it a false Baptisme The Nature and vertue of the Sacrament doth not depend upon the intention of the Minister The Iewish Teachers in the time of Christ and of his Apostles had a corrupt and false end in Administring Circumcision to wit as necessary to Iustification and Salvation Act. 15. yet that misbeleife or unbeleife of man did not evacuate the Faith of God nor the truth of his Ordinance Rom. 3.3 In the Dispensing of any Ordinance of God a corrupt or false end may vitiate or evacuate any Ordinance to the Dispenser himselfe not so to the receiver They that preached Christ of envy intending to adde affliction to Pauls Bonds their intent was corrupt and false and so made their Ministery unprofitable to themselves Neverthelesse Paul rejoyced in the preaching of Christ even in such a way Phil. 1.15 16 17 18. which doubtlesse hee would not have done if the Preaching had beene false and produced onely false effects in the people of God CHAP. XXI THE Fifth exception against the Baptisme received in England Silvester taken from the false subject meaning Infants I am loth to trouble you any more with that wee have had already speach enough for the present about it But because I meete with a further doubt about it which stumbleth many I pray you speake a word further to it The true subject of Baptisme is beleevers and though you adde their seed also yet beleevers are the principall subject But now all the people of England being Baptized in their Infancy it is now come to passe that the Baptisme of beleevers is utterly abandoned out of England And if all other Churches did the like as generally they doe except it bee a fewâ— whom the rest doe commonly but falsely call Anabaptists then the Baptisme of beleevers would utterly be abandoned out of the world Silvanus Our answer is ready in two or three words First If Infants themselves bee beleevers as some of them be or else all of them be damned Mark 16.16 then in baptizing all the Infants of the faithfull the Baptisme of some beleevers is continued in them Secondly If all the people of England bee baptized and many of them bee beleevers then supposing as hath beene proved the Baptisme of the seed of beleevers to bee lawfull there is no beleever in England nor in any such like Church in the world that is left unbaptized Thirdly If a beleever bee not in Gods account baptized himselfe till his seed bee baptized also as hath been shewed above then abandon the Baptisme of the seed of beleevers two wit the Baptisme of Infants out of the world and abandon the baptisme of beleevers out of the world neither is there any conpetent reason that should exclude Infants the seed of beleevers from being capable and competent subjects of baptisme as well as their beleeving Parents For first They are consoederates with God partakers of his Covenant as well as their parents I will bee saith God a God unto thee and to thy seed Secondly They are Disciples of Christ Holy Freeborne receivers of the Kingdome of God as hath beene opened above Thirdly There is no Impediment in them to the Grace offered in Baptisme but what by Grace they are capable of the removall thereof For first Their a version from God is Habituall not actuall and therefore the pouring forth of the habit of Grace into them may remove it which the Holy Ghost is wont to doe in the washing of Regeneration Tit. 3.5 6. Secondly Their sin was by the fall of their first parents therefore their restoring may bee by the faith of their next parents God is wont to observe such a proportion in Captivity and Redemption Yee sold your selves for nought and ye shall bee redeemed without money Isa 52. â— Thirdly Lest the want of ability to make profâ—ssion of their faith should have bee taken up for an Impediment of their Baptism God himselfe professeth in their behalfe that they are holy the Disciples of Christ Partakers of his Covenant Receivers of his Kingdome In a word therefore If by all this conference that wee have had together it may appeare that the Infants of beleevers are true and capable Subjects of Baptisme then such as having beene baptized in their Infancy shall afterwards receive another Baptisme they are as well justly as commonly called Anabaptistâ— that is such as are rebaptized when they were once truly baptized before CHAP. XXII I Will reply no more for the present Onely this let mee say Silvester I finde my selfe by Grace able to beleeve for my self but not so well able to beleeve for my Children I deny not but that is possible Silvanus that a Christian man may beleeve some promises when hee cannot so readily beleeve others But first beleeve it it is a sinne to us not to beleeve all the gratious promises which the Lord maketh to us Zacharias could not beleeve that hee should have a sonne no not when a sonne was promised him but yet the Lord did not faile to performe his promise and chastened him for that unbeleife Luke 1.18 19 20. Secondly The former leaving of your judgement against the Baptisme of your seed is such a killing sinne to the life of the Covenant as much as in you lyeth that till you doe unfeignedly repent of it the Lord may justly leave you to straitnesse of heart and unbeleife in the promise for your childe Thirdly Notwithstanding the straitnesse of your heart and Faith towards your childe yet if you submit your selfe and childe unto the Lord and to his Covenant and to the seale thereof the Lord knoweth how to performe his promises with us and our children not onely above what wee can beleevâ— but above all that wee can aske or thinke Ehes 3.20 Fourthly Remember you had a faithfull Father and gratious Mother whom God did inable to beleeve for themselves and for their children to many Generations God is not wanting to respect children for the Covenant of their Fore-fathers when their next Fathers may bee straitned towards them Rom. 11.28 Fifthly Remember also that Sarah though shee beleeved not the promise of God for a childe at the first but laughed at it Gen. 18.12 13 14. yet afterwards by meditation upon the promise and upon the faithfulnesse and power of him that made it shee at length received strength both of faith to beleeve the promise and of body to conceive seed because she judged him faithfull who had promised Heb. 11.11 Follow her Godly example meditate on all the gratious promises have beene alledged and such other grounds of Faith in this point which have beene by the helpe of Christ propounded to you and who knoweth but you may receive of Christ strength of Faith to beleeve as for your selfe so for your childe and be ready to offer it up as your faithfull parents offered you to the Lord and to his Covenant and to the seale thereof That so God may bring upon you and upon yours all the good that hee hath promised to them that love him and keepe his Ordinancâ—s and may prevent and keepe of those fruits of his wrath and jealousy wherewith hee is wont to visit the sinnes of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth Generation For the Lord even our God is a jealous God a consuming Fire Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS
