Infancy as well as I. Shew me a reason now why my dying Infants might not have the application of Christ's Blood by the holy Spirit as well as yours As for the manner of the Spirit 's operation herein I suppose we know it both alike that is not at all Nevertheless I do believe the Father Son and holy Spirit does what is needful in their respective operations tho I know not in all Points how it is done in the case of dying Infants It is enough that we have Christ's Testimony that to them belongs the Kingdom that is to all in that state for he rejects not any one of them neither in these words nor in any other that proceeded from his sacred Lips nor from the Pens of the Writers of the Holy Scriptures And then what is Mr. Firmin that he should by this presumptuous Argument send many Millions of them to Hell because in his conceit the Holy Ghost has nothing to do with them in the business of their Salvation the Spirit 's Operations being limited by him herein to the Infants of Believers only and if you look well to his Notions there is not a few of them too who have no help from the holy Spirit for they being not all elect must be damned for all their Baptism and this is the kindness he has to write a Plea for Infants Divis 3. Wherein is considered whether the Covenant of Grace was taken from the whole World and appropriated only to Abraham and his Seed from the time of the making the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. Mr. Firmin p. 20. Now I come to my Question and shall make it appear your Answer signifies nothing You tell me of a Covenant of Grace made with the whole World in the promised Seed to Adam c. I tell you while Adam Noah and Abraham lived under that Covenant made with the whole World God was pleased to make a Covenant with Abraham and with none other but Abraham to be his God and the God of his Seed and sealed this Covenant by which Covenant and Seal God did separate and divide all Abraham's Seed from the World living under the Covenant you speak of Answ 1. It is evident that either Mr. Firmin holds That the Covenant made with Adam Noah and Abraham before that mentioned Gen. 17. was not the Covenant of Grace or else that Covenant Gen. 17. was not the Covenant of Grace or that the Covenant of Grace was now taken from all the World and appropriated and restrained to Abraham and his Seed only The latter is clearly his sense that God was now only the God of Abraham and his Seed in the Covenant of Grace and of none other But this Doctrine is most false and absurd as I evidently shewed to Mr. Petto to this effect We ought to understand that Abraham and his Seed was not the only Persons in the World which were under the Covenant of Grace at that time when God made with Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. For as Mr. Broughton observes Sem lived 50 Years after the Covenant of Circumcision was made with Abraham and divers other holy Men lived long after the Covenant of Circumcision was made who were all true Worshippers of God according to the Covenant of Grace Melchisedeck blessing Abraham from whence St. Paul infers that he was greater than Abraham Heb. 7. 7. yet neither he nor the rest of the Patriarchs were concern'd in the Covenant of Circumcision And as neither these nor their Infants or Posterity were liable to any loss of the Covenant of Grace by their not being Circumcised after the manner of Abraham so neither Job nor other Worthy Men that were not of the Seed of Abraham had no necessity at all to be concern'd in the Covenant of Circumcision From whence it must needs follow That God did not intend the Sign of Circumcision as necessary to entitle Men to the Covenant of Grace nor that none could be Saved who were not under the Covenant of Circumcision But certain it is the Covenant of Circumcision was appropriate to Abraham and to his Seed for very great Ends respecting special Preservation to the Family of Abraham as being now the Family from whence Christ should proceed according to the Flesh And with whom God would presence himself in a Land of Promise by a distinct way of Worship from all other Nations who were then falling very fast to Idolatry Again Mr. F. telling us That God made that Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham and none other By this he has given a fatal Blow to his Cause which he is so zealous to defend Because by this it is evident that the Covenant made with Abraham Gen. 17. considered as it was peculiar to him and his Seed and no other no not of the Patriarchs then living it was therefore at least so considered not the Covenant of Grace But it was only so considered the Covenant of Circumcision as it is also called Acts 7. 8. without any such adjunct as the Covenant of Grace as if all that were not in that peculiar Covenant throughout the World must be damn'd without Mercy No no God had his tender Mercies for others tho this Covenant was peculiar to Abraham God was no such respecter of Persons when he made the Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. But in every Nation from the beginning even to the end of the World all that feared the Lord and wrought Righteousness found acceptance with him This old Truth Peter himself being tinctured with this Notion that God had no Grace for any but Abraham's Seed could not perceive till God by Miracle did reveal it to him no tho his Commission Mat. 28. 19 20. did oblige him to teach all Nations and to preach the Gospel to every Creature yet till now he durst not preach to the Gentiles Acts 10. And therefore it is the less strange that Mr. Firmin and such as he who take themselves to be Abraham's Seed because they are born according to the Flesh of such as they take to be Believers should be so cruelly dark in this glorious Truth that God is no respecter of Persons Nor do I see any thing more liable to puff Men up with Pride than this that they were in the Covenant of Grace from their Infancy because their Parents were Believers or at least one of them or their Grandfather c. was so as Mr. F. words it This Opinion undid the Jews generally and I doubt it has spoiled many of the Gentiles Our blessed Saviour John 8. has a long Disputation to deliver the Jews from this their vain Confidence which they built upon their being Abraham's Seed And St. Paul bent his Stile against the same thing Rom. 2. 26 27 28 29. and Chap. 3. ver 19. to the end But the more they laboured to undeceive these deceived Jews the more they were hated by them and if we meet with the same measure we must bear it For indeed scarce any
