For nothing can be more plain than that Addition to the Church or Church-Fellowship followed after Baptism and did not go before it and why men now find a greater good in their own way than in his is not to be easily resolved Baptism in those days did certainly precede Church-Enjoyments for it was esteem'd as it still ought to be a means of implanting men into Christ or the Body of Christ the Church Gal. 3.27 Rom. 6.3 Now let it be considered what a Planting together imports It must be certainly the first putting of Christians together in order to their Growing together in Christ and yet all this was done by Baptism and may we not suppose Trees to grow together before they are Planted together as this Spiritual Plantation of Christ viz. the Church or Society of Christians who were and should still be Planted together by Baptism not into this or that particular Church but into that one Church of Christ which is distributed into several parts and particular Societies Hence Baptism is called one of the Principles or begining Doctrines of Christ and part of the Foundation Heb. 6.1,2 Now there is no House can stand without its Principle or can be Erected without a Foundation See 1 Cor. 12.13 Where we have an account of all being Baptised into one Body whether Jews or Gentiles Bond or Free which comprehended all Ranks and Degrees of Christians as is elsewhere demonstrated Obj. 5. The Phrase Rom. 6.3 and Gal. 3.27 As many of you as have been Baptised into Christ c. implies that all that were in those Churches of Rome and Galatia were not Baptised Ans If we consult the Scripture with the Coherence it will appear how weak this Objection is 1. For that Rom. 6.3 Let it be considered to whom the Apostle writes Is it not to the whole Church and every individual of them In verse 1 2. When he says What shall we say then Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein If these words in the first and second Verse respect the whole Church as they must be supposed to do unless we will conclude that the Apostle did grant a liberty to some of the Church to continue in sin and live therein then these words Know ye not that as many of us as were Baptised into Jesus Christ c. Are Interrogatively propounded not only to the same persons unto whom the former words relate but also as an Argument or Reason why none of them should live any longer in sin which is the thing from which he was a dissuading not only some of them but even all of them in the foregoing verses and which he improves in an Argumentative way throughout the greatest part of the Chapter and it would not befit the Reason of any ordinary man much less of a Great Apostle to make choice a Reason or Motive to infore his Exhortation or Persuasion which is of less extent in the tendency and concernment of it then are the persons whom he doth Exhort or Dehort Which yet is a piece of weakness of which we must suppose this Apostle to be guilty unless you do conclude that all those of the Church of Rome were dissuaded from continuing any longer in sin upon this ground because they had been all Baptised into the Death of Christ viz. a Conformity to his Death as well as a belief of it To conclude If the whole Church had not been under the Motive the whole Church could not be pressed by it as here you see they are As for the other Text Gal. 3.26,27 Gal 3.26 the Apostle had assured them viz. them to whom he now writes To be all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus that is they were lookt upon as children of God by their confessing and owning of Jesus Christ of which he gives this account verse 27. Because they had put on Christ in Baptism You are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus for or because as many of you as have been Baptised into Christ have put on Christ as if he should say if the Owning and Professing Christ does denominate men to be the Children of God now under the Gospel as indeed it does then ye are all the Children of God because by being Baptised into Christ ye have all of you put him on that is so to appear with him wherever ye become as you do appear with the Clothes you wear But now most certain it is they could not all of them have been denominated the Children of God by Faith in Christ upon account of their being Baptised into Christ which yet we see they are unless they had been all of them Baptised into Christ indeed Besides in what hath been said already it does not appear that any in the Apostles days were inchurched without Baptism And for any to assert that some not all were Baptised is to affirm what is void of Scripture Reason and Common Sense As for any countenance in Scripture there is none And it has as little in Reason for if it should be true it will follow that this Great Ordinance was a duty to some only and not to all and the Reason why it should be so will be very difficult to assign was it because it was commanded to some only and not others If so let them be instanced by some kind of Record who were obliged to the Practise and who not was it because some only had need of it and others