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understood, not of infant-children, but of the adult pofterity of the Jews; fince the apostle fays, God hath fulfilled the fame to us their children; for furely the apostle Paul muft not be reckoned an infant-child.

Secondly, The ground on which the right of infants to baptifm is founded by this author is a falfe one; which is the covenant made with Abraham, that which gave his infant-children a right to circumcifion, and is faid to be the covenant of grace, the fame under which believers now are. This he looks upon to be the grand turning point, on which the iffue of the controversy very much depends; that it is the main ground on which the right of infants to baptifm is afferted; and he freely confeffes, that if this covenant is not the covenant of grace, the main ground of infants right to baptifin is taken away, and confequently, that the principal arguments in fupport of the doctrine are overturned, p. 18, 19. Now that this ground and foundation is a falfe and fandy one, and will not bear the weight of this fuperftructure laid upon it, will appear by obferving,

1. That the covenant of grace gives no right to any pofitive inftitution, either circumcifion or baptifm: not to circumcifion; the covenant of grace was in being, was made, manifested, and applied to many, from Adam to Abraham, both before and after the flood, who had no right to circumcifion, nor knowledge of it; the covenant of grace did not give to Abraham himself a right to circumcifion; he was openly interested in it, it was made, manifested, and applied unto him, many years before circumcifion was enjoined him; and when it was, it was not the covenant of grace, but the exprefs command of God, that gave him and his male feed a right to circumcifion; I fay his male feed, for his female feed, though no doubt many of them were interested in the covenant of grace, yet their covenant-intereft gave them no right unto it as there were also many, at the fame time that circumcifion was enjoined Abraham and his natural feed, who were interested in the covenant of grace, and yet had no right to circumcifion; as Shem, Arphaxad, Lot, and others: and on the other hand, it may easily be obferved, that there were many who had a right to circumcifion, and on whom it was practifed, who, without any breach of charity, it may be concluded, had no intereft in the covenant of grace; not to mention particular perfons, as Ifhmael, Efau, &c. many of the idolaters and rebels among the Ifraelites in the wilderness, of those that bowed the knee to Baal in the times of Abab, and of the worshippers of Jeroboam's calves; those that are called the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrab in the times of Isaiah, and that worshipped the queen and hoft of heaven in the times of Jeremiah; and those whose characters are given in the prophecy of Malachi, as then living;

with

with the Scribes and Pharifees, who committed the unpardonable fin in the times of Chrift; these cannot be thought to be in the covenant of grace. In fhort, all were not Ifrael that were of Ifrael, and circumcifed: it is therefore clear to a demonftration, that interest in the covenant of grace did not give right to circumcifion, but the special, particular, and exprefs command of God: nor does it give right to baptifm; it gave the Old Teftament-faints no right unto it, who were four thousand years without it, and yet in the covenant of grace; and fince baptifm is enjoined as an ordinance of the New Teftament, a perfon may be in the covenant of grace, and yet not known to be fo by himself or others; and while he is in such a state, and in fuch circumstances, he cannot be thought to have any right to baptifm. It is a command of God, that those that repent and believe, be baptized; the covenant of grace provides faith and repentance for those interested in it, and bestows them on them; whereby they are qualified for baptifm according to the divine command. But it is not the covenant of grace, nor thefe qualifications, that give the right to baptism; but the command of God to persons so qualified, to profess the same, and be baptized for men may have faith and repentance, yet if they do not make a profeffion of them, they have no right to baptism, nor a minister any authority to adminifter it to them. No doubt but the apoftle Peter was fatisfied that the three thoufand pricked in their hearts were truly penitents; yet infifted on the profeffion of their repentance, as antecedent to baptifm; and Philip, I make no question, was fatisfied of the Eunuch's being a believer in Chrift by the converfation he had with him; yet required a confeffion of his faith in him, in order to his baptifm; for with the mouth confeffion is to be made unto falvation. Nor even according to our author's fentiment does the covenant of grace give a right to baptifm; fince, according to him, perfons are not in covenant before they are baptized; for he exprefsly fays, p. 12, 30. that by baptifm they enter into the covenant, and are taken into the covenant by baptifm; and therefore baptifm rather gives them a right to the covenant, than the covenant a right to baptifm, according to this Gentleman: fo far is it from being true what he elfewere fays, p. 32. that the covenant of grace gave Abraham and his children a right to circumcifion under the law; and that this it is that gives parents and children a right to baptifm under the gospel.