THE Infants Advocate AGAINST The cruel Doctrine of those Presbyterians who hold That the greatest part of Dying Infants shall be DAMNED In Answer to a Book of Mr. GILES FIRMIN'S entituled Scripture Warrant c. By THO. GRANTHAM Exod. 32. 32 33. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their Sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book which thou hast written And the Lord said unto Moses Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my Book Matth. 18. 10 11 14. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost Even so it is not the Will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little Ones should perish London Printed by J. D. for the Author 1688. The PREFACE Honest Reader I Could not have thought that a Man reputed wise an old Professor and one who so bears himself upon his Father's Covenant whom he will have to be a Son of Abraham and so himself to be Abraham's Son also could have given such evident Proof of the contrary as by his Book he has brought forth Sure I am I answered his two Questions in much Love and Faithfulness according to my Ability being thereunto desired by some of his Neighbours And I hope no Impartial Reader will censure me to be a Scoffer as Mr. Firmin does But truly I think he was pleased to throw that Dirt that he might have some pretence to give scope to his ill Spirit to exercise it self that way I confess I use these words upon the occasion of his talking so high of his Father's Covenant that it would even make a well Man sick to see what pitiful work he makes of it And here I will give thee an account of it and then judg of me as thou pleasest Saith Mr. F. When I could not tell where to lay hold meaning in his dismal Temptations my Parental Covenant and Infant Baptism was a support to me So that I bless God 1. For Abraham ' s Covenant 2. I bless God that I had Godly Parents 3. I bless God my Parents were no Anabaptists c. Only a word some may think you had Godly Parents mine were not so It may be I had a Godly Grandfather or a Mother Had you so no doubt but you may improve the Covenant from him The second Commandment will help you others may say Baptized I am but my Parents bad enough Well art awake and art in earnest for Christ and the saving Blessings come by him you may improve your Covenant A Woman putting a Question how she might know whether ever she had these Qualifications Mr. F. tells us that whilst he was troubled about making out these Qualifications there comes a Motion into my Mind saith he What say you to your Father's Covenant you know your Parents were Godly will you stand to your Father's Covenant Here my Qualification was the choice of my Father's God who was mine before by an external Covenant But now to have him my God my Portion by an internal Covenant and Efficacy here I was pent up Will you chuse or refuse him c. Now whether this Discourse will not almost make a well Man sick I mean a serious Christian troubled to hear a wise Man talk at this rate And whether he does not lay his Foundation upon his Qualification for by that saith he was the choice of my Father's God. And does he not also set up his Will as high as ever any did in chusing or refusing God to be his God his Portion by internal Covenant and Efficacy Sure he doth Mr. F's great business is to abuse and disgrace me by false and foolish Stories which have been told him by others which I pass by as unworthy observation And then he falls in with the Papists against me in the case of abstaining from or eating Blood justifying himself and them in the latter Tho he confesses the believing Gentiles were forbidden to eat Blood by that Decree Act. 15. 29. And when these Decrees were repealed he cannot tell and whilst he makes us for observing them such as do not believe the Blood of Christ to be our Atonement and that we hold some things to be unclean of themselves he condemns also the Primitive Christians who religiously abstain'd from Blood for several hundred Years after Christ and makes himself wiser than the Apostles for had they known such to be the consequence they would not have made them nor have deliver'd them to be kept as they did Acts 16. 4. We know that that which goes into the Man defiles not and therefore Blood defiles not but acting against God's Word defiled Evah even by eating that which was good for Food and so may Mr. F. defile himself for he says he will eat Blood Puddings S. A. by which he means Sir Anabaptist and indeed a scornful Spirit breaths in many Pages of his late Books He is pleased to throw Dirt upon me very freely about an escape of the Pen or Press I am not sure which and yet he being a Scholar and acquainted with such over-sights could not but discern unless Malice blinded him that it was an oversight The Passage is about the time when Transubstantiation came into the World and the Book which he quarels has it thus How rigidly do they impose the Decrees of the Trent-Councils Where note the word Councils being plural he might easily have supposed Lateran which was wanting for thus it stands in the Catechism of the Papists of which I give notice Pag. 55. The Lateran and Trent Councils and from thence I took the date of Transubstantiation Not but that I have read the same in other Authors But here he brands me with gross Ignorance and I grant I am not so well read as himself if that will please him And my rejoycing is this that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity I wrote that Book which he despises and I hope God will bless my Endeavours in which I trust I have no other scope but his Glory and the good of all Men heartily desiring that all Truth were restored to its Primitive Purity and Simplicity As to his three first Chapters I shall say little to them at present being very well satisfied with my Answers to his two Questions notwithstanding all that he has said to render them invalid The chief thing which I design in this Reply is to maintain what in me is the Mercy of God to all dying Infants against Mr. F. and others whose cruel Doctrine sends them by Millions to Hellish Torments as appears by this Book of Mr. Firmin's p. 8. If all dying Infants shall be saved there will be Millions in Heaven saith he in whom the Spirit of God had nothing to do in their Salvation I say to maintain the Salvation of
