A Body of Practical Divinity

Resp. Children are Parties of the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant was made with them. Gen. 17.7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee, and thy Seed after thee, for an everlasting Covenant, to be a God unto thee and thy Seed after thee. And Acts 2.39. The Promise is to you and to your Children. The Covenant of Grace may be considered either, (1.) More strictly, as an absolute Promise to give Saving Grace: And so none but the Elect are in Covenant with God. Or, (2.) More largely, as a Covenant containing in it many outward glorious Privileges, in which respect the Children of Believers do belong to the Covenant of Grace: The Promise is to you and to your Seed. The Infant-Seed of Believers may as well lay a Claim to the Covenant of Grace as their Parents; and having a Right to the Covenant, they cannot justly be denied Baptism, which is the Seal. I would ask this Question of them who deny Infant-Baptism. It is certain the Children of Believers were once Visibly in Covenant with God, and did receive the Seal of their Admission into the Church? Now, where do we find this Covenant-Interest, or Church-Membership of Infants was ever repealed, or made void? Certainly Jesus Christ did not come to put Believers and their Children into a worse condition than they were in before. If the Children of Believers should not be Baptized, then they are in a worse Condition now than they were in before Christ's Coming—Before I came to prove the Baptizing of Infants, I shall answer the Objections made against it.

Resp. Children are Parties of the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant was made with them. Gen. 17.7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee, and thy Seed after thee, for an everlasting Covenant, to be a God unto thee and thy Seed after thee. And Acts 2.39. The Promise is to you and to your Children. The Covenant of Grace may be consider'd either, (1.) More strictly, as an absolute Promise to give Saving Grace: And so none but the Elect are in Covenant with God. Or, (2.) More largely, as a Covenant containing in it many outward glorious Priviledges, in which respect the Children of Believers do belong to the Covenant of Grace: The Promise is to you and to your Seed. The Infant-Seed of Believers may as well lay a Claim to the Covenant of Grace as their Parents; and having a Right to the Covenant, they cannot justly be denied Baptism, which is the Seal. I would ask this Question of them who deny Infant-Baptism. It is certain the Children of Believers were once Visibly in Covenant with God, and did receive the Seal of their Admission into the Church? Now, where do we find this Covenant-Interest, or Church-Membership of Infants was ever repealed, or made void? Certainly Jesus Christ did not come to put Believers and their Children into a worse condition than they were in before. If the Children of Believers should not be Baptized, then they are in a worse Condition now than they were in before Christ's Coming—Before I came to prove the Baptizing of Infants, I shall answer the Objections made against it.