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
those places for remission of sinnes were great and comfortable have refused to be baptized till death as is affirmed of Constantine and others mis-taking the true use of it which is to seale up the pardon of sinnes and respects all sinnes in all times You see what the nature of Baptisme coroll 1 what the intention of it is in this particular Consider therefore the greatnes of this ordinance to which as to the signe and seale remission of sinnes and reconciliation with God is annexed What say you I beseech you you that are sensible of the guilt of sinne that know the vvages of sinne is death would you not be glad of something to discharge you ease you would you not be glad of all meanes that should assure you that iniquity should not be your ruine would you not be glad to be baptized for the remission of sinnes to have your sinnes vvasht avvay by baptisme to be saved by baptisme in the stipulation of a good conscience answering the signe and seale This I thinke is no question to them that are stung with sinne and pricked in their hearts then blesse God for this ordinance value it much let it not be an empty ordinance to you since there is fullnes in it let it not sleepe be a dead thing to you since there is life in it it being the ground of all our life good but improve it to its advantage get the marrow and sweete of it for there is much in it Secondly let us understand by this that hath bene said and by the nature of this ordināce Gods heart and mind for the remission of sinnes hee who is Lord of all and able onely to give all hee is so free of nothing as of pardon because that is the first steppe to good happines if hee will us any good if hee would have us in any proportion happy the first steppe is by pardon of sinne therefore hee is so free of nothing as that when the law condemnes a man and when a mans conscience condemnes him hee needs no word to carry him to hell hee hath that within him will doe that fast enough guilt makes us runne from God as Adam did and when we runne from God wee runne to death God therefore in goodnes and mercy hath made the way to pardon so open and exposed as nothing more The very name of pardon and remission of sins ordinarily implyes offense against some lawgiver some state some great person implyes guilt which needes that pardon Now guilt abaseth greatnes terrifieth what can there be more therefore to set us at a mighty distance from God then guilt which layes so low and what greatnes terrify us more then his But God hath provided that wee may come boldly and he hath done it by two things first by setting up a throne of grace insteed of a throne of majesty and justice Secondly he helpes us by giving us a tender and sensible high Priest who shall usher us in and pleade our cause at this barre and dispatch the busines with his Father that wee may obtaine mercy 4. Heb. 15.16 And to shew his heart the more in this worke hee hath not onely a throne of grace a high Priest to manadge this affaire but hee hath invented this ordinance of Baptisme that wee might have an abundant entrance In this you may see Gods heart for the pardon of sinne for as Baptisme doth it so it is by Gods appointment Therefore know the mind of God and labour not anxiously about sinnes and the pardon of them which is a great impediment to the comfort holines of our life Now that Baptisme doth this you have heard from severall places so as it is a great end of that ordinance to remit and pardon sinnes and assure that to us But if you aske how it doeth it Answer by your being baptized into Iesus Christ by being baptized into his death by being visibly ingrafted into his death condition that as hee did conflict with the wrath of God it brought him to the crosse carried him to the grave kept him there and layed him low but at last hee get out we being interested in what hee did as in a common person who did all for us and in our names might by the helpe of this ordinance which visibly and sensibly represents our communion with him in that which gaines the discarge of our sinnes which is his death into which wee are baptized have full assurance that nothing remaynes us of the guilt of sinne nothing remayns us undischarged since Christ who was as wee were that is made guilty of sinne that wee might be as hee is that is discharged from sinne hath broken the cords of death having made a full satisfaction death having no more dominiō over him because there is no more guilt upon him so that baptisme doth it this way and as many as are baptized into Iesus Christ into his death are put into that condition that he was after his death and rising againe and this must of necessity be because hee was as a common person wholy in his death and resurrection therefore they that makes themselves of that community for whom hee acts and trades and by this visible signe and institutiō of his submit themselves to that way of salvation they put themselves into that state and condition that hee is in after his death and rising againe If any aske why did Christ dye hee dyed for our sinnes saith the Apostle and why did hee rise for our justification we being baptized into his death partake of the end of it which is the discharge of our sinnes our justification it is certain therefore our sinnes made him dye and it is as certain that his righteousnes made us just and righteous Therefore what should keepe any man under the power of death and subject to bondage since if Christ be any thing to him the great thing which the first Christian institutiō Baptisme holds out is that hee is pardon to him and that hee hath dyed risen with Christ and therefore may goe boldly with Christ unto the throne of grace and it is well called a throne of grace because it is not we that have done this for our selves but it is Christ that hath wrought all this good for us so as it is grace to us even the grace of Christ who personally suffered what we doe mistically and by way of communion Secondly it is a throne of grace because it was not wee that did or could make the termes but God for hee might have required from us the personall payment of our owne debt Now that God would make this the termes to take that at Christs hand which lay upō us as a personall debt it makes it a throne of grace to which wee may goe with all boldnes and liberty of speech and with the same assurance that Christ himself did because by vertue of his owne contract sealed to
