A Christian, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Their great Plea from Mat. 3.8, 9. concerning John the Baptiſts Speech to the Phariſees and Sadduces, made vain, and that Text cleared from miſtakes.
THAT we may ſtill take off the main Objections, let us view that place ſo much ſtood on, Mat. 3.7, 8, 9. When John ſaw many of the Phariſees and Sadduces come to his Baptiſm, he ſaith, O generation of Vipers, who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come? bring forth fruits meet for repentance: And think not to ſay within your ſelves we have Abraham to our Father; for I ſay that God is able of theſe ſtones to raiſe up Children to Abraham. From this Text they gather, that the pretence of being Abrahams Children could not give them a right to Baptiſm; and if John denied Abrahams natural ſeed on that account, much more would he the adopted Children.
That this is no ſuch ominous place againſt Infant-Baptiſm, Conſider,
1. Who they were he ſpeaks unto, the Phariſees and Sadduces, men at age, and degenerated from Abrahams faith, perſons that lived on their own works and righteouſneſs; therefore he cals them foreign, A generation of Vipers; which was not as they were Abrahams Children, but as they had not walked in Abrahams ſteps, but were quite degenerated: Thus he did not refuſe them becauſe Abraham was their Father, or upon that account that Abrahams ſeed had not right to the promiſe; but as only pretending Abraham to be their Father, when they walkt contrary to the principles of Abrahams faith.
2. This is the ſame now as to grown viſible Profeſſors, who have related their faith to the Church, and ſo are baptized upon that account of faith and repentance; yet if afterwards they grow carnal and apoſtate, and if ſuch ſhould come to receive the Lords Supper, and challenge it becauſe they are baptized, we might ſay the ſame as Iohn to the Phariſees and Sadduces; Do not think to ſay that you are baptized, or that you have had godly Parents; for you are a generation of Vipers, you have cut off your own right by contrary actings in your own perſons; and yet it doth nothing at all impeach the truth of this poſition, That Believers and their Infants are in Covenant, and ought to be judged ſo until they manifeſt the contrary; or that if they believed themſelves afterwards, the promiſe ſhould not be unto them and their Children: And that Text holds not no more then this, That when perſons are grown up to years, and come to underſtanding, they muſt then ſtand on their right, and look to make out perſonal qualifications for new Ordinances.
3. This was at the firſt inſtitution of the Ordinance, when Baptiſm was newly adminiſtred: Now new inſtitutions (as before) require grown perſons, and actual viſible believers to be the firſt ſubject of them; they could not baptize their Children firſt; for then the Parents would be neglected; and the bringing in of a new Ordinance requires renewing of ſpecial acts in theſe which partake firſt of it; as if an old Leaſe which is made in the name of a man and his Children, be at ſuch a ſeaſon to be renewed upon ſome certain terms, the man himſelf muſt come, and acknowledge his owning theſe terms, and then it is to him and his, as before: So now in the New Teſtament God renews the Covenant of Abraham, adds a new initiating ſeal to it; it was before entail'd in ſuch a line, which is cut off; it's now of the ſame nature, only every one muſt come in his own perſon firſt, as Abraham, and enter his own name, and then the promiſe is to him and his ſeed: Thus it was in the former place, where when the Jews came to be baptized, they were exhorted firſt to repent and be baptized themſelves; then the promiſe is to you and your Children: So that this we affirm,
1. That no man muſt be baptized, or receive an Ordinance by any fleſhly prerogative; but where there is an entail of a promiſe, there is a ſpiritual ground of adminiſtration.
2. That no perſon grown up to years of underſtanding, hath right to a ſealing Ordinance, but upon his own perſonal qualifications.
3. That perſons may have preſent capacities, and viſible right to Ordinances, and yet afterwards cut off themſelves, and be found incapable, as Iſhmael; and here the Phariſees and Sadduces.
4. That the exception of ſome perſons, upon the account of their degeneration, and perſonal defects, doth not hinder but the old priviledges of the promiſe may be conveyed to theſe which do really embrace the Goſpel, and to their ſeed; all theſe are undeniable in themſelves: And this Text reacheth no further then to the excluſion of theſe which had demonſtrated themſelves to be only the Children of the fleſh, and not of the promiſe alſo; which is a demonſtration only à poſteriori, from their after actings; and teacheth us that theſe that boaſt in outward priviledges, without looking after perſonal qualifications, and holy frames within, may be as well judged carnal, as Heathens and prophane perſons.