us by his owne ordinance wee are what he is and have done what hee did CHAP. III. Wherein of a third great use and end of Baptisme whereby is sealed our communion with Christ in his holines to wit a death unto sinne and a rising to newnesse of life WEe come now to another great use and end of Baptisme which is holines of life consisting of two parts dying to sinne and rising to holines and this is especially held out Rom. 6. I shall therefore breefly open analise these words not intending a large discours but so much as suites with the nature of this ordinance First therefore in answer to that unsavoury objection vers 1. Shall vvee sinne that grace may abounde The Apostle reasoneth vers 2. Hovv shall vve that are dead to sinne live any longer therein as if he had said those that are dead to sinne should not live in sinne but you are dead to sinne therefore you should not live in sinne contraries destroy their cōtraries death destroyes life as the privation doth the habit a man cannot live dye together But now it rests to be prooved that wee are dead to sinne v. 3. Knovv yee not that so many of us as vvere baptized into Iesus Christ vvere baptized into his death This hee prooves from our Baptisme which is the seale and expression of our faith If Christ be dead to sinne then those that are baptized are dead to sinne But Christ is dead to sin therefore those that are baptized are dead to sinne That Christ is dead to sinne and how you shall heare v. 10. For in that hee dyed hee dyed unto sinne once But the proposition that those that are baptized are dead to sin because Christ is dead to sinne he shewes you from the end of baptisme which is to witnes confirme to you your union and communion with Christ And first of all with his death which both discharges you from the guilt of sinne and destroyes and kills sinne in you Now that this is the particular end he shewes you from the generall vers 3. Knovv ye not that so many of us as vvere baptized into Iesus Christ vvere baptized into his death yee are baptized into Christ therefore into his death hence vers 4. VVee are buried vvith him by baptisme into death yee are so surely dead with Christ that ye are buried also to be sure he is dead that is buried In this verse hee prooves further this communion in holines by the contrarie to death namely our rising againe that like as Christ vvas raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so vve also should vvalke in nevvnes of life For as Baptisme witnesses to you that you are dead with Christ so the same Baptisme witnesses that ye are risen with him so that as wee are dead to sinne by vertue of the death of Christ so wee are alive to holines by vertue of the rising of Christ that as Christ was raised from the dead to a new glorious and heavenly life so wee are raised to a life new and holy Now the reason of this witnesse ariseth from the analogie and proportion that the signe hath with the thing signified that Baptisme hath with the thing witnessed Those that are baptized they are drowned and buried and brought againe alive out of the water so by our union with Christ wee have the communion of being crucified buried with him and of rising againe to a new life Vers 5. If vve have bene planted together in the likenes of his death vvee shall be also in the likenes of his resurrection This word planting shewes the reality of these signes seales this ordinance witnesses our planting and grafting into Christ who is the stock with whom wee live and dye as wee feele death with him so life also this is the great stay the great comfort wee are planted into Christ the true vyne by God the Father and now wee shall runne his fortune in life or death as the plant stock dye and live together ver 6. Knovving this that our old man is crucified vvith him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth vvee should not serve sinne Here he insists in the former argument namely our communion in the death of Christ which death hee declares by the kind of it namely crucifixion shewes that as Christ for our sinnes dyed so the body of sinne in us by the death of Christ is crucified the power and force is abated that wee should not serve sinne and live to sinne Vers 7. For hee that is dead is freed from sinne Hee that is free from sinne is no longer obliged to sinne but beleevers baptized are freed from sinne because they are dead to sinne dead with Christ therefore we are free from sinne Vers 8. Novv if vve be dead vvith Christ vvee beleeve that vve shall also live vvith him This is to shew the communion still and to usher in the next verse of our communion with the life of Christ Vers 9. Knovving that Christ being raysed from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Here he illustrates the life of Christ from the perpetuity of it that from thence hee might gather the condition of the Saints in their persuance of holines which should be evermore Vers 10. For in that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once that is to blot out sinne but in that hee lives hee lives to God a glorious life and to the glory of God the Father Vers 11. Likevvise reckon yee also your selves to be dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. There is the conclusion of all that went before reason your sealnes therefore to be dead to sin once when Christ died to destroy the power of it therefore sinne hath nothing to doe with you On the contrary you are