A59660:70
The church-membership of children, and their right to baptism according to that holy and…The church-membership of children, and their right to baptisme according to that holy and…
The church-membership of children, and their right to baptism according to that holy and everlasting covenant of God, established between Himself and the faithful ... cleared up in a letter, sent unto a worthy friend of the author ... / by Thomas Shepard ...The church-membership of children, and their right to baptisme according to that holy and everlasting covenant of God, established between Himself and the faithfull ... cleared up in a letter, sent unto a worthy friend of the author ... / by Thomas Shepard ...
Cambridge: printed by Samuel Green, 1663Cambridg: printed by Samuel Green, 1663
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
1. That as the Covenant run's not only thus, viz. If thou believest thou shalt be saved, but also I will enable to believe; So a mans entrance into Covenant is not only by actual and personal profession of Faith [as some say] because God's Covenant run's a peg higher, viz: to make and enable some to believe, and so to make that profession.
2. That the very outward Covenant is not merely conditional, but there is something absolute in it: and hence it follow's, that it is a great mistake of some who think that Circumcision, and Baptism, seal only conditionally [the outward Covenant being •say they] merely conditional] for those three things mentioned in the outward Covenant you see are in some respect absolute, and if the Covenant was only conditional, then the Lord was no more in Covenant with Church-Members, than with pagans, and infidels, for it may be propounded conditionally to all such, that if they believe, they shall be saved, but assuredly God's grace is a little more extensive to the one, then to the other.
2. That the very outward Covenant is not meerly conditional, but there is something absolute in it: and hence it follow's, that it is a great mistake of some who think that Circumcision, and Baptism, seal only conditionally [the outward Covenant being •say they] meerly conditionall] for those three things mentioned in the outward Covenant you see are in some respect absolute, and if the Covenant was only conditionall, then the Lord was no more in Covenant with Church-Members, than with pagans, and infidels, for it may be propounded conditionally to all such, that if they believe, they shall be saved, but assuredly God's grace is a little more extensive to the one, then to the other.