Blessed because he should fail of his End if these evil Actions were not done This is his Logick let him look to it But 3. What I conceive to be Truth concerning Free-Will I will give you a short account from what I have formerly published in a little Catechism where in Page 21. I put these Questions and Answers following What mean you by the third part of Repentance Answ I mean first a boly loathing of Sin because it is of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. and because God hates it And because Christ died because of it 2. To abstain from the act of Sin in Desire Word and Deed as much as possible God saw their Works that they turned from their Evil Ways Break off thy Sins by Righteousness Repent ye therefore and be Converted This is to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Quest Hath Man any liberty of Will and any measure of Power thus to hate and forsake Sin Answ 1. By the Bounty of God Man hath some liberty and power this way He is not chained to his Sins of Necessity Chuse you this day whom you will serve To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts Mary hath chosen the good part 2. Man's infirmity in the exercise of this Liberty and Power is so great that he is not to depend upon this Liberty and Power but upon the Strength of God in the use of them Hos 14. 2. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Now let any Sober Christian tell me how it is possible to make the Will of Man an Imperial Majesty out of my Words that is a Majesty that hath no Peer for no less than such a Slander would serve Mr. Firmin to fix upon us especially upon my self For what cause he is so inveterate I know not But come Mr. Firmin will the Doctrine of a chief Man of your own please you if so you and I may agree in his Sentence Thus he speaks Austin as well as Pelagius Calvin as well as the Arminians the Dominicans as well as the Jesuits all generally maintain that Man hath Free-will Origen is condemned by Epiphanius for saying that Man had lost the Image of God This Image is two-fold 1. Natural i. e. Reason and Free Will. 2. Qualitative or Ethical i. e. Our Holiness and this is lost and by Grace restored No Man of Brains can deny that Man hath a Will naturally free it is free from Violence It 's a self-determining Principle but is not freed from evil Dispositions Mr. Baxter's Preface to his Call to the Vnconverted I think I need say no more to a Wise Man And I am sure this is as much as any Wise Man among us will say in this Matter CONCLVSION Mr. Firmin seems displeased at the multitude which will be Saved if my Opinion be true that all Dying Infants shall be Saved I will give you his own words I pray saith he whose Opinion are you of Huberus the promiscuous Salvation of all Or are you of Caelius Secundus Curio ' s Opinion That the number of the Elect and Saved is much greater than the number of the Reprobate and Damned Whether you or these or Christ be truest Mat. 7. 14. few find it the Day of Judgment will determine Here Sir you shew your Spirit But for answer Although I know that God is not willing that any should Perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. 1 Tim. 2. 4. yet I see too much cause to fear that but very few of the many to whom God is so long suffering to lead them to Repentance will consider his Goodness therein And that the far greater part will despise the Riches of God's Goodness and treasure up unto themselves Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God. And in this very respect I fear some old Professors such especially as have been Teachers of others and yet have not learned either Civility or Honesty in treating those who differ from them in Opinion As to the Text Mat. 7. 14. blessed be God Infants are in no danger by it they may all be Saved and so the number of the Saved be much the greater by them for seeing they none of them are walking in the Broad-way which leads to Destruction they must needs go the Way which leads to Life Tho as it is a strait way of Faith and Obedience and many Crosses for Christ's sake they can neither seek nor find it yet their Redeemer hath found it for them and has declared their Right to Heaven and will therefore in his own Time and Way bring them to the Enjoyment of that Kingdom which he hath prepared for them as well as others But here also we see you are unkind to many Dying Infants whilst you are sending them to Hell with those who walk in the Broad-way FINIS * It was not the Bp of Norwich for I never saw him nor did I ever dispute any Doctor out of the room as Mr. F. hath both foolishly and falsly reported in Print with no less than six other false and very frivolous Tales in half a Page Dr. Willit Hexap in Gen. p. 196 c. * You bid me understand what that Fallacy Ignoratio Elenchi is and here you are fallen into that Fallacy your self * In the Book of Wisdom we read That Wisdom preserved the first Father of the World and brought him out of his Offence Chap. 10. 1. which is agreeable to the Canonical Scripture Luke 3. 38. because Adam is called the Son of God. Dr. Willit Hexap in Gen. p. 56. See Diodat upon Gen. 17. 14. who is also clear in this Point