as Christ alive to God to that glorious and new life all this through Christ whose union and communion is notified to you in Baptisme This is for holines which consists in mortification and newnes of life which Baptisme both signifies and seales to us It signifies it by the analogie proportion which is betweene the signe and the thing signified and in that it signifies a thing past it seales it to us for when God will give you a signe and resemblance of a thing it is but to confirme it to you and assure you of it CHAP. IV. Wherein is shewed the report which the ceremony of Baptisme hath to the forementioned ends and uses of that ordinance also some Corollaries HAving spoken of the use ends of Baptisme it will not be unmeete in the next place to discourse something of the Ceremony that we may shew the report which the signe ceremony hath to the thing signified and represented Now the signification is most apt for the externall forme or Ceremony of Baptisme lyes properly in three things Immersion or Drowning or Burying
the spirituall seede and heires according to promise then they and we pretend both alike in new Testament ordinances with this difference onely to the Iew first and then to the Gentiles CHAP. XIII Wherein is handled the fifth and last question in answer to the argument drawn from circumcision scil whether Infants not prooving the subject of Baptisme the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great as the priviledges of the Iewes and their state QVestion 5. Though infants should not proove to be the subject of Baptisme yet whether the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great and greater then the priviledges of the Iewes and their state No man is willing to loose by change and our children are so great a peece of us as that what they loose wee feele It must first be affirmed that the Iewes had this peculiar honour proper both to their persons and the land of their habitation and dwelling their Temple also other ordinances that they were types of thinges to come and in that respect were many thinges performed by them and many thinges predicated of them which else would not have beene as the land was holy but typically and the Temple holy but typically and all the inhabitants of all ages and degrees unlesse under a particular defilement and uncleannesse were denominated holy but typically also Now what ever was a type in that wherein it was a type whether persons or ordinances c. of all such things as types it may be affirmed First that they are inferiour to their antitypes that is to the thing figured or shewed by them Secondly that they are not true in themselves being a shadow of thinges to come but in the body or truth which they figure or type out Thirdly that when the antitype or truth is fullfilled or performed the type ceaseth now it seemes to be agreed by all hands that not onely places and persons ceremonies and events were types but the Sacraments of the Iewes and former times were types and shadowes of our Sacraments not to instance in any but in circumcision as relating to typising out Baptisme which is agreed on all sides to be a type of our baptisme yea so far some urge it as a type that they would therefore have infants baptized because infants were circumcised the antitype being to answer the type but upō how great a mis-take they so urge it we shall shew hereafter when wee shall make that manifest that a great reason of the difference and not baptizing infants of beleevers ariseth from the consideration of the typicalnes of circumcision for the present though it be generally graunted yet wee further make it manifest to be a type of Baptisme by examining that place Coll. 2.11.12 In vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him through the faith of the operation of God vvho hath raysed him from the dead In this second chapt Paul seemes to contend with divers impugners of Christian religion vs 1. For I vvould that you knovv vvhat great conflict I have for you and first vers 4. hee contends against oratory and inticing words by which their hearts might be led away and seduced And this I say least any man should beguile you vvith inticing vvords c. then vers 8. hee argues against Philosophers as a vayne deceit who would judge of the thinges of Christ by the elements or rudiments of the world for none of those things extend themselves to the mysteries of Christ which wee hold by faith and therefore Philosophicall demonstrations any farther then they are proportionable to the analogie of faith are extreamely deceitfull and to be bewar'de of In the third place hee contends against those who laboured to retaine Iewish ceremonies and types vers 10.11.12 And yee are compleat in him vvhich is the head of all principalities and povver in vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him c. For here hee shewes that circumcisiō which was the profession of the whole Law was fullfilled as a type or figure to Christians by Christ in Baptisme and therefore that was to vanish away as types ought to doe when they were fullfilled therefore hee shewes how wee are circumcised in Christ which is sealed and effected by Baptisme first it is without hands which the legall circumcision was not as Baptisme in some sence may be said also to be God being the great Baptizer Secondly this circumcision doth not deprive you onely of a little skin of the flesh which was typicall but of the whole body of