Infant Baptism Asserted and Vindicated, Part · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Containing his Argument, that Believers Baptiſme is the only true Baptiſme, from the example of Primitive Saints.
Reply.
TO this there needs no more then what we have before ſaid.Sydenhams Chriſtian Exercitation, pag. 7. For as Mr. Sydenham ſays, all that they urge as to Examples of actual Believers, being baptized all along the new Teſtament, eſpecially the Acts, (and that if thou believeſt thou mayſt,) We can freely grant without any damage to Infant-Baptiſm: For,
1. We ſay as they, Profeſſing Believers, grown men were firſt Baptized, and ſo they ought to be who are to be the firſt ſubjects of the Adminiſtration of an Ordinance; inſtancing as before in Abraham, &c. he was 99. years old when circumciſed, and he muſt be firſt Circumciſed before he could convey a right to his ſeed; now you may as well argue, Abraham was firſt circumciſed, when ſo old, therefore old perſons are to be Circumciſed and none elſe; as becauſe grown perſons were Baptized, therefore not Infants, when they muſt be firſt Baptized themſelves; for children are Baptized by the promiſe firſt to them, and in them to their ſeed.
Now, for as much as all the Examples brought by the Author out of Act. 8.12. & 18.8. & 22.14. Speak of grown perſons that were the firſt ſubjects of Baptiſm, and Jews that were Aliens too, as well as the Gentiles, in regard of the new Adminiſtration; it makes nothing againſt Infant-Baptiſm, that being of another circumſtance, and the diſagreeing of it from them, argues not the unlawfulneſs of it, and as the ſame Author farther argues.
2. An Affirmative Poſition is not excluſive of ſubordinates; becauſe Believers were ſaid to be Baptized; Ergo, not their Seed, is not true reaſoning; for their ſeed were comprehended with them in the ſame promiſe as before, and as we ſhall more fully ſhew hereafter.
Let us now ſee what his Quotations of Authors or Teſtimonies will amount unto in this Chapter.
His firſt Teſtimony is from Luther, de Sacrament. Tom. 3. fol. 168. where he ſaith Luther hath theſe words, viz. That in times paſt it was thus, that the Sacrament of Baptiſm was Adminiſtred to none, except it were to thoſe that acknowledged and confeſſed their faith, &c. The which when I read, I was not well aſſured, but that my Antagoniſt might be guilty of Forgery, knowing Luther to be a moſt fierce and zealous oppoſer of their way, wherefore I did very carefully examine the third Tome of Luther concerning Sacraments. I read the 168. pag. and read it again with a friend, and do profeſs that there is not one ſyllable to the purpoſe, for which the Author brings him, no nor in any page thereabout. The next that he Cites, is Bullinger, who (it …ns) hath ſuch words as theſe in his houſe…k: 48 Sermon. Baptiſm hath no preſcribed …e by the Lord, and therefore it is left to the … choice of the Faithful.
I have not the book by me to examine the …th of this, but however I am certain there …othing in that paſſage againſt Infant-Baptiſm, …hat this teſtimony can do us no hurt; and we …w very well how large a book Bullinger hath …, Contra Anabaptiſtas, againſt the Anabaptiſts. …hat I wonder the Author ſhould bring him … The Reader may obſerve how zealous an …rtor of Infant-Baptiſme this Learned and …ly Divine was, by that one paſſage of his in … Compendium of the Chriſtian Religion. de …cto Baptiſmo, ac de Infan…s Baptizandis, lib. 8. pag. … viz. Quoniam autem Chriſtianorum liberi, in faedere Dei ſuni, & Chriſtus etiam Infantium ſalvator eſt; cum que ad ipſos pertineat ut, veteris ac novi Teſtamenti literae teſtentur-Baptiſmus (Faeperis figillum) iis negari non debet.That becauſe the …dren of Believers are in …nant with God, and … is their Saviour, and …romiſe alſo belongs to … (as both the Old and … Teſtament do wit… Baptiſme (which is the … of the Covenant) is not to be denyed them, … And after this, concludes, Hortor autem & …omnes pios ac verè Chriſtianos, ut ſtudioſe …ter que ſibi, a contentioſa & venenata Ana… arum ſectâ caveant, quae externa ſpecie qui… & Hypocriſi ſplendet, reverà autem paeſtilen… eſt haereſis, at que plurimas baereſes quibus o…te aliquot ſecula Eccleſia Chrſti turbata, & lacerata fuit, in ſe complectitur, illiſque plurimos homines inficit; I forbear to Engliſh it, out of reſpect to ſome which I believe are Godly, and yet oppoſite to the Baptiſme of believers Children.
Laſtly, The Author quotes a great deal out of Mr. Baxters Diſputations with Mr. Blake, about Right to the Sacraments; but we have before ſpoil'd his Market, by giving the Reader a Key out of the ſame Book, by which he may underſtand him. So that all thoſe Examples from John, the Samritans, the Eunuch, Paul, Lydia the Jaylor, Criſpus, &c. doth but mind us again of the Authors diſ-ingenuity in traducing that Worthy Divine.