make, of the difference between Circumcision and Baptism, shall be answered after, in their place.

"The second Commandment for baptizing of Infants, is in Mark xvi. 15, Matt. xxviii. 19. In this commission of Christ, are two things; The preaching of the Gospel to every creature,' to all nations; and, The sealing of the same, by Baptism. The Gospel belonged to Infants; and they are necessarily implied in the first: therefore, Baptism belonged to Infants. And, they are as necessarily implied in the latter. Christ biddeth proclaim or preach the Gospel;' but what the Gospel is, is not here declared; we must gather it from other Scriptures.

6

"The Gospel, or Evangely, is the glad tidings,' or joyful declaration, that the Promise' which was made unto the Fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children. The Promise,' I say, concerning Christ, and the redemption of the world by him. So the Gospel; which is the good tidings of the fulfilling of the Promise;' is as large as the Promise was. Whereupon, not in the forementioned Scriptures only, but in many other places, the apostles refer the Gospel to the Promise,' or Promises,' made of old. Not in general only, but the particular promises at several times, are showed to be accomplished in the Gospel; as the Promise' to Adam; to Abraham;' to David; to Israel, by Moses, Samuel, and other prophets. So that 'all the Promises of God' are yea and amen,' in Christ. And, for the point in controversy, the Promise of grace and salvation to Abraham and to his seed,h is, by the Gospel, showed to be confirmed. But, the Promise' to Abraham implied his Infants: therefore, the Gospel: which is the complement of that Promise; implieth our Infants! And so the apostle saith, The Promise is to you and to your children."

6

d

"And the sign and seal of the Promise was given to Abraham's children in Infancy; therefore, it belongeth to our children in their Infancy and we are said to be the children of Promise, as Isaac was; 'n but Isaac was the child of promise in his infancy, and had then the seal of the Promise in his infancy, when he was but eight days old." Wherefore, we also, in our Infancy, are children of the Promise,' and have right to the seal of the Covenant even then; or else we are not as Isaac was '!

"And thus, Christ commanding the Gospel' to be preached, commanded the fulfilling of the Promises to be preached; even all and every one of the promises, without excepting any; and so commanded the Promise of grace, and accomplishment of it to the seed of the Faithful, even in their Infancy, to be preached... And, seeing all Believers are, by his commission, to be baptized; the Infants of the Church being Believers, in respect of the beginning of faith; though not

a Acts xiii. 32, 33. Luke iv. 18, 21.

Luke i. 54, 55, 69, 70, &c. Acts ii. 38, 39;
b Rom. iv. 16. Gal. iv. 28. Rom. xv. 8, 9.

2 Tim. i. 1. and many the like.
d Luke i. 55, 73. Rom. iv. 16-18.
f Acts iii. 22, 24, 25. Luke i. 70.
1 Luke i. 55. Acts ii. 38, 39. Gal. iii.
Acts ii. 39.

m Gen. xvii. 10, 11.

Rom. xvi. 20,
e Luke i. 69, 70.

g 2 Cor. i. 20.

14, 16. 29.

n Gal. iv. 28.

xxvi. 22, 23. Gal. iii 22. from Gen. iii. 15.

Acts ii. 30, 31.

h Gen. xvii. 7.

k Gen. xvii. 7, 10, 11. o Acts vii. 8.

.

actually,' as I have formerly proved; they are also to be baptized by virtue of Christ's commission; a that so the Promises unto the Fathers' may be confirmed; and the Gentiles,' as well as the Circumcision, that is, the Jews, 'may glorify God for his mercy.'"b

Having followed our author so fully through the whole of his direct argument, we are reluctantly precluded from accompanying him through the remaining portion contained in his "Answer to the Exceptions," occupying at least a fourth of the whole treatise. Much that he adduces, he had, indeed, anticipated; and the remainder consists of "exceptions" similar to the first two, which are these, "There was a commandment for circumcision, Gen. xvii.; there is none for baptism of Infants."-" That commandment included males only, children, or servants, though unbelievers; and excluded all females, though believers; so doth not baptism." One other, we cannot persuade ourselves, however, to omit introducing, with Ainsworth's remarks upon it.

"They plead further, That the apostle saith not,

else were your infants,' but "else were your children unclean; but now they are holy.' So that all the children of unbelievers are as holy, by this place, as infants, &c.; and so must be baptized.'

