Light Broke Forth in Wales Expelling Darkness, Chapter 24
CHAP. XXIV.
Containing ſome brief practical uſe of the whole precedent Treatiſe, with ſeaſonable Counſel to Parents, &c.
NOw Reader, from what thou haſt heard or read, in this Treatiſe, and anſwer to Mr. James Owen,
1. I may infer that all thoſe who have only been Sprinkled or Rantized, who are afterwards Baptized when they Believed, are not re-baptized, as Mr. Owen doth affirm, nor do they renounce their Baptiſm, tho' they do renounce the practice and Human Tradition of Sprinkling of Infants or Adult Perſons.
2. We may alſo infer that 'tis a hard thing to reſtore a loſt Ordinance, or to reform about a long ſtanding Cuſtom and Tradition of Men.
1. Do all you Pious Parents bleſs God for Chriſt and the Goſpel, and for all thoſe priviledges he hath beſtowed upon you, and upon your Children, who when they are grown up, ſet under the precious and clear Preaching of Chriſt Crucified. Be ſure, improve theſe bleſſings and take heed that you walk in all things according to the rule of God's Word, and do not follow a Multitude to do evil, (tho' ſome of them are good Men.)
O tremble to do any thing in God's Worſhip without lawful authority from him, I mean precept or example from his Word, do not adventure to Baptize, much leſs to Rantize your Children any more, whatever Mr. Owen (or any Man on Earth ſaith) unleſs you can find it written in your Bibles. God hath not commanded you to bring them into a baptiſmal Covenant in their Infancy, nor made any promiſe of bleſſing to aſſiſt them in performing that Covenant, if you do bring them into it of your own Head voiuntarily.
If you do, and will do this thing, notwithſtanding you have no authority from God's Word to do it; Pray conſider what I have ſaid in this Treatiſe about this deviſed and unwarrantable Covenant, by which you may heap up much guilt upon your ſelves, and lay ſuch a Load and Burden upon your Children, that you are not aware of: Mr. Williams's frightnes them with the Sin of Perjury, who violate this Covenant, may not this tend to drive them into deſpair, and God will never charge them with Perjury, ſince he never commanded them to enter into any ſuch Covenant: Your Children who when grown up if wicked and ungodly have too much guilt, both Original ſin, and Actual ſin, lying upon them, there is little need to add to their Burden; for their want of Light, and by Reading of ſuch Mens Books, they may perhaps thus charge themſelves. Mr. Dan. Williams ſays, 'tis the damning ſin: no no, the Damning ſin is the breach of God's Law, and particularly the ſin of unbelief.
Nay, and doth not his words Imply that when your Children are grown up, and they by Light received from God's word, ſhould be couvinced they were never baptized at all, and ſo caſt off and renounce their Infants Rautiſm, that they hereby become guilty of Perjury, and muſt be Damned, for he ſpeaks not of thoſe ſins forbidden in God's Word, but the violation of this baptiſmal Covenant, which he ſaith is Perjury, and the Damning Sin, and Root of all Sin. O! what want of Charity is here in theſe Men, and what New and ſtrange Doctrine do they Teach!
2. Train up your Children in the fear of God, and ſet them a good example, and pray for them, and over them and give them good Inſtruction, godly Counſel and Admonition: And ſee that you neglect not to Catechiſe them daily, that ſo they may underſtand early, the main Grounds and Principles of Religion; but dread to Baptize them in Infancy, or before they believe and have the inward and Spiritual Grace ſignified in true Baptiſm.
You have had it proved from God's Word, that there is no Ground nor Authority from thence to baptize Infants, and know 'tis not in the power of Man by external Rite, to bring Children into the Covenant of Grace, nor to make them Members of his Viſible Church: neither Baptiſm nor the Lords Supper are Bread for Infants; but for Chriſt's New Born Babes, 1 Pet. 2. 1, 2, 3, 5. not for your Children as ſuch, but ſuch only that are the true Children of God, who are born of the Spirit.
