matters thereabout do the same here look often back to thy Baptism wherein the will of thy heavenly Father which is this I will be thy God is delivered and sealed and thou wilt be well resolved comforted and cleered in all Estates and Conditions Onely look back also to and remember as often the obligation of Homage and stipulation of obedience wherewith thou hast bound thy self to God by thy suerties or prelenters of thee to Baptism now thou knowest and understandest it thou must stand to it nd make it good thy part of the Indentures perform the Order of Baptism on thy side which is to turn to God and believe in Christ and be continually renewing of thy Faith and repentance and then there shall be no need of any second Baptism or washing in water having the benefit and efficacy of and from the same Baptism at first For this also I will tell thee for thy farther comfort that the benefit and efficacy of Baptism extendeth it self to all actual sins like as originall to the whole course of the life of man whensovever he shall believe and repent and is not to be restrained to the time of the Birth and Infancy so after the administration of it Baptism hath the same force it hath before or in the time of its administring for Baptism is of force so long as the Covenant is of force and that is everlasting Esay 54.10 Hos 2.19 The Papists indeed will tell you as I have mentioned already that your Baptism will serve you only for Remission of sins done before it meaning your originall sin and so call your Baptism the first Table for Refuge as from it and for sins done after Baptism you must have their Sacrament of Pennance or Repentance which they call a second Table for Refuge like as the Anabaptists tell you you must have their Sacrament of Confession as I may call their second Baptism which they Minister upon Confession of Faith But I tell you both are needless and superfluous for your one first single Baptism supplyeth all you need no New Sacraments for the matter as whose force and efficacy though the rite and Ceremony were gone in an instant doth extend it self to your whole life time and to all sins to be a seal unto you of the Remission of all original and actual past and to come so you will still have recourse unto it and make application of the grace thereof offered and sealed to you on Gods part For I do not mean nor must you think that the bare and empty Review or Remembrance of your Baptism that such an outward Act was done will be unto you at all times a Remission of your sins but it must be an effectual application of the blood of Christ which is the virtue and power of it that will do it and this may be and is done in the confession of your sins and the profession so your faith I may rather speak more properly than they do and say that your Baptism is not so only the first Table for Refuge after Shipwrack and Repentance the second but that Baptism is the first and one long drawing Table that may and must be drawn out at length into the Two Leaves of it namely into and unto Repentance of sin and confession of Faith at or upon which rightly used and applyed you and all true believers and penitent sinners may sit down and find plenty and provision of grace and mercy or which not so much as a Table or Plank but as the Ark and Ship it self will save you as Saint Peter saith So then let the effects and fruits of your first Baptism be acted and exercised by you aad let the force and efficacy thereof be seen in the reformation of your whole life for Baptism is a seal of a dying to sin and a rising unto Newness of Life Rom. 6.4 as well as a Seal of the Remission of sin Mark 1.4 and then you shall need no second Baptism and if not your first will be frustrated and yet you can have no second and I may say unto you Christians ye stiffnecked and unbaptized in heart and eares as Stephen doth the Jewes ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart ears when as you do not express the force and vertue of your first Baptism as they did not of their first Circumcision in the renovation and reformation of your hearts and eares i.e. life and actions Therefore when the Jews fell away from God at any time and were called to Confession of sin or profession of Faith the Prophets did not propound unto them a new or second Circumcision as if the former were voyded or vacated but onely mind them of their first and onely Circumcision and their Obligation in their Infancy bidding them to Circumcise the fore-skin of their hearts and to practice the inward Circumcision in conversion to God the spiritual and inward part of that Sacrament And so the Apostles used to call them that had sinned after Baptism as the Galathians by name who had fallen from the Grace of the Gospel to confession of sin and repentance to believe in Christ telling them of their Baptism into Christ so bringing and reducing them to that foretaken by them and the order set down there which is already mentioned nor do we read either in Prophet or Apostle of any other new order required afterwards of the Baptizing them again but only a renewing of their Faith and Repentance the Order and Obligation of their first and once Baptism by the Ministry of the word and that other Sacrament the Supper of the Lord. In a word learn now to practice thy Baptism the inward part of it to which appertains Repentance and Faith and so look not only back to it but into it an find out there thy ingagement and restipulation and perform that now that thou art come to knowledge thereof and walk before God in true obedience and in good resistance and abrenuntiation of the Devill and all his works For I would not such a looking back to thy Baptism as may put a vain confidence in the cutward element received by thee such a Respect or Contemplation of Baptism as to trust in the Elements is a misapplication of it through corruption and may well indeed occasion sin and encourage thee to a certain libertinisin licentiousnest in life there are some who being reproved for their swearing drunkenness and whordom take Sanctuary at their Baptism as if it assured men wilfully trading in sin of the remission of it without Repentance and Faith but rest not thou in the outward Letter or Element of the water but study the Spirit and walk in the Holiness of the same Repent of every breach of Covenant and this Repentance will be as a second plank or board after such Shipwrack to carry thee to the Haven of Happiness like as thy Baptism was a first step and stair of thy entrance into the visible Church and set
