An Apology of Infants, To the reader
To the Reader.
AS the bleſſing of peace is great, Zach. 8.8. ſtreets full of children playing, ſo among them to come ſodainely the ſtroke of God,Exod. 12.29. as at midnight in Aegypt,Virgil. Aeneid. lib 4. Si quis mihi paruulus aula Luderet AEneas. Act. 20.9. 1. King. 17.18. Ionas 4.7. 2 Sam. 12.17. in eueryevery houſe a dead childe, to fall dead from a windowe as Eutichus, to ſicken in the field, and die at home preſently, as the woman of Sareptaes childe: especially if it enioy not the next morning ſunne, as Ionas ſhade, especially if it dye as Dauids child did before circūciſiō: ſo it before baptiſme: & the former ioy doubleth the grief, ſillie leauened people lift vp their voice as Agar did for hers,Gen. 21.19. in a gentiles diſtrust as a people without hope,1. Theſſ. 4.13. (as though their babe were Iſmael & of Aegypt, & not of the Iſraell of God: as though they were Agar of Sina engendring vntounto bondage, & not of Sion, bearing childrē vntounto God) moning there is no water: they blame not thēſelues that they keep not houres with God and his Church, in regarde of goſſips and outward complement, breaking out as the Sareptane:1. King. 17.18. O thou man of God, what hauehave I to doe with thee? Would to God they would thinke alſo with that good woman: God in my childe brings my ſinnes to remembrance, that departure of children might cauſe departure from iniquitie. For many take on piteouſly with God and man if their children miſſe Baptiſme: but take no care if they miſcarie their owne Baptiſme,Math. 28.19. forgetting the fellowſhip of the bleſſed Trinitie, into which they were baptized: ſo that the water of Baptiſme is not the ſweet water of life vntounto life,Act. 8.23. but Marah, as in Simon Magus: A gall of bitternes ſtill in him. Christ ſhould diſſolue the workes of the diuell,1. Ioh. 3.8. but a bond of iniquitie in him ſtill. To ſuch it ſhould bee fearefull in their eares which is written: The children which yee ſayd ſhould bee a praye, Deut. 1.19and your ſonnes & daughters, which hauehave no knowledge between good and euill, they ſhall poſſeſſe mine inheritance: but as for you, Numb. 14.32. Your carkeiſes ſhall fall in the deſart. Where is he that hath Dauids hart, a man after Gods owne hart? he moned for feare of death,2. Sam. …. but neuer moued to hauehave reſpite of life for circumciſion, which no doubt he would if it had beene ſo daungerous to hauehave dyed without it: at least where is the mouth of Iob? Bleſſed be the Lord that gaue mee children: bleſſed bee the Lord that tooke away my children: bleſſed is he in giuing, bleſſed in taking away, and bleſſed in the manner though ſtrange: of him it is ſayd,Iob. 1.21.22. Hee ſinned not with his mouth, nor charged God fooliſhly. But thy child is thine Image, and thy ſhadow: and behold as Ionas ſhade, it vaniſhed from thee in a night, it vaniſhed before thou well lookedſt vponupon the face of it: & howe pitifull a thing?Ionas 4 11. But the pitifull God telleth him and thee alſo: that hee pitieth little ones that cannot diſcerne betweene right hands and left, euen to the number of ſix ſcore thouſand in one citie: and that in Aſhur, and Niniueh; and is his compaſſion ſhut vp from the ſeede of Christians? Yea but if it had beene ſprinkled with water of Baptiſme, Iohn 5.7. When the bedridden man for 38. yeares had none to helpe him into the ſouereigne water, Christ healed him without water ſaying, verſ. 17. Though the Angell moue not alwaies the water, verſ. 4. but at times, yet ſaith he, My Father ſtill worketh and I alſo work. And though the ſpring of Baptiſme ſhould ſometime be dammed vp: it followeth not infants to bee damned: for as Chriſt ſaid to his Diſciples,Gen. 21.19. Ioh. 4.32. I hauehave meate that you know not of: ſo the Angell telleth Agar, and all mothers of water that ſhe ſeeth not: and Chriſt here telleth of ſaluation, which the Angell and the water wrought not. Thou miſſeſt thy children in thine armes: beholde they are in the hand of God, they are pluckt from thy breſts, but are in Abrahams boſome: not in thy cradle below, but in the throne of immortalitie aboue. How oft is it ſeene amōg men that friendes take a babe from a weake mother, a daughter, a nurſe, and bring it vp for their owne:Exod. 2.10. as Pharaos daughter did Moſes, ſo that the parents peraduenture neuer ſee it: or not till long after. What elſe doth God when he taketh the childe from the wombe, or breaſt, to hauehave it nurſed in heauen loſt it ſhould hauehave ill bringing vp here? A conflict with ſuch diſpoſitions vponupon a like ſodaine accident, made mee gather against the next Lords day, theſe remembrances touching this argument, which nowe I hauehave more perfectly recognized. Then it bred ſuch alteration in their apprehenſions and opiniōs that heard it: that as once they who ſayd of Paul, Act. 28.4.hee was a murderer, (as if ſome ſhould ſay, infancieida,) when they ſawe the reuealed glorie of God: they changed their mindes. Theſe alſo are a holy ſeede, Luk. 15.31. The childe that was dead to mee, is aliue: he that was loſt is found: blaming themſelues as Dauid, Pſal. 73.23. ſo fooliſh were wee euen as beaſtes, vntill wee wēt into the ſāctuary of God, where we vnderstood the end euē of theſe little ones.Math. 9. The Lord of the harueſt giuegive bleſſing to this, according to the riches of his glorious wiſedome, and teach vsus to abound not with captious knowledge, which by ſcanninges, deſcantings, comparings puffeth vp, 1. Cor 8.1. But to abounde with louelove which buildeth vsus vp to one heade ouer all, euen the Lord Jeſus, to whom be aſcribed ſaluation for euer.