Confirmation and Restoration Necessary Means, Proposition 4
Prop. 4. The Title-Condition of Infant Church-memberſhip and Priviledges, is not the ſame with the Title-Condition of the Church-memberſhip and Priviledges of the Adult; ſo that if this new Condition be not performed when men come to Age, their former Title ceaſeth, and there is no other that ariſeth in his ſtead.
1. WE are agreed I think, that our Title, See the Rubrick of the Common Prayer Book before Confirmation after cited.(which is Fundamentum Juris) is Gods Covenant, G. Caſſande… Conſult. de Confirm. Haejuſm… di ſa…e Inſtitutionem ſeu Catechiſmi explicationem in pueris fieri debeere, & Veteres praecipiunt, & Recenciores quoque ex utraque parte conſentiunt. Vide Auguſt. Serm. 116. in Ramis Palmarum, & Wallafridum de rebus Eccleſiaſt. cap. 26. & quae ſcripſit Ruardus Tappenus Lovan. Tom. 2. ad illud Calvi…i Inſtit. c. 17.Graunt, or Guift. As it is his Precept that conſtituteth our Duty, ſo it is his Promiſe or Deed of Gift which is our title to the Benefit.
2. And we are agreed I hope, that this Promiſe, or Grant from God is Conditional, For if Church-memberſhip and Priviledges he Abſolutly Given, then it is to All, or but to Some: Not to All; for then the Church, and the world are all one; and then it is not Eccleſia, caetus evocatus; and then Heathens and Infidels have right; which are things that no Chriſtian, I think will grant: If it be but Some that have Title, then there muſt be ſome Note to know them by: or elſe the ſome will be equal to All or to None. And if they be Marked out, then it muſt be by Name or by Deſcription: Not by Name; for we find the contrary. Scripture doth not Name all that have Title to Church Priviledges. If it be by Deſcription, it is either by meer Phyſical, or by Moral Qualifications that they are deſcribed: The former, none doth imagine, that I hear of. If they are Moral Qualifications, then either they are ſuch as are prerequiſite to our Right and Priviledges, or not: That they are prerequiſite all muſt confeſs that read the Promiſe, and all do confeſs that they are prerequiſite to all the following Priviledges: And if Prerequiſite, then either as Means or no Means. The later none can affirm, without going againſt ſo much light, as ordinary Chriſtians have ſtill ready at hand to confute them with: And if they are required as Means, then either as Cauſes or Conditions: And I think you will ſooner yield them to be Conditions then Cauſes, though either Conceſſion ſufficeth to the end that is before us.
But of this we need to ſay no more, both becauſe it is commonly confeſſed, and becauſe that the words of the Promiſes are ſo plaine, and undenyable, being uttered in Conditional terms.
Nor is this either inconſiſtent with, or any way unſuitable to an Abſolute Decree: For as a Threatning, ſo the Conditionality of a Promiſe, are Inſtruments admirably ſuited to the accompliſhment of an Abſolute Purpoſe or Decree. He that is fully Reſolved to ſave us, or to give us the Priviledges of his Church, will deal with us as men, in bringing us to the poſſeſſion of the intended benefits; and therefore will by Threats and Conditional promiſes excite us to a careful performance of the Condition: and that Grace which is reſolved to effect the very Condition in us, is alſo reſolved to make a Conditional Promiſe, yea and a Threatening the Inſtrument of effecting it.
3. Note, that the great Queſtion, whether all the Infants of true Believers are certainly Juſtified, or whether ſome of them have but lower Priviledges, is not here to be determined, but, in a fitter place: And therefore I determine not what Priviledges they are that will ceaſe, if our Infant Title ceaſe. But that according to the tenour of the Promiſe, the Continuance of them, with the Addition of the Priviledges proper to the Adult, are all laid upon a New Condition.
4. Note alſo, that when I call it another or different Condition, I mean not that it is different in the Nature of the Act, but in the Agent or Subject. It is the ſame kind of Faith which at firſt is required in the Parent, for the Childs behoof, and that afterward is required in our ſelves. But the Condition of the Infants Title is but this, that he be the Child of a Believer. Dedicated to God: But the Condition of the Title of perſons at Age is, that they be themſelves Believers, that have Dedicated themſelves to God. The Faith of the Parent, is the Condition of Infant Title; and the Faith of the perſon himſelf, is the Condition of the Title of one at Age.
That their own Faith is not the Condition of an Infants Title, I think I need not prove: For 1. They are uncapable of Believing without a Miracle: 2. If they were not (as ſome Lutherans fondly think). yet it's certain that we are uncapable of diſcerning by ſuch a ſign. I think no Miniſter that I know will judge what Infants do themſelves believe, that he may baptiſe them. 3. And I think no man that looks on the Command, or Promiſe, and the Perſon of an Infant, will judge that he is either Commanded then to believe, or that his Believing is made the Condition of his Infant Title.
