Their Progress was not the least of their Miracles The Bread of Life multiply'd faster in their Distribution of it than the Loaves by our SAVIOUR 's Breaking of them St. Peter Converted about three Thousand at one Sermon Acts ii 41. And at another time about five Thousand Ch. iv 4. Multitudes both of Men and Women Ch. v. 14. Many more than the Apostles cou'd have counted much more than they cou'd have baptized for which if they had stay'd they had made slender Progress No. The Apostles were sent as loud Heraulds to proclaim to all the Earth to run swiftly and gather much People and not to stay they cou'd not stay for the baptizing with their own Hands all that they Converted They left that to others whom they had ordain'd to Administer it Yet not so as to exclude themselves but they themselves did Baptize where they saw occasion as St. Paul here did BAPTIZE Crispus and Gaius and the House of Stephanas some of the Principal of the Corinthians Not that he was oblig'd to have done it himself having others to whom he might have left it For he was not sent that is put under the Necessity to Baptize with his own Hands but to Preach to Convert others that was his principal Province and which he was not to neglect upon the account of baptizing which others could do as well as he But if you will so understand the Words of his not being sent i. e. that it was not within his Commission that he was not Impower'd by Christ to Baptize then it wou'd have been a Sin and great Presumption in him to have baptized any body Nay more This Text thus understood is flatly contradictory to Matt. xxviii 19. which says Go Baptize And this says I am not sent to Baptize These are contradictory if by I am not sent be understood I have not Power or Commission to Baptize But by I am not sent no more is meant in this Text than that Baptizing is not the chief or principal part of my Commission As if a General were accused for Mustering and Listing Men in his own Name and not in the King 's and he shou'd say in Vindication of himself that he had never listed any except such and such Officers for that he was not sent to Muster or Drill Men or to Exercise Troops or Regiments but to Command the Army Wou'd it follow from hence that he had not Power to Exercise a Troop or a Regiment or that it was not within his Commission Or if a Doctor of Physick should say That it was not his Part to compound Medicines and make up Drugs that was the Apothecary's Business but to give Prescriptions wou'd any Man infer from this that he might not Compound his own Medicines if he pleas'd Or if to come nearer a Professor of Divinity or a Bishop ' shou'd say That he was not sent to Teach School this wou'd not imply that he might not Keep School nay he ought if there were no others to do it So the Apostle of the Gentiles was not sent to spend his Time in Baptizing Visiting the Sick or other Parts of his Duty which others might perform so as to hinder his great Work in Converting of the Gentiles All of whom he cou'd not Baptize nor Visit all their Sick Yet both these were within his Commission and he might and did Execute them where he saw occasion As if all the Sick in London shou'd expect to be Visited by the Bishop of London and all the Children shou'd be brought to be baptized by him he might well say That he was not sent to Baptize or to Visit their Sick but to look after his Episcopal Function And send them for these Offices to others under him And yet this wou'd no ways imply that these Offices were not within the Episcopal Commission or that he was not sent both to Baptize and to Visit the Sick But only that he was not sent principally and chiefly to Baptize or to Visit the Sick And as to that Phrase of being sent we find it us'd in this same sense to mean only being chiefly and principally sent Thus Gen. xlv 8. Joseph said to his Brethren It was not you that sent me hither but God It was certainly his Brethren who sent him for they sold him into Egypt But it was not They principally and chiefly but God who had other and extraordinary Ends in it Adam was not deceived says the Apostle 1 Tim. ii 14. but the Woman being deceived was in the Transgression Adam was deceived and fell as well as the Woman but the meaning is he was not first or principally deceived Again As for you who stick so close to the Letter when it seemeth to serve your turn Go ye and learn what that meaneth I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE Matt. ix 13. By which it cannot be understood that God did not require Sacrifice for he commanded it upon Pain of Death Yet he says Jer. vii 22. I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them concerning Burnt-Offerings or Sacrifices But this thing Commanded I them saying Obey my Voice c. according as it is written 1 Sam xv 22. To Obey is better than Sacrifice By all which cannot be meant that God did not Command the Jews concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for we know how particularly they were commanded but that the outward Sacrifice was not the chief and principal part of the Command which respected chiefly the inward Sacrifice and Circumcision of the Heart Which when they neglected and lean'd wholly to the Outward then God detests their Oblations Isa i. 14. Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth I am weary to bear them And he says V. 12. Who hath required this at your Hand It was certainly God who had required all these things at their hands but these outward Performances tho' the Neglect or Abuse of them was punished with Death yet they were not the chief and principal part of the Command being intended chiefly for the sake of the Inward and Spiritual Part From which when they were separated they were like the Body when the Soul is gone a dead and a loathsome CARCASS of Religion And which God is therefore said not to have commanded because he did not Command them without the other As he made not the Body without the Soul yet he made the Body as well as the Soul VIII And as there is Soul and Body in Man so while Man is in the Body there must be a Soul and Body of Religion that is an outward and an inward WORSHIP with our Bodies as well as our Souls And as the Separation of Soul and Body in Man is called Death so is the Separation of the outward and the inward Part of Religion the Death and Destruction of Religion The outward is the Cask and the inward is the Wine The Cask is no Part of the Wine but if you break the Cask you lose the Wine And
But I speak to a sort of Men who are us'd to Repetitions and will not take a Hint unless it be on their side and therefore I enlarge more than I wou'd do if I were writing to any others But I think I have said enough even to them to shew that the Meaning of the Apostle in this Text was only to prefer the Office of Preaching before that of Baptizing But I must withal desire them to take notice that the Preaching that is Publishing of the Gospel at first to Heathens was a very different thing and of much greater Necessity than those set Discourses which we now call Preaching in Christian Auditories XIII Let me to conclude add one-Argument more from this Text 1 Cor. i. 17. why that Baptism mention'd Matt. xxviii 19. cannot be meant of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost Because if when Christ sent his Apostles to Baptize the meaning was as the Quakers wou'd have it to Baptize with the Holy Ghost then the Apostle Paul said in this Text 1 Cor. i. 17. That he was not sent to Baptize with the Holy Ghost Which sense since the Quakers will not own they cannot reconcile these Texts without confessing that that Text Matt. xxviii 19. was not meant of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and then it must be meant of the Water-Baptism SECT VIII Objection from 1 Pet. iii. 21. THE Words of the Text are these The like Figure whereunto i. e. the Ark even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a Good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. From whence the Quakers argue thus That Baptism doth not consist in the outward Washing but the inward And so far they argue right That the inward is the chief and principal part and therefore that if any regard only the outward Washing of the Skin in Baptism they are indeed frustrated of the whole Benefit of it which is altogether Spiritual And it has been observ'd Sect. VII latter part of Numb vii That if only the outward Part of the Sacrifices or Circumcision and other Institutions under the Law were regarded they were hateful to God and he rejected them tho' at the same time he commanded the Performance of them under the Penalty of Death Thus it is in the Institutions of the Gospel The Inward and Spiritual Part is the chief and for the sake of which only the Outward is commanded But this makes the Outward necessary instead of throwing it off because as it was under the Law the Outward was ordained as a Means whereby we are made Partakers of the Inward And therefore if we neglect and despise the Outward when we may have it we have no Promise in the Gospel to Intitle us to the Inward As he that neglects the Means has no Reason to expect the End It is true a Miracle may do it but it is Presumption and Tempting of God to neglect the Outward Means of God's Appointment in expectation of his Miraculous Interposition against the Method which he has commanded As if provoking of God did Intitle us the more to his Protection Or as if we were Wiser than He to mend and alter his Institutions and dispense with them at our Pleasure Here let it be minded that the Ark is put only as a Type of Baptism Therefore Baptism is the more worthy and more necessary And to neglect Baptism is to venture swimming in the Deluge without the Ark. SECT IX The Quaker-Objection from