〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signum Sigillum a statue a representation may be a signe but it cannot be a seale we seale those things which wee would keepe with the greatest security and have remayne untoucht therefore letters and evidences are sealed that no man might doubt of the truth and authentiquenes of them Againe two considerations more there is in a seale first things sealed and marked are kept for their masters use My beloved is a fountayne sealed up Cant. 4.12 kept onely for the use of the spouse so their wells and springs were shut up in Israel they were not for every body Amongst the Persians they had fountaines of which onely the King and his eldest sonne drunke under capitall punishment to all others in Spayne they have also one of the same sort so as we are markt and sealed for Christs use our husband wee must not make our selves common therefore to the world lye exposed to every lust to every love since God hath impropriated us Secondly we seale or marke things precious as coyne gold or such things as we set a price and vallew upon God by his sealing lets us know what a vallew he puts upon us how he separates us from refuse base things therefore we should not defile our selves CHAP. II. Wherein of the second great use and end of Baptisme assuring us of our Iustification in the remission of all our sinnes together with certain corollaries and inforcements HAving told you that Baptisme is the great ordinance of Christ to confirme seale up to us our union with himselfe whom having wee have all things that wee may further see how considerable an ordinance this is wee will beate it out as far as the Scripture gives light in the point of Communion and so wee shall find that as it seales and confirmes our union with him so it also seales and confirmes to us the most desireable thing in the world which is the pardon of all our sinnes It is safe giving ordinances that notion the Scripture gives them which while you doe you will get the true juyce they afford and you shall be sure not to erre from the true nature of them This you have Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sinnes As if he should say you are now pricked at the heart you see your selves in a lost condition and therefore cry out what to doe as men amazed and at astand saith hee there is hope for you God hath made an ordinance to relieve you in this straight Repent and be baptized for the remission of sinnes This Iesus whom I preach and whom God hath made Lord and Christ can remit sinnes for that is it which gaules you when light comes in now for this God hath formed an ordinance on purpose to confirme and ratify unto us the remission of sinnes and that is Baptisme therefore be not amazed but repent and be baptized So Acts 22.16 when Paul was in an ill condition being humbled with a witnesse it is the greatest representation of the humiliation of a sinner that wee have and Ananias was sent to raise him saith he VVhy tarriest thou arise and be baptized and vvash avvay thy sinnes what can be said more comfortably to a distressed soule then this that God hath set and instituted an ordinance on purpose that thou maist be acquitted of every sinne to witnesse and seale up what is done by faith Therefore doe not languish in this condition why tarriest thou arise be baptized and wash away thy sinnes so 1. Pet. 3.21 The like figure vvhereto Baptisme doth novv save us not the putting avvay the filth of the flesh but the ansvver of a good conscence We know that salvation lyes especially in justification and discharging all our sinnes Baptisme doth this it doth novv save us that is this signes and seales your salvation to you which lyes in justification and discharge of smne but you must not thinke that it is onely the vvashing avvay of the filth of the flesh not a carnall ceremony onely but the ansvver of a good conscience that is it is that confidence and assurance which we have before God of his reconciliation to us which this ordinance outwardly doth seale exhibit it is the stipulation of a good conscience when a conscience appeased and pacified with the discharge of sin can cry Abba Father with a holy security can speake to God himself now saith hee this stipulation of a good conscience this is that which is the effect of Baptisme and which Baptisme seales up to you for what Baptisme findes it seales although it doth also exhibit more of the same kind Baptisme and so all the ordinances of Christ those we call Sacraments seale up what is already else how could it be a seale but doth also conveigh more of the same This stipulation of a good conscience Beza saith clearly refers to the answer of the Catechists of which there is a pattron 8. Acts 37. when Philip told the Eunuch the condition of Baptisme which was to beleeve with all his heart and he gave the answer of a good conscience that hee did beleeve that which hee desired baptisme should seale up to him here was a plaine stipulation for so the word signifies now that supposeth one asking or demanding another answering and making the bargaine or contract as when one askes do you do this cā you beleeve with all your heart and a conscience voyde of fraude speaks clearly and evidently what it can doe and doth then comes Baptisme This they were used to doe in the primitive Churches in the same manner wee find some doe in this age to infants who understand them not which is not very wisely done for surely what ever they can doe they cannot give the stipulation of a good conscience If they intend the infants which they say speake by others they may well retaine the old forme but not with any good understanding It is the same Baptisme that saves us that did then that acquits and dischargeth us as the ordinance of God appointed for that end though it supposeth especially the inward workes He that beleeves is baptized shall be saved beleefe must goe before this is that which on Gods part seales us and ingrafts us into Christ conveyes Christ to us and on our part it is the stipulatiō of a good conscience answering clearly and boldly to the intent of the ordinance Thus you have another great use of this ordinance it seales the remission of sins it seales to us the remission of the sins of our whole life for it ingrafts us into Christ and seales him up to us for the remission of sins and therefore it must ever be considered for that purpose when it is so considered wee must looke upon it as the discharging and acquitting ordinance which seales up not onely sinnes past but all sinnes past and to come which some not understanding and finding that
signe thereof should not be to this agrees that place Heb. 6.4.5.6 For it is impossible for those vvho vvere once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and vvere made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good vvord of God the povvers of the vvorld to come if they shall fall avvay to renevv them againe to repentance c. The Apostle speakes not here of theft perjury adultery or any sinne in particular but of an intire revolting and falling away when a sinner offends not God in any particular but renounces wholly to his grace bids him adieu for ever Now he falls thus who revolts from the word of God who extinguisheth the light of it who deprives himself of the tast of the heavenly gift and quits the communion of the spirit in the participatiō of its grace which cannot be without the sinne against the holy Ghost and a totall falling from God Now it is impossible sayes hee those should be renevved by repentance having sinned against the holy Ghost they have a heart that cannot repent now they having broken covenant with God in the highest manner and being uncapable of repentance which is to precede Baptisme they are incapable of Baptisme for others though they sinne the same covenant repentance Baptisme stands good for ever Secondly because the signification the fruit use of Baptisme is not for a moment or respecting the time past onely but respects the future also and the whole life of the baptized person as appeares Rom. 6.2 So as the Baptisme of repentance once receaved for remission of sinnes remaynes as a pledge by us of the covenant of God and that perpetuall washing which we have by the blood of Christ Marke 14. Iohn did baptize in the vvildernes and preach the baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes which is to be often thought of for the full assurance of our pardō for that promise is of perpetuall use and influence He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved and Gal. 3.27 As many as have bene baptized into Christ have put on Christ. But thirdly the greatest reason why Baptisme is not to be repeated is because neither in precept or example wee find it repeated which is the word of our institutiō But on the other side There is one Lord one faith one Baptisme which is one Vnitate usus legitimi in the unity of the lawfull use as well as in other respects so as there is no thought of leaving Christ as if there were to be exspected a new regeneration and a new Baptisme The Fathers also were of this opinion Tertull. lib. de Baptis Semel lavacrum inimus semel dilicta diluuntur So Cyprian lib. 2. Epist 3. Baptisma semel sumitur nec rursus iteratur Baptisme is once received nor is it repeated againe The question then will be what shall become of those that have bene baptized into a false name by heritickes that erre about the Trinity as the Arrians Marcionites c. The receaved answer is that they are to be baptized aright with the baptisme of Christ in such cases Baptisme is not to be said to be repeated the former being no baptisme or a nullity and this according to the decree of the Counsell of Nice cap. 19. as Bucan quotes it p. 635. The like decree also hath a Counsell of Carthage Ii sunt baptizandi de quibus incertum est an fuerint baptizati necne Concil Carth. 50. cap. 6. They are to be baptized of whom it is uncertain whether they were baptized or no. The like also saith Cyprian in his epistle 71. ad Quintum fratrem Here was some difference in opinions Cyprian and his Bishops were of opinion that Baptisme in an heretick church was null and therefore those who came to them were baptized as supposing that vayne and nothing others have thought that those onely were to be baptized againe who had bene formerly baptized by such a church and in such a manner as the essentialls of Baptisme were wanting so the Arrians baptized which rendred that ordinance vayne and null The same may be affirmed more fully of infant Baptisme that it is null and nothing and therefore that the partie so supposed to be baptized is indeed still unbaptized and therefore ought to be baptized according to the institution of Christ which Baptisme when he hath once receav'd he cā in no way as is before shewed be sayd to be rebaptiz'd for those thinges which cannot be shewen done no reason allowes that they should seeme to be reïterated To proceed therefore The Sacraments in generall particularly Baptisme is that by which wee pledge our selves to God or in which a formall covenant is made in which wee promise obedience and God protection defence to be our God and therefore 1. Pet. 3.21 it is stil'd a stipulation or covenanting also the word Sacrament is from sacring making holy dedicating or initiating as juramentum an oath is à jurando from swearing In the civill law it signified an oath Sacramenti praestatio recusatio the taking or refusing an oath The word Sacrament also is taken for a mystery for the visible signe of an invisible grace In a word Baptisme seemes to be nothing else but the ceremony of a mysticall spirituall marriage for it is a dedication a covenant and a mystery and as in marriage besides the words there hath bene usually some ceremonious signe as the giving of a ring or money or a kisse or the taking by the hand so here c. To examine this therefore by that similitude and resemblance that which is the first and principall ingredient into marriage is consent Nam nuptias non concubitus sed consensus facit Not the bed but consent makes marriage for otherwayes that joyning which is fornication or adultery would be marriage This stands by vertue of the first institution A man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his vvife Ge. 2.24 How By covenant and consent This is so essentiall an ingredient as Beza calls it the formall cause of marriage others the efficient cause therefore the lawyers say Solus consensus matrimonium facit Onely consent makes the marriage But then this consent must be exprest outwardly Nisi quatenus consentiunt consensum suum exterius exprimunt because the covenant contract is externall But then lastly and especially it must be the proper consent of the parties married for the consent of the parents who have some the greatest power besides cannot doe it hence an error of the person makes the marriage also null and invalid as if I marry one another be put in the place by the same reason if one of the parties be mad constantly because they cannot consent because that supposes not the consent of the marryers so as here is a formall or efficient fayle in respect of the consent and a materiall fayle in respect of the persons married which is as
