Baptismal Regeneration of Elect Infants Professed by the Church of England, Treatise · Chapter 2
CAP. 2. The State of the Poſition.
NOt to trouble the Reader with any diſcourſe touching the Name, or Definition of Baptiſme; nor yet with the efficacy of Baptiſme touching Remiſſion of ſinne, which I willingly admit: let vsus now fall vponupon the ſtate of the Poſition touching the efficacy of this Ordinance, vponupon the Elect, vntounto Regeneration. I ſhall hauehave occaſion to declare my ſelfe in the other particulars, as I paſſe along.
There is no terme in our Poſition needing explication vnleſſe Two, the Spirit, and Regeneration. By Spirit, I meane not onelyonly grace wrought by the Spirit; but the Holy Ghoſt dwelling in every true Chriſtian and working Grace. Howbeit I conſider this Holy Ghoſt, not eſſentially, not perſonally as the third Perſon in Trinity; but, operatiuely as the Spirit of Chriſt communicated from him to all his members, to vnite them vntounto himſelfe, and to bee in them the firſt principle, and as it were the ſoule of ſpirituall life. It is the Spirit himſelfe, and not his Graces that firſt knits vsus to Chriſt.*1. Cor. 12.13 Graces are effects of the vnion, not the bond it ſelfe. Nor can ſome of thoſe things which are attributed to the Spirit dwelling in a Chriſtian, poſſibly be applied to any created Gift or grace infuſed, but only to the Holy Ghoſt himſelfe: as for example, our Saviours ſpeaking of that Comforter which he would, after his departure, ſend to his Diſciples to dwell in them, ſaith that, when hee is come hee will reproue the world of ſinne, of righteouſneſſe, and of iudgement, Ioh▪ 16.8. which muſt needs be the act of a perſon, not of a created inanimate gift, and in ver. 13. whatſoeuer he ſhall heare, that ſhall he speake, and hee will ſhew you things to come, He ſhall glorify me, for he ſhall receiue of mine, and ſhall ſhew it vntounto you, &c. In breife no place of Scripture can be produced, wherein foreign. The HOLY GHOST is put only for grace wrought or beſtowed, and not for the Author of it. I am not ignorant that ſome moderne writers doe holde otherwiſe: but ſauing their iudgements, I cannot but follow the Fathers, & ſoundeſt ſchoolemen, who ſoundly maintaine this truth. I will not trouble the reader with heapes of Authors*Of this ſee more in Zanth. de Nat. Dei. lib. 2. cap. 6. Quaeſt. 2. & 3. As alſo in my learned and much honoured friend Mr. I. Downham. Chriſt-warf: part. 4. lib. 1. cap. 3. Choquet Lillan. De Gra. Sanctific. Tom, 1. lib. 1. diſp. 1. ca. 4.. I only pray the learned to conſider well, whether the admitting of this expoſition of ſuch texts of Holy writ as mention the dwelling of the Holy Ghoſt in a Chriſtian, viz. that by the HOLY GHOST is meant only Grace wrought or working, doth not (vnawares) giuegive ſome countenance to the hereſy of the Pneumatomachiſts. Sure I am S. Auguſtine bCont. Serm. Arrianorum, cap. 20. & cap. 29. Cont. maxim. lib. 1. & lib. 2. cap 11. & lib. 3. cap. 21. & alibi paſſim.was wont to proue the Godhead of the holy Ghoſt by this very argument, that wee are ſaid to be his Temples; and he, to dwell in vsus.
That other of regeneration, I take to be all one with ſpirituall life, taken in the largeſt ſenſe; which life, according to the Scriptures, I diſtinguiſh into Initiall and Actuall. For as in the naturall, ſometimes the ſoule which is vſually called the forme by which, and ſometimes the foreign eſſe the being it ſelfe of ſuch or ſuch a creature animated by his ſoule, is put for life; as that learned Zanchius well obſeruethaDe Nat. Dei. lib. 2 cap. 5. queſt. 1.: ſo is it in the Spirituall life whereof we are now to treat. And vponupon this foundation it is that wee rightly build our preſent diſtinction, which hath cleare footting alſo in the ſacred Volumes of Eternall Truth.
