the body of sin crucified with him For shall we say that S. Paul meant no more by all this than that the design of Baptism and the several parts of it was to represent to us the necessity of our dying and being buried as to sin and that accordingly all that are baptized into Christ make profession of their resolution so to do but not that they are indeed buried by Baptism as to that particular But beside that we are not lightly to depart from the propriety of the Scripture phrase which must be acknowledg'd rather to favour a real death than the bare signification of it That Apostle doth moreover affirm those whom he before describ'd as dead to be freed (d) Rom. 7.18 from sin yea so far (e) Rom. 7.18 as to have passed over into another service even that of righteousness and to have obeyed from the heart (f) Rom. 7.17 that form of Doctrine into which they had been delivered Which suppos'd as it may because the direct affirmation of S. Paul will make that death whereof we speak to be a death in reality as well as in figure and accordingly because Men are affirmed to be baptized into it shew that Baptism to be a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it Agreeable hereto or rather yet more express is that of the same Apostle to the Colossians (g) Col. 2.11 though varying a little from the other as to the manner of expression For having affirmed them through Christ to have put off the body of the sins of the flesh by a circumcision not made with hands and consequently by a spiritual one he yet adds lest any should fancy that spiritual Circumcision to accrue to them without some ceremonial one in the Circumcision of Christ even that Baptism which conformably to the circumcision of the Jews he had appointed for their entrance into his Religion by and wherein he accordingly affirms as he did in the former place that they were not only buried with him but had risen together with him by the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead From whence as it is clear that the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh which is but another expression for a death unto them is though accomplished by a spiritual Grace yet by such a one as is conveyed to us by Baptism so it becomes yet more clear by what he adds concerning Men's rising with him in the same Baptism even to a life contrary to what they had before deposited through the faith of the operation of God. For as we cannot conceive of that rising with Christ as other than a real one because there would not otherwise have needed such a faith as that to bring it about So neither therefore but think the like of that death which it presupposeth and consequently that that Baptism to which it is annex'd is a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it But so we may be yet more convinc'd by such Texts of Scripture as speak of this death unto sin under the notion of a cleansing from it Of which nature is that so often alledged one (h) Eph. 5.26 27. concerning Christ's sanctifying and cleansing his Church with the washing of water by the word For as it appears from what is afterwards subjoyn'd as the end of that cleansing even that the Church might not have any spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blemish As it appears I say from thence that the Apostle speaks in the verse before concerning a cleansing from the filth of sin which is but another expression for the putting off the body of sin or a death unto it So it appears in like manner from S. Paul's attributing that cleansing to the washing of water that the outward sign of Baptism is by the appointment and provision of God a means of conveying that spiritual Grace by which that cleansing is more immediately effected and that death unto sin procur'd From that death unto sin therefore pass we to our new birth unto righteousness that other inward and spiritual Grace of Baptism and the complement of the former A Grace of whose conveyance by Baptism we can much less doubt if we consider the language of the Scripture concerning it or the Doctrine as well as practice of the Church The opinion the Jews had of that which seems to have been its type and exemplar or the expressions even of the Heathen concerning it For what less can the Scripture be thought to mean when it affirms us to be born of the water (i) Joh. 3.5 of it as well as of the spirit yea so as to be as truly spirit (k) Joh. 3.6 as that which is born of the flesh is flesh What less can it be thought to mean when it entitles it the laver of (l) Tit. 3.5 Regeneration and which is more affirms us to be saved by it as well as by the renewing of the Holy Ghost What less when it requires us to look upon our selves as alive (m) Rom. 6.11 unto God by it as well as buried (n) Rom. 6.4 by it into the former death or as the same Apostle elsewhere expresseth it as risen with Christ in it (o) Col. 2.12 through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead In fine what less when it affirms us to be sanctified with the washing (p) Eph. 5.26 of it as well as it elsewhere doth by the influences of God's Spirit For these expressions shew plainly enough that Baptism hath its share in the producing of this new birth as well as the efficacy of God's Spirit And consequently that it is at least the conveyer of that Grace by which it is more immediately produc'd And indeed as if men would come without prejudice they would soon see enough in those expressions to convince them of as much as I have deduced from them So they might see yet more if they pass'd so far in the doctrine and language