Certain disputations of right to sacraments, and the true nature of visible Christianity defending…

The Jews were nigher to God than other people. 1. In that they had the offers of Grace which other people had not. 2. And many great Deliverances and temporal privileges, which others had not. Both these Infidels and Heathens may now have; and therefore they prove no Right to Baptism. 3. They were nigher by some promises peculiar to that Nation, which is nothing to us. 4. They were nigher by their Consent to the offers of Grace, and the Covenant of the Lord; which was proper (in sincerity) to the sanctified. 5. And by their profession of Consent, and external engaging themselves to the Lord (whether they had inwardly faith or not.) Now to the Major, I grant it: but add, that the three first sorts of Nearness give not right to Baptism: All admission to near Relation, comparatively to others, is not by Circumcision or Baptism. But it is only a Nearness in the two last senses that are questionable as to this. And I have before showed, in what sense true Consent to the ⟨p. 178⟩Covenant gives right, and in what sense an outward profession of Consent gives right; and that your common faith gives none in either sense. Lastly, if your conclusion were granted, its nothing to our question: For as is said, all admission to near relation is not by baptism: One Infidel may be nearer God and the Kingdom of Heaven then another, and yet […] be baptizable for all that.

The Jews were nigher to God than other people. 1. In that they had the offers of Grace which other people had not. 2. And many great Deliverances and temporal priviledges, which others had not. Both these Infidels and Heathens may now have; and therefore they prove no Right to Baptism. 3. They were nigher by some promises peculiar to that Nation, which is nothing to us. 4. They were nigher by their Consent to the offers of Grace, and the Covenant of the Lord; which was proper (in sincerity) to the sanctified. 5. And by their profession of Consent, and external engaging themselves to the Lord (whether they had inwardly faith or not.) Now to the Major, I grant it: but add, that the three first sorts of Nearness give not right to Baptism: All admission to near Relation, comparatively to others, is not by Circumcision or Baptism. But it is only a Nearness in the two last senses that are questionable as to this. And I have before shewd, in what sense true Consent to the