those places for remission of sinnes were great and comfortable have refused to be baptized till death as is affirmed of Constantine and others mis-taking the true use of it which is to seale up the pardon of sinnes and respects all sinnes in all times You see what the nature of Baptisme coroll 1 what the intention of it is in this particular Consider therefore the greatnes of this ordinance to which as to the signe and seale remission of sinnes and reconciliation with God is annexed What say you I beseech you you that are sensible of the guilt of sinne that know the vvages of sinne is death would you not be glad of something to discharge you ease you would you not be glad of all meanes that should assure you that iniquity should not be your ruine would you not be glad to be baptized for the remission of sinnes to have your sinnes vvasht avvay by baptisme to be saved by baptisme in the stipulation of a good conscience answering the signe and seale This I thinke is no question to them that are stung with sinne and pricked in their hearts then blesse God for this ordinance value it much let it not be an empty ordinance to you since there is fullnes in it let it not sleepe be a dead thing to you since there is life in it it being the ground of all our life good but improve it to its advantage get the marrow and sweete of it for there is much in it Secondly let us understand by this that hath bene said and by the nature of this ordināce Gods heart and mind for the remission of sinnes hee who is Lord of all and able onely to give all hee is so free of nothing as of pardon because that is the first steppe to good happines if hee will us any good if hee would have us in any proportion happy the first steppe is by pardon of sinne therefore hee is so free of nothing as that when the law condemnes a man and when a mans conscience condemnes him hee needs no word to carry him to hell hee hath that within him will doe that fast enough guilt makes us runne from God as Adam did and when we runne from God wee runne to death God therefore in goodnes and mercy hath made the way to pardon so open and exposed as nothing more The very name of pardon and remission of sins ordinarily implyes offense against some lawgiver some state some great person implyes guilt which needes that pardon Now guilt abaseth greatnes terrifieth what can there be more therefore to set us at a mighty distance from God then guilt which layes so low and what greatnes terrify us more then his But God hath provided that wee may come boldly and he hath done it by two things first by setting up a throne of grace insteed of a throne of majesty and justice Secondly he helpes us by giving us a tender and sensible high Priest who shall usher us in and pleade our cause at this barre and dispatch the busines with his Father that wee may obtaine mercy 4. Heb. 15.16 And to shew his heart the more in this worke hee hath not onely a throne of grace a high Priest to manadge this affaire but hee hath invented this ordinance of Baptisme that wee might have an abundant entrance In this you may see Gods heart for the pardon of sinne for as Baptisme doth it so it is by Gods appointment Therefore know the mind of God and labour not anxiously about sinnes and the pardon of them which is a great impediment to the comfort holines of our life Now that Baptisme doth this you have heard from severall places so as it is a great end of that ordinance to remit and pardon sinnes and assure that to us But if you aske how it doeth it Answer by your being baptized into Iesus Christ by being baptized into his death by being visibly ingrafted into his death condition that as hee did conflict with the wrath of God it brought him to the crosse carried him to the grave kept him there and layed him low but at last hee get out we being interested in what hee did as in a common person who did all for us and in our names might by the helpe of this ordinance which visibly and sensibly represents our communion with him in that which gaines the discarge of our sinnes which is his death into which wee are baptized have full assurance that nothing remaynes us of the guilt of sinne nothing remayns us undischarged since Christ who was as wee were that is made guilty of sinne that wee might be as hee is that is discharged from sinne hath broken the cords of death having made a full satisfaction death having no more dominiō over him because there is no more guilt upon him so that baptisme doth it this way and as many as are baptized into Iesus Christ into his death are put into that condition that he was after his death and rising againe and this must of necessity be because hee was as a common person wholy in his death and resurrection therefore they that makes themselves of that community for whom hee acts and trades and by this visible signe and institutiō of his submit themselves to that way of salvation they put themselves into that state and condition that hee is in after his death and rising againe If any aske why did Christ dye hee dyed for our sinnes saith the Apostle and why did hee rise for our justification we being baptized into his death partake of the end of it which is the discharge of our sinnes our justification it is certain therefore our sinnes made him dye and it is as certain that his righteousnes made us just and righteous Therefore what should keepe any man under the power of death and subject to bondage since if Christ be any thing to him the great thing which the first Christian institutiō Baptisme holds out is that hee is pardon to him and that hee hath dyed risen with Christ and therefore may goe boldly with Christ unto the throne of grace and it is well called a throne of grace because it is not we that have done this for our selves but it is Christ that hath wrought all this good for us so as it is grace to us even the grace of Christ who personally suffered what we doe mistically and by way of communion Secondly it is a throne of grace because it was not wee that did or could make the termes but God for hee might have required from us the personall payment of our owne debt Now that God would make this the termes to take that at Christs hand which lay upō us as a personall debt it makes it a throne of grace to which wee may goe with all boldnes and liberty of speech and with the same assurance that Christ himself did because by vertue of his owne contract sealed to
us by his owne ordinance wee are what he is and have done what hee did CHAP. III. Wherein of a third great use and end of Baptisme whereby is sealed our communion with Christ in his holines to wit a death unto sinne and a rising to newnesse of life WEe come now to another great use and end of Baptisme which is holines of life consisting of two parts dying to sinne and rising to holines and this is especially held out Rom. 6. I shall therefore breefly open analise these words not intending a large discours but so much as suites with the nature of this ordinance First therefore in answer to that unsavoury objection vers 1. Shall vvee sinne that grace may abounde The Apostle reasoneth vers 2. Hovv shall vve that are dead to sinne live any longer therein as if he had said those that are dead to sinne should not live in sinne but you are dead to sinne therefore you should not live in sinne contraries destroy their cōtraries death destroyes life as the privation doth the habit a man cannot live dye together But now it rests to be prooved that wee are dead to sinne v. 3. Knovv yee not that so many of us as vvere baptized into Iesus Christ vvere baptized into his death This hee prooves from our Baptisme which is the seale and expression of our faith If Christ be dead to sinne then those that are baptized are dead to sinne But Christ is dead to sin therefore those that are baptized are dead to sinne That Christ is dead to sinne and how you shall heare v. 10. For in that hee dyed hee dyed unto sinne once But the proposition that those that are baptized are dead to sin because Christ is dead to sinne he shewes you from the end of baptisme which is to witnes confirme to you your union and communion with Christ And first of all with his death which both discharges you from the guilt of sinne and destroyes and kills sinne in you Now that this is the particular end he shewes you from the generall vers 3. Knovv ye not that so many of us as vvere baptized into Iesus Christ vvere baptized into his death yee are baptized into Christ therefore into his death hence vers 4. VVee are buried vvith him by baptisme into death yee are so surely dead with Christ that ye are buried also to be sure he is dead that is buried In this verse hee prooves further this communion in holines by the contrarie to death namely our rising againe that like as Christ vvas raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so vve also should vvalke in nevvnes of life For as Baptisme witnesses to you that you are dead with Christ so the same Baptisme witnesses that ye are risen with him so that as wee are dead to sinne by vertue of the death of Christ so wee are alive to holines by vertue of the rising of Christ that as Christ was raised from the dead to a new glorious and heavenly life so wee are raised to a life new and holy Now the reason of this witnesse ariseth from the analogie and proportion that the signe hath with the thing signified that Baptisme hath with the thing witnessed Those that are baptized they are drowned and buried and brought againe alive out of the water so by our union with Christ wee have the communion of being crucified buried with him and of rising againe to a new life Vers 5. If vve have bene planted together in the likenes of his death vvee shall be also in the likenes of his resurrection This word planting shewes the reality of these signes seales this ordinance witnesses our planting and grafting into Christ who is the stock with whom wee live and dye as wee feele death with him so life also this is the great stay the great comfort wee are planted into Christ the true vyne by God the Father and now wee shall runne his fortune in life or death as the plant stock dye and live together ver 6. Knovving this that our old man is crucified vvith him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth vvee should not serve sinne Here he insists in the former argument namely our communion in the death of Christ which death hee declares by the kind of it namely crucifixion shewes that as Christ for our sinnes dyed so the body of sinne in us by the death of Christ is crucified the power and force is abated that wee should not serve sinne and live to sinne Vers 7. For hee that is dead is freed from sinne Hee that is free from sinne is no longer obliged to sinne but beleevers baptized are freed from sinne because they are dead to sinne dead with Christ therefore we are free from sinne Vers 8. Novv if vve be dead vvith Christ vvee beleeve that vve shall also live vvith him This is to shew the communion still and to usher in the next verse of our communion with the life of Christ Vers 9. Knovving that Christ being raysed from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Here he illustrates the life of Christ from the perpetuity of it that from thence hee might gather the condition of the Saints in their persuance of holines which should be evermore Vers 10. For in that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once that is to blot out sinne but in that hee lives hee lives to God a glorious life and to the glory of God the Father Vers 11. Likevvise reckon yee also your selves to be dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. There is the conclusion of all that went before reason your sealnes therefore to be dead to sin once when Christ died to destroy the power of it therefore sinne hath nothing to doe with you On the contrary you are as Christ alive to God to that glorious and new life all this through Christ whose union and communion is notified to you in Baptisme This is for holines which consists in mortification and newnes of life which Baptisme both signifies and seales to us It signifies it by the analogie proportion which is betweene the signe and the thing signified and in that it signifies a thing past it seales it to us for when God will give you a signe and resemblance of a thing it is but to confirme it to you and assure you of it CHAP. IV. Wherein is shewed the report which the ceremony of Baptisme hath to the forementioned ends and uses of that ordinance also some Corollaries HAving spoken of the use ends of Baptisme it will not be unmeete in the next place to discourse something of the Ceremony that we may shew the report which the signe ceremony hath to the thing signified and represented Now the signification is most apt for the externall forme or Ceremony of Baptisme lyes properly in three things Immersion or Drowning or Burying
