the Law there shall no Flesh be justified If not by the Deeds of the Law which were not only contrived by infinite Wisdom but bore the impress of God's terrible Majesty upon them and were dispensed and given from Mount Sinai in pure Goodness to Israel How much less shall Man be justified by Works devised by Men and founded upon no better warrant than humane Authority It is also certain that Man is become culpable and liable by Sin to the stroke of God's just Displeasure and therefore under an absolute necessity of being justified from Sin in order to his avoiding Misery and injoying Blessedness which Blessedness in the beginning progress and first steps of it stands in God's good Will towards sinners but more perfectly in his free and full discharging us from the imputation of Sin through the Righteousness which is in our Lord Jesus Christ And this was the received Opinion of the Men of God of old as well as of St. Paul in our words as is evident by his referring to the Prophet David's Testimony recorded in Psal 32.1 2. So that it 's no new Doctrin or novel thing but what hath been is and will be believed to the end of the World That the Man is Blessed unto whom the Lord imputes not Sin In the words we have these three things 1. A Blessedness pronounced Blessed is a Happiness consisting in a sure security from all Evil but more especially the evil of eternal Death and an assurance of all Good and eternal Life 2. You have the subject of this Blessedness the Man And that you may know who this Man is the Apostle describes him by his Privilege To whom the Lord will not impute Sin a privilege peculiar to those that are and shall be Happy Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin 3. The time when Man comes to be stated in this Blessedness and that is in the very instant that God ceases to impute Sin There is not any thing that Man injoys which can render him Blessed whilst God charges Sin upon him therefore Blessed is the Man mark he is Blessed not shall be but is in the present tense he is and therefore shall be Blessed We shall briefly enquire 1. What we are to understand by the Lord 's not imputing Sin 2. Who by the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin 1. By the Lord 's not imputing Sin we must understand a free Act of Grace in God which Man of himself neither hath nor ever could have deserved being utterly unable to satisfy that Justice he had by Sin offended or appease that Wrath which his Sin had kindled Never could Man by his own procurement have rescued himself from that Punishment and Misery he was involv'd by Sin therefore we say Not to impute is an act of Mercy in God exprest in his not charging Sin upon the sinners account so as to exact satisfaction of the Debt from the Trespasser nor to punish the sinner with eternal Misery in want of such satisfaction of his own procurement 2. By the Lord 's not imputing Sin we may understand a free Act of Love and Kindness in God in pardoning and forgiving Sin as to the eternal Punishment of it As when a Creditor is pleased of mere Mercy to forgive a poor Debtor his Debt justly due to him in such case he will not impute the Debt nor charge it to account or when a Governor forgives the fault of a Child or Servant he will not impute the Crime nor punish him for it 2. Who is this Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin I conceive it is 1. Believing Man 2. Infant Man 1. God will not impute Sin to Believing Man Every Man and Woman that in truth believes in the Lord Jesus Christ may rest with the greatest Confidence in this Grace of God who is said to be the Justifier of every one that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3.26 4.3 4 5. To which you have the concurrent Testimony of all the Prophets in that summary Account given us by St. Peter which is that whoever believes in the name of Christ shall receive the Remission of Sin Acts 10.43 So that none as I know of in the least doubt the truth of this that believing Man is privileged by and interested in the Grace of God and that he is not the Man to whom the Lord will impute Sin But 2. By the Man to whom God will not impute Sin we may understand Infant Man The little Infant the new born Babe is stiled Man in Scripture Phrase and that truly because such a one partakes of the whole nature of Man tho unable to exert and put forth it self in such Actions by reason of its natural Weakness and Impotency as are proper to Men in a grown State who are capable of exercising their Understanding and Power in things they are imploy'd about But this incapacity of Infants being natural and common to all Men deprives them no more of the name than the nature of Man therefore Job speaking of the frailty of humane Life saith Chap. 14.1 2. Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Misery he cometh up and is cut down like a Flower signifying that all the days of Man from his Birth to his Death in number are but very few and as the Flower sometimes is no sooner blown but it 's cut down so Man sometimes no sooner breaths in the Air but he falls into the Dust is no sooner taken from the Womb but he is laid in the Grave But notwithstanding his continuance here is so very short yet in his Infant state he is truly stiled Man And so our Lord in John 16.21 saith A Woman in travail hath sorrow because her Hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the Child she remembreth no more her anguish for joy a Man is born into the World And that all Infants living or dying whilst such are the Subjects of the Blessedness in our Text will I trust no less appear if void of all prejudice we will consider 1. That Man in his Infant State is a Sinner only by imputation not by any choice consent or act of his own whereby he transgrest any Law of God For all Sin is the transgression of a Law 1 John 3.4 But in that sense dying Infants are not Sinners God never assigning them a Law whereto they should have regard by any Command of his that I know of And certain I am where there is no Law Sin is not imputed as our Apostle saith Rom. 5.13 That Sin is imputed to Infants so far as to bring them under the power of Death I confess and even so Sin is imputed unto Believers for they die as well as others But since there is no Law given to Infants we soberly affirm Sin is not imputed to them to condemn them eternally to the torments of Hell Fire and that is what we propose to clear
