Original the Chaldee Paraphrast Junius c. which sheweth that it must be understood of them that are Adulti and not of Infants If Infants be not circumcised it is the Parents fault as may appear in the Example of Moses whom the Lord punished and not the Child for neglecting it 3. Concerning Baptism I do believe it to be a very solemn Ordinance and also very useful in the Church of God yet I do not find that it is the Hand of the Spirit to convey Grace to the Heart of any Infant seeing what it conveys it doth it by Faith and by its Figure representing the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ and ours with him c. of all which Infants know nothing being sprinkled as I formerly shewed very often when they are fast asleep and if awake they know nothing of the Mystery of Baptism But Mr. F. brought three Scriptures to prove his Doctrine we shall now consider them Ephes 5. 26. Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water through the Word I allow Baptismal Water to be here meant but then we see it does not cleanse but by or through the Word nor doth the Word profit unless it be mixed with Faith in them that hear it Heb. 4. 1 2. The Church is purified in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 22. And Baptism saves us as it is the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Christ And to this agree his other two Scriptures Tit. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now Infants being uncapable of being cleansed by Baptism according to the sense of these Scriptures we may in no wise apply them to Infant-Baptism Divis 2. And because it may be most convenient to treat of Regeneration in this place we will here consider Mr. F's Arguments to prove that Infants have Faith and Repentance His first Argument is as followeth Arg. 1. If all even adult Persons are passive in the work of Regeneration then Infants are capable of Regeneration But the Antecedent is true Answ 1. Here we are told that grown Persons are passive that is they do nothing at all in the work of Regeneration this is the meaning of his Antecedent Now if this be true as he says it is then if they do nothing they neither hear the Word nor believe it nor repent nor hate nor turn from Sin for these are at least some of the parts of the work of Regeneration Now I would fain know who is active in all this if the Party regenerate be not St. Paul tells us With the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 10. When Peter shewed the Jews their Sin and preached Christ to them they were pricked to the Heart Now observe they came to hear the Word they gave Audience they gave Credit to it God blessed the Word with Power Now they cry out What shall we do Peter exhort them to repent c. and they gladly receive his word and had the washing of Regeneration the same day Now let God have the Glory of this and all Conversions who is the first Mover in it and the Efficient Cause of it yet he is absurd that will say Man is as passive as an Infant that can neither hear nor receive any Instruction at all And therefore I deny his Antecedent it is not true the Adult are some way active in the work of Conversion yea all that know the work do know what wrestling with Corruption is and how unable they are to overcome in the Conflict with Satan and Flesh without Supernatural Strength or Aid from Heaven but yet They act and wait for help in all their actings 2. Men are commanded to hear that their Souls may live Isa 55. If they hear and obey not they sin against God Rom. 10. 16 17 18. We grant that the Power Converting is not of the Creature We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves All our Faculties are given us of God. It 's our duty to put these Faculties into Act to hear repent and believe is Man's Duty It is not the Duty of Infants to hear repent believe c. therefore they are not regenerated this way What you urge from the Shunamite's Son and Lazarus being both dead and so equally passive as to rise from Death is wholly impertinent and being put into Argument is false for thus you must argue if you say any thing Infants dead are as capable to rise as the Adult being dead Ergo They are as capable of hearing beleiving and repenting as the Adult The Consequence is false many Instances we have of the Adult who hear believe and repent but no Instance of one Infant ever regenerated this way 3. As for your captious Demands about our being quickned c. you may well spare them till you give better Evidence of your own Conversion for your Books do evidently shew that a jeering idle Spirit has dominion in you Howbeit this we say The Original Cause of our Conversion is the Love of God The meritorious Cause is the Blood of Christ The ministerial Cause is the Evidence of Truth or the Word of Truth The efficient Cause is the Power of God's Grace John 1. 12. The formal Cause is believing and obeying the Truth through the Spirit The final Cause is God's Glory and our Salvation to the obtaining of which all our Faculties of Hearing Understanding Will and Affection are given us of God to be put into Act. This is not required of Infants and how they are sanctified by the Spirit God only knoweth 4. But now saith Mr. Firmin I will not have him for my God who cannot most omnipotently make me both will and do what he will. But I reply These are great swelling words of Vanity and nothing to the purpose We dispute not what God can do for he can of a Stone in the Street make a better Man than either of us And we deny not but God hath sometimes and may still if he please convert some by miraculous Operations But to say that all Conversions are miraculous as Mr. F. does is very false Paul was converted miraculously so was not Lydia What I say upon Ephes 1. 