pears from verse 2o, and Mark ix. 36. and that little children are reputed, by Chrift, believers in him: And fo here is a full anticipation of the common objection against the baptism of infants, and a justification of their claim to the feal of the righteousness of faith; as well as a strong declaration of the awful danger of offending these little ones, by denying them the covenant privileges, to which they have a righteous claim, p. 20, 21, 23, 27. But,

1. Though the little child, in verfe 24, which our Lord fet in the midst of his difciples, and took an occafion from thence to rebuke and instruct them, was in an infant-state, yet those our Lord here fpeaks of, were not little ones in age; for how capable foever they may be of having the principle or habit of faith implanted in them, they cannot be capable of exercising it, or of acting faith, which the phrase used expreffes; for if they are not capable of exercifing reason, though they have the principle of it in them, they cannot be capable of exercising faith; nor indeed of being offended in the sense the word is here used, and to fuch a degree, that the offenders of them had better have died a violent death, than to be guilty of fuch offence. But,

2. The difciples of Chrift are meant, his apoftles, who were contending among themselves who fhould be greatest in the kingdom of heaven; which ambition our Lord rebukes, by placing a little child in the midst of them, ver. 1, 2. faying to them, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye Shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; adding, that whoever humbled himfelf as the child before him, fhould be the greatest in it; and that fuch who received fuch humble difciples of his, received him; but those that offended them, would incur his refentment, and the greatest danger expreffed in the words under confideration, ver. 3-6. And these were fuch, not only who by faith looked to Chrift, and received him as their Saviour, and made a profession of him; but preached the doctrine of faith; who, having believed, therefore fpoke; and who may be faid to be offended, when their perfons were despised, their ministry rejected, and they reproached and perfecuted; and, when it would go ill with them that should treat them in this manner. These were fuch, who were little ones, in their own efteem, and in the esteem of others.

3. Admitting that infants in age could be meant, and these to have the principle and habit of faith in them, yet this would not justify their claim to baptism, which this writer means, by the feal of the righteousness of faith; though not baptifm, but circumcifion is defigned by that phrafe; fince actual faith, yea, a profeffion of it, is a neceffary pre-requifite to baptifm; If thou believeft with all thine heart, thou mayeft.

4. This

4. This writer feems confcious to himself, that faith in Chrift is neceffary to baptifm, and is that which juftifies a claim unto it; fince he seems glad to lay hold on this text, and the fenfe he puts upon it, in order to anticipate the objection to infant-baptifm taken from faith in Chrift, being a pre-requifite to it; which he knows not how otherwife to get rid of, than to fuppofe that infants have faith, and that this is a proof of it. But,

5. Suppofing this, either all infants have faith, or only fome: If all; how comes it to pafs, that there are so many, when grown up, that are manifeftly deftitute of it: Can. the grace be loft? Is it not an abiding one? Is not He, who is the Author, the Finisher of it? If only fome have it, how can it be known, who have it, and who not? Wherefore, to baptize upon this supposed faith, is to proceed on a very precarious foundation: It feems, therefore, much more eligible, to defer their baptifm, till it appears, that they do truly and actually believe in Chrift.

4thly, The next paffage of fcripture, produced in favour of infant-baptism, is 1 Cor. vii. 14. For the unbelieving husband is fanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is fanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. Upon which, our author thus reafons; "If either of the parents "be a believer, the children are reputed holy; that is, they have a covenant holiness, and have, therefore, a claim to covenant-privileges; they are holy, "by virtue of their covenant-relation to God, and muft, therefore, have a " right to have that covenant sealed to them in baptism, p. 21." But,

1. It ought to be told, what these covenant-privileges are, that children have a claim unto, by virtue of their covenant-relation, this writer fo often speaks of. If baptifm is one of them, as it feems to be his intention, that must be denied. to be a covenant-privilege, or a privilege of the covenant of grace; for then all the covenant ones in all ages, ought to have enjoyed it; whereas they have not:./ And we have seen already, that covenant intereft gives no right to any positive inftitution, or ordinance, without a divine direction; and that baptifm is no feal of the covenant.