in circumcision but in uncircumcision and he received the signe of circumcision a seale of the righteousnes of the faith vvhich hee had yet being uncircumcised c. We come now to deduct Corollaries from these differēces From the first coroll 1 Then to the participation and use of the Sacraments the use of reason is necessary our reason must be most busy active whilst our sences are ingaged the hearing of the tone or sound of the word spoken doth no good therefore wee preach it not to children or fooles so the seeing of the coullors of things to feele the water cold or hot the touch or tast is not the thing but what the elements and ceremonyes about it teach us which must be discerned by the use of reason in comparing the thing signified according to the Scripture application the proportion it holds so as here is a knowledge of things already layd in and reason in the act required So the teaching by similitudes or resemblances doth not require lesse reason or lesse the use of reason but the advātage it brings is that by the mediation of severall senses it strykes our reason differently more strongly and God descends to that way of teaching that he might more forcibly worke upon our reason speake to it all manner of wayes From the second coroll 2 it is supposed the word should go before for that is the way of teaching by thinges of lesser representation to things of fuller when Iacob heard of Iosephs message he was mooved but when he saw the Chariots that affected him exceedingly that spoke a clearer language it was fit the message should goe before the chariots so the word before the Sacraments From the third coroll 3 see one prerogative the word hath men may be saved by hearing without the Sacraments to comfort those that want them but slight them not Secondly see the order first the word must be as first the writing for the Sacraments are but the appendix From the fourth coroll 4 Then the word hath much a larger compasse of motion then the Sacraments and as the word may be where the Sacraments are not so the Sacraments cannot be but where the word hath bene for the word supposeth nothing but comes at aventure to every creature under heaven but the Sacraments supposeth faith wrought already by the word to make this playner we must know that men are by nature children of wrath by the disobedience of Adam all vvere made sinners Rom. 5.19 And the Lord lookt dovvne from heaven and savv that all vvere gone out of the vvay vvee neither perceive nor knovv the thinges of God 1. Cor. 2.14 And though the light shine in darknes the darknes comprehends it not and our carnall mind is emnity against God our vvhole soule is filled vvith all unrighteousnes Rom. 8.7 and 1.29 Now while men are in their infancy they lye onely exposed to Gods inward and secret workes if they belong to the election of grace hee knowes how to deale with them and worke wonderfully in wayes wee know not nor can conceive of so long wee cannot cōmunicate our selves to their soules at all nor can reatch them any otherwayes then by our prayers for all things are here secret if there be a change wrought it is more then wee know or can conceive the manner of it But when they come to yeares of understanding and to be capable of ordinances the first thing wee doe to them is to bring them under the ordinance of the word and to leade them into a right knowledge of themselves to convince them of their naturall estate to preach to them conversion repentance faith in Iesus Christ that they may have life when wee find this operate and that by their profession and by their workes which is the onely way of evidencing their faith to others they make it appeare they beleeve then we gladly goe one and leade them into further ordinances give them the Sacraments to confirme them thus wee make things runne parralel as they must doe There is an outward preaching of the word there is a conversion and change of heart made visible by workes and so a faith evidenced and the visible and outward seales and markes are given them to seale them up to themselves and to others Thus you see a naturalnes a coherency and a comelines in things thus layd and stated by which also as by a right rule you may be help'd in discerning errours CHAP. VII In which is layd downe the relative and personall qualifications by which infants are usually intituled to Baptisme by our most considerable Protestant Divines BY what hath bene said wee have fully shewed the nature of Baptisme what is the proper and adequate subject of this ordinance namely a beleever one qualified by the use of faith and reason for the confirmation sealing up to him by this great ordinance his ingrafting into Christ and union with him by faith secondly as an immediate fruit thereof his justificatiō of which we largely spoke and also his adoption by being consecrated to the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and baptized in their names Thirdly his sanctificatiō consisting in the death of sinne the life of holynes as a fruit of that and which cannot be separated from it his glorification Rom. 6.8 Novv if vvee be dead vvith Christ vvee beleeve vvee shall also live vvith him To which on the other side the party baptized puts his seale and makes his sponsion to be to God and Christ in all those relations But now because it hath for a long time and almost generally obtained that children should be baptized wee must consider how they can pretend to these qualifications what right they have or by what title they hold it The right which the world gives them to it is a right imputative a right derivative from Father to Sonne a right of succession a birthright this is that which they call a foederall holynes Nor doe children onely clayme by this derivative imputative title but also those who are adopted by Christian parents for as by adoption in Christ wee are rendred the children of God so by the adoption of Christian parents such are to be accounted for their children as some argue Ger. p. 582. Also those who by lawfull meanes as just warre bargaine gifte fall into the hands and governement of beleevers and whom Christians will answer for that they shall for the future be instructed in the Christian faith and this appeares by divine institution they say from the parallell of circumcision since not onely Abrahams children but his servants those bought with his money were circumcised Gen. 17.12 And hee that is eight dayes old shall be circumcised among you every man-child in your generations hee that is borne in the house or bought vvith money of any stranger vvhich is not of thy seede This also some illustrate apply more particularly from that place Acts 2.39 For the promise is