For if the Promise had ceased then what hopes had there been for us the force of the Promise concerning what God is and will be to his people doth still last unto the end But the seales c. ut infra Answer The Covenant of Grace that God hath made with His people is this viz. I will be thy God and the God of thy seed This Promise is to parents and children jointly as companions and fellow-sharers of the same blessings promised and because parents and children are joined together as fellow-heires of the same mercy therefore we termed the Covenant sociall and you confesse that the force of the Promise concerning what God is and will bee to His people doth last still unto the end of the world and that this Covenant in respect of it's durance or continuance is sociall even to all generations Very good Then as Abraham and his Proselytes had their children in Covenant put under the initiall seale in their infancy so are Christians to have their children put under the initiall seale in their infancy ut socij promissioniscum parentibus And in this I confesse you goe beyond your Master though yet you doe not come off clearely in the businesse but goe on let us heare your restriction Anabaptist But the seales and peculiar priviledges belong only to beleevers Gal. 3.22 Rom. 4.13 14. with Rom. 9. compared with Gal. 3. and Gal. 4. and so in this respect the peculiar benefits and priviledges of the Covenant are personall and unto beleevers For c. ut infra Answer You meane that the saving benefits of this Covenant and the inward Grace signified and assured by the outward seales doe belong only to beleevers and true converts indued with renuing grace in Christ their mysticall head And so it was under the Law likewise for Israel was as the sand of the Sea yet a remnant saved and many are called but few are chosen Few were indued with saving grace of the multitude that were put under the seale of the Covenant And the Law was nothing but Christ vailed as the Gospell is Moses unvailed The Covenant is the same which is that the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 And that Covenant being made on occasion of mans fall in Adam did concerne mans deliverance from thraldome under sinne and mans restitution unto happinesse by Christ the seed of the woman And now were your availe to establish your purpose then God did very ill in commanding children to be sealed in their infancy seeing then they could exercise no faith nor manifest the same unto others and yet were to receive a type of Christ upon their flesh But you seeme to bring a reason to confirme what you here say let us heare it I pray that we may consider it what weight there is in it Anabaptist For the Covenant is now established upon better promises Heb 8.6 and to better subjects for then it was to all lineally though unbeleevers might have the signe of Circumcision but the promise of the Gospell is onely to beleevers as I finde Answer The Apostle doth not say that our Covenant is better than that which God made with Adam after his fall Gen. 3.15 nor better than that which God made with Abraham Gen. 17. but better than the Covenant that God made with the Jewes in the day when he tooke them by the hand to leade them out of Egypt Heb. 8.9 And why better than that Because established upon better promises Upon what promises was Gods Covenant with the Jewes established when he delivered them out of Egypt Upon the promises of the peoples obedience Exod. 19.3 8. But in this Covenant they continued not but soone brake it and so God regarded them not This Covenant was yet needfull that man might hereby see his owne inability and his great need of a Saviour to satisfie for his sinne and to repaire mans nature by changing his heart and minde and so freely to justifie his person and this is the Covenant established upon better promises Heb. 8.10 11 12. The people would obey God immediately and they would heare God immediately instructing them in his Law They thought they could have done all readily without the helpe and mediation of another But they were soon wofully convinced of their pride and soone saw they the necessity of a Saviour and so they chose Moses a type of Christ Exod. 20.18 19. And so God by the hand of Moses gave them a threefold law as in the hand of a Mediatour for the two tables of the law which God vivâ voce delivered unto the people on Mount Sinai Moses brake on the occasion of the peoples Idolatry Exod. 32. Which tables albeit they contained the perfect rule of righteousnesse yet in that the people entred into Covenant with God immediately before they had chosen Moses to be their Mediatour and every one stood in his owne person immediately receiving the law and promising legall obedience unto the same as the ground of their right unto Gods favours and the people having broken their promise by Idolatry therefore these tables must needs be broken to pieces as the peoples personall Covenant and other two tables of Gods law must be procured wherein the people were not to appeare in