2. It should be told, what this covenant is, whether it is a real or imaginary thing, it seems to be the latter, by our author's way of expreffing himself. He fays, children are reputed holy; that is, have a covenant-holiness: So that covenant-holiness is a reputed holiness; but fuch a holiness can never qualify perfons for a New Teftament ordinance; nor has the covenant of grace any fuch holiness belonging to it; that provides, by way of promife, for real holiness, fignified, by putting and writing the laws of God in the heart, by giving new hearts and new fpirits, and taking away the ftony heart, and by cleansing from all impurity; this is real, inward holiness, and fhews itself in an outward holy converfation:

converfation: Where this appears, fuch have an undoubted right to the ordinance of baptifm, fince they must have received the holy fpirit, as a fpirit of

fanctification".

3. A holiness, appertaining to the covenant of grace, can never be meant, fince it is fuch a holiness, as unbelievers, yea, as heathens are said to have; it is fuch a holiness, as unbelieving husbands, and unbelieving wives are faid to have, by virtue and in confequence of their relation to believing wives and believing husbands; and which they have prior to the holiness of their children; and on which their childrens holinefs depends. Now, farely, unbelievers and heathens, will not be allowed to be in covenant, or to be poffeffed of a covenant holiness, by virtue of their yoke-fellows; and yet, theirs, and their childrens holiness, must be of the fame kind and nature. Wherefore,

4. If children, by virtue of this holiness, have a claim to covenant-privileges, and to have the covenant fealed to them by baptifm; then, much more, their unbelieving parents, because they are fanctified before them, by their believ ing yoke-fellows, and they are as near to them, as their children; and if the holinefs of the one gives a right to baptifm, why not the holiness of the other? And yet, our Pædobaptifts do not pretend to baptize the unbelieving husband or wife, though fanctified, whofe holiness is the more near; but the children, that become holy through the fanctification of both, whofe holiness is the more remote. For, it should be obferved, that the holiness, fpoken of in the text, be it what it will, is derived, or denominated, from both parents, believing and unbelieving; yea, the holiness of the children depends upon the fanctification of the unbelieving parent; for if the unbeliever is not fanctified, the children are unclean, and not holy. Befides, the words are not neceffarily to be understood of infants, or young children, but of the pofterity of fuch perfons, whether of 40, or 50 years of age, or of what age foever; and must be unclean in the fenfe of the word, here ufed, if their unbelieving parent is not fanctified by, or to the believing one. But,

5. These words are to be understood of a matrimonial holinefs; not merely of the holiness of marriage, as it is an inftitution of God, but of the very act of marriage, which, in the language of the Jews, is frequently expreffed, by being fanctified. Innumerable inftances might be given of this; I have produced one in my expofition of this place, in which the word, vp Kadah, "to fanctify," is used no less than ten times, to efpoufe. And, for the fake of those who have it not, I fhall transcribe the paffage: And it is, as follows; "a man wp Me keddefb, "fanctifies," or efpoufes a wife by himfelf, or by his meffenger; a woman, wip Mithkaddefb," is fanctified," or efpoufed by herself, or by " her