not or because those glorious mysteries represented by it were useless to some and not to all Or what other Reason was it If none can be assigned then we may safely conclude that all Church-Members were then Baptised and ought to be so still It is confessed that sometimes the Phrase As many has not the same Latitude of signification as the Phrase All men which includes every Individual the term As many being restrained to matter going before being then Partitive But here it has Relation to the whole scope of the Text and must therefore intend all or all of that Church to whom he wrote to confirm which Interpretation we find other Texts As many must of necessity be so understood as 1 Tim. 6.1 Let as many servants as are under the Yoke count their own Masters worthy of all Honour doth he thereby suppose or may it be implyed that there were some servants who were not under the Yoke or that there were some Servants who were not to count their Masters worthy of all Honour But which must be supposed notwithstanding if this form or manner of speaking as many as be always to be understood to intend the dividing of the intire Number of Persons spoken unto which yet to suppose must needs be very absurd Object And if it be said That this Exhortation let as many Servants as c. doth intentionally respect so many Believing Servants as were under
For though an Antichristian Darkness overspread the greatest part of Christendom for a long time and Infant Baptism almost crouded that true and Apostolical practise of Believers Baptism out of the Church though Lodovicus Vives says ' That the custome of Baptizing Adult Persons was yearly practis'd in Rome it self even in his time Yet he very Papists all along as they do at this time retained this as the initiating Ordinance All their Writings Canons Decrees c. cry up Baptism to be not only necessary to Church-Communion but even to Salvation Yea all the Reformers whether Lutherans Calvinists or other Forreigners The Church of England and all the Dissenting Congregations that own Ordinances exa few Persons of the Baptized way and that lately too have owned and do own That Baptism is an Ordinance of Christ yea the very first or initiating Ordinance into Church-Fellowship without which no man may be regularly admitted to the Supper So that this Opinion is not only against us but contradictory to the Judgment and Practise of all other Christians Ancient and Modern Batism was of old and not without Reason called The Gate of Sacraments Janua Sacramentorum and is to keep that Name and Nature still viz. to be the first and Primitive Ordinance If the timing and order of Instituted Worship be any thing as it is of great moment a great part of it lying in nothing else but the right and orderly Administration of Ceremonies and if the Scripture Rule and Example be any thing which is all we have to shew for any Practise than Baptism is to be the first Ordinance after Believing If the Testimony of Ancient Records and Modern Writers of all sorts unanimously makes out that there has not been any other Practise in Fact among Christians all along than what we here demonstrate though that is not brought by it self to prove the same it is certainly a very fair Collateral inâ—orcement and illustration For there is no point of Religion debated in the World that has a more clear and Universal concurrence of sixteen hundread years compleat than that no persons were received to the Communion of the Lords Supper or Church-Fellowship unless they were first Baptised Yea such a value had Antiquity for this Ordinance that such as were Baptised by Hereticks as the Arians and others that used not the name of Christ or otherwise defectively performed it were judged by the most Learned men of their times to be Unbaptized and therefore were Baptised again by such as were Orthodox when they left their Heresies which is so well known that it needs no instances To conclude this Chapter we shall give a few instances of some Modern Writers besides what are given before not so much deriving Authority from them though they deserve all due respect but because of the solidity and force of their Reasonings A very noted and Learned Author now living writes thus 1. ' If we have neither Precept nor Example in Scripture since Christ Ordained Baptism of any other way of Admitting Visible Members but only by Baptism than all that must be admitted Visible Members must be ordinarily Baptised But since Baptism was Instituted or Established we have no Precept or Example of admitting Visible Members any other way but * John 4.1 Act. 2.38,41 8.12,13,16,36,38 9.18 10.47,48 16.15,33 18.8 19.3,4,5 Rom. 6.3 c. constant Precept and Example of admitting this way therefore all that must be admitted Visible Members must be Baptised ' I know not what in any shew of Reason can be said to this by those that renounce not Scripture For what man dare go in a way which hath neither Precept nor Example to warrant it from a Way that hath a full Current of both yet they that will admit Members into the Visible Church without Baptism do so 2. ' Either Members must be Baptized at their Admission or else after they are stated in the Church or else never But the two later are false therefore it must be the former way viz. at their admission 1. ' That they should never be Baptised none will affirm but the Seekers and they that are above Ordinances that is above obedience to God and so Gods 2. ' If they say they must be Baptised after they are stated in the Church and that many years as they would have it I answer 1. Shew any Scripture for that if you can 2. It is contrary to all Scripture Example Act. 2. The three thousand were presently Baptised and the Jaylor at the same hour of the night and so of all the rest And if you could shew any that did delay it since Christs Command Matth. 