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taken away; and that is done by faith and repentance: but if the windows be not shut, so that the light can pass through them, the eye of Heaven will pass in and dwell there. "No man can come unto me, unless my Father draw him";" that is, the first access to Christ is nothing of our own, but wholly of God; and it is as in our creation, in which we have an obediential capacity, but co-operate not; only if we be contrary to the work of grace, that contrariety must be taken off, else there is no necessity. And if all men, according to Christ's saying, must "receive the kingdom of God as little children"," it is certain, little children do receive it; they receive it as all men ought; that is, without any impediment or obstruction, without any thing within that is contrary to that state.

7. Fifthly: Baptism is not to be estimated as one act, transient and effective to single purposes; but it is an entrance to a conjugation and a state of blessings. All our life is to be transacted by the measures of the Gospel covenant, and that covenant is consigned by baptism; there we have our title and adoption to it: and the grace that is then given to us, is like a piece of leaven put into a lump of dough, and faith and repentance do, in all the periods of our life, put it into fermentation and activity. Then the seed of God is put into the ground of our hearts, and repentance waters it, and faith makes it subactum solum, the ground and furrows apt to produce fruits: and therefore faith and repentance are necessary to the effect of baptism, not to its susception; that is, necessary to all those parts of life, in which baptism does operate, not to the first sanction or entering into the covenant. The seed may lie long in the ground, and produce fruits in its due season, if it be refreshed with "the former and the latter rain;" that is, the repentance that first changes the state, and converts the man, and afterwards returns him to his title, and recalls him from his wanderings, and keeps him in the state of grace, and within the limits of the covenant: and all the way faith gives efficacy and acceptation to this repentance; that is, continues our title to the promise of not having righteousness exacted by the measures of the law, but by the

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covenant and promise of grace, into which we entered in baptism, and walk in the same all the days of our life.

8. Sixthly: The Holy Spirit, which descends upon the waters of baptism, does not instantly produce its effects in the soul of the baptized; and when he does, it is irregularly, and as he pleases. "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and no man knoweth whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth :" and the catechumen is admitted into the kingdom, yet “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation":" and this saying of our blessed Saviour was spoken of "the kingdom of God that is within us ";" that is, the spirit of grace, the power of the Gospel put into our hearts, concerning which he affirmed, that it operates so secretly, that it comes not with outward show; "neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there." Which thing I desire the rather to be observed, because, in the same discourse, which our blessed Saviour continued to that assembly, he affirms this "kingdom of God" to belong unto "little children," this kingdom, that " cometh not with outward significations," or present expresses, this kingdom that is within us. For the present, the use I make of it is this: that no man can conclude that this kingdom of power, that is, the spirit of sanctification, is not come upon infants, because there is no sign or expression of it. It is " within us," therefore it hath no signification. It is "the seed of God;" and it is no good argument to say, here is no seed in the bowels of the earth, because there is nothing green upon the face of it. For the church gives the sacrament, God gives the grace of the sacrament. But because he does not always give it at the instant, in which the church gives the sacrament, (as if there be a secret impediment in the suscipient,) and yet afterwards does give it, when the impediment is removed, (as to them that repent of that impediment,) it follows, that the church may administer rightly, even before God gives the real grace of the sacrament: and if God gives this grace afterwards by parts, and yet all of it is the effect of that covenant, which was consigned in baptism; he that defers some, may defer all, and verify every part, as well as any part. For it is certain, that,

Luke, xvii. 20.

p Verse 21.

Luke, xviii. 16.

in the instance now made, all the grace is deferred; in infants, it is not certain but that some is collated or infused: however, be it so or no, yet upon this account the administration of the sacrament is not hindered.

