Gospel-Govenant of which Baptism is the Sign is not without its Conditions which Baptism seals in a way of particular application not only that upon the performing our part of the Covenant we shall obtain the Grace but it seals up to every receiver their particular right in the Graces promised If we do not forfeit all by violating and breaking the Covenant and rend'ring our selves unworthy of the benefits of it Hence the Sacrament of Baptism is said by the Schools to be gratiae exhibitivum an Ordinance of exhibiting and conferring Grace to those that are rightly baptized not by its own Operation but through the Operation of God alone who in the right use of Baptism does always perform what he hath promised For who can deny the effect when we have God's fiat for it Some indeed ascribe too much to Baptism others leave it as a mere naked Sign The bare Element 't is true hath not a power and vertue to convey Grace The Water is not a subject capable to receive it and consequently cannot convey it it toucheth not the Soul it cannot operate upon that to infuse real Grace this would be to ascribe that to the external Instrument which is peculiar only to the great efficient Cause What it conveys and confers is not from any vertue of its own by its bare application but by vertue of Christ's Institution and its relation to the Covenant For this Reason its effects are not confin'd to the instant of its Administration But it extends its efficacy and influence throughout our Lives it continues a seal to the Covenant and the promises of Grace and Mercy till the Covenant be utterly violated by absolute Apostacy or final Unbelief And so it continues an Instrument to convey Grace during our whole Lives not only remission of Sins for the time present but upon our perseverance in the conditions of Faith and Repentance it continues this Grace of Pardon to us to the last Period So that we are but once baptized for the remission of Sins though we daily contract Guilt because being once received it remains a perpetual Pledge and Testimony of the everlasting Covenant of God and of the continual washing away of Sin by the Blood of Christ 'T was therefore a causeless fear occasioned from the Novatian Errour that made some of the Ancients defer Baptism till near their death as tho' it did not continue to exhibit and convey the Grace of Pardon But from what I have already noted there is no resting on the bare work done All are not upon the receiving the external Baptism regenerate and made partakers of internal Grace as if it were necessarily annexed to the outward Ordinance Real Sanctification doth not always accompany the Ministration of Baptism Nevertheless the Ordinance is not without its effect in a way of Grace it doth confer on us in a Sacramental Way what it doth exhibit and Seal to And till there be a Bar put by Men's actual Rejection those that are truly baptized have a right to the Grace and Mercy sealed And tho' Baptism be not always an Instrument of infusing real Grace Yet hereby we are actually de presenti made partakers of relative Grace and have a right to real sanctifying Grace in that way that God gives it and so are partakers of relative Regeneration Being as it were born again into a new State of gracious Relations Priviledges and Hopes And our Baptism is the Character and Sacramental Seal of this new blessed State of Adoption and Salvation And this continues as I have said till there be a forfeiture on our Part and he that will not call this Grace knows not how to value things Spiritual But how rich so ever this Baptismal Grace may be in its self and effects for the benefit of Infant-Innocency 't is not that which is the terms of our Salvation in riper Age when we come under the guilt of actual Sins Those that arrive to the Years of Reason and Choice to them the Gospel tenders Salvation upon condition of actual Faith and Repentance What is sealed to us in our Infant-state is continued to us upon other conditions at Age The Grace that is made over by the free Covenant of God and sealed in Baptism confers a right to the baptized So that if he dies in this State he dies in this right But there are other things required for the continuance of it at years of Knowledge and Reason which as it is a great Foundation of comfort touching the Salvation of dying Infants and justifies that Clause formerly in the rubick for Baptism so it destroys the vain presumptions of others and takes Men off from resting on the Grace of Baptism as if it were sufficient for their Salvation not considering whatever Mercy or Priviledge Baptism doth confirm is continued to us upon other conditions after we come to Age and fall under the guilt of actual Sins Again To be baptized is to be enrolled a Member of the Church incorporated into the Communion of Saints ingrafted into Christ's Mystical Body The Apostle speaking of Christ Mystical under the similitude of a natural Body 1 Cor. 12.13 saith We are baptized into Jesus Christ into that noble blessed Society of which