by putting under the water some stay under it and emersion or rising out of it First the element which is used is water extreamely fit proper to represent our cleansing both from the guilt and stayne of sinne Arise and be baptized and vvash avvay thy sinnes sayes Ananias to Paul Acts 22.16 So Christ gave himself for his Church that hee might sanctifie and cleanse it vvith the vvashing of vvater by the vvord Eph. 5.26 So Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy hee saved us by the vvashing of regeneration So as this washing of water represents our cleansing that is our justification and sanctification The Iewes had many sprinklings with blood fit for their grosse capacities but which indeed rather serve to make spots then to cleanse them First therefore the dipping or drowning in the water signifies the great depth of divine justice with which Christ for our sakes was swallowed up so we are dead and buried with him reaping in a ceremony the fruit of that which he suffered indeed pertaking of his death for sinne and thereby obliging our selves to death to sinne Secondly the stay under the water though never so little represents unto us Christs descending to hell that is the lowest degree of his abasement when hee was seald up and watcht in the grave and was as it were cut of from amongst men of this abasement wee reape the fruit by Baptisme are hereby secured against that abasement and everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord to which sinne would have brought us therefore sinne as it is destroyed in us in respect of the guilt and cut of by this abasement of Christ so it should be apprehended by us for our justification and it should be utterly dead mortified to us in respect of its power and vigour dead and buried to sinne Thirdly the Emersion or rising out of the water is a representation to us of that victory which Christ being dead and buried got over death and in his rising triumphed over it with whom also we rise triumphing over sinne death and all evill whatsoever clearly above the guilt of all sinne and secure against the evill of sin rising up to holines newnes of life And thus there is a sweete and excellent proportion betweene the ceremony and the substance the signe the thing signified and wee are confirmed to be of the union and communion with Christ in every thing that is for our good and comfort Now having shewed the severall ends of Baptisme how the ceremony makes them all good to us I shall gather some Corollaries from the mayne notiō of this ordinance which is our being dead with Christ and rising againe according to the forementioned place of Rom. 6.11 Reckon your selves to be dead to sinne but alive to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Reckon that is build upon this this is a thing exceeding sure First if wee be dead to sinne Coroll 1. and sealed up to this death by Baptisme into the death of Christ then let us be in the world as dead men in that respect let us not understand the reasonings of sinne nor hearken to the persuasions of sinne nor looke upon the baites of sinne the Apostle made this an argument in a better thing If you be dead vvith Christ from the rudiments of the vvorld vvhy as though living in the vvorld are ye subject to ordinances touch not tast not handle not Col. 2.20 These things had once a good being but were become old but sinne was never of any worth or account Barzillai 2. Samuel 19. thought it reason to refuse the Kings table because his appetite and sences were decayed hee was eighty yeares old but our sences are not decaying but dead and sinne is not old but dead it is dead in a mistery it is dead in Christ and wee have the Sacrament upon it therefore if lusts tempt turne not onely a deaf but a dead eare to them persuasiōs should not worke on a dead man objects should not take or affect a dead man Secondly if we be risen and alive with Christ Baptisme seale that also then act not onely as a living man but as a risen man moove and walke reason conclude as a man raised from the dead have your sences and your reasonings as quick to God as taking of spirituall things as they are dull and shut up to things below breath in the ayer of another life hasten after the full and reall possession of another life let God and Christ heavenly things be great unto you though they be little to the world and what ever is great to the world let it be little to you proportionating your object to your life love those ordinances those times that feed your life Thirdly the worke of this ordinance or dying and rising is advanced much by holy reasonings both in the time of communicating afterwards for wee are apt to forget our selves and our conditions as he that would have forgot that he was an Emperour if he had not bene remembred of it by others Thinke therefore much on these things what you have done in this ordinance what are the consequences results of it which wil be a mighty not onely help but ingagement to faith holines it is a seale on both sides wee seale to God as well as he to us it is in our owne choyce no more wee are ingaged by our owne act wee have subscribed and can recall no more and certainely this as it ingages much so it helpes much to act an act of faith in thought is much but to speake it is more but to signe seale it in an ordinance by professing subjection by going downe into the water by suffering your selves there to be drowned or buried by rising or coming out againe all as a ceremony or ordinance for such an end is both a great ingagement and a great help to us in beleeving CHAP. V. In which the proper ceremony of Baptisme is vindicated by the force of the word Scripture practise the suffrage of learned men and the use of ancient times IN the proceeding discours wee have taken it for graunted that the antient and usuall forme of Baptisme hath bene by dipping or plonging the whole body under the water according to which notion we have found what great proportion the ceremony hath to the substance and the signe to the thing signified But because the possession which the Churches have had of a long time of sprinkling is become a strong argument in the thoughts of many for that ceremony it will be necessary to speake something more particularly to this point and to show that as the ceremony of dipping sutes with the ends and use of Baptisme so it agrees perfectly with the force of the word the Scripture practise and the use of antient times First therefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly mergo seu immergo that is to drowne or sinke
for they plundged the vvhole body in the vvater the use is novv sayes he that the Minister casts a fevv dropps of vvater onely upon the body or upon the head Whereby you see both what his opinion was for the practise of the most antient and primitive times in generall how cleare hee was that the Baptisme administred here to the Eunuch was by dipping or plundging The fourth and last place I shall consider to this purpose shall be that of the 6. Rom. and the beginning where the Apostle elegantly alludes to the ceremony of Baptisme in our death and resurrection with Christ but having handled this before largely and by it self I shall onely give you the sence of expositers about it for our present end The learned Cajetan upon the 4. verse vvee are buried vvith him by baptisme into death saith By our burying he declares our death from the Ceremony of Baptisme quia scil qui baptizatur sub aqua ponitur because he vvho is baptized is put under the vvater and by this carryes a similitude of him that is buried vvho is put under the earth Novv because none are buryed but dead men from this very thing that vve are buryed in Baptisme vve are assimulated to Christ buried or vvhen he vvas buried Thus Cajetan Estius upon the place having said out of Austen that vvhat ever vvas done in the crosse of Christ in his burying and resurrection c. vvas so done that to those vvords and actions the life of a Christian should be conformed Ads the like mistery the Apostle puts in the Ceremony of Baptisme for the immersion that is dipping of Christ represents to us burying and so also death for the sepulcher is the Symbole of death and the emersion or rising out againe vvhich follovves that dipping hath the similitude of the resurrection therefore in Baptisme vvee are conformed not onely to the death of Christ but also to his sepulcher and resurrection Where you see hee clearly places the ceremony of Baptisme both of Christs and ours in immersion or putting under the water emersion or rising up againe exactly conformable to what is to be signified to us by it namely our dying and rising againe with Christ So Cornelius Alapid upon the place ℣ 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mortem id est in similitudinem mortis Christi baptizati sumus qui enim baptizantur aquis immerguntur Christum mortuum sepultum representant allegoricè c. Into his death that is vvee are baptized into the similitude of the death of Christ for they vvho are put under the vvater represent Christ dead buried allegorically I shall add but one or two quotations more in a thing so evident Deodati in his annotations upon the place vers 4. hath these words Ce qu'au Baptesme nous sommes plongez dedans l'eau selon l'ancienne ceremonie nous est un signe sacré qu'il faut que le peché soit estouffe en nous par l'Esprit de Dieu comme c'est un seau du lavement de nos ames devant Dieu That in Baptisme vvee are plundged into the vvater according to the antient ceremony it is a holy signe to us that sinne should be stiffled in us by the Spirit of God as it is a seale of the vvashing of our soules before God I shall conclud with the judgement of Piscator upon the place vers 4. Sepulti igitur sumus videtur inquit respicere ad veterem ritum quum toto corpore in aquam mergebantur atque it a quasi sepeliebantur ac mox rursus extrahebantur tanquam è sepulchro The Apostle sayes he seemes here to have respect to the antient ceremony vvhen as the vvhole body vvas dipt into the vvater and vvas by and by againe dravvne out as out of a grave So Piscator Having thus farre carried on this notion for dipping or plundging in the ceremony of Baptisme which wee have found to have its rise from the naturall proper force of the word to have accorded fully with Scripture practise and example which is the coppy to which we must conforme I shall consider a little to discharge my self more abundantly to this point what hath bene the practise of the times wee commonly call primitive that is those after the times of Christ and his Apostles and what the judgement of the Fathers and antient writers have bene to this purpose And first the Apostolicall constitutions which are of great antiquity being attributed to Clement the 4. from Peter in the order of Bishops according to the Roman account they injoyne the office of Diaconnisses or shee-Deacons to be to assist for the unclothing of women at Baptisme the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To minister to the Presbyters vvhilst the vvomen vvere baptized for comelines sake Const Apost lib. 8. cap. 32. this I find quoted by Chamier lib. de Baptist cap. 2. p. 240. who brings it to proove that from the beginning as hee sayes it vvas the custome to dip the vvhole body vvhich expresses sayes he the force of the vvord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhence it vvas sayes he that Iohn baptized in a river and hee affirmes that it is uncertain vvhen or vvhy the change began to baptize by sprinkling saving that he addes that it vvould seeme that 3000 could hardly be baptized in one day by so fevv Apostles if they vvere all dipt or that the Iaylor had not perhaps a vessell at hand big enough for dipping the vvhole body But first you see that his opinion is cleare that Baptisme in the beginning was by dipping or plundging the whole body to proove which hee brings the force of the word the example of Iohn and after the Apostolicall constitutions onely he knowes not how so well to accommodate these two instances but that sprinkling also might be used I shall take therefore this occasion to answer once for all to these considerations First that when wee have a clearnes of Scripture practise agreable as is confest to the force of the word of institution and expressing it which also accords as wee have already showne aboundantly with the use and end of the ordinance which is the scope and intent of it and apparently conformable to the most evident antient practise it were a boldnesse to say no more to leave or desert that practise which upon the former grounds wee know to be safe and warrantable for another which we have little reason to beleeve was used but because wee see not how in some instanced particular circumstances it could be well otherwayes And as it is ever dangerous to depart from knowne approoved Scripture practise in the matter of ordinances upon our owne surmises so it can be no where of worse consequence then in such ordinances of which Baptisme the Lords Supper are the being and good of which lyes much in the right administration of a ceremony It would be safe to follow the cleare assured way
