V EC AV. Y. Yea what an adventure was it in fame, to adjourn< ic nU ch<ir age (with C•nJI•n· A lint) ifbeing uofure oftheir life, they had beeoe fure the prevention ofdeath would have inferred damnation! Looke unto rhatlegall Sacrament ofcircumcifion, which (contrary to the fancies ofour Anabapritls) diredly aofwers this Evangelical!. Before the eighthday,rhey could norbe circumcifed : before the eighthday they might dir. Ifdying the fevenrh day, they were necdfarily condemned :either che want of a day is a fin, or God fometimes condemneth not for fin: Neither of them poflible, neither according with the jutlice of the Law.giver. Or if from this parallel, you pleafeto looke either to reafon or example, the cafe is clcere Reafon; no man char , bath faith, can be condemned, for Chri!l dwds in our hearts by faith : and he in whom Chrifidwds,cannotbea r<probate. Now itis poflible a man may have a f•• ving faith,before baptifme: v!hr•ham firfi bdceved to jullification: then after recd. B ved the figne ofcircumcilion, as a fealeoftherighteoufndfe ofthat faith, which he hadwhen he was uncircumcili:d: Therefore fome dying before their baptifme, rn,ay, yea mu!l be faved.Neither wasAhTAhA-ms cafe fingular;he was the Father ofall them alfo,which bekeve, not being circumcifed: thefe, as they are bis S0ns in faith, fo in righteowfndle, fa in falvation: uncircumcifion cannot hinder, where faith admirteth ; Thefe following his lleps ofbelecfe before theSacrament,flllll doubtleffe re(t in his bofome, without theSacrament; without it, as fatally abfent,oot as willingly negleCled. It is not the water, hut the faith: not the putting away thefilth ofthe fte!h, (faith S.Pmr) but the llipulation of a good confciene<; for who takes Baptifme without a full fuith (faith Hi mm) takes the water, takes not the fpifit; Whence is this fogreat venue ofthe water, that it fhould touch the body,and cleanferhe hearr, c (faith Aujli") unleffe by thepower ofthe Word, not fpol<en but beleeved ! Thou feell water (fJith A"'hroft,) every water heales nor, that water onely heal<s which bath the grae< ofGod annexed ; And ifthere be any grace in the wat<r(fairb Bafil)it is not ofthe nature ofthe water, but ofthe prdence ofthe Spirit. Baptifme is indeed, as Saint Amhr~{t llilesit, the pawnc and imageofour rcfurrcClioo ~ yea (as B•{jl) the power ofGod to refurrcl%ion: but(as TgRAiirH expounds rhis phrafe aright)belccviqg in his death, we are by baptifinemade partakers of his refurret!ion, Baptifme therefore without faith cannot fave aman, and by faith doth favc him : and faith without baptifme (where it cannot be had ; oat where it may be had, and is contemned)may favc him: That fpirit which works by meanes, will nor be tied to meanes. Examples.Ca!t your eyes upon that good theefc; good in his death, though in his D life abomioable:he was never wa!hed in Jordan,yet isreccived into Paradife:hisfoule was foulc with rapines,and iojuffico,yea bloody with murders;and yet being fcoured only with rhe bloodof his Saviour1not with water ofbaptifm,itis prefeoted glorious to God. I fay nothing of the foules of Tr.j•n, and F•lt•mha, mcerc heathens, living and dyingwithout Chrifi, without baptifme: which yet their hone!l Legend tepons to be delivered from hdl,cranfporred to heaven,not fa much as fcorched inPurgato· ry:Thc one by the prayers of Grrgory,the other ol7a/•.Whatpartiality is this,todc· ny that tothe childrenofChri!lians, which they grant toknowne Infidels! The prom if~ is made to us,and our feed: not to thofe that are without the pale of tb~ Church. Thofe innocents which were maffacred for Chrifi,are by them canonized.torSaints, and make one day in their Kalendar (each yeare)bath holy,and difmall; whereofyet E fcarce any lived to know watcr,oone to know baptifme.Yea,allMartyrs arc here priviled~ed1 who arc Chrillened io their owne blood, in !leadofwater :but where bath God faid,AII that die without baptifme, !hall die for ever, except Martyrs; why not, except bdecvers! It is faith that gives life toMartyrs; whicb if rhey fhould want, their lir!l death could not avoid the [econd.Amhr~fe doubted not to fay,his r •ltntini- '"was baptized becaufc he defired it;nor bccaufe hehad it:heknew the mind 9! God; who accounts us to bave what we unfainedlywi!h.Childrencannot live ro ddire b>p. j tifme: if their P~rents defir~ it fa~ t_bem,why ~ay notthc ddirco~ others be theirs,as I well as (accordtng to A•Jims op1010n) the fa1th of others belcevmg, and the mouth ofothers confefling! In rhefccafes therefore, ofany foules but onr owne, it is fafe to fufpend, and dangerous to paffe judgement. Secret things t() God: He that made all foul<s,
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