Of_ftleflion. ~ [ 11ow /wow 1] [ it u mut for m• thus to tbink] is the Judgment that we are IJooK V. called to: .PbJt. 1. 7· ~ Therefore, fecondly, It is a Judgment of Faith joyned with Charity, which bdi•veth o/J th111gs, \\here a ground is given fo to believe and judge ; as here the word doth fugge!l a ground fo tobclteve of Believers Infant Chtldren . it is (I fay) a Judgment of Faith, which conforms it felf to the Word, which j;,dg– eth, and grveth, and terminateth its thouglm on what the Word fays , noc once daring to think the contrary. I call it a Judgment of Faitb in diiTt rcnce not only from that other, but from a Judgment of SnJf•, or E:•perie11ce; for fuch is the Judgment we have of Men grown up unto riper years ; for wllich the Word gtves ab!lract Rules to judge of Saintsby, and we ufe Spiritual Ju <'g· mentor Difcerning to apply them: So that in the Application unro the Perfon, it IS a Judgment ol Experience, Men !hew us their Faith by their Works, and fo we out of Experience judge them holy,according to fuch Rules as the Word gives to judge of mens works by ; within the compafs,of which Rules, many who are not ~aints may come, and fo pafs with us, Thus PatJt's perfwafion of Timothy's Grace was a Judgment of Experience, 2 Tim. 1, 5· [And I am perfwadtd (fpeaking of his Grace) dwt/Js in thte atfo;] calli11g to remem. 6ra11ce thy fatth a11d tears, verf. 4, 5• it was upcn reviving the Experience he had had of him. Now this Judgment we cannot have of Infants, though this be the more fatisfactory Judgment, I grant, when as men grown up, do fl1c-w themfelves to be Saints; for Experience added to Faith in our own felves, helps and confirms it : Yet the Judgment here called for, is in this a Judgment of Faith, that therein we give up ~ur Judgments ro what God promifeth of them, and declares about them, although we fee11othing whereby we !hould be induced to believe fo of them : And fo it is of meer Faith of a thmg 1101 fem, re!ling on the Word, confining our Thoughts, and terminat:ng tbem to wnat God hath declared, till we fee the contrary; and not a meer Judgment of Charity; for fuch we ought to have of others Children, of whom we as yet do fee nothing to the contrary (and who may be hofJ for ought we kno·.•·) But here God hath put a difference, and pronounced the o1u bo!J•, and the other tmc!ean, God's Word comes in to terminate and confine our Judgments con– cerning Them, toHoti•uf.I; not fo of the Other. And yet, thirdly, When I fay of Faith, I mean not a Faith of Affurance ; that is, not fuch as whereby we believe it fo certainly and infJflibly of every Child in general, or any in particular, fo as to fay, we know the thing cannot be otherwife: But fuch a Faith as maks us fufpend all thoughts to the contrary, refling in what is revealed for us to think, and waiting till God reveal the con– trary; and fo far in the mean time to judge them Saints, as that it lhould bind ourConfcienccs toperform all Duties tq them, as unto Saints. f er it is even fo concerning our own E!lates, when we want Faith of Affurance, y<t God calls us to have a Faith of waiting and expectation , that our Ellate may be holy, when yet infallibly we cannot affirm it: and accordingly we are to Pray, and to give thanks even as Pcrfons holy; and to come to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper upon fuch a Faith: And anfwerably hereunto we are to bring thefc Children unto the Sacrament of Baptifm , upon fuch a Faitll alfo. . So that, as it is lefs than a certainty, or an infallibility,fo it is more tha n an [it may be] and than a meer hopefulnefs:lt is a Faith of waiting and expecting rhat it will be fo, not only that it may fall out fo: yet fo; as 11 "mut for'" to t bmk fo: For we have a R.ule and Ground for our fa judging , thcug:1 not infallibly , for the thing it felf in the event. Thus we have difpatcht the enquiries about that Judgment which i.s to be taken upbyus. Now then fecondly, Let us enquire into the extent of the re,l ity of this Ho· linefs, and of the Propofition here as it refpells the truth of Holinefs wrougl>t in fucll Children. This Propofition here [that tbeir Cbitdrm are holy ] if {o underflood, is but ao indefini1e Prcpofition, not Univerfal, yet coming necr to an Univerfal ; and fo more di!linct and exprcfs than any othe r Prom1fes given to any fort of Men: that is, it is not to be ttnder!lood that God dr.ts certainly
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