A47399:26
[The axe laid to the root, or, One blow more at the foundation of…[The ax laid to the root, or, One blow more at the foundation of…
[The axe laid to the root, or, One blow more at the foundation of infant baptism and church-membership containing an exposition of that metaphorical text of Holy Scripture, Mat. 3, 10].[The ax laid to the root, or, One blow more at the foundation of infant baptism and church-membership containing an exposition of that metaphorical text of Holy Scripture, Mat. 3, 10].
London : Printed for the author, and are to be sold by John Harris, 1693
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Answ. I Answer, Tho' Infants were in Covenant under the Law, in the Legal Church of the Jews, and that by God's Appointment. Gen. 17.7. which is not denied: Yet, what of this? their being once Members of the Jewish Church, doth not prove them to be Members of the Gospel Church: They had then many outward Privileges, which we, under the Gospel, have not; they went all off when the Axe was laid to the Root, i. e. When the Old Covenant was abrogated, and the Old Church State cut down, then their Old Church Members fell likewise: The Branches cannot stand, when the Tree is cut down, or rooted up.
Answ. I Answer, Tho' Infants were in Covenant under the Law, in the Legal Church of the Jews, and that by God's Appointment. Gen. 17.7. which is not denied: Yet, what of this? their being once Members of the Iewish Church, doth not prove them to be Members of the Gospel Church: They had then many outward Privileges, which we, under the Gospel, have not; they went all off when the Ax was laid to the Root, i. e. When the Old Covenant was ab•ogated, and the Old Church State cut down, then their Old Church Members fell likewise: The Branches cannot stand, when the Tree is cut down, or rooted up.
2. We have proved the Covenant; for in Covenanting of Infants, under the Law, was no Gospel Covenant; and therefore this Objection hat• nothing in it to hurt us, unless it can be proved, they were taken a-new into the Gospel Church, or Gospel Covenant, which we positively deny and they can't disprove: For, according to that Maxim, Omnis Privati intimat babitum, (you know) that every Dispossession; implieth a Possession: Infants therefore, cannot be cast out of the Gospel Covenant, or Gospel Church, unless they had been first received into it; therefore they mu•• prove, if they can, they are in the Time of the Gospel, taken in as Members; if so, I will not undertake to prove them cast out, but I am sure