6

"Herein they seek to pervert the straight ways of God. As if they should say, 'God, when he made with Abraham that everlasting covenant' which circumcision was a seal of, said not that he would be a God unto him, and to his infants after him, but to his seed. So that all the seed' of Abraham; Ishmaelites, Edomites, &c.; were as 'holy,' and as well within the covenant of grace, and to be circumcised, as the Ishmaelites which were the generation of Isaac !' But they should observe, that the covenant of mercy passeth from the fathers to the children from age to age, even to the thousandth generation, if they love God and keep his commandments; whereas if they turn away and hate him, he visiteth their iniquity. Children of Believers, when they are born; .. are all in the covenant with their parents; and were, of old, to be circumcised,—are now to be baptized. If the children be of years when their parents enter into the covenant, either they assent and enter into covenant with them; or they dissent, and enter not. So Ishmael, Abraham's child, being taught of his father to keep the way of the Lord, and not disobeying, he was, with his father, circumcised at thirteen years of age. Likewise, all children now assenting unto, and walking in the faith with their parents, are to be baptized at what age soever. But when Ishmael fell from his obedience, then was he cast out of Abraham's house, and was no longer counted for Abraham's seed, but in Isaac was his seed called. Ishmael was still Abraham's seed and child in nature, according to the flesh; but he continued not still the child of the covenant; nor Abraham's seed according to the promise.' Even so, if children of Believers now, being of understanding, do refuse the faith of Christ, or fall from

a Mark xvi. Matt. xxviii.

d Gen. xvii. 7.

b Rom. xv. 8, 9.
e Exod. xx. 5, 6.

f Gen. xviii. 8; [qu. xvii 18. & Gen xvii. 25.

1 Gal. iv. 29, 30.

c 1 Cor. vii. 14. Ezek. xxviii. 9, 10, 13. b Gen. xxi. 10, 12.

it, they are to be kept out of the church, or cast out from it. And so, the seal of grace and salvation belongeth not unto them, as it belongeth to all the Infants of the Faithful, and to all their children, of what age soever, that receive the faith of Christ, and abide in it with them. And these men greatly mistake, if they think we hold children are to be baptized, or are holy, because they are our children by nature; for so, they are children of wrath;' but they are holy,' and so have the seal of salvation, because God hath graciously accepted them into his covenant with ourselves; and keepeth them in it, until they fall from faith and 'obedience of Christ: even as we ourselves continue in the covenant, while we continue in the Christian faith; and no longer. As we are the children of the first Adam, we are 'all' sinners, disobedient, unrighteous, and under condemnation; but as we are the children of the second Adam, Christ, we are all' holy, made obedient, righteous, and heirs of salvation, according to the apostle's doctrine, in Rom. v. 12, 21."

Our readers are now able to consider how far they can sympathize with the author of the "Account of the Life and Writings" of Ainsworth, who tells us that while perusing this Treatise, he could not help remarking, "How very unfitly a defence of the doctrines of grace, is combined with a defence of the Baptism of Infants." We ask, Should he not rather,-Ainsworth's being a reply,-have remarked, "How very unfitly an attack, &c. is combined with an attack on the Baptism of Infants?" But let us attend to the strictures which this antipædobaptist writer has recorded concerning this "Censure," whose author, he says, has " argued the matter with as much ingenuity as any one who, with the further reasonings of more than a century and a half, has since appeared in the same cause." This is intended for but faint praise; nevertheless, he admits that Ainsworth has "proved successfully, against Smyth, that salvation arises from the free undeserved favour of God: that it is not of works; nor from the will of man; and depends not upon birth, or blood, nor any thing within or without the creature. He has laboured also to show"-mark the altered phrase

c 2 Tim. ii. 12.

a Ezek. xviii. 24. 2 Chron. xv. 2. Matt. iii. 7, 9, 10. Eph. ii. 3. d P. xliii. Besides the work we have noticed at the foot of p. 271, and in connexion with the note in p. 267, we take advantage of this place to introduce another which had not till now come before us. "An Advertisement or Admonition, unto the Congregations which Men call the New Fryelers [Free Willers ?] in the Low Countries. Written in Dutch, and published in English. Wherein is [are] handled four Principal Points of Religion: 1. That Christ took his flesh of Mary, having a true earthly, natural Body. 2. That a Sabbath, or Day of Rest, is to be kept holy every First Day of the Week. 3. That there is no Succession, nor Privilege to Persons in the Holy Things. 4. That Magistracy, being a Holy Ordinance of God, debarreth not any from being of the Church of Christ.-After these, follow certain Demands concerning God's Decree of Salvation and Condemnation.-Prov. ix. 8; xxix. 1. Printed 1611." 16mo. pp. 94. This book is dedicated to " Hans de Ries, Reynier WyBrantson, and the Congregations whereof they are ;" and the dedication is subscribed, "Thomas Helwys." The body of the book contains this passage,— "Mr. John Smyth... is fallen; denying the words of our Saviour, that saith Wheresoever two or three are gathered together, &c.' Matt. xviii. 20; and holdeth that The first two or three that are gathered together, have only

