Errors and adversaries unto this truth.

This declareth us to be sound Christians, and

in Epist. ad

Not Nazarenes, who were with the Jews circumcised, and D. Hieron. baptized with Christians, and so (as Hierom2 writeth of them) Aug. de were neither Jews nor Christians.

Hæres.

D. August.

Tertul. con

tra Marc.

Not Manicheans3, which baptize not any. Not false Christians, or Marcionites, which did baptize 1 Cor. xv. the living for the dead. Which Marcionites also denied baptism unto all married persons, and baptized none but persons single, Tertul. Ibid. virgins, widows, and women divorced from their husbands 5.

Lib. IV.

Luc. Hom.

Not Origenists, who maintain a baptism by fire; as also Origen. in that after the resurrection of our bodies we shall have need 14. of baptism.

fol. 1299.

Not of Matthew Hamant's opinion (that Norfolk heretic), Holinsh. Chr. which stood in it to the death, that baptism is not necessary in the church.

Not Anabaptists, which number baptism among things Bulling, conindifferent, and so to be used, or refused, at our discretion.

tra Anabapt. Lib. II. cap.4.

Not Familists, which say there is no true baptism but H. N. I. Exonly among themselves.

populis, et sibi consecrat ceu peculium.-Harm. Conf. Sect. XIII. p. 90. Conf. Helv. Post. cap. xx. ...Baptismum...quo in Dei ecclesiam recipimur, et a cunctis aliis gentibus, ac peregrinis omnibus religionibus segregamur.-Ibid. p. 96. Conf. Belg. Art. XXXIV. For the other references, see above, Art. xxv. Prop. 1.]

[2...inter Judæos hæresis est...quos vulgo Nazaræos nuncupant, qui credunt in Christum, filium Dei...in quem et nos credimus: sed dum volunt et Judæi esse et Christiani, nec Judæi sunt, nec Christiani.-Hieron. Opp. Paris. 1693-1706. Tom. IV. Pars II. col. 623. Epist. ad August. 74.]

[3 Quid eis prodest, Baptismum omnibus ætatibus necessarium confiteri; quod Manichæi dicunt in omni ætate superfluum: cum isti dicant esse in parvulis falsum, quantum ad remissionem attinet peccatorum?—August. Opp. Paris. 1836-8. Tom. x. col. 876. D. contr. Duas Epist. Pelagian. Lib. IV. cap. 4.]

[4 See above, p. 266, note 5.] [5 See above, p. 261, note 8, and p. 265, note 6.] [6 Ego puto, quod et post resurrectionem ex mortuis indigeamus sacramento eluente nos atque purgante: nemo enim absque sordibus resurgere poterit: nec ullam posse animam reperiri quæ universis statim vitiis careat.-Origen. Opp. Paris. 1740. Tom. III. p. 948. A. In Lucam Hom. 14.]

[7 Statuebant pædobaptismum, magistratum, jusjurandum, esse res liberas et medias, quibus fideles suo arbitrio uti, aut non uti possint.—Bulling. adv. Anabapt. Tiguri. 1560. p. 42. Lib. II. cap. 4.]

[ We confess that they all, which become not grounded in this same upright faith of Jesu Christ, nor become evenso baptized...in the name of the Father, under the obedience of the love of the Father and his law;...in the name of the Son, &c.... and in the name of the Holy Ghost, &c....are no true Christians: and that they also all that boast themselves to be Christians, without this same upright faith and baptism, are doubtless false Christians, Mat. 34. a. Luk. 21. a.-H. N. First Exhortation. Translated out of Base-Almayne, cap. vii. § 32.]

hort. cap. 7.

Not Papists, who both baptize bells and babels, as afore hath been shewed, Art. xxv. Prop. x., and also make the vow T. Aquinas, and profession of the monachal, or life of a monk, as good a Relig. p. 119. token of Christians as baptism1.

2,21. De Ingr.

Titus iii. 5.

See afore,
Art. xxv.
Prop. 11.

Proposition II.

Baptism is a sign, or seal of the regeneration, or new birth,
of Christians.

The proof from God's word.

Baptism of St Paul is called the washing of the new birth, of others the sacrament of the new birth, to signify how they which rightly (as all do not) receive the same2, are ingrafted into the body of Christ, as by a seal be assured from God that their sins be pardoned, and forgiven, and themselves Mark xvi. 16. adopted for the children of God, confirmed in the faith, and Acts ii. 41, 42. do increase in grace, by virtue of prayer unto God.

