Christ From whence two Arguments offer themselves for the Institution of the Baptisme of the children of the faithfull Argument 1. Such as be disciples they are to be Baptized But the children of the Faithfull they are disciples Therefore children of the Faithfull they are to be Baptized The former proposition is clearly exprest in the Text Make disciciples and baptize them All Disciples therefore are to be baptized The latter proposition That all the children of the Faithfull in which is all one all the children of the Church for the Church is a Congregation of the faithfull that they are all of them Disciples may appeare by the Testimony of the Prophet Esay who speaking of the times of the Church in the New Testament All thy children saith he shall be taught of God Esay 54.13 and if they be taught of God then are they Disciples for that is the meaning of the word Disciples Disciples are taught or learnt of God Doe not put me off with that Evasion That the Promise is made not to the children of the visible Church but of the Invisible For looke what promises are made to the Invisible Church they are for their sakes offered to all the Members of the Visible Churches whereof the lively Members are the chiefe By the children in Esay may be meant not Infants but men of yeares unto whom the whole Church may be counted a Mother and they to her as children I deny not but that may be part of the meaning yet so as not to exclude the Infants or children of the Faithfull from the number of the children of the Church For the same Prophet speaking of the same Church Silvester fetcheth in Infants among the blessed ones of the Church and blessed with such spirituall light and life from Christ as if they had lived an hundred years in the Church Silvanus Esa 65.20 There shall be no more saith he thenceforth an Infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes For the child shall dye an hundred yeares old but the sinner being an hundred yeares old shall be accursed How shall the child dye as at an hundred yeares old but that he is so well instructed and inlightned by Christ and thereby as capable of entrance into heavenly glory as a growen disciple of an hundred yeares old The Allegoricall sense which some force upon Infants as if by them were meant young Converts though of riper yeares the Text will not beare it For the Text maketh an expresse opposition betweene these Infants in the Church and sinners of an hundred yeares old Where the two extreame periods of mans life old age of an hundred years Infants being set one against another Infants cannot be fitly meant of any but those of fewest dayes even Infants of a few dayes of a yeer or two old And besides the Holy Ghost in the Text giveth a Reason of this Grace together with some other like favours unto Infants in the Church above Sinners of an hundred yeares old taken from the Covenant of their blessed Ancestors v. 23 For they are saith he the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them And evident it is that the Apostle Peter reckoneth Infants of the Church for Disciples For in Acts 15.10 reproving the way of false Teachers who would have put Circumcision upon the Gentile Churches and their seed Why tempt ye God saith he to put a yoake upon the neck of the Disciples If the Infants of the Church had not been Disciples the false Apostles could have pretended no power to have put that Ordinance upon them And Peter rejecteth it not because Infants were no Disciples but acknowledging them to be Disciples as well as their Fathers the yoake of Circumsion was now too heavy for them as drawing upon them the yoake of the Ceremoniall Law It is to the same purpose that Christ speaketh of such little Children Silvester Mark 10.14 Luke 18.16 17. Of such saith he is the Kingdome of God which argueth that even little Children are the members of the Church which is the Kingdome of Grace here Silvanus and heires of the Kingdome of Glory hereafter and therefore Disciples for to whom Christ is a King he is also a Prophet Christ doth not say that of Infants is the Kingdome of God but of such as Infants be that is of such simple ones so free from pride and malice Then he might as well have said Suffer Doves and Lambs to come unto me for of such such simple and harmelesse ones is the Kingdome of God But that â—hrist speaketh of little children as such may appeare further from the Text In that he saith Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdome of God as a little child to wit as a little child receiveth it for so much the Grammar construction requireth he shall in no wise enter therein Now it cannot be said of Doves and Lambs Whosoever receiveth not the Kingdome of God as a Dove or a Lambe receiveth it he shall in no wise enter into it 2. Wherefore should Christ command little children to be brought unto him and be so angry with his Disciples for rebuking them that brought them if they were not at all capable of spirituall fellowship with Christ in his Kingdom but onely served to fetch a Similitude from their Simplicity and Innocency Did he ever say Suffer Doves and Lambes to come unto me for of such is the Kingdome of God 3. Why doth Christ put it for all one for little children to come to him and to be brought to him as he doth Luke 18.15 16. but that he accepted the Act of Prents in bringing their children to him as all one with ther Act of children in comming themselves to Christ Jesus for Chist saith Suffer little Children to come to me and yet they came not to him but as their Parents brought them 4. Christ his Imposition of hands upon them argueth their consecration unto God not as Sacrifices of Bulls and Goates to be slaine which was one use of laying on of hands Levit. 1.4 nor to ordaine them unto office which was another use but as partakers of spirituall blessings and of Adoption into the family of Israel which was another use of laying on of hands Gen. 48.5 with 14. So that let all this Testimony of Christ concerning little Children and his carriage towards them be well weighed and it will evidently evince that for which it is alledged That little children born in the Church are accounted by Christ amongst those blessed ones of Christ of whom his Church and Kingdome consisteth And so are taught of God as the Disciples of Christ And therefore are commanded of Christ to be baptized with their beleeving Parents Silver The blessing of Christ upon these infants was for bodily cures as is manifest by the dâ—sires of those that brought them to Christ which was not that he should baptize them but that he would touch them and