of the Church to confirm them in that Interpretation of them For who ever even of the first and purest times spake in a lower strain concerning Baptism who ever made less of it than of a means by which we are regenerated I appeal for a proof hereof to their so unanimously (q) See Part 2. understanding of Baptism what our Saviour spake to Nicodemus concerning the necessity of men's being born again of water and of the spirit For as all men whatsoever interpret that of our new birth unto righteousness and so far as the spirit of God is concerned in it of the means by which it is produc'd So they must therefore believe that if the Antients understood it of Baptism they allotted that its share in it and consequently made it at least a conveyer of that Grace by which this new birth is produc'd I appeal farther to the particular declarations of
Head than that that Law which requires a pious and innocent temper was given to Adam in that capacity But as we can as little doubt of that if his contracting a contrary temper was as fatal to his Posterity as to himself So that it was will need no other proof than his producing the like temper in them and that temper 's proving as deadly to them The former whereof is evident from what I before said to shew that Original Sin had its beginning from Adam the latter from S. Paul's (p) Rom. 7.24 calling it a Body of Death or a Body that brings it The Genitive Case (q) Grot. iâ— loc among the Hebrews and Hellenists being usually set for such Adjectives as betoken a causality in them Even as the Savour of Death is us'd for a deadly one or that which bringeth death and the Tree of Life for a life-giving one or that which was apt to produce or continue it I deny not indeed that I may now pass to those Exceptions that are commonly made against it that it may seem hard to conceive how Adam should be set in such a capacity as to involve all mankind in happipiness or misery according as he either continued in or fell from that integrity wherein God created him I deny not therefore but that it is equally hard to conceive how God should give him such a Law the observation or transgression whereof on his part should redound to the account of his Posterity But as every thing that is hard to be conceiv'd is not therefore to be deny'd if it be otherwise strengthen'd with sufficient proofs So it would be consider'd also whether it be not much more hard to conceive how God should otherwise involve Infants and Children in those calamities into which they often fall especially in National Judgments It being certainly more agreeable to the divine Justice to conceive those to have some way or other offended and consequently thereto to have fallen under the displeasure of it than to conceive them to suffer it without any offence at all For why then should we not think especially when the Scripture hath led the way that God oblig'd them in Adam to a pious and innocent temper and which they losing in him they became obnoxious with him to the same sad effects of his displeasure And though it be true that there is this great imparity between the cases that the effect of God's displeasure upon occasion of Original Sin is made to reach to eternal misery as well as to a temporal one whereas the case we before instanc'd in concerns only a temporal punishment Yet as they do thus far agree that a punishment is inflicted where there is no actual sin to deserve it which is sufficiently irreconcileable with the understanding we otherwise have of the divine Justice So that great imparity may be much abated by considering that God hath provided a Plaster as large as the Sore even by giving his Son to dye for all Mankind and appointed the Sacrament of Baptism to convey the benefit of it For as the consequents of Original Sin will be thereby taken off from so many Infants at least as are admitted to that Sacrament so that mercy of his to those and the assurance we have from the Scripture of his giving his Son to dye for all may perswade us to believe that though he hath not reveal'd the particular way to us yet he hath some other way to convey the benefit of that death to those who are not admitted to the other But it will be said it may be which is a no less prejudice against the being of Original Sin that all sin to make it truly such must have the consent of the will of those in whom it is as well as be the transgression of a Law. A thing by no means to be affirm'd concerning that which we call Original Sin because not only contracted before we had a being and therefore also before we had so much as the faculty of willing but moreover conveyed to us when we had neither reason to apprehend it nor any power in our wills either to admit or reject it And indeed how altogether to take off the force of that Objection is beyond my capacity to apprehend or satisfie the understandings of other Men Because as I cannot see how any thing can be a sin which hath not also the consent of the will of those in whom it is so I am as little able to conceive how Original Sin should have the consent of ours either when it was first contracted or when it was transmitted to us But as I am far less able to conceive how Infants and Children should come to be so severely dealt with without any offence at all or therefore without having some way or other consented to one So I think first that that difficulty may well be laid in the ballance against the other yea alledged as a bar to the supposed force of it For why should my inability to apprehend how Infants and Children could consent to Original