a solemn adstriction and binding over of the soul to the service and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ There is a vow and a Covenant in Baptism as Circumcision of old was the Lords Covenant the sign and symbol of his Covenant with the Jewish Children so Baptism is the Lords Covenant with Children under the Gospel The soul of the Baptized person is not only given up unto the Lord but it is bound over to Christ and entereth a Covenant with him and as the Married woman upon her Marriage covenants with her husband and loseth her own name and taketh that of her husband so the baptized person covenanteth with Christ and there takes upon it the name of a Christian Or as Soldiers upon taking their Sacramentum for that word properly signifies the Military-Oath taken by Soldiers to their Commander in chief are bound and obliged by it to the Obedience of their General so the baptized person upon receiving this Sacrament becomes obliged and engaged unto Jesus Christ and is sworn in nomen imperationi coeti Thus Bucer Dickson and Peter Martyr do expound the phrase 3. The phrase may signifie the Exterior form of Baptism as to Baptismi formam the Administration of it it must be in the name of Christ so we are baptized into Christ 1. According to the institution of Christ he hath commanded his Ministers saying Mat. 28. 19. Go preach and baptize all Nations This is mentioned by Ambrose Aquinas Pareus Justinian Chrysostome Beza and P. Martyr 2. By a solemn invocation of the name of Christ This Beza insisteth upon expounding Mat. 28. 19. Then the sense is no more than so many of us as were baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost solemnly invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Aquinas thinks this the whole sense of this text but that I cannot agree I shall give you my reason for it anon 4. The phrase may import something of the significancy of this Ordinance Every Sacrament is significative a Sacrament is an outward and sensible sign Now what doth Baptism signifie saith the Apostle We are baptized into Christ 1. It is signum rei a sign of the redemption of our Souls by the blood of Christ of that clean water with which he hath promised to sprinkle the Souls of his people and which he hath poured out for their sprinkling even the blood of that lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world 2. It is signum spei A sign that our hope alone is in Christ Jesus there being no other name under heaven but his by which we can be Acts 4. 12. saved nor any salvation in any other Thus Deodate seemeth to interpret it 5. The phrase may signifie the End of our Baptism If any ask To what purpose are we and our Children baptized the answer is We are baptized into Christ to this end 1. That we should bear a testimony to the death of Christ and hold forth the great truth of the Gospel to the world that Jesus Christ is come into the world to save sinners That he was incarnate hath died and is risen again from the dead that in and through him we might have remission and forgiveness of sins through his blood 2. That we might bear witness that he is the alone object of our hopes that we rest upon him and him alone for eternal life and salvation This is the very end why we are baptized 3. That we might grow up in him so Beza and Hemingius We are by baptism as it were implanted and ingrafted into Christ and as the end of the implantation and ingrafting of a cien into a stock or of a plant in any soil is that it might grow up in that soil or in that stock So the end for which we are baptized into Christ is that we might grow up in Christ 6. The phrase may be understood to signifie the fruit of Baptism lest any should say What good is there of this Sacrament or what availeth Baptism saith the Apostle We are baptized into Christ This is the fruit of Baptism the Baptized person hath an interest and relation given him to Christ and is become a member of Christ Sacramentally so Really so All baptized persons have a real relation to the Church whose head is Christ 7. But lastly This phrase may be understood to denote the Perfection of Baptism As the Apostle distinguisheth of Circumcision Rom. 2. 26 27 29. telling us there is a Circumcision in the letter and of the flesh and there is a circumcision of the heart in the spirit So we must distinguish of Baptism there is a baptism of Water and there is a baptism with the Holy Ghost There is a baptism of the letter and upon the flesh and there is a baptism in the heart and the spirit Now this latter is the Baptism into Christ the other is in the name of Christ but this most properly into Christ it signifieth that we pass into Christ saith P. Martyr So as I think there is some difference and that a great one betwixt the phrase used here and Gal. 3. 