them Christ himselfe acknowledgeth one Churth to bee all Faire and to have no spot in her Cant. 4.7 and that is interpreted by some Expositors and as I take it most fitly of the Primitive Apostolick Church at Hierusalem described Acts 2. and Acts 4. towards the end of both chapters And yet even in that Church were found Ananias and Saphira who were but dead members and neither suitable to their head Christ nor to the immortall seed of the word of which that Chuch was begotten The place in Mal. 2.15 speaketh lesse to the purpose for what though God sought a godly seed doth hee alwayes finde what hee is said to seeke God sought for one to stand in the gap but hee found none Ezek. 20.30 Besides the godly seede there spoken of is in the Originall the seed of God which is not meant of every Church-member for what is the marryage of one man with one woman in our first Parentes unto that Seeing it is a patterne that bindeth Pagans as well as Christians but it is meant of Christ Jesus The place in Ephes 2.14 to 20. sheweth what the Church of Gods Redeemed bee and all the spirituall members thereof but neither proveth that all the members of the Church are such or that the Infants of beleevers are not such The Church of God in Zion was built upon the foundation of the Prophets and it was an habitation to the Lord. Psal 102.13 yet infants were members of it The place in John 4.23 sheweth as I said before what God seeketh not that hee findeth all such in every Church much lesse that hee excludeth Infants out of the Church till they can make it appeare by open profession of their faith that they doe worship him in Spirit and truth It hath bin proved above that of Infants is the Kingdome of God Mar. 10.14 that is the Church and yet they cannot professe and declare any such worship in their owne Persons though indeed the Acts of their godly parents in that case are there accepted of Christ as the Acts of the Infants For Christ accepted their Parents bringing of them to him as if they had come to him in their owne persons Suffer saith hee little children to come unto mee and yet they came not but as they were brought Silvester There is a large difference betweene the Iews and Gentiles in respect of outward Priviledges The Infants of the Iews had a speciall reason for their admittance into the fellowship of the Iewish Church which doth not now continue in Christian Churches Of the Iews came Christ the Saviour of man and therefore salvation is said to bee of the Iews Rom. 9.5 Iohn 4.22 In respect of which there was a blessed promise passed upon the Iews for the bringing forth of the Messiah and the promised seede in whom all Nations should be blessed And therefore all of that Nation were admitted to the outward Priviledges as figures of him whom that Nation was to bring forth So that a fruitfull wombe was counted a great blessing among the Iews as not knowing who might be so honourable as to bring forth that blessed and all blessing seede And therefore God honoured the Naturall birth with such outward blessings and priviledges which belong not to the Gentiles at all The Gentiles now are to looke for their bringing forth Christ according to the Spirit as the Iews did then according to the flesh and likewise their birth and their seed and all things suitable to the same as Joh. 3.3.5 6. Ioh. 1.12 13. And therefore wee are said now to know no man after the flesh 2. Cor. 5.16 And Circumcision was one Priviledge of the flesh Phil. 3.4 5. Therefore though the Iews Infants were admitted to all those outward Priviledges being a Nationall people and so a Nationall body with a naturall birth and the like seede in generall yet the Gentiles Infants cannot bee admitted to their spirituall priviledges they being a personall People called by the word of Grace and so a spirituall body with a spirituall birth and the like seed It is true there is some difference between the Iews and the Gentiles Silvanus in respect of outward Priviledges for not to â—over in generalities wherein lyeth deceit the Iews or rather the house of Israel being Gods first borne Exod. 4.24 and so our elder brother they were the excellency of Dignity and the excellency of power glorious and mighty wonders the Lord often wrought for them they had the preheminence of them was Christ of them were the Fathers the Patriarchs and the Prophets and to them were committed the Oracles of God And if you will so account it a double portion to injoy both a Congregationall Church and a Nationall they injoyed both a Congregationall Church in their Synagogues and a National Church at Hierusalem in their solemne feasts But two things let mee here put you in minde of first that when the Elder brother for his demerit is disinherited of his Birth-right as Reuben sometime was his preheminence of honour and double portion is divided amongst his younger brethren no part of it is lost So is it here The Church of Israel being disinherited all the spirituall priviledges all the honour and power which they injoyed either in their Synagogue or in their Nationall Assemblies is now set over to our Congregationall Churches and as for the outward Priviledges which the house of Israel injoyed as a wordly Kingdome and the power and glory thereof they were no part of the priviledges of their Church estate but accessories and additaments thereunto For in the Covenant of Abraham God spake nothing of a worldly kingdome but of affliction for 400. yeares Gen. 15.13 as therefore worldly power and glory were cast in as accessorie to the Church of the Old Testament so they may be also in the New If the Churches of the New Testament shall bind Kings in chaines as is prophecyed Psal 140.8 and execute upon them the judgement written then surely Christian Churches shall have some Kings to bee members of their body else what have they to doe to judge them that are without the Apostle saith Godlinesse hath the promises of this life as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 What though Church power bee not administred with worldly pompe and what though all the children of the Church bee equall in Church-Priviledges yet some or other of the children of the Church ate capable of great preheminence even in outward Priviledges They may be Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 which though some understand of spirituall power yet not so properly for spiritual power is not princely in the earth Besides if civil Magistracy be lawful amongst men which you deny not some of the children of the Church may bee as fitly employed in such a principality as Pagans And surely the time shall come when according to the prophecy of Daniel chapt 7.27 the Kingdome and the Dominion and the greatnesse of the
appeare that Christ spake to Nicodemus of entring into the visible Church for Christ did not seek to gather a visible church separate from the Church of the Jews till after his ascension But he spake to him of entrance into the Kingdome of Glory and such a state of salvation in the Kingdome of Grace as onely regenerate persons did attaine unto whether Jews or Christians Christ would never have called Iudas to Office in his Church which is the place of an emiment member if none could enter into the visible Church but regenerate persons Your other place in John 1 1â— 13. doth not speake of the estate of the members of the visible Church in the dayes of the New Testament but of the Adoption and Regeneration of the Elect members of the visible Church of the Old Testament For all the words of the Evangelist Iohn from v. 1. to 14 are a description of Christ 1. What hee was from eternity v. 1 2. 2. What hee was in the Creation v. 3 4. 3. What hee did to men after the fall v. 5. c. 4. What hee did to the world of Pagans by his workes of Creaation and Providence v. 9 10. 