Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

andgt'foralWorks. 115 us guilty every day anew of every new Sin which we commit. 337. It is a very hard thing to confute an Anabaptift without Brianlnnina. I. 43! granting that Infant juflificationmay be loft. Forexperienceproveth corrob.lot.a. Handling that the ChildrenofGodly Parents trio often prove ungodly : And if the que(i,on why the they had Jta1fying Grace in Infancy, they lofe it : And ifthey have not baptized Infants have tnfufed Habíts of Grace, then the Covenant in which theyare entered doth not certainly juftifie and Virtues,citeththeir them. And if fo, then it is either the very fame Covenant which the opinions that hold the adult are baptized into, oranother. If it beanother then theirBaptifm ca°he affirmacve ,nhe is another thing : For Baptifm is but the celebrationof our Covenant hath no heater anfwer to them that obje& re with God. And another Covenant in fpecie maketh another Baptifm in erience , which oeell fpecie. And if fo, it feemeth tobe no Baptifmof Gods appointing : For finaeth no figns of fuck he hath but One Covenant of Grace to be entered by us, and Pealed ; nor habits when they come to age, than that they but one Baptifm : Indeed on man'spart; there is a Covenanting with the are known to us only by Heart and with the mouth, an outward as well as an inward Covenant- r'aith ing, or Confenting : Butit is all to one and the fameCovenant of God. gph`4''$;33',9' ?0 It is the famefpecies of Faith in God the Father , Son and Holy Ghoft which baptized Hypocrites and true Chrillians do. profefs. And Infants have no Faith of their own to profef, but are dedicated by another's will; the title condition of the Adult is their own confenting Faith; but the titleconditionof Infants , is nothing in themfelves , but their Parents confenting Faith without them, which dedicateth them to God. Nowwe fuppofe theParents to do thisfncerely. If then the Covenant afcertain not prefent Juftification to the Infant, who hath all the condi- tion required by the Covenant, how can we fay that it any more afcer- taineth Juftification to the adult, it being proved to be the very fame Covenant and not another. But if it doafcertain it, thenmany lofe it. I.run not into their error, who tell us (andwould'havenoneofus Preach Chrift's Gofpel that will not fay the fame) that It is certain by theWord of God that Infants baptized dying before aTíual Sin are certainly fazed] without excepting the Childrenofany Infidels, Pagans, or Apoftates, which I cannot prove of the Infants evenof Hypocrites or unfound Chriftians, or that the Child canhe faved by that falfe Faith, which will not fave the Parentor him that dedicateth him to God; or that the ChildrenofHypocrites or Infidels have the condition ofJuftifica- tion : And if that Word of God hadbeen cited, that makeththeaffertion certain, it would havebeen a great kindnefs to us from thofe whofe Iuftice mutt go for fuch (But we are thought unworthyof it.) For my part,. I determinenot the difficult cafe of Infants lots ofJuftification. Their cafe is left dark to us in the Scriptures:But my judgment isfullieft exprefjèdby the words of theSynod ,of Dort, Art. t. 4.17. AndDave nant's Treatife on that point is very judicious, and confiderable, if wherever he fpeaketh of Baptized Infants, you will but fuppofehim to mean the Infants of true Chriflians, andnot all. 338. It feemeth a hardfaying that any member ofChrift fhonld'be cut off, and becomea member of Satan, and perith, thoughhe werebut an Infant member. . But we mull not let the Metaphor deceive us : It is not aNatural member of Chrift'sPerfon that perifheth , as if part of Chrift himfelf fell off: But a Metaphorical Myftical Political Member. And Chrift thought it no abfurdity, joh.15. towarnhis chief Members that they fall not off, and to fpeak by way of ftippofitionof his branches as cut off, withered and burned. And Adamand the fain Angels, before theirfall, were the Beloved of God, andhis Children, and yet fellfrom that love. There mutt be therefore ftronger Arguments than this , to turn theScales. Ci 2 SECT.

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