understood the Nature and Difference of Covenants better I believe than any Antipaedobaptist in England To all which he made no return but after some Pause and an Harangue to the People he told me he would not be satisfied unless I brought him an Example out of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament for any Child being Baptized or a Command for his admission into Covenant that way To which I urged the probability of Children being Baptized Acts xvi 15.33 when it is said That Lydia was Baptized and her Houshold and of the Jaylor That he was Baptized and all his straitway 1 Cor. 1.16 and when St. Paul saith I Baptized also the Houshold of Stephanas and to speak ingenuously the only thing considerable he said was the proving the probability there were no Children in those Families I am very sorry I have forgot what he said but if I could remember it I would do him that Justice as to relate it for I would pay my Adversary that respect as to declare all the Truth and Reason of him that his Cause will bear or that he can with good ground desire but that which is but probably true may notwithstanding be false However that I may allow my Adversary all he can reasonably ask supposing there were no Children in those Houses mentioned Dato sed non concesso disputandi gratia Allowing but not granting it as we say sometimes in the Schools for disputation-sake yet the Argument is not weakned because the Holy Apostle spoke those Words not with the consideration of there being Children in those Families but in allusion to known Customs among the Jews in their receiving Proselytes of Righteousness as we have made appear in the Book Afterwards he urged the necessity of a direct Command in the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament In totidem verbis for the Baptizing Children in so many Words whereupon I asked him If he believed such a Command necessary to which he replyed He did I returned upon him I thought it was undecent if not absurd so positively to assert a thing necessary and offer no Reason beside I said if he would give a Reason why he believed it necessary I would do that which by Rules of Disputation he could not oblige me to for no Man is bound to prove a Negative viz. prove it not necessary Hereupon he made a longer Pause than before and after he recovered himself made so long an Harange to those present I was forced to pull him by the Sleeve and desire him not to make my House a Meeting-place and assume or take so much Considence as to instruct my People unless he thought me not able for such an Employment which if he did I desired him to make proof and when he had done to make his complaint to my Reverend Diocesan Upon which with a sort of flattering smile he complemented me and told me he thought me able for my Office and said he and I might agree well in all points but one viz. Infant Baptism for he heard I was an Arminian and so was he Whereupon I told him I somewhat doubted whether he understood the Quinquarticular Controversie managed at the Synod of Dort and knew what an Arminian was but whether he did or no was not material now but I acquainted him I desired not to pass under any Character but that of a Christian nay that Honourable Name for the best things may be abused in some Cases and Circumstances if I understand St. Paul right where it is used for a Faction in opposition to Christian Peace is blame worthy Now this I say that every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas 1 Cor. 1.12 13. and I of Christ Is Christ divided was Paul Crucified for you or were you Baptized in the Name of Paul So that there were four Parties in the Church of Corinth And therefore did I affect to be called by a Name that should preserve Universal Charity I would espouse that of a Reformed Catholique without renouncing the Name Christian And then I offered a Reason why there was no necessity for an express Text of Holy Scripture in the New Testament for the Baptizing Infants because it was so long known in the Jewish Church before our Blessed Saviour's days and as he took the other Sacrament from the Jews Post-coenium or After-Supper so he took this from their way of admitting Proselytes of Righteousness before they Circumcised them And why should we not for the same Reason debar Women from the Lord's Supper as Children from being admitted by Baptism into the Covenant seeing there is no more Command for one than for the other So that Christ's not saying whether Children were admitted to Baptism is so far from being a cogent Proof that weighing the former Jewish Customs it is the strongest Motive to believe it But still notwithstanding all I said to shew the absurdity of his Request and the Arguments I offered to signifie the unreasonableness of such a Demand without answering one of my Reasons my Adversary importuned me for an express place of Holy Scripture in the New Testament for the Baptizing Children whereupon I asked him if I brought a place of Holy Scripture whose Sence could have no other tolerable meaning but the allowance of Infants to be Baptized it were not the same as if I brought express Words for Baptizing Children which he yielded Upon which it pleased God as if he would assist the defence of his Divine Truth for I thought not on it before this I own because I am not willing to ascribe any thing to my self to suggest to my Mind that place of St. Paul For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife 1 Cor. VII 14. and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they Holy Where Interpreters understand by the unbelieving Husband or Wife an Infidel and by the Wife or Husband that sanctifies a Christian from whence I drew this Argument That if Children as soon as born had a right to the Covenant by the Parents Faith where but one of the Parents is a Christian then Baptism being the Sign of the Covenant and not the Covenant as the Antipaedobaptists own It follows by the Argument à Majori ad Minus from the greater to the less if the Child when born hath a right to the Covenant he hath a right to the Sign Omne majus includit in se minus for according to the Logical Maxim The greater includes the less and he that should deny this would be as absurd as he that should say he that receiveth Ten Pounds receives not Five And then I told him there were but two sorts of Holiness with reference to Men though there may be a Relative Holiness with respect to things a Personal and a Foederal Holiness at which he stared on me as if he understood me not on which I
Covenant of Grace less beneficial and extensive than the Covenant of Works and so consequently doth not allow as great Benefits Priviledges and Immunities to the Covenant of Grace which he doth to the Covenant of Works all which are the dangerous Consequences of Antipedobaptism as I hope I have sufficiently proved and convincingly made out and in the evincing or proving this Argument I have plainly shewed that we have the proper meaning of three Texts of Holy Scripture which I think to any Man of sense is as clear a Proof and as powerful an Evidence to engage our belief to the truth of any Doctrin propounded to us as if we had brought the positive and express Words of Holy Scripture which is as strong a conviction as any Man can with the least shew of reason desire So that if the true sense of the Holy Jesus's Commission to his Blessed Disciples be duly considered and that no other meaning can tolerably be put upon them being backt with the Authority of two other places of Holy Scripture and a threefold Cord is not easily broken no Antipedobaptist that is a Man of sense will hereafter press for a positive and direct place of Holy Writ because he hath no reason to expect a Tautology in Sacred Scripture to please an Humour or serve an Interest and because he will thereby weaken his Cause and then have great reason to be ashamed of if not repent for the Injury he doth his Principles and he will see the vanity of demanding express words for a confutation when he hath plain sense against him for the Holy Scriptures are to be expounded and interpreted by their Sense and not by their Sound by their Spiritual Meaning and not by the bare Words Syllables and Letters for they are best understood by their proper Design and Purport or a true Relation to their Coherence and Connexion with what preceeds and follows after And now give me leave to offer one thing that will confirm the sense of the Texts I have delivered and will also further shew how unreasonable and absurd weak and trifling the Antipedobaptists are for being so peremptory and positive in demanding an express place of Holy Scripture for the baptizing of Infants and this I will endeavour to evince from Customs among the Jews well known to all learned Men. Three things were required by the Jews to make a Male Proselyte of Righteousness Circumcision a kind of Purfication by Water which was an Allusion to Baptism and Oblation which was commonly two Turtles or Pidgeons To a Female Purification by Water and Oblation Now because the Jews since their Dispersion have neither Altar nor Sacrifice they say For the Male Circumcision and Purification by Water are sufficient For the Female Only Purification by Water In David's time they tell us many Thousands were added to the Church without Circumcision by Purification only Hence we may observe that a kind of Admission by Water into the Church was long in use among the Jews tho' it were not Sacramental till the Blessed Jesus's Institution therefore it may seem to be used by them because they looked for it as a Sacrament at the coming of the Messiah as is evident by their coming to St. John the Baptist not so much scrupling his Baptism as his Authority by what Power he baptized St. John i. 25. And they asked him and said unto him Why baptizest thou then if thou be not that Christ nor Elias nor that Prophet By which three different words they meant the Messiah because he was well known to the Jews by those Terms or Phrases to be foresignified so that had he owned himself for such they would not have doubted his Commission but Christ being plainly proved the Messiah he was Lord of the Sacrament as well as of the Sabbath and so had a sufficient Power to institute a New Sacrament and so substituted Baptism in the room of Circumcision which whosoever believes not to be as extensive as the other is so irrational as to make the holy Jesus not so merciful a Legislator as Moses which shews the unreasonableness and absurdity of demanding an express Text of holy Scripture for Infant Baptism which was the Truth to be cleared and I hope is sufficiently made apparent and manifest CHAP. XI Some general Observations upon the Sense and Expositions delivered LET me now offer some general Observations upon the Sense and Expositions of those Texts I have brought for the Proof hereof and I will begin with the Observation of Chemnitius in his Plea he makes against the Antipedobaptists of Germany * Ego sane qui simplicitatem amo etiamsi nec intelligam nec explicare possim quomodo Infantes qui Baptizantur credant judico tamen suffitire firmissima illa testimonia explicata Infantes esse Abaptizandos neque enim ab illis propterea discedendum etsi non possim vel intelligere velexplicare quomedo credant Infames Chemnit Exam. Conc. Trid. part 2. Tit. de Baptismo ad Canon 13. I do so truly love Simplicity and Truth that altho' I cannot tell how Children who are baptized believe yet I judge the Testimonies from Holy Scripture above-named most strong Evidences and a sufficient Proof for this Christian Practice neither ought Christians to depart from this Truth tho' I cannot understand or explain how Children believe In some things we should take St. Paul's Advice And become Fools that we may be wise 1 Cor. iij. 18. Obedience being more acceptable than burnt Offerings 1 Sam. xv 22. And we should offer up our Understandings to divine Revelation where there is clear Reason to submit to it Faith is the wisest and most well-pleasing Service we can offer to God Nescire ea quae docere non vult Magister maximus erudita est inscitia not to know those things our great Master would have us ignorant of is if I may so speak without a Solecism a learned Ignorance But prais'd be Heaven I have yet met with no Arguments of the Adversaries so strong as to need such an Apology or Plea We find not any Accusation laid to the Charge of Christianity by the Jewish or Pagan World upon this Account which certainly would have been done by some of the Enemies of our holy Religion if the Jewish Believer had not enjoyed the same Immunities when Christian that he did before Or if the first Planters of Christianity had preached the same Doctrin the Antipedobaptists do now how would the Enemies of our holy Religion have declamed against us and declared the Doctrin they preached was not the same Covenant God offered to the Father of the Faithful and the People of Israel because that included Father and Son as to the Covenant and the Sign that conveyed the Benefits of the Covenant An Obj. Now because the Antipedobaptists call upon us for an Example of any baptized in a gathered Church without Faith and that herein the holy Scripture is silent Answ To which I