5. How hee came to his owne people of Israel in his Ordinances v. 11. And yet many of them received him not to wit by faith in sincerity and truth v. 11. But those that did receive him that is beleeve in him to them hee gave power or priviledge not to bee called but to become his sons v. 12. And these were borne to wit borne againe not by power of Nature but by the grace of God v. 13. Then it followeth the Word became flesh v. 14. So that it may appeare plainly by the Context that Iohn speaketh not of the estate of the people of the New Testament before they can enter into the visible Church but of the spirituall estate of all the beleeving Saints of the Old Testament The other place in 2 Cor. 5.16 wee have opened it above Wee now know no man after the flesh no not Christ himselfe now In which words it is no part of the Apostles scope or meaning to set forth what qualifications are to bee attended to in addmitting members into the visible Church but to direct Church-members and all Christians not to esteeme of themselves others according to common gifts and carnall excellencies and outward Priviledges wherein the false Apostles gloryed v. 12. but to live as those who have fellowship with Christ in his death and resurrection and therefore not to live unto our selves or to this world but unto Christ v. 14 15. And lest it should bee objected Why time hath beene when you Paul your selfe have gloryed in carnall excellencies and Jewish Priviledges yea and have esteemed meanly of Christ himselfe for his poverty sake and because hee was rejected of the high Priests and Elders Paul answereth though we have known Christ after the flesh that is though wee have esteemed meanly of him according to his meane outside yet now henceforth wee neither know or acknowledge him or any man else according to the flesh Where by knowing no man after the flesh he doth not meane that bee now knoweth no seed of the faithfull to have any Priviledge or right unto Church-estate by their naturall birth through the the Covenant of their Parents but that whatsoever priviledge themselves or their Parents or any others have by their Church-estate or Covenant or seales of the Covenant or gifts of knowledge and utterance or the like they should not acknowledge them as things to bee rested till they come to bee new creatures in Christ Jesus And to the same purpose tendeth the other place which you quote Phil. 3.4 5. where Paul calleth all these outward Priviledges flesh and professeth though hee might as well trust in them and boast of them as any other man yet hee counted them all if they bee trusted in without Christ as losse and drosse and dung in comparrison of Christ But if by this argument you would exclude the Infaâ—â—s of beleeving Parents from Church-fellowship and the seale thereof you might as well reject Church-fellowship and Church-Covenant and the seales of the Covenant and all confessions of Faith and subjection to the Ordinances and fruitfulnesse in good workes for all these trusted in are losse and drosse and dung in comparison of Christ nor doth our righteousnesse before God stand in them And thus it was also in the Old Testament as well as now So that all this which you have alledged proveth no difference at all between the Infants of the Jews and the Infants of the Gentiles in respect of spirituall Priviledges For all these places doe as well concerne men of yeares as Infants and Iews as well as Gentiles And though you call us a personall people and the Jews a Nationall people yet neither were they at first Nationall but Domesticall as hath been said And for us if you meane that every beleever receiveth the Covenant of grace to his owne Person but not to his seede It is utterly untrue for the contrary hath been proved at large above and your exceptions answered that one promise of grace might stand for many which Paul gave to the Jailor Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt bee saved and thy house Act. 16.31 As also that other testimony of his to the Corinthians that the children of beleeving Parents yea of either Parent beleeving are holy 1 Cor. 7.14 Silvester The holinesse which the Apostle speaketh of in that place to the Corinthians is not the holinesse which proceedeth from Gods holy Covenant of grace but from Gods holy Ordinance of Marriage For under the Gospell there is no holinesse that can inright to any Priviledge of grace but either the holinesse of Christ in whom God looketh upon his children as holy in him and through him giveth them right to all things both in grace and glory Ephes 1.4 5 6. Or that holy frame of Gods workmanship by the holy spirit of regeneration appearing in the holy effects and fruits thereof by which the persons appeare before men to have right to the aforesaid Priviledges There is great difference in point of Holinesse betweene the holy Covenant of grace and the holy Ordinance of Marriage Silvanus The Covenant of grace is holy not onely in regard of the efficient cause because it was instituted by the holy God but also because it giveth right to holy Priviledges and denominateth them to bee holy whether persons families or nations whom God calleth into such Covenant with himselfe For it separateth them from other people and setteth them apart to the Lord and his holy worship Deut. 7.6 7 8 9. But the Ordinance of Marriage is holy onely in regard of the efficient cause because it was instituted by the holy God but it neither giveth right to holy Priviledges nor denominateth them to be holy whom God calleth unto that estate God never called persons or families
infant to be solemnly presented and offered to him in that seale of the Covenant till the seven dayes were fulfilled However it was certaine it is that the limitation of the eighth day was not a morall appendant to the Covenant of grace And therefore the Infants of believers both in those former times and in these now partaked in the Legacies of the Covenant of grace as well before eight days as after Nay say you in the New Testament as the last Will of Christ the Legacies therein contained as the Priviledges and blessing of Abraham are given onely to such as believe and to none else Two things let me here answer you 1. It implyeth a contradiction to say the blessing of Abraham is given to believers and onely to believers and to none else intending thereby to exclude the infants of believers For what is the blessing of Abraham Is it not this promise of grace that God will bee a God to him and his seed If this blessing then come upon believers then this promise commeth upon them That God will be a God to them and their seed You must therefore either deny the blessing of Abraham to come upon believers or else you must grant the promise of grace to come upon them and upon their seed also Yea say you upon their believing seed such as succeed them in the same faith and truth not upon others If that were the meaning of the promise it could not bee said with any congruity of speech that the promise commeth upon the seed of believers at all For when the children of believers come to be believers the promise commeth not to them at all as the seed of believers but as believers themselves The children of Pagans when they come to beleeve may as well claim the promise to belong unto them as may the children of believers when themselves doe believe The second thing that I would answer you is that all the places which you alledge to prove that the priviledges of the Kingdom of Christ doe belong only unto believers they onely speake of saving priviledges flowing from faith All which wee readily grant you as a point out of controversie doe all of them belong to believers and not immediately to the children of believers till they come on themselves to