A Christian, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV. A clear Explication of. Mat. 28.19. with Mar. 16.15, 16. wherein their argument from the firſt inſtitution is opened and confuted.
LET us at length come to view that prime Text, Math. 28.19. on which theſe that are againſt Infant-baptiſm lay the moſt weight. As from the very firſt inſtitution of that Ordinance, Chriſt gives his Apoſtles there Commiſſion to teach and baptize; Go ye therefore, and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and holy Ghoſt. Hence (foreign) which they tranſlate, Diſciple all Nations, and then baptize them, they argue, None are to be baptized by Chriſts inſtitution, but theſe which are firſt taught, and ſo made Diſciples: But Infants are not capable to be taught, or to be made Diſciples. Ergo, They may not be baptized.
That I may ſhew the errors of this argument, and ſo fully clear up the point, the terms with their connexion both in the major and minor propoſition muſt be examined from the words of the Text, and that parallel place, Mar. 16.15, 16. which for methods ſake I ſhall hold forth in theſe following conſiderations.
1. For the word foreign, we ſhall not much ſtand on, whether it be tranſlated to make Diſciples, or as it is in our common verſion, Go teach all Nations; for it is ſometimes a verb tranſitive, to teach by writing, or viva voce, with a living voyce; and ſo it is to be taken here, ſaith learned Whitaker De Script. and moſt agreeable with Mar. 16.15. where he bids them Go preach the Goſpel to every Creature.
2. The ſtrength of the argument lies (if there be any ſtrength in it) on the abſolute ſuppoſed connexion between diſcipling and being baptized; therefore they ſay, None but theſe which are capable of teaching, are capable of Baptiſm; which is Fallacia à dicto ſecundum quid ad dictum ſimpliciter, a Fallacy to take that abſolutely which is meant only according to ſome reſpect. But to ſhew the idleneſs of the connexion;
1. You find preaching or teaching the Goſpel to be ſeparated as to the adminiſtration, and neceſſary and immediate connexion, by Paul himſelf, 1 Cor. 1.17. Chriſt ſent me not to baptize, but to preach the Goſpel; ſo he ſaith in the former verſes, He taught many, baptized few.
2. Compare this with Mar. 16.15, 16. which expounds this, you will find believing and being baptized as cloſe connected to ſalvation, as here Baptizing to Teach; He that believeth and is baptized, ſhall be ſaved. Now if any will ſtand on the order of words to prove an inſtitution, we may as well argue from Mark, as they from Mathew; None muſt be baptized but theſe which are taught; ſo none that believeth and is not baptized can be ſaved; and that Baptiſm is as neceſſary to ſalvation as believing; for in order of phraſe they are abſolutely joyned together: And what a ſtrange inference would that be to make Baptiſm equal with faith to ſalvation? and yet we have as much ground to argue from the one place ſo, as they from the other; without they will admit ſome other qualifying term to make it up.
3. The order of things is not always, or commonly ſo exactly expreſt in Scripture by the poſition of the words; for ſometimes one thing in the order of words is put before another, which in order of nature and conſideration is antecedent to it; as Mar. 1.15. Repentance is put before Faith. Rom. 10.9. Confeſſion with the mouth is put before believing with the heart, as to ſalvation; with abundance of other places of Scripture. Thus many things in the Evangeliſts are left out by one, ſupplied by another; and the ſame word directly uttered in one, inverted in another, eſpecially about the adminiſtration of the Lords Supper. For to avoyd tediouſneſs, conſult the places your ſelves. Mat. 26.26, 27. Mar. 14.22, 23. Luk. 22.20. 1 Cor. 11.25.
3. A third conſideration to open this Text in Matthew, is from comparing it once more with its parallel, Mar. 16.15. there it is, Go preach the Goſpel; here it is, Teach and baptize: Now hence it follows, that their teaching was by holding forth the Goſpel: As much as if he had ſaid, Open the Covenant, tell men the riches and fulneſs of grace: Now if they muſt teach the Goſpel, they muſt needs inſtruct them in the Covenant, which was to theſe that believed, and their ſeed. Now ſutable to this Commiſſion, Peter, when he comes to open the Goſpel to the Jews pricked in their hearts, preſently holds out the promiſe to them and their Children; Acts 2.38, 39. and by that to make them both Diſciples. So Gal. 3.13. The bleſſings of Abraham to come on the Gentiles, is one of the main parts of the Goſpel. Now if they teach men Goſpel, they muſt preach as Peter did when he had converted the Parent, The promiſe is to you and to your Children. Thus in Luk. 1.72. this is made one great end of Chriſts coming, to perform the mercy promiſed to our Fathers, and to remember his holy Covenant; ſo that preaching the Goſpel is preaching the Covenant. Now that Infants are in the Covenant as well as grown perſons, we have formerly proved.
4. This is no more then was required of Abraham at the time of Circumciſion, and yet his Infants were not excluded from the Ordinance. Gen. 17. Walk before me, and be perfect. Chap. 18.19. Abraham was to command his Children, and teach them to keep the ways of the Lord: and yet his Children were not to be kept from the ſign of the Covenant, until they were taught, and had walked before God in uprightneſs, as Abraham.
5. To come home to the word, in their own ſenſe, foreign ſignifies Make Diſciples; now Children are not capable of being made Diſciples, ſay they.