Sin prevail with me to deny the being of it when a far greater inability to apprehend how the same persons should come to be so severely dealt withal without it doth not prevail with me to deny that severe usage of them Neither will it avail to say which is otherwise considerable enough that we have for the belief of this last the testimony of our senses which is not to be alledged as to the other For the question is not now whether the severe usage of Infants and Children may not more reasonably be believ'd than their Original Sin upon the account of the greater evidence there may be of it But whether we can any more deny the Original Sin of Infants and Children upon the account of our inability to apprehend how they should consent unto it than we can deny the severe usage of the same persons upon the account of our inability to apprehend how they should come to be so dealt with without the other Which that we cannot is evident from hence that we are equally at a loss in our apprehensions about the one and the other that I say not also more at a loss about the latter than about the former And indeed as we find it necessary to believe many things notwithstanding our inability to apprehend how they should come to pass and ought not therefore to deny the being of any one thing upon the sole account of that inability So our apprehensions are so short as to the modes of those things of the being whereof we are most assured that it will hardly be deemed reasonable to insist upon the suggestions of them against the affirmations of the Scripture Partly because of the Authority of him from whom it proceeded and partly because we cannot so easily fail in our apprehension concerning the due sense of the affirmations of it as in the deductions of our own reason concerning
the things affirmed Nothing more being required to the understanding of the one than a due consideration of the signification of the words wherein they are expressed whereas to the right ordering of the other there is requir'd a due understanding of the Nature of those things about which we reason which is both a matter of far greater difficulty and in many cases impossible to be attain'd Whatever difficulty therefore there may be in apprehending how Original Sin could have the consent of those in whom it is supposed to be and consequently how it should be truly and properly a sin Yet ought not that to be a bar against our belief of it if the Scripture hath represented it as such and which whether it hath or no I shall leave to be judg'd by what I have before observ'd from it From such Objections as are level'd more immediately against the being of Original Sin pass we to those which impugne the derivation of it from Adam and from whom we have affirmed it to proceed Which Objections again do either tend to shew that it had its Original from something else or that it cannot be suppos'd to have its Original from Adam An opinion hath prevail'd of late years that that which we call Original Sin took its rise from the sins of particular Souls in some praexistent estate and from those evil habits which they contracted by them And certainly the opinion were reasonable enough to be embrac'd if the praexistence of Souls were but as well prov'd as it is speciously contriv'd For that suppos'd it would be no hard matter to give an account of the rise of that Corruption which is in us nor yet of God's afflicting those on whom no other blame appears That corruption as it is no other than what particular Souls have themselves contracted so making them as obnoxious to the vengeance of God as any after sins can be supposed to do But do they who advance this hypothesis think the plausibleness thereof a sufficient ground to build it on Or are problems in Divinity no other way to be determin'd than those of Astronomy or other such conjectural Arts are I had thought that for the resolution of these we ought rather to have had recourse to that word of God which was design'd to give us an understanding of them to have examin'd the several assertions of it and acquiesced in them how difficult soever to be apprehended I had thought that we ought to have done so much more where the Scripture professeth to deliver its opinion and doth not only not wave the thing in question but speaks to it Which that it doth in the present case will need no other proof than the account it gives of the Original of Mankind and then of the Original of Evil. For as it professeth to speak of Adam not only as created by God but as appointed by him (r) Gen. 1.28 to give being by the way of natural Generation to all that after him should replenish the Earth which how he should be thought to do if he were only to be a means of furnishing them with a Body who had the better part of their being before is past my understanding to imagine so it professeth to speak of the same Adam as one by whom sin and death (Å¿) Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.21 22. enter'd into the World as well as the persons of those on whom it seizeth And can there then be any place for a precarious hypothesis about the Original of Mankind or the evils of it Can there be place for advancing that hypothesis not only beside but against the determinations of the Scripture Do not all such hypotheses proceed upon the uncertainty of the matter about which they are conversant Do they not come in as a relief to the understandings of Men where they cannot be satisfied any other way But how then can there be place for such a one where the Scripture hath determin'd How can there be any