19 20. is mistaken by you for I extend it further than to the Resurrection of the Body for I expresly say he has power to do whatsoever he pleases and so to raise us up c. but if I was short or obscure this is my meaning The Faith of Christians is agreeable to the power which God shewed in Christ when he raised him from the dead and I think 1 Pet. 1. 3. doth very well explain Ephes 1. 19 20. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead Mr.
Infants are not made clean from their Pollutions and freed from Condemnation without having Faith and Repentance I say they may because God requires not these things of Infants But you argue further Mr. F. All the Members of the Kingdom of Heaven are holy but Children are Members of the Kingdom of Heaven Not by Birth it is by Regeneration Answ First Here I think you have given your Cause its deaths blow It seems now that the Infants of Believers are no more holy by their Birth of believing Parents than others and whether they be regenerated you cannot tell for you do not hold that all the Children of Believers are saved What is now become of the Birth-priviledg so much gloried in by Mr. Baxter and others We have been told Infants are holy by Birth if one Parent be but a Believer and that Children of Believers are holy by Prerogative of Seed But now you confess the Truth and I grant Infants are not holy by Birth let their Parents be never so Christian And I have already granted that Infants must be cleansed from all Sin before they come to Heaven But yet you touch not the Question Whether they cannot be cleansed from Sin without they have Faith and Repentance one would think you begin to be afraid of the Question and I am sure you have cause so to be Arg. 3. Mr. F. tells us If Adam had continued in Innocency his Children had born the Image of God from the Birth I never heard it denied That which I infer hence is that Children are capable of the Image of God and receiving the Seeds of all Grace it was so then why not now Answ What manner of the Image of God Infants should have born had Adam continued innocent is unknown to Man and 't is but vain to concern our selves about that which cannot be known but this we know it should not have stood in Faith and Repentance as now because in both these we confess our selves Sinners and this is enough to shew the vanity of your Question if so then why not now But you proceed thus Mr. F. Shall the sin of one Person be so mischievous to deprive Adam and all his Posterity of the Image of God and bring the Seeds of all Corruption into their Nature and shall the Grace of God be denyed to renew his Image in little Children when and where he pleaseth Children being a great part of the World shall the Spirit of God have nothing to do in their Hearts Answ I know no Man more faulty than Mr. F. in this matter for he will not allow the Grace of God to have any thing to do with the greatest part of Infants I doubt not but God doth all things needful for them to make them holy by the Blood of Christ his Grace and Spirit But all this shall be done without Faith and Repentance because God does not require it of Infants if he does name your Text. Mr. F. now tells us Adam's Disobedience far exceeds the Obedience of Christ which he compares in Justification Rom. 5. 16 17 18. for his Disobedience could defile all his Posterity but Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Answ Come St. Paul thou hast told us that such as thou art by Letters when absent such thou wilt be indeed when present 2 Cor. 10. 11. Wherefore I shall give place to thee to answer for thy self by the very places which Mr. F. has quoted out of thy Epistle to the Romans Chap. 5. 16 17 18. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the Gift for the Judgment was of one to Condemnation but the free-Gift is of many Offences to Justification For if by the Offence of one Death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ Thâ—refore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon All Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free-Gift came upon All Men unto Justification of Life And whereas Mr. F. boldly tells us that Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child I ask him whose Obedience then does cleanse Infants Let St. Paul answer again ver 19. As by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners SO by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Blessed Paul thou hast answered to the Life Mr. Firmin says Christ's Obedience doth not cleanse and regenerate one Child Thou sayst Christ's Obedience made many righteous and they that are made righteous are clean and regenerated sufficiently Blessed Apostle thou hast turned the Wisdom of the Wise into Foolishness What follows in this Paragraph is answered before and for his uncivil Expressions in the close of it I shall pass them by Mr. Firmin's Arg. 4. If all Children dying such are justified and saved then there will be Millions