Jews and Gentiles, such as first have been taught, and by teaching have been made my disciples; so Mar. 16. 16. Go ye into all the world, saith the Lord, and preach the Gospel to every creature, to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved, &c. So that if the question here again should be propounded who among the religious and strict Jews, and the loose and profane Gentiles, should be baptised, the answer is plain, those to whom the Gospel first hath been preached, and they through that Gospel have also believed.

2. By the practice of the Commissioners who were faithful unto their Lord, and to the charge which he gave them, and the argument stands thus.

Such as the faithful Apostles, and first Commissioners of Christ Jesus the Lord administred this ordinance of baptism unto, such and such only ought to be made partakers thereof. But the Apostles and first Commissioners of Christ administred not this ordinance unto carnal babes, infants of daies, such as are by the testimony of the Scriptures declared to be conceived in sin, to be brought forth in iniquity, and being born of the flesh to be but flesh, and so by nature the Children of wrath one as well as another; being also untaught. But to such as first were taught, and were ordained, by the immortal seed of the word, to be born again, and as new born babes in Christ, having tasted of the sincere milk of the word, desire still more of the same, that they might grow up thereby, and such as appeared to be converted and to become as little ones, such little ones as believed in Jesus.

The first proposition I suppose none that own Christ and his Apostles will dare to deny. And the second which is more questionable will also be proved. See Acts 2. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, &c. Although Peter with the 11 calls upon the convicted Jews to repent, and to be baptized every one in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and tells them that then they shall be made partakers of the holy Spirit; and that they should not need to distrust it; he shews them the largeness of the promise that was made concerning the pouring forth of the Spirit, it being promised to be poured forth upon all flesh, as they had exprest in the beginning of their discourse out of Joel v. 16. and

17. and therefore saith, tis to you and to your Children, and to all that are afar off, even as many (of you, your children and such as are a far off) as the Lord our God shall call; yet he baptizeth none, but such as were called by the holding forth the word of salvation by Jesus Christ, as appears in the words, for they that gladly received his word were baptized; and they only; for they that were baptized were added, and continued together in the Apostles Doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer, and continued dayly with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God: all which cannot be understood of infants of daies. And therefore this place if rightly considered will be so far from affording a ground for the baptizing of the children of believing parents, because here it is said the promise is to you and to your children, that it will sufficiently evince the contrary; for indeed such an apprehension is accompanyed with 2 or 3 evident mistakes, there is a mistake in the promise, in the parties to whom the promise belongs, and the manner how it is to them and their children, &c.

1. There is a mistake of the promise, in that it is looked at as the covenant of Grace which doth ingratiate the soul into, and gives it an interest in all the privileges of the Gospel of Christ, and so in order doth go before baptism or any other visible ordinance and appointment of his, whereas in very truth by promise there, is meant that holy Spirit of promise which they which believed in Christ, and obeyed him, should according to promise receive after he was ascended unto the right hand of the father, as appears Joh. 7. 39. 14. 16. 16. 7. That which he had here shed abroad in a powerfull manner upon the Apostles, and that which these Jews also in believing and obeying the Gospel of Christ should also receive, and therefore saith Peter, repent, and be baptized and ye shall receive, &c. and was no other than that which was of old prophecyed of by Ioel, as is declared v. 16. and so is a promise that follows faith and obedience, and not such as goes before to give right to this appointment of Christ.

2. There is a mistake in the parties to whom this

promise belongs, for whereas it is said to you and to your children, and thereupon it is conceived to be meant believers, and their infants of daies, which upon that accompt are to be baptized, it is plain and evident when the Apostle spoke these words to them, they could not be looked upon as believers, forasmuch as they being prick'd at the heart, and only convinced of their evill in murdering the Lord of life, propounded what they should do to be saved, which is farre from believing, to which the Apostle replies, repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sinnes; and to conceive that by their children were meant infants of daies, it may be as well so understood by your Sonnes and daughters, which should so receive of the promise of the Spirit as to prophecy mentioned in the seventeenth verse of this chapter, to which these words are related; and to make it appear that the promise was not so either to them or their children (as yet manifested) to give them right unto baptism, after many more words used by the Apostle to perswade them to save themselves from this adulterous generation, it is said, but as many as gladly received his word were baptized, and but only such, and not their infants of daies, for they that were baptized continued together in such appointments of Christ as infants are in no measure capable of.