1 Cor. xii. 13. Acts ii. 38.

Titus iii. 5.

And this is the constant doctrine of all churches protestant and reformed3.

[The passage intended is probably this.... Hoc etiam ex multorum laudabili consuetudine approbatur: qui ab infidelitate quacunque ad fidem Christi conversi, statim habitum religionis assumunt. Quis autem erit tam improbus disputator, qui audeat eis consulere, ut potius in seculo remaneant, quam in religione perceptam baptismi gratiam studeant conservare? Quis sanæ mentis ab hoc proposito eum impediat ne Christum quem per sacramentum baptismi jam induit, perfecta imitatione induere mereatur ?-Tho. Aquin. Antv. 1612. fol. 106. b. Cont. Retrahen. ab Ingress. Relig. cap. 4.]

[ See above, p. 267.]

[3 Baptisma quidem ex institutione Domini est lavacrum regenerationis quam Dominus electis suis visibili signo per ecclesiæ ministerium...exhibet.- Harm. Conf. Sect. XIII. p. 91. Conf. Helv. Prior. Art. xxI. Etenim baptisari in nomine Christi est inscribi, initiari, et recipi in fœdus atque familiam, adeoque in hæreditatem filiorum Dei, imo jam nunc nuncupari nomine Dei, id est, appellari filium Dei, purgari item a sordibus peccatorum, et donari varia Dei gratia ad vitam novam et innocentem. Ibid. p. 89. Conf. Helv. Post. cap. xx. ...quod (sc. sacramentum baptismi) consistit in externa ablutione quæ fit aqua cum invocatione nominis sanctæ Trinitatis...fitque ea ablutio et ad significandam et contestandam spiritualem ablutionem, et internam mundationem Sancti Spiritus, ab hereditarii peccati morbo, cæterisque peccatis, quorum reatus hic remittitur et tollitur, et ad consequendum novum ortum nascendi seu regenerationem, unde sacramentum nominatur novi ortus, id est regenerationis, &c.—Ibid. pp. 92, 3. Conf. Bohem. cap. XII. ...Baptismus nobis testificandæ nostræ adoptioni datus, quoniam in eo inserimur Christi corpori, ut ejus sanguine abluti, simul etiam ipsius Spiritu ad vitæ sanctimoniam renovemur. Ibid. pp. 94, 5. Conf. Gall. Art. xxxv. Suos igitur omnes jussit Dominus in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti pura aqua baptisari, ut significaret sanguinem Christi per Spiritum Sanctum idem præstare et efficere interne in anima quod aqua externe operatur in corporibus. Sicuti enim aqua....sordes corporis abluit, sic et sanguis Christi animam abluens, a peccatis illam emundat;

The errors and adversaries unto this truth.

But no part of the true church thinketh, as did many old heretics, viz. that

The baptized of the orthodoxal ministers are to be rebap- Cyp. ad Jub. tized, as said the Novatians1.

Original sin is not pardoned in infants, as said the Fela- D. August. gians, because they have no such sin in them at all3.

de pec. mer. Lib. c. 20.

Only sins past, and not sins future, or not yet committed, Theod. Di

are by baptism cleansed; as the Messalians held.

as

mider. cap. de Bap.

Magd. Eccles.

Hist. Cent.

Being once baptized, we can no more be tempted; thought the Jovinians: which was the error also of the v. cap. 5, fol. Pelagians.

381.

Tract. contra

The baptism of water is now ceased, and the baptism of Gerson, voluntary blood by whipping is come in place thereof, without Flagel. which none can be saved; as the Flagelliferans published. nosque filios iræ in filios Dei regenerat.-Ibid. p. 96. Conf. Belg. Art. xxxiv. De baptismo docent, quod necessarius sit ad salutem tanquam ceremonia a Christo instituta. Et quod per baptismum offeratur gratia Dei...et quod infantes per baptismum Deo commendati recipiantur in gratiam Dei, et fiant filii Dei.-Ibid. p. 97. Conf. August. Art. 1x. Ego baptiso te: id est, ego testificor hac mersione te ablui peccatis, et recipi jam a vero Deo qui est Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui te per Filium Jesum Christum redemit, et sanctificat te Spiritu Sancto.-Ibid. p. 98. Conf. Saxon. Art. XIII. ...docemus eum qui baptisatur in nomine Patris, &c.... tingi spirituali chrismate, hoc est fieri membrum Christi per fidem, et donari Spiritu Sancto ut ad percipienda cœlestia, aures mentis ejus aperiantur, et oculi cordis illuminentur.-Ibid. p. 101. Conf. Virtemb. cap. x. De baptismate itaque confitemur, id quod passim scriptura de illo prædicat, eo sepeliri nos in mortem Christi, coagmentari in unum corpus, Christum induere: esse lavacrum regenerationis, peccata abluere, nos salvare.-Ibid. p. 104. Conf. Suev. cap. xvIII.]

