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
figure of things to come so when Cornelius and his companie were baptized the holy Ghost fell upon them as that to which the seale immediately was to be set Act. 10.47.48 But the most illustrious sealing of all others was as it became it to be in our head Iesus Christ when he was baptized Matth. 3.16.17 And Iesus vvhen hee vvas baptized vvent up straightvvay out of the vvater and lo the heavens vvere opened unto him and he savv the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him and lo a voyce from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in vvhom I am vvell pleased There the whole Trinity appeared to make the Triumph and ratify that affaire never any ordinance was graced with such a presence And as Baptisme is a visible seale to our faith so here the Trinity in whose name wee are baptized made themselves visible together the Father by a voyce the Son in his body the Holy Ghost like a birde First there was the Heavens opened but to him so are the words Marke 10. it s said hee savv the heavens opened or cloven or rent that is hee saw a cleaving or rending some great Hiatus now this was for Christ himself for it was as Luke saies as he vvas praying Luke 3.21 which was that so the voyce the spirit might be knowne to come from heaven it being a great evidence of the presence of God there Then hee saw the spirit like a dove lighting upon him as the multitude in the Acts saw the spirit as it were in cloven tongues like sire the spirit tooke upon him the shape of a dove and rested and abode on him that sealing spirit that seales us all sealed Christ and abode with him for so sayes Iohn Vpon vvhom thou seest the spirit descending and abiding that is hee And then there came a voyce and that admirable and considerable this represented God the Father to his eare as the dove represented the spirit to his eye so while the spirit sate upō his head the Father spake from heaven the great sealing word This is my vvellbeloved Sonne in vvhom I am vvell pleased This that is this man Iesus whom I shew and point out by my spirits abiding upon him Is this is hee whom I have promised now ye have him or thou art speaking to Christ my Sonne wee cannot be sealed to such a Sonneship in all respects wee are adopted children hee was the naturall and proper Sonne the only begottē 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that beloved many are beloved but hee was onely beloved as onely begotten we are sonnes because wee are beloved but hee was loved because hee was a Sonne In vvhom not in any other who ever he be unles by this One I am vvell pleased In whom I am cōtented in whom my minde rests that is who onely and singularly pleaseth me and in whom there is nothing that displeaseth mee therefore I delight wholly in him and rest in him so as every thing will be acceptable to me that hee doth by whom I shall be pleased with others by whom others may please me for the Father here intimates that his love so rests in Christ as it deffuseth it self to others so as beholding him he puts of all offence and anger towards others whom hee beholds in him opposing him to every thing All these things were to his person but respected also his office which was unseparable from his person Therefore first to him the heavens opened whose office it was to opē heaven and to make an entry for us thither againe to open heaven and to draw downe the great misteries of it to us the doctrine of the Trinitie was here declared and truth came by him also what he had seene of the Father that he revealed Secondly the spirit came in the shape of a dove as to seale us before so to shew that hee should converse here up and downe in a dovelike manner should have neither weapons without nor gaule within to offend withall although his condition was not greatly to please therefore such passages as these fell sometimes from him Learne of me that I am meeke and lovvly Yee knovv not of vvhat spirit you are This abiding and this use of the spirit is that prophecied of him Esay 61.1 2. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anoynted me to preach good tidings unto the meeke hee hath sent me to bind up the broaken hearted to proclaime liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound To proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord and to comfort all that mourne and hee was to be filled with the spirit that it might descend upon us his members and that we might be baptized with the holy Ghost Thirdly for the voyce This is my beloved Sonne in vvhom I am vvell pleased it was then the office of Christ to execute and manifest the wellpleasing of God in himself to the redeeming reconciling and renewing of the world that should beleeve in him and the restoring of all things This is that expression that is to be opposed to that other Gen. 6.7 It repents me that I have made man God can never repent him more that he hath made man when hee is so well pleased in the man Christ Iesus so aboundantly satisfied contented and in him with all his This Baptisme of our Saviour was the Epoche or terme whence they reckoned Acts 1.22 c. Beginning from the Baptisme of Iohn unto that same day that he vvas taken up from us I have beene the larger in opening this illustrious tipe of Baptismall sealing that the nature and way of it may be seene in the highest patterne Wee shall be sealed also with our difference of younger brothers the heavens in Baptisme opens upon us and the Father the Sonne Holy Ghost who are visibly present here are present also to our sealing and ready to give us the same witnesse but with its distinction as before this is my beloved Sonne in vvhom I am vvell pleased and as wee are then visibly united to Christ who sanctifies this ordinance for us so the spirit is ready to seale us up and God by the spirit to witnes every good thing to us let us therefore put a valew and a price upon this ordinance more then wee have done and after being once baptized into Christ let us know and be assured that we have a right to what hee hath and to what he had to what he is for what ever he was or is as Mediator hee is for us with the great difference of elder brother and having that in his owne right which wee have in his and therefore the sealing of his Baptisme belongeth also to our baptisme as his dying and rising againe doth to us who dye and rise againe with him in Baptisme To add a word or two of the seale Paul hath two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
