Of the Cer~aiuty of Sah•.1tio11 of baptized Infantr. ----------------~ ren twenty, forty or an hundred in cornparifon of the non-elect : For S:riPttHC tells ir not. So that no ~linificr of a Church is furc lhat any one Infant that he ever baptized is elcCl'. 3· And God hath given no Cuch rule for fealing and delivering his Covenant with the bmcfits, as to can it hap hazud among all, becaufc it is poffiblc or prob.~.ble it may .belong to fome. Object. l;m bave no certainty what adult profcffi!r iJ fincere, 11or to which of them the fpecial be~ •nefits belong'; uo mt of any one i11 a Church, And ;•et bccaufl that tlurt is tJ. probability tbt~t among many there are fome jincere, you haptize them aU. 7'Jk.! thm the bi.rtb priviledge but as cq:taJto the profeffion •f the adult. . . 8tt Anfw. This partly fatisfi<d me fometimes : But I cannot forget that A viflblc, f1lfc or hypocri– tical profcffion is not the cond1tion of Gods own Covenant ofGr:~.ce, nor that'which he rcquircth in us; to make us partakers ofhisCovenant·henefits, Nay, he never at all commandeth it; but only .} commandeth that profdlion of Confent, which followeth the real confent of the heart; He thit Rom. to. 9; cor.demncth ljing, makcth it neither the condition of our Church·memberiliip, as his gift by promifc, AB's 8. 31· nor yet our dury. · And mark well, that it is a ProftJferl Con[ent to ~he whole Covenant rh-.t G<:d requireth, as the con– di!ion of our true right to any part or benefit of 1t. He that 01all only {.~.y, 1 con{tnt to be a vi~ fible Cburcb-member, doth thereby acquire no right to. t'hat memberJhif ; no ~or in furo Ecclrfie: Bu~ he mufi a\fo profefs that he confenteth to b.1ve God for hu GoJ, aJJd Chrijt for hu Lord and Saviour, and lhe Holy Spirit for his Sau/Jifitr• So that he mull be a lyar or a fou>td believer that makcth this 'i p10ftllion. · . But for an Infant to be born of true believers, and fincetrely by them dedicated in Covenant to 'God, is all the Condition that ever God require~ to an Infant·title to hi~ Covenant; And it is not the failure of the true Condition as a falfe profoffiou IS. Indeed if the propor<ion were thus laid, it would hold good; [As we know ·not who fincerely covc:nanterh for himfelf, and yet mufi baptize all that fobcrly profefs it ; fo we know not who doth fincc:rely Covenant for his Infant, and yet we mufi baptize all whom the Puc:nts bring with fuch a pro~ feflion, for thc:mfc:lves and them. J · But if the fincere deditation of a found believer, !hall be accounted but equal to the lying profrf– {rm of the adult, which is neither comnunded, nor hath any promi[t, then Infants are not in the Covenam Of Grace , nor is their lincerctl dedication to God tjthcr commanded or hath any promife. If I were but ~ure that the proftffion of the Adult for himfelf were flncere, I were fure that he were in a tlate ol Giace. And if I am not Ci.1re of the fame concerning the Parents dedicacioil of hi,. Infant, I muH conclude that this is not a Condition of ~h~ fatne CoVenant, and therefore th3.t he iS not in the f1me Covenant (or Conditional proroife of God) unlefs there be fame olher Condition 1equired in him ot {or him : But there is np other that can be dcvifed. Object. E/cliim if the CottdiJifln. Arfw. EkGtion is Gods act and not mans; and therefore. may be an Antecedent but no Conditi– on, rrquirc:d of us. And man is not called w make Profeffion that he is Ele{led, as he is ro make profeffion of his faith and confent to the Covenant. And God only knoweth who are his by Ele· dion, and therefore God only cm baptize on this account. And what is the probabili>Y which the obj<ctors mean that many of the Infants of the faithful arc tlcd:cd? Either it 15 a prornife, or but a prcdic:tion : If no promife it is not to be fealc:d by baptifm. If a promi!C, it is ab[Olute or conditional. If any abfolutc prornife [ As, I will fave many children of bdievtrs J I· fhis terminaccth not on any fingular perfon, aS bapttfm doth, and 2. It is not rhe abfolwtt promife that baptifm is appoimed by Chri!l to feal. This is apparent in Mar" 16. 16. and fn the c~fe of the adult. And it is not one Covenant which is lealed to the adult by b~ptifm, and ana~ ther to infants. Elfe baptifm alfo fhould not be the fame. But if it be any conditional Covenant, what is ir, and what is the condition·? And what is it that baptifm giveth to the feed of believers, if they be not jufiifi<d by it from original fin? You will not fay, rhat it convcycth Inherent far:ctifying Grace, no nor into all the EltU thc:mfclves, which many arc many years after without. And you cannot fay, that it fealt:th to them, any promife, fo much as of vifihle Cburcb·priviledgt~. For God may fuffcr them prcfeml)o to be mad~ Janiz~riu, and violently taken from their l>arents , and become firaogers and dc::fpifc:rs of Church-privi1cdgcs, as is ordinary with the Greeks Children among the Turks. Now God either promifcd fuch Church-priviledgcs abfolutcly, or conditionaVy, or not at all? Not abfolutely, for thcrl they would poifcfs them. If conditionally, what is the Condition ? If nor at all, what proinife rhcn doth baprifm fea\ to fuch, and wha~ bendit doth it fecurc? God hath infiirured no baptifm, which is a mec:r prefent delivery of poifeflton of a Church-fh.te, without {taliJTJ!,. any Promife at all. True baptifm firj! {ealrth the promi{e, and then dclivereth pojfeffio>J of fame benetits. Yea) indeed outward Church·priviledgcs are fuch uncc:rta.in blc:ffiogs of the promife, that as they M2tth. 6. jj'. are but fecondary, fp they arc but fecondarily given and fcalcd, fo that no man fhould ever be bap~ Rom. 8. 28_, tized, if tlufe were alf that were in the promife. fhe holiefi perfan may be cafi into a Wildemcfs,and 3a, ~c. deprived ofz\1 viflble Church-communion: And doth God· then break his prornife with him? Cer- · U.inly no: Iris therefore our faving Relations to God the Father, Son and .Ho!y Ghoft, Which tht promife giveth, ,and baptifm fcaleth; and or'l.er things but Cubordinately and uncertainly as they are mtans to thc:Ce. So then its plain, that belie-ru·rs Infants have a pr.omife_of falhtion, or no promife at all which bapti!in was infiituted to feal. L 11!1 l have
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