sinne Thirdly this is not the circumcision of Moses or of the fathers but of Christ for onely Christ can effect this Lastly all this is sealed to us and made ours by Baptisme by Baptisme is effected this circumcision in which we are assimulated to Christ buried risen againe and are sealed one with him in our death to sinne and life to holynes so as Baptisme is Christian circumcision and then we are said to be circumcised with the circumcision of Christ when wee are rightly baptized Now therefore if circumcision be a type of Baptisme as it is acknowledged and prooved then examine it by the former properties of a type And first if circumcision be a type of Baptisme then it is inferior to Baptisme as types are to their antitypes of which they are shadowes and figures But if Baptisme be to be administred for a seale and signe in infancy as circumcision was to teach and instruct hereafter then on the other hand their priviledge was far above ours who carryed a marke in the flesh visible and sensible by which they knew assuredly they were circumcised whereas that any of us have bene sprinkled or dipt in infancy we must receive by a humane faith having never our selves seene it nor no markes to shew it us or convince us of it and it may well fall out that no body may be able to assure us of it neither so as that ceremony may well not worke upon us with any power of which wee have so little assurance whether it have bene administred to us or no. Besides that a man had a Iew to his father was the assured qualification for circumcision which a man might know as well as his owne father but for Baptisme I must beleeve my parents was godly if I will be assured of my qualification which ariseth from the faith as they say of one parent for it will not now goe downe so easily as it hath done that a profession of Christianity onely at large will qualify for deriving right to Baptisme now this
for they plundged the vvhole body in the vvater the use is novv sayes he that the Minister casts a fevv dropps of vvater onely upon the body or upon the head Whereby you see both what his opinion was for the practise of the most antient and primitive times in generall how cleare hee was that the Baptisme administred here to the Eunuch was by dipping or plundging The fourth and last place I shall consider to this purpose shall be that of the 6. Rom. and the beginning where the Apostle elegantly alludes to the ceremony of Baptisme in our death and resurrection with Christ but having handled this before largely and by it self I shall onely give you the sence of expositers about it for our present end The learned Cajetan upon the 4. verse vvee are buried vvith him by baptisme into death saith By our burying he declares our death from the Ceremony of Baptisme quia scil qui baptizatur sub aqua ponitur because he vvho is baptized is put under the vvater and by this carryes a similitude of him that is buried vvho is put under the earth Novv because none are buryed but dead men from this very thing that vve are buryed in Baptisme vve are assimulated to Christ buried or vvhen he vvas buried Thus Cajetan Estius upon the place having said out of Austen that vvhat ever vvas done in the crosse of Christ in his burying and resurrection c. vvas so done that to those vvords and actions the life of a Christian should be conformed Ads the like mistery the Apostle puts in the Ceremony of Baptisme for the immersion that is dipping of Christ represents to us burying and so also death for the sepulcher is the Symbole of death and the emersion or rising out againe vvhich follovves that dipping hath the similitude of the resurrection therefore in Baptisme vvee are conformed not onely to the death of Christ but also to his sepulcher and resurrection Where you see hee clearly places the ceremony of Baptisme both of Christs and ours in immersion or putting under the water emersion or rising up againe exactly conformable to what is to be signified to us by it namely our dying and rising againe with Christ So Cornelius Alapid upon the place ℣ 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mortem id est in similitudinem mortis Christi baptizati sumus qui enim baptizantur aquis immerguntur Christum mortuum sepultum representant allegoricè c. Into his death that is vvee are baptized into the similitude of the death of Christ for they vvho are put under the vvater represent Christ dead buried allegorically I shall add but one or two quotations more in a thing so evident Deodati in his annotations upon the place vers 4. hath these words Ce qu'au Baptesme nous sommes plongez dedans l'eau selon l'ancienne ceremonie nous est un signe sacré qu'il faut que le peché soit estouffe en nous par l'Esprit de Dieu comme c'est un seau du lavement de nos ames devant Dieu That in Baptisme vvee are plundged into the vvater according to the antient ceremony it is a holy signe to us that sinne should be stiffled in us by the Spirit of God as it is a seale of the vvashing of our soules before God I shall conclud with the judgement of Piscator upon the place vers 4. Sepulti igitur sumus videtur inquit respicere ad veterem ritum quum toto corpore in aquam mergebantur atque it a quasi sepeliebantur ac mox rursus extrahebantur tanquam è sepulchro The Apostle sayes he seemes here to have respect to the antient ceremony vvhen as the vvhole body vvas dipt into the vvater and vvas by and by againe dravvne out as out of a