and when he complied in so many Customs why should we believe he varied in this only But I will give one remarkable Example and so conclude this way of confirming the Sense and Expositions I have given and the Sense of what I shall say for his words I cannot give you it being so long since I read him I shall borrow from the Reverend Dr. Lightfoot a Man of the greatest knowledge in understanding the Custom of the Jews and Rabbinic Learning The Text is St. Matth. xvij 20. If you have faith as a grain of mustard-seed you shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you Now this is naturally impossible in a literal sense but to such as are acquainted with a customary Saying among the Jews this seemingly difficult place hath an easie and intelligible meaning for it was an usual Saying among them of a learned Rabbi that had a skilful Faculty in the expounding hard places of Holy Scripture That he was a Man of such Learning he could remove Mountains Now this Phrase the H. Jesus applies to a true sound saving Faith of which it is properly meant and not of the Faith of Miracles as some perchance may believe and his sense is plainly this as may appear by the last words of the Text And nothing shall be impossible to you A right orthodox strong Faith in the Almighty God will be of such power and efficacy as to support and bear you up under the sorest Pressures of Human Life and when your Faith and Patience are sufficiently tried and exercised your Belief in the same God shall work a deliverance and no difficulty or distress shall be insuperable to or conquerable by such a Faith because so great a Faith shall like Jacob when he wrestled with God Almighty prevailed with if not overcome Omnipotence it self obtain what it desires Gen. xxxij 28. as the Canaanitish Woman's importunate Faith did with the B. Jesus when he said unto her Mat. 15.28 O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee as thou wilt And to encourage to the exercise of such a Noble Act of Faith St. Paul speaks the same sense with that Exposition I have given of that place of St. Matthem 1 Cor. x. â—â— when he saith There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may he able to bear it And that I may the better engage your belief to the sense I have given of these three Texts I have interpreted them according to Jewish Customs and Phrases As to the first St. Matth. xxviij 19. I have explained it according to the sense it must have if Moses their Legislator had given such a Commission to twelve Elders of Israel as the H. Jesus gave to his B. Disciples As to the second place Acts ij 39. we have so expounded it likewise for it is well known By those that are afar off the Jews constantly meant the Heathen Nations or the Gentile World Lastly For the third place 1 Cor. vij 14. we have interpreted the word Holy according to the Jewish custom and manner who always understood the word Holy so and applied that Phrase to any Thing or Person that was dedicated and peculiarly set apart to the Service of God and therefore neither according to the coherence of the place nor the Jewish way of interpreting H. Scripture can that word be understood of a Matrimonial Legitimacy that should render the Children clean after such a Marriage and free them from the odious Character of Bastardy as we shall make more fully and clearly appear when I come to answer a seemingly strong Objection of the Antipedobaptists against the sense of that Text which we have given as its proper meaning CHAP. XIII Authorities of the ancient Fathers to establish the Sense of the three Texts of Holy Scripture AND now that I may engage you to believe the Sense I have given of these three places of H. Scripture I will confirm it by the best Authority the Testimony of three of the most ancient Primitive Fathers who lived near the Age of the H. Apostles and therefore may be reasonably supposed best acquainted with their mind The first shall be the Authority of Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resp ad Orthod or whosoever was Author of that Primitiv Book Children are allowed to enjoy the good things that come by Baptism by the Faith of them that bring them to Baptism Punctually correspondent to the sense and so fit to establish the meaning we have given of 1 Cor. viij 14. where upon the Account of the believing Husband's living with the unbelieving Wife and the reason allowed that one may build up the other in the Christian Doctrin and accordingly christianly educate their Children the Children are Holy i. e. vouchsafed the Priviledge of Baptism and the Benefits thereupon consequent Next we find Irenaeus speaking to the same sense who flourished in the first Century after such as had an occular view of the H. Jesus who declares the Messiah to be an Universal Saviour and mentioning Infants Parvulos small Children as well as Pueros Juvenes and Seniores Boys Youths and Elder Persons saith further all Omnes inquam qui per cum renascuntur in Deum Iren. l. 2. adv haeres c. 39. who by him are reborn to a Divine Life where Children being renewed or reborn must needs be expounded according to the H. Scripture-phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being renewed or reborn by the Laver of Regeneration and all that are acquainted with the Primitive Fathers know they thereby mean Baptism Dominica Apostolica phrasi according to the sense of H. Scripture as delivered by the B. Jesus and his dear Followers and as he concludes there Sanctificat Infantes he renders Children holy according to the Interpretation we have given of that place of St. Paul 1 Cor. vij 14. Lastly Tertullian who flourished much about the same time gives a much like account for speaking of the Fidelium filii the Sons of the Faithful he affirms * Sanctitatis Candidati hinc enim Apostolus ex Sanctificato alterutro sexn Sanctos procreari ait Sanctitam ex seminis Praerogativa quam ex Institutionis disciplina Tertull. L. 1. de Anima C. 39. They are Candidates of Holiness and Holy as upon different regards so from the prerogative of their Birth punctually adequate to the sense we have given of the Text to the Corinthians and according to our Exposition thereof and as it is a Testimony it was so used by the Christians then so it 's an Evidence of the Custom of the H. Apostles in that Age to allow the Infants of Christian Parents to be baptized And now to conclude the Authorities I
my main Argument and then with this Preface and what is in the Book I shall have delivered what not only my self but others of far greater Judgment if they do not flatter me think necessary to be said on the Subject according to the Method I have handled it in and the Topicks I have proved it by What I said next was when I had occasion to preach on that former Text and quoted 1 Cor. VII 14. I thus delivered my self Give me leave now to say something in defence of Infant-Baptism being willing to seize on any Opportunity that inviteth me to speak thereof For being there is a Sect of Men called Antipaedobaptists that have set up a Meeting in this Parish to seduce Men from the Ancient Truth I think it my Duty out of kindness to your Souls Health to preserve you in the true and Catholic because Christian Doctrin of Baptizing Infants that you may by defending your Orthodox Principle of the Church of England be able to Answer some of their weak though they imagine them strong Arguments If then that be true which I do not in the least doubt having no reason for it that the Learned Rabbins among the Jews acquaint us with who best understood their Usages That one Reason of Circumcision was to teach the derivation of God's Covenant to the Seed of the Faithful This place of St. Paul's will hint us a seemingly unanswerable Argument for Infant-Baptism which with an allowable confidence and without too much conceitedness of my self for I have laboured to mortifie such Inclinations I may challenge the most Learned Antipaedobaptist in this Country or possibly in the Kingdom to give any tolerable Answer to or to offer any Sens of this Text different from what I shall now deliver as its true meaning provided it be according to the Testimony of Holy Writ the Connexion of Sacred Scripture the Analogy of sound Faith and the clear Dictates of right Reason I call this Doctrine an Ancient Practise because I do not in any measure Question but it was used in that Age of Christianity next to the Holy Apostles which is as soon as we could expect it to be used because in the Holy Apostle's time there was no one Nation brought over to the Christian Faith but because of the swift propagation of the Christian Doctrin we may reasonably suppose there was such a Conversion by the end of the first Century or Hundred years after the Holy Apostles death Viri Apostolici and the Fathers of that Century were called Apostolic Men and if you will not allow such a Tradition to be Apostolic I know not what Tradition can claim that Ancient and Honourable Name And now I will give you the plain Sens of that place of St. Paul's above-mentioned such as may confirm what I have before offered as its meaning in a Conference on this Subject For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband i. e. the Paganish Husband is sanctified by the Wife that is a Christian I mean her Foederal or Covenant Holiness is imputed to the Husband that the Children begotten and born after such a Marriage may be Holy or Partakers of a Foederal or Covenant Holiness For a Personal Holiness cannot be conveyed as some Men of ill Principles particularly the Antinomians think for they believ the Personal Holiness of God and Christ may be transmitted and therefore they declare a Man may be Godded with God and Christed with Christ And so the Paganish Wife is sanctified by the believing Husband That no other sense can be the proper meaning of this Text I appeal to the Context which is the best way to have a right understanding of Holy Scripture or any other Book or Author as will appear by two verses preceding If any Brother hath a Wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him let him not put her away and the Woman which hath an Husband that believeth not if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him And then the Holy Apostle as an encouragement for Co-habitation and a Reason why the Husband should not Divorce the Wife or the Wife forsake the Husband adds the following Words for the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband which being so great a Priviledg should be a Motive to dwell together and not by separation to forfeit so considerable an Advantage and when there is so plain Sense in Holy Scripture for the Baptizing Infants it is unreasonable in the Antipaedobaptists to demand a positiv Precept of Holy Scripture in express Words and therefore having so much Reason on our side grounded on the plain sense of Holy Scripture Why may not we with as much Reason retort on them and demand a positiv Prohibition in express terms And ask whether they can shew any Text in the whole Sacred Book of God that saith Infants shall not be Baptized Having therefore so much Reason for our Principles we may rationally presume we have the Holy Scriptures seeing they never contradict Reason though they may in some things transcend Reason but I shall need say no more from this Text having spoken so fully to it in the Book to which I referr my Readers I know but one Objection An Obj. I shall need to take notice of here seeing I have answered so many in the Book and in particular This and therefore shall be the shorter in the Account I now give and what I say shall not be the same with that in the Book and this I am the more willing to because I know some of the Antipaedobaptists think it may have some force in it against our Principle though few of them know how to manage it and I confess it hath been started to me by one that knew not how to use it and this they think the stronger because drawn from our acknowledged Principles I mean from one of our authorized Books and so they take it to be like the Logicians Argumentum ad Hominem as strong as a Dilemma and so hope to gore us with our own Horns and expect we should say as the Apostate Emperor of the Christians in his Age when he was overcome by the Christians â—ropriis 〈…〉 with Arguments drawn out of his own Quiver We are wounded with the Arrows feathered from our own Shafts The Objection is drawn from an Answer to a Question in our Church Catechism To that Question What is required of Persons to be Baptized the Answer is Repentance whereby they forsake Sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the Promises of God made to them in that Sacrament To which I Answer the Repentance here spoken of consists in forsaking Sin which is the same with that Abrenunciation they make at their Baptism by their Com-promisers and Undertakers by whom and by certain Conditions promised by their Sponsors and Sureties