weak and impotent as is certain from what our Blessed Saviour says to the Man sick of the Palsy Son be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee Mat. 9.2 Mark it 's not be of good chear for thou art made whole but thy Sins are forgiven thee This is enough to make the Lame to walk the Deaf to hear the Blind to see here 's that which is sufficient to turn our Weeping into Laughter our Mourning into Rejoicing our Death into Life and to settle us in a belief that he and he alone is blessed whose Sin is not imputed Now such are blessed 1. In Life as thereby God takes the Children of Men into a state of Grace and Favour with himself For God's not imputing Sin is the removal of that which begot the difference and hath maintain'd the distance betwixt him and his Creatures Isa 59.2 Of all Evils Sin is the greatest because it hath not the least mixture of Good in it to make it tolerable nor doth it produce the least good to any Creature It was Sin that turned the Angels out of Heaven that cast Man out of Paradise that brought the Curse upon the Creation and Wrath upon Sinners To be freed therefore from so great an Evil is one part of our Happiness and that which compleats it is God's taking us into Favour whose Favour is better than Life as the Psalmist says Psal 63.3 in whose Favour you may rest assured of all Advantages necessary to render you happy in this Life as the supply of your Wants Psal 34.9 10. Prov. 10.3 protection from Dangers Psal 33.18 34.10 guidance in all your Ways Psal 37.23 c. Prov. 3.6 strength against Temptation 1 Cor. 10.13 a sanctified use of Afflictions Rom. 8.28 and deliverance out of Trouble Psal 34.19 22. Such unto whom the Lord imputes not Sin may no less rest confident of Peace For being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 Which Peace of God will fill our hearts and keep us in peace when others are in trouble and quiet tho the World be in an uproar And tho many are hurried to and fro by cutting Perplexities fretting Disappointments and growing Fears God will make their Habitations quiet resting-places there is scarcely any thing that shall offend and molest them for Peace is always the sure Effect and Fruit of Righteousness to Justification as Isa 32.17 18. As they have Peace and Provision so they shall have every thing necessary to render them blessed in Life Psal 84.11 for God will withhold no good thing from them to whom he will not impute Sin 2. They are blessed also in Death because God's not imputing Sin is to dispoil Death of all Power that otherwise might render it hurtful to us Guilt which is Death's fiery Sting is taken away and he ceases to be a King of Terrors They fear him not how terrible soever he may be in his march towards them They whose Sin is not imputed are ready to receive and entertain him knowing that in this his last and most violent Effort he is like to go away with a poor Conquest the greatest execution he can do upon them is to cut the Thread of Life and send their frail brittle weak and sickly Bodies to the dust for a while to sleep in the Grave whilst blessed Angels wait the fatal stroak to take the fleeting Soul into their embraces and with Wings extended carry them swiftly into the happiness of Abraham's Bosom I confess there is reason enough for the Man whose Sin and Guilt is bound upon him to dread the approach and tremble at the sight of such an Enemy arm'd with nothing but Terrors and ready to wound the Soul with his flaming and siery Sting ready to cut the thin-spun Thread of Life which when done he is violently seized by some of the Infernal Crew and hurried unavoidably to the Confines and Region of utter Darkness to suffer the Pains of Eternal Fire O that Sinners would timely consider of this to break off every vicious Course by Repentance laying hold on the Righteousness of Christ by a lively Faith exprest by sincere obedience to the Commands of the Gospel lest their Sin hasten Death and in death proves their ruin But Death is so far from being hurtful to the Man whose Sin is not imputed that it is truly necessary as the only means by which blessed Souls are conveyed from sojourning in these tottering houses of Clay to live for ever with their Saviour in that house and building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This made holy Paul chuse rather to die than live that he might be with Christ which was best of all Phil. 1.23 and 2 Cor. 5.1 2. So that the Man to whom the Lord imputes not Sin is blessed in Death and not only so but in the 3d place Such are blessed after death in that death lands them safe on that shore where they shall for ever rejoice in celebrating the Memory of the Grace of God in not imputing Sin unto them Their entrance into Heaven is made sure and every