Judaism But no doubt Peter here aimed and even pointed at that grand and fundamental Covenant of Grace made to Abraham In thy seed shall all families of the Earth be blessed Such a Promise as this of Grace and the free remission of their sins by that blood of Christ though shed by some of them sealed in the Sacrament of Baptism comes seasonably to them to pacifie their troubled consciences and cheer up their drooping spirits whereas the other Promise of receiving the Gifts of the Spirit that is the extraordinary ones of speaking divers Languages c. would nothing so properly and effectually have done it as that was the thing then in hand to be done And besides the Promise here spoken of being a Gospel Promise was to extend to all also that were afar off as many as the Lord shall call and so it did pass on in the general Tenders Privileges and Effects to the Believers of the Gentiles and their children from that time and so shall unto the end of the World But you will not say I dare say That according to this Promise the believers of the Gentiles and their Children have received and shall receive those Gifts of speaking divers and strange Languages throughout all Ages and Generations Such a Promise was never made and ought not to be challenged of God But it may be the Promise made to Abraham was but a personal and peculiar one to him and his seed to be taken Into Covenant and to become a visible Church I will be thy God and the God of thy seed i.e. Isaac Jacob and their children No it extended we see to the Proselytes of other Nations also and to all followers of Abraham's faith both Jews and Gentiles and therefore the same Promise was frequently renewed in Scripture many hundred years after those Patriarchs deceased both to Jews and Gentiles as Isa 30.6 Isa 44.2 3. and so shall continue unto the end of the World Isa 59.21 to as many as the Lord our God shall call until the very last calling in of the Jews it being as I said a Gospel-Promise Yea say you it is granted when any of the Children of Believers come to be called and do believe this Promise shall be made good to them But thus saying you make the Promise to hold forth no more comfort or benefit to the children of Believers than the children of Pagans and thus even Isaac and Jacob should have no external privilege by this Promise until they actually believed yea thus all the Jews but such as were Elect and truly faithfull were cut off as well as the Gentiles from having any visible communion in external privileges thereof The Call here is either inward or outward if inward can none partake of the outward privileges as Baptism but such as have that We know those are common to the Elect and Reprobate If of an outward Call why the Infants of Believers enjoy this Call with their Parents and so partake of the Promise And what if Peter here required repentance of such as were in Covenant before baptism are therefore Infants not to be baptized so Ahraham was in Covenant and an actual Believer and justified in Uncircumcision and received Circumcift on as a seal of righteousness of Faith and Proselytes turned to the Jews were first to make profession of faith were therefore none but such to be circumcised But if being under the Covenant besufficient to give a proper right to the seals of it and the privileges of it as I said why-doth Peter keep such a do with these Jess being already in Covenant to repent and believe before they were baptised and why were none of them being in Covenant baptized but such as gladly received the Word and believed It is no where so said that none but such were baptized amongst the three thousand souls And as for the Jews who receiving the Word gladly were baptised you must know they were not now before it in Covenant so as to acknowledge Jesus Christ the Son of Mary to be the Messias and Saviour of the World as who denied that holy One and killed the Prince of life True they were born Jews under the Covenant in the first Ministration of it and were circumcised and had the seal of their faith in Christ to come But this being now antiqunted and out of date by the coming of Christ in the flesh and these Jews having renounced Christ and deposed themselves and their children from the Title they had to Christ as Matthew 27.25 they so renounced the Covenant they had Title to by birth and were now in a condition little better than Pagans Christians to be made and therefore they were not to have the new appointed seals of entrance which was Baptism to assure them that Jesus was Lord and Christ until they embraced him by faith confessing that he was come and that Jesus was he and repented of their crucifying him And thus having cleared the interpretation of the Text I will give you a Consideration of mine upon it before I come to your Considerations without any interpretation given of you My Consideration upon it is this That here is a good warrant for me and for Infant Baptism against you and so as Solomon said of Adonijah 1 Kings 2.33 That be had spoken a word against his own life I may say you have brought in this Word and Text against your self and the life of your Cause said I a warrant yea a very Command The words Be baptized every one of you you will not deny I suppose to be a word of command from Peter in Christs stead and so from Christ by Peter But the Command is To baptiae Father and Child I prove thus Because the Promise is to the Father and Child The Promise is made to you and your Children and therefore the Command is Be baptized every one of you and your Children For if the Children of Believers have a right to be baptized by the word of Promise they must have a right to be baptized by the word of Command and so the other way also these two being convertible Terms the word of Promise and the word of Command having mutual relation each to other So it s in the general nature of Covenants there must be a convertibility betwixt the two parts that do contract as the mutual Indentures shew and so also it must be in the Sacramental Covenant betwixt God and man and betwixt the word of Promise which is Gods part and the word of Command that contains the duty of man in the Sacramental Action And so particularly it was in Circumcision in which Institution there was a mutual neer relation and convertibility between the word of Promise I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and the word of Command Every man-child among you shall be circumcised so that as many of them that had a right to be circumcised by the word of Promise had a right to be circumcised
by the word of Command and so also the other way turn it and it s as true Sir my hand is now in and I will give you another Syllogism Whosoever are expressed in the Promise Verse 39. are contained in the Precept before Verse 38. Be baptized every one of you But believing Parents and their Children are expressed in the Promise Verse 39. The Promise is made to you and your Children Therefore believing Parents and their Children are contained in the Precept and so both are commanded to be baptized There is no difficulty but in the first Proposition and in it there is none by reason of the mutual relation and reciprocal convertibility that is betwixt a Promise and a Precept in Covenantal and Sacramental matters as hath been shewed And whereas it may be said That a Promise may be without a seal and this here doth not infer Baptism It is true but when men have once put their seal then there needs must be a correspondence and relation between that Seal and the Covenant So here though it was not absolutely necessary the word of Promise or Covenant of Grace should be set forth by outward seals appearing to the senses yet God having once anpointed them to signifie the inward grace it is now necessary there should be such a mutual relation between the word of Promise and the word of Command and the Seal also But I come now to your Consideration upon the Text of Acts 2. verse 39. Consider that such a being in the Covenant as maketh Faith void is no true being But that being in the Covenant which is concluded from the Faith of the Parents is such a being as maketh Faith void therefore no true being That this is so I prove That Title whereby any person hath once a being in the Covenant by the same he may remain in it for ever now then if any one hath such a Title as to be within the Covenant by being the seed of the faithfull he may remain in it for ever and so needs no faith of his own and so by the same reason one may all may and seeing all be the children of Abraham or Noah which were faithfull all are in the Covenant and so Faith needless in the wordl 2. Consider that such on Expositionas overthroweth the Promise that cannot be a true Exposition of the Text but such as expound a being in the Covenant from faithfull Parents overthrow the Promise Therefore this Exposition is no true Exposition for the Promise is upon account of faith in our own persons and not in our Parents as appears in Hab. 2.4 compared with John 3.36 And that it doth overthrow the Promise I farther prove because nothing answereth the Promise but faith and if faith be needless then the Promise is needless Sir I can write no farther being sorry I writ out so much of your needless stuff for to what purpose is all this are these Considerations upon Acts 2.39 they might have been upon any other Text as well which makes any mention of Promise Faith Children And what is it but such an Exposition as overthroweth the Promise Why did you not set it down the Exposition at first and then consider upon it you alwaiet love to shuffle with shadows and fight with fancies and strange Chymaera's Your purpose is to except to the children of Believers being in Covenant with their Parents for so I must still be