1 Initiall (which we may alſo terme Seminall or Potentiall life, I call that which conſiſteth in participatiō of the ſpirit of Chriſt, as the forme of this ſpirituall life: the ſpirit being the firſt principle of Regeneration, by whom the firſt ſeede and foundation thereof is laid in a Chriſtian. And this is life as it were in the roote, like vntounto the firſt principles of reaſon laid vp in the ſoule rationall, before it hauehave actually enabled the body to moue, and act rationally. And of this, ſaith acute Iunius *De Paedobapt. the…: 7., our Saviour ſpake in John. 3. more clearely to our purpoſe is that of the Apoſtle, Rom: 8.10. The ſpirit is life, becauſe of righteouſneſſe. where the ſpirit which is the cauſe of life, is put for life it ſelfe: and by the ſpirit is meant; not the reaſonable ſoule, but the Holy Ghoſt; if Caluin, (and before him Chryſoſtome and Ambroſe, and after him Peter Martir) hit right in the expoſition of itbGal. in loc. Vocabulo ſpiritus ne animam nostram intelligas, ſed regenerationis ſpiritum quem vitam appellat Paulus., whereof for my part (after ſerious penſitation, of all that any hauehave ſaid to carry it to another ſenſe) I make no queſtion.
2 Actuall, I call that, which conſiſteth properly in the very ſpirituall being it ſelfe actually produced in a Chriſtian, by the ſpirit bringing him forth a new man in Chriſt, in the ordinary courſe of Regeneration of ſuch as liue to yeares, whereby he is enabled actually to beleeue repent, &c. Rom. 6.11. Likewiſe ye, reckon your ſelues to be dead indeed vntounto ſinne: but aliue vntounto God through Ieſus Chriſt our Lord. So Galath. 2.20. and elſewhere.
The ſeverall members of this diſtinction, I further illuſtrated, thus.
The former of theſe is as the tranſplantation of a tree into a new ſoile; the later, as drawing the fatneſſe of the ſoile into the tree; cauſing it to ſhoot vp, ſpring, bloſſome, and beare fruit. The former, ſaith Iunius, cibid. Hac regenerantur infantes electi, cum Chriſto inſeruntur, & huius obſignatio ſit iis dum baptizantur.is as the tranſplanting of a man out of the firſt Adam, into the ſecond; the later, as his drawing vertue from him, and liuing thereby. The former is as the ſtretching of Eliſha vponupon the dead child, the firſt time, whereby the fleſh of the child waxed warme, but as yet it moved not*2. King. 4.34.; the later is as his ſtretching himſelfe vponupon it the ſecond time, which cauſed it to neeſe ſeuen times and to open his eyes cVer. 35.. The former of theſe is like vntounto the firſt incubation or resting of the ſpirit vponupon the face of the waters, while the earth was yet without forme, and voide, Gen: 1.2. the later, as the production of each particular creature, afterwards in his kinde, time, and order, appointed of God, when it pleaſed him to ſpeake the word. The Spirit reſted vponupon the waters from the beginning; yet the creatures were not preſently produced by the ſpirit: they came forth in their due time, and place, when God gaue his Fiat and not before.
This Diſtinction laid as a ground, will of it ſelfe beare vsus out in this concluſion.
There may be euen in order of time a communicating of the ſpirit of grace, as a principle of future newneſſe of life, before any ordinary actuall infuſion of actuall or habituall graces, whereby a man, on his part, actually makes declaration thereof, by a thorough change of his heart and life, as a new man in Chriſt.
This being granted, I adde further, touching the ordinary meanes of manifeſt conferring on vsus and confirming to vsus the Spirit of grace, a ſecond Concluſion, which is this.
The firſt ordinary and certaine meanes whereby we, that deſcend of Chriſtian Parents, hauehave any initiall Regeneration begun in vsus, and doe ordinarily, receiue and come to be aſcertained of the ſpirit of Chriſt, for this end, that he may produce in vsus future actuall ſpirituall life, is the firſt ordinance of Christ that wee partake of: to wit Baptiſme.