thing removed that otherwise might obstruct it who shall there be blessed and happy in the highest degree if we consider First The perfect freedom they shall have in Heaven from all Evil. On Earth holy Souls have often the greatest share of Affliction and Trouble as one Link follows another in the Chain or as one Wave another so deep calleth unto deep Psal 42.7 Here with Lazarus they have their evil things Poverty Pain Sickness Sores Crosses Troubles Temptations Afflictions Diseases and Death but all these evil things and more shall be left behind them in death and in Heaven they shall have no sense of them For God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Tho it will be quite otherwise with the Wicked who here on Earth had their good things but shall then have their evil things they shall no more enjoy the precious things their Souls lusted after and the things that were dainty and goodly being departed they shall find them no more at all Rev. 18.14 no not one drop of Water to cool their flaming Tongues Such as affect Sin here tho God so earnestly sollicites them to the contrary must for their contempt of his Grace be content to lie down in everlasting burnings where without relief they must roll in tormenting flames and shall have no rest day nor night Rev. 4.8 The Wicked then shall have their evil things but the Godly their good things who shall be for ever raised above the sense of any thing afflicting and in this respect they are blessed Secondly The Man whose Sin is not imputed is blessed after Death considering he is then put into such a condition as renders it utterly impossible for him to
Dying Infants SAV'D BY GRACE PROVED And the Blessed Man with his Blessedness Described In a SERMON preached near Namptwich in Cheshire at the Burial of a deceased Infant July 25. 1695. By S. A. Matth. 18.3 Verily I say unto you Except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 13.7 Charity hopeth all things LONDON Printed for the Author and sold by M. Fabian at Mercers Chappel in Cheapside 1699. To the READER AMong all things knowable I think nothing more necessary for you to endeavour the sound knowledg of than this That you and yours are and shall be blessed as a means thereunto this is intended But What entertainment these Lines may meet with in the World I know not neither am I over-thoughtful being resolved chearfully to undergo whatever Censures shall be my lot to meet with from the differing Sentiments of my Readers But since I have satisfaction that my good meaning will be acceptable with many I shall under their favourable acceptance take repose and shelter from the sharp and undue reflections of others For as the most ingenious Cook cannot prepare a Dish to the good liking of all but some or other from the weakness of a vitiated Palat or something contrary to their affection will disgust the same So 't is believ'd the most learned Man that ever wrote could not so temper his Matter as to obtain universal Approbation but either the ignorant or prejudiced would quarrel with it Yet this advantage the Learned have if judicious that their known Learning and acquired Aptitude carries an Authority sufficient to still the Noise of the simple and to command the Minds of all first to read and then to judg Whereas the Illiterate have not any thing to render their Labours acceptable but the Goodness of their Design and the Blessing of God which I sincerely wish may attend thee in reading these Papers in order to thy Blessedness This Sermon was preached more than three Years since at the Funeral of my Friend's Infant Child and at his request and from this Text by the intreaty of another of my Friends and with design to administer comfort to some sorrowful Women who through the weakness of their Faith had long grieved under tormenting Fears not knowing what the State of their deceased Babes is after Death From hence I took occasion to display according to my measure and time the Immensity of Divine Goodness and to free it from those Restraints that cast dishonour upon it and are no way coherent with Immensity The Arguments as now presented are the same I then offered tho a little inlarged in transcribing with some small Additions in other parts of the Discourse The Salvation of all dying Infants is a Subject innocent in it self and consistent with Nature And were the vilest of Men free from the Obligation of Divine Laws they would not out of their mad fits and in a sedate mind do any thing injurious to their natural Issue but foster tenderly and minister all they could to the advantage of their Young I therefore believe my self under the advantage of all Mens wishing me good luck from the desirableness of the thing and if in this undertaking it be not cleared to general satisfaction it arises not from any doubtfulness of the Matter but from want of skill in the management of it and might my inability excite fitter Instruments to hit the Mark I have aimed at and offer Evidence as undeniable as the Fact is I should be glad In the mean time let none suppose that God in his Nature is more cruel and less tender of his Offspring than Man and the manest Animal is of theirs who as our blessed Saviour teacheth Matth. 