working upon your earth which is without form and void and darkness upon the face of it like a Chaos and you say it is a false being as concluded from the faith of Parents and so maketh faith void First I must tell you that the being of children in the Covenant of Grace with their Parents was concluded by God jointly and together in that Promise I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed both were in the Promises and concluded together not one from another both in the Promise and confederate together not one from another Your expressions are uncouth unheard in the Church yet we may conclude thus That if the Parent be in Covenant with God then also his seed and children are in Covenant not so much from as for the faith of the Parents God accepting of it so as to Covenant with them and their Seed But grant your Conclusion in your own terms what then Such a being in Covenant as is concluded from the faith of the Parents maketh Faith voyd say you and say I what Faith or whose Faith do you mean Not the Faith of the Parents I suppose for the Baptizing of the Child or the being of it in Covenant from the Faith of the Parents as you speak doth rather confirm establish and bring it into effect than make it void nor can you mean the Faith of the Children for you holding them to have no Faith of their own as here you expresly say how can you say it is here made void any way which was or is no where extant at all nor is Faith required of them as to any manifestation of it for their being in Covenant or taking the Seal though these do require it of them afterwards But the Proof that you bring it being of I know not what nothing asserted before of you or denyed of me deserveth to be answered in its kind that is by a Reproof for thus you prove That Title wherby a person hath once a being in the Covenant by the same he may remain in it for ever I must cast in a grain of Salt here without which it is too fresh yea unsavoury that is so long as he lives and renounce not before whether he be one of our Infants or one of your grown Baptized ones Now then if any one hath such a Title as to be within the Covenant by being the seed of the faithful he may remain in it for ever and so needs no Faith of his own Here 's a rope of Sand for my grain of Salt I grant he may with the former limitation and he that hath such a Title as to be within the Covenant by being converted from Paganism may do so too and as one so all may And he needs no Faith of his own I hope you remember your self no Actuall Faith expressed as elsewhere you write it as to this purpose to give him Title unto the Covenant or Seal which his being the seed of the faithfull doth yet he needs Faith to give him Title to the benefits of the Covenant Justification and Salvation and he must be also a faithful seed himself And so by the same reason one may all may and seeing all be the Children of Abraham and Noah which were faithfull all are in the Govenant and so Faith needles in the world Sir you rise apace but to no preferment of a Proof before it was but He needs no Faith of his own and now it should but have been they need no Faith of their own because by the same reason one may
Gentiles that are in Covenant with God and enjoy the Ordinances of his grace and mercy do also by vertue of Gods Promise I will be thy God and the God of thy seed convey to their issue and posterity a state and privilege and so rather it is the joynt Covenant made by God with both together the Parent and his issue and posterity to be reputed of a holy and clean society and Congregation before God from the other Pagan and heathenish world and so the child or children born of such Parents in Covenant to be truly holy like as the Parent because of the Covenant Not that insants have any real personal qualitative holiness in them which is and must be in all true believers whither Parents or children to make them acceptable to God as to justification and Salvation whom I confess though born within the Church and of believing Parents to be born in sin naturally and be unclean children of wrath by nature as well as others the children of Pagans without the Church But I say they have a federal and parental so it may be called by a savory mouth and relative or imputative holiness put upon them by the Covenant of God and brought forth or executed on them by or at their birth of believing Parents which is sufficient and enough to make them passe in the eyes of God and in the face of the visible Church for clean and holy or if not their professions of the faith of Christ for you will not deny them to be professors of Christ and members of the Church in part and in kinde at leastwise by the mouth of their Sureties presenting them and speaking for them this will bear them out to be holy likewise And what if I should tell you in your ear that Christian infants in Covenant with God are holy too by an inward holiness also are not all inward sanctifying graces effects of Gods Covenant and who knoweth when God as where he effects them you perhaps would stop that ear cry out Then grace which onely maketh holy cometh successively and is derived by nature and Parents shall be the authors and conveighers of grace and holiness to their children No such matter Sir For the children are primitively holy with the Parents by the Covenant as co-partners and confederates with them therein I will be thy God and the God of thy seed not derivatively holy from the Parents as solely or first partners and prefederates without these Christian Parents and children are both joynt confederates I say and do both draw and derive together their holiness as other privileges from the Covenant and Tenour of grace therein and not successively from one another children from Parents derivatively as you fondly fansie to your self and erroniously imagine The which truth may also serve much to clear off those cloudy difficulties so much pressed by the Anabaptistical party from the Jesuitical side about infants being Baptized sanctified saved by the faith of their Parents as they use to blate and bâ—â—e abroad You like enough before you will believe any holiness in them would have them shew some such thing either in words before they can speak and whilest they are infants that is nonfants or indeed before they have any idoneity of instruments and ability to act Have patience a while and you may hear them speak the words and see them do some acts of holiness What! are you so sensual all for sense and so altogether lead by sense that nothing but a sensative or sensible manifestation of holiness in children will be believed by you I had thought you had walked by faith and not by sight you believe a holiness in other things in Faith in the Word in the Sacraments in the Church of God and in all things which the holy Scriptures the oracles of holiness have pronounced holy though you have not a visible and sensible demonstration of holiness in them you walk by faith there and not by fight and why cannot you believe a holiness in children of Christian Parents in Covernant with God though they shew forth no sensible effects of such holiness seeing also the same holy Scripture doth call them holy and not unclean and so supplying their defect of speech and action giveth you what you ask even a sensible manifestation of their holiness and speaks them holy unto your ears not declares them holy to your eyes so you may now walk by sight and hear say not by faith and hope limping and halting therein for except you shall see in their hands and tongues the prints of holiness in works and words and perhaps thrust your fingers into their fides to feel the holiness of their hearts too in affections and thoughts you will not believe What and if our Saviour Christ should now as once take one of our little children in Covenant with him and set it before you and say whosoever humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven would it not be strange for you to tell him you see no such yet you hear of such humility lowliness meakness mildness innocency in children and is it not a like to tell him you see no such holiness here when you hear of it from the mouth of Christ his and this Apostle Paul here saying They are holy But that I have said it before and already I would say that even children shew themselves more bumble lowly meek mild and innocent and so more holy than a great many of your grown Professors and grand Pretenders unto holiness and all those graces let their holiness and other graces rest but a while as seed hidden up in their hearts or wrapped up in Gods Covenant with them and see if afterwards they do not shew it and their holiness break not forth as the light at noon day that was within the cloud or as the seed in harvest that was within the clod and in the mean time shew me thy faith by thy works and thy holiness by thy words and learn to speak better of childrens holiness and to do better with children for their holiness even so well as to let them be Baptized But besides this in hand there are two eminent Texts that hold out infants of Christians their holiness by Covenant the one is Rom. 11.16 If the first fruit be holy the lump also is holy and if the root be holy so are the branches I know the stream of our Divine Advocates for Infant-Baptism run altogether and out of this Text upon a derivative holiness from the Parents or Ancestors to their children which notwithstanding they call and make a federal holiness I am not willing in my old and infirm daies to strive or swim against a stream onely I will be bold to venture and wade so far as to hint again and mention unto those akilful steersmen now especially that the waters of strife about Infant-Baptism are risen high
