[page 103 of volume 5]
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.
As if he had said, If any other man may glory in the flesh, then may I much more. But I do not think that I have cause sufficient to glory in the flesh; therefore have not they, or may not they, glory in the flesh. And the reason or ground of this proposition is taken from his many prerogatives he had, which he comes to in the 5th and 6th verses following.
First. Circumcision was the first prerogative before conversion; and it was not before the eighth day, to the end that the child might gather some strength to bear and endure the ceremony, for it was of itself grievous, and a bloody ceremony; wherefore it was that Moses his wife called him a bloody husband, Exodus 4:25. And this ceremony was not to be respited above eight days, that the parents might not be delayed in their comfort. Whence we may gather, that dying before baptism is no necessary impediment to the salvation of the child, for the same covenant is annexed to circumcision that is to baptism; and the papists, that hold that the death of children before baptism hindereth the salvation of the infant, may as well hold that all the children that died before the eighth day, being the day of circumcision, were damned. Secondly, Observe this, that children, though infants, may, nay, must, be baptized, if it may be with conveniency; for children were circumcised, nay, they were enjoined circumcision, on the eighth day. Now, seeing the covenant is the same, and given to children, now as then, why may not the seal thereof be now given in their infancy as then?
Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 