in force and vigor and by a pious recordation thereof the Penitent may confirm his Faith as Peter did and by vertue of the same once established Covenant God receiveth such to mercy and grace otherwise the infidelity and impiety of man would frustrate the goodnesse and good will of God the matter testified in baptism which it cannot because it is constant and changeth not and therefore it is a horrible prophanation of it to reiterate baptism In a word Second baptism was ever abhorred in the Orthodox Church as a kind of incestuous Birth and if you iterate it and baptise your beleevers again upon their profession of faith you must be able to make their former baptism void and no baptism which you can never do as having all things therein which God requireth unto Infant baptism Though Faith a positive and actual Faith as you call for should not be there which is not required of God and therefore is denyed of us to be a necessary condition requisite to be found manifest in every one that is to be baptised indeed in an Aethiopian Eunuch an elder Gentile it is and therefore when he said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptised Philip answered If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou maist who answering I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and so Philip baptised him Acts 8 36 37. The onely Argument the Anabaptists triumph in I shall here give a short answer to Infants of Gentiles are not of Abrahams seed either according to the flesh because not Iowes or according to the promise because not beleevers therefore not to be baptised whilest Infants or if they be to be baptised again when beleevere But I answer First The consequent is denyed for Simon Magus and thousands more even of them that you baptise are neither 2. Nor is it true that onely Iewes are Abrahams seed according to the flesh for that part of the Gentile Galatians who pleaded for Justification by the works of the Law and thereby lay under the bondage and curse of the Law are called the children of Hagar and said to be born of the Bond-woman Sinai and Hierusalem upon earth as it is to be seen Gal. 3. 4. The Apostle applying that part of the distinction to them like as the other part the Children of Sarah to those Gentile Galathians who were justified by faith Nor 3. Is it true that onely beleevers actually beleevers as you speak are the Children of the promise for thus they do not onely at this one blow beat down all Christian infante from all interest in Christ and title to heaven and make them like as the Heathens and Pagans who yet are not wont to strike so hard yea and which is more all Jewish Infants Isaack Iacob and Ioseph these must not be with them nor were by this reason Children of the promise in their Childhood but only according to the flesh untill they did actually believe and so became Children of the promise And more absurdity yet doth follow hence that those Patriarks whom I named Abraham is to be here excepted by their infant-circumcision had no promise of grace sealed unto them but were under a Covenant of works and until the years of discretion and actual fiath were incapable of any interest in the Covenant of grace If onely true beleevers and the Elect persons be under the covenant of grace have right to the Sacraments why is the same Covenant of grace inthe outward administration thereof both in preaching the promises and applying the Seales of the Sacraments to be propounded by Gods appointment to all the outward visible members of the Church And why was Simon Magus baptised as I said 'T is true the inward saving grace of the Covenant in both Administrations is by the Holy Ghost conferred onely upon the invisible members of Christs mysticall body which are the true beleevers and elect But we not able to discern of these give the outward baptism to all those I mean all outward members of the visible Chruch You must do so for the Text before alleged out of the Acts sheweth that all they who have any degrees of Faith may and ought to be baptised But Sir will you stand to your own Tackling The baptising of beleevers hereby you think and intend to exclude Infants of Christians What then will you make of them Infidels or Beleevers can you shew any Text of Scripture old or new where any Infant of Iew or Gentile in Covenant with God is so stiled or can you give any reason of it That which makes an Unbeliever must be a positive habit of unbeleef to justifie this in an Infant will be a task too hard for you and to say that Infants do not beleeve in act or have not the habit of faith onely negatively will not in the Language of the Scripture denominate an Unbeleever Indeed those that are made Christians of heathens they must give some positive and actual expressions of their faith before they be baptised so Philip required of the Eunuch and not till then are they to be accounted beleevers but for such as are born Christians of Christians as our infants are being entred into and under a gratuitall Covenant with God we admit them unto the Initial Seal of that Covenant which is baptism without any such Testimonial Act of Fath as you require for they are not Infidels or Unbeleevers but beleevers and within the compasse of your words though not your sense the baptism of beleevers Seeing you can produce no scripture against their Faith I will see what I can do for their Faith Matth. 18.5 6. Turn to the Chapter and Verses and read them and look to your Neck in that Verse it is a Neck verse Whose shall offend one of these little ones which beleeve on me it were better for him that a Mistone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Lord what shall become of those that offend all thy little ones by dobarring and excluding them from their birth-privilege and their Right-baptism But that I aim at as to you Sir is that you would take notice that our Saviour Christ who best knew knowing the very secrets of the heart pronounceth of some little ones little Children such as he took out one of them set down in the midst of the Apostles for a pattern of Humility and Harmlesseness That they did beleeve in him its apparent that howsoever sometimes and elsewhere spirituall Children are meant by little Children such as are of a meek spirit little in their own eyes here and at this time very natural Children in age and little in growth or statute are spoken of as the very context and Antithesis do shew They who do so interpret this place do make this not the same story with that which followeth in Matth. 19.13 Where little Children are said tob e brought to Christ it may be in their