grave So Piscator Having thus farre carried on this notion for dipping or plundging in the ceremony of Baptisme which wee have found to have its rise from the naturall proper force of the word to have accorded fully with Scripture practise and example which is the coppy to which we must conforme I shall consider a little to discharge my self more abundantly to this point what hath bene the practise of the times wee commonly call primitive that is those after the times of Christ and his Apostles and what the judgement of the Fathers and antient writers have bene to this purpose And first the Apostolicall constitutions which are of great antiquity being attributed to Clement the 4. from Peter in the order of Bishops according to the Roman account they injoyne the office of Diaconnisses or shee-Deacons to be to assist for the unclothing of women at Baptisme the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To minister to the Presbyters vvhilst the vvomen vvere baptized for comelines sake Const Apost lib. 8. cap. 32. this I find quoted by Chamier lib. de Baptist cap. 2. p. 240. who brings it to proove that from the beginning as hee sayes it vvas the custome to dip the vvhole body vvhich expresses sayes he the force of the vvord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhence it vvas sayes he that Iohn baptized in a river and hee affirmes that it is uncertain vvhen or vvhy the change began to baptize by sprinkling saving that he addes that it vvould seeme that 3000 could hardly be baptized in one day by so fevv Apostles if they vvere all dipt or that the Iaylor had not perhaps a vessell at hand big enough for dipping the vvhole body But first you see that his opinion is cleare that Baptisme in the beginning was by dipping or plundging the whole body to proove which hee brings the force of the word the example of Iohn and after the Apostolicall constitutions onely he knowes not how so well to accommodate these two instances but that sprinkling also might be used I shall take therefore this occasion to answer once for all to these considerations First that when wee have a clearnes of Scripture practise agreable as is confest to the force of the word of institution and expressing it which also accords as wee have already showne aboundantly with the use and end of the ordinance which is the scope and intent of it and apparently conformable to the most evident antient practise it were a boldnesse to say no more to leave or desert that practise which upon the former grounds wee know to be safe and warrantable for another which we have little reason to beleeve was used but because wee see not how in some instanced particular circumstances it could be well otherwayes And as it is ever dangerous to depart from knowne approoved Scripture practise in the matter of ordinances upon our owne surmises so it can be no where of worse consequence then in such ordinances of which Baptisme the Lords Supper are the being and good of which lyes much in the right administration of a ceremony It would be safe to follow the cleare assured way
the hands of the Holy Spirit for edification and salvation the word is a dead letter without the Spirit and so also is Baptisme it speakes no more then it is bid the blessed Angels that are so farre above sinne and corruption have no quickning vertue in themselves the flesh of Christ hath no vertu but from his Godhead Now if there be no vertue in the flesh of Christ but by the personall union how shall bodily actions about bodily elements confer grace but by the mediation of the Spirit Thirdly they agree in the principall matter for the same Christ with all his benefits is offered and confirmed to us in the word and Sacraments the same union the same communion in the death the resurrection of Christ and they which looke for more in the Sacraments then the word promises and holds out makes an Idoll of them Fourthly they agree in the end for God by them builds up and edifies his Church till it come to be perfect Fifthly they agree in the instrument which renders both profitable to us both word and Sacrament are ineffectuall without faith 3. Iohn 36. Hee that beleeveth on the Sonne hath everlasting life Sixthly they agree in the effects They are the savour of life unto life or the savour of death unto death c. So He that beleeveth is baptized shall be saved From the first you learne coroll 1 not to depart from the institution but as to preach the Gospel according to the analogie of faith so to administer the Sacraments according to Gospel institutions for it is alike sinne to transgresse in the administratiō of the one as in the preaching of the other since they both hold of the same Lord institutor and as hee which in preaching the Gospel shall add workes to faith in the point of justification perverts the word and preaches another Gospel and therefore is accursed Gal. 1.1 So he that shall alter in the administration of the Sacraments but in a ceremony since the ordinance lyes in a ceremony and shall be bold to inlarge the subject of this ordinance or contract it will be found a breaker of Gods boūds be found guilty of the cursse that is the portion of such as add or detract so as what wee doe herein is of great moment and consideration coroll 2 From the second to exspect successe from the Spirit to be in the Spirit that you may receive it Secondly the Sacraments worke not Phisically From the third coroll 3 to be lead by