Covenant of grace And if any one of these promises belonged to them the whole Covenant of grace belonged to them also But to deale ingenuously and faithfully with you the Text which you quote out of Acts 2.41 might hold forth a just colour of an Objection if you had so applyed it against the argument gathered out of verse 38 39. for the baptisme of infants For if they who were baptized were such as gladly received his word verse 41. then it doth not appeare out of this place that infants were at that time baptized with the rest because they could not receive the word much lesse gladly least of all expresse their gladnesse by any visible profession This objection I confesse would have prevailed with me to have forborn any proof of the Baptisme of infants out of this place were it not partly for the Reasons which have been alledged above from the words of verse 39. partly also for that I finde the Lord Jesus is wont to accept the acts of Parents in the duties of the second Commandement as done for themselves and for their children as hath been touched above For look as when Levi is said to pay tythes in Abraham it was because Abraham in paying tythes was reputed of God as paying them for himself and for Levi Heb. 7.9 And as when Parents came and brought their children to Christ their comming was reputed of Christ as the comming of their children as well as of themselves Mar. 10.14 So when Peters hearers received the word gladly they gladly received in both for themselves and their children to wit both the word of promise which was expresly given to themselves and their children and also the word of Commandement which was grounded upon the promise and urged as farre as the promise extended Be baptized every one of you and thereupon they in receiving his word gladly did gladly give up both themselves and their children to be baptized Silvester But before you take the baptisme of infants concluded out of this place consider what you will say to another interpretation which I have seen made of this place For there bee that say That by the promise to you and to your children is not meant the Covenant of grace to you and to your children but the promise of sending the Holy Ghost to enable them and their sons and daughters to prophecy Which promise Peter quoted out of Joel Act. 2.16 17. which promise Christ received of the Father and had now shed abroad in their sight and hearing verse 33. and which Peter promised to them upon their repentance and baptisme verse 38. because the promise was to them and to their children Silvanus Thus sometimes you will have the promise to be understood of sending Christ and sometime of sending the holy Ghost but the truth is both are but effects of the same grace and both given by the same Covenant The English proverb speaketh of such men as are loath to see what they doe see that they cannot see the wood for trees so these men cannot see the Covenant for the promises what is the wood but a storehouse of trees and what is the Covenant of grace but the storehouse of the promises of grace In the Covenant of grace when God giveth himselfe to bee the God of the faithfull and of their seed the Father promiseth himselfe to be their Father Christ promiseth to be their Redeemer and the Holy Ghost promiseth to be their sanctifier You may as soone separate the persons in the Trinity from being one God as separate the gift of one of these persons to us and to our children from the gifts of the other or separate all these gifts or the promises of these gifts from the Covenant of grace But if the gift of the Holy Ghost be here promised to these Iews and Proselytes and to their children Silvester that they might speake with new tongues and prophecy then in this place by children cannot be meant infants for infants are not capable of speaking with tongues and prophecying The Apostle Peter Silvanus though he speake of the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost which in the former part of the chapter did enable the Disciples to speake with new tongues and prophecy yet he did not intend to limit and confine the gift of the Holy Ghost to that work in these Converts here for that would have been small comfort to them who were pricked in heart and enquired the way of salvation to put them off with a promise of the Holy Ghost to worke such gifts of tongues and prophecying as were common to hypocrites Matth. 7.22 23. 1 Cor. 13.1 The Apostle therefore who better knew how to satisfie and heale these wounded soules hee promiseth to them such a gift of the Holy Ghost as is joyned with remission of sinnes and accompanyeth salvation Act. 2.38 39. And though infants whilst infants are not capable of speaking with tongues and prophecying which is but one gift of the Holy Ghost and but a common gift neither yet they are capable of the Holy Ghost for regeneration and remission of sins which are the chief blessings of the Covenant which these Converts then stood in need of and for the effectuall working of which the Apostle telleth them The promise was made to them and to their children which indeed cannot bee wrought but by the gift both of Christ and of the Holy Ghost And now having said enough as I conceive if not too much for the clearing of these two first Arguments for the Baptisme of the infants of believers Let us now proceed to adde a third taken from the Analogy of the Circumcision of the seed of Abraham and the Commandement of God for the same Silvester I have heard much agitation of such an argument and more of that then of any other but I am very slow to believe the baptism of infants upon that ground CHAP. III. Silvanus DOe you not believe that God made a Covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed Gen. 17.7 c. Silvester What if he did Silvanus Did he not by that Covenant give him a Commandement to receive the signe of Circumcision the seal of the Covenant of grace to him and to his seed Silvester Gen. 17.9 10. Silvanus What of that Hath not the Lord given that Covenant of grace which was then to Abraham and his seed now to beleevers and our seed Silvester What then Silvanus I demand further hath not God abolished Circumcision and given us baptisme in the room thereof Silvester What of all this Silvanus Then out of all these it followeth that if the same Covenant of grace be now given to believers and our seed which was given to Abraham and his seed and if baptisme be now given to us as a seale of the Covenant in the room of Circumcision then the same Covenant which gave a Commandement or a word