natural hunger and infirmity But if you regard not your Children do you look to your selves and your ends and benefits and amongst these your Honor first Is it not a great honour to you to have a Child counted to some great house and of the Houshould and under the Protection of some Noble-man and is it not a great deal more honour to have a Child counted to the House of God the Church and of the Family and under the safegard of Jesus Christ why then baptise your Child If you stand not so much upon your Honor or theirs yet I am sure you are willing to have comfort of your Child and good hope here is not substance and evidence enough for Faith of its well being whilest it liveth spiritually and after death eternally the way is enter him into the Church of God by Baptism So you hope your Child is preferred and made for ever as you speak when once you had gotten him into some great House and noble Family which are but Cottages to the Church and ignoble to the Family of God Whereas if you with-hold him from Baptism you do leave him to have his visible actual standing abode in the House of darknesse and continue him in an outward case and condition as an alien from the Covenant and a stranger from the Common wealth of Christians what in you lyeth which must needs be both dishonorble and uncomfortable to you the while True indeed you may have comfort from the Covenant only if by some invincible and unvoydable act of Providence intervening your child be prevented and deprived of the Seal thereof which is Baptism full against your will and purpose but if through your default and wilfull detaining of him and Contempt of this Ordinance it so fall out that your Child dye unbaptized He may be saved without the Seal of the Covenant I believe but I dare not promise you herein Salvation or Comfort without Repentance of this your fault and sin against God in his Ordinance And so this shall be my last reason to you Parents for the bringing of your Children to Baptism for that thereby you shall not onely get honour to your selves as I said but give honour to God by your submission unto the Seal also for them to God I say who took order for your Childrens honouring you yea honoured you both by entring into Covenant with both and annexing the Seal of Baptism thereto for your further Comfort and Confirmation When our Saviour offered himself to be Baptized John forbade him saying I have need to be baptised of thee and comest thou to me but Christ took him off saying suffer it to be so now for thus it becommeth us to fulfill all Righteousness Matt. 3.13 14 15. as John the Baptist thought Christ above the Ordinance of Baptism by reason of his great perfection and there be also others as say they are above ordinances in a high conceipt of themselves So some of you Anabaptists think Infants of Christians below the ordinance of Baptism by reason of their great Imperfections Me things our Saviour Christ in this place answereth and resuteth both them and you them by his example who being the Highest in perfection yet stooped down and condescended to the Ordinance of Baptism Therefore none sure not the highest and perfectest amongst men in the Church upon earth are above Ordinances and you by his Doctrine and Exhortation suffer it to be so now for thus it becommeth you to fulfill all Righteousness a part and act whereof is the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which Baptism is now under the Gospel as Circumcision was under the Law Rom. 4.11 and therefore as the Jewish Parents were diligent to fulfill that Righteousness by putting their Children in Covenant under that Seal of Righteousness Circumcision so ought ye Christian Parents to be carefull to fulfill this Righteonsness ousness and to put your Children in Covenant also under this Seal of Righteousness Baptism Suffer it to be so now suffer little Children to come unto Christ and forbid them not for they have need to come to him and now in his absence to his Ministers to be Baptized For thus it becommeth you as them to fulfill all Righteousness Make not a Nullity of the Seal of Righteousness lest you come at length to make Righteousness it self a Nullity too and now that I am fallen upon this matter of Righteousness I shall turn to you again Sir my Quaerist and ask you if you do not deny Baptism to Infants upon this ground that you think the efficacy of Baptism is seated and founded upon the practical Righteousness of a Professour or Member of the Church manifested in words and deeds Confession and Conversation which if you do as indeed you do and all that stand out against Infant Baptism it is a groundless ground For the Text I just now cited sheweth that it is not so grounded but only upon Covenantal Righteousness and the free grace of God in Christ for so Rom. 4.11 He received the sign of Circumcision à Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that believe c. that Righteousness might be imputed unto them also where you see it or hear it in the very Terms Righteousness of Faith not Life or Works Imputed-Righteousness not inherent or practised which both Abraham had and his Children must have Now though our Christian Infants have no inherent Righteousness or practical manifested unto us by their words or deeds as you require in those you Baptize and therefore put off your Christian Infants untill years of discretion to profess true Faith and years of action to practice good works yet we present and dedicate them in their Infancy by Baptism to Gods mercy and fatherly love in Christ their and our Ruighteousness and Atonement for that we know God hath Righteousness to be imputed unto them by vertue of his Covenant of Grace I come to my seventh and last Warrant which I foresse will bring you to no Justice yet I will serve this also upon you for though now and then in your letter you let fall such a word as Primitive Practice and the good old way yet I know you cannot in your heart abide Antiquity and the Primitive practices of the Church of old for that they are point blank against your blank point of Baptizing onely such believers as can and do make Profession of their Faith in Christ which is but a novel New Light of those Blazings Comets and Meteors that sprung out in Germany some while ago but yesterday in comparison of the Baptisin of the Infants of believers which hath brightly shined out throughout all the Churches in good and full Lustre Sun-like untill the Man in the Moon Muncer his Lunaticks or Moon-Sirs interposed and made some Eclipse thereof in the Churches This therefore is my sixth and last Reason If it hath been an ancient practice
