A Compend of the Controversies of Religion, Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. OF BAPTISME.
§. That the Children of the Faythfull, departing, are not deprived of the bleſſed viſion of God, through want of Baptiſme.
1. Authoritie of Scripture.
GEneſ. 17.7. And I wil eſtabliſh my covenant betweene mee and thee, & thy ſeede after thee in their generations.
Marke then, That not onelie are the Parentes within the covenant of grace, but their children alſo, and their ſeede after them: and even as the female was comprehended vnderunder the male, becauſe vncapable of circumciſion, and ſo ſaved amongſt the Iewes; ſo are Infants, dying in the Mothers wombe, comprehended vnderunder their believing Parents, becauſe vncapable then of Baptiſme, and ſo are ſaved amongſt Chriſtians, if they belong to election.
Exod. 20.5. I am a jealous God, vvho viſiteth the ſinnes of the fathers, vponupon the children, to the third and fourth generation, of them that hate mee, but ſhow merciemercy to the thouſandes of them that louelove mee, and keepe my commandements.
Note then, That the Lord's promiſes are to ſhew merciemercy to thouſands of the generation of the godlie, (excepting neither age, or ſexe, nor whether they die in the wombe, wanting Baptiſme, or liue in the World, and get the ſame.)
Acts 2.39. For to you is the promiſe, and to your children, and to all that are farre off, vvhom-ſo-ever the Lord our God ſhall call.
Ierem. 1.5. Before thou camest out of the vvombe, I ſanctified thee.
Note then, That if an Infant may bee ſanctifyed in the Mothers wombe, then that Infant dying there-in, may bee ſaved: for whom-ſo-ever the Lord ſanctifyeth, them alſo hee ſaveth.
Luk. 1.41. And it came to paſſe, when Elizabeth heard the ſalutation of Marie, the Babe did leape in her Wombe.
Beholde then, heere a divine fayth infuſed in the heart of the Baptiſt, while as yet hee was in his Mothers wombe, able, if hee had died there-in, perfectlie to hauehave ſaved him. And who can certainlie defyne of God's ſecret working, or deny the ſalvation of others?
Ioſhua 5.5. Now all the people that came out, vvere circumciſed: but all the people that vvere borne in the Wilderneſſe, by the vvay, as they came out of Aegypt, them they circumciſed not.
Remarke then, That as the children that died during thoſe fourtie yeares in the Wilderneſſe, were not for want of circumciſion therefore condemned, vnderunder the Law: ſo neither are the children of Chriſtians, for want of Baptiſme, when it can-not bee had, condemned, now vnderunder the Goſpell. It being not the want, but contempt of Sacraments, that is judged damnable.
1. Cor. 7.14. For the vnbelieving Husband, is ſanctified by the Wife, and the vnbelieving Wife, is ſanctified by the Husband; els vvere your children vncleane, but now they are holie.
Note then, If the children of one onlie believing parent bee eſteemed holie, how much more then ſhould the children of Parents, both believing, bee eſteemed holie, and ſo charitablie judged of, (if they die without Baptiſme) to bee eternallie ſaved?
2. Witneſsing of Antiquitie.
WHat Reaſon, or Nature, (ſayth Bernard) teacheth, that none of thoſe who may die, can obtaine internall and eternall ſalvation, whoſe bodie outwardlie is not ſprinkled with the element of water? And therefore he affirmeth thereafter, that in caſe contempt bee not the cauſe, that then the Parents faith is not onelie profitable, but ſufficient alſo for the chylde. Bern. Epist. 77.
3. Confeſsion of Partie.
As to Infants, the Churches faith, and of them that offer it, is imputed as their owne: Even ſo, the will and deſire of Baptiſme, (ſayeth Caſſander) which the Church, and ſpeciallie the Parents hauehave, is accepted by the ſame indulgent Father, who accepteth of the will, as the deed, and tyeth none to impoſſibilities, nor his grace ſimplie to the externall action of Sacraments. Caſſand. conſult. art. 9. And of this ſame mynde alſo Alphonſus de Castro teſtifyeth Gerſon and Cajetan to bee. (Alphonſ. de Castro, de Hereſ. verbo Baptiſmus.) And Lombard, ſpeaking of the true ſenſe of theſe wordes, Iohn 3. Except a man bee borne anew, &c. ſayeth, But this is to bee vnderſtood (ſayeth hee) of them who may, but yet deſpyſeth to bee baptized. Lomb. lib. 4. diſt. 4. §. his autem.