27. Baptizing into Christ and that used in many other Scriptures of being baptized in the name of Christ I will shortly offer you my reason for my opinion as to this phrase signifying thus much 1. In the first place the Apostles phrase seems to me to restrain the subject of the Proposition He doth not say All of us were baptized into Christ and so into his death but as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death As much as to say Many are baptized in the name of Christ but some of us have not only been baptized in the name of Christ according to the sorm he hath prescribed with solemn invocation of his name but we have upon our baptism truly believing been ingrafted into Christ and united to him Now so many of us as have been thus not only been formally but really baptized into Christ having with the sign received the thing signified are baptized into his death 2. Again Observe the Praedicate As many of us saith the Apostle as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death I am aware that that phrase may be interpreted and is by some as I shall shew you more by and by into the sign and symbol of his death but I do not take that interpretation to be comprehensive of the full of what that phrase importeth I think it is interpreted v. 6. Knowing that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed which cannot be understood of all baptized persons but such only as are baptized with the Holy Ghost or according to the phrase of this text Baptized into Christ 3. This phrase is but once more found in Scripture Gal. 3. 27. where you have another predicate affixed to the subject of this Proposition There it is As many of you as have been
Baptism wherein the baptized person is buried with water signifieth the burial of the sins of that soul with Christ who shall truly repent and believe and dye unto sin 3. When the Lord together with the external sign conferreth his grace signified by that sign The sins of that soul are in that moment buried with Christ so as they shall appear no more either to their Souls eternal condemnation or in their former power and dominion as our Apostle afterward speaks in this Chapter Sin shall not have dominion over your mortal bodies because you are not under the law but under grace I have now done with the Doctrinal part of my discourse and the Proposition thus explained amounts to these two things 1. That every person who hath come under the Sacrament of Baptism by vertue thereof is dedicated to God and stands obliged to believe the Doctrine of the Gospel and to make a profession of that faith and is from that day made a member of the mystical body of Christ so far forth as it is visible and hath received that holy sign upon this trust That he or she shall not be ashamed of Christ and his Gospel but shall accept of Christ and the way of salvation through him revealed to the world and commit all its spiritual concerns unto him and rest upon him and him alone for life and salvation and grow up in him avoiding the pollutions of the world through lusts And this Baptism is both a sign to the soul commemorative of what Christ hath done in dying for sinners and declarative of what he further will do in the application of his redemption to them and that every one baptized walking up to his Baptismal dedication and Covenant shall certainly enjoy the benefits of Christs death And all such as come not only under the Ordinance but who are fully and perfectly baptized with the Holy Ghost are forthwith ingrafted into Christ and entituled to a present enjoyment of all the benefits of his death 2. That all such as have come under the holy Ordinance of Baptism ought to look back upon their Baptism as the Image of Christs death and upon themselves obliged by vertue of it to dye to sin like as he dyed for sin and all such as are perfectly baptized into Christ have their sins buried with Christ and their sins can no more rise up in judgment against them than one that is buried can rise up to do his former actions in the world and the power of sin is also dead in them so as it is impossible they should any longer serve sin and therefore the plea of those against Justification of grace for the righteousness of Christ imputed to the soul must be vain for that holy Doctrine cannot possibly open a door to a licentious conversation because all such persons are baptized into Christ and buried with Christ by Baptism into death This I take to be the full sense of the text and the Proposition which I have delivered in the words of the text Let me now come to the Application of this discourse Instruct 1. This in the first place may by way of Instruction let us know That Baptism considered as to the action is a most solemn serious action and ought to be so looked upon both by the Administrator and by those who offer themselves or their children unto it and considered as an Ordinance of the Gospel is a most useful Institution I will dwell a little upon both these branches it being indeed my great design in this discourse to recover to this Ordinance the gravity and reverence that is due to it and to make my hearers a little better to understand the meaning and usefulness of it than the most of our people seem to do The truth is we are degenerated into such a careless slighty administration of this sacred Institution as if the Baptizing of a child were an action of no graver import than washing its face and an opportunity amongst the richer to call friends together for a banquet or amongst those of meaner rank to call the richer together to make them or their Midwives or Nurses some small presents Let me therefore evince to you 1. That it is a most serious Action 2. That it is a most useful Institution 1. That it is a most serious Action Two things in my former discourse will evince this 1. That in Baptism there is a solemn dedication of the person baptized unto Christ 2. That there is in it a solemn adstriction or stipulation or engagement of the party baptized unto Christ 1. I say first There is in it a solemn dedication of the person There is in Baptism a solemn dedication of the person baptized to God unto Christ If the person baptized be adult and grown up he or she dedicate themselves If they be baptized in their Infancy their Parents whose they are dedicate them unto Christ The grown person that offereth him or her self to Baptism doth in effect say Lord I am thy creature the work of thy hands I have degenerated and forgotten thee my maker other Lords have ruled over me I have been servant to Idols a servant to the Devil to the world to my own lusts But Lord I am weary of that service and from my heart renounce it I have heard that thou hast sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners I desire to look upon it as a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation Lord I do here accept it and of that thy way of salvation and do from my heart this day set my self apart unto thee and solemnly offer up my self unto thee I am Christs servant O Lord I am Christs servant believing that is he who hath loosed my bands Admitting a child to be baptized in its infancy then the parents dedicate it Give me leave to allude to that of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. The good woman had been praying for a child v. 15. having obtained a child of the Lord v. 22. She names the child Samuel asked of God v. 22. She resolves when he was weaned to carry him that he might appear before the Lord and there abide for ever v. 26. she brings the child to the High-Priest Eli and saith Oh my Lord as thy soul liveth my Lord I am the woman that stood by thee praying unto the Lord For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord. She meant it in a particular sense that she had dedicated him to the Priestly office But there is no parent that brings a child to Baptism but says in proportion thus unto God O Lord I am the person to whom thou hast given this child for it I prayed and thou hast given me the petition I asked of thee Therefore also I here dedicate him to thee O thou eternal Father To thee O
Citizens and fellow-Soldiers so it ought to engage us to endeavour unity that we are fellow-members of the same body and fellow-Citizens of the same City There is but one body and we were all baptized into that one body 3. It is useful to quicken us both to the exercises of faith and To the Exercises of faith and of repentance repentance The force of this lyeth in the solemn dedication of the person to God and the Souls solemn engagement in it to be the Lords both which inseparably attend this holy Institution The soul thus reasoneth with it self I was by nature a child of wrath a great sinner blind unbelieving when I was baptized I was dedicated to God I solemnly engaged my self to the service of God I cannot be the Lords without repenting and believing his word and also a receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ whom God hath revealed to be the Saviour of them that believe Had I been an Heathen I ought not to have been baptized until I had given an evidence of my repentance my hearty imbracing the Doctrine of the Gospel and as hearty closing with the Lord Jesus Christ as my hope and my Saviour Now though I was baptized when a child in my parents right yet if I ever hope to be saved this cannot excuse me from those great duties of Repentance and Faith which God hath made inseparably necessary to salvation As Circumcision availeth nothing to those who did not keep the Law so Baptism availeth as little to those who perform not the terms of the Gospel Besides when I was baptized though an Infant I could not indeed engage for my self but my parents engaged for me that so far as lay in them I should repent and believe they have fulfilled their parts to me in calling upon me for it and pressing these things upon me or if they have not yet the Covenant of God is in my flesh and I am ingaged to do these things not only because they are the necessary terms of my salvation but in regard I have covenanted in Baptism to do it It is true it is not in my power without the special efficacious grace of God to repent or to believe but I am under the Oath of God to do what in me lyes to do it to avoid those gross sins which it is in my power to avoid by vertue of the common grace of God denied to no man Wherein I have offended to set down sadly to reflect on them and to beg of God a broken heart for them to wait upon all holy Institutions which may be conducive to these ends c. 4. To name no more It is useful to quicken us up to Holiness and that part of it especially which lyeth in the mortification of our To the exercise of Mortification members Why because saith the Apostle we are Baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death We are not only baptized into a belief and a profession of a belief of his death but into a fellowship with his death a part of which lies in a dying to sin as he dyed for sin For saith the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 4. 