Christ is the Head and to which belong the Adoption and the Covenant and the Promises It would be too large a digression particularly to insist upon the Priviledges and Advantages of the Church of Christ beyond the rest of the World Sure I am of all the judgments that God inflicted upon the Jews none had comparably that fire of Fury that terrour of Wrath in it which was executed in the accomplishment of the threatning mentioned Zach. 11.9 10. upon their heinous Provocation in crucifying the Lord of Life which filled up the number of their Sins Upon which they were rejected cut off from the Olive-Tree and their Church-enclosure pluckt down So that they were no longer his peculiar People but were left in common with the rest of the World without God without Christ and so without all hope of Salvation Whereas they only that are added to the Church that are separated to be God's peculiar Inheritance among all the Tribes of the Earth are in the way to be saved as being the sole objects of his special Care and Providence And therefore it must needs be a blessed Priviledge to be brought within the Pale to be owned by God under such a Relation Now into this Body this Society this holy Corporation we are baptized And as the Church in its Constitution is blessed of God beyond all the World So all its Members have the advantage of other benefits flowing from the Communion of Saints in order to their spiritual and eternal Good As the labours and services of God's Ministers and Ambassadors all are theirs whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas they are all Servants of Christ for the edifying this his Body and the building of them up till they come to Perfection Again they
have the invisible guard of Angels watching over and ministring for the good of such as are Heirs of Salvation they have all an interest in the Charity Love and Prayers of the whole Mystical Body all joyning in common in their Liturgies for every single Member how e're divided from one another by Countries and Languages yea every single Member of this Body hath the united strength of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth and I doubt not but in a general manner the Prayers of all the glorious Society the crowned part of the Church in Heaven our elder Brethren who have finished their warfare and do now possess the Kingdom of Glory Should we go no further we may reflect and thankfully acknowledge this happy Priviledge to be called to this state of Salvation Hence we are brought into a state of Union with Christ made Members of his Mystical Body and partakers of the influences of his favour in all the means and ordinances helps and advantages whereby he declares himself the Saviour of the Body By vertue of this Union all the special saving Graces of his purchase are freely offered the doors of Mercy stand open to us and the gate of Life and Glory is ready to receive us provided we abide in him Hold the head from which all the body as the Apostle says Colos 2.19 by joynts and bands have nourishment ministred and so don't separate from him by Apostacy and fall off by an evil heart of unbelief by an impenitent course of Sin and Wickedness so long I say as we maintain this Union we shall not fail to receive influences of Grace and spiritul Life till we come to Glory Having considered what the Sacrament of Baptism is and the Priviledges and Advantages that redound from thence I come to evince the truth of the general Proposition viz. That the Ordinance of Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament and so succeeds Circumcision which is generally granted to be the initating Sacrament of the Old In order to this let it be premised that there can be no Reason given why we should not be by some rite matriculated Members of the Christian as well as heretofore they were thus solemnly initiated into the Jewish Church Now what other way is prescribed to us of doing this than by Baptism the most proper rite for this purpose as it hath been in a manner all along accounted This rite of Initiation of admitting Persons into religious Societies was used by the Posterity of Noah at least very early among the Jews Their Enquiry John 1.25 28. sounds as much as a tacit acknowledgment of their practising it Vid. Wills against Danvers pag. 7. though not as a Sacrament till the Messiah had confirmed it for which we have the Testimonies of their Rabbies cited by the learned Doctor Hammond * In his Query of Infant-Baptism And Bishop Taylor is inclined to give the more credit to such Authorities because the Heathen as he saith had the same Rite in many Places and in many Religions Hence a Proselyte is called in Arrianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one baptised Baptism being his solemn Investiture who should enter into any Sect or Religion being thereupon reckoned one of that Sect or Religion A Proselyte or Convert in the Apostle's Phrase such an one is said to be added to the Church The Jews have a Tradition that Sarah and Rebeckah when they were adopted into the Family of the Church that is the Church respectively as it was in Abraham's and Isaac's House were baptized In St. Paul's Catechism Baptism is reckoned as part of the Foundation of the first Principles of Religion and so proper for Babes Whereby they are matriculated and adopted as a late Reverend Prelate expresseth it into the House of their Father and taken into the hands of their Mother This then is the ordinary method God hath taken of adding to the Church such as should be saved And therefore it cannot be denied but that Baptism as an initiating Rite succeeds Circumcision And my Text will avouch for the truth thereof For the Apostle having told the Colossians that they had the Circumcision made without hands the Circumcision of the Heart He further signifies by way of implication that they had as good as the outward Circumcision too by being baptized or he could have no occasion to add buried with him in Baptism And his Argument had been a mere Non sequitur unless he gave them to understand thereby that Baptism succeeded and came in place of Circumcision And that this was the genuine Sense and intendment of the Apostle I have I conceive not only more fully illustrated but demonstrated in the foregoing Discourse * Pag. 43. whereto I refer the Reader I proceed in the third Place to shew that as Christ's Death so his Burial and Resurrection are not only exemplified in the Ceremony and manner of its Administration but that they ought to be exemplified after a spiritual manner in the blessed effects and fruits of that Holy Sacrament viz. In our Mortification and Vivification First As to the Symbol or Ceremony Christ's Burial and Resurrection may be and are represented in the external Action of that Sacrament or manner of its admistration And the Apostle seems to allude to a Practice which might then be used by some in those hot Countries viz. Of dipping or putting the whole Body under Water in Baptism But forasmuch as the Word Baptize carries not always that signification or import and for that there is no Command that Baptism should be always administred exactly after that manner such a Practice cannot be binding to us So that should it be granted that there are some very probable instances and examples in Scripture of dipping and immerging the whole Body in Baptism as it must be granted there are as likely examples and instances of only sprinkling and pouring on of Water This will only argue that we cannot thereby be bound up to either way But are at liberty to administer it according to the more prevailing custom where we live Moreover this Ceremony of dipping cannot be practised towards Infants without great inconvenience and even danger of their Lives in so tender an Age and in so cold a Country as ours is especially in the Winter Season But here the Anabaptists step in and urge from hence their way of dipping and think this is enough for them not only to plead in their own justification but to confute our way of baptizing only by sprinkling or pouring on of Water Accordingly a certain Person who takes upon him to Answer my foregoing Discourse hath these very words Baptism must be by dipping not sprinkling because Baptism rightly administred doth figure out the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ But I know not wherein sprinkling doth it And then citing Rom. 6.3 4. he immediately subjoyns When the Body is put down under Water O what resemblance is this of the Burial of
Covenant of Grace Now suppose the Land of Canaan be the main matter Promised to Abraham in the said Covenant it may not follow that 't is only a temporal Blessing because under temporal Promises Spiritual Blessings were veild and consigned by a temporal Possession of the promised Land an eternal Inheritance in the heavenly Canaan was assured to them Besides you take a part for the whole that which is but an Adjunct or an appendix for an entire Covenant as if God made two distinct Covenants with Abraham when as there is not the least hint for it in the whole Bible which speaks only of one Covenant made with that Holy Patriarch even that which Circumcision did consign which was a Spiritual Covenant under a Veil but now 't is one and the same without a Veil as Doctor Taylor who is so often quoted by them expresseth it * Discourse of Baptism p. 37. and so could not respect only as the Answerer saith God's blessing him with a numerous Issue and them with the Land of Canaan there being in that no sensible Blessing to Abraham seeing neither he nor his Posterity enjoyed the Promise as a mere earthly Blessing for near 500 Years after doubtless therefore this must be made good to him as before premised or there was a Blessing for him which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise Besides there were others than Abraham's Seed and Ismael who were to be circumcised †Gen. 17.11 12. to whom the Land of Canaan did not belong The Mysteriousness of this Transaction we are further instructed in by St. Paul Heb. 11.13 They all