3. Do not go about directly nor indirectly to deceive your Children, by making them believe they are in a good condition, by reaſon they are the Seed of believing Parents, and Baptized as theſe Men call Sprinkling, and ſo that way made Chriſtians, and ſo from hence perhaps look for no further or other work of Grace, or regeneration; but think they by this pretended baptiſm are the Children of God, Members of Chriſt, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven; when 'tis in Truth no ſuch thing, nor have you any cauſe to doubt but that your Infants, who die tho' not baptized are happy, as appears from what we have ſaid, neither be you ſo ignorant to believe that baptiſm can ſave your Infants, or the Adult either; nor let poor Children cry out againſt their ungodly Parents, as ſome of theſe pedo-baptiſts intimate they may do. Pray ſee what Mr. Burkitt ſaith in his Book. page 62. Before your Children are born, make ſure as much as in you lieth, that they may be born within the Covenant, and under the promiſe, by your being in Covenant with God Your ſelves; ſee that the Lord be your God in Covenant with you, and then you may comfortably hope he will be the God of your Seed.
Anſw. This Doctrine implys, that 'tis in the power of Men and Women to bring their Children into the Covenant of Grace, and as alſo it denotes that the Children of believers are not Born Children of Wrath by Nature, for are thoſe that are born in the Covenant of Grace, born Children of Wrath? O ye Parents, know that you may be in Covenant, and your Children never in it whilſt they live, nay die out of Covenant, as doubtleſs many Children of the Faithful do. Nor hath God made any ſuch Covenant with any believer, and their Natural Seed as ſuch, as he made with Abraham, who was the Father of all that believe, but ſo are not you nor I, tho' we are believers and in Covenant with God, and walk in Abrahams Steps. Thoſe that are in the Electiof Grace of your Seed, never fear, but God will in due time bring into the Covenant of Grace, and give all the Covenant Bleſſings and Priviledges, but if any of them are not comprehended in the Election of Grace, their being born of your Loyns, will not, cannot bring them into the Covenant of Grace, nor give them a right to the Seal thereof, viz. the holy Spirit; nor can baptiſm bring any into it, which is only an outward Sign of our being in that Covenant, or of that divine and ſpiritual Grace we received, before we were baptized as I have proved.
Your buſineſs and your Childrens alſo, is to make your own Election ſure, by ſpecial and effectual calling.
'Tis not the firſt birth, but the ſecond that brings either you or your Children into the Covenant of Grace, ſo that we and they may have God to be our God by way of ſpecial Intereſt.
But mark Mr. Burkitts next words, page 62. O! were but Infants capable of knowledge, how much would they dread being born of wicked Parents? make it your endeavour before your Children are born to ſanctifie your poor Children, this is done by prayer, &c.
1. Anſw. This is enough to ſet the Children againſt their ungodly Parents, nay to hate them in their Hearts: Alas! the Children of wicked Parents, I ſee not, but they may be in as good a Condition as many Children of believers (tho' I doubt not but God doth let out his infinite Grace generally more to the ſeed of the Faithful when grown up then to others) but God will not certainly deſtroy poor Children for the fault and unbelief of their Parents. Therefore as your begetting them in the firſt birth, tho' gracious cannot ſave them, ſo your begetting them, tho' wicked cannot damn or deſtroy them.
There is no reaſon ſaith Mr. Perkins, that the wickedneſs of the Parents ſhould prejudice the Children in things pertaining to eternal Life. Perkins on Gal. 3. p. 264.
2. However if it be as Mr. Burkitt and Mr. Owen ſay, that when believers are in Covenant their Children are in Covenant alſo; Doubtleſs they are in a ſafe condition, whether baptized or not, that doth not bring them into Covenant.
3. But may not this Doctrine of theirs, put a juſt rebuke upon unbelievers or ungoly perſons, for once attempting to Marry and beget Childre that are in ſuch a ſad condition, by reaſon their Parents were not in Covenant with God, ought they, nay may they lawfully Marry, this being conſider'd, and ſuch dreadful effects following, upon their poor Babes; beſides, how far doth this Covenant bleſſing and priviledge extend? If my Grand Father, was in Covenant, tho' my Father and I too, are wicked and ungodly Perſons, are not we ſtill in Covenant with God. The Covenant of Peculiarity God made with Abraham, viz. that of Circumciſion, extended not only to his immediate Seed or Off-Spring; but to all his Natural Seed ſucceſſively in their Generations, untill Chriſt came and put an end to that external Covenant, and Covenant Right.