their owne persons but in the person of their Mediatour and this Covenant must be established upon Gods promises of free grace in Christ whereof Moses was a type and this you may see Exod. 34.1 7. And this is the same Covenant with that of the Apostle for substance Heb. 8.6 11. Now then I say Moses being set up as a Mediatour betweene God and this people God by him as in the hand of a Mediatour gave unto the Israelites a threefold law shadowing forth the threefold office of Christ and serving thereunto Here is the Morall Law for a Prophet the Leviticall Law for a Priest and the Judiciall Law for a King And so under Moses Christ was administred in types and shadowes but the same Christ then administred as now and effectuall to the Regeneration Justification Sanctification Edification and Salvation of Gods Elect then as now And thus you see how while you alleadge the Scripture by piece-meale as the Devill doth your selves are taken in the Devils snares even while you goe about to entangle others And your Religion will not stand with the true interpretation of Gods holy Word And you cannot maintaine your way unlesse you overthrow fundamentals And this is the just judgment of God upon you that while you neglect the light of the Sanctuary you should be given over to beleeve the muddie sophismes of the Devils factours The Covenant of God for substance is now the same as it was unto the Jewes Quest What then doth the Apostle meane by the Covenants being better now under the Gospell if it was the same Covenant for substance under the Law Sol. View but the place and the Epistle to the Hebrewes throughly and you
hence conclude that infants of Christian parents should bee debarred from the Sacrament of Baptisme in their infancy And the reason is because their parents are not now found in the state of heathenish Paganisme as were those among whom Christ sent His Apostles before they received Christ and His Gospell but now they stand in Grace and Covenant with God as His peculiar people holy and beloved Now albeit it is a truth that all children of baptized parents are baptizable and to be baptized yet to prevent impertinencies and all collaterall cavillations I propound the question concerning paedo-baptisme in these termes viz. Whether children of holyest parents in purest Churches are to be baptized in their infancy The point between us and the compleat Anabaptists is simply concerning paedo-baptisme If my controversy lay with the Semi-Anabaptists I would lay my proposition in other termes but the compleat Anabaptist doth hold that no child in infancy is baptizable let his parents be never so holy and let the administration be never so pure Now we maintaine the affirmative of this question against the Anabaptists upon these grounds viz. Reason 1 First because Infants of Christians are holy 1 Cor. 7.14 cum Rom. 11.16 And à Spiritu Sancto recepto ad Baptismi administrationem is an invincible argument with St. Peter Acts 10.47 Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as wee Ob. I but say our busy-Anabaptists there was a visible manifestation of the holy Ghost in a miraculous manner up-those that Peter speakes of there but there is no manifestation of the Holy Ghost upon Infants of Christian parents in their infancy more then upon Infants of Turks and Pagans Sol. I answer that there was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost as well to the eye of sense as to the eye of faith but here to the eye of faith only That was miraculous extra ordinary this oraculous ordinary And a standing Oracle is as much to be credited as a Miracle if not more For miracles are but secondary confirmations of divine faith but Gods written Oracles are primary Manifestations of holinesse may be fallacious but Gods Oracles are certain and can never deceive And the singer of God hath written holinesse upon Infants of Christians and Paul Gods Embassadour hath proclaimed it unto us A writing and a proclamation that the heilish spite and virulent tongues of clamouring Anabaptists shall never be able to obliterate or disanull by their bastard exposition of this sacred Oracle forcing it to speak the strange language of a seduced Anabaptist and not the heavenly language of the sacred Scriptures a practise plainly diabolicall and hellish But put case oh monster that God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost should come unto thee and say these are holy children Doest thou think Gods meaning were that they are no bastards but lawfully begotten Surely if that should be Gods meaning He should not speak according to the usuall language of his owne written word For tell me where God termes children holy for their being meer legitimates Canst thou bring one text of Scripture where children are said to be holy unlesse it be in relation unto the holy Covenant under which they were borne And if God should say that such children are holy because of the holy Covenant under which they were borne as children are said to be holy for that only reason in the