[ Id enim agit illa disputatio contra cujus novitatem antiqua veritate nitendum est, ut infantes omnino superfluo baptizari videantur.-Cypr. Opp. Oxon. 1682. Epist. 73. p. 198. See above, p. 266, note 6.]

[5 Terrentur autem isti sententia Domini dicentis, Nisi quis natus fuerit denuo, non videbit regnum Dei. Quod cum exponeret, ait, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non intrabit in regnum cælorum. Et propterea conantur parvulis non baptizatis innocentiæ merito salutem ac vitam æternam tribuere; sed quia baptizati non sunt, eos a regno coelorum facere alienos, &c.-August. Opp. Par. 1836-8. Tom. x. col. 207. De Peccat. Mer. et Remiss. Lib. 1. cap. 20. § 26.]

[ Ξύρου γὰρ δίκην ἀφαιρεῖται (sc. τὸ βάπτισμα) τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὰ πρότερα, τὴν δὲ ῥίζαν οὐκ ἐκκόπτει τῆς ἁμαρτίας.—Theodoret. Opp. Lut. Par. 1642-84. Tom. IV. p. 242. D. Hær. Fab. Lib. IV. cap. 11.]

[ Non posse peccare hominem, aut a diabolo subverti, lavacro regenerationis plena fide accepto. Idem autem ascribitur Pelagio.-Magdeburg. Eccl. Hist. Basil. 1562, &c. Cent. iv. cap. 5. fol. 381.]

[ Constat autem per experientiam in multis, quod taliter se flagellantes non curant de sacramento confessionis, vel pœnitentiæ sacramentalis, dicentes, quod hæc flagellatio potior est ad delendum peccata, quam quæcunque confessio: immo eam æquiparant nonnulli vel præponunt martyrio, &c.-Gerson. Opp. Antv. 1706. Tom. 11. col. 660. D. Tract. contr. Sect. Flagell.]

Russia Com. weal, chap.

We also condemn the opinion

Of the Russes, that there is such necessity of baptism, as

23, p. 98, B. that all that die without the same are damned1.

Bannister's
Errors,
printed by
T. Man.

H. N. Evang.

c. 19. sect.

5, 6.

Althamer.
Concil. loc.

Also of the Bannisterians, which say, that the water at baptism is not holy in respect that it is applied to an holy use; and that the ordinary and common washings among the Turks and Jews, is the same to them that baptism is to us.

Likewise of the Family of Love3, which conceive basely of this sacrament, calling it in derision, "elementish water," and of no better validity, or virtue, than common water.

Also the Anabaptists, who ascribe no more unto baptism Pugnan. loc. than unto any other thing civilly discerning one man from another : and say, that the sacraments of the New Testament

131.

D. Thom, de sacr. Altaris.

Test. Rhem.
Ann. Gal. iii.

27.

are no instruments to raise or confirm faith.

And lastly, of the Papists who maintain, that
Baptism serveth to the putting away of original sin

only 5.

Baptism bringeth grace, even ex opere operatoo.

Proposition III.

Infants and young children, by the word of God, are to be

baptized.

The proof from God's word,

Although by express terms we be not commanded to baptize young children, yet we believe they are to be baptized, and that for these, among other reasons:

1. The grace of God is universal, and pertaineth unto

[' Russe Commonweal. Lond. 1591. chap. xxiii. p. 98. b.]

[2 This reference the editor has been unable to verify.]