believe likewise But this wee further claime in the behalfe of the children of believers which wee have proved before though you are willing to take no notice of it that the children of believers doe come on themselves to believe by reason of the Covenant of grace which God hath made with believers and their seed for by that Covenant hee hath promised to write the law of faith as of all other saving graces in their hearts that they also may come in Gods time and way to enjoy all the other saving priviledges of the Covenant as did their Fathers before them To take a short survey of the places which you quote that Text in Gal. 3.22 holdeth forth that the promise to wit the promise of eternall life of which he spake in the next verse before is given by faith to them that believe So is also the righteousnesse of faith given to them that believe as the other places you quote shew Rom. 4.11 12. Gal. 3.6 7. So likewise the inheritance of glory is given to sonnes even the regenerate sonnes of God who have received the spirit of adoption as your other place sheweth Rom. 8.17 But what doth all this prove That no Legacies of the New Testament no priviledges of the Covenant of grace no blessing of Abraham belongeth to the children of believers It proveth indeed that the righteousnesse of faith and eternall life and glory doe belong to believers and to such as are regenerate by the spirit of adoption But what thinke you of faith it selfe and the spirit of adoption Are they not also Legacies of the New Testament Are they not the Priviledges of the Covenant and of the blessing of Abraham And these when they are first given they are not given to believers who have them already but to such as have them not And therefore the children of believers are capable of these Legacies and priviledges by the blessing of Abraham in the new Covenant For this is a promise of the new Covenant they shall all know mee from the least of them to the greatest of them Jer. 31.34 And that knowledge is faith upon which sinnes are forgiven Isa 53.11 And this is another promise of the same Covenant I will poure my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Isa 44.3 If then the Spirit and Faith be given by the New Testament or which is all one the new Covenant then all the Legacies and priviledges and blessings of the Covenant are not given onely believers but some also to the children of believers that they may receive the spirit and faith also It is therefore a slender evasion to alledge as you doe that the children and off-spring of believers are such onely as succeed them in the same faith and truth and so are called the generation of the righteous For they did not succeed them in the same faith and truth and righteousnesse till it was given them and given them it was by a legacy of the New Testament when they were onely the children of the faithfull and had neither faith nor truth nor righteousnesse in them The other places which you quote do shew that men of yeares as well as children are sometimes called the seed of the Church And that the godly ones amongst them are begotten of the immortall seed of the word and are regenerate by the spirit of grace have a seed of God dwelling in them are maligned by the carnall seed are approved of God and acknowledged as heires of the Kingdome of glory All which are truths out of question But none of all the places doe exclude the Infants of believers nor their growne naturall children from being subjects of this grace of the Covenant to have the Spirit of grace and faith poured upon them by vertue of the Covenant One onely place of all the rest might seem to look that way which you quote out of John 3.5 6 where it is said that the carnall seed as being flesh and destitute of the spirit cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And indeed if by the Kingdome of God were meant the Church as oftentimes it is the objection would bee more difficult to resolve But the truth is in that place by the Kingdome of God is plainly meant the Kingdome of Glory not the Church For Nicodemus did not scruple his Church estate nor enquire how hee might enter into the visible Church but how hee might bee saved and inherit the Kingdome of Glory And therefore Christ directeth him to Regeneration and to beleeve in his Name that hee might attain unto everlasting life Joh. 3.5.14 15 16. And though hee speak of water as co-working with the Spirit in Regeneration
in their riper years whereof many are also holy even from the womb these also should during their yeares of nonage want an outward badge and any outward acknowledgment of what they are even fellow heires of the Kingdom with their brethren which even in the infancy of the world it selfe whilst all were under Tutors and Governours was their priviledge To cleare therefore their evidences and set right their title to this Kingdome and to shew forth a writ and warrant for their enstallment and admission into it by Baptism is an act of the greatest Justice as of charity These and the lâ—ke weighty considerations have stirred up the Spirit of this learned grave and holy Man though full of other labours and employments and now therewith of yeares to bring forth of his rich Treasury things both new and old for the asserting this so important truth Of the Author himself what is said of Ezra his search into the Ordinances of the Law that his heart was prepared to seek the Law of the Lord and to doe it and to teach in Israel Statutes and Judgements The same I may say of him concerning the Institutions those heavenly things Heb 7. â—3 as in comparison of the other the Apostle speakes of the Gospel Much of his thoughts and attention have been spent thereon both to sever them from the additions and inventions of men and to preserve them in their Dignity from the disregard of others And he was a chosen instrument of God to hold forth the purity thereof in a great measure well-nigh from the first of his setled Ministry with much constancy and integrity and with an eminent blessing both of protection and successe upon his Ministry in those evill times which since hath been further crowned with further light herein Who continues still to esteem the clearing any part or portion thereof a sufficient reward of his choicest paines And yet he hath not made those lesser and more outward things of the Gospel the chiefest or first born of his strength but in a due proportion the greater matters of Faith and of the common salvation which hee hath more universally traversed even the whole circle of Theologie and in his Ministery gone over besides many select Bookes of Scripture opened by him therein then most Divines alive I shall adde nothing for the present about the subject matter of this Treatise I having already in my publique Ministry at large delivered my self of what I have to say in this Argument which though I have been provoked enough to make more publike yet hitherto through many what more urgent diversions what personall infirmities to deale in many things at once I have been hindered from casting that worthlesse Mite into the publike Treasury Tho. Goodwin The Grounds and Ends of Baptisme of the Children of the Faithfull Opened in a Familiar Discourse by way of a Dialogue or Brotherly Conference PREFACE Silvanus BRother Silvester for the love I beare to you and your godly Parents I have been much provokâ—d in Spirit