in Heaven in whom the Spirit of God as the third Person in the Blessed Trinity had nothing to do in their Salvation Answ First I take notice that Mr. Firmin by this Argument would have Millions of Infants damned because in his Judgment the Spirit of God hath nothing to do with Millions of them in the business of Salvation This this is that wicked Doctrine which I oppose 2. But how will he prove that the Spirit hath to do in the business of the Salvation of any of them more than I shall prove he hath to do in the Salvation of all dying Infants He would prove it by two things 1. Because the distinct Subsistences have their distinct manner of working 2. Because Regeneration is given to the Spirit Now suppose this be true it does not prove that some Infants have the assistance of the Spirit and some dying Infants have no assistance from him Thus he beats the Air but proves not any thing at all relating to the Point in Question 3. But I will prove that all dying Infants have all that assistance of the Spirit in the business of Salvation which is any way needful for them I do it thus All those dying Infants for whom Christ shed his precious Blood have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation But Christ shed his precious Blood for all dying Infants Ergo All dying Infants have sufficient assistance from the Spirit in the business of their Salvation The Major is evident because no dying Infant does resist the Holy Ghost and because God is no Respecter of Persons The Minor is evident because Christ died for all tasted Death for every Man he bought them that deny him and bring upon themselves swift Destruction And seeing his tender Mercies are over all his Works the holy Spirit is not wanting to further the Salvation of any dying Infant Deut. 10. 17 18. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Heb. 2. 9. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Psal 145. 9. Come Mr. Firmin let me come near you it may be you have had some Children that died in their
all dying Infants against those who would thus damn them is especially my present undertaking And if Mr. F. be disposed to urge me further it is a Subject I am willing to debate with him when and how he pleases so that we may discourse in Love as becomes Christians And as to the Questions about Sacred Baptism that Work may perhaps be undertaken in a particular Treatise by it self In the mean time let it be considered that it has been granted both by Papists and Protestants and those of the more Learned sort too That there is no Scripture for Infant-Baptism That the Scripture shews us no other way of baptizing but by dipping Yea I lately asked a Doctor of the Church of England very seriously Whether he held Infant-Baptism to be of Divine Institution Who very freely gave me this Answer No truly I only look upon it as a Church-Rite But then whether the Church have such Power as to make Rites and Ceremonies in Religion and particularly thus to alter the subject and manner of Baptism as has confessedly been done by the Church of Rome and in part by the Church of England is the business for this present Age to take into their most serious Consideration T. G. The INFANTS ADVOCATE against the cruel Doctrine of those Presbyterians who hold That the greatest part of Dying Infants are DAMNED Division 1. MR Giles Firmin was pleased to print two Questions and desires those whom he calls Anabaptists to answer them and at the request of some of his Neighbours I wrote a brief and I hope a modest Answer to them not for Contention but for Satisfaction to such as desire to know the truth in the matters thereby put to the Question by Mr. F. who finds himself aggrieved tho nothing is done but what he desired that is his Questions answered And tho he says they are not yet that shall not provoke me to say much to him concerning them But seeing by this occasion we are unavoidably fallen upon the business of Infants-Salvation Whether God Almighty ordained Baptism or any other Rite to be necessary to their Salvation or Whether the greatest or any part of Dying Infants shall be damned in Hellish Torments A Question of great weight and importance I find my self concern'd to proceed in opposing that cruel Doctrine which would send Millions of dying Infants to Hell Torments It was the Judgment of Austin and many others that unless Infants were baptized and received the Lord's Supper they could not be saved And Mr. Firmin seems to be of the same Mind with respect to their Baptism and moreover he holds that Infants must have Faith and Repentance as necessary to their Salvation or they must all perish I will set down his own words In Pag. 90. of his Plea he speaks thus To return to Infants They must be regenerate and have Faith some way else they must perish And in his Book entituled Scripture warrant c. he speaks thus Pag. 76. They who are regenerate have Faith and Repentance But all Infants saved are regenerated Therefore all Infants saved have Faith and Repentance And in Pag. 21. he counts it an Error in me for supposing If Isaac had died before he was eight days old he might have been saved So saith he this Covenant meaning the Covenant of Circumcision might have been spared And in Pag. 40. The same saith he I may say for Baptism being Christ's own Institution This is the Hand of the Spirit accompanying it