[ H. N. Evang. Reg. p. 46. cap. xIx. § 5. See above, page 177, note 10.] [^ Nihil omnino tribuunt baptismo, nisi quod sit christianorum nota qua discernantur ab gentibus, more civili, sicut toga Romanos ab aliis gentibus discernebat: ac civilia militariaque signa inter cives militesque discernunt: aut velut cucullus monachos ab reliquo hominum genere separat, et discriminis symbolum est....Negant sacramenta novi testamenti instrumenta esse per quæ fides excitetur, erigatur et confirmetur.-Althamer. Concil. Loc. Norimb. 1535. Loc. cxci. p. 211.]

[5 There is apparently an error in the reference, but see Thom. Aquin. Script. Sec. in Quat. Lib. Sentent. Antv. 1612. In Lib. IV. Dist. IV. Art. 4. fol. 115. Sicut pœnitentia data est in remedium actualis, ita baptismus in remedium originalis: sed non potest aliquis salvari ab actuali mortali nisi per pœnitentiam; ergo nec ab originali nisi per baptismum.]

[ See above, p. 250, note 4.]

all; therefore the sign or seal of grace is universal, and belongeth unto all, so well young as old.

2. Baptism is unto us as circumcision was unto the Jews: but the infants of the Jews were circumcised; therefore the children of Christians are to be baptized.

3. Children belong unto the kingdom of heaven, and are Matt. xiii. 14. in the covenant; therefore the sign of the covenant is not to be denied them.

19.

4. Christ gave in commandment that all should be bap- Matt. xxviii. tized; therefore young children are not to be exempted.

5. Christ hath shed his blood as well for the washing away the sins of children, as of the elder sort; therefore it is very necessary that they should be partakers of the

sacrament thereof.

All christian churches allow of the baptism of infants".

Conf. Helv. I.

Art. XXI. &

II. cap. 20. Bohem. cap. 12. Gall. Art. xxxv. Belg. Art. xxxiv. August. Art. Ix. Saxon. Art. XIII. Wittemb. cap. 10. Suevica, cap. 17.

Adversaries unto this truth.

The premises declare, that

Reas. 14.

They slander us which say, that all Protestants deny the Hill's Quart. baptism of children to be necessary; and this is runagate Hill's report.

[7 Damnamus Anabaptistas qui negant baptisandos esse infantulos recens natos a fidelibus. Nam juxta doctrinam evangelicam horum est regnum Dei, et sunt in fœdere Dei, &c.-Harm. Conf. Sect. xIII. p. 90. Conf. Helv. Post. cap. xx. ...quo quidem sacro lavacro infantes nostros iccirco tingimus quoniam e nobis (qui populus Dei sumus) genitos, e populi Dei consortio rejicere nefas est, tantum non divina voce designatos: præsertim quum de eorum electione pie est præsuniendum. -Ibid. p. 91. Conf. Helv. Prior. Art. xxI. Etsi autem sacer baptismus in prima ecclesia maxima ex parte adultis...collatus fuit: docetur tamen hoc, etiam infantibus, qui et ipsi in numero populi Dei referuntur, hoc ministerio ad salutem similiter inserviri debere.-Ibid. p. 93. Conf. Bohem. cap. XII. ...quum una cum parentibus posteritatem etiam illorum in ecclesia Deus recenseat, affirmamus infantes sanctis parentibus natos, esse ex Christi auctoritate baptisandos.-Ibid. p. 95. Conf. Gall. Art. xxxv. Nos vero eos (sc. infantes) eadem ratione baptisandos et signo fœderis obsignandos esse credimus, qua olim in Israele parvuli circumcidebantur, nimirum propter easdem promissiones infantibus nostris factas.-Ibid. p. 97. Conf. Belg. Art. xxxiv. ...docent...quod infantes sint baptisandi.-Ibid. Conf. August. Art. 1x. Retinemus et infantium baptismum, quia certissimum est, promissionem gratiæ etiam ad infantes pertinere, et ad eos tantum qui ecclesiæ inseruntur.-Ibid. p. 99. Conf. Saxon. Art. XIII. Agnoscimus baptismum tam infantibus quam adultis in ecclesia, &c.-Ibid. p. 100. Conf. Virtemb. cap. x. Quum autem baptisma sit sacramentum fœderis quod Deus cum suis icit, pollicitus se illorum et seminis eorum Deum ac vindicem futurum...infantibus quoque illud conferendum nostri docent, &c.-Ibid. p. 104. Conf. Suev. cap. xvII.]

[ The Catholic affirmeth baptism of children to be necessary, the Protestant denieth it.-Hill's Quartron Reason, 14. p. 70.]