of this Sacrament that wee may know whence and how to receive it And here to omit many things which might be considered under this head more generally also not to trouble our selves with the handling of this controversy as it is stated betweene us and the Papists who putting a more simple and absolute necessity upon this ordinance then is its due expose it in case of such necessity to the administration of all sorts of people of what condition or sex soever they be wee shall onely take those two things for graunted or at least deny them not first That the errour of the Minister doth not enter the essence of Baptisme nor is of those things that can destroy it and make it null And secondly that by the opinion of antiquity and learned men there were certain necessitous extraordinary cases wherein others might be used for Baptisme then such as were the ordinary Ministers of it But now because it is one thing to be and another thing to be rightly or well in relation to our selves and the ordinary and orderly administration of Baptisme we shall consider whether Baptisme be a thing of publick or private cognisance and to what predicament it belongs and whether it pretends which will be the bounds of this discourse and shew us whence it is to be fetcht and derived That it is a thing of publicke cognisance appeares to me both by the primitive commission and primitive practise the commission lyes Matt. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost In the 18. verse Christ tells his Disciples that all povver is given to him in heaven earth these were his letters patents by which hee shewed hee did nothing without power and good warrant now he goes into heaven as into one part of his kingdome which was quiet and at peace and sitting there at the right hand of his Father gives an Apostolicall commission for all the earth so Marke 16.15 Go into the vvhole vvorld preach the Gospell to every creature here hee opposes the whole earth to the bounds and limits of Iudea by which the Prophets of old were bounded in their administrations That he had by an hereditary right hee sent therefore to them first with this caveat that they should not go into the vvay of the Gentiles nor enter into any city of the Samaritans Matth. 10.5 But now by his death resurrection having acquired a right of reigning over all men he gives a commission for all the world this is Apostolicall for hee bids them go forth into all the world which is properly the word of Apostolicall commission whose diocesse had no bounds and if not here where can any Apostolicall commission be found And he tells them their great workes which was to preach and baptize for although Paul sayes 1. Cor. 1.17 that hee vvas sent by Christ not to baptize but to preach the Gospell that must be understood with a limitation that he was not sent especially to baptize because the administration of the Sacraments which are the appendixes and seales though it need as much power yet a lesse gift then the preaching of the word And behold I am vvith you to the end of the vvorld Here is a word of great incouragemēt comfort Christ had told them before hee was Lord of heaven earth he sends them to manage a great worke but sayes hee I will be with you that is who ever is publikely deputed for such a service as they need more especially assistāce so they shall have it and here he makes a playne difference betweene the makers of Disciples Disciples to be made Hee vvill be vvith them especially as they need it most to vvhom the charge of teaching and baptizing is deputed for the Apostles were not to continue alwayes as the world was to be gone through but once and institutions to be set up but once but a publike power was still left which succeeded this Apostolicall which in the next place we come to consider of that so finding where the commission rests wee may addresse our selves thither for ordinances and expect the blessing of Christs being with it unto the end of the world for this is a state continuing to the end of the world to the change of all things Now this clearly is the Church which is the subject of Ecclesiasticall policy and power as the common-wealth is of civill power so as Ecclesiasticall and Church power is essentially and primarily in the Church as in the subject Mat. 16. ver 18.19 And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I vvill build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it And I vvill give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven c. So as though the use of the keyes be divers according to the variety of callings and conditions in the Church yet the power of the keyes originally and primarily is given to the Church for Peter here beares but the person of the Church as in other places in which hee answers for others and Christ also speakes to him as adressing himself to the Church by him This is a thing so commonly avowed and defended by Protestāts against Papists as I shall not need here to proove it Also that other knowne place of Matth. 18.17 Tell the Church where both Church state and Church power are clearely spokē of Now where the power of admitting receaving and casting out is there is the power of administring and communicating all ordinances to the edification of the same body and they which have power of administring the kingly office of Christ consisting in casting out and receaving in have also power of administring his Propheticall office of which the Sacraments are a part therefore to the Christian churches as to the Iewes of old pertaineth the publike dispensations and services of God Rom. 9.4 And hence it followes that such as were deputed by the church for their Ministers and officers were called overseers made by the holy Ghost and were to be imitators of the Apostles to whom ordinarily in the executive part they succeeded Acts 20.17.18.19.28 Hence Peter calls himself a fellow Elder with the ordinary Elders 1. Pet. 5.1 The Elders vvhich are among you I exhort vvho am also an Elder c. To conclude this head a man becomes a Prophet and able to teach by vertue of a gift namely of knowledge and utterance 1. Cor. 1.5 But no gift renders a Baptizer but a call as being a thing of publike cognisance commissiō Teaching out of a gift hath its foundation in nature which ariseth from a personall gift and grace of the spirit But Baptisme censures ordination and the like depend not upon a speciall gift but are acts of power conferred authoritatively upon a speciall person And thus much for the primitive commission for Baptisme which falls under a