place even for the most specious and plausible For as that cannot be suppos'd to be uncertain which the Scripture hath determin'd So no plausibility whatsoever can come in competition with the determinations of God such as those of the Scripture are But such it seems is the restlesness of some Men's minds that if they cannot satisfie their scruples from what the Scripture hath advanced they will be setting up other Hypotheses to do it by Wherein yet they are for the most part so unlucky as to advance such things themselves as have nothing at all of probability in them For who can think it any way probable that if mens Souls had an existence antecedent to their conception in the Womb they should not in the least be conscious of it nor of any of those things which were transacted by them in it Is it as one hath observ'd who seems to have been the first broacher of it in this latter Age is it I say for want of opportunity of being reminded of their former transactions as it happens to many who rise confident that they slept without dreaming and yet before they go to bed again recover a whole series of representations by something that occurr'd to them in the day But who can think when the Souls of Men must be supposed to carry in them the same evil tendencies and inclinations that they should never light upon any one thing which might bring back to their minds what they had formerly transacted or but so much as that they had a being antecedent to their present one For whoever was so forgetful of his dreams as not to remember he was sometime in a dreaming condition yea that he actually dreamed in it Is it secondly as the same Learned Man goes on by a desuetude of thinking of their former actions and whereby it sometimes comes to pass as he there observes that what we have earnestly meditated labour'd for and pen'd down with our own hands when we were at School becomes so lost to our memories that if we did not see our own handwriting to it we should not acknowledge it to be our own But doth this come home to the present case Doth it persuade such a forgetfulness in the Souls of Men as not only not to remember their particular actions but not so much as that they were in a condition to act any thing or acted any thing under it For though a Man may forget the particular exercise he did at School yet can any Man though he slept an Age and never so much as dream'd in all that time of being at School or any other thing be supposed if he awoke in his right wits to forget he was sometime in such a place and performed some exercises in it Is it lastly by means of some distemper that happens to the Soul by coming into an earthly Body and by which the foremention'd person conceives the Soul may suffer in its memory as we see it sometime doth in its
a relation to all our past sins so it relates in particular to Original Sin and consequently tends alike to the cancelling of its Obligation Witness not only the Churches applying this sign of it to Infants as that too as was before noted for the remission of sins but S. Paul's making that quickning (d) Ephes 2.1 c. which we have by Baptism to save us as well from that wrath which we were the Children of by Nature as from our own vain conversation and the punishment thereof For other sense than that as the generality of the Latins (e) Vid. Voss Pelag. Hist li. 2. part 1 Thes 2. did not put upon the Apostles words so neither is there indeed any necessity for or all things considered any probability of Partly because the Apostle might intend to aggravate the sinfulness of Men's former estate from their natural as well as contracted pollutions even as David aggravated his (f) Psal 51.5 where he deplores his Adultery and Murther and partly because there is sufficient evidence from other Texts of Men's being sinful by their birth as well as practice and which as S. Paul's Children of wrath by Nature is more strictly agreeable to so is therefore more reasonable to be interpreted of And I have insisted so much the longer both upon this particular and the Text I have made use of to confirm it because as Original Sin is one main ground of Baptism and accordingly in this very Catechism of ours represented by our Church as such so she may seem to make use of that very Text to evidence the being of Original Sin and the efficacy of Baptism toward the removing of it Her words being that as we are by nature born in sin and the Children of wrath so we are by Baptism made the Children of Grace From the Grace of forgiveness of sin pass we to that which tends to free us from its pollution entitled by our Church a death unto it A grace which as the corruption of our Nature makes necessary to be had so cannot in the least be doubted to be signified by the outward sign of Baptism It being not only the affirmation of S. Paul that all true Christians are dead (g) Rom. 6.2 to sin but that they are buried by Baptism (h) Rom. 4 into it that they are by that means planted together into the likeness (i) Rom. 5 of Christ's death and that their Old Man even the Body of sin is crucified (k) Rom. 6. with Christ in it For as that and other such like Texts (l) Col. 2.12 of Scripture are a sufficient proof of Baptism's having a relation to our death unto sin as well as unto the death of Christ So they prove in like manner that it had the relation of a sign unto it and consequently make the former death to be one of the Graces signified by it Because not only describing the Rite of Baptism under the notion of a death and Burial which it cannot be said to be but as it is an image