1. He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God Observe the words which go before v. 2. For as much therefore as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind c. From whence I infer That our fellowship with Christs suffering in the flesh lyeth in our cessation from sin Now I have shewed you that in Baptism a Sacramental representation of Christs suffering in the flesh and our submission to that holy Institution engageth us to a conformity to the death of Christ and to a fellowship with it that is to a ceasing from sin For saith my text we are buried with him by baptism into death and it followeth That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life And again v. 6. Knowing that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin For he that is dead is free from sin The meditation of this is of great use to ingage us to Holiness as there is in this Ordinance an ingagement upon us to dye unto sin and to maintain that as well as other parts of the spiritual fight Thus I have shewed you the usefulness of this Ordinance to quicken the soul 3. It is useful likewise to corroborate and strengthen the soul Baptism how it is useful to help and strengthen the Soul and that both in the Exercises of faith and of holiness 1. In the exercises of faith Faith either respects the Proposition of the word which faith agreeth to as truth Or 2. The person of the Mediator who alone is the object of saving justifying faith the primary and more remote object though the promises of the Gospel be the proximate and mediate object in and by which the soul receiveth Christ and by means of which through the assistance of the Spirit the soul committeth it self to him as to all its spiritual concerns respecting eternal life and salvation As to both these Baptism is if made use of a great help Indeed all Sacramental signs are so and given for that end I remember when God instituted the Jewish Passover after the describing the rise of it Exod. 12. from v. 3. to v. 26. he addeth v. 26 and 27. And it shall come to pass that when your children shall say unto you What mean you by this service you shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lords Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses God foresaw that that great deliverance would in time be forgotten or not believed that God should shew such favour to a small oppressed number of people as to bring them out of slavery to slay one in every family of the Egyptians might be questioned especially considering the world was never very apt to believe stories of distinguishing Grace or Providence therefore God instituted the Passover to continue the memory and revive the faith of so great a salvation But how much greater a salvation was here For God to send forth his own Son the Antitype to that Paschal lamb to take upon him our flesh and to dye in our nature for sinners upon the Cross to agree to this was like to be a much harder exercise of faith To revive the memory and keep alive the exercise therefore of faith as to this miracle of salvation God instituted two Sacraments of the New Testament ordained two sacred Actions to be done that when our Children should say to us Father or Mother What is the meaning
are not justified by works but by the aboundings of grace freely imputing the righteousness of Christ to us 1. He aversateth this and rejects such a notion with utmost abhorrence and detestation God forbid saith he far be it from us to assert any such thing or to lay down any position from whence any such thing can be reasonably concluded Then he proceeds to prove that there can be no such conclusion drawn from his premises For saith he how shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein The strength of the Argument lyeth in this Hypothesis That God at the same time that he dischargeth the soul from the guilt of sin and the obligation to death under which sin layeth it doth also renew and sanctifie the heart and destroyeth the Souls appetite and love to sin so that sin hath no longer a power and dominion over the Soul and look as for a dead man to live is a contradiction so it is no lesser contradiction for a justified soul to live in sin every justified soul hath an heart dead to sin and so cannot any longer live therein he may be overtaken with faults he doth sin seven times in a day and who knoweth how often he offendeth But he sinneth not as other men he cannot live in sin much less take an encouragement to sin from the grace of God abounding towards his soul for the justification of it 2. In the Text which I have read to you he proveth it from our Baptism Know you not saith he that so many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death In the words you have 1. A Preface Know you not Which confirms the following Proposition as a Proposition of undoubted truth and great Evidence such as all good Christians must be supposed to know and it were strange if any understanding Christian should be ignorant of so evident a truth 2. A Proposition in those words So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death 3. Here is the proof of this Proposition or if you had rather call it so an Inference upon this Proposition We are therefore buried with him by Baptism into death What is necessary for the Explication of the words you shall have in the Explication of the Proposition which for the advantage of your memories I shall deliver you in the words of the Text. Prop. So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death The Proposition will only require Explication and Application In the first I have these Questions which all of them have their difficulty to open to you Quest 1. What this is to be baptized into Christ Quest 2. What it is to be baptized into the death of Christ and in what sense those who are baptized are baptized into the death of Christ Quest 3. How we are buried with Christ by Baptism into death Quest 1. What is this to be baptized into Christ I do not think that this is to be expounded by being baptized according to the true