Zealously to observe every the least Command of God They are Novices in the Knowledge of God who are lifted up with Pride and these fall into the Condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim. iii. 6. And what can be greater Pride than to think our selves in an higher Condition of Perfection than the Holy Apostles and all those Glorious Saints and Martyrs who were the First-fruits of the Gospel called in the Key above quoted by the Lessening Stile of Young Converts in Primitive Times St. Paul though IMMEDIATELY Converted and Enlightned MIRACULOUSLY from HEAVEN was commanded to go to Ananias to be Baptized But our Quakers pass him off as a Young Convert they have got beyond him and think themselves more HIGHLY Enlightned than he was And for that Reason only not to need that Baptism which was thought necessary for him And all the other Christians from Christ to George Fox were Young Converts Then it was that a greater Light was given than ever was known in the Church of Christ before to make the Outward Baptism cease as of no longer use to those who had attain'd the Substance Or otherwise none of the Primitive Christians knew their own Holiness or were so Humble as not to own it to that Degree as to place themselves above all outward Ordinances These are the Grounds and Reasons of the Quakers why Baptism and the Lord's Supper were not Perpetual Which in the mildest word that I cou'd frame I have call'd Precarious And they must appear to be such till the Quakers can give some other Proof besides their own saying so either that the Holiness of any Person can excuse him from the Observance of Christ's Institution Or that they have a greater Degree of Holiness than all others since Christ who have been Baptized 3. But the Perpetuity of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are fully expressed in the Words of the Scripture When Christ gave Commission to his Disciples to Baptize he promised to be with them in the Execution of that Commission even unto the End of the World Matt. xxviii 20. which shews that the Commission was to descend after the Death of the Apostles to whom it was given And it tells how long Alway even unto the End of the World The like Perpetuity is annexed to the Institution of the Lord's Supper 1 Cor. xi 26. Till Christ come again It was Instituted in Remembrance of him and therefore to be continu'd till his Coming again III. I know the Quakers do Interpret this not of Christ's Outward and Personal coming at the Resurrection which after Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. ii 18. they say is past already that is Inwardly perform'd by the Spiritual Resurrection of Christ or the Light in their Hearts And they say That the Institution of the Lord's Supper was only to continue till that Inward Coming or forming of Christ in our Hearts which they having obtain'd as they presume therefore they throw off the Outward Supper But was not Christ formed in the Hearts of the Apostles to whom Christ gave his Holy Supper as much as in the Hearts of the Quakers now Was he not Come SPIRITUALLY to Paul after his Conversion And before his Command above quoted of continuing the Practice of the Lord's Supper till his Coming If they say That this was only to have it continu'd to those weaker Christians who had not Christ thoroughly formed in their Hearts First Who can say That Christ is thoroughly formed in his Heart May there not be greater and greater Degrees of the Inspiration of Christ in our Hearts And can we ever come to the End of it so as to need no further Inspiration or Coming of Christ within us Therefore Christ's Inward Coming is always to be expected His further and further Coming and Inspiration But if that Coming which the Quakers wou'd make to be the Determination of the Outward Institution of the Lord's Supper be the Least Degree of his Coming then every Christian nay according to the Quakers every Man in the World not only is but always was exempted from the Observation of that Institution because the Quakers do own That every Man in the World has and ever had the Light within which they make to be Christ at least an Influence and Inspiration from Christ and so to be a Coming or Presence of his in the Heart And therefore by this Rule Christ is Come to every Man in some Degree or other And if there be not some stinting or ascertaining of this Degree then Christ was always so Come to All as to make the Institution of the Lord's Supper useless at all Times to All. Nay it was ended before it began For if his Inward Coming does end it it cou'd never begin because he was always so Inwardly Come But if there are some Degrees of his Coming so weak as to need the Help of the Outward Institution to which God has annexed the Promise of his Grace when duly Administred and Receiv'd then these Degrees must be known else those may be depriv'd of the Benefit of it who have most need of it And those are