Truth proved by Scriptures and yet but propounded in Quaeres and what will they be at the last your Quaeres will appea you say a Truth also at the last and great day you will be deceived then as now for your Quaeres are not Resolutions Decrees Axioms but Quaeres it doth not yet appear what is Truth in them to your self or any others put them out of Question into Propositions come out of your Quaeres into your Resolves and then I will tell you whether now in the later little daies they do or in that last great day they will appear a Truth or Truths In particular to passe by your Questions and Quaeres your Sacrilegious Usurpation to Preach Baptize and distribute the Sacramental Bread and Wine your injurious Detension of Christian Infants from Baptism the Seal of the Covenant God made with them also your ridiculous dopping and plunging of grown persons over head and ears back ward in a Pond who were before Baptized in their infancy in the face of the Congregation your Scrismatical separation from your Parochial and National fellow members professing truth and holiness your Scurrilous railing upon the true visible Church of England and the Ministers thereof as Baalitish Devillish and Antichristian professing and worshiping Christ Jesus and God in spirit and truth with a world more of fraudulent misinterpreting and misapplyings of sacred writ virulent Caluminations of holy Truth violent oppositions of lawful order uncharitable imaginations and contempts of higher Powers and all persons who are not of your S ct and Set can I think or any man else whose brains and heads have not been intoxicated by a superfluous re-baptization that these will appear a Truth or truths at that great and last day which in all the former daies the Word of God hath judged and condemned for errors and untruths it hath been the fashion of some Heretiques and Scismatiques when they have been confuted and confounded with the evidence and light of Truth which hath been flashed in their faces here from the Word and Scriptures to make their appeals to the great and last day for trial and to Jesus for the Judge of truth or untruth but we have it already as a ruled Case from himself in the 12. of John 48. ver The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him and you and all at the last day and the Apostle Paul speaketh of the same day When God shall judge the secrets of men according to his Gospel Rom. 2.16 Flap not me off therefore with this put off of your Tenets if you have done with Quaeres as its high time that they will appear Truths at that great and last day for if you cannot now in this your little present day make them to appear Truths according to Christs word and Pauls Gospel better than you or others have done as yet and yet I think you and they have done your best they will never appear Truths in the great and last day but the Word and Gospel will then as now they do appear against them for errors and untruths and by that Word and Gospel Christ and his Apostles and all the Saints shall judge and condemn them for such so that you and they who held up your heads in these waters of strife and contention here on Earth with the pust and blown bladders of your self-conceipted fansies will be fain to hang them down in shame and confusion of face Revel 3. â—â— Calling upon the Hills to fall upon you and to the Mountains to cover you from the face of him that siteth upon the Throne and from that shine and lustre of Truth that then will appear at that great and last day I will therefore give you the good counsel of the Apostle Let every man for the counsel is good for all of us take heed how he buildeth upon the Foundation Jesus Christ every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it Especially the great and last day you speak off Because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is whether Gold Silver precious Stones or whether Wood Hay Stubble if any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward if any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer losse 1 Cor. 3.10 and 12. And whereas in your next close you bid me lye down before it and stoop to it it is spoken like an imperious School Master or imperial Master of the Field which as yet you are neither as for all the Truths of Christ set forth in his Word and Gospel I do here stoop to them and ly down before them prostrating and casting down all my imaginations and every thing of my Reason that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God bringing into captivity every thought or affection of mine to the obedience of Christ and his Truth and pleasure laying my hand upon my mouth and putting my mouth in the dust and laying dust upon my head I do here bow down my head incline my heart throw down all within me and without me and wholly and totally yield my self unto Truths of the Word of God as to the Victorious and Conquering the powerful and Triumphant Rod and Scepter of Christ Speak Lord for thy servant heareth 1 Sam. 3.10 1 Kings 18.39 Numb 23.18 Deut. 32.4 The Lord he is the God The Lord he is the God God is not as man that he should lye a God of Truth and without iniquity just and right is he yea God is truth it self and Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Spirit is truth 1 John 5 6. And thy Law is truth and all thy Commandements are truth John 14.6 Psalm 119.142 and 151. Thy Word is true from the beginning Psal 119.160 and so to the end thy Word endureth Heaven and Earth shall passe away but one jot and tittle of the Word shall not passe away till all be fulfilled Matth. 5.18 But Sir to lye down before or stoop to your Quaeres and Considerations and Interpretations so void and empty of the Divine Truth of God and his Word so full and even swoln with the Humane sanfie of man and his will though you masterly expect it I shall Scholarly defeat you I am now too strong and well truss'd and truth'd to untrusse or untruth to such a dip-dop pedant or rather Anti-pedant as you are such a one as you are I could have disciplined that way and discipled any other way fifty years ago and I have too much of Mordecai the Benjamite in me and of his zeal to the Church of God than to bow or stoop to such a Haman a man the Agagite the separate that speaks so ill and vilely of the people of God and seeks to destroy it and them utterly Nay rather let your Dagon fall upon his face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord and your Quaerulous errors lie down
your last line lovely and amiable though the first leaf was hatefull and detestable I embrace you in your last line so also in your Subscription speak it again and write or subscribe again your self that in the hand of two witnesses or the double witness of your hand this word may stand and be more confirmed To be the Lord Jesus's devoted Servant as also mine and the rest the meanest of Christs Servants and Ministers Servants for Jesus sake which I take onely according to the Apostles limitation Galath 5.13 in or by love for which also I thank you being ready also to serve you in and by love for Jesus sake but with another of the same Apostles limitations 2 Thess 2.10 by an in love of the truth the which because some have not received God hath sent them strong delusions that they should believe a lye as it followeth in the Apostle ver 10 11. But we are bound to give God thanks for you Brethren and Nâ—ighbours and Parishioners and your selves are boundmuch more to do the same to God for that he hath called you unto the belief of the truth by our Gospel and something also by this my Answer to you 2 Thessalonians 2. verse 14. Therefore Brethren and Neighbours stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle verse 15. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort and â—stablish you in every good word and work verses 16 17 And now also Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up Acts 20.32 Consider what I say and have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things 2 Tim. 2.7 Let every soul that is understanding be subject to the higher powers of the word and captivate every thought to the obedience of the truth Let every Saul who is ignorant admit of the light of the Word and Truth to shine round about him that the scales by the Ministry of Ananias may fall away from their eyes that in seeing they may see and understand the truth of all the matters and mysteries of Salvation Acts 9.15 But if any man be ignorant and will be ignorant let him be ignorant and still be ignorant 1 Cor. 14.38 Or Let them hear and say reade and see It is truth Isa 43. verse 9. And so Sir because I will be answerable to you in all things I do now subscribe my self as in relation to my Master and Lord Jesus Christ His the least of his Servants and Ministers not worthy to be called a Servant and Minister of Christ so in reference unto you my Antagonist and Opponent Your the greatest of your friends worthy to be called a friend of yours for am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Gal. 4.16 When you have tried all your Brethren and Friends Truth will be your best Friend and your best Brother will be Jeffry Watts From Muchleigh's Parsonage July the 1. 