines either written or not written as 2. Thess 2.15 Hold the traditions vvhich you have bene taught vvhether by vvord or our epistle But the name Tradition is accommodated by Divines to signify onely a doctrine not written so Irenaeus is quoted lib. 3. cap. 2. Evenit inquit neque Scripturis neque traditioni consentire eos They vvould neither consent to Scripture nor tradition So Tertull. lib. de corona militis Si legem postules Scripturam nullam invenies traditio tibi praetenditur auctrix If you looke for a lavv yee shall find no Scripture but tradition is pretended as that vvhich authoriseth Novv that is called a doctrine not vvritten saith Bellarmine not vvhich is no vvhere vvritten but vvhich is not vvritten by the first author and hee gives the instance of infant Baptisme It is called an Apostolicall tradition not vvritten because it is not found vvritten in any Apostolicall booke although it be vvritten as hee affirmes in the bookes of allmost all the ancient Fathers Tom. 1. lib. 4. cap. 2. b. And by the way why Bellarmine could not find Baptisme written in the Apostles writings if there it were as well as other men I know not for hee wants no accutenes in his sight but when he is corrupted by his ends and it suites with his end abundantly to proove infant Baptisme as strongly as hee can because none judge it so necessary to the world as he and those of his religion doe You see therefore by traditions here meant thinges not found written in the Scripture yet for their antiquity supposed to be Apostolicall which if they were allowed received what a miserable confusion should wee be brought into in matters of religion and how under the notion of ancient traditions should we vvorship God in vayne teaching for doctrines the commandements of men Matt. 15.9 Matth. 16.6 Christ bids us take heed of the leaven of the Pharises which was their unwritten traditions and vve are commanded to obey God not men Acts 5.29 And if any man bring us any other doctrine he is to be accursed Gal. 1.9 This hath bene the opinion of holy men in all ages Luther on the first of the Galat. There ought no other doctrine to be delivered or heard in the church besides the pure vvord of God that is the holy Scriptures let other teachers and hearers vvith their doctrine be accursed So Calv. lib. 4. Inst cap. 8. s 8. Let this be a firme axiom nothing is to be accounted for the vvord of God to vvhich place should be given in the church but that vvhich is first contained in the Lavv and the Prophets and after in Apostolicall vvritings But because we are in a way of quotatiō it will not be amisse to give you the judgement of some more ancient concerning this matter and wee will give them as they are given by Chemnit in his exam of the counscell of Trent and quoted also by Bellarmine in order to his confutation of them I shall give but a few One is of Origen in cap. 3. ad Rom. c. Necesse nobis est inquit Scripturas sanctas in testimonium vocare sensus quippe nostri enarrationes sine his testibus non habent fidem It is necessary for us to call the holy Scriptures to vvitnes because our senses and narrations vvithout those vvitnesses have no credit So Constantin the Emperour who in the Counscell of Nice as Theodoret witnesses lib. 1. cap. 17. saith thus Euangelici Apostolici libri antiquorum Prophetarum oracula plane instruunt nos quid de rebus divinis sentiendum sit Proinde hostili posita discordia in verbis divinitus inspiratis sumamus quaestionum explicationes The Euangelicall and Apostolicall bookes and the oracles of the ancient Prophets playnely instruct us vvhat vvee should thinke of divine thinges Therefore all hostile discord layde aside let us take the explication of questions from vvords divinely inspired Then Athanasius lib. contragent
by the laver of Baptisme and incorporated into Christ in that age they cannot loose that state of sonneship already obtayned so that grace being necessarily conferr'd to them according to their opiniō by baptisme which they cannot loose if they would in that age they thinke they need not the other till they come to be capable of sinning and falling away Besides the high transcendent notion they have put upon the Lords Supper by making it to be the very body and blood of Christ may justly apologize for them that they make it not childrens play And even that differencing of those two Sacraments by way of preferrence stickes close still to our fingers of which there are undoubted characters in the greatest part of reformed Churches All this hath bene to shew that if you will take primitive practise and antiquity for your guide that will lead you as well into the administring of the Supper to infants as Baptisme and if it fayle by your owne judgement in the one you may very well suspect it in the other for my part I see not why the Sacramēt of the Supper should be of a greater mystery then the other or the ceremony more significant or that the duty of examining should need more the use of reason then beleeving repenting and confessing our sinnes And since it is as naturall proper to infancy to be nourisht as to be borne I see not but why they should be as capable of the ceremony of their nourishmēt as of their birth and so of one Sacrament as well as the other You see how needfull it is to examine the reasons as well as the opinions of men an immoderate veneration of antiquity hath well nigh undone the world the Fathers with some farre fetcht Scripture allusion or glosse hath bene inabled to establish ordinances of institution and inforce practise apparently very divers from reason and Apostolicall president and which since by consequences have stuffed bookes with so many ridiculous disputes in this point as forsooth whether the childe being wholly in the wombe and no part appearing it may be baptized or whether if any part appeare without it may be baptized especially if it be the head or the hand or the foote whether if it be borne with the after birth or whether if it be a monster it may be baptized with severall of the like nature which have miserably tormented the Schoolemen and are the births of such a premisses it being the nature of errour to be fertile and if you graunt one fundamentall absurdity a thousand will follow And so much for the first head I propounded in this argument of authority namely upon what grounds the fathers that are alleaged for the chief patrōs of infant Baptisme went The second wherein I shall be breefe for wee build not much upon this bottome was whether infant Baptisme have enjoyed a quiet and peaceable possession in the Church from the Apostles time downeward till of late it was interrupted as is affirmed by certain unquiet spirits in the dayes of Luther Though no prescription will lye good against God yet I am of opinion that if the possession of infant Baptisme hath bene very antient which I doubt of yet the injoyment hath not bene anciently so peaceable as some would make us beleeve Let them who list or can confute Ludovicus Vives who affirmes in cap. 27. lib. 1. de civitate Dei Neminem olim consuevisse baptizari nisi adulta aetate qui per se peteret baptismum intelligeret quid sit baptizari None of old by which it seemes hee meant very old vvere vvont to be baptized but in a full or grovvne age and vvho desired Baptisme for themselves and understood vvhat it vvas to be baptized I find also Rupertus Tuitiensis in his 4. booke of divine offices cap. 14. quoted to have sayd In former times the custome of the primitive Churches vvas that they administred not the Sacrament of regeneration but onely at the feast of Easter Pentecost and all the children of the church vvhich throughout the vvhole yeare through the vvord vvere mooved vvhen Easter came gave up their names and vvere the follovving dayes till Pentecost instructed in the rules of faith rehearsed the same and by their Baptisme and dying thus vvith Christ rose againe vvith him So the famous Erasmus as I find him quoted in his annotations upon the 5. of the Romanes affirmes that baptizing of children vvas not in use in Pauls time And our Doctor Feild in his learned Treatise of the Church p. 729. affirmes that many very anciently vvho vvere borne of Christian parents besides those vvho vvere converted from Paganisme put of their Baptisme a long time insomuch as some vvere elected Bishops before they vvere baptized as vve read saith he of Ambrose to proove which hee quotes Ruffinus lib. 2. cap. 11. But to come more particularly to a few antient and authentique proofes with which I shall content my self Hee that shall read Iustin Martyr who lived about Anno 150. and is beleeved to have bene converted to Christ within 30. yeares after the Apostle Iohn when it is credible also very many were living who had bene frequent auditors of the Apostles hee I say who should