to endeavour the pulling you forth of that error into which you are so deeply plunged I doubt not your Elders and others of your Brethren have not been wanting to use the meanes for your conviction and satisfaction But if the Lord espyed an Idol set up in your heart he might justly leave you to see nothing but according to your Idol If the heart be once taken with the love of an Error it is all one if not worse as not to be taken with the love of truth And in such a casâ— God is wont to give up the soule to strong delusions to beleeve lies 2 Thess 2.10 11. But besides your owne Elders and Brethren you wanted not other friends the Elders and Brethren of some other Churches whom you have bin 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 loathnesse 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 The Grounds and Ends of Baptisme OF THE CHILDREN OF THE FAITHFVLL Opened in a Familiar Discourse by way of a Dialogue or Brotherly Conference PREFACE Shewing the occasion of the Conference BRother Silvester I feele your losse at my heart for the love I beare to you as to your godly Parents before you I heare God hath lately burnt your house over your head and most part of your goods with it And it troubleth me the more for your sake because I feare this hand of God is gone out against you to visit upon you and your family your breach of Covenant with the Lord and his People For though I know that all outward things fall alike to all the Sheepe and Servants of Job were burnt as well as your house and many a godly man hath been struck with sicknesse for his tryall as well as Moses for neglect of an Ordinance yet whilst Moses lay under the neglect of an Ordinance in suffering his child to lye by him uncircumcised Silvanus it had been no rash judgement in others nor want of holy wisedome in himselfe to think that God by making a breach upon his health did visit upon him his breach of Covenant with the Lord in delaying and neglecting though it may bee for his wives sake to bring his child under the Seale of the Covenant Wee may in brotherly love well conceive that God hath made this Bâ—each in your estate to try your faith and patience as hee did Jobs But surely it will be your wisest and safest course so to construe Gods meaning That your breach of Covenant with God did kindle a fire in his wrath which brake forth upon your house and burnt up so great a part of your Estate For even our God the God of the New Testament is a Consuming fire as well to Christians now as to Jewes of old And when doth the Iealousy of God most kindle but against the Violation of his Ordinances which being delivered to us in the 2. Commandement are ratified by a Sanction from the Iealousy of the Lord our God Exod. 20.5 You saw not long before a like fire of Gods wrath breaking forth in burning the houses of others of your brethren and neighbours who had a while before turned aside into the way same of error with your self which when you tooke no warning by the same fire burst for that last upon your selfe How wise and righteous was the hand of the Lord that when water was neglected to Baptize your child water should be wanting to quench the fire that consumed your house Silvester I cannot think that the delay of my childs Baptisme could kindle that fire that burnt up my house For if I know mine owne heart I was very
lay his hands upon them and pray as Mar. 5.23 Mat. 19.13.15 This was the ordinary way of healing in the time of the Law by such as were inabled by God thereunto as is cleare by these Scriptures compar'd together 2 Kings 5.11 with Mat. 19.13 Mat. 8.3 Mat. 9.18 Luke 4.38.40 Never were any so brought to Christ but for some cure and for his blessing of them which was in respect of that temporall Mercy he bestowed upon them according to that they came to him for and to shew his Bounty and Humility that he was no respecter of Persons as such might seeme to be that suffered others to come and would have kept back children And for such to belong to the Kingdome as those children did and therefore they ought to come as well as any others For they were children of the Jewes and at that time Members of that Church and so of that Kingdome and had as much Interest in Christ for outward blessings as any else And further Christ is pleased to make use of childrens Humility and Innocency to reprove the high-mindednesse of his Disciples to draw them forth a patterne from the same as Mat. 18.1 2 3. with Mark 10.5 1 Cor. 14.20 so that all this maketh nothing for the Baptizing of Infants they being not brought to Christ for Baptisme Neither doe I alledge this place for to prove that Christ baptized these Infants Silvanus For it doth not appeare that their fathers who brought them were baptized themselves and therefore neither might their children be baptized according to rule But I alledge the place to prove that the Infants of beleevers are amongst the blessed ones of Christ such of whom his Church and Kingdome consisteth and so come under the fellowship of his Disciples whom Christ commandeth to be baptized neither will your exception against this prevaile Your exceptions or rather evasions are two You say that Christ his laying hands on these children was onely to reach forth some bodily cure to them it being the ordinary way of healing in the time of the Law Whereto I answer 1. You bring not one Scripture to prove that healing of diseases in the time of the Law was wont to be wrought by laying on of hands but onely one which speaketh of Naaman the Syrian who had such a misconceit that the Prophet would have so healed him but was therein foully mistaken All the other places alledged by you do shew that Christ was wont sometimes to heale diseases by laying on his hands And so indeed he did as did also his Disciples after him by gift from him But why you should make this an ordinary way of healing in the time of the Law I see not how it stands with truth An. 2. There is not one word in the Text nor any circumstance of the place that maketh any mention or giveth any notice of any bodily disease which these children were subject to or that their parents come to Christ for the healing thereof And to give that for the meaning of a Text which neither the words of the Text nor the circumstance of the place doth hold forth is to set up an Image in our owne heart and to bow the Text to our owne Imagination An. 3. It is not credible that if these children had come with any disease about them or if their Parents had brought them for healing thereof that the Disciples would have been so inhumane unnaturall and barbarous as to have rebuked them that brought them The diseases of little children doe affect all men that have but the bowels of humanity with as much compassion as the diseases of Elder persons or rather more And withall the Disciples knew that the Lord Jesus was wont before that time to vouchsafe to cure the diseases of young children as well as the diseases of Elder persons Joh. 4.49 50. Mar. 5.41 42. and therefore they would never have rebuked their Parents if they had brought them to such an end But say you Never were any so brought to Christ but for some cure and for his blessing of them which was in respect of that temporall mercy which they came for and he bestowed upon them If you meane never were any so brought to Christ to wit in the Armes of their Parents It is true we never read