An Apology of Infants, Title page – Dedication
AN APOLOGIE OF INFANTS IN A SERMON: Prouing, by the reueal… will of God, that children preuen…d by death of their Baptiſme, by Gods election, may be ſaued.
By W. H. Preacher in the Tower of London.
Seene and allowed by Authoritie.
BY WISDOME PEACE BY PEACE PLENTY
AT LONDON, Printed by the Widowe Orwin for Thomas Man. 1595.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD ROBERT DEVOROX, EARLE of Eſſex, and one of her Maieſties moſt Honorable priuie Councel: all graces fit for ſo worthie place and truſt be multiplied.
THE great Meſsias, the Lord Ieſus (right Honorable) being on the Croſſe readie to dye, caſt his eye aſide, and ſawe his mother and the diſciple ſtanding by, whom hee loued, on whoſe breaſt he leaned: and ſayd to his mother, Woman behold thy ſonne: Iohn 19.26.and to the diſciple, Behold thy mother. This voyce then ſpake from the altar of the croſſe on earth: The ſame voyce ſeemeth to ſpeake ſtill from the arch of heauen, the Church being grauen on the palme of his hands,Eſay. 49.16. and her walles euer in his ſight on the one ſide, & ſeeing the Nobles of the world on the otherſide, eſpecially ſuch Nobles whō hee loueth, on whoſe ſhoulders his truth leaneth, in whoſe breaſt the louelove of the trueth dwelleth: He ſeemeth to ſay to the Church, as to a faint & weak woman of them: O woman behold thy ſonnes the Nobles of the earth: Pſal. 45.16. Thou ſhalt hauehave children the Potētates thorow the whole earth. And to them: O ye ſonnes of the Nobles,Galath. 4.26. behold your mother alſo. This mother, the true Church, maketh you the ſonnes of God. That voyce then wrought obedience: he to whom it was ſpoken, tooke it to heart, and took her home: So ought the Peeres and States of the world, eſpecially whom Ieſus hath loued by education in the trueth, to take this mother the church, her ſonnes and daughters, the trueth and her defence home to them, to ſurround it with their power and countenance, euen as in two circles Iſrael with all their tribes and gouernours did hemme in the Tabernacle of God, Numb. 3.38. In the inmoſt circle Moſes and Aaron on the forefront of the Tabernacle Eaſtward ſtood next to it: verſ 24. On the other ſide three families of Leui: The Gerſonites pitched their tents behinde the Tabernacle Weſtward: verſ 29. The Kohathites had their ſtanding on the South ſide: verſ. 35. The Merarites on the North ſide. Theſe were the inward liſts of it. In the outward wall of it (ſo to ſpeak) Eaſtward did Iuda claſpe it in, and his aſſociates Iſſachar and Zabulon: Num. 2.5. On the South ſide, verſ. 10. Re…ben faſtned his ſtandard with Gad and Simeon: On the Weſt, verſ. 18. ioyned Ephraim with Manaſſes and Beniamin: On the North, verſ. 24. as cloſing vp all, came Dan with Aſher and Naptali. So ſtrongly and politically was Gods Tabernacle and Church then mannaged and conducted: in ſo ſightly manner did it march on with this alarme: Num. 10.35. Ariſe O Lord, and let thine enemies be ſcatrered. In ſo puiſſant and ſtable manner did it take vp his ſtanding with this ſolemnitie: Returne O Lorde to the many thouſands of Iſrael. The Nobles who thus ſtand about Gods Church at this time, and lend their ſhoulders for his trueth to leane vponupon, hauehave a greater place thē Naamans: 2. King. 5.18.the King to leane on their hands: then Atlas, the arch of heauen to reſt vponupon their ſhoulders: they hauehave the honour to be the noble diſciples whō Ieſus loueth, on whoſe breaſts he leaneth, in whoſe hearts he dwelleth: to whom he hauing ſayd, Behold your mother, the Church, the trueth: they doe not onelyonly take her home to them vnderunder their roofe, dwel with it, conuerſe with it: but enter into a ſtrict vow and ſolemne proteſtation, (for this is the heroicall proteſtant) as Ruth the Moabitiſh did to Naomi: concerning her cleauing to the trueth and Gods people, though diſcouraged by contrarie example of one that lay in the ſame wōbe, though aboured with by the womb that bare her: ſhe ſayd,Ruth. 1.16.17. Intreate me not to leaue thee, nor to depart from thee: whither thou goeſt, I will goe: where thou dwelleſt, I will dwell: thy people ſhall be my people: thy God, my God: where thou dyeſt, I will dye: and there will I be buried. The Lord doe ſo vntounto me, and more alſo if ought but death part thee and me. The obedience to this voyce of God, to take the louelove of the trueth home to you, ſeeing it hath dwelt in your familie and progenie long, and now hereditarily reſteth in your Honour: and the experience of your care, by whoſe meanes not onelyonly the ſtandard of the preaching of the word is lift vp in this place, (tanquam in arce Minerua Phidiae) in the midſt of captiued enemies (which was not before) but by whoſe fruites of faith alſo it is cheriſhed: emboldened me to preſent this firſtling of my labors in this kind, in the cauſe of many ſpeechles infants, to your Honour: remembring what Salomons mother ſayd to him: Open thy mouth for the dumme in the cauſe of all the children of destruction Open thy mouth, Pouer. 31.8.&c. The argument, though diminutiue and low, yet parents louelove to heare of the ſtate of their childrē in this life: much more of life to come, ſpecially the godly. Euen graue fathers after ſerious matters diſpatched, forbeare not to vſe modificatiō of ſpeech, to liſpe with the little ones: ſaying, Cheſippus, not Chryſippus: as he in Tullie: Coniah, Iere. 22.not Ieconiah: as in the ſcripture. But why do I ſeeke further? HaueHave not theſe little ones the Dukes and Pecres of heauen for their Patrones?Matth. 18.10. Their Angels (ſayth Chriſt) alwaies behold the face of God the father in heauen. And he that ſet a child in the midſt of his Apoſtles, ſtriuing for honour,Matth. 18.3 with this charge: Verely, except ye be conuerted and become as little children, ye ſhall not enter into the kingdome of heauen: and he that humbleth himſelfe as this child, is the greateſt in the kingdome of heauen: knew that the caſe of little children, their harmleſnes, innocencie, mildnes, are matters for all ſorts to meditate vponupon, to ſchoole them to GOD. In which argument Dauid ſo profited, Pſalm. 131.2. that he profeſſeth euen before the Lorde, that he demeaned himſelf as a weaned, euen as a weaned child, though the court and field had been his nurſe. But I may not exceede the meaſure of a Preface: The Lord ripen the good worke he hath begun in your Honour, and increaſe it with the mightie increaſings of God.
Your Honors in the Lord to be commanded: William Hubbocke.