consider in secunda pro Christianis Apologia the description he makes of the manner of Christian Baptisme would surely not pick out of it the Baptizing of Infants as the most usuall and ordinary practise of those times its worth the relating at large being of so great Antiquity I vvill novv tell you sayes he hovv vve dedicate our selves to God being renevved by Christ least if vve should have past by this vve should seeme to deale malignantly and dissemblingly in this discourse vvho ever have bene persvvaded have beleeved that those things are true vvhich are delivered and spoken by us and have ingaged themselves to live accordingly they are taught to pray vvith fasting and to beg of God the remission of all their past sinnes vvee also praying and fasting vvith them then they are brought to us vvhere there is vvater and in the same manner of regeneration vvith vvhich vvee are regenerated they are regenerated for in the name of our Lord God the parent of all things and of our Saviour Iesus Christ and of the holy Spirit they are then vvasht vvith vvater Nor is it any prejudice to this testimony by which as by way of Apologie the regular and ordinary way of Baptisme is declared that I find him quoted by some as owning infants Baptisme for as much as they say in a treatise which goes under his name which whether it be his or no is doubted by all men and particularly by Bellarmine himself who yet is willing enough to make use of it and therefore not of that authority as the quotation I bring hee gives a knite of infant Baptisme by considering in a word or two the conditiō of those children who dye baptized and of them who dye
reasons he gives to that purpose so as if you will sprinkle ye must fall upon a new question which may for ought I know be much disputed and that is what part is to be sprinkled or if you will sprinkle the whole man which cannot be done exactly to be sure not easily it were better to follow the ceremony of immersion but by what reason aspersion or sprinkling came into use in the world instead of immersion or dipping ye shall find fastned upon two considerations of charity to sicke and weake persons and charity to tender children although as the same Author affirmes mersion was more usuall even for children to the dayes of Gregory who was Bishop of Rome Anno 590 and Isiodor For Gregory giving an account of the threefold dipping hath these words Vt dum tertiò infans ab aquis educitur resurrectio triduani temporis exprimatur vvhilst the child is dravvne out of the vvater three times the resurrection after three dayes buriall may be signified Epist Greg. lib. 1. Epist 41. An account of this charity for sicke persons ye have exprest in an epistle of Cyprian to Magnus lib. 1. Epist 6. In the times of Cyprian there was a question mooved concerning Baptisme by aspersion or perfusion that is powering water to wit hovv they vvere baptized vvho in respect of infirmity or sicknes could not be dipt vvhether such sprinkling vvere to be accounted for true baptisme by which demaund you may perceave that in Cyprians time immersion or dipping was so much the usuall and received forme for Baptisme as it was made a great question whether they were rightly baptized who desired Baptisme and yet by reason of infirmity could not receive it but by sprinkling or aspersion Cyprian answers modestly and sayes Hee vvould not have his opinion be a prejudice to any other mans either opinion or practise but his charity extends rather to thinke that in such cases Baptisme may be received by sprinkling it were to long to quote his expressions wherein he is large But to conclude all you see by a current of authority from Scripture especially and after by Authors antient and moderne that dipping or immersion hath bene the old way of Baptizing even for children in the dayes of Gregory a reason of the alteration I have in part shewed you from the quotation out of Cyprian A more particular account Iacobus Pamelius shall give you as you may read in his annotations upon the 76 Epist of Cyprian his words are these pa. 215. Quum propter aegritudinem immergi sive intingi quod propriè Baptizari est aegri non possent aqua salutari perfundebantur sive aspergebantur eademratione ab Ecclesia occidentali primum observari caepisse consuetudinem adspertionis qua nunc utimur existimo ob teneritudinem nempè infantium quum jam rarissimus esset adultorum baptismus VVhen in respect of vveakenesse those vvho vvere sicke could not be dipt or plundged vvhich is properly to be baptized they had vvater povvred upon them or vvere sprinkled vvith it from the same reason I suppose the custome of sprinkling vvhich vve novv use to have bene first observed by the vvesterne church to vvit for the tendernesse of infants vvhen as novv the baptisme of those of age vvas very rare then he goes one Olim certè tum in occidentali tum in orientali Ecclesia immergi solere veteres suis scriptis manifestum faciunt Romae id adhuc usitatum aetate Gregorij manifestum sit ex ipsius Sacramentorum libro idque apud Anglos etiamnum observari ad marginem adnotavit Erasmus Certainly that of old time in the easterne and vvesterne church they vvere used to dipp the antient make manifest by their vvritings and that it vvas used at Rome in the time of Gregory is manifest from his booke of the Sacraments and that it vvas yet used amongst the English Erasmus hath noted in the margent So Pamel I have bene large in this subject but I hope it will be of use to us both for the assuring of our practise in this particular the answering of such whose peremptory persuasion the other way for some there are so persuaded give themselves and their friends trouble I shall take a knit from this to observe with which I shall conclude what a tyrant custome is that dares stand up contradict a thing so evident in it self so agreable to the reason of the ordinance to the cleare phrase and expression of Scripture to the practise of antient times in so much that in Cyprians time it was a question mooved in the Church whether those that in respect of infirmity could not receive baptisme the antient and usuall way and yet earnestly desired it might be rightly baptized by sprinkling vvhether such as Cyprians vvords are to Magnus might be accounted lavvfull Christians that is whether their Baptisme so administred were right or a nullity I say you see here the tyranny boldnesse of custome that having shaped as it is apt to doe our mindes to one way dares now pretend for that alone with the exclusion of others and would persuade us that nothing should be but what wee have seene to be and counts every thing error that hath not fallen under our sence or experience In things civill and indifferent I can be content that custome shall be my guide shall take that for good coyne that the world stampes but in matter of ordinances and things sacred the rule of which lies in institution and not in our liberty or choise and the blessing of which lyes in conforming to the rule and institution I beseech you let us be wairy to judge with righteous judgement and not by that appearance which the customes of this world upon their worldly and carnall though seeming wise considerations hold forth to us CHAP. VI. Wherein is shewed the agreements and differences that the word preached hath with the Sacraments together wïth certain Corollaries giving light to the present controversy HAving out of the Scripture considered the use ends of Baptisme to which the ceremony appeares to be extreamely proper and opposite wee will now to bring further light to this ordinance and in order to a discours of the proper subject of Baptisme and of the controversy thereabout consider the agreements that are common to it with the administration of the word and that wherein these two ordinances seeme to differ They agree first in the efficient cause Baptisme and the other Sacrament have the same author and institutor that the word hath scil the King Priest and Prophet of his church and as the same efficient so the same administring causes those that were to teach had order to baptize Mat. 28.19 Goe therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. And 1. Cor. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and stevvards of the mysteries of God Secondly they are both instruments in
