The Infants Advocate Against the Cruel Doctrine of the Presbyterians, Part 1
Diviſion 1.
MR Giles Firmin was pleaſed to print two Queſtions, and deſires thoſe, whom he calls Anabaptiſts, to anſwer them; and at the requeſt of ſome of his Neighbours, I wrote a brief, and I hope, a modeſt Anſwer to them, not for Contention, but for Satisfaction to ſuch as deſire to know the truth in the matters thereby put to the Queſtion by Mr. F. who finds himſelf aggrieved, tho nothing is done but what he deſired; that is, his Queſtions anſwered: And tho he ſays they are not, yet that ſhall not provoke me to ſay much to him concerning them. But ſeeing by this occaſion we are unavoidably fallen upon the buſineſs of Infants-Salvation; Whether God Almighty ordained Baptiſm, or any other Rite to be neceſſary to their Salvation? or, Whether the greateſt, or any part of Dying Infants ſhall be damned in Helliſh Torments? A Queſtion of great weight and importance; I find my ſelf concern'd to proceed in oppoſing that cruel Doctrine, which would ſend Millions of dying Infants to Hell Torments.
It was the Judgment of Auſtin, and many others, that unleſs Infants were baptized, and received the Lord's Supper, they could not be ſaved: And Mr. Firmin ſeems to be of the ſame Mind with reſpect to their Baptiſm: and moreover, he holds that Infants muſt have Faith and Repentance, as neceſſary to their Salvation, or they muſt all periſh. I will ſet down his own words.
In Pag. 90. of his Plea, he ſpeaks thus: To return to Infants, They muſt be regenerate, and have Faith ſome way, elſe they muſt periſh. And in his Book entituled, Scripture warrant, &c. he ſpeaks thus, Pag. 76. They who are regenerate, have Faith and Repentance. But all Infants ſaved, are regenerated: Therefore all Infants ſaved, have Faith and Repentance. And in Pag. 21. he counts it an Error in me for ſuppoſing, If Iſaac had died before he was eight days old, he might have been ſaved. So (ſaith he) this Covenant (meaning the Covenant of Circumciſion) might have been ſpared. And in Pag. 40. The ſame (ſaith he) I may ſay for Baptiſm, being Chriſt's own Inſtitution, This is the Hand of the Spirit accompanying it, when and where he pleaſeth, ſhall be the means to convey Spiritual Bleſſings to the Hearts of ſome Infants, and prove to them the waſhing of Regeneration. So that, I think, I have done him no wrong in the account I have given of his Opinion. To all which I anſwer.
To intermit a little the buſineſs of Infants Faith and Repentance, we will conſider what he ſays of Circumciſion and Baptiſm.
He tells us, Pag. 39. That he cannot conceive how it can conſiſt with the Wiſdom, Holineſs, and Goodneſs of God, to inſtitute an Ordinance in his Church, for ſpiritual and ſaving Ends, and ſtrictly to command this Ordinance to be adminiſtred to ſuch Subjects as Children of eight days old—and he himſelf not work with his own Inſtitution, when and where he pleaſes, to the good and benefit of that Subject to whom it is adminiſtred, this Subject having need of the Spiritual Good, ſignified and ſealed thereby. It doth implicitly charge the Inſtitution with Vanity. To which I reply.
1. Conſidering what Mr. F. ſays of Iſaac dying before the eighth day, (which I noted before) his ſenſe is this; that from the time that Circumciſion was inſtituted, it makes that Covenant of Circumciſion a Vanity, to think any of Abraham's Seed (tho but Infants of eight days old) could be ſaved if not circumciſed: And then, I pray, what is like to become of all the World beſide, who had no Intereſt in the Covenant of Circumciſion? Muſt they not all periſh? We ſhall hear more of that anon.
2. And beſides this, tho he makes Circumciſion thus neceſſary to the Salvation of Infants, yet he does not believe that all Infants that were circumciſed were ſaved; for theſe words of his [when and where he pleaſes] carry this ſenſe in a Presbyterian Breaſt, that tho Circumciſion did by expreſs order belong to all the Males of Abraham's Seed, being eight days old, yet perhaps but few of many of them ſhould be ſaved: which I evidently ſhewed in my Anſwers to Mr. F's Queſtion, and to Mr. Petto.
Now here I do profeſs to believe, that Almighty God did not thus ordain Circumciſion to be abſolutely neceſſary; becauſe they, to wit, Infants, can neither underſtand his Will herein, nor deſire it, neither hinder it; it wholly depends on others to do it for them, and why then they ſhould periſh if it be not done, no reaſon can be ſhewed: but that which is the hardeſt thing of all, is, that if Iſaac had died before the eighth day, he ſhould not be ſaved, when yet it was not lawful to circumciſe him. What is this? Does God damn Infants for dying before they be eight days old? or for not having that done to them which by God's Law ought not to be done before the eighth day? This is the cruelſt Doctrine that can be. And I will ſhew how contrary it is to the Doctrine of Learned Proteſtants. One ſaith thus upon Gen. 17. 14. It is no good reading to ſay the uncircumciſed Man-Child, but [Zachar] the Male, &c. ſhall be Dr. Willit Hexap. in Gen. p. 196, &c.cut off; for the Infant of eight days old, mentioned ver. 12. is of purpoſe omitted here. Hence then it is inferred, that there was no ſuch abſolute neceſſity of Circumciſion, that Children wanting it ſhould be damned. Again, This place cannot be underſtood of Infants that are uncircumciſed, 1. That addition, the eighth day, is uſed only by the Septuagint, it is not in the Hebrew. 2. The words are, qui non circumciderit, he which ſhall not circumciſe. So readeth the Original, the Chaldee Paraphraſt, Junius, &c. which ſheweth that it muſt be underſtood of them that are Adulti, and not of Infants—. If Infants be not circumciſed it is the Parents fault—as may appear in the Example of Moſes, whom the Lord puniſhed, and not the Child for neglecting it.
3. Concerning Baptiſm, I do believe it to be a very ſolemn Ordinance, and alſo very uſeful in the Church of God; yet I do not find that it is the Hand of the Spirit to convey Grace to the Heart of any Infant, ſeeing what it conveys, it doth it by Faith and by its Figure; repreſenting the Death, Burial, and Reſurrection of Chriſt, and ours with him, &c. of all which Infants know nothing, being ſprinkled, as I formerly ſhewed, very often when they are faſt aſleep; and if awake, they know nothing of the Myſtery of Baptiſm.
But Mr. F. brought three Scriptures to prove his Doctrine, we ſhall now conſider them; Epheſ. 5. 26. Chriſt loved his Church, and gave himſelf for it; that he might ſanctify and cleanſe it by the waſhing of Water, through the Word. I allow Baptiſmal Water to be here meant; but then we ſee it does not cleanſe but by or through the Word, nor doth the Word profit unleſs it be mixed with Faith in them that hear it; Heb. 4. 1, 2. The Church is purified in obeying the Truth through the Spirit; 1 Pet. 1. 22. And Baptiſm ſaves us, as it is the anſwer of a good Conſcience towards God, by the Reſurrection of Chriſt. And to this agree his other two Scriptures, Tit. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now Infants being uncapable of being cleanſed by Baptiſm according to the ſenſe of theſe Scriptures, we may in no wiſe apply them to Infant-Baptiſm.