Allowance or Command being it was used in the times immediately succeeding to the Holy Apostles and also if it had been disagreeable to the Mind of Christ it is very probable he would have forbid it or some way or other declared his Aversion or Dislike In short to conclude the Exposition of the Sence I have delivered of this Text Nothing can more disparage the Wisdom of Heaven and the long-approved Custom of the Jews than to affirm Children unfit by Sacramental Seal to be admitted to Covenant under the Holy Gospel that were admitted under the Law and which Heaven and the Jews allowed them For Heaven enjoyned Circumcision for Infants and the Church of the Jews enjoyned them Baptism as well as full-grown Proselytes and under the Law they were allowed both It is highly unreasonable then that under the Holy Gospel they should be denied one or any other Token of Admission into the Covenant as they must necessarily be by Antipaedobaptistic Principles CHAP. VI. The Sence of St. Matthew xxviij 19. proved by the Coherence and Connexion of the Words AND now that I may engage you to believe the Sence I have offered I will prove it by the Connexion of the Words Whereas the Antipaedobaptists say Children are to be Instructed before Baptized I will endeavour to evince That the Coherence of this Text seems to be of our side and that Children are to be baptized before taught Obj. I know the Antipaedobaptists by the placing of the Words in the Commission would insinuate that Infants must be Instructed before Baptized Answ To which I return That if the placing of the Words be a sufficient Objection against our Practice we have the same Argument by way of Retortion to urge against their Custom of Teaching first and if they do not like our Argument in that Case we have the same Reason not to like theirs For we find in St. Mark i. 4 John did baptize in the Wilderness and preach the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins Where we may observe Baptism precedes and Preaching is subsequent thereupon The same we may find in our Text with respect to the Verse before and that which follows ver 18. And Jesus came and spake to them saying All Power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth i. e Now I am exalted to the right hand of God I am the great King of all the World the Supreme Pastor and Head of my People the High-Priest of my Church Go you therefore and teach all Nations or as St. Mark expresses the Commission Chap. xvj 15. And he said unto them Go you into all the World i. e. Travel into all the World and from every Nation gather me Sheep into my Fold make Subjects to my Kingdom and then by Baptism receive them as Members of my Church And this is your Office of Discipling all Nations and then the Instructive part follows ver 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you CHAP. VII The Sence of St. Matthew xxviij 19 further evidenced from the Original IN truth the Term it self if seriously considered will not conclude what they would have it do for the Word in the Greek hath a peculiar signification and is not properly translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Word i. e. make Disciples or receive into Discipleship all Nations baptizing them And let this Form of Baptizing be the Rite for their Admission into my Church you may find the Word so rendred in another place of the Holy Gospel not unlike hereto St. John iv 1. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more Disciples than John where to Baptize and make Disciples is the same thing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Baptizing being immediately annexed to the making or receiving Disciples and the making Disciples not granting any foregoing Teaching but looking to it as a consequent Duty in like sort as in the next Verse ver 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teaching subsequent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptizing which must signifie different from what he used for Discipling else why should he not continue the same word must needs inferr the no necessity of Teaching before Baptizing so that all that are thus admitted ad Discipulatum or to Discipleship to be taught and improved in the Religion of the Holy Jesus and such that shall and will be instructed for the future may certainly by being Baptized be admitted into the Church the Rite appointed and instituted whereby Disciples may have a Reception and Entertainment in his Family the Church Obj. And now give me leave to offer something further to an Objection of the Antipaedobaptists in reference to the Commission Their Objection as I have already hinted is from the Order of Words because Teaching is set before Baptizing Therefore none but the full grown can be admitted to Baptism Answ Now all that I shall say or need to say in return to the placing of the Words is this Teaching according to the sence we have given may go before Baptizing as in the Adult and Baptizing before Teaching as in Infants So that without altering the Order of the Words there is nothing in the true sence of the Commission that condemns the Baptizing of Children and I may say of Teaching and Baptizing or Baptizing and Teaching as it may be said of Faith and Repentance Divines do generally say Repentance is the fruit of Faith and yet in the Holy Gospel it is said Repent ye and believe the Gospel St. Mark i. 15. And now what I have said of the Order of Teaching and Baptizing the same may be said of Faith and Repentance There may be a Faith that may go before Repentance and a Faith that may follow it That which precedes may be said to be that Faith that fills the Head and informs the Judgment That Faith which may be said to be subsequent is the Faith that influences the Heart and saves the Soul The one may be called a sound Faith the other a saving Faith My meaning in short is this I must first believe the great Love of Christ which is a sound Faith or else I cannot so truly grieve for those Sins that pierced the Holy Jesus's side and put him to death and so Faith precedes Repentance But then I cannot exercise the other sort or kind of Faith untill I really detest and hate and fully purpose to relinquish and forsake those Sins that put my dear Lord and Master to so much shame and pain and then I may safely and comfortably make an Application of Christ's Merits to my self for my Salvation And this is that which is properly called a saving Faith and this is that which may be said to be consequent upon and follow true Repentance And this I do think may sufficiently satisfie us that the ordering or placing the words destroys not nor evacuates the sence I have given of the Commission And now seeing the
Antipaedóbaptists are so peremptory positive and stiff for an express Command out of Holy Scripture for the Baptizing of Infants though there can be no Reason given for such a request or demand for what need of direct words when we have plain sence against them Why may not we with equal Reason and with the same Importunity return upon them by way of Retortion and ask where they find any Command for the Baptizing Elder persons If they shall reply that is included in the Commission St. Matthew xxviij 19. Go teach all Nations baptizing them we may with equal strength of Argument return upon them again Children are included as well as the Adult they being by all Men of Sence acknowledged and owned to be a part of the Nations to whom the Commission is directed and whatsoever they are upon the account of the smallness of their Number or weakness of their Understanding they are a considerable part of a Nation Obj. But if the Antipaedobaptists shall object that Children are in the Commission as soon as capable of Teaching Answ I Answer The Commission intends those should be taught that are capable but excludes not those from the Seal of the Covenant that have a right to the Covenant as Children have Besides if the placing of the Words be for them in St. Matthew the Order of Words is for us in St. Mark where we read the Baptist did Baptize before he Preached So that the Methodizing the words is neither for nor against them or us So then seeing Children are not by any necessary and rational Consequence shut out of the Commission let the most Learned Antipaedobaptist of the whole Christian World shew the least passage of Holy Scripture that excludes them and if they cannot produce any such place of Holy Writ they are bound by the Obligations and Principles of Conscience unless they will renounce Reason and Truth too to confess the Children of Christian Parents having a right to the Covenant have as undeniable and unquestionable a right of being admitted to the Holy Sacrament of Baptism as the Adult and Full-grown Obj. But if the Antipaedobaptists shall urge That we have Instances and Examples in Holy Scripture of Elder persons Baptized Answ To that I Answer That an Example or Instance of Holy Scripture is not as of the same Force so not of equal Authority with a Positive Command And further I observe in answer to this Objection That there was no need of a Precept or Example for the Baptizing of Children and my Reason is this Because there was an Institution of the Abrahamic Covenant and also of the Sign or Token for admitting Members thereunto and a Conveyance of the Privileges thereunto belonging Surely the sence of those Texts in the Holy Gospel that enjoyn a Declaration of Faith and an Exercise of Repentance before the Adult were baptized was known to the Primitive Doctors of the Church they unquestionably had seriously weighed and fully understood the Usage of Baptism in the Apostolic Acts related by St. Luke but yet they never inferred this unreasonable Conclusion from them That because Faith and Repentance were to precede the Baptismal Sacrament which is an Institution of Latitude in full-grown People that therefore Baptizing was not to precede Faith and Repentance in Infants and little ones as Circumcision and Baptism did under the Jewish Dispensation They understood a Distinction between Actual and Potential Believers and likewise understood it was very absurd to draw Conclusions from the Graces and Vertues of those to the excluding these Besides all this to be somewhat more particular 1. There are different ways of Instruction as well as different methods of Faith or Believing and the Holy Jesus doth not declare instruct each Party personally and that presently on the place which may be almost Morally impossible for it is not probable that though there were Three thousand Souls converted by St. Peter's first Sermon and immediately baptized that he could personally instruct so many in so short a time as we may suppose between his Preaching and their Baptizing it is enough if they be instructed though in their Fathers as Levi paid Tythe in Abraham's Loins as the Author to the Hebrews acquaints us Hebr. vij 9. So Children are by the Blessed Jesus directly termed Believers St. Matth. xviij 6. which by the Coherence cannot be understood of the Adult as the word sometimes is particularly St. John xxj 5. But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me Infants are supposed to believe by their Father's Faith so that as they fell from the Divine Life in their Forefather's the Protoplast's or first Adam's Loins so they may be instructed by their natural or legitimate Fathers to be Disciples to the Holy Jesus Obj. Ch. Blackwood's storming of Antichrist in his two strong Holde Compulsion of Conscience and Infant-Baptism But I have read an Objection to the Sence I have offer'd started by a seemingly Ingenious Antipaedobaptist who would make these little ones to signifie such as are little in their own Apprehensions Answ But to this I Answer It is impossible that this can be the meaning for it plainly is meant not of such as are little in Understanding but of such as are little in Age and Stature For in St. Mark Chap. ix 36. the Blessed Jesus who best understood the Divine Writings expounds it of such an one as he took up in his Arms. Now it is not usual to take up Youths that are arrived at years of Discretion which is about the Age of Sixteen years in our Arms. 2. They were to teach them all things whatsoever their Lord and Master had commanded them Now our Blessed Saviour continued in the World after his miraculous Resurrection sometime above a month speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God as St. Luke acquaints us Acts i. 3. And how know we but this Doctrine of Baptizing Children he then instructed them in if he had not done it in the time of his public Ministration upon Earth before his Passion and Sufferings because the nature of the Doctrine may seem to imply and require it and in all likelihood some if not all the Holy Apostles did use it For it is probable that it begun in their Age seeing in the Times immediately succeeding them we are by Ecclesiastic History assured of its Practice CHAP. VIII The Sence of St. Matthew xxviij 19. confirmed by an Exposition of Acts ij 39. in General AND now that this Exposition may be the more firmly believed and readily embraced I will confirm and strengthen it by the consequential Sence of two places of Holy Scripture The one from St. Peter the Holy Apostle of the Circumcision or the Jewish Church and the other from St. Paul the Holy Apostle of the Uncircumcision or the Gentile World I come now to the Exposition of the first place that of St. Peter the Holy Apostle of the Circumcision or the Jewish Church