brought in if not all yet as great considerable errors into Popery as any That a church is a foundation ordinance of the new covenant we all grant but sayes the Pope as that of the old Testament was rationall and but one in all the world the truthes of God being then confined to a narrower compasse so now since the Gospel is preacht to every creature under heaven by just consequence the Church of God should be universall and Catholike and as then though there were many subordinate Priests and Levites yet there was one high Priest who sate in power and place above all the rest so by just consequence there should be now a Summus Pontifex a high Priest a Bishop of bishops who should be the last object of appeales upon earth and the great moderator under Christ who both then was and still is the invisible head of the church And if you shall object now that the New Testament gives no such extension to the Church nor power to an universall Bishop that those things were typicall and proper to that Testament or covenant which is the same that is said by those who oppose the Baptisme of Infants they will not fayle as well as the patrons of Infant Baptisme to tell you that besides some little footesteps they finde in the new Testament this is par ratio a like reason a due consequence and good reason may be shewed that it is for the honour and safety of the Church that things should be so administred Hence comes the ornaments and vestures of Priests the holynes of Temples and for ought I know the baptizing of bells from the circumcision of trees or what ever else a bold and presumptuous heart may under the title of just consequence intrude into the worship of God I confesse there are some things of common equity the rule of life was the same then that now and the same Christ that now is was the salvation of the elect such things therefore as are of such a common nature may be illustrated and inferred from one Testament to another especially amongst those that doubt of the new Testament and the light of it as the Iewes did with whom our Saviour and the Apostles had to do But in instituted ordinances the reason of which lyes in nothing else but a particular will of the institutor it is bold and unsafe to institute above what is written in the new covenant at least in any essentiall thing concerning either the parts of the ordinance the manner of administration and the subject of them and it is further to imply an infaithfullnes and an unclearenes in the new Testament in things essentiall and necessary to the worship of it The summe is that it is unsafe arguing from one institution to another because the inferrences and consequences cannot be drawne from our reason as not falling under the judicature of common light or spirituall reason in the generall but of a particular distinct independant will in Christ from whence not from the reason of the thing they draw all their vertue and efficacy the reason that makes it good to us being onely the impression of his will upon it but especially this will take place in ordinances of differing covenaÌ„ts for the ordinances of oath covenant are fitted to the meridian of that covenant The rationallity of that church the typicallnes of that which was called holynes and uncleanes amongst them the generality of the subjects which were not onely men women children but beasts birds and trees their very garments their very land to what alone is called holynes and sin now with the subject of it shewes a great boldnes presumption to force institutions in the subject or any of the parts of them by a par ratio or consequence from this old worst first vanishing covenant as the Apostle styles it Hebr. 8. to this new better second covenant as hee styles that under which wee live in the same place Now that circumcision though of use before the law as Baptisme was also before Christ was the great ordinaÌ„ce of the Mosaicall law as I could bring many places if any doubt of it so I will content my self with one or two Acts 21.21 They are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Ievves vvhich are among the Gentils to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to vvalke after the customes where the prime instance of forsaking Moses was not to be circumcised that place more shall suffice Gal. 5.3 For I testify againe to every man that is circumcised that hee is a debtour to doe the vvhole lavv The yooke of circumcision they could beare not the debt to which it obliged them therefore that was the leading ordinance of another covenaÌ„t namely the law Now to make this mayne ordinance of the law institutive to us as touching a great essentiall in our Christian Baptisme namely the subject of it is to make not onely one ordinance institutive to another of which no good accouÌ„t can be given but infinite and visible inconveniencyes follow as wee have seene but to send us to schoole to the old covenant in that which was the leading maine distinguishing ordinance of it which no good Christian I hope will consideringly admit of especially since we are so assured of the sufficiency and saithfullnes of our Law-giver Christ Iesus by whom we have grace and truth and vvho is the vvay the truth and the life to us as well in the matter of his ordinances as in any other thing that concernes our duty as that we need not turne aside to other guides and teachers CHAP. XI Wherein is discussed the third particular in answer to the argument drawne fâ—om circumcision sâ—â— Hâ—w we are ingrafted into Abrahams covenant and by what title wee are call'd Abrahams children A Third consideration is how wee are ingrafted into Abrahams covenant and by what title we are called Abrahams children In the 4. Rom. 16. you have this affirmed that Abraham is the father of us all That place seemes to be understood of all beleevers and therefore when hee saith in the same verse the promise is of faith to the end that it might be sure to all the seede hee makes a distribution Not to that onely vvhich is of lavv but to that also vvhich is of the faith of Abraham as if hee should say this whole seede to whom the promise is sure is either the beleeving Iewes or the beleeving Gentiles which have no other pretence or clayme to the promise but by a like faith even as the Iewes also pretend to this fatherhood no other way but by their faith for so verse 12. And the father of circumcision to them vvho are not of the circumcision onely but also vvalke in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham vvhich he had yet being uncircumcised It is not enough to be of the Circumcision but they must walke in the steps of the
necessitated to the mistake of their building To conclude if there were any force left in these authorities for infant Baptisme as I conceave there is not why should it not regulate our practife in the other Sacrament to give that to infants which was ancient and of use in many churches as well as the other as it remaynes also in some to this day and it is like would in more had not Popish superstition given the supper the start of Baptisme to such a degree as to make it not so much the signe and representation of Christ as Christ himself and the very Protestants themselves are so respective to this Sacrament of the Supper above the other as to give it as a reason vvhy it should not be administred to infants least it should fall in contempt Hosp Hist Sacram. p. 60. Wee shall produce some testimonies that the Supper was administred to infants as well as Baptisme as necessary to salvation if antiquity be to be esteemed a great argument for the administring of one Sacrament why not of the other For this Hospinian in his second booke Histo Sacram. pa. 59. quotes Cyprian Se. 5. de lapsis and affirmes also that Ierome Aust and other Fathers witnes that those vvhich vvere baptized not onely of age but also infants vvithout any delay received the holy mysteries under both signes So Ierome against the Luciferians Non potest inquit Baptima tradere sine Eucharistia Baptisme must not be given vvithout the Eucharist And Aust lib. de Dogm Eccles cap. 52. Siparvuli sunt ait vel hebetes qui doctrinam non capiant respondeant pro illis qui eos offerunt juxta morem baptizandi sic manus impositione at Chrismate communiti Eucharistiae mysteriis admittantur If they be little sayes he or dull vvhich are not capable of doctrine let those ansvver for them vvhich offer them according to the custome of baptizing and so being fortified by Chrisme and imposition of hands let them be admitted to the mystery of the Euchariste Also Epist 107. hee speakes thus Infantes si in illa parva aetate moriuntur utique secundum ea quae per corpus gesserunt id est tempore quo in corpore fuerunt quando per corda ora gestantium crediderunt vel non quando baptizati vel non baptizati sunt quando carnem Christi manducaverunt vel non manducaverunt quandò sanguinem biberunt vel non biberunt secundum haec ergo quae per corpus gesserunt non secundum ea quae si diu hic viverent gesturi fuerant judicantur Infants if they dye in that young age are judged according to that vvhich they have done by the body that is in the time in the vvhich they vvere in the body vvhen by the heartes and mouthes of those that carried them they beleeved or not beleeved vvhen they vvere baptized or not baptized vvhen they did