This is our firſt certaine and manifeſt initiation into Chriſt, (Rom. 6.) and receiuing of the Holy Ghoſt, in the ordinary way of divine diſpenſation; by meanes (Act: 2.38,) and our ingrafting into the body of Chriſt. 1. Cor. 12.13. So alſo ſaith the 27 Article of our Church. fThis Article. is vrged and opened in the next cap.This is the Blocke at which ſo many hauehave ſtumbled. This is the Arminianiſme, Popery, and Doctrine of Deuills, that I am charged with▪ This therefore is the Point I am now to Labour in, after I ſhall hauehave ſtated it ſomewhat more diſtinctly and fully: for the effecting whereof, I muſt firſt more punctually ſet downe.
1 How farre, all that are not Papiſts, Lutherans or Arminians doe agree with me herein.
2 what be the differences betweene mee and ſome others, that though they hold neither with Papiſt, nor Arminian doe yet diſſent from me.
The things on all hands agreed vponupon are theſe.
1 That ſome Infantes may & doe receiue the ſpirit to vnite them vntounto Chriſt, before Baptiſme. The queſtion here is only of the firſt certaine reception of it, by externall ordinary meanes applied.
2 That by Baptiſme is vnderſtood the whole Ordinance, conſiſting of the inward grace as well as of the outward ſigne
3 That there is as much efficacy in Baptiſme vntounto Remiſsion of ſinne, as vntounto Regeneration; although we are now to treat only of the latter.
4 That the ſpirit is not giuen to all, but to the Elect only.
5 That the outward element hath not in it any phyſicall force, either by vertue of the conſecration, institution, or adminiſtration, to conferre the ſpirit to any at all: but the ſpirit is communicated immediatly from Chriſt himſelfe, when the Sacrament is adminiſtred, if then it be at all conferred.
6 That God both may and doth euen in Baptiſme, beſtow the ſpirit vponupon ſome infants that liue and come to yeares, as well as vponupon other ſome that dye in infancy.
The differences then, are only two; which will be moſt breefely diſcerned in theſe 2 Quaere's.
1 whether the communication of the ſpirit vntounto infants, from Chriſt himſelfe, for their firſt apparent engrafting into his body, and to be in them as the firſt ſeede & principle of Regeneration, in the ordinary courſe of regenerating ſuch, as after Baptiſme, doe liue to yeares of diſcretion, be ordinarily, in the baptiſme of the Elect?
2 whether the former, being graunted, it doth alſo follow, that All the Elect doe ordinarily, receiue the ſpirit in baptiſme; ſo that ſuch as receiue him before, or after, and not in Baptiſme, are to be held to receiue the ſpirit in an extraordinary, and not in the ordinary courſe of divine diſpenſation thereof?
I hold the Affirmatiue in both theſe Queſtions▪ and determine them thus: viz: It It moſt agreeable to the Jnſtitution of Chriſt, that All Elect Infants that are baptized,The maine point fully ſtated. (vnleſſe in ſome extraordinary caſes) doe, ordinarily, receiue, from Christ, the Spirit in Baptiſme, for their firſt ſolemne initiation into Christ, and for their future actuall renovation, in Gods good time, if they liue to yeares of diſcretion, and enioy the other ordinary meanes of Grace appointed of God to this end.
This Poſition I am now to make good to be agreeable to the Doctrine.
1 Of the Church of England: by which it appeares to be no priuate fancy.
2 Of the Holy Scriptures, vponupon which this Doctrine of our Church is founded.
3 Of the Ancient Fathers of beſt note in the truly Primitiue church.
4 Of the Reformed churches beyond the Sea; and particularly of Geneva.
5 Of the moſt famous and eminent Divines both at home and abroad; & particularly of calvine, and Dr Whitaker, beſide ſundry others.
Laſtly, I will adde Anſwers to all the Obiections, that euer I could heare of, againſt this Aſſertion.