meaning of the Term is Separate such and such Persons from the rest of Mankind and by initiation admit them to be my Disciples or dedicate them to the Service of Heaven and then by Baptism set a Mark upon them that they may be known to be my Disciples and let them be afterwards instructed who in respect of their present unfitness cannot immediately become Disciples by personal Instruction and the ground of this Interpretation is strongly laid because an Active Verb of Injunction should be allowed such a meaning for being made to People and Nations it must have such a sense as must extend it self to all to whom it is made and assuredly little ones on account of their Number are a larger Portion of People and Nations than they are upon account of their Stature and that Infants may by this way be made Disciples is out of doubt Because 1. They are by their Fathers or the Church presented to Heaven who consecrate them to God and are thereby enrolled in the Register of the Holy Jesus 2. The Sponsors or Undertakers promise upon their account that correspondent to their Engagement expressed in the Form of Baptism which is declared in the following Charge they are to be instructed in the true Service of God Hereupon they become Disciples in Fieri 3. They have the Regal Seal stampt upon their Spirits whereby they are set apart for the Service of Heaven and become Christians and Disciples in Facto esse not as being personally instructed but as being placed so as to be reckoned the Servants and Scholars of the blessed Jesus and so really looked upon and accounted his Disciples We put little ones to places of Instruction not so much for their growth in Knowledge as to be secured from Mischief And after this manner Infants are kindly admitted into the Institution of our great Master from the hazard of their departing out of the World without the Seal of the Covenant and for fear because they have not the Divine Mark either they or our selves may undergo punishment To all this I may add which is sufficient to stop the mouth of Gainsayers That the placing Instruction before Baptism doth not any more infer that Instruction should go first and should have the preference than that Repentance as being enjoyned before Faith by St. Mark Repent you St. Mark 1.15 and believe the Gospel ought to challenge the precedence which is the proper product of Faith Faith in this place being consequent upon Repentance by an elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such Transpositions in Holy Writ have caused this Observation to be made Non datur prius aut posterius in Scriptura There is not a former or a latter allowed in Holy Scripture And now I pity mine Enemy being so beset that he cannot stir out of the Circle which calls to mind the Observation of one of the ancient Fathers Quid est miserius misero non miserante seipsum S. Aug. Confess What is more miserable than for a miserable Man not to commiserate himself But still the Antipedobaptists object and say The altering the placing of the words An Obj. inverts and discomposes the Method of the Holy Jesus's Commission because that principally relates to the adult and such as have entertained Christianity answ To which I make this Return It shutteth not out little ones as we have I hope abundantly proved Let them produce any one single Instance in the whole Bible of the Infant of one that had received the Faith either Jew or Christian that was denied being baptized and tircumcised and I think I may venture to give our Adversaries the Cause tho' we find mention of such as had Mothers and 2 Tim. 1.15 Grandmothers If we were to Preach unto perfect Infidels the same that Christ commissionated his holy Disciples to go unto those that were adult before they embraced Christianity we must first instruct them and then Disciple them which word in the Original the Antipedobaptists are very fond of and yet I suppose with due submission I have made clear proof that the true sense of it doth not in the least assist or strengthen their Principle The phrase Discipling is the principal word in the Commission and Baptizing and Instruction the formal modification of the Commission tho if the words were otherwise placed and Instruction in express words had preceeded Baptism their turn would not have been served thereby for the Commission naming no Sex or Quality neither for Age nor on any other account must necessarily take in whatsoever particulars can be comprehended under that Phrase and the Antipedobaptists cannot possibly make a difference from the words themselves Hereupon it is clearly evident that if the blessed Jesus intended all Capacities when he used the Phrase all Nations then it is all one as if he had declared all Capacities of Reasonable Beings both as to Sex and Age should be admitted unto Baptism the sign of admission into his holy Gospel Covenant Now that this General Commission takes in each several Capacity of Reasonable Beings we will evidence from three things even the several Circumstances necessary to any Human Action the Place where the Time when and the Parties concerned in the Action 1. The Place where This Commission was not delivered out in any Foreign Country but in the Land of Judea where it is acknowledged by all Parties that the Usage of admitting all sorts of Gentiles that embraced the Jewish Religion unto Baptism was constantly practised 2. This Commission was delivered when the People of Israel were most strict and exact in the observation of their ancient Rites and Usages 3. This Commission was given out by our Messiah born in Judea to his immediate Followers and Attendants his dear Friends that were Natives of the same Country and thereupon it is not in the least improbable but that they well knew the constant and general Usages then transacted by the Jews Now upon these Accounts it is evident that Christ's Commission for Discipling all Nations was as genuine and clear as if he had descended unto Particulars For he that gave the Commission and they unto whom it was granted fully understood what Persons were capable of the Ordinance of Admission into his Holy Church and hereupon an Universal Usage and an Universal Commission were most proportionable and correspondent to the Wisdom Goodness and Power of our Great Legislator It was a constant and uninterrupted Usage with the Jewish People to admit unto Baptism whole Housholds wherein we may reasonably suppose Men Women and Children contained of Gentile Proselites so that it being the usage to leave none unbaptized there was no necessity for a particular Order or mentioning who should be baptized so that if there were need of exempting any we may well imagine the Holy Jesus would have excluded them but we read of no such Exception in Holy Scripture So that the Question ought to be thus stated Whether Infants are
circumcised becometh a Debtor to keep the whole Law which the Jewish Children were as uncapable of keeping as Christian Children are of the Holy Gospel and so the Objection lieth as strong against Circumcising as Baptizing Children And it is reasonable according to the Laws of Men too For it is well known to all Lawyers that it is a common thing to admit a Child to an Estate by Guardians and Tutors under several Conditions which the Child cannot undertake the Performance of till he come to that Age wherein he can exercise his Reason And is it not full as reasonable to admit Children on certain Terms to an Holy Gospel Estate as to a secular one on Conditions they are uncapable of executing And thus we have the Laws of Heaven and Men too against our Adversaries Nay we have three strong Weapons to defend the Truth if we know but how to wield and manage them 1. The Holy Scripture which is the Sword of the Spirit 2. Reason which I may call the Sword of Nature 3. The Law which I may name the Military Sword And being thus secured with spiritual natural and material Armour we may be so courageous as not to fear the most violent Attempts that shall be made against us and may believ according to an Holy Scripture Phrase very proper to our Case that against Truth and us too while we hold the Truth and stick to sound Principles no Weapon formed shall prosper or have its intended effect and when I had delivered these three Accounts from the Pulpit in defence of Infant-Baptism I was thinking that if I could make the Sense of this last Text viz. St. Matth. XXVIII 19. Go teach all Nations baptizing them I say if I could prove those Words to be not only not for the Antipaedobaptists but against them and for us I did believe I should say all was sufficient to prove its Lawfulness from Holy Scripture And meditating one Morning I employed my Thoughts to give the Words such a Sens and to justifie it when I had done And in order thereto I did humbly and fervently implore the Divine Assistance and God who is never wanting to help them who with Humility and Faith address themselves to him suggested this Account of the Text to my Mind that I have offered in the following Papers which when I had composed I penn'd down because I was not willing to forget what my Thoughts had delivered as the proper meaning of the Text according to my Judgment and I made use of no Book but the Greek Testament to satisfie my self in the Account the Original giveth of Acts II. 39. which with 1 Cor. VII 14. I made use of as collateral Proofs to confirm the Sens given For I did believ the comparing of one Place of Holy Scripture with another one of the best ways of coming to its tru Meaning which when I had drawn out it made about two Sheets of Paper which was all at first I did design to print But the Occasion of enlarging it was this A Neighbour-Clergy-man with whom I discoursed about the Sens given of St. Mat. XXVIII 19. and the Confirmation I brought from those two other Places of Holy Scripture beforementioned acquainted me he had a Book of an ingenious Antipaedobaptist that did seem to invalidate any Proof for Infant-Baptism from those two Texts which I desired to read and he lent me When I came home I did without prejudice peruse what he had wrote and at the first sight I was somewhat surprized but on consideration and retiring into my self I did find his Arguments against the Sens I offered were but weak as I hope will appear to any impartial Reader by the Answer I have given After I had done this I resolved to use all Means I could think of or remember to establish the Sens I had given of the Text and accordingly read over some useful Treatises upon the Subject and because as Pliny somewhere saith Ingenuum est profiteri per quos profeceris Plinius An ingenious thing it is to own by whom we have profited I will give an Account to whom I am obliged and more particularly I stand engaged to the reverend Dr. Hammond in his Resolution of Six Queries one whereof is about Infant-Baptism the other is the Excellent Author of the Case of Infant-Baptism Which was one of those cases the Reverend Lord Bishop of London did out of a pious and excellent Design engage his City Clergy to state and resolve for the satisfaction of Dissenters and to reduce them to the Church of England As for Dr. Hammond I have used his words in a manner and for the other I have in most if not in all places altered his words and taken his sens that I might adapt it to my own style that the Work might look the more alike and seemingly appear all of a piece Something I have borrowed from Mr. Ellis in his Book called Pastor and Clerk or a Debate real concerning Infant Baptism As to the Authorities I have used to confirm the sens delivered I have not taken things on Trust but perused and examined good Editions of the Original Authors and have been careful neither to mis-report their words nor misrepresent their sens and having made this Ingenuous Acknowledgment I cannot be accused of Plagiarism because I give my Authors all the Reputation they can desire by owning what I have taken And now I hope I may without any conceitedness say I have used all the proper Methods for reducing Gainsayers into the Paths of Truth and Peace For besides three Rational Arguments for Infant-Baptism I have endeavoured to prove it from that place of Holy Scripture the Adversaries think against it and to engage the belief of the most avers and pre-possessed I have offered all the proper methods of Conviction 1. I have given a clear Exposition to confirm the meaning 2. I have much enlarged that Exposition 3. I have proved the Sens by the Coherence 4. I have confirmed the meaning by the Original for in some places of Holy Scripture no Translation cometh up exactly to the Original for in every Language there are some peculiar Idioms that cannot well be translated into another Tongue 5. I have strengthened the Sens by two other places of Holy Scripture for the Holy Spirit by comparing one place with another doth best interpret his meaning 6. I have given some general Observations to establish the Sens of the three Texts delivered 7. I have defended the Exposition given by an Allusion to Jewish Customs without which Account it is impossible to come to an understanding of some places of Holy Scripture in the New Testament 8. I have confirmed what I have offered as the sens of the three places of Holy Scripture from the Authority of some of the Ancient Fathers who living nearest the times of the Holy Apostles may reasonably be presumed best to know the sens of their Writings and I could have produced more in