when and where he pleaseth shall be the means to convey Spiritual Blessings to the Hearts of some Infants and prove to them the washing of Regeneration So that I think I have done him no wrong in the account I have given of his Opinion To all which I answer To intermit a little the business of Infants Faith and Repentance we will consider what he says of Circumcision and Baptism He tells us Pag. 39. That he cannot conceive how it can consist with the Wisdom Holiness and Goodness of God to institute an Ordinance in his Church for spiritual and saving Ends and strictly to command this Ordinance to be administred to such Subjects as Children of eight days old and he himself not work with his own Institution when and where he pleases to the good and benefit of that Subject to whom it is administred this Subject having need of the Spiritual Good signified and sealed thereby It doth implicitly charge the Institution with Vanity To which I reply 1. Considering what Mr. F. says of Isaac dying before the eighth day which I noted before his sense is this that from the time that Circumcision was instituted it makes that Covenant of Circumcision a Vanity to think any of Abraham's Seed tho but Infants of eight days old could be saved if not circumcised And then I pray what is like to become of all the World beside who had no Interest in the Covenant of Circumcision Must they not all perish We shall hear more of that anon 2. And besides this tho he makes Circumcision thus necessary to the Salvation of Infants yet he does not believe that all Infants that were circumcised were saved for these words of his when and where he pleases carry this sense in a Presbyterian Breast that tho Circumcision did by express order belong to all the Males of Abraham's Seed being eight days old yet perhaps but few of many of them should be saved which I evidently shewed in my Answers to Mr. F's Question and to Mr. Petto Now here I do profess to believe that Almighty God did not thus ordain Circumcision to be absolutely necessary because they to wit Infants can neither understand his Will herein nor desire it neither hinder it it wholly depends on others to do it for them and why then they should perish if it be not done no reason can be shewed but that which is the hardest thing of all is that if Isaac had died before the eighth day he should not be saved when yet it was not lawful to circumcise him What is this Does God damn Infants for dying before they be eight days old or for not having that done to them which by God's Law ought not to be done before the eighth day This is the cruelst Doctrine that can be And I will shew how contrary it is to the Doctrine of Learned Protestants One saith thus upon Gen. 17. 14. It is no good reading to say the uncircumcised Man-Child but Zachar the Male c. shall be cut off for the Infant of eight days old mentioned ver 12. is of purpose omitted here Hence then it is inferred that there was no such absolute necessity of Circumcision that Children wanting it should be damned Again This place cannot be understood of Infants that are uncircumcised 1. That addition the eighth day is used only by the Septuagint it is not in the Hebrew 2. The words are qui non circumciderit he which shall not circumcise So readeth the
accordingly was foreknown and expected by many other Nations by means of the Covenant made with Abraham But you add If their Seed die while little ones I hope they are not further from Salvation by this Covenant nor Parents the less hope two strings to a Bow are good But I answer 1. You so string your Bow of Salvation for Infants that you break it and so kill more Infants than you save yea an Isaac himself cannot escape you but must perish if he die before the 8th day Pray Sir what manner of Doctrine is this is it in the power of Infants to live till the 8th day And if God take them away before the 8th day will God damn them because they were not Circumcised when yet by his own Law they might not have it Are these the comfortable Strings you give Parents to the Bow of Infants Salvation 2. Hence it is evident that it is you not I that make Infants further off from Salvation by the Covenant of Circumcision For I say though all the Commands of God be good in their place and use yet he never ordained any Rite to be necessary to the salvation of poor Infants But according to your Doctrine if Infants died before the Covenant of Circumcision was made whether the first second third fourth fifth sixth or seventh day their Salvation was never the more doubtful for that But now the Case is very hard for if Isaac himself die before the 8th day he is lost according to your sense of the Covenant What follows I have answer'd before Mr. Firmin Yet again as to that Notion wherein you so much glory I have made five remarkable Demonstrations as you call them to prove it you must make three more Demonstrations or else these five will not do the Feat 1. That God does save those that are under that Covenant without any Condition in it Name that Text I pray Answ 1. Here observe again Mr. Firmin is in good Earnest that no Infants can be saved unless they keep the Condition of the Covenant And he makes Heart-Circumcision and the Circumcision of the Flesh both necessary Conditions of the Covenant for Infants Salvation in the time of the Law or ever since Abraham's time And Repentance and Faith and Baptism the Condition in the Gospel 2. I am to demonstrate the contrary which with much ease by God's Grace I shall do I say then Almighty God made a Covenant of Grace with Adam in the Promised Seed Gen. 15. in which Covenant stood the Salvation of all dying Infants and yet no Condition was there to be annexed on the part of Infants howbeit Faith was necessary on Adam's part or else he had sinned in not believing the Promise And its evident Abel had Faith in this Promise by his offering a Lamb a Figure of Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World. See Diod. on Gen. 4. To prove that God requires nothing of Duty as a Condition of the Covenant on the part of Infants in order to Salvation I will set down two Texts Deut. 11. 