2. The covenant of circumcifion, or the covenant which gave Abraham's infant-children a right to circumcifion, is not the covenant of grace; for the covenant of circumcifion must be moft certainly, in the nature of it, a covenant of works, and not of grace. It will be freely allowed, that the covenant of grace was at certain times made, and made manifeft, and applied to Abraham, and he interested in it; and that God was the God of him, and of his fpiritual VOL. II. feed;

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feed; and that the fpiritual feed of Abraham, both among Jews and Gentiles, are interested in the fame covenant; but not his carnal feed, nor theirs as fuch: and that Abrakam was juftified by faith, as believers now are; and that the fame gofpel was preached to him as now; and that at the fame time the covenant of circumcifion was given unto him, there was an exhibition of the covenant of grace unto him: the account of both is mixed together; but then the covenant of circumcifion, which was a covenant of peculiarity, and belonged only to him and his natural male feed, was quite a diftin&t thing from the covenant of grace, fince it included fome that were not in the covenant of grace, and excluded others that were in it: nor is that the covenant that was confirmed of God in Christ 430 years before the law was; fince the covenant of circumcifion falls 24 years. fhort of that date, and therefore it refers not to that, but to an exhibition of the covenant of grace to Abraham, about the time of his call out of Chaldea; befides the covenant of circumcifion is abolished, but the covenant of grace continues, and ever will; fee my reply, p. 35, 36. Now as this covenant, which gave Abraham's infant-children a right to circumcifion, is not the covenant of grace, the main ground on which the right of infants to baptifm is afferted, is taken away, and fo no foundation left for it; and confequently the principal arguments in fupport of the doctrine are overturned, as this Gentleman freely confeffes; and as every one should, who is in the fame way of thinking and reasoning. If the covenant of circumcifion is not the covenant of grace, here of right the controversy should be clofed, fince this is the turning point on which the iffue of it very much depends; for if this be falfe, all that follows as argued from it, must be so too; for,

Thirdly, If the covenant of circumcifion is not the covenant of grace, then circumcifion is not the feal of the covenant of grace it is faid to be, p. 22. If it was, the covenant of grace must be without fuch a feal near two thousand years, before the covenant of circumcifion was given; and why not then always without one? befides, it must be with a seal and without a feal at one and fame time, which is abfurd; for there were fome interested in the covenant of grace as before observed, on whom circumcifion was not enjoined, and fo without this feal, when it was enjoined on Abraham and his natural feed, and there were fuch afterwards; and circumcifion alfo must have been the feal of itself, which is another abfurdity. Circumcifion was a token and fign, or mark in the flesh, which Abraham's natural pofterity were to bear until the coming of the Meffiah; but is never called a feal throughout the whole Old Testament; and much less is it any where faid to be a feal of the covenant of grace: and indeed what blefsing of grace could it feal, affure of, and confirm, to any of Abraham's natural feed

▸ Romans iv. 11.

feed as fuch, or any other man's natural feed? It is indeed in the New Teftament called a feal of the righteousness of the faith which Abraham had, being yet uncircumcifed, but then it was no feal of that, nor of any thing else to others, but to Abraham only; namely, that that righteoufnefs which he had by faith before he was circumcifed, would come upon, or be imputed to the uncircumcifed Gentiles; and accordingly this mark continued in the flesh of his pofterity, until the gofpel, publishing juftification by the righteoufnefs of faith, was ordered to be preached to the Gentiles. Wherefore,

Fourthly, Seeing circumcifion was no feal of the covenant of grace, baptifm, which it is pretended was inftituted in the room of it, can be no feal of it neither, and to not to be administered as fuch to the children of profeffed believers, as is faid, p. 25. The text in Coloffians ii. 11. falls fhort of proving that baptifm is inftituted in the room of circumcifion; fince the apoftle is fpeaking, not of circumcifion in the flesh, but in the Spirit; and by which he means not the outward ordinance of baptifm, that is diftinguished from it, but an inward work of grace upon the heart; fpiritual circumcifion, called the circumcifion of Chrift; which to understand as the fame, is not to make an unreasonable tautology; it makes none at all, and much less nonfenfe, as this writer fuggefts; but beautifully completes the defcription the apoftle gives of fpiritual circumcifion; first, by the manner of its performance, without bands; then by the matter and substance of it, the putting off the body of the fins of the flesh; and lastly, by the author of it, Chrift, who by his fpirit produces it.