Scripture Did not God in this say unto thee I have set these children apart unto my selfe Psal 4.3 Did not God in so saying say unto thee set them a part unto Me as My Portion And how wouldest thou set them apart unto God but by putting Gods seale upon them Well we need not suppose Gods speaking thus unto thee for God doth so speak unto thee and unto all men in this sacred Oracle And on children of Christian parents it must stand as an unchangeable Oracle that they are holy Quest But say Anabaptists that children of Christians are holy the text is expressely cleare but what holinesse doth the Apostle meane Sol. I answer that doubtlesse the Apostle meanes such holinesse as the Prophets in the old Testament doe meane when they call the children of Gods Covenant-people the holy seed Not holinesse by legitimation as Bellarmine the Jesuite and his disciples the Anabaptists dreame but such holinesse as hath the promise of the kingdome of heaven Mark 10.13 16. Matth. 19.13 14 15. Luk. 18.15 16 17. Ob. I but say Anabaptists these were not children in propriety of speech but young beginners in Christianity and such as were little in their own eyes as Matth. 18.1 6. Sol. The stories are not the same For it 's said in Mat. 18. that Christ called a little child and set him in the middest of His disciples to teach them humility and in the other places that we have cited Mark 10. Matth. 19. Luk. 18. that they brought children unto Christ that He should blesse them And to say that the words are not taken in propriety of speech in these texts is just like their other stuffe For 1. In the places that we have quoted its said that the children were brought unto Christ not led and presented only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apportabant borne to Christ as wee beare a burthen 2. They were such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Luke termes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children newly borne 3. The disciples blamed those that brought them And would they blame men for bringing young beginners in in Christianity weake Christians and such as were little in their owne eyes unto Christ 4. They very gesture of Christ proves them to be children in propriety of speech For it is said that Christ tooke them up in his armes And thus you see how these shuffling juglers will catch at any thing and so can they alleage Scripture they care not how little it is to purpose so they may puzzle others and avoid the evidence of truth against themselves Quaest But put case say they we grant the places to be meant of Children in propriety of speech how can you hence conclude that they ought to be baptized Sol. Very well for if the Kingdome of God which is the proper inheritance of Saints doth belong unto them then the seale and cognizance thereof is theirs in all equity But the end wherefore wee alleaged these Scriptures is to prove that the holinesse attributed unto children by Paul 1 Cor. 7.14 is the holinesse of Gods Kingdome or the holinesse of Gods grace under which these children were borne as the children of the Covenant by birth because borne of a parent in covenant And infants are no where in Scripture phrased holy but in relation to the holy Covenant under which they were borne And so from the covenant their title stands good to the initiall seale thereof which under the Gospell is Baptisme Quaest If the holinesse of the Covenant gives
in the practise of ordinary pastours in a Church gathered as the Church of Corinth or any other mentioned in the new Testament and bring me thence but one instance that any children whose parents were baptized and in the state of Christianity were held back from baptisme untill they could give an accompt of their faith in person and then you will speak to the present condition of Gods Church in these times But this you cannot doe and therefore in drawing extraordinary instances into an ordinary canon to binde all the Churches of God unto like practise is to overthrow the nature of Gods Covenant of Grace and to make that a personall Covenant i. e. to terminate in the person baptized which God hath made sociall i. e. to beleevers and their seed jointly saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seed in their generations Now for this Commission in the 28. of Matth. verse 19 20. It s a full and univerfall Commission belonging to all the Ministers of Christ under the Gospell unto the worlds end And of these Ministers some are extraordinary and to cease and some are ordinary and to continue So then in this short Commission here is somewhat Apostolicall and peculiar to extraordinary Ministers which cannot be applyed unto nor expected from ordinary pastours in setled Churches As to plant foundations to work miracles as proofes of their immediate calling from God to be led by an unerring spirit in delivering immediate oracles from Christ as standing canons of divine faith and worship c. And so their practise was extraordinary and no such thing is to be expected from ordinary