of one but representing it as a planting of the Baptized person into the likeness of that death of Christ which is the exemplar of the other For what is this but to say that it was intended as a sign or representation of them both and both the one and the other therefore to be look'd upon as signified by it The same is to be said upon the account of those Texts of Scripture which represent the Water of Baptism as washing (m) Acts 22.16 away the sins of Men or if that expression may not be thought to be full enough because referring also to the forgiveness of them as sanctifying and cleansing (n) Eph. 5.26 27. the Church to the end it may be holy and without blemish For as that shews the Water of Baptism to have a relation to that grace which tends to free the Church from sinful blemishes so it shews in like manner that it was intended as a sign of it and of that inward cleansing which belongs to it There being not otherwise any reason why the freeing of the Church from sin by means of the Baptismal water should have the name of cleansing but upon the account of the analogy there is between the natural property thereof and the property of that Grace to which it relates One only Grace remains of those which tend more immediately to our spiritual welfare even that which our Catechism entitles a new birth unto righteousness Concerning which I shall again shew because that will be enough to prove that it is a Grace signified by it that the Water of Baptism hath a relation to it and then that it hath the relation of a sign I alledge for the former of these S. Paul's entitling it the laver of regeneration (o) Tit. 3.5 as our Saviour's affirming (p) Joh. 3.5 before him that we are born again of that as well as of the Spirit For the latter what hath been before shewn in the general concerning its having been intended as a sign of the things to which it relates For if the Water of Baptism were intended as a sign of those things to which it relates it must consequently have bin intended as a sign of our new birth because by the former Texts as manifestly relating to it But so we shall be yet more fully perswaded if it carry in it a representation of that new birth to which it doth relate Which that it doth will need no other proof than its being an apt representation of that spiritual purity which the Soul puts on at its first conversion and wherein indeed its new birth (q) Eph. 4.24 consists For so it is in part by that cleansing quality which is natural to it and which induceth a purity in those bodies to which it is applied But especially by the use that was formerly made of it toward the washing of new-born Infants from those impurities which they contracted from the Womb This last serving to set forth the first beginnings of our spiritual purity as well as the former doth that purity it self And I shall only add that as a resurrection from the Dead is also a kind of new Birth and accordingly so represented by the Scriptures themselves witness their entituling our Saviour upon the account of his Resurrection the first-begotten (r) Col. 1.18 from the dead yea making that Resurrection of his to be a completion (Å¿) Acts 13.33 of that signal prediction of God (t) Psal 2.7 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee So the same Scriptures do not only represent our new birth unto Righteousness under the notion of a Resurrection but sufficiently intimate that whether Birth or Resurrection to be a Grace signified by it Because not only admonishing us to look upon our selves as a live unto God by Baptism (u) Rom. 6.11 as well as dead unto sin in it but as risen (w)
which was apply'd to new-born Infants and to represent alike washing away of natural pollutions One other particular there is wherein I have said the Water of Baptism to have been intended as a sign and that is in respect of that manner of application which was sometime us'd I mean the dipping or plunging the party baptized in it A signification which S. Paul will not suffer those to forget who have been acquainted with his Epistles For with reference to that manner of Baptizing we find him affirming (m) Rom. 6.4 that we are buried with Christ by Baptism into death 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 (n) Rom. 6.5 that if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection To the same purpose or rather yet more clearly doth that Apostle discourse where he tells us (o) Col. 2.12 that as we are buried with Christ in Baptism so we do therein rise also with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead For what is this but to say that as the design of Baptism was to oblige Men to conform so far to Christ's Death and Resurrection as to die unto Sin and live again unto Righteousness so it was perform'd by the ceremony of immersion that the person immersd might by that very ceremony which was no obscure image of a Sepulture be minded of the preceden death as in like manner by his comming again out of the Water of his rising from that death to life after the example of the Instituter thereof For which cause as hath been elsewhere (p) Expl. of the Creed in the words Aud Buried observ'd the Antient Church added to the Rite of immersion the dipping of the party three several times to represent the three days Christ continued in the Grave for that we find to have been the intention of some and made the Eve of Easter one of the solemn times of the Administration of it 3. The third thing to be enquir'd concerning the outward visible sign of Baptism is how it ought to be apply'd where again