9. Seventhly: When the Scripture speaks of the effects of, or dispositions to, baptism, it speaks in general expressions, as being most apt to signify a common duty, or a general effect, or a more universal event, or the proper order of things: but those general expressions do not " supponere universaliter;" that is, are not to be understood exclusively to all, that are not so qualified, or universally of all suscipients, or of all the subjects of the proposition. When the prophets complain of the Jews, that they are fallen from God, and turned to idols, and walk not in the way of their fathers; and at other times the Scripture speaks the same thing of their fathers, that they walked perversely toward God, "starting aside like a broken bow;" in these, and the like expressions, the holy Scripture uses a synecdoche, or signifies many only, under the notion of a more large and indefinite expression for neither were all the fathers good, neither did all the sons prevaricate; but among the fathers there were enough to recommend to posterity by way of example, and among the children there were enough to stain the reputation of the age; but neither the one part nor the other was true of every single person. St. John the Baptist spake to the whole audience, saying, "O generation of vipers!" and yet he did not mean that all Jerusalem and Judea, that "went out to be baptized of him," were such; but he, under an undeterminate reproof, intended those that were such, that is, especially the priests and the pharisees. And it is more considerable yet in the story of the event of Christ's sermon in the synagogue, upon his text taken out of Isaiah, "all wondered at his gracious words, and bare him witness';" and a little after, "all they in the synagogue were filled with wrath :" that is, it was generally so, but hardly to be supposed true of every single person, in both the contrary humours and usages. Thus Christ said to the apostles, "Ye have abode with me in my temptations ;" and yet Judas was all the way a follower of interest and the bag, rather than Christ, and afterwards none

r Luke, iv, 22, 28.

of them all did abide with Christ in his greatest temptations. Thus also, to come nearer the present question, the secret effects of election, and of the Spirit, are in Scripture attributed to all that are of the outward communion. So St. Peter calls all the Christian strangers of the eastern dispersion, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Fathers;" and St. Paul saith of all the Roman Christians, and the same of the Thessalonians, that their "faith was spoken of in all the world:" and yet amongst them it is not to be supposed, that all the professors had an unreprovable faith, or that every one of the church of Thessalonica was an excellent and a charitable person; and yet the apostle useth this expression, "Your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth." These are usually significant of a general custom or order of things, or duty of men, or design, and natural or proper expectation of events. Such are these also in this very question, "As many of you as are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ;" that is, so it is regularly, and so it will be in its due time, and that is the order of things, and the designed event but from hence we cannot conclude of every person, and in every period of time, "This man hath been baptized,' therefore "now he is clothed with Christ, he hath put on Christ;" nor thus, "This person cannot, in a spiritual sense, as yet put on Christ," therefore "he hath not been baptized," that is, "he hath not put him on in a sacramental sense. Such is the saying of St. Paul, “Whom he hath predestinated, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified":" this also declares the regular event, or at least the order of things, and the design of God, but not the actual verification of it to all persons. These sayings concerning baptism in the like manner are to be so understood, that they cannot exclude all persons from the sacrament, that have not all those real effects of the sacrament at all times, which some men have at some times, and all men must have at some time or other, viz. when the sacrament obtains its last intention. But he that shall argue from hence, that children are not rightly baptized, because they cannot in a spiritual sense put

1 Pet. i. 2.

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on Christ, concludes nothing, unless these propositions did signify universally, and at all times, and in every person, and in every manner: which can no more pretend to truth, than that all Christians are God's elect, and all that are baptized are saints, and all that are called are justified, and all that are once justified, shall be saved finally. These things declare only the event of things, and their order, and the usual effect, and the proper design, in their proper season, in their limited proportions.

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10. Eighthly: A negative argument for matters of fact in Scripture cannot conclude a law, or a necessary or a regular event. And therefore, supposing that it be not intimated, that the apostles did baptize infants, it follows not that they did not; and if they did not, it does not follow that they might not, or that the church may not. For it is unreasonable to argue, the Scripture speaks nothing of the baptism of the holy Virgin-mother, therefore she was not baptized. The words and deeds of Christ are infinite, which are not recorded, and of the acts of the apostles we may suppose the same in their proportion: and therefore what they did not, is no rule to us, unless they did it not, because they were forbidden. So that it can be no good argument to say, the apostles are not read to have baptized infants, therefore infants are not to be baptized: but thus, we do not find that infants are excluded from the common sacraments and ceremonies of Christian institution, therefore we may not presume to exclude them. For although the negative of a fact is no good argument, yet the negative of a law is a very good one. We may not say, the apostles did not, therefore we may not: but thus, they were not forbidden to do it, there is no law against it, therefore it may be done. No man's deeds can prejudicate a Divine law expressed in general terms, much less can it be prejudiced by those things that were not done. "That which is wanting cannot be numbered," cannot be effectual; therefore, "Baptize all nations," must signify all that it can signify, all that are reckoned in the capitations and accounts of a nation. Now, since all contradiction to this question depends wholly upon these two grounds, the negative argument in matter of fact, and the

x Eccles. i. 15.

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