pastours but to build upon the foundation which the Apostles laid Now the Apostles committed the Churches gathered unto ordinary pastours and teachers which must proceed in the work of the Ministery where the Apostles left for the edifying of the body of Christ c. And that this is such an universall Commission as we speak of the Apostle Paul makes cleare and puts it out of all doubt Ephes 4.8 13. where he expoundes the meaning of this Commission For whereas Christ in this text here saith All power is given unto Me goe yee therefore and teach all Nations c. Paul upon the same ground and occasion saith when He ascended up on high meaning Christ He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men c. And He gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some pastours and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ c. For how long Vntill the end of the world saith Christ Vntill we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ sayes Paul See then what confusion the Anabaptists doe speak when they urge from this text Apostolicall imitation in ordinary pastours without distinguishing of what is herein peculiar to extraordinary Ministers and what is common to Apostles and ordinary pastours This I thought good to speak to prevent a mischiefe that might befall unstable soules through the jugling fraud cunning craftinesse of the Anabaptists for want of a right understanding of our Saviours mind in this text For they will hence take occasion to cry up Christs Commission unto His Apostles in Matth. 28.19 20. viz. of making men Disciples before they could bee capable of Baptisme putting no difference between those that are to be made Christians of Aliens and those that are borne Christians of Christians and also putting no difference between the Apostolicall ministration and the Pastorall ministration and so by a confused urging of the text in the strict letter they seduce many an unstable soule unto their hereticall practise of rebaptizing Whereas could they but look upon this Commission as an universall Commission they would soone discerne the fraud of these men and would not bee carried away by them Christians then in these dayes should labour to be men in knowledge and not bee alwayes children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in waite to deceive Ephes 4.14 Seducers have a sleight whereby they can deceive children i. e. men of little knowledge in divine mysteries and of an unstable and wavering mind These seducers can use the Scriptures as the juglers use their dice. For as the jugler hath a sleight to make his dice to turne up what may serve his turne to defraud such as he playes withall so seducers have a sleight when they deale with men of little knowledge and of a wavering minde to make the Scriptures speak their owne language for to winne men unto their party And the metaphor is here by the Apostle taken from the jugler for hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men deceive novices and ungrounded Christians But how In the dice-playing of men And so our Anabaptists meeting with Novices and ungrounded christians will make this and other Scriptures speak their own principles and language to deceive men and lead them into error And therefore I thought good to acquaint you with the true meaning of this text which the jugling Anabaptists pervert to their own ends and doe not make it speak the mind of Christ but the language of their own seduced and seducing hearts and t is blasphemy to say that any text of Scripture doth speak their hellish principles Simple ones may be carried away with their good words and faire speeches but grounded Christians know and see their juglings and method of deceiving well enough The text warrants and commands the baptizing of all true members of the Christian Church And therefore it warrants the baptizing of Infants of baptized parents and this Inference cannot be avoyded And so much for this third reason for paedo baptisme Reason 4 Fourthly we baptize Infants of baptized parents because the Lord doth ordinarily make our baptizing of Infants effectuall to the proper ends whereunto true Baptisme is appointed in the Gospell Now the ends are to put on Christ Gal. 3.27 To dye unto sinne and to live unto God Rom. 6.3 4 5. 1 Pet. 3.21 And God doth ordinarily make Baptisme effectuall unto these ends in persons that were baptized in their infancy For among those that were baptized in their infancy wee have as humble meek and mortified Christians men and women as any among the Anabaptists to say no more We have those that dye dayly unto sinne and are vexed in soule to see the abominations of others Againe wee have those that beare upon them the markes of the Lord Jesus Their lives are holy and lovely They are sound in the faith grave in their behaviour and ready unto every good work They deny themselves they advance free grace they afflict their soules and seek the peace of Hierusalem Ordinarily our ministery doth gaine them and sweetly
