OCR Text |
Show 86 2.Command. whofe children have right to Baptifme. Chap.4. way the Fat herr rig!Jt from the Covenant. and Communion of the Church, he taketh away the Childre111 rrght al~o. The per~ona~~ IInne of the parent is not in this cafe a meer_rr1va~e or per on a finne, but the Iinne of a pub lick perfon ofhts family. For as the profeffion of his faith at his receiving into the <:;-hurch ~as a~ the profeffion of a publick pcrfon, for mciving bzm ~nd hts chzldrm (who could make no profeffion,butby his mouth)<~ta the Church: So his violation of his profeffion by a fcandalous cnme, was as a publiclz__violation thereof, for himfelfe and his feed , who Jland and faY before the Church in his name and perfon. ObjeEJ. It is yet further objected, Wee mull: alwayes put a diffe, renee between perfons Excommunicate,which doe not make fcparation from the Church, (though they be grievous offenders) and open Apoftatet (which joyne themfclves with the enemies of the Church, to the mine and overthrow of the Gofpel,) and between 'Ittrk.u and Infidels, that are forth of the Covenant, and never be-longed to Chrifl:. · Anfw. Wee willingly put a difference between the Excommunicate perfons and Apofl:ates, and T urkcs ; to wit, in fitch things wherein they differ. Excommunicate perfons are neerer to helpc: and meanes of converfion then T urkes; For Excommunication it fclfc is a mcansoffalvation, I Col". 5· s-and Tmkesarenearer then Apofl:atcs; For better it were never to bave kz!owne the way ofrighteoufnejfe, thm after tbey htroe kz!ownc it, to tunzc away from the ho!JCom· ma,dcmmt given unto them, 2 Pet. 2. 21. But yet in this they all a· gree, they are all of them as Heathens, Mat. IS. I7· And therefore neither the Parents to be admitted to the Lords Table, nor their children to Baptiline. ObjeFJ. Moreover, it is fl:ill further objected in behalfe oflnf. uJtS, If the merry ofGnd enlarge it felfe to thonfandJ ,why !hould men q:tefl:ion whether fuch Infants belong to the Covenant, and Co kecpc them from the Sacrament ofBaptifine,which is due to them by the right of their Ancefrors? ·Anfw. 1. lfthe cxtwficnofGodJmercy tn thou{andJ, be a fuflicient ground to extend Baptifme to the children of Excommunicate pcrfom, in the right of their Ancefl:ors; it may fitffice as well to extend it to the children of'Inrk!, and InfideiJ, and Apoftaw, ~nd fo the difference of the one from the o~her (urged in the lafi Arf}l-mcnt) Sect. 6. whofe Children have right to B aptife. mcnt) will be taken '"' · · b fi Ni. h Ch' away. r or Jt IS not a ove 66. Generations rodm h oa h to ":n11a e J•s P1 a ·m e ! n t h e Genealogie, L•k:3·23.tO 3 8 a.n t ere ave not palfed as many more generations from Chrijl; orne to the 'Ittrk.!: and Infidels of this prefent age.And then if <Jods mer"! to a thoufand Generations may fetch in the Chlldren ofExcommum< ate f<rfonJ, the f.1me promilC may fetch in all 'Iurfv and Infidels at this day; wee dare not therefore improve the large extenf: on of Go~s mercy fo farre as to give a thoufand Generations ·n ght and uht! eM to" the Covenant of God with his Church d ·a f , an to mcourage t e lUiners o the Gofpel to fet the fealcs of the Co-venant thereunto. T~e true meaning of the promife wee take to be, That God out of hts abundant g.race and rich mercy> may and doth extend thoughts of 1:edeemmg and cun:verting grace and mercy unto thou{ and ~en~ratlons} But he never allowed his Church any warrant torewve mto thelf CllVenant, 6111d Commtmio1l the Childmz off!.od!J par~nu, who lived a t houfand ;•care agoe, much Idle a thoufand Gmera: wm. Nay rather the Text is plaine, that the holineffcofthe children,dependeth upon tbe faith of the next immediate parents, (or~f one of them at!e~fl:) 1 Cor.7. I4. to wit, fi1ch faith as denonunateth them ~brijlran-beleev~rf, in oppofition to Pagan Infidels: and that holmefli: of the children to fuch parents is called Federa/J, which rcceiveth them into the Covenant, a~d to the feales ofit. Obj~. Lafl:ly, !tis objected, that children borne in fornication, have nght to Bapufme,and why not then the children of Excommunicate parents? The wickednefli: of parents ought not to prejndicethechildren in things that pertainetotheir falvation. A~fw. The wickednelfe of the Parent doth not prejudice the E!ellzon,or Redtmptieft, or the faith of the chi/de: Jephta,a bafl:ard, !s yet reckoned up in the Catalogue of Beleevm, Hcb.I I. 32. But yet In the old T efl:ament, a Baflard waJ not admitted to com< into the Co1lgregation oft he Lvrd,to hu tenth Generation,Deut.23.2. and that could not but prejndice all the bafe-borne children of Ifrael, and that in the things which pertaine to "their falvation. And though God !heweth greater grace to them in the dayes of the Gofpel, yet gre~ter grace cannot (by proportion of any rules of the Gofpel) be expected for them from the Church, then this, that notwith-ftanding |