the hands of the Holy Spirit for edification and salvation the word is a dead letter without the Spirit and so also is Baptisme it speakes no more then it is bid the blessed Angels that are so farre above sinne and corruption have no quickning vertue in themselves the flesh of Christ hath no vertu but from his Godhead Now if there be no vertue in the flesh of Christ but by the personall union how shall bodily actions about bodily elements confer grace but by the mediation of the Spirit Thirdly they agree in the principall matter for the same Christ with all his benefits is offered and confirmed to us in the word and Sacraments the same union the same communion in the death the resurrection of Christ and they which looke for more in the Sacraments then the word promises and holds out makes an Idoll of them Fourthly they agree in the end for God by them builds up and edifies his Church till it come to be perfect Fifthly they agree in the instrument which renders both profitable to us both word and Sacrament are ineffectuall without faith 3. Iohn 36. Hee that beleeveth on the Sonne hath everlasting life Sixthly they agree in the effects They are the savour of life unto life or the savour of death unto death c. So He that beleeveth is baptized shall be saved From the first you learne coroll 1 not to depart from the institution but as to preach the Gospel according to the analogie of faith so to administer the Sacraments according to Gospel institutions for it is alike sinne to transgresse in the administratiō of the one as in the preaching of the other since they both hold of the same Lord institutor and as hee which in preaching the Gospel shall add workes to faith in the point of justification perverts the word and preaches another Gospel and therefore is accursed Gal. 1.1 So he that shall alter in the administration of the Sacraments but in a ceremony since the ordinance lyes in a ceremony and shall be bold to inlarge the subject of this ordinance or contract it will be found a breaker of Gods boūds be found guilty of the cursse that is the portion of such as add or detract so as what wee doe herein is of great moment and consideration coroll 2 From the second to exspect successe from the Spirit to be in the Spirit that you may receive it Secondly the Sacraments worke not Phisically From the third coroll 3 to be lead by all administrations into the knowledge of Christ to judge them best that hold out most of Christ and most purely Secondly to magnify Christ the head and end of all institutions coroll 4 From the fourth to be comforted and confirmed in this way of salvation wherein wee are for wee have enough till wee come to God and need no more coroll 5 From the fifth not to rest in the worke done to thinke it enough when you have heard or communicated if it be not mingled with faith it profits not vvithout faith it is impossible to please God coroll 6 From the sixth then play not with these tooles it is a great matter you have in hand when you meddle with the ordinances of Christ and when you are under them it cannot be without much good or hurt to you it is a blessing or a cursse to the persons upon whom it falleth even the greatest light meanes are the greatest agravations of sinnes Heb. 2.1.2.3 Wee come now to the difference of these ordinances which will contribute more of light to what wee have proposed They differ first in the manner of the administratiō of the same Gospel The one is an audible word the other is a visible word the word signifies according to such expressions as men have given a vallue unto to signify thinges by but the Sacraments represents by such similitudes and proportions as the signes have with the things signified therefore we read the word and heare the word but we see feele the Sacraments In a word they are Hierogliphicks it was the custome of the Egyptians to teach by visible representations which signify such and such things these are of that nature that whereas the word strikes the eare onely which is the usuall and ordinary sence of discipline those signes and visible elements affect the sences outward and inward the sences conveigh the object to the understanding there the Holy Ghost takes them and brings us into the present enjoyment of things as if we saw Christ with our eyes toucht him with our hands felt him by our tast and injoyed him with our whole man all this in a rationall and discoursive way raysing an analogy proportion betweene the signe and the thing signified Secondly they differ in the measure of their signification the word especially teacheth the Sacraments especially seale and confirme the word indeed signifies and applyes spirituall things but the Sacraments more efficatiously represent apply Thirdly the word is simply necessary to actuall beleevers and so to the salvation of beleevers and sufficient as in Cornelius for faith is by hearing and hearing by the vvord of God but the Sacraments are not absolutely necessary to all nor without the word are they sufficient to salvation for to what purpose are seales without the writing Fourthly for I will not trouble you with many the word belongs to all mankind the Sacraments belong onely to beleevers therefore for preaching ye have preach the Gospell to every creature under heaven But for the Sacraments teach them saith Christ that is disciple them and hee that beleeves and is baptized shall be saved so for the other Sacrament let a man examine himself and so let him eate and drinke and the people vvere baptized in Iordan confessing their sinnes of vvhich they repented and after the Eunuch was taught there was faith required before hee was baptized if thou beleevest vvith all thy heart thou mayest and no Baptisme or Sacrament find we administred otherwayes in the new Testament the reason is evident because the word begets faith the Sacraments confirmes it the word is the writing the Sacraments is the seale for it carries this with it and speakes this language as certainly as thou usest this ceremony and eates this bread so assuredly Christ dwells in thee and as thou entrest this water and art therein buried so assuredly thou art made one with Christ planted into his death thou art buried with Christ and thou risest with Christ as thou risest out of the water every thing speakes this thou art Christ and Christ is thine and therefore supposes faith which is the tye and the union on our part and you see how curious Paul is Rom. 4. to proove that Abraham vvas justified by faith before hee received the signe of circumcision which was to him a seale of his faith his righteousnes thereby ℣ 10.11 Hovv vvas it reckoned vvhen hee vvas in circumcision or in uncircumcision Not
unto you and to your children and to all that are afarre of even as many as the Lord our God shall call where they say Peter witnesseth that the divine promise belongs to those which by reason of their birth are farre of but by the wonderfull providēce of God are called to that ordinance by lawfull meanes such as these before named and Chamier the great protectour of our religion against Bellarmine not to trouble you with what the Papists say affirmes that if our servants vvere truely servants such as Abrahams vvere they then drevv a right from their masters for Baptisme for vve read sayes he that Abraham circumcised all his servants but such servants as for the most part vve have novv a dayes because indeed they are free men hee thinkes should not be so handled in the same capacity hee thinkes to be also such as by the right of vvarre are subjected to Princes for such kind of subjects also remaine free which if it be true and that that exception onely lyes against their Baptisme with all the great things it seals and conveighes to us I should much bewayle the losse of slavery to the Christian world since one good man by that tenure might have made a hundred and a hundred infidels by being subjected to one man might have bene Christians in a moment Thus you see how farre they make the covenant extend indeed the parallell of circumcision carryes it strongly and for one as well as another you see therefore that which qualifies for infant Baptisme is some good and pertinent relation to a beleever but if you aske me now what denominates this beleever and qualifies him for communicating this Christian qualification Chamier sayeth vvee allovv not all infants to be baptized but those onely of beleevers that is of baptized persons So that as the Baptisme in the parent qualifyes for baptisme in the infant Tom. 4. p. 270. Not to inlarge in this the charity of the world is very great and if Mr. Davenport mistooke not in his complaint in his writing to the Classis of Amsterdam hee saith that there was required of him an unlimited baptizing of all infants which were presented in the church of what nation or sect soever although that either of the parents were Christians were not otherwayes manifest then by answering Yea at the reading of the liturgie of Baptisme publikely or by nodding their head or some other gesture they seemed to be willing Booke of complaints 1.2 And that you may see this further cleare in the authority of a learned man who speakes not onely his owne judgement but the judgement of other orthodoxe with him VValleus a reverend Professor of Leyden in his treatise De Baptis infant p. 494. saith thus Quaeritur ergo de infantibus eorum quorum parentes sunt impij etsi nomine Christiani c. It is demaunded concerning the children of them whose parents are wicked although Christians in name or whose parents are excommunicated or whose parents are hereticks or Idolaters as the infants of Papists Anabaptists c. By way of answer hee allowes all such children to be baptized VVe thinke saith he that Baptisme is not to be denyed to those qui ex stirpe sunt Christiana which are of a Christian stock and which without an interruption of a publike Apostasy from the faith may referre their kindred to the faithfull such as in Christian common-wealthes are those procreated of Christian and baptized parents onely he would not have them baptized against their parents consent because they be their goods and possession and hee would have their parēts or those which offer them to baptisme answer that they will bring them up in the Christian profession vvhich if they doe vve judge sayes he that all infants vvhich come from a Christian stock should be baptized if they be offered to baptisme according to the order of the Church although their next parents should labour vvith unholines of life or heresy or the crime of idolatry And this hee goes on to proove strenuously as well he may from the manifest perpetuall practise of the whole Church of Israel in the administration of circumcision which as in a maine proportion it helpes to the baptizing of infants so it will help also to severall such consequences as