unto the Church For which you may see Acts 2.39 41. because you give me no Text here which I wonder at of which I have your consideration in particular to peruse anon Onely I shall add a word or two about Sureties in the Baptism of Infants because I do not remember that hitherto before now you have made any mention of them and for that I see you are here in an errour about them and you would put a slur upon us and a kinde of slander upon our Church as if Infant-Baptism stood upon account of faith in the Parents and Sureties although say you they have none for themselves I will adde somewhat although they have more than your self I may say the one as well as you say the other Know then Sir that the costom of having Sureties at the baptizing of Infants hath been very ancient in the Church when Truth was in its prime light and Primitive purity though thereupon it is the less liked because the more unlike to the new upstart and out-staring novelisms of these later Ages and last declining times and their office was as to bear witness of the birth of Infants of Christian Parents and therefore were called Attesters or Witnesses as at this day so to answer for the faith and take upon them the education of the baptized Infants and for this they were called Sponsors or Susceptors Hereupon the Infant to be baptized although he did not profess himself to be Believer with his own mouth nor could yet being asked and interrogated as the manner was Doest thou believe he answered in the mouth and tongue of his Sponsors or Sureties or the very Parents or they which is all one answered in stead and place of the Infant I believe And without such profession of faith Infants publickly were not baptized in the Church Thus in and by the judgment of charity the Ancients held and judged the Infant to believe and that if it could speak with its mouth it would answer that it believed and because it could not they appointed as before Sponsors and Sureties in the name and place of the Infant to answer I believe And in this sense also besides others I have given were Infants of Christians called of old Believers because they did in some manner profess faith in and by the mouth and words of their Sponsors Sureties and Parents True its uncertain and unknown to the Church or man whether the Infant doth believe or not but unless the Church had so judged by the judgement of charity which saith the Apostle believeth all things hopeth all things the Infant to believe she would not have appointed Sureties and Sponsors in the name and place of the Infant so to asnwer and unless the Infant it self had so answered in the words and mouth of its Sponsors and Sureties she i.e. the Church would have forbid it to be baptized Thus I have told you of the ancient manner of the Primitive Baptisms with Sureties and Sponsors you must not now here call upon me for proof hereof out of the plain and direct Scripture for I acknowledge this ancient Custom and many a one in use amongst the first Christian Churches is not expresly prescribed in Scripture for then it might be concluded absolutely necessary for all ages and persons to follow so neither is it forbidden explicitly in Scripture and therefore not utterly to be rejected as unlawfull to be used as which was for the good of the Infant and hurs of none as having neither impiety nor iniquity in it so also it was for the provision and better education of the Infant the edification of the Church and the demonstration and exercise of Charity to and charitable judging of others Insomuch that as those venerable Names and Lights of the Ancient Church Tertullian and Auguâ—tine have related and delivered that Custom of baptizing with Sureties and Sponsors so other Reverend Names and Lights of these Modern reformed Churches as Luther Zanchy Beza have allowed approved and commended the aforesaid Custom as fit to be retained still From all which it now appears that you Sir are much out when as you talk and tattle of the Churches baptizing Infants upon account of faith in the Sureties although they have none of their own for you see it was not upon the account of the faith of the Sureties which the Sureties had of their own that Infants ever were baptized but upon the account of the faith of the Infant which the Infant had of its own testified and professed in their name by the Sureties appointed by the Church which judged charitably of the Infant to beleive that the Infant was baptized But now before I proceed to the next I will call upon you to consider That your Doctrine of baptizing actual Believers onely and thereupon not baptizing the Infants of Believers until they have actual faith and can and do make confession of it doth rather overthrow as much as in you lieth the nature of the Covenant of Grace and the whole Gospel of Christ at leastwise to the Seal thereof all the while from their birth that such Infants are kept by you from the same Seal of Baptism for you cannot keep them from their Covenant though you do shamefully ingratefully ungraciously yea and unnaturally keep them from the Seal The thing is evident enough if you do but remember this is the nature of the Covenant and Gospel of Christ the Promise of God to be the God of the believing Parent and his Seed joyntly therefore also of his child as soon as it s born yea before when it is his Seed and soon after its birth Gods will is declared to have this Covenant executed and confirmed by an initial Seal of Circumcision upon Infants in the Old and of Baptism upon Infants in the New Testament now who overthroweth this Covenant we who put our Infants under the Seal of the Covenant soon after their birth it being their birth-right or you that with-hold it from your Infants until they come to be of years to make profession let God himself be judge and that his Word Genesis 17.14 He hath broken my Covenant who the child whose flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised so also he whose flesh is not washed with the water of Baptism which latter if not done or ordered to be done by you who are Parents to the Child the breach and overthrowing the Covenant lieth upon you and not upon the child to answer for You have broken the Lords Covenant and the Lord may break in upon you as he did upon Moses for neglect of circumcising his Seed Exodus 4.24 Consider of it it s the Lords mercy you are not broken and consumed let the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering lead you to repentance the Covenant Gospell Christ being the same under both Administrations God will look and justly may and must that his Covenanters or covenanted with even Instants shall be now partakers of