eat the flesh of Christ or not eat it vvhen they drunke his blood or not drunke it according therefore to those things vvhich they did by the body they are to be judged not according to those vvhich if they had lived long they vvould have done So lib. 5. Hypognosticôn cont Pelag. Quomodo inquit vita regni caelorum parvulis promittitur non renatis ex aqua Spiritusancto non cibatis carne atque non potatis sanguine Christi qui in remissionem peccatorum fusus est Hovv saith he is the kingdome of heaven promised to children not renevved by vvater and the holy Ghost not fed vvith the flesh and made to drinke of the blood of Christ vvhich is shed for the remission of sinnes This custome received of old so farre prevayled afterwards especially in the time of Charles the Great that not onely the Eucharist was communicated to infants in the publike assembly of the church after Baptisme or at other times when they were wont to come together for the Lords Supper but also the bread of the Supper was kept to be communicated and given to sick children as well as to those of yeares for this Hospinnian quotes Canonem Carolinum lib. 1. de legib Francorum in these words Presbyter Eucharistiam semper habeat paratam ut quando quis infirmatus fuerit aut parvulus infirmus fuerit statim eum communicet ne sine communione moriatur Let the Presbyter have the Eucharist ever ready that vvhen any is vveake or vvhen a little child shall be vveake or sicke hee may presently communicate him least he should dye vvithout communion Amongst the Aethiopians as Osorius witnesseth in his 9. booke de gestis Emmanuelis Infants in the same day that they are initiated to holy thinges take the Eucharist in a bitt of bread Hospinian also affirmes that not many yeares agoe there vvere reliques of this custome in Lorrayne and the places adjoyning for vvhen an infant vvas to be baptized the Priest vvho baptized him brought a little boxe in vvhich vvas the Sacrament to the Alter and shevved one Host as they call it to the people then he put it in the boxe againe and reatches forth his tvvo fingers vvith vvhich hee had tucht it to be vvasht vvith vvine by the Clarke or Church-vvarden and distills of that vvine into the mouth of the baptized Infant saying The blood of our Lord Iesus Christ proffit thee unto eternall life Also at this day as Brerewood in his learned inquiries touching the diversity of Religion affirmes The Supper is admninistred to Infants immediately after their Baptisme in both kindes by the Iacobits a people called by that name vvhich are in great numbers in Syria Cyprus Mesopotamia Babylon and Palestine for the Patriarch of Ierusalem who keepeth his residence still in Ierusalem in which City there still remaine ten or more churches of Christians is also a Iacobite Also the Cophty which are the Christians in Aegypt for it is a name of their nation rather then of their religion doe the same namely give the Sacrament of the Eucharist to infants presently after Baptisme The like doe the Christians tearmed Habassines which are the midland Aethiopians As also the Armenians Christians dispersed for trade through the Turkish Empire but inhabiting especially Armenia the greater and the lesser and Cylicia More might be quoted and are by Brerewood in those his collections Now the reason why the Papists have quitted this practise out of whose rubbish we drew our reformation as being once involved in that lumpe confusion seemes to me to appeare out of their Tridentine constitutions Trid. Concil sec 5. where it is affirmed Parvulos usu rationis carentes nulla obligari necessitate ad Sacramentalem Eucharistiae communionem si quidem per Baptismi lavacrum regenerati Christo incorporati adeptam suam Filiorum Dei gratiam in illa aetate amittere non possunt That children vvhich vvant the use of reason are by no necessity obliged to the Sacramentall communion of the Eucharist for as much as being regenerate
signe thereof should not be to this agrees that place Heb. 6.4.5.6 For it is impossible for those vvho vvere once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and vvere made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good vvord of God the povvers of the vvorld to come if they shall fall avvay to renevv them againe to repentance c. The Apostle speakes not here of theft perjury adultery or any sinne in particular but of an intire revolting and falling away when a sinner offends not God in any particular but renounces wholly to his grace bids him adieu for ever Now he falls thus who revolts from the word of God who extinguisheth the light of it who deprives himself of the tast of the heavenly gift and quits the communion of the spirit in the participatiō of its grace which cannot be without the sinne against the holy Ghost and a totall falling from God Now it is impossible sayes hee those should be renevved by repentance having sinned against the holy Ghost they have a heart that cannot repent now they having broken covenant with God in the highest manner and being uncapable of repentance which is to precede Baptisme they are incapable of Baptisme for others though they sinne the same covenant repentance Baptisme stands good for ever Secondly because the signification the fruit use of Baptisme is not for a moment or respecting the time past onely but respects the future also and the whole life of the baptized person as appeares Rom. 6.2 So as the Baptisme of repentance once receaved for remission of sinnes remaynes as a pledge by us of the covenant of God and that perpetuall washing which we have by the blood of Christ Marke 14. Iohn did baptize in the vvildernes and preach the baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes which is to be often thought of for the full assurance of our pardō for that promise is of perpetuall use and influence He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved and Gal. 3.27 As many as have bene baptized into Christ have put on Christ. But thirdly the greatest reason why Baptisme is not to be repeated is because neither in precept or example wee find it repeated which is the word of our institutiō But on the other side There is one Lord one faith one Baptisme which is one Vnitate usus legitimi in the unity of the lawfull use as well as in other respects so as there is no thought of leaving Christ as if there were to be exspected a new regeneration and a new Baptisme The Fathers also were of this opinion Tertull. lib. de Baptis Semel lavacrum inimus semel dilicta diluuntur So Cyprian lib. 2. Epist 3. Baptisma semel sumitur nec rursus iteratur Baptisme is once received nor is it repeated againe The question then will be what shall become of those that have bene baptized into a false name by heritickes that erre about the Trinity as the Arrians Marcionites c. The receaved answer is that they are to be baptized aright with the baptisme of Christ in such cases Baptisme is not to be said to be repeated the former being no baptisme or a nullity and this according to the decree of the Counsell of Nice cap. 19. as Bucan quotes it p. 635. The like decree also hath a Counsell of Carthage Ii sunt baptizandi de quibus incertum est an fuerint baptizati necne Concil Carth. 50. cap. 6. They are to be baptized of whom it is uncertain whether they were baptized or no. The like also saith Cyprian in his epistle 71. ad Quintum fratrem Here was some difference in opinions Cyprian and his Bishops were of opinion that Baptisme in an heretick church was null and therefore those who came to them were baptized as supposing that vayne and nothing others have thought that those onely were to be baptized againe who had bene formerly baptized by such a church and in such a manner as the essentialls of Baptisme were wanting so the Arrians baptized which rendred that ordinance vayne and null The same may be affirmed more fully of infant Baptisme that it is null and nothing and therefore that the partie so supposed to be baptized is indeed still unbaptized and therefore ought to be baptized according to the institution of Christ which Baptisme when he hath once receav'd he cā in no way as is before shewed be sayd to be rebaptiz'd for those thinges which cannot be shewen done no reason allowes that they should seeme to be reïterated To proceed therefore The Sacraments in generall particularly Baptisme is that by which wee pledge our selves to God or in which a formall covenant is made in which wee promise obedience and God protection defence to be our God and therefore 1. Pet. 3.21 it is stil'd a stipulation or covenanting also the word Sacrament is from sacring making holy dedicating or initiating as juramentum an oath is à jurando from swearing In the civill law it signified an oath Sacramenti praestatio recusatio the taking or refusing an oath The word Sacrament also