only command such to be Baptized whom the Apostles had first of all taught Neither here verily is signified who only be to be Baptized but he speaketh of such as be of perfect age and of the first Foundations of Faith and of the Church to be planted among the Gentiles which were as yet rude and ignorant of Religion Such as be of Age may hear believe and confess that which is Preached and taught but so cannot Infants therefore we may justly collect that he speaketh here nothing of Infants or Children But for all this they be not to be excluded from Baptism It is a general rule He that doth not Labour must not Eat But who is so barbarous that might think hereby that Children should be Famished The Lord sent his Apostles at the beginning of the setting up his true Religion unto all Nations unto such as were both ignorant of God and were out of the Covenant of God and truly such Persons it behoved not first to be taught and after baptized If at this day we should go to the Turks to Convert them to the Faith of Christ verily first we ought to teach them and afterward Baptize such as would yield to be the Servants of Christ Likewise the Lord himself in times past did when first he renewed the Covenant with Abraham and ordained Circumcision to be a Seal of the Covenant after that Abraham was Circumcised But he when he perceived the Infants also to pertain to the Covenant and that Circumcision was the sealing up of the Covenant did not only Circumcise Ismael his Son that was 13 years of Age but all other Infants that were born in his House among whom we reckon Isaac Even so Faithful People which were Converted from Heathen Idolatry by the Preaching of the Gospel and Confessing the Faith were Baptized when they understood their Children to be counted among the People of GOD and that Baptism was the Token of the People of GOD they procured also their Children to be baptized Therefore as it is written Abraham Circumcised all the Male Children of his House Semblably we read in the Acts and Writings of the Apostles that after the Master of the House was turned to the Faith all the whole House was baptized And as concerning those which of old time were compelled to Confess their Faith before they received Baptism which were called Catechumeni they were such as with our Fore-Fathers came from the Gentiles to the Church who being yet rude of Faith they did instruct in the Principles of their Belief and afterward they did Baptize them but the same Ancient Fathers notwithstanding did Baptize the Children of Faithful Men as I have already partly declared And because you do require a hasty answer of your Letter of one that is but a dull Writer I am here enforced to cease particularly to go through your Letter in answering thereto knowing that I have fully answered every part thereof in that I have already written although not in such order as it had been meet and as I purposed But forasmuch as I understand that you will be no Contentious Man neither in this matter neither in any other contrary to the judgment of Christ's Primitive Church which is the Body and fulness of Christ I desire you in the intire love of him or rather Christ desireth you by me that your joy may be perfect whereto you are now called to submit your Judgment to that Church and to be at Peace and Unity with the same that the Coat of Christ which ought to be without Seam but now alas most miserably is torn in pieces by many dangerous Sects and Damnable Opinions may appear by you in no part to have been rent neither that any giddy Head in these Dog-days might take an ensample by you to dissent from Christ's true Church I beseech thee Dear Brother in the Gospel follow the steps of the Faith of the Glorious Martyrs in the Primitive Church and of such as at this day follow the same decline from them neither to the Right Hand nor to the Left Then shall Death be it never so bitter be more sweeter than this Life then shall Christ with all the Heavenly Hierusalem triumphantly imbrace your Spirit with unspeakable Gladness and Exaltation who in this Earth was content to joyn your Spirit with their Spirits according as it is commanded by the Word That the Spirit of Prophets should be subject to the Prophets One thing ask with David ere you depart and require the same that you may dwell with a full accord in his House for there is Glory and Worship And so with Simeon in the Temple embracing Christ 1 Cor. 14. depart in Peace To the which Peace Christ bring both you and me and all our loving Brethren that love GOD in the Unity of Faith by such ways as shall please him to his Glory Let the bitter Passion of Christ which he suffered for your sake and the Horrible Torments which the Godly Martyrs of Christ have endured before us and also the inestimable Reward of your Life to come which is hidden yet a little while from you with Christ strengthen comfort and encourage you to the end of that Glorious Race which you are in Amen Your Yoke-fellow in Captivity for the Verity of Christ's Gospel to live and die with you in the Unity of Faith JOHN PHILPOT FINIS
which you have heard preached even as it is written of * Quoniam autem in Abraham praefigurabatur fides nostra quoniam Patriarcha nostrae fidei velut propheta fuit plenissimè Apostolus docuit in eâ Epistolâ quae est ad Galatas dicens Qui ergo tribuit vobis Spiritum operatur virtutes in vobis Irenaeus Lib. 4. cap. 38. Abraham he believed God and it was imputed unto him for Righteousness know ye therefore that they which are the Children of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham and God in the Scripture foreseeing that he would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So then they which be the Children of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham who is the Father of them that believe Afterwards in Verse 26. Now to Abraham or his Seed or Race were the Promises of God made He i. e. God or Moses his Pen-man saith Not to Seeds or Races as if there were divers of them but to thy Seed i. e. to one of thy Seed which is Christ And this I say that the Abrahamical Covenant that was before confirmed by God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise made unto Abraham of none effect From all these Texts