1656. Now I proceed from a Scribe and his Letter answered and a Pharisce or Separate churched to a hypocrite or Dipper sprinkled but first of all to be questioned and catechised and so to the Narration of a dipping to be censured according to my Promise in the Title and Frontispiece of this Treatise Onely first Courteous Reader I Must desire of thee that in the reading over if so thou art intended this Narration of a Dippping with a Censure thereupon which followeth now Thou wouldst not mind a Passage or Paragraph of the Former Epistle to thee which goeth before the Answer and Instruction of a Scribe and his Letter as wherein I apologized for my omitting to cite and call into the several Points I handled the venerable Testimonies of the ancient Doctors and Fathers of the Church in their own learned Languages This I excused unto thee partly because I was confined and tyed up by the Scribe and his queres onely to Scripture Commands and Examples for my Answer and partly for that I intended my Answer should go no farther then in a reciprocal and interchangeable Letter returned unto him who first occasioned and provoked it Though afterwards by reason of the larger extent of my Answer then I expected The Desk refusing a transcription of it to which I had offered it I was even compelled to make my refuge unto the Presse for an Impression of the same otherwise all the labour must be lost on both sides the Queres and Letter unanswered the Scribe uninstructed the Pharisee uncharged and Truth unvindicated as to and by my self This beingdone the Answer finished dismissed and sent away for the aforesaid prupose There fell out and was practised in my Parish and it may be for the more affront to me at a house of mine there This Dipping of two new Sisters in a Pond of the Yard The which being in publick upon the Lords-day and betwixt the Morning and Evening Worships drew away much people thither and was discoursed of by many mouthes and so famed about in these parts that I resolved and could do no less to get a full Narration of the business and to pass my censure upon the same And so having first preach it down in my Pulpit to my own Parish as a New business of ill consequence I next have written it down in my Study to thee the Reader and have sent up also this my censure after the former my Answer to be Impressed or Imprinted together into the same Tractate as handling both of them matters very agreeable and consonant So then here intending the Presse and having now no confinements or restraints upon me I have taken my full Liberty to produce and bring in much of the Learned Antiquity and to write out and transcribe their weighty Words and Speeches in their own Languages as many of them as I had by me for the fuller Confirmation and firmer Attestation of this my censure upon that Dipping that it was and is as I have said a New business and a very Novelty Yea this I have done as for the convincing the Anabaptists their Dipping and Immerging Baptism so called to be of Novelty so for the Confirming the Orthodox their Sprinkling and Aspersing Baptism as it is to be of Antiquity by the evidences of the ancient Fathers and Doctors brought forth and shewed on both sides and farther I have ascended up to the Highest Antiquity of all even to the Ancient of dayes and the Primogenit of every Creature and have probably at least shewed that Christ Jesus himself manifested in the flesh was but Aspersed or Superfused with water and not Dipped and Immerged under the water certainly not in their way and manner at his Baptism by S. John the Prime baptist nor other Christians after him by S. Peter and the other Primitive Baptizers And as to raâ—fi
work of the Lord it merited one of your best clearest and purest water-ponds to do the Lords work in otherwise you make the baptism of the Lord despicable by your chusing a foul muddy horse-cow-hog-pond for dipping as they in Malachy who made the Table of the Lord contemptible by their offering to him the blinde and the lame and the sick for sacrifice Mal. 1.7 8. If you think of no better then pond-water and such water-ponds instead of River-water or Fountain for their dipping in at the first Sacrament your poor proselytes may be afraid that you will set forth the brown-loaf to them instead of white-bread for their feeding at the next Sacrament for this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed in comparison of themselves say the blessed Scribes and Pharisees The fift Chatechistical Quaere is about the Action it self of the Dipping Quaere 5. What warrant have you of precept or example from sacred Scripture or the succeeding primitive Antiquity for your dipping or immerging the bodies over head and ears of these Sisters and others whom you presume to baptize as your proselytes If I would be a critick upon words I could tell you that your word of Dipping falls short and cometh not home to the word of Immerging for all dipping is not immerging though all immerging be dipping That all dipping is not immerging See Mat. 26.23 He that dippeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his hand with me in the dish shall betray me I think you will not say that he immerged his hand and thrust it or put it into and under the sauce there over back and palm up to the wrist besides Dipping may be of a part of the body whereas usually immerging is spoken of the whole body That dipping may be of a part you see by the former Text of the hand yea of a part of the hand so you may see Luke 16.24 That he may dip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue It is true there is something of baptism in them both in Dipping and immerging because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both yet both together if so be you can make them agree together are at odds with baptism and go not even with it in the language of the Scripture or latitude of the Word for some things are said there to be baptized which were neither dipped nor immerged as the children of Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea 1 Cor. 10.2 but neither dipped or immerged in them of which more anon and some things are said to be dipped and immerged which are not baptized This you confess in your Letter and give me a very homely instance that you may dip your dog but not baptize him Yea some School-men as Hallensis and Gabriel deny it to be the Sacrament or Baptism if it be said Ego te mergo I dip or immerge and they give this reason because those words are not Synonimal with the word I Baptize thee baptism not signifying every dipping or immersion but onely that sacred one but in reverence of Antiquity and in respect had to the Ancient Fathers of the Church who in the point of baptism so speak of them as one and the same I yeild tinction or dipping and immersion to be one and the same likewise in this matter for so Tertul. lib. de Coro militis translateth and readeth these words Ite docete omnes nationes Tingentes eas and so likewise do others of the Latine Fathers which sheweth that with them Tingo as also Immergo doth both signifie the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet I shall not yeild it to the exclusion of our sprinkling and aspersion or perfusion but that this also is included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if not also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which letting Lexicons and Grammarians rest I will produce Nicephorus Narrat Lib. Cap. 3. where speaking of Novatus how that after or upon great sickness converted he desired to be baptized Aquam petiit quâ in lecto ipso ita uti decumbebat perfusus baptizatâ—s scilicet est siquidem Tinctionem hujusmodi Baptismum vocari licet where you see that the three words Tinction Perfusion and Baptism are all one and both perfusion and tinction are called Baptism This Nicephorus lived in the year 1330. above 300. years sithence But I have undertaken to be rather a censurer of your work then a Critick of words And yet before I pass from this I must not so much Criticise as Catechize you about the word of baptizing which some of your Learned in the Greek tongue though most of you are professing and professed against both learning and languages do urge for your dipping and immerging Baptism for so they derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to dip and immerge and hence conclude that the dipping and immerging Baptism is the true and onely Baptism as derived from dipping 1. But first How if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth also as it doth also signifie to Wash then doth it not fetch in with it our sprinkling and aspeising Baptism or rather the pouring on or laying on of water with the hand and gently rubbing the face or forehead therewith Yea and the word signifieth also to Dye as well as to dip or wash and intimateth that changing of the Hiew or Colour as I may so call it which is in Baptism and which is alluded to in Isay 1.16 Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doing and then at the 18. v. Though your sins be as scarlet and red as Crimson they shall be as wool and white as snow For whereas in our natural estate we are deep Dyed in sins and transgressions as scarlet and crimson and as the Aethiopian have contracted a black skin upon our souls which we cannot change and are as full of black spots as the Leopard which we cannot put off by any of the powers of nature Jer. 13.23 when we are baptized into Christ we do put on Christ that pure and immaculate Lamb who spreadeth over us the white Fleece of his innocency and righteousness and therewith as with a white garment covereth all our black deformities and so which is strange being dipt in his blood we are dyed white i.e. innocent as in the sight and acceptation of God which was signified of old by putting presently a white garment upon the party baptized of which Ambrose speaketh Lib. de iis qui initiantur myst Cap 7. Accepisti post haec vestimenta candida ut esset indicium quod exueris involucrum peccatorum indueris innocentiae c. sta velamina de quibus dixit propheta Asperges me Domine Hysope mundabor lavabis me super nivem deâ—lbalor And so the same Gregory Turonensis whom I cited before Lib. 5. Hist Cap 11. Renatusque Deo per Baptismi Sacramentum cum Albatis reliquis