these two things would be considered First whether it ought to be applyed by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Secondly whether it ought to be applyed by a threefold immersion or aspersion answerably to the names into which we are baptiz'd or either by that or a single one The former of these is it may be a more material question than it is commonly deem'd by us who have been accustomed to baptize by a bare effusion or sprinkling of water upon the party For in things which depend for their force upon the meer will and pleasure of him who instituted them there ought no doubt great regard to be had to the commands of him who did so As without which there is no reason to presume we shall receive the benefit of that ceremony to which he hath been pleased to annex it Now what the command of Christ was in this particular cannot well be doubted of by those who shall consider first the words of Christ (q) Matt. 28. â—9 concerning it and the practice of those times whether in the Baptism of John or of our Saviour For the words of Christ are that they should Baptize or Dip those whom they made Disciples to him for so no doubt the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies and which is more and not without its weight that they should baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Thereby intimating such a washing as should receive the party baptized within the very body of that Water which they were to baptize him with Though if there could be any doubt concerning the signification of the words in themselves yet would that doubt be remov'd by considering the practice of those times whether in the Baptism of John or of our Saviour For such as was the practice of those times in Baptizing such in reason are we to think our Saviour's command to have been concerning it especially when the words themselves incline that way There being not otherwise any means either for those or future times to discover his intention concerning it Now what the practice of those times was as to this particular will need no other proof than their resorting to Rivers and other such like receptacles of waters for the performance of that ceremony as that too because there was much Water there For so the Scripture doth not only affirm concerning the Baptism of John (r) Matt. 3.5 6.13 John 3.23 but both intimate concerning that which our Saviour administred in Judaea because making John's Baptism and his to be so far forth of the same sort (Å¿) Joh. 3.22 23. and expresly affirm concerning the Baptism of the Eunuch which is the only Christian Baptism the Scripture is any thing particular in the description of The words of S. Luke (t) Act. 8.38 being that both Philip and the Eunuch went down into a certain water which they met with in their journey in order to the baptizing of the latter For what need would there have been either of the Baptist's resorting to great confluxes of Water or of Philip and the Eunuch's going down into this were it not that the Baptism both of the one and the other was to be performed by an immersion A very little Water as we know it doth with us sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling But beside the words of our Blessed Saviour and the concurrent practice of those times wherein this Sacrament was instituted It is in my opinion of no less consideration that the thing signified by the Sacrament of Baptism cannot otherwise be well represented than by an immersion or at least by some more general way of purification than that of effusion or sprinkling For though the pouring or sprinkling of a little Water upon the Face may suffice to represent an internal washing which seems to be the general end of Christ's making use of the Sacrament of Baptism yet can it not be thought to represent such an entire washing as that of new-born Infants was and as Baptism may seem to have been intended for because represented as the laver (u) Tit. 3.5 of our regeneration That though it do require an immersion yet requiring such a general washing at least as may extend to the whole Body As other than which cannot answer its type nor yet that general though internal purgation which Baptism was intended to represent The same is to be said yet more upon the account of our conforming to the Death and Resurrection of Christ which we learn from S. Paul to have been the design of Baptism to signifie For though that might and was well enough represented by the baptized persons being
some of the most eminent among them and which whosoever shall seriously consider will wonder how it should come to fall back to a naked and ineffectual sign For Justin Martyr (r) Apolog. 2. p. 93 94. speaking concerning those who had prepar'd themselves for Baptism affirms them to be brought by the brethren to a place where water is and there to be regenerated after that way of regeneration wherewith they themselves were Which what it was and of how great force he afterwards shews by affirming them thereupon to be wash'd in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as that too conformably to what our Saviour spake concerning the necessity of men's being born again To what the Prophet Isaiah meant when he said Wash you make you clean put away wickednesses from your souls And in fine to procure their deliverance from that whether natural or habitual corruptions they were under the power of For these things shew plainly enough that as he spake of the Baptismal regeneration so he spake of it too as a thing which procur'd as well as figur'd the internal regeneration of them To