hereafter were used for Children as well as for the full-grown under Moses's Law And hereupon though the Father of the Faithfull did believe and openly own that his Belief before Circumcision yet I presume the Antipaedobaptists will not acknowledge That the Wisest Being did imprudently in laying Circumcision upon Isaac before he knew the Intent of the Ordinance or could Actuate Faith or make declaration of it He was by Sacrament admitted to the Covenant before he knew the terms thereof yet I hope the Antipaedobaptists will not declare his Circumcision to no purpose though he was as unfit to understand why he was Circumcised then as Children are in our days why they are Baptized now Obj. If any of the Adversaries to this Principle shall say All that I have offered doth not amount to a Command for Baptizing Children or in express words In totidem verbis Answ To which I will give a short yet I hope full Answer There is no need after what hath been already said to prove it there should be a Command or Example to approve the Usage of admitting Children to Church-membership in the New Testament but it is enough to make it practicable under the New Dispensation that it is not any-where in Holy Scripture prohibited Nay as I may possibly take occasion to shew hereafter there is greater ground to believe that Christians ought to have had a direct Precept to let alone the Custom of admitting Children into the Church Because it was expresly enjoyned by God in the Circumcising Children and had his Approbation in the Baptizing Children which the Jews super-added unto their Circumcising Children under Moses's Law Precepts are ordinarily delivered when a New Custom is introduced which was not formerly used to be done But to vindicate the continuance of a formerly-appointed or practised Custom it is enough That the Authority which did appoint and allow it doth not prohibit or revoke his former Injunctions And this being the Original Case of allowing Children a Right to the Covenant and by a Sacramental Rite admitting them to the Possession of the Benefits of that Covenant the Admission of Children into the Church under the New Dispensation by Baptizing them must by a necessary Consequence be enjoyned or approved of And if the Case be thus as undoubtedly it is then Fathers Guardians and Undertakers for Children are obliged by indispensible Duty to offer them to be Baptized in submission to the Church's Authority For the Church is a Company of persons in Covenant with Heaven and in this Company as in Humane Societies there are such as give forth Rules and such as practise those Rules such as enjoyn and such as submit And hereupon if the Universal Church or any part thereof enjoyneth her Members the practice of any Doctrine not forbidden by an higher Power which must be the God of Heaven they are obliged by the known Rules of all well-governed Societies and by the Commands of the New Dispensation which hath a respect unto Church-Government to submit to and practise her Precepts as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts Chap. xiij 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they do watch for your Souls And for this end it was that we find the Holy Apostle of the Gentiles when he travelled the Grecian Countries giving unto the Christians the Orders which the Holy Apostles had decreed at Jerusalem to be observed But there is no necessity of speaking further to Evidence this Truth which all Separatists from our Excellent Church do allow For though they disagree amongst themselves as well as diffent from us as to the subject of true Ecclesiastic Jurisdiction yet they all own there is such an Authority and that all Precepts enjoyned thereby if not contrary to the Laws of Heaven should be submitted unto which will force our Adversaries from their own acknowledged Concessions to allow the Lawfulness of Infant-Baptism or recede from and renounce one of their owned Principles neither of which I fear they will be willing to do though in Reason they ought to do one of them CHAP. V. The Exposition for clearing the Sence of St. Matthew xxviij 19. further Enlarged AND now I will offer some further Account to strengthen the Sence I have given of the Holy Jesus's Commission to his Blessed Disciples in St. Matth. xxviij 19. From the Exposition I have delivered it is not a proper Question for the Antipaedobaptists to ask Whether the Holy Jesus hath appointed Children to be admitted unto Baptism but Whether they are by him forbidden or denied it Because upon a consideration that the Mosaic Dispensation allowed Children to be not only Circumcised but Baptized it will necessarily follow That a Precept delivered by the Blessed Jesus to admit Disciples from all Parts of the World to his Holy Institution will without a Prohibition be interpreted to include Children as well as the Adult As for instance Imagine our dear Redeemer had not altered the Sign but in the room of Baptism had declared to his Followers Go teach all Nations Circumcising them Now I make appeal to the Conscience of any considering Person whether by such terms it can be supposed the Children of such as were Proselyted from Heathenism could be denied Circumcision and then what ground is there from such Expressions that our mercifull Saviour designed the Children of such as were converted from Paganism the being Baptized This is so reasonable that it was necessary the Commission should be so expressed For who can suppose but that they who were Enemies to the Institution of the Holy Jesus were to be first instructed and made Disciples before they were admitted to Baptism For imagine a Commission should be given to certain Men among whom Baptism is customary Go and teach the Indians baptizing them Can any one believe the design of it was to barr the Children of those Indians from being Baptized when Baptizing Children was an usual Custom among those to whom the Commission was delivered So that this being the clear sence of the Commission the Blessed Jesus could not well express it in words more plain and easie to be understood by his own People to whom he spake for they must necessarily apprehend those capable of Church-fellowship under the New Covenant that were allowed it under their own Dispensation Common sence would oblige them to interpret the words according to their known Custom Moreover with what sence can any person suppose that he who drew several Appointments from the Jews should leave out this and in this alone vary from what the Jews practised when there was Reason for the Continuance Children are as capable of the Seal of Divine Grace and of the Advantages thereof now as they were under the former Dispensation There is as much Reason for the Baptizing them now as for the Circumcising and Baptizing them formerly Their Admission under the Law and Holy Gospel have something alike Reason in it and though the
for the confirming the Sence I have given of the Holy Jesus's Commission to his Blessed Disciples for the bringing whole Nations over unto Christianity And that I may speak fully hereto I will give 1. A General and 2. A Particular Account First then in General The Text is Acts ij 39. For the promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off as many as the Lord our God shall call An Obj. That is true saith the Antipaedobaptist As many as the Lord our God shall call by the public Ministry of his holy Word so that they would insinuate that Children are not to be admitted into Covenant or the Sign thereof till converted But hereto I answer answ This is plainly false because the word Many cannot refer to Children seeing it should have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Greek word for Children is in the Neuter Gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the sense is plainly this The Promise is to you and to your Children i. e. after you have forsaken the beggerly Elements of Moses and embraced my holy Religion my more excellent Dispensation your Children while Children shall after such a public Profession of your Faith in me and my heavenly Doctrin be made capable of being Members of my Covenant of Grace and by the Sign and Seal of my Covenant Baptism be admitted and received into the same and to all that are afar off a usual Phrase in holy Scripture to express and signify the Heathen Nations by as many as the Lord our God shall call i. e. as many of the Gentile World as shall be converted by the public Ministry of the holy Word shall have the same Priviledges which the Proselites of Righteousness or Justice had in your Church i. e. after such a Conversion and public Profession of the Christian Faith your Children likewise shall be received into my Covenant of Grace and by the baptismal Seal have a Right and Title thereunto and now that any other Interpretation must distort the Words from their proper meaning and that this I have now given must be the true Sense of them will clearly appear from the Original For what the Antipedobaptists would make the meaning of this Text is true in one sense tho' not to their purpose i. e. That Children cannot be called or converted to the Christian Faith because of their natural Incapacity by the public Preaching of the holy Gospel and therefore it could not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the holy Apostle St. Peter makes this comfortable Promise to those of years of discretion in the Pagan World that should embrace the Christian Faith upon the Conviction they received in their minds from the public Ministry of the holy Apostles And St. Peter uses a word of the Masculine Gender because that agrees with a Greek word of the same Gender that signifies Men I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that being the more noble Sex includes the Feminine and so takes in the Female and that when Persons of Discretion were brought over into the Christian Religion their Children should have the same Priviledge with natural born Jews or the Children of the Proselytes of Righteousness who had publicly owned and been converted to the Religion of Moses may appear plainly and evidently from the Literal and Grammatic sense of another Phrase in the Text where there is a Dative Case applied to the Pagan World in the same sense that he applies two words to the Jewish Nation that have the same Case in the Original which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which do answer unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Promise is to all that are a far off must have the same sense with the words preceeding in that Verse The Promise is to you and to your Children which no Antipedobaptist that hath sense but must own that they refer to the Jewish Nation otherwise the words could have no force upon those to whom St. Peter spoke them So that when St. Peter saith The Promise is to you and to your Children the meaning must necessarily be this if you will have him speak consistently and with any tolerable good sense If you of the Jewish Nation will embrace the Christian Religion and own and submit to the Faith of the Holy Jesus the Benefits Immunities and Priviledges of the New Covenant of Grace are by us Apostles promised to and shall by the power of the holy Ghost the Gift of which for the use of the Church is communicated to us be conveyed and made over conferred and bestowed upon you and your Children and the same Promise St. Peter makes to the Jewish Nation and their Children he also makes to the Heathen World and their Offspring which enlarges the sense I have given And that this must be the sense may appear from the Original Word used for Promise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of a like sound and of the same derivation and of a near signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Greek word for the holy Gospel which is as it were the counterpart of the new Covenant or the Covenant of Grace that contains all the Parts and Articles thereof So that by virtue of your Faith the Title and Blessings of the Covenant shall be imputed to your Children that thereby they may be made as capable of Baptism the Sign of Admission into the Christian Church under the holy Gospel as your Children are now by vertue of your Jewish Faith capable of Circumcision the Seal that gave a Title to the old Covenant under the Law and if you will not allow the words this sense what St. Peter spake must rather confirm and harden the Jews in their own way and their Mosaic observations then persuade and bring them over to Christianity and upon this undeniable sense of the former part of the Text the latter must be allowed the same Exposition because any other Sense and Interpretation will be an impediment bar and hindrance to the Progress of christian Religion So that if we have any love for the blessed Jesus and desire exactly to observe his divine Institutions this Phrase And to all that are afar off must be expounded and interpreted from unquestionable parity of Reason according to the sense we have already given of the former part of the Text The Promise is to you and to your Children which answers the true meaning of our blessed Saviour's Commission to the holy Apostles according to the Account we have offered and may be called a Logical Demonstration as convictive to Reason as a Mathematic Demonstration is to the Senses of Mankind CHAP. IX A further Conformation by a particular Exposition of Acts ij 39. BUT Secondly I will give you a more particular Account that I may offer all that is necessary to be said upon this Text And here that I may deal fairly