28.20 It would appear to have been sinful as through Ignorance or Negligence so that then it must needs be done at their first Admittance according to the constant course of Scripture 3. ' It is evident also from the very Nature and end of Baptism which is to be Christs Listing and Ingaging Sign and therefore must be applyed when we enter his Army 4. ' If we were Jews and Gentiles c. Baptised into one Body then we are not to delay it till we are stated in the Body But we are all Baptised into one Body 1 Cor. 12 13. therefore c. For if it be the use of Baptism to ingraft and enter us into the Body or Church and into Christ as Rom. 6.3 than sure it must be used as our ingrafting and entrance Shall a Souldier be Listed two or three years after he hath been in the Army or at the first entrance whether 5. ' If all Church Members are Christs Disciples and all Disciples must be Baptised at their Admission then all Church-Members must be Baptised at their Admission but all Church-Members are Disciples and all Disciples must be Baptised at their Admission therefore all Church-Members must be Baptised at their Admission 1. ' That Disciples must be Baptised at their Admission is plain Matth. 28.19,20 Disciple all Nations Baptising them and by constant Example 2. That all Church-Members are Disciples I prove thus 1. If it be the Church which is Christs School than all the Members of the Church are his Scholars or Disciples or Members of his School but it is only the Church which is called Christs School therefore all Church-Members are School-Members or Disciples 2. And thus if all Church-Members are Christians and all Christians are Christs Disciples then all Church-Members are Christs Disciples but all Church-Members are Christians and all Christians are Christs Disciples therefore all Church-Members are Christs Disciples 1. That all Church-Members true ones are Christians that is retainers to Christ or such as belong to Christ as his own Phrase is is beyond doubt 2. That all Christians are Disciples I proved before it being the plain words of the Holy Ghost Act. 11.26 The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch so that all Church-Members being Disciples they must regularly be Baptised at their
upon us to Unchristian or Unchurch them all that we do is in discharge of our Duty to God and Faithfulness in our places to labour to keep the Lords Ordinances in that Purity and Order the Sacred Records testifie they were left in and in a Spirit of Love and Meekness to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints 1 Cor. 11.2 Jude 3. which we conceive to be a Duty enjoyned upon all Christians c. Obj. 10. It hath been Objected from Eph. 4.4,5,6 Where under the several Heads there is in the fourth Head one Baptism Now saith the Objector if we believe the other six things there mentioned viz. One Body one Spirit even as ye are called in one Hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all c. and are not found in the Practise of the fourth Head viz. one Baptism what Reason is there that we should be deprived of Communion in the Lords Supper for either the neglect of it and not seeing we are bound to Practise it c. Answ It doth appear from the Text that this is a Golden Chain linked together by the Spirit of God himself the taking of one of which Links away may weaken the whole and if the Wisdom of the Spirit hath linked or joyned them together it seems to be great presumption in any to put them a sunder Therefore let it be noted that the Apostle verse 3. Exhorts the Church to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace In the 4 5 6. verses he shews wherein the Unity of the Spirit which is to be kept consists by giving a Character of the True Apostolick Religion epitomized under seven Heads 1. One God and Father of all who is above all and in us all 2. One Lord the second Adam the man Christ Jesus by whom and for whom are all things the great Mediator betwixt God and Man 3. One Faith Believing in this one God and this one Lord Jesus the one Mediator 4. One Baptism which in all the three Editions thereof hath signified a Profession and Ingagement to this one God and one Mediator by the Profession of the one Faith 5. One Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son the great Teacher and Instructor of this one Body into a further Communion with the Father and the Son 6. One Body whereof all the Baptised are professed Members and whereto they are compleatly United by that one Spirit 7. One hope of their Calling in believing the Resurrection of the Body and Eternal Life which God hath promised to all those that obey him From this we may with much Assurance infer that we are under an indispensable Obligation to be found in the Practice of this one Baptism which holds forth our Interest in and Profession of this one God and Father one Lord Jesus Christ and one Spirit into whose Name we are Commanded to be Baptised Matth. 