The grounds and ends of the baptism of the children of the faithful. Opened…The grounds and ends of the baptisme of the children of the faithfull. Opened…

I dare be bold to say, the speech is not generally true. For of those many hundreds which I have seen Baptized, though some have seemed to oppose it with crying and struggling, yet I cannot say with truth, that either all of them, or most of them have so done. And for those that have so done, I demand whether the Infants in times before Christ, when they were circumcised, did not more generally, and strongly oppose their Circumcision to the uttermost of their ability, when they felt much more smarting pain in the cutting off of the foreskin of their flesh, then our children can do in their Baptism? And why may such a forced Israelite or Proselyte be a capable subject of Circumcision, and not a forced Infant of a Christian be in like sort a• well capable of Baptism? The Truth is, in administering either of Circumcision to the Infants of believing Israelites, or of Baptism to the Infants of believing Christian•, respect is not had to the voluntary subjection ⟨p. 171⟩of the Infants, but to the fre• and voluntary subjection of their Parents. It is enough for Infants, that as they received original corruption without their own personal consent, but in the will of their first Parents: so now they receive (through the grace of the Covenant) a remedy against their original corruption without their own personal consent, but in the will of their parent.

I dare bee bold to say, the speech is not generally true. For of those many hundreths which I have seen Baptized, though some have seemed to oppose it with crying and strugling, yet I cannot say with truth, that either all of them, or most of them have so done. And for those that have so done, I demand whether the Infants in times before Christ, when they were circumcised, did not more generally, and strongly oppose their Circumcision to the uttermost of their ability, when they felt much more smarting pain in the cutting off of the foreskin of their flesh, then our children can doe in their Baptisme? And why may such a forced Israelite or Proselyte bee a capable subject of Circumcision, and not a forced Infant of a Christian bee in like sort a• well capable of Baptisme? The Truth is, in administring either of Circumcision to the Infants of beleeving Israelites, or of Baptisme to the Infants of beleeving Christian, respect is not had to the voluntary subjection