Eph. iv 5. I. THE Words of the Text are these One Lord one Faith one Baptism whence the Quakers argue thus That Water-Baptism is one Baptism and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is another Baptism because the one is the Outward and the other the Inward Baptism and outward and inward are two Things Therefore that these must be two Baptisms which they say is contrary to this Text that says the Christians have but ONE Baptism as they have but ONE Lord and ONE Faith II. I Answer Outward and Inward are Two things but yet they hinder not the Vnity of that which is compos'd of Both. Thus Soul and Body are Two things and of Natures the most different of any Two things in the World yet they hinder not the Vnity of the Man who is compos'd of Both. Nay it is the Composition of these Two that makes up the One MAN insomuch that when these Two are Divided the MAN is no more for it is nothing else which we call Death but the Separation of Soul and Body And as before shewn Sect. VII Num. VIII while there is Soul and Body in Man there must be a Soul and Body of Religion that is an Outward and an Inward Part of Religion And if we destroy the Outward we shall lose the Inward because the Outward was design'd for the Safety and Preservation of the Inward It is true that the Inward is the Chief and Principal Part as of Man so of his Religion But this does not infer that the Outward is not likewise necessary We are commanded Rom. xii 1. to Present our Bodies a living Sacrifice and this is call'd our Reasonable Service For is it not Reasonable that since our Bodies are God's Creatures as well as our Souls He should have the Adoration and Service of our Bodies as well as of our Souls There is no Outward or Publick WORSHIP but by our Bodies we cannot otherwise express the INWARD Devotion and Adoration of our Minds And this is so Natural that whoever has a due Reverence and Awe of the Divine Majesty cannot help to Express it Outwardly by the Adoration of his Body in his Approaches to God even tho' in Private As our Blessed Saviour in His Agony fell prostrate upon His Face to the Earth And whoever deny the Outward Worship to God or perform it slovenly and carelesly it is a full Demonstration that they have no True and Real Devotion or Just Apprehension of the Almighty Therefore the Outward Part of Religion must by no means be let go because the Inward certainly dies when the Outward is gone But the Outward and the Inward WORSHIP of God are not Two Worships but only Two Parts of the same Worship As Soul and Body are not Two Men but Two Parts of the same Man so the Adoration of this One Man Outwardly in his Body and Inwardly in his Soul is not TWO Worships but TWO Parts of the SAME Worship III. There is but one Faith yet this Faith consists of several Parts There is a Faith in God of which the Heathens do partake There is a Faith in Christ which denominates Men Christians Yet these are not Two Faiths in a Christian but TWO Parts of the SAME Faith There is likewise a Faith in the Promises of the Gospel and that what is therein Commanded is from God And there are Degrees of this Faith of which one Christian does partake more than another And yet to
took care to instruct him as to this of the Lord's Supper particularly And he presses it upon the Corinthians as having received it from God For I have received of the Lord says he 1 Cor. xi 23. that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was Betrayed took Bread c. and so goes on to relate the whole Institution of the Lord's Supper and the mighty Consequences the Benefits and Advantages of it the Examination preparatory to it and the Vengeance both Temporal and Eternal which was due to the Contempt of it This shews that Christ did not Institute this Holy Sacrament by Chance It was the last Act of his Life and his Dying Bequest to his Church fill'd with all his Blessings and carrying with it to the Worthy Receivers the whole Merits and Purchase of his Death and Passion the Remission of our Sins and full Title to Heaven Brethren I speak after the Manner of Men tho' it be but a Man's Testament yet if it be confirmed no Man disannulleth or addeth thereto Gal. iii. 15. How much less then can any Man take upon him to disannul this last Will and Testament of Christ's which he has left to his Church and Bequeathed it to her with His Dying Breath This was the Reason that it was not only so particularly Recorded by the several Evangelists in the Gospels but when St. Paul was taught Immediately from Heaven this most Material Institution was not forgot but Christ Himself instructed him in it to shew the great Stress and Value which He laid upon it And let this suffice to have said in this place concerning this other Sacrament of the Lord's Supper It s Institution is as Plain and Express as that of Baptism And the Practise of it in the Days of the Apostles and all Ages