with our Adversaries I will give them two Concessions which I think is all they can reasonably ask 1. We will allow that St. Peter designed to support their Spirits as to their Infants upon their outcry when the Roman President declared himself innocent of the Blood of that just Person St. Matth. xxvij 25. upon which they exclaimed His Blood be upon us and upon our Children 2. We will allow that it is not impossible but that by Children here may be understood adult Persons yet in the words are several particulars so clear as will be strong enough to defend our Orthodox Principle 1. That the Promise here offered to them and their Children was the New Dispensation the Holy Jesus was Author of and the same Dispensation which tho' in obscurer terms and times had been declared to the Father of the Faithful which Dispensation also included Father and Son 2. That except St. Peter did in this Promise include their Children they had not been strongly supported under the Curse they wished for themselves and their Offspring upon supposition they should depart this World before actual Repentance 3. They had no reason to believe their Infants included in the Promise except they had been qualified for the Sign and Sacrament under the New Dispensation as they were of the Sign of the Old Covenant for all visible Confirmation is by Seal and by this account we may understand the full sense of what is said Ver. 41. And the same day were added to them about three thousand Souls viz. Masters of Families becoming Christians Infants and all in their House according to the Terms of the Covenant and Usage of the Jews were admitted and received to Baptism otherwise how should three thousand Souls be particularly taught for it is not probable that St. Peter's Sermon did reach the ears of all that were there present and moreover as our Adversaries would perswade us they must every one be treated with and spoken to which was morally impossible for so few Apostles as may probably be conjectured to be there and in so short a time as we may reasonably suppose they stayed where they were But to all this our Adversaries gainsay because the Text tells us not An Obj. they and their Children were receiv'd to Baptism but they only that gladly receiv'd his Word Answ To which I make this return 1. This Text doth not so evidently conclude the thing done that Children were then receiv'd to Baptism tho' it may properly enough infer it from what hath been offered in the general Account as their Title to it by force of their being adopted into Covenant by virtue of their Parents Faith 2. That the Infants were receiv'd to Baptism is not specified becauset here was no necessity for doing that which might be reasonably supposed 3. Because the Covenant for substance was the same with that delivered to Abraham of old time the Administration made the sole distinction 4. There being three thousand Souls added to the Church they could not be admitted Members thereof without Baptism and this being all done in one day it is not in the least probable they could all be adult Men or if they were it is as highly improbable so few as the Holy Apostles then were could have time which our Adversaries think necessary to treat with and discourse every person 5. Because all is not expressed in Holy Writ that was tranfacted and when an Historical Account is rehearsed some Particulars are inserted not named in the prior or former Declaration As for instance In the Story of the Holy Apostle of the Gentiles his miraculous Call is taken notice of three times and his being baptized more than once and yet in the second Relation concerning his Baptism there is something added to the first Account Acts xxij 16. Arise and be baptized and wash away they sins calling on the Name of the Lord declaring the Scope and Design of Baptism as well as how necessary it was and it is probable had there been reason to rehearse this Account related Acts ij as there was of St. Paul's other matters possibly this of admitting Infants to Baptism had been inserted 6. By way of Retortion to return their own Argument upon them because Women are not named neither in the Commission St. Matth. xxviij 19. nor Acts ij 41. to be baptized both being rendred by the Greek in the Masculine Gender I may therefore according to their way of arguing urge because it is not declared in the Sacred Text that they who gladly received the Word with their Wives were baptized I might therefore according to their manner of disputing say no Women had as yet received Baptism for it was after this time that we read in Samaria Women were baptized by St. Philip. Acts viij 12. So that tho' the Design of the Covenant be known yet not always declared in Holy Writ and the baptizing of Infants may verily be believed to be of this kind CHAP. X. The Sense of St. Matth. xxviij 19. strengthned by an Exposition of 1 Cor. vij 14. THE second place is that of St. Paul the Holy Apostle of the Uncircumcision or the Gentile World 1 Corinth vij 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband else were your children unclean but now are they holy This place of St. Paul is a strong confirmation of the Sense and a clear conviction of the truth of the Interpretation I have given of the first Text of the last quoted place of St. Peter St. Paul was a Pharisee the most learned and strictest Sect among the Jews and was so well instructed in the Christian Religion that he himself saith he was not a whit behind any the best and most knowing of the Holy Apostles and for the encouragement of the Pagan World to embrace Christianity he publickly declares and assures them that the believing Paganish Husband or Wise should have a Power and Priviledge to transmit and convey their Faith to their Seed so that their Children after such a conversion of the Parent should be capable of a Federal or Covenant-Holiness which should be of such efficacy and vertue as to impute and make over to them a Right to the Covenant and then by the Seal of Baptism to be receiv'd into the Church admitted to the favour of God and made Heirs of Heaven by virtue of their Membership in the Covenant of Grace Thus we plainly see by the Testimony of Holy Scripture and by the Evidence of Reason a Reason so infallible and unerring that it is conducted by the Light of Divine Revelation what is the plain natural and proper sense of the Holy Jesus's Commission to his Blessed Disciples St. Matth. xxviij 9. Go teach all Nations baptizing them So that he who shall from a mistaken sense of that place of Holy Scripture deny Baptism unto Infants hinders the Propagation and Progress of Christian Religion makes the
will add two more with the Canon of a Provincial Council and the first of the two I will bring shall be that of the famous Bishop of Carthage St. Cyprian who lived at the end of Origen's time who flourished about fifteen Years after Tertullian what he writes is in that which he sends to his Friend Fidus and in it there is so clear a proof for baptizing Children that it is sufficient to satisfie any person in whom prepossession and Interest do not Rule Fidus had sent to him to acquaint him that he did not think fit that Infants should be admitted unto Baptism before the eighth day as the Jews were under Moses's Dispensation whereupon he sent this Return †Quantum ad causam Infantium pertinet quos dixisti intra secundum vel tertium diem quo nati sunt conllitutos Baptizari non oportere considerandam esse legem Circumcisionis antiquae ut infra octavum diem eum quâ— natus est Baptizandum Sanctificandum non putares longe aliud in Concilio nostro visum est In hoc enim quod to putabas faciendum esse nemo consensit sed universi potius judicamus nulli hominum nato misericordiam Dei gratiam denegandam St Cyprian Ep. 58. ad Fid. That he and the Councel wherein were 66 Bishops were of a different Judgment having declared that as the Lord had no respect of Persons so no regard for Age but that Children might be admitted to Baptism presently after their Birth to cleanse them from their Original Guilt The second shall be from St. Augustin the Reverend Bishop of Hippo which I will the rather do because the Pelagians have been mistakenly supposed by a Consequence from their Doctrin to deny the baptizing of Infants for the Remission of Sins which they that did have been censured by the Church for Hereticks in all Ages as may appear both by St. Ambrose * Hine evacuatio Baptisinatis parvâ—â—orum qâ—â— sola acoâ—tione donarâ— nullo â—â—rem reaâ—â—â—â—cerentur abâ—oâ—vi S. Ambr. Ep. lib. 4. Demâ—tradi Virg. From Pelagius's Doctrin follows the evacuating or making void the baptizing of Infants who would by his Opinion be said to be adopted but not absolved from any guilt And in like manner by the definition of the Councel of Milevis where speaking of the H. Catholic Church's understanding Original Sin we have these words ‖ Propter hanc regulam fidei Parvul qui nihil peccaforum in semetipsis committere poâ—â—erunt deo in peccatorum remissionem veraciter Baptizaâ—â—ur ut in eis regeneratione mâ—ndetur quod generatione trarerunt Conc. Milev Can 2. Upon this Ruse of Faith the sense of the H. Catholic Church ubique semper every-where always it is that Infants are baptized for the remission of sins that what they have contracted by Generation may be purged by Regeneration Now the words of Caelestius as quoted by S. Augustin are these * Infantes Baptizari remissionem peccatorum secundum regulam universalis Ecclesiae Evangelii sententiam S. Aug l. 2. cont Pel. Cael. c. 5. That Infants are baptized for Remission of Sins according to the Rule of the Universal Church and the appointment of the H. Gospel whereby it is probable that he meant this Text of H. Gospel according to the sense we have given of it because none can be admitted into Covenant with the guilt of their sins upon them and to signifie that he must make absolute and sincere renunciation of them which may be one reason why the H. Church appoints Sponsors and Undertakers to make such Promises in the behalf of the Child I will now finish my Proofs from the Testimony of the Ancients by the Authority of a Councel the Provincial Councel of Milevis The Church of Afric was one of the most famous Churches of the Primitive Times for Piety and Learning and the determination of the Council which Case of Infant Baptism p. 152. as St. Augustin observ'd an 100 Years after was not a New Decree Novum Decretum seems to allow baptizing Children in that Church to be a long and uninterrupted Custom This Council was held about the middle of the third Century about 150 Years after the decease of St. John This Councel in its second Canon thus declares It is decreed by the Council i. e. Placuii Spiritui Sancto nobis it is decreed by the H. Ghost and by us †â—â—em placuit ut quicunque parvâ—â—los receates ab uteris matram baptizandos negat aut dicit in remissionem quidem peccatorum baptizari sed nihil ex Adam trahere originalis peccati quod regenerationis lavacro expiâ—â—â—r undo fit Consequens ut in eis form a baptizmatis in remissionem peccatorum non vera sed falsa intelligatur Anathema sit Synod Milevitana Can. 2. apud Carazam That whosoever will not allow Children to be baptized presently after they come out of their Mothers Womb or saith they are baptized for remission of Sins indeed but draw nothing of Original Sin from Adam which is to be explated by the Laver of Regeneration whence it doth follow that that form of Baptism for the remission of Sins in and to you is understood not to be true but false let him be declared Accursed and this I think Proof enough from Antiquity however they that desire more may be excellently satisfied from the learned Mr. Walker's Modest Plea for Infant Baptism where he not only asserts but proves its usage for about fifteen Centuries of years CHAP. XIV The just Complaint of the Jews if this Doctrin be not true AND now what Reason can be offered why those Christians that were converted from Judaism who were scandalized at the omission of Circumcision should not have been more highly scandalized if the first Planters of Christianity had denied an admission of Infants unto Covenant under the H. Gospel Dispensation when they had been ever allowed it under the Mosaic Oeconomy Is it not rational to imagine that they who made so great Complaints only because the H. Disciples instructed the Jewish People that dwelt in Heathen Countries that they were not bound to use Circumcision would not have made greater Complaints if they had not admitted them and their Children unto Baptism but wholly shut them out like the Children of Infidels and not allowed them to be Members of Christ's Mystical Body It certainly in all likelihood would have been a sore Grief to them to observe their Infants used as bad as the Infants of Pagans and Foreigners and to have no clear distinction between such Children whose Parents received the H. Gospel and such as with stood Christianity For they ever esteem'd Heathen Infants as unclean and common but the Infants of Believers they reckoned Holy and Consecrate according to the Exposition we have given of 1 Cor. vij 14. But now had the H. Disciples publicly preached that the Infants of such as were admitted into Covenant with God had no other Title to an