7.11 from his superabounding Goodness is much more ready to shew kindness than the most tender Parents on Earth can be Neither is there any thing in all the Sacred Records that I know of which looks like an instance of Severity in God to the damning of one dying Infant in the World It there be 't is surely that of the Infants that perished in the flames of Sodom and Gomorrah which Jude stiles the Vengeance of Eternal Fire v. 7. Yet I think none will imagine that Fire was Eternal whereby those wicked Persons were punished from Heaven but rather a Figure and Representation of the astonishing Misery they must suffer in the other World as 't is often compared to Fire from the sharpness and violence of it Neither can any conclude hence that the Infants which perished in Sodom for their Fathers Wickedness shall so perish in Hell for ever To say so as the Learned * In his Sermon on Ames 4.11 Dr. Stillingfleet has it would be a harsh term no way sutable to the nature and proceedings of God who is so far from punishing Children eternally for the Sins of their impious Parents that sometimes he spares them and their Cities from the flames and ruins of temporal Judgments for sake of their innocent Babes as in the case of Ninive Jonah 4.10 11. I had contented my self in taking a view of these Lines and therein have pleased my self had it not been for the importunity of Friends dear to me to yield them a revival of that pleasure in reading which they had in hearing of ' em And that they and all into whose hands they shall come may have them blessed to their present and eternal Happiness is the unfeigned desire of S. A. ROM 4.8 Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin THIS Epistle of which our words are a part was written by St. Paul to the Church at Rome the greatest part of which is spent in labouring the decision of many considerable points of Doctrin to clear up the Truth of things which lay disputable among them and for the settling of the Saints there in a stedfast belief of the truth of things necessary to be received and believed by them one of which Doctrins if not the most considerable is that of Justification the knowledg of which is necessary to our cherishing right Sentiments of it in our own Souls for the yielding us hope and strong Confidence of a sure and certain security from Sin and Wrath being thereby encompast with a Wall invincible not to be shaken by the most furious Efforts that Men or Devils the Flesh or the World can make against us In this and the foregoing Chapter the Apostle shews by many Arguments that Man guilty of Sin and justly condemned by the righteous Law of God to death is justified by Faith in Jesus Christ and by Faith only as Chap. 3. from verse 20 to the end where the Apostle is refuting the Error of every Justiciary in the World whether Pharisaical Papal or others who plead for Justification by Works but it 's certain that by Works no Flesh can be justified no tho they be the Works of the Law Rom. 3.20 By the deeds of
and all that is within me bless his Holy Name who forgiveth all thine Iniquities c. Psal 103.1 2 3. And if here is not enough to ingage us in the unwearied celebrating of God's Praises what will or can since they whose Sins are not imputed are admitted to a Happiness above all expression and when once they have entred the Heavenly Region and are ranged there among the Blessed will think Eternity little enough to be spent in ascribing Praise and Glory to God who sits on the Throne and to the Lamb in discharging us from the Guilt and Punishment of Sin and in stating us in so great high and lasting a Happiness as the fruit of his not imputing Sin for I say Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes not Sin We now proceed to shew you on this foot of Account that dying Infants are Blessed being such on whom the Lord will not charge Sin to their eternal Condemnation And truly I cannot but hope my work is more than half done from the cordial desires of our Hearts that it may be so The thing is certainly very desirable especially to such as have long mourned being doubtful in the matter not knowing what the eternal State of their deceased Babes may be To remove their fears and satisfy all I shall tho the more briefly because of what has been said already labour to clear up the Safety and Happiness of dying Infants through the Grace of God in not imputing Sin unto them and that from these Considerations 1. Consider the unparallel'd and incomparable Goodness of God towards all There is no rank of Creatures no not the silly Ant in the Earth or Fly in the Air but partakes of divine Bounty and Goodness being always under the beneficial influences of that God who is Gracious Merciful of Long suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth as he stiles himself Exod. 34.6 And he is not so in himself only but he is diffusively so he upholds and communicates of his goodness to all his Creatures so says the Psalmist Psalm 145.8 9. The Lord is gracious and full of Compassion slow to Anger and of great Mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works If over all even the meanest of his Creatures then why not over innocent and dying Babes who never had either Will or Power in their own Persons once to offend Can there be thought a more meet object in all the World of the Goodness of God than innocent and dying Infants who have Souls more valuable than the whole World and are capable of the joys of a blessed or undergoing the Woes of a miserable and doleful Eternity Hath God in his goodness a care of every hair of your heads so that not one shall fall to the ground without his permission Mat. 10.29 30. and shall he have no compassion nor tender regard to the precious Souls of dying Infants I pray in what sense could the Royal Prophet in truth say The Lord is good to all if not in this sense good to Infants who it may be no sooner breath but die and are violently hurried from the confines