put together it is plain that the Abrahamical Covenant upon which the Jewish Church as such was founded was of a Spiritual Evangelical Nature and perfectly verified and fulfilled in Jesus Christ who was made of the Seed of Abraham and in whom all the Families of the Earth are blessed and whose Day Abraham himself saw and rejoyced It is farther evident from them that this Covenant was made with Abraham as the Father of Believers and with his Posterity not as proceeding from him by natural but by spiritual Generation as Heirs of his Faith as is plain from Rom. 4.16 Therefore the Promise is of Faith that so also it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed of Abraham not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham who is the Father of us all both Jew and Gentile that believe So Chap. 9.6 c. not as tho' the Word or Promise of God to them had taken none effect For they are not all the Israel which are descended of Israel neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children of God's Covenant but 't is said in Isaac shall thy Seed be called tho' Abraham had more Sons that is all they which are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise only as Isaac was are counted for the Seed Hence saith the Apostle in the name of the Christians Phil. 3.3 we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and have no Confidence in the Flesh and it is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the Uncircumcision through Faith and if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise which God made unto Abraham Furthermore that this Covenant was Evangelical and made with the Posterity of Abraham not as his Natural but as his Spiritual Off-spring will appear in the third place from the initiatory Sacrament into it which was Circumcision or cutting off the Fore-skin of the Flesh as it is written You shall Circumcise the Fore-skin of your Flesh and it shall be a Sign of the Covenant betwixt me and you Hence the Covenant of which it was the Sign is called by * Acts 7.8 St. Stephen the Covenant of Circumcision and Circumcision on the other hand is called by St. Paul the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Faith or Faithful Obedience being the Condition of that Covenant which God required of the Children of Abraham and which they promised to perform It also signified the Circumcision of the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 260. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. p. 261. Heart as Moses said unto the People of Israel Circumcise the Fore-skin of your Hearts Deut. 10.16 and in Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will Circumcise thine heart and the hearts of thy Seed that thou mayest love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayest live And agreeable unto this Spiritual Signification of Circumcision St. Paul saith Rom. 2.28 He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outwardly in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God As to the Persons who were capable of initiation into the Jewish Church by this Sacrament we have a very plain account at the institution of it in Gen. Chap. 27. I will saith God unto Abraham establish my Covenant between Me and thee and thy Seed after thee for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy Seed after thee Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations this is The Token of my Covenant which ye shall keep between Me and you and thy Seed after thee every Male among you shall be Circumcised And ye shall Circumcise the flesh of your Fore-skin and it shall be a Token of the Covenant betwixt Me and you and he that is eight days old shall be Circumcised among you every Male in your Generations he that is born in the House or bought with Money of any Stranger which is not of thy Seed he that is born in thy House and he that is bought with thy Money must needs be Circumcised and my Covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting Covenant From this account of Persons to be Circumcised it is plain First That Gentiles who were born of * Exod 12.48 49. Gentile Parents in Abraham's House or bought with his Money as Servants then were and Blacks are now among us were to be initiated into the Covenant by Circumcision from whence it appears that the Spiritual Race of Abraham were the Children of the Covenant and that when God promised to be a God to him and his Seed after him he meant the Children of his Faith Hence in all Ages of the Jewish Church if any Gentiles embraced the Jewish Faith and Religion they were admitted into it by Circumcision and thereupon reckoned among the Posterity of Abraham and the peculiar People of God although they were not the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh There were great numbers of Gentiles thus converted to the Jewish Faith and Religion and grafted like wild Branches into the Olive-Tree in all the Ages of the Jewish Church Not to mention particular Persons we read that many of the Medes and
or imputation may hereafter lay upon him I here before you all wash him with pure water to signifie that he is cleansed from his Original Attaindure and Corruption of Blood and that he is as fully restored to his Birth-right as if he had never been Attaint Now suppose this were done for a poor attainted Infant could any Man say that the action was insignificant and invalid because the Child knew nothing of it or that he was incapable of the Sign when he was capable of being washed from the Attaindure and of being thereby restored to his blood and Birth-right which was the chief thing signified thereby These things should be well considered by the Despisers of Infant-Baptism against whom I may urge for Precedents the Circumcision and Baptism of the Jewish Church both these as I must often observe were applied unto Infants as well as adult and actual Believers under the Old Testament and accordingly tho' Abraham believed and solemnly professed his Faith before he was Circumcised yet I hope they will not say that God acted foolishly in commanding Isaac c. to be Circumcised before he understood the ends of Circumcision or could believe much less make profession of his Belief He was entered Sacramentally