is taken for a mystery for the visible signe of an invisible grace In a word Baptisme seemes to be nothing else but the ceremony of a mysticall spirituall marriage for it is a dedication a covenant and a mystery and as in marriage besides the words there hath bene usually some ceremonious signe as the giving of a ring or money or a kisse or the taking by the hand so here c. To examine this therefore by that similitude and resemblance that which is the first and principall ingredient into marriage is consent Nam nuptias non concubitus sed consensus facit Not the bed but consent makes marriage for otherwayes that joyning which is fornication or adultery would be marriage This stands by vertue of the first institution A man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his vvife Ge. 2.24 How By covenant and consent This is so essentiall an ingredient as Beza calls it the formall cause of marriage others the efficient cause therefore the lawyers say Solus consensus matrimonium facit Onely consent makes the marriage But then this consent must be exprest outwardly Nisi quatenus consentiunt consensum suum exterius exprimunt because the covenant contract is externall But then lastly and especially it must be the proper consent of the parties married for the consent of the parents who have some the greatest power besides cannot doe it hence an error of the person makes the marriage also null and invalid as if I marry one another be put in the place by the same reason if one of the parties be mad constantly because they cannot consent because that supposes not the consent of the marryers so as here is a formall or efficient fayle in respect of the consent and a materiall fayle in respect of the persons married which is as
publike cognisance upō persons qualified by publike authority for the administration of it Next we consider in this discourse primitive practise and example for according to this power commission you will find it runne in the example The first Baptizer who introduced that ordinance from thence drew his name Iohn the Baptist to be sure had commission for that and all other parts of his ministry according to the prophecies went on him in Esay and Malachy Hee came in the spirit and povver of Elias vvas the great restorer of Israel this no man will deny Then Christ in the 4. of Iohn is said to baptize but by his Disciples who received commission for that administration from his person presence himself either intending to the greater workes of miracles or teaching or else might abstaine purposely that those baptized by him might not vaunt of a greater priviledge then others In like manner it is probable Peter the Apostle communicated of his authority to those who were with him for the baptizing of Cornelius and his family for it is sayd vers 48. of Acts 10. He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord unles it were either that of those brethrē there were inferiour officers or that by commanding is ment the warrant he gave to Cornelius his companie for Baptisme of which notwithstanding hee himself might be the Minister Of the Apostles commission you have heard already you may find it in the execution in divers passages For others who baptized saving those who drew their commission from Church power of whom wee shall speake afterward wee read of Philip and Ananias the one to wit Philip was an Euangelist an order as it is taken of a publike authority and commission as the Apostles were Besides he had an especiall authority and provocation from the spirit at that time for the ministry hee had to performe about the Eunuch by which spirit also he was miraculously taken away after the worke done as you may read Acts the 8. And for Ananias of whom wee read in the 9. of the Acts that he baptized Paul he was also deputed in an extraordinary manner to that ministery by the Lord who spoke to him in a vision And such extraordinary and peculiar manner of workings where the ministery of conversion lay in a miracle and the Ministers were men acted to it as appeares by divine revelation must not be drawn into ordinary examples and here we find also particular commission but thus farre in the example it makes cleare for what wee say that the administration of Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission That it hath bene since the Apostolicall times so is as cleare out of all story of which the notion of the Catechuminists will give an assured witnes Christians in the Church were antiently distinguisht by three degrees Catechumini Fideles and Poenitentes the Catechumeni or such as were principled in the Christian religion the faithfull the penitents the faithfull were such as being past the forme of Catechists were admitted to all ordinances the penitents were such as had fallen into some scandall were under censure The Catechumeni were such as Origen cont Cels lib. 3. sayes vvho vvere nevvly admitted into some degree of communion but not yet baptized of these mention is made in the most ancient writers Ireneus Clemens Alexand. Tertullian Of these Clemens saith Sine catechismo nulli datur credere vvithout catechising no body can beleeve Of this number some as I have formerly had occasion to speake were called Audientes some Competentes The Audientes were such as submitted themselves to teaching by the hearing of the word and being instructed in the principles of religion which by their submission and pretence to farther ordinances got the name of Catechists for otherwise neither Iew nor Gentile nor any were excluded from hearing the word Conc. 4. Carth. Can. 84. The competentes or competitors were such as being well instructed in the Christian religion desired Baptisme and gave up their names of these Austin sayes Post sermonem fit missa Catechumenis manebant fideles Ser. de Temp. 137. After the sermon the Catechumini were dismist the faithfull remayned to partake of the Supper other ordinances which partained to full membership Out of all this besides the purpose for which I especially bring it two things may be observed by the way First that of old men were not lightly admitted to the communion and fellowship of the Church but after due instruction and examination Secondly that it was usuall of old to stand as competitor for Baptisme as a Candidate as we call them to seeke and desire it before they had it But the end for which I especially bring this here is to shew that in all times of the Church Baptisme hath bene a thing of publike cognisance and the commission for the administration of it hath rested since the times of the Apostles no where but in Church power nor hath bene no where else sought nor never by any otherwise pretended to it I know saving of late yeares by those upon whom the name of Anabaptists was primitively and properly fixt who erring greatly in many other things of as great consequence might easily be mistaken in this These two things in a word I suppose out of this discourse is evinced which will directly point out the Minister of Baptisme First that Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission Secondly that as of old since the Apostles times so now and alwayes till Christ come the Church is the dispenser of such commissions and administrations That which remaynes now therefore is to find out what a Church is wherein I hope wee are not to seeke A Church in a word may be said to be an assembly of saints knit together to a fellowship with Christ their head I intend not here a discourse of this subject it is enough to my purpose that this be considered and allowed that beleeving and saintship gives a qualification for Church fellowship and Church fellowship for acts of power that Baptisme doth no more enter the definition of a church as if a church state could not be without Baptisme then the communion of the Lords Supper doth or officers Pastors Elders and Deacons All these are but certain acts by which they make good their fellowship with Christ and one another are church ordinances and church dues thinges they have power for may justly pretend to Though it will ordinarily be that a church will consist of baptized persons for what should hinder them who have assembled for the injoying of ordinances and who have power for all ordinances from administring to themselves in a way of order that ordinance which is as it were the gate of the rest and as wee may call it for ought I know according to the old name the ordinance of initiation since it is the first of church ordinances the Church covenant