those are from this opinion so stated of the learned and orthodoxe you may see that it is no such great honour to be able to intitle infants to baptisme which is common to you with unholy persons with excommunicate and with Idolaters And secondly that it is an effect of great charity to intitle the children of such a parentage to regeneration and the Holy Ghost For to proceed Though now in the derivative title for the chayne of Baptisme they all agree that what ever title the child hath comes by vertue of the fathers covenant yet the immediate qualification is inherent in the infant for they affirme that Christian infants have repentance faith and regeneration The Lutherans are so much of this opinion if you will beleeve Bellarmine Tom. 2. p. 294. f. that they beleeve that infants vvhilst they are baptized use reason heare the vvord of God beleeve love vvhich as hee affirmes vvas publikely determined in the Synode of VVittenbergh An. 1536. Which as hee saith doth so openly repugne to the truth as it doth injury to humane sence for how is it credible saith he that an infant which cryes and resists what he can when hee is washed or sprinkled should understand what he doeth The Calvinists and more orthodoxe Divines receive it generally and assuredly that infants bring to baptisme as their immediate qualification regeneration faith repentance c. though not actuall or by way of declaration to others they argue thus If infants naturally are some way capable of Adams sinne so of unbeleefe disobedience transgression then Christian infants supernaturally and by grace are someway capable of Christs righteousnes and so of faith obedience and sanctification but the forner is true therefore the latter The consequence they proove hence that else they would not see the kingdome of God Iohn 3.5.6 Iesus ansvvered and sayd unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be borne of vvater and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God that vvhich is borne of the flesh is flesh and that vvhich is borne of the spirit is spirit but Christian infants dying in infancy shall see the kingdome of God and not be damned therefore they are borne againe of the spirit and so must needs in some measure have repentance faith and holynes Againe they say that if wee cannot object Gods worke in nature but doe beleeve that our infants are reasonable creatures and are borne not bruit beasts but men though actually they can manifest no reason nor understanding more then beasts then neither can we justly object Gods worke in grace but are to beleeve that our infants are sanctified creatures and are borne
beleevers not infidels though outwardly they can manifest no faith or sanctification to us Ainsworth pag. 49.50 whom I quote as being by all acknowledged a learned man in this opinion wherein hee concurres as wee shall see with the streame of our Divines not to be suspected The like to this saith Walleus de Bapt. Infant p. 493. Infants are to be reckoned amongst beleevers because the seede or spirit of faith is in them vvhich some call a habit others an inclination from vvhence by degrees through the hearing of the vvord actuall faith is formed sometimes sooner sometimes later This in the next pag. 494. hee prooves Because else they vvould not be saved Rom. 8.9 If any have not the spirit of God he is none of his And Iohn 3.5 No uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven but infants by nature are uncleane are purged by the blood of Christ the kingdome of heaven belongs to them they please God c. This is layd for a ground amongst the Calvinists concerning Baptisme That Baptisme is onely a signe and seale of regeneration already wrought Oecolamp de verb. Dom. cap. 3. Aqua mystica in Baptismo non regenerat nec efficit filios Dei sed declarat the mysticall vvater in Baptisme doth not regenerate nor make men sonnes of God but declares So Zwinglius Baptismus non aliter Ecclesiae Christi signum est quam exercitus aliquis signatur non quod signum hoc conjungit Ecclesiae sed qui jam conjunctus est publicam tesseram accipit Baptisme is the signe of the Church as the ensigne of an army it doth not joyne you to the Church but it declares you joyned So Beza Nihil obsignatur nisi quod jam habetur nothing is seald but vvhat is there already of this opinion is Calvin fully as it were easy to quote him saving that in answering the Anabaptists he sayth This objection is ansvvered in a vvord by saying that children are baptized into faith and repentance to come actuall he meanes for he addes according to the first opinion quoted of vvhich though vvee see not the appearance neverthelesse the seede is planted there by the secret operation of the holy Spirit so as hee would have faith and repentance there in the habit that God may not seale to a blanck nor give a lying signe The like saith Pemble a late and able Divine That vvhich is signified in our baptisme is our justification by the blood of Christ and our sanctification by the Spirit of Christ Baptisme is the seale of both unto us and infants may be partakers of both being vvasht from the guilt of sinne by the blood of Christ in vvhom they are reconciled to God and actually justified before him and also purified in part from the uncleannesse of sinne by the infusion of grace from the Holy Ghost vvhat then should hinder vvhy those infants should not be vvashed vvith the vvater of the Sacrament So also Davenant in his comment upon the 2. chapt of the Colossians to quote no more where conflicting with the Anabaptists he saith As for infants because they are not sinners by their ovvne act but by an hereditary habit they have the mortification of sinne and faith not putting forth it self but included in an habituall principle of grace Novv that the Spirit of Christ can and doth ordinarily vvorke in them an habituall principle of grace no vvise man vvill deny From all those testimonies wee may observe that the cleare reason of the thing inforces men to allow as necessary to Baptisme in generall the qualification of regeneration faith c. how this now will fit infants Baptisme wee shall consider hereafter for the present wee joyne issue with them in these three things First that a personall holynes not derivative or imputed onely must be the ground of Sacraments 2 That this holynes must be regeneration 3 That the habits of faith and repentance are to be esteemed such I proove not these things because they are cleare in themselves and taken for graunted by those already quoted onely in these things wee joyne with them and so farre agree together CHAP. VIII In which are contained severall queries and considerations raised from the premisses declaring what little ground there will appeare from their owne principles and concessions to conclude for Infant Baptisme THese things thus supposed I make these doubts about the baptizing of the infants of beleevers First I would aske whether all infants of beleevers have necessarily and assuredly those habits which must of necessity be concluded since it is their personall qualificatiō for Baptisme and therefore you must have good grounds to judge that they have it one as well as another First of all Peter Martyr sayes that I vvill be the God of thee and of thy seede is not an universall promise but hath place onely in the predestinate and therefore upon 1. Cor. 7.14 else vvere your children uncleane but novv are they holy he saith Promissio non est generalis de omni semine sed tantum de illo in quo rectè consentit electio alioquin posteritas Israelis Esau fuerunt ex Abraham And therefore affirmes that the children of the saints are borne holy vvhen they are predestinate and this agreeth with reason for if you make that holynes as before the infusion of gratious habits yee must suppose election without which such gratious habits are never infused unlesse to make good this opinion you will allow falling from grace which I am sure our selves and those we desire to satisfy will not do This being said I would aske upon what ground the Saints can suppose all their children to be elected or why they should deny any infants baptisme since experience tells us that the children of many unbeleevers if we will judge by the fruites and effects which is the surest judgement are elected and many children of beleevers reprobated especially now since the sluce is taken up the Gospel preached to every creature under heaven Againe consider how cold a ground this is for infants baptisme your children are holy by being borne of you that is regenerated and so qualified for ordinances if at least they be elected and I seale to them their holynes the kingdome of heaven if they be elected as if a King should say I confirme this towne to you and yours if at least it hath pleased me or shall please me to give it you But if you say wee have reason to hope well of them according to that else vvere your children unholy but novv are they holy for so saith Peter Martyr upon that place Bene sperantes quod ut sunt secundum carnem semen sanctorum ita etiam sunt electionis divinae participes Spiritum Sanctum gratiam Christi habeant Hoping vvell that as they are according to the flesh the seed of the Saints so they are also partakers of Divine election and have the Holy Spirit and the grace
alone but to you also that the prophecy and promise of Ioel foremētioned ℣ 16.17.18 is to be accommodated yea to all who ever God shall call but with this difference by these degrees that it is first to you which are Iewes which are night then though you may wonder at it to the gentiles also which are afarre of and that you see in the event prooved a wonder for it is said Acts 10.45 that they of the circumcision vvhich beleeved vvere astonished as many as came vvith Peter because that on the Gentiles also vvere povvred out the giftes of the holy Ghost Now these gentiles are called afarre of suitable to the expression of Ephes 2.13 Yee that is the gentiles vvho sometimes vvere farre of are made night by the blood of Christ where the same expressions of nigh farre of are used that are here now hee makes mention particularly of their children under which also he intends the childrē of the gentiles when by calling they should be made nigh to accommodate to them more fully the mentioned place of Ioel as if he should say those are the last dayes when this promise vers 16.17.18 is to be fullfilled both to Iew and gentile as a consequence of their faith in the Messiah that they shall receive that eminent gift of the holy Ghost as a badge of their profession the glory of God by which they shall be able to doe such thinges as wee have done but with this difference that according to what is foretold the spirit will accommodate and vent it self proportionable to their states and capacity some things are proper to old mē they shall dreame dreames others to young men they shall see visions and according to the manner of their revelatiō shall their gift be and the venting of it by prophecy But all you and your childrē shall receive gifts of the holy Ghost and so be made partakers of that illustrious promise here therefore ye have that which might first and especially comfort them the remission of their sinnes so as no man can object against Peter for comforting them onely with giftes Secondly as a consequence of this and as Christ elsewhere saith a signe of them that beleeve they shall have the same gift of the holy Ghost both Iewes Gentiles in their order that the Apostles had this should be just accommodated according to the prophecy of Ioel to fathers and children to young men old according to their proportions and capacities for prophecy Now that by the gift of the holy Ghost and so consequently the promise of Ioel is meant abillity of speaking tongues prophecies as it is cleare by the context in it self so according to the judgement of Calvin who sayes clearly that this ought not to be understood of the grace of sanctification but of those primitive gifts vvhich though vve novv receive not yet vve have something analogicall and proportionable to them Now as the gift was not the grace of sanctification so neither the promise by which it is made ours for all gifts are ours by promise this is the generall judgement of expositers Protestant and others and is most cleare by Acts 10.45.46 where sayes hee they of the circumcision vvhich beleeved vvere astonished because that on the gentiles also vvas povvred out the gift of the holy Ghost for they heard them speake vvith tongues c. where the gift of the holy Ghost