ready even at that time to heare Counsell and to receive conviction from our Elders and other brethren if they could shew me any errour in this way Silvanus I doubt not your Elders and other brethren have not been wanting to use the meanes for your conviction and satisfaction But if the Lord espied an Idoll set up in your heart then he in his just displeasure would leave you to see nothing but according to yâ—ur Idoll If the heart be once taken with the love of an Errour it is all one if not worse as not to be taken with the love of tâ—uth And in such a case God is wont to the give up the soule â—o strong delusions to beleeve lies 2 Thes 2.10 11. But besides your owne Elders and brethren you wanted not other friends the Eders and brethren of some other Chuches whom you have been wont to consult withall in lesse matters and them you acquainted not with your scruples which whether it were out of loathnesse to grieve them or out of lothnesse to be removed from your way I doe not know Silvester I am not so wedded to my way but I am willing to heare counsell from the word of God And therefore neither am I unwilling to acquaint your selfe with my scruples in this point which I have gathered out of some bookes chiefely out of those which seeme to me most orthodoxall For they doe not as some others of that way doe deny Magistrates nor Predestination nor Originall Sinne Nor doe they maintaine Free-will in conversion nor Apostasie from Grace but onely deny the lawfull use of the Baptisme of children because it wanteth a word both of Commandement and Example from the Scripture It is well that any of that way doe condescend so farre unto the truth in these controversies Silvanus which doe so nearely concerne the grace of Christ and power of Godlinesse and Publike peace And I am bound in Christian love to beleeve that they who yeeld so farre doe it out of conscience as following herein the Example of the Apostle who professed of himselfe and his followers We can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth But yet I beleeve withall that it is not out of love to the truth that Satan yeeldeth so much to the Truth but rather out of another ground and as his manner is for a worse end He knoweth the times that now by the good and strong hand of God they are set upon purity and Reformation And now to plead against the Baptisme of children upon any of those Arminian and Popish grounds which be so grosly ungratious as those above-named Satan knoweth and seeth they would utterly be rejectâ—d He chooseth therefore rather to play Small Game as they say then to lose all He now relinquisheth all those grosse and ungratious tenents whereby he was wont to plead against childrens Baptisme and now pleadeth no other Argments in these stirring times of Reformation then may be urged from a maine Principle of Purity and Reformation to wit That no Duty of Gods Worship nor any Ordinance of Religion is to be administred in the Church but such as hath just warrant from the word of God And by urging this Argument against the Baptisme of children Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light and the Spirit of Error and Prophanenesse into a Minister of Truth and Righteousnesse And so he hopeth to prevaile either with those men who doe believe the lawfull and holy use of childrens Baptisme to renounce that Principle and so to renounce also all Reformation brought in by it or else if they stick to that Principle then to renounce the Baptisme of children And so the Reformation begun will neither spread farre nor continue long For if Godly Parents doe withdraw their children from the Covenant and from the Seale of the Covenant they doe make void as much in as them lyeth the Covenant both to themselves and to their children also And then will the Lord cut off such soules from his People Gen. 17.14 And so the Reformation begun with a Blessing will end in a curse and in a cutting Separation either of Parents or of children or of both from the Lord and his People That place in Gen. 17.14 speaketh not of Baptisme but of Circumcision Silvester Between which though there may be some Resemblance in regard of their common Nature and use yet this difference between them chiefely sticketh with me That Abraham and his naturall Posterity had an expresse Commandment and word of Institution from God for the circumcising of themselves and their Infant seed But the Beleevers of the New Testament though they have a Commandment from God to be Baptized themselves yet they have neither Commandment nor Example for the Baptisme of their Infant seed It is a Tempting of God even limiting of the Holy one of Israel Silvanus to put upon him to deliver his will onely by Commandment or Example or not at all As if God might not deliver his will by promise or threatning by Proportion or deduction by Consequence as well as by expresse Commandment or Example What Commandment or Example is their for women to partake of the Lords Supper yet the Proportion of the Lords Supper with the Passeover and Deduction from such Scriptures as put no difference between male and female make it to be received as the will and Ordinance of Christ That women able to examine and judge themselves should partake of the Lords Supper as well as the men Every shred of Gold hammered or drawne out of the wedge of Gold is as well Gold as the whole lumpe and wedge Whatsoever is drawn out of the Scripture by just consequence and deduction is as well the word of God as that which is an expresse Commandment or Example in Scripture But to helpe you if the Lord will over this stumbling block which you stick at the Baptisme of children is not without a Commandment and word of Institution from Scripture as may appeare two or three wayes Silvester Shew me any Commandment or word of Institution for the Baptisme of children and it sufficeth me CHAPT I. Declaring and Maintaining the first ground for the Baptisme of Children FIrst the Commission of the Lord Jesus given to his Apostles doth give us a Commandment and word of Institution for the Baptisme of children Mat. 28.19 20. Goe saith he to his Apostles and make Disciples as the word signifyeth all Nations some at least of all sorts in all Nations Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you to the end of the world In which Commission the Lord Jesus giveth commandment to his Apostles and to their Successors to the end of the world To performe three Acts 1 To make Disciple 2 To Baptize them 3 To teach them to observe all the Ordinances of