not because the argument is sensuall and groundlesse but because you cannot answer it Moreover I told you that circumcision was the seale of the righteousnesse of faith and that this seale was imprinted on very Infants in their infancy And is this a groundlesse and sensuall argument not worth the answering Alas alas you cannot answer it And therefore for ought you have said or can say my doctrine must stand good and the gates of hell cannot prevaile against it View it over againe and consider it more punctually And then haply you will either be †Hodson an Ambaptist in the city of Glocester growne as light to the head since he was new baptized as he was light in the heart before Hodson-peevish or of another mind And now having made so manly an encounter let us see whether your valour will endure the brunt of the battell Let us heare your killing exceptions against my reasons that I had for paedo-baptisme Reason 1 The first reason for paedo baptisme Anabaptist Because you say that children are holy therefore they may be baptized 1 Cor. 7.14 Now we would know what holinesse you meane Answer I did not say that children are holy that 's too generall but that children of Christian parents are holy And wee therefore say so because the Apostle Paul the pen-man of the Holy Ghost speaks it And so when you aske me what I meane by holinesse in this discourse you demand withall what the Apostle meanes by it for I only relate his words The meaning then of the Apostle is the same as was the meaning of the Prophets when they said that the Iewish Infants were holy because borne under an holy Covenant Iewes by nature and not sinners under the Gentiles So the meaning of the Apostle is that the children of Christians are holy i. e. Christians by nature and birth not sinners of the Pagans unto which Pagans God hath not committed His Oracles nor put them under His seale But goe on and we will follow you Anabaptist If you say an inward holinesse then grace must come successively from parents And so by this rule wee shall make our parents the authors and conveighers of grace and so mightily wrong the Lord Jesus Christ For there is nothing doth make us truly holy but grace for by nature wee are all filthy and corrupt from top to toe and by this ground we draw grace from our parents loynes which to affirme is most grosse and false and no lesse then high blasphemy against the Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus Christ Answer What holinesse we meane you may see in our answer immediately going before But if we should say that it was inward holinesse How doth that inferre that grace must come successively from parents Seeing parents and children doe not derive inward holinesse and grace from one another but as joint-confederates they both derive and draw holinesse from the Covenant of Grace under which they both are For the expresse words of the Covenant are I will be thy God and the God of thy seed jointly as co-partners in the same Covenant And therefore you erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the nature of the Covenant The Sadduces endeavouring to overthrow the doctrine of the Resurrection drew an argument ab absurdo wherein there were more words then matter like the arguments of you and your brethren of the separation Matth. 22.23 28. thinking to puzzle their answerer with multitude of words seeing they wanted weight of argument So you use many words and sport your selves with your owne fancies But as Christ answered the Sadduces that they did erre because they neither knew the Scriptures nor the power of God So say I to you that you therefore erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the Nature of Gods Covenant of free Grace with His people And who wrongs Christ think you You or I You in making the grace of God of lesse extent by the comming of Christ in setting Moses above Christ For Moses allowed Infants of Gods Covenant people the initiall seale in their infancy but Christ denies it unto them if your Divinity will hold Or I in setting Christ above Moses both for clearenesse and extent of grace Now if Moses in his typicall ministration afford unto the Infants of Gods Covenant-people the initiall seale and Christ denies it in His Gospell-ministration then surely the shadow is to bee preferred before the substance And herein you shew your selfe to bee as stout an advocate for the obstinate Jewes agaist Christ as if from them you had received thirty peeces of silver to betray Him But what high blasphemy against the Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus Christ have you found out spray you Oh this namely that children shoulâ— draw grace from their parents loinesâ— But who a â—irmes this you or â—â— If â— then the Apostle affirmes it for â—d only said that children of Christian parents are holy and so saies the Aâ—ostle Anâ— is the Apostle an high blasphemer in saying so But goe on I pray I know you love not to be interrupted in so weighty a case of conscience as this is Anabaptist Againe if this be true then the unbelieving wife