Theodoret useth who relateth it that they did it by pouring or sprinkling of water upon their head those Heretiques imitating therein as their manner is in those things there is no difference the Custom of the Orthodox And yet before these Athanasius who lived about 325. Orat. 3. Contra Arianos hath another more express testimony where having shewed that the Arians could not give a true and perfect baptism because they erred in the foundation and essence of it as who though they pronounced the words I baptize thee in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost believed not in the sacred Trinity as who deny the Son he hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that those who are sprinkled and aspersed of them that is baptized are rather polluted and defiled with ungodliness then washed for so I think the word ought rather to be rendred as having reference to baptism according to the sense and purpose of Athanasius in this place then as Petras Nannius doth Redeemed for though the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie also to be redeemed yet he shewed him self a true Translator indeed of the word in General but not so good an Interpreter of the sense nor word here in this particular which also signifieth and here must to be washed for the reason above I have given and so Vossius saith elegantly as pertinently polluere ait non abluere rather polluted then washed as I rendred it but that which comes hence to my purpose that Athanasius calleth and maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sprinkling and aspersion of water in the right form to be baptism and that it is good and true baptism which is given in that way and manner But I can bring forth a testimony far beyond these for the Antiquity of aspersing or perfusion in baptism and that is of Tertullian living about the year 190 lib. de poenit cap. 6. I deny not saith he but that the Divine benefit Ablutio delictorum the washing of sin should be ready and safe to all that come to the water and then he addeth but they must labour also to come thither for otherwise saith he Quis tibi tam infidae paenitentiae viro asperginem unam cujustibet aquae commodabit if thou beest a man untrue to thy repentance thou makest who will let thee have one sprinkling of water in opposition or allusion to the Trine immersion as I suppose and meaning that if he would not come to the waters being in health to be dipt thrice he deserved not to be come unto in sickness to be once aspersed and sprinkled so speaking plain enough for sprinkling and aspersing the sick and weak especially the which also Cornelius a Byshop of Rome in Cyprians time maketh mention of in an Epistle to Fab. Antioch which is in Euseb lib. 6. cap. 43. where he likewise relates of Novatus the Heretique that when he was freed from the evil spirit and fell into a grievous disease upon his bed desired baptism and so was in his bed baptized i. e. perfusus aqua by water poured sprinkled upon him This was so customary amongst the Ancient to sprinkle and asperse the sick in bed if there they came to their first conversion that it was called Baptismus Clinicorum the baptism of the bedrid though they did not so highly esteem of such as were so baptized in bed upon sickness yea they debarred such from being of the Clergy because they thought they become Christians rather of necessity then good will And because I have mentioned such a thing as the Baptism of the Clinicks or such as were converted and baptized in their sickness and death beds I will put you a Quaere upon a supposition which often falleth out knowing you will presently run to your master of quaeres for answer and resolution Suppose one of your children or his or any your other brethren who by vertue or vice rather of your opinion hath been kept and detained from it's baptism during it's infancy and minority should be at 13 or 14 years of age visited of God with sickness and so scholed and enlightned by him therein and thereby for schola crucis est schola lucis that he should come to a good measure of knowledge of himself and God of his sins traduced at his birth and committed in his life of Gods mercies promised in his word and covenanted in Christ and so lying in bed under great distempers even fore-going death should upon and after confession of his sins and profession of his faith in Christ earnestly desire and require baptism as the Seal of Gods Covenanted Mercy and as a confirmation of his faith therein and a strengthening of him against the fears of death before and at his departure out of this world What would you now do here Dare you deny still and withhold baptism from him in this condition when as it may be and ought to be ministred unto him then will you be and are you guilty before God of a plain and palpable contempt of the ordinance of baptism which is and will be damnable to whomsoever Gen. 17.24 Exod. 4.24 25. And if you think it now needful for him to have baptism for that he is now capable of it according to your own tenet and the thing is now feizable and possible to be had I ask how and which way shall baptism be given and conferred unto him Will you remove him out of his bed in his clothes or in his bed and its cloathes to your Pond or cause to be brought to the bed-side some big Vessel or Tub of water which later is more then I need grant unto you in the point betwixt us and so either the one or the other way 〈◊〉 immerge his whole body in the cloathes or out of the cloathes which is still more then I need yeeld Then in all probability may and will you be guilty both before God and man of the death and destruction of the party the which is and will be as damnable to whomsoever Now advise and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me You cannot but see and say as David once you are in a great straight 2 Sam. 24.13 14. For according to your opinion and practice you must either let your child depart the world without baptism when it might have it if you would which will be prejudicial to your soul and your salvation or you must give it your dipping baptism which will be prejudicial to its body and its preservation as causing it to depart the world sooner then otherwise it would The onely way to come out of your straights is straightway to fall now into the hands of the Lord God with David and laying down your imaginations and every high thing of yours that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10.5 to call for and suffer some lawful Minister of God to come and after such confession and profession heard by him