into Covenant with God before he was able to recontract or understand what the condition of the Covenant was but yet I presume they will not say he was Circumcised in vain although he was under the very same incapacity as to the ends of Circumcision that Infants are of Baptism now The best way that I know they have of evading the force of this Argument is by saying that Circumcision was more proper for Infants than Baptism because it left a significant Mark and Character in their Flesh whereas Baptism is a transient Sign and leaves no significant Impression behind it whereby to instruct Men and Women what was done unto them in their Infancy But this is a meer shift First Because the Mark and Character which Circumcision left in the Flesh of the Child was as insignificant to him during the time of his Non-age as Baptism is to Christian Infants neither afterwards could he tell but by the instruction of others what the meaning of that Character was and for what ends it was imprinted in his Flesh And therefore according to their way of reasoning against Infant-Baptism it ought to have been deferred till the full years of discretion when the Circumcised Person might have understood the Spiritual Signification thereof Furthermore in answer to this Objection I must remind them that the Mark and Character which Circumcision left behind it was of no force or signification unless it did appear from the * Ezrah 2.62 Nehem. 7.5.64 Registers of the Tribes that the Person circumcised was a Jew I say the Character which Circumcision left behind it was merely of it self of no force nor signification without the Registers or written Genealogies because without them neither the circumcised Person himself nor the Church could know in many Circumstances whether he were a true Son of Abraham or an Egyptian Ismaelite or Samaritan who were all Circumcised as well as the Jews If Baptism then be a Transient Circumcision was an Equivocal Sign and therefore these pretended circumstantial Differences signifie nothing nor make any substantial difference betwixt Circumcision and Baptism as to the capacity of Infants unto both They are capable of contracting a Spiritual Relation unto God by this as formerly they were by that they are capable of having their Spiritual attaindure removed they are capable of receiving the Blessings of the Covenant tho' they cannot perform the duties of it and God may solemnly bind himself unto them tho' they cannot as yet personally bind themselves unto him But Secondly Allowing that Circumcision was more proper for Infants than Baptism yet this difference is wholly avoided by referring the Practice of Infant-Baptism not only unto Infant Circumcision but unto the Original Practice of Infant-Baptism in the Jewish Church which understood very well that it was but a transient rite and left no Character upon the person who was initiated thereby Those therefore who take upon them to argue against Infant-Baptism from this or any other pretended reason take upon them to censure and condemn the Jewish Church which for many Ages Baptised Infants and Minor Proselytes into the Covenant as well as actual Believers and yet were never censured or reproved for it by any Prophet which we may presume they would have been had Baptismal Initiation of Infants into the Covenant been so absurd Insignificant and abusive a practice as the Professors against Infant-Baptism vainly pretend it is Having now I hope sufficiently proved that Infants are not uncapable Subjects of Baptism Let us proceed to state the next Question which is this Quest II. Whether Infants are excluded from Baptism by Christ Where in the first place I must observe that the Question ought to be proposed in these Terms and not Whether Christ hath commanded Infants to be Baptized For as a good * Herodot lib. 2. Author observes of the River Nile that we ought not to ask the reason Why Nile overflows so many days about the Summer-solstice But rather Why it doth not overflow all the Year long So in the Controversie about Infant Baptism the enquiry ought not to be whether Christ hath commanded Infants to be Baptized But whether he hath excluded them from Baptism Because considering the practice of the Jewish Church as to Infant-Circumcision and Infant-Baptism too it must needs be granted that a Command from Christ to initiate Proselytes out of all Nations into the Christian Religion must without an exception to the contrary be understood to comprehend Infants as well as Men. As for Example suppose our Saviour had not changed the Seal of the Covenant Dr. Stilling-fleets Vindication of the A. C. p. 100. but instead of Baptizing had said unto the Apostles Go and make all Nations my Disciples Circumcising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost I appeal to any Impartial Man's judgment whether the Apostles receiving such a Commission to Circumcise Proselytes of all Nations would not have presumed without directions to the contrary that it was Christ's Intention that the Infants of adult Profelytes should be Circumcised as well as Proselytes themselves according to the Commandment of God under the Old Testament and the Practice of the Jewish Church And if a command to Proselyte and Circumcise all Nations would without an exception have comprehended Infants as well as Men why should it be imagined that the command to Proselyte and Baptize all Nations should not likewise comprehend them seeing that Infant-Baptism as well as Infant-Circumcision had been the immemorial Practice of the Jewish Church This is so true that supposing our Saviour had intended the gathering of Churches among the Gentiles according to the Old Testament and the Custom of the Jewish Church he need