28.19 c. The Objector supposes the bare Belief without the visible Profession of Baptism is enough which indeed is not so because the Nature and Constitution of this Ordinance is purely Practical by vertue of a positive Precept and no pretence of a speculative Belief will excuse the neglect of it any more than the neglect of an Exercise of Faith respecting any other of the six points which the Holy Spirit has joyned with it The Antients tell us the Form of Baptism when they Expound Eph. 4.5 One Law Quest Whereas it may be further Queryed Whether one Ordinance gives a Right to the enjoyment of another Answ It is answered no For we have before proved that all Ordinances are to be observed in that Order which the Appointer of them hath prescribed from which we ought not to vary For as Circumcision was the first Ordinance to be Administred before they might be partakers of the Passeover although it gave not a Right to the Passeover yet might not any partake of it before they were Circumcised without sin So also in the New Testament Baptism is the first Ordinance to be Administred by the direction and appointment of God without which the Supper of the Lord may not be received without Sin All that is pleaded for by this is the Orderly observation of the New Testament Ordinances Quest But why should any be debar'd the enjoyment of those Ordinances they have light into because they want light in others Answ It deserves to be seriously considered whether the neglect of the Ordinance of Baptism doth not more arise from the want of a heart to obey God therein by reason of the contempt put upon it then for want of Light Is any Ordinance of Jesus Christ in the New Testament more plain and clear than this Are there not many more instances in the New Testament for the Practise of this then the Lords Supper For besides the Institution of it by Jesus Christ instanced by the several Evangelists it is but four times mentioned viz. Act. 2.42 20.7 1 Cor. 10.16 11.23 Whereas we find besides the Commission given by Jesus Christ Matth. 28.19 c. that 't is again enjoyned Act. 2.38 8.38 Act. 10.48 16.15.33 Act. 9.18 Act. 18.8 c. Neither do we find any one Ordinance of the Gospel so much made use of by the Apostles to incite Christians to die to sin and live to Cod as is largely demonstrated in the foregoing sheets to which we refer c. Obj. 11. And whereas it may be Objected that 't is Love and not Baptism that discovers us to be Christs Disciples It is answered Answ We do readily confess that we are commanded to put on love Coll. 3.14 which is a great Character of a Disciple of Christ and it is much to be Lamented that there is so little seen among Saints Yet that cannot be called Love which is exercised in opposition to the Order prescribed in the Word by which Ordinances ought to be Administred For as Love is a grace of the Spirit of Christ so Ordinances are the appointments of the same Spirit which works Grace in the Hearts of Christians All true Gospel Love being Regulated by Gospel-Rule and as all men may know the Disciples of Christ by their Love one to another so also it is a Character given by the same Lord of being a Disciple when this Love is manifest in keeping his Commandements John 14.15 If ye Love me keep my Commandments ver 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be beloved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him ver 23. Jesus answered and said If any man Love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our aboad with him ver 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the Word which you hear is not mine but the Fathers which sent me Now of these Commandments this Ordinance of Baptism is not the least and it seems to savour of little Love in them that would have Men believe it is advanced in them above their Brethren to charge them with want of Love as the only Reason why they cannot admit persons to the Supper of the Lord that never yet Received the Baptism of Christ Therefore Here we can Appeal to the Searcher of Hearts That the true Reason is because we dare not break that Rule and Order by which we find the Primitive Saints walkt and not want of Love to them And the Sence we have of the great Severity God hath shewed against those that have made the least Breach upon that Order which he himself hath prescribed These things I leave to the serious Consideration of those to whom this brief Essay may come desiring they may try all thing and hold fast that which is Good FINIS