dyed in the faith having not received the Promises as he observes viz. of a Temporal Possession in Canaan They saw the Promises that is the Spiritual Part afar off they embraced them and looked through the Cloud and temporal Veil and desired a better Country that is an heavenly or the same in an heavenly State This was the Object of their desires and the secret of their Promise And therefore Circumcision was a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had before * Rom. 4.11 and so must relate principally to an Effect and Blessing greater than the generality of the Jews apprehended or was exprest in the surface of the Temporal Promise Wherefore when God promised pardon and forgivness of Sins he promised to remember this Covenant †Levit. 26.42 what stay could it be to Moses's Faith when God appeared to him in the Bush in saying I am the God of thy Fathers of Abraham c. ‖ Exod. 3.6 if it only concern'd temporals Agnoscatur says Chamier * Lib. 5. de bapt let it be granted that the Promise of the Land of Canaan together with the Multiplication of Abraham's Posterity is annexed to this Covenant yet says he this is not the Covenant but an appendage to it as to Godliness the promises of this Life are annexed Earthly things were indeed under that dispensation promised more fully and distinctly suitable to the Jewish Pedagogical Estate to allure them to the service of God and heavenly things more generally and sparingly On the contrary spiritual Blessings are more fully and clearly and earthly Things more generally and sparingly held forth and promised to us under the Gospel Administration And the Land of Canaan was more particularly insisted on in the first Dispensation being design'd for the Type of Heaven and an explanation of the Primary grand Promise to be their God Denoting that he would as certainly bring them to the Celestial Canaan and to the spiritual and glorious Rest there as to that temporal and corporeal Rest from their servitude and captivity in Egypt Hence it was that Jacob gave such a solemn Charge to Joseph and Joseph to his Brethren the one to Bury his dead Body in Canaan the other for the Transportation of his Bones thither which they would never have done for an earthly Inheritance but to nourish in the Hearts of their Posterity Faith and Desire of rest in Heaven in the Communion of Saints whereof Canaan's rest was a Type into which not Moses the Law-giver but Joshua or Jesus the Type of Christ was to bring them So that the whole Tenour of the Ahrahamical Covenant speaks it a Covenant of Grace and the Apostle giving us the substance of it in the Gospel doth it in these Words * Heb. 8.10 I will be to them a God and they shall be my People But such is this Man's Confidence that he prays me to take notice whether there be any thing else in the 17th of Gen. but temporal Blessings But what saith he to v. 4. as the Apostle applies it Rom. 4.27 whereto 't is referred in the Margin Or to v. 7. denoting the quality of the Covenant that 't is not temporary but everlasting respecting spiritual good Things Or to the following Words To be a God to thee and thy seed after thee Bellarmine indeed says that God when he enjoyned Circumcision to Abraham did Promise only earthly Things i. e. the Propagation of his Posterity and the Land of Palestine as this Answerer doth and again I will be a God to thee and thy seed holds forth says Bellarmine only a Promise of a peculiar protection But Amesius well observes in his Answer to him that our Saviour gathered from thence a Resurrection to Bliss or his Argument against the Sadducees †Matt. 22.32 had not been Conclusive In short this Covenant is so much the Covenant of Grace that it contains in it the great Mystery of Man's Redemption as is plain from the Comment of Zachary upon it * Luke 1.71 the belief whereof was the justification of Abraham †Gen. 15.5 6. Rom. 4.3 wherefore 't is expresly said that when God enacted this Covenant with Abraham he preached the Gospel unto him ‖ Gal. 3.8 that is he made a Covenant with him concerning Christ and Salvation by him and he saith further that it was preached to the Jews as it is to us * Heb. 4.2 Thus we see what that Covenant with Abraham was that 't is substantially the same that we are now under or by what means else did any of the Jews before Christ came obtain Grace or Glory It was before Christ's coming into the Flesh cloathed with many Shadows of now abolished Ceremonies Types and Sacrifices in its Administration having upon Mount Sinai the Covenant of works adjoyned to it or the first Covenant so termed for that in the substance thereof it represented the first Covenant So that by Reason of these adjuncts 't is sometimes distinguished from its very self as it was administred by Christ after his Incarnation But if not the same how are the Gentiles said to be grafted in amongst them †Rom. 11.17 as Grotius hath it or according to Beza and Piscator pro ipsis instead of them or in their Place or how doth the same Olive-Tree continue still It