of the Womb to the confines and region of Hell it self to suffer the punishment of Eternal Fire Is this consistent with Goodness it self to have no regard to so great and noble a Part of his Workmanship as Man in his Infant-State is and in which State he is but merely a passive Creature and not only so but to let him drop nay to cast him with indignation into those Flames that were originally and intentionally prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 for what they could not possibly avoid and that without the least Remedy This is rather to strip God of his Goodness which by Man ought to be esteemed the very Perfection of his Nature who is so good that in comparison of him as our Lord says there is none good but God Mat. 19.17 2. That dying Infants are blessed and happy we may be assured from Christ's dying for them And such is the virtue and efficacy of the Death and Blood of the Lord Jesus that by it the Salvation of all dying Infants is secured else Christ in dying did not tast Death for every Man according to the intent and purpose of God in his Grace towards Man as the Apostle declares in Heb. 2.9 But that he tasted Death for every Man is certain since he is truly stiled the Saviour of all Men tho more especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 it is not only of them that believe but also of all Men. And so in Chap. 2.6 He gave himself a Ransom for all If for all then for dying Babes for who shall exclude them since Christ hath by his Death expiated and done away the Sin of the World But enough of this having toucht on it before 3. That dying Infants are blessed is evident from the utter impossibility of its being otherwise 'T is not possible they should perish since there is not any that can or will damn them God will not and Men cannot they cannot damn themselves being under the Power of no Law and where there is no Law there is no Transgression Rom. 4.15 and where there is no Transgression there is no Damnation for that is the Wages of Sin Rom. 6.23 Man cannot damn them I confess Men may destroy them as to a temporal Life Mat. 10.28 they may murder and ruin them in their Passion and Madness or in their blind Zeal may make them Sacrifices to their Idols as in the case of Moloch The Devil cannot damn them at most he can but tempt sollicite and allure by such Means and Arguments as he judges most likely to prevail But who can be so weak as once to imagin that Satan ever levels his fiery Darts against innocent and dying Babes They cannot rationally be the Subjects he sollicits the Persons he tempts or the Tinder he drops his fiery Sparks upon because they have no knowledg between Good and Evil Deut. 1.39 they discern not betwixt things that differ they know not their right hand from their left Jonah 4.11 nor have any power to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil. Tho Parents should be so wicked by their Sin and Apostacy to forfeit their title to the happiness of a promised Canaan yet Parents cannot destroy their Childrens Right by such defection from God's Law to the happiness of the Celestial Region No thither are dying Infants bound and hastning under the happy advantages of Wind and Tide let Men or Devils do what they can as you may see to perfect satisfaction Numb 14.30 31. No interposition can hinder their passage or obstruct their entring the Port of Eternal Blessedness And as these cannot so God will not damn them you have his Promise to the contrary and he is faithful to perform besides Christ hath died for them in whom they are made alive 1. Cor. 15.22 Rom. 5.19 But
our Fourth Consideration is taken from the capacity and fitness of little Children for Heaven and Glory Our Lord Jesus Christ had so high an opinion of them and their fitness that he sets them before his Disciples as a Copy to write after an Example to imitate and as Persons not only worthy but necessary for them to resemble as appears by his taking and setting a little Child in the midst of them and with a solemn asseveration asserting That except they be converted and become as little Children they should not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If little Children dying such do not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is it not most absurd that our Lord should so solemnly and expresly injoin his Disciples to become like them in order to their entring into his Kingdom Were it not so that little Children have a sitness for Heaven Disciples and Christians in becoming like them whereunto they are most strictly obliged would thereby become unfit for Heaven and Glory But Fifthly and lastly That dying Infants are blessed appears from as good Reason as we have to believe any thing for truth that is contain'd in all the Sacred Records for more plain and positive proof we have not for the belief of any Article of the Christian Faith The Evidence I here offer you is Christ's own Testimony who without scruple tells us they belong to the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.14 Suffer them says Christ to come unto me they are the undoubted Heirs of it they have an unquestionable Right to it by the Grace of God their 's it is and into it they enter when they die If we will not believe Christ who shall we believe Take away the credit of his Evidence and what shall we receive for Truth Had we no other Testimony in all God's Book asserting the blessedness of dying Infants this is sufficient to resolve all Doubts about it they being such as is apparent from what hath been said to whom the Lord will not impute Sin I once more say to