form of Baptism In the name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost I can easily allow that to be comprehended in this phrase but I can by no means allow it to exhaust the full sense of it for I cannot understand how in that sense a person baptized can be said to be more baptized into Christ than into the Father or the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must certainly be more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambrose is I think a little critical when to justifie this restriction of sense against the aforementioned obvious objection he tells us That in the name Christ is not only to be understood that person whom the name denotes viz. the second person in the Trinity but the other two persons qui mittit he who sends who is the Father and qui ungit he who annointeth who saith he is the Spirit the third person in the blessed Trinity 2. We often meet with phrases much a-kin to this in holy Writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 2. 38. In the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus in the name of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 16. 1 Cor. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into Moses 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into one body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 12 13. Into Christ Gal. 3. 27. the only text in Scripture fully parallel to this Into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. We translate it in in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase as it lyes before us may signifie several things 1. The term of the Action So we may be said to be baptized Actus terminum into Christ 1. As we are baptized into the Gospel of Christ thus Origen We are not baptized into the Law but into Christ not into the Doctrine of Justification by works but by faith in Christ Christ is so much the substance of the Gospel that his name is sometimes put for the Gospel so we preach Christ i. e. the Gospel of Christ The Jews were baptized into Moses into the Cloud and the Sea 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into Christ they signified a Christ to come you are baptized into a Christ already come who hath died for your sins into a Doctrine that so teacheth you 2. Or secondly Into the profession of the Gospel Paul tells the believers at Ephesus that John baptized with the baptism of Repentance that they should believe on him who should come after him Acts 19. 3. that is on Christ Jesus but now we are baptized into Christ and into the Baptism of Christ That we should believe on him who is come who hath died for our sins and risen again for our justification We are baptized into the profession of this faith 3. Or thirdly Into Christ that is into the mystical body of Christ thus Pareus and Estius into the number of visible Saints visible In populum Dei adoptamur Pareus Professors c. And thus it excellently agreeth with that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 13. By the Spirit we are baptized into one body 2. The phrase secondly may denote the nature of the Act of Baptism and so two things are spoken in it 1. That in Baptism we are dedicated and given up to the Lord Jesus Christ By Baptism saith Estius we give up our Names to Regno grae illius assignari Musculus Christ We are assigned over to the Grace and Kingdom of Christ This is the very nature of Baptism to give up and assign the baptized person to the service of Christ 2. Nay there is not only in Baptism a dedication of the Soul to Christ to his Kingdom and Grace but there is an initiation of the soul and
baptized into Christ have put on Christ Now what it is to put on Christ the Apostle telleth you Rom. 13. 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Eph. 4. 24. You read of putting on the new man so Col. 3. 10. Now all that are baptized cannot be said to have put on Christ Many of them make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts there of Many of them have not put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness For these reasons I do think that to be baptized into Christ signifieth more than to be baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I conclude then my discourse in answer to this Question thus 1. There is an external imperfect Baptism whereby and wherein persons are washed with water as a Religious rite in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost with invocation on the name of Christ Those who are thus baptized are baptized into the Gospel-Doctrine and the profession of it into that one body of which Christ is the Head they are dedicated to Christ and make a covenant with him They receive their Baptism as a sign that Christ the Saviour of the World is come hath died and risen again and that their only hope for salvation is in and through him they are baptized for this very end and purpose that they might bear a testimony to the Messias his being come having died c. and that they might accept of him as their Saviour hope and rest in and upon him and him alone and growing up in him c. and their Baptism is not fruitless in case they do repent and believe in Christ but is a sign to them that doing so he will be their Saviour 2. But there is also a more perfect Baptism when persons are not only washed with water but with the blood of Christ regenerated and sanctified baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire Now saith the Apostle so many as are thus baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death And that brings me to the second Question Q. 2. What is this to be baptized into the death of Christ This I shall answer in three things 1. Into the image and similitude of his death Thus Justinian and In similitudinem imaginem mortis Gorran expound the phrase And this is two ways 1. The first more particularly respected the manner of Baptism in those hot Countreys which was by dipping the whole body of the baptized person in water thus John baptized in Jordan Ezek. 36. 