mans own heart will tell him more of himself then seven Watch-men that sit in a high Tower yet I say as though the Grace of God given to me to every man that is among you and you especially not to think or speak of himself more highly then he ought to think or speak Rom. 12.3 as to think or speak of himself as an Angel or Lion as I said giving out that himself was or is some great one or the great power of God Acts 8.9 10. so not to think or speak of himself more lowly then he ought to think or speak as to think or speak of himself as a worm or a dog as you say unless you be of the same spirit assuredly that they were who extraordinarily thought and spake so of themselves For the Apostle saith of the first they do not think or speak soberly of themselves or unto sobriety and I may of the second they do not think or speak sincerely of themselves or unto sincerity there is an excess in the one and a defect of Truth in the other and your anger and rage against another who should call you so would soon discover the truth and the sincerity yea or not There is a saying amongst the Moralists that Nemo sibi injuriam infert no man can do an injury to himself No man ever yet hated his own flesh the Divine adds Eph. 4.29 Surely either you are gone out of your self or if you be come to your self with him Luke 25.17 you have injured your self in thinking and speaking your self a dog and not so good as a dog from your birth hitherto until this year When the Grace of God appeared plucking you out from your wicked wayes unto the knowledge of the Truth For the Grace of God which pluckt you as you write to the knowledge of the Truth is the same Grace which brought St. Peter to the knowledge of the Truth in this matter and appeared to him Acts 10.15 28. God hath shewed me saith Peter that I should not call any man common or nuclean and besides the vision there was a voice spake to him also What God hath cleansed that call not thou common and so the same voice forbids you though you see not the vision hear it and call not any man hereafter call not your self dog or any other common or unclean creature or name Indeed before the Election and calling of the Gentiles was make known to the Apostles by our Saviour Christ the Apostles and others had some such thoughts and speeches of the Gentiles as dogs and as unclean as appears by Peter here at first and Apostles and Brethren that were in Judea who contended with Peter for going unto them and eating with them Acts 11.3 Yea and Christ himself told the woman of Canaan a Gentile It was not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it to dogs when she supplicated him for to cast a Devil out of her daughter Mat. 15.26 Dogs because they were out of a visible admission and reception into the Church-visible For without are dogs Rev. 22.15 but even she as they other Gentiles when she shewed the faith she had in the mercy of God and made profession of her Master Christ in that reply Truth Lord yet the dogs do eat of the crumbs that fall from their Masters Table Mutavit vocabulum quia mutatum vidit affectum saith Augustine upon the place he changeth his word and appellation because he saw in her a change of state and condition now he saith O woman great is thy Faith no longer now a dog but a woman yea and useth her not like a dog but as one of the lost Sheep of Canaan or the Gentiles But for your self and those other of my Parish who are born Christians of Christian Parents and so within and under the Covenant of Grace and also put under the Initial seal of the Covenant of Baptism I my self baptized you thirty six years sithence and thriving under my Ministery of the Word your self have often heard me preaching answered me and well to my questions of Catechizing your Mother Eunice also bringing you up like a Timothy in the nurtriture and knowledge of the Scriptures from a very childe and growing up a Faith by my administration of the Lords Supper If I remember well I have also taken examination of you as of the young men and found you or made you fitting and capable of the same and exhibited the fame unto you And what were all my people the most of them no better then dogs and yoiur self not so good as a dog all this while and no Grace of God appearing and plucking you to the knowledge of the Truth A Christian dog is a word for a Jew or a Turk to speak to look upon Christians as dogs and to use Christians like dogs is an act for a Barbarian and Scythian to do § Nay Sir you not onely wrong your self a Christian and my Christian Parishioners but you injury Christ himself and the Grace of Christ appearing both in them and your self to the plucking of your self and them from their wicked wayes to the knowledge of the Truth I can be a better witness for them then yoiu who are but herein the accuser of the Brethren for the Seal of my Ministery are they many of them in the Lord I can truly say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.2 I say again you wrong Christ himself and the Grace of Christ and the Covenant of his Grace and the Seals of his Covenant Baptism and the Lords Supper and the fruits and effects of his Seals and the Spirit of God that daily wrought and brought forth such fruits and effects in their lives And lastly you wrong your own eyes and conscience that will not see and acknowledge this by your stiling your self not so good and my people no better then dogs till you and they came out of your and their wicked wayes to the knowledge of the Truth What say you then to the children of Israel and their children by your speech and reason they must go for dogs too as not yet plucked out of their evil wayes to the knowledge of the Truth but in the phrase and language of Scripture they were a holy people and their children not unclean but holy The Root holy and the Branches likewise Rom. 11.16 and that by reason of the Covenant of the holy God and the Seals upon them with the other Ordinances and even Saul in the Acts of the Apostles was no dog but a chosen vessel of Christ before the Grace of God appeared plucking him out of his wicked way to the knowledge of the Truth Yea thus you wrong all the Elect of God for Gods Elect as Saul and your self it may be may live in wicked wayes and be ignorant of the Truth a long while as Saul did and you say of your self that you did yea the Elect Ephesians are said to be children of wrath by