3. There is a mistake in the manner how this promise is to them, & their children, not spoken to them now as believers, & their children as having right and interest peculiar by them, but indeed to them, and their children no otherwise than to all that are a far off, which if taken in the generall cannot be understood but with respect to the generall promise, which is to pour forth his Spirit upon all flesh, but if with the restriction, which is, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, then, parents and children, Jews and Gentiles, such as are neer, and as are a far off, must be called by the word of his grace before they can have a peculiar right and interest in this spirit of promise, and so a child that is called to believe and obey the Gospel may have this promise made good unto him before his father, and a Gentile that is a far off before a Jew that is neer.

This will appear also by other instances, as of Philip

baptizing in Samaria, they were men and women that he baptised there, such as believed and received the word with great joy, Acts 8. 8. 12. and when the Eunuch seeing the water, asked what should let him to be baptised, Philip intimates that although he had been taught, yet the want of a manifestation of faith would be a let, v. 36, 37. And whereas there is mention made of whole houses that were baptised; that the Commissioners might appear faithfull unto their Lord, and keep close to the very words of their Commission, you shall find they were first taught, and by teaching were made his disciples, and gladly received his word. See it in Cornelius houshold Acts 10. 33, 34. compared with the 44. 47. the Taylors houshold Acts 16. 32. 34. they spake unto him the word of God, and unto all that were in his house, and he set meat before them, and rejoyced, believing in God with all his house; see it also in Crispus houshold, Acts 18. 8, 9, 10, 11. Stephanus houshold 1 Cor. 1. 16, 17. compared with chap. 16, v. 15. And as for Lydias houshold Acts. 16. the Spirit of God being more silent therein, they that cannot interpret it by the other four, nor yet by the Commission it self, nor by the Commissioners faithful observance thereof in all other instances, let them prove if they can these three particulars. 1. That Lydia ever had a husband. 2. In case she had, that ever she had any children by him, and if so, then in the 3. place that they were not dead, or so grown up that they might hear and receive the word gladly as well as their mother.

3. A third argument to prove that a visible believer is the person that according to the mind of Christ is to be baptized in water, may be taken from the order which the Spirit of Christ laies down, faith and baptism, in the scriptures of truth, putting faith still in the first place, witness Mark 16. 15, 16. Mat. 28. 19. Heb. 6. Eph. 4. A 4 argument may be taken from the nature of the ordinance, and a 5 from Johns Baptism. 5 from Johns Baptism. Yea much more might be said to this point, but this may suffice.

[And also the only person that is to walk in the visible order of his house, and so to wait for his comming the second time in the form of a Lord and King with his glorious Kingdome according to promise]

4TH S.

VOL. II.

12

That he is the only person that is to enter into, and walk in the visible order of his house, will evidently appear, if the order in which our Lord left his house when he went to his Father to receive his kingdome be duly considered, for in his last will and testament we shall find it thus recorded, when our Lord was about to be gone, he gave order unto his Apostles, whom he made stewards in his house of the mysteries of God, to make him Disciples of all Nations, and that such as were so made should then be baptized, and so visibly planted into Christ, and put on Christ, and having so received him, should walk in him, observing all things whatsoever he had commanded, the first thing whereof as touching order was, to be added or joined one to another in the fellowship of the Gospel by a mutual professed subjection to the Scepter of Christ, and being a company thus called out of the world, from worldly vanities, and worldly worships, after Christ Jesus the Lord (which is the proper English of these words the Church of Christ, and is in other terms called the houshold of faith) should steadfastly continue together in the Apostles doctrine, sci. the consolation, reproof, and instruction thereof, in Fellowship, sci. mutual support both inward and outward; in Breaking of bread, thereby remembring the death of our Lord, whose soul was made an offering for sin, as his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed, by the help of the Spirit, to nourish our souls and spirits up unto eternal life, and in prayer, one with and for another; And that this is the absolute order which the Lord hath appointed in his last Will and Testament, doth evidently appear both by his own precept, and command, and by the practice of such as first trusted in him, and if so, then neither infants of daies, nor yet such as profess themselves to be believers in Jesus, but refuse as a manifestation thereof, according to the practice of such as first trusted in Christ, to yield up themselves to be planted into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and so visibly to put Christ on, as did the Christians of old, I say such have no visible right to enter into, or walk in the order of the Gospel of Christ; and to conclude the point, the argument stands thus. They, and they only,