Answer to a Popish Pamphlet Called the Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel, Part 2 · Subpart 37 – Subpart 38
37 THat Children may be ſaved by their parents faith, without the ſacrament of baptiſme.
VVHichWhich he ſayeth is contrarie to Iohn 3. 9. Except a man be borne againe of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdome of God. To which I anſwer 1. As their owne Ferus expoundeth, by this water, Baptiſmall water is not to be underſtood, but metaphoricallie the purging vertue of the ſpirit of Regeneration (ſayeth he) Therfore alſo ſayeth Lombard (lib. 4. d. 4.) God hath not tyed his power to ſacraments, ſo that the want doth not damnifie, but the contempt for, that ſome hauehave gotten inviſible ſanctification, without the viſible ſacrament (ſaith he) & ſo alſo ſpeaketh Bellar. (lib. 4 de Chriſto, cap. 16. §. ad locum) and other Romaniſts with him. Wherefore their owne Caſſander concludeth, (conſult. art 9.) ſaying. That it is agreable to the judgement of the primitive Church, and to the holy ſcriptures (as Bonaventure on the 4. of the ſentences, & Lōbard diſt. 4. c. 2. ſhows) that Infants dying without baptiſme may be ſaved, for if they cannot get baptiſme, being prevented by death, as the faith of the Church and of theſe who offer them unto baptiſme, is reputed as their owne (ſayeth he) ſo the will and deſire of the Church, and ſpeciallie of the parents to hauehave them baptiſed, is accepted for baptiſme, by that mercifull Father who accepts the will for the deed, and tyeth none (ſayth he) to what is impoſsible, nor his own grace ſimplie to the externall ſacrament. As Bellarmin alſo affirmeth, (lib. 4. de Chriſto cap. ult §. ad locum) and who alſo confeſſeth (lib. 1. de baptiſ. cap. 4. §. 5.) That ſindrie famous divines of the Roman Church, as Cajetan, and Biel, & others thoght it diſagreable altogether from the merciemercy of God that infants ſhould periſh without their own fault.
The ſecond place is Tit. 3. 5. wher it is ſaid, That according to the merciemercy of God wee ar ſaved, by the waſhing of regeneration, and renewing of the holie Ghoſt. To which I anſwere, That this place ſpeaketh onlie of the work of Regeneration or renovation, as abſolutlie neceſſarie to ſalvation, which ſomtimes is compared to waſhing by water, as Ezek. 36. 25. and ſomtimes, to purging by fire, as Math. 3. 11. And which without baptiſmall waſhing the theefe on the Croſſe found available to ſalvation, (as this text ſpeaketh) according to the free merciemercy of God.
The third place is, Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptiſed ſhall be ſaved, but he that believeth not ſhall be damned▪ To which place Bernard worthilie anſwereth, epiſt. 77. ſaying, Mark, when Chriſt ſaid, he that believeth and is baptiſed ſhall be ſaved, warilie and well, be ſayeth not, but hee that is not baptiſed ſhall be damned, but only he that believeth not ſhall be damned. Therefore ſayeth their Carthuſian on Iohn 3. 5. It is to bee underſtood, that Baptiſme is neceſſarie if o…caſion ſerue to receive the ſacrament of Baptiſme, otherwiſe the baptiſme of the spirit ſufficeth, elſe the believing Theefe on the Croſſe had beene excluded out of Paradiſe.
The fourth place is, Gen. 17. 4. The uncircumciſed child ſhal be cut off from his people, but Circumſion was no more neceſſarie to the Iſralits (ſayeth he) than baptiſme is to Chriſtians. To whom I anſwer, That it is the contempt of that Sacrament that is meant, and not the want therof, if occaſion ſerved not to receive the ſame, as Lombard and Carthuſian forecited ſhoweth, for many children amongſt the Iſra…lits dyed in the womb, ſome in the birth, and others after, before the eight day, aſwell as the children of Chriſtians do, and it were a cruell doctrine to ſay that all ſuch were damned, as alſo during fourty years in the wildernes there was no circumciſion uſed, and yet wee muſt not yeeld, that therefore all infants who died then without it, were damned and cut off from their people.
As for Fathers he citeth only Auguſtin, Pope Leo, Ireneus, & Cypriā, but ſetteth not down their words. But he may remember (as Maldonat witneſſeth on Iohn 6. 53.) that Auguſtin and Pope Innocent 1. were as much for the neceſſity of infants receiving the Euchariſt, which opinion (ſayth he) generallie continued in the Church 600. years.
38 THat the ſacrament of confirmation is not neceſſarie, nor to be uſed.
VVHichWhich he ſayeth is contrarie to Act. 8. 14. wher it is ſaid, That Peter & John having laid hands on them that were baptiſed, they received the Holie Ghoſt. To which I anſwere 1. Wee deny that confirmation is a ſacrament at all, ſeing that the Councell of Trent ſeſſ. 7. can. 1. affirmeth That all the Sacraments of the new Teſtament were instituted by Chriſt, & that the Romaniſts themſelves, as Alenſis, Bonaventure and Marſilius affirme, that confirmation was not inſtituted by Chriſt, as Bellarmin teſtifieth, lib. de ſacramentis in genere, c. 23. 2. Suarez and Bellar. likewiſe granteth that the impoſition of hands Act. 8. was not ſacramentall. (Suarez diſp. 33. ſect. 3. and Bellarmin lib. 2. de confirm. cap. 9.) 3. Neither will Romaniſts themſelves ſay that everie one that is confirmed by popiſh confirmation receiveth the Holie Ghoſt (eſpeciallie the miraculous gifts thereof, which are here meaned) nor that their confirmation produceth any ſuch effect, as the laying on of the Apoſtles hands did on them that were baptiſed. Beſide that there is neither the matter (as anointing with Chriſme, nor form as ſigning with the Croſſe, which in popiſh confirmation is uſed.
Neither doth that place Heb. 6. 1. prove any further than that of Act. 8. 14. which ſpeaketh of Baptiſme and the laying on of hands. And as for Cyprians teſtimonie it ſpeaks onlie of two ſacraments, but mentioneth not that popiſh confirmation was one of theſe two, and giving that it were, yet Bellarmin lib. 2. de effectu ſacram. cap. 24. and Caſſander conſult. art. 13. confeſſeth that both in ſcripture, & other Authours, the name of ſacrament is given to many things, which by conſent of all are not ſacraments properlie and indeed.