they who think that they need it least Secondly The Quakers do not always pretend all of them to the same Degrees of Perfection if there be Degrees in Perfection they must be sensible sometimes at least others are of the many Weaknesses of some of their Number Why then do they not allow the Lord's Supper to those Weaker ones Else they must say That it was not intended for the Weak more than for the Strong And so that the Institution and Practise of it by Christ and his Apostles was wholly useless and to no purpose And that all those high Things said of it That it is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. x. 16. And Christ's own Words This is my Body And therefore that the receiving it unworthily is being Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord That therefore we shou'd approach to it with the greatest Reverence and Preparation to Examine our selves seriously and diligently that we may receive it with pure Hearts and Minds And the Dreadful Judgments which do attend the Neglect or Abuse of it not only sundry Discases and divers kinds of Deaths but Damnation 1 Cor. xi from Ver. 27. I say all these were Words thrown into the Air of no Meaning nor Import at all if the Quaker Interpretation be true which makes nothing at all of the Lord's Supper but renders it wholly Precarious and Insignificant even at the time of its Institution and now to be hurtful and pernicious as drawing Men from the Substance to meer Shadows for they make of it no more IV. But I wou'd beseech them to consider how much more highly God does value it and how Material a part of his Religion he does make it For when St. Paul was taught the Faith immediately from Heaven and not from those who were Apostles before him as he tells us Gal. i. 16 17. Christ
till the Day of Pentecost fifty Days after the Resurrection of Christ as it is Recorded in the Second of the Acts. This Spiritual Baptism was promised John xiv 16 26. xv 26. xvi 7. And the Apostles were commanded to tarry in the City of Jerusalem till it should come upon them Luke xxiv 49. 2. The Quakers allow that John did Baptize with Water and there is no other sort of Baptism here mentioned with which Christ did Baptize and therefore these Baptisms being spoke of both together there can be no Reason to interpret the one to be with Water and the other not It is said John iv 1. The Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptized more Disciples than John How cou'd the Pharisees hear of it if it was not an Outward and Visible Baptism For as before is said the outward and miraculous Effects of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost were not then given And since it Was an Outward it must be the Water-baptism for there was then no other Obj. But the Quakers start an Objection here That it is said John iv 2. Jesus himself baptized not but his Disciples 1. Ans Tho Jesus himself baptized not yet it is said in the Verse foregoing that He made and baptized i. e. those whom His Disciples by His Order Baptized For if it had not been done by His Order it cou'd not be said that he had Baptized those whom his Disciples Baptized But because He that doeth a thing by Another is said to do it Himself therefore Christ himself is said to have Baptized those whom his Disciples by his Order did Baptize 2. Answ That Baptizing which Christ is said to have Administred himself John iii. 26. might have been at another Time than that which is mentioned in the 4th Chapter And then the consequence will only be this That at some Times Christ did Baptise Himself and at other Times he left it to his Disciples Tho as to our Argument it is the same thing whether he did it Himself or commanded his Disciples to do it For either way it is his Baptism his Onely his Disciples did but Administer what he commanded II. As Christ himself did Baptize with Water and his Disciples by his Commandment while he was with them upon Earth so did his Apostles and Others thereunto by them commissionated after his Death and Resurrection by vertue of his Command to them Matth. xxviii 19. after he was Risen from the Dead What is said above of the Etymology and true Signification of the word Baptize is of itself sufficient to prove that by Baptism in this Text the outward Baptism with Water is meant especially till the Quakers can shew any Contradiction or Absurdity in having the word taken in the proper and literal sense in this and the other Texts which speak of it And this will be very hard to do since as it is just now proved that Christ did Baptize with Water as well as John And what Absurdity or Contradiction can be alledged that his Apostles shou'd Administer the same sort of Baptism after his Death as he had Practised and Commanded during his Life Nay rather what Reason can be given why they shou'd not be the same since the same word i. e. Baptize is us'd in Both and no new Sense or Acceptation of the word is so much