1. to 10. Rom. 5. 14 18. And I also give you this Argument Circumcision it self was not appointed to be a Condition of the Covenant of Grace necessary to the Salvation of so much as one Infant Ergo There was never any thing imposed or required of Infants as a necessary Condition of the Covenant for the Salvation of Infants The Consequence I suppose will not be denied because nothing can be pretended with so much probability this way as Circumcision And for the Major it is clear from the case of Moses's Child Exod. 4. 24 25. where we find that God sought not to kill the Child because it was not Circumcised the 8th Day but he sought to kill Moses which shews the Child was not guilty of Sin in this Case And that this Note may be the more acceptable I shall make some Addition to the Testimonies formerly given and here shew the Judgment of some Learned Writers in this Case Cajetan a Man no less Zealous for Infant-Baptism than Mr. Firmin yet writes thus Consentaneum est c. It is sit that none should be Punished but they which had committed the Fault But Infants can commit no Fault therefore the punishment here assigned doth belong to the Adult only they only be rightfully Punished which only are justly blamed for the omission of Circumcision And saith a Protestant Doctor upon this Sentence Put Baptism meaning of Infants in the place of Circumcision and this Sentence is most true of the one as well as of the other Yea the Ancients quoted by the said Doctor tell us Circumcision did not profit the Soul but was only a sign of Grace For Children when they understand not what is done to them can reap no profit thereby to their Souls Chrys Hom. 9. in Gen. And Irenaeus is alledged to say Circumcision was only given as a Sign to the People The conclusion is that as it is certain that Infants shall be cleansed and renewed before they come to Heaven so God hath not tied this Mercy to any Ritual or thing to be done by us but by the Obedience of Christ and his Free-Grace sanctifies them in a manner unknown to us Mr. Firmin 2. You must demonstrate saith he that by this Covenant he saves those who have lost the Image of God and are corrupt by Nature for Infant-Regeneration and Heart-Circumcision is denied by you and yours Answ This Demonstration also will easily be made or else I am sure Mr. Firmin and my self shall not be Saved for that we are as corrupt by Nature and have lost the Image of God as much as any Infant nay we are sent to Infants to learn the Qualifications we want And as all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God so they are Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 23 25. And tho Christ is set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God yet this Faith is not required of Infants because they cannot believe on him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10. And tho you reply That this is spoken of the Adult yet you are to know as it is the Adult only to whom the Gospel is preached so it is the Adult only who are required to believe As for the Way of the Almighty in the business of Infants Regeneration 't is a thing not revealed and therefore you do but vainly pretend to know it And seeing it is said That we know not the Way of the Spirit nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child It is strange that Mr. Firmin should know after what manner the Hearts of Infants are Circumcised and how they are Regenerate It is enough for us to know that they are redeemed by Christ and saved by Grace for in
be able to prove them viz. That some Infants have Faith and Repentance seminally and others have Vnbelief and Impenitency seminally And which is another Impossibility no Man can distinguish the Infants one from another Nor can it ever be proved that Seminal Faith and Repentance if yet any Body can tell what it is do give us any ground to baptize any Body For Suppose we take this Seminal Faith and Repentance to be the faculties of Credence and Sorrow Or suppose some take them to be some secret Inspirations of the Spirit yet sith they appear not to us it is as if they were not For that Rule is good in this Case Deâ— non apparentibus non existantibus eidem est ratio It is the profession of Faith and Repentance that qualifies a Person in respect of us for Sacred Baptism the Church is not judg of of Hearts they are only known to God infallibly Division 4. Concerning Original Sin. It would even grieve a Sober Christian to read the strange Immaginations which Men have Published about Original Sin and the Extreams they have run into on the Right Hand and on