matter But he speaketh of the Covenant as it was dispensed unto Abraham and to his seed of old And his seed of old was meant Christ and all in Christ then as well as now And therefore if then Ismael was received to the Covenant and to the seale of the Covenant as the seed of Abraham and yet no seed of Abraham was accounted in the Covenant but the seed in Christ it is evident that Ismael was at first accounted to be in Christ though not as elect in Christ nor as united to Christ by his owne faith yet as abiding like a branch in the stock of Abraham in the body of the faithfull in the adoption of God and in the communion of Abrahams family till by persecuting Isaac and by mocking at the grace of Christ in him hee was cut off from that vine and cast out of the Covenant Whence it followeth that if the blessing of Abraham bee come upon us Gentiles and this blessing of Abraham bee the promises and Covenant made to him and his seed and if the seed of Abraham bee accounted all that are in Christ and all are accounted to bee in Christ in respect of the outward dispensation of the Covenant not onely which are elect and which are faithfull but also which are of the seed of the faithfull and live in communion with them till they come to reject Christ and the faith in him then it standeth undeniably firme and certaine that the Covenant of Abraham is made with believers now and and with our seed too even in these dayes of the New Testament The same truth is witnessed unto by the Apostle Peter also in Acts 2.39 as hath been opened above The promise saith hee is made to you and to your children where by promise is meant as appeareth by the former verse the promise of remission of sins and of receiving the holy Ghost which are of the principall sort of the sure mercies of the Covenant of grace It will be a vaine shift to distinguish between the promise and the Covenant here For every promise of God is a promise of one Covenant or other Now in the Covenant of works there is no free promise of remission of sins or of the holy Ghost but all the promises are given to workers Doe this and thou shalt live doe it not and die and be accursed In the New Testament therefore there is a Covenant of grace to beleevers and to their children as was to Abraham and to his seed If it be said this Promise and Covenant was to the Jews and to their children but not to the Gentiles and theirs The answer is plaine and easie it is a promise of the New Testament and in the new Testament the Jew hath no priviledge above the Gentile There is neither Jew nor Gentile there is no difference of any Nation in the spirituall priviledges of the New Testament but all are alike in Christ Jesus If it be said again the promise is to them and to their repenting and believing children and not else This exception hath been refuted above To which let mee adde that the promise was not onely to the repenting and believing Israelites nor onely to their children repenting and believing but God had promised also to poure his Spirit upon their children that they might repent and believe when Jacob is thirsty and like the dry ground God promiseth he will not onely pour out his Spirit like water upon him thus dry and thirsty but also I will poure saith he my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Isa 44.3 For it is the same water of the bloud and spirit of Christ of which God speaketh when he promiseth to poure cleane water upon them and therewith to take away their hard and stony hearts which must be removed by the spirit given them before they can come to repent and believe Ezek. 26 25. It is to the same purpose that upon the repentance and faith of Zacheus the Lord pronounceth salvation to bee unto his house Luke 19.9 This day saith he salvation is come to this house forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham which is not only in respect of the Religious care which Zacheus would take to teach his houshould the way of salvation but also in respect of the Covenant by which not onely Zacheus was bound to teach his houshold but the Lord also had bound himself to blesse the meanes of salvation to his houshold as it is written The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God c. Deut. 30.6 And againe those that dwell under his shadow shall returne Hos 14 7. The like promise of grace doth Paul and Silas preach to the Jaylor that upon his faith salvation should redound to his houshold Believe say they on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt bee saved and thine house Acts 16.31 which also was done and tooke effect the same night afore that the Gaoler could take any great paines for the instruction of them verse 34. All which do plainly argue that the faith of the parent doth bring the children and houshold of a Christian even now in the days of the new Testament under a Covenant of salvation as well as the faith of Abraham brought his houshold of old under the same covenant Whence also it is that Paul proveth the conversion of the Jews after the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come in from the Covenant of God made with their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob For saith he when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in all Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Zion a Redeemer and shall turne away ungodlinesse from Jacob. For this is my Covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake Rom. 11.25 26 27 28. which plainly argueth that for the Covenant sake made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Lord will convert and call home the Jews in the latter dayes although for the present they be rejected for their unbelief Therefore the Covenant of grace the Covenant of Abraham is of like force and extent now now in the dayes of the New Testament unto the faithfull and their seed as it was in the dayes of the Old Testament If it be said that this proveth no more then this that when the Jewes shall turne unto Christ by faith in their Redeemer then they shall inherit the Covenant of Abraham as all believers doe Answ Yes it proveth not that onely but this more that before their faith in Christ whilst they are yet enemies the Lord will turne unto them and give them faith and repentance to turne to him and that out of his Covenant even for the love that hee beareth to them for their godly fathers sake Howbeit we willingly grant that those Jewes who