the same words used that is here is discribed by speaking with tongues Peter therefore calleth them that were pricked at their hearts were weary and heavy laden to repentance and Baptisme in the name of the Lord Iesus that they might receive and have sealed up to them the remission of sinnes which was the great thing they desired as a symbole and signe of which they should partake also of the effect of that illustrious promise made in Ioel and mentioned formerly that they should receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost so as nothing could be spoken more to the harts of distressed men then this nor nothing could more incourage them to repentance and Baptisme then the remission of sins sealed to them in that ordinance and yet more further signified and sealed by that famous promise of extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost which for that time Christ himself made a signe and effect of beleeving to them that were nigh and farre of that is both to Iewes and Gentiles and so you see the Iewes incouraged to repentance and Baptisme upon great and noble and most considerable grounds with this distinction difference that the offer of all those great things according to the way of God and the Gospel comes first to them and after to them which are afarre of that is to the gentiles who indeed were afarre of being aliens and in the estimation of Peter so farre that God was forced to give him a particular vision as you shall heare Acts 10. to persuade him to looke upon them as those nigh And thus wee have what the Iew as a naturall sonne of Abraham may pretend to Baptisme and new Testament ordinances to wit a priority in respect of the offer whereby the way wee have taken occasion to cleare that place that some have indeavored to bring to prove infant Baptisme by then which truely nothing seemes to be lesse properly raised out of it The next considerable thing is where the stop lyes where the Iewes goe equall with others Now for that wee will consider that place of Matt. 3. chap. ℣ s 7.8.9 VVhen hee savv many of the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his baptisme hee sayd unto them O generation of vipers vvho hath vvarned you to flee from the vvrath to come Bring forth therefore fruites meete for repentance And thinke not to say vvithin your selves vve have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham The Pharisees and Sadduces men especially the Pharisees strict in their religion come many of them to Iohns Baptisme upon this pretence and clayme that they were descended from Abraham and were his children that they come in this confidence and pretence was manifest by what Iohn said unto them Luke hath it Luk. 3.8 Begin not to say vvithin your selves that is doe not take this subterfuge to oppose to repentance change of heart which onely qualifies for Baptisme that you have Abraham to your father Matthew sayes thinke not to say vvithin your selves which notes a persuasion of a prerogative of carnall generation that you have Abraham to your father such carnall and birth prerogatives stand you in no steed in this covenant for of these stones God can raise up children to Abraham that as when Isaack was borne who was the sonne of promise Abrahams body and Saraas wombe were dead as a stone so those which are now to be accounted the sonnes of Abraham God can raise from nothing evē from stones from the
the spirituall seede and heires according to promise then they and we pretend both alike in new Testament ordinances with this difference onely to the Iew first and then to the Gentiles CHAP. XIII Wherein is handled the fifth and last question in answer to the argument drawn from circumcision scil whether Infants not prooving the subject of Baptisme the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great as the priviledges of the Iewes and their state QVestion 5. Though infants should not proove to be the subject of Baptisme yet whether the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great and greater then the priviledges of the Iewes and their state No man is willing to loose by change and our children are so great a peece of us as that what they loose wee feele It must first be affirmed that the Iewes had this peculiar honour proper both to their persons and the land of their habitation and dwelling their Temple also other ordinances that they were types of thinges to come and in that respect were many thinges performed by them and many thinges predicated of them which else would not have beene as the land was holy but typically and the Temple holy but typically and all the inhabitants of all ages and degrees unlesse under a particular defilement and uncleannesse were denominated holy but typically also Now what ever was a type in that wherein it was a type whether persons or ordinances c. of all such things as types it may be affirmed First that they are inferiour to their antitypes that is to the thing figured or shewed by them Secondly that they are not true in themselves being a shadow of thinges to come but in the body or truth which they figure or type out Thirdly that when the antitype or truth is fullfilled or performed the type ceaseth now it seemes to be agreed by all hands that not onely places and persons ceremonies and events were types but the Sacraments of the Iewes and former times were types and shadowes of our Sacraments not to instance in any but in circumcision as relating to typising out Baptisme which is agreed on all sides to be a type of our baptisme yea so far some urge it as a type that they would therefore have infants baptized because infants were circumcised the antitype being to answer the type but upō how great a mis-take they so urge it we shall shew hereafter when wee shall make that manifest that a great reason of the difference and not baptizing infants of beleevers ariseth from the consideration of the typicalnes of circumcision for the present though it be generally graunted yet wee further make it manifest to be a type of Baptisme by examining that place Coll. 2.11.12 In vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him through the faith of the operation of God vvho hath raysed him from the dead In this second chapt Paul seemes to contend with divers impugners of Christian religion vs 1. For I vvould that you knovv vvhat great conflict I have for you and first vers 4. hee contends against oratory and inticing words by which their hearts might be led away and seduced And this I say least any man should beguile you vvith inticing vvords c. then vers 8. hee argues against Philosophers as a vayne deceit who would judge of the thinges of Christ by the elements or rudiments of the world for none of those things extend themselves to the mysteries of Christ which wee hold by faith and therefore Philosophicall demonstrations any farther then they are proportionable to the analogie of faith are extreamely deceitfull and to be bewar'de of In the third place hee contends against those who laboured to retaine Iewish ceremonies and types vers 10.11.12 And yee are compleat in him vvhich is the head of all principalities and povver in vvhom also yee are circumcised vvith the circumcision made vvithout hands in putting of the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried vvith him in baptisme vvherein also you are risen vvith him c. For here hee shewes that circumcisiō which was the profession of the whole Law was fullfilled as a type or figure to Christians by Christ in Baptisme and therefore that was to vanish away as types ought to doe when they were fullfilled therefore hee shewes how wee are circumcised in Christ which is sealed and effected by Baptisme first it is without hands which the legall circumcision was not as Baptisme in some sence may be said also to be God being the great Baptizer Secondly this circumcision doth not deprive you onely of a little skin of the flesh which was typicall but of the whole body of sinne Thirdly this is not the circumcision of Moses or of the fathers but of Christ for onely Christ can effect this Lastly all this is sealed to us and made ours by Baptisme by Baptisme is effected this circumcision in which we are assimulated to Christ buried risen againe and are sealed one with him in our death to sinne and life to holynes so as Baptisme is Christian circumcision and then we are said to be circumcised with the circumcision of Christ when wee are rightly baptized Now therefore if circumcision be a type of Baptisme as it is acknowledged and prooved then examine it by the former properties of a type And first if circumcision be a type of Baptisme then it is inferior to Baptisme as types are to their antitypes of which they are shadowes and figures But if Baptisme be to be administred for a seale and signe in infancy as circumcision was to teach and instruct hereafter then on the other hand their priviledge was far above ours who carryed a marke in the flesh visible and sensible by which they knew assuredly they were circumcised whereas that any of us have bene sprinkled or dipt in infancy we must receive by a humane faith having never our selves seene it nor no markes to shew it us or convince us of it and it may well fall out that no body may be able to assure us of it neither so as that ceremony may well not worke upon us with any power of which wee have so little assurance whether it have bene administred to us or no. Besides that a man had a Iew to his father was the assured qualification for circumcision which a man might know as well as his owne father but for Baptisme I must beleeve my parents was godly if I will be assured of my qualification which ariseth from the faith as they say of one parent for it will not now goe downe so easily as it hath done that a profession of Christianity onely at large will qualify for deriving right to Baptisme now this
accepit etiam parvulis dare Baptismum The Church sayes hee received a tradition from the Apostles to give Baptisme to infants Cypr. lib. 3. Ep. 8. ad Fidum scribit Non solum sibi sed etiam integro consilio visum esse parvulos baptizariposse That it seemed good not onely to himself but to a vvhole councell that infants might be baptized even before the 8. day In other places the same author affirmes Baptisme simply necessary to salvation that it vvashes avvay originall sinne so as it is never more to be imputed page 470. a. Hierom. lib. contr Pelag. Infantes baptizari dicit tum ommpeccato carere That infants are to be baptized and then they are vvithout all sinne Aust lib. 10. de Gen. cap. 23. Consuetudo inquit matris Ecclesiae Baptizandis parvulis nequaquam sparnenda est nec illo modo superflua deputanda nec omnino credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio The custome of our mother the church in Baptizing little children is not to be despised nor to be judged superfluous nor to be beleeved at all unles it vvere an Apostolicall tradition The same Austin As for the authority of infant Baptisme he flyes to tradition so for the reason of it hee bottomes it upon this that they neither have faith to save them nor a Sacrament instead of faith vvithout Baptisme and therefore judges them to eternall death unles they be taken out of the vvorld by martyrdome as the learned Forbes hath observed in his 10. booke Instruct Histor in Theol. cap. 5. lib. 7. onely Austin sayes they shall be in damnatione omnium mitissima multum autem fallere falli qui eos in damnatione praedicat non futuros They shall be in the easiest damnation of all others but hee much deceaves himself and others that teaches they shall not be condemned lib. 1. de peccat meritis remissione cap. 16. lib. 5. contra Iulian cap. 8. but as gentle or as easy as damnation is it is such as the vvrath of God remaines upon them lib. 3. de peccatorum meritis remissione cap. 20. They goe into the second death lib. de bono perseverantiae cap. 12. And they are children of vvrath lib. 6. contra Iulian cap. 3. Bernard also was of this same minde Epist 77. Sanè inquit omnes infantes qui hanc prohibente aetate non possunt habere fidem hoc est cordis ad Deum conversionem consequentè nec salutem si absque baptismis perceptione moriuntur Certainly saith hee all infants vvho their age hindring them cannot have this faith that is the conversion of their hearts to God neither consequently can they have salvation if they dye vvithout the partaking of Baptisme More of this and of the same kind might be alleadged but these shall suffice Before wee goe any farther we must