The argument from analogy is weak and infufficient; though fome little agreement between circumcifion and baptifm may be imagined, and feem to be in the fignification of them, yet the difference between them is notorious; they differ in their fubje&ts, ufes, manner of administration, and the adminiftrators of them; nor is it true, what is fuggefted, that they are both facraments of admiffion into the church; nor are they badges of relation to God or Chrift, nor figns and feals of the covenant of grace. Nor need we be under any concern. about any ordinance coming in the room of circumcifion, and anfwering to that Jewish rite. Nor is there any neceffity of any, no more than of a pope in the room of an high prieft, or of any feftivals to answer to thofe of the paffover, pentecoft, and feaft of tabernacles; nor does the Lord's fupper answer to the paffover, and come in the room of it; it is Chrift that anfwers to it, and is the paffover facrificed for us: but what makes it quite clear and plain, that baptifin does not fucceed circumcifion, or come in the room of it, is, that it was in force and ufe before circumcifion was abolished, which was not until the death of

b Rom. iv. 11. and the Reply, p. 43.

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Chrift;

See the divine Right of Infant-baptifm examined, &c. p. 56, &c.

■ Ver 12.

Chrift, whereas John administered baptifm, and Chrift himself was baptized, and many others, fome years before that time; and therefore baptifm cannot be faid, with any propriety, to fucceed circumcifion, when it was in force before the other was out of date: befides, if it did, it is no feal of the covenant of grace, nor to be adminiftered to infants for fuch an ufe; for what fpiritual bleffing, what bleffing of grace in the covenant, does baptifm feal, or can feal, affure of, and fecure unto the carnal feed of believers? Let it be named if it can ©.

Fifthly, It is not indifputably evident, as this Gentleman fays, p. 29. but indifputably falfe, that the apoftles acknowledged and allowed the covenantrelation and intereft of children, under the gospel, as well as under the law; by which I take it for granted he means, their relation and intereft in the covenant of grace: that relation and interest, the natural feed of Abraham, as fuch, had not under the law; nor have the natural feed of believers, as such, the fame under the gospel. This is not to be proved from his text, as has been fhewn already nor from Romans xi. 16, 17. where by the root and branches, are not meant Abraham and his pofterity, or natural feed; nor by the olivetree the Jewish church; but the gofpel church-ftate in its first foundation, out of which were left the Jews that believed not in Chrift, meant by the branches broken off; and which church was conftituted of thofe that believed in him; and these were the root and firft-fruits, which being boly, are the pledge and earnest of the future converfion and holiness of that people the apostle is fpeaking of in the context; and into which church-ftate the Gentiles that believed were received, and are the branches grafted in, which partook of the root and fatness of the olive-tree; that is, of the goodness and fatnefs of the house of God, the ordinances and privileges of it: and in this paffage not a word is faid of the covenant-relation, and interest of children under the gofpel; not a fyllable about baptifm, much less of Infant-baptifm; nor can any thing in favour of it be inferred from it; nor can any thing of this kind be proved from Corinthians vii. 14. real internal holiness is rejected by our author, as the sense of this and the preceding paffage; but he pleads for a federal holinefs; but what that is, as diftinct from real holinefs, let it be faid if it can: the only holiness which the covenant of grace promises and provides for, and which only is proper federal holinefs, is real holiness of heart and life : no other than matrimonial holinefs, or lawful marriage, can be meant in the Corinthian text; it is fuch a holinefs with which the unbelieving parent is fanctified, husband or wife; and if it is a federal holiness, the unbeliever ought to be allowed to be in covenant; and if this gives a right to baptifm, ought to be. baptized,

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