good old Way into a new by and bad path from the publick Ministery or Steeple-houses be it so to private mysteries or smokeries rather of their Chimney-houses from your first true Baptism at a Font. to a second vain Dippism in a Pond They have been rather instrumental to your Confusion then your Conversion Yea I say further God doth not use them the Anabaptists as Anabaptists andtheir doctrine as any ordinary means or instruments of his to the Converting fouls to the Faith and Truth I promised to give you a Particular of them and their Doctrines and this it is wherein they differ from us and have forsaken the Truth of our Church and the Word of God and which doth denominate and constitute an Anabaptist They reject all Infant-baptism renouncing their own Baptism they took in Infancy and therefore Re-baptize themselves and others and keep their children from Baptism till years of discretion and ability of profession and so in a manner deny the Seal of the Covenant of Grace to Infants with whom also God hath entred into it saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seed They hold all stinted and set forms of prayer unlawful to be used in Church or House and even so also the Lords prayer That there is no distinction betwixt Clergy and Laity That the taking of Oaths before or by the Authority of a Magistrate is unlawful That the office of a Magistrate is neither lawful nor necessary with abundance more for why should I stir the whole dunghil to infect the Air of coherent and coincident Errors and Lyes as the Prophetical Scriptures call them Are such Teachers and Tenets like to pluck you out of your wicked wayes and to bring you to the knowledge of the Truth whether private or publick who hang so fast in the Bushes and Thickets of Errors and stick so deep in the Bushes and Thickets of Erros and stick so deep in the mire of Vices dipt in both up to the chin and mouth yea over head and ears especially seeing such were never called or sent about the work of Converting souls to either For my part I am of Paul and I am of Jeremiah and so should you be of both too the Apostle and the Prophet But first I am of Paul the Apostle who saith indeed Faith cometh by hearing for how shall they believe in whom they have not heard But it is hearing of a Preacher for how shall they hear without a Preacher And it is of a Preacher sent for how shall they preach except they be sent The Apostle is clear of the opinion that onely sent Preachers who have Mission and Commission from God can bring hearers to the Faith and seems to wonder at those in his vehement and frequent Interrogatories who say or think otherwise This Text I may call Faiths Clymax or Ladder with its steps and gradations which none of your Lay-brethren could ever yet climbe up to or come down by if they begin at the lower end as they ought being the ground and foundation of the work and so offer to go and climbe up they mâ—ss of their first step and footing because they are not sent and so must climbe no farther or higher for want of Mission they cannot go up the Ladder in the Right way of preaching and begetting faith in the Hearers or your self And if they begin at the upper end and top of this Ladder as indeed presumptuously they use to do and heap to themselves at first a multitude of Hearers and so come down along to their preaching yet they fall off the Ladder at the lower staffe or step again because still they be not sent and so can do no missive or ministerial good upon their Hearers nor your self as to Faith It is Gods great mercy to them and you that they cast not themselves down head-long or that they are not cast down by him that took them up into the Pulpit and set them on that Pinnacle of the Temple to the breaking of their necks as well as making shipwrack of Faith for they tempt the Lord their God and are not in their wayes which words must not be left out by you as they are left out by the devils citing of that Text and therefore God hath given his Angels no charge over them being out of their wayes to bear them in their armes or hands that they dash not their foot against the stones Yea they do dash not onely their feer but their tongues also against the stone the Head-stone of the corner which these builders refuse in ascending Pulpits or stepping into chairs and preaching without his sending or Commissioning them according to his Prerogative given unto him of which this is a part All power is given me in Heaven and in Earth as my Father hath sent me so send I you Mat. 28.18 19. John 20.2 So also I am of Jeremiah who is so frequent and fervent in the point that I shall onely name the Texts and make the proofs out of all together Jer. 14.14 23.32 21. 27.14 28.8 9. where I observe that six or seven times the Lord by the Prophet saith that he sent them not and thereupon it 's said thrice they prophesied lyes once otherwise then the word is once deceits and dreams once their Errors and lightness false visions and divinations things of naught and the deceits of their own hearts enough one would think to keep off people from hearing of them and yet in plain terms therefore they are forbidden thrice to hearken to them or their words And if for all this they will be hearing of them as they have now very itching ears and give themselves much to hearing new men as news-men the Prophet tells and foretels them more plainly They shall do no good on it at the 32. verse of the 23. Chapter I sent them not nor commanded them Therefore they shall not profit this people at all saith the Lord. Hear you this Sir and hearken to this all ye separate people of England those of God unsent uncommanded Preachers false Teachers of the Anabaptistical separation for are they not so that teach you the Doctrines and Practices I have particularized but even now and now may assimilate unto the lyes dreams deceits vain visions of those false Prophets those false Teachers of the Anabaptisticall separation I say nay saith the Lord shall not profit you at all therefore they have not nor any Grace of God appearing in by or from them for God doth not give Converting ministerial Grace to them whom he doth not send nor Commission them plucked you or any of our people nor shall pluck them or you from your wicked wayes to the knowledge of the Truth for this is and will be a great deal of profit they have not turned and converted you or any of our people nor shall unto the Faith and unto God for this is and will be the greatest profit of all that can be You