of any other in the Gospells brought to Christ in the Armes of their Parents at all neither for bodily cures neither for any temporall or spirituall blessing But what is that to the purpose that will not argue that these Infants were onely brought for bodily Cure If you meane none were brought at all but for bodily cures what meane you then by so brought It is true the Palsey man was brought by foure men in a Couch for a bodily cure Mark 2. but Christ blessed him not onely with a temprall but a spirituall cure in the pardon of his sinnes Mark 2.5 which was more then they came for why do you therefore deny the like spiritual blessing the these Infants upon this ground because their Parents come for no more unlesse you think they had no sinne to be pardoned But if none were brought to Christ for spirituall blessings besides these Infants the greater was the Faith of these Parents and the greater was the sinne of others Your second Evasion is That these Infants being children of the Jewes were at that time members of that Church and so of that Kingdome And had as much interest in Christ for outward blessings as any else Answ 1. If that be all then there were some children of the kingdome of Heaven which had onely Interest in Christ for outward blessings and then indeed they had no Interest in Christ nor in his kingdome at all 2. If the Infants of Christian Parents be not the children of the kingdome of Heaven as well as the infants of the Jewes were then the incouragement which Christ gave to these Jewish Parents then will not reach to Christian Parents now to bring their children to him now so much as for bodily cures Suffer saith Christ little children to come unto me to wit say you for bodily curer for of such saith Christ is the kingdome of Heaven True saith you such were the children of the Jewes But then it will follow by your Doctrine That wee Christians are not allowed to suffer our children to come to Christ no not for bodily cures for of such as our children be the kingdome of heaven is not A second argument for the Baptisme of children may be fetched from another word of the same Commission given of Christ to his Apostles The Commandement is cleare there for the baptizing of Disciples And neither you nor your leaders doubt of it that therefore believing Parents are to be Baptized But what if it appeare in Gods account and in Scripture phrase that Parents themselves are not reputed of God to be baptized if their children remaine unbaptized Surely in the old Testament a man was
all Nations your selfe doe truly expresse it in generall termes That God is now a God not of the Jewes onely but also of the Gentiles But to speake more particularly and fully the Gospel is summed up in these heads of doctrine 1. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5.19 by world is meant Jews and Gentiles 2. That God hath committed this word of reconciliation to his Ambassadors and Ministers to perswade all the Nations of the world to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.19 20. 3. That God hath given the Ministration of this gospel to bee the ministration of the Spirit of grace to worke faith whereby we receive Christ and reconciliation with God through him and all the gifts of the Spirit from him 2 Cor. 3.8 Gal. 3.2 4. This is another head of the glad tydings of the gospel that to whomsoever he giveth faith to receive Christ and his gospel to them he giveth himselfe to be a God to them and to their seed or house For so Paul and Silas preached the gospel to the Jaylor Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thine house Act. 16.31 And so when Zacheus was become a child of Abraham to wit by faith the Lord Jesus promised salvation to him and his house Luke 19.9 And this was the very same gospel which God preached before unto Abraham when he gave him that Covenant of grace to be a God to him and his seed for this was the Covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3.16 17. And the Covenant confirmed by Christ is no other then the gospel of Christ And this Covenant to a believer and his seed is glad tydings not onely to the believer touching himselfe but touching his seed also As it was indeed exceeding glad tydings unto David that God had promised not onely mercy to himself but as if that had been a small thing in Gods sight to his house also for a great while to come 2 Sam. 7.19 which though it concerned a Kingdome yet that also was a branch of the Covenant of grace and concerned the spirituall kingdom of Christ And surely the promise of salvation and of the kingdom of heaven which by the Covenant of grace is granted to us and our children is a greater blessing then the Kingdom of Israel and maketh us partakers of the kingdome of Christ Thus have we seen what is meant by the gospel which the Apostles were to preach to all Nations Now what is it to preach this gospel as Marke calleth it or as you translate it out of Matthew To teach all Nations to preach the gospel is so to publish and apply it in the demonstration and power of the Spirit as that disciples may be made by it for so the word in Matthews own language expresseth it Go and make disciples all Nations Now who are Christs disciples Disciples are all one with Scholars and Christs disciples or Scholars are such as Christ taketh into his schoole to teach And they are not onely believers but their seed also whom according to the tenor of the gospel opened even now Christ undertaketh to teach and teach them he doth taking his own time from the belly to their old age Christ taught John Baptist from his mothers wombe though not by the hearing of the eare yet by the holy Ghost Luke 1.15 He sanctified Jeremy before he came forth of the wombe Jer. 1.5 And was the God of the Psalmist from his mothers belly and caused him to hope when he was upon the breasts Psal 22.9 10. Doe not thinke that though God took the pains to teach such little ones in the old Testament yet now in the dayes of the new Testament he will no more teach such petties The great Doctor of his Church is not ashamed now no more then of old to stoop to such meane worke No verily Christ in the new Testament affecteth lesse state and pompe in all his dispensations then he was wont to use in the old Testament He putteth forth as much hidden Majesty and glory in riding upon an Asse as ever he did by ruling his people by Solomon in all his royalty Hee requireth still little children to bee brought unto him and knoweth still how to ordaine praise to himself out of the mouth of babes and sucklings And though it be recorded in the old Testament yet it is a prophecy of the estate of the children of the Church of the new Testament All thy children shall bee taught of God Esa 54.13 Which hath beene proved above to be meant not onely of the members of the church of riper yeares but even of infants so that an argument from this Text in Matth. doth easily conclude it self into this form All the disciples of Christ are to be baptized Parents that are brought on to heare and believe the gospel preached they and their children are the disciples of Christ Therefore they and their children are to be baptized But you straiten and darken the counsell of God and commandement of Christ when you limit his meaning to such disciples so taught as to have understanding and faith in that which is taught For though such a description