degree of the highest and holiest communion in the Church but not to eat common bread at one anothers table for hee speaketh of the least degree of familiar society with such a one saying With such a one no not to eat but that by the way to cleare your mistake in that point But for the point in hand the Apostle had sufficiently cleared both his owne meaning and the Corinthians scruple touching their civill society with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes in expounding himselfe not to forbid them Communion with the fornicators or Idolaters of this world but of the Church whence it clearly appeard that their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes being not of the Church but of the world it was no part of the Apostles meaning in his former or latter letter to forbid them communion with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes So that if the scruple of the Corinthiane had sprung from the mistake of the Apostles former letter the Apostle had there fully cleared his owne meaning and withall removed their scruple there needed no more words of it againe here It seemeth therefore much more probable that their scruple arose from that other place which you mention Ezra 10. where the people of God are charged to separate themselves from the people of the land and from their strange wives which charge they obeyed also and fulfilled But if their scruple sprung from that place then the Corinthians had as just occasion to scruple the keeping of their children which they had by these wives as the keeping of their wives For the people of God in that Chapter of Ezra made an holy Covenant with God to put away not onely their strange wives but their children also which were borne of them v. 3. Now then let us come to consider of the Apostles answer to these scruples as you expound him The Apostle say you answereth from a double ground 1. In that all things are sanctified to such as beleeve Tit. 1.15 therefore beleevers may have a lawfull use of their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes This conclusion is true and intended by the Apostle but this ground of it the Apostle doth not here give but you fetch it from another Epistle It is true the marriage of the Corinthians with their unbeleeving yoak-fellows when they were both infidels being lawfull by Gods institution before now when one of them came to be converted to the faith the faith of the beleever did not make his former marriage which was lawfull before now unlawfull but rather gave him a pure and sanctified use both of his marriage and of his yoak-fellow But the Apostle doth not here give for a ground thereof the purity of all things to a beleever though hee might have given it for a just ground thereof but the onely ground which in this Text hee giveth of it is taken from the holinesse of their children Else saith hee were your children unclean but now they are holy which argueth that there is now in the dayes of the New Testament such an holinesse acknowledged by God to belong to the children from either parent beleeving as is sufficient alone though there were no other ground of it to ratify to the beleeving parent a sanctified use of his unbeleeving yoak-fellow which holinesse can bee no other but the holinesse which springeth from the Covenant of grace wherein God promiseth to bee a God to the beleever and his seed Whereas on the contrary if this holines of the children did onely arise from the lawfulnesse of the marriage of their Parents by the same ground upon which the Corinthians scrupled the lawfulnesse of their marriage with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes by the same they might justly scruple the lawfulnesse of their children which they had by them for in that place of Ezra whence you conceive their scruple either sprung or grew as the marriage of the Iews with strangers was uncleane and therefore strange wives to bee put away so their children also were uncleane and to bee put away also according to the counsell of God and the example of the people in that place Let us then proceed to examine your second ground which you say the Apostle giveth to satisfie the scruple of the Corinthians about the retaining of their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes 2. If you Corinthians judge your selves to live in such a way of uncleannesse upon which you must now part then your children so begotten are uncleane also and to be put away But in that you hold it lawfull to retaine your children and not to put them away though you beleeve and they beleeve not then much more the unbeleeving Parents that beare them For if the effect bee holy then must the cause be also holy that produceth the same which is Gods holy Ordinance of marriage and not the holy Covenant of grace This ground hath no ground at all neither in the Apostles words nor meaning not in his words for the Apostle doth not say your children are holy in your judgement or as you hold but the Apostle delivereth his owne Iudgement your children are holy Neither will it stand with the Apostles meaning nor with the divine wisedom power of an Apostolick spirit to prove an holy use of the parents mariage from the conceited holines which the Parents imagine to bee in their children For though in Disputation against an adversary it may bee of use to convince him out of his owne conceits yet in dealing with a scrupulous conscience it giveth no satisfaction to give him for grounds of lawfull Practise his owne conceits Neither hath it any ground at all from the Apostles words or meaning to gather as you doe from the holinesse of children an argument from the lesse to the greater That if the children bee holy and so lawfull to bee retained then much more the unbeleeving Parents that bare them because if the effect bee holy then must the cause also bee holy for the unbeleeving Parents are no cause at all of the holinesse of their children neither are they holy themselves by the holy Ordinance of marriage For though marriage it selfe bee holy in respect of the holy institution of it yet not in respect of the holy efficacy in it to make all them holy that enter into marriage estate yea as to beleevers all things are pure so to the unbeleever nothing is pure no not his marriage nor his yoak-fellow nor his children Though the unbeleeving yoak-fellow Paul saith bee sanctified to the beleever yet Paul never said that the beleever is sanctified to the unbeleeving yoak-fellow Unbeleevers are neither holy themselves nor is any thing else sanctified to them much lesse can they bee the cause of producing sanctification and holinesse in others And therefore Paul doth inferre the holinesse of children not from the holy Ordinance of marriage but from the holy Covenant of grace It had bin in vaine for the Apostle to have gon about to prove the lawfull retaining of the unbeleeving yoak-fellow from the holinesse of their children being in
