8o8 Of the [mainty of Sal1>ation of 'Baptized Infants. 7 • Becaufc the Apoft:le fa~th, .1 .cor. 7· 14· Elfe. wtrt your Cb~ldr~n unclean but now are tbcy boly; and the Scripture giveth thts P.nvtlcdgc to the Chtldren of thefaith1ul ~bovc: others; .whereas the con– trary opinion levelleth them with the feed of Infidels and Heathens, as tf thcfe had ll!',ht to falvat ion bymeer Baptifm, as well as the others. . . . ' 8. Beeaufeelfe it would be the greatcfi all of Chanty m the world, to fend Souldters ro carcn up all Heathens and Infidels Children and Baptize them; which no Chrifiians ever yet tho~1ghr their duty. Yea it would be too firong a temptation to them to kill them when they had done, chat they might be all un~oubtcdly faved. Obj. But that n·ert todo tvil that good might come by it. An[~. But God is not to be fa dithonoured as to be fuppofed to make fuch Laws, as fhall forbid men thegrtaujl good in the World, and th<n to tempt them by the greatnefs of the benefit to take itto be no evil : As if he faid, [ If Sou/dimwould go take up a million of Heathens Children and Baptize them, it will put them into an undoubted !late of falvation : But yet !forbid them doing it : And if they prcfently kill them, ltfi they lin after, they {hall undoubtedly be faved ; but yet I forbid them doing it.] I need not aggrava~e this rcmpta- . tion to them that know the power of the Law of nature, which is the Law ofLove: and good works, and how God that is moj! Good is plcafcd in our doin?, good: Though he tryed Abr.ham's pbedience once, as if he fhould have killed his Son, yet he llopt him before the execution : And doth he ordinarily cxercife mens obedience, by forbidding them to [avt the foull of O(hers, when it is cafi!y in their power ? Efpecially when with the adult the greatcftlabour and powerfullefi Preaching, is hcquently fa fruflutc:,. that not one: of many is converted by it. ~ 9· Becaufe clfe God lhould deal with unaccountable difparity with Infant/ and the Adull in the fame ordinance of ~aptifm. lt is certain that all Adultperfon• Baptifed, if they dyed immediately, lhotil<l not be faved. Even none that had no right to the Covenant and to Bapttfm; fuch as Infidels, Heathen•, Impenitent pcrfons, Hypocrites, that have not true Repmtanct and faith : And why lhould Baptifm fave an lnfantwithoutlitle, any more thari the Adoll witbouttirle? I llill fuppofe thatfome Inf•nt! hove no title, and that now I fpcak of them alone. Ohj. But the Church givetb tlum aD right by Rmiving them. Anfw. This is to be farther examined anon. If you mean apa'ftiettlt::r Ch~trch, perhaps they arc Baptized into none fuch : Baptifm as fuch is a Reception only into the Vniverfat Ch 11 rcb, as in Ermucbs cafe, An. 8. appcareth. If you mean theVniverfal Chtjrch, it may be but ontfingle ignuram: man in an Intide! Countrcy that Baptizcth ; And he is not the Univcrfal Church > Yea perhaps is not a lawfuUy caVed Minijltr of that Church? However this is but to fay, that Bapti{m givetb Rigbt toBaptifm. For this Receiving is nothing but Baptizing? But there mull be a Right to this Recep1i~ on, it baprifin be a difiinguifbing Ordinance, and all the world have not right to it. Chrifi fairh, Matth. 28. I9· Difciple me aV N.,ionr, b•ptizingthem : They mufi be initiaUy made Difcipla jirjl, by Confent, and then be lnveficd in thevi(tble fiate of Chrifiianity by Baptifm. Io•lfthe Children of Heathens have right to bapti!m and falvation thereby it is either, I . A• they are men, and all have right, or 2. Bec:aufe thepartnts give them right, 3· Or becaufe remote anctjlor$ give them right, 4· Or bccaufc the univerfal Church gives them right, 5• Or becaufe a particular Church givcth them righr, 6. Or b<caufe the Sponfors give them right, 7• Or the Magijlrate, 8. Or the Ba– ptizer. But it is none of all thc:fe, as (hall anon be proved. 11. Butas to.the fecond qucfiion, I an.fwcr : I· lt will help usto underfiand the cafcthe better jf we prepare the way by opening the cafe of the Adult, becaufc in Scripture times, they were the moll famous fubj~a-s of Baptifm. And it is certain of fuch, 1. That every one outwardly Baptized is not in a !late of falvation. That no hypotritt that is not a true penitent believer is in fu~;h a fiate. 2. That every true penitent believer is before God in ·a fiateof falvation, as foon as he i1 fuch; And bt– fore theChurch, as foon as he is baptizeJ. 3• That we are not to ufe the word Baptifm as a Phyfical term only, but as a moral 7beological urm. Becaufc words (as in Law, phyfick, &c.) are to be underfiood according to the art or fckncc in which they arc treated of. And llaptifm taken Theologi– cally doth as Effentially include the Wills confent or Heart-Covenanting with God, as Matrimony in– cludcth marriage confcnt, and as a man containcth the foul as well as the body. And rhus it is cer– tain that alltru!J' llaprizcd ptrfons are in a llatc of falvation; that is, AU that fincerely confent to rht . llapri{mal C01•enant when they profcfs confcnt by Baptifm, ( but not hypocrites.) 4· And in this fmfe all the Ancient Pofiors ?f the Churches, did concur that Baptifm did walh away all fin, and put the baptized into a prefent nght to life eternal; as he that examineth their Writings will perceive; not the out'a'ard wafoing and words alone, but when the inward and outward parts concur, or when by true fairb a>td rtptntJnc~, the Receiver hath right to the Covenant of God. 5· In this fenfe it is no unfit language to imitate the Fathers, and to fay that the truly baptized arc in a Aate of Jufiification, adoption and falvarion, unlefs when mens mifunderfianding makcth it unfafr. 6. The fober Papifis thcmfclvcs fay the fame thing, and when they have faid that even ex opere operato Baptifm faveth, th~y add that tt" only the meet Receiver; that is, the penitent believer, and no other of the adult. So that hitherto there is no difference. 2· Now let us by this try the cofe of Infants; concerning which there arc all thcfc fcveral opinions among Divines. 1 I. Somethink that all Infants ( baptized or not) are favcd from Hell and pofitivc punllhment;– but arc not brought to Heaven as being not cap1blc of fuch joycs. 2· Some
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