their Eternal Condemnation And if so to conclude I account it highly unreasonable that Man should attribute the Salvation of dying Infants to any person or thing short of the Grace of God in Christ Jesus upon which Foundation alone the Salvation and Blessedness of dying Infants standeth and that most fure Most unworthy therefore of God and Christ do they speak who talk of a Foederal Holiness making the Faith and Holiness of Parents the Basis on which they build the Blessedness of their Infants What is this less than to set themselves up for Saviours or at least to make themselves Partners with Christ in the Work of Salvation Is not this apparently to charge the Grace of God as deficient to save dying Infants without the Faith and Piety of Parents concurring At this rate of arguing what must become of those Children who have not the advantage of the Faith and Holiness of Parents who may either be taken away by Death leaving their little ones behind them or else if they live they may be wholly void and destitute of Saving-faith and manifest Slaves to Sin and the Devil as too many in this professing Nation are And in either of these cases which be very common what must become of their poor dying Infants if the Grace of God in Christ be not sufficient to save them without the Holiness of Parents But as this Pretence reflects unworthily on God so it is very false in it self as we could shew were that our business We confess that the Children of Believers have a great advantage of others in point of a pious Education but not one jot in point of Salvation their Infants dying before they come to reap the advantage of such Education to say otherwise is to assert that which is not many degrees short of Blasphemy But Secondly If dying Infants are blessed upon God's not imputing Sin unto them then how vain and fruitless is that pretence and practice of Baptizing Infants as they call it in order to their making them Members of the Church Children of God and Heirs or Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven But if before they be baptized they are in truth the Children of God what doth their Baptism avail them are they afterwards any more the Heirs of God's Kingdom than they were before Or can it be rationally supposed that God hath left it to the liberty choice and within the power of a Priest to save or damn Souls by complying or refusing upon every Summons given him on the weakness of a languishing and dying Infant to come and baptize it O no their Salvation is secured upon a better Bottom altho the generality believe that if their Infants die before they be baptized or sprinkled they be not much if one whit better than Beasts in their death nor must by any means have a Christian Burial with our Parson's Vote but be cast into a Hole behind the Church or some other place where they bury the Excommunicated Self-murderers and the like without the usual Solemnities appointed for the burial of the dead and therefore when a weak Child is midwif'd into the World what running and scouring there is to call the Parson as if a few drops of Water out of his hand were enough to quench the Flames of Hell This well considered must be judg'd highly ridiculous in the Sentiment of every wise Man ten thousand pities it is that God's Ordinance is so changed that poor people are so amused and that our Learned and pious Doctors of the Church do not rectify this prevaling Mistake the People are under by their sincere and devout labours to restore Sacred Baptism to its Primitive Purity at whose door it lies that their Priests in administring of that Ordinance may in point of practice as apparently agree with that of the Apostles as 't is evident they desire to be accounted their Successors But Thirdly and to conclude If dying Infants are blessed upon God's not imputing Sin unto them then here is comfort to sorrowful Mothers who have been long afflicted refusing with Rachel to be comforted for their Children If this will not relieve you under your Distresses what will Here 's enough to remove all your Fears and to satisfy your Minds with reference to the Eternal State of your deceased Babes Let this stop the Springs that have been opened and wipe away all those trickling Tears which have been as so many Evidences of your compassion and passionate concern to and for your beloved tho deceased Infants Fear not dear Souls God who hath a better right to them than you had has more tender compassion of them than you can have If you have who are evil Mat. 7.9 10 11. so much goodness as to wish them Heaven God is much more good and will give them Heaven Therefore give no longer way to needless scrupulosity and fear on their account whose happiness renders them capable of exhorting you to spend your Cares Fears and Tears on some other Subject saying as Christ to the Daughters of Jerusalem Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves and your Children that is your sinful and miserable Posterity nay rather rejoice and comfort your selves for 't is better with us than you have imagined being such unto whom the Lord imputes no Sin Nothing remains now but that we who survive our deceased Babes do give all diligence in the practice of Vertue whereunto we are called to make our own Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 11. that so an abundant entrance may be given us into Glory there to rejoice not only in our own Blessedness but in a more certain assurance of our Childrens also if such a thing can be since our Apostle so expresly says Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin FINIS