ology!" that the Infants of Believers are born in covenant with God; are holy, in consequence of connexion with their parents; and may even be styled Believers and Disciples." Adverting to the Covenant, Dr. Stuart subjoins, "But the truth is, that Baptists, in general, do not judge this mercy to be limited to the Children of such as believe the Gospel, even as the declaration of Jesus, that Of such is the kingdom of heaven,' does not merely regard such." To which he has appended this observation, "I have lived, however, to see men far wiser than that which is written, upon both sides of the subject." If we might infer what the Doctor's own sentiments were, we should say that he wished it to be thought that the "salvation of Infants" is among the inscrutable decrees of the Almighty, and that he would, accordingly, there leave it. Still, if, as he represents, the Covenant does indeed comprehend the Infant children of unbelievers; and that "the kingdom of heaven" applied to "little children," does not "merely regard" such as are descended of believing parents; we cannot but conclude that this concession yields the entire victory to Ainsworth! What now shall we say of the additional strictures, where the Doctor writes, "To uphold this fabric, he has blended the different parts of the Covenant made with Abraham, as if its temporal and spiritual Promises had been inseparable: He has confounded the two seeds; that is, Isaac's natural descendants, and Christ with his people, to whom each of these Promises was distinctly made: and, he has set forth Circumcision, as if it had been intended to exhibit and to confirm to all the natural descendants of Abraham in the line of Isaac, the same spiritual blessings of which it was a sign solely and peculiarly to himself. The covenant of grace, in consequence of this, is thrown into the shade; and in vain shall we consult this performance, however excellent in many respects, to learn the true doctrine of the Scriptures concerning it." Are we, then, to find out that those whom the Father hath "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," are not 'all' entitled to the sign and seal of the "everlasting covenant"? Shall their seed" not "be known among the Gentiles," nor "their offspring among the people :-the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them"?d

But, writes the Doctor also, "However justly, in the first part of this Treatise, Ainsworth has set forth the nature and the origin of holiness, his views of Baptism laid him under the necessity of speaking obscurely concerning the righteousness of the law and of faith, in those points of opposition in which they are stated by the apostle in the epistle to the Romans. Indeed, he appears to have been perverted by them, in his views of that first Covenant which God made with the

right to Christ and all his ordinances; and that after, all men must come to them' restraining the words of Christ, which are general to any two or three, only to the first two or three; and so hath set up a Succession, against the which, he hath, formerly, by all words, writings and practice, set himself with all detestation. And this man, like Balaam, hath consulted with you, and hath put a stumbling-block before the people of God who were also enlightened; and so are many, as you know, fallen with him to the same sin, and under the same condemnation." P. 35. a P. xliv. note. b Rom. iv. 11. C Eph. i. 4. 2 Tim. i. 9.

d Isai. lxi. 8, 9; lxv. 23.

nation of Israel; which he does not clearly describe as another, prior and inferior to the second and better Covenant which God has, in these last days, made with the holy nation redeemed by the blood of his Son, through him as Mediator.' "a How is this borne out, in connection with Heb. ix. 15, "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the Promise of eternal inheritance"?

He maintains," the Doctor writes further, "that Christ's commission to his apostles to baptize, includes a commission to baptize the Infants of a Believer, because these Infants have a concern in this Gospel, and are saved by it. But he does not plead for their partaking on this account of the Lord's supper; though its relation to the Gospel be as close; nor for their being taught to observe all other things which he enjoined the apostles to bind upon the consciences of the disciples." This is indeed pressing an adversary beyond measure; for, where do we find that "the Lord's supper" and the "other things," are in dispute between the parties before us?

"In fine, although his argument consists of many subordinate parts, and contains almost every thing now alleged by the ablest advocates in the same cause; the chief branches of it have their refutation delivered in the same book; not, indeed, with the intention, or in the opinion of its author." Hence the ability of Ainsworth, displayed in his treatment of all these important subjects, is justly conceded; but we are left, it seems, to require it, as we thus do, yet to be proved that he has failed in sufficiently establishing the extent and comprehensiveness of the commission, to baptize "all nations."-It is not, however, intended by their insertion here, to express unqualified approval of all Ainsworth's statements and reasonings in this and the following chapter.

CHAP. XXIV.

AINSWORTH'S LATEST PUBLISHED TREATISE.

THE plan to which we have adhered of noticing prominent matters according to the true order of occurrence, notwithstanding that, all the circumstances relating to such matters might not have been divulged or discovered till much later, has brought regularly before us The Orthodox Foundation of Religion: Long since collected by that Judicious and Elegant Man Mr. Henry Ainsworth, for the benefit of his Private Company: And now divulged, for the public good of all that desire to know that Corner Stone Christ-Jesus-Crucified,' by S.W. 1641." 4to pp. 78.

The editor, Samuel White, has dated his "epistle dedicatory" at Polsholt, the first month of this hopeful year, 1641." "This ensuing treatise," he tells his friend, "hath, in a manuscript, long lain by me as a dead letter without any vulgar use; but now, having the approbation of some judicious divines, my friends and acquaintance, I ain a Heb. viii, & ix. b Near to Steeple- Ashton, Wiltshire.