seed Yet even in the times of the Law if a Gentile Proselyte especially of a remote Countrey were converted to the Jewish Religion hee was not bound to put away his children which he had by his Pagan wife whom hee had married in the dayes of his ignorance but he was bound to circumcise them as well as himselfe Exod. 12.48 And therefore hee was not bound to put them away but to account them holy and within the Covenant and so capable of the seale of the Covenant And since this believing Proselyte was holy and his seed also holy hee might therefore have a sanctified use of his wife though she still continued unbelieving And therefore if shee consented to dwell with him hee ought not no not then to have put her away but to abide with her which is the very case of the Corinthians here and the one of them doth fitly and fully illustrate the other And therefore further it is not a sound speech which you say touching these Corinthian yoke-fellows whereof one was a believer the other an unbeliever that this must first bee cleared whether they were uncleane or not in respect of themselves before ever they could believe the holinesse of their children or any such to bee in Gods gracious Covenant For as it was with those Proselytes of old so it was with the Corinthians then The believing Corinthian had just ground though hee knew not so much to believe himselfe to bee in the Covenant of grace as well as the believing Proselyte and his seed to be holy and in the Covenant and to have right to the seale of the Covenant as well as the seed of the believing Proselyte And from both to conclude to wit both from his owne faith and from the holinesse of his children that hee therefore hath a sanctified use of his yoke-fellow though yet uncleane in her selfe through her unbeliefe And therefore take notice further that it is another unsound speech of yours to say That it had been in vaine for the Apostle To goe about to prove the lawfull retaining of the unbelieving yoke-fellow from the holinesse of the children being in Covenant For the Apostle doth goe about to prove that very point from that very ground and from none other in that 14 ver Neither was it vaine so to doe unlesse wee charge vanity upon the holy Spirit of wisdome and truth and power that guided him And indeed the Argument is of eternall force both in the Church of Israel and in Christian Churches as hath beene shewn above But this seemeth a very unsound point to mee Silvester which I see you build much upon in this discourse which I cannot passe that by vertue of a believers estate in grace all his fruit is holy and partaketh in the same estate of grace with him unlesse they doe by some act of their owne deprive themselves of it as did Esau and Ishmael Against which I beiefly oppose these Arguments First if this be a truth then one may bee saved by another mans faith For here by vertue of a believers state in grace all his fruit that is his children partake of the same with him and so farre as hee doth onely by vertue of his grace or state in grace which is the same And so by the Fathers faith the Children share together with him in that Grace which his faith instates him in which is salvation it self Secondly This Doctrine taketh away the being of Originall sinne for here they are all holy and partakers of Grace untill they commit some actuall sin which denyeth any Originall sin for that would make them unholy though they never committed actuall sin in their own persons Thirdly it layeth a ground of falling out of an estate of grace For by this Doctrine Esau and Ishmael and all the Children of Beleevers are holy and partakers of the same grace before they committed actuall sin as Gen. 25.23 with Rom. 9.11 12 13. And so Gen. 17.20 21. and 21.9 10.12 But as it tends to Popery and Arminianisme so I shall leave it as an old Creed bare Error not worth any further medling with Silvanus Your bare mistake of our Doctrine in this point maketh your Arguments to fight against an errour indeed and bare enough but not against any Article of our Creed which wee confesse to bee all old even as old as the ancient and everlasting Covenant and yet never a whit the more old and bare by Crediting but the more new and warm by beleeving For to the beleever as to the New Creature all things become new whereas in your despoiling and stripping the Infant Children of beleevers out of the bands the swadling bands of the Covenant you conspire with old Adam herein in their destruction For as hee killed them by his fall so you bury them not in the Land of Promise but in the pit of perdition and land of oblivion and forgetfulnesse as forgotten of God in his Election forgotten of Christ in his Redemption forgotten of the Holy Ghost in his Sanctification and so quite out of the way of holinesse and Grace without Covenant without Hope without Christ without God in the world But to come to your mistake of our Doctrine which lyeth not in this That by vertue of a beleevers estate wee hold all his fruite to bee holy For wee acknowledge that rightly understood as you know wee expresse our selves that by vertue of a beleevers estate together with the vertue of the Covenant of grace to him and his seed all his fruite is holy But when you adde and partake in the same estate of grace with him there you quite mistake us For though all the fruite of a beleever bee holy yet all of them doe not partake with him in the same estate of all kindes of holinesse which their beleeving Father injoyeth much lesse so farre as he doth For whereas there be three sorts of holinesse as hath been touched above 1. One by imputation from Christ 2. Another by regeneration from the Spirit 3. A third by separation to God and to his Worship and to participation of the Ordinances through the Covenant The believing Parent enjoyeth all these but not so all his seed All of them indeed partake of the last Of the first onely the elect but not of the second till they be regenerate And against our Doctrine thus declared your arguments fall like Dagon before the Arke of the Covenant For to the first we readily answer It followeth not that if our Doctrine be a truth then one may be saved by anothers faith For we doe not teach that all within the Covenant or all that are holy by the Covenant are saved or are in a state of salvation But that by the Covenant they are either in a state of salvation or under the meanes of salvation Neither doe we teach that all under the Covenant of grace are in a state of grace unlesse a state of grace be taken in a large sense