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signum Sigillum a statue a representation may be a signe but it cannot be a seale we seale those things which wee would keepe with the greatest security and have remayne untoucht therefore letters and evidences are sealed that no man might doubt of the truth and authentiquenes of them Againe two considerations more there is in a seale first things sealed and marked are kept for their masters use My beloved is a fountayne sealed up Cant. 4.12 kept onely for the use of the spouse so their wells and springs were shut up in Israel they were not for every body Amongst the Persians they had fountaines of which onely the King and his eldest sonne drunke under capitall punishment to all others in Spayne they have also one of the same sort so as we are markt and sealed for Christs use our husband wee must not make our selves common therefore to the world lye exposed to every lust to every love since God hath impropriated us Secondly we seale or marke things precious as coyne gold or such things as we set a price and vallew upon God by his sealing lets us know what a vallew he puts upon us how he separates us from refuse base things therefore we should not defile our selves CHAP. II. Wherein of the second great use and end of Baptisme assuring us of our Iustification in the remission of all our sinnes together with certain corollaries and inforcements HAving told you that Baptisme is the great ordinance of Christ to confirme seale up to us our union with himselfe whom having wee have all things that wee may further see how considerable an ordinance this is wee will beate it out as far as the Scripture gives light in the point of Communion and so wee shall find that as it seales and confirmes our union with him so it also seales and confirmes to us the most desireable thing in the world which is the pardon of all our sinnes It is safe giving ordinances that notion the Scripture gives them which while you doe you will get the true juyce they afford and you shall be sure not to erre from the true nature of them This you have Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sinnes As if he should say you are now pricked at the heart you see your selves in a lost condition and therefore cry out what to doe as men amazed and at astand saith hee there is hope for you God hath made an ordinance to relieve you in this straight Repent and be baptized for the remission of sinnes This Iesus whom I preach and whom God hath made Lord and Christ can remit sinnes for that is it which gaules you when light comes in now for this God hath formed an ordinance on purpose to confirme and ratify unto us the remission of sinnes and that is Baptisme therefore be not amazed but repent and be baptized So Acts 22.16 when Paul was in an ill condition being humbled with a witnesse it is the greatest representation of the humiliation of a sinner that wee have and Ananias was sent to raise him saith he VVhy tarriest thou arise and be baptized and vvash avvay thy sinnes what can be said more comfortably to a distressed soule then this that God hath set and instituted an ordinance on purpose that thou maist be acquitted of every sinne to witnesse and seale up what is done by faith Therefore doe not languish in this condition why tarriest thou arise be baptized and wash away thy sinnes so 1. Pet. 3.21 The like figure vvhereto Baptisme doth novv save us not the putting avvay the filth of the flesh but the ansvver of a good conscence We know that salvation lyes especially in justification and discharging all our sinnes Baptisme doth this it doth novv save us that is this signes and seales your salvation to you which lyes in justification and discharge of smne but you must not thinke that it is onely the vvashing avvay of the filth of the flesh not a carnall ceremony onely but the ansvver of a good conscience that is it is that confidence and assurance which we have before God of his reconciliation to us which this ordinance outwardly doth seale exhibit it is the stipulation of a good conscience when a conscience appeased and pacified with the discharge of sin can cry Abba Father with a holy security can speake to God himself now saith hee this stipulation of a good conscience this is that which is the effect of Baptisme and which Baptisme seales up to you for what Baptisme findes it seales although it doth also exhibit more of the same kind Baptisme and so all the ordinances of Christ those we call Sacraments seale up what is already else how could it be a seale but doth also conveigh more of the same This stipulation of a good conscience Beza saith clearly refers to the answer of the Catechists of which there is a pattron 8. Acts 37. when Philip told the Eunuch the condition of Baptisme which was to beleeve with all his heart and he gave the answer of a good conscience that hee did beleeve that which hee desired baptisme should seale up to him here was a plaine stipulation for so the word signifies now that supposeth one asking or demanding another answering and making the bargaine or contract as when one askes do you do this cā you beleeve with all your heart and a conscience voyde of fraude speaks clearly and evidently what it can doe and doth then comes Baptisme This they were used to doe in the primitive Churches in the same manner wee find some doe in this age to infants who understand them not which is not very wisely done for surely what ever they can doe they cannot give the stipulation of a good conscience If they intend the infants which they say speake by others they may well retaine the old forme but not with any good understanding It is the same Baptisme that saves us that did then that acquits and dischargeth us as the ordinance of God appointed for that end though it supposeth especially the inward workes He that beleeves is baptized shall be saved beleefe must goe before this is that which on Gods part seales us and ingrafts us into Christ conveyes Christ to us and on our part it is the stipulatiō of a good conscience answering clearly and boldly to the intent of the ordinance Thus you have another great use of this ordinance it seales the remission of sins it seales to us the remission of the sins of our whole life for it ingrafts us into Christ and seales him up to us for the remission of sins and therefore it must ever be considered for that purpose when it is so considered wee must looke upon it as the discharging and acquitting ordinance which seales up not onely sinnes past but all sinnes past and to come which some not understanding and finding that
unto you and to your children and to all that are afarre of even as many as the Lord our God shall call where they say Peter witnesseth that the divine promise belongs to those which by reason of their birth are farre of but by the wonderfull providēce of God are called to that ordinance by lawfull meanes such as these before named and Chamier the great protectour of our religion against Bellarmine not to trouble you with what the Papists say affirmes that if our servants vvere truely servants such as Abrahams vvere they then drevv a right from their masters for Baptisme for vve read sayes he that Abraham circumcised all his servants but such servants as for the most part vve have novv a dayes because indeed they are free men hee thinkes should not be so handled in the same capacity hee thinkes to be also such as by the right of vvarre are subjected to Princes for such kind of subjects also remaine free which if it be true and that that exception onely lyes against their Baptisme with all the great things it seals and conveighes to us I should much bewayle the losse of slavery to the Christian world since one good man by that tenure might have made a hundred and a hundred infidels by being subjected to one man might have bene Christians in a moment Thus you see how farre they make the covenant extend indeed the parallell of circumcision carryes it strongly and for one as well as another you see therefore that which qualifies for infant Baptisme is some good and pertinent relation to a beleever but if you aske me now what denominates this beleever and qualifies him for communicating this Christian qualification Chamier sayeth vvee allovv not all infants to be baptized but those onely of beleevers that is of baptized persons So that as the Baptisme in the parent qualifyes for baptisme in the infant Tom. 4. p. 270. Not to inlarge in this the charity of the world is very great and if Mr. Davenport mistooke not in his complaint in his writing to the Classis of Amsterdam hee saith that there was required of him an unlimited baptizing of all infants which were presented in the church of what nation or sect soever although that either of the parents were Christians were not otherwayes manifest then by answering Yea at the reading of the liturgie of Baptisme publikely or by nodding their head or some other gesture they seemed to be willing Booke of complaints 1.2 And that you may see this further cleare in the authority of a learned man who speakes not onely his owne judgement but