But that a Perſonal Believing is the Condition of the Title of them at Age, is as farre paſt doubt: and it's proved thus.
Arg. 1. The Promiſe it ſelf doth expreſly require a Faith of our own, of all the Adult that will have part in the Priviledges: therefore it is a Faith of our Own that is the Condition of our Title, Mark 16 16. He that Believeth and is Baptized ſhall be ſaved, and he that Believeth not ſhall be damned, Act. 8. 36, 37. And the Eunuch ſaid, See here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip ſaid, If thou believeſt with all thy heart, thou maiſt, Act. 2. 38, 41. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jeſus Chriſt for the Remiſſion of ſinnes, &c.Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, Act. 10. 44, 47, 48. Act. 16. 14, 15. & 30. 32, 33. Rom. 10. 12, 13, 14.With many other Texts, do put this out of doubt.
Argument 2. We were engaged in our Infant baptiſmal Covenant to Believe and Repent, when we came to Age, as a means to our reception of the Benefits of the Covenant, proper to the Adult: therefore we muſt perform our Covenant, and uſe this means, if we will have the benefits.
Arg. 3. If another Condition were not of Neceſſity to the Aged, beſide the Condition that was neceſſary to them in Infancy, then Turks, Jews, and Heathens, ſhould have right to Church-memberſhip, and Priviledges of the Adult: But the Conſequent is notoriouſly falſe: therefore ſo is the Antecedent.
The Reaſon of the Conſequent is evident. Becauſe a man that hath believing Parents, may turn Turk (as is known in thouſands of Janizaries) or Jew, or Pagan: and therefore if it were enough, that he was the Child of a Believer, his Title to Church Priviledges would ſtill continue. And ſo among profeſſed Chriſtians, the Child of a Believer may turn Heretick, or notoriouſly prophane and ſcandalous, and yet have Title to Church Priviledges, if his firſt Title ſtill hold, and a perſonal Faith be not a neceſſary Condition of his Right. Adde to theſe the many Arguments tending to confirm the point in hand, which I have laid down on another occaſion in my D…ſputations of Right to Sacraments. But I think I need not ſpend more words to perſwade any Chriſtians, that our Parents Faith will not ſerve to give us Title to the Church Priviledges of the Adult, but we loſe our Right even to Church-memberſhip it ſelf, if when we come to Age, we adde not a perſonal Faith (or profeſſion at leaſt) of our own.
I only adde that this is a truth ſo farre paſt doubt, that even the Papiſts and the Greekshave put it into their Canons. For the former, you may find it in the Decrees, Part. 3. diſt. 3. pag. (mihi) 1241 cited out of Auguſtinin theſe words Parvulus qui baptizatur, fi…ad anne…s rationales veniens, non crediderit, nec ab illicitis abſtinuerit, nihil ei prodeſt, quod parvulus accepit. That is, An Infant that is baptized, if comming to years of diſcretion, he do not believe, nor abſtain from things unlawfull, that which he received in Infancy, doth profit him nothing.
And for the Greeks, that this is according to their mind, you may ſee in Zonaras in Comment. in Epiſt. Canon Can. 45. citedex Baſilii Mag. Epiſt. 2. ad Amphiloch.thus, Siquis acc…pto nomine Chriſtianiſmi, Chriſtum contumeliâ afficit, nulla eſt illi appellationis utilitas: that is; If any one having received the Name of Chriſtianity, ſhall repreach Chriſt, he hath no profit by the Name.On which Zonaras addeth Qui Chriſto credidit, & Chriſtianus appellatus eſt, cum ex Divinis praecept is vitam inſtituere oportet, ut hac ratione Deus per ipſum glorificetur, quemadmodum illis verbis praecipitur, ſic luceat Lux veſtra coram hominibus, &c. Siquis autem nominatur quidem Chriſtianus, De… vero praecepta tranſgreditur, contumeliam irregat Chriſto, cujus de nomine appellatur, nec quicquam ex eâ appellatione utilitatis trahit:That is, Seeing he believed in Chriſt, and is called a Chriſtian, ought to order his life by the Commandements of God that ſo God may be glorified by him; according to that [Let your light ſo ſhine before men, &c.] If any one that is called a Chriſtian, ſhall tranſgreſs Gods Commands, he brings a reproach on Chriſt, by whoſe name he is called; and he ſhall not receive the leaſt profit by that Title, or Name. This is ſomewhat higher then the point needs, that I bring it for.
And indeed, it were a ſtrange thing, if all other Infidels ſhould be ſhut out of the Priviledges of the Church, except only the treacherous Covenant-breaking Infidel; (for ſuch are all that being baptized in Infancy, prove no Chriſtians when they come to Age.) As if perſidiouſneſs would give him right.