And to your Children, that is, to you and to your Posterity, to you and to your Children, when they are of the same Capacity in which you are, effectually receptive of the Promise; but (saith he) if whenever the word [Children] is used in Scripture, we should by Children understand Infants, we must believe that in all Israel there were no Men, but all •ere Infants; and if that had been true, it had been the greater Wonder they should overcome the Anakims, and beat the King of Moab, and march so far, and discourse so well, for they were all called the Children of Israel
The Promise appertains not to Infants in that Capacity and Consistence, but only by the Title of their being Reasonable Creatures, and when they come to act Faith, of which by Nature they have the Faculty. If it did, yet Baptism (saith he) is not the Means of conveying the Holy Ghost; for when Peter says, Repent and be baptized, and ye shall receive the holy Spirit, it signifies no more than this; First, Be baptized, and then by Imposition of Hands, &c. which was another Mystery and Rite, ye shall receive the Promise of the Father, &c. But then, saith he, from hence to argue, that wherever there is a Capacity of receiving the same Grace, there also the same Sign is to be administered, and from hence to infer Pedo-baptism, is an argument very fall• cious, upon several Grounds. 1. Because Baptism is not the Sign of the Holy Ghost, but by another Mystery, it was conveyed ordinarily and extraordinarily, (that is, by laying on of Hands, as the Doctor mentioned before). 2. If the Supposition were true, the Proposition built upon it is false; for, saith he, they that were capable of the same Grace, are not always capable of the same Sign; for Women under the Law of Moses, although they were capable of the Righteousness of Faith, yet they were not capable of the Sign of Circumcision; for God doth not always convey his Grace in the same manner.
And to your Children, that is, to you and to your Posterity, to you and to your Children, when they are of the same Capacity in which you are, effectually receptive of the Promise; but (saith he) if whenever the word [Children] is used in Scripture, we should by Children understand Infants, we must believe that in all Israel there were no Men, but all •ere Infants; and if that had been true, it had been the greater Wonder they should overcome the Anakims, and beat the King of Moab, and march so far, and discourse so well, for they were all called the Children of Israel
The Promise appertains not to Infants in that Capacity and Consistence, but only by the Title of their being Reasonable Creatures, and when they come to act Faith, of which by Nature they have the Faculty. If it did, yet Baptism (saith he) is not the Means of conveying the Holy Ghost; for when Peter says, Repent and be baptized, and ye shall receive the holy Spirit, it signifies no more than this; First, Be baptized, and then by Imposition of Hands, &c. which was another Mystery and Rite, ye shall receive the Promise of the Father, &c. But then, saith he, from hence to argue, that whereever there is a Capacity of receiving the same Grace, there also the same Sign is to be administred, and from hence to inser Pedo-baptism, is an argument very fall• cious, upon several Grounds. 1. Because Baptism is not the Sign of the Holy Ghost, but by another Mystery, it was conveyed ordinarily and extraordinarily, (that is, by laying on of Hands, as the Doctor mentioned before). 2. If the Supposition were true, the Proposition built upon it is false; for, saith he, they that were capable of the same Grace, are not always capable of the same Sign; for Women under the Law of Moses, altho they were capable of the Righteousness of Faith, yet they were not capable of the Sign of Circumcision; for God doth not always convey his Grace in the same manner.
