A47605:159
The rector rectified and corrected, or, Infant-baptism unlawful being a sober answer to a…
The rector rectified and corrected, or, Infant-baptism unlawful being a sober answer to a late pamphlet entitled An argumentative and practical discourse of infant-baptism, published by Mr. William Burkit, rector of Mildin in Suffolk : wherein all his arguments for pedo-baptism are refuted and the necessity of immersion, i.e. dipping, is evidenced, and the people falsely called Anabaptists are cleared from those unjust reproaches and calumnies cast upon them : together with a reply to the Athenian gazette added to their 5th volume about infant-baptism : with some remarks upon Mr. John Flavel's last book in answer to Mr. Philip Cary / by Benjamin Keach.The rector rectified and corrected, or, Infant-baptism unlawful being a sober answer to a late pamphlet entituled An argumentative and practical discourse of infant-baptism, published by Mr. William Burkit, rector of Mildin in Suffolk : wherein all his arguments for pedo-baptism are refuted and the necessity of immersion, i.e. dipping, is evidenced, and the people falsly called Anabaptists are cleared from those unjust reproaches and calumnies cast upon them : together with a reply to the Athenian gazette added to their 5th volume about infant-baptism : with some remarks upon Mr. John Flavel's last book in answer to Mr. Philip Cary / by Benjamin Keach.
London: printed by John Harris, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
THE Rector Rectified, and Corrected: OR, Infant-Baptism Unlawful. › Chapter 2
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. 1. I answer first of all, that your Argument is not true in form; Is Circumcision in your Minor? Sir, if you are a Logician, speak like one;1 your Minor should run thus, viz. But Infants were once by Circumcision, solemnly by God's Appointment, taken into Covenant, &c. But I'll pass by that, and must tell you your Argument in another respect is lame also; You do not tell us what Covenant 'tis you here intend; ought you not to have added, They who were once solemnly taken into the Covenant of Grace by Circumcision, &c. but Infants were once solemnly taken into the Covenant of Grace by Circumcision? If you do ⟨p. 41⟩not affirm that, you say nothing that concerns our Controversy. If the Covenant of Circumcision was not the Covenant of Grace, you will and must give up your Cause: and if you say that, you ought to have put it into your Syllogism. 3. There is yet another fault in your Argument. If you would include the Controversy, ought you not to have said, All they who? &c. Can your Conclusion be good, when your Propositions are bad and defective?
- 1Mr. Burkit's Syllogism not true in form.
But to the business; If you say Infants, as such, were solemnly taken into the Covenant of Grace by Circumcision; then I deny your Minor: Infants, as such, were never by Circumcision, nor any other ways under the Law, taken into the Covenant of Grace. Moreover, I affirm, that tho they were once solemnly taken into Covenant with God by Circumcision, yet that Covenant, and that Covenant Seed, viz. the natural Seed of Abraham, are both solemnly cast out; and this I shall, God assisting, prove, and afterwards take off all those pretended Absurdities you in the 9th and 10th Pages of your Book mention, and give a full Answer to your Reasons and Arguments you bring to prove the Covenant of Circumcision was a Covenant of Grace.
But to the business; If you say Infants, as such, were solemnly taken into the Convenant of Grace by Circumcision; then I deny your Minor: Infants, as such, were never by Circumcision, nor any other ways under the Law, taken into the Covenant of Grace. Moreover, I affirm, that tho they were once solemnly taken into Covenant with God by Circumcision, yet that Covenant, and that Covenant Seed, viz. the natural Seed of Abraham, are both solemnly cast out; and this I shall, God assisting, prove, and afterwards take off all those pretended Absurdities you in the 9th and 10th Pages of your Book mention, and give a full Answer to your Reasons and Arguments you bring to prove the Covenant of Circumcision was a Covenant of Grace.