vain and needless thing yet I say fear not for the Lord will not forsake his people for his great names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people nor will the Lord forget you his servant for his gracious Covenant sake which he hath also sealed to you in your Baptism because it hath pleased him to make you his servant Moreover as for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and right way Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart Ver. 23 24. And Let my counsel be acceptable to you break off your sins by repentance and by righteousness and your iniquities by turning unto the Lord and calling for mercy upon your poor soul and by shewing mercy unto the poor people if it may be a lengthning of your tranquility Dan. 4.27 Sir without any ifs or ands do you so seriously and uprightly and it will be a lengthning of your tranquility and a stablishing of you in peace of your conscience notwithstanding your former breach of it and of the Covenant of Grace in your despising your Birth-right your Infant-baptism For Behold Gods hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear though your iniquities might have made a perpetual separation 'twixt you and your God Esay 59.1 2. especially those iniquities of separation from Gods Church and Baptism His Covenant of Grace is an Everlasting Covenant the seal of it your Baptism though but once administred loseth not its strength and force and is yet of vertue and benefit for you if you will make use of it yea it will be of continual use and benefit to you if you will return to it and reflect upon it by your faith and lay hold upon the precious things and promises thereof In a word Though you have departed away from your Covenant by breaking of the Seal thereof and slighting your Baptism yet God is not gone from either but what he hath Covenanted and Sealed is and will be ever ready to make good Come therefore and return unto the Lord for you have torn and he will heal you have broken and he will binde up yea and he hath torn and he will heal he hath broken and he will binde up in all your sins and transgressions which are your breaches of the Law and the tearings of Gods Covenant in all his afflictions and chastisements which are his breaches upon you and his tearings of you in your estate nay in all your fears and doubts return unto the Lord and his Covenant of Grace and Mercy look back to your Seal of it your Baptism and lay hold on it by Faith even but now renew your Faith in the Promises therof renew also your Repentance for breach of Covenant and Promise on your part you shall find the effect of that you never saw and feel actual comfort even present benefit thereof Once more Have now recourse and go with all speed to your first Infant-baptism and remember and believe that God hath therein sealed up unto you his love and favour to you in Christ and that his everlasting Covenant of Grace and Peace and Reconciliation to be your God in Christ for ever and will never fail you seeking and having recourse to him his Covenant and Seal This will fill you full of heavenly comfort in the midst of sorrow and upon Repentance give you good assurance of the pardon of all your sins whatsoever even of this none of your least sins your causless Revolt and Separation from the Church Ministery and Baptism appointed and approved of God A Communion with which if you will truly re-enter into and seriously return unto pleading as you may even yet your Right and Interest in the Covenant of Grace sealed unto you in your first Infant-baptism once for ever you doing the Condition thereof God also will then remember his Covenant entred into with you then once for ever and will have compassion on you and run out and meet you fall on your neck and kiss you Luke 15.20 21. so that you shall not onely have a clear and full Remission of this and all other your sins washed away in the blood of Christ the substance of the Covenant but also enjoy the sweet and comfortable fruits and benefits of that your Baptism the Seal of such Covenant even an assurance of God his being â—our God and the God of your seed and that for ever and of your being one of his people and a member of Christ Jesus and that also for ever So that you may say as the Spouse of Christ for so the â—oul is contracted unto Christ by the Covenant and it is espoused or the espousals are solemnized and ratified in Baptism I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 And now Sir am I become your enemy because I have told you and others the Truth and shewed unto you the good even the good old Way If so then the God of Truth who set me a work be my friend as Abrahams and deliver me out of your hands and the hands of all mine enemies and if God and the Truth be on my side I care not much who be against me nor do I fear what man and error on the contrary side can do Magis amica veritas maximè amicus Christus qui est ipsa veritas vita But Sir by that time you have sadly thought upon and considered what I have said fully digested ruminated that over which I have written you and they but you especially I aim at will see me a real cordial soul-friend of yours as who have endeavored to come unto you as a Pillar of fire rather then a cloud not to darken you with obscure discourses but to enlighten you with clear evidences so to lead you out of your by-wayes of Errors into the plain Path of Truth and rather to Convert you then confound you I say your soul-friend for seeing once your soul also belonged to my Curam Animarum and you were formerly one of the sheep of my Pastor-fold one of the souls that were numbred into my Pastoral charge you see I count you so still though you have broke loose and separated your self from my flock and feed yet I have not let you so go nor have I released to you though you have remised to me nor have I discharged you though you have dismissed me yea you may see me your soul-friend yet farther in that I have not run away or lien hid in a corner as the Hireling but as a loving Pastor have followed after the Wolf and the Fox running away with you like as also David did go after the Lion and the Bear taking a Lamb out of his fold yea and when the Wolf also turned head against me and came upon me as the Lion did arise and ramp upon David I caught him