doe agree to the Parents who are disciples and Scholars of a higher forme yet when Christ receiveth the parents who receive him by faith hee receiveth also their seed even from the least to the greatest to bee his disciples and all his disciples to be baptized But that you may see you fight against God in seeking to thrust out infants out of Christs schoole and out of the number of Christs disciples Observe I pray you how God leaveth you to such a forced mis-interpretation of the Text and therein of the very form and essence of baptisme as utterly overthroweth the nature of it Make disciples say you by teaching them and such so taught them baptize in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost that is into the true and orderly profession of that which they have been taught and believed What is it now come to this passe That to bee baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost is to bee baptized into the true and orderly profession of that which they have been taught and believed Why the true and orderly profession of that which we have been taught and believed that is of our faith is but a worke of our owne though wrought in us by Gods spirit Faith it selfe is but a created gift and so a creature And the profession of it is but the exercise of faith And are we now come to be baptized into the name of Creatures It is easily granted a man by his baptisme may be engaged to the performance of this or that duty but can it be given for the exposition of the forme of baptisme to be baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost that is into the true and orderly performance of this or that duty But
alive in Christ but partaketh of the sap and life of Christ and bringeth forth such fruit be they never so young and small whereby the same may bee discerned So it is here by these spirituall branches they cannot properly bee called branches in the Apostles sense but as they partake of the life and Grace of Christ Answer It is true There is no branch alive in Christ but partakes of the Sap and Life of Christ But it is not true that every such living branch in Christ bee it never so young and small bringeth forth such fruits whereby the same may be discerned For what discernible fruit of the life of Christ did Jeremy shew forth when he was sanctified from his mothers wombe Jer. 1.5 Yea Christ himselfe who was full of the spirit of life from his Mothers wombe what discernible fruits thereof did hee bring forth Doth the Gospell and story of his life expresse any or can your selfe imagine any Neither is it true that you say that the spirituall branches cannot properly be called branches in the Apostles sense but as they partake of the life and grace of Christ For the Apostle doth not call them spirituall Branches nor are they all such unlesse by spirituall you mean Metaphoricall But he expresly calleth them naturall branches and such as God did not spare but cut them off v. 21. And therefore they did not all of them partake of the grace and life of Christ but some of them were indeed dead and fruitlesse But say you nature it selfe teacheth no man will admit of dead plants to be set in his vineyard or Graffed into a stocke c. And so it is with Christ who cometh not short of Nature And th refore he admits not of any dead plants to be set in his Vineyard nor dead members to joyned in his mysticall Body Neither took he to himself a compounded body consisting of living and dead members And all unbeleivers be dead and all the infants of beleevers till they be borne again of the Spirit Iohn 3.5.6 Neither is the Church of God which is the mysticall body of Christ a mixt company but suitable to her head to the matter of which he was produced the immortall seed of the word one holy spirituall body Cant. 6.9 Mal. 2.15.22 Ephes 2.14 to Ioh. 4.23 All which proveth the Church of God under the New Testament not to consist of unbeleevers neither in whole nor in part Answer Nature it self sheweth that in a Vine many dead branches are found and many that have some kinde of life and yet are not fruitfull And therefore the husbandman in time cutteth them off and so is it in the spirituall Vine and therefore such dead and fruitlesse branches the Father who is the Husbandman cutteth them off Ioh. 15.1 2. though for a time he may spare them as he did the Barren Figge-tree foure yeares Luke 13. 7 8 9. And though no man will admit of dead plants to be seâ— in his Vineyard or graffed into a stock yet many plants set and graffed may prove dead Men indeed would not willingly admit dead plants to be set or graffed because they know not what to do with them when they are dead But if dead plants being set or graffed would grow either to be fruitfull and if not fruitfull yet to be good fire-wood it would be no bad husbndry to set or graff dead plants And so is it here God thinks it no bad husbandry in him to admit dead plants to bee set and grow in his Vineyard and if they grow fruitfull well if not to tolerate them there till they grow up to fulfill their iniquity as hee did the Iews Mat. 23.32 because then he knows how to illustrate the glory of his justice in casting them into the fire of Hell John 15.6 Mat. 3.10 It is true which you say Christ cometh not short of Nature but in this he exceedeth Nature Nature cannot make a dead plant set in a Vineyard or graffed in a stock to grow But Christ can make a dead plant set in his Church to grow living and fruitful For else how came John Baptists Ministry to turn the hearts of so many Publicans souldiers and other people to bring forth fruits meete for repentance Luke 3.10 to 14. But otherwise if Christ make not dead plants set in his Church to grow living and fruitfull he can make them grow up to yeeld more fewell to the fire of his wrath and to grow ripe for greater damnation Mat. 23 14. It is utterly therefore untrue which you say that Christ admits not of any dead plants to be set in his Vineyard or that he taketh not to himself a compounded body of living and dead members or that the Church of God is not a mixt company c. For who called Iudas to the Apostleship did not the Lord Jesus himselfe Did not hee plant him in his Vineyard And doth hee not hyre and send forth many labourers into his Vineyard who yet afterwards many of them prove murmurers Mat. 20.1 to 16. The Church of Christ is often in the Gospell called the Kingdome of Heaven and in Mat. 25.1 The Kingdome of heaven is given for the stile of such Churches as are most pure such as they will bee after the destruction of Antichrist and the calling of the Jews prophecyed of in chapter 24. wherein all the members are virgins none defiled with Antichâ—istian Whoredome All servants none enemies all as clean beasts whether sheep or goats the goates themselves being cleane for meate as chewing the Cud and dividing the hoofe and cleane also for sacrifice And yet are there not to be found amongst these Virgin-members of the Church some wise some foolish amongst these servants some thriving some unprofitable amongsts these clean beasts some sheep some goates who shall stand accursed at the left hand of Christ It is true the Church which is the mysticall body of Christ ought to be suitable unto Christ her head and to the immortall seed of the word of which shee is begotten and many times so shee is but not alwayes every member yea very seldome every member if at any time I cannot tell if at any time the King that made a Marriage for his sonne shall come in and not finde one guest at least that hath not on a Wedding garment Mat. 22.11 The plâ—câ— which you alledge to the contrary will not prove it as that in Cant. 6.9 proveth indeed that whereas Christ hath manay Queenes Churches marryed to him by Covenant and invested with Royall Authority and more concubines that enter not by Covenant nor are indued with authority in the house of God yet one or some few are chast and harmelesse and undefiled but so a Church may bee when the Doctrine and Worship and Government thereof is received and administred according to the pattern although some members have a name to live but are dead and have not as you speake a living Principle of grace and faith in