for such a state in which they receive the offer and meanes of grace which to the elect seed doe become effectual much lesse do we teach that by vertue of a believers being in a state of grace all his children doe partake of the same grace with him and that so farre as he doth These things wee neither believe nor professe neither can they be gathered from our doctrine by any just consequence Secondly to your second the answer is as easie For 1. We doe not say that the children of believers are holy with that holinesse which accompanyeth regeneration and mortifieth originall corruption but onely with that holinesse whereby they are admitted to the meanes of grace with promise of efficacy to the elect seed and offers thereof to the rest so farre as to leave them without excuse 2. Suppose we did hold that which is farre from us to conceive that all infants in the Covenant were regenerate and so holy as well as their beleeving Parents and as farre as they Yet that would not take away the being or remaining of Originall sinne in them but onely the reigning of it For doe you thinke that the being of Originall sin is taken away from regenerate believers We for our part believe what we have cause to grone under that Originall sin remaineth in a believer and though it be pardoned and in some measure mortified yet it is not utterly destroyed till death To your third wee deny that our doctrine is any ground of falling away out of an estate of grace if you speake of an estate of saving grace For wee doe not say that all within the Covenant or under the seale of the Covenant are in an estate of saving grace Though in a large sense all the members of the Church whether Infants or Professors of the faith are in such a state of grace as that they do partake of the common gifts of grace and of the Ordinances of grace Neverthelesse they may fall away from such grace which the Apostle feared in some of the Galatians Gal. 5.4 To your fourth and last we answer it were a false slander if you should report that our Doctrine doth hold forth that ever Esau or Ishmael were subjects of a saving estate of saving grace For though we say they were borne under the Covenant of grace and were made partakers of the seale of the Covenant yet wee doe not say they were ever subjects of Gods saving grace It is a grace to partake in the meanes of grace and in the enjoyment of many gifts of common grace and in the offers of saving grace and yet many have enjoyed all these who neverthelesse were never subjects of saving grace neither of election whereof your two former texts speake nor of perseverance in the Covenant whereof your two latter speake And to fall from such an estate of grace I leave it to you upon second thoughts to judge whether it tend to Popery and Arminianisme or no. To gather up then the summe of all this discourse about the Covenant of Abraham to an head You have seen it now proved and maintained against all exceptions 1. That God made a Covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed 2. That God gave circumcision to be a seale of the same Covenant to Abraham and to all his infant-seed 3. That by the redemption of Christ the Covenant and blessing of Abraham is come upon the beleeving Gentiles and our seed 4. These things being already cleared the fourth thing that remaineth to be cleared is that circumcision being now abolished Baptisme succeedeth in the roome thereof as a seale of the same Covenant to believers and our seed Which if it may appeare then it will appeare also that the same Covenant of grace which gave a Commandement or word of institution for the Circumcision of faithfull Abraham and his seed doth also hold forth the same commandement and word of institution for the Baptism of faithfull Gentiles and our seed Now that Baptisme doth succeed Circumcision it is evident from the testimony of Paul Col. 2.11 12. where the Apostle having proved that we are compleat in Christ by the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him v. 9 â—0 Lest it might bee objected that wee want circumcision and consequently we want the spirituall benefit signified and sealed by it which is the cutting off of the body of the sinnes of the flesh the Apostle answereth wee are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ v. 11. And lest it should have been objected againe that wee want an outward signe and seale of this spirituall benefit the putting off of the body of the sinnes of the flesh The Apostle answereth again no neither doe we want the outward sign and seale thereof we being buried with him in Baptisme v. 12. The Argument seemeth to me somewhat weake Silvester and therefore a weake answer shall serve What though Baptisme succeed circumcision must it needs follow that as infants were circumcised so they must of necessity be baptized The new Testament succeedeth the Old must it needs therefore follow that the same Order be observed now as then It is well that you acknowledge the weaknesse of your answer Silvanus for if you had not the weaknesse of it bewrayeth it selfe but we acknowledge no weaknesse of the Argument unlesse it bee the weaknesse of God which the Apostle saith is stronger then men 1 Cor. 1.25 But you are deceived if you thinke a weake answer will serve a weake argument a weake adversary despised gathereth strength by contempt The Gileadites being despised as fugitives proved too heard for the Ephraimites Judg. 12.4 The Jewes being despised for a feeble company strengthened themselves in God from the contempt of their despisers Nehem. 4.2 3 4. yea there is no sinfull weaknesse of the Creature no not any weak thought but requireth weapons mighty through God to subdue it 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And therefore you are much mistaken when you thinke a weake Answer will serve a weak Argument But let us consider your answer such as it is What though say you Baptisme succeedeth Circumcision must it needs follow that as infants were circumcised they must of necessity be baptized Yes verily or else Baptisme doth not succeed Circumcision for what is succession but the substitution of latter things for former things in the same subject If the subject bee changed so farre as there is a change of the subject there is no succession If Belshazzar dye and Cyrus or Darius reigne in Persia here is no succession But if Belshazzar King of the Chaldeans die and Darius King of Persia succeed in the Kingdome of the Chaldees then there is a true succession else not especially in the case in hand it was requisite for the clearing of the Apostles doctrine that Baptism should succeed upon all those persons on whom Circumcision proceeded or else the