since has been as Vniversal And what has been said of Baptism is of Equal Force as to this And the Quaker Arguments against this are upon the same Foundation as those against Baptism only they have not so many Objections against this Therefore I have made Baptism the chief Subject of this Discourse yet so as likewise to Include the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Therefore we will go on to consider what remains of the present Objection which Militates equally against both that there are no Signs under the Gospel V. And here let me observe First That these Signs and Figures which the Quakers make Incompatible to the Gospel State ought only to be understood of the Signs and Figures in the Law which were ordain'd as Types of Christ. And of these it is truly argu'd That when Christ who is the Substance is come they must cease of course which Argument the Quakers bring against the Signs and Figures which Christ did Institute under the Gospel But how foreign this is from their purpose let any one judge For those Signs and Figures which were appointed by Christ cou'd not be Types of Christ because a Type is what goes before a Thing and shews it to come And therefore when that which it foreshews is come it ceases But as there were Types under the Law to foreshew Christ's coming in the Flesh and his Sacrifice upon the Cross which therefore are ceased so Christ has appointed other Types to foreshew his second coming to Judge the World and which therefore must last till he shall so come as the Types of his first coming did last till he did so come The Sacrifices under the Law did praefigure the Death of Christ but the Sacraments under the Gospel were Instituted in Remembrance of it as well as for Types of our future Vnion with him in Heaven Therefore the same Reason which makes the Legal Types to cease does infer That the Evangelical Types must not cease till they likewise shall be fulfilled which will not be till we arrive at Heaven Thus as they are Types And then Secondly As they are Remembrances of what is past they are to last as long as the Remembrance of that which they Represent ought to last with us Christ did not Institute his Supper that we shou'd thereby Remember his Death a Day or a Year but till his Coming again His Death took his Personal Presence from us and therefore till that Return we must continue the Remembrance that is of his Absence till the Glorious Return of his Visible Body which was separated from us by his Death Thus no advantage can be brought to the Quaker Pretences against the Christian Sacraments from the Sacrifices and other Signs or Figures under the Law VI. We come now to Examine what they set up against any Signs or Figures under the Gospel from another Topick and that is That the Gospel is all Substance and therefore that there must be no Sign or Figure at all in it Answ By Substance here they mean that which is Inward or Spiritual that every thing in the Gospel is Spiritual But this will overthrow all outward or Bodily Worship For that is distinguished from Spiritual or Inward Worship And in one sense all Bodily Worship is a Sign or Figure of the Inward or Spiritual which is the Principal and Substantial Worship Thus Bowing the Knee or Vncovering the Head at Prayer are Signs or Figures of the Inward Reverence and Devotion of the Heart And this the Quakers practise therefore by their own Argument they have Signs and Figures as well as others only they throw off those of Christ's Institution and make new ones of their own It is impossible to be without Signs and Figures For this whole World is a Figure of that which is to come We our selves are Figures of God being Images of him And what is an Image but the Figure or Sign of a Thing Christ is a Figure of God being the Express Image of his Person Heb. i. 3. And we now have the Knowledge of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. God is a Light Inaccessible to Angels as well as unto Men without some Medium His Essence cannot be seen or known Immediately by any but Himself All Creatures partake of him in Signs and Figures of him each in their several Degrees there are Higher and more Noble Figures but all are Figures And God has in all Ages through the World Dispensed himself to Mankind in Signs and Figures we cou'd not otherwise apprehend Him Christ is the most Noble and Lively Figure of God Therefore his Dispensation is far beyond all others that went before him Yet even now We see through a Glass darkly 1 Cor. xiii 12. or in a Riddle as our Margent reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Figure What is the Bible that we read what are Words but the Signatures the Signs or Figures of Things We can see the Essence of no one thing in the World more than of God And what are all those Accidents of Colour Quantity and Quality by which we distinguish Things but so many Figures or Signs