25. Isa 44. 3. This is doubtless lawful but we say not necessary nor amongst us expedient Not necessary for the grace of justification and remission is as well in Scripture expressed by sprinkling and pouring water And you read of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ V. Aquinat Esti Piscat Deodati ad loc 1 Pet. 2. 2. and we are said to be come to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 24. signified by the blood of sprinkling under the law Heb. 11. 28. Not expedient or convenient dipping a new-born Infant in water in a probable way would endanger its life But I say that custom had a fairer similitude of the burial of Christ persons buried are covered with Earth so those baptized persons were covered with water but it is as true Earth is sprinkled and poured too upon persons buried as water is upon the Child baptized 2. But there is another similitude of far more value expressed v. 6. of this Chapter Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed This must be understood when the Lord with his internal grace is pleased to concur with the Sacrament Even as from that day wherein Christ cursed the figtree it withered so from that day that a person is baptized where Gods inward grace concurreth with the outward sign the tree of lust and corruption decayeth and withereth 2. Into his death that may be into the faith owning and profession of his death those who are baptized into Christ do profess to believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners the water poured and sprinkled on them signifieth the blood of Jesus Christ so that Christ hath died and their submission to that rite to receive Baptism is a taking upon them the faith and profession of the death of Jesus Christ 3. Lastly They are baptized into the fruit of his death And this may be taken in a double sense 1. If they be only externally baptized and receive no more than the outward sign yet it is and shall be a sign unto them that if at any time they shall heartily repent and believe the fruit and benefit yea all the fruit and benefit of the death of Christ shall be really and truly theirs 2. If the Lord doth with the external sign confer the inward grace and give the thing signified then they are really and absolutely baptized into the death of Christ and made partakers of the benefits of his redemption being washed with the blood of the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world And thus much may serve to have spoken to the second Question the third followeth Quest 3. What it is to be buried with Christ by baptism into death and how the baptized person may be said to be buried with Christ by Baptism into death I Answer A baptized person may be said to be buried with Christ by Baptism into death 1. Analogically there being as I said before a great Analogy betwixt burying of a dead body and baptizing a person the dead person was covered with the Earth the baptized person with Water This was according to their manner of baptizing by dipping to which also the Apostle alludeth Col. 2. 12. And of old they used a trina immersio a dipping the baptized person three times to signifie Christs lying three days in the grave but this usage was doubtless not so old as the Apostles times nor was there any rule for it Others say they dipped the person baptized thrice to signifie his being baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Thus Aquinas Justinian Chrysostome Damascene Theophilact and Gregory interpret this text but I do not think that this takes up the whole of the sense 2. We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death Symbollically or Sacramentally Baptism signifieth thus much to all That if they live up to that dedication of them unto God unto that Covenant which they enter into in Baptism when they come up to years of discretion if they be baptized in their Infancy repenting and believing their sins shall come no more in Gods sight but be as much buried and out of sight as a person who is baptized by dipping in water is out of our sight during that instant Thus the Apostle Col. 2. 12. saith We are buried with him in baptism