prohibited Baptism and in what Place or at what Time We appeal to all the Christian World if this be the sense as is most probable whether the Commission is in the least obscure or more obscurely published for Infants than for those that are adult can be no Exception because no particulars are named Three Thousand Converts are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Acts 2.38 41. Then Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Which no whit disagrees from the Command St. Matth. 28.19 Go you therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost For the Form of Baptism in those first days of the Holy Gospel of which the New Testament giveth the Story may be considered under a threefold Condition 1. St. John the Baptist baptized in the Name of Messiah or Christ that was then ready to come but that Jesus of Nazareth was he he himself knew not until he had run a great part of his Course And I knew him not St. Joh. 1.31 but that he should be made manifest unto Israel therefore am I come baptizing with water 2. The Holy Disciples baptized the Jews baptizing in the Name of Jesus for this reason because the great Point of Controversie then in the Nation about the Messiah was Whether Jesus of Nazareth were he or no All the Nations acknowledged a Messiah but most of them abominated that Jesus of Nazareth should be thought to be he therefore those that by the preaching of the Holy Gospel came to acknowledge him to be the Messiah were baptized in his Name as the Critical Badge the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Characteristick Mark of their embracing the true Messiah 3. Among the Gentiles where that Question was not on foot they baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost so that the baptizing in the Name of Jesus was but for a season for the setling of the Evidence of his being the Messiah And when that was throughly established then those Gifts ceased for ever It is said Acts 2.44 All that believed were together and had all things common The Children of those that believed must come under the Title of Believers too or they must famish which affords no weak Argument that the Parents Faith is imputed to the Child and if for the use of the Body why not for the service of the Soul by an Argument a minori ad majus from the lesser to the greater For this Community of Goods being for the relief of the Poor the Children Babes and Infants of believing Parents must be taken in under this Expression All that believe or else how did they for support If the Community of Goods reached them as well as their Parents the Title must reach them too The Community of Goods may be considered under these two Animadversions which because it may be useful I hope will not be thought too impertinent a Digression 1. That altho' Persecution as yet for the Holy Gospel had brought none to poverty for the Holy Gospel's sake for if they were poor before they received the Holy Gospel then the Synagogue of which they were provided for them but now they were destitute of that provision they having forsaken the Synagogue or at least the Synagogue them because of their forsaking their Judaism for the Evangelick Church that was now beginning to provide for her Poor it had not only the Synagogue for an Example but would have had it for a Reproach if they had neglected so needful a Duty which that took care for so conconstantly and tenderly 2. This having of all things common therefore was not an Extinction of Propriety and of Meum Tuum as if one rich Man should have as good interest in another rich Man's Estate as himself but it was intended mainly for the relief of the Poor not to bring any that had Estates to voluntary Poverty nor to level Estates as some Fanatick People among us the Fifth-monarchy-men whose Principle is Dominium fundatur in Gratia Power is founded in Grace and so the Saints must have the Riches and Rule the People of the World would perswade the World unto but to relieve those which stood in need for it is said Acts 2.45 that they sold their Possessions and Goods and parted them to all Men as every Man had need and again we are told they laid them down at the Holy Apostles Feet Acts 4.35 and distribution was made unto every Man according as he had need Distribution then I say was made to them that preached the Holy Word for their maintenance and to the Poor for their relief When a Master of a Family was baptized his Children were they never so young were baptized with him and hence the mention of the baptizing whole Housholds Acts. 16.15 And when she was baptized and her houshold she besought us saying If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide there And again Acts 16.33 he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized straitway he and all his They that pleading against Infant-Baptism An Obj. do cavil That it may be there were no Infants in those Families that are mentioned bewray that they little understand the manner of administring Baptism in its first use and therefore to give satisfaction to such of the Antipedobaptists as start this Objection I answer answ The stress of the business lieth not in this Whether it can be proved that there were Infants in those Families where it is recorded whole Housholds were baptized but the truth of the Case is this That in all Families whatsoever were there never so many Infants they were all baptized when their Parents were baptized This was the constant Custom among the Jews for admitting of Proselites and the New Testament giveth so little evidence of the altering this Custom at those first Baptizings under the Holy Gospel that it plainly on the contrary shews the continuance of it when it speaks of the Holy Apostles baptizing whole Housholds CHAP. XVI An Answer to an Objection that would fore-undermine the Sense offered Acts 2.39 NOW that the Sense I have given of Acts 2.39 may be the better secured and confirmed I will endeavour to answer an Objection made against it A. R. in his Tract called The 2d Part of the Vanity and Childishness of Infant-Baptism which may be of some seeming strength until duly weighed and considered and then I hope it will appear to be of no great force and this I find to be started by an Ingenious Antipedobaptist a Man of some Learning And therefore that I may do the Party justice An Obj. I will state the Objection in his own
the Infants of the Jews and the concurrent usage of the first Planters of Christianity and their Successors in the early times of the Church that followed their Example I should not infer it from the Jews circumcising Children because tho' by the instance of circumcising Children under the old Law it hath been defended from several Objections brought to disprove it Yet I understand there is not a proper and infallible Consequence that whatsoever is not Irrational must instantly be that a thing is therefore true because a possibility it may be so according to the old Logical Maxim Ab esse ad posse non valet Consequentia or that what is allowed must therefore have an Institution An Obj. But when the Antipedobaptists object and alledge That tho' there be a correspondency of Analogy between Circumcision and Baptism yet is there no correspondency of Identity Tho' by way of Answer I own with the Learned Dr. Hammond Answ I know not the Sense of this latter Term and therefore understand not why they use it yet I own the agreeableness doth not suit with all Circumstances especially in one particular because I find Females were not nor could be circumcised there being no Foreskin of which there could be an abscission which is no more an Objection against Christian Baptism than the Jewish one I think it fitter to fix the agreeableness where there is greater reason for it and seeing as the Author to the Hebrews saith He tasted death for every Man Heb. ij 9. it was fit that he who upon that account was an universal Saviour for all Mankind should make choice of such a Sacrament of admission into his Church as should be correspondent with and agreeable unto both the Sexes An Obj. But under this Head I meet with another Objection of the Antipedobaptists which I am very willing to remove They seem to offer an Argument why circumcising should be more proper for Infants than baptizing them because Circumcision left a Character in the Flesh which being impressed on Children did its work when they were Adult and baptizing left no remanent Character But in Answer hereto this hath no force Answ if we lay the Foundation of the Christian Sacrament in that which was used to Jewish Proselytes which had no outward Mark on the Body for Water being fluid though it hath a Dew leaves no Impression or Sign but what is immediately transient and not in Circumcision which hath yet I will not wholly neglect it but if it be of any seeming strength own it to be allowed in some measure against our Principles but in truth I believe it hath not for though there be a small distinction in reference to Circumcision and Baptism the first Maims the second Cleanses the first Hurts the second Washes only yet that Objection is of no great strength in this concern for upon different Accounts but solely in respect of the Infants in regard of God and the Assembly there is nothing that differs for in regard of both both are alike Signs of the Covenant And whereas it differs in regard of the Infant sure it is that at the season of Administration it signifies not at all because then the Child hath not the power or faculty of understanding the Character and that he knows when he becomes Adult arises from Teaching and Discipline For the Character imprinted when he is circumcised hath no signification by Nature but only by the will of him that appoints it or because it is instituted else Ishmael was in Confederation and Covenant with God as well as Isaac and consequently the Infant can never know it by the force of natural Principles but as he is taught when he is at Age how he was used in his Infancy and the reason of it and therefore the Law that enjoyned Circumcision enjoyned Instruction and of that the Christian that hath Baptism when a Child is as capable as a Jewish Child that hath Circumcision in its Infancy and the diligence of the Church may be as exact in our days as the care was great in the Synagogue formerly An Obj. As for the Objection the Antipedobaptists make That Christ baptized none I Answer thereunto Answ That will hold against baptizing at all for the Text is clear Christ baptized not but his Disciples St. John iv 2. 1. The negative Argument holds on our side that his Holy Disciples so far as we can know never denyed the baptizing any Nor is it like they would when they were once reproved for doing something of such a Nature as you may read in the Holy Gospel as it can be reasonably supposed they did not Baptize any St. Mark x. 14. but indeed neither is conclusive However 2. That in the Holy Apostolic Age Infants did receive Baptism is more than probable by the Sense we have given of 1 Cor. vij 14. and then there will be no imaginable ground left but that the Holy Apostles did administer Baptism unto such or at least which is much the same did well like it and by such their approbation did strengthen the same And that we may confirm the Sense we have given of that Text of Holy Scripture and prove and make appear that what we offered is its true and proper meaning we come with our endeavours to give a satisfactory Answer unto the strongest Objection that ever was started by the most Learned of the Antipedobaptists or any of the Adverse Party CHAP. XVII An Answer to an Objection that would overturn the Sense delivered of 1 Cor. vij 14. THE same Ingenious Antipedobaptist makes this Objection to the Sense we have given of 1 Cor. vij 14. An Obj. That the word Holy there used is only such an Holiness as is opposite to some kind of Uncleanness which saith he I take to be this as if when they are said to be Holy it is no more than to say they are not Unclean viz. no Bastards To which I answer If 1 Cor. vij 14. Answ may seem rationally to be interpreted of Matrimonial Legitimacy and thereby a Priviledg of freeing from Bastardy then a fortiorl with more strength it may signifie a federal Holiness that gives them a Title unto the Sign of the Covenant and thereby makes them the Legimate Sons of Heaven by Adoption which is a greater Priviledg than a Matrimonial Legitimacy and this might be a greater Motive unto the Gentile World to be proselyted to Christianity as much as the Spiritual Legitimacy is to be preferred before the Matrimonial one and the Holy Scripture is to be taken in the more favourable and exalted sense rather than in an inferior or subordinate one and besides this is agreeable to the Jewish Custom where when any married to an Heathen the Male-Children after such a Marriage were circumcised whether the Children were born before or after such a Marriage which caused the Holy Apostle in allusion thereto to use that Phrase of Baptizing