ipse procedit and a little after Albicabat tota civitas de Grege candido I add also the testimony of our Countryman Rabanus Maurus one of Beda his Scholars who Lib. 1. de Instit cler Cap. 29. Pâ—st Baptismum traditur Christiano vestis Candida designans innocentiam puritatem Christianam quam pâ—st ablutas veteres maculas studio sanctae conversationis immaculatam servare debet ad presentandum ante Tribunal Christi I think I may as well heap to my self Testimonies and have herein an itching hand writing for the good of others you being indocible herein as there be some that heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears hearing too little good of themselves Lactantius de Resur Dominicae die speaking to Christ Rex sacer ecce tui radiat pars magna Trophaei Cum puras Animas Sacra lavachra beant Candidus egreditur nitidis exercitus undis Atque vetus vitium purgat in amne novo 1. This testimony I the rather add because of its antiquity for Lactantius lived in the 310 year from the Nativity of Christ and speaketh of the clear and white waters of the Rivers used in Baptism to confirm what I said before hereof like as another doth of Fountain or Fonts Paulinus by name Inde parens sacro ducit de Fonte sacerdos Infantes niveos corpore corde habitu So Paulus Diaconus who wrote in the year 790. Lib. 6. Hist Longobard Cap. 15. maketh mention for which cause I also make mention of him and his testimony of one Codratus King of the Anglosaxons who was baptized at Rome of Sergius the first Pope there in the year 690. and by him named Peter and that he died being in his white Garments and that was within the seven days or weeks after he was baptized For of old they were baptized at Easter a solemn time appointed for the Catechumens to be baptized in after their instructions and preparations certain dayes before and so arrayed in the same white garments for seven or eight dayes they appeared all upon the Sunday following Easter-day which thereupon was called with them Dominica in Albis as both Rabanus in his 2 Lib. de Instit Cleâ— Cap. 30. and Augustine in Serm. ad competentes a very white Sunday though in our English called Low-Sunday It might be a second Palm-Sunday being both Ensigns as of Innocency so victory The which Feast of Easter lasted with them until Pentecost therefore called with us Whit-sunday or White-Sunday also because they then also appeared together in their white cloaths after which namely the Lords day after their white garments were taken off for which purpose it was called Pascha clausum or the Feast of Easter finished or shut up as Alcuinus in Epistolaad Carolum Magnum in Hebdomada Pentecostes In imitation of this the Papists do even yet continue to put a white handkerchief or other white linen vestment upon or about the head of the baptized and anointed Infant by which they signifie both the glory of the Resurrection as also the splendour and whiteness or brightness of the soul the black and foul spots of sins being washed off and lastly that the baptized must so long as he liveth keep and preserve its purity and innocency and so in a manner and upon the matter I have given you in English the substance of all the Latine before lest thou should traduce me also for a Papist for writing thus to you in an unknown tongue But I leave now this digression occasioned from the third signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as I have said to Dye even to dye white as wool and snow the crimson and scarlet sins of such as being born therein come to be baptized And so I conclude my first answer to your or rather others objection the which answer is briefly this That your dipping or immerging cannot be the true and onely baptism because as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to dip or immerge for that I say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth also to Wash and also to Dye and where there are three significations as three branches of a Primogenial or Radical word it followeth not but is a great non-sequitur or inconsequence that the word derived as Baptism here should be confined to and concluded in the one namely dipping when as it may be and must be enlarged and extended to the other also washing and dying Secondly in words when from them arguments are drawn you must consider to what use and purpose the words are brought and not so much or onely from what root and original they are fetcht for howsoever most an end I acknowledge the Primitive and Radical word is of a greater latitude and larger extent then that which is branched and derived from it yet it is often otherwise or sometimes at least as in some trees whose branches do exceed the root in extension and as in man who is Arbor inversa whose arms and legs do spread wider and farther then the head and hair Our Divines do instance in two Derivative words Catechising and Prophecying whereof the first namely Catechizing according to the use of the Scripture spreads now as far as to the teaching of men of riper years by any way of writing or preaching or conference as is to be seen Luk. 1.4 Acts 18.25 Acts 21.24 1 Cor. 14.19 yet is derived from a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sound or such a sound as an Eccho yeildeth and properly and originally is but such an instruction as is of children or Novices in the Elements and Rudiments of Religion by a lively voice of Question and Answer sounding and resounding like the Eccho So the second namely Prophecying according to the use of the Scriptures spreadeth now farther then the root or word whence it is derived for whereas this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly and radically but to foretell things to come and reveal matters to be hereafter fulfilled that now is extended to the declaring of things also past done and already fulfilled as in those well known places of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11.4 and 1 Cor. 14.13 31. So thirdly to come to our business in hand Baptizing though it may be and is derived from the radicall word before mentioned which signifieth dipping and immerging into and under water yet it is of a larger signification then so and is extended in general to many kinds of washings and laverings rinsings and cleansings even where there is no dipping or immerging at all and this also according to the use and language of the Scriptures I shall give you some particular instances and inductions as I have in part already and so shall a little exercise your patience and mine own too according to the rule given me being apt to teach you patient in meekness instructing you if peradventure God will
or shoulders and to have laid them down backward in the waters and to have lifted them up again out of the waters being now more heavy in their drenched garments and to have set them upon their feet again surely John the Baptist would soon have been spent that way or had needed many other Baptists under him half a score of such dippers as your Brother is to have assisted him daily and continually to have dispatched such multitudes as daily and continually resorted to him Amongst which great multitudes that came continually unto him from all quarters of Jerusalem and Judea and other Regions about I cannot but think that many sickly and weakly and diseased persons hearing of the great fame of such a Prophet as John the Baptist was who not onely preached the doctrine of Repentance and of the Messias come or shortly to come but baptized into Remission of sin through the same came flocking to him or were led or brought by others as desirous to partake of so great a blessing and mercy before they departed the world like as Mat. 4.24 25. And now can you think or imagine that Joh◠when he baptized such would dip or immerge them under water over head and ears thereby to endanger their lives and in the curing their souls of sin to destroy their bodies of life when as with more safety to them and to as much efficacy he might onely asperse or sprinkle them with water or lay it on with his hand upon some part of their body or head rather If farther you add that it is said in the original that John baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in water which he could not do unless he stood and dipped them in water Sayest thou this thing of thy self or did others tell it thee of him I am sure you could not say it of your self who know nothing of the original but your sin if that and therefore for those others that told you so of him tell them from me that it is right enough translated and rendred to their hand if they can take it with water that Greek particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very often signifieth and is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with or by and that in the Gospel as Mat. 26.52 they that take the sword shall perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or with the sword and so Luke 22.49 Lord shall we smite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or with the sword c. But to draw up if John the Baptist was in the River of Jordan with the people that came to him how was it possible for him to stand there in the cold water all the day and every day dipping and immerging their whole bodies in and under the water and if he was out of the water upon the brink or bank of Jordan how was it possible for him to dip and immerge with his hands the whole bodies of those and so many as came to be baptized For whereas it may be replyed that John came straightway up also out of the water and therefore he stood in the water and baptized there Mark 1.10 if the words of straightway coming up out of the waters refer not to Christ but to John then it s spoken of John that he did so after the baptizing of Christ onely At the baptizing of others as they came and went away John stirred not from them but discoursing many things of Repentance