the judgement of other orthodoxe with him VValleus a reverend Professor of Leyden in his treatise De Baptis infant p. 494. saith thus Quaeritur ergo de infantibus eorum quorum parentes sunt impij etsi nomine Christiani c. It is demaunded concerning the children of them whose parents are wicked although Christians in name or whose parents are excommunicated or whose parents are hereticks or Idolaters as the infants of Papists Anabaptists c. By way of answer hee allowes all such children to be baptized VVe thinke saith he that Baptisme is not to be denyed to those qui ex stirpe sunt Christiana which are of a Christian stock and which without an interruption of a publike Apostasy from the faith may referre their kindred to the faithfull such as in Christian common-wealthes are those procreated of Christian and baptized parents onely he would not have them baptized against their parents consent because they be their goods and possession and hee would have their parēts or those which offer them to baptisme answer that they will bring them up in the Christian profession vvhich if they doe vve judge sayes he that all infants vvhich come from a Christian stock should be baptized if they be offered to baptisme according to the order of the Church although their next parents should labour vvith unholines of life or heresy or the crime of idolatry And this hee goes on to proove strenuously as well he may from the manifest perpetuall practise of the whole Church of Israel in the administration of circumcision which as in a maine proportion it helpes to the baptizing of infants so it will help also to severall such consequences as those are from this opinion so stated of the learned and orthodoxe you may see that it is no such great honour to be able to intitle infants to baptisme which is common to you with unholy persons with excommunicate and with Idolaters And secondly that it is an effect of great charity to intitle the children of such a parentage to regeneration and the Holy Ghost For to proceed Though now in the derivative title for the chayne of Baptisme they all agree that what ever title the child hath comes by vertue of the fathers covenant yet the immediate qualification is inherent in the infant for they affirme that Christian infants have repentance faith and regeneration The Lutherans are so much of this opinion if you will beleeve Bellarmine Tom. 2. p. 294. f. that they beleeve that infants vvhilst they are baptized use reason heare the vvord of God beleeve love vvhich as hee affirmes vvas publikely determined in the Synode of VVittenbergh An. 1536. Which as hee saith doth so openly repugne to the truth as it doth injury to humane sence for how is it credible saith he that an infant which cryes and resists what he can when hee is washed or sprinkled should understand what he doeth The Calvinists and more orthodoxe Divines receive it generally and assuredly that infants bring to baptisme as their immediate qualification regeneration faith repentance c. though not actuall or by way of declaration to others they argue thus If infants naturally are some way capable of Adams sinne so of unbeleefe disobedience transgression then Christian infants supernaturally and by grace are someway capable of Christs righteousnes and so of faith obedience and sanctification but the forner is true therefore the latter The consequence they proove hence that else they would not see the kingdome of God Iohn 3.5.6 Iesus ansvvered and sayd unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be borne of vvater and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God that vvhich is borne of the flesh is flesh and that vvhich is borne of the spirit is spirit but Christian infants dying in infancy shall see the kingdome of God and not be damned therefore they are borne againe of the spirit and so must needs in some measure have repentance faith and holynes Againe they say that if wee cannot object Gods worke in nature but doe beleeve that our infants are reasonable creatures and are borne not bruit beasts but men though actually they can manifest no reason nor understanding more then beasts then neither can we justly object Gods worke in grace but are to beleeve that our infants are sanctified creatures and are borne
beleeve vvhether circumcised or uncircumcised ver 11.12 Therefore all circumcised have not the seale of the righteousnes of faith as they are not the father of all that beleeve Secondly this the Apostle may seeme to intimate by distinguishing betweene a signe and a seale to shew that circumcision was to all a signe but to Abraham alone a seale of the righteousnes of faith Thirdly though the Scripture speake often of circumcision yet it never calls it a seale but here where it speakes of Abraham which intimates that it was onely a seale to him else when Paul askes vvhat advantage hath the Ievv and vvhat proffit is there of circumcision and sayes much every vvay Rom. 3.1.2 He should one would thinke have mentioned this great advantage that it should be the seale of the divine promise but this he mentions not at all nor will it answer this though that be the best I know given that Aquinas seemes here to find a double question one what advantage hath the Iew which is handled in this Chapter the other what proffit is there of circumcision which is handled in the 4. chapter this hath to great an quietnes rather as Musculus sayes upoÌ„ that place It is no daunger to vvhich member yee apply the ansvver for the same thing is askt in both for by circumcision he comprehends in generall all Iudaisme for asmuch as the inauguration into Iudaisme lay in circumcision So as what ever force there is in this probable reason for it is no more may stand good notwithstanding this exception Fourthly if circumcision had bene the seale of the righteousnes of faith to Infants then an account of the righteousnes of faith should have bene required in those of yeares to whom it was administred but that such faith was required or fouÌ„d in all wee reade not Abraham the same day circumcised all whether borne in his house or bought with his money without any such declaration or demaund that wee read of and Ishmael who was thirteene yeares old judged not within the covenant of grace was also circumcised Of the Sechemites also there was required no profession of faith to their circumcision which as a forme at least would have bene required if it hath bene judged necessary to that seale and used by converted Proselites though Symeon and Levi brethren in iniquity were the ministers of it To illustrate this consideration let us see the great difference in the institution of Baptisme and Circumcision when Christ instituted Baptisme Goe teach sayes hee and baptize make Disciples and baptize and in the administration of the ordinance they confessed and vvere baptized they beleeved and vvere baptized but not a word of infants who were not capable of this beleeving and confession But when the precept of Circumcision was given not a word of teaching or faith nor in the example find you any such thing but of infants you find the command most expresly for the time for the age for the sexe To conclude whereas holines is required to Sacraments the household of Abraham whether naturall or adopted were holy but not so as to include regeneration or cleanes of heart which is our holynes but there was of use among them an Ecclesiasticall Leviticall and typicall holynes which amongst us obtains nothing of creatures for food some were cleane some uncleane and the land was holy and so was the fruit the trees therefore were holy and to be circumcised Levit. 