consider here what is meant by traditions which in the former quotatiōs you heare so often mentioned The name of Tradition in it self is generall and signifies all doctrines either written or not written as 2. Thess 2.15 Hold the traditions vvhich you have bene taught vvhether by vvord or our epistle But the name Tradition is accommodated by Divines to signify onely a doctrine not written so Irenaeus is quoted lib. 3. cap. 2. Evenit inquit neque Scripturis neque traditioni consentire eos They vvould neither consent to Scripture nor tradition So Tertull. lib. de corona militis Si legem postules Scripturam nullam invenies traditio tibi praetenditur auctrix If you looke for a lavv yee shall find no Scripture but tradition is pretended as that vvhich authoriseth Novv that is called a doctrine not vvritten saith Bellarmine not vvhich is no vvhere vvritten but vvhich is not vvritten by the first author and hee gives the instance of infant Baptisme It is called an Apostolicall tradition not vvritten because it is not found vvritten in any Apostolicall booke although it be vvritten as hee affirmes in the bookes of allmost all the ancient Fathers Tom. 1. lib. 4. cap. 2. b. And by the way why Bellarmine could not find Baptisme written in the Apostles writings if there it were as well as other men I know not for hee wants no accutenes in his sight but when he is corrupted by his ends and it suites with his end abundantly to proove infant Baptisme as strongly as hee can because none judge it so necessary to the world as he and those of his religion doe You see therefore by traditions here meant thinges not found written in the Scripture yet for their antiquity supposed to be Apostolicall which if they were allowed received what a miserable confusion should wee be brought into in matters of religion and how under the notion of ancient traditions should we vvorship God in vayne teaching for doctrines the commandements of men Matt. 15.9 Matth. 16.6 Christ bids us take heed of the leaven of the Pharises which was their unwritten traditions and vve are commanded to obey God not men Acts 5.29 And if any man bring us any other doctrine he is to be accursed Gal. 1.9 This hath bene the opinion of holy men in all ages Luther on the first of the Galat. There ought no other doctrine to be delivered or heard in the church besides the pure vvord of God that is the holy Scriptures let other teachers and hearers vvith their doctrine be accursed So Calv. lib. 4. Inst cap. 8. s 8. Let this be a firme axiom nothing is to be accounted for the vvord of God to vvhich place should be given in the church but that vvhich is first contained in the Lavv and the Prophets and after in Apostolicall vvritings But because we are in a way of quotatiō it will not be amisse to give you the judgement of some more ancient concerning this matter and wee will give them as they are given by Chemnit in his exam of the counscell of Trent and quoted also by Bellarmine in order to his confutation of them I shall give but a few One is of Origen in cap. 3. ad Rom. c. Necesse nobis est inquit Scripturas sanctas in testimonium vocare sensus quippe nostri enarrationes sine his testibus non habent fidem It is necessary for us to call the holy Scriptures to vvitnes because our senses and narrations vvithout those vvitnesses have no credit So Constantin the Emperour who in the Counscell of Nice as Theodoret witnesses lib. 1. cap. 17. saith thus Euangelici Apostolici libri antiquorum Prophetarum oracula plane instruunt nos quid de rebus divinis sentiendum sit Proinde hostili posita discordia in verbis divinitus inspiratis sumamus quaestionum explicationes The Euangelicall and Apostolicall bookes and the oracles of the ancient Prophets playnely instruct us vvhat vvee should thinke of divine thinges Therefore all hostile discord layde aside let us take the explication of questions from vvords divinely inspired Then Athanasius lib. contragent
and denomination of a man againe of what act soever yee may justly say this is a nullity that no after act can repaire to give it a being it may now take upō it such a being as that pretended to but to that it can give no being But secondly to urge the former objection a little farther you will say parhaps That that which is given cannot be ungiven but to Infants Baptisme is given already I answer It is true that which is given cannot be sayd to be ungiven but to Infants the Sacrament of Baptisme is not given but onely a certain externall washing with certain externall rites ceremonies And the patrons of infant Baptisme I hope will pardon me if what Chamier affirme of Baptisme not given by a right Minister I with much more equity and reason affirme here that it is not a Sacrament but a rashe mockery or deceaving by no meanes to be indur'd in the Church Temerariam ludificationem nullo modo tolerandam in Ecclesia Tom. 4. Panstratiae lib. 5. cap. 14. s 8. The Imperiall Constitutions carry Vt ea quae contra leges fiunt non solum inutilia sed etiam pro infectis habenda sunt That those things which are done against law are not onely unprofitable but are to be accounted for not done which rule they say is to be understood of those things where the cause of the prohibition is perpetuall as for example Ne filius contrahat cummatre the son should not contract with his mother now the perpetuall cause of prohibition is the standing law of God not changed by God himself and in which God himself hath not dispenced as is urged by a late learned Author So as that which contradicts the standing rules of God in the determination regulating of his ordinances as Baptisme given to infants hath largely bene prooved to do must by no meanes be accounted an administration or giving of that ordinance but as before a rash and unadvised mockery of it or playing with it In the third place you may possibly object That Baptisme requires for the subject a true beleever suppose an hypocrite professe faith and submit himself to the ordinance will not here be by the same reasō cause of Baptisme the former being also a nullity in respect of the true intent of Baptisme Answ How farre such a case may require another Baptisme I shall not need to determine if it should that makes nothing against the other but that that doth also and more But here I shall put a cleare distinction and help my self by the former similitude of marriage There be some essentiall fayles as I told you that make marriage a nullity no subsequent act can releeve that as to give it the denomination of a being then when it was a nullity as for example consent afterwards cannot make the no consent of infants to be a marriage but it gives forme or being to a marriage when the consent is given the like is true of Baptisme But in marriage betweene persons of yeares there may be a formall marriage with an hypocriticall consent a man may professe faith in marriage to such a woman but may intend onely to gayne her estate by that pretence leave her now the great ingredient unto consent should be truth and reallity but the fayle of that shall by no meanes nullify the marriage he shall be ever bound to the duty of a husband though hee should professe to have dissembled his consent nor shall there be any need of a new marriage or expressing of consent to tye him to it which the former doth sufficiently what ever his intents were Because that to the reason and being of marriage there is nothing requisite but that there be a due externall performing of the essentialls of it The like may be avowed of Baptisme if a man repenting and confessing his sinnes beleeving and professing subjection be baptized according to the right forme and ceremony of Baptisme I see not the ground of repetition what ever the internall fayles may seeme to be either of true righteousnes on mans part or of present influence on Gods part which are desireable to the happy being of Baptisme else so often as men find not that present influence on Gods part which to him is free or doubt of their former state and condition so often there must be a repetition of Baptisme which I see no groūd for the ordinance which is an externall ceremony having all its externall essentialls to the true being of that ordinance and as the remayning forme produces its effect when the impediment is taken away as for example heavines in a stoane carryes it downe when the impediment is taken away the hand that held it up so Baptisme externally rightly administred may attayne his end when God takes away the impediment The like may be said of ordination or admission into church fellowship which cannot be called a nullity though the persons should proove hypocrites or unholy as appeares by this that such persons are capable of excommunication which implyes them members and the ordinance duly administred notwithstanding that there may be great internall fayles but would be certainly a nullity if such admission or ordination were in infancy in sleepe or in the time of madnesse as I said before But what ever the case of the Baptisme of hypocrites may proove of which notwithstanding I have told you my opinion it makes not much to this question for if it proove not a nullity it is because they fayle not in the essentialls if they should require Baptisme a new then Baptisme in infācy much more in whom it is most cleare the fayles of Baptisme were essentiall And it is not my part so much to proove that there are no other causes of repeating of Baptisme as that in this there is cause full and sufficient to give them a true reall Baptisme whose pretended Baptisme in respect of its essentiall fayles prooves voide and nothing CHAP. XVII In which is considered the time and ranke that Baptisme is to hold in the order of Ordinances THere are but two thinges which I shall farther consider upon this subject the one is the time order of Baptisme the other is the Minister of Baptisme That there is an order in all the worship of the New Testament no man will deny that hath learn't with Paul to joy in beholding the order and faith of the Saints Col. 2.5 and none will acknowledge this more then they who deny themselves of some very considerable ordinances for want of comeing to them in the right order as the Lords supper for wāt of church fellowship Every thing is seasonable and bewtifull in its time out of which it is disorderly and evill to find the order time of Baptisme will I conceive be the easiest thing in all this inquiry whether you consider Scripture rule Scripture example or example of the primitive Church and indeed of all that ever was or the reason of
the thing For Scripture rule ye have Teach all nations and baptize them Mat. 28.19 make disciples and baptize Marke 16.16 Hee that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved You see here the ranke of Baptisme immediately after teaching after beleeving it holds the first place of ordinances properly Christian ye may see it againe in the rule in Peters preaching Repent and be baptized Acts 2.38 which was instantly put in practise which is our second head of proofe namely Scripture example for they that gladly received his vvord vvere presently baptized to the number of three thousand ver 41. after which they continued constantly in the liturgicall vvorkes of the Apostles doctrine and breaking bread in prayer ver 42. In the example of the Eunuch you have the same assoone as ever Iesus was preached and hee discovered water vvhat hinders me saith he to he baptized nothing saith Philip if thou hast faith so he was instantly baptized Acts 8.38 The like ye have of Cornelius who upon the first preaching of Christ before the assembly was dissolved was baptized he and his Acts 10.48 The like you have of the Iaylor Act. 16. to whom at midnight being astonished by a miraculous action the vvord vvas preacht and to all in his house and he and all his beleeving vvere forthvvith all of them baptized Here was no losse of time and for the order it was after faith and before any other administration more examples might be brought of this kind out of which that which I conclude is the order and time of Baptisme namely the next ordinance to beleeving not but that I would have fit time allowed for the tryall of faith wherein to be sure the Apostles were not negligent of their duty For the primitive times wee can have no better instances then what we heare of the Catechuminy who were excluded not onely from the Eucharist but from the very sight thereof and therefore after the word Sancta Sanctis they went out not because they were without faith