of such is his Kingdome Mar. 10.14 whose divine testimony of them is as clear an evidence to us that God giveth them right unto the fellowship of the Church and to the seal thereof as the testimony of men can give unto themselves or others by their verball profession or any other visible effects of Faith Doe not say that you are farre from denying in the least measure salvation unto Infants For if Infants dye in their Infancy you have apparently declared it above that you doe not acknowledge them to bee subjects capable either of election to grace and glory or of Union with Christ or the Covenant of Grace And then how wee should beleeve you when you say you doe not in the least measure deny salvation to Infants and yet deny all such meanes of salvation without which it is impossible they should bee saved judge you But to come to the ground you work upon in denying to them Baptism whereas Circumcision was granted to them of old and in both a promise of salvation sealed up to them untill they came to reject it Though Baptisme you conceive succeed Circumcision yet you put a great difference between them both in matter and manner in persons and things And what might that great difference bee in so many particulars Circumcision say you sealed to things temporall and carnall as well as to spirituall and so were the subjects carnall as well as spirituall Baptisme onely sealeth to Faith in Christ and to Grace in the New Birth I pray you doth not Baptisme seale to the Covenant of Grace as well as Circumcision in whose room it succeedeth And doth not the Covenant of Grace contain promises of temporall and carnall or outward blessings as well as spirituall Hose 2.18.21 22 23. Hath not godlinesse in the New Testament as well as in the Old the Promises of this life as well as that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Doth not Baptisme expressely seale up unto us our deliverance out of Affliction as well as out of corruption yea to the raising up of our bodies out of death in the grave as well as of our soules out of the death in sin 1 Cor. 15.29 It is therefore utterly untrue that Baptisme sealeth onely to Faith in Christ and to grace in the New Birth For it sealeth to all the blessings of the Covenant as well those of this life as of that which is to come That which sealeth to this grand blessing of the Covenant that God will bee a God to such or such sealeth unto all other gifts of God also God never giveth himself alone but hee giveth his Son and his Spirit also And hee that giveth us his own Sonne saith the Apostle shall hee not with him give us all things else also Rom. 8.32 Yea where Christ is given hee giveth Repentance unto Israel and conversion or turning of the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and of the Children to the Fathers and both of them to the Lord. Act. 5.31 and Luk. 1.16 17. And Baptisme is a seale of these promises as of the whole Covenant And therefore Baptisme is not onely as you say a seale to Faith and to the Grace of the New Birth as if it onely confirmed our own Faith touching our own estates and our own New Birth But it confirmeth also our Faith that God will give Faith and Repentance to our Children and turn their hearts both to the Lord and to us And therefore hee powreth the water of Baptisme upon our Children that hee may confirme this promise of Grace the powring out of clean water of his Spirit and of his blessing as well upon our seed and off-spring as upon our selves Isai 44.3 Another difference which you put is that Circumcision sealeth to things to come as under Types and shadowes and so to subjects in a cloud and darknesse whereas Baptisme confirmeth Faith in things come and already done and hath for its subjects Children of the light in the clear evidence of the Spirit with face open Suppose this difference were true That Circumcision sealed to things to come and Baptisme to things come Circumcision to things vailed Baptisme to things open Yet this is but a circumstantiall difference in the manner of revealing the blessings promised but this argueth no materiall difference at all in the persons the subjects of the seale It will onely argue thus much that whereas the same Christ and the things of Christ were sealed up to them and to their seed more darkly they are sealed up to us and our seed more clearly and plainly Besides it is not altogether true that Circumcision sealed up to them things to come For both Baptisme and Circumcision doe seale to both things come and things to come Circumcision sealed to Abraham God to bee his God and the righteousnesse of Faith both which were already come to Abraham before hee was circumcised It sealed up also sundry things to come to him and his seed as their deliverance out of Egypt their inheritance of Canaan and the comming of the Messiah But when the Israelites came to enjoy Canaan Circumcision did not then seal to their deliverance out of Egypt or to their inheritance of Canaan as things to come but as to things come and already done Circumcision sealed to the children of Israel that God would circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their seed Deut. 30.6 which was a thing to come to such of them as were unregenerate But after they were Regenerate the same Circumcision was a seale of that blessing which God had already done for them So is it with Baptisme Now that Christ is come in the flesh Baptisme sealeth that to us as a thing already done which to them was a thing to come And yet the comming of Christ into our hearts is a thing partly done in the Regenerate and yet more fully to bee done even to us and to many of our children it is a thing to come To the children of God that walk in darknesse and see no light which is the case of many and at some time or other of all the return of the Comforter is a thing to come and Baptisme is a seale thereof and yet it is a seale also of the first fruites of the Spirit which are already come Baptism is a seale of the Redemption of Christ which is already wrought for us And it is a seale of our deliverance from all afflictions and from all temptations and from all corruptions and from all enemies even from death it self and many of these are yet to come So that I can but wonder why such a difference as this should bee alleged to prove a personall difference of the subjects of Baptism and the subjects of Circumcision If it bee said as you partly expresse and partly imply that wee who live under Baptisme are the children of light but they that lived under Circumcision were the children of darknesse and therefore though their children being in