as hinted And therefore to put any new sense or acceptation of the word must be wholly Arbitrary and Precarious But as I promis'd I will Demonstrate yet more fully and plainly that the Apostles did Practise the Outward i. e. Water-Baptism after CHRIST's death Acts x. 27. Can any Man forbid Water that these shou'd not be Baptized Acts viii 36. As they Philip and the Eunuch went on their way they came to a certain Water and the Eunuch said See here is Water what doth hinder me to be Baptized And Verse 38. they went both down into the Water hoth Philip and the Eunuch and he Baptized him And when they were come up out of the WATER c. Acts xxii 16. And now why tarriest thou Arise and be Baptized and wash away thy sins And to save more Quotations the Quakers do own that the Baptism of the Corinthians mentioned 1 Cor. i. 14 17. was Water-baptism Therefore I will conclude this Point as undeniable That the Apostles did practise Water-baptism And the Argument from thence will lie thus The Apostles did practise that Baptism which Christ commanded Mat. xxviii 19. But the Apostles did practise Water-baptism therefore Water-baptism was that Baptism which Christ commanded Matth. xxviii 19. III. And as the Practise of the Apostles is a most sure Rule whereby to understand the meaning of that Command which they put in execution so the Practise of those who immediately succeeded the Apostles who were Cotemporaries with them and learn'd the Faith from their Mouths is as certain a Rule to know what the Practise and what the Sense of the Apostles were And thus the Practise of the present Age in the Administration of Water-baptism is an undeniable Evidence that this was the Practise of the last Age the same Persons being many of them alive in both the last and the present Age. For one Age does not go off the World all at once and another succeed all of perfect Age together but there are old Men of the last Age and young Men and Children growing up to another Age all alive upon Earth the same time and Mankind being dispersed into far distant Countries and Climates who know not of one another nor hold any Correspondence It is by these means morally impossible for any Man or Men to deceive us in what has been the Vniversal and Receiv'd Practise of the last Age to which the present Age is so linked that it is even a part of it I say it is impossible for all the Fathers of the World to be suppos'd willing or if they were to be capable of imposing upon all younger than themselves namely That they had been all Baptized and that this was an universally receiv'd Custom and of which Registers were always kept in every Parish of all who had been from time to time Baptized and that such Registers were publick and to be recurr'd to by all that had a mind to it Every Man's reason will tell him that it is utterly impossible for such a thing to pass upon Mankind And as certainly as the present Age is thus assur'd of the Practise of the last Age in a Thing of so publick and universal a nature so certainly and by the same Rules must the last Age know the Practise of the Age before that and so backward all the way to the first Institution to the Age of Christ and the Apostles The publick nature of this Water-baptism as now practised being an outward matter of Fact of which Mens outward Senses their Eyes and Ears are Judges not like Matters of Opinion which sort of Tares may be privately sown and long time
Worship To which we are as much nay more strictly obliged under the Gospel than they were under the Law As St. Irenaeus argues advers Haeres l. 4. c. 34. That the manner of Worship as of Sacrifices is chang'd but not the Worship abolished Non Genus oblationis Reprobatum est oblationes enim illic oblationes autem hic Sacrificia in Populo Sacrificia in Ecclesia sed Species Immutata est tantum i. e. The Kind or Nature of the Offering is not Abolished for there were Offerings under the Law and there are Offerings also under the Gospel there were Sacrifices among the People of the Jews There are Sacrifices likewise in the Church but the Species or Manner of them only is changed viz. That some Sacrifices under the Law were Bloody as Praefiguring the Death of Christ and therefore that Sort or Manner of Sacrificing is ceased because Fulfill'd in the Death of Christ But their Vn-bloody Sacrifices and Oblations as of Tythes and other Offerings Remain still among Christians and are Signs as much as they were under the Law The outward Worship of God must be by Actions proper and significant Nihil enim Otiosum nec sine Signo nec sine Argumento apud eum Iren. ibid. i. e. For there is nothing Empty nor without a Sign nor without Signification in the Worship of God And in the very next words he applies this to Tythes Et propter hoc illi quidem Decimas And for this reason the Jews paid Tythes viz. as a Sign of their Dependence upon God and having Receiv'd All from Him And in Hopes of their Receiving