is made holy too and shee may be baptized as well as the children although shee be an infidell which is agaist your owne affirmation Answer T is true that children of Christian parents are holy if that be your meaning and upon this ground are to bee baptized as is said in my Sermon-notes But how doth it hence follow that the unbeleeving wife though holy to the beleeving husband is therefore as well to be baptized as the children of the beleeving parent For the Covenant is I will be thy God and the God of thy seed not I will be thy God and the God of thy wife though an infidell It 's one thing to be under an holy use another thing to be under an holy conditition The beleeving party is said to have a sanctified use of the infidell but the infidell is not said to be holy as the children are For such children are not said to bee sactified unto the parents but holy in themselves by reason of the holy Covenant under which they were borne as children of a parent in Covenant with God and joint-confederates In the originall the unbeleeving party is said to bee holy not to but in the beleeving party Not that one of them absolutely considered were sanctified in another for wee are sanctified only in the Lord Jesus Christ but as considered in the relation of husband and wife in lawfull matrimony so the infidell party is sanctified in the beleeving party for conjugall society and for raising up of an holy seed unto God And if you can but look into the originall and consider the scope of the place you cannot but suffrage with me But goe on Anabaptist But you say it is such an holinesse as hath the promises of the Kingdome of heaven If so then thus we affirme
baptisme if the preaching to the Nation would bring all the rest to have right to baptisme Then the Disciples did bestow labour in vaine by this rule Againe c. ut infra Answer You now sight with your own shadow and that is a strange folly indeed And what is it that may be so easily overthrowne by other Scriptures your owne fancy and forgery downe with it enough it shall have no countenance from me But had I said as you affirme how would that helpe your cause or wound ours It would have argued my weaknesse unlesse the whole Nation had received the Gospell but not have established the grand principle of your sacrilegious religion which is Anti-paedo-baptisme As for that of Mar. 16.16 we shall still grant that as such as were to be made Jewes were first to be taught the Covenant and then to enjoy the Seale but such as were borne Jewes were first to be sealed and then taught afterwards so here Christians-made must first be taught and then be sealed but Christians-borne of those made-Christians are first to be sealed by baptisme and afterward taught for this Scripture doth barre children no more from baptisme than it doth from heaven Thus out of the Text you argue viz. He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved But infants doe not beleeve Ergo Infants are not to be baptized Thus I argue viz. He that beleeves not shall be damned as it followeth in the Text. But say you Infants beleeve not Ergo Infants shall be damned Answer this and you answer you selves Now some of your side say for answer thus viz. He that is of years and believes not shall not be saved and so say I he that is of yeares and believes not is not to be baptized And this is all that I require namely that made-Christians must first testifie their faith before baptisme but borne-Christians not so Anabaptist Againe if this Commission had been from divine authority then the Apostles had not dared to omit the practice thereof but we have not any example of one person in all the Scripture that was baptized but what had the Gospell first preached unto him and did beleeve it Againe further you say c. ut infra Answer The non-practice of the Apostles doth not argue the non-divinity of our warrant for paedo-baptisme from Matth. 28.19 For the businesse of the Apostles lay in planting of foundations and in erecting of Churches consisting of persons of yeares And the Apostles baptized but a poore few of the multitudes that were converted by their ministry 1 Cor. 1.13 17. Now if these words Mat. 28.19 must be urged in the strict letter then it had beene a sinne for the Apostle not to baptize such as by his preaching he converted but this is no sinne for then he would not have thanked God that he baptized none of the Corinthians but Crispus and Gaius 1 Cor. 1.14 And yet Paul did beget the Corinthians in Jesus Christ by his preaching 1 Cor. 4.15 Or he made them Disciples but baptized very few of them and therefore the text cannot be urged in the strict letter Againe to dispute negatively from the Scripture in a matter of fact viz. we doe not reade that the Apostles or any else baptized any Infants therefore there were none baptized by any of them is a kinde of arguing fit for fooles not for schooles and yet this is the onely Divinity of your Church Upon this ground I argue upon more probable reason We doe not reade in the story of the