the Lords Sapper But this seemeth a double mystery to mee how persons are fit and capable of union in a state that are not fit and capable of Communion in the Ordinances of the same state And yet more mysticall how one should bee a capable subject of Baptisme and not of the Supper I can see no rule for such a practise in all the Book of God And it is against the rule of Nature that when a Childe is born it should bee kept from food It troubleth mee to hear you call such plain points both in Religion and Nature Mysteries Silvanus whereby you mean dark Riddles above your capacity It was a sad speech of our Saviour concerning such as to whom it was not given to know the mysteries of God Matth. 13.11 The Lord give you understanding in his heavenly Mysteries When you make it a mystery how persons can bee fit and capable of union in a state and yet not bee fit and capable of Communion in the Ordinances of the same state You know wee esteeme infants fit and capable Persons of the Covenant and of the seale of it Baptisme If you thinke otherwise then you doe expresly make Infants unfit and uncapable of Union with Christ or with his Church and so uncapable of the Kingdom of Heaven Which sometime you disclaime But if you speak of all Ordinances you speak against common sense and experience Infants are members of the Common-wealth and so are they also of the family and accordingly fit and capable of Union with both estates And yet they are neither capable of the Ordinance of Goverment nor of the Ordinance of obedience to the Laws and orders in either state And why should it seem more mysticall to you that Infants should bee capable of Baptism and yet not bee capable of the Lords Supper You have seen even now a reason of both both in Religion and Nature And therefore doe not say you can see no rule for it in all the Book of God and it is against a rule in Nature to keep a Childe born from his food For Baptisme holding forth the death and buriall and Resurrection of Christ if there bee food in these as there bee food indeed then children born that want not these as in Baptisme they are administred to them they want not food Yea children in the wombe before they bee born to see the light yet they want not food but are fed by the Navell from the blood that is gathered in the mothers wombe before they come forth to suck the brests And so is it with the Infants in the Church they are fed by the blood and Spirit of Christ in Baptism before they can suck the sincere milk of the Word Silvester The Church of the New Testament succeedeth the Old but it will not follow that the like subjects succeed each other also For no rejected Ishmaelite and Esau are to bee admitted either unto Union or Communion in the Church under the New Testament by Christs appointment therefore though Baptisme succeed Circumcision yet the same subjects doe not so Silvanus The Church of the Old Testament consisted of no other subject matter then such as professed the Faith of the God of Israel and their seed And the Church of the New Testament consisteth of the like Grounds and proofes whereof wee have given above Ishmael and Esau when they shewed themselves to bee rejected of God they were not admitted to any further Union or Communion with the Church in the Old Testament No more were Simon Magus Ananias and Sapphira allowed any longer Union and Communion with the Church of the New Testament after they once shewed themselves like Esau or Ishmael to bee rejected of God But before that time Simon Magus Ananias and Sapphira were as well admitted into Union and Communion with the Church of the New Testament as young Ishmael and Esau in the Old Silvester Yea but such were not admitted into the Church of the New Testament by Christs appointment Silvanus What say you then to Judas a man as bad or worse then any of them either in Old or New Testament Did not Christ himself appoint him to an Office yea to an high Office in the Church And can you then say he had no Union or Communion with the Church of the New Testament Silvester The two Testaments are as Wills containing certain Legacies given and bequeathed onely to such whose names are expressely set down in the same as Rev. 21.27 In the Old Testament as the first will a male of eight dayes old or a Proselyte Exod. 12.48 49. Gen. 17.10.14.23.25 Joh. 8 Phil. 3.4 5. In the New Testament as the last will of Christ the Legacies therein contained as the Priviledges and blessings of Abraham they are given only to such as beleeve and to none else Gal. 3.14.22.29 Rom. 8.17 and 4.11 12. and 9.7 8. Gal. 3.6 7. These are such as are begotten again by the immortall seed of the Word born of the Spirit and so children of God the onely true heires of the Kingdome of God with the prviledges thereof as Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 2.23 Joh. 1.12 13. Joh. 3.5 6. 1 Joh. 3.9 10. Rom. 8.17 These are the holy seed which God so approves of in the Scriptures as Subjects of Grace and Heires of Life and being in Covenant they only have right to the priviledges thereof And their children and off-spring are such as succeed them in the same Faith and Truth and so are called the Generation of the Righteous succeeding each other in the way of Righteousnesse and not their Infants or personall seed proceeding from their loynes by carnall generation as Isa 43.5 and 44.3 and 54.3 and 59.21 and 66.22 and 61.9 and 65.23 Compare Rev. 12.17 Gal. 4.26 to 31. Silvanus I willingly acknowledge that the two Testaments are two Wills containing such Legacies as are bequeathed and given onely to such whose names are either expressely set down or whose condition is plainly described in them Otherwise if you stand upon expresse names are there any such names expressely set down as William and Rowland Richard and Robert Godfrey and Geoffrey or the like And would you exclude all such whose names are not expressely set down from any Legacies in either Testament But I take your meaning to bee by names to understand Natures or Conditions and by expressely set down to understand plainly described The place which you alledge out of Revel 21.27 is a part of the description of the pure Church of the Jewes after their last Conversion the New Hierusalem by the condition of such Proselytes as from among the Nations shall enter into fellowship with them They shall not bee prophane persons defilers and corrupters of others nor makers of images which are abominations and lies And thus far the description agreeth to Infants as well as to men of riper yeers As for the other part of the description that none shall enter but such