Preach the Gospel to every Creature saying He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved I say seeing Children are capable of the benefits of Baptism and the Apostles who received this Commission knew them to be capable of it and to have had both Circumcision and Baptism administred to them in the Jewish Church how should they or any others imagine from the tenure of such a Commission which was given unto them as Planters of Churches but that it was Christ's intention that Children as well as grown Persons were to be Baptized Should God in the days of David or Solomon have called eleven or twelve Prophets and given them the same Commission which Mutatis Mutandis Christ gave to his Apostles bidding them go and Teach all Nations the Law Circumcising and Baptizing of them in the Name of the God of Abraham and teaching them to do whatsoever he had commanded them I say should he have sent them out to Preach the Law to every Creature saying He that believeth aad is Circumcised and baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned would a Commission so worded have been of it self a sufficient ground for them to think that it was God's intention to restrain Circumcision and Baptism to adult Persons contrary to the practice of the Jewish Church Or if in a short History of their Mission and Undertaking we should have read that they Circumcised and Baptized as many Proselytes as gladly received their word would this have been an Argument that they did not also Circumcise and Baptize the Infants of those believing Proselytes according to the Laws and Usages of their mother-Mother-Church No certainly such a Commission to Proselyte Strangers to the Jewish Religion could not in reason have been strained to prejudice the customary right of Infants to Circumcision and Baptism and therefore in parity of reason neither could the Apostles so understand their Commission without other Notices as to exclude Infants from Sacramental Initiation into the Church The plain truth is their Commission was a direction how they should proselyte Strangers to Christianity according to the nature of propagating a new Religion in strange Countries as it is set forth by the Apostle Rom. 20.14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they Preach unless they be sent Accordingly they were sent out to Preach or to Disciple Men and Women by Preaching and to Baptize as many of them as should upon their Preaching Believe and Repent But though the Order of Nature required that they should proceed in this Method with grown Persons as the Jews were wont to do with Proselytes to the Law yet it did not hinder that they who had been born and bred Jews should initiate the Infants of such Proselyted Persons according to the usage of the Jewish Church What need Christ have said more unto them when he sent them out than to bid them Go and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father c. Or to Preach the Gospel to every Creature and tell them that he that would believe the Gospel and be Baptized should be saved But then the respective sence of these words could only concern adult Persons and their qualification for Baptism but could in no reason be construed by them to exclude Infants but only unbelieving Men and Women whereof none were to be admitted into the Church by Baptism before they were taught Christianity and had confessed their Faith and Sins Should God as I said before call twelve Men of any Church where Infant-Baptism had been the constant and undoubted practice and bid them go and Preach the Gospel in the Indies to every creature and to say He that believeth the Doctrine which we Preach and is Baptized with the Baptism which we Administer shall be Saved I appeal to any Dissenter upon the account of Infant-Baptism whether he thinks that these Men bred up to the practice of Infant-Baptism could in probability so interpret this Commission as to think that it was God's intention that they should exclude the Infants of believing Proselytes from Baptismal admission into the Church The Professors against Infant-Baptism put the greatest stress upon these words of our Saviour He that believeth and is baptized shall be Saved But if they would well consider the next words they would find that Infants are not at all concerned in them because it follows but he that believeth not shall be Damned The same want of Faith which here excludes from Baptism excludes also from Salvation and therefore it cannot be understood of Infants unless they will say with the * The Petrobusians vid. Cassandri praefat ad Duc. Jul. Cli. praefat advers Anabaptistas Original Anabaptists that the same incapacity of believing which excludes them from Baptism excludes them from Salvation too Wherefore it is plain that the believing and not believing in that Text is only to be understood of such as are in capacity of hearing and believing the Gospel that is of grown Persons just as the words in Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son of God hath Everlasting Life and he that believeth not shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abide thou him Thus far have I proceeded to shew how inconclusively and absurdly the Anabaptists go about to prove that Infants ought to be excluded from Baptism from the fore-mentioned Texts which speak of the Order of Proselyting grown Persons and their Qualifications for Baptism and as little success have they with some others which they bring to shew how unprofitable Baptism is for Infants as that in 1. Pet 3.21 Where the Apostle tells us that external Baptism of putting away the filth of the Flesh of which Infants are only capable signifies nothing but the answer of a good Conscience towards God of which say they Infants are altogether uncapable to which the answer is very easie that another Apostle tells us that external Circumcision of which Infants were only capable profited nothing without keeping the Law which Infants could not keep nay that the outward Circumcision of which Infants were only capable was nothing but that the inward Circumcision of the heart and in the spirit was the true Circumcision and yet Infants remaining Infants were utterly uncapable of that so that their way of arguing from this and such like Texts proves nothing because it proves too much and stretches the words of the Apostles unto undue consequences beyond their just Meaning which was only to let both Jews and Christians know that there was no resting in external Circumcision or Baptism but not that their Infants were unprofitably Circumcised and Baptized So weak and unconcluding are all the Arguments by which the Anabaptists endeavour from Scripture to prove that Christ hath limited the Subject of Baptism unto grown Persons put them all