Church from the Baptist to the end of the Acts that the Apostles or any others did baptize a childe of any Christian when he was growne up to yeares but the baptized Christians being millions had many children in that great tract of time and baptized they were Now we reade not that it was done in their growth on profession of their faith and therefore in theiâ— infancie Wee reade of aboundance that were converted from Jews and Pagans who on profession of their faith were baptized but we reade no such thing of the children of any baptized Jew or Gentile but that such children were holy by birth This shewes a maine difference between them and their children viz. That such parents became children of the Church by instruction but the children of such baptized parents were holy and the children of the Church by birth Anabaptist Againe further you say that this Commission was partly circumstantiall as for to goe from Nation to Nation Wee would know how you can prove it so by what Scripture or where ever Christ did say so For Christ gave this Commission in particular to his Disciples and they were to goe unto all Nations to preach the Gospell and so they did fulfill the Commission that Christ gave them And as they were to doe this so they were to teach all Nations to observe the like rules of them as they had from Christ For Christ bid them to teach the Nations to observe whatsoever he commanded them So they were to leave the like Commission with every Nation as they did teach Now we see Christ commanded the Disciples to teach and make them Disciples before they should baptize them and so the Disciples were to teach all Nations to follow the same rule and so the Apostle doth exhort to follow their rule and example as they left us Answer Thomas Lambe your deare brother and messenger of Jesus Christ put apart to preach the Gospell-grace as he stiles himselfe in his letter to you his brethren and prisoners of Jesus Christ was as he writes in that letter to goe to Norwich in February last Anno 1641. about the Lords worke as he had beene with you about the like worke Now the substance of this worthy instruments commission is the Lords worke in erecting Churches and planting new foundations but his going to Norwich and comming to Gloucester and Painswicke and Cranham is but a circumstance of this mans commission as things concerning time and place about actions may be termed circumstances of such actions without any text of Scripture to warrant the expression I told you that Christs Commission in Mat. 28.19 20. was a full Commission to all Christs Ministers under the Gospell extraordinary and ordinary and that this Commission was that the Word should be preached and that the Sacraments should be administred and that ordinary Pastours and Teachers in seâ—led Congregations did execute this Commission fully though they went not from Nation to Nation and from place to place Now if such a circumstance may be dispensed withall without violation of the Commission then the Commission of Christ there given bindes not all Ministers in every circumstance For wee told you that this being a full Commission to all the Ministers of Jesus Christ to direct them in the worke of the Ministry and the Ministers of Jesus Christ being partly extraordinary and partly ordinary therefore in this Commission here must be something peculiar unto the
we find generally all children to be as vile and as wicked when they are come to any bignesse as any wicked men For there is not any evill almost but they doe shew it in their tougues or actions And this they doe c. ut infra Answer In the amplification of this reason I told you that among us that were baptized in infancy we have as humble and as meek and mortified men and women as any among the Anabaptists to say no more We have those that dye dayly unto sinne and are vexed in soule to see the abominations of others Againe wee have those that beare upon them the marks of the Lord Jesus Their lives are holy and lovely They are sound in the faith grave in their behavior and ready unto all good works They deny themselves They advance free grace They afflict their souldes and seek the peace of Hierusalem And hereof I say we through Gods blessing have not a few and all these baptized in their infancy And whereas you say that all children generally are as vile as wicked when they are come to any bignesse as any wicked men I must tell you that this your charge is unjust wicked and slanderous for many children of godly parents among us that were baptized in their infancy doe manifest the gracious fruits of their incorporation into Christ by Baptisme as soone as they come to any bignesse And their speeches and actions considering the immaturity of their age and the corruption and frailty of mans nature are for the corruption and frailty of mans nature are for the generall tenour thereof gracious and lovely though at some times and in some particulars being provoked and stirred they are erroneous and not justifiable Anabaptist And this they d