whole Housholds which makes the Argument concluding whether there were any Children in those Families mentioned or no by virtue of one of the Parents Faith And without the allowance of this sense it is impossible to come to the right interpretation of this and many other places of Holy Scripture in the New Testament Add to all this that tho' this Hypothesis or seemingly fair Principle of the Matrimonial Legitimacy may seem plausible to the inconsiderate Many yet it cannot be a true Interpretation as will appear unto any judicious considering person for this reason because it offereth no greater encouragement to the Gentile to become Christian than what he enjoyed in his Heathen state For I doubt not but it may be proved from several Testimonies taken from the Authorities of good Classic Authors among the Greek and Roman Writers that where a Man or Woman were lawfully married according unto the Rites and Customs of their several Countries their Children were legitimate and if that should be the sense they might be Holy in their Heathen state which may seem to be contradictio in adjecto to use the Logicians Phrase the highest absurdity being a contradiction in terms whereas our Interpretation offereth a considerable Priviledge so far that it cannot be interpreted of a Matrimonial Legitimacy as is evident by Ver. 16. For what knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband or how knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife Which shews that the preceeding Coherence cannot contradict the subsequent Connexion and the Holy Apostle doubtless would not have said this if his meaning in the 14th Verse had carried only the sense of a Matrimonial Legitimacy to free the married Couple from the great and crying guilt of Adultery * And this may be a sufficient Answer to the two Objections started against Acts ij 39. and 1 Cor. vij 14. by A. R. in his Tract called The Second Part of the Vanity and Childishness of Infant-Baptism Printed May 3. 1642. And truly I was the better satisfied with the account my thoughts suggested of this Text when I found it supported by the concurrent Judgment of the very reverend and most learned Dr. Hammond who I think beyond exception hath evinced that the Antipedobaptic sense of a Matrimonial Legitimacy cannot be the true and proper meaning of this place and because I cannot better express it I will give it you in his own words as I find them in one of his excellent Books Vid. Dr. Hammond's six Queries Resolved whereof Infant-Baptism is one P. 203. 202. A Remain or Footstep of the Holy Apostles Practice is the Reasoning of St. Paul 1 Cor. vij Which supposes it then received and known in the Church at the writing of that Epistle that Christian Children were received unto Baptism the sum of which will be best discerned by the setting down a few Verses and a brief Paraphrase upon them whereby the preceeding Connexion appears to be as little for them as I have made the subsequent Conherence to be i. e. Verse 12. If any Brother hath a Wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him let him not put her away If any Christian-Husband hath an Heathen-Wife and she be desirous to continue with him he ought not to put her away Unbelief being no sufficient cause of Divorce by the Law of Christ i. e. Vers 13. And the Woman which hath an Husband that believeth not and if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him And so in like manner for the Christian-Wife that is married to an Infidel if he be desirous to live with her let her by no means separate from him i. e. Vers 14. For the unbelieving Husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath been sanctified by the Wife and the unbelieving Wife hath been sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they Holy For beside the Command of Christ St. Matth. v. 32. who obliges to this other advantages there are to the believer's living with the unbeliever worth considering for by this means it has oft come to pass that the unbelieving party has been brought to the Faith by the Company and Conversation of the believer And considering the efficacy of good Example and seasonable Exhortation 1 St. Pet. iij. 1. and Instruction on presumption of the great Zeal and consequent Endeavours and Diligence that by the Laws of Christianity the Husband will have to the eternal good of any so near him as a Wife there is great reason to hope that it will be so that their living together may produce this effect in the unbeliever and the intuition and prospect of that more than possible because highly probable effect may move the Christian Party not to forsake the other voluntarily and this one probability that the conversation of the believer should gain that is bring the unbeliever to the Faith and the reasonable presumption that it will be so is the reason why the young Children of Christians which cannot as yet be deemed actual believers are yet admitted to Baptism because by their living in the Family with Christian Parents they probably and by the Obligation lying upon the Parent ought to be brought up in the Faith and kept from Heathenish Pollutions and the Church requiring and receiving Promise from the Parents it may be reasonably presumed they will and upon this ground it is that tho' the Children of Christians are the Children of Heathens are not admitted unto Baptism That this is the true importance of the Holy Apostle's words and force of his arguing doth for the former part of it appear evident 1. By the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath been sanctified which must needs refer to some past known Example and Experience of this kind or else there could be no reasonable account given of the Holy Apostle's setting it in the Preterperfect Tense 2. By the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Wife This the Greek Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ordinarily signifies that it cannot need to be further testified and in this Notion it is that we here take it whereas the Notion which by the Opposers the Antipedobaptists I mean is here affixed to it that it should signifie to that to which is the sign of the Dative Case sanctified to the Wife as Meat to the Believer made lawful to live with is never once found to belong to it in the New Testament nor can with any tolerable congruity or Grammatic Analogy be affixed to it whereby the Antipedobaptists Argument for Matrimonial Legitimacy is totally overthrown And that the Greek Preposition is thus to be accepted the learned Dr. Hammond proves from the Original in no less than five particular places of the New Testament and so still the rendring it to the Wife will be without any one Example and the turning it into quite another phrase as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which to do without any necessity or reason save only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to serve the opposers turn upon the place and support his false Opinion must needs seem to be very unreasonable 3. This appears most irrefragably by the express words added on this Argument Verse 16. where the unbeliever having been sanctified by the believer used as an Argument why they should live together is farther explained by these words of an undoubted perspicuous sense For what knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband Or how knowest thou O husband whether thou shalt save thy wife Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save which ordinarily signifies to reduce or as it is 1 St. Pet. iij. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gain to Repentance from Heathenism or wicked Life is set parallel to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanctifying and maketh it clear what was meant by it which being once yielded to be the true meaning of the first part there will then be little reason to doubt but that this of the Admission of Christian Children to Baptism on this score is the improvement of the latter part that and no other being it which exactly accords with the former reasoning and it being not imaginable that this should be here added in that argumentative style 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas or for elsewhere c. if it were not an enforcing of the foregoing Position thus proved by him For the confirming of this sense it may be remembred 1. What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy is known to signifie in the Sacred Dialect not only an inherent but a relative Holiness being separate or set apart to God discriminated from common ordinary things or persons and as that belongs to higher degrees of separation the Office of a Prophet or the like so the lowest degree of it is that of being received to be Members of the Church into which all are initiated or entred by Baptism and accordingly all visible Professors and not only those that are sincerely such are in Ezra ix 2. the Holy Seed and in the Epistles of the Blessed Apostle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy and reasonable it is Children should have an imputed or relative Holiness because they have the Prohibens or Obstacles which kept the Holy Jesus from them or them from the Blessed Jesus I mean Original Guilt taken away with this reserve when they shall be able to perform the Terms of the Covenant they are admitted to as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Dr. Hammond's Query of Infant-Baptism as Arrianus calls it the Promise of every reasonable Creature when he hath first leave to become such the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oath consubstantiate with us the Engagement that our Creation ties every Son of Man to is actually required of those only that are of age to practise it but may in the mean time be presumed even in the Womb of the Parent to be undertaken by us this by our being in tended for the use of Reason as Holiness from our being made Proselytes unto the Christian Religion And 2. That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unclean Acts x. 14. is used by St. Peter for those that must not as he conceiveth be received into the Church as God 's having cleansed is God's reputing them fit to be partakers of that Priviledge whereby it appears how fitly receiving and not receiving them unto Baptism may be expressed by those Phrases 3. It is known of the Jewish legal Uncleannesses contrary to their Sanctifications that they were the cause of removing from the Congregation they that were so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unclean might not partake of the priviledge of the Temple till they were washed and sanctified and that is proportionable to the Notion here given of it That the Christian Children are Holy i. e. not inherently they are not capable of that but in the Account of God and Man capable of separation for the service of God of being entred into the Church into Covenant which denominates Men Holy as the Gentiles as long as they were out of it were Unclean and Unholy Acts x. Now are they Holy i. e. it is the present practice of the Church that Holy Apostolic Church of St. Paul's time to admit to Baptism such Infant Children of Parents of whom one is Christian though not of others and the ancient Fathers who certainly knew the Sacred Dialect called Baptism Sanctification So St. Cyprian * Eum qui natus est baptizandum sanctificandum S. Cypr. Ep. 59. He that is Born must be baptized and sanctified So St. Gregory Nazienzen †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Greg. Naz. orat 40. It is better to be sanctified without sense of it i. e. baptized in Infancy when they are not sensible of it than to depart or dye without the Seal of Baptism And again ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 648. Let him be baptized from the Infancy i. e. baptized then and many the like This Passage being thus interpreted is a clear proof of the point in hand Were not this the Import of it there were no Priviledge imaginable no Sanctity could be attributed unto Christians which would not belong to the Infants of Heathens also which yet is here directly affirmed of the one and denied to the other by the Holy Apostle and as this evidently concludeth such a Custom known and acknowledged among Christians at that time so it is directly the thing that the Jewish practice in which Christ founded his Institution hath laid the foundation of in baptizing Proselytes and their Children and to which the primitive Church conformed And so though that Judaic practice taken alone were not deemed any demonstrative evidence that Christ thus instituted his Baptism for the Gentile World yet being taken in conjunction with this Holy Apostolic practice and the primitive usage it brings all the weight with it that a divine Testimony interpreted by practice can afford which is as great as any such matter can be capable of And thus I have sufficiently I hope answered the Objection that would overthrow the true Sense I had before given of this place of St. Paul and offered Reasons so strong and so plain as may satisfie any unprejudiced reasonable Man For Reasons must be plainer than the Matters they are brought to give a Proof of because when we go about to prove a Matter that is questionable we must do it by such Mediums and Methods that are apparent as well as cogent And now from this Text of St. Paul I have made it evidently appear That Children have a right unto the Covenant under the new Dispensation as our Adversaries own and acknowledge they had under the old one and then let the most learned of our Adversaries make appear at what time or when they were excluded and shut out and we will acknowledge and own our selves in a Mistake And if