all administrations into the knowledge of Christ to judge them best that hold out most of Christ and most purely Secondly to magnify Christ the head and end of all institutions coroll 4 From the fourth to be comforted and confirmed in this way of salvation wherein wee are for wee have enough till wee come to God and need no more coroll 5 From the fifth not to rest in the worke done to thinke it enough when you have heard or communicated if it be not mingled with faith it profits not vvithout faith it is impossible to please God coroll 6 From the sixth then play not with these tooles it is a great matter you have in hand when you meddle with the ordinances of Christ and when you are under them it cannot be without much good or hurt to you it is a blessing or a cursse to the persons upon whom it falleth even the greatest light meanes are the greatest agravations of sinnes Heb. 2.1.2.3 Wee come now to the difference of these ordinances which will contribute more of light to what wee have proposed They differ first in the manner of the administratiō of the same Gospel The one is an audible word the other is a visible word the word signifies according to such expressions as men have given a vallue unto to signify thinges by but the Sacraments represents by such similitudes and proportions as the signes have with the things signified therefore we read the word and heare the word but we see feele the Sacraments In a word they are Hierogliphicks it was the custome of the Egyptians to teach by visible representations which signify such and such things these are of that nature that whereas the word strikes the eare onely which is the usuall and ordinary sence of discipline those signes and visible elements affect the sences outward and inward the sences conveigh the object to the understanding there the Holy Ghost takes them and brings us into the present enjoyment of things as if we saw Christ with our eyes toucht him with our hands felt him by our tast and injoyed him with our whole man all this in a rationall and discoursive way raysing an analogy proportion betweene the signe and the thing signified Secondly they differ in the measure of their signification the word especially teacheth the Sacraments especially seale and confirme the word indeed signifies and applyes spirituall things but the Sacraments more efficatiously represent apply Thirdly the word is simply necessary to actuall beleevers and so to the salvation of beleevers and sufficient as in Cornelius for faith is by hearing and hearing by the vvord of God but the Sacraments are not absolutely necessary to all nor without the word are they sufficient to salvation for to what purpose are seales without the writing Fourthly for I will not trouble you with many the word belongs to all mankind the Sacraments belong onely to beleevers therefore for preaching ye have preach the Gospell to every creature under heaven But for the Sacraments teach them saith Christ that is disciple them and hee that beleeves and is baptized shall be saved so for the other Sacrament let a man examine himself and so let him eate and drinke and the people vvere baptized in Iordan confessing their sinnes of vvhich they repented and after the Eunuch was taught there was faith required before hee was baptized if thou beleevest vvith all thy heart thou mayest and no Baptisme or Sacrament find we administred otherwayes in the new Testament the reason is evident because the word begets faith the Sacraments confirmes it the word is the writing the Sacraments is the seale for it carries this with it and speakes this language as certainly as thou usest this ceremony and eates this bread so assuredly Christ dwells in thee and as thou entrest this water and art therein buried so assuredly thou art made one with Christ planted into his death thou art buried with Christ and thou risest with Christ as thou risest out of the water every thing speakes this thou art Christ and Christ is thine and therefore supposes faith which is the tye and the union on our part and you see how curious Paul is Rom. 4. to proove that Abraham vvas justified by faith before hee received the signe of circumcision which was to him a seale of his faith his righteousnes thereby ℣ 10.11 Hovv vvas it reckoned vvhen hee vvas in circumcision or in uncircumcision Not
of this Sacrament that wee may know whence and how to receive it And here to omit many things which might be considered under this head more generally also not to trouble our selves with the handling of this controversy as it is stated betweene us and the Papists who putting a more simple and absolute necessity upon this ordinance then is its due expose it in case of such necessity to the administration of all sorts of people of what condition or sex soever they be wee shall onely take those two things for graunted or at least deny them not first That the errour of the Minister doth not enter the essence of Baptisme nor is of those things that can destroy it and make it null And secondly that by the opinion of antiquity and learned men there were certain necessitous extraordinary cases wherein others might be used for Baptisme then such as were the ordinary Ministers of it But now because it is one thing to be and another thing to be rightly or well in relation to our selves and the ordinary and orderly administration of Baptisme we shall consider whether Baptisme be a thing of publick or private cognisance and to what predicament it belongs and whether it pretends which will be the bounds of this discourse and shew us whence it is to be fetcht and derived That it is a thing of publicke cognisance appeares to me both by the primitive commission and primitive practise the commission lyes Matt. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost In the 18. verse Christ tells his Disciples that all povver is given to him in heaven earth these were his letters patents by which hee shewed hee did nothing without power and good warrant now he goes into heaven as into one part of his kingdome which was quiet and at peace and sitting there at the right hand of his Father gives an Apostolicall commission for all the earth so Marke 16.15 Go into the vvhole vvorld preach the Gospell to every creature here hee opposes the whole earth to the bounds and limits of Iudea by which the Prophets of old were bounded in their administrations That he had by an hereditary right hee sent therefore to them first with this caveat that they should not go into the vvay of the Gentiles nor enter into any city of the Samaritans Matth. 10.5 But now by his death resurrection having acquired a right of reigning over all men he gives a commission for all the world this is Apostolicall for hee bids them go forth into all the world which is properly the word of Apostolicall commission whose diocesse had no bounds and if not here where can any Apostolicall commission be found And he tells them their great workes which was to preach and baptize for although Paul sayes 1. Cor. 1.17 that hee vvas sent by Christ not to baptize but to preach the Gospell that must be understood with a limitation that he was not sent especially to baptize because the administration of the Sacraments which are the appendixes and seales though it need as much power yet a lesse gift then the preaching of the word And behold I am vvith you to the end of the vvorld Here is a word of great incouragemēt comfort Christ had told them before hee was Lord of heaven earth he sends them to manage a great worke but sayes hee I will be with you that is who ever is publikely deputed for such a service as they need more especially assistāce so they shall have it and here he makes a playne difference betweene the makers of Disciples Disciples to be made Hee vvill be vvith them especially as they need it most to vvhom the charge of teaching and baptizing is deputed for the Apostles were not to continue alwayes as the world was to be gone through but once and institutions to be set up but once but a publike power was still left which succeeded this Apostolicall which in the next place we come to consider of that so finding where the commission rests wee may addresse our selves thither for ordinances and expect the blessing of Christs being with it unto the end of the world for this is a state continuing to the end of the world to the change of all things Now this clearly is the Church which is the subject of Ecclesiasticall policy and power as the common-wealth is of civill power so as Ecclesiasticall and Church power is essentially and primarily in the Church as in the subject Mat. 16. ver 18.19 And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I vvill build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it And I vvill give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven c. So as though the use of the keyes be divers according to the variety of callings and conditions in the Church yet the power of the keyes originally and primarily is given to the Church for Peter here beares but the person of the Church as in other places in which hee answers for others and Christ also speakes to him as adressing himself to the Church by him This is a thing so commonly avowed and defended by Protestāts against Papists as I shall not need here to proove it Also that other knowne place of Matth. 18.17 Tell the Church where both Church state and Church power are clearely spokē of Now where the power of admitting receaving and casting out is there is the power of administring and communicating all ordinances to the edification of the same body and they which have power of administring the kingly office of Christ consisting in casting out and receaving in have also power of administring his Propheticall office of which the Sacraments are a part therefore to the Christian churches as to the Iewes of old pertaineth the publike dispensations and services of God Rom. 9.4 And hence it followes that such as were deputed by the church for their Ministers and officers were called overseers made by the holy Ghost and were to be imitators of the Apostles to whom ordinarily in the executive part they succeeded Acts 20.17.18.19.28 Hence Peter calls himself a fellow Elder with the ordinary Elders 1. Pet. 5.1 The Elders vvhich are among you I exhort vvho am also an Elder c. To conclude this head a man becomes a Prophet and able to teach by vertue of a gift namely of knowledge and utterance 1. Cor. 1.5 But no gift renders a Baptizer but a call as being a thing of publike cognisance commissiō Teaching out of a gift hath its foundation in nature which ariseth from a personall gift and grace of the spirit But Baptisme censures ordination and the like depend not upon a speciall gift but are acts of power conferred authoritatively upon a speciall person And thus much for the primitive commission for Baptisme which falls under a