ee still remaine untill the word of God doth work upon them and new mould them so that it is the word that doth change them and not Baptisme For wee finde c. ut infra Answer Mortification and rising to newnesse of life are attributed to Baptisme Rom 6.3 4 5. And salvation by Jesus Christ his resurrection is attributed to Baptisme 1 Pet. 3.21 And therefore for you to exclude Baptisme from having any stroak in the change of man from nature to grace is not to speak according to the language of the Scriptures of God Christ doth sanctisie and cleanse His Church with the washing of water by the word Ephes 5.26 Here the Apostle doth joyn Baptisme and the word as joint-instruments in mans sanctification and therefore you are led by an anti-Apostolicall spirit in excluding Baptisme But now you have forgotten God in your discourse for I said that God doth ordinarily make our baptizing of Infants effectuall to the ends whereunto true Baptisme is appointed And now you say that it is not baptisme that changeth the baptized but the word Well God ordinarily by His word changeth and new mouldeth the baptized in their infancy and so God by His word ordinarily makes baptisme effectuall unto persons that were baptized in their infancy And this is that which wee would have And thus you see that while you had forgotten God in His ordinances of grace you forgot what you were about And why make you such an opposition between the word preached and the Sacraments seeing both are the word of God The word preached is the word audible and the Sacraments are the word visible both the word of God to the fitting of His elect for Heaven Wee baptize with water that 's our duty but it 's Christ that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost We catechise and preach but it 's God that makes His word effectuall to the ends whereunto it 's appointed God must bee look't upon in all His ordinances as a wise worker that makes them all helpful unto one another and one must not exclude another The Infants of the Jewes were circumcised in their infancy but that Sacrament became a long time afterward effectually by the instruction of their teachers Shall we now for this cause exclude circumcision as ineffectuall because God made it not effectuall unto them until a long time after by the instructions of their instructours Answer this and the proportion will hold in paedo-baptisme It 's wild divinity to say that an ordinance is not to bee used unlesse it take effect presently Anabaptist For wee finde them to shew forth as bad fruites after their Baptisme as the vilest creatures that bee so that if wee should judge of their Baptisme by their fruits before they come to understand the word of God wee may justly say that their Baptisme was abominable by its evill fruits I say if we should judge any thing of the effect of their Baptisme then this wee may judge of it But wee will bee sparing in our censures although from your affirmation we might justly conclude so Yet I say we will be sparing in that and impute those evill fruits and effects that are in children after Baptisme unto their corrupted nature and their Baptisme to bee ineffectuall by its fruits And therefore by all this well considered we may see it is the word that makes the change in the children and others and not their baptisme Thus we plainly see that it is the word that makes them fit for Baptisme and not their parentage Answer We find not all baptized children of Christian parents as bad as this your wicked charge doth import Nay there are creatures worse then the worst of them and therefore you are a false accuser and unjust slanderer and you cannot make it good But you have forgotten the businesse in hand again I told you that God did ordinarily make our baptizing of Infants effectuall to the ends whereunto true Baptisme is appointed in the Gospell And this the Lord may doe though the most of those that we baptize in their infancy prove vitious in their conversation and but few of them religious as long as the Lord doth it ordinarily i. e. by ordinary meanes and usually as by His word and ordinances in His Church for what else can you understand by the word ordinarily I say as long as the Lord doth thus ordinarily make our baptizing of Infants effectuall to the proper ends of true Baptisme appointed in the Gospell though but to a few of the baptized our argument stands good And you can no more conclude from the vitiousnesse of the baptized in infancy that that practice of baptizing Infants is abominable then you may from the vitiousnesse of the Jewes that their circumcision in their infancy was abominable because there were but few of them unto whom God ordinarily made it effectuall to the proper ends whereunto it was appointed in the word for among them there were but few that did beleive in the Messias yield obedience unto Gods holy Law in heart and life And now how just your conclusion is from my premises let all men see And no wonder that you make my premises speak what you please And should we judge