publike cognisance upō persons qualified by publike authority for the administration of it Next we consider in this discourse primitive practise and example for according to this power commission you will find it runne in the example The first Baptizer who introduced that ordinance from thence drew his name Iohn the Baptist to be sure had commission for that and all other parts of his ministry according to the prophecies went on him in Esay and Malachy Hee came in the spirit and povver of Elias vvas the great restorer of Israel this no man will deny Then Christ in the 4. of Iohn is said to baptize but by his Disciples who received commission for that administration from his person presence himself either intending to the greater workes of miracles or teaching or else might abstaine purposely that those baptized by him might not vaunt of a greater priviledge then others In like manner it is probable Peter the Apostle communicated of his authority to those who were with him for the baptizing of Cornelius and his family for it is sayd vers 48. of Acts 10. He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord unles it were either that of those brethrē there were inferiour officers or that by commanding is ment the warrant he gave to Cornelius his companie for Baptisme of which notwithstanding hee himself might be the Minister Of the Apostles commission you have heard already you may find it in the execution in divers passages For others who baptized saving those who drew their commission from Church power of whom wee shall speake afterward wee read of Philip and Ananias the one to wit Philip was an Euangelist an order as it is taken of a publike authority and commission as the Apostles were Besides he had an especiall authority and provocation from the spirit at that time for the ministry hee had to performe about the Eunuch by which spirit also he was miraculously taken away after the worke done as you may read Acts the 8. And for Ananias of whom wee read in the 9. of the Acts that he baptized Paul he was also deputed in an extraordinary manner to that ministery by the Lord who spoke to him in a vision And such extraordinary and peculiar manner of workings where the ministery of conversion lay in a miracle and the Ministers were men acted to it as appeares by divine revelation must not be drawn into ordinary examples and here we find also particular commission but thus farre in the example it makes cleare for what wee say that the administration of Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission That it hath bene since the Apostolicall times so is as cleare out of all story of which the notion of the Catechuminists will give an assured witnes Christians in the Church were antiently distinguisht by three degrees Catechumini Fideles and Poenitentes the Catechumeni or such as were principled in the Christian religion the faithfull the penitents the faithfull were such as being past the forme of Catechists were admitted to all ordinances the penitents were such as had fallen into some scandall were under censure The Catechumeni were such as Origen cont Cels lib. 3. sayes vvho vvere nevvly admitted into some degree of communion but not yet baptized of these mention is made in the most ancient writers Ireneus Clemens Alexand. Tertullian Of these Clemens saith Sine catechismo nulli datur credere vvithout catechising no body can beleeve Of this number some as I have formerly had occasion to speake were called Audientes some Competentes The Audientes were such as submitted themselves to teaching by the hearing of the word and being instructed in the principles of religion which by their submission and pretence to farther ordinances got the name of Catechists for otherwise neither Iew nor Gentile nor any were excluded from hearing the word Conc. 4. Carth. Can. 84. The competentes or competitors were such as being well instructed in the Christian religion desired Baptisme and gave up their names of these Austin sayes Post sermonem fit missa Catechumenis manebant fideles Ser. de Temp. 137. After the sermon the Catechumini were dismist the faithfull remayned to partake of the Supper other ordinances which partained to full membership Out of all this besides the purpose for which I especially bring it two things may be observed by the way First that of old men were not lightly admitted to the communion and fellowship of the Church but after due instruction and examination Secondly that it was usuall of old to stand as competitor for Baptisme as a Candidate as we call them to seeke and desire it before they had it But the end for which I especially bring this here is to shew that in all times of the Church Baptisme hath bene a thing of publike cognisance and the commission for the administration of it hath rested since the times of the Apostles no where but in Church power nor hath bene no where else sought nor never by any otherwise pretended to it I know saving of late yeares by those upon whom the name of Anabaptists was primitively and properly fixt who erring greatly in many other things of as great consequence might easily be mistaken in this These two things in a word I suppose out of this discourse is evinced which will directly point out the Minister of Baptisme First that Baptisme is a thing of publike cognisance commission Secondly that as of old since the Apostles times so now and alwayes till Christ come the Church is the dispenser of such commissions and administrations That which remaynes now therefore is to find out what a Church is wherein I hope wee are not to seeke A Church in a word may be said to be an assembly of saints knit together to a fellowship with Christ their head I intend not here a discourse of this subject it is enough to my purpose that this be considered and allowed that beleeving and saintship gives a qualification for Church fellowship and Church fellowship for acts of power that Baptisme doth no more enter the definition of a church as if a church state could not be without Baptisme then the communion of the Lords Supper doth or officers Pastors Elders and Deacons All these are but certain acts by which they make good their fellowship with Christ and one another are church ordinances and church dues thinges they have power for may justly pretend to Though it will ordinarily be that a church will consist of baptized persons for what should hinder them who have assembled for the injoying of ordinances and who have power for all ordinances from administring to themselves in a way of order that ordinance which is as it were the gate of the rest and as wee may call it for ought I know according to the old name the ordinance of initiation since it is the first of church ordinances the Church covenant