More from Him Sed nos omnia But the Christians instead of a Tenth Part which the Jews gave Give All that they have because says he they have a Better Hope And ch 27. shewing how Christ did Heighten the Law as instead of Adultery to forbid Lust instead of Murder to forbid Anger and instead of giving the Tythe commanding to sell All And this says he is not a Dissolving of the Law but Enlarging it Matth. v. 17 18. So that no Part of the Law is Destroy'd and All is not Fulfill'd and since All must be Fulfill'd it follows that what is not yet Fulfill'd must yet Remain And Many of the Signs in the Law not being Fulfill'd in Christ's Death nor ever to be Fulfill'd while we Live upon this Earth consequently do Remain and must so Remain to the End of the World So that the Gospel has Signs as well as the Law and in Great Part the same Signs with other Sacramental Signs added by Christ which are those of which we now Treat Baptism and The Supper of The Lord. VIII And let us Reflect that ever since God made outward Things and gave us this Body as the Soul does act by the Mediation of the Body so has God ordain'd that his Gifts and Graces shall be convey'd to us by Outward Signs and Means Christ us'd outward Signs and Means for his Miraculous Cures to shew that tho' the Vertue did not come from the Means yet that they were of Use and not to be Despised But why do we say that the Vertue does not come from the Means We say so when we cannot tell the Reason and Manner how the Means work their Effect and can we tell it in those which we call Natural Means No surely we know only by Observation and Experience and what often comes to pass we call it Natural as being the common Course of Things not that we know the Reason of it more than of those Occurrences which we call Miraculous and Extraordinary Man doth not live by Bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God Bread has no Vertue of its own to nourish but only what it receives from God And if he give his Vertue for it is His only to a Stone or any thing else it will nourish And Bread will and does cease to nourish when he withdraws his Blessing from it Therefore the Spittle of Christ and the Clay the Waters of Siloam and Bethesda and the Brazen-Serpent had as great Vertue to Cure when they were Appointed by God as Bread has to nourish and the Vertue came as much from Them as it does from the Bread in our Daily Food Now if the Brazen-Serpent which was but a Type of Christ had Vertue to Cure the Body shall we deny that the Bread which Christ blessed for the Remission of Sin has Vertue to work that Effect He whose single Fiat made the Worlds and whose Influence gives Power to all Things and makes them what they are he said of that Blessed Bread THIS IS MY BODY And his Holy Apostle said of it The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ And do we doubt how it works this Effect Dare we Reject it because it seems strange to us how it shou'd work this Effect who know as little how our Daily Bread does nourish our Bodies Do we object our Ignorance how a Man can be Born of Water and the Spirit who can give as short an Account how we are formed of a drop of Water in the Womb and by what Ligaments such different Natures as Soul and Body are compacted and linked together How can we pretend to have Faith in Christ and yet not believe his Words because of the seeming difficulty to our Understandings who know nothing of the Method and Manner how He can bring them to pass According to our Faith it will be unto us Therefore let us Humble our Souls greatly and imitate the Holy Angels far more Enlightned than we are who vail their Faces before God and presume not to dispute his Commands or pretend to understand all the Methods of his Power and Wisdom unsearchable but desire to look into those Things 1 Pet. i. 12. those Glorious Mysteries of the Gospel which the Quakers despise as below the Measure to which they have attain'd And the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places do submit to learn the Manifold Wisdom of God Ephes iii. 10. from that Church which the Quakers do vilifie and trample under their feet as thinking it uncapable to teach them any thing or to administer to them the Sacraments which Christ has commanded But because the Dispute will arise which that Church is in the miserable Divisions of Christendom and amongst the various sorts of the Pretenders to it I have in the Discourse mention'd in the Advertisement I hope given a plain and sure Rule to guide all Honest and Disinterested Enquirers in that most necessary and fundamental Point The Conclusion Shewing the Necessity of Water-Baptism THE Sum of what has been said concludes in the great Necessity there is of Water-Baptism But before I say more of it I will obviate an Objection which may arise from the word Necessary If it be Absolutely Necessary then none can be saved without it Which sort of Necessity I do not