for there were two sorts audientes competentes or electi the first were beginners which heard sermons had a desire to Christ the other were such as desired Baptisme and had given up their names for it as Austin mentions in libro de cura pro mortui cap. 12. and others also Now these were supposed to have faith and wayted onely a fit time for the administration of Baptisme during which time they were farre enough from being admitted to the Lords Supper though beleevers judged but on the other side assoone as ever they were baptized they had Baptisme confirmation or laying on of hands and the Lords Supper on the same day And of this the Fathers give a reason In all respects the order of the mystery is kept that first by remission of sinnes a medicine be prepared for their vvounds and then the nourishment of the heavenly table be added Ambrose c. And as this was observed strickly to the catechuminy so every body will grant me that to infant Baptisme this order is surely maintayned If you passe from precept example of all times to reason there you will find that what ever makes for the not repeating of Baptisme in the ordinary use of it makes also for this as fully or more that it should be the first For first if it be not to be repeated because this is the seale of initiation regeneration and incorporatiō then by the same reason this must be first as initiation admission incorporation and regeneration are the first internall acts in us upon us by which we are made Christians Secondly if the signification and use of Baptisme be for ever and of constant perpetuall use then this ordinance is to lye as the bottome stone in the building of ordinances which is to have a durable and constant influence into the whole edifice Or thirdly if this be not to be repeated because neither in precept nor example you find it so then must this be the first because in precept example you find it so and never otherwise or if the ends of Baptisme on our parts not to mention further those on Christs be that there should be a formall externall contract past with God by which wee are visibly handfasted in this mysticall marriage or secondly to distinguish our selves by this badge and charracter of our professiō from the evill world which we renounce with all its works then certainly this peece is to be first administred before we goe further and the Sacrament of our spirituall life and birth is to be given before that of our nourishment and growth In a word Baptisme hath bene called of old not without reason Sacramentorum janua and is for all these considerations which are as many as can concurre to any one thing to keep that name nature still which is to be the first and primitive Sacrament in which a converted person man or woman is to communicate Now thē if the timeing and order of instituted worship be any thing as it is of great moment a great part of it lying in nothing else but the right and orderly administration of ceremonies and if the Scripture rule and example be any thing which is all we have to shew for any practise then Baptisme is to be the first Sacrament after beleeving Besides the reason of the thing that which makes it unlawfull to baptize before teaching is because the Scripture hath rankt it otherwise that sayes teach and baptize not baptize and teach as the Papists and others doe the same reason will hold for the giving it its preference in time to any other ordinance because it is rankt immediately after teaching before any other thing againe you have the fullest concurrence of all example reason also for the timeing and ranking of this ordinance as for any thing can be thought To what hath bene said in this laste point I shall onely ad by way of caution with which I conclude it that when I give Baptisme the first place in the ranke of ordinances after beleeving I intend not such expressions to the prejudice of church-fellowship which I conceave is properly the state for instituted ordinances and the subject of them as will more fully appeare by what will be sayd in the following chapter CHAP. XVIII Wherein by way of conclusion is treated of the Minister of Baptisme and shewed where that power rests which is to conveigh to us that blessed Ordinance which hath bene all this while the subject of our discourse WE have found out the subject of Baptisme to be a beleever onely that is one professing faith in Christ and subjection to his ordinances upon which consideration wee have found cause to reject the Baptisme of infants as a vanity of mens invention and our owne received then as voyde null we have also found in the order of Sacraments Baptisme to be the first the next thing we are to speake of is the Minister
assembling being more properly called the state for injoying of ordinances and the subject of all ordinances so as ordinarily a church will be an assembly of baptized Saints though the word Baptisme be no part of the definition nor doth Baptisme contribute more to the being of a church then other ordinances which for a time they may want So as yee see clearly where to fetch Baptisme namely where a companie of Saints are gathered together in Christs name that is in his power there is authority amongst them for all commissions for acts of church fellowship for the deputing and ordaining of officers and for the administration of all ordinances But here it may be parhaps objected to which I will speake a word that Baptisme not being the ordinance of admission into the Church nor parhaps necessarily to follow after but may be before it how appartaynes it to the Church Answ The rule will hold universally true that all instituted ordinances of which Baptisme is one will fall under the cognisance and power of an instituted body whether therefore Baptisme be administred after admittāce which in an ordinary way seemes better or whether it may precede it it will be all one in the issue since it is in order to church fellowship and a full church communion Now what ever is in order to it as well as that which follows it falls under church cognisance and power and therefore catechising taking account of faith yea and preaching the word by way of power in order to the conversion of others especially if they offer and submit themselves falls under Church power now no man is baptized with a priviledge to go about the world at large but to live in all the ordinances of Christ and to receive nourishment as well as birth and the seales of both from the church And therefore as before I like well for Baptisme the title of the ordinance of initiation as which in the order of ordinances is the first pretends to further Lastly this rightly stated considered it cannot reasonably be objected that hee that baptizeth should necessarily be himself a baptized person for though ordinarily it will be so yet it is not necessary to the ordinance no more then it is simply necessary to a church state that the members be baptized for not the personall Baptisme of him that administers but the due commission hee hath for baptizing is alone considerable to make him a true Minister of Baptisme And here that expression holds not one cannot give what hee hath not as a man cannot teach me that wants knowledge himself because no man gives his owne Baptisme but conveyes as a publike person that which is givē us by Christ A poore man that hath nothing of his owne may give me gold that is the money of another man by vertue of being sent for that purpose so if any man can shew his commission the writing seale of him that sent him it is enough here else what would become of the great Baptizer Iohn the Baptist who had a fayer commission to baptize but was not himself baptized that we read of or if hee should be which cannot be affirmed yet the first Baptizer who ever hee was must at the time of his first administration of that ordinance be unbaptized To conclude in this discourse of the Minister of Baptisme we have shewed especially these particulars 1 That the due administration of Baptisme hath bene alwayes and is an act of power and commission 2 That the Churches of Christ are now the onely subject of this power and are betrusted with dispēsing all commissions for the administrations of ordinances of which Baptisme is one whether it be administred after admission into Church fellowship which parhaps will be the usuall way or before but as other things in order to it 3 That Baptisme doth not enter the definitiō of a church as Saintship profest and manifested doth nor is it simply necessary to the Minister of Baptisme that he be himself baptized since his qualification for that worke ariseth from his commission not from his Baptisme FINIS The heads of the Chapters CHAP. I. Page 1. Wherein of the first and great end of that ordinance the sealing up of our union with Christ and more particularly of the most illustrious type of Baptismeall sealing in the Baptisme of Christ CHAP. II. Page 18. Wherein of the second great use and end of Baptisme assuring us of our Iustification in the remission of all our sinnes together with certain corollaries and inforcements CHAP. III. Page 38. Wherein of a third great use and end of Baptisme whereby is sealed our communion with Christ in his holynes to wit a death unto sinne and a rising to newnesse of life CHAP. IV. Page 48. Wherein is shewed the report which the ceremony of Baptisme hath to the forementioned ends and uses of that ordinance also some Corollaries CHAP. V. Page 58. In which the proper ceremony of Baptisme is vindicated by the force of the word Scripture practise the suffrage of learned men and the use of ancient times CHAP. VI. Page 101. Wherein is shewed the agreements and differences that the word preached hath with the Sacraments together with certain Corollaries giving light to the present controversy CHAP. VII Page 121. In which is layd downe the relative and personall qualifications by which infants are usually intituled to Baptisme by our most considerable Protestant Divines CHAP. VIII Page 143. In which are contained severall queries and considerations raised from the premisses declaring what little ground there will appeare from their owne principles and concessions to conclude for Infant Baptisme CHAP. IX Page 160. In which entrance is made into the consideration of the great argument for Infant Baptisme drawne from the circumcision of Infants by way of answer whereunto five particulars are handled the first whereof is treated on in this Chapter namely what circumcision was to the Jewes and whether the qualification requisite to it was regeneration or the infusion of gratious habits CHAP. X. Page 179. In which is handled the second particular proposed in answer to the argument drawne from Circumcision to wit how farre the ordinances of the old Testament should regulate and determine by way of rule and institution those of the New CHAP. XI Page 190. Wherein is discussed the third particular in answer to the argument drawne from circumcision scil How we are ingrafted into Abrahams covenant and by what title wee are call'd Abrahams children CHAP. XII Page 210. Wherein is handled the fourth Question proposed to answer the argument drawne from Circumcision to wit How farre the Iewes by vertue of their being the sonnes of Abraham could pretend to new Testament Ordinances wherein also besides severall others that much agitated place is opened considered of Acts 2.38.39 CHAP. XIII Page 237. Wherein is handled the fifth and last question in answer to the argument drawn from circumcision scil whether Infants not prooving the subject of Baptisme the priviledges of Christians and their state may not justly be said to be as great as the priviledges of the Jewes and their state CHAP. XIV Page 259. In which is considered that famous and much urged place of 1. Cor. 7.14 Else were your children uncleane but now are they holy CHAP. XV. Page 278. In which the authority of the Fathers and the practise of antiquity touching the subject of Baptisme is considered CHAP. XVI Page 333. In which is handled whether Baptisme be to be repeated but more especially whether such as were baptized in infancy should be accounted baptized or are to have that ordinance administred to them CHAP. XVII Page 368. In which is considered the time and ranke that Baptisme is to hold in the order of Ordinances CHAP. XVIII Page 380. Wherein by way of conclusion is treated of the Minister of Baptisme and shewed where that power rests which is to conveigh to us that blessed Ordinance which hath bene all this while the subject of our discourse