will call that Justification but not as to remission of sins or the actual Justification and Acceptation of his Soul by and before God in this life he makes his boast of Christ and rejoyceth in him and hath no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3 3. Thus much as to the putting on Christ as to Justification As for the putting on Christ with reference to Sanctification let me add a few notes by which we may judg of that 3. He that hath thus put on Christ hath put him on not only for his upper but for his inward garment He is not sanctified in body only but throughout in mind and in spirit he doth not only offer up his body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God but he is transformed through the renewing of his mind he hath not only a demure countenance an holy look or tougue but his thoughts are in a great measure holy his will his affections are holy with allowance to such infirmities as attend even the best of Saints he saith the Apostle is a Jew that is one inwardly so he is a Christian that is one inwardly St. Paul delighteth in the Law of God after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. Many put on a face and outward appearance of Religion The Pharisees Luke 11. 39. made clean the outside of the cup and platter but our Saviour tells them that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness So many are outwardly very fair and religious but inwardly they are vain and filthy had you a window into their hearts there you would see vain and idle and sinful thoughts and those not rare and crouded in but frequent constant and feasting their Souls A blind understanding a will stubborn and rebellious against the will of God especially if cross to their natural bias and inclinations and humours or interest sensual and carnal affections not set on heaven and heavenly things but meerly feeding on earth and earthly things 4. If you have put on Christ you have put off what is contrary unto him Rom. 13. 12. Let us therefore saith the Apostle cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light Eph. 4. 22. And be you renewed in your mind that you put off concerning your former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts v. 25. Wherefore pntting away lying speak every man the truth to his neighbour v. 26. Be you angry and sin not v. 28. Let him that hath stollen steal no more c. v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers v. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit c. v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be you kind one to another tender hearted c. Col. 3. 8. But now you also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth v. 9. Lye not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is created in knowledge after the image of him that created him This is to be baptized into the death of Christ This is the picture of him who hath put on Christ 5. Who so hath put on Christ hath put on both his robes and his sackcloth and crown of thorns As there is a dying to sin so there is a living to righteousness in every soul that hath put on Christ As he puts off what I mentioned before so he also puts on as one of the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering he for bears others and forgives others if he hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave him so also doth he he puts on Charity which is the bond of perfectness the word of Christ dwelleth in him richly in all wisdom he doth all he doth in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whether in word or deed giving thanks to God and the Father by him Col. 3. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. He puts on habits of universal righteousness and holiness which the Apostle calleth the Image of God he puts on meekness and patience in suffering Being reviled he revileth not again he is led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers he openeth not his mouth c. 6. He who hath put on Christ hath put on the whole armour of God It all goes along with Christ to a soul such a soul stands with its loins girt about with truth having on the breast-plate of righteousness and its feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace He takes the shield of faith whereby he is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked he takes the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God c. 7. Finally If the soul hath put on Christ its face its garments will shine That soul will look like Moses when he came from the Mount Its light will shine before men that they shall see its good works How beautiful must that soul be that is cloathed with light as with a garment It s faith its holiness its humility its meekness will be every where reported of If now you find these things in you in sincerity and in some measure though not in the perfection of degrees you may conclude you are baptized into Christ because you have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 3. I shall stand once more on this foundation and give you a few words of Exhortation with which I will conclude I shall speak 1. to you that are Parents 2. To you that are Children or who have been baptized while you were Children 3. To all in general whether Parents or Children First I speak unto you Parents I have two words to speak to you upon occasion of this discourse 1. That you would be very grave and serious when you bring your Children to this great Ordinance of God It was indeed one of the ends I proposed to my self in undertaking this discourse to correct that woful levity which I generally observe in this most grave and weighty action And here were I in a Congregation proper for such a discourse I would beseech my brethren in the Ministry to restrain that slightness and desultory levity that is so ordinary in this Administration by their more grave and thoughtful performance of this part of their Ministry I perswade my self much of this hath been occasioned by that groundless fancy That Baptism is necessary to salvation not only by a necessity of precept as the fulfilling of every command of God is necessary and by a necessity of the mean as it is a divine mean which in its season and under due circumstances we ought not to neglect we freely grant both