More Proofs of Infants Church Membership and Right to Baptism, Letters 1 · Section 63,70
SECT. LXIII, to LXX.
R. B. NOte alſo, that as God had thus caſt out Cain, and ſupplied Abels room by Seth, and had given each of them poſterity; ſo we find him in a ſpecial manner regiſtring the ſucceſſors of the righteous, and putting two titles on theſe two diſtinct generations, calling ſome the ſons of God, and others the daughters of men, Gen. 6.2. Suppoſing that you reject the old conceits that theſe ſons of God were Angels that fell in love with women, the current ordinary expoſition I think will ſtand, that theſe were the progeny of Seth, and other members of the Church, who are called the Sons of God; and that it was the progeny of Cain, and other wicked ones, that are called the daughters of men. Where note that they are not themſelves denominated wicked, but the children of men, as being a generation ſeparated from the Church from the birth. And the other are not themſelves affirmed to be truly godly ones, but ſons of God, as being the ſeed of the Saints not caſt out, but members of the Church, or the ſons of thoſe who were devoted to God, and ſo devoted to him themſelves: a ſeparated generation belonging to God as his viſible Church. Where note, that theſe that are called the ſons of God, even the line of Seth and other godly Parents, were yet ſo wicked that God repented that he made them, and deſtroyed them in the flood, ſparing only Noah and his family. So that it was not their own godlineſs, that made them called the ſons of God, but their relation, Church ſtate and viſible ſeparation from open unchurched Idolaters. Compare this phraſe with the like, Deut. 14.1. 2 Cor. 6.18. In the former it is ſaid [ye are the children of the Lord your God, ye ſhall not cut your ſelves, &c.] where the whole people, Infants and all, are called Gods children, as being a people ſeparated to him from the Idolatrous world; and ſo in the next verſ. called a holy people unto God, peculiar to him, &c. And 2 Cor. 6.8. Come out from among them, and be ye ſeparate, &c. and I will be a father to you, and you ſhall be my ſons and daughters, ſaith the Lord Almighty.] So that Gods ſons and daughters are that ſociety that are ſeparated from Idolaters unto the worſhip of God as the viſible Church is. And then it appears that the generation of the righteous, even from the womb, were enumerated to the reſt, in that they are not mentioned as a people called out here and there, and initiated at age (there is no mention of any ſuch thing:) but as a ſtock or generation oppoſed to the daughters of men, or of the unchurched, who were ſuch from their infancy as all will grant. For it was not the ſame men that were the Parents of thoſe here called the daughters of men and the ſons of God (though ſome of the later might be excommunicate when they fell:) But it plainly intimates, that it was another ſort of men that theſe were the daughters of, than thoſe that were Parents to the ſons of God. So Ainſworth in loc. [The ſons of God, i. e. the men of the Church of God, for to ſuch Moſes ſaith, Deut. 14.1, &c. 1 John 3.1. Daughters of men, meaning of Cains poſterity that were out of Gods Church, Gen. 4.14.] So our Annotations, and many more.
An intimation of this priviledge, and that they were ſons of mercy and of the promiſe, appeareth in the very names of many of the children of the righteous, both before and after the flood, which I will not ſtand on particularly.
And when all the world had ſo defiled themſelves, that God was reſolved to cut them off; he ſpared Noah and his family or ſons. Though Cham was to be curſed, yet was he of the Church which worſhipped the true God, and ſpared as a ſon of Noah, and one of that ſociety. And if God ſo far ſpared him then for his Fathers ſake as to houſe him in the Ark (the type of the Church) he ſure took him to be of the ſame ſociety in his infancy, and then bare him the ſame favour on the ſame account.