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"her meffenger; a man, wp Mekaddefb, "fanctifies," or efpoufes his daugh"ter, when he is a young woman, by himself, or by his meffenger: If any one fays to a woman, wp Hitbkaddefbi, "be thou fanctified," or efpoufed to "me by this date (the fruit of the palm tree) ♫ Hithkaddefbi, "be thou "fanctified," or efpoufed by this (or any other thing :) If there is in any one "of these things the value of a farthing, nempo Mekuddefheth, "he is fancti"fied," or efpoufed; and if not, fhe is not upp Mekuddefbeth, "fanctified," "or efpoufed: If he fays, by this, and by this, and by this; if there is the va"lue of a farthing in them all, nempo Mekuddefheth, "fhe is fanctified," or wp espoused; but if not, fhe is not, wp Mekuddefheth, "fanctified," or espoused: If the eats one (date) after another, she is not, nmpo Mekudde. "Sheth, "fanctified," or espoused, unless one of them is the value of a farthing." In the Mifnab, the oral law of the Jews, there is a whole treatife of pump Kiddufbin," fanctifications," or espoufals; out of which the above paffage is taken: And in the Gemara is another, full of the difputes of the doctors on this subject: And Maimonides has alfo written a treatise of women and wives; out of which might be produced almost innumerable inftances, in proof of the obfervation; and fuch, as can read, and have leisure to read the said tracts, may fully fatisfy themselves in this matter. And in the fame fenfe, the apoftle uses the word anal here: And the paffage fhould be rendered thus; the unbelieving bufband is espoused, or married to the wife, or rather has been espoused; for it relates to the act of marriage past, as valid; and the unbelieving wife has been efpoused to the bufband. The prepofitions, tranflated by, fhould be rendered to, as it is in the very next verfe, God hath called us, ev egnyn, "to peace." The paffage is introduced, to support the advice the apoftle had given to believers married to unbelievers, not to depart from them, but live with them, who had had some scruple upon their minds, whether they ought to cohabit with them, being unbelievers; he advifes them, by all means, to dwell with them, unless the unbeliever departed, feeing they were duly, rightly, and legally efpoufed to each other; and, therefore, ought not, notwithstanding their different fentiments of religion, to feparate from one another; otherwife, if they were not truly married to one another, as fuch a departure and feparation would fuggeft, this confequence must neceffarily follow, that children, born in fuch a state of cohabitation, where the marriage is not valid, must be fpurious, and not legi-. timate which is the fenfe of the next claufe, elfe were your children unclean, but now are they holy; that is, they would have been accounted illegitimate, but now legitimate. And,

6. This fenfe of the words is not novel, nor fingular: It is agreeable to the minds of several interpreters, ancient and modern; as Jerom, Ambrofe, Erafmus, VOL. II. le

Camerarius,

Camerarius, Mufculus, and others: which laft writer, and who was a zealous Pædobaptift, makes this ingenuous confeffion; "formerly, fays he, I have

abufed this place against the Anabaptifts, thinking the meaning was, that "the children were holy for the parents faith; which, though true, the prefent place makes nothing for the purpose."

5thly, To all which, this writer adds the commiffion in Matthew xxviii. 19. Go, teach all nations, baptizing them, &c. Concerning which, he fays, that as the commiffion to the facred miniftry enjoined the baptizing of all nations, whereof infants are a very great part; it alfo enjoined the baptizing infants, as a part of the nations they were to disciple and baptize, p. 21. And, elsewhere, he fays, the words ought to be read, Go, difciple all nations, baptizing them;and should be understood, as requiring the minifters of the gospel to make all nations difciples by baptizing them,-whereby every one is conftituted a learner of Chrift: And to prove, that infants are called difciples, he refers to AЯs xv. 10. Why tempt ye God to put a yoke on the neck of the difciples, &c. and to all fuch fcriptures, that refpect the education of children, p. 24, 25. But,

. The commiffion does not enjoin the baptizing of all nations, but the baptizing of fuch as are taught; for the antecedent to the relative them cannot be all nations, fince ar9rn, the words for "all nations," are of the neuter gender; whereas Tas "them," is of the mafculine; but aduras, “difciples;” is fuppofed and contained in the word abrurar, "teach, or make difciples;" fuch as are first taught, or made difciples by teaching under the ministry of the word, by the Spirit of God, Chrift's orders are to baptize them.

2. If infants, as a part of all nations, were to be baptized, and because they are fuch; then the infants of Heathens, Turks and Jews, ought to be bap tized, for they are a part of all nations, as well as the children of christians, or believers.

3. We are very willing, the words fhould be rendered difciple all nations, or make all nations difciples; that is, difciples of Chrift, which is the fame, as believers in him; for they are the true difciples of Chrift, that have learned the way of life, and falvation by him; that deny themselves, finful, righteous, and civil felf, for his fake; who forfake all, take up the cross, and follow him; who bear, and bring forth much fruit, love one another, and continue in the doctrine of Chrift. And fuch, and fuch only, are the proper fubjects of baptism: fo, agreeable to this commiffion and the fenfe of it, Chrift firft made difciples, and then baptized them, or ordered them to be baptized.

4. These two acts, difcipling and baptizing, are not to be confounded together; they are two diftinct acts, and the one is previous to the other, and absolutely

Luke xiv. 27, 33. John xv. 8. and xiii. 35. and viii. 31.

neceffary

John iv. v, 2.