The Grounds and Ends of the Baptism of the Children of the Faithful, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Silveſter.YEs, this fifth Argument ſeemeth to me to have more in it: The Baptiſme of infants keepeth up the ſtate of Antichriſt, by granting him this ſo chief a corner ſtone of the Lords houſe to lye in his foundation. For that Church where baptiſme is the true Ordinance of God, in the adminiſtration thereof; it is by the rules of the Goſpel a true Church. So that if Antichriſts baptiſme which hee adminiſtreth, bee Gods ordinance, then that Church wherein he doth ſo adminiſter the ſame, muſt bee al…o the Church of God; and he muſt be in ſin who refuſeth communion with it.
Silvanus.Either the words of this argument are ill choſen to expreſſe your meaning; or elſe theſe words will give no ground at all againſt the baptiſme of infants. You ſay the Baptiſme of infants keepeth up the ſtate of Antichriſt, by granting him this ſo chief a corner ſtone of the Lords houſe to lye in his foundation.
But I pray you underſtand firſt, we never made baptiſme the corner ſtone of the Lords houſe, which is the peculiar prerogative of Chriſt himſelfe; Chriſt onelyonly is the corner ſtone.
Secondly, when we make (I meane acknowledge the Baptiſm of believers and of their ſeed, a true and precious ordinance of Chriſt, and one of the holy veſſels of his Church, wee doe not grant unto Antichriſt this authority, to lay this ſtone in his foundation; unleſſe himſelf were firſt inveſted, with a lawfull calling to baptize; and unleſſe thoſe whom he did baptize were believers, and the ſeed of believers. Our baptizing of believers and their ſeed, do not grant him leave to baptize idolaters and their ſeed.
If you ſay, but we take in ſuch to be members of our Church, who have been baptized in his Church (or at leaſt their fathers before them) and ſo take a ſtone out of the Temple of Babel, to lay in the foundation of Zion, contrary to the Word of the Lord, Jer. 51.26.
Anſw. This is another matter, but your words expreſſe no ſuch thing. Your words carry it, as if we granted him a chiefe corner ſtone of the Lords houſe to lye in his foundation; and not that he granteth us a ſtone out of his Babyloniſh Temple, to lye in the fóundation of the Lord houſe. But in very truth, neither doe we take a ſtone from him to lay in Gods houſe, by continuing the ſeale of the Covenant to believers and their ſeed, from Abrahams time to the Apoſtles time, and Baptiſme from the Apoſtles time till now. For the Baptiſme of believers and their ſeed is no more a ſtone that lyeth in the foundation of Antichriſt, then is the doctrine of the Father, Sonne, and holy Ghoſt, (three perſons and one God) into whoſe name wee and our children are baptized. Though the people of God would not take a ſtone of Babel for a corner, or for a foundation of Zion, (according to Jer. 51.26.) yet they did not refuſe to take thoſe veſſels out of Babel, and to reſtore them againe to the Lords Temple at Hieruſalem, Ezra 1.7, 8. with 6.5. Doe no… therefore tell us, that if Antichriſts Baptiſme which hee adminiſtreth, bee the ordinance of God, then that Church wherein hee doth ſo adminiſter the ſame muſt be alſo the Church of God, and they in ſinne that refuſe communion with it.
For you might as well ſay, that if the veſſels of the Temple, wherein the Babylonian Prieſts miniſtred to their idols, were indeed the holy veſſels of the Lord God of Iſrael, then that idols Temple is Babel, (in which they were uſed to Miniſtery) was the holy Temple of the Lord, and the people of Iſrael did ſin in comming out of Babel and refuſing communion with that Idols Temple.