and ours are comprehended in the parents, as twigs are comprehended in the branch, or buds in the graft, and the one being holy, so is the other. And thisjced€f'al holiness of the children is not only mentioned in this chapter, ver. 16. but also in 1 Cor. vii. 14. Now are your chil- dren holy. And the very same prom ise, which conveyed the fatnessof the olive to Abraham's natural seed, manifestly extends itself to the Gentile believers seed, Acts ii. 38, 39. And if men will not shut their eyes, and study evasions, what can be plainer from scripture than this exphcation and application of this place ? We have with us the con- sent of the generality of orthodox expo'^itars ; the sense itself is ge- nuine, easy, and unconstrained, agreeable with the letter and scope of the text. Whether the sen.se you set up against it, be as probable as this, we come next to examine. And truly? sir, your answer is ambi- guous asaDelphic oracle: For (1.) you tell us, p. 8. That the ingraft- ingspoken of in this place, is into the invisible church, by election. We say, it is into the visible church, by profession of faith ; for we know not how to understand any breaking off from the invisible church, or falling from election : But it is like, you better considered the conse- quents of that opinion, drawn upon you by Mr. Sydenham, in his 85th page; and therefore, nauseating those dregs of Arminianism, you speak more orthodoxlyto the point, page 27, where you honestly acknowledge. That the church of the Jews and Gentiles, as to the true essence and inward substance of either, is one and the same : In which respect, the believing Gentiles, according to the apostle's meta^ phor, are here said to be grafted in amongst them, and with them, to be made partakers of the root and fajiness of the olive-tree : And in reference hereunto, it is rightly added by the apostle, that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance : The inward substance of the church and covenant of grace, whereon it is founded, being in- variable, and which shall for ever remain immoveable, though the out- ward form and administration be not so. Well then, from hence we bave gained two things : (1.) That the church of the Jews and Gen- tiles are essentially and substantially the same church. (2.) That the Jews were not broken off from the invisible church, or from faith and election ; for these, you truly say, are invariable and immoveable : And if you had denied it, the apostle assures us, that the foundation of God stands sure ; and that the gifts and callings of God are with- out repentance. But what then was their breaking off, and the Gen- tiles grafting in, which made this great alteration in the church.^ Can it be any thing else, but our ingrafting into the visible church, by the profession of our faith, from whence the Jews were broken off for their unbelief.^ For certainly, from the invisible church they were not broken off, and into the invisible church, multitudes of professing Christians are not ingrafted. It is evident, therefore, by grafting us into the olive-tree, he means the visible church ; and by the fatness thereof, the ordinances and privileges of that church. Though he deny not but all sincere professors are members of the invisible church
A HEPLY TO MR. CARV's SOLEMN CALL. 369
also, and do belong to the election of grace ; but that is not the breaking off, or grafting in, here spoken of.
And now, having given up Mr. Tombes' notion of the invisible church, and election, you are again put to your shifts ; and must either shuffle, and seek to hide yourself in a heap of strange and unintelligible distinction, or (which had been much Aiirer) honestly have yielded the cause; and, wherever you meet with them, I find a whole troop of distinctions rallied together for this purpose, page 23, 24.
' This grafting in (say you) may be either into the visible or invi- sible church ; either by faith, profession of faith, or by some outward ordinance. Children may be either grown men, or infants. The ingrafting in may be either* certain or probable. Certain, either by reason of election, or their natural birth, being children of believers. Probable, as being likely : either because frequently, or for the most part, it happens so; Though necessary, and so not certain.* The thing to be proved is. That the children of believers are in the co- venant of free grace in Christ, and by virtue thereof, to be baptized into the communion of the visible church.
Replij. Words enough, and distinctions enough, to reduce the text to an indivisible point. But whither doth all this tend ; I will ask you two or three plain questions, and then make what use you please of your distinctions. (1.) Whether the breaking off of the Jews, and the ingrafting of the Gentiles, here spoken of, have relation to the mvhible cimrch by election, or to the visible church by profes- sion of faith, and some outward ordinance ? (2.) Whether, if it were into the visible church by profession of faith that the Gentile believers were grafted in, as doubtless it was (and by relinquishing the former sense, you here seem to yield it, saying, this ingrafture may be certain, upon the account of natural birth, being children of believers ;) then I would fain know, why you so state the question, as to make the certainty of believers childrens interest in Christ to be the only ground of their admission into xhki commtmion of the visible church ? This (say you) must first be proved, or no baptism for them.
Alas, poor infants ! to what hard terms are they here tied up ? Very much harder than the terms any of your own society are tied to: And if baptism must be suspended, till this point can be cleared, that the person to be baptized be first in Christ, and in the covenant of free grace, as to the saving benefits thereof; then farewell to all baptism, both of infants and adult professors too. For how can you prove, that the persons you baptize, are all, or any of them, really in Christ ? May they not deceive you, as Simon Magus did Peter ? I did not think you had proceeded in this matter upon a certainty, hut a, pro- hability: And if you proceed with yours upon the grounds oi proba- bility, how come you to tie up the children of believers to a certainty 43f their interest in Christ aS the antecedent suspending condition of
870 A REPLY TO MR. CAIIY's SOLEMN CALL.
their baptism ? We need dispute no more about the proper subjects of baptism, for by this account we have lost the ordinance of bap- tism itself.