and Faith in the Messias to come both whilst he was baptizing them afterwards and so before they departed out from him he inculcated to them of the Faith of the Fruits of Baptism as Mat. 3.8 9 10 there is the sum of his instructions to the people set down which because as he knew Christ had no need of therefore as soon as he had baptized him he straightway came forth with Christ out of the water and the rather to see the Heavens opening and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove and so further to instruct the people thereupon Again if the people baptized were dipped and immerged with their cloathes on their bodies it was the more heavy too heavy a work to be done by one if with their cloaths off the multitudes coming consisting of men and women some doubtless weak and sickly it was too dangerous a work to be done too immodest a spectacle to be caused or endured by that holy and reverend Prophet of God Hereupon my opinion is clear to my self but with a Salvo to the naked immersions of the whole body by the Ancients cited onely by me to disprove the cloathed dippings of Anabaptists to be the old way yet not so stiff but that it is ready to bend yield to the spirit of the Prophets upon better evidence given that Christ the people baptized of Joh. came indeed to the River Jordan and into it some little way it may be or abode in the brink thereof the people confessing their sins so John the Baptist from his hands taking up water poured it upon their heads or sprinkled and aspersed it upon their heads or faces The which manner of baptizing by aspersing or infusing of water doth yet plainer appear unto me out of the 2 Acts 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls What do you think of these three thousand baptized in one day were they dipped and immerged so many bodies in one day by Peter and the Apostles how could they if they had bin together in or at a River but where they were gathered together in the City and in one place thereof there was neither River nor Fontain nor Wels nor Ponds to be dipped and immerged in in their whole bodies neither is there any fyllable of their removing or going out of the City to Rivers or Ponds and how then could they be so many baptized there but as I said by aspersing water upon them or pouring water upon their heads the very place and the persons the multitude of those who were to be baptized and the paucity of those who did baptize do plainly evidence that the 3000 were not dipped but aspersed onely at that great and first baptizing after Christs Ascension No nor Lydia and her houshold though by a River side abroad when she was converted and baptized was dipped and immerged in her cloaths or out of her cloath◠and so much less those other housholds of grown persons and professors baptized in private by the Apostles as of Cornelius Stephanas c. these or any of these cannot be said or thought to be dipped and merged under water in their whole bodies cloathed or naked without great inconveniences difficulties improbabilities if not impossiblities all which are and may be avoided by the other way of baptizing And thus Sir you may see and feel too unless you will run into darknes in the day time grope
baptism yet shall we not need to infer hence or to introduce hither the Rite of immerging and emerging which is your total dipping as which is resembled as well and better in our manner of aspersion and effusion of water upon the party though but upon a part for when water is poured upon or is laid upon the head of the adult standing on his feet or kneeling on his knees as likewise upon the face of the child lying in the Arms of the Minister or the Parent or other presenting it are they not the while as it were buried in or do they not lie under the water as the buried doth under the earth and so the party may be said to arise as it were when it comes or goeth from the water as the body doth from the earth or the Ministers dipping his hand into the water and plucking it out when he layeth it on may it not have the same signification with immerging and emerging and so of the Burial and Resurrection of Christ And I think I may say our Church in giving liberty of dipping or immerging and emerging of Infants if not weak did it not so much from authority of this or any other Scripture as in conformity to some of the Ancient Christians and Fathers of the Church in this custome as in other lawful Rites they practised to which and whom I now come Onely I shall give but a tender and gentle touch of one thing that floweth more naturally or rather more mystically from the afore-alledged Texts That if the baptized his being buried with Christ in baptism be represented and signified by the lying and abiding of the water upon the face or forehead as a part of the body and so the body in that part thereof its lying and abiding under the water even sprinkled and poured upon it Then sure it is not advisedly and conveniently done by Gentlewomen and tender Mid-wives to wipe off the water from the part and absterge it with a handkerchief as soon as it is laid on by a Minister or by turning the head of the Infant whom I speak for that cannot speak for it self presently downward to cause the water to fall off it upon the ground In all the History of Baptism from the beginning of it in Jordan and Rivers to the present being of it in Fonts or Vessels I do not read of such a word spoken or such a work done as absterging or wiping off water in Baptism no not then when there seemed more occasion for it as when the adult and likewise Infants were immerged all over their naked bodies in the water at Baptism nor then when presently after it they went or were carried to be anointed as they were either all over their bodies as in the Greek Churches so Cyril Catech. Mystag 11. Chrysest Homil. 6. in Col. witness or in their foreheads and breasts and between the shoulders so Epiphanius Haeres 79. Rabanus de Instit Cler. l. 1. c. 23. affirm Therefore learned Vossius doth justly censure the Translator of the Apostolical Constitutions of Clemens as they are called for rendring those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. Cap. 15. Thus deinde Diaconissa eas abstergit for the word is and signifieth anointeth not abstergeth and the work was the Deaconess anointed them not absterged them after baptism The truth is they neither absterged or wiped off water after their Baptism or oyl after their unction and so such a custom hath no ground either in Equity or Antiquity True it is also that this our Westernly Northen Climate is colder much then those Easternly Southern and our waters therefore are colder and our Infants tenderer and our Mothers more indulgent and our Midwives are more adventerous but our Ministers are descreet not to pour on much water and that they do to hold it some while in their hand to the warming of it and gently to rub and wash the face of the Infant with such warm hand and warmed water and God is ever merciful at his Ordinances and Sacraments especially so that I never heard of any child that ever sickned much less died upon a cold taken at Baptism In a word and a word also is enough to a wise woman The wiping of the Baptismal-water from the childs face as soon as it is laid or poured on is so far as lieth in her the taking off and avoiding I will not say a frustrating and evacuating of the sign and seal as soon as it is laid on as to that signification and sigillation of the parties being buried with Christ in baptism as which onely the abiding and remaining of the water upon the body or bodily part and it s lying and centinuing under the water doth resemble and represent But I return to you Sir and shall now proceed to farther discussing of your dipping and our sprinkling by Antiquity to shew which is the good old way I or it may be when you wrote me word that your dipping was older then our sprinkling or pouring on of water and that it was the good old way you had some squint-eye upon Antiquity of the second hand for the Scripture is the Antiquity of the first hand the very good old way it self for that your right or direct eye could see little or nothing in the Scripture for your dipping and immerging And I am glad to meet you here again in this your good old way hoping that by your looking upward to Antiquity and the ancient Customes of the Churches of God you may ere long lay down your Novelties and the yesterday fashions of your new Brotherhood And to say the truth whither else can you now go being beaten out of your holds you thought you had and those firm ones as you had thought in Scripture for your dipping and immerging and finding at leastwise now no ground or footing in any Pond there no not River for your Dippers and Immergers to stand in and baptize whither I say can you go but need of it more then zeal to it driving you to the next Antiquity which succeeding and some of them seeing the Canon of Scripture consummated and consigned by St. John the Revelationist as Evangelist and so living and dwelling next to those starry times of the Apostles and those Sun-shining dayes of Christ Jesus can best discover relate and traject their light they being the next neighbours to the same borrowed and participated from them But to the point I acknowledge that some of the Ancients yea many of them did use to dip and immerge at and in their baptizings and because it lieth upon your hand to prove it let the learned of your side take it in hand to transcribe and produce such ancient Authors and their Testimonies I had as live they should spend the time and lose their labour when they have done as my self for so they will neither will it be of any advantage to you and your dipping and immerging being far different as to the