the Left censuring one another very severely for their differing apprehensions in this Matter And it is remarkable how cruelly Censarious Mr. Firmin is against my self in particular representing me as a Master among the worst sort of Anabaptists who he says denies Original Sin. Concerning which he tells you we are Rotten That the foundation of Anabaptism lies in denying Original Sin. That in this we are given up to more blindness than the Heathens c. To all which I Answer 1. If I be one of the worst of my Brethren in this Point I hope the rest will be better thought of by Men of Moderation for my sake when they have had what violent Mr. Firmin hath not patience to consider what I have published upon the account of Original Sin and that long before I heard there was such a Man in the World as Mr. Firmin in my Christianismus Primitivus Book 2. Pag. 77 78. thus you read me 2. For the better attaining to a powerful conviction of Sin and a sence of Man's wretchedness by reason of Sin it is necessary to understate the general state of Transgression into which Mankind is involved concerning which we find the Scripture gives this Testimony That all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. And that by one Man Sin entred into the World for that all have sinned And that the whole World lieth in wickedness which is also evident by common Experience every Nation being greatly corrupted through the abounding of Iniquity and the universality of the ways of Sin does evince the same that the Apostle might well say Both Jew and Gentile are all under Sin. 3. The Sin of Mankind is either Original or Actual The first is come upon all even the very Infant-state of Mankind lie under it of whom that saying is true They have not sinned after the similitude of Adam ' s Transgression yet Death reigning over them proves the Transgression of Adam to be upon them This is that Root-Sin called the Sin of the World John 1. 29. whereof none are free Nor is it convenient to extenuate or lessen this Sin either in its nature or the punishment it brings with it it being indeed the Filum certissimum or Leading-Thred to all other Iniquities Mankind being hereby corrupt Ab Origine and wholly deprived of the Glory of God without the intervening Mercy of a Saviour And hence we find David when complaining of his sinful state looks back to his corrupt Original amongst the rest of his Iniquities complaining Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me Knowing as Job saith None can bring a clean thing out of an unclean one So that they are not to be despised who say that in our Humiliation for Sin we ought to bewail this our Sinful Original which had been to Adam's Posterity like the Sin of Traytors which bringeth with it corruption of Blood to their Off-spring for which they must bear the shame of such Transgressions How do we find that the Sin of Progenitors was wont to be lamented by their Off-spring among the Israelites And is there not the same reason Adam's Children should do the like as being sensible of the evil Consequences thereof We also may say Our Father hath sinned and we have born his Iniquity 4. And hence I like the saying of Irenaeus well which I will give in English because Mr. F. is pleased to lock it up in Latine Omnes enim venit c. Christ came to save all by himself all I say who are born again in God Infants Little ones Boys and Young Men and Old Men But as for his Ideo per omnem venit aetatem I let that alone for I do not find that Christ passed through the age of Old Men yet I say he came to Sanctifie every Age and therefore every Age who do not profane the Blood of Christ by which they were Sanctified as I am sure no Infant doth they shall certainly be Saved by him and hence the Salvation of all dying Infants is apparent enough But how Infants are born again in God is a secret and not to be Demonstrated by Mr. Firmin nor any other Surely had I written as Irenaeus doth he would have said I exclude the Operation of the Holy Ghost for Irenaeus says he came to save all by himself yet as 't is certain that the Holy Spirit is not wanting to the Aged Sinner there is no ground to doubt of his care of poor Infants Division 5. Of Free-Will Concerning Free-Will Mr. F. calls it our Diana and an Imperial Majesty representing us to deny God to be most Blessed because if his Will be resisted he failing of his End is to want a degree of Blessedness c. I Answer 1. Then it seems according to Mr. F. all that God wills to be saved must and therefore shall be Saved and the rest he wills to be Damned and they shall therefore be Damned But how he can reconcile his Doctrines to these Scriptures I cannot tell which saith I live I Will not the death of the Wicked And that this is good in the sight of God c. who will have all Men to be Saved 2. Was it God's Will that when he brought Israel out of Egypt that their Carcases should fall in the Wilderness If it were not then he wanted a degree of Blessedness Was it God's Will that Adam should fall and bring himself and his Posterity into so many Miseries If not God was not most Blessed because he failed of his End. If you say it was God's Will that Adam should fall and that Israel must fall in the Wilderness you had as good tell us that God has Decreed all the evil Actions that Men do and that they must do them else God cannot be most