19.23 in such a time and state of the church when things actions tooke their denomination of sinfull or holy from such outward and typicall considerations when circumcision was predicated of trees as well as men no wonder though infants were circumcised The summe of all is this that it is not easie for us to determine distinctly of the nature and scope of the ordinances of the other covenant that some have judged circumcision onely a signe of the Iewes dist inguishing and admonishing to good but a seale to Abraham onely who had righteousnes of faith as the Scripture calls it to be sealed and who was of capacity to receive it Though there be them who have doubted whether it sealed any thing to Abraham but his fatherhood of the faithfull And then againe it is wondred that the profession of this faith should never have bene required of those of yeares if it had qualified for this ordinance and lastly it is shewed that there was another kind of holynes then of use esteeme in the church of God namely typicall ecclesiasticall and Leviticall which gave right and tittle to ordinances which amongst us hath no place and therefore there will be found to be this great difference betweene these to ordinances the qualification of the subjects which will farther appeare in handling the third particular in this answer to all which I shall add onely this one thing more that if that be true which I have formerly discoursed about Infant Baptisme that it cannot be necessarily concluded that they have Baptismall qualifications namely regeneration and that if they had yet there were no just hast for the ordinance of Baptisme but the contrary then much lesse can any such qualifying regeneration and conversion be predicated of the infants of the Iews in the old covenant and therefore if that be the onely way as it is to pretend to Baptisme our infants cannot pretend that way then the Iewes infants must needs have some other qualification for circumcision then regeneration and therefore the subject of these ordinances differ greatly namely in that which respectively qualifies them to be capable of those administrations CHAP. X. In which is handled the second particular proposed in answer to the argument drawne from Circumcision to wit how farre the ordinances of the old Testament should regâ—late and determine by way of rule and institution those of the New QVest the second what ever should become of the first question the next is how farre the ordinances of the old Testament should regulate determine by way of rule and institution those of the New I answer nothing at all especially in the essentialls of it amongst which the subject of ordinances in the mayne qualification of it must needes be accounted Because things become ordinances to us by vertue of a word of institution forasmuch as the efficacy energy of ordinances hangs upon the will of God not the reason of them There are certain necessary circumstances about ordinances that common reason will suggest though the institution should not as time and place but by the same common reason to add other circumstances which in themselves are not simply necessary or by consequences drawne from the ordinances of another covenant is to set our posts by Gods posts to be wise above what is written and to be guilty of adding to the will of God in that which is most purely his will the ordinances of institution And I beseech you consider whither this way of working hath not
is a thing which possibly may be very hard for me to ascertain from my owne knowledge or the knowledge of any others but perhaps I must be put to dispute as well my right to baptisme as the matter of fact that I had it which yet according to the right notion of that ordinance is to be the rise of much comfort and instruction to me After all this consider how weakely will the operation of such a ceremony or signe fall upon me where in there will be need of faith to beleeve that I had right to it or that I had it at all Now then if the type be inferior to the antitype wee must never allow it great and essentiall superiorities as it would certainly have if infants were to be baptized as formerly they were circumcised this therefore according to what hath bene said not being possibly to be avoyded that if infants be to be baptized they will fall below in such Baptisme the priviledges and advantages of circumcisiō which is contrary to the nature of a type it must then follow that therefore they are not to be baptized and therefore baptisme was never intēded them this being most assured that it farre excells that of the Iewes as the antitype doth that which typifies it and figures it out Secondly it is affirmed of types that they were not true in themselves being a shadow of thinges to come but in the body or truth which they figure or type out so the scape goate the Pascall lambe c. apply this from circumcision of infants the type to the antitype baptisme with its subject the infants generally of the Iews no more then the land were not truely and properly holy and saintes but types of such the administring it to males of such an age and to males onely shewes as much when as it might have bene administred to women as Peter Martyr affirmes out of Ambrose the Egyptians doe and the Iacobites a certain sect of Christians inhabiting Cyprus Syria c. in great numbers others doe to this day Now had it not bene for the types sake what probable reason can be given why women who must be acknowledged within the covenant as well as men should not be circumcised which they were capable of as appeares by what is recorded of fact for what is done by whole nations people might have bene done by Gods command or the Lord could have pitcht upon another ceremony which would have fitted women in the administration of it if that would not But as it is acknowledged that circumcision typified Baptisme so the subject of the one the subject of the other to wit a male a beleever or one who is in Christ the sonne of God Therefore baptisme is better thē circumcision and our state better then theirs though infants have it not nay the betternesse lyes in this that by baptizing beleevers so knowne and received we have the substance of what they had but in the shadow type to wit a male infant the subject of that ordinance we a beleever the subject of ours The third thing predicated of types is that when the antitype or truth is fullfilled and performed the type ceaseth Apply this to the case of circumcision and baptisme The Lord now making up his churches of saints really so and no other as farre as we can judge by the rules he gives us to judge by those who by vertue of their typeship were accounted holy and the subject of ordinances to wit a certain generation of men and their infants are now no more to be esteemed so nor is any thing to succeed or come in place of such an administration but that which is the truth substance of it to wit beleevers and such as in whom Christ is formed which the other seemed to typify and shadow and to doe otherwayes were to bring your selves to the beggarly administrations of types and shadows when you have the substance and antitype out of a desire to goe equall with the Iewes in priviledges whereas in this way propounded ye are infinitely above them To conclude out of what hath bene said their state had the honour of the type ours of the antitype they of the shadow or figure but we of the body our childrē no more then our land or temples hold out shadowes of things to come In the meane time wee have Christ amongst us and are his temple wee have the body Coloss 2.17 others were a shadovv of thinges to come but the body is of Christ And Heb. 10.1 The lavv had a shadovv of good thinges to come and not so much as the image of them And our condition being not to hold out types and figures our infants have no such administration used to them as formerly the Iewes had in an age whē it can proffit them noe otherwise but in making them types And if this be an unhappynes ye may as well count it an unhappynes that our land is not typicall or our temples or dayes of worship But wee have Christ amongst us for our seede as well as for our selves And consider this that by all that is sayd wee reject no promises made to the children in consideration of Gods love or affection to their parents but we imbrace them and expect pray for the fullfilling of them onely wee doe not by precipitating the administration of an ordinance to our children beyond the institution and before the time of it render that which is intended for so much comfort and use both unproffitable uncomfortable to them and assimulate them to the pedagogy and similitude of types And lastly that we may looke upon this in the glasse of other thinges no man holds the condition and state of our Ministers lesse blessed then that of the Iewish church yet the Priests Levits then had this peculiar that their state was successive and derived from father to sonne which ours we know is not And not onely so but their church state also was successive a man was borne a member of the Iewish church by his birthright had a title to all church ordinances as his age made him capable of them but the children of Christians however they are baptized at aventure yet not onely many churches we take notice of now a dayes as pretending to a more strict reformation require also a personall particular admission for the instating them into the Church as members but others also and those particularly of the united Provinces doe the like not onely in relatiō to the children of Christians strāgers to them but to those borne of their own members Since therefore neither our ministry nor our church state suffers in wanting the power of deriving ministers or members by way of succession it should lesse stick with any that they cannot derive a right to Baptisme to their children that way on the other side wee should glory in our priviledges and thinke our selves more then recompensed that in steed of the