the same purpose doth Tertullian discourse and particularly in his Tract de Baptismo Witness his calling it in the very beginning thereof that happy Sacrament of our water wherewith being wash'd from the faults of our present blindness we are freed into eternal life His affirming presently after that we the lesser fishes according to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or greater one Jesus Christ are born in the water neither can continue safe unless we abide in it That we ought not to wonder if the waters of Baptism give life when that Element was the first that brought forth any living creature That as the Spirit of God moved at the beginning upon the face of waters so the same spirit of God after the invocation of his name doth descend from Heaven upon those of Baptism and having sanctified them from himself gives them a power of sanctifying others For these and the like passages shew as plainly that that Authour look'd upon the outward sign of Baptism as contributing in its place to the production of our new birth or sanctification as well as to the representation of it But of all the Antient Fathers that have entreated of this affair or indeed of that Sacrament which we are now upon the consideration of there is no one who hath spoken more or more to the purpose than S. Cyprian or whose words therefore will be more fit to consider Only that I may not multiply testimonies without necessity I will content my self with one single one but which indeed for the fulness thereof will serve instead of many and be moreover as clear a testimony of our dying unto sin by Baptism as of our regeneration by it For when saith he (ſ) Epist ad Donat. I lay in darkness and under the obscurity of the Night When uncertain and doubtful I floated on the Sea of this tossing World ignorant of my own life and as great a stranger to truth I thought it exceeding difficult as the manners of Men then were that any one should be born again as the divine mercy had promis'd and that being animated to a new life by the laver of salutary water he should put off that which he was before and whilst the frame of his body continu'd the same become a new Man in his heart and mind For how said I is it possible that that should be suddenly put off which either being natural is now grown hard by the natural situation of the matter or contracted by a long custom hath been improv'd by old Age c. To these and the like purposes I often discours'd with my self For as I was at that time entangled with many errours of my former life which I did not then think it was possible for me to put off So I willingly gave obedience to those vices that stuck to me and through a despair of better things I favour'd my evils as though they had been my proper and domestick ones But after that through the assistance of this generating water the blemishes of my former life were wash'd off and my mind thus purged had a light from above poured into it After that the second birth had chang'd me into a new Man through the force of that spirit or breath which I suck'd in from above Then those things which were before doubtful became exceeding certain and manifest things which were before shut were then laid open and dark things made light Then that which before seemed difficult appear'd to help rather than hinder and that which sometime was thought impossible as possible to be done So that it was not difficult to discern that that was earthly which being carnally born did before live obnoxious to faults and that that began to be God's which the Holy Ghost now animated You your self verily know and will as readily acknowledge with me what was either taken from or bestow'd upon us by that death of crimes and life of vertues Which as it is an illustrious testimony of the force of Baptism in this particular and with what reason we have affirm'd it to be a means of procuring the former death and birth So I have the more willingly taken notice of it because it comes so near even in its expression to what our Catechism hath represented as the inward and spiritual Grace thereof There being no great difference between a death of crimes and life of vertues which is the expression of that Father and a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness which is the other's And I shall only add that as the Doctrine of the Church must therefore be thought to bear sufficient testimony to Baptism's being a means of our regeneration So its practice is in this particular answerable to its Doctrine and though in another way proclaims the same thing Witness what hath been elsewhere observ'd concerning its giving Milk and Hony (t) See Part 3. to the new Baptized person as to an Infant new-born its requiring him presently after Baptism to say (u) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer in the words Out Father Our Father c. as a testimony of his Son-ship by it And in fine its making use of the word regenerated to signifie Baptized As is evident for the Greek Writers from what was but now quoted out of Justin Martyr De vitâ B. Martini c. 1. Necdum tamen regeneratus in Christo agebat quendam bonis operibus Baptismatis candidatum and from Sulpitius Severus among the Latins Which things put together make it yet more clear that whatever it may be now accounted yet the Church of God ever look'd upon the Sacrament of Baptism as a mean of our internal regeneration And indeed as it is hard to believe that it ought to be otherwise esteem'd considering what hath been alledg'd either from Scripture or the declarations of the Church So it