kept and maintained in these Northern parts of the world where the Churches of God cannot practise or use it I speak of dipping and immerging with safety to our Infants healths and lives But to the other part of the objection or doubt I answer and that from Antiquity First I gave you but even now four several Testimonies out of four Ancient Fathers and Writers of the Church how in their times they poured water upon the heads of those who were baptized so I gave you good probabilities and more then so of John the Baptists manner of baptizing of Christ and Christs Apostles most of them if not all and the great multitudes that resorted to his baptism by pouring water upon their heads were not all those as amply and sufficiently baptized as those who had their whole bodies dipped and immerged under water and were they not as fully partakers of all the benefits and effects of Baptism In the Ark were the eight souls the Epilogue of the World and the Epitome of the Church saved by water The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now also save us 1 Pet. 3.20 21. Now then as the Ark being washed with water but in a part of it whether that which was immerged under the water or that which was aspersed with the rain that fell saved the Church then so baptism doth the Church now though but a part of the body as the head or face or fore-head be either immerged and dipped or aspersed and sprinkled with the water in baptism And good reason for it because by and from the Divine Institution the Baptismal-water is blessed sanctified and impowred of God and his grace to be the ablution and washing of the whole man body and soul though it be applied in the out ward Element but to a part onely of the body and so received but of a part it being so in this mystical as it is in some physical soveraign Doses and Receipts which being taken onely at the mouth and into the stomach diffuseth its healing vigour and vertue unto the whole body though not here in baptism by any natural and self-operation in this but a gracious and the spirits dispensation so then though the water which in baptism is poured onely upon the fore-head or face doth reach to or flow down to all the whole body in the external liqucur to wash and wet it yet in the internal vertue and efficacy which the same hath from the Institution and Benediction of God it extendeth to a total ablution of the party baptized so that it goeth over all body and soul too even to an internal ablution of the soul chiefly as being principal in sin and all this still by the force and vertue of the Divine Ordination of the water hereunto See it also from the Analogy that Baptism hath with Circumcision I know you are never willing to hear of that Circumcision but you shall hear of that whether willing or not In Circumcision there was but one part of the flesh the fore-skin was touched and cut off with the Knife yet it was and is so called the putting away the filth of the flesh the whole body and soul for that the vertue and efficacy of that which was done but to a part redounded also by Gods appointment to the whole even to the Circumcision in heart and ears and lips as the Scripture every where speaketh Now in Christ Jesus also we are circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands in puting off the body of the sins of the flesh Coll. 2 11. that is we are baptized with the baptism of Christ to the washing away the sins of the body and soul and therefore though but some one part and the fittest part the head or fore-head or face be onely externally sprinkled washed with the water thereof yet the baptism is valid and effectual to the ablution internally of the soul also and all the body also virtually some way according to his ordination Lastly I think not the meaner of our Baptism by reason of our but handful of water and our but sprinkling or pouring on of it upon the face and fore-head or the better of yours by reason of your Pond-full of water and your immerging and dipping of the whole body therein No Ordinance of God is to be esteemed more or lesse effectual for either the more or the lesse of the Instrument or Element for God usually and more usually saveth with a few then many 1 Sam. 14 6. with little then with great that so all power might be known to be of him so all glory might be to him Rom. 11.36 as who is the God of the Valleys as well as of the Mountains 1 Kings 20.28 This is true especially in mystical and spiritual Ordinances and proceedings which have his Inslitution and Benediction upon them as I have shewed in Circumcision and may do the like in the Lords Supper where a smal portion of bread and a little pittance of wine a morsel of the one and a spoonful of the other are as sâ—gniâ—cant as effectual to a spiritual and internal refection of the Communicant as if a whole loaf of the one and a full Cup of the other should be given and taken So also in baptism a few drops of water or a little handfull of it sprinkled and poured on the face or forehead of an Infant or other is as representing of and as working to a spiritual and internal ablution of the baptized as if a whole pailfull of water should be poured on or the whole body of the Infant dipped and immerged into a River full of water after the custome of the Eastern Churches I will onely add to this point a Testimony or two of Antiquity Chrysostom writing in his 6 Homil. upon the 2 Chapter of the Coloss and those words in the 11 Verse In whom ye are circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands in putting off the sins of the body c. buried also with him in Baptism He hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall not stand to English all the effect of all is this that both in Circumcision and Baptism though the hand in the one doth but cut off a part of the flesh as the fore-skin with a small knife and in the other pour on a little water but upon some part of the body as the fore-head the whole body of sin may be and in the Elect is cut off put off in the Apostles phrase and washed away in both Sacraments by a spiritual operation of Christ So also for the other Sacraent the Lords Supper it being one of the Popish evasions for their not giving the wine unto the people by reason of the great quantity of wine would be spent upon the numerous multitudes of them that would then the rather come and drink great draughts which should not have been thought upon here by them seeing at other ordinary seasts and banquets they stand not upon such
charge nor are so sparing of their wine our Divines tell them and they should teach their people that a sup of wine as a morsel of bread may do well enough as well if not better then greater quantities of each at the Sacramental Communication according as anciently they did as Gelasius Lyzicenus in Act is Concil Nicaeni cap. 30. reporteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause we take not much but little of the Bread and Wine for that we know we take them not to or for satiety but sanctity The like whereof is that of Eucherius Serm. 5. de Pascha Eucharistiae sacrae perceptio non in quantitate sed in virtute consistit quòd corpus sacerdote dispensante tantum est in exiguo quantum esse constat in toto The participation of the holy Eucharist stands not in the quantity but efficacy for that the body of Christ when the Priest dispenseth the same holy Eucharist is as much in a little part of the Wine and Bread as in the whole together I have indeed said the more of this as being in my opinion very needful and necessary to strengthen and arm our selves and our people against the dangerous tentations of the Devil wherewith he and his instruments which are many in these dayes do mainly assault the mindes and scruple the consciences and pervert the faith of the weaker amongst us as indeed they have done to your self Sir by your leave He as he goeth about the earth roaring and they hissing as they creep into houses that their and your sprinkled baptism was no true baptism as being but a little water poured upon your face but onely one part outwardly and telling you if you will be baptized indeed and to purpose you must be dipped and immerged in your whole body and in every part outwardly that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless against the coming of the Lord 1. Thess 5.23 Thus they together have cast a snare upon you they have snared you into their nets and caught you with some other silly Fry as the Spider hath the simple Fly and have dipped and doused you in your cloathes under water you being in their nets the devil in a corner laughing snearing and dancing the while over you even as the Spider doth winde up and truss up the Fly being come into its Cobweb and then skips leaps and runs about it and which I may mark sucks and seeds upon the poor Fly Well Sir if you be willing to come to the acknowledging of the truth as I am zealous to bring you to it and to recover your self out of the snare of the divel who are taken captive by him and others at his will and theirs 2 Tim. 2.25 26 read consider believe the Truth I have set before you but read with impartiality without prejudicateness Consider with indifferency without precipitancy and believe the Truth with submission without resistance and with many other words have I testified the Truth in the answer of your Brother before as well as in this answer to you and have exhorted and do exhort saying Save your selves especially save your self from this untoward and froward Generation Acts 2.40 And if this be not enough that I have said read on still for I have somewhat more to say unto you as willing that you should not perish but come to the knowledge of the Truth and the acknowledgement of your Errors for so also there is somewhat more that you say to me