As ſoon as Noah came out of the Ark God bleſſed himſelf in his iſſue, as he did Adam, with an [increaſe and multiply] and made a Covenant with him and his ſeed after him. Which Covenant though the expreſſed part of it be that the earth ſhould be drowned no more, and ſo it was made with the wickedſt of Noahs ſeed, and even with the beaſts of the field, yet doth it import a ſpecial favour to Noah and his ſeed, as one whom God would ſhew a more ſpecial reſpect to, as he had done in his deliverance, and upon this ſpecial favour to him the creatures fare the better. For though the word [Covenant] be the ſame to man and beaſt, yet the diverſity of the promiſſary and his capacity may put a different ſenſe on the ſame word, as applied to each. And indeed it ſhould ſeem but a ſad bleſſing to Noah to hear an [increaſe and multiply] if all his Infant poſterity muſt be caſt or left out of the viſible Church, and ſo left as common or unclean. This were to encreaſe and multiply the Kingdom of the Devil. If he that was ſo mercifully houſed in the Ark with all his children, muſt now be ſo bleſt as to have all their iſſue to be out of the Church, it were a ſtrange change in God, and a ſtrange bleſſing on Noah! And an uncomfortable ſtabliſhing of a Covenant with his ſeed, if all that ſeed muſt be ſo thruſt from God and dealt with as the ſeed of curſed Cain.
Moreover it is certain that Noah did prophetically, or at leaſt truly pronounce the bleſſing on Shem and Japhet. And in Shems bleſſing he bleſſeth the Lord his God, ſhewing that God was his God and ſo in Covenant with him. And it is plain that it is not only the perſons, but the poſterities of his three ſons that Noah here intended. It was not Cham himſelf ſo much as Canaan and his ſucceeding poſterity that were to be ſervants to Shem and Japhet, that is, to their poſterity. And the bleſſing muſt be to the iſſue of Shem, as well as the curſe to the iſſue of Cham. And indeed a Hebrew Doctor would take it ill at that Expoſitor or Divine whatſoever that ſhould preſume to exclude the Infant ſeed of them out of Gods Church. And well they may, if in the bleſſing God be pronounced to be their God, Saith Ainſworth in loc. [under this Shem alſo himſelf receiveth a bleſſing: for bleſſed is the people, whoſe God Jehovah is, Pſal. 144.15. and eternal life is implied herein, for God hath preprepared for them a City of whom he is not aſhamed to be called their God, Heb. 11.16. and Shem is the firſt man in Scripture that hath expreſly this honour.]
Moreover in Gen. 9.27. in Japhets bleſſing there is much, though in few words, to this purpoſe intimated. Firſt, note that the Jewiſh Church is called [the tents of Shem.] From whence it appeareth, that the Church priviledges of that people begun not with or from Abraham, but were before: And that it is the ſame Church that was of Shem and of Abraham, and after all the additional promiſes to Abraham, the Jewiſh Church is ſtill denominated [the tents of Shem:] now they were the tents of Shem before Abrahams days. And therefore it is clear, that it being the ſame Church, muſt be ſuppoſed to have the ſame ſort of members or materials: and therefore Infants muſt be members before Abrahams days as well as after. That Church which was Shems tents had Infant Church-members (for the Jews Church is ſo called, into which Japhet was to paſs:) But the Church both before and after Abraham was Shems tents, Ergo.
Yet further let it here be noted, that it is into Shems tents that Japhet muſt paſs. I ſuppoſe that the evidence is better here for that expoſition that applyeth the word [dwell] to Japhet than to God, and ſo that this is ſpoken of the converſion of the Gentiles, as many Expoſitors have cleared at large. And ſo, as Ainſworth ſaith, the ſenſe is that Japhet ſhall be [united with the Churches of the Jews, the poſterity of Shem, which was fulfilled when the Gentiles became joynt-heirs, and of the ſame body, and joynt-partakers of Gods promiſe in Chriſt, the ſtop of the partition-wall being broken down, &c. Epheſ. 3.6. & 2.14, 19. Although it may further imply the graffing of Japhets children into the ſtock of the Church, when Shems poſterity ſhould be cut off, &c.] vid. ult. Now if it be Shems tents even the ſame Church that Japhets children muſt dwell in, then as Shems Infants were Church-members, ſo muſt Japhets, and not all his Infant ſeed be caſt or left out. So that here is a promiſe of Infant Church-memberſhip unto the Gentiles in theſe words.
Reply. To all this the ſumm of Mr. T.'s anſwers are, 1. A denial of the ſenſes given of ſome Texts, which I leave to the Readers examination, being reſolved not to tire him with a tedious Reply. 2. He grants that their perſons were bleſſed, God their God, and their ſeed in the Church: As if Gods open Covenant and promiſe made them not viſible members but inviſible.