I anſwer, 1. Some have been made Diſciples before they were diſtinctly taught, as the twelve, whom Chriſt called, and they followed him, and became his Diſciples, and were real Diſciples, yet as ignorant as Infants, and were taught afterwards by degrees.
2. One is ſaid to be made a Diſciple even in vulgar phraſe, as well who is liſted in the School to be taught, as one that is teaching or already taught, though he hath not learnt a letter: Thus in all Schools it's a uſual phraſe at the firſt entrance of a Child, he is called a new Scholar, or a new Diſciple: Thus Infants being entred into Chriſts School, and given up to be taught in time, and by degrees, may be accounted Diſciples; it was ſo in the former inſtance, and it's no ſtrange expreſſion in civil Schools.
3. Infants are expreſly called Diſciples in the New Teſtament, as well as grown and taught men: Thus Acts 15.10. Circumciſion is called a yoke put on the neck of the Diſciples, that is, on Infants, who were the ſpecial Subjects of that Ordinance, and bore the burthen of it, and not properly the Parents; and yet the Parents had the deep ſenſe of it reflecting on themſelves and their little ones, and therefore he cals it a yoke that they nor their Fathers were able to bear; eſpecially becauſe it did bind them and their Children to keep the whole Law; there is no evaſion of this; if they ſay it was meant of the Fathers, and of the doctrine of Circumciſion, which did bind themſelves: yet they muſt grant the yoke was on their Children as to the act; and that if the doctrine was ſo burthenſome, much more the practice, which the poor Infants are under; and they are called indefinitely Diſciples, either by themſelves, or with their Parents; And the argument is thus: Thoſe were Diſciples on whom the yoke of circumciſion was laid; but on Infants was this yoke laid. Ergo Infants are Diſciples in the New Teſtament expreſſion. If you will make any diſtinction, it muſt be in the manner of laying on the yoke, viz. on the Parents doctrinally, on the Children actually: but there can be no reſtriction of the word, Diſciples, from theſe on whom that yoke was laid, as is expreſt in that Chapter. Conſider,
4. Let us come to the ſubjects to whom the Goſpel is to be preached; and they taught and baptized; it is in Mathew, foreign, all Nations; in Mark it is, Preach the Goſpel, foreign, to every Creature: Now that Infants ſhould be none of all the Nations, and excluded from being of this creation of God, who were included as ſpecial ſubjects when the Church was in but ſo ſmal a ſpot of the world, is from our narrow apprehenſions in the Goſpel-times of diſpenſation of grace.
And the argument our Divines bring from this place is ſtrong and moſt conſiderable: The Goſpel is to be preached to every Creature, all Nations muſt be diſcipled; but Infants are a part of this creation, are included in all Nations; therefore they muſt be made Diſciples alſo. Read the Text again, Mat. 28. Go teach all Nations (foreign) baptizing them (foreign) which muſt needs referre to (foreign) though the one be maſculine, the other the neuter; or elſe muſt relate to nothing, for it hath no Relative beſides to anſwer unto: This is very common in Scripture, and the ſame phraſes, as thoſe well know that underſtand the Greek in Rev. 2.26, 27. and Chap. 19.15. there is foreign with foreign, as Mr. Cobbet of N. E. well obſerves. Conſult Acts 15.17. and 26.17. Acts 21.25. Eph. 2.11. Maſculines joyned with (foreign) that ſignifies all Nations. Now are Infants none of the Nations, or none of the National creation which the Goſpel may reach? God forbid.
The words hold forth only the general commiſſion given to the Apoſtles after Chriſts death; which was an enlarging of their bounds, who were only formerly circumſcribed in Iudea, and charged not to go into the way of the Gentiles: but now the empale is broken down, they muſt preach the Goſpel to every creature, teach all Nations, and baptize them: but it doth not hold forth either the proper ſubjects of Baptiſm, or the form or manner of baptizing, which ſhould not be delivered (according to their own rule of inſtitutions) in general and indefinite terms, as, Every Creature, all Nations; and by tranſitive words, as, Preach the Goſpel to them, teach them. If this be the prime inſtitution of baptizing, from which place they exclude Infants, when Chriſt uſeth ſuch univerſal and comprehenſive expreſſions; we ſhall deſire but to deal with them on their ground, and the ſame Text will ſerve to prove our poſitions more demonſtratively then theirs: And this Text ſhews, that Chriſt gave commiſſion to the Apoſtles and Miniſters to preach and baptize; but in what order to do it, or what ſhould be required to the qualification of the ſubject as abſolutely neceſſary, is not at all diſcovered in this Scripture; they muſt look for another Text to exclude Infants beſides this, elſe give up their confidence.
Either this place is the full and exact rule of inſtitution of baptizing, or not; if they ſay it is, then it would deſcribe the perſons, and the manner, the matter and the form of baptizing, and that in the uſual phraſe with other Scriptures: but here is only a general commiſſion to two great acts, viz. to preach, teach and baptize; and we may ſay in the ſame place, that whoever are outwardly taught, or do but hear the Goſpel (though they walk never ſo contrary) muſt be baptized; for the commiſſion is, Teach and baptize, nothing of the parties entertainment of it is mentioned in this Mat. 28. nor of the qualification of the ſubject with any diſtinguiſhing character▪ If they ſay this doth not hold forth all the inſtitutions in every particular, as they muſt grant, then we may compare other Scriptures with this, to make out the full inſtitution, as theſe where Infants are mentioned with ſo much gracious conſideration, as hath been formerly expreſt.