in your Letter thus you write further Sir I wonder how you dare to say that you do imbrace the Truth as it is laid out by Jesus did Jesus ever lay down that a man should learn the Latine and Greek Tongue and so to a Vniversity to read Philosophy and commence Batchelor and Master of Arts and Batchelor and Doctor of Divinity and so come to a Parish there to take a Living from them to the value of 100 l. per annum more or less they nilling willing and there stile himself the Minister of Jesus Christ Did ever Christ lay down that you should take a little water and sprinkle it on the face of an Infant and say you dip them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost did ever Christ lay down that his Ministers should be his peoples Masters as Lords over Gods Heritage Did Christ lay down that you should take a Parish a Church and to them cast the holy things of the body and blood of Christ as unto a company many of them if not the most of them no better then dogs I my self having been one who was not so good as a god till the grace of God appeared plucking me out of my wicked wayes to the knowledge of the Truth which you fear I have not owned But the day will discover and God will judge between you and us Here is stuff indeed enough to make an onely English-man to speak Greek and Latine of purpose to declare the vanity of such words against Languages like as the Sedentary Philosopher did presently arise and walk about to shew the folly of him who before him denied motion Quis expedivit Psittaco suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Picasque docuit nostra verba conari I wonder Sir where you learned to speak these our words to spie out our Liberties yea to Pie and Parrat out our Tongues Degrees and Learning of the University your self never living there and now conversing with the Antipodes to the same Auditum spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici Truly friends and Readers so I would join you for that I know all Readers of me will not be friends with me I had not written out this passage but that I would at the closure of my answer present you with this spectacle of ridiculous stuff to move some mirth in you for there is nothing of Oracle or solid matter in it to take up any of your serious eyes ears or thoughts These indeed having been carried now a long time even unto wearisomness and tediousness I fear through the washes deeps and dippings of Ponds and Rivers it is time to bring you now to a fire to warm and dry you and in good time be it spoken as done Here 's an ignis fatuus a smoaking fire-brand a sparkling squib a blazing Comet a crackling thorn-bush enough to smutch a whole University but fear nothing deest ignis there 's no fire under the words nothing but a little flash and fume and new light a noise vox preterea nihil if you cannot warm your hands at it yet clap your hands at it and shout and laugh at it till you have warmed and refreshed your self sufficiently whilst I go on with my answer to such words for there is nothing of matter in them and shew the vanity of vanity in them also and all to be but vanity here Sir How dare you say you embrace the truth laid out by Jesus did ever Jesus lay down
margent wherewith they made Baal And so you do not or did not know that Gods first Covenant of Grace in Christ I will be thy God and the God of thy seed sealed unto you in your Infant-baptism your first Infant-baptism sealing unto you the Covenant of the Grace of God in Christ gave you your knowledge of the Truth your Conversion from your evil wayes your Repentance your Faith and increased these and other Graces in you which you and they prepare for and ascribe to their and your Anabaptism and wherewith they and you would make Anabaptism leaping upon the Altar that they have made and dousing in the Ponds that you go to crying O Baal hear us or Great is Diana of the Ephesians the dipping of the Anabaptists Why halt ye or how long O ye people halt ye between two opinions or two Baptisms 1 Kings 18.21 if your first Infant-baptism be the Seal of Gods Covenant of Grace to you follow it but if the Anabaptists second Dippism be the Seal then follow it Therefore I say farther to them the people and you not I even I onely but we even we also thousands of us remain the Ministers of the Lord and your Prophets are a great many more for every one that will with you may consecrate himself and be a Prophet we as we do will still bring our children and Infants of believing Parents unto Baptism in our Churches pouring on or sprinkling water In the name of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost with invocation or calling on the Name of the Lord and do you as you use go out with your grown but born Christians men and women whom you have with-held from their Baptism in their Infancy or with other grown persons formerly baptized whom you have seduced into your by-wayes and carry them to your dippings and diving them over head and ears body cloathes in your Ponds of the field the Baptism or washing that answereth by fire I mean the Spirit 1 Kings 18.24 and spiritual Graces bringing after to Repentance from evil wayes and unto the knowledge of the Truth let that be the right washing and Baptism indeed All the people I know will and yur selves also must needs answer The word is good and it is well spoken Now then I propose and it s my major proposition most true That washing with water or Baptism which answereth by fire cavil not at the phrase God in or by Baptism I mean and hath the Graces of Gods Spirit Faith Repentance Conversion answerable and following thereupon is that and that onely which is mentioned in the Scriptures as of Gods Institution so conjunction Mat. 3.11 Mark 1.8 Acts 2.38 John 3.6 and in a great many other places which formerly I have brought shewing the correspondence or accompanying the one of or to and after the other the Baptism and the Spirit But I assume and it is my minor proposition yet no less true That neither of your two dippings I call them two in respect of the Subjects which are of two sorts some formerly baptized and some not are to be found in any part of Scripture throughout the whole Bible either instituted of God or conjoyned with fire or the Spirit as my whole Book and this annexed Treatise or Censure hath cleared demonstrated And therefore I may conclude Negatively against your diping by Anabaptists that it answereth not by fire and so you have received from them and it nothing but water no fire no Spirit no Grace no Regeneration no Conversion no plucking out of your evil wayes into the knowledge of the Truth What you have of these Goods or Graces in present you have and received as sparks at your first Baptism in your Infancy which being according to the Scriptures and to Gods Ordinance and Institution answereth by Fire in all Gods elect children as who are inwardly also baptized of the Spirit whch is the fire I mean and speak of which answering also by fire in them afterwards sheweth their Baptism in Infancy to have been according to the Scripture Gods Ordinance and Institution To come up yet closer to you If you Sir be one of those that belong unto the Election and Covenant of Grace as I in charity judged of you as I ought to do when I baptized you and gave you Baptism as the seal of the Covenant then were you baptized with fire i. e. the Spirit as well as water the inward Grace being united to the outward Sign unto such and the Spirit as truly and really and actualy applying the merits and blood of Christ in the justifying and sanctifying vertue unto your soul as I did the water to your body or bodily part of your face or forehead and the invisible Grace of the Sacrament was conveyed to you by such visible means so that if you had dyed in your Infancy this your Baptism had been to you supposing you still an Elect Infant as a seal of the Righteousness of Christ extraordinarily applied by the holy Ghost to your Justification and Salvation God hath now suffered you to live to years of discretion I must therefore put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift or Grace of God which is in you as Paul speaketh to Timothy 2 Tim. 1.6 I cannot say by the putting on of my hands but I may by the pouring on of that water with my hands The word in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up that fire of the Spirit I spake of and to quicken up the grace of Baptism that hath lien under the ashes throughout your youthful and sinful dayes of ignorance that so now it may kindle and burn brighter in you You are now to bestir your self in reading the Word and hearing it preached by such Ministers as God sendeth into the Church and amongst them him especially who baptized you at first that so you may come to Faith by such means and by Faith now actually lay hold on the promises of the Covenant of Grace touching Justification Remission and Adoption and enjoy them to your use and comfort which were but made and sealed in your Baptism as to every Elect Childe of God and estated upon you on Gods part as to your Right and Title I do not say that your Baptism properly did give you or primarily the Right and Interest you have unto God and Christ Gods free Covenant and promise did it but it sealed up onely and mainly confirmeth that Right and Interest which you had already even then in Gods Govenant and Promise Gods Word is as good as his Bond and his Promise as effectual as his Seal your Baptism as the other Sacrament was not for the strengthning or effectualizing of Gods Covenant but to the confirming and supporting your faith in apprehending it I would make this very plain to you hoping it may be for some good to you Suppose an Estate made over unto you in your Infancy by a Will and Testament under Seal you